NationStates Jolt Archive

Wintrees Keelth - Colonial Building

“We can’t for this!” said Admiral Conners, slamping his fist onto the table, “We’ve lost 4 officers to a foreign nation… the Colonial Navy doesn’t leave people behind, not to mention the serious security repercussions.”

“I understand your concern Admiral,” replied Lord Seric calmly, who was sat at the head of the council table, a hood covering his face, “The question is what we do about it…”

“I recommend engaging Outer Heaven in a diplomatic dialogue, I’m sure they’ll see this as the terrible mistake that it is, and…” said Lord Chapman, the Foreign Minister.

“Rubbish! Even if the mission commander has resisted interrogation, it was blatently obvious that it was a information gathering mission… behind their boarders,” said the Admiral, “They won’t return them so willy nilly… we need a bargaining chip… they’ll swap them for one of their own by god.”

“Colonel Portos, bargining chips are your domain… what does the intelligence community have for us,” asked Seric, turning to the man stood at the rear of the room.

“We know very little about Outer Heaven, nothing that could unbalance their government, nothing that isn’t really public knowledge ready,” replied the heavy set man, “If your looking to set up a prisoner swap however Admiral… which I assume you are… we have the perfect opportunity.”

“This could be a prelude to war…” mumbled the Foreign Minister.

“I don’t believe so Minister,” replied Portos, “They won’t want to make the fact that we could just grab one of their officers off the street public. Also they are in a weakened state military wise, since they cut the link between their 2 empires. Even if they could fight a war with us.... the intergalactic community wouldn’t stand for it, over such a trivial matter.“

“I hear that the reports of Outer Heaven being nothing more then a few dried up asteroids and a snap together fleet have been greatly underestimated…” said the Foreign Minister.

“Not by my department I assure you Minister.” Replied Portos.

“Regardless, you say you can grab an officer… I was expecting to have to settle for a smash and grab on some merchantman somewhere.” Said Admiral Conners, staring intently at Portos.

“Yes, an informant on Rista produced a guest list at an upcoming opera opening… We had been keeping tabs on a number of guests, the fact that an Outer Heaven officer turned up on the list was pure chance. His name is Lt. Maverick Antares, a pilot. I believe hes meant to be well spoken of.”

“We can grab him at the opening, plant intelligence information on him and trial him as a spy, make him sweat for a few days then trade him for our pilots.” Said Conners.

”That’s somewhat underhand Admiral…” said Portos
“Coming from a spy?” replied Conners with a grin on his face.

“You have my permission gentlemen,” said Lord Seric getting up from the table, “Now if you excuse me, I have more pressing matters to attend to.”

As he exited the room he brushed past Portos, making the man shiver and turn a peculiar shade of white. Admiral Conners followed Seric out of the room.

They waited for a few minutes before someone said something…

“This would have never happened in the old days, we’re overstretched and acting recklessly.” Said Chapman.

“That’s dangerous talk Admiral,” replied Portos, “I’ve seen men killed for much less.”

“I’m starting to wonder if the rebels are right about Seric.”

“The links with the bomb in the assembly?” asked Portos

“No, the wild… beasts that broke into the Prime Minister’s office,” replied Chapman. “What if they really were transported to the Death’s Head, his state ship, after the attack?”

“I don’t know what to tell you…”

Above Planet Rista – Neutral System – HMS Condor.

Major Sanders stood behind the podium in the briefing room, he turned the projector on to display a picture of the planet Rista on the wall.

“Good afternoon gentlemen, I am Major Timothy Sanders of the 4th (HQ) Intelligence Regiment. I will be in command of this operation. As you know we’re here to capture a one Lieutenant Maverick Antares, hes currently staying at the Bell Vista hotel complex and will be attending then opening of a…” the Major checked his notes, “opera going by the name of ‘Princos Abtius’. This is a relatively simple job, the target is unaware of the situation and is unguarded.”

He pressed a button bringing up the side with surveillance photos of Antares on them.

“The front men for this mission will be from 3 SAS, I’m sorry lads but they are were in system already and we’ve got to use the assets when we can get them.”

There was an audible groan in the room.

“Why are 11 SO Reg here then Major?” asked one of the men in the room.

“11th Special Operation Regiment elements will provide the perimeter.”
“Great…”

“As I was saying… simple operation… 2 SAS will be inserted via Raptor on the roof of the opera house, they will clear building of any threats, grab the target and withdraw to the roof. 11SO Reg will set up a perimeter shortly before 2 SAS arrives, it will be a COVERT set up, your job is to engage law enforcement forces and military forces if they show up. Withdraw will be at a collective Landing Zone located in the park at the front of the opera house.”

The Major turned to the projector and turned it off, “Information in your briefing packs.”

“Why so much trouble for one man Major?” asked one of the men.

“The targets to important to risk a road side abduction or something similar…”

4 hours later – Rista – Opera House

“Target in sight, hes sat on the 2nd row, seat B5.” Said the rather plain man stood in the orchestra pit, seemingly speaking into his wrist.

“Stand by Stand by Stand by,” said Major Sanders in the control room onboard Condor.

“Alpha One Zero, Ready. Out.” Said the gruff looking SAS operator, shifting uneasily in the back of the raptor.

“Bravo One Zero. Perimeter set. Out.” Replied a man sat in a car outside of the opera house, again talking into his wrist and having a assault rifle firmly stuck between his legs.

