Part III

Vex walked in the Command Center just as Borrego mentioned the prisoner.

Doyle spun around, a little surprised to see Vex there.

(Borg... unless you actually READ the posts, Borrego is on a different ship than me and Doyle... so reword your post, or don't post at all..)

(I know though the comm. I heard Borrego saying it.)

Terra wrote:(Borg... unless you actually READ the posts, Borrego is on a different ship than me and Doyle... so reword your post, or don't post at all..)

(Nah, nevermind that, what he did is cool. He didn't say his character heard it, he just said he walked in right as... Which to me seems like a perfectly fine way to describe time of action.)

anyways, keep that jibber jabbering in the general discussion thread.

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"Borrego, we're about to jump out of the system. If your friend is where I instructed her to stay, then she is the safest one of us all" Doyle deactivated the comm.

"Helm, is jump prep complete?" Doyle asked. The helm officer nodded
"Good, let's get out of here"

Jaquelyn tapped at the console as the ship went into hyperspace (hope that is correct) She stood up, and yawned, looked around, and sat back down, reclining her chair just a bit. "Well, it's going to take a few minutes, but we'll be heading towards the trading hub of this galaxy.."

ooc: The Scarlet Fire is more like Galactica in which jumps are almost instantaneous, it's more like tesseracting

"That gives me little to no hints about her paradox..." Thought I... I then turned to the helm and said:

"Get ready to go down... There're still civilians down there..." Said I... "And she is also somewhere in this wasteland..."

"Aye, sir..."

"Tactical, get a marine team ready... We need to secure the starport if we wanna extract the civilians as fast as possible..."

"Aye, sir..."

Fixed.

Doyle looked down at command from the perch. The ship was in much better condition then before, but then again, these were his re-designs. He knew every square inch of the ship. Doyle turned to Jcquelyn.

"We need to talk, walk with me"

Jaquelyn nodded, standing up and nodded to everyone as she tapped her pistol absentmindedly, and walked towards Doyle as they left the command bridge. She was wondering what he wanted to talk about.. She hadn't done anything wrong really, just following her own companies agenda in acquiring one of the most powerful ships known, besides the unknowns.

They entered the corridor.

"Things have changed now Jacquelyn. Van Toren is finally dead and the New Order has been toppled. However, it wasn't according to plan. There's a monster on the loose as you already know. Now I know you have secret ties and whatnot so I'll suppose you've heard of Haven. What you probably don't know is what it is, how it survives and how it came into being"

I stared out the window, remembering things that should have been buried in the past.

("The engines will be repaired in a few days...unfortunately, it'll cost all the money I earned from this mission."

"That sucks."

"No kidding. I'm going for a walk. Stay with the ship."

"Where to?"

I looked back at her. "Wherever the wind takes me."

Then I disappeared into the crowds of the spaceport.)

The thought escaped my mind as soon as it entered it.

("Why can't the past stay in the back of my mind...where it belongs...") I thought to myself as I continued staring into space.

There was a slight shift as the Scarlet Fire exited FTL.

"Haven is the single most dangerous creature alive...if you can call it alive" Doyle continued, "but we'll have to talk about this later. Something we do have to establish, this is still my ship, under my control of Enigma Corp. My authority supersedes yours. Now that we have that out of the way, let's see if we can't save the galaxy" Doyle said heading back for Command

(x.o and you completely ruined what I had planned for Enigma Corp... time to try something else now...)

Jaquelyn sighed. No matter what she did she was still under someone's thumb, and she hated that.. She was tempted to go back to her days as a pirate, and a very successful one at that.. She still had some of her blank ICE breakers, but wanted to save them for later.

(oh, sorry, just seemed like the only way I could work it such that we all got something out of this at our stand-off, will do more thinking then)

(Oh it's fine... I was going to make you Enigma Corp's leader at one point, but not right away... I was going to go into a private business after the haven thing was taken care of.)

(well, I don't really want to lead Enigma, my original intention before the enigma things was to set up a new gorvernment)

(We could do that, and since I would technically lead Enigma Corp, I can finance your entire operation.. if you want)

(well, let's continue as is ATM)

Doyle and Jacquelyn entered command. Doyle looked out the viewscreens.

