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The-Starport

Creator -:Updated since massive absence:-

Read, add and comment on excellent written stories by fans, set within the Freelancer universe

Post Mon Feb 21, 2005 3:21 pm

8:
Nothing stirred aboard the Battleship Sechmet, the steady hum of electronics and the ship's reactor filtered through the corridors where hundreds of Order personnel slept.
A footstep echoed around the dark bridge of the ship as a hooded figure rose from his chair at the communications console.
The screen flickered as a new message popped on the screen:
DOWNLOADING LATEST MILITARY MOVEMENT DATA...
PLEASE STAND BY…
The hooded man waited patiently for the download to finish. The numbers clicked by slowly, 37%, 38%, 39…
After minutes of frustrating download, the image flickered to show a map of Sirius.
”Show Rheinland Troop movements” the man said gruffly.
The screen changed, instead of having numerous multi-coloured dots and lines, many faded to be replaced by semi-transparent white dots and lines.
The overwhelming presence on the screen, however, was the matrix of GREEN dots and lines clustered around the bottom.
”Show battleships only” He said again
A lot of the lines faded this time, but there was still a significant number of lines radiating outwards.
Noting the lines he said again:
”Show only movements unknown to the house military”
All but two paths vanished, one reaching far around the back of Sirius through into the Omicrons, the other, and this interested the man greatly, reached into the black void behind Bretonia into an undiscovered system, not taking any jump hole or gate route.
A red glow illuminated the console as a phoenix materialised on the man's shoulder.
Araminta gazed at the console, apparently uninterested.
Arania straightened up and looked out the window at the entire Sirius sector laid out below him beautifully.
He sighed and a tear formed in his eye.
Araminta flapped off his shoulder and perched on top of the console, staring longingly at the pinpricks of light.
Arania sat back down at the console.
”Display order presence”


-:-
We could've been a good couple, we coulda had somethin' special; but you one crazy-ass *****!

Post Thu Feb 24, 2005 12:59 am

More Again. any feedback is welcome.

9:
--Battleship Westfalen, Hamburg system--
Hans Gruber was the oldest worker on the old Westfalen. He loved the ship and even though he was only a mechanic he was full of pride for the Rheinland Military and was saddened by his colony's deep problems and the sore sight of the Military these days.
Of course he was too low a status to know about the real Military but that was beyond the point. He walked the darkened corridors checking odd dials and system read-outs. He started towards his working place, the Westfalen's ship docks. He paused and walked up to the dock's control space where Wilhem, the foreman, worked. As the doors slid open he gazed with horror on poor Wilhem. The young man's raven black hair was slick with blood. He ran forward to look onto the docks.
Black clothed individuals were swarming all over the place. The ship, equipment, and commodity dealers were stacked like common plates against a wall, all dead. Suddenly the doors hissed open and a black suited individual jumped in holding a massive handgun with a green sight. He froze. Gruber's eyebrows drew together, the old man struggling to make sense of the situation. Suddenly his whole body was flipped away by the new Daumann Perforator gun held by the commando. The commando worked quickly, placing explosive all over the foreman's headquarters and left silently. As more indviduals became aware of the almost invasion of the Westfalen's docks, the black suited individuals climbed aboard their ships, several Humpbacks. As they rapidly disappeared from sight down the Battleship Westfalen-Hudson jump gate, trade lane alarm klaxons sounded in the Westfalen. As soldiers and technicians rushed into the lower decks to find the area littered with explosive there was a mass exodus from the ship. But just as the first were leaving the explosives were detonated by a single courageous operative hiding in a locker room deep in the ship.
The old proud Battleship Westfalen was rocked violently and broke into several pieces which drifted and crashed into Planet Kiel as stunned traders and merchants flocked around it.

Meanwhile Rheinland forces had completely rattled the Kusari forces in Sigma-13 and any guerrilla resistance by the GMG was swiftly and violently crushed. The Liberty navy had responded quickly and they were full of rage. Gerald Rice, a right-winger had staged a coup and had seized control; supported by the LSF, Liberty Police and the Liberty Navy who were facing massive downsizing under Robins. And President Rice's first order was the total seizure of systems Bering and Hudson. They even went so far as to send elite commandoes into Hamburg to destroy the ageing Battleship Westfalen which was a successful mission. The planned Rheinland attack into Omega-3 had gone temporarily awry as they had encountered heavy resistance from Corsairs and Red Hessians. Kusari was fortifying itself for the imminent attack from overwhelming Rheinland forces, Liberty was actively preparing for war and consoling Bretonia who was confused and becoming relatively helpless as their bulk force was in Cambridge. But there was still more to come…


-:-
We could've been a good couple, we coulda had somethin' special; but you one crazy-ass *****!

