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Post by dragonclaw15 on Oct 10, 2004 17:39:36 GMT -5
An alarm sounded through an abandoned room, occupied by nothing but banks of monitors, computers, and several chairs. The soft lighting above turned dark red as a female voice intoned "Stand by for launch."
The room rumbled for a moment. "Prepare to disengage camo."
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Meanwhile, Jenn was a few kilometers from the cap end of the colony and closing on the end fast. She looked for her target for a few seconds before she spotted it: An innocent-looking box projecting from the colony wall a few meters from the very end.
She saw the corners of the box glow orange a split second after Argus declared "Contact with target established."
The corners of the box glowed orange again as Jenn spotted white hot-particles of metal and sealant rip away from the seams of the box. With a final glow, the seams of the box detonated and the walls whirled away as a dark shape rose from the colony. Jenn veered aside, dodging one of the walls. Behind her, a pursuing Daughtress caught one of the edges of a wall with its torso and exploded, throwing debris in all directions.
Argus's voice cut in: "Docking signal acquired. Standby."
The dark shape ahead pivoted in space, several beam shots slamming into an energy shield ineffectually. The shape's rear lit up with engine flares, moving it away from Antilla. The Talos caught up easily, matching speed with the shape and then flying up into its belly. A split-second later, The Xiphos blew into the docking bay and the hatch closed.
The ship rumbled around them as the Talos began shutting down.
"Talos docked," said Argus. "Xiphos docked. Scylla initiating escape jump. Calculating coordinates...done. Prepare for jump."
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As a barrage of missiles and beam cannon shots closed the intervening space between the pursuing security force and the black shape already accelerating out of colony space, a warp wave hit the weapons fire. Missiles detonated, autocannon shells vaporized, and beam shots dissipated as the warp wave passed and the shape jumped into the warp.
------------------------ Drake Canon raised a wineglass to a monitor showing the ship escaping into the warp. He took a sip and smiled. "We'll meet again, Jenn," he said quietly.
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Post by Mega Raptor on Oct 10, 2004 17:44:53 GMT -5
Dulkor stretched after docking the Xiphos, unlatching the safety restraints and opening the hatch, climbing down into the hangar and taking a quick look around.
"So... this is the real ship. Nice," he thought out loud.
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Post by Pkmatrix on Apr 19, 2005 11:11:40 GMT -5
OOC: Wow, it's been about six months since the last post in here! How did THAT happen? I really don't want this one to die...I like the idea here. So, without further ado...
IC:
"Wha...?" gasps Lynea, her eyes glancing towards Paul's face. Matrix's eyes are squeezed tightly shut, and his is face covered in shiny beads of sweat.
"Matrix..." she thinks aloud, her voice seemingly calming him. Slowly, he opens his eyes and looks at her, his vision blurred.
"Lynea..." he whispers, then closes his eyes again. Suddenly, the expression on his face changes, a frightening smirk crossing his face. He quickly sits up, then opens his eyes and looks at Lynea with a sadistic glare.
"Ly-Ne-Ah..." he says, his voice sounding very different from before. Lynea stands dumbfounded, watching with a sort of detachment as Paul fumbles his way to his feet on the opposite side of the bed. He stands, staring at her with the same maniacal grin, his arms and neck hanging limply, as if suffering from a sudden bout of paralysis.
Lynea...Talera...Antira...Renee...Risia...Megumi...Lynea...
As Matrix begins to stumble his way around the bed towards her, it finally sinks into Lynea's head that something is wrong. VERY wrong. She takes a few steps back, but ends up bumping into her infirmary bed as the apparently deranged man makes his way closer.
"Ly-Ne-Ah," says Paul in a deranged squeal. Suddenly he stops, his head flipping downwards, but his eyes still on her. He begins to laugh...a deep laugh that can only be either evil or insane. Lynea begins to crawl backwards over the bed, unable to avert her eyes away from him.
"Lynea, my dear," he mutters, in a deep and unnatural voice, "We must all die."
