Dur'ach System, Deep Proxima Nebula

They had landed without incident, which was good. Or at least Somm thought so. Shek wasn't so sure. The radio silence they had experienced brought on a feeling of foreboding that the Ell'achi swordmaster couldn't seem to shake. In contrast, his Ravinothi companion seemed perfectly calm. And amused. The latter was beginning to irritate Shek.

"Will you stop that infernal chuckling?"

"Sorry Shek." Lelos Somm turned away from his friend, but seemed to stare too intently out the viewplate. As Shek continued to stare suspiciously at him, a smile tugged at the corners of Somm's mouth.

"By Sorul! What is so blazing funny?"

Somm's grin opened to unleash another round of laughter. "Apologies, Shek, but you're taking this all far too seriously. Tell me, why should we worry about it now? We can do nothing about it now."

Shek thought for a moment. Of course Lelos was right. "Very well then." Looking out the viewplate, he asked, "When do you think we'll reach Sarpi?"

After a moment checking the instruments and comparing them against the chronometer, Somm replied, "Another ten minutes, looks like."

"Ah, good then." Shek was getting back into high spirits. It'd be good to see the Academy again. "I wonder if the instructors we left behind are teaching the new material we brought them last time."

"No doubt of it," assured Lelos. "With your father in charge of Sarpi War Academy, you can be sure that all the swordmasters are learning how to use the weapons and equipment in the best ways possible."

"We've Voltok to thank for that."

"Aye," agreed the Ravinothi. "Admiral Zathe. What a brilliant swordmaster." It was the highest compliment an offworlder strategist could ever receive from a Dur'achi.

When they arrived at the landing zone around Sarpi it became evident that the technology the Dur'achi had developed on their own, as well as that adapted for themselves, was being used well. The War Academy was defended by over a thousand automated defense cannons, many of which were trained on the vital parts—the engine nacelles, the intertial stabilizers, the weapon hardpoints—of the Teiresias. About a hundred Ileri death commandos, recently arrived from the Oolb Archipelago's Battle Temple, were present with several of their commanding swordmasters to greet the two returning generals.

The Sarpi instructors came forward first. Most of them Shek and Somm didnt' recognize; many of their teachers had long since retired from the school. A memory told him that Mos had been the one sent to forge an alliance with the Darweshi. But...there. There were two there he recognized instantly.

It appeared the two also recognized him and Somm. Both of them came forward and touched two fingers to their right temple and bowed their heads in the standard Dur'achi greeting.

Somm broke the silence first. "Dess."

The grizzled swordmaster embraced his Ravinothi student. "Lelos."

Shek turned away from them to look at the man in front of him, the man who Shek knew was looking at him in the exact same way as he was. They spoke.

"Father"

"Son."

------------------
All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be blade that was broken, The crownless again shall be king.
—J. R. R. Tolkien
(url="http://"http://www.ambrosiasw.com/cgi-bin/ubb/search.cgi?action=intro&default;=26")The Search Feature(/url)

OOC: Strauss was addressing Page?

Page turned to the man next to him.
"The name is," He paused, thinking, as he took a long pull from his cigarette, "Page."
Strauss held out a hand, and Page shook it firmly.
"What brings you to the Albatross?"
Page opened his left eye and blinked adjusting to the light.
"Nothing, I take it your a bounty hunter?"
"Very perceptive," Strauss said twirling his chainguns skillfully, and returning them to their slings. "So what happened to you?" said Strauss pointing at Pages left sleeve.
Page shook his head in reply and ordered a drink.

------------------
"WE ARE THE POPES OF THE PYROS!!" "WE ARE THE CRUSADERS OF CAPELLA!!" "THE FRIARS OF FIRE!!" "THE BAPTISTS OF BORAL 1!!!!" "THE CATHOLIC KILLERS OF NEW CALCUTTA!!!!!!" "WE ARE THE GOOD!! no.. no... THE BAD!!! yeah.. thats it.. THE BAD CATHOLICS!!!"

"well then, pleasure to meat you page."
Strauss let loose a limber Tabby cat which began slinking around the bar, pawing at anything it found interesting, he was eying a halfling off to his side attempting to comprehend what it was when he ran into a waitress who spilled her tray full of beers and appetiesers causing the cat to jump back to its owner.
Strauss tossed a cred chip to the woman.
"For the damage."
The cat looked at it's owner.
"You're costing my quite a bit of money, Piter" Strauss said
"care to join me in a game of paintball Mr. page?"Then strauss turned his attention to the bartender
"and where's that drink?!!" he half yelled, the bartender winced and poured a saiilan brandy.
"finaly."

