ADMIN: I edited this together from what was originally three posts to preserve continuity, as well as cleaning up the grammar somewhat and doing a couple of miniscule rewrites to make it read better. From B7P7 () From dshaffer@andromeda.rutgers.edu (Donald A Shaffer) Subject: [Hive][Cain]: Urgent warnings... Date: Tue, 27 Apr 1993 01:59:51 GMT Date: 27 Apr 93 17:23:01 GMT Date: Wed, 28 Apr 1993 02:13:41 GMT Cain was standing with the others outside the lab, waiting to see what would happen next. The team Burke had called was on its way, and the others were still asking questions of Burke and PW. Cain had decided to let Dr. Foxx and Burke do the talking--he was all out of questions for now. Suddenly, a shrill beeping noise was heard. Burke looked like he was about to jump out of skin as he whirled to find its source, then sighed with relief as he saw it was only Cain's communicator, which the black clad merc was quickly fishing out of his belt pouch. "What the hell..." Cain began, then was startled into silence when he heard the strained voice of his friend Troy Daniels come screeching through. "Cain! Captain Cain. Soulstar Cain." Cain pressed the send button and began to answer, but was cut off by a terrible feedback whine. "Damnit Cain. Answer . Kilrahh One . Blips here, Cain. . Cain swore and looked ready to throw his comm unit on the ground. "Burke! This damn building of yours is interfering. What the hell is it made of, anyways?" Cain didn't wait for the scientist to answer, but quickly continued as he looked both ways down the corridor. "Where's the nearest uplink, Burke. I need to get this message through. You have a comm link nearby?" "Y-yeah, down that way." He pointed down the corridor to the left. "Just around the corner. What is this all about, Cain?" The black haired man turned to run in the direction Burke had indicated, and shot back over his shoulder as he did, "It's about big trouble, Burke. The Soulstar's back early. Too damn early." Cain sprinted down the hall, nearly knocking a guard over as he rounded the corner. He didn't even slow, but closed the last fifty feet to the uplink comm station resting in the wall ahead. As he reached it, he pulled another device from his belt pouch, which he plugged into his comm unit, then into the uplink console. He frantically pushed a few buttons, then began to speak. "Cain here. What the hell are you doing back, Blips?! You aren't due for another six weeks! What the hell went wrong?" He waited. "Blips? You still with me? BLIPS! Shit!" Cain punched the console as he realized that the link was lost. Putting his comm unit back in his pouch, he sprinted back to where the group was waiting outside the lab. Even as Dr. Foxx began to ask him something, Cain turned quickly to PW and spoke, desperation in his voice. "PW, I need to ask something of you. Can I take your fastest transport? I _must_ get back to my ship. Something's gone terribly wrong, and my landing craft is in the desert on the far side of the complex. Please, I don't have much time. My crew's in grave danger if they aborted their mission and came running back this soon. I've got to get back into space." The look in Cain's eyes was so foreign from any that had been in them previously that day. The laughter was gone, and so was the coldness. Now they held just worry--and deep concern. "I'll be back as soon as I can, PW. I'm still in on this, but I've got to go to the Soulstar now." "Well, I guess so." A look of thought crossed one of PW's faces. "We can discuss usage fees later." PW's bear part did something with his tongue and then said, "Ground control? Come in ground control. This is PW here. Listen closely, I need a transport here at the Irece labs fast, and make it a quick one..." He paused, cocked his head, listening to a voice that none of the others were able to receive. When he next spoke, his voice was a good deal more agitated. "What?! A CHIMERA Team! Oh F*CK! AND a space battle? Hmmm." PW stared stared at Cain, "Some destroyers and fighter types eh? I think I know who one of them might belong to. Right expect part of me there quick and SEND that transport. I want it here as soon as possible. Got that? Good!" PW clicked off his communication and turned to Cain. "Cain, you have some explaining to do. Expect a transport here soon. And I hope you have some form of reimbursement also." One of PW's hawk members flew off out of a nearby skylight. PW turned to the rest of the 'expedition.' "Well gentleman, pardon the interruption. Now if there are no further interruptions...and Cain, part of me is going with you." A look of momentary relief came across Cain's face as he followed one of PW's wolf parts along the corridor. "Thanks a lot, PW. I really appreciate it. Now I don't have to steal anything from you to go on my own." At the sharp look he received, Cain laughed, and it became apparent that he was only joking. Or was he, PW wondered. "And don't worry, you will be completely reimbursed for any damages or costs that I incurr you. Well, as long as the Soulstar survives. Otherwise I'll have to work for you for free to pay the debt off." PW nodded, but pointed out the thing that Cain didn't answer. "I still want an explanation Cain." "I'm not sure that I can give you one. I was cut off before a stable link was established. I didn't think that I would be needing my communicator, so I didn't bring its accessories along. It doesn't surprise me in the least that you have this institute protected from foreign broadcasts. In fact, I'd be dissapointed in you if that precaution wasn't taken." "Get to the point, Cain," PW growled. "What is it that your ship has done to start up a battle in my space." "I really don't know, PW. There are some things I carry that are of extreme value. Hell, the ship itself is. They should have been gone for another six weeks. Something went drastically wrong for them to come back so early." "And where would they be coming back from. What exactly was their mission, my friend." "No offense, PW, but I reserve the right under the New Geneva Convention on Military Actions, charter A1209-Z3p, not to disclose classified information unless it threatens the safety of your zone. What my crew were doing could not have sparked this. It was something else. I'm not sure, but I'd hazard a guess that it's TARN. But what they would be doing there..." Cain shook his head. "TARN? What's TARN? You don't mean the TerraIV Navy, do you?" PW asked with surprise. "What would they want with a mercenary when they have that bloody war going on?" "The very same PW. I'm surprised you know about it. Not many from TerraIV have ever come into the Riftspace. I may be a mercenary now, but I used to fly for the 'Navy. So did my whole crew. We were working deep covert in the TAAF, when we were double crossed by our own High Command. They weren't too happy when we survived. Of course, there's been a coverup, and I doubt that High General Firakk heard anything different than a group of agents went rogue and stole the new prototype ship. Needless to say, they