5 minutes...... oldwrench tries story telling

[oldwrench]

Ok, chapter 6, another short chapter, but this seemed like a nice place to end it. Maybe short chapters are better?
on to the story.

Chapter 6


In the office of the research and development department of the air force base at
Victorville, California, Tod looked up from his computer monitor at the young woman in the
doorway. “What do you mean, they lost it?” He asked.
“It didn’t come through with the rest of the shipment.” Janice answered, “It should have
come in with those other retired mechs, but it isn’t there. I checked with the moon base, the
records show they had it ready for shipment but it isn’t here. A reconditioned mech was in the
group instead. They have no idea how that happened.”
“How can they lose a mech?” Tod jumped up out of his chair. “We have to find that
thing, before someone tries to use it. Damn....... did it get sent out to one of the ships?”
“They’re checking,” Jan answered. “There should have been a record of the numbers if it
was, but it’s like someone erased any traces of it. There were thirty ships in for resupply and a
dozen transports shipping supplies to who knows where. God only knows where it might be.........
Well, we’ll find it when someone tries to use it.”
“No, then we will lose it, but at least we’ll know where it went.” Tod sat back down and
sighed. “If we lose another pilot to that system, more than just our project will get the axe.”


The pilots called out their ready status. “The Hulk is all set to go, Ben called in.
“Rose is checked and ready.” Rose added.
“All green.” Chad called, “Damn...... not all....”
“What’s the problem?” Dominic quickly called back.
Chad, frustrated, wiggled the switches on the weapons board. “The weapons board is
out,” Chad growled, as he banged his fist on the board. Suddenly the indicators lit up as the board
came to life. “Wait.... it’s ok, I got it. All set to go.”
“Alright,” Dominic replied, “let’s move out.” What kind of crap is this, I can’t let him
into a real battle with that wreck, he wouldn’t stand a chance. Dominic gathered his group at the
launch ramp and used a laser com beam for a secure link. “Alright team, we’ll use standard radio
till we get to the station. When I give the signal, turn off the sound and switch on text. I have a
plan and you won’t want your sound on.”

Yuki’s voice came over the intercom, “Blue Dragon group will launch first, Green Giant
and Red Phoenix will launch when Blue Dragon reach their defensive point.”

As Dominic led his group toward the abandoned station he looked at the map of the
facility on his screen. “Looks like three shuttle bays on the sunward side, and a lot of debris
floating around. Chad, you find a place out in the debris and keep an eye on where the other
groups go. They’re probably going to make their attack out of the sun, so we’ll set up on that side
for now. Ben take the middle bay, Rose and I will take the other two.”
“I’m not worth much inside with this big gun,” Ben said, “but if I move out near the
shuttle bay entrance, I make to good a target. I wish I could see more from back in the bay.”
“I could link you to my target designators.” Chad offered.
“You can do that?” Ben asked.
“Sure,” Chad answered, “just open to the links like you would to link up with a ship. I’ll
turn on the link and you should see my firefly in the list. Then you can target on anything my
designators are set on.”
“Ya, got it.” Ben came back, “Great, you find me the targets, and I’ll take them out.”
“Ok, I’ll see what I can find for you.” Chad answered. I might be worth something even if
I just sit around in the junk, Chad thought. Slowly he scrolled through the list of sensors
available, more surprised by the moment, he tried several of the sensors. Damn, Chad thought,
what kind of recon unit was this? I never saw sensors like this in any Firefly. This has the
capability of one of the big ships. How the heck did they fit all that in a Firefly? “Ben, you should
see the list of sensors in this thing. It must have been some, one off, recon special.” Wonder what
this one is, it says full field stealth mode, never heard of that. Chad reached out to the console
screen and engaged the mode.
Ben blinked........... What the hell?? “Captain, Chad’s gone,” Ben yelled, “he was right in
front of me and he’s............... just gone.”

[Zeratul2k]

Ah, the introduction of the stealth mode, so very cool :D

Keep it up!

[Hiki]

OH MAI O___O He disappeared D:

Short chapters are better (at least for me they are.. else I get the urge to just say TL;DR.. XD)

[oldwrench]

Alright, I'll work on short. Here's CH7 pretty short.

