Rise of Phanon LUV DiD

[facastefff]

And btw: waiting eagerly for the next chapter

So am I, but I fear our friendly writer is getting more and more projects on his hands. First litcube baited him into working for the wiki, then there is the Wings-mod and now a second DiD. Makes me sad.
I sure hope you don't give up on this one, kaistern, we need to see it move on!

[kaistern]

Aww i did realize ya'll still cared

I have put a lot on my plate recently but meh... assuming it isn't to busy at my "writting studio" this weekend i'll write more then maybe before then but idk

[kaistern]

How can you not like writing dialogue? You got some really great characters like Gizmo, Frankie, Valse, Elaine, Kar'l and Nina Nu.

You are doing very well in giving them life already, look at them as your friends. If there is something you do not like, embrace it and practice all the more.

And btw: waiting eagerly for the next chapter

It's not that I hate dialogue its just that.... it is hard to write I know that the more I do it the easier it will become untill it is really easy and so I am trying to add more and more to it, and lord knows there are a lot of areas I would like to expand. But it literally gives me a headache after the tenth time I have gone over the same material to make sure all the characters sound "in-character" and that there is no useless dialogue or, some thing that I am really bad at, the dialogue doesn't become a FAQ. I have this really bad tendency for my dialogue to sputter away until it literally looks like a FAQ of information that I am trying to spoon feed you .

"Why is the moonround?"

"Because the centrfical force of the moon's...(snip)..."

"What is centrifical force?"

"The force a object....(snip)...."

"Why?"

"bla bla bla bla..."

"What?"

"Bla bla bla bla..."

and that's just horrible writing well anyhow I am going to stop wasting time and get to writting todays post

[kaistern]

There are so many spelling errors in the following post, however my computer does not have spell check and I am out of time... So it's post it rough or odn't post it at all... I'll clean it up when I get time later today or tomorrow in the mean time enjoy!

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

Karl walked onto the Bridge of the Wrath nursing a hangover. Kar'l was not used to waking up to bright lights and such noise! Normally his usual morning hangover would be greeted by the beautful darkness of space and a 90% shader he had installed to keep the light from any sun or ships engines from hurting his eyes. But there was no such mercy on the tiny bridge of the Wrath. Sure 60% of the room was covered in veiwscreens depicting space, but the rest of the room was bathed in what currently seemed to be the light of a thousand suns.

"Good morning captain." Said a three eyed humanoid sitting at the helm.

"What's so good about it Slidders?" Slidders was an oddity. First off he was the first athiest Paranoid that Karl had ever heard of. Second his name was Slidders, who ever heard of a Paranoid with such a name? And lastly he just didn't act like a Paranoid. Never once had Karl heard him say anything about the holyness this or the great that. Even if you asked him about why he was an athiest he just clammed up. Weird.

"Well, we're alive, we all have very good pay checks, and we are half way through our 3 day patrol and have yet to see any enemy activity." Even after three days of this Karl was not sure if he was going to be able to accept a Slidders as his XO. Miles had insisted that he was very good at what he did, but sometimes Karl wondered about Miles judgement, after all, an athiest Paranoid!?!

Karl sat down in the command chair and brought up the logs from the last night...

[log entry-XO Slidders]2250:Jumped through gate to Antigone Memorial in formation with the Vengeance, fighter squardren to follow. Sector scanned for hostiles. None found. Sector Scanned for God. None found. Vengeance made contact with sector defence. All quite. Proceding in formation to Power Circle.

[log entry-XO Slidders]0350:Jumped through gate to Power Circle in formation with the Vengeance, fighter squardren to follow. Sector scanned for hostiles. None found. Sector Scanned for God. None found. Vengeance made contact with sector defence. All quite. Proceding in formation to Three Worlds.


[log entry-XO Slidders]0650:Jumped through gate to Three Worlds in formation with the Vengeance, fighter squardren to follow. Sector scanned for hostiles. None found. Sector Scanned for God. None found. Vengeance made contact with sector defence. All quite. Proceding in formation to Cloudbase Northwest.

Karl shook his head, it was one thing to not believe in God but to be so blasphemeth? Karl believed in the God of the Split who created the universe and tought the split the way of the warrior. He was not sure if the Split God and the Paranoid God were the same but for anyone to insult any god in such a manner?

"Captain I have Commedore on the line, he says it is urgent." The communications officer said as he patched William through.

"Morning Karl, you look ripe and eager this morning." Wil'helm said smiling evilly. The humor faded from his face replaced by a seriousness Kar'l had never seen in the young man's eyes before as he continued, "I just received a distress call from one of my traders in Elain's Fortune. A Phanon Demios and assorted fighters attacked it, though it made it away safely." A Demios? Karl thought as images of the Paranid designed frigate flashed across his mind, Were would they acquire one of those? "I am afraid that they are planning on continuing on their path and that they plan to attack the Complex in orebelt. We have to stop them."

