ooc: here it is new and improoved, longer, and more.... sensible =P thanks for the imput everyone, I'll make sure to ask BEFORE I post something so cataclysmic next time =P

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After a few days Gabriel had finally been settled into his home. This place was strangely familiar. To him New London brought back old memories, desires to see old friends, yearning to visit the places of his youth. Of course doing so would not only destroy his cover, but could potentially expose the Ta’Gue’Led. He had to completely start over, and it wasn’t until now that he realized just how hard that was to do. He had grown up here; it was hard to act like a foreigner.

He shook himself out of it and grabbed his jacket and sunglasses and put them on as he walked out of the apartment. He needed to clear his mind and he had cooped himself in that room for far too long. He strolled down the hallway to the elevator and pushed the down button the doors sprung open to reveal a single occupant. A young lady about his age, five foot eight, attractively built with cropped brown hair and deep brown eyes. Suddenly he realized he knew her. He had gone to school with her. He prayed she wouldn’t recognize him. As the elevator sped towards the ground he noticed through the corner of his glasses she kept glancing at him, thankfully due to the dark shades she couldn’t tell he was doing the same. The door opened and he stepped out into the blue hue of the foyer, his long coat swirling around him.

“Wait!” he heard from behind him, Emily’s familiar voice echoed through out the room.

He turned, “yes?”

“You seem strangely familiar, do I know you?”

“No, I don’t think so,” he replied.

“Oh” she replied obviously disappointed, “it’s just, you look a lot like an old school friend of mine.”

He chuckled, and took off his glasses, “I wish I had known you at school, I’m sure life would have been a lot more enjoyable.”

A confused look came over her face and with that the clerk at the front desk’s hands slipped on some paper and his chin hit the solid stone desktop with a thud. Emily turned to see what happened and saw hi picking himself up trying to pretend he hadn’t been eavesdropping, the scattered papers didn’t help his efforts. She turned back around, seconds later, and Gabriel was gone. Staring at the door she tried to make sense of it all.

Walking into his hanger Gabriel quickly got into his cockpit and closed the canopy. The ship roared to life and the HUD appeared, preliminary diagnostics running automatically. Checking systems and stores everything looked good, full nanobots and shield batteries, all weapons operational. He reached up and pushed a button set into one of the canopy cross members. The doors of the hanger began to open, he powered up his ship and dimmed the cockpit and it roared into space. “It’s time to get reacquainted with this place,” he thought as he rocketed past Waterloo.

The trip was relatively quiet. His travels only disrupted when corsair and molly raiders attacked him as he traveled through the trade lanes, all of which were quickly dispatched under a hail of fire from his Tanto and Wakizashi laser cannons.

Taking a shortcut from Leeds Gabriel arrived within the Cardiff Asteroid Field in the Cambridge System.

“Hopefully this will be nice and quite as well and I can head back home for some Shepard’s pie and the Horse’s Head” Gabriel muttered to himself, picturing the warm pie with its lightly crisped mashed potato topping at his favorite pub. “Have myself a pint, wow, this should turn out to be a good day after all.”

He smiled to himself as he activated his cruise and shot towards the Ross Planetoid and the Battleship Norfolk skimming along the blue gaseous edges of the Keswick Ice Cloud. He arrived at the battleship and requested to dock. It was doing this that made this whole thing so long and boring, but he knew checking the police and BAF bars for rumors would be the most affective and efficient way to find out if nomads had been spotted in the area.

“How may I help you?” the bartender asked kindly. “We have a wide selection of Bretonnian Brews for you to chose from.”

“Fine thanks, actually I’m looking for information.”

“You’re new here aren’t you?”

“I guess you could say that, I’m just stopping by to grab a few supplies before heading back to New London.”

“Oh? Well, if you must know I have heard something.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, supposedly there are screams over the comm. channels originating from the Grasmere Ice Cloud. By the time our Pilots get there the source is gone, without a trace. There’s word going around that all the corsairs that have been killed in that place are starting to haunt it. I’m not scared of ‘em though. Anyway, I’m just a bartender on a Bretonnian Battleship, I think I’ll be safe from a few ‘Ghosts’”

“Oh hey, thanks for the warning” Gabriel said, starting to get off his bar stool.

“Be safe out there” he heard the bartender call as he exited out of the room.

“Maybe this’ll pull the raiders away from the trade lanes and I’ll get home quicker” the pilot thought as he walked towards the hanger.

“Why do you pass this off quickly?” the ethereal voice of Shi’Xiosa echoed in his mind.

“What you think this could be nomads?”

“You are still brash my young host; impatient, you take everything too literally. These ghosts could be nomad ships.”

“But he said nothing of seeing ghost ships, just the screams.”

“Yes, but stories get warped as they are passed from person to person. I doubt the nomads are hear, so far from the places they have been spotted in before, but, we are not here to assume that they couldn’t make it here without someone seeing them, no we are here to route out any indications that nomads could be in this sector.”

Shi’Xiosa was right, how could he have been so careless. There was a relatively unknown jump hole in the Grasmere cloud, one to Omega Five, a place inhabited by Hessians and Corsairs. They had been embroiled in a War there for years, and the Corsairs have been getting the upper hand as of late. These screams could simply be Hessians turning into space dust. But there was only one way to find out.

Gabriel arrived at his ship and quickly got into the cockpit and activated the preflight check. His battery and nanobot holds were both still full; he hoped they would stay that way. He was soon cleared for launch and headed out into the ice cloud. Setting a path for the jump hole he activated his cruise.

“Damn cloud messing with my sensors” Gabriel thought switching the display to show everything the sensor would pick up. Glancing down at the display something caught his attention.

“Henry Jones… wasn’t that commandeered a few weeks ago by the corsairs?” he thought to himself, “I’ll have to check that out on the way back.”

The rest of the trip was relatively quiet, almost too quiet. He deactivated his cruise as he neared the hole, corsairs usually prowled the area, and it would be better to clear this side just incase he ran into something bigger on the other side. The small black ship sat outside the hole for the better part of fifteen minutes. Nothing. Not one ship appeared on his scanners.

“We should investigate the other side, something has happened, the corsairs would patrol this side of the hole. They do in their systems in the galactic north of here, this would be no different.” The haunting voice of Shi’Xiosa still made Gabriel uneasy. He had lived twenty-seven years with his mind to himself, it would take more than a few weeks for him to get used to another voice in there.

“Why are you so uneasy?” the nomad inquired.

“You can read my mind easy enough, do you really need to ask?” Gabriel replied, aloud.

“I realize we were rushed from the training grounds after the nomads appeared in Sigma nineteen we had to send out all of our agents. I trusted you with my life, why have you not done the same.”

“This bond takes time to get used to. You have experienced it before, was you’re original host more willing to surrender himself to you?”

“We must focus on the task at hand. It is obvious you and I need more training to function at prime efficiency. We must meld as one, let me be your subconscious, let me control your reactions, you will in turn be faster, physically and mentally.”

“But at what point do you become me? At what point do I cease being myself?”

“Your life ends when your heart stops beating. You cease being yourself when you give up. Yes I can control you, but you can also control me. In time what you do, with or without my help will become second nature. I will merely be another conscience inside your head: another rationalizing body. Someone to stop your emotions clouding your judgment.”

“We’re feuding like youngsters over a petty meaningless relationship.” Gabriel said, loudly. And slammed the button to dock with the hole in frustration. “Look whatever is on the other side of this hole could kill us both, these fast reactions you were talking about, these ‘superior skills’, when we face a foe, show me, I know I’ve been holding you back, but it is hard for a human to willingly relinquish control over their own lives, its is a biologically programmed part of us. We weren’t made to be hosts.”

Shi’Xiosa remained quiet.

As the small Kusari made craft exited the hole Gabriel tightened his grip on the flight stick: again, nothing. This side of the hole was completely unguarded. He headed galactic east of his location, towards Cadiz Base. The Corsairs were slightly hostile towards him, but this place was too quiet. Ten kilometers from the base still nothing. Five, four, his eyes widened in disbelief. The large asteroid was riddled with holes. The docking ports were blown out; the edges were scorched where the internal atmosphere had ignited. He powered his ship down to only twenty-five percent thrust and carefully guided the nimble ship through the blown out doors. Inside was blackened; the buildings were in ruins, wreckages of ships floated around the inerts of the gigantic hollow rock. As he got closer to the buildings he saw darker black shapes on the landing platform and around the buildings: bodies. Hundreds of them all charred, parts of them stuck into the re-hardened steel and concrete. The sheen of some parts of the steel, as well as the ripples and bubbles now hardened into the surface indicated the metal had boiled before hardening again. These poor people, pirates or not they were still people, some women and children, incinerated in their homes.

“Freelancer zeta eight dash one to all ships in the system, please respond.”

The comm. was dead.

“Is there anyone here? Hessian? Corsair? Anyone?”

Nothing.

“We should report this.” Gabriel thought to himself, “the authorities will say they killed each other, but it might draw the attention of others who aren’t so ignorant, should we contact the Ta’Gue’Led?

“Return to New London, we can contact another agent closer to Gammu, they’ll be able to report this to the council. Contact in anything other that person to person is far too dangerous.”

“Person to person?” the pilot laughed.

ooops no summary: Gabriel leaves to patrol bretonia for the first time. On the sufolk he hears that there are strange screams from the Grasmere ice cloud. He goes to investigate and used the jump hole in there to get to omega five. There he finds the whole place destroyed

Edited by - [GR_Fallen_Angel on 7/21/2005 6:47:40 AM

Tanya went through a variety of emotions as Rob spoke.

She watched the freelancer present the briefing expertly, succinctly and in good humour. He'd clearly thought out in great detail what actions the group should take next. Tanya found herself ranging from admiring his strategic prowess, to being slightly annoyed at how easily she distracted him, to deciding his bumbling and occasional stare was somewhat endearing.

"Four-fifty K." Rob answered. "Each."

Tanya nodded but kept her expression neutral. The money was a blessing for most of them in the room, she didn't want to openly reveal the level of funds sequestered to Mason's "project', i.e.; her and her colleagues.

The briefing continued, she was delighted to hear Travis and Carshalton would be sent away from what she considered a potential 'hotspot'. She loved them both dearly, the grizzled, gruff Marshal Carshalton should buy a hydro-farm someone in Kusari and just fish in retirement. Travis should probably buy a bar he could lounge around, smooch women and generally make a nuisance of himself.

Konn seemed different somehow. He was stricken when news of Derek's death reached him, but the arrival of Nikolai had breathed new life into his trader's bones. She noted the way Rob mentioned 'an interruption', was something going on between Konn and Nikolai? She smiled, the expression swiftly turning to a grimace as the screen flickered to show Hideko after her transformation into the deadly cyborg.

"Now," said Rob. "Lets flash forward to after the battle. I had the Special Branch folks.."

Tanya's mind wandered again as Rob continued his briefing. There was so much left to do.

Clearly The Covenant were an organisation that rivalled Mason's own. She theorised that The Covenant were probably bigger than Mason, perhaps even sponsoring his activities. If this was true, then this Abbot individual would be the one at the top of the food chain, pulling strings.

The web seemed to get bigger and more complicated, clearly learning what Mason's objectives were crucial but now the thought of an organisation branching over him seemed daunting. Mason, now in exile and hiding, was a Governor in the Liberty system, a very high ranking member of the Senate that effectively sat two levels below President Jacobi. If Mason was a middle-man, how on earth would Tanya attempt to bring down The Abbot?

"Travis and Carshalton." Rob said "Tanya and I will stay here and see if we can't come up with any new information. We pretty much know that the 'life-force preservation' plans are set way back now. There's a whole hell of a lot that we don't know, though.

"The other two experiments are big blanks, for instance. We also don't know where all these artefacts are coming from. And then there's The Covenant. Big question marks there. Who are they? Where are they? Who's their leader, this Abbot? And how is Mason involved in all this?

Her mind was brought sharply back to the present.

"One thing is certain, though. Mason isn't the top dog we thought he was."

"Indeed." Konn said. "Well, we might as well be off then. Travis, Carshalton, if you please..."

Tanya watched them leave and held to Travis' eyes for a moment. He held her own, and she mouthed silently, "Sorry," in reply. The ex-bounty hunter grinned and winked back. There was no animosity there, Travis understood what Tanya had gone through, and following thirty-six hours in a heal vat was back to his usual annoying self.

The three men left leaving Rob and Tanya alone in the room. Tanya rose from her cross-legged position on the bed and moved over to a desk where a terminal was.

"So, Rob.."


***


Omicron Gamma, Edge Worlds.

Tanya knew this system was controlled by pirates, specifically the Corsairs. A powerful group with no allies, many enemies and a base of operations deep in the galactic south of Sirius. At least, they were powerful until Kenji mustered almost every hunter he could find on a deadly assault of all Corsair bases, systems and planets. Apparently, the death toll numbered hundreds of thousands dead, even millions as Kenji's revenge-fuelled war on the pirates slew anyone even remotely connected to the Corsairs.

The system of Omicron Gamma would still be populated by Corsairs in the main, for all of the firepower Kenji could summon they were unable to break too deep into the Corsair's home system. Tanya and Rob would need to be very careful indeed if they were to look for this missing 'Hammer expedition' seeking artefacts. Rob's contact, Dr. Tomson didn't know who was hiring them, instead only saying they were wealthy and influential. Tanya assumed that this shadowy group of hire-and-firers either didn't have the archaeological acumen to find the artefacts on their own, or wanted to use a legitimate group of diggers to maintain their anonyminity. Perhaps both.

Did The Covenant seek assistance from the 'Hammer' scientists? Or was it Mason? Was it Mason for himself, or on behalf of The Covenant?

Another thought sprang to mind, did Mason still work for The Covenant? Or did he raise so much power he went solo?

The enemy of my enemy, is my friend thought the assassin. So, Tanya. Who is the enemy? she asked herself.

"Rob, are you still able to blank out our reps?" asked the woman.

The freelancer turned from his terminal and nodded.

"Yep. Anytime. We going somewhere yet? You've been quiet for sometime now." He smiled broadly and Tanya smiled back, much to his pleasure.

"Yes. We need to visit the dig site at Omi Gamma, but I don't want to just fly out there like a couple of freelancers. I mean, we are a couple of freelancers."

"A couple, 'eh?" snickered Rob. Tanya grabbed a pillow from the bed and threw it at him, which Rob deftly caught. She frowned, then placed her hands either side of the terminal monitor instead at which Rob put his hands up. "Ok, ok. I was kidding, right?"

Tanya sat back down on the chair and grinned.

"Me too. Blank cards?"

Rob breathed a sigh of relief.

"Right. Give me a moment."

He blinked and rolled his eyes as he accessed his Neural Net. He closed his eyes and Tanya watched as they flickered for a heartbeat. He reopened them. "Done. We're neutral with everyone." Rob confirmed.

