Preemptive Strike: FINAL CONFRONTATION

[Ben Somerset]

[RP]

Countdown T - 4 hours 37 minutes

"Have any of you guys got an idea? I need options, and I need them yesterday!" Banish yelled. In his opinion, they had run out of time. They needed to take action, and take it quickly, before Mallone managed to do what he came to do. Whatever that was.

"Why not use our lasers to cut through the ship?" One of the other pilots asked.

"Do we know if that'll stop us?" Banish asked in reply.

"No, but it's worth a shot." the pilot replied.

"And if we happen to hit quarters where crewmembers are still alive...?"

"Um...I see your point, sir." he answered, feeling like an idiot.

"What about blow the launch bay doors, and take our chances outside?" a wizzo asked.

"Small problem with that. The defense system is still active. If we're interpreted as hostile..." Big reminded him.

"But if it doesn't..." Banish said "That sounds like a plan to me. We go in 15 minutes. Check your craft, check it again, and check it again. We've got to make it count this time, guys. No screwups."

"Two."

"Three."

"Four."

Banish got a grim look on his face as he said "All right then, Scorpions. We rock and roll in 15 minutes." He hoped that 30 minutes from now, he'd still be alive.

Launch T - 41 minutes

[/RP]

-------------------

Robert 'Banish' Anderson

Scorpion One

GCV Chikuma

[This message has been edited by Ben Somerset (edited 12-03-1999).]

[Ben Zwycky]

[rp] Chief Medical Officer Martin Summers Personal Log

Countdown T - 36 minutes

Here I am again, expecting to have been killed by now, but still fighting.

Just before we left the shuttle bay, I sent a modified quarantine directive to most of the medical droids, ordering them to anaesthetise and prep for surgery all unregistered personnel throughout the ship, because of the current biohazard alert. Maybe they would be able to take out a couple of those goons for a while, or maybe they would just make an effective distraction for us to make our move.

At the same time Spencer added proximity triggers to my anaesthetic ejectors in the service tunnels. Then things got hectic. We all rushed into the ventilation shaft with Sgt. Diamond going last, closing up the entrance and appearing to attach some sort of booby trap to it. It looks like they won't be able to follow us in a hurry, or work out which way we went. So we've escaped, and we're finally on the offensive. I hope Tamara made it to the tunnels. [/rp]

------------------

Commander Ben Zwycky GCV Svoboda

ISS Fleet

http://www.watson-jones.swinternet.co.uk/Svoboda

"Nakonec pravda vitezi" (in the end the truth wins)

[Charles Lindsey]

I could have sworn there were two ATV's left. Forgive me. They are dead any way.

[RP]

McKendrick really couldn't believe they still had a chance. Or that they were trying this at all. He would have much rather preferred the safety of a shuttle. But he knew that was wrong as well. He had been in the shuttle when those drones had attacked. He stopped crawling for a moment and shuddered. He heard Rod grind to a halt behind him.

He had taken precaution in the last pause. He had replaced Rod's batteries and those of a couple other droids. The two in the ATV's had been first priority. Rod had been next. One other of Rod's type was fully operational. One Galcom droid had not faired too badly. Two were operational but barely as were two like Rod. Perhaps they could be of some use later. Maybe they could play dead and then help each other. McKendrick had told Rod to relay those messages. It wasn't an ace in the hole he believed but perhaps it was three of a kind or a baby straight. McKendrick almost laughed. No serious player allowed you to play a baby straight.

McKendrick's mechanical army had done well but were no match for those miniature flying turrets. And if they had gotten away without destroying them that meant they were still around. They had been tough the first time and tougher the second. He couldn't imagine what they would have been like the last time had they been there to face them. He thought about strapping some laser rifle to their arms but it would have taken too long to rig up a firing mechanism. Three droids left out of, what had it been? Almost sixteen. Four that might possibly survive the next attack. McKendrick rather doubted that as he heard the explosions echo through the crawl space. Then again they had been ignored as non-threats the last time. In a rather odd lull in firing he could have sworn he heard the Doc's hypo sprays go off. McKendrick could only hope.

[/RP]

Charles/Chavik/McKendrick

[Blades]

[Narrative On]

Launch T ÔÇô 33 minutes

ÔÇ£Colonel!ÔÇØ shouted the single remaining marine on the bridge.

Mallone rounded on him. ÔÇ£Make this good, private.ÔÇØ

The marine swallowed. ÔÇ£Sorry, sir.!

Mallone sighed. The last twenty minutes had seen him in a mixture of violently differing emotions. Five minutes ago, he was ready to set the ship to auto destruct and blow everyone straight to a fiery hell. Four minutes ago, he concluded that doing so would end the mission RFQ, and it was therefore a bad idea. Two minutes after that, he resigned himself to the fact that the gods of good fortune had abandoned him and if the mission was to procede, he would have to make his own. During that time, he dispatched teams three and five to begin a thorough search of the Chikuma. And now ..

ÔÇ£What is it, private?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Sir, team three reports they have been attacked by medical droids from the sickbay. They managed to anethatise Marine Gallows before they blew itÔÇÖs shiny little head off.ÔÇØ

Mallone shook his head. This was starting to get silly.

ÔÇ£Can they wake him?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£No sir.ÔÇØ Reported the marine. ÔÇ£HeÔÇÖs out for the count.ÔÇØ

Mallone closed his eyes and again cursed the gods that had foresaken him.

ÔÇ£What about team five and six? Any progress?ÔÇØ

The marine quickly checked his comm grid and pulled up status reports. ÔÇ£Sir, team hasnÔÇÖt had any luck tracking down PolovoskiÔÇÖs people in the service crawlways. The machinery is intefering with the personal scanners. Without PERSCAN, they having to do it the old fashioned way.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£What about our sabetour in engineering?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Team six has failed to intercept the helmsman. SheÔÇÖs gone, sir.ÔÇØ

Mallone grunted. ÔÇ£Put me through to Patrick in probe launch control.ÔÇØ

The marine obeyed.

ÔÇ£Yes colonel?ÔÇØ came the tinny voice of Patrick.

ÔÇ£Is it device installed?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Affirmative, sir.ÔÇØ

Good news at last.

ÔÇ£Failsafe in place?ÔÇØ

Yes sir. Repleid Patrick. Coming online .. now.

ÔÇ£Good.ÔÇØ Said Mallone. ÔÇ£Join team three and contineud searching for our rats.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Understood.ÔÇØ Said Patrick, before linking off following his new instructions.

Mallone turned to his only remaining subordinate on the bridge. ÔÇ£Marine, you are relieved. Join team five.ÔÇØ

The marine nodded, and without a word left the bridge.

Alone, Mallone surveyed the bridge of the mighty Battle Cruiser Chikuma. A few hours ago, this had been Stones ship. A few hours before that, it had been Stones mission. Now, the man was dead, and the mission plan altered. Soon, the GCV Chikuma would be responsible for unleashing the most devestating weapon ever created by man onto an unsuspecting population.

Mallone found himself chuckling.

Whatever Polovoski and her band of merry men did now, they couldnÔÇÖt prevent the launch of the device. Even if they knew of itÔÇÖs launch, there was no way they could prevent it from reaching itÔÇÖs target. The device, now mounted on a modified and cloakable probe could travel unseen and undetectable towards its target. However the fortunes of war now fared for Mallone and his ORION special forces team, this battle was already won.

Launch T ÔÇô 31 minutes

Neena Polovoski, backed up by Sgt. Diamond kicked through the ventilation grill and pushed themselves out into the Interceptor Launch bay. Several of the ChikumaÔÇÖs compliment of pilots all breathed a sigh of relief and lowered their sidearms once they recognised the exec and marine seargent.

ÔÇ£Nice timing.ÔÇØ Remarked Gambit. ÔÇ£Another few minutes and we were about to start blowing holes in the ship.ÔÇØ

Neena frowned. ÔÇ£Whats our status?ÔÇØ

Between them, the pilots informed Neena that the interceptors, although locked down and unable to breach the launch seals were fully loaded and fired up. On baord saftey systems would forbid a missile launch, but the beam weapons could be forced to fire. The damage would be extensive, quite possibly destroying the launch deck and a good third of the ship itself, but it would probably be enough to stop the Chikuma dead in space.

ÔÇ£ThatÔÇÖs a last resort.ÔÇØ Said Neena to the assembled pilots. ÔÇ£We got ourselves a chance to retake the ship from Mallone.ÔÇØ

The pilots enquired as to how this could be done.

