Notice: The title given to this article is incorrect due to technical limitations. The correct title is “The Great VSP/WASTE Saga, Part III, Chapter 10.”
The Great VSP Saga:
Part III
Revenge of the Good Guys
Mason lay on his back, tied down to a bed to prevent him from hurting Seawolf. Being tied up isn't all it's cracked up to be, though. It's somewhat uncomfortable, since you can't move your limbs, which tend to get cramped up and there isn't much you can do about it. Quite aside from that, the ropes cut off circulation somewhat, often leading to bad cases of hands and feet falling asleep. It is not the most enjoyable thing to have happen to you.
Despite this, Mason enjoyed being tied up. It was the only time he was able to demonstrate one of his most strange, uncommon talents. That of untying himself. Shame he didn't have an audience, though. Oh well. Seawolf could see, at least. Mason was getting hungry, and it didn't seem as if anyone would be bringing him lunch anytime soon. Besides, he had to see a man about a fleet.
One of the very few advantages to what Mason termed his 'personal curse', that of having such an insanely high metabolism that his body fat percentage was off the scale on the low end, was an ungodly dexterity. He had discovered the ability to untie himself quite by accident when goofing around with some of his friends several years ago. He had mainly used it for silly stuff like talent shows, (his favorite routine was to pretend he was about to do some boring thing like singing a song, then have some of his friends who were in on it jump him and tie him up, drag him offstage, and leave him there while other acts performed. He would quietly untie himself, then get up right in the middle of someone else's act, walk out to the middle of the stage, and bow. He had won a few on the shock value alone.) but once when some annoying over-muscled, under-brained jock had gotten really mad at him over some minor thing and tied him to a tree, leaving him there to go get his friends, Mason had been out long before he returned. He took great pleasure in saying hi to him the next day at school as if nothing had happened. The expression on his face was worth every second of fear.
Mason started to work on the ropes, finding the knots and unknotting them. He soon had one hand free. From there, the rest was simple. He did it subtly enough that Seawolf never noticed, (not hard to do when he was staring off into space thinking, not looking at Mason anyway,) and lay there for a few minutes longer while his extremities woke up again. Then he sat up, got off the bed, and walked out. Over his shoulder he called to Seawolf "Gotta go. Cya."
The PossePlane was just about to arrive at Vancouver for the showdown with Trouble. Endarire was making a bit of trouble of his own, demanding to be the one to face the evil cowboy.
"I've only been mentioned 25 times in the entire Part! I'm becoming a minor, underused character. MilkDuds became a minor, underused character and look what happened to him!"
"Wait a sec." Lambda said. "You're not all that good of a fighter; how will you survive?"
"My secret ability, of course."
"What's that?"
"Poetry." Endarire would say nothing more on the subject, and became increasingly angry as people tried to talk him out of it. At the end of the flight, he was almost as furious as Mason had recently been. If he hadn't been in a space too cramped to move, he would have been throwing punches.
Nannoth/Taeradun smiled mouthlessly. It was working. He was doing well with his plan to set the Good Guys against each other through anger. Three victims he had already claimed, and more would soon follow. When they were too weakened by infighting to work together, he would strike.
Mason's heart beat loudly as he snuck through the halls of Auspex Studios. He had Patched himself as a Ghost, but there were plenty of detectors around that could give his presence away. Now, more than ever before, he needed to stay unseen. He finally reached the exit to Auspex Studios and walked outside. Now it wouldn't matter if the Good Guys noticed him. He activated his Patch and summoned the DragonSlayer.
He found himself on the bridge, with several of Broker's guards nearby. Before they could raise their weapons, he nonchalantly said "security protocol 3" and everyone but himself on the ship was beamed into the brig without their weapons.
He fired up the 'Slayer's engines and set a rendezvous course with a large fleet floating in space, near Broker's old staging point.
"DragonSlayer to TGF, please respond."
TGF smiled. "Ah. Our informant has arrived." He picked opened a channel and said "Hello, Mason. Welcome back to the side that will win."
"Nice to be working with you again," said Mason. "I assume you will find my ship a welcome addition to your fleet?"