------------------
shoot to kill?
shoot to stop?
I say let loose the firepower and let fate decide

(This message has been edited by Harbringer (edited 07-29-2003).)

NSP: (Non-story post)

Quote

Originally posted by Harbringer:
"You're costing my quite a bit of money, Piter" Strauss said

Read Dune?

------------------
All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be blade that was broken, The crownless again shall be king.
—J. R. R. Tolkien
(url="http://"http://www.ambrosiasw.com/cgi-bin/ubb/search.cgi?action=intro&default;=26")The Search Feature(/url)

yup

------------------
shoot to kill?
shoot to stop?
I say let loose the firepower and let fate decide

I'm having writer's block... It sucks.

------------------
"I may disagree with what you have to say, but I shall defend to the death your right to say it." --Voltaire
PARENTAL ADVISORY
SARCASTIC CONTENT

Strauss headed toward the door.
"Goobye for now everyone, if anyone's interested in assisting in capture of a criminal, contact me. i'll be in the huron system. He walked out of site.
Moments later a red scout streaked by the window and headed off into the distance.

Enekung II Liat System

It takes a lot of skill to land on a turncoat, because such small capital ships have small docking bays, and to add to that fact, even more space was taken up by a UE fighter bay.

"This is Hermes to Endekung II Requesting clearence" Strauss put in over the communitcator
"This is Endekung II you are cleared to land, captain,congrats on your kill, he was worth 3k, and how was the bar."
"Not as lively as Huron's I'm afraid"
"see you on the bridge sir."
"right."
by then strauss' ship was entering the maw of the exterior docking bay doors which closed behind him.
The ship came to a stop
"please hold position, interior doors are cycling open." came Oscar's voice over the comm. oscar is the endekung II's AI, taking up the role of most of the crew.
"Interior doors have cycled open, proceed forward please.Greetings, Strauss."
"Gudentag, Oskar."
With that, Strauss' scout set down and the canopy opened, with a cat jumping out immidiately and hurrying over to a folded old rug in the corner of the bay which he curled up on.
Strauss walked over to the lift. The doors slid open automaticaly as the lift stopped.
"Command deck."
with the acknowledgement the lift sped upward and came to a stop as the doors opened.
The traffic controller and helmsmen (only personell on the bridge) greeted him.
"Set a course forto the huron system."
"check."
with that the helmsmen pressed a button causing a shielded green button on the captain's chair to raise into the ready possition.
"Strauss triggered it causing a message to go out over the intercom.
"All hands, prepare for hyperspace jump in 00:30 hours."

------------------
shoot to kill?
shoot to stop?
I say let loose the firepower and let fate decide

Sarpi War Academy, Dur'ach

"Much has changed since you left here, Shek." His father poured him a cup of strong Darweshi coffee—a benefit of the recent alliance with the Southerners—and then seated himself across from Shek at the low square table. Swordmasters Dess and Somm were seated opposite each other on the remaining sides.

"That I can see, father," he replied. "The technology I acquired years ago has been put to excellent use, I see."

"Indeed it has," agreed Dess, with a light chuckle. "At first we didn't know what to do with it all, but the Ravinothi and the Aer'achi used their knowledge of engineering to adapt it to our uses."

"And now we're adept enough with it to build the Citadel," stated Onner Sunrunner. "The gods favor us."

"Let us hope their favor lasts," Somm nodded gravely. He turned to face Shek's father. "Your son will need their help soon."

Onner straightened. "You are on the trail of your brother's killer still then?"

Shek shook his head. "No, that is done. I revenged Jal's death."

His father nodded in approval. "Then it is done."

Lelos shook his head. "No sir. Your son and I found other dangers in the galactic North."

"The Blue Hand is spreading," explained Shek. "And it seems they have hooks in the leadership of several planets. Pirates, admittedly, but they seem to be expanding."

Dess looked at Onner. "This is foul news, old friend."

"Agreed." Shek's father stood. He looked out one of the long windows in the War Academy's dining hall, then turned back to face them.

"You'll need weapons."

------------------
All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be blade that was broken, The crownless again shall be king.
—J. R. R. Tolkien
(url="http://"http://www.ambrosiasw.com/cgi-bin/ubb/search.cgi?action=intro&default;=26")The Search Feature(/url)

Planet Huron, Huron system
A turncoat sluggishly set down onto the tarmac and disgourged a man wearing a black trenchcoat who hit the ground rolling to absorb the shock of the long fall. This and a dark red turncoat and 2 UE destroyers right behind it attracted the attention of the public who were now on the verge of running for their lives for fear of a major renegade assault.
"Is their a problem?"
The comment from the mystery man caused passers by to eye him as if confused, until they saw he was packing heat which drove them to silently walk away as fast as possible.
"You figure by now they'd be used to us."strauss commented to the first officer of his ship.
"meh... it's getting anoying." he said as he began tossing his pistol from his left to right hand.
"See you later, I'm off to go talk to the militia rep to see if we can pick up a mission." strauss said

------------------
shoot to kill?
shoot to stop?
I say let loose the firepower and let fate decide

Paranoid enters the bar and finds it has transmogrified into a webstory so it sits down to write an opening post.

