City of IF

[sparta12]

Virtual
(Character view 1)
Chapter 1: Virtual life and reality

“This is Lieutenant Commander Jack Art report in guys,” He asked over the radio as he flew the F4U fighter across the simulated map of the pacific-ocean. “Roger that this is Petty Flight Officer Matthew Barrel, reporting in.” Jack heard crackling through his radio. As soon after the new pilot had reported in Jack was bombarded with acknowledgements from his squadron “Copy that guys. Form up on my wing and follow waypoints,” he ordered as he looked about his canopy, searching for his wingmen.

There it was in the distance. He could see it as clear as day.
“White flight cover us as we drop the eggs. Everyone else is to change flaps to combat and get ready to drop our eggs on these bastards,” Jack ordered as he flipped the switches in his cockpit so the flaps would lower

“Copy that, sir,” his wingmen acknowledged. As they got closer to the Japanese airfield he could see several dots approaching his squadron while six fighters had broken off to try and divert them. As Jack scanned the sky while aiming his plane for the enemy takeoff strip where he could see some of the Japanese fighters still on the ground
“Now isn’t that just sad,” he heard 1st Class Aviation officer Anne Johnson say to him over the radio.

“Tell me about it… Oh this is pathetic. Now they’re scrambling their fighters!” he answered back. Then he saw it. Two friendly Beaufighters were escorting a B-17 coming in from the west
“All F4U’s break off and attack fighters immediately there are friendly bombers on approach over!” Art shouted to his squadron, immediately he pulled up and banked to right in order to engage the Japanese fighters. He switched channels so he could communicate with the bombers on approach
“This is Delta squadron any friendly bombers in my vicinity please respond!” he asked over the radios as his fighter came closer to the enemy fighters
“Roger that Delta squadron this is Flying Betty over,” a B-17 pilot responded
“What the hell are you doing here this is our operation!” he informed the bomber pilot
“Uh copy that but we’re scouting the area for our fighter squadron. And if you don’t mind we will be bombing the area now,” Jack heard the bomber pilot. He shook his head for a few moments
“Fine. Just get ready to eat a machine gun sandwich because there are more fighters taking off because of you,” he answered and finally broke off communications with the bomber.

The F4U flew through the enemy squadron suddenly found a target in his crosshairs. He pressed the trigger on his joystick, releasing a short burst of fire that set his enemy’s engine on fire
“Nice shot Iron man!” he heard Matthew Barrel call him by his Call-Sign as the enemy fighter started to plunge while the pilot jumped out.

Suddenly his cockpit was shaking and several thuds were impacting on his F4U
“Oh shit! I got one on my tail!” he shouted in realisation as the Ki-47 fighter came into his sight while he scanned the sky. He started pulling manoeuvres to avoid any more damage to his fighter
“Anyone help me I cant shake him!” he reported once more to is squadron as he felt another shockwave of a machine gun bullet smacking his tail. As he gained altitude he could see friendly and enemy fighters crossing the bow of his fighter. Suddenly the engine stalled and the fighter turned around

“Fucking world war two fighters cant do shit!” he yelled. As the fighter faced the Ki-47 Jack thought that he would be facing certain death when he saw a stream of bullets hammer into the Japanese fighter and explode in the sky. He saw a friendly F4U flying right through the fiery wreckage in the blue sky
“Thanks!” he shouted over the radio to whoever had saved his ass.

And now the arduous task of pulling this sucker out of the stall Art thought as he battled the joystick for control of the plane. Come on you mother come on! He yelled out in rage as he slowly gained control of the plane. Finally he yanked on the joystick, the fighter levelled out and the Lieutenant commander was back into the dogfight
“Dropping bombs!” the “Flying Betty” reported over the radio
“Roger that flying betty. Return to base with your escort now,” Jack ordered the Flying Fortress as an A6M Sea plane came into his crosshairs. He pressed the trigger quickly before it could escape his crosshairs and luckily the bullet smashed into the plane’s body and the pilot banked left to engage but before it could turn to fire Jack was already on his tail. As the plane got in front of the middle dot around a big circle on his screen he held the trigger, releasing a six second burst of fire upon his foe. The bullets impacted on the fighter’s rudder and tore it completely off of the fighter plane causing the plane to shake uncontrollably but the pilot still had aileron control of the plane. The pilot would have no choice but to land back at his base but that was not part of the code however some of these pilot were willing to disobey their code so they could survive. But the plane didn’t lower its altitude so it could land. Instead the fighter stayed in the fight and fired upon his squadron and the sea plane was trying to find a target but a ten second burst of fire made the A20M sea plane go into a spin, plummeting towards the ocean without it’s tail. Suddenly all the enemy fighters were out of sight

“Is that it? That wasn’t a squadron was it?” Jack asked as he levelled out.
“No doesn’t look like it… Suppose we drop the bomb on these suckers now sir?” Senior Flight Officer Mark Vowels replied over the radio.
“Might as well. What are our numbers anyway?” Art asked as he lowered his altitude.
“We lost three fighters sir,” Anne Jackson reported as she lined up her fighter behind Jack’s
“ Roger that. Stay on the lookout for fighters. White flight if I report or if you see any fighters, break off and cover us,” Jack ordered. Damn… Looks like I’ve got a fuel leak he thought to himself as he stared at his engine. He could see a line of what looked like gas exiting the engine of his F4U. Suddenly the remaining AA guns turned to the fighters and laid down a base of fire on the single column of Allied fighters. Small clouds of flak exploded outside his fighter.

