either that or some sort of condensing agent that would trap the water inside of it, cant remember the name of the chemical, but its used in nappies/daipers and can absorb 10 times its own weight... =P

or, a really really big sponge =D

oooor something that seperates the hydrogen from the oxgen and then the engines would ignite it in a nice big fireball =P

Edited by - [GR_Fallen_Angel on 8/26/2005 12:34:21 PM

OOC: Sorry for the longish wait, this is a combined effort of DSQrn and myself.

The small fleet of ships dropped out of cruise near the Sprague docking ring. Nick smiled, as he was happy that there was no interference on the way; he was tired and he wanted a shower and some food before any more blasting.

“...Cleared to dock.” The robotic voice jolted Nick back into reality. “Right, right...” He thought “Focus....”

His ship touched down near the others, who were already talking in a ring at the landing pad. Nick hopped out of his ship and jogged up to them. “Scott!” He called.

“Aye, sir?” came the reply.

“Unload the stuff and hand them over to local Command HQ, we need some intel on what it is.” Nick said. “Now, gentlemen, while the items that we have found are being looked at, I recommend we take five for some R&R.”

“Smoke if ya got em...” One of the squad members mumbled. Nick smiled.

----

Nick washed his face in the small room the BAF had provided for him. It was good to get in some relaxation. He walked over to the couch and sat down. After he flipped on the holovision projector, he checked his guns for ammo and such.

“And so, Rheinland still asks ‘Why was there such sudden chaos from a terrorist and/or his affiliates?’ But now to sport-”

Nick flipped the thing off and grunted. He was about to turn over and go to sleep when his COM buzzed. “Major Warren....” He said with a sigh into the damned device

“Major, we have the results on the items found in Omega-5.”

“Better be tea...” Nick said softly.

----

Nick entered a room which had a large table with several ship guns and a black box and some hull fragments.

“Gentlemen?” Nick asked as he looked at Konn, Nikolai and Gabriel.

Konn looked at Nick and said “The scientists said that the hull is composed some kind of polymer matrix overlaid on top of a standard ship hull, designed to reduce sensor efficiency at picking it up at close range.”

“And nothing at long range,” Gabriel chimed in. “Also the guns are Nomad-based in some way. They've probably been reverse-engineered somehow.”

“Scuse me, Nomadic guns.... Guns without homes...?” Nick asked.

Konn looked up at Nick looking a bit puzzled, and Gabriel also shot him a glance. Nikolai just laughed.

“He doesn't know this sh*t does he?” Nikolai said, then laughed.

“Pardon?” Nick asked.

Konn spoke quietly. “A while ago, an alien species in Sirius invaded Rheinland. We call them the Nomads. They pilot ships that are unlike anything we've seen in Sirius, and are tough in a battle. Governor Jack Mason – do you know who he is, Major?”

“Yes.”

“Mason has a way of controlling Nomad ships, and used them in Sigma-17 to attack House fleets. As a result of this, half the Bretonian fleet was stolen due to the confusion immediately after Mason called off the attack. A confederate of his, who we think is named Juan, was going to use the stolen fleet as a Trojan Horse to attack Kusari. We're not sure why Bretonian ships rather than Rheinland ships, but it would have caused no end of confusion and would have triggered a war between Kusari and Bretonia.

“So there's your story about some of the things that went on in Sirius when you weren't looking, Major.”

“Wow... I've really been out of the loop...” Nick stuttered “I'm... surprised that someone else hasn't noticed all this...”

“Well, the Houses are not anxious to publicize the fact that they were surprised in a sneak attack, with the Bretonian fleet absconded with – although subsequently returned – and a good portion of the Rheinland fleet laid waste by the Bundschuh. But, water under the bridge and all that.” Konn said “Question being, what course of action should we take?”

“Well...” Nick said, tapping his fingers on the table. “I would recommend we head to a Junker base and pose as prospective buyers for the looted items, so we can figure out where they are and get them.”

“Rochester is the main Junkers base, but Trafalgar's closer,” Konn proposed “due to the nature and location of the loot. We should go there first.”

“Well then... let’s go.” Gabriel said.

----

The group of ships arrived at Trafalgar some time later. The base was not much of a marvel; it sat there as a few ships went in and out. Soon Nick received a hail from the base.

“What's yer damned biz here?” A gruff looking Junker barked.

“We've heard about certain scavenged loots...” Nick said coolly. “We wish to purchase these things.”

“Arr..” The Junker growled. “Land and we'll check up with ya soon.” With that the COM link was cut.

“Alright, everyone, stay alert. Even if we can’t afford the loot, we can at least get an idea of what they took. Mr. Konn, I understand you’re a freelance trader. You should be able to handle it.”

Hahukum Konn said, “That’s right, I am. I should warn you though, that this project of ours could get expensive. I can easily see the Junkers charging several hundred thousand credits if they’ve found anything that looks like a weapon.”

Nick opened a secure channel to his wingmen. “Gentlemen, keep a close eye on the Junkers. If they act up, we may need to leave this station in a hurry. So don’t leave the docking bay except on my direct order. Understood?”

A series of voices said, “aye, sir.”

Down on the station the group met in the hangar. They only received a few glances from bored Junkers who were working in the area. Nick’s squad was standing by the ships while Konn, Nikolai, Gabriel, and Nick gathered in their own circle.

“In the likely event that this turns very bloody, can you all fight?” Nick inquired.

“Well..” Konn said with a slight sigh. “I'd really rather not but if it is a necessity, I can.” He held up what looked like a credit stick for emphasis. Nick suspected it was an illegal sidearm of some kind, while Nikolai and Gabriel simply nodded in response.

“Good now- Oh look, Junker commander or something. He's here for us...” Nick mumbled.

The Junker leader walked up to them and nodded. He had two guards with him holding laser rifles. He looked somewhat pale, and his men also looked a bit ‘off’ as though they were somewhat ill.

“You folks the ones that want to look at our loot?” He said gruffly. The group nodded at this. “How much then?”

Konn glanced at Nick who in turn nodded back. He began speaking. “It’d go a lot smoother for us if you’d first of all put away your weapons, and second, if we, or at least I, could look at your merchandise. I am acting on behalf of a consortium of buyers and I wouldn’t be doing my job if I bought your equipment sight unseen.”

The Junker leader started fidgeting just a little, and said brusquely, “I have no time for your extended haggling, trader. We negotiate here, or we don’t negotiate at all.”

“Will it be acceptable if I confer with my wingmen?”

The Junker leader nodded and folded his arms across his chest, bristling.

When Hahukum stepped away and joined the group, Nikolai stood close to Konn, who unconsciously put his hand on Nikolai’s chest. As Nikolai pretended to kiss Konn on the cheek, he whispered, “There’s a guy in the corner of the docking bay. I saw him fiddling with a Cardamine mask.” Konn thought he smelled a touch of alcohol, though.

Crud. Now that Konn realized it, the “Junker leader” was showing signs of Cardamine withdrawal as were his two escorts. Somehow, Outcasts had raided Trafalgar and had the true Junkers either tied up or out the airlock. He spoke briefly to Nick, who gave an unobtrusive high sign to his men.

Konn stepped back to the fake Junker leader, and said, “My wingmen unfortunately feel that I’m wasting my time. It would go a lot smoother if you would tell me why you haven’t got your Cardamine mask on.”

At that, the fake leader’s jaw dropped for a second, then hardened. But before he could gesture to his sidekicks, Nick’s crew was surrounding the trio of Outcasts, weapons out. Konn had his own pocket blaster out as well

Nick said, “Good. Drop your weapons, you three, and we’ll deal with you later. Now, where is the wreckage from Omega-5 that you were trying to steal from the Junkers?”

“As if I would tell you, you BAF scum.”

Nick’s face darkened. As he stepped forward, almost nose to nose with the Outcast, he said, “Just for that I ought to shut you up in one of my holds and let you die of Cardamine withdrawal, but I won’t. Now listen up. We want all data on those items, and the items themselves. Your data then is to be destroyed.” Nick grunted coldly. “Failure to comply and you will be terminated. What do you say?”

“Allow me to say...” The Outcast wheezed “F*ck you!”

Nick could almost 'sense' Nikolai's grin at his amusement. “Well, I guess that means no.” Nick said as he threw the Outcast into the guards knocking them to the ground. The firing began.

Several workers pulled out pistols and started to open fire, while one ran and hit the alarm. “There are three exits. Split up and go through them!” Nick barked over the gunfire.

“I agree.” Gabriel shouted back “I'll take the one closest to me, I'll go alone.”

“Well, me and Nikolai can take the next if you don't need any back-up,” Konn yelled.

“Roger that, make a break for it. My men will hold the bay and take care of these mugs!” Nick yelled “Let’s go!”

He made a burst for one of the doors and ran in. He entered a hall of some sort. Not far off he could hear men yelling and running, so the fight wasn't over yet. Nick crouched down behind a cylindrical drum in the hallway and watched as two men ran by with rifles. He rolled out and started firing. “This is going to be one helluva job,” he thought.

His laser bolts nailed both guards in the back; they never even saw it coming. Before Nick could smile at his triumph lasers started to whiz by him and he dove for cover. Peeking up over the top of the drum he saw further down the hall several Outcasts spraying the area with lasers.

