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"After I got the all-clear from look, I found this."
JahelaJ explained that it seemed the globe needed a lens to properly project whatever image or message it contained. She also told MysticRogue that the lens was probably still in Dau, absorbed into some other bot.
"We need to get that lens... and fast."
JahelaJ explained that it seemed the globe needed a lens to properly project whatever image or message it contained. She also told MysticRogue that the lens was probably still in Dau, absorbed into some other bot.
"We need to get that lens... and fast."
JahelaJ and 3 other CLM pilots headed for Dau. Splitting up, they took different quadrants. Each was to start on bot-sectors and each had a modified heliocene scanner (able to free-scan space) as well as weaponry. JahelaJ took A-H/1-8 and figured B-3 was as good a place to start as any as it was the last location of any hive bots associated with the globe. A jump-in to B-3 from the 8 cardinal points revealed nothing.
JahelaJ, next, hit the active bot-sectors. A scan of the bots in E-3 and F-3 also turned up negative and JahalaJ was worried. She feared the lens was left behind in the debris field and drifted far away from jump-in points. Such a search, with only 4 ships, would be impossibly slow. But, there were still a lot of sectors the team had to check.
She had only 3 roid-sectors in her quadrant, as did Alysia. After scanning the bots in H-2, she called Alysia.
<guild>JahelaJ: "Alysia, got anything yet?"
<guild>Alysia: "No JJ, not a peep and I've just finished H-15."
<guild>JahelaJ: "OK, slide over and give Tramshed a hand with I-9 to P-16 and I'll help Racer finish up I-1 to P-8."
<guild>Alysia: "Roger."
<guild>JahelaJ: "Racer, I'll work my way up from M-9"
<guild>Racer: "Roger, I've just finished O-4, moving to I-5 now."
It wasn't long before all the known bot-sectors had been scanned with the modified heliocene scanners and yielded negative results. Their search now switched to the botless roid fields and "spud farms" (fields with potato-shaped roids). They each went back to their original quadrants.
A-1 revealed nothing of interest and JahelaJ began getting a sinking feeling that the lens was lost and the secrets of the globe would remain hidden forever but, as she jumped into D-1 "The Potato Farm", she got a hit on the scanner. Slowly maneuvering between the huge roids, she came upon a sight she'd never seen before.
Nestled up against a particularly massive potato-roid was a single Orun collector surrounded by a huge cloud of ore crates. It looked like Ecka Estenk on a massive leveling frenzy! Seeing it with an Orun Collector was not only funny, it was bazaar!
Not wanting to take any chances of possibly losing the lens (if that was indeed the heliocene source she picked up, JahelaJ nosed into the cloud of ore crates and immediately jettisoned them to get closer to the Orun. When she had a clear path, JahelaJ, at the same time, hit her boosters and fired a small volley of neutron shots into the Orun's 2 engines. The collision with the Orun, sent it nose-first into the roid and snapped of it's 2 small guns. It hung close to the roid motionless. Surprisingly though, the Orun kept right on mining.
JahelaJ maneuvered around the motionless mining-machine scanning visually for anything out of the ordinary. When she came around to the front of the craft, she noticed something strange but familiar. The collector had three eyes under it's broken sensor panel. The third eye was noticeably bigger and tinted red. JahelaJ donned her EV suit, grabbed a laser and went out the hatch.
As she drifted up to the sensor panel, she knew, beyond doubt, she had found the lens. She keyed her EV radio and informed the other pilots of her discovery and to meet her in D-1. She then went about the task of cutting out the lens without getting herself killed. She looked at the lens housing and found it was loose and marred with burns. When she cut the housing away, the lens came out easily. There was nothing connected to it but it looked like the collector's queen had tried. Everything within 10 centimeters of the lens' position was burned away or melted. Maybe this explained the collector's strange behavior.
JahelaJ took the lens back to her ship and prepared to leave. She stowed it in a shielded case and punched in the return nav-route. When the other pilots arrived, JahelaJ sent the collector to it's grave and the 4 pilots returned to Latos.
JahelaJ, next, hit the active bot-sectors. A scan of the bots in E-3 and F-3 also turned up negative and JahalaJ was worried. She feared the lens was left behind in the debris field and drifted far away from jump-in points. Such a search, with only 4 ships, would be impossibly slow. But, there were still a lot of sectors the team had to check.
She had only 3 roid-sectors in her quadrant, as did Alysia. After scanning the bots in H-2, she called Alysia.
<guild>JahelaJ: "Alysia, got anything yet?"
<guild>Alysia: "No JJ, not a peep and I've just finished H-15."
<guild>JahelaJ: "OK, slide over and give Tramshed a hand with I-9 to P-16 and I'll help Racer finish up I-1 to P-8."
<guild>Alysia: "Roger."
<guild>JahelaJ: "Racer, I'll work my way up from M-9"
<guild>Racer: "Roger, I've just finished O-4, moving to I-5 now."
It wasn't long before all the known bot-sectors had been scanned with the modified heliocene scanners and yielded negative results. Their search now switched to the botless roid fields and "spud farms" (fields with potato-shaped roids). They each went back to their original quadrants.
A-1 revealed nothing of interest and JahelaJ began getting a sinking feeling that the lens was lost and the secrets of the globe would remain hidden forever but, as she jumped into D-1 "The Potato Farm", she got a hit on the scanner. Slowly maneuvering between the huge roids, she came upon a sight she'd never seen before.
Nestled up against a particularly massive potato-roid was a single Orun collector surrounded by a huge cloud of ore crates. It looked like Ecka Estenk on a massive leveling frenzy! Seeing it with an Orun Collector was not only funny, it was bazaar!
Not wanting to take any chances of possibly losing the lens (if that was indeed the heliocene source she picked up, JahelaJ nosed into the cloud of ore crates and immediately jettisoned them to get closer to the Orun. When she had a clear path, JahelaJ, at the same time, hit her boosters and fired a small volley of neutron shots into the Orun's 2 engines. The collision with the Orun, sent it nose-first into the roid and snapped of it's 2 small guns. It hung close to the roid motionless. Surprisingly though, the Orun kept right on mining.
JahelaJ maneuvered around the motionless mining-machine scanning visually for anything out of the ordinary. When she came around to the front of the craft, she noticed something strange but familiar. The collector had three eyes under it's broken sensor panel. The third eye was noticeably bigger and tinted red. JahelaJ donned her EV suit, grabbed a laser and went out the hatch.
As she drifted up to the sensor panel, she knew, beyond doubt, she had found the lens. She keyed her EV radio and informed the other pilots of her discovery and to meet her in D-1. She then went about the task of cutting out the lens without getting herself killed. She looked at the lens housing and found it was loose and marred with burns. When she cut the housing away, the lens came out easily. There was nothing connected to it but it looked like the collector's queen had tried. Everything within 10 centimeters of the lens' position was burned away or melted. Maybe this explained the collector's strange behavior.
JahelaJ took the lens back to her ship and prepared to leave. She stowed it in a shielded case and punched in the return nav-route. When the other pilots arrived, JahelaJ sent the collector to it's grave and the 4 pilots returned to Latos.
meanwhile at the abandoned station...
I was busy, thole old plasma devastators were stuck good, mounting bolts corroded on permanently. I had to cut them away and weld the new ones in place, there will be no reusing these cannon. Oh well, they ain't that expensive anyway.
I decided to call Miexon, maybe he has a few guys I could hire, "Hey Miex, you got any guys who can cut and weld that want to make some good cash?", a few second later Miexon replied, "sure I can send over a couple guys, what are you working on?" I paused wondering how to make this sound professional, "Uhh I'm cutting several hundred year old plasma devastators off of turrets and welding new ones on, outside",
Miexon took a few minutes asking those that were still awake, "Yea believe it or not I've actually got two people crazy enough to try something like that but they want 300k each", I wasn't about to waste any time haggling with these guys, "Ok deal, but they better be here fast" Maybe this will get done in time, or atleast done enough
I was busy, thole old plasma devastators were stuck good, mounting bolts corroded on permanently. I had to cut them away and weld the new ones in place, there will be no reusing these cannon. Oh well, they ain't that expensive anyway.
I decided to call Miexon, maybe he has a few guys I could hire, "Hey Miex, you got any guys who can cut and weld that want to make some good cash?", a few second later Miexon replied, "sure I can send over a couple guys, what are you working on?" I paused wondering how to make this sound professional, "Uhh I'm cutting several hundred year old plasma devastators off of turrets and welding new ones on, outside",
Miexon took a few minutes asking those that were still awake, "Yea believe it or not I've actually got two people crazy enough to try something like that but they want 300k each", I wasn't about to waste any time haggling with these guys, "Ok deal, but they better be here fast" Maybe this will get done in time, or atleast done enough
After greeting JJ, Mystic noticed she seemed distracted by something on the bookcase.
Making sure her friend was ok, they talked a few minutes about the globe before JJ opened her kit and got started. An hour later JahelaJ slumped back in her chair. "I know I'm missing something obvious but I've tried everything I can think of to get an answer about the lights."she sighed.
"Well, keep at it, JJ. We've got to get past this first hurdle soon. This place won't be safe for long", with this she headed out the door. Mystic went back to her makeshift office for a cup of coffee, a few minutes to relax then back to those damn printouts. A headache was beginning to form, they had to get this code broken soon. Laying her head on her folded arms, she just wanted to close her eyes for a few minutes. Next thing she knew she was being pelted by...something. She had fallen asleep it seemed, slowly she opened her eyes to see her comm blinking, then a light was hitting her in the face. It was look
"look what the hell?"
"I think there's ITAN in the corridor, stand back I'll cut a bigger hole in the wall".
Mystic stepped back as he made the hole bigger, using an old fashioned torch of some kind.
As she climbed through the hole she looked at the mess, "What makes you think there's ITAN in here?"
"I was making the new guy deliver Elbryon his lunch and he was cut off mid word by a stun blaster shot, JJ heard it too".
"That was YOUR job, who else have you contacted?",
"Nobody yet, here take these" he handed Mystic a blast pistol and a few extra batteries as he tried to raise Flag. It didn't take him too long to respond and check the area. After a few minutes of silence Flag spoke , "It's Iry and Elbryon, their almost at the docking bay, they won't see you open your door"
Look motioned for Flag to join them and then both turned to her almost in unison.
"What now boss?" Mystic gave Flag the blaster she had and then took over Look's console to turn on the external cameras on her ship.
"I think you can catch up to them and kill them both if you're quick enough. They are still several hundred meters from their ship, go.. run.. now." she realized when she saw their faces that she had spoken a little sharper than normal but this wasn't a normal situation.
