There were loud bangs coming from entrance to the ship. What the hell, were
they trying to get inside? Why?? Didn't they want us dead? As the pounding
continued the lights on the bridge flicked and then went out. I couldn't
see anything now, I just heard the banging.
"Ok.Now what do we do?" I head Kitty's voice say from my right.
"I have no idea. It sounds like they're trying to get into the ship. Let's make sure that doesn't happen."
We all got out of our seats and headed down the ladder, making our way to the door. We reached the door but didn't know what to do from there.
"Do we just wait for them to get in?" Aisha said, staring at the door.
The door cracked open before anyone could respond. I took my gun from it's holster and pointed it through the entrance, but what I saw wasn't people....It was gas. They were pumping some kind of gas into the ship. I put my arm over my mouth and tried to back up, I stumbled and fell into the wall behind me. Damn, this sleeping gas was potent. I was slowly starting to black out, as I was I saw troopers come in and start taking my crew off the ship.....What did they want with us?
~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~
The Space Forces. A faction of many faces, all diverting the public's attention away from it's true intentions.....But what are those intentions? Could there be more to them then just wanting to get rid of the Pirates? Why such a struggle for territory? It almost seems like they're looking for something.....But that doesn't make sense, how do you look for something by taking over planets and space stations? Perhaps they were looking for something that wasn't marked on any map, something that had to be found with the eyes....But what?
~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~
I awoke in a room, lying on a bed and a soft one at that. They had some serious hospitality to their prisoners. I sat up and looked around, the room was rather large, most likely to the fact that there was nothing in it except the bed. I pulled the sheets off myself and stood up....falling right back down onto the bed. There were chains wrapped up around my hands and feet. Their rate of hospitality was starting to sink.
I was at least thankful that there wasn't one big chain attaching the cuff on my hands to the ones on my feet. I hopped to the door of my room. I tried to open it but it was locked, I should have figured that one.
I went to lie back down on the bed. Man, this was just not my day. I was starting to wonder what was going on with Jess and the others. I was going to have to get out of this cell if I wanted to go find them. First I was going to have to get these cuffs off.
I looked around for anything that I could use to maybe break these cuffs off, I found nothing. The bed was even nailed to the floor so I couldn't use it's legs to break them off. As I sat there wondering what I could use I heard my door start to open. I jumped on my bed and hide behind the now opened door. A guard came in a looked around, turning his back to me. I jumped up and put the chains of my cuffs around his neck, we both hit the ground. I kicked to door closed to make sure no one would see what I was doing.
The guard was lying on his stomach with my knee sticking into his back. I used the chain tied around his neck to pull his head toward me as I pressed my knee harder into his spine. I heard a crackling from his back so I stop pulling.
"Where's my crew?!" I yelled at him.
He could only gag in response, I let my grip up.....But only by a little.
"T-they're...In rooms....Ne..xt to you...."
"Ok, good....Now where's my weapons?!" I had to ask this since I just recently remembered I was unarmed.
"I....Don't..Know."
"Bull! Tell me!" I pulled harder.
"Gahh! I really don't know....I'm not....In charge or weapon..Manage...ment ."
I sighed, this guy was no use to me. I took one last hard pull of my cuff, hearing the soft wet crack of his spine as it split in two. I untangled the chains from his neck and checked him for anything that could get these cuffs off. He had a MP5-A5 submachine gun and a 93F handgun. Both were known for their three-shot bursts and both were basic Space Forces design. I actually preferred a more updated 9mm like a 93F over my own but Quick Silver just had sentimental value.
I took the handgun and pointed it at the chains around my feet. I pulled the trigger and three bullets came whizzing out, snapping the chain in half. I did the same to the ones on my hands, with those snapping off too.
I picked up the A5 and slung it over my shoulder, dashing out of the room. I ran down the halls peaking around every corner to make sure there wasn't anyone there. Every hall looked the same, I couldn't tell where I was going. I came up to one corner and saw someone walking away from me. I snuck up behind him and placed the barrel of my gun to his back.
"Don't move." I ordered.
He stood there silently with his hands over his head.
"Show me where my weapons are."
"Are....Are you the prisoner from that red ship?"
"Yep, now tell me!" I pushed my gun harder into his skull.
He started walking to the room where my gear was, shaking in his boots the whole way. We reached the door and he put some code in to open it. We walked in and he showed me to my stuff. "Thanks, man." I said before striking him in the back of the head with my weapon. All my stuff was there. My 9mm, the shotgun thing, and my caster. Now I had five weapons to defend myself from these guys.
I strapped all my weapons to their respected places and started to leave but a sign above a door in the back caught my attention. It was only two words but they were the best words I've seen to date. "Weapon storage."
There was a whole other room holding tons of weapons! I ran up to the door and tried to open it, it was locked....Damn. I took the submachine gun off my back and gave a couple shots to the doorknob. After a while if fell helplessly to the ground. I kicked open the door and looked in....I think I started drooling from all the weapons I saw.
There was everything from a measly .22 to a mammoth fully-automatic M-60. I went right for the M-60 before all else. There was a long line of bullets for it, enough to get me out of this ship, at least. After wrapping the bullets around my chest I started to pack more guns onto myself. I was able to fit two Uzis and two .45 Magnums both with a decent amount of ammo somewhere on me before I had to start packing things in bags. I wasn't even sure what I was packing now, as long as it looked big and menacing it went into the bag.