“Sh*t.. Sh*t!” He muttered to himself. He thought, “Four of them. I don't have any grenades and I don't want to risk anything in an enclosed corridor...Make one mistake Nick, and you could shut down power to this area of the station.”

Suddenly an idea occurred to him. He checked the contents of the drum he was behind. “Salt.... Pepper,” Nick mumbled. “This may work, just hit the barrel with an overload shot and in its weakened state it should go boom.” He flipped out his gun and clipped one of the wires. Then as he pushed the drum down at the guards he held down on the trigger and released, letting an overpowered laser bolt slam into the drum, spraying salt and pepper everywhere.

The soldiers fell to the ground coughing. they were easy targets for Nick then.

“Won't find that oddity in the BAF soldier guide,” Nick muttered with slight amusement. He then went back to racing down the halls until he spotted a sealed door with a computer panel next to it. Two guards were stationed by it, and they looked very nervous. Nick ducked down in the stoop of another door.

“Aha! Gotcha!” Nick yelled out at the soldiers, remaining hidden. One of the guards yelled, “Who’s there?! Answer, or we shoot!”

When one of the guards turned to a comm panel, Nick saw the opportunity and leapt out. His first shot hit the soldier in the back of the head, felling the man instantly. He had his gun in front of the other Outcast’s nose before the latter could fire his weapon. He could see the guard’s Cardamine mask stuffed inside the man’s jacket.

He said, “Drop your blaster, and anything else that looks like a weapon, or I drill you like your buddy here.”

The Outcast’s blaster clanged to the floor.

“Good. What’s behind that door?”

“The Junkers we captured so we could take over this base.”

“Okay. Now where’s the stuff you were here to get?”

“We didn’t find anything right away. We were still looking for the Omega-5 wreckage the Junkers scavenged when you got here and nailed my buddy in the head!”

“Save your tears, Outcast. Now open these doors!”

The man did so, revealing several very angry Junkers. Nick bellowed, “Everybody, QUIET! This Outcast’s yours. We just dispatched all the others. Now I’ll get out of your hair.”

Nick shoved the Outcast at the mass of Junkers, and sauntered down the hallway, seemingly oblivious to the shrieks of pain. He got on the COM and said, “How're we doing, guys? Any Outcasts left?”

Gabriel’s voice was tinny. “Didn’t see any, and didn’t see any wreckage in the storage bays.”

Konn’s voice was next. “Nikolai and I got a few, but other than that, no wreckage to be found. We’d better get out of here and head for Rochester.”

“Agreed. Meet me at the docking bay, and let’s get the h*ll out of here!”

----

Luckily, the trade lanes and jump gates were clear for the most part, and the group made good time heading to Rochester base. After docking, Konn spoke to the Junker base leader, satisfying himself that the Outcasts hadn’t made it to Rochester yet. Nick had cleared the way by dropping references to a special purchase when he’d spoken to the dock control people.

Konn walked with the man to a large storage vault, which, when opened, revealed a plethora of odds and ends. More hull fragments like the ones the BAF had analyzed, intact weaponry, and most importantly, the ‘black box’ flight recorders, although it was clear the Junkers didn’t know what they had, because the information on those black boxes alone was worth the expense of the Queen’s birthday, and they would have separated those black boxes out and not put them with the loot.

What they did know they had was a fairly good-sized pile of smelter-grade metal alloys with unusual properties as well as weaponry nobody had ever seen before, among other things.

Konn opened negotiations. “I represent a consortium of buyers who would have uses for this kind of material. I’m authorized to negotiate for everything that’s in here that came from Omega-5, as our research division would be interested in the properties of all the materials here.”

“Fine. A million credits, and that’s a bargain.”

“I don’t see anybody lining up behind me for this stuff. I’ll give you five hundred thousand.”

“That offer insults me, and insults the generations of Junkers in my family.”

“Save me your family history, sir. I hear the Outcasts aren’t too interested in formalities, if you’ve heard about what happened at Trafalgar.”

“Nine hundred. I have to make a living here, you know.”

“I’ll give you six hundred and fifty and that’s as high as I’m prepared to go. Half now, half when I get my reimbursement.”

“If you can offer me six-fifty you can offer me seven. I’m not about to lose my shirt on this one.”

“Fine. I’ll transfer three hundred and fifty to your account or the base account as soon as we get my Humpback loaded with all this. I’ll want all the scans your people made as well, plus a receipt for these items. If I don’t have that receipt the people I represent won’t credit me back and you won't get your money.”

“Stay here.”

The Junker left, and shortly after, several men and antigrav lifters showed up, piling up all the looted items and transporting them to the Humpback. Once everything was accounted for, Konn took his credit stick and transferred three hundred and fifty thousand credits to the Junkers base account, and signed off on a contract to return with the remainder.

Almost as an afterthought, Konn loaded up a credit stick with two thousand credits, and palmed it into the Junker’s hand as they shook on the deal. He said, “Good service gets good tips, I’d say.”

With that, Konn checked that his Humpback’s hold was secure, and Nikolai was pretty well fully alert by this time. They left the docking bay, and as the crew reassembled in space for the home run back to Sprague, several Outcast ships showed up on the contact list, one ship openly hovering near the Humpback.

Nick’s voice could be heard on the all-ships communications. “What do you want? I’ve been asked to escort a valuable shipment to Bretonia.”

The ship in front of the Humpback said, “Precisely. This ship has something we want, and we want it now.”

-----

Summary: The Outcasts get to Trafalgar ahead of our intrepid crew, but surprisingly, the loot didn't get shipped there, but instead to the Junkers main base at Rochester. Our crew hightails it there, seals the deal for the loot, and the Outcasts show up just as our men are about to vamoose.


Edited by - Hahukum Konn on 9/2/2005 2:55:51 PM

in your editing you missed a bit

---

His laser bolts nailed both guards in the back; they never even saw it coming. Before Nick could smile at his triumph lasers started to whiz by him and he dove for cover. Peeking up over the top of the drum he saw further down the hall several Junkers spraying the area with lasers.

---

you left junkers in there instead of changing it to outcasts

other than that good post, shame gabe didn't find anyone =P hehehe

OOC: Sorry for the wait,but i was busy with school work.Its 11:00 right now so nothing speacial.
tIC: Hans was sleeping in his bed when the door intercom buzzed in,"Hans,I need your help !" said the obvious voice of Vinny.

"Ja,whatever" Hans said,with an annnoyed tone in his voice.

Hans getting out of bed,put two Daumann Devestators in their holsters.He then put a small PDA in his pocket.Hans opened the door and met Vinny in the hangar bay.i

"I need you to find a man for me Hans,name is Dan Nidyl,lives on Houston."

"All the way to Houston !?" Hans roared.

"Calm down,theres a shortcut mister big mean Hessian" Vinny teased,who got a few mean looks from Hans' group.

In space Hans was flying with Vinny in a highly unknown nebulae.

"So where is this 'shortcut' Vinny ?" Hans asked.

"We are about 3 K's from it" Vinny replied

The trip was highly uneventful,not a ship in sight.
a
A few minutes passed and low and behold,there was a jump hole to Texas.

"Shows how much of Sirius is unknown" Hans said.

Vinny went first and then Hans.

The duo arrived behind Houston.

"I forgot to mention,its a one way jump hole" Vinny said

They landed on Houston,which was uneventful.Except for one foolish Xeno who was blasted by a Lancer missile.

On the landing pad,Vinny got out of his Dromedary.

"Follow me"

Hans and Vinny rode down an elaborate elevator system,which Hans marveled.

They arrived at the Smoking Horse Bar,in the lower levels of the Star-Port.

When the two walked in Vinny immediatly went to the bartender.

"Im looking for Dan Nidyl"

"Password?"

"The hobo is king tonight" said Vinny

"Right" and the bartender lead them to the back alley and opened a door which lead to a small room with a computer in the wall.

The bartender punched in a few numbers and four of the tiles started to rise,revealing another elevator.

The bartender left and Vinny and Hans entered the contraption.

As soon as they did,the elevator shot down atleast 15 floors and finally stopped.

The door opened and to Hans' amazement was an emporium of weapons,ship armor,and black market items.

A man with a cowboy hat and a Texan accent aproached them.

"Well howdy,welcome to Nidyl's Black Market,im Dan Nidyl.How may I help you ?" said Dan

"Save us the act,Dan" said Vinny.

"Straight to business !" said Vinny,again

Summary: V&H arrive at Houston ad meet Dan Nidyl.

Ooc: sorry for the wait, hope it's worth it...

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

Gabriel had remained very quiet the whole trip. Silently watching his squadron mates, watching their behavior, their speech, their interaction, analyzing everything he saw. He watched as Nick’s men responded to everything he said like trained dogs. He watched as Konn struggled with his desire to avoid combat in a universe of killers. He watched Nikolai drooling over men clad in the latest fashions, muscles hinting through their tight t-shirts. He noticed Nikolai’s playful flirting with Konn, and the Rhinelander’s apparent attraction towards him.

“That could serve to my advantage,” he thought.

The trip too had been nothing special, nothing out of the ordinary, nothing unexpected. He knew the Junkers would be in Omega five; Sprague had just served as a place to observe the rest of the group and their interactions. One thing that did surprise Gabriel was the fact Nick didn’t know about the nomads and he cursed this assumption. He let too much information slip. Now they knew he knew… He should have played ignorant, keep his defenses up. Thankfully nothing had come from it and no one had called him out on his knowledge.