"Wil'Helm, it is a Demios, a FRIGATE! They are not to be taken lightly, but I am sure with our fighters to help we will take it!" Kar'l felt his heart starting to pound, the thrill of a truely worthy fight exciting him.

"Negitave, bearly any of the fighters are equiped with jumpdrives. Frankie is going to take the squadren and head for President's End, were we will fall back if the Demios proves to be more then a match for us." A devilish smile came back across william face, "Besides when was the last time two corvette's managed to capture a Frigate, huh? Imagine the stories." Kar'l couldn't help but lose himself momentarly in the romance of it all. That kind of story would bring much honor to his families name.

"When do we jump?" Kar'l asked with anticipation radiating from his face.

"Now my friend, The demios is headed towards the south gate in Elaine's Fortune presumably to restock after fighting the traders drones off. We are going to jump in on top of them and hopfully catch their convoy halfway through the gate. The Marine Lander is ready as soon as we get the demios' shields down. Jump on my mark, 3... 2... 1... JUMP!"


----------


Elaine's Fortune blosomed into view as the Wrath brust from the gate. A fighter banked hard and bearly managed to evade being run over by the Wrath as it barroled forward at full speed. Kar'l brought the main guns to bear and fired a salvo into the fighter nearly breaking it shields. The fighter shot back meaninglessly and then tried to make another run for the gate; but Karl let loose another salvo and the fighter errupted into a ball of fury. Kar'l pulled the Wrath around to search for more targets in time to see missiles from the Vengeance rip apart two more fighters.

"Shit, I didn't expect them to run quite so quickly, so much for our element of suprise." Wil'Helm radioed over. "Ok Jumping to Split Fire in 3... 2... 1... JUMP!"


----------


Split fire was a much plainer veiw with almost no stations to be found, Kar'l noted as the Wrath and the Vengeance came through the Gate together. Karl's scanners immediatly picked up the demios as well as three heavy fighters, two interceptors, and four scouts.

"Hold position and watch this." Karl bought the Wrath to a stop a missile after missile began to bloom from the missile tubes of the Vengeance. Hundreds of missiles soon filled the air as the Phanon fighter despiratly tried in vain to escape. Seconds later nothing remained between them and their target.

"God I love missiles," William said over the radio, "Hold on I am getting a hail from the demios... Maybe they want to surrender?" Highly unlikely. Karl thought. "Patching it through.

The bridge of the demio came to life on the forward view screen dipicting a much younger captain then Karl had been expecting. Sitting in the command chair of the demios was a maybe 25 year old Argon clad in a formidable black Uniform that was perfessionally pressed to be absoultly perfect. Several Medals decorated the man's chest and he proudly wore the insignia of Rear Admiral on his collar.

"Good Morning Gentalmen. It is rather unseemly that you would attack without first introducing yourselves. I am Read Admiral Gordek of Nova Corperation." Karl felt a little stunned at such mild manners from a man who just watched his entire fighter wing disappear in a cloud of missiles. A cold ruthlessness seemed to eminate from every mild mannered word Gordek spoke.

"Enough with pleasentries." William returned, "Surrender your ship and no one else has to die today."

Admiral Gordek let out a long and sinister laugh, for several minutes before getting a hold of himself, "You and what fleet? Oh that was good, I'll tell you what, I am late for my Daughter's wedding. How about you turn around and disappear and I'll just assume you are some hapless pirates not the Phanon Corp. most wanted individial."

"You may want to let your aughter know your going to be late because today that ship goes home with me."

"Suit yourself," Admiral Gordek said with a grin, "All cannons fire at will."

The Wrath shivered as Ion Disruptors blasted into it's shields. Kar'l pushed the thruster all in and returned fire with the HEPTs. The vengeance also began moving firing it's cannons.

"Shields at 85%!" The engineer yelled as another wave blasted into the Wrath. Kall glanced at the tactical screen to see the Demios' shields had fallen to 90%. Maybe we have a chance? Karl thought as he pour fire from the main cannons into the frigate. The corvettes continued to try and outmanuever the frigate however the true firepower of the frigate lie in it's broadsides which could fire at almost any angle from the ship and under Admiral Gordek's hand they never missed an opertunity and the well trained gunners fired with deadly accureacy. Karl winced as another volley shattered across his shields bringin them to a meassly 3%, while a glance at his Tactical display showed a grim sight his weapon capacitors completely drained and the frigates shields still at 10%. That's it there is nothing more we can do Karl thought as he opened a comm link to the Vengeance.