"Great. Now we need a reason to visit the Corsairs," said Tanya thoughtfully.

"Guns," said Rob, matter-of-factly.

"What?" asked a bemused Tanya.

"They like guns. Lots of them. I know a guy based out in Detroit Munitions that could help us out."

Tanya frowned again.

"What? Don't like the plan?" asked Rob.

"It's a good plan, I just don't like my rep so, how shall we say. Even. How about visiting a depot instead?" she grinned.

Rob's eyes sparkled.


***

They left Bretonian space and flew along the shimmering trade lanes and jump holes that never ceased to amaze Tanya into Liberty space. Rob's Falcon heavy fighter was more than capable of dealing with any pirate nuisances. Since their reps were neutral, they encountered little hassle, but after flying too close to a raging battle near Curacao, Rob couldn't resist but send a few shots into a Lane Hacker's Dagger. He stopped firing as it attempted to flee, hull all but destroyed, wing floating in space.

The Falcon arrived at Manhattan system several hours later, where Rob killed the engines and allowed the fighter to float gently towards Detroit Munitions. Tanya checked her navmap and radar. There were no Liberty police patrols and a train had just left scanner range. She leaned forwards and tabbed Rob's helmet with a gloved hand.

"Now, Rob. It's clear," she said firmly.

"I feel naughty," replied the freelancer.

He swivelled the front guns and depressed the trigger of his flight stick for a few seconds. Pulses of white and blue sun-hot energy poured from the barrels of his weapons and one by one, he moved the targeting cursor inside his helmet's display across each of the cargo canisters as they blew apart. The contents were released out into space and Tanya tapped the button to activate the tractor beams, smiling as sparkling white lines of energy shot forth from the nose of the Falcon and pulled in the large boxes into the fighter's hold.

"We're full, let's get out of here," said Tanya, as the cargo hold indicated it was at maximum capacity.

Rob punched the thrusters forwards and the Falcon burst out of cover. He engaged cruise thrusters and after flying several klicks rejoined a trade lane to Planet Manhattan. Tanya saw several Liberty Police fighters fly past them travelling the opposite way and chuckled.

"Well, the good guys like us a bit less. And the bad guys like us a bit more now," she said with a sly smile.


***

Edited to correct a "death". Thanks HK - your eagle eyes never cease to surprise me

Edited by - athena on 7/22/2005 9:02:00 AM

Between his powerful and agile Falcon, and his almost perfectly neutral rep, Rob was quite certain that the long haul from New York to Omicron Gamma would be a boring one. Or, rather, he would have been certain, were it not for the fact that Tanya was with him. He couldn't help but wonder if, in happier times, such a journey might have been considered romantic.

Some of the time was spent sifting through the copious amounts of still unexplored data from the Cali computer. This, however, proved a relatively fruitless gesture, as there was little new information to be had on Project Farseer. What little information there was, served to only spark new questions. There were tantalizing hints and clues as to what The Covenant planned for Sirius, but nothing offered anymore concrete evidence than the clip Rob and Tanya had already seen.

By the time Tanya and Rob arrived in Hamburg, they had decided to leave the data and just enjoy the ride. They swapped stories of missions gone right and wrong, clumsy partners who would have been comical had they not nearly lost their lives as a result, and other tales of mischief and mayhem.

All the while though, Rob struggled to quell a mounting sense of dread. But not for the mission. No, he was quite confident about that. He worried about what he would inevitably have to ask Tanya to do. The memory of her outburst at Travis was still fresh in Rob's mind, and he harbored no illusions as to how easily she could kill him in within the confines of the Falcon's cockpit.

As they decanted from jumpspace in Omega-11 and Tanya finished her story about the patrol from Baden Baden gone horribly wrong, Rob decided to act. He knew it would be best for the both of them if Tanya had some time to cool down before their arrival on Crete.

"Okay, Rob," Tanya said. "Your turn."

"Actually, I'd like to move away from stories for a while. I need to ask you to do something." Rob said.

Tanya made an exaggerated noise of disappointment. "What do you need?"

Rob took a deep breath, undid his harness, and turned halfway to face the young woman. He pulled his shades off with one hand and looked her right in the eyes. "I need you to stay in the ship for as long as we're on Crete."

Tanya's face darkened almost immediately. She said, "I don't need to be protected, Rob."

"I know." Rob said. "I know, I know. You can take care of yourself. But it's not about that, really. I'm more worried about a repeat of Cali. Do you remember how that all started?"

Tanya thought back for a moment. Indeed, she did remember. It all started with one young Outcast and a hand placed where it should not have been. "Yes."

"Well, then you have to understand why it would be best for you to stay inside. We handled Cali, yes. But that was just a station with a few hundred people at most. Crete's a planet. Hundreds of millions of people call it home. If we slip up, it's curtains for the both of us." Rob said.

"And you think I'll slip up?" Tanya said. Her anger was evident.

"No." Rob said. "Not at all. It's just that around you there are those who can't control themselves. They don't see you. They just see your body. And they want to have it. They have to have it. They have to reach out and touch it."

Tanya practically exploded. "And what about you, Rob!? Is that how you see me? As just a body? As some... thing to be fondled and used and abused until you're no longer satisfied?"

The force of the accusation was more powerful than any physical blow. Rob was winded and dumbstruck. She doesn't... does she? How can she? Words failed Rob. All he could do was blink, swallow, turn around again and strap back in.

An uncomfortable silence settled heavily in the Falcon.

Rob stiffened slightly when Tanya laid her hand on his shoulder.

"Rob?"

"Yes?" he replied, flatly and without turning.

"I'm sorry. That wasn't fair."

The apology, though simple, was all the veteran freelancer needed to hear. Rob turned around as best he could as said, "It's okay. It's okay."

Tanya smiled slightly and sat back, looking as relieved as Rob felt.

Then, suddenly, the ship's onboard computer came alive. "Warning! Hull breach imminent!"

"Oh sh*t!" Rob swore. He swiveled just fast enough to hit his shield batteries and nanobots. The Falcon's hull integrity jumped back to nominal levels just in time. Rob pulled hard on the control column and whipped the Falcon around 180 degrees.

"Damn," said Rob, looking at the Nav Map. "Where were we? Oh, crap. Von Rohe Belt. That was too close."

"I'll keep an eye on the waypoints." Tanya said.

"Thanks." Rob said. "Don't want that to happen again."

Much of the rest of the trip was spent in silence, though this time only because Rob and Tanya had their attention fully focused on the ship's status. Even outside the Von Rohe Belt the radiation was enough to warrant careful monitoring. It struck Rob that he would likely need to get the ship looked at before they left for Crete. Nanobots were good, yes, but they were also more of a stopgap measure. Nothing fixed a ship up like actually fixing it up, after all.

"Listen, Tanya," Rob began. "I'd like to have the ship looked over, and restock my 'bots and 'bats before we land on Crete so we'll stop in at Freeport 5 on the way. It'll also give us a chance to stretch our legs."

"Okay. We're coming up on the jumphole now. Would you like me to change the waypoints?"

"No, leave them. The station's on the way so there's no real need."

"Right." Tanya said. "It's odd though."

"What's odd?" Rob asked.

"No pirates. I'm not surprised the Corsairs are lying low, but I would have expected to see some more Hessians around. It's not like them to be so quiet." Tanya said.

"Yeah, yeah. You're right. It is strange. Something must be going on. What though?" Rob thought aloud.

"Maybe someone on Freeport 5 will be able to tell us." Tanya suggested.

"Maybe." Rob didn't sound convinced.

- - - -

Omega-41 was much like Omega-11. Boring but for the radiation which ate fighters for breakfast. By the time Rob and Tanya neared the Freeport Rob had all but depleted his stores of nanobots. Replacing them would be expensive, but it beats dying, that's for sure.

"Freeport 5, this is Freelancer Epsilon four dash nine requesting permission to dock."

"Roger that," the traffic controller replied. "Your request to dock is granted, please proceed to dock one."

Rob pointed his Falcon towards the assigned docking bay. A few seconds later the ship's cruise engines deactivated as the station's automated docking function took control.

"Hey, could you speed this up a little?" Rob asked over the comm line, somewhat testily. "My hull's falling apart and I'm really low on nanos."

"Everything is moving as fast as it can." The controller replied.

"Yeah right." Rob said, though the connection was broken. "Just want to make sure I shell out as much money as possible. It's tradelane robbery, is what it is."

Once inside the station Rob couldn't help but note how empty it was. Granted, Freeport 5 was just about the last place most Sirians would want to be, but the last time he had been there Rob had run into all manner of spacers. Bounty Hunters, Corsairs, Hessians, independent merchants, and of course Zoners. This time around he only saw Zoner ships. There wasn't a pirate or bounty hunter to be seen. Near as Rob could tell, he and Tanya were the only two freelancers aboard.

Rob and Tanya walked up to the repair crew chief. "Slow day," commented Rob.

"Yeah." The crew chief said. "You should have seen the place yesterday though. It was nuts."

"What happened?" Tanya asked.

"Damned if I know." the crew chief answered. "I just saw all the Corsairs and Hessians running to their ships like there was an army of Hunters on their tails. Nobody even shot at anyone. Not while they were making for the ships and not in space either."

"Any idea where they went?" Rob asked.

"From their trajectories it looked like they were making for the Omega-5 jumphole. I guess there was a big battle called or something. Who knows?" The crew chief shrugged his shoulders. "Anyway, that's your Falcon?"

"Yeah." Rob said. "I need anything broken to be fixed, and fill up the 'bots and 'bats too."

"Sure. I'll get right on it."

"Thanks." Rob said. "We'll be in the bar if you need us."

On the way to the bar, Tanya and Rob stopped in at the medical facilities to buy some anti-radiation meds. Neither of them had exhibited any symptoms of poisoning, but after having stumbled into the Von Rohe Belt, it couldn't hurt to be careful. The doctor, a distinguished-looking Kusari expatriate, instructed the two freelancers to take the medication with some food and drink.

"Right." Rob said as he and Tanya walked into the bar. "I'll grab the food if you'll get us a table."

"Okay." Tanya said, and walked towards the corner table Rob himself would have chosen.

"Oh, Tanya?" Rob called out.

"Yes?"

"Anything you'd like in particular?"

"Surprise me." Tanya winked and smiled at Rob.

Crap. Rob thought as he smiled back. Now what? He walked up to the very young-looking bartender.

"Can I help you with something?"

"Uh, yeah." Rob said. "I'll have one Sigma Blue, one Sidewinder Fang, and two Synth Pastes."

"Any particular flavor for the pastes, sir?" The bartender asked.

"Something spicy for me and, um," Rob thought for a second about what Tanya would enjoy. Something exotic? Kusari food? Sure. "Something Kusari."

"Well, I can give you an LA Sea Stunner but we're all out of Kusari pastes, I'm afraid."

"Oh. I see," Rob said. "Well..."

"Why not go for something Bretonian?" The bartender suggested. "We just got a new shipment in two days ago. Very fresh, very tasty."

"Fine." Rob said and pulled out his credstick. "I'll take one."

"Great." The bartender smiled as he charged Rob for the meal. "I'll bring your orders over in a minute."

"Thanks." Rob said and went to join Tanya.

"Stuff will be here in a little while." Rob said as he took a seat across from Tanya.

"So, what do you think the odds are that Mason was behind whatever happened in Omega-5?" Tanya asked.

"Hmm. Well, it could just be like the crew chief said. But I don't think so. The Corsairs are still weak. They'd do everything they could to avoid a fight. I'd have to say Mason is looking like a real possibility. Him or The Covenant." Rob mused.

"I guess now we just have to figure out what happened."

"Yeah." Rob said. "But let's not worry too much about that. The Hammer expedition's our main objective for now."

Just then the young bartender arrived with the food and drinks. Rob's LA Sea Stunner was indeed stunning. The first bite was enough to redden his ears. Whatever Tanya got seemed unimpressive but palatable.

"Anything else I can get you two?" The bartender asked.

"No. Thank you." Tanya said, smiling up at the young man who had served them. The bartender, seeing Tanya's full beauty was stunned for a second. Rob chuckled.

"Oh, uh, okay. Well, um, enjoy!" The bartender said and walked away. Once he was out of Tanya's field of view he gave Rob a goofy grin and thumbs up.

"Kids." Rob said, smirking slightly.

Tanya and Rob finished their meals and drinks over more speculation about Omega-5. Once they were finished, they took the radiation medication and left. They caught the repair crew chief just as they were entering the hangar and he was leaving.

"Oh. I was just coming to tell you that your ship's all fixed up. Would have been done sooner but somehow your nanos managed to clog up part of your exhaust ports. That was a real pain to fix up."

"Well, I'm just glad it's done." Rob said. "You loaded new 'bots and all?"

"Yup."

"Thanks. I'll pay now if you don't mind." Rob said.

"No, not at all." The crew chief said.

"Actually," said Tanya, reaching for her own credstick. "I'll pay."

"That's alright Tanya, I've got this." Rob said.

"Rob." Tanya said, shooting a look at Rob which said, I'm paying. Get over it.

"Oh, okay." Rob said, keeping most of the resignation out of his voice.

- - - -

Planet Crete's dark brown and green speckled orb hung in space, galactic south of the massive green gas cloud which dominated nearly one third of the Omicron Gamma system. Rob had never ventured into the ominous-looking nebula before but, according to the waypoints provided to him by Doctor Tomsons, that was going to change.

A Corsair patrol in their Titans had intercepted Rob's Falcon and demanded to know his business. He had explained his intentions to offload some firearms on Crete and requested permission to be on his way. The pirates had insisted to accompany the freelancer to their home planet, citing "bounty hunters in the area". Rob had no real reason to refuse so he found himself being escorted by four Corsair Very Heavy Fighters.

It struck Rob, as he prepared to enter the Crete Docking Ring, that the space around the planet was significantly less busy than it had been in times past. I guess the Bounty Hunters really did a job on these guys. He reflected to himself.

"Kenji hated them for what they did to him." Tanya said quietly.

"It shows." Rob replied.

- - - -

The transfer of guns for credits went off without a hitch. The 79800 credit profit wasn't much to Rob, though it did help cover the cost of the repairs and supplies he had purchased on Freeport 5. One or two inquisitive Corsairs had tried to confront Rob about his passenger – Tanya – but he brushed off all questions and simply went about his business.

Rob and Tanya wasted no time launching back into space. Once the scopes were clear of any Corsairs, Rob activated his cruise engines and pointed his Falcon towards where, according to his waypoints, a jumphole would be found. Rob had asked a few fairly innocent questions about the cloud and was bewildered by most of the responses. There was talk of sacred places, a "Graveyard of the Innocents", spirits and other incomprehensible quasi-religious terms. It all made Rob quite suspicious as he remembered the religious bent that The Covenant seemed to have.