“What's yer damned biz here?” he heard a Junker say over the COM system as they approached the insignificant base known as Trafalgar.

“We've heard about certain scavenged loots...” Nick’s voice replied calmly. “We wish to purchase these things.”

“Arr...” The Junker growled. “Land and we'll check up with ya soon.” The COMs went silent.

“Alright, everyone, stay alert. Even if we can’t afford the loot, we can at least get an idea of what they took. Mr. Konn, I understand you’re a freelance trader. You should be able to handle it.” Nick commanded to the group.

“That’s right, I am.” Konn’s voice replied, “I should warn you though, that this project of ours could get expensive. I can easily see the Junkers charging several hundred thousand credits if they’ve found anything that looks like a weapon.”

They all proceeded into the base, Gabriel took up the rear as he quickly gave the base a sweep with his scanners, something didn’t seem right.

“In the likely event that this turns very bloody, can you all fight?” Nick inquired.

“Well...” Konn said with hesitation in his voice, Gabriel noticed a slight change in his demeanor. “I'd really rather not but if it is a necessity, I can.” He held up what looked like a credit stick for emphasis.

“That thing better be more powerful than it looks,” Gabriel thought to himself. He relaxed his mind as Shi’Xiosa took control to scan the room, he could do it far more efficiently. His vision focused on a few people at the far side of the bay, shaking slightly, their faces white. These men weren’t acting like Junkers and they didn’t look like Junkers, someone beat them to it.

“Good now- Oh look, Junker commander or something. He's here for us...” Nick mumbled.
The Junker leader walked up to them and nodded. He had two guards with him holding laser rifles. These men looked like the men Gabriel had noticed further away, but their case was less extreme. Suddenly he saw one bend behind a box take a drag from a cardamine breather, failing to conceal it completely. Outcasts, that explained a lot.

“You folks the ones that want to look at our loot?” He said gruffly. Konn and Nick nodded as the other BAF pilots looked on nervously.

“How much then?” Konn inquired.

Konn shot a look at Nick before continuing. “It’d go a lot smoother for us if you’d first of all put away your weapons, and second, if we, or at least I, could look at your merchandise. I am acting on behalf of a consortium of buyers and I wouldn’t be doing my job if I bought your equipment sight unseen.”

The outcasts eyes dilated momentarily his eyebrows rising slightly, behind him the others fingered theirs guns nervously and glanced at each other trying to determine the best course of action. The leader’s face returned to its normal, albeit paled, gruff look and angrily replied, “I have no time for your extended haggling, trader. We negotiate here, or we don’t negotiate at all.” It was obvious he was getting flustered. The corner of Gabriel’s mouth lifted into a slight smile, he laughed to himself, this was going to be fun.

“Will it be acceptable if I confer with my wingmen?” Konn inquired, trying to play ignorant to the mounting tension all around him.

The Junker leader nodded in aggravated approval and crossed his arms the hairs brisling. Some color was returning to his face, his heart rate was increasing.

He saw Nikolai approach Hahukum and he placed his hand on the trader’s chest, Gabriel noticed his fingers curl in slightly as he lifted his arm slightly as he applied pressure. As he leaned in to kiss the man on the cheek the Ta’Gue’Led agent noticed his lips move slightly. Nikolai is enjoying this too much for just telling Konn something,” he thought as he watched Nikolai’s hand slide down Konn’s chest across his abs and of his side as Konn walked past. Nikolai bit his lip lightly as he watched the trader pass, his eyes slowly sweeping down the length of his body.

As Konn walked away Gabriel could tell what the flirtatious Rhinelander had told him and he watched as the shocked man approach nick to tell him the news.

The BAF officer signaled his men subtly.

Konn stepped back to the fake Junker leader.

“What not telling me?” Gabriel thought, not knowing what to make of this sign, did Konn assume he had figured it out? Or did he simply ignore Gabriel all together?

Just then he heard Konn start talking to the now flustered outcast, “My wingmen unfortunately feel that I’m wasting my time. It would go a lot smoother if you would tell me why you haven’t got your Cardamine mask on.”

The man’s face went whiter than a sheet and the guard’s guns dropped slightly and they looked up, ruining their aim. The man attempted to regain his composure and motion to the men behind him. Before he could nicks men were already surrounding them, Gabriel crossed his arms across his body as he reached into his jacket with both and withdrew his pistols, leveling them at the heads of the two armed men directly in front of him. In his peripheral vision he saw Konn and nick draw their own weaponry.

With that Nick said, “Good. Drop your weapons, you three, and we’ll deal with you later. Now, where is the wreckage from Omega-5 that you were trying to steal from the Junkers?”

The man’s face contorted into what Gabriel could only assume to be an attempt at looking threatening. “As if I would tell you, you BAF scum.”
Nick’s eyes turned into slits and he stepped towards the man, getting almost nose-to-nose with him. Nikolai’s eyes widened slightly and he looked the officer up and down in confused anticipation.

“Just for that I ought to shut you up in one of my holds and let you die of Cardamine withdrawal, but I won’t,” he said to the outcast, Nikolai’s face sunk slightly. “Now listen up. We want all data on those items, and the items themselves. Your data then is to be destroyed.” Nick growled coldly. “Failure to comply and you will be terminated. What do you say?”
“Allow me to say...” The Outcast wheezed, his withdrawal symptoms obviously getting worse “F*ck you!”

Nikolai grinned, but for different reasons than before. “Well, I guess that means no.” Nick said throwing the Outcast into the guards knocking them to the ground. Gabriel clicked off two perfectly placed shots at some men across the bay and watched as the bolts of yellow energy slam into the bridge of their noses, the skin between their eyes fizzled slightly as they fell to the ground, their hands still on their guns strapped to their legs. The others shot the three men closest before running for shelter behind some crates close by. Gabriel ran to join them, clicking off more shots with his right hand as he rapidly closed in on the crates just left of his original location. A shower of sparks rained from a wall where a man’s head had been moments earlier, “lucky bastard” Gabriel growled under his breath as he cove behind the crates. The outcast were now a little more organized and were returning fire from cover on the other end of the bay.

The BAF pilots continued to return fire from their entrenched location. Suddenly the alarm went off. One of the workers had run and hit the alarm.

“There are three exits. Split up and go through them!” Nick barked over the gunfire.

“I agree” Gabriel replied, ““I'll take the one closest to me, I'll go alone.”

Without saying any more he sprinted off to a door on the wall to the right of their current location, firing shots with his left, inaccurately, focusing more on getting into the alcove of the door. He slammed into the small wall next to the door, sheltered from the gunfire thanks to the door being recessed into the wall slightly. He pressed the button to open the door with his elbow as he span to bring his guns to bear down the hallway. It was empty.

He paused to check how his ammunition was looking. Both guns were almost empty; he clicked the clips out and stuck them in his ammo belt around his waist, drawing out two fresh ones. He quickly reloaded them and cocked both. Carefully, he made his way down the hallway, noticing no one. As he rounded a corner he saw a man crouching at a computer terminal, trying to rewire it to get past the security codes. He wasn’t dressed like the others and he looked strangely familiar. Gabriel noticed a strange red symbol on his arm; it looked like a “t” with an ancient cathedral behind it.

The man turned towards him, “Jamison?” the man said, confused. "I thought you were dead."

The alarm suddenly stopped.

The man was James Greir, a man he knew from his days with the Order. “James? What the hell are you doing here? Are you trying to get the equipment for the Order or something?”

“Not quite” the man responded, purple and blue light shot like daggers out of the sides of his eyes, burning menacingly. He reached down for his handgun and Gabriel sidestepped around the corner he just came around, putting his back to the wall as James peppered the wall with his shots. Gabriel spun around unloading his guns at James, the yellow energy igniting the air as it converged at him. The Covenant agent moved with superhuman speed, and managed to dive out of the way of the holocaust of energy raining down on him. Parts of the wall sparked and melted where the energy from the Ta’Gue’Led pistols landed, the computer exploded in a brilliant light show as multiple shots carved through it. As the traitor went to stand he left his empty gun on the floor to save weight and sprinted down the hallway. Gabriel ran after him, flipping one of his guns and grabbing it by the barrel as he ran. Pulling it back over his shoulder he threw the gun at the fleeing man like a throwing knife. It impacted his head with a hair-curling crunch and the man fell to the ground. As Gabriel quickly converged on his target he dropped his other now useless gun and got to the wounded man right as he turned over. Leaping through the air to land a killing blow with his fist, gabriel was caught by the man’s lifted foot and was tossed over him and onto the floor further down the hallway.

“Whatever you’re trying to do Jamison the Order will fail,” James snarled, blood dripping down his neck and over his shoulder. “The covenant will destroy the order, we will rule Sirius” he wiped his blood off of his neck, slinging it to the ground.

