Sector 44 (last updated 26th of July 2008)

[Syndrome]

I meant Trsor's powers not the Terran anti-deity bomb.

Trust me, science can explain everything in the Xverse...or at least in this one Rest assured that Trsor is not a god, nor a super-villan. He is a...

I'll leave that for further chapters then shall I

[jackhanna88]

Oi, when's the next update!?

[Syndrome]

I started the next chapter with enthusiasim, then I unfortuately succome to the addictive powers of runescape and Starcraft.

But I suppose it's about time....

[Syndrome]

Sorry but it's only a short chapter. Sort of only bridging to the next installment. I kind of lost my motivation.

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Jason was the first to awaken. His eyes slowly opened only to see an overwhelming black colour. He rolled over, quickly correcting the situation. His body felt relatively unharmed, just a little stiff. Loading his status display inside his helmet, he could see that he’d been out cold for around five hours. “Plenty of time for them to get away,” he thought.

Glancing over to his right, Jason saw Vanessa in bad condition. She had evidently lost a lot of blood, and, feeling her pulse, Jason saw that she needed medical attention fast. He lifted her up over his shoulder and started his journey back to the airlock. The others would wake up soon enough.

After a few minutes of searching, he found the airlock. He pressed the button that would start the opening sequence only to hear a warning from the ship computer. “Warning: no ship docked.”
“What the – ” He turned the closest monitor on and loaded the outside ship camera. The military transport was floating about forty metres away from the starboard side of the Centaur.

He cursed and set the autopilot to merge airlocks with the military transport. That would take a few minutes. He gently lay Vanessa down on the ground, and placed an airbag from his suit underneath her head.

At that point she woke up. Slowly opening her eyes – she had done it before. Jason was searching his med pack when he heard her groan. He quickly turned. Without bothering with pleasantries, he got straight to the point. “Try not to move too much.” He placed a bandage over her cut and cleaned up the surrounding skin with a cloth.

At that point, Tate came into the vicinity, dragging the massive hulk of one of the marines. He dropped him as soon as he saw Vanessa, evidently causing his accomplice a lot of pain. “Hey!” he shouted.
“Oh, sorry. Hang on a sec.” He walked over to Jason and kneeled at Vanessa’s side.
Jason took a glance behind Tate’s shoulder. “Hey, Mike, what’s with you?”
“My suit stopped working,” he mumbled in discontent. “That idiot actually killed me.”
“Tate, help him get out. He’ll never get anywhere like that.”
Tate got up, took a final glance at Vanessa and set to work on the marine.
“Are the others still out cold?” asked Jason.
“Yeah,” Tate replied.
“I’ll go get them. Van should be alright for a few minutes.” He got up and disappeared down the hallway.

Tate set to work on Mike, first starting with the helmet, then the arms and torso, and finally the massive legs. By the time he was finished everyone else had woken up and Jason had just opened the airlock to the military transport. He and Tate picked up Vanessa, who had again fallen unconscious. After they had just separated from the Centaur, Melissa hailed them.

“Hi there,” she said.
“Hi,” replied Tate. “Where are you?”
Melissa didn’t reply. Instead the filled the bridge view with plasma trails as she brought her Disco in front of the transport.
“Oh…” mumbled Tate. “You’re in a much faster ship, can you take Van back to the ‘yard? She needs medical attention.”
“Oh ok. Sure.”

Tate pressed the transporter button and watched as Vanessa’s slim figure vaporise away from his arms.

[jackhanna88]

Come on, don't lose the enthusiasm, this is really good and being enjoyed by loads of people!

[Syndrome]

It's kind of up to the readers to help me keep my enthusiasim isn't it. Come on people, tell me I'm an idiot for not writing more!

I've got the first section of the next chapter done. So rest assured I am getting there slowly but today Forza Motorsport 2 added itself to my list of distractions.

[Syndrome]

This chapter is substancially shorter due to my desperation to get a chapter on the board. A couple of months ago I was going through ideas like a knife through butter. Now, though, my ideas have almost come to a complete halt.

So anybody got any ideas about ideas?

Oh and if someone knows a quote that would be fitting for this chapter let me know.

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Vanessa struggled to comprehend how she could go through the same awakening sequence three times in two days. Pain – opening eyes – and more pain.

Tate was being told off by a nurse for resting his feet on the bed while reading a magazine when Vanessa woke up. “I’ll be watching you,” said the senior nurse with narrow eyes as she slowly moved away.
Tate looked like a small child who had just been told off when he noticed Vanessa. “Welcome back.”
“Hi.” She took a look at her cut.
“Don’t worry. It should be alright. The doctor said it just needs a few days healing with some immune boosters.”
“So when can I get out of here?”
“Now I think.”
“More like you ‘hope’.”
“You saw that eh? These medical staff are a nasty bunch.” He glanced over to the nurse but quickly looked back as he saw her angry eyes burning a whole through him. “Uh, come on. Let’s go.”

Tate helped Vanessa up and escorted her out of the room. A male doctor stopped them just as they got through the door. “Uh – hang on. You’re patient number…”
“Thirty four,” replied Tate.
“Ah yes. You can go. Just make sure you check yourself out.”
“I will,” said Vanessa.
Tate loitered.
“Well? That’s it isn’t it?”
“Yes – sir,” said Tate quickly before half running away.

“You’re jumpy today aren’t you,” said Vanessa.
“I never liked those kind of people.”
“You could arrest him and charge him for disrespect to an officer.”
“I could couldn’t I…”
“No. That’s a bad idea.”
“You’re probably right.”
Vanessa chuckled.
“You know if you hadn’t got yourself all cut up like that I’d never be in this situation.”
“So it’s my fault now? You were the one that let me go.”
“I’m not the boss of you.”
“It seems like it sometimes.”
“Sure,” said Tate giving her a sarcastic push.

And so they continued in banter as such all the way back to their quarters on the Herra.

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

Soft, but not soft enough. Loud, and loud enough to be annoying. Jo was awoken by this siren along with flashing red lights. He had just been thinking about how boring the day was probably going to be when the siren made him jump in bed.

