We're on the home stretch now. Here's chapter 26.
Chapter 26: The Plan
Trent could not believe the sheer volume of information the Dom'Kavash defectors had brought the Order. His initial distrust of the aliens had rapidly given way to respect as he realized that these creatures were willing to destroy their own brethren rather than let them accomplish their plan of extermination.
He was now sitting in a briefing room with nearly every surviving member of the Order throughout Sirius. Representatives from every House and many factions were present, preparing for what everyone knew was going to be, literally, Armageddon. Even the remnants of the Corsairs, still numbering in the hundreds of thousands, had expressed their support of the effort as the thought of vengeance weighed heavily on their minds.
The plan was really simple in theory. The Dom'Kavash had pointed out several weaknesses in the behemoth vessel. While most of them could not be exploited enough to cause any significant damage, one of the options caught their attention, and it was this option that Orillion was now explaining to everyone.
"Notice these three protruding structures on the front," Orillion said, pointing to a holographic projection of the Dom'Kavash flagship. "These structures are the main projecting devices for the main Dom'Kavash weapon. This weapon, as we have all seen, has the capability of destroying entire planets.
"The weakness in the weapon is the immense amount of power it draws prior to discharging is violent energies. It not only causes a major power drain on the vessel, but the sheer amount of energy flowing through these projecting devices generates an extreme antimatter charge in the protrusions. If these protrusions are hit with enough firepower while they are charged it could generate a chain reaction that would destroy the entire vessel."
Trent listened to this and found it strangely familiar. Maybe it's something I saw in a holovid or something...
"Now as you have probably guessed, in order for this plan to succeed the Dom'Kavash actually have to attempt to fire the weapon. Ladies and gentlemen, I can now assure you that the final battle will take place here over Toledo."
Scattered murmurings erupted around the room. Orillion held up a hand to quiet everyone.
"The Dom'Kavash vessel is now en route to Toledo as we speak. Our Dom'Kavash allies have reported that they are unable to use their portable jump drive because of the properties of the nebula we are in, but they will be here within two hours at their conventional drive speed.
"We also believe that they will have Nomad support, but we have managed to construct additional cardamine weapons that have proved effective in repelling them.
"There will be three main attack teams. Colonel King will lead Alpha Team to keep the Nomads off our backs. Colonel Trent and myself will lead Beta and Gamma teams. Our job is to knock out the big gun and blow up the dreadnought.
"I wish I had more encouraging things to say, but I want you all to realize that should we fail, it will mean the end of humanity here in Sirius. However, here in this room are gathered the finest pilots in all of Sirius, and I know that counts for something. Good luck, and Godspeed to us all."
Trent stood up and wished for the millionth time that he had never left Leeds to begin with. He realized, however, that if he had not have left, things in Sirius would be much different than they are now. He turned and left the briefing room, intending to go to the hangar and inspect his ship thoroughly. He stopped suddenly and looked in awe as Jun'ko Zane appeared from a side corridor.
"Juni?"
"Surprised to see me? Orillion decided he needed me out there and granted me amnesty. He told me that since the Dom'Kavash did turn out to be hostile, there wasn't really any point in punishing me further."
"So are you going out with us?"
"Damn straight. You think I would miss this?"
Trent couldn't help but smile. "Nothing keeps you down, does it?"
"Nope."
"Well then," Trent said, "let's go save the universe."
---There is no more deeply moving religious experience than cheating on a cheater.
Edited by - neuromancer on 7/29/2005 11:32:57 AM
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Fan Fiction by Neuromancer---Freelancer: Armageddon Version
Read, add and comment on excellent written stories by fans, set within the Freelancer universe
Tue Jul 26, 2005 7:35 pm
Excellent work. However, I do take issue with the line :
Trent listened to this and found it strangely familiar. Maybe it's something I saw in a holovid or something...
I can understand what you're getting at in this sentence, but a few grammatical changes are needed to clarify this. Try:
Finding the scenario strangely familiar, Trent figured it sounded like something out of an old holovid he'd seen as a kid.
Or something else- the issue is that you changed from third person to first person within a sentence. Fix that and you'll be good to go.
Trent listened to this and found it strangely familiar. Maybe it's something I saw in a holovid or something...
I can understand what you're getting at in this sentence, but a few grammatical changes are needed to clarify this. Try:
Finding the scenario strangely familiar, Trent figured it sounded like something out of an old holovid he'd seen as a kid.
Or something else- the issue is that you changed from third person to first person within a sentence. Fix that and you'll be good to go.