Post Thu May 05, 2005 10:57 pm

Sorry for the delay. more of the Creator fanfic:

-:=/=:-

10:
'Say that again?' Arania said
'Somebody went through the gate before we could shut it down' Replied the technician.
Arania was on board a small station situated 2Km east of the Omicron Minor jump gate, the station was cloaked, earning it the nickname: 'Invisible Gate'
The Hypergate slowly rotated in the distance, a majestic structure of a construction unseen of in human architecture.
'Did Prometheus capture the ship details?' Arania asked
'Actually' Replied the technician 'We haven’t heard from Prometheus in weeks'
'That is all' Arania said back, and the technician walked off
He stared at the gate, wondering what inconceivable curiosity would have engulfed that pilot to fling his ship 80,000 light years into the void.
Araminta flapped down from the overhead girders and perched on the holographic projector assembly.
'I know what you're thinking' She said
Arania turned back and headed towards the landing bay
'Too true' He replied, and Araminta flew down to his shoulder.

-:-

The red clouds around him swirled in a beautiful display of cosmic fate, and the Red world system displayed its majesty that gave it its name.
'Who are you' said a computer generated voice from the speaker, 'And what are you doing here'
'Good evening to you too Prometheus' Arania replied
Prometheus laughed
'What are you two doing here Ara?' The computer program replied
'We're looking for a pilot that came here not long ago' Araminta said
A massive spherical structure decloaked in the distance
'Come and land' Prometheus said 'I think I know where he is'
The Anubis landed on the base, a relative pinprick against the sheer size of the Dom'kavash base that now served to house the revolutionary 'Prometheus' AI program, built from remnants of DK programming technology hybridised with human neural patterning to create a AI that was capable of feeling human emotions.
The structure cloaked again, leaving no trace that it had ever been there.

-:-

Arania turned in his sleep, breathing heavily, muttering to himself.
"No… no… fall ba… you c..nt... order"
he turned again
"Order.... Theta... Rheinland.... Evacu..."
His eyes flickered
"No… fusion... gate... prom..."
"NO!!!!!!"
He sat straight up, sweating. Araminta woke, startled and burst into flame.
He looked around the room ****ily, trying to make sense of a very horrific dream.
Swinging his legs over the bed, he gathered Araminta of her perch and put her on his shoulder.
Araminta put herself out as Arania slowly walked to the control deck.
Walking onto the empty deck he chucked as he saw a holographic person sleeping in the comm. chair, snoring his head off.
"I didn't know you snored, Prometheus' Arania joked, standing behind the holographic form of the AI.
The holograph ****ed as Prometheus 'awoke' from standby.
"I think you should see this" Prometheus said, pointing to the console.
Arania sat down on the chair, looking at the three objects on the screen.
One was his dream log, the other was a news report, and the last was a particle movie.
He read the article:
ORDER ATTACKS RHEINLAND CONVOY
Yesterday, the Rheinland Battleship Goethe was attacked and destroyed by the Order Terrorist Group.
The Battleship was on a routine supply convoy in Omicron minor when it was attacked.
The leader of the attackers, one known as Arania, is wanted dead by the Rheinland government.
Arania looked up.
"How could I have led the attack?" He asked "I’ve been on this station!"
"There's more" Prometheus said, and the screen shifted to show the Log and the movie side-by-side.
They both started simultaneously, and Arania stared horrified as the log of his dream matched the Wing Commander's lieutenant actual sight, his protests, hails & pleas. Everything was the same.
Before he could react again, a new object appeared on the screen:
! Ship Detected !
Type: Customised CTE-9000
Pilot: Darkstone
Range: 12km ENE
"Well, there is our mystery pilot" Araminta said
"Open a comm. channel" Arania said "This is Prometheus base to unidentified pilot Darkstone, please respond..."


