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 Fiction Archive - Rats from a Sinking Ship by zenprime
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| TelQuessir |
Posted on 05-09-2005 09:48
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 Posts: 2598 Joined: August 30 2005 |
Picture that started it all: http://www.penguin-mayhem.net/pds/modules.php?set_albumName=pds-users&id=aow&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php And without further hesitation: RATS FROM A SINKING SHIP ?Lady Keloiece, the battle cruiser Avatar Terminus has just gone down. Warmaster Golod requests you take refuge in an escape pod until our reinforcements arrive.? The baby-faced Third Helmsmen Arcouth reported. Arcouth felt the sweat in his overly tight uniform, and shake in his salute. Lady Keloiece was an imposing figure already with a reputation to match. With the way the battle was going, she had become clearly livid with the performance of the Al-Khalid Fist of Legacy and her crew. Keloiece?s honor guard had already bloodied their swords on pilot-slaves who had refused to fight in her name, and Keloiece herself had threatened to kill Pyther the second in command, in full earshot of the bridge crew, if any bad news was reported to her. Scuttlebutt pegged her as the fabled ?Mad-Dog Noble.? Pyther had sent Arcouth instead. Arcouth couldn?t believe her when she gave him the order. Pyther and Arcouth had been conscripted from the same small village on Letito, their mothers gave birth to them at the same time and right next to each other. Practically family, he had dreamed of marrying Pyther, and now she was sending him to his death! Lady Keloiece leaned forward and slapped him hard. ?I can see for myself just perfectly what that motherless child Golod has gotten us into. Doesn?t she know that the first Hiigaran strikegroup has already circled around us to prevent our reinforcements from reaching us? With the second group occupying our guns, their battleships can target us at leisure!? Lady Keloiece jabbed at a display hacked into the ship?s main tactical network, what it implied was clear; they were not long from sharing the fate of the Avatar Terminus unless something decisive was done. ?And where is Miss. Pyther? Is she afraid to show her shameful face to Lady Keloiece?? She preened at speaking of herself in the third person, though she was a stellar beauty, her haughty attitude and love of bloodletting ruined any effect it might have. ?Co?Co?? Fist of Legacy rolled port ward as she was hit by barrage of fire, knocking Arcouth to the deck. Inertial dampers were offline, and for sure other systems went with them. Keloiece merely sat there, as her honor guard held her in her chair, though she bent forward to retrieve Arcouth from the floor by hauling him hair first from the floor. ?Speak up! Where is she?!? She commanded. ?Commander Pyther is at-tending to her duties on the bridge.? Another blow rocked the ship, the room went black and then was bathed in orange glow as emergency power came online. The blow was staggering though not enough to fell Arcouth. ?Then why are you here? Don?t you have duties to attend to as well?? Lady Keloiece finished in a growl. Rising she unsheathed a blade from her bodice and brought it to rest point first under his chin, directly underneath his tongue. Arcouth silently prayed to whatever gods there were to speed up the repair of the inertial dampers. ?I was ordered to covey the Warmaster?s message at the behest of Co-Commander Pyther.? He stammered out. ?AND. WHY. ARE. YOU. HERE.? With every word Keloiece twisted the dagger. Arcouth had no trouble imaging the loss of his tongue. ?The helm is non-operational at the moment as we?ve lost the use...? Before he could finish, Keloiece howled and spun around slicing him in the process. Arcouth fell to the floor, and he felt a warmness spreading about his pants. Had she severed a vital artery? He grabbed at his chin and felt, no the wound wasn?t that deep, so then?. ?Makek, Polsim, Wilay, gather my precious belongings. We?re leaving.? Keloiece commanded, ignoring him. Rushing to their tasks the honor guard darted into the bedroom. As the door closed behind them, Arcouth found himself momentary alone with the Lady Keloiece. Her back was turned as she attempted to extract something from her throne-like seat. Arcouth did his best to act the shadow, and slid towards the hatch. ?Don?t move! I didn?t say you could leave filth!? Lady Keloiece was still turned away, though she leveled a handgun against him from under her arm. Flattened up against the wall, Arcouth?s mind raced as the ship pitched. Was she planning to execute him? Turning back to face him, Arcouth now saw she clutched a sizeable Quantum Gemerald in her other hand. Her ice blue eyes seemed to be