5 minutes...... oldwrench tries story telling
Re: 5 minutes...... oldwrench tries story telling
due to looking for cute girls.......... and all the stuff SHE has me doing, I didn't get that on the way yet. I will this weekend though, we're supposed to get a blizzard tomorrow.
Dogs have owners, Cats have staff
Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.
Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.
Re: 5 minutes...... oldwrench tries story telling
I did send the chapters, and I'm working on 61, I promise more action in this chapter.
Dogs have owners, Cats have staff
Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.
Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.
Re: 5 minutes...... oldwrench tries story telling
Back with the promised chapter. Things are heating up, literally. How long can the Krikav survive against the mighty weapon? How many will survive, if any at all. But wait, will Rydia actually fire, sill she turn against everything she stands for? Where is the peace and freedom that Edward promised her? Things are looking grim. Can colonel Hellwind find some way to prevent the second colonial war? Will Georgianna let poor little Arisa chose her own friends? Time for the next exciting chapter.
Chapter 61
Chad heard a grinding screech that reverberated through the ship’s hull. Everything went
black. He sat stunned as seconds later emergency lights cast their eery glow through the room.
An attack, was all he could think of as he started to get up to rush to his mech. Chad lost his
footing and grabbed awkwardly for a handhold as the inertial gravity generators wound down. He
launched himself off the edge of the desk, across the room, toward his waiting mech.
Colonel Hellwind was momentarily blinded by the flash of the plasma, When he
recovered the bridge was dark except for the light reflected from the surface of Mar Sara. He lost
his footing and grabbed for a handhold as the gravity generator failed. “Yuki! Get us out of
here.” He yelled. “Yuki!” But the controller sat rigid in her seat, unresponsive.
Aidan launched himself across the room to Yuki’s chair, he looked over the girl.
“Something’s wrong, Dan, she isn’t responding. It’s like she’s in a trance.”
“I can see that,” Dan growled as he pulled himself into the seat next to Yuki. He took
hold of the Krikav’s manual controls and tried to turn the ship. “Damn, nothing’s working. Can
you get me a damage report.”
Aidan moved back to the monitor screens. “Back up power is coming on, I can get a
report. The shields are gone, power unit two is offline, thrusters three and four are down....”
“Tell me about it,” the colonel muttered as he struggled with the controls. The back up
power had brought the thrusters online, but with two not functioning, the thrust vector was trying
to spin the ship.
“Right,” Aidan returned as he fought against the acceleration. “Inertial dampers are out,
don’t push too hard or you’ll crush everyone.”
“You try to fly this thing,” Dan growled as he struggled to keep the ship from yawing out
of control. Suddenly a small hand reached past him and pulled two fiber cables from the control
panel. Dan turned and saw Ryoko connect the two cables to sockets hidden behind her ears. The
ship soon straightened out and the acceleration eased to tolerable levels.
“I will take over flight control, sir. I will be able to operate the ship, but I will not have all
functions available”. Ryoko stated.
Chad awkwardly caught himself on the platform railing in front of the Ghost. He swore as
he twisted himself through the railing and launched toward the cockpit. Chad didn’t like zero-g.
He scrambled into the pilots chair and belted in. He slammed on his helmet as Ghost’s systems
booted up. “Ghost, release the locks, go to full sensor mode, stealth on and weapons on standby.”
Chad reached up to seal his helmet down, then realized his flight suit still hung on the platform
next to the mech. He swore again, he didn’t have time to get out and don the flight suit, if his
mech was damaged and lost air pressure.......... He had to chance it. Chad used his maneuvering
jets to hurry toward the launch air lock. He had to quickly compensate as auxiliary power came
on and the ship accelerated. At least, auxiliary power would mean he didn’t have to manually
operate the air lock. Chad cycled the lock and launched Ghost into space.
Dominic and Louis struggled with the manual controls on the ready room door. The
system had never been used and now was causing difficulties. The door began to move when the
power came on. Sudden acceleration threw them back into Ben, and all three were crushed
against the back wall. The three men struggled out into the hanger just in time to see the airlock
cycle shut, on nothing. “That must be Ross,” Dominic yelled as they fought their way to their
machines. “He must have his cloaking on.”
Rydia looked at her screens in horror. It couldn’t be, that wasn’t supposed to happen. The
ship had moved at the last second. Rydia knew she’d moved the aiming point off of the ship, she
was just going to scare them, to show them the power of her Atropos, but they’d moved, and now
she’d ht the ship. She’d killed them.
“You stupid fool!” Came loudly over the Atropos com. “You missed! You have to
destroy them. There can’t be any survivors.” It was the voice of that sleazy little man. Rydia
knew then that she hated him. “No.....no,” she called back, “I hit them, the display shows, I hit
them.” Rydia had tears in her eyes, she didn’t want to be a killer, but now she had, and now that
ugly man wanted her to kill more men.
“You idiot,” Kirk screamed, “You just damaged them, you have to fire again, you have to
kill them all...............” Edward slammed into Kirk, pushing him away from the communicator,
knocking him to the floor. “Shut up,” he snarled at Kirk, “are you trying to ruin everything?” Ed
turned to the communicator. “You did cause some damage to them, Rydia, but you haven’t
disabled their ship. They’re still a grave danger to the colonists. They’ll be like a wounded
animal, angry and vicious. They still have their nuclear weapons, They can destroy the planet.”
You have to try again Rydia.”
Rydia looked up at the aiming point on the screen, she centered it on the Krikav. She had
to fire again, Edward said they were still dangerous, that they would still attack. She felt the tears
run down her face as she put her finger on the firing button.
Arisa swung her door open and launched into the corridor with the easy grace of someone
use to zero-g. She almost ran into Megumi, who was hurrying down the passage. She joined the
asian girl and headed toward the hangar. “What happened?” She asked. “I was almost asleep and
it jerked me awake.”
