| Author |
[Lith Ragond Story] Bad news for Ch 3 |
Da Dude
1st Rear Admiral
Joined: January 31, 2003
Posts: 94
|  Posted: 2003-07-04 11:01
don't write stories about genitically engineered babies... it reminds me of an episode of X files that gave me nightmares.
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the metaverse has you......
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Deathscythe
Admiral
Joined: November 30, 2002
Posts: 420
From: The netherlands
| Posted: 2003-07-04 12:02
Da dude its a story so shut up
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http://deathmut.myminicity.com/
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Lith Ragond
Cadet
Galactic Navy
Joined: November 25, 2001
Posts: 1854
| Posted: 2003-07-17 14:35
second chapter is nearly completion, sorry, been really lax on it, but i hope you guys will find it as enjoyable as the first, have to go to work, or else i would get it finished in an hour or so, but it will definently be up before i go to work tomorrow, maybe even tonight, anyway, sorry again for taking so much time.
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Lith Ragond
Cadet
Galactic Navy
Joined: November 25, 2001
Posts: 1854
| Posted: 2003-07-17 23:00
[revised] made a few tweaks here and there, not much, or probably very noticable.
Yes it took me ages, but i finally did it... different, i know, but i hope it is up to par with chapter 1
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Chapter 2: Emergence
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-----March 7, 2291 Lalande;
-----Patrol between Demarat and New Pakistan, 0202 Hours:
Lith was thinking hard to himself, mainly because he was feeling very lonely at the moment.
After the events of the Academy, Lith had become somewhat of a celebrity, but NOT in the good way. His name had been plastered all over the IGNN; “Halflings among us!” was the usual headline. During the summer after his graduation, he tried having fun, tried going to parties with Lews, but wherever he went, people always stared, and shied away from him. So after a month of that, he had given up and shut himself away in his Uncle Morad’s house. The Navy had graciously accepted him, with zero comment on his hybrid heritage, and told them room was available on a Struve Fleet Frigate. When Lith had heard that, his heart sank. Yet only a few days later, he received a communiqué from Navy HQ. In August of that year, he would be assigned to the Battle Cruiser Ghost, in the Lalande region. The Ghost was what was commonly referred to as a Lone Wolf, after the first ship of its kind. Its sole purpose was to act independently, and go anywhere. Each LW Class craft, was given a VERY specific mission, they varied from frontline scouting, to Top Secret. For the sake of security reasons, Lith was left uninformed of what his position would be, or what Ghost’s purpose was. The Ghost was a very well known ship among all the UGTO fleets, and especially among the LW Class vessels. It was the only ship to have a hull painted other than the UGTO standard, and it was black.
To say the least, the summer was endless, too much waiting, with nothing more to do than memorize the blueprints of his soon to be new ship, and commit to memory the astro-physical map of the border regions, and any neighboring enemy systems; of course along with detailed information of what each planet’s military capabilities were, and civic details.
Yet still that was not what he was dwelling on, Lith was dwelling on the fact that since he had came upon this ship at the end of the summer of ’88, Lith was the youngest crewman aboard. Oh sure, there were some younger kids than him, but they weren’t part of the crew. And because of this, the crew looked at him differently, especially because he was a half-ling. When first arriving on board while the ship was space-docked at Ocotat for the two month leave for the crew, he was systematically approached by near almost every person the Ghost would be the home to for its six year tour of duty. Each conversation was the same, asking about what it was like, if he heard voices, what he ate, how he peed, if he could do this or that. Finally they all realized he wasn’t much different from them, and since then, had left him alone.
Alone he was. Not a single friendship made for those three years. Except one… she had been a new recruit like him. She was a biologist… a genius really, and only at the age of 18; with multiple degrees, from multiple universities, on multiple planets. Which made Lith feel all that more uncomfortable around her. Even then, whatever semblance of a friendship could only be called that, a semblance. They might share a coffee, or lunch, have a conversation while passing through the corridors to their destination, but that was it. Her other friends found Lith appalling, and only abided his presence for his extreme talents and knowledge.
Lith shook his head as he stared out at the view of Lalande’s star. So beautiful and majestic… like her… he shook his head again. He couldn’t let feelings like that get in the way of his duties. Captain Moore had told Lith to take a week off from any crew responsibilities, yet Lith couldn’t do that; even after the Captain, and several other crewmen had found Lith huddled over maps and charts of Epsilon Eri… more particularly of Olaf. Somehow, somewhere, someone had found out WHERE Lith had been kept prisoner, and like all gossip, the news spread fast. It had angered Lith slightly, but what made him even more upset, is that they knew about his mother. A few had tried giving him comfort, those that weren’t turned away by his genetic differences, but he just pushed them away. He had told his mother he would return someday… over 17 years ago, he had promised in his own way, to himself, to return to Olaf.