I stopped collecting guns when I felt like I weighed ten tons. With the M- 60 firmly in my hands I walked out of the storage room. The people on this ship were in for a big surprise....
The first second I walked out of the room, I saw two guards turning the corner. They looked terrified as they saw me. I simply squeezed the trigger on my weapon and mowed them down. Now grinning I continued to walk down the hall.
As I walked I heard some screaming to my right, the screams weren't familiar so I just guessed that Kitty or Aisha got free of their cells. It seemed like my guess was right, I saw Kitty running straight down the hall and almost barrel right into me. "Kitty, where's everyone else?!"
"I'm finding them right now, follow me!"
I did as she said as we both ran down the corridors. Kitty suddenly stopped in front of a couple doors. "They're in here! Strife, you have anything that explodes? That could really be helpful."
"Give me a second to check." I opened my large bag and looked through it. Man, I really did have some big bad weapons in here. I soon found something that would work out perfectly. "Kitty! I found some C4!"
I took it out and placed one on each of the three doors. Kitty and I took cover around a corner before I blew the C4. We ran back around and saw Jess, Mel, and Aisha running out of their rooms.
"Holy crap, Strife! What's with all the weapons?" Jess asked after seeing me covered head to toe in led.
"Eh, think of it as a new look. Now let's hurry and get out of here."
"Does anyone even know where the exit is?"
Melfina raised her hand. "I saw it as we came in before we were put into our cells."
I looked at her. "You weren't affected by the gas?"
"No, I was. I just recovered more quickly."
I sighed, of all the luck...."Ok then show us were it is."
"Alright, follow me."
Mel ran down the hall and turned right. I tried my best to keep up but the weight was really holding me back. Some guards saw us running and chased after us, I turned towards them and laid down a wave of bullets. Eh, maybe this weight wasn't so bad....
We finally found the exit and ran out. When we stepped outside we saw something wrong....We were in Galactica's bay. That meant Drake was already 'talking' to Malashar. This was just great....
"Ok guys, we have to get to Malashar's place right now." I said to everyone else. They nodded and followed me out of the bay. We walked up to the transporter but it was broken. Drake must have broken it so we couldn't use it! Damn him!
"Ok, plan B. Let's get a ride."
We walked to the edge of the bay and looked down. I couldn't see the ground, only flying cars. One false step and they'd be scrapping you off the ground for weeks. As we thought of ways to get to Malashar, I heard an explosion from a building far away. What was going on?!
We all turned in the direction of the explosion. What we saw was worse then just a building falling, we saw Space Forces ships flying around the city shooting more buildings down. One ship came right as us. "Scatter!" I yelled, leaping up at the ship. I landed on the top and steadied my balance, blasting away at the window of the cockpit as I stood. A chain of small explosions came from it followed by a final large one. The force pushed me off the ship sending me careening through the air.
My body slammed into a passing car, aptly breaking my fall....And maybe my back. On stood up on it's roof and looked around, another car was just now passing by. I summoned up enough courage to jump from the one I was on to that one. My feet slipped as I hit it's roof but I still managed to stay on. I stood up and looked for more ships. Two were hanging over me. I pointed my mighty weapon at them and let it rip. It took a couple minutes but one ship finally exploded into a cloud of flames, the other backed off.
I hung my head over the side of the car and looked in the driver's window. "Do you know where Malashar's place is?!"
The man nodded.
"Can you take me there? It's a matter of great importance!"
He nodded again and turned his car around. As he drove more ships came after me. I did me best to keep them away with my weapon but they were counterattacking with guns that packed more of a punch.
The driver of the car I was on weaved around to avoid the fire, unfortunately as he moved I started to loose my footing and fell off. I once again was falling straight towards the ground, this time a car was flying right next to me. It took a quick turn and flew under me letting me fall onto the roof. Jess poked her head out of the driver's window.
"God, Strife. Didn't you hear me say wait up?!"
"Um....I was kind of busy not DIEING!"
"Pfft, excuses, excuses..."
"Jess just get to Malashar!"
"One step ahead of you!"
The car started whizzing through the sky. Every time we passed by an enemy ship I made sure they didn't get any closer. As I was shooting one ship I saw Kitty and Aisha leap off it and land on our car.
"Hey Strife! Miss us?"
"If I said no would you push me off the car?"
"Yes...."
"Then sure I missed you!"
Kitty sighed and knocked on the window to the car, asking Mel to open it and let them in. She complied and rolled down the window. The closer we got to Malashar's place the more crowded it got. We must have been going around eighty miles an hour swerving around cars with only inches of space between us and them. To top it off more Forces ships were on our tail. Now we weren't only dodging cars but enemy fire!
We were so close to our destination but one good shot from those ships and we were done for. As luck would have it, that's just what happened. The closet ship to us launched a missile right into the back of our car. The explosion sent me careening through a window of the building right next to us. I wasn't even sure what happened to the others. I staggered back up and looked around. I couldn't believe wear I was....The rec room in Malashar's tower! I made it, holy CRAP!!
I ran out of the room and headed for his quarters. I stopped halfway when I saw Malashar on the floor below me, talking to someone in a blue and white uniform. The uniform wasn't familiar but the face was. It's good ol Billy- Bob. I crouched down and listened to what they were saying.
