Mystery of the Scorpion

[RSDark_Angel]

Hi everyone,
please feel free to post thoughts in between installments of this story. I've already started it over on Argonopedia but I think its better here as this is an official RP forum.
hope you all enjoy

Dark_Angel

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Year 772 - Argon Prime, Gardna Space Systems Headquarters.

I hate Mondays, technically it wouldn’t be Monday today if i were living by Zuran time, but using the Goner way (which is far more simple) it's Monday.

As soon as I woke this morning I had info-droids scurrying about my room informing me of the weekends dealings with TerraCorp and Terdamis Yulsamar VII Enterprises and basically a thorough report of every Sezura I was away visiting my friend Van Huna on Sandwell. Aaagh, why oh why don’t these droids come with a remote? I temporarily switched off my ears as I stepped into the Cleanser and had myself blasted with Antibacterial spray. I whistled to myself as the droids droned on, casually flicking the heat switch to 7 and enjoying the warm flow of spray wash me all over.
Then one of the droids said something that caught my breath.
"Gardna Space Systems M4 Scorpion has been reported missing."
I commanded the stupid can to repeat what it had said but all I got was a: "More information available at GSS Archives ###~29584 Rhy's Desire ~~~@##Scorpion Log//#"
Oh thanks, I thought to myself. I set the Cleanser to Auto-Dry and ordered the robot to access the file for me at my dining desk.

When I entered my would-be kitchen/dining room, the droid had placed a holodisk next to my desktop computer. I seated myself and inserted the disk into a free slot on the computer.
The files lit up before me. I surveyed the fast blur of text and ordered the computer to halt at the file intro. The writing stopped speeding down and scrolled back up until the file header was visible. An image of Scorpion hovered before my eyes showing her pilot, last mission objectives and last known position. Scorpion was a Split Scorpion that I myself had captured on a mission to assassinate a Split Pirate when Gardna Space Systems was barely integrated into Argon Space let alone Universal. The pilot was one of the Split Pirates cronies and had bailed out at the last minute. I had a special place for that little M4 in my soul. I had spent many a Stazura sat in the cockpit, flying small errands for Kho, Gaining Universal Information. I was in Scorpion when we rescued my father from that dreadful Khaak M0 in Omicron Lyrae.
My eyes roved to the pilots details. Well disasters always come in twos. Chianna Danar, GSS's first ever employee, had become a good, trusted friend to me over the years. He usually Flew Mercury, GSS's most profitable Transporter, but he had taken Scorpion to get to Rhy's Desire in a hurry.
Strange, Scorpions last mission data was to transport some urgently needed Quantum Tubes to a factory in Red Light... which I had flow personally. Why Danar wanted to go to Rhy's Desire was beyond me. The file also said that Scorpion stopped at a Pirate base in Priest’s Pity before heading to its last known location. Well this made my insides churn, Danar wouldn't associate himself with Pirates, i knew him. This was all getting stranger by the minute.
I was forced to scrap my glass of Argnu milk and pour myself a glass of Argon Whiskey. Great start to the week.
[/b]

[KiwiNZ]

Good start, intruiging story line. Keep it coming.

[RSDark_Angel]

After my rare morning booze up, I made my way down the long length of the base to the Command Centre. GSS Headquarters was an old Equipment Dock I had revived and converted to suit my needs. Typically, my quarters were as far away as possible from the Command Deck, so I grudgingly made my way down there as fast as i could.
Upon entry to the Command Deck, I noticed that there was only one person sat at a console. There were several droids buzzing around their business but they did not really count.
I pulled up the chair next to the lone man sat by the console. Ban Needar was more or less second-in-command of Gardna Space Systems. He was a cranky old man in his late seventies. I wondered just how he treated GSS personnel when I wasn't around. If it weren’t for Ban's Universal position of Shipping Magnate and the fact that he was excellent at managing more or less EVERYTHING I would probably have sacked him a long time ago.
"Ban" I addressed him. He jumped, which didn't look too healthy for his age and I mentally praised myself. With a grin on my face I said "Do you know anything about this Scorpion incident?"
"Scorpion incident" he grumbled "Oh yes, erm, Rider's over on the Samarkand is taking care of that"
I sighed. Always the brief speaker. "Well Ban , can you organize a transport for me please?"
"Yeah yeah, I'll have an Express ready for you in hangar bay 2, Sir" Just a hint of sarcasm in that last word. Smart man, I thought to myself, You better watch it.