Chapter 7

Chad froze, he couldn’t even scream. Chad felt sick as he fought panic and vertigo, his
mech was gone, he was floating in open space, not even his helmet between him and infinity.
Chad flailed around, shear terror gripping him, he only had seconds to live in the vacuum of
space. His arm slammed into something, he looked down at the main console...... or rather, the
ghost of the console. It was almost invisible in his panic, a ghostly image. In desperation Chad
reached for it and saw a ghostly arm reach out, after several long and sickening seconds, Chad
realized the arm was his own....... he found the right line and disengaged the full field function.

Dominic spun his mech around, “What do you mean, gone?” He was surprised to see
Ben’s big Lancer, but no sign of the Firefly. “What happened?”
“He was right there,” Ben answered, “Then he just disappeared....... or am I going nuts?
He was right in front of me, right ...............there??” Chad’s Firefly appeared between them,
just as suddenly as it had vanished. If Ben had been religious he would have crossed himself.
Rose was..... and she did.
“Oh lord.... is that thing a ghost.......... or devil?” Rose asked, shocked by what she’d seen.
“Chad, where the hell were you??” Ben called
“Damn,” Dominic got excited, “I heard they were working on cloaking, but that it wasn’t
working right yet.”

Chad sat stiffly, back in the safety of his mech. He drew deep harsh breaths, his heart
pounding so hard it hurt. “What was that?” He cried out, to no one. “What the HELL was that?”
His mind was having trouble rationalizing what he had seen. It couldn’t happen, but he’d seen it,
he’d been floating naked in space..... No, wait, he couldn’t have been, he hadn’t felt any affects
from the vacuum. No, there were no bad effects, and the console, it was there, and his arm. Wait,
his arm, it had been like a ghosts arm, he could see through.............. Virtual reality, it had to be
VR. Slowly he noticed Ben’s voice.
“Chad, hey Chad, you ok? How’d you disappear like that? Chad, you hear me? Where
did you go?”
“I didn’t go anywhere, I’m right here, right in front of you.” Chad answered in a shaky
voice.
“Alright, we have a secret weapon,” Dominic told them. “Don’t tell anyone about that
cloaking, we can use that. When you get to the debris field, turn that cloaking back on, Chad.
You can tell us every move they make, and they’ll never know you’re there. Everybody get to
your posts now.” The group drifted up to the abandoned station and moved into position for their
defense.
Chad moved out to a cluster of debris. Cloaking, did the stealth part mean cloaking? They
hadn’t been able to see him, even right up close, but did it hide him from other sensors? This
could be amazing, but, that was the most frightening thing in his life. Was it more than he could
stand? He made sure he was in position to see the other groups as they emerged from the ship.
Chad looked down at the screen, there was the full field stealth mode, but could he engage that
system again? Chad fought down the fear.

[oldwrench]

Well, back again, I just remembered to use italics when it's peoples thoughts. It's another bit shorter chapter. Hope you enjoy it.

Chapter 8

Two people meet in a corridor of the EDF marshaling yard at Tycho moon base.
Male voice, “I just heard the Krikav is going to run a some training before they leave.”
Female voice, “Damn that Daniel, I should have known he's be overly cautious. It's too
early, they weren't supposed to find out till they were out on the mission. Now it'll come back to
us.”
Male voice, “Don't get bent, they can't trace it. Clerical error, a couple numbers changed,
he got an old junker that R&D were using. Nothing suspicious about a few more "problems" on
one of those.”
Female voice, “But that ruins the plans, he'll just abort and take it back, they'll check
everything over and repair it.”
Male voice, “No sweat, let them check, I left a few extra surprises.”
Female voice, “You better be right, this damn well better not come back to us. Damn
gang members, they should just kill them all, save us all the trouble.”
Male voice, “Not a chance.” Ya, Danny boy, you'll get yours.

Georgianna pulled her Mech behind Green Giant group ready for launch. The events of
the past hour still souring her mood. Damn them, she thought, why does my group go last. Just
like a the rest of the men, Hellwind puts a woman’s command last. Damn that Crichton, why do I
let him bug me like that. I should just shoot that jerk.
Arisa pulled up behind Georgianna. She looked over the controls and readouts of her big
Lancer. She knew she could do this, she was a good pilot. She’d learned well, now to prove it.
She sighed as she looked at Georgianna’s mech. Her captain was a strong soldier, a strong
woman. She’d handled that John with no effort at all. She stood up to men without backing
down. Arisa thought of Kirk, and wished she had the guts to do that, instead, she always ran
away.

