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Re: 5 Minutes: Reloaded

Posted: October 8th, 2017, 10:49 pm
by oldwrench
Arisa and Chad in 5min ghost stories? Georgianna in "lost"..... my mind, or, how to go out with a bang? Things don't look very pleasant for Colonel Hellwind, he could be losing a big part of his command in one day. And what is this going to do to the mission? The only lead they had on Dominic's whereabouts just went down in flames. Georgianna may have just started the Colonies War II. Is the princesses name becoming an omen, Melpomene is the Greek muse of the tragedy.

Keep reading, somehow the colonel will work this out, I hope.

Chapter 346rg


In a cloaked ship hidden among the asteroids, an esper screamed in agony. He fell to the floor and covered his head, fighting the red pain and black madness that had claimed other espers on this cursed campaign. A healer rushed to him with an injection to calm him, and put him to sleep........ he tried to tell him no, to get away, but his body wouldn’t obey him. He felt the injection and could see the blackness looming over his mind. The esper pulled his superior close, he had to tell him, he had seen the great danger, the thing that could destroy them, he had to warn them. He didn’t dare reach out to the superiors mind, not with the blackness reaching out for him, he told the superior...... his voice slurred and barely a whisper. The blackness covered him and dragged him into it’s madness.

The esper superior gasped in disbelief. Had he heard right, or was it just the ranting of an insane mind? He turned to the Leader, but that one was stalking away.

“This is a failure, a disgrace,” the Leader ranted to his second in command. “Ready those weapons, we are forced to use them.”


John tensed, he had gambled with his life that Georgianna wouldn’t shoot him, but was this Georgianna? Something wasn’t right, she had never acted like this. What did she mean, “they”? He had to stop her from starting the war she had always tried to prevent. He saw the anguish on her face as she raised the gun to her temple...... he reacted. John stepped forward and swung his cane up striking her wrist. The gun swung up as it fired over her head and bucked from her hand. Georgianna put her hands over her ears, “get out” she screamed. She looked up at John wit pleading eyes. John dropped his cane and stepped forward. He caught Georgianna as she collapsed, swept her up and carried her out of the room.

Colonel Hellwind pushed his way through the confusion of diplomats and security men as he hurried around the huge table to follow John. The s--- had definitely hit the fan and he had no clue what was going on. He had to get this under control.

Melpomene tried to follow Daniel but one of the diplomats grabbed her arm, demanding to know what was happening. She recognized him as one of the more belligerent diplomats from an older, more populated colony. She jerked her arm away and turned a look on him that made him back off. “We will inform you of any facts that concern you when we have learned what they are.” She barked at him. Melpomene turned and picked up a large folder and slammed it on the table with a resounding crack. The room instantly became silent. Melpomene called out. “This meeting is adjourned! We will resume the meeting after we have determined the cause of this incident.” She quickly followed The colonel out as the room returned to chaos.

Daniel pulled out his com unit as he ran and called for Tammy to bring the car immediately. He called the space port to have their shuttle ready for immediate departure. He called the Krikav and ordered the doctor to have sick bay on standby. The only way they were going to make any sense of this was to find out what was going on in Georgianna’s head.


Megumi took another worried look at the clock. “They should have been back by now,” she said to Ben. “Arisa’s message said they would be back in a couple hours, and it’s been more than three. Something is wrong.”

Ben scratched his head. “I don’t know, maybe we should wait a little longer. But it does seem strange, it’s dinner time, and Chad wouldn’t miss dinner. I suppose you could call Arisa and ask her what’s holding them up.”

“I didn’t want to call them and maybe have their phone ring at a bad time, but I think you’re right. I’m going to call,” Megumi answered. She picked up her phone and called Arisa. After a few moments Megumi frowned and set the phone down. “It says her phone is out of service. That’s bad...... I can’t think of why she would shut her phone off.”

Ben frowned, thinking. “Maybe she dropped it and it broke or something,” he mused. “I’ll call Chad and find out.” Ben made the call, but he too set his phone down, a puzzled look on his face. “I get the same thing, not in service. They couldn’t both have broken their phones.”

“I don’t like this, it’s scary. I’m sure something awful has happened. I can feel it.” Megumi cried. “We have to do something, we have to find them.”

“I think we have to call the colonel.” Ben told her. “He should be back at base by now. The colonel will know what to do.”

“Your right,” Megumi agreed as she called the colonel, “he isn’t going to like this.” After a few seconds she put the phone down, she looked frightened. “Not in service,” she whispered. She looked up at Ben. “What’s going on? What happened to everyone? Ben, I’m frightened.”