Paul suddenly leaps back into consciousness, his body lacquered with sweat. He breathes fast and heavy for those few moments it takes him to realize that he's out of the dream world, his eyes not moving away from the same dark corner they fixated on the moment he awoke. Isn't it strange how, for these few moments, you seem to be completely aware of everything and nothing at the same time? Paul blinks a few times, and his mind reenters reality.
Another dream� Paul wipes some sweat from his sticky forehead and rolls over, facing his digital clock. 0422. He sighs, before whispering out loud:
"I need a drink."
Groggily, the young man drags himself out of bed, puts on something dry, and unlocks his quarter's door. The dim light in the corridor is a bit of a shock to his eyes, but Paul quickly gets over it. By the time he reaches the kitchen, his eyes have readjusted. The cool water feels incredibly good as it goes down his hot throat.
I don't understand these dreams at all. Paul takes a seat at the table, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he takes another sip of water. Or, why they started so suddenly. One of these, I could understand, but constantly...week after week...these strange dreams with Aegis and the Kalarian and some woman named Lynea. And then there's those people I don't even know...
He sighs and tries to drown the thoughts with his water. Obviously, it doesn't work well. I told Aaron about this, but he didn't get it either...he thought it was stress. I haven't told him that the dreams kept on for another eight months after that. Maybe I should...
Eight months...that's how long it's been since that fateful week this all started. It almost seems like a dream, a crazy nightmare that I can only vaguely remember. My colony destabilizing and getting blown up by the military, my chance discovery of the Talera and the others, the Starlight Massacre, the Antilla Riot...and them.
"Jennifer Kestrel and the Kalarian," Paul whispers, smiling a bit. It was surprisingly easy to find information on the infamous "Pirate Queen" and Captain of the Sirens. Easily, the best of the best. In retrospect, it's kind of an honor having had the barrel of her gun down his throat. Then again, she'd probably kill me if we ever ran into her again. Me having shot her and all...
Then, there's the Kalarian. A far more troubling situation, since he's been the focus of a number of his dreams over the past months. Took a while for him to find anything, considering Kalarians aren't exactly common in part of the galaxy. What he did find...wasn't really useful. Hard to find somebody when the only name you have is one you remember from a dream...although, considering what happened when I first saw the Kalarian, it wouldn't surprise me if "Dulkor" IS his name.
Unfortunately for him, the Talos, Jennifer Kestrel, and this "Dulkor" sort of disappeared after the Antilla Riot. It's possible that they got caught in the chaos and never made it out of there alive...although it's far more likely that they left the system and have been making trouble elsewhere. Either way, they aren't in the Sol System.
Aaron and Aegis think it's stupid that I'm spending so much time looking for them. It probably is. Then again, I'm not entirely sure WHY I'm even doing it. Maybe to apologize to the Kalarian for stealing his ship again? Maybe for some answers? I don't know. I really don't.
Finishing his drink, Paul tosses the cup in the sink. You know, if we ever do find him, he may kill us for doing such a major refit to the Talera. He chuckles to himself as he remembers the looks on the mechanics' faces when they came to start repair and refit work at Oceania Colony. They'd never seen anything like this before. I'm pretty impressed with their skills though, they managed to not only repair the ship but add some more human comforts to it, like the kitchen here.
It was shortly after leaving Oceania that the Talera started getting chased again, this time by bounty hunters. Apparently, someone flagged the Talera as a rebel smuggling ship and the Federation put a bounty on it. After fighting five hunters in a row, the crew decided to get out the Earthsphere and started a journey out of the Sol System. You know, this process would go a lot faster if we could figure out how to work the damn Warp Drive. We can turn the thing on, but we don't know how to direct it. Last time, we almost collided with an asteroid... Without Warp, they've been forced to go at it with the sub-light engines, which hasn't been all that bad considering its only taken about six and a half months to get all the way out here. Paul glances towards the porthole window, at the giant hovering lazily outside.
Saturn.
One of the least populated, and thus least regulated, areas of the Sol System and Federation space. The infamous "Wild West of Sol". There's approximately 102.5 Million people in the entire territory, scattered among the moons and space colonies. No telling how many of them are actually aliens, pirates, or smugglers, though...