"Very welcome indeed. How are conditions?"
"Ready." said Mason. "Anytime."
"Good." TGF transmitted to all ships in his fleet. "All units, prepare for launch at T minus five minutes."
Five minutes later, the Bad Guy fleet launched for Auspex Studios.
Why has Mason deserted?
Will Endarire fight Trouble?
Will Nannoth/Taeradun's plot succeed?
When will the Good Guys find out that Mason has joined the Bad Guys?
Find out on the next exciting episode of The Great VSP/WASTE Saga!
The Marines and Firebats stood watch over Bakjak and his mercenaries. Bakjak was summoning a spell to mind to keep at the ready. He could not speak until he released his spell, so he remained quiet.
"This is Makgraf," crackled a Marine's radio. "We have launched all our ships. Carry out your orders."
"What the..." said a mercenary as he was promptly executed. ‘Serves him right’, thought Bakjak. The Marine moved up to the next mercenary who looked frightened.
Before he fired a shot, Bakjak started speaking an arcane language. Blue swirls gathered around his body. The other Marines took aim and started firing blindly, killing the rest of the mercenaries. Bakjak's eyes shone brightly with fire as several blue fireballs were launched at the Marines and Firebats incinerating them.
He knelt down and raised his pant leg, revealing an M9 pistol. He was too drained to cast another spell, so conventional weapons would have to do.
Bakjak rushed down the corridor and reached the hanger. Around his beloved Magius was a legion of Marines.
Bakjak put on his sunglasses and the action music started up.
He rushed over to a container and did a back-flip over it, catching a Marine off guard. He quickly snapped his neck and held the dead Marine in front of him as the other Marines became aware of Bakjak's presence. The dead Marine was killed several times again by his own squad as Bakjak pulled out his M9 and started firing shot after shot into the crowd.
The Marines had lost track of Bakjak and were searching the hanger. "Sector clear, Sir!" yelled out a Marine.
Tink, tink, tink...
"Did you hear that?" asked a Marine.
He looked down to see a grenade in the middle of their ranks.
Bakjak grinned as he flew the cloaked Magius out of the exploding hanger. "I think I'll stop hiring help, they've proven too useless in battle," he said to himself, grinning.
He hit his thrusters full speed ahead, hoping to catch up with TGF's fleet and strike them from behind. All his available power was going to thrusters, so cloak was disabled for the moment.
TGF sat in the comfortable black chair on the bridge of the Nemesis II, a battlecruiser. Newly constructed while the original Nemesis had been en route to Broker's old base, it was quite a ship. The hanger which was added onto the battlecruiser was only big enough to hold TGF's 12 Advanced Wraiths. The ship carried the usual armaments of a battlecruiser, but with some flak cannons and extra laser batteries. Mason Wheeler had reported back and increased TGF's fleet size with the DragonSlayer. Makgraf was at the helm of the Nemesis II and things seemed to be going pleasantly.
"Sir," Makgraf turned around. "It appears as though Bakjak has escaped the firing squad."
"Hail him," replied TGF.
"Your time is up," said TGF over the Magius’ intercom.
Bakjak flipped the comm to life and shut down his thrusters, then cloaked himself. He checked for observers with his thermal goggles and saw none.
"I'm gonna cram this anti-matter missile so far up your @$$ that you'll feel like the guy that just dropped his bar of soap in the washroom," taunted Bakjak.
"You wouldn't do that to us, would you?" a familiar voice inquired.
"Identify yourself," Bakjak commanded.
Mason Wheeler smiled. "It's your old friend, Mason Wheeler."
"What? I thought you were a Good Guy!" Bakjak said, confused. "I owe you my allegiance, Baa...err, I mean Mason. Why are you working with Diab...err, TGF?"
"Who wants to save Mason Rockwell? There's no room for another Mason," said Mason Wheeler. "Besides Mephist...ummm, Bakjak, the Bad Guys will come out on top this time."
The uncaring moon watched as the Nemesis II, DragonSlayer, Magius, and a huge fleet descended upon Earth...
