Freelancer - The Void

ok here some of my story ideas hope it fits in well wif the whole story...if you didnt like it u can delete it tho as it was my first attempt  he he...well anyway hope u all like it n enjoy  :D
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I Kevlar Uranus aka Arch_Vile second in command of the Zarz_Of_Nemesis,we have always been enemies with nomads we were the first to encounter them thousand years ago we beat them before,now they came back.And we were resurrected from our slumber to once again fight our ancient enemy.......
                                               =======ZON======

On this godforsaken day me and 4 of my comrades Trinoone,Unleashed,HunterSlayer and Cpt.Hops or rather homies as i would refer them too...was patrolling the alexandria system.We overheard a recent comms channel that there was a fighting in alexandria  somewhere near The Hive and the Nomads were involved.

"hmm Nomads....guys, we have a nomad party near The Hive,its hammer time" as i activate my cruise engines and set for the course.

Trinoone,my bro  "ohh yeah...i been looking forward to this day,theres lots of boring patrols we had in the past few days"

We were about 50k away from destination when we saw a badly damaged battleship fying past...."those pesky nomads muz have gave them one heck of a fight"i thought to myself....

"hey look at that thing go....poor humans,the nomads are giving them trouble.haha"said Cpt.Hops

"not funny mate,i had the feeling this might the last fight i ever had"replied Unleashed

HunterSlayer shout back"last fight?? hah it is them who gonna fight their last fight!!"

We all laugh upon hearing that...but i got to admit i had the same feeling too.

Its was silent as we fly towards the destination,when we arrive the whole scene shook the our hearts out "oh my god,it like as if they were preparing for a major invasion!!"voice of Trin was heard in our comms channel......

there were lots of nomads battleships with their destroyer and fighter escorts.There was the humans fighting desperately for the survival of their race,it reminds me of the battle we had thousands of years ago against the nomads.Their ships were wipe out like flys and the nomads, some of them burning and some destroyed....We even saw a head on collison between a Navy pilot and Nomad ship...a human battleship came exploding when 6 nomads valykries attack it but one of them was blasted rite out the of black space with one precise hit from the battleship's turrets right before it explodes in millions pieces, the whole scene was really chaotic!!

I thouhgt to myself "its time for some payback"
"Oriite guys engage at will and watch each others 'six'" there goes the ZON as we break formation and fight the Nomads to the death like we did thousands of years ago.......but this time with the humans.

                                                       =====ZON=====

back in the battleship,"oh no not another alien ship!!! hope they aint nomads"said the captain."Sergeant! check who does guys are and where they are heading"

"Aye,aye sir"came the reply

"Sir? we cant identified who those guys are but they are heading towards the batttlefield"said Sergeant Tommy

"Hmmm...great atleast they arnt Nomads and they juz fly past our ship. Men! Lets all head back to base"

I heard Seraphear's voice sound urgently over the coms, the entire fleet coming into an attack formation as he spoke.

"Border patrols have picked up enemy contacts. Current count is 20... no 40..." His voiced trailed off, and came back strong. "80 enemy contacts, 20 of them battleship size."

"What?!" I yelled down the com unit. "80? How the hell are we supposed to combat that? We've barely got 50 ships here!"

"We need order, and we need discipline." Seraphear's voice was curt as he started issuing orders. "I want a core of 5 battleships, with cruisers making up the left flank and fighters on the right. I need 10 volunteers to make bombing runs on the Nomad battleships. Cruisers, you will also aim for battleships."

As he spoke, ships began to manouvre into place, gun turrets swivelling to meet the thread we now knew was on its way.

"Now, if previous attack patterns are anything to go by, the Nomad fighters will send waves at us. Battleships, you will lay down covering fire. Make sure you plot firing solution for enemy capital ships though. When I tell you, you must switch targets immediately."

A chorus of affirmative responses answered him.

"Carnival."

I heard my name spoken and replied.

"Whats up?"

"We're on private channel now." Seraphear sounded worried. "That ship we lost earlier due to engine difficulties is not responding to our hails. Keep a close on eye on it."

"Will do." I spun my ship round lazily and looked at the fleet around me.

It was a magnificent sight to behold. Pirates, Blood Dragons, Outcasts, even a few Fugitives had shown up, though they weren't following anyones orders it seemed. It seemed very odd that Europa hadn't shown, but there was bound to be a reason. I grinned to myself and opened the com channel again.

"We need to lay down the rules of engagement." I grinned as I spoke, knowing that Seraphear would be shaking his head at my next statement. "Nomad fighters, 10 points each, Valks, 30 points, cruisers, 50 points and battleships, 100 points."

My scoring system was met with a tide of laughter from the surrounding pilots.

"Say Carnival, what do you get if you manage to hit someone with friendly fire?" A battleship Captain enquired, chuckling.

"200 points. They outnumber us, so if you still manage to hit one of your own you must have a fantastic aim to avoid hitting the enemy." I replied, hearing laughter swell again at my statement. Suddenly, the com was cut off, as Seraphear shouted urgently at us.

"Incoming! 1 minute til enemy contact, GET READY...."

Zeb was sitting with Mikey in what passed for a commanders office.  Zeb had quietly moved Hellboy into the next largest office where he was forced to share with VLF Commander BlackStorm. They at least were begining to cooperate.

"Mikey, Ive been asked to make contact with one of Wolf's mates in Omicron Minor. We have been able to make contact with her at Freeport 7.  I could do with a bit of an escort there but without making it too obvious. The idea that we have come up with is to probe the Nomad defences in Tempest and see what sort of a reaction we might get. We are all a little concerned at the lack of 'show' from the Nomads. I'm hoping to get more backup from the Liberty Navy but they are being cautious due to the movement of Europan, Bretonian and Rhienland fleets to their outer pickets and positions."

Mikey nodded. " Zeb, I can take my wingmen, leaving the rest here with the majority of players and get you safely into Freeport 7. If needed I can call for backup to join us, should a probe of Tempest be necessary. My boys are spoiling for a fight and since the cease fire came through from the Trafalgar Conference we are short on our quota of Hessians! So some action in Tempest would be greatly desired."

Zeb looked surprised. "You've heard from the conference already?"

"Yes. A bit of a stir I believe, caused by someone we all thought was a Liberty Rogue, but who turned out to be one of your boys so you can wipe that surprised look off you face."

Zeb smiled. " I know, it just seems that your Corsair connections are a little faster at reporting than my man on Trafalgar, though I dare say he is engaged with other distractions as is his way. I will wait to hear from him, but thanks for that - best we get moving."

Both men got up and made their way to the control area. A hive of activity and the description's irony was not lost on Zeb.  Patrols and pickets were set, the rotation was being handled in a relaxed manner with both sets of pilots, Navy and Pirate all learning new tricks and a very strange air of harmony seemed to loom over the place.

Plans were set and a backup extraction operation was put in place should they have to leave Freeport 7 in a hurry.  There had been contact with some Nomad ships that were not out of the ordinary as they tried to sneak through to Alaska, but apart from that, nothing.

With the wingmen and Zeb's bodyguard in tow, they set off for Freeport 7.

-------------------------------------------------@oOo@------------------------------------------------------

ZON they were called. Awakend ones. Fierce and quarrelsome. Enemies of those known to humans as "Nomad". ZON had their own words for them. They flew in Triumverate  - a pack consisting of three fighters.  Arch, Trinoone & Unleashed with Slayer and his two wingmen as backup. The humans had been active. Fleets were gathering and ships were moving. The Cursed Ones were up to something and the humans were preparing.  

"Ambassador Traversty, I wish you to make contact with the human known as Watchwolf. I wish for the humans to become aware of ZON and our quest. We are the destroyers. We are the bane of the Cursed Ones. I wish the humans to see and to tremble at our strength."