"Come now, Malashar. Will you just make the weapons. We will give you and your planet full protection form any wrong-doers."
"You speak as if you are the good guy here. But that is not the case."
Drake sighed. "We are you being so stubborn? You just have to make some measly weapons! Is it really that hard?!"
"Weapons are against our nature, we will never use our intelligence as an art of war."
"Art of war?! You're not even fighting! Just supplying!"
"It's still contributing to innocent deaths."
"Innocent deaths?! You want to see some innocent deaths?! Look outside!! Look at your people! They're being slaughtered because you're too stubborn to help us!"
Malashar fell silent, looking down at the ground.
Drake laughed. "You're pitiful Malashar. You don't want helpless civilians to die yet you let your own people suffer as my men wipe them out."
Malashar remained silent. I started to walk down the stairs to the lower floor. "Ah come one, Billy-Bob....Why do you have to be such a bitch?"
"You! How did you escape?! How did you get here?! Are....Are those my weapons?!?!"
I grinned. "I broke out of that cell, I jumped from car to car, and yep they are."
He growled. "This is inconceivable! No one has caused me such aggravation as you have!" He pulled a pistol from his belt. "Just DIE!!"
He fired off a couple shots, I was able to get cover from a nearby wall before any made contact. I looked around the wall and gave him a good taste of M-60 bullets. Drake put his arm up showing some kind of device attached to his wrist. A tiny fan started buzzing around in the center of it, as is spun a shield formed around him, stopping all my shots.
He grinned. "Ahh, thank God for this light shield."
Damn! He had a light shield?! How was I going to get through that?! Oh wait....I know....I took the caster from my pocket and pointed it at Drake who just stood there with a stupid expression on his face, not even realizing his shield wouldn't protect him for this.
The motors started to move and buzz as energy was collected inside the gun. I could almost feel the energy in me fusing with the energy of the shell. I heard that each shell needs a little but of your own life force to work but I didn't know that you felt it being drained from you. After a few short moments the gun stopped charging and fired a long, thick red beam at Drake. It tore threw his shield and continued threw his arm. The force was so bad that it pushed him all the way back into a wall about a good ten feet away.
After the shot was done I felt kind of light-headed. I guessed it was natural since that was my first time firing a caster, and with what seemed to be a big shell no less.
I walked over to Drake who was now missing his right arm.
"D...Damn you." He said.
"Yeah, whatever....Just die." I took out my 9mm and pointed it at his head. The situation seemed so funny to me. The man at the top ranks of the Space Forces was sitting right in front of me, it just took one bullet to end his life. His fancy titles weren't going to save him here...
I wasn't able to get a shot off, though. The wall to my left was shattered to pieces by some kind of explosion. It threw me and Drake across the room. I went skidding across the floor and finally came to a stop. I shook my head and looked at the hole in the wall. There was one solitary figure standing there. I swore in aggravation as I saw who it was....Ketsu....
"Hello Strife....Did you miss me?"
I stayed silent. Ketsu laughed. "Hmm, it doesn't matter. I actually didn't come here for you, I came here because I heard the Space Forces were trying to hide some secret weapons on this barren planet." He looked over at Drake. "I guess I was right."
A group of Space Forces solders came in from the entrance and pointed their weapons at Ketsu. "Stay away form our commander!"
"Oh, silly boys....All I want is the weapon..."
Malashar walked up to Ketsu. "There are no weapons here. We refuse to make them."
"Oh really?" Ketsu grabbed him by the through and lifted him up. "Too bad..."
He tightened his grip around his neck. "You're going to make weapons all right....But it's going to be for Ka-Shinta
The solders got closer to Ketsu. "Drop him or we'll fire!"
"Heh....Do that and you'll hit this man as well."
They stood there, silent.
"That's what I thought." Ketsu threw Malashar away and into a nearby wall. "Eh, we don't really need weapons anyway. We just wanted to make sure you Forces didn't get them....Ka-Shinta wants something a little more 'magical'....You know what I'm referring to, right Strife?"
What? How would I know? I didn't own anything mag-...THE ORB! It was somewhere on the ship! Crap, I can't believe I forgot all about that!!
Ketsu smiled, I guess he just saw the realization on my face. "Hmm, well I have rather pressing matters to attend to so I'll leave you all with two special guests....Strife, you should really like one of these people.."
I didn't quite know what he meant by that but I also didn't quite care.
One man fell down from the sky and next to Ketsu. He stood up and crossed his arms. He seemed to be covered in swords. Two on his back, two by his side, two on his belt in the back, plus I could see some knives in the jacket he was wearing. The jacket was white, his shirt was black and his pants had a brown tinge to them. He also seemed to have that 'crazy guy' smile.
"Hehehehe. Are these the people you wish me to kill, master?" He said to Ketsu.
"Yes Shogun, but wait for our other guest to arrive."
Another man walked up next to Ketsu. He had as many guns as Shogun did swords, And I thought I was covered from head to toe, not to mention he also had the BIGGEST chaingun strapped to his back that I ever saw....This guy was a friggen walking arsenal! He was also as tall as a mountain standing a good half a foot taller them me. His muscles were also bigger then my head. He was wearing black pants and a black muscle shirt.
