MOD:Yes, you can jump from Lethe to Earth, though it will take some time(Like 9 days game time).
---------------------
IC:Admiral Benden looked at the report in disgust. A manta had been severely damaged by Lethe ships who then had resisted arrest. Yet another enemy of the Rebellion.

------------------
"The heathens are upon us. Arm yourselves and go with God." Paul Benden, Commander of the Purple Sector Fleet, prior to the Battle of Cygni.
(url="http://"http://pub70.ezboard.com/bevtechsoftware")EVTech Software Webboard(/url)

UR shoots his last missile at the ships entering hyperspace, but it was wasted.
"Any idea where they are headed?" He asked the cruiser.
"We have very little idea, but we could send the others to the core worlds. If we send the signal now they might make it there before those ships do," The answer came in.
"O.K, make course for Tau Ceti and inform the others where thay are to go. I'm gonna dock and I should be at the bridge before we leave."
When UR reaches the bridge he is informed that the all the others have left for one of the core worlds. He looks out the veiwport as the stars streak into lines.

------------------
I try to think but nothing happens!- Ultimate Rebel

Luke regains consciousness for a while. He can tell he is in a fighter's small cargo hold. Probably a Rapier- no wait, those Lightnings... is he coming out of hyperspace? Luke falls asleep again, his last conscious thought being that he hopes someone realizes he's missing...

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

OOC: Now using third person, I am Miles
IC:
Miles lands his squadron on Lethe for refueling. While he is in the bar with the 3 other pilots, a LW-encrypted distress signal is recorded by their ships: "Cory requesting pickup. Strike destroyed by rebels, I ejected in Alcyon, need pickup, if no help arrives in 48 hours, will transmit general distress. Repeat..." Unaware, Miles and company return to their ships slightly drunk. Some unusual activity is going on around the space port-- soldier-types everywhere, but no shooting. "Holy Starz -- Cory's down -- taken out by rebels -- Gotta do somethin!" everyone shouts at once. Miles calls Tim and gets the full story.

Tim and the other survivers will arrive at Lethe in a few hours, probably with rebel pursuit. Miles glances around the space port, theres a lot more rebel soldiers around, they are looking for something. "Everybody lauch now-- We don't have clearan-- LAUNCH NOW!"

In orbit, a pair of mantas buzz the 4 Lightnings, but keep their distance. Lethe Space Traffic Control complains but Mercs do that all the time... Miles calls Cory "Sit tight, we will pick you up in 3 or 4 days. DO NOT SEND GENERAL DISTRESS." Cory acknowledges "OK, waiting". "Matt, Dave, Jeff, we will hang around in Lethe space till Tim's squadron arrives, then beat off any hostile rebels," might be Rebel Cruiser! "then head for New Cydonia".

The mantas alert rebel command "Bioscan match on missing pilot Luke in Lethe system. He is onboard a Lightning fighter, apparently injured. Fighter has escorts. We will follow them and provide updates."

OOC: I probably wont be around for the weekend..

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

(This message has been edited by magicianeer (edited 06-15-2001).)

Luke wakes up again, feeling better but not much. He sees a small view port near the bottom of the cargo hold and ambles over as best he can. Looking down he sees a planet, that, if he's not mistaken, is Lethe. "Oh, good, right where I wanted to be..." he mutters angrily- then, what's that? Rebel Mantas, trailing the mercenary who has held him captive. Luke grins. "So Reb High Command didn't forget about me," says Luke. Then he leans on a box of spare aux converters and tries to fall asleep again...

