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Creator -:Updated since massive absence:-
Read, add and comment on excellent written stories by fans, set within the Freelancer universe
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23:
Arania's revelations were a shock to my system, let alone the knowledge that he was related to me. The Dom'Kavash were the architects of our doom, and its time we designed a way to escape this Escher style trap. What Arania had said made sense somehow, that the true link between us was that Fate had not let us stand idly by and watch the world go down the tubes. Even our features were somewhat similar, except for the stylish glasses on my face.
Before I could ponder this anymore I heard a scream from the back of my ship. I knew I forgot something. I helped the research assistant out of the ship, with her shaking and pointing at Arania's phoenix.
"I have to ask, what the **** is that thing?" I asked Arania, half yelling.
"That's my phoenix, Araminta. It's my, err, companion. It won’t hurt you."
"Okay then, we need to get you to the med bay. Hopefully A.K. still has medical knowledge. Arania, go to my ship and get the little droid out of the I/O port." I said to the girl.
Arania went over and pulled the cables out of the little droid, noticing the purple glow coming out of its back.
"Is this Nomad technology?" Arania said walking behind me in the corridors.
"The battery is, yes. My late travelling companion developed it."
We had reached the med bay, and by this time the girl had passed out. Again, I laid her down on the table, ad got A.K. from Arania.
"This droid has saved my life before; it's my equivalent of Araminta." I said, plugging A.K. into the surgical unit. A ballet of scanners and diagnostic equipment whirred around the lab girl from Cambridge. A.K. emitted some beeping.
"What did it say?" Arania questioned.
"Its just shock, easy to treat, nothing serious."
A.K. made some beeping noises.
"Yes, wake her up. You can’t treat an unconscious shock patient. Just restrain her."
A.K. beeped again. Leather restraints fastened around her feet and hands. A needle on a robotic arm injected a serum to return her to a conscious state. She woke with a start, and began screaming at Araminta.
"Umm, Arania, you may want to do something about Araminta."
"Yeah. Araminta, cloak for a minute, okay?"
The bird nodded and disappeared. The lab assistant began to calm down a little.
"Where am I?" she asked, groggily.
"You're on the old Ithaca Research Station, which is now in the Tau-37 system, and is called Citadel Station. You passed out when I shot a Rheinland Schwartz Kommando trying to rape you. I put you in my ship and brought you here away from the Rheinlanders. Now it seems that they are here in Tau-37 as well."
The girl took this in and started crying.
"Why are you crying?" Arania asked. The girl sniffed back some tears and tried to respond.
"My father was killed on Cambridge and his Nomad power supply stolen by Rheinlanders."
Arania looked at me with a strange stare.
"What’s your name, kid?" I asked.
"Jennifer Aida. My father worked in the same lab as me."
Finally all the pieces fell into place. Everything made sense. Fate lost one Aida and replaced him with his descendant. She even had Kenji's weird blue eyes. It almost made some form of sense. I stress the 'almost' part.
In the main control room I looked over toward the Rheinland battleship stationed outside Freeport 10. Jennifer sat talking to Arania about Araminta and how its flames reflected its mood. It was somewhat a serene time, strange as it may be, as the Dom'Kavash prepared to invade, and the Rheinland Northern Fleet stood outside our door, there was a calm over us. But I knew that time was of the essence. I went over to an old control panel, which used to be for the Ithaca’s research equipment, but I had retrofitted it for my own purposes:
Daedalus.
I hit some buttons and opened to main Daedalus chamber.
A.K. beeped into life while I was in chamber.
"A Transmission? Open a channel."
A.K. beeped a response.
"Good day gentlemen. I know you're home so please listen. I do not have any soldiers with me or commandos and you will probably notice this Armoured Transport has been stripped of weapons. I and my co-pilot are only wearing standard flight helmets and combat fatigues. Politically correct clothes are hard to come by on the run. I understand that our position has changed dramatically and that you are now the saviours of the Sirius. Since I have roughly 2500 people to look after and they are mostly civilians are would kindly suggest that you let me aboard and we can sort out this affair. Scan all you like, there is no ambush and I only wish to talk to you casually and diplomatically. Since the charming little message we all received has caused Sector wide anarchy and chaos perhaps I deserve at least a temporary second chance and an explanation?"
Rhienlanders. Bah.
"A.K., open Dock 2 and allow them to land. Seal off Dock two via vacuum seal and stand by."
A.K. beeped a response. Outside the station, a small hole appeared out of nowhere with a docking bay inside. The Armoured transport proceeded in and landed.
"Okay, close the door A.K. Seal them in."
The door closed behind the Rheinlanders and a familiar hiss of vacuum sealing was heard. Finally, I could work with Daedalus in peace.
-:-
You wanna revolution?
Arania's revelations were a shock to my system, let alone the knowledge that he was related to me. The Dom'Kavash were the architects of our doom, and its time we designed a way to escape this Escher style trap. What Arania had said made sense somehow, that the true link between us was that Fate had not let us stand idly by and watch the world go down the tubes. Even our features were somewhat similar, except for the stylish glasses on my face.
Before I could ponder this anymore I heard a scream from the back of my ship. I knew I forgot something. I helped the research assistant out of the ship, with her shaking and pointing at Arania's phoenix.
"I have to ask, what the **** is that thing?" I asked Arania, half yelling.
"That's my phoenix, Araminta. It's my, err, companion. It won’t hurt you."
"Okay then, we need to get you to the med bay. Hopefully A.K. still has medical knowledge. Arania, go to my ship and get the little droid out of the I/O port." I said to the girl.
Arania went over and pulled the cables out of the little droid, noticing the purple glow coming out of its back.
"Is this Nomad technology?" Arania said walking behind me in the corridors.
"The battery is, yes. My late travelling companion developed it."
We had reached the med bay, and by this time the girl had passed out. Again, I laid her down on the table, ad got A.K. from Arania.
"This droid has saved my life before; it's my equivalent of Araminta." I said, plugging A.K. into the surgical unit. A ballet of scanners and diagnostic equipment whirred around the lab girl from Cambridge. A.K. emitted some beeping.
"What did it say?" Arania questioned.
"Its just shock, easy to treat, nothing serious."
