The Liberation of Tamarr

[Raging Deadstar]

Heres the Next Chapter, and i have been cruel and added a cliff hanger. Hope you enjoy!

The Tamarrian cruiser hadn’t seen the pirates coming. Reports had already came through that the Pirate Clan had superior cloaking technology and this certainly was a problem for any Tamarrian ships deep in Phong territory. However it got in the same sector as the Ascension was irrelevant, it now needed dealing with. The Kah’tal Obe looked on at the large screen on the bridge. The pirate battlecruiser was a slender green ship with large skull and cross bones depicted on the sides and front. Near the back it had a large mast that was home to its radio equipment and ECM. It had little lights all the way down the side of the vessel and at the back two small wings. The Pirates themselves had been a nuisance ever since the Tamarrian’s moved out into space, they existed far into the Phong’s territory, striking deep inside their empire, they were experts with intelligence and just caused problems by stealing resources and sometimes whole warships. The Battlecruiser moved closer and closer towards the Ascension Cruiser. On board Obe looked on, issuing the occasional order to his crew as they maintained the shields and activated the weapons. He wasn’t a High-ranking Kah’tal; some had said he didn’t have the decisive edge to make decisions in combat. He sometimes had to agree, he was a very nervous character, he had only got so far in the military by his astounding intellect. He himself believed he should have been a tactician, he had already predicted Taeron and Pirate moves with exceptional accuracy. But he was in charge and now he had found them. The crew of the Ascension 003 cruiser were investigating a recent spread of Pirate attacks on behalf of the Phong, usually just Light Cruisers attempting to capture ships and the occasional pirates hijacking civilian transport or stealing resources. They were also searching for a crippled Pirate Light Cruiser which had attacked a Phong Colony, but with no offensive weapons it had just sat there for a couple of weeks. Obe was worried, he hadn’t expected to be attacked by a Pirate battle cruiser, it was an extremely bold and unusual move by them.
“Ok crew, once that ship is in optimal range we open fire and fall back!” He sounded. The crew acknowledged and began waiting. Obe looked at the Weapons Officer who was straining to get a good lock on the pirate ship
“Kah’tal they have extremely high shields and Counter Measures, I don’t think we have the fire power to do enough damage on the first exchange!” He shouted across the bridge. Obe sighed to himself. Close combat with the Pirates certainly was bad idea. The Pirate Battle Cruiser had no offensive weapons as such, extremely advanced shield technology and shield depleters. They also were rumoured to have a tractor beam on board. The aim was simple, to get the ship at point blank range with no shields and board it. Obe looked around, he hated combat situations and his twin hearts were beating extremely fast. His thoughts were broken by the Weapons officer’s shouts as the shield depleters discharged themselves onto the pirate battlecruiser.
“Torpedoes Away!” The harmonics floated in the air as the two Quantum Torpedoes sped towards their target and exploded. The Pirates shields burst into a phosphorous light with giant sparks dispersing from the point of impact. The aftermath of the Torpedoes sent a huge shockwave through the pirates ship,
“Shields down to 55%” Announced the Weapons Officer, Kah’tal Obe tried to hide his disappointment, he was hoping to get them down to around 40%, now he had to wait so the torpedoes could reload. The Battlecruiser quickly sped towards them, opening fire with it’s own shield depleters, it also fired it’s Tractor beam but luckily it missed the ship. The Tamarrian’s Purple shields blazed into action taking the full force of all 4 depleters at once. Obe was worried and ordered them to retreat. Over the next hour the Pirate clan opened fire a second time bringing their shields down to 10% and still closed the range. Bringing up the schematics of the Pirate Battlecruiser they found they were using highly sophisticated Quantum Engines, and apparently from the dossier of information were “Propulsion Experts” Obe was worried, they couldn’t escape from the ever closing pirates and had little defence to stop a boarding party. He could see the frustration on the Weapon officers face as he tried to find a way through the pirates sophisticated ECM that was disrupting their sensors. Suddenly the sound of his voice was heard again as another salvo of torpedoes were fired. They curved gracefully and Obe’s hearts sank as one of them missed its target and detonated itself. The shield depleters were having trouble to with only half of their attacks on target.
“Listen Up, I want everyone except the pilots to the Armoury in the crew quarters now! We might be outgunned but I’m sure as hell not giving up without a fight!” The entire bridge cheered and most Tamarrian’s departed to carry out their orders. Obe smiled to himself, he felt the bravest he had ever felt in his career, it was time to show his peers what a Kah’tal he really was! He knew the Pirates were planning a boarding of the ship and it worried him, it worried him greatly. He quickly brought up the ships schematics and planned the defence. Obe would order the main hallways to be sealed off and they would defend corridor by corridor until, if necessary, falling back to the bridge and hiding behind the strong titanium layered doors. As he got changed into his combat gear and loaded his anti proton rifle he swallowed to dampen his dry throat. Obe was scared; he hadn’t had any boarding combat since the days in the warrior sect, he then placed his red sash over his shoulder and looked in the mirror proudly He knew he had to quash the fear inside of him, the crew relied upon him. It was time…