“Shit my wing’s hit!” Matthew Barrel shouted over the radio “Still got control of my plane!” he added. As soon as Jack was over the airfield
“Bombs away!” And so he dropped the 500-pound bomb and pulled away.
“Hey Matthews your flying too low pull up!” the voice of Manuel Seal crackled over the radio but it was too late.
Matthews had dropped his bomb but was at a very low altitude. He pulled up but the explosion had launched debris into the air and the debris had torn apart his rudder making the fighter immediately impact into the landing strip.

Jack stared from his cockpit as the flaming wreckage of Matthews plane slid across the enemy airfield. Luckily his cockpit was still intact as the wreckage travelled down the airfield and once it stopped the plane didn’t disintegrate. Instead the plane was lying there and a small black dot came out of the flaming wreckage that looked as though he was on fire, while the simulated Japanese ground forces scrambled to the pilots position.

“Ah shit, ah shit!” he screamed as he rolled on the grass of the enemy airfield. His legs and his left arm were on fire. Once the fires were extinguished the virtual pain was disabled and Matthew pulled out his Colt 45, making the Japanese soldiers stopped in their tracks to aim their rifles. Matthew quickly shot several rounds, taking down three guards when a rifle round struck his arm. He would be captured now. “Disconnect!”

The friendly fighters continued to raid the airfield and once they had finished they began their short trip back to base. “
“That was strange… That was barely a squadron of fighters. Not even that,”
Anne Jackson said over the radio.
“ Yeah… That doesn’t make sense. Keep an eye out though, I think Echelon Squadron is up to some new tricks,” Jack answered, nervously watching his fuel meter. Then they saw it. The rest of the enemy squadron appeared from the east while the others came from the North, behind them.

“Oh shit… Ambush! I want all flights except green to engage. Green flight is to continue to base!” Jack ordered his squadron.
“Jack you’ve got a fuel leak! You should go with green flight!” Anne suggested to him.
“Negative. I wouldn’t make it back to base. I’ll just fight these guys and eject when my fuels out.” Jack demanded as he aimed his plane at a Ki-46. He followed the plane and once it came into view he pressed the trigger and didn’t let go. He watched as his target blazed it’s guns wildly back at him and tore up his plane. Several bullets exiting Jack’s F4U soared through the air and entered the Japanese fighter engine, causing the gas to ignite but it doing it so violently it practically evaporated the cockpit. And leaving nothing more than tail of a plane that was plummeting into the pacific. Suddenly his plane was being bombarded with bullets but miraculously the F4U managed to survive the wave of bullets but the plane was leaking too much gas that he would have to resort to gliding in a matter of minutes. Though Jack was eager and he continued to fight the enemy squadron

“Mayday, mayday I’m going down!” a voice crackled over the radios. Every few seconds there were members of his squadron and the enemy squadron reporting that they were losing control and plummeting into the deep depths of the ocean.
“I got a fighter on my ass! Someone help!” Manuel asked over the radio.
“ Shit I got two of these bastards on me!” Anne yelled over the radio. Jack couldn’t find his squadron members. He turned his fighter around as quickly as he could and released several bursts of fire on the surrounding fighters when he ran out of ammo and fuel. Not to mention there was a Ki-46 tailing him Freaking Figures! He thought to himself but there was only one course of action “I’m out guys!” he told his squadron as he slammed his fist on the panic button.

Everything went green for a few moments as he disconnected from Virtual reality and into reality. The first thing he saw was a holographic screen and felt a tingly feeling in the back of his neck as a thin plug was automatically pulled out of his neck, away from the microchip implanted in his spinal chord. Once the holographic screen was pulled back he left the room and entered his quarters of the Battle Cruiser “Freedom” to write up the battle report of the simulation that he had been in for apparently two and a half hours. As he wrote up his report he reviewed a tape of the simulation, he was trying to spot a fault of his in the simulation for a full half hour before he got back to typing up his report. That was up until he saw crewmembers of the “Freedom” running up and down the hall “What the hell is going on?” he asked. Suddenly the holographic screen switched on:


RED ALERT:
Ship Status: 75% and damaged from Explosion in Deck 3.
Thruster 1: 68% and damaged from Boragnian missile.
Thruster 2: 98% and damaged from Boragnian missile.
Thruster 3: 100% And functioning nominally
Thruster 4: 60% and damaged from Boragnian missile
Thruster 5: 100% and functioning nominally
Thruster 6: 100% and functioning nominally
Thruster 7: 98% and damaged from Boragnian fighter
Thruster 8: 99% and damaged from Boragnian fighter
Engine: 100%
Hyperspace Engine: 100%
*********************************************
PROXIMITY WARNING: INCOMING NUCLEAR MISSILES
PROXIMITY WARNING: INCOMING BORAGNIAN FIGHTERS
PROXIMITY WARNING: INCOMING BORAGNIAN CRUISERS
PROXIMITY WARNING: INCOMING BORAGNIAN BOMBERS


Jack sat there in his seat staring at the screen endlessly on the repeating message when another window popped up:

NEW MESSAGE DELIVERED FROM ADMIRAL MAGNUS:
All fighters are to report in at the hangar bays to fight off the enemy attack.
Lets give them hell.

Right then he jumped out of his seat and sprinted out of his quarters, racing for the elevator so he could take down the real-life threat.


To Be Continued…



P.S. I will be writing a prologue before writing the next event of this little “Series”
Though I will be posting a poll for this story. This is not a linear story.
Oh yes and I have realised that i've been writing stories and havent written the other chapters so dont bother pointing that out. I am working on it.