ÔÇ£Simple. They can no longer track us on PERSCAN. If we split up, we can ambush them as they search for us. They still out man and out gun us, but at least we are mobile and on the offensive.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Where are the others?ÔÇØ asked Gambit.

Neena turned to him. ÔÇ£There are only a few of us left, and those that are left have split into smaller groups and begun to hunt Mallones goons.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Is the Chikuma still on itÔÇÖs original course?ÔÇØ

Neena shook her head. ÔÇ£I donÔÇÖt know. The way I see it, we got a little over four hours until we reach our intended target. If Mallone has changed his strategy, we may have even less.ÔÇØ

Seargent Diamond interupted at that point. ÔÇ£Sorry Neena, but we got to get a move on.ÔÇØ

Neena nodded. ÔÇ£YouÔÇÖre right. Pilots, break into your assigned pairs and begin to hunt those *******s. Whatever the cost, we gotta neutralsie as many of those goons as we can.ÔÇØ

The pilots nodded affirmative, and began to break into their assigned units.

Moments later, lead by Neena Polovoski and the heavily armed Sgt. Diamond, they moved out and began the battle to retake the Chikuma.

Launch T ÔÇô 27 minutes

[Narrative Off]

***** Goons to the left of you, Goons to the right of you. Shoot ÔÇÿem, stab ÔÇÿem, do what you like. Just make it good and convincing and donÔÇÖt be too surprised if I ambush you and keeeeeeeeel you deeeeeeeeed in my next posts. *****

------------------

F.C KARL 'BLADES' SAVAGE

ORION FLEET

TSUNAMI BATTLE GROUP

GCV - TSUNAMI Ôäó

'For Queen and country'

[Charles Lindsey]

[rp] narrative

McKendrick was never so glad to see the IC bay as he was at that moment. Not only hot, tired, hungry, and sweaty, now his knees were rubbed raw from crawling in the service tunnel. Now they were going to split up. He told Neena he would make his way back down to the the shuttle bay and try to override the launch codes so they might have secure passage if everything fell apart. She agreed but the look in her eyes almost said she didn't expect to make it that far. McKendrick ordered Rod and the Galcom droid with him and left Neena with Rod's cousin. It might come in handy. The pilots went out first followed my Neena, Sgt. Diamond, the Doc, and the others. He took a deep breath and slowly made his way towards the rear of the ship once again.

He wondered at the lack of the other crew but figured they had been captured. That seemed odd but at least those goons were massed in the area Neena and the others were headed. Well, best not get too cocky he thought. Sure enough as soon as he thought it he heard boots. He peered around the corner and saw a lone man clad in black. Here goes nothing he thought. He sent the Galcom droid around the corner and watched as it trundled down the hall. The man in black twirled with his rifle at the ready but dropped it when he saw the droid. "What have we here?" he asked.

"You got this," said McKendrick as he stepped around the corner and fire. The man could only stare and fumble for his rifle as McKendrick fired. He walked up to the corpse and took his rifle. Hope I don't see any more of these guys. I don't know if that gambit will work again or not. It did and surprisingly well. Once again McKendrick dropped one of the goons. How many more times he didn't know. He felt he was pushing the law of averages to the breaking point. And he still had a good ways to go.

[/rp]

McKendrick

[Ben Zwycky]

Tac, I hope you don't mind me pairing us up, but it seemed somehow appropriate.

[rp]

Chief Medical Officer Martin Summers- Personal Log

Countdown T-24 minutes

When we started to pair off, I was thinking of going with Mckendrick, but he seems to prefer the company of his little flock of droids. In the end, I got paired up with Jayce, which is no bad thing. I'm really starting to appreciate the military part of his training.

We had our first encounter with those goons a couple of minutes ago. Jayce had just about got a ventilation cover off in a vertical section of shaft when we heard a couple of goons coming along the corridor. Jayce urgently whispered to me to drop to the horizontal section below, which I did, as quickly and quietly as I could. He then got out a grenade which was primed to go off one and a half seconds after it left his hand, so he told me later, and waited for them to go past. He pushed the vent cover open slightly, and threw it at their feet before dropping down the shaft. I sort of caught him, but he still landed with a bit of a thump, which I hope was completely drowned out by the explosion. We were both a little dizzy from the concussion, so I gave us both some mild stimulant to clear our heads, then we carried on as quickly as we quietly could to another exit point. [rp]

Hope that's convincing enough. Tac, you can describe our next little adventure.

------------------

Commander Ben Zwycky GCV Svoboda

ISS Fleet

http://www.watson-jones.swinternet.co.uk/Svoboda

"Nakonec pravda vitezi" (in the end the truth wins)

[Blades]

[Narrative On]

Launch T ÔÇô 26 minutes

ÔÇ£Man down! Man down!ÔÇØ shouted the wounded special ops marine into his communicator.

ÔÇ£Whats your status, marine?ÔÇØ came the excited voice of Mallone over the earpiece speaker.

ÔÇ£Sir! We briefly caught sight of a pair of them as they dropped into the ventilation system at subsection #4. Grange took the full blast of a grenade thrown at us.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Dead?ÔÇØ asked Mallone.

The mariene briefly surveyed his fallen comrades body. ÔÇ£I sure as hell hope so, sir! Theres not enough left of him to use to plug a burst tyre!ÔÇØ

Mallone was silent at the other end of the mike for a few moments. When he returned, he sounded despondent. ÔÇ£Fall back to unit 5 and continue to search.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Understood, sir. Falling back!ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Rememebr this, marine.ÔÇØ Said Mallone. ÔÇ£You are special forces. You are the best of the best. You are better than they are. There is dishonor in defeat.ÔÇØ

The marine swallowed, and not for the first time, wanted to get as far away from this ship, this mission, and more importantly, this commanding officer. ÔÇ£Understood sir.ÔÇØ

Launch T ÔÇô 25 minutes

[Narrative Off]

------------------

F.C KARL 'BLADES' SAVAGE

ORION FLEET

TSUNAMI BATTLE GROUP

GCV - TSUNAMI Ôäó

'For Queen and country'

[Ben Zwycky]

Oh well, I think I'll add a little more to the chaos here. If this is too far out of line, then it can always be deleted.

[rp]Chief Medical Officer Martin Summers Personal Log

Countdown T- 22 minutes

Our second attempt to exit the ventilation system did not go so well. Not being of a military mindset, I forgot to check that the corridor was completely clear before attempting to leave the shaft. Also, not being the most agile officer to ever walk the corridors of this ship, I overbalanced out of the access point and fell into the corridor, landing heavily on my left shoulder and finishing flat on my back. When Jayce poked his head round to see whether I was all right, he found a rile muzzle pointed in his face, and looked up to see another three black-clad goons surrounding me. He deflatedly crawled out of the ventilation shaft and gave up his rifle, as did I.

Just as the team leader was about to call in and announce his victory, two of the HK's came round the corner, decided that four heavily armed marines were much more of a threat than two unarmed medics, and sliced two of them in half before they could react. Jayce dived back into the ventilation shaft, and I followed him as best I could while the two goons tried to defend themselves. One got a couple of shots off before a drone sliced off one of his hands and severely gashed his leg, then the other got a couple of good hits in before taking a plasma blast to the face. Not a pretty sight. While the drones were slightly distracted with the last goon, my medical instincts got the better of me and I yanked the third goon into the shaft with us. Satisfied that they had sufficiently pacified the area, the drones buzzed on down the corridor to find some more targets.

"Aagh! My leg! (the shock of losing his hand hadn't let him feel that yet) Doc! You gotta help me!"

I started to open my medkit and we both worked quickly to stabilise him.

"OK, son, we'll help you, but you've got to help us, too. Where is the weapon, and when is it launched?"

"Thanks, doc. It's in the Probe Launch Bay, and it'll be launched in 20 minutes."

"Jayce, contact Neena and tell her."

[/rp]

That is the right place, isn't it? Well, now we know, and now Mallones goons have another worry. That was a concern that was aired when Mallone ordered their deployment, and it seemed a good time to justify that concern, now that even Mallone's guys can't shut them down. If it's messed up your next post, then I'm sorry. I COULDN'T HELP IT! I'M A VICTIM OF MY CREATIVE URGES! HELP!

[Blades]

Thats ok Ben, I was wonderin when someone would decide that it was time for those metal brutes to start to malfunction.

Glad it was you rather than me. Now I can concentrate on the last bit.

Hang on, it's going to be a rough ride.

