Pride, in the right situations, can become the defining quality of a lot people, while persistence and tenacity may be the defining quality for others. For us, at the time, Pride, Persistence, and Tenacity, were among the top qualities many of us had, but as a united group, I believe it was the bond we had formed with each other in which we were able to accomplish, not only in the past, but in the battles we had defending what many of us declared our home.
Personal feelings aside it was with those pilots, and at that time, in which I've had among the most fun in New Eden. It will never be forgotten nor shall it ever be soiled.
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"The day we took that action, we sealed our fates."
It was not long after the start of the year when it happened. My alliance was rejoiced and seemed to be thriving in our newly acquired space in Providence. 9-F0B2, a system in the northern part of the Providence region, at the time, a region under jurisdiction of CVA and it's allies, know as the Providence Bloc (Provi Bloc). Life was pretty good...until that one day.
There was a mail out not too long before, and rumors were all about. When we received orders from the top, preparations were made. It seemed like such short notice. Before long we were in the rally system, one of several, in a combined force that would make several sections of New Eden blush. It was really something to behold. The coordination, a task of near impossibility in itself, was remarkably well done considering the numbers we were dealing with. The first couple of days went very smoothly, surprisingly enough, due to a distracted enemy...however, it was not long before the tides turned.
I'll never forget that day...I was flying one of several Heretic-class Interdictor ships. I knew that they'd be needed and stocked up previously. The fleets moved into position and then the order to jump was given. The Stargate strained as the combined total mass surely seemed impossible to easily move. Indeed some ships got left behind, but lucky them. After we found ourselves in the destination system, one couldn't help but be speechless. Armada of enemy ships surrounded us on nearly all sides of space at nearly any imaginable distance. The first volleys from both sides were fired and in a flash, space was lit up.
My ship went through several grueling hours of battle that night, surprisingly enough. Although with each run, it was easy to tell she wouldn't last long. Nearly every system in the red, sparks and smoke filling the entire interior of the craft. And then, the next thing I remember is waking up in a new clone. I got very familiar with that process over the course of the next month or two.
Even though it wasn't exactly a new CTA every day, we were always fighting. We fought tooth and nail, especially when it came time for them to assault our system. Our spirits, aside from several defeats and moderate victories, were high when it came to this point. Sure, the entire war was essentially already lost at that point, but we saw the battle for our system to be not only a challenge we would meet with everything we could muster, but a battle where we could fight it our way and have as much fun as we could doing it. We had POSes set up at every moon, our valuables were out of danger and in the safety of Concord patrolled space. My ships were lined up in the hangers, fitted and onlined, ready to go at a moment's notice.
I was thrilled to finally have that moment, where we knew allied support would be scarce, where we were going to be trying our best and using every available tool at our disposal. As I walked through the station corridors, I could see looks of the eagerness for combat amongst fellow alliance and corp members. We all knew that our chances of success were nearly zero, but we did not care. We knew what had to be done, we knew what was on the line. Most of all, we knew each other. Many of us had been flying together since the formation of the alliance, some of us, even before that. It was a brotherhood in most cases, a family in others. Each and every one of us shared a bit of our lives with everyone else. Nothing showed it more than the battles we had over 9-F0B2. Before the battles, war cries were heard, prayers were said, words of encouragement passed around. We had bar parties the night before, celebration for our friendships and what we had accomplished in such short time. It was a farewell, but on the best terms we could possibly send off on.
It was time
The initial siege was quick, putting our structures into reinforcement modes, activating their timers. We were finally glad to see it happen, as we were sick of waiting, and now we had a definite timeline for the events. The alarms went off throughout the station and hangers, several pilots could be seen running about, getting into their ships or making the final preparations. I found myself aboard 'Medic!' my Guardian-class logistics ship. She had served me very well in dozens of skirmishes and battles in the past, yet, I knew that her time was up. Our time was up, every ship we would fight with, every POS we had put up, the whole system. We knew it....but we weren't going down without a fight. We wanted to ensure there would be a bloody nose on our attackers, even if we were filled with holes.
As we undocked to regroup, there was a bit of silence on our comm network. We all looked around us, the stars, the planets, the moons and the nebula. It was solemn, like when we first started to occupy it, we were struck by the system's natural beauty. We all gave a salute, to a home that had been good to us, and we figured we had to repay the favor.
The ships were positioned and we were ready for the real fighting to begin. With little warning, they poured into the system. Within moments, fighting erupted everywhere. Calls for primaries and support and orders were flooding the comm networks, space lit up in a frenzy for fireworks, lasers and guns, missiles and drones. No ship was safe, especially not mine. I could hear the hull stress at the volleys, allied repairing ships keeping me afloat as I did likewise for them. Ships were slowly going down, on both sides, but we were dropping more quickly. More and more opponents showed up until before I knew it, my ship was in the red, alarms blaring all about me before I woke up in station. Without waiting, I was back in the cockpit of another ship, ready to fight.
And It wasn't only I who did this. No. Practically every single one of us. Within a couple of minutes we were back in the fight, our guns getting hotter than a sun's supernova, our hulls filled with more holes than there were stars in the sky. From battleships to Frigates to eventually capitals and everything in between. Our clones were being activated right as they came into existence.
When it was all said and done, we had lost the system and everything along with it. Many of us, like myself, lost dozens of ships. However we wouldn't have traded it for the world. An experience in which we lived and accomplished our best. We have since began other projects, but we will always remember the battles in 9-F0B2 to be our greatest moment, not for victories or anything like that, but because it was where we were ourselves and making the best of the situation. If any of us had a chance to change any bit of it, I do not think any one of us would change a single aspect of it.
So now I float around in space, keeping an eye on things here and there. I harbor no hate towards our opponents that forced us out...they fought well, instead, I wish all of the new residents of the area luck. We will probably meet again later on down the road, but until then, I'm just enjoying the views from space.- Excerpt from Dewgong's Journal Logs
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On a real-world relation, it was said that in WWI and WWII, combative pilots, RAF usually, would fly beside or upside down above their opponents largely before the fight (sometimes during or after) and would salute them. This was done out of respect for their opponents, not just for skill, but acknowledgement that they have offered their lives to their country. Such a commitment is never an easy thing, nor small. Especially between soldiers of other countries and sides, it is one common bond that makes us respect each other. Knowing the sacrifices and risks, how can one not respect another? It is with this sort of attitude that I look onto my opponents. Those who fight fairly, with respect, honesty, and in good spirit, I will never hate, nor have grudges against. I will have the utmost respect for that individual (or individuals if it is not just one person). Just because we may have not been friends on the field of battle, does not mean we wouldn't be friends in other ways.
Fly Safe \o
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Topic: One's Thoughts (Read 1502 times)