I gasped and almost fell to me knees. That man....That man standing next to Ketsu. Could it be...? No, no it's not! It can't be!!
"Heh, is something wrong Strife? I thought you would be happy to see an old comrade?" Ketsu said as he saw my reaction.
"N-No, he'd dead....He died on that planet with Sky....He's not alive anymore! There's no way!!!"
Ketsu tilted his head back and laughed. "Oh but he is alive, Strife!! We kept him alive so Siefer could cleanse his mind and make him one of us. He really is a great individual, I didn't want to kill him so easily. Plus I thought it would be fun for you to fight someone so close to you."
I was starting to shake, why I wasn't quite sure. I was thinking it was mainly the anger welling up inside me. "No, you're lying....HE'S DEAD!!"
The man looked at me. "No, Strife. I'm alive, and I'm standing right in front of you. Come on Strife, look at me....You know it's me."
I started at him, almost shedding some tears. It really was him.....It was Volk. "But why?! Why are you helping Ka-Shinta?!?!"
"Don't you get it, Strife?! There's no way ONE person can change a WHOLE galaxy for the better! It's just not possible!! Ketsu knows what it takes to form this into a better place to live! He opened my eyes to that, it's time you opened yours to!"
"NO!! No, no, no!! I can't believe you would just turn your back on me, Volk! You're not the same person I respected all my life!"
"Yes I am, Strife....And that's why you should listen to me. If there's anyone you should believe...It's me."
I was stunned. Did he really mean all of this? Or was he putting on some kind of show so Ketsu wouldn't catch on, he might have been lying so he wouldn't get killed. No, Volk wasn't like that, what he said he meant. He was serious in thinking that Ketsu was the good guy. But how....Why? I didn't understand, I was so confused....
"Hey, Strife! You're not believing that crap, are ya?!" I turned to my left and saw Kitty standing in the entrance. "I thought you had more sense then that."
Mel, Jess, and Aisha came up behind her. "Man, we sure had one helluva ride. Luckily that car stayed intact long enough for us jump off." Jess added, now looking out Ketsu. "Oh man, you again? Don't you give up?"
He smirked. "No. How good of a leader would I be if I just 'gave up'?"
"A pretty wise one if you ask me....Since there's no way your going to win against us."
Ketsu laughed. "Haha! Is that so?! Well maybe we should finish this right no-"
A beep went off in Ketsu's ear. "What is it?" He said to no one in particular.
There was a silence before he spoke again. "You can't be serious?"
More silence.
"Damn! Ok, I'll be there right away." He turned to me. "Strife, you lucked out this time but next time we meet will be different. Fare well."
He waved his hand in the air causing a large blue aura to surround him and the other two, disappearing seconds later.
Everyone made there way over to me. "So who was that guy with Ketsu?"
I hesitated before I answered. "....That was Volk, a dear friend to me...."
Kitty looked confused. "Friend? But he's with Ketsu? That doesn't make him much of a friend..."
I looked down at the ground, not responding. Malashar changed the conversation. "So what do we do about Drake?"
I looked over at Billy as I spoke. "Send him back to the Forces, make sure they all know who did this. Make sure they KNOW this was done by me....Strife."
Jess was practically frantic. "What?! But then they'll come after us!!"
"Yeah, maybe they will...But they'll also know how me and my crew stopped their best fleet from bending Galactica to it's will, and that I stopped their number one commander. That should give them enough chills down their spine."
Jess grinned at me. "You got a lot of brass, Y'know?"
"Heh, I know....But I'm not going to achieve anything unless I take big steps."
Malashar turned to me. "Well then I will tell them that....But the day grows late. Do you wish to stay the night as we repair your ship?"
I nodded. "Yeah, sure."
As I thought about my ship something snapped in my head. "Oh crap! What about those battleships and war ships?!"
Malashar smiled. "No need to worry about them, we are holding then in an electric containment. It's perfectly harmless, just think of it as 'electronic ice'."
"Heh, alright then....Guess I have nothing to worry about. Well I'm off to bed then, I need to get these damn weapons off my back before it breaks."
I walked into the nearest guest room and dropped all my guns and such. My body fell limp to the bed, I was a lot more tired then I thought. I wasn't even able to get undressed before I fell right to sleep.
------------------------*------------------------*------------------------- *-------------------------*----
Author's note: Ok, I think I have a lot to say this time, I not too sure. Anyway, this was pretty big. They're not even off Galactica yet! Man, I didn't know their stop to this planet would be sooo long @_@
Oh and thanks a lot to Meidarkriegn, Macky, Jigo, Jim Hawking Jr, Loather and my sis SolidChristian-88 for the reviews. They help a great deal for me to keep writing this.
Oh and I don't quite know how Jess's mom or Kitty's dad is. I'll try to fit that info in there somwere, though.
Macky! Nice bio, man! But wouldn't Harry be his Uncle and not Cousin? Anyway, I'll be sure to use him and the other McDougles sometime in the story, but I want to say when, I'll keep that to myself.
Oh! I bet NONE of you saw Volk coming back, huh? Yeah, he really is alive. If you're thinking there's some kind of plot hole to him living then go read back to when he does 'die' you'll see that Sky and Strife only heard him stop shooting so they ASSUMED he was dead...See? Anyway, he'll play a big part later on.
