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This is my entry to the Inspired By Images Of Eve Competition 2. More details and links to all entrants can be found at Starfleet Comms

Insurance
By Khuri

Fitted for close, nimble and deadly combat the Taranis interceptor warps through space. The destination, a dead space pocket in a nearby system where a dozen pirate ships are hiding out.
From inside the ship Darren notices something interesting in local. Through his neural connection with the ship he orders it to stop, and it drops out of warp near the gate he originally had intended to go through. He sets a new course and the ship quickly aligns accelerates and goes back into warp.

Rows and rows of people were standing ready to board the gigantic ship, one row were taken by elevator to the upper decks of the ship, others walked along the floor to the hatches in the ships mid section, and huge crates of supplies were loaded on board. Others, a young Caldari named Talus amongst them, were taken by hover platforms to the lower decks.
On his former rotation he had been assigned on a Caracal class Cruiser, where he as one of the only mechanics were assigned to repairing and rebuilding the ship when ever it took more damage than the shields could handle. He had liked his stay there, but when the captain got too cocky they had just barely made it out alive, with the ship on fire and most of the systems fried along with several hull breaches they had limped back to the station where their captain had paid the fee and let the station mechanics repair the damaged vessel. Then she had sold it and moved on to something more powerful. It had left Talus without a job. He had signed up for crew duty only to work for her again, but you couldn't decide who you worked for. With little use for an armor and hull specialist on a completely shield tanked Rokh battleship, he wasn't likely to end up serving with her again. Though he had been a little disappointed, he was determined to do his best on the gallentean battleship.

He had done his research in the limited time frame he had, the Dominix battleship had just been brought by a capsuleer named Darren, he had a nearly flawless record and had only lost a few ships to gate camps back when he had still been green. Talus' job would be overseeing repair work on the lower parts of the ship, and there would be lots of work for him. The Dominix was normally armor tanked, or in some cases hull tanked, either way he would have his work cut out.
As he waited for the platform to reach the lower hatches of the colossal vessel, he made friends with a young gallentean woman, hearts were warmed and spirits were high. There should have been rivalry or even hostility between them, but as always amongst ship crews, you simply couldn't worry about the bigger picture, you had to live day by day and you had to focus on what you were doing and everyone had to do their best. Because if you failed, you might not return alive, let alone return at all.
The woman, Nerine had little experience with anything, but she was intelligent and could keep her head cool even when things got rough. If she had been born into a more wealthy family there were no limits to what she could become, or at least that's what she claimed. She had been assigned to work under him.

They were talking well together, and being in charge of this small area, Talus used his portable computer and arranged for them to have crew quarters right next to each other even before the platform had arrived. They continued talking when he showed her to her room. “What a coincidence what we're living right next door” she said when he pointed at the door next to hers and said that that was where he'd be living. Maybe she knew, maybe she didn't, but she seemed happy that they would be able to see each other more, things were starting out well. If the computer figuring out who worked where ever assigned people to work together for higher reasons, this would be one of those times.

Not even done getting used to the fact that he would call this tiny room for his home alarms started blaring, they couldn't have undocked more than a few seconds ago. Still confused, another more subtle sound tore him back from his daze a few moments later.
Nerine were knocking at his door, she looked as if he were in a panic, she started yelling and screaming a string of nonsense, he couldn't make any meaning out of any of it. “Slow down” he commanded. “Follow me, right now!” she yelled and started running through narrow corridors. He set off and ran after her, when he stopped to help another crew member who had fallen and were laying on the floor she yanked him on, “we have NO time, we have got to hurry!” she yelled.
“What's happening?” he demanded to know, still running and doing his best to avoid tripping. Heaving for breath she still managed to explain, “he brought this ship very cheaply less than fifteen minutes ago, he paid much less regular market price.” Talus still couldn't make any sense of what she was saying, they hadn't been attacked, the ship were in perfect condition, as good as new, there seemed to be no reason for the glaring alarms or the panic. But with her next sentence, everything made sense, not that it was fair or good in anyway, but he understood.

“He's going to self destruct the ship for the insurance.” Though he had checked the pilots records, self destructs weren't listed under a pilots info as it said nothing about their combat record.
They ran past bulkheads and reinforced walls and were on the final stretch before they reached the outer hull. Four basic escape pods were still left. Not really intended to save people, but more to look good on the specifications of a ship. No, you could always find more people, but the only thing that mattered were sales figures, but they were still better than the alternative.

They saw one pod launch out successfully, they saw another being boarded by a overweight Amarrian, it had been a miracle that he had made it out there in time but his luck didn't last. After it launched it failed under his huge bulk in the artificial gravity, it crashed off the track and slid along the walls of the launch tube. The hatch leading out into open space didn't open because the pod never made it all the way. There were two pods remaining.

They saw a few people that tried cramming into the second last one. It launched ok, but they would never make it anyway, the air would run out unless rescuers came very quickly, but that was unlikely. “Come” she dragged him towards the last tube, “we are going to make it” she said. He wasn't inclined to agree. He didn't want the pod to crash like the one with the Amarrian in it, nor did he want to suffocate right before they got rescued, but he also couldn't just take it, if it hadn't been for her, he would still be wondering what the hell was going on from inside his quarters. “Lucky he said” while leading her into the tube. When both of them were almost inside, he pushed her all the way in, then took a step back and punched the emergency launch button on the outside. She came to, realized what he had done and tried prying the closed hatch open, they didn't budge. He could see her crying and yelling, but he didn't hear anything apart for the hissing launch mechanism. Then it ejected her out into space with a tiny wisp of escaping air before the inner hatch sealed to preserve the vital atmosphere as if it would mattered in a few moments time. He gave her a finger kiss and turned around, then he ran from the hatches. He ran along the outer hull scouting for more pods, when he located one a fair distance away the glaring alarm got louder and more sincere, there was no time.

When a ship takes too much damage and stops working it's a slow process, fires erupt, vital systems shuts down one by one and crew either panics or desperately tries anything they can think of to keep the ship together under the onslaught, it wasn't nice but there was hope, but the self destruct came from the inside specifically designed to wreck the ship completely. The complete destruction of the huge ship was nearly instant but not painless.
Talus got hammered by the shock wave that ruptured the massive armor plating in the outer hull, then it too jettisoned him into empty space but with out a space suit or life pod. His blood boiled and froze at the same time while vacuum pulled his body in all directions at the same time. In the empty space he died silently not knowing if Nerine would make it out alive, or if both of them would have lived if he had stayed in the pod with her.

In the last second before the ship exploded Darren repositioned the camera drones to give him a better view and as the ship exploded, it sent small tremors through the fluid in his capsule he felt in his bones while he enjoyed the bright explosion. When it was over he gave his escape capsule the command to dock.
He boarded his Taranis again, with the ISK he made from the insured battleship and the insurance on the Taranis he'd be able to buy and fit a new interceptor in case he lost to the pirates he had been asked to take care of.
Then he went out to take even more lives with out a care in the world.