want it back. But I'm not so sure that it's them." "As for the CHIMERA team, I have no idea what they are doing here. It has nothing to do with me, I assure you. I have contacts with the IGA, but I don't work for them. I've only ever had minor dealings with any CHIMERA opperatives. No, they're here for somebody else." Cain followed PW outside to wait for the transport. From cmeadows@nyx.cs.du.edu (Chris Meadows) Subject: [Constellation] [Cain] Aboard the Cruiser... Date: Fri, 30 Apr 93 00:27:56 GMT [ADMIN: The following post was written jointly by Chris Meadows and Dani Treutler. If you like it, don't be shy; send email!] The cruiser was half-dead, but it was still fighting. The remaining gun batteries were working overtime trying to track and kill the remaining fighters from the SOULSTAR, and the power armor that had launched from the CONSTELLATION. Jake was having a hell of a time flying around and putting blast after blast into the cruiser's turbolaser batteries. Each shot from the particle beam cannon totally destroyed a gun battery, and knocked a rather large hole in the hull where the battery had used to be. Even when Jake was hit, (which happened several times) it hardly scratched the finish on his Glitter Boy. He kept pumping shots into the ship. "This is Mikado to Moondog, Whirlwind, and, um, you other guys, Jake and Edward. I'm approaching your position and am ready to cover you. You are go for board." "Huh?" Jake looked around and saw another fighter similar to the one that he'd saved coming in on approach. "Uh, roger that Mikado." "What did he just say?" Edward asked over the private inter-armor tac frequency. "We're boarding?" "Roger, Edward...just follow me in." Then another voice came over the comm. "This is Sir Blake Piercy, from the CONSTELLATION. Steele and I are en route EVA to join you." "Uh, roger that, Sir Blake." Hmm, Steele...was that a name or a callsign? And SIR Blake? Hiroshi filed the questions away for future reference. He looked around, saw a blur in the distance that had to be them. "Okay...I'll run cover while you secure the docking bay." He activated targeting and tracking systems. "Go!" Jake let out a whoop as he swept in toward the rear of the ship, ducking under laser blasts and firing back with the laser gun mounted on the barrel of his particle beam cannon (he only had ten shots left in the cannon; he would wait for it to recharge). Edward swooped in ahead of him, railgun rifle firing once, twice, three times. Edward could see the docking bay clearly, strips of light lining the runway strips, men scurrying back and forth, some bringing laser rifles to bear and firing out of the bay. The laser turret mounted over the entrance for close-in defense opened up, but Edward fired the two mini-missiles mounted on his SAMAS suit's left arm and put a stop to it immediately. As Edward rocketed into the bay, he met some slight physical resistance but pushed through it. And then--gravity! He dropped to the ground with a clunk and fell to his knees--after four days in zero-gee, gravity took a little getting used to. But he got back up as he saw two colums of troopers with laser rifles rushing forward to cover him. Edward growled, and raised his railgun rifle. He fired, and it wasn't really very pretty to watch. Suffice it to say that blood went everywhere. Next to come in was Jake. "Hey, Jake, be prepared...I don't know how or why but there's about 1G gravity in here, as close as I can make out." "Thanks, Ed. I'll be ready for it." But he wasn't, quite. He landed a little too hard, making big gouges in the deckplates. He hit his head against the interior of the Glitter Boy head, and said, "Dammit!" and other words less printable as his hangover came back in force. The shrill, whining clatter of a portable blaster cannon set up at the far end of the bay did nothing to soothe it, either. The cannon tore up the decking as its beam hit everywhere, but the crew didn't particularly care about collateral damage--they just wanted to get rid of these intruders! Edward ducked behind a loading forklift as blaster bolts whined overhead. He returned fire with his railgun rifle but the gun-integral force field deflected his shots. Jake levelled his particle beam cannon and said something witty and insightful: "Take this!" KA-THAM!!! The gun's shield overloaded and blew, taking its crew with it. "Edward, heads up. Let's go! Oooow, my head..." "Roger." Edward folded the SAMAS armor's wings down and ran forward, firing bursts from the railgun rifle around the bay to keep any survivors down. "Wait for us!" It was Sir Blake, jetpack firing on full, blasting toward the docking bay. "Sir Blake, watch out!" Edward yelled, but too late. The cyberknight pushed through the forcefield, then fell down. "Ow!" Steele, however, made the best landing of them all because of his machine-enhanced senses. He set down, holding a gigantic railgun rifle with a belt of ammo leading out of it to his backpack, and said, "First objective--secure the bridge." "Sounds like a good idea to me," Jake said. "Let's go!" Edward stopped a moment to look at Steele. It always sent a shiver down his spine to see him in that armor. He looked like some kind of metal monster--even more evil-looking than the robots in that old Terminator movie they'd seen at the travelling carnival. The armor was really bulky stuff, and the helmet was a hideous-looking death mask. Edward always thought that anyone who saw that should fall down dead of a heart attack before Steele could actually DO anything to him. They moved out. ***** Hiroshi watched as the last one of them landed safely. All right, it was time for him to go in--almost all of the guns were out by now, and Moondog and Whirlwind had finished up their work with the spacefighters. "Moondog, Whirlwind, this is Mikado. Cover me...I'm going in to secure the bay." "In your condition? Hiroshi, don't be a fool!" That was Dandra. Typical. "I can land on any deck of any ship in any condition, Whirlwind," Hiroshi replied. "Just watch me." He switched on the docking radar, checked the range. Hmm, his vision was still a little blurry--was that 660 meters, or 880? "Hell with it," Hiroshi said, squinting at the dials. "I'll wing it." "The bridge must be this way, come on!" Jake said, running down the corridor and leaving dents in the floor behind him. "We're going to get some answers!" "I could use a few answers," Edward said. "Like why we're doing this in the first place." "To be neighborly--to help out," Jake said. "Because Jake needs a way to release his tensions in some fashion other than drinking," Steele said. None of them noticed that Sir Blake Piercy had disappeared... Meanwhile, in another corridor of the ship, a lone cyberknight dashed down the hall. In his hand was his shortsword, a trusty weapon which had seen him through many a battle. He had separated from the group because he wanted to find a good fight, and cleaning up behind two power armors and a cyborg was not his idea of a worthwhile tussle. This corridor appeared to be some sort of