“Stand by Stand by Stand by… Go.” said Conners, happy everything was in place.

The Raptor touched down on the roof, causing paint to fall from the ceiling in the auditorium. 8 SAS operators exited the Raptor, quickly moving towards the roof door, kicking it open and heading into the building.

Captain Wills, was sat in the ratty old car looking through a pair of binoculars at the opera house, he saw the Raptor land and the 8 men enter the building. Not a sound since, they were very good or very lucky… Wills liked to think it was luck… dam Army.

“Sir, Police.” Said the driver, tapping the Captain’s Shoulder.

“Already? Christ,” he flicked his radio on, “All Bravos hold fire, they can’t be here for us.”

BANG.

Wills went back to looking at the building, looks like it was luck after all, the SAS got rumbled. “All Bravos, weapons free. Out,” he said into the radio mic. He then pulled his rifle up from the concealed position and took a well aimed shot at the police car’s drivers window. The sudden stop and the endless horn indicated to Wills that he had hit… he smiled.

“Now”, muttered Wills, “Lets see if this Target wants to run.”

OOC: Tagged for later :)

"F**k..."

Wiping his hair, he looked up as the last of the dust fell from the ceiling. Something had touched down on the ceiling, the question was, what had.

This is what I get for taking a vacation outside our borders?

Slipping carefully out of his chair, Maverick proceded toward the nearest toilets. Maverick was a tall, handsome man, with long brown hair and a well-chiseled face. Walking through the automatic doorway into the toilets, he found a cubicle, and promptly locked himself in. Taking out his Bruser Pistol, he checked the clip, and then grimaced, remembering he only had two spares with him.

But you'll get me through...

Bruisers were a well known form of Assault Weaponry, gradually being pushed out of active service due to how 'barbaric' the weapons were. The bullets themselves were 3/4ths of an inch long, and were cap shaped, and very thin. They were made out of Quantanium, an extremely heat/energy absorbant alloy, used actively for ship and vehicle grade armour.

A small Baridium capsule was attached to the back of every bullet. When the trigger was pulled, a small electrical charge was sent through the barrel. Sensors inside the capsule would absorb this, and the capsule would explode, releasing a violent explosion. However, due to the presence of Quantanium, the explosion was absorbed into the bullet, and the bullet itself was propelled by the shock at extremely high speeds.

They were called 'Bruisers' for a very ironic reason. Whenever the bullets hit someone, they would put a big dent in the unlucky person, meanwhile sending micro-shocks into the person's body, rupturing internal organs. However, the heat was spread from the bullet into the person, resulting in a massive cauterisation of the wound, meaning no chance of repair. Death took 30 seconds to two minutes, but the person suffered in agonising pain for the whole time. Most armour stopped the bullet from penetrating, but not denting the person, or spreading the heat.

Pulling back the Slider, his ears perked up suddenly.

Gunfire!?!

Letting the slider snap back with a loud 'CHIIING!', Maverick watched as the analogue gauge showed 100 bullets were left in the clip. Sighing, he stood on top of the toilet, and waited.

OOC: Bump for Wintrees...

As the SAS team broke through the back doors to the auditorium the room was almost empty, people had flocked towards the exits leaving only a few older members of the audience left.

The plain looking man had moved over to the bathroom door however, he had removed a pistol from his jacket and nodded at the SAS commander, Sergeant Dunly.

“Hes in here, I checked the bathroom during the walkthrough, the only way in or out is this door.”

“You sure?”

“Unless hes got explosive bullets…”

Dunly pressed the switch on his throat mic, “Bravo One Zero, Alpha One Zero, Move a section to the A9 rear wall, there should be an alley there, keep it covered,” he switched the comms off and turned to his team, who had stacked up ready on the door. “Flashbangs and tasers only.”

“Go!”

The team burst into the room, flashbangs in first then the first man moved through and quickly scanned the room.

“Check the cubicles!” yelled the Sergeant.

OOC: Story about the delay, I've been busy lately and what with the forum being messed up, I've not found a time when I could have posted.

Hearing the familiar sound of a grenade being thrown in, Maverick merely opened his mouth. The cubicle protected him from the flash, but his ears were deafened briefly (opening the mouth is alot better than covering your ears).

Man...these guys mean business...

Breathing slowly, Maverick aimed at the corner, which joined the left wall to the door. This allowed him a good arc of fire, and meant that if anyone tried to break in through the left or the door, he'd have them.

Come on...

OOC: I suggest when you next post, you open the door, but don't do anything afterward, my guy will just blow you away.

2 men moved up to the first door, the man on the right put his boot to the lock and spun out the way as the door slammed open, the 2nd man snapped his taser into the firing position and quickly checked behind the door.

“Clear”

They moved to the next door, same as last time, they kicked open the door, this time however Maverick was stood inside. The 2nd man took a second to raise his taser…

As the first door was smashed open, he winced slightly.

Right...

Aiming at the door, he let a small, quiet breath out. As the door broke open, Maverick didn't waste any time. He pulled the trigger twice, sending two near molten caps of Quantanium into the unlucky soldier at high speeds, making the taser hit the floor, and the soldier went down. As this happened, Maverick dived forward, and, turning his body to face the other solider, pulled the trigger until he hit the wall, filling the air with fire. As he rebounded, he continued to fire, this time a bit more randomly, and, sliding across the floor, went past all the cubicles. His shoulder ached, and, rolling, he cursed, and stood.