A.K. made some beeping noises.
"Yes, wake her up. You can’t treat an unconscious shock patient. Just restrain her."
A.K. beeped again. Leather restraints fastened around her feet and hands. A needle on a robotic arm injected a serum to return her to a conscious state. She woke with a start, and began screaming at Araminta.
"Umm, Arania, you may want to do something about Araminta."
"Yeah. Araminta, cloak for a minute, okay?"
The bird nodded and disappeared. The lab assistant began to calm down a little.
"Where am I?" she asked, groggily.
"You're on the old Ithaca Research Station, which is now in the Tau-37 system, and is called Citadel Station. You passed out when I shot a Rheinland Schwartz Kommando trying to rape you. I put you in my ship and brought you here away from the Rheinlanders. Now it seems that they are here in Tau-37 as well."
The girl took this in and started crying.
"Why are you crying?" Arania asked. The girl sniffed back some tears and tried to respond.
"My father was killed on Cambridge and his Nomad power supply stolen by Rheinlanders."
Arania looked at me with a strange stare.
"What’s your name, kid?" I asked.
"Jennifer Aida. My father worked in the same lab as me."
Finally all the pieces fell into place. Everything made sense. Fate lost one Aida and replaced him with his descendant. She even had Kenji's weird blue eyes. It almost made some form of sense. I stress the 'almost' part.
In the main control room I looked over toward the Rheinland battleship stationed outside Freeport 10. Jennifer sat talking to Arania about Araminta and how its flames reflected its mood. It was somewhat a serene time, strange as it may be, as the Dom'Kavash prepared to invade, and the Rheinland Northern Fleet stood outside our door, there was a calm over us. But I knew that time was of the essence. I went over to an old control panel, which used to be for the Ithaca’s research equipment, but I had retrofitted it for my own purposes:
Daedalus.
I hit some buttons and opened to main Daedalus chamber.
A.K. beeped into life while I was in chamber.
"A Transmission? Open a channel."
A.K. beeped a response.
"Good day gentlemen. I know you're home so please listen. I do not have any soldiers with me or commandos and you will probably notice this Armoured Transport has been stripped of weapons. I and my co-pilot are only wearing standard flight helmets and combat fatigues. Politically correct clothes are hard to come by on the run. I understand that our position has changed dramatically and that you are now the saviours of the Sirius. Since I have roughly 2500 people to look after and they are mostly civilians are would kindly suggest that you let me aboard and we can sort out this affair. Scan all you like, there is no ambush and I only wish to talk to you casually and diplomatically. Since the charming little message we all received has caused Sector wide anarchy and chaos perhaps I deserve at least a temporary second chance and an explanation?"
Rhienlanders. Bah.
"A.K., open Dock 2 and allow them to land. Seal off Dock two via vacuum seal and stand by."
A.K. beeped a response. Outside the station, a small hole appeared out of nowhere with a docking bay inside. The Armoured transport proceeded in and landed.
"Okay, close the door A.K. Seal them in."
The door closed behind the Rheinlanders and a familiar hiss of vacuum sealing was heard. Finally, I could work with Daedalus in peace.
-:-
You wanna revolution?
24:
Waalbeck gazed out across ice clouds. For several days now they had been hovering, with a large proportion of the Sirius in the Tau-37 system awaiting instructions. From whom he did not know. His scouts had reported Arania leaving with someone and then they had encountered hostile fire. He did not send anymore scouts out. He was sick of death.
A few Outcasts watched with interest from Freeport 10 but then flew off. Waalbeck had a growing feeling this was something bigger then they could, or would ever comprehend. It was a strange time. War had halted and the masses of the Sirius huddled together from protection against the shadows. He knew the Southern Fleet had established a protection ring like theirs and that the Colditz system had been silent for days, for the first time in 50 years. Nothing came in, nothing came out. He knew that eventually if nothing happened the people would eventually creep back to their homes in space.
As for Rheinland, they had a lot to answer for. He assumed the Rheinland forces would be withdrawn into the Colditz system and the few surviving Kusari would start to rebuild their shell of an Empire. As for the captured independent systems such as the Sigmas and Omegas, well they were uncertain. Kusari would be too weak to hold on to the Sigmas so Rheinland would probably keep those, at least temporarily. And the Omegas would be shared or given back.
On the other hand if this solar destruction did happen it would probably result in the destruction of the corrupted people and the Sirius. The few gifted people who were aware of what was going on would survive and flee to start again in a new world, free from prejudice that had divided man so many times before. Hah.
It was all very philosophical and Waalbeck found this very strange. It didn't seem to tie in with reality. It was, in words totally random. Rheinland definitely seemed like the bad guys in this place. A neo-Coalition? He had often read about the Coalition, composed of mostly Russians and the Asian states as well as the Middle East and Africa. Ancient "countries" of antiquity.
Anyways he had his best hackers working on the ship scanning all of the Northern Sirius for any...unusual things. They had started in Tau-37 and cleared that of unusual objects, that is, until a technician scrolled back to cross-reference something; There was a little glitch, a tiny bump only centimetres high in one scan. Normally it would've been treated as a Rheinland force under cloak. But Commander Waalbeck had called everything back. He looked at patrol signatures and then comm footage of the route to that area. Nothing had travelled there since a steady flow of Outcasts and some unidentified ships which were not unusual; the system was full of them. But the Outcasts had blockaded the way towards their system. He checked the latest scan. The interference was still there. He paused unsure of what course of action to take. He slowly got up and walked the long route to the bridge, finding Waalbeck in his usual spot.
The Orbital Spa & Cruise rep had been reluctant to hand over the Armoured Transport but extra rations changed anyone's mind. Waalbeck was briefing his co-pilot, Rheinland Military ace Kornelius Harmel. "Now you see our ships were attacked, so obviously they are guarding against Rheinlanders you see? But if they have any decency at all they will be unwilling to attack civilians even if we surprise them by knowing about their base." Harmel nodded. He had heard about Waalbeck's relentlessness and now realised they rumours didn't exaggerate. They flew out and discreetly left the floating flotilla of military and civilian craft. After several minutes of calculations the rough position of the mystery base had been worked out. Waalbeck steered the Armoured Transport to where he thought he was roughly positioned in front of the base.