[Reiso]

This is definitely not a linear story. I like the pace and feel of this one, it's got an edge to it. Our friend is certainly in a lot of trouble with all those missles coming at him - can't wait to see what happens next.

While you have definitely given control over to the players on this one, it seems to lean more on the creative side of things. Is this deliberate? Normally, the vote takes the place of a player deciding what his character would do as a response to circumstances, but in this case the decision is more over the circumstances themselves. Just wondering.

[ethereal_fauna]

Very exciting, then the little twist at the end. The paragraphs seem a bit chunky. Hard on the eyes when reading online. Break them up a bit to make it easier to read.

[sparta12]

WOW!
I wasnt expecting such a reply from you Reiso.
Yeah It's delibrate.
I though that I might make the readers job a little bit more exciting.
Err... Did you find any errors in this one?
Just say yes or no.
Also I'll get working on the paragraphs right away Fauna

[ethereal_fauna]

sparta12 wrote:
“fucking world war two fighters cant do shit!” he yelled.

“thanks!” he shouted over the radio

“roger that flying betty.

Watch capitalization and punctutation. Also, to clarify breaking up paragraphs, a good start would be an extra space between dialog:

There it was in the distance. He could see it as clear as day.
“White flight cover us as we drop the eggs. Everyone else is to change flaps to combat and get ready to drop our eggs on these bastards,” Jack ordered as he flipped the switches in his cockpit so the flaps would lower.
*space*
“Copy that, sir,” his wingmen acknowledged.

[sparta12]

okay thanks.
I separated the paragraphs.
I'll get working on your instructions right now though.
And I have now Capitalized those sentences.

[Reiso]

Yeah, the punctuation and spacing were a little buggy, but they are definite improvements over work you've done before. And to be honest, I'm getting less picky about stuff like that anyway. Not for my own tastes, but as far as Interfable goes. While it generally makes the story easier to read and is a consideration appreciated by the readers, the truth is that there are stories on the main page that aren't so hot with their formatting and punctuation.

If this were some kind of professional publishing forum that would be a big deal, but content can make up for the occasional lapse, I think. I know I've been way critical about formatting before, but I have to stop applying my perfectionism to everyone. These are games, not novels. It's fun. And I ain't so perfect anyway.

:D

[sparta12]

Great work.
Admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery lol!
Though for me this is more of fun and practice.
I'd like to try and be a reviewer or something that contains writing.
I get As in this area at school ;)

[ethereal_fauna]

sparta12 wrote: I get As in this area at school ;)

I knew your writing made sense and the flow of words was easy to read. Very descriptive. I hope I wasn't sounding picky! I'm just more inclined to read a story if the paragraphs don't look too daunting. Little paragraphs and adequate "white space" (well on these forums "black space") encourage an audience to read. Your story is good and I'm sure you posted it on here because you want people to read it. I just think more people will be inclined to read and enjoy your story that way.

[sparta12]

Im not following you fauna.

[ethereal_fauna]

sparta12 wrote: Im not following you fauna.

Not following: as in you don't understand what I'm trying to say, or as in you just want me to shut up because I'm getting on your nerves? :?:

[sparta12]

lol.
both!
lol.
no, no.
Just the last bit here i didnt understand:
Your story is good and I'm sure you posted it on here because you want people to read it. I just think more people will be inclined to read and enjoy your story that way.

[ethereal_fauna]

Well, if a person clicks on your story and is faced with a sea of words, they might think, "I can never read all that!" and move on to another story.

But if they see a small paragraph at the top, they think, "I'll just read that little paragraph up here." and they like what they read and continue reading your story.

[sparta12]

that's my problem.
I can never write a short story. Except "Fairly" short stories.
I dunno...
Maybe it's my obsession with writing epics. I dunno.

[ethereal_fauna]

Well the story can be as long as you like. It's all a matter of perception. If you break it down then the reader doesn't realize just how much content there is. The audience can take it one paragraph at a time, the eyes get a break from all the words, and viola, the story is finished. If it's good (which this one is) then the audience wants more (which I do.)

[sparta12]

lol.
I shall write more then.

[sparta12]

Announcment:
Im not going to be writing a prologue.
You'll find that out in due time ;)

[Ravenwing]

So we all must wait and see what happens next time on Virtual!. 8)

[sparta12]

Indeed.
And that shall be very soon.

[sparta12]

Contains some coarse language



Virtual
Chapter 2: Incoming
The pilots raced to the hangar bay as the lights in the hall flashed red so all crew members would immediately stand by at their battle stations to defend the ship and it’s crew of 3152. As each one of them got their uniforms on in the prep room, the hangar crew checked as many Phoenix MK II fighters so none of them would fail in mid-flight or even explode in the worst-case scenario.
“Lieutenant Commander Art your fighter is ready to go. Bring it back in one peace okay!” Major Trammer informed the squadron leader as he climbed up the stairs to enter his cockpit
“Don’t worry about it!” Jack replied as he strapped himself in yeah that’s what you said last time! Trammer didn’t say as his fighter moved towards the opening airlock
“Phoenix, Iron-man One you are clear to take off!” the dock master confirmed him.
“Roger that Dock master,” so Jack punched in the percentage of speed he wanted the engines to maintain, launching the fighter out of the airlock and into space. And into the barrage of enemy fighters and bombers.