“Maybe we were hit by one of the asteroids.” Megumi answered, hopefully. “I was just at
the observation port a little while ago and we were pretty close to those rocks.” The bulkhead
door to the starboard passage was closed, Megumi tried to open it.
“I wouldn’t bet on it,” John said as he came up behind them. “If it were a rock, Yuki
could have avoided it.” John slid around the girls and opened the panel to the manual door
control. He tried to move the control but it refused to move. John looked in the control opening.
“Damn, there’s vacuum in the passage, the hull’s been compromised. We have to go the long
way around.” Megumi and Arisa both paled, it hadn’t been many minutes since either one of
them had been in the starboard observation area.. They started in the opposite direction when the
back wall suddenly became “down”. They struggled along fighting the crushing weight.
Chad lifted Ghost away from the Krikav. He tried to look in all directions. “Ghost, give
me tactical, full scan sweep......... Where are they?”
“A full sensor sweep is in progress, Chad” Ghost’s pleasant voice informed him as the
tactical display appeared in front of him. “No enemy units have been detected in effective sensor
range.”
“Then where are they? Where did they fire from?” Chad demanded, though he knew
Ghost wouldn’t have that information. He called on the com, “Yuki, where are they? Where did
they fire from?” Chad circled around to the starboard side of the Kirikav. He was shocked at the
damage. The bulging observation ports had been sheared off as if by a knife. The starboard warp
drive nacelle was gone and the engineering deck left open to space. Chad heard and unfamiliar
voice come over the com. “I will attempt to determine the point of origin and type of weapon.”
the voice answered. “What? Who is this? Where’s Yuki?” Chad asked.
“I am Ryoko, controller of the Ticonderoga,” Ryoko answered. “Yuki is unresponsive at
this time. The weapon was a plasma beam, point of origin is on the planet surface directly below
our present position.”
“It can’t be,” Chad told her, “beam cannons don’t work in atmosphere.” The beam
cannons of the EDF used light ions, and had a very limited range in the dense atmosphere of a
planet. A heavy ion cannon might do it, but it would take enormous amounts of energy. The
machine would be huge, unless there was some breakthrough in technology........ But, these were
just miners, not a weapons lab.
“Nevertheless that is correct,” Ryoko assured him. “I will send exact co-ordinates to your
system.”
Chad looked down through the layers of swirling asteroids as the Krikav moved away.
“I’ll try to gather some intel on the weapon. I’ll send a report as soon as I have something.” Chad
moved down into the thin area in the asteroid layers. He had to be careful, there were still a lot of
rocks moving through the gap.
Rydia tensed as she started to squeeze the firing button. She didn’t want to be a killer, but
she had to.
Chapter 61
Chad heard a grinding screech that reverberated through the ship’s hull. Everything went
black. He sat stunned as seconds later emergency lights cast their eery glow through the room.
An attack, was all he could think of as he started to get up to rush to his mech. Chad lost his
footing and grabbed awkwardly for a handhold as the inertial gravity generators wound down. He
launched himself off the edge of the desk, across the room, toward his waiting mech.
Colonel Hellwind was momentarily blinded by the flash of the plasma, When he
recovered the bridge was dark except for the light reflected from the surface of Mar Sara. He lost
his footing and grabbed for a handhold as the gravity generator failed. “Yuki! Get us out of
here.” He yelled. “Yuki!” But the controller sat rigid in her seat, unresponsive.
Aidan launched himself across the room to Yuki’s chair, he looked over the girl.
“Something’s wrong, Dan, she isn’t responding. It’s like she’s in a trance.”
“I can see that,” Dan growled as he pulled himself into the seat next to Yuki. He took
hold of the Krikav’s manual controls and tried to turn the ship. “Damn, nothing’s working. Can
you get me a damage report.”
Aidan moved back to the monitor screens. “Back up power is coming on, I can get a
report. The shields are gone, power unit two is offline, thrusters three and four are down....”
“Tell me about it,” the colonel muttered as he struggled with the controls. The back up
power had brought the thrusters online, but with two not functioning, the thrust vector was trying
to spin the ship.
“Right,” Aidan returned as he fought against the acceleration. “Inertial dampers are out,
don’t push too hard or you’ll crush everyone.”
“You try to fly this thing,” Dan growled as he struggled to keep the ship from yawing out
of control. Suddenly a small hand reached past him and pulled two fiber cables from the control
panel. Dan turned and saw Ryoko connect the two cables to sockets hidden behind her ears. The
ship soon straightened out and the acceleration eased to tolerable levels.
“I will take over flight control, sir. I will be able to operate the ship, but I will not have all
functions available”. Ryoko stated.
Chad awkwardly caught himself on the platform railing in front of the Ghost. He swore as
he twisted himself through the railing and launched toward the cockpit. Chad didn’t like zero-g.
He scrambled into the pilots chair and belted in. He slammed on his helmet as Ghost’s systems
booted up. “Ghost, release the locks, go to full sensor mode, stealth on and weapons on standby.”
Chad reached up to seal his helmet down, then realized his flight suit still hung on the platform
next to the mech. He swore again, he didn’t have time to get out and don the flight suit, if his
mech was damaged and lost air pressure.......... He had to chance it. Chad used his maneuvering
jets to hurry toward the launch air lock. He had to quickly compensate as auxiliary power came
on and the ship accelerated. At least, auxiliary power would mean he didn’t have to manually
operate the air lock. Chad cycled the lock and launched Ghost into space.
Dominic and Louis struggled with the manual controls on the ready room door. The
system had never been used and now was causing difficulties. The door began to move when the
power came on. Sudden acceleration threw them back into Ben, and all three were crushed
against the back wall. The three men struggled out into the hanger just in time to see the airlock
cycle shut, on nothing. “That must be Ross,” Dominic yelled as they fought their way to their
machines. “He must have his cloaking on.”
