Heading Home (3/23/03 3:05) ON> Small Angel Shuttle Chi adjusted her clothes, she was slowly getting used to living in this male body, but it still felt a bit ackward. "How far are we from the refueling station Iseki?" She ran her hand over the crew cut, it actually felt kinda cool to play with the short hair. It had been several hours since the escape of the two nekos from the angel's attack frigate, and both of the two were now in disguise. Iseki was curled up in a ball on the floor of the shuttle, taking a break from piloting. She now had fake hair, a surprisingly well-made wig spun from fibers of the blanket she was wearing as a cloak. her hair was a tasty-smelling grape purple, and her ears were out of sight. "It should only be a few minutes...." Iseki rocked on her bottom, foward and back, her thin body tightly curled up. "My name is Taii Hisô Iseki." she repeated for no apparent reason. "Taii Hisô Iseki. Gee Dee Thirty-Seven." Chi offered the other Neko a soft, reassuring smile. She had a handsome face and there was a comforting warmth in her now blue eyes, but it wasn't going to make Iseki feel any better after all it was a man who had done this to her. "We'll get back home Iseki. I promise you that I won't let anyone get you again. I owe you one for getting me off the Angel Ship." "Hiie...sooo. Eeee Say Ki " she repeated slowly, as if trying to associate her name with herself, as if she wasn't entirely sure who she was. "My name is Taii Hisô Iseki. Ship pilot. GD-37." Looking up at Chi's male visage. Males... Iseki put her hands in her crotch and held herself as if she was nursing some great lingering pain there. "Yes...angel ship. We are off the angel ship." Chi sighed bit as she redirected her eyes back at the space ahead of her. Damn Jehenniel for doing this to the both of them. She hoped that she would be able to help Iseki onc she got out of this body. "We're going to get ourselves on a neutral ship and try to find our way to the GSS Yui GD-30. We're going to need a pilot on the Yui soon since our pilot just got a promotion." She tried to give the girl some reassurance of what was going to happen, but Chi said it more to give herself hope that'd this plan would work. "May the Emperor show us the way home." "You said..." the neko looked blankly at Chi "...Home?" Her eyes were wet and the trails of tears reflected the dim interior lights. "Dead." Chi frowned a bit, this was going to be rough. "Do you remember Geshrintall at all Hisô Iseki?" She set the controls for auto-pilot and slowly got up from the pilot's seat and very cautiously made her way over to Iseki, stopping out of arm's reach of her as Chi knelt down beside her. "It'll be all right now Taii Hisô Iseki, no one is going to hurt you, you're no longer alone." "No Taisho. I was born on GD-37 and lived all my life on it until it was destroyed." Iseki sobbed, never having seen Geshrintall. "Do you still remember the GD-37 and all the people who you loved?" She gently soothed, moving just a little bit closer to Iseki, not wanting to freak the girl out. "If you still remember them, they aren't really destroyed.. they are still alive in you." Chi offered the soft reassuring smile again. "No, Taisho. You are a liar." Iseki said with a hint of resentment in her voice. "I cannot be with them anymore. They are gone forever." The underweight, malnourished neko made no effort to scoot away, though. "Hisô Iseki.. there is an old saying that says that you are only truly dead when you are no longer remembered. But so long as someone can remember your name, you are still alive. Do you want to forget the GD 37?" Chi's voice was soft, patient and loving, she knew how Iseki felt but there had to be some hope in Iseki's heart that her ship wasn't truly dead and forgotten. If Iseki truly felt that way, then the ship and crew were truly dead. Chi wanted to hug the Neko, but she didn't want to scare the girl by making contact. Iseki's fragile-looking fingers groped at Chiharu's pants button. "I'll do it, alright!" she glared at Chi, tugging her zipper open. Poor Iseki was trying to appease Chi in the only way she knew how. Moving her forehead to rest on Chi's waist, she said "I don't know. It seems so long ago." Chi pulled Iseki up and away from her pants. "No Iseki, no Iseki! That's not what I want from you." Chi was shocked by the girl's actions and she lovingly hugged the Neko. "You don't have to ever do that to anyone ever again unless you really want to." "But...I thought that's how one makes men happy?" Iseki said confusedly, "They would be angry and beat me if I didn't." "No one is going to beat you here." Chi continued to hold the girl, gently rubbing her back. "Not all men are like that Iseki. I'm not like that, no matter what I may look like." Chi wanted to cry but, she couldn't cry, she had to try to comfort Iseki that she wasn't going to hurt her. "If it makes you happy, I want to, Taisho. I don't want you to be angry and beat me. You don't like it? I am sorry for displeasing you!!" Iseki quickly said, her face resting against Chi's chest. "I will be a good girl. A good little girl for you, just like I should be." "I will never beat you Iseki. Shhh.. it's ok, you are a good girl." Chi continued to hug the poor little Neko, gently rubbing her back, Jehenniel did a number on her. "What would make me happy is for you to be happy Iseki. But first we have to escape before the Angels come after us again. We're almost to the refueling station and we'll have to stay close together.. I can only protect you if you are with me ok?" Chi continued to speak softly to Iseki, she felt more like a mother now than she ever had in her life. "You'll be ok, not one will hurt you without getting through me first. I will protect you with my life, Aijou-chan." (beloved daughter) "Yes, Chi-sama. I will stay with you, but I will not let you die before I do. You are valuable. I am just a plaything." Iseki responded, "But how can I be a good girl when you don't even want to..." she pointed at Chi, below the belt. "I am unworthy...?" "You are not a plaything." Her voice was forceful for a moment before it returned it the soft tone it had been before. "It's not that you are unworthy or bad, Iseki-chan, I will not take advantange of you. And it's the last thing I want from you." She hugged Iseki again before standing up and rezipping her pants. "Iseki, you are not a plaything to me, you are Taii Hisô Iseki, Pilot of the GD 37. The sole survivor of that ship who has to live on for the memory of those who have been lost to the passage of war and time." Chi smiled at Iseki again and gently knelt down again, gently lifting Iseki's face up and softly kissing her on the forehead. "My name is Taii Hisô Iseki." Iseki repeated. "GD-37...Thank you for your kiss, Chiharu-sama. I will try to be worth it. But I am a mere....space station!" Iseki pointed to the window ahead, eyes widening. The shuttle was about to hit a giant orbital base! "Ack!" Chi ran back to the pilot's chair, deactivating the suto-pilot and trying to steer the damn thing to avoid an impact. "Well, at least we know we're here." Despite herself Chi smiled again. Iseki tried to get to her seat but Chi was closer and sat there first. The G-forces that the shuttle experienced as Chi pulled back threw her against the floor and rear of the shuttle. "Ooomph!" she let out. The shuttle barely messed the armor station, gliding over what appeared to be a communications array of some sort. There was some chatter coming over the radio in Seraphim. Chi winced a bit and tried to ignore the radio. And tried to steer the ship towards what might be an available landing dock.. this would be nice if she spoke Seraphim. She inwardly cursed for never learning the language and wished Aya were here to help. The woman on the radio began fractically shouting in seraphim, and then made what sounded like a warning. Iseki crawled up into the other seat. "She says we are too close and says identify ourselves." "you know Seraphim." Chi smiled again, what luck! She send Iseki and quick telepathic message just in case the Seraph heard her somehow. ~Please apologise for us and give her a false id. Anything that might sound good, remember I'm a human male and you are a human female and we're not GSA.~ "I am...transport shuttle...from cargo ship, coming for to obtain food" Iseki replied to the traffic controller in fractured seraphim. "Let dock, please." She looked to Chi with eyes of both hope and fear. Chi smiled at Iseki, that'd work, whatever it was that Iseki said. She kept an eye out for anything that they might crash into, like say the station or another ship. After a few seconds, the starfighter that had been tailing them broke away and a reply came. Iseki hugged Chi and excitedly told her "She said bay S113! We can go on the station!" Chi grinned a bit and let out a sigh of relief as she quickly returned Iseki's hug. "Great, let's get docked then!" She steered the ship towards the bay marked S113. As the angel starfighter passed them, Iseki a sinking feeling. "What if they notice I said Nepleslian frieghter but this is an angel shuttle? Why was the fighter following us? Do you think they will have seraphs waiting for us inside??" she asked, sounding almost panicked. Chi shrugged, "Well, we did almost crash into the station. We'll just get aboard the station and try to keep a low profile Iseki. Remember, they're not looking for 2 humans. If worse comes to worse.. we're going to fight our way out of this." The shuttle, thankfully entered the small shuttlebay uneventfully, and there was no welcome party, armed or otherwise. Chi parked the shuttle as best she could before she deactivated all the systems aboard, now the question was to destroy the shuttle or not. She thought better of it as she stood up again. "Ok, Iseki let's find ourselves a new ride." "Yokai!" Iseki hopped up and opened the rear door. Chi readjusted her pants again before she followed Iseki out the door. She looked from side to side again, just checking for any sign of a possible incident. Iseki spotted an old painted sign that read "To civilian area." or something to that nature. "I think we should go this way." she said to Chi, pointing down a hallway. The interior of the station was a dingy gray version of the architerure found in the angel ship. It was very dusty, like the walls were covered in space soot. "Ok, we'll go that way. Stay close Iseki." Chi walked down the indicated hallway, trying to keep close to Iseki. She figured that people were less likely to mess with Iseki as long as they saw a man very close to her. They went through a series of doors, until finally arriving in a central section. There were scattered groups of humans, angels, and various aliens here, going about their business. To the left was what appeared to be an electronics parts shop, and to the right, a bakery. Chi looked around the station in wonderment, protectively taking Iseki's hand when she sw the angels walking about. She quietly spoke to Iseki, "Ok, now the hard part.. finding ourselves a ride.." The crowd had a large variety of species and cultures. A neko in a one-piece swimsuit even walked by the two, with a pair of angels flanking her, as if they were her personal hoodlums. Stopping behind Chi and Iseki, the trio turned around and the neko took Iseki's soulder in hand, making the recently-freed neko jump a bit in alarm. "Eeep!" Chi pulled Iseki close to her now as she spun about to face the Neko and the pair of angels. "Excuse me Miss, but keep your hands off her." Her voice was forceful and protective now, the softness gone. She straightened up as she eyed the angel wearily, because damn it, she promised to protect Iseki. The neko would be just a big a problem but she wasn't sure what the Neko's alligences were. "You're new here." the mystery neko grinned, digging her hand and finger into Iseki, underneath her makeshift dress, not seeming to listen. "You'd better watch yourself, human." the neko warned Chi. "How much is this girl? She's got a beautiful face. It reminds me of home." "This girl is NOT for sale, Geshrin." Chi kept Iseki close as she backed away from the Neko, her eyes narrowing. Iseki cried out in shock as the unknown neko violated her for no apparent reason, and then in pain as Chi pulled her away. "Who are you calling Geshin?" the neko said, pulling out some sort of machine pistol and shoving it against Chi's lower lip. The two angels, also armed, moved in on either side of Chi, Keeping their wings spread to conceal what was going on from passerbys "So you're not a Neko from Geshrintall?" Chi inwardly laughed, it figured as much that it would be a Neko to make her life hell. Chi quickly assessed the situation, 3 armed combatants, against her and Iseki, and both were unarmed at the moment. "Nice bodyguards." She finally decided to take a look at the Neko's eyes, maybe that would let her know what was going on. "I lived on a Ki-D1 destroyer. We never even got close to Geshrintall. What's it to you, asshole. Why don't you and stop pimping here, because I own all the girls on this block, mister geshrin tough guy." The neko's eyes were solid blue, and her hair was regular solid green. Probably an older model NH-7. "This girl is NOT for sale. She is my damn sister and I'm trying to get her back home relatively unmolested." Chi narrowed her eyes, she had to run into a damn pimp of all things. But the girl was a spacey, with apparently no loyalities to the GSA. "Besides, she's already got an owner, Mistress Taisho Kitsurugi Yui." Chi let the name slide, knowing Yui would forgive her at some point. Chi still held Iseki close to her, hoping that Yui's name would ring some bells in this Neko's mind. "Yui's girls dress in gray kimonos." the neko pimp scathingly shot back, bashing Chi's credibility. "Why are you so afraid to admit she's your hump pillow? Get off my street before my girls..." she pointed to the two female angels on either side of her "...have to help you." "Not a problem." Chi simply took Iseki and moved quickly down the street, getting the hell away from the Neko and her Angels. Thank the Emperor, she just got pissed. She'd have to make a note to talk to Yui whenever she got home to figure out if that was true. Now to find a way off this damn station. Iseki quietly looked down, her purple hair hanging in her eyes. "It's my fault. I should have found a way to make the dress look better." she apologized. "It's not you're fault Iseki, we didn't think we'd encounter a Neko. Are you ok?" Chi quietly spoke as she tried to figure out where she might find a damn transport off this station back to the Yui. Her eyes darted about the station looking for anyone that gave off the vibe: transport, she still kept Iseki close to her. A scruffy-looking man in a leather jacket bumped into Iseki as he made his way into a nearby building, stepping into a sleazy-looking bar. The jacket had a number of patches sewn into it, including some that appeared to be squadron logos and military symbols. Iseki whispered, "That man grabbed my bum." to Chi, pointing the man out as he went into the building. Chi's lower lip twitched, well hell.. scruffy looking man, military things on his jacket and a sleazy bar.. All the wrong signs for Iseki's safety and all the right ones for a ride off this place. "From the looks of it Iseki, we're going to have a chat with that man.." Chi followed the man into the bar, still keeping Iseki as close to her as she could. "This might get a bit messy Iseki.." "Yes, mistress." Iseki nodded, pressing herself against Chi's side as the two entered the crowded bar. It was smoky inside, with the air carrying a few burning herbs and incense. At a table in the corner, the guy in the jacket was sitting down on the booth seats, pouring a tall glass of some sort of teal-colored beverage. Chi pushed her way towards the man in the jacket, pulling Iseki along with her. "Hey mister, I wanna talk to you!" She made a mental note to hemosynth Iseki some pants at some point.. "Huh?" the man looked at Chi in surprise, fumbling under the table for something in his carrybag. "Who are you and what do you want?" he demanded in a gravelly voice. He looked about 40 or 50 years old. Chi took a seat across from the man, letting Iseki sit near the wall. "Are you a pilot by any chance, sir?" Chi kept one arm around Iseki and the other on the table in front of her. "Please, don't do that." She soothed, as she dropped her voice so that only Iseki and the old man could hear, "I don't mean you any harm, I just need to know how the hell I can get off this station." "Well, I suppose you could call me that." the man said, eyeing the pair with suspicion. Chi smiled warily, knowing the man most likely had his gun pointed at her gut with his finger on the trigger this very moment. "From your jacket I take it you're a former military man?" She raised her voice again, trying to make it sound a bit more friendly than covert. "Yeah, I was engineer on an ASF-57. Ship got decommisioned, so I took it with me when I went into retirement. Not authorized, but whatever. I've restored her to pretty good condition." the man said, running his wrinkled, calloused hands on his week-old bearded chin. Chi smiled, again, he was an ally of the GSA... well.. sort of? "How does she run? I've only heard stories about how only the best can pilot the ASF-57s." "Aww, shucks, kiddo." the man smiled to Chi. "She runs like a champ. Real something to be proud of." It brought a tear to the gray-haired man's eye. Iseki watched intently from the side, letting Chi do the talking, shivering violently for some reason... "Is there anyway you could.. "Chi smiled again, trying to remember how long it has been since she flew an ASF-57 Dn Minicruiser.. and then she noticed Iseki was shivering. "Hey, are you ok Sweetie? What's wrong?" "I feel sick." Iseki said quietly. She certainly didn't look so well, either. The old engineer put the back of his hand on her forehead for a moment and then said, "She's too hot." Iseki murmured, "I am not....feeling well." again. "There are so many."'' "Sir, is there anyplace safe to have her lie down at? We're stuck between a rock and a hard place.." Chi hugged Iseki worriedly, understanding why she was panicking, "You'll be ok Sweetie, I promise... we'll find someplace for you to lie down?" Chi looked pleadingly towards the old