-:-
You wanna revolution?

Post Fri May 06, 2005 10:37 am

Hey, thats a very cool fanfic, keep it up please.

Post Fri May 06, 2005 11:10 pm

why thank you eco.

another chapter: this should be kinda regular since i finished editing upto chapter 50.
-:========================:-

11:
---Omicron Major system, somewhere in the Edge Nebula---
Alien organisms swirled and fluttered around the black crystal field that dominated this system. The system, right in the middle of the Edge Nebula was a huge mass of swamp green. Nomad visits were rare, and visits by humans were rarer. So any local of the system with a capable brain might have been surprised to see the massive RNC Goethe battleship wade through the system. Several Valkryes swarmed upon it as it neared a station construction site.
"RNC Goethe this is Iron Hammer three, please submit your designation".
The battleship slowed to a halt.
"Roger that, submitting designation Iron Hammer three" came the static-laden reply. "Hmmm… everything seems to be in order Goethe, proceed"

The huge battleship started moving forward again and appeared in an area that had been all but cleared of nebula clouds. A large station was being built and it was heavily defended. The odd flash of light came from the top area where a lot of the workers were visible. They were working in vac-suits, hurriedly constructing defences and crew quarters. But they stopped to stare in wonder as the massive Battleship prepared to moor. As it entered the specially designed L-shaped battleship moor, tubes shot out, connecting the crew of the battleship with that station and heavy lifters swarmed over the battleship transporting all sorts of things. The commodore removed the scanner from his left eye and rubbed them wearily. He was the last to leave the now empty bridge and he stumbled along the connection tube towards the station while dodging the fresh exchange crew that was now rushing aboard. Using his hands to steady himself and shuffled down seemingly endless sterile grey walkways until he found his cabin. As he fell into the bunk and almost instantaneous sleep they appeared.

The huge Order fleet decloaked themselves in front of the Rheinland base camp. Faces everywhere turned to look in amazement and horror as the impossibly huge fleet grew closer. Then suddenly space was full of missiles, torpedos and tachyon bursts. The technicians working in vac-suits in the outer areas of the base suffered the most. As missiles rained down shockwaves blasted out, warping internal organs, deafening workers and sending hundreds of less lucky people flying out into the abyss. Tachyon and laser bursts annihilated groups of workers and torpedos punched massive holes in the station's hull sending hundreds more into the vacuum.
The Goethe, hit by several torpedos and endless missile and tachyon bursts simply exploded and the Anubises ripped through the Valkryes signalling the first defeat of the new Rheinland republic and waking Rheinland up to the fact that there is a force as capable as theirs and with extensive knowledge of the Edge Nebula. Hundreds of thousands of light years away the Chancellor received first news of this attack and apparent defeat of Rheinland forces. He sent everyone in his room away and gazed out through the window at the softly falling snowflakes. "This could be a problem....."

-:-

-:-
You wanna revolution?

Post Sat May 07, 2005 12:37 pm

This is great. Please keep telling me more

_____________________________
Monky see, Monky Shoot

Post Sat May 07, 2005 7:16 pm

As the people request, another chapter!

-:============:-

12:
Now that was something I never would have thought I would have to do again, never in my wildest dreams could I think that I would be running from Liberty again. The last time I used that jump hole was for the same reason, and I was amazed that they had forgotten that I was an outlaw. It’s amazing what exploring the frontier does to your status. Luckily, the Bretonian Government funded my journey for a while, until I made deals with the Corsairs, and that’s when they cut the cash. I still sent data to Cambridge, and in essence, it became my home world.
But that was beside the point. Once again I was exiled from Liberty, and I wanted some answers. The comm. crackled into life.
"Thanks for the help," came the voice of Omicron Black 9, "I'm gonnna head to Montezuma base and see if I can get some info on what’s going on"
"Oh no, you're staying here and explaining to me exactly what’s going on, right now." I replied with a small amount of anger in my voice.
"I don't even know what’s going on myself,” Omicron Black 9 started, “I just got here myself, I have been in the independent worlds for a few weeks, and just jumped through the old Magellan gate a few hours ago.”
He paused to take a breath.
“But to me it looks like either Liberty is preparing to defend itself or is preparing to go to war, so that’s why I'm heading for Montezuma to see if I can find out what’s going on. Rumour has it a Rheinland battleship was destroyed by Order fighters.”