“Baka,” he mumbled. He grudgingly threw the blankets off and walked over to the monitor on the wall to check what all the siren was for. “Hmm. Might not be such a boring day after all.”

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


Tate had been given stand-in captain duty while Jacob slept. The night shift consisted of only three officers overseeing the ships night repairs, which obviously had to be kept fairly quiet due to all the sleeping crewmembers.

“Sir, I’ve picked up a small probe coming out of the south gate. Scanning for lifeforms.”
Tate was half asleep. “Uh – on screen.” A moderately sized hologram appeared in the centre of the bridge over a coffee table-like projector. The term ‘on screen’ had stuck to the argon language for years even though it’s meaning had been outdated. In the ‘old days’ they used large flat viewing monitors on the bridges of large ships such as a Titan or Colossus. They had been replaced by new, high definition holographic projectors. It wasn’t really that the technology hadn’t been developed, more the evolution of modern combat. Holograms gave a wider, clearer, and more aesthetic view of all goings-on from scanning a ship’s cargo bay to giving detailed telemetry of a full scale battle.

“Hmm. It’s got me,” mumbled Tate. The ship had an extremely long, sharp point connected to a small pod at the back. It didn’t have any visible engines but was evidently being propelled with ease.
“Sir, no life forms present.”
Tate wasn’t so sure. “Do a video heat scan and project it here.”
“Sir,” replied the ensign in an affirmative tone. The long structure appeared closer up with several bright red marks showing throughout the ship.
“Zoom in on the pod at the back.” The moving images briefly stilled, then reappeared showing the escape pod-like part of the ship. “Just as I thought,” muttered Tate. “Twist the camera angle slightly.”
The ensign did so. The image became even clearer now. A red humanoid figure sitting in a simple cockpit seat.

Tate sighed heavily and rubbed his chin, typical of his character. He checked the time display behind him. It was an hour until Jacob started his shift. He, like the rest of the crew, would’ve been awake now as it was well into the ship’s virtual morning. “Get a Centaur or two to hold it’s movement off with a tractor beam. I’ll alert the captain personally.”
“Affirmative.”

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

“Within two kilometres sir.”
“Charge up the beam.”

The turret slowly moved into position, pointing directly at the alien ship. The ship had changed course and was moving at fifty m/s towards the planet. Five Centaurs had been called onto it to simultaneously use their tractor beams. A few fighters cruised idle around the scene.

The Centaurs surrounded the ship on all sides. Tate wanted to be extremely careful and completely overkill the ship. The five green beams connected to the ‘pod’ almost instantly. The ship came to a halt, unable to move under the pressure.

“Alien vessel restrained,” said the ensign.
“Excellent. I’ll alert commander – ”
“Sir, the ship just…opened up.”

A panel retracted from the alien ship revealing five missile tubes. One after the other, the missiles launched, one for each Centaur.

“Incoming projectile!”
“Shoot it down!”
“I can’t, the tractor beam is in the turret!”
“Turn the ship around!”
“Too late!”

The bridge erupted into flames.

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

Jacob had been watching the scene from the Herra. “Baka.”

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

Jo had been called to the bridge to meet with the captain who had explained that he was needed for a special mission on the planet. “The alien probe has penetrated the atmosphere with ease. Ever since then we lost track of it although it seemed to be plotting a course to the Nubian Ocean. I’m giving you a specially modified Disco that can traverse through water should the need arise. Go down to the planet on the next Lander and see what you can find.”
“Yes, sir.”

[Syndrome]

I have been away from a PC for a long time so I'll now welcome myself back and hopefully get a new chapter on the board soon.

[Syndrome]

Here's something I've recently finished off. Can I please have some feedback? I hope I haven't lost all my readers in my time off.

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It didn’t resemble a Disco fully anymore, but it certainly felt like one. Bulging manoeuvring jets and extra plating were found all over the surface of the M5. It definitely was different inside as well. The cargo bay had been replaced with the underwater engine and hydro jets that would retract outwards when entering water. Jo was approaching a Lander that was about to start re-entry.

Jo hailed the Lander.
“Yes? What can I do for you, boy?” said the captain in a strong Argon country style accent.
“I’m here under direct order from captain Jacob Forge. I need transport to the surface in my ship.”
“I am afraid that all our docking slots are taken up,” he replied, obviously not enjoying the prospect of a federal officer aboard his ship.
“Well I am afraid that one of those docking slots has to have my ship in it.”
The captain grunted. “We’ll let me see what I can find…ah, what luck,” he said sarcastically. “It looks like one of our docked ships has pulled out at the last minute. You have a free space.”

Jo set the auto pilot to dock and rolled his eyes has he checked his scanner to see no ship within ten kilometres of the Lander.

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

He looked out of place at the bar, surrounded by rough space rouges. He was constantly stared at, and that was partly the reason he was sitting alone on his table, drinking Argon Ale, a slightly alcoholic, fruity substance based roughly on space fuel. An older man, of a fair complexion, which Jo guessed was in his sixties, walked into the room, bringing the soft sound of a artificial leg motor with him. He smoked a cigar, and wore a torn jacket over some leather. His boots were long and brown, the resemblance of which seemed to escape Jo’s mind. His hair was thinning and mostly grey with patches of brown found more frequently on the back of his head.

Not many people took any notice of him, and those who did turned a sour look, not one of disgust, but one of hostility. It was no wonder, then, that Jo had the pleasure of his company.

