hehe thanks, i had fun with that, my sarcastic side comming out =P

what do people think of this so far? the way im writting this... i havnt even gotten to the main story so this ones going to go on for a while, do you like what youve read so far, or is the background taking too long? also, sorry the tense seems to shift between past and present, its a real problem with my writting, it plagues my essays as well... but other than that, any other pointers?

Edited by - [GR_Fallen_Angel on 1/23/2005 8:17:35 PM

Nice Story!

I've only 1 Question!

Is there coming more, or is this Story allready dead??? (Hope not)

Keep up writing. Cant wait to get more!

hi, didn't really know people read this, i stopped due to sickness/ school work, if people are interested in it, i'll try to get back into it, with schoolwork, lacrosse, schoolwork (international bacelauriate, its like taking 6 ap classes...) so yeah if people are interested, i'll try to revive this, say I if you want more

Do continue. We fanfiction writers and readers are hopelessly addicted now.

ok, well its finally time for the rediculously overdue chapter 6 of the story, i'm really sorry it took so long with working on WOS and school ect i thought after almost two months everyone had just forgotten about this thing, but hey, at least a few people have read it =P anyway I've made you wait long enough here it is:

.***...***.

Chapter 6

… Once again Thomas was rudely awaken from his slumber, this time by a heavy pounding at the door. He stumbled over to the door and pressed the intercom button

“You better have a damn good reason to be banging on this door at this hour” he angrily mumbled through his teeth.

“Mr. Williams?” replied an assertive male voice, sounding to be from a middle-aged Libertarian. “My name is Sergeant Timothy Sayre, I work for the Liberty Police I’m sorry to bother you at such an hour, but the subject could potentially be life threatening.”

“My name is Thomas O’Reily,” replied the Bretonian, “ I am Mr. William’s good friend, he is, somewhat incapacitated right now thanks to a rather lengthy stint at a local bar.”

“Ahh, Mr. O’Reily, this concerns you as well, I have my orders to get you to Fort Bush as soon as possible, so if you would care to open this door, we can all be resting again soon.”

Thomas checked the monitor in the door that showed him who was on the other side. The man was slightly taller than him, and filled his Liberty Police uniform well. He could definitely overpower Thomas, but he looked like a Liberty Police officer. A young female officer stood slightly behind him, she was slim but athletic, a remarkably attractive face, with her blond hair tucked neatly underneath her hat. Thomas placed his hand on his pistol as he opened the door, just in case. It was a top of the line weapon that fired a dense mass of sub atomic particles that, when making contact with another object, used the particles the projectile came in contact with to create a small fission reaction. Body armor did nothing to protect from a weapon like this, personal energy shields only blocked some of the particles, causing the target to suffer painful, but minute lacerations to skin, bone, and organs, often resulting in a much more painful death. The mass and density of the projectile could be adjusted, making this weapon capable of being a cannon, or a silent killer, Thomas set his to the lowest setting, enough to incapacitate the man, but not kill him.

He slowly opened the door and took a few steps back, putting space between himself and the visitors. There was a slight hesitation by the sergeant as the door opened and he saw the weapon.
“Mr. O’Reily, I understand your hesitation, it is hard to trust anyone these days, but please we must hurry. Where is Mr. Williams?”

“He is just in here, follow me”

Going into the bedroom, Thomas took a brief instant to take a better look at the room. Like the previous room this room was also sparsely furnished. There was a view screen on the wall, and a door to what the bretonian assumed to be a closet. Next to the bed was a small table with some empty glasses on them, and on the wall above a light strip. The bed was very geometric, with a metal head and footboard, both with a tarnished sheen. Onto of the mangled sheets lay Jonathon, more unconscious than asleep on his bed.

“Looks like we’re going to have to carry him” commented the sergeant, a hint of bewildered amusement in his voice.

He then picked the limp body up off the bed, and heaved him over his shoulder. Leaving the darkened room, the two men went to the front door where the female officer had been keeping a look out.

“All clear sir” she said in a very militaristic tone. This was the fist time Thomas had heard her voice. He could tell that under this sharp tone she had to maintain on duty, that her voice matched her beauty. He suddenly realized he was starting to stare and snapped out of it.

“Why do those uniforms have to be so…” he thought, but was interrupted but the sergeant.

“Ok we have a transport on the roof, but we’ll have to get up their first, I don’t trust the elevator, hope you don’t mind stairs.”

Fifteen agonizing floors later they were at the roof, fortunately without incident. A large armored transport sat on the roof; this wasn’t a landing pad.

“What could be so important to call for these measures” Thomas pondered, “even if we’re caught for the cardamine smuggling, John and I aren’t exactly rogue criminals…?”

They climbed aboard the ship, and sat down. The sergeant put his finger to his ear, “ok pilot, the cargo is secure, get us out of here”

The ship roared to life and slowly lifted off the rooftop, it made a gentle turn before slamming its passengers back into their chairs with a sudden boost of acceleration.

“Clearing the docking rings now” came a voice over the intercom, “joining up with alpha wing momentarily”

Four patriot fighters flew into formation around the transport, Thomas began to get worried, what ever this was, it was huge, bigger than him, bigger than Jonathon, and it was completely out of his control.