When they took off, Mystic watched the scene start to unfold in front of her. She took off running down the hall arriving on the scene just as it seemed the fight was over.
"You guys alright? You get him?".
Look was checking himself over. After assuring her that he was ok, he realized that he had lost half of one of his fingers off one of his prosthetic hands. Flag found it jammed into one of the old light sockets
He laughed, "Should I turn it on, see if it glows?" Look gave him a rude gesture as a response.
JJ joined them while Flag and look were going back and forth.
"What the hell was THAT" she asked.
Flag spoke up first "Umm a fire fight"
Mystic could tell JJ was in no more mood for their antics than she was.
Look explained that Omega had been outside and aided Iry and Elbryon out, but he had hit Iry he knew.
“How's the research going?" Look asked as he finished filling them in.
"It was going fine till all hell broke loose outside, Why didn't they come looking for the globe?"
Mystic finally spoke, "There were only three of them, and they had no idea how many of us there are here, getting Elbryon was probably their top priority, they've got plenty of soldiers, not so many council members." She took a deep breath and continued, "Look, see what station defenses you can get on line, I don't want any more surprises. Flag you go round up all the shooters you can find, we could be in for a bigger firefight."
Mystic watched as Flag took off towards Latos and look started on the defenses, rousing the poor stunned mechanic, she turned "Now JJ what have you found out?"
"Here, take a look" She led Mystic back down the hall,"After I got the all-clear, I found this."
She explained that it seemed the globe needed a lens to properly project whatever image or message it contained. She also told Mystic that the lens was probably still in Dau, absorbed into some other bot.
Mystic agreed, and told JJ to get a couple pilots to go with her to Dau to look for the lens.
She didn't like having everyone so spread out, but there was no help for it. All she could do was wait, and trust that everyone would get their jobs done and be regrouped before ITAN decided to come back for the globe. Her comm unit went off a half hour later, it was Look,
"Hey boss, I got in touch with Miexon, two PA members are coming to help, only gonna cost us 600k"
"Thats fine,cheap at twice the price, if its fast enough."
She wished she could do more, her expertise was in negotiating and fighting more than the technical stuff, and she couldn't chance being in Dau. The last thing CLM needed was for the Vipers to catch her. So all she could do was sit back and go through the printouts again, for when JJ was successful, and she HAD to be successful.
Making sure her friend was ok, they talked a few minutes about the globe before JJ opened her kit and got started. An hour later JahelaJ slumped back in her chair. "I know I'm missing something obvious but I've tried everything I can think of to get an answer about the lights."she sighed.
"Well, keep at it, JJ. We've got to get past this first hurdle soon. This place won't be safe for long", with this she headed out the door. Mystic went back to her makeshift office for a cup of coffee, a few minutes to relax then back to those damn printouts. A headache was beginning to form, they had to get this code broken soon. Laying her head on her folded arms, she just wanted to close her eyes for a few minutes. Next thing she knew she was being pelted by...something. She had fallen asleep it seemed, slowly she opened her eyes to see her comm blinking, then a light was hitting her in the face. It was look
"look what the hell?"
"I think there's ITAN in the corridor, stand back I'll cut a bigger hole in the wall".
Mystic stepped back as he made the hole bigger, using an old fashioned torch of some kind.
As she climbed through the hole she looked at the mess, "What makes you think there's ITAN in here?"
"I was making the new guy deliver Elbryon his lunch and he was cut off mid word by a stun blaster shot, JJ heard it too".
"That was YOUR job, who else have you contacted?",
"Nobody yet, here take these" he handed Mystic a blast pistol and a few extra batteries as he tried to raise Flag. It didn't take him too long to respond and check the area. After a few minutes of silence Flag spoke , "It's Iry and Elbryon, their almost at the docking bay, they won't see you open your door"
Look motioned for Flag to join them and then both turned to her almost in unison.
"What now boss?" Mystic gave Flag the blaster she had and then took over Look's console to turn on the external cameras on her ship.
"I think you can catch up to them and kill them both if you're quick enough. They are still several hundred meters from their ship, go.. run.. now." she realized when she saw their faces that she had spoken a little sharper than normal but this wasn't a normal situation.
When they took off, Mystic watched the scene start to unfold in front of her. She took off running down the hall arriving on the scene just as it seemed the fight was over.
"You guys alright? You get him?".
Look was checking himself over. After assuring her that he was ok, he realized that he had lost half of one of his fingers off one of his prosthetic hands. Flag found it jammed into one of the old light sockets
He laughed, "Should I turn it on, see if it glows?" Look gave him a rude gesture as a response.
JJ joined them while Flag and look were going back and forth.
"What the hell was THAT" she asked.
Flag spoke up first "Umm a fire fight"
Mystic could tell JJ was in no more mood for their antics than she was.
Look explained that Omega had been outside and aided Iry and Elbryon out, but he had hit Iry he knew.
“How's the research going?" Look asked as he finished filling them in.
"It was going fine till all hell broke loose outside, Why didn't they come looking for the globe?"
Mystic finally spoke, "There were only three of them, and they had no idea how many of us there are here, getting Elbryon was probably their top priority, they've got plenty of soldiers, not so many council members." She took a deep breath and continued, "Look, see what station defenses you can get on line, I don't want any more surprises. Flag you go round up all the shooters you can find, we could be in for a bigger firefight."
Mystic watched as Flag took off towards Latos and look started on the defenses, rousing the poor stunned mechanic, she turned "Now JJ what have you found out?"
"Here, take a look" She led Mystic back down the hall,"After I got the all-clear, I found this."
She explained that it seemed the globe needed a lens to properly project whatever image or message it contained. She also told Mystic that the lens was probably still in Dau, absorbed into some other bot.
Mystic agreed, and told JJ to get a couple pilots to go with her to Dau to look for the lens.
She didn't like having everyone so spread out, but there was no help for it. All she could do was wait, and trust that everyone would get their jobs done and be regrouped before ITAN decided to come back for the globe. Her comm unit went off a half hour later, it was Look,
"Hey boss, I got in touch with Miexon, two PA members are coming to help, only gonna cost us 600k"
"Thats fine,cheap at twice the price, if its fast enough."
She wished she could do more, her expertise was in negotiating and fighting more than the technical stuff, and she couldn't chance being in Dau. The last thing CLM needed was for the Vipers to catch her. So all she could do was sit back and go through the printouts again, for when JJ was successful, and she HAD to be successful.
Luckily we got away without too much trouble. It was a good thing Iry brought Omega with him or he would have gotten more than a few buckshot pellets in his backside. The wound wasn't too bad but we were going to have to stop in Dau and get him to the hospital to get the pellets out before they got infected.
<group>Elbryon-iry, Omega thanks for helpin me get outa there. I didn't expect anyone to be coming for me anytime soon.
<group>iry-we couldn't just leave you there to rot in a CLM dungeon.
<group>Elbryon-how were you able to find me anyways?
<group>iry-well your last transmission was from L2 headed for the abandoned station so we figured we'd start there and when we saw the CLM ships flying around we just hoped they hadn't killed you yet.
<group>Elbryon-I'm glad you showed up and I'm glad Omega is a better shot than look or we would have been filled with agt and gauss instead of a couple buck shot lol
<group>Omega-eh, i just pointed at the door and pulled the trigger good thing you got outa the way
<group>Elbryon-well iry drop me at L2 I can pick up yoda's old valk that I found maybe we can get some more information off the comm on our way to Dau.
iry dropped me off at L2 and I ran to the dock and hopped in the old valk to escort iry and Omega to Dau. I didn't try the comm right away since I figured the last thing I should do is let Mystic and look know where we were 20 minutes after I got away.
The flight through the Latos-Sedina wh area was quite uneventful for a change. We saw wiggins and Spidey exchangeing blows with each other as had become the norm lately. We also caught sight of two PA pilots warping into the sector, again nothing out of the ordinary. Once we came out on the other side of the worm hole I turned on the comm in the valk and turned it back to the channel I first heard Mystic talking to me on.
Score!
I caught the end of a conversation between JahelaJ and Racer... "...im moving to I-5 now"
I still couldn't tell where they were from that conversation but I wasn't about to ruin my lead by trying to talk to them just yet.
The three of us cleared the rest of Latos with no incidents, it looked rather barren in space today everyone seemed to be tied up in one thing or another. Omega decided to break off and go sit in N-2 and watch the chat comms to see if he could garner any more information from the older Orion miners that lived there and iry and I continued on into Azek.
Most of Azek is UIT monitored so we felt relatively safe flying in a loose formation as we made our way to Dau.
<group>Elbryon-hows the backside commander?
<group>iry-its fine thank you but pay attention to that comm and dont worry about my backside, if you dont mind.
<group>Elbryon-will do sir
I kept relatively quiet the rest of the trip to the Dau capital sector. I had not heard any chatter over yoda's comm and could only guess that Mystic and look had already changed the frequencies when I heard...
<guild>JahelaJ-Ok I have the lense lets get out before someone finds us.
I told iry to keep heading for the capital and I would see if I could head them off at the worm hole before they can get through. With that I turned my valk around and headed back towards the worm hole sector. I sent a quick blurb out to all of ITAN over our secure channel....
<guild>Elbryon-iry is in hospital any and all available ITAN pilots near Dau we have CLM pilots nearby and the may have the globe please any assistance you can give at this moment would be appreciated.
Maybe I could make up for loseing the globe by stopping JJ and finding out what she is up too.
Elbryon[ITAN]
Council member
<group>Elbryon-iry, Omega thanks for helpin me get outa there. I didn't expect anyone to be coming for me anytime soon.
<group>iry-we couldn't just leave you there to rot in a CLM dungeon.
<group>Elbryon-how were you able to find me anyways?
<group>iry-well your last transmission was from L2 headed for the abandoned station so we figured we'd start there and when we saw the CLM ships flying around we just hoped they hadn't killed you yet.
<group>Elbryon-I'm glad you showed up and I'm glad Omega is a better shot than look or we would have been filled with agt and gauss instead of a couple buck shot lol
<group>Omega-eh, i just pointed at the door and pulled the trigger good thing you got outa the way
<group>Elbryon-well iry drop me at L2 I can pick up yoda's old valk that I found maybe we can get some more information off the comm on our way to Dau.
iry dropped me off at L2 and I ran to the dock and hopped in the old valk to escort iry and Omega to Dau. I didn't try the comm right away since I figured the last thing I should do is let Mystic and look know where we were 20 minutes after I got away.
The flight through the Latos-Sedina wh area was quite uneventful for a change. We saw wiggins and Spidey exchangeing blows with each other as had become the norm lately. We also caught sight of two PA pilots warping into the sector, again nothing out of the ordinary. Once we came out on the other side of the worm hole I turned on the comm in the valk and turned it back to the channel I first heard Mystic talking to me on.