"Good day gentlemen. I know you're home so please listen. I do not have any soldiers with me or commandos and you will probably notice this Armoured Transport has been stripped of weapons. I and my co-pilot are only wearing standard flight helmets and combat fatigues. Politically correct clothes are hard to come by on the run. I understand that our position has changed dramatically and that you are now the saviours of the Sirius. Since I have roughly 2500 people to look after and they are mostly civilians are would kindly suggest that you let me aboard and we can sort out this affair. Scan all you like, there is no ambush and I only wish to talk to you casually and diplomatically. Since the charming little message we all received has caused Sector wide anarchy and chaos perhaps I deserve at least a temporary second chance and an explanation?
-:-
You wanna revolution?
Waalbeck gazed out across ice clouds. For several days now they had been hovering, with a large proportion of the Sirius in the Tau-37 system awaiting instructions. From whom he did not know. His scouts had reported Arania leaving with someone and then they had encountered hostile fire. He did not send anymore scouts out. He was sick of death.
A few Outcasts watched with interest from Freeport 10 but then flew off. Waalbeck had a growing feeling this was something bigger then they could, or would ever comprehend. It was a strange time. War had halted and the masses of the Sirius huddled together from protection against the shadows. He knew the Southern Fleet had established a protection ring like theirs and that the Colditz system had been silent for days, for the first time in 50 years. Nothing came in, nothing came out. He knew that eventually if nothing happened the people would eventually creep back to their homes in space.
As for Rheinland, they had a lot to answer for. He assumed the Rheinland forces would be withdrawn into the Colditz system and the few surviving Kusari would start to rebuild their shell of an Empire. As for the captured independent systems such as the Sigmas and Omegas, well they were uncertain. Kusari would be too weak to hold on to the Sigmas so Rheinland would probably keep those, at least temporarily. And the Omegas would be shared or given back.
On the other hand if this solar destruction did happen it would probably result in the destruction of the corrupted people and the Sirius. The few gifted people who were aware of what was going on would survive and flee to start again in a new world, free from prejudice that had divided man so many times before. Hah.
It was all very philosophical and Waalbeck found this very strange. It didn't seem to tie in with reality. It was, in words totally random. Rheinland definitely seemed like the bad guys in this place. A neo-Coalition? He had often read about the Coalition, composed of mostly Russians and the Asian states as well as the Middle East and Africa. Ancient "countries" of antiquity.
Anyways he had his best hackers working on the ship scanning all of the Northern Sirius for any...unusual things. They had started in Tau-37 and cleared that of unusual objects, that is, until a technician scrolled back to cross-reference something; There was a little glitch, a tiny bump only centimetres high in one scan. Normally it would've been treated as a Rheinland force under cloak. But Commander Waalbeck had called everything back. He looked at patrol signatures and then comm footage of the route to that area. Nothing had travelled there since a steady flow of Outcasts and some unidentified ships which were not unusual; the system was full of them. But the Outcasts had blockaded the way towards their system. He checked the latest scan. The interference was still there. He paused unsure of what course of action to take. He slowly got up and walked the long route to the bridge, finding Waalbeck in his usual spot.
The Orbital Spa & Cruise rep had been reluctant to hand over the Armoured Transport but extra rations changed anyone's mind. Waalbeck was briefing his co-pilot, Rheinland Military ace Kornelius Harmel. "Now you see our ships were attacked, so obviously they are guarding against Rheinlanders you see? But if they have any decency at all they will be unwilling to attack civilians even if we surprise them by knowing about their base." Harmel nodded. He had heard about Waalbeck's relentlessness and now realised they rumours didn't exaggerate. They flew out and discreetly left the floating flotilla of military and civilian craft. After several minutes of calculations the rough position of the mystery base had been worked out. Waalbeck steered the Armoured Transport to where he thought he was roughly positioned in front of the base.
"Good day gentlemen. I know you're home so please listen. I do not have any soldiers with me or commandos and you will probably notice this Armoured Transport has been stripped of weapons. I and my co-pilot are only wearing standard flight helmets and combat fatigues. Politically correct clothes are hard to come by on the run. I understand that our position has changed dramatically and that you are now the saviours of the Sirius. Since I have roughly 2500 people to look after and they are mostly civilians are would kindly suggest that you let me aboard and we can sort out this affair. Scan all you like, there is no ambush and I only wish to talk to you casually and diplomatically. Since the charming little message we all received has caused Sector wide anarchy and chaos perhaps I deserve at least a temporary second chance and an explanation?
-:-
You wanna revolution?
More goodness. It's been awile and i've had these building up dust. (super crazy electronic dust)
-:-
25:
Arania sat in his bunk, staring at the massive computer he had managed to design after scrounging spare parts from around the station.
Having utilised the Dom'Kavash technology on board his ship he had managed, with great difficulty, to hack into the colony news service.
That was what was only what was on the main screen; Prometheus was on the left, monitoring the hacked Rheinland MilNet system. And on the right, was the complete security network of the citadel station.
Having seen viator disappear into a chamber with his little robot, he decided to leave well enough alone, and shut of monitoring to that section, deciding best to leave him in peace.
Turning his attention to the captured Rheinland convoy, he decided to have some fun with them.
He turned off the lights, watching in amusement over the rad-cam how they all scurried around trying to find the lights. Laughing more than once when they all ran into each other and toppled over into one big heap.
The speakers crackled to life as an alert popped on the screen: Cloaking System Disrupted, estimated time to re-activation- 30 seconds.
"Crimson Seven I know your in there and I would preferably like an explanation for your quick and hasty departure from my company otherwise I may have to force a landing which I can do so easily even with your 'defences'. I have more than a few beam weapons you know" the speaker crackled.
"Prometheus, open bay three for our new friend, and open the Bulkhead between bays three and two, keep it all vacuum sealed though!"
He began typing on the main console, leaving a message on the CNS:
”This is your last warning, the Dom'Kavash are coming, and are not going to stop at killing us, they will destroy every last remnant of the human civilisation. Everyone must flee from any sort of solar object they can find. Go to Galileo and Kepler, hide in the dark matter clouds, go to Magellan, and hide in the barrier. Run from any star you see”
Ending the massage, he gathered up Araminta and a small Dom'Kavash rifle he had found in his ship, and set off towards the Captured Rheinland convoy.