residential area--the doors appeared to lead to soldiers' quarters. Sir Blake paid them no mind--he wanted to get to wherever the passage led. Where it led, Sir Blake found out, was to a thick bulkhead hatchway, and the red light indicator showed that it was shut and locked. "No matter," Sir Blake said, switching his shortsword to his left hand. In his right, a gleaming light sprang up and formed itself into the shape of a shortsword. This was Sir Blake's psi-sword, a focused blade of pure human willpower that cyberknights were trained from an early age to produce. With three slashes, a triangular section of the door slid backward and out with a KLUNK! Sir Blake stepped through, brandishing his shortsword. In this corridor, it turned out, were three soldiers, clad in red and black uniforms, armed with blaster rifles. They gasped as Sir Blake stepped through, and raised their guns. "Now now, that's hardly a way to greet a cyberknight!" Sir Blake dropped to the floor as the three troopers fired through where his head had been, then knocked the legs out from under the first one with a leg sweep. As the others tried to fire again, Sir Blake leaped at them! Their laser blasts hit his armor, but not hard enough to penetrate, and then he was on them. WHAP! WHAM! He knocked the other two troopers out, then turned to face the first again. This soldier was no dummy--he could see that he was way outclassed. But he pulled something off his belt and ignited it--it was a laser sword! If he couldn't defend against a sword with a gun, surely he could defend against it with this! "Ah, good!" Sir Blake sheathed the shortsword and summoned the psi-sword. As the shining weapon appeared in the knight's hand, the soldier looked at his own weapon and knew he was sunk. "En garde!" They fenced. Thrust and counterthrust, slash and riposte...The soldier was pretty good, but he wasn't as good as Sir Blake. The knight eventually knocked the laser blade from the opponent's hand. He banished the psi-sword and retrieved his regular sword, and the dropped laser sword. "Do you yield?" he asked. The trooper looked at him like he was crazy. "I--uh, sure." "Good." Sir Blake knocked him out with the hilt of his sword. "Now, onward and upward..." He tucked the deactivated laser sword in his pocket; maybe Edward or Mako would want to see it. ***** Hiroshi brought the fighter in expertly--almost. He did misjudge the cant of the flight deck slightly and scraped the nose along it for about forty feet, causing a furrow in the deckplate and some slight damage to the Drake's nose. As he sat there after the fighter had come to a halt, Hiroshi groaned. "They're not going to let me hear the last of this one..." There was nothing for it now, though...Hiroshi catapulted out of the cockpit, landing with a slight groan at his ribs. He was not wearing the normal flight suit that Dandra and Foegarth were using right now; he was in a special suit of motorized armor. The K-47 AutoDrive exoskeleton was basically a specialized spacesuit, meant for work in heavy-gravity situations. The motorized joints would move where a human couldn't keep going. The K-47C Vanguard version, which Hiroshi was wearing, was an upgraded military model, with stronger joints and special weapons and other systems built in. The armor was bulky, which was why one normally didn't fly in it--it was, instead, carried in the survival gear of each individual fighter. But with the condition of Hiroshi's ribs being what it was, Dr. Talon had ordered him at least to wear the armor if he insisted on going out. So he did. The K-47C basically resembled a suit of body armor, only a little bit larger. It could be used with a full-seal space helmet to make it completely airtight, but was more commonly used without it, since the helmet obscured one's field of vision. The suit was painted in green and brown camouflage colors, as it was primarily meant for use in emergency survival situations. Hiroshi thumbed a key on the left arm, and the canopy on his fighter swung closed, sealed, and locked. He smiled a crooked grin. "This could be a lot of fun...it's been too long since I've used the Vanguard." He picked up the laser rifle that came with the suit and slid it into place in its bracket on the suit's back. The hydraulics made whirring noises as he moved around. "Let's see...they're probably heading for the bridge...so why don't I check out engineering?" He clumped down the corridor, hydraulics whirring, feet clattering against the deck. Edward, Steele, and Jake were meeting heavy resistance, though nothing they couldn't handle. Jake had fired the Glitter Boy's laser gun exclusively, letting the PBC recharge. Currently it was up to seventeen blasts. Edward and Steele hosed down the opposition with railgun fire, letting nothing stand in their way. They finally entered a main corridor, which looked like it led all the way to the front of the ship. But there was a problem...all the bulkhead doors were sealed in front of them. "No problem," Jake said, orienting the cannon. "No!" Edward barked. "Don't fire that gun in here, or it could--" KA-THAM!!! The powerful cannon fired, blowing a very large hole in the bulkhead door--and in three more bulkhead doors past it. "See?" Jake said. "That's three doors that we don't have to worry about." Edward's response to that was largely unprintable. Hiroshi jumped down a hatch into a corridor, letting the hydraulics of the armor suit adjust for the drop. He felt a sharp pain in his side as he landed and nearly collapsed. As he got up, everything was blurry and he was starting to get a headache. "Dammit, can't let that stop me...have to go on." He punched another key on the left arm of the armor and felt the cooling rush of the sprayinjection system as the stimulants and painkillers flowed into his body. "Dr. Talon would kill me, but I've got to disable the engines in case this ship tries to jump out." About halfway down the corridor, a guard jumped out, firing a blaster carbine. Hiroshi snapped out his arm and the Vanguard suit, sensing the motion, snapped the rifle out from the bracket into his hand with a sharp whirring motion. Hiroshi tried to sight on the guard, but he had a problem...there seemed to be three of them, all moving around. He hosed the entire corridor down with laserfire, and all three of the guards dropped. Hiroshi let go of the gun, and the suit retracted it back to its prior position. "Got 'em." Though when Hiroshi ran past, there was only one guard there. He tried to ignore that. "Ah, the bridge at last!" Jake stepped into the room. It was large--perhaps a hundred feet across. There were dozens of workstations here, and a central pylon on which a command seat sat, throne-like, where the captain could see perfectly what each member of his crew was doing. All around the room were large, wall-mounted viewscreens, with the largest one of all located toward the bow of the ship. The bridge was all but deserted. Only two or three workers were still at their stations, and even as Jake watched, they crossed their