Still a work in progress...

Norik's Big Break

Norik scowled his one eye down at the sheet of paper in front of him, although he’d already read it several times. Looking up at the Tichelopian across the dingy bar table from him, he asked, “You want me to do a mission like this for a cat-food payment like this? I can’t believe I’m wasting my time talking with you, Gurt.”
Yitto Gurt, an angry-looking, black-haired, short Tichelopian, grimaced angrily. “You think you’re the only one with money problems? You think that I’ve got money growing out the wazoo? Well, you’re wrong.” He paused, and took a large gulp of the Shaydan ale in front of him. “Bleahh. Anyway, the Red Claw Organization’s been moving in on my territory. I dunno why, they’re supposed to be a Tichelopia-based group.”
“And you want me to stop this ‘hostile takeover’?” smirked Norik, tapping his fingers on the tabletop. “For only 5,000 credits? You’re off your gourd.” He started to get up to leave.
“Look,” said Gurt desperately, grabbing Norik’s sleeve. “You’ve got to take this commission! If you don’t, I’m as good as Gurn food!” he grabbed at his pocket, missed, and then pulled out a datacard. “Put this in your reader. If you’ll take this job, you’ll get the money and that datacard.”
Norik scanned the datacard, then gave it back to Yitto Gurt. “Alright, Gurt, we’ve got ourselves a deal.” He reached across the table and shook hands with his new employer.

-~*~-

“Sir, the target has been found. He’s in the Cralos Cantina, section 18, Ri`bar continent.” The soldier snapped to attention as Korik swiveled the command chair around toward him. “Shall we exterminate him?”
Korik thought for a second, then shook his head. “No, just have our agents tail him to his ship. He won’t leave the Trinity on Rikka. It’ll be on his ship, along with my other interest.”
“Yes, sir.”

-~*~-

Norik glanced behind him. Yes, there was the cloaked figure, weaving its way in between people and vehicles, always staying within sight of him but not very close. The figure had almost escaped his notice, but only almost. A tail.
Not, of course, a literal tail, such as the ones which adorned the butts of Tichelopians and Sylkans, and other species of G3. A spy, an espionage agent, an intelligence-gathering aid. Whatever you wanted to call it, it was following Norik.
He quickly ducked down an alley and drew his Lazar carbine. As the cloaked being approached the alley, he hid himself behind a rusted dumpster. The figure turned down the alley, began walking past the dumpster, paused. Norik leaped at it, whacking its head against the opposing cement wall and bringing his gun up into its chin.
The figure froze immediately. Norik used his other hand to reach up, grab the hood of its cloak, and pull it back. The Rikkan beneath stared back at him malevolently.
“Why were you following me?” said Norik, conversationally. “Wouldn’t have been spying on me for the MRS, would you?” He drew a small electroblade, held it up to the Rikkan’s chest. “Haven’t they already learned that it can be dangerous to your health to tail me? Well, obviously not.” With a quick slice, Norik cut through the robe. It fell with a ‘flump’ sound, revealing the black uniform beneath.
“Colonel, eh? How’d you get this assignment? No, wait, don’t tell me – you drew the short straw, right?” Norik grinned slightly as he cut off the colonel’s badges of rank and other adornments, then pocketed them. “Thanks, mate. See ya ‘round the galaxy.” He started to walk away.
“Wait,” said the other Rikkan. Norik stopped. “They’re after the Trinity, you know. They won’t stop until they have it back. You realize this, don’t you?”
Norik grinned. “Hey, I used to be an MRS drone too. I know what they’re up to, but thanks for the warning.” The Rikkan glowered. “Now, don’t follow me, y’hear?” Norik tied the Rikkan to the dumpster, then walked away.

-~*~-

“I’m back!”
Norik flicked the switch that raised the ramp to his ship, the Rebel Star. With a metallic clang, the ramp shuddered slowly into its place. “Shorik, I’m here! Where are you?”
A ceiling panel dropped out of its place, narrowly missing Norik’s head. The face of Norik’s partner showed through the gap.
“Hi there, Norik,” said Shorik. “I was just making a few adjustments to the gravitic compensators. I hope you didn’t miss me too much,” she finished, grinning.
Norik held up his datapad. “We’ve got a mission, Shorik. Get the ship up and running, we’re going to have to outrun the MRS Alliance on the way out.”
Shorik stuck out her tongue at Norik and dropped down from the ceiling, then trotted off towards the engine room.

