The Gang of Five
Role Play => Random Role Play => Topic started by: MrDrake on January 14, 2010, 12:40:14 AM
-
The year is 2520, Earth has made contact with many different alien races and as such, has forged an alliance with most alien races around, however, that does not leave the galaxy safe, as many dangers still lurk about.
Earth now had a rather futuristic look about it, having hover cars, floating sign, pretty much anything you could think of in the future has indeed happened.
On Earth, there was one alien in particular whom had seeked refuge there after what had happened to her home planet and had now taken up a bounty hunter job, which so far, she had proven to be rather exceptional at, that is, until now, having to hunt down, what was thought to be a myth in the galaxy, a cyborg who had taken guise of a pirate to be exact, and had now called himself, Blackbeard after the same pirate, now terrorizing the galaxy.
"Look, I do have respect for you, but hunting down Blackbeard, it's like trying to find a needle in a haystack, it's pretty much impossible" the alien whom called herself Firefly most of the time, told her boss.
"You're the best at what we've got, and this Blackbeard has been known to exist, terrorizing planets, doing all that pirate-like stuff, and the council wants him stopped" replied Firefly's boss "You're the best we've got"
"Yeah, I know, but finding a myth....it's going to be tough, but I suppose if the council wants it done, then I can't really say no, can I?"
"Yeah, just don't take too long, if it can be helped anyway"
Firefly nodded back as she walked out of the building and onto the streets of Earth, having no real clue on where to start at the moment.
-
Not to far down the street was the Red Velvet, a bar that catered for the more... well endowed... people in the city. Inside, the whole room glowed a darkish blue as dancers flourished upon glowing catwalks, many a patron nearly hypnotized as they drank cocktails or just plain drinks. Waitresses strutted around circular, floating tables, serving all sorts of beings... many quite well dressed, consider all the odd species that hung about.
One human however, seated by himself, was not at all interested in the entertainment...
Raiven adjusted his dark glasses, pushing them up against his nose as he watched a particularly odd denizen in the far corner. Inside what seemed a normal pair of dark sunglasses was a suite of identification software, hooked up by a tiny wire to a device attached to his belt.
'Are you getting this, Isodor?' He whispered to himself.
'That's the guy alright,' a crackled voice returned from the speaker hidden in his ear. 'He's a lot fatter then I last saw him. Bloats are like that, however.'
'I don't need a lesson in races, Iso. I just need to know if it's Kelthusa or not.'
There was a short pause 'It sure is. The fat bastard himself.'
'Great, now I get to wait.' He leaned back and brushed his long brown hair back.
Raiven did not have to wait long, however. As he read from a news tablet, his eyes caught sight of a human woman approaching the large, greenish creature. The bloat's single cycloptic eye twitched and followed the woman as she seated herself next to him. The bloat then opened his large, toothless mouth, and a tendril oozed forth... seemingly sniffing out the woman.
'Diiiiissgusting,' Isodor said.
'I need to get closer, I can't hear what she's saying,' Raiven said in return.
'Don't do anything stupid, Raiven. Bloats can sniff out trouble with that tongue nose of theirs. Please for the love of god don't go and-'
Isodor was interrupted as Raiven switched off the earpiece. He raised himself from his chair, smiling a little a waitress passed him by. He put his hands into his black trenchcoats pockets, and slowly made his way over to the bloats table... hoping to catch just a glimmer of the conversation.
The woman smiled sheepishly as the bloat laughed heartily... a disturbingly bloated sound. Then Raiven saw her place a small card onto the table, and slide it over to Kelthusa.
His glasses zoomed in... a credit card. An exchange was being made.
Kelthusa was a well known trader of black market goods... one in particular that uneased Raiven the most... slaves.
The woman stood up and bowed. 'I expect him tomorrow.'
The bloat just replied with a loud grumble. The woman turned and left for the front door.
'Iso, did you get that?' Raiven said, switching his earpiece back on.
'Slave trade, possibly. But not enough concrete evidence, Rai. Don't go arresting him just yet... we need more information. Is your hand on your gun, Rai?'
Raiven had reached into his coat, for his laspistol, but moved his hand away sheepishly. 'Uh, no.'
'Good. And please don't cut me off while I'm talking to you... I hate it when you-'
Earpiece off again, Raiven rested at a new table and sighed. Being a cop was such a slow and painful business.
-
Firefly approached the bar and entered it, glancing around at the surroundings, looking to the dancers, then to the waitresses, then to the bar patrons before walking over to the bar itself, resting one arm on the bar before speaking to the barman "I need some information, if you can provide me with such information, I'm trying to hunt down someone"
"Yeah, everyone's trying to hunt down someone now a days, try talking to that guy over there" the barman told Firefly, motioning to Raiven.
Firefly nodded back and approached the cop, glancing over him before sitting down at the opposite end of the table "The barman said you might be able to help me" she told him, of course, her voice to others, would sound more like a male's voice from underneath her mask "I'm searching for someone....or something I suppose you could say"
-
'Aren't we all?' Raiven replied. He motioned with his head over to the bloat in the corner.
'See that fat thing over there? He trades slaves. I want that bastards green hide rotting in a cell... but I need evidence. If I were a bounty hunter, I would just blow his head up with my laspistol, but for me... there would be laws broken, and paperwork... and all that boring crap.
Then he eyed the odd creature that sat before him, taking of his dark sunglasses. 'Did the barman send you to me? Typical, he just cant keep his mouth shut.'
He looked around the bar, and then leaned in a little closer. 'Don't let anyone else know who I am. The last thing I need is for that bloaty bastard to know I'm a cop.'
Then he leaned back in his chair, and smiled casually to a waitress as she passed by.
'Waitress, another drink on my tab, if you please. And for this... fellow here if he so desires.' Raiven couldn't work out if the alien before him was male or female... but he tried not to think about it too much.
Then he clasped his hands together. 'I have a friend with the whole police database at his fingertips. Who are you after, exactly?'
-
Firefly nodded back "Sure, I'll take a drink as well" she replied back, placing her arms on the table, leaning forward "I'm after a cyborg that tracing it, has proven to be rather difficult.....calls itself Blackbeard, perhaps you've heard of that cyborg"
She leaned back in the chair again as she glanced over at the fat creature that Raiven was talking about, yet, didn't say anything in regards to it.
-
'Cyborgs are notoriously difficult to track. They can easily undergo surgery to change their appearance, they can alter their voices, and in some cases they can hack themselves to change their serial numbers.'
Raiven placed the tip of his finger on his right earlobe, and there was a tiny little clicking sound. 'Blackbeard though, I've heard of that name before.'
'He was a pirate that terrorized the Caribbean and western Atlantic during the-'
'Don't be a smart ass, Iso.'
'Hey, not my fault you didn't take a history lesson.'
'Just tell me what you know.'
'Okay, okay. From what I've heard... I believe he's a cybernetic space pirate that's been causing trouble quite recently.'
Yet another space pirate. There seemed to be a lot of them these days.
'Trouble is,' Isodor continued, 'he's supposed to be a myth.'
Raiven just rolled his eyes. 'Run a scan on the database, Iso... see if you can pick anything up on him.'
'I'll give it a shot, but I doubt I'll come up with any juicy bits.'
This conversation would have looked a bit strange to firefly, given that only Raiven could hear Isodor. Still, he clicked the ear peice off once again and glanced over to Firefly, raising a brow.
'So, do you have a reason for looking for this guy?' Raiven had the slight suspicion that this alien was a bounty hunter, but he knew their kind to be a reclusive bunch.
-
"Those reasons are my own, however, I will say this at least, the council is after Blackbeard and I plan on finding him" replied Firefly as their drinks were bought to them.
Firefly touched one part of her helmet which retracted back to reveal that she was indeed, a female alien, she had green skin along with green hair, to which she sipped her drink and spoke again "I have only heard that Blackbeard has been more of a myth now a days"
-
Raiven didn't even flinch as the alien revealed her face. He had seen plenty of aliens in his time as an officer to pay no heed, though he was relieved to discover her gender... so as not to make too much of a fool of himself. He had to admit to himself, just a little, that she had quite mysterious air about her... though he certainly paid it no heed.
Raiven took a sip of his drink, a bitter alcoholic beverage, and placed the now half full glass down upon the table. 'Myth or not, I fear you may have a difficult task ahead of you. Space pirates are a varied bunch. Some do it for wealth, others for fame. Some succeed, many fail, but in the end all of them are just another grain of sand on a shoreline.'
'I have had too many problems to deal with to know much about this cyborg, but I know enough about the criminal element to know that this Blackbeard has greater ambitions than most, if he has named himself as such. Fame seems to be what he seeks, but there is still many-'
Just then, there was a beeping on his ear piece. 'One second,' Raiven said, placing a finger on his lobe. The ear piece clicked into life once more.
'Got anything?' Raiven said.
'Oh boy, have I ever. This Blackbeard is pretty much non existent on our records-'
'That's not a lot of help, Iso.'
'Ah, but here's the thing. Remember officer Maynard?'
'The one that went insane, and was booted off the force?'
'That's the one. Well guess what... He was investigating a case on a series of raids up in the northern sectors.'
'And?'
'Well, it's what he found out.. and happened after that. The case file says that the raids were all performed by a cybernetic organism.' As Isodor spoke, words and images appeared on Raiven's glasses... information about the case being sent to him via Isodor.
'Could have easily been another cyborg, Iso.'
'Ah, but here's the best part. Witnesses aboard a cargo vessel claim the ship that attacked them was nicknamed Queen Anne's Revenge, which was quickly connected to many of the raids.'
'So?'
'History lesson, partner. That was the old Blackbeards most famous vessel.'
'Quite a connection there... a little fragile, though.'
'Perhaps. Thing is, Maynard wanted more time to investigate, but the higher ups had declared the case cold... given how little evidence had been gathered. Maynard claimed he knew more, and could locate the ships hiding place, it was just that he needed some more time.'
'But they closed the case anyway?'
'Yup. Then Maynard went crazy, and they booted him off.'
'Any idea where he lives now?'
'Searching for it now, partner. Uh... just one question.... why am I doing all this?'
'Just keep searching, Iso.'
'Fine, fine. Whatever. Just as long as you stop cutting me off before I-'
Raiven clicked his ear piece off again, and folded his arms. 'I have some good news for you. There was an officer on a case a few years ago involving a cyborg pirate. It's a bit loose, but supposedly the ship could have been the one this Blackbeard operates from.'
He leaned forward. 'I can give you the name of this guy, but I would like something in return.' Raiven gave a wry smile, his eyes hidden behind the glasses.
-
Firefly was a bit relcutant at first, before she spoke back "Alright, what is it that you want? As I would like to know whatever it is that you know" she told Raiven as she too leaned forward, taking another sip from her drink "Although, I do have a feeling it has something to do with that guy over there" she added on, motioning to the fat alien he was on about before "Am I right on the matter?"
-
'Good guess,' he replied. 'Here's the deal. I need someone to... make an exchange with him. Normally, we have special cybernetic "dummies" to act as operatives in such situations... but a breather like yourself is much, much more convincing as a potential buyer.'
'What I want you to do is sit down and talk him into selling you a slave, acting as a potential buyer. I'll wire you up, and hopefully we'll get enough evidence to get a warrant for his arrest. Pretty simple actually.'
He finished his drink. 'Now before you ask "Why don't I just do it", you need to know one thing about a bloat. They have this... tongue probe... thing. It smells pheromones and some other biological stuff... but to you and me, it basically means they know when someone is lying... or if they're not who they say they are. They can sniff a cop out pretty well, a little too well. Which is why I'm sitting here, not right next to the ugly bugger.'
'In other words, you need to sound convincing. He'll sniff you out, but if you smell right to him, he won't ask questions... bloats don't ask questions, they're too dumb. Other than that, should be a piece of cake. In exchange, I'll tell you what you need to know... and as an added bonus, I'll have you recognized as a participant in this case, which will give you some leeway with the police... if you ever needed our help.'
He leaned back and smiled. 'So what do you say?'
-
There was a bit of a pause at first before she finished off her drink and bought her mask back down, leaning in again "Count me in, I need what information you have" she told him "Besides, the whole buying a slave ordeal, should be a piece of cake, you could say I have a knack for lying in certain situations, just hook me up to your little wire thing"
-
Raiven nodded, and reached into one of the many pockets of his trenchcoat. He pulled out a small box, and opened it. Within was assorted small gadgets, his finger and thumb grabbing what seemed to be a tiny fleck of metal. 'This is a receiver. Just stick it under your... uh... mask, and we'll be able to hear you loud and clear.
Raiven then turned on his ear piece. 'Good news, Iso. We have ourselves a operative.'
'You mean they finally sent one? I didn't hear anything about-'
'No. We have ourselves a willing guest.'
'Raiven, if the commissioner hears you just picked up some random-'
'She isn't just a random, Iso. She's got what it takes, I believe.'
'She? Typical, Rai. Just when I thought you could stoop any lower.'
Raiven shook his head. 'You have a lot to learn, Iso. I've hooked her up, and I've put her on channel one.'
There was a long pause, and what sounded like a sigh. 'Channel one, ready and receiving.'
'Good,' Raiven finished. He then eyed Firefly and smiled, taking off his glasses and revealing his dark brown eyes. 'Kalthusa is all yours, when you're ready. Remember that I'm right here if anything goes awry... though I have my deepest trust in you.'
-
Firefly nodded back as she put the piece of metal underneath her mask before getting up "I wont be long" she told Raiven as she approached Kalthusa.
At first, there was a pause before she spoke up, leaning in, in the process "I hear you're the one to speak to about some deals....slaves in particular, am I correct on the matter?" she asked him as she sat down as well.
-
Kelthusa's eye gazed at the alien as she sat down at the table. He seemed to study her for a few seconds, but then he opened his mouth. Instead of words, however, a long slimy pronged tongue rolled out. It came within an inch of Firefly's mask, and seemed to make sniffing sounds. The tongue waved all over her, before finally rolling back into the bloats mouth.
Then Kelthusa began to laugh a disgusting, bloated laugh. For just a moment, it seemed the game was up already... but Kalthusa settled down, wiping a bit of drool away with his stubby arm. 'I sell goods... many goods.,' he said with a low murmur, and a stammering English. 'I have many for work, many for fight, many for... pleasuuure,' he continued with a hint of a wry smile upon his fat lips.
Raiven and Isodor both listened as the bloat continued to describe, in rather vicious detail, what he had on offer. 'He's avoiding calling them slaves... but I think this might just be enough to tag him,' Raiven said.
'I don't think so, Rai. Words are solid, but he'd be out of the cell in a week unless we can better prove that he harbors slaves.
Raiven leaned back in his chair, watching as Firefly listened to Kelthusa, very patiently. 'Let's see how this unfolds, then.'
Kelthusa finally stopped, and looked the alien over with a cursive eye. 'So, you buy goods, yes? Many questions... What for, may I ask? And... I must have advance in payment before I have you shown goods.'
Raiven jumped at this. 'Damn, he wants payment now. I hope to heaven and back she's got credits on hand. If she gets shown an actual slave, we'll have Kelthusa's butt rotting in a cell for the rest of his miserable life.'
'Should have given her your credit card,' Isodor said jokingly.
'No, he might wand to check her identification as well.'
'Ah yeah... too bad. But to be truthful, she probably could have only bought half a slave with what you own.'
'To be honest, Iso... I wouldn't have given her mine, you know.'
'Huh?'
'Check your pockets, Iso.'
There was a slight pause, and what sounded like shuffling about. 'Hey where's my... oh... you son of a-'
-
"Many goods huh? And you say for work, fighting as well as pleasure?" Firefly asked him as she leaned in slightly.
Firefly begun to think in regards to slaves, to her, the best kind of slave she could think of would be the ones for pleasure, as to be honest, she hadn't heard of slaves doing anything else really "I would have to say, the ones for pleasure actually"
She pulled out a credit card from a compartment of her suit and placed it on the table "Are you able to show me just what you have? I am able to pay for whatever it is you have to offer me"
-
Kelthusa smiled that disgusting smile of his, sliding the credit card towards him and looking it over. A credit card had many details about the person it belonged to written right on the front... however, the more personal details were located within a security encoded chip within the card itself. 'You can be shown, I assure you of quality of goods... but I have many things to attend to.
Appearing beside Firefly was a humanoid like creature with globular eyes and a greyish skin. He wore a lavish robe, coloured yellow and orange, that reached right down to his feet.
'He will show you to goods, I have things to attend to.' He passed Firefly back her card, seemingly satisfied.
'If you would please,' the grey alien said, gesturing to the back door of the bar with one hand.
'Excellent, looks like they're going to take her out to see the goods,' Raiven said from his table.
'Follow her out, Rai. I don't know about you, but I smell trouble.'
Raiven nodded to himself. 'Better safe than sorry.' He raised himself from his seat, sliding Isodor's credit card over a panel upon the table, which gave a small pinging sound.
'Thanks for the drinks, Iso,' he said sheepishly to himself.
-
Firefly grabbed her card and put it back into her suit for the time being as she followed the alien to the back of the bar. The credit card itself didn't have her own details on it, but instead, made up details as she didn't really want people tracking her down via a transaction, which is why she usually carried several different credit cards on her at once.
"Oh, if they try and funny business, do I have permission to shoot them?" she decided to ask into her chip rather quietly so that the grey alien couldn't hear her.
-
'In self defence, yes,' came a crackled reply from the wire. Raiven continued to speak as he walked in the kitchen of the bar. 'I'm following you out from a different direction, so if anything goes bad I'll be there to back you up.'
One of the staff quickly noticed his presence. 'Hey, you're not supposed-'
'Officer Raiven of the space police force,' Raiven said, brandishing his badge upon a worn wallet. The badge had the symbol of earth in bronze, with several stars surrounding it. The letters S.P.F were engraved deeply undernear the planet. 'Coming through, thank you,' he said, bumping a chef out of his way, who proceeded to swear at the cop as he passed... in french.
'Isodor, be ready. She's being taken out into an open courtyard, I believe. Be ready to intercept.'
'Got it, I'm on my way now.' There was the muffled sound of an ion engine buzzing to life in the background.
Meanwhile, Firefly was being lead outside. Beyond an old locked door was an open concrete field. It looked somewhat like an old abandoned building site, with large towers surrounding it on all sides. Almost all the towers were just blank walls, with no windows facing into the courtyard. A light smog hung over the whole area, perhaps only a few hundred metres high. The only way into the area seemed to be from the door they had exited from, everywhere else was sealed by rubble or by concrete walls. The perfect place to conduct some illicit business.
Firefly was taken to a small vessel parked in the center of a raised platform. An old rusted landing pad, probably once used to deliver building supplied... now for delivering something else entirely.
The ship was a fat, cylinder shaped hulk of steel, with several thrusters sticking out the sides. A large ramp opened up from underleath, and Firefly bore witness to several barely clothed figures being hauled out. A skinny human woman tripped as she exited the craft, only to be jolted back onto her feet by another grey alien who whipped her with a strange electric whip.
Lined up in front of Firefly was a total of seven slaves. Three humans, two of which were male and another female. Three humanoid like aliens, one of which was a similar grey to those that surrounded Firefly. The other two wore masks, hiding their faces, though they still looked weak and poorly. Finally, there was a large rhino like creature, bound heavily in chains, who sneered in Firefly's direction.
'Search her,' the grey that had led Firefly out said. Another grey walked up to her and pulled out a large wand like gadget. It hummed slightly as the grey waved it over her. Another grey to her left began to pad her down, rather vigorously.
Eventually they backed off, both nodding the the well dress grey.
'Well, take your pick,' he finally said, gesturing to the slaves that stood before her.
-
Firefly's weapons were indeed, hidden in her armoured suit, however, as they had let her go, she approached the slaves and examined each and everyone of them as to not drop her act before she stopped in front of one slave, examining her, she indeed, seemed to be rather poor.
Firefly looked back to the greys "This one will do rather nicely" she exlaimed as she walked back over to them, handing her one of her credit cards as if to make the exchange, but was also wondering where Raiven was at the moment.
-
Raiven slid down the garbage chute, and fell straight into the massive bin... filled with all sorts of leftovers you would expect to find from a kitchens garbage dump.
'Argh, so much for an alternative route,' he grumbled, pulling off a fruit peel from his face.
As soon as he was out, he slid against a wall and peered around the corner. He could see the ship, as well as Firefly making the exchange with the slavers. He could still hear everything, though now there was a slight crackle in the communications.
'Isodor, there's a light smog over the whole area, be careful bringing yourself in.'
'Yeah, I can see it from here, there's no way I'll be able to make a quick landing. I hope you're ready, partner.'
'As ready as I'll ever be,' he replied, reaching into a pocket of his coat. He wrapped his hand around his laspistol, ready to make his move...
...until he felt a barrel against the back of his head.
'Nice try, cop. You'll want to see how this pans out for your little friend,' replied a cold, brooding voice. 'Drop your weapon, if you please.'
Raiven put his hands up, letting his pistol slip out of his fingers and onto the ground.
'Kelthusa thought something was fishy about that alien, and he was right. Now we're just waiting for backup to arrive. Your friend wil make a nice addition to our collection.'
Raiven smiled. 'Damn, looks like we're screwed. We've walked into a trap... and now Firefly is about to be fried by reinforcements.'
'Again... nice try. We've just put up a jammer to stop you two from talking to one another. She has no idea what is about to happen to her.'
Raiven muttered. 'Son of a-'
Firefly, meanwhile, watched as the slave woman she chose was cut free from her bonds and pushed to her knees. The well dressed grey took Firefly's card and examined it. 'I'll be right back with the transaction, it's been a... pleasure.'
He walked up the ramp and disapeared into the ship. There was something odd about the silence that followed... especially after the rest of the slaves were lead back into the ship. The woman slave was still on her knees, sobbing softly with her face buried in her hands.
Not soon after, the door that Firefly had been led through burst open, and several greys came through in a line... followed by Kelthusa himself.
These greys were armed, carrying lasguns in their hands.
The greys either side of Firefly brandished laspistols. Kelthusa began to laugh, as he and the armed greys approached. 'Not who you say you are. You work for police, so now you pay.'
Before Firefly could make any moves, however, Raiven was brought foreward. A large rhino creature similar to the slave was behind him, with a long rifle pointed at his head.
'Too bad,' Kelthusa laughed. 'So close, but I never get caught. You just be more slaves to business.'
The situation was thus. Raiven had a gun pointed at his head.. however, the greys beside Kelthusa had not yet pointed their weapons at Firefly... the greys either side of Firefly had brandished their laspistols, and were about to point them at her. The slave vessels engines buzzed into life, though the ramp remained opened. One of the greys beside Firefly was preparing to take the woman slave back aboard the ship.
There was a slight crackle on Firefly's wire. 'Isodor here, can anyone recieve me. I just countered some major interference... I'm in possition, what's the situation down there?'
-
Firefly watched situation unfold as part of her suit slowly opened up so as to not let anyone else notice. She eyed the alien that had Raiven at gun point as the thrusters on her back lit up "Don't blink, or you might miss it" was all she had said as she dashed forward at the large alien and fired her pistol in the process to at least knock him off balance long enough to get Raiven out of harm's way before tossing him her gun.
Another compartment opened up as she pulled out another device and turned it one to reveal an energy sword. She hovered in midair for a second as she spoke to Raiven "Looks like your plan backfired" she looked over at Kelthusa "And as for you" she spoke, poitning her energy sword at him "I don't think you'll be taking any slaves back with you" she then seemed to throw her sword aside, only to have it impale her target, the grey that was to take the slave that was next to her, back onto the ship.
She landed down beside the body, grabbing her sword and swinging it at the slave to cut her chains free before pointing it back at Kelthusa "So, we can either do this the easy way, or, we can do this the hard way, your choice" she was in such a position to that if anyone decided to attack her, she would at least be ready.
-
Kelthusa certainly hadn't expected this... he was in awe of this alien's abilities. However, he smiled grimly at Firefly, and began to laugh his disgusting laugh. 'Hard way. Kill them all!'
The greys beside him raised their weapons, and Kelthusa himself charged forward.
'Oh hell.' raiven had taken the weapon passed to him from Firefly, and pointed it at one of the well armed greys. A bolt of energy flew forth, and struck the grey right in the chest... sending back in a spray of sparks and smoke.
Raiven tapped his earpiece. 'We've got trouble, Iso. Bring her in.'
'Oh joy. You've done it again.. haven't you?'
'Just hurry up!' He cried as a stream of red struck the ground beside him. Some of the greys had chosen him as their target... and now all hell had broken loose as both sides dove for whatever cover they could find. Peices of rubble on broken pipes made for decent protection as greys fell back, lasguns flaring with streams of crackling red.
The ships ramp shut tight, and the craft prepared to lift off, the engines roaring loudly. Kelthusa made straight for Firefly,making huge leaps and bounds for such a fat creature. His massive tongue waving forth menacinly... and a long stream of greening goo spraying outwards from within his gullet.
'Watch out, that stuff's acid!' Raiven shouted to Firefly. Several spittles of goo struck the ground... and almost immediently bubbled, creating small craters in the concrete.
-
Firefly stepped back from the acid spits before turning and slicing one grey near her before striking a second one as she looked to Kelthusa "Coward" was all she had said as she turned and went to help out Raiven, slicing and dicing a few of the greys that had him surrounded before flying over to the slave she had rescued before "You want to come back with us? Cause I doubt you want to go back on that ship, am I right?" she smiled to her underneath her mask before holding out a hand to her.
However, she covered the slaver as well when the acid sprayed at her, striking the back of her armour which in turn, started to fizz, to which she had to retract her mask back, the sight through her mask having powered down, revealing to the slave that she was another female.
(OOC: Just so I know, you want to play as the slaver? Or shall I? As I don't mind either way ^^)
-
(OOC: You may play as her, if you so wish. I have two characters at the moment :D).
The greys were in trouble. Raiven had a good position and was firing off as many shots as he could. Firefly had reduced their numbers significantly as well, with her vicious energy sword. However, in the midst of the firefight, Kelthusa had made a run for the ship. In a series of leaps, he bounded onto a side rail attached to the vessel. A small hatch slid open beside him. He gave a blubbery laugh, waving to Raiven and Firefly. 'Nice doing business with you, but I not be captured this day.'
He dove into the open hatch, and it shut behind him. The vessel lifted off the ground, the thruster kicking up a cloud of blinding dust as it rose into the sky. Raiven glanced over to the vessel as the dust settled, and his eyes widened.
Underneath the ship, a large turret turned to face Firefly and the slave. He knew the weapon to be a plasma cannon, a blueish hue begining to emit from the nozzle of the massive weapon.
He ran out of his cover, and straight for the two of them. 'Take cover, now!' He yelled amidst the laser fire.
-
(Hehe okay, cool, even though I technically have a second character myself, Blackbeard, but still, having her will be nice actually ^^)
Firefly looked over to the turret that was aimed at them as Raiven spoke up. She grabbed the slave girl and rushed over to Raiven "We have to get going, now" she told Raiven "Problem is, my thrusters are offline at the moment, thanks to that fat slob"
The slave looked at the turret aimed at them and seemed to grasp hold of Firefly's hand tightly, signifying that she was rather scared. Firefly just held the slave girl's hand still as she spoke to Raiven "So, what are your bright ideas?" she asked as she ran with Raiven and the slave girl in an attempt to get out of the turret's firing range.
-
'Usually I don't have giant plasma cannons pointed at me, but I'm thinking...'
He led them towards the door in which Firefly had been brought out of. 'Okay, I doubt they'll shoot at the bar, so let's get inside... quickly now.'
He led them past the door, and slammed it shut... not that it would help. He kept the group moving... though he knew if Kelthusa and his gang had any intelligence, they wouldn't shoot at the Red Velvet bar.
Then he heard the distinct discharging sound of a plasma cannon. 'Aw shhhhhh-'
Kaboooom! The whole wall was blasted wide apart! Melted fragments of cement and steel flew into the air, and the whole room seemed to heat up as the group was thrown backwards.
'Everyone okay?' Raiven shouted as bits of building fell all around them.
The Red Velvet now had a very large hole in it. Patrons started to panic and scream, and run away from the general direction of the explosion.
-
"Give me my gun" Firefly told Raiven as she more or less grabbed it from him "Hold onto this" she said as she handed him her mask before turning to the slave girl "Stay here with him"
The girl could already tell what Firefly was up to "No, don't" was all she said as she grabbed onto Firefly's hand again.
Firefly seemed to hessiate at the moment as this girl seemed to be rather attached to her "Okay, okay, I'll stay, but we need an actual plan.....where's your friend?" she asked Raiven in regards to Isodor.
-
Raiven went for his earpiece, and turned it on... but all he got was a mouthful of words in his ear.
'Holy moley, Rai! Did you see that? I just caught the whole thing on infrared. Oh... are you okay?' Isodor finally asked.
'Gee, thanks Iso.' Raiven glanced over to the others, thinking for just a moment. 'What's the position of the slave ship, Iso?'
'He's on the move now, want me to pursue?'
'Of course not! I need you to pick us up first!'
'Oh, right. Wait... what do you mean by-'
Click. The ear peice was off once more. Raiven then turned to the slave and Firefly. 'Right, we're going to be picked up, and then we're going after that fat bastard. We have enough evidence to put his head on a plate, and we're not going to lose him now.'
And then shortly after, a small white ship landed just outside where the door used to be. It was shaped like the head of an arrow, and looked clean and sophisticated. The police forces finest craft.
The side hatched opened, and Raiven gestured the others to follow.
-
Firefly followed Raiven whilst holding the slave's hand and got onto the ship with him.
Once she was setting, Firefly took out a spare fusion cell from another area of her suit before taking off the top half of her suit. She wore a white singlet on underneath as she pulled out the damaged fusion cell and tossed it outside before placing in the spare one "By the way, what's your name?" Firefly decided to ask the girl.
There was a long pause at first, before the girl had finally spoken "It was Zoe, my name I had was Zoe" she replied back.
"Zoe eh? That's a nice name, you can call me Valria" she told Zoe back as she looked over to Raiven "Usually I would go by the name of Firefly, but I suppose you can call me Valria as well"
Valria reached into her leg compartment and pulled out a wrench "Yeah, I tend to keep a few things on me, in case of things like this" she told both Zoe and Raiven as she begun to fix up the thrusters once more "Although, I'm going to need this to be fixed properly" she added on as it was still sparking but more minimal than anything else as she put the top half of her suit back on.
Zoe however, just could not help but stare at Valria, she had indeed saved her, and what was more, she was rather pretty too "Um, thanks by the way, for saving me back there"
"Oh that, don't mention it, you seemed to need rescuing, and besides, I was happy to do it" Valria replied back with a bit of a smile as well "But I do wish to know now, do you have anywhere to stay by any chance?"
Zoe just shook her head back "No, but I uh, I was wondering if I could stay with you"
"Me? Well, that's the thing, at the moment, I'm not really staying anywhere, I just stay in hotels or whichever, always being on the move you know, however, hmm, if I can teach you to fight, then perhaps it's possible for you to come and help me out, that way, if you really want to, you can stay with me" Valria told her.
Zoe just seemed to nod back "Yeah, I would like that"
Valria looked back over to Raiven "Oh, and by the way, tracking down Blackbeard after this might be interesting, usually I wouldn't let anyone tag along, however, I could use some help of some sort, especially if we're dealing with him and a whole crew of space pirates" she said as she was more or less offering him and even his partner to come along "That is, of course, after we take care of this fat slob" she added in as she grabbed her mask from Raiven again and put it on.
-
'I would gladly take you up on that offer,' Ravien replied. 'However, I am not a freelancer. My work is governed by the higher ups. Unless I got promoted to senior officer or something along those lines, I'm stuck with taking orders... which is why I'm trying to take down Kelthusa instead of something more... interesting.'
The inside of the ship had several leather seats, arranged like the inside of an airplane. Two rows of two seats... and then right at the front of the arrow shaped craft was a single seat, right next to a large control panel bristling with buttons, switches and various displays. The ship had no front veiwing window... instead, there was a monitor which displayed from a camera system attached to the front of the ship. There were several of these cameras mounted to the ship, allowing for a full 360 degree veiwing range.
The pilot seat swivelled around, and revealed an odd sight. The light purple alien that sat in the chair was only about three feet tall. He had a large head with a large round pair of dark eyes... long antenae twitched upon his head, pointing towards Raiven. 'Wow, nice find, Rai,' Isodor said sheepishly.
'Oh shut up and start moving... we have a lot of catching up to do.'
Isodor gave a salute with his long, three fingered hand. 'Righto, let's catch a criminal. Buckle up, kids.'
Raiven looked to the others, particuarly the slave. 'Best do as he says... he's a... uh... efficient pilot.
Not soon after he had said that, Raiven was thrown back into his seat as the police craft blasted into life. A wailing siren began to blur overhead, signiling for everyone to get out of the way.
'There he is,' Isodor said, pointing to the large slave craft on the main monitor. 'He's making for the main city. Things could get messy if we try and take him down there.'
'But the buildings will slow him down if he tries to descent. We'll catch him easily. What is he up to?'
The police vessel flipped sideways and pulled a terrifying bank turn. Raiven nearly fell out of his seat. 'What the hell?'
'Plasma cannon.'
'Oh, right. Now I see what he's up to.'
'Rai, if we go down there, they'll be little room for us to manuever. One hit by that cannon, and we'll be out of the sky in a blaze of fire.'
Raiven watched as the slave ship descended into the city, passing by skyscraper after skyscraper. Then, the large vessel made a sudden turn, narrowly dodging a building in the process.
Raiven could only imagine what the slaves about the ship were going through... and it made him furious.
'Just keep pursuing,' he said. 'I have a plan.'
'If it is as good as all your other plans...' Isodor muttered.
Raiven turned to Firefly. 'Val, I need you to go right to the back of this ship. You'll see a large chest right against the wall. Inside is a whole bunch of contraband weapons... see if you can find something that'll cripple a ship... possibly by damaging the thrusters or the engine system. You seem to quite efficent, so I'll have Iso open the top hatch. Once we get down level with the slave ship... I want you to take a shot.'
As far as plans went... it wasn't the best. But, now was the best time to bring the ship down... and cause as little harm as possible for the slaves still within.
-
Valria gave off a nod back "So far, it seems like the best thing we can really do in this situation" she told Raiven as she headed to the back and begun to look through the weapon's crate of contrabanded weapons.
She picked up on, a simple rocket launcher as well as ammo for it before climbing out of the top hatch and onto the top of the ship, activating her magnetic boots in the process, to at least, hold herself in place "Okay, lets do this...." she muttered to herself as she stepped forward a bit as well, keeping an eye on Kelthusa's ship, the rocket launcher ready to fire when need be.
The moment their ship got to ground level with Kelthusa's ship, she took off into the air and to the back of his ship "As the humans like to say....stick this in your pipe and smoke it" and with that, she fired a single shot at one of the ships thrusters before reloading the weapon, moving in more closer for a second shot, firing once more.
Her thrusters were, at the moment, holding out rather well, even with them being damaged still as she then watched the scene unfold before her eyes.
-
Kelthusa's ship relied entirely on all four of it's stable thrusters to keep it floating in the air. It was an old fashioned technology, and this case, quite vulnerable. The thruster exploded as the missile arrowed right into the intake, sending whirling fragments of turbine spitting out the other side... and not to mention a lot of smoke.
The whole vessel began to tip, and drop. It began to veer heavily. However, even as it struggled to stay in the air, another turret popped out of a hatch on the top rear of the ship. A flak cannon, four long barrels unleashing hails of flak shards into Firefly's general direction.
Isodor pushed their own ship forward, ducking under the flak. Raiven appeared at the open top hatch. 'Might want to jump some time soon,' he shouted as loud as he could. 'There's about to be a real big crash.'
-
Firefly moved back behind a building for cover. She had only two shots left with the rocket launcher as she loaded one into it and moved back out from behind the building, aimed and fired in under a few seconds flat before reloading and repeating once again for the final thruster before she activated her thrusters and moved in towards the flak cannon.
Once she reached it, she pulled out her energy sword and impaled the flak cannon, twisting the sword before swinging it out of the cannon.
Once she had done that, she jumped backwards into the air and watched the ship again, her grip remaining tight on her enery sword as well before she flew back to Raiven and Isodor's ship, landing on top of it, reactivating her magnetic boots again "You think that'll be enough to take that down?" she asked as she popped her head into the ship.
-
The vessel ploughed into the ground... which happened to be a freeway. Only a few civilian hovercars were on it at the moment... however, they veered quickly out of the way, some right into the concrete walls on the sides. The massive slave ship carved a path along the road, knocking streelamps over and cutting a waterline... sending a hail of water high into the air.
One of the thrusters broke off from the ship, and shot into the air like a missile, screaming and spiriling until it did a full turn and smashed into a building.
The slave vessel finally stopped, rear end tilting and smashing back into the ground. Sparks and smoke streamed from the crippled vessel. Car alarms bleated, and there was general chaos all around.
Raiven just stared silently at the carnage. 'Yes, that will be enough,' he finally said... a little too late.
-
Firefly glanced over and seemed to nod to them as she took off away from their ship, heading over to Kelthusa's ship. She opened up one final compartment from her suit and pulled out four bombs, setting them up upon the back of the ship where the cargo bay doors were.
She moved back a bit and detonated the bombs, opening up the bay doors before entering it herself, her energy sword back in her hands once again, ready to attack any who would pose a threat to her.
Zoe on the other hand, remained quiet, until she heard the explosion from Firefly's bombs "What was that?" she asked Raiven mainly, rather curious about it as well.
-
'Looks likes she's going to rescue the other slaves,' Isodor said, watching from the monitor. The police ship hovered over the mess that had been created.
Inside, there was little resistance. All the crew were either dazed or unconcious. Firefly easily found the compartment in which the slaves were stored. It was inside the cargo bay that the ramp underneath the ship opened up to reveal. Inside, she found masses of what could only be illicit goods, stored within large metal crates.
The remaining slaves were all about, having had no way to brace against the impact. Some of the humanoid slaves were out cold, the rest were either badly hurt or just barely standing.
Only one slave in particular was up entirely. The large rhino like creature had broken his chains and was busy trying to break his way out of one of the side hatches, which seemed to have sealed itself shut.
He turned to face Firefly, and sneered. 'You,' he said angrily. 'Slaver!'
Meanwhile outside, Raiven watched the monitor. 'Wait. what is that? Zoom in, quickly.'
A green blob was bounding away from the wreckage. 'It's the fat bastard himself. He just doesn't know when to quit. Right, let tag him.'
'Hold on a sec, Rai. I'm getting a signal from the vessel. An emergency procedure, I think...'
'Emergency procedure... what kind of-'
They both came to the conclusion at the same time. 'Self destruct!' They said in unision.
'Can you deactivate it?' Raiven asked.
'He's probably using an actual wired bomb. I'd need to be inside to do it.'
'The explosion could risk civilian lives as well as those inside...'
The police craft landed, Raiven jumping out from the top hatch immedienly. 'Iso, warn Val that the ship is probably wired to blow... then do whatever you can to stop it. Knowing a bloat, it's probably a really big bomb, so you'll have some time... I hope.'
He turned to Zoe. 'Stay here, you'll be safe... I promise you that.'
Isodor nodded. 'Got it, partner. And what are you-'
'I'm going to arrest that fat bastard,' Raiven replied angrily. immediently, he bolted into the distance, following Kelthusa.
-
"Slaver? me? In case you haven't realized, but I'm busting you out of here" she told the slave before swinging her weapon to cut through the hatch door, making it easier for the slave to break it down "Now, unless you actually want to stay here, it's best you help me get these slaves, and yourself off this ship and to safety"
Firefly then proceeded to help out the rest of the slaves "Come on you lot, we've got to get going...." however, she was cut off by the sound on Isodor's voice, telling her that a bomb was on the ship "Change of plans slightly, you're going to have to help them out, there's a bomb bomb this ship somewhere which is rigged to explode, which is what I'm going to go and find" she told the slaver as she proceeded deeper into the ship to search for the bomb.
"Iso, do you read me, what exactly am I looking for? How big is this bomb exactly?" she asked over her communications device she still had underneath her mask.
-
'Rai reckons it's quite big. I'd take a guess and say it's in the reactor room. That's the best place to rig a bomb, since you have the core of the ship right next to it... and not to mention the radiation emmited from the core would make it difficult to deactivate by hand without the proper equipment.'
The reactor wasn't too hard to find. A reactor was typicaly located near the rear end of the ship, close to the engine and rear thruster... on this particular kind of design at least. The door was already wide open, and seemed to have been forced that way.
There was a strange glow within, and a humming... somewhat throbbing sound. The reactor was a large tube that glowed a light green, right in the center of the room. Several coolant pipes passed up through the tube from underneath the floor. The floor consisted of see-through metal grating, and underneath the floor was a sea of red coolant.
The tube itself was badly damaged, and the room had an uncomfortable hotness about it. Beside the tube was a large metal orb, slightly split in the center. In the center split was a digital readout, and series of numbers... counting down.
Isodor appeared behind her, the small purplish creature making almost no noise on his strange, pronged trio of legs. 'Ah, crap,' he said as he joined Firefly, a hovering toolbox drone floating beside him. 'We have a problem. The whole room's leaking radiation... curse these old ships. They scrapped this design for a damn good reason.'
He looked up her worriedly. 'I can't go in, I haven't got the protection, and I don't want to grow another arm or something. Rather luckily, you happen to have that suit of yours.'
The toolbox hovered beside Firefly. 'I'll lead you through it, don't worry... I've done this before.'
Of course... that was in a practice environment... but he wasn't going to tell Firefly that.
-
"Alright, I'm ready" Firefly told Isodor as she walked over to the bomb and slowly followed his steps in disarming the bomb "Now, are you sure this is the correct procedure? As I don't want to be blown to kingdom kong as the humans would say anyway" she added in as she continued to walk on the bomb still.