The response over the ZON communicator was subservient. "Yes, my lord, it shall be done as you request."

The six ships flew on through Alexandrian Space in search of their prey.

These humans had much to learn and just as the Children of ZON learned, they would be shown the mighty strength of the Awakend Ones......

Flight commander William Whitney was tired of it all. Training these new recruits was not what he'd signed up for. This just isn't right. I'm a vet of 20-some years. Saw the end of the Nomad War. Flew next to Trent, for crying out loud. This is no way to close out a career. Maybe I should just retire now..... Look at this guy. So green I'm amazed he can keep that thing nose-forward. I can't believe the garbage they're sending me these days. Where do they..... WHAT THE!!!!

The scope on his advanced Anubis MkII had lit up like a holiday celebration. There were so may red dots he couldn't make out how many. It looked like one massive red blob.

"Um, Commander?" Ensign Tobias practically squeaked.

"Yah, I see 'em kid. Nomads. A whole swarm of 'em.

"Let's get 'em!"

Whitney almost smiled. Gotta give him an A for enthusiasm, anyway... "Kid, this ain't no time to be a hero. We're no good to the Order dead.  We need back-up. Let's beat it back to the outpost and get some help. I'm calling it in now."

He'd no longer said it when a formation of green contacts lit up on his six. All-RIGHT! C'mon, kid. We got help. Let's fall back and form up."

They turned and headed back toward the Omicron Major Order Outpost. Coming out toward them was a flight Order MkII's. "Right on time, fellas!" he yelled into the mic. "Let's see if we can stall 'em a bit til the rest of the cavalry shows up..."

Whitney and the recruit were just turning to form with the rest when fire lit up Whitney's visor. All six Order ships were focused on him and his wingman.
"HEY! The bad guys are behind me, guys!"  

But the only reply was more fire. "Commander! They're shooting at US!"

Whitney never got a chance to reply. Tobias had panicked and slid into Whitney's tail. The two of them spun toward each other in a synchronized dance of death. With their ships broadside to the on-coming fire they couldn't return fire. With the two ships facing each other, they couldn't move forward without running headlong into each other. Punisher cannons earned their name as their fire tore through the shields and hull of the two helpless ships. The pair erupted into one ball of flame. It took less than 3 seconds.


[align=center]---------------------------------------------------------------@oOo@-----------------------------------------------------------------------[/align]

Trouble had entered the Sparta system and was flying straight for the City. The violet glow of the City's shield bubble shone like a halo around the City, belying the evil intent of its original purpose. His Discoverer had just rounded the last artillery platform when his m-wave came to life. Several channels vied for attention at the same time:

"Incoming!"
"Here they come!!"
"Watch the Hive gate! Coming straight in!"

He glanced up to see a Nomad battleship emerge from the Nomad Hive gate directly over the City. He watched in amazement as a dozen nomad fighters detached themselves from the giant ship like Harris Sand fleas jumping from a dog. The fighters swarmed into the scattered Anubis fighter wings while a second dozen popped out from the battle ship. At the same time violet fire began pouring from  it toward the closest Order cruiser. A quick look at his scanner told him the same thing was happening at the Dyson Sphere gate. The m-wave confirmed more Nomad ships entering through the wormhole from Tempest.

But what surprised him most were the ships popping out of the Alexandria wormhole behind him.

Trouble wheeled his ship around to face the most immediate threat. There we no allied ships looking after the Alex hole and the Nomads were pouring in from that direction completely unabated. "Heads up! Noms inbound from Alex!" he added his voice to the chorus of excitement still filling the open channel. He knew from the day's pre-brief that channel was to be avoided for all but emergencies. In his mind, this qualified. A wave of Nomad fighters was headed straight for him. His eyes widened as the scanner showed them already in-range.

Funny how you can see it coming he thought as the first bolts from Nomad Blasters were discharged from the nearest ships. At 800KPS and a range of 800K, he had exactly 1 second from nozzle to impact.

His racing instincts kicked in. The heavily modified Discoverer responded. The tiny ship shot "up" and away from the oncoming fire, leaving it to penetrate little more the the exhaust from his thruster. G-forces overcame this reactive inertial dampeners and he was pressed hard into his flight seat. He killed his thrust and slipped into a lateral slide, attitude thrusters turning the nose of the Disco back toward the first target. He flicked the safety off and let loose a volley of Cannonball and Firestalker missiles.

He didn't wait to see if they hit but clicked over to the next target and fired off a second volley. By the time he'd sent a third wave of rockets into the incoming Nomads the first one hit home. The little organic ship exploded. The ship immediately behind it flew into the fireball. Bits of ship and shrapnel from that impact peppered the unsuspecting fighter, disabling its lateral control. It careened into a third ship. The two began billowing smoke in a dizzying spiral pattern as their pilots struggled to regain control. The second began to break up, it's parts spraying the third. That one began to disintegrate. The interaction of the two caused them both to erupt.

"Yeeeee-haaaaa! A threefer!" He hollered into his mic and renewed his assault on the attackers.


[align=center]---------------------------------------------------------------@oOo@-----------------------------------------------------------------------[/align]

"Here they come!" Fear's voice came over the group channel. As if in response similar reports began coming in. A look at my own scanner told me they were right. Red blips were beginning to appear from all around. Most from the direction of the jumphole behind Penzance, but more than expected from the nebulae to either side. More came in from the ice field to the "left".

"Steady... let them get in close," I spoke quietly, almost as if I didn't what the Nomads to hear me. " Don't let them know we're here .... "

The chatter died out. The number of contacts continued to increase. None of them seemed to be in much of a hurry. It was as though they were simply moving in. They obviously weren't expecting much in the way of opposition. The thought made me smile.

From my vantage in low orbit around Penzance the individual ships became visual. Dots became blue battleships, then  cruisers and finally smaller fighters. A couple of freighters could be seen in the middle of each formation. They were planning on staying a while. My smile widened. Surprise.....

The Nomads began to transit the corridor between the twin suns of Tohoku. A few moved to the left or right but the vast majority pushed straight between. As expected I thought. The most direct route when you're expecting to be alone...   Perfect.

"OK... On my mark. We're staying with Plan Alpha. Ready? Mark from 10..."

I counted down the ten seconds in my head. My timing musta been pretty good. Just as I got to "one" ships began pouring out from their hiding places.

As anticipated, it took the Nomads a few seconds to react. On either side of the system the ships, mostly fighters, turned into their attackers. But the main force, midway between the suns, had few options. They began to split up. Some moved "up" and others "down. More pushed straight ahead toward the open space between Planet New Madrid and Tekagi's Base. From every direction they were met with an onslaught of cruisers and battleships and fighters of all sizes and markings.

The ships were trapped. There wasn't much room to maneuver between the two blazing stars. With firepower pouring  in the Nomad fleet became more and more disorganized as signs of panic became evident. Some tried to turn to flee the way they'd come. The larger of these, the battleships, couldn't make the turn as sharply as they needed and began to enter the stars' coronas. Their hulls began to glow as flame flew off their protective bow armor. Some slowed down in trained response to the sight, leaving their flanks exposed to volley after volley of torpedoes. From four direction the allied battleships and cruisers pressed in on the Nomad force.

Meanwhile the smaller groups of Nomad fighters were heavily outnumbered by a hoard of fighters. Pirate, Fugitive, Rogue, Corsair, Outcasts Blood Dragon and GC heavy and very heavy fights tore through the surprised Nomad wings, each pairing off about 4-to-one against. The majority of the Nomad fighters were light fighters with a few scattered wings of the heavier N1's mixed in.  As planned and practiced, the allied VHF Anubis, Titan, Sabres focused on their Nomad counterparts while the lighter ships swarmed against the light fighters. It was a feeding frenzy. The com channels were alive with shouts and cheers:

"Torp in the face!"
Wha-HOO! Look at 'in burn!"
"Hey! That's my frag!"
"Eat my missiles, you..."
"Bullseye!"
"Cook you sunuva jellyfish!"