arms over their chests and their seats dropped through holes in the floor beneath them, which closed after they were gone. Only one man was left on the bridge now--the captain, who stood in front of his command seat. He was an older man, with greying hair and beard. He wore some sort of naval uniform, but not any navy that Jake had ever heard of. He held some kind of laser pistol trained on Jake (Jake laughed). And there was an air of dignity about him that belied his current situation--standing on a deserted bridge in a defeated ship at the mercy of the invaders. Edward and Steele entered behind Jake, and paused for just a moment to marvel at this bridge. It looked like something out of mission control in Houston, or maybe the Coalition's command center in Chi-Town. The captain turned to look at them, spoke. "So you've come. Well, little good will it do you. Most of the crew is already away, and those who remain are going even now. And you will not take this ship." He reached over, twisted a dial on a nearby console, and hit a button. Then the entire console dropped through the floor and vanished from sight! The great big main viewscreens in the front of the room flickered into life with a giant timer. 00:04:59.XX (the last two digits were changing too fast to see clearly). "It's out of your hands now," he said, even as a feminine computer voice announced, "Attention. This ship will self-destruct in five minutes. Please attend to all evacuation procedures. Thank you." "Why you--!" Jake fired his jumpjets and flew over toward the command pylon. "And you won't take me alive, either." The enemy captain put something in his mouth and bit down. "How odd...it...doesn't feel...like...I thought it wou..." He collapsed, dead. "Quick, can you stop it?" Edward asked Steele. Steele considered, shook his head. "Damn! Damn, damn, damn!" Jake said. "We have four and a half minutes to get off this ship! We'll never make it!" Edward thought. "Emergency airlock. There must be an emergency airlock in here somewhere...we just have to find it." Steele walked over to a wall jack and pulled a cable out of it, which fit nicely in his cyberjack. The countdown on the main viewscreen was replaced by ship schematics. They zoomed in on the bridge, and on the command pylon in particular. "There," Steele said, and his voice reverberated through the bridge speakers. "The base of the command pylon. An ladder to an emergency airlock one hundred feet down." "Where's Sir Blake?" Edward asked. "He slipped off somewhere...we've got to find him!" "There is no time," Steele said, unjacking from the wall socket. "We must go now." "Sir Blake will have heard the announcement over the loudspeakers," Jake said. "He's no dummy. We'll just have to assume he'll get out somehow." Edward sighed. "If you say so...but I still think I should go find him..." "Edward, you're NOT expendable!" Jake said. "I know the Coalition used Dog Boys as cannon fodder, but you should have gotten over that attitude by now!" "Too much talking," Steele said. "Go!" Edward and Jake jumped down the ladderwell, using their jumpjets to land them safely. Steele climbed down more meticulously, but faster than an ordinary human would have been able to in a similar situation. "All right, let's get out of here!" Hiroshi had made it to the starboard engine room, only to find that there was nobody there. "What the...?" He leaned against the wall, woozily. Then the announcement came over the loudspeakers. Self-destruct in five minutes. That's nice. Then his overfatigued mind registered the meaning of "self" and the meaning of "destruct," and then the meaning of those two words when used together in this context, and he stood bolt upright. "I've got to get out of here!" A similar thought had struck Sir Blake, and he turned and ran back up the corridors. He had almost made it back to the launch bay, when he noticed the man he'd knocked out earlier still lying there unconsious. The other two guards had gone, presumably to the escape capsules or whatever it was they used. "I won't be responsible for this man's death," he swore, reaching down and lifting him up. With the man over his shoulder, he staggered back out toward the fighter bay. By this time, it was barely one minute to destruct. As they stumbled out into the bay, Sir Blake saw Hiroshi entering from the opposite side. Sir Blake thought he might be another one of the crew and created his psi-sword. "You! Hold!" Hiroshi pulled up short. One of the five figures on the opposite side of the launch bay had just challenged him! He flicked his right wrist out, palm up, in a quick movement that caused the armor to eject the stun baton concealed within the arm unit into his hand and raced forward. "I don't have time for this!" he yelled. "The ship is about to blow up. So I'll make this quick." Sir Blake wondered why the man was running toward a point about ten feet to the side of him. "If you want a fight, I'm over here!" he said, lowering the unconscious crewman to the ground. Hiroshi pulled up short. "Hey, wait...I recognize that voice. You're Sir Blake Piercy, aren't you?" Sir Blake said, "Yes, I am..." "I'm Mikado." He let the stun baton slip back into the arm unit. "Come on, we have to get out of here, FAST!" He pressed a key on the suit's left arm, and the Black Drake's engines began to come on line. "Right. Can your fighter carry three?" "Three?!" He looked back at Sir Blake, who seemed to be in several places at once. All of the Sir Blakes were carrying something on their shoulders. "Right. No time for debate. I think so...come on." He opened the cockpit, dumped the unconscious crewmember into it, then pulled the seat forward. "I think you'll fit in there with the survival equipment. Hurry! Thirty seconds left!" Sir Blake didn't need to be told twice. He scrambled in, and Hiroshi sat back down in the space available, closed the canopy, and took off. WHOOOOOOOOOOOSH! Not ten seconds after he left the launch bay, the ship exploded. Fortunately, there are no shock waves in space (no medium to carry them). However, there was debris, and the Black Drake took several hits from pieces of it as it zoomed outward. But there was no critical damage from the experience...just some minor bruising. "All right!" Hiroshi whooped, reaching for one of the three control sticks he saw in front of him. "We made it!" [To Be Continued Very Shortly...] -- Chris Meadows | Robotech/RIFTS/Palladium fanfic author/editor CHM173S@SMSVMA | They Might Be Giants about Star Trek aliens: CHM173S@VMA.SMSU.EDU | "Everybody wants prosthetic foreheads CMEADOWS@NYX.CS.DU.EDU | on their real heads!" From CHM173S@vma.smsu.edu (Chris Meadows) Newsgroups: alt.pub.havens-rest Subject: [Constellation] [Cain] Docking Date: Sun, 02 May 93 00:46:59 CDT The newly-named CONSTELLATION approached the scene of the battle. The Imperial-class cruiser drifted in space, its port engine completely down, the starboard engine barely ticking over. As Mako's ship approached the scene, they were met by two sleek starfighters. There was a crackle