Well, guess I was wrong, not a lot this time. I just hope I get these guys off Galactica before then next chapter ends or I'll go insane...
"Good reading equals good times." I'm out.
"Ok.Now what do we do?" I head Kitty's voice say from my right.
"I have no idea. It sounds like they're trying to get into the ship. Let's make sure that doesn't happen."
We all got out of our seats and headed down the ladder, making our way to the door. We reached the door but didn't know what to do from there.
"Do we just wait for them to get in?" Aisha said, staring at the door.
The door cracked open before anyone could respond. I took my gun from it's holster and pointed it through the entrance, but what I saw wasn't people....It was gas. They were pumping some kind of gas into the ship. I put my arm over my mouth and tried to back up, I stumbled and fell into the wall behind me. Damn, this sleeping gas was potent. I was slowly starting to black out, as I was I saw troopers come in and start taking my crew off the ship.....What did they want with us?
~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~
The Space Forces. A faction of many faces, all diverting the public's attention away from it's true intentions.....But what are those intentions? Could there be more to them then just wanting to get rid of the Pirates? Why such a struggle for territory? It almost seems like they're looking for something.....But that doesn't make sense, how do you look for something by taking over planets and space stations? Perhaps they were looking for something that wasn't marked on any map, something that had to be found with the eyes....But what?
~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~
I awoke in a room, lying on a bed and a soft one at that. They had some serious hospitality to their prisoners. I sat up and looked around, the room was rather large, most likely to the fact that there was nothing in it except the bed. I pulled the sheets off myself and stood up....falling right back down onto the bed. There were chains wrapped up around my hands and feet. Their rate of hospitality was starting to sink.
I was at least thankful that there wasn't one big chain attaching the cuff on my hands to the ones on my feet. I hopped to the door of my room. I tried to open it but it was locked, I should have figured that one.
I went to lie back down on the bed. Man, this was just not my day. I was starting to wonder what was going on with Jess and the others. I was going to have to get out of this cell if I wanted to go find them. First I was going to have to get these cuffs off.
I looked around for anything that I could use to maybe break these cuffs off, I found nothing. The bed was even nailed to the floor so I couldn't use it's legs to break them off. As I sat there wondering what I could use I heard my door start to open. I jumped on my bed and hide behind the now opened door. A guard came in a looked around, turning his back to me. I jumped up and put the chains of my cuffs around his neck, we both hit the ground. I kicked to door closed to make sure no one would see what I was doing.
The guard was lying on his stomach with my knee sticking into his back. I used the chain tied around his neck to pull his head toward me as I pressed my knee harder into his spine. I heard a crackling from his back so I stop pulling.
"Where's my crew?!" I yelled at him.
He could only gag in response, I let my grip up.....But only by a little.
"T-they're...In rooms....Ne..xt to you...."
"Ok, good....Now where's my weapons?!" I had to ask this since I just recently remembered I was unarmed.
"I....Don't..Know."
"Bull! Tell me!" I pulled harder.
"Gahh! I really don't know....I'm not....In charge or weapon..Manage...ment ."
I sighed, this guy was no use to me. I took one last hard pull of my cuff, hearing the soft wet crack of his spine as it split in two. I untangled the chains from his neck and checked him for anything that could get these cuffs off. He had a MP5-A5 submachine gun and a 93F handgun. Both were known for their three-shot bursts and both were basic Space Forces design. I actually preferred a more updated 9mm like a 93F over my own but Quick Silver just had sentimental value.
I took the handgun and pointed it at the chains around my feet. I pulled the trigger and three bullets came whizzing out, snapping the chain in half. I did the same to the ones on my hands, with those snapping off too.
I picked up the A5 and slung it over my shoulder, dashing out of the room. I ran down the halls peaking around every corner to make sure there wasn't anyone there. Every hall looked the same, I couldn't tell where I was going. I came up to one corner and saw someone walking away from me. I snuck up behind him and placed the barrel of my gun to his back.
"Don't move." I ordered.
He stood there silently with his hands over his head.
"Show me where my weapons are."
"Are....Are you the prisoner from that red ship?"
"Yep, now tell me!" I pushed my gun harder into his skull.
He started walking to the room where my gear was, shaking in his boots the whole way. We reached the door and he put some code in to open it. We walked in and he showed me to my stuff. "Thanks, man." I said before striking him in the back of the head with my weapon. All my stuff was there. My 9mm, the shotgun thing, and my caster. Now I had five weapons to defend myself from these guys.
I strapped all my weapons to their respected places and started to leave but a sign above a door in the back caught my attention. It was only two words but they were the best words I've seen to date. "Weapon storage."
There was a whole other room holding tons of weapons! I ran up to the door and tried to open it, it was locked....Damn. I took the submachine gun off my back and gave a couple shots to the doorknob. After a while if fell helplessly to the ground. I kicked open the door and looked in....I think I started drooling from all the weapons I saw.
There was everything from a measly .22 to a mammoth fully-automatic M-60. I went right for the M-60 before all else. There was a long line of bullets for it, enough to get me out of this ship, at least. After wrapping the bullets around my chest I started to pack more guns onto myself. I was able to fit two Uzis and two .45 Magnums both with a decent amount of ammo somewhere on me before I had to start packing things in bags. I wasn't even sure what I was packing now, as long as it looked big and menacing it went into the bag.
