| Author |
The Concept Encounter |
Coeus {NCX-Charger}
Admiral, I can't read,
Sundered Weimeriners
Joined: February 16, 2004
Posts: 3635
From: South Philly
|  Posted: 2007-01-10 18:34
The following is inspired by actual events.
MS Word Document
____________________________________________________________
Darkspace – The Concept Encounter
By: Jay “Coeus” Lawler
*****
Chapter 1 – Appearances
Lieutenant Williams paused in what he thought was a stately manner and surveyed the small crowd before him. Politicians, retired Confed Navy, and reporters crowded the small pilots briefing room aboard the C.S.S. Shrike. “Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to what our flyboys will be considering their home away from home quite soon. The Admiral has asked that I give you a short introduction to the Shrike just prior to her launch so that you can truly understand what an advancement she is for the Navy and for the Confederation as a whole.”
Jonathan Williams was no stranger to public speaking. Being the native son of an Exathran Senator, he learned how to compose himself and his words from an early age, a fact that his shipmates never let him forget. “The C.S.S. Shrike ADN-72 is an M-410A Assault Dreadnought that was built by special request at the Galishnov Memorial Shipyard orbiting the planet Darksoul, which by the way was recently named in honor of Admiral Darksoul’s father, Marcus Darksoul, for his heroics following the infamous Forgotten Fleet, more than a decade ago.” Williams paused appropriately as the vets conversed with one another trying to decide who was closer to the involved parties of that covert assault fleet. While the vets attempted to one-up each other, the politicians quietly mentioned little tidbits to their staff about lodging protests about the naming of the shipyard and planet.
“What separates the Shrike from other Assault Dreadnoughts, aside from the fact that she is Grand Admiral Darksoul’s flagship, is how she is equipped. Using a new method of construction that is only available at the recently built Shipyards, such as the Galishnov Yards, Admiral Darksoul was able to have a team of engineers custom design in several combat enhancements, in addition to custom fitting technology from both the U.G.T.O. and the K’Luth.” Williams knew that this would get their attention. While it was widely known that I.C.C. captains routinely were able to obtain and mount enemy technology onto their ships, it was never admitted to anyone outside of that ships crew nor was it listed on their manifests. Apparently, Jon thought, Admiral Coeus had a different idea in mind.
“Now before anyone begins to question the legality of this maneuver, Admiral Darksoul has gotten full permission of the Confederation High Council to modify his flagship in ways not normally accepted for Confederation Ships of the Line. The official reasoning behind it is that his position on the ICC Security Council, while a controversial one, is also one that places the Admiral and his crew in intensely hostile situations more frequently than your average Assault Dreadnought, which will tend to fly with a small escort of Cruisers and Destroyers.” Williams let himself crack a corner of a smile as all the Politicians and retired Navy subdued their bickering. “Now then, would you all care to hear exactly what these modifications are?”
*****
“He is doing well.” Coeus observed. Watching the press conference taking place in the Butcher Birds briefing room with one eye, and the S3, Ships Status Screen with another, Coeus felt confident.
“That he is, sir.” Captain Pali noted in return. “I just hope that he remembers not to give away too much about the K’Luth hyperdrive or the Ion Cannon.” Coeus glanced up at Xavier Pali, his first officer and former communications officer back on the Charger, and saw him furrowing his brow with a bit of anxiety.
“I wouldn’t worry about it, Cap’.” Coeus said casually, though he did share a bit of Pali’s trepidation. “Williams was fully briefed, and he comes from a political family, so he knows how to keep a secret. That’s why I picked him for this detail.” Coeus turned his attention back to the S3 readout, while listening to Williams talk about a new materials process that was used to apply the UGTO Ablative Armor to the second layer of Fore Armor that Assault Dreads normally took for granted. “Hey Cap’.” Coeus called Pali over, and pointed at the launching port for the second fighter squad stationed on the Shrike. “Is it just me or shouldn’t the Loggerhead’s magnetic launching rail be powered down?”
“I’ll take care of it, sir. In the meantime, Chief Powers has asked if you can come down to main Engineering, he wants to talk to you about something.” Captain Pali gave a slight nod, which Coeus returned and turned and left. Coeus lingered a second, listening to Williams.
“As an Assault Class Dreadnought, the Shrike is designed for close in high power strikes on enemy capital ships and stations. While it can effectively engage enemy Dreadnoughts and Stations, she tends to have trouble with smaller ships, even Cruisers can be troublesome to hit. This is why the Shrike was equipped with advanced engines and hyperdrive technology, to enable her to out-maneuver the U.G.T.O.’s equivalent ship, the much feared Elite Assault Dreadnought, and her enhanced armament and shielding also protect the aft of the ship...” Williams’ voice trailed off as Coeus made his way towards the back of the bridge and then down to Engineering.
“She is a beauty.” Coeus thought to himself smiling, while decks below Williams basically bragged about the ship that Coeus had nearly designed himself.
_________________
Darkspace: Twilight
|
Coeus {NCX-Charger}
Admiral, I can't read,
Sundered Weimeriners
Joined: February 16, 2004
Posts: 3635
From: South Philly
| Posted: 2007-01-10 18:47
Chapter 2 – Underway
*****
“The Shrike’s helm is laid out both for the standard method of control, by plotting course and speed, but unlike other ships larger than a Corvette she is also equipped for fast manual piloting, so that when ordered the Helm Officer can take direct control of engine and maneuvering thrusters much in the same way that a fighter pilot controls their Steelhead, with a standard pair of control and thrust sticks.” Williams explained as Coeus sat back in his chair. When Lieutenant Arnette looked back at Coeus, he gave the helmsman a nod and motioned for him to take manual control.
Reaching down, Coeus pressed a button on his control panel and spoke to the air, “Attention all hands, this is the Admiral. Prepare for manual maneuvering, lock down all hatches, secure all systems and brace for Internal Dampener lag.” Coeus flipped the switch off, and began strapping his own seat belt on. He reached over and picked up his coffee cup, a rather large stainless steel mug with the ICC Symbol emblazoned in black on the side, with the Shrike’s name and designation below it. It glinted in the switch of the bridge lights as they went from standard white light to a deep green.
“What Admiral Darksoul means by Internal Dampener Lag is that when the ship is under manual maneuvering, the helmsman is in direct control of the engines and maneuvering thrusters so the Internal Dampeners which normally counteract all inertia so that it doesn’t feel like you’re even moving cannot compensate in time for the sudden shifts in heading and speed.” The politicians nodded sagely, though obviously didn’t have a clue what Williams was saying, the Navy Vets were looking at the changes in the display readouts and the specific system updates, bored with hearing what they had already experienced in their time being described in such dull language, and the reporters were busy scribbling down every word that Lieutenant Williams was saying. Coeus smiled to himself, everything was going so predictably.