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

The Blood Dragon fleet, consisting of the Blood CLaw, Blood Tooth, Blood Talon, Blood Wing, Blood Horn, and Blood Ridge-all Rebel Cruisers-entered the Lethe system and deployed their fighters in a defensive cone formation. A few Lightnings jumped in system and went directly for Lethe. The Manta's followed at a leisurely distance, with the Cruisers moving to block the hyperspace routes to neighboring systems. The Cruisers are in place before the lightnings get to Lethe. Admiral Benden on the Blood Claw sends a broadband unencrypted message in the general direction of the Mercenary ships. Admiral Benden cleared his throat and spoke into the sound pickup, "Attention Mercanary unit, this is Admiral Benden, commander of Rebel Forces. You are to come to heading 238 and shut down your engines. If any harm has come to the Rebel operative on board your ship, you will be executed." He set the comm unit on auto-repeat, and had the Blood Claw move toward the ships. They were changing to the given heading, but they were aparently speeding up. He had the weapons officer fire a warning shot accross one of their bows and wated for a response.

------------------
"The heathens are upon us. Arm yourselves and go with God." Paul Benden, Commander of the Purple Sector Fleet, prior to the Battle of Cygni.
(url="http://"http://pub70.ezboard.com/bevtechsoftware")EVTech Software Webboard(/url)

IC: UR noticed no unusual activity and had the captain go back to New Cydonia.

------------------
I try to think but nothing happens!- Ultimate Rebel

(This message has been edited by Ultimate Rebel (edited 06-16-2001).)

Tim's group is late. No less than six of the rebels' finest show up and launch fighters. D@mn. Pretending to be Lethean defense ships wont work-- they've already pissed off Lethe Traffic Control, LTC would rat on them. Miles decides "Form on me, follow". Torch, Gladius, and Wrath form a triangle around Emp, and all head for the jump limit directly away from the rebels. Just as Miles gets under way, Tim's group straggles in. Mantas trail Tim's ship Blaze, the cruisers spread out. Tim heads directly for Lethe-- fool!. Miles doesn't dare call him, in case the rebels haven't deduced that they are together. Miles pulls alongside an Argosy heading out of the system.

Admiral Benden blasts his ultimatum across the system. Tim turns to comply.

Miles does some thinking: Luke is worth 5 million to LW, but to keep him, LW must sacrifice at least 3 more ships at a million apiece. Maybe more-- one of those cruisers was getting close. LW would roughly break even. If LW traded Luke for safe passage, LW would be down a million because Cory already lost his ship.

Miles calls up Admiral Benden: "Wing Commander Miles of the Lightning Wing speaking. Those ships are under my command. I propose a deal, you let all the members of the Lightning Wing enter hyperspace unmolested except me. After they are safely away, I will launch Luke in an escape pod. Then I will leave unharmed. Note that I am getting close to the Lethean hyper limit... stay out of laser range of all LW ships, or I'll jump out with Luke". Miles changes course to stay a couple of kilometers inside the hyper limit while avoiding the rebels. He and the LW wait for a reply.

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

Admiral Benden listens to the proposal over the intercom and thinks for a minute. He depresses the send button, "Unidentified vessel, I request visual proof that Commander Luke is on your ship, and then we will talk. Until then, we won't give you anything." Admiral Benden has one of the Mantas equipped with a hyperspace tracking device and launcher go in and tag the ship that broadcst the message on one of the wings. He stood up from his command chair and started to pace the bridge.

------------------
"The heathens are upon us. Arm yourselves and go with God." Paul Benden, Commander of the Purple Sector Fleet, prior to the Battle of Cygni.
(url="http://"http://pub70.ezboard.com/bevtechsoftware")EVTech Software Webboard(/url)

Luke is shaken awake by a man with a blaster. Because the man has a blaster, Luke decides to do what he is told.
"Git up there, rebel scum!" Luke walks in front of a Holo-cam.
"Well, there he is, 'Admiral' . Now will you accept?"

------------------
Write your complaints here: O
Please don't write out of the space.

(This message has been edited by Luke (edited 06-19-2001).)

Miles orders Luke into the escape pod. Miles almost finishes tying up Luke when the missile lock detector starts blaring. "WHAT! That BloodThirsty Viper Benden!" Miles jams himself into the escape pod on top of Luke and prepares for destruction.

A minute passes uneventfully. (The small tracer attaches quietly).

