Well...Hi! ha ha. So, I think, I might just try and stay in this writing flow, cause stuff just seems to work here. I mean I'm breaking 10k words per chapter, so, I got to be something right yea? (insert clever pun with write as right) Anyway, Marcadia, yea, break down the plan, introduce a new guy, oh, more Slade, uh...huh...Oh yea, so basically Ratchet goes to town, him and Stella, Sky helps too. Oh and I got a review wondering if I was ever going to show that sneak peak from the end of Nightmares of the Past...well...again...you'll see it. So before I leave you to it, two rather big things in the ending authors note, pay attention to that please. Otherwise, enjoy...
RaC: Earth Bound- CHAPTER 25: STRIKING BACK HARD!
/-/Earth/-/Two Weeks ago/-/
Slade was sitting in the corner of his cell, throwing pieces of dirt into corner. He was still trying to figure out why they had stopped putting him in his special cell. He flicked some of his overly long hair out of his eyes. He had tried not eating again only to have them force feed him. So he had decided to eat their food, for now, maybe if they were stupid enough to let him build his strength again he could find someway out of here. He turned his head slightly as he heard the doors opening up down the line. He braced himself up against the wall and held his weight there, staring at the door. He saw the guards window open up to see mode and a voice echoed through the cell.
"Stay against that wall, you move I'll shoot."
Slade nodded and waited as his cell door hissed open. Two guards walked in, standing on either side of the room with their guns pointed at him. They waited while Slade glanced between them, eventually he spoke.
"Wh-" He coughed from not using his voice "What's going on?"
One of the guards made a show with his gun "Shut up, I'm looking for any reason to shoot you."
They waited like that for another few minutes before two more guards walked in, dragging somebody between them. Slade couldn't see much of the body except for the fact that it had a thick burlap sack over its head. They took the person over to the wall and placed the limp body up against it, they grabbed something out of packs on their backs and Slade heard whirring, then two clicks. He looked and saw that the person was shackled to the wall as the guards stepped away. The two guards who brought the person in left quickly with the last two walking out backwards keeping their guns trained on Slade. The cell door closed and hissed as the locks and heavy bolts engaged again. Slade waited for a moment before taking a careful step towards the person.
Slade ran his eyes over the body, which turned out to be a female, she was being held against the wall by the shackles her hands kept close to the wall. She was low enough that there wasn't any strain on her body but she wouldn't be moving her hands or arms. She was completely naked and had no clothes what so ever, it had Slade subconsciously finger his own shirt as he continued to study her. As he kept staring he saw that the skin looked like it had been waxed, recently, and a lot, constant abuse over and over, like an extreme form of hair removal. It was about that time that he realized that the skin was pale, almost like it got no light...or was dead. Slade started to wonder, if this was some sort of torture from Zen. Stick a dead body in the cell face hidden so that he didn't know who it was, until either the smell made him sick or he just had to know who Zen had killed. Slade's breath picked up just a little bit as he realized the size and height would match his daughters build about now. He hadn't seen her in forever, but it wasn't to big of a leap to think that this was a young adult. Slade backed away from the body and crouched in the corner hiding his eyes.
He had drifted into a light doze when he heard a clinking noise. He raised his head and saw that the girl was moving her arms, or attempting to. She made a small whimpering nose. Slade moved slightly and the sack covered head turned towards him.
"He..hello?" she asked weakly.
Slade said nothing, just watched.
"Please...if you can move...help me, I can't see, please. I'm sick of the...darkness."
Slade hesitated for a moment before he moved forward. There was something about her voice...
He reached out a hand slowly and took a gentle grab on the top of the hood, he couldn't feel any hair on her head either. He wondered if it had been taken off in the same way.
She sighed "Than...thank you."
Slade said nothing he just slowly lifted the hood off of her face. The first thing he saw was how mangled her face was. Nothing was visibly broken on the surface but as he revealed more and more, he saw cuts and lacerations all over her face, bruises too, he was in fact surprised she could talk straight. He finished pulling the hood off and met her eyes, which stared into his for a moment before recognition settled in.
"You!" She gasped
Slade let the hood drop to the ground.
/-/ Zens Office /-/
Zen was staring out his window at the lawns, watching the various construction of even more ships for his fleet. He seemed to flat out be ignoring the slightly disheveled, and twitching man being held into his seat from the other side of the desk.
After five minutes Zen finally sighed and turned around, his eyes roamed over the man sitting across from him. Standing up he wouldn't be more then six feet, blond hair, just a little longer then average hung down over the top of his eyes, which were a deep flashing blue. If he hadn't been a captive for the past few months he would have just passed for an average joe, wandering the streets.
Of course, he was far from average...
Zen gave another sigh before sinking slowly into his seat. He waved his hand and the guards that had their hands clamped over the other mans shoulders released their grip and backed away a few steps.
"Well, Robert, it looks like I owe you a thank you. Your help with the designs of our fighters was most useful. Tell me how did you know what frequency would pierce their shields?"
Robert said nothing for a moment "Lucky guess."
Zen smiled "Right. So, your previous terms, are they still acceptable?"
Robert narrowed his eyes for a moment. "This play usually goes down the loo when used everywhere else, but you people were always a weird lot." Zen raised an eyebrow "I think, since I've proven myself, that my value has gone up just a bit."
"Oh really now?"
Robert nodded "Yes, and although my values gone up, I am not asking for too much more."
"And what more do you want, aside from the asylum, and lifestyle?"
Robert leaned forward "I want to be a part of it."
"It..."
"What ever you're planning mate, I can think like you see, you have a bigger game in play here. Not just this human revenge rubbish."
It was Zens turn to narrow his eyes. "What do you know of my plans? I would advise you to answer carefully by the way, your life span could shorten drastically otherwise."
Robert leaned back into his seat. "Nothing, it's rather hard to know most yanks thoughts, but I can see what you're planning, sense it if you will, I won't tell anyone, I just want to be in the front lines."
Zen looked him over "You're hardly in any shape to be a front line solider."
Robert looked down at himself "Give me two weeks, and I'll give any wanker a run for his bills."
Zen thought about it for a moment. "Very well, I accept Robert, you have your two weeks, I suggest you get ready."
Robert nodded "Oh and one last thing."
"Oh what's that?"
"Call me Saxon."
/-/Slade's Cell/-/
"You!' she said again.
"Do, I know you?" Slade asked as he studied her carefully.
She shook her head slightly, then winced as something twinged "No, not personally, but I know somebody close to you."
Slade mouthed his daughters name and the teen nodded.
"Yep, that's her."
"Is that why Zen brought you in here?"
She shook her head again, with another wince. "No, After those goons clubbed you, I tried to rescue you. I thought I could take them, but two more jumped me."
She blinked "Oh, I'm Audrey."
Slade nodded "I would say its nice to meet you Audrey, but I do wish our circumstances of meeting were a little bit better."
Audrey glanced down at herself and squeaked. Slade quickly yanked off his shirt and threw it over her upper body, saving her from more embarrassment.
She nodded at him. "Thanks, I realized I was cold, but I thought that was just the temperature they kept here."
"You're welcome, I'm sorry, I did study you earlier, it looked like Zen's goons did a number on you."
Audrey shuddered at the memory. "Yea, I hear the human brain is supposed to protect itself from memories like that...but still..."
Slade put a hand out on her shoulder. "It's okay. I'll help you in anyway I can."