They'll get my feet!!!

Not wasting any time, Maverick clambered on top of a sink, and sighed.

Better make it hard for them...

Turning on the tap to full power, Maverick put the plug in, and watched as the water ran over the sink and began to go over the floor.

Lets see how these assholes like their tasers now...

Staying crouched, he fired a few more shots into the wall where the cubicles ended for him, to let the soldiers know he meant business. Keeping his weapon aimed, he glanced around a few times, making sure he didn't see any shadows trying to sneak up on him. The water by now had begun to go past the cubicles, and so he moved to the next sink, to ensure he didn't get shocked if the grunts were stupid. Retaking aim, he sighed.

OOC: Over to you...

The remaining SAS operators took cover behind the various door frames in one end of the bathroom.

“2 Men down.” Shouted one over the radio.

“Flashbangs in,” shouted Sergeant Dunly

2 flashbangs bounced around the corner, landing neatly at the feet of Maverick. As they exploded 2 of the operators emerged from cover, the first fired his taser, which fell short and hit the water, which in turn conducted back to the feet of the soldier, knocking him back against the door frame and knocking him out.

The other soldier, seeing what happened dropped his taser and quickly checked the water level. He turned back into cover and unclipped his sub-machine gun.

Spinning around again he checked the state of Maverick… He then fired a 3 round burst, aiming at the man’s feet.

“DROP YOUR WEAPON OR WE WILL USE DEADLY FORCE.” He yelled quickly after.

Maverick cursed. He tried to cover his eyes, but couldn't do so in time, and his vision filled with white. His mouth was open, however, filetering out the bang quicker. He fired randomly, and heard for a moment the sound of a Taser firing. He braced, and, as his vision cleared, he found that the Taser had hit the water. Checking his Pistol, another Solider turned around the corner, and fired three bursts, which pretty much shattered the basin. Maverick jumped just as the last bit gave way, and landed on the last one. As the demand was made, Maverick cursed.

"How about you tell me what the fuck is going on!?!" Maverick yelled back. This wasn't good at all.

Better keep at the ready, they may try something...god damnit, I'm a pilot not a Marine!

Holding his Pistol steady, Maverick let out a breath.

"I will come out freely, under two conditions. One, you do not Taser, or incapacitate me, you'll find me quite co-operative if you just stopped shooting me! Two, state the charges you have against me before I come out. As long as you do those two things, you'll find that I'll yield, and I just hope you're as honourable as I am!"

Captain Wills fired off a few more rounds at the police barricade from his position behind what was left of his car. Time was starting to run short….

Sergeant Dunly stepped into the bathroom, on hearing Maverick’s request he motioned to the soldiers to lower their weapons slightly.

”You’ve been charged with espionage against the Commonwealth of Wintrees… look, put your weapon down and I’d guarantee you will be treated well… even if they say your guilty you’ll only get swapped out with one of our blokes… you know how this works!” he yelled.

A few moments later, Maverick sighed.

"Well, alright then. But I assure you, I'm just here on holiday."

A few moments later, the Soldiers heard a CHHHING! almost as loud as a gunshot. A clip plopped into the water, and Maverick stepped out, the slider of his Pistol in his right hand, barrel attached, the rest of the weapon in his left.

"Glad to see you guys keep your word. Take care of this, this is a family weapon."

He held both pieces out.

"No need to handcuff me either, I made my promise to go quietly, and I will, as long as you keep your word. I don't know where these charges have come from, but I'm sure this is just a mix-up."

Maverick took a few more steps foward, and paused, a few feet away from the Soldiers. By now, the water was flooding out of the bathroom itself, and into the carpet.

Sergeant Dunly stepped up to Maverick, took the weapon off him and turned slightly to look out the door, he then twisted sharply and head butted Maverick in the face. He pushed him against the wall and slapped a pair of flex-chuffs on.

The team medic quickly checked the downed SAS trooper and upon seeing he was slightly injured, his flak jacket taking most of the force of the shot, helped him to his feet.

The team then moved un-opposed to the entrance, crossing the road into the park area. Everything had calmed down outside, the local police expecting a siege situation had stopped firing and were pinned down by the odd aimed shot from Captain Will's men.

"All stations, we're ready to go, lets get the boats in. out." said Dunly into his throat mic.

"All Call-signs, fall back to park. out" said Wills, standing up and emptying his magazine at the police barricade. The faint noise of a flight of Raptor gunships quickly became a roar as they touched down in the park and were loaded. The last man to board was Captain Wills, determined to finish off his remaining rounds.




Transmission to Outer Heaven MK II:

It is known to us that a number of pilots went missing during a routine patrol close to your border, if it the case that you took these men prisoner, or worse, killed them... it would be seen as an act of war.

Of course no one wants war however, so if these pilots are indeed guests of yours we'd like to organize an 'exchange' so to speak. We have one of your pilots, a high ranking officer by all accounts.

If you agree with a exchange, bring our men to these coordinates (*Data included*), where you will be instructed to proceed to a neutral space station.

Neither party will be accompanied by anything bigger then a frigate, scans at distance on arrival will be taken to ensure adherence to this rule.

out.

Grand Admiral Bernard read the transmission, and shook his head.

"Damn Antares, I told him not to leave our Borders..."

Looking up, he wrinkled his brow at the dark corner of his Office.

"High Inquisitor Deloram, I trust you have almost finished with our prisoners? I hear the two pilots from the Raptor have developed the Shakes."