Ben felt a chill run down his spine. Something really weird was going on. He picked up his phone and quickly dialed. He almost dropped the phone in relief when he got a connection. “Kaze, thank all that’s good, we’ve been trying to call Arisa and Chad and now the colonel but all we get is an out of service message. I was beginning to think something bad had happened to all of you.” Ben listened for a couple minutes, finally answering, “Ok, I’ll try that...... Talk to you later.” He put down the phone and looked at Megumi. “Kaze doesn’t know anything about Arisa and Chad, but something big went down at the conference. Crichton came out carrying Georgianna, the colonel followed them out then the princess. The car came around fast and they all got in and raced off to the spaceport. Kaze could hardly keep up. They got in the shuttle and headed out under maximum acceleration. They must be at the Krikav.” Ben got up and got the com unit out of the drawer he’d left it in. He called the Krikav.


Colonel Hellwind sat next to Melpomene and in the waiting area outside the Krikav sick bay. It had been almost half an hour since they had delivered Georgianna to the med techs. Waiting had never been easy for him.

The princess watched John enter the room and set down the coffees that he had offered to get for them. “John, you aren’t using your cane.” She observed.

John hesitated as he set down the last cup. “I ..... I hadn’t thought about it.” He stepped back, testing his leg. “It should be........ but it isn’t hurting. I should be feeling pain, but I’m not.”

Daniel was going to make a comment, but fortunately the doctor entered the room before he got the chance. “What did you find?” He asked before John could. “How is she?”

The doctor sighed, “it’s not good.” He opened a portable viewer and brought up a scan of Georgianna’s head. “We found an anomaly, a tumor, on the back of her brain.” He told them as he pointed to a dark spot on the scan. “It wasn’t there when she had her physical before the Mar Sara campaign. It’s very fast growing.”

“Cancer? Isn’t that rather rare?” John asked.

“Yes,” the doctor answered, “but it does show up once in a while.”

“You can cure it?” Daniel asked. “You can remove it.”

“Yes, if this were just a normal tumor, but, with this, I’m not so sure.” The doctor admitted. “Look closely at the scan, see the fine lines leading from the tumor. There are hundreds of fine filaments reaching all parts of her brain. It will be nearly impossible for the nano meds to remove all of it, and if any is left behind, it will just regrow the tumor. I’ve never heard of anything like it.”

“I would like you to take a sample of that mass for analysis, doctor” Melpomene ordered.

“I could take a biopsy with a microprobe,” the doctor told her, “but there isn’t a need to, it’s just a cancer. We can just let the nano meds take care of it.”

“Just do it, doctor,” the princess ordered. “I want to know what it is for certain.”

Yuki, the ship controller, called on the intercom, “Colonel Hellwind, there is a call for you from Lieutenant Wolfman.”

“Put it through here, Yuki,” He ordered. Good, he thought, maybe they found Torres, he could use some good news. “Lieutenant Wolfman, did you get any information on captain Torres?”

“Ah, well, we found out that the captain and the girl left town a couple days ago. We don’t know when they will be back....... or if they will be back.” Ben told them, then he hesitated before continuing. “Sir, Chad and Arisa are missing.”

“What?” Daniel barked. “What do you mean, missing?”

“They weren’t here when we got back, sir,” Ben answered. “They left us a message that they had checked the apartment and found a lead. They were going to check it out and be back in a couple hours. They haven’t returned.”

“Call them and tell them I order them to return on the double.” The colonel commanded Ben angrily.

“Ah, we tried to call them, colonel, but their phones are out of service, both of them.” Ben told him. “I think something’s wrong.”

Melpomene was shocked. She hadn’t anticipated something like this happening. “We have to find them.” She said as she looked worriedly at Daniel.

“Did they leave any information on where they might have been going?” Daniel asked Ben.

“No colonel, nothing.” Ben answered.

Daniel put his head in his hands, things were going from bad to worse. Dumb kids, they should have left information on where they were going. What could he do, how could they find those two. He had no idea where to start. Melpomene......... was the muse of the tragedy guiding their mission?

Megumi’s voice came over the communicator, “I have an idea how we might find out where they went.”

Daniel listened to Megumi’s idea, “no,” he ordered, “it’s to risky.”

Re: 5 Minutes: Reloaded

Posted: October 16th, 2017, 10:01 am
by Sakura
Chapter 346rg? The "rg" surely is for "really great" :gg: :meh:

Re: 5 Minutes: Reloaded

Posted: October 17th, 2017, 5:11 am
by oldwrench
I have no idea where I got that 6rg......... but I do think it's a pretty good Chapter. At least Georgianna isn't dead (yet). You never know how this is going to turn out, it's just kind of "make it up as I go along" but that is how a RPG works anyway. The next shocking chapter is in the works. Will Georgi survive? Will John give up his cane? Will the colonel chew his fingernails off? Will the colonies start a war? Will Arisa's ghost haunt Melpomene? So many questions. How am I going to get us out of this mess?