MEANWHILE, IN VANCOUVER....
The PossePlane had touched down, and they had been greeted by Trouble, Little Timmy and Sam, and the Banned Ones at the bottom of the ramp as they exited the ship. Codebreaker was about to ask how they’d gotten there to meet them so quickly, but Trouble spoke up first.
“Welcome, VST. My name is Trouble, and this town is ma turf now!”
The VSPers looked at each other and stifled their laughter. “We know that already,” Lambda Corps said.
Trouble glared at him. Had his eyes been lasers, Lambda would have been reduced to a small pile of ashes. But Trouble’s eyes WEREN’T lasers, so he wasn’t.
Anyways, Codebreaker, always taking charge, spoke up next. “So we’re here. Now how do you want to settle this?”
“I dunno about the others,” Trouble said, a smile appearing on his face, “but I been lookin’ fer an old-fashioned showdown. Western style.”
The VSPers gulped. Yes, all of them.
“So, who’s it gonna be?” Trouble demanded, pushing his vest aside to reveal his nasty-looking Gauss pistol.
The VSP conferred amongst themselves.
“I still wanna do it!” Endarire pleaded.
“Forget it. Poetry won’t get you outta this!” Spooky shot back.
“Wanna bet?!” End retorted, his anger burning again.
“I want to! I’m the one he beat in Starcraft before!” Odin spoke up.
“Exactly why someone ELSE should get to!” MysteriousGuy said.
The group was reduced to bickering and shouting while the Bad Guys looked on, amused.
Finally, Mack Kilimaro shouted for the VSP’s attention. “I’LL do it,” he said, “and I’ll tell you why. I’ve been honing my quick-draw skills...” he turned his hip a bit to remind everyone of the Luger pistol that hung there “...and I have the best chance at winning. Remember that I even wrote a showdown like this into my Part II ending? I won that, didn’t I? So, any objections?” A couple of the others opened their mouths to speak. “Well too bad!” Mack interrupted. “One of us has got to do this, NOW, and that person is me.”
Mack quickly turned and walked back to Trouble. “You and me, Trouble.”
Trouble grinned his toothy grin again. “Awright, Kilimanjaro.”
“That’s Kilimaro.”
“Whatever,” Trouble said, shrugging. “Out into the street...c’mon, move it.”
Mack and Trouble lined up at opposite ends of one of the main streets nearby in Vancouver. The city seemed deserted, and Mack even saw a tumbleweed roll by. ‘What the...?!’
“TELE!” Trouble shouted when both opponents were in position. “Start it!”
TELE walked to the side of the road with a hand-sized bell.
“The bell rings, we shoot,” Trouble shouted at Mack. “Whenever yur ready, TELE.”
“What happened?” Dark_T_Zeratul asked, cutting Seawolf loose with his Scythe.
“He untied himself somehow,” Seawolf said, pointing at Mason’s empty cot when his hands were free, “and left. I don’t know where he went.”
“And no one’s seen him?” Zeratul asked the others. No one had. Everyone left at Auspex Studios (minus Jenni and Fenrir, who were still in the infirmary, and Flyspeck, who was watching over the base in the command room) was in the room, having come running when Seawolf started shouting that Mason was gone.
Zeratul went over to the room’s comm speaker and called the infirmary. “Jenni, have you seen Mason?”
“Jenni’s on her way back to the command room,” Fenrir’s voice came back. “I’m better and was gonna go there myself. What’s wrong?”
“Mason’s escaped and disappeared somewhere. You seen him?” Seawolf asked.
“Not since I woke up, no.”
“Okay, well head to the command room. We’ll be there in a minute.”
“Roger.”
“Where IS he?!” Seawolf shouted in frustration. “Try the command room. Who’s up there?”
“Flyspeck,” Zeratul replied, his voice strangely calm like it got when he was trying not to show his emotions (which happened quite often for Zeratul). He called the command room. “Yeah?” Flyspeck asked before Zeratul could say anything. His voice was tense.
Zeratul was caught off-guard by Flyspeck’s voice, and forgot his intended question. “Ummm...is something wrong up there?”