He employed a gruff but kind voice. “You mind if I sit here, laddie?”
Jo would have said yes anyway but he still felt sorry for him somehow. “Sure.”
“Ah that’s a good lad,” he muttered, half not intending for Jo to hear. He sat opposite Jo on the small, round table.
“Jo’s the name,” he said, extending his hand.
The man shook it. “I’m Dan, Dan Pagan.”
“Pleased to meet you, Dan.” Jo glanced over to another table where three men where talking among themselves, occasionally pointing to his table, or, more specifically, either him or Dan. “Do you know these people?” he asked, nodding his head in the direction of the three men.
Dan chuckled. “I’ve made my enemies in my time.”
“They giving you trouble?”
“Well, I can’t say no. But I can’t say it’s not prompted either, if you know what I mean.”
“Dispute?”
“A credit can be a powerful thing, Jo.”
“So I’ve heard.”
Dan took the smile off his face. “I once had many a credit, but I learnt that they’re not the source of all happiness the hard way.” He paused to take a breath of his cigar. “You know laddie, if there’s one thing I can teach a youngin like yourself, its never to loose sight of the present.”
Jo nodded his head with interest.
“You know, my name wasn’t always Dan. Back in the day, before the Second Xenon Conflict, I was known as Frank Aggregate, a wealthy businessman of the time. One day, the Argon navy decided they wanted a load of the newly developed one hundred and twenty five megawatt ‘super-shield’ for their capital ships. Being the foolish young man that I was, I decided to be the first to profit on their resolution.”
“So you bought some of the shields.”
“Aye, laddie. That I did, or at least tried. I led thirteen of my best superfreighters to the orbital production complex in Cloudbase South West. What I didn’t do, though, was form proper protection. Only three lowly Busters accompanied us.” He took another cigar breath.
“You ran into trouble?”
“Pirates. But not just any pirates mind you. No these pirates had both the element of surprise and the combat odds with them. I still remember the number clearly. Thirteen assorted fighters ambushed us at the factory. Apparently they had stormed it with ease and held the workers prisoner. My second in command and best friend at the time, Jack Osgood, guided the lead Lifter into the docking doors first.” He paused, relieving the moment. “I don’t know how they did it, but his ship exploded in one big fireball. I remember the shock over our comm channel when it happened. Then, after doing away with our Busters, they boarded our ships – killed everyone. Not too messy, just point and shoot the photon cannon. All our men were unarmed, you see.”
“So how did you survive?” asked Jo, becoming more interested.
“I was very lucky. I hid for two hours behind a spare cargo canister. The fear was excruciating. I waited for them to manually haul the shields onto their ships. There were no transporters in those days. Eventually, they were finished and left the ship. They planted a small charge on my hull and detonated it, sending my ship slowly into the planet’s gravity well.”
“What about the atmosphere?”
“It was a miracle really. I hadn’t given up hope so I moved to the centremost part of the ship. It was damn hot for ten minutes. It even started to melt my boots slightly. Anyway, my ship, or the small chunk of metal that was left of it, ended up in the ocean, which I later found out was the Nubian.”
It hit Jo that this conversation could be a little more profitable than a mere way to pass the time. “Were you found fairly quickly?”
“Oh no laddie. It took me seven years to get to the surface.”
“The surface? The surface of what?”
Dan laughed. “The ocean!”
“The ocean?!”
“My ship was travelling so fast that it made it’s way two kilometres below the ocean. It lodged itself in a small crevice, which prevented it from going any lower.”
“How did you survive?”
“The oxygen tanks that survived the fall lasted me for a week. Eventually I managed to build a makeshift diving tank with some spare tubes and such. It wasn’t enough to get me to the surface, but it did keep me alive long enough to find an underwater cave with plenty of air and resources for me to stay.” He puffed his cigar. “That, my friend, is where I spent my next seven years. I learnt a lot about the sea, the elements.”
“Dan, have you got any plans for the near future?”

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

Melissa and Vanessa had been assigned to security camera recall – quickly reviewing all the recordings. Melissa was fast forwarding through some recordings, sitting back in a relaxed position while occasionally pressing buttons underneath her monitor.

Vanessa was on the other side of the room playing video games, using the fact that she had “never done this before” as an excuse not to be “directly involved” with Melissa’s work. Her feet were resting on the waist high control panel.

Melissa was just about finished with the last few recordings when a stray file caught her attention. It was a recording like the others, but it hadn’t been reviewed yet like it should have. It was a three hour recording from the previous day. “I’d better do this one too,” she thought. She pressed play but her back barely hit the back of the chair before she noticed that it wasn’t from the Herra, rather, it looked like some sort of transport. “Computer, identify ship.”
The computer replied, “Argon Military Transport Oh Nine Four.”
“That was the ship Tate was on…” She remembered how Tate told her of Trsor’s return.

“Van,” said Melissa, “Do you know how this got here?”
She slid her chair over to Melissa’s side. “How what got here?”
“This recording, it’s not supposed to be here.”
Vanessa took a few seconds to look at the monitor. “The ship is idle at the moment, right?”
“Yeah.”
“So nobody would’ve reviewed the recordings. I think there’s a program that sends all unreviewed recordings to the nearest registered capital ship for examination. It happened to my M3 once.”
“Ok then. Thanks.”
“No problem,” Vanessa replied as she resumed her game across the room.

Melissa pressed the play button, simply out of interest as to what happened. She fast forwarded to where Trsor appeared. He talked with Tate for a while, and then shot his bolt of energy. Melissa winched watching the singed, smoky huddle of Tate against the wall. “Van, take a look at this.”
She rolled her chair over again and set her eyes on the screen, fingers crossed. “What is it?”
“This is what happened to Tate in the transport, while you and the others were boarding my ship.” She rewound and pressed play again.
After a few seconds Van saw Trsor’s powers in action. “Whoa. Any idea how he does that?”
Melissa stopped and rewound the video. “Nope, but I can do something that might show us some more.” She started pressing buttons.
“What’s that?”
“All standard Argon security cameras are heat detectors as well, so I can switch to a thermal view and… viola!” The objects on the stilled playback screen turned different shades of red depending on their heat output. The brighter the red, the hotter the object.
Vanessa chuckled. “Cleaver.”
“Now lets play back Trsor’s antics in slow motion…” She resumed the playback. Trsor had just entered onto the bridge and Tate was about to fire his rifle. “…Now!” The photon bolt slowly flew towards Trsor’s face as a red star-like sphere. His whole body got brighter but especially notable was his chest, where his heart would have been if he had one. “Look that that,” said Melissa.
“What?”
“See how it gets bright red on Trsor’s body.”
“Yeah, but that’s expected when someone is altering the course of a photon bolt.”
Melissa paused it, pointing to Trsor’s chest. “It gets really bright right there.”
Vanessa thought for a moment. “Do these security cameras have x-rays?”
“No, unfortunately.”
“What about that flash beforehand?”
“What flash?”
“The one just behind him. It was only there for a split second on slow motion.”
Melissa shrugged. “Show me,” she said, leaving the controls to her companion.
Vanessa rewound the recording back to just before Trsor ‘bent’ the photon bolt. She tried in vain a few times before he could pause it at the right moment. She finally got it.
“It looks like a wormhole,” said Melissa.
“And there,” said Vanessa, pointing in between Trsor and the bright flash behind him, “there’s sort of a connection between the two.”