Re: 5 Minutes: Reloaded

Posted: October 24th, 2017, 4:11 am
by oldwrench
Well, the colonels day went from bad to worse. His whole mission is in jeopardy. Georgianna may have ruined Melpomene's chance to avoid a war. Has he lost two pilots, or maybe three? Will he be stripped of his command? Or will the doctor be able to save Georgianna? What is it that Megumi has in mind? Can they get into any more trouble?

Keep reading, things are getting tense.


Chapter 35


The door guard at the gang’s hideout rushed into the room not even closing the door behind himself. “Oren, that black haired girl and the big guy are here,” he yelled in fear. “They have a mech with them. It’s big, with guns and missiles and ....... we haven’t got a chance against that thing.”

Oren told the guard to shut up, and waved him to the side as he saw Megumi and Ben enter through the door. He felt shaky...... a mech...... they had no defense against that. He gathered his courage. “I thought we had an agreement, a truce,” he called out. “We haven’t done anything to your group.”

“We didn’t come for a fight,” Megumi called back across the room. “We need to talk.”

“Then why did you come armed?” He demanded.

“We aren’t armed,” Megumi protested holding her arms out to her sides. “You can check if you don’t believe me.”

“You have a mech,” he accused.

“Oh, that,” Megumi smiled, “don’t worry about it. The colonel wouldn’t let us come without a mech for backup.”

“Colonel? Then you are military.” Oren stated.

Megumi sighed, “yes, we’re EDF. We’re here as escort for the imperial princess, and to track down the man and woman in the pictures.

Oren smiled, relieved, these were powerful people, but tied to Imperial law, the gang had a better chance with them. “Good, I was afraid you were syndicate or one of the big houses.”

“The other girl that was here, Kitten, is Arisa Higgens, heir of the richest of the big houses, so yes, we are from one of the big houses too. We have a problem, Arisa, and the tall boy you captured, are missing. Their phones both are out of service, we need your help finding them.

The richest of the houses, and they needed his gang‘s help, this could be a real boon for them. “What ever you need, we’ll be glad to help. We can get the word out to the other gangs,” Oren answered. “Maybe somebody knows something.”

Megumi filled Oren in on all they knew about the disappearance. She was glad that Melpomene had convinced the colonel to let them contact the gang. They had the contacts and resources to cover a lot more of the city faster than anyone else.


Melpomene watched John, sitting across from her. He tried to look relaxed, but she could easily see the worry in his face and posture. As badly as Georgianna treated him, he still was ready to step in front of her gun to save her. People like John always amazed her. She looked over at Daniel, he had pushed her behind him when Georgianna drew her gun. Was it just duty.... or something more? It was understandable to see the concern and frustration on his face, in the last three hours everything had been falling apart in his command. She wished she could do something to help, but it was beyond even imperial control. Somehow she would have to sooth over this incident with the colony diplomats.

They looked up as the med tech came through the door. “What did you find,” The colonel asked, “will she be alright?”.

“It looks like the captain is going to get through this.” He answered. “I don’t think the nano meds were even needed. Her immune system is attacking this thing very aggressively. At the rate it appears to be shrinking, it could be gone entirely in a few hours.”

“Were you able to get a biopsy of the tumor?” Melpomene inquired anxiously.

“Yes,” the tech assured her. “We were able to get a couple good samples.”

“Have you analyzed them yet?” She asked.

“I ran one sample through the standard bio analysis and, well, it isn’t cancer.”

“Then what is it?” Daniel asked.

There was a delay before the doctor answered. “I....... I’m not sure,” he admitted. “I’ve never seen anything like it, there is nothing like it in the medical records. It doesn’t have a cellular structure, it doesn’t have DNA yet, it is a living tissue. It’s something totally alien to us.”

“Isn’t it rare for a xenobiological agent to infect a human?” Daniel inquired. “At least that’s what they taught us in the academy.”

“That’s true,” the doctor answered, “usually the immune system rejects any unusual pathogen, but this one must be hidden from the immune system till it is well established. When the immune system does react it is an overwhelming response.”

“But she will be alright.” Daniel prompted the tech.

“Yes, I think so.” The doctor hesitated. “We won’t know for sure if there is any damage until the fever has gone down. I just never have had to deal with something like this.”

“She has to be alright,” John told them. “She won’t let this beat her, she’s stronger than that.”