------------------

F.C KARL 'BLADES' SAVAGE

ORION FLEET

TSUNAMI BATTLE GROUP

GCV - TSUNAMI Ôäó

www.hastur.freeserve.co.uk

'For Queen and country'

[Blades]

[Narrative On]

Launch T ÔÇô 18 minutes

ÔÇ£Oh my god!ÔÇØ said the marine manning the operations base in the mess as he tracked the progress of a small group of drones searching throughout the ship for NeenaÔÇÖs people.

He watched in horror as the group stumbled upon his fellow marines, and a pair of the crew and suffer a serious program malfunction.

Within moments, the drones had concluded that the well armed marines were the enemy they had been programmed to intercept, and began firing at them.

Within seconds, the gathered marines had begun to drop, two neatly sliced in half from the cmbined firepower of the HK drones while a third was dragged to relative saftey by Neenas compationate people.

ÔÇ£Colonel Mallone!ÔÇØ shouted the marine into his comm unit.

ÔÇ£Report!ÔÇØ barked Mallone in response.

ÔÇ£Sir, the HK drones are malfunctioning. I just watched a small group of them fire on our people!ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£WHAT?!?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Sir, there is a cascade failure in the FF recognition routine, all the remaining drones are being effected. If we donÔÇÖt shut them down now, they will slaughter everyone left on baord the ship.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Shut down the drones.ÔÇØ Ordered Mallone. ÔÇ£Then get on the link and recall all our people to the probe launch bay. I want that area secured. Nobody gets near it.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£What about you sir?ÔÇØ

Mallone was quiet for a few moments. Then there was a loud click, the sound of a magazine being inserted into an auto rifle. ÔÇ£IÔÇÖm going hunting.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Sir?ÔÇØ

The sound of the weapon being cocked. ÔÇ£ItÔÇÖs time to put Leutenant Commander Neena Polovoski and her motley crew down.ÔÇØ

With that, Mallone linked off and was gone.

Launch T ÔÇô 17 minutes

[Narrative Off]

------------------

F.C KARL 'BLADES' SAVAGE

ORION FLEET

TSUNAMI BATTLE GROUP

GCV - TSUNAMI Ôäó

www.hastur.freeserve.co.uk

'For Queen and country'

[Blades]

[Narrative On]

Launch T ÔÇô 14 minutes

The news Neena Polovoski had just received from the doctor was grim. It seemed that Mallone had received new instructions from his superior and brought the launch window for the weapon ahead by a good few hours. By her calculations, the modified probe with the RANDOM device and OTS system installed was due to launch in a little under 15 minutes.

They had to move now.

With Diamond at her side, keeping an eagle eye out for any appraching marines, Neena brought the hand held communicator to her lips and began giving orders to her scattered crew.

When she had finished, two more minutes had past. The instruction she had relayed were simple. They had to assault the probe launch bay, take control of the system and prevent the launch at any costs. It was likely (Due to sketchy reports from several crew members) that Mallone was pulling the remainder of his force back from their search and defending the launch control room. Bearing this in mind, she ordered her people to await final instructions from her at subsection 13, just one small corridor down from the probe launch bay and a firefight that would probably see them all dead.

After receiving acknowledgements from everyone she had contacted, she linked in with McKendrick.

ÔÇ£McKendrick?ÔÇØ she said into the comm.

ÔÇ£Here Leutenant Commander.ÔÇØ Repleid the systems engineer.

ÔÇ£I got a special job for you. How close are you to engineering?ÔÇØ

A slight pause. ÔÇ£Funny you should ask that, sir. IÔÇÖm practically there already. I was ÔÇôÔÇ£

ÔÇ£No time.ÔÇØ Said Neena, cutting him off. ÔÇ£I need you to do whatever you can to take out the computer core.ÔÇØ

Another pause from McKendrick.

ÔÇ£You there McKendrick?ÔÇØ

Uh  yes sir. He replied. You want me to destroy the computer core?

ÔÇ£ThatÔÇÖs exactly what I want you to do.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£What for?ÔÇØ asked the confused systems engineer.

ÔÇ£We have to take control of the Chikuma back from Mallone. We wont get his command codes, but if we destroy the computer core IÔÇÖm guessing that we will regain manual control of several of the ships systems, including helm and navigation.ÔÇØ

Uh  without the computer we wont be able to navigate or do anything, sir.

ÔÇ£I understand that McKendrick. ThatÔÇÖs why after we take control of the ship, youÔÇÖre going to launch one of the shuttles and take point for the Chikuma. You will feed us navigation telemetary and we will follow your course through hyperspace.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Ah!ÔÇØ said McKendrick. ÔÇ£I understand, sir. Only problem is, theres no guarantee that we will get launch control back once the computer core is destroyed.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£I know.ÔÇØ Said Neena. ÔÇ£ItÔÇÖs a long shot, but itÔÇÖs all we got.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Understood. Any ideas how I can take out the computer core?ÔÇØ

Neena chuckled, despite herself. ÔÇ£None whatsoever McKendrick, but you a creative guy. Get creative, and fast.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Understood. McKendrick out.ÔÇØ

The comms closed, Neena checked her time and discovered that there was a little over 10 minutes before the launch.

ÔÇ£Time to go.ÔÇØ Said the Seargent.

Neena nodded, unslung the rifle from her wounded shoulder and followed the old marine down the corridor.

The prescision blast from Mallones impact rifle hit Neena squarley in the chest. The concussion knocked her back half the length of the deck and she thudded against a hardened bulkhead and crumpled into a heap.

Instantly, Sgt. Diamond was firing and yelling in unacustomed rage, sending bolts of green plasma arching in the direction of the impact rifles blast.

Diving from his covered position, Mallone avoided the plasma discharge by a few inches and rolled to an adjacent doorway and fired as he did so. The doorway opened into a large utilities room, and once back on his feet, he leapt over a linin table and rolled once more as Diamond filled his recently vacated space with plasma death.

The plasma rifle bleeped that itÔÇÖs cell was spent, and without a moments hesitation, Diamond discarded the useless weapon and pulled the twin MLA pistols from their holsters and charged into the room, running sideways to avoid Mallones reknewed attack with the impact rifle.

The accelerated projectile weapons, although a little inaccurate punched fist sized holes into the tables, bulkheads and machinery on either side of the evading Mallone.

Mallones own weapon was now spent, and he too opted for the twin MLA pistols he also had on his person. He whipped them out, stood from the devestated cover he had moments before been cowering behind and began firing manically at Diamond.

Diamond leapt sideways as the first of the accelerated projectile rounds thumped into the bulkhead behind him, and found himself landing hard on an empty gurney and rolling further into the room. He continued to fire as he did so, forcing Mallone to take cover once again and roll unseen out if the line of sight. Diamonds clips ran dry, and he forced himself to roll backwards off the gurney and hard onto the floor behind a reinforced and overturned table. Moments later, the gurney was torn to shreds by the impact of Mallones MLA pistols.

Like Diamond, Mallones MLA pistols both ran dry.

For the longest five seconds, both men ducked behind their new found cover and ejected the magazines from their hand held weapons. Rapidly reloading them with spares, they cocked them ready once again and pushed themselves to their feet at almost the same instant.

The firing resumed, and this time both men were forced to relocate as the rounds tore their cover to nothing.

Mallone dashed from his position and back through the doorway where he had originally entered. Diamond was after him an instant later, his MLA rounds filling the spaces just behind his target as he moved through the dooray and out of sight.

As Diamond burst through the doorway after Mallone, he caught sight of the Colonel turning round the end of the corridor ahead of him a fraction before noticing the frag grenade skidding across the floor towards him.

Instinctively, he began firing at the grenade with his pistols. The first few rounds completely missed their target, but a single lucky round dug into the deckplate directly in front of the grenade and buckled it sufficiently to force the grenade to alter itÔÇÖs course and skip back a few feet in the opposite direction. While he was firing, Diamond was also backing away to the other end of the corridor. The moment the frag grenade exploded, he threw himself around the corridors corner and only took part of the grenades force into his shoulder.

The impact from the shard was sufficient enough to knock Diamond to the floor, but for now at least, he was safe and alive.

Quickly, Diamond examined the wound to his shoulder. The damage itself looked worse than it really was, but it would still require the doctors immediate attention once Mallone had been taken care of.

IF Mallone could be taken care of.

Back on his feet and new clips inserted in the MLA pistols, he painfully rolled around the end of the coridor and searched for Mallone. He saw nothing.