Score!
I caught the end of a conversation between JahelaJ and Racer... "...im moving to I-5 now"
I still couldn't tell where they were from that conversation but I wasn't about to ruin my lead by trying to talk to them just yet.
The three of us cleared the rest of Latos with no incidents, it looked rather barren in space today everyone seemed to be tied up in one thing or another. Omega decided to break off and go sit in N-2 and watch the chat comms to see if he could garner any more information from the older Orion miners that lived there and iry and I continued on into Azek.
Most of Azek is UIT monitored so we felt relatively safe flying in a loose formation as we made our way to Dau.
<group>Elbryon-hows the backside commander?
<group>iry-its fine thank you but pay attention to that comm and dont worry about my backside, if you dont mind.
<group>Elbryon-will do sir
I kept relatively quiet the rest of the trip to the Dau capital sector. I had not heard any chatter over yoda's comm and could only guess that Mystic and look had already changed the frequencies when I heard...
<guild>JahelaJ-Ok I have the lense lets get out before someone finds us.
I told iry to keep heading for the capital and I would see if I could head them off at the worm hole before they can get through. With that I turned my valk around and headed back towards the worm hole sector. I sent a quick blurb out to all of ITAN over our secure channel....
<guild>Elbryon-iry is in hospital any and all available ITAN pilots near Dau we have CLM pilots nearby and the may have the globe please any assistance you can give at this moment would be appreciated.
Maybe I could make up for loseing the globe by stopping JJ and finding out what she is up too.
Elbryon[ITAN]
Council member
The two PA mechanics just arrived from PA HQ in Ukari and I had just finished modifying some mining beams for cutting and some repair guns for very crude welding. I chuckled "This should make the job easier now for something to test them on."
I grinned and turned the warthog to Elbryon's old Valk and aimed at the landing gear, Flag looked over, somewhat concerned. *BZZZZZ*, *CLANG*, *PEW*, *FIZZLE*, I smiled wide, "Ta Da". Flag burst out laughing and then realized I just welded a valk to the middle of the docking bay, "nice work, now how do we get it out of the way?".
"uhh, I'll melt it some more with the beam and you push it out into space with that old buss". A moment later a large glowing glob of molten Valkyrie came flying out of the docking bay past Mystic's window. I counted backwards, "five, four, three, tw", "Look, What hell was that thing I just seen fly off the station", so close, "an old valk", Mystic just sighed and shook her head as she returned to her office.
With the tools working we (myself and the three mechanics) should have time for a few beers after fixing the turrets. The cannon installation went smoothly all things considered. We accidentally melted one of the turrets to slag, but it doesn't cover any of the entrances or exits anyway.
I entered Mystic's office to inform her the turrets were armed and ready in all respects but she was napping so I decided to let her rest.
I headed back to the control room where the mechanics were just cleaning up the old turret controls, "Hey lets do some target practice, I'll find some junk to throw out the airlock."
About five minutes later I had crammed two cots, a vacuum cleaner, the oxy torch, two broken refrigerators and an empty book case into the air lock and hit the open button, *WHOOSH*. I ran back to the control room warned Flag about the target practice, and designated the debris hostile in the targeting computer, *THUD THUD THUD* *BOOM*, oh yea thats why they banned those, they blow up.
The fireball hadn't even finished before my comm came to life, "look, why is my window covered in mustard? Is ITAN attacking us with condiments?", uh oh, she seemed rather pissed, "nope, just some target practice to make sure the turrets all work, every thing's fine." I turned off the comm, and headed down to the mess hall
I grinned and turned the warthog to Elbryon's old Valk and aimed at the landing gear, Flag looked over, somewhat concerned. *BZZZZZ*, *CLANG*, *PEW*, *FIZZLE*, I smiled wide, "Ta Da". Flag burst out laughing and then realized I just welded a valk to the middle of the docking bay, "nice work, now how do we get it out of the way?".
"uhh, I'll melt it some more with the beam and you push it out into space with that old buss". A moment later a large glowing glob of molten Valkyrie came flying out of the docking bay past Mystic's window. I counted backwards, "five, four, three, tw", "Look, What hell was that thing I just seen fly off the station", so close, "an old valk", Mystic just sighed and shook her head as she returned to her office.
With the tools working we (myself and the three mechanics) should have time for a few beers after fixing the turrets. The cannon installation went smoothly all things considered. We accidentally melted one of the turrets to slag, but it doesn't cover any of the entrances or exits anyway.
I entered Mystic's office to inform her the turrets were armed and ready in all respects but she was napping so I decided to let her rest.
I headed back to the control room where the mechanics were just cleaning up the old turret controls, "Hey lets do some target practice, I'll find some junk to throw out the airlock."
About five minutes later I had crammed two cots, a vacuum cleaner, the oxy torch, two broken refrigerators and an empty book case into the air lock and hit the open button, *WHOOSH*. I ran back to the control room warned Flag about the target practice, and designated the debris hostile in the targeting computer, *THUD THUD THUD* *BOOM*, oh yea thats why they banned those, they blow up.
The fireball hadn't even finished before my comm came to life, "look, why is my window covered in mustard? Is ITAN attacking us with condiments?", uh oh, she seemed rather pissed, "nope, just some target practice to make sure the turrets all work, every thing's fine." I turned off the comm, and headed down to the mess hall
Another day, another patrol. Vehement had a lot on his mind, and all the time in the world to ponder it. As he flew his patrol, he was practically begging for a disraction. Then his radar alerted him to four ships entering Latos through the wormhole to Azek.
<sector><Vehement> What have we here? A flight of pirates returning from a profitable raid?
<sector><JahelaJ> Hardly.
<sector><Vehement> Then you won't mind showing me the inside of your cargo bays. Hold your positions and disable your weapons.
<sector><Racer> Not a chance copper!
<sector><Alysia> Come an' get us!
As Vehement closed the distance, all four CLM pilots flew in different directions. Frackin' great... He locked his radar onto the nearest, Alysia, and fired. It was a clean engine kill, and the ship went limp in space.
<sector><JahelaJ> Nooo! You're not arresting anyone today Viper scum!
JahelaJ brought her ship about to engage Vehement just as tramshed and Racer reached jump distance. Both cursed at themselves, riding their ships into different sectors where they would just need to turn around to assist JahelaJ.
The engagement was brief. Vehement was about to call in some backup to help detain his two newest takedowns when Racer and tramshed reentered the sector.
<sector><Racer> We'll be takin' that ship o' yers fer scrap now.
<sector><Vehement> Or maybe I'll settle for one arrest then...
Vehement grappled JahelaJ's cockpit and punched his afterburners, tearing it free. A two on one against pirate heavy hitters wouldn't end well for him.
Ten minutes later at the Vipers' lockup, Nolan "Vehement" Faux sat a grumpy pirate in a chair and began looking at the only 'loot' she seemed to have in her posession.
"What is it?"
"Nothing that would concern you."
"Jahela, everything you pirates do concerns us. You're very concerning individuals."
Jahela turned her eyes toward the room's comm unit in time for it to go off. Nolan answered.
"Yes?"
"Her bail's been posted. Cut her loose."
"Yes sir." Nolan ended the call and frowned at his detainee. "Again."
"Now get these things off me. You'll hear from us about that thing you're calling 'evidence.' It belongs to us fair and square!"
"I'm sure you stole it 'fairly' alright." Nolan removed the cuffs and opened the door, fatigued by setting free yet another hardened criminal.
<sector><Vehement> What have we here? A flight of pirates returning from a profitable raid?
<sector><JahelaJ> Hardly.
<sector><Vehement> Then you won't mind showing me the inside of your cargo bays. Hold your positions and disable your weapons.
<sector><Racer> Not a chance copper!
<sector><Alysia> Come an' get us!
As Vehement closed the distance, all four CLM pilots flew in different directions. Frackin' great... He locked his radar onto the nearest, Alysia, and fired. It was a clean engine kill, and the ship went limp in space.
<sector><JahelaJ> Nooo! You're not arresting anyone today Viper scum!
JahelaJ brought her ship about to engage Vehement just as tramshed and Racer reached jump distance. Both cursed at themselves, riding their ships into different sectors where they would just need to turn around to assist JahelaJ.
The engagement was brief. Vehement was about to call in some backup to help detain his two newest takedowns when Racer and tramshed reentered the sector.
<sector><Racer> We'll be takin' that ship o' yers fer scrap now.
<sector><Vehement> Or maybe I'll settle for one arrest then...
Vehement grappled JahelaJ's cockpit and punched his afterburners, tearing it free. A two on one against pirate heavy hitters wouldn't end well for him.
Ten minutes later at the Vipers' lockup, Nolan "Vehement" Faux sat a grumpy pirate in a chair and began looking at the only 'loot' she seemed to have in her posession.
"What is it?"
"Nothing that would concern you."
"Jahela, everything you pirates do concerns us. You're very concerning individuals."
Jahela turned her eyes toward the room's comm unit in time for it to go off. Nolan answered.
"Yes?"
"Her bail's been posted. Cut her loose."
"Yes sir." Nolan ended the call and frowned at his detainee. "Again."
"Now get these things off me. You'll hear from us about that thing you're calling 'evidence.' It belongs to us fair and square!"
"I'm sure you stole it 'fairly' alright." Nolan removed the cuffs and opened the door, fatigued by setting free yet another hardened criminal.
Mystic was watching a couple of the new recruits clean the mustard and other debris off the window of her makeshift office when the call came in from JJ.
"Boss we got problems..." JJ started. Just what she didn't want to hear, Mystic thought.
"JJ we don't need any more problems, but whats up?"
"There was a firefight with the Vipers, I got arrested"
"They are always arresting some of us, your bail should be posted soon enough, thats what we pay those people for over there in Dau"
"Well the bail was posted and I was released, but Vehement wasn't happy and he kept the lens, calling it evidence."
"That is CLM property, they can not hold that..."
"I told him that, but he didn't believe me, big surprise."
This did not please Mystic in the least but it wasn't JJ's fault.
"Ok get back here as soon as you can, I take it the others are all ok?"
"Aye, Alysia lost her engine, but Racer and Tram were there when Vehement hauled me away..literally, that Viper owes me a ship." JJ sounded pissed, Mystic almost felt sorry for Vehement...almost.
"I'm going to see what I can do to get that lens back...they want to get legal, let them deny the evidence we have that it belongs to CLM, I have that information here."