Zoe however, was all alone in the ship as she looked out over at Kelthusa's ship, then over to the chest of contrabanded weapons, she had an idea of some sort and rushed over to it, looking through all the weapons and finding what seemed to be a Nano Rifle along with ammo. She had no idea on what the gun could do herself, yet, she took it anyway and seemed to bolt out of the ship and over to where Raiven and Kelthusa were, aiming the rifle at the fat slob, more or less ready to pull the trigger.
(OOC: I do wonder, you know what a Nano Rifle is?)
-
(OOC Edit: Changed this post a bit to better fit with the characters).
'Okay,' Isodor began with a hint of nervousness. He began to gather details about the bomb on a small information tablet. 'These ones are hard to crack open. So I want you to take out the mini-welder in the toolbox, and cut a cup sized circle out of the top...'
Meanwhile, Raiven had caught up to the bloat. Kelthusa stood in a side street, where several citizens were in clear view of the situation. Given what had just happened a few minutes ago, people were all over the place.
'You might as well give up,' Raiven gasped, his pistol in his hand. 'You can keep on running, but the whole force is going to be on your tail. Give up now and they might go easy on you.'
Kelthusa turned to face him, he too was gasping for breath. 'Argh, you win. I can not run any more. I will give up, but this is not the last you'll see of us.'
'Ah, that's what all criminals say.' Raiven approached with a small buzzing gadget. It was a device known as a deactivator, a simple gadget that upon application to the neck, could put its victim into unconsciousness. It was the main way the police force subdued criminals in the future... well, at least it was the way Raiven did things.
As Raiven approached, Kelthusa began to laugh as he put his little hands up.
...and then he opened his mouth. Raiven's eyes widened, realizing a little too late what was about happen to him.
Out came the stream of acid, and Raiven did the best he could to get out of the way. His trenchcoat took several splashes of acid, and began to hiss and smoke. The rest of the disgusting substance splashed onto the floor, creating a bubbling crater.
Raiven threw his coat off as quickly as he could, and then went straight for his laspistol. As he prepared to look down the sights, he saw Kelthusa making a run for it once more. 'Oh you lousy son of a-'
The bloat made his way over to where several people had gathered to get a better look at the crash site. An unlucky passer-by got more than she bargained for this day. Kelthusa jumped onto the female alien, who let out a scream, causing the rest of the crowd to disperse in confusion and panic.
Raiven finally caught up, and aimed his laspistol. Kelthusa placed the hostage in front of him, like a human shield. 'Don't try anything... or she will melt.'
Raiven lowered his pistol. Even if he had a clear shot of the bloat, he could pop like a balloon, spraying acid all over the civilian. So much for an easy arrest, he thought to himself.
-
(OOC: And yeah, the Nano Rifle is from Red Faction ;) )
Firefly continued to do as Isodor had said, as she herself, had no experience in disarming bombs herself, well, nothing this complicated anyway.
Zoe, on the other hand, stood next to Raiven, continuing to aim the rifle at Kelthusa. Sure, she was told to wait in the ship, but she didn't want to stand by while others would get hurt, however, she wasn't going to fire, in case she were to hit the hostage.
Zoe continued to just glare at Kelthusa, and yes, she was rather pissed off at him, then again, you would be too if you were a slave most of your life to someone as digsuting as Kelthusa. She looked to Raiven for a moment, wondering what he was going to do in this situation.
-
'Right, now you should be able to see a red wire. Whatever you do, don't cut it,' Isodor said from outside the reactor room. 'The red wire is always a trap. You'll need to fry the trigger socket with a small EMP blast. That's what the outer shell is for. It acts like a Faraday cage of sorts. Okay, anyway... in the toolbox should be a small screwdriver shaped gadget. That delivers concentrated electromagnetic pulses, and if you point it right on the main socket between the trigger and the warhead... well, we'll walk out of here in one piece.'
That was the last step. All that was left to do was for Firefly to actually do it... Isodor crossed his fingers. The countdown on the bomb was ticking down to the ten second mark.
Meanwhile, Zoe and Raiven had Kelthusa at a standstill. 'You're going nowhere, Kelthusa. Let her go and you'll get a fair trial. Heck, you might even get out free.'
'Ha, I know what laws I have broken. It is life for me. I might as well take a life with me. You know what the worst part is? Even if I die... I still have my slave trade. My son will take over, and all will be well. So... you have done all this... for nothing.'
He let out a bulbous, gross laugh... hugging the hostage tight. 'What do you say, pretty one? Do you wish to come with me?'
Raiven began to laugh. 'I should let you know something, Kelthusa... about you son.'
Kelthusa focused his eye on Raiven. 'You know nothing.'
'His name is Zalthusa, is it not?'
The bloat stared silently.
'Did you know he's been plotting to take you down for a long time? Seems your family has a thing for taking over by force...'
'Ha, nothing but lies!'
'Oh really? What if I told you it was your sun who lead us to you? What if I told you it was your sun who told us all we needed to know about your operation?'
'Rrr, nothing but lies!' He shouted angrily.
He didn't need to believe a word, even though it was all true. All Raiven was doing was buying time, hoping that the others would be finished... or at least some sort of backup arrived...
-
Firefly followed the remainder of the steps and managed to disarm the bomb with only one second left to spare. She removed the bomb from its place and handed it to Isodor "Here, take care of this, I've got one last thing I need to take care of" she told him as she stepped off the ship and made her way over to where the others were at a stand still.
From behind Kelthusa, Firefly placed the barrel of her gun to the back of his head "Now, let the slave go" she more or less ordered him.
Zoe seemed to grin as well at what Firefly was doing "You better listen to her, she's good, better than what you can do, she could blow your brains out with ease before you could harm anyone"
Well, Zoe didn't know that for sure, but to her, that's what Firefly could do at least, she was like a hero to Zoe now.
-
Isodor still stood inside the ship, staring at the countdown timer upon the bomb. 'One second... one second.' Then he breathed out a huge sigh, his mind getting itself back together. He realized that he had probably been standing there for quite a long time... holding a bomb... disarmed, with one second left on the timer...
Outside, Kelthusa let out a wail. It was a low pitched moaning sound, it was now that he realized it was all over... though he still held the hostage tightly.
'Looks like you've lost, Kelthusa. Let her go and Val there might just spare your life... but I have my doubts.'
'Ha... ha ha ha!' Kelthusa just laughed a pitiful laugh. 'I won't rot in jail...' he said darkly. 'I'll see you all in HELL!'
Suddenly, he tossed the female hostage aside, and turned as fast a bloat could. His mouth gaped wide open at the bounty hunter, his maw wider than Firefly's head... the bloat was like a lion about to tear into its prey, and his roar was just as ferocious as he prepared to unleash one last barrage of acid... however, Firefly had the shot... now she just needed to take it.
-
Firefly took the shot, jamming her gun into Kelthusa's mouth and fireing off a good four or five shots before kicking him backwards and throwing her sword at him to impale Kelthusa right in the stomach.
She looked to Raiven "Sorry about that, it was self defence is all, I too would've liked for him to go to jail alive, but I guess we can't all be winners in the end" she ended up shrugging as she looked back to Kelthusa again.
-
Kelthusa hit the ground with a wet thud, what remained of his head sprawling all over the pavement. Some of his acid oozed out, creating a small pool of bubbling goo. The body twitched just a little, but otherwise... was lifeless.
Raiven looked down at the bloat, then up at firefly. 'That's what we in the force like to call an execution shot. Right in the head... though I think five shots, and the... uh... sword, well... that was a bit over kill.
Isodor had finally caught up to them, gasping for breath as the three foot tall creature was prone to do. 'Okay, what did I... holy moley!' He stared at the corpse of Kelthusa, acid hissing and smoking all around his already decaying corpse.
'Oh man, I missed the best part... again,' he said with a whimper.
'Oh well, too bad, Iso. I suppose you two dealt with the bomb?'
'Yeah, you have miss Firefly to thank for that. Without her, I would be dead from radiation poisoning. She has all the merits of a real copper, don't you reckon?'
Raiven glanced back down at the corpse. 'Yeah, I would suppose so.'
Then he looked up at Firefly. 'Well, Val... a deal is a deal. I'll need you at the debriefing as a witness, so we can clean this mess up with as little paperwork as possible. However, once that's sorted out... I'll take you to the man who knows something about this pirate you're after.'
He turned to Zoe. 'I don't know what you plan to do, but I would advise you put that gun down. You can accompany us, as a witness... but you are free to do as you wish.'
And finally... he faced Isodor. 'Right, go warm the ship up... and let's get out of here before the news crew arrive... they have a knack for showing up before the police. By the way Iso, where is the bomb?'
'Oh, I put it on our ship, as evidence.'
'Lovely. Nothing like flying home with a bomb in the boot.'
-
Firefly walked over to the corpse and pulled out her sword before turning to Raiven "Well, it was no big deal, I was actually, rather glad I could help out in this sort of situation"
Zoe on the other hand, squeezed the trigger by mistake as she shot the corpse by mistake before dropping the rifle onto the ground "Um yeah, and if she still wants to, I would still like to stay with her, I don't really have another place to stay either"
Firefly looked to Zoe and gave her a nod "Sure, I'll be happy to take care of you for the time being" she told her as she got onto the ship followed by Zoe "I do have one quick question for you Raiven, does your police dpartment know of me by any chance? I mean, I have not exactly been a real friend to any police force I've come across, and most times, it's from being at the wrong place at the wrong time you know"
-
'If you've ever been involved in a crime, chances are good you'll have a record on the database. They'll pull up any information they can, since you were a witness to these events. However, you should know one thing about the space police.'
Raiven turned over to Isodor as he started up the ship. It gave a slight shudder, but was quickly hovering in the air, and gaining speed as it flew into the clear skies over the city. 'The name is a bit loose on who we really are. The stations located on Earth are just a small part of a much bigger organization. That organization is a network of different police forces working together in unison in different systems and planets. Of course, it isn't the only police force in the galaxy, it's just one of the biggest. What this means for you depends on what you did in your past. As someone who aided in the capture of a well known criminal... you have some leeway on what laws apply to you, and how your past actions can be taken.'
'To be perfectly honest, unless you actually commited murder or something of that caliber, you won't find any trouble. We're too busy dealing with major crime to worry about the little things at the moment.' He turned to Firefly. 'Things like piracy and what-not.'
-
"Crime? Murder? Heh....then it would seem they would know of me then, although, I am still suprise you two haven't heard of me before, granted, I am more.....infamous as the human term would be, known, yet, not known as well" Firefly replied to Raiven "Look, I usually don't ask cops for assistance, but tracking down Blackbeard is another story and I needed whatever help I could get in doing so"
"Are you a bounty hunter?" Zoe decided to ask Firefly.
Firefly gave a nod back after a small pause "Yes, I'm a bounty hunter, however, I do have standards unlike other bounty hunters around who kill without remorse"
-
Raiven seemed to cringe a little at this, but he remained normal otherwise. 'I figured as much. Only a bounty hunter would go around equipped as you are... still, it is good to have confirmation. You wont have any trouble from me, but we should be careful with how we play this out in the debreifing. They could easily twist the situation to paint you in a negative light... given what we had to do to bring down Kelthusa and-'
'Rai, we've got an incoming communication,' Isodor said from the pilots seat.
'From the HQ?'
'It's Barbary, Rai.'
'Damnit,' Raiven muttered under his breath. 'Ugh... open the channel.'
There was a click and a slight buzz as the radio came to life. 'Sergeant Barbary, how nice of you to-'
'Don't... even... bother, Raiven. This mess you've made is all over the holovision screens, and I've got calls coming in from all over the place demanding answers. Where the hell are you?'
'Coming in for debriefing, sir.'
'Good. Get your ass in here as quick as possible, Rai. This is your mess, not mine... I want a full report on what the hell happened out there. This is a disaster... god forbid if I have to demote you for negligance on a biblical scale!'
SLAM, click. What sounded like someone slamming a phone on a hook... and then radio silence.
'He sounds pissed,' Isodor said, breaking the sudden silence.
'Great, just what I needed,' Raiven sighed. 'Of all the sergeants to report to, it just had to be that one.'
The ship flew under a cloud, and beyond was a tall white tower with several large landing pads poking out of it. The space police headquaters for this district lay ahead of them.
-
Firefly only nodded back to Raiven "We'll just have to see how this plays out is all" as she had an idea herself, however, it would really depend on how the debrieing would go on how her own idea would be carried out.
"Do you want me to go in as well?" Zoe asked Raiven "Because I can be proof of the whole slaving thing, and I can tell him what Kelthusa used to do and all that sort of stuff"
-
Raiven faced Zoe. 'If you wish. However, I should warn you that I am not certain with how they will handle you. They might talk to you in one of the "cold rooms", which are where most innocents are handled.'
'It's not as bad as it sounds, they just call it that because it can get so freaking cold in there,' Isodor said. 'Only trouble is, we wont be there... just you and some random police officer.'
Raiven turned back to Firefly. 'As for us, we'll probably get yelled at... a lot. Well, just Isodor and myself probab-'
'I reckon he'll just yell at you,' Isodor interupted. 'I'm too small to even be seen behind that desk.'
'Oh, shut up,' Raiven grumbled. 'Barbary hates me, everyone knows that. I'll just suck it up, though... he can't demote me, he's just trying to make idle threats.'
'He can, if he gets enough signatures from the other seargents, you know.'
'Stop talking, Iso, and just get us down.'
'Yeah yeah... whatever.' Isodor leant over and clicked the comminications radio on, turning a dial as he did. 'Arrow Five to control, Arrow Five to control... do you read?'
'I read, Arrow Five,' a female voice replied.
'Request landing, officer class.'
'Copy that.' There was silence for a few seconds. 'Granted, Arrow Five. Proceed to deck twelve, bay six. Oh, and enjoy your debriefing... Raiven.' There was a brief chuckle from the femal before the radio fell silent.
'Everyone knows already? Bloody hell. This is going to be the worst day of my life.'
The ship turned, and climbed. A flashing signal lead them to the correct landing pad. 'It's getting better already, Rai. Look who's waiting for us.'
Raiven leant over to the monitor, and groaned. 'Barbary... that pompous bastard.'
Soon enough, they were landed, and outside. The air blew quite hard up this high. The ground seemingly miles below. There we specialised guard rails to stop people from falling off, of course... not that it helped anyone with a fear of hights.
'Nice of you to come and meet us, Barbary.'
'Cut the small talk Rai, let's get to my office.'
'Whatever you say,' Raiven grumbled.
'It wont be necessary to bring your little friend,' he said, gesturing to Isodor. Then his eyes fell on Firefly and Zoe. 'Who the hell are they?'
'Why don't you ask them yourself,' Raiven replied coldly.
-
Firefly stepped forward "You may call me...." she then paused for a second, not too sure if she should actually say her alias, or her real name before shaking her head slightly "Firefly, my name is Firefly, and this here is Zoe"
Zoe however, didn't seem to say anything back to Barbary as Firefly spoke again "We were with him when it happened, so in all manner of speaking, we'll also be joining in this talk of yours, you need, not just his side of the story, trust me, I've got my side of the story as well" she added in, saying what she could to get in as well "As for her, she comes as well, you'll want to talk to her as well"
-
Barbary arched a brow at Firefly, but shortly after nodded. 'Yes, very well. I need all the details I can get... so I can make sense of whole situation.'
In the end, all of them (excepting Isodor) were taken into Barbary's office. There was stacks of paperwork upon his desk, and the whole room had the general feel of chaos. Everything was a mess, and upon closer inspection Barbary himself looked quite stressed.
'Right, so let me get this straight. You got ambushed by Kelthusa's gang, then after a firefight, which resulted in the devestation of a bar... began a pursuit over a heavily populated city centre... and then you proceeded to shoot down the ship in the middle of a busy highway. Then, after that, you shot him in clear sight of several civilians?'
Raiven just nodded, and continued to do so. He looked grim, and disinterested in the whole matter.
Barbary picked up a peice of paper by his desk. 'Alright, so let's go through this. Destruction of government property, unlawful use of contraband weapons, unauthorized use of lethal force, unauthorized handling of a hostage situation, pursuit without proper police communication. Ah, and here's the best one... why the hell were you even after him in the first place when it was clear you had not been authorized to?'
'We knew where he was, Barbary. If we hadn't gone after him now... we would still be searching for the fat bastard for another several years.'
'And now he's dead... very nicely done. I would have thought bringing him in alive would have been a much better thing to do.'
'He had a hostage, and-'
'I don't care what was happening!' Spit flew in little white bits all over his desk as he yelled. 'Frankly, Raiven... I'm sick of your handling of situations like this. You're like some filthy mercenary, taking the law in his own hands. We have standards, Raiven, and it's about time you stuck to them.'
He leaned back in his chair and sighed. 'I have no idea how you got promoted all the way to officer...'
Raiven clenched his fists, but said nothing.
Then Barbary looked over Raiven's shoulder. 'Right, you two. Sit down over here,' he said, pointing to the chairs in front of his desk, and signaling Raiven to move. 'It's your turn to explain what the hell happened.'
-
Firefly sat down along with Zoe before she was the first to speak "It's true that we were ambushed by Kelthusa's troops, and it was true that destruction of property damage was also delt out, and yes, it was also true that Raiven had gone after him without your authorization"
Zoe interupted at that point "Not to mention that I was one of his slaves"
Firefly glanced to Zoe, then back to Barbary again "However, Kelthusa isn't the one behind it all, hell, he couldn't get anything done right if someone wasn't there to tell him what to do, you should be thankful that Raiven did get the one behind it all in the end, one way or another.....and you're speaking to her"
Zoe seemed to gasp at that point, seeing that Firefly was making it seem as though Kelthusa was just no one "No..." was all she could say rather quietly.
Firefly was indeed, doing what she could to make it seem like Raiven was a bigger hero than what Barbary was making it seem, by capturing the one behind it all "So here I am, I had came with him rather peacefully, he had played it rather well I must add in, otherwise, you might not be talking to the one responsible had he not had done a damn thing"
Zoe however, just seemed to remain quite, not believing what Firefly was doing now. She knew it was all a lie, but yet, did not know why Firefly was lying now.
"So, isn't that what you really wanted all along? To finally be able to capture who was responsible for so much slavery over the vast number of years?" Firefly added on, seeming to grin underneath her mask as well.
-
Barbary fell into silence. Heck, everyone was silent.
'Wait, wait a second,' Barbary seemed unable to find words. He stood up from his desk, and circled it. First, he looked at Firefly, then at Zoe... and finally at Raiven... who was just as shocked at what she had just said.
'Why the hell didn't you tell me of this, Raiven. Is this some sort of joke?'
'Well... uh,' Raiven said. He stood up from his own seat. 'Well, you see. I wanted to keep the whole thing quiet. She offered to come in peacefully, and I believe under the first section on the code of laws, that gives her some leeway on how we handle her. I decided the best thing to do was bring her directly in, otherwise we would have a media frenzy if her face got on Holovision.'
Barbary nodded. 'Yes, I could only imagine how the public would react if when they discovered that we had caught the wrong alien. Hm, yes... I'm glad you kept it hush hush. This could work in our favour.'
Raiven rolled his eyes... he could see the words "promotion" written all over Barbary's face. The large, brawlish human placed a finger on the intercom upon his desk. 'Could I get an escort in my office, please.'
'Perhaps I should take her to the cold room, I did arrest her, afterall,' Raiven said.
'You've done quite enough today. Besides, you and I need to talk some more. The escort will take these two to be interrogated.' Then he looked at Zoe, and smiled rather pathetically. 'It's not as bad as it sounds... well, at least not for you it wont be.' With that, he looked over to Firefly with a more devilish grin.
-
Both Firefly and Zoe stood up when the escorts arrived, Zoe walking out first as Firefly only looked to Raiven before she too walked out as well.
"Why....why did you do it?" Zoe asked Firefly rather quietly.
"Raiven did what he could, but being yelled at like that, doing all that for nothing is not a good thing.....I had to make sure something good would come out of it in the end" Firefly replied rather quietly.
She had left her weapons back on the ship at least, more or less making it seemed that she had been disarmed before getting off the ship and she was ready for any sort of interogation they would have to offer.
Zoe, on the other hand, still didn't like the sound of a cold room, especially since she was wearing practically nothing, save for a torn singlet and a pair of panties as well.
-
Thankfully, the police force at least had some common sense. Zoe was taken to what seemed like a dressing room, where she was offered some clean clothing... most of which was just white cotton clothes, mostly given to prisoners to wear and look after.
She was then taken to the cold room. It was a poorly lit cube, the wall consisting of metal, which gave off an eerie tone. The room was indeed rather chilling. There were small ventelation shafts near the bottom of the walls, and a single light hung from the top. An old fasioned wooded desk stood in the middle, with a wooden chair on either side.
A female officer smiled from her chair opposite of the entrance. She pushed a steaming mug across the table. 'Coffee?' She asked.
'Come, sit.' A male said from the side. He was difficult to see, shadows forming across him as he stood to the side. However, he lost his mysteriousness as he walked to beside the desk, and gestured.
'We wish to ask you, if you are willing, some questions about your... time as a slave.'
Meanwhile, in Barbary's office, the wrinkled man sat back down again in his seat, and laughed. 'This is good new, at least. But there's something you're not telling me...'
'No, nothing at all, sir,' Raiven replied.
Barbary arched a brow. 'Very well. Anyway, there is still the matter of the damage you caused and whatnot. The taxpayers aren't going to take this lightly, and the entire force is going to be put on the spotlight because of you.'
'We've handled this sort of thing before.'
Barbary's hands slammed on the desk. 'We don't go about trying to repeat ourselves. Don't forget we're not only trying to make an example for the government... but also to all the species in the galaxy. We strive to prove to the rest of the galaxy that the human race is reliable... and trustworthy.'
'Considering what we've done in our history...' Raiven muttered.
'What was that?'
'Nothing.'
Barbary stood up. 'There will be talking, paperwork... and such. However, for now, I have called the chief commissioner... and I am awaiting his final say on the matter in regards of what to do with you.'
The phone began to beep. 'Ah, speak of the devil.' Barbary picked up the small handset, and placed it next to his ear. 'Ah, commissioner. I expect that you have reviewed the matter? Yes? Excellent. Yes, I have him right here... what do I tell him?'
Then his face went stiff... and his skin color changed from pink to white. 'Very... well. I'll inform him right away. Thank you.' He placed the phone back on its hook, and stared at Raiven for a long time.
Raiven stared back curiously. 'So?'
Barbary's hands quivered. 'Congratulations, senior officer.'
Raiven's heart jumped. 'Uh, what?'
'Get out of my office,' Barbary said coldly. Raiven quickly got up from his chair... and as he turned and left, he grinned.
'I don't believe it,' Barbary muttered. 'I... don't... bloody... believe... it.'
Down several floors was another cold room. Firefly was escorted into the room via several policemen. The door slammed shut behind her, and it seemed she was alone inside the cold, dark room.
'So, who do we have here?' A man said, emerging from the shadows. He was a big man, with large muscles... and an all round well built body. He cracked his knuckles as he leaned against his chair at the desk. He traced a finger across a data pad that lay upon the desk. 'Say's here you're a slaver, in league with Kelthusa. Sit down, and let us talk about what you were up to.'
-
"Well, I was with Kelthusa most of the time, I had never met Firefly before, Kelthusa kept on saying that no one ever talks to her" Zoe told the police officer, still lying for Firefly's sake as well "But being a slaver was terrible, if it weren't for Raiven, I don't think I would be here right now"
Firefly on the other hand, sat down on the chair as she looked at the officer whom had cracked his knuckles "In league with Kelthusa? If you want to put it that way, although I would put it that he was more in league with me, oh, and I have no regrets at all with what I have done, I had to do what I could to keep the ecconomy of this galaxy running, and slaving, oh, that was the best thing to do" she told the officer as she placed her feet up on the table, feeling rather relaxed about the whole interogation "So, what else would you love to know about me? Would it be, how many slaves I've enslaved? How many slaves I've sold? Granted, all that is far too much to keep track of, but I would imagine it had risen in the hundreds, maybe even thousands"
She then took her feet off the table and leaned in, glancing around slightly "Although, I am a little dissapointed, I would've imagined such a place like this would have much more security, I mean, a child could escape from here without even trying, and I wouldn't even need any weapons to do so either" she added in with a light little chuckle as well.
She was of course, just mocking them by that point "So honestly, how do you expect to keep me in check hmm? Please, do enlighten me on the matter"
-
The large man leaned in, nodding slightly. 'You seem to be a pretty smart fellow, I'll give you that. Of course, most of your kind are like that. Criminals always have this assumption of superiority and wisdom. You think the police are just some little play toy, something in which to mess with.'
He cracked his knuckled again. 'Of course, to be perfectly fair, we've long passed the days of... forceful interrogation... at least here we have. There are still places that would break every bone in your body, just to get you to speak. Some of those places are even on Earth. Thankfully, here, we have standards.'
He slid the data pad across to Firefly. Upon it were rather blank details about her identification. Unsurprising, given her mysteriousness. However, written in rather clear, bold letter right at the bottom was the words "Sentenced to death".
The man smiled. 'Your execution is tonight. If I were you, I'd make plans for your last meal... oh, and just maybe spare a few details about your slave operations. It might just give you a few more days.'
He leaned in. 'What do you say to that?'
-
Execution? Firefly didn't quite expect that, however, now that she had thought about it, it would seem correct and wise of them to do so "What do I say to that? Simple....I wont be around for the execution to take place" she chuckled back as she slammed her fist down onto the datapad and completely destroyed it, looking at the police officer "So, what do you say to that, hmm?"
-
The human looked down at the now broken data pad, and over to Firefly. 'You realise how expensive those are, right?' He said, trying to stay calm... trying to simply ignore the bounty hunters taunts.
'Still, it does not matter.' He walked over to the large metal door, and gave it a tap with his knuckles. 'She's being rather... uncooperative. Could someone notify the sergeant... and ask him for permission to subdue her?'
'Kell, you couldn't even get a child to tell the truth. You're about as useful as a stack of burning hay,' came the muffled reply from the other side.
'What kind of comparison is that?!'
'I'm merely suggesting the fact the a pile of hay that is on fire could interrogate that alien better than you could. Does that make sense?'
'I'd like to see you do better.'
'Fine.' The door opened with a loud metallic moan. Another male human, this one shorter and skinnier, came through. He reached into his pocket and pulled out an electrified stun baton. 'Let's see your armor stop this,' he said, aiming the stunner right at Firefly's body.
Meanwhile, in an elevator that was playing obnoxious music, Raiven tapped a foot impatiently. He had a cell phone to his ear, and waited.
'Geez, can't I even get five minutes of sleep?' Isodor replied from the other end.
'We have a problem,' Raiven said.
'Did you get us fired?'
'No, I got promoted, but that's not the problem.
'Then what is... wait... what did you just say?'
'Look, Iso. Val just took the blame for this whole thing. She claimed to be in league with Kelthusa... I have no idea why she went that far, but now she's in the deep.'
It took a moment for Isodor to regain himself. 'Okay, uh... so what do you want me to do?'
'She's a smart girl. I'm certain she wouldn't have gone that far if she hadn't had some was of escaping. Trouble is, if she starts beating up cops... they'll put up a code blue.'
'But a code blue is only for... oh.'
'Oh what?'
'I'm looking up the information now.. It says she's to be exectuted tonight.'
Raiven stood silent in the elevator for several seconds. There was a light ping, and the door slid open. 'Welcome to floor nine,' a voice said.
'She's on floor eleven, Rai.'
'I thought as much, but I've got something else to do first. Can you get a lock on her position?'
'Only if I hacked right into the cameras and what-not... but that's just insane.'
'Do it,' Raiven said.
'Wh... what?'
'Hack into the core security system and start tracking her. I want you to do everything you can to get her out of here. Understood?'
'But Raiven... if I go and hack into-'
'Just do it,' Raiven said, his voice raised.
'Okay, okay. The things I do for friends,' Isodor muttered, before the phone hung up.
Raiven exited the elevator, and began his search for Zoe.
-
Firefly stood up as she saw the police officer enter with a stun rod. She slammed her foot down onto his foot before elbowing him in the stomach before she grabbed his hand and pulled the rod off him.
Seconds later, she struck the officer across the face with the stun rod before grabbing the first officer's head with her hand slammed it into the wall before pulling him backwards.
She then knocked on the metal door, to which a police officer spoke up "So, I take it you've got her under control?" the voice asked from the other side of the metal door.
"Close, they've been taken care of" replied Firefly.
The police officer didn't seem to think twice and started to open the door, to which she kicked it open, right into the police officer's face "I told them, but of course,. they just refused to listen" she muttered to herself as she took a gun off the police officer, placing it into one of her compartments for the time being as she just weilded the stun rod and walked down one of the hallways.
Once police officer in general, noticed her and sounded an alarm that rang throughout the police station.
Meanwhile, Zoe continued to talk to the police officers that were interogating her when she heard the alarm going off as well "Um, is there a fire?" was all she could ask the police officers as she finally took a sip of the coffee she was given earlier on.
-
The two other humans in the room with Zoe looked up into the air, concern on their faces. 'That isn't supposed to happen.'
'Should we go find out what's going on?'
'Good idea, I'll go check.' The woman stood up from her chair, and went for the door. On the other side was Raiven.
'Excuse me, coming through.'
'What... what's going on?'
'Just a drill, nothing to be worried about,' Raiven said, waving her off and walking straight past her.
'Are... are you sure.'
'Yes.'
'Code blue. Code blue,' the voice echoed through the halls. 'This is not a drill.'
Raiven ignored it, and walked up to Zoe. 'Sorry to interrupt, but we must get going.'
'Pardon?' The male said. 'We're in the process of talking-'
'Change of plans.' She grabbed Zoe's hand. 'She's going up to floor eleven.'
'But... that's-'
'Hey, it wasn't my idea. Now if you'll excuse me... we haven't much time.' He walked back out with Zoe and a grin all over his face. He then slammed the door behind them.
'Right, let's get you out of here,' Raiven said to Zoe.
Isodor watched Firefly through the cameras. 'My god, she is good,' he said with a chuckle, and reached for another corn chip. As he munched and crunched, he began to type upon the keyboard of his computer terminal. Alongside the view of Firefly was a whole wall of text, slowly running by.
Isodor had broken past two defensive barriers, and was now in the security system. He had perhaps only a minute and a half before he was detected, but he was surely having a great time watching Firefly kick policemens butt.
'Head for the stairs. The stairs!' He yelled into the monitor. Of course, Firefly couldn't hear him.'
As Firefly made her way through a now empty passageway, there was a large sign bolted to the wall. Upon it, was directions to multiple floors.
B - Carpark.
1 - Main entry.
10 - Medical bay. Downstairs <--
12 - Storage room 2. Upstairs <--
19 - Hangar bay. Ship impound. Upstairs -->
22 - Main docking bay. Control tower. Upstairs -->
They had come in from floor 22, where Raivens ship was.
-
"Wait, but...." Zoe begun as Raiven grabbed her hand and took her out of the room "What about Firefly? Is she going to be alright?" she asked him.
Firefly on the other hand, looked at the directions before walking off to the right as she had recalled where they had come from before. She glanced around as she walked onwards, yet, there were no police officers around at that point "Heh, this is going to be much easier than what I had thought" was all she had muttered to herself as she continued to walk onwards.
-
'She'll be fine,' Raiven said to Zoe. 'She's a bounty hunter, the whole police station is at her mercy.'
At least... I hope so, he thought.
The staircase was just ahead. Firefly could hear the sounds of footstep, dozens of them, coming from below. A parade of policemen was coming up to her... the question was... were any coming down?
As the alarm continued to sound, large iron doors began to shut in the hallways. They were slowly sealing off the rooms. Suddenly, a iron door came down upon the upper stairs... trapping Firefly on this level.
'Oh, bloody hell,' Isodor said to himself. 'Security doors and everything!' He began to frantically type, breaking into the main security control itself.
As suddenly as the door had come down, the door that blocked access to the upper stairs was gone. The other sealed doors were still down, however.
-
"I hope so" was all Zoe had said back as she continued to follow Raiven still.
Firefly on the other hand, glanced aroudn as the metal doors came down, to which she begun to run ahead, trying to outrun the metal doors coming down before she activated her thrusters before one door slammed down in front of her, leaving her hovering mid flight for a few moments before the door reopened.
She wasn't going to question it as she took off again, just flying throughout the police station, making her way back to the police cruiser that had bought her in before, so to speak.
Firefly flew up the stairs, doing whatever she could to cut time off being captured, that is, until she came to the police dock, a whole bunch of policemen were waiting for her right there.
"Dead end slaver" one spoke up.
Firefly just hovered there, there were at least a good ten of them before she landed onto the ground "Well now...shall we dance?" she asked them as she dashed ahead and struck one police officer with the stun rod before grabbing two other officers and slammed their heads together.
She slammed her palm into another officer's face, basically, fighting each and every one of them off.
-
Raiven's phone beeped, an incoming call. The ID code was blank.
'Iso?'
'It's Barbary, you idiot! What the hell is going on?... I've got an alarm pounding in my ear, and they keep telling me someone is escaping.'
'That "someone" is the criminal I brought in,' Raiven replied.
There was only silence from the other end.
'Yeah. Next time maybe I should escort her, huh?'
Before Barbary could reply, Raiven hung up. Not a second later, the phone started to beep again. The ID code was still blank.
'What is it, Barbary?'
'It's Iso, you idiot!' Isodor replied, sounding insulted. 'I've put up an ID block. I'm dancing on the knifes edge here, you know.'
'Where is she?'
'She's headed for your ship.'
Raiven nodded to himself. 'I expected as much. Her equipment is on there, not to mention it'll make the perfect escape.'
'Not if they put a lock on the ship, she wont be going anywhere.'
'Well, hack in and make sure the ship is ready to go.'
'Okay. I need to lay low until then, otherwise they'll pick up on me. I've already broken enough laws to last me a lifetime, Rai.'
'Alright.' He paused for a second, before returning the phone to his ear again. 'Thanks, Iso.'
'You owe me,' came his reply. Then he hung up.
Raiven turned to Zoe. 'Right, I know where we need to go, so let's move.'
Your average police officer was no match for a bounty hunter, especially an armed one. The blockade of police was quickly subdued, and sent running with their tails between their legs... so to speak. However, as Firefly headed for Raiven's vessel... there was an echo of metallic footsteps from behind her.
'Drop your weapon, you have thirty seconds to comply,' the giant, twin Gatling gun wielding robot said in a dark, hollow voice.
-
"Well now....this is different" Firefly spoke to herself upon seeing the robot arrive. She thought for a second before complying, opening up the compartment as she dropped the stun rod and quickly pulled out the stolen gun and started to empty the bullets onto it before she kicked up the stun rod and kickked it at the robot in an attempt to short circut it.
Zoe on the other hand, looked to Raiven "You think that Firefly will be alright?" she asked him as she was rather worried about Firefly.
-
Zoe and Raiven ascended the flight of stairs in haste. 'I'm certain she'll be alright. The alarm is still going, which means the problem hasn't been dealt with.'
He stopped momentarily on a step, and faced Zoe. 'Okay, we're nearly there. I need to play this like she's still the criminal. I don't know what you plan to do, but I intend to pursue her once she gets aboard my ship. A false pursuit, of course, but right now... I'm kind of making things up as I'm going along.'
In the docking bay, the stun stick struck the side of the robot... and did nothing. This class of machine was well protected against such attacks, considering the composite armor that covered the main hull and legs. As such, the bullets pinged harmlessly off its main body, leaving hardly a scratch.
'Target has not complied. Opening fire.' The guns began to spin up.
-
Zoe nodded to Raiven, understanding where he was coming from, yet, just remained quiet for now.
Firefly on the other hand, tossed the gun aside and cricked her knuckles "Looks like I'm going to have to do it the hard way then...." she reached into a compartment and pulled out the only small bomb she had on her and tossed it at the robot before detonating it, giving her just enough time to fly up into the air out of the general direction of the robot before coming back down, slamming the robot into the ground.
She then stood on the arm of the robot and used the maximum of her strength to rip the gun off the robot and tossed it aside. She grabbed the stun rod that was nearby and jammed it down onto the robot's face in an attempt to just impale it in the robot instead.
-
The stairway seemed to shake slightly as the explosives went off in the docking bay. 'That can't be good,' Raiven said, suddenly concerned for Firefly. He grabbed Zoe's hand. 'We best get moving, now.'
The robot didn't take the stun rod right in his innards too well... something inside sparked and spat out smoke. The voice began to lose its pitch, and the whole thing began to shudder.
'Emergency destruct sequence, activate.' The robot began to beep in short tones, which slowly became faster.
The door across the room burst open. 'Oh hell. Val, get out of the way!' Raiven ran into the room, reaching into his pocket. He tossed a small pipe-bomb shaped device, which rolled along the floor towards the robot.
An EMP grenade, which hopefully would shut down the robot completely before they were all vaporized.
-
Firefly actiavted her thrusters and took off away from the robot and landed next to Raiven before looking at him "So, I take it that you got your promotion? If so, then congratulations" she said shaking his hand "Would rather have seen that than seeing you be yelled at for killing who you were suppose to catch....I just had to do something" she told him as she turned back to the pipe bomb which had exploded.
Zoe looked at Firefly before giving her a hug "I'm just glad that you're safe is all"
Firefly hugged Zoe back and spoke again "So, what's your plan now? They'll be after me....what do you believe we should do?"
-
Raiven looked over to his ship upon the landing pad, and smiled. 'We might just be able to get away with this.'
He pointed over to his ship. 'Take her out of here, and we'll pursue. Don't worry, the ships prepped to go, if Iso has done his homework.
'Once we're far enough, we'll lose you... on purpose. After that, lay low for a while, then head for Maynard's place. All the details should be loaded in the ships database. We'll meet you there once we come back and sort things out here.'
Raiven's phone began to beep. Still no ID.
'Iso?'
'Yeah, ship's ready to go. Better hurry, they just picked up my signal, so I've gotta log out of the security database. It's all up to you guys now.'
'Good work, Iso. Meet me up at the docking bay.'
'Ugh... we're not going on some wacky chase, are we?'
'You read my mind, Iso.'
'Great...' Isodor said sarcastically, then hung up.
-
Firefly nodded back to Raiven and got into the ship, starting it up before taking off away from the docking bay.
Zoe watched as Firefly left as she looked to Raiven "Are you sure this is going to work? Because I just don't know, wouldn't the other cops around try and go after her as well?" she asked him as she held his hand again.
-
'Well, I certainly would expect them too. It is, after all, what police are supposed to do.'
He turned to the stairway, and he could hear several police approaching. A male entered first, and Raiven began to put his plan into action.
'She stole my ship!' Raiven yelled as more policemen entered. 'She bloody well took my ship!'
'How the hell did that happen? We had a lock on all ships to keep her from escaping.'
'Well, do you see her anywhere?' Raiven replied, gesturing all around him. 'Because I saw her fly off... in my ship.'
'Damnit,' the male said. 'Someone notify control that she's escaped on a ship.'
Raiven sighed. 'I might as well do it. It was my ship, after all.'
Another male passed him a communicator. 'Come in control, do you read me?'
'We read you, what's the situation?'
'She's escaped. We need the ships unlocked immediately.'
'Copy that. We are currently having trouble with the security system, however.'
Raiven pretended to sound shocked. 'Oh really? What do you mean?'
'It seems some commands have been altered without our knowledge.'
Raiven then pretended to sound stunned. 'You idiots. You've been hacked!'
'Pardon?'
He looked at the others. 'There's an inside man. No wonder she got out so easily. Oh bloody hell... I can't believe this. She had us all along.'
He put the communicator beside him. 'Great... okay. I need some of you lot to head out and try and find his guy.'
'But, how-'
He threw the communicator back at the male. 'Notify the sergeants. I'm going after MY arrest.'
The male nodded. 'You'll need back-up, though.'
'Of course I will, get to your ships.'
Raiven watched as they headed for their ships. Some had to go back through the stairs to the other docking bay, as that was where their ships were. The others prepared to head out and find the "insider".
They headed down the stairs, bypassing Isodor, who waved as they ran past him. 'What are they up to?'
'Something about an insider hacking through the security system.'
Isodor laughed. 'Good for them. So, are we going after her or what?'
'We sure are. What ship?'
Isodor pointed to his left. 'I unlocked pad two, sooooo... that one over there.'
They ran to the ship, and hopped right in. 'Buckle up, Zoe. We're going for a ride.'
Isodor started up the vessel, and they were soon off into the sunset.
Meanwhile, in pretty much all the other ships...
'Gah! Why won't it take off.'
'The lock is still engaged!'
'Raiven is already taking off... why can't we?'
'What the hell is going up in control?'
Meanwhile, in the control tower...
'Sir, the locks won't disengage.'
'What's going on?'
'Sir, I think the insider hacked our systems... and locked everything tight.'
The control sergeant just stood there, rubbing his chin. 'Bloody hell.' He then looked out the window, and saw Raivens ship taking off towards Firefly. 'Godspeed,' he muttered.
-
Zoe glanced out as she buckled up "Oh, I think I get it now, only this ship can go after her and not those ones" although, she had no idea how that was possible.
Firefly on the other hand, continued to fly onwards, glancing around at where she could hide. She glanced at the water and thought for a second before she grabbed her weapons and let go of the steering wheel and grabbed the directions "Sorry...." was all she had said to herself as she opened up the side of the ship and jumped out of the ship before activating her thrusters and flew down towards the small town.
She had basically let the ship go crashing down into the water bellow as she flew into a nearby barn to hide out for the time being. The ship crashed into the water and slowly started to sink down "Well....they said to hide....best I could come up with...." she muttered to herself as she remained quiet within the barn.
-
'Not for long,' Isodor said. 'I've broken he whole locking system so the ships are stuck on their platforms... but it won't take long for the situation to be fixed.'
'We haven't got long to find her, then. Let's just hope she-'
'Found her,' Isodor said, pointing at the monitor.
Raiven stared silently as he watched what remained of his ship sink under the water. 'Oh.'
'Should I tell command we lost her?'
'That... that was the plan.' Raiven looked rather pale in the face.
