Sector 44 (last updated 26th of July 2008)

[Syndrome]

revised

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"Everyone ok?" asked Melissa. The crew started getting up and rubbing their heads. "I'll take that as a yes."
"No major injuries sir," said the ensign.
"Good, now move towards the disabled ships,"
"Uh, bad news and good news captain."
Forge let out a sigh. "Give me the bad news first."
"The bad news is the engines have been knocked out, and the good news is that the engines were the only part of the ship affected by the EMP blast."
The captain cursed. "It had to be the most important part of the ship didn't it."
"Actually sir," said Tate, "The most important part of the ship is the..."
"Tate."
"Sorry, sir."
"Ensign, get some tug ships over here immediately. Fighter squad one, move to the disabled alien ships and standby to board. Fighter squad two, make sure those Khaak don't get away."
"Sir," asked Melissa, "Request permission to board alien ships as well."
"Permission granted."
"Thank you, sir."

Melissa transported herself to a disco and set off following the fighter squad. They arrived shortly. "Ok squad," said the flight leader, "Three people per fighter. Captain Bender, myself and Major Graft, will board the leader's ship." The flight leader opened a private comm to Graft and Melissa. "Ok, Captain, my name is Commander Balstik Jenva by the way. Transport aboard on my mark, five, four, three, two, one, transport!" Melissa was suddenly in a small, Neon lit room, just high enough for her to stand up in. It was full of alien devices and appeared to be slightly organic, similar to the Boron interiors but a lot more dark and gloomy. "Set blasters to the heaviest electric stun setting," whispered Balstik. "I'm doing a bio-scan of this ship...huh? According to this there's no one in here except us, and these creatures that are on the wall."
"That's not normal is it," said Graft.
"Let's be careful then," replied Melissa. The three slowly moved ahead into the cockpit of the ship. But it wasn't a cockpit at all. Instead, a large switch board with lots of tiny connections. "It looks like some thing's supposed to jack in here," said Balstik. He suddenly got a comm from another group. "Sir, there's no one on this ship here except us." Other groups started comming him reporting the same thing. "Confirmed. Set your portable computer unit to start sucking out your ship's computer system and then get back to your ship." Confirmations came back. Melissa started merging her computer with the ship's computer.
"Ok, done here," said Melissa when she was finished.
"Good. Transport back to your ships."

Melissa felt good to be back into a normal environment. "Somebody's got to stay and manage the data feed from close range," she said. "I volunteer."
"Ok," replied Balstik, "But don't go back into the ship."
"Yup, I'm not going in that thing again."



A few hours later Melissa was getting quite board. She had passed the time by playing the disco's default games that came with it, and chatting with passing traders and civilians, but these novelties soon wore off. Fortunately, the data feed hadn't required much human interface and the transfer went smoothly - until it abruptly stopped. "Hmm, that's strange," thought Melissa. "I'll try moving the ship closer." She slowly positioned her disco on top of the alien ship about six metres. "It's still not coming through," said Melissa, annoyed. Suddenly, the alien vessel started its self destruct sequence at ten seconds. An alien text appeared on her screen. Melissa panicked. "Computer, use collected data to translate message." Melissa was dumbfounded.


Enter security code: _


"Huh? Security code? What security code?" The computer alerted Melissa.
"Alien vessel is self destructing." Sparks started shooting off the alien ship and suddenly it exploded, sending Melissa's disco on a collision course with a passing superfrieghter!

[-=Legendary=-]

mellisa best explode.

[Syndrome]

Did anyone spot my little play on words?

[steveo1259]

more more

[Syndrome]

Sorry for the delay. I've been crook myself. I'll start writing my next chapter now. I should have it soon.

[Khaak_Hammer]

WOW very nice spellings could be a bit better but the story itself is everything I've come to expect from these forum's so I hope you will
continue on this and I expect at least another 10 installments



GOOD LUCK

[Syndrome]

WOW very nice spellings could be a bit better but the story itself is everything I've come to expect from these forum's so I hope you will
continue on this and I expect at least another 10 installments



GOOD LUCK

Thank you Khaak_Hammer. You are the first person that doesn't like my story. This is a first.