Rydia looked at her screens in horror. It couldn’t be, that wasn’t supposed to happen. The
ship had moved at the last second. Rydia knew she’d moved the aiming point off of the ship, she
was just going to scare them, to show them the power of her Atropos, but they’d moved, and now
she’d ht the ship. She’d killed them.
“You stupid fool!” Came loudly over the Atropos com. “You missed! You have to
destroy them. There can’t be any survivors.” It was the voice of that sleazy little man. Rydia
knew then that she hated him. “No.....no,” she called back, “I hit them, the display shows, I hit
them.” Rydia had tears in her eyes, she didn’t want to be a killer, but now she had, and now that
ugly man wanted her to kill more men.
“You idiot,” Kirk screamed, “You just damaged them, you have to fire again, you have to
kill them all...............” Edward slammed into Kirk, pushing him away from the communicator,
knocking him to the floor. “Shut up,” he snarled at Kirk, “are you trying to ruin everything?” Ed
turned to the communicator. “You did cause some damage to them, Rydia, but you haven’t
disabled their ship. They’re still a grave danger to the colonists. They’ll be like a wounded
animal, angry and vicious. They still have their nuclear weapons, They can destroy the planet.”
You have to try again Rydia.”
Rydia looked up at the aiming point on the screen, she centered it on the Krikav. She had
to fire again, Edward said they were still dangerous, that they would still attack. She felt the tears
run down her face as she put her finger on the firing button.
Arisa swung her door open and launched into the corridor with the easy grace of someone
use to zero-g. She almost ran into Megumi, who was hurrying down the passage. She joined the
asian girl and headed toward the hangar. “What happened?” She asked. “I was almost asleep and
it jerked me awake.”
“Maybe we were hit by one of the asteroids.” Megumi answered, hopefully. “I was just at
the observation port a little while ago and we were pretty close to those rocks.” The bulkhead
door to the starboard passage was closed, Megumi tried to open it.
“I wouldn’t bet on it,” John said as he came up behind them. “If it were a rock, Yuki
could have avoided it.” John slid around the girls and opened the panel to the manual door
control. He tried to move the control but it refused to move. John looked in the control opening.
“Damn, there’s vacuum in the passage, the hull’s been compromised. We have to go the long
way around.” Megumi and Arisa both paled, it hadn’t been many minutes since either one of
them had been in the starboard observation area.. They started in the opposite direction when the
back wall suddenly became “down”. They struggled along fighting the crushing weight.
Chad lifted Ghost away from the Krikav. He tried to look in all directions. “Ghost, give
me tactical, full scan sweep......... Where are they?”
“A full sensor sweep is in progress, Chad” Ghost’s pleasant voice informed him as the
tactical display appeared in front of him. “No enemy units have been detected in effective sensor
range.”
“Then where are they? Where did they fire from?” Chad demanded, though he knew
Ghost wouldn’t have that information. He called on the com, “Yuki, where are they? Where did
they fire from?” Chad circled around to the starboard side of the Kirikav. He was shocked at the
damage. The bulging observation ports had been sheared off as if by a knife. The starboard warp
drive nacelle was gone and the engineering deck left open to space. Chad heard and unfamiliar
voice come over the com. “I will attempt to determine the point of origin and type of weapon.”
the voice answered. “What? Who is this? Where’s Yuki?” Chad asked.
“I am Ryoko, controller of the Ticonderoga,” Ryoko answered. “Yuki is unresponsive at
this time. The weapon was a plasma beam, point of origin is on the planet surface directly below
our present position.”
“It can’t be,” Chad told her, “beam cannons don’t work in atmosphere.” The beam
cannons of the EDF used light ions, and had a very limited range in the dense atmosphere of a
planet. A heavy ion cannon might do it, but it would take enormous amounts of energy. The
machine would be huge, unless there was some breakthrough in technology........ But, these were
just miners, not a weapons lab.
“Nevertheless that is correct,” Ryoko assured him. “I will send exact co-ordinates to your
system.”
Chad looked down through the layers of swirling asteroids as the Krikav moved away.
“I’ll try to gather some intel on the weapon. I’ll send a report as soon as I have something.” Chad
moved down into the thin area in the asteroid layers. He had to be careful, there were still a lot of
rocks moving through the gap.
Rydia tensed as she started to squeeze the firing button. She didn’t want to be a killer, but
she had to.
Dogs have owners, Cats have staff
Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.
Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.
Re: 5 minutes...... oldwrench tries story telling
Well, I finally finished another chapter. Between writers cramp and brain fade things have been a bit slow. I hope I can get more of this done a bit faster.
Looks like the Kirkav is on the run, their defenses are down and only Ghost is left to defend the ship. The others better hurry and get their mechs ready. Those guys from the Red Faction sound really nasty, and Rydia has her finger on the firing button of that powerful weapon. Can the Krikav survive? Can the colonel find a way to defuse the situation before the fleet comes and destroys the planet? Will the mysterious leaders of the Red Faction get their way and start a new colonial war? Stay tuned for the next thrilling chapter of 5 Minutes.
Chapter 62
Captain Dominic Torres led Blue Dragon group out of the launch air lock. Louis and Ben
were close behind him. They spread out around the ship and searched for the enemy. “Ghost,
where are they?” Dominic called out. “Chad!....... Damn it, are they cloaked? Where are they?”
Chad’s reply came through full of static noise caused by the shielding asteroids. “There
aren’t any. The shot came from the surface. I’m going to the lower asteroid belt to do recon. I’ll
send it as soon as possible.”
“What the hell?” Dom yelled. “That’s not possible, Chad. Get back up here and make a
sensor sweep of the area..”
“Lieutenant Ross is correct,” Ryoko’s voice came over the com, “The shot originated on
the planet surface. Ghost’s sensors did not find any enemy units within detection range.”
“The planet!?” Dom questioned. “What kind of weapon have they got down there?