of static, then a voice in Mako's headset. "CONSTELLATION, this is Moondog. Whirlwind and I will escort you to the SOULSTAR." "Roger, Moondog, we copy." Foegarth smiled as he flicked off his communicator and took up a position off the starboard flank of the CONSTELLATION. A moment later Dandra formed on his wing, and they were on their way, after a slight course change, towards the SOULSTAR. The blue-furred Alzar looked towards where the enemy starship was lilting slightly. The four warriors from the CONSTELLATION had boarded it, and Hiroshi had followed them in a minute later. They'd been on the ship for some time now, almost ten minutes. Nothing much had happened since then, as he and Dandra had already cleared the sky of the enemy fighters. They now escorted Mako's ship on the off-chance that another wing of fighters might launch from the crippled Imperial-class destroyer. Moondog smiled again--he was proud of Hiroshi. The young earthling had entered the fray in a sorely wounded condition. He had been one of the two who had survived the attack on the station three days past. Foegarth was the other. It still pained him to think of it. Even with his trained-from-birth warrior's mind, it was always hard to lose a friend, much less two. Foegarth and Hiroshi had been on the space station along with Mack and Tarn, to pick up the ordered supplies. The rest of the crew had been making ready to depart, and the four pilots had volunteered to do the pick up as they didn't have anything else to do. They had rounded a corner in the corridor, laughing and talking, when it had happened. Tarn never knew what hit him. One moment he had been smiling and telling a new dirty joke, and the next his charred head stared in mock horror at Foegarth. Even as they dived through the door on the left, Mack was hit in the side by the next laser blast. Foegarth had managed to catch him and pull him through, but it was instantly obvious that the wound was a mortal one. They had managed to crawl behind some crates before the bounty hunters reached the entrance to the storage bay. One look was all they needed to see that they couldn't stand and fight. Mack refused to let 'garth carry him, insisting that he wouldn't live anyways. He drew his pistol, and popped the cap on the plasma grenade that Hiroshi handed him. Even as he took his last breaths, Mack covered for his comrades on their mad dash for the door on the other side of the bay. As they weaved through the scattered piles of crates, a missed shot had toppled one, and Hiroshi was knocked unconscious by a crate that fell atop him. Foegarth picked his friend up and slung him over his shoulder, nearly without slowing. As they ran out the door, it had brought a sort of grim pleasure to the Alzar to hear two screams and a moment later an explosion. Mack had died a warrior's death. Foegarth never knew how many of them there were, but Mack must have taken out most of them, for he and Hiroshi were able to reach the SOULSTAR. They had launched immediately upon receiving the order from the station commander to surrender. And it wasn't long after that that they had first detected the destroyers on their tail. Where they had come from so quickly, he doubted he'd ever know. Nine in total gave chase. The SOULSTAR had managed to take out three of them before they wisely decided to jump back to Serendipity, trying to lose them in the Rifts... Foegarth shook his head, but was startled from further memories by an excited tranmission over his comm unit. "Look out!" Jake yelled. "This baby's about to blow! Everybody get clear!" Thirty seconds later the damaged cruiser did just that. It wasn't the gradual chain reaction explosion starting from the rear that usually happened when a ship like that was destroyed by a fighter. It was more like what happens when capital ships like the Blade, with anti-matter weapons built into the hull, blow each other up. This exlosion seemed to come from within, engulfing the entire ship at once. Foegarth opened his eyes almost as soon as his reflexes had closed them and searched through the glare for those who had been aboard. There, the two large armour suits containing Jake and Edward. But where where the rest of them? Foegarth realised that he was too far away now to see the two brave men who had entered in no less than combat space suits, but the 'Drake fighter was another matter entirely. Where was it? "Dandra," he started to ask, "can you see..." then sighed with relief as he finally saw the fighter come hurtling out through the debris. "Hiroshi, you alright?" "Uh, yeah, of course I am, Moondog. What could possibly be wrong with me?" Foegarth noted that the other pilot's voice didn't sound all that steady or sure of what it was saying. "I've got a rider with me, 'garth. I found Sir Blake Piercy trying to hitch a ride out of there, so I picked him up. Although now that I think of it, my mother did tell me never to pick up hitchhikers." Hiroshi laughed at his own joke, which the Alzar didn't get at all. He figured it was an earth thing, for he heard the Blake fellow laughing along with Mikado. He shrugged. He didn't get most of Hiroshi's jokes, nor all of the ones the Terrans said either. Foegarth sighed and resigned himself to sitting back and relaxing for the ride home. It would be another ten minutes at the pace the CONSTELLATION was setting. He decided to get his first good look at the ship he was escorting to raundezvous with his own. The first thing he noticed was that he didn't see the name painted anywhere on the starboard side, nor any call letters or identifaction of any kind. He remembered that the SOULSTAR was like that when they'd first flown in it too, and began to wonder. Basically the ship was about 150 meters long, from Foegarth's estimation. It looked like some sort of a mid-sized cargo carrier. The front area was the crew quarters, with portholes on the side and a rounded area in front that had to be the cockpit. Sticking out from the nose was some kind of a docking hookup. Foegarth hoped it would mate to the SOULSTAR's, and guesstimated that it probably would. Behind that was a long cargo bay, just a little shorter than the crew area. Along the top was a pair of bay doors, probably meant for deploying satellites or lifting cargo out with cranes. The rear 1/4 of the ship was taken up by the drive section, which seemed to be some sort of ion thrust system, a more primitive version of the ion drive in his own Starslayer fighter. No hyperdrive or spacejump system was in evidence. Overall, the ship seemed a great deal less advanced than the SOULSTAR. Which was odd, considering the impressive power armor units it had fielded. Foegarth shrugged. Technological levels could seem to be inconsistent in other civilizations and other dimensions. There was probably an explanation for it, which he might obtain when they had docked with the SOULSTAR. ***** Hiroshi laughed again as Sir Blake finished his tale. It sure was good to be in the company of a fellow Earther again, especially one with moral standards as