"Wil'helm, We are out of weapon power. Our shields are..." Another blast of cannon fire rocked the Wrath this time carving into the hull. "Down!" William's face was pinched as he searched for a way to win. Karl watched as the frigate opened fire once more this time on the Vengeance. Fire ripped across it's hull as the shields failed and the frigate brokethrough to the hull. Explosions ripped across the bridge as the frigate's gun overloaded near by conduits. karl watched in horror as William was tossed head over heels into the far wall by the explosion.

"Wil'Helm!!!!!!" Kar'l roared trying to think despirately of a way to save his friend. He turned his ship to face the frigate and started to accelerate. The frigates shields were down and if he hit it in just the right angle he could take it with him.

Karl was so focused on the frigate that he bearly head a whispered voice trying desperatly to be head. "Kar...l... ju....mp.... Presi...dent's... End...." Kar'l looked down at the comm's screen to see a badly battered and burn William clutching his rib cage with one hand as he held himself up against the captain's chair with the other. Relief to see that his friend was not dead flooded him and distracted him... then looking up the frigate was less the 300 meters away and closing fast. Karl pushed down on the stick to try and clear the frigate as he activated the jump drive. The frigte loomed closer and closer as the jump drive spooled up 150 meters... 75 meters... 25 meters......


----------


President's Ends burst into view as a relief to Kar'l... just 1 more second and it would not have been the case. Kar'l sighed as the Veneance aslo emerged from the gate just seconds after him. The Vengeance looked rough, with scortch marks running all up and down it's side, Karl would hate to see what the Wrath looked like... Turning his attention back to the rest of the secotr Kar'l found another sight that made his heart feel light, then entire Dragon Squadran sitting not 10 Km off. Salvation.........

[kaistern]

"What's our status?" I asked to my assembled leautinents.

It had been several weeks since our encounter with the Demios. Mear minutes after we had retreated to President's End, I collapsed leaving Jones in command of the Vengeance. From what I was told after the event he arranged for my transport to the hospital while he and the rest of the dragons awaited the Demios. But it never came. For days they waited in President's End but the demios must have had enough. Finally they pulled back to begin repairs.

"All ship repairs are complete, Commedore." Miles stated standing from his chair. I had asked Miles, Jones, Kar'l, and Frankie to a special diner to get me cought up on what I had missed in my time in the hospital. "The blast that you were in was actually more of a lucky shot then anything else. The Wrath was actually the worse off of the two ships. In the end I had to replace 7% of the Vengeance's hull plating and 16% of the Wrath's. In the end the repairs made us 435 thouasand credits"

"I dont suppose you would mind explainning how repairing my ships made me money?" I asked as Miles made to sit down. He shot me an evil grin.

"Nope, state secrets and all." I shook my head, trouth be told I was not sure I wanted to know what laws he broke to obtain his ends.... At least it made me money.

"While I was in the hospital I had a lot of time to think about our future. It is not enough anymore to stay put in our home. It is past time that we branch out and explorer the rest of the galaxy. To this end starting tomorrow I want half of our light fighters to continue mapping the galaxy, starting off where frankie left off. The other half will fallow behind deploying trade satilites for the other economic half of Dragon co." Frankie nodded, I could see the number going through his head. 15 fighters in the squardren, a full 10 of which were lights... 2/3 of his fighters of the line... Well he wasn't going to like what came next any more... "As well, the recent attacks on our assets have made me realise the inherant weak of our fighters. It is to costly too equip them all with jumpdrives and energy cells. Yet without the ability to jump, in the event of an attack on our facilities, the fighters will be left behind. I ran simulation after simulation and in each the presence of the fighters was the difference between victory and defeat. Because of this the heavy fighters will remain in Ore Belt to guard the factories." Frankie shot our of his chair suprise flash over his face.

"You can't be serious! Your removing the fighters from duty!?!"

"No. You still have your duties, and once we obtain some sort of carrier then you will be back on active patrols. But until then I can not risk you not being here in the event of an attack."

"Yes sir..." Frankie set back down with a sigh. Then looking back up he smiled. "I trust your looking into a carrier? I wouldn't mind being the Captain of an Odin..."

"I'm sure you wouldn't, make you a deal, you convince the Terrans to give me one and I'll let you be the captain."

"Wil'helm what of us?" Kar'l interjected.

"Glad you asked. Since things on the mission front have cooled down in argon space lately we will head out looking for work, and ships. Our mission now is to capture anything that i can put marines onto. And it's as simple as that."


----------(1)

"Captain on DECK!" Jones bloated out as I stepped on to the Bridge of the Vengeance for the first time in weeks.

"At ease gentlemen" I replied feeling ill at ease myself. I still was not used to such military protocol, But it seemed that while I was gone Jones' had been working tirelessly to impose it behind my back.

"Commedore, welcome aboard."

"Thank you Jones. It's good to be back." I said as i walked over to the command chair and slowly sat down. Truth be told I missed this very much. "Helm, set course for Empire Mines, transmit destination to the Wrath and prepare to jump."

