The Life of a Capsuleer: An EVE Online Story - 4. Jovian Nights

Jovian Nights

“We got this weird crate over here… does anyone know where it came from?” Jonatan, who was Marcus’ Crew Chief, yelled across the hanger deck. “Anyone? Anyone?” The crate in question was a large shipping container, of a unique design, over 500 m3 in volume.

After the implosion of the Rincon Mining and Salvage Corporation, Marcus had sent word to his Crew Chief to make an inventory of his personal belongings in his hanger, and to have a few Security Personnel watch over his ships. Unlike the rest of the old Corp, Marcus kept his ship’s crew on a personal payroll to supplement what they made on the Corporation’s. The result was a loyal crew that stayed with Marcus when the rest of the teams disbanded with the Corp.

“Seriously, no one knows where this crate came from?”

“Let me check,” Liz said, as she walked over from where she was counting ammo crates. “Did you even check the barcode?”

“Um… it has one?”

With a sigh, Liz took her datapad and scanned the barcode that was attached near the locking mechanism, and looked the information over. “Says here, it was taken from the Drifter Battleship. I’m surprised Marcus hasn’t had it cracked open yet.” She eyed the mass of it, “What do you think it is Chief? It’s about the size of a disassembled Corvette.”

Jonatan shook his head no, “Nah, not big enough. But it’s bigger than a shuttle. Some Drifter tech maybe?”

“If it were, the feds or one of those Science Corps would be all over his jock trying to get a sniff. I need to get back to counting Chief, need me to read anything else for you?”

“Har-de-har-har, Liz. Nah, I must have missed the sticker. Been worried about the Cap since he went to Dodixie, you know how he broods when Evan is done with him. I don’t want to see the Cap get his heart broken, again.”

“Ah… you’re such a romantic Chief,” Liz joked, and walked back to her ammo crates laughing.

~.~

Marcus had arrived at his old home station three hours ago and now sat in the old Corporation’s conference room. The station’s owner had already retaken possession of the offices but was allowing Marcus to rent the space for a few hours. The twenty-five member crew he has paid, fought with, and took care of all sat in the room around the table with him. His Crew Chief, and First Officer Jonatan, and Second Officer Liz sat at his left and right, while the others sat wherever around the table.

“Thank you all for coming,” Marcus started saying. He paused briefly, looking at each person's face. “I will be honest with you all. I only knew a couple of hours before the rest of you of the Corporation going bankrupt. However, I suspected it for a few days now, after I was let in that the Stockholders were demanding a payout. Which is why I made sure there was a bonus added to the last payout of your salvage pay. I know none of you are under contract to fly with me anymore, but I need you. If you agree to fly with me, I’ll meet your old corporate pay, plus the additional I was paying you, and pay for relocation. And once I re-enlist with a Corporation, if you sign on with them, I’ll still keep paying the additional. Even if your new contracted rate is higher.”

“The offer sounds outstanding Captain,” said Gijaro, a Minmatar born young man, and one of the best mechanics in four systems, “and I feel I can speak for the rest of us, that we want to keep flying with you. But… you said relocation. To where?”

Marcus smiled and nodded at the man. “Dodixie, and be based out of the Federation Navy Assembly Plant station, until we can get back with a Corporation.”

“How long do we have, to decide, Captain? I’m not sure, I can uproot my family, and move stations,” came from one of the Gunnery Specialists, a lady by the name of Jillian.

“I can give anyone who wishes time to think it over, a couple of days. That’ll give me time to transfer stuff via freight, and a new cloning contract setup.”

“Well, this begs the question, why Dodixie? Granted it’s a trade hub, but you’ll have idiot gankers scanning ships for resources every time you undock,” Jillian asked again.

All eyes looked at Marcus, as he looked down at the table, and blushed some. “Because I’m getting back with Evan. He’s offered to let move into his place, and as a Vice Commander in the Militia, he has a nice billet. He also has some pull with the station’s brass and has already had an office, hanger, and a wing in the private section set aside for all of you and your families. All of this will be free of charge too.”