As I entered hangar bay 2, I saw the express connected up to a fuel line leading into the bowls of the maintenance deck. I activated the propellant unit of my Space Suit ant jetted down to the Express. Whom I presumed to be the Expresses pilot hovered waiting for me in the Airlock's outer hatch.
"Good morning Mr. Gardna, I'm Hellen Rha, you pilot for this journey." the pilot, who had now shown to be an Argon female, possibly young. A new recruit. I chuckled to myself. "Save that kinda talk for the customers Miss Rha, just take me to the Samarkand and I’ll be happy."
"Of course Sir" came the reply over the comm.
One I had sat myself down in one of the passenger chairs, I had to turn down my overly enthusiastic host when she offered me a drink and some videos for the ride. I don’t know if she realized the journey would take less than ten Mizura's.
The Express left Headquarters and I felt the main thrusters kick in and propel us to our destination. Out of the view port I could see GSS HQ. The looted Argon Equipment Dock glinted in the light from Sonra. Moored in the M6 hangar was the GSS Xanatos, GSS's one and only Teladi Osprey. I could see tubes and connectors feeding into the Osprey’s hull. Probably in for maintenance. Above GSS HQ I could make out the jagged outline of the GSS Razor through the harmless gasses of the Argon Prime Nebulae. There she sat derelict, waiting for the next call to arms. I had commanded Razor on many Khaak conflicts after the battle for Omicron Lyrae; each one had been a success. That all seemed so long ago now. As I looked up at the murky outline of the Python I got a shudder all the way down my spine. Even though the technology was familiar to me and I knew every little aspect about the Destroyer, the sheer alien-ness of it caught my breath. The Split were an interesting race with lots of culture and history behind them. As, I suppose, had the other three of our alien neighbors.

When the Express reached Samarkand, I thanked the driver for the lift and when she wasn't looking I accessed her files and raised her pay by 10%. She deserved it. According to her dossier, she had been a GSS employee for 5 Jazura's and hadn't been promoted or had a raise since the beginning. Well there was a little something to aid her.
I left the Express behind in the hangar and thrusted over to the bulkhead that lead on to the main concourse. Samarkand was GSS's first capital ship and, even though she wasn't under my personal control, I had appointed to be GSS's flagship. I knew the layout of the Colossus like the back of my hand and it didn't take long to remember the way to the bridge. As the spacious airlock cycled down and breathable air flooded into the chamber, I felt the Artgrav system gently deposit me on the decking. I wriggled out of my Space Suit and opened the inner bulkhead. I headed around the centre of the main concourse and stepped into the lift that would take me up to the bridge. However before I could activate the controls, I heard my name being called from across the large chamber.
"Jules, Jules. Come here quick" It was Jo Rider. Another one of GSS's earlier employees. Rider had once been in command of Free Trader 2 A GSS Transport. Rider had made quite a profit for GSS in her time as a trader. Now she was the Skipper of Samarkand and a good friend of mine. My train of thought were shattered however as she caught my attention with one single sentence.
"I think Danar discovered a Jump Gate!"...

[therjw]

intresting story I like it Cannot wait for the next part

[KiwiNZ]

Good second part. Looking forward to more.

