by: Scott Lee
(Posted on 06-24-2000)
Before I start, I would just like to mention a few things about this new book that I am starting to write. This is a sequel to my previous 12 chapter unofficial book called A Hidden Legacy. All twelve chapters have already been posted here.
If you read the first book, then you would know that Jade was killed in Chapter 12. It would be a lot more enjoyable if you are to read the entire first book first. Enjoy!
Chapter 1-Going In Hot
The ship flashed the blinding light and with that, I felt the captain's chair pull me. Either that or the force pushed me. It didn't matter. Anger filled me now. Rage beyond anything I had ever felt before. I had scanned everything before. The entire system was emtpy of escape pods. Nothing was there. Not even a trace of the blown up ship which had been hit by a rocket. He was my best and most true friend. He was the first one I could ever count on. His name was Jade Reib and he was dead. He had died only 3 days ago, which to me really only seemed like 20 minutes because of the intense battle that happend as well the time bending way of hyperspace. I had been let in on his secret, and now I had to feel great remorse which jerked me into the greatest enemy that I would ever face. The bitter weapon of anger and rage. It was time for my rightful revenge. Voinia would die by my most ulitmate vow ever.
My name was Doc Mason. I had witnessed my friend's death, and now I was going to destroy everything that came upon me. It was my word, and my promise to God. I was going to show that the dreaded Voinians were no match for the technology, intelligence, and force of Docmother, and the Karticel race. Docmother was an empire which I owned. It was put into three systems, which belong to both the Karticel and my empire. As I have said before in my life, no one but I knew how I felt. It was the unspoken way of the universe which made mankind, and the other races what they were. It made the way the Miranu, the United Earth, the Azdgari, the Zidagar, and everyone else the way they felt, the way they acted, and their goals. It was the holy force that held the galaxy together. I knew it was out there, and I didn't really want to "touch" it or anything like that. I just wanted God to help me get through this. It was war. It was battle. It was death. It was the coming of cries in pain. It was the coming of a settlement. The war had to end eventually.
I looked to my communications expert sitting at the console. His name was Jake. A person with a personality that made me laugh, and also made me curious at times. We were floating on Voinia's outer rim with the rest of the attack fleet. Jake turned his chair and looked at me, not smiling, yet wearing an agressive, yet worried face all at the same time.
"What are your orders, captain?" Jake asked, still having the same facial expression as before.
"Hold here. The UE Cruisers are going to enter and wipe out the front line, remember?"
"Of course, Doc. However, we do have other matters to attend to."
"Like what?"
"Like those fighters heading toward us about 12 kilometers away."
"They are handling it. Just hold here."
It was here that my foreign friend named Kino who was an Azdgari, and wanted something different in his life, turned to me. Several of the Carriers and Destroyers were firing at the fighters. All of my bridge crew was staring at me. Kino was able to operate the helm and weapons. He then got angry.
"Is something wrong, sir?" Kino asked, with a very aggressive voice. He was most definitately an Azdgari. Azdgari were known for being angry with people who were unreasonable. Like me at this moment. Except, I was not considering myself to be unreasonable. I needed a few minutes of thinking time, and this was my chance. I had to think of a way to avoid the thoughts of Jade for the moment and make sure I could concentrate.
Jake's chair swivled around wildy to face the console. He looked at it, with a smile. Kino and I looked at him, and he looked to me.
"The Cruisers have arrived," Jake said.
For once after the death of Jade, I smiled. I suddenly felt a slight nudge of reassurance. Excellent. The few moments of thinking actually paid off. I felt like I was going to win. My head was down. I looked up at Jake, and smiled again.
"Let the fun begin," I said. One of my eyebrows was cocked and I was now looking to Kino, getting ready to give the order for Flak torpedos. I think Kino knew what I was wanting to do, because he smiled as well.
Flak torpedos were something that came exclusively from the Karticel race. The Karticel race was a new discovered species which had been located far into the east of space. It is only three systems big, and is integrated with the Docmother empire. What the Flak torpedos did was something very vicious. Upon hitting a ship's shield or hull, it makes an explosion which releases several small mini-bombs which spread out. Then when they are touched by fire, they explode, and release more mini-bombs. It repeats the process and finally creates about three waves of explosions which can devastate several ships around the area of the target, as well as devastate the target.
This was it. The one moment where I knew that everything was going to be fine. It was my moment of victory over anger and hate. The UE Cruisers pulled away, and the rest of the fleet, started to move in. I looked at the viewscreen, then back to Kino.
"Fire," the words seaped out, and the bluish torpedos set to the path torward the damaged second fleet. Fighters roared into action before the warships, for they were much faster. Entire Voinian Cruisers blew up at the bitter hand of the powerful fleet. Revenge was there. It would end the war. It would bring the dreaded Voinians to defeat. . .
Chapter 2-The Theory
After returning to Earth, I found several Miranu trade ships going in and out of the system. I had wondered now, why the Miranu were willing to help the UE in the battle. They had given up one third of their Zachit forces just to help us fight. It was strange, what they did, they actually were able to give us a dazzling upper hand. I pulled out my pocket sized news terminal and flipped it open. The headlines were displayed and I selected a Miranu video that had one of the Miranu high council speaking about the Voinians.
