[Marcov]

In this thread I'll be posting a short story every once in a while.  

YOU are also allowed to post short stories here for people to read.

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1000 hours. 2374.

The Battle of Gamma Draconis takes place. The GTD Messana looms overhead as nearly a hundred fighters and bombers are busy in a hot battle.

The Messana's bridge is a vast hall, about 120 meters from side to side, and 80 meters from floor to ceiling - at the middle stands Rear Admiral Guenner Klich on a thirty foot platform, overlooking all activity in the bridge.

At his left, dozens of targetting computers - operated by the destroyer's gunners - stand by. The gunners are all busy, voicing and voicing out what is currently happening and which targets they should fire at.

"Lasso 5, what've you got there?" asked a gunner.

Lasso 5, a newbie in the Messana, seemed to be shivering in his seat.

"What? Answer me, dammit!" the worried gunner, identified as Lasso 4 voiced out.

LASSO 5: "A--a---friendly---"

LASSO 4: "What?"

LASSO 5: "I hit a friendly!"

LASO 4: "Oh, sure! With what?"

LASSO 5: "An anti-----anti-fighter beam!"

4: "So? Focus, dammit! We're handling about fourty-six rebel bombers in sight! Back to work!"

5: "No---no!---no!!!"

4: "What?!"

5: "He's---------not lost------any of his hull integrity!"

4: "Ha. Fairy tales. Get back to work o we'll be run do--"

5: "NOO!!! He's got---BEAMS!!! BEAMS, COMMAND!!!! BEAMS!!!!!!!"

This caught the attention of Admiral Klich.

"Lieutenant Torner, investigate that mad gunner quickly!", Klich shouted.

"What the hell is happening?" the officer asked.

But before Lasso 5 would speak any word, he view the target - Alpha 1 - in Lasso 5's targetting computer.

"Oh-my-God..." even the experienced Lieutenant was shocked at what Alpha 1 was doing.

"What is it, Torner?" Klich asked, raising his voice.

"Alpha 1 appears to be charging a BEAM, sir!" Torner said, his body shaking.

"That is impossible! He's only piloting a Hercules!"

But the entire bridge fell silent, again attracting the attention of the responsible Admiral. Slowly, very slowly, his head, shivering, turned to see the massive window in front, where all activity could be seen...

He couldn't believe it...

Alpha 1's fighter had vanished in what should be the energy sphere of a beam cannon about to fire.

Then, a massive beam shot at the rebel destroyer, the Activist...like a gigantic meteorite hitting a cursed planet...and tore through its proud hull.
...at what seemed like years to the entire GTVA battlegroup in the Battle, the Activist was in SHAMBLES...in merely seconds.

"The rebels are retreating, sir," his secretary announced.

All pilots, gunners, mechanics, officers, and the proud, high Admiral himself could do nothing but stare at what happened...

[watsisname]

LASSO 5: "I hit a friendly!"

LASO 4: "Oh, sure! With what?"

LASSO 5: "An anti-----anti-fighter beam!"

4: "So?

That made me laugh right there.

[Marcov]

-------------------------

Inside a small, closed room amidst a complex matrix of thousands of machines, tubing, spacecraft, communications devices, computers, and metals, which made up the mighty GTD Perfection sat two officers.

"So, what is your report?" asked the leading officer, Captain J. T. Eagles.

Attempting to control his fear, Private 1st Class J . T. Cocks had finally managed to say the sentence he needed to.

"Sir, we have failed to protect the convoy. A large squad of NTF fighters took down the best of us and..."

With all the confidence he could muster, the inexperienced private was even interrupted by a thundering blow of his Commanding Officer.

Capt. Eagles had gone furious. His hand struck the table with all his might and rage. Eagles was an immensely strong man, whose strength nearly split the table in two.

One officer shook in anger, and the other shook in shock and doubt. "YOUU------FAILLED??!! This--IS IMPOSSIBLE!!!" shouted the Captain. At an instant, Major Nathan Hawk's attention was drawn to the scenario.

As the mechanical door slid open, a wary Major Hawk, with all his posture and confidence, was surprised at what he'd seen.

"Alright, what's the situtation?" asked the well-renowed Major Hawk.

"These two--COWARDS--have failed in their damn mission!!!"

The raging captain could not control his anger even while facing his superior.

"Alright, captain, you may consider yourself out of conduct. Meet me now at my office pronto," the proud Major announced.

However, all the anger and pain that Captain Eagles had experienced turned into fear; it was as if he was about to burst, like some sort of crazy man, running around in panic.

"What's it, captain?"

Captain Eagles had, with all his strength, spilled the cup of coffee he previously drank down an exhaust tube.