“All departments report ready, Admiral.” Captain Pali said, who was holding onto a railing instead of strapping himself down, having given up his seat for one of the more elderly vets, who saluted sharply at the kind gesture.
“Very well. Lieutenant Arnette, take us into that asteroid field there, full ahead flank, and run us through a few times. Weaps – tie in the Heavy Chemical Lasers to the Helm so he can poke off any stray Asteroids that he doesn’t wish to bump.” Coeus said. He was answered quickly with a pair of ‘Yes Sir!’s and smiled briefly. The politicians and reporters were all huddling around the outer perimeter of the bridge, grasping onto whatever handholds they could.
Arnette’s grin could be seen by everyone on the bridge – after all how often was one singular person in charge of every aspect of where a fifty-billion credit ship was headed. Not only did he enjoy himself, but he handled the ship so masterfully that not a single person, even the reporters who never served in the military were not awe struck. More than a thousand people held their breath as Arnette ducked and weaved the ship so close to some of the asteroids that the shields flared from the magnetic reaction, but not a single asteroid got bumped. Not once did he need to fire the Heavy Chem Lasers, and Coeus was pretty sure that he could hear some whooping and hollering coming from deep within the ship and imagined seeing the faces of Shrike crewman pressed against the portholes on all sides of the ship trying to see how close Arnette came to bashing a stray ‘roid. When it was all over, the non-military personnel began applauding Arnette’s performance, to which he just smiled and blushed a little.
“And that concludes today’s demonstration!” Williams said with so much enthusiasm that Coeus could have mistaken him for one of the reporters or retired Navy. “If you will all follow me I’ll take us down to the Officers Mess where Admiral Darksoul has provided an interplanetary luncheon that takes portions from twelve systems in Human space, and one colony deep behind K’Luth lines as well!” Coeus smirked at the mention of that, since no such colony nor dish exists, but in fact it was an old recipe handed down in his family since before the Dark Age – something called Chicken Pot Pie, though he would never divulge the ingredients nor the origins.
After all of the non-military were off the bridge, Coeus un-strapped himself from his seat and walked over to the Navigator’s station, and pulled a mini-comp out of his pocket and pulled up a recent report. “I want you to plot us a course to Concept in Tripwik, the C.S.S. Tygor sent out a message earlier today asking for a combat escort to dissuade any stray ships from attacking them while they attempt to rebuild the Concept colony which had taken a beating last week. It should be a nice quiet little detail to keep the ship operations running.” Coeus directed the final part to Captain Pali, who nodded in agreement.
“We can probably run the ship through some combat drills with the Colony’s fighter compliment while we’re there, both squads could use the practice.” Pali said optimistically, but frowned when Coeus started shaking his head with his eyes closed.
“No good. If anything the colony is going to be asking us for some support staff to get things off the ground. It was completely wiped out last week.” Pali nodded and glanced at the mini-comp in the Admiral’s hand. He knew that as a member of the ICC Security Council Coeus had access to all kinds of top secret information and was among the first to get reports of this nature, but a week on was kind of a long time for something like this to not be posted. He wondered what else was going on that the chief Enforcer for the ISC would take his state-of-the-art and brand new Assault Dreadnought into a border system that was deeply in conflict to protect some far-flung Engineer, but knew better than to ask.
“Right, guess I’ll start rounding up the few dozen crew that we have slated for colony support and get them prepped.” Captain Pali said.
“I’ll go inform our guests, should be a good chance for the reporters to see, and for the politicians to remember, how things actually are on-board a line ship.
*****
Governor Watts grumbled to himself. “Just because my son is on this damned council doesn’t mean I have to get involved with it, damnit.” His public relations advisor thought otherwise, however, so much so that she accompanied him on this little field trip.
“Yes, it does, sir.” Brittiany said just loud enough for Governor Gary Watts to hear. “If you don’t start showing some more support for the ISC you will find your supporters washing up – no matter that James is on the council.” She moved to try some of that exotic dish that the Williams boy had mentioned earlier, when the hatch opened and clanged loudly against the inside of the room. Glancing over she saw the Grand Admiral himself walking into the room from the corridor, and was fairly surprised. In the two days that they had been on board the Shrike during her initial trials, they had all been well treated but Admiral Darksoul kept himself clear of the delegation, obviously intentionally.
“Ahem!” he said sharply, obviously not a very elegant public speaker she thought to herself. “I hate to interrupt as you are just getting ready to eat, ladies and gentlemen, so I will keep this short. It has come to my attention that there is a Confederation Navy Engineering ship far out in the Tripwik system that is alone and unguarded. The planet they are attempting to rebuild was hit hard last week and is completely undefended. I thought this would be a nice simple mission not too far from Confed controlled territory that we can use to run the ship through battle drills, and give you all a better picture of how we operate. If you have any questions Lieutenant Williams will be available later to answer them. Enjoy your meal!” Coeus said the last part with an upbeat note and a smile, spun on his heals and exited out the hatchway that he just entered from, shutting the hatch behind him with yet another resounding clang.
“Damnit, now I’ll never get home to Filoth in time for the regional golf tournament.” Was all that Governor Watts could say before turning his attention back towards the food. Brittiany wasn’t so convinced; there was something about his attitude, and the fact that the Admiral made the announcement personally that made her uneasy. Up until that point, he hadn’t said but a few words to the entire delegation, and that was mostly “Hello” and “Welcome aboard.”
“Gary!” a man called from across the room. It was one of the old Confederation Vets, who had also not said much to the politicians. “I thought I recognized you Governor, no one made any introductions between us all.” Watts looked quite confused for a moment, then suddenly recognition dawned on him.
“Good lord, Thomas Kinny?” For the first time that Brittiany could remember the Governor actually seemed genuinely interested in a person. What was even more shocking to her was that the two of them embraced tightly as soon as they were within arms reach. “What the hell are you doing here you old space dog?” Watts exclaimed. A couple of the other politicians glanced over at Watts and seemed to be repressing sneers, glances which the retired Navy vets returned to the politicians unseen to anyone but Brittiany it seemed.
“Same as you I suppose, my cousin is on the Council, seems that is who all they invited to this inaugural run, friends and family of ISC members. How about you? Don’t tell me Jimmy …” Governor Watts nodded with a giant smile on his face, “Jimmy James is on the Council?”