They both thought in silence for the next few seconds. Melissa took a deep breath. “Let’s – ” The monitor suddenly went blank. She pressed a few buttons, tried to bring the picture back, but to no avail. “What the?!”
A deep voice echoed throughout the room, coming from the shadows. “You will not see such revealing scenes again. It’s a bit rude, don’t you think?” The voice laughed sinisterly before it ceased along with a bright flash.

[jackhanna88]

Man that Trsor is badass! Although, I reckon Dan is rivalling chuck norris on being hard as nails aswell!

Good update, mate. Good to have you back.

[Syndrome]

Thanks.

[Snowship]

keep it up Syndrome. It took me a while to get to appreciate the characters but now I'm into it

[Syndrome]

Yeah sorry guys but I've been really busy over the past few weeks. I could post more chapters but they'd just be shorter.

EDIT: Oops... I seemed to have made a little mistake in the last chapter. Anywhere in the second scene where it talks about "Jo" it should actually be Tate.

I guess that's what you get for not re-reading your work lol.

I'll set about fixing that.

EDIT2: DAMMIT!!!

EDIT3: Ok, umm, change in plot...

[Snowship]

take you time, the longer chapters the better

[Syndrome]

Ok all fixed. In the second scene it's Vanessa who now replaces Jo (who obviously cannot be in two places at once). You might want to re-read the last chapter to get that into your head. The mind can play tricks on your memory sometimes.

[The Zig]

Just caught up on the story. Liking it.

One thing... (sorry). Whenever you do one of those, go back, review things, could you change Vanessa's "gash" to a "wound" or "cut" or just something that sounds a tiny bit less rude! "Gash" can be... uh... crude slang for something else (hence the renaming of 'Gap' to 'Gash' in GTA!)

Story's great tho. Good stuff.
Your Jo character's in an interesting place. And I wonder if this Dan fella's false leg has to do with his life underwater...

[Syndrome]

Just caught up on the story. Liking it.

One thing... (sorry). Whenever you do one of those, go back, review things, could you change Vanessa's "gash" to a "wound" or "cut" or just something that sounds a tiny bit less rude! "Gash" can be... uh... crude slang for something else (hence the renaming of 'Gap' to 'Gash' in GTA!)

Story's great tho. Good stuff.
Your Jo character's in an interesting place. And I wonder if this Dan fella's false leg has to do with his life underwater...

No problem I can change that.

I thought about Dan's leg being to-do-with his life underwater but decided against it.

[Syndrome]

Finally finished this chapter. Suggestions, ideas, critisizems, requests, and all other kinds of feedback are always welcome.

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“They’re gone,” said Melissa on the way to the bridge. “Every single one of them has been deleted.”
Vanessa remained silent.

The captain greeted them as they entered the bridge. “Sir,” said Melissa, “we believe Trsor has appeared again, this time deleting all our security recordings.”
“How did he do that?”
“We’re not sure, I think it may have been done remotely. I’ll check for any signs of hacking, but I doubt I’ll find anything.”
“Good work,” replied Jacob with a smile. “Jo has reported in for the first time since he started his mission. He’s picked up a man who supposedly knows the Nubian Ocean very well. He’s been told a softened version of what Jo’s investigation is.”
“How are the repairs going?”
“Ah, good news. We should be back on five engines in twenty four hours. The shipyard here is very efficient.”
Vanessa stepped forward. “Where’s Tate?” she asked.
As Jacob opened his mouth a Disco rocketed past the bridge barely shaving the windows. He smiled. “Tate’s having a bit of time off. He said he wanted to work on his piloting skills.”
“Well good luck to him,” said Melissa. “I’ve got some work to do, starting with getting my ship back.”
“Do you need any help?” asked Vanessa.
“No, I’ll be fine. Thanks anyway. Goodbye, captain.”
“Goodbye,” he replied with his usual hearty smile.
Vanessa waved as the captain left through the bridge doors. She moved in closer towards Jacob after Melissa had left. “I’m going to join Tate.”
“You do that then.” He lowered his voice. “Van, before you go, I’ve been thinking about it, and I think you’re ready to take the ship under your wing for a while.”
Vanessa’s eyes lit up. “Really, dad? For how long?”
“Well I’m going to be away for a day in Black Hole Sun with my counterpart on the carrier there discussing some things, and I need someone to replace me during that time. Of course, you don’t have to do it if you don’t feel up to it.”
“No, no, I can do it.”
He smiled. “That’s my girl. I’ll be leaving in about five hours. Tate’s there for you if you need him. He’s done this before.”
“Yup. Will do.”

An officer called the captain’s attention.
“What is it, Roger?”
“Pirate group on scanners coming through the north gate.”
“On screen. Prep a police squadron.” He turned back to his daughter. “You may-as-well join Tate now. I’ve got some work to do.”
“Ok, bye,” she said as she turned to leave, eager towards her new assignment.

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

“And so the bacta fish have three layers of skin, enough to withstand a fair pounding with those lasers of yours.”

The Lander had reached the surface and Dan and Jo were walking casually through the hanger towards the Disco. Jo had asked to know about certain types of sea monsters to be wary of. “Here she is,” said Jo as they arrived at the ship.
Dan gave a puzzled look. “Never seen anything like it.”
“It’s a modified Discoverer. It’s got extra engines to traverse through water but apart from that it’s the same.” Jo opened the airlock under the ship and motioned for Dan to climb up. By the time Jo got up and closed the door, Dan was already strapped in the co-pilot’s seat. “That was quick,” he said. “You ever been in one of these before?”
“Only the old ones,” was his reply with a wink.
Jo sat down and took a deep breath. “It’s good to be back in my own ship.”
“I know the feeling.”
The Lander’s PA system blurted out: “All docked ships, please follow the navigational lights through the exits. Repeat: all ships, please follow the navigational lights towards the exits.”
Jo pulled a large leaver and pressed some buttons. The deep hum of the engines vibrated from the rear of the ship. Dampening jets shot out the bottom of the Disco, slowly lifting it up into the air. Jo twisted the stick, turning the ship on the spot so it faced the exit. He then pushed the throttle slightly to engage the main engines. “Right,” said Jo, “let’s move.”