Neither he nor Tanya thought it likely that the Corsairs would be involved with The Covenant though. Kenji had been, to a significant degree, Mason's puppet. It would not have made much sense for him to have set one group of allies against another. Whatever spirituality the Corsairs possessed, it was almost certainly of a different type. Still, Rob and Tanya were on their guard as the sleek Falcon Heavy Fighter slipped into the large green cloud of Omicron Gamma.

Summary: Rob and Tanya's trip to Omicron Gamma. They nearly die in Omega-11 after stumbling into the Von Rohe belt. They head to Freeport 5 in Omega-41 to refit and repair. While there, they hear - indirectly - about the incident in Omega-5. Then it's off to Crete to sell the guns. That goes down just fine. Finally, Rob and Tanya leave the Corsair homeworld behind and make tracks towards systems unknown.

Edited by - Codename on 7/26/2005 3:47:08 PM

OOC:Last post for awhile in this thread,maybe up to a week at max.And I never knew there was an actor named Hans Jergan. I thought wow,what a coincedence

IC: Looking outside the viewport in his room,he could see a distant Van Rohe Belt,but he could always see th huge fireball that was Omega-11's Red Giant.

His gaze was interupted by his beeping nueral net.

Hans picked it up,asking who it was.

He was greeted by the screams of the dying and someone yelling "My God! Its happened the *static* destroying the *static*!To all Hessians,stay in space or suffer *static*"

An encrypted message followed which Hans could not decypher.

"My god,where did that come from!?. Certainly not Freital,I can still see her"

--

After a talk with Vinny,he allowed Hans to calll his squadron over to stay,just in case.

Hans talked to his squadmates,they said they were ok and would be at the Outpost in a few hours.

Hans contacted Vogtland,they were ok.

But he hadnt gotten to Ronneburg.

Hans used his nueral net to open a chat with the base,all he got was static.

"Crap.."

OOC: I am assuming the BAF uses American ground force rankings cus i'll be damned if i know the navy ones.


The battle-fleet pulled out by the dublin gate, the transports were there waiting. Nick felt a eerie quiet, like he always did before a battle. A young soldier next to him was grinning. "Well boys, you ready to show them that the Queens country is not a place for pirates!" One of the technicians looked and him and spat "Oy! You damned cocky fool. You be dead before you know what happens if you be as damned stupid as you are now. Shut your damned mouth and wait for it!"

The transports gently began to start powering up there engines when thirty molly fighters just pulled shout into the middle of all the traffic. "Dear god..." The green near nick exclaimed "How in gods name did they get ships that fast?" Before anyone could reply the ships shot at the battle group and began spray firing everywhere.



The commander of the ship shouted across the bridge "Alright men, pull into the of them and disrupt there formations. For Bretonia!" The crew replied "aye sir!" and the ship began to lurch towards the molly fighters. Nick glanced at his weapons holster by his side and loosned his pistol. Pirates were pirates and if they could steal a fine ship like the HMS falkirk they would at any cost.

"Crud!" One of the men yelled "Torpedo's are firing on us!" Commander Thompson glanced at him and shouted "Return fire, all guns go!" The weapons officer nodded at him and started tapping out on his console. Nick glanced around, sweat soaked his brow.



A shout was heard "Torpedos are coming down fast!" seconds before everything went nuts, the ship was rocked. Sparks flew everywhere as debris rained down. "Hell...." Nick mumbled "Whats the situation?" Another officer looked at him then glanced at a near-bye console. "Engines down" The soldier choked out "Engine rooms are fragged, life support is nerfed and so is lighting and almost everything down there" Nick glanced at him and grumbled "Damn....You know whats going on? The dust is too thick for me to figure out..." The Soldier glanced at him "Damned if i know.... Oh but good news, gun turrets are still working."



Nick grinned slightly "Any boarding parties or such?"

"Nay sir" The soldier replied "But if the battle group goes in retreat... Well sir, then we'd be F*cked."

"Well... Seems to me we ought to give them hell. Any spare fighters we can launch?" Nick asked with a grunt.

"Sure, and we have pilots too... But i wouldnt trust the greens out there for a second." The officer snorted.

"Then they'll need me" Nick said with half a smile "See you on the beach."

Before the officer could respond Nick was out the door and running down the halls. He burst into the hangar and saw a bunch of pilots fueling up and ready for launch. "Hold up!" Nick yelled "I'll be flying with you guys". A pilot pointed at a heavy fighter and Nick ran to it and hopped in. He settled him self in the seat and flipped on the COM.

"Alright guys this is Captain Nick Warren Checking in, who am i with?" He said over the COM

"Lt.Henry Potter here sir!" A young voice replied back

"Sargent David Marks her sir!" A voice that sounded like it came from a large belly

"No-one else here?" Nick asked "Alright, lets do this. When the hangar door goes down shoot out and drop countermeasure's like mad, otherwise the pirates will flood us with torpedos and it'll hurt if they land inside the hangar. You boys read?"

"Aye sir" Came the reply.

"Then lets move out" Nick said with a grin. The hangar doors dropped down and the fighters shot out. "Now!" Nick yelled as he released all his countermeasure's, his wignmen did the same. As expected the pirates shot off a volley of missiles and torpedos. Nick smirked as he imagined the face of his enemies as they saw there golden oppening crumble down on them.

"Your going down" A pirate sneered at him over his COM. "No.. No i dont think so" Nick replied as he targeted the mans ship. There werent tons of pirates left by that point, the main battlegroup had taken some flak but about 15 pirates had been destroyed. The remaining 15 were pulling back and attemptng to get far enough so they could activate cruise.

"Alright men" Nick said "Hit cruise and follow me, were gunna go 500m up there retreat path and drop mines. We pulled up and pray we dont die with them. Any remaining fighters will get nabbed by the outlying patrols."

"You got it!" Potter replied.

The three ships hit cruise gently, they could safely do it when the pirates couldnt becuase the long range missiles and lasers werent shooting at them. Nick slamed out of cruise just 500m away from the ships racing and them and yelled "Alright Drop fly and pray!" The mines fell down as the ships were about 60m from Nick and his group. Nick hit his trhusters andclosed his eyes, his ship was rocked but he looked back and only saw dust, the threat was gone.



.----------------------------------


Nick stood in a small room on New london, he was waiting to meet with one of the BAF head men. He had been awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross for show bravery in the face of extreme danger. Also due to his actions he got a promotion from Captian to Major. All this bustle had caught the eye in the upper ranks of the BAF. The door opened and in walked Commodore Pearce, a highly decorated officer and a head figure of the BAF. Nick saluted Pearce as he walked in, to which he got a grin and a light salute.

"Major Warren, please take a seat." The Commodore spoke softly.

"Thank you sir." Nick said as he sat down.

"Now..." Pearce said with a sigh "Major Warren, i'll be to the point really... Your a good officer on a bridge, or so you record shows. But you did show that your small craft piloting skills are far better. So really i am transfering you to a pilot division, as leader of a squad of three men..."

"Well sir" Nick said "I'd enjoy that very much actually..."

"Good" Pearce said with a smile "It goes on anyhow, you've heard the rumors and reports of the hell being pulled up in the boonies of space. I want you to investigate."

"Of course" Nick said with a grin

"Now, where to start?" Pearce said "Man named Hahukum Konn, ex-BAF you might of met him, is in on all this. He should be around here soon, find him and talk to him. Anyhow thats all soldier..."

....................................
Nick stood on the street of New London and sighed, searching for people wasnt easy.

After the doctor visit, Nikolai reluctantly visited the first chemist’s shop he saw, and filled the prescription he’d been given. Then, Konn found a hotel, booked a room with two beds, and the two swiftly sorted out who got what bed. Hahukum was struck by a thought, and said, “Nikolai, you need clothes?”

A grunt in his direction seemed to indicate an affirmative, so he made a mental note to find a couple of changes of clothing. He then said, “Nikolai, the mission captain will be checking in with me soon, and so we need whatever information you can provide about what happened in your captivity. Do you feel up to it?”

Nikolai eyed Hahukum Konn warily, and sat on the edge of his bed. Konn sat on his bed, and rummaged for a sound and video recorder. A warm hand on his wrist startled him, and Nikolai said, “No visual. Audio only.” Oh, yes. The fellow does still look a bit off. Well, the audio’s more important anyway.

Konn activated the audio recorder, and he said, “Can you start from when you were captured?”

Nikolai reluctantly began. “I was captured by two men who I thought were Rheinland police, but turned out to be lackeys working for Mason….”

Two hours later, Nikolai’s story ended. Both men heaved sighs, Nikolai of relief, Konn of amazement. He turned off the recorder, and mentally reviewed what he’d heard. Nikolai had been picked up by Mason’s goons, and been told that he was being held hostage for someone else’s (he had refused to mention the name, and his face had darkened when Hahukum had pressed the matter, so that loose end still dangled) good behavior. The Outcasts had later gotten their hands on him, and from the sounds of it, they’d been very sadistic in their treatment of him. As yet, Konn wasn’t sure if torture had been used – although being beaten up for every minor infraction didn’t seem too far removed. He shuddered again as he thought of that.

Nikolai’s description of a jail cell on a planet seemed to indicate he’d been held on Malta for some time, and then one day, he’d been transferred off the planet and left on the base. The guards had hinted of horrendous experiments being performed on other human beings, and it was clear that either Mason, or someone else, was saving him and the other four men on the prison level for something “extra special”. They had mentioned a VIP named Juan, and had been ordered to make sure the prison level was extra tidy and that all prisoners be on their best behavior in case he toured that level. However, Juan, whoever he was, never came down. But one of the guards had seen the man when he first arrived, since the guard had been part of the reception committee, as it were.

Wonder if this Juan fellow is the Outcast link to Mason or if there’s someone even higher up, thought Konn.

Nikolai said, “If you’ve squeezed me sufficiently dry, I’d like to finish this and get cleaned up.” He got up and disappeared into the decently-appointed bathroom.

Hahukum had some idea of what clothes sizes Nikolai probably wore, since Derek had been almost the same height. He tried to remember what Derek had worn, and with the rough sizes in mind, left a note on the comm panel and went shopping.

When he came back, Nikolai was wrapped in just a towel, having shaved and showered. Water glistened on his chest, shining in the dull light of the room. Konn felt the all too familiar giddiness that accompanied attraction, and strained to keep his eyes off Nikolai’s glistening torso. Nikolai walked back into the bathroom and shut the door, casting aside his towel as he went.

Nikolai came out, presentably dressed, and said, “I can’t say much for your taste in clothes, but at least now I’m f*cking clean. Maybe tomorrow I’ll get some cash out of my account…go shopping for something better…”

Hahukum said, “Well, those clothes were the first ones I picked off the racks based roughly on my judgement of your clothes sizes. We can get you better ones right away if you want.”

“Forget it. Trying on clothes all day isn’t my idea of fun. That drink you promised me, however, does sound like fun. Let’s get going.”

Konn wordlessly turned to the hotel’s information console, and within a minute had pulled up the name and location of a bar he remembered from several years before, when he’d been on leave and had been able to get to New London. He stood up, grabbed all his necessities, and Nikolai did the same.

---

The Odyssey was as loud and as popular as Konn remembered as he and Nikolai stood patiently waiting for the bouncer to check identifications. At the last minute, Hahukum had had a bad scare when he realized Nikolai might not have his, but when it turned out nobody had bothered to confiscate the ID, he relaxed. He didn't know how they'd missed finding Nikolai's ID at the BMM base, but it was true that the medical technicians weren't experienced in searching peoples' clothing.

Konn shoved his ID at the bouncer, who read in a bored monotone, “Hahukum Konn, aged 28. You may proceed.”

Nikolai, clearly impatient, thrust his ID at the bouncer, who perked up. “Rheinland ID, eh? We don’t get a lot of you chaps around here. Let me see, here. Nikolai, ah, van Haalein. Aged 34. You may proceed.”

Wow. He’s good-looking for thirty-four years old, thought Konn.

And then it struck him like a lightning bolt. Nikolai van Haalein! He’d rescued Damien’s lover! Jumping Mollys in a minefield, Sirius is small. Now Konn felt a bit guilty about showing such interest in Nikolai, considering Damien had… well, died not too long ago. His indecision prompted the bouncer to curtly say, “Look, chappie, either get the hell in or get the hell out, but get away from the frackin’ DOOR!”

Konn walked inside, palms sweating as he was assaulted by the bassy sound of the music in the bar. Nikolai was waiting in line for the bartender, and Konn carefully tapped the man on his shoulder, unsure how he would react. Nikolai hadn’t liked being in anything close to a confined space, such as the doctor’s office, and there was no telling how he’d react after spending some time at the tender mercies of the Outcasts.

To Konn’s relief, Nikolai just turned and smirked when he noticed the other man. He put his hand on Hahukum’s shoulder and said, “Ah, here’s my drinks-buyer for the night. If they’ve got absinthe, I’m for it!”

The line-up moved slowly, but eventually the pair got to the front. Konn bellowed at the bartender, “Got any absinthe?!”

The bartender looked surprised, and carefully looked around. He bellowed back into Konn’s ear, “Yes, but I can’t sell you more than one glass! It’s not exactly street legal, the way we’ve got it made, we’ve got to ration it!”

“Fair enough. One for my friend here, and give me a Cambridge Red, biggest glass you’ve got!”

The drinks came across, and Konn’s credit stick took care of it. Oh well, seven hundred grand will take a long time to go at this rate, he thought.

Nikolai seemed to keep surprising him, no matter how much Hahukum thought he’d gotten used to the man. The fellow took one look at his glass, belted the whole thing down in one go, and didn’t so much as blink. He smirked at Konn, and said, “Don’t suppose you can get me another?”

“I would, but they restrict it! That’s your one for the night but I can get you anything else you want.”

“Whatever. The strongest drink they’ve got.”

Konn took a healthy sip of his own Cambridge Red, and flagged down a waiter. He ordered up a pitcher of a good strong Rheinland-style Lager, and added a healthy tip to move it fast. Meanwhile, Konn grabbed a small table with two chairs at one edge of the bar, near enough to the dance floor that he could watch the slinkily moving bodies moving in unison to the fast-paced beat. Nikolai was seating himself just as the waiter rushed back with the pitcher and two glasses. The tall man took some healthy swallows of his fresh beer, and licked his lips to get some of the moisture off. His eyes shone, and he was clearly in his element. Nikolai draped his arm casually across Konn’s shoulders, and spoke into Konn’s ear. “I’ve only been to this club once before…and you know what? Even compared to Rheinland, you people seem to be able to hold your own!”

“I went here once or twice several years ago. So this is pretty rare for me, actually.” Konn had to turn his head to speak into Nikolai’s ear, and as he did so, his cheek brushed the other’s. He tried to keep a rising blush out of his face, and his hand shook as he turned his head back to gulp down more wine.