To my right I could see Cortana taking after an N1 trying to turn against the fleet. It was a sight to behold, the way she made her Discoverer dance on its wings, spitting missiles at her attacker. He didn't seem to know which way to go, so fast were her turns.

"Incoming missile, Boss" Annie announced. I started from my fascination and glanced at my annunciator panel. Somehow an N1 had broken free and sought what it must have thought was an easy target just hanging there in space. The Nomad must have been surprised when it saw the WA1 suddenly spring to life in a dizzying series of twisting evasive maneuvers, then turn to barrel in on it at an oblique angle from underneath. The last thing that went through the mind of it's pilot was his visor as it was shattered by a pair of Sunkiller torpedoes tossed with inhuman precision only Annie could have done.

Less than 30 minutes later I watched the mop-up operation finishing up any stragglers and half-alive survivors. The mission reports had mostly come in and I had a good idea what size force we'd just decimated. Nothing remained of what had turned out to be a fairly substantial Nomad invasion , more than even the most pessimistic of the strategic planners had predicted.  In contrast we'd lost only 14 fighters and no cruisers or battleships. Incredible. We'd planned on a 20 percent casualty rate.

I felt an overwhelming sense of letdown. I'd only gotten the one kill. My m-wave played out the jubilation of our forces as they each took turns bragging about how many he'd killed. If I were to believe what I heard from them, the tally had to be at least three times what the reports said. No matter, I thought. Let 'em have their fun. Nothing would bring these erstwhile enemies together more than the healthy competition of who killed what and the thanks given to each wingman who's saved his counterpart from an enemy. They'd need it if the reports I'd been getting from Sparta were any indication.

I stared at my scanner, willing the enemy to appear. Nothing. I sighed, and sat back, wondering if somehow the Nomads had managed to chicken out. I looked at the scanner again.

"INCOMING!" All ships, 90 degrees right!" I yelled into the coms. "All units, prepare to fire!"

As I screamed orders into the coms, the ships around me scrambling to meet the enemy charge, I saw them. Wave upon wave of small blue fighters and N1s, spearing towards us on jets of blue flame. Gunboats followed, their bulbous heads pulsing with energy. And alongside them were the battleships.

"On my mark, launch torpedos!" I called. "Three, two, one... FIRE!"

All at once the fighters around me leapt forward, fire screaming from their thrusters. A tidal wave of torpedos flew out in front of us, smashing into the front wave of Nomad fighters with devastating force. Then, they were right among us. I saw Carnival streak past me, taking a reckless charge at an N1 and drilling a missile into its cockpit.

"Thats one for me!" He laughed. "Come on Xave, catch up! You've got command of a battleship!"

As he mocked the Pirate captain, a devasting blast of turret fire shot past me, ripping a pair of light fighters apart.

"Two to one Carnival." There was a mocking edge to the captains voice. "You'd best get busy."

The Nomads had been taken off guard by our initial storm of torpedoes, but had recovered and were attacking in strict patterns, holding back our bombing wings as their battleships drifted closer.

"Seraphear, watch out!"

I glanced at my rear view monitor, and saw a pair of N1s right on my tail. I punched the thruster and flip my ship round, railing them with my weapons. One of them hurtled away, its wings and body ruptured by my shots. The other had spun past me, ripping a hole in my Crushers tail fin. I threw my ship forward and released a torp into the engine bay of the N1, obliterating it. I glanced round and saw that the Noamd battleships were right on us, firing their blue energy weapons left right and centre. A trio of Fugitive Warrans went down, the explosion from the first setting off a chain reaction.

"Dammit, we need to get rid of those battleships." I shouted. "Torps ready, let 'em loose."

A squadron of Red Dragon fighters blasted towards a Noamd battleship, torpedoes hurtling away from them. They impacted on the ships blue hull, and left huge craters that smoked and bled light into the surrounding space. I twisted my ship in a tight roll, narrowly avoiding a pair of light fighters, and unleashed my guns on a trailing N1. Carnival shot past again, hurtling round a gunboat and blasting chunks out of it with his weapons.

"Hey, what the hell?!" I exclaimed. the Pirate battleship that had dropped away from us earlier had returned to the battle. I watched in bleak horror as it flew alongside captain Xaves ship, unleashing a devastating broadside attack from its turrets, ripping it to shreds.

"Oh hell no!" Carnival screamed over the com. "Lets get him!"

"We need that ship intact. We'll have to board her."

"Lets do it."

Carnival pulled alongside me and we dodged our way towards the ship, hungry for revenge...

Zeb docked with Freeport 7. As he entered the lounge area he was greeted by one of the Zoner staff. "Mr Antarxes, you are expected. Please follow me."

He saw her before the others, not that it was difficult given the two very large Kusari body guards that Tig had brought along. The red hair, like a billow of fire and the sharp green eyes like Bel Tiger Emeralds were the first things that struck home. Zeb smiled.
He could never get over the flight suits that this Pirate Queen always wore. Snug. Well thats one word to describe them at least. The distraction that the positronic reverberant fibre armour caused was enought to give this deadliest of females at least a good ten second edge in any personal combat.

The two tone green and blue suit shimmered as she rose to greet her guest.

"Well. Mr Zebulon Antarxes....Its been a long time." She smiled, took Zebs hand and drew him in close. Zeb knew exactly what was happening as he felt the needle gun at his belt being removed from the inside pocked on his left hip.

"Its not that I don't trust anyone, its just a lady in my position needs to be very careful...." she purred. The sentence had an almost hypnotic effect and Zeb shook it off. He turned to look at his companions. They were all grinning like idiots. "Please, gentlemen. Sit." It was a command rather than a request.

"So, I understand that the Watchwolf has a request of me?"

Well at least it was down to business. Zeb nodded and then spoke.  " We have need of your talents, Tig. We want to probe into Tempest and see what the Nomads are up to, but we are short of numbers to hold Alaska and you are the only person in this vacinity to be able to  hold and control the Omicrom Minor exits. We are prepared to pay the going rate for your services."

She paused. "If we are taking on Nomads, and this has come from the Watchwolf himself, you can count on us doing Wolf a favour for free!"

Zeb looked visibly relieved.  The drinks arrived and the members of Zeb's escort seemed settled enough.

"Show me whatcha got...!" Tig stated.

Zeb drew out the picture that they had so far. Tig studied it and asked questions.
It didnt last long and she did appear to  be responding to the crisis in hand. They hammered out some last minute details. All a bit too rushed for Zebs liking, but you had to hand it to Tig, she was not a Pirate Queen for nothing!

It was time to go. Messages had been recieved and the Nomads were on the move. Alex and Sparta were under attack as were numerous other areas, even Tohoku. "Tig I need to leave this one with you" said Zeb. They said their farewells.

The journey back to Alaska was very quiet. Like the quiet before a storm....

Its been hours of figthing in alex system and the tide isn't  turning to our favour....more and more of our ships are being dusted and our battleship been torn apart.. I have called for reinforcements to further make sure that alex system will not fall to the nomads hands bhut it didn't look good ..we knew that if  alexandria system is under nomads hands it will be a disaster.....

I need a breather from a battle for awhile....i glance to the left and saw Unleashed,Hunter and Cpt.Hops getting gangbanged by a nomad battleship....these guys were known as "the battleship killers",but they weren' living up to their names today.

Just then a thunderous explosion was heard...turns out that "the battleship killers" hasf inally got one.