The Disco picked up speed and flew through the exit hatch and out into free air. The magnificent Argon land structures appeared, some so tall their tip extended through the clouds. High up there were concentrated air lanes flying in all directions. Only those with a special licence were permitted to fly freely. Jo pressed a button above him, brining up a holographic map. “Right. Which way to the Nubian ocean, Dan?”
Dan leaned forward and examined the map. “I’d say… fourteen degrees east and straight ahead would be the most direct route.”
Jo turned the stick. “Fourteen degrees east it is then.”

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

Vanessa entered her quarters and walked to the nearest monitor. She opened a channel to Tate in his Disco.
“Hi, Van.”
“Hi. Hey, come to the sims with me. It’s less dangerous.”
“I tried there before but they were all full. Besides, open space is more fun.”
“They’re not full anymore. I’ve just checked. And I want to fight you in a space battle, see how much you’ve improved.”
“Ok then, fine with me, if you don’t mind losing.”
Vanessa laughed. “We’ll see about that. Oh, by the way, I’m going to be on fill in duty for the captain… for the first time.”
“Congratulations. Looking forward to it?”
“Yeah, I just hope nothing goes wrong.”
“Don’t worry, you’ll be fine. I’m here if you need me.”
“Thanks. Meet you in simulator block three.”
“Ok, see you soon.”

Vanessa closed the channel, grabbed her flight jacket and left the room. She arrived at the simulator block onboard the shipyard and waited for Tate. She greeted him when he arrived five minutes later. “What took you so long?”
“Oh you know, had to pick up a drink and stuff before I came.”
Vanessa smiled.
“What, you think I’m joking?” He held up a steaming foam cup of Argon coffee.
Vanessa’s jaw dropped. “How’d you get that?”
Tate laughed. “Canteen. Where else? Come on, lets hop in the sims.”

They walked over to two free simulators rooms side by side. “See you in space,” said Tate as he walked through the door. Inside was a large cockpit chair with all the standard ship controls. The walls were all hologram projectors, helping to immerse the pilot into a real space combat situation. Tate strapped himself in and established a link with Vanessa’s sim. Her face appeared in a small box on the top right corner of the screen. “Ready to get beat?” she said.
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” was Tate’s reply. “You choose the ship class, I’ll choose the environment.”
“Deal.”
Tate waited for Vanessa who chose a Jaguar M5 for herself. Tate decided on a Disco and then picked the Aguilar Belt as an environment. The simulation started. Both ships started exactly five kilometres from each other. Tate chose his trajectory and accelerated at full throttle. Vanessa advanced slowly but then boosted to full speed when Tate came within firing range. She let off two shots, barrel rolled, and dived downwards, waiting for counter-fire. When none came, she slowed her ship and slowly twisted the stick. Suddenly her shields collapsed to fifty percent as Tate unleashed his IREs. “Argh… baka,” she muttered.
Tate chuckled. His mood quickly changed when Vanessa shot back, causing his shields to drop to sixty percent. He countered with a swarm of wasp missiles, giving him time to U-turn and start another attack run. Meanwhile, Vanessa’s shields were down and she was struggling to lose the last missile. She pulled hard on the stick, scaling a small asteroid. It wasn’t enough, though, as the warhead sped up and took out one of her engines. Tate then seized the opportunity to completely disable her ship by shooting his last missile. It hit its mark, sending the Jaguar spiralling towards the asteroid and erupting into a ball of flame.

“Whoa,” said Vanessa outside the simulators. “You’ve improved.”
“Thanks. I’d stick around and challenge you to a cap ship battle but my time off finishes in five hours and I’d like to get some sleep in between.”
“Ok.”
“I’m on bridge duty when my shift starts so I’ll be able to give you some advice.”
“Thanks, Tate. It means a lot.”
A sound echoed throughout the ship for an announcement. “Would Vanessa Forge please report to docking bay C. Commander Vanessa Forge please report to docking bay C.”
“That’s me.”

The pair parted as they exited into the corridor. It took Vanessa about five minutes to get to the docking bay. When she arrived she noticed federal officers everywhere. Admiral Forge was standing near the extended ramp of a federal military transport talking to another man. He quickly came to meet his daughter when he caught sight of her.

“Dad, what are you doing here?”
“I’m sorry but I’m going to have to leave a little earlier than I originally planned.”
“How come? What happened?”
“The people I’m going to see have made some developments and they want me there now.”
“What developments?”
“They didn’t say. But anyway you’re going to have to take the reigns a little sooner than expected.”
“Ok,” she replied, plainly.
A pilot officer called to the Admiral from the transport. “Sir, we’re leaving in two minutes.”
“I’ll be there.” He looked back to Vanessa. “You think you can handle this?”
“I’ll give it my best shot.”
Jacob patted her on the arm. “That’s the way,” he said with a smile before turning to leave for his ship.

Vanessa watched as the transport with its escorts powered up and rocketed through the docking bay doors.

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

Trsor stood outside his master’s chamber. “I wish to enter,” he said to the guards. The doors opened and Trsor slowly passed through.

“Greetings, my lord. You wished to see me?”
“Indeed.”
“I am here.” There was a long pause.
“I desire to take the nearest of our enemy’s sectors and lay siege to it’s planet.”
“Possible, it is.”
“Portray to me your thoughts.”
“Our spy has been observing their planet and he has so far thought little of the potential value of it. It contains no useable resources. However, if invaded, little resistance it would show towards us. The main threat is in orbit.”
“Our last invasion attracted a new threat.”
“Worry, should we, of these?”
“No. I believe they came of their own choice. If we a large enough fleet send, they may choose not to intervene.”
“Should I give the order to invade?”
“Prepare the fleet, but do not attack yet. We must let out spy gather more information.”