Nikolai said, “Thanks for the drinks! Now I’m off to find something stronger. Some E, then some dancing!”

At that, Nikolai slid off his stool and got lost in the crowd as Konn raised his eyebrow, not really wanting to admit to himself that as much as Nikolai’s strange ways perplexed him, he found himself a bit jealous at the thought of Nikolai dancing with someone else.

After that, the night rapidly became a blur as Konn kept his Cambridge Red coming, and quaffed a beer or three on the way.

---

The next day, Hahukum Konn woke up to the dulcet tones of the comm panel. A message was waiting for him, and as soon as he shifted to try and get off the bed, his head whirled dangerously, and it hurt his eyes to stare at anything remotely bright. Squinting, he carefully, gently, shifted to an upright position, sitting on the bed. He found that his head was pounding, his tongue felt dry as sandpaper, and his arms felt like lead weights.

Bloody hell. I haven’t had a hangover this bad in years!

Konn paused, breathing steadily for a minute, then resolved to stand up. As he did so, his head threatened to whirl again, and he had to dexterously shift his weight to keep from falling over. Once he was confident of his balance, he looked down at his feet, and to his relief his eyes didn’t hurt when he stared down at the floor. He placed foot after foot, stepping cautiously to the bathroom.

Konn accidentally let the bathroom door slam a bit too hard, and the noise actually rattled in his head like a ringing gong. That hurt, all right. He hadn't felt this bad the last time he'd overdosed on Cambridge Reds. He dialled the light level down, and then carefully stepped into the shower.

Several minutes later, he felt alive enough to function semi-normally, and only belatedly realized he hadn’t taken his clothes in with him. Oh, bugger. Nikolai’s here. Well, just have to make the best of it, I guess.

Hahukum wrapped the towel around himself, went back into the bedroom, and hurriedly searched for a presentable outfit. He slipped back into the bathroom, got ready for the day, and combed his hair. Then he stepped out, went to the communications panel, put the volume on low, and listened.

It turned out that a fellow named Nick, a recently-turned-Major in the BAF, had been specially assigned to assist Rob and Konn with their mission. Intrigued, Hahukum tracked down Nick, and sent a quick request to meet at a quiet café nearby so as to not disturb Nikolai. Plus, frankly, he wanted a good strong pot of tea.

Just before Hahukum closed the hotel room door, he realized he'd forgotten to leave a message. He dashed back inside, left a quick message for Nikolai, and then exited the hotel.

-----

Summary: Nikolai gets debriefed and mentions Mason's sidekick.Then HK & Nikolai have fun and get plastered. Nick Warren says hello.

Edited by - Hahukum Konn on 7/29/2005 9:03:13 PM

Nick Warren left a message after he couldn't get hold of the ex-BAF officer, Hahukum Konn. The message went:

---

"Mr. Konn,

Hello. I dont believe you know me officially. I am Major Nick Warren of the BAF. My commander, Commodore Pearce has seen the 'hell' that has been brought up in the so-called 'boonies' of Sirius. He knows a man who has been investigating these recent activities, Rob Schaefer, and Commodore Pearce is offering the assistance of my squad and myself.

He knows you're involved and have contacts with some of the other players, and more importantly he knew you were passing through New London. Let me know when you can meet me to discuss this.

Yours
-Mjr Nick Warren, BAF.”

---

Some time later, he got a reply back requesting him to meet at a place called the Corner Tree Café. It would not be too crowded, as it was still mid-morning.

His first impression of Hahukum Konn was that the man was clearly ex-BAF. He still had somewhat of a military bearing, but some years in civilian life had worn off the ramrod stiffness that would have characterized an on-leave BAF officer. He looked tired, and was sipping at a cup of tea.

Nick smiled slightly to himself; generally these people weren't rough nuts trying to hassle you. Easy and pleasant to deal with most of the time.
Then again, looks could deceive.

Nick walked up and sat down in front of the man.

"Hello Mr. Konn, I'm Mjr. Warren as you know... I was hoping we could chat?"

"Glad to meet you. Tea?"

"I'll have a coffee instead, please."

"Just one moment." Konn punched a new order in on the PDA embedded into the table. Shortly after, a waiter brought over a cup of steaming coffee, with cream and sugar to add.

Nick appraised the gentleman across from him some more as he stirred in some cream. The latter was dressed in a conservative grey shirt with black pants, and a jacket of the kind freelancers generally wore hung off the back of the chair he was sitting in.

"What do you know about the mission parameters, Major?"

"Only what I told you in the message - that there's been some unknown people raising hell in the edge worlds."

"That's true as far as it goes, but I'm going to provide you with some details... well, some now, some later. Rob will have the final say on some of the dicier, 'need to know' items but here's the basic sketch.

"First, you probably know that part of the Bretonian fleet was stolen and then retrieved with some losses."

Nick nodded.

"The people who stole the fleet were Outcasts. They wanted the crew members for reasons I can't yet tell you, but I can say that we have strong reason to believe the Outcasts are working hand-in-hand with self-styled Liberty Governor Jack Mason, who has his own covert plan to destabilize Sirius and in doing so, take over as many of the Houses as he can. So far, we are on fairly firm ground.

"However, where we run into some murkiness is that it appears that Mason may not be the kingpin; we have uncovered disturbing references to a sect of religious zealots who have their own motives for aiding Mason. In addition we suspect, vaguely, that the Outcasts have their own plans, working independently of Mason. The common thread through all of these revelations I am telling you - which, by the way, is in the strictest of confidence - is that live artifacts are involved.

"That's pretty well all I can tell you right now."

"I understand," Nick said as he sipped his coffee. "Here's the deal. My team is one of the best in the BAF; myself, I've seen about 20 years of service. We're here to help out in any way, and it's up to you to decide what happens from here."

"Good to hear. I'm afraid I've got to cut this meeting short; I'm feeling a bit ragged right now and I could use some more sleep. Contact me again later, or I'll contact you, and we'll sort out the details. So, welcome aboard."

Konn extended his hand, and Nick shook it. The handshake was solid and firm, and this increased Nick's confidence in the ex-BAF officer. A question occurred to him...

"Why do you sound like you're from Liberty?"

Konn laughed. "I get asked that sometimes. I was born in Liberty, it's true, but when I wanted to enlist in an armed service I felt Bretonia's would be a better fit for me. I eventually got past the recruiting board and served five years, and was discharged about three years ago."

"Not every day that happens, it seems. Well, I won't keep you; I'll be in touch."

Konn nodded, drank off the last of his tea, and then went to pay the bill.

“I didn’t appreciate the banter about ‘Person to person’,” Shi’Xiosa scolded Gabriel.

“Sorry...” the pilot paused, searching for the correct wording, “Look, it was just light humor to take the edge off of the situation, ok.”

“Yes, I know. But you must learn self-control. I can read all your thoughts; you would be a fool to forget that. You should be glad I don’t report some of them to the council.”

“Like what?” Gabriel asked boldly.

“Like ‘this twit can really get up my nose sometime. Stupid plonker thinks he can tell me what to do, its my bloody body, my mind I can do whatever I bloody well choose.’”

Gabriel’s eyes widened, he coughed and sputtered loudly.

“Ehem… oh… that… right… err, sorry about that… err… frustration, I’m surprised you don’t get more frustrated at me you know.”

“I do. Maybe if you weren’t so big headed you’d actually notice.”

The ship was quiet, but both being’s minds raced in anger and frustration. Finally Gabriel broke the ice.

“Ok, well, this trip back to New London is going to be pretty quiet. Teach me more about you. I want to know about your history, your experiences: more about the nomads, more about the Ta’Gue’Led. Now I’m part of this organization I should know its history. I what to know more about what I’ve given my life to, and in return perhaps our bond will be closer and stronger.”

“I’m glad you’re finally thinking that way.” Shi’Xiosa replied, relieved his host was finally thinking rationally. “Just let your mind relax; let me take over. I’ll fly us back to New London, you just focus on taking in all of this Information.”

“Ok” Gabriel thought as he lent back into his chair and closed his eyes. Suddenly he felt himself falling. He was in a gigantic building. The Architecture was obviously nomad. Its distinctive transparent blues surrounded him, and he was in awe of the gigantic monolith that surrounded him.

“This is the Hive Mind of the nomads.” The ghost-like voice of Shi’Xiosa echoed through his head. “This is where the Nomads control all the drones. They coordinate fleets and collect intelligence about humanity and what ever else could threaten them. These memories are from when I was still a solitary drone among the untold billions of nomads in the Sirius Sector. If humanity is to ever destroy the nomads, the will have to take out this structure.”

“But, where is it?”

“I do not know”

“But I thought you had been there?” Gabriel Inquired.

“That I have, but it was long ago. The structure itself can move. When I visited it, it was inside the gigantic structure you call the Dyson Sphere. It may still be there or it may have moved. That edifice is Gigantic, When the Order came to destroy the Nomads and open up the jump gate that battalion was protecting, they naively thought they had destroyed the nomads. The artifact used to open that gate, it also held a map did it not?”

“Yes, I believe so, I think I heard some of the senior officers talking about it before we left on the mission into the Dyson Sphere.”

“Does the Order still have it?”

“I guess so, I’m sure their top scientists are still working on it. Anyway, I doubt they would let such a powerful object slip from their grasp.”

“Well obviously they haven’t figured out all its secrets. The Ta’Gue’Led, like the nomads, both searched for this artifact. We wanted it because it would tell us the location of all nomad fleets in the sector. It can connect to the hive mind if used properly and reveal all of their locations to us. The nomads didn’t want it as a weapon; they wanted it to prevent us from getting it. They thought they had destroyed it in the assault on Freeport Seven, but soon realized that wasn’t the case. Neither of us realized it was a key to the Dom’Kavash jump gate system. We were in the Dyson Sphere sector because we were afraid the Order were handing the artifact right to the hive mind, with or without their knowledge. That was one of the reasons we got you. We didn’t know what other plans the Order had, and you were the best resource we had available.”

“So you’re saying you just picked me up so I could rat out my friends.”

“Not exactly. We didn’t realize that you would be left for dead. We thought if you were willing to you could be our eyes and ears inside the order. Perhaps help conduct first contact with them. When they never returned to see if you were alive we had to scrap the idea. You showing back up would have raised too many questions. You would have been accused of being a nomad and killed, or even tested on. We couldn’t afford that type of a loss.”

“And you think that they wouldn’t have detected you inside of me if the plan had gone as planned?”

“We never got into specifics with that once we realized they left you for dead. We had to make a plan fast if we wanted it to work, we didn’t have time to equate all the variables.

“So you didn’t care the Ta’Gue’Led could have committed you to your death?”

“I was going to die in my last host anyway, I was willing to take that risk. And anyway, if it led to us gaining more knowledge into destroying the nomads that were vying to destroy us, it was worth it.”

“Yeah, how did you split off from main nomad force?”

“At one time, it was the only nomad force; one collective mind, one power, one mission. We were here to guard the Dom’Kavash secrets from any who entered the Empire. This sector is all but an abandoned colony in the vast empire. When the Great War erupted many millions of years ago, back before your race had even developed, the Dom’Kavash here had to retreat back in to defend the home world. They locked the interstellar jump gate within a structure, and left the nomads to defend it. inside the Dyson Sphere. They knew the energy reading from the sphere would hide the energy signals from the gate.”

“Makes sense”

“Yes, but unfortunately things began to change. Humanity was the first intelligent life the nomads had encountered since the Dom’Kavash left. And in those millions of years the programming of the nomads got… corrupted.”

“What do you mean ‘corrupted’?”

“Well it was no longer simply the Hive Mind and drones. About a thousand years ago, something began changing in the nomads. It was strange, like they started to evolve. Some started to get power hungry. That was about the time the Ta’Gue’Led formed. The Nomads split into two groups, those vying for power, using the Hive Mind to gain fleet control, and those who saw this movement as a threat to what we were left here to do. We were scared the Nomads would eventually figure out how to use the artifacts we were left here to protect. Some are dangerous, very dangerous. The Dom’Kavash harnessed terrifying power, beyond anything you could imagine. For example, some of the asteroid fields in this sector used to be planets. Destroyed by the powerful weaponry the Dom’Kavash created. If the nomads attained that power, humanity, as you and I know it in the Sirius sector, would end.”

He hesitated

“Anyway, a war broke out, nomad vs. nomad. Eventually the Ta’Gue’Led was pushed underground. We couldn’t contact each other, we had to try and blend into the rest of them. When the colony ships arrived we saw that as an opportunity to finally defeat these nomads. Of course they saw the same opportunity. In one last struggle the Ta’Gue’Led gathered together and fled the nomad systems. We’ve been on the run ever since.”

“Incredible, so where do you fit into all this? Where do you sit inside the Ta’Gue’Led?”

“Well I was part of the original group who fled, one of the bodyguards of the Ta’Gue’Led council. I… err, us… we could be considered ‘commanders’. Not top of the tier, but report right to the top guys.”

“Is there anyone below us?” Gabriel asked enthusiastically.

“Well, yes, a flight of three squadrons reports to us if needed, if things got bad…”

“I’d say things could be very bad…”

“It could be much worse. If and when we expose ourselves to the Order, that’s when you know it is bad… the Ta’Gue’Led is a small force, we would need the help of the Order and others if we were ever going to take the Nomads down and assume our destined roll defending the artifacts. Mankind is too power-hungry for such power. Nothing good would come from it, Man, by nature, is corrupt, just your monetary system shows this fact. The amount of piracy shows it. The fact the nomads could infiltrate governments with few people blinking an eyelid shows it.”

“But how do we know the Ta’Gue’Led hasn’t gotten some of this same power-lust that developed in the other nomads. How do we know the leaders of the Ta’Gue’Led didn’t just take the chance because of the chance they could have supreme say without much of a threat to question their actions or rally against them… If I had my way, I would say destroy these artifacts. If the Dom’Kavash made them once, they can make them again; it would just take time. It is the only logical and safe way to end the threat of everything in this sector’s annihilation.”

“That is true, but the amount of power it would take to do it…”

“Place them all on an unused planetoid that has no affect on anyone or anything, and use the Dom’Kavash planet-killer on itself…”

“That wouldn’t work, the planet killer has to be fired at a planet; if it fired from the planet it would only scatter the artifacts, not destroy them.”

“Well then we would have to find a separate way to destroy that weapon. Into a sun’s corona maybe?”

“That could cause it to go supernova.”

“We have time, we’ll think of something.”

“Talking about time we’re at New London,” Shi’Xiosa informed his host. “Would you care to do the duties?”

“Don’t mind if I do.”

Suddenly the nomadic architecture around Gabriel disappeared, he was sitting in his fighter again, staring at planet New London. It took him a few seconds to gather himself and recover what he had just seen. “This is Freelancer Zeta eight dash one requesting docking clearance.”

