The night had arrived, and I was asleep in my large quarters on the station, Nerfana-1. Outside the thick transparent portholes I saw in the deep distance the lush, familiar planets that fell under my control. It was a one-man paradise, but it was not without some excitement that I had opened the doors completely to my Brother. I could see it as a two-man empire, I was warming to the idea.
Asleep in my metal home, I was awoken by an earthquake. The last time I had that sensation was on my home planet, near the Northern pole, as a child, and my Brother was nearby then, too.
Nerfana-1 was literally rocking about me. The familiar hum of the powerful shield bubble was missing as I shook off the sleep. The siege had begun. I was dressed and in motion in seconds. Glued to a porthole viewer, I struggled to believe what I was seeing. My Brother in his Rifter, flanked by a pair of Abbadons.
They were destroying my home. Internal sensors weren't responding until I inputted my backup code. Guns offline, shield down, life support offline in ... 30 seconds! I went cold and hot at the same time. For now, survival. Somehow. I was sprinting as I planned. I initiated voice control for the station, calling up logs, trying to understand. I had it scan the Starship Maintenance Array, thinking if I could reach one of my Battleships I might have a chance of saving the situation. All ships gone or destroyed. Only one option.
With 10 seconds I reached the small hidden bay I installed in the Nerfana to house my personal favourite and most trusted ally, an Amarrian Purifier Covert Ops Stealth Bomber. I sensed the air, felt the gravity, as both died away and floated the last twenty feet to the Purifier access hatch. Again the station rocked. The Purifier's computer had been untouched, and I interfaced immediately. It showed an image outside the station, or what was left of it. It had just snapped in two, the lower half slowly turning to fire and debris, the upper half, housing me beginning to spiral down into the upper atmosphere of the nearby ice planet. The place was gaining speed and falling.
The exit space for the Purifier's small bay bent inward to close off the escape. A few torpedoes blew the hole back open, I cloaked within the station then microwarpdrived out in a burst. My ship burned in atmospheric freefall a moment before I looped left away from the debris and watched as the last sections of Nerfana-1 burst apart...
Asleep in my metal home, I was awoken by an earthquake. The last time I had that sensation was on my home planet, near the Northern pole, as a child, and my Brother was nearby then, too.
Nerfana-1 was literally rocking about me. The familiar hum of the powerful shield bubble was missing as I shook off the sleep. The siege had begun. I was dressed and in motion in seconds. Glued to a porthole viewer, I struggled to believe what I was seeing. My Brother in his Rifter, flanked by a pair of Abbadons.
They were destroying my home. Internal sensors weren't responding until I inputted my backup code. Guns offline, shield down, life support offline in ... 30 seconds! I went cold and hot at the same time. For now, survival. Somehow. I was sprinting as I planned. I initiated voice control for the station, calling up logs, trying to understand. I had it scan the Starship Maintenance Array, thinking if I could reach one of my Battleships I might have a chance of saving the situation. All ships gone or destroyed. Only one option.
With 10 seconds I reached the small hidden bay I installed in the Nerfana to house my personal favourite and most trusted ally, an Amarrian Purifier Covert Ops Stealth Bomber. I sensed the air, felt the gravity, as both died away and floated the last twenty feet to the Purifier access hatch. Again the station rocked. The Purifier's computer had been untouched, and I interfaced immediately. It showed an image outside the station, or what was left of it. It had just snapped in two, the lower half slowly turning to fire and debris, the upper half, housing me beginning to spiral down into the upper atmosphere of the nearby ice planet. The place was gaining speed and falling.
The exit space for the Purifier's small bay bent inward to close off the escape. A few torpedoes blew the hole back open, I cloaked within the station then microwarpdrived out in a burst. My ship burned in atmospheric freefall a moment before I looped left away from the debris and watched as the last sections of Nerfana-1 burst apart...
Loose wreckage spoiled my cloak, and as soon as I appeared the locks came down, from my brother's rifter, from the two Abaddons (which I later realized were mine, freshly stolen from the SMA). I was webbed and scrambled, and a flury of megabeams shredded my beloved Purifier as the internal escape pod was spot forth into warp.
I reached the exit point to see a third pirate piloting one of my rigged Bestower into the next hole and then to Highsec space. I barreled through the space-time distortion and found myself in the neighboring C4, with the Empire exit. With no probes.
It was later clear; My Brother's Rifter had escorted 4 pods, he'd ejected the ships he didn't want to destroy, Bestowers, Abaddons, Zealots and the pods had taken them over, then turned them on the station once its defenses were down. I warped to the darkest corner of the adjacent C4 as I had no waypoint for the latest Empire exit, but D-scans showed the same Bestower warp off the said exit, while an Abaddon was continuously entering and exiting the C4. They knew I had no probes, and they were collapsing the wormhole. It must have been on critical already with all the things they stole, now they were sealing me in oblivion while at the same time cutting me off forever from my home of the last year. I got to the portal back to the former Nerfana-1 just after the Abadon crossed through the final time, and that was that.
Which brings us to the present. I am alone, in a pod, waiting for someone to wander in from wherever the current highsec exit to this C4 is, at which point I will use the meager ISK I have remaining to try to pay them to lead me out.
I reached the exit point to see a third pirate piloting one of my rigged Bestower into the next hole and then to Highsec space. I barreled through the space-time distortion and found myself in the neighboring C4, with the Empire exit. With no probes.
It was later clear; My Brother's Rifter had escorted 4 pods, he'd ejected the ships he didn't want to destroy, Bestowers, Abaddons, Zealots and the pods had taken them over, then turned them on the station once its defenses were down. I warped to the darkest corner of the adjacent C4 as I had no waypoint for the latest Empire exit, but D-scans showed the same Bestower warp off the said exit, while an Abaddon was continuously entering and exiting the C4. They knew I had no probes, and they were collapsing the wormhole. It must have been on critical already with all the things they stole, now they were sealing me in oblivion while at the same time cutting me off forever from my home of the last year. I got to the portal back to the former Nerfana-1 just after the Abadon crossed through the final time, and that was that.
Which brings us to the present. I am alone, in a pod, waiting for someone to wander in from wherever the current highsec exit to this C4 is, at which point I will use the meager ISK I have remaining to try to pay them to lead me out.
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