“Yeah, you could say that,” Flyspeck replied, his voice deadly. “I was about to call you. You better get up here. Now.”
“Flyspeck, what is it?” Seawolf demanded.
“The biggest fleet of ships I’ve ever seen is headed right for us. ETA, eleven minutes.”
Zeratul, Seawolf, and the others were already on their way out the door.
Mack suddenly realized what was happening. It sunk in...‘I could get KILLED here,’ he thought. ‘What am I doing?!’
He forced the building fear and panic down and stared ahead, his hand hovering millimeters above his sidearm. He looked Trouble right in the eye, ignoring the beads of sweat forming on his brow.
TELE lifted the bell up high...
...and rang it.
Both opponents pulled out their pistols, seemingly at the exact same time. The others looked on as they both pulled their triggers...
...and both went down.
Mack grimaced in pain and clutched his left shoulder where Trouble’s bullet had impacted. He looked down and saw, in shock, that it was only inches away from his heart. Trouble’s shot had been close, but not close enough.
Trouble himself had not been so lucky. As the Banned Ones reached him to see where he’d been hit, they saw he wasn’t breathing. The bullet hole directly over his heart explained why.
The VSP scooped up their fallen comrade and, with CB holding Mack up, they all turned, in unison, and trained their weapons on the Banned Ones.
Their opponents realized that they’d left themselves open a second too late and turned just in time to see eight weapons aimed directly at them.
“Ummm...” Jamz Bond whispered to TELE. “Maybe this would be a good time to go back to the original plan.”
“What plan?” TELE whispered back, keeping his eyes forward.
“The one about allying with the Good Guys and then backstabbing later...?”
“Ah yes,” TELE said, a little of the tension lifting. He lifted his head a little higher and shouted out at the VSP. “Now that we are rid of Trouble, we have an offer you cannot refuse.”
The VSPers blinked, curious. Yes, all of them again. Stop questioning me, darnit!
“What kind of offer is that?” Codebreaker asked.
“In light of TGF’s betrayal of us, we offer our assistance in helping you defeat him.”
“Ha!” Odin laughed aloud. “Thanks, but no thanks.”
“Yeah, that’s like trusting a burglar to watch over my house,” Nemesis said.
“Now hold it,” CB said, turning back to the rest of the Posse. “We really COULD use their help, you know.”
“Remember what happened LAST time we accepted help from a Bad Guy?” Lambda chided calmly.
“Yeah, and now that Bad Guy, Bakjak, is on our side, seemingly for good,” Codebreaker replied, oblivious to the fact that Bakjak seemed to be a Bad Guy once more.
That seemed to strike a positive note with the others. True, Bakjak HAD been a big help so far in this part of the Saga....
“Fine,” they told CB, as a group. Yes, that means ‘all together’. There ya go...you’re catching on.
Codebreaker turned back to the Banned Ones, smiling warmly. “We accept.”
TELE blinked. “Well, THAT was easy,” he said under his breath.
Codebreaker suddenly heard a faint beeping coming from his wrist. “What is THAT?!” he asked in alarm.
“Ummm...probably your communicator,” Spooky said.
CB looked at her, then lifted his sleeve to indeed see a wrist communicator there. ‘When did I get THAT?’ he wondered as he flipped it on and held it up to his face. “Ummm...hello?”
“Codebreaker, thank God you’re there!” Flyspeck’s voice called out from the small speaker.
“What’s up?”
“Did you beat the Banned Ones yet? Well even if you didn’t, we need you back here NOW.”
“Whoa whoa whoa hold it,” CB said. “What’s the probl...”
“TGF is coming with a HUGE fleet to kill us and we need your help, dammit!”
CB blinked. Flyspeck sounded like he was on the edge of a nervous breakdown.
Then CB actually heard what he’d said. “Waitasec...TGF?”
“YES!” Flyspeck shouted back. “Get back here!”
“Okay, okay, we’re on our way.” Codebreaker said, shutting the communicator down. “Posse, you heard the man...let’s move!”
“Where are you going?” TELE shouted at them as they sprinted back to the PossePlane. The VSPers had completely forgotten about them.