“Affirmative freelancer eight dash one, you are cleared to land.”

The trip down to the surface was brief, as usual, and it wasn’t long before the jet black Drake was stowed away in Gabriel’s personal Hanger. Leaving the spaceport he returned to his apartment to review all of this new information. Witnessing Omega Five, empty, along with all of this new information about the nomads, it was all a little overwhelming. He needed a strong drink and food to put everything together. Opening the storage unit in his kitchen he looked to see what he had.

“Great… synthe paste… I think it’s time to go explore those local places to eat… he looked at the clock, ten fifteen in the morning, hopefully somewhere would be open. Wandering down the road past a few expensive restaurants that wouldn’t open until later in the day he finally found a small place on the corner of the block.

“Corner Tree Café? Won’t have that strong drink but the food smells good.”

Gabriel walked in and was seated at one of the two-person tables near the window.

He looked down at a little screen in the middle of the table and punched in an order for a strong tea. The menu was extensive, and confusing, finally he just clicked the special; he enjoyed a surprise every so often.

The worn out pilot looked out the window and relaxed to the dim buzz of the café. Suddenly a conversation at a few tables over caught his attention. Two men sat at the table, it caught his eye when he walked in, a BAF officer and a man who looked like a freelancer, most of the time you’d see that combination at a bar, not a corner café.

"What do you know about the mission parameters, Major?"

"Only what I told you in the message - that there's been some unknown people raising hell in the edge worlds."

“The edge worlds?” Gabriel thought, “Omega Five?” a waiter brought his tea over, Gabriel thanked him but kept most of his attention on the conversation at hand as he stared out of the window.

"That's true as far as it goes, but I'm going to provide you with some details... well, some now, some later. Rob will have the final say on some of the dicier, 'need to know' items but here's the basic sketch. First, you probably know that part of the Bretonian fleet was stolen and then retrieved with some losses. The people who stole the fleet were Outcasts. They wanted the crew members for reasons I can't yet tell you, but I can say that we have strong reason to believe the Outcasts are working hand-in-hand with self-styled Liberty Governor Jack Mason, who has his own covert plan to destabilize Sirius and in doing so, take over as many of the Houses as he can. So far, we are on fairly firm ground. However, where we run into some murkiness is that it appears that Mason may not be the kingpin; we have uncovered disturbing references to a sect of religious zealots who have their own motives for aiding Mason. In addition we suspect, vaguely, that the Outcasts have their own plans, working independently of Mason. The common thread through all of these revelations I am telling you - which, by the way, is in the strictest of confidence - is that live artifacts are involved. That's pretty well all I can tell you right now."

"I understand. Here's the deal. My team is one of the best in the BAF; myself, I've seen about 20 years of service. We're here to help out in any way, and it's up to you to decide what happens from here."

"Good to hear. I'm afraid I've got to cut this meeting short; I'm feeling a bit ragged right now and I could use some more sleep. Contact me again later, or I'll contact you, and we'll sort out the details. So, welcome aboard."

The men shook hands and the freelancer left, paying the bill as he went.

“Jack Mason, that name sounds weirdly familiar.” Gabriel thought to himself, “Shi’Xiosa, does that name ring any bells?”

“No, sorry”

“Shame we didn’t get their names” Gabriel thought.

A waiter brought a sandwich to him.

“No idea what it is, but it’ll do” he thought as he ate the sandwich quickly. He wiped his mouth and stood up. He approached the officer.

“Major, my name is Gabriel Urran, I couldn’t help hearing the conversation you had with that freelancer. I have some information about the border worlds you might find interesting, care if I sit down?”

“I’m all ears freelancer, what is it you have to tell me?” Nick responded.

“It is” Gabriel replied sitting down in the chair the other freelancer had vacated only minutes before.

“Be careful what you divulge to him Gabriel. Do not expose the Ta’Gue’Led at this time” Shi’Xiosa advised.

“I work for a secretive sect that has many agents throughout liberty who patrol for any possible alien incursions or anything else that seems, unordinary. Recently I was patrolling Cambridge when I overheard a rumor on the Norfolk. The bar tender told me pilots had heard screams coming from the Grasmere Ice Cloud. I went to investigate but found nothing. Continuing through the jump hole to Omega Five I was shocked to discover that both the Hessian and Corsair bases had been destroyed. There was no sign of a battle around either station. It was like they had been completely surprised and the base was decimated before anyone could react. There were no wreckages around the base, just incinerated bodies. Women, children, all killed mercilessly. This wasn’t a war between the two. An outside force did this, a powerful one.”

“That is worrying news. Oh I’m sorry I don’t think I introduced myself, my name is Major Nick Warren. Let me talk to my people Gabriel, I will contact you If we need Further Information”

Both men stood up and shook hands. With that the BAF officer walked out of the café and into the busy street vanishing into the crowd.

“Everything is in motion,” the nomad inside Gabriel whispered. “All we can do now is sit back and await what happens next.”

Gabriel paid for his meal and left. “We should contact the other agents in the area. Send one to tell the council everything; with the others we should maintain a permanent presence inside Omega Five. I don’t want to wait; if we wait it could be too late. We need to find out the second anything else happens, and perhaps we can mobilize against it before it gains any more power.”

summary: Gabriel gets a history lesson before overhearing konn and nick's conversation. he introduces himself to the major and makes plans to move against anything that appears in Omega Five.

OOC: sexual content warning. Nothing too vivid, but it was late at night when I wrote this and I was bored.
_________________________________
The flickering lights of the Odyssey could be seen from a kilometre away. Heavy beats of the wild music vibrated through the cement and steel earth of New London, resounding inside Nikolai’s mind. More than anything, these bright and blinding lights, compelling sounds, the heavy spectre of liquor that lingered as a bittersweet knife in one’s throat, and the beautiful bodies filled with joy and youth that danced, wildfire upon the floors of the nightclubs, pulled the strings of Nikolai’s soul.

Well, perhaps not more than anything …

But the nightclubs, at least, had not succumbed to death.

The building was tall and large, a glass atrium covering its exterior. Nikolai gazed up at it, as flashy as he remembered. Excellent …he thought to himself, smiling as he caught a glimpse of a boy with a tanned, hairless chest and blonde hair passed through the building’s doors.

Konn walked up to the bouncer at the door…a thick built man Nikolai vaguely remembered from his visit here five years ago. Konn flashed his ID and strolled into the nightclub. Nikolai stepped up, handing his Rhineland ID card to the man as his eyes lazily strolled over his leather-clad body.

“Rhineland ID, eh? We don’t get a lot of you chaps around here. Let me see, here. Nikolai, ah, van Haalein. Aged 34. You may proceed.” Nikolai walked past him, flashing him a smile.

Fiery music boomed in every inch of the building. Beautiful bodies writhed upon the dance floor. The air was heavy with liquor and drugs. Nikolai let forth a brilliant smile and sank into the beautiful decadence.

He opened his shirt. A rush of adrenaline drowning his brain, he fondled the crotch of the boy he had seen earlier, winking at him, and then proceeding to the bar. Nikolai licked his lips at the thought of closer contact with that beauty…But Konn had promised to buy him a drink, and sex is always better with one’s brain drowning in a sweet amber poison.

Konn tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around, smiling, to look at the younger man and lay his arm over his shoulder. “Ah, here’s my drinks-buyer for the night. If they’ve got absinthe, I’m for it!”

Konn proceeded up to the bartender, shouting his orders at the man. He soon returned with a red, dark wine and the glass of liquid heaven Nikolai lusted for.

He took the plastic cup in hand, breathing deep into the savoury fumes of the poison. His brain choked on the fire of the liquor as his body reached out towards it, his tongue itching to taste the profound alcohol, losing himself in the intoxication…

And downed it in one gulp.

Nikolai smiled lazily. “Don’t suppose you can get me another?

Konn looked slightly shocked. “I would, but they restrict it! That’s your one for the night but I can get you anything else you want.”

“Whatever. The strongest drink they’ve got.”

A few glasses later, and Nikolai felt sufficiently intoxicated (or rather like he was breathing liquor). He draped his arm over Konn’s shoulders again. “I’ve only been to this club once before…and you know what? Even compared to Rhineland, you people seem to be able to hold your own!”

Konn half-shouted over the music, turning his head close to Nikolai’s ear, his breath tingling the Rhinelander’s head: “I went here once or twice several years ago. So this is pretty rare for me, actually.” His lips brushed against Nikolai’s cheek. The latter was a little too buzzed to notice.

As I can imagine… Konn wasn’t much of the clubbing type. Oh well.

The Adonis he had seen before passed, a bottle of whisky in hand. Nikolai, a slow smile spreading across his face as he licked his lips in anticipation, got up from the table and strolled over to him, leaving Konn to his Cambridge Red.

He led the boy onto the dance floor, feeling the heavy beats and thunderous music inflame their bodies as they danced. The young boy felt up his chest, tearing off his shirt…

It was good to be back.
__________________________________________________________________

Nikolai opened his eyes slowly, his head only softly pounding. The room was, thank god, stable and not spinning.

He rose from his bed, feeling sick. So soon after being freed from his prison, it perhaps wasn’t too healthy to have downed the amount of liquor he did…but, as always, to hell with that. He was just glad it was over, and now he could return to life…

At the price of what was most dear to him.

Nikolai shook his head as Damien’s smiling face came unbidden into his mind, and stepped into the shower.

Konn had left, leaving a note that he would be back soon. Taking advantage of his solitude, he decided to replace the unsightly clothes that Konn had bought for him, and catch up on what had been going on in the universe since his imprisonment.

The Rhinelander scrolled, somewhat bored, through the latest news items on his neural net. Another Kruger shipment attacked…minor disputes between Liberty and Bretonia…Cali base, of course, was destroyed, Konn had told him about that…

Hang on. What’s this? His eyes glanced an article whose title read, “Bounty Hunter’s reign of terror ended”, showing a picture of a blue-haired man, a devilish look in his eyes and a gun pointed towards his own head. Nikolai selected it. A video played out before him, Dev’s mad voice sounding out from the speakers in his final salute to his own glory.

“Christ almighty, Dev…” he muttered out loud, as Konn walked in the door.

Summary : Clubbing scene from Nikolai’s point of view (No, it doesn’t advance the plot in any significant way, but it was fun to write. So damn you and all your fish). And a connection is established between Nikolai and Dev.

Edited by - Wilde on 7/29/2005 3:04:56 PM

The green light came on. Jake Talon's hands dipped to his hips with startling speed and they fluidly pulled out the two Liberty .65 caliber laser pistols holstered there. With quick grace, Jake spun the guns five times in his hands, to ensure his grip, and then pulled them up to firing position. Targets had popped up all over the room, and Jake began blasting away at them. The guns moved and fired faster than the eye could detect, blurring around to release a powerful laser blast at each target. Once every target had been hit, they retracted back into the steel floor and the red light came on. Jake lowered the guns, spun them five times again, and then placed them back in the holsters at his hips.

After a few seconds, a score came up on the screen in front of him. 81/100 points, 4.08 seconds, 25/25 targets hit, it read. Jake grinned. He hadn't lost any of his ability with a pistol.

His day at the shooting range at the Order's home base at Planet Toledo was nearing an end. He had tested himself with pistols, rifles, submachine guns, snipers, everything. He was in top-notch condition.

Just then, his neural net beeped. He had an incoming call from… Orillion.

"Colonel Talon, you are summoned to the debriefing of your recent assignment. We are waiting. Orillion out."

Jake sighed. He had been expecting this. Debriefs always had made him uncomfortable, but he was surely used to them by now after a twenty-year career in the Liberty Navy and Security Force. He undid the holster, set it on it's proper hook in the armory room, and walked out of the indoor shooting facilities and took a nearby elevator down into the deepest bowels of the building. He walked into the briefing room to see Orillion and all five of the Order's generals with him, sitting and waiting for the debriefing to begin. Jake took the chair in the center of the room, and studied the faces of those before him.

The hierarchy of the Order was simple, having five tiers of leadership. The lowest three tiers were field tiers - the Captains, Majors, and Colonels - and the highest two tiers were the administrative tiers - the Generals and the Order Commander. The Order Commander was the overall leader of the Order; that would be Orillion, and the five Generals were his close advisors. There was one General for each of the houses - Liberty, Bretonia, Rheinland, and Kusari - and one for the other systems - the border and edge worlds.

Jake was a member of the third tier, which many considered to be the best one. The Colonels possessed high enough rank to have an honest say in nearly everything, but they were still sent on field missions. Most in the Order preferred that to the desk-jobs that the Generals had. Jake was the second in command of the Surveillance branch of the Order, and his job was to watch high-priority targets so that other branches could later either eliminate the target or recruit it.

Jake had been surprised and shocked at the events that had led up to his promotion. In reality, all of the Generals save one were very newly promoted. There had been a very messy scandal that had been going on - Jake didn't know exactly what it was - that had resulted in General Kress turning all four of the other Generals in. They were immediately discharged, and four veteran Colonels had been brought up to replace them. Jake had been pulled along in their wake, by replacing one of them as Colonel, but the shock of the shake-up was still affecting the Order. New recruits were being pushed up through the ranks very quickly, and it resulted in a sharp decline of the overall skill and manpower that the Order possessed.

Jake now looked at the Generals. Kress was the most senior, now being the General in command of the border and edge worlds, and Orillion's most senior advisor. General Juni Zane was an old friend of Jake's from the LSF, and she was now the Order's head in Liberty. General Edison Trent had been the most reluctant to take the promotion, but he had finally agreed after several times having declined the offer. The Order's most respected pilot was now head of the Order's interests in Bretonia. Herr Von Claussen had also been reluctant to take his promotion, but was now the Order's top dog in Rheinland. And finally, Lord Hakkera was the Order's chief for Kusari.

Orillion was the first to speak. "We would like to hear the story from you personally. We know that you weren't able to keep track of Schaefer and Ramirez the whole time, but we know that you have found some excellent information."

So, Jake told them the whole story. He told them how he had followed Rob and Tanya to Tau-23, and how he had witnessed what had happened at Cali. Then, he told them of how he had tracked them remotely through the various surveillance networks, and how he had come up with the rough route of their travels.

When he was finished, all of the six seemed impressed.

"Now, let's show this video that you have found. This is the one with the information on this 'Covenant', correct?" Orillion asked.

"Yes, it does."

So, they put in the data chip and a man appeared on the screen to the left of Jake. Everyone turned and watched, and Jake gauged their reactions, as he had studied the video much, and knew it nearly word for word. Juni, Trent, Hakkera, and Von Claussen made no attempt to hide their shock. Orillion did show surprise, but Jake knew that the man hid his emotions very well, so any showing from Orillion meant great surprise indeed. Kress alone seemed unfazed by the video and he even looked as if he had seen it before. Jake detected a slight widening of Kress's eyes as the "Abbot" was mentioned at the end, but that could mean anything. Still, Kress might be one to ask about this.

