Part II

Bayhes radio crackled to life, but the communication was not heard. Frantic fighting was happening all around the lab. Bayhes was lying on the floor along with 3 others while the remaining few standing fired at Haven, all shots going straight through and into the wall behind. Haven charged forwards, knocking 2 others down, who did not get back up. The last one backed out of the room, shooting as he went. He fired the last shot, and it flew out. As all the others had done, it went straight through and into the wall behind. But the epmty shell itself flew out of the gun, over to the left hand side. It headed towards the wall, collided with a small glass case and broke it open, sounding a loud alarm. 5 seconds later, the entire facility was reduced to a large crater as blistering hot winds and a deafening bang went off, scorching the landscape and redcuing half of the Nightcrawler into a flaming wreck.

"Send Heavy Assault Soldiers to rescue them..." Said I... "If CO on Savanna was right then, we got a chance..."

"How, sir?"

"Start by dropping smoke granades around the beast..."

"Aye, sir..."

Haven got confused with the smoke screen that appeared around him... At least until he learned how to connect the Thermal Optics... Then he just exited the cloud of smoke around him...

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10 days have pasted.

For the last week and a half, Vex and his shuttle hid in a crater on a planet. The living space was extremelyl small and cramped.

Vex Valkyrie had fallen asleep last night while upgrading the weapons and engines. His head rolled over and hit a sharp edge. Vex immediately shot up.

"Owwww...", Vex said outloud. He remembered his captive and scurried into the ship.

The Lady was still in the large cage, sleeping.

Vex went over to the control panel. It was time to find Doyle.

He closed the doors, and fired the new engines. He lifted up.

For the first time he saw Haven... They called it a genetic experiment, and they were damn right... But it also had a robotic component... Sensors indicated he was some sort of a cyborg beast... "Better capture it... It might help against Doyle..."

"Shoot the graplers and prepare to neutralize the target..."

"Graplers firing... 4 in 4! sir!"

Haven stoped, and tried to release itself from the reinforced steel cables... He couldn't understand what those "wires" were...

"EMP pulse, now!"

An electric pulse went through the cables and disabled the robotic part of the beast... Haven started to behave erradicly... It's biological components went in distress when lost contact with it's electronic ones...

"Contain it on the 2nd Cargo Bay... You guys know the trick..." Said I...

"Aye, sir..."

We had a super weapon to use against the New Order... But the trick was: How to use it without turning it against us...

(Wait, how did you get it when the entire facility exploded just seconds after the radio call?)

(I have no idea what's going on)

magic

("It looks like I need some kind of key to get this open...I mean, I could smash it, but I should really look for a key so I remain undetected.")

I walked away, and headed for an open door near the bridge. It was full of guards. Quickly I slid behind a wall, to avoid detection.

("Crap...I guess we have to do things the hard way...")

I drew the two pistols from my cape and turned them on. This was going to be my first fight in several months, and I was going to make it hard and loud.

Doyle was headed for the elevator, when he heard some gunshots and yelling. He spun around, bewildered. It sounded like it was coming from command. Doyle drew his pistol and hobbled as fast as he could back towards command. He came around the corner and ducked a blast. A man in a cape was moving about, very quickly, taking the guards and throwing them against walls and blasting at their skulls. Doyle raised his pistol in the air, shot it, then pointed it at the man.

"Who the hell are you and what are you doing on my ship" Doyle demanded

Jaquelyn turned around as Doyle spoke, and her hand flew to her mouth. -It couldn't be... she was sure he had died all those years ago- She kept quiet, her hand inching towards her gun as she watched.

I looked up.

("This must be the commander.")

"I suggest you put that gun down. A man your age and condition shouldn't have one. You'll hurt yourself."

Doyle faster than a serpent shot at both of the man's legs, not hitting them, but hitting the ground almost a centimeter away

"You were saying?"

I smiled a cocky smile.

"Hehehe. Not bad."

I started pacing.

"In my travels, Ive never seen one so agile, for one so old. And because you've impressed me so much, I dont think I'm going to kill you. Yet."

I stopped and looked him in the eye.

"But you're still New Order trash to me."

With lightning fast reflexes gained from my training on Sovus 4, I dodged the commander's bullets with ease. He tried to pistol whip me, but I knocked it aside easily. I then bashed him in his chin and he fell to the ground. Unfortunately, he was still conscious.

"Your problem sir, is you are too cocky, youth does not have as many benefits as one tends to believe"

Doyle suddenly cracked out his cane and smashed the man in the legs, causing him to fall, back on the ground with a satisfying thud. Doyle then smashed the man in the throat with his cane, causing him to gasp. Doyle then pressed down with the cane, gagging the man

"I don't care how young, or how fast you are, you still need to breathe. Oxygen is my gift to you, as long as you gift me with answers. Now, who the hell are you and what are you doing on my ship!"