Brittiany crept away and let the two old Navy buddies catch up. Watts had been in politics for so long that most of his Navy experience had been drown beneath political correctness and appearances, and she often forgot that he had ever even served, despite knowing that it was required for any politician. That was why most of the other politicians sneered at Watts; they forgot what it was like, much in the same way that Brittiany had never known. Pushing the thoughts out of her mind, she instead focused on her impressions of Admiral Darksoul. Career military, he was very good at keeping secrets, that much she knew just by who he was and what positions he held. She also knew that as a Grand Admiral and a member of the ICC Security Council he had more than enough authority to designate any number of ships to guard this lowly little Engineer. So why take his brand new and untested flagship out there, she couldn’t figure it out.
“Credit for your thoughts?” a wispy female voice said. Brittiany turned around to see another one of the Navy Vets standing behind and to the right of her, half looking at her and half looking out the same porthole she was.
“Just some oddities that caught my eye.” She said honestly. She didn’t really want to confide in this elderly Confed pilot, and she was a pilot from the wings that were pinned on her uniform, a Lieutenant Commander from the rank insignia pinned on her uniform. “I’m Brittiany Eriks, Public Relations Advisor to Governor Gary Watts.” She held out her hand to the elder pilot, who returned hers and shook firmly.
“Lt. Commander Laura Beatte.” She introduced herself as. For some reason that name triggered a feeling of recognition. “Retired, of course.” She smiled, and turned to face the porthole again. “Beautiful, isn’t it?” Brittiany turned and nearly lost her breath at the sight.
“Oh my… I’ve heard the stories, but I have never actually traveled in Tachyon space before, especially not at military speeds!” The sight was truly remarkable, planets, stars, entire constellations flew by so fast that Brittiany couldn’t identify what they even were until they were long gone.
“Oh we are far beyond standard Military speeds for a ship this size, my dear. We are in the extreme upper end of Tachyon frequencies, of the sort that a ship this size could never hope to obtain with standard ICC or UGTO Technology.” Beatte was very careful not to let anyone else hear her, which obviously meant that Admiral Darksoul had obtained and integrated K’Luth technology into the ship’s engines, something which Brittiany didn’t even think was possible. “So what is on your mind, Miss Eriks?” Beatte asked.
“The same kind of thing that you were just referring to, actually.” Brittiany said, who took Beatte’s lead and kept her voice between the two of them. “Wondering what kind of secrets are flying about this ship.”
“Ahh, the curiosity of the non-military.” Beatte almost laughed aloud but maintained her composure. “No Navy personnel in your family either I am guessing?” she asked the younger girl, but the tone of her voice said that she already knew the answer.
“Not in three generations, almost an entirely military family on your side I am guessing?” Brittiany asked the older women, though not with Beatte’s self assuredness.
“No, only my husband was in the military…” she trailed off, and Brittiany knew that there was more here than she wanted to try to pry out of the old pilot. “He was Admiral Darksoul’s first officer for years and years, and eventually was captain of the Charger before… well I’m sure you know that story.”
Brittiany nodded slowly. That was one of the few incidents that Confederation Naval Command felt the citizens deserved to know all the facts about, or at least the majority of the facts. “But that was a long time ago. Even still, the Grand Admiral has always kept in touch, and invited me personally to the unveiling of the Shrike.” There was some slight confusion in the old pilots voice, and Brittiany was probably struggling with decades old internal conflicts about her husband and the man who was charged with her safety. She realized that was probably why she was retired at only Lieutenant Commander Rank. Indeed, Beatte was the only retired Confed Navy in the room below the rank of 1st Rear Admiral.
“What can you tell me about the Admiral?” Brittiany buckled down to try and get to the bottom of whatever was happening. Normally, she wouldn’t care what ship went where, even if she was on it, but she had a responsibility to protect the image of Governor Watts, and she needed to know exactly what he was about to get into, because military or not wherever this ship went and whatever it got into, Watts would be associated with.
_________________
Darkspace: Twilight
|
Supertrooper
Marshal
Pitch Black
Joined: March 18, 2004
Posts: 1895
From: Maryland, U.S.A
| Posted: 2007-01-10 18:55
I love the ending. =)
_________________
|
Coeus {NCX-Charger}
Admiral, I can't read,
Sundered Weimeriners
Joined: February 16, 2004
Posts: 3635
From: South Philly
| Posted: 2007-01-10 18:58
Chapter 3 - Arrival
*****
“I’m sorry to wake you sir, but its 0530 hours.” Coeus groaned as he sat up in his bunk, and rolled over.
“Uck, I miss my old bunk.” Coeus said. Captain Pali’s image just hovered on the monitor over by Coeus’ desk. “Should have had it salvaged from the Charger.” He said as he padded over to the dresser to don the day’s dress uniform.
“Sir, that was over twelve years ago.” Pali chuckled. He had been a young Lieutenant at the time, in charge of the Charger’s communications, but was on leave on Exathra at the time of the incident. He remembered staring up at the blue and red late day sky from the beach of Tarranceville on the Eastern coast of the main continent, and seeing a bright white, yellow, blue, and orange flash that was the burial-at-space for tens of thousands of people aboard Juxtapose Station, many family and friends of Pali’s among them, just like most everyone else in the Confederation. Juxtapose Station while only able to house 10,000 personnel was the temporary home and transit center for most travel to and from Exathra, both civilian and military. The final death toll was ranged between seventeen and eighteen thousand when the station’s reactors blew, which was just a fraction of the body count that resulted from the entire incident.
“Yeah, I know. I’ll be to the bridge in a half hour. Thank you Captain.” Coeus said, and Pali closed the connection. Once again alone, Coeus set about his morning routine while the computer automatically compiled and sorted the security reports that he would have to review as part of his role on the ICC Security Council. With those downloaded into his mini-comp, his coffee mug filled to the brim, and his cap securely on his head Coeus set out of his quarters towards the bridge, reading reports and sipping his coffee as he went. It wasn’t until he was at the final lift to the bridge that the alarm went off.
“Alert Code Blue, possible enemy Dreadnought at JEP. All personnel report to combat stations!” Coeus was already in the lift with a priority route to the bridge before the message finished.
“Gotcha.” He said to himself. As he exited the lift most of the bridge crew was already in position. The lights overhead had gone to a deep shade of blue, with the display screens illuminating more than the overheads. “Report?” he barked, confident that whoever had the most updated information would pass it up the chain.