“Get in your ship and follow us!” Lambda shouted over his shoulder. “We’re going to fight TGF!”
The Banned Ones gave a quick cheer at the thought of upcoming revenge and ran back to their ship—the arbiter that had recalled them out of TGF’s clutches in the Land of the Banned.
Hey, that rhymes, doesn’t it? Land...Banned...cool! *ahem* Anyways, back to the story....
The PossePlane and the Banned Ones lifted off and set a course for Auspex Studios.
It was only then, as they moved away from the city of Vancouver, that MysteriousGuy realized something that made an icy ball form in his stomach. Actually, maybe it was the Slushee he was now sipping on. Anyways, he realized something, as I said.
Little Timmy and Sam were gone. They’d vanished as soon as Mack and Trouble had squared off.
But there was no time to worry about that now. WASTE needed them.
“That’s nuts,” Zeratul said as Seawolf finished explaining a little plan of his.
“Come on, Zer! We need SOMETHING to help turn the tide in our favor a bit! You got any better idea of how to capture a battlecruiser?”
Zeratul had none. He sighed. “Fine, but you’ll need more help than just Phoenix.”
“I’ll go,” Pure Orange spoke up.
“So will I,” chimed in Typhoon.
Seawolf shrugged. “Fine with me. We could use the help.”
Seawolf’s plan WAS a bit nuts, but it was so simple, he figured, that it just HAD to work. The Judicator, left behind by the TAC Staff, would fly over top of one of the closest battlecruisers and recall him, Phoenix, and now Orange and Typhoon right on top of it. They would cut through the hull behind the bridge with Phoenix’s psi blades, storm the bridge, and take the ship by force, giving the Good Guys a better chance and taking a little of TGF’s firepower away. Not much, but with these kinds of odds, every little bit counted.
What he HADN’T told Zeratul was the little bonus he would achieve. If he could capture a battlecruiser, intact, and survive the coming battle, he could make himself another Hyperion. Maybe. ‘You gotta survive first, buddy,’ Seawolf thought to himself.
“The VSP is on their way,” Flyspeck reported from the control console. “It’s gonna take them a while to get here, though.”
Suddenly an idea flew into the room and smacked into the back of Lucainan’s head. He stepped past Flyspeck and reached for the comm. “What...?” Flyspeck started.
Lucainan ignored him and flipped the intercom on. “Lucainan to Judicator.”
“Judicator here,” Ixyon called back. He and Flare were piloting the Judicator, and NovaSeaker and Fenrir were up in the Millennium Falcon. “What’s up?”
“We’re gonna send you the PossePlane’s current position. Lock onto them and recall them in here.”
“Roger.”
Lucainan stepped back. “Send the VSP’s position, Flyspeck.”
Flyspeck looked at him, a bit shocked, and complied.
Seconds later, they watched as the PossePlane and another arbiter suddenly appeared next to the Judicator.
Flyspeck hailed the PossePlane. “’lo, Posse.”
A pause. “Um...was that...ah, the Judicator,” MysteriousGuy said over the intercom. “That explains it. Recall?”
“Yeah,” Ixyon relied.
“Great. How long we got?” Codebreaker cut in.
“ETA, two minutes,” Flyspeck said, checking his board.
“Who’s your friend in the arbiter?” Seawolf leaned forward and asked.
“Ah, that would be the Banned Ones. They’re on our side now.”
“WHAT?”
“Long story,” MysteriousGuy said. “Actually, it’s a pretty short story, but....” he trailed off.
Seawolf shook his head in amazement. Stranger things had happened.
Zeratul took the time to examine their position. TGF seemed to have eleven battlecruisers, two of them with strange modifications, and a good number of wraiths, valks, science vessels...hmmm, and one scout. Interesting. He’d have to figure out what the deal was there later.
The Good Guys now had two arbiters, the Falcon, the PossePlane, and his corsair Thanatos, as well as the base’s photon cannon and missile turret defenses and Mat-Def’s Mech and a few others on the ground...