There was a low, deep chuckle.

"Indeed. We have a good deal of information on WinTree's itself, and some...low grade military information. I trust you wish for me and my men to discontinue?"

Bernard smiled, and played with his moustache.

"No. We'll let them have Maverick for a couple of weeks more, before we exchange. You have a week, no more with them. Bully them, press them for whatever information you see fit to try and extract. After that week is up, Transfer them to the Inquisitorious Recovery Centre, and get them back together. WinTrees won't like it if we return broken and permanently traumatised men to them."

Deloram walked out of the shadows. His body was covered, from head to toe, in a dark Metal Gear Exo-Suit, codename Ninja. Designed for Stealth and Assasination, very few people were trained to use these, and only Deloram chose to. The lack of any face on the suit still gave Bernard the slight shivers.

It's incredible how...good these men are. They even scare me...

"As you wish sir."

Bernard nodded.

"Then that's all, High Inquisitor. I would like you to accompany us on the Gunship Chunthor. It should keep our prisoners in check."

Deloram chuckled again.

"Thank you sir."

Tapping a few buttons on a console bracelet, hidden under the Exo-Suit, Deloram disappeared in a quickly-expanding Subspace Portal. Bernard sighed.

"It's true...Inquisitors do reduce air temperature..."

Instructing the computer to increase air temperature by 10%, Bernard's fingers began to dance over the console on his desk...

_________________________________________________________________

To: Lord Seric
From: Grand Admiral Lance Bernard
Subject: Re: Prisoner Exchange.

Lord Seric,

It has come to my attention that your men have taken one of my better Fighter Pilots Prisoner. Now, while I'm sure neither of us wants war, we did catch your men initiating reconnaissance inside our Borders.

Furthermore, it has been requested that all four men we took prisoner are traded back, in return for our one officer. Even I permitted myself a chuckle, along with the rest of the Military Command.

However, seeing as this is probably your men's first time, we will humour them. We will permit you to keep Lieutenant Maverick Antares for fourteen standard days. Inform your men that we will be at the given co-ordinates in a Gunship after those fourteen days.

I look forward to this exchange, and to seeing how much you managed to learn from my Lieutenant. However, I can also see this as a beginning of a beautiful friendship.

But a word of warning.

If we catch another of your military personnel inside our broders again, we will be much harsher than we have been.

Until two weeks and one day's time,

Grand Admiral Lance Bernard,
Grand Moff of the Glorious Empire of Outer Heaven MK II

OOC: I suggest that for a filler, we roleplay Maverick's incarceration?

“We’ve got 6 days, we’ll have to go straight to phase 3.” said a male muffled voice.

Mavrick felt like he was being dragged by his arms through a corridor, he couldn’t see anything because there was a bag over his head and he senses were still dulled from the cocktail of drugs injected to him while he was in the raptor.

“Phase 3? His heart won’t take it, we need to step up to that kind of routine.” replied a much younger female sounding voice.

“We haven’t got time, keep him pumped up with cardiophagismocs and keep the room temperature low.”

“That’ll kill him in the long run,” said the female voice, “he’ll have a cardio episode within a week.”

“Not as long as he’s on the drugs…”

“I see, and he won’t be in our care when he checks out.”

“Now you’ve got it…” said the male voice, the audible noise of a door slamming shut echoed in the room, “Ok, Sergeant, tie him to the table, remove the bag from his head as well.”

About 5 minutes later, after the male had arranged a number of needles in front of the metal table Mavrick was tied, he turned and asked, “I hope your enjoying your stay so far Lieutenant, I am Major Hurst… I assure you I am a professional at what I do. you will see this during your stay here, which I’ve been informed will be a long one… What do I do? I extract information… your on an almost unmanned relay station in the middle of no where… no ones coming… the only way you get out of this place is in a body bag… you’re a dead man walking. Now, what you tell us in the upcoming days will determine if you produce a pretty corpse in a few hours, or a mangled scorched corpse in a few days… its of no matter to me of course… I get paid either way.”

Maverick smiled at Major Hurst.

"Major, it's a pleasure. And don't worry, I assure you I won't be a corpse, even if you do step up to 'Stage 3'. I have Nanites in my blood which can keep my heart functioning through most situations, save for actual mutilation of the heart. Trying to drain the nanites will only cause the production centres in my brain to create more. Try and remove that, and you kill me, simple as. This has advantages though, such as me not passing out when under extreme pain."

Maverick looked at the needles.

"Just to let you know also, I have been on a torture resistance course, with an Inquisitor. However, let me put it like this. Treat me fairly, and I'll return it. After all, I suppose I should let you know what you're in for if you actually kill me, or hand me over in very bad condition."

Maverick then looked back at the Major.

"But, I suppose you think I'm stalling, so shall we begin? Oh, and thank your female companion for caring, but assure her I'm ready to take this...Phase 3."

Maverick's tone was very level, which was surprising. Obviously these Inquisitors knew how to Torture...

Elsewhere ~~

“EMP?” said a man, sat lazy in a chair watching the security feed, wearing a slack uniform.

”I suppose we can try it… but it’ll be an untested method.” replied a man dressed in a lab coat.

“Would it kill him?”

“Yes, if he’s telling the truth about him dying if we tamper with it.”

“Do you think he is?”

“If I was designing a system like that, I would certainly do something along those lines. Yes, I believe he’s telling the truth.” Said the man, removing his lab coat and resting it on the back of another chair.