"Well, here we are," Doyle muttered

I glanced behind me as I saw Jaq and the old dude enter the bridge.

"So what's the story, old timer?" I asked the commander. "Rally forces? Crush them underneath our boots? Make two planets collide to destroy that monster? See, I had to do that with a Kleemian Serpent one time, only I had to use asteroids instead. The results were very disturbing. But enough about me. What's the plan?"

Doyle gave Destral a look

"What is with the old timer bit? From what I can tell, you are considerably older than myself. Anyways, with Haven, there has been no succesful attempts ever to stop it or control it. It is a creature out to feed on quite literally everything. How to destroy a being that cannot die. Well, plan is to set a trap, one in which it cannot escape"

(Oh dear, jpb, it seems I have something of value from you.)

The Puma orbited high above the earth while Hunter directed the other skiff in the atmosphere around, looking for survivors. Suddenly the horizon to the east bloomed into a scala of hellish colours as one of the last remaining nuclear plants exploded. He ordered them to turn their nose right into that direction to ride out the coming shock wave when one of his crew saw something on the surveillance camera.

-"Captain, there's what seems to be a young girl hiding between the rubble of an expensive villa block! we can't save her in time!"-
-"Yes you can, land right in front of her without landing gear to protect her from the worst of the shock and radiation, the ship can take it, you can't!"-

The ship landed with a loud crash in front of the girl, and before the dust from the touchdown was even gone an intense firestorm raged over the ship and the refugee hiding behind it. Seconds later the nose of the ship was glowing red hot, and of the surroundings were an even flatter wasteland than before. After a minute or so of wind still silence a door opened in the rear and two medics cautiously ventured outside.

"You have a cane. You lead fleets into battle. Experience accelerates age. I dont believe in birthdays. I believe in the advancement of age only through pure experience. That cane of yours, and the limp that goes with it, shows you've got quite a bit of age on you."

I gave a brief, cocky smile.

"And this plan of yours isnt making you look any younger. I like it."

(I don't have the cane or limp anymore. I only had the cane because I was shot in the leg)

I then looked down and saw he had no limp as he walked towards me.

"As you can see, I dont have a limp anymore," he said flatly.

"Well. Maybe you're not as old as I thought," I replied.

Doyle raised an eyebrow, then turned back to the viewscreens

"Has clearance been established with the yards?" Doyle asked Jacquelyn

Something kept bugging me in the back of my head. I was always so aware of my surroundings. Yet when I first looked at the New Order admiral, I didn’t notice his limp was gone. I should have...but I didnt.

("This isn’t normal…even for me…I’ve always been so aware…so focused on the reality around me…yet…Im not even taking care to notice little things…like that guy’s limp being gone…”)

"Sir... The pirate ships are fighting with Haven through the city..." Said a bridge officer... "They are trying to clean the way to the starport... And we've spotted land troops..."

"What's our ETA to the starport?" Asked I...

"30 secs" Said other officer...

"Prepare the marines..." Said I... "Comm, hail the pirate's..."

"Aye, sir..."

"To anyone out there... We're here to assist in the rescue missions..." Started I... "If you've any kind of honor respond... Any attack to us will be considered an attack to the Rebel Nation..."

And I waited...

( 0-o I'm not fighting anything. )

Hunter stared at the holomap in the middle of the command post. What were rebels doing so openly in the lion's den? Granted, the lion was no more, but the very fact that they got here, probably even before the attack, bothered him. He could pass his own ships off as outer colonies private fleet escorts, but fully armed rebel frigates kinda stuck out like a sore thumb. This whole mess bothered him. Something was not right. He decided not to answer the call.

In the meanwhile, on the surface the two medics found the girl covered in dirt and debris behind the remnants of what would have been a sturdy wall in the past. They carried the unconscious girl inside the ship. The door closed again, and the still smoking ship slowly lifted off, rubble and dust falling from the craft as it rose away into the scarlet sky.

"Captain Hunter, we picked up the girl, she seems to be unconscious, but alive."
"Good. ID?"
"None, and the girl seems to be very young, only roughly 16 years."
"Hmmmh. Anyway, see what you can do to bring both people back to the land of the living while you reach orbit."
"Back to orbit? Why, captain, there must be many more people out there!"
"Surely there must be, but there are ships gathering up here, And I'm not trusting it for a cent. Get your ass up here, pronto. I want to be complete if we need to make a getaway or something."