Audrey nodded "Thanks, at least my torture stopped after the waxing, whatever they were doing to the girl next door had her screaming almost constantly."
Slade froze. "There's more?"
Audrey nodded sadly "Yes."
Slade sighed "Damn, I should have stopped him when I had the chance."
"What did happen, I've heard Zen's version, but it looks like I should be hearing it from you."
Slade sighed "Well..."
/-/Zens Office/-/
Zen stood up and offered his hand. "Its a deal Saxon."
Saxon shook the hand and Zen walked around the desk. "If you're to be on the front lines we should get you some better living areas yes?"
"That would be nice."
"Very well, but first." Zen walked over to a section of wall where he kept his hidden elevator "I would like to show you my star prisoner."
Saxon followed him into the elevator as the wall slid open, as the door closed Zen turned to face Saxon. "Tell me, have you ever heard of Marcadia?"
/-/Marcadia/-/One Week Later/-/
Saxon stepped off the shuttle as it touched down on the surface of Marcadia. His new blood red boots clunking heavily on the ground and raising a cloud of dust. The rest of his body was coated in thick red armor as well and he had a large pistol strapped to his hip with a rifle strapped across his back. His full cover helmet he held under his arm He inhaled deeply with closed eyes. When he opened his eyes he looked around. "Marcadia...Different...Good."
"What was that Sir?" a Commander behind him spoke up.
Saxon turned around. "Oh nothing, just get to your post and deploy the refresh troops, I have a feeling we will be needing them."
The Commander saluted "Whys that sir?"
"Tell me something Commander, if you had an alien species take your capital planet, wouldn't you want to take it back?"
The Commander nodded "Yes, but we've pretty much routed their fleet in this area, they would have to get through some pretty tough resistance to just reach this planet, let alone get past the fleet in orbit."
Saxon inhaled again, "Oh, their on their way, it may not be a big force, but theirs a wanker somewhere out there who's planning on taking his foot and stuffing it up our areses. Trust me."
"How do you know?"
Saxon glanced back at him with a feral grin and a glint in his eyes. "Because Commander Dai, it's exactly what I would do."
That wanker in question was of course Ratchet, and he did plan on running Saxons day, although neither end really knew what was going to happen in the next few weeks.
/-/Veldin/-/One Week ago/-/Crusher Hanger/-/
Ratchet sat in the cockpit of the newly dubbed Crusher, running it through a power check, making sure everything was running at max. Ratchet was fiddling with power levels and testing to see what could still run while the main cannon was being used. He wasn't sure what Stella did, but however she wired it, the main cannon could be fired semi-auto and never drastically suck power from anything else. Ratchet glanced up at the rotating double barreled monstrosity that hung over the cockpit like a cloud.
Thinking back now, Ratchet wasn't sure where the weapon had come from, something from Stella's classified files apparently. She claimed that thanks to mixture of photon-energized Carbonox shells, which in turn were loaded with a volatile mixture of plasmic-black powder mix, would be capable of tearing through any shield and armor that was below it.
Ratchet had been sitting in the cockpit, holding the deceptively small shell in his hands while Stella had explained everything about it. He had turned and stared at her, silencing her in mid-lecture.
"What?" she asked
"When you did you get so smart to know all this? This is amazing." Ratchet had replied.
Stella shrugged
"Your Mom would be so proud of you right now."
Stella had blinked and wiped at the corner of her eye "Thanks Dad, now anyway, remember that the photonic balance in the powder is critical to the puncture power of the round..."
Ratchet finished testing the systems and was climbing out of the Crusher when Stella ran in, holding a small vid-screen.
"Dad, my ship left behind some spy pods, most were destroyed, but a few survived, and we just got this signal from one."
Ratchet took the vid-screen and watched the two Terran's talk.
"So, Zen's right hand man is coming to replace you next week, right Commander?"
The man shook his head sharply.
"No, he'll be in command, but he's mainly an adviser, I will still by and large control the troops."
Ratchet handed the vid-screen back to Stella "That's all it got?"
"All we got, but you realize what this means right?"
"Zen's right hand man on Marcadia, begging to be captured and tell us everything." Ratchet nodded "What about the Galactic Rangers, have you managed to find any that we can sneak in with us, aside from those on your ship?"
CR-3 walked in the door. "Just one, Comman-, I mean, Admiral."
"Right, Admiral..." Ratchet acted like he still hadn't quite caught up to his rank yet. He turned to face CR-3. "Welcome back CR-3."
CR-3 Saluted "Glad to be back, and sir, I'll help you get revenge for Sasha, she deserved better."
Ratchet stiffened just a little bit. "Thanks CR-3." He turned back to Stella.
"What about everybody else?"
Stella consulted a small pad. "Sky's ship is going to be escorting us to Marcadia, as planned. After we make planet fall, Sky is taking his frigate and they'll infiltrate the ship yard and prepare to activate the Void-Gate, since our codes only start the testing. My Frigate is going to be waiting as the back up for after we take out the main space forces. As soon as the gate is opened, they'll join us, along with the 150 Rangers that my ship has on board and the 45 fighters. We'll use the main ship to pound the other occupied areas, unless of course it's needed for the Terran Reinforcements, if they show up. After the Rangers are landed, we'll push on the main force camp, which should be disabled thanks to the EMP blast. Leaving what ever defenses they may have there."
"Which, shouldn't be much." He glanced one last time at Crusher. "Get Sky."
Stella blinked "Now?"
Ratchet glanced back at his daughter. "I've waited long enough, its time the Terran's learn what happens you mess with my family and my life."
Stella nodded and turned away, "I'll be right back then."
/-/One Hour Later /-/
Ratchet was directing people to their loading areas.
"Alright, Reck, Jason, Rass, report to Sky for boarding."
Reck and Jason nodded, and Rass led them over to where Sky was waiting.
Ratchet pointed over the large group of 30 or 40 volunteer people towards the drop-ships that were landing. "The rest of you, to the shuttles, you'll be serving with the frigate."
Stella was standing behind Ratchet, watching the people run around, she was dressed in her combat armor and had a helmet stuffed under her arm. Her dad turned to face her.
"Ready?"
She nodded "Those Terran's got one week till we pop in, then we turn their lives upside down."
"I almost wish we could just pop in now, but the plan will go better if we wait to warp till the last moment."
"I understand dad, I'm anxious too." Stella climbed into her fighter which was actually tucked behind the engines and capable of sliding out in a matter of moments. Ratchet climbed into the main cockpit.
Ratchet closed the canopy then hit a few switches. "I'm transferring Crusher Cannon control over to you ship Stella."
"Got it."
On the other side of the plateau, Sky was standing on top of his floating ship watching his Father and Sister. Bouncer poked his head up and looked around before spotting Sky.
"Come on Commander, time to hit space, and you don't want to be standing out here when we break atmo."
Sky glanced down at Bouncer. "I'm worried about them Bouncer."
Bouncer glanced over at the Crusher as it lifted off the ground. "I dunno, that ship looks pretty solid, and your dad did build it so it mu-"
"Not that, I'm worried about them personally, I think they are going to far with this revenge thing." Sky sighed and motioned Bouncer out of the way. Sky dropped down into the ship next to him and moved towards the Commander Chair.
"What do you mean?"
"I want vengeance for my mom as well, but the way they go on, they won't be happy till every Terran is dead."
"Complete genocide?" Bouncer asked, looking a little shocked.
