Difference between revisions of "The Chronicles of Horatio Cain"

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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......

Part 5

Horatio entered the conference room on deck 52B of the Caldari Navy Assembly Plant soace station in the Perimeter system. Caldari Navy Headquarters. He sat down at the large conference table and waited for the agent from Caldari Navy Surveillence to meet him.

Several minutes later the agent came into the room. She was a rather plain looking woman of Civire origin. She carried herself very professionally and she appeared to be a Lieutenant Commander. She carried a data pad under her arm which she set on the table as she sat down across from Cain, failing to aknowledge him at all.

She then looked down at the data pad and began to read, "Cain, Horatio, graduated State War Academy with full honors, received commendation for successfully defeating the traitor Tam Renfro when he attempted to destroy State property and murder Academy students during a training exercise."

"Impressive," she said after a brief pause and then turned her gaze to meet Horatio's.

"You fit the mission profile Lieutenant Caine."

"Thank you... What is the mission?" Cain asked apprehensively.

"We need you to fly into Gallente space and intercept a Serpentis vessel we have been tracking for the past several hours since it slipped past State Security. The Serpentis smuggler has stolen some sensitive data and we believe that he is going to attempt to sell it to our counterparts in the Federation. We can't allow this.

"We have downloaded the navigation information into your vessel's CPU, so that you can continue to track and intercept this criminal. It is also of the utmost importance that you avoid attracting the attention of the Federation fleet.

"Cain, we suggest that you leave with all possible speed, and I must also say that success in this mission will greatly enhance your standing with the Navy."

"I will leave immediately, Ma'am," Cain said, standing and walking out of the conference room.

The Lieutenant Commander smiled as the young captain left the conference room. He was ambitious and enthusiastic, she would give him that. She would have to keep her eye on this Horatio Cain.

Cain stared into the vastness of space as the Intrepid left the hangar of the space station. He engaged the auto pilot which had already been programmed with course that would take him to the Causara system on the Caldari-Federation border.

Cain was exhilarated to receive his first real combat mission. He was somewhat apprehensive about his vessel's capabilities, but he felt assured his superior training would see him through.

Cain's thoughts drifted back to his first encounter as Captain of the Intrepid. A drone had been detected heading for the War Academy station in Kisogo. The drone was launched by a terrorist group and contained a deadly bio agent and was programmed to release this into the station's atmospheric generators.

Cain's ship was the only capable of responding to the threat at the time.

He engaged the drone no more than 400km away from the station. It was a quick confrontation as the drone was armed with only the short range point defense weapons. The Intrepid's gauss rail guns made short work of the fragile drone and the crisis was averted, and once again Cain was the hero of the day. Cain was dismayed to learn that the terrorist group that launched the weapon was Caldari in origin and launched the weapon in a effort to make The State authorities think it was a Federation plot.

Cain's thoughts returned once again as the computer informed him that the auto pilot had disengaged as they reached their destination. Cain checked his scanner and quickly picked up the tracking beacon from the Serpentis vessel. He set an intercept course. He was alerted to the fact that there were several Federation warships patrolling the gate, when his sensors indicated that they were scanning his vessel.

Cain realized now what the Lieutenant Commander had meant when she said he met the mission profile. She did not attribute her selection based on his abilities but rather on his expendability. Cain realized once again that he was the small fish in a large pond, and once again he would have to pay his dues to earn respect. He nervously transmitted his security rating code to the ships and they quietly turned course to continue their patrol around the jump gate. Cain sighed and engaged his warp drive to intercept his prey.

As the ship sped on its intercept course, Cain realized that for the first time he would be confronting a real opponent. Not a training drone, or a fellow class mate bent on revenge. He would be entering into lethal armed conflict with another human. He felt a strange sinking feeling in his stomach. Was it fear? He pushed it back in his mind and remembered the focus and relaxation exercises.

The Intrepid shuddered as it dropped out of warp drive and the stars and surrounding space returned to focus. Almost immediately he picked up contact. He quickly locked and maneuvered the ship to close to optimal attack range for his rail guns. The ship registered as hostile on his combat computer and the visual confirmed as he saw the Serpentis insignia emblazoned on the hull. The vessel was a Velator-class frigate, a Gallante design. Cain smiled, he would enjoy proving the superiority of Caldari engineering and piloting.

He opened fire as the pirate attempted to evade. The two ships circled in a dance of death. The Intrepid was deftly maneuvered by Cain with smooth precision as he dodged a shot from the Velator's guns. Horatio responded bringing his weapons to bear. His railgun thundered as it unleashed a salvo that shorted out his enemies shields in a dazzling display of harsh blue light. Cain desperately turned to get off another shot and take advantage of his opponents weakened shields. The Serpentis smuggler made a fatal error and turned directly into Cain's firing arc. Horatio hammered mercilessly upon his enemy. Super accelerated particles laced the ship's superstructure and Cain witnessed as vapor spilled from the myriad ruptures in the ship's hull as gases were vented into space. The ship began to burn and its engines failed. Horatio lined up the killing shot and with an explosion the Velator broke apart.

A single cargo cannister floated in the void tumbling away from the remnants of the pirates vessel. Cain scanned it and found...junk. Old electrical parts, some worthless data, and outdated CPU components. He loaded it into his cargo anyway and set a course for Perimeter. He was a bit confused, and wondered why he would be sent to chase a vessel carrying nothing but useless electrical equipment.

He arrived at Navy Headquarters shortly after the encounter and reported to the conference room for debriefing. The Lieutenant Commander entered the room.

"Excellent work, Cain. You fulfilled your end of the deal. Hopefully we can work together again in the future," she said, extending her hand in congratulations.

Cain took it, and she shook his hand briefly then turned to leave the room, "Wait!" Cain said and the officer turned with a questioning look on her face. "What the hell was that about, I chase that pirate into Federation space, risk blowing my sec rating, and all for some old junk, and you say thanks, see you later?"

The agents eyes narrowed in annoyance. "Cain I don't have to explain anything to you, but because you show promise, and you have done the Navy a service, I will."

"We allowed two Serpentis vessels to enter Caldari space, and 'steal' State Secrets, or at least they thought they were State secrets."

"Serpentis Smugglers operate in pairs. One carries the real goods while another acts as a decoy. We sent you after the decoy on purpose."

"The Serpentis pilot who carried the misinformation will sell it to the Gallente Federation, and they will believe that it is legitimate, because you gave chase and destroyed his partner."

Cain began to understand. He had been used as a pawn in a larger game. Who was he to question the strategy of The State? He had to admit that it made sense, and with that he nodded to the Lieutenant Commander and returned to his quarters. One day, however, he thought as he drifted to sleep, he would be moving the pieces.