"Captain, the meeting is about to commence." The speaker wears a black uniform and a dark sheath on his left hip. There seems to be a perpetual wariness around him, as if one could not avoid his detection at any time.

"Yes, Lieutenant." The captain gazes warily at his lieutenant and then plugs a cable into a node near the cerebellum in the hind of his head and the world disappears from the foreground.

Suddenly colors flash and a thousand people seem to be all directly in the line of sight, everyone visible clearly, always. Some wear the black uniforms, some wear clashing colors so bright they would hurt the eyes, if eyes mattered in this realm, still others wore ancient clothing in the tradition of gypsies or wanderers of earth. The different styles of dress did not directly correlate with the ideology of the person but gave some bearing on the faction. The captain immediately calls for attention, "I wish to stress that this is not an ordinary assembly. We are called together today to discuss the proposition of the new bill by the United Earth government, the bill requiring the cessation of all trade with the Voinian empire." Murmurs of assent and growls of disapproval are heard, the growls outweigh the more positive reaction. "As we all know the Federation has trade relations with some Voinian districts but we do not trade weapons or Industrial supplies banned by the government. We also have several members of our alliance who are Voinian." Several short reptilian creatures do seem to be in attendance, but only a few. "I believe, and I know that some will agree, that our trade relations are too valuable to risk on a prejudicial law being imposed. The end of importation of food to Obron and Denlon will cause millions of deaths due to starvation and could be viewed as a violation of the Dogover treaty. We all know that the Voinians would love to bring down nuclear annihilation upon us for our petty prejudice." The Voinians in the 'room' begin to protest but the captain overpowers them. "My friends, I fear that more than our profit margins are at stake. We must bring a unanimous decision to stop this bill before it reaches the senate floor."

The Lieutenant in black becomes fore, "The votes will now be called for intervention in United Earth bill 9087: Outlawing of trade to Voinian space. In favor: 867.Opposed: 82. The bill passes the greater consensus with no abstentions. We will cause the annihilation of the bill. Captain Yilta Tinker; are there any further issues to be discussed in this emergency forum.

The captain shakes her head "The future meeting will be held in 104 standard hours, we will consider the Miranu trade issue and any future issues, which may occur. Assembly dismissed."

The room fades away and Yilta gazes at her three lieutenants, John a dashing ex-buccaneer was in black with the sword. He captained a redesigned turncoat from his days as a renegade, Moridin Aditus meaning Death Gate. Tshaya was wearing the ancient Romany dress, she was secretive and not even her closest companions knew her second name. She flew a vessel from the new Miranu excursions a Lazira that she called Trushalo Odj , which translated to something like Thirsty Soul. Yilta gazed down upon her third lieutenant, certainly the least impressive a mere 1.7 meters high. She wore no arms unlike the others, concealed or otherwise. She wore the clashing colors which identified her with the Tinker fashion, she trusted her captain because of her name although it said nothing of her bearings. Jenna Jones held to the alliteration of her faction as well as the obnoxious color sense. Her vessel was the Mat Milhelm , named after her present mate, in actuality it was a long lasting marriage among the Tinkers, two years long. Yilta dismissed her lieutenants after a few minutes of discussion and went to check her vessel's status. The Light Wind drifted through Hmigro the sleek design of a Crescent Warship blending perfectly with the abyss of space.

------------------
Friendly advice: Watch your back.

(This message has been edited by Paranoid (edited 08-05-2003).)

After a few weeks of 'incativeness' Cooldude decides that he will post more currently.

P.S: Hi everyone! I'm back!

------------------
Cooldude

South Tip Station, Akrayhek System

" Teiresias , you are cleared to land. Follow the pattern to Docking Bay Four."

Shek and Somm had left Dur'ach a week ago. While the Sarpi generals had insisted they take a force of death commandos with them, the two swordmasters had politely refused. They needed to keep a low profile, the two of them had explained. Nevertheless, the ADL had seen fit to arm them with some of the latest Dur'achi weapons technology, and the Teiresias was much better armed than it had been previously.