-~*~-

“S-s-sir?”
It was bad news. Korik could tell, by the way the soldier stuttered and phrased his title as a question.
“What is your report, soldier?”
“Well um Norik beat up Colonel Spootzrik and took his medals and insignia, and tied him to a dumpster on 56th Street. Also, Shorik seems to have found the tracking device we placed on the Rebel Star,” the soldier reported nervously.
Korik grimaced with annoyance. He’d expected that Shorik would find the tracker sooner or later, but he’d hoped it’d be much later. “Alright, go and get Commander Sniprik. We’ve got to tail the Rebel Star with our fighters. He will lead us to the Staff of Zoran, and the Trinity.” Korik permitted himself the luxury of an evil cackle. “GyaHAhaHAhaHAhaaa!!!”

-~*~-

Sniprik, commander of the MRS Alliance’s fighter squadrons, entered Korik’s office. “Commander Sniprik reporting, SIR!” he yelled, saluting.
“At ease, Sniprik. Sit down, have a beer or something ” Korik opened a desk drawer and pulled out two cold beers, and tossed one to Sniprik. As he did so, a fly buzzed down from the ceiling and landed on the desk. Korik ignored it. “Beer, SIR!” yelled Sniprik. The fly buzzed a little.
“What’s that sound?” asked Korik.
“It sounds like the fly is saying something, SIR!” yelled Sniprik. “It sounds like ‘Bud,’ SIR!”
“Well then,” said Korik, “There’s only one thing to do.”
“And that is?”
“Weis,” buzzed Korik.
“Er,” finished Sniprik.

-~*~-

Norik tapped into the ship’s intercom. “Shorik, do you copy?”
“I read you loud and clear. What’s up?”
“I’m reading several incoming life-forms on the ship’s scanners.” He paused. “I’m also reading Tylerium energy, so they’re probably armed. I’ll try to get visual in a sec ”
Norik tapped a few keys on the panel in front of him. “Yeah, there we go ” An image appeared on his monitor, revealing what he’d feared most. He patched the image in to Shorik’s monitor in the engine room.
“Shorik, take a look at this.”
There was a hiss of sharply withdrawn breath. “Is that ?”
“Yes. Standard Dime-a-dozen Soldieriks. Curse that half-brother of mine!”
“What’ll we do?”
“Take off immediately! We can’t risk losing the Trinity!”
“Aye!”
The Standard Dime-A-Dozen Soldieriks braced themselves against a fierce wind as the Rebel Star’s drives lifted the starship off the ground and toward space.

-~*~-

“Bhuzz ”
“Whize ”
“U hicur ”
The fly, Korik, and Sniprik were totally and completely inebriated. Sniprik rose to salute the fly again, but slipped on a beer can and landed with a crash in the heap of empties. “Owch!”
Korik shook his head and fell over backwards in his swivel chair, cracking his head against the floor. “Agh!”
The fly buzzed in a lazy circle, then flew up and incinerated itself on the ceiling light, making a final ‘Buzzkztz!!’ as its requiem.
Outside Korik’s office, one Standard Dime-A-Dozen Soldierik glanced at another. “They’ve been a mighty long time in there.”
The other Soldierik laughed. “That’s nothing. When Starfleet Commander Saara Huul visited him last year, he didn’t come out for three days. Don’t worry about it!”
“But what if he got drunk? You know what he’s like after he gets drunk.”
“Don’t worry about that either. When he was out last week, we made sure there was NO alcohol of ANY kind in that office!”

-~*~-

“Did we make it?” asked Shorik.
“We got away from the Soldieriks,” said Norik, “But we’re not clear yet. If Korik deployed his fighters, we could be in serious trouble any second now.”
“Then, shouldn’t we power up our weapons?”
“No, because then we might be mistaken for pirates.”
Shorik laughed. “Aren’t we pirates already?”
“No, we’re Rebels. There’s a huge difference!”
“Okay, okay ”

-~*~-

“Shh shhurr??”
The world swam blearily into view in front of Korik. “Go ‘way ”
“Shirr, there’sh a ship on your tracky scanny thingy ”
“So?”
“It’sh the Rebel Shtar, shir.”
“Kill it. Now lea’me ‘lone.”
“Okay, shir.”

-~*~-

Norik punched the intercom button. “Shorik, there’s fighters incoming!”
“Should I fire?”
“Not yet. We can’t make those guys look good by firing first!”
“Okay, whatever you say ”
“Just put the shields at maximum and get ready to go into JumpSpace!”
“Aye-aye, sir!”
There was a flash of an energy weapon. Norik flinched, bracing himself against the inevitable jolt, but there was none. There was another flash, then another.
“What the ”
“Hey, Norik! They aren’t firing on us!”
“ No kidding ”
Norik’s eye bugged as a dilapidated freighter designated MRS 258 exploded. Several MRS fighters soared through the spot that had been recently vacated by the freighter.
“Norik, why did they do that?”
“I think wait YES!! Hahah! Korik must have gotten drunk again!” Norik laughed with glee. “Last time he got drunk, he HAHAHA!! He blew up his own luxury liner during a battle with the Empire, while Starfleet Commander Huul was visiting!”
“heh heheh HAHAHAHAHA!” laughed Shorik.
“Now, Shorik! Prepare the Jump Drive!”
“It’s ready (heheh) Norik!”
“Alright! Ignition!!”
With a flash, the Rebel Star stretched, then shrank into nothing, and was gone.