Fri Jul 29, 2005 9:28 am
All right, here it is . The final chapter. Hope you like it.
I have warn you, though, there might be a few of you who will hate the ending...
Chapter 27: Armageddon
Trent couldn't help but feel a little apprehension as the fleet awaited the arrival of the Dom'Kavash. Here he was, for the third time in two years, fighting a battle that would determine the fate of humanity. Whatever plan Fate had for him, he wished that it would lay off of him for a bit, just for once.
He noticed that his palms were getting sweaty, and he wiped them on his trousers. Trent had never liked wearing flight gloves, because he thought they took away from his piloting skills. He felt that a barehanded grip on the flight controls resulted in a better 'feel' of the controls.
"One minute out," Orillion announced over the comm system. This was the time remaining before they would have visual contact with the Dom'Kavash dreadnought, and the battle would begin in earnest. Trent instinctively tightened his grip on the flight stick and waited.
The dreadnought emerged from the dust cloud, followed by its escort of Nomad battleships and fighters.
"All ships, break and attack!" Orillion called. Trent punched up his thrusters and accelerated toward the oncoming armada.
Suddenly Trent's vision began to blur, and intense pain flooded into his head. It was excruciating, as if white-hot fire had enveloped his whole brain. The same voice that had entered his mind many times before now spoke to him, only without any hint of calmness. This voice sounded of pure menace.
"Did you really think you could prevent the inevitable, human? Do you really think you can stop us from cleansing our home of your filth?"
Trent was pissed now. It was time to show this Dom'Kavash bastard what he could do.
"Get...out...of...my...HEAD!!!" He exerted all of his power, reaching out into the mind of the Dom'Kavash will all the energy he could muster. He heard a screeching sound that he could only hope was the Dom'Kavash in pain. Just as quickly as it had come, the pain vanished and his vision cleared.
Trent looked around and saw that King and his wing had engaged the Nomads and was doing pretty well. The cardamine warheads were as effective as ever, and Nomad ships were dropping everywhere. To this point, the Order and House fleets had taken relatively few casualties. Trent wanted to engage, but knew he had to save his weapons for the Dom'Kavash superweapon. He hoped that the dreadnought would hurry up and get on with it.
As if in answer to his request, Orillion's voice came over the comm system.
"The weapon is powering up! Beta wing, Gamma wing, stand by to engage on my mark! Estimated firing time is two minutes!"
This was it, Trent thought to himself as he turned his ship to face the Dom'Kavash vessel.
"Beta Wing, Gamma wing, close in and fire at will!"
Trent punched up his thrusters once again and closed in on the massive vessel. He could see the protrusions begin to glow slightly with blue energy. He watched his scanner as the missiles began to track, trying to get a lock on the target. He heard the telltale chirp that meant the missiles had a solid lock.
"Beta Leader, Fox-two!" He called out as he fired his full salvo of missiles. The rest of Beta and Gamma wings followed suit. Trent peeled away and looked back as hundreds of missiles, torpedoes and anything else the Order could rig up as a projectile weapon streaked in toward their targets. Suddenly a massive barrage of Nomad weaponry slammed into his ship, instantly knocking out his shields and causing significant damage to the hull. When Trent had recovered his wits after the barrage he checked his damage readout and cursed at what he saw. His ship had taken a significant beating, and his life-support system was completely destroyed. He could hear the distinct hiss of escaping atmosphere, but he figured he would have enough time to get to safety. His propulsion and guidance system were still functioning, so he engaged his cruise engines and turned away from the Dom'Kavash ship. He looked back once again to check on the weapons that had been fired.
The missiles flew straight and true, hitting the vessel head-on. The weapon protrusions were blown clean off in a dazzling ball of blue light, and secondary explosions began to rip through the hull of the Dom'Kavash ship as the vessel's power grid began to overload.
"Direct hit!" Orillion called out. "Everyone move away fast---That thing could blow at anytime!" The Order ships wasted no time in breaking off and moving as far as they could. Trent followed, hoping his heavily damaged ship would make it back to Toledo before his air ran out. He glanced down at his scanner and saw something that made him sick to his stomach.
The heavily damaged fighter of Jun'ko Zane hung dead in space, its engines completely knocked out. Trent knew that when the Dom'Kavash vessel blew, she would not survive the blast. He swung his fighter back around and flew toward her.
"Juni, are you all right?"
"My engines are completely shot. There's nothing you can do, Trent. Get out of here!"
"Shut up and hold on. I'll be right there."