Pushing himself to his feet, he cautiously made his way to the adjacent junction and and stole a glance around the corner. An instand later, he darted back as the devestating projectiles tore a sizeable chunk of the bulkhead away.

ÔÇ£Why continue to fight?ÔÇØ shouted Mallone from the opposite end of the corridor.

ÔÇ£Screw you!ÔÇØ shouted Diamond in reply, rolling out from his cover and towards the opposite doorway, firing as he did so.

Mallone dived away from Diamonds accurate fire, and barley escaped having his head cleaved in two from MLA impact. The machinery behind him exploded into fragments of metal and sparking fire.

Diamond, now back on his feet was immediately running towards where Malone ad dived to. He fired as he ran, sending the cover where Mallone was hiding breaking apart in fragments.

Unexpectedly, Mallone now rose from his position, and steely eyed began blasting away at the rapidly approaching Diamond with his pistols.

Somehow, time seemed to slow for both men. The weapons fire exploded behind and to the side of each of them, none of the lethal rounds finding their desired target.

A fraction of a second later, Diamond found himself leaping outstretched over Mallones barricade. At the same instant, Mallone saw the danger and dove to the side, still firing.

In an impossible coincidence, both men landed together, face to face, weapons outstretched and aimed into eachothers faces. In another impossible coincidence, both mens weapons had run dry of ammunition.

For the longest seconds, they faced off against eachother, both breathing heavily and staring intently into eachothers eyes.

Mallone grinned at the Seargent as both men slowley began to pull away from eachother and rise to their feet. At almost the same time, they discarded their spent weapons and backed off a few feet from eachother.

ÔÇ£So it comes down to this?ÔÇØ said Mallone, sounding ammused.

Diamond frowned. ÔÇ£Something told me it always would.ÔÇØ

The two old warriors threw themselves at eachother, and the brutal fight was reknewed.

Launch T ÔÇô 7 minutes

[Narrative Off]

***** Well, thatÔÇÖs my Woo moment taken care of for now. From this point, the ball is in Rons court. Under no circumstancs are any other players to get involved in this fight. All other players are currently just outside the Probe Launch bay except from McKendrick. If you want to post, feel free. Be advised, there are 9 goons in the probe room, waiting to kick your asses. Go to it people. *****

------------------

F.C KARL 'BLADES' SAVAGE

ORION FLEET

TSUNAMI BATTLE GROUP

GCV - TSUNAMI Ôäó

www.hastur.freeserve.co.uk

'For Queen and country'

[Charles Lindsey]

Query: Orders: Repair and replace .

R-5 Status: 30% operational. Charge: 50%. G-1 Status 15% operational. Charge 80%. G-2 Status 47% operational. Charge10%. G-2 Query: Status G-3: Return: desroyed. G-2 Query: Status G-4 Return: destroyed. R-5 Query: R-1 thru R-6 stats. R-1: Fully operational. R-2: destroyed. R-3: destroyed. R-4: 6% operational: charge 25%. R-5 lurched slowly into motion and began repairing what it could. Soon a Galcom droid was fit enough to help.

McKendrick was just about to take the turbo shaft down to the shuttle bay and tow the Chikuma when he heard Neena's voice over the commlink and received new instructions. "Ma'am?" he replied.

"You heard me."

"Yes Ma'am."

ÔÇ£I got a special job for you. How close are you to engineering?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Funny you should ask that, sir. IÔÇÖm practically there already. I was ÔÇôÔÇ£

ÔÇ£No time.ÔÇØ Neena said.

The instructions were simple. Destroy the computer core.

He went into engineering and tried with his limited ability as a flight engineer to override the systems and then tried with Rod's help to overrride them. Equinox kept coming up at every juncture. McKendrick didn't know what Eqinox meant but he knew it was keeping him from the core. All of Rod's efforts at hacking into the core failed. At this point he had had enough. Even his rifle failed to penetrate the shields and Titanium armor surrounding the core.

McKendrick wanted to thoew a fit. He was tired of this. Tired of almost getting killed, tired of dragging around to survive. . This round would be different. He left Rod in control of engineering and went down to the shuttle bay .He almost passed out as three functional ATV's rounded on him. The droids had done an amazing job of repairing themselves. A few, so very few, he thought, were again ready for combat per his last intstructions. Even those that were not mobile were still repairing what they could. "Whoa guys it''s me. "

"C,mon now. it's me. Anyone know how to take out the computer core?"

"No one? Ok that ATA missle is a good candidate. Let's go!" Within minutes the few remaining droids had hauled an ATA missille to the Engineering sectioon. While the warhead was prevented from from exploding the physical impact on the computer core was devastaing. Alarms began blaring.

{RP} OFF

Charles/Chavik/McKendrick

[Guest Ron Wallin]

Oooh, this is gonna be good. Thanx for the woo transition to hand to hand combat. I want to do this right, so give me a day or too to pull together some thoughts :-)

[Guest Ron Wallin]

{rp}

T -7 minutes...

Click, click... Both weapons empty. Neither man with a spare. This war would end as all battles between warriors should.

The air stopped. The thrum of the ship's engines stopped. Breathing stopped. Time was still for the longest of breif moments as the Gun'y and Col. locked gazes.

Both men understood. This was to be no training spar. There would be no bruised ribs; fractures would not be healed; there were no lessons to learn here; no one would return for a grudge match... This would be the most basic of battles and only one would walk away alive.

For less than a heartbeat both men left their bodies and surveyed the situation. For less than a blink of the eye all time stopped as rational thought seperated from primal rage. Both men became sentient machines controled from their ethereal selves somewhere above the arena...

A breeze broke the calm shifting the hairs on the men's arms. It was starting gun shot by the god's of war.

Instantly the gap between the two closed. Block, thrust, block, swing, twist, block, connect. The two men were tireless machines dancing to a ballet of destruction.

Diamond winced as Malone connected his fist to his twistin torsoe. He countered by continuing the twist fully. Bringing his left hand around full of kenetic energy, Malone lifted his right deflecting the deadly blow into nothing more than a glancing brush across the forehead.

At the same time, Malone twisted, brought his right leg up and thrust at Diamond's knee. Just as quickly Diamond pulled his left hand in, caught Malone's leg, lifted and continued his turn. Malone used Diamond's force and thrust his lef leg into Diamond's back.

Malone pushed but didn't meet enough resistance to clear himself from the ship debris now underneath him. But it was enough to force the spinning Diamond to come to a jarring stop against the bulkhead as Malone lost his wind to a pipe on the floor. Appart and dazed, both men stared at eachother for another breif moment.

As if they were reading the same script, Both Malone and Diamond drew their hand-to-hand combat knives. Malone's, a double edged void black combat knife was held in the classic tip to the sky position. Diamond, a Marine to the core, pulled a matte gray 7 inch (blade length) K-Bar. Unlike Malone he held his with the butt to his opponent and the blade flat against his wrist. Malone's knife was held in the position of power and authority while Diamond's was clearly the product of experience and wisdom.

"You'll only cut yourself with your weapon, Gun'y," Malone stated with contempt at the NonComm's choice of stance. Malone's knife was a full 2 inches longer giving him and advantage. Diamond chose not to waste energy with a reply or acknowledgement. He knew as well as Malone, that the remark was ment to throw a target off balance in ANY way and provide a slightest advantage.

Malone thrust the tip of his knife at Diamond. The Gun'y slapped Malone's probing action away with his free hand. Malone was merely finding his range and Diamond wasn't about to give away his style on such a minor probe.

Malone continued this thrust and retreat as the two men's circle of influence crept closer and eventually merged. The real fighting began here, as Diamond knew it would. Malone sliced, and thrust as Diamond deflected each attack while returning with his own.

Arms, and knives met at speeds faster than eyes could track. If anyone lived long enough to view this monumental training video, even the 60 frame per second stop action would be slightly blured.

It was the way of both these men. Trained until every action in battle was second nature and as simple as breathing. It left the mind free to contemplate tactics and strategy as the body did what it knew to defend and attack.

Both men, inches from eachother and breathing heavily, continued the flurry of arms and twists and knee blocks. Both men also knew it was only a matter of time before the law of averages caused one to make a mistake. Diamond was the first.

Malone deflected sweeping slice and brought his foot heavily to Diamond's knee. Diamond was loose enough in his stance to keep the blow from causing permanent damage, but it didn't need to.

Stunned and feeding pain up Diamond's nervous system, the muscles pulling slightly against tendons relaxed and Diamond crumpled to his right. Malone followed, his blade catching and cutting deeply Diamond's left forearm.