“My name is Gabriel Shi’Xiosa” the now enraged Ta'Gue"led agent responded, the hair on his back prickled. Yellow and orange light leapt from the sides of his eyes like blinding swords and a surge of adrenaline like nothing Gabriel had ever experienced surged through his body. James stood stunned as Gabriel leaped at him, covering ten meters in less than a second. His blood felt like it was boiling, this nomad had taken his friend, and worse they had gotten into the Order. He slammed his right hand, fingers first, right through James stomach and lifted him off the ground as his arm penetrated deeper into his corrupted body. Grabbing the man by the neck with his left hand, he crushed his victim's windpipe as he ripped the man’s limp body one way and the nomad’s the other. The strange blue creature’s body burst out of the dead man’s stomach in a shower of blood. Gabriel continued with this motion slamming the nomad’s body into the wall to his right as he dropped the body of his former friend. Now free he formed a fist with his left hand and slammed it into the center of the nomad, its blue inerts splattering all over the hallway, the remains hanging limp on the wall where they were ingrained into the dented wall.

Gabriel went back to the body of his fallen comrade. “ I know you weren’t the one in control,” he whispered. “May you live a better life now, my friend, you’ve served your time in damnation.”

Gabriel walked down the hallway until he found what he was looking for, a small storage room. Fortunately the Junker bases were littered with them. He grabbed a rag off of one of the crates and cleaned himself off as best he could, and then picked up a small canister of H-Fuel before leaving. He returned to the body of his target and picked up his guns. He reloaded them with the clips from earlier and then twisted the valve of the canister. At the same moment he discharged a shot from the gun in his other hand, igniting the volatile gas. He swept it over the body of the nomad incinerating it, and then dropped it into the gaping hole in the dead man’s torso. Satisfied the evidence of the alien and his host was destroyed Gabriel proceeded to check the rest of the storage bays in the area, running into no further hostiles. Right when he left the last one on the hallway he heard Nick’s voice over the COMs.

“How're we doing, guys? Any Outcasts left?”

Shi’Xiosa’s voice chimed in, “don’t tell them about James, we don’t know about what the nomad’s intentions are, or who this Covenant is. We don’t know these people in our group and telling this will force you to give up much of your past, it could endanger us both.”

Gabriel chuckled quietly before responding, “Didn’t see any, and didn’t see any wreckage in the storage bays.”

Konn’s voice came over the channel next. “Nikolai and I got a few, but other than that, no wreckage to be found. We’d better get out of here and head for Rochester.”

“Agreed.” Nick said. “Meet me at the docking bay, and let’s get the h*ll out of here!”

Gabriel returned to his Drake without incident. When he arrived he was happy to see the BAF pilots had neutralized the Outcasts in the hanger and had taken up defensive positions to guard all the doors into the place.

“Whoa guys, its just me” Gabriel said cautiously holding his arms up as the pilot’s guns all trained on him.

Nick Konn, and Nikolai returned moments later. After confirming everyone was there and uninjured they all climbed into their ships and begun their preflight sequences. They debriefed on the way to Rochester, but other than that the flight was uneventful. Gabriel still didn’t reveal what he had found on Trafalgar, he would leave that until they knew more. He knew it would anger them, but he wanted to get more information on the Covenant. One thing he did know, this equipment they were getting, the stuff the outcasts wanted, it was more than likely of Covenant origin, and James was at Trafalgar to cover their tracks.

The deal at Rochester went quickly, and it was quickly loaded into the back of Konn’s humpback. As they emerged into space and approached the trade lane a contingent of outcast ships appeared on the contacts screen.

“What do you want? Nick said on the open channel. “I’ve been asked to escort a valuable shipment to Bretonia.”

The ship that stopped right in front of the humpback replied, “Precisely. This ship has something we want, and we want it now.”

“I’m sorry sir,” nick responded mockingly, orders are orders” with that the Bretonians opened fire on the outcasts. Konn slammed his throttle to full and engaged the thrusters shooting over the dazed outcasts. Gabriel powered up his engines and jumped into the fray. Four outcast ships exploded before the others realized their folly and began to engage their opponents. The outcasts closed in on a single crusader and unleashed a withering amount of fire.

“This old fish cant take much more Sir” the pilot said, I have to bail” with that the ship erupted into flames. Nick tractored the man’s escape pod in and shortly after the last outcast was vaporized as he tried to escape.

“Alright everyone stay frosty,” Nick said over the group channel. “We’ll need to lay low for a while, or at least get out of outcast territory, anyone have any ideas?"

summary: the recent events according to gabriel, he runs into an old friend from the Order who's now part of the Covenant and dispaches him

ooc: sorry everyone if you thought this was an update, I had to fix a few things I was unhappy with and edit the ending.




Edited by - [GR_Fallen_Angel on 9/7/2005 4:26:58 PM

Edited by - [GR_Fallen_Angel on 9/12/2005 1:10:38 PM

Stefan was thrown out of the jump gate and into the Stuttgart system. He put the plugs back in their places and initiated the docking sequence with the trade lane to Planet Stuttgart. He leaned back into the chair and enjoyed the beautiful sight of Stuttgart. He listened to the wump-wump sound as he was progressing towards the planet. Suddenly he was thrown out into space and knew that the trade lane had been disrupted. Below him were three Hessian ships flying towards him.

‘’Ok hand over the loot! NOW! The Hessian yelled over the COM.’’

‘’Sure, take it. I don’t need it anyway, he responded and jettisoned 12 loads of oxygen.’’

‘’Geez, I expected a fight, whatever. The Hessian tractored in the loot and flew away with his wingmen after him.’’

Damn Hessians, flying around and robbing us small people, Stefan muttered and re-entered the trade lane to Planet Stuttgart.

‘’Robbing decent people who have never done anything bad to them. Just to fill their pockets so full of credit sticks that their pants fall of, and the police force is too corrupt to do anything. They should be sent to Alaska or the Westerwald’’, he said to himself as he arrived to Planet Stuttgart.

‘’This is Zoners zeta nine dash four. I am requesting to land.’’

‘’Understood. Your request to land is granted please proceed to land’’.

The traffic around the planet was febrile. Mostly military and police ships. But one could also see the Republican and occasional Orbital Spa and Cruise transports.

His ship flew through the massive rings and into the clouds. As he descended the silhouettes of the main city on the planet became clearer. If there was one thing that could make Stefan happier then normal, it was beautiful environments; planet Stuttgart was one of those. Miles and miles of forests and farmland, he just couldn’t get enough of it. The architecture was nice too, but not as much as the surroundings. He unplugged the wire and climbed out of the ship, heading for the bar.



He stepped into the bar and looked around for Walter. He saw him sitting in the corner, looking bored and tired. He walked up to him as sat down beside him.

‘’Hi Walter, how are things?’’ he said and grinned.

Walter muttered. ‘’Nothing special, and you?’’

‘’Well fine, except for my little encounter with some Hessians whom demanded my oxygen,
which I gave up without resistance everything is splendid.’’

‘’Good for you, I’m tired. I haven’t slept for three days. And I still have to ship this bloody scrap metal to Dortmund. You’re really lucky you know that?’’

‘’Far from, if you would know what I’ve gone through you wouldn’t call me lucky.’’

‘’Please tell me your story then.’’

‘’Not here, not now.’’

‘’Come on, we’re brothers. And we’re speaking in Bretonian. Who would understand us.?’’

‘’The government has got spies everywhere. I wouldn’t want to risk our lives just because of that tale. Which is a damn painful one too.’’

‘’Ok, so you’re sitting at your optronic as usual?’’

‘’Nah, forest walks always do good to your health, but let’s go somewhere else. Now that I’ve got some credits.’’

‘’Yeah, why not.’’

‘’Come on then.’’



Down on the streets they walked into some place called ‘’Herr Bauer’s’’. The second largest restaurant chain in Rheinland, giving you high quality dinners and meals for a cheap price. They sat down at a corner table.

‘’So where have you been all the time?’’ Walter asked.

‘’I’ve been making a Gold run from the Battleship Hood to Freeport 9. Seems like the Corsairs know how to live good.’’ Stefan calmly replied.

‘’How much did you get?’’

‘’670 000 credits’’ he replied with a slight smirk on his face.

The waitress came over with the menu to them. They replied with ‘’Danke’’ and she left in a hurry.

‘’You lucky bastard! While I have to ship Beryllium from Java Station to Kensington you are making yourself a fortune on a bloody Gold run, while I only make 50 000 credits a month. And pirates don’t even bother you. Damn, sometimes I really envy you.’’

‘’I told you that you should be a Zoner. You didn’t listen. Blame yourself’’

‘’Nah, your right.’’

‘’At least you have a caring family, wile I have to hold up in that bunker for a house’’.

‘’That’s right’’ Walter said with a smile.
‘’Have you chosen anything yet?’’ Stefan said and looked up from the menu.

‘’Not yet, you then?’’

‘’I’ll take a vegetable soup and a schnitzel.’’

‘’Hmm… that Cordon Bleu sounds nice. I’ll have it.’’

‘’Alright, now we just have to wait for the waitress to come.’’

They both put down the menus on the table and Stefan looked around a bit. The walls were covered with some type of dark wood with beautifully carved figures and patterns. Light flowed in from the giant windows and the white-blue diamond squared ceiling. It was a cosy, hospitable feeling that permeated the whole place. Typical Rheinland style.

The waitress who came and asked if they have chosen anything yet interrupted Stefan.

‘’Was wollen ihr nehmen?’’ the waitress asked.

‘’Ja, ich nehme ein Gemüsesuppe und ein Portion Schnitzel. Und der junge Mann hier nimmt ein Cordon bleu.’’

‘’Das macht 2965,85 Mark.’’

’’Na gut.’’ Stefan pulled out a credit stick from his pocket and gave it to her.