high as his own--well, maybe a little higher, true, but at least he could still appreciate them. As his laughter subsided he once more felt the pain that it brought to his broken ribs. He winced, then wished he hadn't as his vision began to swim. He knew then that he didn't believe the reassurance he'd given Foegarth either. He was one hurtin' unit. But he'd have to wait to hurt until after he landed. Up ahead, the CONSTELLATION was just docking with the 'Star. He watched as the three images of it slowly gathered into one as he got a little closer. Moondog and Whirlwind had already landed, and Lianna had lauched in one of their Starslayers to do a short range patrol of the surrounding area in case they had missed any fighters, or in case another cruiser found them, although it was unlikely that the other three knew where they were, otherwise they would have arrived long ago. They were waiting in the queue until the docking was complete before they could land. Sir Blake started to tell about another of his exploits, then fell silent and joined Hiroshi in watching the two huge ships dock. The CONSTELLATION eased slowly towards the starboard side of the SOULSTAR, as Mako lined up the docking mechanism in her nose with the one on the black and white ship's flank. The two large ships were barely moving now, the SOULSTAR having cut its engines to allow the other ship to approach on maneuvering thruster power only. It seemed to take forever, but at last the two ships met, and the two conscious men in the 'Drake could almost feel the loud that everyone on the larger ships would be hearing. The docking interface locked, and the short passage was filled with breathable air even as Mako cut the engines of the CONSTELLATION. Hiroshi turned the 'Drake around to make his approach as soon as Blips gave him clearance. [Written jointly by Chris Meadows and Daniel Treutler] [To Be Continued, Very Shortly...] From CHM173S@vma.smsu.edu (Chris Meadows) Newsgroups: alt.pub.havens-rest Subject: [Cain] [Constellation] Guests Arrive Date: Sun, 02 May 93 01:00:30 CDT Darcie stepped out of his quarters, freshly showered and wearing a clean uniform. The crewmembers weren't required to wear uniforms, of course, but old habits died hard. Besides, he had guests to greet. And he had good reason to clean up, too--he just hoped nobody else found out about it. He hopped on the lift and took it down three floors to the launch bay. Lt. Darr and Dr. Talon were already waiting there, as was Jaana, who had cleaned the grease from her face and let her long brown hair down. She'd also changed to greet the guests, but she wore a pair of old-style blue jeans and a white button down shirt, not one of the old TARN uniforms. She was one person who had broken that habit rather quickly. Darcie smiled as the light above the airlock began to turn to green, and the door slowly slid open. He walked forward to greet his guests, his officers on his heels. The first person to step out of the airlock was a tall man, about six feet or maybe 6' 2", whose dark hair was cropped close to his head. He wore glasses, and a light blue one-piece garment that had an American flag on it and a sigil that read "Freedom Station". There was a name tag, too, that said "Michael P. Akins". Tucked discreetly into a holster on the back of his belt was a small sidearm--a small-caliber slug-throwing pistol of some sort was Darcie's guess. As he stepped out of the airlock, he stumbled slightly, and steadied himself against the airlock wall before standing on his own. "Gravity..." he murmured. "Artificial gravity. But how...?" "You must be Mako," Darcie grinned, extending a hand, which the other man shook firmly. "I'm Lieutenant O'Kahgan, but you can call me Darcie. Glad to have you aboard. And I'm also very glad to have you on our side. You saved our lives, you know. We were hard-pressed with two of those cruisers, and might not have survived the third without your intervention." Darcie nodded over at the other end of the launch bay, and Mako saw the two damaged Vulgs as well as the 'Drake Darcie had flown. Damaged wasn't quite the word--devastated was more like it. Next to step out was a blonde-haired woman with silver eyes, wearing a similar coverall garment, but it had a larger belt on it than Mako's, and on this belt were all manner of tools and equipment. There was also an energy pistol in a left-side crossdraw rig. She wore some kind of visor--eye protection? Darcie wondered--and carried a large duffle bag slung over her shoulder. The strap obscured her name tag, but she held out her hand and grinned. "Hello. Sharon Lacey. I'm the main technician of our team, and you might say first mate to Mako's captain." She and Mako smiled at each other, and Darcie would have to have been a brick not to notice the way they looked at each other. First "mate" indeed! He also would have to have been somewhat dense not to notice her choice of the word "team" instead of "crew," and her implication that they didn't actually have any rank at all. This supposition gained more weight when the next man stepped out, not wearing any kind of a uniform at all that Darcie could recognize. What he was wearing was an old leather aviator's jacket and pants, boots, and flight cap complete down to goggles. He looked like he'd just stepped out of some Terran history book. As for his physical features, he had dark skin, short, black, curly hair, and dark brown eyes. He grinned at Darcie's look of incomprehension. "The latest fashions alway seem strange to outsiders, don't they? I'm Rory Calhoun, technowizard." "Techno-what?" Jaana asked. "Technowizard." Rory grinned. "Let me guess, you don't believe in magic, right?" Darcie looked back and forth from Jaana to the three from the CONSTELLATION. The threesome seemed to be chuckling at some private joke, while Jaana looked quite puzzled. Darcie shrugged, chalked it up to a strange sense of humor on the part of Calhoun. Then the fourth person stepped through. She was fairly good-looking, with luxuriant black hair, dark eyes, and ruby-red lips. She didn't wear a uniform, either, but some kind of robe, tied together with a belt on which a few pouches and a holster resided. In the holster was some sort of odd-looking device that was probably an energy pistol of some sort. "I'm Arla Danie. I..." She considered, looked over at Mako. "...do pretty much whatever Mako tells me to." Darcie waited until the two woman had emerged from the airlock as well before he continued. "I'd like to formally welcome you all to the SOULSTAR, and extend an invitation for your whole crew to dinner. Ah, but first some introductions are in order." He indicated a darkly-tanned man on his left, with eyes so brown they were nearly black. His hair was silver--though not with age, for he could not be older than his late twenties--and was cropped short in a professional military style. The man was lean yet well muscled, and merely nodded. "Lieutenant Khoran Darr, head of security and weapon tech aboard the 'Star." Darcie then indicated the other man, who