"Aye, Captain. Setting jumpdrive to Empire Mines... Wrath confirms jump cordinates.. Jumping in 3..2..1.."

We emerged from the eastern gate of Empire Mines to the normal systems traffic... nothing spectacular.

"Comms, contact the local Sec. Def an-"

"Sir I have an incoming hail fro-"

<COLLISION ALERT! COLLISION ALERT>

The entire ship jerked to the side as the Helmsman used every available thruster to throw the ship violantly to starboard. Bearly in time a not a second later an osprey shot by with it's escorting fighters.

"Sorry captain, I guess I was not far enough away from the gate."

"Dont worry about it leutenant, that was some good work on the evasives. Now then, Comms what were you saying before we were almost run over?" I asked as I watched the Osprey on the viewscreen head towards a local mine.

"I have the foreman of Ore Mine beta on the line sir. He says it's urgent."

"Onscreen, Leautinant." A three-eyed something apeared on the screen. Paranoids... Who could really even tell what they were?

"Captain! The holiness begs your mercy! Even now foul pirates, nay demons!, are on their way to attack us! We are def-"

"Wait they would happen to be lead by an Oprey would they?"

"Yes how did you---"

"We accept!" I said as I seververed the comm link. "Helm engines to full, Jones are we in range of the osprey?"

"Aye sir, 1k and falling, but we are still in weapons range."

"Give them a full salvo. Comms have the Wrath take out the fighters, and get the Marine Lander here ASAP!!!"

Ion beam lashed out from our main cannons scoring hit after hit as the morrigu blasted through several of the fighters. The oprey tried to come about but it was slow and sluggish, making it all to easy for the Helmsman to keep us behind her and to keep out cannons aimed true. It didn't take long for the Osprey's shields to fall and by that time the Marine Lander was already beside her and then...

"...shht... Marine 1 to overwatch. We're aboard. Proceding to the command deck. No opposition met... shht.."

Minutes passed with occasional updates as the marines swept through the decks and then...

"...Shht... Marine 1 to overwatch. Command deck secured. We have control...shht"

"Overwatch to Marine 1. Good job, there is a shipyard in Paranoid prime. Head there for refit."

"...Shht... Aya Commedore, Major Kult out...shht..."

The oprey slowly started moving towards the east gate as we swung the Vengeance back around to find the Wrath returning having destroyed all of the Pirate fighters. A quick come to a grateful Paranoid to collect the debt and we were back on our way... One osprey richer.

"Captain!" The Comms officer shouted "Incoming distress signal. It's one of ours."

"Not agian..." I said. Suddenly all of my ellation from capturing the oprey was gone. Was the Demios back already?


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

Next time on Rise of Phanom:

Nina Nu jumped behind a craft of cargo, dodging several laser blasts.

"...shht... Overwatch to marine 1, status report... Whats going on?...shht..."

Glancing over to one of the several dead marine littered around the cargobay Nina Nu pressed down on his comm link to answer back.

"This is Nina Nu. They are all dead. Say again I am the last one left, send help!"

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(1) Note about the word Captain. It is both a rank and a title. Who ever is "in charge" of a ship is the ship's "captain" regardless of the person's actual rank.

[Zaitsev]

Yay, an update I also see you've been taking notes regarding cliffhangers

[kaistern]

Yay, an update I also see you've been taking notes regarding cliffhangers

Maybe I have, Maybe I have not....

Ok I have, you like it? i don't think I'll use them as much as you do, but maybe on the eve of events that I think are really cool... a harbinger epicness... err... well at least in my mind

[kaistern]

"This Furry, Sector Rhy's Desire. I am receaving heavy fire from a Nova Fleet. Repeat I am under heavy fire and need immeadiate assistance." Furry was one of the pilot that had flown with us since nearly the beginning, and when I had ordered the light fighters to set out exploring he had been one of the first to volenteer.

"Furry, this is Vengeance actual. Make haste to the nearest safe station and get me a sit rep."

"Aye Vengeance, I have a couple of Harriers on my tail but I can shake them. I see Marlin Corvette as well as several fighters. Two heavies, two lights, and.. maybe 5 scouts. I have docking clearance at an ore minning proceding to hot dock." I continued to keep the comms line open until Furry made it to the mine and saftey. Now that the immediate threat was passed I opened a line to the Osprey I had just captured.

"Major Kult I need your men back on board the Lander ASAP. Prepare for another Op."

"Captain, who is going to man the Osprey? We're not leaving it adrift are we?"

"Negative, I am transporting aaa..." I glanced at Jones not sure who I could trust to command the osprey while we went after the Marlin.

"Leautinant O'her will be honored captain." Jones offered. The Helmsman turned from his console slackjawed.

"Me sir? I... ah... I mean..."