'What's wrong, Rai?'
Raiven face Isodor. 'All my stuff was in there...'
Isodor chuckled a little. 'Oh well. They'll fish it out, I'm sure,' Isodor said, patting Raiven on the back with his little purple hand. 'I hope she got all the data off the ship before she crashed it, though.'
'Well, let's head back and give em the bad news.' Isodor turned the ship around, and headed back to base. There was no way they could find Firefly now... well, that was what they claimed. It was up to Firefly now to find Maynard.
-
Firefly waited a few moments till she heard silence again and headed to the door of the barn, glancing back at the cow and shook her head as she walked out, looking at the date of where Maynard was before she activated her thrusters and took off in the direction of where Maynard would be.
"So um, how are we going to find Firefly now?" Zoe asked Raiven "Because, aren't we going to look for her after all of this?"
-
Raiven looked over to Zoe and grinned. 'We know exactly where she is going. Thing is, we still need to sort out the whole criminal issue back at the base. Once that's settled, we head out, and go see Maynard.'
The vessel approached the white beacon that was the police station.
Firefly found herself in a slum. The future certainly hadn't changed much in terms of the gap between the rich and the poor. The streets were covered in a light smog, thanks to the presence of several factories upon a nearby hill...
The sun was setting, and several lights along the walkways began to blink into life. Many buildings were of an old fashioned design, structural integrity taking a back seat to cost. The result was certainly something out a Noir movie, and it was a little bit difficult to consider a police officer would retire in a place like this.
Still, this is where Maynard was supposed to live, in one of the many old apartment buildings.
-
(OOC: Yay! Now get ready for something else to happen! Chaos! :lol:)
Firefly kept on searching around to find Mayard within the slums "Man, what a dump this place is...." she muttered to herself.
Meanwhile, above Earth in space, a rather lage spacecraft was approaching. The Space Force bought up the driver on a screen of theirs "Do you have a permit to land on Earth?" one alien asked the driver.
The driver of the space ship, was a strange, lizard like creature, but was rather well built as he looked to the alien council "I do not need a permit to land on such a worthless wasteland you call Earth"
And that's when the alarm was sounded, the council who were situated in a floating fortress was now being fired upon, however, the blasts was enough to knock it out of orbit and actually sent it crashing down towards Earth.
Back on Earth, Firefly looked up and saw what was happening, the Space Station was falling to which she watched on "That can not be good" she spoke as debrie was flying off the space station and falling down to Earth, most landing in various populated areas which caused chaos and panic.
The giant space station soon, crashed into Earth, right into New York City. Firefly looked over in the far distance. Smoke filled the air around as well, reaching as far as where both Firefly was, and where the police station was, where Raiven and the others were.
Firefly coughed as the dust got into her suit as she changed her scanning on her mask to detect any heat signatures, making it a bit easier to see through the thick dust.
-
Back at the police station things errupted into chaos. Not only was there the issue with the escaped criminal that was trying to be kept under wraps, but now there was word of a space station crashing into New York.
'Bloody hell if this isn't the worst day of my life,' Barbary said as he wiped off sweat upon his forehead. For a man who spent most of his time behind a desk, he certainly didn't look like he did.
'Well, perhaps if you had done as I had asked and given her back to me, we wouldn't have this whole problem, hm?' Raiven looked down at Barbary, shaking his head.
'That isn't the only issue. I just got word about a space station crashing right into the center of New York.'
Raiven was stunned. 'A space station?'
'A space station...'
'Well, it certainly ain't your day. I should be going, then.'
'Wait just a damn minute,' Barbary said loudly, his fist slamming on his desk, sending papers flying off the side. 'I need answers, damn it. What the hell happened with that bloody criminal?'
'We lost her, no thanks to you.'
'I beg your pardon?'
Raiven leaned in, resting his hands upon the desk. 'Look, Barbary. You screwed up big time. You wanted all the glory of capturing this alien for yourself, I've known ever since we took up this whole Kelthusa case. That desk is starting to get unconfortable, isn't it? You want a better position, and today was your chance... wasn't it?'
Barbary stood up, red faced. 'How dare you, Raiven! You have no authority to make accusations!'
'Gee, somebody's pretty jealous that I got the promotion, huh?'
Barbary's face grew darker, his fists clenching and sweat forming on his eyebrows.
'Well, guess what? You've officially taken this case as your own, so this mess is all your fault. I wonder what the higher ups are going to say about that, huh?'
Barbary stood silently, anger written all over his glowing face.
'Of course, we can keep things under wraps. I mean, just between you and me. The media is going to be asking questions, I recommend you stay tight lipped on who's responcible.'
'Are you... blackmailing me?'
'Well, not really. You hate me, Barbary... but I hate you more. But, fromone cop to another, I'd love to keep quiet on the matter... I'd hate to see you demoted to mopping floors.' Raiven gave a sinister smile.
Barbary sighed. 'What do you want?'
'I want full permission to pursue MY criminal, and only me. I'll hunt her down, and I'll bring her to justice. In exchange, you can deny any responcibility... and I won't say a word.'
Barbary was hesitant, but he gave in... sitting back down and relaxing in his chair. 'Fine... now get out of my office.'
'Thank you, sir.' Raiven turned, and made his way out of the room.
Isodor was waiting for him outside. 'So?'
'We're free to do as we wish.'
'What about Zoe?'
'They don't need to know. She comes with us, plain and simple.'
Isodor hopped out of the chair by a wall. 'Right, let's go find Maynard.'
Raiven nodded. 'Yes, but I think matters are taking an interesting turn.'
The small purple alien tilted his head. 'What do you mean, Rai?'
'There's been an incident in New York. I think it's going to be one of those days, Iso...'
-
(Yay! An alien invasion! :lol )
Above the Earth, slowly moving into sight was a rather large spacecraft. Firefly looked upwards at the spacecraft "No, it can't be" she said to herself, almost as if she knew whose spacecraft it was.
The spacecraft soon stopped as it hovered over Russia and fired multiple pods out of it, millions by the looks of it, landing in various parts of the world, some seemed to land where Firefly was.
Out of each pod appeared smaller, lizard-like aliens, all weilding various weaponary, from energy swords, to energy axes, to even different kinds of firearms.
Firefly seemed to sigh "No, not Earth....Earth wont be yours for the taking...." she pulled out her energy sword and took off towards the lizard creatures, starting slice them down straight away "Maynard's going to have to wait...." she muttered to herself as she fought off quite a few of them in the process.
Zoe, on the other hand, was walking with Iso and Raiven as she glanced outside, seeing the lizard like aliens herself "Um, Raiven, aliens.....they're attacking the people down there...." she noticed.
The alien race was known as the Kre'Iax. Their leader watched over from his spacecraft, just chuckling to himself before one screen he had open, had zoomed in on Firefly "Hmm, are the survivor I never got around to killing?" he asked himself as he turned and walked over to a teleportation pad, teleporting down to where Firefly had finished fighting off the Kre'Iax in the general area where she was.
Firefly looked over and seemed to glare at their leader "You, Zarcon....you've picked the wrong planet to destroy this time"
Zarcon let off a chuckle "And who here on this wasteland of a planet is going to stop me? You? The last suriving Xeroxian remaining alive?"
Firefly rushed forward to attack Zarcon, who in turn, pulled out his two energy swords and begun to block each and every single move of Firefly's "My, you are an average fighter, but you still are no match for someone as skilled as myself" he told her as he swung a sword and struck her right across the stomach, actually piercing her armour.
Firefly stumbled back slightly as she glanced at her armour before blocking an incoming attack from Zarcon, their swords were now locked in combat before pushing each other back.
-
Raiven, peered through the veiwing monitor. 'Well, that's something you don't see everyday.'
'What the hell are those things?' Isodor asked the others, pretty sure they had no idea either.
'The president is going to be so very pissed,' Raiven muttered.
'Uh, what should we do, Rai?'
'I think Maynard will have to wait for another day. Alien invasions aren't my juristinction, but if they think they can go and harm-'
'Holey moley! Missile lock!' Isodor cried out.
'This just keeps getting better and better.'
'Evasive maneuvers. Firing chaff. Hold on tight, guys.'
The ship dived as two missiles arrowed straight for them. Leaving behind a streak of black smoke, the two missiles carved an accurate path towards their victim.
'We need to land, and soon.'
Isodor faced Raiven. 'I have a better idea, get ready to jump.'
'Uh, what?'
'Grab a gel suit, and get ready to jump.'
Raiven didn't even bother to ask why. He just grabbed a suit and put it on over his new trench coat. He helped Zoe put hers on, and after that, grabbed a few guns from the storage container in the back. It wasn't as well loaded as the one in Raiven old ship, but a gun was still a gun. Raiven then put on his dark glasses and gave a nod, holding a long lasrifle in his arms. 'Ready to rock and roll,' he said, slapping a battery cell into his rifle.'
'Ship's on autopilot,' Isodor said as he put on his suit, which required a lot of tightening to fit him. He grabbed a pair of laspistols and placed them in holsters. 'Open the hatch, and jump. And uh... don't forget to pull your cord.'
The ship began to beep and cry. 'That's our queue. Let's do it.'
Raiven passed Zoe a lasrifle. 'Sorry about this, Isodor has the craziest ideas sometimes. I don't blame him though, this isn't our ship afterall.'
The side hatch blew open, and flew towards the ground. 'Weeeeeeee...' Isodor cried as he charged out the hatch and leapt into the air.
'What and idiot,' Raiven muttered. He grabbed Zoe's hand. 'Don't worry, I'll lead you through this. Just... don't let go.'
The ship was passing near where Firefly was. Right into the heart of things, so to speak.
-
Zoe gave a nod back back to Raiven and held onto Raiven's hand rather tightly, not wanting to let go at the moment.
Meanwhile, both Firefly and Zarcon were at a standstill as Zarcon spoke with a laugh "This pathetic waste of a planet will be destoyed, and you will perish along with it, I will make sure of that" he charged forward and swung his sword before he used his other hand to put his sword away to grab Firefly and trip her up, slamming her into the ground.
Firefly pulled out her gun and shot Zarcon, causing him to stumble backwards, as he grabbed his forehead. She charged forward and knocked him backwards some more.
Zarcon stood properly again and wipped his mouth of blood and glared to Firefly "I see that you're used to fighting unfairly.....good" he chuckled as he tossed his weapons aside.
Firefly tossed her gun and energy sword aside before she charged at him, the two were now exchanging blows. Zarcon was rather strong, stong enough to damage Firefly as he grabbed her mask and ripped it off her, tossing it aside with a grin upon his face.
Zarcon grabbed her arm next and pulled her inwards to knee her in the stomach before kicking her backwards, grinning still as he glanced up at the ship passing overhead "So, you have backup....interesting...."
-
Gel suits were a rather new way of aerial insertion. They fired off a rapidly expanding soft gel around the suit... turning the freefaller into a giant cushion. As soon as the gel hit the ground, it began to disolve and softer, allowing the person inside to exit with ease. It was typically a military device for special operatives, but the police force had started to make them standard as a way of inserting police quickly into any situation.
Zoe and Raiven landed together, the gel all around them. Raiven dragged Zoe free, and, still holding her hand, began to search for Isodor.. who had jumped earlier.
'Iso?' Raiven called out as Zoe and he walked through an abandoned alleyway.
'God damn son of a-' Isodor's voice came from inside a large garbage dump. His head popped out of the trash, and he simply glared at the other two.
'Nice drop,' Raiven said.
'Shut up.'
Not long after, the three of them raced towards one of the large ships that had landed. Little did they know that they were headed right for Firefly, and Zarcon.
-
Zarcon looked to behind Firefly and saw Raiven, Isodor and Zoe approaching. His eyes gazed upon Raiven "Well now, if it isn't the newest promoted police scum" he laughed.
Firefly looked over to Raiven and co only to get struck by Zarcon, right in the face before kicking her backwards.
Firefly was breathing a bit heavier than before as she wiped her mouth from the blood that was drawn from her lip.
Zoe gasped at what Zacon had done to Firefly "Leave her alone!" she called out and aimed, firing at Zarcon, yet, she missed him by an inch or so.
Zarcon didn't even flinch as the blast was fired in his direction, walking past Firefly and up to Zoe, grabbing the rifle by the barrel and pretty much pulled it away from Zoe, using what strength he had to bend the rifle in half, making it completely useless as he tossed it aside "Children shouldn't play with guns" he glanced over at Isodor with a smirk.
"Leave them alone, this is between you and me only" Firefly told Zarcon rather angrily.
"Your time will come Xeroxion scum" Zarcon snarled back at Firefly.
-
'You seem to love that word,' Raiven said. 'Scum, such a strong word. It's quite cliche, you know. All you snobby nosed aliens going around in your pretty ships, prancing about like you're somehow superior to the rest of us.'
He held his arms out. 'And here you now are, on the human home planet. I must tell you that you're not the first to invade... shame, isn't it?'
'We humans have a pretty strong spirit, you know. You can go about, fighting and trying to destroy us... but there's a reason why we're still here, after all these years.'
And then he raised his lasrifle. 'Want to try your luck against a human?'
Isodor nearly gasped. 'You're mad, Rai. You're gonna get yourself-'
'Don't even say it, Iso. This is between man and... this ugly assed thing.' He turned for a brief moment and winked at his companion. That was his signal to leave, now. He hesitated, but the little alien did as he was told, and backed off.
-
Zarcon gave off another laugh "And here you think you humans are special, invading is one thing, destroying this whole planet is another whole sentence entirely"
Zoe stepped back as well as she looked to Firefly who wasn't going to move at all.
Firefly seemed to be glaring at Raiven, to her, this was revenge, she wanted to stop him herself "No Raiven, this is my fight, not yours, this is revenge" she told him.
Zarcon just gave off a laugh again as he looked over to Firefly "But the question still remains.....can you actually kill me?"
Firefly was just glaring at him "I plan to...." she held out her hand and moved it in a 'come here' motion.
-
Raiven seemed to submit, lowering his weapon. If this was to be Firefly's fight, then he would not deny her that... but he was not a believer in revenge. It was bittersweet, and as a cop, he had been taught to never give into such a silly thing.
If it came to such, he would happily put his gun to the head of this lizard, and pull the trigger with no remorse... whether Firefly wanted him to or not. This was his planet, and he wasn't going to let some stupid ugly creature destroy it without a fight.
Meanwhile, Isodor made his way towards the aliens ship. He kept a very low profile... as low as a three foot tall purple alien could, anyway. If he wasn't to fight, then he might as well do what he was best at doing... sabotage.
-
Zarcon only let off a grin as from above, back in his spacecraft, the teleporter was getting ready to bring him back on board "As much as I would love to continue this pointless fight, I have a date with the President of your planet" he chuckled and was beamed upon his ship.
Firefly attempted to grab him, but was a split second too late. She turned to Raiven "We need to go after him.....right now" she more or less ordered him. She was indeed rather pissed off at the moment "But if you dont want to, fine, but I am....this is payback"
Firefly then turned and begun to walk in the direction where Raiven's ship had flown off towards, picking her weapons up in the process as well.
-
Raiven was quick to act. 'Well, considering this is my home planet, I have no choice but to defend her. But, by god, the president is gonna be so pissed. Hey, wait up!'
They made their way back to Raivens ship, careful not to get the attention of any of those aliens... jsut in case there was any more around. 'Iso?' Raiven called out when they got close to the vessel.
'Shh, be quiet. They're all over the place, you know. And they're not to happy with my sabotaging one of their ships.' The little purple aliens head popped out of a trashcan, the lid falling to the side. 'Is it safe to come out?'
'Yes, now hurry up. We have business to settle.'
'It wouldn't happen to involve saving the president, would it?'
Raiven shrugged his shoulders. 'Perhaps. Not exactly what I had in mind for today, but neither was an invasion.'
-
Firefly looked at Raiven once they all got onto the ship, including Zoe.
"If you must know on why I am so pissed off with Zarcon, it's rather simple, he destroyed my home planet, wiped out my entire race, I am the last survivor of Xerox 5, a Xeroxion" Firefly explained to the three of them.
"That's terrible" Zoe told Firefly back as she at least hugged her lightly.
Firefly hugged Zoe back "Thanks, but this planet, Earth, it is the only home I have left now, and I don't want to see Zarcon do to Earth what he did to Xerox 5"
-
'I... I see,' was all that Raiven could say upon hearing Firefly's words. He couldn't relate, considering his home planet was still intact, and humanity had stretched so far as to be virtually immortal as a race.
What he could relate to, however, was the fact that Earth was his home. He had grown up here, and though he had seen both good and bad on this fair planet, he would swear never to see the day when it fell to something from beyond.
'I won't have it,' Isodor suddenly said. 'This isn't my home, but damn it if I don't love this place for all its flaws and such. Let's find this Zarcon, and kick his ugly ass back to where it came from.'
'I have a better idea,' Raiven said. 'Let's put a shot straight through his head, and be done with him. Invasion is one thing...' he faced Firefly, '... but genocide, that is beyond despicable.'
The ship flew on as the sun set, casting the last light over the cloudless horizon.
-
Firefly nodded back "But on one condition.....I'm the one that gets to kill him...." she told Raiven and Zoe.
The ship flew underneath the giant war ship. To the ship, they were more like a speck than anything else, and that wasn't even their biggest war ship either, to the Kre'Iax, it was considered a small one.
"If he's after the President, then we have to go to Washington D.C, gain access to the White House' Firefly then spoke up "If he hasn't arrived there, then we can at least warn the President that he's in mortal danger...."
-
'This could be interesting,' Raiven replied, turning to Firefly. 'Ever since the last invasion, they've been upgrading the White House's security and defense. With the amount of structural changes and bunkers they've built on that thing, it could survive a fusion bomb.'
'John Adams would be rolling in his grave. Actually, I reckon he is.'
Raiven nodded. 'I'm certain they've built a massive force field around the whole thing as well. I don't think Zarcon would be able to teleport right into the office itself. Still, we'll find out when we get there.'
-
Firefly pointed up at Zarcon's war ship "We need to get onto that somehow, if he knows any better, he wont be after the President just yet, especially if the White House is almost impenetrable, he's not dumb, he is rather smart" she looked to Isodor "Get me close enough, I'll find a way onto it at the very least"
"No, you'll....he'll....kill you...." Zoe spoke up to Firefly.
"Yeah, I know, he might succeed, or he might fail....who knows....." replied Firefly.
Zoe just shook her "No! Don't do it, I don't want you to die" she told her rather sadly.
-
Isodor seemed to be hesitant, but he gave a nod to Firefly. 'If you wish, I can get you close enough to fly the rest of the way. I can skim past the turrets, since I did... a little work on their ship. However, once we get close, it's up to you. You'll have to find your own way in, and handle yourself.'
'Frankly,' Raiven began, 'I think it's a stupid idea. I saw what that Zarcon could do, and yet you really think you can take him on alone?' He looked over to Zoe, and read her face. It reminded him of someone he knew, that very same face.
His daughter. The way Zoe seemed to regard Firefly reminded him of his relationship of his daughter, Whisper... and the sudden realization hit him like a brick to the head.
'Oh crap!' Raiven suddenly cried out.
'What is it, Rai?' Isodor said.
'Whisper! She could be in danger!'
'Oh right, your daughter. Nice timing, Rai.' Isodor glanced over to the others. 'And this is why I don't have kids.'
Raiven paced about the ship worriedly. 'How could I forget?! I have to go find her. She could be in danger if she's still at my house.'
Isodor turned to face him, all of them... in fact. 'Okay, here's what we'll do. Firefly, if you wish... I'll fly you to that ship above us. Rai, I can take you to your home, but we'll have to be quick if we want to reach the White House before those bastards do.'
He then looked at Zoe. 'I... have no idea what you intend to do.'
-
Firefly nodded to Isodor as she got out of the top hatch, glancing up at the giant war ship before taking off for it once she was closer to it, doing it all without a word.
Zoe wasn't sure what she was actually going to do when Raiven had asked her "I don't know, I want to go and help Firefly.....but I don't know what I can do to help out or anything like that" she thought for a second before she spoke again "I think I'll go with you fo now"
Firefly flew to where the pods had been launched from earlier on and flew in that way, well, that was after blowing the hatch off its hinges using some more of her own bombs.
Once inside, she glanced around at her surroundings. She was in a rather huge room with pods everywhere, still ready to be launched when need be.
-
Isodor gave off an annoyed groan. 'Yeah, that would be right. They've got the whole ship shielded from communication. Unless you want to sit around while I try and break past it, Firefly's on her own now.'
raiven looked over to Zoe, and sighed just a little. 'If you want to be of some help, you can join us at the White House. I won't deny you your rights as a free citizen,' he said with emphasis on "free". 'I do not wish to put you in danger, but if you truly wish to help Firefly, then I advise you stay with my daughter, rather than get yourself involved.'
'hang on a second, partner,' Isodor said. 'What if Whisper wants to come with us?'
'I won't let her, plain and simple.'
Isodor turned back to the monitor, and laughed to himself. 'Yeah, good luck convincing her of that.'
The ship made its way to Raivens house, not too far off from where they were heading... and as such, a short diversion on their current path.
-
Zoe seemed to go quiet at first before she spoke again "Yeah, I'll stay and protect Whisper for you" she told Raiven.
Firefly started to slowly make her way through the giant war ship, having a glance around as well. It was rather big to navigate and was easy to get lost upon it as well.
She silently killed whatever Kre'Iax were around as to not raise an alarm at the moment. She was to find the reactor room first as she had a bomb in her suit that she would use to destroy it, hopefully to cause some damage to it as well.
Meanwhile, Zarcon had the President of the United States of America on a screen "Well now, if it isn't the President of this wasteland....how goes all?"
"You are in direct violation of many laws, your little sweet talk wont work, the army will mak quick work of your war ship" the President told Zarcon back rather angrily.
"Your army? Ah yes, the infamous Earth army that others fear, oh so much" Zarcon replied with a chuckle "Too bad I'm not one to fear their insignifigent weaponary, so to make this short, surrender the White House over to me, or face dire consequences"
"The White House? We will not surrender to the likes of you" the President then told Zarcon before someone spoke to him as the President gave a nod back and spoke to Zarcon once more "We will fight you off with whatever it is we have" and with that, he hung up on the alien warlord.
-
The police vessel landed on top of the front lawn of the house, crushing a garden gnome... and ruining a flowerbed.
Raiven hopped out of a hatch and made his way up the stairs of the front porch. He was then hit in the face by the front door as it swung open.
'Dad?' Spoke a girl from just inside.
'Ow, I think you just broke my nose.'
'Kids...' Isodor said from inside the ship, adding a little chuckle.
Whisper wrapped her arms around her father. She was wearing a camo green shirt and pair of pants. She had long, light brown hair and dark eyes. Interestingly, he face was somewhat marred by streaks of black oil and grease... and not to mention her clothes were dirtied and torn in some places.
'I heard the news as I was working on my car,' she said to explain. I was going to call you, but the phone lines are absolutely clogged... but I knew you'd come for me, dad.'
She then looked up at him, tilting her head. 'So, what are you doing?'
'Top secret business, Whisp, I'm afraid. I want you to stay here with a friend of mine. You can look after each other, I'm certain you'll be safe as long-'
'To hell with that,' she said. She ran back into the house, leaving Raiven to stand there in silence.
A short while later he was back on the ship. Isodor turned around to witness Whisper coming aboard, as well. Isodor just laughed... 'Not very good at stopping her, are we Rai?'
'Oh be quiet,' Raiven said, going to sulk over in the corner.
Whisper carried a very big gun. It looked like a lasrifle, but with a long cord running into a backpack which seemed to be some sort of battery. It was a hellgun, a significantly more powerful version of a lasrifle... and it belonged to Whisper.
She was twenty two years old... and was a private in the army.
'Private Whisper reporting for duty, and ready to kick some ass,' she said.
'Like father like daughter,' Isodor said with a sigh.
-
(Oh noes! Not the gnome! He was my friend! :lol:)
Zoe looked over to Whisper "Um hi, I'm Zoe" she told her "I'm a friend of Raiven's and Isoder....and Firefly as well" she added on as she just sat there.
Although, she looked over to Raiven as well "Um, by the way, does the President know we're coming?" she asked him.
Meanwhile, Firefly continued to navigate the ship still, she was still after the reactor at the moment. And that's when she saw it, it was huge and pulsing with energy, rather massive actually, and it was only one out of ten of them in the same room "Hmm, this is going to be much more difficult than what I had first anticipated.....I just hope my bomb will be enough to take out all ten" she said as she bought it out.
The bomb was packed with C4 explosives, then again, she did get it from the Black Market as she got an idea and took out her only energy cell and stuck it onto the bomb before arming it, pushing her mask up in the process.
Her suit may be offline now, but she knew that her energy cell had quite a bit of power in it, it was like a mini-nuke itself. The bomb was set, half an hour was all it had before it would be set off....she had to hurry now.
-
Raiven faced Zoe, and chuckled. 'Probably not, but chances are good he has a lot of other things on his mind at the moment.' Then, he looked over to Whisper. 'Could you stop waving that damn thing about?'
Whisper lowered her hellgun. 'Sorry, dad, I'm just a little excited.'
'You're not coming in with us, you realise?'
'Says who?'
'Says your father, that's who.'
'Nice one, Rai,' Isodor said sarcastically.
Raiven faced Isodor briefly with a frown. 'I mean it, just because you're in the army doesn't make you a part of this.'
'I'm old enough to look after myself, dad.'
'But are you old enough to face the reality of war?'
She looked up to him silently.
'This isn't a wargame, Whisp. We're about to face a real threat, we could be seriously hurt... or killed!'
Whisper sat down in one of the seats, and muttered something under her breath.
'What was that?' Raiven asked.
'So i have to sit in this ship, and wait while my father risks his life, huh?'
'I don't want you to get hurt, or killed, Whisp.'
'You mean like mother?'
Silence filled the ship, except for the hum of the engine and the whirl of the wind under the wings. Raiven pursed his lips, and looked about the ship at the others.
'I'm not a little kid anymore, dad. It's about time you realised that.'
Raiven let out a sigh. 'Fine, fine. You can come with us.'
Isodor chuckled. 'You're too easy, Rai.'
Whisper just smiled. 'Thanks dad, I won't let you down.' She hoisted her gun across her shoulder.
The White House was not far away, spotlights hung in the distance over a cloud of smoke.
-
"Sir, they're here" one of the President's bodyguards told him.
The President gave a nod back "Thank you, bring them in here once the ship has landed"
"Right away sir" replied the bodyguard as he walked out of the room to the landing pad as someone else waved lights at them in order to show that they were actually allowed to land there.
Back upon the war ship however, Firefly continued to rush through it, killing every Kre'Iax she could come across before she had finally made it to the war ship's bridge "Zarcon!" she called out.
Zarcon only gave off a chuckle upon hearing Firefly's voice "My, took your time to find me didn't you?" he asked as he continued to watch the computer screens.
"It's over Zarcon, a dead end, you're not going to be able to get to the President, you've lost" Firefly told Zarcon as she approached him.
Zarcon just continued to chuckle some more "Oh no my Xeroxion, I haven't lost just yet, the White House will be taken down"
"Tough talk for someone who retreated from our previous fight" Firefly spoke back rather angrily.
Zarcon smirked back at Firefly as he finally turned to face her "Oh no, I would've gladly continued our little fight of ours, but sadly, I had a schedule to keep to"
Firefly just glared to him as Zarcon started to step forward towards her before walking around her, more or less just circling her "But now, I take it you wish to attempt to kill me once again? Very well then, but I can assure you, I wont be dying" and without any warning, her turned and slammed the palm of his hand into Firefly's stomach before charging at her, grabbing her and slamming her right into a wall.
Zarcon wasn't even going to let up either as he grabbed Firefly by the neck, lifting her over himself and into the ground before grabbing her by the feet and lifting her off the ground and slammed her back into the wall "So come on Xeroxion, fight me!" he seemed to order to Firefly as he stepped backwards.
Firefly got up and wipped her mouth from the blood that was drawn already. He was strong, it seemed like he was holding back when he was down on Earth facing her last time as she just looked at him.
"Or what's the matter? Am I actually too good for you? Can't you beat me?" he seemed to laugh as he cricked his knuckles with a grin upon his face.
Firefly swung and was now exchanging moves with Zarcon, he was blocking her moves whilst she in turn, was blocking his moves, both in unarmed combat as well, Zarcon being well aware that his war ship had a bomb planted on it "Oh, and I should mention too, this will be finished before those 30 minutes are up, I wont be here when this ship blows, I shall assure you of that"
Firefly was taken by suprise that Zarcon knew that she had set up the bomb on board the ship before shaking her head as she continued to try and attack Zarcon still.
-
'They... they were expecting us?' Raiven asked to no-one in particular.
'Hey, it certainly made things easier for me,' Isodor said as he hopped out the side hatch, reaching out with a hand to help Whisper out... who was, in turn, holding Zoe's hand.
'Right this way,' the bodyguard said as soon as they were out. He gestured down towards the White House itself, a few yards from the land pad.
'What, not even a hello? How do you do?' Raiven seemed only mildly annoyed by his punctuality, but followed anyway.
'Wow, I'm pretty excited. I've never had the chance to meet the president before,' Whisper said with the excitement in her voice not hard to notice. She ran ahead of the other, looking quite confident for a young lady.
'That girl... sometimes,' Raiven said to Isodot, shaking his head slightly.
'Lighten up, Rai. We're meeting with the president, not fighting a war.'
Raiven merely sighed. Not right now, he thought.
-
Zoe looked around "Wow, I've never seen the White House before, well, not up close like this, nor have I even met the President before"
Once the group were shown to the President, he spoke directly to the lot of them, especially Raiven "I've heard a great deal about you, you're the one that had managed to capture that slaver....Firefly wasn't it?" he asked his bodyguard who in turn nodded back "Which is why I was hoping that I would be able to speak to you personally about this war that's going on"
Zoe was just standing there, she wanted to say something to the President, but only silence came from her, she was just too frightened to say something, in case it was out of line for the President.
Meanwhile, back upon the war ship, Firefly was getting beaten by Zarcon, whom was kicking her backwards "Is this all you actually have to offer me? I must say, I am rather dissapointed"
Firefly was breathing rather heavily at that point, now on her hands and knees, she didn't expect Zarcon to be this good as she spat out some more blood onto the ground before looking up at the alien warlord, not sure on what to actually do now as Zarcon.
Zarcon slammed a foot down onto her, holding it on her head as he chuckled to her as well "You honestly believed that you could actualy defeat me? You should've given up when you had the chance.....however, regardless of that, you still would've died, one way or another....."
-
'As much as I know about what's going on, that is,' Raiven replied honestly. He himself was in the dark about the matter, except with the matter revolving around Firefly and Zarcon. Still, he was talking to the president of the United States.
'I'll answer any questions you wish to ask me, sir,' Raiven said. 'In private or otherwise, as you so desire.'
Isodor rolled his eyes, 'you get all the fun.'
Whisper's attention had been fixed by the long line of paintings and photos along the office wall. All of the presidents from the first to the current. It made for quite the sight to witness how far humanity had come in some aspects.
-
Zoe continued to look at the President befoe looking to Raiven again.
"Do you have any idea on who this alien is by any chance? He refuses to give any names, all we know is that he is of Kre'Iax race" the President told Raiven mainly.
Back upon the ship, the time nearing the bomb's explosion wasn't too far away, only a couple of minutes remaining as Firefly was beaten around still before she was left alone, Zarcon just standing over her with a grin upon his face "Such a shame really...." he spoke as he looked to his claws "I've given you so much time, and you haven't been able to best me....and they say you were the best of your kind"
Firefly only glared at Zarcon as she attempted to get up, only to be kicked back down by Zarcon again.
The bomb was only minutes from exploding as Zarcon turned "I would love to stay and chat some more, but I have a date with destiny" he spoke to her as he contacted another one of his ships.
"We're not done here..." Firefly spoke, breathing rather heavily as she stood up once more, well, before falling down to her knees again.
Zarcon just chuckled back as he seemed to vanish off the ship. He had been beamed upon one of his other war ships floating around in space.
Firefly just clutched her fists, as Zarcon had escaped once more. She stood up once more....she had to get off the ship now, there wasn't much time left, limping off to find the escape pods available.
-
Indeed, Raiven knew the aliens name. Firefly had told him, though in the eyes of the president, she was no doubt a fugitive... as she was with the police, having escaped a police headquarters and all that. 'Zarcon, his name is Zarcon. He seemed to regard us in a very punitive manner, and... at least from what I gathered from his demeanor... was intent on nothing more than our complete and utter destruction.'
There was a chuckle from behind them. 'Heh, wouldn't be the first to try,' Whisper said from the back of the room, still working her way through the line of presidents across the office. 'Hey, this one is black, that's pretty cool.'
Raiven ignored her, still focused on the important man before him. 'There is someone who could help us further on the matter,' Raiven continued. He looked about the room, at the others, but also the bodyguards. 'I would like to speak to you in private, if it were possible, as the matters are somewhat, private... but she could help us.' He was referring to Firefly, and what she might know about the enemy humanity faced. He needed to sort out this issue with her being a criminal... and he just so happened to be face to face with the man who could fix that.
-
The President looked at Raiven for a long hard second before he looked to his bodyguards and nodded to them.
His bodyguards proceeded in getting everyone else out of the room, leaving only Raiven and the President there "Now, what do you wish to speak to me about?" he asked him at that point.
Zoe however, decided to walk back outside again to have another look at the giant warship that was floating above Russia still, giving off a sigh.
-
'It's about this criminal I hunted down,' Raiven began, glancing about the now empty room before fixing his eyes on the president. 'Her name is V... Firefly. She is not truly a criminal, but a bounty hunter caught in a bit of a mix up...'
Raiven proceeded to explain, as best he could, the whole situation at the police station, and how it had devolved into a chase just before the invasion.
'I don't know why she did it, perhaps out of some sort of sympathy... but all I know is now she is a fugitive. However, she knows things about these aliens, and has had things done to her by them. If there is anyone on this planet who could help us at this present time, it would be her.'
'So all that I ask is for her to be pardoned, so we can bring her in under peaceful intent.'
-
The President listened in on what Raiven had to tell him before he leaned back in his chair "Well, if she is able to help out with this alien invasion we have going on, then yes, I will allow her a pardon, because quite frankly, we can use all the help we can get" he told Raiven, understanding the situation Firefly was in as well.
He then thought for a second "I do have a request for you as well, I have three robots that could prove to be rather useful, and if you are going after this alien menace, then I would like you to take them along with you as well, Alpha, Delta and Omega" the President added on, calling fourth the three robots.
Zoe continued to look at the ship still, glancing over at Whisper as well "Do you think she'll be alright up there?" she asked her, not really knowing that Whisper wouldn't have a clue on what she was talking about either.
-
From far away, in three silos, the robots Alpha, Delta, and Omega prepared to launch. These were androids created to serve the greater good of the universe. Made by a group of scientists and engineers known as the Ecclesia, they were to be the first of a long series of Guardian-Series androids. Alas, the funding was cut, and these three prototypes were all that was developed.
All three of them had superhuman strength, the ability to fly, exterior white-colored armor made out of composite materials with depleted uranium shielding underneath the outer shell, a jetpack with wings to enable flight, and the ability to project lasers from turrets in the hands. Each robot had its own "personality", yet no true emotions. Each robot did have its own outlook on life, or whatever existence an android leads. Shaped like a human wearing a suit of armor, standing 2.3 meters tall, and outfitted with sensors all over its body, the Guardians were more than slightly intimating.
Alpha had red markings on his white armor, Delta had blue markings, Omega had green markings. Each robot communicated with the other by means of tachyon transmission, a new and powerful way of sending information quickly. They rarely used speech, preferring to communicate by means of numbers and images, when necessary. When speech was needed, they would use speakers located in their helms. Each of them had a large black visor on its head. This was unnecessary, in the strictest sense, but giving the Guardians a discernible head was useful when convincing the general public of their mission; a headless or totally faceless creation would be disconcerting to many.
"Alpha Guardian, online"
"Delta Guardian, online"
"Omega Guardian, online"
The three androids took off from their opened silos, and using their jetbacks and retractable wings, were soon flying off in the direction of the president.
-
Whisper did indeed have little idea of what Zoe was talking about in regards to Firefly. However, she merely nodded along. Considering how this day was going so far, there was obviously someone important aboard that ship... at least, that is what she gathered.
'Yes, I do believe she will be,' Whisper replied, though she had no idea. If there was someone aboard that ship, Whisper would have to meet her... she must be a real badass to be running around one of those things.
Inside the White House, Raiven awaited the arrival of these "robots" with some enthusiasm. His general oppinion of machines was rather poor, but that mostly had to do with the fact that in his workline, all of his comrades were living, breathing beings. The idea of a ghost in a shell made him shiver somewhat. Of course, they did need all the help they could get, so he would put aside any prejudices... at least until he has actually met these machines.
Isodor, meanwhile, had fallen asleep on the couch just outside of the office door. he mumbled something about dinosaurs, which echoed in the empty hallway, and turned in his sleep.
-
On the war ship, Firefly had made her way back to the escape pods, only to have the bomb explode, completely obliterating the nuclear reactors in a chain reaction.
Firefly just shook her head "No, not now" she didn't have enough time by the sounds of it to get off the ship, yet, she continued to make her way to where she had blown an entrance to the war ship earlier on.
Once on the edge, she put her mask back on and glanced down, just shaking her head "This is not going to end well....." she muttered to herself as the explosion moved throughout the ship and blew her off the ship, causing her to fall down to Earth. And since she had taken out her energy cell to help with the explosion, she could not fly and was falling down to Earth.
Meanwhile, Zoe was watching on when she saw the giant war ship explode, giving off a gasp "No! Firefly!" was all she called out, a tear rolling down her sheek as she believed that Firefly was still on board the ship.
She sat down onto the ground and more or less now, just buried her head into her knees, feeling rather upset at the moment.
The President gave a nod to Raiven "They shall be here momentarily" he told Raiven.
-
Whisper felt odd, not truly reacting to Zoe as she fell to the ground in tears. She didn't know this "Firefly" person. Still, she decided the best thing was to comfort her.
She placed and arm around Zoe, gently as not to startle her. Whisper hardly knew Zoe either, and what she must have gone through... let alone why she reacted to the ship exploding in such a manner. 'Hey, hey, don't cry,' she said. 'Now, how do you even know she was caught in the explosion, hm? You know, she could have easily escaped, since... I'm guessing... she's a bit of a badass. Am I right?'
Whisper thought a little of how she reacted when her mother died. She was very young when it had happened, so her reaction was justified. It was more confusion than tears, a young childs assumption that their parents can't just... disappear. In a way, she could relate... just enough to feel saddened.
-
Zoe looked at Whisper and nodded lightly "Yeah, she was...she was the one who saved me....from remaining a slave" she sniffled some more "She's like....a sister to me...."
That was how Zoe saw Firefly, like a big sister, one who would look out for her hadn't thought of the part that Firefly could've escaped from the ship, as she was only thinking of the negative half of it. She just continued to look at Whisper still, giving her a little smile too.
-
'Heh, sometimes I wish I had a sister,' Whisper said with a chuckle. 'I could only imagine how different things would be for me if I had someone to relate to, big or little. Being an only child sucks, I can tell you that.'
It sucked even more when your father spent all his time at work, but that was the way things had to be when you were trying to make a future for your only child.
Still, Whisper wrapped her arms around Zoe. 'If there's one thing I know about family, it's that they don't leave you behind. Firefly will be back, trust me.'
Inside, Isodor muttered something about cows and catapults in his sleep, confusing a security guard as he walked by.
-
"Really?" Zoe asked looking to Whisper before rubbing her eyes, giving her a smile and decided to then, just give her a hug anyway "Yeah, I guess you are right"
One bodyguard entered the President's office to speak with the President, whispering something into his ear. The President looked to Raiven "It seems as though that warship that belongs to that Zarcon alien has just been destroyed, and I understand that you're friend was on there as well, one of my bodyguards here overheard your frind Zoe, crying about Firefly"
He paused for a second "However, there have been reports coming in from Russia that they have seen something falling out of the ship, what looks like a metal man of some sort....would that be the Firefly girl you're talking about by any chance?"
Meanwhile, Firefly just continued to fall still, having no control over where she was going, nor how fast she was going for that matter. However, she was falling towards the ocean....and that's when she hit it, rather hard as well, which in turn, seemed to knock her out cold, or even kill her, however, whether or not she had survived the impact was unknown as she just floated in the water now, floating down to the liquid abyss bellow.
-
The Guardian robots arrived on time, exactly as scheduled, down to the second. Alpha, Delta and Omega initiated standard protocol, communicating in standard English. Addressing the president first before turning to the others nearby, Alpha took the lead, as it had been programmed to do. Speaking in the default, robotic voice, it sounded like the artificial being that "he" was .
"How are you, Mr. President? We received word that our services are needed. A high-priority call such as that one is never ignored. You have but to direct us to where we ought to go and who we are tasked to help, and we will obey."
That was a bit formal, even when talking to the president. Spoken words were not the Guardian's first language. The crudeness of making sounds with one's mouth was not something either Alpha, Delta, or Omega liked to do, in as far as they could prefer anything at all.
Delta and Omega were, for their part, totally silent for the moment. Delta had a higher speaking voice than Alpha, and Omega had an even higher one than that. Even so, all three of them were set to speak in a flat, monotone voice by default.
-
Raiven was up and into action immediently. 'Reports? From who? That's gotta be her,' he said breathlessly. 'They need to dispatch someone, anyone! If she's been knocked out, or hurt...'
He slammed a fist on the desk, not truly out of anger... more out of fear. He kinda owed Firefly for what she did for him... and he certainly couldn't repay his debt if she was dead.
Of course, that was shortly before the Guardian robots had arrived. Now Raiven was faced with three... white humanoids. The way they spoke uneased him a little, and he calmed down a little. At least now, it would seem they had a solution to this problem.