"This brings up a vast amount of new work for us to do. Generals, I will have copies made for all of you to study. Find out as much as you can on this. Colonel, it seems that we will need to send you back out into the field." Orillion said.

"Commander, could I get permission to be Colonel Talon's CO for his new mission?" Kress asked.

"I don't see why not. You should be at the Colonel's briefing tomorrow morning, then."

"Of course," Kress said with an icy grin.

"You are all dismissed, then." Orillion stated.

They filed out, but as Jake exited the room, Kress pulled him aside.

"My word of advice for you on your next mission is to not get too attached to these people. They are loose cannons, and the Order may likely need to take them out."

Without another word, Kress turned and walked down the hall.

Suppressing a strange urge to shudder, Jake walked down the hall towards his rooms. A nice shower, and a good night's sleep would do him good.

I think I may add to this tomorrow.

Oh yes, it has been added to. I hope you like.

-----------------

"Whoa." The sights that greeted Rob and Tanya as they emerged from jumpspace in the uncharted system were like nothing either of them had ever seen. A quick look around gave Rob the feeling that they were actually inside a massive cylindrical shell of some sort. The familiar boundlessness of space was gone. There was also a distinct impression that the system was artificial in some way; everything about it – from the tiny floating motes of light, to the oddly-configured binary star, to the spiny, angular, and vaguely mine-like debris scattered across the system - was simply too strange, too bizarre to possibly be natural.

"Rob!" Tanya's voice jolted the freelancer from his brief musings. "I have at least four hostile contacts inbound, 2 o'clock high!"

"Right." Rob glanced at the threatboard quickly. The hostile craft, of apparently unknown class, were still a good few Ks away. He turned the Falcon towards the planet – figures that it would be the one that's far away, too - marked by a waypoint on his Nav Map and hit cruise. "Let's see if we can't outrun them. Are they mounting disruptors?"

"I can't tell." Tanya said. "There's some sort of radiation interfering with the scanners. I don't know where it's coming from though."

"Well, I guess we'd just better hope they aren't then." Rob said, checking the engine status. The cruise drive was only two-thirds charged. "They'll be within firing range in a few seconds."

"You handle the flying, Rob. I've got countermeasures."

"Won't be necessary." Rob smiled as the cruise engines engaged. "We're clear."

"How far to the planet?" Tanya asked.

"Just under 15K." Rob answered. "Keep an eye out. I have a feeling we haven't seen the last of our pursuers. Did you get a visual?"

"I'm not sure." Tanya said. "I saw something, but what with all this debris it's hard to say what it was."

"Damn." Rob muttered. Tanya, concentrating on the sensor readouts, was silent. This left Rob contemplating his feelings about this new, uncharted system in private. He decided that he didn't like it very much. Too damn eerie.

Just as Rob's Falcon passed the halfway point to the marked planet – designated Primus, according to the constantly updating Nav Map – Tanya spoke up. "I'm getting some odd energy readings from behind the planet," she said.

"More hostiles?" Rob asked.

"I can't tell... wait, yes. Yes, we have another four hostile contacts on an intercept course."

"Sh*t." Rob swore. "Can't run this time. If they drop us outta cruise we'll have to fight." The prospect did not excite Rob in the slightest.

"I can't get any reliable readings." Tanya said. "Too much interference, and it's coming from the ships themselves. I'll paint the targets for you. Let me know when you have visual."

"Got it." Rob said as four red boxes appeared on his heads-up display, one for each enemy.

A few seconds later Rob thought he could see the faint glow of four cruise engines bearing down on him. "Got visual, I think." He said. Tanya leaned forward to get a better look.

"I see. Cruise engines. Maybe they'll just pass us."

"Not likely." Rob said. He was surprised when, as time passed, no fuselages became apparent. Just as he finished speaking, the hostile craft dropped out of cruise. Without the backlight of the cruise engines to blind him, Rob was finally able to see the distinctive glowing purple craft of the Nomads. He swore, repeatedly, as he pulled back on the Falcon's controls in an attempt to put his ship above the aliens' firing plane.

The gesture ultimately proved futile. Despite the sudden manoeuvre, and some creative attempts at dodging, a few blasts hammered Rob's shields. The blue bar dropped nearly halfway, and then almost completely as the luminous organic ships passed underneath him. They were unable to pursue, however, and Rob breathed a sigh of relief as the shield indicator crept back towards full.

For her part, Tanya was unfazed. "Nomads. Mason must be involved."

"Looks like it." Rob said. "At the very least, somebody was able to keep the Nomads at bay long enough to install a docking ring."

"They built a docking ring?" Tanya sounded slightly surprised.

"Take a look for yourself." Rob said and gestured towards Primus. Sure enough, the double circles of a docking ring were visible against the brown surface of the planet. "To be honest, I'm a bit surprised myself. I'd have thought they'd just put in a small elevator."

"A what?" Tanya asked, confused.

"An elevator." Rob said. "Like what I'm going to use on Gaia. It's like a docking ring, but much smaller. You just have one satellite in geosynchronous orbit over the planet, connected to some of the micro-cables like in a regular ring. But then instead of latching the ship directly to the cables, you use a small platform to tow the ships into the atmosphere.

"It's a much more secure system than a ring, since the platform is stored on the planet's surface. That's part of the reason why I'm going to be using one. It's cheaper, too. The only real downside is that it can't handle high volume traffic."

"I see," Tanya said. "I wouldn't think that volume would be a concern here though."

Rob chuckled. "Me neither. Still, it makes our lives easier. Hold on, I'll try to get landing clearance."

"Okay," Tanya said and sat back.

Rob opened a channel to the docking control, "Planet Primus this is Freelancer Epsilon four dash nine, request permission to land."

"Roger that," a robotic voice returned. Automated systems. "Your request to land is granted."

The giant, pincer-like arms of the docking ring swung open to allow the Falcon access. Rob guided his ship towards the orbiting structure, gradually bleeding off speed as he approached. The ship shuddered once as the micro-cables latched on.

"We're good?" Tanya asked.

"We're good." Rob confirmed as they slipped slowly into the atmosphere.

"What now?"

"Um, see if you can find the main Hammer base. I'd like to at least land fairly nearby." Rob replied. The Falcon shook again as the micro-cables disengaged.

"Scanning." Rob could hear the faint tap-tap-tap of Tanya's fingers dancing across the sensor controls.

"Anything?"

"No, I'm not getting any energy readings that match man-made transmissions. Lots of warm bodies though. Thousands, at least." Tanya said.

"Thousands? That can't be right. Doc Tomsons said this planet was uncharted. Hell, it is uncharted."

"Have a look yourself." Tanya said and rerouted the sensor information to Rob's screen. Sure enough, the surface of the planet was dotted with clusters of infrared hotspots. Hotspots with temperatures very near that of the human body. Then, suddenly, a large emissions bloom appeared at the top of the screen. The energy signatures were most certainly not natural, but didn't match any devices Rob knew of either.

"Tanya? Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Rob asked, surprise creeping into his voice.

"Hard to miss it, Rob." Tanya said.

"And are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Only if you're thinking that you want to take a closer look." Tanya replied. Rob could tell she was smiling.

Instead of saying anything, Rob pushed the Falcon's nose down into a sharp descent. Tanya laughed, whether from the sudden sensation of freefall or excitement at the unknown Rob didn't know. After a moment's reflection he decided it was probably a bit of both.

As the surface of Primus rushed up to meet them, Rob tried to see if he could make out any man-made structures. "I'm not seeing any buildings or anything,"he said. "Not even around those hotspots."

"Me neither." Tanya said. "And where's the source of that energy bloom?"

"Somewhere over the horizon, I think." Rob replied. "If we hold this altitude we should see it soon. I'd like to descend a bit more though, see if we can't try to get a better look at whatever is responsible for all the heat."

The Falcon continued its descent and Rob was soon able to see some surface detail. Primus was a barren rock, for the most part. The ground was an almost uniform shade of brown with large boulders everywhere. The odd mountain or plateau jutted towards the sky, but mostly Primus was flat. There was still no sign of intelligent life, current or past.

"Tanya, can you get any readings on atmospheric composition?"

"Yes. It's normal. Mostly nitrogen and oxygen with some carbon dioxide, water vapour and trace amounts of other gasses. No toxicity."

"Any chance that heat could be coming from below ground?" Rob asked.

"I don't think so." Tanya asked. "It looks like surface sources to me."

"Wait. I think I see something moving down there." Rob said suddenly and pulled the Falcon out if its dive a few hundred feet above the surface.

"Where?" Tanya asked.

Rob banked his fighter to the left and began circling a large cluster of boulders. He said, "Down there, in between the rocks."

A second later Tanya said, "Yes! Yes, I see them too."

"They don't look human though." Rob mused.

"No, their movements are... different." Tanya confirmed.

Rob once again dipped the Falcon's nose downwards, but gently this time. Slowly, he spiraled down towards the rock formation. Not long after, Rob could see small, scraggly clumps of vegetation and the not-quite-human creatures in the rocks. They stood on their hind legs, as humans, but carried themselves in a half slouch. As far as Rob could tell, they were also naked and covered in dark brown or black fur.

One must have seen the circling spacecraft because they all turned their heads towards the sky and bolted at once, disappearing into the nooks and crannies of the nearby rocks.

"I guess they aren't happy to see us." Rob said.

Tanya giggled. "I guess not."

"Well, let's go check out that energy bloom then." Rob said. He pulled out of the spiral and set a course for the location of the anomalous readings.

As Rob and Tanya sped over the surface of Primus, it occurred to the freelancer than he should check in with Konn and Travis. He tried to open a secure channel with the trader first, but was unable to connect due to interference. Then Rob tried Travis. Again, the connection failed.

"I'm having some trouble with my Neural Net." Rob said. "Can you see if you can get in touch with Travis and Konn?"

"I'll try." Tanya was silent for a second and then she said, "I can't connect either. There's some sort of interference."

"Damn." Rob said. "This isn't good."

"You weren't thinking about asking for reinforcements, were you?" Tanya asked, jokingly.

Rob laughed and turned around, an exaggerated expression of seriousness on his face. "Me? Ask for reinforcements? Never. I'll have you know that back in the day they called me 'One Man Army' Schaefer."

"I don't believe you." Tanya said, and stuck out her tongue.

Rob shrugged his shoulders and sighed melodramatically. "Fine, be that way." He stuck his tongue out.

The two of them laughed together as Rob turned to recheck the instruments. His voice became serious again when he said, "Stay sharp. If there's anything to see, it should appear on the horizon soon."

The very same instant as Rob stopped speaking, a spire materialized on the horizon. At first the silver needle was barely visible against the sky. The Falcon moved closer and soon Rob and Tanya noticed that it was broken. The top had snapped off and hung downwards at a 30 degree angle from the spire.

Then, what Rob and Tanya thought was the base of the structure came into view. It was roughly triangular and had a pinkish hue. Rob was quite surprised when the edifice continued to appear as though it was rising from the ground. The spire alone must have been hundreds of meters high. The apparent base of the ziggurat grew from 500 meters, to one kilometer, to five kilometers, to ten kilometers before the full structure was visible.

"I think we found our ruins." Rob said.

"I think so." Tanya agreed. "Circle around them. It's possible that any emissions from the Hammer site are being drowned out by whatever that thing is pumping out. Now that we're closer I might be able to pick something out."

"Good idea." Rob said. "I'll wait until we're a bit closer though."

The degree to which the giant pyramid was ruined became more and more evident the closer Rob and Tanya were. Huge chunks of material had been blasted away from the superstructure and littered the ground for kilometers in every direction. In other places, the outer shell had caved in, crushing whatever lay inside. The entire edifice was worn. Rob imagined that it had gleamed in the light of two stars at one point, but it now was dull and lifeless.

"I'm picking up some new readings," Tanya said, a few seconds after Rob began to circle the giant structure. "And they look like they could be man-made. Just keep going... there! You should be able to see something now."

Rob peered through the Falcon's cockpit window. Sure enough, he saw what appeared to be a cluster of temporary structures erected a good 5 kilometers away from the ruins. He pulled back on the fighter's throttle and slowly descended to take a closer look.

What he saw chilled Rob to the bone. Bodies were everywhere. Many appeared to be the primitive simians he hand Tanya had been seeing, but some were unmistakably human. Tents had been collapsed here and there, and equipment was strewn everywhere. At first, it looked like there was no life in the camp, but some movements caught Rob's eye.

He soon wished it hadn't. A group of ape-men surrounded a pile of corpses, pulling them apart and, Son of a b*tch! They're eating them!

Rob squeezed the trigger and bolts of energy leapt from his guns. The noise caught the attention of the apes just in time for them to witness the ground explode where Rob's shots hit home. All the surviving animals raced from the scene, leaving the encampment still.

"I'm not reading any more lifesigns in the vicinity of the outpost." Tanya said, somewhat dejectedly.

"Goddamnit!" Rob swore.

"What now?" Tanya asked.

Rob thought for a moment and then said, "We can be sure that Mason, or whoever is behind this operation is going to send another team as soon as he can. Yeah, it's likely that nobody aside from us knows what happened here, but if our Neural Nets aren't working, it's a good bet that there's been no word from these guys since they arrived. I figure plans were probably set in motion to get new people out here as early as a few days ago.

"That means we don't have much time. Sure as hell we can't afford to call for our own backup. We need to figure out what these guys were after, and we need to grab it before the second team arrives." Rob's voice was cold, determined.

"See if you can find a place without those monkeys to set us down." Tanya said. "And we should keep clear of the Hammer encampment as well. You may have spooked them, but I don't think they'll stay away for long."

"Right." Rob said, and circled away from the scene of carnage.

Unfortunately, the only place free of monkeys was the ruined pyramid itself. And, after seeing it fairly close-up, Rob didn't trust the decrepit structure to support the weight of his Falcon. He searched for the area with fewest rocks where the ape-men might wait in ambush. "Looks like I'll have to clear the monkeys away myself," he said once he came across a suitable location.

Rob brought his Falcon down to mere feet off the ground and aimed it at a cluster of ape-men congregated where he wanted to land. It looked like they were fighting. One set of blasts over their heads stopped the fight, a second caused them to flee in all directions.

"There." Rob said. "It'll have to do."

"Why didn't you just kill them?" Tanya asked.

"Ah, well, I just don't feel comfortable butchering animals like that." Rob said.

"Well, they obviously have no problems butchering humans." Tanya said back.

Rob sighed. "I know. But that may only be because they don't know any better. Look, if they try to kill either of us, I'll burn each and every one that gets in our way. But until they threaten me, I can't kill them."