"Dammit, Trent, are you deaf? Get out of here! You can't help me now!"
Trent switched off his comm system and moved closer to Juni's ship. He looked at his damage report and breathed a sigh of relief as he saw his tractor system was still functional. He engaged the tractor beam, which caught Juni's ship. He engaged his thrusters and moved away. His ship strained under the increased load it was being forced to tow, but miraculously it held together. He was starting to feel lightheaded and dizzy as the air pressure in the cockpit continued to drop.
There was an intense flash of white light, and Trent looked back to see the Dom'Kavash dreadnought vanish in a massive explosion, sending a shock wave at the fleeing ships. He could only hope now that he could get the two ships far enough away that the shock wave would have the least effect on them. He watched helplessly as the wave grew closer and closer.
The wave slammed into them, jostling the ships and tumbling them around like leaves in a heavy wind. The wave passed by them, and the ships were left free-floating in space.
Trent looked around his now-derelict ship and knew it was all over. The shock wave had done even more damage to the already buckled hull, causing giant cracks to form. He heard the escaping hiss of the remainder of his air and felt the icy cold caress of the vacuum of space. He looked over at Juni's fighter and saw her moving around the cockpit. She would be all right.
He smiled to himself and closed his eyes. Darkness overtook him.
------------------------
BATTLESHIP ISIS, ONE WEEK LATER...
The flight deck of the battleship Isis was filled with people from all over the colonies who had come to pay their last respects to the fallen hero. They gathered in a hoseshoe shape around a funeral casket holding the body of Edison Trent.
Juni and King stood nearby. Juni looked at the casket as she wept softly. King stood with his arm around her, trying to stop the tears, but failing. Even old Tobias, the battle hardened veteran, stood staring straight ahead, tears pouring freely down his face.
Orillion moved forward out of the crowd.
"We are gathered today to pay our respects to our honored dead. Many of us knew Edison Trent as a freelancer and a fantastic pilot. Those who have served closely with him will forever remember him as loyal, courageous and most of all..." Orillion's voice broke, "...a good friend."
Juni turned and buried her head in King's shoulder.
Another man stepped forward.
"Present honors!"
The leaders of the four Houses moved forward and laid each House's highest award for valor on the casket and stepped back. Next, Lord Hakkera and an honor guard of Blood Dragons stepped forward. Hakkera laid a blood-red banner embroidered with a black dragon on the casket. He and the honor guard bowed deeply to the casket and stepped back into the crowd. Orillion once again moved forward.
"We now consign Edison Trent to the cradle of space."
The flight deck grew silent as the casket moved into a launch tube. The hatch closed, there was a hiss of pressured gas, and the casket shot into space, growing smaller and smaller until it finally disappeared from sight.
---------------
Juni stood alone, looking out the window at the expanse of the Dyson Sphere stretching off into the distance. The Dom'Kavash defectors had requested to come here to live their lives in isolation, and Orillion agreed.
The colonies were enjoying a peace that had never existed before. "It's amazing what humanity can accomplish when it works together," Orillion had said. Juni only hoped the peace would last.
Her thoughts were interrupted as King walked up to her.
"You doing okay?"
"I'll be all right," she replied. "I'm still having a hard time accepting he's gone."
"You know, he's really not gone until we forget him, which is unlikely to happen. Orillion is going to recommision the Isis as the Edison Trent."
Juni smiled. "Even in death, his head continues to grow." This drew a laugh from King. She turned back to the observation window. King stood by her side as they looked deep into space, grateful in their hearts that they had known the man known as Edison Trent.
THE END
---There is no more deeply moving religious experience than cheating on a cheater.
Edited by - neuromancer on 7/29/2005 11:33:30 AM
Edited by - neuromancer on 7/29/2005 12:42:42 PM
I have warn you, though, there might be a few of you who will hate the ending...
Chapter 27: Armageddon
Trent couldn't help but feel a little apprehension as the fleet awaited the arrival of the Dom'Kavash. Here he was, for the third time in two years, fighting a battle that would determine the fate of humanity. Whatever plan Fate had for him, he wished that it would lay off of him for a bit, just for once.
He noticed that his palms were getting sweaty, and he wiped them on his trousers. Trent had never liked wearing flight gloves, because he thought they took away from his piloting skills. He felt that a barehanded grip on the flight controls resulted in a better 'feel' of the controls.
"One minute out," Orillion announced over the comm system. This was the time remaining before they would have visual contact with the Dom'Kavash dreadnought, and the battle would begin in earnest. Trent instinctively tightened his grip on the flight stick and waited.