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I found this concept painting of Jim Raynor on the net and thought it depicted Dan from my story quite well..

[ external image ]Jim Raynor/Dan Pagan

[Syndrome]

Here's the next chapter for y'all. Some feedback this time please?

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Jo and Dan had been playing a light game of blackjack to pass the time while the autopilot made the journey across the ocean. They had left the coastline in their wake approximately fifteen minutes ago and expected to be arriving at their first checkpoint in around forty five standard minutes.

“Ha! I win again,” Dan exclaimed.
Jo sighed. “So you do.”
“You’re pretty lucky to be using fake credits now eh?”
Jo sat back in his chair. “Want to do something else now?”
“One more game?”
Jo twitched his ‘brows thinking it over. “One more game…”
Dan grinned.

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

“Captain, approaching orbital facility.”
“Acknowledged, ensign. Request docking clearance, tell the escorts to form up and dock with us.”

The low-orbit federal station resembled the old Argon Equipment Docks, only twice the size. There was a large cage-like external docking facility on the would-be right side of the station, large enough to dock one cap ship. A command and communications centre expanded from the central point of station, while just underneath where the tower started was a shielded docking bay fit for one M7, or perhaps an M6 and some fighters. Either way, the military transport and its three Nova escorts had no trouble finding space in the large area.

Repulser jets shot steam and other gasses out of the bottom of the transport as it glided gracefully onto the steel surface. A squad of marines stood behind a moderately decorated officer approaching middle age as they waited for the appearance of Admiral Forge. A ramp extended from the bottom of the ship towards them, accompanied by the usual hiss of gas-powered arms extending. First came the ships captain, who shook hands with the waiting officer and stood aside, then the Admiral.

The officer extended his hand. “Greetings, sir. My name is Commander Aaron Tirastu, aide to Captain Cron, who I trust you have come here to see.”
“That is correct. Is he aboard this station now? He called for urgent attention.”
“Absolutely, sir. Please follow me to his briefing room.”

Aaron turned and walked through the line of marines, six on each side. Jacob followed and the marines advanced at a pace behind them. They climbed the staircase and exited the docking bay through large automatic doors, big enough to fit two Paranid in at once. After a quick turbolift ride, they arrived at a corridor with only one door. The commander worked the control panel outside and allowed for a retinal scan before entering. The room had a triangular prism-like interior, with the ceiling at its highest point being around seven metres high. Its walls were imperial black, along with all the other features of the room. A long and very narrow eight metre briefing table dominated the central part of the area. A number of officers had already arrived, some standing, talking with each other, and some preferring to remain seated, however still talking.

“The younger one over in that corner is Captain Cron,” said Aaron pointing to a youthful captain probably barely in his thirties. Not exactly ‘young’ but compared to most of the others in the room…
“Thank you. Will you be attending the meeting?”
“I will, sir but I must re-assign these troopers first.”
“Understood.” Jacob walked over to Cron who was mingling in among the conversational buzz of the room, talking with several other officers. He was average height and could have passed for an eighteen-year-old if he tried. The Admiral was amazed as his counterpart’s youth since he had never met him in the face before. Apparently, he had just been assigned as full time captain of the resident Carrier in Black Hole Sun after the Khaak showdown in which the Terrans intervened at Heretic’s End. His complexion was moderately dark, with light bluish green eyes and a shaved head.

“Captain Cron,” said Jacob.
“Sir!” replied the captain with a salute. “Pleasure to meet you, sir. Captain Ace Cron of the Verizon Colossus carrier.”
“At ease, captain.” The pair shook hands.
“Well, now that you’re here, we should get this meeting started.” Ace moved to drag out a seat.
“What was so urgent about this briefing?”
Cron indicated silence with his hand and looked towards Commander Tirastu, who was about to begin the meeting.
“All officers, please return to your seats,” said Aaron in a loud voice. There was a scramble for room and seating space as all the standing men raced to find a seat. “Thank you,” said the commander before seating himself.
Captain Cron stood. “You have all been called here for a matter of great urgency, one which involves the very existence of the Argon sector Omicron Lyrae.”
The admiral’s heat skipped a beat.
“I will now hand over to Lieutenant Fulcrum, who will explain the situation in more detail.” Cron seated himself once again.
A man stood up on the opposite side of the table. He pressed a few buttons on his datapad and a hologram of a space map appeared in the middle of the table. “This is our ecliptic map of Sector 44.”
The noise level rose as several officers audibly expressed their interest.
“Recently, only a few hours ago, one of our spy probes detected a massive build up of enemy ships in capital formation around the gate to Omicron Lyrae.” Several large blips materialised near the gate in the hologram. “Another probe was immediately sent through the secret gate in this sector to determine if any fleets were readying themselves there. It seems that the aliens have completely abandoned that sector, leaving us reason to believe that they are focusing forces on one point.”
Numerous mumbles of ‘an invasion’ or ‘we’re doomed’ echoed throughout the room.
Fulcrum ignored them. “Our resolve is up to you, officers.”

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

Jo had won that last game of blackjack which subsequently boosted his enthusiasm. Unfortunately for him he lost the next five matches with real credits.

“I’ll be damned if I play again,” said Jo.
Dan’s eyes were beaming with all his winnings in front of him. “So I guess you don’t want to – ” He froze, his eyes locked on the window to outside.
“What is it?”
“Turn the ship around.”
Jo got up and moved towards the pilot’s seat. “Why? What is it?”
“I think I saw something back there.”
“But we’re not supposed to arrive at our destination for another ten minutes.”
“Well obviously your instructions weren’t very accurate.”
“We’ll see.” Jo pulled back on the thruster control brining the ship to a halt. They were only about twenty metres off the water and the repulser jets made ripples a plenty beneath them as Jo did a 180 on the spot. Jo, too, seemed to freeze as the ship completed its turn. “I see it,” he said, softly. About a kilometre back in the direction they’d come, a tower-like structure extended on a slight angle from the water. Jo recognized it immediately as the tail end of the long ship that he had been sent to search for.