Diamond rolled to his right, away from the his attacker. Malone was faster. He drove the knife tip into the meat of malones upper arm and let Diamond do the damage as the marine's roll opened a wide rift in his upper arm.

The first rule of knife fighting is that you will get cut. The idea is to not let the pain affect your attack or send you on the defense. It's a lesson only experience can truly teach. It's a lesson Diamond knew all too well.

Diamond rolled faster feeling the knife blade scrape past his bone. The jarring wrenched Malone's weapon from his hand. Diamond continued his roll and extended his knife outward from his wrist. The roll took care of everything else. Diamond's blade drove deeply into Malone's side.

The blade ripped across the officer's side as Diamond pulled down. The cut didn't deliver the fatal blow it should have. The blade struck rib and deflected before keeping the weapon from puncturing the lung. But it was enough to cause Malone to pause.

Diamond jumped and pulled up on his knife. The steel blunt butt of the device squarely connected with Malone's jaw sending him backward and ripping the man's knife from Diamond's arm as Malone grasped for his only defense against the Marine.

Diamond's left arm now useless, it was only a matter of time before he died from Malone's attacks or blood loss. There was no time for rest and no time for anything but offensive action.

Diamond rushed the two steps between him and Malone using his body to knock the man into the bulk head. Diamond followed, pushing hard into the man's sternum with the raw meat of his carved sholder.

Malone wasn't that startled. He lifted his weapon and drove the metal, hilt deep, into his opponent's abdomen. Diamond felt the blade enter and twist as Malone probed for vital organs on Diamond's lower left stomach.

Diamond twisted, feeling the blade rib through the muscle of his ab's, and brought the butt of his K-Bar to Malone's temple. He let the energy of the blow bring his knife hand up and he drove the blade along Malone's neck down into the soft flesh just behind the collar bone. Malone jerked his knife hand.

Diamond saw a flash of light. He must have hit something important, Diamond thought as he faded into blackness. Diamond's only hope was that his blade opened the carotid or jugular artery and his enemy would fade to darkness much as he was now.

{/rp}

I left it open. Hope you don't mind, Blades. I didn't know where you wanted to take this. Either man could be dead and the flash of light could be from something external to the battle... Your call.

Happy Holidays all. Sorry this took so long :-(

------------------

Cmdr. Akira

ICV Nevermore

Spectre, Command Staff

Base Commander, The Dojo

Official Tester

Battlecruiser Series

[Blades]

No probs with the delay Ron. It was worth it.

[Narrative On]

Launch T ÔÇô 4 minutes

The concussion blast from Neenas well aimed rifle blast blew both men apart from eachother. The seargent fell hard to the left, while Mallone, critically injured from the gunyÔÇÖs deep cut fell to the right.

The effort of keping the rifle steady was almost more than Neena could endure in her present condition. The earlier projectile shot to her chest had broken several ribs and bruised her internally. Without the protection of the deflection vest she wore under her uniform (And at the seargents insistance earlier) she would have been killed. The concussion damage from the projectile was still nearly enough to kill her. Had it been from one of Mallones MLA pistols, no ammount of armour protection would have saved her life.

As things were, she was battered, but alive. However, he aiming was off.

She pulled off a few additional blasts from the plasma rifle, and sent Mallone scurrying off round the corner, leaving a trail of blood as he went. She tried, in vain, to force herself to persue the madman, but fell at the feet of the unconscious guny and gave up the chase.

Mallone wouldnÔÇÖt get far. The wound had been severe. His stumbling steps away from her were, in all likelihood, his last steps.

Groggily, she examined the wounded seargent. The blade from Mallones knife was still imbeded deep within the gunyÔÇÖs abdomon, and the blood seeping from the wound was enough to tell her that the man was close to death.

Immediately, she grabbed the comm from her belt, and called urgently into it.

ÔÇ£This is Spencer, go ahead.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Chief,ÔÇØ winced Neena. ÔÇ£I need the doctor at section 15, right away.ÔÇØ

The chief of engineering sounded concerned. ÔÇ£You ok Neena?ÔÇØ

Neena breathed heavily. ÔÇ£IÔÇÖll live, but the guny wont if the doc doesnÔÇÖt get down here, stat!ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£The doctor is on his way. ETA, two minutes.ÔÇØ

Neena sighed into the comm unit, and cast a near tearful gaze at the downed marine. Hold on guny. She said to him. Hold on just a little longer 

Spencer beeped Neena back. ÔÇ£Leutenant Commander, the rest of us are in position.ÔÇØ

Neena drew herself away from Diamond and focused her mind on the job at hand. ÔÇ£IÔÇÖm sorry, but I wont be joining you Chief. You are going to have to take it from here. Whats our status?ÔÇØ

Spencer thought for a moment before giving his report. ÔÇ£The pilots, myself and Jayce Allen are all in position. McKendrick must have taken out the computer core, because we got blinking lights and power outages all over this deck. HeÔÇÖs making his way back up here with us now with Jensen in tow.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£IÔÇÖll be damned.ÔÇØ Said Neena. ÔÇ£Jensen actually made it.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Yeah,ÔÇØ started the chief. ÔÇ£sheÔÇÖs a tough old bird, that one.

ÔÇØAnd Mallones people?ÔÇØ asked Neena.

ÔÇ£Like we expected, the are holled up in the probe launch bay. Eight of them.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Only eight?ÔÇØ said Neena. ÔÇ£Theres got to be a couple more than that.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Seems like we got a couple of roamers out there somewhere, or maybe the malfunctioning drones took care of them. No way to know.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Understood.ÔÇØ Said Neena.

She paused for a moment, considering her words carefully.

ÔÇ£Chief, this is our only chance to stop the launch. If we blow it here, we lose everything. You have GOT to prevent that launch at all costs, even if it means losing the ship in the process.ÔÇØ

When the chief responded, he sounded grim. ÔÇ£We down to two minutes Neena. ItÔÇÖs time for us to do our job.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Good luck.ÔÇØ Said Neena, wishing more than anything that she could be there to lead the charge into battle, that in all likelihood would see them all dead.

ÔÇ£Same to you.ÔÇØ Said the Chief. ÔÇ£And, Neena? ItÔÇÖs been an honour serving with you. Spencer out.ÔÇØ

Launch T ÔÇô 2 minutes

Inside the probe launch bay, the remainder of Mallones troops stood by and awaited the assault they knew was coming. Previously, they had been the ones on the offensive, stalking the crew, locking to non coms down in quarters and sending wave after wave of the killer drones into the shuttle bay to take out the defient crew.

Now, it was they who were trapped like animals, their backs against the walls. They were the hunted. The tables had been well and truly turned.

Three of the eight assembled marines were walking wounded. Their combat capacity significantly reduced during a brief and bloody skirmish with several malfunctioning HK drones.

Whatever their fighting condition, they would sooner die than allow Neena to complete her mission. Fortunately for the marines, their mission was due to end with the probes launch in a little under two minutes.

ÔÇ£Incomming!ÔÇØ shouted the marine on point, a fraction before his chest exploded under a plasma rifle burst from combat medic Jayce Allen.

In response, the room was filled with autofire from bothe the marines and the charging Chikuma crew. In such tight and close quarters, it was impossible to see who was was falling under the hair of weapons fire, but both sides took heavy casualties.

In the frantic seconds that passed during the exchange, the superior numbers of the Chikuma crew overwhelmed the the superior skills and weapons of Mallones special ops goons. As the last of the combat worthy marines fell, the remainder of Neenas army waded into the probe launch bay and surveyed the carnage.

Jayce immediately fell to his knees and began assesing the condition of his fallen comrades. He concluded immediately that Chief Spencer had been killed outright by massed plasma fire from the defending marines. He also concluded that pilots Diesel and Shadow were dead. Shodan and Blackjack were alive, but seriously wounded. BigTone was hurt, but still capable. Gambit was unhurt, but in deep shock. Jayce decided to begin to treat the two most seriously wounded pilots first. BigTone and the marines could wait.

Banish looked on at his dead pilots. The combat that had claimed them was not the glorious death of an Interceptor pilot in airial combat, but cut down like vermin on a field of death.

Like Banish, Pancake stood alone and numbly looked down at his dead friends.

Had it not been for Jayce Allens urgent shouting, both men could have stayed there the like that forever.

ÔÇ£Uh? Guys?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£What is it?ÔÇØ said Banish, now effectively in command since the death of Chief engineer Spencer.

ÔÇ£The countdown! We still have to stop it!ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Shit!ÔÇØ shouted Banish, suddenly remembering the purpose of the mission.

