Difference between revisions of "The Chronicles of Horatio Cain"

Revision as of 15:04, 27 June 2010

Preface

The Chronicles of Horatio Cain is a piece of Player Created Fiction written by Horatio Cain. The Chronicles were originally published as a partwork on the EVE-online forums [1].

The Chronicles of Horatio Cain

Part 1

Cain gazed from the observation deck of the hangar at the Kisogo State War Academy School to gaze at his new vessel, the Intrepid.

It wasn't much to look at, an Ibis class frigate, an old mult- role vessel. Many had been decommissioned, but the State War Academy had been granting them to promising graduates as their first training commands. Caine still smiled as he looked at it. It wasn't much but it was his. He had come a long way...

Horatio Cain had been a tube child. Cain had been grown, rather than born. His name was not originally Horatio Cain either, as he had no parents. He was, for much of his young life, known as orphan 34458. Raised in the cruel and rough State run orphanages, Cain learned to be self reliant and resourceful. He had committed murder before the age of 14 when he was forced to kill an older boy who had threatened to take advantage of him. From then on none of the older boys bothered Cain and he had earned their respect.

Like most orphans of The State he was expected to find employment at the age of eighteen or face life in a prison labor camp. He managed to find work as a cargo loader on a space station owned by the Kaalakiota Corporation. He was indoctrinated and initiated as a citizen of the corp and proved himself a tireless and efficient worker and took the name Horatio Cain from one of his favorite holo-vid characters. Cain found that the work was not much better than what he would have endured in the prison camps but at least he was getting paid and he was a citizen. As a Deteis he had to prove himself among the veteran dock workers who were mostly of Civire heritage.

As a young man the lessons Cain learned in the orphanages served him well and he proved to be resourceful and ruthless, and had maneuvered to a position as foreman in less than a year after carefully discrediting the former foreman and taking credit for several new innovations in the loading operations for his loading team.

He came to the attention of Tristan Oliver, who was the manager of the station and the two became friends. Tristan admired the young man's ambition and offered to give him the opportunity to enter the school of his choice. Cain jumped at it and was granted a commission in the State War academy. Cain had ever dreamed of being like his childhood hero, Horatio Cain, the brave and stalwart Caldari ship captain.

Cain promised Oliver that he would not let him down and driven by a promise and his ambition Cain set out to prove that even though he was a tube child he could be as formidable as any Caldari pure-born.

Part 2

Horatio arrived at Kisogo via an Interbus Transport. The State War Academy Space Station orbited the seventh planet in the Kisogo system.

He was glad to finally debark the vessel and walk around hangar to stretch his legs. He noticed that the others who also got off the transport were young Caldari as well and seemed to be milling about haphazardly as they took in their surroundings. Just then the main entrance to the hangar opened and an imposing Civire male dressed in full battle fatigues entered.

"Get in ranks you worthless Fedos!" he bellowed. "You incompetent swine couldn't serve aboard a Gallente Yacht much less a State Garbage Scow!"

Cain along with his fellow recruits tried desperately to placate the immense drill instructor. The motley assortment made one long, haphazard line.

"Unbelievable, I truly fear for the future of The State if this is our best and brightest!" The instructor howled, "I will whip you into shape if it kils you, mark my words tube spawn!

"I am Gunnery Sergeant Clive Nickel and you shall address me as Sir at all times, you rotten maggots. I have served in the Caldari Navy as a Marine since before you were genetic mass in a test tube!

"While you attend courses here at The State War Academy that will train you to be competent officers in service to The State or a Corporation. I will train you how to behave like competent officers, or kill you in the process!"

Cain heard two of the recruits in the line snickering as the Sergeant came to the end of his speech and without warning the huge man sprang into motion. In seconds, one lay on the deck with Nickel's boot on his throat while the other receeved a hea butt that sent him sprawling unconscious to the ground with a ruined nose. Sergeant Nickel waited until the other recruit passed out under his boot heel, while the other recruits looked on in frightened astonishment.

"Let these two Gallente man-*****s be a lesson to you, if you think about ignoring me!" he said, staring coldly back at the gathered recruits.

Over the next few weeks, Cain, along with the rest of the recruits learned to respect and loathe the sergeant as he harshly indoctrinated them into the academy through harsh physical training and abuse meant to teach them discipline, while they studied their courses in starship command and tactics.

Cain did better than many of the recruits thanks to his upbringing. Cain had earned everything he had, including this chance to graduate the academy, so self-discipline was not new to him. Many of the recruits were the pure-born sons and daughters of corporate families who had used their influence to get them commissions in the academy.

Cain also had to quickly establish himself atop the pecking order with the males early on. Many of the young men, led by a Deteis named Tam Renfro who was the son of a Director to the Sukuuvestaa Corporation, had taken to making fun of Cain for his name. One evening while the recruits were cleaning their dormitories, Cain walked right up to Tam and hit him hard enough to break his jaw. From that moment on, Cain was no longer chided for his name and once again, had earned the respect he deserved. He would also gain an enemy in Tam Renfro for the rest of his days at the Academy....

Part 3

In his third year Horatio had finally made it to full cadet status and was near the head of his class. Many of his fellow class mates had washed out or quit.

Gunnery Sergeant Nickel was still a fixture for morning physical training and dormitory inspections but had softened somewhat. The discipline he had taught them over the last two years had become second nature, though he did find cause to unleash his fury every now and again when a cadet forgot some small detail.