Sky nodded as he sat down in the chair and called up a holo-display to check on the ships status.
"I wonder if it ever occurs to him, that something similar must have happened for him to be the only Lombax."
Bouncer glanced back at the rest of the people on the ship who were paying very good attention to their instruments.
"What are you going to do about it?"
Sky sighed and rubbed his face. "For the moment, make sure they don't get killed." He sighed and made his voice a little more formal "Bouncer."
Bouncer snapped to attention and saluted "Yes sir?"
Sky glanced at him with a dark look "Get us into space."
"Aye Sir!"
Bouncer turned to Tess "Take us out."
Tess nodded and slammed the thrusters to max, shooting the ship up into the air. "We're gone." She said as they entered the atmosphere, "Next stop, Marcadia."
Sky called up a connection on his screen. "Dad, We're ready to begin the journey, are you space worthy?"
"Not only are we worthy Sky, but we're going to be moving a tad faster then you."
Sky turned his gaze to his view screen which showed the outside view of his ship, to see the Crusher shoot past them.
"Impressive."
"Yea, Stella helped s lot, lets get this over with."
Sky nodded.
/-/One Week Later /-/
Saxon was standing in his command post on the ground studying some papers when alarms started wailing. He turned to face Commander Dai who was studying the radar.
"A ship has just jumped into the system. Not one of ours."
Saxon snorted "So, blow it out of the sky."
Dai pressed his fingers to his ear piece. "...We...Tried..."
"What?"
"The ship took a full charge hit from a main gun on our cruiser, and shrugged it off like it was nothing." Dai blinked. "Then it turned its gun on the frigate..."
"And?"
"...Blasted it in half..."
Ten Minutes earlier found Stella priming the warp systems and Ratchet getting ready for some fancy flying.
"Sky, We're ready to jump, how are things on your end?"
On the vid-screen Sky was putting on his armor plates to cover his body, the rest on the bridge were doing the same. He check his gun then turned to face his dad. "We're ready to jump, we've gone stealth and we're just waiting for your signal."
Ratchet nodded "Alright, well then...Stella, Initiate jump."
Ratchet watched as his view of space shrunk and cracked to be replaced five seconds later by the destroyed surface of Marcadia and four Terran Cruisers floating in space.
Stella's voice echoed in his ear "Priming Main gun..."
One of the cruisers was already training its main gun on them. "They have already spotted us, brace for impact and hope our defenses work like we planned."
The cruisers main gun glowed and unleashed its beam straight at the ship. Ratchet closed his eyes against the blinding light as the beam enveloped the ship. It lasted for a good five seconds, during which he heard Stella start to laugh.
As the beam faded, leaving crackling light behind it Stella's voice came over the speaker. "Shields held at 87%, come on let them hit us again."
Ratchet smiled and aimed the Crusher directly at the lead ship, the one that had just fired at them. Two other ships had their cannons glowing. As their beams pulsed out Ratchet spoke up.
"When they fade, take out the lead ship."
"Right."
The beams faded, again leaving behind the lightning and Stella grinned to herself as she lined up her shot. "64% and This is for Tran." She said and pulled the trigger.
Ratchet had excepted the kick, but it was still powerful. The cannon above flashed and the ship shuddered and jerked backwards a good 50 meters. The shell that it fired spinning straight towards the lead ship, leaving a glowing green arc in its wake. Ratchet watched as the shell only slowed slightly as it hit the shields of the ship, then It was through and a large hole appeared on the side of the frigate.
Stella fingered the second trigger on her controls. "Now suffer like the Phoenix did." She pressed the trigger and a blinding flash and shockwave ripped out from the central ship, the wave cut the ship clean in half and pushed the other three cruisers out of their positions. A few moments later the cruisers two pieces exploded, throwing the other cruisers even further off course.
Ratchet hit the engines to full for the Crusher and the ship blasted past the cruisers and pulling into a wide loop around them.
"Cycling barrels for the next round." Stella pressed another button. "Sky, we've got their attention, get in and hit that shipyard. The Crusher can take their lasers, but if they have any solid guns down there, we might not last very long."
"Roger, we're warping."
Sky closed the connection on his end and turned to Bouncer. "Engage the warp, Bouncer."
Since Bouncer was running the drive station so Tess could get ready for the mission, he turned to the controls and entered the coordinates for their warp.
"Destination, just short of the Marcadia Shipyards, yard 0002."
Sky nodded "Hit it."
The ship flashed into a warp and blasted them straight to the shipyards.
"Begin docking sequence."
Bouncer brought the ship up to the emergency dock which was hidden underneath the dock yard. As they docked Boomer turned to Sky.
"We're docked, but the doors not responding to our codes."
Stella's voice echoed through Sky's headset "Patch me into the control Sky, I've got this."
"Aren't you supposed to be firing a rather large cannon right now?"
"Cycling through barrels, plus Dad says we need to leave that last ship alive until your on board."
Banner spoke up "Alright, well, your patched in."
"I got ya, give me one second."
A string of numbers flashed across Banners screen and the computer beeped as the docking door unlocked.
Banner whistled "Well, that's handy, I don't suppose we can start carrying her around with us on missions as well Sky?"
"Yea, I have a feeling she would make a lot more of our stealth missions easier. How are things on your end Stella?"
"One sec, just got the okay to wipe this last ship out of existence."
"Right." Sky cut the connection and got out of his chair, calling his modified blitz gun from his quick-select watch. "Lets go, and remember, be alert for any movement. We don't know if they are actually any Terran's on the shipyards."
Sky, Bouncer, and Sarash headed for the docking shaft of the ship, where Reck, Jason and Rass were waiting. Tess was to stay behind and move the ship after the assault squad was on board. The six of them entered the shaft and climbed up the ladder into the airlock of the shipyards. Sky turned to them as the airlock started cycling. "Arm up."
Jason stuck his arm out and his hand collapsed into three pieces and wrapped around his arm to form a grip and aiming notch. The rapid fire cannon he had in his arm slid out into deployment and a faint whirling sounded from his shoulder as the charge pack there warmed up.
Bouncer pulled two Carbonox gauntlets out of his pouch and slipped them on. He tightened their straps then reached over his shoulder for his modified Heavy Lancer. He checked the aim and ammo count before turning to face the door.
Reck pulled out his small swords and swung them around, then he checked the power on his charge boots. Finally he made sure that he had his throwing knives and that his rig for delivering more small sword into his hands was loaded.
Rass's hands slid into her arms, out of one arm, slid a long and wicked looking sword, the other glowed as it began charging. She lifted off the ground slightly as she tested her thrusters then changed the color of her armor to the same hue as the walls.
Sarash pulled two spikes out of her pockets and attached them to the front of her boots. Then she pulled a shotgun off her back and loaded it. She gave it a heavy pump and the sound of the gun echoed inside the air lock until it was downed out as the airlock buzzed and the doors slip open.
The corridor ahead was empty and only emergency lighting was on. The six of them stepped into the hall with Sky in the lead. He pulled some goggles over his eyes and the hallway lightened up for him. He lead them through the next set of halls until they reached a junction. To the left was the Void-Gates command room, and to the right the room for the emergency EMP deployment. Sky nodded at Rass and she returned it before leading Reck and Jason down the hall towards the EMP. Sky and his team moved towards the Void-Gate.
