[Eishtmo]

When I first played Freespace, after thinking it was related to Descent and finding it to be so much better, I began thinking of turning into a story, I think I even started roughing out an outline.  By the time Freespace 2 appeared, I was confident enough to actually start.  I finished this by October of 2000, as that’s the last date the file was last modified.  So yeah, it’s been a few years.  It’s not the best story in the world, I will you tell you that now, but it has had an influence on me, personally, that many of my other works have not, so much so that I’ve considered, on more than one occasion, rewriting it.  I probably won’t, but that doesn’t stop me from thinking about it.

My version of The Great War led me to be basically an FS fanstorian.  My 14 Year War timeline was developed for the background for it.  That timeline was a major influence behind the entire Terran-Vasudan War Project, and remains so today.  The term “Zod,” discussed recently in another thread, was invented for this story, and led to my own personal interpretation of the GTA’s command structure and other things besides.

It spawned at least 4 other Freespace stories (that mostly remain unwritten, for various reasons).  These include, of course, FS2’s novelization, two direct sequels (both in Sol after the Lucifer) and No War, No Peace, a prequel story/campaign that takes place in the middle of the 14 Year War.  It influenced Neo-Hammer of Light, and every other story I’ve ever done.

So it’s time to revisit this thing and see what went right, what went wrong and what I would redo in the future, if I ever redid it.  In the light of new ideas and developments for the stories it spawned, it will change quite a bit, and the background details have changed as well.  The goal, however, never changed:  Turn Freespace:  The Great War into a book.  Missions were cut, characters needed to be created and fleshed out, and internal plots developed.  It was a challenge back then, and probably would still be today.  I suppose the fact that this is the ONLY completed conversion of this game to text there is probably says a lot about that.

Well, enough background.  I'll be posting my comments as foot notes, so watch for the little numbers.  I'll post about a section a day as it is a rather long story (78 Word pages).  Now gimme a minute to get the first part of chapter one up.

[Eishtmo]

Freespace:
The Great War

Preview¹

   They arrived by the thousands, suddenly and without warning.  The heartless Shivans emerged through subspace near Earth and her colonies, harboring technology light years ahead of anything seen before.  They made no attempt to communicate.  They did not respond to any heralds.  They simply attacked--and destroyed everything in their path

   The pilots of the Galactic Terran Alliance are no strangers to war.  But, when racing through space to engage their new enemy for the first time, something seems different.  Suddenly, darkness blankest their ships.  Stomachs sink as their eyes pan across the Shivan flagship’s massive body.  Then it begins.  Swarms of fighter pour from the belly of the flagship and scream towards them.  This is only the beginning of the Great War.

Prologue²

   Humanity had finally left the nest.  After some ten thousand years of civilization, human beings left the Earth and its sun behind to colonize a distant star.  A phenomenon called subspace, or sometimes freespace, allowed the human race to extend beyond the bounds of our solar system.  And beyond those bounds, we discovered we were not alone.  They came with a pseudo peace, but misunderstandings quickly led to war.  As the war went on, humans, now calling themselves Terrans, learned of their new enemies.  They were called Vasudans and came from a world orbiting what was once Beta Hydri, now Vasuda Prime.  They were so different, yet so similar, and as such, the war simply dragged on.

   For the last fourteen years, the Terrans and Vasudans have killed each other.  With each death, the will to fight wanes.  Both sides tire of war, but neither wants to give in, and end it.  But soon, they will be forced to stop their war for there is a new race coming, and both Terrans and Vasudans will have to turn away from each other and fight this new race together, or face extinction.  The Destroyers are coming, and no one can hide from their destructive wrath.

Chapter 1
Learning the Basics³

   Joe glanced up at the mission clock.  Fifteen minutes left until docking.  He shifted his weight in the uncomfortable jump seat.  There were no windows in the Elysium transport⁴, no way to tell where they were, or if they were even moving.  He looked at the other three people in the small transport, crammed in with the containers of supplies stuffed into the back.  He had remember seeing all but one of the passengers at the Saturn Pilot Training Center, but who they were he didn’t know.

   Directly across from him was a young woman, maybe about 20.⁵  She was attractive, but her clean-cut uniform was a turn off.  Her boots had a mirror shine.  Each crease in her dress uniform was straight and crisp.  The various tags and rank emblems were perfectly centered.  Her hair was straight and clean as was her teeth.  At least the teeth might have been straight if she smiled more so Joe could see them.  She remind him of the officer brats he had met during boot camp, the kind that would do anything to please their superiors, especially their parents.  Of course, she might not be one of those.  He could only hope.

   Siting next to her was her complete opposite.  This man was the image of sloppiness.  His uniform was unkept, his hair was tangled and greasy.  When they had first entered the transport, there had been a distinct smell about him.  Fortunately the ship came equipped with an odor eliminator.  When Joe had asked rhetorically why the ship had one, the pilot said it was to cover up the smell of the corpses.⁶  The entire trip had been in silence since then.

   Next to Joe was the most mysterious person on board.  He was older, at least ten years older then everyone else, maybe more, yet he was only an Ensign.  How he had skipped the draft to such an old age, Joe wasn’t sure.  Maybe he had been in the Galactic Guard or something.  He was wearing a flight suit, a contrast to the dress uniforms of the others.  He was reading some strange book with the corners cut off.  The lettering was unfamiliar, maybe it was modern Chinese or something.⁷  What was most peculiar about him was the fact that he had no bags with him.  Joe and the others had a duffel bag with most of their essentials in them, with more bags in the back, but this man had none, save a small carry-on pack.

   The cockpit door slid open.  “Two minutes until docking,” the pilot said.  “If you want to see your new home, come on up here.”

   Joe and two of the others unbuckled their belts and floated through the door into the cockpit.  Joe stalled and looked back at the strange man reading the book.  “You coming?” he asked.

   The man didn’t even look up.  “I’ve seen it before.”  Joe shrugged and continued on into the cockpit.

   “There she is,” said the pilot.  “The GTD Galatea, the most modern Orion in the fleet.”  Joe examined the ship with wide eyes.  The Galatea was the most beautiful ship he had ever seen, even more beautiful than the GTD Gaia he had toured back in Sol.  His eyes were drawn toward the bright light of Betelgeuse , the star at the center of the system the Galatea had been fighting the Vasudans for.  Damn Zods.⁸  “Alright everybody, go get buckled in.  Command will have a hissy fit if they knew I let you guys up here,” the pilot said with a laugh.

   Joe buckled himself back in and listened.  There was a slow whirr echoed through the ship as it passed through the dock force field.  Then a sudden clang as the grappling hook took hold of the ship and pulled it into hanger bay.  A final clang indicated that the ship had taken its place on the flight deck.  With a hiss the side door of the transport opened and a Lieutenant poked his head inside.

   “Fall in,” he yelled.  The group climbed out and lined up in front of the ship.  “I’m Lieutenant John Harbison of the 34th Poker Faces.⁹  I will be getting you settled in for your stay aboard the Galatea.  When I call your name you will say ‘Present sir.’  Is that clear?”  Harbison looked for an objection then continued.  “Alright then.  Ensign Joseph Smith.”

   “Present, sir,” Joe said.

   “Ensign Randal Kormak.”

   “Present, sir,” the less than well kept man said.

   “Ensign Lucille Shima.”

   “Present, sir,” the young woman responded.

   Harbison looked down at his list and stalled.  He looked up at the older man.  “Ensign Quinn Lazerus?” he said with some amount of disbelief.

   Lazerus took a deep, mournful breath.  “Present, sir.”

   “The Quinn Lazerus?”  Harbison asked.

   “The one and only, sir,”  Lazerus responded.¹⁰

   Lt. Harbison walked over to Ensign Lazerus, and stuck out his hand.  “It is an honor to meet you,” he said.  Lazerus shook the man’s hand, then gave a sharp salute which the Lieutenant responded in kind.  Harbison turned to the others.  “The Admiral would like to meet all of you.  Follow me.”

   The group made its way through the long twisting corridors of the Galatea.  After a short time they arrived at the ships’ central tram system.  A small eight man car rolled up.  “Get in,” Harbison said and one by one they did.  Kormak and Shima settled into the back most seat, with Joe in the next seat toward the front.  Joe shifted over to give Lazerus room, but instead of filling the back seats first, Lazerus sat down in the front seat.  Harbison said nothing as he sat next to the mysterious Ensign.  The car began to move, and was soon zooming along the shaft.  Joe watched the various stations of the ship roll by, but he continued to refocus on Lazerus.  Joe remembered when he had mistakenly sat in the front of a tram during his tour of the Gaia.  That Lieutenant had chewed him up and spit him out for that infraction.  It was part of the Regs, lower ranking personal were to fill the back of a tram first.  But Harbison had said nothing when Lazerus had sat up front.  Joe was about to contemplate this fact when the tram slowed and came to a stop.

   “Everybody out,” Harbison ordered.  They followed Harbison through another series of passages and soon reached the command deck.  A few chairs sat in front of the office marked ‘Admiral Marcus Wolfe:  Commanding Officer.’¹¹  “Have a seat, I’ll tell the Admiral you’re here.”  Harbison gently knocked on the door.  A voice behind the door gave him permission, and the Lieutenant entered, closing the door behind him.

   Kormak leaned toward Joe.  “I wonder why the Admiral wants to see us,” he said.

   “Morale booster,”  Lazerus said flatly.  “He wants every member of the crew to think he knows them by name.”  He said it with some amount of sarcasm, the rest with experience.¹²

   “Come on in,” Harbison said.  The four of them filed into Admiral Wolfe’s office.  The room was small, and cramped, both amplified by the wood-like paneling hung on the walls.  The low ceiling showed the exposed pipes and wires that kept the great ship going.  Wolfe sat behind an oak like desk, a friendly smile stretched across his face.

   “Welcome aboard the Galatea,” the Admiral stood up and saluted, and the group responded as trained.  “I’m glad to see so many young people ready to join the cause.  Saturn gave you three the highest of complements and I hope they are right.”

   Joe casually looked across the line, recounting how many of them there were.  Yes, there was four, but why had the Admiral said three?

   “The four of you where going to be split among the 34th Poker Faces, the 21st Hell Bats, and the 6th Freespacers, however an incident two days ago has changed that.”¹³  There was regret in his voice.  “All of you will be assigned to the Freespacers as Alpha wing.  The Freespacers have a long history and I’m sure you will live up to it.”  The Admiral examined the expression on each of the new pilots faces.  “Lt. Harbison will take you to your quarters and get you adjusted.  There is a Command Briefing at 0700, I expect you all to be there.  Dismissed.”  He gave another salute, and the group slowly moved out of the office and into the hall.  “Ensign Lazerus,” the Admiral called after them.  “I would like to see you in private.”

   “Yes sir,” Lazerus said.  Joe watched Lazerus reenter Admiral Wolfe’s office and the door close behind him.¹⁴

   “I wonder why the Admiral wants to see him,” said Kormak.  Joe shrugged. 

---------

1 – You know, I’m positive I didn’t write this Preview.  I think I took it from the FS box.

2 – The prologue isn’t great, but not terrible either.  It includes several things that were hammered in.  First the Freespace = Subspace thing, which probably should be rewritten, and the Vasuda Prime = Beta Hydri, which was an artifact of the original FSURP.  So much so I don’t even know where they got that from.  Still, it’s not bad, but not good either, and I remember wanting to replicate most of it for the FS2 story and No War, No Peace.  Now, I probably won’t.

3 – I’m actually rather proud of the chapter titles, even after all this time.  They’re relatively creative and give the reader some idea of what to expect from the chapter as a whole.  Though I would probably shorten this one to just “Basics” or something, it still works well here.

4 – Error 1, I used an Elysium.  Which shortly lands on the hanger deck of the Galatea.  Yeah, probably not likely, especially not for 4 pilots.  I might just list it as a docking rather than a landing.

5 – Here we are introduced to our four heroes:  Joe Smith, Lucy Shima, Randal Kormak and my namesake, Quinn Lazerus.  I considered putting up a big description of the characters in the first post here, but decided against it.  No matter, moving on.

6 –I’m about as subtle as a hammer here, aren’t I?  Still, I think it fits here, and I probably wouldn’t move it, though I might modify it a bit.

7 – I think it’s silly now, but at the time I wanted to make a point that Quinn (the mysterious man) wasn’t really much into fighting, and had even learned to read Vasudan.  I think I would change this a bit so it’s not so obviously silly.

8 – And the first time “Zod” was used, well, anywhere.  I wish I could say that Joe really, REALLY doesn’t like Vasudans, but he doesn’t, and I probably shouldn’t have used the line at all.

9 – Our first FS character, and he really doesn’t do much of anything.  Hell, Wolfe (there’s a reason for the extra e) gets more character development than Harbison.  I have no idea where I got the other squad names from, but in retrospect, it’ll probably be changed to Suicide Kings in a revision.  The Hammerheads, BTW, are on the Bastion already.

10 – I want to change this to something about Harbison asking if Quinn is his son.  Quinns response:  No sir, I never had any kids.

11 – And now our second FS character, Admiral Wolfe.  The e is there because I gave a pilot the callsign “Wolf” and I didn’t want them to be confused.  And I think it looks neater.  Wolfe actually served with Quinn during No War, No Peace, acting as the voice of Command for the GTD Reliant.  He was a terrible pilot, which is why he’s in command now.

12 – This line is, in retrospect, dumb.  It should be “every PILOT” rather than every crewmember, and I should remove the sarcasm bit and make him more relieved to see an old friend.

13 – And here we name the squadron, the 6th Freespacers.  The reason for the low number was to show that the Freespacers are an OLD squadron, but aside from being old, there isn’t really any other history.  For those who follow TVWP, the Freespacers were originally a UNE squadron.

14 – In this story I decided to bolt the camera down onto Joe’s head, which means what Quinn and Wolfe talk about is unheard, and in the end I think it was a mistake.  In a full revision I think switching perspectives would be worth while.

[NGTM-1R]

I'm curious to see what you have to say about this story, considering having read it, I wasn't terribly impressed...but this was many years after the writing, I expect.

[Mongoose]

I always enjoyed your work on this myself, if for no other reason than because, as you said, it's the only attempt out there at novelizing the FS story.  I'm no writer myself, but for as long as I can remember, I've always had a thing for mentally "narrating" things like games or series back to myself.  Getting to read someone else doing it in a far more entertaining and fleshed-out manner than my own amateurish efforts was a nice change of pace.

[Eishtmo]

I'm curious to see what you have to say about this story, considering having read it, I wasn't terribly impressed...but this was many years after the writing, I expect.

At least 9 now, and I was MUCH better after it then I was during it.  It was a learning experiance that I don't want to forget.

Anyway, I was afraid I wouldn't have the room for entire chapters, but I think I wrap up the first one now, so here we go:

---------

   The room was small, far smaller than Joe imagined.¹  The beds were arranged as a pair of bunk beds on either side of the back half of the room with a desk and a single computer terminal next to door in the front.  A large dresser took up the other side of the front of the room with a closet tucked in to the right of the door.  It was almost the same as the quarters at Saturn, but those had been for two people, this one had to hold four.  Shima wasn’t anywhere near happy with the arrangement and expressed her feelings to Harbison.

   “Well, I’m sorry Ensign,”  Harbison said.  “Room is tight, even on a big ship like this one.  Just feel lucky you’re not on a Fenris or a Leviathan, they have to share bunks,”  he said with a snicker.  He turned to Joe and Kormak.  “If any of you have any complaints or concerns, take it up with your Squadron Commander.  By the way there’s a Freespacer squadron meeting at 2030 in the rec room, deck 14, corridor 8.  Make sure you are all there.”  Harbison then left.

   Shima threw down her bags.  “Well this is just great.”

   “Oh come on,” said Joe.  “Like the Lieutenant said, it could be worse.”

   Shima stared into space for a moment.  “I suppose. . .”

   “Which bunk you want, Sugar?”  Kormak asked.

   “Excuse me?”  Shima glared at him in disgust.

   “You want the top bunk or bottom,” said Kormak without skipping a beat.  “I prefer the bottom one, but I’ll let you chose.”

   Shima huffed in disbelief.  “There is no way I am going to sleep in the same bunk with you.”²

   Joe realized that a fight was eminent and quickly stepped in.  “How about if Kormak and I share a bunk, then you and Lazerus can work some thing out?”

   Shima nodded and threw her bag on the bottom of the right bunk and sat down.

   “You can call me Randy,” Kormak said as he stuck out his hand.  “That last name **** never went well with me.”

   Joe grabbed and shook Randy’s hand.  “Joe,” he said simply.

   Randy turned to Shima.  “So do we just call you Shima or by your real name?”

   “Lucy,” she said after a moment.

   “Nice to meet you, Lucy,” Joe said as he stuck out his hand.  She turned toward the wall without responding.  “Okay.”  Joe pulled his hand back.

   “Well this is all fine and dandy,”  Randy said.  “Anyone know where the bathrooms are, I gotta piss like a racehorse.”

   “Why don’t you take a shower at the same time?”  Lucy muttered.

   “Excuse me?”

   “Nothing, nothing at all.”

   “Why I aughta. . .”  Joe grabbed Randy as he moved toward Lucy.

   “If this is the group I’m gonna have to live with, they can just shoot me now,” a voice came from the door.  It was Lazerus, his arms folded across his chest as he leaned against the door frame.  He walked into the quarters and tossed his small bag onto the top bunk above Lucy.  “With quarters like these you either learn to get along, or wait until one of you is shot down.”  Lazerus stood for a moment, examining the small group.  “The bathrooms are down the hall, third door on the right.”  He made a quick sniff of the air.  “And I have to agree with her, you do need a shower.”

   “****.” muttered Randy as he headed out.

   “We have about two hours before the Squadron meeting,”  Lazerus said.  “I’m going to take a nap.  You can either go exploring or stay here and be real quite, it doesn’t matter to me.”  With that he hopped up onto the bed, slid under the covers and went to sleep.  Joe looked at Lucy, shrugged, and left.

*    *    *

   Joe was still playing the arcade machine when Lucy entered.  There was at least another fifteen minutes until the meeting was suppose to start, but some of the squad members were already there watching the newest video release.³  Lucy slumped into one of the padded chairs, crossed her arms, and stared across the room.  Randy wandered in and made a bee-line for the chair next to Lucy.

   “Hey, how’s it goin’” he said as he sat down.  Lucy glared at him, then turned away.  “Okey doeky,” he said as he got up and wandered over to Joe.  “She’s an Ice Princess, isn’t she.”

   “Eh,” muttered Joe.  He was too busy concentrating on the game to pay attention to Randy.  Randy turned toward the door and watched as another man entered.  The man had a Captain’s insignia on his uniform and a squad patch on his left shoulder sleeve.

   “I bet he’s the C.O.”  Randy said.

   “Eh,” Joe responded without looking up.

   “Do you say anything else besides Eh?”  Randy asked.

   “Eh,” Joe said followed with a small laugh.

   Suddenly a loud whoop bellowed through the rec room.  “The Dogs are back!” someone yelled. 

   Randy turned and watched a group of four pilots stroll into the room.  “I wonder who they think they are?” he asked Joe.

   “Dogs,” said Joe as he tried to ignore the rowdy group.

   “The Dogs of Delta have returned,”⁴ said the man in the lead of the group.  “On a moments notice, we managed to save a bunch of scared rookies from Vasudan boogey men.”  The other three gave a howl.  “Okay people, who are the greatest reinforcements in the galaxy?”

   “The Dogs of Delta!”  the other three shouted together.

   “Who could beat the whole ****ing Vasudan navy by themselves?”

   “The Dogs of Delta!”

   “And who,” he stopped for a moment.  He stared at Joe, who was still playing the arcade machine.  “And who is this?”  He and the other Dogs gathered around Joe.  “So who are you?”

   “Ensign Joe Smith,”  Joe said off-handily.

   “He’s one of the new pilots for Alpha wing, Wolf,” the captain stated.

   Wolf looked evilly at Joe.  “Goody, fresh meat.”  He looked Joe over.  “I know what you are.”

   Joe smacked the controller panel as his last life was expended.  He turned to Wolf.  “And what might that be,” he said.  Anger at losing the game spread over onto Wolf’s last comment.

   “You’re one of those video game players,” Wolf said.

   “Say what?”

   Wolf gave a short laugh.  “You’re one of those kids who sit at home and play flight simulators and think you’re hot ****.  So you join the fleet and become a pilot so you can show off all your ‘skills.’”  The rest of the group laughed as Wolf did the little quote fingers as he said skills.  “You’re just a game player, nothing more,” Wolf thought for a moment.  “Hey Bull!”

   “Yeah,” said the captain.   

   “Mind if I give this pretender his callsign?”⁵

   “You could give them all their callsigns for all I care,” Bull responded.

   “My callsign?” Joe asked shyly.

   “Part of Freespacer tradition,” one of the Dogs said.  “The senior members of the squadron get to give the new members their callsigns until the new members earn a better one.”

   “Glad to see that you keep up, Hound,” said Wolf.  He then raised his hands up as if he were casting a spell on Joe.  “I, Commander Steven “Wolf” Dobbs, place the callsign of,” Wolf thought a moment, “Of ‘The Player’ upon this young Ensign.  All hail The Player.”  All of the Dogs gave a howl and began slapping him on the back.  “Who’s next?” Wolf cried and the group moved away from Joe and toward Randy.

   “The Player?” Joe asked no one in particular.

   “Don’t worry about it,”  Bull put his hand on Joe’s shoulder.  “All new pilots get rather humiliating callsigns.  When you’ve earned a new one, you’ll get one.”  Bull smiled.  “Hell, one day you may give the same name to some young hot shot.”

   Joe looked at Bull, and then at the clusters on his shoulders.  “Uh, sir!” he said quickly as he saluted the captain.  “I didn’t know. . .”

   “Don’t worry about it,” said Bull.  “We usually don’t worry about rank around here, unless the brass pays us a visit, of course.”  Joe smiled just as a ear splitting scream ringed out.

   “Oh my God,” yelled the female member of Delta.  “Kill it, kill it, kill it!”  With that, the rest of the Dogs began stomping around.  Joe moved toward the group to see what was going on.  Before Joe got there, Randy had managed to grab whatever it was the Dogs were trying to kill.

   “Now that’s no way to treat your fellow creatures,” Randy said.  He opened his hand and a cockroach crawled up onto the tip of his finger.  “Now, how did you get aboard,” he said to the bug.

   “That is so gross,” said the woman as she backed away from Randy, never taking her eyes off the insect.

   “It’s not that bad, Fox,” Wolf said.  “Though it is kind of unsanitary.”

   Randy smiled evilly.  “You ain’t seen nothing yet.” Randy then pushed his finger, with the roach still posed on it, into his mouth.  Everyone recoiled in horror as Randy removed his finger and began chewing on the insect.

   “Ewwww,” said Fox as she tried to shield her eyes.

   “Tasty roach,” Randy said between bites.  “You guys must have some damn good food on board.”

   “This is too much,” muttered Hound.  “We should call you Roach Eater, or something.”

   Randy swallowed the bug.  “How about just Roach?” he said.

   The rest of the Dogs agreed and Hound began the ritual Wolf had performed on Joe.  “I, Lieutenant Commander Henry “Hound” Harris, place the callsign of ‘Roach’ upon this Ensign.”  The Dogs followed this with a loud howl.  Roach joined in, proud of his new name.

   “I wish I had a say in my callsign,” Joe muttered.

   “Looky over there, a babe,” said the last member of the Dogs said as he stared at Lucy.

   “Babe?” Lucy said, insulted by the very concept.  “Damn barbarian.”

   “Coyote,” Bull called.  “Don’t get to fresh with her.  Her mom will make your life a living hell.”  ⁶

   Coyote ignored Bull and squeezed up against Lucy.  “So, why is a babe like you doing in a place like this,” he said.

   “Preparing to break your arm if you don’t get away from me,” Lucy said with disgust.

   “Ah, come on babe, give Coyote a little kiss,” Coyote said as he pushed himself closer to Lucy.

   “Get away from me,” she shouted

   “Lay off already,” a voice rang out.  Everyone turned to the source.  It was Lazerus.  “You know there are rules about sexual harassment.”

   “Who do you think you are, coming in here and telling me what to do?” Coyote walked right up to Lazerus and stared into his eyes.  The rest of the group gathered around the two.

   “Me?” Lazerus said.  “Oh, I’m just another lowly Ensign here for a squadron meeting.”

   “Is that a fact,” Coyote continued to glare at him.  “Then what’s your name, Ensign?”

   Lazerus smiled slightly.  “Quinn Lazerus.”

   Just like Harbison, the whole group stood there in absolute silence, even Coyote, who backed away.  “The Eishtmo?” he asked.  Lazerus nodded.

   Bull finally broke the silence.  “Alright people, lets get to it.”  He made his way over to the video display.  Everyone gathered around, siting in the chairs and coaches or standing up when there was no longer any room.

   “Alright, I’m glad to see you all managed to drag your lazy asses out of bed to be here,” Bull started.  “You can all welcome our new pilots to the Freespacers.  They will make up a new Alpha wing, so there will be some reassignments.  Plato, you will join Beta and Bravo will move to Gamma.  The rest of you will stay with your current wings.  Okay, now let me introduce you to the new Alpha wing.”  He looked down at his checklist.  “First there is Ensign Randal Kormak.”

   “Right here, sir,” Roach said.

   “This is Roach everybody,” Hound announced, proud of the name he had bestowed.  Everyone greeted Roach.

   “Alright, next is,” Bull examined the next name.  “Well, we’ll skip that one for a moment.  Ensign Lucy Shima.”

   “Yes sir,” Lucy said.

   “Did anybody give you a callsign yet?” Bull asked.

   “Let’s call her Babe,” Coyote called.

   “What!?” Lucy glared at Coyote.

   “Babe it is,” said Bull

   “Wait a goddamn second,” Lucy protested.

   “Like I was telling him earlier,” Bull pointed at Joe.  “We all get stuck with unflattering callsigns early on, you’ll just have to wait until you earn a better one.  Speaking of which, Ensign Joe Smith.”  He stared at Joe.  “Why don’t you stand up Player?”

   Joe stood up, and the chair he was sitting in was quickly taken by another pilot.  “Hey!” Joe said.

   “You’ve got to be quick around here,” said the pilot, and everyone else began to laugh.  Joe rolled his eyes.

   “Why don’t you just have a seat on the floor, Player,” Bull said with a chuckle.  “And last, but certainly not least, may I present,” Bull stretched his hand out toward Lazerus.  “The Eishtmo.”

   Lazerus, the Eishtmo, stood up with the hooting and hollering of the other pilots.  He waved humbly and sat back down.  Joe, Roach, and Lucy all watched, with some bewilderment, as this one man managed to calm the entire crowd with two words.  “That’s enough,” Eishtmo said.

   “For those of you who don’t know,” Bull began after the group had quieted.  “Eishtmo is the best damn pilot ever to live.⁷  Alpha, you’re a bunch of lucky bastards.”

   “Humph,” Lucy snorted.

   “Alright,” Bull looked back at his clipboard.  “There will be a Command Briefing at 0700, you’ll get your flight assignments then.”  He then looked up.  “And finally, in honor of having such a well respected pilot on board, the Admiral has authorized me to open the bar.”  A cheer rose up.  “Remember, only three drinks per person.  That is all.”

   The last thing Bull said was ignored since most everybody had already gathered around the bar on the far side of the rec room.  Lucy got up and walked out of the room, apparently back to their quarters.  Eishtmo had also vanished, while Roach was already with the Dogs ordering his first drink.  Joe shook his head and turned to follow Lucy.

   “Don’t you want a drink, Player?”  Bull said.

   “Can’t drink,” Joe said.  “I’m only seventeen.”⁸

   Bull shook his head.  “They’re drafting ‘em younger and younger these days.”

   “Actually,” Joe said.  “I enlisted.”

   “Well, we all make mistakes,”  Bull said.  “Now go get some sleep, you’re gonna need it.”

---------

1 – This room is actually based on my old dorm room.  Which doesn’t fit for pilots aboard an Orion.  Even after I have them say there isn’t much room even on an Orion, it still sounds dumb.