"Heh, fool with me will ya.." Miles mutters. Miles extracts himself from the escape pod, finishes tying up Luke and jumps into the pilot's pit. A pair of mantas is hanging just out of gun range. Must have been one of them. Miles turns Emp around, broadcasts to the rebels "Keep your distance, and NO MORE FUNNY BUSINESS!" Emp spews 20 javelins above the mantas. The manta pilots barely even glance at them.

On the LW encrypted channel: "Tim, form your group on me and prepare to jump" Tim replies "No fuel, can't jump." Sigh. Jeff intrudes, "Can I take 'em?--No! stay in formation unless they start shooting, and no more chatter. If they do start shooting, stay together, kill mantas, avoid cruisers, and jump out as soon as you are clear of the rebels." Broadcast to the rebels: "Admiral Benden, some of us need hyper gas, so I'm changing the deal. You allow that trio you have encircled to land on Lethe, refuel, launch, and join me at the edge of the hyper limit. Then they and my escorts will hyper out together, leaving me here with Luke. I drop Luke in an escape pod, then I hyper out. If you want Luke in a Confed prison, just try that missile lock schtick again."

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

Admiral Benden listened to this new transmission and thought for a minute. "Unidentified ship, that is unacceptable. I don't want you in a position were you could possibly take Lethean civilians hostage. You will come about and match Heading with the Blood Claw. We will transfer feul from our synthesizers onto your feul tanks. We will then allow you to leave after we have Commander Luke and have confirmed that he is unharmed. Respond." He sat back in his chair, and listend to the quiet beeping of the tracking device that was coming over the comm.

------------------
"The heathens are upon us. Arm yourselves and go with God." Paul Benden, Commander of the Purple Sector Fleet, prior to the Battle of Cygni.
(url="http://"http://pub70.ezboard.com/bevtechsoftware")EVTech Software Webboard(/url)

UR jumps into New Cydonia and discovers no one, "Well, where did they jump?"
"We have found there was an error in the entire computer area of tracking units. They must have sent a virus to us somehow and we went to the core worlds. I'm guessing they are probably in Lethe." UR had all the mantas to leave the bay and enter hyperspace to Lethe. "All Mantas: Make course for Lethe. All Cruisers: follow suit. Mantas have faster hyperspace, so they go first and the cruisers come in for reinforcements if neccesary. " UR left for his personal manta and they all entered hyperspace.

------------------
I try to think but nothing happens!- Ultimate Rebel

Luke is in an escape pod.He has to pee really bad. He hopes whatever deals are going on above him are finished soon...

------------------
Write your complaints here: O
Please don't write out of the space.

The mantas entered Lethe to find more rebel cruisers confronting a number of fighters. "Look!" a manta fighter exclaimed, "an escape pod."
UR flew as fast as possible to the escape pod as grabbed it with his tractor beam. He then flew to the nearest cruiser, and pulled out his blaster in case the inhabitant(s) is/are hostile.

Meanwhile~~~~
Luke, not being able to hold it any longer, urinates all over his captor.

------------------
I try to think but nothing happens!- Ultimate Rebel

Quote

Originally posted by Ultimate Rebel:
**Meanwhile~~~~
Luke, not being able to hold it any longer, urinates all over his captor.

**

!

------------------
Write your complaints here: O
Please don't write out of the space.

OOC: Re UR's escape pod: lets see, Cory's escape pod is in Alcyon, Luke has not yet been ejected, so this must be someone else...

IC:
Lethean hostages! Rebel capital ships close enough to transfer fuel (and soldiers, proton blasts)! Miles wonders "where does Admiral Benden get his weed?" Miles opens the LW encrypted channel to Thunder: "Miles reporting, we have a standoff with the rebels.." I give Thunder's comm officer the whole sorry tale. The comm officer responds "You're kidding! Derrick will rip you a new @$$#013 when he hears this-- Fine, just get over here and cover us".