‘’Eine Momentum.‘’ the waitress then rushed away and came back a few minutes later with a plate filled with all the goodies they have ordered.

‘’Vielen Dank’’ Stefan said as they both started to eat from their plates.

‘’Isn’t it interesting, that something this old has survived so long?’’ Walter wondered.

‘’Indeed it is. And it is tasty too. Guess we Humans aren’t so dumb after all, taking care of all the good things we’ve come up with’’ Stefan replied.

‘’And music too. I don’t know when we came up with that stuff’’

‘’You see. That’s the problem with humans today. We don’t care about all the things we came up with ages ago. We are mostly only interested in the new, hip things that people come up with today. Archaeologists are an exception though.’’ Stefan continued complaining. ‘’ People are forgetting things faster than I eat beans. Have you ever been to the bar at the Manhattan landing pad? You know that music? Nobody knows the origin of it nowadays. Only a few people, whose sites are very hard to find.’’

‘’Stefan please, stop complaining about people. I mean, who can even remember anything that happened before the war?’’ Walter asked.

‘’You know, there are people in today’s world that don’t even have a hint about how we got here. They don’t know about the Sol War! And there is another problem. We wage all these horrid wars for our petty, selfish reasons, when we instead should unite. And these wars just make us forget even more.’’

‘’Stefan please stop.’’

‘’Ah, all right. But I am right I tell you.

‘’Yes but let’s talk about something else now, please.’’

‘’Fine, what do you want to talk about?’’

‘’How is it going home in New Berlin? Basic things.’’

‘’Well it’s really nothing special going on there, just the usual. Forest walks and learning for me that is. Otherwise it’s the occasional Reichstag fights, which are very fun to look at.’’

‘’How do you watch a fight in the Reichstag?’’

‘’In the Reichstag there are security cameras; these cameras are controlled by an optronic that’s inside the building, and has Internet connection. Hack into the optronic, and take control of the cameras. And voila! You’ve got a gladiator fight in the Reichstag from first parquet. Popcorn included.’’

Walter laughed, ‘’I would really like to see one of those fights.’’

‘’Then I’ll upload them into my neural net and send them to you. It’s quite hilarious.’’ Stefan said and chuckled.

‘’Ok thanks, I’ll watch them at home.’’

‘’Good then, well anything you know that I don’t?’’

‘’Heard about Omega-5?’’

‘’You mean that rocky war-torn system? Yes, I’ve even been there, though that was a long time ago. What’s with it?’’

‘’I heard the news on Stokes Smelter. BMM ordered one of their freighters from Douglas Station to go through there to get to Omega-41. The crew saw Cadiz Station full of holes with human bodies floating around in the air. Scrap metal from derelict fighter were also found in the Hammen Hole and only a few mines remained in the system, which is now filled with Junkers collecting the remains. Another source says that the Red Hessian’s Ronneburg Base was torn to pieces. Nobody knows who did it.’’

Stefan was as rigid as a statue. Paralysed with horror.

‘’Stefan? Are you all right?’’ Walter wondered. Stefan didn’t move.

‘’Hello, anybody there?’’ he waved his hand in front of Stefan. ‘’Hello! Stefan wake up!’’ Again he didn’t move. Walter slapped him in the face.
‘’Ouch! Hey, what was that good for!’’ Stefan asked, all red in his face.

‘’You didn’t respond to anything. I tried to wake you up every way possible. Oh, and you haven’t eaten up you meal yet.’’

‘’That’s horrid news. Who would or could do anything like that? At least two million people must have died there! There is no force in the entire sector powerful enough to commit such genocide.’’

‘’Come on, it’s Corsairs. Who wouldn’t want to wipe them out? Honestly I don’t really care. They’ve been plaguing us Bretonians long enough. I think they deserved it.’’

‘’Bloody hell they did! Nobody deserves a death like that! Corsair, Bretonian, Zoner, Hessian, it doesn’t matter. They’re humans and that’s what counts!’’

‘’Ok, you’re right. I’m sorry brother. But I have more bad news for you.’’

‘’What?’’

‘’Cali Base in Tau-23 has been wiped out too.’’

‘’What did you say?!’’

‘’I said that Cali base in Tau-23 is gone, destroyed.’’ A tear ran down Stefan’s cheek. ‘’Ey, what is it?’’

‘’It’s unbelievable.’’ Tears flowed down his cheeks. ‘’I knew people on that base, even some close ones.’’

‘’You knew Outcasts?!’’

‘’Yes. Understanding and helpful they were. And now they’re all gone.’’

‘’Understanding? I’ll believe that when humans grow wings.’’ Stefan continued crying and Walter started to feel bad. ‘’Hey, calm down now brother, I’m sure there are some people
that survived. You’ll see them again, I promise.’’

‘’You think so?’’ Stefan said between the tears.

‘’Sure, there are always survivors.’’ Stefan wiped away the tears from his face and carried on eating his Schnitzel.

‘’Right, I’ll go out to Omega-5 and see if I can pick up any survivors. There has to be at least one poor pilot stuck in his ship out there.’’

‘’Well done.’’ Walter sighed.’’ Well, I have to go. My convoy is of to Bonn and I don’t want my mates out there to get angry on me. Auf Wiedersehen, Bruder.’’

’’Auf Wiedersehen.’’

Walter walked out of the restaurant. Stefan put his knife and fork beside each other and left.



Outside planet Stuttgart Stefan saw Walter’s convoy head of towards the Neu Berlin system. He himself took the trade lane to Freiburg and from there to the Omega-7 gate. As he exited the trade lane he saw only one large train take the trade land to Freiburg. He initiated the docking sequence with the docking and watched as the gigantic ‘’door’’ opened up. He was pushed back into his seat as he was sucked into the jump tunnel.

On the other side he looked around and found himself in a familiar environment.

”Här har inte hänt mycket sedan sist jag var här.” Stefan said to himself and docked with the trade land to Freistadt.

Minutes later he found himself in a clear zone around Freistadt. He flew the ship further and turned on the red docking lights as if the ship was part of himself.



Summary: Stefan travel to Planet Stuttgart to met his little brother Walter. They go to a restaurant and start talking about event new and old. Stefan finds out of the Omega-5 massacre and decides to revisit the system. He goes to Freistadt in Omega-7 to load up his cargo hold with stuff if Junkers eventually should threaten him.

“I’m sorry, sir”, Nikolai breathed into the intercom, “but orders are orders!” and the freighter, spinning wildly, pointed Nikolai’s six turrets straight towards the leader of the Outcasts that blocked their path. Six streams of golden-green light sped from the tips of Konn’s guns towards the glass shield of the man’s Stilleto, breaking the transparent material into a thousand shards and leaving his ship dead in space as air rushed from the cockpit outward and his body tumbled forward into the vacuum.

The five remaining, all Stilettos, were not so slow to react as the Junkers in Omega-5. Though Urran shot through the crowd, decimating another before him, and Warren’s guard mobilized into their deadly formations, the Outcast ships had already responded and were unleashing a torrent of fire on one of the fish-like Crusaders even as it attempted to dodge out of the way. Konn weaved the humpback through the fray, attempting to throw in as many shots as possible.

One Stiletto began to trail Warren’s ship. Turing upwards and barrel-rolling the fish through space, he dodged its deadly fire, proving impossible to catch. The man tailing the Major, however, seemed to prove idiotically obstinate, desperately firing off shots at places where Warren had been seconds before and vainly tailing it. Taking advantage of the man’s obsession, Konn spun the ship so that Nikolai faced the Outcast in the distance. He discharged the flame of the Humpback’s guns towards the madman’s ship, burning its shield away and decimating the hull. Fire protruded from its underbelly, and the pilot, shocked, lost control.

Warren turned his ship then, concentrating the strength of his guns on the momentarily distracted ship. It burst into flames and then exploded, in powerful brilliance—crashing into one of the Crusaders whose shield had been decimated by another Outcast. The Bretonian’s ship’s hull was knocked down irreparably, its pilot bailing. In the distance, Nikolai could see two explosions as Outcast ships rammed each other, Gabriel’s drake pulling away nanoseconds before the strike.

“That’s the last of them,” Urran said.

“Very well. Switch to a secure channel….
Let’s head back to New London; we need rest and food, and to hand these over to a BAF lab.”

Urran mumbled something in response, but his reply was lost in the whirr of cruise engines as the party began to move across the junk-ridden darkness of New York. Konn turned back to Nikolai.

“I need to check in with Rob. Keep the singing to a minimum, ok?”

Nikolai smiled, producing his bottle of whisky. “Course.”

Konn turned to the intercom, dialing in a comm code. “Rob? Are you there?”

There was silence for a few moments, then: “Konn! Hey! How are you? How’s the drunk?”

Konn shot a glance over his shoulder at the Rhinelander and his whisky. “Nikolai’s turning out fine. A bit of an interesting character, but he’s quite a good fighter. I’ve got some news for you…”

Konn quickly relayed the story of their trek to Omega-5, the corpses suspended in space there, floating among the debris, and the sojourn to retrieve the remains of the battle from the Junkers.

“What bothers me is the Outcast involvement in this. They’re on good terms with the Junkers. Why would they hijack a base?” Rob’s voice sounded concern.

“Perhaps we could assume they’re behind the attack?”

“A bit early, but maybe…Any results on those weapons you found?”