The dreadnought emerged from the dust cloud, followed by its escort of Nomad battleships and fighters.
"All ships, break and attack!" Orillion called. Trent punched up his thrusters and accelerated toward the oncoming armada.
Suddenly Trent's vision began to blur, and intense pain flooded into his head. It was excruciating, as if white-hot fire had enveloped his whole brain. The same voice that had entered his mind many times before now spoke to him, only without any hint of calmness. This voice sounded of pure menace.
"Did you really think you could prevent the inevitable, human? Do you really think you can stop us from cleansing our home of your filth?"
Trent was pissed now. It was time to show this Dom'Kavash bastard what he could do.
"Get...out...of...my...HEAD!!!" He exerted all of his power, reaching out into the mind of the Dom'Kavash will all the energy he could muster. He heard a screeching sound that he could only hope was the Dom'Kavash in pain. Just as quickly as it had come, the pain vanished and his vision cleared.
Trent looked around and saw that King and his wing had engaged the Nomads and was doing pretty well. The cardamine warheads were as effective as ever, and Nomad ships were dropping everywhere. To this point, the Order and House fleets had taken relatively few casualties. Trent wanted to engage, but knew he had to save his weapons for the Dom'Kavash superweapon. He hoped that the dreadnought would hurry up and get on with it.
As if in answer to his request, Orillion's voice came over the comm system.
"The weapon is powering up! Beta wing, Gamma wing, stand by to engage on my mark! Estimated firing time is two minutes!"
This was it, Trent thought to himself as he turned his ship to face the Dom'Kavash vessel.
"Beta Wing, Gamma wing, close in and fire at will!"
Trent punched up his thrusters once again and closed in on the massive vessel. He could see the protrusions begin to glow slightly with blue energy. He watched his scanner as the missiles began to track, trying to get a lock on the target. He heard the telltale chirp that meant the missiles had a solid lock.
"Beta Leader, Fox-two!" He called out as he fired his full salvo of missiles. The rest of Beta and Gamma wings followed suit. Trent peeled away and looked back as hundreds of missiles, torpedoes and anything else the Order could rig up as a projectile weapon streaked in toward their targets. Suddenly a massive barrage of Nomad weaponry slammed into his ship, instantly knocking out his shields and causing significant damage to the hull. When Trent had recovered his wits after the barrage he checked his damage readout and cursed at what he saw. His ship had taken a significant beating, and his life-support system was completely destroyed. He could hear the distinct hiss of escaping atmosphere, but he figured he would have enough time to get to safety. His propulsion and guidance system were still functioning, so he engaged his cruise engines and turned away from the Dom'Kavash ship. He looked back once again to check on the weapons that had been fired.
The missiles flew straight and true, hitting the vessel head-on. The weapon protrusions were blown clean off in a dazzling ball of blue light, and secondary explosions began to rip through the hull of the Dom'Kavash ship as the vessel's power grid began to overload.
"Direct hit!" Orillion called out. "Everyone move away fast---That thing could blow at anytime!" The Order ships wasted no time in breaking off and moving as far as they could. Trent followed, hoping his heavily damaged ship would make it back to Toledo before his air ran out. He glanced down at his scanner and saw something that made him sick to his stomach.
The heavily damaged fighter of Jun'ko Zane hung dead in space, its engines completely knocked out. Trent knew that when the Dom'Kavash vessel blew, she would not survive the blast. He swung his fighter back around and flew toward her.
"Juni, are you all right?"
"My engines are completely shot. There's nothing you can do, Trent. Get out of here!"
"Shut up and hold on. I'll be right there."
"Dammit, Trent, are you deaf? Get out of here! You can't help me now!"
Trent switched off his comm system and moved closer to Juni's ship. He looked at his damage report and breathed a sigh of relief as he saw his tractor system was still functional. He engaged the tractor beam, which caught Juni's ship. He engaged his thrusters and moved away. His ship strained under the increased load it was being forced to tow, but miraculously it held together. He was starting to feel lightheaded and dizzy as the air pressure in the cockpit continued to drop.
There was an intense flash of white light, and Trent looked back to see the Dom'Kavash dreadnought vanish in a massive explosion, sending a shock wave at the fleeing ships. He could only hope now that he could get the two ships far enough away that the shock wave would have the least effect on them. He watched helplessly as the wave grew closer and closer.