The news about The Order attacking a Rheinland capital ship was a shock to my system, and puzzled me at the least. I had to reach Kenji, who was working on Cambridge, at his old post in the Cambridge research centre. But I had to keep an eye on this stranger.
"I have business to attend to on Planet Cambridge, meet me on Sheffield in a day. I may need another soul to join me on my exile journey. That is, of course if you want to join me that is..."
Omicron Black 9 pondered the proposal.
“Sheffield it is then.”


-:-
You wanna revolution?

Post Sat May 07, 2005 7:36 pm

*jaw drops* *closes jaw* *jaw drops* I'm I'm I'm flabergasted this is the best freelancer storie ive ever read its awsome *raises point card* 10.0!!!


No Guts
---------------
No Glory

Post Sat May 07, 2005 9:11 pm

glad you like what sharks done with the rpg we started, seriously shark, i'm mipressed, i couldn't write this good in a million years.sorry for being absent lately i haven't really been sure what to put in next grit, if you feel like reading the "rough draft" version of it, visit the "A new RPG" thread, that's what this is based on.I'm really glad you decided to continue this shark you've got a real talent for this sort of thing, unlike me.

Post Sun May 08, 2005 12:51 am

Thank you to the people who are enjoying this. And without further ado, another chapter!

-:-

13:
The Chancellor flexed his hands and walked into the board room. He was immediately swarmed on by orderlies giving him notes and diagrams. He took what he needed and got on to the stage. A man covered in optronics came into view.
"Sir we're live in five, four, three..." He mouthed the last two numbers and then bright lights came on. The Chancellor steadied himself and began speaking.
"Glorious people of the Rheinland nation, I speak to you as your humble leader when I regret to report the destruction of the Battleship Goethe and the new staging post in the Omicron Major system by the Order. The Order, the traitors of the Sirius seek to corrupt and undo our great successes in this new world. As Liberty builds up in the Independent systems between our two houses and the Kusari nation has all but been destroyed the Order makes a cowardly attack from behind and slaughters two thousand innocent workers of the Rheinland nation. But all is not lost. As this is being broadcast to all of the Sirius anyone who feels they may have been mistaken in fighting Rheinland, this is your opportunity to seek our forgiveness. I as leader of the glorious Rheinland nation am putting a bounty on the Order operative who was present at the battle. Arania must be brought to pay the price for the purity he has destroyed! The bounty is three million credits, plus Rheinland citizenship for you and your family. You will enjoy a life of luxury in the new Rheinland..." he paused. "..Empire" he breathed.
He stepped down as the applause rang throughout the theatre and wiped his brow.
"Now we will see" he said to himself as he disappeared into a sea of Bodyguards and orderlies.
All over the Sirius, the best bounty hunters, and ex-soldiers began getting ready, deserting, stealing, and bribing their way to get ready and to get clearance through the war-torn Sirius sector to the Edge Nebula, the green smudge almost visible in every sector that slowly got bigger with each jump.

Meanwhile, James Gruber was a loyal Order member. He wanted to defend his nation, Rheinland in case any of those Nomad bastards came back. But now, they were enemies...Since he was ex-Rheinland and thought to be loyal to the Order, because he was allowed to watch the Rheinland broadcasts to analyse them. It seemed like a great plan, kill Arania then escape to his homeland where he could retire at an early age. Escape wouldn’t be too difficult.
He looked for Arania and was told he was at another base in the newly discovered Red World. He would have to move quickly as there was rumours of a mass of ships moving towards the Edge nebula. Looking around carefully he contacted the Rheinland military. They were sceptical at first and didn’t entirely trust him by the end of the conversation but seemed willing to extend their trust… after all; a double agent who had already infiltrated the Order seemed quite valuable.