"Fine," Tanya said, her voice as cold and hard as Rob's had been earlier. "But don't get all wishy-washy later."

"Of course not." Rob said and let his Falcon settle onto the surface of Primus.

"Let's get going," Tanya said.

"Okay, but keep your eyes peeled." Rob said as he popped his ship's canopy. "I think I scared most of those monkeys off, but they can't be hiding too far away."

Tanya was already unbuckled and she leapt deftly from the cockpit once the canopy was sufficiently raised. "Cover me while I get our things from the hold," she said.

Rob swung out of the fighter himself and landed in a crouch on the dry, caked-mud surface. He drew his dual energy pistols and swept the area with his eyes. All was silent and unmoving. Wherever the monkeys had run to, they were well hidden. Rob heard two light thumps behind him. Tanya had removed the packs containing survival equipment, portable scanners and other belongings from the hold. "I'll take one," he said, holstering one pistol and holding his hand out, palm up.

"Here," Tanya said and slipped the pack's strap into Rob's hand.

"Thanks." Rob slipped the strap over his head so it ran over his shoulder and across his chest. He pulled the pistol from its holster once more and turned to Tanya.

"Shall we?" She asked with a smile.

- - - -

Rob had put his shades on, and adjusted the IR settings to highlight anything that might be a warm body. As he and Tanya picked their way through the wasteland he caught brief glimpses of potential contacts, but none stayed steady for more than a few seconds. The massive bulk of the ruins lay dead ahead and judging by the amount of sky it obscured, Rob figured he couldn't be more than a kilometer away.

"Any sign of the monkeys?" Rob asked Tanya who had taken the vanguard position.

"Nothing to speak of, no." Tanya answered. "You?"

"Same. Nothing – wait, did you hear that?" The sound of pebbles tumbling down one of the nearby rockfaces put Rob on edge.

Tanya had her pistols raised and was slowly surveying the area. I'll take that as a yes, Rob thought as he scanned the space outside Tanya's field of view. Heat flashed in Rob's peripheral vision and he spun around just in time to see a rock hurtling at Tanya's head.

"Get down!" He yelled and squeezed off two shots each from his pistols before rolling forward to avoid the rock the was almost certainly aimed at his head.

There was a bang as one of Rob's shots connected with the stone thrown at Tanya, superheating it in an instant and causing it to explode. A millisecond later a dull thud announced the impact of another rock not far from where Rob had rolled. Rob took a quick look around and saw dozens of black, furry faces peering down from the large boulders nearby. They didn't look happy.

"Run!" Tanya shouted and began to sprint towards the ruins.

Rob didn't need any further encouragement. He sprung up and followed Tanya, shooting towards the monkeys as he ran. The monkeys began to hoot and crow madly and rocks rained down from all sides. Rob and Tanya jumped, bobbed and weaved through the deadly hail, Tanya with her characteristic grace and Rob with an economy of movement meant to conserve as much energy as possible.

The unintelligible cries of the monkeys grew ever louder as the rocks thumped and bounced off the ground with diminishing intensity. Rob hazarded a quick look behind and, to his horror, saw what looked like hundreds of apes racing after him. SH*T!

"Run faster!" He yelled at Tanya, who didn't need to turn around to take Rob's advice. If they could make it to the ruins, take cover inside, Rob figured they'd have a good chance of holding the monkeys off.

Sweat poured off Rob's brow as he struggled to keep ahead of the pursuing horde and keep close behind Tanya. As they sprinted towards the giant structure now less than hundred meters away, the apes screamed louder. There was even a hint of desperation to their cries, or so it seemed to Rob.

Both Tanya and Rob poured every last ounce of strength they could muster into the final sprint for the cover and – they hoped – safety of the ruins. The ape-men shrieked madly as Tanya disappeared into the dark structure and redoubled their efforts to catch Rob.

Tanya, having found cover, began to blast away at the simian pursuers. Rob heard the sounds of bullets ripping through flesh and bone as he barreled through the arched entrance to the ruins. Almost immediately the almost thunderous sound of the apes' footfalls fell silent. Mournful whimpers from the animals turned to low pitched growls and then vicious snarls. Rob peeked outside and was astonished to see that, in the absence of their prey, the apes had turned on one-another. The monkeys attacked each other with a viciousness and savagery the likes of which Rob had never seen. Fists, feet, teeth and claws found their way home as the apes beat each other to a bloody pulp.

"I've never seen anything like that." Tanya said. Rob turned, he had been watching the apes with such intense morbid fascination that he hadn't even noticed when the beautiful young woman came over and crouched beside him.

"Yeah. Me neither." Rob said, still breathing heavily. He wiped the sweat off his brow. "I'm not sure this is a good thing though."

"I'm a bit worried too." Tanya admitted. Rob was relieved when he noticed Tanya's heavy breathing; it told him he could feel pleased that he was able to keep up. "It's possible that the monkeys think this is holy ground, but I don't think that's the most likely explanation."

"No, there's probably something in here that scares them." Rob completed Tanya's thought. He had harbored the same concern. "Maybe we can - "

Rob's thought was interrupted as an ape was flung violently out of the main skirmish, hooting as it flew towards the pyramid. It collided with a sickening, bone-shattering crunch. The force of impact was enough to crack stone weakened by space-knew-how-many years of weathering. Rob watched, mouth agape, as fissures spidered across the entrance.

"We have to get out! Now!" He bellowed and, adrenaline hitting his system once more, tore down the hallway towards the entrance in a desperate attempt to get out before the entrance collapsed. His dual energy pistols screamed, and blasts illuminated the darkened walls for millisecond intervals, as he unloaded fire into the roiling mass of fur and flesh. If he was going to have to face the ape-men again, Rob wanted to make sure their numbers had been thinned some.

Just then a second ape collided with the entryway. The keystone cracked further under the force of impact. Time slowed to a crawl for Rob as he watched a chunk of rock fall to the ground. The archway trembled for a second and then, no longer able to support its own weight, collapsed.

The ground beneath Rob's feet trembled as tons of rock came crashing to the ground, sealing himself and Tanya inside the ruins, and blocking off what little light had filtered inside the passageway.

Rob took a deep breath. "Well, this is just fan-goddamn-tastic."

Summary: Rob and Tanya travel to Primus. On the way they encounter Nomads, giving weight to the hypothesized Mason/Covenant connection. They find the ruins that the Hammer expedition was supposed to investigate. They also find the remains of the expedition. It has been overrun by the native species of ape-men. There are no survivors. Rob and Tanya decide that there's not time to go for backup (and they can't call anyone because of radiation disrupting Neural Net transmissions) and land. They progress, on foot, to the ruins. The monkeys ambush Rob and Tanya, and chase them to the ruins. Rob and Tanya manage to reach the ruins, and are not pursued inside, but a cave-in traps them.

OOC: Athena, if you're still going to be busy for the next little while (say, a week or more) let me know and I'll keep going with this. Otherwise I'd be most grateful if we could split writing duties.

Also, I know that some of the stuff here (especially relating to the monkeys) isn't really faithful to "vanilla" FL, but walking, talking monkeys who wear clothes and can fix spaceships seem like more of a joke than anything to me. I've always though of Primus and Gammu as "easter egg" systems, and not really a part of the "actual" FL universe. So I went ahead and re-interpreted Primus for dramatic effect. If anyone has a problem with this, let me know and I'll see if I can come up with something more satisfactory.

Edited by - Codename on 8/8/2005 12:31:55 AM

Lol, that last bit was very reminisant if Planet of the Apes.

Good update. I'll get my next one up as soon as I can.

OOC: Yeah i was a bit worried when Bob said he was taking the gang to primus. You did it good though, i promote thee to vice callendar duke!

Tanya reached around to her bag and pulled out a pair of dark mirrored goggles that was swiftly worn. The young woman pushed a switch located on the side of the frame, nodded once and beamed a smile at Rob as her vision swam green.

"I'll take point, if you don't mind?" she asked sweetly and trapped one of her kinetic pistols under an arm, freeing up her hands to reload the caseless weapons with a series of deft movements. She pressed a button near the hilt of the weapon and an empty magazine fell to the ground causing a small cloud of dust to rise. She pulled a magazine from an easy-access pouch by her waist and slammed it into place, pulling back the slide with a 'click-clack'. Tanya repeated the gesture and a second gun was loaded and ready in nearly a heartbeat, the second empty magazine falling to land by the first.

Rob adjusted a setting on his own trademark shades.

"That dust probably took thousands of years to settle, before we came along," he said dryly, thought not without a hint of remorse. He winced as Tanya's boot kicked the magazines to the side raising an even bigger dust cloud.

"Let's go," she said seriously and moved ahead lithely. Clearly not a time for jokes then, thought Rob.

The rock corridor was ten feet in diameter and seemed to be burned into the hillside, there were very jagged edges or coarse sides that would normally indicate a drilling mechanism of some kind. Rob assumed some kind of superheated energy was fired into the ground, nodding as he saw whatever dim light available in the tunnel reflected occasionally. The walls of the tunnel were glowing with a faint purple mote and neither of them could understand how it was happening.

"We should take a sample of the rock for someone who's smarter than us," said Rob, thinking of Dr. Thomson.

"Good idea. You do that and I'll scout up ahead," said Tanya immediately moving away slowly. She was crouched low, like a cat. Rob felt uncomfortable, he hadn't expected to be trapped down here, although there were worst companions to be trapped with, he decided. But Tanya was on edge and her intuition was rarely wrong.

As she disappeared from view behind the bend of the tunnel, Rob was about to say something but gritted his teeth. She is her own woman, y'know Rob he thought and produced a small palmtop with a tiny scalpel-like device attached at its side. He scraped at the side of the wall and took a sample quickly that was sealed into a tiny case. Okay. So she's her own woman. Doesn't make watching her walk away any better does it, buddy?

"Rob, can you hear me?" whispered Tanya, interrupting the freelancer's thoughts. She was sub-vocalising through a short-range radio chip they had both attached to the side of their throats.

"Loud and clear. I'm done. Coming to your position," he replied.

"Make it quick. You won't want to miss this," she hissed.

Rob stuffed the palmtop into his bag and darted off into a run, conscious of not making too much sound as even his soft footfalls seemed to reverberate inside the tunnel. He ran round the corner of the bend and nearly fell into a hole, as dark as pitch and falling away further than the eye could see. He stifled a yelp and instead timed a jump, the pit wasn't wide and he cleared it comfortably, landed, rolled and kept running. A vision of the pit blurred into his mind and he was surprised as jagged rocks jutted out at various angles; the first sharp edges he'd seen in here.

"Watch out for the pit," Tanya added almost as an afterthought.

"Thanks. I saw it," replied Rob icily as he charged through the tunnel. He slowed down as the tunnel began to dip and saw Tanya crouched low behind a wall of rocks ahead. The tunnel fell away sharply after this and a bright glow of white light emanated from behind the rock wall, then faded. He crept to Tanya's position and took a sharp intake of breath at the sight before him.

The tunnel dropped down into a huge, cavernous area about the size of a main hangar bay. The walls were of the same, glowing reflective quality and he noticed two holes cut into the roof of the cavern. Tanya smiled.

"I saw them too. They're as wide as a light fighter. Maybe a small medium," she said.

Rob continued his survey and saw the centre of the cavern featured more structures similar to the ones outside. At first glance he thought they were ancient and ruined too, but as he watched he realised the ruins weren't ruined at all, instead they seemed very well preserved. Or maintained.

The buildings were arranged in a circle, with three smaller concentric circles inside the main ring. At the centre were five pillars, huge obsidian-like stones standing upright and clearly dominating the rest of the structure. Rob guessed they stood at least thirty feet tall and about half as wide and deep. The material used to construct the ring and stones were cut from the same rock as the tunnel and cavern. Even more amazing was the small altar at the centre of it all. Atop the altar lay what could only be described as an artefact. It was a spherical object made of purple and green, organic in design. It too glowed, though stronger than the walls. Occasionally a white light would pulse out from it brightening up the whole cavern before fading as soon as it had come.

"We need to get that thing," said Tanya pointing to the pulsing device. "The Hammer expedition must have been ordered to clear a path down to this hall," Tanya added, her eyes softening as she recalled the terrible fates of the scientists. She frowned as she also remembered the bodies of the fallen Covenant cultists. Rob nodded without taking his eyes off the artefact.

"Aye. But one thing bothers me. It seemed as though the Hammer expedition were close to the entrance of the tunnel. In fact, they must have known it was here because I noticed large vehicle tracks as we ran from the apes before." He fell silent. Tanya didn't interrupt him.

She cast her eyes over the whole cavern once more. There was only one way in and out and that was now blocked by the apes. Curious creatures , she thought. They sacrificed their own kind to cause the cave-in by throwing their bodies at the rock wall. Are they keeping us in? Or keeping something out?"

Rob pointed suddenly at the ground near the centre of the stone circle. Tanya stared for a moment and her eyes widened as they noticed a metallic object lying near the foot of one of the pillars. It was a blaster.

"The Hammer expedition had made it inside," she said. Rob nodded. "But they were killed in here. And dragged back out?"

"No," said Rob. "Some of them made it inside. I'd say they sent a recon party in advance while the rest camped near the start of the ruins. The apes dealt with that group. Something else took care of these," he said grimly then suddenly whipped out his blaster and fired at the wall behind them causing Tanya to start.

"What are you doing?" she hissed angrily. Rob didn't respond for a moment. He nodded to the wall he just shot and Tanya turned round. The wall was unmarked. The super-heated burst of energy would be strong enough to mark the hull of a fighter ship but there was no mark at all on the wall. Nothing. Not even a scratch.

"Incredible," remarked Tanya. "I'm glad you took that sample," she continued.

"That's the weird thing. I was able to scratch away a piece without much problem but when I fired at it the heat was absorbed," he replied. Rob scratched his head. Then froze. Tanya froze too. A sound echoed from the tunnel behind them.

"What was that?" he asked. Tanya said nothing, her expression neutral.

The sound came to them again. It was more distinct this time, it was primal, animal-like. Waiting for a few more nerve-wracking seconds they heard it again and the noise was drawn out over several moments, undulating. The sound was chillingly closer this time. It sounded like a roar.

"We need to go. Now!" said Tanya.

"Don't have to tell me twice!" said Rob. "Head towards the stone circle!"

They bolted from cover and charged down the rock slope towards the huge circle. Behind them the ground shook as whatever the creature was, had awoken from slumber and begun to chase them.

And smelt their fear.


***


"This is great! Just great!!" shouted Rob as the pair darted towards the stone circle. He was annoyed at himself for not placing sensors behind them, although the creature wasn't planning any kind of stealth attack clearly. He glanced across at Tanya who was totally focused on their run. She was leaping over any obstacle, then suddenly turned to him, grinned and accelerated. Rob swore and increased his own speed to catch up.