2 – Ah, infighting.  Mostly it was to try to establish the personalities of the characters a bit more, but it really doesn’t go anywhere.  Which is a shame as it could really work , I just didn’t know well enough how to MAKE it work.  Hell, I’m not sure I could now.

3 – The concept behind the layout of the pilot section was that each squadron had a single large lounge with the rooms for the pilots of that squad near it and then those all connected to the flight deck and the briefing rooms.  I don’t think it ever really came across well though.

4 – The Dogs of Delta is one of the corniest things in the entire story, and also resulted in Beta and Gamma wings getting shafted and killed repeatedly later on.   I want to rework it, but I have no idea how, so it’ll stay corny for now.

5 – My weak attempt to give explain why the characters have their callsigns.  The only one that works is Roach, for obvious reasons, the other two not so much.  I think I can make Joe’s work (he’ll always be Player to me) but Lucy’s was such a problem that I even change it at the end of the story, and even then it wasn’t good.  Luckily, no issues for Quinn.

6 – First reference to Lucy’s mother, Admiral Judith Shima.  We’ll get back to her in a bit.

7 – I got ribbed for making my namesake the best pilot in the fleet, and yes, it was self indulgent, but I’d stick with it for one simple fact:  Storywise, he’s been fighting this war since it began.  You pretty much HAVE to be the best to serve 14 years on the front lines of this kind of war.  I would still probably tone down the point of him being the best, especially lines like this one, so it isn’t so bad or obvious.

8 – There are two reasons why I mention Joe’s age:  1)  The GTA is getting desperate now, running out of pilots and troops, so the draft age has been going down.  2)  To set up the reason why a 14 year veteran like Quinn is now an Ensign.  This is also the reason I want to show what happened in that meeting between Quinn and Wolfe, as it would partially explain it a bit more.

[NGTM-1R]

Can I explain exactly what's wrong here? Well, perhaps. On some level, however, I can't, as there's something...clunky, lurking in the style, which surfaces on occasion. I'll touch on pieces of this as they happen, but even to the not-technically-wrong writing it still occurs.

The final sentence of the prologue should be taken out and shot for being repetative. For that matter, the death penalty should also be applied to the final sentence of prologue's first paragraph, which awkwardly makes it sound as if the Vasudans took the planet somehow despite being from it.

You imply there's artigrav (can't tell if they're even moving) and then you imply they "float", which would mean noticible though slight acceleration forces.

First mention of Command and he's already an incompetent micromanaging asshole, reaching down to tell lowly transport pilots probably not even under his jursidiction how to run their craft. The war has lasted for 14 years people, and war is the most Darwinian of processes. You're not going to have officers like that left in responsible combat posistions. They've been relieved for cause or shipped off to rear-echelon posistions in the shipyards or general board or something by now.

I'll let the details of military protocol pass, because considering timeframe and drift we can't really comment on them. (On the other hand, tradition and ceremony are extremely strong in the military, for good reason.)

The line about the corpses makes me giggle, honestly. Pilots in FS probably don't leave a body behind when they die; consider the destructive force their craft are subjected to, after all. Ship crew might, though it's still unlikely, but either way, they've come a long way by now, and the bodies aren't going to smell in transit then if we can already manage that now.

To someone familar with the arrangement of military travel, two things stand out; the ex-trainees have personal stuff, which is all wrong, but Quinn, being a veteran, has very little, which is all right.

The fact that Harbison even introduced himself is...interesting. I'm not sure why you did it, since by your own admission he gets little character development. It also isn't much of a match for the realities of the situation. An Orion is a city of ten thousand in the sky. None of these pilots are going to his squadron. (For that matter, why wasn't there a Freespacers officer there if they're all going to that unit?) He might never even see them again. He doesn't need to know them, they don't need to know him, and they're rookies (three of them anyways) so they may not be sticking around long and it might be best not to get to know them. Maybe he knew about Quinn beforehand. But then he shouldn't have stumbled in the fact.

On to the commentary.

7: It's both silly and not. Know your foe, as the saying goes, and langauge shapes perception. On the other hand, what seperates a merely good fighter pilot from a great one? Aggressiveness, usually.

9: See, the thing is, military names are usually hereditary. Tradition and ceremony, as I noted earlier, are very strong impluses in the military. Most squadrons in US service now, for example, can trace their lineage if not their names back to WW2. Most of the squadrons mentioned early in FS2 proudly trace their lineage back to the Great War, because people remember that, but I bet the institutions are older even if the names aren't.

12: Actually, that all depends. Does Admiral Wolf(e) command the Galatea itself, or is it his flagship? If so, yes, he might will interview each crew member, not each pilot. If he does not command the Galatea, the whole meeting becomes less probable, but the change to "pilot" would be justified; the destroyer's aerospace group is the strong right arm of the fleet, the most viable and easiest means to project power.


TL;DR; research your subjects, think about what you're writing.


SECOND SET BONUS

Self Insertion is never worth points. Ever ever ever. Don't matter the justifications, the rightness, whatever. You want to be in the story, you should have been a rookie, or murdered in the first twenty pages (That would have made me me grin quite a bit.), or a subtle/not-that-subtle parody of the behavior, or something. You, I'm guessing, are not terribly familar with fanfiction's conventions, behaviors, and most of all failure modes...because straight up, that's a failure mode right there. A discerning reader familar with the genre will exit the area rapidly on encountering it usually, with extremely rare exceptions. Murder your darlings. Have to get that out of the way now.

Bunkroom size problems are laughable. An Orion is badly undercrewed for its size by contemporary standards, and the trend in naval service has been for better accomodations. Crew slept in hammocks as late as WW2, now with exception of the subs everyone has their own bunk and a small amount of storage for purely personal items. The idea a Nimitz-sized Fenris or Leviathan would have hot-bunking is giggleworthy. Your note on this is pretty much spot on.

On one hand, this is theoritically possible behavior now, though courtmartial material if it comes to the attention of a responsible officer. On the other hand, this is not a story set in the now. Co-ed bunking has probably been around a few hundred years at the least and all. Randy should have died early, if he ever made it out of training, 'cuz nobody's going to miss him much and therefore nobody's going to watch out for him. Truth be told that attitude, if they can't break you of it in basic/boot/whatevertheycallit, they'll probably wash you out of training rather than just send you out to get killed, because you'll leave the good people hanging when you die and you'll get your equipment lost and all that effort will have been for nothing.

You don't draft pilots. That's crazy talk.

Quinn doesn't need explaining (like that anyways). I imagine there are a lot of career ensigns in the pilot ranks, if you assume all pilots are officers. They don't have the talent for command or they don't want to command or they're afraid to give this guy command for some reason, whatever. They get to fly, and they aren't troubled by subordinates and silliness as much.


AND FINALLY!

...wow, that was a lot longer than I thought it would be, and I wasn't even really going indepth. I apologize if this seems excessively harsh, but as I've noted before, you should enlist your reviewers on the strength of their cruelty. It's the only way you can be sure they're doing the job well.

[Eishtmo]

NGTM-1R, you do realize this story is 9 - 10 YEARS old, right?  I know most of the problems with it, in fact a LOT of the problems with it, but I figure it would be interesting to go back and cover it again.  So you don't have to tear into it, although I do appreciate the effort (I don't see that much for other stories).  Anyway, I'll answer a few of the issues:

Can I explain exactly what's wrong here? Well, perhaps. On some level, however, I can't, as there's something...clunky, lurking in the style, which surfaces on occasion. I'll touch on pieces of this as they happen, but even to the not-technically-wrong writing it still occurs.

The final sentence of the prologue should be taken out and shot for being repetative. For that matter, the death penalty should also be applied to the final sentence of prologue's first paragraph, which awkwardly makes it sound as if the Vasudans took the planet somehow despite being from it.

Don't I know it.  The prologue has some nice elements, but I dont' think I'd write it again, ever.

You imply there's artigrav (can't tell if they're even moving) and then you imply they "float", which would mean noticible though slight acceleration forces.

First mention of Command and he's already an incompetent micromanaging asshole, reaching down to tell lowly transport pilots probably not even under his jursidiction how to run their craft. The war has lasted for 14 years people, and war is the most Darwinian of processes. You're not going to have officers like that left in responsible combat posistions. They've been relieved for cause or shipped off to rear-echelon posistions in the shipyards or general board or something by now.

"Command" is not a person in this series, it's GTA Command structure.  The person we see is the VOICE of Command, which is important only to the extent that it's the job Wolfe had on the Reliant when he was there.

The line about the corpses makes me giggle, honestly. Pilots in FS probably don't leave a body behind when they die; consider the destructive force their craft are subjected to, after all. Ship crew might, though it's still unlikely, but either way, they've come a long way by now, and the bodies aren't going to smell in transit then if we can already manage that now.

I've always thought the pilot was talking ground troops.

To someone familar with the arrangement of military travel, two things stand out; the ex-trainees have personal stuff, which is all wrong, but Quinn, being a veteran, has very little, which is all right.

The bags are mostly filled with uniforms and "required" doodads.  My dad was in the military for 20 years, and the amount of stuff he took with him on TDY was actually quite a bit, and very little was of a personal nature.

The fact that Harbison even introduced himself is...interesting. I'm not sure why you did it, since by your own admission he gets little character development. It also isn't much of a match for the realities of the situation. An Orion is a city of ten thousand in the sky. None of these pilots are going to his squadron. (For that matter, why wasn't there a Freespacers officer there if they're all going to that unit?) He might never even see them again. He doesn't need to know them, they don't need to know him, and they're rookies (three of them anyways) so they may not be sticking around long and it might be best not to get to know them. Maybe he knew about Quinn beforehand. But then he shouldn't have stumbled in the fact.

It's implied he didn't know about Quinn coming, so he did stumble, and the reasignment to the Freespacers didn't actually occur until rather recently, so I suppose that can be the excuse.  Oddly, when I went over the scene BEFORE rereading the story, I was positive that Bull (Freespacers squadleader) was in Harbison's place.  Yeah, that would change.

7: It's both silly and not. Know your foe, as the saying goes, and langauge shapes perception. On the other hand, what seperates a merely good fighter pilot from a great one? Aggressiveness, usually.

Which is why it's silly, Quinn is actually becoming dissolutioned with the war and learning about the Vasudans is more about gap bridging than "know your enemy."  I comment in a later chapter that he has hundreds of kills, but his rate of kills has been going down in the last few years.  Silly in the sense that it doesn't properly convey what Quinn is really doing, not what it's implying.  I really need to rework it.

12: Actually, that all depends. Does Admiral Wolf(e) command the Galatea itself, or is it his flagship? If so, yes, he might will interview each crew member, not each pilot. If he does not command the Galatea, the whole meeting becomes less probable, but the change to "pilot" would be justified; the destroyer's aerospace group is the strong right arm of the fleet, the most viable and easiest means to project power.

I've always considered the Admiral of a destroyer to be running the destroyer, not the fleet necessarily (I also think the Bastion and Galatea are in the same fleet, but that's another story).  In any case, this has more to do with his own relationship with pilots (he always wanted to be one but can't fly for ****) and with Quinn specifically.  Locking the camera to Joe really hurt this point.

Self Insertion is never worth points. Ever ever ever. Don't matter the justifications, the rightness, whatever. You want to be in the story, you should have been a rookie, or murdered in the first twenty pages (That would have made me me grin quite a bit.), or a subtle/not-that-subtle parody of the behavior, or something. You, I'm guessing, are not terribly familar with fanfiction's conventions, behaviors, and most of all failure modes...because straight up, that's a failure mode right there. A discerning reader familar with the genre will exit the area rapidly on encountering it usually, with extremely rare exceptions. Murder your darlings. Have to get that out of the way now.

Duh.  Remember, 9 - 10 YEARS ago.  I've learned better.  I've managed to unshackle this version of Quinn (there is another) from myself pretty well post story (the sequeals run around in my head often enough), but at this point, he's tied to my ego.

On one hand, this is theoritically possible behavior now, though courtmartial material if it comes to the attention of a responsible officer. On the other hand, this is not a story set in the now. Co-ed bunking has probably been around a few hundred years at the least and all. Randy should have died early, if he ever made it out of training, 'cuz nobody's going to miss him much and therefore nobody's going to watch out for him. Truth be told that attitude, if they can't break you of it in basic/boot/whatevertheycallit, they'll probably wash you out of training rather than just send you out to get killed, because you'll leave the good people hanging when you die and you'll get your equipment lost and all that effort will have been for nothing.

You don't draft pilots. That's crazy talk.

These go together because you're forgetting this is a 14 YEAR war they've been fighting, they just lost over 500 pilots in Operation Thresher, and there's no chance of it ending anytime soon.  So yeah, the pilots may very well be drafted, and talented pilots with bad attitudes might actually get sent to the frontlines.  Roach, despite his personality, is a good pilot, and many of his responses are probably more toward maintaining his 'fun loving' persona rather than being true.  This is all post story of course, so in the inital write through, aside from the drafting thing, I didn't really think that far ahead.  In a rewrite, I would point this out a bit better.

Quinn doesn't need explaining (like that anyways). I imagine there are a lot of career ensigns in the pilot ranks, if you assume all pilots are officers. They don't have the talent for command or they don't want to command or they're afraid to give this guy command for some reason, whatever. They get to fly, and they aren't troubled by subordinates and silliness as much.

He was the squadron commander for the 10th Immortals before he was forced out.  I really wish I had written it better the first time around, instead, inexperiance shows through.

[NGTM-1R]

NGTM-1R, you do realize this story is 9 - 10 YEARS old, right?  I know most of the problems with it, in fact a LOT of the problems with it, but I figure it would be interesting to go back and cover it again.  So you don't have to tear into it, although I do appreciate the effort (I don't see that much for other stories).  Anyway, I'll answer a few of the issues:

Yes, you already said that. Like I said, this got somewhat out of control.

Though I must admit, I offer no freebies to anyone, regardless of circumstances. That's not good criticism.

[Eishtmo]

Just making sure you got that this is very old.  If you want to see something a bit more current, PM me, I'd be more than happy to send you something I do want some serious feedback on.  Anyway, let's keep going.

Chapter 2
The 11th Hour¹

   “I’ll never get used to these early days,” Roach said with a yawn.

   “Maybe if you actually went to bed early you wouldn’t be so tired,” Lucy muttered.

   “I went to bed early,” Roach said.  “3 am is damn early for me, Babe.”

   “Don’t call me Babe!” Lucy yelled. 

   Joe shook his head as he reminded himself not to call Lucy Babe, at least when she was within arms reach. 

   “Admiral on deck!” someone yelled.  All of the pilots stood at stiff attention as Admiral Wolfe walked to the front of pilots briefing room.

   “At ease people,”  the Admiral said.  “And be seated.”  Behind him the giant screen changed from the Galactic Terran Alliance emblem to a long list titled KIA, Killed In Action.  “Command Briefing for January 10, 2335 will commence now.”  Wolfe pressed the touch pad on his tablet.  On the small screens in front of each pilot, a copy of the briefing appeared.  The Admiral began to read what was on the small screens.  “Operation Thresher in the Antares system did not proceed as planned.  Terran Command estimates Terran losses at 504 pilots dead, fourteen missing and presumed dead.”  The main screen changed to a node map and centered on the spheres representing Vasuda Prime and Antares.  “The Vasudan foothold on Vasuda Prime and the subspace node remains solid.  However, their supply lines have been cut off, which means they are most likely lacking reinforcements and supplies.  Expect more news on that front in tomorrows briefing.”² 

   “You mean we have to do this tomorrow?” Roach whispered to Joe.

   “Shhh,” Lucy said.

   The main screen returned to the GTA emblem as Wolfe folded his arms in a scolding manner.  “There have been rumors about the appearance of another sentient species.  These are rumors, nothing more.  Investigation of the Ross 128 attack has determined nothing.  Concern yourselves with the known enemy, the Vasudans.  There is to be no more talk of phantom ships.”

   “I didn’t know there was talk of phantom ships,” Roach whispered.

   “Would you shut the hell up,” Lucy whispered back.

   The Admiral lowered his arms and smiled.  “Let this serve as a “welcome aboard” to all newly-arrived pilots aboard the Galatea.  Since you’re here, your flight records must speak highly of you already.  Serve the Galatea well, she’s a fine ship.”  Admiral Wolfe looked back down at the pad.  “Your squadron commanders will give you your flight assignments.”

   “Ten hut!” Bull yelled.  Everyone snapped to attention as Admiral Wolfe left the briefing room.  “Alright, all Freespacers gather on the right side of the room, Hell Bats to the left and Poker Faces in the middle, lets move it.”  Bull clapped his hands, encouraging the move.  Joe fought his way through the crowd to the right side of the room.

   “Maybe we should sit on the right side from now on?” Roach said.

   “Are you kidding?” said Hound.  “Bull changes the order everyday.  I think he gets some macabre pleasure watching us hustle about.”

   “Okay people, here are the assignments,” Bull pushed on the pad.  The little screens at each seat lit up with the flight assignments, organized by time.  Bull began reading off the list, starting at 0800.

   “I wonder how long we’ll have to wait?” Joe said jokingly.

   “Smith!” Bull called

   “Uh, what?”

   “0830, briefing room C.  Get going, you have forty minutes.”

   “Yes sir,” Joe hurried out of the briefing room.  He stopped when with the sound of laughter echoed from the room.  He turned around and read the sign next to the door.  “Briefing Room C.  I should have known.”³

*    *    *

   “Have trouble finding the place?” Bull said with a laugh.

   “Ha ha, very funny,” Joe sat in the front row.  Lt. Harbison was already there.

   “At least you’re on time,” Bull pressed the button on his pad.  “Okay, here’s what’s up.  Due to some screwy assignments, there is a gap in one of the patrol schedules.  You two are going to fill it.”  The main screen flashed to life and project the icon representing a cruiser and a fighter icon.  “You will be patrolling the area around the GTC Orff.  The Orff suffered an engine breakdown and is awaiting repairs.  Your job will be to insure the Orff’s safety.  The 6th Freespacers Delta wing will relieve you as soon as their watch comes up.  You’ll be out there for about an hour, a relatively short watch.  Get to the quarter deck, you leave in ten minutes.”

   As Bull left the room, Harbison quickly stood at attention, and Joe followed suit.  “****,” Harbison said.

   “Excuse me?” said Joe.

   “Oh,” Harbison caught himself.  “Its not you, but patrols are so damn boring.”  Harbison looked at Joe.  “Come on Player, lets suit up.”

   Joe huffed.  “That name spreads fast.”

   “All callsigns do, Player,”  Harbison said.

*    *    *

   The quarter deck was crowded with fighters and people.  Some of the fighters were being repaired, others rearmed, and still others undergoing final preflight checklists.  Joe watched the organized chaos as he and Harbison made their way to their waiting fighters.  They weaved through the rows of Apollo’s and Athena’s while dodging the various maintenance personal.⁴  Joe caught something with the corner of his eyes.  On one of the upper storage levels were several slim fighters.

   Joe nudged Harbison.  “What are those?”

   “Um?”  Harbison looked where Joe was pointing.  “Oh, those are the new Valkyries.  Command shipped them out here, but we won’t be allowed to use them for a few days.  A real shame.”

   They reached the two fighters they would use at that moment.  “Why is it a shame?” Joe asked as he climbed into the fighter.  He had to practically shout to be heard over the din of the flight deck.

   “They’re supposed to based on the old Angel Scout,”  Harbison reminisced for a moment.  “Those were a dream to fly, of course you’re to young to remember.”

   “Bull,”  Joe said.  “I learned to fly in one of those.  Hell, before he joined up, my brother was building one in his garage.  That’s part of the reason he joined, to get the parts he needed to finish it.”  Joe laughed at the thought.

   “So how’s your brother doin’ now?”  Harbison said.

   “Oh,” Joe’s smile melted away.  “He went down with the Eisenhower.”⁵

   Harbison looked away from Joe.  “I’m sorry.”

   “That’s alright, you didn’t know.”  Joe put his helmet on and activated the inter-fighter communications channel.  “Testing, one, two, three,” he said into the microphone.

   “I hear you just fine,” Harbison’s voice came through Joe’s headset.

   Joe took out the checklist from the side pocket and began pre-flight check.  “So what do I call you out there?” he asked.

   “Jack,” responded Harbison.

   “You want me to call you by your first name?”

   “No,” Harbison said with a laugh.  “Jack’s my callsign.  All members of the Poker Faces have names based on playing cards.  It’s tradition.”

   “A lot of that floating around,” Joe muttered.  “I’m ready to go, are you?”

   “Are you kidding, I’ve been waiting for you.”  Harbison laughed again.  “Command, this is Alpha wing, we are ready for launch.”

   “Copy that Alpha,” Commands voice came loud and clear.  “We’re putting you on the catapult now.”

   The large crane lowered down onto Joe’s fighter.  Joe flipped the lever and the Apollo’s canopy closed just as the crane latched on.  The fighter rose with a shutter.  Joe looked out and saw Harbison’s fighter being lifted by a second crane.  The crane pulled back to the rear of the flight deck.⁶

   “Remember to raise your landing gear, Player,” Harbison said.

   “Oops,” Joe said as he raised the landing gear.  “Sorry about that.”

   “I wouldn’t be the one that would be sorry when that gear gets ripped off,” Harbison said with a chuckle.

   “Alpha one, prepare for launch,” Command said.

   “Roger that,” Joe said.  Seconds later the fighter launched off the catapult.  Joe was plastered against the seat.  He watched as the HUD read his speed going from zero to forty meters a second.  The blue glow of the flight deck opening grew larger until it seemed that the Apollo would be smashed against it.  And then it was black.  Joe grabbed the stick and thruster and moved away from the Galatea.  He looked back for a moment to see Harbison’s fighter come out of the flight deck.

   “Let’s form up Player,” Harbison said as his fighter shot ahead of Joe.

   “Roger, here I come Jack.”  Joe relaxed and began flipping through his systems, making his final checks before the jump.

   “Alright, let’s go Player,” Harbison said.  “Activate subspace drive.”

   “Activating.”  Player watched as the blue white vortex of the subspace portal opened.  The fighter was absorbed and for a brief moment saw subspace, the blue, black swirling void.  This disappeared as another vortex opened and dropped him in front of the GTC Orff.

   “GTC Orff, this is Alpha wing here to take over patrol,”  Harbison said over the comm system.

   “Roger that Alpha,” responded the Orff.  “Nice to have you here.  House wing you are relieved.”

   “This is House wing, we are out of here,” said House wings commander.  “We haven’t seen any Zods, so you should be okay Jack.”

   “Catch you later, Ten,” Harbison responded.

   Joe watched as the four fighters of House wing each opened their subspace vortexes and vanished.  “Friends of yours?” Joe asked.

   “Just a Poker Face wing,”  Harbison said.  “Let’s just relax, this is a short patrol.”

*    *    *

   “God is this boring,” Joe muttered.⁷

   “I hear ya’” said Harbison.  “At least with longer patrols there’s a chance for some action.”

   Joe looked at Harbison’s fighter.  “What do you know about the Eishtmo?”  He asked spontaneously.

   “Eishtmo?  Not much except. . .” an alert suddenly activate.  “Hold on a sec.”

   Joe looked at his own radar.  The blue dots representing jump points activated.  “Delta shouldn’t be here for at least another twenty minutes,” he said.

   “Those aren’t Terrans,” Harbison said.  “Looks like you get to fight a real battle.  Let’s go.”

   Joe turned his Apollo toward the newly appeared red blips on the radar.  He activated his targeting display.  A small red square appeared on his HUD, with little numbers indicating distance to target.

   “You take Virgo two, I’ll take one,” Harbison said.

   Joe studied his target info and found he was already on Virgo two.  “Got it,” he jumped on the afterburners and shot out toward the Vasudan fighter.  He began blasting at the Anubis with his primaries then launched a salvo of Furies at the fighter which quickly exploded.

   “Nice shooting,” said Harbison as he downed his target.  Two more jump blips appeared.  “Looks like we got more company.”

   Joe whipped his fighter around only to find he was practically on top of the intruders.  He quickly launched a MX-50 and blasted away.  The first fighter vaporized without realizing what hit him.  Joe then turned and launched a salvo of Furies at the second fighter which exploded soon after.

   “Hey, save me some,” said Harbison.

   “Sorry,” said Joe quickly as two more blips appeared, right behind Harbison.  “Check your six!”

   Harbison dove out of the way as Joe laced the fighters with laser fire followed with a couple of MX-50’s.  One of the fighters exploded, but the second one managed to get off one of it’s own missiles which rocked Joe’s fighter as it hit.

   “Watch yourself Player,” Harbison said as he dove his fighter onto the unsuspecting Zod and blew him apart.

   “I’m okay,” three more blips appeared.  “Great, more company.”  Joe rolled over and launched more Furies at the attackers one of whom dove away.  Joe targeted the escapee and chewed into him, eventually destroying him.  Harbison fired a few shots, finishing off the last two fighters.

   “That’s the last of them,” Harbison said.  Two more blips appeared on the radar.

   “Not more,” muttered Joe.

   A howl echoed across the comm system.  “The Dogs of Delta have arrived, how’s it going out there,” Wolf said.

   “Not to bad Wolf,” said Harbison.  “The young rookie just made his first kill, and then four more.”

   “Probably from playing all those video games,” Hound said.

   “Alpha wing, you are relieved, thanks for your stay,” said the Orff.

   “Roger that,” said Harbison.  “Let’s go home Player.”

   Joe activated his jump drive and slipped into subspace.

*    *    *

   Joe collapsed on to his bunk.  His arm was sore from the battle.  It was as if he had fought the whole damn Vasudan navy.  Bull had called them remnants of a convoy, but it sure didn’t feel like it.  Joe rolled onto his side and looked at Eishtmo’s bunk.  On top were several bags.  Joe hopped down from his bunk and carefully leaned over to read the shipping tags.  “GTD Reliant to GTD Galatea” it read.⁸  The Reliant, so that’s where Eishtmo was from, but why was he transferred to the Galatea?  Joe shook his head and laid back down.  He was so tired.  That’s when the door flew open.

   “Top bunk on the left,” he heard Roach say.  A large group poured into the room and grabbed Joe.  They carried him out of the room and eventually on to the flight deck.

   “Stand over there,” one of the other pilots said to Roach.

   “Why?”  asked Roach as he moved next to Joe and Lucy.

   “What the hell is going on?” Lucy asked.

   “Cus’ I said so,” that’s when one of the other pilots whipped out the ships fire hose and began to hose all three down.

   “Cut it out, goddamn it!” Lucy yelled as she desperately tried to stay standing.  Joe fell down and rolled as the water plastered him across the flight deck.⁹

   “This is great,” Roach yelled as he was again knocked back by the blast of water.

   “Are you crazy?” Lucy yelled as she fell down.  She quickly tried to stand back up, but the slick deck caused her to fall right back down on her face.  The other pilots laughed, hooted and hollered.  Joe glanced up just in time to see Eishtmo standing behind the group, a small smile graced his lips.  Suddenly the water stopped.

   “All right, that’s enough,” said Bull.  He walked over to the now soaking Ensigns.  “You are now official members of the 6th Freespacers Fighter Squadron, congratulations.”  He then handed each a Freespacers patch.  Lucy glared at him through her wet hair.  “Oh, and due to the fact that he got his first kills today, Player, you are Alpha wings’ commander.”  He then handed Joe his patch, as well as the wing commander pin.

   “Thanks,” said Joe.  He stared at both the patch and the pin.  He felt like he earned it.  The other pilots turned and headed back to barracks.  Joe looked up and saw Bull slyly hand Eishtmo his patch, and then continued to follow the rest.  Eishtmo then walked up to the rookies with several towels.

   “Use these to dry off,” he said as he tossed them each one.  He then turned and left.

   “Why the hell didn’t he get hosed down?” Lucy asked with disgust.

   Joe watched Eishtmo as he left.  “I think he’s been through this before.”¹⁰

*    *    *

   “Do you know how to make a Reliant Repellent?”¹¹ Eishtmo asked the bartender.