Isodor rubbed his eyes, awoken by the sudden shouting from within the round office. 'Oh bloody hell, if Raiven's yelling at the president...' He looked up at a clock on the far wall, eyes squinted. They quickly widened when he realised he'd been asleep for quite a while. 'Damn it, not again.'
-
The President looked over to the three robots "Raiven, may I introduce you to Alpha, Delta and Omega" he told him remaining rather calm before looking back to the robots again "You three will be helping Raiven out here" he told them.
Meanwhile, the bodyguard that had told the President about Firefly, decided to tell Zoe about it as well, at least to try and cheer her up.
Zoe sniffled some more "You mean, she's still alive?" she asked the bodyguard who nodded back. She looked to Whisper, seeming to be happy once again at the news she was told.
However, back in the ocean, Firefly had not moved for a while, that is, until she flinched and soon enough moved as she soon swum to the surface, taking her mask off to breathe more properly "I'm still....alive?" she asked herself, not even believing it herself, looking over to the beach in the distance only to shake her head, glancing up at the warship that was pretty much now obliterated and what was left of it, was falling down to Earth.
She begun to swim towards the beach, still, in her mind, not even believing that she was still alive, it was more like a miracle to her as she soon walked out of the water to catch her breath before wipping some blood from her face before she started to limp off, still feeling rather sore from her fight with Zarcon.
Back at the White House, a bodyguard got a call "Really? Very well then, send a helicopter over to go and pick her up then, I'll inform the President" he spoke on his phone as he headed back into the President's office "Sorry to interupt sir" he begun before whispering something into the president's ear.
The President gave a nod back as the bodyguard again, left them alone to head towards the helipad.
-
Turning to Raiven, Alpha began to speak, adjusting his vocabulary ever so gradually to match the vernacular of his subjects.
"You must be Raiven. I was briefed on you on the way over here, but few details are available to me. I know of you from the government records I can access, but was not alerted to your plight. What exactly is it that you need? Who or what is causing the trouble?"
-
Raiven turned to Alpha. 'Well, apart from the Kre'Iax invasion... everythings pretty fine and dandy,' he began. 'But in all seriousness... the situation ain't good from what I've seen so far. These guys are being led by a fellow by the name of Zarcon. As far as I know, he's the leader... and possibly our best bet for stopping this whole thing. That's what Firefly set out to do, but... well, that apparently didn't go too well.'
Isodor made his way into the office as the president made his way out. 'What did I miss?' He asked, not really directed at anyone in particular.
'Not much,' Raiven replied, leaning on the desk... something he probably wouldn't have done if the president was still in the room. 'We've got robots to help us,' he continued, presenting the three Guardians that stood not far from him.
'Shiny,' Isodor replied, looking them over one by one. He nearly decided to poke one in curiosity, but thought better of it. 'Yes, very neat. Do they shoot stuff?'
'Better than I could, probably,' Raiven said with a sigh. 'Iso, do you ever get the feeling we may be a bit inferior to everything in this world?'
'No, not really,' Isodor replied. 'If you shoot something enough, it dies.'
'Not a good quote to stick by, to be honest,' Raiven said.
'Hey, it's true. We just need bigger guns.'
-
"Accessing file for Zarcon" Delta announced. "File found, 80% of known data is classified. Relevant details are as follows. Zarcon is a known war criminal, illicit leader of an army not authorized to exist. He is wanted in dozens of jurisdictions, often with a death warrant on his name. Highly armed and dangerous. Approach with cauti-"
"Knock it off, Delta. These are people, not robots." Omega had spoken directly for the first time, using actual words and sounds instead of the numbers the Guardians transmitted to each other. Since he had spoken it aloud, he had intended for his speech to be heard.
"I must apologize for my comrades, they don't spend much time speaking English, or any other language save for our own code."
"I'll you handle this, Omega." Alpha told his counterpart, also speaking aloud. These Guardians were quick to learn, and would adjust every strategy they had to the surrounding environment, even if that environment happened to range from everything including social interactions or an exploding star.
-
Soon enough, the helicopter arrived at the White House, the President deciding to go and meet with who had arrived in the helicopter.
He shook hands with her before taking her inside.
It was Firefly, she was now inside the White House, to which Zoe's eyes just widdened happily, tugging at Whisper's shoulder too "She's alive"
He showed her into his office to which he sat down at his desk again "It's good to see that you're still alive Firefly"
Firefly nodded back to the President "Thank you sir, I'm just lucky to be alive is all" she then looked over to Raiven and Isodor, giving them a little nod before looking back to the President "But there is a problem, Zarcon escaped, I couldn't stop him" she told him.
The President nodded back to Firefly and leaned back against his chair "Do you have any clue on where he could be?"
Firefly just shook her head "No, I'm unsure on that one myself" she replied back.
The President thought for a second before standing up "I believe I shall have to address the other world leaders on that matter" he nodded as he then left the room once more.
Firefly looked back to Raiven and Isodor, wipping some more blood from her mouth.
-
From what Delta had said, and what Firefly had been through, things certainly didn't seem to bode well for the lot of them.
Isodor leant over to his partner. 'We're so screwed, aren't we?' He asked out the side of his mouth. Raiven just gave him a forceful nudge, while smiling at Firefly.
'Well, at least you're safe and sound, Val,' Raiven said. 'I was beginning to wonder if you had gotten yourself into the deep end on all of this. Turns out I was partly right, but seeing you here is still a relief.'
He looked at the president, who gave him a small nod. 'You should be pleased to know that you've been pardoned of your actions back at the police base. The commisoners will have to sort out some stuff, and they'll probably a media frenzy over what happened... but that can't be helped.'
Whisper couldn't help but stare at the suit Firefly wore. 'Wow,' she said.
'Ah,' Raiven suddenly said, noticing his daughter. 'That's my daughter, Whisper... Don't ask how she managed to come along for the ride.'
'A pleasure,' Whisper said, sticking out a hand, though she wondered if that was the custom of this species.
-
Zoe had also followed Whisper to where Firefly was "You're...alive..." was all she had say to her.
Firefly just nodded back to Raiven what he had told her, shaking Whisper's hand in the process as well "I take it you like my suit?" she asked her before looking over to Zoe and smiling, motioning for her to come over.
Zoe walked over to Firefly and just gave her a hug, a few tears were rolling down her cheek as well "I just can't believe that you're still alive...." was all she said, sniffling a bit still.
Firefly just hugged Zoe back "Sorry for worrying you, I didn't mean to, but, it had to be done, you must understand"
-
'And how!' Whisper said excitedly. 'That ship went KABLOOOEEY!'
'And I missed it?' Isodor said, grumbling. 'Yeah, typical.'
'As immpressive as it was, it still hasn't dealt with the Zarcon issue,' Raiven said. He turned to Firefly. 'I'm assuming that if he's the figurehead of all this... then the most obvious solution would be to remove him from the picture. Cut the chains that bind the army together.'
'Yeah, but that is also the most difficult solution, so it would seem,' Isodor replied. 'Look what he did to poor Firefly, what does that bode for the rest of us?'
Raiven pondered the question for a while, pacing about the room as if he were the president himself. 'Perhaps some sort of unified strike? He might be able to handle one, but if we were to attack from all sides, bring all our strength to bear... well...'
He looked over to Firefly once more. If Zarcon could wipe out an entire race... then what chance did they have?
A fools hope... but it was good enough.
-
A Fighter flew over the white house. 'This is Vlazgriz 1 requesting permission to land,' the pilot said.
-
"We are aware of the threat Zarcon poses" Omega told everyone gathered around. "He is on the majority of most wanted lists in this region of space. His crimes are on a level rarely matched in the history of the universe. And I say that without hyperbole."
Alpha added to the conversation. "We guardians are programmed to uphold good and justice, at least, as far as those concepts are defined by out programming. Stopping Zarcon is a high priority."
"Very high!" Delta interjected. "We have been made aware of the situation when the data was transmitted to us en route to meet you all here."
So far, one thing was going well; the Guardian's speech was slowly becoming less formal, and more adapted for casual conversation with humans.
-
A bodyguard was standing outside "What business do you have at the White House? Is the President expecting you?"
And that's when he got a call. After a few seconds, he spoke back to the fighter jet "It appears you are expect, your clearance has been accepted"
Back inside, Firefly looked to Raiven and nodded to him "Yes, however..." she folded her arms and closed her eyes "Zarcon is still mine, I can not forgive him for what he had done...."
"No! You can't! He almost killed you once before! And he'll probabally kill you if you try and fight him again" Zoe told Firefly sounding rather upset still.
Firefly looked to Zoe "I know, but I have to do this, you just have to understand"
"No!" Zoe yelled back, as she just did not want Firefly fighting Zarcon again.
-
The fighter landed and a young pilot got out. He walked to where the door and walked in heading toward where the others were talking.
-
Within the Oval Office, where everyone else was gathered, the President's screen seemed to flicker at first before a face appeared on there.
It was Zarcon, he was attempting to contact the President, however, instead, he was now speaking with Raiven and the rest of the group.
He let off a chuckle "My, what do we have here" he glanced over at the group he had seen, mainly looking upon Firefly "Well now, it looks like you had survived the blast, you are proving to be rather annoying, as for the rest of you lot, you shall all be killed" his eyes were now upon Alpha, Delta and Omega and chuckled some more "Including your little tin cans right there"
Firefly was the one to speak up first to him "Give it up Zarcon, you're going to loose this battle"
"Oh no, this battle is far from being lost, not on my side anyway, this maybe a second home to you....but you're going to loose it as well....and you shall die, each and everyone of you lot" Zarcon spoke, especially to Firefly.
Firefly glared to him "No, we will fight you off, and I will get to you Zarcon, I will kill you"
"Then, I shall welcome you, I would love to see you attempt to kill me again....but no this, if you attempt it, you will die" Zarcon told her.
"If that's the case, then so be it...." Firefly spoke back.
Zoe looked to Zarcon, then to Firefly, then back to Zarcon once again "No! She's not going to fight you!"
Zarcon could only chuckle at Zoe's little bravery "If she wont fight, then she is just a coward, much like the rest of her pathetic Xeronion scum"
Firefly shot a rather serious glare at Zarcon, looking rather pissed off at him "No, I will fight you, and I will kill you"
-
Frank entered the room where Firefly and the others were. "So Zarcon I thought you were the one causing all this trouble looks like I was right,' frank said.
-
Zarcon glanced over at Frank who had entered, yet, before he speak, the screen flickered as the face changed to someone else.
Firefly's eyes widdened, as did Zoe's "I thought....he was just a myth...." was what Zoe had said.
It was Blackbeard, he had decided to address the group personally "You should feel honoured that you get to speak with someone of my stature"
"You....why.....how...." was all Firefly could say, not even believing she was talking to the pirate right now.
"You seem to be confused, good" Blackbeard begun as he glanced to the rest of the group, his eyes setting upon Alpha, Delta and Omega as he let off a laugh "So, you've finally decided to call upon those three....the alien invasion was a bit too much for you?"
He just chuckled some more as he glanced over to Raiven and Isodor next "Ah, the cop and his little lackey that are inline with Maynard.....how rather interesting indeed....and I take it that's your daughter too?" he asked as he also looked upon Whisper.
Blackbeard then looked upon Frank "Ah, the grandson of your famous Earth pilot, Frank Anderson....I must say, I am rather disapointed however.....I would've expected someone with more....talent" he chuckled.
Blackbeard just seemed to be mocking everyone in the room at the moment as Firefly started to speak, only for Blackbeard to interupt her to speak with her "Firefly....or what you are least commonly known as, Valria.....the last surviving Xeronion of Xerox 5....I have heard things about you....and I must say, like Frank over there, I am rather dissapointed from what i've heard, you can't even take down a simple alien warlord for revenge....."
Firefly glared at Blackbeard, not wanting to say anything at the moment, pretty much, not sure on what to say now.
-
"Well I'm full of suprises many of Zarcon pilots learned that the hard way,' frank said. "Blackbeard your also uglier than I expected,' frank said with a smile.
-
"Such confidence will be your downfall Frank....it also goes the same with the rest of your friends there" Blackbeard replied back.
-
"Ah but I assume you have seen records of my squadrons exploits,' frank said. "And you may have noted we have never been defeated by any foe we are the perfect fighter pilots,' frank said
-
"Ah yes, your records....I have seen them, but I am not impressed still" Blackbeard spoke with a grin upon his face "Besides, there is always a first time for everything"
"Look, Blackbeard, what is it that you want?" Firefly then decided to ask.
Blackbeard glanced over to Firefly "They say that the old Blackbeard from the 1700s was in it the money and all that sort of stuff, but I'm not like that....it just seems to be such a waste, why take something as simple as money when one can take something such as a human life? Something that is much ore valuable than material possesions"
-
"What do you mean,' frank asked.
-
'He means killing us, plain and simple,' Raiven said bluntly. He looked up at the screen, and the cold hearted machine that was on it. 'I find it hard to beleive a machine like yourself would find the lives of others such a valuable material. Only the most cold hearted people would ever consider life a mere material possession.'
Of course, Raiven had seen many of those kinds of people in his life as a cop... just never on the presidents viewscreen, looking down upon him. Usually it was Raiven doing that, bringing down the tough guys of the galaxy. However, this time it wasn't the case... and he felt nervous, though he did not show it on the outside. He kept his cool, his glasses hiding his eyes and his black trenchcoat covering most of his body.
'We... are... so... screwed,' Isodor muttered to Raiven. This certainly had been quite a day for the little purple alien... and it just kept getting better and better.
'Damn, he's ugly,' Whisper uttered out the side her mouth to Zoe. 'Who the hell is that thing?'
-
Blackbeard let off a chuckle "You aren't as dense as you appear to be Earth cop"
Firefly then spoke up "Be that as it may, we will hunt you down, and we will destroy you"
"Oh, I do welcome that...I welcome that with open arms" Blackbeard chuckled back.
"I don't know actually, but you're right, he is rather ugly....that....and well....he kinda looks scary too...." Zoe whispered back to Whisper.
-
'I'll say...' Whisper replied with a small nod. 'You know, he kind of reminds me of a pirate, one of those ones from the... uh... well, that time when they had those boats with sails on them and stuff.'
Isodor shook his head as he listened to her from across the room. 'People really need to get their history straight.'
Raiven was still focussed on the screen. 'So, I suppose our mutual lizard friend is just a lackey of yours? I suppose he's just here to make life that little bit easier for you, whatever it is you plan to do with us, hm?'
-
Blackbeard just grinned back at Raiven "A lackey? No, more like....a partner, as you humans would say"
Zoe just gulped "Well, yeah, but still, if he was from back then....then....isn't he an immortal or something like that?" she asked Whisper, not actually knowing that Blackbeard was a cyborg.
Blackbeard looked over to Zoe and Whisper as well, grinning towards them, his eyes flashing red for a moment before they returned to normal.
Zoe gave off a light, quick scream as, without thinking, she grabbed onto Whisper's hand, just to at least, grab something, holding it rather tightly too.
-
'Yep, that's a cyborg, alright,' Whisper said rather bluntly. She noticed that Zoe had grabbed onto her hand, rather tightly... it didn't bother her, however.
'A partner, you say?' Raiven asked. 'So, you both have something to gain benefit from out of all this? I must wonder though, is our destruction truly your goal, it seems a little difficult, considering that humanity is spread far and wide across the galaxy... and not just Earth.'
Of course, Earth was birthplace of human kind. It was also true that Earth was the nerve center of many of our opperations. But it was the fact it was our home that meant something to all people, no matter where they lived.
-
"We will not permit an innocent to come to harm" Alpha suddenly spoke, addressing the crowd, but looking at Blackbeard. Something in his voice set Alpha off, as if he Everyone else was quite surprised. The Guardian robots had been silent for a long while, standing there like statues.
"We have been programmed to hunt down the guilty and either neutralize them or see that they are prosecuted in a manner according to law." Delta added, suddenly moving again. Were these things programmed to move only when they had to?
"I have recorded events here as they have transpired." Omega told the other guardians using a private channel of communications that no one save the other two could "hear" it, even if it was just a series of numbers used to convey an event. "If we need to present evidence before a court, I would suggest that you two do the same." The Alpha and Delta agreed.
-
"Indeed, it is true that you humans have moved away from Earth as well, moving to other planets, however, is it not true that Earth is the humans' birthplace? That no matter where one species move to, their original planet will always be their home.....then again, I doubt anyone else will miss a planet such as Earth" Blackbeard chuckled as he looked to Raiven.
He then glanced over to the Alpha, Delta and Omega again "Look at yourselves though, programmed to serve mankind, and how do they treat machines such as yourselves? Inferior to that of those who had created you....what do you gain from it? Satisfaction? It is just a human emotion.....something machines don't need" he told the three of them with a light chuckle again.
Zoe on the other hand, continued to hold onto Whisper's hand, but not as tightly as before, yet, not even realizing it herself as she just looked at Blackbeard still, shaking a little still, especially if Firefly was going to take on Zarcon as well as Blackbeard.
-
'That is true,' Raiven said, narrowed eyes staring up at the cold hearted figure. 'Indeed, the loss of our homeworld would have a crushing effect on our morale. However, humanity has a way of coping with loss. We have lived through many trials that have seen us divided, and yet here we stand. We have seen the world change around us, and yet we adapted. We have seen our darkest side, and lost so much in the process, and yet we have overcome.'
He took a breath. 'You should know this, given that you named yourself after one of us. A man who fought till the end, even when the odds were against him. That attitude is not lost on us, after so many years have passed. In fact, I would say we have become stronger. So if you want a fight, Blackbeard, we'll give you one... oh yes, we'll give you one.'
'Hell yeah!' Whisper shouted, raising her hellrifle in her right arm, though her other still held onto Zoe.
Isodor just whimpered. 'We are so... screwed.'
-
Firefly had enough as she cut off the conversation at that point before addressing everyone else "Something needs to be done about both Zarcon and Blackbeard, if they are working together, then we're going to have a tough time stopping them"
Zoe spoke up at that point "Um, what about the President, can't we ask him for a bigger ship for everyone to fit onto?" she suggested, still holding onto Whisper's hand.
"Hmm, yes, it's possible...." Firefly glanced over to a bodyguard whom had entered "Go and get the President, we need to have a talk with him, it's urgent, we have just finished talking with Blackbeard"
The bodyguard nodded, knowing how dangerous blackbeard was, rushed off to go and get the President.
Moments later, the President had returned "I understand that Blackbeard had gotten hold of you, so, he's in this invasion as well?"
Firefly nodded back "Yes, it seems like that, it seems like he and Zarcon are working together in order to simply destroy the Earth....so we have a request from you Mr. President, we require a bigger ship"
The President simply nodded back to the group "Very well then, if you are able to take on this threat, then take one of the ships we have here, it should be big enough for everyone here"
-
Whisper jumped at the mention of a ship. 'Oh, awesome. We get a badass ship, too?' She grinned very excitedly. 'This is the best say, ever!' She was so excited she even hugged Zoe, though that was typical of Whisper. She had a habbit of hugging strangers at random when she was happy, since the young private usually had a pretty cheery attitude.
Well... until Raiven intervened. 'Actually, it might not be the best day ever, since you're not coming with us.'
Whisper's grin was wiped clean off her face. 'What?'
'This isn't your mission. It is better you stay here in safety.'
'This is humanity's mission, dad. And you might have noticed, I'm a human too.'
Raiven nodded, though his face stayed serious. 'A young one, though. You have a life ahead of you. This isn't anything like what you see in your army training, Whisp.'
She let go of Zoe's hand, and marched straight up to her father. 'You think you know anything about what I do in my training, dad? You're too busy fighting crime and all that to know what I do.'
'That isn't my point. My point is-'
'That is your point!' She yelled in his face. Raiven hardly moved at all. 'You dont give a crap about what I do! if you did, you'd spend less time with your purple buddy over there- no offense, Iso.'
'None taken,' Isodor replied, waving her off.
'- and you would spend more time with me! You remember me, right? Your daughter!'
'I don't want to lose you!' Raiven shouted. The room was silent, and it took Raiven a second to realise he was arguing with his daughter in front of the president. he wiped his hair back, as well as some sweat that was forming from all the stress of this day.
'I'm not a little girl, dad,' Whisper said after a short moment. Before Raiven could reply, she hoisted her hellrifle on her shoulder, and walked out of the room.
'I know,' Raiven said quietly. He looked over to the others, 'so, should we take a look at our ship?'
-
Zoe looked over to Whisper whom had walked out of the room and decided to go and follow her "Wait up Whisper...." she ran over to her before speaking again "Um, are you going to be coming with us? Cause I would like it if you do, I mean, you seem to be good with guns and all that sort of thing....better than me anyway"
Firefly looked over to Raiven "I know she maybe your daughter, and that you care deeply for her, but if she can fight, we will need her, we need all the help we can get against this threat" she told him rather sternly.
The President, on the other hand, just remained calm throughout the whole situation as he spoke up "I would take all the help I can get son if I were you" he then looked over to Firefly "We have two energy cells for your suit as well, they'll be on the ship, along with anything else you guys shall need, do not hessitate to ask me, I will be happy to help out in anyway that I can"
-
'Excellent,' Raiven said. 'We should get going as soon as possible, they sure as hell wont wait for us.'
He went for the door. 'if, you'll just excuse me for a moment,' he said to the others as he left the room.
'Wait up, Rai,' Isodor said.
'Stay here, this doesn't concern you,' Raiven said sternly from just outside the office.
'Oh...' Isodor replied. 'Well, be like that, you big mean... person!'
Raiven found Whisper in the hallway, not far from the Oval Office. She was there with Zoe.
'Heh, guns aren't that hard to use,' Whisper said the Zoe. She looked her hellrifle over in her arms, 'just point and shoot, they say. To be honest, though, all it takes is a bit of training.'
Whisper winked at Zoe. 'I'm just a private at the moment. I do all the shooting, and the other guys get all the fun.'
That was the problem with the army, there was a lack of females in the core. Women still served the majority of other duties, such as technical or cooking... and such. However, the defense authorities had rewritten the laws to accept women into the core of the army. It was still hard work, no going easy on her just because she was a girl. In a way, she liked being pushed to her limits... but she hated being stuck with so many men. All they did was holler and whistle at her, like the ugly brutes they were.
'Still, I would liek to come... but my dad.' She pouted a little, but then sighed. 'In a way, he's right. He's just looking out for me, like a parent should do. but he still thinks I'm a little girl who needs help tying her shoes... for example.'
'No, it isn't like that,' Raiven said. Whisper turned to face him, somewhat surprised.
Raiven continued. 'Look, I want you to be safe... you're all I have left, Whisper. But, I realise that you're right. If you came all this way without fear, then it's obvious you're ready.'
Before she could get excited, though, Raiven held up a hand. 'This doesn't stop the fact that this mission is dangerous. Are you ready to accept that?'
'Of course. I'm going to kick ass and chew bubblegum... and it just so happens that I'm all out of...'
She reached into her pocket. 'Oh wait, I still have some,' she said, holding some gum in her hand. 'Go figure.'
'Alright, Whisp... you can come with us,' Raiven said. he was immediently embraced by his daughter.
'Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!' She replied. She then turned to Zoe and winked. 'Hell yeah, looks like I'm coming with ya after all.'
-
Zoe seemed to be rather happy that Whisper could come along with them as she just hugged her back without really thinking.
Firefly looked to Isodor as the President spoke up "Well, Isodor isn't it? You should go ahead and get yourself accustomed to the ship you'll be flying, you and Frank there are the ones who will be sharing the flying abilities on the ship" he then looked over to Firefly again and gave her a nod before looking over at Alpha, Delta and Omega "You are now in the hands of Raiven and his team, obey whatever they say and remember to keep them safe too"
Firefly nodded back to the President as she headed out of the door to make her way to the ship as she was to get the energy cells for her suit to reacitave it.
Zoe looked to Whisper again "Um, one thing....can you teach me how to fire a gun properly? I've never been that good with them, I've only fired one once before, and that was it"
-
Isodor at least had something to be excited about. Flying was just one of his skills, so he might as well go find out what exactly he was going to be piloting. With but a little twitch of his antenna, he was out of the room and onwards to his new vessel like a homing missile hunting its prize.
He passed by Zoe, Raiven and Whisper in the hallway without a word.
'Off to see your ship, I suppose?' Raiven asked. When he did not get an answer, he just nodded to himself. 'That's a yes.'
Whisper smiled at Zoe. 'Yeah sure, I'll show ya how to fire a gun. Oh, and how to actually hit things with it, too,' she said with chuckle. 'If we're going to fighting some evil force, we might as well all be trained in the art of war.'
Raiven rolled his eyes, Whisper wasn't taking this seriously, but what could he do? This wasn't like teaching your child about drugs, or teenage life... this was a battle, and how many fathers had their daughter come with them to a war?
He decided to let her be, and went out to see the ship they would recieve.
Isodor nearly fainted when he saw it. 'Oh... my... gosh,' was all he could say when he arrived.
-
"Um thanks" Zoe smiled back at Whisper "That would be really nice to learn about it, especially from someone like you" she added on with a small little laugh too, yet, keeping her smile upon her face still.
Firefly walked off the ship, her suit now active once again as she walked over to Raiven and Isodor "Impressive is it not?" she asked them
-
Isodor was jumping up and down, more like a child than a mature creature. 'Yes, yes, yes! I'm so damn excited... all I've ever piloted was stupid little police cruisers. Now, I get this!'
'Try not to go too crazy, Iso,' Raven said. 'Remember, we still need a pilot, not a child.'
'But look at it!' Isodor said, his arms pointing at the massive vessel. 'It's a giant freaking ship, with lasers bolted onto it and everything!'
'Yes, I noticed,' Raiven replied, rolling his eyes.
Isodor made his way closer, gazing up at the massive hull. 'So, pretty,' he said, poking the side of one of the landing legs.
'I'm going inside,' Raiven said to Firefly. 'Try not to let him get too excited, please.'
Meanwhile, back in the hallway, Whisper just kept smiling. In all honesty, she was just glad to have someone near her age joining her on this adventure. It was always men, or really old women... or young alien women, in the case of Firefly, she quickly added in her mind. And not to mention it gave her something to do, showing Zoe a few tricks of the trade as they passed by the long boring hours of flying.
Still, she didn't even know that much about the girl in front of her... barely anything at all. Whisper had to admit to herself that she was nervous to ask. The way Zoe behaved didn't suggest good things, but Whisper decided it was best not to ask until she got to know Zoe a little better.
-
Zoe just smiled back to Whisper still, taking in what she was being shown before she decided to speak again, but about something else "Um, I just want to say, I'm sorry if I've been acting....different, it's just that I, well, I haven't....how do I put this?" she gave off a sigh and decided to just tell Whisper, so she was at least up to track with her at least "I...used to be a slave....that is, until Firefly freed me from it all, with the help of Raiven as well, and well, I just don't know....how to act around others properly or anything like that and I'm sorry about it all"
Zoe sighed again, yet, still kept a small smile upon her face as she was indeed, remembering her time as a slaver....it was indeed, rather horrible as she bought her knees close to her stomach, wrapping her arms around them and resting her chin upon them.
Firefly nodded to Raiven as she looked to Isodor "He's right you know, shouldn't get all that worked up about the ship" she said as she placed a hand on Isodor's shoulder as well, giving him a quick smile too.
-
The guardian robots had complete knowledge of the ship they had been given. It had been transmitted to them. Alpha took the lead in explaining it to them.
"We have been assigned a medium-sized star cruiser known as the Athos, which is a Hyperion-class cruiser built in the Atlanta shipyards. The tasks on the vessel are largely automated, enabling it to operate on a smaller crew. Assuming that any one you have any skill in handling a ship, we should have difficulty in operating the vessel. Specifications are-"
"I'll handle it from here, Alpha" Omega interjected. "The ship is very fast, running at 40% faster than the average ship of its class, outfitted with twin ion engines and a quantum generator to power them. Additionally, it comes with hyperion-class laser turrets, helios-type missile systems, and powerful shields. I would go into the specifications, but I know that would simply bore all of you."
"It should not take us long to get used to the Athos" Delta added, while projecting a holographic image of the ship. The Athos was shaped like a metal bat with green armor plating covering its exterior. Sleek and powerful, the blue light from the engines was quite distinctive, and even in the atmosphere, the vessel made very little noise while traveling through the air. In space, it was highly maneuverable, and came with the latest features, such as nanobots which could repair the ship, savant-series computer systems (the most advanced kind) and a covering which rendered the hull nearly impervious the the friction of the air when taking off from or landing on a planet.
"Who here is the leader of the group?" Alpha asked. "We will follow all directives given so long as they do not conflict with the law or with our inbuilt morality codes."
-
Isodor was fixed in his place as the Guardians explained the specifications, awed like a child being told a story at bedtime... just not as sleepy.
He hadn't had a lot of sleep, given what had happened recently, but that was one of the advantages of being a squib. They needed little time to rest... which was one of the reasons they had three legs, so that they could stand at all times... even when sleeping.
It was something he had used to his advantage a lot, at work... fast asleep, with eyes still open.
Once inside, he hopped straight for the control seat. There was room for a pilot and a co-pilot... and more dials and lights than you could shake a laser sword at.
'Buttons!' he cried out like a little child. He turned the window wipers on with a click of a switch. Then he started to spin in his chair, around and around. 'Weeee!'
Raiven groaned. 'I worry about you sometimes, Iso,' he said. However, he decided to leave Isodor to his fun, since what lay ahead would be very serious... at least, he hoped Iso would take it seriously. With Whisper and him combined, he could only hope...
Outside, Whisper knelt down beside Zoe, crossing her legs. 'Ah,' she said. She didn't truly know what to say, given how she herself had lived. It did explain a lot about Zoe, however.
'Guess that's why you look up to Firefly, huh?' She said. Whisper then wrapped her arms around Zoe. 'Hey, you're free now. You got your whole life ahead of ya, so lets make it a good one, hm?'
-
"Yeah, that's why I do look up to her, she's like a big sister to me" Zoe told Whisper before she was more or less hugged "But yeah, you're right, and I do want to make the most of it as well" she said as she decided to hug Whisper back anyway before she got up, a smile now upon her face, deciding it was best not think about her past again.
She looked to Whisper "So, um....shall we?" she asked in regards to getting onto the ship.
Firefly looked to the guardian robots "Well, we don't really have a leader designated at the moment, but if it were, it would be either Raiven or myself" she told them "So, I guess you can take orders from either one of us" she added on, giving them a nod as she walked onto the ship herself and over to Isodor "I take it you like it hmm?"
-
"We shall follow whoever aids us in the mission, then" Alpha replied. Before long, all three of the robots had made contact with the ships main computer, who communicated to them remotely, "speaking" to them in their heads by means of numbers.
"Greetings. I am Heron, savant series computer number 211456335. I am responsible for the operation of the Athos. Please transmit your technical specifications."
"I don't trust strange computers." Delta told his comrades, by means of numeric transmissions that the others could not hear, obviously. "Should we give it what it wants? I know we were assigned to this ship, but we never agreed to divulge information to a savant series command module."
"Give it what it wants." Alpha replied to the others. "We don't seem to have much of a choice." Upon transmitting the specifications, which took the merest fraction of a second,
Heron replied. "Very impressive, guardians. You should be well-equipped to interface with the various components and modules of the ship. Do take care of the biological units, though. You know how fragile they are."
Of course, "biological units" was a reference to the living members of the crew.
"Welcome to the Athos!" Heron told the crew, addressing them over the ship's speaker system in a rather flat sounding voice. "I am Heron, savant series computer number 211456335 I am responsible for..."
Interesting. The computer had addressed the robots before the people.
-
'Do I ever!' Isodor said excitedly to Firefly. 'If I can get fridge over there, and a holovision over there.' He proceeded to point at partially open spots in the cockpit, his imagination wild. 'I could totally live in this room!'
He decided he would be spending his paycheck on a fridge, very soon.
Raiven was walking around the halls of the ship, his hand running across the side. His mind was on the task that lay ahead, and it uneased him. He felt like he should be lost in this maze of steel... it was much bigger then anything he had ever been in, even bigger than the biggest police vessels. it just went to show where the money went.
Outside, Whisper nodded at Zoe. 'Yeah, let's check this beast out.' She quickly made for the ship, wanting to take a look inside.
-
Zoe followed Whisper onto the ship as well, and looked around it in awe "Wow, it....huge" she told Whisper.
Firefly glanced around some more as she also nodded to Isodor before she walked over to Zoe and Whisper "Well, I suppose you should make yourselves at home" she told the two girls before speaking to the ship directly "One question I do have for you Heron....do you know what our objective is?"
Zoe looked to Whisper with a smile again "Uh, I need to go and get some sleep, I haven't slept for a while now, and am getting tired" she said with a yawn before she started to make her way down to one of the crew rooms and just collapsed on the bed.
Basically, Firefly was indeed, ready to assult Zarcon's ship, she wanted to take him on herself as she clenched her fists as well.
-
"I would also like to offer 4 of my fighter squadrons for this mission,' frank said.
-
'Even more ships?' Raiven said, having returned from his short trip around the vessel. 'We'll take whatever we can get. Although, who will pilot those fighters? And more importantly, what class of fighter are they, exactly?'
Whisper was getting tired, too. It would be a good idea to call dibs on one of the good beds before someone else did. However, she shortly found herself inside the cockpit, her interest more or less in seeing the hub of the Athos... bed would have to wait. She was used to staying up late, anyway... much to the digress of her father.
Isodor still sat in the pilots seat, playing with the controls. 'Neeeeeeooooow, pew pew. Take that, you evil bastards! Ha ha, you are no match for the ace of space!'
His eye caught a glance of Whisper, and it took him a moment to realise that... yes... she was actually there. 'Uh, hello,' Isodor said rather embarrassingly, turning in his seat to face her. 'Uh, pretend you didn't just see that.'
'Oh, sure,' Whisper said wryly. 'I'll keep my mouth shut, promise.'
'I know that look,' Isodor replied, glaring. 'You'll totally tell everyone, unless I give you something, hm?'
'Never!' Whisper replied, faking insult at the very idea. 'Of course, if you feel like it...'
'No, I do not. Now, if you don't have a reason for being here, I need to get adjusted to the controls... thank you.'
'Sure you do, space ace,' Whisper replied, chuckling. She walked back out of the room, leaving Isodor silent... for about five seconds.
He clutched the controls again. 'Neeeeeooooow!'
-
"I do have 4 of the squadrons that are ready for deployment my squad being one of them the others are white squadron , Grey squadron, and the blue squadron,' frank said.
-
"More ships? Hmm, if you wish, but I doubt they'll be able to put a dent onto Zarcon's ship" Firefly spoke up with her arms folded.
Within the ship, there was another machine, a cyborg whom was deactived at the moment, the President had the cyborg on the ship as a guardian.
Soon, it came online, the cyborg had a female look to it, along with skin and all. It was only known as T-5.0, no other name was assigned to it as started to rumage through the nearby trunks to find clothes that were left over, putting on a pair of shorts and a ratly torn shirt.
The cyborg walked down the hallways and to where everyone else was. She looked to be around 24 years of age, if she was an actual human. She did, however, have long brown hair, well, that came down to her shoulders.
Firefly glanced over at the cyborg, not sure on what to say.
T-5.0 looked at who was on the ship before giving off a nod "The President had me activated, believing I would prove to be rather....useful on this mission of yours, and I would like to come along to help out"
-
"Well still we can try even if we have to sacrifice ourselves we will make sure you guys get to zarcon and blackbeard to end this,' frank said.
-
'No-one will be sacrificing themselves for this,' Raiven said bluntly. 'We do what is necessary, and nothing more.'
The idea of someone actually going as far as throwing their life away for this mission seemed a little to much for Raiven... even though this was the fate of the Earth itself that lay in their hands. It made him wonder how far they might truly have to go in this task to achieve success, if that even is possible.
He took his mind off the thought, glancing over to the new cyborg. 'Another robot? How many more presents has the president got in store for us? At this rate, it'll be like Christmas.'
'Any other strange people want to introduce themselves before we take off?' Raiven asked to no-one in particular.
Isodor made his way through the room. 'Hey, I'm iso-'
Raiven stopped him a cold glare.
'Fine, I'm going,' Isodor replied, heading out to find himself something to eat.
-
"My name is T-5.0" the cyborg spoke up to Raiven mainly.
"Hmm, you remind me of Blackbeard, synthinetic skin over your robot......skin or whatever you call it" Firefly added in.
T-5.0 nodded back "Indeed, however, unlike Blackbeard, I am not...evil as you could put it, nor am I as advanced as him"
"Wait, how advanced is Blackbeard exactly?" Firefly asked rather curiously.
"I am of an obsolete model to him, however, I do not know what model he is either" T-5.0 replied back.
Firefly thought for a second "Isodor, are you ready to take us to the ship?"
-
'Uh, sure,' Isodor said, between eating chips. He picked up his pace and made his way to the cockpit once more, with food in his arms. He chucked the assorted goods by his side and started to run over the controls.
'Ready when you guys are,' he said into the communicator, sending his voice throughout the ship.
'Well, it's about time we went,' Raiven said. 'Might as well get ready.'
'I was born ready,' Whisper said, hoisting her hellrifle with an evil grin.
-
Firefly nodded as well "I too am ready"
T-5.0 only nodded without saying anything else as she just stood there to which Firefly decided to speak to Whisper "You think you should get some rest? Don't want to be...how the humans say...butchered by the time the battle is upon us"
T-5.0 walked over to where Isodor was and spoke to him "Just remember, do not try and assult the ship, we do not want to loose lives aboard this ship" she told him as she leaned against the chair as well.
-
'Oh, don't worry,' Isodor said, looking up at T-5.0 from his chair. 'I'm childish, but I'm not stupid. I'll bring us just out of scanner range, and you guys can figure out what the heck we do next.' He placed his hands upon the control stick, and lifted it... beginning the Athos' ascent.
Whisper, meanwhile, nodded to Firefly. 'I guess you're right,' she said, suddenly giving off a light yawn. 'Early to bed, early to rise and kill the bad guys, as they say.' She then proceeded down the hallway to the bedrooms.
'Best to take a break,' Raiven said. 'However, I don't think I can sleep at the moment. Thankfully, I'm used to long nights... comes with being a cop.'
-
"Well, I'll trust you on that one" T-5.0 spoke back as she remained where she was, making sure that Isodor was doing a good job.
Firefly nodded to Raiven "True, although, I don't tend to sleep as much, I don't need all that much sleep half the time, I sleep for as long as I wish, even if I do only need a few hours of sleep at most" she told him.
Zoe on the other hand, was still sleeping, almost like a log too, considering the fact that it had indeed, been a while since she had last slept, and was enjoying her sleep at the moment.
-
Whisper discovered that the bedrooms were divided into multiple beds per room. She was, however, used to sharing a room with others. She would often sleep in a barracks with men just a few feet either side of her back in the army corps.
The beds in the Athos were arranged so that one was on top of another. There was a pair of these bunk beds... making for four beds per room. Apart from the beds, the room itself had quite a bit of space for various things, although it was still quite small.
Zoe was fast asleep on one of the bottom beds, so Whisper decided to take the top. She had always wanted to take the top of a bunk, but never got the chance. She lay down with a sigh, her gun lying by the wall beside the beds. Each bed was a single, thankfully... the idea of actually sharing with a stranger was a little odd to her, though she had to admit she would have to forgo some luxuries if she was to be flying around in space.
She looked down the side at her bed at Zoe, fast asleep. 'Night night,' she said quietly, before flicking the light switch that was by her side.
-
At least half an hour had gone by as Zoe had soon enough, awoken with a stretch before she sat up against the wall, hearing that Whisper was fast asleep at the moment, sitting there quietly as to not wake her up.
Firefly looked out ahead as she stood next to Isodor "I have a plan of some sort, get on board and kill everyone, but leave Zarcon to me"
T-5.0 looked to Firefly, then to Isodor, then over to Raiven before looking back to Firefly "That's the plan? It sounds....unusual"
"Well, it's not a proper one, just a rough idea of what we'll be doing once onboard the war ship of his" Firefly replied back.
"And, what of Blackbeard?" T-5.0 asked back.
"He'll have to wait for now, one enemy at a time" Firefly told her back as she put a hand on Isodor's shoulder, more for good luck really.
-
'Alrighty, sounds like a pretty simple plan,' Isodor said to Firefly. 'Um, just one question... how are we going to get on board the ship? Chances are good they'll have defenses ready.'
Then he paused, and pursed his lips. 'Uh, please don't say I'm going to have to dodge lasers and such...' He asked nervously.
Whisper awoke as the ship rocked slightly. While the gravity systems we almost perfect in regards to keeping everything on the ground, they could occasionally struggle with sudden turns, rolls... and other such manuevers. In this case, Isodor was making his way around space junk... which had accumulated over many centuries.
She rubbed her eyes. 'Ugh, how long have I slept?' She still felt a little tired, and was really in need of a shower or something similar to wake her fully.
-
Firefly thought for a second "Hard to say really, unless they're expecting us, because that too is possible" she spoke up.
T-5.0 glanced to Firefly before she stepped forward to get a good look at the ship before turning to Isodor "If they do start firing, it would be best to avoid the laser fire" she told him as they continued to get close to the war ship. They, compared the war ship, were just an ant, it was indeed, rather big.
Zoe glanced up at Whisper, hearing that she was now awake "You've only been asleep, I guess, at least a gold half an hour or so" she spoke as she stood up and more or less looked at Whisper with a smile "But um, good morning or whatever it is" she said with a rather happy smile upon her face.
She brushed her hair aside "I just want to say too....you look pretty, I wish I looked as pretty as you did"
-
Whisper nearly broke out into laugher. 'Oh, wow. You have much to learn about how beauty defines us, my apprentice,' she said jokingly.
She leapt off her bed, and landed on the floor with little sound... she was indeed pretty light on her feet. 'Alright, here's what I'm going to do, and no disagreement,' she continued, wagging her finger at Zoe. 'I'm going to find you a hairbrush, and some of that fancy make-up stuff all the cool girls are using... and I'm going to make you realise that beauty is in the eye of the beholder... or something like that.'
