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HW Story - apocalypse77
:: Unknown ::
Engineer First-Class Ronald Jimson
looked out of the Observation window and smilied. The Taiidan
Mothership, the Rebirth, was swarmed with smaller construction
vessels finishing hull work. Smaller Corvettes and Fighters
roamed into the mammoth bays of Rebirth. Larger Pulsar-class
Frigates stood at station-keeping, waiting for the command to
head into the black unknown.
Ron glanced down at his watch, wondering for the umpteenth time
where his transport was. Well, he decided, I can't wait any
longer, there's some final details I need to take care of on the
Rebirth. Starting off in the general direction of the mass
transports, he turned a corner and ran into a towering wall of
muscle. Ron, being a tad bit smaller than the average Taiidan,
collapsed to the deck. The horrified security man quickly helped
Ron to his feet. After tossing off a quick salute, the man asked,
"Engineer First-Class Ronald Jimson?".
"Yes", Ron barked off, a little perturbed, forgetting
even to return the salute.
"Sir, I have been instructed to find you and take you aboard
the Eminence. It's a large ship, larger than any of the frigates
we have now. We recently...acquired it...from some pirates
maruding the spacelanes around here."
"What!? Who's going to take care of the Rebirth!"
"Your Second-in-command, of course. The captain of the
Eminence specifically requested you. He felt you would love the
assignment, he reported that it was, 'A worthy rival for the Last
Chance'. Sir?"
"No...it can't be...not him? The Last Chance was a small
fighter-type vechicle I worked on, but it's been, I don't know,
how many years since-"
"Sir, we really DO need to leave soon, if we are to make the
fleet deadline."
"Uh, yeah, sure, lead on."
A thouroughly shaken Engineer followed the burly security officer
to a section of the station Ron had never been to. The security
officer, whose name Ron had still not gotten, led him into a
small, two-person vehicle. The trip lasted almost an hour, but
ended abruptly when a docking bay suddenly appeared around them.
"WAAAAAAA!!!", screamed Ron, "What the hell is
that?!".
"The Eminince, sir, she has a stealth armor that protects
her from any visual inspection and most electronic detection,
when the armor is turned on, that is."
"Turned on?"
"Yessir, it only works when power is being run through it.
We let it run because we didn't want anyone stumbling on our
little secret."
The mischevious smile that crossed the securtiy man's face
indicated that he either knew more than he was telling, which was
more than a securtiy man should know, or he wasn't a security man
at all. The startling realization crossed Ron's face in an
instant, but he had it quickly, being a decent actor himself.
He'd go ahead and ride this trip out to see what was going on.
The small two-man pod slid easily into a corner of the bay. A
SMALL bay, Ron noticed, nothing compared to the massive bays of
the Rebirth. They both climbed out and stepped into the nearest
turbolift. The ride to the brigde was short and uneventful. There
was a barely noticable appraising look on the face of the
securtity officer, and something struck Ron as phoney about the
security man, but nothing he could put his finger on. Ron
couldn't really concentrate, that image from the past kept
floating up, and his anxiety level was about as high as it could
get.
They stepped out onto the bridge, to preform the customary action
of asking the captain's permission to board. As the doors opened,
there was a huge grin on most of the officers present, and one of
them announced, "Captain on the Bridge!". Ron looked
around, and saw no other lift doors opening, and he knew that HE
wasn't captain, so he leaned over to ask the securtity officer
something, but what he saw knocked him flat on his back.
The security man had removed most of his facial features, leaving
new ones in their places. Ron was on the ground staring with an
open mouth at the slightly deformed face looking down on him and
laughing. "Y--Y--You!!! Bu--bu--but, but you're DEAD!"
Ron's mouth hung agape as he
stared at someone he had not seen in years.
Ron stammered, "But--but--but you died, when-".
"Perhaps we'd better step into my office.", said the
man, who had an enourmous grin on his face.
The pair slowly strode across the bridge, the huge smug captain
and the small shaken engineer. As they approached the doors, Ron
noticed that the captain had to stop and punch a button, strage,
no automatic doors. They walked in to the surprisingly luxuriant
office, the man offered Ron a chair and he took it.
"Nice office", Ron began neutrally.