“Not much just yet, sir.” Pali said. He was looking over the Comm. Officer’s shoulder. “We got a distress from Concept about two minutes ago, it was a little garbled, and when we took a look at the sensor readings relayed through the ICC Communications Grid we saw the ghost of an unidentified enemy Dreadnought close by to Concept.” Coeus had only one thought on his mind.
“What about the Tygor?” he asked almost immediately after Captain Pali finished his report, to which Pali just shook his head. “Ok, bring us in 1,000gu off of Concept here, full ahead flank around the planet, full scans. Get me the most updated spatial flow charts, ready all weapons and arm the Beacon Launcher.” Pali glanced up sharply.
“Beacons, sir?” he asked. Normally he wouldn’t question the Admiral in front of the crew, but this begged the question. “You suspect K’Luth, sir?” Coeus looked up from the sensor display and caught Pali’s eyes, he held for just a fraction of a second, but it was enough for Pali to get the point and go on about his business. “What shall I do about the delegation, sir?” he asked, completely changing the subject.
“Show them to the emergency bridge, and flip the view screen onto tactical view, no live pictures though.” Coeus ordered. He knew that watching combat on a tactical screen, even if you were in the middle of it, could be far less traumatizing than seeing the weapons actually firing and hitting the opposing ships.
“Admiral, we are coming up on the last leg of our jump.” Arnett reported. Coeus glanced at the jump timer on a nearby S3 display, which was in its final 10 second countdown. Coeus moved to the center of the bridge and took his seat in the command chair.
He flipped on the 1MC and spoke to the air, “All hands, battle stations.”
*****
Brittiany lurched instinctively as the ship decelerated abruptly, although there was no actual feeling of motion change thanks to those dampeners that Williams had mentioned earlier. “So this is the safest part of the ship you said?” she asked Williams, who was escorting the delegation to the emergency bridge. Lt. Commander Beatte was walking to the left and slightly ahead of Brittiany and Governor Watts to her right, still chatting with his old friend about how ship design hasn’t changed much since their time. Williams was ahead of everyone, leading the way through the confusing corridors, turned his head fractionally to answer her.
“Yes Ma’am, by nature the Auxiliary Bridge of a ship is in a part that is least likely to take damage during a battle. It is very rare that the main bridge of a ship will be incapacitated, since the most effective way to disable or destroy a ship is by focusing fire on the engines, and since bridges are often the most heavily armed parts of the ship. The Admiral thought that you would all feel the most secure and also have the best view of any engagements that we may encounter.” That perked everybody’s head in the delegation up, as many of the vets were eager to live combat again, all of the reporters saw a chance for an award winning story, and many of the politicians felt a varied mix of fear, and political backing to help them push their own agendas.
It was Governor Watts that spoke up first. “The Admiral won’t be taking any… unnecessary chances will he?” He didn’t look afraid but Brittiany knew her boss well by now, he was terrified. It seems that his war buddy remembered as well, and was stifling a chuckle at his friend’s expense.
“Not at all, sir. The Admiral’s first concern is always for the people under his care here onboard the ship, and this is not the first time he has been forced into engagements with VIPs on board.” Williams reassured the governor. That eased tensions a bit, but just as they were entering the secondary Bridge the first hit of the day rocked the ship. Almost immediately crew began scouring the corridors as anyone not on active duty was assigned to damage control, and they had their own sections to patrol for any unreported damage.
There were plenty of room on the bridge for the delegation, as it was minimally manned while the main bridge was undamaged. Williams had warned them that the bridge would fill up with technicians and personnel rapidly once the battle was joined, so they should avoid taking seats or standing in front of, or on any consoles or displays. A young looking Commander was in charge of the emergency bridge at the moment, though he didn’t seem to be doing anything but glancing from some terminal on his right to the main tactical view in the center of the screen. To Brittiany’s untrained eye it just seemed like a red blob was rotating and a green blob also rotating and a big green circle in the corner that had a slightly curved line through it. She settled in for what she hoped would be a rocky but altogether uneventful ride, as she struggled to contain her composure.
*****
“All ahead, plot us a manual jump six hundred points on the far side of the target, that should trick the computer into bringing us right in on top of her.” Coeus ordered. He checked Arnette’s jump target, and it was dead on. “Stand by, maintain Particle Cannon fire, watch their aft armor, give me a reading when they’re closing on bare hull.”
“Sir, we’re reading a massive energy buildup, they’re about to jump away.” Pali said from off to the side of the bridge. Coeus sighed and sat back in his chair, having been on the edge of his seat for the last two minutes.
“Very well, secure Ion Cannon, equalize shield generator capacitors, and stand down all weapons.” Coeus said as the bright flash of a Tachyon jump filled the windows of the bridge. He reached over and pulled his coffee mug from its holder with some difficulty, which was better so that it didn’t fall out in the throws of combat. “All senior staff, Captain’s Rest, now.” Coeus snapped while he got up and walked straight to the Rest, slamming the hatch against the bulkhead as he entered and sat straight down behind the desk, and began typing in the terminal immediately.
Lieutenant Arnette was the first person in, since the hatch to the rest was just to the right of the front of the bridge where the helm was. Commander Aaron Potter, the CAG for the Loggerhead fighter wing followed him, as did Major Barry Kissler, the commander of the Shrike’s Marine compliment. Captain Pali was the last person to enter, just after Commander Anthony Franklin, the ship’s first officer.
“I will be conferencing Chief Powers in for this, just one second.” Coeus said. No one spoke, detecting the intenseness of the admiral’s post-combat high. A moment later a screen off to Coeus’ right powered up and the chief engineers image appeared. “You are alone I assume, Chief?” Coeus asked.
“Yes sir,” Powers nodded, “And the door is locked.” Coeus looked satisfied as he brought up something on his own screen.
“I’ll get to the point, gentlemen. Sergeant Higgins and Commander Nesis will have to catch up later.” Coeus said, talking about the security chief and the CAG for the Butcher Birds, the other fighter wing stationed on board the Shrike. “What I am about to tell you is classified, you are hereby authorized to receive this briefing. Approximately three weeks ago, the ICC Security Council began to notice a pattern in a series of reports coming from our outer colony worlds, namely those in the system of Tripwik. Going back as much as three months ago we have seen a sharp rise in the number of engineering ships that were falling to enemy surprise attacks. It became our belief that this was an organized strike plot devised by a lobster in the upper K’Luth clans leadership.” Coeus paused while everyone absorbed this information before proceeding.