   “Sure do,” the bartender said.  “I served on the Reliant a couple of years ago, she’s a great ship, how about you?”  The bartender began mixing the drink

   “I was there a few years,” said Eishtmo grabbed the finished drink.  “Cheers.”  Eishtmo downed the whole think in one gulp.

   “What are you doing here?” asked Joe.  “We’re supposed to leave in ten minutes.”

   “I’m coming kid,” Eishtmo said.  He turned to the bartender.  “Could you mix a whole bottle for me?”

   “Not a problem,” said the bartender.

   “Let’s go,” said Joe as he grabbed Eishtmo’s arm.

   “You don’t have to drag me,” Eishtmo yanked his arm away from Joe.  “Kids,” he said as he rolled his eyes.

   The two of them walked onto the flight deck.  Roach and Lucy were leaning up against their Apollos.  “Where was he?” asked Lucy.

   “At the bar,” said Joe.

   “Hey, that doesn’t sound like bad idea,” said Roach as he started for the door.

   “Don’t make me hurt you,” Lucy said as she punched her hand.

   Roach raised his hands in surrender.  “I’m just kidding.”  He climbed into his fighter and looked over at Joe.  “*****.”

   “I heard that,” said Lucy.

   Joe sat in his fighter and put his head in his hands with frustration.  “Alright,” said Eishtmo.  “Cut it out, we have a mission to fly.”

*    *    *

   Alpha wing fell out of subspace into the asteroid field.  Joe looked at his radar.  Only flashing red blips, nothing concrete.¹²

   “I can’t get a lock,” said Lucy.

   “Asteroids always do that,” said Eishtmo.

   “Form up on my wing,” said Joe.  “Then we’ll head for the first group.”

   The fighters moved into diamond formation, with Joe leading, Roach and Lucy to either side, and Eishtmo taking up the number 4 position.

   “By the way,” said Eishtmo.  “If that Zod ace shows up, I want to take him, alone.”

   “Are you crazy?” said Roach.  “The way Bull was talking, it was going to take all of us just to take that Zod on, let alone beat him.”

   “Bull meant it would take all of you to beat the ace,” said Eishtmo.  “I can do it all by myself.”

   “I have a lock,” Lucy said triumphantly.

   “Everybody take one,” said Joe.  Suddenly a flurry of Furies zipped past just inches form Joe’s canopy and into the first Anubius fighter.  “Hey, watch it!”

   “Sorry,” said Eishtmo.

   The battle was over quickly and the fighters returned to formation and continued on to the next target.  The next group of Vasudans didn’t even know what hit them.  Each exploded with bright fireballs of light.  Joe smiled as he wasted another fighter.

   “This is easier than I thought,” he said.

   “Hey Player,” said Lucy.  “I’m picking up a jump signature.”

   “It’s the ace,” said Eishtmo.  “Head for the next group, I’ll take care of him.”  And Eishtmo dropped out of formation and headed for the newly emerged ace.

   “I guess we’re on our own,” said Lucy.

   “Does that bother you, Babe?” said Roach.

   “How ‘bout I frag you right now?” Lucy said angrily.

   Suddenly, one of the Zod fighters launched missiles at Lucy.  “Babe, look out!” yelled Joe.  Lucy’s fighter rocked with the first hit, but subsequent hits missed.  Joe dove on the attacker and soon destroyed it.  “Pay attention, damn it!”

   “I got Pisces three,” called Roach.  Moments later the Vasudan wing was gone.  The fighters reformed and moved on to the next target.  “You okay, Babe?”

   “**** you, Roach,” said Lucy.  “If it hadn’t been for you I wouldn’t have gotten hit at all.”

   “Would you two cut it out,” said Joe, nearly at his wits end.  He shook himself to dispel the anger.  He looked at his radar.  Eishtmo and the Zod ace were still both on screen.  “Hey Eishtmo, how’s it going?”  Silence.  “Eishtmo respond.”  Still nothing.  “Computer, is there something wrong with Alpha four.”

   “Negative,” said the computer.

   “Then why isn’t he responding?”

   “Alpha four is currently not using an Allied channel.”

   “What?”

   “Player, twelve o’clock,” yelled Roach.  The final group of Vasudan fighters dove on to Joe.  Joe kicked in his afterburners and looped up and behind his two attackers.  Joe fired a salvo of Furies and a couple of MX-50’s, sending both Zods to meet their makers.

   “I warned him,” Eishtmo’s voice suddenly came.  Seconds later the last red blip on Joe’s radar vanished.  “I took out mine, how about you guys?”

   “Uh, we’re done here,” said Joe. 

   “Good,” said Eishtmo.  “Let’s go home.”

---------

1 – The 11th Hour refers to the end of World War I, it ended on the 11th Hour of the 11th Day of the 11th Month.  This is effectively the last hurrah of the 14 Year War, the Shivans show up in the next chapter.

2 – I more copied, almost word for word, command and mission briefings from the game as they applied.  I’ve also modified them as necessary, as you will see in the next section.

3 – The briefing room structure was odd, and I would likely redo it.  Mostly, Briefing Room C is the Campaign Briefing room for all squadrons, while the other rooms varied in size and security.  It’s actually kind of dumb and was done just to set up this joke.  Not strictly worth it.

4 – I put the Athenas on the deck earlier than they appeared in the game because it seemed more logical that this older bomber would be there.  I don’t mention the bomber variant of the Apollo because, well, it’s an Apollo, you wouldn’t notice the difference.  The Valkyrie is mentioned next as well, though I should include WHY they aren’t in use.  Maybe another squad got them first.

5 – This is the reason Joe joined up, to ‘avenge’ his brother and his father if I remember right.  Both went down on the Ike.  The problem is, he really isn’t all gung ho about it, if you hadn’t noticed.  I wanted him to be, I think, but he never really was.

6 – The entire launch sequence is, um, probably not well thought out, and only partially matches what we see on screen.  In retrospect, I don’t think this is how fighters are launched at all, but it was what I could think of at the time.

7 – And so we begin the first mission of the campaign.  In choosing missions for the story, I went with ones that were significant or that I could do something with.  If I remember right, it averaged about 2 missions per chapter.  Sadly, these sections stink almost universally.  The first mission here might be the best, but it’s all downhill from here, I assure you.  I think what hurts these the most is that I really am not very good at FS at all.  Yeah, the FS historian can’t play the damn game.  Oh well.

8 – The first mention of the GTD Reliant, Orion class (not to be confused with the Reliant class ship of the TVWP).  Originally I was going to call it the Repulse, for a reason later, but then they used Repulse in FS2.  Anyway, Reliant is currently assigned to Ribos as part of Tombaugh station’s defense (it actually BUILT Tombaugh, but that’s a story for No War, No Peace).  Yeah, you know what happens there.  I think it’s odd that Quinn, a famous pilot in the fleet, is unknown to Joe himself.  I really goofed with setting Quinn’s skill so high.

9 – Hazing.  I don’t remember why I put it here, aside from the fact that Joe got his first kills.  Yeah, multiple kills, from a rookie.  For the No War, No Peace campaign, I want to have fighter jump out after receiving so much damage based on their skill level, and in a rewrite, I’d do the same here, though the Shivans wouldn’t because, well, they’re Shivans.  Would also reduce wingman kills through the story, or at least explain how few there really are.

10 – You know, reading back on this, I think I made Joe very, very stupid completely by accident.  On one hand, he’s explicitly told Quinn is one of the best in the fleet, but on the other, he doesn’t know it at all.  I’d either have to rework the plot to make it so Quinn is not declared from day one to be the ace of aces, or for Joe not to be so damn stupid.  Bleh.

11 – The Reliant Repellent was the reason I wanted to call the ship the Repulse.  The drink will be back later, and is potent, but the scene is a bit forgettable and unnecessary.  Incidentally, Quinn calls Joe “kid” very often, and it’s not because he is one, but because that was the newbie callsign in his former squadron, the 10th Immortals.  I should also change the callsigns to their proper names in the future.

12 – In thinking about a rewrite, this mission actually came up, and I think I can make it better overall.  Again, though, I make Joe out to be very dense, and it pains me greatly.

[Eishtmo]

Now chapter three.  This story is much worse than I remember.  Maybe I've been rewriting it my head too much.

Chapter 3
The Arrival

   “The 34th Poker Faces and 242nd Suicide Kings successfully apprehended Lt. McCarthy and reclaimed the stolen Avenger attack cannon prototype,”¹ said the ships reporter.  The small vid-screens above each table in the cafeteria showed a picture of McCarthy.  “McCarthy will be tried on charges of treason.  His Vasudan contact was also captured and is currently being interrogated.”

   “I wonder what would cause someone to betray us like that?” said Lucy as she sat down.  The Dogs were seated at the other side of the table.

   “Who knows?” said Joe.  He stuck his fork into the meat on the tray.  “Maybe it was the food,” he said with a sigh.

   Wolf laughed.  “I wouldn’t be surprised.”  The rest of the Dogs hollered with laughter.

   Joe ate quietly, but a question he had since he had first arrived burned him.  Finally he had to ask it.  “Wolf.”

   “Yeah, what is it?”

   “Who the hell is Eishtmo?”  The Dogs dropped into silence.  “Uh, I mean, where does he come from, why is he the way he is?”  Joe desperately grasped for a question that would end the silence.

   “You don’t know about the Eishtmo,” Wolf said with disbelief.  Joe shook his head.  “Well, let me tell you.”  He put his fork down and began to narrate the story of the Eishtmo.

   “First of all, he is the best pilot to live.  He has flown for the Alliance since the war began, and has the medals and kills to prove it.  For ten years he gleefully fraged Zods by the hundreds, literally.  During that time, a Zod ace managed to shake him and just has the Zod was set to leave, it sent a message to him calling him ‘The Eishtmo.’  Well, that’s what the translator said.  It turns out Eishtmo means either Great Warrior or Great Peace Maker, depending on its use.  Ever since then, he has carried the callsign of the Eishtmo.”  Wolf took a sip of his drink.  “Anyways, about four years ago, his kill rates dropped like a stone.  He practically stopped killing.  Instead, he would fly into a battle area, open a Vasudan wing channel and announce he was there, then every Zod in the area would split, usually.  Command got suspicious and last year arrested him for treason.”²

   “Treason?” Joe said with shock.

   “Yeah, but they never convicted him.  Still, for some reason they stripped him of his rank and had him shipped here, don’t really know why.”

   “Wow,” said Joe.  He then remembered the book Eishtmo had been reading and realized that it must have been in Vasudan.  “I would have never guessed.”

   Just then Hound dropped a piece of meat onto the floor.  He picked it up and put it on the napkin next to him.

   “You gonna eat that?” asked Roach.

   “Ewww!” said Fox.

   “That is really gross, Roach,” said Joe with a chuckle as Roach proceeded to eat the meat.

*    *    *

   “Command has decided that the GTSC Plato will carry the blueprints for the Avenger Attack Cannon to the Ribos system where production will begin,” said Bull.

   Joe shifted in his seat.  Briefing room F was the smallest of the six briefing rooms.  It also had the most uncomfortable seats.

   “Intel has determined that only one Vasudan Cruiser, the Taurus, remains in the system.”  The screen behind Bull showed a icon representing the Vasudan Cruiser and the Plato.  “If the Vasduans decide to try something, the Taurus will most likely be involved.”

   “How about fighters?” asked Coyote.

   “There should be only two strike squads,” said Bull.  He then returned to the briefing.  “Alpha, you will take point in front of the Plato, Delta will hang behind.  If something should happen, the Plato has been equipped with an escape pod that will take the blueprints to Ribos.  Your mission is to protect the blueprints at all costs.  Now get going.”

*    *    *

   “I got Aries four!” Joe yelled as he dove onto the Osiris bomber.  The Zod’s secondary turret wildly shot at Joe’s Apollo.  The Vasudan made a sharp turn to the right, then left, desperately trying to avoid Joe, but to no avail.  A bright yellow fireball signaled the bombers destruction.

   “Looks like the last of them,” said Wolf.

   “I hope so,” said Lucy.

   Coyote piped up.  “This ain’t nothin’ Babe, you should have been at the battle of Antares two.  Now that was a furball.”

   “Ain’t?” Joe said aloud.  “What does ain’t mean?”³

   Eishtmo rolled his eyes.  “Kids,” he said with a sigh.

   “More bogeys coming in,” said Fox.  “Crap, it’s the Taurus.”

   Wolf switched to a command channel.  “Command, this is Delta one, the PVC Taurus has entered the area, requesting backup.”

   “What the hell are those?” said Roach.

   Joe looked at his radar.  Four purple dots blinked on and off as the radar lost and required the targets.  “I can’t get a lock on them, whatever they are,” he said.

   “I think they’re attacking the Taurus,” said Hound.

   “Command, did you copy that?” Eishtmo asked, with a hint of worry in his voice.

   “We are monitoring the situation,” Command responded.  “All fighters, hold your position.”

   Joe cycled through targets to the Taurus.  The hull strength of the Taurus was falling, fast.  In a few moments, it hit zero and the Taurus exploded with a dramatic light show.

   “Holy ****, they wasted the Taurus!” Coyote yelled.

   “Whoever they are, I want to shake their hands,” said Fox.

   “I have a bad feeling about this,” said Lucy.

   “You’re too young to be having bad feelings,” said Eishtmo.  “That’s my job.”

   Joe scanned the sky with quick, jerking motions.  As he looked to port, he saw the blue glimmer of a subspace vortex.  A black ship with red, glowing lines emerged from the vortex.  As the vortex closed, the ship all but disappeared into the blackness of space.  Joe followed it with his eyes as it turned toward him and immediately began firing.  “Damn it!”  Joe dove out of the black ships way.

   “All fighters, defend the Plato!” Wolf yelled.  Joe didn’t acknowledge the order and pulled up behind the first black ship.

   “I can’t get a lock on any of them,” yelled Fox.

   “It’s all your fault, Fox,” Roach called.

   “My fault!”

   “You were the one who wanted to shake hands.”

   Joe began firing away with his lasers.  The enemy pilot was good, dodging most of the blasts.  What few hit dissipated in a white flash, never hitting the ship.

   “The hell . . .” said Joe when a lock warning flashed.  Joe pulled up and around, hoping to get behind his attacker.  As he pulled up, the launch warning began flashing.  He kicked in his afterburners and dropped a countermeasure.  The missile took the bait and the launch warning vanished.

   “Can any of you get a visual?” Command said with a desperate plea.

   “Yeah, I got one,” said Roach.  “These ships are butt ugly.”

   Joe skimmed across the hull of the Plato, chasing another black ship, when an explosion came from the engine area of the Faustus science vessel.

   “This is the Plato, our engines have been knocked out.”

   Joe glimpsed Wolf’s fighter pulled around and fire on his attacker who dove away to dodge the shots.  “Plato, launch your escape pod now, before it’s too late,” Wolf yelled.

   “Copy that,” said the Plato.

   “Alpha wing, protect that escape pod, we’ll keep the bogeys busy,” Wolf tore around the Plato’s hull trying to escape yet another attacker.

   “Roger that,” said Joe.  “Let’s go Alpha.”  Alpha wings four Apollo’s pulled into formation around the escape pod as it made its way toward the green outline of the jump node.

   “I don’t think we’re even hurting these things,” Hound yelled.

   “The MX-50’s are worthless, that’s for sure,” said Coyote as he dove away from the alien attacker.

   “I’m going back to help them,” said Eishtmo.

   “Our orders are to stay with the pod,” Joe yelled.

   “Not now kid,” Eishtmo responded.  “I know what I’m doing.”  Eishtmo’s Apollo dropped out of formation and charged back into the furball.

   “Command, we’re taking heavy damage,” yelled the Plato’s communications officer.  “Requesting immediate assistance. . . AHHHHHHHHH. . .”  Joe turned and watched the Plato explode as the ships reactor hit critical.  The Dogs and Eishtmo managed to get clear seconds before she went up, and so did the black fighters.

   “Oh my god,” said Fox.

   “This is the escape pod, we are out of here.”

   Joe watched as the pod jumped inside the subspace node.  He then turned to take on the new enemy.

   “All fighters, return to base,” Command said.

   “You heard the man,” said Wolf.  “Let’s go home.”

   Joe looked at the evil fighters again as he activated his jump drives.⁴

*    *    *

   “Looks like the whole ****ing crew showed up for this one,” said Coyote. 

   The Freespacers took their seats in the front row of Briefing Room A.  Joe turned and looked at the huge crowd.  It reminded him of the all school assemblies back at Saturn.

   “You think this is about those unknowns?” Roach asked.

   “Probably,” said Lucy.  “If not, I wanna go home.”

   Eishtmo chuckled.  “Don’t we all.”

   “Admiral on deck!” called the XO.  Everyone stood at attention as Admiral Wolfe stepped up to the podium up front.

   “As you were,” the Admiral said.  “All ship command briefing for January 18, 2335 commences now.  Yesterday, during an escort mission, Alpha and Delta wings of the 6th Freespacers encountered several unknown hostiles.  Command has confirmed that these ships are neither Terran nor Vasudan in origin.  As such, command has declared these to be a new sentient species and has dubbed them ‘Shivans’ until contact can be established.”

   “Like that’s gonna happen,” whispered Roach.  Lucy elbowed him.  “What I do?”

   “Shut up.”

   “The Shivans have inflicted heavy causalities to both Terran and Vasudan forces in Beta Cygni and Vega, and appear to making a rapid push into other key systems along the Terran-Vasudan front.”  Admiral Wolfe paused for a moment and swallowed.  “All contact has been lost with our forces in Ikeya and Ross 128.”  The crew began muttering with each other.

   “Quite down people,” the XO ordered.  The crowd responded.

   “The Vasudan government has contacted the GTA and proposed a cease-fire.  Considering reports of losses to both sides, this shouldn’t be a surprise.  Command has yet to respond.  However, command has ordered all operations against the Vasudans suspended and our focus shifted to the Shivans.  As such, any Shivan vessel encountered is to be considered a greater threat and any Vasudan vessel.”

   “The war’s over,” muttered Eishtmo.

   “And a new one’s begun,” Joe whispered darkly.⁵

   Behind the Admiral a picture of a Shivan fighter appeared.  The words ‘SF Scorpion’ were in the upper right hand corner.  “Shivan technology is far and above both Terran and Vasudan technology.  They possess a electromagnetic shielding system that makes them nearly impervious to our ML-16 Lasers.  The Avenger cannon is now being modified to be more effective against the shielding, but it will be some time before we have an effective weapon to use against them.  Also, due to lack of knowledge of Shivan electronic systems, we cannot target, or track with any certainty, Shivan vessels.  Plans are underway to remedy this situation.

   “Until then, the Galatea will move to Beta Cygni to monitor Shivan activity.  All crew members are to be on high alert, all pilots ready to scramble at a moments notice.  The Shivans are, right now, the most dangerous foe we have ever faced.  Dismissed.”  Admiral Wolfe left the briefing room followed by the bulk of the crew.

   “Alpha wing!” yelled Bull.  “Stay here, you have a mission.”

   Joe sat back down.  After a few minutes, the crowd had dissipated and the room emptied.

   “Two things,” said Bull.  “First of all, your wing is need for a special ops mission, so you will be temporally re-assigned to the GTD Bastion.”

   “The Bastion?” said Lucy.

   “Do you have a problem with that Ensign,” Bull said, indignantly.

   “No sir,” said Lucy, a smile working its way onto her lips.

   “Good.”  Bull turned to the screen.  An icon of a jump node surrounded by asteroid icons appeared.  “Secondly, with the reassignment of the Galatea, it has become necessary to take a risk.  The Antares-Beta Cygni jump node lies at the heart of an asteroid field.  Normally, we would bypass this node, but there isn’t time.”  Bull looked at the pilots.  “We need a couple of volunteers to help pave the way for the Galatea.  Who’s up for it?”

   “I’m sorry,” said Eishtmo.  “I hate busting rocks.  I’d rather save myself for the Shivans.”

   “I’ll do it,” said Lucy.  “But only if Player does it too.”

   “What about me?” said Roach.

   “If you fly, I might just shoot you down myself.”

   Bull frowned at that.  “Well Player, it looks like you don’t have much of a choice.”

   Joe looked at his two wingmates.  “Sure, what the hell.”

   Bull smiled.  “Okay then, go start packing.  Eishtmo and Roach will ride a transport with your baggage, Babe, you and Player will help bust rocks.  Now get going, we’re jumping to the node in one hour.  You’ll be over on the Bastion for about a week, so pack accordingly.”⁶

*    *    *

   Joe kicked up his afterburner and charged the next asteroid, pounding it with laser fire.  Within moments the rock split and exploded.  “Nice shot,” said Lucy.

   “They’re just rocks,” said Joe.  “Just a little dumber then a drone.”  Joe swung his Valkyrie around and laced the next asteroid.

   “Just watch it, pilot,” Command said.  “Even a drone can down an ace occasionally.”⁷

   The two fighters cut through the rocks, clearing a path for the Galatea to reach the distant node.  Neither noticed the subspace vortexes of two black fighters open up.

   “Alpha,” Command’s voice boomed.  “We have detected two enemy fighters coming in fast, intercept them.”

   “Copy that,” said Joe.  He spun his fighter around, toward the blinking red blip on the radar and charged ahead.  As he closed in, a white trail of light shot away from one of the black and red ships.

   “That looks like a space bomb!” Lucy said with alarm.

   “Alpha, don’t let those bombs hit the Galatea!”  Command almost screamed the order.

   “I’m on it,” said Joe.  He let loose a barrage of fire at the bomb.  A blue shock wave of the destroyed bomb shook Joe’s fighter.  Joe grabbed the controls and pulled around to face the bombs launcher.  “I got this one, you get the other one.”

   “Not a problem,” said Lucy.  Her fighter dove down onto the other bomber firing with all her might.  The bomber shrugged off her shots with flashes of white.

   Joe watched Lucy’s attack, then turned back to his target.  Joe’s shots did the same as Lucy’s.  Out of frustrations, Joe fired off several of Furies at the bomber.  The first three hit with a flash, but the fourth one hit the bomber’s hull, startling it.  “I think I hit him,” Joe said with disbelief.

   “Say again, Alpha one?” said Command.

   “Hang on a second,” said Joe.  He whipped around an asteroid and began pounding on the Shivan bomber with Fury after Fury.  “Come on you son of a *****,” he said angrily.  Suddenly, the bomber exploded in a fireball of light.  “I got him!” he screamed.

   “Alpha one,” Command said.  “Did you say you downed one?”

   “That’s an affirmative command, these bastards are killable,”  Joe pulled the stick and came in line with the second bomber.

   “Hot damn!” said Lucy.  “How’d you do it?”

   “Use your Furies, lots of Furies!”  Joe was beyond excited, so excited he almost hit another asteroid.

   “Great work, we’ll forward this to HQ,”  Command responded, there was a hint of excitement in his voice.  In the background a war whoop could be heard echoing through the bridge.  “We’ll congratulate you when you get back, we’re jumping out now.”⁸

   As the Galatea jumped out, so did the remaining Shivan bomber, evading several Lucy’s Furies.  “I almost had him,” yelled Lucy.

   Joe was smiling so much he could barely speak.  “You’ll get him next time.  Let’s head for the Bastion.”  And the two fighters slipped into subspace.

---------

1 – Huh, I forgot I included the Suicide Kings at all.  I would still probably move them to the Galatea proper (I think I imply they’re on the Bastion here).  Also note the entire McCarthy sub-plot has effectively been removed.

2 – Now we get to the stuff about Quinn, which as I said, makes Joe out to be dumb as a brick.  The whole mess could have been handled so much better, it hurts to even read it.  I’ve even modified the reasons why Quinn was busted (it has to do with politics and personal grudges) rather than a declining kill rate.  Really, so much of the original backstory has changed, this section doesn’t actually reflect it any more.

3 – Wow, odd joke that I seriously don’t remember writing or why I even did it in the first place.  I’d try to explain it as something to do with where Joe grew up, but I’ll be damned if I know why I did it in the first place.

4 – Dialog wise, I think this mission is pretty well done, action wise, not so much.  I know I have a Shivan put down in the asteroid mission (next one) but I think I want it here, and with Roach doing it no less.

5 – I think I’d probably swap who says what here.  Despite the issues with Joe being stupid, he is supposed to be more positive, and Quinn should be more realistic.  I know why I did it in this order, to show Quinn is glad the Vasudan war is over, but given how I built Joe to this point, the order doesn’t work anymore.

6 – I really shouldn’t have used callsigns as liberally as I did here.  Bull should be referring to them by last name throughout, this being all official and such.

7 – As I developed No War, No Peace, I started giving Command a name and personality (in the form of Marcus Wolfe for that story) and I think it would do well to do the same here as well.  It would allow this line to be more of a personal nature than some random comment from a personality less drone.

8 – Like I said, I want to move this incident to the first mission, and probably expand this mission a bit more (it’s VERY short) so that it can stand without the Shivan kill.  Either that or I put Roach in the other fighter instead of Lucy and let him get the kill.  I REALLY want to drop Joe’s skill down a notch, it’s far too high for his age.  This really doesn’t become apparent until near the end, and you’ll know when I get there because I’ll point it out and complain about my failure then.

[Eishtmo]

Can't help myself, here's a rewrite for the prologue:

This generation knows nothing but war.  For 14 years they have fought.  For 14 years, they have been told to ration and conserve.  For 14 years they have watched their parents and loved ones head out to the stars and fewer and fewer of them ever return home.

The fleets and armies of the Galactic Terran Alliance and the Parlimentary Vasudan Empire clash on alien worlds and around distant stars over and over again.  The reason for the war has long since been forgotten, the very trigger not even a footnote in their long history.  The forces that push the war on are revenge and profit, and the cycle grows ever larger with every battle and every death.  A weariness has settled on both sides as the fighting goes on, and many look for a way out.

The way out is approaching, but the price is very high.  It comes in the form of ships of darkest black and blood red.  It comes without warning and without reason.  It cannot be negotiated with, it cannot be bribed and it may not even be stoppable.  There!  Through the blue glow of subspace!  The Destroyers have come.




Much better.  Needs some more tweaking, but I would start a story with that anyday.

[TrashMan]

The premise is great, but overall the story needs fixing. Not surprising considering it's age. But it has promise

[Eishtmo]

If you want to read ahead, you can find a full copy of this story here.  Onward:

Chapter 4:
Where Terrans Dare¹

   A huge crowd mobbed Joe’s Valkyrie as the Bastions launch claw lowered it onto the deck.  Joe removed his helmet as the canopy slid off exposing him to a chaotic screams of joy and congratulations.  Two crewmen grabbed Joe and ripped him out of the fighter and carried him triumphantly on their shoulders.  Joe enthusiastically thrust his arms into the air and let out a whoop of joy.  With all the cheering going on, it was a surprise to all when a single voice singled itself out.

   “Admiral on deck!” someone yelled.  The crowd instantly went silent.  The crewmembers holding Joe up lowered him to the ground and snapped to attention, as did Joe.  For a moment, Joe finally got a good look at the Bastion’s flight deck.  There was little difference between the two, other than the squadron patches lining the walls.

   “Are you Ensign Joseph Smith?” a voice asked.  Joe shook himself back to reality, and into the face of an Admiral.

   “Yes sir,” he said meekly.

   The Admiral looked over him for a moment.  “So you’re the lucky bastard that shot down a Shivan, eh?” she said.

   “Yes sir,” he said with pride.

   “Well then, it looks like you get this,” the Admiral held out a small box.  She lifted the lid off revealing a medal.  “For your excellence in destroying a Shivan fighter, you are awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.  Where it proudly.”  She handed the medal box to Joe.

   “Thank you sir,” he said.

   “Alright then,” the Admiral turned to the crowd.  “Everybody back to your stations, there’ll be plenty of time to celebrate when this war is won.  Now get moving.”  The crowd began to disperse into the various passages leading from the flight deck.  The Admiral turned back to Joe and Lucy.  “Pilots, you have a mission briefing at 0900.  Find your wingmates, they’ll give you details.”  She then marched off the deck.

   Joe looked at Lucy.  “A bit of a hard ass isn’t she?”