Maybe we should follow Chad down. If he can locate it, we could take it out.”
“What co-ordinates do you wish as a destination, sir?” Ryoko asked the colonel.
“Just get us away from that weapon,” the colonel told her, then realized he needed to give
her more direction than that. “Put us behind the biggest rock you can find.” Dan looked up at the
screens. “There, that moon, stop behind that moon. We can use it as a shield.”
Aidan looked up from the tactical station. “Blue Dragon has launched, Dan. They’re still
down near the asteroid belts, and falling behind. We should get them back up with the ship. If
there are any enemy units, they would be hiding in the asteroids. We could lose the group if
they’re attacked.”
“Right,” Daniel turned to the communicator, “Blue Dragon, form up with the Krikav,
defensive positions.” He turned to Ryoko, “I want full sensor sweeps, maximum range. If there’s
an ambush, I want to be able to launch the rest of the units.”
“There are non standard sensor system protocols, sir.” Ryoko informed him. “I am not
familiar with the code. I am uncertain weather to implement it.”
“Non standard? What do you mean? The sensors were working fine before.” Dan asked,
confused.
“That could be the software Yuki modified from Ghost’s sensors.” Aidan stated as he
remembered the incident with the ship’s controller. “Just try using it, Ryoko,”
“Unable to comply,” Ryoko told them flatly. “The key to the new system code must be in
Yuki’s memory. I will revert to standard system protocol.”
Dominic’s voice broke in over the com unit, “Sir, permission requested to take Blue
Dragon in to the planet surface. We could take out whatever kind of cannon they have down
there.”
“Permission denied, captain,” the colonel replied. “Get your men back to the ship. We
can’t risk losing more mechs,. We have to get reenforcements. I want a defensive formation
around the Krikav. I want Ross to keep watch, in case they send those cloaked mechs.”
“Ross went down to the lower asteroid levels to try to get some recon on the weapon,”
Com called back. “We could go down and bring him back.”
“No!” Colonel Hellwind almost shouted. “Order him to return, then get your group back
to the ship. I want you in defensive positions, now.”
Chad fought his way down through the gap between the bands of speeding asteroids.
Each successive layer moved in a different direction and a different speed. This area where there
was a relatively clear space down through the layers wasn’t very large. Only a few hundred feet
across, and not completely devoid of speeding rocks. Each layer that he traversed seemed to have
it’s own unique gravity pattern. Chad had to constantly be alert for directional changes as he
descended. Even being careful, several rocks had banged off the suit’s armor. Luckily they had
been small and mostly harmless. Chad finally emerged into the lower layer, this layer was thicker
than the others, but the rocks were more spread out. He had to carefully dodge rocks as he started
taking pictures and video. That looked like some kind of facility in the mountain range, perhaps a
base of some kind. Chad zoomed up the magnification, now he just needed to find that weapon.
There was an odd looking mech down there. Not one like the EDF used, maybe it was some kind
of mining unit, except it was holding a gun of some kind. Well, that couldn’t be the weapon, It
would have to be a lot larger than even a Lancer could carry. Chad looked around the area. It
definitely was the base of some kind of military. There were anti-aircraft gun emplacements, and
what appeared to be camouflaged tanks. Could the pirates have set up a base here? But where
was that super cannon? Chad turned his attention back to the center of the valley and that mech
standing near the entrances built into the valley walls. There was movement out of one of the
entrances just to the side of the mech. That looked like............ but that couldn’t be! “HOLY
SH–!!” Chad exclaimed as he made sure the cameras were recording this. In his startled state,
Chad missed Ghost’s warning, the big rock hit the suit hard. It took long seconds for Chad to get
his wits back and by then he and Ghost were being rapidly pushed away from the mountain base.
Dominic struggled with his convictions. He had to obey orders, but if they didn’t stop
this, the EDF fleet would come and it could be Tarsonis all over again. If the miners had built
some big rail gun or some kind of cannon, all he had to do was damage it and it could end their
rebellion. He made his decision. Dom turned on a direct link to Ben, “Ben, you and Louis get
into formation with the Krikav. I’m going to go down and try to get Chad.”
“But cap, we’re ordered to leave Ross and return to the ship.” Ben warned him. “I don’t
like it either but......”
“There must be some kind of communication failure, I didn’t catch their last order.”
Dominic told Ben. “Just get back to the ship. I don’t want you getting in trouble.”
Dominic turned and headed down into the gap in the asteroid belts. He ignored the call
from the colonel that he turn around and return to the ship. He fought his way down through the
changing gravity gradients and dangerous speeding asteroids. As he reached the lowest level he
called out, “Chad, where are you? I know you’re down here.” Dominic waited a few moments,
but didn’t get a reply. “Damn it Ross, answer.” He started to worry, had something happened to
Chad?
Chad was a bit rattled from the impact, he turned and attached the Ghost’s grapples to the
big rock and started to check his systems when he caught the call from his captain.
Communication was not good here in the asteroids. The action of the rocks and the energy used
to hold them in their orbits caused too much break up in the signal and Ghost’s com antenna had
been damaged by the rocks. Chad answered, “Captain, I got hit by a rock. It’s pushing me away
from your position.”
Dominic’s com did it’s best to assemble the broken signal from Chad’s mech. He figured
Ghost must be having problems with it’s com transmitter, but, he got the picture, Ghost hit a rock
and was pushed away. “How bad is the damage?” Dominic called back, “Can you make it back to
the Krikav?” He got a broken reply, it didn’t seem that Ghost was too bad off. Chad should be
alright on his own. “Did you find out anything? What kind of intel did you get?” He waited a few
moments, hoping Chad had some information for him.
Chad’s receiver was working well enough to get almost every word. When his captain
asked about the damage to Ghost. Chad reported that he didn’t think there was any major
damage, but he hadn’t done a system check yet. After a few moments, the captain asked him what
his recon had discovered. Chad sent several pictures along with a message. “Their base is right
below us, it’s heavily defended. The big mech in the picture is their weapon.”
