When to Fight and When to Run

Region: Aridia
Constellation: Anama
Solar System: Zayi
Planet: Zayi X - Moon 7
Station: Pend Insurance Investment Bank

Helping her climb out of the capsule, Selina's personal attendants quickly threw a blanket over her naked body. Slowly, they guided her unstable form to a nearby cot within the room and guided her down. She shivered uncontrollably, her teeth clattering noisily against each other. The attendants knew though that her trembling had nothing to do with the temperature in the room. In fact, they were nearly all shaken up pretty badly by the very recent event. So close had they all come to death, that any man or woman who didn't carry a desire for it trembled now as their beloved pilot did. To see her so shaken now, even with the knowledge that she would in essence live on, being cloned back at their homebase while they were permanently erased from existance....it made them love her even more. It was a reminder that she was just as human as they with real thoughts and real emotions. That she did care for the lives of her crew and ship.

It had all happened so quickly. The blare of the warning sirens. The sudden jolting of the ship and the deafening sounds of impact as missile after missile had smashed against the armor of the Thorax cruiser, comically named Flying Dildo, tearing chunks away with each strike. The automated computer voice called out over the corridor speakers, "All hands. Battlestations. All hands. Battlestations."

What was hoped to be a leisurely cruise back to homebase after visiting the place where it all started. The birthplace of all that was Eve. The solar system known as New Eden. In an instant, the cruise had turned from one of leisure to a desperate fight for survival.

The ship's crew captain entered the logistics deck in a flurry.

"Status report. Now!"

"We're under attack sir," exclaimed the navigations officer in wide eyed fear.

"Well no shit we're under attack you twit! Now damnit, can somebody with half a brain cell tell me what's going on?!"

Immediantly, the ordinance officer stood to attention even as the ship rocked under the impact of yet another missile. "Sir! We got two bogies inbound! A heavy interdictor, ship class Onyx, and a command ship, class Nighthawk!"

The captain's knees nearly buckled at the news. Immediantly he knew they were no match for the two attackers. Their chances against one of those two were slim. To be confronted with both?

"Pilot status?"

"I'm fine captain." came the computerized voice of the pilot encased within her capsule below the very deck they stood on. "Prepare all hands for combat."

The captain spun his head in surprise towards the pilot status monitors, the closest connection they had at present with the capsuleer besides her voice over the speakers. "Prepare for what?!"

"You heard me captain. The Onyx has us scrammed and ONLY the Onyx is attacking. We jump back through the gate and you can be assured that command ship will follow along with possibly what was a third attacker we passed at the gate. So we have two options, engage now against the Onyx, a cruiser sized vessel in hopes of breaking free, or jump through and be faced with a battlecruiser sized vessel and a second possible bogey. Personally, with the neuts, I like my odds against that cruiser."

The captain nodded. It really didn't matter whether he agreed or not. What Selina said, went without question. Immediantly he turned. "All hands, prepare for combat! Deploy drones. Cycle the blasters, prepare to active neutralizers as soon as we're in range!"

Standing behind it, grasping the rear of his command chair, he watched out the thick windows as the ship rocketed towards the Onyx, blasters now spitting bolts of federation anti-matter against the powerful shields of the Onyx. Just as instructed, once range was achieved, the neutralizers kicked on, reaching out to grasp the Caldari vessel with its viscious assault. Immediantly the crew braced themselves as the hulls of the two ships slammed into each other. Immediantly, the ship pivoted about as Selina guided the vessel to align towards a random celestial. Having opened fire, she knew the stargates would not allow her to pass but right now, anywhere even in system was better than here. Seconds passed. Seconds that felt like hours as they waited breathlessly in hopes of a break. As the ship entered structure, warning sirens going off as sections of the ship were torn open, exposing areas of the ship to the vacuum of space, each man felt the claws of death reaching out to them. Each one watched their lives spin before their eyes as often does before one passes to the next life. And when the space outside them suddenly began to stretch in the usual sign of entering warp, not a breath could be heard.

It took them all a moment to realize what had just happened. To realize that the swirling lights they now saw were not the blur of death, but rather the blur of warp space. They had made it. Their ship had broken free of the Onyx's grip, catapulting them away from their near doom. They had left their drones behind... but the loss of computer controlled scraps of metal versus living flesh and blood.... It was a loss they were more than willing to accept.

They were of course not out of the fire yet. In essence bouncing off the celestial, they entered warp once more, guiding them to a safe spot they'd made along their path of escape. It was unknown if their attackers had probes but it would at least be some form of safety until they could once again pass through the gates. They all knew as well the two attackers were not leaving any time soon either given they'd both opened fire on their ship.

Soon, the armor had been nearly restored and the standard amount of time had passed. Quickly, Selina urged the damaged ship into warp once more, bolting for their exit stargate. As soon as the ship was through, she turned the ship towards the nearest station and urged it quickly into warp. Just in time, the stargate faded away into the distance just as they saw the local comm list screen grow with the entrance of their two attackers. Run, and try to get ahead and away? Or dock up and wait for them to leave? Selina chose the latter. One brush with death was enough for one night.

Sitting in the station now, recovering from their near death experience, the comm screen lit up with the face of one of her attackers:

Aiden Emmagan > ;)
Selina Starfire > :) gj btw earlier. nearly had me
Aiden Emmagan > ;)
Aiden Emmagan > okay you pay aiden emmagan bounty on the head (roughly 36mil) and we let you fly :)
Selina Starfire > LOL, or i just call it a night and go to bed like i should be doin. :P
Aiden Emmagan > tz tz :/
Selina Starfire > while leaving my char logged in just to annoy ya :P
Aiden Emmagan > ;)
KingSmash > gn8 ;) fly save

Pay a ransom?? Were they serious?? They had their chance and they lost it. They screwed up. And yet they still believed she would pay a ransom now that she was safely docked?! "Psht.... move along and find someone with a little less intelligence, with a little less patience and a little more fear boys," she thought to herself with amusement as she finally rose from the cot and offered to buy all the crew a round or two down at the station bar and maybe catch a flick or somethin while they were at it. Sides, they prolly had some time to kill...