"Leautenant, report to the transporter room. Dont break my new ship."

"AYE SIR!" He said jumping up and throwing a quick salute before rushing off the bridge.

"Are you sure we can trust him Jones?" Jones shrugged slightly

"Better then leaving it adrift. Beside I figure he knows if he tries any funny buessiness we will hunt him down." I transfered control of the helm to my seat and then flipped open a comms link the the wrath.

"Kar'l hope you haven't made any plans for tonight. A Marlin just attacked Furry in Rhy's Desire and I think I feel like thanking them for there generosity."

"Ah Wil'helm, it will be a glorious day indead. I stand ready, shields and weapons at full." I grinned a glorious day indead. Punching in the cordinants for Rhy's Desire I opened a wormhole...


----------

Rhy's Desire Open up in front of me as the ships computer whinned about hostiles it quickly found. Looked like Furry had a good eye, his ship count was just right and thanks to his escape attempt the enemy was out of formation and spread in a line almost from one side of the system to the other.

"Jones fire missiles, standard barrage." Missiles lanced out quickly wipping out one after another after another of the enemy fighters leaving us alone with the Marlin and a single Kea hidding behind it. I pushed the throttle to full and charged at the marlin weapons blazing. It's shields droped to 45% before we came nearly nose to nose forcing it to dive and leaving me zeroed in on the Kea behind it.

"FIRE SILKWORMS!!" I said as I basted the Kea with the Ion Disruptors.

"Negative captain, that was the last of our missles, were dry." Well shit, no one said this was going to be that easy. I thought as I blasted the fighter with the HEPT batteries. A few more rounds and the Kea's reactor could take no more. Leaving the wreckage behind I turned to find Kar'l in a knife fight with the Marlin and he was giving far better then he was getting. I pushed the throttle in and made to intercet the Marlin firing as I closed the distance. I closed quickly but as i got with in 500 meter the Marlin turned sharply towards me...

<Collision ALER--->

The warning was to late as the top of the marlin collided with the under belly of the Vengeance. I was thrown from my seat as several of the terminals exploded from the energy surge. I could hear metal screeching as I rolled across the floor. Visions of my ship being torn apart flooded my eyes as I lay there waiting for the inevitable vaccume to engulf us.

But it never came. What seemed like an eternity later, even though it way but a few seconds later, Jones helped me up off the ground.

"Our shield held sir, their critical but they held!" He said with a shit eating grin on his face. "We torn the Marlin a new cargo hatch though. She is still alive but her hull integraty is down to 23%. Marine one is on route, she will be ours soon!"


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Nina Nu grinnned as he fell toward the Marlin with the rest of the Marine on his tail. It took all the fun out of finding a way on board a ship when you local freindly captain ripps a hole in it, but it sure does make it easy. Nina Nu touched down gracefully on what was left of a bulkhead as several other marines touched down beside him. The other marines had quickly started following in his example some even going as far as asking him to teach them his way. They quickly and queitly ghosted to an blastdoor that had sealed to keep the rest of the ship from decompressing. Nina Nu smiled as one of the best of the hackers quickly hacked through the door and gain them entrence to the ship. Air rushed out at them as they forced their way in and sealed the door behind them. More easy prey Nina Nu thought with a smile. The Hacker shoot him a smile, an expression that conveyed the same thoughts as Nina Nu himself was having. It was the last time the boy ever smiled.

Laser fire ripped out of nowhere ripping the head off of the Hacker. Nina Nu's reflexes kicked in sending him summersaulting over the dead marine as he fire dthe laser guns built into his suit's wrists toward the far end of the corridor, where the enemy fire had come from. He was awarded with a cry of pain that he silenced with another burst from his wristguns. The body of the marine brought a frown to his always smiling face. So much potential lost.... Frak when did i become sentimental? Hearing foot steps from the corridor he motioned for the other marines and then charged through a nearby door, hoping that there were not any badies on the other side. More laser fire welcomed him into the room as he dove for cover behind a nearby crate. This time it was not from any sentiant life form but instead from internal security lasers. FRAK! He thought as he jumped out from behind his cover to fire at the turret. Two shoots from his laser and the turret was no more. He turned around to find two more of his fellow marines laying dead on the floor.

"Damn you argonians, why do you die so easy?" He screammed at their bodies. Two marines clad in black rushed in through a door at the far end of the room firing towards his. Nina Nu dropped to the floor and rolled throwing a ion granade to the new comers. One of them caught it from the air not realising until blue-white light burst from the granade and consumed them both. The four marines that remain with Nina Nu followed him to the door. he kicked it open to find a corridor with rooms branching off in either direction. So many places to hide, so many place to lay in waiting he thought as his mind race to find a way. Picking a door at random he rushed in to find himself in a cargo room filled with yet more crates. Shizen! I will never make progress like this!" The other marines followed him in spreading out looking for anything hostile. It came to soon. Lasers errupted from behind them striking two of the marine dead. Nina Nu and the others took cover behind some of the crates as more black clad marines flooded into the room. Nina Nu threw the last of his granades at them cursing himself for not bringing more. He followed the granades with several volleys from his wristguns as he prayed to the god of luck to save them. The God of luck was not on their side. As Nina Nu and his companions laid down fire on the door way from which the black clad marines were coming another automated turret sprang to life behind them. Before Nina Nu could sound the alarm it opened fire and blasted through his two remmaining allies.


