The following story takes place in an alternate timeline. This isn't meant to be completely Lore friendly. It's just meant to be a look into a different time and place, where New Eden is not the same as it is now. ALso note that I chose not to include the greater nullsec community in this story for a reason: I didn't have any good ideas for how to include them without breaking flow.
Eden's End
Lord Admiral Turimos Vanar stood alone at the bridge of his flagship. The consoles were unmanned. Red strobes bathed the room around him in flashing crimson, and klaxons sounded in the distance. Automated evacuation warnings continued to play on repeat. As tiny pinpricks of blue light escaped from the Eden Alliance flagship
EAV Bastion, lances of sickeningly green energy continued to carve her up like butter.
"
Self destruct in T-minus fifteen seconds.", came Aura's voice through the intercom.
The great craft glides forward through space towards the nearest enemy capital, full speed and falling apart at the seams. Across every deck and corridor of the majestic flagship sounds the drone of Aura's voice.
"
Self Destruct in T-minus ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. One."
"I'll see you there.", Vanar whispered to nobody.
His last moments were filled with the deafening sound of rushing air, followed immediately by unforgiving cold. Blackness takes him, and in that instant, Sansha Kuvakei had finally won.
***
YC120 - Insorum, and the means to produce it, is rediscovered in an abandoned rogue drone hive.
YC125 - Minmatar "Freedom Raiders" begin invading the Amarr Empire using Insorum and brute force to free their people. Empress Jamyl I comdemns the illegal raids and demands CONCORD intervention. The Republic denies any involvement with the illegal raids. CONCORD refuses to intervene.
YC126 - Mentas Blaque comes out of "retirement" to run for the Presidency of the Gallente Federation. He wins by a landslide. Concerns of election fraud are quickly silenced. President Blaque announces his plan for tax reform to great popular support.
YC129 - The Minmatar Republic is found to be directly funding illegal freedom raids. The Amarr Empire shuts down its borders with the Republic and files a formal ultimatum with CONCORD. Intervene, or the Empire will go to war.
YC130 - The Amarr Empire withdraws from the Yulai Convention in protest.
YC131 - Relations between the Caldari and Gallente sour over imposition of unusually high new taxes on all traffic to and from the demilitarized Caldari homeworld. President Blaque steps down from office, newly elected Hans Nardieu of the Federal Nationalist Party is sworn into office.
YC132 - After an incident on the Ammatar-Amarr border, two Imperial Navy warships are destroyed by DED vessels protecting a Republic transport in Ammatar space. Empress Jamyl I declares CONCORD an outlaw organization and levies bounties on any DED vessel operating within Empire territory.
YC133 - Relations between the State and Federation worsen still. The infamously unreliable Tripwire defense network is falsely triggered. President Nardieu mobilizes the Federation Navy to the border despite opposition in the moderate Senate. The State reacts in kind.
YC134 - CONCORD has been ousted from Imperial space by brute force. Empress Jamyl I announces the 25th Imperial Crusade against the Minmatar Republic and Gallente Federation, signaling the start of the first true Reclaiming in over 100 years. The Caldari State withdraws from the Yulai Convention citing lack of confidence.
YC135 - CONCORD finally declares both the Amarr Empire and Caldari State legitimate targets. President Nardieu declares war on the Caldari State. The Minmatar Republic stops sending ambassadors to Yulai, caught up in a war it cannot win alone.
YC136 - A large Guristas force is spotted heading towards the Caldari border...The capsuleers were entrusted with the safety of New Eden. They had failed. For decades, they bled the coffers of CONCORD dry and allowed Kuvakei to operate only mildly obstructed within Empire space. Driven by blind greed, the Capsuleers had failed to question why Kuvakei's tactics rarely changed. They failed to question why his ships kept coming back. They failed to realize it was all a distraction. It was all a test.
The Caldari were the first to meet their annihilation. On the morning of July 7th YC136, a massive Guristas incursion into Caldari space was halted. However, reports from the Navy commanders on the scene stated that where possible, pirate vessels did not stop to engage the Navy and appeared to be fleeing. As media outlets struggled to understand and come to terms with the remarkable events, the reasons became clear within hours.
Completely bypassing the stargate network, hordes of Nation battleships crossed the border. Caught completely by surprise, the magnificent Caldari Navy was no match for the literally endless stream of warships. For every battleship eliminated at great cost to the Caldari, ten more took its place. With the Caldari Navy deployed in the war with the Federation, those home units were unable to stem the tide. Within six months, the Megacorporations collapsed and the Caldari State ceased to exist. As Caldari refugees fled to all corners of New Eden, and former Caldari Navy units surrendered to the Federation, all eyes turned towards The Caldari Border Zone to see what would emerge. For near to two years, nothing did.
Entrance to former State space was blocked, with all receiving stargates destroyed. Reports emerged of capsuleers fighting a losing battle to retain their own space in nullsec. The same stories appeared time and time again. Entire fleets immune to stargate interdiction moving from region to region, annihilating everything in their path.
Seeing the fate of the mighty Caldari and the sudden recall of all Imperial warships back to Amarr space, the Republic was thrown into absolute panic. Isemor Eiotta, Chief of the Thukker Tribe, offered the Republic a plan. For centuries, they had been scouting the lands beyond known nullsec, and they alone had the know how to live on the move. The Republic was to leave New Eden permanently. All seven tribes contributed every possible resource to the construction of great worldships. Alongside the entire Republic capital fleet, these worldships would carry the Minmatar people beyond the borders of known space.