“Doctor, I want you to make sure to preserve a sample of that organism to be sent to the labs on earth.” Melpomene ordered. “This isn’t the first case with similar symptoms. There have been others who have had blackouts and have done things they normally would not have. Others have fought off a compulsion to do something they knew was wrong. In each case, they ended with a sever fever and headache. Most couldn’t remember what they had done. Daniel, Aiden Pride was one of those cases. The doctors haven’t been able to get a clean sample of the organism because of the aggressive immune reaction and the fact each case was detected at a later stage than Georgianna.


“Lieutenant Yamato wishes contact with you,” Yuki’s voice came over the intercom.

“Put her through here,” the colonel ordered.

“Colonel, sir, they found where Chad and Arisa went.” Megumi told them as soon as the connection was established. “They took a taxi to an airfield on the far side of the city, by the ocean. Should we go there and try to find them?”

Daniel thought for a moment. “I want you and Ben to go to the airfield, armed, and wait for me. Have Kaze follow you with the mech. Wait outside the airfield till I arrive. If there is trouble, I want you ready, but I will do the talking.” The colonel ordered. He broke the connection and called for Yuki. “Yuki, I want the shuttle ready, I’m going down to that airfield and find out what’s going on.” Melpomene got up at the same time the colonel got up. “You are staying here,” Daniel told her. “Things could be dangerous and I don’t want you at risk.”

The princess frowned, “I know there’s a possibility of danger, but I won’t be left behind. I’ll make it an Imperial order if I have to. I have to know what happened to Arisa. I’m sure, with a mech there, we won’t have any trouble.”

Daniel remembered how stubborn Melpomene could be when they were young and frowned. “Alright, come along then,” he said as he turned away. “I hope this doesn’t start a war, if that incident with Georgianna hasn’t already. Pilots disappearing, alien organisms, we don’t need any more trouble.”

The princess sighed, “I wish it were aliens, little green men, bug-eyed monsters or whatever. At least that would bring earth and the colonies back together again.”

The colonel laughed, “Dream on Mel.”

Re: 5 Minutes: Reloaded

Posted: November 5th, 2017, 3:50 am
by oldwrench
So, they have a lead on the whereabouts of Chad and Arisa, but it's a bit too late. Are they walking into trouble? Who was it that attacked our two pilots? Was Walt in on it? Was it some emissary from one of the colonies trying to start a war? Was it the remnants of the Red Faction? Was it captain Dominic trying to protect the mech Atropos? Was it Melpomene's "little green men"? The colonel needs to find out who attacked his pilots so he can get his revenge. Sparks could fly when he and Melpomene reach the airfield.

Chapter 36

From the back seat of the car, Ben watched the colonel and the princess enter the main office of the airfield. He didn’t like it. “We should have gone in with them,” he told Megumi as he tightened his grip on the rifle. “If anything happens it will take us to long to get in there.

“It won’t be a problem,” Tammy told him from the driver’s seat. The engine was idling and her hand was on the shift buttons. “I’ll have us in the building in five seconds if anything goes wrong.”

Megumi moved away from Ben and buckled her seat belt, “I’ll bet you would.”


The buzzer sounded alerting Walt he had a customer. He stood up quickly and banged his head on the access cover, he swore loudly. This had better be those college kids, he’d been waiting way past closing time for those two. They said it would only be a couple hours, at most, and it was almost six by now. That kid was going to be damn sorry.......... He slammed open the door, but it wasn’t the kids, it was military brass..... EDF no less, and some woman that looked like an executive, or lawyer. This, he didn’t need. He could see the shuttle sitting on the tarmac and a limo parked out front. He relaxed a little, “if your looking for hangar space, you won’t find any here. You can park it by the cargo trucks, if that’s good enough for you.” He turned to go back to the repair shop.”

“We are looking for two missing pilots,” Daniel called after him. “They were last seen coming here. A tall dark haired male and small blond female.”

Walt turned back and frowned. “They told me they were college kids,” he accused.

“They are operating under cover,” Daniel told him, “to avoid causing trouble with the locals.”

“Well they’ve got trouble now,” Walt growled, “they stole my heli.”

“They would not steal a vehicle,” Daniel stated firmly.

“They told me a they were renting the car for a couple hours, and it’s been almost six.” Walt complained. “That kid was a gang member, he’d steal a car, it’s just the way those rats are.”

“Was, is a past tense, he isn’t now,” Melpomene broke in. “The car has not been stolen, something must have happened to them. There must have been a failure in the machine.”

“Not a chance lady,” Walt replied. “I’ve got good equipment, and it’s well maintained. Besides, they never called in. Even if something went wrong, they would just land on the water and call in. No, they stole the heli, that kid even disabled the locator beacon so I can’t trace the thing.”

