EBAY IS SO AMAZING! See I hadn't actually got the Outlaw Star series (I know, I'm deprived), I'd only got a few random episodes that I'd taped off of TV and was basically using that stuff as my research stuff and then my friend introduced me to Ebay and BW sorted it all out for me and now I HAVE A BOX SET! This is the most amazingly phenomenal-
BW: Yeah, that's all good but will you please just get on with the chapter already? This one's taken forever!
FB: (going factual) That's because I reached a crossroad in the plot and needed to sort out a few things before continuing to write. I also had a few major bugs to sort out and...and...
BW: Why didn't you sort all that out before you started writing the fic?
FB: (sheepishly) Truthfully...I never thought I'd get this far!
BW: Anyways, on with the chapter now? (hopefully)
FB: One more note!
BW: (sighs) Alright...but make it quick or I will malice you with a shoe horn!
FB: Website. FubaNat. If you can find it, check it out. Must run now, show horn scaring me!
(runs like hell)
BW: Get back here and fight me like an author!
Disclaimer: I do not own the Outlaw series although I do now own a BOX SET OF EVERY EPISODE NOW thanks to Ebay. This is one small step for FB, one giant leap for Outlaw Star!
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The White Ship
The screen flickered to life in front of her revealing White Fire's familiar form. Although he was wearing a mask and his emotions remained an enigma, she could sense his hostility. His voice was level as he spoke.
"You sent the Twilight Generals after my target."
"Better a sword thrust than a wounding silence White Fire." she responded darkly. "After that first showdown with Starwind you've made no further attempts to fight him."
"He has allies."
The video transmission blurred slightly before his eyes but he could still see her knuckles whiten as her grip on the arm of her chair tightened.
"A poor excuse for an assassin of your skill White Fire. Someone like you shouldn't have to make excuses. Take Starwind out!"
White Fire glared at her through his mask.
"White Fire over." he said simply.
The screen went dead and black shadows once again obscured the room. Her hand remained clasped to the arm of the chair like a claw, she was alone again.
"I can feel your loyalty to me wavering White Fire. You have been watching Starwind for a long time…"
Her eyes pierced the darkness.
"Don't disappoint me!"
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There was a slight distortion in space and time followed by a burst of violent light as the Outlaw Star re-entered conventional space from the sub-ether drive. It hovered comfortably over the familiar Heifong planet. Aisha pressed her face up to the glass to get a good look at the planet. Jim glanced back at Aisha's squashed face and cracked a smile.
"You've seen this planet a million times before Aisha, you don't really need to see it again." he grinned. "But you know, that's a good look for you Aisha!"
"It doesn't look like much from up here." Aisha muttered, completely oblivious to everything. Jim sighed airily and caught a slight movement out of the corner of his eye as Gene manoeuvred the ship around, ready for the plummet into Heifong. Not even so much as a half smile had passed his face.
Jim sank back into his seat.
'How's a guy supposed to crack a joke like that when the one person who would really appreciate it has something on his mind. What happened up there Gene?'
Suddenly, a huge explosion of sound ripped through the cock pit. Gene, Jim and Aisha were thrown forward, the ship groaned and juddered violently as the strain of space pressure threatened to overwhelm it.
The whole thing was over in a split second. Then silence.
"Argh."
Gene sat up and cricked his neck to one side making an agonised face until his neck gave a satisfying crack.
"Everyone still alive?" Gene asked, rubbing his neck tentatively. "What the hell was that?"
Gilliam's calm voice had everyone's attention. "I am receiving a transmission from the enemy ship, shall I patch him through?"
"Enemy ship…Gene!" Jim sat bolt upright in his seat. "Those were transverse missiles!"
Gene growled angrily.
"Yeah, put him through Gilliam, I wanna know what this bastard's got against us!"
Gilliam's voice box was replaced with a small screen that flashed brightly in the darkened cock pit. Gene's eyes widened in disbelief, instinctively he reached for the caster in his belt, his best weapon, the last weapon he'd choose in a death match. Suzuka noted this and saw it as Gene's mark of respect for his foe's skill. She knew better than anyone that two fighters could sense each other's ability, what she saw now made her understand that Gene considered him no less than equal.
"That was just a warning shot Gene Starwind." the voice on screen was sharp.
"White Fire…" Gene breathed.
"It's in your best interest to surrender to me now, the XGP is no match for this ship."
Despite respecting White Fire's skill, Gene launched himself out of his chair at the screen sticking his middle finger up at it.
"Up yours asshole!"
"Gilliam, cut transmission!" Jim yelled.
The picture of White Fire before them blinked and went out.
"Are you nuts Gene? That guy's trying to kill us and you're provoking him!"
It was at that precise moment, right before Gene could answer Jim's accusing tone that the door to the cock pit flew open and a thoroughly irate Flynn barged forward.
"What the hell is all the racket about!" he hollered. "I went down there to find some peace and quiet, a little difficult around this weird crew, and then-"
"Missiles closing in at 5 0'clock high!" Melfina interupted.
Gene grunted his acknowledgement and quickly back handed a switch on the left hand panel making the ship veer sharply to the right.