“Nothing we’ve seen. The black box was analyzed, though…from what we can decipher, it seems that Juan was involved. And there’s tensions brewing between him and Mason.”

There was silence for a moment. Konn spoke up again: “So, success in the mystery system? What happened?”

“What? Oh, the usual…breaking into ancient temples, attacked by stone behemoths and wild apemen alike, captured by mutant secret societies…”

Konn was astounded. “What in the name of Sirius were you DOING?”

“Rob, we’ve got 4 hostiles inbound!” Konn heard over the intercom.

“Sh*t! Konn, before I go: there’s an organization operating Sirius, I think against Mason, called the Ta’Gue’Led—formed of nomad-possessed humans. They told us to watch out for one of their agents operating in Sirius, named Gabriel. Look out for him. And head to Los Angeles, we’ll meet you there. Take care.” Rob’s voice died as the intercom shut off.

Konn felt suddenly fearful. What if Urran was this Sirius operative? How could they trust him? Was this group truly working against Mason? Whatever the answer, he needed to tell Warren and Nikolai.

“Major”, he said into his comm, “my partner tells me that we need to head to Los Angeles. I’m turning around.”

There was silence for a moment, then: “Very well. We’ll follow.”

“Los Angeles?!” griped Nikolai. “F*ck, that planet’s so ugly my eyes burn!”

************************************************************************************************

“God, I am bloody exhausted.” Nikolai rose from the floor where he had been doing pushups. “How you handle all this flying I’ll never be able to tell.” He crossed the room, lying down on Konn’s mattress. The flight had been entirely without incident, with only his whisky to wash away the tedium. And bloody hell, the planet was ugly.

“Comes with the territory of being a freelance trader. But even so, I’m a bit tired myself,” Konn sighed, stifling a yawn. Nikolai was settling into the pillows, finally getting a chance to sleep without his fist bopping the man’s head. His near-naked body glowed softly in the candlelight, his face even more beautiful.

Konn sighed and quietly, cautiously, settled by the sleeping man in the bed, a thrill coursing through his body at the sensation. His eyes closed as he breathed in Nikolai’s strong musk, and he settled into the depths of dream…

A sudden touch lifted him out of the peace he was nestling into. Nikolai turned over towards him, still awake, and smiling. His eyes roamed over the thin, softly rippled body of the man beside him, gazing at him with sweet, wanting eyes. His hand, moving like silk over Konn’s soft skin, slowly felt the other man’s body as it shone in the soft light, then moved down, resting just above his crotch.

Only a hint of whisky laced the breath of the man whose lips brushed for one sweet, short moment against Konn’s cheek, seconds before Nikolai’s tongue dived into the other’s mouth, intertwining with his, tasting his mouth, sensing the soft flesh. His hips, the pants sinking lower around them and hovering for a moment above his massive bulge before dropping entirely, gyrated over the smooth man beneath him. A hand cupped the back of his head, another tracing its way down his rippled abdomen, as Konn kissed back with a sudden ferocity that almost scared Nikolai.

Both gave in entirely to the melodies of pleasure as instinct took hold and tenderness gave way to absolute passion.

----

SUMMARY: The Outcast battle, edited and retold, since FA’s description of it blows goat. The Ta’Gue’Led exposed to Konn, who makes a point to tell Nikolai and Warren that Gabriel is possibly an agent (he doesn’t plan on telling Gabriel, though). And a bit of passion…

Edited by - Wilde on 9/18/2005 3:22:14 PM

OOC: Steamy !!

OOC- As Code and Konn can attest to, I've been having transfer issues with this update, yet I finally got those worked out and here is my next bit, overdue by a week or two.


IC-
Jake Talon sat at the table in the smaller conference center on Toledo, anxiously awaiting his upcoming meeting with his new CO, General Kress. This would be his final meeting before he departed on his new mission. It had been one day since he had met with the high brass of the Order. He had spent the last day relaxing and enjoying the few recreational opportunities at the base. He had visited the range several times, and had spent hours in the bar, chatting with the bartender, a friend of his, and various other Order members, from ensigns to generals. Kress had talked with him there for a few minutes, as well. They had talked lightly, but that was when Kress had set up this meeting today. Jake assumed that it would be his final briefing, but life in the Order was unpredictable at best, and it could be about anything.

At that moment, Kress walked into the room. He had hardly changed from the man that Jake had seen on the Order videos depicting Kress and the other heroes of the Nomad Incursions. Kress was fairly tall, with a mat of blond hair, and he wore his trademark jacket. He sat down across from Jake, and spoke in that smooth voice of his.

“Colonel Talon, good to see you today.”

“A pleasure, sir,” Talon replied.

“Before you leave, I want to discuss a last bit about your assignment.”

“Yes, sir.”

“I know some about that video you showed the high command yesterday. I got my hands on it a few weeks back, and I have studied and researched it extensively. I will transfer my research to your neural net before you leave.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Now, this ‘Covenant’ is a order that wants to help Sirius. It wants to bring order and control to us, replacing the chaos we have now. And these people you have tracked: Tanya Ramirez and Rob Schaefer, are trying to stop them. That is why I think, and I have Orillion’s support on this, that they should be taken out if they begin to pose much more of a threat to this ‘Covenant’.”

“Sir, this ‘Covenant’ sounds like something the Order would be trying to stop, not assist.”

“Well, Orillion and myself think that we should let this group grow so we can see which direction they are headed. In time, we may have to destroy them.”

Jake did not agree with this at all. If this group was allowed to grow and prosper the way Kress was describing, the Order would not be able to stop it once it’s goals were clear. But he would play along for now.

“Yes, sir,” he replied.

“So do we understand each other? You are not to disrupt the actions of the Covenant in any way, and be ready to kill Ramirez and Schaefer at any point.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Excellent, I am glad we understand each other. You are dismissed.”

Jake stood up, and walked out of the room, barely able to contain his intense dislike of General Kress.

*******************************************

Jake made a beeline for the mechanic’s hanger, where the excellent Order head mechanic was working on his fighter. The mechanic, “Pop” Williams, was a great man, and an even better mechanic. Jake had to admit that he was anxious to see what new goodies had been added to his ship for the new mission.

When he arrived, he saw Pop over by his ship. The ship looked better than it had in ages, with a new paint job and a good cleaning. Jake walked over to Pop, who was busy working on a side panel. Pop whirled when he detected Jake behind him, and relaxed when he saw that it was Jake.

Pop was a tough old man, who used to be an engineer for the Liberty Navy back before the Nomad Incursions. When the Nomads overran Liberty, he had left his job and gone to the Order. Once in the Order, he had been one of the chief designers of the Anubis fighter, and he had custom built this fighter for Jake when he made Colonel.

“Ah, Jake,” Pop said. “How good to see you. The ship is just about ready for you, just putting the thing back together so you can fly it again.” He laughed. “Anyway, I suppose you’re wondering what I’ve changed. Well, the biggest thing is that I’ve given you new weapons, the Death’s Hands Mark VI’s, which are superior to the last version because they are more powerful. Also, I upgraded your shield, and gave you a better thruster. Plus, I upped the power of your scanner, and upgraded your computer systems, so you can hack better on the go. Lastly, I added a little launcher back here,” he gestured to the Defender’s tail. “There is a hidden launcher back there, with my newest invention, the disrupter mine. The disrupter mine can be launched at a trailing ship, and it gives off a huge ion pulse that disrupts the systems of any ship within five hundred meters of its detonation. Now, the amazing thing about this is that it also disrupts the systems that guide a ship through a jump and keep it steady. So, if a ship was chasing you though a jump gate or hole, you could drop one of these babies behind you and…”

“They fall right out of the jump tunnel into unknown space with no systems. You’re getting more cruel every day, Pop, but more ingenious at the same time.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment. So, are you gonna go or what?”

“Yeah, I am. Pop, you’re the best.”

“Tell me something I don’t know,” he replied in a sarcastic tone. “Good luck to ‘ya!”

Jake climbed into the cockpit and soared skyward, above the icy frost and snow of Toledo, hoping he would be able to find Rob and Tanya again without too much trouble. He decided to head back to Liberty. He could check up with his friends in the LSF there, and see if he could pick up any leads as to the whereabouts of Rob and his beautiful sidekick.

Summary: Jake gets final briefing from Kress. He leaves Toledo in search of Rob and company, but not before visiting his mechanic to get some upgrades.

Edited by - ww2jacob on 9/21/2005 8:47:54 PM

Hahukum Konn woke up to an odd feeling: he was in bed with another man. As wakefulness slowly returned, his perceptions widened and he registered that he was snuggled quite comfortably against Nikolai. Holy… Konn’s eyes snapped wide open, and he shivered as the implications of being naked in bed with Nikolai went through his mind.

Did we…? went through Konn’s mind, to be answered with the faint taste of whiskey on his tongue. Oh wow, oh sh*t. We did

Konn’s morning mental fuzziness snapped into focus, and he hastily unraveled himself from Nikolai’s arms. He headed to the bathroom and turned on the shower. As the water cascaded down, Konn’s mind began flashing back to the dreamlike events of the night before. Jeez, we just let go and did everything. What the blazes am I doing ?!

Konn shook as he remembered, with sudden clarity, the intenseness of the previous night. He remembered Nikolai doing things with him that he hadn’t done in years, and yet for all the sudden uncertainty and astonishment at his own lack of caution, Hahukum had to admit…. Nikolai was good . Very good. He smirked to himself as he decided letting loose once in a while wouldn’t kill him, as long as he didn’t do it too often.