Dominic looked at what the computers could assemble from the bits of the message they
received. There were a couple incomplete pictures of some simple looking mech with a gun of
some kind. The message he got looked like, “Base.....right below..... defended.....Mech...... their
weapon....” So, he thought, their weapon is defended by that mech, This should be a piece of
cake, just take out that mech, find that weapon and stuff it full of rocks. “Chad, get back to the
ship, I’ll take care of this.” He ordered his lieutenant. No use in getting Chad involved in this.
Dominic plotted a course and dropped toward the planet. Even if the colonel called for the fleet,
there wouldn’t be a reason to attack the planet. He’d make sure of that.
Looks like the Kirkav is on the run, their defenses are down and only Ghost is left to defend the ship. The others better hurry and get their mechs ready. Those guys from the Red Faction sound really nasty, and Rydia has her finger on the firing button of that powerful weapon. Can the Krikav survive? Can the colonel find a way to defuse the situation before the fleet comes and destroys the planet? Will the mysterious leaders of the Red Faction get their way and start a new colonial war? Stay tuned for the next thrilling chapter of 5 Minutes.
Chapter 62
Captain Dominic Torres led Blue Dragon group out of the launch air lock. Louis and Ben
were close behind him. They spread out around the ship and searched for the enemy. “Ghost,
where are they?” Dominic called out. “Chad!....... Damn it, are they cloaked? Where are they?”
Chad’s reply came through full of static noise caused by the shielding asteroids. “There
aren’t any. The shot came from the surface. I’m going to the lower asteroid belt to do recon. I’ll
send it as soon as possible.”
“What the hell?” Dom yelled. “That’s not possible, Chad. Get back up here and make a
sensor sweep of the area..”
“Lieutenant Ross is correct,” Ryoko’s voice came over the com, “The shot originated on
the planet surface. Ghost’s sensors did not find any enemy units within detection range.”
“The planet!?” Dom questioned. “What kind of weapon have they got down there?
Maybe we should follow Chad down. If he can locate it, we could take it out.”
“What co-ordinates do you wish as a destination, sir?” Ryoko asked the colonel.
“Just get us away from that weapon,” the colonel told her, then realized he needed to give
her more direction than that. “Put us behind the biggest rock you can find.” Dan looked up at the
screens. “There, that moon, stop behind that moon. We can use it as a shield.”
Aidan looked up from the tactical station. “Blue Dragon has launched, Dan. They’re still
down near the asteroid belts, and falling behind. We should get them back up with the ship. If
there are any enemy units, they would be hiding in the asteroids. We could lose the group if
they’re attacked.”
“Right,” Daniel turned to the communicator, “Blue Dragon, form up with the Krikav,
defensive positions.” He turned to Ryoko, “I want full sensor sweeps, maximum range. If there’s
an ambush, I want to be able to launch the rest of the units.”
“There are non standard sensor system protocols, sir.” Ryoko informed him. “I am not
familiar with the code. I am uncertain weather to implement it.”
“Non standard? What do you mean? The sensors were working fine before.” Dan asked,
confused.
“That could be the software Yuki modified from Ghost’s sensors.” Aidan stated as he
remembered the incident with the ship’s controller. “Just try using it, Ryoko,”
“Unable to comply,” Ryoko told them flatly. “The key to the new system code must be in
Yuki’s memory. I will revert to standard system protocol.”
Dominic’s voice broke in over the com unit, “Sir, permission requested to take Blue
Dragon in to the planet surface. We could take out whatever kind of cannon they have down
there.”
“Permission denied, captain,” the colonel replied. “Get your men back to the ship. We
can’t risk losing more mechs,. We have to get reenforcements. I want a defensive formation
around the Krikav. I want Ross to keep watch, in case they send those cloaked mechs.”
“Ross went down to the lower asteroid levels to try to get some recon on the weapon,”
Com called back. “We could go down and bring him back.”
“No!” Colonel Hellwind almost shouted. “Order him to return, then get your group back
to the ship. I want you in defensive positions, now.”
Chad fought his way down through the gap between the bands of speeding asteroids.
Each successive layer moved in a different direction and a different speed. This area where there
was a relatively clear space down through the layers wasn’t very large. Only a few hundred feet
across, and not completely devoid of speeding rocks. Each layer that he traversed seemed to have
it’s own unique gravity pattern. Chad had to constantly be alert for directional changes as he
descended. Even being careful, several rocks had banged off the suit’s armor. Luckily they had
been small and mostly harmless. Chad finally emerged into the lower layer, this layer was thicker
than the others, but the rocks were more spread out. He had to carefully dodge rocks as he started
taking pictures and video. That looked like some kind of facility in the mountain range, perhaps a
base of some kind. Chad zoomed up the magnification, now he just needed to find that weapon.
There was an odd looking mech down there. Not one like the EDF used, maybe it was some kind
of mining unit, except it was holding a gun of some kind. Well, that couldn’t be the weapon, It
would have to be a lot larger than even a Lancer could carry. Chad looked around the area. It
definitely was the base of some kind of military. There were anti-aircraft gun emplacements, and
what appeared to be camouflaged tanks. Could the pirates have set up a base here? But where
was that super cannon? Chad turned his attention back to the center of the valley and that mech
standing near the entrances built into the valley walls. There was movement out of one of the
entrances just to the side of the mech. That looked like............ but that couldn’t be! “HOLY
SH–!!” Chad exclaimed as he made sure the cameras were recording this. In his startled state,
Chad missed Ghost’s warning, the big rock hit the suit hard. It took long seconds for Chad to get
his wits back and by then he and Ghost were being rapidly pushed away from the mountain base.