I stopped collecting guns when I felt like I weighed ten tons. With the M- 60 firmly in my hands I walked out of the storage room. The people on this ship were in for a big surprise....
The first second I walked out of the room, I saw two guards turning the corner. They looked terrified as they saw me. I simply squeezed the trigger on my weapon and mowed them down. Now grinning I continued to walk down the hall.
As I walked I heard some screaming to my right, the screams weren't familiar so I just guessed that Kitty or Aisha got free of their cells. It seemed like my guess was right, I saw Kitty running straight down the hall and almost barrel right into me. "Kitty, where's everyone else?!"
"I'm finding them right now, follow me!"
I did as she said as we both ran down the corridors. Kitty suddenly stopped in front of a couple doors. "They're in here! Strife, you have anything that explodes? That could really be helpful."
"Give me a second to check." I opened my large bag and looked through it. Man, I really did have some big bad weapons in here. I soon found something that would work out perfectly. "Kitty! I found some C4!"
I took it out and placed one on each of the three doors. Kitty and I took cover around a corner before I blew the C4. We ran back around and saw Jess, Mel, and Aisha running out of their rooms.
"Holy crap, Strife! What's with all the weapons?" Jess asked after seeing me covered head to toe in led.
"Eh, think of it as a new look. Now let's hurry and get out of here."
"Does anyone even know where the exit is?"
Melfina raised her hand. "I saw it as we came in before we were put into our cells."
I looked at her. "You weren't affected by the gas?"
"No, I was. I just recovered more quickly."
I sighed, of all the luck...."Ok then show us were it is."
"Alright, follow me."
Mel ran down the hall and turned right. I tried my best to keep up but the weight was really holding me back. Some guards saw us running and chased after us, I turned towards them and laid down a wave of bullets. Eh, maybe this weight wasn't so bad....
We finally found the exit and ran out. When we stepped outside we saw something wrong....We were in Galactica's bay. That meant Drake was already 'talking' to Malashar. This was just great....
"Ok guys, we have to get to Malashar's place right now." I said to everyone else. They nodded and followed me out of the bay. We walked up to the transporter but it was broken. Drake must have broken it so we couldn't use it! Damn him!
"Ok, plan B. Let's get a ride."
We walked to the edge of the bay and looked down. I couldn't see the ground, only flying cars. One false step and they'd be scrapping you off the ground for weeks. As we thought of ways to get to Malashar, I heard an explosion from a building far away. What was going on?!
We all turned in the direction of the explosion. What we saw was worse then just a building falling, we saw Space Forces ships flying around the city shooting more buildings down. One ship came right as us. "Scatter!" I yelled, leaping up at the ship. I landed on the top and steadied my balance, blasting away at the window of the cockpit as I stood. A chain of small explosions came from it followed by a final large one. The force pushed me off the ship sending me careening through the air.
My body slammed into a passing car, aptly breaking my fall....And maybe my back. On stood up on it's roof and looked around, another car was just now passing by. I summoned up enough courage to jump from the one I was on to that one. My feet slipped as I hit it's roof but I still managed to stay on. I stood up and looked for more ships. Two were hanging over me. I pointed my mighty weapon at them and let it rip. It took a couple minutes but one ship finally exploded into a cloud of flames, the other backed off.
I hung my head over the side of the car and looked in the driver's window. "Do you know where Malashar's place is?!"
The man nodded.
"Can you take me there? It's a matter of great importance!"
He nodded again and turned his car around. As he drove more ships came after me. I did me best to keep them away with my weapon but they were counterattacking with guns that packed more of a punch.
The driver of the car I was on weaved around to avoid the fire, unfortunately as he moved I started to loose my footing and fell off. I once again was falling straight towards the ground, this time a car was flying right next to me. It took a quick turn and flew under me letting me fall onto the roof. Jess poked her head out of the driver's window.
"God, Strife. Didn't you hear me say wait up?!"
"Um....I was kind of busy not DIEING!"
"Pfft, excuses, excuses..."
"Jess just get to Malashar!"
"One step ahead of you!"
The car started whizzing through the sky. Every time we passed by an enemy ship I made sure they didn't get any closer. As I was shooting one ship I saw Kitty and Aisha leap off it and land on our car.
"Hey Strife! Miss us?"
"If I said no would you push me off the car?"
"Yes...."
"Then sure I missed you!"
Kitty sighed and knocked on the window to the car, asking Mel to open it and let them in. She complied and rolled down the window. The closer we got to Malashar's place the more crowded it got. We must have been going around eighty miles an hour swerving around cars with only inches of space between us and them. To top it off more Forces ships were on our tail. Now we weren't only dodging cars but enemy fire!
We were so close to our destination but one good shot from those ships and we were done for. As luck would have it, that's just what happened. The closet ship to us launched a missile right into the back of our car. The explosion sent me careening through a window of the building right next to us. I wasn't even sure what happened to the others. I staggered back up and looked around. I couldn't believe wear I was....The rec room in Malashar's tower! I made it, holy CRAP!!
I ran out of the room and headed for his quarters. I stopped halfway when I saw Malashar on the floor below me, talking to someone in a blue and white uniform. The uniform wasn't familiar but the face was. It's good ol Billy- Bob. I crouched down and listened to what they were saying.