But there were still more questions and not a lot of answers. What did it mean? Why? What now? And, most importantly, Konn thought, how should I act around him?

The rest of the morning ritual was completed quickly. Konn wrapped a towel around himself, stepped out into the hotel room, snagged some clothes, then whipped back into the bathroom so he could finish dressing and make sure he looked okay in the mirror. That done, he stepped back out and noticed Nikolai was still sleeping.

Now, wake him up or let him sleep? They might have to get an early start, so he decided to wake Nikolai up. He hesitated, then grasped the other man’s shoulder. The feeling of warm flesh was slightly off-putting, but he ignored that as Nikolai’s eyes fluttered open. “Dressed already? Are you running out on me?” Nikolai’s eyes twinkled, and he smirked, disarmingly.

“No, I’m not. But we may need to get an early start, and… um, we need to talk. But after your shower.”

Nikolai got out of bed, and without a word, entered the bathroom. Konn turned on the holovision, but barely heard a word in ten as he kept getting wrapped up in what to say and how to say it.

After a length of time that could have been five minutes or thirty, Nikolai stepped out of the shower. He got dressed, killed the holovision, and sat on the bed next to Konn.

“All right, out with it. It’s about last night, isn’t it?”

“Yes. Look, I normally don’t rush into things like this. It’s still a bit odd to have been so… intimate with you so quickly.”

Nikolai sat up and said, “Aw, sh*t, is this the ‘let’s be friends now’ talk? F*ck that. This isn’t fair.”

Oh, crud. His stomach clenched.

“No! I… didn’t mean it that way.” He gently put his hand on Nikolai’s chest and pressed slightly. The latter lay back on the bed, relaxing.

“I like you, I don’t know why, but I do. This is just unusual for me, and I’m trying to explain that I’m not sure what I should do or say or… even feel. When I was with Derek, it took some time – a year, I think – before we even had a room to ourselves. So we got to know each other well in other ways first, before we got intimate. Here, I’m almost going the other way ‘round. You see?”

Nikolai seemed somewhat mollified, but still a bit upset. “So, what do you want me to say? ‘I’m sorry, dear Konn, we shouldn’t have gone to bed with each other last night’? As I recall you enjoyed it as much as I did.” He sighed. “This feels a bit too much like you want me to dance to your tune.”

Hahukum sighed in his turn, and rubbed his forehead. How can something so simple get so complicated? He knew he was attracted to the devil-may-care aspect of Nikolai’s personality, but along with that went things he hadn’t been completely prepared for.

“Look, I liked it – a lot – last night. I’m not ashamed of that. But… can I just have some time to sort all this out in my mind? Our personalities are very different. I hold back, you go forward. I inspect and analyze, you go and act. At different times how one of us handles a situation has worked out well for that situation, like when we got the drop on that Junker in Omega-5; that was all you.” Konn grinned. “It was all me when I managed to negotiate with the real Junker at Rochester.”

Nikolai just smirked and said, “Fine, you take your time and figure yourself out. Yeah, I like you too, but don’t think that means you can start flaking out on me; I’ll cut my losses and take a freighter back to Rheinland if I have to.” He ruffled Konn’s hair, and then stood up.

Konn stood up, and still nervous, tripped and fell against the bedside table, and would have hit the floor but for Nikolai’s strong hands holding him up. The two looked into each others’ eyes for a long moment, only to have the connection broken when the videophone beeped.

They walked to the videophone, and Hahukum hit the receive button. “Hello?”

“Hey, Konn. It’s Rob. Meet us in the L.A. bar.”

-----

Summary: The morning after. Konn angst put on hold as the group meets.

OOC: Codename or anyone, let me know if it's supposed to be someone else paging the duo.

Edited by - Hahukum Konn on 9/25/2005 6:17:04 PM

Removed pending an updated

Edited by - athena on 9/26/2005 6:13:28 AM

ooc: well, sorry about the long wait, i guess that is what a full-time job and going to school does to you. hope this fits in.

IC:
The beak of the Liberty Battleship seemed poised to peck at any unwanted visitors as the small Startracker angled in on an approach vector.

'Battleship Rio Grande, this is Startracker J-01-26, requesting permission to dock.'

'Startracker J-01-26, we read you, you are free to dock in hanger one, landing pad 12.'

'Roger that Grande.'

The Startracker glided smoothly to her designated berth inside the Battleship. As the pilot shut down the systems of the ship as the landing pad lowered into the floor into a storage pad; and waiting for the ship and pilot was a detachment of five LSF soldiers and one officer.

Smiling, the pilot leapt out of the ship and approached the gang of men. “Wow! A party just for me! You're so nice to me, you know that, right Linus?”

The confused look on the soldiers’ faces made both the pilot and officer burst into laughter.

“Mac, its been a long time since I've seen you. But what are you doing in that?” he said indicating the ship behind them as they walked towards each other to embrace. 'We read your ship as a Xenos ship'

Still laughing as he pulled away from the hug “Don't you remember were I was last posted?” Mackenzie continued after seeing the confused look on Linus' face. “I was deep covert ops in with the Xenos, and what would have been the point trying to act as one of them if you seemed better then them, so I was outfitted as one of them.” Mackenzie explained.

By this point the soldiers had left them, and they had reached an elevator that would take them to the bridge. During the ride up, they discussed about the military build up on the borders of Liberty, including Colorado.

During the ride, Mackenzie's neural net buzzed, telling someone was trying to get into contact with him 'One moment Linus, Mackenzie here'

“Mackenzie, its Edwards. I see that you are in Colorado, and I will be in system momentarily. Where can I meet you?” The voice of Jake Edwards hissed over his neural net.

“Hey Jake, I am on the Rio Grande right now, I will meet you in the hanger bay.”

“See you in ten.”

Mackenzie turned to Linus “Linus, I will be getting off at the next stop, I need to meet someone in the hanger bay, tell John that a Liberty Defender will be approaching soon, let it dock as quickly as possible. I think that something’s up.” Linus nodded and continued up to the bridge, while Mackenzie caught a lift to the docking bay.

Rob listened to the message, replayed it, then chuckled to himself aloud. Tanya, currently flying the ship to allow Rob some rest and relaxation time looked up from her routine scan and glanced at Rob's reflection in the canopy window.

"Something amusing? It can't be the nav-map. Bering system is hardly the most exciting place I've seen in Sirius. Rocks, rocks and more rocks," she sighed. A few more klicks to the trade lane and they could slingshot their Sabre the length of the system, Tanya couldn't wait.

The freelancer shook his head, smirking.

"Just finally got around to checking my Neural Net. Seems like Konn has been busy while we were treasure-hunting," he began. Konn had placed a little too much emphasis on the word debriefed . He never was any good at hiding his emotions. "Here, I'll play it over the comms," Rob said pushing a button on a console nearby. Konn's dulcet, Bretonian accent echoed throughout the cockpit.

"Hello, Rob, it's me, your erstwhile trader-slash-raider. I've debriefed Nikolai and the full session will be appended to this as a data burst. You can listen to it at your leisure, but the salient points are that he was captured by Mason's goons pretending to be Rheinland Police, and then turned over to the Outcasts. He spent some time on Malta, and then was hauled off to that base we rescued him from. The guards there mentioned a man named Juan, who is probably a big wheel in the Outcasts. Put all this together and it looks like the Outcasts had some ideas of their own independent of Mason.

"Other breaking news: I've met the BAF man Commodore Pearce sent me. Solid fellow named Major Nick Warren. Has a crew he can bring with him. We'll be checking out strange goings-on in Omega-5. Seems someone who was actually there found both the Red Hessian and the Corsair bases completely destroyed. This ends the transmission, and remember, the debriefing is attached. It's audio only."

Rob pushed a button and a soft beep sounded in response, he blew wind through his lips incredulously.

"Both pirate bases in Omega-5 destroyed? That's a lot of firepower, 'eh?" he mused.

Tanya didn't respond, instead she seemed to be staring straight ahead lost in thought.

"Juan," she whispered.


***


"Juan," she whispered again.

He could feel the touch of his hands on her neck and her body arched, allowing her long, raven dark tresses to fall behind onto the pillow. The woman shivered once and her mouth opened slightly as a wealth of emotion and pleasure swamped her senses as one. A man moved above her, pushing, pulsing, his lips descended meeting her own and she responded fiercely, kissing him with a fervour.

Her hands fell to the crumpled sheets beneath her and gripped them tightly, balling her fists as their mounting passion accelerated. There was nothing but Juan, his whole body possessed her and his eyes had now closed, his expression one of near-agony.

The pressure became too much and together they screamed, the woman felt the universe implode and the man released his soul inside her. After a prolonged moment he fell to her heaving chest and her mind reeled.

They lay there for a while and she stroked his hair gently, a thousand and one thoughts racing through her mind. Juan held her gaze, kissed her tenderly then rose from his prone position onto his right elbow. She felt an instant emptiness but this was replaced by a gentle throbbing sensation. Feeling the cold she pulled the sheets close and rolled into his embrace, enjoying the contact that made her eyes close involuntarily and smiled. In response, he reached around to pull her close and felt their heartbeats slow from their recent vigour.