The door to the viewing room slid open, and in walked a slim, attractive young woman. Just GREAT, Lith thought to himself, just what I need right now… HER.
Turning to greet her Lith smiled, “Well hi Shalon, I wasn’t really expecting anyone this late around here.”
Smiling back cutely at him, “Well Lith, I wasn’t really expecting anyone to still BE around here.”
She settled in next to him, holding a cup of her favorite cappuccino, “Mind if I join you?”
“Go right ahead,” He said, motioning to the seat she already occupied.
An uncomfortable silence settled in, and Lith turned to stare out the view ports, pretending to be deep in thought. Not noticing Shalon dodgingly looking at him out of the corner of her eyes.
A few moments later, “So, how’s your week off been?”
Lith chuckled, “Oh, ya know, the usual, checking into engineering, comm, nav and the bridge on an hourly basis. The only difference is I don’t do anything, just ask how things are, ‘Same as an hour ago’ is my usual greeting.”
“Sounds exciting,” she commented with a grin while sipping from her cup.
“Meh, not really, I’d much rather be on about our last orders.”
Shalon raised an eyebrow with a smirk on her face, “So eager to plot a lone course into K’luth territory?”
Turning to stare off into the direction he knew the Eri gate was, “Yes, I am.”
Shalon paused and looked at Lith, “Ya know, your eyes always have intrigued me when you do that.”
Lith blinked, and the slits slid back into the usual round shape of a human iris. “Intrigued… THANKS.” Lith said sarcastically.
Another silence fell in as they both searched for a conversation piece. “How did you react?” Shalon asked.
“Huh?” confused Lith wondered, “React to what?”
Shalon giggled, “Oh, I meant, ‘how did you react when you found out the Ghost’s mission?’”
Lith thought the three years back, “Confused and… anxious.” Shalon raised an eyebrow. “Well, I was confused as to why I’d be put on a ship that was meant to run recon deep into K’luth territory, and anxious to do it. I guess having one of the most influential officers in the UGTO as an escapee buddy helps.”
Most everyone he talked to knew about his history, Shalon had actually been there, launching into Navy training so she would be able to serve aboard Navy vessels. “So I’ve heard,” she commented cryptically while taking another sip.
Turning to her, Lith regarded her, “Though with you, I hear it was a fulfilled request.”
Shallon snorted this time, “Not by a long shot. Yes, I applied to come aboard the Ghost to study K’luth biology,” at this, Shalon glanced quickly at Lith, pausing for the briefest of moments, “but it took some pretty hard work to convince them I was the biologist to do the job.”
Lith had noticed the glance, but it was nothing new, he realized all the food he ate, all the liquids he drank, all the air he breathed, along with any and all activities, were closely studied by the few scientists on board. He was even sure his urine and blood were being analyzed at every turn, no matter how they got the samples. The UGTO had been in a frenzy since Admiral Lars had been uncovered. It had took days of pleading and begging to not be put under the knife by the few scientists who thought him beneath human rights, and only a flat out denial to the GIA’s requests, which bordered on orders, to join an over-the-night created branch aptly named, the Anti-Hybrid Division. Its one goal was to unmask any hybrids within the UGTO military and affiliates. Lith had gotten off easy, he provided a complete MRI of his body, and hundreds of complete samples of his DNA. Karishnakov had oh so subtly hinted at what Lith could only think of as a complete, military grade five lab, devoted to the study of the information and samples Lith provided, and of course, Lars, who had been expunged from the records of the UGTO, and any and all trace erased. Lith figured Lars was still alive.
“And I’m sure you’re doing a FINE job,” he commented, somewhat sarcastically. With that, Lith got up, nodded his head at Shalon, and walked out, leaving her alone.
-----March 23, 2291 Epsilon Eri;
-----Approximately 30k GU from Okag, 1347 hours:
“Nav, report,” the Captain ordered.
The nav officer paused as he studied his screens, “It appears the K’luth fleet is still massing sir.”
The Captain cursed under his breath. “What’s the status on an estimated launch time?”
“Three days sir, Okag’s orbit will swing it out to its farthest point, with a perfect angle to jump straight to Demaret.”
They had been in Eri for over twenty days now, with the K’luth fleet massing for the past ten, and this was the closest anyone had ever been to a K’luth planet, or fleet, outside of a combat situation.
“Damnit,” the Captain cursed again, “Comm, have you figured a way to mask our burst signal?”
The comm officer sighed, “Sorry sir, there is no possible way, the K’luth have been sure to track and destroy any probes we send in this far, so it would have to be a direct transmission, and if we did that…” the comm. officer chuckled in a not so pleasing manner, “We’d be having K’luth over for dinner in no time.”