"We were only willing to help the UE in that battle because we expected that to end the war. Our concern is, the less war, the less danger of death. The galaxy is a dangerous place. Not for us, not for the United Earth, maybe not even for a few other people. However there are those who choose to venture into the deep. Making the galaxy a safer place is something that can make it all the more encouragable. The Voinians are so beaten down from that particular battle, that they have refused to ally or declare war with us, or any race. The Voinian's determination for being independent is believed to be their undoing. . ."
The high council chairman continued talking for a long time. I was actually interested. However, suddenly my stomach jumped when I heard a very familiar voice. Not Jade, however, I wouldn't be surprised if it had been him.
"Hello, there, captain," Captain Henkins was staring straight at me. I closed down my news device, and put it back into my pocket. I looked at him. In my memory, I had remembered that I had gotten my name changed at a very early age. I can still barely remember that my last name was Henkins. Now, it was Doc Mason.
"Are you aware that you could be my father?" I asked.
"I already know I am. That's partially what I came here to tell you, but I also came to tell you that Greg Hunter, an expert detective has discovered something about Jade Reib's death."
Beside the awe of him knowing that he was my father, I was also stunned with two things at a time. I had no idea what the detective he was referring to had figured out, but I wanted to know about Jade and Captain Henkins at the same time. Still, I had to admit, Jade was actually to me, more important to know about.
I walked into a room that had a projector. I saw a man sitting in a chair. It was dark, besides the projector, so I couldn't see him that well. I looked at the projection screen. Jade's picture was displayed. Jade was blond, with blue eyes, and in this picture was wearing dark blue uniform.
"Have a seat," the man said, staring at the picture of Jade.
I walked over to a long table, and sat down. I looked at the man closer. He had a haircut that was faded, being light at the bottom and getting heavier at the top. Much like mine.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"I am Greg Hunter. United Earth Forces detective for inter-galactic mysteries."
"What do you have to show me, Mr. Hunter?"
The man's voice was with a strange accent. He flipped to another picture. This time it was Jade's ship right before it was blown up by a Voinian rocket. I looked back to the man. Still, he did not reply.
"His ship was a heavily modified TF-22. It had several outfits which made up the ship's unique capabilities. However this was not a normal TF-22. It had an escape pod, which was never picked up by sensors. Although, my theory is that he ejected in time to save himself. However, the Defender A.K. that was near to Jade's ship picked up a rather unusual picture and sensor reading."
"Your point is?"
"My point is, look at this," the man stated, flipping to the next picture. This time it was the explosion of Jade's TF-22 fighter.
I hesitated. "Okay, and again, your point is?"
The man looked at me, and then back at the picture. After several seconds, he took a deep breath.
"Look at the bottom right corner."
I squinted, struggling to capture whatever he was trying to show me. Then I saw a piece of fire going out of the picture. I rolled my eyes, and looked at the man.
"I'm losing my patience," I said, irritated.
The man looked extremely confident. He made a face and turned to a computer console. He made the picture a greenish shade as if I was seeing night vision. The man got up out of the chair and walked slowly to the screen, then he pointed to the bottom right corner again.
I looked, and did not see it at first. However, only at first, I finally got up and walked over to the picture. Then it happend. I saw everything, the grayish ball, the black cockpit, the engine, every single detail was right there in front of me. It was an escape pod. Jade's escape pod. I felt my heart race, and my face turn a crimson red. I looked to the man standing next to me. He gave me a look that practically told me that Jade was doing something all too unreadable.
Jade Reib was alive. The only question now was, where was he and why was he hiding? It was another mind killing question that was going to keep me thinking for a very, very long time. . .
Chapter 3-Mysteries Unfolding
As I awoke in my quarters aboard my Defender A.K. I looked over to my clock. 4:00 A.M. Earth time. Obviously there was something in the back of my mind stabbing me like a boot knife, forcing me in a jerking way to wake up and realize something. Something was waiting for me. I did not know what, but some kind of realization was awaiting in the darkness. I glanced around at the dim room. The door had a small console to the right of it, with a glowing green activator button. The closet was the same way, only it had two doors, ones that hissed when opened and to opposite sides. Finally, I looked to my desk lamp. It was off, it's switch turned to off. My window, now looking through it, the stars, I saw, were now piercing, but with unusual soothing brightness that calmed my nerves to the last cell. My blood was warm, and my heart was still restless. My soul was torn at the fact that Jade was still alive. He was a true, and best friend that could not be replaced.
He was out there somewhere, hiding. Hiding in the white, glimmering stars, of the galaxy. Apparently, Jade was sussing his fear the way he always had. Instead of being afraid to the point where he was too afraid to due anything about the situation, he was actually only pushing himself to a more cautious point. I had already known that he was not hiding in one place, and that he was probably on the outskirts of the North Tip Asteroid Field, or the deepest parts of the Proxima Nebula. Or the last possible location would be one of the Karticel systems, that was away out of view, and he was living underground with his alien friends.