They had almost made it through to the command room when they came across four Terran Soldiers. The men looked surprised to see them, and didn't even have their weapons drawn. Bouncer raised his gun to fire but was stopped by Sky.
"Bouncer, let me handle this."
He stepped in front of Bouncer and the Terran's reached for their holsters.
Sky held out his hand "I wouldn't do that, I told my friend here to hold fire, you at least owe me a minute of your time." He glanced at Bouncer "Besides, by the time you drew those you would be dead."
The Terran's glanced at each other before one nodded and stepped forward. He spoke up in a deep voice. "Very well Alien, you've got one minute."
"First off, you can call me Commander Sky, and second, I'm giving you one chance to walk away from this. Because rest assured you will die if you attempt to fight us, or alert anybody of our presence on this station."
The Terran's face went from wary to hard. "You spare us, only to threaten us? TO HELL WITH YOU COMMANDER!" The man apparently though his shout would stop Sky for long enough for him to draw his weapon.
It didn't.
Before the man could move Sky flexed his limp arms just a bit and a small tube dropped into his right hand. A thin peace of metal slid out of it and Sky leaped forward, the metal lit up and Sky brought it down, cutting right through the mans arm. Before he could scream Sky brought the shaft up and through his head, silencing his shout. Sky didn't pause but dashed straight up to the next man, digging the shaft in sideways through the mans armpit. The blade touched his heart and the man died with a sigh. The next man Sky slid the blade through the mans leg and as he collapsed forward, Sky dashed behind him and put out his left hand, the metal stopped glowing around the end and Sky grabbed it. He twisted the shaft into a curve and let gravity pull it through the mans neck. The mans head hit the deck with a soft and sick sounding thud as blood began to leak out of it. The body next to is also pumping out blood. Bouncer aimed at the last wide-eyed Terran but Sky raised his hand. Bouncer glanced at him but lowered his gun. Sky turned to face the last Terran.
"I could see you didn't share your Commander and comrades decision, would you like to live?"
The Terran nodded, shocked apparently.
Sky pointed behind him "Go past us and two junctions down take a right, it will lead to some escape pod bays. Take one and leave."
The Terran nodded shakily and edged by his dead comrades, squirming a bit when his foot slipped slightly in blood. He hugged the wall as he passed Bouncer who growled. The Terran turned to run but stopped and turned back towards Sky.
"Why?" He asked
Sky didn't turn around, just wiped the blood off his weapon. "I'm sure there is all sorts of horrible things being said about us in your galaxy. But know that its all false, and that if we ever act aggressively, its because we are threatened. Which you did when you first attacked here. Go and spread the word that we are not as all bad as everybody says we are, and get out of your military if you can, otherwise you may be deployed against robots who wont take mercy on you."
The man nodded "Thank you, Commander Sky, I'll try." The man turned and ran down the hall, as his footsteps echoed away Sarash turned to Sky.
"What the hell was that?" she demanded pointing down the hall. "Why did you let him go? He'll just sound an alarm or alert somebody that we're here!"
Sky turned his cold gaze on Sarash who blinked once and backed off.
"Because." Sky started "The alarms are disabled along this wing of the station, and second, because of the fact that to reach any other soldiers he would have to pass by Rass and her squad, who would kill him without a second thought." Sky turned back down to face the hall.
"Have I explained myself sufficiently Captain?" he asked coldly
Sarash nodded and glanced back down the hall, refusing to meet Bouncers eyes. "Yes sir."
"Good." Sky started walking and Bouncer followed, with Sarash marching behind them stiffly.
They reached the room without further incident and locked it down before contacting Ratchet.
Sky tapped on his wrist. "Dad, We've locked down the Void-Gate control room. Are your ready for it to be opened?"
"Not yet Sky, we need to wait for you Sisters team to deploy the EMP first, right now if the frigate warps in they'll be ripped to pieces by the ground cannons. We're dodging them right now, but they have got a pretty good targeting system, I can't seem to shake them for too long."
Bouncer patched in. "Shouldn't cannons on the ground have a hard time hitting a ship the size of the Crusher?"
"You would think, but they just fire large shells up here with enough flak in them to celebrate a birthday. Its hard dodging all of it."
"Alright dad, We'll hold the room until you give the signal."
Meanwhile on the other side of the wing, Rass and her squad had ran into the bulk of troops on the station. Rass was ducked behind cover while the three Terran's unloaded their weapons on her cover. She heard three clicks and jumped up, flipping over the cover. She ignited her jets and blasted herself over their heads. As the three of them watched her, they started inserting new magazines into their guns. Before they had finished, Rass had swiped her heavy blade through two of them, then brought the blade up through the last gun, cutting him in half at his groin. She ran off to engage another group of Terran's, and she passed Jason as he fired at a squad of them.
He had killed three of them and was working on the last six when one of them sprang at him from the side and grabbed his arm, pulling it towards the ground. Before the man could pull his own weapon, Jason drew back his right leg and bent it backwards, a snick sounding as the close combat blade ejected. The man looked worried as the sound reached his ears, but before he could react, Jason brought his knee up into his lower chest. The man grunted as the bloodied blade stuck out of his back. Jason kneed him three more times before he went limp. Jason kicked the man away from him and finished killing the last of the squad he was fighting with a quick burst of fire. He turned and saw Reck attacking his group of soldiers.
Reck had already downed five of them and activated his charge boots, blasting into a sixth one and embedding both of his blades into his chest. The force carried the man to the wall and the blades stuck in. Reck jumped backwards ditching the blades and pulled two throwing knives from his belt spinning around and putting them through the throats of the two men on either side of him. He flexed and two more swords dropped into his hands and he ran towards the last three, downing two quickly and when the third got behind him and grabbed, Reck quickly reversed the blades and stuck them through the man who gave a groan and dropped off his back.
Reck turned to face Rass as she finished off the last of the soldiers. She turned around to make sure everybody was alright then gestured down towards the end of the chamber where the EMP activator was located. The three of them entered the room and Jason ran over to the keyboard located to the side. He quickly punched in a series of commands and a screen slid out of the wall.
'Warning, EMP is only to be used in Emergency's, are you sure you wish to proceed?'
'Y/N'
Jason tapped the Y key and the screen slid back into the wall. Four seconds later a deep hum sounded throughout the station and the lights cut out completely. Rass opened a connection to Ratchet.
"The EMP is getting ready to fire, shield your systems and tell Sky to get ready to open the gate if he's ready."
"Roger that, perfect timing it was getting a little heavy out here."
The humming noise got louder until the point that it was almost painful. Reck covered his ears and looked around. Then the station shuddered and the humming faded.
On the outside, the station had appeared to start glowing blue, and Sky's ship pulled quickly away from it. After a few moments of this the glow moved down to focus on a single point below the station. Then a giant blue beam blasted down and hit the surface of Marcadia, rings of the same color spreading across the planet.
Stella whistled "Well, that looks like it worked."
The flak the Ratchet was dodging got lighter until it cut off completely and he sighed. "Glad it did too." He pressed a button. "Sky, open the Void-Gate."
Sky's voice responded. "Right."
From the three points of the shipyard, three large spheres launched into space and began spilling smaller spheres out behind them. The three large ones created the points of a triangle shape while the small ones lined up and created the outline of a circle.
Inside the control room Sky was running through the check list."Gate field is deployed, get those spheres cycling energy."
Sarash, who was standing over another console called out. "They have a stored charge of 85%, they'll be ready to activate in just a few moments."