“Entering trade lane to Fort Bush” came the voice over the intercom again.

“Excuse me sergeant, if I may ask what is the reason for all of this?” asked Thomas, quickly glancing at his friend who was sitting limp in the restraints of the seat next to his.

“I do not know, my orders were to get you to Fort Bush safely, I’m sorry I would tell you more if I could.” He replied in a kinder tone than he faced earlier.

Thomas looked over at the young female officer who had remained all but silent for most of the ordeal. She was busy analyzing something on a computer, not noticing his investigative glances. Suddenly the ship rocked, “attention trade lane disrupted, enemy contact imminent” forewarned the passengers in a mechanical tone. This was obviously a programmed message.

“No **** Sherlock” the sergeant bitterly yelled, “stupid machine tell me something useful.”

Through the darkness the pilot saw a hawk emerge like a bird of prey soaring out of the morning fog hovering over a lake. Three daggers, all registering as Outcasts, flanked the larger more powerful craft.

“Since when did Outcast use civilian ships?” Alpha leader asked bewildered.

“Perhaps it is so they can use a stronger ship, but not draw attention to themselves by bringing in powerful ships from the border worlds” the transport pilot mused as he activated his cruise.

Suddenly a white smoke trail emanated from the hawk, the pilot looked on in horror as the cruise disruptor arced towards him, if he could just get to cruise speed he could kill his engine and pick the disruptor off with his turrets. The missile came within a few yards of the ship before one of the patriots hit it with a remarkable shot from one of its vengeance laser cannons. The transport rocked but the cruise charge continued. By this time the three other patriots had engaged the four pirate ships and they couldn’t get off another cruise disruptor.

The passenger compartment was eerily silent. Thomas wanted to hear the radio communication so he could know what was going on outside. He felt so helpless, so separated; so vulnerable. Everything began to slow as he looked around the cabin. The sergeant, sweating profusely, gripped his restraints, his knuckles whiter than his eyes, which were now hidden under his tightly closed eyelids. His lips were pulled back and his teeth were grinding together, wrinkles in his forehead completed the look of utter terror that had consumed him. The young female officer stared bleakly ahead of her, her face sunk, a single tear slowly slide down her angelic face. The façade of strength she put on earlier crumbled exposing her inner self, someone not ready for the life she had chose. Next to him Jonathon was beginning to stir, and with this realized that the ship was not quite, but in fact filled with placid music, interrupted by screaming metal and bone-jarring explosions that rattled the ship.

Suddenly everything was quiet. The music shut off, the explosions stopped, no longer did the metal struggle against whatever force it was struggling to withstand. Everything was still, everything was silent Thomas could do nothing but think, “Is that it? Was the ship just destroyed? Is this death?” he didn’t know…

.***…***.

Sorry about the major cliffhanger =P

give you reason to harass me for the next chapter. (dont worry i dont plan to take quite so long on the next one hehehehe) Also, a few questions, did I correctly use the name for people from liberty? From Bretonia it’s bretonian, Rhineland it’s Rhinelander, Kusari is Kusari? And then what about liberty, Libertanian? Also what would be the proper title of an outcast is it Don? Or is that just Corsair? Ok I think that’s all the questions and anyway I don’t want to give too much away, and the quicker you answer them the quicker the next chapter could be up…


Edited by - [GR_Fallen_Angel on 3/31/2005 7:09:30 AM

The official manual says "Libertarian", but I've seen people use "Libertonian", which seems to be an acceptable alternative.

ok thanks, also, another question, i havnt gone and changed jonathon's last name have i, its been so long i couldnt remeber his, and i went back and looked but i didnt find one, if i goofed up and made a major error please tell me =P

heres a new chapter, like always, any commentary is welcome

Chapter 7

.***…***.

The assault of the convoy was executed marvelously. Sergeant Juan Ramirez grinned as he watched the out-gunned patriots coming towards him. He hit engine kill to maintain his speed, letting loose a cruise disrupter which arced toward the armored transport. He watched contently as it flew straight at the transport before watching a bolt of blue energy cut it out of the sky.
Suddenly he snapped out of his daze as he realized the patriots’ weapons were landing hits on his shield. Spinning the large bird of prey he glided past them bringing his awesome array of weaponry to bear on the inferior craft smiling gleefully as the shots quickly reduced the police ship to nothing more than scrap floating aimlessly in space. The sergeant turned his ship in a broad arc bringing the nose around to focus of the battle behind him. He looked on in horror as the three remaining patriots converged on one of his wingmen, decimating it in a hail of fire. He glanced at his screen and realized only Private Piñon was the only other person left in his task force. For such an important mission it was insular and insulting that the elders assigned such inexperienced pilots to carry out this mission thought Juan as he fired off a torrent of energy towards the nearest patriot. The skilled pilot barrel rolled his ship over the incoming fire and shot between the hawk and dagger.
The outcast pressed the thruster button and his ship lurched forward as he was pushed into his seat. He hit engine kill again, and turning sideways strafed the patriots on private Piñon’s six. Straightening his ship again he trained his weapons back on the patriot he was chasing before. The patriot was coming at him full tilt, and he barely got a shot off before realizing that the patriot had 4 mines in tow. The patriot buzzed the hawk and their shields lit up as they came within inches of each other. All but one mine slammed headlong into the outcast’s ship, almost blinding him in a brilliant spectacle of light. Pushing the button the release nanobots, Juan hit his thruster and then the engine kill to quickly get away from the engagement and turn to observe its progress, he watched as a patriot was engulfed in a fireball, the oxygen contained within incinerating the pilot before he could be frozen by the vacuum of space. Seconds later Piñon’s dagger ripped in half cut in two by the combined forces of the patriots the transport had disappeared from the scanner, there was no point staying Juan turned on his cruise and headed towards the California jump gate. Being in a hawk, and using a fake identification code he passed unnoticed into the a joining system and disappeared to return the unfortunate news to his superiors