She signed off with JJ and started wondering about the new problem. They had the proof that that lens belonged to them, but there wasn't a member of CLM that wasn't on Vipers list to be arrested on sight. Getting bail was no problem, but she would rather avoid that scenario altogether. What she needed was someone that could act on their behalf, but wasn't on the wanted list. Too bad tumble's undercover identity had been exposed, hell she would even be happy if Borb...wait a minute..Borb...suddenly Mystic had a thought. It was a long shot, but it just might work. She started looking through her contact list, she knew that she still had that information. A few minutes later, she found what she was looking for and punched up the the comm number, as it was answered..
"Hi Everson, this is Mystic...."
"Boss we got problems..." JJ started. Just what she didn't want to hear, Mystic thought.
"JJ we don't need any more problems, but whats up?"
"There was a firefight with the Vipers, I got arrested"
"They are always arresting some of us, your bail should be posted soon enough, thats what we pay those people for over there in Dau"
"Well the bail was posted and I was released, but Vehement wasn't happy and he kept the lens, calling it evidence."
"That is CLM property, they can not hold that..."
"I told him that, but he didn't believe me, big surprise."
This did not please Mystic in the least but it wasn't JJ's fault.
"Ok get back here as soon as you can, I take it the others are all ok?"
"Aye, Alysia lost her engine, but Racer and Tram were there when Vehement hauled me away..literally, that Viper owes me a ship." JJ sounded pissed, Mystic almost felt sorry for Vehement...almost.
"I'm going to see what I can do to get that lens back...they want to get legal, let them deny the evidence we have that it belongs to CLM, I have that information here."
She signed off with JJ and started wondering about the new problem. They had the proof that that lens belonged to them, but there wasn't a member of CLM that wasn't on Vipers list to be arrested on sight. Getting bail was no problem, but she would rather avoid that scenario altogether. What she needed was someone that could act on their behalf, but wasn't on the wanted list. Too bad tumble's undercover identity had been exposed, hell she would even be happy if Borb...wait a minute..Borb...suddenly Mystic had a thought. It was a long shot, but it just might work. She started looking through her contact list, she knew that she still had that information. A few minutes later, she found what she was looking for and punched up the the comm number, as it was answered..
"Hi Everson, this is Mystic...."
"...this is Mystic. I need a favor."
Everson froze. Not because he didn't remember Mystic.. more because he did. Three times.
<ooc> for your reference: Where is Everson? and Wait, so who answered the comm? </ooc>
Vehement knew Mystic as a crafty arch-foe. Pancakes knew her almost as an older sister figure, she had helped him through falling in love with Gingerbread the Swift. Everson, however, knew Mystic far better. Last he saw her, she commented that she might call one day for a favor.
Having finished his trip down memory lane, Everson quipped "Borb in trouble again?"
"Aren't you just full of jokes. I hear you made Commander."
"Yes, well, it isn't a position I hold anymore. So what's up?"
"The Vipers arrested one of my pilots. That's fine, it comes with the territory. But he confiscated something that belongs to us. I need someone who they won't arrest on sight to go in and prove ownership."
"Ah.." THIS could be a problem "no problem. Should we meet so you can familiarize me with this evidence? Or.. actually, just walk me through it. Nolan Faux is a good friend of mine, he'll believe me without seeing it."
"No.. we should meet. I'm on the station-turned-racetrack in Sedina. You'll be flying a..?"
"White SVG. The ID code won't make sense, so just don't shoot any white SVGs, okay? I'm sending you a file on a sub channel (who? link from above), hope you can have it read before I arrive. See you in half an hour."
"Okay.. afraid to be seen with me now or something?" Mystic wasn't sure what to make of all the information he was feeding her. Why would he need a false ID?
"Just read the file."
"Willdo, thanks for the hand."
"Hope you mean that." 'Vehement 2.0' ended the call. Now where did I park Everson's SVG...
Everson froze. Not because he didn't remember Mystic.. more because he did. Three times.
<ooc> for your reference: Where is Everson? and Wait, so who answered the comm? </ooc>
Vehement knew Mystic as a crafty arch-foe. Pancakes knew her almost as an older sister figure, she had helped him through falling in love with Gingerbread the Swift. Everson, however, knew Mystic far better. Last he saw her, she commented that she might call one day for a favor.
Having finished his trip down memory lane, Everson quipped "Borb in trouble again?"
"Aren't you just full of jokes. I hear you made Commander."
"Yes, well, it isn't a position I hold anymore. So what's up?"
"The Vipers arrested one of my pilots. That's fine, it comes with the territory. But he confiscated something that belongs to us. I need someone who they won't arrest on sight to go in and prove ownership."
"Ah.." THIS could be a problem "no problem. Should we meet so you can familiarize me with this evidence? Or.. actually, just walk me through it. Nolan Faux is a good friend of mine, he'll believe me without seeing it."
"No.. we should meet. I'm on the station-turned-racetrack in Sedina. You'll be flying a..?"
"White SVG. The ID code won't make sense, so just don't shoot any white SVGs, okay? I'm sending you a file on a sub channel (who? link from above), hope you can have it read before I arrive. See you in half an hour."
"Okay.. afraid to be seen with me now or something?" Mystic wasn't sure what to make of all the information he was feeding her. Why would he need a false ID?
"Just read the file."
"Willdo, thanks for the hand."
"Hope you mean that." 'Vehement 2.0' ended the call. Now where did I park Everson's SVG...
Mystic sighed as she finished reading the file Everson had sent her...should she even call him that? Or what should she call him now? He was essentially the same person who had assisted her and Borb not so very long ago. At least part of him was anyway. Unfortunately part of him was also one of her enemies. Yet another part was was someone she considered a friend.
"Does two parts friend override one part enemy?" She wondered out loud. There were many that lived separate lives, some very dear to her. So was this so very much different? Mystic herself had done the same thing. Three very different men, all combined into one, it couldn't be easy. But that was a worry for another time, her main concern now, had to be getting that lens back. How would Everson, for that was how she would have to deal with him as now, react to her?
Mystic didn't have long to wonder, for as she was processing all this new information, word came that a white SVG had entered the sector. She had already informed the docking crew to be expecting the arrival, and for them to ignore the ID. For this she got a few strange looks, but no one questioned her. look and Flag, after finishing up the defenses and rounding up the rest of the crew were probably doing something else that would irritate her. She swore those two had made it their mission to give her terminal migraines. JJ was in the recently set up lab area with the globe, matching up the files Mystic had with what she was able to track down. So it was alone that Mystic walked down to the dock to meet her visitor.
"This is going to be interesting indeed", she said as she watched the SVG dock smoothly in the bay. There was no trepidation in her mind about the meeting, even the Vpr part of the man getting out of the ship in front of her wouldn't be stupid enough to try anything with so much firepower around. Mystic gave a genuine smile as she stepped forward to greet the man she knew, yet didn't...
"Welcome to our temporary home away from home...."
"Does two parts friend override one part enemy?" She wondered out loud. There were many that lived separate lives, some very dear to her. So was this so very much different? Mystic herself had done the same thing. Three very different men, all combined into one, it couldn't be easy. But that was a worry for another time, her main concern now, had to be getting that lens back. How would Everson, for that was how she would have to deal with him as now, react to her?
Mystic didn't have long to wonder, for as she was processing all this new information, word came that a white SVG had entered the sector. She had already informed the docking crew to be expecting the arrival, and for them to ignore the ID. For this she got a few strange looks, but no one questioned her. look and Flag, after finishing up the defenses and rounding up the rest of the crew were probably doing something else that would irritate her. She swore those two had made it their mission to give her terminal migraines. JJ was in the recently set up lab area with the globe, matching up the files Mystic had with what she was able to track down. So it was alone that Mystic walked down to the dock to meet her visitor.
"This is going to be interesting indeed", she said as she watched the SVG dock smoothly in the bay. There was no trepidation in her mind about the meeting, even the Vpr part of the man getting out of the ship in front of her wouldn't be stupid enough to try anything with so much firepower around. Mystic gave a genuine smile as she stepped forward to greet the man she knew, yet didn't...
"Welcome to our temporary home away from home...."
"...home away from home, Everson. How was your flight?"
Vehement hopped down from his cockpit dressed in a nondescript grey flight suit. He'd left the Viper uniform at home today. Probably still had the badge in his pocket, Mystic figured. "You know, I wasn't sure which name you'd pick, to be honest. I suppose familiarity wins the day. Latos was a bit stormy." Vehement took a good look around, uneasy about being surrounded by potential foes.
"Well glad you made it. So how's this work? If I want to talk to Everson, where is the Everson switch?"
"Doesn't quite work that way. I am constrained by his feelings just as much as the others, though. Everson remembers you as trustworthy, and the others don't have evidence to the contrary."
That was what Mystic needed to hear. "Great! Follow me, I'll show you why that thing is ours."
Inside Mystic's workspace, she sat her guest Viper in her own chair and took the corner of the desk for herself. Arranged on the desk was everything relevant to the lens that CLM had. "See, JJ found that the lens is a missing part of the globe, and the globe has our logo on it so.."
"What does the globe do?" The Vipers probably had files on it, but Vehement couldn't have known to study such files before his arrival.
"It's a map." Mystic answered, in a matter-of-fact sort of tone. Please don't care what kind of map..
"A map?" Vehement thought about that for a moment. Four pirates enter Union space, looking for part of an old map that belonged to them, and they don't even stop to hit a trader along the way? What was so important about this map? "What kind of a map is it?"
"It's our map, but it's missing the lens. Which is ours. Can I have my lens back please, Mr. Everson?"
Vehement didn't need to look at her to know what sort of face she was wearing. He rotated his wedding band with his thumb for a moment. "Well you proved it belongs to you. I don't think your map leads you to something that originally belonged to you, but since I can't prove that.."
Yes! "Thank you! So where is-"
It was at this moment that JahelaJ entered the room. "Boss, I found- GET DOWN!" JahelaJ's sidearm came out and fired. Vehement had just enough time to shove Mystic backward off of the desk and duck. A desk wouldn't provide much protection, but there was no time to be choosy.
"No JJ, NO! I know who he is, I brought him here!" Mystic screamed. She would have looked comical, being that she was practically standing on her head, if guns weren't involved.
"But he's-"
"Yes I know he just arrested you."
"Drop the weapon!" Vehement was now leaning around the side of the desk, weapon levelled. JahelaJ had lowered hers while talking to Mystic.
"Dammit!"
"Do it!"
The blaster clattered to the deck. "Happy now?"
Mystic got to her feet slowly. "Everson, it's okay. She didn't know, nobody got hurt-"
"Lies."
JahelaJ smiled a little. "I got 'im boss. Looks like the shoulder."
"Everson put the gun away so I can look at it." Mystic was already looking for her first aid kit.