“A locator beacon? Seems you aren’t too trusting,” Daniel mused. “Did you inform Chad about that beacon, and is it very difficult to shut off that beacon?”

“Hell, why would I tell him about it?” Walt answered. “It’s a pain to get at, on top of the stabilizer, so........... but there’s no reason for that locator not to be working, unless....... damn it, if they wrecked my heli.........”

“Who cares about your damn heli,” Melpomene shouted. “We’ll replace the stupid thing, it’s the pilots we’re worried about. We have to find them. Something bad has happened, I just know it.”

“Ya sure, who are you to say they’ll replace it,” Walt shouted back. “You think you’re the queen or something.”

“You should take care how you address princess Melpomene of the imperial house of Leiski.” Daniel stated menacingly as he placed his hand on the gun at his side.

Oh crap, Walt thought, an imperial, and he had been shouting at her. At least he hadn’t sworn at her or something. Even out here. these people held the reigns of power. “I’m sorry.....I shouldn’t have....”

“It’s alright,” the princess cut him off, “it’s been a bad day, probably for all of us. Right now we should be concerned about the pilots.”

“You’re right,” Walt admitted, “it’s those kids we should be concerned about. It’s just, I couldn’t imagine anything happening to them. Even if there was a failure, the safety systems would set them down on the water and they could just call for help.”

“If they had a power failure the radio may not be working.” Daniel offered.

“Even in that case, there’s an emergency beacon radio,” Walt explained. “It would come on automatically if the power failed, or they could just activate it manually.”

“Something bad happened to them, it must have,” Melpomene said close to tears. “We have to search for them, we have to find them.”

“Did they say where they were going?” Daniel asked.

“Just that they were looking for that professor Santana,” Walt answered. “The tall kid said he knew where he was, but he didn’t say where, just one of the islands.’

“They could be on one of the islands, we have to start a search,” Melpomene told them.

“There are hundreds of islands, from big ones to just a rock, it would take days to search them, even if they did make it to one.” Walt explained. “I can get the police search teams on it, but it’s getting late and they won’t start till daylight.”

“That could be too late,” Mel wailed, “they could be in the water, they could drown.”

“Searching at night is useless, that’s just the way it is,” Walt sighed. “I wish it were different, but that’s it. The police won’t go out till daylight.”

“What about an infrared search?” Daniel asked.

“No good,” Walt told him, “there’s just too much area to cover and those things don’t have enough range. Besides, every rock sticking up lights the thing up so it’s just a problem.”

Daniel sighed, “we can have our two shuttles join the search. We will start as soon as there is light. I can have Yuki scan for any radio activity from orbit.”


Ben slumped back in the seat as they watched the princess and the colonel leave the building. “That doesn’t look very promising,” He told Megumi.

“No, something’s gone wrong,” Megumi answered. “You can see it in their faces.”

The colonel walked up to the car and leaned in the window. “Ben, you will come with me and bring the shuttle back from the ship. At first light You and Megumi will take one shuttle, Tammy, you and Kaze will take the other shuttle and join the search for Chad and Arisa. You will be assigned a search area at that time.”

“A search,” Ben said as he opened the door to follow the colonel, “you said it, Megumi, something went wrong......... really wrong.”


Daniel couldn’t sleep, he didn’t even try. He looked again at the map of the ocean north west of the airfield. There were so many dots, so many islands. How could they find anything out there. “Remove any island with less than a square kilometer area.” Dan ordered. There were still too many, hundreds. He sat down at his desk and put his head in his hands. “Where the hell were they going?” He asked the empty room.

Yuki’s voice came over the intercom, “I would suggest they would have had island TMB-1671 as their destination, sir,”

Daniel looked up, he hadn’t thought about the ship controller listening in. “What makes you think that, Yuki? He asked.

“There is an inactive maintenance base located on that island,” Yuki informed him. “It would be an obvious location to hide a mech the size of the one we are seeking.”
The colonel stared at the flashing marker on one of the larger islands. “Why didn’t I know about that base?” He wondered.

“It is inactive and therefore sealed,” she answered, “it would not be listed on the active facility list you would use. It is listed on the inactive list.”

Dan got up and traced a line from the airfield to the island. “It gives us a place to start, thanks Yuki.”

Re: 5 Minutes: Reloaded

Posted: November 14th, 2017, 4:44 am
by oldwrench
A narrowed area to search! That sounds promising...... or does it? There is a lot of water to search, and oceans have a way of hiding those who have trouble on it. At least Georgianna is going to be alright, if there is no damage to her mind from that strange growth. Who is it that put that thiing in her head? Keep reading.