[RSDark_Angel]

Me and Jo sat in the Seminar room on board the GSS Samarkand. A stream of data was splayed out on the holo-pad in the centre of the round table in front of my eyes. The holo pad was showing the cross-sections of a Jump Gate. Big deal. No, this was a new Jump Gate, located in a dense particle field on the western fringe of Rhy's Desire. Chianna Danar had found it in Scorpion and as far as we can tell, gone through.
"Now" Jo was saying "The family Rhy's claimed it for their own, which is perfectly legal seeing as the damn thing is in Split space. Their armed forces in the area have converged on the gate and are not letting anything past. Not even Science research vessels."
I answered with "We need to get down there fast, If Chianna is still alive then we have rights to access the system to reclaim lost property, and well, technically speaking, Chianna is GSS property."
"Scorpion is GSS property, better take the contracts for the ship and Chianna's employment record."
At this point I felt a little sheepish. "Erm, Scorpion doesn’t have a contract, I more or less, well, no she was given to me"
"By whom?"
"I don’t know he ran away"
"That’s not important now, I was going to contact you anyway, I'm taking the Samarkand down there Sir" Jo looked serious, as if she was expecting me to tell her she wasn't allowed to do that and I would sack her if she did.
"Of course" I replied "I'm coming with you. I want a full spec of the ships current status and landed ships."
"Right away, I will also have a suit made up for you. We'll probably be leaving pretty soon so you better get whatever you want to take with you"
I nodded and stood up. "Rhy's Desire it is then, wait, do you know why Chianna docked at the Pirate Base in Priest’s Pity?"
"Not a clue, maybe it was a lead for him?"
"Just speculations" I said "Ok, prepare the ship Captain, I'm going to add two more ships to Samarkand's inventory"
"Ok sir" Rider replied with a grin "I think I know which two you mean"

Helios and Prometheus were my two prize positions. I didn't know fully how to fly them and I didn't really like too. It was different from flying a Teladi Falcon or a Boron Barracuda because both the later were mixed with familiar tech and the controls were easy to understand. It had taken me more than a Wozura to work out how to fly Helios, the older of the two. I had captured her first during the battle for Omicron Lyrae. A purple blur had shot from the ship as my AHEPTS burnt into her hull and from that moment on, she was mine. I named her Helios after an ancient meaning originated from Earth that means "God of the Sun". Helios and Prometheus were two of the Pyramid - like Khaak M3's. Prometheus I later picked up in Presidents End. As I pounded the hull, the same thing happened.
The two alien ships now sat in Samarkand's hangar bar, both integrated into the Colossus's onboard computer. I could fly either one of the two fighters, but they made excellent fighters themselves as, evidently, they knew how to fly and shoot with no help from me at all. Even though I couldn’t understand them too well, it was good to know I had two loyal wingmen who knew what they were doing. Sometimes it was as if the ships were dedicated to me, as in one time we were engaging several Orinoco's an one of the Pirates came up behind me without warning, firing a Dragonfly missile. My shields were low and I knew that this projectile would end it for me. But Prometheus dived and took she shot, severely damaging the M3's outer hull.
Both ships have shown me loyalty unrivalled by any other automated computer. I think that their AI is just a little more than onboard computers.
Anyway there they sat, patiently waiting for anything that might arise.

I felt the ship shudder as the countdown reached 100%. We were now traveling through Hyperspace. Time to unravel the mystery of Scorpion and pilot Chianna Danar.

[KiwiNZ]

Nice addition to the chapter. Developing nicely!

Looking forward to the next part.

[RSDark_Angel]

Year 722 – Rhy’s Desire, GSS Samarkand.