Sitting in his chair, thinking, the Captain stared at the view screen. The Ghost had been given a prototype probe, with a direct-link laser-uplink to the ship, undetectable from any scanners. It was now only five thousand GU outside of Okag, and was using a retro-fitted telescope to maintain visual contact.
Lith, while staring at the planet from his tactical station, suddenly had an idea… “Sir, what if we could possibly give the K’luth… misleading information about our fleet in Lalande?”
Everyone on the bridge turned to Lith, looking at him quizzically, the Captain asked, “And how would we do that?”
Suddenly becoming quite nervous with all the attention, he approached the Captain, and whispered the plan into his ear. Listening, the Captain simply began nodding, and his brows began to crease. Once Lith had recited his plans, “Are you sure about this Ensign Ragond?”
“Absolutely sir.”
“I’m not asking if you are sure you want to do this, I am asking whether or not you think it will work.”
Lith took a deep breath, with only three days from the launch of a massive strike against Lalande, while the ICC and UGTO were standing off near Luyten after a failed treaty, it would take any sizeable UGTO fleet, over a week to reach Lalande… “Considering the circumstances sir, I will make it work.”
Captain Moore turned to the view of Okag, and the massing fleet, “How long can you give us?”
Lith Ragond actually began to sweat realizing he was actually going to do this. “It depends on how fast the K’luth realizes I’m just a farce.”
Lith was standing at full attention when he spoke those words, seeing many of the crew’s eyes begin to comprehend what Lith was offering to do. Many of those eyes looked at him with admiration, others, looked at a dead man.
-----March 25, 2291 Epsilon Eri;
-----Approximately 1.5k GU from Okag, 0917 hours:
Watching the scanners closely, he began concentrating, thinking of urgency, and danger. He’d been set a drift in one of the Ghosts’ fighters, and actually fired upon to make the damage of the ship appear real. They’d dropped him right in Okag’s orbital path, where the K’luth fleet would most definitely find him. And for the past several hours, he’d watched a supply drone approach him, he’d sent out a general distress, informing anyone in the area his communications were out. As the vessel began its docking procedure, he began to hear them, the whole crew, their thoughts were so muddled together, it was hard to concentrate, but he kept his thoughts guided. After a few moments they noticed HIS thoughts, there was no surprise, just a confirmation in many minds that they were right.
Lith had to be careful, while the nature of K’luth was one of trust; he knew they’d be weary of him.
Report, a thought suddenly burst through all the others.
Lith had rehearsed in his mind how to react to any situation, and had studied the Tribes which had taken over Eri, preparing for anything. The humans, they know of this fleet, they are preparing to ambush you in Lalande. Command must be informed.
General concern and a few traces of slight skepticism raced throughout the ship.
You are a hybrid, another thought said.
I am.
We will see.
Lith was finally getting the hang of picking individual minds out of the jumble, and had now located the one which had been contacting him. It was within the docking hatch, along with a few of the soldier caste.
No other K’luth contacted him specifically, but the general sense of the crew was disbelief, and weariness, just as he’d expected. As he heard the ship hard dock against him, there was the distinct sound of the K’luth ships hull, morphing slightly, to fit the fighter. The hull slid away, and the cockpit was now in the floor of a small room, he hit a few buttons, and equalized the atmosphere to that of the ship. Lith had to breathe a little harder, due to the higher carbon dioxide in the K’luth environment. Releasing the lever, the cockpit glass slid backward. Lith saw four K’luth standing at the entrance way into the room, when they made no move; he climbed out of the cockpit and stood several feet in front of the group. It was an artisan, the one who’d been contacting him, and three soldier caste, armed.
The artisan looked at him, How?
I was onboard a UGTO vessel which was carrying out patrols within this system, they spotted the fleet massing at Okag, I escaped.
How long?
Hearing the K’luths thoughts made it quite clear as to what he was asking,Two weeks.
There was a pause, and Lith kept his mind focused, he imagined in his head, the events of his escape, and learning the human’s plans. Off course, that’s all it was, imaginary, but making it real inside his head, made it real for the K’luth on board that ship, and any slip up, would cost Lith his life, along with the lives of millions of those in Lalande. Yet Lith was not thinking of this, his mind was completely taken over, by the events the K’luth must think are true. He then pictured in his head, fleets of ships stationed around Lalande.
A few more moments passed. Then the artisan turned around.
Over the next few hours, Lith stayed focused, and the captain of the ship, contacted the fleet command at Okag, informing them of the news. Lith had been… broadcasting, his thoughts, thinking of the tribe he was from, and the missions he had carried out. He’d completely made up an alternate life in preparation for this, he thought about it, and with all things K’luth, it was no secret among the crew. Just like Lith new there were many crew far from home, and several who’d recently fled into this part of the galaxy. Through them, and observing the thoughts of those onboard, Lith learned an incredible amount.