Silence hung thick in the air among those gathered. Opened mouth stares of disbelief were the main reaction Marcus received.

“Captain, no offense… but how can Evan pull that off?” It was Liz who asked the question, which everyone had thought.

“That… I have no answer for. I wish I knew,” Marcus replied in a sincere voice. He didn’t know how Evan had pulled it off, and part of him didn’t want to know. “I’ll step out, and let you all discuss my offer. Anyone that wishes to continue flying me stop by my room, and we’ll do up some contracts, and make it all SCC & Concordia Certified. Thank you, and no matter what, I love you all as a family.”

Marcus stood up, smiled at everyone, and left the conference room.

~.~

Marcus was still stunned the next morning. About an hour after the meeting, Jonatan and Liz came to his place, to inform him that all of the crew members had decided to remain members of the team. It took the trio the rest of the night to draft contracts, get them signed, and certified by Concord. He sat in the Station’s Officer Mess Hall, eating breakfast when Jonatan and Liz approached him.

“Captain, good morning,” they both said as they sat down with their breakfasts.

“How are you two this morning?” Marcus asked, between sips of coffee.

“Doing fine,” Liz said, as she dug into her oatmeal.

“It’s been a peaceful morning, Captain,” Jonatan started. “Mind if I ask you a personal question?”

“Go ahead, Jon. You know I’ll discuss whatever with you two.”

Jonatan nodded some, swallowed his bite of food, “So, you’re getting back with Evan?”

“I was waiting for this…” Marcus said, and let out a soft sigh. “Yes. In fact,” he held out his hand to show the manly engagement ring, “he proposed to me. I told him I would have to think about it, but I called him this morning, and told him yes.”

Liz took Marcus’ hand and looked at the ring. It was a simple design, plain and unadorned, but the ring was three entwined bands of three different metals. Black, Silver, and Pale Green were the three colors of the bands, each being a metal mined from asteroids of New Eden. “This is gorgeous and worth a lot. I’m happy for you Marcus.” She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

“Thanks,” he said blushing.

“Congrats Marcus, I hope it’s a happy affair for the two of you. Also, finally, he wised up and made an honest man of you,” Jonatan said with a laugh, and a light punch to the shoulder.

They all shared a laugh, and small talked while they finished breakfast.

~.~

Marcus, Jonatan, and Liz sat on stools at the mechanics bench, in the private hanger. They were going over the reports, made schedules of what belongings of his, and the crews’ were going first to Dodixie. “I think that about wraps everything up. The Venture and the Tristan will be shipped as freight, and I’ll pilot the Thorax. Mad Dog Movers, will handle the shipping, and the families will be shuttled by the Feds.” Marcus stated as he finalized the shipping manifests.

“Sounds about right Captain,” Liz said. “Pretty smart sending the families on a Fed passenger liner, as we don’t know if there will be any gate campers.”

“Marcus, can you afford all this? I mean, you just booked first-class passage for about 100 people, pets, and belongings. Not to mention, how much you’re paying us, and the freight shipping?” Jonatan asked. “You’re easily spending Ƶ1.5Billion ISK, on moving everything.”

“I’ll let you two in on something,” Marcus said. He quickly brought up a financials listing on his datapad, and turned it so they could see the screen.

“Holy, fuck…” Liz said. She sat stunned looking at the screen.

“Gods damn… Marcus, what the hell are you doing being a pilot of a starship?” Jonatan asked sincerely.

“I love flying, and well being immortal, you need a nest egg.”

“That’s not a nest egg. That’s an entire fucking coup.”

Marcus smiled some, and looked at his two best friends, “After I became a capsuleer, and left the Academy, I did a series of jobs for the Sisters of Eve. During one of those missions, I ended up sucked into a wormhole, in a frigate with just me and Aura. My crew died as my ship was all beat to hell in the passage. It wasn’t a normal wormhole; Jovians were using it as data storage. After hacking into a data site, I used my Hobgoblin1s, and the Salvager1 array, to transfer the physical items I looted from there, while I downloaded all the Jovian blueprint specs. Over the past four years, I’ve been selling the goods.”