...which reminded him. He hit the intercom. “CB, unload everyone you don’t need to fly that ship to assist from the ground.”
Codebreaker acknowledged, and the PossePlane briefly landed and deposited everyone but CB and MG on the ground. The Banned Ones also dropped off Jamz Bond, leaving Vank Tar and TELE to fly the arbiter.
Mat-Def, who was coordinating things on the ground at the moment, briefly explained a plan that Flyspeck had had to the newcomers. They all nodded their agreement and dug into the trenches that WASTE had hastily prepared.
“ETA, one minute and counting,” Flyspeck called to everyone. He mentally calmed himself, ready to control the base’s defenses.
Everyone else but Seawolf, Phoenix, Orange, and Typhoon ran outside. Zeratul climbed into the Thanatos and took off to join the other Good Guy ships, and the others joined those already in the trenches.
As TGF’s fleet came to just within firing range of Auspex Studios, Flyspeck’s plan for the ground forces went into action.
“Now!” Flyspeck shouted over the comm system. Spooky, Lambda Corps, Bond, and Jenni (borrowing a C-10) stood and aimed their canister rifles upwards.
“Ready!...Aim!...FIRE!!” Flyspeck hollered. They complied, firing the first shots of the battle...
...and four of TGF’s battlecruisers, including the Nemesis II, froze in place.
The four heroes had fired lockdown canisters.
Mat-Def opened up with his Mech, pouring out a salvo of missiles and quickly taking out three wraiths. The Good Guys in the air went in in their respective ships, Flyspeck got Auspex Studios’ cannons and turrets pumping, and the Judicator moved in over one of the locked down battlecruisers to recall Seawolf and his three companions in their effort to wrestle a cruiser away from TGF.
The Second Battle of Auspex Studios was begun.
Tune in next time to see what happens!
The battle was going fierce and strongly. In fact, the Good Guys seemed to be winning. Most of TGF's battlecruisers had been locked down or destroyed. Only the fighters remained active, including that mysterious Scout.
Dark_T_Zeratul seemed to remember seeing such a Scout before..."BAKJAK!" he screamed suddenly, his eyes burning with rage. He set a course straight towards the Magius, angrier than a hornet queen with PMS. "You damn backstabbing traitor! You're going to die for this!" He flipped open a small compartment on the control panel. Underneath was the Big Red Button (TM). He pressed it, sending his small cache of neutron missiles straight at Bakjak's Scout. They were only for emergency use only, but Zeratul was too pissed off to care.
Bakjak barely even saw it coming. As he completed another strafing run, taking out a missile turret, he saw several small, quick-moving objects coming towards his ship. He veered away, but not quite enough.
Several of the missiles flew past his ship, one scraping against the bottom, and detonated on the front of a locked down Battlecruiser, sending it crashing to the ground. But one missile found its mark. Just as Bakjak realized his ship was doomed and pressed the eject button, the missile smashed directly into the fuel tanks of the Magius, and the entire ship was blown apart.
Zeratul smiled inwardly as he turned the ship around to engage a few Wraiths. He had just destroyed the traitor. As he flew away from the explosion, he failed to notice on his radar a small blip floating down from the place where the Magius had been blown apart.
Bakjak's arm was hurting. It had gotten burned when the Magius had exploded, but it was all right. HE was all right. But what he was really angry about the destruction of his beloved Scout, the Magius. Zeratul would pay for that someday.
In his anger, enraged beyond rational thought, Bakjak made a solemn vow to make Zeratul feel the pain and agony of a million years of Earth's history.
The Judicator was rapidly moving towards its destination. Seawolf was getting ready for Recall, counting off the seconds until the Judicator was in place.
"5... 4... 3... 2... 1... RECALL!" Nothing happened. Seawolf looked up towards the Judicator and realized that the entire area had been caught in a Stasis Field. Several more Arbiters, all with the markings of TGF's fleet, flew straight into the center of the fray. Seawolf instantly realized why there would be so many Arbiters. He knew that it couldn't be Stasis, because unlike Lockdown the Stasis Field protected its captives from harm. That left only two possible reasons. The first was cloaking, but that could be handled. Flyspeck was working with the ScanSweeps, and there were about a dozen ScanSweep Stations connected to the base. And the other...