I looked out of a view port at the seething Split community of system Rhy’s Desire. I myself had never been to this system before, and it was, shall we say, an experience. I remember the first time I ever went into Split territory. As a matter of fact, I do believe I was in Scorpion . I flew into Thuruks Beard on a freight mission. I remember that took my breath away as well. Just the way the Split go about their daily business and the way they communicate with each other is just all too alien for me. I find Split architecture to be intriguing. The stations and the ship designs are nothing close to Argon. Of course, they are similar due to the trade and share of technologies. But the Split prefer to keep their style and origin about them.
Rhy’s Desire was an interesting system to look at. A large cluster of asteroids sat in the middle of the system with Ore Mines and Silicon Mines slowly munching away at them. The color of the system was mostly back with a dingy, orangey, rusty hint. Several of the asteroidial bodies were like nothing I had ever seen before. They were humongous ! I called the closest asteroid up on my palmcomp and looked at a translucent version of the huge lump of rock. My God! They had a network of tunnels running through them. I wondered what secrets they hid deep within their catacombs.
I was snapped back to reality by Jo.
“Hollowed out by volcanic activity millions of years ago” I must have been looking at her blankly as she said “The asteroids, hollowed out by liquid hot magma at the birth of this system.”
“Oh, yes of course. I wonder how long ago that was.” I mused.
“Our Scientists believe that Rhy’s Desire is on its last legs.”
“Oh, and whys that?” I inquired.
“The sun is almost 9 billion years old. She’s getting a bit cranky in her old age” she grinned at me, a strange glint in her eye. “You would be, if you were that old”
“Shouldn’t you be on the bridge, Captain ?” I looked at her. Jo Rider had a slim figure, she wore dark blue coveralls with two yellow stripes across the shoulders: The GSS armed forces uniform. Her dark brown hair was pulled back neatly away from her face. Her eyes were a cold ice blue that could have replaced a mobile drilling system any day and she carried a faint sprinkle of freckles across the bridge of her nose and her cheeks. She was an all together attractive woman. And I suddenly felt a little uncomfortable stood there with her looking at me like that. If my inner feelings had shown at all, they went unnoticed as the loudspeaker blared: CAPTAIN TO THE BRIDGE.

On the bridge, Jo sat in the command chair and I sat in the seat adjacent to hers.
“We are being hailed by the sector defense M1 ma’am, what should I do?”
“Open comm. frequency” Jo ordered.
There was a bleep and an image of a disgruntled Split Captain appeared on the main screen.
“Split says, what are you doing here?” The Split squeaked. He had a strange assortment of metal wiring wound around the top of his scalp and the skin on his face had more wrinkles in it than Ban Needar’s forehead.
Jo replied in a toneless voice. “This is Captain Rider of the GSS Samarkand. We are here on behalf of Gardna Space Systems about the newly discovered Jump Gate.”
“Split say, Jump Gate non of your concern, leave now”
“GSS property went through that gate Captain. We are just here to send a small salvage team through the gate to find the remains of our lost ship.”
“Lost ship Argon says. This would be Split ship flown by Argon man?”
“Our ship Scorpion was a Split Scorpion yes, but she’s been with GSS for many a Jazura’s now, we have only come to claim lost property.” Jo argued.
“Father of family Rhy says no ship is to pass through new gate until father of Rhy says!” The Split retorted.
“With respect to your Split father, all we want is to retrieve our ship, nothing more.” Jo sounded exasperated.
“Split say, take it up with father Rhy.” And with that, the Split cancelled the connection.
“Well, I sighed, time for a talk with daddy!”

[RSDark_Angel]

Once again, I found myself sat in the seminar room. Alone except for the holo-link which was producing a grainy image of the Split elder and farther to the Rhy family, T’hal Rhy on the other end of the link. The Split was quite large about the waist and his skin was a pale yellow color. His large red eyes seemed to be burning holes in my retinas and it hurt to look at them so I kept glancing about the room. I continued pleading with him.
“Father of Rhy, all I ask is that we send a salvage team through the gate to find our lost ship.”
The great Split’s voice boomed, rather from the usual Split squeak. “Split father of Rhy say you cannot go through Jump Gate. Split say Gardna man’s property now belongs to family Rhy.”
His numerous chins wobbled as he spoke and tiny droplets of saliva shot from his mouth.
Suddenly a thought struck me. An old memory of a film I had watched on the Goner Temple that I had found it in the old Earth archives recovered from my father’s ship the X-perimental shuttle. Apparently, it was an old Earth classic, favored by a member of the shuttles crew. As I recall it was about a galaxy far away and I remember something about a planet being blockaded and then invaded.
But one of the characters, his name I can’t remember, strongly reminded me of this fat Split, or more like, This Split reminded me of that character. If I recall correctly, the character, Boss Nass, that was it, was asked a favor of one of the other characters and when he said no, they tried a different approach: Flattery.
“Oh great Split father of Rhy, please may we have just 20 Stazuras to search for our ship?”
“Split say, flattery will get Argon nowhere. I have said no and no is my final word. Argons are now not welcome in Rhy’s space. Leave!” And with that, the link went dead.
“Oh Frak!!!” I cursed, kicking the seminar table and achieving nothing but a searing pain in my shin.