-~*~-

Korik had murder on the brain. That, and a headache. He rose from his prostrate position on the floor and kicked Sniprik savagely in his side. “Get up, you stupid Gurkha!”
Sniprik did not move, so Korik kicked him again a few times. “This is no time to be sleeping! Get up, lazy-ass thing!” He kicked Sniprik again.
Korik waited a few minutes, tapping his foot impatiently on the floor. Then he put his ear next to Sniprik’s mouth. “His breath’s stopped he must be dead or something. Ooh, I can hear the sea!” He stood up, drew his gun, and shot Sniprik’s head off. Blood sprayed everywhere. “Curse you Sniprik, I just had this place cleaned!”
Korik angrily punched an intercom button set into the wall. “Get me a cleaning crew up here! And tell Sodarik to meet me in the Black Room!” With that, Korik stormed out of the room.

-~*~-

A few moments later, Korik arrived at the Black Room, in the bottom sublevel of his base, and sat down behind a desk to wait for Sodarik. Sodarik soon arrived, carrying a portable fusion pulse rifle and a two-liter bottle of Pepsi.
“Sodarik reporting, sir!” yelled Sodarik, saluting.
“At er, um At ease ” said Korik. “Damn this is familiar ”
“Soda, sir?” asked Sodarik, gesturing with the Pepsi.
Korik flinched and glared at the ceiling. “Gah, no no no! Just listen to me!”
“Whatever you say, sir.”
“All right.” Korik cleared his throat. “Due to the incompetence of the late Commander Sniprik, the Rebel Star has escaped, with Norik, Shorik, and the Trinity on board. I need you to take your commandos, track down the Rebel Star, kill Norik, and bring Shorik and the Trinity back here to me!”
“Okay, but we’ll need a ship,” said Sodarik, “And our pilot was killed in a bar fight. We don’t have another one yet.”
“Well, I can send Captain Catrik.”
“Catrik? I don’t recognize that name.”
“He’s a new recruit. He defected from the Alliance and brought a light cruiser along with him. That alone proves he’s trustworthy.” Korik paused. “Captain Catrik will fly you to the destination you give him, then your job will begin.”
Sodarik stood and saluted. “Yes sir!”
“And, Sodarik?” Korik folded his hands together below his chin. “Don’t fail me. If you do, you’ll have such a high price on your head you won’t be able to go near an inhabited planet for the rest of your short life. Is that clear?”
“Clear as mud, sir!” said Sodarik, and left.
“Clear as mud?” muttered Korik. “That no good lousy sonova ”

-~*~-

At this point, it must be explained that Sodarik is from the Stardust Desert zone of Rikka. The sand in the Stardust Desert is actually made of clear glass particles and silicon, which has, over time, caused the residents’ eyes to evolve to withstand much higher light levels than normal. Also, during one of the zone’s extremely rare rainfalls, the sand turns to mud – hence Sodarik’s use of the phrase. Korik doesn’t know that Sodarik is from the Stardust Desert so he thought Sodarik was being sarcastic.

-~*~-

The Rebel Star dropped out of Jump-Space with a small pop, near the planet Braknis. It hovered in space for a few seconds, then began to descend to the surface. Within fifteen minutes, the ship was landed safely in a small clearing in a large forest, and Norik and Shorik were standing outside.
“Here we are, Shorik. Braknis!” announced Norik. “We’d better get to work soon, I don’t want to wait any longer than necessary.”
“Yeah, yeah ” muttered Shorik, bent over a small, purple plant. “I’ll be just a minute you should see this plant!” She gestured ‘Come here’ at Norik, looking away from the plant momentarily. Norik saw a puff of vapor from the plant, and Shorik collapsed.
“Shorik!” Norik rushed to her side. “Shorik, what’s wrong?” Turning her over and checking her pulse, Norik found it weak, but still there. A large red blotch had appeared on her face where the vapor had hit it.
“Agh! What do I do?” Norik looked confused for a minute. “Oh! I’ll just do what the guy in the movie did! Gotta find a medical outpost or something!!” Wasting no time (or very little anyway), Norik unloaded a speeder from the Rebel Star, put Shorik into the passenger seat, and careened off through the trees. “Hang in there, Shorik! You’ll be OK!”