“Right, let Hurst carry on with this line of questioning for the rest of the night, if he can’t turn up anything we’ll move to some of the older methods.”

“Have we got time for white noise and kicking someone in the crotch repeatedly?”

“Very funny,” said the uniformed man, as he stood up “book a shuttle for tomorrow and have Hurst put a MkIII chip in his neck.”

“The electroshock? I thought we weren’t trying EMP?”

“Were not, its just insurance,” the uniformed man headed for the door, “We’re taking him to Snora.”



Major Hurst sat on a stool at the other side of the room, “So tell me Lieutenant, what would happen if I was to… shoot you in the gut? If you died here what would happen?”

He stood up and moved over to Maverick, “Oh, and there are no females in this command Lieutenant… you must be losing your mind… shame…”

Maverick smirked.

"Don't pity me Major."

Maverick cleared his throat.

"And anyway, I thought it was obvious. You kill me, your men are killed, we both go to war. You should know the drill."

“Ah, I assume there was a somewhat more lengthy speech in there somewhere.” Said Hurst, picking up the first set of needles and injecting the liquid into Maverick’s arm.

“You should feel a burning sensation in your arm… now, we’ll see how good these like robots are… you’d suffer a heart attack within the next 2 minutes.” Remarked Hurst, heading for the door, “I’ll see you tomorrow… maybe.”

“Is he out?” asked the uniformed man, who was waiting outside.

“Not yet, the cocktail I gave him should induce a heart attack, once we revive him we’ll keep him sedated and place the implant.”

“Very good.”

Maverick grunted as the Major left, white fire spreading through his body.

Shit shit shit shit shit!!!

Beads of sweat formed on Maverick's forehead, and he began to shake. The fire by now was inside his heart, and he could fell it...beating faster...

"Asutra!"

Maverick cried out a few more times, and then, as he felt his vision go blurry, noticed that the fire was receeding in his heart. Taking deep breaths, he continued to shake, but the fire began to lessen, the nanites inside him absorbing the toxin. After a few minutes, Maverick sighed, his face flushed, the fire now pretty much gone.

Thank god for high level nanites...ahh...

His body ached, and his brow felt like it was burning. The sweat had turned an ashy colour, meaning the nanites had analysed the toxin, and realised that it was too dangerous to try and recycle. The ashy liquid didn't spread over his face, however. Instead, it ran straight down, and quickly seeped off the bench into the floor, meaning the nanites were also sacrificing themselves. More would be made, but that'd require energy...energy he'd need to replenish.

"Screw it, I better rest...I just hope you guys replenish before they stick something like a pain impant in me..."

About 20 minutes later, 2 men stormed in the room, they quickly untied Maverick and flipped him on to his front, when they had finished tying him back to the table, they left.

Hurst moved into the room shortly after and checked the readings on a monitor next to the table. He nodded, “You came through that nicely… humph,” he reached for another needle, “We’re starting to understand your little friends, I assume I’m right in thinking that they are powered by your excess energy, needless to say that will be quickly sapped.”

Hurst removed the cap on the needle, and injected the same liquid into Maverick’s vein, he headed for the door again and on his way out hit a button on the wall.

As he left, the room starred to flash, white light would be replaced with darkness every ½ a second. The noise that enveloped the room was deafening, white noise. The KERRRRRRCH sound would go on all night. The table also turned, pushing the blood to Maverick’s head, putting more of a strain on the heart.

Outside, Hurst was met by the uniformed man.

“Your report reached Seric… Hes taken a personal interest in this case.”

“Hes coming here?” asked the Hurst, noticeably taken back by the fact.

“No, relax, he sent a message informing me that a specialist grey team as been dispatched.”

“What, no… the Lieutenant isn’t supernatural, this isn’t their jurisdiction.”

“Their ‘jurisdiction’ is defined by THEM, I’d keep that kind of talk away from their ears.”

“Its just that… we were starting to make progress, they’re kill him… I thought that we wanted to keep him alive.” Said Hurst, looking back at the door.

“The situations changed… there is talk of war in the Assembly.”

“Led by Seric I assume…”

”Of course, he is our elected leader after all,” said the uniformed man, staring inquisitively at Hurst.

“Elected Humpf, is that what they’re saying now?...... When can we expect them?”

“Tomorrow… maybe later today.”

Hurst sat at the table in his cabin, he slipped on a glass of scotch while starring at the pistol laying on the table next to him. He’d been sat up thinking all night.

Wintrees was on the brink of war, forces inside the Assembly were pushing for an escalation of the Outer Heaven Situation. This was Seric’s doing, it had his paw marks all over it. He was the only one who could send a grey team into a situation like this… They had no right to be here.

They will interrogate Maverick alright… to the point of his death… and they won’t stop till he is.

And if Wintrees handed a dead Pilot back to Outer Heaven, they would have no choice but to go to war.

Hurst knew there was only one thing to do… he turned his comm.-link on.

“Samantha, can you come to my cabin please.”

Later in the day ~~

The door to Mavericks room opened and Samantha walked in, she was the only female on the station and she hated it. It wouldn’t really matter anymore though… would it?

She checked the monitor displaying Mavericks readings, “How are you feeling?” she asked bending down close to his head and whispering, “Can you walk?”