The first upgrade had been one of six experimental cloaking devices being developed by the leading ADL scientists. While the fighter couldn't fire or enter hyperspace with the device active, they could still monitor activity outside the cloak from within its masking effects. After that, the Voinian fighter's rocket launchers had been removed, the hardpoints being refitted with two Dur'achi particle beams. The old neutron cannons had been replaced with long range railguns. The Teiresias was a syncretic blend of advanced Voinian armoring methods, strong Iothe shield technologies, and deadly Dur'achi weapon emplacements.

Over the course of the days they remained on Dur'ach, Shek and Somm had plowed through what seemed like an endless supply of files for an equally sempiternal time period. At least, that's how it had felt. The ADL records had revealed that there had been a ship detected two hyperlinks away, and that it was likely a pirate vessel. The ship had the look of Crescent make about it, and Somm figured that they could inquire about it at South Tip Station. They Kayans and their allies had a habit of keeping tabs on what pirate ships they found.

So they had traveled to Akrayhek to ask the Kayans and their Strandless allies if they had any records on the Blue Hand's activities in the region. Somm had reflected that it would have been convenient to do this when they'd left Hrinix, but Shek shrugged it off. This way, they'd given the Voinians plenty of time to start looking into the matter of the criminal gang.

Shek and Somm set the Teiresias down on its three landing claws in Docking Bay Four. After setting the security systems, they walked to the hatch. Shek secured his ancient weapons first—sheathing his glaive in its scabbard on his back, his dirk in its wrist sheath—and then loaded his more modern weapons—a Voinian neutron pistol and a Darweshi radiation rifle. Somm checked that his falchion was secure and loaded his own radiation rifle, and then keyed open the door locks. The hatch cycled open, and the two Dur'achi swordmasters disembarked.

No one was there to greet them, but the clearly labeled signs around the docking bay showed them the way to get to the main hall complexes. They took several corridors, going deeper and deeper into the giant station, and they encountered proportionally more people the farther in they went.

Finally, after it became apparent they weren't going to find the man they were looking for by just wandering around, they asked several Kayans in uniform where they could speak with the Admiral of Akrayhek. From the medals and bars of rank on their uniforms the two Dur'achi deemed them officers. Their leader, a colonel unless Shek missed his guess, elected himself spokesman.

"Why do you want to speak with the Admiral?"

"We need to discuss a pirate organization with him."

"The Admiral hears of pirates every day. How is this any different than the usual complaints?"

"He'll want to hear this."

"I'll need to know more than that, whoever you are," the colonel replied. "The Admiral is a busy man." He made a subtle hand signal, and suddenly the other Kayan soldiers had drawn their weapons and leveled them at the two swordmasters. The Kayans were slightly surprised to find two menacing-looking rifles pointed at them as well.

"You're quick, I'll give you that," chuckled the colonel. "Now, your names."

"I am Lelos Somm, swordmaster of the Dur'achi."

"And I am Shek Sunrunner, also a swordmaster from Dur'ach."

"Sunrunner...Sunrunner..." the colonel muttered. "You the one who fought in the Renegade War?"

"We both did," nodded Lelos Somm.

"Well then, you are welcome here. Those who kill renegades are friends of Akrayhek."

After that, the colonel asked no more questions and in less time than the two could believe they had been led to the door of a spacious office. The door had a label that read: Calan de Ryll, Admiral of the Akrayhek Fleet.

One of the Kayan officers knocked on the door.

"Come," commanded a strong voice. The door opened to reveal the speaker, a muscular Kayan seated at a wooden desk. Stacks of paper littered the desk's sides, but in the center of it a large map of the region was spread out. The Admiral didn't look up, but he said, "You're here about the Blue Hand." He began scribbling some notes on the map, near the region of Mavs.

Shek and Somm gaped. "How did you know that?"

"A Voinian ship out here in the Crescent? We've known that the Hand's been moving West for a while, and we've already had some ships come in from Xarnes, Hrinix, and Iothe. I think it's the only real explanation. And, since you just confirmed it by your surprise, my guess is right."

The two swordmasters looked at each other. He sounded so much like...

"Grand Admiral Zathe Voltok also sent word out to some of his old soldiers," Calan went on. "I, like you two, served with him in the Renegade War." He looked at Shek. "You, no doubt, are the one we called Sunrunner." Looking over at Lelos, his brows furrowed. "There was another Dur'achi in our unit..."

"My callsign was Viper," explained Somm.

"Ah yes, that's right." Calan leaned back in his chair. "I was called Raven."

So this is what that Kayan came to, thought Shek. "Well, it's a pleasure to see you again."

"Agreed. However, let's get down to the issue at hand. I imagine you want to see the station's records on the activities of the Blue Hand?"

The swordmasters nodded.