They dare not look behind but could almost feel the presence of the creature as it heavy footfall shook the ground beneath them. The pair ate up the metres as they closed in on the stone circle and passed the first ring of stones. Tanya shouted in alarm as one of the pillars of stone about twelve feet tall began to move.

"Rob! The stones are moving!" she yelled and darted to one side as it came crashing down where she was.

The freelancer was too busy to reply. Another pillar had moved to block his path so he had taken a detour around its side. A second pillar had begun to fall and he leapt forwards into a roll diving under it as the stone fell with a crash. Rob sprang to his feet and kept running without losing any time. Tanya was just ahead dodging the stones too that now seemed alive. Or at least, aware of the humans moving amongst them and doing their best to crush the life out of them and prevent reaching the artefact.

The creature roared again, a powerful sound that pierced and reached deep inside them. The vibrations cause their own bodies to shudder and Tanya winced as she leapt over a fallen stone and reached the centre. Rob came up a moment behind her and they turned as one to face their pursuer.

By the outer ring of stones, was a creature standing nearly twenty feet tall made entirely of the substance the tunnel, cavern and stones were composed of. It was vaguely humanoid but at the centre of its head there were no eyes, nose or ears. Just a huge, misshapen mouth filled with sharp, three-foot long jagged stalagmites for teeth. It champed down once causing fragments of rock and dust to spray out in a jet, then opened it once more and roared again, blowing even more dust at them. Huge claws in place of hands snapped shut occasionally as though on reflex and it swung them aggressively.

"What. Is. That?" asked Tanya. Rob chuckled and Tanya cast him a frosty glare.

"I'm hardly Sirius' best mind at otherworldly life, my dear," he remarked. They watched as the creature paced around the circle. The stones that made up the circle had stopped moving now, grudgingly accepting the intrusion by Rob and Tanya. She looked at the spinning artefact, suddenly turned away and grabbed Rob's chin with her hand pushing it away too. It blasted out a shining, blinding wave of light for a second, then faded.

"Thanks," he said, half-watching the artefact and half-watching the creature that stomped outside the boundaries of the circle. His hand reached up to his shades and he pressed a button. "Taking some footage," he said. "Konn and the guys won't believe me when I tell them about this," Rob mused.

Tanya sighed.

"If we get out of here to tell them," she said.

The young woman glanced around looking for something to aid them and looked up at the twin shafts above them. She could make out the dim colours of the Primus skyline through the shafts and that meant they must be vertically straight. Another blast of light came from the object, eventually pulsing to darkness.

Rob swore and turned back to the artefact.

"Guardians," he said.

"What?" asked Tanya perplexed.

"Everything in this cavern is a guardian. Maybe on this planet. They were placed here to protect this," he said pointing to the artefact spinning above the surface of the altar. Tanya frowned.

"I doubt they would have made it so easy," she retorted. "I mean, with enough force and resources, anyone could eventually break into this place."

The creature had stood still for a while. Content enough to watch them from afar. Tanya took a quick step one direction and the creature darted forwards in one terrifyingly quick bound. The huge maw champed shut and released open again.

"I jumped over that," said Rob bemused. "Anyway. You saw how the walls absorbed blaster heat. I reckon this far underground even a battleship's main guns wouldn't trouble this cavern."

"So it's down to a smaller, man-sized force," said Tanya following his logic. "And man-sized bites," she grimaced as the creature stomped on the ground and roared again.

"The apes were probably bred as some kind of surface protection. There were hundreds of them. Thousands of them maybe," said Rob. "And Primus isn't exactly a tourist expedition."

Both humans could only watch as the creature circled them. It would occasionally roar, snap its massive claws but still would not step into the structure.

"We have provisions for three days," said Tanya looking into her bag. "Four at best. Who else knows we're coming here? Do we have a rescue plan?"

"Well, that's not easy to answer.." replied Rob.


***

They watched each other for several hours. The creature continuing its patrol around the circle content with their position for now. The humans relatively content at not being pulverised.

Tanya sat cross-legged on the stone altar.

"So what happened to the recon group?" she asked after a while. The creature roared and she paused for a moment. The roars had less of an effect now and both humans were able to absorb the effect without fear. "I mean, would Fido over there have chewed them up and spat them out?"

Rob chuckled, the situation couldn't be more surreal.

"Fido. Nice one. Well. Only if they tried to escape. The tunnel wasn't caved-in before. Perhaps they attempted to leave the circle and make a break for it."

"Bad idea," replied Tanya. She rose from her position and leapt off the altar. The stone creature paused and 'watched' her. She took one step towards the next ring. It remained still. She took another step passing beyond the first circle. And another. She was at the third circle when the creature leapt round the ring towards her forcing her to take a step backwards. Within moments the creature was nearly upon her and its claw was hurtling towards her head with inhuman speed. Tanya ducked behind a pillar and the claw slammed into the opposite side, causing a huge scar across the surface of the pillar.

"Fine. He still doesn't want us to leave," said Tanya walking back slowly to the altar and eventually returned to her cross-legged position.

Rob got up and walked over to the stone she used as cover, inspecting both sides. The scar was still there. He pulled out his blaster and the stone was again, unharmed, the spot at which he fired upon glowed bright red, orange then faded. The stone was smooth again.

His eyes narrowed and he turned towards the towering creature that again, stood still watching him.

"Tanya. Give me one of your guns, please," he said. A gun flew through the air over a stone pillar and he caught it deftly. He aimed at the creatures mouth carefully.

"I hope this works," he whispered, then slowly squeezed a round off. The shell struck home and blew off a 'tooth', the stalagtite-esque rock snapped off half way and fell to the ground. The creature hesitated, then looked down.

Rob grinned viciously.

"Eat this!" he yelled and fired again, breaking off another tooth. He continued to squeeze off rounds and began blowing holes into the creature. He saw Tanya climb onto a pillar and open fire too.

"Magazine!" shouted Rob and one clattered by his feet. He dropped the empty, slammed in the full one and switched his weapon to fully automatic. The creature was being blown apart in pieces by the combined firepower of their weapons. It seemed to stagger back, claws snapping and its jaws champed down and opened again. The creature roared swinging its claws into the side of the rock before them which shattered into pieces, sending fragments flying into their faces.

"Uh-oh! That's not meant to happen!" shouted Rob. "Fall back! Fall back!" and continued shooting despite moving backwards, slowly at first but quicker as the creature came at them.

Tanya dropped down to join him and as she pulled out spare magazines, stuffed a few into Rob's jacket pockets.

"Last two, make them count!" she shouted over the din of the gunfire. The creature charged, swinging its claws into the rocks that had held it at bay for so long. It sent one hammering into a stone pillar and it shattered on impact, large chunks of rock hurtling towards them. Tanya ducked one and shot another into fragments that bounced off her jacket. Rob side-stepped one and also shot another one. He glanced to his left and watched as Tanya avoided the danger. He shouted a warning as Tanya was about to step onto a rock that could have unbalanced her and failed to see another cloud of rocks coming his way.

"No!" shouted Tanya as one substantial piece struck Rob at the temple and he fell onto his back. The creature was only twenty paces away and still charging, though hampered by the many stone pillars it had to destroy before it could reach them.

She reached down and swept up her second gun that had fallen from Rob's grasp. She screamed as she unloaded both pistols at the monstrosity, aiming for the arms at the shoulder. Tanya continued to scream as the concentrated fire caused one of the creature's arms to explode and it fell away, the snapping claw falling to the ground in a cloud of dust and fragments. She stepped forwards continuing to unload her guns at the other arm that just wouldn't give way. She broke into a run and heard Rob swear as he got to his feet. Tanya kept firing until her guns clicked empty, the slides recoiling back fully and dived under the claw feeling the hairs on the back of her neck rise as the claw swooshed overhead. The woman rolled under the creature and got to her feet the other side, throwing one gun high into the air. The next moments were a blur.

Rob saw Tanya throw one of her two guns high into the air, reach around behind her with the free hand produce a magazine that was slammed into place and holstered she caught the second one and loaded it with another magazine, again cocking it ready. She pulled out the first gun and spun on her heel. The creature had turned to face her and she began to fire while strafing around clockwise to her left. The freelancer nodded, she was buying him time. He reached into his bag and produced a grenade and a block of plastic explosives, connected to a remote detonating device. The detonator was strapped to his wrist and he swiftly activated the bomb. He risked a quick glance up and noticed Tanya had managed to shoot off the remaining arm, the claw lay on the ground but continued to snap in defiance.

"Tanya! East side! East!" he yelled. He wasn't sure if she'd heard him but she continued to run around the north side of the circle shooting as she ran.

Rob darted to the eastern most point of the circle and lay the explosives down behind a pillar, then backed away quickly to stand behind another. The ex-assassin turned and ran. The creature was very close to her, no longer able to swing the deadly claws anymore, it had taken to leaning down and champing its huge jaws down at any opportunity. The woman sprinted past the bomb. The chasing creature ran past too its jaws about to champ down once more for a final time on the tiring girl.

"I hope this works," he whispered. "Down!" he yelled then detonated the bomb. Tanya threw herself forwards and covered her head with her hands as the bomb exploded.

It ripped through the right flank of the creature's body, blowing away a massive chunk of torso and sending a leg flying. Fragments of stone zipped through the air and he ducked too. The air seemed to be sucked in and for a moment neither of them could hear anything. Tanya regained her senses and scrambled to her feet before bursting into another tired run.

Rob ran over with the grenade in his hands. The creature was lying on its back, the great maw weakly opening and closing. The leg occasionally twitched and Rob suddenly felt sorry for the creature. He unhooked the pin from the grenade and tossed it into the open mouth before running back for cover again. A sound rumbled from within the creature. Then the grenade exploded and the chamber was silent.


***


Tanya dabbed at the side Rob's head using a cloth torn from his shirt. He sat amongst an area they cleared of stone fragments at the centre of the circle, bare-chested covered in sweat and dust facing away from her and watched the artefact. It pulsed light at intervals exactly forty-two seconds apart. His watch beeped an alarm and they closed their eyes in unison. The pulse of white light burst forth and faded. They opened their eyes again.

"You need a wash," she said in good humour putting a sealant strip on the wound. It wasn't deep and would heal in a few days. Rob was struck in several other place over his chest and she'd dealt with them in similar fashion. "But I'd prefer to keep what water we have."

"Very charitable," grumbled the freelancer. "Nice move with the gun, back there."

"A trick I was taught at school," she remarked. "I'm glad you brought some explosives with you, as usual. Never leave home without them?" she chided.

"Better than women. Constantly portable. They don't complain. Use 'em once. Walk away," said Rob, before yelping as Tanya pinched him viciously.

"That," she said with venom. "Will take more than a few days," she said pointing to the red raw skin of his upper arm that would eventually bruise and purple.

"Something to remember you by," grumbled Rob once more. He pulled on his shirt tenderly. He was a few years older than her and the fall onto his back must have impacted one of the vertebrae and possibly his shoulder. He felt Tanya's hands massage his shoulders and he sighed, then relaxed. "Mm. Good," he murmured.

"Old men like you shouldn't be doing activities like this," said Tanya in his ear. He smiled and kept his eyes closed. The alarm beeped again and he kept them shut. The light flared, then passed.

She continued to massage his shoulders, neck and began working in his upper back.

"I can't work your lower spine until you lie down but I don't think that's a good idea in here," said Tanya, hinting they were still potentially in some danger. Neither of them had figured out a means of escaping the chamber. Soon after destroying the creature they had scouted back to the tunnel tentatively only to find the cave-in still present.

Rob sighed.

"I don't mind. We can stay here a while," he murmured again. He opened his eyes and turned round suddenly, staring into Tanya's green eyes. They were voluminous and the light from the chamber and artefact only served to deepen them. Rob slowly leaned forwards and her own eyes closed, their lips joining as they kissed. The alarm beeped and neither could resist a smile as the white light flared around them. They continued to kiss long after the light faded.


***

Tanya sat on the altar cross-legged. She felt both delight and sadness. Delight because Rob was a good, generous and above all, uncompromising man who had a similar background profession to her own. But more importantly because he understood her, her desires to be alone at times and need to achieve things herself. Tanya was hesitant to throw herself at any relationship and her history with partners wasn't the most promising. Was that her fault? she asked herself.

She watched him walk along the length of the cavern taking readings and analysing their surroundings. They had been down here for a total of almost sixteen hours. He walked back somewhat dejected.

"Even if we could muster enough explosives to check out of here, we'd need enough to break out of the cave-in, without only causing another cave-in. And then we'd have those pesky apes to deal with outside," he groaned.

Tanya lifted one magazine before him.

"Last one," she said with a smile, before replacing it into the hilt of her weapon. "Still no neural net connection?" she asked. Rob shook his head.

"Nada."

The alarm beeped and they closed their eyes in a ritual that had now been ingrained.

"What about that?" she pointed at the spinning artefact. For so many hours they debated the idea of removing, destroying or covering the artefact. They tried the latter using a bag but the light merely shone straight through it as though it wasn't there. Fearing a change in climate they decided against the former options. "If only we could reach the shafts up there," she said.

Rob stopped adjusting his palmtop.

"What?"

"Hm? Oh nothing," Tanya replied. She was cleaning her guns, probably for the fifth time.

"No. What did you say before?" asked Rob. Tanya looked up.

"Oh. Reaching up there," she said and pointed to the parallel shafts that were fifty feet above them.

"And why can't we?" asked Rob. Tanya watched him confused. "We can climb the walls!"

"How?" said Tanya annoyed. They brought no climbing equipment and the exterior of the walls were smooth. She raised a brow when Rob produced his blaster. He walked a few paces away and placed two rock chips on the ground close together a few feet away. He fired and the beam of superheated energy from his gun enveloped them both. He let go of the trigger and Tanya's mouth opened in surprise. The chips had joined together to form one, long stone fragment.


***

The next four hours were painful at best. Rob and Tanya collected all of the stone chips and fragment they could carry in one pile. Tanya would place a few chips at a time by the side of the pile and Rob would shoot them. Then they took turns.

When they had gathered over a hundred such large chips, Tanya threw them at the rock wall where Rob fired. His expert trained eye would allow him to fire the beam so it struck the chip at the apex of Tanya's throw and it would join against the rock wall, creating a protrusion. They repeated this many times, enough to create a crude series of handholds that would lead them from the floor of the cavern to the highest point on the wall, a ridge where they could climb across and reach the twin shafts. The closest of the shafts was about twenty feet from the wall, that's twenty feet of gruelling climb holding your entire body weight using only a small, fist sized protrusion as leverage and fifty feet above the ground.

"We should rest," said Tanya lowering her tired arms after throwing stones repeatedly for four hours.

The alarm beeped and they closed their eyes.


***

ttfn

x

Edited by - athena on 8/8/2005 3:49:19 AM