The Karticel were defininatly a race capable of hiding. They had developed special scanning technology, that was developed from everything beginning with the Crescent, to the Igadzra, to the Miranu. Everything had been brought together into a multi-species civilation known as Docmother. Named after me, it was my gift. We were sincere friends. He had lived with me when I had the emmotional state of a underly mature teenager, and a yearning for excitement in the universe.
And so, I got up, finally out of my comfortable pillow-top bed and walked to the door. Pressing the green, glowing activation button, the door opened with a quick flash, going up into the upper part of the ship, making a hissing, and releasing a small amount of steam. I walked into the hall, now more suspicious than I had ever been in my life, waiting for the moment of that destined realization to kick in. However, in my life, if there was one thing I had ever learned was that the more you keep trying to do something you are hopelessly determined about, the more it slips through your fingers. So I managed to keep my cool, as I walked onto the bridge of my Defender A.K. which was now called: The Surmount. Jake looked at me as I walked in. He was barely awake. I smiled. Jake was, and always had been my communications expert. His eyes opened more, as I sat down in the chair.
"So what's the scoop, Doc?" Jake asked with a yawn.
I finally let my tension go, relaxing a little bit. I looked at him, my eyes just as faint as his. I made a look on my face, and then shrugged.
"You don't know, huh? Jake mumbled. "If you ask me, I'm goin' to play some games in the holo-deck. That okay?"
"Sure," I said. "I'll keep watch of things over here. Keep in mind, we're going to launch in about 3 hours. Be back up here in about an hour at the max. I need to inform the detective of our departure, and for our search of Jade Reib."
Suddenly his eyes turned into circles. "Jade Reib? A search?"
"He's alive."
Unexpectedly, I saw Jake shrug, probably being much too tired to even care about what I had said. Yet he knew that it meant something to me, and so he mostly respected that. Which was good. I liked it that way. In fact, sometimes I joked about his paycheck whenever he mocked me, or teased me. Although it was always with affection, I knew that it had to be something that was sometimes not wanted, even by Kino, and the other members of the crew.
I was again thinking about Jade. He was a person of strange proportions. I can still remember the time he first came to me in a Luna bar. It was something that was completly unheard of for me at that point in my life. My mind then had a flashback.
=============================================
"Can I sit here?" I heard a voice come from the other side of the table.
"Sure," I said, but not in too friendly of a voice. Yet not a harsh one either. He sat down, and opened a bag of varied snacks from the replicator. I continued to look back at the news.
"So, you read the news eh?" he said, his mouth half full. I put the news device back into my pocket, and finally looked at him. He was wearing a shirt that had a Miranu frieghter on it. His hair was blond, and he was around 20 years old.
"Yes," I finally said,"you?"
"No, nothing interesting ever."
"I hear ya."
"What's your name?"
The conversation was turning into an indeed friendly one. Although I didn't trust him, and he was not a friend just yet.
"Doc," I said.
"Mine's Jade Reib."
Suddenly my eyes turned into circles.
"Jade Reib? As in a relative to Elizabeth Reib?"
"Yes, I'm her unknown son, I suppose that's what you could say."
I paused. Unknown son?
"How can you be her--quote--unknown son? Giving birth isn't just the kind of thing you miss, you know."
==============================================
He was a biological human being made from Elizabeth Reib's dead skin. It was a lab's greatest achievement. Jade escaped them from making him do work as a slave. A marvelous character, he was a person who intrigued me to press on with my life, and that there was hope for not only excitement, but wisdom, and the thoughts that truly made life worthwhile in the universe. Destiny, instinct, the bouncing poetry. It was my fulfilled dream. Perhaps our meeting was even from God himself. He and I were true friends, now; I imagined us almost like brothers.
Suddenly, I heard a beeping tone which had a high pitch. It was Jake's communication console. I walked over to it, and pressed a red blinking button. The sounds were followed by a hallow static, that was cleared after minor seconds. A voice popped up.
"Surmount, this is Detective Greg Hunter," he started. Immediately, I replied.
"Hello."
"Doc? Where is your communication's position?"
"Enjoying an arcade game," I said with a grin. Not very professional, I thought, or disiplined.
"Well, whatever, that's fine. Listen, I thought I'd call up to tell you about something. Rumors have spread over the past several days that he might even be as close as the Saalia system. If he is, then my theory is that he is preparing to leave for the Miranu. If he is, we don't have much time, would you like to search for him yourself? Or should I? I have an Arada with enhanced fuel capabilites. I could catch up to him if he's in something like a Freighter or a scoutship."
Somehow his words had not convinced me. Something told me that Jade always had an ace up his sleeve. I quickly thought, for I had wanted to search for him myself, but I knew an Arada was faster in hyperspace. Therefore, it was simple, I had chosen my decision.
"Detective, I'm going with you."
(This message has been edited by moderator (edited 06-24-2000).)
Peace out!