"Well and good. We've got logs on them going back ten years, but I doubt you want to read all that. I've got summaries, which I think will get the job done."

And so they set into the files the Kayan Admiral had. As they read each page, Shek and Somm began to have suspicions that the Blue Hand was much more than just a smuggler ring or a criminal syndicate. By the time they finished perusing the summaries, it seemed clear where their next stop was.

Hatuli.

------------------
All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be blade that was broken, The crownless again shall be king.
—J. R. R. Tolkien
(url="http://"http://www.ambrosiasw.com/cgi-bin/ubb/search.cgi?action=intro&default;=26")The Search Feature(/url)

OOC:Aggghhh!! dammit! I go away for a few weeks and BSS is over! I couldn't get to the Nova board for my entire last day on a computer. I did post a message on the B&B;, hoping that someone would see it and post it on BSS for me, but no such luck. Ah well.

Larra glared furiously at Demon. She was furious at him and herself. Her intuition must be going haywire; Larra never lost a bet. But that wasn't the worst part. Larra and Demon didn't bet for money, neither of them really cared about that. The loser had to do a dare; and Demon dared her to kiss the bartender. No way was she doing that. But he didn't back down.

"C'mon, I did every dare you came up with," Demon whined.
"I never asked you to kiss someone," Larra retorted. "You'll have to come up with something else."
Demon sighed. It was true, Larra's dares were usually extremely amusing for both of them, and never like this. "You gotta," he persisted anyway.
Her reply was to focus her violet eyes on him in a furious glare. Demon quickly looked down. Now that she had learned several nasty little mind tricks, he wasn't about to meet Larra's gaze when she was in a mood like this.
The argument persisted for a while, but, like usual, Larra won. Demon settled down to think of something else, though Larra wouldn't let him order a drink. "Your mind's even more twisted when you're drunk," she argued. Instead he stretched out under the table and let his fiendish mind go into overdrive.

Sitting in her chair, Larra was now wishing that Demon would think of a dare quickly. Boredom had escalated immensly in the past while. She was bored enough to do just about anything. Not that she would tell Demon that, though.

------------------
IF U CN RD THS U CNT SPL WRTH A DM

Huron system, Southern Human space
Strauss sat in the captains chair in a relaxed yet alert state, his eyes darting from data display to data display his eyes always returning to the main veiwscreen, now displaying the forward camera view.
"Sir, incoming contacts detected on approach vector at high speed."
strauss sat up
"contacts have dissapeared from main radar." Said the dockmaster in a slightly relieved voice.
"yellow alert." strauss commanded
Without hesitation, the officer pressed a shielded button.
Put all gunners and pilots on alert and prepare fighters for deployment." Strauss commanded.
"Captain! contacts have re-appeared! Contacts closing, distance: .5 miles, ETA to our location: 30 seconds."
"Red alert."
Siren lights lit up and a whirring siren emenated through the ship. the 4 blaze turrets tracked one of the contacts as it closed in just beyound sight range.
The Endekung II's escorts, the Bloodhound and the wolfhound took up position close to the Endekung II.
"open hailing frequencies. Broadcast: Unknown ships, identify yourselves. You are on attack vector and will be fired apon if you continue-"
A large number of loud impacts were heard as neutron bullets hit the shield.
"Shields holding, captain."
"Cancel hailing. Tell all gunners to open fire and deploy the Fighters!"
Energy bullets shot from the Endekung II and a series of the contacts fell into a savage spin with small explosions ripping through them as they lost control and exploded in a ball of fire.
"Contacts identified, Crescent fighters."
The last of the fighters spun away into the distance.
"Contacts neutralized."
"What the h**l? New contacts, they're right on top of-"
A large explosion impacted the Endekung II.
"Shields down to 75%!"
"Contacts identified: 5 laziras!"
"Arm missle launchers...fire!"
"Explosions impacted the hull of one of the laziras causing a shimmer over the ships hull indicating disabled shields. The UE fighters shot forward and began buzzing the contacts.
"all gunners, shoot to disable. Helmsman, hard to starbourd full thrust."
"Helmsman reverse course, do not activate engines."
The endekung II and its escorts swung around.
"All weapons, fire!"
Hails of energy weapons and balistic fire streaked toward the lazira strike group, savagely crashing against their hulls, 2 stopped, dead in space. And 1 contact wavered and exploded. The Wolfhound engines began spewing fire and she shot forward from an explosion in the stern, sending it toward the 2 remaining contacts, knocking one of kilter and sending the other toward planet huron, where its crew suffered a fiery death by mal re-entry. The remaining contact turned around and dissapeared into thin air. There was a giant explosion off in the distance in the direction of where the wolfhound was last seen. strauss and the crew stood up and saluted. The bloodhound took up formation with the Endekung II
"This is the bloodhound confirm wolfound's destruction?"
Strauss hesitated then said
"Confirmed..."
The endekung II approached the remaining lazira and latched on. A thud issued from the bottom of the ship indicating the boarding hatch was secured to the derelict.
"Oskar, watch the ship. Lets move, Adolphus!"
The ships officer fell in behind strauss and brandished 2 high calibur pistols.
The lift doors closed behind them.
"Ship to ship dock."
The lift sped downward and stopped, the doors opened up in to a dark, musty room containing a unit of space marines.
"Ten-shun!" Strauss yelled.
The solders snapped to attention.
"Aight solders! Move out!."
They moved into the boarding aparatus with strauss and the officer falling in behind.
"Pressure verify?"
"Verify!"
"Affirmitive.
A hatch opened into the enemy ship, almost immediately, several azdgari ran into veiw, strauss pulled out his chainguns and within the span of less than half a second, they were pinned.
several infantry moved in behind the aliens and got them into a chocke hold, quickly knocking them out.
"Put them in the brig. men, from now on, take no prisoners."
They turned right and headed for the bridge, running at full pace, within minutes, they arrived at a locked door, an engineer moved forward and placed a decoder on the door, it's magnetic holders activating and it began deciphering the combination.
A lound beep issued from the devide, and the door slid open, disgourging the divice.
"Were in."
The troops moved in, blasting away a number of aliens in a series of 5 seconds.
"Hold!"
The marines pinned their guns on the enemy captin.
"Take him prisoner.
Using the same method as before, the infantry subdued him. A marine dragged him off out into the hall leading to the main hatch that they came through.
A technician moved forward.
"Permission to acces main systems, sir."
"granted."
With that, he plugged a cord linking to his land warrior combat computer system, he slid a lense in front of his left eye which began projecting data.
"What do we have here." he mumbled
He said much more loudley.
"Sir, this ship is property of the white fang clan, they seem to be affiliated with some organization called the blue hand.

