(Posted on 09-30-2000)
The Igazdra Chronicles
Chapter 1 - In a Galaxy Far, Far Away
As Kace Terical floated through the Mark system, he scanned the system for what must have been the twentieth time in as many minutes. As he sat in the cockpit of his Igazdra Arada, he thought back to all the time he had spent in the simulators and how many hours he had spent in classes at the Academy to make it to this point. He had started at the Academy early in his military career. There, he had shown skills in the piloting of the Igazdra's standard military vehicle, the Igazdra Arada. He had helped partially in the development of the Plasma Siphon and then the various other deceptions that the Igazdra were always involved in. His exceptional numbers at the Academy had propelled him into a highly sought after sentry post at Pimre Station. As he snapped back to attention, he looked out at the system only to see various other traders and his fellow sentry, another Igazdra Arada. Just as he was about to give up hope of anything interesting happening on his shift, his entire console lit up like a Christmas tree. He was startled and jumped before cycling through the ships in system. His screen showed that two Azdgari Aradas had jumped in system. He knew he and the other sentry could easily overpower the other aradas. As he saw his partner engage the aradas, he started up his engines and primed the SAE's. Just as he was about to fire up the engines to help out his partner, he stopped sensing a trap. It was fairly common knowledge in the military that Azdgari Aradas were never seen in groups less than 3. Breaking the radio silence that was supposed to be kept at all times, Kace hailed the other arada.
"Get out of there!" As he said this, his targeting display confirmed his fears. Out of hyperspace popped three Azdgari Warships and several Azdgari Aradas. They stopped right between Kace and his partner. He knew that he could do nothing to help out. He headed back toward the station to alert the commander. As his ship was being locked into the docking bay, he saw a large explosion in the middle of the battle and the Igazdra Arada vanished from his display.
Kace was amazed every time he traveled through Pimre Station. It was the newest station the Igazdra had, not to mention the most advanced. As Kace headed for the commander's office, he saw some personnel watching the space battle and others, probably military pilots and mercenaries, heading toward the docking bay to fight the enemy. Kace had seen various ships and one Crescent Warship in his docking bay. If they were going to fight, the Azdgari would be in some trouble. As he glanced outside, he saw traders frantically leaving the system and other igazdra attacking the two squadrons of Azdaras. He quickly moved on though and came to a door marked "Silta Meridi - Station Commander". As he entered Silta's office, he noticed several important looking officials in the middle of a meeting. Silta saw him and looked up.
"What is it?", he said.
"Sir, an Azdgari Warfleet is in system!" Silta did not look surprised at the news and said something to the men seated at the table. They all got up and left, most likely to get to their ships. As Kace started to head out with them, Silta motioned him aside.
He said, "Kace, those men were high ranking officers in the military and they came here to ask me about you."
"Me!", Kace answered in surprise.
Yes, your performance has not gone unnoticed. If fact, you have been selected for a very important task. Come with me." Silta led the way to the wall of his office. Kace watched curiously as Silta rapped on it twice then pushed. A door hidden in the wall opened up into a hallway. They pushed on down the dimly lit hall until Silta came to a door that was guarded by two strong igazdras who reminded Kace of statues. Silta opened the door into a dark room. Silta shut the door behind Kace and walked over to him.
"Kace, you are about to see the latest and greatest invention of the igazdra scientists. It will prove to the galaxy once and for all that the Igazdra are superior!" Silta walked over and flicked on the light. "Behold the Igazdra fighter and it's companion, the Track And Eliminate module!"
Before him, Kace saw the small, sleek shape of a crescent fighter with some of the traditional Igazdra orange painted in. It had no obvious changes to it except a narrow tube on the underside that looked like a launcher of some sort. Next to the fighter was a sphere that looked blacker than space itself but pulsated with a yellow glow.
"Kace, this fighter is our answer to the Azdgari. It is built to set a course for the enemy, launch the TAE module and then escape the blast radius. Let me warn you, there is enough of a blast to take out one of these fighters with a single explosion so don't hang around after you fire it. The TAE has much less maneuverability than the SAE modules do but does more damage. With these, you will be able to take out even Enhanced Azdaras and Aradas in one shot. The fighter will need to not directly engage capital ships or it will be destroyed quickly. Instead, fire the TAEs in attack runs and then escape the blast. Using these methods, two Igazdra fighters could possibly take out an Azdgari Warship with no casualties. We already have plans for a Carrier that will carry six of these fighters, an entire squadron, along with SAEs, to the battlefield. When these Carriers are coupled with the fighters, the Igazdra shall be unstoppable."
Kace looked at the fighter and the module. They certainly looked harmless enough, yet these two devices could change the future of the galaxy. "Could you equip the TAEs to a capital ship?", Kace asked.
"You could but TAEs need a mobile platform to fire from and they need to be launched as close as possible to the target, making up for their lack of maneuverability."
"How much space does each TAE launcher take?", Kace said thinking of installing some in his own arada.
"It takes up only 20 tons and the modules are 1 ton each. The catch is that since it is made for fighters, you can only hold 10 TAEs per launcher for now."
As Kace looked upon the intricate blueprints for the TAE, he was surprised that he had never heard of it. "When were these things invented?", he questioned.
"Believe it or not, it was invented right under your feet, here in Pimre Station. The reason that you didn't hear about it is because we kept it under absolute secrecy. Not a single scientist has left that section from the time they began making the TAE and they won't leave until the Igazdra Fighter is in mainstream production. You know Kace, we already have a squadron of our best fighter pilots together to fly the first fighters. We have been watching you Kace, you have repeatedly shown your skills in fighting and flying. The Igazdra military is prepared to give you the chance to command our first squadron of Igazdra Fighters, named Phoenix Squadron.