“See,” said Dan, “I told you.”
“That’s it alright,” replied Jo vaguely, still a bit caught up in his mind.
“By the way, what the baka has that got to do with a Paranid bomber crash-landing into the sea?”
“Yes. Well, I think it’s time I told you why we’re really here.”
Dan’s brow rose.
“You’ve probably heard of these new sectors full of alien ships near Omicron Lyrae and Black Hole Sun.”
“Yes…”
“Well, this is entirely to do with them. You see, cut a long story short, that vessel outside is in fact an alien ship containing at least one single humanoid being. We think it’s of the spying sort. I was sent down to investigate.”
Dan’s shoulder’s relaxed as he rubbed his chin, staring into space.
Jo’s voice softened, “I hope you don’t mind…”
“Do I mind?!” Jo braced mentally. “Do I mind?!,” he repeated. Dan let a silent, seemingly long moment to pass. His reaction changed abruptly. “I suppose I don’t, really.” Despite his best efforts Jo could not completely hide his relief. “So let’s go then eh.”

It took a moment for Jo to reply. “Uh, right.” He quickly paced over to a cabinet on the wall behind the piloting seats and opened it, brining out two light alloy combat belts fully equipped with hand held P4-B power blaster, spare energy packs, a concussion grenade, and comlink. “Put this on,” said Jo handing one of the belts to Dan who looked at him slightly confused. “It looks like we’re going to have to do this the hard way if we want to capture the ship intact. Personally, though, I don’t give a damn about the pilot.” Dan complied and put on the belt. He drew the blaster and mimed a shot at no particular target. “You know how to use one of those?” asked Jo.
“Yup. Technically, I’m not really retired from being a smuggler. I’ve gotten to use these things a lot over the years.”
“You’re a smuggler?”
“Uhuh. There’s not much to tell. I didn’t tell you for certain, uh, safety reasons.”
“I wouldn’t turn you in for being a smuggler, Dan,” said Jo, surprised. “I have friends who are smugglers.”
“Not my safety, yours.” With that he walked past Jo to do something with his datapad sitting on the table.
“Oh,” was Jo’s late response.

“We should probably get fairly close before we hop out don’t you think?” said Dan. He walked over to the ship controls and, without sitting down, moved the ship towards the tip of the alien ship extending about ten metres out of the water. Jo materialised beside Dan as they got closer. “Careful,” he said as they approached sixty metres. “We don’t know – ” Glass shattered and Jo felt his back crack as he was hurled against the back of the cockpit. Dan was on the floor beside him, a minor cut on his forehead. Jo’s ears were ringing as he got up and tried to clear his head. Another, lesser shudder hit the ship and Jo felt the absence of balance throughout the ship. “We’ve been hit,” yelled Dan who was now leaning over ship status panels. The cockpit view port had been blown apart in various places, allowing Jo to catch a glance of a smoking laser cannon extending from the tip of the alien ship. He didn’t remember it being there before.

A third blast rocked the Disco, this time sending it on a more direct course towards the sea. “We’ve got to get out of here!” Jo shouted. Dan didn’t get to reply. They both caught a whiff of water up their noses as the Disco plunged into the ocean and filled with water. For the next five seconds Jo couldn’t see anything, only feel his way out of the ship. When his vision returned, blurred because of the water, he saw Dan’s legs swim out of sight through the hole in the cockpit window. Jo followed suit and, gasping for breath, hit the top of the water beside Dan.

“So much for that,” said Dan, glancing down to the sinking ship below.
“I guess we’ll have to swim the rest of the way.”
“We’re sitting ducks in the water.”
“You got a better idea?”
“I guess not.”
“Let’s go then,” said Jo as he started swimming towards the pointy hulk of metal that had just shot his ship down. When the were about fifteen metres away, Jo heard blaster fire and Dan cursing. He stopped to tread water and glanced over to his companion. Lasers reigned down, one even singing Jo’s hair. A man human in appearance, wearing a white jumpsuit, was standing on the edge of the ship shooting at them with a blaster rifle. Jo dived down, grabbed his blaster, and twisted his body to come up several metres away. He took four shots, half a second apart, and dived down again. When he came up, he saw the man disappear around the other side of the ship, his left shoulder sparking with a combination of exposed circuitry and burnt flesh. Jo waited for more shots. None came. Instead, he heard a hatchway close half way up the exposed section of the ship.

Dan splashed out of the water beside Jo. “You ok?” he asked, breathless.
“Yeah, he didn’t hit me.”
“I saw an access hatch about fifteen metres down underwater. I think that’s our best bet.”
“After you then.”

Dan dashed out of sight and Jo followed. He got a better idea of the full length of the ship. It must have been about one hundred metres. He couldn’t see how much of it was embedded in the rocks below. Finally – it seemed like an eternity to Jo – Dan reached the hatch. It was only about half a metre in diameter. He tried to grab its edges and pull it to no avail. Jo’s arm moved him out of the way as he held his blaster in the other hand. One shot towards the edge did the trick. It blew open on its hinges. Dan went first, through the opening in a second or two, followed by Jo, who pulled the door shut and collapsed onto the floor, gasping for breath. Dan extended a hand to help him up.

“Come on, military man. Didn’t they give you swimming lessons?”
Jo stood. “There’s no water for a fighter pilot, my friend.”

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I've been thinking about books that explain the location of the scene before a chapter/(sub chapter) starts. What do other people think?

[Syndrome]

Next chapter...

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They were in a small chamber with a tiny light emitting diode shining from a clear, protected surface in the centre of the floor. The walls got wider towards the top, and had their fair share of alien control panels. Jo spotted another, motorized, hatchway, on the ceiling. Dan was in better shape than Jo, obviously much more experienced in the water.

Dan reached up and turned the wheel protruding from the hatchway. It beeped, hissed and shot out water vapour, then finally opened.
“You first,” said Jo. “Let me catch my breath.”
Dan hoisted himself upwards and planted his feet on the new, somewhat wrong looking surroundings. He heard a click and a low hum, looking around for its source. The next thing he new the world was spinning for what seemed like an eternity before his head made a clunking sound as it fell hard against the floor. When his vision returned, Jo was leaning over him.