I glumly stepped back on to Samarkand’s bridge. A number of expectant faces fell when they saw my look of defeat, Jo one of them.
“Well? You’ve been in that room for an hour Joules” She said. “You must have done something”
“Yeah, I made us not welcome in Rhy space.” I grunted. I turned to the helm. “Set course for Argon Prime, no Jumpdrive.”
Jo intervened “Erm, Mr. Gardna, I am the Captain aboard this vessel and even though you are my boss, this ship is not going anywhere until we’ve got what we wanted! Understood?”
“Well what do you propose we do?” I asked her. She bit her lip, thinking. After what seemed like an age she looked up at me with a mischievous glint in her deep blue eyes.
“Helm” She said “Do as Mr. Gardna says, head through the East Gate, but hold and wait for further orders on the other side.”
“Aye Captain” the obedient helmsman started manipulating the controls.
“Mr. Gardna, there are several fighter wings in the hangar bay, and I do believe Nova Alpha wing is one of them!” Alpha wing was just a GSS fighter wing consisting of five Argon Novas. However Alpha 1 was my first and favorite M3. She was my main source of protection during the early days when she was simply known as “Nova”.
Jo’s mischievous glint had turned into a full on grin as she headed for the door. “Gerard, you have the bridge. Are you coming Joules?” she said, beckoning to me with her right forefinger. I was out of the door and after her in no time at all.

[RSDark_Angel]

I think it's time for the action!

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I ran into the large air lock, closely following Jo as she sped through the corridors. The inner bulkhead began to close behind us. Time to suit up, I thought to myself as Jo sifted through the line of suits on the left hand side of the room, looking for her own. I remembered where I had hung mine and lifted it down from the rack. The cumbersome space suits were a bugger to get on. First one leg, then the other, then the torso over you head and into place, then you have to wriggle your arms into their rightful places. When I finally managed to get the torso up and over me and attached to my bottom half, Jo came up to me and selected a helmet from the shelf.
“Mind if you check me out?” she asked. For a moment I just stared at her, and then I realized what she meant.
“Er, yeah, sure, here, turn around” I checked the valves of her backpack and her vital systems: everything OK. “That’s a point actually; I’d better get my backpack on.”
I turned to look for my backpack on the wall but Jo grabbed hold of my shoulder and turned me back to face her. My eyes locked onto those ice blue Sapphires. The next thing that happened took me completely by surprise. Jo put her hands on my shoulders, reached up on her tiptoes and kissed me soundly on the lips. When she disengaged I felt myself swaying gently. I looked at her and she bit her lip again, the way she did so often and then smiled at me.
“For luck, Boss”
“Yeah, luck.” I couldn’t talk properly, I was still stunned.
“Now, get your backpack” she said clamping her helmet over her pretty face and securing it to her shoulder attachments.

I floated into Alpha 1’s cockpit and hit the systems check icon on the screen before me. Adrenaline pumped through my veins as I checked weapon and shield systems. Everything was in green and I flicked a switch that closed the coolant valves to warm the engine up. I could see Jo was doing likewise in Reaper , A Bayamon that I had captured a long time ago in Brennan’s Triumph and sold to her for a reasonable price. I activated my comm. uplink.
“Jo, I’m ready, all systems in the green”
“Ok Joules, I’m good to go, are you bringing your friends along for the ride?” she asked.
“But of course” I said “Helios, Prometheus, form up on me outside of Samarkand.” No reply came but the blinking icons I had added to my HUD that represented the two Khaak ships blinked green in acknowledgement. Both Helios and Prometheus’ AI was programmed to recognize my voice print and no one else’s, unless I gave authority. It also saved time scrolling down the stupid list of commands that plagued everyone else.