***


Rob shook his head as Tanya fell silent, staring straight ahead out of the cockpit canopy. The trade lane gates blurred past with the all too familiar whoomp sound and Rob turned his attention to his communications unit that was now emitting a series of soft beeps indicating an incoming call, pulling the helmet mic across his mouth.

Konn turned to the intercom, dialing in a comm code. "Rob? Are you there?"

"Konn! Hey! How are you? How's the drunk?"

Konn shot a glance over his shoulder at the Rhinelander and his whisky. "Nikolai's turning out fine. A bit of an interesting character, but he's quite a good fighter. I've got some news for you," added the trader with a slight hesitation.

Konn quickly relayed the story of their trek to Omega-5, the corpses suspended in space there, floating among the debris, and the sojourn to retrieve the remains of the battle from the Junkers.

"What bothers me is the Outcast involvement in this. They're on good terms with the Junkers. Why would they hijack a base?" Rob's voice sounded concern.

"Perhaps we could assume they're behind the attack?"

"A bit early, but maybe…Any results on those weapons you found?"

"Nothing we've seen. The black box was analyzed, though…from what we can decipher, it seems that Juan was involved. And there's tensions brewing between him and Mason."

There was silence for a moment. Konn spoke up again: "So, success in the mystery system? What happened?"

"What? Oh, the usual…breaking into ancient temples, attacked by stone behemoths and wild apemen alike, captured by mutant secret societies…"

Konn was astounded. "What in the name of Sirius were you DOING?"

"Hang on," said Rob. "We've got 4 hostiles inbound!" Konn heard over the intercom. "Sh*t! Konn, before I go: there's an organization operating Sirius, I think against Mason, called the Ta'Gue'Led—formed of nomad-possessed humans. They told us to watch out for one of their agents operating in Sirius, named Gabriel. Look out for him. And head to Los Angeles, we'll meet you there. Take care." Rob's voice died as the intercom shut off.


***


"You're purring, Tanya" the man said, a thick Hispanic accent making the 'r' sound draw out. She responded with a low, feline snarl and he laughed. "My lioness," he said now stroking her hair.

She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, Juan possessed a wonderful, musky, strong smell. She also could smell cooking. Onions. Tanya chuckled.

"Why do you laugh?" he asked with a frown.

"I think your mother is cooking, Juan. I can smell it."

Juan paused for a moment and sniffed. He grinned.

"Yes, chimichanga perhaps. We should get dressed before we are missed," he added and rose as he spoke, eyes sparkling.

Tanya pouted and rolled over, her back feeling an instant draught.

"Don't want to stay a while?" she said, her eyes glinted mischieveously. Tanya sat up a little, letting the sheet fall to her toned, smooth midriff. Juan could hardly take his eyes from her, but blinked and shook his head free of her visage.

"No, my dear. There is business today. Important business," he replied and moved away to the chair where they had carelessly thrown their clothes. Tanya marvelled at his physique, it was strong, athletic, the ridged muscle of his stomach sat below a wide chest covered with a gentle down of hair. Tanya wanted to run her hands through it.

"Always business," she replied annoyed. "Am I merely an object?" she demanded rolling over to face away from him when he didn't reply immediately. The view of Malta's largest mountain range never failed to impress her, and Juan's bedroom faced it.

Juan sighed but finished getting dressed, allowing the silence to become quite pregnant. Tanya grew even more annoyed but promised to herself she'd rather cut her own throat than speak first.

"Of course you are not an object. I love you. You are my woman. Nothing can get in-between us," he said softly, walking around the bed to kneel by her side of the bed. He dropped low until his face was at her level. She glanced at him and her mouth pursed into a line; Juan was almost unrecognisable. He now wore a dark-grey uniform, two guns were belted at his waist and large dagger was sheathed along one of his boots. Juan pulled a small-tube from behind his head and placing his lips over it took a breath, repeating the action several times inhaling deeply. Tanya knew Juan was an important man, a key figure amongst his people, the Outcasts. Juan was the eldest son of a dynasty of Dons that stretched far back in time, to when the Hispania was struck by a meteor and veered off course. The colony ship eventually found itself in Sirius, its intended destination, but missed the exact point of colonisation and settled itself in Omicron space.

The resultant spread of life began with the immediate displacement of personnel to the nearest habitable planet, Malta. Although the atmosphere and conditions were suitable for life, the very air and essence of Malta functioned in similar fashion to a drug, an addiction that gave increased fortitude, co-ordination and strength, but required constant injection into the bloodstream. Outcasts that lived without the drug, or Cardamine, died slowly. In a great deal of agony.

Forced to rely on Cardamine to exist, the people of the Hispania were forced to exclude themselves from the rest of Sirius until a more efficient, portable means of carrying Cardamine became available. Eking out an existence in the harshest of Sirius space made the Outcasts one of the most formidable cultures in the galaxy. Their levels of technology from ships to weapons and eco-systems were more advanced than many of the other House systems, though they didn't know it yet.

The four Houses, now encountering a race of people more powerful than they were perhaps collectively reacted violently, proclaiming the Outcasts a race of pirates to be killed on sight.

Met with this hostile reception, the Outcasts became even more insular, building their strength and eventually striking out in force, claiming strategic points in Sirius for their own.

Juan was next in line to rule his family and Tanya, having spent many months with the Outcasts had learnt a great deal. She knew they hated the Corsairs. She knew they wanted more than just to live on the fringes of Sirius space. She knew they had planned something that would alter the balance of power in the galaxy. She didn't know why the mysterious benefactor of her group wanted Juan's people specifically dead, but the assassin's leader had made it very clear who the target was.

Unfortunately, her position as a freelance researcher from Bretonia allowed her to become too close to her intended target Juan. And like it or not, she was getting emotionally involved.

She looked up at Juan, staring at his eyes until tears formed in her own, a tear rolled down her cheek and she closed her eyes not wanting to look upon the man she would have to kill in a few hours time.

"Tanya? What's wrong?" he asked. His voice seemed different. "Are you alright?"


***

"Juan?" she asked distracted.

"Hey! Forget Juan," yelled Rob across the comms. "We have four hostile ships incoming!"

Tanya blinked a few times, then a loud alert broke into her thoughts proper. She flicked a switch on her HUD and saw four, angry looking red blips moving closer at intercept speed.

"Xenos. Pests," she hissed in reply and her eyes narrowed.

Tanya dropped their ship out of the trade lane even before the enemy cruise disruptors had reached them and activated the thrusters. Both Rob and Tanya's backs were held fast in their seats as the Sabre shot forwards in a slight counter-clockwise spin and Tanya showed her teeth as she depressed the forward guns trigger on her control stick. Four of the six hardpoints and single turret mounted above and behind them all opened fire simultaenously and Rob marvelled at Tanya's accuracy. The first Xeno flew straight into a barrage of powerful tachyon bolts and shield disruptors and exploded in a ball of flame and metal. The ships behind took evasive action to avoid the blast and unfortunately for one, angled straight into another pulse of gunfire followed up by a large missile.

The two remaining ships being more manoevourable were able to fly in a tighter arc and after a few seconds of chasing Tanya realised she'd be hard pressed to get a bearing on them. Rob took control of the top turret and fired shot after shot straight into one of the fighters that had now appeared behind their Sabre. With great accuracy he disrupted the enemy pilot's shields, shot out a missile just as it launched causing it to flare just in front of his target. He launched two mines, then nodded in satisfaction as the semi-blinded pilot flew straight into them without shields and rewarded with a satisfying ball of fire. His screams overheard via the comms were cut short abruptly.

With one fighter left, Tanya slammed on the reverse thrusters, spun the Sabre around within seconds and unloaded another deadly barrage of gunfire and missiles. The last fighter exploded causing fragments of chassis and metal to thump into the shields of their ship and Rob relaxed once he'd checked the radar again.

Tanya calmly targeted the nearest trade lane gate and set the Sabre to auto-dock.

"Freeport Two is just there," Rob pointed at a point in the distance that would soon become a huge mass. "What the hell was that?" he demanded. "Were you ever going to engage them? Or merely wait until our tail had been shot off?" Rob said angrily.

Tanya looked up and behind, smiling weakly.

"Sorry, lost myself a bit there," she said at last. Rob held her gaze, then sighed and shrugged his shoulders.

"If I want to ram my way through a pirate fighter group, I'll ask Travis for instructions next time," he growled, still angry. Their Sabre disengaged from the last trade lane gate and Rob set a course for the huge space station ahead a few kilometres away. "Freeport Two! This is freelancer-beta-dash-four, over. Request permission to dock."

A pause. A female voice crackled back.

"Granted freelancer-beta-dash-four. Permission granted. We have you on our scanners. Dock four is ready and available.

"Noted. Out!" said Rob sharply. "Mind if I take us in?" he said already pulling on the controls.

Tanya sighed.

The Sabre lurched left and moved to engage the auto-dock.

Moments later, the dark ship was swallowed up by the hangar bay doors.


***


OOC: I would have finished this sooner but I was extra careful not to have anymore continuity errors. Thanks Code for picking those up

Edited by - athena on 9/29/2005 6:32:40 AM

OOC: No problem. It's much better now, if I may say so.

Now, any chance I could get you to answer the question or two I asked?

...Nevermind. Got the e-mail.

Edited by - Codename on 9/29/2005 6:51:19 AM