“When we analyzed the reports we noticed that in each of the incidents, the engineering ship was lost one week after the planet they were assigned to was nuked. Our final conclusion was that this was an intricate plot to decimate our ability to shore up our defenses by depleting our Engineering fleet. The K’Luth would send in a single Clavite to bomb a planet with their new Telekinetic bombs, obliterate all structures and population on the planet, and one of two things would happen. They would either leave a single platoon of warriors on the planet, or not secure it at all, leaving our own planetary sensors in tact. In either case, the planet was no challenge to reclaim and construction could begin almost immediately, but because of the distance from the core systems it took about a week on average to get construction ships out to them.” Coeus turned his monitor around and displayed a list of roughly forty ship names to them all.
“This, gentlemen, is the list of construction ships that we assume have been destroyed in the last three months by a single Mandible – which the Security Council has classified Smiling Jester.” He continued. “As far as we can tell she is a standard beam configured ship with a fair number of her Psi Cannons replaced with stolen UGTO Particle Cannons, possibly as many as a UGTO Battle Dreadnought.” Coeus paused again as a wave of discomfort swept his senior officers.
“This ship, gentlemen, is why we are here. I intend to destroy her. I had asked for an Interdictor Ship be assigned to us but none could be spared, and nor could any fleets be bothered to assign a defense ship to every engineer in the outer systems, so I took the liberty of having the Security Council assign the Shrike to hunt down this ship, and destroy her.” Coeus looked at each of his officers square in the eye.
“Make no mistake, gentlemen, as advanced as we are a single Mandible is more than a match for us if she gets position on us. I had hoped that we could jump in and take her out before she could cloak or jump away, but they seemed to anticipate our arrival. We are going to have to find another way to take her out. Keep the beacon launcher and all cannons manned at all times, Torpedoes and Ion Cannon on hot standby. Questions?” Coeus sat back as he opened the floor, a habit of his to allow any of his officers to question him in private or in meetings such as this.
“Do we know if they have any escorts?” Captain Pali was the first to speak up, as Coeus figured he would be. “One Mandible can be a challenge, but I am confident that we can take them handily. However, even if we are able to come up right behind them and lay into them before they have a chance to respond, if they have wingman or two we could be in some serious trouble.”
“We don’t know.” Coeus stole a moment to let the severity of it sink in. “However, we do suspect that they have at least one other ship that tags along with them. Possibly another Dreadnought, but we have no confirmed reports as of yet, so we can just assume there is only the one.” Several curses were uttered under people’s breath, but no official objections were raised. “Anything else?” he said as he looked at each officer individually. “Very well, to your stations. Remember this is classified, run it past me any time you wish to brief anyone on this. Weapons Crews and Fighter Wings have been pre-authorized for clearance, as has the entire engineering staff. I will consider briefing the entire crew later today if she doesn’t return. Dismissed.” Coeus turned towards his terminal as all of the officers filed out.
_________________
Darkspace: Twilight
|
Coeus {NCX-Charger}
Admiral, I can't read,
Sundered Weimeriners
Joined: February 16, 2004
Posts: 3635
From: South Philly
| Posted: 2007-01-10 19:14
Chapter 4 – Confrontation
*****
Brittiany stood outside the bridge, and could practically feel the heat of her anger burning through her clothes. “So you mean to tell me that you KNEW that we were going into a combat situation against an enemy ship with more firepower than the Shrike?” she was straining to keep herself from yelling, knowing that leaking classified information to any passing crew could land her in the brig for a very long time. Coeus’ face was impassive as Governor Watts’ advisor blew off steam. He expected this sort of reaction apparently. “And you never once thought that some of the important political figures on board would want to know that you willingly took them into a life threatening position?”
“Ma’am, I have never lost a VIP under my protection in more than a decade of catering to them on several ships, none of which were as powerful or advanced as the Shrike, and more importantly none with a crew as experienced and well trained as the one currently assigned to her.” Coeus did not go into any more detail or try to calm Brittiany down any more, instead he waited for her to make the next move, which was to scoff at him, turn around and walk back down the corridor towards the ladderway which would take her back towards the quarters that the delegation currently occupied.
“Right.” He said to himself, and turned the opposite direction and began making his way towards his own quarters. Crew members nodded as he passed them, none of them showing any signs of fear or apprehension.
He wasn’t kidding when he said that these were some of the most well trained and experienced men and women in the Confed Navy. Coeus had abused his position a tad bit and reviewed the psychological files of more than five thousand Navy Personnel when he was assembling his crew for the Shrike, and he specifically chose people who came from military backgrounds, had gone above and beyond in their training and how many courses they applied for. At the ranks that most of these people were, they are better trained than Coeus was when he was their rank, and more experienced, most having served on several front line ships in the fleet. It was this fact which left him with the confidence to take the Shrike into battle against a single K’Luth Dreadnought, or more. The most advanced ship in the fleet, the most well trained crew, and the element of surprise were all on his side.
“Well,” he said to himself once he was in his quarters behind his desk, reading more reports from the ISC, “At least we still have the best ship and crew.” After a few minutes, he decided he was sick of dress uniforms, they were at combat standby stations now, and changed into service blues and resumed reading his reports. An hour later he was asleep in his chair, service cap pulled low over his face and feet up on his desk. It wasn’t until an alarm blared twice, jarring him nearly out of his chair that he woke up just in time to hear Captain Pali come over the 1MC.
“General Quarters, all hands General Quarters, possible incoming Dreadnought. Admiral Darksoul to the bridge, Alpha Shift report to combat duty stations.” A click signified that Pali closed the line, but Coeus was already out the door and scrambling to get to the bridge, going straight to the navigation and sensor station when he got through the hatch, which a crewman shut behind him and sealed it. Before Coeus could even ask, Pali started off “One of our deep space patrols detected a massive tachyon wake headed this way. Signature matches the Smiling Jester. We’re at Combat Alert 1, oriented towards her projected arrival point.”
“Excellent, good work Xavier. Stand by to reinforce forward shields, we’ll need the extra power. This is going to be quick, we’ll need to hit her as soon as she comes out of hyperspace.” Coeus couldn’t be happier with how things were shaping up. They were 1000gus away from Concept, the engineer that initially drew the Mandible here was orbiting just outside of the planet’s gravity well, automated systems building random structures on the planet to give it the appearance of an active ship, though no crew were actually present, having transferred them all safely to the Shrike just after they arrived and drove the Mandible off the first time.
“ETA thirty seconds. Stand by to point jump their projected point of exit, which is just off of the Tygor’s starboard aft.” Coeus said coolly, now comfortably seated in his command chair, glancing at the S3 display on his right hand console. “Here we go.” A bright white flash appeared on cue just behind the Tygor, which was promptly lit up and exploded. The explosion's bright white and orange flash began to blend with the pale white and blue of the Tachyon Wake that the Shrike left as she jumped just in on the Smiling Jester’s own starboard side, just as she was in the middle of a turn away from the planet.