"What are you ransaking your stuff for?"
"Can't find the first aid-"
"I have one in my ship, relax." Vehement didn't miss the irony in that Everson was shot the last time he was around Mystic.
"Relax?!? You just got- Oh.. right. You got shot last time too." Mystic felt a bit embarassed, but didn't show it. Fracking Serco tolerance of pain...
Vehement got to his feet and lowered his sidearm. "You shoot better with that than a ship 'JJ.' I'm impressed."
"Oh save it copper. Where's our lens?"
"JJ.. thanks.. I'll take it from here." Mystic dismissed her subordinate with a gesture.
"It doesn't look bad. A clean wound, as they say" Mystic reported as she finished applying the bandage. It wasn't the first time she patched up a pilot while dangling her feet off the side of a Vulture either.
"I'm sure my wife will be happy to hear that." More likely she'll be angry as heck at me..
"So.. where's my lens Everson?"
"Back at our evidence locker. I need to go do the paperwork on it."
"Oh rats. So when can we get it?"
"Assuming I'm not called away to save any traders from pirates" Vehement cleared his throat "tonight."
"Can't you just give it to me and do the paperwork later?" Mystic asked using a choice tone of voice for the second time.
"Thought about it. Then I got shot. This'll make flying, typing, and signatures take longer."
Mystic decided to concede. She couldn't ask much more from him than getting shot... "I'll call you tonight then. Thanks Everson."
"Have a pleasant day, Mystic." Vehement took Mystic by the hand and lowered her from the Vulture, much as he had the last time they parted. It was even the same SVG.
Still a gentleman. Mystic waved and headed back to her now disorganized workspace, trusting that he could buckle his harness and depart without supervision. And now I have a friend in the Vipers!
Vehement hopped down from his cockpit dressed in a nondescript grey flight suit. He'd left the Viper uniform at home today. Probably still had the badge in his pocket, Mystic figured. "You know, I wasn't sure which name you'd pick, to be honest. I suppose familiarity wins the day. Latos was a bit stormy." Vehement took a good look around, uneasy about being surrounded by potential foes.
"Well glad you made it. So how's this work? If I want to talk to Everson, where is the Everson switch?"
"Doesn't quite work that way. I am constrained by his feelings just as much as the others, though. Everson remembers you as trustworthy, and the others don't have evidence to the contrary."
That was what Mystic needed to hear. "Great! Follow me, I'll show you why that thing is ours."
Inside Mystic's workspace, she sat her guest Viper in her own chair and took the corner of the desk for herself. Arranged on the desk was everything relevant to the lens that CLM had. "See, JJ found that the lens is a missing part of the globe, and the globe has our logo on it so.."
"What does the globe do?" The Vipers probably had files on it, but Vehement couldn't have known to study such files before his arrival.
"It's a map." Mystic answered, in a matter-of-fact sort of tone. Please don't care what kind of map..
"A map?" Vehement thought about that for a moment. Four pirates enter Union space, looking for part of an old map that belonged to them, and they don't even stop to hit a trader along the way? What was so important about this map? "What kind of a map is it?"
"It's our map, but it's missing the lens. Which is ours. Can I have my lens back please, Mr. Everson?"
Vehement didn't need to look at her to know what sort of face she was wearing. He rotated his wedding band with his thumb for a moment. "Well you proved it belongs to you. I don't think your map leads you to something that originally belonged to you, but since I can't prove that.."
Yes! "Thank you! So where is-"
It was at this moment that JahelaJ entered the room. "Boss, I found- GET DOWN!" JahelaJ's sidearm came out and fired. Vehement had just enough time to shove Mystic backward off of the desk and duck. A desk wouldn't provide much protection, but there was no time to be choosy.
"No JJ, NO! I know who he is, I brought him here!" Mystic screamed. She would have looked comical, being that she was practically standing on her head, if guns weren't involved.
"But he's-"
"Yes I know he just arrested you."
"Drop the weapon!" Vehement was now leaning around the side of the desk, weapon levelled. JahelaJ had lowered hers while talking to Mystic.
"Dammit!"
"Do it!"
The blaster clattered to the deck. "Happy now?"
Mystic got to her feet slowly. "Everson, it's okay. She didn't know, nobody got hurt-"
"Lies."
JahelaJ smiled a little. "I got 'im boss. Looks like the shoulder."
"Everson put the gun away so I can look at it." Mystic was already looking for her first aid kit.
"What are you ransaking your stuff for?"
"Can't find the first aid-"
"I have one in my ship, relax." Vehement didn't miss the irony in that Everson was shot the last time he was around Mystic.
"Relax?!? You just got- Oh.. right. You got shot last time too." Mystic felt a bit embarassed, but didn't show it. Fracking Serco tolerance of pain...
Vehement got to his feet and lowered his sidearm. "You shoot better with that than a ship 'JJ.' I'm impressed."
"Oh save it copper. Where's our lens?"
"JJ.. thanks.. I'll take it from here." Mystic dismissed her subordinate with a gesture.
"It doesn't look bad. A clean wound, as they say" Mystic reported as she finished applying the bandage. It wasn't the first time she patched up a pilot while dangling her feet off the side of a Vulture either.
"I'm sure my wife will be happy to hear that." More likely she'll be angry as heck at me..
"So.. where's my lens Everson?"
"Back at our evidence locker. I need to go do the paperwork on it."
"Oh rats. So when can we get it?"
"Assuming I'm not called away to save any traders from pirates" Vehement cleared his throat "tonight."
"Can't you just give it to me and do the paperwork later?" Mystic asked using a choice tone of voice for the second time.
"Thought about it. Then I got shot. This'll make flying, typing, and signatures take longer."
Mystic decided to concede. She couldn't ask much more from him than getting shot... "I'll call you tonight then. Thanks Everson."
"Have a pleasant day, Mystic." Vehement took Mystic by the hand and lowered her from the Vulture, much as he had the last time they parted. It was even the same SVG.
Still a gentleman. Mystic waved and headed back to her now disorganized workspace, trusting that he could buckle his harness and depart without supervision. And now I have a friend in the Vipers!
*belch*, *psst, pop* I opened another can and passed another to Flag, unopened as we lay in hammocks. The new mechanic was cooking burgers on a makeshift habatchi grill as my music player blared.
♪Nibblin' on sponge cake♪
♪Watchin' the sun bake♪
Mystic didn't look too happy. She looked around the room, hammocks, beer, faux straw umbrella, tiki torches, and a mechanic cooking burgers in a grill burning bits of a desk that had been attacked with an axe.
She sighed heavily, "You were supposed to tell JJ not to go shoot Vehement. You're lucky he was only grazed, remind me again why I put up with you two?",
I looked over at Flag, he tossed my comms unit to me and I rang the control room, "hey launch a whole mess of target drones, hold the mustard". A moment later a fork lift with 3 people on the back whizzed by the door carrying some broken vending machines *whoomph* *whoomph* *whoomph*. Immediately visible out the room's picture window, the "target drones" disintegrated in a hail of plasma devastator fire.
"Ok just try not to make too much of a mess, I know it's hard for you guys, but lets not trash the whole station". She turned to face the mechanic, "I don't know how you put up working for him", He just smiled and handed her a burger, "Oh, thanks, uhh vehement might be back later with the lens, so don't shoot him. I'll go tell JJ myself"
♪Nibblin' on sponge cake♪
♪Watchin' the sun bake♪
Mystic didn't look too happy. She looked around the room, hammocks, beer, faux straw umbrella, tiki torches, and a mechanic cooking burgers in a grill burning bits of a desk that had been attacked with an axe.
She sighed heavily, "You were supposed to tell JJ not to go shoot Vehement. You're lucky he was only grazed, remind me again why I put up with you two?",
I looked over at Flag, he tossed my comms unit to me and I rang the control room, "hey launch a whole mess of target drones, hold the mustard". A moment later a fork lift with 3 people on the back whizzed by the door carrying some broken vending machines *whoomph* *whoomph* *whoomph*. Immediately visible out the room's picture window, the "target drones" disintegrated in a hail of plasma devastator fire.
"Ok just try not to make too much of a mess, I know it's hard for you guys, but lets not trash the whole station". She turned to face the mechanic, "I don't know how you put up working for him", He just smiled and handed her a burger, "Oh, thanks, uhh vehement might be back later with the lens, so don't shoot him. I'll go tell JJ myself"
iry wandered around the TPG capitol station in search of SOMETHING to make himself feel useful. The noise maker look carried had done some damage. There was significant damage to the nerve in his upper arm which drastically reduced his ability to fly any sort of space craft. The Xang Xi medics were unable to repair the damage without the aid of cybernetic relays, so iry was forced to travel to Dau to get a real doctor and not some mechanic with a passion for Serco implants.
iry's nerve regeneration was moving long nicely though he'd have a lot of brushing up to do when he got back to into space. iry was sifting through the comm logs hoping to find a clue to the current whereabouts of CLM. Elbryon never managed to get a lock on the pilots returning from Dau, and the current belief was that CLM was still camping out in the Sedina station.
It seemed the Vipers were out and about, and and if anyone was up for opposing pirates it would be them.
iry downloaded the data Elbryon and Rentaghost had collected on the globe following its recovery from the Odia hive. Hopefully Viper would want to learn the secrets of the globe as much as iry did, not to mention the fact they'd get to rain on CLM's parade. iry sent descriptions of the globe along with a brief message requesting a meeting to the Viper message queue. WIth luck one of the Vipers would be available to discuss a joint operation of some sort.
iry's nerve regeneration was moving long nicely though he'd have a lot of brushing up to do when he got back to into space. iry was sifting through the comm logs hoping to find a clue to the current whereabouts of CLM. Elbryon never managed to get a lock on the pilots returning from Dau, and the current belief was that CLM was still camping out in the Sedina station.
It seemed the Vipers were out and about, and and if anyone was up for opposing pirates it would be them.
iry downloaded the data Elbryon and Rentaghost had collected on the globe following its recovery from the Odia hive. Hopefully Viper would want to learn the secrets of the globe as much as iry did, not to mention the fact they'd get to rain on CLM's parade. iry sent descriptions of the globe along with a brief message requesting a meeting to the Viper message queue. WIth luck one of the Vipers would be available to discuss a joint operation of some sort.
I have been flying around grey space now for going on three days with no sign of a single CLM pilot. I haven't gotten a leaked transmission over yoda's comm in nearly that long either, they must have finally changed their frequency to lock out anybody listening in. CLM are either very well hidden or I need to stop in and have my vision checked again. Where the hell could they all be?
My only course of action is to head back to the station where I last saw the globe and see if I could pick up a trail on them from there.