Admiral Magnus observed the battle radar and made a count of the enemy ships in the area
“Get the Batteries online now!” Magnus ordered as he turned around to a chart of the sector. All he could do right now was make orders and brace for any nuclear bombs that come for his cruiser.
“Batteries online now sir!” one of the crewman reported to him. Magnus turned back to the battle radar eagerly to see if any of the nuclear missiles were getting destroyed in their flight path. Tiny grey dots represented laser fire, Green was for their fighters, Orange was for their ships, Purple for civilian vessels, Red for enemy fighters, bombers, Blue for unidentified spacecrafts, Yellow for enemy cruisers etc. And White for Nuclear missiles. He watched nervously as a wave of battery fire soared across the radar and in relief one of the grey dots smashed into the nuclear missiles.



The grey enemy fighters flew towards the human vessels and as soon as one of the enemy fighters crossed his path he pressed the trigger and released a short burst of rapid laser fire exited his fighters barrels and towards the enemy target. Some of the laser rounds missed the enemy fighter by a few inches but Jack smiled as he saw the Boragnian fighter implode in mid-flight
“First-blood people!” he said over the radio all cocky and confident. Jack continued to fly through the firefight between the fleets, while manoeuvring through friendly and enemy battery fire.
“Watch out Iron-man you’ve got a fighter on your ass!” he heard Vincent inform his squadron leader and immediately Jack was trying to find the Boragnian fighter that was on his six o’ clock but the Boragnian fighter wasn’t in his view.
“Shit I can’t see him!” He said to his comrade
“Hang on I’ll try to get to you!” Vincent replied Yeah right. Nuclear bombs, fighters, bombers and battery fire. What are the chances of him finding me? He thought as he spun his fighter around
“I’m gonna try something here!” he said to his comrades and he immediately decreased the fighter’s throttle, pulled up and back down with more throttle to see his pursuer within his gun sights. He pressed the trigger as the crosshairs crossed the Boragnian fighter’s wing. The Boragnian spun around uncontrollably and before the fighter could implode an escape pod launched out
“Oh no you don’t you son of a bitch!” he muttered and tapped the trigger a couple of times until the pod had practically disintegrated.



“Incoming!” one of the crewman yelled out as he saw a nuclear missile coming at the ship
“Forty-two seconds to impact!” another yelled.
“Deploy a few counter measures!” Admiral Magnus ordered while hoping that the nuclear missile wouldn’t strike him. The least they could do right now was deploy counter-measures so the nuclear missile wouldn’t do it’s maximum damage. The batteries still had a chance of destroying the missile but when the missile was 20 seconds from impact they would have to pull back the batteries. All the crewmembers had to brace for impact because the ship was in the missiles blast radius. And they couldn’t use the ship’s thrusters to avoid the missile and they sure as hell weren’t going to leave the fight and go into hyperspace to avoid it.
“Flagship Chimera has been hit!” the radioman shouted out and for a few seconds everyone stared at the radioman in silence when one of the ensign crewmembers looked back at his monitor
“Thirty-one seconds to impact!” he informed them.




“Squadron get away from the Cruiser! Everyone get away from the cruisers!” Iron man ordered squadron as he lined up his fighter for his attack run. He flipped over the cover on his joystick and immediately the computer changed crosshairs to a large circle with a dot in the middle his and another dot that would lock onto a target that would go around the small dot in the middle. A series of beeps suddenly sprung into action as the computer locked on to a Boragnian orbital station. As he got closer he watched the targeting system head towards the enemy fighter hangar
“Oh I can’t wait for this!” Jack said eagerly with his finger on the trigger.
Suddenly the series of beeps had finished, so Jack pressed the trigger and the bomb on the stomach of his fighter detached from it, started making it’s way to the enemy orbital station with a targeting system and a few thrusters. Immediately Jack turned around, continued to shoot down the enemy fighters and bombers but as he did so he tipped his wing to watch for the explosion. Finally as he avoided an enemy laser beam he felt the satisfaction of killing hundreds of enemies who had destroyed millions of humans. A fire lunged out of the fighter hangar and killed more enemy ships that were coming back in for repairs.



“Fifteen seconds to impact!” a crewmember answered, grabbing on to an object
“Those counter measures work like absolute crap,” Magnus’s second in command whispered to him
“True. But it’s a fifty-fifty chance that they’ll run into those nukes,” he answered
“Never worked for me when I was full admiral.” Second in command Mike Ballows grunted and then walked away to brace for impact. Suddenly the cruiser shook like crazy, the battle computer blacked out, they lost navigation control and all the other defences on the ship went offline. The entire cruiser was in disarray. All the lights in the cruiser went off for a few seconds and then switched back on. The crewmembers on the bridge immediately went back to their posts to get everything back online before another nuke could get them.
“Shields down to forty-nine percent!” a crew member
“Decks A to D in sections five to eleven have been hit and are suffering from depressurisation!” another crew member reported that would target the admiral. He thought for a moment of what his course of action would be and made it quickly
“Give them forty seconds to evacuate the sectors and then lock them down.” He ordered. Immediately the radioman on the bridge started making the broadcast so the crewmembers in the missile inflicted areas.
Admiral Magnus stood in the centre of the bridge, staring at the radar screens when a Blue object appeared on the battle screen right behind their ship
“Holy shit! Unidentified cruiser at Nine o’ clock!” one of the crewman yelled out to the crewmembers.



“Where the hell did that come from?” Anne shouted over the fighter radio
“what are you talking about?” Matthew Barrels asked over the radio as he flew through the wreckage of a Boragnian fighter.
“There’s a fucking cruiser that appeared right behind the Freedom Newbie!” Vincent yelled over the radio as he saw the cruiser hovering behind the cruiser.
“Anne check your six!” Iron man said as he saw a green reticle circle her fighter on his crosshairs
“Shit where’d this bastard come from!” she yelled as she twisted her neck to see the fighter.
“Hang on I’ll try and get him!” Iron man informed her as he increased the throttle
“Hurry up I think he’s trying to get a lock!” she said starting to get frantic. Jack positioned his fighter behind Anne’s pursuer when he noticed that it wasn’t a Boragnian fighter.