Nina Nu jumped behind a craft of cargo, dodging several laser blasts.

"...shht... Overwatch to marine 1, status report... Whats going on?...shht..."

Glancing over to one of the several dead marine littered around the cargobay Nina Nu pressed down on his comm link to answer back.

"This is Nina Nu. They are all dead. Say again I am the last one left, send help!"

Nina Nu knew he was quickly running out of options as his hands ran through his pockets until they came to rest on Singularity mine. He smiled as he armed it to a timer and then ran as fast as he could.


----------

A singularity mine is banned throught the known universe for a good reason. Unlike normal weaponry it does something truely stupid, it creates a miniture black hole. Now most of the time they work as intended and only create a blackhole a single atom in size for not only a fraction of time, but in that time they still cause massive distruction to anything anywhere near them. It is a blackhole after all.

[kaistern]

"Major Kult whats going on?" I asked him over the comms link.

"Not good captain, the first wave was wiped out but the second wave is making progress. Their under heavy fire though and there have already been casul-"

Kult was cut off as suddenly the Marlin violently shook with a massive boom. The ship seemed to visably twist.

"Captain, I am detecting a forming singularity!" Jones shouted from his station, then a look of confusion came over his face. "It's gone, it was only there for a second..."

"Boss, it's a Singularity mine." Gizmo said as terminal to my left popping to life. "They have been baned from the entire commonwealth they are so dangerous!"

"They would use a singularity mine on their own ship!?!" I asked in shook. Who in their right mind would use such a weapon at all, much less aboard their own ship!

"Captain I am detecting spike from the Marlins plasma core. It's going critical, she going to blow!" Jones said

"Kult get your men out of there."

"Already ahead of you captain, I just beam squad two off the ship. I am headed to a safe distance now."

"Gizmo give a count down." I asked as I backed us off to a safe distance as well. I was mad, never before had I lost a single man, and now? I still did not know what the dealth toll was.

"Core overload in 10... 9... 8... 7..." I watched as several escape pods launched from the Marlin as the remains of her crew tried to escape. "6... 5... 5... 5... Boss the core just stabilized." I frowned, cores did not "just stabilize."

"Captain we are receiving a hail from the Marlin." The commsman said

"Onscreen" To my great shock I was meet with the smiling face of Nina Nu.

"Did someone order a marlin?"

[kaistern]

Behind the sceens:

This battle did not go the way I origanally planned. I did not actually ram it by accident, but instead after several attempts to board it that failed, because the marlin was faster then I was used to, I jumped back into the Vengeance and applied the breaks for them... with laser fire. I dont do that anymore. In the end i did manage to reduce it's speed to a more manageable level and then was able to board her. And then she took losts of damage. I didn't know it at the time but when you order a ship to attack shields the turrets do not obey that command and at this time they were set to protect the ship so through out the entire boarding op both of my ships's HEPT turrets were pouring fire onto my new price. In the end my boarding team did not win. They bail ship, and then I got very very very luck. At 2% hull left the marlin bailed, it was the first and only time I have ever seen a ship greater then a m3 bail. In the end I lost 10 of the 30 marines I had at the time. Amazingly Kult and Rider never made it into the Marlin. Nina Nu made it onto the ship in the first wave, however by the time I transported the left over marines back aboard the lander and then redeployed them, and then they caught up to Nina Nu he was the last on from the first squad alive.


This ended up being a successfull operation, however it was very messy. They got a lot better from their. (except for the few that failed :-/ )

[kaistern]

So intrestingly enough I have not actually played x3 in about 3 weeks due to some renovations I am making on my house/picking up extra shifts at work for the holidays... Honestly at the moment I dont even know where my computer is!!! I have been watching a lot on andromeda though (man I miss that show) So in the mean time until I can find time to play (and find my dang computer) I have been trying to get rid of a lot of the back log I have going on. But I didn't realise how bad it had gotten! I just counted it up and I have 35 major encounters (fights with m6 or larger ships for the most part) that I have saved on my DiD notes! So in an effort to catch up I am going to focus more on the action for a little bit and grind through some notes lol. Jeez I remember a time when I started writing content that actually had nothing to do with the game because I was completely caught up, and now I am really behind!

Any how back to writting.