Outside, Hurst walked past the door, he had been told to meet the Grey Team members at the airlock. His pistol rubbed against his back, making him flinch as it shifted in his waistband. He’d never met a grey team member before, and he wasn’t in any rush… but he had to go, he had to stall them…

When he arrived the airlock was just sliding open, he could she through the plex-glass the grey vein-ridden face of the lead man, a dark aura radiated from him. As he stepped out of the airlock the ‘Honor Guard’ laid on by the commander of the station (little more then 2 slightly overweight guards) snapped to attention. The ‘Grey man’ starred directly at Hurst, an icy gaze that stabbed right into Hurst’s soul.

“Greetings… Major.” Said the Grey man, not moving an inch.

“Hel.. Hello. I’ve been instructed to take you to…” Hurst saw the gray man’s hand move towards his belt, there was a sword attached to it… oh god… he knew… “take you too the interrogation chamber… Chamber sir.”

“Carry on…” said the grey man.

Hurst panicked, he couldn’t take it, forget the plan, he needed to do it now. THE MAN KNEW. He pulled the pistol from his waist band and aimed at the Grey man… but before he could pull the trigger the grey man had brought his sword to bare and sliced down, removing Hurst’s hands. The muscle spasm caused the pistol to fire as it fell to the ground.

Samantha took a sharp intake of breath as she untied Maverick. Hurst had cocked up… She had to get out of her quickly… she had to get to the escape pods…

“Can you move!” she half screamed, fumbling to take a pistol out of her pocket.

"Aaaaah..."

Maverick slid off the table in a heap. He groaned, and held out his hand.

"I knew there was a female in this place...help me up..."

Maverick's pupils were wide, and he had a worn look. His face was rapidly paleing, showing that he wasn't well at all. Not to mention how thin he was.

Once Maverick was up, he stood, knees bent slightly.

"I won't ask w-why you're doing this...just hurry..."

OOC: Bump?

OOC: Sorry, got called away from the PC unexpectedly for a few days, slept in a ditch for most of them... long story.

On board HMS Royal Andromeda.

“Action stations,” said General Collins. Stood on the bridge of the rebel warship.

The Royal Andromeda had returned to normal space about 50km away from the small space station, the ship even at distance dwarfed the station.

“Wheres Seric’s fleet?” asked Collins, looking somewhat apprehensive, he was expecting having to fight.

“No sensor contacts for 2 ACD.” Replied a crewman.

“Launch the fighter wings, head straight for the station, have Major Doors and his marines ready to go the second we dock. Do it fast.”




Samantha peaked around the door, and upon seeing the corridor clear stepped out, motioning for Maverick to follow.

“I’m a patriot,” she said, staring at Maverick. “Its wrong whats happening here, you should never had even been sent here.”

She started to move down the corridor, pistol ready… it was blatant that she had no military training.

“I don’t even know who Outer Heaven are, and I don’t care. That bastard is trying to start a war by killing you… for no god dam reason,” she turned to Maverick, “you’re the most important guy in this little part of the galaxy right now.”

She looked around another corridor, everything was starting to get eerily quiet…

“God dam Tor. Dam that Planet to hell.”




“Whats going on here Commander, why was I attacked at the airlock… where is my prisoner? where is the Outer Heaven pilot!” yelled the grey man. He was a tall man, dressed in an elegant robe which had be augmented with various protective additions. His sword scabbard was empty as his sword was stuck in the station Commander’s leg.

”*Glurp* I don’t know… Hurst was one of my most loyal officersss…” moaned the Commander, sitting in his office chair as he slowly bled out.

“Where is the prisoner now.”

“Holding Cell 3.” The commander said before falling forward onto his desk.

“Thank you Commander, you are redeemed in the eyes of Seric.” Said the grey man, swiftly leaving the room.




Major Doors stood at the airlock as two welders got to work cutting into the reinforced station airlock. Behind him stood 2 platoons of marines, the best the Free Colonials had to offer. Rebels in the eyes of Seric, all had death marks on their heads.

“How long?” asked Doors.

“Three minutes, give or take,” replied one of the welders.




Things were starting to get noisy on the station, people were running and shouting orders, getting ready to repel a boarding action.

“Hurst called the the Free Colonials, they’re coming to get us,” said Samantha, “we just need to get to the secondary airlock, that’s where they’re coming from.”

Just as she finished the sentence, 2 techs came around the corner both holding sub-machine guns… both not really know what to do with them. Samantha screamed, half aggression and half pure fear… she emptied a magazine in the general direction of the techs, making one fall to the floor and the other jump back around the corner.

“We’ve got to get out of here,” she ran over to the corpse and pulled a hatch open reveling a crawl way, “these run throughout the ship… we can use them to get to the air lock, I think… get in.”

Once they were both in she closed the door and looked at Maverick. “Can you use the pistol? I… don’t want to kill anyone else.”

She looked down the crawl way and then turned back to Maverick, "We should wait here a minute, they said they'll contact me when they get through. I bet your a little confused at the moment," she said, with a forced, uneasy smile.

Maverick nodded, and took the Pistol. Checking the clip, he sighed, pulled the slider back, and then with a swift move, pressed Samantha's head against the bulkhead with his left hand, and placed the barrel against her temple.

"That I am. Thanks, by the way, for breaking me out. You took your frickin' time."

Maverick took a few deep breaths.

"Seeing as we should wait for your buddies, perhaps you should tell me what the f**k is going on here, and why I should bother leaving you alive? And a little suggestion, don't move. I've just endured some nasty torture, and I'm a little shakey, one move could...make my finger jerk..."

