This happened on the Fourth of July, after I had come home from fireworks and dinner.

I was playing on a great CTF server. The map was Eternal Caves. Lo grav was turned on. I hadn't been sure how EC would play with lo grav, but for that night at least, it was brilliant. We were behind 3 to 1 when I started. It was a grueling match, with no time limit, and the caps were coming slow, but after quite some time, we managed to make the score about 6-4. The next caps took even longer, teams were very well matched and even number wise. Some very good players and once we all knew what kind of match this was, we were there for the long haul.

Later in the match, we had amassed a nice lead, 8-5, and things were looking great for a victory. I was on red, btw. I remember 8-5 because that's when blue started getting caps in a hurry. The next 4 caps by them, with the same players I might add, came very quickly, and I was worried, sweating it, thinking this nice victory was slipping away and blue's defense was becoming like an iron wall. At 9-8 the game stalled for a long time. What a fight. We carried the flag home for the tie finally, and then it was desperation time.

Both teams were firing on all cylinders. My comrade managed to snag the flag and float to the mainland area just as he died, where I picked it up and began my mad dash. Halfway and then the inevitable "the enemy has your flag! Recover it!" I emerged from the tunnel into an enormous firefight, maybe 8 or 10 players locked in combat up the ramp from where our flag usually sat. Their flag carrier was among the players locked in the melee, trying to get around it for a retreat. This was lo grav, remember... It was crazy, my hands were shaking by now, it was desperation, all I had was shock rifle, and I wasn't aiming particularly well, but I was trying to center on the flag carrier when possible.

Finally, it happened. I struck their flag carrier with shock primary fire. The red flag made a graceful arc as it often does as it flips over and over... I caught it in the air, returning it, and floated down to cap their flag one last time, praying the angry bullets and blasts from blue wouldn't strike me dead, just narrowly missing falling to my death, getting one foot on the ledge... and finally, scoring the final cap...................

There have been other memorable matches in other CTF games, in other game types, in other games... but that one on the Fourth of July is probably the best. I felt like Michael Jordan, having made the final clutch basket to win the game... When the next map came up, several of us just stood around and talked for a while, mostly about how great that game was and how spectacular the finish was. Eternal Caves had taken well over an hour and a half (some had been there longer) and I was exhausted.