pilot for help. "Uh..." the older guy scratched his head. He himself was homeless. "Well, my ship, I guess." "Thank you so much sir!" Chi gently swept Iseki up into her arms after shaking the man's hand in gratitude, "I don't know what we would've done..." Chi looked down at Iseki, "We're going to get you a place to lie down.. you'll be all right..." The man got up from the table and led them out of the bar and through a twisting maze of streets and corridors, finally coming to an armored airlock door. He then enter a code on the control panel and stepped inside of the airlock as it opened, gesturing for them to follow. Chi silently carried Iseki as she followed the man into the airlock, in some strange way, this was all working out. She was glad that something out there had taken pity on them. "Thank you, thank you so much, sir." The door behind them shut and then the one in front of them opened after a few seconds, revealing a narrow two-foot-wide catwalk ran out to the top of the docked DN Minicruiser. On either side of the catwalk, there was a thirty-foot drop to the bottom of the bay, an air containment forcefield. The man walked confidently across the small bridge and opened the roof panel to the center section of the ship, sliding into the pilot's pit. There wasn't a lot of room on the ship. In fact, the man had to open a metal grating behind his seat in order to open the shaft to the small cargo area. "PowerSystemOnline DefensiveSystemsReady DefensiveWeaponsReady ComputerSystemReady PropulsionSystemsReady HeavyWeaponsSystemsCharging ALL SYSTEMS READY" the computer speed-talked as the ship booted up. There was a sound of charging systems and running engines and ventilation. The spherical reactor, visible through an opening behind the shaft to the cargo area, began to glow and hum. "You girls can either lay on the main deck, up top in the loft, or you could sit in the cargo area." Chi smiled softly, "Thank you Mister. How'd you guess I was really a woman?" She carried Iseki into the cargo area and gently set her down on the floor. "Iseki, how are you holding up?" "Huh?" the man seemed taken aback at first, then realized he'd said girls instead of guys. "It was a mistake. You're a woman??" Iseki moaned, "Uunnh. I feel so horrible inside. I've never seen so many men before. It makes me sick."' Chi laughed a bit, too late now. "Oops. Anyways, how do you feel about the Angels and the GSA?" She looked down at Iseki again, "But you're ok right? No one tried to beat you.. except that one pimp lady.. but we got you away from her right?" "I try not to take sides." The man frowned, looking down at Chi and Iseki in the dark cargo area from the loft section above. "I can't say I like either." "No sides is better than nothing right now. We're just running out of time. I don't know how long it'll take the Angels to realise that we've come to this station. I'm sorry to have involved you but we're really in a rock and a hard place. Is there any chance we could get a ride back to my ship, the GSS Yui?" Chi's features slowly changed back to her normal form, although her clothes didn't change any. She smiled as her body became familiar again. "I am Taisho Ketsurui Chiharu, commanding officer of the GSS Yui and fleet commander of the GSA 2nd fleet. And this is Taii Hiso Iseki." Chi offered Iseki a soft smile again, "This man won't hurt you Iseki. He's not a bad man like Jehenniel." The man looked at them in disgust, angry that they had tricked him with their disguises, trying to take advantage of him for a ride. He had spent a long time trying to get away from the GSA and the wars and the politics, and now these two girls wanted to try and drag him right back into it. "Get off my ship." he growled. "Now." "We just need to get as far away from here and then you can just drop us off wherever and then, we'll be out of your life forever." Chi looked down at Iseki. "Please sir, the only reason why this girl is this sick is because for the past few months she's been held captive aboard and angel ship and been repeatedly violated by the captain of the ship. She can't be around men for too long or else she just shuts her mind down. I won't have even asked you if you hadn't grabbed Iseki's butt on your way into that bar." "Look, you damn mass-produced weapon. Your war and your Star Army aren't my concern anymore. You expect me to risk my life and my ship to ferry you back to your ship? Hell no! Especially not without anything in return." the man scowled. "What would you like then Sir? We could arrange to give you something in return. The War doesn't have to be your concern, nor does the GSA but, as far as the Angels know, we are still on that shuttle in the S113 bay. And if anyone say you leading us back here, you are already involved. And the Angels may retalliate no matter how much deeper you get involved. You don't even need to take us as far as the Yui, you could just ditch us in another sector of space in an escape pod or something, and from there we could just try to hail the Yui for a pick up!" She looked down at Iseki, hoping she was going to be okay now before she looked back up at the pilot. "Sir," Iseki bravely addressed the reluctant pilot, "I will do whatever you want if you will help Chiharu. You can keep me as your own." kirageshadow: Chi's eyes widened at the Taii, "Iseki.." She just didn't know what to say, to Iseki. How can you tell someone to not offer their life up for you? "Anything?" the man asked, blinking in surprise. "You mean you're making yourself my slave?" He rubbed his chin and considered, looking from Chi to Iseki. "Wow...That would ceratinly make the trip worthwhile." He considered using her as an assistant for working on the ship. "Okay, deal. Where do you want to go?"" Chi frowned at this.. it was Iseki's right to do so. "I can give you the last known coordinates we had for the GSS Yui. Our ship had just finished repairs when I was captured." Chi hugged Iseki quietly speaking telepathically into the girl's mind, ~I wish you hadn't done that for me but thank you. I think he'll be nice to you.~ Chi said the coordinates aloud as she remembered them. This was a start of getting back home, again it didn't go as she had planned.. "Alright. But how am I supposed to find the ship? The Yui-class is one of those newfangled stealth types, isn't it? I think I read about it in a magazine." The aged veteran asked. Meanwhile Iseki could only cry pitifully into Chiharu's bosom. She only hoped Chi would be happier than she was. Chi hugged Iseki to her and rubbed the girl's back. ~I'm sorry that's I'm not happier Iseki, you're a good girl and I like you alot.~ She kissed the girl's forehead again, before addressing the pilot again, "Luck, but I think if we can try to hail the Yui, we might be able to get it's location from there." "Okay." the man said, and then closed the metal grating above them, and the roof panel, leaving the two nekos alone in the dark cargo hold (which was about the same size as a small shuttle interior). Strapping himself in, he then manuevered the ship out of the docking bay and into space, headed in the direction of the GSS Yui. JP GSA no Taisho Ketsurui Chiharu Commanding Officer, GSS Yui (GD-30) GSA no Taii Hisô Iseki Starship Pilot, GD-37 [Destroyed] Edited by: Kitsurugi Yui at: 3/23/03 3:52:56 am A Homecoming and A Revelation (3/24/03 2:20) ON> ASF-57d DN Minicruiser "Julie" Iseki had fallen asleep against Chi's bosom, and was startled when the man called down through the metal grating into the cargo area's claustrophobic darkness. "Is that your ship?" the man was asking them. "I think that's her!" he yelled. The two ships darted past each other, and the old pilot swung the ship around to follow the destroyer. Chi awoke with a start as she jumped up hearing the Old Man's voice. "I don't know, I can't really see it. " She moved to push the grate off so she could get a better look. There was about a foot and a half of space above the grate, or less, and no windows up there. There was, however, a small opening in the side of the shaft, just under the grate, leading out into the main deck's corridor. Chi looked at the grate curiously, could she fit through the space. She decided that she wanted to try to get through it to get into the corridor. She moved towards the opening and tried to crawl through it It was small, but manageable. Chi found herself (or her torso, so far) in a miniature hallway on the starboard side of the minicruiser. The small hall was about 4 feet wide and 4 feet tall, in the shape of a square with the outer top corner cut off. The opposite "wall" was an air forcefield, and the vaccuum was in her arm's reach. Chi frowned and bit and tried to keep herself as near to the actual wall of the hallway as she could as she army crawled through the hallway trying to find her way to the pilot's seat. ~This sucks.~ She tried to plug her brain's memory banks for a blueprint of the ASF-57 DN Minicruiser to figure out where she was. The pilot's seat, and their middle-aged benefactor were only a couple feet towards the front of the ship on the walled side of the hall. Ahead of the opening to the pilot's pit, there was a small bayfor launching...something small. and out directly ahead, the tail end of the GSS Yui. Chi's eyes widened as she noticed the ship and got closer to the pilot's pit. "Mister, I think that's my ship! Could you hail them? " Chi looked back at the grating were Iseki was and quickly tried to think up a plan to take Iseki with her and still leave the pilot a slave.. "Yeah. Why don't you, though?" Figuring the GSA ship would respond better to one of their own, he clicked on the microphone. Chi spoke aloud, hoping that this was indeed her ship. "GSS Yui, this is Taisho Ketsurui Chiharu, do you read me? over." She crossed her fingers and was strangely reminded of the Kaeru frog.. Onboard, Arume got up and walked over to Aya, who was asleep at the communications station. Taking ahold of one of the unsuspecting neko's nipples, she pinched it and twisted hard, sending Aya into a screaming fit that Chiharu could hear over the intercom. "It's Chiharu, you twit. Answer the transmission." Chiharu winced a bit at the screaming, "Hello, is everything all right over there GSS Yui?" Aya blushed crimson and nodded to Arume. "You didn't have to do that. You're so mean to me Arume." Aya tried to regain some dignity as she spoke again, "This is the GSS Yui. Is that really you Sempai.. err.. Taisho Ketsurui? What's your location?" Chi chuckled a bit, that explained it, it was the Yui alright. "It's really me Aya. We're right on your tail. We'll come alongside." Chi looked to the pilot, "Sir, there's a place to dock above the Yui and along the sides." The man circled the Yui, checking for a port that was compatible, but not finding away. Eventually, he settled for just putting the ships roof to roof at the rear lift and spreading a plastic adapter thing in the gap. After a few minutes, it was airtight and ready to go. The man looked to Chi and tugged on her arm, pulling her into the pilot's area with him, and guiding her hands to handholds, helping her get to the lift shaft. "Watch out." he told Chiharu. "The gravity is the opposite way once you're through the door." Chi nodded and stopped for a moment and looked at the pilot, "Right. Hey, since we're here, would you like a different Neko for your ship? Iseki is pretty badly damaged and I'm pretty sure that I have a spare Tech Neko aboard ship that you could use. She'll be just as pretty as Iseki though." She looked at the pilot with a hopeful look in her eyes, she didn't want to abandon Iseki after they'd come all this way. "Damaged? What do you mean? If she's a neko, too, won't she self-heal?" Chi shoke her head no. "The Angels damaged her psychologically, the damage is all mental and cannot be self-repaired. In order for her to work like she's supposed to, I'd have to send her back to PNUgen to get fixed." "PNUgen doesn't fix defective nekos, they kill them and send a replacement." the man said, looking up at her. "It's true." Chi shrugged a bit, "So are you intersted in trading a broken Neko for a fully functioning one? This one will just start crying and won't stop among other things." "Why's she so special to you, eh?" The man asked, wondering what extra value this particular neko had that would make her worth more than a new one. "I held up to my end of the deal." he grumbled angrily, upset that she was trying to change things on him now that she already had the ride she wanted. "She helped me escape from the Angel's ship and I don't want to abandon her. I also figured that it wouldn't be fair to leave you with a defective Neko after you did hold up your end of the deal." Chi sighed a bit and looked over in the direction of the grating where Iseki was. Iseki listened to the two, all alone in the dark cargo area. She whimpered quietly, but didn't say anything. Finally, the man asked, "Well, do you have a neko to trade right now?" Chi nodded. "I do, before I was captured 3 Neko techs were cloned. If you want to pick which one you want you can come aboard with Iseki." "Okay." The hardened traveler agreed. Iseki crawled out of the ship very slowly, avoiding getting too close to the man, and entered the Yui. She kissed the walls, starting to cry again. It looked so much like her home, and yet it was not. None of her sister or friends would be here to greet her... Well, one friend. Iseki looked at Chi and tried to manage a smile. Chi smiled softly back at Iseki as she went into the Yui, glad to be home. And she stretched a bit and walked towards the lifts, sending a message to the crew on the bridge, "Aya, Arume, do me a favor and get the 3 Tech Clones to meet me in the uppermost dock's lift." Aya's reply was a short but happy, "Aye Aye Taisho, welcome home!" The 3 Tech Neko clones walked from the Megami's room to meet them at the designated lift. They all had blue eyes and dark green hair. One had the same warm red brown skin as Kuru, while another was a fleshy pink and the last was a pale pink. The man took Iseki by the arm, and pulled her out of the lift shaft. He wasn't sure if the crew understood what Chi meant, and he wasn't going to take any chances that the lift they were all standing on was going to go up and squish them into the door. Although the man didn't know, it made a lot of sense, since Megami was gone. Chi stepped off the lift and looked to the nekos in the tech uniforms. "Ok, ladies, one of you will be going with gentleman here onto his ship to serve as his assistant." She quickly told them via telepathy that she was sorry for singling them out. But the techs just smiled with a soft shrug. ~It'll be ok Taisho Ketsurui..~ "What are you girls' names?" the man asked, sizing them up. The techs shrugged a bit. They hadn't chosen names for themselves yet, but they figured now would be a good time. The brown neko spoke first after thinking for a moment, "I'm Izumi." The fleshy pink neko was next, "I'm Kikyo" and the then lastly the pale pink tech spoke, "And I'm Shira." Then they all bowed to him, "Dozo Yoroshiko." Shira stretched a bit, it was nice to get out of the Megami room for a break. Kikyo looked at the man curiously, "What's your name sir?" Kikyo smiled brightly, it felt nice to be wanted. "Nice to meet you Mr. Harrison. It'll be my pleasure to be working with you." Chi blinked a bit at the realization that she never asked the pilot hi s name. Chi spoke, "I wish you luck Mr.Harrison. And thank you for the ride home." Chi looked at Iseki. Kikyo walked over to Harrison and Izumi and Shira waved to her. "Have fun sis." "Ok. I'll take you, Kikyo." The man paused. After all this time he was wondering when someone would ask. "I'm Harrison." Commander Harrison plucked off Kikyo's shiny rank pin and threw it on the floor. "We'll be leaving now." Chi nodded as she took Iseki from him. "Hopefully, we'll never meet again Harrison." "Nice to meet you too, bitch." he grunted gruffly, before taking the bewildered Kikyo by the wrist and back to his ship. In a moment, the ASF-57 broke away from the GSS Yui and disappeared into hyperspace. Chi just shoke her head again, the man hadn't liked her since he found out that she wsa GSA. Oh well. Iseki looked to the two remaining neko technicians nervously, not knowing how to express herself, or even what to express. She almost didn't want to meet anyone new, because of the risk that they would be killed or captured just like she was. Attachments were dangerous. So, she merely stood tucked against the wall behind Chi, holding her crossed arms tight to her chest. Chi sighed a bit. "Thanks you two, you can go back to whatever it was you were doing.." The techs nodded but, as they turned to leave, Izumi stopped. "We are repairing the Megami right now." Chi blinked, "What?" Iseki looked at them oddly. "You're trying to fix a megami??" Izumi nodded, "She was damaged recently by an intruder. We're still recooping." Chi looked to Iseki curiously, yes fixing the Megami meant something really messed up went down. "Do you remember what the Megami is Iseki?" "Megami is a complicated quantum computer." Iseki replied, knowing it from her studies of the new one on the GD-37. "The Mentafexal ElectroGravitationally Accelerated Memory and Intelligence type Q3, built by SARA. You're going to have to return to a major port or depot to get her replaced." Chi smiled despite the fact that the Megami being damaged was a really bad thing, "I guess we'll have to do that then before we have to return to our mission." "That might not be possible. The Yui seems to be headed in the direction of the refueling station. Without the computer, none of the engine systems will work. Nor will our shields." Iseki explained. The ship systems were so complicated, that they needed the computer to regulate them. With that vital part gone, the ship was effectively crippled. Chi sighed, "Ah hell.. maybe we could get another ship to get us. It would be bad to end up at the refueling station again. Any suggestions as to what we could do?" "Use the ablative armor system and torpedos." Iseki mumbled absently. Most of the rest of Chi's half of the first fleet was busy massing for an attack on the main angel base that the Yui was supposed to find, leaving the scout alone for all practical purposes. The GSS Ender might be close enough to render