Out and Out

This is my entry to the Inspired By Images Of Eve Competition 2. More details and links to all entrants can be found at Starfleet Comms

Explosions rocked the station. I could hear the metal screaming behind me as rooms were decompressing and being locked down. Smoke stung my nose and the heat was growing more intense on my back. The loud snap of welding letting go and bulkheads failing echoed down the corridor to the dock.

I could hear other people running behind me. The sound of their footsteps almost drowned out by everything else that was going on. I hoped one of the sets was Kor’s, even though this was his fault. Pushing for a little more speed, I ran towards the dock, hoping the compression seal would stay open for another 20 seconds. I needed to get to my ship.

Rounding the final bend, explosions following me closely, I caught sight of the yellow light signalling the compression seal was deploying. The heavy metal doors were sliding together from ceiling and floor. Luckily the motors were only beggining to kick in when I dived through, but Kor could have been behind me.

Once through, I spun around just in time to see Kor round the bend. The doors were only about a meter from closing permanantly as he ran up. I grabbed his arm and pulled him through, barely getting his legs out as the doors snapped shut.

“Close enough for you?” I asked as he brushed some dust off of his clothes.
“Eh, I’m alive. What do you think got those Amarrians so pissed off?” He replied in a nonchalant way.
“I don’t know, I guess it wouldn’t have been anything to do with you insulting their religion, or race, or even their leaders face, and wife, and children, all in a few sentences” I said, rolling my eyes as we started to walk to where our ships were docked. The explosions were still echoing behind us, and people were scrambling into the dock from everywhere.
“Well they offered us a terrible price for the last score!” He said defensively.
“Yeah, your right, getting us killed is worth another 10,000 ISK. Just get in your ship. Let’s meet at the rendezvous two systems over”
“The moon near the gate?” he asked, hitching an eyebrow, “Want to relive some old scores, do you?”
“Shut up. I’ll see you there” I yelled and ran to my Taranis.

The little interceptor had been a prize I picked up from a raid on a freighter I had found in lowsec. I had been flying it for a few weeks now, and was impressed with its damage and speed. It had brought me a number of wins in close quarters where other frigate-sized ships would have failed.

People were scrambling for escape pods and their ships, which made undocking a bit more difficult. Eventually Kor and I managed to get free of the confusion and headed out of the station, right into the mouth of an Amarr Armageddon class battleship.

“CRAP!” I yelled through the comms to Kor, as I punched the warp drive to the nearest gate, “We gotta get out of here! NOW!”
“He has me locked down. It’s ok, you go. I’ll piss them off some more” Kor replied, rather calmly. He was flying a Hurricane with his favourite fitting for, as he called it, “Pissing of the Amarr”. He had a chance, if the Amarr pilot made mistakes.
“I’m out of here. Good luck” I said as I closed the com channel, putting as much distance between myself and the Battleship as I could.

~ by Janette Davy on July 24, 2010.