Dominic struggled with his convictions. He had to obey orders, but if they didn’t stop
this, the EDF fleet would come and it could be Tarsonis all over again. If the miners had built
some big rail gun or some kind of cannon, all he had to do was damage it and it could end their
rebellion. He made his decision. Dom turned on a direct link to Ben, “Ben, you and Louis get
into formation with the Krikav. I’m going to go down and try to get Chad.”
“But cap, we’re ordered to leave Ross and return to the ship.” Ben warned him. “I don’t
like it either but......”
“There must be some kind of communication failure, I didn’t catch their last order.”
Dominic told Ben. “Just get back to the ship. I don’t want you getting in trouble.”
Dominic turned and headed down into the gap in the asteroid belts. He ignored the call
from the colonel that he turn around and return to the ship. He fought his way down through the
changing gravity gradients and dangerous speeding asteroids. As he reached the lowest level he
called out, “Chad, where are you? I know you’re down here.” Dominic waited a few moments,
but didn’t get a reply. “Damn it Ross, answer.” He started to worry, had something happened to
Chad?
Chad was a bit rattled from the impact, he turned and attached the Ghost’s grapples to the
big rock and started to check his systems when he caught the call from his captain.
Communication was not good here in the asteroids. The action of the rocks and the energy used
to hold them in their orbits caused too much break up in the signal and Ghost’s com antenna had
been damaged by the rocks. Chad answered, “Captain, I got hit by a rock. It’s pushing me away
from your position.”
Dominic’s com did it’s best to assemble the broken signal from Chad’s mech. He figured
Ghost must be having problems with it’s com transmitter, but, he got the picture, Ghost hit a rock
and was pushed away. “How bad is the damage?” Dominic called back, “Can you make it back to
the Krikav?” He got a broken reply, it didn’t seem that Ghost was too bad off. Chad should be
alright on his own. “Did you find out anything? What kind of intel did you get?” He waited a few
moments, hoping Chad had some information for him.
Chad’s receiver was working well enough to get almost every word. When his captain
asked about the damage to Ghost. Chad reported that he didn’t think there was any major
damage, but he hadn’t done a system check yet. After a few moments, the captain asked him what
his recon had discovered. Chad sent several pictures along with a message. “Their base is right
below us, it’s heavily defended. The big mech in the picture is their weapon.”
Dominic looked at what the computers could assemble from the bits of the message they
received. There were a couple incomplete pictures of some simple looking mech with a gun of
some kind. The message he got looked like, “Base.....right below..... defended.....Mech...... their
weapon....” So, he thought, their weapon is defended by that mech, This should be a piece of
cake, just take out that mech, find that weapon and stuff it full of rocks. “Chad, get back to the
ship, I’ll take care of this.” He ordered his lieutenant. No use in getting Chad involved in this.
Dominic plotted a course and dropped toward the planet. Even if the colonel called for the fleet,
there wouldn’t be a reason to attack the planet. He’d make sure of that.
Dogs have owners, Cats have staff
Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.
Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.
Re: 5 minutes...... oldwrench tries story telling
I had a good part of the next chapter done........ and I disappeared it........... ARRGH! Well, time to start again.
Dogs have owners, Cats have staff
Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.
Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.
Re: 5 minutes...... oldwrench tries story telling
Mreow how can that happen? Windows search ftm? (for the meow?)
What do you call a dinosaur with an extended vocabulary? A thesaurus.
Re: 5 minutes...... oldwrench tries story telling
It happens when you click the close button on my old Word Perfect and the accidentally click the "no" when it asks you to save changes............. and I did it again, this time it was only a couple paragraphs that I lost.
Dogs have owners, Cats have staff
Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.
Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.
Re: 5 minutes...... oldwrench tries story telling
Crap! I've been spammed.
I posted chapter 63 a few days ago.......... really, I did. At least, I thought I did. I've had so much trouble getting that chapter posted I'm beginning to think there's something wrong with it.
I'm Freezing my bunz off down here in the basement...... it was -10f last night and they say -20f tomorrow night.
I'm just going to post the chapter, I'm to tired and cold to think up any introduction......
Chapter 63
Rydia hesitated, she watched for long moments as the ship turned and started to move
away. She didn’t want to fire, they were running away, wasn’t that what she had wanted? Wasn’t
that what Edward had wanted? The power of her Atropos had frightened them, they would give
up now........ Wouldn’t they?
Edward’s voice came over her communicator, “Rydia, That ship is still a danger to the
colonists. You have to fire again, before they get away.” Rydia’s finger again tensed on the
trigger. She had to fire, they were a danger, Edward told her so. He wouldn’t ask her to do this if
it weren’t true............
Rydia stopped, and took her hand away from the firing controls. On the com, in the
background, she heard the voice of that disgusting little man. “You told me the bitch would
destroy the ship..... no survivors,” he screamed. “Make her fire...... kill them all!” The com
suddenly went silent, Rydia reached out and turned off the weapons systems. “I can’t fire,” Rydia
informed them. “I have to check over the weapon charging systems. I’m returning to the hangar.”
She turned Atropos back toward the big doors in the side of the mountain.
Arisa had plenty of experience in zero-g and in high acceleration on her father’s racing
yachts. She easily beat the others to the hangar deck and was donning her flight suit as the last of
Blue Dragon group cycled through the air lock. She quickly got into Keon and booted up the
systems going through a rapid combat readiness check. She saw the others getting into their flight
suits as she headed the big mech for the air lock. Finally, she was going to have a chance to prove
herself.
“Blue one, return to the ship.” Colonel Hellwind called on the com. “Damn it Torres, get
back here!” He yelled.
“I, ah, think he was having some com troubles, sir,” came Ben’s rather unconvincing
reply. “These rocks are kind of messing things up.”
“That’s bull sh–, lieutenant,” the colonel bit back. “Don’t try to lie to cover for him. He’s
disobeying orders.”
“Dan, red three just launched,” Aidan broke in from his tactical board. “The others are
starting up their mechs. Should I have them launch, or hold them in reserve?”