I stopped in Latos at the Odia station to refit and repair my valk since it had been damaged in a couple ion storms while I was searching for JJ and who should happen to be sitting in the bar? None other than Sharingan, one of CLM's newest recruits. I had a good repore with Shar from his time before joining the pirates so I grabbed a stool next to him and tried to chat him up a bit, but to no avail. He talked to me about everything from his initiation into CLM to how he'd finally downed 500 enemy pilots (showoff):), but he wouldn't let anything spill about what they were doing with the globe or what JJ had been up too. One bit of pertenant information that Sharingan let slip was that a Viper had visited Mystic and look at their new temporary station and left with his life still intact. I guess I should let iry know this when I get a chance. I bought Sharingan another couple drinks, invited him up to Deneb for a few rounds at the border frey, and bid him farewell.
I logged my credit chip at the dock for any return trips I might be makeing in the near future and hit the launching bay. Just 2 station gaurds is all I saw anywhere close man this new software drazed added to our ships makes identifying hostiles so much easier than it used to be, but i digress. At the worm hole to Sedina I ran into Shanis who had just splashed another serco xith convoy and was about to leave...
<sector>Elbryon-Hey friend how's the xith trades these days?
<sector>Shanis Tolos-Good my friend. How are you?
<sector>Elbryon-As good as can be expected, good luck with that stuff. OH! Hey Shanis, you didn't happen to run into any CLM while you were chaseing that convoy did you?
<sector>Shanis Tolos-Nope sorry Elb I didn't haven't seen any of them all day.
<sector>Elbryon-Ok thanks man I better hit sedina before it gets too busy.
Well that didn't help much, but at least the worm hole sector should be clear.
Sedina, a veritable pirates playground, anything you want can be purchased or "aquired" here if you know the right people. Hopefully I will be able to find what I am looking for.
Elbryon[ITAN]
Council member
My only course of action is to head back to the station where I last saw the globe and see if I could pick up a trail on them from there.
I stopped in Latos at the Odia station to refit and repair my valk since it had been damaged in a couple ion storms while I was searching for JJ and who should happen to be sitting in the bar? None other than Sharingan, one of CLM's newest recruits. I had a good repore with Shar from his time before joining the pirates so I grabbed a stool next to him and tried to chat him up a bit, but to no avail. He talked to me about everything from his initiation into CLM to how he'd finally downed 500 enemy pilots (showoff):), but he wouldn't let anything spill about what they were doing with the globe or what JJ had been up too. One bit of pertenant information that Sharingan let slip was that a Viper had visited Mystic and look at their new temporary station and left with his life still intact. I guess I should let iry know this when I get a chance. I bought Sharingan another couple drinks, invited him up to Deneb for a few rounds at the border frey, and bid him farewell.
I logged my credit chip at the dock for any return trips I might be makeing in the near future and hit the launching bay. Just 2 station gaurds is all I saw anywhere close man this new software drazed added to our ships makes identifying hostiles so much easier than it used to be, but i digress. At the worm hole to Sedina I ran into Shanis who had just splashed another serco xith convoy and was about to leave...
<sector>Elbryon-Hey friend how's the xith trades these days?
<sector>Shanis Tolos-Good my friend. How are you?
<sector>Elbryon-As good as can be expected, good luck with that stuff. OH! Hey Shanis, you didn't happen to run into any CLM while you were chaseing that convoy did you?
<sector>Shanis Tolos-Nope sorry Elb I didn't haven't seen any of them all day.
<sector>Elbryon-Ok thanks man I better hit sedina before it gets too busy.
Well that didn't help much, but at least the worm hole sector should be clear.
Sedina, a veritable pirates playground, anything you want can be purchased or "aquired" here if you know the right people. Hopefully I will be able to find what I am looking for.
Elbryon[ITAN]
Council member
I was just getting ready to return to CLM's temporary base, when i stopped to think about what ship i should bring with me...a prom or a rev c?
Then I remembered...
---about 1 week ago---
I had just joined CLM and headed towards the K5 station to report. Leaving SCAR had been a hard decision, among other reasons, SCAR was a cool tag to have.
I warped in K5 and, surprised by the amount of debris floating around, talked through the comm...
<sector><sharingan> Private Sharingan reporting. Requesting permission to dock.
A couple of mins later i heard some people laughing
<sector><???> FRESH MEAT!! FRESH MEAT!! FRESH MEAT!!
<sector><sharingan> errr, yah, hummm, so...can i dock?
<sector><???> Ahh, the parrot wants to dock, should we let him?
<sector><???> Dunno, what do you think TBF?
<sector><sharingan> Can I plz?
<sector><TheBlackFlag> Aight aight, enough...you can dock, only if you say "BWUK! Sharingan wants a cookie BWUK BWUAK!"
<sector><sharingan> ....YO MAMA!
More laughs, then a couple of seconds later, hell broke loose on me. A rain of AGT and gauss fire came at me from every corner of the station. The initial blasts took out my weapons systems and half of my prom's armor. Had i dodged a second later, I wouldve become part of the floating debris.
<sector><sharingan> Gahh...alright alright, got it, first day bully the newbie, yes yes, its fun...now can I come in?
Another rain of AGT, this time i was ready, and was able to dodge part of it.
<sector><sharingan> Seriously guys, this isnt funny anymore.
Another round came at me...I had 5% remaining, when i yelled through the comm:
<sector><sharingan> BWAUK BWUK! SHARINGAN WANZ A COKIE! SHARINGAN WANTS A FRACKING COKIE!! BWAUK!!
<sector><TheBlackFlag> *laughs and clapping on background* You can dock now.
As soon as i docked i was greeted by LNH and TBF, among other people...
MysticRogue had just walked in the hangar. I saluted her with the usual military salute.
"Private Sharingan reporting!, sir"
"He, relax, no need for so much formality here, this isnt the army"
"Ah, humm, sure" I said lowering my arm.
"You ran into trouble on your way here?" She said looking at my prom.
"Err, ye, kinda...nothing big, Ill be able to repai.." I was interrupted by Look who yelled:
"GO!!"
I quickly turned around just in time to see a big explosion outside. I inmediately looked at the place where my prom had been...It was gone.
Used as target practice...
"YEEEAHHWW!!!" Look yelled.
"You see Mystic? Not even a prom can withstand the new defenses"
"But....why?" i couldnt take my eyes away from the spot where my prom had exploded. All my stuff had been inside.
Mystic shaked her head in dissaproval..
"*sigh....welcome to CLM, Shar"
---end of flashback---
Yep, Prom it is.
Then I remembered...
---about 1 week ago---
I had just joined CLM and headed towards the K5 station to report. Leaving SCAR had been a hard decision, among other reasons, SCAR was a cool tag to have.
I warped in K5 and, surprised by the amount of debris floating around, talked through the comm...
<sector><sharingan> Private Sharingan reporting. Requesting permission to dock.
A couple of mins later i heard some people laughing
<sector><???> FRESH MEAT!! FRESH MEAT!! FRESH MEAT!!
<sector><sharingan> errr, yah, hummm, so...can i dock?
<sector><???> Ahh, the parrot wants to dock, should we let him?
<sector><???> Dunno, what do you think TBF?
<sector><sharingan> Can I plz?
<sector><TheBlackFlag> Aight aight, enough...you can dock, only if you say "BWUK! Sharingan wants a cookie BWUK BWUAK!"
<sector><sharingan> ....YO MAMA!
More laughs, then a couple of seconds later, hell broke loose on me. A rain of AGT and gauss fire came at me from every corner of the station. The initial blasts took out my weapons systems and half of my prom's armor. Had i dodged a second later, I wouldve become part of the floating debris.
<sector><sharingan> Gahh...alright alright, got it, first day bully the newbie, yes yes, its fun...now can I come in?
Another rain of AGT, this time i was ready, and was able to dodge part of it.
<sector><sharingan> Seriously guys, this isnt funny anymore.
Another round came at me...I had 5% remaining, when i yelled through the comm:
<sector><sharingan> BWAUK BWUK! SHARINGAN WANZ A COKIE! SHARINGAN WANTS A FRACKING COKIE!! BWAUK!!
<sector><TheBlackFlag> *laughs and clapping on background* You can dock now.
As soon as i docked i was greeted by LNH and TBF, among other people...
MysticRogue had just walked in the hangar. I saluted her with the usual military salute.
"Private Sharingan reporting!, sir"
"He, relax, no need for so much formality here, this isnt the army"
"Ah, humm, sure" I said lowering my arm.
"You ran into trouble on your way here?" She said looking at my prom.
"Err, ye, kinda...nothing big, Ill be able to repai.." I was interrupted by Look who yelled:
"GO!!"
I quickly turned around just in time to see a big explosion outside. I inmediately looked at the place where my prom had been...It was gone.
Used as target practice...
"YEEEAHHWW!!!" Look yelled.
"You see Mystic? Not even a prom can withstand the new defenses"
"But....why?" i couldnt take my eyes away from the spot where my prom had exploded. All my stuff had been inside.
Mystic shaked her head in dissaproval..
"*sigh....welcome to CLM, Shar"
---end of flashback---
Yep, Prom it is.
---Shortly after Sharingan's landing---
Sharingan didn't look too happy, I walked over to a stack of crates and brought him a box. He opened it, "hey you got my stuff out of the prom". "Course we did, you didn't think we'd go and space all your junk". He shook his head still somewhat upset about the loss of his prom, "So now what am I going to fly?".
I smiled, "whatever you want, we got a couple XC loads of ships coming here in an hour",I reached into my pocket and handed him a data pad,"here's the purchase order for the ships to be brought down, just add what you want, In the mean time find yourself some quarters. I posted signs on doors that lead to non shielded areas, don't go there."
With that I walked towards Flag, who was still sitting in the golf cart I found in the cargo bay, as I approached he started the cart and a giant blue cloud of burning oil came out of the smoke stack we added. I grabbed on to the roof and jumped on the back, where the clubs were supposed to go, "MUSH". Flag floored the old golf cart and we roared down the narrow hallway off to make our island getaway hangout.
Sharingan didn't look too happy, I walked over to a stack of crates and brought him a box. He opened it, "hey you got my stuff out of the prom". "Course we did, you didn't think we'd go and space all your junk". He shook his head still somewhat upset about the loss of his prom, "So now what am I going to fly?".
I smiled, "whatever you want, we got a couple XC loads of ships coming here in an hour",I reached into my pocket and handed him a data pad,"here's the purchase order for the ships to be brought down, just add what you want, In the mean time find yourself some quarters. I posted signs on doors that lead to non shielded areas, don't go there."
