Summary: (Based on the game "Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space"—See inside for full explanation) Veteran test pilot Ripcord O'Reilly may be the fleet's only chance for survival when the captain orders an attack on a Garthan armada.
Rating: K+

Disclaimer: I do not own "Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space" or any of the characters, Starships, races, etc. This story has not been written for monetary gain, but for the fun of it.

Author's Notes (Important, please read): This fanfic has originally been intended to be written for the video game "Weird Worlds". Since this category is nonexsistant, I will be forced to place it here until further notice. Sorry for the inconvience.

-/\/\/\/\/\/\-

Ripcord O'Reilly's Final Battle
-
By "Rasputin",
under the account of The-Couch.

-/\/\/\/\/\/\-

The planet below was a huge sphere of blue and green with white clouds swirling in the atmosphere. This world stood out against the pitch black void of space. It did not seem that different from the distant planet of Glory.

Ripcord O'Reilly watched this planet from the spacious cockpit of his Terran fighter jet. He recalled the events of earlier that day: Following Captain Lance down the planet's surface, meeting the planet's peaceful inhabitants, searching for technology and artifacts. They actually did find something; a strange red artifact somewhat resembling a glass case of some sort. Captain Lance's advisor had identified it as the "Timeless Bubble," although Ripcord still didn't have the slightest idea of what it really was.

The pristine silence was shattered as a garbled transmission came through on Ripcord's radio.

"Enough with the screwing around, O'Reilly!" yelled the voice of Captain Lance. "It time for the meeting to determine our next course of action. If you want to have any say, you'd better haul that piece of junk over to the head ship immediately."

Before Ripcord could even respond, the communication was cut. The veteran space pilot revved up the stubborn engines of the fighter jet and took hold of the controls. With impeccable maneuvering skill, Ripcord guided the fighter toward Captain Lance's Frigate. The Starship Longshot was the largest starship ever commissioned by the Terran forces in the sector. It had a large green fuselage along with two green and tan wings. The cockpit stuck out at the front of the ship, loaded with two neptunium railguns and an antichronon pulse blaster they had picked up along the way. Along the Terran people were highly technologically advanced, many other races in the sector were still far ahead of them. Captain Lance's mission was to gather new technology and either make peace with or conquer the alien life forms he encountered.

Ripcord slowed down his fighter as he cruised alongside the massive frigate. With careful precision, he docked alongside the Zorg ship, which had joined them in their quest.

Without bothering to check the air pressure, Ripcord marched through the airlock and down the dark corridors of the frigate's interior. Following the dim lights on the side of the walls, he entered the meeting room to see Captain Lance, his advisor, and their Zorg Ally.

Captain Lance was a powerfully built man who stood just over six feet tall. He had a short beard and was wearing a captain's uniform. He looked like a true professional and respectful officer, but after spending several years under the captain's command, Ripcord knew the appearances were very deceiving. His advisor, on the other hand, was short, skinny, and often very hunched over. The Zorg eyed Ripcord closely. The fighter pilot knew that behind the feeble tentacles and bulging red eyes, the Zorg had an immensely complex and intelligent brain.

"Look who finally decided to show up," cackled the Zorg with an odd metallic voice. "I was afraid that the human scum had forgotten how to find the head ship. Such a simple task must be exceedingly difficult for a species with such primitive brains."

"Don't blame O'Reilly," said Captain Lance. "It's not his fault. With that piece of trash he calls a spaceship, I'm surprised he's this early."

"Spit out all the insults you want," grunted O'Reilly. "You know that my fighter is the fastest and most maneuverable in the sector… even more so than a Zorg fighter."

The Zorg stared at him as though he were threatening the human.

"Your bluffs don't scare me, human scum," said the Zorg. "You know that your piece of scrap metal would be easy prey for Zorg fighters. With their ability to bend space and teleport, they would quickly surround you and finish you off."

Ripcord chuckled to himself, not seeming the least bit intimidated.

"Zorg fighters may have the ability to teleport, but they then need to recharge. Until they do, they're slow and easy to outrun."

"Don't try to play mind games with me, human scum. I could taunt you with words that are beyond your comprehension."

"It's not a mind game," said Ripcord with a smirk. "It's the truth. My fighter could easily outrun any ship in the quadrant."