“Sir that’s a Zorax cruiser at our nine o clock!” one of the crewmembers shouted out
“Shit. Launch the nukes at them now!” the admiral yelled back at him
“Must’ve employed them while they were tracking us?” the second in command suggested
“If they were tracking us that is,” the admiral corrected his comrade
“If indeed.”
Anxiously the admiral turned around and saw three nuclear warheads coming out of his cruiser
“Nuclear missiles One, two and three are away!” another crewmember yelled out, the admiral watched the three white dots on the screen head towards the enemy ship, the Zorax ship put on a wave of battery fire to suppress on the humans and the nukes. When one of the nuclear missiles got halfway the enemy battery fire destroyed it and the admiral clenched his fist as he watched the other two nuclear missiles head for the enemy ship. The battery fire came at the nuclear missiles like a tsunami and three of the battery fire smashed into the third nuclear missile while the last one soared through space and left a trail of fuel and got into the nuclear’s explosion radius area. The battery fire seemed to be going more rapid rather than accurate now and the admiral grinned as the nuclear bomb smashed into the Zorax cruiser. The crew on the bridge let out a cheer of success as they heard a loud rumble outside the cruiser. It was now time for their beam turrets to take down the shields fast and if they got the shields down they could tear open parts of the ship. That would be a very ideal situation for their bombers.



Jack held the trigger and didn’t let go. A blue barrier appeared as the laser rounds impacted on the Zoraxian fighter. The fighter tried to pull away from Anne while manoeuvring from the other human’s lasers
“ Your six is clear Ace!” Jack shouted as he chased the Zoraxian fighter. He fired endlessly until the fighter’s shields were down. Then one of the laser rounds smashed into the fuel tank of the fighter but it wasn’t going to blow up. The fuel leaked out, changed into ice and Jack got an idea that made him a complete smartass. He increased throttle to 100% banked his wing left, made the rudders turn left (up) and then the wing clipped the emptying fuel tank. The fuel tank shook violently and lit up the inside of the fighter.
“Eat that you bastard!” Jack yelled out at the fighter as it gradually imploded.
Suddenly his fighter shook and he looked at his fighter model on the computer. Then he looked back up and saw a Boragnian fighter flying past him. He looked back down and saw completely on the computer that his rudder had been torn off of the ship and he thought back to see that the fighter that had just past him had part of the wing missing. Son of a bitch clipped my rudder off! He realised
“This is Iron man. Mayday, mayday my rudder’s been clipped off and I need an escort to get back to the cruiser!” he started broadcasting
“I’ll carry your ass back,” Matthew Barrels answered him as a friendly fighter appeared on the crosshairs, a green reticle came around and a name appeared on the top line of the reticle: Petty Flight Officer Barrels, Matthews it read.


“Sir the enemy cruiser has launched six nuclear missiles!” A crewmember shouted out, checking his monitor. The admiral picked up his radio and tuned it in for the Chimera fleet
“This is Admiral Magnus of the cruiser: Freedom. Anyone help our cruiser out a Zoraxian cruiser is firing six nuclear missiles at us! We need assistance!” the admiral broadcasted immediately and waited for a while and checking the battle radar.
“Roger that Freedom this is the cruiser: Hawk coming to your position.” a voice finally answered. The battery fire was spread out across the area, it wasn’t very effective and not to mention that it would only be a matter of seconds before the nukes would be within their damage area in seconds.
“Recall all fighters and bombers… We have to make a jump. Ensign! Make a hyperspace jump to Sector C One of the Dragoon system!” the admiral ordered, realising that the fight was already over for them. He picked up the radio and made another broadcast to the fleet
“Chimera this is Cruiser Freedom. These nukes are going to do serious damage to our ship so we’re going to be jumping to sector C One of the Dragoon system!” he reported and then switched the radio to the dock master
“Dock master Former recall all the fighters and bombers! We’re going to be making a hyperspace jump in a few minutes!” he informed him.




All of the fighters were flying like crazy back to the cruiser, especially with their afterburners on. It was time to get the hell out of there but for Jack. It was more of an evasion of fighters/bombers to get the hell out of the battlefield and return to the hangar. His fighter shook uncontrollably without the rudder but he managed to keep it aiming at the friendly cruiser
“Newbie! Break off from me and get the hell back to the hangar quick!” Jack ordered the pilot that was sticking with him at half the maximum speed
“Dockmaster this is Iron man, my rudder is gone! I’m coming in fast and hard!” he yelled over the radio, sitting in a suit that was half-full of his own sweat.
“Roger that Iron man but just to let you know I cant make way for you on the landing so be careful!” the dockmaster replied.
The fighters competed for the landing bays by pulling all kinds of manoeuvres, as Jack pulled down his landing gear but the other pilots weren’t showing him any respect and were cutting him off like it was highway traffic. Suddenly one of the pilots nudged him and Jack was going off course
“Son of a bitch!” he muttered to himself. He pulled the fighter back on course and hit the landing bay deck hard causing sparks to fly out underneath. Not to mention parts of the landing gear where braking off. The gear was just a small platform where the gears would slide across the deck and the front thrusters would be used as brakes.