"Ha Ha...another big momma down!!" Unleashed said with satisfaction" I enjoyed every seconds of it as they blew up in smithreens" said Cpt.Hops and Hunter in unison

Trin on the other hand was was figthing a N1, tdesparetely dodging every single shot ..i decide to chip in..

"need help bro?" i ask

the reply i got was rather disappointing "BACK OFF VILE!! this one's mine" I have to admire his guts anyway

"Apocaypse wing alpha has arrive, and vile,trin why cant you guys get along?" it was Aphelion our leader

atlast the cavalry has arrived...maybe this would help. We needed it.

"so how was it going there my homies?"asked Fuzzy,a freind of mine who is the captain of the battleship BALEGAER.

Right on time, fellas. Join in the party.

"Vile get your men to dock at battleship BALEGAER and replenish their ammo and await further orders"ordered Alphelion
"yes me lord"

I proceed docking to replenish my ammo and awaiting my orders ready to fight the second round of what i called "THE BATTLE OF ALEX"....For as far as i am concern the second nomad war has began................

                                                   =======ZON======

The celebrating had continued deep into the night. The bars were teeming with swelled heads and larger egos all convinced their accomplishments had saved the day. Liquor flowed freely. The Outcasts and GC passed around the Cardamine sticks. The party was in full swing.

Wolf, Cortana and Fear huddled around a small table secluded in the back room of Tekagi's Bar. A pitcher of what passed for ale sat mostly untouched in the middle of the table. These three had matters to discuss far too serious to be clouded with alcohol.

"I don't get it,... You haven't seen him either?" I pressed Fear.

"No, mate. Neither have any of the guys I've been in touch with. It's not easy getting these rogues together and harder still to get them to agree on the color of blood let alone the whereabouts of any one person. But no one has seen him."

"I'm worried, to tell you the truth, Wolf," Cortana added. "Having anyone missing in action is bad enough, but Pyro was supposed to be watching out for our flank against Tartarus. That's where the majority of the Nomads had come through."

We all looked around, our eyes wide with the sudden realization.

Grampa Wolf wrote constantly about this guy named Murphy in his journal. Said he followed him everywhere. Said this guy seemed to live forever and just managed to get more and more cunning as he went along. This guy had a knack for screwing things up. Seemed like the better the planning and the greater the stakes, this fella would slip in uninvited and find a way to throw a caliper into the plasma conduit.

I assure you, he is still alive and well.

A ruckus in the bar caught our attention. Yelling and cheering, the kind you don't want to hear in a bar full of drunken spacers. Worse still, a bar full of drunken spacers all claiming allegiance to opposing factions. We jumped to our feet.

Before we could open the door the sound of breaking glass and crashing chairs filled the air. I flung open the door. Well, ok. I tried to fling open the door. Apparently there was someone on the other side of it a little too preoccupied to to pay much attention to the pushing of the door against him. I shoved harder, only to have my face battered as it slammed back on me. Fear and Cortana joined me in one massive assault on the door. Unfortunately our timing was a wee bit off. Whoever it was who had no intention of letting us out had apparently changed is mind. The three of us tumbled through the opening in a pile on the floor.

We weren't alone on the floor. A number of moaning or unconscious men were scattered throughout the room. From my vantage point legs moved in wild chaos all around with the occasional falling dismembered piece of a chair or a rain of broken glass. Another fallen hero joined us underneath it all.

Fear had struggled to his feet. A Corsair seemed to take exception to his presence and hit him hard in the face. He staggered backwards and tripped over me as I was trying to stand. We both ended up back on the floor.

There's only one thing worse than being helpless on the floor with a barroom brawl going on around you. Being helpless on the floor with a barroom brawl going on around you when someone opens fire with a hand blaster tops that hands down.

I didn't know whether to climb to my feet and risking making a target of myself or lay on the floor and risk being trampled. I opted for the first. Fear and Cortana did the same.

Much to my amazement the clamor was dying down. Smoke was filtering down from a pair of fresh holes in the ceiling. In the doorway to the street stood two of the biggest Blood Dragons I had ever laid eyes on. They wore the red and black sashes of the BDM, the local constabulary militia. And they weren't taking kindly to having one of their bars torn apart by the likes of a group of outsiders. Not that I could blame them.

"Alright. That's better, " one said in a menacing tone. "Now, anyone seen that Wolf guy here?"

Fear stepped forward before I could answer. "Who wants to know and why?"

"A guy with a gun is asking the questions and why is for him to know ."

"You're not taking him," a voice from a corner shouted.

"Yeah! No one's getting the Wolf, I can promise you that!" another chimed in, to a murmur of agreement.

Fear crossed his arms and looked around the room, nodding his head. He turned his attention to the guy with the gun. "Seems there's at least one thing these fools can agree on, mate. So what you want with Wolf?"

"Look, we don't have time for this foolishness. The whole system is in an uproar. Every bar looks just like this one, or worse. Someone has to take control. Since this is his brilliant idea, he's the one who better get a handle on it. Now."

I stepped forward. "You're not kidding, are you. Please say you're kidding."

"You Wolf? They're asking for you in the Operations Room."

"Alright. Let's go." I headed to the door, Fear and Cort close behind. At the door I turned to the room. "And you knuckleheads, clean this mess up and get your spit in one bucket. I need you all in one piece."

Murphy wasn't done yet. In fact he was just getting started.

I hadn't gotten to the Ops Center before a claxon sounded. "What the..." I looked around at Fear and Cortana. We broke into a run.

I burst into the OC in time to hear, "... pouring in from Tartarus and Babylonia! No! I have no idea how. No! Dammit, man! Get the alert ships up. I need eyes out there.!"

"What's going on, Commander?" I stepped up to the man who'd just slammed the mic down on the counter.

"You Wolf?"

"Yeah. Whatcha got?"

"Nomads. Lotsa Nomads. A back door that was supposed to be closed and locked swinging wide open. And a system full of drunken pilots."

My worst fear. Ya gotta love that Murphy guy.

Our ships forced docked with the Pirate battleship with a clang. Carnival and I slammed through the airlocks, and burst into the embarkation corridor.

"Lets take the bridge!" Carnival snarled, running forward.

I flexed my huge claw and followed, my blood singing with anticipation of the fight to come. We sprinted down the corridor, and came to a heavy sealed door. Carnival slammed his shoulder into it, and it creaked under his assualt, but held fast.

"Get back." I ran at the door and swung the metal construct on my arm as hard as I could. The claw ripped through the metal like it was paper, and with Carnivals help I tore the door away. On the other side... we saw our enemies. Groups of Pirates with glowing red eyes, and we charged into their midst.

Carnival roared as he ran, and we slammed into the first group with devastating momentum....

Alaska space is a cold mistress. Zeb. Mikey and the wingmen from the Angelus de ls Guardia sailed through, heading for the shipyard by the gate to Liberty. Ever get that feeling that you are being watched? Zeb did.

Without knowing why, Zeb issued the command, "Bank to starboard on my mark. 3 -2 - 1....Bank!"

The well disciplined group dipped in unison as they turned. There it was. Just a flicker but enough to tell Zeb that something was not where it should be. Right at that moment the m-wave sparked to life.

"Alaska One! Alaska One! This is Alaska Control. You have boggies inbound bearing alpha, one, niner, seven. Alert craft are launched. Alaska Beta Seven are on their way for backup!"  

Zeb checked his bearing and it matched. "Watch out. These suckers might be cloaked. Switch visuals to spectrum two, filter five. Watch and react!"

The Viscom visor changed the spectrum reading and low and behold there was a small group of scout vessels. Four Nomad frigates and at least six Nomad N1's. Their position showed that they were still under the impression that they could not be detected. Zeb throttled back so as not to give the impression of an iminent attack on the Nomads.  