"Come now, Malashar. Will you just make the weapons. We will give you and your planet full protection form any wrong-doers."
"You speak as if you are the good guy here. But that is not the case."
Drake sighed. "We are you being so stubborn? You just have to make some measly weapons! Is it really that hard?!"
"Weapons are against our nature, we will never use our intelligence as an art of war."
"Art of war?! You're not even fighting! Just supplying!"
"It's still contributing to innocent deaths."
"Innocent deaths?! You want to see some innocent deaths?! Look outside!! Look at your people! They're being slaughtered because you're too stubborn to help us!"
Malashar fell silent, looking down at the ground.
Drake laughed. "You're pitiful Malashar. You don't want helpless civilians to die yet you let your own people suffer as my men wipe them out."
Malashar remained silent. I started to walk down the stairs to the lower floor. "Ah come one, Billy-Bob....Why do you have to be such a bitch?"
"You! How did you escape?! How did you get here?! Are....Are those my weapons?!?!"
I grinned. "I broke out of that cell, I jumped from car to car, and yep they are."
He growled. "This is inconceivable! No one has caused me such aggravation as you have!" He pulled a pistol from his belt. "Just DIE!!"
He fired off a couple shots, I was able to get cover from a nearby wall before any made contact. I looked around the wall and gave him a good taste of M-60 bullets. Drake put his arm up showing some kind of device attached to his wrist. A tiny fan started buzzing around in the center of it, as is spun a shield formed around him, stopping all my shots.
He grinned. "Ahh, thank God for this light shield."
Damn! He had a light shield?! How was I going to get through that?! Oh wait....I know....I took the caster from my pocket and pointed it at Drake who just stood there with a stupid expression on his face, not even realizing his shield wouldn't protect him for this.
The motors started to move and buzz as energy was collected inside the gun. I could almost feel the energy in me fusing with the energy of the shell. I heard that each shell needs a little but of your own life force to work but I didn't know that you felt it being drained from you. After a few short moments the gun stopped charging and fired a long, thick red beam at Drake. It tore threw his shield and continued threw his arm. The force was so bad that it pushed him all the way back into a wall about a good ten feet away.
After the shot was done I felt kind of light-headed. I guessed it was natural since that was my first time firing a caster, and with what seemed to be a big shell no less.
I walked over to Drake who was now missing his right arm.
"D...Damn you." He said.
"Yeah, whatever....Just die." I took out my 9mm and pointed it at his head. The situation seemed so funny to me. The man at the top ranks of the Space Forces was sitting right in front of me, it just took one bullet to end his life. His fancy titles weren't going to save him here...
I wasn't able to get a shot off, though. The wall to my left was shattered to pieces by some kind of explosion. It threw me and Drake across the room. I went skidding across the floor and finally came to a stop. I shook my head and looked at the hole in the wall. There was one solitary figure standing there. I swore in aggravation as I saw who it was....Ketsu....
"Hello Strife....Did you miss me?"
I stayed silent. Ketsu laughed. "Hmm, it doesn't matter. I actually didn't come here for you, I came here because I heard the Space Forces were trying to hide some secret weapons on this barren planet." He looked over at Drake. "I guess I was right."
A group of Space Forces solders came in from the entrance and pointed their weapons at Ketsu. "Stay away form our commander!"
"Oh, silly boys....All I want is the weapon..."
Malashar walked up to Ketsu. "There are no weapons here. We refuse to make them."
"Oh really?" Ketsu grabbed him by the through and lifted him up. "Too bad..."
He tightened his grip around his neck. "You're going to make weapons all right....But it's going to be for Ka-Shinta
The solders got closer to Ketsu. "Drop him or we'll fire!"
"Heh....Do that and you'll hit this man as well."
They stood there, silent.
"That's what I thought." Ketsu threw Malashar away and into a nearby wall. "Eh, we don't really need weapons anyway. We just wanted to make sure you Forces didn't get them....Ka-Shinta wants something a little more 'magical'....You know what I'm referring to, right Strife?"
What? How would I know? I didn't own anything mag-...THE ORB! It was somewhere on the ship! Crap, I can't believe I forgot all about that!!
Ketsu smiled, I guess he just saw the realization on my face. "Hmm, well I have rather pressing matters to attend to so I'll leave you all with two special guests....Strife, you should really like one of these people.."
I didn't quite know what he meant by that but I also didn't quite care.
One man fell down from the sky and next to Ketsu. He stood up and crossed his arms. He seemed to be covered in swords. Two on his back, two by his side, two on his belt in the back, plus I could see some knives in the jacket he was wearing. The jacket was white, his shirt was black and his pants had a brown tinge to them. He also seemed to have that 'crazy guy' smile.
"Hehehehe. Are these the people you wish me to kill, master?" He said to Ketsu.
"Yes Shogun, but wait for our other guest to arrive."
Another man walked up next to Ketsu. He had as many guns as Shogun did swords, And I thought I was covered from head to toe, not to mention he also had the BIGGEST chaingun strapped to his back that I ever saw....This guy was a friggen walking arsenal! He was also as tall as a mountain standing a good half a foot taller them me. His muscles were also bigger then my head. He was wearing black pants and a black muscle shirt.
I gasped and almost fell to me knees. That man....That man standing next to Ketsu. Could it be...? No, no it's not! It can't be!!