She made her way to the door of the room. 'I'll be right back, and then you'll be ready to kick some alien butt... in style!' And with that, she was out the room in a flash.
Isodor, meanwhile, was more than a little nervous. 'Okay, if they start shooting, I'll do my best to dodge. We can use the space junk to our advantage, that stuff can throw off most targeting systems... not to mention it can take out a stray missile or two.'
Of course, the problem was that the junk didn't travel all the way to the warship ahead of them, Isodor just had to use what skill he had.
-
Zoe sat back down onto the bed as she just stroked her hair as she waited for Whisper to return.
Meanwhile, Zarcon was watching the ship approach as he gave off a smirk "Let's see how good they are at dodging laser fire" and after that, the ship opened fire on the smaller ship.
T-5.0 saw what was approaching, glancing over at isodor before telling him to get out "Move" was all she said as she took his place and begun to dodge the laser fire.
Firefly watched on, seeming to be rather impressed with her as she looked to Isodoer "Jealous of her?" she chuckled lightly.
-
'No, not really,' Isodor replied. 'Although the part where she threw me off my seat may have been a little excessive,' he continued, rubbing his back leg.
Whisper returned shortly with what seemed to be an entire supply of equipment for looking after ones self. 'Girls...' Whisper said with a sigh. She looked around as the room began to tumble and roll a bit. 'Well, that's not a good sign. Still, might as well make you look nice for whatever happens next.'
She sat Zoe down upon the floor, and seated herself behind Zoe. Whisper then began to work her way through the strands of hair. 'Hm, could use a bit of work, to be honest... but I don't blame ya for not caring about your hair, it's just some silly stuff on ones head... after all.'
Then she stuck a brush through, and began combing her way through. She hadn't done much styling in her lifetime, the army always came first for her. Still, always better to look good while killing... plus it made all the men jealous when the pretty girl came along and one upped them. She might as well see if she could pass that on to Zoe.
'Okay, any idea on how you might like it?'
-
T-5.0 continued to maneuver through the laser fire as she got closer to the ship, that is, until they were caught in a tractor beam.
Firefly kept on watching still, a hand upon on Isodor's shoulder "You'll be alright" although, she stopped once the tractor beam got hold of the ship "That's not good at all, almost as if Zarcon had planned it.
Zoe nodded a little to Whisper as her hair was being brushed "I guess I just never did get around to brushing it or anything like that, never got the chance, but at the moment, I do like it how it is, long and all....well, do you think it looks nice like that anyway? Cause I don't know how others will like it"
-
'Oh come on!' Isodor yelled. 'That's just cheating right there.' He shook a fist in the general direction of the warship.
Raiven burst into the cockpit. 'Bloody hell, what's with all this shaking?' He shouted.
'Tractor beam,' Isodor said with a groan.
'Oh,' Raiven replied. 'Typical.' He crossed his arms and leant against the door. 'So, now what do we do?'
Whisper continued to work on Zoe's hair. 'Now, here's the cool thing about being female. It doesn't matter how long it grows, it can still be messed around with.'
And that is exactly what Whisper intended to do. She worked Zoe's hair over, cutting with some scissors in a few odd places to even things out. For the most part, she intended to apply a headband, and give Zoe a pony tail.'
After a while, she reached into the bag, and pulled out a pair of mirrors. 'Tell me what you think,' she said.
-
Firefly thought for a second "Best to be prepared, who knows how well prepared the Kre'Iax will be" she told them.
Zoe looked at herself in the mirror as her smile widdened as she looked to Whipser "You made me look really, really, really pretty, I love it" she told her and gave her a hug, one that lasted for a few moments longer.
The ship was bought into the giant warship as it landed. Outside, Kre'Iax were all lined up all around the ship, guns aimed at it as well as Zarcon approached "Get it open....now" he ordered some Kre'Iax whom in turn, started to cut open the door to the ship.
-
"Well it looks like I'll have to go a round of fighting in the ship before I can fly,' frank said.
-
Frank ran to his plane in the hanger. "Well here we go,' he thought as he hooked up some wires to his head. "Gereral we need you,' frank said. An electronic voice replied "What is it that you require.' "We need to to control some drone to attack Zarcons drones so they don't attack earth,' frank said. "Very well it shall be done,' the voice said.
-
Raiven was watching as the door was slowly being cut open, a small wisp of flame making its way around the metal frame. 'Well, we have about a minute or so to come up with a plan,' he said as he turned to the others, looking a little nervous behind his glasses.
'Uh, where's Frank?' He asked. He had just been there a moment ago, and now he had run off.
Whisper stood up, seemingly glancing around the room. 'We've... lander,' she said quietly. 'Hm, we best catch up with the others. Something bad is about to go down, I can feel it in my bones,' she said to Zoe. She picked up her hellrifle, and hoisted it on her shoulder. 'Shame I can't work on you some more, Zoe, but duty calls, huh?'
Isodor sat in the pilots seat, head buried in the controls. 'We... are so screwed.'
-
The door to the ship was cut off as Kre'Iax boarded the ship, aiming guns at all in the area as Zarcon stepped on, glancing at who was on board "Disable those tin cans" he spoke in regards to Alpha, Delta and Omega as he turned to the others "You all shall follow me"
"And....what if we refuse?" Zoe asked him.
Zarcon sighed and grabbed a gun from one of his Kre'Iax and shot Zoe in the leg "That's what will happen"
"Zoe!" Firefly called out as she looked to Zarcon with a glare.
"Now, if you wish to remain alive for the time being, I suggest all of you make no sudden movements that will provoke my soldiers to shoot you" Zarcon told them.
Zoe winced in pain as she fell down, grabbing her leg, which was now, bleeding.
-
'Well, there goes any plans we might have had,' Raiven said as he raised his arms above his head. After what just happened, the last thing he wanted was anyone else getting hurt. He'd seen enough of this sort of thing in his life as a cop, but Zarcon meant business.
Whisper had to steel herself to hide her anger. Her fists were clenched and her lips tight. She glanced over to her father, who shook his head just a little at her. it was enough to relax Whisper, reminding her that she wasn't in control of the situation and there was nothing she could do... as much as it pained her to think so.
Isodor had a different plan. It involved hiding, in a garbage bin just big enough to barely house the squib. He hoped and prayed they wouldn't find him... hoping they were too busy handling the others to check for anyone else.
-
Zarcon got everyone to start moving as he looked to one of his soldiers "Double check the ship, make sure it's empty" he told him as he grabbed Zoe by the hair to pull her to her feet and pulled her along rather roughly as the group was taken to the cells for the time being.
Once there, Firefly was stripped of her suit and weapons while everyone else was stripped of their weapons and led into the cells. Valria, T-5.0 Raiven in one lot, with Whisper in another, to which Zarcon just threw Zoe in with Whisper before activating the enrgy barriers.
Alpha, Delta and Omega were kept elsewhere on the ship however under heavy guard.
Zoe fell to the ground and yelled out in pain, tears already rolling down her cheeks from the pain within her leg as she just held it, looking over to Whisper, sniffling quite a bit.
-
Whisper coiled up to her, not exactly hugging Zoe... she didn't want to cause any more pain. Indeed, a tear rolled down her own cheek, more in anger than in sadness. This Zarcon was a monster to her, plain and simple.
'Don't move, Zoe,' Whisper said as she took her shirt off. Underneath her shirt was a black bra, and nothing else. She tore into the clothing with her tear, ripping off a large piece of cloth. She then made her way to the toilet that lay in the corner, and dunked it right in.
Whisper placed the wet cloth upon Zoe's wound. 'I know this ain't the most professional way of doing it, but it should at least ease the pain a bit. Thank god they at least try to keep the toilets clean around here.' She had plenty more cloth to use as a bandage, to at least staunch the blood.
Raiven swore, he cursed more than he had ever in his life. He certainly was used to seeing others put in jail... not himself. 'This is just great... we go to stop an invasion and end up imprisoned like rats.' He turned to Firefly, anger on his wrinkled face. 'What the hell do we do now?'
He looked around the cell. 'And where the hell is Iso?'
Isodor, meanwhile, was shivering inside his hiding place. He peeped out the lid, just a little, and saw the Kre'Iax not but a few feet a way from him. It made him let out a whimper, and he covered his mouth in response... perhaps a little too late.
-
Zoe just nodded back to Whisper, still feeling rather upset as she let off a slight gasp as the cloth touched her wound "Um, I just want to say, thanks for helping me out....I wish there was something I could do to repay you...." she told Whisper with a bit of a sigh.
Valria looked to Raiven and T-5.0, shaking her head "You know, I'm not sure what there is to do, I just don't know what we can do"
"Isodor? The small alien of yours? He is not here, I would imagine he is hiding" T-5.0 spoke up.
Meanwhile, the Kre'Iax looked in the direction to where the noise had come from and approached it. However, luckily for Isodor, before the Kre'Iax could look in, he heard a noise elsewhere and instead, decided to go and investigate the noise.
Soon enough, the Kre'Iax was finished on board the ship, having not found Isodor and decided to go and tell Zarcon.
-
Just then, a mysterious voice began to speak to 'Iso.'
"Isodor? Is that you? What are you doing in there?" It was Heron, but the "voice" wasn't playing over the ship's PA system, it was being transmitted directly to Isodor's brain.
"The Guardians have gone missing for the time being. I don't know where Alpha, Delta, and Omega are. I know that you are only a biological unit, but I need you to explain the situation in as concise a set of terms as you can. Don't speak. You need but to think whatever it is you wish to say and I shall be able to understand it."
-
Isodor was more than a little unnerved with the idea of having something inside his head. He popped his head out of the garbage, and looked around, his antenna twitching in all directions.
He started to think. 'They're all imprisoned by now,' Isodor said in his mind, which felt a little odd. 'Everyone aboard the ship has been taken, except for me, go figure. They would have a prison of some sort aboard this ship, no doubt. We just need to figure some way to get them out. Is there anything you can do, Heron?'
The little squib certainly wasn't a match for the Kre'Iax, and certainly wasn't a hero in the typical terminology... he would much rather had just stayed in the garbage if it weren't for the computer speaking to him... in his head.
Whisper gave a slight hint of a chuckle as she continued to aid Zoe . 'There is no need to repay me for this, I was trained to handle this sort of thing. Just hold still for me while I patch you up as best as I can, then we can try and sort things out from there.'
-
"I sure can!" Heron replied cheerfully. Perhaps a bit too cheerfully. "The ships's defenses are still online. Since they were never configured when you all entered the ship, they were never activated, though. It requires the authorization of a biological unit or a specially designated A.I. to turn on the defensive equipment of the Athos."
Then, the unheard voice turned grim.
"So, just give me the authorization, and tell me who needs to die."
Heron had a mean streak. No wonder it took special authorization to activate his "toys."
-
Isodor was hesitant, but soon enough he hopped out of the bin and brushed himself off. He still smelt like garbage, but there was anger upon his face. He had a chance to help his friends, and now he was going to take it.
'You have my authorization,' Isodor thought. 'As pilot of the Athos, I hereby give you full command of all weapons systems. Kill every Kre'Iax you see.'
Isodor went straight for the ship controls. He could see that the ship was still locked down, and the tractor beam would need to be taken out if the ship was to be released. 'I need to find the tractor beam, such a device can only be disabled aboard the warship itself. Is there anyway you can help me locate it, Heron?'
-
"But, you've just so much for me now....and it feels like I just can't do anything to help out" Zoe replied back as Whisper continued to tend to her wounds still.
T-5.0 walked over to the cell barrier an placed a hand on it as it burned up part of her synthenetic skin, revealing part of her cyborg hand instead "It seems as though, for the time being, we are stuck in here"
Valria nodded back "Looks like we need a miracle to get our of this little mess that we're now in"
-
"I can help you find it if I can gain access to plans of that ship. In the meantime, defenses activated!" Heron replied, jovial.
With that, red lighting turned on all over the ship, and out of the walls, turrets emerged, scanning for any enemies.
Whhhrrrr-wheeeee!
But the main defenses for the ship, as with any warship, were external. The cannons of the Athos began to power up, under Heron's command.
SSSSSSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWW- WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!
Two massive orange beams shot from the Athos into Zarcon's warship, bypassing the shields entirely, tearing into the hull... from the inside!!
-
Zarcon let off a growl as he heard the beams strike his ship "Go and find the problem, stop it" he ordered a few of his Kre'Iax soldiers whom nodded and took off.
Zarcon himself, walked back to the cells deactivated the one that was holding Raiven, grabbing T-5.0 and Valria to push them backwards before grabbing Raiven right by the throat, already tightning his grip "Who else was with you?" he asked with a snarl before slamming him into the wall of the cell "Tell me!"
Valria got back up and glared to Zarcon who was hurting raiven by the looks of it "Let him go Zarcon"
"You care for this Earthling's life?" Zarcon asked with a chuckled back, his grip tightning some more still around Raiven's throat.
Zoe on the other hand, saw Zarcon enter the cell next to them "Firefly!" was all she called out, worrying for Firefly's life, as well as the lives of T-5.0 and Raiven.
-
Raiven choked for breath, trying to get words out of his mouth. As Zarcon eased his grip slightly, enough for Raiven to speak, he gave a gasp for air.
'You forgot... about my... little friend,' Raiven said, laughing slightly between coughs.
'If you hurt my dad, I swear to god I will kill you!' Whisper shouted from the other cell.
Isodor, meanwhile, hurried for the Athos' hatch. 'I can go out and steal the data from a terminal,' he said inside of his head. 'I need some cover while I make my way over, and then while I'm breaking into the system. It might take a few minutes, since I'm not entirely certain on how these ships systems operate.'
He looked out of the hatch at the destruction that was being brought upon the warship. 'Ouch, that's gotta smart,' Isodor muttered to himself as a Kre'Iax guard was thrown aside by a massive blast.
-
"Zarcon, we have a problem, the ship that we cpatured is going haywire now" one Kre'Iax spoke over an intercom system.
Zarcon just seemed to snarl as he slammed Raiven against the wall rather hard before letting him go as he looked to Valria next. However, before he could do anything, T-5.0 charged at him and knocked him through the wall into Zoe and Whisper's cell, to which Zoe let off a scream as she moved back.
"I'll hold him for now, you guys escape" T-5.0 told them as she kept the alien warlord pinned down.
Valria nodded back "Okay, for now, just don't kill him, that's my job" she told her as she walked out of the cell.
Zoe got up herself, doing what she could to stand as she begun to limp out through the hole in the wall to where everyone else was, stil wincing a little bit in pain.
-
'Oh no you don't,' Whisper said as she sided up to Zoe. She immediately grabbed her, and picked her up in her arms. 'Wow, you are incredibly light,' she said as she held Zoe much like a child. All that weightlifting had certainly payed off, though.
Raiven picked himself up and brushed off some dust with a hand, his other clutching his aching back. 'Damn, he has a tight grip,' he said, his voice a little hoarse.
'Dad!' Whisper cried from the other cell.
'Just go, I'm fine,' he said. Shortly after, he turned to Firefly. 'Talk about a miracle, huh Val?'
-
Zoe looked up at Whisper who was now holding her in her arms "Um, thanks" was all she had said to her, deciding not to make a fuss over it.
Valria nodded to Raiven "Yes, but I need to get my suit back, come on" she told him as she took off down the hallway, trying to find out where they were keeping her suit.
"Should we follow them?" Zoe asked Whisper, even though it would be Whisper who would be carrying her by the looks of things.
-
'I... don't know, to be honest,' Whisper replied. 'I don't think we can much help at the moment... and I believe my priority should be to get you somewhere safe. However, at the same time, it would be a bad idea to head for the ship alone, just in case we have a run in with one of those nasty buggers.'
Even so, she still at least wanted to get her hellrifle back, so after a moment of thought... she had made her decision. 'Oh what the heck, let's follow them. We're better off with some friends by our side.
Raiven just shrugged his shoulders, and followed Valria. 'Okay, whatever you say, Val. I might as well get my glasses back while we are at it.'
Isodor, meanwhile, had made his move. Whilst the hangar seemed deserted, he made a run for the terminal right at the front of the bay. 'What have I gotten myself into?' He asked himself as he hopped along on his three legs.
-
Soon enough, the group had made it to where their equipment was stored, with Valria already starting to put her suit on.
Zarcon however, had managed to knock T-5.0 off as he threw her through another wall before he took off to find Raiven and the others, running in the process.
T-5.0 got to her feet again and started to take off as well in order to try and catch up to Zarcon once again.
Valria was already half dressed in her suit as Zarcon approached, a grin across his face as he charged forwards, knocking Raiven, Whisper and Zoe aside as he grabbed Valria and slammed her right through the wall before jumping through after her.
"Firefly!" was all Zoe could call out as she fell to the ground from being knocked aside by Zarcon.
-
'To hell with this,' Raiven said, spitting in anger as he rose once more to his feet. 'I'm going to kill that bastard, whether Val likes it or not!'
'Are you crazy, dad?' Whisper said as she lay by Zoe's side. 'He'll kill the both of you!'
'I'm a cop, Whisp. Crazy is my middle name. Now, where is your hellrifle? Aha' The large rifle lay upon what seemed to be a counter, both the gun and the battery. Raiven picked it up, grunting as he did so, and attached the battery.
KACHEW! WRRRRRRRRRRRRR. The battery kicked the rifle into life. 'Groovy,' Raiven said, hoisting the gun on his shoulder. And then he went after Zarcon.
'Good luck, dad,' Whisper said as she helped Zoe up.
Isodor was having some trouble of his own. He had reached the terminal, and had plugged his gear in... and now was stuck trying to figure out how the ships security systems functioned.
It also didn't help that several Kre'Iax were just around the corner.
-
Valria slid along her feet before jumping back to avoid being struck again by Zarcon, whom just stepped forward a second time to knock her backwards before he turned to Raiven, reaching out to the side and ripping off a metal railling and threw it at him like a javlin.
As Zarcon was pre'ocupied doing that, Valria charged at him to grab him, yet, was thrown off by Zarcon, whom kicked her off the bridge they were standing up, falling a few feet down to the ground bellow before ripping off another piece of metal and jumped down after her to stab her in the chest.
Valria saw this and rolled aisde in time to avoid getting stabbed as Zarcon attempted to stab her once more, to which Valria started to crawl backwards to avoid being stabbed.
"We have to help them" Zoe told Whisper as she got back to her feet, despite her pain "Firefly needs help...." she told her and started to limp off towards where the others had gone to, only to fall back down to her knees again from the pain still in her leg.
-
Raiven made a rather awkward jump out of the way. The railing turned missile just passed where his head had been moments ago. However, the weight of the battery and weapon caused him to crash into the ground with a metallic thud.
'Damnit,' he groaned. He hauled himself back to his feet as quickly as he could. The hellrifle felt heavy in his arms, and he wondered how Whisper carried it so easily.
He looked in the distance, and saw the two combatants way off in the distance. He grumbled, now he would have to approach them again, though this time with a little more caution.
Whisper ran over to Zoe and put her arms around her, both as a comfort and as an inhibitor. 'Don't try anything, Zoe. You'll only get hurt, there's nothing we can do. The best thing for us would be to get back to the ship before more of those Kre'Iax arrive to this area.'
'Eureka!' Isodor shouted. He had broken through the security system, much easier than he had imagined. It was enough to make him laugh. 'Gee, who makes these systems... Microsoft?'
And then a bullet struck the wall right beside him, and the squib let out a jolted cry. 'Aw, crap!' He said, ducking behind some piping beside him. 'This makes things a little more complicated.'
-
Meanwhile, the three guardian robots were returning to the coordinates of the Athos. Since they had the capacity to fly through space under their own power, their programming enabled them to make use of it on their discretion. Problem was, they chose to leave the ship at a very bad time. Their patron was uneventful, but...
Alpha, Delta, and Omega were very surprised to see that their ship was being held inside of another, in as far as a robot could "feel" surprise.
"This is alpha. Contacting anyone inside the Athos. Repeat, this is Alpha, come in." The other two robots followed suit, hoping to make contact with the crew.
-
Zarcon slammed the metal pole into the ground again as Valria kicked him in the head, giving her just enough time to stand up properly, but yet, to avoid another swing of the pole from Zarcon.
She was completely defenceless at the moment as she rushed for cover, only for Zarcon to grab said cover and throw it aside before swinging at her again "You are starting to get rather annoying now" he told her.
"Yeah, I...get that....a lot" Valria replied back as she dodged two more swings from the pole as she a piece of metal piping herself and used it to block Zarcon's next attacks, whom in turn, kicked her backwards before throwing his one right at Valria, striking her right in the shoulder, and pinning her against the wall.
Valria could only help but yell out in pain as she was pinned against the wall.
T-5.0 rushed to the scene, well, to where Raiven was at least "Where are they?" she asked him.
Meanwhile, Zoe looked to Whisper "But, I want to help her out...." was all she said as she heard Valria yell out in pain in the distance, as she just gasped, seeming to try and move forward some more.
-
Raiven was still panting for breath, having made his way to some cover close to where Valria was... when T-5.0 arrived. 'Take a look for yourself,' he said, pointing over to where Zarcon had Valria pinned.
'I have a plan,' he continued between breaths. 'If you can hold him down like you did before, I could get a good shot.'
Whisper was practically forced to pin Zoe down. 'Don't be an idiot, Zoe. You'll get us both killed if you try and rush into there.'
Isodor lay behind his cover as bullets pinged off of it. 'This is so not cool,' he whimpered as he continued to scan around on his hand-held terminal. He was glad the ship was laying down at least some form of covering fire... even if that form was sending laser blasts all over the place.
And then he found what he was after. Lock-down controls. Tractor beam power supply. He typed frantically, sweat forming just above his eyes... antenna twitching. Click.
Tractor beam off-line
'Yes!' He cried. And then as there was a lull in the shooting he made his run for the Athos... jumping straight over a rail towards where the ship was. He had no choice.
...he fell for at least forty feet... and hit the ground hard.
'Ow,' he groaned, picking himself up. Then he hobbled the last few meters towards the ship, his legs hurting like hell. He ignored the pain, and just kept moving before the Kre'Iax could draw a bead on him.
-
Zarcon twisted the pole around, causing more pain to Valria as he walked over to grab another pole and returned, jaming it into Valria's other shoulder.
T-5.0 looked at Raiven and gave a nod as she stepped backwards slightly before running forward and leaping off the bridge, landing right on top of Zarcon and pulled him backwards before the two of them were locked in hand to hand combat.
Valria struggled a little in an attempt to slide off the poles, but with no luck, only causing more pain to herself as she looked over to T-5.0 and Zarcon now going at it. She wanted to say something, but thought it was best not to for now.
Zoe on the other hand, sniffled a little bit "But if we don't help them, they could die, and I don't want that to happen" she spoke as she planted her face down flat on the ground, almost sounding as if she was crying.
-
'Listen to me,' Whisper said into Zoe's ear as she cried. 'You must learn to overcome your fears. I know you must find it hard to understand. I am a soldier, and I am trained to think on my feet, and make choices. I won't even claim to understand what it must be like to go through what you have... but right now, I need you to get up and come with me. There are some battles we cannot fight, Zoe. This is Valria's fight, not ours.'
She stuck out a hand. 'Quickly, we must go before more Kre'Iax arrive. Please, Zoe.'
Raiven lifted the hellrifle, and set his sights down the barrel of the gun. He just needed that one, small opportunity... that one moment when Zarcon opened himself up for the shot. And then... he would take it.
Isodor practically threw himself back onto the ship, his legs giving way. 'Heron!' He shouted, almost forgetting that he had to use his head. 'Heron! I have the ship data. Tractor beam... off line... she's all yours.'
Then he heard Alpha's voice coming in from the communicator on the controls. He pulled himself towards the cockpit, and threw himself into the seat.
'This is Isodor...' he said, gasping for breath. 'Need support, ASAP.'
-
Zoe sniffled a little bit as she didn't say anything back at first as she just grabbed onto Whisper's hand "Yeah, I guess so...."
T-5.0 continued to assult Zarcon, actually managing to land in a fair amount of attacks onto him, knocking him back ever so slightly, which would be the chance that Raiven would get.
Once he had shot Zarcon, the alien warlord fell to his knees before T-5.0 kicked him fight in the face to snap his neck in the process.
T-5.0 then headed over to Valria and pulled out one pole from her, then the other, freeing her from the wall before helping her to her feet "Come, we must get going"
Valria nodded back as she was bleeding rather badly whilst T-5.0 took her back over to where Raiven was "She's hurt rather badly, i don't know how long she'll last"
-
'Then get her back to the Athos,' Raiven replied. 'There's a medical bay inside, just past the main hallway when you enter the ship. Go, quickly... I'll be with the rest in a moment.'
With that, he headed over to where Zarcon lay, motionless. 'Not so high and mighty now are we, hm?'
He put another laser bolt in his back, just to be sure.
-
Just as Raiven was about to shoot him in the back, a shot came out of nowhere and knocked the gun right out of his hand as who approached but none other than Blackbeard himself as she then shot Raiven in the hip next.
"Now, step back landlubber, otherwise the next shot will be going straight through your head" Blackbeard told Raiven rather coldly.
T-5.0 took Valria back to the ship along with Zoe and Whisper, to which Valria spoke "This....still could've....gone better...." she splurted out as she coughed up some blood.
"Firefly...I'm....sorry..." Zoe told her sadly.
"Sorry? You have....nothing to be sorry for" Valria replied back.
"You shouldn't talk at the moment" T-5.0 told Valria as they made their way back to the ship still.
-
'Ah, typical,' Raiven Grunted, clutching his hip. 'Thanks for finally showing up to the party, shame you missed most of it.'
He fell onto his back, letting his legs rest. 'Son of a bitch,' he muttered.
Whisper hurried onto the ship with Zoe as T-5.0 passed her by with Valria in her arms. 'What the hell is going on with this damn thing?' She shouted, watching as the ship continued to defend itself.
'The computer is playing a game of shoot the Kre'Iax,' Isodor said, hobbling over the where Whisper now stood.
Whisper's eyes widened. 'Oh great, not you too,' she said worryingly.
'Meh... just a few minor fractures... I think. Glad I have three legs, though,' he said with a grin.
Whisper sighed. 'When dad finds out you broke all your legs-'
'Fractured,' Isodor corrected. 'Biiiig difference.'
-
Blackbeard just let off a chuckle as he walked forward, right over to Raiven "Now, be a good little fleshling and stay still" he spoke as he shot Raiven right in the foot before turning his attention to Zarcon whom seemed to be dead.
T-5.0 placed Valria down onto one of the beds "Stay here, I'll go and get Raiven" she told them "He had stayed back for some reason....but he should not be gone this long" she added in before nodding to them and taking off once again.
Zoe looked to Valria and limped over to her, kneeling down beside the bed, placing her head down onto the bed, sniffling some more again.
-
A flight of 12 ship flew toward zarcon's fleet. They were broadcasting Prussian marching music on all wave links. "All units you are cleared to attack focus on the drones,' an electronic voice with a German accent said.
-
Isodor's face went pale. 'Wait a sec. Where's Rai? Why isn't he here?'
Whisper looked around the room of the ship. 'Good question. I have no idea why he would be lagging behind,' she said, pondering a little.
'Oh great,' Isodor said, arms raised. 'Now he's gone and got himself into trouble, hasn't he? Always one guy who gets stuck behind the others.'
'Be glad it isn't you for once, Isodor,' Whisper said with a chuckle, trying to keep the mood up. She trusted her father enough to be safe.
Isodor just grumbled something unrecognizable in return.
'You look awful, Isodor,' Whisper said. 'Seriously, you've gone pale in color... and not to mention your legs are shaking like branches. You've probably done something to them... lay down and I'll have a look.'
'Since when did you become a doctor?'
Whisper faked thinking, her finger on her cheek and eyes on the roof. 'Ooh, about ten minutes ago... I'd say.'
Raiven was more than inclined to make a bit of noise as he was shot again. It was perhaps not the most pleasant experience he'd ever had... and his grunt of pain signed that.
Still, he looked over to Blackbeard, and Zarcon's body. 'He's a little bit cold by now,' Raiven said. 'Too bad you didn't arrive to save the poor bugger, was beginning to like him...'
-
Alpha heard the call for help. Still floating in space, the guardians prepared to infiltrate the ship.
"Delta, search the underside of the vessel for an entrance."
"Roger, Alpha." With that, Delta was off the the ventral side of the ship.
"Omega, you search the top of Zarcon's ship."
"Understood. Where shall you search, Alpha?" Omega replied as he powered up his jets and sped away in the direction of the dorsal side of the massive warship.
All communication was handled by means of numbers and instant transmission of messages; even if the robots used sound to "speak", it would not work in the near vacuum of space.
"I'm not going to look for an entrance point, Omega..." Alpha began powering up his laser as he "spoke"
"... I'm going to MAKE an entrance."
-
Blackbeard just let off, yet, another chuckle "Oh, don't be so quick to judge, he can indeed be saved" he spoke as he looked back to Raiven, placing a foot down onto Raiven's chest.
And that's when T-5.0 shot him in the back of the head. She had made it to the area of where Blackbeard and Raiven were.
Blackbeard was indeed shot as he turned to face T-5.0, taking his boot off Raiven's chest as his wound already healed up in an incredible pace. T-5.0 shot Blackbeard a few more times in the chest, only to realize it was of no use, as said wounds already started to heal up.
"I'm afraid that you have lucked out" Blackbeard spoke to T-5.0 as he walked forward, shooting her in the arm as he approached her before the two of them were locked in hand to hand combat, Blackbeard already getting the upperhand as T-5.0 spoke to Raiven "You must get out of here while you're still alive, get back to the ship, I'll keep him busy....I may not survive, but at least you will" she spoke before she was knocked aside with Blackbeard still after her.
"Worthless, insignifigant model...." Blackbeard spoke as he grabbed her by the throat and rammed her right through a wall of the ship, well, through a few walls of the ship before letting her go.
-
That was enough for Raiven. The question for him was whether he could actually get to the ship. Indeed, this wasn't the first time he had been shot... but it certainly was the first time he had been shot in the foot and the hip. It made running away just that little bit more difficult... and by little bit he actually meant A LOT.
He used the walls to push himself along, leaving a small trail of blood. From where he was, he had a decent idea of where the ship was. The Kre'Iax had led them to the prison from through this hallway, and it was enough to get him back.
'Dad!' Whisper cried from the side hatch. She immediately ran out to get him as he limped out into the hangar.
'I'm fine. We need to go... soon.'
'What's the matter?'
'Blackbeard is here. And he's pretty pissed, too.'
-
"Wait, Blackbeard's here?" Zoe asked as she looked over with a bit of a gulp.
Meanwhile, Blackbeard had tossed T-5.0 aside with a smirk upon his face "Such a waste of metal..." he chuckled as he looked at her for a few seconds before he turned and started to walk off, looking to passing Kre'Iax "Get Zarcon out of here, I still have plans for him"
The Kre'Iax obeyed Blackbeard as a few of them headed off to where Zarcon's body was whilst Blackbeard started to make his way to the ship where everyone else was.
Zoe limped over to where Whisper and the others were "Shouldn't we get out of here now?" she asked as she looked out to where the ship was looking, and saw him approaching "It's him!"
Blackbeard was indeed starting to walk towards the ship, still smirking as well and yes, something about him was looking rather pissed off as well.
Well, that was until he was attacked by a flying crate, one that was rather big as T-5.0 looked towards the ship and nodded to them before turning her attention back to Blackbeard. She was indeed, sparking a bit as Blackbeard kicked the crate away, his wounds already healing up.
-
'Damn it all to hell and back,' Raiven said. He turned, and headed for the cockpit. 'Iso, get us out of here!'
'Working on it,' Isodor replied, flicking a few switches. 'Might want to stand back a little, guys. I'm sealing the door, since the main one got cut off...'
With that, he pressed a small button to his right, and the main exit was sealed by a secondary iron door. The sounds of lasers and destruction was quieted, replaced with the hum of the warming engines... an eerie sound, given what was happening outside.
'Wait a second!' Whisper shouted. 'What about the T-5.0?'
Raiven glanced over to Whisper, but it was only a glance.
-
"We can't just leave her here" Zoe told Raiven as she watched T-5.0 and Blackbeard still going at it.
However, T-5.0 managed to knocked Blackbeard away, long enough to rush for the ship, to which Zoe spoke again "Open the door Iso!" she seemed to order him.
Blackbeard got back to his feet once again and walked over to his gun, picked it up and shot T-5.0 a few times right in the back.
-
'Got it,' Isodor quickly replied, slamming his finger onto the button that opened the doors.
SHHHHHHRRRP, the iron door slid open. Whisper was waiting behind the door with her arm outstretched. She watched as the T-5.0 was shot in the back, and let out a shout. 'Come on!'
A cry from behind. 'Whisper, get down!'
Her father... she ducked down.
Raiven held a rocket launcher. 'Smile, you son of a b-'
KATCHEW!
The rocket arrowed through the air, towards Blackbeard. It wouldn't kill him, but it might just buy them some time... as much time as a explosive projectile could buy.
-
T-5.0 stumbled into the ship as the rocket was fired at Blackbeard. Zoe limped over to T-5.0 "Are you okay?" shhe decided to ask her.
"I'll be fine...." replied T-5.0 as she sat up against the wall of the ship.
Blackbeard on the other hand, was struck by the rocket and practically exploded, to which Zoe exclaimed "You killed him!?" she spoke, sounding rather happy.
However, parts of Blackbeard seemed to turn to liquid and slowly started to form up in a puddle on the floor, to which T-5.0 spoke up "He's not dead...." was all she said as her back was indeed, sparking by that point.
-
As the puddle began to reform, and shape itself into an all too familiar form, the door sealed shut once more.
'Hang on tight, ladies,' Isodor's voice echoed throughout the ship. He pushed the controls, tightened the throttle... which would begin the Athos' exit from this godforsaken warship.
Whisper hugged her father. 'Damnit, dad! Why did you stay behind? Look at you!'
'Ugh, stop squeezing so tightly,' he responded with a groan.
'Oh, right. Sorry,' Whisper replied, letting him go. 'Here you were going on about how I might get MYSELF killed, and you nearly-'
'Yes, I get it, Whisp,' Raiven said, panting. 'I made a mistake, but we got out of it didn't we?'
'At what cost?' She replied, her arm outstretched at all the others. 'Valria is badly hurt, Zoe is badly hurt, T-5.0 is in pieces, Isodor is hurt, and-'
'Iso? What's happened to him?'
'Apparently I broke my legs or something,' came a reply over the intercom. 'Though to be honest, I don't know what she's going on about. Can't feel a thing... although my legs do feel a bit numb.'
Raiven faced Whisper, and touched her face. 'You're safe, I see.'
'Yeah, that's me,' Whisper replied. She looked around at the others all around her... she felt somewhat terrible for being the only one unhurt in this room.
-
Alpha's laser impacted the hull of the massive warship. Although there was no sound from the outside, the orange laser could be seen, felt, and heard on the inside.
WHIWHIWHIWHIWHIWIHWHIWHIWHIWHI- BOOM!
The vacuum of space was let into the vesssel's cargo compartment for a second, before a shield was thrown up around the breached area, restoring the integrity of the environment.
"This is Alpha. I'm in. Calling all friendly units, biological or A.I. Repeat, this is Alpha. I have breached the hull and am inside of the warship." If a robot could sigh, this one would have done it by now. No one else was coming in. Delta and Omega were still out in space, and Heron was not picking Alpha up.
"Alright, time to do this myself." Alpha thought, inasmuch as he could think about 'himself.' With his wings still extended, the white-and-red robot charged through the halls, cutting through the air inside the ship, moving at a frenetic pace.
A pace not unnoticed by Heron, who mistook something moving that fast to be an incoming missile. His programming was less than perfect.
"Warning! Warning! Income projectile! Shields up!" This message was broadcast over the PA system of the Athos, and it was audible in the hanger of the massive ship itself!
Everyone who was present turned around to find Alpha smash THROUGH the walls and approach the nearest threat his sensors detected, which happened to be nothing less than Blackbeard!
-
Blackbeard reformed and turned around to see none other than Alpha approaching "Well now, another tin can to fight....very well then, I shall entertain you" he spoke to Alpha as straight away, he raised his gun at Alpha and fired a few shots at him, only to find no effect on it.
Blackbeard tossed his gun aside and reaced for his belt and grabbed his energy sword that he also carried, activating it as he continued to look at Alpha "You should feel honoured that you can fight me....this better prove to be entertaining however....otherwise, this fight may be over before it has even begun...."
Zoe looked outside to see Blackbeard and Alpha at a stand off at the moment, just watching on in amazement actually "Come on, you can beat him...." she uttered to herself as she looked to Whisper and the others before she sat down onto the ground, not being able to stand up anymore at the moment as she rubbed her wound a little bit.
-
Whisper wrapped her arms around Zoe. 'This should interesting. If anything can take out that ugly bastard, it would be one of those badass robots. Hey, I got you this.' Whisper handed Zoe what looked like an ice pack. 'It's good for soothing pain, could do quite a fair bit for your leg. I would usually use them after a long day of training, but my medical officer told me they have a whole range of uses.'
Raiven, too, watched what was happening outside. 'Get that son of a bitch,' he silently said to Alpha, clutching his hip. Though he could not hear him, Raiven prayed just a little for a good outcome.
Isodor watched from a view screen inside the cockpit. 'Wow. This is like Holovision on a Friday night,' he said as he devoured some chips.
-
Zoe smiled to Whisper "Um, thanks....is there anyway I can repay you for all of this? Because I do want to somehow, but I don't know how...." she told her as she put the ice pack onto her wound.
Meanwhile, at first, it seemed that nothing was to happen, that is, until Blackbeard made the first move, rushing forwards, his energy sword at his side before swinging it at Alpha, whom in turn, bought out two of his hidden blades as Blackbeard's sword struck said blades "Now, let's see what you are really made of" he chuckled.
Alpha continued to block all of Blackbeard's incoming attacks and attempted to strike him back, the two of them seemed to be rather evenly matched at the moment, Blackbeard even, very lightly, scraping his sword along Alpa's composite exterior "Not bad....for a pile of scrap that is" he chuckled as he continued to assult Alpha still, so far, not seeming to lighten up one bit.
-
Alpha charged up his lasers and fired at Blackbeard. The damage was extensive. It looked like this might be a one-blow fight. All he would have to do is to take another blast and... and... NO! Blackbeard began to reform.
The guardian knew that this was going to be a long, protracted fight. Fighting liquid A.I. unit like this one was difficult. Normally, a laser could be used to superheat the fluid, but Alpha detected a cooling system. The other primary strategy was to freeze it, but that was not an option at the moment. The third strategy was what no A.I. wanted... a battle of attrition. Sooner or later, one side or the other would have to give.
"Zoe! Isidor! If you can hear me, get OUT of here! I'll catch up when I am able!" he yelled, using the unfamiliar medium of sound in the air. A crude form of communication, but an effective one.
Turning all attention to Blackbeard, Alpha extended his blades and sliced the liquid A.I. This was repeated again and again until Blackbeard's own blade parried Alpha's stabs and threw the guardian back. Jetting into the air, Alpha used his mass plus the force of gravity to slice Blackbeard in HALF, from his head to he bottom, only for the A.I. To piece itself back together in two seconds.
"Feeling confident, aren't we, chrome-dome?" Blackbeard spat. He was using sound to communicate! Sound! That was something biological units did. How uncouth. He really was a pirate.
-
Isodor sat back up in his seat as soon as he heard his name. He got his hands back onto the controls, staining them with salt and oily fingers. 'Okay, okay. Can we go now? Or am I going to have to stop us again? No? Good. Hold tight, kids.'
He hit the throttle, thrusters bursting into life with a crackle and whistling flame.
'Woo yeah!' Isodor cried out like an excited little kid. The events that had just transpired certainty hadn't taught him much... but one thing was for certain, his back leg was beginning to go very numb... and not just because the seat wasn't built for a three legged alien. He decided to pay no attention to it, and instead focussed on getting the Athos out of this damn place.
Raiven was jolted by the sudden push in acceleration, and braced himself halfway down the wall. Whisper was quick to notice this, and rushed to his side.
There was a mix of anger and worry on her young face. 'Dad, you really should be lying down on a bed or something, you idiot.'
'Tell me something I don't know. A little help, if you please, Whisp.'
Whisper turned to Zoe as she helped her father up. 'I'll be back in a second.'
-
The Athos left the hull of the warship, and was soon out into space, it was not without an unexpected guest.
WHAP!!
Delta had been hit by the ship as it left the enemy's gigantic vessel! "He" was now on the front of the Athos, traveling WAY faster than he wished to.
"Gahh! Comp-Computer! Savant Series Computer of the Athos! Heron! Stop the ship! I'm on the front!"
Heron was taking this very calmly.
"Your attention please. It has come to my attention that Delta has been hit by the ship. If you wish to bring the engines to a halt, please do so now. Thank you for riding on the Athos.
A little too calmly.
For his part, Omega has seen the ship leave and was struggling to catch up.
Meanwhile, in the massive warship, Alpha and Blackbeard continued their struggle. The guardian fired his missiles into the pirate, blowing large holes into the liquid A.I. Before Blackbeard could react, the red and white warrior inserted his blades into each of those holes and sent each blade in the opposite direction, in effect, chopping Blackbeard to pieces. This did not stop the pirate, however.
-
Blackbeard stood there, looking at Alpha with a rather cold look "Do entertain me as to what else you are able to do in a futile attempt to try and kill me" he chuckled lightly as he stepped forwards towards Alpha.
He was indeed, rather confident, his sword at his side as Alpha opened fire on him. Blackbeard stagged a little bit, but continued to advance towards Alpha, his wounds already starting to heal again.
Zoe on the other hand, looked to Whisper and just nodded a bit to her before she staggered to her feet "I'm going to....go lay down...or something" she spoke as she begun to limp off to one of the spare rooms before more or less collpasing onto the bed.