Our ships, A Nova and a Bayamon, followed up by two Khaak M3s slipped out of the Samarkand’s docking bay entrance, an unlikely group, probably going to arouse suspicions.
Jo must have opened a direct frequency with the Samarkand’s bridge because she began talking to Gerard. “Take the Samarkand through the East Gate and await further orders. Idle the ship but stay in the vicinity of the Gate, ok?”
“Read you loud and clear Captain, good luck to both of you” The Colossus’ main engines flared and she trundled off towards the Ministry of Finance Gate. We began to fly towards the system again.
“Alright Joules, what’s the plan?” Jo asked as if this was my idea.
“Well as a matter of fact I do have an idea” I mused to myself more than answered Jo’s question.
“What?” came the reply.
“Nothing, you’ll see. Jo, follow me, were going to fly around the north quadrants of the system.” I commanded.
“Yes Boss.” She acknowledged.
“Helios, Prometheus, direct order. Fly Under the Ecliptic Plane of the system, making for the Split Raptor. Once at the Raptor, engage and destroy any fighter's it launches. Oh, and stay alive in the process. No heroics Prometheus" Great, I was talking to a couple of A.I's as if they were actual wingmen. Oh well, force of habit I suppose. Then to Jo I said “This should give us time to slip through the gate with minimal resistance. Make sure your guns are warm though.”
I heard Jo giggle “I wonder how scared those split will be when they see two Khaak M3’s tearing towards them!”
Helios and Prometheus peeled off to follow their designated trajectory whilst I and Jo flew around the northern section of Rhy’s Desire.

[KiwiNZ]

Good one. Looks like we may be in for some action soon. Against the Khaak M3 the Split Mambas will not see a lot of light, hence there should be enough time. Using a Bayamon, however, appears optimistic

Looking forward to the next part.

[RSDark_Angel]

On the open system frequency I heard a Teladi yell “Khaak!” The poor lizard must have jumped out of his skin. After a little bit of experienced hacking on my behalf, me and Jo were patched in to the Split Raptor’s main comm. system. The Captain was squeaking orders at the rest of the bridge crew.
“Split say, Khaak ships incoming!”
“Launch all fighters. Missile tubes ready”
“Split say: Khaak fighters still long way away.”
“Move Split warship to engage. Khaak ships will be in main civilian area in two mizuras”
And so on. It was quite amusing to hear.
Just a small part of my mind kept whispering “What If they destroy them Joules?” So what, I thought in return, they are just unmanned ships after all, but still…
Jo’s voice interrupted my thoughts. “Boss, its working, the Split are all moving to engage your ships.”
“Good” I replied and then a thought struck me. We had nagged and nagged to go through this Gate, and we had never bothered to search for it on the advanced sector scanner “Er, Jo, do you know where the gate actually is?”
“Ah, good question, well they said it’s a West Gate, the Western side of the system might be a good place to start.” Jo replied.
“Good idea” I switched off the auto pilot and obtained a firm grip on the control stick. “There are lots of large asteroids over to the West. The gate might be behind or in between them.”
“Right”
“Or, it could be inside one of them, remember the volcanic tunnels?”
“Naa” Jo answered “The thing would be too big. It’s got to be in between them. Let’s split up.”
“Right” I throttled my Nova up to maximum, which was painfully slow compared to Reaper or Scorpion, and headed for the western asteroid clusters. I saw Reaper fly away on a slightly different trajectory. Ok Jo, so you’re faster than me, but I pack the firepower here! I listened to the ramblings of the panicked Split Captain as he finally intercepted Helios and Prometheus, whom by now had seven four kills in total on their readouts. I glanced at the Split myriad of factories to my left and saw the Raptor sat in the middle, a series of bangs and flashes spotting its hull and the space around it. Sorry guys, but I have to get through that gate. I looked back at my HUD; Helios had another kill on her tally.