assistance, though. Chi frowned, well hell, it looked like the powers that be really hated the GSS Yui for some reason. "Crap, we are in real deep now.." What a home coming, barter a crew member into slavery and find out your ship is flying without the main computer system. "Do you know if they could fix the Megami enough to get her partially running, is there even the slimmest chance we could at least get ourselves redirected?" Iseki, who seemed to be electronically knowledgeable, said, "We could create a backup computer system using one or two of the laptops. There should be some in the armory. The computers could control the sublight ion/graviton engines, enabling us to turn around. But one of the problems is that we can't cloak. At this range, they're probably already watching us." "You're probably right Iseki, but we have to do something." She smiled, "And again you are a truly a life saver Iseki, let's get that done. It'll be better than nothing right now." Iseki nodded, sliding her back against the corner until she was sitting on the floor. She had started shivering again. "I...I don't to lose another ship and crew." Chi knelt down and hugged the girl. "You won't Iseki, we'll fight it tooth and nail, let's get you something to eat and a place to sleep." The techs had decided it would be best for them to leave the two alone because they had to break it to the other Techs that their work so far has been for their own amusement. JP By GSA no Taii Hisô Iseki Starship Pilot, GD-37 [Destroyed] GSA no Taisho Ketsurui Chiharu Commanding Officer, GSS Yui (GD-30) Edited by: Ketsurui Chiharu at: 3/25/03 1:29:20 pm Flashfire: 1st Fleet (8/17/03 13:01) ON> GSS Kitsurugi Yui (GB-05) “Chujo Kelahame!” an alarmed shriek came from the science station, aboard the Grand Star Battleship. “The Elysian weapon is activating!” Chujo Elena Kelahame responded with planned calm. “Taii Chikako, tell our fleet assault assets to charge weapons, [and to be] ready to fire on my command. “ The first fleet’s two assault groups were in position. Zero fleet’s computer-controlled Ki-D1 ships were also ready. “Fifty seconds until ready,” a weapons specialist announced. As they watched, they could see the Elysian ships charging as they decloaked, in the main screen’s magnified picture. Teal energy blossomed like tea leaves in water, slowly reaching out from the glowing white hulls. “White Beams ready” the weapons technician called out, her finger lingering over the Fire button of her cool blue control panel’s glossy surface. “Wait.” Chujo Elena said coolly. The vice admiral looked hard at the enemy ships. “What,” she asked, squinting at the image, “systems are the Elysian ships charging? What is the weapon aimed at? Is it operating at full strength?” The science officers worked at a frantic pace to answer her. “Chujo!” one called out. “The weapon is pointed somewhere far away. The weapon’s source end seems to be in this area, though…” answered the first science officer. “The Elysian ships are charging their weapons and their FTL systems…” a second science officer announced. “…not at full power. I believe the weapon is being used to transport the Elysian Fleet.” “So they’re running?” Elena raised an eyebrow. “Danger to us?” “The Elysian Fleet may be able to fire at us before the weapon teleports them,” the first science officer answered. “All ships, fire White Beams at the Elysian Fleet. Do not approach them.” Dozens of white beams surged forth from the shields of the GSA ships, tearing into the Elysian ships, just as the Elysians fired at the First Fleet. The Star Army ships had positioned themselves out of the range of the all-destructive main guns of the battlecruisers, and so they took reduced damage. The Yuumi battleships had no trouble taking the hits, but the smaller ships were getting hurt. GSS Maeda Teien (GF-185), GSS Makayaji (GF-186), GSS Manpukuji (GF-187), and GSS Manshuin (GF-188), all Ketsueki-class ships of the 1st Assault group, were destroyed in the initial exchange, and GSS Frontier (GS-00) burst into flames, hurtling out of control, nearly colliding with the GSS Shinjuku (GD-123). “33 enemy ships destroyed,” “Send our Ketsueki ships forward to do close combat. No good letting them soak up damage here.” Chujo Kelahame ordered. “Keep the carrier group back.” Ahead, the brave frigates charged at the Elysian fleet, massively outnumbered. All of them fired at once at the closest ship and heavily damaged it. They then split up and rammed into the sides of nearby ships, firing again as they passed through them and emerged on the other sides. “Elysian weapon is firing!” a science officer yelled. The space in front of them warped like they were looking through a bubble. The rear half of the Elysian fleet disappeared suddenly, and then space went back to normal. “167 enemy ships remain.” The second science officer said. “Continue White Beam fire continuously.” The Chujo directed. “Watch out for the frigates.” “Planetary weapon is charging again.” “Don’t let them get away. Continue firing on the enemy ships.” “All Ketsueki frigates lost. Enemy now bringing guns to bear on us again.” “114 Enemy ships remain!” “CHUJO! PLANETARY WEAPON HAS CHANGED FIRING POINT!!” “By Syada! They don’t plan on getting away… All ships engage CDD…” Chujo Kelahame ordered, but the weapon was already firing. The space around them rippled and filled with solar plasma. “Aararrgh!” a horrifying scream came from one of the bridge officers. Tiny pieces of a burning star had dotted the interior of the ships. The GWB firing had left a weakness in the spatial distortion shields that protected the ship from teleportation effects, and through it, little pieces of super-compressed material had slipped in. The sun chunks went off like bombs, their heat and pressure rippling through the air. Chujo Elena was thrown from her seat by the force of a tiny little piece of sun hitting inside of a control panel. Looking up she could see both science officers and the navigation officer were dead. “Report!” she yelled out, only to find the fire had eaten the bridge’s air. Tearing a dented panel out of a nearby wall, she removed a white space suit and began getting in. Once she and the remaining bridge officers were suited up, she asked again, “Status?” “GSS Daishi and Ram are destroyed. Shinjuku heavily damaged, inoperable. Kurushima: heavy damage; no response. Revelation, shields down. Our shields down as well” a survivor read from a control panel. “Order the carrier group to get out of here!” the Chujo said. “DFC status? TTD?” “Too damaged to use.” “Ask the Revelation if…” Just then, all of the Elysian Battlecruisers fired at once at the GSS Revelation, and it disappeared in a brilliant glow of white light. It was the first Yuumi-class ship ever to fall. “Forgive me, Taisho Yui.” The Chujo said aloud, tears in her eyes. She slapped a BU-P50R battery into a GP-12 rifle. The air started to flow again in the bridge once more, but she kept her helmet on. “Do you think they will attempt to board us?” another Neko asked, also loading a rifle. “I don’t know,” the Chujo replied as she donned a flak jacket. “Better to be prepared.” She tossed the flak jacket to the Neko. And then, there was a third blast from the planetary weapon, and Geshrintall was below. Meanwhile, over Geshrintall, the second part of the battle had already begun. The Zero Fleet ships were exchanging fire with the two hundred battlecruisers that had teleported first. Now, there were over a hundred more (Plus the falling remains of the GSA ships). In a massive volume array of five-mile-wide beams, the assault cruisers covered the whole night sky, leveling the entire state of Castelia as their beams inundated the Ender-class ships in destruction, wiping them and others around them out of existence. As the Elysian ships continued to take large amounts of damage, they cut their losses and teleported away. Now free to do as it wished, the giant planetary weapon, still operating on a reduced level, began to suck up more solar matter. In a few minutes, it dumped the stuff over the planet Damascia, instantly reducing one of the Nepleslians’ three planets into a lifeless, charred rock. As the disabled GSS Kitsurugi Yui plunged into the waters of Karen’s Bay south of the Imperial Academy, the remains of the GSS Frontier hit and exploded in the actual campus itself, leaving only a field of scrap on the road that previously connected the marble ruins of Karen’s Lookout, and the small city of Tania. The First Assault Group of the Fifth Fleet then appeared back at the Elysian Planet, and completely destroyed the world with their transposition cannons. The weapon was no more. Chujo Kelahame was able to see the weapon’s destruction on the cracked screen of a hallway control panel as the water surged in around her and the communications officer, Chikaku. She stared at her rifle morbidly; “Do you think I…” “Don’t.” the Taii warned, sensing Elena’s overwhelming depression. “Let’s swim out,” she suggested, keeping an eye on the Chujo for suicide attempts. “You’ve got a second chance. Don’t waste it.” GSA no Taisho Kitsurugi Yui Commander, GSS Wicked (GD-232) Catching Up [Silvershot] (9/3/03 11:55) Onboard the Silvershot: Zeph looked back to the others, "Hey I guess that we'll be landing on Geshrintall since the Yui left while we had our picnic." Geminasu, "Well, shoot...we should have kept a sensor lock on the Yui or something." Siaga rolled on the floor, and yawned and put head on alpha female's foot. The seat we in order kind of like a auditorium style with the pilot's seat at the front. Zeph, "Sorry I know ship looks like a private plane or something but hey try to relax, we'll get there." he said. Lavinia laughed at the wolf puppy in soft tone of voice and leaned down and stroked his head gently and scratched his little ears, knowing that they were a sensitive area. "you look bored Siaga." She chuckled. Siaga started to snooze on her foot he was happy to be with alpha female again. Inari raised her well-trimmed eyebrows, and blinked in surprise. "The orders must have been urgent. We were already fully stocked. Maybe it was some sort of emergency?" She looked a bit concerned. She was still dressed in the civilian clothes she had worn from the picnic, since she had expected to return to the Yui. "Maybe we should turn on the news?" She smiled and let the little tired puppy sleep. Lavinia looked over at Inari, raising a single eyebrow at her, it's unexpected, that is for sure, perhaps something has happened." She said. Trouble look around and various boxes sitting around, "So Zeph what are the boxes for?" she asked him Zeph looked to Inari and pressed a button as a small holo-projected screen came up in front of Inari. "Go ahead just treat like a console it'll respond. And the boxes are my person supplies Trouble." he said turning back around. Lavinia tried in vain to brush the bang in her face behind her ear as she looked at Zeph. "Will you pass me a data pad please?" She asked as she wrestled with the hair. Inari looked around at the control panels. She was used to the MEGAMI operating system that the Yui used, and was unsure how to work the controls. Rather than figure them out, she resolved not to mess with them out of fear of accidentally changing the settings. She was leaning forward over a physical panel, so when the hologram appeared, it was right in her face, prompting a startled "Eep!" out of her. Zeph pressed a button a data pad popped out by Lavinia's seat. "Thank you." She said as she reached for the data pad without any signs of surprise. "I imagine that you have buttons for everything on here?" She asked Zeph as he intelligent oceanic blue eyes tracked information as it appeared on the data pad, having given up on the lock of hair in her face. "oh my." She breathed as the information on the latest events scrolled up. Zeph, "Sorry about that Inari." His hand went behind head as he thought ~Oops gotta be careful don't wanna freak anyone out here.~ Geminasu sat in his seat and thought aimlessly about recent events. At Inari's cautious button presses, the news came up in the form of another nearby holo-picture. "You're watching the GSE News Network, GNN" a well-dressed civilian man smiled, and the screen cut to the anchor-woman. "Today, the morning on Nepleslia began with a global rash of riots. Government soldiers fired on the crowds, only added to the fury..." "It looks like our fleet has suffered some intense losses recently." She said as slight tears started to form at the tragic news. Geminasu heard that and sat forward suddenly "Holy... Zeph could play that on the main screen instead!" he said. Zeph looked back, "Sure thing," he said and the main viewscreen played the newscast in front of everyone. "...Reports indicate that the Nepleslian Government has all but totally collapsed... The First Fleet, temporarily decommissioned after its loss of both Assault Groups, is expected to lead an occupation force to the Nepleslian worlds..." the news said, now on the main screen as well. "The Nepleslians? From what I remember, they were relatively peaceful." Lavinia said in full shock. She cast a sidelong glance at Inari to read her reaction to the news. Inari continued to watch the reports with interest, frowning ever so slightly as the news showed a group of Nepleslian surgeons trying to operate on a wounded soldier, while a few feet away a police officer and a soldier in a small mecha fired lasers and chainguns at disgruntled citizens. "...A peace treaty with the government forces is said to be in the works. Such a treaty would allow Nepleslian Emperor John Whitman to remain in power, while the Nepleslian worlds moved under GSA control." Lavinia sighed. She didn't like the idea of the military using that kind of force against civilians. "I wonder what we're going to do about that problem?" She said more or less to herself as her thoughts raced on the situation. Geminasu looked a little disgusted at the fact this was happening. He looked to Zeph, "Is there any way you can get us to Geshrintall faster Zeph?" The video footage showed another scene, this time the burning wreckage of a small army transport helicopter, the same model as the GSA still used, with looters and gang members running by with wads of cash and weaponry in the background." Zeph looked to Geminasu, "Of course but you all might wanna hang on to your seats. Its quite a speed jump." he said. "That is just horrible!" Lavinia said in an exasperated tone of voice as she subconsciously picked up Siaga and hugged the puppy gently. and cuddled the puppy close to her like she always did when she was worried or scared. Siaga awoke being held his tail wagged happily but he couldn’t breathe very well. Lav noticed the puppy's breathing and loosened her grip some. and scratched his ears. "Sorry." she said softly. Siaga tail wagged very happily. "It would be nice to have the same thoughts as you, completely innocent and loving everything around you." She muttered. "I hope that everyone on the Yui is alright." Lav said as concern marked her normally cute face. "In other news," the scene switched to a view of two huge Yuumi Battleships, "Kitsurugi Fleet Yards, Tabidatsu has completed the construction of the two newest Battleships, the GSS Kikyô and GSS Empire. These ships were finished just two weeks after construction finished on the GSS Ketsurui Chiharu at the Geshrin branch of the giant shipbuilder. The company is expected to monopolize the production of military craft if their competitor, Qel'noran Shipyards, does not become a 'Major Corporation' soon. Qel'noran Shipyards, meanwhile, has nearly completed the Integrated Strike Force Battleship, which has yet to be named. Ironically, the last features are being installed at Kitsurugi Fleet Yards." Lav chuckled a bit as the irony relieved some of the tension she felt. "Inari, what do you think about all this?" She asked her fellow crewmember. Zeph looked back and said, "Hang on we're gonna get really moving here so we can get to Geshrintall faster." The anchorwoman finished the story as the camera switched back to her, "The Ketsurui Chiharu and the Strike Force Battleship, whose name is rumored to be the Seigi, are both headed for the new First Fleet, each the head of an Assault Group." The news then cut to a third story: "A new investigation revealed last night that the Empress Kitsurugi Yuumi could still be alive. A surviving personal guard claims that a secret copy of a relatively recent ST Backup was stored away, and could be used to revive the late Empress. Kitsurugi Yuumi was killed with some 2 million other imperial citizens during an Elysian Attack." "That can't be. When did that attack happen!" Lav asked in shock. Trouble looked surprised at the announcement, "Oh my." she said quietly. "We have to get back to the ship as soon as possible. Thankfully we're making good time I think." She said. "In economic news, experts predict that while most of the money currently is..." the news went on, while Inari spoke up and answered. "That was a while ago, when the military took over the government." "Oh...I didn't know that." Lav replied as a slow flush crossed her face. "I guess I missed quite a bit." Zeph "We'll be approaching Geshrintall in about ten hours." he said out loud. Seeing as she couldn't do much as she was stuck on the Silvershot she relaxed in her seat while stroking the young pup's soft fur as she slowly drifted off toward sleep "...are encouraging citizens to start their own businesses. Soldiers are looking for places to spend their KS, and thus new ventures would have a great opportunity to..." the news continued in the background. Inari closed out her news window, leaving only the one on the main screen. "I wonder if we'll be reassigned?" she asked Lavinia, her mind pondering the fleet restructuring. She waited a few seconds for an answer before she turned to Lav, only to discover she'd passed out. ~WE most likely will be Inari~ Lav answered telepathically. She was still awake ~I hope not though, but what they says goes.