Once Upon The Stars (Updated 08-22-04)

[Atrocities]

For those of you who like guns.

[ May 05, 2003, 19:21: Message edited by: Atrocities ]

[Atrocities]

Hum, no one seems to ever bump this post.

[Krsqk]

I haven't bumped the thread, but it's one of the first ones I look for when I open the forum. I enjoy your writing and am eagerly awaiting the next installment. Now if you'll just stop making each one a cliffhanger!

[dogscoff]

Bump it? I could never do that, it would be an act of cruelty:

If I bumped it, it would go to the top of the forum. Everyone else would see it there and think that you had posted an update. How disappointed would they be when they saw that it was just a lousy bump from me? I couldn't be so cruel

Seriously though, I think people just read more than they respond. That's what I've found with O&C anyway. If you really want to see how many people are reading, do what I did: Move the story to your own site and set up a counter.

[Ruatha]

Originally posted by dogscoff:

If I bumped it, it would go to the top of the forum. Everyone else would see it there and think that you had posted an update. How disappointed would they be when they saw that it was just a lousy bump from me? I couldn't be so cruel

Fooled me you cruel being!

[Atrocities]

Ah good points. I had to find it burried on page three. I will have the next two segments posted later this week.

[The FryeR K]

just do what i do make a link directly to it

[Atrocities]

Part XIV Life’s Little Surprises

Tanix Largo was not especially keen on the idea of having been assigned such a mundane task as messenger, nor was he especially fond of where he would have to go to deliver the message. Unlike many of his comrades in the Illuminati Assassins Guild, he did ask questions and often held an independent thought or two. Oh he had been warned by his superiors, including Trax himself, on several occasions not to deviate from or question orders, but to simply follow them like a good mindless drone. Tanix was unusual in that he enjoyed killing. It made him feel good to see the life fade from a victims, ‘no not victim, subjects, yes that word fit better,’ a subjects eyes. It really was not his fault that he was so sadistic; it was the fault of those who had engineered him, or was it? It was something that Tanix often thought about, but quickly dismissed. Although he enjoyed killing, many of the other members of the Assassins Guild did not. They preferred stealth and cunning over the simplicity of elimination and sanction. ‘What fools they are to deny themselves the pleasure of the kill,’ thought Tanix quietly to himself as he waited patiently, hidden from view by his Optical Masking Net, or OMN, in the cargo hold of the supply ship Voodoo. It was an easy effort to gain access to this ship as it was not guarded and only a few people were around loading supplies. Supplies that are going to be delivered from Andover Base to the Discovery sight at the Victorian Glacier. Tanix just simply strolled onto the ship without a care and took up a nice comfortable spot to kick back and wait for the ship to be loaded and depart. That was about an hour ago, and the flight crew had not yet arrived. Tanix was becoming board and his mind began to wonder as he contemplated his desire and lust to kill against his comrades’ orders to avoid killing. An unusual juxtaposition at best, and an ironic one at that. Trained and bred for one purpose in life, assassins designed to kill who avoid killing as if it were a golden rule. An unspoken rule that Tanix relished violating as often as he could.

“This will be the Last shipment to Discovery Site,” commented Pilot Joe Watson to his co-pilot Ted Barlow as they walked up the loading ramp and headed for the Voodoo’s cockpit. “The word is the site is going into absolute lock down and we are to fairy the Last of the scientific team and other nonessential personnel back to Andover.”
“Well I for one am damned happy that the hoppes to that god forsaken frozen pit are over,” commented Ted Barlow in an almost jubilant tone, “I’ve seen enough snow and ice to Last me a life time.”
“Likewise,” Joe said as he climbed into the pilot seat and began the pre-flight. “I only want to see ice in my drinks from now on.”
“Speaking of which, you still owe me two shots from our bet Last week.”
“That game was rigged and you know it Ted.”
“Oh come on now Boss, Harry beat him fair and square.”
“The hell he did, that low life stump jumper cheated.”
“I am going to tell him you said that.” Commented Ted as he smiled. “I am sure it will warm his heart and boost his ego to know that you think he is a cheater.”
“While you’re at it, tell him he owes me two drinks and your collecting for me.” Said Joe as he finished the pre-flight check sheet and handed it to Ted for review.
“Tower this is Voodoo One-Five-Zero requesting departure clearance.” Joe said into his COM.
“Voodoo One-Five-Zero, you are cleared for departure on course vector two-one-one-North. And you boys have yourselves a nice flight.”
“Thank you Tower, Voodoo One-Five-Zero completing taxi run and lifting off. See you tower heads in about six hours. Be sure to keep the Red Flame on until we get back.”
With that Joe flipped off his COM and he and Ted entered into another meaningless discussion about some arbitrary topic of little interest.

Tanix had to restrain himself from the overwhelming desire to kill these two humans in order to shut them up. It was a compulsion that he found almost to strong to control. Perhaps later he could kill them, he thought has he slowly removed a small device from his tactical utility belt, pressed a few buttons and gently stuck it to the Voodoo’s inner bulkhead. He could not see what it was he was doing but he knew exactly how to do it after years of practice, training, and practical use. He had deployed many such devices on many occasions all while being safely hidden under the protection of his Optical Masking Net. Once the device was outside of the OMN, it became visible only for a second as quickly took on the color of the surface to which it was attached and became utterly invisible. “A little return trip surprise for you both,” whispered Tanix to himself as he smiled insidiously.