was much older, perhaps forty five, as the grey streaks in his brown hair indicated. "Dr. John Talon." John stepped forward and shook Mako's hand, then kissed the hands of the two ladies in a truly gentlemanly way. Darcie then introduced the woman with the long brown hair and sparkling eyes. She looked to be in her mid twenties, and had a firm figure and a fine fit to her jeans. She was very beautiful, Mako thought. "2nd Lieutenant Jaana Cantz, in charge of engineering." "Ah!" Sharon said, stepping forward to shake hands. "I would like to talk to you sometime, mechanic-to-mechanic." Jaana looked a bit startled, but then she nodded her assent. "I think that can be arranged." "Now," Darcie smiled again, "shall we give you a tour?" As he turned to lead them from the bay, the siren indicating a landing in progress began to turn, and Darcie decided to wait to help greet the incoming fighter's occupants. "Step this way, please..." [Jointly Written by Chris Meadows and Daniel Treutler] [To Be Continued Very Shortly...] -- Chris Meadows || Andrea & Sheryl CHM173S@SMSVMA.BITNET || [AU] thread, alt.pub.dragons-inn CHM173S@VMA.SMSU.EDU || -------------------------------- CMEADOWS@NYX.CS.DU.EDU || A supporter of rec.arts.creative From CHM173S@vma.smsu.edu (Chris Meadows) Newsgroups: alt.pub.havens-rest Subject: [Cain] [Constellation] Sir Blake's Landing Date: Sun, 02 May 93 01:40:03 CDT "Eagle Eye to Mikado. You are cleared for landing. You sure you're all right, Hiroshi?" First 'garth, now Blips...why was everybody asking him that? Hiroshi shrugged, thinking, probably 'cause I sound as bad as I feel. He eased back on the stick, and brought the fighter around for the final approach. He slowed down to 50 kps, then all the way to 5. After a moment he cut the engines and engaged the impulse thrusters, slowing to ten meters per second. He took the fighter in closer, heading towards the port flank of the SOULSTAR--well, the port flank of the center SOULSTAR, for he could see three of them. As he got closer, the triple image merged into one and he sighed in relief and headed for the--waitasec, there were three landing bays too! He shrugged and decided to head for the one in the middle, as that had worked last time. He held his course, bringing the ship in closer so the automatic landing system could get ahold of him. The ALS was really more a tractor beam than one of the real ALS's the big carriers had. "Um, Mikado?" It was Blips again. "What now? Can't you see I'm trying to land?" Hiroshi was annoyed, as it took all of his concentration to keep focused on the landing bay. "That's what I mean, Mikado. I can see that you're trying to land. I can also see that you're trying to land about twenty five meters off of bay. You _sure_ you're all right? I can remote fly you in if you're having trouble." "I'm not having trouble, Blips! Of course I know that I'm not lined up with the bay! It's a new landing technique I'm trying." Hiroshi could swear that it was the bay in front of him, but then he noticed an equally real one to either side. "Um, Blips? Was that to the left or the right?" "Left, Hiroshi. You're too far to the left." "Uh, right." Hiroshi pulled back on the stick and began to circle out to try his approach again. He knew he'd get it this time, now that he knew which one was the real bay. As he came around, however, he swore at his swimming vision, for there were now four bays, and he had no idea which one was the one that he had been too far left of. Sir Blake looked nervously at the side of the ship that they approached, this time far to the right of the landing bay. "Uh, Mikado? You sure you don't want a hand? I mean, if you are having trouble with your vision, I can land for you." Hiroshi turned to look at the cyberknight, trying to focus on his face. It took a moment before he did, and then he spoke. "Do you know how to fly, Sir Blake?" "Uh...well sort of...not really," he said, then admitted it. "No. No, I don't. But, um, how hard could it be?" Sir Blake was starting to turn a little red in the face. "Hai!" Hiroshi clapped him on the shoulder. "All the better! I shall teach you. Come," he motioned, as he clambered over the seat, letting Blake squeeze by him in the cramped space of the fighters cockpit. Sir Blake settled into the seat, then gasped as he looked up. Hiroshi hadn't pulled off from this second attempt yet, and they were still approaching the smooth side of the ship! "What do I do?" Sir Blake asked, worry in his voice. "Eh?" Hiroshi opened his eyes and sat up. Now what was he doing napping in the back? If he was back here, then who was flying...Oh! Right, Sir Blake. "Uh, land." He shrugged, then leaned forward to look over the seat. "But first you might want to pull off and circle around again. We wouldn't want to hit the SOULSTAR!" "I know, Mikado. Believe me, I _don't_ want to hit it--but how do I turn away?" He was looking left and right at all the complicated dials and screens in front of him. There were more buttons and flashing lights than he could shake his psi-sword at! "Just pull back on the stick, and a little to the left too." Sir Blake looked around, confused, then noticed the stick jutting up between his legs. He grabbed it and pulled it back as hard as he could. "Whoa! Hold on there! Not so much." Hiroshi felt his vision swim again, but he didn't mind as his stomach reacted in that thrilling way to the sudden high g's. Sir Blake didn't look like he was enjoying the feeling of his stomach sinking through the floor at all, though. His face was blanched and white as he eased up on the stick and the ship began to level out. He was also breathing fairly rapidly. "Ease up, Sir Blake. Take a deep breath or two. No need to hyperventilate. Here, just move the stick to the left a bit-- just a touch! Ahh...that's better. Hold it there, and we should come around in about twenty seconds." Sir Blake seemed to be getting the hang of it, as he didn't overeact as much as had a moment before. "Hiroshi, Blips here. What the hay are you doing? If you're done fooling around, punch me in and I'll remote pilot you in." "No need for that my friend. We've got it all under control." Blips frowned. That was the Sir Blake guy, the one with the funny accent, like the old Star Trek character. What was he doing answering? "Uh, Sir Blake? What are you doing?" "Who, me?" Sir Blake answered enthusiastically. "Why, I'm learning to fly. Hiroshi is teaching me! I'm going to land." Teaching, Blips thought. He didn't say 'I'm landing,' he said he's learning how to. "Oh no..." Blips groaned. "Hiroshi, what are you getting yourself into now? Just punch up the RC and let me do it, O.K.?" "No, my friend, fear not. I can land this fighter with ease." It was Hiroshi's turn to groan. He'd said something very similar not too long ago. But that other ship hadn't engaged an ALS for him. He watched, wondering how the young cyberknight knew which of the four bays was the right one. He sure couldn't tell the difference. He gave Sir Blake a few odd instructions: "Push that button...slide that