The bridge shook uncontrollably as the first nuclear missile impacted on the cruiser and caused severe damage.
“Shields down to twenty-two percent! The Hyperspace generator’s been damaged as well sir!” a crewman shouted out
“How many fighters and bombers are in?” the admiral asked
“Three quarters of the fighters are in. The bombers are completely in though!” an Ensign reported. The admiral waited for a few seconds and gave the fighters time when the second nuke hit the ship
“Close down all the damaged decks from the first nuke! Give the people in the damaged decks a few seconds to evacuate, then close down the decks and we’ll jump!” the admiral decided immediately after the lights came back on. They waited impatiently for the admiral to give the order to jump, it seemed forever until he said it and that was only twenty-five seconds.





The ship drifted endlessly through the nebula of the Dragoon system. It was time for them to calm down and count their losses.
“Power generator is down thirty-percent. I’ll send a few technicians down there now sir!” an ensign reported
“Can you just give us a status report on paper ensign?” Mike Ballows interrupted slightly irritated by the event. The pilot of the ship used the thrusters to get the ship upright and the second in command left the bridge to go to his quarters. It was time for them to calm down.
“Sir another cruiser has just appeared on our scanners!”




To be continued…

P.S. This chapter is two pages longer than intended. Sorry for that.

[ethereal_fauna]

You are doing alot better on breaking up your paragraphs for posting online. The content is good. You offer a lot of detail and description without making it all sound like a dry list.

Be aware of spelling, grammer, and other mechanics of writing. Some sentences read awkwardly. sparta wrote: It was time to get the hell out of there but for Jack it was time to evade friendly fighters/bombers, also get the hell out of the battlefield and to get back to the hangar.
Try revising a sentence like this to make it clearer for the reader. Quote: The time had come to get the hell out of there. For Jack, the time also requires evasion of friendly fighters and bombers. He needs to get the hell out of the battlefield and return to the hangar......

Keep it up! This story is shaping up well.

[sparta12]

eep.
I should've held this chapter back a day.
I came back from Rock climbing at 10 and had to finish the story :P
and I was a wee bit tired.

[sparta12]

aww man no one nominated any of my stories.
What luck :x
Excuse me for double posting.
The grammar will be fixed in a moment
....
Okay done. Im gonna get Reiso to delete the poll.

[ethereal_fauna]

No one has nominated your story YET. Keep wowing us with exciting chapters and don't give up.

[sparta12]

*salutes*
Oh and another "Creative" poll has been installed.
And I'll use a qoute from a very popular game.
"It's Time To Choose,"





P.S.
"It's Time To Choose Mr. Freeman,"
G-Man

[kingcappie]

I think it is a Zoraxian Cruiser with different intentions. At least that will add a unique twist in the plot.

[sparta12]

True.
And It makes writing the story more fun.

[kingcappie]

When's the next chapter coming? Sorry but I'm impatient. :roll:

[sparta12]

lol.
sorry I've been a bit busy.
It'll be up in a couple of hours.

[sparta12]

Virtual
Chapter 3: Intentions

How the hell did they know where we were going? The admiral thought to himself
“Get the defences back online, get in contact with Chimera and tell them we need assistance!” he ordered
“But sir-” the crewman was cut off by the admiral
“Just do it ensign!” he said angrily
“But sir there isn’t anything there! Something hypered in but our scanners aren’t reading it!” the ensign informed him
“Check thermal!” he told the ensign and he stood there for a moment as the rest of the crew members onboard got the defence systems back online. The admiral stood there waiting for the results of the Thermal scanners would show while he tapped is foot on the floor rapidly.
“Nothing sir!” the ensign reported back
“Okay send a scout ship to get a closer look on the entry point. Tell them to get within five clicks of the entry point and then fire a few laser rounds. That should get them on thermal!” the admiral said turning towards the crewmember standing right behind him.



“Vincent where are you going?” Anne asked as she strolled back down the hall and towards the briefing room
“I got orders coming from Magnus to scout out something with newbie,” he answered, stopping in his track while he was going back to the prep room
“The battle’s over. What’s to scout?” Anne asked him shrugged her shoulders
“I’ll tell you later.” Vincent answered and walked into the prep room. Anne stood there for a moment thinking, then opened the door and waltzed into the briefing room to see a couple of empty seats. She was use to it by now but it always stops her in her tracks, when she sees a few people missing from the squadron and after a few moments she got into her seat
“Now that everyone’s here I’ll just begin the meeting,” Jack Art said up on the stage in the front of the room.
“We lost eight pilots in the battle. I’m still waiting for the list of the casualties. Anyway the Admiral wants us to standby just in case of any other incoming,” there was a long sound of discomfort coming from the squadron
“Yeah, yeah I hear you guys. But I doubt that we’ll be stuck in the cockpits for seventy-two hours this time around,” Jack informed the squadron and got some chuckles from his fellow pilots
“Our squadron is going to be patrolling the cruiser five at a time. The duty roster will be updated to your computers in all of your quarters. That about sums it up for now. Feel free to move about the ship but keep your suits on. Dismissed,” Jack finished up, made a salute and then left the room before his comrades. Some of the pilots went back to their quarters because for some it was time to make yet another battle report to submit to their superiors while some of them chose to do that later and fit in some recreation. Of course on this cruiser recreation met that it was time to hit the bar, play poker and enjoy happy time.