-----April 5, 2291 Epsilon Eri;
-----Okag, 1712 hours:
Days had passed, over a week; the Ghost should have arrived in Lalande far before he was ever picked up. With luck, the UGTO were now prepared for the invasion. Where as the K’luth were not. With the false information he’d provided the K’luth, they’d actually scrambled to join other Tribes to their… coalition, which had frightened Lith. Whoever was in charge of this gathering must surely be hell bent on taking Lalande for good. The fleet Lith had observed was more massive than before, and had not been seen since… since the last major invasion of Lalande… when his mother had been captured.
Lith froze, he concentrated, trying to drive the thought of his mother from his mind, but it would not leave. Lith began to buckle under the exertion to control this one thought. If any K’luth came within the area, he’d be found out. Which meant nothing for their invasion; it was already delayed far enough to allow the UGTO ample time to prepare. Liths goal was getting back into UGTO space, alive.
Just as he wrestled with his thoughts, and won them over, again thinking as a hybrid spy should, he could sense several minds, or their thoughts, approaching. Lith couldn’t prepare an escape plan, because he’d be found out the moment he thought of it, so long before today, the decision had been made to act on a simple impulse, when the timing was right.
Before the door swung open, there was a pause from those approaching, and a brief acceptance of their entrance into the room by Lith. The K’luth were quite a polite society, given the circumstances. In walked the same artisan that had “rescued” him from the drifting fighter. He walked to within arms reach of Lith before taking a moment to gather his thoughts, he was armed.
Lith acted without thought. He darted forward snatching the Psi Pistol from the artisan, rolling past him he shot the two gaurds between the eyes, and then ducked to the left, narrowly avoiding a kick from the artisan. Lith sprung on top of the bed and took a quick shot at the lone K’luth. Unfortunately for Lith, the artisan had been expecting a manuevar like this, and so was not in the place Lith had anticipated. The shot only caught the K’luths upper left arm; with the hit, the artisan gave a telepathic cry. Lith was sure help would arrive soon.
Taking no chances he sprung past the artisan and out the door, praying for a way to escape this planet.
-----April 24, 2291 Epsilon Eri;
-----Okag wilderness, 2358 hours:
Lith was near exhaustion, he’d been on the run for near three weeks now. Lith had been foolhardy to ever think he would get out of this alive. He was quite angry at the moment, and stared up at the night sky, cursing the stars. It was such an alien sky, as were each planets night skies. No matter how well you memorized the star charts, each first night, spent on a new planet, was very disconcerting. This was far from his first night, Far from my last too, he commented to himself. I’ve escaped from these alien bastards before, cursing his heritage, and by god, I’ll escape again. Just the matter of how he’d do it was a problem. Now that his mind had been open for so long, it was difficult for him to close it off, and even if he knew how, he wouldn’t be able to truly know until it was too late to turn back. Of course by now, the K’luth new he was an imposter, and he was sure they knew exactly who he was. There would be no giving up on the search for him.
The problem Lith had was this; the orbital satellites could pick up single biological signatures of any creature on the planet, and due to Lith not being native to this planet, it would be easy to find him. He had this thought upon first escaping, and had been trying various ways to hide his identity from the eyes in the sky. At first he plastered himself with thick mud, that stank of bacteria, yet after a few VERY close calls, he knew that wasn’t working. So he’d resorted to hunting larger game, and after killing them and gutting them, used them as… clothing. The one draw back was that most carnivorous beasts were drawn to the blood that oozed out of the carcasses, and the flies and maggots that quickly spawned from the dead meat. But so far, it had been working. Though the Psi Pistol was now taking much longer to charge after each round was fired, this had worried Lith in the beginning, but was proving not nearly as bad as he had thought.
Lith was now in a sprawling jungle that covered a fair amount of the continent he was stranded on. Chuckling to himself, he was glad that the K’luth breathed much the same air humans did. The slightly heavier gravity, and thicker atmosphere of Okag, was giving Lith quite a work out; especially having been stuck on a ship for the past three years.
There were only a few miles between him and the next star port. It was one of the smallest upon Okag, especially having the largest one so near by. This was where he would try to commandeer a ship. His plan was to sneak onboard a vessel with a large enough jump drive to get him at least within a few hundred thousand GU out side Lalande, then, get to the bridge, and seal himself inside. This was going to be very tricky.
He looked up into the sky again and shuddered. Hundreds of ships were still in orbit, and recently, they had been joined by a Hive. It was clearly discernable as it was in a low orbit, so were the transports continuingly ferrying supplies and troops to it. Lith was now unsure whether or not he had done any good. What he was sure of though, the K’luth were amassing a fleet that would reap devastation wherever it went. He only prayed the UGTO were massing together as these aliens were. The K’luth had missed several launch opportunities while they had held him, and he knew they would not wait much longer.