Banish waded through the chared bodies around him, and approached the control terminal where the launch countdown was rapidly approaching itÔÇÖs termination.

ÔÇ£Launch T ÔÇô 45 secondsÔÇØ the display told him.

Banish quickly sought out the right controls, found them and punched the abort code. A heartbeat later, the console shut down and the countdown stopped.

Banish blew a sigh of relief.

ÔÇ£Thank god for that.ÔÇØ Said a relieved sounding Pancake. ÔÇ£I was starting to get a little bit worri-ÔÇ£

The console flashed on again, and the countdown resumed.

ÔÇ£What the hell?ÔÇØ said Banish.

39

38

37

ÔÇ£I thought you aborted the launch!ÔÇØ shouted Jayce from the floor.

ÔÇ£I did!ÔÇØ countered Banish. ÔÇ£I cut power to the launch control and cancelled the launch!ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£It doesnÔÇÖt look very cancelled to me!ÔÇØ screamed Jayce.

Giggling from somwhere in front of them. Banish tensed, pulled his weapon to waist elvel and sought out the sound. ÔÇ£WhoÔÇÖs there!ÔÇØ he shouted.

31

30

29

The giggling abruptly stopped, and out of the shadows appeared Benni Arnauld, the systems engineer that Neena had explained had been working with Mallone.

ÔÇ£You!ÔÇØ said Jayce, leaving the wounded man at his side and pulling out his holstered blaster and aiming it into the face of the wayward systems engineer. ÔÇ£You son of a bitch!ÔÇØ

26

25

24

Banish had no time to negotiate, nor did he really want to converse with this traitor. ÔÇ£Shut down the launch.ÔÇØ He said to Benni.

Benni grinned at him. ÔÇ£No.ÔÇØ

19

18

17

Banish and Jayce bother forced the ends of their weapons into the face of their tormentor. ÔÇ£Shut the launch control down or I swear to god I will kill you.ÔÇØ

14

13

12

Kill me then. Said Benni, smiling. Ive already seen what I wanted to see. I watched the Chief die. I watched him burn .. and now, Im going to watch an entire world light up like a christmas tree.

9

8

7

ÔÇ£Turn off the friggin launch control you *******! NOW!!!ÔÇØ

Benni spat into Banishes face.

Both armed men pulled triggers. Benni fell.

4

3

2

In a last and defient gesture, Banish and Jayce turned their weapons to the launch contol terminal and blasted away. The terminal smashed, they continued their rain of fire on all the equipment in the room. Within seconds, macheenery was broken and useless, exposed power conduits sparking and leaking all over the place.

The noise from their shouts and the barking of their weapons droned out the sound of the modified probe with itÔÇÖs deadly payload launch from itÔÇÖs bay and towards itÔÇÖs target. It was only when both of the mens weapons had run dry, and they focused on the single remaining VDU blinking at them mockingly, that they realised that they had failed.

ÔÇÿGAME OVERÔÇÖ It read.

Banish linked in with his commanding officer. ÔÇ£Neena? We have a serious problem.ÔÇØ

Impact T ÔÇô 30 minutes

[Narrative Off]

***** Well gang, I guess thatÔÇÖs about it. Weapon is launched, itÔÇÖs mounted on a modified (And cloaked) probe. The player characters are dropping like flies, and Mallone is still out there somwhere. Maybe. You got 30 minutes of in game time to save the world. Have yourselves a good christmas, and I look forward to seeing how you are going to get out of this in the new year. *****

------------------

F.C KARL 'BLADES' SAVAGE

ORION FLEET

TSUNAMI BATTLE GROUP

GCV - TSUNAMI Ôäó

www.orion-hq.fsnet.co.uk

'For Queen and country'

[Ben Somerset]

I think it's a nice thing that you left Banish and Big alive. Hopefully, this'll be able to accomplish some good.

[RP]

Impact T - 28 minutes

Banish no longer had time to mourn over his dead friends. Somewhere out there, a weapon the like of which the Galaxy had never seen was bearing down on a unsuspecting population. And by some twist of fate, the last remaining pilot aboard the Chikuma appeared to be the only one who could stop it.

Looking over at Jayce, he ordered, "Help me get Big back to the Launch Bay. We've got to take that damn weapon out."

Jayce nodded, and they both began taking Bigtone back to the Launch Bay.

When they finally arrived, the two men managed to strap Big into the cockpit.

"Ready to rock and roll, Big?" Banish asked as he finished strapping the fighter on.

"Everythings warmed up and ready to go, boss. Time to kick some ass." Big replied.

Banish looked at Jayce, and said. "Get on out of here, kid. We're going to have to blow the Bay open to get out, and you don't want to be here when that happens. Go help out the XO, and see if you can't get us a bead on the weapon."

Jayce looked at the pilots, and noted that these men had the look of men on a suicide mission. Neither one of them really expected to come back. But they were going to do a job that had to be done, and appreciated that. "Good luck, guys." he said as he turned to leave the Launch Bay. "God be with you..." he whispered as the doors shut.

Left alone in the Launch Bay, Banish looked back at Bigtone. "One more time, Big?"

"Yup, let's go." he replied.

Banish looked down, and flipped the Master Arm switch to ON. He turned the fighter toward the Bay doors and slowly depressed the trigger. Laser fire screamed out of the fighter, explosively decompressing the Bay. Banish advanced the throttle, and headed out to destroy the RANDOM, if it was the last thing he ever did.

Impact T - 26 minutes

[RP]

I hope somebody has an idea up there sleeve about how to find this weapon, because a couple of guys are sitting on a lot of missiles with the RANDOM's name on it.

---------------

Robert "Banish" Anderson

Scorpion One

GCV Chikuma

[Blades]

Dont worry Ben, you got lots of time to worry about the RANDOM device.

Sadly, you not got a lot of time to deal with Stiles's fleet who are now engaging the Drodian homeworlds starbase. But more of that to come. We at the finalle gentelmen, lets make this one to remember.

------------------

F.C KARL 'BLADES' SAVAGE

ORION FLEET

TSUNAMI BATTLE GROUP

GCV - TSUNAMI Ôäó

www.orion-hq.fsnet.co.uk

'For Queen and country'

[Ben Zwycky]

[rp] Chief Medical Officer Martin SummersÔÇÖ personal Log

I got the call in from Spencer, ÔÇ£DiamondÔÇÖs been hurt badly. Neena needs you in cargo bay 1 pronto.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£be there in 2 minutesÔÇØ I replied, then turned to my patient, ÔÇ£Well, son, thatÔÇÖs about as stable as I can make you here. You think you can make it to medibay on your own?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£I think so, doc.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Well, take this with you,ÔÇØ I said, pinning a communicator badge on him, ÔÇ£ItÔÇÖll give out a signal telling the remaining medical droids to treat you, and you can contact me if youÔÇÖre in trouble. Gotta go now.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Thanks, doc.ÔÇØ I heard faintly as I left the ventilator shaft and headed down the corridor.

When I arrived, I saw Neena standing over diamond, neither of them looking very healthy. The knife sticking out of Sergeant DiamondÔÇÖs stomach made him the most obvious target for attention. He was alive, barely. After giving him something to lower his abdominal blood pressure and slow the flow of body fluids and some extra coagulant to help his natural repair systems, I removed the knife carefully. He would have 10-15 minutes at best.

ÔÇ£WeÔÇÖve got to get him to medibay,ÔÇØ I told Neena, getting out the field stretcher and attaching the two pieces under him. ÔÇ£Help me lift him onto this gurney. Can you manage that with your better arm?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£IÔÇÖll give it a go, Martin.ÔÇØ

Neena put down her rifle to grab hold of her end of the stretcher, then the call came in.

ÔÇ£Neena, we have a serious problem. The weaponÔÇÖs launched.ÔÇØ

Neena just stood there for a couple of seconds in total shock, before shaking herself out of it.

ÔÇ£Did you manage to damage it at all?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Difficult to tell. We damaged a lot of the equipment in here, but maybe not anything critical.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£OK, it was attached to a probe, so you should be able to chase it down with an interceptor, if weÔÇÖve got anyone left to fly it.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£IÔÇÖm on it.ÔÇØ

Neena shut off the channel and turned back to the doc and the stretcher.