“Maintain constant particle cannon and fusion torpedo fire on her starboard flank, Ion Cannon prepare to fire.” Coeus ordered. The fire from the Shrike’s powerful weapons rocked the enemy dreadnought visibly. It wasn’t until a bright white and blue flash that reflected off of the forward parts of the Shrike and, to a lesser extent, the hull of the Smiling Jester that Coeus realized that this was too easy.
“Sir, enemy Siphon directly astern!” Pali called. “Redirecting shield energy from port and starboard arcs to reinforce the aft shields.” He started punching buttons and Coeus could see the integrity of the side shield arcs dissipating on his ship status screen.
“Belay that order, redirect all available shield power to forward shields, let them get damage in. All hands brace for impact!” Coeus ordered. “Full ahead flank, take us close in to the Smiling Jester.”
“Sir, we have the Siphon’s classification, ICC Fleet Command designates it as the Smartin, formerly of the joint ICC/K’Luth task force for the Nicea investigation.” Lieutenant Nesis, the ships navigator said. In combat situations navigators often pulled double duty in operating the more generalized sensors to maintain a status on all enemies and friendlies. “She is preparing to fire her Stellar Incinerator!”
“Roger that, do not redirect shields, hold fire Chem Lasers and Torpedoes, continue firing all Particle Cannons.” Coeus said. He could imagine the tenseness of everyone who knew the shield and armor status of the aft quarter, but there was only one way that they were walking away from this, and that was with that Mandible dead.
“Incoming Stellar Incinerator!” Pali shouted.
“Target the Jester’s starboard side, fire torpedoes and HCLs!” Coeus ordered, finishing the last word as a massive blast shook the ship from all over. “Damage report?”
“Aft shields down to 0%, forward 100%, port and starboard 20% respectively. Aft armor down to 20% coverage!” Sergeant Higgins, the security chief reported. Until they were boarded, he was on damage assessment duty at an aft console in the bridge.
“Stand by Ion Cannon, fire torpedoes!” Coeus ordered, pausing a moment as the ship groaned slightly under the increased power drain. “Redirect port and starboard shields to aft, maintain 100% coverage on the fore arc. Aft Particle Cannons maintain fire on that Siphon. Stand by…” Coeus glanced at the S3 display, and winced as the ships power levels dropped to 70%. “Fire Ion Cannon at the Smiling Jester, Particle Cannons to salvo fire, continue torpedo and Heavy Chem Laser fire!” he shouted as the noise level throughout the ship rose, thanks to the continued battering that the rear of the ship was now taking.
“Ion Splash Damage incoming!” Pali said as a bright blue flash indicated that the Smiling Jester was now almost completely disabled. “Mandible hull integrity is down to 30%, and dropping fast! She is still turning towards the Smartin, trying to make a run for cover but the Siphon is too far away. I think you did it Sir!” There were a scattering of cheers across the bridge as the continued cannon and torpedo fire pounded the enemy Dreadnought, and finally a Heavy Chem Laser was seen slicing through the hull and appearing out the other side of the ship. Several seconds later, the windows of the Shrike were filled with bright flames, which the cold of space quickly extinguished.
“Bring us about!” Coeus ordered, “All back full, hard to starboard!” Bring us directly at the Smartin!” There was no time to celebrate as the crew realized that the Admiral was going to try and take on that Siphon with 30% shields and no aft armor.
“Sir, forward Ablative Armor fitting is buckling, integrity down to 25%, fore starboard and port standard armor platings are still at full strength, but the starboard side is starting to take damage, aft armor and shields are gone. Energy reserves down to 30%.” Pali said, he clearly was in favor of assuming the better part of valor.
“Understood, ahead full towards the Smartin, we have to close the gap before their Stellar Incinerator is fully charged!” Coeus ordered. He left no room for interpretation. Glancing down, Coeus saw that the Ion Cannon was sucking up all of their energy reserves. “Prepare to disconnect the Ion Cannon from the central power supply, but not until my order.” Coeus told the weapons officer.
“Aye sir,” was the answer, followed by “Sir, all fighters have been launched. They are all redirecting towards the Smartin, but we are losing them fast.”
“Understood, tell them to stay out there until there is nothing left to come back to, or nothing left to come back from.” Coeus said. “We can’t let them continue to pray on our engineers!” It was important that everyone remembered why they were out here today. He was pleased to see that everyone stiffened up as they remembered what was going on these last three months and how many lives these two ships have taken.
“We are starting to take internal damage from the stress on the airframe, rerouting power from aft cannons to the Internal Dampeners.” Captain Pali said, working furiously at a terminal to Coeus’ left. “We should be able to hold, sir.” He sounded only marginally confident.
“Distance to the Smartin is 500gu and closing fast.” Arnette said, he looked unsure if he should be reporting distances, but no one else had. Coeus would have to commend him on that later.
“All back full, keep us pointed at them until the Ion Cannon is charged.” Coeus said. Just another ten seconds. “All hands brace for impact!” Coeus shouted suddenly as a bright red light appeared at the pointed bow of the Siphon, which meant that not only they would be taking a full frontal assault including a Stellar Incinerator, but also that the Ion Cannon blast they were preparing to unleash would most likely take out both ships. The Incinerator blast seemed to hang in midair as the light indicating a fully charged Ion Cannon was now available woke up and started blinking.
“Fire!” he said, paused a moment, and then “Fire Ion Cannon and then disconnect it!” Coeus shouted. All at once and just as the Smartin’s weapons found their mark, the Shrike unleashed as much firepower as an entire fleet of the older model ships were capable of, with Particle Cannons ripping through the organic armor of the K’Luth ship, and digging into her soft skin, with torpedoes digging deep gouges and Heavy Chem Lasers ripping through support struts – but most importantly, the Ion Cannon blast, being reinforced by the shock wave of the Stellar Incinerator that had just impacted and torn through both layers of the Shrike’s forward armor. Almost simultaneously the Stellar Incinerator’s shockwave ripped into the already damaged bow of the Smartin while the Ion Cannon’s shockwave tore into the Shrike’s badly damaged forward quarter, its unusual properties overloading almost every single circuit in both ships. The force of impact from the combined weapon power of the two massive warships had brought them both to an almost complete stop.