Miles furiously broadcasts to the rebels: "Now look here Benden, there is no way we are letting any rebel cruisers within gun range, and No, I am not leaving the edge of the hyper limit either. We have no intention of killing anyb GAIAH AWus.. *<static>". Miles cuts the transmission and calms down as Luke finishes whizzing. When Luke is done, Miles gets the Medkit and injects Luke with another dose of tranqualizer juice. Then Miles hooks the escape pod's biological plumbing and intravenous feed to Luke, double checks all the knots, and closes the pod door. Miles turns the autocleaning bot loose in the cockpit. It does a competent job on his flight suit as well.

Thirty minutes later... the situation has deteriorated. Tim's squad moved out of the rebel-designated area and is now in a running dogfight with a squadron of mantas. More mantas have arrived. All three of Tim's squad appear intact for the moment, and the cruisers have not joined the action yet.

Miles calmly broadcast to the rebels: "Admiral Benden, we are rapidly approaching worst case outcome here. How about this, LW gathers around me, we trade fuel among ourselves so all of LW can jump out, then all LW ships except me jump out. I drop off Luke in my escape pod-- I only guarantee he is alive and in one piece-- then I leave. I assume you can scan an escape pod for signs of life and recover it. And pull back your mantas immediately or I'm outta here." On the LW encrypted channel: "Tim, Ed, Todd, form on me. Jeff, Mat, Ed, when they get here, Jeff refuel Tim, Matt refuel Ed, Dave refuel Todd.".

On New Cydonia...
After a week of fierce negotiations, Derrick convinces the Denebians to pay up for the escort job (one of their freighters was plundered), extracts a million credits from the Confeds for Luke's ship's log, and lands a lucrative, yet easy investigation job for New Cydonia: "Look around Lethe and nearby systems for any evidence of Rebel assistance to Lethe." He laughs all the way to Thunder, "Lift off, set course for Lethe, we got business!". As Thunder enters hyperspace, the comm officer tells Derrick exactly what kind of business he has in Lethe.

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

(This message has been edited by magicianeer (edited 06-20-2001).)

MOD:Tractor beams haven't been developed yet, so you can't have one.
------------------------------------
Admiral Benden listened to the comm unit as Luke took a wizz all over the interior of the Lightning. Just like Luke. "Deal. Set the escape pod to launch on course 21-13." He switches channels. "All fighters, give the Lightnings a radius of 4 kilometers. Put targeting computers on standby. Keep your engines warmed up in case they decided to bolt." He closed the channel and had his weapons officer ready the magnetic grapple.

------------------
"The heathens are upon us. Arm yourselves and go with God." Paul Benden, Commander of the Purple Sector Fleet, prior to the Battle of Cygni.
(url="http://"http://pub70.ezboard.com/bevtechsoftware")EVTech Software Webboard(/url)

Quote

Originally posted by Admiral Benden:
**Just like Luke.

**

What do you mean by that? j/k

-------------------------------------------
The escape pod ejects. Luke sighs happily as his bladder is finally relieved and he is pulled toward the Admiral's ship by a magnetic beam.........

------------------
Write your complaints here: O
Please don't write out of the space.

(This message has been edited by Luke (edited 06-21-2001).)

The rebels disengage from Tim's squad. Miles relaxes slightly. A UGE kestrel arrives as the LW refueling operation finishes; "Just in time to be useless" Miles notes. Derrick has wisely disguised Thunder as a UGE courier. Since the rebels are keeping reasonable distance, Miles ejects the escape pod with Luke in it on course 21-13 even though nobody has jumped out yet. On the LW encrypted channel: "All fighters, jump to New Cydonia, I will retrieve Cory and rejoin you." They leisurely cross the hyper limit and depart. After they are gone, I hurriedly cross the hyper limit and jump to Alcyon.

Thunder lands on Lethe, and several completely ordinary persons disembark. Derrick hires some dock hands to repaint Thunder as well.

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

(This message has been edited by magicianeer (edited 06-21-2001).)