"Crap," he said as a large number of Recall Gates opened underneath them. A large number of troops exited, followed by a slightly smaller but large nonetheless fleet of ships.
All bore the markings of Kurt Broker.
Seawolf realized that the manageable battle was quickly becoming an unwinnable war.
Havoc Wreaker was sitting in a cloud of space dust, effectively cloaked by sensors. His sensors beeped as the ship he set them to scan for entered range. As the ship, which now could be seen as a Valkyrie, came within visual range of the Wreaker, Tarun activated one of his scout’s little toys, a Grav Well Generator. The Valkyrie was pulled to an immediate stop as it was yanked out of hyperspace. Within a matter of moments it docked with an abandoned space station near the dust cloud. Havoc Wreaker silently slipped out of the dust cloud and docked with the station. It was time to see if Tarun was right.
He hurried to the command post of the station and brought vital systems online—life support, lighting, and communications.
"Aklan, I know you're here, my love," he said, the comm system broadcasting it throughout the station. She just snarled and cursed to herself that Tarun was alive.
"Follow the lights," he said. The lights of the corridor started in a sequence, going down the corridor.
‘Where...?’ Aklan would only find out in time. She followed.
After several frustrating minutes of silence she arrived in a poorly light room. Immediately upon setting foot in the room the lights came on in a blinding flash.
In the middle of the room stood a figure. It looked to have blades for forearms, but didn't have the right silhouette for a Zerg. As her vision cleared she saw who it was.
Tarun.
"Well, still alive I see. A pity you didn't die the first time..." her face twisted into a sneer, "...my love."
"I am truly sorry," Tarun said. Despite his best efforts, his sadness seeped through into his words and tone.
"Heh. Yeah," she said, and raised her C-10 and fired at him, hitting his left arm. Tarun spun halfway and grabbed his arm, grunting in pain, but he held back any attack.
"I won't fight you, my love. No matter what happens, I will never stop loving you," he said, tears starting to run down his cheeks.
"Oh, what's wrong? Does it hurt?" she asked, laughing.
"All that hurts is this...," he said as he lashed out with his right arm, cutting off the barrel of her C-10 and rendering it useless. He leaped back and stood.
She snarled and drew a longsword, the blade screaming with the thousands of souls it contained, all of them crying out for one thing, blood. Tarun readied his blades and stood in a defensive stance.
Aklan lunged forward, swinging at him, but he parried. She snarled and took another swing, and he blocked it with one of his blades. She growled deep in her throat and went at Tarun with a flurry of swings and thrusts. He blocked, parried, and dodged all the blows, never retaliating.
"WHY WON'T YOU FIGHT ME?!?!?!" she screamed, on the verge of crying.
"Because I love you," he stated.
"That's not good enough," she snarled, tears running down her cheeks now. She kicked Tarun's chest, sending him flying back. She leapt over to him and slammed her foot down on his chest to keep him down and raised the sword.
Tarun closed his eyes, awaiting the blow that would remove him from this mortal coil.
It never came.
Tarun opened his eyes and saw his love crying. Aklan dropped the sword and fell to her knees. Tarun sat up, grunting and holding his arm. He stood and went over to her and kneeled, then wrapped his arms around her.
"Ssshh. I forgive you, my beloved," he said. And with that he stood, picking her up in his arms and carrying her out of this place of death. Neither of them knew what had happened in this place ages ago. And they probably never would.
Tarun gently set Aklan down on her feet. She kissed him and boarded her Valkyrie, and he smiled and boarded Havoc Wreaker. They both set in a course for Auspex Studios and blasted out the docking bay at full speed, then engaged hyperspace.
Tarun silently hoped they would arrive before the battle.
Will Tarun and Aklan arrive at Auspex Studios to help the Good Guys?
What's the ETA of TGF's fleet?
And what DID happen at that space station so long ago?
This and more in, The Great VSP/WASTE Saga!!!
Edited Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 5:01 AM by typhoon.