filled with Sajuuk?s very wrath under the orange glow of the emergency lights. ?Now then, you have access to the docking bay, right?? Arcouth nodded quickly. His mouth went dry, ?Why the docking bay? There are escape pods at the end of the deck?? ?A noble in an escape pod? I will not sit amongst the vermin!? Her escorts reentered the room, laden with carry sacks. Stripping off their ceremonial cloaks to reveal the web harnesses of shock troopers, they quickly attached Keloiece?s luggage to each other. They eyed him with contempt. ?Now, lead the way. If you do anything?? And she thumbed the safety on her sidearm to show Arcouth just how she?d deal with any displeasure. Leading Lady Keloiece and her party through the ship at a fast jog, Arcouth did his best to avoid damaged or blown out sectors as he made way to the docking bay that lay along the keel of the Fist of Legacy. Twice he?d been forced to backtrack and deal with Keloiece?s further protests and threats. ?Are you just an idiot or are you intentionally wasting my time! We should have been there long ago!? She harangued him, jabbing the gun into the space between his ribs. Creaks, groans, and the sound of damped explosions rocked the ship as the Hiigaraan taskforce continued to pummel them. ?We?re close! We?re close! We just have to go through the slave quarters here to bypass the sector below!? Arcouth yelled over the din. He punched his security code into the keypad and reached for the hatch. Lady Keloiece pulled his shoulder forcing him to turn towards her, and pistol-whipped him across the face sending him crashing against the wall. ?The filth deserves to die for the disrespect they showed Lady Keloiece earlier! Golod had no right to spare them.? She declared as she reached for the keypad and broke the plastic covering of a valve control next to it. Wrenching it out and twisting it, she depressurized the slave hold and opened it to space. Turning back to Arcouth, she pistol-whipped him again, ?Presumptuous Breeder!? Arcouth felt himself drifting off; the pain was just too much. A sudden rush hit him in the back of the neck. Life roared back into focus, louder and sharper then before. One of the honor guard tossed an empty stim pack to the fool as another hauled him up by the collar of his ship suit. The third passed him a breather mask. He could see they were all wearing them, and Keloiece glowered at him from behind hers, motioning him forward with her gun. The slave hold was a blood stained mess. Arcouth did his best to focus on the hatch at the far end of the deck and not the remains stuffed into the vents along the far wall. Getting sick with a mask attached to his face was not a good idea. Lady Keloiece shoved him forward, and Arcouth hurried along a bit faster. It hurt so much to inhale, she had probably kicked him in the ribs when he passed out. Sucking the flat tasting air from this breather mask did help either. He reached the hatch, and bent over the keypad. The stupid thing was non-functional! He banged on it weakly. Keloiece turned him around and shoved her masked face against his. ?OPEN IT NOW!? She was positively frothing at the mouth. She twisted him back around and pushed Arcouth headfirst into the console. A crack appeared across the front of Arcouth?s mask, and his mind raced. There must be something he could do. And it hit him, well she hit him, but he knew his mistake now. He had to use the gene scanner to verify him before the door would power up the keypad so he could actually unlock it. Sure enough, a tiny yellow light was glowing next to a hole above the keypad. Sticking his little finger down the hole, Arcouth felt a needle slip under his fingernail. And just like it was supposed to the keypad lighted up. Quickly he punched in his security code, and again bypassed the override preventing a hatch opening between two areas without equal pressure. The locks retracted and Arcouth needed no beating to begin to push the door open. Just a quick jaunt up a service ladder, he didn?t think Keloiece would have been able to carry the Quantum Gemerald up the ladder with the gun in her other hand but she simply shoved it between her breasts (How she held it there, a real mystery) and climbed up behind him She didn?t let up poking and prodding him with the pistol, even on the ladder, nor when they passed into the pilots ready room. A window opened up into the docking bay, and Arcouth quickly made his too it. And this was his worst fear: He knew they had launched their entire compliment of fighters and corvettes, there would be nothing down there in the drop-racks. She would kill him on the spot, and probably not quickly. Would she shoot him? Carve him up with the knife? Or would she simple opt to have her honor guard beat him to death? He forced himself to look