Renfro had made it as well and Cain could see the hate boil in the young man's eyes. He had never recovered from their confrontation in the first year. Cain supposed that blow to the corp brat's pride was too much to bear. Cain did not underestimate him though. With each passing day Tam Renfro grew more desperate to exact his revenge and Cain knew it would be nothing as petty as framing him for cheating on an exam or hiding unauthorized gear under his bunk during an inspection. He was sure Renfro had his murder on his mind. Cain admired Renfro's patience, as he had never been too terribly patient himself.

It was during a ship command exercise that Renfro would attempt to get his revenge. As third year cadets, Cain and Renfro were given command of a training frigate with a hand-picked crew made up of their classmates. They would then engage in mock battle at the training grounds in the Kisogo system just a short distance from the War Academy.

Renfro was resourceful and had made quite a few friends including several of the cadets attending gunnery and ballistic engineering courses, and with their help and a hand-picked crew of pure-born corporates that were loyal to him, he armed his ship with live weapons and live ammunition before the exercise.

Though there were rules for these exercises, the State encouraged initiative and ambition in all its citizens. As the son of corporate director, Renfro knew not only would he get away with his plan with no more than a slap on the wrist, he would also be looked upon favorably by many corporations that hired from graduates of the War Academy.

Cain had a feeling it would happen during the exercise but he didn't know how. Cain knew it would be vital to detect Renfro before his ship was detected. He knew that Renfro was determined and predictable and would most likely set a course full speed straight towards Cain's suspected start position banging away with his active sensors.

Horatio maneuvered his vessel on the Z plane that would give him a position above Renfro's suspected approach. He powered his vessel down and sent a neurological command to his Ops Officer to set the sensors to passive mode.

Just as Cain had anticipated Renfro's frigate passed within sensor range below traveling full speed and with active scanners searching madly for Cain's vessel.

Cain relayed a mental command to his ops officer to lock on knowing it would be seconds before Renfro's active sensors picked him up, and maneuvered his ship on an intercept course with Renfro.

Seconds later, Cain had a lock and he ordered the gunnery officer to calculate a firing solution. The gunnery officer neurologically uploaded the firing solution hundreths of a second later to Caine who fired both of his frigate's chain guns on his opponent. Simulated hits were scored on the engine and reactor causing critical damage. The exercise should have ended with Cain the clear victor, but Horatio's stomach sank as he realized that Renfro had no intention of bowing out.

Renfro turned his ship on a course straight for Cain's vessel. The instructor's cruiser was too far away to interfere, as Renfro had planned. He quickly acquired Cain and fired both of his chain guns. The weapons thundered to life throwing a live salvo at the small training vessel of Cain.

Cain's intuition allowed him to move his ship evasively at the last second and turn away his critical systems. The shells from Renfro's weapons still penetrated the engineering compartments, killing several crew and opening them to the cold of space but he failed to damage any critical systems.

Cain steered back on a course directly for Renfro. Without weapons, the only way Cain could stop him was to ram him, but he had to be quick and careful to not allow a second salvo or destroy his own ship in the process. The two ships closed at a frightening pace and Renfro's vessel struggled to turn the guns once again on his foe, growing larger in Caine's threat indicator by the millisecond.

At the last possible moment, Cain turned his vessel again, bringing the starboard wing across Renfro's bridge, separating it from the rest of the vessel. Cain's ship shuddered terribly and began to spin out of control, violently throwing his crew about the ship. Then an explosion from Renfro's vessel sent another shockwave that shook Cain's vessel nearly to the breaking point and knocked him unconscious....

Part 4

Horatio awoke in the infirmary. He was surprised to see, of all people, Gunnery Sergeant Clive Nickel sitting in chair next to his bed.

"Ah, finally the great Captain awakens," he said gruffly. "I wanted to be the first to congratulate you."

Cain was puzzled. "You are quite the bright pupil, with that maneuver you pulled on that ignorant cuss, Renfro," the Sergeant explained.

"You managed to save most of your crew though Renfro was killed along with his company, you took some plasma burns to the face, but other than a couple of scars to remind you of the incident, you're none the worse for wear."

Cain felt two scars that ran along the left side of his face.

"Well I'll let you rest, you'll need it when you return, for I will not give you any breaks, despite what happened," Sergeant Nickel said, smiling.

"Tube spawn like us must always keep our wits about us, for nothing is handed to us in this life," He smiled again and left the room.

Cain smiled as well and was pleased that the Gunnery Sergeant had shown him such respect as to confide in him that he too was a tube child.

Cain looked on the table next to his bed and noticed a letter addressed to him from Renfro's father, Damien. It was a formal offer to join The Sukuuvestaa corporation. In Caldari society a son often follows his father's footsteps and joins the same corporation. If he should fail in a vendetta against someone else, then it is customary to offer the position to his rival. Cain sighed with relief as this also meant that Renfro's father would not pursue any overt reprisals. A vendetta is a very personal thing in Caldari society and reprisals by family or friends for the fallen is the height of bad taste, and considered very dishonorable. Reprisals do occur, but like all things in The State, the worst crime is getting caught.

Cain graduated at the top of his class, and true to his word, Clive Nickel had made Cain earn it. He was granted his own Ibis frigate for being among the top 10% of the graduating class, but he would have to stay on with the War Academy and perform several services before being released as a fully licensed starship captain with an honorary commission as a Lieutenant in the Caldari Navy.

At the ceremony, Tristan Oliver was there and congratulated his protege on his success. Cain swore he would repay the opportunity that Oliver had given him and he accepted the pledge, as was the Caldari custom.

Cain's thoughts returned to the present as he again gazed in admiration at his new vessel. He smiled and turned to greet the agent from the Administration branch of the War Academy who would give him his first mission as the Captain of the Intrepid.

The beginning......