Colonel Gunter Waalbeck smiled wolfishly. It was a great plan. Find the Order rat, get the coordinates to this "Red World" and kill that Arania. He checked on his wingmen and continued flying through Omicron Minor. He had been taken out of duty in the Kyushu system, last centre of defence for the dying Kusari dynasty and placed on this hunt for the bold Arania.
Soon to be the frozen in space, Arania. Waalbeck thought to himself.
"One contact on scope, Herr Colonel" reported a wingman.
Waalbeck scanned. Neutral contact....under asteroid....marking, Yellow-2-3..."Ja, this is him, slow to 20 to meet him" The three ships slowed and came to a halt in front of Gruber's ship.
"This is Yellow dash two dash three, welcome glor--"
Waalbeck cut him off.
"Silence! Take us to the jump hole, we have little time"
"Uh...yes well there is some truth in that..." Gruber said uneasily.
Waalbeck sighed.
"Like what?"
"Well my clearance is ok to go into the system, they won't detect your cloaks if we move fast enough” he began, “but they will detect you in the Red world if you don't land immediately."
"And they will let us land?" asked Waalbeck sceptically.
"I've got it all worked out, please just follow" said Gruber pleadingly.
Waalbeck's raised eyebrow slid down.
"Okay we will follow." Almost immediately his wingmen's replies came flooding into the private channel. Replies full of hope, fear, sarcasm and mistrust for this Order fool.
"After all, he is a traitor" said one.
"We will follow, that is all… observe comm. silence now!" said Waalbeck, slightly perturbed about his men's fear and mistrust in this valuable source. They entered formation with Gruber and stayed very close. Gruber who was a usual around here talked the sentries out of cloaking checks, cracking jokes about Rheinlanders and paranoia. The sentries shrugged off and the base decloaked itself and the jump gate came into view. Gruber ignored the clearance signals from the base and entered, with four cloaked ships.

Waalbeck was breathing heavily. After they had entered the strange system, some AI had detected them and the alarm was sounded. Gruber tried to dock and was giving clearance but Waalbeck rammed him out of the way. The others tried to dock as well but had failed. Waalbeck knew two of them and Gruber were already dead, as for the other one he was not sure.

This place was really strange. Waalbeck had excelled at history at school and knew this was a Dom'kavash base but it seemed to house a massive computer. He aimed his Daumann Pulitzer pulse burst shotgun at it, but then decided not to. His job was to kill Arania, and anyway this computer might control life-support. He walked stealthily over the steel walkways. The whole station was silent, apart from the computer who was bleeping and emanating odd colours. Various parts of the station he noticed were covered in red dust....maybe from the system, maybe not. He walked through a doorway and noticed a hologram pad, turned off. Wires were everywhere and computer screens flashed with various news channels. He looked thorough another door and saw some living quarters. He stroked his chin thoughtfully and slid the pulse shotgun around his back. He looked thorough the quarters at various items. There was a distinct smell of smoke in the room and a larger gathering of mysterious red dust. There was also a dream log collector.
Seems like Arania's got it pretty good here, he thought.
"Too bad it's all going to waste" he said aloud.
He grabbed a small computer and scanned through it. It was a neural net log. He scanned to the bottom where it finished, wondering how he fought a battle when he was at this base. Waalbeck snorted. "Sorry it's too late to beg for forgiveness now" he replied in green font. Satisfied with his little reply he slung his shotgun off his back and held it tightly. He walked out to the empty hologram projector room and noticed a single gold feather on the ground.
"What the…" he queried, bending down to pick up the feather.
If this was real, it belonged to an animal, exotic stuff, like on Planet Gaia he thought. Suddenly there was a clanking of boots on the metal plates behind him. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw a shadow move along the ground and the click arming of a gun broke the silence. The barrel moved up towards his head and knocked off his helmet. At the same time a knife moved quickly cutting his three holsters and his utility belt. Waalbeck moved quickly, turning around and holding down his assailant’s arms with his, and glared into the other's eyes.
"We seem to have a stowaway Araminta..." said the man.
Suddenly an odd voice started speaking throughout the ship.

“Darkstone approaches”


-:-
You wanna revolution?

Post Sun May 08, 2005 11:24 am

Wonder if i could get this in hard back would love it read it all the time till memorized then read it some more , love shark your stories are awsome.


No Guts
---------------
No Glory

Post Sun May 08, 2005 11:15 pm

thanks Grit, but not all the credit is mine. Direct some of the kudos to Arania, Dragonborn, Darkov (whatever his name is now) and Darkstone.
But as the fans requested, another chapter!