Colonel Hellwind spun around, “launch them. Set up a defensive box. If those cloaked
mechs attack now we’re in trouble. I want lieutenant Herman in charge. At least I can trust him to
follow orders. Where the hell is Ross? We need that mech’s sensors.”
“I am continuing to attempt to establish communication with lieutenant Ross, sir” Ryoko
informed him. “I have been unsuccessful so far.”
Daniel turned the pilot’s chair so Yuki was facing him. “Yuki, you have to wake up.” He
told her. “We need those sensors working if we’re going to make it through this.” He sighed,
She showed no sign of recognition. “Have you tried to reach her, Ryoko?”
“Yes sir,” the girl replied, “but all attempts have been unsuccessful. It appears her cyber
brain is caught in a fault loop and has caused her to enter a catatonic state. I believe it will take a
psychologist with her diagnostic code to reset her cyber brain functions. It does not appear likely
we will reach one in time.”
General Edward Geraldine was furious. He’d seen the readouts from the machine, the
weapon had been charged and ready to fire. He was certain it was Kirk’s ranting behind him that
had caused Rydia to shut the system down. If he didn’t need Kirk’s money so badly, he’d shoot
him on the spot. He gave Kirk a withering glance. “Shut up, Kirk. You’ve ruined the chance to
convince her to destroy them.” He turned back to the com unit, “Alright, Rydia, return to the
hangar. There are always bugs in a new system, I’m sure you’ll get them repaired.”
Edward turned to his subordinate, “colonel, how many Nightmares have you got left?”
“I have ten, being readied, at the launch port right now.” He answered. “I could have
them ready in a couple hours.”
“You have one hour, colonel,” Edward barked at him. “That ship is damaged, I want you
to attack it before they can get it repaired. I want any mechs you can capture, and destroy the rest
of it.” He looked out the door of the control room and motioned a large young man to enter.
“Lieutenant, Mr. Ashford has had a long day, escort him to his quarters and see that he is
comfortable there.” Kirk started to protest, but a glare from Edward convinced him to go along
with the lieutenant. After he had left, Edward turned to his colonel, “make sure to capture as
many of the pilots and officers as you can. You know the high command wants some alive.”
Chad hit his thrusters, dodging the onrushing rocks. He had to get back to the gap in the
asteroid belts. His captain ordered him back to the ship, but what did he mean by ‘he’d take care
of it’?
Ghost broke into his musings, “Sensors indicate captain Torres is proceeding toward the
planet surface.”
“What? Why would he do that?” Chad wondered out loud. “We have enough intel, he
doesn’t need to get a closer look. They have too much defensive weaponry, it’s too dangerous.”
“That is affirmative,” Ghost replied. “I have attempted to make contact with captain
Torres but he is entering the atmosphere and the ionization is further disrupting the signals.”
“Now what do I do?” Chad asked no one in particular as Ghost reached the gap. He only
hesitated a few moments then headed for the ship. He wouldn’t be able to do much to help the
captain, and he had his orders.
Arisa pulled up alongside the Kirkav. She scanned the area and noted the two mechs
coming toward the ship, a Thunderbird and Lancer from Blue Dragon. “Blue four, what is your
location?” She called out. “Chad, where are you?”
“He went down lower to do some recon,” Ben answered. “We lost contact with him.”
“What? We have to go down and find him” Arisa cried out. She fired her thrusters and
started toward the planet but had to stop when Ben’s big Lancer blocked her way. “Out of my
way Ben.”
Can’t do that, Arisa,” he told her, “we were ordered to return to the ship.” Ben moved to
block Keon as Arisa tried to get around him.
“I don’t have any orders,” Arisa informed him as she tried to dodge around Ben’s mech.
“Let me go, Ghost could be damaged, Chad might be hurt.”
Lieutenant Herrmann came up next to Ben. “I’ve been assigned field command and I am
giving you orders to remain with the ship, lieutenant Higgins.” He told her sharply, then his voice
softened. “The asteroids are interfering with the com units. Captain Torres went lower to try to
contact lieutenant Ross. Perhaps a Lancer’s armor would stand up better against the asteroids, but
you would be a larger and slower target for the enemies defensive weapons. Chad is a good pilot,
and he has the advantage of the Ghost systems. We’ll just have to trust in his and captain Torres’
abilities. Our job now is to make sure the Krikav is still here for them to return to.”
I posted chapter 63 a few days ago.......... really, I did. At least, I thought I did. I've had so much trouble getting that chapter posted I'm beginning to think there's something wrong with it.
I'm Freezing my bunz off down here in the basement...... it was -10f last night and they say -20f tomorrow night.
I'm just going to post the chapter, I'm to tired and cold to think up any introduction......
Chapter 63
Rydia hesitated, she watched for long moments as the ship turned and started to move
away. She didn’t want to fire, they were running away, wasn’t that what she had wanted? Wasn’t
that what Edward had wanted? The power of her Atropos had frightened them, they would give
up now........ Wouldn’t they?
Edward’s voice came over her communicator, “Rydia, That ship is still a danger to the
colonists. You have to fire again, before they get away.” Rydia’s finger again tensed on the
trigger. She had to fire, they were a danger, Edward told her so. He wouldn’t ask her to do this if
it weren’t true............
Rydia stopped, and took her hand away from the firing controls. On the com, in the
background, she heard the voice of that disgusting little man. “You told me the bitch would
destroy the ship..... no survivors,” he screamed. “Make her fire...... kill them all!” The com
suddenly went silent, Rydia reached out and turned off the weapons systems. “I can’t fire,” Rydia
informed them. “I have to check over the weapon charging systems. I’m returning to the hangar.”
She turned Atropos back toward the big doors in the side of the mountain.
