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Written by Jinko Jar
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The Thorax Lemans had brought with him was going under. A last volley from my neutron blasters tore through its last hulls, and everyne had a moment of silence as we saw the vessel implode onto itsef. I felt angry with LeMans. I knew him well enough to know he had probably tricked a careerminded lieutnant to follow him right into a losing situation. if for nothing but a chance toget himself out of a tricky situation. Now he had sacrificed this young commander without a second of remorse while still arrogantly assuming his target would succumb. Arrogance, a deadly sin LeMans was born with...What was he planning .. why was he here, now ?
 LeMans Navy Mega was in reality in much better shape than mine. With its better restistances, more armor and better setup, it should have been pretty hard to get, even for a wolfpack like ours. His face was pale, yellowish as i had him onscreen in my commandcentre. Lines were startingt o show in his face, none that gave compliments to his aristocratic features. Back in the academy LeMans had boasted about his lineage, from the aristocratic ancenstry on what we knew as earth, thousands of years ago - noone believed him ofcourse- but we all knew his family hailed from a long line of (irritatingly arrogant) corporation big brass.
 " Jinko - stop this taddling around. You are commanded by a Federation commander to power down and surrender. Violation of Federation legislation only condemns you deeper that you already are. At best you will have 20 years in stasis, and a subsequent mind erase. Perhaps i will even advice the jury to let you back into service as a foot soldier when that time come. Be civil about this and save us both more trouble!"
  Save us both more trouble? There were a word I hadn’t heard LeMans use before. He never included anyone in his plans, and surely not US along with anything troublesome. An idea started to form in my mind.
" Tell me LeMans - how is your uncle the admiral these days? I heard he had some misfortune in the last fleet battle with the Amarrans... "
 For a split second i saaw a shadow of fear draw across his face - the admiral heading the LeMans family had made a major strategic error, losing a massive force in a recent fleet run-in with the Amarrans. Milions of lives lost by the Gallentean with little than no casualties on the enemy side. 4 motherships lost, 1 Titan and a flurry of minor support ships. The reason why i hadnt been told, but knowing the LeMans arrogance, i assume the Admiral had been counting on bravery les than preparations and EM restiance which the Amarrans like to deal.
 It became clearer to me why LeMans were venturing outside his comfort zone, and why he had not brought an entire battlegroup with himself
" Who was your friend we killed back there, commander? I wonder if he volunteered, or if you had to coerce his attendance, LeMans ?"
" My captains follow orders, Jinko, as opposed to you. He will be revived at the clonestation, it’s not a concern of mine. Bringing you back IS!"
 Meanwhile, my cannon crew had brought the Navy Megathron pretty much to his knees, leaving but 10% of his hull intact. The once proud behemoth was now venting atmosphere, slowly suffocating the thousands of souls freely or by slave contracts working within. They were the lucky ones, who wouldn’t have to experience an implosion ..
" LeMans, i think you are lying"- i said, just to test his resolve. By now, if he had had any sort of backing, a substantial fleet support should have jumped in reducing our little wolf pack into little but scraps of wrought metal and burned conduits. Local activity showed no such occurrence.
Barely noticeable, a drop of sweat ran down LeMans temple. I noticed red veins in his eyes, and sunken shoulders. I was talking to a dead man whose mind yet hadn't accepted the futility of his venture. This was the hour of the wolf, the dawn of damned and the fall of grace for my former demon.
" LeMans - Its time to call the bluff. The only reason for you being here now, without support, without faction ammunition and without hope of salvation is a futile attempt to bring me in to restore at least some of your family’s honor! Today is not that day. Today, my old foe, is the day the LeMans will learn the harsh reality of failure". I deliberately did not say defeat- failure was a much harder punishment than defeat for the LeMans family - and failure was just what was written all over his face. A glimpse of panic crossed his face. His bluff was over.
 His sunken shoulders sank an even bit more, his neck stiffened in anticipation of the volley that were to follow, and his eyes dilated in realization. Not for the loss of a ship, or the awakening to a clone facility, but the ramifications of the court martial he would face.
" Goodbye, LeMans, hope your clone is updated" i said in a sarcastic tone.
As i gave the order to finish of the now charred hulk of twisted and burnt metal, a scream of pure agony and fear came from the communicator:
"Jinko! NOO ! I don’t...."
The Navy Megathron received the last, lethal blast in its rear, just under its auxiliary thrusters. It ripped open the hull, exposing the interior, sending a blast of heat, energy and plasma through the conduits. 200m up ahead in the engineering sections, 350 enslaved engineers said their goodbyes as they knew what was coming. A first wave of shallow heat preceded the 4500 degrees plasma blast that incinerated the section. No one felt any pain; the blast was too massive for that. Then, the behemoth started to implode. Space being filled with vacuum made quick action sucking out any air within the doomed ship. The luckier ones were killed from the blast, or from the shockwave. Those less fortunate were still conscious as they were sucked along with the vacuum, getting killed as they hit structure, or got sucked out through any crevasse opened from the blast impacts.
From the outside, it all went fast. Explosions burst through the rear section, expanding out into space some 50 meter, before running out of oxygen. Vacuum took care of the rest, imploding what was left.
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Epilogue:
My sources tell me the fates of the LeMans were written already before he attempted this last venture. Most of the LeMans family assets had been confiscated after the admiral’s court-martial, including the rather luxurious clones his family had access to. When LeMans woke up, it was a standard clone, who had all his family memories, but none of the skills regarding his military life. Back to square 1 so to speak. If at all, it will take Batteire LeMans III years and years of grueling training, working his tardy way from a midshipman all the way back to commander. Given his family’s poor rating internally with the Federation, i doubt i will see him anytime soon. He’s done for.
 In a way this was all a kind of anti-climax for me. Part of me wanted a major fleet battle where we also could inflict serious damage to the federation. A lone death like this- even for Batterie LeMans just seemed .. sad .... |
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