“Report!” Coeus said, coughing as smoke filled the air. All of the monitors had shut down, a preventive measure built into them to keep EMP effects like that of the Ion Cannon from rending them utterly useless. Slowly, the monitors started to come alive, as the emergency lights flickered gently, bright streaks of smoky white light shot through the smoke that now filled the air, and burned the lungs of everyone on the ship still alive.
“All systems offline, we took a point blank Ion Shockwave on bare hull. Monitors are coming up now.” Pali said, he wiped blood away from a cut on his jaw, but otherwise looked unscathed.
“1MC” Coeus said, now standing over the comm. officer, who had the only hardened control over the speakers throughout the ship. “Attention all hands, this is Admiral Darksoul. We caught the brunt of the Ion Cannon’s shockwave, all systems will need to be manually rebooted, a lot of hardware will need to be replaced. You each know your assignments; get us up and online as soon as possible. We took a bad hit on that but the Siphon took a worse, I expect that they will have a harder time bringing their systems online, even with their organic hull plugging itself. Even still, we can’t count her out or her support. Prioritize engines, power systems, and weapons in that order. That is all.” Coeus motioned and the 1MC was cut off.
“AMJD is offline; I’ve assigned engineering to repair it as soon as possible but they can’t give me an estimate. It isn’t as critical as other systems, in that once it gets repaired it will be online and ready to jump thanks to its internal capacitor. Our main problem is everything BUT the AMJD, energy wise. All five auxiliary generators are offline, and our IE drives are all badly damaged, they are outputting minimal power. We have disconnected the Ion Cannon on your order, but every single weapon system still connected is attempting to draw power, as are our shields.” Pali summed it up rather well, as Coeus was reviewing the damage readout on his now reactivated S3 display.
“Shut them down, bring the engines online, get the aux generators online, don’t have to be at 100% but get them up and running.” Coeus began to make his way around the bridge, giving orders and checking each station’s and department’s status one at a time. The casualties were light, but the damage was intense. It was several more minutes before anything considerable happened.
“All aux generators operating at 10% of capacity, IE drives are up to 30% efficiency, we are moving away from the Siphon at 1/3 speed. They have yet to follow. All armor arcs except for port side armor are completely depleted. It is slowly regenerating, but not fast enough to protect us if any of those Disruptor Assaults come back online.” As if Pali were in command of the Siphon, a bright yellow light shot out of one of the organic ship’s wingtips and streaked through space towards the Shrike.
“HARD TO PORT!” Coeus reacted without thinking, turning the only remaining good armor plate to take the brunt of the punishment. “Damage?” he said, not knowing where the nearest functional S3 display was.
“Negligible, the areas the beam penetrated were already extremely damaged. Sir, we have two fighters left flying, both from the Loggerheads, Angel 1 and Angel 4. They are still firing at the Smartin but the hull and armor are repairing faster than they can take it down. We are unable to recall them due to extreme damage to the fighter bays.” Pali seemed genuinely worried about that, despite all the damage to the ship and the fact that they may not even make it out alive.
“Admiral! Captain! I’ve got long range communications back online! Raising Confed Fleet Command now!” Commander Franklin said, who was just extracting himself from behind the communications control panel. “I rerouted the signal to the dish through the data backup lines, so the quality is a bit lacking, but here we go.” He said, sitting down at the panel and typing furiously into the terminal.
“This is the CFC, Lt. Commander Domins speaking, calling C.S.S. Shrike – ADN-72, please come back.” A young sounding female voice said over the speaker by the panel. Cheers erupted throughout the bridge.
“We hear you loud and clear Commander Domins; this is Grand Admiral Coeus Darksoul, authorization Ceti-1, we are heavily damaged and need an immediate Wormhole Extraction, we have disable a K’Luth Siphon, Confed designated Smartin, and destroyed another K’Luth ship, Mandible designated Smiling Jester, but we were forced to disable ourselves in the process, we have null energy output and no energy reserves remaining, all weapon and shield systems are offline, and the Siphon has one active Disruptor Assau-“ before Coeus could finish his sit-rep Captain Pali interrupted abruptly.
“All hands, brace for impact! Helm, assume manual control and keep that port side armor facing that Siphon at all costs!” Pali said.
“Situation understood, Shrike, stand by momentarily.” Domins said with an assuring tone.
“Roger that CFC.” Coeus said, glancing at Pali and shaking his head marginally, they doubted they could hold out long enough. “Engineering please, Commander.” Coeus said, to which Franklin promptly answered, “Powers on the line, Sir.”
“Give me some good news, Admiral. It’s a bit rough down here!” Coeus could hear the sounds of fire fighting and heavy mechanical clanking in the background, which meant that repairs were still going slowly.
“Divert all of your efforts to getting the IE drives to as much capacity as you can, Chief, we will have a Wormhole coming shortly and we’ll need to race the Siphon to get there.” Coeus said as direly as he could. By now Powers had figured out that the Siphon had a working weapon or two, which reminded Coeus. “That’s all for now Chief.” The channel was closed and Coeus reached over Franklin and turned the 1MC on, “All hands, brace for impact!” and right on cue, the Disruptor Assault began eating away at the armor on the port side some more.
“Sir, we can’t take much more of this, maybe we should consider abandoning ship.” Pali said quietly to Coeus, making sure that not even Commander Franklin could overhear.
“I’ll keep that option in reserve, Captain. But for now we will continue under the assumption that Fleet Command will be able to get a Wormhole out to us.” Coeus said, but as Pali nodded and started to walk off, Coeus caught him by the arm. “Just in case, get all non essential and injured personnel into the pods, get the VIPs into shuttles, and-” before Coeus could finish a bright white explosion erupted directly in front of the ship.
“Admiral Havoc sends his regards, Sir! Wormhole to Exathra is available 900gu directly ahead.” Commander Franklin said, a great big goofy grin on his face that matched the giant happy sigh that erupted from what felt like the entire ship.
“Stand by, helm hold your course to the port, that Siphon probably expects us to make for that Wormhole in a dead run, her Disruptor will be charged shortly. Edge towards it but be ready to throw it hard to port to bring that armor plate to bear again.” Coeus ordered. He counted down in his head to when the Disruptor would be charged again. Three, two, one. The shot never came.
“Think they blew a relay or something?” Pali said, sensing exactly what was on Coeus’ mind.
“No, and they’re running slow enough that they would have had the energy by now.” Coeus said, and almost simultaneously Lt. Commander Nesis jumped up and exclaimed.
