The Life of a Capsuleer: An EVE Online Story - 1. Becoming a Capsuleer

Becoming a Capsuleer: An EVE Online Story

“Are you sure, you want to do this?” The Clone Technician asked Marcus as he lay on the table, awaiting his death. “This is your last chance to back out.”

The clone bay was teeming with life here at the Federation Navy Academy station for the Gallente Federation. He was among billions of citizens who, over the years, have enlisted to become a Capsuleer, an independent Clone, who is both Captain and Pilot of a starship.

“I’m ready Doc,” Marcus replied without a hint of fear. “It’s not every day one becomes immortal.” He knew he was ready. He’d passed all of the mental and physical checks and had prepared for this since his high school days on that backwater of a world in the Couster System. Now, at age 21, he was about to die so that he could live forever.

The Doctor just nodded his head and pushed the button that started the procedure. Chemicals designed to put him to sleep began to flow into his body, and soon Marcus was out like a light. He was in a dreamless sleep when he felt the shock that took his old mortal life.

In seconds, Marcus woke up, and through the murkiness of the fluid and the glass of the tank, he looked upon his old body. It would be recycled, what couldn’t be used for the non-capsuleer patients, would be broken down and used in other clones. He had a tinge of regret, but it passed quickly, as he heard the voice in his head.

“Greetings, Capsuleer. I am Aura, and I will help you with the first part of your journey, in your new life.” The female voice, with a vague Old Earth British accent, said in his mind. “We’ll start with some basic skill uploads, while you are getting accustomed to your new body. If you experience any discomfort in the fluid, let me know at once.”

“Thank you, Aura. I’m fine for now. Will you be with me, through this?” Marcus thought back to her.

“I’m only here in the Clone Medical Bay until you get assigned to your first ship. At that point, you’ll get a new A.I., who will be a different version of me.” Aura told him while downloading the skills he needed to leave.

Marcus hung suspended in his clone pod, connected to the interface with cables at ports along his spine and the back of his head. The fluid that surrounded him, and penetrated his lungs, kept him oxygenated much like being in a giant artificial womb. The container was clear so that he could look out into the bay, and his nakedness was on full display. He was happy with his new clone body, he paid a hefty amount to have it created, and kept here.

Part of life here in New Eden was the clone capsuleers. Corporations, under the Concord Accords, kept Clone Bays on most stations, so when a capsuleer died, his mental being would transfer to a new clone body. Oh, it took a small fortune of ISK to set up an account, but once done, unlimited use of the Clone Bay was allowed. It benefited the Corporations, as the newly reborn Capsuleer would need to rearm, and would spend a fortune on buying a new ship and modules, which they made a nice sum of ISK on in the form of taxes and brokerage fees.

Marcus watched as the doctors and technicians moved from bay to bay checking in on different clients. He knew it wasn’t time for him to come out, a countdown clock hung in his vision. Marcus waited, as Aura downloaded vital skills that he needed to learn. It felt amazing to him, as the information poured into his brain, one ability at a time. He never left his home-planet before, and now not only did he know the basics of flying spacecraft, but he also knew what it took to run the ships or to repair and put them back together again. He couldn’t help, but to wonder why they didn’t use such technology in schools.

“Skill training is now complete. Your pod will be opening in five minutes. Please, proceed to your Captain’s Quarters for final processing,” Aura dispassionately said in his brain.

~.~

Marcus sat on the couch in the sparsely furnished Captain’s Quarters, as the Ensign from the Federation Navy droned on with the regulations; he would now need to abide by. Finally a few moments later, he was alone and looked over the options he had before him. An email popped in on his neural link, from a career agent, he had spoken with that morning, letting him know of a job. He sent a reply, and went down to his rookie ship, a Velator, and prepared for flight. “Aura, prime the engines and make ready for a milk run. Just got to deliver a load of Cap Boosters to Dodixie,” he mentally sent the command to his ship’s A.I.

“As you command Captain, would you like to plot the course manually, or should I do so?” Aura responded.

“Plot one for me, for the best time. We’ll get a bonus if we make it in six hours.” The pair quickly got the ship and cargo ready. With Marcus back in his pod, naked and floating in the fluid, his emergency escape pod, encapsulated him and was placed into the heart of his ship. Being a Corvette the vessel was 99% automated, and only needed him and Aura to run it. There was space for two passengers, but none were required on this trip.

Leaving the station’s hanger docks was a unique experience. The engines were his legs, pushing him through space. Camera drones followed him giving him views outside of the ship and were his eyes. The radio was his ears, and the ship’s sensors were his sense of touch, feeling space around him. All worked in concert to give him the experience of swimming in the vast ocean of space. Marcus set his sights, on the jump gate leading from this system to the next, and engaged his engines.

“Warp drive, activated,” Aura intoned in his mind, and in a matter of seconds, he was clear across the solar system, some 30 Astronomical Units, and was gliding to stop for the jump gate. Technological wonders, the stargates, aka jump gates, were vital to life in New Eden. If it weren’t for the miracle that was the first gate, the Eve Gate, which led from the Earth to the system of Genesis, there would have never been human life in New Eden.

“Jumping,” Aura scrawled across the HUD in his mind, as the gate snagged his Corvette, and flung it across the stars.

That’s when it happened.

Life in New Eden is rough. The four vast empires, the Gallente Federation, the Caldari State, the Amarr Empire, and the Minmatar Republic, vie for control of Empire Space and send out patrols of privateer capsuleers to do damage to each other. Dodixie was one of five main trade hubs and was the major trade hub for the Gallente Federation. With the Caldari and their pirate outlaw allies, at war with the Gallente, they have enlisted a private corporation, to disrupt trade on the Gallente controlled space. Their primary targets are the jump gates, not to destroy them, as Concord would pull an Empire's charter for that, but those using the jump gates.

Recovering from his first system jump, Marcus wasn’t aware of the targeting of his ship until it was too late. The first shots from the gate campers took out his FTL drive and sent him into a spiral. He quickly recovered, and aligned towards the nearest gravity well, a small moon near the out planet, and gunned the afterburner. The Corvette shot to 881 meters per second, as he desperately tried to pull away from his attackers. Marcus didn’t get a chance to utter a mayday call across local channels before his ship was shot and destroyed around him. His pod ejects at the last moment, as he stayed on course. Marcus tried to activate the pod’s FTL drive, but he was too late. The corporation was ruthless, and destroyed the pod, killing Marcus in one shot from the Battlecruiser that trailed him.

Marcus awoke back in his home station, coming too inside of a new clone body. His soul transferred from his frozen corpse, seconds before the pod exploded. Disorientated he looked around before he sent an alert out about the gate camp outside of Dodixie.

~.~

Five years pass as Marcus trains to pilot, explore, and fight in bigger and better ships. Though he has trained in Battlecruisers, he has settled to specialize in Cruisers, and the Gallente made Thorax, is his second skin. The medium strength gunship is versatile for a variety of fleet actions, and he’s become deadly while in control of one. After joining a private corporation, mining, and salvage operators, Marcus is happy and content in his role, as a fleet guardian and enforcer of his corporation’s will.

o7 Fly Safe