As he neared the door of the bay, Araminta glowed brighter and let off a brilliant shower of red powder, the floated around Arania like a ball.
"Prometheus, open the door"
The door opened with a hiss, and Arania walked into the bay.
As expected, somebody shot at him, but it wasn’t the Rheinlanders, or Dragonborn, it was a corsair.
As the shot impacted, there was a brilliant display of Fire as the shot hit, not Arania, but the shield around him.
Arania rased his gun and fired a single shot at Hera, hitting her in the stomach, and proceeding through Hera's symbiont and through her back, finally hitting the wall.
Hera collapsed.
Arania turned to the shocked Rheinland officers, and tossed them a data cube containing his conversation with Viator.
"That should explain everything" he said, and beckoned Dragonborn over to the door.
"Viator is a bit tied up at the moment, dunno when he'll be out." Arania said "There is a med room down he hall, next to that is an empty crew module, I’m sure you’ll find it accommodating"
Arania walked off, his last words before disappearing back into his cabin: "Prometheus, seal off Bay two, close bay three bulkhead, V-seal"
A hiss was heard as the Rheinlanders were sealed in again.
-:-
You wanna revolution?
Edited by - Love Shark on 9/15/2005 11:29:39 PM
-:-
25:
Arania sat in his bunk, staring at the massive computer he had managed to design after scrounging spare parts from around the station.
Having utilised the Dom'Kavash technology on board his ship he had managed, with great difficulty, to hack into the colony news service.
That was what was only what was on the main screen; Prometheus was on the left, monitoring the hacked Rheinland MilNet system. And on the right, was the complete security network of the citadel station.
Having seen viator disappear into a chamber with his little robot, he decided to leave well enough alone, and shut of monitoring to that section, deciding best to leave him in peace.
Turning his attention to the captured Rheinland convoy, he decided to have some fun with them.
He turned off the lights, watching in amusement over the rad-cam how they all scurried around trying to find the lights. Laughing more than once when they all ran into each other and toppled over into one big heap.
The speakers crackled to life as an alert popped on the screen: Cloaking System Disrupted, estimated time to re-activation- 30 seconds.
"Crimson Seven I know your in there and I would preferably like an explanation for your quick and hasty departure from my company otherwise I may have to force a landing which I can do so easily even with your 'defences'. I have more than a few beam weapons you know" the speaker crackled.
"Prometheus, open bay three for our new friend, and open the Bulkhead between bays three and two, keep it all vacuum sealed though!"
He began typing on the main console, leaving a message on the CNS:
”This is your last warning, the Dom'Kavash are coming, and are not going to stop at killing us, they will destroy every last remnant of the human civilisation. Everyone must flee from any sort of solar object they can find. Go to Galileo and Kepler, hide in the dark matter clouds, go to Magellan, and hide in the barrier. Run from any star you see”
Ending the massage, he gathered up Araminta and a small Dom'Kavash rifle he had found in his ship, and set off towards the Captured Rheinland convoy.
As he neared the door of the bay, Araminta glowed brighter and let off a brilliant shower of red powder, the floated around Arania like a ball.
"Prometheus, open the door"
The door opened with a hiss, and Arania walked into the bay.
As expected, somebody shot at him, but it wasn’t the Rheinlanders, or Dragonborn, it was a corsair.
As the shot impacted, there was a brilliant display of Fire as the shot hit, not Arania, but the shield around him.
Arania rased his gun and fired a single shot at Hera, hitting her in the stomach, and proceeding through Hera's symbiont and through her back, finally hitting the wall.
Hera collapsed.
Arania turned to the shocked Rheinland officers, and tossed them a data cube containing his conversation with Viator.
"That should explain everything" he said, and beckoned Dragonborn over to the door.
"Viator is a bit tied up at the moment, dunno when he'll be out." Arania said "There is a med room down he hall, next to that is an empty crew module, I’m sure you’ll find it accommodating"
Arania walked off, his last words before disappearing back into his cabin: "Prometheus, seal off Bay two, close bay three bulkhead, V-seal"
A hiss was heard as the Rheinlanders were sealed in again.
-:-
You wanna revolution?
Edited by - Love Shark on 9/15/2005 11:29:39 PM
Holy custard.
I almost forgot about this. i left it at a rather bad part, eh?
well, after a ratehr long leave of absence, I post more of this fanfic. I'd like to just post one long post, but it would be too much at once. anyway, enjoy more of Creator.
-:-
26:
Waalbeck looked carefully at the data cube. Harmel just opened and shut his mouth as they were sealed in again. Slowly Waalbeck strode towards the Armoured Transport and pushed the data cube in the comm-link foreign object transmitter.
"Right now that's going to the Battleship our role in this, appears over." he finished. Harmel scratched his head.
"This is very confusing." Waalbeck nodded silently. He decided to check on the fleet. The vid-comm showed it slowly approaching this mysterious base. His eyebrows drew together and he groaned. Damn loyalty. Harmel remained indifferent.
"They got the data thingy yes?" Waalbeck continued to stare at the approaching fleet.
"Yup, they did but without their commander they are unsure of what to do." Harmel leaned on the Armoured Transport. Waalbeck continued.
"It's pretty predictable from here. Either these people eject us out of this base and we go back to the Battleship and have no further role in this or the fleet will try to destroy this base." Harmel looked up.
"Try? This is a fleet against a base! Even I've taken out bases this big." Waalbeck sighed.
"They will inevitably escape I promise you, leaving us and this godforsaken station to be blasted to oblivion. Even if we are ejected, what can we do? I have a feeling we've now taken a back seat to this if you know what I mean." Harmel nodded in silent agreement.
"I can tell my grandchildren I spent this crisis locked up in a dock...rather then fighting." he reflected bitterly. Waalbeck rolled his eyes.
"Okay Kornelius, what would you do, given the chance?"
Harmel thought for a minute.
"Try and save our fleet and the refugees...I don't know what sort of role."
Waalbeck was sitting silently until a thought came into his head.