The wave slammed into them, jostling the ships and tumbling them around like leaves in a heavy wind. The wave passed by them, and the ships were left free-floating in space.
Trent looked around his now-derelict ship and knew it was all over. The shock wave had done even more damage to the already buckled hull, causing giant cracks to form. He heard the escaping hiss of the remainder of his air and felt the icy cold caress of the vacuum of space. He looked over at Juni's fighter and saw her moving around the cockpit. She would be all right.
He smiled to himself and closed his eyes. Darkness overtook him.
------------------------
BATTLESHIP ISIS, ONE WEEK LATER...
The flight deck of the battleship Isis was filled with people from all over the colonies who had come to pay their last respects to the fallen hero. They gathered in a hoseshoe shape around a funeral casket holding the body of Edison Trent.
Juni and King stood nearby. Juni looked at the casket as she wept softly. King stood with his arm around her, trying to stop the tears, but failing. Even old Tobias, the battle hardened veteran, stood staring straight ahead, tears pouring freely down his face.
Orillion moved forward out of the crowd.
"We are gathered today to pay our respects to our honored dead. Many of us knew Edison Trent as a freelancer and a fantastic pilot. Those who have served closely with him will forever remember him as loyal, courageous and most of all..." Orillion's voice broke, "...a good friend."
Juni turned and buried her head in King's shoulder.
Another man stepped forward.
"Present honors!"
The leaders of the four Houses moved forward and laid each House's highest award for valor on the casket and stepped back. Next, Lord Hakkera and an honor guard of Blood Dragons stepped forward. Hakkera laid a blood-red banner embroidered with a black dragon on the casket. He and the honor guard bowed deeply to the casket and stepped back into the crowd. Orillion once again moved forward.
"We now consign Edison Trent to the cradle of space."
The flight deck grew silent as the casket moved into a launch tube. The hatch closed, there was a hiss of pressured gas, and the casket shot into space, growing smaller and smaller until it finally disappeared from sight.
---------------
Juni stood alone, looking out the window at the expanse of the Dyson Sphere stretching off into the distance. The Dom'Kavash defectors had requested to come here to live their lives in isolation, and Orillion agreed.
The colonies were enjoying a peace that had never existed before. "It's amazing what humanity can accomplish when it works together," Orillion had said. Juni only hoped the peace would last.
Her thoughts were interrupted as King walked up to her.
"You doing okay?"
"I'll be all right," she replied. "I'm still having a hard time accepting he's gone."
"You know, he's really not gone until we forget him, which is unlikely to happen. Orillion is going to recommision the Isis as the Edison Trent."
Juni smiled. "Even in death, his head continues to grow." This drew a laugh from King. She turned back to the observation window. King stood by her side as they looked deep into space, grateful in their hearts that they had known the man known as Edison Trent.
THE END
---There is no more deeply moving religious experience than cheating on a cheater.
Edited by - neuromancer on 7/29/2005 11:33:30 AM
Edited by - neuromancer on 7/29/2005 12:42:42 PM
Fri Jul 29, 2005 11:01 am
Very nice, that is the first one I have ever read where that happened. Congrats on finishing it, another job well done.
I did notice something that didn't sound right though.
You make it seem as though Orillion is a woman. That was eather a typo or you were talking about Juni, but still, fantastic.
_________________________________________________________________
After the slight dissapointment of Prince of Persia: Warrior Within, I almost lost faith in what after the Sands of Time, was one of my favorite game franchises. But now with Prince of Persia 3, the series still has a chance in my heart, and it better not let me down or I'll personally take over Ubisoft and make them do it right!
I did notice something that didn't sound right though.
The colonies were enjoying a peace that had never existed before. "It's amazing what humanity can accomplish when it works together," Orillion had said. She only hoped the peace would last.
You make it seem as though Orillion is a woman. That was eather a typo or you were talking about Juni, but still, fantastic.
_________________________________________________________________
After the slight dissapointment of Prince of Persia: Warrior Within, I almost lost faith in what after the Sands of Time, was one of my favorite game franchises. But now with Prince of Persia 3, the series still has a chance in my heart, and it better not let me down or I'll personally take over Ubisoft and make them do it right!
Fri Jul 29, 2005 8:30 pm
Wow. That's all I can say. You've masterfully created the atmosphere of the death/funeral of Spock in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. With Trent gone, your future fanfics, including Genocide will be clear to progress with the future of Sirius. It was undoubtably a difficult choice, choosing between keeping the hero alive and getting rid of that annoying butt-shaking walk of his. You made the right choice. Well done.
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