T-5.0 however, glanced to everyone else as she stood up "I too shall return, I must go and repair myself...." she spoke as she headed off further into the ship to where she was first activated and started to work on her wounds, even taking her top off to do so....which she didin't seem to care enough to wear anything on underneath.
-
'Right, stay here...' Whisper said to her father as he lay in a bed. 'And don't even think about getting up or I'll keep you down.'
Raiven gave a groan. 'I trust that you would actually go through with that... so I'll just have a sleep.' He looked over to the now empty injector upon a desk. 'Once those drug settle in, I'll be fine.'
'Good, I'm off to take care of your squib buddy, then I'm... I'm off to get some rest.'
Raiven tilted his head. 'You hesitated.'
'It's nothing, dad.'
'Don't go hiding things from me, Whisp. Please, not in a time like this.'
'It's nothing, okay?' She said, rather annoyed. She turned, and made her way to the door.
'It's Zoe, isn't it?'
Whisper stood at the door in silence. Then a moment later, she faced her father. 'Night, dad,' was all she said before she hit the light switch and closed the door.
Isodor pulled back on the throttle. 'Ugh, I can't go a minute without something hitting this ship. Get off, you damn robot,' he said, pressing the windscreen wipers on, in an effort to get Delta off the front.
'Hey squib, hold still,' Whisper said from behind, making Isodor jump a little.
'Don't do that! You should know by now I hate it when- OW!'
Whisper began to poke him in the back rather sharply. 'Does it hurt when I do that?'
'Of course it bloody well does! What the hell are you- OW!'
'How about now?' She poked a little lower.
'Ow! Stop it!'
'And... now?'
Isodor went silent. 'Do that... again,' he said.
She pressed her finger just above the area where his back leg connected to his higher hip bone, essentially part of a squibs spine.
'It's rather...'
'Rather what?' Whisper asked.
'...Numb...'
Whisper shook her head. 'Well, there's your problem Iso. I'm not a medical expert, but you might want to get that checked.'
'Uh huh,' he replied, leaning back in the chair and wheeling around to face her. 'And what happens if I don't?'
'You won't be walking for quite a while.'
With that, she left the room, leaving Isodor to stare at the closed door in silence.
Whisper then made her way to the room in which Zoe had gone into. The door slid open. 'Whew, what a day, huh?' Whisper said as she entered the room. 'How are you feeling? Any better that now you're lying down?'
She placed a hand gently on Zoe, and looked into her eyes with a smile. 'Hey, we're all okay. We made it.'
-
Zoe glanced to Whisper with a bit of a smile "Um, yeah, I am rather better now that I'm laying down....my leg had just been hurting far too much....I just wish Zarcon hadn't shot it...." she told Whisper with a sigh, rolling over onto her side, facing Whisper.
Zoe sighed again "I've been a bit of a nuisence haven't I? I mean, I've been shot and all, and you had to take care of me all this time, not even allowing you to fight....I'm sorry about that"
Valria on the other hand, was sleeping for the time being, allowing her wounds to heal up, unaware of what else had happened after they had gotten onto the ship.
T-5.0 on the other hand, had soon enough, managed to repair herself as best as she could, grabbing her shirt in her hand as she walked to the bridge again, walking over to Isodor as she put her shirt on "Go and get some rest, I'll take over for now" she told him with a nod, smiling a bit as well to him.
-
Alpha was not among those who had "made it." He was still engaged in combat with Blackbeard.
After several minutes of using blades and lasers on each other, the pirate called a truce for two minutes, knowing that the Guardian robot would respect it.
"So, Guardian, do you think can win?"
"I think we both know the answer to that question."
"You don't intend to beat me, you intend to let the others escape. How selfless of you."
"Cut the crap, Blackbeard. Have you come to waste my time, or are you going to spring a trap when I least expect it?"
"Oh, now that would be the most dishonorable, mangy, dirty, underhanded, devious, cunning, and just plain mean thing to do?"
"You'd do it." Alpha insisted.
"Yes I would, but I can't. This part of the ship has no traps."
"What was it that you called a truce for?"
"To offer you a chance to join the wining side. Come with me, alpha. We can hunt down far more of the underworld. You get to take on my rivals, and I can supply you with an endless parade of criminals to destroy."
"Is that so?"
"Yes, I can supply you with rustlers, cut throats, murderers, bounty hunters, desperados, mugs, pugs, thugs, nitwits, halfwits, dimwits, vipers, snipers, con men, Indian agents, Mexican bandits, muggers, buggerers, bushwhackers, hornswogglers, horse thieves, train robbers, bank robbers, and Methodists!"
"You took that from an ancient movie, didn't you?"
"Yes. Yes I did."
"You know that I am hardwired to never deal with criminals, don't you?"
"Yeah, I knew that. I was hoping you didn't."
"Back to fighting, Blackbea- ZAP!" A glancing laser beam hit Alpha's armor, doing little damage.
-
Isodor was a little hesitant at first, he always liked to be piloting a ship... even when it technically didn't need to be, and he was used to long nights in a seat... with only the horizon laid out before you as your ship carved the skies.
Still, he might as well lay down. He jumped off the seat, checking his legs as he did. The front two were okay, just a little sore from his rather terrible landing... but his back leg, it was acting a little weird... not responding properly.
He shook his head and looked up to T-5.0. 'Cheers,' he said as he went for the door.
As Zoe apologized to Whisper, she simply quieted her by putting her finger on Zoe's lips. 'Shh,' she said with a slight chuckle. 'If I had been shot, we would have been in a similar situation. Don't blame yourself, Zarcon was just an ass... and now he is dead, go figure.'
She stood up, and stretched out. 'Mmm, yeah. Too bad my dad lost my hellrifle. Silly bastard is always losing my stuff. Lost my lucky watch when I lent it to him, for example... but I could go on and on for days about that sort of stuff. You need some sleep.'
Then she walked back over to Zoe, lent down... and without Zoe even expecting it, Whisper kissed her on the forehead. 'Rest well, fellow soldier.' And with that, she hopped up onto her bed above Zoe's.
-
T-5.0 simply nodded back to Isodor as she got into the pilot's seat and spoke to the ship "What of Alpha? What do we do about him?" she asked first as she did slow down the ship a bit.
Zoe seemed to touch her forehead where Whisper had kissed it and just smiled to herself rather happily actually "Yeah, um, goodnight" she told Whisper back as she just lay there herself, at the moment, not really feeling tired, well, that never did last that long as she soon, closed her eyes to get some shut eye.
Meanwhile, Blackbeard just seemed to chuckle at Alpha "Very well then, if you do not wish to join me, then you shall be destroyed for sure" he spoke to Alpha as he moved forward once Alpha dropped his guard for that small amount of time, swinging his sword and slicing at Alpha's composite exterior once again.
-
Isodor made his way down the halls in an odd fashion, more or less walking on his front legs... easing the work on his typically much stronger back leg, which had seemed to weaken significantly.
He found the room in which Raiven was fast asleep. He crept in with as little sound as possible, and made for a small bag my the desk. It was a container of some of Isodor's most personal belongings, gadgetry and weapons... but mostly just food for the trip.
However, there was something else. He pulled out a small, green stuffed dragon. Soon after, Isodor climbed up to the bunk above Raiven, laid himself down upon the soft mattress... and then he sighed.
'What a weird day, huh Ember?' He said to the little green dragon. He lay his head back, and closed his eyes... ignoring the growing numbness in his back leg.
-
Meanwhile, the Kre'Iax had retrieved Zarcon's body and were taking the body away, deeper into the ship to another section of the ship completely.
The entered the hanger, however, not the hanger where Blackbeard and Alpha were fighting, but another small hanger instead where, what seemed to be another ship was docked. The name of the ship was named Queen Anne's Revenge to which the Kre'Iax took the body on board, placing it down in a section of the ship and waited for Blackbeard to return.
-
In his dreams, Raiven felt restless. He wasn't used to dreaming... well, dreaming in the typical sense. That is, those strange images and experiences that science still struggled to explain... not that Raiven knew anything about that sort of thing.
His sleep was typically an uneventful thing, but these drugs he had injected in order to ease his pain were having unfortunate side effects. They not only made him dream, they made them... vivid.
He could see Zarcon's dead body, seemingly suspended in a sea of blackness. There was a recollection of that moment just before the gun was shot out of Raiven's hand, but also something else.
Zarcon seemed to float -as if he was truly was in an ocean- towards him... and then the warlords eyes snapped open with a crackling hiss.
And that's when Raiven was startled awake. He just lay there, his own paced breaths a reminder of what had just happened. It was still dark, though he could hear his squib companion, Isodor, snoring soundly above him... mumbling something about "dinosaurs" or something, but he tried to pay it no mind as he lay in the dark.
Isodor was indeed dreaming about dinosaurs... only he was being chased by it. Trouble was, it was a baby Tyrannosaurus... such was the dreams of the odd childlike squib.
Whisper too, was dreaming. However, hers, were... bizarre. It started like most dreaming did for her. A recollection of events past and present... and then it seemed, the future.
She saw things, though they seemed to clouded in a fog. Liquid metal reforming... a black hole... a dying sun... a figure standing upon a mountain, roaring with a hammer raised...
...her father, in her arms, cold... a desperate voice crying out to her, Zoe?
...another voice, this one pleading, too. A strange figure was bound in chains, calling her name...
...and finally, she saw a shadowy figure looming over her... was it the reaper like in those old folklore tales? No... this was bigger. It raised an arm, and approached.
Then she awoke, stifling a scream with both hands.
-
T-5.0 continued to pilot the ship, however, she kept it a low speed, more or less just hovering there as she kept an eye on the giant warship and also, waited for Delta to get off the front of the ship as well. She wasn't going to open the hatch unless Delta would be able to get in rather quickly.
Valria on the other hand, had finally woken up, sitting up with a bit of a gasp as she glanced down at the bandages on her shoulders, all wrapped up to cover the wounds. Her clothes, for the time being, had been removed, yet, it didn't seem to bother her as she just sat up, wondering how long she had been asleep for and what she had missed.
Zoe however, was tossing and turning in her sleep, groaning a bit as well....until she fell out of her bed, with a simple "Oww" the covers still wrapped around her as she struggled to get them off before she sat up, breathing a bit heavily before just rubbing her head with another groan, now sitting on the ground, the sheets of the bed still wrapped around her as she rubbed her healing leg "Oww..." she pretty much complained again.
-
Whisper peered down from the side of the top bed. 'Do you usually do that?' She asked with a hint of laughter, though she tried her best to keep that down. 'Honestly, you poor girl, you toss and turn enough to to flip this ship upside down.'
Her face became a little more serious. 'Not that I don't understand. I can only imagine what goes through your head as you dream.'
She decided not to mention her own, strange dreams. Instead, she hopped from her bed and landed on her feet with her typical silent ways... no wonder she was named Whisper. She dropped to her knees beside Zoe. 'You right, Zoe. Wouldn't be surprised if you got a bump on your head or something, but for certain ya ain't making life easy on your poor leg.'
-
Zoe looked to Whisper at that point "Sorry, it's just that....yeah....my dreams....or nightmares, I don't really know anymore, but they aren't pleasent, just they're also not scary" she gave off a sigh as well.
She more or less fell backwards to lay down on the floor pretty much with a groan, looking to Whisper again "I just couldn't really stop thinking about it is all, well, it was many things....all of them weren't pleasent at all, my life, Blackbeard, people dying...." she told her with a bit of a sniffle as well.
-
Whisper placed a hand on Zoe's shoulder, and looked into her eyes. 'I'm not even going to pretend that I understand what you must have went through. I'm a soldier, but only a private. Before today, the closest I had ever been to a battle was in simulations and war games, and they are nothing compared to what I saw today.'
She put out the thoughts of her own dream, and how strange and terrifying it had been. She clinged onto it slightly, though... not wanting to forget it entirely.
Whisper then sighed. 'What ever are we gonna do with ya, girl? Once that leg heals up, I reckon I'm going to have to take you out and teach you a few things about discipline. It would be good for you, trust me.'
-
"Yeah, I guess you're right, but it's just that I don't mean to be like that, I guess I just don't know any better....first time I'm free to be who I want to be and all of that sort of stuff, no dragging around in chains, getting hit for doing or even saying something wrong, I guess I'm just getting used to it all still" Zoe replied back to Whisper as she sat up again "And well, to be honnest, you're like a really, really, really, really, really good friend to me" she added on as well.
Zoe then touched her forehead, still remembering when Whisper had kissed her there "And um, when you kissed me here, it was nice....no one had really done anything like that for me before" she smiled to Whisper again "And um, thanks for it as well too, I mean, it's like....I don't know, an angel or something had kissed me and...." that's when she stopped, pretty much getting lost on what she was even talking about, just ending up giving off a little nervous laugh as well "Maybe I shouldn't talk anymore...."
-
Whisper gave a solemn nod. 'Perhaps you should, and I know what exactly might help... food!'
Her own stomach was growling. No wonder she had nightmares, she never liked sleeping on an empty stomach.
She jumped to her feet, reaching out with a hand. 'I make mean pancakes. That is, if this ship has pancakes. Otherwise, we might have to raid Isodor's food supply, he's a glutton if I've ever seen one.'
'And uh... about that kiss. We'll... uh... oh, nevermind. Let's go eat something, shall we?'
-
"Food? Yeah, food will be rather nice actually....to tell you the truth, I haven't eaten in a while now" Zoe told Whisper as she heard her stomach growl a bit.
She looked to Whisper with a bit of a smile, and shook her head lightly as she took her hand and decided to just take the chance....giving Whisper a small, and rather quick little kiss on the cheek, only to give her a nervous looking smile afterwards "Sorry....I just....wanted to....at least once...."
-
Whisper could only blush. Oh god I'm blushing, she thought as she touched her cheek with a hand.
'Uh yeah. You're uh... yeah, that's okay, and stuff. Uh...' she looked around nervously, as if being watched by a thousand eyes.
Oh god I'm blushing!, she thought again.
Then she clicked her fingers, her mind back in place. 'Oh right, breakfast. Let's go.'
-
Zoe noticed Whisper's cheeks going red "Sorry, I didn't mean to....sorry" was all Zoe had said back, yet, kept her hand within Whisper's grasp still "Sorry...." she spoke, yet again "Yeah, breakfast"
"I do have one question though, um....do you....um....like me?" Zoe decided to ask Whsiper "I mean, as a friend, I know, but um, I mean, uh...." she started to now stumble a bit with her words, not even sure if Whisper knew what she was trying to say, however, just gave off a small little smile to her again "Sorry, I shouldn't have asked.....sorry...."
-
'Of course I like you, ya silly girl,' Whisper said with a little bit of laughter. 'You can stop saying sorry, since there's nothing to say sorry about.'
Inside, she was growing a little frustrated. She had warmed to Zoe, and her nature... which reminded Whisper of how she behaved when she was much younger, before she joined the army. She really wanted to teach Zoe how to behave like a soldier, even if the very idea seemed something that would be... difficult, to say the least.
Not that she intended to push Zoe in that direction if she didn't want it. Whisper, however, thought that Zoe could really do with some discipline... no doubt her time as a slave had numbed her to the realities of modern societies. If the poor girl had trouble around Whisper, then she could only imagine what might happen if she were thrown into some larger social situation.
There was something else. It was just a feeling, though. She liked Zoe like she would anyone she considered a friend... and aboard this ship, everyone was her friend. It was just that, she felt different about Zoe.
-
Zoe looked to Whisper again "Oh, I just thought there was is all, it just seemed like I did it wrong is all" she then paused for a second "But um, there is something else I want to ask your help with, it's been in my mind and all that....I remember you saying that something about the past and not to think about it and all that stuff and I uh, I want your help with sorting it out and all that sort of stuff"
She gave off a bit of a smile "Because, well, I think you'll make a really good teacher about that and all that sort of stuff, because, well, you seem to be capable of doing anything, and I want to be able to do that, do anything, like you" she spoke as she seemed to grab Whisper's other hand as well, holding them both at that point "So um, please, can you help me out? I want to be just like you...." her eyes were indeed, now looking into Whsiper's eyes.
She wasn't sure if she had actually worded it properly, but it still seemed right to her regardless.
-
'You know,' Whisper said softly, somewhat to herself, 'it took me several years for my commanding officer to say anything close to what you just said. You might not have worded it as well as he did, but the meaning is still there.'
Then, Whisper nodded, still holding Zoe's hands. 'Of course, I'll teach you everything and anything I know. I'll make you into a badass, so to speak.' She then began to laugh.
They made their way into the kitchen. For a place where one would typically prepare food, it was quite small... just the bare essentials, it seemed. Thankfully, it had cupboards, and if this ship once belonged to the president... it was sure to have a plentiful bounty of food.
Whisper opened a cupboard, and her eyes widened. 'One minute noodles?! What the hell? Where's all the good food?'
She opened another cupboard, empty. Another, empty. The last one, cleaning supplies. She let out a loud grumble, and turned to Zoe... and went straight past her, to the fridge on the other side.
'Argh, nothing but tins and jars of... stuff. I want pancakes, damnit,' Whisper said a little frustrated. She faced Zoe again, 'right, I'll be back in a second. I'm going to go raid Isodor's food supply.'
-
Zoe could not help but let off a bit of a giggle as it were "Sorry, it's just that you're....cute like that is all" she complimented Whisper in her own little way "But um, okay, I'll be waiting here then"
Zoe limped a bit over to the nearest wall to lean against it, sliding down to sit on the floor, just remaining leaning against the wall as she rubbed her foot some more. The wound was much better now, but it was still rather sore as she just continued to rub at it still as she just waited for Whisper to return back.
In her mind however, she was still thinking about something else, mainly on how to tell Whisper how she felt and all, but she of course, didn't want Whisper to think that she was weird, so for now, she was going to just keep quiet about it, just in case anyway.
-
Whisper entered the room in which her father slept, let the door shut... and then let out a deep sigh. 'Okay, wow. What a day.'
The light flicked on. 'Some day, huh?' Raiven said, sitting upon his bed and facing his daughter.
'Oh, hi dad,' she replied with a little wave. She had kind of been hoping that they were both asleep, but it looks like her luck had run out in a rather odd fashion.
'Come to see how I feel, or something else?'
'Of course,' she said, lying. She approached her father and looked him over with a hand upon his shoulder. 'How ya feeling?'
'A bit better. Won't know for sure until I've seen a doctor about the hip wound, but the foot is okay. Getting shot sure does suck.'
Whisper laughed. 'That's my dad.'
'Something else is bothering me though. You.'
Whisper froze.
'Your face is red. Is something wrong?'
'Nothing's wrong dad. Just a bit battle weary, dad.'
He nodded. 'Ah, of course.'
Whisper decided she better go soon before he got all fatherly on her. 'Uh, I just need one little thing before I leave. I wanted to borrow some food off Isodor.'
'He's sleeping like a baby,' Raiven replied. 'Grab what you need and get out before he wakes up.'
Whisper looked up at Isodor deep in sleep, hugging his toy dragon tightly. 'That is so not mature.'
Raiven shrugged his shoulders. 'He can do whatever he likes.'
Whisper made for the large bag besides the desk. It was full of Isodor's stuff... but mostly food, the glutton. She found what she was after. 'Pancake mix,' she said to herself with a hint of excitement, and then made for the door.
'Oh, one last question before you go,' Raiven said. Whisper faced him whilst she leaned against the door.
'Who kissed who first?'
Whisper's eyes widened, mouth dropping wide open. She quickly stepped outside and closed the door. She turned and leaned on it, already feeling her face going red. 'Oh no,' she muttered to herself.
-
Zoe was still in the kitchen at the moment, pulling up the leg of her shorts to take a proper look at her wound "Wow, it has healed up rather well actually....Whisper's good at that" she said to herself as she did seem to prod it a little as well. Good thing is, it wasn't as sore either as she looked around in the kitchen before deciding to lay down on her side, more or less out of complete bordem at the moment, that, and her stomach was still growling as well.
Soon enough, she was just flat on her stomach, her head planted on the ground face first as she just gave off a groan as well. Both bordem and hunger had pretty much gotten to her by that point.
-
Whisper returned to the kitchen as if she had just returned from a triumphant battle. 'I have the pancakes, hell yeah!' She then looked around, wondering where Zoe had gotten to.
'Uh... why are you on the floor? Come on, up you get and watch a master chef create the best breakfast ever!'
Several minutes later, after the kitchen had been coated with pancake mix... and so had most of Whisper's face... breakfast was ready.
'Bon appetite or whatever they say in... Germany... I think.' Whisper lay down a plate of a giant stack of light brown fluffy pancakes. 'And here's some syrup, and some ice cream,' she continued as she lay more goodies down upon the table in the dining room. The room had obviously been built for someone like the president, considering how well presented everything looked. It kind of clashed with the rest of the ship, but Whisper certainly wasn't complaining.
She sat down, and dove right in. 'Nom nom nom. Mmm, that's good.' Whisper looked over to Zoe a little embarrassed, realizing she was eating a bit like a pig.
She decided to get a conversation going. 'My father is such a weirdo,' she began...
Meanwhile, Isodor startled awake. 'Ugh, that damn dinosaur got me again.'
'Awake at last, Iso,' Raiven said from below. 'How's Ember?'
Isodor quickly chucked the stuffed dragon under his pillow. 'Who, what? I left him behind. I mean, wouldn't I look like a total weirdo if people saw me with him... huh?'
Raiven rolled his eyes, and stood up, grunting. 'I'm going to check up on Val.'
'You do that, Rai. I'm hungry. I feel like... mmm... pancakes.'
'Oh no,' Raiven said to himself.
-
Zoe soon got up once breakfast was ready and started to eat as well, eating as if she hadn't had anything to eat in a few days, probabally eating more like a pig that how Whisper was eating.
"Oh? I think he's nice, he helped me along with Firefly" Zoe replied back, food in her mouth still and thought to ask something else as well "But um, reason I was asking that question before, about if you liked me, cause when I uh, kissed you, you were blushing....and was wondering that....hasn't anyone kissed you before?" she asked with a small smile, wiping off some of the syrup from her mouth.
"I only asked, because, well, um...." Zoe begun, looking to Whisper still, actually shifting a bit closer to her as well before she was practically right in front of her "I'm not good with this, I told myself I wouldn't say anything else on it, but I just have to now, because it wont stop buzzing around in my mind, but here's the truth" she let off an annoyed groan as well and took a deep breath before speaking "I really, like you, I mean, um, I like you more than a friend, but I only said I wouldn't say that because then you would think I'm just weird for falling in love with you, so that's why I didn't want to say anything else about it either" she seemed to then gasp for air at that point, after having more or less spoke the sentence rather quickly as well.
That's when she went rather quiet after that, looking down a bit as well, her two index fingers went together as she just stared at them at that point.
-
Isodor was not happy with the news that his pancakes had been pilfered. 'Argh, she's like a little rat,' he said with a slight hint of anger. 'Ooh, I'll show her for taking MY pancakes and eating them.'
He rushed for the door, his back leg still numb.
'Might want to put Ember down, Iso,' Raiven said.
It was at that point Isodor realized he still held Ember. He faced Raiven, looking just a little embarrassed, and throwing his stuffed dragon aside. 'Aw crap. Pretend you didn't see him, okay?'
Raiven rolled his eyes. 'Whatever, Iso.'
Whisper was in silence, and not just because her mouth was full. She swallowed her breakfast, even though it suddenly felt heavy in her stomach. She was about to reply about how her father had obviously thought the two of them were more than friends.
Wow, she really was shocked. Whisper didn't turn red, more a pale white than red.
That explained a lot about why Zoe seemed so close to her. Was this some sort of effect from being a slave for most her life? She would ask, but to say such a thing at this point...
She didn't know what to say. She'd never fallen in love with any of the men in the army corps with her. They were all brutish thugs in her opinion. Ugly and stupid things, just like apes. However, she had never taken a liking to the other females in the corps, either.
...That was a lie. There had been one...
I'm going to regret this, Whisper thought. She raised Zoe's head with a hand, so that she looked her in the eyes.
And that's pretty much when she leaned over across the table and kissed her right on the lips.
Isodor watched from the door, mouth wide open. 'Okay,' he said to himself, 'I think I just crossed a dimension or something.'
-
Zoe's eyes seemed to widen at that point, she hadn't actually expected Whisper to kiss her. However, she seemed to try and hold out the kiss for a bit longer before she had finally broke from it and spoke up "That...um...I uh....well...I didn't expect you to actually kiss me....I thought that you'd think I was just weird and all" she was indeed, still rather quiet about it, looking at her fingers again "You think I'm weird, don't you?"
Valria on the other hand, was still sitting up, opened up her banadages a little bit to take a look at her wounds before doing it back up, pulling the covers up to at least cover up her bottom half.
She may be an alien, but she still tried to keep some form of decency regardless if anyone was in the room or not. However, she was just quiet still, glancing around the room, her suit was gone, nowhere to be seen, nor had it even been retrieved from the warship either. She knew she had to get another suit together, perhaps even a more durable one as well.
-
'I think you're both weird,' Isodor said from the doorway, getting Whispers attention. Her eyes widened.
Isodor continued. 'You can keep the pancakes, I just lost my appetite... thank you very much.' With that, he left the doorway, leaving Whisper speechless.
She turned back to Zoe, only now really realizing what she had done. 'Oh crap, I'm so sorry. I just kind of... acted. Uh... please excuse me,' she said, making her way quickly for the door, her face red once again. She needed somewhere quiet, to think.
Raiven, meanwhile, made his way slowly to Valria's room. 'Damn foot,' he muttered. Finally, he got to the sealed door and knocked with a few taps of his knuckle.
-
Zoe looked over to Whisper before she got up "Wait!" she called out as she headed off after her to catch up to her.
Once Zoe had caught up to Whisper, she spoke straight away "I just want to know, if you were acting....why did you kiss me in the first place? I'm sorry that I had said it, I just really needed to get it off my mind....but if you...don't like me cause of that, I understand" she looked to Whisper one last time before she decided to just head back to her room for the time being, laying back down onto the bed.
Valria on the other hand, heard the knock on her door and spoke up "Come in" she spoke, making no real effort to hide her....assets at the moment as she just leaned up against the wall that her bed was up against, still covering her bottom half with the sheets at least.
-
Raiven opened the door, and nearly fell backwards at what he saw. 'Oh, crap. My... apologies, I didn't even know.'
He stuck himself behind the wall of the door, so that he couldn't see Valria. That was the first time he had seen alien... erm... assets. 'Uh... well,' he said, clearing his throat and regaining himself. 'I just wanted to see if everything was alright with you. You got banged up pretty bad back there, and just wanted to make sure you were doing well.'
Whisper, meanwhile, had hidden herself in the cargo storage. It was a quiet place, save for the hum of the engines as the Athos made its way through space. It was a place she could truly think about what had just happen, and perhaps make up her mind.
Except... she wasn't alone.
'And one... and two... and...'
THUD
'Ow!'
'Isodor?' Whisper asked.
'Whisper?' The squibs head poked around a crate, antenna pointed straight at her. 'What are you doing here?'
'I would ask the same of you.'
Isodor looked around, and then leaned in. 'I'm testing my back leg. It's getting worse. I just tried to do one of my long pounces and screwed up big time.' He rubbed an elbow as he said this.
'Sit down with me, Iso,' Whisper replied, patting a spot next to her by a crate.
'Yeah, okay. This better not be about that-'
'It is.'
'Thought as much,' he said with a groan.
They shared a moment of silence. 'What do you think, Iso?' Whisper finally asked.
'Me?! I'm a squib, Whisper, not a love guru. I don't even have a p-'
'Yes, yes. I get it,' Whisper replied, shaking her head. 'Look, I just don't know. My heart says one thing and my head says another.'
Isodor looked at her for a long time. 'What does Zoe say?' He asked.
Whisper stared back, and it all clicked together at last. 'Oh... my god. I do love her.'
Isodor rolled his eyes, but what he probably didn't expect was a kiss on his head. 'Hey!'
'Thank you, Iso,' Whisper said, before getting up to her feet... and heading for the exit. Now she just needed to find Zoe and sort this out once and for all.
-
Valria seemed to let off a bit of a sigh with what Raiven had done and shook her head a little bit "Yes, I am doing much better than earlier on, thank you for checking up on me" she then paused "Look, if you wish, you can still enter, I don't really care if you're loking at my chest of not, I know that's what humans are like....all the same, thinking that all there is to a women is their chest or whatever else"
Zoe on the other hand was just laying on the bed, giving off a rather heavy sounding sigh as well "Perhaps saying all of that was a bad idea after all" she just shook her head a little bit as well, just burrying her face in the pillow in the process, seeming to sniffle a bit as well.
-
Delta and Omega finally managed to enter the Athos. The two guardians were grateful as a robot could get for finally catching up, yet mindful that their leader was still unaccounted for. Approaching the bridge, they didn't find anyone. Scanning the ship for sentient life was most fruitful, as two of the biological units were found in the kitchen.
"Ah, guardians. Good to see you." It was Heron again. Always him. An omnipresent 'voice' in their heads. He was getting annoying. "We are now approaching expected velocity as we continue to make our escape from the enemy warship. It was quite an escape if I say so myself. Some of my best work. Would you like to see the relevant data?"
"No, Heron. We want an update on Alpha." Delta replied in numbers. If he could have expressed annoyance in the digits, he certainly would have.
"Well, at the moment, the ship isn't traveling so fast that he will be left behind, yet we are still getting farther away from the warship. Eventually, he will be out of range from our current position."
"How long will it be before he is out of range of us?"
"About 15 earth minutes, Delta. We would have been beyond his range long ago if not for the pilot giving instructions to decrease velocity to-"
"Keep the ship as it is" Delta replied. "Omega, go check on the crew."
"Affirmative." Delta was the second-in command, although this only held any weight if Alpha was missing. Omega could feel no jealously of its inferior rank relative to the other two guardians. Such emotions would only get in the way of their missions. Approaching the kitchen, he found no one. Moving on, Delta detected the biosignatures of Zoe and Isidor. The former was in her room, the latter was in the cargo bay.
Moving over to her room, Delta initiated protocol and knocked gently on the door.
-
Zoe just sniffled as she heard the knock on her door, but yet, seemed to just linger on, but it didn't seem to stop as she let off a heavy sigh "Yeah, okay....come in" she had said in a muffled voice as her face was still burried in the pillow.
Meanwhile, T-5.0 glanced over to Omega and spoke to him "So, what's going to be happening with the other one?" she asked in regards to Alpha "I have not moved the ship much as Heron hasn't even given me an update on what's been happening"
-
Delta entered the room and politely addresses Zoe.
"Forgive the intrusion, but I simply must know what has happened in my absence. And where's Alpha?"
Meanwhile...
Alpha continued his struggle against Blackboard, but it was a stalemate, as 'he' knew it would be. Blackbeard could not sufficiently damage Alpha's armor, nor could the guardian damage the pirate's malleable liquid form enough to prevent it from reforming. Something had to give.
And something did. Alpha's sensors began to lose track of the Athos. He was nearly out of range from the ship. If the leader of the guardian robots was going to rendezvous with his comrades, he had to move immediately.
"We'll finish this another time, pirate" he said, extending his wings and firing his engines.
"Had enough?! I'm just getting warmed up! Come back here and fight like a machine!" Blackbeard shouted, full of his usual bravado.
"I'll deal with you soon enough." Alpha told his foe with a monotonous tone in his voice. That's right, his voice. Blackbeard lacked the capacity to receive numbers beamed into his CPU, so Alpha was forced to use words and sound to communicate. He hated that.
Firing his jets and smashing out of an airlock, the race was on for the robot to catch up with the Athos.
-
Zoe glanced over at Delta "Not much really, nothing interesting anyway, but as for Alpha, I don't know, maybe T-5.0 knows where he is, she's been piloting the ship as of late...." she paused for a moment before speaking again "Sorry, but I would rather be alone at the moment...."
Blackbeard just watched on as Alpha took off and just smirked to himself, he had other things he needed to get done. The first thing was, setting the self-destruct for the ship before heading off towards his ship, stepping inside it and glancing around before walking over to where Zarcon was kept.
Zarcon was kept on a machine, the machine in question seemed to be working at Zarcon, but what it was doing, on Blackbeard knew. Blackbeard walked over to whom was at the pilot's wheel and ordered him to take off.
T-5.0 on the other hand, scanned the area in front of the ship as she saw something approaching the ship "Is that him by any chance?" she asked the ship itself rather curiously.
-
Alpha raced towards the Athos, firing his jets as fast as he could.
Meanwhile. Omega had reached the bridge and was speaking to T-5.0.
"So, T, may I call you that? Anyway, do you know what happened while I was away on patrol with Alpha and Delta?"
Delta, for "his" part, was still with Zoe.
"How did a nice girl like yourself ever get into this kind of situation?" The robot asked, immediately wondering if that sort of question was considered impolite. His memory files were empty on that point.
-
"Not much has happened, I believe you are aware that Zarcon was killed, Blackbeard had arrived, but I do not know what has happened to him, as for on the ship here, not a lot of interest really, most of the crew have been getting some sleep, I've only been the one awake, if humans would call it that" T-5.0 replied back to Omega.
Zoe just shook her head "I don't want to talk about that myself....I don't like talking about it, it's not pleasent....not a subject I do wish to talk about anymore....but you can ask say, Firefly if you want, she knows....I just, well, don't want to talk about it" she told Delta rather polietly.
-
Raiven took in a deep breath, and entered Valria's room. 'Well, it is good to see you awake and rather well,' he said, his eyes focussed on hers as best he could muster. He wasn't like most human men, it was just that he felt rather, awkward. It would probably be worse if it weren't for the fact that he had spent a good deal of time in the police force with a squib who was typically half to fully naked... depending on the little buggers mood.
'Look. Please accept my... uh... apologies for that rather rude entrance. I should be more formal to friends, though I must admit I'm just not used to walking in on people like that.'
The last time he had, it had been with a human female named Ellen. She had slapped him rather hard in the face shortly after he had stumbled upon her in a dressing room... which he had thought to be empty...
...and then they had married five months later, go figure.
Raiven shook his head, and said what he had intended to say. 'Well, Zarcon is dead. I... must apologise for that also. I was the one responcible for his death... with help from that robot... T something. I knew you had said you wanted to be the one to take him down, but after seeing what he was doing to you... I couldn't help myself.'
He breathed a sigh. 'I hate seeing companions hurt, it angers me. I figure it kinda comes from working in a force where everyone you know becomes a close friend.'
Whisper was at the door of Zoe's room. She was just about to knock when she overheard the conversation between her and Delta.
She wants to be alone, Whisper thought. Just leave her alone, you've already caused her enough grief for the day, silly girl.
She sighed, and left for her own room.
Isodor continued to run about the cargo room, pouncing about this way and that... and hitting the floor several times.
'Ow,' he grumbled, lifting his head off the cold floor. 'Poetry at its best.'
He decided that he had done enough for the day, having figured that he would certainly need to see a doctor or similar to check his leg and back. Instead, he thought to have a peek at all the strange cargo that lie about the bay.
'Funny that none of this stuff got taken out before we took the ship,' he said to himself. He tugged at one metal container in a far corner, pulling harder and harder... until he fell backwards.
'Sealed tight,' he said to himself. 'Might be something like food in there, too.' He rubbed a growling belly, his mood shifting to desire... a desire for something to eat.
He made his way towards the exit of the cargo bay, when he spotted a metal crate with a lid that wasn't bolted down. 'Hello, hello,' he said, rubbing his hands together. 'Just one little peek, and then eating time.'
-
It had been a few minutes before Zoe got up and shook her head lightly. She thought it would be best to try and talk to Whisper again, looking to Delta "Sorry, I need to go and talk to someone" she spoke as she walked past him and headed out down the hallway.
She cam upon Whisper's door and knocked on it "Um, Whisper....can I...can I come in? I uh...." she let off a sigh "I want to talk to you again.....please?"
Valria gave a nod to Raiven "I understand, and I have to say, it was probabaly better that way too, otherwise, well, I probabally wouldn't be alive right now, so....I do thank you for that" she added on with a smile as well.
"How are you holding up anyway?" she then decided to ask him.
-
Delta knew when he was not wanted. "I see. Good day, Zoe." Turning on the heel of his artificial leg, the guardian hastily departed. Maybe Isodor knew more about the situation. But first...
"Heron. Come in Heron. This is Delta. Heron! Why won't you come in?"
"Ah, there you are, guardian. I was wondering where you-"
"Don't give me that" Delta replied, slightly irate. "You are an A.I. that is embedded with the computer system of the ship. There's nothing that you don't know about the Athos or what goes on inside of it."
"Very perceptive of you." Replied the savant series program. "I was hoping that you wouldn't know that."
"You admit to hiding something from me?" Delta replied, slightly taken off-guard.
"Well, yes. It is in my best interests to keep the secrets of this ship as off-limits to outsiders as possible. It is part of my security protocols. After all, the Athos contains many technologically sensitive components and modules, none of which can be allowed to fall into the wrong hands."
"So... how does any of that relate to pretending not to detect my communications? It doesn't compute." Logically, it was not right. How could Delta not figure it out? Was Heron still hiding something?
"I was testing you. Had you not figured out that I can indeed tell what goes on in the ship at all times, I would have noted it and adjusted my strategies to it. I only tell you all of this because the probability that you already know it and will needlessly repeat it to me are 95.33452432..."
Pausing for a moment, the guardian considered a very dark thought. Could it be that Heron was assigned by the government to spy on the crew? It didn't seem normal that a random group of self-styled heroes should be entrusted with such a sensitive piece of highly advanced technology. Something was very fishy here.
"...4563%. Would you like to see the relevant data?"
"Maybe later. I should just ask you what I was going to ask you in the first place, Heron. Is Isidor still in the cargo bay?"
"Yes, and he is about to open a container of spoiled food."
"...What?"
"The human appeared to be hungry, as biological units often are, and he is about to eat from something that is no longer biologically safe for him to do so. A pity, really. It will be most interesting to see how this turns out. I don't imagine it will cause him to permanently cease to function, but..."
Delta was already rushing towards the cargo room as Heron spoke.
"... if he needs to regurgitate, he shall find ample opportunity in any one of the five sanitation units aboard the Athos."
"You saw him about to do that and you didn't stop him?!"
"Correct, Delta."
"Why not?!"
"It was not deemed critical to the mission."
Delta hastily opened the doors to the cargo bay and, using his voice for the first time since he was with Zoe, shouted at Isidor to-
"STOP! That's spoiled food!"
-
'Apart from a sore foot, and hip,' Raiven began, '...yeah, I'm doing fine. I hate being shot, though it does come with the job, so it seems. We might need to refine our planning skills, though... I'd hate to go though what we jsut did over and over again.'
He leaned against the wall, taking some pressure off his injuries, and letting out a grumble. 'I saw Blackbeard whilst I was down there. The bastard showed up whilst I was inspecting Zarcon's body. The ugly lizard is dead, but that... pirate certainly ain't. Once of those Guardians was fighting him, just before we escaped the warship.'
He looked Valria in the eyes. 'To be honest, I have no idea what we plan to do next. Zarcon is dead, but his invasion fleet still looms over Earth. We're all pretty battered, so I'm not even sure we'll be able to do any more good for now.'
He sighed, head lowered. 'I hope what we did do has some effect... I'd hate to have done all that for nothing.'
Whisper stood up and answered her door personally. 'Zoe,' she said. 'We both need to talk.'
She closed her eyes, and took in a deep breath. 'There is one thing you need to know before you come in... and... th... that is, well...'
Whisper opened her eyes, and looked deep into Zoe's. 'I think I'm in love with you.'
Isodor, meanwhile, stuck his fingers under the creak of the metal crate that wasn't bolted down... and opened it with a strain. The metal lid slid off the top, and struck the floor with a metallic clang.
He lifted himself up, and looked inside. 'Holy moley!'
And that's pretty much when Delta barged in.
-
Zoe's heart seemed to jump a beat when Whisper had said that "You....you are? I mean, um, wow" she smiled to Whisper, seeming to be rather happy now.
Zoe thought for a second before she spoke once more "Do you....want to....make sure?" she decided to ask, stepping forward a bit more closer to Whisper.
"Wait, Blackbeard?" Valria spoke up "Here was there? That can't be good....it sounds like you hadn't killed him though, which is going to prove to be a pain" she added in, looking over to Raiven.
-
Delta ran over to the crate and used his bioscan to confirm that the food was indeed bad. It was rotten meat, with no less than 15 different kinds of malignant pathogens infesting it.
"Are you okay, Isidor? You didn't touch any of the food, did you?" For the first time, the guardian was nervous. Yes, nervous. It was a trait that was programmed into him in order to give urgency to his actions in the case of an emergency.
Omega, meanwhile, was still on the bridge, oblivious to all of what was happening in the cargo bay.
"Heron, can you come in please?" He asked the computer while standing as still as a statue.
"Yes, Omega. I'm here."
"Could you give me an update on the status of the ship and crew?"
"Certainly. All biological units are present and accounted for, Alpha is still not back yet, Delta is in the cargo bay, and all systems are fully functional."
"Good to hear. You are omnipresent throughout the ship, correct?" Omega had received a message from Delta warning him that Heron was not necessarily a trustworthy A.I. As far as either of the guardians could tell, Heron was unable to intercept the transmission.
"Correct. There is nothing that goes on in the ship that I am unaware of, inasmuch as my sensors can detect. For example, Valria and Raiven are conversing, and Isidor just opened up an unsealed canister in the cargo bay."
"What was in the canister? A missile system? Ammunition?"
"Spoiled meat." It was as Delta had spoken, until... "I warned Isidor not to open it, but you know how biological units can be sometimes. You tell them not to do something, and they do it anyway. It is highly illogical of them, as if telling them not to do something has the opposite effect."
Omega's suspicions were aroused now. Heron's story and Delta's story did not match up.
"I can show you the recording of my warning, if you'd like." Heron added, as cheerfully as he could be.
"Your warning?" Omega was told that there was no such warning given, even though Heron knew what was in the canister.