They hit the group with a barrage of torpedoes and cruise disruptors. One of the frigates took  four torp hits and went down immediately, scattering its crew and contents to the cold vacum of Alaska. Two of the six escort fighters were downed by Mikey before they even know he was there.

Even as Zeb tore open the side of one frigate and evaded the circling N1's, he opened a channel to Alaska Control.  "Red Alert! All Stations! Standby for incomming hostiles! This could just be the welcoming committee!"

They spun and twisted around each other. Zeb noticed the Slave Trainer image on the tail of the N1. Tighter and tighter the arc grew. He was not going to let this one go. With a final and exasperated gasp, Zeb got the sucker in his sight and let fly with the disruptors and the Cannons. It erupted in a blinding flash.

It could not have taken more than five minutes. The last frigate was trying to get away. Another blast of torps and the critter was gone. Pulverised. No more hostiles.

A worrying development to say the least.........

The message was passed to Gergorio Karpov. The Magellan chapter had received a codex message from the AoF via a Bretonian Intelligence Service communique. He hid his excitment and politely ducked out of the conversation.

"Get the others! We are leaving for New York now." he spoke to his second as they walked rapidly down the corridor to the launch bay. If nothing, Karpov was a realist and it occured to him that the information pertaining to some of the M-wave theories that were being circulated by the Hacker's Crunchers was incomplete.  Word had it that the Order had been exploring pretty much the same arena, but with mixed results and with a different set of parameters.  One such scientist was with an AoF escort in the New York Badlands, holed out in a Liberty Rogue station. What had surprised Gregorio was that the request had come from AoF for the Hackers to be in attendance. Normaly, it worked the other way around.

They hoofed it aboard the "Victorious Limelight". The highly modified Skipping Stone launched with its escort, and headed for New York.

-------------------------------------------------@oOo@-------------------------------------------------------

Alphonse da Silva went over the calculation again. There was something missing. A variable he had missed maybe? An assumption maybe? He had to take a walk. Out into the corridor he made his way to the mess hall. He wasn't hungry. The cinnammon coffee was enough. A figure loomed over the table. Alphonse looked up. It was Argh.

"Just got a shout from AoF HQ. Looks like a bunch of Hackers are heading this way  as we speak. Apparently they have some interesting information you could use. Some thing to do with string theory and the like."  

Alphonse was tired and he simply nodded. He was on the verge of a big discovery and it irritated him.

The four Tomahawk stealth boats slipped through the wormhole into Tempest. These ships were sleek and thin like razors and were modified way beyond their orignal specs.  What Tig had failed to tell Zeb and she had also witheld from the Wolf was the fact that her Tech boys had been able to jury rig some captured Nomad cloak devices to these vessels. In fact she was convinced they had made them better. She smiled. The three other ships pulled up along side.

"Ladies, we are going to make like a hole in the Void. No contact if at all possible with the enemy. Don't broadcast on open channel, keep it in the green if you must, but be careful. If they catch your chatter you are one set of triangulation co-ords away from a bowl of dust on the cremation field..." Tig let it tag off.  There was no response.  They got the message.  Mooney, Kinchakoo and Jezebel all pulled into formation and they headed off towards the Nomad structures.......

Alexandria was under siege. The inevitable conclusion could no longer be denied. Waves of sadness crashed against Commander Gannon's war-hardened heart. He'd faced battle dozens of times, each encounter adding another layer of protective armor against feeling anything about the death and destruction that seemed the only real outcome of armed conflict.  From the Nomad War... the First Nomad war, he corrected himself... to the Trade Wars to the Brotherhood Insurrection to the Great Blockade, he figured he'd seen and become all too familiar with the grim face of war. But this, this was different. He sighed as another wave crashed against the rocks, sending a spray of regret flying out into the depths of despair.

His senior staff was gathered in the briefing room at Barstine, what remained of them anyway. Lieutenant Commander Carson hadn't been heard from since the garbled and obviously desperate pleas for help came from Seleucus Base two days ago. Lieutenant Commander Harris's report from Eumolpus Station was at least more lucid and informative but no less desperate. That it ended so suddenly told the story better than the words conveyed. As it was, he felt fortunate to have the people he did before him now. It could have been worse and most certainly would be if indications were accurate.

"OK, people, here's what we have so far," he started without preamble. No point in wasting time with words. "Seleucus Base is taken. No details but transmissions ended from there suddenly at oh-seven forty-five yesterday morning. Two scouting patrols sent to check it out haven't been heard from and are assumed lost. Eumolpus Station is gone too. But I have a recording of Harris's last report and I want to play it for you now. Chief?" He motioned to the Petty Officer at the back of the room, who flicked a couple of switches. Robert Harris's image sprang up in 3-D holographic form in the middle of the table.

"Commander. We're under attack. Been this way at least twelve hours now. Up until an hour ago we had no idea where they were coming from but we got a break. Believe it or not, a wing of Junkers came in looking for me personally. They ignored warnings to veer off. We might have blown them outta space if it weren't for the fact that they flew right past us first and took out a pair of N1's that were coming in hot. Then the wing leader told me, and get this: the old abandoned Nomad Hive has been reactivated. The Noms must have used the debris field to mask their movements. No one goes up there with all the radiation from the destroyed battleships. No one but the Junkers, that is. The Noms have been sending out sorties of fighters completely unchallenged. This Junker says there's a pair of battle groups and maybe a hundred fighters headed this way.

"Sir, apparently what we're getting now is just to soften us up. We don't have the firepower to repel that kind of assault. I've ordered all non-essential personnel to abandon post. No one wanted to go, lord love 'em, and I had to threaten some with court martial to get 'em outta here. I'm staying, Sir. They're not taking my station without a fight." A blast was heard in the background and the image shook. Harris turned his head for a moment then calmly said to someone out of sight, "Alright, Lieutenant. Easy now. You know what to do." He turned back to the camera.  "Commander. They're here. I'm going to be kinda busy, gotta go. We'll do what we can to hold 'em off. This baby's still got some teeth." The image flickered as another explosion was heard, then it disappeared.

The officers looked at each other uncertainly. Seeing a ghost was unnerving to say the least. No one knew what to say.

"Alright," Gannon broke the silence. "So that's it. Now tell me what you have for me."

Again they looked at each other. No one wanted to go first. "Oh come on now. This is no time for wobbly knees! Bad news is better than no news. Let's hear it!"

Garrison Commander Susan Poster cleared her throat. "Sir, we've had heavy and protracted fighting at Leonnatus. The usual nuisance raids would be preferable to the onslaught we've been seeing. I'm here by sheer luck and frankly, I'm not sure how I'll be getting back." She waited for Gannon to say something. After an uncomfortable silence she continued. "It gets worse. We've lost all but two of our battleships and they're both heavily damaged. Maintenance crews, those who have actually survived, can't keep up with the attacks on the primary docking rings. So fighters are having a hard time landing for refuel and rearming. We've had more luck keeping the tactical reserve rings open but they're being found and destroyed one by one. Seems the Noms have a long-range scanner better than anything we've seen to date. They follow our fighters back to base from a distance we can't see and when they land they hit the rings that were used. Leonnatus City has been under constant bombardment by orbital cannon fire now that we have almost nothing to repel their battleships. Civilian casualties are extremely high. Refugees are fleeing to the outer provinces and taking the skilled labor with them. We've tried impressing people with critical skills but short of shackles and threats of execution for treason there's really nothing we can do. You want the bad news, Commander, here it is: We're going to lose Leonnatus."

The officers around the table murmured. This was serious. Almost as if he'd read their minds, Gannon said, "This is serious, people. Very serious. What do you have from Leptine, Enrique?"