"Kornelius? What do you suppose drove our 'great' chancellor to war?" Harmel thought.
"They say he got really strange in the few months before the war...though I think I like the old Sirius better, even the Kusari...I mean it's not like he had a major grudge against anyone. Besides it was those Order ****s that obliterated our base in the Edge, and the Goethe! So much for protected peaceful expansion....." Waalbeck nodded.
Meanwhile the fleet was quietly floating outside the mystery base, encircling it. They had encountered some problems with lighting but technicians installed a block after some **** intruded into a MilNet code. The bridge had been installed with a type of infrared visors that allowed a partial view of the base, if not a very shimmery one. Admiral Kassal checked that it was completely encircled just out of the bases defences and place a naval blockade and quarantine on it.
"Nothing comes in or out, do you hear me?" he yelled at the sector commanders.
"If they want to pretend nobody's home then we can bombard them with jamming signals and all sorts of tricks."
"Are we really sure we want to do that sir? I mean what if they're helping the Sirius?" Major Kaufman nervously said. Admiral Kassal looked down at him.
"If they want to be so arrogant as to lock up a distinguished Officer and ignore a fleet of what happens to be the most powerful navy in the Sirius then they will have to learn won't they Major?"
The Höllentier lowered her massive planetary bombardment cannons to the base's vital points. A senior Technician reported up to the Bridge. "Firewall up and running sir! Total neural lock-down from foreign sources!" Kassal smiled. "Let them know we are here Wilhem, play around with them for awhile." Major Kaufmann started. "But Sir! They might, they might, might execute Commander Waalbeck!" Kassel remained indifferent. Those two have received our message. Waalbeck and his cohort are completely aware of this. The commander in charge of fighter and interceptor command appeared on screen. Kassel spoke to him. "Nothing is to leave these premises! I don't care if it's a Startracker or a Battleship! Destroy it immediatly!" he paused and turned to a communications officer.
"Did you send that base the warning on the Blockade? The officer nodded. Kassel continued.
"Right they know the rules....And watch out for deceptions and ambushes! They may have alien craft but they will wilt under supreme numbers! That is if they continue their arrogance and try to escape. We are only too happy to let them continue as long as we have our personnel on-board to monitor everything a let us know. Are the boarding parties ready Pitor?"
A scar-faced eye patched man nodded emphatically through a distorted vid-comm.
"Three parties of technicians and some Military police" Kassel nodded in approvement.
"Any Schwartz Kommando?" he asked off-hand. Pitor replied straight away.
"Nein, sir! On your direct orders all Schwartz Kommando have been detained and are not allowed out of their quarters on the Höllentier." Kassel nodded again.
"Don't want to scare our little secretive freedom fighters. And remember, no violent actions! Nothing that will get you killed or brings our tainted nation in to further disrepute... We want to help these people in any way we can" Piotr nodded and the vid-comm went black. Kaufman asked quietly
"Is there not any other way we can tell them we want to help?" Kassel sighed
"As Commander Waalbeck will know we have tried to give them the hint but their arrogance says that they can ignore the assistance of a fleet. Besides I am being ordered to provide personal to monitor their activities by these paranoid merchant guilds, the Chancellor and every other paranoid, confused blubbering civilian in this system. Normally I don't take orders from soft civilians but on this occasion I happen to agree with them. I just hope Waalbeck has prepared himself."
-:-
-:-
I'm Rick James, *****.
I almost forgot about this. i left it at a rather bad part, eh?
well, after a ratehr long leave of absence, I post more of this fanfic. I'd like to just post one long post, but it would be too much at once. anyway, enjoy more of Creator.
-:-
26:
Waalbeck looked carefully at the data cube. Harmel just opened and shut his mouth as they were sealed in again. Slowly Waalbeck strode towards the Armoured Transport and pushed the data cube in the comm-link foreign object transmitter.
"Right now that's going to the Battleship our role in this, appears over." he finished. Harmel scratched his head.
"This is very confusing." Waalbeck nodded silently. He decided to check on the fleet. The vid-comm showed it slowly approaching this mysterious base. His eyebrows drew together and he groaned. Damn loyalty. Harmel remained indifferent.
"They got the data thingy yes?" Waalbeck continued to stare at the approaching fleet.
"Yup, they did but without their commander they are unsure of what to do." Harmel leaned on the Armoured Transport. Waalbeck continued.
"It's pretty predictable from here. Either these people eject us out of this base and we go back to the Battleship and have no further role in this or the fleet will try to destroy this base." Harmel looked up.
"Try? This is a fleet against a base! Even I've taken out bases this big." Waalbeck sighed.
"They will inevitably escape I promise you, leaving us and this godforsaken station to be blasted to oblivion. Even if we are ejected, what can we do? I have a feeling we've now taken a back seat to this if you know what I mean." Harmel nodded in silent agreement.
"I can tell my grandchildren I spent this crisis locked up in a dock...rather then fighting." he reflected bitterly. Waalbeck rolled his eyes.
"Okay Kornelius, what would you do, given the chance?"
Harmel thought for a minute.
"Try and save our fleet and the refugees...I don't know what sort of role."
Waalbeck was sitting silently until a thought came into his head.
"Kornelius? What do you suppose drove our 'great' chancellor to war?" Harmel thought.
"They say he got really strange in the few months before the war...though I think I like the old Sirius better, even the Kusari...I mean it's not like he had a major grudge against anyone. Besides it was those Order ****s that obliterated our base in the Edge, and the Goethe! So much for protected peaceful expansion....." Waalbeck nodded.
Meanwhile the fleet was quietly floating outside the mystery base, encircling it. They had encountered some problems with lighting but technicians installed a block after some **** intruded into a MilNet code. The bridge had been installed with a type of infrared visors that allowed a partial view of the base, if not a very shimmery one. Admiral Kassal checked that it was completely encircled just out of the bases defences and place a naval blockade and quarantine on it.
"Nothing comes in or out, do you hear me?" he yelled at the sector commanders.
"If they want to pretend nobody's home then we can bombard them with jamming signals and all sorts of tricks."
"Are we really sure we want to do that sir? I mean what if they're helping the Sirius?" Major Kaufman nervously said. Admiral Kassal looked down at him.