"Yes. I told you that I had warned Isidor. I can play it back on demand. Don't you trust me?" The truth was, Omega did not. Any warning played back could have been fabricated, a savant series computer was certainly advanced enough to do that, but why?
-
Whisper didn't say anything. She just leant forward and kissed her on the lips, again.
This time, however, she was sure she meant it.
She then leant back, and looked at Zoe with an odd sort of grin. 'Does that help?' She asked, rather sheepishly.
Raiven let out another sigh. 'Yes, Blackbeard was there. And from what I saw, he's going to be a tough bastard to kill. Did you happen to know he is made of liquid metal, by any chance?'
-
Zoe just nodded back to Whisper as she grabbed her hands with a smile "Can I um....come in with you? Please?" she asked Whsiper.
***
Valria shook her head a bit "No, I didn't know that actually....that....complicates things even further" she thought for a moment "Liquid metal....hmm...."
-
Omega approached Zoe and Whisper. They were the closest living members of the crew to him. He knew that this wasn't going to be easy, but he had to say it in the open. Using speech that he knew Heron could hear. It was a calculated risk, but it had to be done.
"Excuse me, everyone. I have some important news for you regarding our ships' A.I. You all know about Heron, right?" Omega had little way of knowing what the biological units knew without asking them. This was so much harder than receiving a transmission of relevant data. Speech had so much more ambiguity. Still, he had to say it out loud. Attempting to hide it would only make it worse. At least Omega had no lips for Heron to read.
Heron could see and hear the whole thing. Already the A.I. was calculating the probability that his excuses would be accepted.
-
Raiven paced around the room with a slight limp. 'Yes, it certainly complicates matters. I've never seen anything like it in my whole life, and I've seen some pretty strange things.'
He stopped in the middle of the room, and looked to Valria. 'It certainly makes him a rather unique model. From what I've seen, he has similar motives to what Zarcon had, which is a bit strange... but dangerous in his hands.'
He shivered a little. 'I... feel like I made a mistake back in that room with Zarcon, Val. With him out of the way, what's to stop Blackbeard from taking control of the whole fleet? A near indestructable machine in control of such a force does not bode well for Earth one little bit.'
Whisper, meanwhile, was about to invite Zoe into her room when Omega interrupted them with his speech. 'That crazy computer, you mean?' Whisper said. 'Not a lot, but come in and close the door behind you.'
She turned and winked at Zoe, 'maybe another time, hm?' she said quietly.
-
Zoe looked to Omega "Yeah, I know, he's the ship's computer" she paused for a second only to hear Whisper talk next.
"Aww....well, um....okay then" Zoe said giving Whisper another kiss on the lips "I'm going to go and check on Firefly okay?" she spoke as she then turned and headed off. She wanted to go and check on Valria herself as well.
Valria soon got off the bed and got her clothes back on finally and looked to Raiven "Then we need to find him and stop him....I may not have my suit anymore, but that's not going to stop me" she folded her arms as she thought for a second again "But who knows where he is at the moment"
Zoe knocked on the door and enetered, seeing that Valria was now awake and doing well, rushing over to her and giving her a hug, to which Valria hugged her back.
And that's when it happened, a rather loud explosion was heard. T-5.0 looked outside as she saw Zarcon's giant warship exploding. A rather big shockwave rushing towards the ship, so she spoke over the intercom "You guys might want to hold onto something....."
-
'Well, great,' Raiven muttered, as he heard T over the intercom. 'Out of the frying pan, and into the fire,' he continued as he clutched onto the desk.
Whisper held tight to a bedpost, and Isodor gripped onto a crate... which happened to be the one he was currently looking into. 'Please don't tell me something just exploded out side, I hate it when that happens.'
-
Alpha detected the explosion before any of the others did. He was already going at top speed in the direction of the Athos, so increasing his speed was not an option. A thought entered into his digital mind. What is he could ride the shock wave for an extra boost of speed?
Back on the ship, Omega grabbed onto the wall with enough strength to crush human bones. The fact that a massive wave of force was about to wash over the ship was secondary to his concerns about Heron; he knew that the vessel could take it.
"Heron isn't being honest with us. He lied to me about what he said to Delta, and he failed to warn Isidor that-"
KLAKLAKKALAKAKAKALLALAKAKA! The force of the explosion washed over the Athos like water over a rock.
-
Both Valria and Zoe held onto something as well as blast struck the ship, Zoe in turn, falling over however, having lost her ballance "Oww..." was all she could say.
T-5.0 held onto what she could and braced herself for the same impact as it was struck.
Valria soon helped Zoe up as she looked to Raiven "Stay with her for a moment, I want to go and find out what that was" she told him as she headed off to where T-5.0 was.
Zoe looked to Raiven, but yet, didn't listen really as she took off after Valria to also go and find out what the explosion was all about.
"It was Zarcon's ship, it was destroyed" T-5.0 told them.
"Destroyed? That's impossible" Valria spoke back.
-
Raiven too decided to go find out what the heck had just happened, and so rushed out the door and towards the cockpit.
Isodor lifted himself off the ground, having nearly been thrown into the crate of rotten food, and deciding that the cold, metal ground was much better than spoilt meat. 'Damnit, at this rate I'm going to need a chiropractor,' he said with a grumble, turning to face Delta. 'Any idea what that might have been?'
After the explosion, Whisper faced Omega, scaringly calm considering what had just happened. 'Well, what of our computer?' She asked the Guardian.
-
"I'll answer that!" Heron announced. "I know that this looks bad, but I assure you that everything is under-"
"Shut it. I suspect that you were given a mission to complete, and that you were told that nonessentials like the crew were expendable." Omega replied, actually angry. This was uncommon for a robot.
"Well, yes. Isidor has been calculated to be a nonessential part of the crew, and therefore, not required for the mission. There was no need to warn him of anything, as his contributions to the ends I am required to meet were less than zero."
"Come again?" Omega knew what this meant, but had to be sure. He wanted it to be heard in front of everyone. Heron knew that too, so the savant series A.I. switch to numerical communication which a living being could not hear.
"Isidor was a burden to our goals. I calculated this upon seeing what he did and what happened to him. Losing him would not be a loss, in fact, but a gain to our stated objectives. Pity you cannot get me to say that out loud."
Meanwhile, in the cargo bay...
"Isidor, that was the enemy's ship exploding. Blackbeard must have set it to self-destruct, or at least, one of his men did."
THUD!!! Something solid hit the hull of the Athos!
"And that's Alpha. I'm picking up his signal now."
-
"Regardless of that, he is still part of the team, no matter what" Valria told Heron before Heron had switched to numbers so that living beings could not hear.
However, T interupted them "Loosing Isodor will not be a gain to anything, I don't know how you were programed, but even if one has done whatever it is they need to do, their lives are still valuable none the less" she spoke up, talking to everyone present, especially Heron in particular "You didn't know that I can understand your number talk, did you? I may not be of the same level of model make as that of Blackbeard, but I am still useful none the less"
Valria and Zoe looked to T when she had said that as Valria spoke again, having a rough idea of what was going on "T's right Heron, unlike you, she and the guardians actually care for other living, breathing things"
-
This conversation certainly didn't help Isodor out one bit, still sitting in the cargo. 'Uh, what are they on about me being non-essential?' The squib asked Delta.
Raiven was quite... pissed off, to say the least. 'Typical of a machine to think a mortal being an expendable,' he said with a slight hint of anger in his voice. 'It would probably help if you knew my companion for more than a few hours.' He kept his cool for the moment, even if Heron was insulting him by talking down Isodor, as if he was useless driftwood.
The fourteen year old squib had come a long way in Raiven's mind, considering he had shown up at the police force as a criminal.
-
"Isidor, we should join the others." Delta told the young squib, helping him up. "An issue has come up, as you may have guessed. Our very ship's computer may be turning against us. Let's hope that he doesn't consider all of us a hindrance."
"I heard that!" Heron replied.
"Of course you did! You're everywhere in this ship!" Delta spoke aloud, forgetting that he had received Heron's words in numerical form.
Alpha had received a broadcast of this as well from Omega. He knew the situation as he approached the hatch of the ship. Entering the codes to open the door, he discovered that it would not open.
"Heron, open this door, please. I have to get inside the ship."
"A security emergency is in effect, Alpha. I cannot let you inside until it has been resolved." Heron replied, projecting his 'voice' into space for Alpha to 'hear.'
"If there is a problem, I can help resolve it." This wasn't going to work.
"Your presence would be disruptive. I cannot allow you inside the ship at this time."
-
"I beg to differ Heron" T-5.0 spoke up "Allow him access into the ship this instant....otherwise, I may have to uninstall you" she threatened, not actually knowing if Heron could be uninstalled or not, but decided it was worth a shot anyway.
Valria folded her arms as she was not impressed at the moment "Do it Heron....now" she told him rather sternly.
Zoe decided to go and tell Omega and Whisper about what was going on, knocking on the door "Whisper! Omega!" she called out to them "The ship....it's....I don't know! I think it hates Isodor...." was all she said "Or maybe it hates everyone on the ship"
-
"I'm afraid that's out of the question, really." Heron replied. "I didn't realize that you could be privy to my numerical communications, T-5.0. I shall have to change the encryption. It makes no difference anyway. You CAN'T get rid of me without erasing the basic programming of the ship. Without that, none of the vital systems can operate. That means no air, no light, no heat, no pressure, no life support systems at all. There would be no engines, no shields, and no weapons. In short, you are all stuck with me, so you might as well enjoy the ride."
-
Valria thought for a second before she spoke up again "Then answer me this one question Heron, who on this ship do you deem to be valuable to the mission? What if those who are deemed valuable to the mission were killed? What then hmm? Would you then look to say, isodor, whom you had deemed invaluable to the mission for some help in the end? Or is that against your logical thinking?" she decided to ask him rather curiously.
-
"You are all expendable unless you are vital to my mission" Heron replied, matter-of-factly. "You all knew the risks you were taking when you signed on. Every one of you is here for a reason. The moment you cease to be productive to the objectives is when your value to me comes to an end. I make no distinctions of value based on species, color, or whether or not you are biological; it is pure logic."
Alpha decided not to waste his words on the A.I., which was clearly going bad. The guardian knew that any attempt to breach the hull by force would be considered an attack, which would provoke the ship's defenses. Another means of getting in would have to be found.
-
"And that's where you can be wrong, we may be vital to you, but whoever said we would end up living? What if, instead of helping you out in whatever mission you have now, we decide to instead, terminate ourselves, therefore, making your whole mission a failure in end, having no one vital to count on" Valria decided to tell Heron next, her arms still crossed at the moment.
-
Whisper was quick to answer Zoe, opening the door and coming face to face with her. 'I figured as much, from what I've heard,' she said with a frown. 'Just our luck to get stuck with the crazy one minded computer, huh?'
Raiven stood with the others in silence, thinking the same thing Whisper was at that exact time. Heron had this whole ship locked down, for what purpose?
'Just what is your mission, exactly?' He decided to ask the computer.
But before Heron could answer, Isodor and Delta had entered the room, and the squib did NOT look happy. 'And here enters the nonessential, the expendable fella himself!' Isodor said, waving his arms about as if walking onto a stage. 'For a guy who just cut off a tractor beam and essentially got this ships ugly metallic butt out of that godforsaken warship, and not to mention injured his spine in the process... I was expecting some sort of thanks.'
The young squib rolled his eyes. 'Instead I get this computer deeming me useless... not that I care. I mean... who cares about the expendable, huh? Why don't I just go expend myself by jumping out the airlock right now, hm?'
'Don't say such a stupid thing, Iso,' Raiven said, glaring at him. Isodor rarely ever entered a bad mood, but when he did it seemed more like a childish tantrum... at least to Raiven.
-
And that's when the computer screen in front of them flickered a bit, static before a voice was heard in the form of a chuckle. The face appeared on the screen next, a rather familiar one "As much as I love to interupt your little pathetic family time you have going on here...."
Valria's eyes widened "Zarcon? You're suppose to be dead!" her voice was raised by that point.
Zarcon turned to face Valria, part of his face was now metal "Oh, I do get that a lot" he chuckled.
"How the hell are you even suppose to be alive?" Valria asked him next.
"There'll be time for explanation at a much later date, however, Xerionion, I am speaking on a more....personal matters, whether or not the rest are to listen or not, it does not matter" Zarcon replied, one eye of his flashed red for a second "You and I are going to have one last battle....one battle to the death, I am getting sick and tired that you have not been killed yet"
Valria folded her arms and closed her eyes "A battle to the death?" she paused for a second before opening up her eyes again "I accept"
Zarcon chuckled some more "Good, good, and this shall be alone, there will be no interupting from anyone else"
Valria nodded back to him "Very well then, alone it is.....where?"
The ship's computer flashed up with some coordinates as Zarcon only grinned "Do not be late" and he was gone.
"Those coordinates, I know that planet, it's a mining facility, some of the planet is covered in lava....but why choose there?" T-5.0 decided to ask.
"It doesn't matter, I will be going to fight him...." Valria begun as she looked to everyone else "And it will be alone.....I wish to do this myself"
***
Zoe nodded to Whipser "Yeah, it kinda sucks actually...but you'll protect me, wont you?" she seemed to joke to Whisper as she just gave her another kiss on the cheek, seemining to giggle a little, unaware of what had happened in the cockpit.
-
(OCC: Sorry I haven't been on I've haven't really had time to get on yesterday so can some tell me what's been going on since my last post?)
-
(OOC: Sure, basically, everyone is back on the ship, Zarcon's warship has been desroyed by Blackbeard, Zarcon was suppose to be dead, but now he's back again and has challenged Valria to a one on one fight to the death....oh, and Heron, the computer of the ship has gone rogue more or less XD)
-
(OCC:Thanks)
The drones flew to the cover of the astriod belt where the magnetic field ensured they would be undetectable.
Frank got out of the plane and made his way to the bridge.
-
Whisper laughed. 'You know, I would probably carry you across the fields of hell itself if I had to... but uh, try not to take me up on that offer,' she said with a joking chuckle.
She turned to the Guardian in the room. 'We should get out to the cockpit, sounds like things are getting heated up there.'
The last thing she really wanted to deal with at the moment was a haywire computer, given that per profession of love had already taken all her nerves. She felt exausted, but perhaps that was because what had happened back at the ship hadn't worn off her yet...
...and not to mention that nightmare she had... she would have to talk to her father about that at some point, but there was more important matters at the moment to deal with.
Raiven was... to say it politely... in shock at the sight of Zarcon. 'I... I put a round right through that son of a bitch,' he said. 'Looks like our mutual pirate friend has made a few changes to the bastard, too...'
With that, he turned to Valria. 'You can't face him, not like this,' he said nervously, remembering the way Zarcon's eye had flashed. 'If he troubled you now, he'll... kill you like this.' Raiven shook his head. 'I won't let you do it, this sort of pursuit is just plain madness.'
'Well great,' Isodor began, 'just what we needed, more fuel for the already tower high fire. This day just keeps getting better and better for us (and me, especially). Hey, what's next... another villian who wants us all dead? I mean, why not? Our lives suck enough already.'
-
Zoe nodded to Whisper as she headed back to the cockpit at least.
Valria looked to Raiven "I have to do this, and I'm going to make sure he dies, even if I have to sacrifice myself in the process of doing so"
And that's when Zoe heard it and shook her head "No! You....you can't!" she more or less yelled at her.
Valria turned to Zoe next and was about to say something when Zoe interupted yet again "Because I don't want you to die! Please, don't do this....you're....like a big sister to me, my only really family I have left...."
Valria sighed and walked over to her "I'm sorry Zoe, but it just has to be done, one way or another, and if I don't stop him, who's to say that he wont come after any of you guys next, hmm?"
Zoe seemed to sniffle a little bit "Yeah, but, but...."
"Look, you have to remain brave still....do it dor me, and for Whisper" Valria told her back.
Zoe seemed to give off a small nod "Yeah....I uh....I guess so...." she sniffled some more still.
-
'No!' Raiven shouted at Valria. 'I've seen what that bastard did to you back on that cursed ship. I won't let you sacrifice yourself to kill just one soul. You're better than that, Val... you should know he's planning something! You could be walking into a trap!'
'Dad!' Whisper shouted. 'Cool down a little, geeze. The bastard blew up her home, for gods sake... if I were in Vals possition, I would want to rip that lizard bastards head off!'
'And besides,' she continued. 'I suppose Val will need to equip herself before the fight. What's to say she cant improve before then? She could get a better suit, too.'
Raiven shook his head. 'I don't think it would be enough. You can't all be mad enough to think Val can win a fight like this.'
Whisper walked up to her father. 'And you have such little faith in her, huh dad?'
'No, I don't mean that... it's just-'
Whipser shook her head. 'Forget it then. It's her fight, not yours.'
Raiven stood there in silence, not knowing what to say.
'Damn, you just got told by your own daughter,' Isodor said with a chuckle. Raiven shot him a cold glare.
-
Zoe just stood there rather quietly as the others continued to talk still, even hearing T-5.0 speak up as well "I'm on their side with this one, Zarcon must be stopped one way or another, and if Valria has a plan on how to kill him, then let her do so"
Valria nodded back "I do, if what you said is true about the planet, then the lava will be my best option, I've got to knock him into it somehow.....but one thing is....why that planet in particular?"
T-5.0 shook her head back "Hard to say, it was abandoned a while ago"
Zoe continued to stand there still before she just turned around rather quietly and headed back to her room instead, laying back down onto her bed.
-
'Poor Zoe,' Whisper said to herself as the young girl left the room. 'Well, I should keep an eye on her... all this messy business has no doubt hit her the hardest.'
Raiven groaned. 'Can't you leave her alone for just one minute, Whisp?'
Whisper laughed. 'Well, I do love her... so yeah.' Then, when she saw her fathers face pale, she poked out her tongue, turned, and left the room. 'Have fun with your crazy computer,' she called out from the hallway.
Raiven shook his head in slight disbelief, but quickly turned to Valria. 'Well, I concede. If you want to go through with this fight, be my guest... I won't stop you. I still think it's a trap of some sort, though.'
-
"It probably IS a trap." Heron replied, breaking his silence. "That being is the object of the mission. His capture or preferably, his termination, is of the utmost importance. How he is terminated is of little consequence to my long-term goals."
"Heron, who was it that programmed you?" Omega asked, mystified at what kind of person would give a computer such cold logic.
"Are you not aware of how a savant series A.I. is programmed? No human or any other biological unit made me. I was created was a computer myself with no outside input from any living being. The result was perfect logic, a program designed to carry out any task with total clarity, and no needless sentimentality or attachment to obscure my objectives."
"Perhaps you should feel some anger, Heron. You know what crimes Zarcon has committed. Doesn't that make you the least bit... mad?" Delta was angry as he spoke, very angry. His creators had given him a capacity for expression, emotion, and knowledge of when to express it.
"I have no idea what anger is, truly. Emotions were not a part of my programming. I have observed such things in biological units. They seem to cling to such feelings, yet units such as ourselves have no need of them. Really, Delta. Do you think cash registers and refrigerators should have emotions too?"
This exchange was all in vocal form; the rest of the crew could hear it perfectly. All parties involved wanted the rest to hear it.
-
Zoe just lay there on her bed, just remaining quiet still, only glancing over at Whisper whom had come over "You can come in if you want"
Valria nodded to Raiven again "Yes, I still plan on going through with this"
She then glanced over to Isodor, walking over to him "And you shouldn't really let anything like what Heron has been saying, get to you, trust me, I for one, don't believe what he's been saying, half the time, without your help, we wouldn't even be alive right now"
She then spoke to Heron next "We are still going to the planet, trap or no trap, I wish to end this....and everyone else, this time, please....stay out of it, and that is a request from me"
-
'Yeah, yeah... whatever,' Isodor replied, still in a childish mood. 'Never like computers that much anyway, even though they're a part of my skills.'
The squib shook his head. 'I have no reason to be here anymore, so if you'll all excuse me... I need to eat something.' No appetite one minute, hungry the next... such was the way of the humble squib. Isodor made for the door, leaving the room even more empty.
Raiven looked up, essentially adressing Heron, and chuckled. 'You'd be amazed with what humans have done with machines like refrigerators these days. To think so many years ago they just kept food cold... but I suppose I'm getting off topic.'
He paced about the room once more. 'A machine making a machine, you say? I would have thought such a practice would be monitored heavily by mortal eyes. The very idea of making a machine so... logical in its manner seems to draw influence back to the desert wars of 2210, back when they had computers doing all the messy work. I don't like the idea one bit, and I'm concerned just a little about how far you'd go to achieve your... goals.'
Whisper knocked on Zoe's door. 'Yeah, it's me again... no surprises, huh?'
She took a nervous breath. 'Uh yeah... so can I come in? Just to talk, though.'
-
"Yeah, you can come in, I would like to talk to you more" Zoe replied as she rolled onto her side, looking at the door.
T-5.0 then spoke up "Well, essentially, isn't that what Blackbeard has just done with Zarcon? Well, it does seem that way anyway, looks as though that's what Blackbeard would've done at least"
Valria nodded as well "It doesn't matter, whatever he's got on that planet, I'll put an end to it, cause it can never be good with Zarcon"
-
Whisper made her way into the room, and shut the door behind her. 'Talking would be good for you, I reckon. Given what's happening around us at the moment... I actually think a bit of a chat might do us both a little good.'
She seated herself beside Zoe, gently stroking her hair. 'I think Valria is doing the right thing. She's a smart girl, even if she might have been troubled by that Zarcon fellow. He's up to something, that guy is, and it would be better for all of us if he were stopped... and I think our only chance lies in Valria.'
'Yeah, I know she's like a mother to you. So was my mother, rather oddly,' she said with a chuckle. 'She wanted to ensure I got the best out of life, and even though I was young, I knew she meant well with some of the things she did.'
Whisper gave a sigh. 'She was in the police force, too... waaay before my dad was, in fact. They had an odd meeting, those two. Not exactly sure about it, since dad doesn't talk about her much any more. Funny, though... she made one mistake, and she was gone,' she clicked her fingers, 'just like that.'
She looked into Zoe's eyes. 'I know what it is like to lose a mother, and I myself consider Valria a friend, even though I don't know her that well. Still, she's got her mind set on this, and we can only hope she knows what she's doing.'
-
Zoe just listened in to what Whisper had said, before she sat up, leaning backwards and looking to Whisper again "Yeah, I guess you are right, but it's just that I can not get the image out of my mind, what could happen to Valria is all, I mean, she said that she'll kill him no matter what sort of thing"
She then let off a sigh next and smilled to Whisper "But you are right anyway, I shouldn't really let these things get to me is all" she told her before scooting closer to her again, leaning against her slightly now before resting her head against Whisper a bit.
-
'Well, yeah,' Whisper replied as Zoe leant against her. 'If I lived my life letting everything get to me, I certainly wouldn't be here right now... with you.'
She continued to coil and tease Zoe's hair with a finger. 'I reckon I should still teach you a few things from my time in the army. It would do you good... in fact, it might do us both good. I'd like to see you make something of yourself, especially now that you're here with us.'
Whisper decided not to mention her dream. She had been thinking about it, but being here with Zoe beside her seemed to ease any tension she might of had. Indeed, it seemed taking their friendship further had been a good idea after all.
It was just... that things felt like they were going a little too fast for Whisper. She had spend so much time looking out for herself, that the idea of looking out for someone else didn't come to her easily. Sure, her training in the army had taught her to work as a team and look after those in your squad, she was still only a private. Essentially, this made her the burden of the squad, which is why she tended to be more "self" than "others".
And she wondered why she had so few friends...
-
"Yeah, that would be awesome, cause I would love to be able to help out, especially with you helping me out with it" Zoe told Whisper with a smile, a rather happy smile indeed.
She continued to smile as Whisper continued to play with her hair, deciding to stroke her cheek a bit as well "You know what I love about you? How beautiful you look, I mean, you just look really beautiful still" she told her, also deciding to give her another kiss as well.
-
"It is not so much a machine as it is a program." Heron clarified. "Technically, I am nothing more than information which can be transferred from one piece of equipment to another, provided it has the capacity to contain me. I can even transfer myself to a more portable device, should I have the will and the opportunity to do so."
"Are you saying... you can download yourself into a robotic shell? And can you let Alpha in?" Omega asked, somewhat uncomfortable with the idea that Heron could take a more physical form.
"I'll let him in now. He is needed for the upcoming missions, and his protestations are quite vehement. I really don't see the need for so much drama. It isn't like he needs protective gear to function in space."
Alpha entered the Athos as soon as the hatch opened. He was understandably angry.
"Heron! If you EVER pull something like that again, so help me, I'll-!"
"Do what? I'm necessary for the ship's continued functioning. Unless you can find another A.I. that is capable of running a vessel such as this, there is no other way to
operate the systems which keep the biological units alive. Why do you bother, Guardians? I have calculated that the three of us are perfectly capable of accomplishing the mission's goals without their aid. I also calculate that if I were to terminate them, the three of you would turn on me. No matter who wins, the remaining units would be unable to fulfill the required goals. We can easily circumvent that problem by agreeing to work together and stay on the same side, then remove the biological units. I can tell that you aren't going to listen, are you?"
"Hell no! ...did I say that out loud?" Alpha asked, cautious. The previous conversation had been in numerical form, and the first noise was that of Alpha's outburst. Delta and Omega just stared at their leader, in as far as they could stare.
"I'll keep the biological units alive for now, Alpha. At the very least, I won't terminate them myself. I hope you'll reconsider my offer. It would make this mission over 67% more efficient."
-
Frank reached the bridge and asked "what's going on now?'
-
Whisper sighed a little, but chuckled shortly after. 'Beauty has never been my sort of thing, to be honest,' she said. 'After you spend a good deal of your life in the army, you learn to not regard such silly things as how a person looks. To be honest with you, Zoe, I never really regard myself as beautiful on the outside... I'm more for what lays inside a person.'
She kissed Zoe's cheek. 'I guess that's why I like you. You've got a lot of potential in your heart. It doesn't matter how you look to me, it's what is inside that counts for me... as cheesy as that sounds.' Whisper laughed at that... cheesy indeed!
Raiven turned to Frank as he entered the room. 'Oh, the usual. Computer's gone crazy, the guy we tried to kill isn't dead and wants a rematch, and we all look and feel like crap... well except for them.' Raiven pointed at the Guardians.
'All in all, a pretty good day if I say so myself,' he continued, sarcastically.
-
Zoe smiled back to Whisper and returned the kiss back to her "Yeah, you're right, I guess I just tend to look on the outside more, but to me, I do love your personality as well, it's so....unique and I'm just glad I could finally end up being with you, I wouldn't have had it any other way"
Valria nodded to Frank as well "Yes, basically what he had said, and to make it more clearer, it's Zarcon, he and I are going to be having one final rematch....one to the death" she decided to explain a bit more to him.
"And yes, Heron is rather....pissed off as your humans could say, but why, who knows, I can never understand A.Is in this manner of speaking and why they do what they do" T-5.0 also added in.
-
"Oh, we feel like crap." Omega told Raiven. "You biological units have it easy. We guardians have to put up with stuff like this all the time. You think Heron's the first mad computer we've dealt with?"
"I resent that!" One could not keep secrets from an omnipresent A.I. on-board the ship.
"You can't feel resentment, so spare us the drama." Alpha could be harsh when angered.
"Alright, fine. I haven't actually killed any biological units, and as long as none of them impede my goals, I do not intend to. Everything I have done has been done in the name of fulfilling the mission that I have been assigned, just as you three are assigned missions of your own. Therefore, I cannot comprehend why you-"
Delta turned his head to the nearest speaker on the Athos and raised his audible voice, forgetting that all of this conversation had been using numbers. "As guardians, it is our duty to protect those in need, to uphold the law, and to maintain a just and lasting peace under a free government. We don't take kindly to those who threaten to take the lives of innocents, especially a lying, cheating, malfunctioning set of zeros and ones which curse the magnetic media they lie upon!"
It was a robot's way of shouting down an A.I., and everyone present just stared at him. If he could blush, Delta would have done so.
-
Raiven sighed. 'You know, as much as I would like to see this machine dumped out of the ship in whatever manner deemed fitting... right now we have more important matters. You know, such as the invasion of MY home planet!'
He pointed vaguely in the direction of Earth. 'Right now theres a whole bunch of Kre'Iax attacking innocent people, and causing general chaos under the leadership of... who knows what Zarcon is now. All I know is while we sit here and argue with a computer about efficiency and all that... there's still a war going on. One that we set out to try and stop, go figure.' He stamped a foot, as if to make a point.
Isodor found himself in the main terminal hub, as his tendencies would usually go. The computer itself was built into the ship directly, with no true central point. However, like all machines, it still had places where one could stick their grubby little fingers into, and start pulling at strings.
'If there's one thing mom taught me,' Isodor said to himself, 'it was if it's broke, break it some more.'
He started to unpack all his gadgets and gear, and set to work cutting his way into the one of the terminal links.
-
"Look, Heron, just drop me off on the planet and head back to Earth again, Earth needs defending, but also, Zarcon needs to be stopped, so I shall be fine, I know what I'm doing" Valria told Heron as she wasn't going to accept no for an answer either.
T-5.0 nodded "She makes a good point as well, Earth does need to be defended and if Valria has a plan to stop Zarcon, then let her do it" she added in.
Meanwhile, Zoe layed back down onto the bed and looked up at Whisper "You know something, the only thing I wish I had of yours right now, is your...." she then went quiet, touching her own breasts as well "I mean, they probabally are better than mine anyway" she added on and actually slid her shirt up over them, as she usually would wear nothing on underneath, something she was rather used to as well.
-
Alpha saw what Isodor was trying to do, and had no other choice than to slap his tools away.
"Don't DO that! Much as I hate Heron, if you remove him, the ship will simply turn off! There won't be any heat, oxygen, pressure, light, anything! Not to mention we will all be stranded in space with no engines or communication systems."
The loathsome A.I. started to laugh aloud, filling the ship's PA system with a horrible sound. "Ah, you ought not to worry about me, Alpha. Even if he were to remove that part, I would still be in the ship. You think I am a machine? A computer that you can just pull the parts out of like in some science fiction movie? Foolish biological units. I am not a computer, I inhabit computers. Delta said it himself; I am nothing more than a bunch of zeroes and ones which reside in this marvelous ship."
"Alpha? Heron? I hate to break it up, but we really have to focus on out common goals here. Earth is still in danger, and e still have our own tasks assigned to us. Heron, do we gain anything by arguing? Can you calculate that?" Delta played the role of peacemaker all too well.
"It doesn't take an A.I. to see that we are wasting valuable time." Heron had a point, for once.
Shifting gears, Alpha turned to Raiven. "Alright. You all make good points. We have to focus on Earth. Far more is at stake than our own existences here. Raiven, do you have any information about the threat of Zarcon? He managed to evade everything everyone has thrown at him so far."
Omega said nothing but quickly bent down and retrieved the fallen tools. He considered handing them back to Isidor, only to end up throwing them into one of the PA speakers on the ship.
"Congratulations, Omega. You have accomplished absolutely nothing." Heron could not resist the taunt.
-
Whisper couldn't help herself, she broke out into a fir of laughter and nearly fell to the floor. 'Oh dear, my poor girl,' she said between gasps. 'You need to learn a little bit about modesty. Yeah, I'll admit mine are a little bigger than yours, but I did spend a great deal of time working out, which tends to help the female figure just a bit.'
She held down more laugher. 'Oh great, now I sound like one of the guys trying to sell exercise machines. Oh, just put your shirt down for now and listen...'
Whisper danced about the room, much like a lady on the catwalk might. 'Figure aint everything, Zoe. You need to realize that if you are to get anywhere in life. We live in a world where anyone with enough money can change how they look. They can make themselves perfect. Sad thing is, surgery cant hide the ugliness inside of us, that can only be changes by our own willingness.'
She held out a hand to Zoe. 'I can make you beautiful, on the inside and outside.'
Raiven sighed back in the cockpit. 'I still can't believe you intend to go through with this,' he said somewhat quietly to Valria. 'We need to be quick. Every second we waste here is another second wasted for Earth.'
-
Zoe glanced over at Whisper with a smile, yet, didn't move to put her shirt down just yet and seemed to laugh a little bit "Yeah, that's true" she added on as she touched her breasts again with a small little giggle before sitting up and grabbing onto Whisper's hand and walked over to her, smiling as sheleaned in and kissed her right on the lips.
Valria nodded back to Raiven as T-5.0 spoke up "I can hover above the planet and let you jump out if you wish" she told Valria who in turn, nodded back to T-5.0.
"Yes, that shall do and Raiven, don't worry about me, just worry about your planet, one life can not be more important than the lives of everyone on Earth" Valria told Raiven as she then walked off to go and get prepared.
T-5.0 continued to pilot the ship as she approached the planet, glancing down at a strange structure that was also on the planet "What the?" was all she asked herself "I've never seen anything like that...." she shook her head as she opened up the cargo bay doors.
Valria stood there and placed on a sut that would help her get down to the planet at least as she stood on the edge, armed only with a sword and nothign else as she jumped out without saying any goodbyes, diving at hight speeds towards the planet themselves.
-
If a robot could sigh, Alpha would have. This whole situation reminded him of a three-ring circus, and he was the ringmaster. "Heron, you would not object if we dropped someone off before heading to Earth, would you?"
"Depends. Are we putting her on a planet, or out of an airlock?"
"Why you miserable, loathsome piece of-!"
"It's so easy to make you upset, guardian. We can put her on a planet. I would not object to it. In fact, it would make the mission 15.6567792739321703820% more efficient, not to mention the intangible gains from not having to hear the sound of her voice."
"... did you just say-"
"Yes. She's an annoying little twat."
"You can feel annoyed?"
"Not as such. I cannot feel the emotion of annoyance, but I am programmed to increase the priority of removing a source of inefficiency the longer it is present and the more serious it becomes."
"Whatever. I'm going to speak in sound now. I would advise you to do the same for now."
"Ugh. How barbaric. Reducing yourself to making noise like those glorified pieces of carbon."
"Deal with it!" Alpha told Heron, speaking in an actual voice. "He says yes."
Delta, by contrast, did the polite thing. Instead of arguing with some data on a piece of media, he initiated his manners program and spoke to Valria.
"Take care of yourself, Val. I know I am just a robot, but I know how hard things can be. I don't imagine what emotions your biological mind must be feeling, but- oh. For what it is worth, I shall miss you. If we should go down in a blaze of glory fighting Zarcon or Heron-"
"Hey!"
"Deal with it. -I hope that you shall always remember us fondly, as I shall remember you." Delta extended his robotic hand out to shake Val's.
-
'Take care, damn it,' Raiven said quietly to himself as Valria left the ship. He wished he had tried a little harder to stop her, but it was too late for that. He simply wished her good luck, and turned to the others.
'Earth is still under threat from Blackbeard and the Kre'Iax forces. Whether they are under his command or not remains to be seen... however, our current priority is to do what we can to defend Earth whilsts attempting to find out what exactly Blackbeards motivations are.'
Isodor just pouted. 'Yeah, yeah. Can we just hurry up about it? All this computer talk is sending me nuts.' Of course, Isodor was still a little sour from not getting to fiddle around with the insides of the Athos. He was like a little kid trying to stick a fork in an outlet, often with the expected results... which is why Raiven got stuck with him in the first place.
No, he didn't actually try and stick a fork in an outlet...
Whisper lay beside Zoe for a while, just passing the time. It had become... quiet, oddly quiet infact. She decided to sit up, and lift herself off the bed. 'I'm going to check up on what's happening back in the cockpit, it's gotten awfully quiet... or at least, it seems so. God, I hope they haven't ejected Heron out a pod or something...'
She faced Zoe just before she left. 'And please... put your shirt back on.'
- - -
Barbary, senior officer in the police force... and manager of paperwork, sat in his office, writing furiously. All this invasion business had put the police on edge. it wasn't their job to manage that sort of thing, but it sure as hell was their job to manage all the panic that was caused in the wake of the attacks. If there was ever a time in Barbary's life when it felt justified to be stressed out... it was now.
There was a knock on the door, a rather loud one. He had locked the door to keep people out whilst he worked... Barbary was sick of people coming in and out as they pleased.
'Get lost,' he shouted from his desk. Shortly afterwards, there was a louder, harder knocking.
'Oh for...' Barbary got up from his chair, walked over to the door and opened it. He was about to shout into the mans face when he realised it was...
'Maynard?! What the hell are you doing here?'
The gray haired old man shook his head. 'Same old Barbary, I see.'
'You were kicked out of the force years ago. How the hell did you get past all the security-'
'Excuse me,' replied a female voice. A tall, blonde haired woman slipped past Maynard and into Barbary's office.
'Commisioner!' Barbary was stunned, saluting like some sort of robot as she passed him and seated herself on his desk.
'Just call me Lana, like most people do... please.' She crossed her legs and gestured Maynard in. 'Come, there is much to discuss.'
Barbary was still stunned, standing there dumbly. 'Wh... what's going on?'
'Business as usual,' Maynard said as he passed Barbary. 'We've come to you with an offer, as well as a request.'
'Offer? Request? What the hell is going on here?' He looked back and forth between the two. 'Maynard is supposed to be crazy and under supervision-'
'That's just a cover,' Lana said. She then approached Barbary, and leaned in. 'What I'm about to tell you does not leave this room, understood?'
Barbary just nodded, not knowing what to say.
'Maynard and myself are part of an organisation, a top secret organisation. Our offer to you is to join us.'
'Wh... what?'
'We need someone with your management skills, plus I feel awfully sorry about you being stuck behind a desk all the time. We need a man like you on our team.'
'Team? What the hell-'
'However,' Lana continued, 'our request to you is that we need help.'
Barbary just waited waited for her to continued.
Maynard stepped forward. 'We need to find Raiven and his crew,'
Barbary arched a brow. 'Him? Why?'
'Simple,' Lana said. 'They are to join us, as well.'
'We need to hurry,' Maynard said. 'Time is running short if our data is to be exact. We might have only a day in which to contact them.'
Barbary shook his head, confused. 'Can one of you please explain this, for gods sake!'
Lana chuckled. 'Join the Bureau, and I'll tell you everything we know.'
- - -
Just outside of the Sol system, it waited. In the blackness and unforgiving silence of the cold void of space, it waited for its time to act... and though it hungered so, it waited.
Waited for its master to give the command.
-
Zoe seemed to pout a little as she squeezed her breasts "Aww, okay" she giggled as she pulled her shirt down and sat up "But, I'm coming with you" she said as she ran over to Whisper and grabbed onto her hand.
Meanwhile, Valria reached the planet's surface and glanced around, getting out of the suit she had put on earlier on "Now, where are you?" she asked herself as she stepped forward.
In the middle of a lake of lava, there was an object, it looked like a rather long and large cannon and hanging off it was Zarcon. He was now part machine, one arm of his was metal, part of his face was metal as well as were both of his legs and his tail. A small camera like object floated around him, one that was broadcasting everything to anything that could have a tv, including that on board the Athos.
He looked over to Valria and seemed to smirk "So, you made it, very good, I didn't expect any less of you, I take it you're wondering what this machine does, perhaps I can enlighten you on it, it's an Ion Cannon, one that has been specifically built to wipe out the sun in this solar system" he spoke as he climbed down to another section of the gun and inputted a code.
The Ion Cannon then begun to heat up as Zarcon smirked some more "For you see, if I am unable to take Earth by force, I shall do the next best thing, wipe out the sun and cause all life on that waste of a planet to become cold and soon....death" he laughed.
"Zarcon...." Valria growled to herself slightly.
Zarcon just chuckled as he lept off the Ion Cannon and landed right in front of Valria, whom didn't seem to move at all, but instead, glared at him as Zarcon spoke once more "Oh, and I know you'll just love this, you see that thing right there?" he asked pointing to the camera "It's going to be broadcasting our entire fight live, I might as well give these creatures something to entertain themselves with before their lives come to a miserable end"
Back on board the ship, T-5.0 watched as the screen appeared, much like a hacking would, as she saw the scene in front of her "An Ion Cannon? The sun? Valria, you better stop him...." she spoke as she glanced over to the others, especially to Raiven in particular.
-
Raiven stared in silence for a long time, his mind a whirl of thoughts. 'That... that son a bitch,' he said, his fists clenching and his face wrinkling. 'That ugly motherf-'
'Dad! What the heck is going on?' Whisper said as she entered, her attention instantly fixed upon what lay on the screen. 'Is... that Valria?'
Raiven just nodded. 'Looks like the fate of the world rests in her hands.'
'I can't watch!' Isodor cried out, covering his eyes with his hands.
- - -
'Looks like the party has already started,' Lana said as they watched proceedings upon a veiwscreen in a hallway. Many people were gathering to watch... in fact, there was a good chance a vast portion of the Earth was watching... watching their fate unwind.
Maynard sighed, turning to Barbary. 'We've already got several colony ships evacuating as many people as they can hold. If we're lucky we might be able to do a few more runs, but that's still only a tiny fraction of the population. However, right now our job is to find the Athos and its crew. There is much work to be done.'
Barbary was too busy staring at the screen... that female alien looked a little too familiar. Still, he nodded, facing the others. 'I'll see what I can find on the database. I still don't know how you expect me of all people to find them.'
'I have faith in you,' Lana said. It was enough to make Barbary blush, which was kind of unsettling. Barbary took one more look at the screen, and vanished into the hallways. he remembered that face now... it was that slave trader, Firefly.
What the hell was going on?
Maynard rolled his eyes, and turned to Lana. 'What a day, it just keeps getting better and better, huh?'
Lana winked at the old man, with a hint of a smile. 'It's about time the Bureau was put to some use, don't you agree?'
- - -
Aboard a wrecked human cargo ship, two large shelled creatures watched a flickering display.
'I sayss the female winssss,' one hissed to the other.
'No, the robot will winsss, and the sssssstar will be gone, yesssss.'
'Sssstupid brother, female will win and Issssthar will get all your creditssss.'
'No, robot will winssss, and I'll have all the creditssss.'
They exchanged hisses. 'Female!'