~ -JP Wes (as Inari, newcast) Tyler (as Lavinia) Josh (as Geminasu, Zeph) GSA no Taisho Kitsurugi Yui Commander, GSS Wicked (GD-232) Edited by: Kitsurugi Yui at: 9/3/03 11:56 [GSA 1st XF, GSS Seigi] Entrapment Revealed (9/26/03 16:10) “Viking One, Viking Four, over.” “Clear. ‘Head Four, over.” “One, we have detected Elysian craft and have sent coordinates, over.” “Roger, copy four. Informing Empire, Standby, over.” “Wilco, over.” “Roger out.” (Frequency Change) “Empire, Viking One, over.” “Empire ready, over.” “Viking Regiment closing on Elysian ships. Request support, over.” “Fleet will support, over.” “Roger, Empire.” “Attention, all ships, 1st Expeditionary Fleet. Fourty-Five Elysian ships have been targeted and will be engaged immediately. All hands report to battle stations. Captains, we will execute long-range white beam assault. Empire out.” “Kikyô, Empire, in range, over.” “All ships open fire on KAMI-designated targets,” Yui commanded. “Kikyô, Empire. Enemy suffered total loss, over.” “Good job, fleet. Return to business. Out.” “Intelligence Analysis,” Yui ordered. Kessaku Anri answered from the Philosophy. “, Mistress-Taisho these Elysian ships were headed toward Nepleslia. There may be something going on there, but we have no other major indications at this time.” “Hinosami, Contact the Seigi and tell them to keep their eyes open.” “Mistress, the Seigi is not at Nepleslia. Sixth fleet has arrived there and has been waiting for them for a day. No communication from the Seigi,” the small young woman informed Yui. “Did they break down or something?” Yui murmured to herself, her mind pouring over the possibilities. “KAMI!” “Ready,” answered a male voice. “Show me a star map which includes Geshrintall, Nepleslia, the First Fleet, and the course of the Elysian Ships we recently destroyed. Scan for the Seigi where the two courses intersect.” The appropriate image appeared. “Seigi is present.” “RDD Scan for cloaked vessels in the Seigi’s vicinity.” “Out of range, Taisho,” the computer regretfully replied. “They’re probably surrounded!” Yui frowned. Communications? “They appear to have broken down in such a way that their CDD pushed them to one side, off course into an area that naturally interferes with communications and CDD fields. It’s space damaged by main guns used in battle.” “An excellent ambush point.” Yui frowned. “So, we can’t contact them.” “No,” Hinosami shook her head, her short sky-blue locks dancing across her eyebrows. “Only light-speed or slower communication will work there. It would take years for a message to arrive from here.” Meanwhile, the Seigi received a transmission. Yuuko played aloud in the bridge. “This is Admiral Miwasidh Nariel of the Elysian Battleship Truth. You will surrender immediately, or face terrible destruction.” GSA no Taisho Kitsurugi Yui Commander, GSS Wicked (GD-232) [GSS Seigi] preperations (9/27/03 21:46) ON> GSS Seigi "Ouch..." She said wincing slightly, having had the same thing happen to her several times The neko then continued on her way working on the ship, hurrying along like her life depended on it, "Ms. Nivar will you please board your ship now. Several angel ships are nearby." The A.I. Neko said "Alright." Jitar climbed up through the hatch, standing near the ship. She stood in a small room lined with lockers full of parts with a small hallway on one side that led to the small bridge of the ship. Two techs were preparing the ship to leave and running through the final checks for launch, "The battle plan will be displayed once you jack into the system. Your craft won't go to far from the Seigi so you will only need minimal crew for this operation Ms. Nivar" The A.I. said "Alright...." She still understood little about the GSA and was a little disorientated by the way things were moving at the moment. The A.I. neko walked back into the hallways leavening Jitar alone with the 3 neko's onboard that ship. The tech headed down the small hallway lined with tubes and other systems toward the front of the ship as the other two directly interface with the ships onboard computer. Jitar sighed, boarding the ship, feeling a little lost in what to do. She’d never used a GSA ship before and she was praying it wasn't much different from her's. The bridge of the ship was little more than a small room with five chairs in it. Two of the neko's were already connected directly to the ship by cables that ran from their shoulders then behind them to where the computer system was. She looked at the nekos, than around the bridge "this should be fun." she muttered under her breath "Do you require assistance in operating the ship Ms. Nivar?" The disembodied voice of the computer asked. "Yeah, probably will." "Please sit down in one of the chairs Ms. Nivar," The computer instructed. She sat, a little on edge. She’d never like talking computers. Several cables started moving on their own and poked her in the back of the shoulders, neck, and backbone lightly looking for a connection port to use. Jitar jumps, her eyes widening and her ears swiveling back "Please allow the ship to establish a connection Ms. Nivar," the computer asked She tries to relax, settling back into the chair, still a little on edge. The ship establishes a connection and Jitar's became aware of everything the other ships were aware of. She could feel the angel ships lurking about outside of the craft. She finds it odd. A thinking ship? Just then she heard Wazu's voice, "I would like you all to hear this." He said as he replayed the angel communication. “This is Admiral Miwasidh Nariel of the Elysian Battleship Truth. You will surrender immediately, or face terrible destruction.” Currently we need to buy time for repairs and to charge the TTD for escape. All ships prepare to launch one the angels begin their attack." Wazu said through the computer system. "Great..." She listens to the message. The battle plan was then displayed to her as well as a tutorial on how to use the ship. "Well, lets pray I can do this...." GSA no Shoi, Uso Tasuki Intel Officer, GSS Seigi (GB-07) Reaching the Frontier (9/28/03 8:13) Riyon exited the Absolution with a scowl, the trip out here had been hellish, alone on a ship of unfriendly nekos. He sighed as he looked around the ship docks, then back to his small Ki-TI shuttle, still in perfect condition, relatively unused. He went back inside the shuttle and retrieved a few items, and a small bag full of KS coins, just in case. He sat in the back of the shuttle, considering if he should shift into a different form to avoid recognition. Riyon's outer body dissolved away and was quickly replaced with a light green haired, azure eyed neko body. Riyon had been shifting through his alternate forms in private during the trip out, he had formed a conception of alternate personalities as well, since his normal one wouldn't work as a female. Lucia shook her hair and ran a hand through her hair and felt her body, she had a slender body as all nekos did. She pulled a little mirror out of the bag she carried and looked at herself, she was surprised to see that she was as perfect as could be expected, like generic nekos. She shook it off and exited the shuttle after switching into a hemosynthed pair of jeans and a t-shirt. She pulled on an old black trenchcoat with various things in the deep pockets. Lucia stepped off the shuttle and locked down the systems to prevent theft. She again looked out over the area and withdrew a datapad from one of the pockets and sent a text-only message to Taisho Wolf: "Taisho, I have arrived at the frontier and am preparing to exchange my shuttle for an Elysian one and board one of their ships. I do not know how long this will take me, preferably not forever." --A.E. She sent the rather short report, put the pad back into the coat and walked out into the city, looking for a place he could exchange the shuttle for an Elysian one. GSA Security Sentry Aeriyon Elisias Security Officer, GSS Yui (GD-30) Edited by: Aeriyon Elisias at: 9/28/03 8:19 [GSS Seigi] Ultimatum (9/29/03 10:32) The Arch-Angel Admiral Miwasidh Nariel sat in a brilliant-looking transparent blue chair, a soft thing with feathery white cushions and glowing controls surrounded by elaborate gold encrustations of angelic design. At his feet were two female angels with scruffy grayed wings; slaves. The two girls massaged the man's feet. He raised one leg and dropped it on one their backs, degrading her into a piece of furniture. To the other, he gestured with long, muscular fingers. The girl, eyes cast downward, crawled into his lap and embraced him. His hand slid up her thigh, under her dirty white dress. The girl jerked away slightly in surprise, but her fear quickly locked her in place. With little muffled gasps she began to tremble. "Shoot off her nose." Admiral Nariel suddenly commanded. A bridge officer gave him a questioning look, but reached for his sidearm. "No, fool." Nariel frowned, kicking the footrest-girl under his other leg. The girl he was playing with was frozen in terror. "The Neko ship." The bridge crew seemed apologetic, turning back to their stations. In short order, one of the cloaked Elysian battlecrusiers fired its main gun at the nose of the Seigi, looking to take out the ship's heavy weapon in advance. "UNnnnnhhH!!" the girl in Nariel's lap squealed, squirming atop Nariel's hand. "Silence." he scolded. He then addressed his crew again. "The other battlegroup didn't make it, fifty ships should be plenty." The Elysian fleet stayed hidden, poised to strike again... [GSS Seigi, Ghost Regiment] Support (9/30/03 11:35) Yuuko's eyes lit up, "Stealth Transmission!" A quick tap put the logo of the GSA 6th Fleet on the screen. "This is Chujo Valayra Kuisava of Ghost Regiment. We have ten Yui destroyers sent by Chujo Kitsurugi to support you. XF1 SAINT figured you were here...Our ships can detect the Elysians...we are now tracking and transmitting their locations to you." The ten Yui destroyers began quickly moved around the battlefield, opening fire with torpedoes and grand white beams. Several Elysian ships lost cloaking power. The angels began to change formation, trying to defend. On the bridge, Yuuko set up the Seigi to channel the Yuis' sensor data to the Minions. "Go! Go!" she jumped in her seat, knowing the Seigi was still vulnerable. Like brave fighter pilots of ancient wars, the tiny crews of the minions began to set out for battle, not knowing if they'd return. Yuuko hoped for their safety...she sent each a message as they launched: "I'll give you all a kiss when you return!" GSA no Taisho Kitsurugi Yui Commander, GSS Wicked (GD-232) Transmission from GSS Kiyomizudera to (Yui's ship) (10/13/03 7:57) (Sorry man, all this stuff goin' on, I dunno which ship Yui is on any more. Call me stupid, heh.) Yui: My friends saw that mess on the Assassin's guild wall. I need to talk with you as soon as possible regarding his actions. P.S. The guild ain't what it used to be. Don't expect anyone to be able to do it. -Wolf Edited by: Jadg Wolf at: 10/13/03 7:58 [Silvershot] Danger Lies in Wait (11/4/03 20:09) Onboard the Silvershot>> Storage Bay Geminasu had been sitting with Trouble in the storage bay a little while ago but had now gone to their room where they would be waiting until arrival to the Seigi. Trouble lay in bed sleeping quietly as Tobias sat in a chair barely awake. His eyelids fluttered has he fell asleep. -Meanwhile- MOCH's program downloaded into the cyber-bot mechaloid unit. The CMU was designed in humanoid form but had no traces of looking human what so ever. The visual sensors came online as MOCH took a look around in his cybernetic body. "Amazing..." The voice simulator hummed out in a robotic voice since the suit had not yet been programmed with any specific voice pattern. Just then MOCH's visual sensors blurred! Something was wrong, it was as if someone had tampered with the unit and was hacking into his protocol programming. MOCH tried to re-upload himself to the Silvershot's system but to only find himself locked out. He had become trapped in a cyber prison cage that left him unable to warn the others. -Meanwhile on the Silvershot's bridge- Zeph was wondering what was taking MOCH so long to return to the deck in his cybernetic body. Zeph pressed the intercom button to the storage bay but only static came back up. "MOCH, come in. MOCH respond." Zeph said to the not working intercom. Arch looked up to Zeph from reading and asked, "What is the problem?" "I don't know but, HEY they navigation system has gone out again!" Zeph said while pressing multiple keys at once trying to restore control. "Now the weapons system and engines have gone out. Its almost as if we're being shutdown." Zeph said. Arch walked to the console and tried to work at the systems, "This isn't right. Why would... We're being hacked!! Somehow one has accessed the Silvershot's systems and is trying to make us an easy target!" Zeph ran over to the view screen and manually turned it on as on screen three large ships decloaked and came into view almost completely surrounding the Silvershot. Arch panicked as he turned and accessed a probe and fired the probe relaying a distress call to the Siegi's coordinates. "This is the Silvershot! We are being surrounded and our systems are being hacked. Someone please help." Arch recorded his message in and set their coordinates into the probe and fired it off just past the three ships. The three ship opened fire on the Silvershot disabling it shields and engines completely. The shock of the blow sent Geminasu falling out of his seat waking him up with his face on the floor. Trouble awoke and rubbed her eyes, “Man I’m not sure if I was just having a falling dream or what…” Tobias started to say but stopped as his danger sense went off the hook. Zeph looked his console that displayed a warning. Intruders were being detected onboard, and in large numbers. Zeph’s hand hit a button that sealed all the doors onboard the ship shut. He wasn’t able to get a hold of Geminasu, but he at least he bought them some time. He pulled out a handheld pistol and tossed it to Arch. “Let’s bar the door it won’t hold them out but when it does open, prepare for a fight.” Zeph said to Arch. Arch looked at the handgun, he never had liked these weapons but he really had no other alternative. Zeph aimed his rifle to the door opening as he sat behind an overturned seat. “After all this time N.E.R.G. finally found us.” GSA Sergeant Tobias Geminasu Security Sentry, GSS Yui (GD-30) [Silvershot] Danger in the Darkness (11/20/03 11:13) Arch hand tried to steady the gun but his hands wouldn't stop shaking. Zeph looked over to Arch and said, "Look this really isn't your fight. You don't have to help there's hidden hatch over in that area over ther," he pointed to it, "its an emergency storage in case this was to happen. Get in it and be as quiet as you can." Arch nodded and dashed over to the area and pulled the panel open and crawled in. He paused for a minute and looked at Zeph and asked, "What about you?" Zeph spoke while still looking at the door with his rifle aimed at the door. "They aren't about to search if they find what they are looking for. You'll be safe there. Besides it would be to suspicous if they found no-one here.Go now!" As soon as he stopped speaking, a loud banging sound can over the door as if weapons fire was pounding its outerside." Arch ducked into the space and pulled the cover shut tight. The door began to smoke, then sparks flew everwhere as the door fell to the floor with a loud crash. Laserfire start flying within the room. Zeph grimmaced and started firing back and loud yelps were heard as the intruders dropped to the ground. One of them threw a small gas grenade into Zeph's direction. "Shit!" Zeph said while he tried to cover his breathing to avoid inhaling the smoke but its seeped into nose and grew groggy. His aim went off as he passed out from the sleeping gas. The intruders ran in as their dark helmets glittered the reflection of sparks from. The soldier's voice spoke up, "Take him and restrain him. Report one capture to Commander Elpizo immediately." The other soldiers nodded and put restraining devises on Zeph's hands and dragged him off the bridge. -Meanwhile- Tobias sensed that something was wrong and tried to open the door. Trouble stood behind him holding her hands together, she had this sinking feeling in her gut that something bad had happened to Zeph. Tobias felt it as well, ~It can't be the Elysian's, this is to damn direct and coordinated, they go us pinned down.