ÔÇ£Knowing Mallone itÔÇÖs probably a cloaked probe.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Well, if we know where itÔÇÖs headed we could just mine a jumpgate or something. They can burn through cloaks sometimes, canÔÇÖt they?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£You may have something there.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Uh, OK, what about the Sergeant here?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Oh, right.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£3, 2, 1, liftÔÇØ

Neena winced painfully as they lifted Sergeant Diamond up to the gurney.[/rp]

Hope that wasnÔÇÖt putting too many words into NeenaÔÇÖs mouth there, Blades. Just introducing my ideas.

------------------

Commander Ben Zwycky

GCV Svoboda ISS13

ISS Fleet Administrative Assistant

http://www.watson-jones.swinternet.co.uk/Svoboda

"Nakonec pravda vitezi" (in the end the truth wins)

[Charles Lindsey]

Launch T-37 minutes

A sof t beep cut through the alarm a second before it fell silent. McKendrick whirled around with his rifle at the ready to see a thoroughly disheveled female in a medics uniform who was visibly paling at the sight of a rifle being trained on her. "Who are you?" he demanded.

If at all possible she paled even more,"Tamara Jensen," she answered, "I've taken out Perscan, no one knows we are here. And you might be?" she asked hopefully.

McKendrick almost laughed at the thought that she thought he might possibly be one of Mallone's men. "Michael McKendrick ma'am, Flight Engineer #13. Seems as if this is our lucky number today. How have you avoided those goons?"

"Beats me," she answered, "I woke up in medibay with no one in site. Doc had mixed up something which quite nicely ate through the Perscan link." She pointed at the terminal that held the engineering links to the rest of the perscan monitors and linked them to the Perscan computer. It was a sluggish mass of goo that was still dripping in places. "I got down here and poured it on the termainal and hid, I heard footsteps then a comm-badge went off and I heard whoever it was being ordered to the Probe launch bay. And you?"

"I been sneaking around this ship like a rat, I got two of Mallone's goons though. My instructions were to take out the computer core. Which as you can see..."

"You did a fair to middling job of it," Jensen interrupted with a smile.

McKendrick grinned, "I suppose so. Now hopefully Mister Polovoski can regain helm and launch control. I've been told to man a shuttle and give point for the Chikuma but I suppose we should see about getting you back up with the rest of the crew. By all accounts we have several hours to sort through the systems and get what we can back online."

"I'm all over that," said Jensen, "I'm don't want to be alone right now."

"Let's go then. Guys back to your stations, we don't want anyone trying to escape via the shuttles. Rod you are still with me," said McKendrick. They watched the drones head off towards the shuttle bay and a few seconds later McKendrick and Jensen headed back towards Neena and crew. Lights were flickering in the corridors as the ship's systems tried to regain some equlibrium. The ship seemed deserted with not another soul around. Occasionally a loose wire would crackle and spit sparks. McKendrick wondered what could have caused this damage. A firefight between The Chikuma's crew and the goons he thought.

They were about to cross a side cooridor when they heard a battle raging. McKendrick, Jensen, and Rod hid in an alcove and waited. A few seconds later two of those flying turrets came into view and they were firing at each other. Jensen took a breath as if to scream but McKendrick covered her mouth with his hand and motioned quiet. The first drone had turned around and was flying backwards and got off a glancing shot at the one chasing it. Not satisfied it continued flying backwards until it hit one of the beams poking out of the ceiling. That was all the second one needed. Somewhat unsteadily it lanced off several shots in the direction of the first. Two shots connected and the drone exploded. Content that it's foe was dead the second drone unsteadily hovered in the area assesing its surroundings. McKendrick tightened his grip on Jensen. It was obviously scanning. It was almost upon them when the distant sounds of another battle could be heard. The drone whipped around at the stimulus and shakily flew off in that direction.

McKendrick released his grip on Jensen who immediately sagged in his arms. As he steadied her she asked," What the hell were those?"

"Just some little nasties we had the pleasure of meeting in the shuttle bay. Though they weren't firing on themselves at the time. I guess they've run out of enemies and have nothing better to do than fight each other. Come on . We've got to get back. " Luckily the sounds of battle were not coming from the direction they were headed.

They made it back to section 15 to see the Doc and Neena lifting Sgt. Diamond onto a gurney. A nasty looking knife was laying beside him on the floor and Diamonds abdomen was bandaged. McKendrick winced. "Hi Doc," said McKendrick as he entered the area. "You know this gal?" As everyone turned to look at him McKendrick couldn't help but have a feeling of dread. "What's wrong? I got the core like you wanted. We still got a few hours to get everything hooked back up don't we? Well, don't we?"

Launch T-24 Minutes

[RP] off

Sorry for the delay Blades but real life and the holidays. This catches me up and makes me concurrent with the last post I believe. I backtracked a little to stay concurrent and I haven't forgotten the usefulness of shuttles.

Charles/McKendrick

[Blades]

[Narrative On]

Impact T ÔÇô 26 minutes

Moments ago, Interceptor One blew the launch bay doors apart and soared less than gracefully into the blackened night. The Chikuma seemed to scream with the internal wound, and the entire ship shuddered in complaint from the ICÔÇÖs weapon fire. Once the shuddering had abated, and the pressure doors had sealed off the launch bay, normality began to resume.

In the moments that followed, Leutenant Commander Neena Polovoski (With the assistance of Jayce Allen) determined that releasing the imprissoned crew from their quarters would take somewhat longer than they had to fully man the ship.

Foregoing the assistance of the rest of the crew, the Chikuma survivors headed for the bridge to determine the status of their wounded ship.

Jensen immediately took her position at helm control, and determined that with a little creative reworking, she could alter the ships present course and manually steer it through space. Likewise at weapons control, Neena was pleased to discover that the destruction of the computer core hadnt completely shut out weapons functions. The PTA and main IOD guns were still operational, although the advanced target and tracking systems required for missile lock and launch were fried.

ÔÇ£Good enough.ÔÇØ Murmered Neena.

Gambit, the shocked Interceptor pilot had accompanied the rest of them to the bridge. He quickly found himself at the communications console and glumly reported to Neena that the system was completely useless.

ÔÇ£Commander!ÔÇØ said Jensen.

ÔÇ£What is it Tamara?ÔÇØ replied Neena.

ÔÇ£WeÔÇÖre still cloaked, sir. The probe launch and Interceptor disembarkment caused us to wink in briefly, but weÔÇÖre still invisible.ÔÇØ

Neena thought. ÔÇ£Gambit!ÔÇØ shouted Neena.

The pilot looked up from the comms station. ÔÇ£Yes, commander?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Check TacOps. Tell me what you can see.ÔÇØ

Gambit nodded and went to the TacOps station that Graves had previously occupied. A moment later, he pulled up a current tactical layout of Chikumas current region.

ÔÇ£Sir, it looks like a fleet of GalCom ships are assaulting the Drodian homeworlds starbase.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£How many ships?ÔÇØ asked Neena.

Uh  six, sir. Plus an additional 24 support craft. Interceptors.

ÔÇ£Drodian defences?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Minimal, sir. It looks like the majority of their fleet was recalled to the homeworld. So far IÔÇÖm not detecting any support from the planet. My guess is, that GalCom fleet is jamming the station. It could take up to an hour before the homeworld launches to investigate.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£WouldnÔÇÖt they assume they were under attack by the Gammulans if they lost contact with the station?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Unlikely. Their outlying comms stations would have been attacked by Gammulan advanced elements, and alerted them that way. They are probably assuming itÔÇÖs just a brief comms interuption.ÔÇØ

Jensen frowned. ÔÇ£But the station wont hold out that long against the fleet, and by the time they figure out something really is wrong, the RANDOM would have vaporised the planet. TheyÔÇÖre screwed.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Not yet their not.ÔÇØ Said Gambit, excitedly. ÔÇ£Commander, IÔÇÖve just detected a GalCom force of four ships entering the region. ItÔÇÖs the Corsairs sir! Led by the Graff Spee!ÔÇØ

Neena joined Gambit at the TacOps display. ÔÇ£Time to intercept the enemy fleet?ÔÇØ

Gambit calculated. ÔÇ£A little over 30 minutes, sir.ÔÇØ

Neena thumped the comsole hard. ÔÇ£Dammit. The station cant hold out that long. We need to buy the Drodians some time.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£How?ÔÇØ asked Jensen.

Neena frowned once again, and stood thinking for a moment. Then she left Gambits side, and slowley stepped over to her commanders chair. Pausing just a moment, she seated herself and and tightly gripped the arm rests with her hands.

ÔÇ£Battle stations!ÔÇØ she ordered.