Maverick glanced at the Pistol, and grinned. It was not on safety, meaning he could kill her if need be.

"YOU CRAZY SON OF A BITCH!” she yelled, “I’m trying to help you! I’m sorry what Hurst did to you… I really am! IT COULD have been much worst!” she started to cry.

“Please! They’ve come to save YOU! She blubbered, “The grey man’s going to kill you if you don’t come with us! You’ve got to get out of here alive… please don’t kill me!”

“PLEASE!”

Maverick smirked.

"Quieten down NOW, or you'll give away our position. Now, why does it matter whether I live or die!?!"

“I told you! When one of our Raptor patrols went missing at your boarder the Foreign Minister overreacted and sent a snatch-team to capture you… We don’t know anything about Outer Heaven, it was only by chance that we found you.”

She took a deep breath, “The Foreign Minister wanted to trade you for our pilots, under the table so that Wintrees wouldn’t look like we were groveling to Outer Heaven…”

“Then the MIE… that’s other intelligence corps, got involved and sent you here… their afraid of what they don’t know, they wanted to know about Outer Heaven and why you closed off access to your worlds… the gate or portal or whatever it is.”

“Seric, he saw the report and thought it was a repeat of Planet Tor! He didn’t want to proceed with ‘peaceful’ questioning… I saw the warning order saying that he was sending a Grey Chapter member to come and question you. The Grey Chapter are Seric’s lackeys… Hurst told me that the only reason they would send someone would be to kill you.”

“…Outer Heaven would find out and declare war… It’s a trap! If Outer Heaven declares war Seric can call on one of his alliances… You’ve only seen an ounce of the military might Wintrees can field. Its all part of his plan… If you fall for it, he’ll wipe Outer Heaven out… everyone will die.

If he finds what hes looking for, everyone will die… everyone, The Mart’tuks for saw it, and now its coming true. We’ve got to go… the rebels are trying to stop him! Can’t you see! Your so important, the galaxy may depend on your actions, CAN’T YOU SEE!”

Maverick laughed.

"Then Seric is a fool. He knows nothing of what we can do Military wise, we were BORN from battle!"

Maverick shook his head.

"And if Seric killed one of our own, he'd be declaring war himself, and either way, we are allies with a great number of powerful races in this Universe. Believe me, we can told our own quite nicely in any war we wish to field..."

Maverick seemed to frown for a moment, then, slowly, he removed the gun, and pointed it at the floor.

"And yet again, the only place I'm dying is my cockpit. Lets go...and pray that we're merciful to your lot. After what my superiors hear in my report...they won't be happy."

Maverick's face then drained.

"No...if I...alright. I want to cut you a deal right now. You must abide by this, or all hell will break loose..."

Maverick waited a moment, before continuing.

"I want you to pretend that you are the actual delegates from WinTrees, not Rebels. We have a branch in our Military...the...Inquisitorious..."

Maverick paused, almost...afraid to say the word.

"They are horrible fuckers. They deal in Espionage and all sorts, including the 'questioning' of Spies, like your lot. If my Nation hears of what happens to me here, they will let the Inquisitors loose on your guys, no holds back, and they are sadists..."

Maverick bit his lip.

"So, here's the deal. If you pretend to be the real delegates to recieve the prisoners, I won't tell them what happened. Trust me, Inquisitors are quick and deadly, as well as sadistic torturers. If they get a whiff of what's happened to me, likely one will sneak onto a vessel of yours, there may be one present at the meeting...and they'll..."

Maverick shook his head.

"Never mind. Just...make that promise. I know there must be a meeting of sorts arranged, my superiors knew where I was, they just couldn't stop me..."

"I can't, you'll have to talk to General Collins..." she looked down at the pistol, "We need to go, now."

With a sudden change of vigor, Samantha started to move down the tunnel, “We need to go, we need to go,” she called back to Maverick checking her watch.

At the end of the tunnel she opened a hatchway and peeked through it. “This is it, she whispered,” wiping a tear from her eye, “the airlock is just around the corner.”

As she said that, she quickly shut the hatch, and whispered “Oh my god, lots of soldiers are going by!”


Major Doors stood in the corridor; his marines had set up defensive positions behind various crates. “Wheres Hurst? Hes late!” he said looking down at a Sergeant.
“No idea Sir, should I send a section in?”
“No, No we’ll have to wait.”

The corridor which was somewhat quiet was starting to be swamped by the rhythmic clunking of boots… “It sounds like the station has finally got its act together, ready for contact!” shouted Doors.

Maverick sighed, and shook his head.

"Obviously your lot aren't so seasoned at Stealth Boarding..." He whispered. Moving silently, he got as close to the hatch as possible, and positioned himself, raising his pistol.

"How do you know it's not your lot?" He whispered.

"They wouldn't be running away... anyway, those were station crewmembers, I recognized one I think..." said Samantha, looking sheepish.


Major Doors couched behind one of the crates, bullets pinged off the walls making pinging noises and causing the Major to flinch, he hated boarding actions.

"... No sir, Hurst isn't here and I haven't been able to contact anyone on the station... we're taking a lot of fire from the station's crew as well. I need permission to advance into the station to recover the pilot or we need to fall back now before we get pinned down..." he shouted down the comm link, another round pinged off the bulkhead and hit the marine couched next to the Major, "... christ... it might be too late!"