   “Don’t I know it,” Lucy said as she walked toward the deck lift.²

*    *    *

   “Welcome to the GTD Bastion, pilots.  For those new here, I am Admiral Judith Shima, commander of the Bastion.”³

   Joe looked at the Admiral, the same one who had given him the medal only yesterday.  Behind her, an image of the Ikeya system appeared with five cargo icons placed in various places.  Joe’s eyes wandered to the other pilots in the briefing room, all nineteen of them.  Lucy elbowed him.  “Pay attention.”

   “The Bastion is on a special ops mission to investigate and acquire Shivan technology.  This includes weaponry, shielding, and stealth technology.”  Admiral Shima gestured to the vid-screen.  “Intel has determined that at least one point of Shivan entry into our space lies in the Ikeya system.  At least five cargo depots are located here.  Since they are not in Terran or Vasudan formations, we must assume that they belong to the Shivans.”  The image focused on one of the cargo groups.  The icons representing fighters and freighters appeared with the cargo.  “These depots provide a prime opportunity to gather more information on the Shivans.  Long range scans reveal that the containers contain unusual electronics similar to the Shivans shielding and sensor systems.  Of course, long range scans do little to reveal how these systems work.  This is where you come in, pilots.  Each of your wings will be assigned to cargo depot.  You will drop in about six kilometers from the depot.  You will then clear the field of enemy sentry guns and scan the containers.  When you have determined the contents, freighters will be called in to collect them for further study.  You will be given further details by Captain Koppel at 1200 hours.  You are dismissed.”  The Admiral turned to leave, and then stopped.  “Ensign Shima.”

   “Yes sir,” said Lucy.

   “Come with me.”  Joe watched as Lucy followed the Admiral out.⁴

   “Sounds like a trap to me,” said Eishtmo.

   “Huh?” said Joe.

   “The mission, its a trap,” repeated Eishtmo.  “The Shivans are setting us up.”

   “And how do you know that?” teased Roach.

   “I just know.”

   “Alright mister smarty pants,” Roach said.  “If you know so much, then tell me why the Admiral wanted to see Babe.”

   Joe looked at Roach.  “I thought it was because they were related.”⁵

   “Pfft,” huffed Roach.  “Yeah, right.”

   “Actually,” Eishtmo said.  “He’s right.”

   “Excuse me?” Roach begged.

   “Yeah, didn’t you notice that they had the same last name.”  Joe wondered if Roach ever paid attention.

   “That’s because the Admiral is Lucy’s mom,” Eishtmo teased.

   “Hey, just because I forgot Babe’s name was Shima doesn’t mean I’m a idiot,” said Roach.  “Just, unobservant.”

   Joe and Eishtmo laughed at Roach’s vain attempt at defending himself.  “Whatever,” said Eishtmo.  “Come on, I buy you two a drink.”

   Joe looked at Eishtmo.  “I’m too young to drink.”

   “You earned a medal, you earned a drink.”  With that, Eishtmo headed for the ships main rec room.

*    *    *

   “Whoa,” Roach choked as he nearly fell off his stool.  “What the hell is this?”

   Eishtmo chuckled.  “That, is a Reliant Repellent.  The best stuff to keep you alive.”

   Joe coughed.  “You mean kill you, right.”

   “Never,” said Eishtmo.  “When I was on the Reliant, before every mission, we would down a shot of this and only those who didn’t drink it were killed.”

   “That’s because the one’s who did didn’t know they were dead,” cried Roach.  The others laughed as Roach took another shot.

   Lucy walked in, a displeased look baked onto her face.  “Hey, Lucy, pull up a seat,” called Joe.  Lucy sat down next to Roach, the only seat available.

   “So, how’s it going Babe?” asked Roach.

   “Shut up,” Lucy said with disgust.

   “Aw, did you have a fight with mommy,” Roach said with his best baby voice.

   “Shut the **** up you son of a *****,”⁶ Lucy said as she gulped her drink.

   “Hey, that’s no way to talk about my mother.”

   “I wasn’t talking about your mother.”

   “What the hell’s your problem, *****?” Roach said.  Joe’s eye’s widened as he realized a major fight was developing.

   “Don’t make me hurt you,” Lucy said.

   “Bring it on *****.  I’ll kick your ass from here to next Thursday.”  Roach stood up and looked down at Lucy.

   “Alright,” Lucy said.  “Just remember, you asked for it.”  She stood up, face to face with Roach.  Eishtmo also got up and moved to get between them when Joe cried out.

   “Would you cut it out already!  You’ve been fighting sense the first day you met, and if you don’t stop now, I’ll kick both your asses.”  Everyone in the rec room looked at Joe, who tried to catch is breath.

   “He’s right,” Eishtmo said calmly.  “Why don’t we all sit down and cool off.”

   “Not with him around,” said Lucy.  She then got up and marched out of the room.

   “I’ll get you later,” yelled Roach.

   Joe glared at Roach.  “Don’t make me separate you, Roach,” he said evilly.

   Roach stared a Joe for a moment.  “Um, I think I’ll go check out the, um, things.  Uh, I’ll see you guys at noon.”  Roach rushed out.

   Eishtmo sat down next to Joe.  “Are you okay, kid?”

   “Yeah, I guess so,”  Joe took a deep breath.  “It just they, uh, you know.”

   “Oh yeah I do,” said Eishtmo.  “I’ve seen this before.  They’ll cool down after a while, or wind up dead.”

   “It’s just that Lucy is always in such a pissed off attitude and Roach just loves to agitate her and it’s, uh, just so confusing.  No, that’s not the right word.”

   Eishtmo chuckled.  “I know what you mean.”  He looked at Joe.  “I bet I know why she’s so angry though.”

   “Oh, why?”

   “Well, she’s a military brat, probably grew up not seeing her mom much.  So, when she joined the service, she hoped to get assigned here so she could be close to her.”  Eishtmo downed another Repellent.  “When the Admiral met with her, she probably told her why she wasn’t assigned to the Bastion and that pissed her off even more.”⁷

   “And then Roach stirred her up.”

   “Just like a hornets nest,” Eishtmo sighed.  “With luck, Lucy will calm down soon and this senseless fighting will just be common bickering.”

   “Is that suppose to be better?”

   “Better then them killing each other.”

   Joe thought about it for a moment and decided to change the subject.  “So you really think this mission is a trap.”

   “Oh yeah.”

*    *    *

   “More enemy fighters,” yelled Lucy.  

   Joe glanced down at the radar.  Four more flashing red blips appeared.  “Almost there,” he said.  “Just keep those fighters off me.”

   “Yeah Eish,” said Roach.  “Shouldn’t you be the one to scan the containers?”

   “Without cover when you three die, I don’t think so,” said Eishtmo.

   “Ten seconds to the first container,” Joe said.  Suddenly, the container exploded.  “What the hell?”  Several more exploded in order.

   “Alpha wing,” said Command.  “It’s a trap.”

   “No ****,” yelled Roach.

   “Alpha one, scan the remaining containers, then get the hell out of there.  The rest of you cover Alpha one,” Command ordered.

   “That’s one,” Joe said.  He had continued to try to scan the containers, even as they exploded around him.  “On to number two.”

   “Those Shivan fighters are about a minute out, hurry up,” urged Lucy.

   “Roach, Babe, follow me,” said Eishtmo.

   “What for?” asked Roach.

   “To give the kid more time, come on.”

   Roach, Babe and Eishtmo’s Apollos shot off towards the nearest group of on coming fighters.  Joe scanned the second container and moved on to the third.

   “Hurry up Player,” Roach cried.  “We can’t hold them forever.”

   “I know, I know,” Joe flipped his fighter around and faced the next container.

   “Hull down to eighty percent,” Lucy said with alarm.

   “You only need to start worrying when its down to fifteen percent,” said Eishtmo.

   “We stay out here any longer, and it will be a lot lower then fifteen,” Roach said.  “Are you done yet, Player?”

   “One more to go,” said Joe.  His fighter turned toward the last container.  As he neared it, laser blasts flashed between him and his target.  Then a Shivan fighter followed the blasts.  Joe was startled for a moment, but quickly regained his senses and finished the scan.  “I’m done, let’s go!”

   “Don’t have to tell me twice,” said Roach.  The Terran fighters disappeared into the subspace vortexes.⁸

*    *    *

   “An alliance?” said Joe in complete disbelief.

   “That’s the rumor anyway,” said Captain Koppel.⁹  “Nothing’s finalized yet, though.  We should hear more in the coming days.”

   “That’s just weird,” said Roach.

   “Never would have I believed after all these years,” said Eishtmo.

   “In any case, you guys are to report back to the Galatea as soon as possible,” said Koppel.

   “I thought we were going to be here a week?” Lucy whined.

   Koppel shook his head.  “The Galatea needs you more than we do.  Get down to the flight deck, your transport is waiting.”  Koppel then handed a bottle to Eishtmo.  “This was made on the Reliant herself.  Take care of it.”

   Eishtmo smiled.  “Thanks Spook, take care.”  The two shook hands.  Koppel turned and left.

   “What’s that?” asked Joe.

   “A bottle of Repellent,” Eishtmo said.

   “Insect repellent?” asked Lucy.

   “Shivan repellent,” said Roach.

   “I wasn’t asking you,” said Lucy gruffly.

   “Let’s just go,” Joe said.  “You can have a taste on the way.”

---------

1 – Spoof of “Where Eagles Dare.”  I like this chapter title a lot, even if it only just barely fits the chapter.

2 – This entire scene would be dumped if Roach got the kill in the earlier mission (or at least heavily modified).  The medal, if I remember right, is what you get for taking down a Shivan (in that mission no less).  I don’t think I mention any other medals after this.

3 – And here’s Admiral Shima, commander of the Bastion and absent mother to Lucy.  Even at this early stage, I determined that Judy also served on the Reliant, as a navigator, and during the No War, No Peace story/campaign, actually was “dating” Wolfe.  Which if you were TOLD that at any point in this story would make the Galatea’s fall hit with a bit more impact than I remember it doing in the story.

4 – The mother/daughter story gets so little attention that even creating a relationship was pointless.  The idea was that Judy has been in the military since very early in the war, leaving her daughter behind (who’s the father?  No idea.).  As Lucy grows up, she starts wanting to be near her mother and joins the GTA to get closer to her.  I suspect she was originally going to go to the Bastion, but for obvious reasons, Judy nixed the idea.  In effect, Lucy should be a much bigger ***** at the beginning of the story than she is, because her grand plan just went into the hell.  It didn’t play that way though.

5 –Look!  Joe isn’t a complete moron!  Amazing isn’t it?  God, was I inconsistent with this boy.

6 – How many times can I use the word “*****” in one scene?  Too many.

7 – I did actually explain the basics of Judy and Lucy’s relationship here, but as I said, it gets so little attention, it’s basically pointless.

8 – Again, the dialog isn’t bad, but without context of the action, it doesn’t do much.   It’s also PAINFULLY short, something that makes me cry.

9 – Captain Koppel (yeah, named after the old TV guy) is another Reliant vet and current CO of the Hammerheads (if I remember right).  Yeah, there’s a lot of them running around, it was to give Quinn touchstones that didn’t do anything.  Only one problem with Koppel, he’s got the wrong callsign.  He should be Ghoul, not Spook.  Spook is reserved for another 10th Immortal, who is either William or Christopher Snipes.  I don’t know if the age would be best if he was the father or grandfather of the Snipes from FS2 though.

We get Vasudans in the next chapter.  Oh boy.

[Eishtmo]

More:

Chapter 5:
Strange Bedfellows

   “Command briefing for January 25, 2335 commences now,” said Admiral Wolfe.  “Last night, the GTA signed a cease-fire and non-aggression pact with the Vasudans.  The fourteen year war is now over.”  The Admiral stopped, probably expecting cheers.  There were none.  “Command has expressed great relief, largely due to the economic drain the war has caused.  But there is no time to breath easy.”  The screen changed to a hammer-like icon.

   “The Hammer of Light,” gasped Eishtmo.¹

   “The what?” asked Joe.

   The Admiral continued.  “Unfortunately, not all the Vasudans have agreed to the cease-fire.  A group of rouge Vasudans calling themselves the “Hammer of Light” are willfully aiding the Shivan cause.  Apparently, they are citing some Vasudan legend that claims some all-powerful race is coming to cleanse the universe.  The HOL, as they will be called, is to be considered a hostile target and all possible force used to eliminate them.”  The monitor showed a node map, Terran systems in green, Vasudan in yellow, and Shivan in red.  The screen centered on Vega.  “With the 3rd Fleets loss of the GTD Amadeus in Vega, both the GTA and the Parliament of Vasuda have declared an open state of war against the Shivans.  Fortunately, thanks to the Bastion in the Ikeya system, we now have the data necessary to target and track Shivan ships.  This will make it easier to track the bastards down.  We also have received a shipment of Avenger cannons, so now killing them will be easier too.”

   “I liked shoving Furies up there butts,” Joe said under his breath.²

   “Shut up, hot shot,” Roach said with a smile.

   A image of a model of a strange device replaced the node map.  “The missions in the Ikeya system have also managed to claim some Shivan shield systems.  With these devices, we have begun building prototypes of our own shield system.  They will soon be transferred through Beta Cygni to Earth where production can begin.”  The image changed to the GTA emblem.  “Finally, as part of a reconciliation effort, eight of our pilots will be part of a ‘pilot exchange program’ with the PVD Hope.  We are looking for volunteers, but if none are found, eight of you will be volunteered.  The transfer will be begin tomorrow.  Dismissed.”³

*    *    *

   “The Admiral has requested that two wings of the Freespacers be part of the ‘pilot exchange program,’” said Bull.

   “I ain’t volunteering,” yelled Coyote.  The rest laughed.

   “We’re not looking for volunteers anymore,” said Bull.  “I have already discussed it with the Admiral, and it’s been decided that Beta and Gamma will...volunteer.”⁴

   “Aw, come on Bull,” cried Bravo.
   “Sorry guys,” said Bull.  “But Delta is too important to lose and transferring Eishtmo could prove, problematic.”  The members of Beta and Gamma moaned.  “Gamma, you will take a transport to the Hope.  Beta you will fly one last mission, then rendezvous with her.”  More moaning came from Beta and Gamma.  Joe smiled at the cries.  He was glad it wasn’t him.  “Gamma and Delta wing, you are dismissed.  Alpha, Beta, stick around we have much to talk about.”

   “I guess the Zods are scared of you, eh Eishtmo?” said Roach as Gamma and Delta wings filed out.

   “Nah,” said Eishtmo.  “Command just doesn’t want me assassinated by someone who swore to kill me.”

   “Makes sense,” said Joe.  “Still, I’m glad we’re not going.”

   “Don’t get too excited Player,” said Bull.  “Beta and Gamma will be replaced by Vasudans.  You’ll still have to fly with them.”

   “Yeah, but they won’t have to be on a damn Zod ship,” said Plato.⁵

   “That’s enough,” said Bull.  “Here’s what’s up.”  The main screen changed to an image of several ship icons.  “At 1400 hours, a large convoy carrying one of our newly developed shield prototypes was deployed.  The convoy was destroyed by the Shivans.  This was expected.  The convoy was a decoy.  We had four working prototypes, only one of which was destroyed.  Your wings will escort the remaining prototypes through the Beta Cygni jump node, were they will make their way to Earth.”  The image changed to a transport icon and fighter wing icons.  “After escorting the prototypes to the node, the Vasudans will arrive to finish escorting the transports through Beta Cygni.  Do not leave the transports until they leave the system.  The Zods should appreciate the help if the Shivans or HOL decide to join the party.  Get going pilots.”


*    *    *

   “Alright pilots,” said Plato.  “Pair up and take a transport.  Player, you and me are going to take point.”

   “Copy that,” said Joe.  He pulled his Valkyrie up next to Plato.  The two shot forward of the three transports.  The group of ships slowly moved towards the jump node.  Hours seem to pass as the group pulled away from Cygni station.  Joe flipped on the auto pilot and stretched as best he could in the cramped cockpit.

   “Better keep your hands on the controls, Player,” Plato said with a laugh.  “If not, you’ll crash into something.”

   “Alright,” said Joe.  He grabbed the controls, disabling the auto pilot.

   Lucy suddenly cried with alarm.  “I’m picking up enemy jump signatures!”

   Joe glanced at his radar that showed the blue dots representing jump signatures turn into red dots.  He looked up and saw a Shivan fighter emerge from a vortex right in front of him.  Joe pulled back on his stick to avoid hitting Basilisk fighter.  The Shivan quickly turned and followed Joe up and away from the convoy.  Unfortunately, the Shivan had not seen Plato pull behind him and after hacking away the black fighters rear shields, he sent the alien to meet his maker.  “Thanks,” said Joe.

   “Just pay attention,” said Plato.  Joe turned his fighter back to the furball.  Joe had just locked onto the second Basilisk when the others finished it off.  Two more Shivans jumped in as the second Basilisk had been fragged.  Joe quickly locked onto the first of them and turned to face the new opponent.  The Shivan turned, desperate to avoid Joe’s attack, but to no avail.  Soon, the last of the invaders had been toasted.  Joe pulled his fighter up behind Plato.  “Nice shooting, Player.”

   “Thanks,” Joe said.

   “Only four,” said Roach.  “I thought there would be a lot more.”

   “Be careful what you wish for,” said Eishtmo.

   “I’m picking up a distress signal,” said Lucy.

   The strange murmur of a Vasudan was quickly followed by a translator.  “Calling any ships in the area!  This is the PVFR Andromeda!  We have been attacked by enemy ships!”

   “Andromeda?  Wasn’t that the transport carrying the original shield prototype?” asked Roach.

   “They called themselves the Hammer of Light!” said the Vasudan.  “They are in pursuit and will be here at any moment!  Please assist!”

   “Sir, should we assist?” Beta two asked.

   “Our orders are to escort the transports,” said Plato flatly.

   “The Hammer of Light has arrived!  Please assist!  We are damaged and do not stand a chance!”  Even through the translator, the Vasudan’s voice sounded alarmed.  Joe looked to port.  Through the blackness, he could just make out the image of the Zod transport.  He looked down at the radar and the newly appeared red dots.

   “Let me go help them,” said Roach.

   “No,” Joe said.  “Our mission is more important.”

   “But the extra prototype. . .” Roach started.

   “I said no, Roach,” Joe tried to exercise his authority and his rebellious wingman.  Roach didn’t seem convinced.

   “Aaaaahhhhh!!!!”  The translator didn’t even bother to translate the Vasudan’s scream.  Joe closed his eyes, trying to shut out the scream, even if it was a Zod.

   “You should have let me go,” said Roach.

   “Shut up,” said Joe.

   “More enemy jump signatures,” Lucy yelled.

   Joe’s auto targeting locked onto the newly arrived Shivan Basilisk fighter.  “Protect the transports,” he called.  Joe turned his fighter toward the nearest Shivan and began firing with all his might.  His target dove away, desperately trying to avoid Joe.  The others blew pass him, heading for the transports.

   “Damn,” Eishtmo said.  “They’re targeting the cargo.”

   “Player, get back here and help us,” Plato said.

   Joe pulled off of his target and retarget a cargo attacker.  His previous target took advantage and turned on him.  Joe’s fighter shook as Shivan lasers hit his hull.  He pulled up and hit the afterburners in an attempt to get away from the attacker.

   “AHHHHHHHHHH!” screamed Beta three as the her fighter exploded.

   “Someone get this bastard off me,” yelled Roach.

   “I got ‘em,” said Eishtmo.

   “Command, when are those Zods getting here?” Plato demanded.

   “They’ve been held up,” said Command.  “They’ll be here as soon as they can.”

   “****.”

   Joe finally managed to shake his attacker, and now turned and re-attacked the Shivan.  He fired his Avengers as fast as he could.  It took time, but soon the Basilisk spun uncontrollably and exploded.

   “Get them off me!” screamed Plato.  His fighter shot in front of Joe followed by a pair of Basilisks.  Joe locked on to one and began lacing him with all his might.  One pulled away, but Joe stayed on the other as it continued to chase Plato.

   “Break right, Plato,” Joe yelled.

   “Too late!”  Plato’s fighter exploded.  Joe’s mouth dropped as his finger choked the firing trigger, eventually wasting the Shivan that had wasted Plato.

   “Looks like you’re in charge, kid,” said Eishtmo.

   “More incoming,” Lucy cried.

   Joe turned to the new comers.  “Protect those transports!”  Joe began blasting into the new Shivans.  One pulled away, while the other two headed after the convoy.  Joe pulled behind the runner and launched missiles at it, destroying it after a moment.

   “Just finished the rest off,” said Eishtmo.

   “Alright,” said Joe.  “Who did we lose?”

   “Just Plato and Barefoot,” said Lucy.  “Overall, not bad.”

   “Aw, have a heart Babe,” said Roach.

   “Pair off again,” said Joe.  “Babe, you’re with me and we’ll take Theta one.”

   “Copy that,” said Lucy.

   Blue jump indicators appeared on Joe’s radar.  The dots turned green, indicating friendly ships.

   A Vasudan spoke from one of the newly arrived fighters.  “Greetings Terran.  We have come to take escort of the freighters.  Alpha and Beta are relieved.”

   “I’m sorry,” said Joe.  “But we were ordered to escort the convoy to the node.  We aren’t leaving until then.”

   The Vasudan fighters pulled into formation with the convoy.  “Your lack of trust is typical, Terran,” the Vasudan said, the translator squashing all emotion.

   Joe smiled at the remark.  It was true, he wouldn’t trust a Zod as far as he could throw one.  Still, he was glad they had arrived.  If the Shivans decided to strike again, they could serve as cannon fodder.  Another group of jump signatures appeared.

   “Looks like we have company,” said Roach.

   One of the Vasudans of the newly arrived ships spoke with what alarm the translator would allow.  “Beware Terrans!  There are members of the Hammer of Light in your midst!”

   Joe watched as the HOL fighter in front of him went from friendly IFF to hostile.  It immediately turned toward Theta one, but Joe didn’t give it a chance.  Within seconds he had wasted the fighter and turned to the next.

   “Let’s waste these Zods” screamed Roach.  The battle that followed was short, but fierce.  It took only moments for the HOL fighters to be wasted.  The transports reached the node just as Joe downed the last HOL fighter.

   “Thanks for your help,” said the freighter pilot as Theta one jumped out, soon followed by the other two.

   “Alright people,” said Joe.  “Let’s go home.”

   Just as Joe reached for the jump controls, the Vasudan who had warned of the HOL ships spoke.  “You fought well, for a Terran,” came the translator.  Joe was about to respond when the Vasudan disappeared into subspace.

   “Thanks,” Joe muttered as his ship fell into his own subspace vortex.⁶

*    *    *

   “Attention,” Bull yelled.  Joe and the other remaining Freespacers lined up in front of the first row of seats in Briefing Room B.  Bull walked up and down the lines as he began speaking.  “I know none of you is very happy with the thought of flying with a bunch of Vasudans, well I don’t care.  You will fly with them whether you like it or not.  I expect you to treat each of them with as much respect as you would any other pilot.”  Bull stopped in front of Wolf.  “Any other transferred pilot, not a rookie.  Got it Wolf?”

   “Yes sir,” said Wolf.

   Bull smiled.  “Also, you will not refer to them a Zods.  They know what the term means and they don’t like it.  They were also ordered not to refer to you by their slang.”  Bull looked at Eishtmo.  “If you hear it, report to me immediately.  And don’t lie.  I’ll know if you’re lying.  Is that understood?”  Bull looked down the line.  “Okay then.”  Bull walked over to the door.  “Captain La’roh, you may come in now.”

   Each Vasudan walked in, stooping over to avoid hitting their heads on the doorway.  They lined up on the opposite side of the room from their Terran counterparts.  The Vasudan Captain stood in front of the group.  He looked over the Terrans.  After a moment, he turned to Bull and bobbed his head.  Then he turned back to the Freespacers.  “Greetings,” he said, the translator around his neck turning the officers’ murmurs into speech.  “I am Captain Vo’lan La’roh.⁷  I will the Vasudan representative aboard the Galatea.  I will also be taking over the second in command position for your squadron.”  Wolf’s jaw dropped at the revelation.  “My apologies Commander Dobbs,” the Vasudan added.

   “You will still be at the top of the Terran half, Wolf,” injected Bull.  “This came from the top.  I had nothing to do with it.”

   “I know many of you have adverse feelings toward my people,” said La’roh.  “But, in the interest of victory, we must work together.  As such, I have ordered my pilots not to engage in any altercation with Terran members of the crew.  It is my hope we can all work together in peace.”  La’roh almost sounded sincere through the translator.  “If any of you have a problem with one of my pilots, please see me.”

   Bull faced the Vasudan pilots.  “The same goes for you.  If any of you have a problem with anyone on this ship, do not hesitate to see me about it.”  Bull turned to La’roh.  “Thank you Captain.”  The Vasudan bobbed his head and stepped back, away from the Terran pilots.  “Some of our fighters have been modified so that the Vasudans can fly them.  There will be a few Vasudan fighters on the deck, however you are to stay away from them.  The Vasudans have sent several armed security guards to protect them, so don’t tempt them.”  Bull waited as the group looked at each other.  “Lt. Commander Coleman.”⁸

   “Sir,” said Coyote.

   “You and Lieutenant King will escort the Vasudans to their quarters.”  Bull pulled out a small slip of paper and handed it to Coyote.  “Here are their quarter assignments.”  Bull turned to the rest.  “You are all dismissed to the rec room.  You may leave when Coyote and Fox get back.  Understood?”  There were no complaints.  “Get going,” Bull said to Coyote and Fox.

   Captain La’roh spoke something in Vasudan to his pilots and they followed Fox and Coyote out.

*    *    *

   Joe entered Briefing Room D and took a seat in the front row.  He was early.  Eishtmo and Lucy wandered in about three minutes before they were to report.⁹  All eight Vasudans entered only a minute before report time.  They slid into seats in the back row, their massive bodies taking up the space of two Terrans.  Joe sniffed the air.  A strange odor began to fill the room.  Roach soon entered, just on time.

   “Damn Roach,” said Joe.  “I thought you were going to take a shower.”

   “Hey, its not me,” said Roach.

   Joe now released where the smell was coming from.  “Not only are they ugly, but they stink,” he muttered. 

   Eishtmo looked at Joe.  He then shook his head as Bull and Admiral Wolfe entered.

   “Admiral on deck,” yelled Bull.  Everybody, including the Vasudans stood at attention.

   “As you were,” said the Admiral.  “Good morning pilots.  I’m going to get right to it.  The Shivan forces are sprouting up everywhere and its no secret that our front lines are taking a beating.  As you probably know, no on has been able to communicate with them and Terran intelligence has no leads on their origins or their motives.  On the upside, their shielding technology seems to be working just fine for us.  By this afternoon all fighters stationed on the Galatea will have been fitted with them, so try to keep them intact, alright.”¹⁰

   “We’re on even ground now,” whispered Joe.

   “I hope so,” Lucy responded.

   Behind the Admiral, a node map appeared and centered on Ikeya.  “The cruiser Taranis is suspected to be the source of command for the Shivans in this sector.  Its here in the Ikeya system and we suspect its low on fighters and supplies due to recent attack runs.  We have reason to believe it will soon jump to another system to resupply.  We don’t know where it will jump to, but there is only one subspace node out of Ikeya, and we intend to blockade it.  In the interest of learning more about the slippery bastard, we are going to attempt something bold:  the capture of the Taranis.”

   Everyone began to mutter to each other.  Wolfe waited until it had calmed down.  “If this goes off,” he continued, “it will give us an opportunity to study Shivan technology up close and bag a few live Shivans in the process.  In order to do this, we have conducted a series of missions designed to take out the cruisers’ escorts and defenses.  We’ve been chipping away at the boulder, and now is our time to strike.  You have been tasked with the capture the Taranis.  We’ve managed to chase it from Beta Cygni into Ikeya.  It is now low on supplies and lightly guarded.”  The screen centered on Ikeya and showed the jump node and an icon representing the Taranis.  “It is now heading for Beta Cygni, probably to resupply.  You will have a small opportunity to disable and disarm the ship so it can be captured.  Captain Seipert.”  Admiral Wolfe gestured toward Bull.