~ he thought. Geminasu finished breaking apart the door and removed it, and soon afterwards laserfire flew into the doorway. "Damn let's go Trouble!" he grabbed her hand and made a mad dash out into the hall. The sound of footsteps came after behind as they ran, little did they notice that something had been set up in the hall, when al of a sudden Geminasu's Danger sense went off. He turned quickly and yelled, "Damnit!" as the trap went off and both Tobias and Trouble were shocked in a electric cage. The volts poured into their body as trouble collapsed, Gem looked angery as he look at his captors. "N.E.R.G. should known it..." he dropped to his knees and collapsed. The soldiers stepped forward and restrained both Geminasu and Trouble. He pulled a small radio from his belt, pressed a button, "This Lt. Vace, the targets have been captured. proceed with tractor beam, and take the vessel into to the main bay." A voice came over the radio back to Vace, "Good, good, tractor beam has begun, excellent job Lt. Things went just as I planned it." The Silvershot was being drawn towards the largest ship with the name USS Daronasha 167-FA38 NERG. The ships turned as an interdimensional portal open in space and the 3 ship left with the Silvershot in tow. END (All NPCs played by Joshua) Edited by: Tobias Geminasu at: 11/20/03 12:12 Emerging From the Darkness: Past Fears Reborn (12/27/03 20:12) Location: Alternate Dimension N.E.R.G. Spatial Territory <> [Geminasu's Perspective] Deep within the corridors of the vessel Tobias’s eyes slowly fluttered open, he coughed and a trace of blood spat from his mouth. He had been stripped of his upper portion of his uniform. His mind raced to the one thing he cared about most. ~Trouble! ~ He thought as he tried to look around, he found that he was strapped to a table that was tilted upright. The lights were out, he struggled but couldn’t move, a shutter opened in front of him where the door would be located, a helmet peered into the darkness, and voice spoke “Hey you! Knock it off in there you worthless little science experiment. If you keep it up I’ll have to teach you a lesson in behavior personally!” Geminasu’s mind smiled at this concept, he shuffled his shoulder-bone and dislodged his left shoulder, the bindings were no longer tight and he felt that if he bent his knees he could slide out. Just as the shutter started to close, Tobias began to taunt the guard, “Behavior? All I hear are words from a low rate soldier who can talk big but can’t do jack shit!” The door flung open as the guard walked in, “Why you worthless little…” the guard raised his gun to hit Tobias with it, when Tobias bent his knees and slid through the binding and lunged forward a hit the guard with a precise jab to his jugular vein in his throat, causing the guard to fall back wards a bit as Geminasu’s right hand reached out and grabbed the gun from the guard’s hand. Tobias fired at the guard’s helmet knocking the guard completely out. Geminasu aimed the gun toward the leg bindings and fired a shot the disabled the lock on his bindings. Tobias adjusted his shoulder and reconnected the bone in his left arm. He had to find the others; they were somewhere to be found. Geminasu looked around and found a drawer contained a dark lab coat. Slipping it on quietly, he searched around the room for his gear to see if by chance the guards had been stupid enough have left his belongs nearby. Not one drawer had what he needed but he did find a surgical kit containing some needles and medical tools, he realized this would have to suffice for the time being. He stepped out from the dark and peered around the corner to check for other guards. He balanced his energies and quietly went up the side the of the wall and pushed open an air vent, and crawled in, meanwhile ignoring the pain from his shoulder. He had no idea where to start but it had to start somewhere… To Be Continued…… Edited by: Dr Shinichiro Nobumoto at: 12/29/03 11:54 [GSS Ketsurui Chiharu - ECN Hope] Reunions and Peace Talks (11/21/03 0:28) [GSS Ketsurui Chiharu - ECN Hope] Reunions and Peace Talks ON> GSS Ketsurui Chiharu Taisho Ketsurui tapped her hand impatiently on the arm of her chair for a moment, trying to figure out where exactly this planet might be. The bridge crew was silent except for a few soft conversations about the new male crew member between Izumi and Aya. Ishida himself seemed to hear the mutterings about himself and flushed red as he stared down at his own console. Meanwhile.. Zemer had been absently pondering the nature of combat. It seemed ironic how these days so many people fought while sitting down and died in a brilliant flash of light before they even knew it. He'd always liked the old ways of swords and spears. Of course, peace was preferable to combat; these days, it was a luxury that a small minority had known. Looking from the book in his hands to the bridge's main screen, he eyed the ship Chiharu was on. "Chi..." he mumbled quietly, stroking his thumb on the golden Taisho pin that had once rested on the woman's breast. Chiharu rubbed her forehead as she brooded about the idiocy of this war and her current mission. It bothered her that she was to simply destroy an entire planet and every one, military and civilian alike. Her brooding not only troubled her mind but Ishida's as well. Ishida looked over to her, trying to ignore the comments and innuendos directed towards him as he tried to send his twin a feeling of reassurance that she wasn't going mad.. ~Maybe~ He thought towards her, ~Zemer might be able to help you stop this insanity?~ "Perhaps." Chiharu said out loud. The ship sensors had not detected the presence of the Elysian ship in its wake yet, and everyone on board assumed that they were not being followed. Zemer had to be careful, or KAMI, the Yuumi's computer would react violently to what it considered a threat. The Elysian ship "Hope" made its move, stealthily moving over the battleship, lining up its boarding chute with the main lift shaft's top hatch. There was a slight jolt on both ships, mainly on the smaller one, as the vessels connected. Instantly Kamiko, the computer's boatswain (who was seated on the bridge) alertly looked up from her station. "A ship. We might stop?" Chiharu's ears flicked as the smal tremor went through the ship. "A ship? Don't tell me... it's an Elysian craft?" She inwardedly groaned. "Come to a hault. Let's go to meet these people with an armed team." The crew nodded and Izumi sent out an alert to the rest of the crew to warn them. "Shall we let them in?" Kamiko asked. "Go ahead and let them in. Better we let them know that we know their knocking.. they didn't try to blow the hatch, nor did they fire at us, so we can only hope that this is going to be a peaceful resolution but either way, they're here." Chi rose from her seat and started towards the lift, Ishida moved to follow her. "Hold the bridge, Aya." Juni Innen Kuru and Chui Arume arrived by the hatch to bridge with rifles in hand and a couple extra for Chi and Ishida. Two seraphs stepped out of the lift shaft onto the Ketsurui's top floor. Not exactly the most beloved creatures, they were the targets of every crewmember in the area. One of them spoke, its voice a gentle, moaning sort of female voice. "We are not here to hurt you." it said. "Then why are you HERE?" Arume barked, raising her rifle up and moving to stand between Chi and the seraphs as they reached the top floor via a ladder.. Zemer crawled out through the hatch from which the seraphs had emerged. "Calm, now." he said soothingly. The seraphs backed toward him defensively, like children clinging to their parent. It wasn't nervousness, but there was some sort of emotion going on in them. Arume's eyes narrowed as the archangel appeared. Ishida frowned and Chiharu looked torn between dismay and happiness. "Zemerias.. it's been a long time. It's all right Arume, this is the archangel that helped myself and Iseki to escape. But why are you here Zemer?" Ishida half-folded his arms across his chest with his rifle still in hand. Chiharu held her rifle at her side but Kuru and Arume made no move to lower their's determined to not let anyone harm their captain again. "I...had to see you." Zemer admitted, stepping closer to her. He held out his arms, beckoning her to his embrace. The seraphs, moved back toward the door to the lift shaft, taking up sentry-like places on either side.It was impossible to tell what their black slits were watching. Kuru and Arume stared at Zemer in shock as Chiharu moved to hug Zemer. Ishida was the only one not too shocked to speak as Chi embraced Zemer. "That's all well and good BUT surely there must be something else you must want from us aside from giving Chiharu a hug?" "I heard she cooks, too," Zemer joked, squeezing the smaller woman snugly. He trailed his fingers thorugh her soft hair. He then planted a loving kiss on Chi's neck; his eyes watered in happiness. Ishida shook his head, a bit disturbed by the warmth that he felt towards this man through his twin. "She's working on it." There was almost what could be considered jealously in his voice as he watched Chi nuzzle the archangel. "It is nice to see you again, Zemer but Jon is right, you must have guessed what we're trying to do here.. Why risk getting blown to pieces for a chance to see me again?" Chiharu smiled, as she pulled away from the hug looking at Zemer, still not noticing how confused her crew looked at all of this. "Isn't seeing you enough?" Zemer responded, giving her a playful hurt expression. "I was hoping we might find a peaceful solution to end this war before even more innocent lives are destroyed. "Good, I was hoping we might be able to discuss that prospect." Chiharu smiled again, looking to her crew for a moment before looking back to Zemer. "We should probably discuss this in the briefing room. It might make my crew less paranoid." "Alright," Zemer nodded. He waved the seraphs off. They seemed to plead with him to follow, but eventually returned to the Elysian ship the way they came. "Lead the way." Arume and Kuru looked to one another and then to Ishida, seeing that he was the voice of reason right now. Ishida spoke again. "If it makes you two feel better, you can stand guard here. But I suspect that the seraphs will not act unless something happens to their captain or are ordered to." He looked to Zemer for confirmation of this. "So you're standing orders are to hold your fire unless force is used against you first. And if something happens, raise the alarm.. But do not fire unless provoked. Remember peace talks do not require zealous weapons fire." Chiharu nodded. "All right then, follow me.. oh Zemer, this is my twin, Ishida Jon. Jon this is Zemerias Kiriel. " Dr Shinichiro Nobumoto:: Zemer bowed. "You never mentioned him," he observed. Ishida returned the bow, smiling a bit as Chi's emotions over took his own for a moment. "After you took Chiharu into your custody, some upgrades were made to the NH-X. The introduction of pairs was one." Jon replied for Chiharu. "I am from a part of Chiharu's personality." "Are you?" Zemer seemed to think about it for a second. He didn't really like the idea that part of his Chiharu was walking around seperately now. He looked to Chiharu for guidance, "The conference room?" he prompted. Chi nodded, "Yes.." She started to lead Zemer in the direction of the briefing room and Ishida walked about 5 ft behind Zemer, concerned for Chi's safety despite his knowledge that this archangel had fallen for her. Zemer followed her, trusting her to treat him as well as he had treated her during her stay on his last ship. In what seemed to be no time at all, they had reached the Briefing Room and Chi opened the hatchway, walking in as the men followed. Zemer started off, "I'm afraid that if the war doesn't stop now, then it won't stop until one side is genicidally eliminated from the universe. We need to start working on a plan to stop these constant battles and horrible raids before it's too late for the both of us." Chiharu took a seat and Ishida decided to stand beside the door. "I agree." Chiharu said. "This war will not end until everyone is dead. But how do you propose a resolution to this conflict? I know I have the authority to make a treaty for the GSA but do you have that authority as well? I'm unsure of the political power that Elysian officers have." "Well, I can't speak for everyone," Zemer admitted. "I'm only a captain." "That makes matters a bit more difficult, but I have faith that we can do this. As far as I see it, we do not have any real reason to be fighting one another than for the fact that the old wars have left both of our governments embittered against one another. I also fail to see what there is to gain by destroying one another's culture. But seeing as how any attempt at a peace treaty has failed in the past, do to assasinations, I believe, it might be safer to keep peace talks limited to one ship or another. I know my crew is loyal to me and would not try to kill me nor you unless they think that you are going to hurt me..." Chiharu paused for a moment. "Please, feel free to take a seat Zemer." Zemer sat, stretching his large feathery wings. "I'm sure most of my people would approve something if it was reasonable. They don't want to be under the Star Army's boot-heels, though, and apparently the Star Army wants us there. Taisho Yui won't be satisfied until we're all part of her empire." "We feel threatened by the Elysian presence in our space and by the development of new Elysian weapons. I think Yui would be satisified if there was an alliance between our governments and not a conquest of one or the other. But if peace is not an option then conquest it will be." Chi sighed. "My people are in poverty, all of our resources stretched beyond our limits to support the Navy. Elysians are too proud to give up." Zemer looked sad. "Our homeland is gone, are children are starving..." Chi saw her chance for leverage there, shining brightly like a beacon. "Perhaps then, it would be best if the GSA could step in to assist your people and keep them from starvation? We could aide your people under a flag of truce, if your Navy would lay down its arms and fight alongside us and not against us?" "Nariel controls a lot of the Navy these days...I think he'd rather the people starve than take Star Army handouts," he frowned. "Again, I think Yui would demand the dismantling of our military." "Who could you appeal to in order to overturn Nariel's decisions?" She asked. "I will talk to Yui about this as well. I trust that she will honor my judgement on this matter. But if you're people are starving to maintain the Navy then maybe for now it would be best if the military was not an issue to support?" "We're like you in that respect. The military is a lot of our people. We lost a large portion of our civilians when the GSA destroyed one of our planets. As for an appeal, there is not really a central government anymore..." Zemer's voice had a regretful tone to it. "We could work out a treaty with your military like we did with another one.. we could provide a fleet for the defense of your people and you could provide us with people to man that fleet. We can integrate your people into our government and laws. But, if you have no central government, who makes your laws?" Chi looked at him curiously, as Ishida stood silently by the door. The idea of assasinating Nariel and 'taking' his place, came to the man's mind in order to make this treaty idea work. "If the GSA defended us, we'd almost be part of the GSA, like Ralfaris. It's a nice idea, and it would allow our industry to work on bettering lives rather than making warships." Zemer smiled. "We dont seem to have any [laws]." "So I take it that idea sounds reasonable to you?" Chi returned the smile and then blinked. "You don't have any laws?" "Yes...I just sort of decide what's reasonable on my ship, and lead by setting a good example." Zemer nodded. "I hope that we can make a treaty then, but will you be able to get Nariel to bite?" Chi looked at him curiously. "Nothing can really be guranteed unless we can get compliance." "Maybe," Zemer said. "I think it can work out." "I can only hope so. And I hope, that I will not find myself assasinated for this ideal." Chi smiled despite the grave tone that entered her voice. "But, if I do die for this, maybe it will inspire an end to the war and not add fuel to the fire." Ishida winced a bit at the thought of dying as well but did not voice his feelings until Zemer made the generalization that Chi would be alone. "She won't be alone. I will be here and so long as I am alive, Chi will NEVER die." He was partially confused by his own defensiveness and jealousy about all of this. Did he really care if Chi was in love with two people and not him? "If you want to hang around me you may but I think your people will most likely distrust you if they think you are 'sleeping' with the enemy, as it were." Chi said quietly. "Chi, I've been thinking a lot about you lately, and I..." Zemer looked to Ishida and stopped, clearing his throat. It was clear he was uncomfortable. "You're not my enemy, Chiharu." Chi didn't need to say anything to Jon, mentally or otherwise. She would talk to him afterwards about certain things. "I know that I'm not Zemer, but other Elysians might not feel the same way. Last thing I want is for you to be branded a traitor and executed." "You can't betray a government that doesn't exist. Allowing this war to continue while there's a chance to save them would be betraying them in the worst way." Zemer retorted. "Although there is no government, who do you report to? Who is that higher power that says there has to be a war with us?" "I was freelancing, traveling with Nariel's fleet," Zemerias Kiriel explained. "What would happen if Nariel was no longer there to continue this war?" Chi asked quickly. "I suppose the Elysian Navy would collapse." Zemer pondered. "Would you be able to lead it if that were to occur?" Chi asked again. "I don't see why not," Zemer replied. "We'll see what can be done, I guess." Chi's voice became thoughtful as she acknowledged that idea that Jon had been pondering. "Thank you." Zemer smiled again. JP by: Wes as Zemerias Kiriel and Kamiko Kim as Ketsurui Chiharu and Ishida Jon GSA no Taisho Ketsurui Chiharu Commanding Officer, GSS Ketsurui Chiharu (GB-07) [Silvershot] Angel in the Dark Unknown (12/27/03 22:26) Shifting Through the Dark: Angel in the Dark Unknown Location: Alternate Dimension N.E.R.G. Spatial Territory <> [Arch’s Perspective] Things had been quiet for some time, as he hid in the secret compartment. The battle between whoever had attacked and Zeph had come to an end. He feared the worst for Zeph, but battle wasn’t his forte. He slowly opened the compartment door and slid out. The bridge was dark, the view screen was on and also was dark, as his eyes adjusted to the level of darkness, and he peered into the screen and could make out what appeared to be a shuttle bay. But the others that had been onboard with him were gone. Trouble, Tobias, and Zeph were missing; he recalled that the Silvershot’s AI system had been uploading into a robotic body in the Silvershot’s bay. ~Perhaps, if I could locate the Silvershot’s AI system we can work our way to find the others…~ he thought as a plan came to his mind. It was so dark it would take him forever to find the bay, but if he reactivated full power to the Silvershot there was a chance the their captors would be alerted to his presence. Arch sat down on the floor and thought hard about what to do, an idea popped into his mind, he searched through Zeph’s equipment rack and found just what he had been looking for, a pair of night vision goggles. Pulling them out he adjusted the headbands, and wiped the lens with the corner of his coat. He put them over his eyes and made his way out into the hall. The corridors were light up with the night vision goggles, as he stepped carefully trying not to make a sound. He made his way to the bay carefully and opened the door manually. His fingers pulled the door open slowly; the bay was a disastrous mess of boxes and things everywhere as if someone had sifted through everything. But as luck would have it a robotic body was lying on the floor inactive. Now all he had to do was activate it… To Be Continued… Edited by: Dr Shinichiro Nobumoto at: 12/29/03 11:54 The Darkness Within: Zeph's Torment (1/4/04 19:14) Location: Alternate Dimension N.E.R.G. Spatial Territory <> [Zeph’s