down all the way, ease up on the throttle--no that one there--well, it's there somewhere." It didn't take long until they were within two hundred meters of the bay. They felt the ALS engage, locking onto the fighter and pulling it smoothly towards the narrow landing bay. Hiroshi directed Sir Blake to shut down the throttle all the way, and cut the engines. The Drake was guided in by the modified tractor beam and eased gently down to the ground. ("Oh, yeah, the landing gears! Quick Sir Blake, push the button on the left there, no, no...yes, that one!") As the landing gears slid into the slots on the landing pad, the outer door clanged shut and the bay was filled with breathable air. The inner door then slid upwards, and two mechs came forward to wheel the fighter with the slightly damaged nose into the main launch bay. As Sir Blake shoved the canopy up and men ran up to the fighter to secure it, Mako happened to notice who was in the pilot's seat. "What is Sir Blake doing in there?" he asked. "He doesn't know how to fly!" Darcie shrugged. "Good thing no one told him that. Come on, let's get over there." As they walked out onto the flight deck, Sir Blake stepped out onto the fighter's wing and reached back into the cockpit to drag out a limp figure, clad in a camouflage armor suit. "Oh my God..." Dr. Talon gasped, grabbing something out of a pouch on his belt and running toward the fighter as fast as possible. In a flash, he was under the fighter to help Sir Blake ease Hiroshi to the ground. The thing Dr. Talon had taken from his belt was a small device about the size of a paperback book, with several buttons and a screen on it. He slapped the device onto the front of Hiroshi's armor suit, where it clamped magnetically, and he pressed a button and it lit up. He glanced at the readings. "The damn fool, pumped himself full of painkillers and stimulants." "I have paramedic training, can I help?" Sir Blake asked. "Get the emergency oxygen tank from the cockpit," Talon said, putting a hand on Hiroshi's forehead. Pale, clammy skin, shallow breathing... "Hurry, he's going into shock!" As the cyberknight climbed up into the cockpit, Talon held up Hiroshi's left arm, punching the key to activate the suit's heating systems. He grabbed his communicator. "Sickbay, get a maglev stretcher to the fighter launch bay STAT!" He turned to the gathering crowd. "The rest of you better stay back...I'm sorry, but I don't think I'm going to be able to join you for dinner after all..." "Will he be all right?" Darcie asked, concerned. "He just overtaxed his system, that's all. But it's more than enough." Talon pressed some more buttons on the suit, bringing its emergency life-support functions on line. Not that they would be needed, but just in case. Sir Blake jumped down from the cockpit, the green emergency oxygen bottle and mask in hand. He placed the mask over Hiroshi's face and adjusted the oxygen feed with the care of an expert. Dr. Talon glanced at the setting and nodded his tacit approval. The med-techs arrived with the stretcher, and helped lift the unconscious Hiroshi onto it. As they started pushing it away, Sir Blake said, "I'll be with you a little later, Mako...I'm going to go with them and make sure Hiroshi will be all right." Mako nodded. "I'll see you later, then." As a groan issued from the cockpit, Sir Blake said, "Oh, I nearly forgot. Will someone take the man in the cockpit into custody? I captured him on board the cruiser, you see..." Lieutenant Khoran Darr produced a small pistol and motioned to the two mechanics standing nearby. Together they ran up to the ship and forcibly helped a still-bewildered red and black-clad enemy guard climb out of the cockpit. As they led him off, Darr said, "I, too, will join you later. I currently have some interrogation to conduct." He turned to Mako as he left. "Oh, and I'd like to take a look at the gun of yours later if you don't mind. I am rather fond of antiques." "In that case, you'll probably want to see our whole ship...sure, no problem," Mako said. Darcie shrugged. "I guess it's just Jaana and me, then." "Hey, where are Jake, Steele, and Edward?" Mako asked. Darcie looked around. "Hmm, I think they're--over there, yes, that's them." He pointed to the far end of the launch bay, where Jake Preston was just climbing out of his Glitter Boy, and Edward was shucking the SAMAS. Steele had already removed his frightening cyborg body armor. Darcie walked over to them, followed by the others. "Hello, I'm Lieutenant O'Kaghan, Darcie to my friends," he said, holding out his hand to Jake. "You must be the guy who saved my life out there." The redhead turned, took Darcie's hand, and gave it a good shake. "Nice to meet you. Jake Preston." Darcie nodded. "I know...and your friends...?" He looked at Edward and tried not to stare. He'd seen all sorts of aliens in his time...but none that looked like anthropomorphic German Shepherd dogs. "I'm Edward." He held out his hand. "Shake?" Darcie jumped, his hand halfway out. Edward laughed in his peculiar barking way and grabbed Darcie's hand. Jaana was meanwhile looking with fascination at Steele. She had not seen many 'borgs before, being from TerraIV and all. There had only been two cyborgs in all of TARN, both earthers like Hiroshi, and she had only met one of them when he had come aboard the Blade for a summit meeting with the Alzar. The shy look that joined her amazement seemed rather out of place as she introduced herself. "Hi...I, uh, my name's Jaana." Her bright hazel eyes looked down, and her cheeks turned rather red as she continued. "I've never seen a cyborg so close up before, and I, uh, was wondering, um, if you'd mind if I maybe took a closer look later?" Steele shrugged. "You mean you want to know if you can dissect him, eh Jaana?" Darcie chuckled as her face turned even redder. "Sorry Jaan, you set yourself up there." He shrugged. "Well, shall we get on with the tour?" At the nods of the others, he turned and began walking over to the doors at the far end of the flight line. "As you can see, this is our flight deck. It also serves as a storage bay and sort of hanger. On larger ships like the Blade the flight deck is always separated from the hanger, but we don't really have much room to play with here. We had to take it out a bit to modify it for seven fighters already." They soon reached the doorway on the other end, and just before they passed through Mako realized something. Darcie had said seven fighters, but he'd only counted six--the two large damaged ones, the two 'Drakes and the two smaller Starslayers. He pushed this thought to the back of his mind as they entered the corridor that led to engineering. [Written Jointly by Chris Meadows and Daniel Treutler; gee this is such fun, maybe we'll actually FINISH it one of these days...] [To Be Continued Very Shortly...] -- Chris Meadows || Andrea & Sheryl CHM173S@SMSVMA.BITNET || [AU] thread, alt.pub.dragons-inn CHM173S@VMA.SMSU.EDU || -------------------------------- CMEADOWS@NYX.CS.DU.EDU || A supporter of rec.arts.creative