Startled, Jensen and Gambit took a moment to fully take in what she was ordering. Once the shock had abated, they resumed their positions and began checking off battle systems.

Neena flicked the internal comms switch on the command chair and bleeped McKendrick. ÔÇ£Kenny, you at the shuttlebay yet?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Yes sir, just got here.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Excellent. Would I be right in assuming that the shuttles sensor suite is vastly more sophisticated that that of the average interceptor?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Ah, something like that, sir.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Then I want you to get out there and find that probe.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Ah, understood. Then what?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Destroy it. Any way you can.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£What about the Chikuma, sir?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£IÔÇÖm afraid our sensor systems are seriously damaged. We havent got a chance in hell of locating that weapon. However, weÔÇÖre going to engage the aggressive GalCom fleet and give you cover at the same time. Once you are spacebourn, have IC1 fly cover for you and keep any enemy fighters off your back.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Understood commander.ÔÇØ Said McKendrick, sounding withdrawn.

ÔÇ£Kenny, ItÔÇÖs up to you now. YouÔÇÖre the only one who can find that probe. If you donÔÇÖt stop it, billions will die.ÔÇØ

Neena heard the engineer groan. ÔÇ£Kenny?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£I really donÔÇÖt need this kind of pressure right now, thanks Commander. And if itÔÇÖs not too much trouble, would you please stop calling me Kenny? ItÔÇÖs giving me the creeps something awful.ÔÇØ

Despite herself, Neena laughed. ÔÇ£I apologise McKendrick. Good hunting, and godspeed.ÔÇØ

With that, Neena closed communications and ordered Jensen to bring the Chikuma about and head out at maximum burn towards the battle.

Impact T ÔÇô 20 minutes

[Narrative Off]

------------------

F.C KARL 'BLADES' SAVAGE

ORION FLEET

TSUNAMI BATTLE GROUP

GCV - TSUNAMI Ôäó

www.orion-hq.fsnet.co.uk

'For Queen and country'

[Blades]

Uh ..... guys?

[Charles Lindsey]

, ermmm, Thinking. And Mom just got on the internet. (ministers and saints preserve me) I'll have to do a good bit of thinking to make it more than he chased the probe and knocked it out of the sky.

[Blades]

I wouldnt go that far Charles.

Besides, all good chaces take their time. I'm callin the final shot here!

[Blades]

[Narrative On]

Impact T - 19 minutes

From the bridge of the GCV Universe, Fleet Commander Stiles oversaw the unfolding battle around him. The six GalCom vessels directly under his command were amongst the most impressive ever commisioned. Each had been fully upgraded with state of the art tactical and engineering systems, and their crews amongst the best that the Orion fleet had to offer. Right now, both ship and crews of these vessels were assaulting the Drodian starstation in an effort to sieze it and loot it's secrets. To prevent the inhabitants of the Drodian homeworld from interupting their blatent theft, they had secured the services of the GCV Chikuma to launch a prototype weapon of mass destruction to anhiilate the population. That way, there would be no reinforcements, and nobody left around to track the fleet once the looting had been completed.

So far, they weer on schedule. The stations defences were being beaten down with minimal damage to his fleet, and the RANDOM device was well on course to the planet.

Twenty minutes from now, and it would all be over. The station would surrender and the boarding could begin. The technological secrets of this advanced and secrative race would be his to plunder. Phase two of his grand plan could begin in earnest.

"Fleet Commander?" said Niles, the commander of the Universe.

"What is it?" barked the older officer.

"Sir, tactical has just reported a blip on TacOps."

"What is it?"

"Sir, before it dissapeared, I could have sworn it was the Chikuma."

"The Chikuma? She's not sposed to be anywhere near the engagement area."

"I know, sir. From what Tactical tells me, their course was bringing them here in an afwul hurry. Not only that, but two support craft have been detected ahead of the ship. A shuttle and a single Interceptor."

"Thats .... interesting." said the Fleet Commander. "Have the Vagabond break off from the assault and investigate."

"Aye sir!" said the commander, repeated the instruction to his comms officer. "Vagabond is breaking off from the attack and proceding to intercept. They are requesting additional instructions, sir."

Stiles thought for a moment. Could Mallone have lost control of the ship?

"Have them locate the Chikuma and beam a boarding party aboard. If they refuse, or show any aggresive signs, destroy them."

"Understood, relaying that now."

"Oh," started the Fleet Commander. "and have a wing of fighters break from their CAP and intercept the support vessels. Have them escorted away from the engagement area. If they refuse, destroy them."

The commander nodded, and proceded with his orders.

Impact T - 17 minutes

[Narrative Off]

------------------

F.C KARL 'BLADES' SAVAGE

ORION FLEET

TSUNAMI BATTLE GROUP

GCV - TSUNAMI Ôäó

www.orion-hq.fsnet.co.uk

'For Queen and country'

[Charles Lindsey]

Sure, all good chases take their time, just {grunt} let me tighten {grunt} these screws {Grunt,grunt} a little more. Hehe. Well, here is part one.

[RP] on

McKendrick shuddered. Kenny? Since when had miss Polovoski gotten so familiar? The stress must be getting to her. Three days ago he had barely known she existed. He had known but she was just one of the muckety-mucks in charge, and a hard-assed bitch by all accounts as well; he was just a flight engineer doing his job,one of the little gys who she probably didn't even look twice at. All that had changed ever since he had brought that goon Mallone on board. They had gone throught some strange events. He had practically assaulted her to get her in his quarters and explain what was going on. Then the incident in the shuttle bay with those flying turrets, one of the more frightening events in his life yet she had stayed calm. She hadn't een that hard when he had grabbed her. What was it that made strange bedfellows? Politics, that was it. There was something else though. War and stress and all that that made people do strange things.

Mckendrick pushed those thoughts aside as he prepared the shuttle for launch. By happenstance or forethought, he couldn't really figure out which, he was in the very same shuttle they had taken refuge from the drone, the one they had modified with the extra powerpacks and the reactor from the mostly destroyed ATV. Kenny, he thought. She hadn't said it with any malice nor condescendingly. It was still creepy though. Then again.

That thought vanished as the engines hummed to life. It was a sound quite unlike anything he had ever heard but reassuring in it's way. Rather like the sound one heard when an extremely large electric motor began to turn when coupled to an extremely large turbine. That combination of high pitched whine and deep throated rumble. Or perhaps more like one where the capacitor never would kick in and the motor was vainly trying to accomplish it's task without the extra kick needed to get it up to speed. That was depressing.

He was freaking and he knew it. Practically shaking. Billions of people she had said. That had not been good to hear. Along with Kenny. What was she thinking? He was shaking now. He was prepared to do whatever he could. But a shuttle? A flying crate? This old crate had proved itself once before he thought. He hit the launch button.

Nothing happened; McKendrick wanted to scream. He had gone through all that trouble to take out the computer core and still htey didn't have launch control. No time to try to repair it manually according to Neena. And now I'm on a first name basis with her as well, he thought, smiling brimly to himself. All I have to do is get past the forcefield and into space. The thoughts came quickly and unbidden. If it couldn't leave under it's own power it could leave under someone else's. He ran to the rear entrance and motioned to the droids. He quickly explained what he wanted them to do. "Then get to engineering and bypass that equinox thing and get this ship operational again. " With that he closed the hatch once more and settled into his seat. Two bumps signalled the ATV's had connected with the shuttle and McKendrick watched as he drifted slowly out of the shuttle bay like so much garbage.

It only took a moment for the shuttles' systems to realize it was not in the bay any longer. Alarms sounded as they tried to orient the shuttle onto a reference plane. Another second and the systems had identified the systems and the alarms quieted. An IC, sleek and graceful, flew past the viewport. "Banish? Is that you? Neena has instructed us to go after that probe. You are to provide cover. We've got a probe to find." He looked around for the Chikuma but she was gone. Or rather just not there. Still cloaked. Whether it was by design or not he didn't know but suddenly he felt very lonely. "I'm on my way Neena, godspeed to you as well," he said into his comms badge. He rather doubted the limited range of the badge would cut through a cloak and shield but he felt better for saying it.

He hit the throttle and the shuttle surged towards the general direction of the probe. As he was bringing up the sensors his comm badge gave a faint sound of static but he couldn't make anything out of it. Very alone indeed.

[RP] Off

Michael McKendrick

Flight Engineer #13

"When in doubt; run, holler, scream, and shout"

Tomorrow {hopefully} that actual chase. Thanks to Ron for jacking the shuttle up. And all other previous posts I referenced.