Maverick cursed as his ears picked up gunfire.

"Screw it, you lot have be nicer...thus far. How many did you count?"

Bracing up against the hatch, he put his hand against what he knew would open it, and gripped hard.

"About 8 or 10..." said Samantha, getting lower to the deck... "If your going to do something you need to do it now... we haven't got long... and we're so close to the airlock! "


"Ok lads, the leach is off! Maximum aggression, lets go get our people back!" yelled Major Doors, shutting off his comm link.

A Sergeant stood up and emptied the remaining rounds left in his magazine down range, "Right you heard the man, 1 section prepare to move... 2 and 3, covering fire!" he took a deep breath, "MOOOVE!"

Maverick nodded.

"For the Empire..."

With a deft move, Maverick slammed open the hatch, and leaning out, sighed a few Soldiers. Raising his Pistol, he fired seveal rounds, most hitting home and taking down at least four Troopers. As the others began to turn, Maverick rolled out, and began to squeeze the trigger again, not stopping, until the weapon clicked a few times audiably...

The station crewmen unleashed a hail of gunfire towards Maverick, the tight corridor leaving him no where to take cover, time seemed to slow down.

“NOOOO!” screamed Samantha as she launched out of the hatchway towards Maverick, inadvertently into the incoming fire… She was hit in the back several times, spinning her and smashing her into the bulkhead, she crumpled and fell to the floor.

The crewmen stopped firing, lowering their weapons, stunned.

BANG, a blinding flash of white light enveloped the corridor, the crewmen dropped their weapons to shield their eyes or just fell to the ground. The ear piercing noise was followed shortly by gunfire as the marines stormed around the corner and dispatched the crewmen.

What looked to be an officer followed behind them, “Medic!” he called as he spotted Samantha’s limp body crushed up by the side of the wall. He moved swiftly over to Maverick, he had an assault rifle in the alert position but wasn’t threatening, he had twigged from the clothes Maverick had on that this was probably his man.

“I assume your Maverick, and the girls Samantha… where’s Hurst?” his comm-link bleeped and he held it to his ear, “… dam,” he said looking down to Maverick, “It doesn’t matter now, ships have just jumped in, we need to withdraw out of here… I assume your ok to walk… I’m Major Doors, follow me.”

Maverick sat for a moment, staring at Samantha's limp form. The Pistol was empty, and he looked....drained. He didn't even seem to acknowledge Doors, he just stared even longer.

It was a few moments after that his face contorted into anger, and he threw the Pistol at the bulkhead, and screamed out curse-words that would make even a grunt flinch. Sighing, he stood, and spying the crewmember who had gunned her down, and ran up to the body. And he began kicking the body, hard, making the body shake and move about. Blood began to soak his boots as he continued to kick, still not acknowledging anyone's presence, and it didn't look like he'd stop...

Major Doors just watched Maverick for a minute, the expression on his face didn’t change. He’d seen this before, during the Frontier wars and later during the Seric’s purging of Tucon. He’d seen one of his men stand in a street slowly hacking away at what was, 2 weeks earlier, his friend before the rebellion. Stress does strange things to people.

“Mr. Antares…” he said, checking his watch.

“Hes popped Major,” said one of the marines.

“Clock him one, we’ll pick up the pieces when we get back.” Said Doors looking down at Samantha’s body, “She alive?”

The medic shook his head.

“Pick her up and get back to the ship,” said Doors.

He started to move back to the ship, nodding at the marine who had just removed the sling from his rifle. The marine moved up behind Maverick and smashed him around the back of the head with his rifle butt, dazing him. The marine grabbed him before he hit the ground and dragged him off towards the ship.



Maverick came around with a jolt, he was in a state room. Samantha was sitting in a chair across the room, smiling

Maverick's eyes widened. His head was throbbing, and it took a moment for him to fully recollect what happened.

"Samantha? Where am I? And ho-?"

Maverick sighed.

"I suppose WinTrees has regeneration technology as well? Either way, I thought you were dead."

A buzzing sound could be heard in the distance, then the room rocked, a missile had just hit the ship. A access hatch was ripped off the wall by the force of the blast and sparks coated the room, before dying out. The jolt also knocked Samantha’s body off the chair, leaving her a crumpled mess on the floor, the bullet wounds were still visible on her back.

The door was pushed open, a man with a medic brassard on entered the room, took a quick look at Maverick and then called out into the hallway, “Jim this rooms free, bring them in here!”

A column of men dragged in a number of wounded men, screaming, most had blatant ship injuries, missing limbs and the like. A aged man entered the room, shoving past one of the medics dragging a man through the door way.

“Lieutenant Antares?” asked the man, offering him his hand, “I’m sorry we left you in here, a number of ships engaged us and we had to make a run for it… took quite a beating… oh and the marine who threw you in here told me about the knock on the neck, I apologize for that as well.”

He quickly looked over to Samantha, he cringed and turned back to Maverick, “A bad day… I’m Colonel Tyron, aide to General Collins, I’m to escort you to him, hes on the bridge.”

The ship juddered as it made an audible FTL jump.

“Oh and welcome to HMS Royal Andromeda, the pride of the Wintrees Navy… Well it WAS at some point anyway,” he smirked and looked in Samantha’s direction again, his face turned to a cringe again, “Bad Day… Follow me, oh and feel free to ask me any questions before we meet the General, you’ve been out the loop for a while by the looks of you and the General’s a busy man.”