Sky turned to Bouncer, "Load the Coordinates for Veldin into the beam computer."
Bouncer nodded and began plugging the numbers in, he gave a thumbs up just as Sarash called out. "100%!"
Sky walked over to another console. "Energizing the Gate Field."
The spheres glowed orange and shot bolts of orange out along the chain of smaller spheres, forming a ring, the spheres started to bounce around.
"Sarash, Stabilize!"
Sarash nodded and pressed a few more keys on her console. The larger spheres pulsed again and shot out some more orange, the ring stabilized. The area inside the ring started to glow, shortly after three bolts of lightning shot from the large spheres and connected in the center. A flat circle formed and quickly spread to the outside areas of the ring. When they reached the edges the ring flashed and the color solidified.
Down on the surface of Marcadia, Saxon and Dai walked out and looked up.
"Good god, what is that?" Dai asked
Saxon blinked and said nothing.
"Bouncer, target the ring and fire the beam!"
A twin gun system slid out of the center of the shipyard and targeted the circle before sending out a green pulse of energy that collided with the ring. The pulse spread out over the circle and the surface rippled. A few scare moments later space seemed to shatter as a spider web of green spread over the orange and the circle broke apart showing off the top half of Veldin and Stella's frigate which quickly moved through the hole.
Dai's mouth was full open. "Great god above, they just ripped a hole into space!"
Saxon blinked again and muttered "Well, that's new."
Dai turned to him. "What?"
Saxon shook his head "Never mind, we've obviously lost power to our defense cannons, have the troops retreat to the underground area of the base and prepare for combat."
Saxon turned away and Dai followed for a few steps. "Bu-"
Saxon spun back around and grabbed Dai by the front of his shirt, lifting him a good foot over his head, and since Saxon was a foot taller then Dai, Saxons point to shut up was very clear.
"Listen here Dai, any moment now, the guns on that ship are more then likely going to target our camp and our guns and level them. After that, those tossers are ten to one going to land troops. So, order our troops underground and prepare to not get our arses kicked!"
Dai nodded and Saxon dropped him to the ground where he landed hard on his butt. Dai glared at Saxons back as he marched into the base and towards the basement.
Sure enough, shortly after the battalion of troops were stored safely under ground the surface shook as their camp was leveled by the frigate's guns.
Saxon and Dai stared they emerged from the shelters to see the frigate come in to land on the outskirts of the base. As doors on the side opened and green shapes leaped out.
Saxon turned to Dai. "Any chance that the other camps survived?"
Dai held up an old school radio. "I doubt it sir, I got some sort of signal from a transmitter on another base up until the pounding. I suspect that we're the last camp still able to muster a fight.
Saxon stared out at the three groups of green that were marching towards them. He looked behind him as the sonic boom of a approaching ship hit them. Saxon and Dai watched the ship land in front of the green groups and pop its canopy.
"Binoculars!" Saxon called out. A Solider ran up to him and pressed a pair into his hands. Saxon focused them on the groups of green and spoke up.
"Any fear tactics we had, we can just cancel."
"Sir?"
Saxon panned the binoculars across the groups to the ship that had landed.
"From what I can see, theirs only one 'living' thing out there. A she...and...furry..."
"Furry, sir?"
Saxon blinked and focused on the leader. "Yes, Dai, Furry. Tell the snipers to take aim. I want to see how tough the armor on those guys is."
Ratchet sat in the cockpit of the Crusher, he took a deep breath and pulled his Carbonox helmet over his head and sealed the helmet to the suit.
"Testing Comm's." he said as his visor and HUD loaded up.
"I hear ya dad, I'm already out watching the Terran's ready themselves for us."
Ratchet finished checking the seals on his suit and turned to open his canopy. "Count?"
"A 1000, rough guess."
CR-3's voice cut in. "1002, 1000 troops and what appears to be 2 leaders."
Ratchet grinned inside his helmet, "Good, it's almost fair to them."
Stella snorted into the comm net. "Maybe if these were the standard Galactic Rangers. If the Terran's manage to down even 10% of mine with what I can see, I'll be really shocked."
Ratchet hopped out of the Crusher and turned to face Stella's Rangers, he had to admit she had a point. Stella had covered a few specifics with him earlier. The Rangers looked normal, but their armor was actually a mixture of a heavier alloy and could take a lot more punishment then the normal ones. Plus their cannon arms were modified to be heavy repeated cannons. Capable of pushing out over 100 heavy energy blasts a minute, these Rangers were a new threat to be feared.
Ratchet turned to face the Terran's that had taken cover in a building that had fallen on its side and shattered, leaving plenty of chunks of heavy stone for them to seek shelter with. He caught a glance of a few of the Terran's in some of the higher pieces of building that were still intact. From what he saw they were armed with heavy rifles.
"Stella, take cover near your frigate, somewhere up high."
"What's up?"
"Possible snipers, I want to make sure they don't get too many chances to take pot shots at us."
Stella ran through Ratchets line of sight and he followed her for a moment. He took notice of the fact that she was wearing small boots and dark brown pants that were covered in armor plates. She had on a long shirt and vest which were also covered in various armored plates. Ratchets old Omni-Wrench dangled from her hip and she was hugging a rather big rifle to her body as she ran. As she got closer to the ship she detoured towards the side of a hanger rather then the open one and pointed out with one hand. A hatch opened higher up in the ship and Stella snapped her hand out towards it. Ratchet watched a small wire and hook jerked into the hatch and grabbed something. A few moments later Stella was pulled up rapidly into the hatch, which closed behind her.
Ratchet turned back to the Rangers as a loud gunshot echoed out around them. A Rangers head snapped back before correcting itself and turning towards the building.
"Impressive armor for su-" Ratchet was cut off as something heavy hit him in the square of his back and threw him forward. He felt something crack and nanites instantly rush to fix it. He laid on the ground for a moment to make sure there was no damage then growled as he pushed himself up and whipped around to glare at the building.
"Dad are you okay?"
"I'm fine, bruised but nothing worse, you see any snipers take them out, they already took two pot shots. I'm moving forward."
Ratchet ran in front of the marching Rangers and held up his hand. "CHARGE!" he shouted as he pointed forwards and the Rangers went from marching to running forward, their guns firing. In a matter of moments the air was thick with heat from laser cannons and the lead weapons that the Terran troops relied on. Their weapons were of little effect on Ratchet of the Rangers, when one hit a Ranger the Ranger slowed for a moment before tracing the shot and lining up with its cannon before blasting the Terran with lasers. Ratchet also greatly ignored these, none hit as hard as that sniper round to his back and the most attention he ever gave was if he saw where the shots came from and would return fire in kind from his blaster.
He and the Rangers had just crested the last dune that separated them from the building where the Terran's were taking cover when two pulses of bright orange light tinged with green flashed over their heads.
"Two snipers down." Stella's voice sounded in his ear.
"I think that may be all they have, but to be sure..."
Ratchet stopped for a moment and slapped his hand over his quick-select watch. When he pulled it away his Blaster slid away into storage and Ratchet braced his foot as a large rectangle formed on his shoulder. It quickly got bigger and formed into a rocket launcher with nine tubes on the front.
"Dad, what the hell is that?"
"I'm feeling old school, Say hello to the original R.Y.N.O. and say goodbye to the top half of that building."