"Heh, is something wrong Strife? I thought you would be happy to see an old comrade?" Ketsu said as he saw my reaction.
"N-No, he'd dead....He died on that planet with Sky....He's not alive anymore! There's no way!!!"
Ketsu tilted his head back and laughed. "Oh but he is alive, Strife!! We kept him alive so Siefer could cleanse his mind and make him one of us. He really is a great individual, I didn't want to kill him so easily. Plus I thought it would be fun for you to fight someone so close to you."
I was starting to shake, why I wasn't quite sure. I was thinking it was mainly the anger welling up inside me. "No, you're lying....HE'S DEAD!!"
The man looked at me. "No, Strife. I'm alive, and I'm standing right in front of you. Come on Strife, look at me....You know it's me."
I started at him, almost shedding some tears. It really was him.....It was Volk. "But why?! Why are you helping Ka-Shinta?!?!"
"Don't you get it, Strife?! There's no way ONE person can change a WHOLE galaxy for the better! It's just not possible!! Ketsu knows what it takes to form this into a better place to live! He opened my eyes to that, it's time you opened yours to!"
"NO!! No, no, no!! I can't believe you would just turn your back on me, Volk! You're not the same person I respected all my life!"
"Yes I am, Strife....And that's why you should listen to me. If there's anyone you should believe...It's me."
I was stunned. Did he really mean all of this? Or was he putting on some kind of show so Ketsu wouldn't catch on, he might have been lying so he wouldn't get killed. No, Volk wasn't like that, what he said he meant. He was serious in thinking that Ketsu was the good guy. But how....Why? I didn't understand, I was so confused....
"Hey, Strife! You're not believing that crap, are ya?!" I turned to my left and saw Kitty standing in the entrance. "I thought you had more sense then that."
Mel, Jess, and Aisha came up behind her. "Man, we sure had one helluva ride. Luckily that car stayed intact long enough for us jump off." Jess added, now looking out Ketsu. "Oh man, you again? Don't you give up?"
He smirked. "No. How good of a leader would I be if I just 'gave up'?"
"A pretty wise one if you ask me....Since there's no way your going to win against us."
Ketsu laughed. "Haha! Is that so?! Well maybe we should finish this right no-"
A beep went off in Ketsu's ear. "What is it?" He said to no one in particular.
There was a silence before he spoke again. "You can't be serious?"
More silence.
"Damn! Ok, I'll be there right away." He turned to me. "Strife, you lucked out this time but next time we meet will be different. Fare well."
He waved his hand in the air causing a large blue aura to surround him and the other two, disappearing seconds later.
Everyone made there way over to me. "So who was that guy with Ketsu?"
I hesitated before I answered. "....That was Volk, a dear friend to me...."
Kitty looked confused. "Friend? But he's with Ketsu? That doesn't make him much of a friend..."
I looked down at the ground, not responding. Malashar changed the conversation. "So what do we do about Drake?"
I looked over at Billy as I spoke. "Send him back to the Forces, make sure they all know who did this. Make sure they KNOW this was done by me....Strife."
Jess was practically frantic. "What?! But then they'll come after us!!"
"Yeah, maybe they will...But they'll also know how me and my crew stopped their best fleet from bending Galactica to it's will, and that I stopped their number one commander. That should give them enough chills down their spine."
Jess grinned at me. "You got a lot of brass, Y'know?"
"Heh, I know....But I'm not going to achieve anything unless I take big steps."
Malashar turned to me. "Well then I will tell them that....But the day grows late. Do you wish to stay the night as we repair your ship?"
I nodded. "Yeah, sure."
As I thought about my ship something snapped in my head. "Oh crap! What about those battleships and war ships?!"
Malashar smiled. "No need to worry about them, we are holding then in an electric containment. It's perfectly harmless, just think of it as 'electronic ice'."
"Heh, alright then....Guess I have nothing to worry about. Well I'm off to bed then, I need to get these damn weapons off my back before it breaks."
I walked into the nearest guest room and dropped all my guns and such. My body fell limp to the bed, I was a lot more tired then I thought. I wasn't even able to get undressed before I fell right to sleep.
------------------------*------------------------*------------------------- *-------------------------*----
Author's note: Ok, I think I have a lot to say this time, I not too sure. Anyway, this was pretty big. They're not even off Galactica yet! Man, I didn't know their stop to this planet would be sooo long @_@
Oh and thanks a lot to Meidarkriegn, Macky, Jigo, Jim Hawking Jr, Loather and my sis SolidChristian-88 for the reviews. They help a great deal for me to keep writing this.
Oh and I don't quite know how Jess's mom or Kitty's dad is. I'll try to fit that info in there somwere, though.
Macky! Nice bio, man! But wouldn't Harry be his Uncle and not Cousin? Anyway, I'll be sure to use him and the other McDougles sometime in the story, but I want to say when, I'll keep that to myself.
Oh! I bet NONE of you saw Volk coming back, huh? Yeah, he really is alive. If you're thinking there's some kind of plot hole to him living then go read back to when he does 'die' you'll see that Sky and Strife only heard him stop shooting so they ASSUMED he was dead...See? Anyway, he'll play a big part later on.
Well, guess I was wrong, not a lot this time. I just hope I get these guys off Galactica before then next chapter ends or I'll go insane...
"Good reading equals good times." I'm out.