[Khaak_Hammer]

erm what do you mean "Thank you Khaak_Hammer. You are the first person that doesn't like my story. This is a first."

I did'nt say that it was bad story i just said that the spellings could be a
little better and the the statement that it was every thing I had come
to expect from these forums it was ment to be a complement AND
I voted for the first op on your poll

but if you misunderstood then I am as much to blame as anyone else but I hope there will be no hard feelings about this.

edit: I just saw the lack of full stops on the offending post so I think I see
what you ment by me not liking your story.

[Khaak_Hammer]

Syndrome



WE WANT MORE!!!!!!!!!!!


please

[Syndrome]

revised

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Melissa threw the joystick as hard as she could in the opposite direction. The Disco swerved off course but still scraped the top of the freighter. “Hey! Watch where you’re going. You could’ve been killed.”
“Sorry. A ship I was studying, I mean, claiming, exploded on me.”
“Alright then,” said the male freighter pilot. Melissa hailed the Herra and found herself looking at a captainless bridge. “Captain Forge?” At that moment he walked into view from the far left side of the screen. “Yes Commander? Did the data transfer finish?”
“Most of it, but then the ship exploded.”
“Exploded?”
Melissa related to Jacob what had happened.
“Oh. Well, I’m glad you’re safe. Come aboard and we can analyse the data you collected.”
“Yes, sir.”

Melissa found herself pondering over the strange events of the past twenty four hours as her ship went into the Herra’s docking bay. She got a fright as she saw that she was parked right next to a Khaak M3. “Must be the disabled ship,” she thought. As she walked into the airlock however, the M3 undocked and flew away.

Captain Forge met her on her way to the bridge. “Ah, good to see you’re safe. You came just in time. We’re having a meeting in the briefing room in two minutes.”

[Khaak_Hammer]

nice so far really hope we learn why these ships are attacking


btw why were you gone so long?

[Syndrome]

I was gone so long because FIFA Germany 06 never fails to impress. In other words, I can't stop playing it.

[Syndrome]

revised

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The briefing room was filled with about thirty or forty officers. Some were from other ships than the Herra; some were sector overseers; and one or two highly ranked officers could be seen. Melissa sat down next to Captain Forge, who opened the meeting. "This discussion is now open," he said to start off with. "The information gathered from the Khaak shows that this alien race have long been ruthless and warlike, and have been hostile to the Khaak for many years. When the Nemesis entered their territory they immediately considered us as hostile." He waited a few seconds. "Well, can anybody add to that?"


************************************************************************


Tate was in the ship's laboratory examining the alien ship debris. The hull was partly organic but especially around the engines. The information gathered from Melissa said that the race was a perfect mixture of living and organic parts, a cyborg of its kind. Instead of reproducing, this race "builds" others from scratch, first assembling the mechanical parts, and then placing small organisms on the body to grow. Apparently the first one of them was a Khaak, exiled because of his mad mind and crazy ideas, who managed to build a copy of himself, but much more independent and smarter than the average Khaak, and with half its body mechanical implants.

He had found that their weapons were actually organic bullets that constantly reproduced themselves inside the ship. They were about as powerful as a BPAC but more effective on the hull. He was working on a shield to protect against them more effectively. So far, he had managed to create an alloy that the bullets had almost no effect on, and he was trying to create a device that could feed the alloy into the shield generators.

After many hours of working he had a prototype. He walked to the cargo bay, where he started to fit the device onto an old shield generator. Suddenly, in the cargo bay door, he heard a noise and looked around but there wasn't anyone. Just as he went back to his work, a small ball came flying over a large stack of crates. It bounced once, twice, three times, all the time beeping faster and faster. Tate ran for life and dived through the door.