"If they want to be so arrogant as to lock up a distinguished Officer and ignore a fleet of what happens to be the most powerful navy in the Sirius then they will have to learn won't they Major?"
The Höllentier lowered her massive planetary bombardment cannons to the base's vital points. A senior Technician reported up to the Bridge. "Firewall up and running sir! Total neural lock-down from foreign sources!" Kassal smiled. "Let them know we are here Wilhem, play around with them for awhile." Major Kaufmann started. "But Sir! They might, they might, might execute Commander Waalbeck!" Kassel remained indifferent. Those two have received our message. Waalbeck and his cohort are completely aware of this. The commander in charge of fighter and interceptor command appeared on screen. Kassel spoke to him. "Nothing is to leave these premises! I don't care if it's a Startracker or a Battleship! Destroy it immediatly!" he paused and turned to a communications officer.
"Did you send that base the warning on the Blockade? The officer nodded. Kassel continued.
"Right they know the rules....And watch out for deceptions and ambushes! They may have alien craft but they will wilt under supreme numbers! That is if they continue their arrogance and try to escape. We are only too happy to let them continue as long as we have our personnel on-board to monitor everything a let us know. Are the boarding parties ready Pitor?"
A scar-faced eye patched man nodded emphatically through a distorted vid-comm.
"Three parties of technicians and some Military police" Kassel nodded in approvement.
"Any Schwartz Kommando?" he asked off-hand. Pitor replied straight away.
"Nein, sir! On your direct orders all Schwartz Kommando have been detained and are not allowed out of their quarters on the Höllentier." Kassel nodded again.
"Don't want to scare our little secretive freedom fighters. And remember, no violent actions! Nothing that will get you killed or brings our tainted nation in to further disrepute... We want to help these people in any way we can" Piotr nodded and the vid-comm went black. Kaufman asked quietly
"Is there not any other way we can tell them we want to help?" Kassel sighed
"As Commander Waalbeck will know we have tried to give them the hint but their arrogance says that they can ignore the assistance of a fleet. Besides I am being ordered to provide personal to monitor their activities by these paranoid merchant guilds, the Chancellor and every other paranoid, confused blubbering civilian in this system. Normally I don't take orders from soft civilians but on this occasion I happen to agree with them. I just hope Waalbeck has prepared himself."
-:-
-:-
I'm Rick James, *****.
27:
"We are surrounded" Prometheus stated.
Arania sat at his computer console, trying desperately to override the Rheinland firewall.
Two counters were displayed in the corner of the screen:
Dom'Kavash attack: 0:07:10
Coalition Fleet arrival: 0:06:24
"I know that Prometheus" Arania said "Have the Nanites finished the DK shielding gens?"
"Yes" Prometheus replied "But we have a bigger problem."
The main window shifted to chow a camera view of the outside, and the multiple Rheinland boarding ships approaching the station.
"Arm axial EMP cannons" Arania commanded.
The view shifted yet again to show a targeting window.
"Prometheus, take over" Arania said, rising from his seat "Make sure they don’t get in"
He left towards bay one.
Checking his watch he noted the time until the coalition arrived:
4:12, 4:11, 4:10.
He would have to hold off the Rheinlanders until then.
Hopping into his Dom'Kavash Starfighter, he saw the brilliant spray of EMP and Prometheus disabled the boarding parties with pinpoint accuracy, one by one.
4 Minutes
Launching out of the bay, he went over the last message he had heard over the MilNet hack before the Rheinlanders firewalled him:
"If they want to be so arrogant as to lock up a distinguished Officer and a ignore a fleet of what happens to be the most powerful navy in the Sirius then they will have to learn won't they Major?".
Arania deftly piloted the Phoenix to the barrier of the Dom'Kavash shield he had took the liberty of installing on the base, as if daring them to attack.
One of the gunners seemed to have lost his nerve, and loosed a single tachyon burst at the station.
Arania didn’t even flinch. The particle hit the shield in a dazzling display of blue and green, a white circle spreading outwards around the shield.
3 Minutes.
In one single, suicidal as it may have been, movement, he hit the thrusters and blasted towards the bridge of the apparent 'command' ship.
Almost immediately he came under fire, millions upon millions of green streams of light hit his ship, and hit it bloody hard.
He barely made it to the first ship before his shields began to fail.
Slipping into the crevice that marked the bridge of the Rheinland ship, he allowed himself to breathe a sigh of relief.
2 Minutes.
He aimed the guns of his ship straight at the window, ignoring the surprised looks on the Höllentier's command crew.
"There is no good, there is no evil" Arania said over the comm channel "There is only hate"
"You couldn't possibly know" he said, his voice breaking "I never, never, felt what love was, I don’t know what it feels like. No-one ever loved me"
A tear fell from his eye.
"Space, its a funny thing, so cold, so empty" He said, half crying "Yet we all need to see it for ourselves"
"I will not sit back" He said, a slight tone of anger in his voice "I will not allow ourselves to be torn apart by the whims of an alien species"
1 Minute
"As it is" He half-yelled "I don’t see why I should save us"
"It is inevitable that we will eventually turn against each other once again"
30 Seconds
"If this is the overwhelming desire of the human race. Then perhaps the Dom'Kavash were right, maybe we don’t deserve Sirius"
20 Seconds
"I was betrayed, that is why I left Sol." Arania sobbed "This was a suicide mission. I hoped that I would die then. To put out the pain in my heart, to ease the torture"
10 Seconds
Arania piloted the ship out of the crevice, into a clear firing line for the Rheinlanders.
"Hate; that is the only thing you know now, that is the only thing the Dom'Kavash left you with, one emotion. And if all you can feel now is hate, then my efforts have failed"
He powered down his shields, just as the Coalition fleet in its entirety jumped in, more than the entire military force of Sirius put together.
"Only united can we fight this common enemy, united we stand, divided we fall. See through the mask the Dom'Kavash has placed over your eyes, see the truth, please..."
In the distance, the speck of light that was the New York system grew brighter, much brighter, before vanishing.
"New York has been destroyed" The Coalition Fleet admiral said over the comm.
-:-
I'm Rick James, *****.
"We are surrounded" Prometheus stated.
Arania sat at his computer console, trying desperately to override the Rheinland firewall.