At first, Kace was overwhelmed. His goal had always been to command but he had never thought it would happen this early and with brand new fighters no less. Kace found himself lost in the possibilities when his thoughts were interrupted by Silta's voice.
"So Kace, what's your decision?"
Kace though for a minute about the chances that lay before him and then said the words that would change his life.
"Yes."
Chapter 2 - Meet the Recruits
As Kace walked up to his new Igazdra Fighter that he had named the Scourge of the Crescent. He looked at the five pilots clustered around their ships. The briefing he had been given gave him a little information on each of his pilots. The first one was Kace's wingman and also a highly recommended fighter pilot named Monrath Niilash. He was strong, even by Igazdra standards, and his cockpit had been modified to fit him. It had taken no more that a few days for him to become known as "moon" by the rest of the squadron. Three was an Academy grad whose exceptional scores had landed him in the squadron. His name was Kell Roins and he was a great shot. Kell's wingman was a veteran fighter pilot by the name of Drake Ducain. Drake was a human who had been in the military for some time. "Rip" Doyonis was Five and a rather small igazdra who was a genius with electronics. Lyne Yianosie was a good pilot, but perhaps more importantly, she was also a mechanic.
Kace had been given his first mission earlier by Silta. It was a fairly simple mission to eliminate an Azdgari Warship, the A.S.S. Abrupt, in the Racet system. The catch was that this would have typically taken a squadron of Igazdra Aradas to complete. Kace smiled as he thought of the chaos that this new ship would soon cause within the Azdgari military.
Chapter 3 - Let the Games Begin
Kace had been given a Miranu Heavy Frieghter to substitute as a carrier since the Igazdra Carrier was still only a prototype. Within the cargo area, there was easily space for two or three squadrons. As they hypered into the Racet system, everyone was tense inside their fighters. The sensors were, for now, slaved to the carrier. The plan was for the carrier to target the Azdgari Warship first and then go after the Azdaras. The fighters were lined up with the wingmen across from each other. Then, the sensors showed none other than the A.S.S. Abrupt. The bay doors opened into the void of space.
"Lock and load, boys!" , Kace said as he and Moon screamed into space. Straight ahead, the A.S.S. Abrupt was already spewing fighters at the hostile freighter. Kace and Moon were rapidly approaching the warship amid a wall of phase fire.
"Fire on my mark, Moon.", Kace said as he armed his TAEs. "Five, four, three, two, one, mark!" As the two TAEs streaked toward the Abrupt, Kace and Moon spun away. Kace looked back to see two explosions near the Abrupt and his display said its shields were down to 83%. He also noted two Azdaras dissapear from the targeting display. Kace saw four more TAEs streak through space and saw them all impact brilliantly. "Nice shots.", Kace said.
"Thanks," replied Kell, "no fighters below 80% shields."
Kace noted that the Abrupt was now down to 49% shields. He was about to swing around for another attack when the remaining six Azdaras flashed by like bats out of hell with phase cannons blazing. The bolts slammed into Kace and Moon's shields, which drew the dangerous energy away from the pilots within. Kace saw that his shields were now down to 50% and decided that the azdaras could not be ignored any longer. He keyed up his comm system, "Okay, lets take care of the azdaras and leave the warship to the freighter." While he was saying this, the freighter had started closing the gap between itself and the Abrupt, firing SAEs all the while. With stolen Bronev plating and maxed out phase turrets, the freighter was more that a match for the half-dead warship. Already, the shields of the Abrupt flashed from the phase bolts courtesy of the freighter. Meanwhile, the six Igazdra Fighters streaked towards the enemy Azdaras.
"Target their leader.", Kace ordered and soon, three TAEs were streaking through the inky blackness toward the lead azdara. Too late, the pilot saw the incoming modules and turned. The TAEs detonated with a brilliant flash and there were only five left. A snap shot sent the third azdara spiralling away with a single TAE trailing. The other four ships shot a few haphazard shots before scattering to avoid another possible TAE. As the azdaras turned for another pass, Kace toggled the comm system.
"Two and Three follow me and target azdara two, Four through Six, take down Azdara four." Kace fired his TAE and saw two more join his before lancing out toward their target. The azdara started firing phase cannons and jinking back and forth, confusing the TAEs. One was hit with a phase bolt another missed completely but the final one crashed through the canopy and exploded violently inside the cockpit, ripping the enemy ship apart. The other group had chose another tactic. Their Azdara was firing mercilessly and repeatedly into the flickering rear shields of Drake's fighter. As the shields were in danger of failing completely, Drake turned tighter than his internal compensators could react and he was crushed against the side of his small cockpit. The pilot of the Azdara was amazed at the feat and even more amazed when the space that Drake had just left was filled by the distorted image of two TAEs. Rip had to shield his eyes as the explosion rocked his fighter. Nearby, one of the azdaras forgot that he had a TAE following him and had the entire left side of his fighter ripped apart. Apparently the Azdgari's bodies didn't have any better luck exposed in space then humans. The fifth fighter was then quickly taken down by the combined phase fire of the squadron. Kace however, was in trouble. He had an exceptional pilot on his tail. The Azdara was easily keeping up with the slower fighter and pouring phase bolts into Kace's ship. The rest of the squadron tried uselessly to catch up to the runaway Azdara but it was too fast. Kace's shields flickered and threatened to shut down. They gave way and Kace was down to whatever minimal armor there was on this ship. Just as he was about to give up and eject, the Azdara exploded spectacularly thanks to three SAEs from the freighter. Through much hollering and cheering, Kace let out a sigh of relief as the squadron made its way back to the ship.
(This message has been edited by moderator (edited 09-30-2000).)