-:-

14:
Prometheus' voice rang through the base, signalling the approach of the Eagle floating ominously outside the massive base.
Arania, pinned to the floor by the mysterious Rheinland Assassin, was surprisingly relaxed, and stared past the eyes of his assailant onto his back.
"What are you staring at?" the officer asked.
Arania's smile broadened.
"My Dæmon" Arania replied.
"Your what?"
As if in answer, Araminta Materialised on Waalbeck's back covered in blue fire that threatened to send the Rheinlander up in flames at any moment.
"Now, now Ara" Arania said "That no way to treat a guest, but then again, this is hardly appropriate behaviour upon ones host..."
Waalbeck fumed at Arania's arrogance, and applied a slight pressure to his gun's trigger.
"Now, are you going to get off me or will I have to set you on fire?" Arania asked, "Because, advanced as the Dom'Kavash were, they didn’t trust each other, and installed a high-precision EMP generator on board"
Waalbeck raised an eyebrow.
"Basically" Arania continued, "guns wont work on board this base, with the exception of the concealed Graviton Defence cannons, and those are controlled by Prometheus."
"…Who also controls everything else on this base?" Waalbeck guessed.
"Exactly" Arania answered.

Arania grew annoyed waiting for the Rheinlanders reply.
"Get off" He said.
Waalbeck pressed the gun harder against Arania's skull.
"Fine" Arania said "Ara?"
The dæmon slowly lowered her flaming right wing onto the Rheinlander's back.
He went up in flames before she even had a chance to touch him.
Waalbeck panicked, and flipped out a combat knife, slicing a massive gash down the side of Arania's face and onto his neck.
As if in response, Arania immediately delivered a devastating blow to Waalbeck's nether regions, followed by a nice uppercut on his chin, knocking him unconscious and immediately putting out the burning blaze on his back.
Arania stood up, and felt slightly dizzy as he felt himself lose the blood out of the wound on his face.
His vision growing steadily blurrier, he hauled Waalbeck into the bedroom opposite his and locked the door.
"Prometheus," Arania muttered, stumbling back to his room, "make sure Waalbeck doesn’t get out"
"Sure thing," Prometheus replied
Arania collapsed on his bed, and saw a blurry image of a Phoenix bending over him.
The last thing he saw was Araminta laying her wing on his face, before everything went black.

-:-

Arania awoke, his vision still very blurry, but that wasn’t the worst of his worries. His bleeding had stopped, but running his hands over his face he could feel a feather-like seal over where the Rheinland assassin had sliced into his neck. His vision had cleared as he looked into the mirror and inspected the wound; it had been covered with a red substance that, as Arania looked closer, appeared to be a cross between a scab and some of Araminta's feathers...
Araminta herself flapped over and landed on Arania's shoulder as Arania walked back to the control deck, smiling at the pounding of Waalbeck upon his 'prison' door.
Once he had settled down onto the main console, a massive map flashed up onto the screen, blocking out the window behind it.
The movement map had changed since he last looked at it; the Rheinland government had pulled back from its posts in the omicrons and Bretonia.
Every single military presence in Sirius was moving into the Edge nebula, in particular the Omicron Minor and Major systems.
"I took the Liberty of Locking the Hyper Gate" Prometheus said "But I don’t think the security will hold out for long"
The map zoomed out to show the discovered network of the Dom'Kavash hyper gates.
"How easy do you think it will be to relocate you to here?" Arania asked, pulling up a system map containing a massive Dom'Kavash base, once that was much larger than the one he was on now.
"Not hard" Prometheus replied "we had to modify this base to include a neuronic data storage core and rewire it to the systems. There, all I have to do is overwrite the existing AI controller, since it is already hardwired to the entire base"
"How soon could it be completed?" Arania asked
"18.3 minutes" Prometheus replied "there is a hypergate to that system barely 10 km from here"
"Ok, go," Arania said, "and erase all the data on this base. Lock the gate after I go through too"
Prometheus vanished, and lights dimmed as he began transmission.
Arania walked down the corridor to the docking bay, making note to put a small tracer onto Waalbeck's ships computer power feed.
Climbing into his Anubis, he flew out of the bay towards the gate, transmitting a small message to Darkstone about the complications and to meet him at Toledo in three days time.

-:-
You wanna revolution?