“Just as well you went first,” he said.
“W…What happened?”
“The gravity generators altered as soon as it sensed you in the room. We’re now standing at ninety degrees to the real ground.”

They were standing in a narrow room ten metres long, with a door on the far side. Waist-high control panels extended about half a metre off the walls a various places. Dan brought himself up into a sitting position only to find himself with a massive headache. Jo walked over to the nearest control panel and started examining it.

“You know,” said Jo, “You really should – ” A deep rumble, like footsteps, got progressively louder on the other side of the far door.

Clank…Clank…Clank

Both sets of eyes were transfixed upon the exit. Dan heard faint beeps, almost certainly the control panel being used. Lifting himself in a pouncing position, he eyed carefully where the two sliding metal panels pressed together and slowly pulled his blaster out.

“What are you doing?” asked Jo.
Dan ignored him and shot three times towards his target, successfully welding the two thick pieces of metal together. “That should buy us a bit of time,” he said. The doors erupted in a small ball of flame. “Or not…”

A large humanoid machine emerged from the smoke revealing two photon blasters, one on each arm. Its voice was low and monotone. “Eliminate all – ” It didn’t get a chance to finish before it’s triangular head was sent flying on the end of one of Dan’s blaster shots. The rest of the body fell backwards leaving a trail of black smoke where the head would have been on the way down.

“Come on,” said Jo. “Let’s go.”

They ran past the wrecked droid and through the melted door to emerge in another corridor. It went on about ten metres at a slight curve to end at a door marked with a bunch of alien symbols. Jo pulled out his datapad.

“This must be the bridge,” he said. The door around the corner hissed open. “Dan, see if you can get this door open. I’ll handle…” A photon bolt fizzled past Jo’s head. “…these droids!”

Dan hugged the wall and set to work, plugging his datapad into the control socket. A pass code entry screen appeared. He set his code breaker program in motion. It would be a simple job if the security protocol used standard methods.

“How’re you going there?” called Jo who had taken up a covering position in front of Dan.
“I’ll need at least thirty seconds.”
“We might not have thirty seconds!” Jo dived to the other side of the wall, escaping three quick photon bolts. He pulled his grenade off his belt and threw it around the corner, blowing off another droid’s head with his free hand. “Brace yourself,” he yelled.

The explosion sent droid parts flying their way. When his hearing returned, Dan heard the beep beep of his datapad, meaning it had broken the lock. “It worked!”
Jo walked over to the blast’s main impact, glancing around. “Looks like this worked to,” he said, chuckling. He walked back. “Alright.”
“Ready?”
“Go!”

Jo positioned himself directly in front of the door as Dan hit the open button. The alien that had taken pot shots at them earlier appeared on the other side, his blaster aimed right at Jo’s head. His finger squeezed the trigger as Jo laid a massive punch just under his chin.

It all happened too quickly for Dan to see what happened. Jo was slumped against the wall with a blaster burn wound on his left shoulder and the alien was getting up quickly about three metres away, blaster still held loosely. Dan pulled his own trigger, blowing a see-through hole in its abdomen. The second shot sent what was left of its arm flying across the room and the third incinerated the fake skin on its face, leaving only sparking, charred circuits.

It spoke in a weak robotic voice. “Initiate…self…de – ”
Dan sent another shot at its head.
The voice slurred and died.

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

“Where’s the nearest long range comm Unit?” asked Jacob.
“In the tactical room on level four, sir,” replied Cron.
Forge rose from his seat. “I won’t be returning.”
“But sir – ”
“I’m too experienced an officer to let this go to chance, Captain.” He walked briskly out of the room.

When he reached the tactical room he immediately made a bee-line for the nearest monitor and opened a channel to the Herra.

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

“You wish to speak?” the Supreme One asked.
“Yes, lord. Our spy on the planets surface has been – incapacitated,” Trsor replied.
“Who’s doing is this.”
“The human scum sent two, very lucky, agents. Do you believe it is now appropriate to send in our attack force?”
“Perhaps.” He pondered over this.
Trsor remained silent.
After a minute or two, the Supreme One answered. “It is done. We will capture this scum-filled sector and all its inhabitants.”
“Yes, my lord.”

Trsor left, eager to set the invasion in motion.

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

Vanessa – captain Vanessa – was standing beside Tate on the magnificent, newly touched up, bridge of the Herra. Tate was standing up straight with his hands behind his back, as any good captain’s aid should.

“Van, you’ve got an urgent long range transmission from Black Hole Sun.”
She walked over to a monitor behind her. “Thanks.”
“It’s on line four.”
She pressed a few buttons, and Admiral Jacob Forge’s face appeared on the viewscreen.

“Van, I have urgent news.”
“Dad?” she replied, perplexed.
“I need you to start evacuating Omicron Lyrae.”
“Why? What’s happening?”
“The aliens are preparing another attack. I don’t know how long they’ll wait but I might not get back in time.”
“What do you mean ‘another attack’?”
“I mean another, full scale, attack.”

Tate interrupted. “Van, I’ve got several ships arriving from Sector 44.”
“Just a second,” Vanessa said to the monitor. Then she said to Tate, “What kind of ships?”
“See for yourself.” Tate pressed a button and a view of four frigate sized alien ships appeared.
Vanessa turned back to the transmission. “We’ve already got some ships jumping in.”
“Initiate the evac, hold them off as long as you can. Call for reinforcements if you have to. Hopefully this isn’t even a full scale attack, but I fear the worst.”
“Thanks for the warning.”
“Van, one more thing.”
“What’s that, dad?”
“Be careful.”
“I will, dad.”
“Out.” The picture vanished to blackness.

Vanessa turned to face Tate with a tear in her eye. She quickly brushed it aside. “What are the standard sector evacuation protocols?”
Tate proudly recited, “One: alert all stations and factories over long range broadcast. Two: jump in sufficient transports. Three: deal with cause of evacuation, in this case the attack. Four: alert planetary defence if necessary. Five: well, just leave I guess.”
“You can do all that for me, I need to call for reinforcements.”
“Yes Ma’am!” Tate saluted and walked off with a smile, however worried he was of the next few hours to come.

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Of course, feedback is always nice.