-----April 25, 2291 Epsilon Eri;
-----Okag, Cree Starport, 0900 hours:
The ship was due to launch in 30 minutes and it was the perfect ship for Lith to stow away on. The criminals of the galaxy had squealed with delight upon the K’luths entrance into the cosmic scene. To them, it was a third party to profit on, especially with the UGTO being so stingy. This was a pirate vessel. It looked as though it had once been a UGTO Heavy Transport, but there were distinct parts of the ship that resembled an ICC Destroyer. He’d been watching it since earlier this morning and had cracked the perfect plan to get onboard.
Cree wasn’t just a small port; it was, as Lith had found out, the center for pirate activity in Eri, there were virtually no K’luth about, only their human hirelings. Since most K’luth wouldn’t be able to stand working with humans on a daily basis. Lith couldn’t believe his luck. He’d crept near the city during the very first hours of the day, slowly at first, but then with more ease and comfort, because he hadn’t detected a single K’luth mind in the area. Finding his way around the city had been difficult, though once he found the port, the local bars were all too apparent. So, he’d stayed near the window of one looking out across the open-sky docks. Asking a few questions here and there from the bartender, who had actually been quite easy to get a long with, he’d found his ship. The dealings of pirates may be near non-existent in normal society, but once you snuck your way into their hiding places, information was easily bought.
His target was The Slick, and for a hundred credits or so, he’d learnt it was making a run into Lalande, mainly because the captain was said to be crazy, but also because of the complete lack of runs made into Lalande since the K’luth fleet had made its target known. This made it a very lucrative place to go.
Lith had left that first bar long ago; he knew one thing, never stay in one place too long. He somewhat fancied this pirate life, and if he weren’t so hell bent on climbing the navy ladder, he might have made a life of it. Finding the captain of the Slick had been quite a chore, costing him over 3,000 credits. Yet here he was, sitting in front of him.
The captain eyed him slowly, “What make ya think I’d even want ta take a new lad upon me crew, let a lone a complete stranger ta these parts.”
This conversation had been going for too long, and with the ship ready to leave once cleared, the captain was getting anxious. Lith swallowed, “Well sir, I’m quite able with all modern ship tech,” Lith took his credits-card out and placed it on the table, the display blinked on and showed the amount left in his account: $120,898. Lith had made quite a little fortune granting interviews to some of the more ‘prestigious’ tabloids over the years. “And, I can pay my way if you’d like.”
Raising an eyebrow at the young man in front of him, the captain said, “Well, if you’re not a right pirate, and at so young an age too. I’ve actually bin searchin fer a new mem’er of me crew, I’ll take ya a’board wit me, jus’ as long as ye know we’ll all have our eyes on ya.”
The deal was done and Lith was beginning to think he may make it back to UGTO space.
-----April 25, 2291 Epsilon Eri;
-----High Okag Orbit, 1213 hours:
Lith had found a rag tag bunch for a crew, yet there hadn’t been as much skepticism towards him as he’d thought. During launch, and while they awaited the all clear for the jump, many of the crew had recited their stories of how Captain Coaxk had taken them aboard as crew in much the same way. It turned out, that’s just how he did business.
Spree, the ships comm officer walked into the mess hall, “ ‘ell looks like the ’luth are still ‘earchin fer dat ‘scaped ‘ybrid o’dears. Damn bugs, wish ‘ey’ed keep us ouda der biness. A scout ll’be comin by ta test da see if he stoyed ‘way aboard.”
The crew sitting down to eat all chuckled, and Lith tried to join them, but he became quite worried. He finished his meal and went about his work.
After a while the ship was ready for the jump to deep space out side of Lalande; they were just awaiting the approach of the K’luth scout to do a fly by to give them the all clear. Lith was sweating. He was trying with all his might to close his mind off, but was unsure if it was working. The minutes were passing agonizingly slow. Then, suddenly, there was a beep over the comm system, “Prepare for jump,” the captain ordered. Moments later, there was the familiar jolt of a ship entering its jump.
-----April 27, 2291 Epsilon Eri;
-----Lalande, Deep space, 1719 hours:
“You lying son of a-“
Lith dodged another swing.
“Settle down now would you? No one outside of this crew needs to know.” Lith said calmly.
Nic took another swing at Lith, but he dodged it easily again. The rest of the crew were scattered around the mess hall.
Nic’s eyes opened wide, “Settle down? I’ll settle down once I’ve knocked yer teeth out!” Screaming and darting at him, Nic tried to savegly pummel Lith. Lith simply side-stepped, took a hold of Nics wrist, twisted it behind him, and slammed him up against the wall. Lith had a fleeting flashback to his early Academy days, but this time, he didn’t have to hide it.
At that moment the captain walked in. Pausing a moment he surveyed the scene. “So, ya finally figured he was the hybrid did ya?”