“Thrusters are online sir,” Matthew answered as he looked at the computer that was on the dashboard of the scout ship
“Alright let’s take her out,” Vincent ordered and grabbed the two hand Joystick. He lifted the throttle for engine one up to fifty percent using the lever and then did the same with thing with the second lever that connected to engine two. Matthew Switched on the bottom thrusters and as the large scout ship moved forward it started lifting itself up. Slowly the large scout fighter gained speed and then shot out of a hole within the cruiser.
“Newbie. Don’t touch the damn joystick unless I tell you!” Vincent said to Matthew
“But sir I didn’t even touch it!” Matthew debated with his superior. Vincent gave him a look of sarcasm “guys stop arguing and just fly the damn thing. We’re missing out on happy hour,” Petty officer Rodriguez intervened as he turned away from the computers behind the pilot seats
“Okay, okay… This is going to be impossible fighting Zoraxians in a freakin nebula,” Matthew pointed out as he stared through space. Slowly Vincent pulled back on the joystick, the fighter rose above the cruiser and continued to follow its flight path.
After about a minute of flying through the aqua, purple and blue clouds of the nebula when Matthew pressed two buttons on the dashboard that initiated the front thrusters so it could make the fighter come to a halt.
“This is Hawkeye two we’re in position and ready to fire Freedom,” Vincent reported back to the ship. Vincent wondered if the Freedom would understand what exactly he was saying, after all they were in a nebula and that would cause a pile of static over the radios.
“Roger that Hawkeye Two report back after you’ve fired each round.” A voice answered. Vincent didn’t comply and got ready to fire the laser rounds at the entry point. He squeezed the trigger; a large laser exited the barrel on the left side of the fighter and Vincent watched with intent as the laser soared through the nebula until it was no longer visible. But nothing happened.
“This is Hawkeye Two. Laser round one did not hit anything. Preparing to fire the second laser round,” Vincent reported after thirty seconds. Vincent pulled back on the levers so the engines were working at twenty percent but as they approached something struck engine two
“What the hell!” Matthew yelled as the cockpit shook for a moment.
“We must’ve been hit by something in a storm!” Rodriguez suggested
“Oh shit! That’s a negative sir! Engine two is on fire and losing power fast!” Vincent corrected as he got a visual on the second engine
“ Freedom this is Hawkeye Two! Mayday, mayday! Our second engine has been hit and is on fire!” Vincent reported to the cruiser
“Roger that Hawkeye Two! Try and get back here, we’re opening the portside emergency landing bay!” the voice answered them. Vincent didn’t answer them and immediately shutdown the second engine
“Rodriguez! Initiate the fire extinguishers! I’m gonna take this baby back to the cruiser!” Vincent ordered his crew in reaction. Rodriguez typed in the command to put out the engine fire and immediately the extinguishers within the right engine-starting going off. Thankfully the fire went out and Vincent was flying the big ship with one engine set to full throttle that kept trying to bank right and so Vincent was battling the controls and was about to put down the landing gear when something hit the first engine on the starboard side.
“Oh you’ve got to be kidding!” Vincent yelled as he looked at the left engine but it wasn’t on fire luckily enough. The ship starting to move away from the Freedom cruiser and in reverse slowly
“What the hell is this?” Matthews asked his fellow crewmembers
“I’ll tell you… They’re dragging us in!” Vincent answered
“Freedom this is Hawkeye Two Zoraxian cruiser is in the area!” Rodriguez reported over the radio
“Copy that Hawkeye Two. Do you have Visual confirmation and co-ordinates?” the operator asked
“Negative, negative we do not have visual confirmation but we’re being dragged in! We’ll activate the beacon!” Rodriguez reported.
“Uh… Repeat the last sentence Hawkeye Two. You’re breaking –” alas… They lost radio contact with the cruiser.
“What the hell is this?” Matthews asked again frightened, nervous and furious
“Look here’s what happens newbie. They shoot our engines but only damage them so we cant move. Within a minute they shut down the radio and they override our system to use our thrusters to bring us in.” Vincent said calmly while looking relaxed in his seat
“So what the hell do we do now?” Matthew asked scared. Vincent stared blankly at the newbie pilot for a good twenty minutes when he drew out his side arm.



“We just lost contact with Hawkeye Two sir!” the operator reported to his CO
“What? How?” the Commanding Officer asked the ensign
“I don’t know sir but here’s their last message before we lost contact,” and the ensign replayed the last few sentences that came from Hawkeye Two
“Alright. I’ll run this up to the admiral and keep trying to reach Hawkeye Two!” the CO answered him and took a square chip out of the computer and sprinted to the elevator down the hall.


“Looks like the bastards our somewhere in the nebula. Ready the batteries and get me the radio. They might’ve dragged them into their cruiser so we may be able to compromise with them,” the admiral answered to the CO and then saluted him so he could get back to his duties. The admiral picked up the hand radio, set it to scan so he could talk on all channels to whom it may concern within the nebula
“This is the Cruiser Freedom of the ESDF whoever is out there please respond,” the admiral began. He waited for forty seconds until something came back through the speakers
“This Galactu of the Zoraxian cruiser “Warmonger” we hear you Freedom,” the voice answered through static
“Roger that Warmonger. We understand that you are dragging in three of our pilots is that correct?” the admiral asked an obvious question that had an obvious answer
“We hold three prisoners of war. Nothing else,” Galactu answered him
“I have an offer for you Galactu. It involves numbers,” the Admiral said giving a grin
“No you do not Admiral. We have an offer for you. We fight as a convoy for you, we get payed five hundred credits a month or we execute your prisoners and then we execute the rest of your crew.” Galactu corrected the admiral. The admiral thought for a long time once more and knew that he had to say yes to the Zoraxian but he only had the money to last three months and after that. They’d be dead for sure.
“Fine. But we only have enough credits to last three months at your price.” The admiral answered.
“Then we shall compromise.”