Finally, the SETA alarm sounded and Alpha 1 dropped out of the small personal time warp. Looming up in from of me was a gigantic asteroid, about twice the size of Samarkand and the Split Raptor put together. I maneuvered my craft to the nose pointed along the uneven surface of the asteroid and proceeded to scale the thing. I kept looking at the scanners, hoping for an energy spike or distortion, but nothing came. I scanned the asteroid, looking for any architectural structures and the scan showed nothing. However the asteroid had a silicon yield of 56 so I took a mental note of its general shape.
As I flew my Nova around the wide parameter of the asteroid, I activated two of the HUD’s five monitors and switched them to cockpit views of Helios and Prometheus. Prometheus was tangled in a tense dogfight with two Split Mambas but still managing to keep it under control. Helios however, was in a large scrap with three, no four Mambas and her shield was at 29%. I shuddered; those two better hold on in there, it looked pretty tense. I watched the left screen and Helios’s three lasers fired three long streams of energy. The sound was all too familiar. The buzz of the lasers that suddenly went high pitched when they found their mark. Helios penetrated a Mambas shields and I saw shards of metal tear from the port wing like burning paper would curl up and char. Helios spun away to bully another Mamba who seemed to have had enough and had turned to flee the combat. Helios’s lasers punched through the shields and impacted on the Mambas starboard engine nozzle. They must have followed on through to the fuel converter because the whole Mamba suddenly spun off and did two perfect loops before tearing apart in a blue flash. I looked back to the other screen and saw that Prometheus had dispatched one of the Mambas and was homing in on the next. The three deadly lasers fired a long, constant beam of death at the Mamba, scoring a direct hit on the rear shielding over the cockpit section and depleting them in a matter of seconds. The Mamba’s access hatch (located at the back of the cockpit like most other M3’s,4’s and 5’s) disintegrated in a shower of sparks and molten metal under the laser fire as it cut a swathe through the ship, probably vaporizing the poor pilot. The Mamba continued at its speed but began to spin lazily on its axis. It drifted like this for about three seconds before smashing into the hull of the Split Raptor and causing a blinding explosion that flared in the monitors and even brightened Alpha 1’s cockpit. I shut down the monitors and continued with my search of the asteroid. Helios and Prometheus seemed to be handling their situation perfectly well.

[KiwiNZ]

Nice action. Made me want to put some time into playing again after a longer break

Looking forard to the next part.

[The Zig]

Aww... poor Split! But, they did ask for it. If they'd just let him retrieve his pilot...

Anyway good stuff! Great action here, and the story's developing beautifully! And the stuff about the suit being "a bugger" to put on made me
But where is this gate? And what'll be behind it? ... I'm looking forward to finding out!


ps. Your frequent updates are putting the rest of us (or me at least) to shame here!!

[RSDark_Angel]

my apologies, but i have no social life you see

btw, i love your story, that end part of the first segment was SO suprising!

[RSDark_Angel]

The asteroids were proving to be annoying. Every one I checked, the gate was rebelliously absent. The west and northwest of Rhy’s Desire was littered with these dumb lumps of rock. I had checked almost five now for nothing. On the bright side though, they all had rather juicy yields of either ore or silicon. As I flew around the large bulk of the fifth asteroid, I noticed something. Framed against the Split planet in the background, I could make out an orange nebula that pulsed with a strange light of its own. However as I guided Alpha 1 around the asteroid, another lump of rock crossed my path of vision and the nebula was hidden from view. I throttled up and headed for the intruding asteroid. I flew over the top of the slowly rotating stone and cut my engines. I wriggled into a more comfy position in my chair and activated the Video Enhancement Goggles. A small pair of electronic binoculars whirred to life and came down to rest in front of my eyes on a long, thin metal arm.
“Enhance, 20 times” I commanded the goggles. My vision zoomed in on the planet. I carefully moved my finger over a small touch sensitive pad on the control panel at the base of the metal arm until the nebula was in my sight. It was still smallish, but I could see something, something that glinted, something metallic.
“Enhance, 50 times” I ordered. This time my whole vision was filled with an orange hue. Lightening arced through the expanse of the nebula, causing the flashes that I had seen before. The nebula was large and it took me a while to pan around until I saw the metal object. Low and behold, it was the Jump Gate. My heart fluttered in excitement. My hand moved over to the comm. unit, but I stopped it because there was something else there, another glint next to the gate.
“Enhance 60” I said. What I saw made me curse out loud. “Spast!” A Split Dragon sat guarding the gate with another five Mambas to back it up.