With that I walked towards Flag, who was still sitting in the golf cart I found in the cargo bay, as I approached he started the cart and a giant blue cloud of burning oil came out of the smoke stack we added. I grabbed on to the roof and jumped on the back, where the clubs were supposed to go, "MUSH". Flag floored the old golf cart and we roared down the narrow hallway off to make our island getaway hangout.
It was far from an ideal meeting, in far from an ideal location, under far from ideal circumstances. The only Viper pilot available to meet at ITAN's request was Nolan "Vehement" Faux, and the closest ITAN pilot was Elbryon. It would be he, the man who started it all, who would present the Itani case to the Vipers.
In an out of the way sector of the Sedina system, empty even of asteroids that the hive might exploit, a Valkyrie and an Orion Centurion made contact.
"CLM has taken the globe from us. They have also held me captive. We fear they have some dastardly plans to execute upon retrieving the globe. Can you offer any assistance in getting it back?"
"What is this globe?" Nolan asked with his practiced police tone.
"It has been leading me around, sort of. All our research points to it being some sort of treasure map made by a long gone commander of CLM."
"Wouldn't that make it their property?"
"Yes but they can't have it! There's no telling what they will do if they decipher the globe!"
"The Vipers aren't in the business of stealing."
"But it probably leads to stolen property."
"Yet the globe itself belongs to CLM. Viper can't take sides against CLM in an illegal fashion. But here is what we can do."
"Okay..."
"We can track them for you. We can restrict their movement as much as possible. We can confiscate anything they uncover, since it is stolen property. We can intervene if they imprison any of your pilots again. But we can't take things that belong to them.. that isn't legal."
Elbryon was fit to burst. Yet Vehement was right; the Vipers had a fine line to walk. "I heard one of yours met with them already. You aren't taking their side, are you?"
"Far from it. I met with them myself to clarify some details about my arrest of JahelaJ. The report is public record, if you're interested."
The two pilots parted ways. Vehement stopped nearby to switch ships; a white SVG was his new choice. Within the hour, CLM had the lens in their possession, and Vehement was back in his centurion. It didn't take him long to score his fourth pirate arrest of the day.
In an out of the way sector of the Sedina system, empty even of asteroids that the hive might exploit, a Valkyrie and an Orion Centurion made contact.
"CLM has taken the globe from us. They have also held me captive. We fear they have some dastardly plans to execute upon retrieving the globe. Can you offer any assistance in getting it back?"
"What is this globe?" Nolan asked with his practiced police tone.
"It has been leading me around, sort of. All our research points to it being some sort of treasure map made by a long gone commander of CLM."
"Wouldn't that make it their property?"
"Yes but they can't have it! There's no telling what they will do if they decipher the globe!"
"The Vipers aren't in the business of stealing."
"But it probably leads to stolen property."
"Yet the globe itself belongs to CLM. Viper can't take sides against CLM in an illegal fashion. But here is what we can do."
"Okay..."
"We can track them for you. We can restrict their movement as much as possible. We can confiscate anything they uncover, since it is stolen property. We can intervene if they imprison any of your pilots again. But we can't take things that belong to them.. that isn't legal."
Elbryon was fit to burst. Yet Vehement was right; the Vipers had a fine line to walk. "I heard one of yours met with them already. You aren't taking their side, are you?"
"Far from it. I met with them myself to clarify some details about my arrest of JahelaJ. The report is public record, if you're interested."
The two pilots parted ways. Vehement stopped nearby to switch ships; a white SVG was his new choice. Within the hour, CLM had the lens in their possession, and Vehement was back in his centurion. It didn't take him long to score his fourth pirate arrest of the day.
And now I have a friend in the Vipers! Mystic laughed to herself at that thought, though she supposed it was true, to an extent. She could see problems looming ahead, conflicts of interest and all, this would require treading lightly. Everson getting shot had not been part of the plan, Mystic had even told look to make sure JJ knew that he would be on the station.
She headed down the hallway towards the music, wondering what mischief she would find this time. The music got louder as she approached the area they had taken for themselves,
the sight that greeted her eyes made her groan inwardly. Hammocks strung up , tiki torches all over, a mechanic was making burgers in a grill burning bits of what appeared to have once been a desk.
She sighed heavily, "You were supposed to tell JJ not to go shoot Vehement. You're lucky he was only grazed, remind me again why I put up with you two?"
Neither said a word in response, Flag just tossed look's comm to him, and he proceeded to order some "target drones" which were actually old vending machines and such, as they went out, the station defenses that look had prepared reduced them to rubble in no time. He had made his point without saying a word to her.
"Ok just try not to make too much of a mess, I know it's hard for you guys, but lets not trash the whole station".
She turned to face the mechanic, "I don't know how you put up working for him", He just smiled and handed her a burger,
"Oh, thanks, uhh Vehement might be back later with the lens, so don't shoot him. I'll go tell JJ myself"
She found JJ with the globe again, "Looks like we will have the lens soon, and maybe we can get on with this and back to our regular HQ my friend"
JJ looked tired, they were all exhausted, well except the terrible twosome, who didn't seem to let anything bother them.
"Sorry about shooting the Vpr boss..." She trailed off.
"Don't worry about it, it was a shock for you to see him there, look was -supposed- to let you know what was going on. Everson wasn't here as a Viper, but as an old friend of mine. Seems he and a couple others all make up...nm, too complicated. I will let you read the file yourself. But he is coming back later tonight to deliver the lens, could ya curb the urge to shoot him for that long?" Mystic laughed at this last part.
"If you say its ok boss, then its ok...for now" JJ smiled." I cant wait to see what happens when we attach the lens, even if it leads us to nothing, it will have been an adventure"
"Well it wont lead us to nothing, you have read the same files I have, there is a wealth there, and it belongs to us."
A while later Mystic watched as the white SVG docked once again at the old station. She noticed he favored his shoulder just a bit when no one was looking. Pushing away from the doorway where she was standing Mystic walked to meet him.
"A little birdy told me that a Viper was meeting with a member of ITAN...you wouldn't know anything about that would you my friend? Mystic watched him carefully.
"Standard procedure when dealing with property that two sides claim as their own.."
"That globe belongs to CLM!"she started.
"I know that Mystic, and ITAN has no claim on the globe itself..."
"ITAN has no claim on any of it, they were just lucky enough to have found our property, if they had returned it when asked nicely, none of this other would have happened."
"Must an argument occur every time we meet? I am delivering the lens that belongs to CLM, that should make you smile"
Mystic relaxed a bit, he was right, he wasn't the source of her irritation, she gave him a warm smile.
"Ok I promise no arguments, and you wont even get shot this time" she quipped with a laugh. She turned a little more demure as she continued, "I really do appreciate you delivering this yourself Everson, it means a lot, and it shows me that I wasn't wrong."
"Wrong? In what way?"
"That just because you happen to now wear a Vpr uniform, you aren't that different from the man that helped me and Borb." She motioned for him to follow her "Let me show you what all the fuss is about."
There was a comfortable silence as they walked the short distance down the hallway, Everson still carrying the case with the lens. When they opened the door to the area where JJ was with the globe, she looked up to see who was interrupting her work. "look if your here to bother me again..."she stopped when she saw who was standing in the door.
"Hi boss, sorry thought look was here to cause more mischief,"JJ's hand had went automatically to her blaster. Mystic saw this and so did Everson.
"Easy JJ, he comes bearing a gift for you."
As he handed JJ the case he started walking toward the desk"May I?"
"Look but don't touch,"Mystic said, "We don't want to set off anything useful unless we are looking for it"she finished. He spent a few minutes looking at the sphere from different angles. As they walked back to his ship they once again didn't talk, until they reached the dock area. Everson spoke "As much as I would love to stay and chat more about this "map" of yours, right now I have duties to attend to Mystic, but one day I would really like to hear the whole story."
"One day I will tell it to you "Mystic said with a smile, "But now you have to become the persona of my enemy once again, I know" Everson noticed she looked a little sad as she finished speaking.
"Enemy? I'm not sure what we are Mystic, but I don't think we will ever be truly enemies."
With that statement he gave a slight bow to her and jumped into the cockpit of his ship. Mystic waved as he started the launch sequence. Not enemies, she thought, but could they ever really be friends either? This combination of a man leaving the station was an enigma, but there would be time for that later. She mentally shook herself and went back inside, there was still much to do.
Mystic's thoughts were confirmed a little later when she got word that Vehement had arrested one of their new recruits. Within an hour, the recruit was sitting at the table with herself,look, Flag and JJ. Flag and look were razzing the new recruit about their first arrest, Mystic was impressed that they had handled it so well, most first timers flipped out, but this one had done just as all CLM members are instructed, send an alert when it happens, and wait.
"The officer wasn't surly, like I have heard some can be" the recruit said as they accepted the drink look offered.
Mystic knew how the some could be, most of the Vipers were fairly courteous, but every once in a while you ran into one having a bad day, and some were just naturally nasty all the time. She was happy, but not really surprised, to hear Vehement had treated the new pirate decently.
“Ok so while we are sitting here, lets hear whats going on with our “project”. I would like to get things working so we can get back to our actual headquarters soon as possible, I just feel better being at home during times like this.” she paused and held up her glass as a toast, “and I'm sure we are all eager to get to where this map wants us to go” Everyone laughingly agreed as they held up there own drinks in unison. “Aye!!!”.
She headed down the hallway towards the music, wondering what mischief she would find this time. The music got louder as she approached the area they had taken for themselves,
the sight that greeted her eyes made her groan inwardly. Hammocks strung up , tiki torches all over, a mechanic was making burgers in a grill burning bits of what appeared to have once been a desk.
She sighed heavily, "You were supposed to tell JJ not to go shoot Vehement. You're lucky he was only grazed, remind me again why I put up with you two?"
Neither said a word in response, Flag just tossed look's comm to him, and he proceeded to order some "target drones" which were actually old vending machines and such, as they went out, the station defenses that look had prepared reduced them to rubble in no time. He had made his point without saying a word to her.
"Ok just try not to make too much of a mess, I know it's hard for you guys, but lets not trash the whole station".
She turned to face the mechanic, "I don't know how you put up working for him", He just smiled and handed her a burger,
"Oh, thanks, uhh Vehement might be back later with the lens, so don't shoot him. I'll go tell JJ myself"
She found JJ with the globe again, "Looks like we will have the lens soon, and maybe we can get on with this and back to our regular HQ my friend"
JJ looked tired, they were all exhausted, well except the terrible twosome, who didn't seem to let anything bother them.
"Sorry about shooting the Vpr boss..." She trailed off.