.***…***.

Onboard the transport Thomas was coming out of his daze. The ringing in his ears subsided and his surroundings returned to normal.
“Doing that is always fun,” commented Sergeant Sayre.

“What exactly was that” Thomas replied a hint of frustration in his voice.

“That is a limited production on board jump drive. Sorry, I should have warned you, as the wormhole opens space time around us is warped, causing that dizzy sensation and blinding flash you witnessed as well as the screeching metal as we entered the short lived hole.”

“How did you get your hands on such a technologically advanced piece of equipment?” Thomas inferred.

“Mr. O’Reily I am a member of the an elite group called Shadow Squadron. It is a branch of the Order that excels in xeno-warfare and special operations. We had to make you’re pick up as low key as possible, you are quite a hated man for what occurred both here and on Malta. We had to make this pick up seem like an arrest hence such light cover. Those men who escorted us are LPI officers and I am regretful that they had to face such a fate, I hope once the outcast group realized we had disappeared they broke off their attack, not destroy the patriots out of anger.”

“Wait, what? What is all this, where am I? Why am I so important?” Thomas said barely able to comprehend what he was hearing.

We have arrived in the Alaska system,” the sergeant said calmly. “The central location of this as well as its high security makes it a prime place for our base of operations. The shipyards here as well as the large expanse of relatively empty space allows for testing new equipment and train new recruits. As for why you’re here, that is quite a story.” He took a few breaths and looked at the young lady who had been accompanying them. She stowed her computer before standing and turning on a view-screen.

“Recently our probes on the fringe of colonized space started to pick up interference from what seemed like a large mass approaching the Kusari systems.” She began in a strong commanding manner. Pointing out a large red mass moving towards the Omicron Alpha system on a sector map that appeared on the view screen. “Suddenly some of our probes just beyond Omicron Alpha began to go offline. A few days later there were reports among Bounty Hunter and Outcast channels alike that strange brownish green ships had been spotted throughout the system traveling at a speed comparable to twice the speed of normal cruise if not more.”

She pressed a button and an image of dark brown blobs with a slight yellow glow streaking through space replaced the sector map.

“These strange objects were seen slamming into asteroids, burning up in Malta’s atmosphere and crashing into various other objects throughout the system, this rain-like wave continued for a few days rendering any flight in the system almost impossible. Thankfully none of these things have made it into the Chugoku and Tohoku systems yet. Once this bombardment ceased there was a time of about a week that nothing more happened and we thought it was over. We launched new probes to replace those that were lost but they never activated. As we were preparing a second launch hoping it was just a technical glitch, reports from Omicron Alpha began to come in again. This time ships up to the size of gunboats were being recorded. Strange images of creature-like vessels began to appear.”

With this she switched the view screen to a picture of a large menacing creature like object flying towards the camera.

“Then terrified pleas began to ring out over the communication waves. Pilots were reporting that these ships were not firing on them, but instead physically attacking them. They would latch onto the sides of ships and begin to consume them. They would suck any organic objects and all other energy from the ship, leaving a floating empty shell floating through space.”

Thomas looked on horrified “why am I so important them I’m nothing but a no good smuggler.”

While that may be true,” she replied, “you also know a great deal about cardamine if I understand correctly.”

“Yes” he responded curiously, “but how is that relevant?”

“Well it turns out that conventional energy based weapons have no effect on these aliens, if anything they feed them. The only weapons that have had any sort of success are missiles and mines that just happened to hit them. As these creatures don’t give of exhaust signatures, the tracking computers cannot follow them, the pilots must rely on shooting them dead on.”

“I still don’t understand how my knowledge is relevant here unless you’re interested in the topographic features of Omicron Alpha” Thomas interrupted.

“Well that was what I was about to get to” she responded in annoyance. “One interesting case we heard about was from a smuggler much like you. He was trying to outrun one of these craft and to try and distract it emptied a full hold worth of cardamine from his dromedary into space. The creature consumed it instantly but then within about ten seconds it stopped moving its appendages and continued floating in a single direction. The glow it emitted dimmed and then vanished. The cardamine killed the creature, we don’t know if it was a result of an overdose, or whether there is some sort of allergic-type reaction it caused. That is why you’re here…”

Whohoho! Cool! Keep it up..