-~*~-

Several hours later, Norik entered the small port town of B’rak Noi. By now, the blotch on Shorik’s face had spread to cover most of her head and her left shoulder. Norik pulled up to a small building with a sign in the front bearing a picture of a bleeding heart and a pair of scissors. “Scissors?” muttered Norik. “Whatever ” He picked up Shorik and carried her inside the building.
The inside of the building was even smaller than the outside, poorly lit and with crumbling plaster on the walls. An old female Brakin sat behind a counter. “Can I help you?” she asked, her voice sounding like dry leaves rustling in the wind.
Norik gestured at Shorik’s face. “She’s been poisoned by some kind of purple plant, she needs a doctor!”
“That won’t be necessary,” came a cold, hard voice from behind Norik. “We’ll take it from here.”
Norik spun around. Sodarik stood in the doorway, holding a big gun and a bottle of Coca-Cola, which he took a swig of. Flanking him were two other armed Rikkans.
“Don’t get any funny ideas, Norik. We’re prepared to deal with you like sentient beings, hopefully these,” he gestured at the guns, “will not be required.”
Norik quivered with rage, but didn’t move. “Do I have a choice?”
“Good, Norik. I would’ve hated to have to shoot you so soon.” Sodarik took another gulp from the bottle. “My orders were to kill you on sight, but I’ve always preferred a more sporting attitude.” He gestured to one of his flanking guards. “Relieve Norik of his burden, please.” The guard moved to take Shorik, but Norik stepped back.
“Come, come, Norik,” scolded Sodarik. “By the looks of it, she was poisoned by a deadly Purple Daisyweed. These simple Brakins have no cure for such a poison, but we do.”
Norik reluctantly surrendered Shorik to the guard.
“That’s better, Norik,” said Sodarik. “Now, that sporting chance I’ve been talking about.” He grinned, gesturing with his soda bottle. “If you can make it back to your ship before the Soda Brigade captures or kills you, you’re free to go.”
“And Shorik?”
“We will, of course, permit her to go with you as well, should you win,” said Sodarik. “Never let it be said that the great Sodarik of the Soda Brigade is not generous even to his low, dirty, cowardly enemies!”
“.....”
Sodarik gestured at the guards, who left the building. “These two guards will not be involved in the search, since they’re already here and could kill you on your way out.” He grinned. “Start running, Norik.”

-~*~-

Norik, panting and gasping, arrived at his ship. He had eluded his pursuers so far, and if he could make it just a few more yards he’d be home free. He stepped up onto the ramp and his foot went through, causing him to pitch forward! He threw out his hands to catch himself on the ramp, but they went through too, and he landed with a loud thud on the ground below!
“What the hell ” muttered Norik. He got up, through the ramp of the ship. Then he realized what was happening. “A disguise field! That stupid Sodarik, where’d he hide my ship??” The holographic ship flickered and disappeared, revealing a small, cylindrical disguise field projector in the center of the clearing. Norik picked it up. A small trail of smoke trailed up from the small machine – it was broken, and melted around the top.
“Someone shot it looks like a civilian model lazar pistol ” muttered Norik. He looked up. “Nothing there huh, the blast looks like it came from a ship .”

-~*~-

High in the atmosphere, the old freighter Doom Cat floated, held up by antigravity fields. The airlock stood open, and a wiry-looking Rikkan was leaning out over the edge with a Lazar Energy pistol. His name was Catrik. He had defected from the Freepeople’s Alliance and joined the MRS Alliance, bringing with him the light cruiser Bakani , but he had his own agenda – namely, for now, helping Norik get back to safety. He tapped the targeting button on his Lazar pistol a few times, cycling it through the available targets – Norik, a small mammalian creature, Sodarik. He paused on Sodarik, but did not fire. While it was tempting to assassinate one of Korik’s top operatives, he knew Korik had scores more – people like Sodarik were trained from day one to be cannon fodder. Korik’s strength was in numbers, not skill.
Catrik cycled through a few more targets, then switched off the targeting device and tossed the Lazar pistol into the ship behind him. It hit the wall with a crack. He shrugged, grabbing a sniper rifle. Looking through the scope, he set the firing rate to continuous stream and focused on where Norik would be in three minutes if he kept on his current path. He fired in three lines, then admired his work – an arrow, pointing the way Norik would have to go to find his ship. He stood up, stepped back into the airlock, and closed the hatch.