“Sir! She is breaking contact! They’re cloaking, even though they know they are beaconed, and are turning away!” A giant cheer erupted on the bridge, and Coeus struggled to get to Arnette to get him to make all speed for that wormhole, which he was already doing without being ordered to. Ten seconds passed in what seemed like a week and a half to the entire crew.
“I don’t think Exathra has ever looked so beautiful.” Coeus said to Captain Pali as the ship settled into the orbiting repair bays that littered Minuete’s airspace.
_________________
Darkspace: Twilight
|
Coeus {NCX-Charger}
Admiral, I can't read,
Sundered Weimeriners
Joined: February 16, 2004
Posts: 3635
From: South Philly
| Posted: 2007-01-10 19:17
Chapter 5 – Evaluation
*****
Brittiany replayed the entire experience in her mind, it was only about ten minutes in her life but it would leave lasting scars both emotionally and physically. She gingerly moved her left arm in its cast, and almost immediately stopped as tears came to her eyes. The bones were completely pulverized from the hatchway slamming her left arm against the bulkhead, which admittedly was her own fault because she was the last person through the hatch and was responsible for sealing it properly – but she wasn’t military so that didn’t quite register when she thought back on the experience.
“Are you OK hun?” Mrs. Beatte asked for about the twenty millionth time. They were at the Watts household, waiting for Governor Watts to come down. He was so impressed by the Admiral’s performance that he was demanding that Coeus and his entire command staff receive the Sirius Combat Medal, even though the Grand Admiral and Captain Pali already have one, two in fact for Admiral Darksoul, although only one is listed because when the Confederation Navy attempted to award it to him a second time, he had retired his commission.
“Yeah, its just… given the way Coeus seems to recklessly throw away the lives of his crew, how can you forgive him?” Brittiany asked, careful not to let any member of the Watts household overhear. That gave Mrs. Beatte a moment of pause.
“Its not that simple.” She said, motioning for Brittiany to follow her out to the front of the house where their conversation could be carried out with the noise of the world at large drowning their voices out. “For a long time, that’s how I thought, and I come from a military family so I knew the risks and I know what is all at stake.” She said.
“What changed?” Brittiany asked, not quite getting how one could just get over it all.
“What do you know about the Evil Invasion, a decade ago?” Mrs. Beatte said, looking the young woman head to toe anew, assessing her age and experience.
“Not much,” Brittiany said honestly confused. “Just what I saw on the news. These aliens that were very advanced and had been enemies of the K’Luth thought that no other species but themselves should be sentient or something-” Mrs. Beatte cut her off.
“Beyond that, what do you know about Grand Admiral Darksoul’s involvement?” Mrs. Beatte could tell from Brittiany’s face that the younger girl didn’t remember a great many detail about Coeus’ involvement. “I won’t go into all of the details, but I will say that Coeus found out how I felt when Mark died the day of the Invasion. It was still quite a few months before he could build up the courage to talk to me, but the bottom line is that he always knew exactly what he asked of people, both his crew and their families, but until then never quite understood. Before then, asking people to risk their lives for a greater cause was more of an idea to him, a belief to get behind – and don’t get me wrong he believed it firmly, but until that day he did not truly understand. And now he does, but that changes nothing, except perhaps that he is even more willing to risk his crews lives and his own life when he genuinely believes the cause, as he felt that day last week.”
Brittiany furrowed her brow. “I’m not sure that I quite understand.” And to her surprise, Mrs. Beatte laughed out loud. “Ok, did I miss something?” she then asked the elder veteran, slightly annoyed.
“No, not at all. Its not important that you understand, and in fact I hope that you never are forced to understand. Now lets go meet this son of your bosses. What is his name you said? James? Sounds like a cutie!” Mrs. Beatte said, and then laughed out again at the bright shade of Crimson.
_________________
Darkspace: Twilight
|
Supertrooper
Marshal
Pitch Black
Joined: March 18, 2004
Posts: 1895
From: Maryland, U.S.A
| Posted: 2007-01-10 20:02
I love it. =)
_________________
|
Lux (Polaris)
Fleet Admiral
Raven Warriors
Joined: April 20, 2004
Posts: 835
From: Asgard
| Posted: 2007-01-10 21:39
Coeus, you should start publishing books...
_________________
ICC Security Councilor - Raven representative
Loyal Admiral of the Interstellar Cultural Confederation Navy.
Senior Commander of the Raven Warriors, the ICC elite.
Captain of the Assault Dreadnaught \"Gungnir\"
|
doda *EP5 no longer exception...*
Grand Admiral
Joined: December 11, 2005
Posts: 1012
From: happy land
| Posted: 2007-01-10 23:11
nice story 
_________________
Please resize your Admin - signature
VCA since June 5th 06
|
Maskerade
Grand Admiral
Galactic Navy
Joined: March 21, 2002
Posts: 638
From: Canada
| Posted: 2007-01-11 09:37
.....ans Seamus waves.... lol 
good story coeus
_________________
- Maskerade
|
Ship-Of-Fools
2nd Rear Admiral
Angry Mob
Joined: June 10, 2004
Posts: 415
From: USA
| Posted: 2007-01-11 10:00
post em as txt docs, so I can convert to PSP ebook format lol
_________________
|
GothThug {C?}
Fleet Admiral
Joined: June 29, 2005
Posts: 2932
| Posted: 2007-01-11 12:14
you never cease to amaze me coeus....another great story 5 out of 5 stars dude excellent 
_________________
|
Coeus
Grand Admiral
Sundered Weimeriners
Joined: March 22, 2006
Posts: 2815
From: Philly
| Posted: 2007-01-11 17:23
Epilogue
*****
As Mrs. Beatte and Brittiany were walking ito the house, a young hooligan named Saemus watched them with impure thoughts in his head. He found himself so focused on the pair that he did not watch where he was going, and wandered into the street where he was promptly squished by a street-sweeper named Bob.
_________________
Do I really look like a guy with a plan?
'I'm gonna go crazy, and I'm taking you with me!'
ICC Security Council Chief Enforcer
|
Supertrooper
Marshal
Pitch Black
Joined: March 18, 2004
Posts: 1895
From: Maryland, U.S.A
| Posted: 2007-01-11 17:30
Oi, dont be oggling me girl..
_________________
|
Coeus
Grand Admiral
Sundered Weimeriners
Joined: March 22, 2006
Posts: 2815
From: Philly
| Posted: 2007-01-11 17:46
Dude... he just got squished... let him be in peace...
_________________
Do I really look like a guy with a plan?
'I'm gonna go crazy, and I'm taking you with me!'
ICC Security Council Chief Enforcer
|
|
English
Deutsch
Nederlands
)