Chapter 37

Ben carefully kept the shuttle moving along a straight line, and slow enough to give Megumi a chance to spot any small indication on the infrared screen. The colonel had sent the shuttles out in the middle of the night, on a specific path, hoping for any sight of the missing pilots. They had found nothing but the islands and a few of the local fauna.

“It’s useless, it’s been hours and neither shuttle has found anything.” Megumi complained, “If they’re in the water, their signature would be so small we could pass right over them and miss them.”

“We’ve got to try,” Ben told her flatly. “If they are in the water, they might not make it till daylight.” He sighed, “it will be light soon, then we can watch for any sign of them........ or wreckage.”

Megumi shook her head, “I won’t believe it......... it just can’t be.”


Georgianna slowly opened her eyes. She felt awful, she felt weak, but it wasn’t burning hot and the gray ceiling meant she wasn’t in hell, so she must still be alive. She turned her head and saw John get up from his chair and come to her side. She sat up and put her head in her hands. “I blew it, I’ve ruined everything.” she choked out as she felt tears come to her eyes. “They’ll court marshal me. They’ll put me away forever.”

John sat on the edge of the bed and put his arm around her. “I don’t think so. There were extenuating circumstances.” John assured her.

Georgianna shook her head, “they won’t believe me, they can’t. How can I tell them that someone was in my head. That they were trying to make me kill everyone. I tried to stop them, but it was too hard.”

“It’s ok darlin,” John told her as he held her more tightly. “No one was hurt.”

“But they would have been, I would have killed them all if you hadn’t stopped me.” Georgianna sobbed. “They told me to kill you too, but I wouldn’t......... I wouldn’t let them hurt you.” Georgianna turned and wrapped her arms around John. “Don’t let them come back, John, they’re terrible, I saw them............. they’re monsters. I can’t live with that again.”

“They’re gone, Georgi,” John comforted her. “They won’t be back. You chased them away.” John held her close, this was so much like he’d found her after the Tarsonis tragedy. And, just like that time, he was here to pick up the pieces.


“We have six heli’s searching,” The police commander told Daniel. “Walt figured the distance they could have gone till that beacon quit and we’ve covered that area on the line to that island pretty well. Nothing there. We can expand the search some but it gets to be an awfully big area.”

“I understand,” Daniel answered. “Our people haven’t found anything either.”

Melpomene stepped into the sight line of the transmitter. “You have to continue the search, as long as it takes,” She ordered. “The empire will cover any expenses. Those pilots must be found.”

“We’ll do everything we can, princess,” the commander assured her, “but with the currents and the ocean predators.......... there may not be anything we can find.”


Megumi pounded her fist on the sensor console. “Nothing,” she yelled at it, “is this thing even working? Something has to show up, anything, they have to be here.”

“There’s nothing wrong with the sensors,” Ben tried to calm her. “Maybe the colonel guessed wrong, maybe they were headed somewhere else. We just have to widen the search.”

“Do you have any idea how much area we would have to cover?” Megumi sighed. “It’s impossible.”


The police commander looked at his lieutenant and shook his head. “They just don’t understand,” he told the lieutenant, “people who disappear out there are never found.”

Re: 5 Minutes: Reloaded

Posted: December 6th, 2017, 9:45 pm
by oldwrench
A wider search area? Just how much area do you think they can cover? And if they do find something, what would it be, debris floating on the water? Are the colonel and the princess jeopardizing the whole mission on a hopeless cause? Should they just leave the search to the locals and go back and try to salvage the peace conference? Well, we have always have always made heroic efforts and spent great sums on rescue efforts, even when all seems hopeless.
But then, nothing is hopeless until proven so.


Chapter 38

Arisa’s head hurt. She slowly opened her eyes, disoriented she looked around her. There was bright open sky overhead with a sun low on the horizon. To her left was a flat rocky ledge leading to open ocean, to her right the view was blocked by huge oval leaves of low lying plants. Where was she? Oh yes, she had been in the heli, with Chad. Why was she here then? Slowly she remembered the attack, Chad’s violent maneuvers attempting to get away........ that was all she remembered. She felt around, she was lying on one of the giant leaves, and covered with another one.......... And, she was quite naked! Arisa began to feel frightened. She tried to look over the vegetation, but she didn’t see anyone. She did see her cloths, lying on the leaves a short distance away. She knew it was a very small island because when she sat up, she could see the water all around, but she didn’t see anyone else. Where was Chad? Someone had brought her here, it had to be Chad.... but he wasn’t there. What if he was gone? What if she was alone? What would she do?