Aiden jerked alert when he noticed Yuki telling him to launch his squad. He’d been
spacing out again. Where did his mind go at those times......... he couldn’t remember. Aiden
ordered his group to launch.

Chad was stalling, not ready to try the special sensor mode. He pulled up some diagnostic
logs. No wonder the mech was hard to handle, the main thruster was a few degrees off. Chad wrote
a script in the software to compensate. The hydraulics were having problems too, pressure
dropped every time he moved fast. Maybe he should abort........ No, they were depending on him,
he’d have to trust the cloaking.
Dominic called Chad, “Hey, maybe you should turn on that cloaking. You need to be
invisible when the others come out.”
Chad looked at the console, then answered, “ya......... I guess I should......... it’s just.....”
“Is there something wrong, Chad?” Rose asked, “Since you used that cloaking, you
sound......well, agitated. Is there a problem.”
Chad hesitated, “ No.... , not really......... well, it’s just, the sensor system. Ah..... have
you ever thought what it would be like to be shoved out an airlock? That thing’s the scariest thing
I’ve ever seen....... darn, they’re coming out, no more time..
What the heck did he mean? Dominic wondered. Thrown out an airlock?
Chad looked down at the console, he engaged the full field stealth mode.

[oldwrench]

Another short Chapter for you.

Chapter 9

Outside the ship, John moved close to Megumi’s Thunderbird. “That looks good on you,
Megumi.” John laughed. “Hey, stick with me sweetheart, and I’ll show you how it’s done. They
won’t last five minutes. Say, this is supposed to emphasize team bonding. After we get done with
the practice, how about you stick with me and we can practice some real team bonding.”
Megumi giggled, “in your dreams, big guy.” He’s definitely had a few to many swallows
from his bottle, Megumi thought. He’s getting to forward.
“That’s enough of that, Crichton,” Aiden broke in, “You’re with me. Megumi, you’re
with Harcourt.”
John sulked, “Aw, you’re wrecking all my fun, cap.”
Aiden started to get angry. “Straighten up, Crichton, or you’ll be spending the mission in
the brig. I’ll only take so much.”
John sat stiff in his mech. I’ve got to get hold of myself, he thought, or I’ll get into real
trouble. “Sorry captain,” He replied, “I was just trying to have a little fun.”
“Right,” Aiden came back, “keep it very little for now.”

Georgianna looked over the map of the station on her main screen when Aiden hailed her.
“CaptainMcFairlane, I think we need to discuss our strategy,” Aiden said, “I’d like
to......”
“I’ll decide my own strategy,” Georgianna broke in, “You aren’t my superior, I don’t
have to follow you’re orders. Just take care of your own group.” Georgianna turned to her group
and lead them out to the sunward side of the station.
Aiden watched her leave. What was her problem? He was just going to ask for her
suggestions, and try to co-ordinate their attacks.

Chad stiffened, he held his breath, again it seemed he was sitting naked in space. Chad
forced himself to breath, tried to relax. He looked around, yes, the console was there, and the
com and weapons boards too, just a bit hard to see. The mech was all around him, like some
ephemeral ghost. He lifted a ghostly hand before his face and raised his visor, The solid mech
was there beyond his visor. Chad resealed his visor. So that was it, virtual reality, the whole visor
was a high tech, heads up display. He could do this, he just had to fight down the fear of the
illusion.
Chad looked at the mechs emerging from the Krikav, tiny specks at this distance. He
pushed up the magnification........ and almost got sick from vertigo. Holy crap did this thing have
powerful magnification. Everything rushed at him, and he wound up looking as if he were inches
in front of the face of Captain Georgianna’s Thunderbird. Chad forced himself to relax, and
slowly backed down the magnification till he had what he wanted.
While Chad waited he scrolled through the unusually large list of sensors. Man, is this
the jackpot, everything from UV to infrared and lots more, radar, magnetic, gravity flux, radio
emission. This thing has sensors like a full battle cruiser. I never saw this much in any other
mech. Chad chose a combination of several sensors and watched as Red Pheonix group moved
out beyond the debris field to the sunward side.

[Zeratul2k]

Nice, nice, nice! I want to see the action!

[Hiki]

Three chapters O___O Oh mai... Three very nice chapters I might add :3

[oldwrench]

Thanks Hiki, and Zera. Yes, next chapter gets into the fight, so more action. Who gets knocked off first?

[Hiki]

Yay~! Action! :3