Ratchet used a code to override the auto locking on the launcher and aimed at the top half of the building. He pulled the trigger and the tubes flashed as the rockets flew out, each one targeting a different portion of the building. Each Rocket struck at a different point and blew out an area of support, moments later the top half the building collapsed, taking out the only safe sniping areas and crushing a good amount of the Terran's. Ratchet stood up fully as he sent the R.Y.N.O. back into his quick select watch.
"Wow dad, that was pretty impressive."
"Yea, now start taking shots at any Terran stupid enough to show their face."
"Gladly."
Ratchet and the Rangers continued the march while Stella let loose with her Shatter Rifle from her position on the frigate. Any Terran that tried to take a shot at her found out that she had deployed a one way shield that couldn't be shut down unless they took out the frigates generators.
Saxon and Dai watched as their troops were cut down in front of them. Saxon scoffed and turned around, heading towards the new command structure. A stack of slabs of cement that was mostly underground and only had a wooden desk in it. Dai followed him a moment later and saw Saxon taking papers and discs from the drawers and tucking them away. He went to walk past Dai who reached out a hand to grab him.
"Your leaving?" he asked incredulous.
Saxon nodded "Yes, was mainly here from data gathering, I've gotten what I need, good luck with the rest of your life Dai." Several explosions and screams were heard from outside. "However long that is."
Dai scowled at Saxon. "Fine then I'm coming with you."
Saxon chuckled" Right." He snapped his fingers and two guards that had been following Saxon on the down low stepped into the room.
"If you try to leave, theses soldiers will kill you without a second thought, but if you stay and fight, they will remain as loyal to you as dogs. There's a revolver in the desk, make good use of it."
Saxon turned to leave and Dai stepped after him. "Wai-" He was cut off as one of the soldiers drew his pistol and stuck it under Dais chin, the barrel riding on his adams apple.
"Good luck Dai." Saxon called as he ducked through the tent door. Dai remained frozen until the whine of a starcraft sounded and took off over the battle field. He heard the enemies frigate open fire, but wasn't rewarded with the boom of Saxon being killed.
The solider that had his gun under his chin stepped back and holstered it. "We are at your orders Dai, as long as you stay in this room."
Dai nodded and went to sit down at the heavy oak desk. If you could call a small slab of cement a chair. "Very well." he said with a sigh. "Go outside and wait, defend till your last breath. I shall do the same here." Dai reached into a drawer and pulled out a wicked looking .44 Revolver. "As much as I can anyway."
The two soldiers saluted and took posts outside the door. Dai scrounged around for a moment before finding a bit of ash, and began scribbling on the top of the desk.
"This is the final notes of Earth Expansion Force Commander Dai Tan. Today the aliens have apparently launched their first real offensive. I earlier voiced my suspensions of the aliens skill when they never manage to hold our fleets back except for a few days. Today I redraw that. I'm only going to assume that their heavy hitters and planners were busy coming up with today's plan. It started earlier today when a small ship entered the system and proceeded to ignore our heavy cannons like they were nothing. Shortly after it ripped apart out ships like they were tissue paper. From this point I can only guess that this was distraction as one of the shipyards in orbit lit up and released a pulse the knocked out all of our heavy units used for defense.
"Then I saw them literally rip space in two to transport units in. These new units landed on the surface and began to decimate my men, cutting them down and ignoring our rounds like they were nothing. Our heaviest caliber rifle only caused one to hit the dirt for a moment before it began its march. Our robotics technology is nowhere near this level. The leader appears to be a cat looking robot, I have a feeling that while I write this, the robot is on his way right now to end my life, which is why I am writing this. If this ever gets back to Earth, tell Zen that he was an idiot for picking a fight with these people and we will be lucky if the human race can survive, and only then at the mercy of whoever is controlling theses robots."
Dai looked up as gunfire sounded outside of his room, there was the sound of a chain clinking and then a large medieval flair glowing with electricity smashed through the wall, dragging the top half of one of his 'guards' with it. It was pulled back and a loud gun shot sounded with a small thud shortly after signaling the end of his other guards life.
Dai turned back to his almost full desk.
"As I write this, I have decided, I am going to try and bargain for my life with information, I owe neither Zen or his second Saxon anything for leaving me here, if I fail, tell my family I love them.
His Last words,
Gerald Dai Tan.
Dai threw what little was left of his ash stick into the corner of the room and hefted the large revolver into his hands taking aim at the curtain.
The curtain was ripped off and the cat looking robot walked in, Dai thought about pulling the trigger but in the end he lowered the revolver and set it on the ground. His hands splayed out in the air. A female voice spoke up from the door way.
"Glad you have some sense." the thing that walked in could only be described as a humanoid cat. She was just a little shorter then Dai and was covered in a golden fur, across her face was a scar that appeared to run down her entire body. In spite of her alien looks, there was something familiar about her...
Dai said nothing just turned his attention to the robot that spoke up. "Where's the other Terran that was with you?"
Dai snorted "He ran like the coward he is."
The female turned her head towards the robot. "Told ya."
The robot ignored her and took a step closer to Dai. "Why didn't you shoot?"
"I know when I've been screwed, I don't owe my government anything. I didn't shoot cause I hoped that I could extend my life by giving you information."
The female scoffed "Oh, what the hell information could you give us?"
"Well, considering I was one of the Commanders of the Earth Expansion Force, I think I might have some usable Intel for you."
The female seemed interested "Really, anything related to Earth?"
Dai nodded and gestured to the desk with his left hand. "Second drawer down, this side, the last briefing file I was sent on Earth's defenses."
The female moved over and yanked open the drawer, pulling the thick file out of it. "Paper." she said as she walked back and leaned against the wall. "Well, he's proving useful so far, and he answered my questions, you got any for him?" She handed the file behind her to one of the green robots that had decimated his men.
The Robot was silent for a moment. "If you're such a high ranking member of this force, you must have been present at the original attack on us...correct?"
Dai nodded. "Correct."
"Did you give the order to fire on the main cruiser there?"
Dai watched the female stiffen just a little and realized that his was a heavy subject for her. That's when he realized why the female looked familiar.
"That was the one with the big cannon, that took down one of our ships right?"
The robot nodded. "Yes, that ship was called the Phoenix."
Dai nodded "I was the one who gave the order, bu-" Dai didn't get a chance to finish his sentence as the robot reached forward suddenly and grabbed him from behind the desk, lifting him clear up and slamming him on the ground on the other side. Dai gasped in pain and then again as the air was forced out of his chest by the heavy foot of the robot.
"I should kill you now." The robot whispered as it summoned a gun out of nowhere and put the barrel to Dais forehead.
Dai gulped. "Wait, I know something you may not know."
"What's that..."
"Somebody made if off that ship, somebody that looked like her." Dai pointed a finger towards the female who had just gone wide eyed and stepped away from the wall.
The robot put a little bit more pressure on his chest. "You better not be making this up."
Dai shook his head. "No." he gasped out "She escaped in a blue ship...and opened a video channel to us..." Dai gasped "She asked for a cease...fire and a meeting to...discuss why we attacked...you."
"What...did..you...do..."
"I patched through to President Zen and told him about her, but he told us to open fire on the ship."
"Did you." The robot pressed harder on Dais chest, who felt his ribs straining and he started gasping like a fish. "DID YOU?" it roared into his face. Dai nodded.