("So much for my reflexes...")

I looked in his eyes with hate and rage.

"I'm your worst nightmare. And I've come to haunt you."

I kicked him in the stomach, causing him to release his cane chokehold on me. With that I rolled about and moved back a few steps. I grabbed my pistols, holstered them, then grabbed a key card and two survival energy knives from the corpse of a nearby guard. I threw them both at him. Both barely missed his face. However, he ended up having a cut on his left cheek.

"Haha, not bad, old man. You had me reciting cliche holo-movie lines. I'll give you my real name. Destral. As for my cause...you figure it out."

Jaquelyn had snuck up behind the man with the cape, leveling her pistol at the back of his head. "You should be more careful, being on a ship of enemies.. I'll take him with me for interrogation.. if that is okay with you, Doyle."

I stopped when I heard the voice behind me.

("So, where are you going?"

"It's classified."

"I could swear you're just trying to get rid of me."

"And what if I am?"

"I'm not rid of so easily."

"Fine. You can come with. But just this once.")

I stopped everything and dropped my weapons, in complete shock.

Doyle stood up and wiped the bit of blood from his face.

"Make it painful" Doyle ordered

("...it can't be...it can't be...")

Those were the only words I could think of as I felt someone cuff me and carry me away. I didnt know where she would take me, as I was in too much shock to hear her voice again.

Earthdeath wrote:(Wait, how did you get it when the entire facility exploded just seconds after the radio call?)

Wait a moment, didn't it escaped right before the facility got blown up?

use the discussion post, not gameplay!

I was recheking the Haven dossiers... The description was a lot different of what we got... "Shit... This isn't Haven... This is some random experience they made..."

I returned to the Cargo Bay 2... There was something between a Lion and an Eagle... and a robot! But it wasn't Haven...

"Sir, this can't be what we were looking for... Fisical Exams show she is thousands of times weaker than Haven..." Said the Science Officer

"She?" Asked I...

"Yes... This animal seems to be a female..."

"Ok..." I entered on the cage... The beast was still there, but it wasnt haven... I got closer, and closer... She couldn't get up...

"Relax... You're safe, here..." Said I while petting it's head... Soft and hairy as any cats head...

Van Toren looked at the door. Whoever it was had left. Van Toren looked around. The primary lights shut off and the secondary's came on.

"What is going on around here?" he said to himself.

----------------------
Doyle watched some marines take Destral away. Jacquelyn was walking with them, but stopped when Doyle called her name

"Jacquelyn, come her a moment." Doyle took her aside
"About Van Toren, you only have two months while the ship is being retrofitted. You and Van Toren have access to Earth, the shuttles will be leaving in an hour. Make sure he will do whatever you say, he must trust you completely, use whatever means you have at your disposal."

"Sir, we've been searching them for 7 hours and still didn't found them... I guess their bodies are subturrated under the remainings of the lab..."

"Ok... Return to the ship... We're leavin in 30 minutes..." Said I...

"Aye, sir..."

I continued to look the horizon in the observation room... It was always beautiful, a sunset... I remembered her again...

Vex's ship exited Quantum Space kilometers above the Scarlet Fire.

Vex swerved his chair around to the intercom. He quickly tapped a few buttons, sending a coded message to the Scarlet Fire. Only one of the New Order could uncode it. It really read":

"Have Prisoner in Custody. Request Permission to Dock"

The "Light and Spirit" was following it's new route... I knew it would be useless to try to make an head on assault to rescue her, especially in New Order territory... I was headed to a captured outpost in the unknown borders to deliever our new cargo for study and refit my ship with an experimental cloak...

Jaquelyn nodded, heading back to interrogate the prisoner. She tapped a soldier on the shoulder as she passed. "Take Van Toren to exit, and keep him under 24-hour guard. I have to interrogate someone." She left, catching up with the soldiers taking Destral.

The expression on my face was blank as I tried turning over and over again the voice I just heard.

("...I thought she died...I cant believe she's here...and working for them...")

I wore my blank expression as the soldiers took me away.

Van Toren sat in the couch. He was beginning to get drowsy. Jacquelyn had been gone for a few hours now and there was quite literally nothing to do in this room. Van Toren started to nod off. He started dreaming...faces, people, all images that seemed significant, but none of them made any sense. In it all, was Jacquelyn. Van Toren jolted up and looked around. Jacquelyn meant something, a connection, it couldn't be coincidence.

-----------------------
Doyle stepped out of the shuttle on the High Capitol's launchpad. He looked around, it had been a while since he set foot on a planet, let alone earth. A door opened in a nearby building and several guards exited and took up positions. Then Severus exited, grinning

'Welcome home Doyle!" Severus said before shooting Doyle with some sort of stun weapon...

-----------------------
Jacquelyn's laptop made a chirping sort of sound as a new message arrived in her inbox. A video began playing.