(You yourself said there where more pirates in the region, so...

No response...

The marines and the ships weapons cleared the runway...

"Ok, head now for the main building... We keep the runway clear..." Said I...

"Aye, sir..."

The marines charged against the building...

(Okay, now i'm confused, what building, what runway?)
(Hmmh, I should really name my other pirate ships too, but I've ran out of names, lol)
The pirate skiff rose alongside the Puma. Several battered ships now orbited the earth alongside the trillions of smaller and larger debris that were what remained of Earth's once thriving and bustling inner orbit circle.

(The Starport I'm clearing in order to evacuate civilians...)

"Sir... The team reports they've cleared the building and found a few survivors..." Said the Tac Officer...

"Great... Life signs in the nearby?"

"Another building, 90 feet from here... Heading 255..." Said the sensors officer...

"Team... Head to the following coordinates... we're finding life signs there..."

"Aye, sir..."

J, everyone's dead and there are no buildings. Sure, there's a few scattered survirors, but the only people on earth were gov't people. earth is not public. all the buildings are now collapsed rubble, i doubt anything stands higher than three feet

(ohh... lets just make a time jump...)

Doyle lied to me... Or the pirates captured her... One thing he could easily find out... the other, he couldn't... Rebels always knew the operational areas of those pirates, cause we worked "with" them... We also have contacts into piracy...

In my bedroom, I opened a comm link with the rebel supreme commander:

"Sir, is this a good time to bother you?"

Jaquelyn nodded towards Doyle. "Enigma Corp says we can dock. So, since your in command of this ship, you can get whatever other tech the corporation has to offer, and see if it can be outfitted with it. 'Till then, have fun on Vertis II." She left the ship once it docked, not saying a word to anyone. She seemed to be in quite a hurry to everyone on board.

-------Shipyard--------

Jaquelyn sighed. She hated to be playing the role of a subordinate, since she herself owned all of Enigma Corp since it was passed down to her. She hurried across the vast shipyard, heading to the corporations offices to change her roles.

Vex stood at the doorway, waiting for the Doyle to finish speaking. From experiecne he had learned that when an excecutive officer was speaking with someone, it was usually important, and they don't want to be interrupted.

Vex walked over to an officer at a control panel. He bent down and whispered into his ear, "I docked my ship silently along Dock 3. The door isn't locked. You'll find someone special in there. Take her to the cells on the Scarlet Fire", Vex said.

Doyle finished talking with the officer who saluted and then walked away. Doyle turned and saw Vex in the doorway.

"Mr Valkyrie, I trust your mission went according to plan?"

I went for a walk in the spaceport, disappearing into the crowds. I got quite good at it during the years since I thought Jaq died.

I tried to focus on why I was so unfocused. All I knew was it wasn't normal for me, and that I might need medical attention.

("I havent been stricken with anything for the past ten years...why would something surface now?")

I then found myself dwelling on Jaq. She didn't look a day younger when I got reacquainted with her. Yet I didnt notice that either...

Coming to a conclusion, I went back to the ship, and headed straight for the medical bay to get myself checked up.

Suddenly a light appeared on the Scarlet Fire. A huge bright light, so bright that it tripped power sensors. I woke on the ship in a cargo hold when guards quickly rushed to the seen and carried me off to the maximum security prison holds. They didn't understand how anyone could have appeared on the ship. The Beam shield were impenetrable (almost) and if something broke it, they would have known. I would have stopped it, but i wasn't fully conscious yet, and i could see for at least another 10 min, And I wouldn't remember who i was for another 30 min.

(Important discussion stuff below)

Spoiler:

The Puma, alongside with some other ships, was floating somewhere around an obscure isolated outer colonies planet on the edge of officially know space. The planet itself was ravaged by the Haven, but because of the low strategical value all space stations and docks in orbit did not have any self-destruct sequences which could be activated from the surface, so everything in orbit was still intact.

Thankfully the planet was not powered by nuclear plants due to the abundance of renewable resources and a lack of overpopulation, but the planet was still inhabited by now the most dangerous species in the galaxy, and nobody dared or was allowed down except a couple of heavily armed patrol fighters to check on the situation and kill any encounters with their heavy armament.