At the moment, the Talera is en route to Corarnos Station, the orbital spaceport situated in geosynchronous orbit over the colony of Corarnos on Titan. If there's anywhere in the Solar System where we can find somebody who knows how our damn Warp Drive works, it's here.
Paul looks at the clock: 0504. "Not much longer now," he whispers, before leaving the kitchen and heading for the bridge.
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Post by Mega Raptor on Apr 19, 2005 16:32:10 GMT -5
Dulkor, meanwhile, was having a similar crisis of dreams and memory as he awoke in his 'quarters' on the Scylla. The room had originally been used for storage, both of loot and prisoners, but since there weren't many other places on board he could use, he'd made due.
His dream had been different, though. It focused mainly on two people, both women, both apparently human. One he had never seen in his life, and the other was somewhere on the ship.
How odd is that... he thought, pulling on his old flight suit, brought out of storage as he was now something of a combat pilot again. Even if it was for a pirate group, Why do I keep dreaming about those people? Some of them, I think I saw them on the ship, they tried to take it from me. Others I'd never seen before. Ever, I'm sure of it. And then this last one...
He shook his head, clearing his thoughts. His dreams of such matters usually weren't so... vivid. It was more like a fond memory than a dream, but he knew they couldn't be memories.
Maybe I'm just finally losing it he yawned and glanced at the clock he'd placed in the spartan cabin, 0450, eh? We should be docking at that colony soon. What did Jenn call it? Corarnos? Meh, I'll ask her later.
Properly dressed and mostly awake, Dulkor left his room and headed for the galley, seeking breakfast and something with caffiene.
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Post by Aegis on Apr 27, 2005 13:40:34 GMT -5
Onboard the Talera, Aegis was also having a crisis of his own, albeit one of a more physical nature: sleep deprivation. For the life of him, he could not recall the exact time the whole Antilla Incident had ended, nor did he recall how he ended up onboard the Talera with the other Matrixes, safe and sound in his room while Kara remained sound asleep somewhere in the infirmary, sedated and wired with machinery.
A slight hint of a smile appeared on his face, as the whole incident managed to bring some (mis)fortune on his part.
Looks like I finally found your little brother... my uncle... he thought. Everything you said he would be, though I imagined him to be a little taller. Pissed him off good... or maybe just annoyed him like any good relative would. Now, if only you were around to see it. Wouldn't you be proud, mother?
Tired from exhaustion, yet his body still unwilling to rest, he left his quarters and made his way through the corridors, hoping for a quick hike to loosen up, and perhaps finally get some rest.
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Post by dragonclaw15 on May 16, 2005 13:44:08 GMT -5
Pirate Vessel Scylla 120 klicks from Saturn Colony Corarnos 0455 Hours
Click...click...click
Jennifer Kestrel, a look of silent annoyance darkening her features, pressed down the button on her lighter again.
Click.
Nothing.
She tossed the small plastic item away. "Never liked those disposables," she said as she reached to her right for another object on her bedside table. She pulled the object open and inserted a smaller shape from one of the drawers of the bedside table into the first shape. She raised the entire dark mass to the unlit cigarette on her lips.
ClickBOOM
Jenn's face, for a fraction of a second, could be seen clearly in the light of the muzzle flash of a snub-nosed .38 revolver.
The pirate queen tossed the empty weapon aside and sat back on her bed, the only light in the room coming from both her smoldering coffin nail and the soft glow of the stars in the viewport. Jenn turned towards the window and stared at the stars for a moment as she took a long drag on the cigarette, her deep green eyes filled with thought.
That Kalarian...I don't know why I'm letting him stay. I told him I'd kick him off at Corarnos. This is an all-female crew, after all. But we are short on hands. And we could definitely use his hands, especially since he has a mobile suit.
Jenn took another long drag on the cigarette. Well...I was going to head to Terra after this. I haven't been there in quite a while. Maybe I can drop him off there. Well...I guess I'll just see how he handles himself here, and then I can decide if I want him to stay or not.