Every head turned to stare at the captain. Lith let go of Nic. “How did you know?”
“There ain’t much that goes on in dis part o’the galaxy that I dun make me business.”
Lith was shocked; he stared at the captain, and blinked a few times.
Most the crew seemed to accept this, and went back to eating their food. Nic shot Lith an angry look and went back to his seat.
The next few days were full of tension and anxiety, once the crew found out whom he really was, they were unsure of how to act around him. Having a UGTO navy officer aboard their ship was very disconcerting to most, and a hybrid to boot, though the captain seemed very relaxed and content.
On the third day in deep space Sprees voice broke over the intercom, “We’ve been spotted by a UGTO patrol!” The crew rushed to their appropriate postings, and Lith made his way to the bridge, entering just in time to catch the beginnings of a communiqué from the lead ship of the UGTO.
“Unidentified craft please disengage all armed weapons and prepare for boarding. You are in a restricted zone for all non-UGTO Navy vessel.”
It was too late for the Slick to make a run for it. The UGTO patrol was more than just a patrol, it appeared to be a light squadron, three scouts, seven destroyers, and five cruisers, one which was a dictor and another had a completely black painted hull, the Ghost.
The captain turned to Lith, “Seems you’ll be joinin ya mates a lot quicker than expected.”
The crew waited for the boarding party on the bridge, their heads held high, all expecting to be thrown into the brig for their criminal activities. The troops burst through the bridge door, having met no resistance so far, had assumed a fire fight would take place. Instead, they were greeted by the unarmed pirates.
The commander walked past his troops, “You are all hereby under arrest by the United Galactic Trade Organization for- What IS it Smith?” A trooper had been trying to get the attention of the commander, and once he had it, he simply pointed at Lith. He was adorned in his UGTO uniform, which he had been carefully mending since he got on the Slick. The commander gaped at Lith, and merely made a motion to follow him, Lith followed.
The commander took him onto the boarding craft and told his troops to take control of the vessel, and seal all vrew in their quarters. The commander informed the pilot to take them straight to the Ghost, and tell the captain to meet them in the hangar. The pilot looked back at the commander and saw Lith, simply nodded, and quickly took off and slammed his two passengers back in their seats with the force of his acceleration.
The trip was short, and silent, the squadron had made formation around the Slick, with the Ghost in the lead. As the boarding ship laced through the field which kept the atmosphere in the landing bay, Lith caught site of Captain Moore, he looked concerned. The ramp was lowered from the ship, and the commander motioned again for Lith to follow, he did.
Lith reached the bottom of the ramp and turned to face the Captain.
There were several moments when no one said anything, those working around the hangar had turned to see what was going on, all activity had ceased.
Lith realized that everyone on the Ghost had assumed him lost and dead. It hit him that he’d never once thought what anyone else would feel about him going on this suicide mission. The silence was growing uncomfortable.
Standing at attention, he saluted the Captain, “Sir, Ensign Lith Ragond reporting mission a success, ready for debriefing, sir.”
Captain Moore saluted back, “At ease… Ensign Ragond.”
Lith stood at ease, and at this moment the door to the hangar opened and Shalon walked in, holding papers and examining them.
“Sir, I really think this is what we’ve been hoping for, this ships logs show it came directly from Okag,” She didn’t even look up from the papers merely stood by the Captain.
The Captain chuckled, “We know.”
She looked up at the Captain, “You know? How could you possibly…” She trailed off as she finally looked to see what all the fuss was about. Her mouth paused in mid sentence, and slightly open, she gaped. Her eyes began to swell up with tears; she shoved the papers she had in the direction of the pilot who had come down moments earlier. The pilot took them warily, wondering why she gave them to him, and as soon as the papers were out of her hands, she rushed to Lith and threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly.
In a rushed and breathless manner she said, “My god, I knew you were still alive, they all told me I should accept the facts, but I never would. The odds were against you, but I just knew you’d make it out alive.”
Lith was confused thoroughly. The Captain coughed, and Shalon slowly backed away, her face flushing and her eyes growing wide. She turned to the Captain, “So sorry to interrupt, I… I have some work I need to be finishing.” Before turning away she looked at Lith, and grabbed the papers from the pilot and walked quickly out of the hangar.
Chuckling, Captain Moore turned to Lith, “Well, I’ll suspect there have been a few changes around here that you’ll need to get used to, and some that will happen now that you are back,” the captain grinned slightly, “Now, for your debriefing, it must be quick, it’s a very tense time around here as you can imagine.” The captain barked a laugh to himself, “HA! The middle of a bloody invasion and we’ll be celebrating a heroes return. Usually that stuff happens AFTER the battles and wars, not before.”
Lith looked at the captain oddly, “A heroes return?” The captain began walking away and Lith was forced to follow.