Two counters were displayed in the corner of the screen:
Dom'Kavash attack: 0:07:10
Coalition Fleet arrival: 0:06:24
"I know that Prometheus" Arania said "Have the Nanites finished the DK shielding gens?"
"Yes" Prometheus replied "But we have a bigger problem."
The main window shifted to chow a camera view of the outside, and the multiple Rheinland boarding ships approaching the station.
"Arm axial EMP cannons" Arania commanded.
The view shifted yet again to show a targeting window.
"Prometheus, take over" Arania said, rising from his seat "Make sure they don’t get in"
He left towards bay one.
Checking his watch he noted the time until the coalition arrived:
4:12, 4:11, 4:10.
He would have to hold off the Rheinlanders until then.
Hopping into his Dom'Kavash Starfighter, he saw the brilliant spray of EMP and Prometheus disabled the boarding parties with pinpoint accuracy, one by one.
4 Minutes
Launching out of the bay, he went over the last message he had heard over the MilNet hack before the Rheinlanders firewalled him:
"If they want to be so arrogant as to lock up a distinguished Officer and a ignore a fleet of what happens to be the most powerful navy in the Sirius then they will have to learn won't they Major?".
Arania deftly piloted the Phoenix to the barrier of the Dom'Kavash shield he had took the liberty of installing on the base, as if daring them to attack.
One of the gunners seemed to have lost his nerve, and loosed a single tachyon burst at the station.
Arania didn’t even flinch. The particle hit the shield in a dazzling display of blue and green, a white circle spreading outwards around the shield.
3 Minutes.
In one single, suicidal as it may have been, movement, he hit the thrusters and blasted towards the bridge of the apparent 'command' ship.
Almost immediately he came under fire, millions upon millions of green streams of light hit his ship, and hit it bloody hard.
He barely made it to the first ship before his shields began to fail.
Slipping into the crevice that marked the bridge of the Rheinland ship, he allowed himself to breathe a sigh of relief.
2 Minutes.
He aimed the guns of his ship straight at the window, ignoring the surprised looks on the Höllentier's command crew.
"There is no good, there is no evil" Arania said over the comm channel "There is only hate"
"You couldn't possibly know" he said, his voice breaking "I never, never, felt what love was, I don’t know what it feels like. No-one ever loved me"
A tear fell from his eye.
"Space, its a funny thing, so cold, so empty" He said, half crying "Yet we all need to see it for ourselves"
"I will not sit back" He said, a slight tone of anger in his voice "I will not allow ourselves to be torn apart by the whims of an alien species"
1 Minute
"As it is" He half-yelled "I don’t see why I should save us"
"It is inevitable that we will eventually turn against each other once again"
30 Seconds
"If this is the overwhelming desire of the human race. Then perhaps the Dom'Kavash were right, maybe we don’t deserve Sirius"
20 Seconds
"I was betrayed, that is why I left Sol." Arania sobbed "This was a suicide mission. I hoped that I would die then. To put out the pain in my heart, to ease the torture"
10 Seconds
Arania piloted the ship out of the crevice, into a clear firing line for the Rheinlanders.
"Hate; that is the only thing you know now, that is the only thing the Dom'Kavash left you with, one emotion. And if all you can feel now is hate, then my efforts have failed"
He powered down his shields, just as the Coalition fleet in its entirety jumped in, more than the entire military force of Sirius put together.
"Only united can we fight this common enemy, united we stand, divided we fall. See through the mask the Dom'Kavash has placed over your eyes, see the truth, please..."
In the distance, the speck of light that was the New York system grew brighter, much brighter, before vanishing.
"New York has been destroyed" The Coalition Fleet admiral said over the comm.
-:-
I'm Rick James, *****.
wow, couldnt hardly remember what this was till i started reading it again!
what a story, cant wait for more!
007
Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate.The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose vis-à-vis an introduction, and so it is my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V.
V from V for Vendetta
what a story, cant wait for more!
007
Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate.The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose vis-à-vis an introduction, and so it is my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V.
V from V for Vendetta
28:
"ACH DU LIEBER, MEIN GOTT! IT'S THE COALITION!" screamed Harmel from the bridge of the Armoured Transport. Waalbeck's eyes threatened to pop from their sockets as he saw the huge Coalition capital ships, plastered with red stars and Cyrillic writings. It was over every vid-comm in the Sirius. Heavy browed Russians dominated the voice channels yelling orders in that crazy language of theirs. Waalbeck gazed in amazement as well as every other soul in the Sirius as they spoke a language other than English. A language no one alive had heard. He gasped in wonder at the other races of the Coalition. This was genuinely amazing.
Admiral Kassel crept gasping and wheezing for breath in an escape pod he had launched. There was an evil voice in his mind! He genuinely thought he had gone crazy so he broke open the escape pod seal and cast himself out into the vacuum. His body froze and bloated so that it was unrecognizable. Then it was torn asunder by a green skinned humanoid. The dom'kavash had long mastered telepathy but they had since learnt to transport at least their mental beings into others even millions of light years away. But this took much concentration and 60% of the time the dom'kavash trying to transport himself tore his physical structure apart in the process. So it was not used often. But this time, for better or worse Kossus had succeeded. He had actually expected to die, like the others. In fact it had only been successfully done three times before, ever. Kossus knew his goal: to prevent the interfering humans from locating their home world. He floated freely in the vacuum without harm but the dom'kavash preferred to fly in ships as it was faster.
He looked for a ship and found a suitable one floating in the vicinity. The Rheinland pilot almost died of shock when the green humanoid switched his atoms to line up with those of the ship's window and floated through it. Though he did die when the Dom'kavash's claws slid out and tore open her throat. Mastering this primitive ship was easy. And so was avoiding the weak defences of the offending base. He rammed the ship into a dock but it quickly broke apart. The human materials were strong but he soon had it open enough.
He passed the body of Hera which was now being sucked into the void.