Arisa had plenty of experience in zero-g and in high acceleration on her father’s racing
yachts. She easily beat the others to the hangar deck and was donning her flight suit as the last of
Blue Dragon group cycled through the air lock. She quickly got into Keon and booted up the
systems going through a rapid combat readiness check. She saw the others getting into their flight
suits as she headed the big mech for the air lock. Finally, she was going to have a chance to prove
herself.
“Blue one, return to the ship.” Colonel Hellwind called on the com. “Damn it Torres, get
back here!” He yelled.
“I, ah, think he was having some com troubles, sir,” came Ben’s rather unconvincing
reply. “These rocks are kind of messing things up.”
“That’s bull sh–, lieutenant,” the colonel bit back. “Don’t try to lie to cover for him. He’s
disobeying orders.”
“Dan, red three just launched,” Aidan broke in from his tactical board. “The others are
starting up their mechs. Should I have them launch, or hold them in reserve?”
Colonel Hellwind spun around, “launch them. Set up a defensive box. If those cloaked
mechs attack now we’re in trouble. I want lieutenant Herman in charge. At least I can trust him to
follow orders. Where the hell is Ross? We need that mech’s sensors.”
“I am continuing to attempt to establish communication with lieutenant Ross, sir” Ryoko
informed him. “I have been unsuccessful so far.”
Daniel turned the pilot’s chair so Yuki was facing him. “Yuki, you have to wake up.” He
told her. “We need those sensors working if we’re going to make it through this.” He sighed,
She showed no sign of recognition. “Have you tried to reach her, Ryoko?”
“Yes sir,” the girl replied, “but all attempts have been unsuccessful. It appears her cyber
brain is caught in a fault loop and has caused her to enter a catatonic state. I believe it will take a
psychologist with her diagnostic code to reset her cyber brain functions. It does not appear likely
we will reach one in time.”
General Edward Geraldine was furious. He’d seen the readouts from the machine, the
weapon had been charged and ready to fire. He was certain it was Kirk’s ranting behind him that
had caused Rydia to shut the system down. If he didn’t need Kirk’s money so badly, he’d shoot
him on the spot. He gave Kirk a withering glance. “Shut up, Kirk. You’ve ruined the chance to
convince her to destroy them.” He turned back to the com unit, “Alright, Rydia, return to the
hangar. There are always bugs in a new system, I’m sure you’ll get them repaired.”
Edward turned to his subordinate, “colonel, how many Nightmares have you got left?”
“I have ten, being readied, at the launch port right now.” He answered. “I could have
them ready in a couple hours.”
“You have one hour, colonel,” Edward barked at him. “That ship is damaged, I want you
to attack it before they can get it repaired. I want any mechs you can capture, and destroy the rest
of it.” He looked out the door of the control room and motioned a large young man to enter.
“Lieutenant, Mr. Ashford has had a long day, escort him to his quarters and see that he is
comfortable there.” Kirk started to protest, but a glare from Edward convinced him to go along
with the lieutenant. After he had left, Edward turned to his colonel, “make sure to capture as
many of the pilots and officers as you can. You know the high command wants some alive.”
Chad hit his thrusters, dodging the onrushing rocks. He had to get back to the gap in the
asteroid belts. His captain ordered him back to the ship, but what did he mean by ‘he’d take care
of it’?
Ghost broke into his musings, “Sensors indicate captain Torres is proceeding toward the
planet surface.”
“What? Why would he do that?” Chad wondered out loud. “We have enough intel, he
doesn’t need to get a closer look. They have too much defensive weaponry, it’s too dangerous.”
“That is affirmative,” Ghost replied. “I have attempted to make contact with captain
Torres but he is entering the atmosphere and the ionization is further disrupting the signals.”
“Now what do I do?” Chad asked no one in particular as Ghost reached the gap. He only
hesitated a few moments then headed for the ship. He wouldn’t be able to do much to help the
captain, and he had his orders.
Arisa pulled up alongside the Kirkav. She scanned the area and noted the two mechs
coming toward the ship, a Thunderbird and Lancer from Blue Dragon. “Blue four, what is your
location?” She called out. “Chad, where are you?”
“He went down lower to do some recon,” Ben answered. “We lost contact with him.”
“What? We have to go down and find him” Arisa cried out. She fired her thrusters and
started toward the planet but had to stop when Ben’s big Lancer blocked her way. “Out of my
way Ben.”
Can’t do that, Arisa,” he told her, “we were ordered to return to the ship.” Ben moved to
block Keon as Arisa tried to get around him.
“I don’t have any orders,” Arisa informed him as she tried to dodge around Ben’s mech.
“Let me go, Ghost could be damaged, Chad might be hurt.”
Lieutenant Herrmann came up next to Ben. “I’ve been assigned field command and I am
giving you orders to remain with the ship, lieutenant Higgins.” He told her sharply, then his voice
softened. “The asteroids are interfering with the com units. Captain Torres went lower to try to
contact lieutenant Ross. Perhaps a Lancer’s armor would stand up better against the asteroids, but
you would be a larger and slower target for the enemies defensive weapons. Chad is a good pilot,
and he has the advantage of the Ghost systems. We’ll just have to trust in his and captain Torres’
abilities. Our job now is to make sure the Krikav is still here for them to return to.”
Dogs have owners, Cats have staff
Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.
Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.
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Hiki
- Honorary Evil Kitty
- Posts: 2946
- Joined: July 10th, 2007, 12:05 pm
- Location: ☆Court of Miracles☆
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Re: 5 minutes...... oldwrench tries story telling
I hope it gets warmer soon where you are :')
Good chapter :) I like it :D
Good chapter :) I like it :D
Don't feed me violins.
Re: 5 minutes...... oldwrench tries story telling
Thanks for the comment Hiki. Sometimes I wonder if I've bored everyone to death. It's mice to know you're still reading the story. More action is coming, I promise.
It will get warmer.......... in a few months.
It will get warmer.......... in a few months.
Dogs have owners, Cats have staff
Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.
Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.