   “Alpha wing,” started Bull.  “You will fly Athena bombers equipped with the new Stiletto bomb.  These bombs are to be used to destroy subsystems in a single hit.  Use them well.  Beta wing will fly Vasudan modified Apollo’s and will cover Alpha wing.  Gamma wing, you will engage any enemy fighters or bombers in the area.  Once the Taranis has been disarmed and disabled, a transport designated Omega one will dock and capture the ship.  You will protect the transports until the capture procedure is complete.  When the mission is accomplished, you may depart.”

   “Ensign Smith,” said the Admiral.

   “Sir,” said Joe.

   “You will be in command of this mission,” Admiral Wolfe looked to the other pilots.  “I expect you will follow his orders.  Any questions?”

   One of the Vasudans stood straight up.  “Admiral,” he said.

   “Yes, Lieutenant.”

   “Shouldn’t command be given to someone of higher rank instead of this,” the Vasudan paused.  “Boy?”  Even with the translator, some amount of disdain came through.¹¹

   “Ensign Smith is one of our most skilled pilots and has proven himself an excellent commander.  It is my judgement that he is the best for this job.  If you have a problem with that, I can relieve you of your duties and you can spend the rest of the war in the brig, is that understood?”  The Admiral glared at the Vasudan.

   “Yes sir,” the Vasudan said as he sat down.

   “Good, you all leave in twenty minutes.  Get going.”  Admiral Wolfe turned and left.

*    *    *

   “There she is,” said Lucy.  The black and red body of the SC Taranis glided toward the jump node.

   “Alright people, lets get going.”  Joe pointed his fighter at the Cain class cruiser.  “Babe, you and Roach take out the weapons.  Eish, you and me will take the engines.  Beta wing, cover us.  Gamma take out those fighters.”

   “I do not take orders from a Terran,” said Gamma one.  The Vasudan and his wing dove onto the Shivan fighters any way.

   “I’m on target,” said Eishtmo.  “You coming, kid?”

   “Yeah,” Joe said.  He pulled up along side Eishtmo’s fighter.  The two Athena bombers closed in on the Shivan capital ship.  As the ship grew larger in Joe’s HUD, he began to feel his pulse race.  In the last few days, this was the closest he had been to a Shivan capitol ship.

   “Set your Stiletto launchers to double fire, we’ll take the subsystem out faster,” said Eishtmo.

   “Right,” said Joe.  “We’ll launch on my mark.”  Joe checked the distance reading:  700 meters.  The ship continued to grow larger.  Laser blasts began flashing around the two bombers.

   “Dump shield strength to the forward quarter,” said Eishtmo.

   Joe tapped the new control panel shifting the new shield energy forward.  A blast hit Joe’s bomber square on, shaking it off its target.

   “You okay, kid?” asked Eishtmo.

   “Yup.”  In 500 meters they would be right on top of the ships engines.  “Launch bombs!” he yelled.  The bombs shot out of the launch bays and streaked toward the Taranis.  Joe pulled away from the cruiser, hitting his afterburners to but some distance between the ships guns and his small bomber.

   “We took out the weapon subsystem,” said Roach.  “How’d you do?”

   Joe glanced at the Taranis damage indicator.  “Engines disabled.  Omega, you may begin your boarding operation.”

   Joe looked out in time to see the blue vortex of Omega one appear and the Elysium slip into normal space.  “Omega here.  On approach to Taranis.”

   “Gamma wing, cover Omega,” ordered Joe.  There was nothing.  “Gamma wing respond.”

   “I don’t think they want to take orders from you,” said Lucy.

   “Hey, give us some cover!” yelled  Omega one.

   “Beta, cover Omega,” Joe yelled.

   “As you wish,” said Beta one.

   “Alpha, break and attack,” Joe yelled.  He pulled his fighter around and targeted the nearest Shivan fighter.  The Scorpion turned and dodged, trying to avoid Joe’s shots.  Joe launched a collection of Furies at the speedy fighter.  Only a few hit, but the stunned fighter flew right into Joe’s gunsights and was quickly fried.

   “Attempting to attach to the Taranis,” said Omega one.

   “New fighters coming in,” said Lucy.

   “Protect those transports!” yelled Command.

   Joe spun his fighter around and faced the new comers.  He charged towards the group, but the Basilisk fighters seemed to ignore Joe’s rush.  He passed through the formation without even spooking the Shivan pilots.  “Hey,” he said.

   “They are firing on the Taranis,” said Beta two.

   “All fighters, protect the Taranis until the capture operation is complete,” Command almost screamed.

   “We’re having trouble penetrating the hull,” said Omega one.

   “Keep at it Omega,” said Command.

   Gamma one shot in front of Joe, barely missing him.  “Damn it!” yelled Joe.  “Watch where you’re going!”

   “Perhaps you should watch where you are going, Terran,” said Gamma one.

   “Whatever,” growled Joe.  He lined his fighter up on Rama one as it made another attack run on the Taranis.  “Not this time.”  Joe began blasting away with his Avengers.  The Basilisk pulled up and away from Joe.  Joe pumped up his afterburners and gave chase.  His fighter suddenly shook as another Shivan began hammering on Joe’s Athena.  “Hey, get ‘em off me,” he yelled as he pulled away form his attacker.

   “I got ‘em, kid,” said Eishtmo. 

   The pounding on Joe’s fighter stopped.  Joe turned to see the Scorpion that had attacked him running for its life from Eishtmo.  “Thanks,” Joe said as he turned back to his original target.

   “It's not working, the hull is too strong.  We'll need to tow it to Tombaugh,” said Omega one.

   “Very well, Omega,” said Command.  “We are sending in a freighter now.”

   “Well hurry up, we can’t hold these bastards off forever,” said Roach.

   Out of the Beta Cygni node came a Chronos class freighter.  “Freighter Halkins here.  Command said you needed some help.”

   “Halkins, we need you to attach to that cruiser and tow it back to Tombaugh,” said Omega.

   “Roger.  Moving into position now,” said the Halkins.

   Joe’s pokey Athena had a hard time keeping up with his Shivan opponent.  He shifted energy from his guns to his engines, hoping to get a some extra speed out of the bucket of bolts.  The extra speed helped, and soon the Shivan was meeting its maker.

   “We've docked. We’re hauling it away,” said the Halkins.

   “AHHHHHHHHH!”  It was the unmistakable sound of a pilot going down.

   “We have lost Gamma two,” said Gamma one.¹²

   “Well keep your heads up,” said Eishtmo.  “We don’t want to lose anymore.”

   Joe dove on an unsuspecting Scorpion and laced it with laser fire.  The Shivan pulled up and away, the bright yellow flash of its afterburners glowed as the Scorpion sped up.  Joe dropped his throttle and made a sharp turn to follow the slippery bastard.  Finally, Joe let loose yet another volley of Furies with laser fire and wasted the fighter.

   “Jumping out now.  See you at Tombaugh,” said the Halkins.

   “All fighters, you may depart now,” said Command.

   “I’m out of here,” said Roach.

   Joe fired a few more Furies at a Basilisk, and then hit the jump button.¹³

---------

1 – Quinn is supposed to have studied the Vasudans quite a bit, so he recognizes the HoL symbol, and this is the first serious mention that he’s done so.  Again, I don’t say why, and it pains me because it would be much more benifical to his character if I did.

2 – That’s a Roach line, so I definetly would change who got the kill.

3 – The title of this chapter is because of this addition, and frankly, it was a bad idea.  A pilot exchange program in the middle of a massive war with a very recent enemy and any one might be religious fanatic bent on utter destruction?  What the hell was I thinking?  I was thinking I wanted some Vasudans around.  I still do, too, but I think I would go about it differently, pushing their arrival back a bit and having them rescued from transports or something.  Anything but a willful pilot exchange program.

4 – I love the military.  They’ll volunteer you for anything.  Again, the entire concept is stupid, but it happens.  It also results in Gamma getting an extra bit of shafting as I put a named character in Beta, and I don’t kill them until the end of the story.  Which is another issue entirely and one I would resolve in a rewrite for sure.

5 – Plato was mentioned earlier, he has no personality.  Don’t concern yourself with him.

6 – This mission starts off a bit better than most, and then falls flat.  I also made Joe angry about Plato dying, but as I said, he has no personality, he really didn’t create any presence until, well, now and it was pointless.  It would be better if Joe and Plato had developed a relationship earlier in the story.

7 – Vasudan names are so annoying.  They should be alien, yeah, but all those apostrophes.  At the same time, the FS versions are actual names from ancient Egypt, so it’s unlikely that those are their real names.  Bah.  Incidentally, this is the first time we get Wolf’s last name, I have forgotten his first name, sorry.

8 – We actually get a couple of names here.  Despite the fact that I shouldn’t have done it this way, it is reasonably easy to figure out who is who and what rank.  The problem, of course, is that they should have been called by these names the ENTIRE TIME!

9 – I have no idea why these two were late.  No, they weren’t together, I think I just randomly selected those two.  I don’t like the possible implications with this in reading back on it.

10 – I had to copy this, by ear.  Yes, I had to watch and rewatch that cutscene to get that word for word recreation of it.  To my knowledge, it had not been done before, which means exactly jack since I don’t know everything.

11 – I like this line.  I really like it.  Probably the best damn thing in the story at this point.

12 – See?  I told you Gamma go shafted.

13 – I always wanted to like the Athena, but given the choice, I always loaded up a Herc.  I think most people did the same thing.  Compared to previous missions, this one had a lot of dialog built in, so I had to integrate that into the mission, which is fine.  Except that my mission writing still stunk.  At least I managed to by this point develop something in Joe, dislike of Vasudans.  Which is extremely forced and not well done at all.  I’m beginning to wonder if I really want to finish reading this thing, because I know it only gets worse.

[Eishtmo]

When I said that this story inspired a lot of stuff, I mean it, including at least one campaign idea.  The idea is for a kind of "Top Gun" school campaign, where pilots are actually trained to be better pliots.  Of course, the problem is I can't fly worth a lick so teaching someone else, in detail, is a bit beyond me.  But that doesn't mean I couldn't think of how to start the campaign, and it was an easy choice:  Tombaugh Station.  Replicating the defense and defeat with the player (and the other students) thrown into FS1 era fighters and forced to take on the never ending hoards of Shivans with little to no starting information that it was happening.  At the end, they're told that last year's graduates were the ones piloting the Shivan fighters, an encouragement to learn well.  The last mission of the campaign was, of course, Tombaugh Station again, this time with the player in a Shivan fighter.

Why do I bring this up?  Because in my Freespace continuity, the GTD Reliant was guarding Tombaugh station at the time, and it died along with all the pilots of the 10th Immortals, my ace of aces squadron.  NGTM-1R mentioned a writer should kill "all your darlings."  I did, off screen and in the most awesome fashion I could think of.  On to the next chapter:

Chapter 6:
Bad News Shivans¹

   “I just went to bed,” said Roach.  “The Admiral better have a damn good reason for waking me up this early, or I’ll kill him.”

   “And then they’ll execute you,” said Lucy.

   “At least I could sleep,” Roach whined.

   “Ten Hut,” yelled Bull.  All the pilots stood at sharp attention as Admiral Wolfe walked in.

   “Sorry to wake you up people, but some discouraging news from Terran Command.  At 0300 this morning, after the Taranis was towed to Tombaugh station, the Shivan staged a major ambush.”  Behind the Admiral a grainy image of a strange, obviously Shivan, ship appeared.  “There isn’t a lot of confirmation from the footage yet, but it’s clear that a destroyer of massive proportions jumped in and wasted Tombaugh, the GTD Reliant, and all of their defenses.”²

   Joe turned to Eishtmo just in time to see his jaw drop to the floor.

   “Were there any survivors from the Reliant, sir?” he asked.  His hand, as it raised up, trembled.

   Admiral Wolfe looked at him and then his data pad.  “One, an Ensign Geoffery Teapul.³  It was because of him, we have the information we do.  I’m sorry Quinn.”  A picture of the strange ship appeared with the words ‘SD Lucifer’ in the corner.  “We have designated the new destroyer ‘Lucifer.’  Our forces engaged the Lucifer but were wiped out quickly.  Footage suggest that the Lucifer is using some kind of shielding system that is impervious to all of our attacks.  If this is true, it is only a matter of time before the Shivans wipe out our front-line installations and march through to our home systems.”

   The crowd of pilots muttered to each other.  Admiral Wolfe let it go for a moment then raised his hand to quite them.  “Since all attempts to communicate with the Shivans have ended in violence, it appears unlikely that a diplomatic solution will work.”  A node map appeared behind the Admiral.  “The Shivans now have control of  Beta Cygni, Betelgeuse, Ross 128, Ikeya, and Regulus.  The Vasudans are now gathering their forces in Vega for a counterstrike while we are preparing to recapture Ribos and Beta Cygni from Antares.  Strangely, the Shivans seem to be concentrating on controlling individual nodes instead of planets or gathering natural resources.”  Wolfe rubbed his eyes and yawned.  “We have received a few new weapons to help us including the Flail cannon and Interceptor missile.  Your squadron commanders will give you more details.  In the meantime, we need to help evacuate the survivors of the Tombaugh attack.”  The Admiral turned to Bull.  “They’re all yours Captain.”  The Admiral left, presumably to get more sleep.

*    *    *

   “Did you see what was left of Ribos?” said Roach.

   “I've never seen anything like that before,” said Lucy.  “It’s hard to believe that a single Shivan attack could level it.”

   “Let’s pipe down, people.  Some of us aren’t in the mood to hear about it.” Joe said.  He kicked up his afterburner to shoot ahead of the convoy.  “Everybody take a transport, I’ll run point.”

   “Copy that,” said Roach.

   Joe cycled through the targeting display, getting a reading on each of the eight transports.  Eventually he started going through the other fighters.  He stopped when he came to Alpha four, Eishtmo’s fighter.  He remembered the look on Eishtmo’s face when Wolfe announced the destruction of the Reliant.  Joe simply couldn’t think of an adjective to describe the deep hurting in the great pilots eyes.

   “I’m picking up a jump signature,” said Lucy.

   “This is the GTFR Nelson requesting assistance.  Shivan forces hit our wing.  We have taken severe hull damage.”  Joe toggled the target display to show the Nelson and then turned his fighter toward the wounded transport.

   “Bogies coming in,” said Lucy.  “They’re after the Nelson.”

   “I’ll get them,” said Eishtmo in an unusually flat tone.  Joe turned in time to see Eishtmo’s Valkyrie shoot past his own fighter.

   “Get back here Eish, I’ll do it,” said Joe.

   “Let him do it, Terran,” said Beta one.  “It is what he wants.”

   “AHHHHHHHH!” came a scream from the Nelson, quickly followed by static.  In the distance, Joe could see an explosion signaling the end of the freighter.

   Joe shook his head.  “Roach, inform Command about the Nelson, I’ll go get Eishtmo.”

   “Sure thing, Player,” said Roach.

   “Why don’t I contact Command?” said Lucy.

   “Because you’re suppose to be watching for more Shivans, Babe,” said Joe.  He kicked in his afterburners and moved toward Eishtmo, who turned back as the Nelson’s attackers had departed.  “Why don’t you join the convoy again, Eish?”

   “I don’t need you to baby-sit me, kid,” Eishtmo said.

   “Are you alright?” said Joe.  “I know you lost a lot of friends on the Reliant, but getting yourself killed isn’t going to help.”³

   “More Shivans incoming,” said Lucy.  Joe watched as Eishtmo’s fighter stopped, did an 90-degree turn, and blasted at full speed toward the Shaitan bombers.

   “Protect the transports,” said Eishtmo.  “I’ll kill the ****ers.”

   “Eish,” started Joe, but he stopped when it was apparent he wasn’t going to stop him.  Joe turned his fighter around, and headed over to cover Eishtmo’s transport.

   “Aren’t you going after him?” said Lucy.

   “If you want to try to stop him, go right ahead,” said Joe.

   “Check your six!” yelled Roach. 

   Suddenly, the missile warning lit up on Joe’s HUD.  Joe dove down, kicking up his afterburners and dropping a counter-measure.  The missile hit the counter-measure and Joe flipped back around behind his attacker.  Joe started firing the new Flail cannon along with his Avenger into the Basilisk fighter.  The Shivan dove away, desperately trying to shake Joe.  Joe didn’t lose a target that easily, and within moments had the Basilisk on the ropes.

   “Damn, look at Eishtmo go,” said Roach.

   “Not at the moment,” said Joe.

   “Alpha four is very skilled, for a Terran” said Gamma one.

   “What are you guys talking about?” asked Joe as he wasted his target.

   “He’s nearly wiped out the all of Indra, and is now going after Arjuna,” said Lucy.

   Joe looked over to where Eishtmo was.  Only the flashes of laser light and the streaks of missile trails were visible.  “Let’s keep on task people,” said Joe.  “Eishtmo will call us if he needs us.”  Joe turned his fighter back toward the convoy.

   “We may need his help,” said Roach.

   “What do you mean?” asked Joe.

   “Well, it looks like Arjuna doesn’t want to play with Eishtmo anymore!”  Roach said with increasing alarm.

   Joe look behind him in time to see a pair of Basilisk bearing down on him, guns a blazing.  “****!” yelled Joe as he dove out of the way of the two Shivans.  Joe looped up and behind his former attackers and began hacking away.  One of the Shivans pulled away and began to dance with Joe.

   “These bastards are good,” said Lucy.

   “Too good,” said Beta two.

   “Just hold out until. . . damn it!”⁴ Joe dropped a countermeasure as a missile warning began flashing.  “Until the Pinnacle arrives.”  Joe looked behind him only to see his attacker practically on top of him.  The missile lock warning began to go off.  Joe saw that his shields were virtually gone.  He closed his eyes, and hoped for a quick death.  Suddenly the warning went off.  Joe looked back to see the Basilisk spin out of control and explode.

   “Miss me kid,” Eishtmo said joyfully.

   “Yeah, where were you?” said Joe as he dumped energy into his shields.

   “Getting revenge,” Eishtmo said with a smile.  “But I’m back, so let’s kick some ass.”

   Joe smiled and turned his fighter back toward another Shivan.

   “Team up on them,” said Eishtmo.  “They’re good, but they can’t fight two of you at once.”

   “I don’t need help,” said Joe as he pounded away at his target.  One of his Interceptors locked onto the fighter but before he could launch it, a single Interceptor shot out of nowhere and wasted the Shivan.  “Hey, I said I didn’t need help.”

   “I was taking orders from a superior,” said Gamma one.

   “I’m in charge of this mission,” Joe said angrily.

   “But you are not fit to command,” Gamma one⁶ said through the cold translator.

   “Hey Player,” said Roach.  “You and Gamma one are starting to sound like me and Babe.”

   “And what is that suppose to mean?” said Lucy.

   “Just kill Shivans already,” said Eishtmo.  “We’ll worry about who sounds like who later, okay?”

   Joe glared at Gamma one’s fighter.  “Alright,” he said with a sigh.  Joe then spun his fighter around and targeted another Shivan.

   “These are the right coordinates, where is the PVD Pinnacle?” said Iota one.

   “I’d check with Command,” said Joe.  “But I’m kind of busy at the moment.”

   “We will check,” said Omega two through his translator.

   “Remember me!” said Gamma two as a Shivan got the best of him.

   Joe tired to stay behind his target, his guns blazing.  The Shivan weaved and dodged, and then began pulling a high G turn to escape Joe.  Joe let off an Interceptor just as the Basilisk pulled up.  The Shivan didn’t even know what hit him.

   “Impressive, for a Terran,” said Beta one.

   “The Pinnacle is jumping in,” said Lucy. 

   Joe looked up in time to see the massive vortex of the Pinnacle open.  He looked at the dark purple shape of the Typhoon class destroyer in awe.  “Wow,” he said quietly.

   “Sorry we were late,” the Vasudan comm officer said.  “We were assisting a convoy of freighters that were ambushed by the Hammer of Light.”

   “More Shivans incoming!” yelled Lucy.

   “You may leave now, Terrans,” said the Pinnacle.

   “We are not all Terrans,” Gamma one said.  The translator did little to hide the disgust in his voice.

   “We’ll stick around to help knock out these buggers if its all the same to you,” said Joe.

   “Very well,” said the Pinnacle.

   With the destroyers help, the Shivans were quickly cleaned up.  Joe took another look at the Pinnacle.  “That’s the lot,” he said.

   “Thank you for your assistance,” said the Pinnacle.  “We can take it from here.  Return to base.”

   “Let’s go home,” said Joe.

   “Your home,” said Gamma one.  “Not mine.”

   “Oh, shut up already,” said Lucy as the fighters dropped into the subspace vortices.
 
*    *    *

   “There he is,” yelled Roach.  “The GTA’s newest Lieutenant.  How’s it going, sir?”

   Joe smiled.  “Cut it out.”

   “Well you should be proud,” said Lucy.  “It took you a month to get promotion.  That doesn’t happen all the time.”

   Joe shrugged.  “I guess so.”

   “I think,” said Roach.  “That all newly promoted pilots should buy a round of drinks for his wingmen.”

   “Hem,” Lucy coughed.

   “And women,” Roach quickly added.

   Joe chuckled.  “Sorry to disappoint you, but it’s only a field promotion.  Command still has to approve it.”

   “So what?” asked Roach.  “It’s not like they’re gonna deny you.  Besides, I’m a little short this week.”

   “A little short what?” Lucy said.

   Roach sneered at Lucy.  “Watch it Babe.”

   “Don’t get started, or I’ll have to pull rank,” Joe said.  Lucy and Roach looked at him for a moment.  “Just kidding.”  The three pilots began to laugh.  Joe looked around the rec room as he laughed.  Sitting at the bar was Eishtmo, a glass of what Joe took to be a Repellant in his hand.  “I’ll be back,” said Joe as he got up from the table.  He turned and sat down on the stool next to the Eishtmo.

   “Congratulations,” Eishtmo said.

   “Thanks,” said Joe.  He looked at his wingman for a moment.  “How you doing?”

   “Better.”  Eishtmo took another sip of his drink.  “I think I got it all out of my system.”

   “You were all real close, eh?”

   “Oh yeah,” said Eishtmo.  “I served on the Reliant since the day she was commissioned.  She was a great ship.  Had a great crew.”

   “I’m sorry,” Joe said.

   “Not your fault, kid, not your fault.”

   The two sat there in silence, while the rest of the room maintained its noisy recreation.  And then it all stopped.  Nearly every sound in the room ceased to be.  Joe and Eishtmo looked toward the main entrance and there, stooping to get in, were four of the Vasudan pilots.  Everyone watched as the Vasudans sat around one of the empty tables and ordered drinks.  Eishtmo looked at the crowd.  “It’s okay,” he said.  “They’re just here to relax.”  The great pilots words seemed to calm the crowd, and soon things were, more or less, back to normal.

   Joe continued to look at the aliens.  “That’s him,” he muttered.

   “Um?”  Eishtmo turned and looked at the group again.

   “That’s Gamma one.”

   “Are you sure?” said Eishtmo.  “It’s usually kind of hard to tell them apart, even for me.”

   Joe stood up.  “I’ll be right back.”

   “Don’t do anything stupid kid.”

   Joe ignored him and walked over to the Vasudan’s table.  “Excuse me,” he said to the one on the opposite side of the table.

   The Vasudan looked at him.  “May I help you?” the translator around his neck said.

   “Do you fly Gamma one?” Joe tried to sound courteous, but he knew it wouldn’t last.

   “I do.”

   Joe looked at him.  “I demand you apologize.”

   The Vasudan gave him a peculiar look.  “Apologize, for what?”

   “For disobeying orders and disrespecting me.”

   The Vasudan continued to look at Joe.  Then, his mouth opened in a way that Joe interpreted to be a smile.  “You are Alpha one, the boy who would be leader.”

   “Don’t call me a boy,” Joe said.

   “I am sorry, Ensign.”

   “Look again pal.”  Joe grabbed his rank insignia and held it away from his uniform.  “That’s Lieutenant now.”

   The aliens all began to make a strange, deep throated noise.  Gamma one looked at Joe.  “Lieutenant or not, you are still not worthy to command.”

   “Listen you ****ing Zod.”  The Vasudans leaned back at the word.  “I don’t give a damn whether you believe I’m worthy or not.  When I’m put in charge of a mission, you will obey my orders.”

   “If you have problems with me, you are to see Captain La’roh,” Gamma one’s translator said flatly.

   “I’m bringing it up with you,” said Joe.  “I demand you apologize.”

   The Vasudan stared at him.  “Begone, Terran, before I am forced to use violence.”

   “Bring it on you Zod son-of-a-*****.”  Joe raised his fist into the air.  The other Vasudans stood up and allowed Gamma one to move next to Joe.  Joe looked up into the eyes of his opponent.

   “Very well Terran,” Gamma one said.  “I will miss you.”  The Vasudan stretched back his hand.  Joe raised his arms up to stop the oncoming blow.  Suddenly Eishtmo stepped between the two.⁷

   “That’s enough,” he said as he stretched his arms out to separate Joe and Gamma one.  “Sit down kid.”

   “Get out of my way,” said Joe.

   Eishtmo shoved Joe back with his hand.  “Damn it, I said sit down!”

   Roach and Lucy grabbed Joe and sat him down in at their table.  Joe glared at the Vasudan, and the Vasudan glared back.  Eishtmo stepped directly between the two and faced Gamma one, stealing the gaze meant for Joe.  Eishtmo stood there, and then, without taking his eyes away from the alien, reached into his fight suit pocket and removed a long strand with a two boxes every third along the strand.

   “What is that?” said Roach.

   “You idiot,” said Lucy.  “That’s a squawk box.”

   Eishtmo put the translator around his neck, then removed two tiny knobs from each box and placed them in his ears.  Then he began speaking to the Vasudan.  Eishtmo spoke softly, so softly that Joe could only the sound of the translation.  The murmured, throaty sounds of the Vasudan language came through loud and clear, at least clear to the Vasudans.  The aliens stood listening to the Eishtmo.

   “What’s he saying?” asked Lucy.

   “Do I look like I speak Vasudan?” said Roach.

   Gamma one said something to Eishtmo.  The great pilot looked at him and sighed.  Then, in a voice loud enough to be heard by everyone he said “Eishtmo.”  All four Vasudans took a step back, their beady eyes were wide with awe, or fear, or perhaps both.  Gamma one quietly said something to the other Vasudans.  They bobbed their heads and the group left without another word.  Eishtmo removed his ‘squawk box’ as he walked over to Joe.  “Come with me,” he said bluntly.

   “Excuse me,” said Joe.

   “Come on,” Eishtmo said as he grabbed Joe by the arm and began dragging him.

   “Hey, leggo.”  Joe tried to release Eishtmo’s grip, but to no avail.

*    *    *

   Eishtmo practically threw Joe into desk chair of Alpha wings quarters.  “What the hell were you trying to do, get yourself killed!” he yelled.

   “I could of taken him,” Joe yelled back.

   “The hell you could, Ma’ka would have ripped your ****ing arms off.”

   “Oh, you would know the damn Zods name wouldn’t you?”  Joe said sarcastically.⁸

   “You would too if you actually paid attention during briefings.”

   “The only thing I need to know about a Vasudan is were to aim the gun.”

   “Are you crazy?  We need the Vasudans to stop the Shivans.”

   “And once we do, I’ll be more than happy to start fragging Zods, starting with your friend, Ma’ka or whatever the hell his name his.”

   “Why?” Eishtmo practically screamed.  “After all this time can’t we forgive the past.”

   Joe stood up and looked right into Eishtmo’s face.  “When you lose your father and brother to the Vasudans, ask yourself if you can forgive.”

   Eishtmo looked at him with an angry look.  “Listen you little ****, if you think that I haven’t lost loved ones, then you are sadly mistaken.”  Joe watched as a tear began to form in Eishtmo’s eye.  “I have lost more friends, friends I loved, then you will ever have.”  He began to breath harder, his voice straining to release the words.  “It took me a long time to learn to forgive, and I’ll be damned if I let you make the same mistake I did.”⁹  His hands began shaking as Eishtmo moved around Joe and fell into the chair.  “So don’t presume that I don’t know what its like to lose everyone I love.”  Eishtmo grabbed his forehead and looked away from Joe, his breathing rapid.