[kaistern]

"Your alive?!?" I blurted out, "I thought you were dead."

Nina Nu's smile just got bigger. "You thought that I can be killed that easily? You have much to learn about me I am afraid."

"What is the status of the Marlin? We are reading massive damage from a singularity weapon." The boron nodded his head a few times

"Yes, yes that was unfortunant, however I have manage to stabalise the ship. Ship will fly just not very fast. Though her jump drive is still functional. Nina Nu out."

I turned to Jones who was at the tac station. "What do you think Jones, how would you like to be the proud captain of a Marlin" I grin expecting him to jump on the opertunity for a promotion to captain. Jones turned towards me shaking his head.

"With all due respect, I'll pass. I think you need me here to watch your ass then over there. Slidders has shown a lot of promise, other then his odd style of reports, why don't you give it to him."

I was shocked, I just had no idea why Jones would pass on a promotion. "Are you sure?" he shook his head. "Alright then." I said opening a comm line to the Wrath. "Kar'l, please inform Lt. Commander Slidders that he is officially promoted to the rank of Commander and needs to report to duty as the Captain of our new Marlin." I watched smiling as behind Kar'l a paranoid, presumably slidders, jumped out of his seat and then tripped over his own feet in his excitment.

"Really sir? I get my own ship?" Slidders asked picking himself up off the deck.

"You heard me right. You first orders are to jump to CBSE and have Miles find you a crew and repairs and refit."

"Aye commedore!" He said throwing me a quick salute before dashing off to his new ship. I turned in my seat to face Jones.

"See Jones, now THAT is how you are suppose to act when someone offers you a ship."


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

The next week progressed quickly. Both the Opsrey and the Marlin were brought back to CBSE, repaired and refitted. We sold off all the weapons from the Marlin and replaced them with HEPTs. The osprey on the other hand, was fully equiped with Ion Disruptors which I desided to leave in place. I build two more wasp missile factories and added them to the missile complex, though Miles was now having problems getting enough food to feed all of the workers. Turns out workerts go on strike when their not properly feed. Who would have thought? To make up for it I bought five meatsteak bakeries and five cattles ranches. It was way more then the six facotries I had needed but i figured that gave me room to grow, and I could allway sell the excess for profit.

We ran some more mission though nothing really intresting happened, except for a massive invasion of the Hole by our favorite brand of toasters. It didn't help that some pirates thought it would be a good idea to raid the sector while the police were busy with the Xenon. We found hard for most of a day and in the end we were able to salvage an eclipse and 2 Ms as well as a Discoverer Hauler. The eclipse was a really slow ship, and the Ms were to fragile so I sold the Lot of them. The Discoverer though... I don't know why but I just liked the look of it, so I had Gizmo take it back to the Free Trade Station we called home.

We ran some more quick and easy mission, mostly just fighting off some pirate or Xenon fighters. We weren't making much money like this however the experiance of fighting together in corvettes was priceless. Slidders was turning out to be a very skilled captain and O'her wasn't bad either. Then Frankie called...

----------

"Commander Frankie to Commodore McCloud." The commslink pimped to life while we were making a routine patrol of President's End.

"Go ahead, Frankie."

"Guess what I found. A Magnetar class light carrier for dirt cheap. You got two options boss. Either A, you can buy it or B, I am going to buy it. But either way we now have a Carrier and us fighter jocks can get in on some of the fun."

"That's great Frankie. Use the Company account to purchase it, fit it. I expect you ready to go by 0300 hours. Oh and dock my new Discoverer to it, I have a plan for her."

"But boss that means I can only have three fighters!" He whined. I wasn't impressed and I guess my facial expression relayed as much. "Fine we'll be there at 0300. Frankie out."

[Nick Northern]

Reading through your thread and loving it. Thanks for your encouragement on my thread and keep up the good work on this one. Thinking about playing with Litcube's mod because of your story.

[kaistern]

Glad you like it! :D:D:D:D:D:D

LU is really awesome you should give it a try!

And I still want MOAR from your story.

[kaistern]

It had been to long since I had flown a fighter craft and I quickly found I had missed the speed and navigability of scout craft even more. I smiled as I brought her to dock at Blue Command and Control, the Magnetar Frankie had bought for us.

Hoping out of the cockpit I made my way out of the hanger and into the control room. The Magnetar was really just a refitted Mercury, its cargo pods replaced with hangars for fighter craft, and an expanded bridge to allow for Command and control operations. However it was still small. The center of the small room was dominated by a circular holoprojector that displayed the local space in great detail. Displays on the walls to the left and the right of the room showed the current status of the four fighters tasked to the Magnetar as well as any enemy craft targeted. The bulkhead at front of the command room had been replaced with thick glass in which the a helm command console faced allowing the pilot to easily navigate through space. Frankie, Jones, and the Captains of the Corvettes were waiting for me as I came into the room. Frankie came to attention as I entered the room with the others quickly following suit.