[KiwiNZ]

Good one! I do remember how long it took me first time around to find that gate. It was more of a coincidence when I noticed that round shape in the nebula while taking in the beauty of the nebula in the distance.

Looking forward to the next part.

[RSDark_Angel]

(Elvis impression) Why thank you, thank you very much

[RSDark_Angel]

I twiddled my fingers as my mind raced to find a solution. A Dragon and five Mambas, lets see, A Dragon can carry four GHEPTs and an Alpha PPC. Ouch, but only one onetwofive megawatt shield. I checked Alpha 1’s inventory for Hornet missiles and discovered only two, then I remembered why: I had used the rest on that adventurous Xenon J that had invaded Scale Plate Green two Wozuras ago. Oh well, at least those hornets did their job, but would these two manage the shields of a Split Dragon?
I had parked Alpha 1 just above an asteroid and sat pondering on what to do. I could easily take the Mambas; I’m not an Admiral for nothing.
After a while, me and Jo finally came up with a plan. I fire the Hornets at the Dragon before we engage in combat and try to stick to her tail, avoiding aft fire as much as possible, pounding the remainder of the shields with my BHEPTs until they gave way. From then on the Dragon’s hull should go pretty quickly.
“Well” I sighed through the comm. to Jo “I have the Hornets loaded in my tubes, and the Mambas shouldn’t be too much of a problem. It’s the Dragon’s shields and Reaper not being able to take a battering that worries me”
“Don’t you worry about me, Reaper and I have survived worse than this” Jo replied. “You just concentrate on that Dragon’s shields”
I was still unsure, but it had to be done. Jo throttled up to 160 and I followed, caution and the element of surprise were crucial. We painstakingly approached the nebula; even with SETA activated it still seemed like an age.
We finally reached the outer fringes of the gas field and cut our engines. For a while we just hung there in space, an Argon Nova and a Pirate Bayamon, talking to each other via secure channel. It would be best to approach the Dragon from behind, but its behind was facing the gate, and I didn’t want to jump straight through to an unknown system having a Split Dragon hot on my tail. If I failed then no one would be able to find me drifting through uncharted space. That is, if I survived by ship being torn apart. I had contemplated going straight through and engaging from the other side to avoid the Dragon contacting the Raptor for reinforcements but it would have been too risky and the element of surprise would have been wasted. Oh, we probably would have surprised them alright, but not to any useful manner. No, we were going in head on, guns ready and missile tubes loaded. My anxiousness and worries faded away as that all too familiar feeling surged through my veins and gave me goose pimples. This was going to be tough, but let me tell you, Julian Gardna has never once turned down the opportunity for a decent dogfight!

As we cautiously entered the nebula, the onboard computer bleeped a warning signal at me. I looked down and saw that the scanner range had diminished to almost a five kilometer radius of the antenna. Well, I thought, at least they won’t see us on radar. I targeted the gate (I had to use the system map to select it because the close range scanners were offline) and the blue triangular targeting crosshair focused on a section of orange that I presumed to be the direction of the gate. I throttled up to 60 and headed for the Gate. My heart was pounding in my ribs and I could hear Jo’s tense breathing over the secure channel.
“Take it easy Jo” I whispered, even though there was no way the Split could have heard me “Just try to hold off the Mambas whilst I handle the Dragon”
Jo’s breathing didn’t ease off “Thanks” she breathed “Be careful Joules.”
“I will” I felt something for her, something growing inside me that I had never felt before, the urge to take her and hold her close to me and get her out of here, away from danger. She was scared, I could tell. I wasn’t surprised though, Split pilots had a reputation for merciless, ruthless skill and precision. I swore to myself that nothing was going to happen to her, Even if this would be my last fight, she would not come to harm. I gripped the control stick tighter as we crawled toward the small gathering of Split warships.

[KiwiNZ]

Nice one. Looks like it'll get pretty messy pretty soon

Looking forward to the fight. He should have used an Orinoco with its PSG's

Looking forward to the next part.