“And that’s how you ended up with more money than most major corporations. Hell, I think you could buy half of the Gallente Empire?” Liz asked.

“Exactly… haven’t you two ever wondered why, I paid you all bonuses above what the Corp did, plus you all were contracted at about 1.5 normal rates?”

“I had, but quickly dismissed it, as none of my business,” Jonatan stated, and Liz agreed.

Marcus nodded again, and looked at the two of them his expression serious, “I have things set up in such a way, that if anything happens to me, you two and the crew will be set for the rest of your lives. I look out for my family, which you all are. Seeing, as I cannot have children of my own.”

“I didn’t know that. Clones can’t have kids?” Liz asked.

“Nope, my gun is firing blanks, and women clones are not capable of supporting fetuses. It’s a tradeoff for becoming immortal.”

“So why did you do it?” Jonatan asked, he stood up, and walked over to a counter, and refilled their coffees before he brought them back.

“Thanks,” Marcus said. “Why did I become a Capsuleer? Back on my homeworld in Couster, they test all kids at certain grade levels. At eight grade is the final test, to see which education track the State would pay for, for the rest of your high school years. You had Vocational, Military, and University studies, and what you placed on the test is which of those three they put you in. Your family could override the test, but then you would have to pay out of pocket for it. I tested for Military, but it was rigged, we all knew it. They had a quota to meet, and both boys and girls ended up on the Military track, more often than not. My parents objected, as they were freethinkers, and thought the military was just a bunch of death dealers. But they were poor, and couldn’t afford to pay for something else.” He paused to take a sip of his coffee and turned to look at his friends.

“There was one last option. I could opt for capsuleer training. Spend the rest of my High School years learning what I needed to know, and three years of prep for the transition. I took it. My parents hated it. They were supportive of me when I told them I was Gay, but when I told them I had signed up for capsuleer training, well that was too much. I ended up on the streets, and disowned by them.”

“That’s horrible,” Liz said. She reached over and hugged Marcus.

“Thanks. I’ve talked to them a few times, but they don’t want anything to do with me. They said, that when I died on the table, that their son died, and I’m nothing more than some painful living reminder of who I was to them… though my Brother does still talk to me. I’ve funneled money to him, and I paid for his private school training as well. He wants to go Capsuleer too, but I keep telling him to wait. Have a family, have kids, live first.”

“That’s when you met Evan wasn’t it?” Jonatan asked.

“Yes. When I chose to undergo capsuleer training, I met Evan in the programming. There was a special Academy we went to, and his family took me in when I ended up on the streets. So, we were together for seven years, and then on and off for the last five while he went Militia, and I went privateer.”

“So, do you hate the Military and the Militia?” Liz asked. “Just curious why you shied from it.”

“Do I hate them? No. I hated I didn’t have a choice that I was being forced into it. The Gallente Federation is about individual liberty and responsibility. Not being forced into a choice you don’t want. I’ll work with the Federation Navy, but I won’t join them. Hell, I have not only myself but twenty-five other people to worry about. It’s bad enough we got idiots out there, who pay no mind to theirs and others non-capsuleer crews. Every time we undock, I worry if it is the last time, I bring home any of you. I hate that.”

The three finished their coffees and talked among themselves as they ended the business side of prepping to leave.

~.~

Marcus stood, alone in front of the drifter tech crate in his storage area. He approached the locking mechanism and keyed in a code that no one else knew about, and the side of the container opened. He opened the side door looking inside the shipping canister and saw the disassembled ship and other storage units. He went to those. He opened the small one and found the implant he was looking for, and the medium container had an exosuit built for a capsuleer. He packed these into a duffle bag, and left the container, closing and locking it again.

It was all Drifter and Jovian tech, and the ship could set him up for the next thousand years, easily by itself. But, the implant and suit was the prize he’s sought for since his time in the Wormhole.

“Now, to make sure, my family is protected, forever.”

o7 Fly Safe