"That's not necessary gentlemen. This isn't the navy no need for such formalities."

"Sorry commodore, such displays are good for morale. How was your test flight? Everything meet your expectations?" Frankie asked he hand coming down from attention.

"Yes, I seem to have forgotten how good it is to fly fighter craft. But lets not delay, I found myself asking an interesting question of myself today. The Marlin we captured was under orders to hunt down and attack our assets; however why was it in Rhy's Desire? We have no assets anywhere near there and Phanon Co. already knows we operate out of Argon space. The only answer I could come up with is that their base of operations must be near there. Even though the Marlin's navigational data was destroyed before we could recover it we know that she entered the system from southern gate which leads me to believe it is south of Rhy's Desire." The other commanders nodded their heads while I spoke. "At 0800 hours we will begin an operation to find the Phanon Homebase."

"Wil'helm, will we attack them when we find them." Kar'l asked

"If we have overpowering force yes." "Then tomorrow will be interesting indeed."

----------

The discoverer shot out from the Magnetar like a bullet from a gun, leaving the bigger ship in its wake. My little fleet had warped to Rhy's Desire and was following as I scouted ahead in the much swifter discoverer. South I found another Split system, Family Rhy. South of there, a Boron sector Reservoir of Tranquility. Heading west I found Dark Waters, and Depths of Silence where I had to back track and then head south to Shining Currents, still no sign of Phanom. East of Shining Currents was Great Reef and south of there I found Mists of Elysium.

Mists of Elysium turn out to be a real boon to me as a local merchant was having a going out of business sale and sold me 2 Angels luxury personal transports, a dolphin trader and a Mako fighter. I remembered having passed a shipyard in Great Reef so I had Gizmo take them and head north while I head east to find...

----------

<WARNING HOSTILE SHIPS DETECTED>

As I emerged from the event horizon of the gate my scanners immediately registered a massive station surrounded by several Phanon ships, a couple of corvettes a frigate, and a Carrier with fighters streaming out of it. "Something tells me I'm not welcome here." I said as I quickly flipped and thrusted back through the gate.

----------

"Well boss, at least we found the Phanon Homebase."

"Yeah and also found out that Phanon has way more then enough firepower to wipe us out. Contact the fleet and let them know what we found. In the mean time I am going to check out what is on the other side of the south gate."

As Gizmo relayed the information to the fleet I burst down and jumped through the south gate. On the other side I found the sector Vestibule of Creation. "Hmm this sound like a Goner system, Gizmo open up a comm link to the local station and lets see what the goners are up to."

"Boss, I don't think this is a goner system... A pirate galleon off our starboard bow, she's launching fighters!"

"Shit! Is there no friendlies around here?" I asked as I once again flipped and boosted back through the gate.

----------

"Boss you need to see this, I am have a Phanon Hyperion corvette emerging from the east gate and making fast after the ships we just bought!"

I quickly pulled up the sector map to find that the pike had already made it through the northern gate and the angels were not far away. The Dolphin on the other hand was no where near it and the Hyperion was quickly closing; however it was close to a nearby ore mine.

"Gizmo dock the dolphin at the ore mine. I don't suppose Frankie equipped this thing with a jumpdrive?"

"He did boss, though the range is limited to 5 jumps."

"Good enough, jump us to the north gate of Great Reef and have the fleet meet us there. We have a Hyperion to take down."

[kaistern]

Anyone care to make bets on the outcome of this battle?

[Song Of Obsidian]

Give us a list of the participants You should really maintain a list of your assets.

[kaistern]

I do later one but it hadn't crossed my mind to do do at this point. So the field looks like this.

Dragons-

Vengeance (centaur)
Wrath (morrigu)
Pirate Osprey
Marlin

Vs.

Phanon Co.-

Hyperion
3 m3
1 m4
4 m5

[Song Of Obsidian]

If I wasn't too lazy to mess with figuring out how to get a fresh install in so I could keep my regular version of AP, I'd try this mod. But. Lazy.

So I have no idea what the Morrigu is, but I'm going to say the morrigu, marlin, and centaur die. And the Phanon fleet. Naysayer out.

[kaistern]

If I wasn't too lazy to mess with figuring out how to get a fresh install in so I could keep my regular version of AP, I'd try this mod. But. Lazy.

So I have no idea what the Morrigu is, but I'm going to say the morrigu, marlin, and centaur die. And the Phanon fleet. Naysayer out.

to get a fresh install.... delete your current AP directory (uninstall the game first but also delete the directory to remove any hint of mods you may have had installed) Then install the game. Boom clean install. If you use steam then you should also copy paste the game to a new directory to keep steam from messing with things and then install the no steam exe.

as to the battle.......