Jenn sat up in bed and pressed a panel on the wall. A small ashtray slid open near her head, and she put out the cigarette. She stood up, the ashtray silently retracting into the wall behind her.
Jenn looked down at her sleeping attire of a long t-shirt and some very short shorts. She lifted the shirt to the bottoms of her breasts and stroked the long, smooth scar on the side of her chest just between a pair of her ribs. "Paul Kenneth Matrix..." she mumbled, rolling the name over in her mouth. "I haven't forgotten."
"Captain." The urgent female voice shook Jenn from her thoughts.
"Yes, Circe?" responded Jenn. Circe was the ship's main AI, a learning construct that had been...obtained from one of the leading Artificial Intelligence labs in the galaxy. Jenn smiled. The military was still after her for that one.
"We are one hundred klicks from Corarnos, and docking clearance has been granted. We will arrive at Bay A6 in approximately thirty minutes at our current speed."
"Thank you, Circe." Jenn reached back and pulled her hair up, straightening it out as best as she could. "Going to have to brush that later," she reminded herself as she headed for the galley for breakfast.
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Post by Pkmatrix on May 20, 2005 8:49:46 GMT -5
OOC: Well...crap. I'm sorry for vanishing for a while...but, I'm back now! Sorry, again! IC: Click. Clickclackclick. Clackclack, click.Aaron rolls over, the dim light of his laptop's monitor washing over his tired eyes like a bright spotlight in the darkness. Again with the computer...in the middle of the night...ugh..."What are you doing?" he asks groggily, eyeing the clock before rolling over again, "We don't have to get up yet. Go back to sleep." "So? You can't get up early for once?" Liz replies, putting the finishing touches on her email, "Aegis and your brother are probably already on the bridge." "You're point?" Liz sighs, shakes her head, and clicks send. "I'm going to get something to eat." "Fine..." Aaron snores. Liz sighs again, puts on some pants, and heads into the corridor outside. "Lynea..." Paul lets the word wander about his mind as he navigates the maze of corridors leading from the mess hall to the bridge. This name...there's something significant, something very important about it. But...dammit, it's like the answer is just barely out of sight...as if it's something so stupidly obvious!"Dammit..." Paul growls as he quickly turns a corner, only to walk blindly into Aegis. "Oh...sorry...was just making my way to the bridge. We're going to be docking at Corarnos soon." OOC: I'll have more soon. It isn't exactly encouraging when you spend an entire day coming up THIS much text. =/
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Post by Mega Raptor on May 21, 2005 14:51:35 GMT -5
Dulkor yawned slightly as he browsed through the food in the galley, trying to find something that looked appetizing. He finally settled on a couple of steaks that had been left in the freezer, and cooked them down just enough to defrost and warm them before sitting down to eat.
Part of the reason he was often up this early was to get his meal out of the way before the rest of the crew. The average Kalarian found cooked meat distateful, and prefered to eat it raw and still bleeding, something most other races found mildly disgusting.
He was in mid-bite when Jenn walked in, he gave her a quick nod, quickly chewing and swallowing his food before speaking up, "Morning, 'Captain'. What's up?"
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Post by Aegis on May 29, 2005 19:12:04 GMT -5
Aegis nodded in response.
"Not like there's anywhere in particular I could think of," he mused. "Can't really get much sleep anyways."
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Post by Pkmatrix on May 29, 2005 21:13:56 GMT -5
"You still haven't gotten any sleep, have you?" asks Paul, frowning slightly. He's known about Aegis' insomnia for a while now, but hasn't been able to do much about it other than urge him to rest more. Obviously, that hasn't worked. I can understand why. I don't think there's anything physically wrong with him...it's just that he's so worried about Kara. I wish I knew what was wrong with her... Paul sighs.
"Have you tried taking any sleep meds? You seriously need to get some sleep...I mean, you look like you've spent the last few months in an especially horrible section of hell."
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Post by Aegis on Jun 3, 2005 15:00:25 GMT -5
Aegis simply waved it off.