Enrique Sanchez shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Commander, we've been seeing skirmishes and raids but nothing like what Susan reports. Or Bob. But...."

"Yeah, I hear you, Enri. What kind of preparations you making?"

"Well, Sir, to be honest we had no idea it was going to be like this. M-wave communications have been scrambled and so intermittent that we hadn't heard any of this before now."

"Well you better get on the stick, Mister." Gannon snapped. "This is War! Do I have to keep reminding you of this?" He glared at Enrique. Then he turned to Commander Poster. "Susan, I want your forces to fall back in support of Leptine." She began to protest but Gannon cut her short with a wave of his hand. "Look, I know. No one wants to give them damm jellyfish anything. But let's be realistic. You say we're going to lose Leonnatus and you're probably right. No one knows that like you do. So do you want to just let the Nommies kill off everyone in the taking or shall we give 'em a bigger fight down the lane?"

"But Sir, if I may speak freely," Gannon nodded. "What about the civilians in my care? What about them? Who's going to watch out for them?" She was visibly upset, almost to tears.

Gannon softened. "Susie, I understand. I have kids too, on Demos." He knew Poster had a family on Leonnatus, three adult children, five grandchildren and a dog. War sucks... he caught himself thinking. "You said yourself they're taking to the hills. The Noms have never had any interest in actually going planet-side. They just want to get the military units. For now anyway. They can bombard the planet till they run out of plasma but they're going to have to take to e-suits and go man-to-man, so to speak, to take out our population. Then they'll be on our turf and it'll be on our terms. Leave all your Marines behind with the civilians. Don't garrison them. Don't let the people form any big communities the Noms can identify from orbit. They'll be OK." He hoped he sounded more confident than he felt.

'Yes, Sir."

He turned to his right and addressed Garrison Commander Schmidt. "Seen anything at Ptolemy, Fred?"

"Not a sound, Sir. But I must tell you we are nervous and what you tell me now only makes me more nervous." Gannon could tell. The Britonian never showed his Oxford accent. He must be pretty rattled.

"OK, well you heard what Susan said. The Noms have always been fairly predictable. They'll use what worked at Leonnatus on you , if they get that far. We're going to give them all they can handle at Leptine and set up a picket at Sigma. They're not getting to you without a fight. But I want you to get the population spread out too, and again, send out the troops with them. Beef up the Rings and spread out the fleet. and work up some tactical analysis scenarios. I'll send you everything we have." He looked around the table "That goes for all of you. It's imperative we share all Intel."

"Henry, you heard what I'm saying to Fred. Demos has a much smaller population, what with the climate and all, but I want the same drill there."

"Yes, Sir."

"OK. Now I'm moving Command to Aristander. It's out of the way and they'll be wide out in the open if they try to come there. But we're also going to build up Barstine here as much as we can. Here's how I see it, people. They're planning on taking the entire system. Looks to me like they're heading for the Gates. Now, we have trouble in Sparta. They're under attack as well. But we were expecting that so at least we are prepared. But let me tell you, we can't let them get the Gates. If they do, well I don't even want to say it."

Yeah... war sucks...

Interesting story. It's different. I really like your writing style. Keep up the good work!

[color=red]Hey guys, this is a chapter from a story I'm writing. The universe is based onthe FL universe, but it deals more with the big navy ships instead of small, single man ships. Hope you like it.


The four Liberty naval ships drifted through space in perfect formation. The Sentinel, a heavy cruiser, was on point, followed by the heavy battleship Undaunted, and the cruiser Humber. On the left flank was the cruiser Intrepid. On board the Humber, Captain Windrow paced the bridge.
“Mr. Forbin, report.” Lieutenant Commander Forbin replied “Nothing on radar, sir. Captain Trent wants all ships to maintain current course.” They had been in Epsilon for three weeks, and had seen no pirates. They were operating under low profile; landing on planets or stations was forbidden. The captain looked at his watch, and then said “All right, Mr. Forbin, hand the watch over to Lieutenant Barnaby. We’ll go and get some rest now.”

Flight Sergeant William Barnum, of the Liberty Space/Air Force, walked down the newly painted hallways of the Humber’s third deck. This was the deck that housed the weapon’s generator. This was also the deck with the Enlisted Men’s mess hall, which is where Barnum was heading at that moment. There was little traffic through the halls, but even though there was no danger in space, he suspected there was a lot of work going on behind the various doors. Barnum walked into the mess hall, and was instantly greeted by Corporal Greene, another of the five SAF pilots on board. “Hi, Flight Sergeant.” piped Greene. Barnum said “Look, Greene, just call me by my name unless there’re officers present.” “All right, Barnum. So, do you think we’ll see any action?” Barnum, who was what might be called a hot shot pilot, replied “I sure hope so. I haven’t had any action for a long time. Now let’s go get some coffee.”
          On the bridge, Lieutenant Barnaby had been sitting in his chair for three hours now. There wasn’t anything going on, and Barnaby was bored. He was an experienced officer, having served on the cruiser Atlas. He had never seen combat in space, though he had been on planet Cadiz during the rebellion there. He had been a Master Chief Petty Officer at the time, and part of the Navy Special Combat Unit. The Atlas had been assigned to go help suppress the rebellion, along with the troop transport Greyhound. They dropped off four hundred marines on one side of the planet to go and set up a base of operations. Three hundred miles to the west of that area, Barnaby, twenty other navy men, and thirty-two marines had been dropped off to see what had happened to the military installation there. What they discovered was that every one of the soldiers had been killed. Barnaby and the others had found themselves surrounded in the base, and had to hold off hundreds of rebels. They were stuck in the base for two weeks before their position was overrun. The only thing that saved them was the Atlas flying around to pick them up. After the conflict, the only survivors of that group were Barnaby and six marines. They counted six hundred eighty-three rebels killed by Barnaby and the others, and the rest surrendered when the Atlas appeared.                                                                                                                                                      The rebellion wasn’t completely taken care of for another three years of bloody combat, but Barnaby had been promoted lieutenant junior grade and became Third Officer of the Atlas. A few years later, after Barnaby was promoted Lieutenant, the Atlas was scrapped, and here he was on the Humber, as Second Officer. After the rebellion had died down, there had still been rumors going about that the rebels had just gone into hiding. There hadn’t been any trouble with them for two years now.
Barnaby was reflecting on the incident at Cadiz, when Hunter, who was in charge of radio, radar, and scanners on this watch, said “Sir, I think you should come take a look at this.” Barnaby got up and walked over to the radar screen. At first he saw nothing except the squadron. Then, a dot flickered on the edge of the screen, and then vanished. Ensign Hunter asked, “What do you think, sir?” Barnaby, with a grim look on his face, replied “I don’t know. You’d best send for the captain.” Just as he said this, eight large dots representing ships appeared on the radar, and stayed steady. They were closing in on the squadron, when eight smaller dots emerged from the larger ones, and began speeding towards the Liberty ships: Torpedoes.
          Barnaby leapt into action. Leaping for the control panel, he hit the alarm that would beat to quarters. “Break formation! Charge up the shields! Drop our countermeasures! Ready our weapons” The ensigns began carrying out Barnaby’s commands as the alarm began sounding. On the screen, the Undaunted and the Sentinel broke formation, but the Intrepid was too slow. Four of the torpedoes hit her; the first two disabling her shields. When the next two hit, there were two enormous explosions, and the Intrepid’s hull shattered into three large pieces. Windrow said to Barnaby “Have some marines take the shuttles to look for survivors!”