[-=Legendary=-]

Haha FIFA Germany 06.

I can understand that

My excuse for the block on my story was a car crash 2 months of physical rehab!!!
It was easy to pee so i dont care.

[Syndrome]

revised

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Tate landed hard outside the door just in time to see flames shoot out of the door way and, to his relief, the blast doors close. “Computer, are any unaccounted life forms present inside the cargo bay?”
“One, Split, male.” Tate grabbed his blaster and raced into the cargo bay. Other workers had gathered round where the explosion was. He saw a shadow turn a corner and ran in pursuit. Suddenly, a blaster bolt narrowly missed his head and smashed a fighter cockpit. He carefully moved around the fighters, took a peak, and saw just enough to fire his blaster. The Split ducked, waited, and fired another shot. “What’s going on here?” asked a cargo worker who had been watching the confrontation. “No time to explain. If you see any Split, shoot ‘em, but keep it on the stun setting.”
“Roger…”
“Look out!” yelled Tate as the Split took aim at cargo worker. He ducked and Tate fired off some shots to make the Split duck. The Split ran across to another hiding place, firing shots crazily at Tate. Tate motioned for the cargo worker to go around and box him in. The Split then made a mistake. He ran in the open, thinking that Tate had moved from his hiding place, which gave Tate a clear shot. The Split crumbled to the floor unconscious.

[Syndrome]

revised

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“Split know nothing.” He had said this many, many times. Tate was beginning to wonder if the Split knew any more Argon language. Melissa and Captain Forge were with him. Tate knew one person he could turn to without hurting the split. He was a Teladi with a mind for forgery, deceiving and, of course, profit. “Yousanhedrous?”
“Yesss Ssssir,” said the teladi as he came quickly from his post.
“Here is a Split. He won’t tell me why he was spying inside this ship. Can you do anything?”
“Abssssolutely ssssir.” He took the Split into a soundproof room surrounded by glass. “You will not be dissssapointed.”

He sat the Split down, and started talking. The Split seemed relaxed for several minutes, but then suddenly jumped out of his seat and covered his ears. Yousanhedrous appeared to be singing. After 30 seconds, Yousanhedrous stopped and talked again. The split stubbornly shook his head. Yousanhedrous walked around the room for a while, then, out of the blue, started yelling at the split who seemed to back down. By this time, Melissa and Captain Forge had left out of boredom. Finally, Yousanhedrous showed him a hologram which Tate could not see. The Split’s eyes lit up and he started talking extremely fast to Yousanhedrous who appeared very pleased.

He led the Split out and told him something in Split language. The Split then walked out of the room and down the corridor. “What did you do,” asked Tate?
“Nothing will be revealed until profit is achieved for Youssssanhedroussss.”
“What do you want?”
“Creditssss.”
“One thousand?”
“Ha! More like one hundred thoussssand.”
“Fifty.”
“Ninety.”
“Sixty.”
“Eighty.”
“Seventy.”
“Sssseventy five.”
“Fine,” said a disgruntled Tate. “Seventy five thousand. Now what did he say and where is he now?”
“I let him go.”
“You let him go!”
“Don’t worry, I’ve got a tracker on him.”
“So what did he say?”
“Okay. He wassss in Family Rhy’sss Trading sssstation when he wassss contacted by an anonymoussss sssource over his ship’s comm. It told him that if he could sssssuccesssfully sssabotage the Herra, he would ressscieve much profit.”
“Go on.”
“He ussed a jump drive to get here quickly and boarded thissss ship by hitchhiking on Melissssa’s Dissssco. He was following you and met you in the cargo bay.”
“Is that all?”
“All that he told me.”
“How did you get him to tell you?”
“A good profit maker never revealsss hisss ssecretsss.”
“I’ve known you for seven years and I still have doubts.”