Post Mon May 09, 2005 10:31 pm

But wait, theres more!

-:-

15:
I left Omicron Black 9 at the Jump Hole, and went on my way to Manchester. It was an uneventful trip through the dark system, and soon I reached the New London gate. Because of the Liberty 'incident', I decided to take the shortcut through the jump hole east of Kensington. I turned on the stereo I had installed in my ship, selecting some of the classical pieces from 20th century Earth; a rare find in the wreck of the Hispania. I loved some of the effects produced on the instruments without real-time processing and streaming digital technology. The names also made me smile at times, and I wonder how they came up with them, while others just confuse me. ‘Rage Against the Machine?’ I was told that Earth was a quaint Utopia in the 20th century. ‘Element Eighty’, probably a group of scientists named this one, naming it after the element mercury.

Before I could ponder it more, the trade lane to Cambridge was looming ominously in front of me with the onboard systems reminding me that a waypoint had been reached. I docked with the trade lane and relaxed a little in the seat of my ship. Soothing electronic sounds met little resistance with my ears, and the driving bass sounds of Infected Mushroom moved my feet in a different rhythm. After a while, the blue and green gem known as Cambridge came into my view, and filled one side of my ships forward window. I proceeded through the docking ring and made my way to the research centre on the far side of the planet, where my old friend Kenji was stationed.

I landed and walked through the main entrance, walking up to the main reception. A young woman with crimson hair sat behind the desk. Her headphones were up as loud as they could go; the latest synth-pop tunes were audible from where I was standing. She was reading a magazine which was obviously aimed at the female market. I knocked on the desk to get her attention, but to no avail. I rang the bell, again, with no reply. Somewhat annoyed, I tapped the receptionist on the shoulder. Without taking off the headphones, she replied with a simple 'What?'

Now I wish I could see my own face, because when Kenji walked through the staff only door, he wishes that he could have taken a photograph of my expression, describing it as a blank stare combined with a hidden desire to explode.
"Vi! What the hell are you doing here?" Kenji said to awaken me from my rage filled delusion.
"Kenji, something’s going down, and it's huge. I need to get A.K."
"A.K.? What do you need with him?"
"He's got my access codes to Daedaus. Basically he's got all the information we collected. That and I kinda miss having him look over the power levels in the Reflex."
"Get a pass from reception and follow me."
Hearing that instruction, I almost lost control of myself.
“Don't you have to sign me in?" I asked, my right eye twitching.
"Oh yeah,” Kenji recalled, “Thanks for reminding me.”
Kenji walked over to reception and signed in a pass for me. He handed me the key card and walked over to the staff only door.
I swiped my card to get in and followed Kenji into the labs. Experiments of all kinds were taking place in all the rooms adjacent to the hallway I was in. After about a 500 metre walk, we arrived at his station: Robotics and AI.
Inside were about seven scientists and programmers, all working on various projects and experiments. I didn't really care about what they were doing; I just wanted my travelling companion. The rear of the lab was where Kenji's station was located, it was cluttered with research papers, littered with tools and decorated failed experiments. In the corner of the station, on the side bench, sat A.K., Sirius' first sentient robot. I had managed to salvage the little guy from the Rheinland scrap yards when I was first exiled from Liberty. Since then he had stored all the details of my trip through Sirius and kept me company when Kenji returned to New Tokyo, and when I was living out in Tau-37, A.K. monitored the station where I lived.
"There's the little robotic scamp!"
A.K. remained motionless.
"Kenji... did you shut him down?"
"I had to, his battery supplies were at the end of their life when you brought him here, and I haven't had time to install the new power supply."
"I could probably explain that one..."
"No, the batteries used had a limited amount of recharges, and he ran out, poor little guy. But thanks to the Nomad Research Department I got a new power source."
"You're putting him on Nomad power?"
"No more recharges, no more need for an external supply."
"That’s a plus."
Kenji went over to his bench and produced a device that glowed purple.
"Just a simple task of plugging it in and testing it out..."

-:-
You wanna revolution?

Post Tue May 10, 2005 4:04 am

You`re the best! I love this fanfic

Post Tue May 10, 2005 6:07 pm

All i can say is.......

*raises card* 10.00!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Show You're Strenghts........
You've Earned You're Glory.......

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