          Below decks, the hallways were suddenly a flurry of activity. Barnum and Greene were racing towards the shuttle bay. One third of the bottom deck consisted of the shuttle, which held three single-man fighters, one two-man heavy fighter/bomber, and four shuttles which six men were readying to look for survivors from the Intrepid. When they reached it, the other three SAF pilots were waiting. As Barnum approached, Flying Officer Ives said “All right. The captain told me to get you guys ready. Corporal Greene and Corporal Raymond are with Flight Sergeant Barnum in the fighters. Corporal Hansen is with me in the bomber. All right, we don’t leave the ship until Captain Windrow gives us the order. We’ll be meeting up with three other units. Flight Lieutenant Harris of the Sentinel will be in command of all the craft.” Corporal Raymond asked “Shouldn’t there be another unit, Sir?” “No, Raymond, the Intrepid was destroyed. Looks like we’ll have some deaths to avenge.” Just then, Ives’s radio started beeping. He turned it on and, speaking into it, said “Go ahead.” Captain Windrow’s voice came over the radio, and said “Ives, get your men in space, and be careful. You’re main objective is the two torpedo boats. They’re hiding behind the rest of the enemy fleet, so you’ll have to wait until we can distract the rest of the enemy. Good luck.” Ives looked at his men and said “All right, let’s go!”

         On the bridge, Captain Windrow was giving commands to the officers. Lieutenant Barnaby and Lieutenant Commander Forbin were there also. Windrow looked at the screen. Eight pirate ships had just appeared out of nowhere. Windrow asked himself “How can they have amassed such a fleet?” There was a light cruiser, a heavy cruiser, a heavy destroyer, three medium cruisers, a battle cruiser, and two heavy torpedo boats. The Liberty squadron was outnumbered and outgunned.
        “All right,” the captain said aloud, “We’re going to engage that destroyer. I want you to fire our lasers right now. Ms. Warner, steer us towards them.” There was a slight vibration as the two lasers fired. As they neared the destroyer, Windrow saw the name Triton printed on her side, along with the skull and crossbones. “All right, fire our lasers and torpedo at the same time, and pull us along side. We’re going to give her a broadside.” The ensigns did as Windrow commanded. The laser blasts and torpedo hit the enemy, significantly weakening their shields, but not disabling them. As the Humber pulled alongside the Triton, Windrow said “Fire!” Both ships fired at the same time, and the Humber shook as plasma exploded on her shields. “Pull us away!” yelled Windrow over the loud thumping of the canons. “Now, fire a torpedo!” The torpedo launched, and exploded on the hull of the Triton. Her shields were down, and now there was a big, gaping hole on her side. “Send the marines over in the shuttles! Lieutenant Forbin, you’ll be going over there. You’ll be in charge of the Triton.” Ensign Talbot spoke the command into the intercom. Ten minutes later, the marines would be on board the Triton. But for now, Windrow needed to focus on his ship and the rest of the battle.
        He watched as the Undaunted mercilessly crushed an enemy cruiser. Torpedoes sped from Undaunted followed by plasma. The cruiser was helpless, and exploded in millions of fragments. The Undaunted turned her attention to the enemy battle cruiser, the Scimitar, leaving Captain Rodriguez to cope with the three cruisers. “The marines are away, sir.” announced one of the ensigns. “All right, let’s help Captain Rodriguez. He’s outnumbered.” The Humber turned towards the enemy cruisers, and began maneuvering around to their flank.

        Meanwhile, Barnum and the other SAF pilots had met up with their companions in space. “All right boys,” Lieutenant Harris’s voice said over the radio. “Looks like we’ve got a hole. That cruiser has been destroyed, and that destroyer is helpless. I’ll take my men and Beta 15 over where the cruiser was. Mr. Ives, take your men and Zeta 4 past the destroyer, and we’ll circle around to the torpedo boats.” All the fighters and bombers broke formation, half going to the left, and the other half going to the right. The cruiser and the destroyer had been on the right flank of the enemy fleet, and the cruisers were all on the left. There would be some risk for Ives and his men, because they would be going near the enemy battle cruiser, but they most likely would be attacked. Suddenly, Ives noticed  asthe battle cruisers shuttle bay opened, and two units flew out. The same thing happened with the other cruisers. “Lieutenant, we’ve got enemies coming from the pirate ships. I’ll hold them off while you take out the torpedo boats!” “All right. Be careful, Ives! Just give us enough time to kill these boats, and then head back to your ship.” Ives and his men broke their course and sped towards the enemy fighters. There were twenty-five enemy fighters, and only nine SAF fighters. This would be a hard fight. “All right, Barnum, you and Raymond take up flanking positions on the left. Greene, you flank right with Corporal Riley. The rest of you, follow me.”
        The fighters all moved into their positions, and then began firing their lasers into the enemy. Barnum’s shields flared white hot from a laser. Barnum cork-screwed his fighter, and shot down one of the enemy. Corporal Raymond also managed to shoot one down. The pirate fighters didn’t have very good shields compared the Space/Air Force, so it slightly tipped the odds. Barnum and Raymond suddenly got a hail of lasers, both from the enemy fighters and from the enemy battle cruiser’s smaller lasers, known as ‘bug swatters’, because they were only strong enough to fight off small fighters and bombers. Barnum and Raymond broke their flank position to avoid getting blown to pieces. On the right flank, Corporal Greene and Corporal Riley did the same. Ives kept his fighter steady, despite the laser hitting his shields. There was a pirate coming straight towards him, but he still kept his course. At the last minute, he fired a missile at the pirate fighter, which exploded in a ball of flame. Ives flew straight through the explosion. His shields were down to fifty-percent already. He’d have to be more careful, he thought. Just then, one of the fighters from Zeta 4 exploded.

        The Humber turned her broadside towards one of the enemy cruisers, and fired. The cruiser’s attention was focused on the Sentinel, and the other two cruisers were swinging around to come head on with the Humber. Combined with the fire power from the Sentinel, the Humber disabled the enemy cruiser. Windrow then turned his attention to the other two pirates, firing all his turrets at them. To the left, the Undaunted was struggling to defeat the Scimitar. Captain Windrow said “All right, fly us underneath that disabled cruiser!” He hoped that the other two pirates would fire just as the Humber passed under the disabled pirate. His scheme worked. A rainstorm of plasma emerged from the pirates, and the disabled cruiser’s hull split in two. The Sentinel turned towards the other two ships, and engaged them. “Fire a broadside at the Scimitar!” commanded Windrow. The Humber’s canons and turrets fired on the Scimitar, at the same time as the Undaunted fired. With all the plasma hitting him, the pirate’s shields went down, and holes were punched into their hull.          
        The Scimitar hailed both Liberty ships with surrender. Captain Trent’s voice came over the Humber’s SHPCOM, and said “Okay, Windrow, I’ll send a couple of shuttles over the Scimitar and take her prisoner. You’d better go help Captain Rodriguez out with those cruisers.” Shortly afterwards the Undaunted sent shuttles across to the Scimitar. The Humber then started to return to the remaining pirates. Just as she turned around, there was a massive explosion behind them. “Turn the ship’s camera around!” The camera rotated, and where the Undaunted had been, there was now a cloud of dust and molten metal.