"Don't worry about it, it was a shock for you to see him there, look was -supposed- to let you know what was going on. Everson wasn't here as a Viper, but as an old friend of mine. Seems he and a couple others all make up...nm, too complicated. I will let you read the file yourself. But he is coming back later tonight to deliver the lens, could ya curb the urge to shoot him for that long?" Mystic laughed at this last part.
"If you say its ok boss, then its ok...for now" JJ smiled." I cant wait to see what happens when we attach the lens, even if it leads us to nothing, it will have been an adventure"
"Well it wont lead us to nothing, you have read the same files I have, there is a wealth there, and it belongs to us."
A while later Mystic watched as the white SVG docked once again at the old station. She noticed he favored his shoulder just a bit when no one was looking. Pushing away from the doorway where she was standing Mystic walked to meet him.
"A little birdy told me that a Viper was meeting with a member of ITAN...you wouldn't know anything about that would you my friend? Mystic watched him carefully.
"Standard procedure when dealing with property that two sides claim as their own.."
"That globe belongs to CLM!"she started.
"I know that Mystic, and ITAN has no claim on the globe itself..."
"ITAN has no claim on any of it, they were just lucky enough to have found our property, if they had returned it when asked nicely, none of this other would have happened."
"Must an argument occur every time we meet? I am delivering the lens that belongs to CLM, that should make you smile"
Mystic relaxed a bit, he was right, he wasn't the source of her irritation, she gave him a warm smile.
"Ok I promise no arguments, and you wont even get shot this time" she quipped with a laugh. She turned a little more demure as she continued, "I really do appreciate you delivering this yourself Everson, it means a lot, and it shows me that I wasn't wrong."
"Wrong? In what way?"
"That just because you happen to now wear a Vpr uniform, you aren't that different from the man that helped me and Borb." She motioned for him to follow her "Let me show you what all the fuss is about."
There was a comfortable silence as they walked the short distance down the hallway, Everson still carrying the case with the lens. When they opened the door to the area where JJ was with the globe, she looked up to see who was interrupting her work. "look if your here to bother me again..."she stopped when she saw who was standing in the door.
"Hi boss, sorry thought look was here to cause more mischief,"JJ's hand had went automatically to her blaster. Mystic saw this and so did Everson.
"Easy JJ, he comes bearing a gift for you."
As he handed JJ the case he started walking toward the desk"May I?"
"Look but don't touch,"Mystic said, "We don't want to set off anything useful unless we are looking for it"she finished. He spent a few minutes looking at the sphere from different angles. As they walked back to his ship they once again didn't talk, until they reached the dock area. Everson spoke "As much as I would love to stay and chat more about this "map" of yours, right now I have duties to attend to Mystic, but one day I would really like to hear the whole story."
"One day I will tell it to you "Mystic said with a smile, "But now you have to become the persona of my enemy once again, I know" Everson noticed she looked a little sad as she finished speaking.
"Enemy? I'm not sure what we are Mystic, but I don't think we will ever be truly enemies."
With that statement he gave a slight bow to her and jumped into the cockpit of his ship. Mystic waved as he started the launch sequence. Not enemies, she thought, but could they ever really be friends either? This combination of a man leaving the station was an enigma, but there would be time for that later. She mentally shook herself and went back inside, there was still much to do.
Mystic's thoughts were confirmed a little later when she got word that Vehement had arrested one of their new recruits. Within an hour, the recruit was sitting at the table with herself,look, Flag and JJ. Flag and look were razzing the new recruit about their first arrest, Mystic was impressed that they had handled it so well, most first timers flipped out, but this one had done just as all CLM members are instructed, send an alert when it happens, and wait.
"The officer wasn't surly, like I have heard some can be" the recruit said as they accepted the drink look offered.
Mystic knew how the some could be, most of the Vipers were fairly courteous, but every once in a while you ran into one having a bad day, and some were just naturally nasty all the time. She was happy, but not really surprised, to hear Vehement had treated the new pirate decently.
“Ok so while we are sitting here, lets hear whats going on with our “project”. I would like to get things working so we can get back to our actual headquarters soon as possible, I just feel better being at home during times like this.” she paused and held up her glass as a toast, “and I'm sure we are all eager to get to where this map wants us to go” Everyone laughingly agreed as they held up there own drinks in unison. “Aye!!!”.
JahelaJ set down her empty glass, picked up the case and headed for the globe. As she passed the new recruit, she ruffled his hair. "Nice goin' kid."
She set the case down next to the globe and opened it, got out the lens and inserted it into the "X". The disjointed images abruptly melded into a 3D display approximately a meter in diameter. It showed an elderly man standing on a slowly rotating, circular platform. The rest of the projection was a swirl of light mist. There was no sound despite the man's lips moving. "Shit!" JahelaJ blurted. "What now?!".
JahelaJ grabbed the lens and rotated it slowly as she watched the image. She felt the lens catch on something inside the globe and the lens seated itself another millimeter deeper. At that same instant, a mechanical voice resonated all around them repeating "Hit reset...hit reset..." and then, a crescent shape, a shape that looked like a mushroom and a shape that looked like a pony appeared in the projection.
JahelaJ looked for and found the three raised runes representing those shapes and awkwardly arranged her hand so she could press all at the same time. they all gave slightly and the projection disappeared. "This must be a little like that old system 'windows' was before they closed it down", quipped JahelaJ. There was some whirring noise coming from the globe so they all waited and watched. The globe rolled slightly on it's own so the lens was straight up and the projection reappeared with the old man sitting in a Captain's chair surrounded by the now-familiar mist. His hands were folded in his lap and he had an impish smile on his face. The smile suddenly disappeared, he stared straight at us and said "You are not CLM! You have activated an Avalon torpedo and have 45 seconds to seek safety. Nothing you can do will stop the detonation... You now have 30 seconds".
Nobody heard "Nothing you can do..." as everyone was half-way to their vessels by the time he said it. The station was cleared and everyone was beyond Avalon splash range inside 40 seconds. After a minute or two, JahelaJ boosted back to the docking bay and re-entered the office where the globe was. The man in the projection was still sitting in the chair and the impish grin had returned. Inside the projection was a shape resembling a cloverleaf. JahelaJ gave the all-clear to Mystic and everyone returned to the office...
She set the case down next to the globe and opened it, got out the lens and inserted it into the "X". The disjointed images abruptly melded into a 3D display approximately a meter in diameter. It showed an elderly man standing on a slowly rotating, circular platform. The rest of the projection was a swirl of light mist. There was no sound despite the man's lips moving. "Shit!" JahelaJ blurted. "What now?!".
JahelaJ grabbed the lens and rotated it slowly as she watched the image. She felt the lens catch on something inside the globe and the lens seated itself another millimeter deeper. At that same instant, a mechanical voice resonated all around them repeating "Hit reset...hit reset..." and then, a crescent shape, a shape that looked like a mushroom and a shape that looked like a pony appeared in the projection.
JahelaJ looked for and found the three raised runes representing those shapes and awkwardly arranged her hand so she could press all at the same time. they all gave slightly and the projection disappeared. "This must be a little like that old system 'windows' was before they closed it down", quipped JahelaJ. There was some whirring noise coming from the globe so they all waited and watched. The globe rolled slightly on it's own so the lens was straight up and the projection reappeared with the old man sitting in a Captain's chair surrounded by the now-familiar mist. His hands were folded in his lap and he had an impish smile on his face. The smile suddenly disappeared, he stared straight at us and said "You are not CLM! You have activated an Avalon torpedo and have 45 seconds to seek safety. Nothing you can do will stop the detonation... You now have 30 seconds".
Nobody heard "Nothing you can do..." as everyone was half-way to their vessels by the time he said it. The station was cleared and everyone was beyond Avalon splash range inside 40 seconds. After a minute or two, JahelaJ boosted back to the docking bay and re-entered the office where the globe was. The man in the projection was still sitting in the chair and the impish grin had returned. Inside the projection was a shape resembling a cloverleaf. JahelaJ gave the all-clear to Mystic and everyone returned to the office...
...When everyone had returned to the office, the new recruit walked over to JahelaJ and ruffled her hair saying, "Nice goin' kid." Look and Flag patted him on the back and laughed as the youngster moved to the back of the group. JahelaJ sported an embarrassed smile and some blushing.
JahelaJ looked at Mystic, who gave her a nod. JahelaJ pushed the cloverleaf-shaped rune and felt a slight click. The old man, still sitting and smirking, began to speak. "I can't tell if you're CLM or not and the time-stamp which activated this part of the projection indicates you spent less than 5 minutes getting back to the 'Guide'. This, at least, shows you are capable of flight without shitting your pants. It should show intelligence but, I'm afraid it's been a long time since I've seen much intelligence in this part of the universe so I won't saddle you with that trait. I'll try to explain, in detail, what you are up against.
"You are in possession of the CLM Guide. I am it's inventor/programmer Tasko Shye. The Guide was commissioned to aid CLM personnel in the recovery of CLM assets in the unlikely event certain individuals who placed those assets were no longer able to recover them. Sounds simple, doesn't it? Trust me, it's not simple and it's probably going to kill you."
The CLM pilots all looked at Mystic with wide eyes. Mystic merely shrugged her shoulders and said "Heh".
The old man rose from his seat and walked a short distance to a raised, circular platform. As he stepped on it, a spotlight lit up the speaker and the platform slowly started to rotate. "I'll tell you now," he began, "if you're not CLM, you'll never find the larder." With that, the spotlight went out and the misty swirls lit up with a 3D map of the known universe.
JahelaJ looked at Mystic, who gave her a nod. JahelaJ pushed the cloverleaf-shaped rune and felt a slight click. The old man, still sitting and smirking, began to speak. "I can't tell if you're CLM or not and the time-stamp which activated this part of the projection indicates you spent less than 5 minutes getting back to the 'Guide'. This, at least, shows you are capable of flight without shitting your pants. It should show intelligence but, I'm afraid it's been a long time since I've seen much intelligence in this part of the universe so I won't saddle you with that trait. I'll try to explain, in detail, what you are up against.
"You are in possession of the CLM Guide. I am it's inventor/programmer Tasko Shye. The Guide was commissioned to aid CLM personnel in the recovery of CLM assets in the unlikely event certain individuals who placed those assets were no longer able to recover them. Sounds simple, doesn't it? Trust me, it's not simple and it's probably going to kill you."
The CLM pilots all looked at Mystic with wide eyes. Mystic merely shrugged her shoulders and said "Heh".
The old man rose from his seat and walked a short distance to a raised, circular platform. As he stepped on it, a spotlight lit up the speaker and the platform slowly started to rotate. "I'll tell you now," he began, "if you're not CLM, you'll never find the larder." With that, the spotlight went out and the misty swirls lit up with a 3D map of the known universe.