Arisa was starting to work herself into a panic when she noticed movement out on the water. It was Chad. He was quite a way out from the island but he started swimming toward the shore. Relieved, Arisa started to get up, but the throbbing in her head when she moved made her hesitate. She started to move more slowly...... then remembered...... she didn’t have any cloths on. Arisa lay back down and pulled the leaf close under her chin. She watched as Chad neared the island....... what if he was.......? He started to stand up, he wasn’t wearing a shirt........ She knew she should look away, but couldn’t..... what if....... Arisa sighed, he was wearing his slacks. Well, they were wet and molded nicely to his legs. Arisa appreciated his lean muscled body, it was obvious that the scar on his face and the ones on his arms weren’t the only evidence of his past life. She kept down as she watched Chad climb out and carry some pieces of wire to a pile of objects on the shore. Her cloths were close, but too far. What should she do?

“Um, Chad,” she started to say.

Chad snapped around at the sound of her voice. “You’re awake,” He stated the obvious. “Are you alright?” Chad got up and quickly approached her.

Arisa had started to sit up, she pulled the leaf up tighter and involuntarily she backed away. “My head hurts, but I think I’m alright.......... But, um...... would you give me my cloths.” She answered her face beginning to turn a bit red.

“Your cloths?” Chad hesitated a moment. “Oh.........,” his face turned very red as he turned to reach for her cloths. “You were all wet,” he tried to explain, “and it gets cool at night, and I didn’t think, um, I mean I thought.......... um it wouldn’t be good if you got cold. I had to....... I didn’t look.......much....... I just.” Chad turned even redder as he handed her the cloths while still looking away.

“Thanks,” Arisa said quietly. “I’m sure you, ah, were just doing what you had to. It would have been bad to stay wet like that.”

Chad nodded his head as he looked back at Arisa. “I had to keep you warm over night, so I had to........” Chad turned even redder and quickly turned back to what he had been doing. “I should get back to work on the radio.”

Arisa began to get dressed as Chad returned to his task. She thought it was really very nice that he cared enough to keep her warm during the night, even if it meant he had to take off her cloths to dry them......... Keep her warm..... he must have been very close....... Arisa turned much redder and hurried to put her cloths on. Her head still hurt and she ran her fingers over the cloth wrapped around her head. The left side of her head was definitely tender to the touch. she noticed Chad’s torn shirt lying on the rocks, that must be where her bandage came from. As long as she didn’t turn her head too quickly, it didn’t hurt too badly so she got up and went to look over Chad’s shoulder. “Oh, you’re hurt,” she exclaimed when she noticed the track a bullet had torn across the outside of Chad’s upper right arm.

Chad looked at the red gash on his arm, “Ah, ya, it’s nothing much. I’ve had worse.”

Arisa laughed, “that’s obvious.” She picked up his shirt and tore another strip off of it. Arisa gently wrapped the cloth around Chad’s upper arm covering the wound. She looked at the parts he was working with. There was a circuit board and wires and he was prying open one of their cell phones. “What are you working on?” Arisa asked.

“Emergency beacon,” Chad answered. He held up the plastic case, it was missing a chunk of a bottom corner. “It took a hit,” he explained. “The power cells are trashed. I can get about the same voltage using our cell phone batteries, but I don’t know if they can supply enough current for very long.”

“Why not just call someone?” Arisa asked.

“We’re way out of range, and phone transmitters won’t penetrate the ionosphere so no help from the ship. The emergency beacon is long range and they would be able to use it to locate us. It’s about the only chance we have of them finding us.”

“They must know we didn’t come back, they must be searching for us.” Arisa claimed. “I’m sure the colonel will figure out where we went, he’ll find us.”

Chad shook his head, “even if they figure out where we were going, it’s a lot of area to search, there are an awfully lot lot of islands to cover. Besides, I have no idea which direction we were going during the attack. We traveled quite a ways and we could be a long way off the track to that base. We need the beacon.” Chad went back to work on the wiring he was doing.

Arisa watched as he used his technician pocket tool to cut and install wires from one cell phone to the other and finally to the radio board. He was skillful, and she was sure he must know just what to do. The fear she had been feeling faded.

Chad checked the wires one last time. “Well, that’s as good as I can make it, all that’s left is to connect these two and see if it works.” He told her. Chad took the two wires and twisted them together.

Arisa stared at the beacon for a few moments...... she didn’t see anything. “How will we know if it’s working?”

“Hmm, I guess we won’t until someone comes for us.” Chad answered. “It should run for a while, at least till the batteries ..........”

“That isn’t supposed to happen..... is it?” Arisa asked as she watched one of the battery cells start to smoke and the case expand.