        Out in space, things weren’t going very well for the SAF pilots, either. Ives had been chasing down one of the pirates, and they had flown underneath the Undaunted, when the big battle cruiser suddenly vanished. Ives steered down as fast as he could to escape the explosion. His foe, however, had been engulfed in the flames, and was destroyed. Some of the other pirate fighters had been caught by the explosion as well. So far, the AF pilots had killed ten of the twenty-five pirates, but Ives had lost three of his. The odds were now six to fourteen. Ives flew towards another pirate, and banked right as he fired a missile. The missile winged the pirate, but didn’t kill him. Another pirate was bearing down on Ives, firing lasers. The first pirate began tailing Ives, while the second flew up above his ship, and then down straight at Ives. Barnum appeared, suddenly, and shot the second pirate down. Ives turned his fighter around, and killed the one that was tailing him with ease. That was two less to worry about.
        Then, unexpectedly, Ives watched as Corporal Greene was hit with a missile. The explosion did not kill him, but Greene began spiraling out of control. Ives turned on his radio and said “Greene, eject! We’ll pick you up!” There was silence for a moment, and then Greene replied “I can’t! My controls aren’t responding! If you’re gonna do something, it better be soon! There’s a fire in my cockpit!” Barnum sped his fighter towards Greene’s, and rammed his fighter. Green’s fighter regained control from the spiral it had been in, and Barnum began nudging Greene towards the Humber. A few minutes later, the Humber grabbed Greene’s ship with its tractor beam, and Greene was safe inside the old cruiser. “Good job, Barnum.” commended Ives. Then, a few moments later, Lieutenant Harris’s voice came over the radio. “We’ve killed the torpedo boats. Now let’s get out of here!” The fighters sped off towards the two remaining Liberty ships. The two units from the Undaunted had to dock with the Humber and Sentinel, because the Undaunted had been completely destroyed.

      “Turn and fire on the Scimitar!” commanded captain Windrow from the bridge of the Humber. Slowly, the Humber turned back around, but not fast enough to avoid being hit by plasma. Captain Windrow was thrown to the deck, and the whole ship shook from the explosions. Lieutenant Barnaby’s voice was barely audible over the noise as he shouted “Shields down! Our hull can’t take much more of this!” Barnaby looked over to the pilot’s chair. Ensign Warner had been thrown from the chair into the wall of the bridge. Barnaby ran to her, and checked to see if she was alive. She was, but she had been knocked out. It would fall to Barnaby to pilot the ship. He jumped into the pilot’s chair, and began adjusting controls. Soon, he pulled the Humber up and away from the Scimitar’s line of fire. The violent rumbling had stopped, and Captain Windrow had regained his balance. “Thank you, Mr. Barnaby. Your quick thinking may have saved the whole ship. Ensign Talbot, fire our turrets at the Scimitar’s engines.” Talbot spoke the command into the intercom, and soon afterwards the gun crews fired. Two red hot beams emitted from the turrets atop the Humber, and shot towards the pirate ship. Once the beams reached the pirate, they exploded on his hull, more as a warning shot than to do damage, since lasers were only good for taking down shields. The lasers soon dissipated, and the torpedo, which was much slower, shot out towards the enemy. It caused a massive explosion, because there was fuel stored at the back of the ship. The whole back section of the engine deck was shattered into fragments. This time, the Scimitar really did surrender. They were helpless, and the only way out alive now was to surrender. Meanwhile, the Sentinel had scared off the other two cruisers.
        The survivors of the Undaunted, who had been on the shuttles, landed on the Scimitar. Soon afterwards, the Scimitar was under control of the Liberty Protectorate Navy. However, since her engines had been disabled, the Humber and Sentinel had to use their tractor beams to tow the pirate ship behind them. Captain Rodriguez appeared on the main screen of the Humber. “Mr. Windrow, we’ll have to take the pirate ship to the nearest planet for repairs. That would be Heracles. There’s a civilian port there, and I think there is a military base nearby the port. But I need you to pick up survivors from the Intrepid.” Windrow replied “Yes, Mr. Rodriguez. I’ve already sent shuttles out to look for survivors. I believe they are on their way back to the Humber this very minute.” The two Liberty ships, along with the two captured pirate vessels, began there slow journey to the red planet. It would take them about two days to reach it in this condition. Windrow hoped the other two pirate cruisers would not return. They would be no match, even for two cruisers, until they had repaired their battered ships. Windrow did not consider this operation a success, because they had lost two of their captains, and their ships. Captain Trent had been one of the most capable captains in the whole Liberty Navy. And they hadn’t even killed all of the pirates.
      He now turned his attention to other matters. How had the pirates gotten such a fleet? There must be a base somewhere in this system. It would make sense, because this was near the interstellar border with the New Egypt Federation, and most of the planets were neutral independent factions. But if this was actually a fleet from one of these factions, or even from NEF, then it could mean a war was about to break out. If a war broke out with the minor factions, Windrow was sure the Protectorate would be able cope with it. Especially if they could rely on the neighboring governments. That brought a thought to him. If the pirates were getting better at their tactics, and if they were getting better equipment, then it might be one of the other governments supplying the pirates. And if that were so, these border systems might just be harboring pirate fleets. That way, if there was a war with the LP, the independent factions would turn to the NEF or the Admiralty. If that were the case, one of those two governments would soon own some new real estate.
       However, these were personal thoughts. As a captain, Windrow was responsible to carry out his orders without his own input, unless it concerned the lives of his men or affected his missions. After finding his mind wandering away from matters at hand again, Captain Windrow turned to Lieutenant Barnaby and said “Take command of the bridge. I’m going to tour the ship and see what the damage is. You’re officer of the watch for the next seven hours.”
        As Windrow walked through the white hallways of the Humber, he didn’t notice any serious damage to the top deck. He stopped one of the technicians who were running back and forth carrying out jobs. “What's your name?” inquired the captain. The man he had addressed saluted and said “Petty Officer 3rd class Finch, sir!” The captain returned the salute and said “As you were, Finch.” Finch dropped his arm and stood in a somewhat rigid stance. “Can you tell me what the damage is to this deck?” Finch was silent for a moment before replying “There wasn’t really much damage to this deck, nor the deck below us. The deck that I heard got the worst is deck two. Chief Petty Officer McCarran told me that there’s a few holes burned through our armor. They’ve sealed off those areas, and are repairing the holes now, sir.” Captain Windrow asked “What are the casualties, do you know?” Finch said “I’m not sure what the exact counts are, but as I heard it from one of the doctors, we lost thirteen men at least, with twenty-six wounded.” The captain didn’t like losing men, but he had been expecting heavier losses. He was relieved that they hadn’t lost more. “Thank you, Finch. Now, go ahead and get back to whatever you were doing.”
       Windrow continued down the hall, until he came to a lift. He stepped inside, and took the lift down to the second to bottom deck, which was deck two. On deck two, the scene was entirely different. There were places where the wall had been cracked, and debris was lying on the floors. There were men running around with stretchers, picking up wounded men. The part that had a hole punched through was open now, and Windrow inspected it. There was large gray patch that covered the whole wall from ceiling to floor and was about three feet wide. Windrow could clearly see the welding marks from the temporary repair. The technicians who had repaired it were just packing up their gear and heading off to find more that needed repairing.
        Deck one wasn’t much different, except there weren’t very many wounded men still lying about. Windrow walked to the front of deck one, which is where the infirmary was housed. Lieutenant Billings of the marines was the doctor in charge of the infirmary. There were also eight men who were his aides as far as doctoring went. At the moment, they were all in the infirmary. Billings was preoccupied treating a man who looked severely wounded, so Windrow didn’t bother him. There was a sergeant major who didn’t look to busy, so Windrow approached him and asked “Sergeant major, what are the casualties so far?” the sergeant major answered “Well, captain, so far there have been fifteen men dead, and we’re still bringing in wounded. At the moment, there are thirty-one wounded men, but only eight of them are serious wounds. The rest are broken legs or arms, things like that.” Windrow was happy at least that the wounds weren’t too serious. “Thank you, Sergeant Major. Please have Lieutenant Billings keep me informed. Tell him to contact my Personnel Field System. I won’t be on the bridge for another six hours. Here, this is my PFS frequency. Give it to the Doctor when he’s available.”
       Captain Windrow went back through the hallways, and at first he was going to go the Officers Mess, but decided against it. He was extremely weary, so he made his way back to deck four. Once he was there, he walked to his cabin, laid down on his bunk, and soon fell asleep from fatigue and weariness of battle.