down into the bay, while imagining a savage combination of all three punishments, to find a full squadron of Shamshir corvettes resting in their drop racks, still glistening of fresh nano assembly. He would have danced, had not Lady Keloiece come up behind him and kicked him in the back of his knees. ?NOW!? And she pointed to final hatch between them and escape. Limping along now, Arcouth led them through the gravity-lock and out into the weightlessness of the docking bay. Fist of Legacy began to utter the cries of structural failure as Keloiece?s guards settled into the second and third Shamshir. Lady Keloiece kicked him towards the lead ship, ?GET IN!? Arcouth didn?t bother to argue, her eyes were beyond bloodshot, and she was so angry she couldn?t seem to speak more then three words at a time. By screaming. Popping the hatch, Arcouth floated into the Shamshir. Making his way to the first console he came across, an insane ?YOU FLY IT!? from behind made him decide the pilot?s seat might be more comfortable. Grumbling, growling, and occasionally an outburst of swearing, Lady Keloiece strapped herself into the seat nearest Arcouth. While the controls were a bit different from up on the bridge(Not to mention it had been years since he had been at the controls of anything smaller then a frigate), the controls were arranged logically enough that Arcouth was able to get his bearings quickly. It felt good to be at a ship?s controls again. Arcouth felt in control again. ?NOW! GO!? Keloiece barraged him, hitting the back of his seat. ?Shut UP! And put down that weapon. If you want to live, you?ll do what I say!? He snapped on her with reserves he didn?t know he had. Lady Keloiece subsided some what and shrunk back in her seat. Arcouth turned back and sped through the preflight. Acknowledgement lights flicked on, Keloiece?s guards were ready. A long low moan rattled the drop rack, and emergency lights began to flicker off in the docking bay. ?Now?? Keloiece asked, through grated teeth. The acknowledgement lights flickered questioningly as well. ?Quiet! I know what I?m doing.? He hushed her. The control panel dimmed, as lights outside in the docking bay did so as well. This was it, the reactor safeties was making a final bid to maintain integrity. Arcouth hit the release. The drop rack lurched into life, pulling back the gantries and launching the trio of Shamshir corvettes out. The little ships were tossed as violent storm of ordnance exploded all around them. No time left to worry, Arcouth led them out. Anywhere but here. Fist of Legacy shuddered, and relays along her hull began to erupt. This was why he had waited, this was what just might save them. A massive pulse of energy washed out as the reactors lost containment. Craft nearest to the stern began to slow, running lights going dark. Light flooded the cockpit, and the Al-Khalid Fist of Legacy was nothing more then a shadow of twisted metal and lost memories. The Shamshirs had only so much time while the strikegroup switched targeting priorities, before their short range sensors were no longer blinded. Arcouth did his best, every second coming closer and closer to the edge of the battle space. Just a little bit longer and they would be out of the closest ship?s firing range. Unfortunately, the second strikegroup had already swung around the wreckage. They were targeted, locked and fired upon as the Hiigaran battle net surged back into action. Lady Keloiece?s Honor Guard was the first to go. Massed fire found the third Shamshir. The pilot heroically did the best she could. Pulling the ship up and over the cone of directed fire. Rounds shredded drive trails as the targeting systems sought to keep up. The pilot of the second Shamshir could stare straight up, right into the cockpit of the third Shamshir if she wished. She even might have. The two acknowledgement lights winked off and the proximity alarms began to blare. A low whimpering moan came from Lady Keloiece, ?Sexless, motherless, son of a whore. I?d rather die alone...? Arcouth locked his eyes forward and pulled out all the stops. As the missiles bugged their way up their tailpipe, Arcouth promised himself he?d strangle Keloiece to death with his bare hands. The Shamshir exploded into a cloud of dust. |
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| zenprime |
Posted on 08-10-2005 04:31
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 Posts: 105 Joined: September 02 2005 |
I've added the primary shot that inspired this as well as all thw others from the battle to external gallery. Located here: http://www.hwshots.hwaccess.net/v/Use...ime/RFASS/
Edited by zenprime on 08-10-2005 04:35   Bring it on. I've mastered multiple forms of Pink! [small]Zenprime is dead. Well no |
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