"Even if that was true, you couldn't take any credit for it," said Captain Lance. "I found you floating in space, marooned in orbit around a distant planet with a broken down ship. The only reason your ship is worth anything is because my repair crew fixed it up, along with installing ion thrusters, an electron matrix shield, and a plasma blaster. We're lucky that pile of spare parts you fly around could even support such systems. Now that I look back, it all seems like a big waste of good technology."

"Obviously you didn't think so at the time," said Ripcord. "As I recall, you asked me to join your fleet."

"That's was out of the goodness of my heart. I knew that you and your pile of junk wouldn't survive if you left the fleet."

"Sir…" said the meek voice of the Captain's advisor. "If I may interrupt…"

"Very well," said the Captain. "What kind of nonsense are you going to tell us this time?"

"I've been doing some research on the timeless bubble we acquired," said the advisor, ignoring the captain's insulting comment. "Legend has it that an ancient assassin is trapped within the timeless bubble. However, if we smash the bubble, setting him free, it is possible that he will grant us a wish."

"Why do even bother to listen to your idiotic superstitions?" growled Captain Lance. "Why am I even talking to you? We're wasting our time."

"Then why did you want to bring us here in the first place?" inquired Ripcord.

"To talk about where the fleet with head next," said Captain Lance. "I think that we should head to the home planet of the Garthans. Although they have a large fleet of three light carriers and two corvettes, I think we can taker them and conquer their home world."

"Have you gone mad?" asked Ripcord. "You still haven't gathered nearly as much weaponry as you were commanded to, and now you want to take on a savage race of cold-blooded reptilians? Their corvettes will ram your ships and grind them down to debris. Their carriers will unleash limitless fighters which will swarm and destroy our ships. How do you expect to defeat them?"

"That's where you come in," said the Captain. "I'm counting on your ship to create a distraction and draw the fire of their fighters and corvettes so the rest of the fleet can destroy their carriers."

"Oh really," said Ripcord with a smirk. "A few minutes ago you said that my ship was a piece of junk. Now you say…"

"Your ship still is a piece of junk," said the Captain. "Fortunately for us, a piece of junk is all we need to distract the Garthans. Early tomorrow, my Zorg friend here will use his space-bending powers to teleport our ship to the Garthan home planet. Is that clear?"

"But Captain…"

"I've made my decision. Return back to your ships immediately and await my orders."

With that, Captain Lance stood up and marched out of the meeting room. He was closely followed by his hobbling advisor. After glaring at Ripcord, the Zorg also stood up and proceeded to return to his ship. Finally, Ripcord himself walked out of the dimly lit meeting room and heading back towards his ship.

-/\/\/\/\/\/\-

The next day Ripcord O'Reilly awoke at 655 hours, five minutes before Captain Lance would command the jump to the Garthan planet. With this time, he checked the efficiency levels on his ship's systems and contemplated the Captain's foolish orders. It was far too ambitious to think that they could overcome the Garthan fleet without first gathering more forces. Nevertheless, Ripcord had agreed to become a part of Captain Lance's fleet and he felt obligated to obey the captain's orders.

"Captain Lance to fleet," said the Captain over the radio. "This is it. You all know the drill. Ripcord and his pile of nuts and bolts will fly behind the Garthan fleet to distract them while the rest of us move in to eliminate their light carriers. Prepare to travel into the Zorg space rift on my mark… now!"

With that, the Zorg ship glowed brightly as it began to bend the fabric of space. The light surrounding Ripcord's fighter became distorted as the planet below appeared to take an elliptical shape. Suddenly, the space in front of the fleet seemed to stretch out with a force that pulled the starships into the rift of spatial distortion. A new planet appeared out of the inky black void of space as the fleet traveled hundreds of light years in a matter of seconds.

Within moments of their arrival, a deep voice boomed over the radio.

"You have entered Garthan space. We advise you pathetic race of monkey men to turn back while you can."

"Not without a fight," responded the voice of Captain Lance. "Your primitive ships are no match for our fleet."

"So be it," responded the Garthan. "You have made a great error today and you will not live to tell the tale."

With that the radio went silent and there was nothing to do but wait for the Garthan armada to approach. Ripcord knew that Captain Lance was right; the Garthans were not very technologically advanced. However, what they lacked in technology, they compensated with sheer numbers.