[Syndrome]

revised

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Tate sat in his quarters reading a book, but his mind could not focus on anything but what to do next. Melissa and the Captain had been in the briefing room for a long, long time. He decided to try and sleep, after all, it was very late into the ship’s virtual night.


“Helooo? Tate?” Melissa’s far off voice sounded very distorted to a half-asleep Tate.
“No I don’t want food,” said Tate in reply. Melissa wrote a note and put it in Tate’s hand. She walked to the door, picked up a lamp threw it at Tate, and walked out of the room.
“Oww,” said Tate as the lamp hit his head. “Who? What?” He looked at the note in his hand. ‘Meet us in the docking bay, pronto. Melissa.’
“I’ve known her for two days and I already don’t like her.”


************************************************************************


In the docking bay, he met Vanessa Forge, Melissa’s former tactical officer, for the first time. “I was told to come here, do – ”
“And I was told to wait here. What took you so long?”
“Well I – ”
“I’m Commander Vanessa Forge.”
“Any relation to the captain?”
“Daughter.”
“Oh. Well what are we supposed to do now?”
“Follow me. We’ll be briefed when we get to our ships.”
“Ok then.”

So far, Vanessa’s first impressions on Tate were of a smart, young woman with high ambitions. She couldn’t have been older than twenty three or twenty four, and she was already a Commander. He knew that the captain wouldn’t have promoted her for nothing. He was a man that always went by the rules, and from Vanessa’s personality, he obviously brought her up in a down-to-earth way.

Finally, they arrived at two Pegasus M5 ships. Waiting were Melissa and another officer he hadn’t seen before. “I liked the way you gave me a concussion to wake me up,” said Tate to Melissa.
“What do you mean? If you don’t wake up on schedule, you get up the hard way.”
“It’s pretty hard alright,” said Tate under his breath.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Good. Now I would like you to meet Wing Commander Jason Zurich. He’ll be flying with us when we spy on the Enemy Race’s home world.”

[steveo1259]

yer there are lots of people still reading, the only thing is the short chapters but they arent of much consurne cause of how may there are

[Syndrome]

revised

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Zurich was a very large man, who seemed like he could floor a Parinid no problem. Tate could only imagine his muscles under his sleeveless top. "Jason will be part of our four-fighter squad to investigate the unknown sector. Ok, everyone to their ships."
"Tate, you have fighter two over on that landing platform," said Jason. Tate wasn't surprised that his voice sounded like one of the Herra's engines. He walked over to his fighter and jumped in. He was daunted at the controls. The Parinid tried in every manner to incorporate the number three in their ship controls. Tate could still use them though. He thought the choice of the Pegasus fighter was probably because of its speed. If so, he knew at least where those controls were. Even they were divided into three parts.
"Ok," said Melissa. "We're going to spy on the alien sector using the on-board cloaking devices in our ships. If you can't find where the controls for that are than you wouldn't have been picked for this mission. Once you get into the system, use your autopilot to navigate through a preset path that I'm uploading to your system now. Hopefully they don't catch on. Your ships have special double triplex scanners to take video and data footage of the system. Remember, complete radio silence. Good luck."

Tate was having trouble finding the cloaking device. He would have asked but for what Melissa said. He eventually found it, though, and he was the last one to cloak just before they entered the gate. Tate knew his job and immediately set his autopilot course. He'd never really liked flying and wondered why he'd been picked for this mission. He could've though of many people that would've done the job better than him.

After a few minutes he started seeing some unknown objects on his radar. When they came into visual range, they were like nothing he'd ever seen before. Pieces of metal in all different shapes and sizes, ranging from smaller than his Pegasus to the size of an M1. After some time though, he saw something that almost took up his entire radar, it was almost the size of a moon.

[SOTS]

I think one of the problems is the time between posts: for instance, the last two are over a month apart! I realise you are probably very busy, but people can get bored and lose interest with a long gap and a short post.

I admit, I thought this topic was dead, it hadn't been updated or replied to in so long!

Other than that, good story, keep it up!