[ April 20, 2003, 19:40: Message edited by: Raging Deadstar ]

[Raging Deadstar]

*Shameless Bump*

[Stone Mill]

Wow! Excellent... what happens? Agghh... suspense! Keep it up! Again; I love your weaving the game elements into life.

BLasted space pirates.

[dogscoff]

cool, more fic! I hadn't even spotted this earlier...

[Ragnarok]

Very nice story, RD. I can't wait to find out what happens next.

[sachmo]

Great story! Go Cyria!

[Raging Deadstar]

It's a bit rushed but heres the next installment, hope you all enjoy!

The battle was not going well. The corridors were dimly lit by purple emergency lights and were illuminated by laser fire from both sides. The hallway shone with a blinding light, sending shadows across the law. A high-pitched harmonic noise was heard as a Tamarrian soldier fell to the ground. He could instantly taste the smouldering blood that had been thrown up his long throat as the incineration beam ripped open his chest. He looked down only to see smouldering charred flesh convulsing as his twin hearts ruptured and pumped their final beats round his body. The Tamarrian felt his eyes close and slowly let his life slip from his gasp. It was a painless death; the incineration rifles the pirate boarding party attacked with practically burnt the nerve endings away. Kah’tal Obe looked down at the fallen soldier, more sadness filled him, but a steely core deep inside him made him carry on.
“Get him out of there!” He shouted, trying to hide the sadness that was choking him. Two other Tamarrian’s threw a small spherical orb down the corridor and waited till it exploded. The entire hallway was illuminated by a phosphorous blaze. Using this distraction they dragged the lifeless body out the junction and carried him to the makeshift morgue in the crew quarters, around 60 or so bodies were lying under blue blood stained sheets. The light finally fizzled out in the corridor and the fire began again. Obe hid behind the corner and quickly aimed his anti-proton rifle round the corner. He looked through the computerised Aim screen as it identified the life forms down the hall with red little circles. He tried his best to keep the rifle from bucking out of his hands from the recoil and squeezed the trigger harder, subconsciously hoping it would fire more bLasts, every time shuddering in his grip. Obe wasn’t an experienced soldier, and boy did he wish he had some of them. They were so well trained they could hold and operate two of these rifles simultaneously. Obe was having trouble firing just one, and he was using 3 of his arms, two to just keep it from jerking it’s way out his grasp. He gave the order and a group of 5 soldiers tried to run the 5 metres to the next room. Suddenly there was a large rattling and a barrage of bLasts ripped through them, their momentum sending them backwards into the shots that had pierced them. The Kah’tal knew what that was. The pirates had invented an incineration beam mini-gun. It was equipped with 6 barrels and fired in quick succession with devastating consequences. Obe shook his head, they were losing badly. He decided it was time to surrender. This pained him greatly but as he looked round the corner to the makeshift morgue he decided no more lives could be lost.
“Fall back to the bridge” He shouted above the screams of perishing life forms and rifles. The remaining crewmembers quickly retreated. The bridge was built into two floors with the entrance being on the top floor. The top floor wasn’t much. Two suspended gangways that followed the curving walls lined with computer systems. Obe quickly followed the Last few crewmembers in and sealed the bLast doors. Three layers as thick as the ships hull rolled together and locked. He looked around and stepped onto a platform that slowly lowered him to the main part of the bridge. The main centre of the bridge was a large circular computer desk that projected a large 3d hologram into the air above