Viewpoint] Zeph awoke in a brightly lit room; he was groggy from the previous attack. His vision hadn’t focused yet and he heard voices coming from around him. His eyes adjusted and a short and fat scientist with a data board looked at him and walked towards another figure in the room and whispered to him. Zeph couldn’t hear their thoughts, he strained to focus but he couldn’t even move his hands were bound and so was his feet. A grizzly man that stood about 6’11” with black hair and a mean-looking demeanor walked forward towards Zeph. “Subject EF-134, If you are trying to read our thoughts that won’t work,” he said pointing to small mechanical device strapped to his lower portion of his left ear, “This is a mental inhibitor that will block you out of our thoughts.” The man smiled, and turned as the door opened, and another figure walked in, the man turned and bowed slightly and spoke quietly to him, “Lt. Commander Elizo subject EF-134 has just come to sir.” Lt. Elizo stepped out from the doorway, his shoulder length purple hair flowed a bit behind him as he put his hand to his beret and adjusted it as he came in. “Good work, Darkholme, as I expected you our chief head of science would have progressed well by now, my father will be pleased with your work.” Zeph’s eyes widened, as he heard the name, as it was the same name as the one who had experimented on him in the past. After all this time, after all he suffered he ended up in the hands of the one who did this to him, annoyed that he ended up in this state without his trusty rifle in hand. Zeph’s throat strained, “You bastards! Why come after us now! Where the hell are the others!” Elizo face turned sour and Darkholme reached to a small remote-like device and pressed a red button, as soon afterwards electricity poured through Zeph’s body. Zeph’s body flailed a bit as the electricity flowed through him; it stopped about after what seemed like an eternity. Darkholme grinned evilly at Zeph, “Watch your tone you worthless creature.” Elizo’s eyes closed and he sneered at Zeph, “Your ‘friends’ are being held captive just like you. Darkholme bring up the lab’s monitor to view the other two captives.” “Yes sir immediately,” Darkholme replied pressing a gray button and a monitor near them light up in split screen, one showing Trouble hanging limply to a slab bound tightly. But the other screen showed no one and the slab where Geminasu had been seemed slightly shot up. Elizo’s eyes widened at this sight, and turned to a guard and spoke, “Put up an alert! I want the ship on medium alert and if subject EF-267 is found I want him completely subdued, I don’t care if you kill him! Just keep his body intact. Father will not be pleased with this latest occurrence.” Zeph laughed weakly, “If you think you take us so lightly you’re as good as dead. You wait and you’ll see.” Elizo turned to Zeph furious with rage, “I will tolerate you’re banter! Perhaps we shall see how well he fares when he’s force to fight you!” Zeph eyes narrowed, “What’s to make you think I’d ever do that? You are a…” Darkhomle’s hand extended outward to Zeph’s forehead and placed a thin patch on his head, Zeph’s body shuttered as the patch lit up revealing small-wired circuitry within. His head hung lowered, his silverfish-gray hair hanging down. “This will make you do what we say, understand EF-134?” Darkholme said. Zeph’s head rose upwards, his eyes seemed dimmed and somewhat blank as if he was nothing but soulless shell. “Yes, I will to the will of my master to my death.” Zeph spoke in such a soulless tone. “Good, since time is short this Fenrir-X brand mind-controller will keep you loyal to us.” Darkholme said to the shell of Zeph. Elizo smiled, “Suit him up, I want him hunting our escapee,” he laughed as he walked out the door. To be continued… GSA Sergeant Tobias Geminasu Security Sentry, Silvershot Edited by: Tobias Geminasu at: 1/5/04 19:12 Moving Quickly: Trouble's Escort (1/11/04 19:35) Posts: 393 (1/11/04 19:35) Moving Quickly: Trouble's Escort Location: Alternate Dimension N.E.R.G. Spatial Territory <> [Trouble’s Transfer] Trouble had been out cold for sometime now, the room was lowly lit until the door flew open. Lt Vace walked in quietly and turned in the lights, he removed his helmet slowly and took a breath and his hand went through his short black crew cut hair. He adjusted his gun-strap and walked over to Trouble. “Wake up. Wake up, now!” he snapped at the lifeless Trouble, his temper rose rather quickly as she didn’t respond. “Guards! Get in here with a transport for an unconscious prisoner.” The guards shuffled into the room, and took her down from the slab, which she was suspended and laid her upon a medical rest-bed and preceded to leave the room. A guard looked to Vace and asked him, “Sir where shall we take the prisoner?” Vace looked at the guard, “Orders are to take her to level 15 maximum security area ZX143. We have an escapee that will make it his priority to free her. He is classified as a maximum threat and considered to be armed and dangerous. I will accompany you there, at point CX101, We will be enlisting a last minute ‘aid’ in case the escapee makes his appearance.” Vace and the guards moved quickly down the halls and came to a quick halt at the equipment station where a tall figure walked out quietly and asked, “Orders master?” Vace looked at the figure, the figure was the Zeph, armed with several guns and the rifle that had been confiscated when Vace had captured him. Vace noticed the Fenrir X patch upon Zeph’s forehead, ~so this is the one, good, we may stand a chance should the escapee appear. ~ He thought to himself. They went up the deck as quickly as possible avoiding tightly enclosed space that would trap them in one area. To Be Continued… GSA Sergeant Tobias Geminasu Security Sentry, Silvershot Edited by: Tobias Geminasu at: 1/13/04 8:15 Act IV, Scene 11: The Serpent Strikes Back (1/9/04 9:08) Act IV, Scene 11: The Serpent Strikes Back (Reposted From Space War Board) Since the end of the Chaos/Hive Wars, the Nerimian Confederation considered the Ayenee system to be another member of its ever-broadening Confederation. Twice, the NDI had come to the defense of Ayenee Prime, in the process losing over one hundred thousand of its soldiers in a battle to repel the force known as Chaos (along with help from the GSA's 3rd Fleet, which defended the Ayenee Capital City). Yet, the Ayenee people had a proud tradition and simply would not capitulate to the will of the Confederates. They maintained a sizable military defense force in addition to the NDI fleet forces that had been based on Star Fortress Sigma and often sought to prove their independence of the Confederation at every possible opportunity. And so while Ayenee and the Nerimian Confederation had a love-hate relationship, they had come to an understanding that their affiliation with one another was a preferable situation. Ayenee now had access to the Confederation’s vast resources and military might, and the Confederation gained territory and a wealth of ‘special adepts’ to add to its military machine. Today, that relationship would be put to the test. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ayenee Star System, Aquilae Military District [Nerimian Confederation] The Tienshinhan-class Star Fortress, Sigma, was a mammoth spherical body in the Ayenee system, almost 1/5th the total mass of Ayenee’s largest moon, which the NDI had also created a defensive base upon. The star fortress served as not only a base of operations for the newly-formed 25th NDI Spacy Fleet, but as a massive ship construction and refit installation that could churn out a little under five hundred destroyer-class vessels in one Earth-standard month. It had enough internal space to accommodate a little over three million personnel, most of whom were civilians who provided services the military found valuable. In the event of an attack, the star fortress would coordinate all military forces with its own DEIMOS system, and despite being the central focus of any enemy attack, the star fortress had enough firepower to lay waste to any enemy naval force that would dare attack her. As the combined allied forces of the Draconian League launched their offensive against the Jaaq’tah Alliance, all forces inside of friendly territory had been ordered to Charlie status, which meant that they were to be ready for any enemy counteroffensive at any time. Military forces throughout Draconian League-controlled space raised their own alert status while simultaneously watching anxiously for the outcome of the battle with the Jaaq’tah. “Looks like the rookie is doing alright,” said Commodore Samuel “Sonny” McClintock, motioning towards the large holographic screen giving them live battle footage from the battle of Tau Ceti. The 1st Naval Battle Force, led by Fleet Admiral Korbin, was surprisingly sustaining very few losses despite the numbers of forces the Jaaq’tah were throwing at them. “They pampered the boy enough, so he had better show something for it.” McClintock took a drink of coffee and turned to his commanding officer, Rear Admiral Oliver Erickson, who rubbed his balding head sheepishly. “No snappy remark?” Admiral Erickson frowned, clearing his throat before speaking. “The battle’s not over, yet.” McClintock took another drink. “No faith in the boy, either, eh? I understand, I mean, the kid’s a fucking flight jock, and you know how much use we have for those guys.” The admiral closed his eyes and groaned. He hadn’t slept in eighteen Earth-standard hours but insomnia was a common thing. Right now, he didn’t have time or the desire to sleep. “The day we trusted our fighters to a machine instead of a man was a mistake, and you know it.” “Oh, come on, Oliver,” replied the commodore, setting his coffee mug down on the counter to his left. “You know as well as I do that it takes years to get a properly-trained jock. With these new Tempests and Mavericks, we program the babies in 20 seconds; plug ‘em in, and bam.” “Whatever. I just don’t trust a machine to do a man’s job,” replied Erickson. “Next thing you’ll know, they’ll be fully automating battleships.” “I don’t think we’ll go quite that far,” replied McClintock, glancing back at the screen as a bright explosion caught his eye. “But I respect your outlook.” Before Admiral Erickson could respond, Sigma, the DEIMOS avatar that essentially was the ‘soul’ of the star fortress, walked onto the bridge. Sigma was female, like all other DEIMOS and ORACLE avatars, though her own individuality subroutines had crafted a look that was different from all the others. Sigma was an even five feet in height, slender, athletic build, and had short, cropped brown hair. The eyes of the avatar, however, were uniform in their ominous golden hue. “Admiral, our interferometer sensors have been picking up an unusual amount of disturbances in the fabric of space-time for quite some time now,” said the somewhat monotonal voice of the avatar. “Twenty-seven minutes ago, the N.S.S. Wynter detected multiple small disturbances along the perimeter of the system that are akin to a hyperspace fold drive. We have sent out remote drones to investigate, but all drones have lost contact soon after coming in close proximity.” Erickson and McClintock looked at one another and then back to Sigma. “So what’s the situation?” asked McClintock outright. Before the avatar could respond, multiple holographic screens popped up throughout the bridge of the fortress. Multiple hyperspace disturbances had been detected simultaneously. Sensor sweeps from picket ships revealed a shocking discovery: Jaaq’tah vessels were inside of Confederation-controlled space. “Jaaq’tah wormholes are being created in several hundred spots in the system, Admiral. We cannot shut them all down; I am activating all military forces in system. The 4th Strike Battle Group is four minutes away from one of the enemy formations,” replied Sigma calmly. “Patch me through to the Red Star Citadel—NOW!” snapped Erickson. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “We’re getting reports from all over: Ayenee, Stellaz, Vox, Guardias, Antares, and Ferias. The Jaaq’tah have launched a full counter-offensive on multiple fronts,” said Strategic Military Director Kage Xeraux, his holographic image appearing before the hurriedly assembled Confederate Strategic Command, or simply CONSTRACOM. “The Jaaq’tah is using elements of its Diamond, Ruby, and Sapphire fleets and is overwhelming forces in Vox and Guardias as we speak.” General Kiyomeru Shotomaru stood up, crafting a holographic screen of his own, showing a graphic of allied naval forces scattered throughout friendly territory. “They’ve intentionally launched a multiple front assault in order to try and spread our forces thin—they know we can’t sustain that kind of battle without leaving someone hanging out to dry.” “This explains why they haven’t committed as many forces to Tau Ceti as we expected them to,” commented Sky Marshall Junichi Iwatsuka, commander of the Tactical Aerospace Forces. “They’ve been planning this all along.” “What about the situation in Ayenee and Antares?” asked General Nathan Rakuseki, the commander-in-chief of the Nerimian Defense Initiative. This was his first and foremost concern, for if the Confederation couldn’t defend its own territory, taking the battle to the Jaaq’tah wouldn’t matter. “The 10th and 25th Fleets are holding their own. Our integrated defenses are giving them hell,” replied Admiral Andrea Lawrence, another member of the CONSTRACOM. The concept of the Orbital Defensive Integrated Network (ODIN) had been her idea some twenty years earlier after the first war. “Excellent. We have to drive them back at all costs. They will not take our worlds, that I promise you, ladies and gentlemen,” replied Rakuseki. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Prometheus stealth cruiser, Emperor, drifted through space lifeless as multiple particle beam impacts tore through shields and through its reactors, leaving it useless to the forces of the 10th NDI Spacy fleet as they engaged in all-out combat against the Jaaq’tah Alliance’s Grand Ruby Fleet. The 10th Fleet’s flagship, the Bastion battleship, Rings of Saturn, charged forward, mauler devices lancing through enemy vessels violently and leaving them unsalvageable wrecks in the aftermath. The battleship was an old creature, but she fought with a tenacity never before seen. Its bristling array of beam weapons made enemy warships pay for even daring to challenge her undisputed power. “Is the main cannon ready?!” boomed the voice of Fleet Admiral Trevor Harigata, his teeth clenched as the massive battleship rode right in the midst of several thousand Jaaq’tah vessels, who were peppering the capital vessel with every bit of firepower they could muster. The shields held up to the barrage and the battleship answered with a destructive volley that wiped out hundreds of vessels. “Stellar Converter, ready,” replied the ship’s avatar. “FIRE!!!!!” The front of the Rings of Saturn lit up as a concentrated wave of plasma tore through space, colliding with the massive flagship of the Ruby fleet, a Slaakanesh command vessel. Admiral Harigata grinned as he saw the vessel become engulfed in the resultant explosion which was sufficient to smash a planet with its destructive power. “Direct hit!” Cheers rang throughout the bridge of the battleship, but they all died down when a beam lanced from the enemy flagship, tearing through the forward shield section and penetrating the venerable battleship’s hull, secondary explosions ripping through the starboard side of the ship. Thousands died instantly as the sheer heat vaporized them. Those who didn’t die instantly were asphyxiated as hull decompressions ripped them into space. Automatic repair systems quickly went to work, sealing off decompressed sections. “It survived a stellar converter?!” boomed the ship’s executive officer. “Impossible!” “Fire everything we’ve got at that ship,” yelled Admiral Harigata, getting back to his feet after being knocked down by the impact of the enemy vessel’s main cannon. “Full speed ahead!” The enemy Slaakanesh fired— -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Victory at Antares! Victory at Antares!” rang throughout the Red Star Citadel. Soldiers cheered at the news of the victory, but the news that would come next would silence the cheers. “Our forces in Antares have emerged victorious,” said the voice of General Nathan Rakuseki. The general took a deep breath. “Unfortunately, Admiral Trevor Harigata and the battleship Rings of Saturn were lost to enemy action.” Gasps rang throughout the military complex. The Rings of Saturn was one of the Bastion-class battleships, the oldest NDI naval vessel and the first capital ship ever lost to enemy action. It was hit to troop morale, but soon after Rakuseki’s announcement, cries of “Remember Antares!” began to ring throughout the fleet. Admiral Harigata’s sacrifice would not be forgotten. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Jaaq’tah Alliance’s massive counterstrike was a mixed success. The battles of Antares, Guardias, Stellaz, and Ayenee were massive Draconian Alliance victories, with Jaaq’tah forces being thoroughly routed by Human, Altaran, and Vaishan naval forces. However, Vox and Ferias were not as fortunate. Jaaq’tah forces had struck there the hardest with its mighty Diamond Fleet, systematically dismantling the 111th, 185th, and 450th Draconian Navies with a massive assault. Vox Prime was now a smoldering sphere of glass, as was Ferias. Billions of Hushain civilians perished in the battle, and it would surely not be the last. The Diamond Fleet was moving on, setting their sights on Eridanus Scorpius, which was home to some of the Altaran’s largest shipyards. Draconian Alliance Supreme Commander Radiel Falco assembled a massive naval contingent to take the battle to the Diamond Fleet before they destroyed the Altaran’s ability to replenish its lost vessels. Meanwhile, the NDI and Vaishan would move to shore up defenses in their perceived weak spots. It was only a matter of time before the Jaaq’tah launched another assault. [Silvershot] Gathering in the Shadows (2/1/04 17:25) Location: Alternate Dimension N.E.R.G. Spatial Territory <> Geminasu crawled through the shafts of the ship stopping to look down through the grates to see what he could spot. He had been moving about for several hours now, his coat was covered in dust from the uncleaned air ducts. Looking down through the latest one he spotted a familiar sight. It was Zeph’s ship, the Silvershot! Luck seemed to be on his side for once. He pulled at the grating and carefully removed the grate so not to alert anyone to his presence, he had been graced to the fact the ventilation shafts weren’t designed to alert when someone was climbing through them. Carefully he peered his head slowly out of the hole looking around. The command station seemed to be empty. ~Must be the night shift I guess~ he thought to himself quietly. The lights had been dimmed as well, a few guards pacing about the exterior and the others smaller ships in the bay. ~Much bigger than the GSA’s cargo bays, I see. ~ The entrance tube to the Silvershot was open on the roof; luck once smiled again on Gem. He slipped himself quietly through the vent and dropped a short distance to Silvershot, not before jamming the side of the shaft with a sturdy surgical tool, and some surgical strings he had acquired during his escape. Leaving a small and thin trail of string for him to use to get back to the vents with. He landed upon the roof with a light thud, and slipped down into the ship. Now he had to quickly find the cargo bay of the Silvershot. He almost quiet literally flew down the halls running in a complete circular pattern from the floor to the walls, to the ceiling to walls and floor again. He made it to the entrance of the bay but the door was open? He walked and quietly not making a sound and saw a figure of someone in the corner area fiddling with another figure. He slipped upon the figure quietly and held a surgical cutting tool to the persons throat, and he quietly spoke not looking down to see who it was, “Don’t move. Who and what are you doing, explain now.” He whispered. The figure froze and shivered and shook, scared stiff. “Please don’t hurt me!” the figure cried out. Geminasu recognized the voice and the Elysian accent, lowering his knife he quickly apologized. “Sorry about that Arch. I mistook you for the enemy, its me Tobias.” He said feeling like a total idiot. Arch turned about and looked at Gem and focused a mini-flashlight on upwards to shed a little bit of light about. “You scared the living daylights out of me!” Arch said in a rather annoyed tone. Arch looked back at the figure he had been working on. “This is the mobile unit that I remember Zeph had let the ship’s AI system download into before all this mess. I’ve been working past the barriers that appear to have been hacked into its systems. I was almost finished, until you just showed up. What happened? And where are we?” he asked. Geminasu eyes closed as he answered as if he was deep in thought, “We’re… we’re home, at least my home dimension. I don’t think you know, not many do, Zeph, Trouble, and myself come from this dimension we’re in. The ones who captured us here are called the N.E.R.G. They are the ones who experimented on us when we a bit younger. We escaped, and many weren’t so lucky.” Geminasu’s eyes opened full of anger and hatred as he continued, “They take what they want by force, and don’t care about anyone who stands in the way, if it’s their own. They captured my home colony and annihilated the rest. By now they must surely have control of the entire almost every colony and race that exists here. I’ve never seen the main fleets because I escaped before they finished whatever they had planned for me.” Arch looked at Geminasu feeling a bit sorry and annoyed at the NERG. “I think I may have a solution for our escape.” Arch said to Gem, “Once I get the Silvershot’s AI system back up, I’ll hack our way through their systems and use a similar way they got us here, to get us out. Don’t worry I can handle technology easily.” Geminasu grinned, “Great. I’ll try and rescue the others. I just better get myself suited up though. I doubt surgical tools will get me anywhere, unless I want to operate on a few guards.” Geminasu said snickering. Geminasu put on his shinobi suit, his boots and put his jacket over himself, stocking it with all his gear he could possibly use, since the katana he had on him when he was taken was gone, he picked out two smaller blades. He held the two blades, they were both were kodachi, and he had named each one of his swords, these two were Haru and Haku. He knew that if he was going to stand a chance here he needed to use his most trusted blades. Slipping them into hidden slots in his jacket. Taking his headband from a crate he lifted to his head tying it and pulling his bangs over it. He looked over to Arch, “I’m ready now, I guess I’ll see you when you when I get back,” he said nonchalantly. “Now wait just a second, take this and put it behind your ear.” Arch said handing a small device to Geminasu, “It’s a small com-radio. It’s used to keep in contact. It’s run at a low radio frequency and will sound into your eardrum so only you can hear it. It will pick up your voice, I programmed it to only pickup your voice so we can keep in contact while your hunting out the others.” “Thanks, I contact you when I have the others, give me a progress report when you found anything.” Gem said to Arch, Geminasu dashed out the door and back to the entrance where he came from. He grabbed the string and took a running start jumped, twirling himself upwards he feet just touched the ceiling and that’s all he needed as he seemingly stuck to the ceiling grabbing the entrance to the ventilation shaft and he grasped the edges let himself dangle for a moment and pulled himself into the shaft. “Now where to start…” he said to himself as he removed the surgical tool and string from the side of the shaft and put the grating back on. He bound the tool tightly to the grating so it wouldn’t fall and alert anyone to his presence. And he crawled through, unaware that what had happened to the others so far. To Be Continued… Edited by: Tobias Geminasu at: 2/1/04 17:42 Act IV, Scene 13: The Alliance's Fury (1/16/04 12:18) Somewhere in the galactic north... 1st Sword of Heaven Fleet, 1st Naval Task Force, 1st Strike Naval Battle Group: 1 Alpha-Hotel-class Battleship (N.S.S. Newport City) 4 Sierra-Romeo-class Strike Destroyers (N.S.S. Saracen, Banshee, Athena, Apollyon) 8 Nova-Fox Corvettes (N.S.S. Star Wolf, Shito, Broadsword III, Hunter V, Silver Fox, Dauntless, Royale, Brawler) The thirteen-ship naval battle group moved through space at half light speed in standard formation, with the capital ship, the newly-commissioned Newport City, in the center of the formation surrounded by twelve of the most highly-advanced escort vessels ever constructed. They were part of the NDI's ultra-elite Sword of Heaven fleets, the personal military command of the commander-in-chief himself. The mighty battleship, the Newport City, was relatively small when compared to the other capital vessels of the Draconian League Alliance, measuring roughly five kilometers in length, but possessing enough comparitive firepower to make it the future of the Alliance's ever-increasing capital ship fleet. In truth, the Alpha-Hotel class possessed more destructive fighting power than every other ship classification in the fleet of the DLAAF. Wieldeding dual quantum detonators and bristling with beam weapons, it was the most awe-inspiring sight to behold in battle the galaxy had ever seen. Four smaller vessels, the Sierra-Romeo class destroyers were fast, stealth-strike vessels with enough power to lay to waste to the capital vessels of other fleets. The eight small Nova-Fox corvettes were a more true escort vessel for the battleship, though they could be relied upon to defeat virtually any foe they would come up against. And so a battle group was constructed with the equivalent firepower of a standard NDI naval task force but with the numbers of a standard naval squadron. While the cost wasn't exactly pleasing to the governments of the DLAAF, they could expected to get results no other ship formation the DLAAF had at its disposal. The quintessent differentialometer sensors of the lead destroyer, the Saracen, had picked up multiple contacts within a massive 3 AU sphere, comprising of some 250,000 naval vessels. Further sensor probes had quickly identified the orgin of these vessels -- they belonged to the Jaaq'tah Alliance's Grand Sapphire Fleet. The pecuilar runic markings of the Jaaq'tah had been retreived using hyperwave radar and relayed to the battle group's integrated battle network. "This is Admiral Emmanuel Kincaid, we have stumbled upon a massive armada of Jaaq'tah military vessels -- Sapphire Fleet," transmitted the voice of the battle group's commander. "Permission to engage?" Seconds later, a simple text action message was sent to the Newport City from the Central Command Authority: "Fire at will. Two battle groups are within striking distance to assist you if you request." Admiral Kincaid let a smile creep across his face. "Squadron One - Saracen, Banshee, Silver Fox, Hunter V, Dauntless, Brawler. Squadron Two - Athena, Apollyon, Star Wolf, Shito, Broadsword III, Royale. We'll serve as the third Squadron. Each squadron will take one third of the enemy ship formation. I want total coverage; we'll saturate the area with enough firepower simultaneously so they don't have any time to react. Hop to it!" The two squadrons peeled off from the capital ship, activating their hyperpulse drives to move to their designated areas at a much faster clip than they could using their primary sub-light drives. Within a few seconds, the battle group had positioned themselves to the right, left, and slightly above of the Sapphire Fleet, slowly raising their power levels as their weapons systems went online. Their stealth fields masked the rising EMS levels so that Jaaq'tah sensors could not readily pick them out of space's background radiation before they launched their attack. "Both quantum detonator emitters are fully charged, Admiral," replied the weapons systems officer. A few seconds later. "Squadrons One and Two are ready." "Fire." A split second after the admiral's command, an area 418,500,000 miles in diameter was completely engulfed in a destructive wave of energy that simply vaporized anything and everything in its area of effect. The energy potentials of comparitively small areas had been released by the six quantum detonators in the battle group, but the resultant energy releases were total -- creating a destructive explosion of a yield so utterly mind boggling that the closest thing one could compare it to would be a supernova's detonation. The destructive yield was roughly one million billion trillion gigatons according to the most conservative estimates of the DEIMOS AI construct onboard the Newport City. Never before had this much destructive firepower been released in the entire history of war. ".....my........god........" said an officer on the bridge, nearly blinded by the brilliant light of the explosion. The neighboring star systems would see the light of the explosion brighter than their own stars for the next few days. "Let's get the hell out of here," said Admiral Kincaid. A large wormhole opened up before each vessel and they entered, dissapearing from this point in space. Darkness of the Past: What Awaits Us? (2/3/04 17:48) Location: Alternate Dimension N.E.R.G. Spatial Territory <> While Geminasu had been meeting with Arch, Trouble had been transferred to a specially designed area for holding combat testing and extreme prisoner confinement. The walls were lined with admantium, triple re-enforced titanium, meant to contain some of the toughest creatures that existed in this universe. Elizo entered the room through a heavily armored door; he walked to the unconscious Trouble and ran his hand through her pink hair. “A fine specimen indeed, to bad she has to be bait for our troublemaker,” Elizo said quietly turning to Vace who stood not so far behind him smiling menacingly, “Wouldn’t you agree Lieutenant?” Vace frowned slightly, he didn’t want to have any trouble with his superior officer but he really didn’t like the way he treated the young woman. He changed the subject rather quickly, “Sir, what about unit EF-134?” he asked hastily, “Where would orders have him placed?” Elizo smiled, it seemed that the Lieutenant didn’t approve of his methods, not that it mattered to him, and Vace was a mere soldier that could be sacrificed to get the job done. “Have him placed in the room before this one. The only way for our troublemaker to get to this room will be to fight his friend to the death.” Elizo said smiling evilly, “I want him assigned to guard the entrance to this room with his life.” They walked out of the room and the door slid shut and locked tightly leaving Trouble in complete darkness. Vace walked up to Zeph, who stood completely still as if almost a statue. “EF-134, you are to protect the entrance with your life,” he said looking at Zeph rifle, its seemed familiar to him for some reason, he couldn’t place where though, “Do you understand?” The statue-like Zeph merely nodded his soulless eyes seemed to pierce Vace in a way that actually struck Vace with feeling of fear. Vace felt like he knew Zeph from somewhere, but it wasn’t clear to him. Elizo noticed this and snarled to himself, it seemed the conditioning that Vace had undergone when he was younger was starting to weaken. This wouldn’t do at all, “Lieutenant, you will guard the room before this one with your life as well, do you understand?” Vace nodded slightly, he had been handed a death sentence, even after all his years of loyal service. ~I am a mere soldier fighting for the glory of the N.E.R.G. after all. ~ He thought. Sullen he accompanied Elizo to the next room as the door slammed shut. Elizo walked past Vace as several more men walked in giving Vace a full battle set of weapons to use. Vace put them on and sat down on the floor and closed his eyes concentrating for whatever came later on. Elizo left Vace in that room smiling evilly; as the door closed tightly behind him he stepped into the hall, and spoke to the head guard, “I want four Stealth units assigned here and I want them prepared in the need of a kamikaze assault.” Elizo said, he was leaving nothing to chance, he knew how dangerous their escapee was and wasn’t about to take any chances, for when he had put his hand through Trouble’s hair he put a remote teleporter in her hair incase Geminasu actually made it that far. He would teleport her to his side and corner Geminasu completely. It was a trap to end all traps. To Be Continued..... Edited by: Tobias Geminasu at: 2/3/04 18:09 [Kiros] Choices (2/3/04 21:55) Eggheads, Lab-coats, and all sorts of other generally smart people were sitting down in the large Auditorium. The entire place looked like something you would see at an embassy or other fancy place that was well decorated and filled with lots of important people. The stage was in the center of the three story tall room with balconies overlooking the entire area and one elegant chandelier hanging from the white marble dome roof. This part of the scientific conference was focusing on the latest shipbuilding and design techniques with all of the attention focused on corporate design team heads giving summaries of their latest projects. “By using a new, more powerful ionization grid to pull partials through our new Ion dives will have the best performance out of…” By now James had stopped paying attention to the man on stage and took a small sip from a flask he was carrying in his back pocket as he leaned back in his chair. No one was bothering to pay attention to him after all he was just some passer-by in a black tank top and jeans with shaggy brown hair, what could be possibly know that was more important that new high performance ion drives? James put his hands back in his pockets and walked off. ~These people are years behind…~ He thought to himself as the gathering of eggheads started to loose his interest. Right now he just wanted to get away from all of this and start wandering again, ~Wonder if any ships need a Mechanic? ~ He thought to himself as he rummaged around in his pants pocket before pulling out his data pad and started to poke around on this planet computer systems for a ship that would suit his needs. “Heh I bet ‘Is the job still available?’ doesn’t work around here…” he was thinking out loud again as he started to put together what he would say if he could even find a ship. The hallways were empty for the most part as all the people were either in their rooms sleeping, waiting for the next part of the conference, or actually in the conference. James enjoyed how quite the whole place was and just continued to walk down the white hallways aimlessly with the only sound being that if his ever-echoing footsteps. His mind wandered and soon he felt something slick on his hand, Realizing what he was doing he pulled it away from his arm. Blood was covering his fingertips and rolling down from his arm where he had absentmindedly injured himself, opening up old wounds was a bad habit of his, ~damnit, I need to find a bandage…~ He thought to himself as he covered the wound with his hand and hurried off towards his hotel. Sora Della Cielo’s footsteps could be heard from miles away she was sure. The pearl white high heels on her feet were the source. The tiny sticks that lifted her feet into a tip-toe stance were the very source of the noise. She knew good and well where she was. She was in the middle of an space engineers conference full of nothing but testosterone. Everyone knew men loved ships. Good thing there weren’t many men in this corridor. Her gender along with her loud steps would bring all of the attention straight to her. Unfortunately she would eventually have to encounter a pack of hunters for the person she was looking for was a hunter in the manner of the speaking. James Wazu was his name. Ship building was his game. Her mission, as an advocate of Lox Enterprises, one of the last international corporate trusts of Dracomega, was to work with Lox’s people to create a small fleet of ships for them to experiment on. Sora already knew that these weren’t going to be just any ships. It seemed safe to assume that these ships were going to be that of the living ships, products of Genetic Architecture. However, she could not fathom why this job had to be kept a secret or why she was asked to go and represent Lox. She knew exactly who. Her uncle Tamil Dial, the CEO himself. Oh well you take what you can get. The hall seemed endless until she saw a figure in the distance. She couldn’t make out the details but she was sure this person could lead her to James Wazu. Once she got closer the unkempt hair gave her a gut feeling that this was the Ship Builder himself. She pulled her data pad out of her pearl white trench coat and brought his picture on screen. The picture wasn’t that greatly detailed. All she could make out was a multitude of bandages, which the man in front of her had, and the shaggy had, which the man in front of her also had. Sora felt somewhat lucky in this situation, for she had been ordered to find a roughneck in a convention that was probably full of formal scientists. She approached and smiled gracefully. “James Wazu?” She wanted to make sure she was right before she introduced herself. ~Another pretty face and another hallway…~ James was suddenly having a bad case of déjà vu. He sighed a bit and then looked over at the girl “That would be me?” He said, being a bit confused. He had never met this girl before yet she knew his name which of course ment that someone had been doing their homework on him to some extent. James had generally tried to keep his information to himself but it was bound to get around sooner or later. ~On a information network as huge as the one on this planet someone could pick up his digital footprints easy enough if they tried I guess,~ He thought to himself as he started to wonder just what she knew about him… A sudden pain brought his attention back to the wound in his right arm, just under the shoulder, where his left hand rested to cover the hole he had dug himself. It started to apply pressure to help his blood clot up around the injury. Although his left arm was now draped across his chest his right one was free if he needed it. The temptation to drowned out that little voice in his head with the little flask in his back pocket was certainly there. However something in his mind something was screaming for him to run, that this was wrong and that he should get out of there as fast as he could to someplace safe where he could be alone. . He sighed again and smiled towards the girl, “What can I do for you?” Ultimately he was helpless against a pretty girl. Sora tilted her head and stared at the blood that ran down the arm of the ship builder, and began to question Lox’s judgement. In what specific field of ship building did this man excel in? If it was the labour itself then maybe her uncle should’ve done more homework. Although his arm was wounded his face showed strength in her presence. Could he have not felt the pain? Or was he putting on a façade? Her best guess was façade. No mind. Interrogation was not her mission. She kept her eyes on the scruffy man as she opened the right side of her pearl white trench coat and reached deep into a hidden pocket. Her left hand buried itself inside the coat. “Have you ever heard of Lox Enterprises, James?” Her right hand reappeared with a silverish metallic card with a golden “L” in the middle. On the top right corner lay the official Lox symbol. The other side was engraved with her name, address, and contact numbers and network names. “I’ve heard that name mentioned a few times but I’m afraid that I’m still a bit new to this place…” James said. “I’m afraid that I also haven’t heard your name Ms…” He left the last part of that open for her to fill in her name as his eyes looked down at her right hand for a moment to observe the “L” not really knowing what it was. The injury in his arm had started to heal again, at least it wasn’t bleeding anymore. He still kept his hand over the injury though as it healed. That little voice in his head was started to die down a bit more. He didn’t feel like he was in danger being around this girl but the voice wouldn’t let him think that way. There was always the thought that someone was out to get him and he just had to keep it in the back of his mind although the urge to take a drink was getting stronger. Ah... Forgive my lack of maners." The young woman said as her hair bounced while she chuckled. "My name is Sora Della Cielo of Evaton, Niven. Neice of the CEO of the corporation you see on this card here, Lox. Lox Enterprises is more than just your normal business firm. Lox is a multinational corporation making its mark on Real Estate, Law Practice, Private Armies, Millitary Training and Weapons Prividing, Research, Education, and Ship Design & Manufacturing. The last industrial niche is where we need you, James Wazu. We hear that you are one of Dracomega's greatest new shipbuilders to come into the scene. Let me ask you, James, which specific feild do you excel in? Engineering and design, or the building itself? Either way Lox has a great deal for you." He chuckled with her slightly, “Its ok, I’m used that kind of thing Ms,” he said in reguard to her apologizing about her lack of manners. He cleared his throat with a slight cough before continuing, “I excel in design, testing and preliminary manufacturing of all sorts of ships and machines as well as the research, development and deployment of new technologies… So what is this deal then Ms. Sora?” He asked. ~that’s probably going to leave a scar…~ He thought to himself as he continued to hold his arm. He removed his hand from the wound and brought it down to his side. The ripped off area of flesh was visibly scabbed over and his hand did have a lot of blood on it. He simply brought his left hand behind his back slightly, It would be impolite to just wipe the blood off on his pants so he would wait till he could do something else. A few hours later James had returned to his hotel after the conference being held in the hotel and the meeting with the Lox @#%$. There wasn’t much that he could learn from these people but over the past few months in this place he had picked up a bunch of their design styles and habits. Proof of that lay scattered about the room in the form of random drawings and schematics lying about on his bed and desk next to a flask of some sort of drink and a medical kit that was resting on the foot of his bed. He picked up the small box and walked into the small bathroom. He opened the box and pulled out several bandages before applying them to his bleeding back and arm. He had cut himself again without realizing it once more and the scars were building up on his body. “You know, this stuff tastes terrible…” a women’s voice said as Wazu exited the bathroom, wearing a long sleeve shirt that covered the majority of his self inflicted injuries. The woman was none other than, “Uso? What are you doing here?” James asked in a slightly annoyed voice as he tossed the small med kit back down on the foot of the bed. “Aww, no ‘I’ve missed you’ or ‘How have you been doing?’ that really hurts you know,” she said with a smile as she took another drink out of Wazu’s flask, “ick, I why do you like this stuff anyways?” She put the flask back down on the desk and capped it. “Why are you here?” He asked flatly. “That’s no way to treat a lady…” Uso said as she sat up in the bed, with her legs crossed and her back against the wall in her, now common, tank top and baggy cammo pants. “I’m just hear to offer you a job, QIS knows about the Kirushi’s now and they want one of their own.” “And who sent you then? The Ketsurgi’s? I’m sure they finally got their claws into QIS after I left…” James said “Not quite,” Uso said with a smirk, she loved this part of her job, “The AI’s want you to. You remember Seigi and Genesis don’t you? They still refer to you as their father you know…” “Why should I care about them… My children hate me just like everyone else.” “Remember when I asked you why you did what you did?” “ya?” Uso rolled out of the bed and walked closer to James, putting one of her hands on his shoulder, “The Qel’nornas need you to save their world too… Ralfaris would have been destroyed a few days ago had it not been for your ‘move the planet’ idea.” “Not my problem…” James said as he took her hand in his and slid it off his shoulder, “I don’t work for them anymore.” “So you’d just leave the twins to die?” Uso asked, referring to the AI’s. “I told you I’m not involved in that anymore.” “Wazu!” Uso said as she put her hands on her hips, “Your not going to lift a finger to help your own children?” “…” “Come on Wazu… It’ll be just like old times, Just we’ll be on the same side this time around.” “…” Wazu turned his back on her and took a few steps toward the door. Uso stopped him by putting her hand on his shoulder once again, “What if I told you that I needed you this time around?” “Like I am going to believe you?” He said, turning around to face her, “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t kill you after what you did!” “The same reason that you didn‘t shoot me back then and the same reason your not going to shoot me now.” Wazu hug his head slightly “So your coming along then?” she asked. Wazu sighed, “I guess I am…” He said as he moved to gather his things, “Did you bring a ship?” “No, I just appeared here magically,” Uso said, heavy with sarcasm. Wazu continued to move about the room, picking up papers and shoving them into a bag. “So this is what you’ve been up to then?” Uso asked as she picked up one of the papers. A few minutes later a old cloaked Kireu class ship took off from the rooftop of the old hotel building and headed out into open space where it made a series of jumps back to Ralfaris. GSA no Shoi, Uso Tasuki Head Cook, GSS Seigi (GB-07) Darkness of The Past: The Calm Before The Storm (2/26/04 21:10) Location: Alternate Dimension N.E.R.G. Spatial Territory <> Geminasu had been crawling through the ventilation shafts when a transmission came in from Arch. “Gem… Gem! Come in!” Arch’s voice poured into Gem ear like a flood through a small river. Gem shuddered, “Not so loud you know, you almost blew my eardrums out,” he whispered. “Sorry, I got MOCH running and we in turn, hacked into the ship’s database and they haven’t noticed yet. I read that they are holding Trouble and Zeph several decks above you. It could be trap…” Arch said when Gem cut him off, “Of course it would be, but I have not choice, I’ve got to go.” Gem finished. Arch let out a small sigh, “Alright, be careful. I’ll back you up as much as possible from here.” “Directions?” Geminasu asked quickly. “Getting to that, lets see… Take the shaft to your left and turn into the up shaft that will be in front of you. That’s the main shaft. Go up fifty levels and take the shaft in the similar direction you came from. You can drop from the fifth grating over. That’s a bathroom shaft, leave there and go to the right. It’s a heavily guarded area with several mechanically locked doors. When you get their let me know, I’ll unlock them.” He explained. “Got it,” Gem said as he started on his way making the turn and neared the main shaft. He spent some time climbing upwards until reached the correct shaft. He crawled through and looked down through the grating in the bathroom, two guards phased into view. ~Stealth troopers! Geez, they’re holding out no stops for trying to get me are they? ~ He thought quietly. Both the guards took nearby stalls close to the vent. They were making it too easy, as Gem reached for the left over surgical string. He formed a noose, it was thin enough not be seen. He lowered it to the guard right below him, cautious not to alert the guard in the next stall over. “So Bob this shift sucks don’t it,” the guard in the next stall said, “I really don’t think the target will show up.” Bob was making grunting noises as his pants had been lowered to the ground. “Ugh, that’s the last time I eat the three bean surprise for lunch again Frank.” Bob said straining, unaware that the noose was lowering around him. “I told you this would happen, the other two back on the guard position by the doors were smart enough not too eat that stuff.” Frank said to Bob. The noose slipped around Bob’s neck and Gem pulled tightly strangulating Bob, which Bob started making loud grunting noises and started shifting around struggling. “Geez, Bob flush it or something. God, just ridiculous.” Frank said unwarily thinking that Bob was having some difficulty doing his business. Bob choked slowly and went quiet as Gem removed the grating and quietly slid down into hung on the ceiling clinging carefully he progressed over Franks stall and dropped his foot directly into Frank’s neck bone and severed Franks spinal column. He didn’t like having to kill guards left and right but he had to remain unseen for now. Now all he had to do was take care of the two remaining, he slipped out the door and climbed up the side of the wall quietly and crawled over the doorway. There were to blurs that seemed barely visible. He quickly came down on each killing them silently. He stood aside the door, and spoke to Arch, “I’m in position, open the door.” “Roger,” Arch replied in Gem’s ear, as the door clicked and slid open. Geminasu quickly formed several kanji’s and a shadow crept from his feet and suddenly flooded the interior room. “Don’t worry guys, I’m coming…” To Be Continued… GSA Sergeant Tobias Geminasu Security Sentry, Silvershot Edited by: Tobias Geminasu at: 2/27/04 9:38 Darkness of the Past: Of Friends and Foes (2/27/04 20:51) Location: Alternate Dimension N.E.R.G. Spatial Territory <> The door clicked open, and Vace spun around facing the doorway guns fully drawn. A pitch-black mist seemed to rise from the floor. ~Not good, he’s here! ~ Vace thought somewhat panic stricken, he held his gun firm, and was ready for the fight. Geminasu flew in the room as a blur so fast Vace started to fire but Geminasu threw a kunai directly into the gun’s barrel jamming it shut as the shot exploded and Vace’s gun blew up in his hands and knocked him backwards slightly. Geminasu appeared directly in front of Vace with such speed Vace was completely thrown off as Geminasu hit him in the left side of the head with a powerful roundhouse kick causing Vace to spin and land face first on the ground. Vace did his best to try to tuck and roll away from Geminasu, but Geminasu was too fast, realizing this he pulled a short dagger from a clip on his belt and tried swing upwards toward Geminasu but it was too little too late as Geminasu’s foot stomped down on Vace’s wrist, right into the steel flooring. Geminasu quickly grabbed Vace by the collar of his suit and picked him and threw him over his shoulder. Vace flew far and slammed backside first into the wall and landed on his head, knocking him out cold. Geminasu looked calmly at Vace, too easy, this one had been alone though, it made no sense to station one person alone unless it was a death sentence. Geminasu didn’t see any need to kill this one; he was out cold like a light anyway. Arch’s voice ringed in Gem’s ear, “Gem? Gem? You okay over there?” “I’m fine, open the next door,” Geminasu said to Arch, as the door clicked and slowly opened and Geminasu took a look in. Zeph was standing there calmly. Had Zeph made this far and been trapped? Geminasu walked into the room, a smug smile spread across his face, “You son of gun, you beat me here to it.” Zeph made no reply and watched Gem walk to the next door and starting speaking to Arch, “Hey open the next door too Zeph’s already cleared it…” he stopped as there was a faint sound of static, as if the transmission was being dampened. Geminasu heard the clicking of Zeph’s rifle behind him; his premonition sense went off like a bat out of hell. Geminasu realized he just walked into a very bad situation. “Prepare to die…” Zeph said in a very dark yet monotone voice… To be continued… GSA Sergeant Tobias Geminasu Security Sentry, Silvershot Edited by: Tobias Geminasu at: 2/27/04 20:52 Darkness of the Past: Geminasu Vs Zeph Part 1 (3/2/04 21:24) Location: Alternate Dimension N.E.R.G. Spatial Territory <> Geminasu heard the clicking of Zeph’s rifle behind him; his premonition sense went off like a bat out of hell. Geminasu realized he just walked into a very bad situation. “Prepare to die Tobias,” Zeph said in a dark yet monotone voice. Tobias slowed his breathing and stood very still, “Don’t do this Zeph, I don’t want to have to hurt you.” “Enough talk,” Zeph sneered, “now die!” He fired a shot directly towards Tobias, but Geminasu took one step, turning sideways and the shot slammed into the doorway, a look of pure frustration and anger seemed to radiate from his face. His eyes glanced at Zeph; he then noticed a patch on Zeph’s forehead hidden cleverly by Zeph’s hair. “You remember my name, do you remember our promise?” Geminasu said to Zeph hoping maybe that he’d break free of the mind control. Zeph’s eyebrow twitched, “Shut up and die!” he yelled as he angrily fired several rounds at Geminasu. Geminasu moved out of the way in a complete blur, each shot just narrowly missing. “You’re getting sloppy,” he was behind Zeph’s back, “the Zeph Steele I remember has much better aim than you do.” A blood vessel bulged in Zeph’s forehead, and a blade flicked out underneath Zeph’s rifle. And Zeph spun around swinging at Geminasu, but merely stepped backwards dodging the attack as Zeph opened fire and Tobias ran from the shots that hailed right behind him. Upside the wall he ran, he hands quickly reached into holster and drew several shuriken in-between his fingers. Zeph drew a pistol with his right hand and fired shots along the path Geminasu was running, but Tobias threw a shuriken into each shot causing the shot to fall far short of its target. ~I got him now, now for a good clean kick to the head. ~ Geminasu thought, as he leapt from the wall towards Zeph. Zeph smiled and raise his rifles blade to defend at the last second and Geminasu quickly pulled his foot out of the way barely avoiding losing his leg, but as such a close range Zeph smacked Tobias with the side of his pistol, and Geminasu reeled backwards from the hit. Zeph finger tapped his skull twice, smiling evilly. ~Shit I forgot! He can read thoughts. ~ Thought Tobias. Zeph wasted no time and began firing rounds at Geminasu again as Tobias quickly moved to handspring backwards. He had no choice but to actually draw his weapons and take Zeph down. To Be Continued… GSA Sergeant Tobias Geminasu Security Sentry, Silvershot