(Posted on 02-13-2001)
This was a story we started on the webboard, which eventually became quite good. Here are the credits:
Concept and Compilation by Roostersw
Moderated by Roostersw and Miranu
Written by Roostersw, Bubaganoosh, Oasamostexianu, Captian Carnotaur, and Daedalus.
The chapters are pretty long, one spans about one page in our thread. The full story will soon be up, a total of 10 chapters this size. It's a story about rising nations and conflicted interests.
CHAPTER ONE
New Beginnings
Pax station was quiet, Rooster stood alone on the observation deck staring down at the plasma in the stations power core. There were other ships in the distance, but all was quiet on the station. He was in deep thought upon what direction his life would go now. In the many years after the Battle of Sol, the Azdgari had become a province of the Igadzra and the Voinians had receded from the fronts.
Meanwhile, a renegade pilot known as Buba Ganoosh was relaxing on the beautiful planet of Ursla. He watched the cute little Fuzzes tumble through the plains of the planet and decided what he should do next. He had recently retired as a smuggler as the dangers increasingly grew as more and more bounties had been placed upon his head. He was still hated by many major governments in the quadrant and often had to flee for his life. Seeing a Zidara swoop down into Ursla's atmosphere, he quickly reacted, remembering he had recently stolen precious metals from one of their worlds. Rushing to his ship Buba reached for his comm link to warn his crew of their immediate departure. Once again Buba would have to find another planet in which to relax and plan his next move.
The serenity on Pax was soon broken as the Bloated Penguin, the flagship of Oasa Texianu's fleet, hypered in and promptly opened fire on Pax's shield generators. Six warship escorts jumped in shortly afterwards, their turrets already trained on hapless Pax. The station shook violently under the force of 21 phase turrets pounding away on the station's heavily shielded hull.
Rooster is brought out of thought by the attack and runs for his ship. He flies blindly through the corridors, mindless of the large stations possible internal dangers. On nearing his dock port, he sees a cloaked figure emerge from a room, and first suspects it to be an Emalghian.
Buba, safely in his ship The Rebel, an outfitted Crescent Warship, quickly jumped out of the Feviry System towards United Earth space. Buba had never seen much of the mildly ongoing war and decided to head for the battle front to see if he could be of any assistance. He quickly set his coordinates for Dogover, a famous UE/Voinian landmark.
Back on Pax, the figure emerges from the darkness and is indeed an Emalghian. He begins to speak, and his yell grows immensely louder with every word. "The long night has passed us, but it will follow with the darkness of a shadow, and destruction brighter than a thousand suns!!" He then begins to scream insanely and with a ripple of his skin, he explodes sending Rooster flying backwards down the corridor. He soon manages to crawl to his ship, but the damage to the station is too great. Breaches are imminent. As the Saratoga, a dark blue Igadzra refit, leaves the station, escape pods shoot out from it...but are blown away with the first hull breach.
Far away from all the action at Pax an Azdgari captain, known only by the name Intimidator, is working on upgrading his Azdgari warship. Intimidator wasn't any ordinary Azdgari, he was half Azdgari as well as a quarter Zidagar and Igadzra. His family used to be just strandless outcasts. During this time his mixed history was created, but then he helped save the Azdgari Viceroy. The Azdgari returned the favor by having him join their space navy. The Intimidator was at that moment working on installing some new phase turrets on his ship. He was secretly planning on, after his warship the A.E.S. Intimidator was finished being outfitted, going to the Pax system and picking up some special cargo. The cargo was three Voinian cruisers. A Voinian Admiral was selling them to him from a secret location. Intimidator was to go to Pax, and await further instructions on exactly where to pick them up in Voinian space. Intimidator already had six frigates, and was planning on using these Voinian vessels to help strengthen the Azdgari. Soon he was finished, so he hyperspaced out of Miranu space, past the badlands, through the United Earth, and into Pax.
As he entered Pax the Intimidator noticed the last bit of shielding being taken down by Oasa's fleet. A transmission came through to the beleaguered control center of the station: "Your misconceptions will be your undoing." With that, Oasa Texianu hyperspaces out, setting in a course for Earth. After the mysterious attack ends, Pax is destroyed in a brilliant white and green explosion, throwing space debris as far as Ylynn. There were but four survivors, their escape pods quickly picked up by the Intimidator.
Rooster sees the Bloated Penguin enter hyperspace and yells for his con officer to lock signatures. A crew member rushes to Buba on his ship as he stares out at the beautiful stars through the warship's small windows. "Sir, we have just received reports of the destruction of Pax Station in the Dogover system. It seems that the destroyers were none other than those of the Crescent, sir." Buba contemplated the situation, rubbing his chin and giving hums of thought. "It seems like our presence in that system would be useless. Change coordinates for Earth, maybe we can find out what happened and lend a hand. I will always remain loyal to United Earth and it's forces." As the ship begins to calculate the vector-coordinates Buba wondered what force had bestowed such an evil upon the great station of Pax.
Rooster's ship continued on until the con officer reported another large warship in the jumpstream. Rooster took the hyperspace controls and began to almost religiously sway his arms. When the ships matched points he pulled his left hand back and his right hand sharp right. The Saratoga suddenly pulled out of hyperspace and almost in a millisecond the computer on Buba's ship pulled out of hyperspace to avoid collision. Buba came within two feet away from the Saratoga's hull in a frantic effort to stop. Rooster did this as it was the only way the ship would have spoken with civilians. Rooster opened a comm channel and proposed a meeting to discuss the actual events aboard Pax.
Soon Oasa arrived in Sol, and the fleet was split apart. Three warships were sent to the system rim, three protected the Bloated Penguin, and Twenty Crescent Fighters were deployed as point guards. Luna Control sent a High Priority hail to Oasa: "State your purpose now, or face destruction." Calmly, Oasa Texianu replied, "I suppose I will choose the latter option." As he defied the entire UE government, Oasa's hand slid to a button on his command chair and he pressed it. Twenty fighters simultaneously entered Luna's gravitational well and dove at top speed for the Shipyards.
At the same time, each warship strategically stationed at the system's jump points launched ten space mines. Each warship protecting the Penguin drops mines in the airspace above Luna. The fighters crash into Luna Control, rendering it moderately damaged. Thirty destroyers, having just left the surface to destroy the rogue Oasa, were left behind as Oasa and his fleet quickly hypered out, their destination unknown by the UE.
Meanwhile, the Intimidator returned the people in the escape pods that he rescued back to the Ylynn Outpost. After that, Intimidator stopped at Ylynn Outpost and found his contact, alive but with a broken arm. The contact told him that the ships were commandeered by UE forces, and that they were right now at Earth. Intimidator groaned. He didn't want to involve himself or the Azdgari Empire in any war with the UE, even though they would win. Intimidator decided he must find someone who could help him get the Voinian cruisers out secretly. He scanned the surrounding systems and discovers two ships in a nearby jumpstream, which he identified as the Saratoga and Rebel. He set course for them, hoping they would help him. The Intimidator leapt out of hyperspace in his Azdgari warship, the A.E.S. Intimidator, and hailed Buba and Rooster.
(This message has been edited by moderator (edited 02-13-2001).)