   Joe starred at his friend, a realization slowly coming over him.  “Are you okay?”

   “I . . . I’m fine, I’m fine.”  Eishtmo broke down into tears, crying like a small child.  Years of pain and lose poured out in a single moment.

   Joe simply watched, unable to decide what to do or say.  “I guess all that fighting didn’t get it all out,” he said finally.  For several agonizing minutes,  the hum of ships systems and Quinn Lazerus’ sobs were the only sounds in the room.

   The silence was broken by the sound of the paging signal from the computer terminal.  Joe stood between the terminal and Eishtmo and opened the channel.  “Yes,” he said.

   “Lieutenant,” said the comm officer.  “We have a priority one message for Ensign Lazerus, is he there?”

   Joe turned and looked at Eishtmo.  The great pilot nodded as he wiped the last bit of water from his face.

   “He’s here, send it through.”

   The screen turned to a picture of an older person.  “Hey Big D, how’s it going?”

   Eishtmo’s eyes widened at the familiar voice.  “Zombie?” he said as he pushed Joe out of the way.

   “Geez D, you look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

   A smile began to spread across Eishtmo’s face.  “I think I have,” he said with a laugh.  “I thought you went down with the Reliant.”

   “Hell, no,” said Zombie.  “I was over on Tombaugh when the attack began.  Managed to get off just in time, too.”

   “God damn, it’s good to see you,” Eishtmo said, his smile wanted to squeeze more tears from his eyes, but couldn’t.  “Oh, wait.  I want to introduce you to somebody, come here kid.”  Joe had moved to the back half of the room and now, with his wingmates urging, moved into the viewers view.  “This is Lieutenant Joe Smith.  Joe, meet Admiral Richard Halkins¹⁰, an old wingmate of mine.”

   “Sir,” Joe said as he saluted.

   “Cut that out,” said Admiral Halkins.  “Hey, I remember you.  You were the first one to kill a Shivan.  I didn’t know you were flying with D.”

   “Well, it’s an honor,” Joe said.

   “Of course it is,” Zombie said.  “And I should know.  Anyways, D, I was calling to thank you for getting my ass out of Ribos.  You guys did a bang up job.”

   “You were in the convoy?” asked Eishtmo.

   “Yeah, in one of the Sigma transports.  When one of the pilots said one of you was chewing up Shivans, I knew it had to be you.”  The Admiral smiled.  “You’re still as good as the day I met you.”

   “I’ve gotten better with age,” Eishtmo responded.

   “I bet you have,” Zombie said.  “Listen, I would talk longer, but I have work to do.  I’ll see you guys later.”

   “Bye,” said Eishtmo.  The screen returned to the GTA symbol.

   Joe looked at Eishtmo again.  The pain and anguish that had been there only a few minutes ago was gone replaced with a kind of joy he had never seen before.  Then a thought came to him.  “Big D?” Joe asked.

   “My old callsign kid,” said Eishtmo.

   “Your old callsign was D?”

   “That was just the shortened version, easier to say.”

   “What was the longer version?”

   “Death.”

---------

1 – Okay, this title isn’t the greatest.  It’s still cute, but not really great.  Oh well.

2 – If I had built up the Reliant a bit more, and Quinn’s relationship to it (as in, a very long, and deep one) this scene would have much more impact.  Could have done the scene better regardless.

3 – I want to change this random guy to someone else.  Specifically, I want to lay the ground work for the end of the FS2 story (which is as likely to be written as this is to be rewritten).  It’s going to be Petrach in that fighter, and in closing part of that story that this comes back into play.

4 – Joe once again fails to do something intelligent, but this time I give him a bit of a pass.  He’s trying to relate to a 14 year vet, and he’s been fighting for about a month.  Not going to happen, so his attempts to relate should be cluncky, dumb and otherwise not well thought out.  Quinn should be a bit gruffer, but he is a long time vet, so it won’t be “GET AWAY FROM ME!”

5 – I like this pause here, it actually sounds like he’s doing something in battle.  I think one of these missions might benefit from being listened to over the radio, particularly this mission where Quinn is going ape**** on Shivans and it would be very difficult to write for it.  Might allow for some retrospective from Wolfe if he was listening to these exchanges.  Hell, I might not even change the dialog for that.

6 – Gamma one does have a name, but it doesn’t come up until later.  Another failure of the camera locked to Joe’s shoulder.

7 – This confrontation is the culmination of Quinn’s Vasudan connection, and it comes off about as cheesy as the rest of it.  At least Joe is showing emotion here, young stupid emotion, but emotion nonetheless.

8 – I wish, wish, WISH I had better developed this seething hatred for Vasudans in Joe, one that burned from day one with more than a “Damn Zod” comment, but had him act and react like a very pissed off human being.

9 – What mistake did Quinn do?  No idea.  None at all.  I think I was just going with the flow of the moment in the story.  It came off alright, certainly better than some other parts, but I would have done much better.

10 – Another former Immortal, an Admiral no less.  Why did Quinn get left behind?  Politics.  Incidentally, there are 5 named characters in FS1, and I made 3 of them former Immortals.  I think I would remove Halkins from the list, just to make it seem less like I was pushing my own characters onto Freespace canon.

[Eishtmo]

Prepare to witness me beating my younger self with a rubber shoe for the next chapter.

Chapter 7:
Deception¹

   Joe was finally alone in his small quarters.  He slid the door closed and sat in front of the terminal.  He opened the cover to the keyboard and began typing feverishly.  The words ACCESS DENIED appeared on the screen.  Joe smiled and removed a disk form his flight suit pocket and slid it into the terminals drive.  After a few moments, the screen changed to ACCESS GRANTED.²

   Joe looked up.  “Thanks bro.”  He returned to the screen and began shifting through the various files.  “Now, where is it?”  The screen changed as his fingers walked their way through the GTA’s secure files.  Finally he came to a file labeled LAZERUS, QUINN, 2/20/2334 under the court-martial section.  “Gotcha,” Joe said triumphantly.  He opened the file and began reading.

   Suddenly a loud noise blasted into the room.  Joe startled back, only to realize that the door was still closed.  He quickly closed the file, transferred it to the storage disk and returned the disk to his pocket.  Then he threw open his door to a concussion of sound coming from across the hall.  Joe walked over and looked into the open door.  A Vasudan sat at his terminal, the blasting noise, coming from the terminals’ speakers.

   “Hey!” Joe shouted.  The Vasudan looked at him for a moment.  “Could you turn it down!”

   The Vasudan obliged and looked at Joe again.  “I am sorry, did I disturb you?”

   “Well, you scared the **** out of me,” Joe said, rubbing his ears.

   The Vasudan looked at him curiously.  “Then you should change your flight suit.”

   Joe stepped back, and laughed.  “That was just a figure of speech.”  The Vasudan continued to stare at him.  “Never mind,” said Joe.  “So, what were you listening to?”

   “Terran opera,” the translator said after a moment.

   “That didn’t sound like any opera I’ve ever heard.”  Joe leaned over and looked at the selection on the screen.  “That’s not opera, that’s rock n’ roll.”³

   “Rock and roll?” the Vasudan said.  The translator somehow managed to translate the alien’s bewilderment.

   “It’s a kind of music on Earth,” Joe said.  “Very popular a long time ago.  My grandparents listened to it when they were kids.”

   “It sounds like Vasudan opera,” the Vasudan said.  “Only with Terran voices.”

   Joe looked at the few selections on the list.  “You know, this is one my grandparents always listened to.  Bring it up.”  The Vasudan accessed the file and music began to fill the room.

   “It is very nice,” said the alien.  “I wish I could understand the words.”

   “That’s what most Terrans say about Terran opera,” Joe laughed.  The Vasudan began making the strange, deep throated noise the was the equivalent to Vasudan laughter.

   “You are very funny Terran.”

   Joe suddenly realized what he was doing.  The hatred that he had coveted for this strange species had boiled away with the strange laughter of the Vasudan.  “I guess I am,” he said.

   The Vasudan suddenly shot his hand out to Joe.  Joe stepped back, startled at the sudden movement.  “I believe that this is a proper Terran greeting.”

   Joe chuckled at his own fear.  “Yes it is,” he said.  “I’m Joe.”

   “I am called Ah’ma Mal’ahn,” said the Vasudan.  “You are the first Terran to speak to me in an unofficial capacity.”

   “Well, you’re a second for me,” said Joe.  They sat in silence for a moment, listening to the music.

   “This music is quite enjoyable,” said Ah’ma.

   “Yes, it is,” said Joe.  He looked at Ah’ma for a moment.  “Do Vasudans use callsigns?”

   Ah’ma cocked his head.  “What is a callsign?”

   “It’s what pilots refer to each other during a mission.”

   “We do,” said Ah’ma.  “I am called Beta one.”

   Joe smiled.  “No,” he said.  “It’s more personal than wing assignment.  Like, um, I’m called Player when I fly.  Alpha two is called Babe and so on.”

   “To what purpose is this?”

   “Well,” said Joe.  “It’s quicker than saying Alpha one, and um,” Joe thought for a moment.  “It also gives us an idea of the pilots’ personality and skills.  It’s more personal and helps keep our wingmates from becoming something less than human.”

   The Vasudan sat listening as his translator attempt to translate Joe’s rambling.  “It still does not make sense,” he said finally.  “However, if we were to have these callsigns, perhaps we could interact better with our Terran allies.”

   Joe thought about it for a moment.  “That may not be a bad idea.  We’ll have to discus it with Bull, uh, Captain Siepert and Captain La’roh.”

   The Vasudan bobbed his head.  “Yes.  However, I have a mission I must fly, so if you will excuse me.”  Ah’ma stood up and walked out of the room. 

   Joe reached over and turned off the music.  He then returned to his own room, closing the door behind him.  “Now for that file.”  Joe slid the storage disk back into the drive and reopened the court-martial file.  Joe skipped the preliminary stuff and went straight to the verdict.


ON THE CHARGE OF TREASON TO THE GALACTIC TERRAN    
ALLIANCE, THE DEFENDANT IS FOUND NOT GUILTY.
ON THE CHARGE OF FALSIFYING OFFICIAL GALACTIC TERRAN
ALLIANCE DOCUMENTS, THE DEFENDANT IS FOUND GUILTY AS
CHARGED.

   “‘Lying on official documents?’” Joe said aloud.  “What the hell does that mean?”

   “It means just what it says,” came a voice.  Joe looked up to see the Eishtmo leaning against the door frame.

   “Uh, hi,” Joe said.  “I didn’t hear you come in.”

   Eishtmo closed the door behind him and closed the computer file.  “You some sort of ace hacker or something?”

   “Uh, no,” said Joe.  “My brother was.  Before he died, he sent me a program that cracked GTA security codes quicker than ****.”  Joe smiled at the thought.

   “You know if they catch you with that, they’ll court-martial your ass,” Eishtmo said.

   “Not if they don’t find it,” Joe looked at Eishtmo.  “You won’t turn me in, will you?”

   “Nah,” said Eishtmo.  “I’ve been through that myself, I won’t put anyone through it, not even you.”  The two stood there for a moment.  “So, do you want to know the truth, or are you just going to sneak a peak later.”

   “I’d rather hear it from you.”

   “Okay,” said Eishtmo.  “But once I’m finished, you have to forget it, or else we’ll both go down, understand?”  Joe nodded.  “Alright, here’s what happened.

   “About a year ago, I was involved in a raid on a Vasudan supply depot.  When I got there, I opened a Vasudan wing channel and told them who I was and that if they valued their lives they would bug out.  My squadron knew what I was doing, hell, the whole 9th Fleet knew what I was doing.  So anyway, the Vasudans bug out and we capture or destroy the supplies.  Well, damn it all, there was a hot shot Fenris captain who was listening in on Vasudan wing channels when I went on the air.  He thought I was some sort of traitor and brought charges up on me.  So I go to the court-martial and they read through my records, trying to find evidence.  Instead they found out I was only 16 when I joined the service.”

   “So what?” Joe interrupted.

   “You don’t understand kid,” said Eishtmo.  “When I joined, the minimum age to join up was 18.  They only lowered it to 16 about six years ago.”

   “Oh,” said Joe.  “How did you manage that?  I mean, with all the records they have, you shouldn’t have made it through.”

   “In my youth, I was one hell of a hacker,” said Eishtmo.⁴  “It was nothing to change my records and join up.”  Eishtmo leaned back against the closet door.  “Well, they never found any evidence for a treason conviction.  All they found out, was that the Vasudans were scared to death of me.  But they couldn’t let the hacking thing go.  So, instead of throwing me in the brig, like they should have, they stripped me of my rank, all command authority and shipped me here.”

   “Why?”

   “They just couldn’t let this old war horse go,” said Eishtmo.  “But if they left me on the Reliant, it would be too easy for me to give orders that would be followed, even by the ships C.O.”

   “I never would have guessed,” said Joe.

   “Of course not,” said Eishtmo.  “Now, forget everything I said.  Command classified this information at the highest level, and I don’t want to hang for it.”

   “No problem,” said Joe.  “Your secret’s safe.”

   “Good.”⁵

*    *    *

   “We are beginning our attack run,” said Ah’ma.

   “We’ll cover ya, Rock,” said Joe.  He shot out in front of Beta’s new Medusa bombers, locking on to Arjuna one.

   “Rock,” Roach chuckled.  “What a name for a Vasudan.”

   “You guys cover Beta, I’ll take care of Arjuna one,” said Joe.

   “Copy that,” said Eishtmo.

   Joe locked onto the Dragon’s engines and began firing with his Advanced Disrupters.  The Dragon quickly realized that it was being attacked and shot away from Joe.  “You’re not getting away that easy,” Joe said with a smile.

   “Babe,” yelled Eishtmo.  “Lay into the Shakti’s weapon subsystem, it will help the bombers.”

   “Not a problem,” said Lucy.

   Joe turned to follow the Dragon.  Arjuna one dove away, almost hitting Beta two in the process.  Joe stopped firing long enough for Beta two to get clear, and then began pounding on the Shivan fighter again.  Suddenly Eishtmo’s Ulysses shot by, just inches above his canopy.  “****!” Joe yelled.

   “You okay kid?” said Eishtmo.

   “I’m fine,” said Joe as he again lined up on the speedy Dragon.

   “The Shakti has been disarmed,” said Beta three.

   “Roach,” said Eishtmo.  “Start cleaning up those sentry guns.”

   “Already half way through,” said Roach.

   Joe pulled his bat-shaped fighter up, and towards the Dragon.  The Shivan weaved and dodged, but Joe followed a straighter path, turning only slightly to match his opponents general course.

   “There she goes,” said Lucy.  Joe turned to see the Cain-class Cruiser explode in a dramatic fireball.

   “That is one beautiful sight,” said Roach.

   “Almost as nice as when the Savior went down,” said Eishtmo.⁶

   “Give me a hand disabling Arjuna one,” said Joe.

   “On my way,” said Roach.

   “You saw the Savior go down?” asked Lucy.

   “Saw it,” said Eishtmo.  “I helped take it down.”

   “I lost many friends on the Savior,” said Beta three.

   “Take it easy, Rap,” said Joe.  “That was a different time, a different war.”

   “Just what I was going say,” said Eishtmo.

   “Yes, let us forgive for past mistakes,” said Rock.

   Joe fired off a few more disrupter shots, finally disabling Arjuna one.  “Charon, target disabled, you can come pick him up now.”

   A subspace portal opened and the Charon transport pulled up along side the disabled Dragon.  “We have the fighter, jumping out now,” said the Charon’s pilot.


*    *    *

   “What do you call this?” said Rock.

   “It’s called a Reliant Repellent,” said Eishtmo as he filled Rock’s glass.

   “Are you sure that stuff’s good for Vasudans?” asked Roach.

   “Trust me,” said Eishtmo.  “A little Repellent doesn’t hurt anybody.”

   “Only if you’re dead already,” said Lucy.  Everyone laughed, even the Vasudans.

   Rock took a sip from his glass.  His head shot back as the greenish liquid hit the back of his throat.  He began coughing, much to the amusement of everyone else.  “What do you put in this?” he asked Eishtmo.

   “Oh, a little of this, a little of that.”

   “Perhaps you should put a little less of this and that.”  Another round of laughter echoed through the rec room.

   A howl came from the door.  “The Dogs of Delta are back,” yelled Wolf.

   “Hey,” Roach yelled.

   “You know,” said Hound.  “These Vasudans aren’t half bad.”

   “We are much better than that,” said Ma’ka as he and the rest of Gamma wing followed the Terrans in.

   “You want a Repellent?” asked Eishtmo.

   “I might as well stick a gun in my mouth and end it now,” said Coyote.  All the Terrans laughed.

   “Is he serious?” asked Rock.

   Joe looked at Rock.  “No,” he laughed.

   “Good,” Rock responded.

   “So who are your Zod friends?” a voice came from the doorway.  Joe turned to see a group of six pilots enter the rec room, each with a 21st Hell Bats patch on their shoulders.  Ma’ka gave each the Vasudan equivalent of the evil eye.

   “Shut up Vamp,” Wolf said.

   “We just came to meet the new pilots, you got a problem with that,” said Vampire.  Wolf rolled his eyes and took a sip from his glass.  Vampire walked over to Ma’ka and looked the Vasudan straight in the eyes.  “So, you’re the dirty Zod who thinks it can fly a Terran fighter, eh?”

   Ma’ka glared at him.  “I am not a Zod,” he growled through his translator.

   “Yes you are,” said Vampire.  “You and your whole race are just a group of damn dirty Zod’s.”  The other five gave Vampire encouraging whoops.  “In fact, we should just let the Shivans wipe out your whole ****ing race.  The universe would thank us for it later.”  The group laughed at the remark and started cussing at all of the Vasudans, saying the foulest things they could think of.  The Vausdans sat there and did nothing.  Joe shook his head in disgust, until he remember that he had, for all intensive purposes, said the same thing to Ma’ka.

   “Vampire,” said Wolf.  “I think it’s time for you and your friends to leave.”

   Vampire smiled evilly at Wolf.  “But we haven’t hazed these Zods yet.”

   “Don’t you dare Nathan,” said Wolf.

   Joe’s eyes widened with the suddenly realization of what Vampire had meant.

   “I’m sorry Steven,” said Vampire.  “But it’s for the good everybody.”  Vampire turned toward Ma’ka and raised his hand.  Wolf lunged forward to stop Vampire when one of the Hell Bats grabbed him.  But none of them notice Joe standing next to Ma’ka.

   “Excuse me,” said Joe.

   “What do you want?” an irritated Vampire asked.

   “I don’t think I can let you haze Ma’ka here.”

   “Get out of my way Lieutenant,” Vampire said angrily.

   “I’m afraid I can’t do that sir,” Joe said.

   “Move, or you’ll spend the rest of the war in the brig.”

   “If you’re going to send me to the brig, you might as well do it for something more substantial, sir,” Joe said.

   “And what might that be?” asked Vampire.

   “This,” and Joe hit him.⁷

*    *    *

   Joe’s face pulsed with pain.  He wanted to rub it, to remove the pain, but Bull wasn’t allowing it.  Joe reminded himself never to start a bar brawl again, it hurt too much.

   “So let me get this straight,” Bull said as he paced up and down his line of Terran pilots.  “Commander Roark and several members of the 21st Hell Bats entered the rec room and promptly began fighting with you.  Is that correct?”

   “No sir,” said Wolf.  They all could sense that the brass was watching, somehow.

   “Then what did happen Commander?”

   “Well,” Wolf started.  “Vampire, I mean Commander Roark came in and began saying, uh, rude things about our Vasudan guests. . .”

   “And then he began hitting on you, right?”  Bull interrupted.  Coyote made a muffled chuckle.  “Is there something funny Commander?”

   “Sir, no sir,” said Coyote.

   “Then would you care to tell me how this fight started.”

   Joe stepped forward.  “Sir, I threw the first punch,” he said.

   Bull stepped in front of Joe.  “Did you?” he said.  “Would you care to tell me why?”

   Joe gulped, his face still hurt from blows he had received.  “He, uh, I mean Commander Roark was threatening to strike Lieutenant Vo’mon, uh sir.”

   “So you hit him first, eh?” Bull asked.  “Tell me, did the Commander have any reason to strike the Lieutenant?”

   “Sir, if I may be frank.”

   “No you may not,” Bull snapped.  “Answer the question.”

   “No sir, he did not.”

   Bull looked at Joe, studying the purple splotch surrounding his eye.  “Weren’t you involved in an incident with Lieutenant Vo’mon?”

   Joe looked at Bull, trying to figure out how he had found out about that.  “Sir, yes sir,” Joe said.

   “Yet you come to his aid in this instance, why?”

   Joe gulped again.  “I, uh, had a change of heart sir.”

   “Did you now?”  Bull looked at Joe with a kind of pride.

   “Captain Siepert,” a crewman said.

   “Yes, what is it?”

   “Sir, Admiral Wolfe wishes to speak to you.”

   “Very well.”  Bull turned to his pilots.  “You are to stay here until I return, is that understood?”

   “Sir, yes sir,” the group said in unison.

   “Good,” said Bull.  He then turned and left with the crewman.

   The group stood at attention for a moment.  Coyote then broke the silence.  “And then he began hitting on you.”  Everybody suddenly burst into laughter.  Joe gringed as he laughed from the pain.

   “Next time you decide to start a fight,” Fox said.  “Make sure I’m not there.”  More laughter erupted.

   “Did you see Rock crack the bottle over Fruits’ head,” laughed Roach.

   “I was to busy getting my face pounded in,” said Joe.

   “I think they loosed a few of my teeth,” said Hound.

   “Attention!” Bull yelled.  The room dropped back into silence as the group returned to their line.  “After discussing this situation with the Admiral, we have come to a decision on your fate.”  Bull stared at them for a moment.  “Normally, we would throw the lot of you in the brig, but we’re short on pilots, so you get to stay on duty.  However, the cost of repairing all the destroyed goods from rec room will be coming out of your pay.”  Joe sighed slightly.  “Lieutenant Smith.”

   “Yes sir,” Joe said.

   “Because you threw the first punch, you will be reduced to the rank of Ensign and will report to a hearing on your conduct at the Admirals discretion.  None of you are to speak of this incident again, understood?”  There were no objections.  “You are all dismissed.”⁸

*    *    *

   “You are dismissed,” Bull said.  The Freespacers began making their way out of the Command Briefing.  “Eishtmo, Player, stay here.”  Joe and Eishtmo sat back down in the front row.  “I’ll be back,” said Bull.  “Stay put.”  He then left.

   “I wonder what Marky wants us to do,”  Eishtmo said off-handily.

   “Marky?” Joe asked.

   Before Eishtmo could respond, Admiral Wolfe and Bull came back into the briefing room. 

   “Ensigns Lazerus and Smith, as you requested,” said Bull.   

   “Thank you Captain.  You are dismissed,” Wolfe said to Bull.  Bull saluted and exited again.  “Computer,” the Admiral called out.  “Lock down Briefing Room C.”  All the doors sealed themselves shut.  Wolfe looked at the two pilots.  “What you are about to hear is top secret.  Do not reveal it to anyone, understood?”  Joe nodded his head.  “Good,” the Admiral pulled up one of the portable chairs, turned it around and sat with the chair back in front of him.  “I’m sure you all recall the Dragon you captured last week.  Well, we’ve managed to get it working again.”  The Admiral pressed a key on his touch pad.  A picture of the captured Dragon appeared on the main screen.  “Intel wants us to do something, dangerous with this fighter.”  The image changed to icon representing a Shivan cargo depot.  “We’ve been ordered to use the Dragon to scan a Shivan depot at Vega-Deneb jump node.”

   “Whoa,” said Eishtmo.  “Marky, I mean sir, I don’t do those kind of missions, you know that.”⁹

   Admiral Wolfe smiled.  “I remember.  Don’t worry, you’re not allowed to fly this mission, Ensign Smith will.”

   “Excuse me,” said Joe.  “I really rather not.”

   “You don’t have a choice Ensign,” Admiral Wolfe said.  “Remember, I still hold your life in my hands.  You will fly the mission.”  Joe rolled his eyes in despair.  “Relax, if you do well, I might give you your cluster back.”

   “So why am I here?” Eishtmo asked.

   “This mission is of the highest secrecy,” said Wolfe.  “As such, I can’t let just anyone talk to Smith during the mission.  So, I’ve volunteered you.”

   Eishtmo sighed.  “Maybe I should have let War talk you back into the Reliant.”

   “Then I wouldn’t have lived long enough to become an Admiral,” Wolfe laughed.  “At any rate, Smith, your job will be to scan any transports, cargo containers and warships that come through the node.  There have been problems with the Dragon.  First of all, we couldn’t get the weapons to work, so we had to put standard Terran weapons on board.  Also, the thrusters and afterburners aren’t up to par, so you won’t be moving at full tilt.  Finally, the subspace drive has been giving us problems.”

   “Great,” said Joe.  “I might get stranded out there.”

   The Admiral looked at Joe.  “Don’t worry, the auto-repair systems should be able to fix the drive if it fails.  You’ll just have to survive until the drive comes back online.  Our long range scan detected only one wing of fighters guarding the depot.  Just keep your distance and you should be fine.  Suit up, you leave in 20 minutes.”¹⁰

*    *    *

   “You reading me,” said Joe.

   “I hear you loud and clear,” Eishtmo responded.

   “Hey, where’d your image go?”

   “Deactivating the image pop-up reduces the signal strength,” said Eishtmo.  “It’ll be harder to detect that way.”

   Joe looked out toward the depot.  “I hope it works.”

   “It will,” said Eishtmo.  “Now locate the each of the sentries.”

   Joe began flipping through each of four sentry guns and the four fighters.  “I got’em.”

   “Alright, stay away from the sentry guns,” Eishtmo said.  “The fighters are probably on a set patrol pattern.  Just sneak in while their backs are turned.”

   “I got it,” said Joe.  He kicked up his afterburners and headed into the cargo depot below.

   “Start scanning the cargo containers.”

   “Is Command online up there?” asked Joe.

   “Hell no,” said Eishtmo.  “Its that secrecy thing.”

   “Good.”  Joe pulled up to the first container.  “Beginning scan now.”  In the targeting window, the scan lines moved their way across the image of the cargo container.  “So, what did you mean by letting War talk the Admiral back in?”  Joe finished his scan and moved on to the next target.

   “That’s a long story.”

   “It’s not like I’m doing anything else.”  Joe moved on to his a third container.

   “Well, the Admiral used to serve on the Reliant as part of the bridge crew,” Eishtmo stopped.  “Transports coming in.”

   “I’m done with the containers anyway.”  Joe pointed his fighter toward newly arrived Azrael transports.

   “Anyways, Marky always wanted to be a fighter pilot, but he couldn’t fly a fighter if his life depended on it.”

   “I got the transports,” jump signatures appeared on Joe’s radar.  “More transports.  Just what I need.”

   “Well, one day the Admiral was traveling between the Reliant and Tombaugh, back when the station was still under construction.”

   “Hold on a sec,” said Joe.  In front of him a pair of Lilith cruisers jumped in.  “I got cap ships.  Moving to intercept.”

   “Roger that,” said Eishtmo.  “As I was saying, on the way back from Tombaugh, a Vasudan strike force jumped the transport.  During the battle, the pilot of the transport got killed, so Marky decides to try to fly the transport back himself.”  Eishtmo made a short laugh.

   “I’m picking up a big jump signature,” said Joe.

   “Me too,” said Eishtmo.  “It’s the Eva.”

   Joe watched the Demon-class destroyer slip out of a jump vortex.  “That thing is ugly.”  Suddenly Joe was thrown forward by a jolt.  “What the hell was that?”

   “Looks like your subspace drives have malfunctioned,” said Eishtmo.  “Just hang tough, they’ll repair themselves.”

   “I hope so,” Joe throttled up and moved into scanning range of the Eva.

   “One of the fighters is getting really close,” said Eishtmo.

   Joe looked over and hit the afterburners to get farther from the approaching fighter.  “Beginning scan.”

   “You okay out there, kid?”

