CHAPTER 1: EVE ONLINE

Walking home from middle-school carrying my backpack on one shoulder. The snow under me crunches with every step I take leaving a large footprint behind. Above me is large grey clouds covering most of the sky causing everything to look dim. Snow is covering the roofs of the many houses and other surfaces.

The sidewalk is barely visible and below the snow is mostly ice. A car moves past me spraying me with wind and snow. I look over and see my house. On the driveway is my mom’s new red car which I normally use to get to school and back. Most of the snow on it was gone and had mostly ice. On the porch were a “Welcome” sign and a couple plant vases. The plants were more dead looking more like a black skeleton than a plant.

Increasing my speed I reach the door in a matter of seconds being careful not to trip. Grabbing the key below the plant vase I unlock the door and head inside. My vision turns from normal to bright pink and then slowly fades away. In that time I was able to get off my boots and walk over to the mudroom which I put away everything.

“Ahh, finally home,” I say and then sit on the black leather couch. Wait, why don't I just go play some Eve Online? I think there’s an entire battle going on with the FRT. Well, guess I can help them battle at least. Getting up I walk to my room and sit down in a chair. Air rushes out of the cushion as I sit producing a hiss. Reaching under the table my fingers tap the power button.

The fans on the black pc suddenly start spinning rapidly. The screen flickers a couple times before showing a grey screen. Then, the log-in appears with an image behind it. I put my hands near my keyboard and type in my password “Chewy-123” (Note: This is not my real password so don’t try!) The speakers sound a windows start-up throughout the room.

I grab my headphones and plug them in and both of my screens flicker again and then all my apps and other things are shown. By instinct, I tap Steam and then the app Eve Online. The launcher appears and I click “Play”. A white tab appears. Then, it changes to “Loading”. I click on Discord and join the Heavy-Battleship/Carrier/Titan all in order from least to strongest.

“Ugh, where’s Pedro? We need that titan player right now.” I hear right away.

“I’m here. Sorry for the wait!” I say into my microphone.

“Oh, good. We were waiting for you.” Somebody else says from the carrier chat.

“Just one sec. My game needs to load and I’ll be right with you.” The game finally loads and I’m now in the southeast arm of the FTR or Faenza, Republic of Traders.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

The ship I’m flying looks like a golden mushroom with thrusters on the long part of it. Next to me is a large station with multiple battleships surrounding it. Around us was a large bubble covering most of the ships in the area including the large defense platforms.

Using the warp gates around us I get there within seconds and went information with the fleet. The Avatar class titan is a 13,000-meter ship which is way bigger and longer ship titan than the others. It boasts guns that can rip battleships apart with ease and even supercarriers have problems with the amount of spacecraft that it carries.

I move my mouse over to the Heavy-Cruiser/Destroyer/Corvette/Auxiliary-Ships group-chat and join it.

“Guys, I’m here so warp now,” I say before seeing many smaller ships start their warp process.

“Going in guys. BANZAI!” One of the people in group-chat says. Banzai was the Japan way of saying god-speed or Blitzkrieg. Many of the others start warping as well. Clicking on “Warp” A small box appears in the middle of the game. I click on yes and my ship gets wrapped in white lines and then disappears.

The screen goes black and then my ship is visible with the rest of the fleet there or warping in.

I change back to the Heavy-Battleship/Carrier/Titan chat.

“Guys, on my radar. I think 5-4 heavy-battleships and a couple destroyers.” I say out to my fleet and one person sends the message to all the chats.

“1 Titan/6 Carriers/10 Heavy-Battleships/25 Heavy-Cruisers/46 Destroyers/and 156 Corvettes,” I say looking at the fleet count.

“244 ships counting. Now I can say this is a large-scale fleet battle.” I say wondering when was the last time I was in a large-scale fleet battle.

“Any plan?” One of the crew asks.

“We have forces on the right to Banzai into their capital. Front attacks will be made by this group and I’ll go left into uncharted areas so you guys can circle them.” I say.

“Sounds like Germany to me, hahaha!” Another member says.

“Yeah, but more like Poland or something,” I say. “Well, why don't you guys start fighting?” I ask.

“Banzai!” A group of ships starts moving at flank speeds. The carrier launches its drones and spacecraft. Swarms of spacecraft come out and start to turn to the enemy fleet.

Wires of light spring everywhere hitting ships and spacecraft causing damage. Tear-shaped plasma bolts are being fired from the turrets. Even though our force is outnumbered 1 to 2 in this small fleet battle without counting the spacecraft we have better guns and equipment on our side.

One of the enemy’s heavy-battleships explodes and causes damage to nearby ships. Another one and another until all the enemy’s ships are dead or heavily-damaged. Some of our ships go close to the wreckage and salvage it.

“Seems like you guys are okay then. I’ll just warp towards uncharted territory and flank them, okay?” I ask.

“Go for it.” Someone responds. I open the universal map and choose a nearby uncharted system. The system has had few battles and I doubt anyone will be there. I click “Warp” and choose yes. A screen appears and tells me that I have 8 hours until I get there.

Well, I should go to sleep now. It’s almost pitch black out right now. I disconnect from Discord and turn off the computer and lamp. The computer shuts down and I lay in bed going into the pit of darkness and sleep.

I slowly awake to a loud shattering sound. Moving my blanket away I see a small shadow under the door. Standing up the door creaks and opens. "Huh," A black-robed man says and the points an L at me. Wait, That's a gun! And that's a robber! Hearing a loud bang and seeing flames come out of the barrel a sharp pain bloomed from my chest.

A warm sensation starts covering my chest. From the pain, I fall down to the ground. No! Just why?! I hear a short bang before everything goes black.