-~*~-

Norik ran through the forest. Every once in a while, he heard a crackling sound behind him – either Sodarik, or one of his Dime-a-dozen Soldieriks. Whichever it was, he had to stay ahead of them. Suddenly, on the ground ahead of him, he saw an arrow! It pointed off to the right, and looked like it had been carved into the ground with a lazar beam. He quickly covered it up with dirt and leaves and ran off to the right. While it was tempting to be skeptical of the arrow, Norik was not one to look a gift Lopar in the mouth.
After merely a few minutes of running, Norik reached another small clearing. In it, looking none the worse for being moved around by the Soda Brigade, was his ship. Drawing his lazar pistol, he quietly went up the ramp and into the cockpit. He sat down in the pilot’s seat, turned on the ship’s comm unit, and typed in the frequency for Sodarik’s communicator. After a few seconds, the voice of the Soda Brigadier came on.
“Well, I see you made it to your ship,” he said pleasantly. “As per our agreement, I will let you go. But, you have to come back to the town square and retrieve Shorik. I assure you she is in fine condition – we have administered the antidote to the Purple Daisyweed poison, and she is already conscious, if a bit woozy.” Sodarik paused. “I’ll see you in a few minutes, Norik. Please don’t shoot my Soda Brigadiers on the way over – I’ve grown rather fond of them.” There was a click from the communicator as Sodarik signed off.
Norik shook his head. Who had ever heard of an honorable MRS officer? There’s one in every bunch, he thought, smiling. Just his luck that the one happened to be the man assigned to kill him. He powered up the Rebel Star and took off, skimming above the treetops toward B’rak Noi.

-~*~-

As Norik set the Rebel Star down in the center of B’rak Noi, he was forced to reassess his conclusion on the subject of Sodarik – the Soda Brigade commander had discarded the bottle of Coca-Cola in favor of a large mechanical battlesuit, standing nearly ten feet tall. Sodarik grinned maliciously as he pointed the battlesuit’s large guns at a wooden cross in the center of the square, bound to which was Shorik. Sodarik yelled, “Hey, Norik! Did you really think we’d just let you go? If you want Shorik to stay alive, come out of the ship! And if you bring any weapons, she’s dead!”
Norik grimaced. “That slimy slimeball!”
“Oh, and one more thing, Norik! Bring the Trinity out with you! We know you have it in there, and Korik is just dying to have it!”
Norik grimaced again. They just had to remember that, didn’t they? Sodarik would probably execute him on the spot, and then turn the Trinity and Shorik both over to Korik. Unless wait. There was one way to do this, but he couldn’t afford any mess-ups. Grabbing a pair of energy-proof work gloves, he dashed to the ship’s workroom. He slipped the gloves on and opened the Trinity’s cabinet. Taking the small pyramid out of it’s cabinet, he then picked up an electrical torch and turned it on to full, bathing the Trinity in it’s rays. The pyramid glowed with blue energy as he picked it up. “Perfect.”

-~*~-

Sodarik tapped his fingers impatiently. Wasn’t there some law about how a villain had to be on time for his execution? And he needed his soda. Maybe for the next mission he would install an intravenous soda machine in his mech. He fingered the triggers on his battlesuit’s weapon systems. Surely it wouldn’t hurt if he took a few shots at the Rebel Star.
“Sodarik! I’m here!”
Sodarik looked up. There was Norik, with the Trinity. He grinned. Then his grin was frozen in place, as Norik tossed the Trinity at him. “Catch!” The Trinity touched his battlesuit’s raised gun. There was a flash of blue.

-~*~-

Norik was sent sprawling as the Trinity’s power was let out in a flash of blue. There was another flash, this time orange, and a tremendous boom, as chunks of Dime-A-Dozen Soldierik and Mecha flew through the air.
Norik pulled himself upright. His eye adamantly refused to focus. The world was a blur of orange and black, burning his face with the heat of a small sun. “Sho rik ” he gasped, reaching his hand out to the black shape of the cross, framed brilliantly in orange. Then a Rikkan form appeared in front of him, reaching out a hand toward him. He tried to grasp it, but his eye went black, and he fell to the ground.

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

Obviously it's not even close to done, but at least I left off with a cliffhanger, eh? Constructive criticism is welcome, I know there are parts that suck, that's part of why it's a work in progress...

(edit)screw you, formatting.(/edit)

=Divals

This post has been edited by Divals the Conqueror : 18 July 2005 - 02:38 PM

Hey, your story is cool but i think you talk too much in it. Also if you made more of a begining, like why he is offerd the mission and no one else on the planet. Still its a original story good luck with it.

I'll bet Dorik Borik and Horik felt sad they weren't mentioned.

Cool story.