The robot froze then took his foot off, he turned to look at the female who had tears brimming in her eyes. The robot reached a hand up under his neck and their was a hissing. Dai watched as the robot turned out to be another cat creature dressed in armor as he took his armor off. He leaned back down over Dai and picked him up off the floor. He stared hard at Dai and Dai saw that he had large emerald green eyes that sparked with a fire that told Dai he was dead.
"Now listen to me...you piece of...SHIT!" The creature threw Dai down onto the ground hard. "Remember this. That cruiser you destroyed? It was the Starship Phoenix, That second ship you shot down it was the Blue Fire, and it was flown by that starship's Commander."
Dai breathed out "And I need to know this why?"
The creature froze for a moment. "Because..."he started off softly. "Her name was Sasha Phyronix..." The creature closed his eyes and Dai swore he saw tears. "She...She was my Wife...and..."
Dai spoke up. "And?"
The next words roared out of Ratchets mouth from an aching place deep in his heart, that burned with a hot fury while he stared at this Terran next to his feet who had the nerve to ask that question. "AND SHE WAS PREGNANT!"
Before he really knew what he was doing Ratchet was squeezing the trigger on his blaster over and over, emptying its clip into Dai's head until there was nothing but a stump left, leaking blood into the small crater that was left from the bullets that Ratchet kept chipping into the ground until his blaster clicked empty. After the tenth click, Ratchet gave a yell and threw the Blaster to the ground before storming out past CR-3 and Stella. He walked over to the collapsed building where the Terran's had tried to defend. He walked over to a corner that was sitting next to a cliff. He tilted his head back and gave a roar of anger, of pain, he had thought that maybe he might not have lost Sasha after all. Being told that, it was like loosing her all over again. Ratchet drew his fist back and punched it straight through the building, then he dropped to his knees next to the cliff and slammed his fist down into the ground embedding it there. It was then that the tears really started to fall, pooling into a puddle underneath his head.
CR-3 started to walk over to him when he heard another gun shot from inside the command structure. He turned to see Stella come walking out with the gun that the Terran had. Smoke was curling off of it and Stella tossed it at CR-3 who caught it.
"Let me go CR-3." She said softly, "Take Tan's weapon back to my ship."
CR-3 nodded "Who's Tan?"
"That Terran in there, he left a note on his desk." CR-3 nodded again and walked towards the frigate. Stella watched him go, then sniffed and blinked some tears out of her eyes before walking over to her dad, who was still crying hunched over. She squatted down next to him and placed an arm over his shoulder. They stayed that way until the sun started to set and Ratchet finally stopped crying.
There was silence for a moment before Stella spoke up. "Was Mom actually pregnant?" she asked quietly.
Ratchet's hand found hers and squeezed "...Yea..." He whispered hoarsely "...You were going to be...a big sister..."
"Did you guys settle on a name?"
"We were thinking about it that day, we were even going to tell you that night. But now I've decided...Arc...or Arcina.."
Stella gave a small huff of laughter. "Arc for a boy, and Arcina for a girl."
Ratchet nodded.
"I'm sorry I'll never get to see her."
"...Yea...Me too..."
Ratchet inhaled deeply and stood up suddenly, normal once again. "Come on, Lets go get Sky and do a sweep of the planet. Then we'll get in contact with the fleet and tell them they have a rallying point behind enemy lines."
Stella nodded and stood up.
As night settled again on Marcadia Ratchet and Stella went on with their lives once again, armed with a book of Zen's defenses, they had their key to Earth, and they were going to use it.
Later back on Earth, Saxon walked into Zens office, he looked around and threw himself into a seat. Zen's back was to Saxon and his attention was on a small screen. On it was the footage that Saxon had beamed Zen just a few minutes ago.
"Now listen to me...you piece of...SHIT!" On screen, Ratchet threw down Dai, rather hard by the looks of it. "Remember this. That cruiser you destroyed? It was the Starship Phoenix, That second ship you shot down it was the Blue Fire, and it was flown by that starship's Commander."
Saxon spoke up "Well, glad that camera worked."
Zen just glanced at him then turned back to the screen.
Ratchet had froze for a moment because of something Dai had said. "Because..." he started off softly. "Her name was Sasha Phyronix..." Ratchet closed his eyes. "She...She was my Wife...and..."
Saxon leaned forward "Oh this is going to be big."
Zen looked at him crossly and lifted a finger to his lips. They both turned back to the screen at Ratchet's next words.
"AND SHE WAS PREGNANT!"
Zen turned off the monitor as Ratchet had proceeded to destroy Dai's head "Well now, that's a surprise." He turned to fully face Saxon. "What convinced you to stick a camera underneath the barrel of that gun?"
Saxon gave a shrug. "Eh, figured I would give it a try, see if it worked."
Zen gave an approved nod. "Well then, good job Saxon."
Saxon nodded "Thanks, how much did you get, aside from what I came in to see?"
"Enough to see Dai sell us out within moments of Ratchet's arrival."
Saxon scoffed "Wanker."
Zen said nothing, just sat there looking thoughtful, after a moment Saxon spoke up. "What's going through your head?"
Zen said nothing for a moment more before he smiled, a cold smile at that. "I just thought of something...Come,"
Zen stood up and headed for his secret elevator. Saxon leaping up to follow him. They entered the elevator and rode down to where they kept Slade. However when Zen walked out of the elevator, rather then walking down the hallway of doors the led to Slade's cell, which Saxon had expected. Zen instead turned left and opened a small door and walked through, Saxon squeezed through the door and followed Zen down the hall.
"What's down this way?" he asked after a few moments.
Zen didn't stop or turn around. "Call it the torture wing if you will, sound proofing from room to room and from time to time, a guest area for really special people if you're feeling creative."
Saxon glanced at the thick iron doors on the side then hoped that he wasn't about to become one of these special guests. Zen stopped in front of a door and swiped a card through the reader on the side. The door hissed open and Saxon cringed as a woman's piercing screams instantly echoed down the hall.
Zen paid no attention to it and entered the room, Saxon following with his hands over his ears. Inside the small room was a table that was on lifters, two guards, and whoever was on the table. The table was currently standing vertically with the reverse side to the door. Two of Zen's guards were standing on either side of the table, one had just placed something on who ever was strapped to the table. Saxon uncovered his ears slowly to hear a woman sobbing.
"...Pl...Pleas...Please...N...No..."
The second guard shook his head and grabbed whatever the first guard has placed and ripped it off with a sick noise. Saxon covered his ears again as that scream echoed around the small room. Zen walked up to one of the guards and tapped him on the shoulder. The guard saluted and took out ear plugs. With his ears ringing, Saxon wished he had some at that moment, he uncovered his ears to hear what the guard was saying.
"...still hasn't answered our questions Mr. President."
Zen sighed "I'm really not shocked Captain, but I may have something that will get that mouth moving, your dismissed."
The Captain saluted and turned to his partner and gesturing out the door. As they passed by they gave Saxon a curious look then closed the door behind them.
"Saxon, come here."
Saxon turned his gaze back to the table, which Zen had disappeared around. Saxon walked around curious who had gained Zens ire to such a degree. As he rounded the table, Saxon couldn't help but feel his eye's widen just a bit. The woman was hanging limply, bound by to the table by thick bars across her wrists, ankles, shoulders, and upper chest. She was naked and from what Saxon could see of the strips of stuff that had been flung to the ground by the guards. Tortured by having her skin ripped off one layer at a time, patch by patch. At this point, Saxon started paying as little attention to everything as possible. He may do some sick things, but he did not want to remember this.