“As I’ve said, there have been quite a few changes, all of them quite pleasant before this coming storm. I’ll have to debrief you on the way to the bridge; we have a lot of work to do.” The captain turned to an officer and gave orders to set out immediately to Vesper. “First of all, it was a very solemn crew that the Lalande fleet found on this ship when we arrived back. After relating all the pertinent facts, including your mission mind you, High Command was immediately informed, and they scrambled every ship they could spare, and any fleet willing to come. News of the invasion was kept quiet for the first few days, but when it was quite apparent you had succeeded, it was made public to the entire UGTO what you had done. Lalande had been sufficiently evacuated, and you were honored as a hero from Struve to Luyten. I’m not sure if there is a single citizen of the UGTO that has not heard your name. Even some of the high ranking ICC officers sent their commends on your brave actions.” The captain paused for a moment, “Then, after a month, we hailed you as a dead hero, and you were given the highest honors by High Command and the Grand Chancellor. They gave you the honorary title of Captain for your deeds, which will have saved billions of lives mind you. The honorary rank will of course be revoked, but none of the medals given you, mind you boy, you are now more decorated than most the veterans in the entire UGTO Navy, and many won’t take a likening that you’ve showed up alive. It’s one thing to be out shown by a legend, another to have that legend serving for you. The UGTO is going to make a field day out of your return, and after we squash the bug invasion, I guarantee you’re going to see every planet under UGTO rule, and then some.”
At this Lith had to interrupt, “Sir, pardon me, but I don’t care much to be made some icon to win lost favor the public has had for the UGTO. There are more important things, like the fact the K’luth fleet has tripled in size, and has been joined by a Hive.”
The words sunk into the captain like a ton of bricks, “A Hive you say?” Captain Moore began cursing as he started walking briskly to the bridge.
As they entered the bridge the captain began shooting orders, opening lines of communication to the Grand Chancellor, High Command and Fleet Leaders all across UGTO space. When all had heard Lith report, which was quite nerve-racking to stand in front of the most powerful men in the UGTO, they were all very quiet.
Yet the Grand Chancellor spoke, “My friends, we must bring the full weight of the UGTO might to bear against this most impending disaster, I will finish peace talks with the ICC. You will have your orders.” With that, every screen winked out, one after another.
Captain Moore turned to nav and engaged the jump drive to Vesper.
-----May 10, 2291 Epsilon Eri;
-----Lalande, Vesper Orbit, 0032 hours:
The fleet was massed and ready; the space around the Vesper cluster was teeming with ships of every size. The past week had been ripe with ships entering the system, one after another, there was now beginning to be little to no room in orbit around planets. Or around the supply station that had arrived only the day before. Troop transports littered the landscape of every planet, reinforcing garrisons. All civilian structures not crucial to defense were retro-fitted with orbital missle launchers, long range sensor bases, or fighter hangers for the thousands of fighter pilots and ships being brought into the system. In short, this was the largest military build up the human race had ever seen, every system behind Lalande, was bent on sending what support they could. Millions of volunteer soldiers had already signed up, and every vessel possible had been chartered to bring supplies. Every day, the tension mounted.
On board the Ghost, it was much the same. Besides the talk of the impending invasion, the screw of the Ghost gossiped plenty about the newly appointed Lieutenant Commander Lith Ragond and his new companion, Shalon Snow. She seemed to turn up wherever Lith was, which only confused him more. If he didn’t know better, Lith would say that Shalon fancied him, but that couldn’t be, he’d never seen any signs of it before.
Walking down the empty corridor, Lith contemplated this. He had to admit, he had very little experience when it came to women. At the Academy, he had always been shy around girls, he was always self conscious of his genetic differences, and so had steered away from them, and after the Academy, all had pointedly steered away from him once they found out who he was. So he had not had very many opportunities to gain knowledge of these sorts of things.
As he was watching his feet take each brisk step, he rounded a corner and collided with something. That something turned out to be Shalon, she’d been turning that same corner, and Lith had almost plowed her over.
“I’m so sorry Shalon, I wasn’t looking where I was going.”
Shalon didn’t say a word as Lith bent down to help her up. Lifting her to her feet, Shalon stepped close to Lith, “I’m such a klutz sometimes, always too wrapped up in my thoughts.” She looked up at him, and Lith finally realized how close they were, he got extremely uncomfortable, but didn’t want to move away.
Chuckling slightly, “I know how that can be, never seeing what’s right in front of you.” Lith leaned closer.
Staring into his eyes she began breathing a little deeper, “Really?”
“Really,” Lith replied, leaning in even closer.