It was a good move, the missiles merely skimmed the metal of the ship and carried on streaming the cosmos.
Suzuka fully expected Flynn to hurtle into the back of her seat but although he stumbled heavily to one side, he remained standing.
"Odd…" she whispered.
Gene was grinning smugly.
"Ha! That was-"
"Missiles turning!"
The whole crew was silent as the missiles dropped on the gravity of Heifong and made a sling shot advance back towards the ship.
Jim spun round, sensing what Gene was thinking.
"Gene, they're hyper verse missiles, they act on gravity and use it to accelerate."
"Missiles acting on gravity…" Gene muttered.
Don't just sit there!" Jim screamed manically.
Gene grabbed the controller and pulled it backwards as far as it would go. The ship shot around until it was pointing away from the planet. At that moment, Gene revved the engine and the Outlaw Star was catapulted from Heifong's orbit.
Gene heard the voice in his head but didn't have time to ponder how.
"That won't help you!"
It was the that Gene first laid eyes on White Fire's ship. It spun out of the darkness deploying it's grappler arms, ghost white with the word 'Leviathan' on the side. It was as slim and stream-lined as the Outlaw Star possibly even more so. It had the same propulsion system. It could have been the Outlaw Star's brother.
"Switching to grappler combat mode."
The small targeting device provided a grid in Gene's right eye for accuracy. The huge arms swung beneath the main body of the ship and readied themselves just in time to resist White Fire's onslaught.
Gene felt the controls push back against his hands and started to retaliate. His grasp on the controls tightened, his muscles flexed, his forehead was wet with sweat. The Outlaw Star and the white ship, the Leviathan, were locked in a stalemate.
Out of nowhere, Gene threw his head back a started laughing. Long, loud, manic laughter that wouldn't be out of place on a mental patient. Although the grappler arms locked in combat outside the vessel were an awesome spectacle, all eyes of the Outlaw Star crew were on Gene. Jim gulped worriedly.
"What…are you laughing for?" Jim asked hesitantly.
"We're in mortal combat here!" Aisha fumed. "Have you no pride?"
The controls still pressed stressfully against his arms, Gene stopped laughing but he still wore a questionable grin.
Jim sensed it. Gene was up to something.
"What are you planning?" Jim asked suspiciously.
For a brief moment, Gene's smile flickered. He looked back at Melfina in the navigation chamber. Melfina caught his eyes and they spoke without speaking.
"Well, I've had just about enough of this." Gene said.
Then he did something totally reckless. The controls slackened in his hand, the arms of the ship bent back as though White Fire had overpowered them, they bent back until they were in perfect position.
"See you later!" Gene yelled at the white ship on screen and using the Leviathan as anchorage, he pushed off in a catapult manoeuvre back to Heifong.
The white ship itself was tossed backwards like a speeding bullet on the endless sea of stars and by the time the propulsion system had managed to fix this violent backwards lurch, the Outlaw Star had already entered Heifong's atmosphere and was dropping like a stone in hyper drive towards the ground. This time, Flynn did lose his balance and was hurled into the back of Gene's seat.
On the ground, Heifong's space port control tower had generally been having a quiet afternoon and the staff was just sitting down to round of freshly brewed coffee when the blip on the radar started up. Some grappler ship was spinning out of control towards the port. The chief manager nearly spat his coffee out.
"I want communication with this ship and I want it now!" he roared.
The intercom fizzed with interference.
"This is- ARGH!"
"I don't care who you are!" the chief manager snapped slamming his coffee down on the table. "Pull up and I mean now!"
"I can't!" Gene's voice screamed. The intercom was cut off.
"Damnit! Damn those thrill seeking pilots!" the chief cursed under his breath. There was nothing he could do.
Gene was losing focus. He kept seeing pictures flash before his face. The picture of a boy he knew, a boy with thriving potential. Melfina. The picture of his dad's vessel exploding in space. Melfina. The day he met Hilda the space outlaw. Melfina. The last battle of the Leyline. Melfina.
'So…this is what it's like to think you're dying…'
"Your destiny lies in the stars Gene Starwind."
Atlantis…He couldn't die yet!
With a huge burst of effort, Gene pulled back on the controls and miraculously, the ship responded. In an impossible reflex arc, it drew backwards on the air, initiating standard landing procedures at the same time. Gene was perfectly calm, the ship seemed to be responding to his thoughts rather than his actions.
The atmosphere parted before them and they plunged steadily onto the landing pad. An ear splitting screech almost shattered Gene's teeth as the metal scraped the ground and the laws of friction started to do their stuff. For a brief moment, Gene thought they were going to skid off of the edge but the ship stopped just off centre and let out a burst of hot steam.
"See, piece of cake!" Gene stated in a high pitched voice.
In the foreground, Jim started hyperventilating.
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So, White Fire's made a reappearence and the crew made it to Heifong...um...safely? We met his ship, the Leviathan and saw some grappler action! So what is this White Fire's deal anyway? What did that mysterious person in the first part of the cahpter mean by 'wavering loyalty' and for the love of God what is all this Atlantis stuff. Well, I guess you're gonna have to wait to find out!
(steals BW's shoe horn)