   “I’m fine,” Joe lied.  It was taking all he had to keep his hand from jerking the control stick off in a random direction from its shaking.

   “Where was I, oh yeah,” Eishtmo said.  “After we managed to wax the Vasudans, I had to talk the Admiral back into the Reliant’s hanger bay.  He still managed to crash into the side of the bay.”  Eishtmo chuckled again.¹¹

   “I got the Eva scanned,” said Joe.  “Am I done here yet?”

   “Just a sec,” said Eishtmo.  “I’m picking up a large subspace signature.”

   Joe watched a subspace vortex open up in front of him.  “Oh my god,” he said.  “It’s the Lucifer!”

   “Holy ****,” said Eishtmo.  “Looks like you’ve got a chance to earn brownie points.”

   Joe closed his eyes.  “Do I have too?”

   “If you don’t, Command will have both our asses.”

   Joe took a deep breath.  “Here I go,” he said finally.  He activated his afterburners and moved as close as he could to the Lucifer.  The scanner began ticking off.  “Scanning begun.”

   “Take it easy kid,” said Eishtmo.  “They probably just think you’re lost or something.”

   “This scan is taking forever,” Joe complained.

   “Big ships take a while, and the Lucifer is the biggest.”

   Joe waited, and watched the scan lines pass the targeting display.  Finally the scan completed.  “I’m done.  I’m heading home,” Joe activated his jump drive, but nothing happened.  “The drive’s still out,” he moaned.

   “Command doesn’t want you to go anyways,” said Eishtmo.

   “I thought you said this wasn’t a party line.”

   “It isn’t, I just told them about the Lucifer,”  Eishtmo sighed.  “They want you to go into the Lucifer’s fighter bay.”¹²

   “Are they crazy?” Joe yelled.  “As soon as this drive comes back online, I am out of here!”

   “Sorry kid, that’s an order,” said Eishtmo.  “You don’t have a choice.”

   Joe looked at the Lucifer, studding its black and red body.  “Alright, but if I die, I’ll kill you.”

   “Fair enough,” said Eishtmo.

   Joe pulled around to the side of the Lucifer, his targeting display locked on the ships’ fighter bay.  He slowly came around and moved toward it.  His fighter stopped cold, a barrier keeping him out of the bay.  “I can’t get in.”  Suddenly a group of fighters leapt out of the fighter bay, guns blazing.  “****!”  Joe kicked up the afterburners and shot away from the Lucifer.

   “What’s going on?” yelled Eishtmo.

   “I’ve been made!” Joe yelled.  He pulled his fighter away from the Lucifer as fast as he could.  After a few seconds, he was out of the Lucifer’s weapon range.  Joe retargeted the nearest Shivan fighter.  “Prepare to die!” he yelled.¹³

   Joe began pounding on the Manticore with his guns.  The Shivan pulled away from him, unfortunately, the Shivan’s friends didn’t.  Joe’s fighter was quickly pounced on, his shield dying with every hit.  Suddenly, a flashing message lit up.

   “Your jump drives are back online, get the hell out of there!” Eishtmo yelled.

   “Easier done than said,” Joe responded, hitting the jump button.

---------

1 – Not a great title, but not bad, just dull.  If you haven’t guessed it, this mission features “Playing Judas,” which probably means the title should have been “30 Pieces” or something more creative than what it currently is.

2 – Welcome to the second worst part of the story.  I say second because the worst is near the end, and I remember that scene well, but this part is right behind it.  First of all, I never really say where Joe got this disk he’s using to “hack” a military grade computer, which is dumb in the first place.  In the second, the subtle hint is that it’s from his brother, who has been dead for 3 YEARS.  Yeah.  A better method would be that his new rank gives him greater access, but did I do the logical thing?  No, because I was young and stupid.

3 – Failure number two is the attempt to resolve Joe’s anti-Vasudan issues.  With Rock n’ Roll.  Yeah, that’s dumb.  Not as bad as everything else here, but it again shows Joe’s inconsistent character and adds an unnecessary element to the story, that goes basically nowhere.  Bleh.

4 – And the crowning failure is with Quinn.  This part was mostly to explain why a seasoned veteran has lost his rank and been shipped to another ship.  Which proves I’m an idiot again because the core reason is that he WAS a hell of a hacker at one point.  Oh wow, not only is he the best pilot in the fleet, but also a hacker that wasn’t caught for 14 YEARS.  My god, how stupid could I have been.  In reworking this, his crime was A) not thanks to his skills (he bought the info) and B) discovered after the war started and by then, they needed the pilot more than they cared about his age (he also may have been 18 by the time this occurred).  So why the punishment?  He managed to piss off a high ranking GTA Senator, and his son who is the admiral on the GTD Gaia, 1st Fleet, guarding Earth itself.  Yeah, when he makes enemies, he makes GOOD enemies.

5 – Anyway, a rewrite of this scene would actually not involve Quinn or Joe at all.  I’m think of having Roach and Lucy relate it (possibly with Roach doing some snooping to pull it off).  It would give both characters more to do, relate the details and explain the whole thing better, and give me room to play with Joe still being pissed with Quinn over the Vasudan incident.

6 – Another mission that is poorly written.  At least I mention the PVD Savior, the antagonist of No War, No Peace.  Of course, it fits terribly and provides very little to the story except showing that Joe can’t even be a hateful bastard long enough for him to form a decent character.

7 – Ah, the classic bar fight scene to help the squadron come together as a team.  It’s clichéd as hell, I know, but in my opinion cliché’s aren’t bad as long as you do them well.  I didn’t do this one exceptionally well, but I do skip most of the fighting, which given my record of fights in this story, was probably a good thing.

8 – And the incident is brushed under the rug.  I also have no problem with this (though the writing could be better) as it makes since when you’re running out of pilots and hope and at least the Terrans and Vasudans are working TOGETHER for a change.  Still, the whole thing would probably be removed in a rewrite because the fight and this scene are far, far too quick a change of heart for Joe to undergo at this point.

9 – I for the life of me can’t remember why Quinn said that.  I know he HAS done missions like that (there’s actually an SOC loop built into No War, No Peace and he comes along), so I think he’s saying he doesn’t do these missions anymore.  I could be wrong on that.

10 – In a reimagining, I would introduce Spook here (it is William Snipes) as the person who gets Quinn and Joe to do this.  Then he would claim why he isn’t hanging around is because of some internal GTI issues.  A subtle hint towards Silent Threat.

11 – The incident with War (another Immortals pilot) and Wolfe is actually suppose to be in No War, No Peace and is just something fun I tossed in.  It was mostly to pad out Playing Judas, energy which would have been better spent building tension and writing mission stuff.  Oh well.

12 – I really want to make this sound like even Quinn thinks this is crazy.  Because it was and it always will be.

13 – This is about what I did when I first played that mission.  Right up until the point Joe turns back around.  I never did.  I floored the engines and pulsed the afterburners until my jump drive came back online.  I am so tempted to make Joe do much the same.

[Eishtmo]

There are 11 chapters to this story.  I'm on 8 and I can already see the desperate problems with this story.  Characters are only partially developed, if at all, issues with backstory, general errors and just really stupid decisions.  Still, I shouldn't have expected it to be better.  I've all but rewritten this story in my head as I made adjustments to the sequels and prequels that my original impression is that the story is better than it it was, baring a few stand out spots.  I'm disappointed with myself, but also thankful, because in writing this, I got a big boost to my abilities by using them.  I also get a chance to reread it and SEE all the mistakes for what they are and start conceptualizing how to fix them.  I may never rewrite it, but if I did, I think it would be one of the better stories I've ever written.  Onward:

Chapter 8:
Last Desperate Grasp¹

   “Alright, listen up Freespacers!” yelled Bull.  Behind him an icon representing the SD Eva appeared.  “With the Lucifer now in Deneb, we have no choice but to eliminate the Eva.  The GTD Legion² is being sent in to assist in our defense of Vasuda Prime, but it will take some time for it to get here.  Thus, you have been tasked with the destruction of the Eva.”  Bull looked at the his silent pilots.  “Now don’t get excited.”

   “Should we be excited?” Coyote yelled.  Everybody laughed.

   Bull rolled his eyes.  “Okay, so here’s the plan.  Alpha wing will take Medusa bombers with Tsunami bombs and destroy the Eva.  Beta and Gamma will fly escort.  Beta will use Ulysses and Gamma will fly Hercs.  Delta, you will perform a strike on a nearby cargo depot to hopefully drag some of the Eva’s fighter cover away.”  Bull turned to Joe.  “Player, you will be in charge of the strike mission.  You launch in thirty minutes, suit up.”

   Joe got up and headed out the door.  “Hey Player,” Roach yelled as he caught up to Joe.  “So, how’d you manage to get your cluster back?”

   Joe gave a short laugh.  “Sorry,” he said.  “That’s classified.”

   “Hey,” Eishtmo yelled from down the passage.  “Where do you two think you’re going?”

   “To suit up,” Joe yelled back.

   “First things first,” said Eishtmo.

   “What are you talking about?” asked Joe.

   Roach now laughed.  “Eish wants us to have a shot of Repellent before we go.”

   Joe looked at Roach.  “Well I don’t know. . .”

   “Aw, come on,” said Eishtmo.  “The worst its going to do is kill you.”

   Joe thought on this for a moment.  “What the hell,” he said and he and Roach headed for the rec room.

*    *    *

   “Double up your bombs and follow me in,” Joe said.³

   “Roger that,” said Lucy.

   “Beta, keep those Dragons busy, Gamma take down the Manticores.”  Joe gave the orders with a confident, unwavering voice.

   “Copy that,” said Rock.

   “As you wish,” Ma’ka responded.

   Joe smiled at the fact that Ma’ka hadn’t contradicted him.  “When we’re within 500 meters, launch bombs,” he ordered.

   “That’s cutting it kind of close, isn’t it?” asked Eishtmo.

   “Less chance of them taking them down,” Joe responded.  “Unless you have a quicker way to destroy a Demon.”

   “Not really.”

   Joe watched the beetle shape of the Eva grow larger.  The distance indicator read 1000 meters.   Laser blasts from the Eva’s many turrets began flashing all round his fighter.

   “Damn!” yelled Lucy.

   “Are you okay Babe?” asked Roach.

   “One of those damn blasts knocked me off target,” said Lucy.

   Joe checked the indicator:  700 meters.  “Stay on target people.”  Joe’s HUD flashed a lock on the Eva.

   “I have a lock,” said Roach.  “Let’s launch and get the hell out of here.”

   “Just wait a second,” said Joe.  He watched the indicator slowly wind down closer to 500.  “Now!”

   Each of Alpha’s eight bombs roared down toward the Eva.  A few of the Eva’s laser turrets turned toward the small, highly destructive targets, the rest continued to hound the bombers.  Joe pulled his bomber up and away from the Shivan destroyer, his afterburners shaking the heavy bomber.  The launch warning flashed on, and the yellow indicator showing the location and distance of the missile heading toward Joe lit up.  He turned his Medusa toward the missile, and charged at it.  Then, at the last second, he pulled up and dropped a counter-measure right in the missiles path.  Joe now turned to a nearby Manticore and began blasting away.

   “Woo wee!” yelled Roach.  “Look at those bombs blow!”

   “What’s the status of the Eva?” asked Joe as he desperately tried to track the Shivan fighter.

   “AHHHHHHH!” screamed Rap.

   “We have lost Rap,” Rock said.

   “Team up on the Dragons,” said Ma’ka.  “Gamma two, assist Beta.”

   “Yes sir,” said Gamma two.

   Joe followed the Manticore close to the Eva’s hull.  The grey-black hull cast a shadow on his bomber, sending a chill down Joe’s spine.

   “The Eva’s hull is down to twenty-two percent,” Eishtmo responded.  “It shouldn’t take much to take her down.”

   “Right,” said Joe.  He fired a final shot bringing down the Shivan fighter.  “Who’s got an opening to launch another salvo?”

   “I’m on it,” said Lucy.

   “Give me a sec to get out of here,” said Joe.  He pointed the Medusa away from the Eva and kicked in the afterburners putting as much distance between him and the destroyer as possible.  Suddenly, his fighter shook as his rear shields took a beating.  “What the ****?” Joe yelled.  He pulled his bomber around and began turning and twisting to shake the attacking fighter.  “Can somebody give me some cover?” he begged.

   “Hold your current course,” said Ma’ka.

   “What?”

   “Just do it.”

   Joe held his course.  That’s when he saw Ma’ka’s Hercules fighter pointing straight at him.  Joe watched as Ma’ka launched a pair of Interceptors at Joe’s attacker.  “Dive now,” Ma’ka yelled.

   Joe hit his burners and dove away.  He watched as the targeting indicator on his attacker vanished along with the fighter.  “Thanks,” he said.

   “You earned it,” said Ma’ka.

   Joe wondered what exactly Ma’ka meant for a moment, but soon shook it away as another Manticore flew into his sights.

   “There she goes,” yelled Roach.

   Joe turned around in time to see the Eva go up in spectacular fireball.  A shock wave flew out and shook Joe’s bomber.  He regained control and pulled up to the running Shivan fighter.  “Good work people,” he said.  “Let’s go home.” 

   That’s when Command came screaming.  “All fighters, report back to the Galatea, we’re under attack!”

   “You heard the man,” said Eishtmo.  “Let’s go.”

   Joe punched the jump controls.  The blue-white vortex opened and swallowed Joe’s bomber.  Moments later, the vortex opened revealing the Galatea and a hell of a battle.

   “Welcome to party,” greeted Hound.

   Joe scanned the sky.  “Where are the Hell Bats?” he asked.

   “AHHHHHHHHHH!” came a scream.

   “That was the last of them,” said Wolf.  “All Freespacers, protect the Galatea!”

   “Pilots,” said Command.  “The first bomb hit damaged the launch bay.  As soon as it’s fixed, we’ll launch the Poker Faces to assist.”⁴

   “Well isn’t this just dandy,” said Roach.

   Joe locked on to the nearest Shivan bomber and charged forward, guns blazing.  The bomber hardly moved off course.  A Dragon suddenly flew right up into Joe’s face.  He dove away and began wildly turning to escape the Shivan.  He glanced back to see his secondary turret blazing away at the fighter.

   “I got him,” yelled Fox.  The Dragon shook as Fox fired a volley of shots into it.

   “Thanks,” Joe said as he turned back to the bomber.  He watched as his target let out a streak of white.  “They’re launching bombs!”

   “I am on it,” said Rock.

   Joe target one of the bombs and began blasting away, desperately trying to take out the bomb.  When it finally blew, his bomber was shook by the shockwave of the blast.  Rock shot past him taking out another pair of bombs.  “Command, where’s our backup?” Joe asked.

   “The flight deck is in bad shape Alpha one,” said Command.  “We’re working on it.”

   “Well hurry up!” Hound yelled.

   Joe finally destroyed his target and moved on to the next.  For a moment, he stopped and watched the firefight.  Fighters and bombers twisting and turning on a black background.  Green, red, yellow, and blue beams of light shot out of almost nowhere, creating an great light show.  Joe turned away, back to his Shivan target.

   “Remember me!” screamed Gamma four as the Vasudan’s fighter exploded.

   “Damn it!” screamed Coyote.  “These Dragons are everywhere.”

   “Forget the Dragons,” Eishtmo said.  “Take out the bombers first, we’ll worry about the fighters later.”

   “Eish, lookout,” Lucy screamed.

   Joe concentrated on his target.  After a few moments the Shivan bomber began spinning wildly and finally exploding.  Suddenly, a Medusa shot in front of him followed by a firing Manticore.  Joe turned to the Shivan and began chewing into it.  The heavy fighter’s pilot didn’t like that and pulled up and away from its quarry.  Joe followed, jabbing the afterburners down as hard as he could to get that extra boost of speed.  He followed the Manticore up and continued firing until the Shivan died in the fiery explosion of its fighter.

   “Thanks kid,” said Eishtmo.

   “No problem,” Joe said as he turned to another bomber and began blasting away.

   “Command,” Wolf yelled.  “Where are those extra fighters?”

   “Three minutes,” Command said simply.

   Joe watched as a bomb hit the side of the Galatea.  The blue shockwave shook everyone in its range.  “They better hurry up, or there won’t be a ship to launch from,” he called.

   Then a voice no one expected to hear buzzed in each pilots ears.  “Pilots, this is Admiral Wolfe.  We have taken heavy damage.  We are evacuating all none essential personal.  See that they make it to safety.”

   “It looks like we’re in deeper **** then I thought,” Eishtmo said.

   “Alpha,” Wolf said.  “Cover the escape pods, your extra turrets will give them some extra cover.”

   “Copy that,” said Lucy.

   Joe targeted the first escape pod and shot up close to the Hermes.  His computer locked onto the pods nearest attacker and Joe jumped on the fighter.  The Shivan pulled away and began weaving to avoid Joe.  Joe flipped back to the pod and then targeted its next attacker.   He went back and forth, occasionally seeing the other members of Alpha doing much the same.

   “I’m detecting a massive jump signature,” said Lucy.

   “Holy ****!” Roach gasped.  “It’s the Lucifer!”

   Joe looked up in time to see the massive hull of Lucifer complete its jump into normal space.  Less then a second later, a beam of energy ripped out of the one of the Lucifer’s “arms” and arced towards the Galatea.  The beam collided with the Terran warship, tearing into the ships fighter bay.

   “They destroyed the hanger!” Command said with despair.

   “Looks like we’re on our own,” said Fox.

   “Wolf,” said Joe.  “We still have Tsunamis left, we could use them on the Lucifer.”

   “Good idea,” said Wolf.  “Gamma, take Alpha’s place. . .”

   “That’s a negative,” Bull’s voice came over the comm.  “Alpha, stay on station.”

   “What the hell are you doing on the comm?” Wolf asked.

   “Keeping you in line,” said Bull.  Another beam from the Lucifer smashed into the Galatea.  Bull groaned with the impact.  “The Admiral has something special in mind for the Lucifer.”⁵

   “What are you talking about?” Wolf demanded.

   Joe looked back at the Galatea.  Its massive body turned toward the Lucifer, as the blue glow of its engines lit up brighter.  Joe’s eyes widened as he realized the Galatea’s quest.  “No way,” he muttered.

   “Marky, what are you doing?” cried Eishtmo.

   “The only thing we can do,” said Admiral Wolfe.  “Quinn, I hope we’ll meet again someday.”

   “I know we will,” Eishtmo’s voice quivered.

   Joe tried to take his mind off the tragedy that was unfolding by targeting another Shivan fighter.  He burned his frustrations into the alien’s hull.  He turned for a moment to see another beam shoot out of the Lucifer and hit the Galatea.  A lump formed in his throat as the Galatea, that great and beautiful ship, exploded due to the force of the blast.  There were no screams, just an deafening silence.

   “She’s gone,” Hound said.

   “This is the escape pods, we’re jumping out now.  See you on the Bastion.”

   Joe watched as the debris of the Galatea move away from the ships final position.  The Lucifer jumped out, untouched.  Joe swallowed.

   “Okay people,” Wolf said.  “Let’s get out of here.”

   Joe reluctantly hit the jump controls and the horrid scene disappeared.

*    *    *

   “Admiral on deck!” someone yelled.  Joe and the other Freespacers lined up in front of their newly arrived fighters.  Joe felt something, but he wasn’t sure what it was.  It felt like a lump deep in his soul.  It weighed heavily, so heavily that he almost wanted throw up.  Admiral Shima walked up to the group.  To Joe, it looked like she had the same feeling he did.

   “Welcome to the Bastion,” the Admiral started.  “You did well in defending the Galatea’s escape pods.  You saved many lives.  I know that you lost many good friends on the Galatea.  We all feel your pain, but there was nothing you could do.”

   “Mom,” Lucy blurted out.  “We know, we know.”⁶

   Admiral Shima looked at her daughter for a moment.  “Yes, of course you do.  Captain Koppel will escort you all to your new quarters.  A new Vasudan representative is being sent over as we speak.”  She looked at the small group.  “Marcus Wolfe was a good commander, and good friend.  We all have something to morn today.”  She then turned and walked away.  Lucy didn’t wait to be dismissed and ran to catch up to her mother.⁷

   Spook looked at the group.  “Come on, I’ll show you to your quarters.”

---------

1 – Another good title, even if it doesn’t quite fit the chapter itself, but it’s close.

2 – The GTD Legion is the quasi-official name for the Orion that was cored at the beginning of FS2.  Fit in here, the Legion is destroyed shortly after Vasuda Prime.

3 – I really wish I knew something about bombing, this mission would be so much better if I did.

4 – Ah, that’s why I didn’t put the Suicide Kings on the Galatea, so they wouldn’t all die when she went down.  I copied the missions pretty accurately, but for some reason I don’t remember the hanger bay being damaged.  In a rewrite, I think I’ll remove that point and focus on the jump drive getting knocked out just before the Lucifer arrives.

5 – Again, if the character’s relationships were better established, this would be a much more meaningful sequence.  A rewrite would place all the action on the Galatea’s bridge from the moment the Eva mission begins until the bitter end.  Coupled with the one just after Tombaugh, it should flesh out Wolfe enough to make this a pretty tragic moment.

6 – Lucy’s character should be that she’s much more strict when it comes to military protocol than the others, so her breaking here would be a sure sign of stress on her part.  It kind of works now, but I could make it work better with some work.

7 – Shima and Wolfe, according to this continutity, had a relationship several years ago, one strong enough they considered getting married.  The war never ended, they got reassigned, and the relationship broke off, without prejudice.  So she should show even more emotion here than she does.  Of course without this backstory, would you even know that she felt it?  No, you wouldn’t.  So I have to work it in somehow.

[Eishtmo]

Busy night at work, so I'm taking tonight off.  I'll post the next chapter tomorow.

[Eishtmo]

Alright, back.  Aiming to finish this this week.  Should be pretty easy to do.

Chapter 9:
Beginning of the End¹

   “Attention,” yelled Spook.  Everyone in the ships main briefing room snapped to attention.  Admiral Shima walked in with a sad look on her face.

   “As you were,” she said.  “All ship Command Briefing for March 1, 2335 commences now.”  She turned to the newly arrived Vasudan representative and nodded.  The Vasudan then said something in his native tongue.  All the Vasudans stood up and marched out the door.

   “What did he say to them,” Joe whispered to Eishtmo.

   “Something about talking to them in private,” responded Eishtmo.

   “You understand Vasudan?” asked Roach.

   “Of course he does,” said Joe.  “What do you think that book he’s always reading is written in?”²

   “Well, I’m not perfect at it,” Eishtmo said.  “In fact, I still haven’t finished that book.”  He then slapped himself on the forehead.  “Damn, I left it on the Galatea.”

   “Crew of the Bastion, this briefing is to relate some bad news.”  Shima looked like someone had punched her in the gut.  “At 1700 hours last night, the GTD Legion and her escorts engaged the Lucifer over Deneb three.  We lost all contact with the Legion at 1730.  Command believes the Fleet was destroyed.”  The Admiral took a deep breath.  “At 1900 hours, the Lucifer made the jump to Vasuda Prime.  Our forces engaged the Lucifer Fleet, but were repelled or destroyed quickly.  The Lucifer Fleet then proceeded to bombard Vasuda Prime for thirteen hours straight.  Every major city, town, installation and monument was destroyed.  For all practical purposes, all evidence of Vasudan civilization is gone.  It is estimated that over four billion Vasudan lives were lost.”  There was a moment of total silence in the room.  Shima swallowed.  “Our orders are to keep the Lucifer from getting any closer to Earth.  Also, we have been ordered to assist in the evacuation of all refugees from the Vasuda Prime attack.  Your squadron commanders will give you your assignments.”  She looked around the room.  “No one is to mention the attack on Vasuda Prime to any Vasudans on board.  I will not tolerate anyone who makes inappropriate remarks regarding this event.  Is that understood?”  There were no objections.  “Very well, you are dismissed.”

   Joe followed the other pilots out of the briefing room.  Wolf suddenly called to him.  “Player, can I see you for a moment.”  Joe sat down in one of the front row seats, Wolf took a seat next to him.  “You know that since Bull is gone, I’m now Squadron Commander.”

   “Hell of a way to get a promotion,” said Joe.

   “Yeah,” Wolf said sadly.  “In any case, I need to name a second, in case something happens.”

   Joe gave Wolf a curious look.  “And you want me?” he asked.  Wolf nodded.  “Whoa, I thought that went to second in rank.”

   “It’s whomever I choose,” said Wolf.  “That’s the way its always been that way in the Freespacers.”

   “More tradition,” Joe muttered.

   “Yup,” said Wolf.

   “But why me,” Joe whined.  “Just about anyone else is better qualified.”

   “Nah,” Wolf shook his head.  “Player, with the exception of Eishtmo, you are the best pilot I’ve ever seen.  Hell, given time, you could become even better than Eish.”  Wolf looked right into Joes’ eyes.  “I want you to be second in command, no one else.  Will you do it?”

   Joe closed his eyes and sighed.  “What do I have to do?”

*    *    *

   “Cut it out!” yelled Joe.  He watched as Ma’ka’s fighter charged into an oncoming wing of Shivans.

   “I will avenge Vasuda!” Ma’ka cried.

   “All fighters,” Command called.  “The Vasudans are sending armed transports to deal with the Shivan threat.  We are also sending a wing of freighters to resupply them.”

   “Copy that Command,” said Eishtmo.

   “Gamma one, stand down,” Joe said as he tried to pull up next to Ma’ka’s Hercules.

   “Begone Terran,” Ma’ka said.  “I will not be denied.”

   “More Shivans coming in,” Lucy cried.

   Joe dodged around the various Shivan fighters and bombers.  Ma’ka was always in his sights, his guns glaring as they ate into each enemy fighter in turn.  “Cover those transports,” Joe ordered.  “I’ll try to get Gamma one to join us.”

   “Good luck,” said Eishtmo.

   “Two Shivan cruisers arriving!” yelled Command.

   “****!  Just what we need,” said Roach.

   Ma’ka spun around and charged toward the newly arrived Cain cruisers.  Joe dumped more power into his engines and played catch up.  “Gamma one, you are ordered to stand down!” he yelled.

   “I will not,” said Ma’ka.  “This is my quest.”

   “Damn it!” Joe cried.  “Getting yourself killed is no way to avenge your loss.”

   “He’s right,” said Eishtmo.  “I had to learn that the hard way.”³

   “Listen to Eishtmo if you won’t listen to me,” said Joe.

   “Never,” said Ma’ka.

   “Don’t make me stop you,” Joe said angrily.  He kicked in his afterburners and edged closer to the Vasudan’s fighter.

   “You will not fire on me,” said Ma’ka.  “You do not have the will.”

   “Perhaps, but I can do this.”  Joe charged at Ma’ka.  In the middle of the chaos of the raging battle, Joe rammed Ma’ka’s fighter.  The collision warning flashed on, the hull indicator taking a two percent hit.  Joe waited a moment then called to Ma’ka.  “You said I earned it, now return to base, you are relieved.”

   Ma’ka looked shocked at Joe.  “You hit me,” he said with disbelief.

   “Gamma one, jump out now!”

   “As you wish, Lieutenant,” Ma’ka said and his fighter jumped out.

   “Command,” said Joe.  “Gamma one is having an apparent weapons malfunction.  He is returning to the Bastion.”

   “Understood,” said Command.

   “The two Cains just jumped out,” said Lucy.

   “The Cain and Abel have jumped to Sirius,” said Command.  “We are now alerting our forces there.”

   Joe pulled around and targeted the nearest Shivan bomber, bringing his new  Banshee laser to bare on the little bugger.  After a few shots, the Nephilim bomber soon exploded in a bright fireball.

   “Pilots,” Command boomed.  “The Vasudans are sending in the Mecross to help secure the area.  Stay with the Mecross until additional fighters can be sent to relieve your post.”

   Joe turned in time to see the Aten cruiser jump in through the node.  “Gamma, protect the Mecross.  Alpha, let’s kick some ass,” he said.

   “Music to my ears,” yelled Roach.

   “That’s because you’re tone deaf,” retorted Lucy.