------------------
shoot to kill?
shoot to stop?
I say let loose the firepower and let fate decide

(This message has been edited by Harbringer (edited 08-07-2003).)

The Longbow slid through hyperspace. DZ sat in his conning chair, thinking.

I should have given her a chance to explain... God, why do I do this to myself?

DZ had towed Grace's ship to the nearest shipyard and left her with several hundred thousand credits, enough to get her ship repaired. Their parting had not been pleasant.

I have more pressing issues to deal with...

---

The Longbow dropped out of hyperspace, into the Sol system. Chester queried the spaceport authority, requesting a berth.

" Longbow , you're cleared for bay C.426. Enjoy your stay."

That's odd... Port Authority usually aren't so friendly... DZ mused.

DZ concentrated on guiding the ship into the berth. He could have allowed Chester to land, but chose to do it himself, to keep his piloting skills sharp.

He emerged from the Longbow dressed sharply in an all-black business suit and black hat.

---

"Thirteen."

"Fifteen, and I'll throw in three extra tanks." The shipyard owner replied.

"Deal. I'll need a few other things. Two fuel scoops, and rip out all the weapons. Store them in the cargo hold."

"All the weapons? But why, sir?"

"I was told this is a 'no questions' kind of establishment... if I'm wrong in thinking this, correct me, and I'll take my business elsewhere."

"No, sir, nevermind that. I'll do as you request."

The small man hurried off to strip DZ's new Miranu Courier of its weapons. The ship was an old one, the generation of Couriers that were built in the full saucer shape. The Full Circle , DZ had decided to call it.

DZ strolled around the gunmetal-colored ship, inspecting the scorch marks and other scars of battle, expertly repaired. Several turrets were being removed, as three external tanks were fitted. I have big plans for you...

---

"I'm looking for a woman." DZ addressed the bartender in the spaceport bar.

"Lots of people are. A name would go a long way."

"I'm unaware of the name she is currently using. She races. Ships."

"Lots of people race ships, buddy. Listen, if you're not going to ask me anything worthwhile, I've got things to do."

"Ships not meant to be raced." DZ slid a credit chip discreetly across the bar. "Would it be worth thirty thou?"

"Eh. You're looking for Deuce." The bartender pointed to a table in the back. "Wait there, I'll send her over when she shows."

So she still uses her old name... DZ slowly walked over to the table. He sat, pulling his hat down low, loosening the shoulder holstered blasters hidden under his jacket.

A small, shapely figure sauntered into the bar. The heads of almost all the male patrons turned, as if on cue.

Her midlength black hair was sticking out in several directions at once. The bartender spoke to her briefly, before pointing in the direction of DZ's table.