"You've been holding out on me." Zen spoke up suddenly and Saxon noticed that he was sitting in a chair across from the woman.
The woman opened her eyes and glared at Zen with crystal blue eyes full of hate.
"Tsk, there's not need to look at me like that, really. I'm just trying to do what's best for the human race."
Saxon had to admire the woman just a little bit, even with all it looked that she had been through, she still managed to find the ability to give a small huff of laughter from somewhere.
"Ye...yea...Ri...righ...right.."
Zen shook his head again, he leaned forward and pressed a finger on the one of the red patches on her stomach. The woman closed her eyes shut and her muscles tightened against the raw pain, pulling her body closer to the table as she hissed.
Zens voice was quiet "Yes, I imagine it hurts quite a bit doesn't it?" Zen twisted his finger and the woman let out a gasp that turned into more hissing. Zen kept this up for a few more minutes before turning his attention to Saxon for a moment.
"Would you mind taking over?" he asked.
Saxon looked surprised but nodded before walking to the front of the woman and starting to do the same thing that Zen had been doing. Zen walked to just behind the table and leaned his head next to hers as she hissed in pain. He gestured to Saxon who pulled his finger away and stood back. The woman went limp in her bonds again, huffing our air.
Zen's next words were whispered, so low, that Saxon almost didn't hear what he said. "...Tell me...how long were you going to hold out before you told us?..."
The woman huffed out her words. "To...told... you...wh...what..?"
Zen's grin was feral as he whispered again. "...That you were pregnant..."
The woman's eyes snapped open in pure fear and she craned her head to stare at Zen out of the corner of her eyes.
Zen walked in front of her, his victory apparent in his eyes. "Ah, there's that fear that I've been looking for."
Saxon connected two and two. "Oh God." He said aloud finally really focusing on the woman. "Her ears."
Zen smiled and nodded at him. Her ears were located on top of her head, and shaped like a cats, and there tapped to the back of her left leg, a tail.
"Oh god" Saxon said again. Zens torture reached a new level for him, she was supposed to be covered in hair, fur, whatever you wanted to call it. Yet...it had all been peeled, no, ripped off with waxing paper.
Zen looked back at the woman. "Yes, Sasha Phyronix here has been rather tight lipped on certain things, but now I think I have the key to her secrets."
Sasha was still staring in fear at Zen, which slowly hardened into anger again.
"Dont...you...da...dar...dare...touc...touch...my...chil...child..."
Zen gave a small laugh then placed his hand full out on her stomach, causing her to tighten up again and hiss. "Why, Sasha, I don't think there's anything you can do to stop me. Aside from telling me what I need to know of course."
Zen raised a hand and closed his fist, this was apparently some signal, as the door hissed open and the two guards stepped in again.
They came to a stop on either side of Zen. "Now it's as simple as this, you can give me a little information, and not only will I let you live, but I'll let you keep your child, even help with the birth." Zen glanced over at one of the guards. "However, if you don't...well...In humans, if a woman gets hit too hard in the stomach while pregnant, her child is lost...I imagine the same holds true for you."
The guard started slapping his fist into his palm.
Sasha blinked and actually started to cry. "Pleas...please...No..."
Zen grinned, having finally broken Sasha, he turned his gaze back to her. "Well the choice is out of my hands, its all up to you. Some simple information, or the life of your unborn child."
Sasha sobbed, shaking her head back and forth. "Please...I'll tell you what...ever you want..."
Saxon reached forward and patted her gently on the cheek. "There's a good girl, these men will be expecting answers for the questions that they have been asking."
Zen stepped back and the guards stepped forward. "Remember they have a temper, so don't keep them waiting to long for an answer. I'll be back later with more questions for you myself."
Zen turned to leave, beckoning at Saxon to follow him. As they left Sasha sobbing in front of the guards, Saxon only had one thought go through his head. "Never mess with him."
Meanwhile, Sasha was answering the guards questions, the occasional sob escaping from her, she was only partly there however. As a large part of her mind had become detached and was chasing a thought of its own around her head.
"Oh god, I failed...I'm so so sorry Ratchet, please don't hate me, I did it to protect our child...please don't hate me...don't hate me...don't hate me...don't hate me"
Alright, so fun fact, that first section was going to be on the last chapter orginally, but then I knew that people would be all "Hur Hur, I knew you wouldn't kill here, that it so Sasha" and I really didn't want to deal with that considering she is...is...ALIVE?
Alright, just what the [Buzzer] is going on here?
I killed her, she should be dead, she's dead, right? Yea dead. Right here, page 141 in my notes " SASHA=DEAD : ( "
WHY IS SHE ALIVE?
Alright then, while I hunt down the gremlin that's been changing my story, just pretend you never read that last part.
Anyway, onto those two things that I mentiond at the start.
First one: I have a poll on my page, and I would some feedback on it, I really would, it could affect how I try and time my updates. It'll be open for a couple more weeks, prolly till end of October. Uh, vote, yea.
Second one: So, when the Christmas contast was annoucned, I said that the winner would get Early Access to the next chapter plus deleted chapters and a drawing of Stella! HOW COOL AMIRIGHT?
I dropped the ball...hard...Never finished my story, never got the drawing (mainly on the fault of my friend who stopped caring about the money I was going to give him) oh and you know, never actually had the contest winner. Although in all sad truth, only 1! thats right 1! person voted for a winner...out of three entries? so, yea, it flopped and I said fuck it! Well, I still have something cool for you, and there is no contest attached to it, just limited numbers. I'll start with the simple fact, that the cool thing is called Ratchet and Clank: Earth Bound -Loyal Reader Edition-
Absorb that...
...Keep going...
Alright got it all? Soaked it in?
Well cool, cause there is a catch, it does say loyal for a reason, There is only a few select people who I think deserve this, total maybe five that are going to for sure get this. What about the rest of you? Well, I'm giving out 25, thats right, 25 ONLY!( I can not stress that enough) other copies of this. So if you want, you can drop me a PM, and vote, voteing on my poll is key.
Now, some of you are asking, why should I care about this? I'll tell ya, the contents of this edition are:
-Completely Rebuilt Earth Bound, which is basically, cleaned up chapters, everything flows a little better, some stuff was reverted to how I first had it. Oh, and although I plan on replacing the chapters eventaully on this site, Loyal readers will have these a good two months before I get around to changing the FF net version.
-You get to see my personal thoughts and notes on each chapter.
-The original 'guide' notes I used (one to two sentences that I had for each key part)
-ALL the Deleted chapters, about five or six I think, I may add more depending on if I delete something in the future. These deleted chapters include, the original opening of Earth Bound. There were three, and each one had a diffrent...uh...curve that guided the story
-Artwork, drawn by me, not the best, but you get a peak into how I see thing in my mind, just in case my descriptions suck.
-Personal thank you and signed note from me.
-Diffrent text styles and forms (Not a big thing, but still, kinda cool)
-All packed away into a neat PDF file, or an EBook if I can manage it.
So yea, there ya have it, I'll keep a counter on my page for how many left I'm giving out, and uh, I hope to hear from of you.
Oh and one last thing, if any of you read Star Fox, Gears of War, Enslaved, or Hunted: Demons's Forge Fiction, I will be posting, new story arcs for all of those soon as well.
Battery is dieing on my laptop, so,
Peace,
-Emile