Hunter smiled grimly at the sight of the lush green planet. The situation was proving to be very advantageous to him. If he wasn't this colony's unheralded king before, he sure was now. With the half million surface populace either dead or a refugee on one of the overcrowded space stations, and no governor he could tell desperate people to do something and it would happen. His guests were already recuperating and walking around on his ship, and he had found out their identities. The man was medical officer Francis Addive, a not very interesting character, he thought. That man just proved to be very, very lucky. He could use his services though, if he proved to be loyal to him. He had plenty use for a disciplined medical officer on his ship. Gunshot wounds acquired in hostile ship takeovers did not cure themselves.

The girl, however, was interesting. She was the sixteen year old daughter of some runaway governor on a colony in another corner of space. She had been captured by the New Order as an 'insurance'. The girl was trying to persuade him to let her go with promises of either wealth or threats from her father, but he was impressed with neither. A runaway governor did not posses any military power that could impress him, and even if he had wealth, John was not interested in that. His ships were good, his crew happy, and the desperate people of this colony supported anyone with even a little grain of leadership.

No, it was the governor himself he was interested in. He was in need of political or military allies which weren't as infatuated with the idea of one single all-compassing government over the colonies like the warring parties were, so they could mind this planet while he minded his own business. Finding him was going to prove a difficult, however. Runaway governors had a tendency to... Well, run away. He walked to the girl's room to ask some questions

(Okay, jpb, this would be where you would play the GF for a second. Also, does she have a name? I'm kinda tired of calling her 'girl'.)

(Woah, largest forum post in ages.)

(best I could come up with, Ill try again tonight, PM what you think is wrong, and maybe another idea)

Some officer's were watching Doyle and Vex talk out of the corner of their eye. Suddenly Doyle exploded in anger

"WHAT?!?!?!" Doyle yelled, "How he hell did you lose her?" Doyle demanded angrily

Jaquelyn, or better known to her workers, Erin, was tapping her desk as she read the newest reports. Another colony, this one far out, was attacked, and completely decimated.. Except for the nature on the planet, containing some very odd wildlife. She sighed, and leaned back in her chair. "This day just gets better and better." She thought back to when she first awoke to her new life... She even donned a new name to fit everything..

"Ah, Mr. Borrego. You use such an amusing greeting, seeing as we are 200 light years apart. I suppose these holograms are so realistic these days, one can hardly tell. Back in my day, it was far different. Hologram makers braved terrible conditions to make their machines. Men were real men, and small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri were real small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri..."

"Yeah, sorry about how loud I talked, sir..." Started I... "I'm here to ask you two... things... The first is if you can ask our contacts into piracy if they know the location of Senator's Oliveira step-daughter..."

I entered the ship's medical bay and asked the doctors to check me out. Fearful of me, they did.

"When was the last time you got a checkup?" The doctor asked.

"About ten years and 5 months ago," I replied.

The doctor then put his scanner away after taking a look at it. "Well...I hate to be the one to tell you this, but...you've had stage one of Eralt Syndrome for about two months."

The words echoed in my ears. "Stage One of Eralt Syndrome..." The effects of stage one were loss of focus, mild headaches, and sleeplessness. If it reached stage two, it would slowly destroy my brain.

"Fortunately, it is curable. All you have to do is take one of these vials a day for the next two months." The doctor gave me a case of 60 vials of blue liquid.

I swiped the case from him. "Thanks," I said silently. Then I walked out and back to my quarters, feeling dead inside.

"Sorry, dear boy, I had gone off on a tangent again, hadn't I? Well, now then. From which sector was she taken, and do you know any more information?"

"I think she was captured in Earth, after Doyle 'released' her..." Said I "And I have several high-detailed sensor logs than can help identify the ship..."

"Aha, send them over! It is probably one of three groups. With the information, I'll be able to let you know which group it was."
Davies shifted in his seat, moving closer to Borrego.

"However, I must warn you, my boy, that these pirates are violent beyond sanity. I know you and senator Oliviera's daughter were...close, so I want you to consider the possibility you may not see her again.

Anyways, good lad, I'll probably need an hour for assessment. I'll send you a beep when I can give you a contact"