She sauntered up. "Not a good idea to throw large amounts of money around a place like this."

"You think I'm unable to defend myself, just because I appear harmless. Ace would be disappointed."

She tensed slightly at the name. That was all DZ needed to know. "'Scuse me, but you would know Ace how?"

"I get around. You have a reputation for making ships go fast. I have a ship. I'd like it to go faster."

"Nah. I don't do stuff for shady characters like you." She turned to leave.

"Joker."

She stopped, and slowly turned to face him. "He's dead. Now, I think you should leave."

"Is he?" DZ rose. "Or did they not quite kill him?"

"Listen. You have no idea what you're talking about. Now go."

DZ saw her hand moving toward her pistol as she spoke. "Don't."

"Go to hell!" The blaster leveled at his chest, and she squeezed the trigger.

DZ flinched as the perfectly calibrated shield absorbed the hit. "Good thing you still have the same old blaster."

"You..."

"Only Joker and Ace know your pistol's freq." DZ sat. "Have a seat, Deuce."

---

Full Circle blasted off from Earth, nearly four g's pressing DZ into his seat.

Amazing what two million credits and some old friends can get you...

---

Notes: DZ's shield is a type used for faking assassinations. It must be calibrated to the exact frequency of the blaster it is used with. Hence, the shield is useless for protection from any other gun.

The Full Circle is of the Courier type mentioned as "visiting Earth" before contact with other races. Classic UFO saucer shape. Gunmetal grey, with several weapons pods and engine pods/enhancements added by DZ's friends. It doesn't spin.

(edit: fixed a couple inconsistencies/weird things.)

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"I may disagree with what you have to say, but I shall defend to the death your right to say it." --Voltaire
PARENTAL ADVISORY
SARCASTIC CONTENT
(url="http://"http://thefifthcolumn.blogspot.com")The Fifth Column(/url)

(This message has been edited by double_zero (edited 08-08-2003).)

The enemy Crescent fighter flashed behind the debris field surrounding the gaseous planet. Yilta pursued in her fighter, she used her computer to call up data on the planet. The Miranu call it F-21, it is a high density, though small, gas giant. According to the fighter specs, the Ira ought to be able to withstand the pressure down to 5,000 meters before even mild danger occurs. The fighter shakes as energy pulses from the opponent's cannon. Yilta enters a 37? turn horizontal and 70? vertical to swing out of firing range. The fighter's sensors aren't picking up anything but she sees a trail of luminescence where the phase pulses had traveled. She calculates the origin and looks for the other vessel; she spots a motion and opens fire. The opponent's vessel is forced down below the safety limits and begins to come up.

"Allright already. Yo' win." Jenna is sweating but appears calm, "The pressu' and heat get to the life suppor' and cause the heat to soa', I'm guessin' abou' 318 Kelvin."

"Better then UE vessels but not quite up to Voinian standards, though the agility more than makes up for the poor life support." Yilta pulls up toward the Light Wind and heads for the docking bay. "The phase cannons have some disadvantages even though the accuracy and rate of fire is exceptional, we need to up the power of vessel and a weapons upgrade would be the best method, though an armor increase might help "

"I don' care for 'em, if we cou' get the UE to give us their fights we cou' ta'e down any. It be the bes' fight I seen bu' those do be bette' the' de' Crates de Rens op'rate." She laughs.

"It doesn't take much." Jenna was raised in a high class Huron family, the funny thing is that her fake accent grew stronger when she stopped thinking about it.

Yilta docked pulling a 72? horizontal turn into the left bay, Jenna took the right. As Yilta split from Jenna her co-captain greeted her with some interesting news. "The UE seem to have had an encounter with some renegade Crescent forces in Huron. We can't get much information but the Endekung II appears to have sustained heavy damage and lost an escort, one Wolfhound."

"Hm we probably need to send an ambassador to find out about this incident. What vessels are stationed around Huron?"

"The Moridin Aditus is on Omm."

"Bright idea, send a renegade to deal with UE command. Who else?"

The Jenna Jones captained by Mat Milhelm is in Huron, but you probably shouldn't leave an ambassadorial position to a tinker "

"Why the hell not? Get me Mat on the veed and we'll discuss it."

A Lazira emblazoned with the name Jenna Jones glides slowly towards the damaged Endekung II the vessels weapons are not charged and the shields are down. It contacts the vessel on communication channel for UE-Independent relations.