"I'll get some shut eye soon," he said. "Right now, it's no big deal."
He felt his stomach growl as he said those words.
"I am up for a bite to eat," he thought. "Want anything?"
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Post by dragonclaw15 on Jun 8, 2005 2:26:50 GMT -5
"Oh dear," said Jenn upon seeing Dulkor devour one of the steaks with his bare claws. As he clamped down upon the meat with his teeth and tore chunks from the steak, Jenn mentally winced. "Those were very expensive steaks from Terra," she sighed. "Genuine cow, you know. Those are getting rare."
"The cows or the steaks?" asked Dulkor through a mouthful of meat.
"One because of the other, then the other because of the one. It's a vicious cycle, like most anything having to do with humanity." She sighed as she reached for a small metal box sitting on the counter as she took a seat at the bar near the table where Dulkor was sitting. She undid the clasp on the small metal case and pulled a cigarette out. She examined it closely. "A Frequency? Guess I'll have to buy Alexia a box of these later," she muttered to herself as she lit the cigarette with a Zippo she had found in her room.
"I'd say just about any race, really. Ever hear about what happened to mine?" asked Dulkor through another mouthful of steak.
"Not from a Kalarian," exhaled Jenn as she closed her eyes and let the Side Four tobacco bleed into her lungs.
Dulkor let out a slightly morbid chuckle before sighing, "Heh, give it a few years and it'll probably happen to Terra. They're already on the way."
Jenn stuck the cigarette between her lips and reached for the espresso machine built into the wall near the bar. She pushed a crystal cup under the nozzles and pressed a button on the machine's side. As she watched the dark liquid drop through the nozzles into the glass, she mumbled the words "'They'? I do wish everybody would stop using that vague pronoun," through her Frequency.
"I'm sorry, got ahead of myself. I mean the government of your race. The war that's starting up, between your world and its colonies. It's a lot like what happened to my home. Didn't end well." Dulkor pushed the last piece of the first steak into his mouth and began looking over the second.
"Ah. Civil war." Jenn sipped thoughtfully on her espresso, wincing slightly as her the tip of her tongue erupted in pain from the scalding liquid. "Well, we've had a lot of those. Speaking of 'my world', we're going to head to Terra after this. I know I told you I was going to kick you off at Corarnos, but..."
"Civil wars are often the most bloody," replied Dulkor sagely. "And what's this 'but' about?"
"Now you're just making me be direct," said Jenn as she took another sip of her coffee.
"And why, oh, why would I ever want to do that?" asked Dulkor with a slight smile. "Well, I do know how you love the direct approach."
"I just wanted to say, if you wanted to stay on Scylla, you'd..."
What are you doing?
"...be welcome to," finished Jenn, despite her protesting common sense.
"If that's the case, I'd be glad to stick around a while longer," said Dulkor as he finished the second steak and licked his claws clean.
"Yeah...you can see Terra, I guess. Anyway, as for Corarnos, I was just planning on taking on supplies, you know, fencing some stuff, the usual business. I think we've laid low long enough to get moving again, hence the trip into the Earth Sphere."
"Makes sense to me," said Dulkor as he rose from the chair and deposited his dirty plate in the cleaning rack. "I'll see if I can dig up any sort of side work from my contacts while we're in the system. Can't mooch off you and your crew forever."
"Well," began jenn as she looked around at the opulent galley around her, "it's not like I wouldn't be able to afford it. Either way, we're going to dock in..." Jenn looked at her watch for a second, "...about ten minutes, so get ready to disembark."
Dulkor gave a joking salute, "Of course, 'captain'. I'll try not to cause too much of a fuss this time."
"You don't have to call me that," said Jenn quickly as she barely succeeded in suppressing a blush. Damn you, Jenn. Stop it. You're not acting yourself. "Um." She looked down from Dulkor's gaze and busied herself with the remains of her coffee. "I'd better tell the rest of the crew. See you colonyside, Dulkor." And with that, she excused herself from the galley, leaving the smoldering remains of her cigarette hanging half-out of the closest ashtray.
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