"Jacquelyn, it is in motion. In two months when the refit is over, take the Scarlet Fire, use Van Toren, wipe out the resistence! I have taken care of Doyle and things are in order. The ship is yours" Severus' image faded and the message corroded and deleted itself.

She had barely heard the video, but already knew that the ship would be hers once they got back to Earth. That was one of the original plans to begin with. She walked into the Interrogation chamber and closed the door and looked at Destral.
"What the hell are you doing here? I thought you were dead!"

I barely heard her. I was silent, staring blindly into space, remembering my first adventure with Jacquelyn.

("So what kind of ship do you have?"

"It's a small freighter, called the Evil Deed.

"Interesting name."

"It's also the most boring looking ship you will ever see. There's barely room for one man, let alone two. It's mostly just me and the cargo bays. But I suppose I can arrange a makeshift sleeping quarters for you.")

Jaquelyn stood there, wondering what was going on, and then remembered Van Toren. "Oh hell.." She tapped a PDA at her side, her laptop beeping in response as it took over the ship's door control and unlocked the door to Van Toren's cell, with a loud audible beep.

Van Toren heard the door click. He jumped up and opened it. The lights were off in the hall, except for some dim floor lighting. He looked both ways and saw nobody. A voice then came over the intercomm

"The last shuttle will be disembarking in five minutes. Life Support systems will be shut down in ten minutes, remaining crew, please make your way to the shuttle. This is the final message"

("Co-ordinates for Trax'Alt are set. We're going to be evading some New Order Patrols soon, so you might want to buckle up."

*click*

"And here we go.")

Evading the patrols at Trax'Alt, I remembered, was quite fun...I never knew Jacqueline could gun like that until that very day.

But eventually the memory slipped away, and I found the courage to speak again.

"...it's you..."

The ship exited Quantum Space nearby a lightly damaged outpost... One of the first to be secured from the Order in this assault we made against the order... All it's systems were back online, only with an handfull of scars in it's hull...

"Outpost 33, this is frigate 'Light and Spirit', requesting permission to dock"

"Permission granted... Docking vectors sent..."

"Thank you..."

I turned to my navigator...

"Follow those vectors and then call me..."

I went to my room...

She nodded, grabbing Destral's hand and heading to Van Toren. She looked at him, and smiled. "You coming?"

Van Toren saw Jacquelyn coming down the hall, another man close behind her

"I think we have to go" Van Toren said

I snapped back to reality as I heard Van Toren's voice.

"Van Toren... Addar...." I tried to remember. Then it hit me.

"Addar told me to get you off this ship."

"Addar...?" Van Toren looked at the man confused

Jacquelyn pulled on Van Toren's arm

"Right, we have less then five minutes...so...anyone know where the hanger bay is?"

"Never mind the name. I know where it is. Come."

I walked in the direction of the hangar bay and motioned Jacquelyn and Van Toren to follow.

The door to the shuttle was just closing. Van Toren and the others ran in

"WAIT!" Van Toren yelled as he jumped onto the ramp lifting up. He held out his hand and helped Jacquelyn and Destral up

With a collective sigh, we were aboard the shuttle just as the ship's life support shut down. I knew I was supposed to keep an eye on Van Toren, but I couldn't help but stare at Jacqueline...

("That was fun."

"I didn't know you could gun like that. Impressive. We got the cargo, got the money, and barely a scratch on her.

I hit the Evil Deed's hull lightly as an engine fell off.

"S**T!!!")

Van Toren walked down along the beach, the capitol buildings in the distance. The sky was lit up in vibrate colours of orange and red as the sun set in the horizon. The water was calm and reflected the light, shimmering as if some majestic creature asleep. Van Toren sunk his toes into the wet sand and sat down, the waves slowly coming over his feet and then pulling back. It had been two weeks since they left the ship and Van Toren could have spent a lifetime here, away from the problems of the universe. Van Toren felt the sand move as Jacquelyn sat down next to him. Van Toren could feel the warmth of her body as the air became cooler. She was like a warm beacon. Van Toren looked over his shoulder at her

"It truly is magnificent" he said. Jacquelyn didn't reply. Van Toren tried to turn away, but couldn't. Her eyes were pearls, reflecting the ocean in front of them. Van Toren could feel his heart beating faster.

"It makes you realize, that none of it is that important, that there are far more beuatiful things in life to cherish...." Van Toren drifted off. Their gaze still connected. Van Toren suddenly realized that they were closer together than they were a moment ago. Her soft lips then touched his, he hesitated for a moment, not believing. The last beams of the sun hit the ocean as they fell into each others arms...

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A dark shadow fell over the Mars colony. The patrol stations crackling with life suddenly went silent. A last transmission sent, the last words to ever be uttered by those on mars.... "Haven".