it. The rest of the bridge’s stations were positioned facing this hologram projector. The remaining crewmembers fell into position and awaited their captain’s orders. Obe quickly brought up a map of the system. He studied it intensely, only distracted by the thuds and explosions from the bLast doors. It would take the pirates a good hour to burst through that. The nervous Kah’tal looked around, every one of the crews tear shaped black shining eyes were fixed on him. It was then it struck him. A Phong Afognak battlecruiser was only 3 sectors away. He brought up the information of the allied ship and decided that it was worth the risk. He hailed the ship hoping that the pirates weren’t blocking all frequencies. It was 3 sectors away from them and in a week could easily pick them up, hopefully by then the pirates would have left the sector and they could be picked up. He pressed a button on the circular desk and watched as a panel of flooring opened up. He ordered the crew to head down there and sighed a breath of relief as the Phong captain’s hologram appeared above him.
“Greetings From the Tamarrian Continuum! I am Kah’tal Obe and my vessel is under attack by a Pirate Clan boarding party! Under the guidance of our Trade and Research Alliance we ask humbly for your help, the remaining crew and myself have a maximum of an hour before we are captured. We plan to jettison ourselves into space using our escape pods, we have enough supplies to survive for 1 cycle but we request you come and pick us up!” Obe hoped that he spoken his words correctly in the language used by all nations allied with the Phong. The Phong captain look worried through his polymer skin. Obe looked at him pleadingly, the Phong were at war with the Pirates and hopefully would be sympathetic to their plight. The Phong captain remarked he was to plead their case to the Phong Military officials and would respond in the next 30 minutes. Obe waited patiently, the crew was hopefully prepared to jettison from the ship. The waiting was excruciating as he then opened up a panel on the walls and pulled out some trilithium explosives and ordered the Last remaining crew members to place them around the hangar where the escape pods were, if they were going to escape he was pretty much determined to make sure the pirates couldn’t pick them back up. He turned round to see the Phong captain’s expression, it seemed favourable.
“Our military chiefs have asked our glorious Chancellor Gerath personally for his approval on a rescue attempt and the Phong Confederation are prepared to annexe any pirate ships in the sector to rescue you and your crew! You shall be picked up in 3-5 days depending on how long it takes to destroy your ship. Any damage to the controls would be extremely helpful!” The Phong captain winked and the transmission ended. Obe quickly smiled and picked up the 2 packs of explosives and fixed them under the navigational controls and the weapons desk. Hopefully that would prevent the pirates from attacking the Phong. He set the timers and quickly ducked under the floor and closed the opening. All along the walls of the hangar were large beams with triangular supports inside, attached to these were around a hundred escape pods, each capable of carrying 2 people, below the large floor was being cleared of all druids to be opened. As he climbed into his pod he looked at his first officer he could only pray the explosives would detonate, otherwise a fate of being experimented, probed on and cloned for the use of pirate clan… well it wasn’t worth thinking about!

[Stone Mill]

Another good one, R_D.

Hmmm... escape Pods. Wonder if anyone had sugested this as a game component for SEV? Seems like it could work.

In any event, it may keep Obe alive to fight another day...

[Ragnarok]

Very nice read RD. Alot of pretty intense action and suspense. Looking forward to the next edition.

[Ruatha]

Yep, good stuff, I need more, give me more!