He didn’t know what he was doing; only that it felt right, and as they stumbled down the corridor to Liths room, he found what had been missing in his life. Lith bumped into a door while he’d been trying to walk backwards with his attention elsewhere, and took a quick glance, his was one more over. Cursing to himself, he tried guiding Shalon to the right door, it was difficult being caught up in the moment, but eventually he got their, and slammed his hand on the open key. When the door didn’t open he moaned to himself, Shalon merely giggled at him. He peeled Shalons arms from around him so he could get to the key-pad, but as soon as he turned to face the wall; her arms were entwined around him for a second time. Lith groaned again and tried to remember his password, punching it in quickly the door slid open and Shalon gave him a quick push inside. Stumbling into his room he turned around, as the door slid shut, the room faded to darkness.
[ This Message was edited by: Lith Ragond on 2003-07-22 23:28 ]
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Lith Ragond
Cadet
Galactic Navy
Joined: November 25, 2001
Posts: 1854
| Posted: 2003-07-18 08:16
BUMP
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Deathscythe
Admiral
Joined: November 30, 2002
Posts: 420
From: The netherlands
| Posted: 2003-07-18 13:13
Nice Work there
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http://deathmut.myminicity.com/
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Lith Ragond
Cadet
Galactic Navy
Joined: November 25, 2001
Posts: 1854
| Posted: 2003-07-18 14:14
hehehe, thank you
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Axianda The Royal
Fleet Admiral
Terra Squadron
Joined: November 20, 2001
Posts: 4273
From: Axianda
| Posted: 2003-07-18 14:16
wow very nice.
next chapter PLS
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- Axi
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Demorian
Fleet Admiral
Galactic Navy
Joined: October 06, 2001
Posts: 3406
From: Charlotte, North Carolina
| Posted: 2003-07-18 14:17
[Edit]
Nevermind. I'd forgotten GTN's own background fiction. D'OH!
I need to get to work on *my* fiction.
-Dem
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``We are the GTN. You will be resupplied. Resistance is optional.``
[ This Message was edited by: Demorian on 2003-07-18 14:19 ]
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MOC
Admiral
Joined: January 30, 2003
Posts: 66
From: Ocean City ,Maryland
| Posted: 2003-07-18 14:20
Nice reading, you my have a future ,,look what happened with H/P..lol
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Lith Ragond
Cadet
Galactic Navy
Joined: November 25, 2001
Posts: 1854
| Posted: 2003-07-18 14:25
hehe, thanks guys.
and demo, what was that?
also, who is h/p?
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Wolver{RIP R33}
Cadet
Joined: August 06, 2001
Posts: 270
From: Virginia, USA
| Posted: 2003-07-22 13:25
Very excellent! Very good plotline and just enough backstory to develop a character the reader is interested in. Can't wait to read more! Great work Lith!
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\"I wasn't sleeping Chief. It's just that I haven't gotten much sleep these last few nights. I forgot how. So I was just practicing!\" - Dropo \"The Laziest Man on Mars\"
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Lith Ragond
Cadet
Galactic Navy
Joined: November 25, 2001
Posts: 1854
| Posted: 2003-07-22 18:47
Status update: OK! sorry guys, i am REALLY hoping it wont take me as long to put out Ch 3 as it did for Ch 2, so, tonight when i get back from work, i am gonna START on Ch 3, i know i know, but my writing style really calls for at least a few days before i start on anything... all i have to say about Ch 3... expect a VERY long chapter, with a LOT of detail about fleet actions (from my point of view on how they should happen at least  ). also, expect the relationships in Ch 3 to get deeper (i know, you may want it more sci-fiy, but i enjoy writing about the human experience too  ) i suspect a LOT of stuff will just creep it's way into Ch 3, a few plot twists epsecially, and maybe... just MAYBE a cliff hanger that will make you cry for more  hehehe, anyway, i am really gonna try and make Ch 3 shine out (from what i have written so far, because it is a really big part of what made Lith into who he will become
also, wolver, i surely hope my readers are interested in my character(s), it's what makes good stories, great
thank you all for reading and the great feedback.
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Axianda The Royal
Fleet Admiral
Terra Squadron
Joined: November 20, 2001
Posts: 4273
From: Axianda
| Posted: 2003-07-22 19:40
Woohoo
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- Axi
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Lith Ragond
Cadet
Galactic Navy
Joined: November 25, 2001
Posts: 1854
| Posted: 2003-07-23 00:34
Status update: ok, got 2 pages done (doesnt seem like a lot, but it is) because now that the ball is rolling, it will keep rolling till it is done, work gives me lots of time to think about what directions i should take, and bang out some details, so it's good i am working so much anywho, yeah, already it's getting a little deeper, though not as deep as i want it to, so it'll be slow going until i have dug down as far as i want to. again, thanks for all the attention, i'll keep you guys posted on a release date or any other info i can give out without ruining the story. i suspect 2-3 pages to be written tomorrow before work, and i would give an eye ball estimate of mid next week for a posting. again, sorry for having to make you wait, but i sure hope you are enjoying so far
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