"Thanks, the former captain had quite a taste for
luxury." A sneer crossed his face, "It's all being
recycled tomorrow."
"Well...", Ron shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
"Hmm, I guess you wanted to know what happened to me."
"It might be nice, yea."
"Well, you remember the Last Chance, right?"
"How could I forget?" The Last Chance was a two man
fighter-type vehicle, atmosphere-only craft. This was shortly
after infighting and civil war nearly rocked the planet to it's
foundations. They were ambitious children, and had wanted to get
away. They'd heard of one last peaceful city, one last bastion of
hope. There was no chance of getting there on foot, the walk was
too far, and it was through a battle zone besides. So they snuck
into the military junkyard, stealing the parts they needed to get
away. Using his father's military access codes, he found the
patrol routes of the atmosphere fighters. There was one area
where they could test their creation. In a small ceremony, they
christened her the Last Chance. The day of the flight test came
up. They flipped a coin to see who would go, Ron lost. So the
Last Chance took off, and headed away. Ron was lost in his
thoughts for a moment, but he was suddenly stirred by a small
flash. The Last Chance plummeted out of the sky, heading well
away from him and any rescue. The ship was quite aerodynamic, and
was able to glide for quite a distance, and Ron had no chance of
getting to it, not through the constant fighting. Ron wept for a
long time, before collecting himself and returing home. The next
day, a news broadcast was made that the ship had exploded several
miles out, and that the pilot was not found, but presumed dead in
the explosion. Shortly after, the fighting was ended when The
Ship was discovered.
"Well, I imagine you saw the explosion."
Ron nodded.
"That was the port stabilizer, I told you it wasn't up to
specs."
"Well, we didn't really have any choice in the matter."
"I know, I don't blame you. Well, I was able to postion the
Chance in a stable flight mode, it was basically gliding. I
planned to turn around and come back, but the flight module was
damaged in the explosion, and she wouldn't respond. I had to
glide straight on ahead, slowly losing altitude all the time.
Then I realized somthing, how could the flight module be down,
it's nowhere near the port side. I looked back to see most of the
ship on fire. I waited and waited, but the ship never got close
enough to the ground for me to safely jump. Eventually the fire
chewed through the fuel pod, exploded, sent me out of the ship
whether I liked it or not. I hit some bushes that had mud under
them, so I was really hurt at all. Just covered in mud. Hehe.
Well, the wreck was to hot to even approach, so I made my way to
the nearest town. No food, but plently of water, I made it easily
enough. I got really banged up inside the cockpit, so there was
organic material all over, probably enough to give me up for
dead. My face was in horrid condition, several lacerations, but
nothing vital, mostly cosmetic. I had some plastic surgery to
help correct it, joined the Aerospace Division, and did well, got
transferred here as captian."
A thourougly rattled Ron suddenly asked, "Why'd you ask me
here? why'd you pull me away from the Rebirth?"
"Well, like I said eariler, this ship was
recently...acquired...from a pirate band that attacked us while
we were mining the asteroids out past Choodaan. We only got her
about a day ago, and she took quite a beating. The fleet launch
was pushed back by three days for us to get this ship in working
condition. First priority is accomplished, we established
atmopheric integrity. Second priority is also accomplished, the
armor is at full strength. Thrid is to get the hyperdrive working
at full capactiy, fourth to get the mains working at full
efficeny, and fifth is to get all weapon systems fully
functional. If nessecary, we'll be a hulk alongside the Rebirth
until we get the ship fixed. Any questions?"
"No sir."
"Well then, I suggest you get to your duties."
"Yessir. One last thing sir-"
"Don't call me sir."
"What?"
"We're old friends, if we're alone, don't call me sir."
"Very well, uh, Thrake," Ron smilied, "I request
permission to come aboard...uh, what's the ship called?"
Thrake quirked a smile and said, "I christened her the First
Dream yesterday."
Ron smilied, "What you wanted to name the Last Chance."
"Exactly, I'm the skipper here." Thrake grinned and
saluted, "Persmission granted."
Ron spun smartly on his heel and left the captain's office. A
Lieutenant guided him to his bunk. As he lay down to sleep, he
thought, Oh boy, what have I gotten myself into.
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