“Oh, crap,” Chad yelled as he scooped up Arisa and ran several steps away. The battery exploded with a loud pop and scattered tiny smoking fragments around where they had been sitting.

For a moment Arisa had a happy gleam in her eye as she looked over the scene of the explosion, then she looked back at Chad with a more sober expression. “That can’t be good.”

Chad sadly shook his head. “Not good,” he affirmed. “Something must have been shorted in the board, It took to much current and fried the batteries. I’m afraid that didn’t do any good at all.”

“What do we do now?” Arisa asked, starting to feel the fear returning.

“I don’t know,” Chad admitted. “I just don’t know......... I have to think of something." Chad sat down on a rock with Arisa on his lap. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close. There had to be something he could do. Chad looked at the darkening clouds on the horizon, he didn’t have much time to think of something.

Arisa leaned her head on Chad’s chest, tears forming in her eyes. This wasn’t the deserted island adventure she had dreamed of.

Re: 5 Minutes: Reloaded

Posted: December 23rd, 2017, 5:24 am
by oldwrench
Lost on a deserted island, well, more like a deserted rock. That doesn't sound like it is going to work out well, especially since the emergency radio is ruined. How is Chad going to get them out of this mess? Georgianna seems like she will pull through, but what kind of discipline will she be facing now? How is the princess going to salvage the peace conference after this mess. Lots of questions, what answers will there be? Keep reading.


Chapter 39

“This is hopeless,” Ben growled. “How can we find anything with this much area to cover?” Ben was all to familiar with searches like this. Being an astroid miner, he knew of the prospectors ships that went missing, and were never seen again.

“We have to cover as much area as we can,” Megumi answered his complaint. “We aren’t going to have much more time. Those storm clouds are moving in pretty quickly. We should try to check the bigger islands. If something went wrong, I’m sure they would try to reach one of the big islands. That would give them the best chance.”

“Right,” Ben answered, “I’ll speed up, just keep a sharp lookout.”


Arisa watched Chad work on the giant leaves. He was punching holes in the edges of two leaves and using fibers pulled from leaves he had cut to sew the two leaves together. He was hoping to use them to cover a gap in the rocks under the two plants and use it as a shelter. Chad looked at the approaching clouds, he didn’t like how high the waves were coming up the side of the rocks. He would have to make cords of the fibers and tie himself and Arisa to the stems of the plants, to keep from being washed away.


Colonel Hellwind walked down the corridor toward the med section. He was upset that the local police were pulling their search vehicles due to the approaching weather front. He could understand, the heli’s weren’t as tough as his shuttles, but he thought they could have stayed out at least a while longer.

Dan knocked then entered Georgianna’a room. He suppressed a smile as he noticed John stand up from the bed, where he had been sitting next to Georgianna, and salute the colonel. He knew from their records of John and Georgianna’s involvement after the Tarsonis disaster. He was glad John was here now. “At ease, Crichton, I’m not here to break up anything.” He looked at Georgianna. “How are you feeling?”

“Better, sir,” Georgianna replied, “the headaches are gone, I feel like I’ve been set free.” She looked down, “I assume I will be confined to quarters till the court marshal.”

“Not a chance,” Daniel told her, “I need every pilot that I have left.”

“But I........” Georgianna started to protest.

“You were influenced by an unknown organism,” Daniel interrupted. “Hallucinations caused by an unknown ailment is how it is stated in my report, and your medical report. There won’t be a court martial.” He sat on the edge of a table. “The doc told me you should be fit to return to duty by tomorrow. I won’t be able to send you with the princess again, that would cause too much trouble. You’ll have to join Ben and Megumi in the the search for captain Torres. I think Chad and Arisa had a lead on where to look for him.”

“What about the search for Chad and Arisa?” John asked. as the colonel got up and started for the door.

“I’m afraid we will have to abandon that search.” The colonel answered. “Bad weather is closing in, after that moves through, it will be hopeless.”


Yuki’s voice came over the com, “Colonel Hellwind, could you come to the bridge? There has been an anomaly on the sensor scans.”

Re: 5 Minutes: Reloaded

Posted: December 23rd, 2017, 11:39 pm
by Sakura
So Kitty has to chop herself out of trouble now. I hope she brought enough catnip :pif:

Re: 5 Minutes: Reloaded

Posted: December 25th, 2017, 5:03 am
by oldwrench
Or swim a long way very fast! But wait, kitties don't like getting wet......... or do they?

Not Molly, she is fascinated by the water. She will let the water run off her head as she watches it go down the drain. Max is interested, but he doesn't like getting wet at all. Molly even got in the shower with my wife, the water spray didn't bother her at all, just her paws getting wet. She had to pick them up and shake them frequently.
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