Ripcord spotted the approaching fleet. He looked closely to see the massive light carriers with enormous fighter capacity, along with the arrowhead-shaped corvettes, designed to ram and destroy enemies. Almost immediately, the carriers began to unleash wave upon wave of fighters.

It was time for action. Ripcord fired his ion impulse thrusters to full blast as he cruised toward the attacking force at incredible speed. He had very little fear of zooming by the Garthan fighter head on. The tiny arrowhead-shaped fighters had no shields whatsoever. They merely had fusion tube thrusters along with explosive shell chain guns.

Nearing the Garthan fighters, Ripcord unleashed several blasts of deadly plasma from his fighter. The bright blue plasma directly hit the nearest Garthan fighter, shattering its hull into thousands of pieces. The rest of the fighters unleashed their chain guns at Ripcord, but the few shots that did hit him didn't even come close to penetrating his shields.

Leaving the fighters behind, Ripcord zoomed towards a Garthan corvette. Even though it looked powerful and intimidating, Ripcord knew that only a low grade structural gluon shield was keeping him from inflicting damage on the corvette's hull. Coming at it head on, Ripcord fired several blasted of plasma, overcoming the Garthan ship's weak shielding and disabling one of its weapon systems. Despite the damage, the corvette fired an impaler missile at Ripcord's fighter. The small missile was designed to penetrate low grade hulls, such as that of a fighter, but Ripcord's fighter simply outran the missile.

Ripcord sped past the light carriers, ignoring them for the most part. He knew that his mission was to distract the majority of the fleet, as the carriers wouldn't have much chance without backup from fighters and corvettes. Just as Captain Lance said they would, the fighters and corvettes turned around to follow Ripcord O'Reilly's fighter, ignoring the larger threat of the Terran and Zorg starships. Ripcord still wasn't the least bit worried, as he knew the slower fighters would never be able to overtake him.

As Captain Lance's main fleet began to attack the carriers, Ripcord turned his fighter around to help his captain finish them off. The Garthan fighters weren't much of a threat to the main fleet anymore. As he cruised along, Ripcord targeted the most heavily damaged carrier and pelted it with several shots from his plasma blaster. As its structural integrity collapsed, fire began to spew out of all the hull breaches of the carrier, but the flames were quickly extinguished by the vacuum of space. Finally, there was a massive explosion as the hull broke into several smaller pieces which soon disintegrated.

Occupied by watching the explosion, Ripcord failed to notice the danger he was flying into. Four impaler missiles closed in on him at once, coming too suddenly for any evasive maneuvers. The missiles quickly overcame his shields and slammed into his hull. The cockpit shook violently as Ripcord was mercilessly jerked around. As he hit his head on the hard, metal ceiling above, he was nearly knocked unconscious.

Ripcord rubbed his head as he tried to put aside the terrible pain and regain his senses. He checked the ships systems. Weapons were offline. Shields were offline. Thrusters were still online, but they were only minimally operational. Hull integrity was almost gone.

Only now did the fear finally set in that Ripcord could be killed. His ship was defenseless against the Garthans. His only options were to retreat behind his fleet or to attempt to run in the opposite direction, leading the Garthans away from Captain Lance. As much as he feared being destroyed by the Garthans, he knew that he needed to get his fleet the best chance it had for survival. With that, Ripcord turned his fighter around in attempt to escape.

Several Garthan fighters went after Ripcord again. With his thrusters badly damaged, he no longer had a speed advantage. Finally, he fell within the weapon range of the nearest Garthan fighter. The fighter opened fire, hitting Ripcord's fighter with shell after shell.

A feeling of helpless fell over Ripcord as he knew there was nothing he could do to outrun the Garthans. There was no way he could escape. They were going to finish him off.

Rather than panic at his imminent destruction, Ripcord remained calm as he looked back at the main fleet, which had just destroyed the last Garthan light carrier. Even though he knew he would be sacrificed, he found contentment knowing his allies would probably emerge victorious.

As other Garthan fighters caught up with him and fired relentlessly at his ship, the fighter began to flame as there was a breach in its hull. The enemy fighters, knowing that they had finished him off, stopped firing and went back to rejoin the remnants of their fleet.

The flaming hull of Ripcord O'Reilly's ship glided through the tranquil void of space before exploding and vanishing into the blackness of space.

The End