Nation warships invaded again in YC138, carving a gaping hole into both Imperial and Federation space. Federation core worlds quickly fell to the tide of Nation warships. The President of the Federation surrendered to Empress Jamyl I personally and begged for asylum. The Empress agreed, merging the Federation into the Empire as a vassal state.
With the stargate network effectively useless as a strategic tool of control against the Nation military, traditional warfare took precedence. Eventually, Nation warp-jump technology was captured and reverse engineered, put to use on a prototype Amarr-Gallente built fleet. During the climactic battle of Hedion, Nation warships were driven back by the new fleet, marking the first decisive victory against the new Nation. Tactics and technology learned from this battle were used in equal success, freeing multiple systems from the enemy.
Empress Jamyl I died in combat during the year YC 140. The New Amarr Emperor, Ariticio Kor-Azor, announced the official formation of the
Eden Alliance, a multicultural merger of the vassal Federation and Empire. The ancillary invasion of the Republic by Nation forces not occupied on the Nation-Alliance front forced the early departure of the Minmatar worldships. Billions were left behind, including the entire Nefantar Tribe by volunteer. Celebrated as heroes, the Nefantar deployed against Nation in a suicidal effort to buy the worldships some time. Despite their courage, the Nefantar fleet was annihilated in a single engagement within two hours of the opening shots, but the worldships successfully made their first jump nearly eighty light-years south into nullsec.
The Alliance managed to fortify its borders against Sansha's Nation for a time. However in YC145, a new vessel appeared within Nation ranks. Bristling with battleship and capital grade weapons, and carrying swarm fighters that bear striking resemblance to Rogue Drones, these new battle-carriers were dubbed "
Torment" class. To the shock of many, they also sported 360° point defense coverage against anything smaller than a cruiser. In ten separate engagements, these new vessels contributed to the destruction of the Alliance's few remaining capital ships.
Once again, the Alliance was on the retreat.
In YC146, the Alliance finally rushed into service two of its own battlecarriers, the
EAV Bastion and
EAV Jamyl, just as Nation forces close in on the Alliance capitol system of Hedion. It's too little, too late.
***
"All ships, focus fire on target Torment Theta. Concentrate on their aft reactor vents!", Admiral Vanar shouted. In space, the blue pulses from the
EAV Bastion hurtled towards their target, exploding with blistering rage along the hull. For all the violence of the combined Alliance fleet directed at the monstrosity, it did not seem to care. Ignoring the gaping and melted wounds in its hull, it continued towards Hedion Prime.
Despite the dying explosions of one Torment class battlecarrier, the battle was already proving a decisive victory for Kuvakei. Green lines streak across the black sky, moving in the direction of a heavily modified Abaddon. In a single pass, the entire ship is sliced in half by the
Torment. A blinding flash of blue light signals the warp core failure of the venerable battleship. The skies fill with debris and weapons fire as warships clash constantly. Piece by piece, the Alliance fleet is torn asunder. From every visible angle, more Nation ships emerge from warp and join the fray.
"Admiral Vanar.", a female voice sounds through the comms.
"Admiral Newelle.", Vanar replies in unconcealed despair.
"It has been an honor serving with you, Turimos.", she says almost warmly.
"Though, you never did buy me that drink."Vanar laughs, shocking even himself with the sudden burst of joy he feels from it.
"Yeah. I'll buy you one when this is all over, okay?" Looking out his viewscreen, he sees the
EAV Jamyl turning towards one of the
Torments and accelerating. The smile fades away.
"Mitara?""Do you even remember what my favorite drink is?", she teases. Vanar quickly checks with his bridge crew, confirming the
Jamyl is indeed on a direct collision course with the enemy capital.
Vanar knows what this means. Blinking his watering eyes, he nods and laughs out a half smile and teases back,
"Yeah... Quafe, right?" Closing faster and faster, Vanar watches with bloodshot eyes as his friend plays her final card.
"You old bastard!", she laughs mirthfully,
"You never were any goo--""Mitara?"To his expected horror, the
Jamyl slams bow first into the side of the massive Nation battlecarrier, shattering the entire forward superstructure of the former. Silence takes the bridge, before a blinding flash of light whites out both vessels. The shockwave ripples out, vaporizing friendly and foe alike for hundreds of kilometers before finally dissipating. Both ships are gone.
Vanar barely has time to comprehend what just happened before the
Bastion comes under withering fire from the remaining Nation flagships. Now fully aware of how dangerous that last Alliance battlecarrier is, Kuvakei has changed tactics to eliminate it first. Even before this point though, the fate of the Alliance was sealed. Nation warships have taken up orbit around Hedion Prime and begun flooding the planet with nanite clouds and dropships.
Vanar is knocked off his feet by a nearby explosion. For a moment, the artificial gravity shuts down and his feet begin to lift from the deck, before finally dropping back down as gravity is restored. With a heavy voice, he gives the final order.
"Full speed forward on target Torment Epsilon, collision course. Ramming speed. Set self destruct, two minutes. Abandon ship."***
((Fixed errors with present and past tense. Fixed typos and readability issues here and there.))
Author
Topic: Eden's End (Read 3776 times)