The ship was disabled, all weapons jammed, and nothing left for it. The ship was still intact, though, but good as nothing indeed. The immense effort and budget spent for the warship, which took six years, would be finished off by a furious man known as Captain J. T. Eagles.

[Marcov]

---------------------------

"All bandits have been cleared off, Command!" reported Alpha 2.

"You may return to base, Alpha and Beta. We shall send a repair transport to mend the Ferocious' subspace drive," dictated Allied Command.

In an instant, the eight courageous fighters, just fighting off a large Neo-Terran force. The GTC Ferocious, a Fenris-class cruiser, however, was disabled by disruptor-armed Loki wings.

--GTC Ferocious, bridge--

The crew of the GTC Ferocious waited and waited. They were unable to warp out, and its commanding officer, Captain Hogarts, was beginning to feel anxious; out here, in a system where one would least expect friendlies helping out, they were likely to be ambushed and destroyed; with only a few turrets remaining, the Ferocious was vulnerable even to fighter attack.

"Request a status update, Command, we do seem a bit unsafe in this sparsely-populated system," complained Hogarts.

"The repair team will arrive in about thirty minutes. We are gathering up the necessary materials needed for the mending of your vessel."

Suddenly, Hogarts, half furious with the incompetence of the GTVA (he liked to complain about how inefficient the tactics of Allied Command were), but was also half fearing the existence of a sudden ambush, started to realize that the crew on the cruiser's bridge started to mutter about.

"What's the damn problem now?!" shouted the Captain, with the intense chatter around the bridge raising his anger all the more.

"We've been picking up somethin' big, Cap," said his second-in-command, Lieutenant Werner, with a veteran sort of voice.

"Seems to have the size of at least a corvette, sir!" he continued.

Suddenly, a great flashing mass appeared before them, its glaring shine blinding the bridge crew. Captain Hogarts immediately recognized it as a subspace transmission.

Out of it emerged an enormous gray mass, but in seconds the object, whatever it is, covered up the hole, casting out an eclipse-like effect. Lieutenant Werner was correct; it was, indeed, a corvette.

Swelling with relief, Hogarts sighed. But he was suspicious of Werner's anxious face.

"Captain, that ain't a friendly. It's a rebel warship!" declared Werner.

All the relief of Hogarts suddenly turned into fear, but inside the Terran Captain was also swelling with rage; "how inconsistent that Allied Command is! First, they let the Goliath die down by mere suicide attacks! Then, they didn't even mount an arrest operation for that damn Bosch! And, of course..." but Hogarts came back to reality. He was facing a mighty Deimos corvette here. And it was not friendly at all. The Ferocious was no match for this terror of a ship, and imprinted on its near-impenetrable hull plating marked; "GTCv Belisarius".

The Belisarius was the terror of many GTVA captains. It usually took down targets by surprise, decimating the defending ships of its main target with its four formidable beams, and then finally focusing all its firepower on the main target - once, it even managed to inflict moderate damage on a destroyer, the GTD Vindicator; in minutes, a huge rebel force swooped in, and the NTF managed to capture the huge Terran warship.

"Power up that main gun! Fire at the ship!" screamed Hogarts, panicking. The Ferocious' main beam cannon would inflict meager damage at the corvette.

As the flashing green column darted from the Ferocious towards the Belisarius, Vice-Commodre Erevus, the Belisarius' commanding officer, would do nothing but laugh.

"What a surprise, Captain!" said Erevus, hailing the Ferocious with his mockering voice.

"The Alliance will hunt you down and take your head, you fool!" cried the desperate Hogarts savagely.

"Oh, and so you want an answer, then?" said Erevus casually. "All right then, my followers, shoot those two thingies against our hapless victim."

Two spherical expansions of photon energy inflated off the Belisarius, and two great beams impacted the Ferocious, dealing a devastating blow.

"We've got 600 casualties, sir!" shouted a voice at the far corner of the bridge of the Fenris cruiser, but the Captain barely heard him as great tremors shook the ship.

"Abandon ship! Abandon ship, I command you!" Captain Hogarts cried. He had never raised his voice so loud before. Immediately the crew scattered along, hoping to save their lives, into the Ferocious' escape pod hangar.

"Oh, noes," blurted out Everus, "I won't let you elude this time, sir!"

All four of the Belisarius' beams struck at the dying warship. In a few seconds, the Ferocious cracked apart, and a great blast threw its debris everywhere.

"Mission complete," announced the Belisarius' C.O, slouching on his seat.


...TO BE CONTINUED.

[mmm99]

I like that last story cant wait for what hapens next.

[Colonol Dekker]

My short story..

Once upon a time in a distanTHE END.