Vincent pulled back the barrel of his side arm and looked all about the body of the fighter. Suddenly there was a loud thud that came from the roof and Vincent got out of his seat
“Rodriguez get over here and draw out your side arm!” Vincent ordered him and immediately the crewmember walked over to the front side of the fighter but stumbled to draw out his side arm.
“I can’t do that man!” he said shaking his hands as he dropped his side arm on the steel floor
“What the hell do you mean you cant do it?” Matthew barked at him
“I’m a pacifist. I can’t hurt anybody… Man I get nausea at the sight of blood!” he answered him
“Oh for fuck sake you man a scout fighter! You prepare our weapons!” he yelled out at him
“Yeah but I’m not directly hurting anybody!” he pointed out in response
“Just get behind me and crouch okay!” Vincent ordered the pacifist flight crewmember. Rodriguez walked over to him and Vincent moved forward so Rodriguez could take cover. They heard several thuds, as the Zoraxian soldiers got ready to open the hatch and come on in. They watched, as the bolts on the roof of the fighter were unscrewed and plummet onto the steel floor. When the hatch fell onto the deck of the fighter a Zoraxian soldier dropped in with a large thick rifle. Vincent squeezed off a round and a round from the side arm slammed into the Zoraxians forehead leaving the bald green creature in a pool of oozy yellow blood. Another Zoraxian jumped down, moved to side to let a comrade come in but was shot in the leg by Matthew. The Zoraxian let out a scream in pain and fired a three round burst from his rifle. One of the rounds smashed into his leg, electrifying him for a few seconds and then falling onto the ground. Vincent fired two rounds, one hitting the wounded Zoraxian in the chest and the other killing the Zoraxian by practically destroying its heart. The next Zoraxian jumped down but rolled forwards and shot Vincent in the leg while Vincent fired too late. He felt a powerful jab in his leg, suddenly electricity passed through his body burning his insides endlessly until he felt numb in his legs and fell to the ground… Then everything went black on Vincent.






“Sir I still cant get patched through to Chimera… It’s like they’ve just disappeared,” one of the radiomen informed the admiral
“Damn it… They’ve jammed our communications system so we can only talk to them and only them!” the admiral said to himself in the centre of the bridge.
“One hundred and twenty five thousand credits it is then!” the admiral accepted over the bridge radio to the Zoraxian Cruiser
“One hundred and sixty thousand credits. You’re captured prisoner has killed two of my men.” Galactu proposed to the admiral
“Deal. Now unblock our communications,” The admiral confirmed over the radio, Magnus then walked over to his radioman
“Make an announcement to alpha squad of “The Flying Phoenix” squadron. Tell them we need them on patrol ASAP.” He ordered and then turned away from the bridge to make his way to the airlock.


The Zoraxians entered a fairly large ship, very square, not very maneuverable due to the lack of thrusters and did not contain any defenses. This would show the humans that this boarding party did not mean any harm. As the Zoraxian ambassadors walked up the ramp and into the ship they were accompanied by two bodyguards but they were both unarmed so they could only shield their leaders from gunshots. They sat down in their seats both bodyguards sitting next to the ambassadors but one of them was nervous.
"something wrong?" an ambassador asked the bodyguard
"I am just worried of what the humans might do sir," he lied as he felt for the hidden pocket on his pants and fiddled with the hidden four inch knife. The humans would not be able to detect the knife with their monitors and for that he chuckled to himself...


To be continued.

Hope you enjoyed this one. It isnt a shoot em up. But the next one is going to be interesting.
Hint:
Fighter battle
and more...

[Smee]

Hey Sparta,

It's been a while but I found time to read your story.

Very different from anything else on the boards at the moment :)

Your writing is good, with only a few mistakes. Have a check through Chapter 3 again, I noticed more mistakes in that one than the other 2 combined.

You're not making the SGOTM vote easy...sigh

Happy Writing. :)

[sparta12]

thanks.
I'll read through it.
King Cappie and his impatience made me hurry up the chapter.
...
I've corrected the chapter.
I cant believe i spelt fell instead of feel. Seems so obvious.

[ethereal_fauna]

I enjoyed it immensely. Doesn't have to be a shoot-em-up to move the game along and capture interest. Good job. Besides, the slaughter of a couple of Zoraxians read pretty graphically to me.

I didn't really see a decision point, but you said more was coming. Maybe you're going to write one in?

[kingcappie]

sparta12 wrote: King Cappie and his impatience made me hurry up the chapter...
Sure, blame me. :shock:

[sparta12]

kingcappie wrote: When's the next chapter coming? Sorry but I'm impatient. :roll:

here's your reason why i blame you king cappie :P.
Thanks for that comment Fauna. Well with the slaughter of the three Zoraxians the books I read (mainly Tom Clancy) are graphic per se. I guess something caught on.

I was actually reffering to the next chapter Fauna but if you guys wanted I could write some more in?

[ethereal_fauna]

It's actually up to you. I think a good decision point at the end of every chapter works, but have seen other authors split chapters into part A and part B, with the decision point at the end of part B. If you've completed this segment then I say write the next chapter and just put the poll at the end of it.

[sparta12]

I wasnt thinking of putting it into a Part A and a Part B.
I was more of thinking of just editing it so it'd be a bit longer and a more entertaining decision point....
Now to put up that poll.

[ethereal_fauna]

That works, too. :)

[sparta12]

so is that a yes or a no?
Or do you guys want me to just put up the poll and get on with it?

[ethereal_fauna]

WRITE MORE, the zombie legions say.... WRITE MORE, and then put up a poll.