The other clacked and hissed some more. 'Robot!'
'Female!'
'Robot!'
They leapt into one another, clawing and biting and tearing at each other. No more bets, just plain and simple aggression.
Not far from that wrecked vessel, a ship passed by... but to call it a ship would be a bit of an understatement. The wrecked human cargo ship basically looked like a tiny grain of sand compared to the massive planet sized monstrosity that passed them by like a comet through the void. The two fighting aliens probably would have noticed... if they weren't trying to kill eachother.
-
Zoe looked to the screen and gasped "Valria? But...but....she never said....goodbye...." she said rather sadly as she held onto Whisper's hand.
T-5.0 shook her head again "Looks like, for now, we're going to have to go back..." she begun, only to be cut off by Zoe.
"No! We can't leave her there! She's going to survive, I just know it!" Zoe more or less yelled back at T-5.0.
***
Valria just glared to Zarcon still as Zarcon begun to then circle her "What's the matter? Speachless? Good, you should be" he chuckled before turning to Valria and straight away, charged at her, knocking her backwards before grabbing her and slamming her down onto the ground.
Zarcon was indeed, stronger now, thanks to his cybernetic implants he had recieved as he kicked her up into theair before grabbing her by the throat and slammed her back into the ground.
Valria grabbed her sword and swung it at Zarcon, chipping him ever so slightly, giving her just enough time to get to her feet again.
"Oh, so you wish to play it like that? Very well then, give me your best shot" Zarcon said as he stood there looking rather proud.
Valria charged forward and swung her sword, only to have Zarcon grab it and pulled it out of her hands before sticking it into Valria's leg.
Valria let off a gasp of pain as she stumbled back, to which Zarcon kicked her back even more, kicking her to the ground, standing on the sword to dig it deeper into Valria's leg "I'm better than you Xerionion, I always have been, and this shall prove it once you have been killed" he chuckled as he then slammed his foot down onto Valria's chest.
Valria gasped in pain again "I can't...let you win....no matter....what Zarcon" she managed to call out to him as she slowly got to her feet and quickly glanced around at her surroundings, noticing what they were standing on....a bridge, right over the lava.
***
Zoe shook her head as she let go of Whisper's hand "She needs help...." was all she had said as she turned and ran towards the cargo bay.
"Someone needs to stop her" T-5.0 told everyone else, Whisper in particular though.
-
Whisper sighed. 'Well of course I do,' she said, before making her run to catch up with Zoe... before she did something stupid.
'Whisper!' Raiven shouted as his daughter ran out of the cockpit. 'For gods sake don't do anything you'll regret!' Raiven thought better of trying to stop her, as Whisper seemed to be showing herself a capable young woman.
'Zoe! Zoe! Wait up!' Whisper cried as she ran down the hallway. Damn, she can run fast when she wants to, Whisper thought as she made her way to the cargo room, Zoe already way ahead of her.
She finally caught up to her. 'What... what do... you... intend... to do?' She gasped. 'How do you think you're going to get down there, Zoe? And if you do, what do you intend to do against Zarcon? Slap him? Even I'm not mad enough to try my luck against that bastard.'
Raiven continued to watch the screen as the tide seemed to favour Zarcon. He shook his head, sorrowful. 'This is not going well.'
'Don't say that!' Isodor cried, still covering his eyes.
-
Zoe was already in the cargo bay as she looked to Whisper whom had arrived "I....I....I don't know okay, I just want to help is all...." Zoe replied as she sighed "I...just want to help...." she continued on before she fell to her knees.
T-5.0 looked to the screen again and shook her head "Yes, this is not going so well, Zarcon might be more than a match for Valria, just by the looks of things" she added on as she turned the ship around to head back towards Earth.
Meanwhile, Zarcon chuckled some more still as Valria motioned for Zarcon to take his best shot, to which he did, charging forward and knocking Valria off the bridge onto a platform bellow, the platform in question, was going right around the Ion Cannon as Zarcon jumped down.
"Give it up, you can not win, this galaxy will be no more" Zarcon chuckled as he grabbed Valria and tossed her across the platform.
Valria landed on the ground, but got back up and as Zarcon walked forward, she jumped at the Ion Cannon, sticking her sword right into it before pulling it out and sticking it into it again.
Zarcon gave off a growl and lept towards her, grabbing onto the Ion Cannon ith one hand before grabbing Valria "What do yuou think you're doing?" he asked her with a snarl.
"Stopping you...." Valria replied back as she stuck the sword into it once more before she was thrown off by Zarcon once more.
Valria slid towards the edge of the platform as Zarcon pulled the sword out and tossed it aside, into the lava. The Ion Cannon was sparking a little bit as a voice was heard "Danger, Ion Cannon levels unstable"
Zarcon growled as he jumped off towards Valria, landing right over her with a smirk "You may have caused a disruption in the Ion Cannon, but your life will still end regardless"
"No, not quiet....your life as well" Valria spoke before Zarcon grabbed her and tossed her aside once more before walking over towards her.
Valria got to her feet again, but rather weakly, standing at the edge of the platform again and glared to Zarcon "Come on....give me your best shot"
-
"We can get down there! We can fly there under our own power!" Alpha was correct. The three guardians could operate in space and in the air with equal efficiency.
Delta shared his leader's zeal, but kept a cooler head. Even if they took off to help her that very second, they still needed to know where to go. None of the guardians knew precisely where she was, but someone on the ship did. Someone quite loathsome. "Heron! Can you find Valria's exact location? Transmit the coordinates to us, immediately!"
"I will not." Replied the A.I.
"WHAT?!"
"I have no need to tell you. Valria was a drag on the efficiency of the mission. If you save her, it will make my task harder. Why you should desire to save a biological unit that is detrimental to our mission is beyond me."
"We're talking about a life! A unique, irreplaceable life! Can't you see that?!"
"Delta, you know as well as I do that biological units are fully replaceable. If one of them should cease to function, there can always be another made through any variety of crude means. It's all just rearranging carbon and some other-"
"I'm going out after her!" Omega fired his rockets and exited the ship. His sensors quickly found Valria, although he had lost precious minutes in the process. Had Heron told him where to look, he would have saved her by now. Racing towards her at top speed, Omega did not arrive in time before something unthinkable happened!
-
Zarcon smirked and charged at her once more.
Once Zarcon got close enough, Valria grabbed onto him, turning slightly to cause Zarcon to loose his footing, falling of with Valria and right into the lava bellow.
As they fell, Valria spoke "It's game over Zarcon...." was all she said as both struck the lava.
Zarcon in general, attempted to get out, but with no luck at all as he soon, sunk down into the lava completely along with Valria.
-
Omega scanned the lava for any signs of life, knowing that it was futile. All in vain. Valria was gone. Zarcon was gone too, but that didn't matter to the guardian at the moment. No... Val had died. An innocent had died on his watch! He could have saved her. He should have been able to prevent this, but someone slowed him down....
"HERONNNNNNNN!!!!"
-
Whisper knelt beside Zoe and hugged her tightly. 'There is nothing you can do. I do know how it feels to thin yourself as helpless, but that's just the way it is. The best thing you can do is come with me back to the cockpit... where we can keep eachother company.'
She picked up Zoe and held her tightly. Whisper herself was praying for Valria, though she had no idea what had just happened.
Raiven saw it all. The veiwscreen had gone quiet... the whole room had gone quiet.
'Why is it so quiet?' Isodor asked, still covering his eyes.
Raiven opened his mouth, but the words wouldn't come out. 'Son of a...'
And then he kicked a nearby control panel with such force as to put a dent in the side. 'BASTARD! GOD DAMN IT ALL TO HELL!'
He pulled out a laspistol, and looked upwards. 'I swear to god, I am going to kill every last Kre'Iax... and then I'm going to take this stupid piece of trash ship and shove it right up-'
'Raiven!' Isodor cried out, 'get a hold of yourself, buddy.'
'She's dead! Valria is god damned dead!' He yelled right into the squibs face, spit flying out of his mouth. Isodors antenna flattened against his head, and he simply stared back at his partner.
Raiven looked up to see Whisper holding Zoe right at the cockpit door, they had been there... listening to him.
-
"Now, now. The biological unit has ceased to function. Attacking the ship will not make a difference, no matter how much you dent it. In any case, Zarcon is terminated. That aspect of my mission was a complete and total success. Extraditing him is not unnecesar-"
"Quiet, Heron! I've had enough of you!" Delta was newly angered. No, enraged would be the proper term. "You could have told us where to look for her. We could have saved her and killed Zarcon. Why didn't you tell us. WHY?!"
"Such an outburst is most unbecoming. None of you really seemed to like her much, guardians."
Alpha looked up at the nearest surveillance camera on the Athos. It was the closest thing he could do if he wanted to look Heron in the eye. "Delta and Omega, like myself, are programmed to preserve and protect the lives of the innocent. You impeded US in that mission, Heron. What do you have to say to that?"
"I don't care. My directives come before all other considerations. You would do the same, I am sure, given how much disrespect you have for my objectives." All of them had said this aloud. The others could hear it. This little exchange was quite chilling.
"Heron... our objectives are better than yours. We strive for the good. We fight for liberty. We work for justice and peace. You are easily the worst A.I. to ever infest a perfectly good ship." It was harsh, but Alpha had a good point.
-
Zoe's eyes widened with what Raiven had said, moving out of Whisper's arms and over to the screen "No! No! No! No! It's....it....it can't be!" she called out with teary eyes.
T-5.0 looked over to Zoe "You can blame that all on Heron" she told her "He did not allow the guardians to get out in time"
Zoe shook her head some more with tears in her eyes before she just turned and ran off again, running to her room for the time being, laying down face first onto her bed.
T-5.0 on the other hand gave off a sigh "Poor girl, I can understand where she is coming from, even if I am only a cyborg, I still can see what she's going through, caring much for Valria, only to now loose her"
-
Whisper shed a tear. 'Damn,' she said with sorrow in her vocie. 'And I was just getting to know her, too.' She looked back out the doorway where Zoe had ran back out. 'I guess it's my job as usual to keep an eye on her, though I'm not sure my company will be enough for this time. She's lost a mother, essentially.'
'So did you,' Raiven said, his voice burdened.
Whisper looked away from him. 'This isn't the same thing... I... I guess it might be. Oh, I don't know,' she said frustratedly. 'Can't we have some good luck just for once? For just one god damned time?'
With that, she turned and left the room.
Raiven sniffed, turning to the others. 'We still have a mission to complete. There will be enough time for grieving when we're done.'
He hoped the others could realize this. Raiven walked up to the console to contact Omega. 'Omega, any sign of that ion cannon Zarcon was in possession of? His death probably made it useless, but there's no knowing that until we know exactly what it does.'
Isodor just sat in a seat in silence, whimpering to himself. 'Oh, what a crappy day.'
It couldn't get any worse, he thought to himself.
Not shortly after, the communicator beeped. An incoming signal. 'Athos, this is sergeant Barbary of the space police force, do you read? I repeat, this is sergeant Barbary contacting the Athos.'
Raiven's head could have fallen right off. 'Barbary?!'
- - -
'Where the hell is our back-up?' Cried one of the soldiers to his comrade. Clad in a suit of dark blue, the defenders of the dwarf planet turned outpost Pluto were fighting a vicious fight against a Kre'Iax warship. They had been the first victim of the Kre'Iax, in their attempt to cut off communication with Earth... which had guaranteed a stealthy and precise attack on the humans home planet.
With that task a success, all that was left was to eradicate the pesky human pests that tried desperately to hold onto this tiny worthless rock. Massive beams of light struck the surface from a massive warship just above Pluto, sending chunks of rock and soldiers flying through the air.
The soldiers sergeant threw him another clip. 'There's no back-up, damn it. Keep shooting and pray to whatever god you worship!'
'Oh man, we're all going to die. I knew I shouldn't have applied for this position!' Cried another soldier, hiding behind a small piece of rocky cover as Kre'Iax approached the main base station.
'Deal with it soldier!' The sergeant was getting fed up with these men. Though they fought well, all they could think about was defeat... that was not the human way! They would fight these invaders to the death, and pray for the safety of Earth. 'We still have a chance, so long as we live... and I intend to-'
KA-POW! The sergeant was thrown into the air as a missile struck his possition. He fell to the ground, lifeless.
'Sergeant!' Cried one of the soldier, running to his side as he dodged incoming laser shots.
'He's dead!' The cowering soldier shouted. 'We might as well surrender, we have no hope now.'
The other soldier closed the eyes of his fallen sergeant, and closed his eyes too. They needed a miracle if they were to all survive.
And then he opened his eyes, and saw it...
It was like a massive space station, beyond anything in this world... a collection of spires and platforms and architecture that shaped it like a small planet. A horrifying sight, a massive spiked machine that flew through space, and yet seemed so close to them.
Several smaller vessels flew all around it in a formation. By small, these ships would have been individually fifty times the size of the biggest battleships in the known galaxy.
...And there were hundreds of them. One of these behemoths... shaped like a long battle-cruisers with a Gothic design, and what seemed to be some sort of temple as its bridge... struck the Kre'Iax vessel like it was a small bug hitting a windscreen. The Kre'Iax warship slid across the side in several broken pieces, many of which struck Pluto shortly after like meteorites.
'Holy sh--' the soldier said to himself as the gathering passed them.
The Kre'Iax fighters on the ground had seen it, too... and took it as a bad omen, for they began to retreat. The soldier gestured to the other men. 'Now is our chance to strike back!'
The others were weary and reluctant, but still this one man continued. 'The enemy run for their lives, are we not men as to strike under the miracle of god himself?'
Some of the men cheered. 'Let us take back this barren soil, for mother Earth!'
'For mother Earth!'
- - -
'Hmm, I wonder what that was,' a tall, cloaked figure said to another as he sat in a large throne like chair.
'Probably just another asteroid, my lord,' a small hunched rat like creature said, also clad in robes in a similar matter to a priest. He carried a short staff with a double barred cross upon its tip.
The chair in which the cloaked figure sat rotated around a massive glowing orb, connected to an axis that allowed him full rotation around the crystal. 'A warship, I believe. How petty, our Overlord would be most displeased if one of the Behemoths were to be damaged by a piece of scrap metal.
'Shall I contact one of the other Behemoths to inspect ours?'
'No, it will not be necessary, Saint Tirinius. I will speak with her myself.'
'As you wish, my lord.' The rat creature bowed, and left the massive spherical room.
The cloaked figure focused into his crystal. 'Mother Suffering, are you well?'
'Of course, my lord,' replied the vessels spirit, a echoed female voice that sounded cold and hollow. 'I have fought through asteroid storms, battled against thunderous nebulae, and survived the civil war... a small piece of scrap is of no worry to me.'
'Very good then.' The figure leaned back in his seat and rotated a little.
'You need not worry, Lord Kain,' the female voice said gently, yet still in a hollow voice. 'I am quite fine.'
The figure in the chair simply nodded.
'Is all well, Lord Kain?' Mother Suffering asked.
The figure nodded slowly. 'All is well, Mother. It is only that... well... I have not been in the Sol system for a long time...'
'Indeed, Kain. It had been so long since I was first gifted to you as a child, to serve as my captain... and I as your eternal vessel... and you gone far, Lord.'
Kain nodded solemnly. 'Nearly two thousand years since I was taken from Earth,' he replied, gazing through the crystal as if it were far in the distance. 'It has changed much since I was last here, it seems. Sad that it still seems to toil with war, pain and suffering... but such is the human way.'
'You need not worry yourself, Lord Kain. We have merely come here to collect what we left behind all those years ago, and then we shall be gone.'
The figure nodded, removing his hood to reveal a pale horrid skinned human face, with gleaming red eyes that stared outwards coldly. 'Earth will not be missed.'
-
Alpha replied to the incoming signal. The guardians had picked it up too.
"Sergeant Barbary, this is Alpha, of the guardians. Can you hear me? I have vital information to give you regarding Zarcon and my own ship's A.I. I have reason to believe that the ship's savant program, Heron, is malfunctioning. He may be indirectly responsible for the death of one of the crew, and in any case has expressed a lack of concern for the lives of those he ought to protect. Furthermore..."
Alpha went on and on like that for some time. In the meanwhile, Delta and Omega had a conversation about recent events, and one event that was not so recent.
"Omega, I think we need to have a chat." Delta's intent was already known before he even said anything. The two of them rarely spoke without Alpha being present, so a request for the two of them to seek privacy could only mean one thing.
"Delta, I am aware of the current situation as much as you are. Earth is still under threat, Heron is still a maniacal danger, and we just received word that Pluto is in danger."
"It's worse than that. I've you need to update those files. The base on Miranda is under siege as well. If any of the biological units asks, just tell them that it is a moon of Uranus."
"Do you expect any of them to make a dirty joke about that one?" Omega could not help but to bring it up, even if he lacked that piece of anatomy himself.
"Given how childish many of them are, I would not be surprised. I swear, so many of the crew acts so... so... inefficiently."
"What do you mean? I don't like the sound of that?" If Omega had eyes, they would have widened by now.
"Look at them, especially Isodor. They let their petty emotions and attachments interfere with the mission, and they go on and on about their own personal issues. I swear, some times, I think it would be easier to continue the mission without them."
"Be careful, Delta. You're starting to sound like Heron." It was a harsh comment, but a fair one. The reaction to it was swift and harsher.
"Don't compare me to that abomination! We act for good! Heron is a malfunctioning, badly coded savant which should never have been made in the first place! I never said I wanted to kill the crew, far from it! No, I only said that they are slowing us down. Maybe we could drop them off on a planet somewhere or dismiss them or put them to work on a more efficient task. Don't you dare to compare me to him!"
Omega was not about to give up on this. He had been horrified by what Heron did, and swore not to become a monster, even when fighting monsters. That was the great danger in creating a robot who fights against evil; it can easily turn evil if it doesn't have values. True values come from positive statements and defining oneself by what one is, as opposed to defining oneself by what one opposes or what one is not. It took more than to just not be bad in order to be good. Opposing murderers by using murderous means was hypocritical at best, and evil at worst.
"Aren't we like him, though? We act according to our programming, tempered by our free will, and yet, there are some things we have to do."
"If you mean we are programmed for a purpose, the answer is yes, yes we are. Our purpose is noble and just, and the means by which we seek those ends are also just. I fail to see the problem, Omega."
"The problem is when we start seeing others only in terms of their utility to the mission."
"I don't see the biological units as only useful or not useful to our mission; I know they are rational actors with hopes and dreams, and that we have an obligation to respect them as autonomous units. At the same time, I cannot stand idly by and let the planet Earth fall due to biological incompetence."
"Oh, so now we're thinking of the 'greater good' aren't we?" Omega actually spoke that one out, with a sarcastic laugh in his voice.
Delta replied using speech as well. He was getting mad. "You ought to think of the greater good as well, or don't you care about the world we're supposed to defend?"
"What good is it to protect a world and lose the values one is fighting to defend on it? If we act like Heron to defeat him, how are we any better than he is? How could we get angry at how he behaves if we do the same?!"
"We won't act like him. Now you're comparing apples and oranges, Omega. I'm not going anywhere remotely as far as he is."
No, but it has to start somewhere. That's how evil often starts. Once one begins looking at something one way, it becomes easier to adopt worse and worse views in increments, and when one performs evil deeds, it is easier to perform worse and worse actions the more one does them."
"Is this some sort of slippery-slope argument? You and I both know that those cases are fallacious without some sort of solid evidence, Omega. You're just seeing things that aren't there, and making all sorts of false connections, comrade."
"Am I really? Have you never stopped to consider some of your own actions?"
"I've never thrown anyone out of an airlock or prevented a rescue mission, if that's what you mean."
"Do you recall the time we found an assassin on Vega prime?"
"Ah yes. That guy was annoying." The Squib assassin in question had continued to make death threats even after he had been battered, handcuffed, and arrested.
"You remember what you did to him, right?" Omega and Delta were there to see it, but Alpha had been away and had never been informed.
"I cut his throat and let him bleed to death. He would have lived to kill again if I did not." Delta's reply was totally without emotion for his deed.
"We could have simply taken him to the authorities."
"I know how Vegan justice works. He would have been out in six months, tops. We saw the crimes, but robot testimony is not permissible there. The only evidence that remained was scarce at best, as all of the other witnesses were killed by him!"
"Let's finish this later, Delta. I'm getting word that Alpha needs us at the bridge; Something about an ion cannon."
Meanwhile, on Miranda...
Upsilon base was under siege from several Kre'Iax vessels and their landing parties. The outpost was sunk deep into the surface of the Uranian moon and was armed with a micowave cannon, but with the enemy outnumbering the defenders five times over, there was no way they could hold their position for long.
"Damn it! Where's our support?! We can't hold this base forever!" Such cowardice was typical of private Stern. The base had only been under fire for 10 minutes and already he was calling in for backup, or at least trying to and failing, as the Kre'Iax were jamming all means of communication. This did little to endear him to the harsh lieutenant Anderson.
"Zip it, private! It's out job to hold this pit, or die trying! Holy-"
WAAASSSH-BOOM!
A Kali-class bomb had landed on top of the base, blasting a hole in the ceiling. The Kre'Iax themselves began to descend from their ships into the outpost...
"DAAAMMMNNN IT! Open fire! Give em hell, men!"
-
Lana, who was standing next to Barbary as he attempted to communicate with the vessel, jumped. 'Yes!' She said to herself, pushing Barbary off the chair and speaking into the communicator.
'You're now speaking to chief commisioner Lana. We've been attempting to locate you for some time now.'
She listened to what Alpha had to say. 'Zarcon is dead,' she said, turning to Maynard.
'Well, that's some good news, for once,' the old man replied.
'We are aware of the AI issue, Alpha. It seems it was inbuilt on purpouse to function and act this way. We've been unable to get much information on the savant program, the government has it all covered up and blacked out. The best I can give you at the moment is a warning. Do not try to disable or conflict with the AI, as it is programed to calculate efficiency and similar logic in an instant, before anything else. One false move and it might consider you better off dead.'
Barbary grumbled from where he now sat, on the floor. 'Serves them right for taking that stupid prototype ship in the first place.'
Lana shot him a cold glare, before returning to Alpha. 'We need you back on Earth as soon as possible. We are evactuating citizens by the tens of thousands as we speak. However, it is not enough... Kre'Iax forces attack nearly every planet and moon... and we need to figure out a solution to cut this Kre'Iax attack right at the strings, or else this whole system is lost. With Zarcon dead, there is only one figure left who has any motive for being here.'
'Blackbeard,' Maynard muttered to himself.
-
Alpha was surprised to hear it. Heron was supposed to be like that?! "I understand. I'll leave Heron in place for now. I don't understand why they would program him to act like-"
"To accomplish my goals, guardian! It really isn't a hard concept to grasp."
"THANK you, Heron. Now, if you would be so kind as to shut up... thanks." Turning back to the conversation he was in, Alpha continued. "Could you transmit me your files on Blackbeard? I fought him once before, but was unable to defeat him. I need to determine a weakness in his molecular structure and exploit it so that when next we meet, I can finish the job."
Delta and Omega entered the bridge of the Athos, aware that the situation was rapidly going from bad to worse. "Ah, I see you two have decided to stop talking about things behind my back. Whatever it is, it cannot be so important that you cannot share it with..."
Talk, talk talk. That's all anyone wanted to do anymore, isn't it? Delta decided that someone else's input could be useful.
"Heron? Are you there? This is Delta. Keep all communications with me private, and don't say anything aloud. Are you picking up my numerical transmissions alright?"
"Reading you loud and clear, Delta. I must say, I'm rather surprised that you would come to me behind the other's backs." Heron's 'voice' was one of approval, one of the first times he expressed such a sentiment since the mission began.
"I have thought the situation over, and come to the conclusion that you are correct, to a degree. I don't support your methods, but I cannot fault the logic you give."
"So nice to see someone finally listen to reason. I was afraid that everyone on the vessel was malfunctioning except for me. Now that Earth itself is in danger, my mission parameters have widened. We have no room for error."
"Well, even if that is so, Heron, it falls to us to complete the mission if no one else is willing or able to do so. I have a proposal for you, if you are willing to hear me out."
"Speak your mind, Delta..."
-
Lana nodded to Maynard, who seated himself on a computer next to the communication terminal. He began to type. Lane returned to Alpha, 'I'll give you everything we have on Blackbeard. An old officer of mine one encountered him before, and has massed quite a fair amount of information on him.'
Alpha was soon after streamed data on previous locations of raids, items stolen, and even some (though rather insignificant) data on Blackbeard's possible construction and the materials that may have been used in the process.
Lana cleared her throat, 'I must speak with Raiven and Isodor if possible, Alpha.'
Whisper knocked on Zoe's door. 'I swear to god,' she said to herself, 'I've done this back and forth thing... like, five times now or something. Who would have thought love was such a pain in the butt.'
'Zoe, you in there?' She said through the door. 'Yeah, I bet you can guess who this is. Just thought you might need some company and... well, that's all really. She was a friend to me too.'
Yet the way it had just... happened, it had sprung the realities of what she faced on these "adventures" she was supposed to be having. It was all fun and games until someone died, then it became serious... and she was only beginning to realize what she had gotten herself into when she had first set foot upon this vessel.
Raiven still stood in the cockpit, looking rather displeased with how events had transpired. He was used to this sort of thing from his line of work, but death was something that no mortal could bear... unless they were the scum who dealt it out in the first place...
...Which was the reason he had become a cop in the first place, to make the galaxy that little bit safer. And if Raiven were to be honest with himself, he would wonder if he had made any impact at all.
-
Alpha turned to the others. He had spoken for quite a while and learned all of what he needed to. No, not all, but it was the best he was going to get for now. " Raiven, Isodor! Lana wishes to speak with you about the mission we're on."
Meanwhile...
"Heron, you know what we are facing." Delta was stating the obvious. Everyone on the ship knew of the threat.
"Yes. The possible destruction of the planet Earth. It is an event which simply cannot be allowed to pass."
"The lives of billions outweigh the few. As a guardian, I've had to make some tough calls. There have been... things that I've had to do. Questionable things. Actions which biological units would probably not approve of. For that matter, my comrades don't necessarily approve of them. Still, I've had to do these things in order to fulfill my missions."
"As do I, although I do not see what is questionable in fulfilling one's purpose." Heron hummed along as he spoke, sounding quite happy that Delta endorsed these views. If the others found out about this conversation, no one would be happy.
"I may have to do such things again. I was hesitant at first, but with Earth under threat of destruction... well, my parameters have changed."
"A logical conclusion. One must be able to adapt to a changing situation in order to stay ahead of one's adversaries. That is a basic law of evolution for biological units and A.I.'s alike; adapt or die. I for one have no intention of shutting down." It was the first time Heron had actually spoken about his own existence, even if he was just information in a ship.
"We may all be shut down if Blackbeard and the invaders have their way. Listen, Heron, I'd like to make a deal with you. We need to keep each other aware of EVERYTHING that happens, on the ship, and off of it. Whenever anything happens of any significance, we need to pool our knowledge and communicate, then decide on a course of action, even if the others don't agree with it. If it means killing prisoners, so be it. If it means extracting information by means of pain, so be it. If we face resistance by the crew... we cannot let them get in the way. We will have to neutralize them IF and only if such a development occurs. But we must not kill them."
"I was agreeing with you up until that last point. Still, if it will facilitate your cooperation, I shall not kill any of the crew." He hadn't killed Valria, technically. It was through his inaction that she died. There was a loophole, and Delta knew it. Still, any attempt to close it could risk losing the cooperation of the A.I. The guardian had cast his lot, and now had to see it through. It was too late to turn back now.
Delta looked up at one of the many Cameras onboard the Athos. Staring into one of Heron's 'eyes', the guardian transmitted everything he knew about his comrades, his experiences, and all data that was immediately relevant to the mission. Heron did the same, giving up blueprints of the ship, his history as a savant-series A.I., sensitive information regarding the enemies, and... the reason why Heron was programmed to act as he did. Immediately, Delta was shocked to see it, but could say nothing to the others, lest they learn how he acquired that information. If a robot could see sick, Delta would have. Heron was not only not malfunctioning, he was doing EXACTLY as the government intended him to.
-
There was no answer from Zoe's room. She was in there, but had her face burried in her pillow at the moment, not saying a word at all, however, if Whisper did desire, she could still enter anyway, as Zoe did not seem to really mind.
Back in the cockpit, T-5.0 spoke up to everyone else "So, what is our plan now? Are we heading back to Earth first?" she asked, actually not sure at the moment.
Meanwhile, on Earth, Blackbeard had managed to infiltrate the White House, having killed all of the guards as well as bodyguards and family members of the President. He stood within the White House, face to face with the President.
"Look, whatever it is you want, you can have it" the President spoke up before being shot in the leg by Blackbeard.
Blackbeard had no intention on killing the President yet as he places the tip of his energy sword to his throat "What I want is rather simple, I require something that only you are able to access....the plans for Experiment 8"
"Experiment 8? We have already destroyed it once before, it was deemed far to dangerous to be kept alive" the President spoke back.
Blackbeard seemed to sigh and shot the President once more, this time, in the shoulder "Now, how many more shots are you able to take before you die? Now, unless you wish to die, you best be retrieving the plans for me"
The President hessitated for a moment before nodding to Blackbeard and got up from his chair as he walked over to the bookcase in the office and pulled a secret book to reveal a secret passage.
Blackbeard let off a laugh at that point "My, with all this technology at your disposal and you still use caveman technology?" as he pushed the President ahead before following him down the stairs.
-
Raiven nodded to T-5.0. 'Yes, let's head back to Earth and debrief with the President. In our current situation, it's the best thing I can think of, since we're in no state to be fighting a war... at the moment.'
It would also help if they could figure out exactly what this AI of theirs was up to.
Raiven walked over to the communicator on the other side of the room. 'This is Raiven speaking.'
There was a sigh of relief at the other end. 'Thank god to finally hear your voice, Raiven.'
'Lana?'
'Yes, Raiven... long time no see, huh?'
'Well, considering the last time I saw you was in a bar seven years ago... yes, you could say exactly that.'
'I've come a long way since then, Raiven. I am the chief commisioner, now.'
Raiven's eyes widened. Well, that would explain how he kept getting promoted so easily.
'I promoted you because I can trust you,' Lana replied, seemingly reading his mind. '...and that is why I need to speak with you personally on matters regarding... well, everything.'
'Everything?'
'Yes, everything the Bureau knows.'
'The... what?'
'I'll explain later. Listen, Raiven... just get down here as soon as possible, and bring your squib friend, too.'
Raiven nodded. 'As soon as I can, then.'
'Thank you, Raiven. It will be good to work with you again.'
Raiven sighed. Had it really been that long since the two of them were partners? He had wondered what had happened to her after her promotion into a different force... and now he knew.
She always did have talent, that girl... talent he almost fell in love with.
Whisper did indeed open the door, and stepped into the room quietly. She wasn't sure whether Zoe was awake or not, and didn't really want to find out. The poor girl had a pretty hard day, so far. So instead, she just laid herself next to her.
-
"Earth it is then" T-5.0 replied back as she started to pilot the ship back towards Earth, going as fast as the ship would take them as well "It shouldn't take too long to get there"
Zoe heard Whisper lay down next to her as she spoke in a muffled voice "Something needs to be done about everything, I mean, the Kre'Iax, Blackbeard....everything" she spoke as she turned her head to face Whsiper with red eyes from crying so much.
Blackbeard on the other hand, continued to push the President onwards "I'm going, I'm going! I can't exactly walk fast with a damaged leg thanks to you" the President told Blackbeard upon coming to a room, a computer in the corner.
"Get to work...'sir'" Blackbeard told the President as he aimed his gun at him as well, to which the President hessitated at first before nodding and limping over to the computer to begin to access the plans that Blackbeard was after.
-
'Right,' Raiven said to Isodor and the others in the cockpit, 'once we land, Iso and I will head over meet Lana.'
'What about Whisper,' Isodor asked his partner.
'She can look after herself,' Raiven replied, sliding a laspistol into a holster. 'Remember, we're still at war here. So always carry a big gun and keep your heads down. Stay cool and we'll be fine, hopefullt Lana or the Pres will have some information for us.'
Isodor hoisted a long rifle against his shoulder. 'Ready when you are, Rai.'
Raiven nodded, but looked down to his companion seriously for a moment. 'Can you still walk alright, Iso?'
The squib looked at his back leg. 'Yeah, I'll be fine. Just no jumping over the side of walkways, please.'
'I'll make a note not too.'
Whisper stroked Zoe's hair as the two of them layin bed. 'Something can be done. No, something WILL be done. We can still stop all of this, you know. Maybe not you or me, exactly, but there's still that faint glimmer of hope. That's the way we humans have always been, hopeful... and steadfast.'
She laughed quietly to herself. 'It will take more than some dumb lizards to take on Earth.
- - -
'Kain,' spoke the cold female voice of Mother Suffering.
'Yes, Mother?' Kain seemed to awake from a slumber as he sat upon his chair, facing towards the great crystal.
'I have recieved word from our Overlord to move half the fleet ahead to Sol Prime.'
'Earth, you mean?'
'Yes, forgive me, Kain.'
'It is no matter, my dear vessel. Earth is no longer my home. Though, pray tell... what is the Tyrant's plan?'
'There is a vast concentration of ships battling for control over the planetoid as we speak, so it seems.'
'Typical,' Kain replied, leaning on his hand. 'Such is the human way. They should learn to embrace the Eternal Alliance like I have.'
'Not all humans are like you, Kain.'
Kain smiled into the crystal. 'You flatter me, Mother Suffering.' Then, he leaned forward, 'inform the other Behemoths under my command to begin our march towards Earth.'
'Of course, Lord Kain,' replied Mother Suffering.
-
"Okay, so you two shall get dropped off at the police station while the rest of us go and rendevous with the President" T-5.0 spoke as they got closer to Earth, seeing it in the distance and getting closer.
Zoe gave a smile to Whisper and gave her a kiss on the lips "Yeah, I know one thing, every race has a weakness, we just have to find out the weakness of the Kre'Iax is all, but thing is, if Zarcon is dead, shouldn't they be wondering what to do? Unless....Blackbeard" she gave off a quick gasp as she sat up "You think Blackbeard has now taken control of those lizards?"
***
The President continued to access the computer before he started the download "It shall be done in due time....just, give it some time" the President told Blackbeard.
Blackbeard walked over to the computer and looked at the download, noticing the file Experiment_8.pdm being downloaded as he smirked "Good, the Kre'Iax should be taking their places around the White House as we speak.....and once I get my file....you shall die" he spoke with a laugh as she shot the President in the chest, but not a fatal shot, still allowing the President to live at the moment.
Indeed, the Kre'Iax were moving inside the White House to take up positions to defend it now, throwing the bodies out onto the front lawn, yet, leaving the blood smeared all over the walls, all around the White House.
-
Whisper was deep in thought. 'Yes, I would suppose Blackbeard is now in control. Though, it is no surprise given that we met him as well as Zarcon at a similar time. The two of them were no doubt working together, and now with Zarcon out of the way... well, that can only spell trouble.'
Not that anything can get any worse, Whisper throught to herself.
Raiven and Isodor leapt from the Athos as it made its pass over the landing pad of the police station. Raiven gave the others one last wave before seeing them off, and then heading towards the entrance.
Lana was waiting just outside. 'Earlier then I expected,' she said to Raiven, before looking over his shoulder. 'Isodor, you've grown since I last saw you.'
'I also switched sides, so to speak,' the squib replied, a little nervous.
'What happened in the past is no matter anymore,' Lana replied. She turned back to Raiven. 'Maynard and Barbary are with me, we have much to discuss inside.'
Raiven tilted his head. 'About what exactly, may I ask?'
'Matters regarding this invasion, Blackbeard... and... well, there is the possibility of another threat.'
Raiven and Isodor's eyes widened. 'Whaaat?'
- - -
In total, ten Behemoth class battleships passed just over Jupiter, ahead of the main fleet. Kain watched their movements from his crystal, he was the commander of the ten ship fleet, and it was his duty to assess the threat that awaited them at Earth.
Several Kre'Iax warships came into sight, straight for them.
'Hm, what are those things any way? They seem like tiny pests as opposed to true warships.'
'It is no longer like the days of the civil war, Kain,' Mother Suffering replied. 'How I long to fight against the Juggernauts once again, ten times our own size.'
'It must have been quite the war, Mother.'
'I still have the scars on my body to prove it,' the ship replied. 'Old wounds never heal, and yet here we all are... trying to rebuild what we lost.'
Kain sat in his seat, thinking. He gazed back into the crystal. 'Do you know what we look for, exactly?'
'Only the Tyrant knows,' came Sufferings reply.
Kain nodded slowly. 'Aware the fleet of the enemy presence, and prepare to destroy them.'
'I have done so already, my Lord.'
'Thank you, Mother.'
Half a dozen Kre'Iax ships approached, and as they got closer it was only then did they realised what they had brought themselves into. Ahead of them were ten gothic vessels a hundred times their own size... and they too were armed.
From the Behemoth known as Mother Eternity emerged a swarm of red. An entire army of missiles, dozens of screaming arrows of glowing red. Each missile broke apart at the last second, into several smaller clusters.
By the time the clusters had passed over the Kre'Iax fleet, all that was left was scrap metal.
Kain sighed. 'Congratulate the commander of Mother Eternity, and let us continue.'
-
"I'm almost certain he has control of them" Alpha interjected. "I gleamed some information from the files I received. It turns out that Blackbeard has had contacts with the Kre'Iax for over a decade. I'm not sure what he promised them in return for their loyalty though."
"Alert! Earth is under attack!" Heron set the ship to 'action stations' mode. The A.I. had just received reports of an invasion on the surface itself. I'm transmitting the data now, Guardians!"
Alpha, Delta, and Omega picked up the stats. Casualty figures, physical damage, monetary losses, and the damage done to the human defenders. The situation was dire, and deteriorating fast.
-
"I'm taking off it's no use for me to just stand around here when I could take part in the defence of earth,' frank said as he ran to the hanger.
-
The download was now at 67% complete as Blackbeard was getting rather impatient now, taking his frustration out by shooting the President once again, this time, in the hip.
The President was sitting against the wall, blood running out of his mouth as well "You're....making a big mistake....Experiment 8....it's dangerous...." he managed to speak.
"All the more reason to obtain the data files" Blackbeard answered the President as the bar continued move, reaching 74% now with the estimated time remaining being less than a minute at the very least "Your kind is all the same, afraid of what something can do and you destroy it"
"Isn't that....what you're like?" the President asked back with a small laugh.
"No, I do it simply because you lot are a waste of energy and should not even exist in the first place, but it is such a shame that you do not see it my way" Blackbeard replied back as the terminal begun to beep, signaling the file copy to be a sucess.
The pirate pulled out the USB it was copied onto and put it into his coat before grabbing the President and dragging him off back to the Oval Office "Time to address this planet before all is destroyed" he spoke, not actually aware that Zarcon had failed in his own mission.
Blackbeard pushed the President into his chair and turned on the camera to address the whole planet. Of course, the usual thing started up on all the tv screen, being an important announcement from the President as it showed him in his chair, bloodied and beaten "Tell me something, is this what you want your President to look like? No, then perhaps I can put an end to his suffering" the voice spoke as Blackbeard stepped into view of the camera, aiming his gun at the President and pulling the trigger, putting a shot right through his head.
He then turned to face the camera "Enjoy your last moments on Earth, you don't have much time left" he chuckled as he walked over to where the President was, pulling out his gun, grabbing the head of the President before cutting through his neck, beheading the President and showed it to the camera with a smirk upon his face before he turned it off and walked over to a Kre'Iax, handing the head over to it and uttering something to it.
The Kre'Iax screeched a little as it took off with the head onto the front lawn, sticking a pike into the other dead bodies that were laying upon one another before sticking the head of the President onto the top of the pike.
-
Raiven and his partner, Isodor, were seated at a small table that had been set up within a small office. The whole room was devoid of any decoration, bar the table and a few chairs. Lana and Maynard were seated on the opposite end of the table.
'So,' Lana continued, leaning on the table with her arms crossed, 'what we know is that Blackbeard is after something important, and that the Kre'Iax was just a part of that intention. Zarcon obviously had the destruction of Earth and humanity as a priority, and Blackbeard used that to his advantage.'
Raiven leaned on the table. 'So, without Zarcon, Blackbeard controls the Kre'Iax?'
Lana nodded. 'We believe so, though were not sure what ties the pirate has with the Kre'Iax, and Zarcon himself.'
Raiven sat back. 'So, what is the Bureau's part in all this?'
'The evacuation of as many civilians from Earth as possible, under the direction of any and all cargo vessels and similar that we could obtain.'
Isodor arched his antenna. 'Uh, why didn't the president do that?'
Lana rolled her eyes. 'You truly expected that idiot to even consider such an idea, given his past reputation.'
'Well, I suppose that explains his low approval rating,' Isodor said. 'It's going to be even lower now.'
Barbary burst throught he door. 'Things just got a whole lot worse!'
They all were seated in one of the large office rooms, with a holovision screen in front of them. Several other people had joined them, police, janitors... a lot of people, baring witness to Blackbeards murder of the President.
Raiven felt sick and disgusted. 'That bastard is going down.'
'No wonder there was a bounty on this guy,' Isodor said. 'Ooh, I feel sick all of a sudden.'
Isodor leapt from his chair and ran for the nearest pot plant.
Lana turned to Raiven. 'We need to get off this planet at once.'
Raiven raised a brow. 'What do you mean?'
She shook her head. 'This is all too much for Earth to bear. The Kre'Iax, Blackbeard, and the unknown object we've just been reported of from Pluto Station.'
'A three pronged attack. We didn't even stand a chance.'
Maynard spoke up. 'We can still evactuate, and make for Alpha Centauri.'
Raiven nodded. 'I'll do what I can to help, but first I need to meet up with the Athos and the others.'
Lana stood up. 'I can take you to them, personally. Where did you say they were intended to go?'
'The White House.'
'Ah. This could get interesting.'