Message to UE Vessel " Endekung II and Captain Strauss, commander.
- - -
" Endekung II , Captain Strauss, this is the Jenna Jones captained by Matthew Milhelm. Request permission to send engineers over to help with repairs, as well as an ambassador to find out what happened. If you'll provide us with the vital information we can provide a watch throughout Independent and Renegade territory as well as Miranu space, if you wish. Call back on IT-17a, we'll provide a free fixup. You know we're good."

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"What if to reach the highest place you had to fall?"
Peter Mayer

(This message has been edited by Paranoid (edited 08-08-2003).)

Huron System, southern Human space
"Affirmative Jenna Jones , Endekung II reads you, permission to send over engineers granted, thanks for your help. Although You should consider the volidity of your sources, this vessel is independent." Strauss put in over the comm.
The Endekung II Detached from one of the two remaining laziras, the lazira's Engines activated and she took up formation with the endekung II.
" Jenna Jones are you interested in helping in examining some odd equipment we have found on board this white fang lazira, it can be confirmed from preliminary examination and eye witness accounts that this equipment is a cloaking device that was used against us during the previos battle. And we are more than willing to hand over any information needed."

ooc:you wana take over and continue, or do you want me to do it?
Arg! I screwed up the ship name, sorry, i dint sleep as much as i usualy get

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shoot to kill?
shoot to stop?
I say let loose the firepower and let fate decide

(This message has been edited by Harbringer (edited 08-09-2003).)

(This message has been edited by Harbringer (edited 08-09-2003).)

(This message has been edited by Harbringer (edited 08-09-2003).)

(This message has been edited by Harbringer (edited 08-09-2003).)

For about the 30th time in the last half an hour, Demon's dark eyes swept across the bar, searching for inspiration. No such luck. The dare would have to be put on hold for a while, he decided. Getting up he stretched out his back and hind legs, and wandered out from under the table. Larra was sitting in the same spot as before, staring blankly at the back of her communicator, and talking to herself.

"Larra, what the heck are you doing?" Demon asked, not sure he wanted to know the answer. Larra looked at him, and flipped the communicator around her fingers. It was a smaller, sleeker model than she had given Page, the same in only the silver finish and the 8 point, tri colored star on the back.
"Well?" Demon prompted.
"I'm trying to decide," Larra announced gesturing to the star, "whether or not to put my symbol on Kamikaze. And if I do, what color should it be in? It can't be in all three because the black wouldn't show up. Red or blue or both? Or maybe I can make a stencil and spray paint around it. Then it would be black with a red background. Or maybe blue? What do you think?" She glanced quizzically at Demon. His reply was to raise his right paw and close his jaw with it, which had dropped open.
Larra frowned, "Well, what do you think?"
"I think," Demon began, "that you desperately need to get out of here and do something until you return to your normal self." With that he sunk his teeth into the leg of her chair and jerked it out from under her. Surprisingly she caught herself and stood up, returning the communicator to a pocket somewhere in her cloak.
"But what about..." she began.
"I'll take care of that," Demon interupted, as he began pushing her across the bar, Larra protesting feebly all the way. Finally he shoved her out the door and in the general direction of Kamikaze. He stopped, and she looked back at him.
"Promise you'll take care of things here?"
"Promise," Demon replied.
"Be back soon," she promised. Thank you , her eyes said.
Larra turn and strode quickly down the corridor. Demon smiled to himself. She really wanted to go; all she needed was an opportunity.

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IF U CN RD THS U CNT SPL WRTH A DM

OOC: I'll do the next bit, and don't worry about the ship name after all I changed your government... I'll try to reply more regularly as well.

Seven people, four men and three women, board the Endekung II. Matthew Milhelm is first among them; he is wearing odd colors including bright red and neon green. Milhelm makes a gesture with his left hand and six of the engineers head toward the engine room. Milhelm contacts the nearest crewmember to bring him toward the ship's captain. He follows the crewman along with the one remaining engineer.

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"What if to reach the highest place you had to fall?"
Peter Mayer

Milhem and the crewmembers depat from the lift onto the maintenence and engineering deck, Strauss is bent over a transport line that at one point a few days ago transported fuel from one of the two fuel scoops. He bobbed his head down to bring down the welding mask and got to repairing the line. When the tear in the line was patched up, he turned around and greeted Milhem.
"Good to see you Mr. Milhem, we require your help examining the presumed cloaking device. Please follow me."
With that strauss turned around and began walking down a hall, Milhemn and the crew members fell in behind him. strauss flipped open his computers and requested that 4 engineers be diverted to engineering deck and that his 1st officer do the same. They came to a large bolted door, Strauss pressed a series of buttons, triggering the door, a number of bolts flanking the door disengauged and the door slid open. revealing a stand supporting a large device.

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shoot to kill?
shoot to stop?
I say let loose the firepower and let fate decide