   Joe smiled.  ‘At least they’re not trying to kill each other,’ he thought to himself.  He pulled up behind another Shivan and began blasting away.  The lock signal went off, indicating Joe had a lock on the Basilisk.  With a quick punch, a swarm of Hornets shot themselves forward, the streaks of the four missiles twisting into the Shivan’s hull.

   “Where are they all coming from?” asked Gamma three.

   “Who cares?” said Roach.  “As long as we send them to hell!”

   Joe spun around and began carving into another of the endless black fighters.

   “****,” yelled Lucy.  “More bogeys coming in.”

   “Command,” Joe said.  “Where’s those extra fighters?”

   “They’re busy at the moment,” said Command.

   Eishtmo shook his head.  “Reinforcements are always busy.”

   “AHHHHHHH,” screamed Gamma four.

   Joe watched as Gamma four’s fighter spun out and exploded.  “Maybe I shouldn’t have sent Ma’ka home,” he muttered.

   “It was for the best,” said Eishtmo.

   “This is Theta,” said the transport pilot.  “We are jumping out.”

   “Thank god,” said Roach.  “Now I can concentrate on killing Shivans.”

   Lucy sneered at him.  “What were you doing before, sleep flying?”

   “Ha ha,” said Roach.

   “I am taking heavy fire,” said Gamma two.  “Please assist.”

   “I got ya,” said Joe.  He targeted the Shivan on Gamma two’s tail and began wailing on the fighter.

   “Thank you Terran.”

   “No problem.”

   “This is Zeta wing,” said Zeta one.  “You guys order a pizza?”⁴

   “You’re late,” said Eishtmo.  “No tip for you.”

   “Let’s clean up these bastards and go home,” said Joe as his target burst into flames.

*    *    *

   “I’m sorry,” Joe said as he sat next to Ma’ka.

   The Vasudan looked at him.  “You have no reason to be sorry.  I was not in my mind.”

   “We all have days like that,” said Eishtmo.  “Sometimes more than one.”  He took a sip from his glass.  “The pain will dull eventually, but it will take awhile.”

   “If it dulls, then it is forgotten,” said Rock.  “And this can never be forgotten.”

   “Some things are better forgotten,” said Coyote.

   “No,” said Rock.  “To forget is for the event never to have happened.”

   Suddenly, Ma’ka spoke in his natural voice, the translator off.  All the Vasudans turned and looked at him shock.  So did Eishtmo.

   “You can’t be serious?” Eishtmo said.

   “I am,” responded Ma’ka.

   Joe looked at the Eishtmo.  “What are you talking about?”

   “Ma’ka wants to declare a, uh,” Eishtmo looked for the words.  “A blood oath on the Lucifer.”⁵

   “It is the highest form of revenge,” said Rock.  “Once made, only extraordinary circumstances can undo it.”

   “I’m surprised your whole species doesn’t do that,” said Fox.

   “To do so, would be suicide,” said Gamma three.  “Once declared, one must take every measure to ensure that it is fulfilled, or that they die trying.”

   “Ma’ka, you don’t want to do this,” said Eishtmo with concern.

   “I will, and I must,” said the Vasudan.

   “Well,” said Coyote.  “If he’s going to do it, why don’t we all do it.”

   “Say what?” said Roach.

   “You heard me,” said Coyote.  “We all have some reason to want to destroy the Lucifer, so let’s make it official.”

   “This isn’t exactly official,” said Wolf.  “In fact, it’s plain crazy.”

   Joe looked a Wolf.  “Well, why not.  If we weren’t crazy, we wouldn’t have signed up in the first place.”  Joe slapped the table.  “I’m in.”

   The others began voicing their willingness to join.  Wolf shook his head.  “You’re all crazy.  But that’s why I love ya.  Count me in.”

   “Love?” asked Rock.

   “Another figure of speech,” said Roach.

   Suddenly the intercomm system began blareing.  “Freespacer Alpha wing, report to the flight deck for immediant scramble!” the voice screamed.

   “Ah hell,” yelled Roach.  The rest of Alpha wing leapt out of their chairs and rushed out the door.  Wolf followed them out but went the other direction, probably to get news on what was going on.

   People rushed around the flight deck.  Four Valkyries sat already attached to the launch claws, ready for immediant launch.  Joe shot up the ladder and quickly buckled into his seat.  “So what’s going on anyway?” he asked.

   “I’m sure we’ll know soon enough,” said Eishtmo.

   “You got that right,” Wolf’s voice came over the comm.  “As soon as you’re ready, launch and jump out.”

   “Alpha one, ready for launch,” Joe said without hesitation.  The claw lifted the fighter up and began moving forward, without even reaching the ceiling.  Joe shot through the blue glow of the hanger force field.

   “Alpha wing,” said Wolf.  “The Beta Aquilae installation is under attack.  Protect it at all costs!”

   “Roger that,” said Roach.

   Joe punched his jump drive and after a few moments, fell back into normal space.  He saw Beta Aquilae, then out of the corner of his eye, he saw its attacker.  “Holy ****,” he said.

   “What?” asked Lucy as she jumped in.  Then she saw it, the black and grey body of the Lucifer.  “Oh ****.”⁶

   “I didn’t expect I’d have to live by that vow so damn soon,” said Roach.

   “Don’t worry,” said Eishtmo.  “We hadn’t even begun the cermony.”

   “This is...” the signal from Beta Aquilae faded in and out.  “...badly damaged...”

   “Beta Aquilae, this is Alpha wing, what is your status?” asked Joe.  He already knew the installation was doomed, but he had to do something.

   “Alpha...” the comm went staticy for a moment.  “...see you.  It doesn't look like we're going to make it.  We...ejecting ....pods.  Protect them.”

   “Alright everybody, take a pod,” said Joe.  Joe slammed on his afterburners and shot out toward the newly arrived escape pods.  As he neared the small box, the Lucifer fired another beam of fire at Beta Aquilae.  The station sparked, flames shooting out of  the many of the openings in the hull.

   “We have incoming fighters,” said Lucy.

   “Cover the escape pods Alpha,” said Command.

   Joe targeted his pods’ nearest attacker and began dogging him.  He looked back for a moment to see the Lucifer fire another shot into Beta Aquilea.  The station couldn’t take the it any more and exploded.  The shock wave nudged Joe’s fighter a little, but didn’t do any other damage.

   “My god, Beta Aquilae has been destroyed!” said Eishtmo.

   Joe swallowed and contiued to hammer on the Shivan fighter.  The green blobs of light from his Promethus laser ate away at the Basilisk.  The Shivan weaved to the left, and charged another escape pod.  Roach took offense to the attack and fired a Phoenix V at the attacker.  Joe pulled away and targeted another Basilisk as his first target exploded.

   “Alpha wing, we are sending the PVD Hope to secure the area,” said Command.  “Escort the escape pods into the Hopes’ hangerbay.”

   “Oh, this just keeps getting better and better,” muttered Roach.

   “Shut up and do your job,” said Lucy.

   “Damn it woman,” said Roach.  “If I hadn’t been drunk, I wouldn’t have this job.”

   Another Shivan died a fiery death in front of Joe.  He pulled around to his charge.  “Well that explains everything,” he said.

   “The Hope is warping in,” said Lucy.

   Joe looked up in time to see the Typhon destroyer slip out of the subspace vortex.

   “Alpha wing,” said the Hope’s comm officer.  “We are launching Cancer wing to assist you.”

   “Copy that,” said Joe.  He turned to a Shivan that dared to target his charge, but the Hope’s guns took the nasty bug down.

   “That’s the last of them,” said Eishtmo.

   “Alpha wing, Cancer wing is here to help,” said the distinctly human voice of Cancer one.

   “Bravo, is that you?” Roach asked.

   “I was wondering how long it would take you to reconize us,” said Bravo.

   “All fighters,” the Hope announced.  “The Shivans are attacking the Comm center, stop them.”

   “Back to the grind,” said Bravo.

   Joe targeted the nearest Shivan and charged ahead.  His guns began blazing as he got into range.  The Shivan dove to escape.  Joe kicked in his afterburners to follow, but he didn’t notice another bogey pull behind him.

   “Watch your back!” yelled Bravo.

   Joe turned to see his attacker begin firing away.  He dove down, afterburners glowing to escape his attacker.  “God damn it!” Joe yelled as his fighter rocked from the inpacts.

   “Hold on Player,” said Cancer two.  “I’m coming.”

   Joe looked back to see a Vasudan Thoth fighter launch a missile into the Scorpion.  “Thanks,” said Joe.

   “Not a problem,” said Cancer two.

   Joe pulled up to the next bomber and began wailing away.  The Shaitan turned and twisted away from the green beams.  “You’re not getting away that easily.”

   “Damn it, get’em off me!” screamed Bravo.

   Joe looked to his left to see Bravo’s Thoth dive away from a Shivan Dragon.  Joe retargeted the Dragon, took a few more pot shots at the bomber, then went to assist Bravo.  “I’m coming, hold on.”

   “We will be in postion in three minutes,” said the Hope.

   “Hurry up Player,” Bravo yelled.  “I’m taking a beating.”

   Joe lined up behind the Dragon and began firing away.  The Shivan pulled off of Bravo and turned on it’s new attacker.  “You’re clear Bravo,” said Joe.

   “Thanks Player.” 

   Joe looked up as Bravo hit his afterburners.  Suddenly, a streak of white streamed up and slammed into the Vasudan fighter.  There wasn’t even a scream as Bravo’s fighter went up in flames.  Joe fixated on the fireball for a moment, long enough for the Dragon to let loose a volley of fire on him.

   “Watch yourself kid!” Eishtmo screamed.

   Joe shook himself and pulled hard on the stick in an attempt to shake the Shivan.  “Bravo just went down,” he said.

   “Yeah, I know,” said Eishtmo.

   Joe hit his afterburners and dove down towards the Hope.  The Shivan didn’t stop the chase.  Joe dropped in and began skiming the hull.  “Hope, this is Alpha one,” he said.  “How about giving me some fire support?”

   “As you wish,” said the Hope.  A pair of the Hopes’ laser turrets turned and began blasting away, just behind Joe’s fighter.  In moments, the Dragon disappeared from Joe’s targeting display.

   “Thank you,” said Joe.

   “It was our pleasure,” said the Hope’s comm officer.  “We are now in postion, clean up any remaining hostiles and return to base.”⁷

---------

1 – Not a great title, but it’s descriptive at least.  While I like the bulk of the chapter titles, I’ve been turned off of actual chapters and my last large story (over 100 Word pages, longer than this by a lot) doesn’t even have them.

2 – A great pilot, a heck of a hacker AND he understands the most complicated language humans have ever encountered?  Hell of a guy.  I do finally mention what he was reading at the beginning, but by now who would remember it?

3 – Again, no idea what Quinn is talking about here.  This sequence actually isn’t too bad, and makes sense, which is a surprise to me.  Joe isn’t nearly as inconsistent as he was in other stories, Ma’ka’s reaction is natural and reasonable, and I like how it played out.  Could it have been beter?  Yes.  But it’s not terrible.

4 – The pizza gag is silly, but fitting.  Again, another mission that is all banter and no action.  The fact they are all like this I think is the result of me visualizing the mission, writing the dialog but never bothering to write the visualization.  It’s a problem I still have and it’s probably why it takes so long for me to write.

5 –The Vasudan “blood oath” thing will probably get dropped from a rewrite, at least from the Freespacers.  It’s kind of pointless though it’s supposed to show Joe has completely recanted his anit-Vasudan thing, even though he only showed it for a chapter and a half.

6 – The Lucifer needs to be more menacing, two brief encounters isn’t enough, but that’s all FS really has for it.  The ship comes in, blows stuff up, leaves.  So I have to work up a deeper feeling of dread amongst the pilots after the Galatea goes down whenever they see it (which I think this is the last time until the end).

7 – It’s hard to come up with anything new to talk about.  The same problems persist throughout the story, so I’ll try not to comment on them again.  However, a lot of the subplots pretty much disappear after the Galatea goes down and the plot focuses more on FS1’s original story.  Which is both good and bad.  Good because what I was writing wasn’t that good, bad because there really isn’t much to FS1’s story.

[Eishtmo]

Something I noticed about the story, and I really never thought about it until now:  There's no memorial service scene.  All these dead pilots and people, never once in the story is there any kind of funeral or memorial or anything.  I suppose I could try to rationalize it, but I'm not even sure WHY there isn't one, there just isn't.  You would think given all the other cliche's I've used in this thing, there would be one, but nope.  I don't even think I can fit one in, nor do I really want to.  As much as a memorial service is an important event, often it's the moments just before and after that are more important.  Perhaps I'll make mention, in passing, of such an event, but I won't ever write one.  On with the story.

Chapter 10:
The Ancient Light¹

   “We have lost ground to the Shivans in Antares and Sirius,” continued Admiral Shima.  “The number of systems between the Shivans and Earth are dwindling fast.”  Behind the Admiral appeared a node map.  Shivan held systems seemed to fill the map.  “Fortunately, we were able to save the Beta Aquilae communications terminal.  Aside from that single post, we have lost all contact with the outer colonies.”

   Joe rubbed his eyes.  The last few days had been a chaotic run, and this Command Briefing had rudely interrupted his sleep.

   “Tired?” asked Lucy.  Joe nodded.  “Me too.”

   “At 2230 yesterday, the comm terminal received the following transmission,” Shima stepped away from the main screen.  A garbled picture of a Vasudan appeared, the translator working on its speech.

   “...are a group of Vasudan refugees seeking assistance of any Terran ships.  We were on board a science outpost when it was destroyed by the Shivans.  We managed to escape to an uncharted planet.  It is uninhabited, but we uncovered evidence of an ancient civilization of an unknown origin.  After careful study we have determined that it is not of Terran, Vasudan or Shivan in origin.”

   “Great, more aliens,” moaned Roach.²  Lucy elbowed him angrily.

   The communication continued.  “What we have determined is that this world seems to have been destroyed by Shivan weapons.  This is difficult to believe, considering the age of the remains, but the evidence is conclusive.  What scanning equipment we had managed to locate a storage device of some sort.  It is heavily protected, which suggests it stores something quite valuable.  Initial translations indicate it may hold information about the Shivans and more specifically, the Lucifer itself.”

   Everyone began muttering at once.  There was excitement and disbelief echoing from the crowd.  “Pipe down people,” said Spook.

   “What we ask is for rescue and escort away from this planet.  Our scientists are not normally a superstitious group, but having one’s homeworld destroyed tends to shake you beliefs.  Please send an armed rescue as soon as possible to these coordinates.”  The transmission ended.

   Admiral Shima retook her position in front of the room.  “Along with that transmission, the Vasudan’s managed to send us data relating to their find.  Command has classified the information, but has ordered the Bastion to organize an effort to rescue the refugees.”  The Admiral took a deep breath.  “Because of the recent Shivan advances, I can only ask for volunteers to perform this mission.”³

   “I wonder who’s gonna get volunteered,” Roach said rhetorically.

   “I bet I know,” said Joe and he stood up.  “Sir,” he said out loud.

   “Yes Lieutenant,” said the Admiral.

   “I believe I can speak for the entire Freespacer squadron in saying that we would be more than happy to volunteer.”

   Admiral Shima looked at Joe with disbelief.  “Is this so?”

   “Yes sir,” said Wolf.  “I will defiantly go, even if the others do not.”

   “I cannot let you go alone,” said Ma’ka.  “I have sworn to it.”

   The rest of the Freespacers stood up in support of the offer, except Lucy.

   “Ensign Shima,” the Admiral said.  “Are you the lone decenter?”

   Lucy took a deep breath and stood up.  “No sir, I am not.”

   Admiral Shima smiled at her daughter.  “I didn’t think you were.  Very well.  The 6th Freespacers will be part of the rescue operation.  Freespacers, stay here, everyone else, you are dismissed.”


*    *    *

   “Where the hell are they all coming from!” Roach screamed.

   Joe watched as Roach’s fighter shot in front of him, desperately dodging a persistent Shivan.  “I got him,” Joe said as he jumped on the Scorpion with everything he had.  The green glow of his Prometheus’ dug into the light fighter, eventually tearing it apart.

   “Thanks,” Roach called.  Joe watched the Ulysses dive away for another target.

   “Command,” Joe said.  “Any chance we can get a little more help here?”

   “Negative Alpha one,” Commands voice boomed.  “We have no available forces.  You are on your own.”

   “You’d think they’d support the mission to save the world a little more,” Coyote said with disgust.

   “That’s Command for ya,” Eishtmo said.  “Sometimes I wonder if they ever know what’s going on.”

   Joe snapped his fighter around and faced another Shatian bomber.  After a short lock time, he let loose a cluster of Hornets that knocked the Shivan for a loop.  A quick volley of laser fire finished the alien.

   “This is Omega two, we’ve finished docking operations.”

   “Good work,” said Wolf.  “Rossetta, get out of here.”

   “Don’t have to tell us twice,” said the Rossetta’s comm officer.  The Faustus powered up it’s jump drives and slipped into subspace.

   “Alright,” said Wolf.  “Alpha, Beta, cover Omega one.  Gamma, Dogs, let’s take care of two.”

   “As you wish,” said Ma’ka.

   “Someone help me,” yelled Fox.  “I got a pair of them on me.”

   “I got ya,” said Hound.
   Joe turned onto the tail of another Shatian, when the bomber suddenly jumped out.  “What the hell?”  Joe said he followed the
bomber as it entered the subspace vortex with laser fire.

   “I guess we’re too much for ‘em,” Coyote announce with pride.

   “Massive jump signature detected!” Lucy almost screamed.  “It’s the Lucifer!”⁴

   “Great, that’s all we need,” moaned Roach.

   Joe eye’s widened as he remember the oath they had made.  “Ma’ka,” he started.

   “It is alright,” Ma’ka said quickly.  “This mission may lead to the Lucifer’s ultimate destruction.  Let us continue this mission.”

   “Easier said than done,” said Hound.  “Fighters incoming, lots of them.”

   “Goody,” said Roach.

   “Stay on your transports pilots,” Wolf said.  “If you have to, use yourselves to stop incoming missiles, the shields can take.”

   “If you they haven’t failed already,” Joe piped in.  He turned onto the nearest Shivan fighter, a Basilik, and charged towards him, firing all the way.  The heavy fighter turned away, and Joe followed, his lasers leaving a trail in the sky.

   “I wish I was in a fighter,” Rock said, dispare coming through the translator.

   “I’m glad you’re not,” said Lucy.  “A Lilith class cruiser has just joined the fray.”

   “Jazz, Metal, Hound, and Fox, take out that cruiser,” ordered Wolf.  “Clear us a path.”⁵

   “Roger that,” said Hound.  “Let’s go kill some Shivans.”

   “AHHHHHH!” screamed Beta two as the Vasudan’s bomber exploded.

   “Damn it!” yelled Joe at the scream.  “Babe, cover Rock’s ass, we might need him to finish off the Lilith.”

   “Freespacers,” Command said.  “We have confirmed that a Lilith class cruiser designated the Zenith is in the area, be advised.”

   “It’s already here you idiot,” Roach said angrily.  “I swear that’s the last time I get drunk near a recruiting center.”

   “Roach, watch your six,” Lucy suddenly cried out.

   Joe turned in time to see a Scorpion began to bear down on Roach’s fighter.  Joe hit his afterburners and launched a cluster of Hornets into the Shivan fighter.  It exploded almost instantly.  “I got ya covered Roach,” Joe said.  “Next time, be a little more careful.”

   “I should have done that the first time,” Roach said with a huff.

   Eishtmo chuckled slightly.  “If I wasn’t fighting for my life, this would be really entertaining.”

   “Maybe we should write a book about it when the war’s over?” Coyote suggested.

   “Who says we’ll live that long?” Lucy said snidely.

   “I will avenge Vasuda!” cried Metal.  Joe looked out toward the Zenith, now only a couple of clicks away.  He couldn’t see what was happening, but the transmissions said it all.

   “What do you think you’re doing, you crazy Zod,” Hound said.  Suddenly, the Zenith exploded, the impact of the Medusa bomber puncturing the hull, dooming the cruiser.

   “That’s it!” Wolf yelled.  “No more dying on my watch!”

   “AHHHHHHH!” screamed Gamma three as her fighter went up in flames.

   “Looks like you spoke too soon,” said Eishtmo with a chuckle.

   “Shut up,” Wolf said angrily.

   “This is Omega one, we are jumping out.  See you in Altair.”

   “Concentrate on protecting Omega two,” Wolf said.

   Joe turned to see Omega one jump out with Omega two close behind.  A lock alarm suddenly flashed, and before Joe could react, his fighter shook with a missile impact.  “****,” he yelled as he forced his fighter down and away from the Shivan.  With a quick flick of his fingers, shield energy moved to the back quarter where he had been hit.

   “We have reached the subspace node.  Jumping out!” Omega two said triumphantly.

   “Pilots, this mission is finished.  Jump back to base,” Command said.

   “You don’t have to tell me twice,” said Lucy.

   Joe fired a few more pot shots at the Shivan that had shot him, and hit the jump controls.  “I hope we don’t have to do that again.”

   “You will, kid,” said Eishtmo.  “You will.”⁶

*    *    *

   “What the hell is this?” Eishtmo cried out.

   “Something wrong Eish?” Lucy asked as she climbed the stepladder into the new Ursa bomber.

   “You’re damn right there is,” Eishtmo almost shouted.  “I was trained to fly a fighter, not a goddamned capital ship!”

   “Calm down Eishtmo,” Wolf said.  “They’re the only ship that can carry the Harbinger bomb.”

   “I bet this thing flies like a brick,” Roach said as he strapped into the cockpit.

   “Excuse me sir,” a red shirted crewman said to Eishtmo.  On a cart behind the crewman was a massive cylinder, some three meters long, and almost a meter in diameter.

   “Sorry,” Eishtmo said as he stepped out of the way.  He studied the bomb as it went by.  “I wish we had those when we took on the Savior.”

   “Well now you get your chance to relive history,” Joe said.  “So are you coming or not.”

   “Yeah, yeah, I’m coming,” Eishtmo said.  He climbed into the cockpit and strapped in.  “This is still the biggest bastard I’ve ever flown.”

   “Makes you wonder where they come up with these things,” Roach said.⁷

   Joe smiled as he began his pre-flight checklist.  He looked up for second and saw some new Vasudans climb into their fighters.  “What I want to know is where they the new Vasudans come from.”

   Ma’ka looked up towards Joe.  “We all wish to avenge Vasuda,” he said.  “There are probably a hundred others just waiting to join us.”

   “And they die trying,” Roach interjected.

   “It’s because they aren’t drinking their Repellent,” Eishtmo said with a laugh.

   “We do not believe in such silly things,” said Rock.

   “Then why do you always have some?”  Lucy asked.

   Rock slipped on his helmet.  “Well, it certainly could not hurt.”

   Joe chuckled.  “Makes a sense to me.”  Joe closed the canopy on the massive Ursa bomber.  “Command, this is Alpha one, I am ready for launch.”

   “Copy that Alpha one, we’re loading you on the catapult now.”⁸

*    *    *

   “Bombs away!” yelled Joe.  He hit the launch button and a pair of the new Harbinger bombs at the Anvil.

   “Let’s clear out people,” Eishtmo said.  “We’ll be torn to shreds if we don’t.”

   “Well, you’re the expert,” said Lucy.

   Joe pulled around and made tracks for Omega one.  “What have you guys got left?” he asked.

   “I wish they would have given us more bombs,” Roach said.  “We could defiantly take it down then.”

   “They’re saving them for the Lucifer,” Lucy said.  “Weren’t you paying attention during the briefing?”

   “That’s what you’re for, Babe.”

   “You’re asking for it,” Lucy said with a growl.

   “We’re under attack,” screamed the pilot of Omega two.

   “Beta three, take Leo two, I will take one,” ordered Rock.

   Joe’s lock warning began flashing.  He snapped the stick, only to watch the sky slowly roll to the side.  “Damn it all,” he yelled as he hit his afterburners and dropped a countermeasure.  The missile took the bait, and shook Joe’s bomber.  “That was too close.”

   “I told you these things suck,” Roach said.

   “Oh shut up,” Lucy demanded.

   Joe yanked on the stick as hard as he could, and began firing as soon as the Thoth fighter came into view.  The green blasts of light flew out towards the fighter, missing as the agile Vasudan fighter spun and dodged.  Joe made a low growl and fired off an Interceptor missile, which sent the fighter into a spin.  The slight delay gave Joe just enough time to pound on a little more.  The Thoth recovered itself, and tried to pull away, just in time for one of Eishtmo’s Interceptors to destroy the nimble little fighter.

   “Thanks,” said Joe.

   “You know what’s really sad,” said Eishtmo.

   “What’s that?”

   “Roach is right.”

   “See?” Roach taunted Lucy.

   “AHHHHHH,” screamed Gamma four, her Hercules spinning and finally exploding.

   Joe turned to see the fighter turn into a fire ball.  Then he saw why.  Instead of directly protecting Omega one, Gamma wing had been attacking the turrets of the Anvil.  “What the hell are you doing?” Joe yelled.

   “We are avenging Vasuda,” Ma’ka said calmly.

   “What’s going on?” said Eishtmo.

   “They’re attacking the Anvil’s turrets,” Joe said quickly.

   “AHHHHHHH,” screamed Gamma two.⁹

   “Damn it kid, call them off,” Eishtmo cried.

   Joe look confused for a moment, then he remembered that he was in second in command.  “Gamma wing, cease your attack, return to defending Omega one,” he ordered.

   “As you wish,” Ma’ka said.

   “Beta three, assist Gamma wing,” Joe quickly said.

   “Yes sir,” replied Beta three.

   “Player, watch your six!” screamed Roach.

   Joe didn’t even look, he just shoved the stick down and slammed on the afterburners.  A heat-seeker flew behind him, losing the heat lock.  Joe circled up and locked onto the Horus that had fired on him, and pelted him with laser fire and his final Interceptor, destroying the fighter.

   Omega two’s voice suddenly came online.  “We're jumping out now.”

   “Beta assist Gamma,” Joe said.

   “Understood,” said Rock.

   “Don’t bother,” said Eishtmo.  “Omega one has made it.”

   “It looks like we made it.  Jumping to Deneb,” Omega one said.

   “All fighters, give us a hand against the Anvil,” Joe ordered.  “Alright Alpha, let’s make history.”  Joe turned his bomber toward the Typhon, only to watch the mighty vessel jump into subspace.

   “Damn it!” yelled Roach.  “Now I’ll never get in the history books.”

   “Don’t worry, you will,” said Lucy.

   “You really think so?”

   “Yeah, as the dirtiness man alive,” Lucy said with a laugh.

   Joe chuckled.  “Let’s go home people, our work here is done.”

---------

1 –Some of these chapter titles would make great campaign names, don’t you think?

2 – Roach shouldn’t say this line.  He never came across to me as someone who would say something like this.  Either it’ll be another pilot or possibly Joe.  I still need to work on rebuilding him.

3 – Volunteers, this time actual ones.  It’s silly, so I think I’ll drop it entirely.

4 – Oh, it was more than twice.  Still needs more menace though.

5 – “Take out that cruiser?”  IT’S AN EFFING LILITH!  I do love that command confirms the Lilith is in the sector AFTER it shows up on the battlefield.  I can’t remember if that actually happened to me or not.  Been a while.

6 – This mission is certainly better than most.  More combat descriptions throughout, even if they are still a bit sparse.  I think a lot of it can be attributed to the fact that I was writing more, so it is getting better.  Still not good, but better than utter crap.

7 – In post-story development of Roach’s character, he ends up being the son of the CEO of one of the fighter manufactures.  More recently, I have that his above average skills in a cockpit come from test flying fighters with and without his dad’s permission.  So when he says a line like this, he may already know.

8– If I had spent a bit longer on this scene, it would be the most informational one in the entire story.  It introduces the Ursa, the Harbinger, makes note of where the replacement Vasudans come from , and references the Savior again.  Consider that they didn’t have high yield bombs during that (some 6 years prior), so they basically took it out with Stilettos, Orion gun fire and one pilot.

9 – It’s very hard to come up with pithy things to say when you’re dying.  These two Vasudans are no different.