"Hera, I thought you said you were the best? Ha!" He detected two human life forms in the next dock. Not hosts to anyone. There was a strange presence on this ship. Not human...not physical or organic...Artificial. He lifted his spindly, yet impossibly strong hands towards the walls. Electrical discharges sprung out like leaky plumbing and they cracked furiously. So...the humans have created a sort of artificial controller. Okay he thought slowly, let's have a little fun. Then a familiar sour sense crept into his mind, the sense of filth and old. But this wasn't a normal human sense. It was different somehow. He looked through the layers of steel, wires and metal to see a strangely different human race approach on the abandoned human system of New York. He absent-mindedly scrambled the electronic impulses controlling things on the base, interrupting the computer and causing it to go into partial shut-down. His mind was on other things. It appeared all the docks had been fully opened as many things in and around the base were getting sucked into the void.
Kossus flocked around the system investigating things and was surprised to see Prometheus. “Well...If it isn't our little traitor? This shall be fun to watch” he telepathically said to Prometheus. It appeared his mind was full of hate and yet sadness...Ah a fight between the controller and the independent. This should be interesting to watch he reflected.
Harmel looked at Waalbeck nervously as the Armoured Transport was picked up backwards and started to float down through the docks. Waalbeck looked up. "Hmm...They must have decided to let us go." He grabbed the controls and expertly turned it around and flew out before "they" changed their minds.
They flew out to total chaos; which is pretty much what had been happening in the Sirius for the past few days. The New York system had been destroyed, the Coalition had returned. Admiral Kassel had apparently "abandoned his post" and there was a crazy alien fighter with what seemed to be a terrible case of schizophrenia attacking the Höllentier head on. Harmel couldn't handle it all and tranquilized himself. Waalbeck didn't stop him. They had gone from a pretty good set up colony life to this which was like tipping normal life upside down, adding pizza, ice-cream and brussel sprouts, putting it in a cocktail mixer, sending it through a jump hole and sculling what came through on the other side.
But like his drill sergeant at the Wulfsburg military camp had said. "Life's a *****; you just gotta ride her out and take it as it comes."
He landed on the Cruiser Totemkopf and was bombarded with reports and clarification requests as he carried Harmel to the med-bay. Just ride her out he told himself, just ride her out.
-:-
I'm Rick James, *****.
"ACH DU LIEBER, MEIN GOTT! IT'S THE COALITION!" screamed Harmel from the bridge of the Armoured Transport. Waalbeck's eyes threatened to pop from their sockets as he saw the huge Coalition capital ships, plastered with red stars and Cyrillic writings. It was over every vid-comm in the Sirius. Heavy browed Russians dominated the voice channels yelling orders in that crazy language of theirs. Waalbeck gazed in amazement as well as every other soul in the Sirius as they spoke a language other than English. A language no one alive had heard. He gasped in wonder at the other races of the Coalition. This was genuinely amazing.
Admiral Kassel crept gasping and wheezing for breath in an escape pod he had launched. There was an evil voice in his mind! He genuinely thought he had gone crazy so he broke open the escape pod seal and cast himself out into the vacuum. His body froze and bloated so that it was unrecognizable. Then it was torn asunder by a green skinned humanoid. The dom'kavash had long mastered telepathy but they had since learnt to transport at least their mental beings into others even millions of light years away. But this took much concentration and 60% of the time the dom'kavash trying to transport himself tore his physical structure apart in the process. So it was not used often. But this time, for better or worse Kossus had succeeded. He had actually expected to die, like the others. In fact it had only been successfully done three times before, ever. Kossus knew his goal: to prevent the interfering humans from locating their home world. He floated freely in the vacuum without harm but the dom'kavash preferred to fly in ships as it was faster.
He looked for a ship and found a suitable one floating in the vicinity. The Rheinland pilot almost died of shock when the green humanoid switched his atoms to line up with those of the ship's window and floated through it. Though he did die when the Dom'kavash's claws slid out and tore open her throat. Mastering this primitive ship was easy. And so was avoiding the weak defences of the offending base. He rammed the ship into a dock but it quickly broke apart. The human materials were strong but he soon had it open enough.
He passed the body of Hera which was now being sucked into the void.
"Hera, I thought you said you were the best? Ha!" He detected two human life forms in the next dock. Not hosts to anyone. There was a strange presence on this ship. Not human...not physical or organic...Artificial. He lifted his spindly, yet impossibly strong hands towards the walls. Electrical discharges sprung out like leaky plumbing and they cracked furiously. So...the humans have created a sort of artificial controller. Okay he thought slowly, let's have a little fun. Then a familiar sour sense crept into his mind, the sense of filth and old. But this wasn't a normal human sense. It was different somehow. He looked through the layers of steel, wires and metal to see a strangely different human race approach on the abandoned human system of New York. He absent-mindedly scrambled the electronic impulses controlling things on the base, interrupting the computer and causing it to go into partial shut-down. His mind was on other things. It appeared all the docks had been fully opened as many things in and around the base were getting sucked into the void.
Kossus flocked around the system investigating things and was surprised to see Prometheus. “Well...If it isn't our little traitor? This shall be fun to watch” he telepathically said to Prometheus. It appeared his mind was full of hate and yet sadness...Ah a fight between the controller and the independent. This should be interesting to watch he reflected.
Harmel looked at Waalbeck nervously as the Armoured Transport was picked up backwards and started to float down through the docks. Waalbeck looked up. "Hmm...They must have decided to let us go." He grabbed the controls and expertly turned it around and flew out before "they" changed their minds.
They flew out to total chaos; which is pretty much what had been happening in the Sirius for the past few days. The New York system had been destroyed, the Coalition had returned. Admiral Kassel had apparently "abandoned his post" and there was a crazy alien fighter with what seemed to be a terrible case of schizophrenia attacking the Höllentier head on. Harmel couldn't handle it all and tranquilized himself. Waalbeck didn't stop him. They had gone from a pretty good set up colony life to this which was like tipping normal life upside down, adding pizza, ice-cream and brussel sprouts, putting it in a cocktail mixer, sending it through a jump hole and sculling what came through on the other side.
But like his drill sergeant at the Wulfsburg military camp had said. "Life's a *****; you just gotta ride her out and take it as it comes."
He landed on the Cruiser Totemkopf and was bombarded with reports and clarification requests as he carried Harmel to the med-bay. Just ride her out he told himself, just ride her out.
-:-
I'm Rick James, *****.
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