The Voodoo’s flight from Andover Base to the Discovery site took about an hour. They were cleared to land and did so as they had done so many times before. The ramp dropped and Tanix was down it and out of the ship in seconds. The two pilots were still climbing out of their seats by the time Tanix made it to the Operations and Control tent.

On the Voodoo’s return trip, some five hours later, while over the tip of the Bastion Continent heading out over the Sea of Pandora, the small device that Tanix had installed finished its count down and detonated. The Voodoo exploded into a million peaces of super heated particles of metal, pLastic, and other matter. The flight crew and seventeen other men and women including many members of Doctor Mentors Scientific Team, all died in the time it takes a person to sneeze. A subsequent investigation into the loss of the Voodoo concluded that a fuel cell heating element had failed resulting in the freezing of a critical valve that when automatically engaged ruptured under pressure and caused the explosion that destroyed the Voodoo and her passengers.

The Tents were not really tents at all but prefab constructed buildings that had been assembled. Most of the small buildings were coated with fresh snow that was quickly melted and flowed off onto the ground were it would promptly freeze. The Tents had internal roof heating elements that would keep the Ice and snow from burring the structure, and they seemed to be working rather well as there appeared to be little build up of snow and ice on the Tents outer roof. As PFC Kord Anuran and PFC Leo Hurt moved along the landing area looking for the two missing soldiers, Kord looked on with little interest in his duty. He wanted to be where it was warm under one of those heated roofs, and quietly thought to himself.

“No doubt by now those missing men are sitting back in the mess tent sucking down a warm one enjoying a good laugh while the rest of us are out here freezing our balls off looking for them.” Commented Leo sarcastically.
“Or worse, this was some stinking drill that the Captain had planed and he is sitting back in the mess tent sucking down a warm one having a good laugh about it all.” Replied Kord just as sarcastically.
“Hey what that?” Asked Leo, as he moved toward what appeared to be a small lump under a government sky chariot.
“What is what?” Replied Kord as he looked over in Leo’s direction.
“I think I have found something.” Responded Leo excitedly.

Tanix shivered slightly in the cold, he had just turned his environmental suit-heating unit to maximum and was calculating the power usage when it happened.

The explosion knocked him flat face down into the snow. The force of the explosion was so powerful that it nearly caused the Operations Tent to collapse as a result of the shockwave. It took Tanix several seconds to clear his head and recall where he was. His ears were ringing and he could taste copper in his mouth. His mind began to race as he wondered if the explosive he had planted had detonated prematurely. “The pleasures of life and all of its little surprises never fail to amaze me,” he said to himself as he slowly rolled to his side as several men in white uniforms ran past him.

He had to move quickly or run the risk of being stepped on, but aside from rolling onto his side, he could not otherwise move. He was in pain now, not that simple kind of pain one would expect from having just been blown to the ground by a powerful explosion, but a more sinister kind of pain that cames from having been struck by a peace of shrapnel that had been blown away from a ship by a powerful exposition which had just knocked you face down to the ground.

Tanix simply laid there hoping that no one would see his outline in the snow, or worse, step on him. He ran calculations in his mind and determined that the explosion had not come from the ship he had just left therefore his surprise had not gone off. No, the explosion had come from directly behind him about three hundred yards away. He could hear men yelling now, they were shouting about that a sky chariot had just exploded and that several men were injured. A sky chariot he thought to himself, it must have been rigged to blow by Trax. But why would Trax draw attention to himself by blowing up a sky chariot? It was an odd thing to do for one who wished to remain unknown.

Something odd was beginning to happen now, Tanix could feel his heart beat slowing, the pain was beginning to subside, and he could breath without wincing. The Environmental Suit was beginning to administer pain medication and adrenaline. A welcome sensation to be sure thought Tanix as he slowly lifted himself up off of the ground and stood. He was weak and could feel that he had a few broken ribs. ‘Oh those are going to hurt like hell in the morning,’ he thought to himself as he slowly moved into a shadowed area next to the Communication tent. He knew that Trax was around, and quietly spoke into his COM. At this distance it was relatively safe to break radio silence and advise Trax that he was present with new orders. Trax would no doubt not respond but would instead make his way to Tanix in short order.

Tanix took in a deep breath and spoke as clearly as he could. “Trax, operational objective modified, current location south-west Communications tent. Status injured.”

The medication was beginning to fade and Tanix realized that he would have to have Trax’s help to remove the shrapnel from his back. From the feel of it, it was a jagged peace of cast epoxy steel, the substance used as plating on the outer hull of ships and vehicles. It was a semi medium size peace of shrapnel that felt warm and rather unfriendly as his sat lodged in his back. Tanix’s major concern was that his Optical Masking Net had been damaged or worse, he himself had been seriously injured. He would know soon enough.

Trax was standing by the entrance to the Command and Operations Tent when the explosion occurred. He could see General Christopher and his aid Richard Hess leveled to the ground by the explosion. No doubt one of the search parties had discovered the bodies of the two soldiers that he had to sanction upon his arrival and subsequently hid under the sky chariot that he had arrived on. He had hidden the men under his spare OMN and placed a motion sensitive explosive along with them in the event that they were discovered. A good precaution since they were obviously discovered.

The explosion did not startled Trax as he had expected it once he placed it, but what did cause him to unexpectedly draw in a breath, despite the best training the Illuminati could provide, was the unexpected COM message from Tanix.

[Atrocities]

bump for the day

[CNCRaymond]

Nice read. I thought you had given up on this story. glad to see that you have not.