posted May 10, 2001 05:46 PM               

Suddenly, the entire cavern began to shake, as if grabbed by the hand of some terrible god.

As they neared the end, the tunnel began to collapse behind them, almost crushing Tycho, who was in the rear.

Only Master and Fish's force abilities let them escape into the fortress...

Right into a mess of armed guards.

Argon, the first one out, charged, crushing bones and armor plating alike as he worked within the bloodlust of a Whiphid hunter.

Unable to shoot into the cyclone of blood and death that had developed, for fear of hitting Argon, the rest of the POD stood by.

Suddenly, something flashed into the fight, joining the ferocity of the Whiphid's attack.

The battle was short but effective, no soldier remained alive beyond the first ten seconds.

As the fight stopped, the unknown flash stood up, revealing the familiar features of...

Geist.

_____________________________________________

COL Argon Viper{ret}

�A revolution is not a dinner party, or writing an essay, or painting a picture, or doing embroidery; it cannot be so refined, so leisurely and gentle, so temperate, kind, courteous, restrained and magnanimous . A revolution is an insurrection, an act of violence by which one class overthrows another.�---Mao Zedong

"Let's say you are a congressman, and let's say you are an idiot... D*mn, I hate repeating myself"---Mark Twain

posted May 12, 2001 02:46 AM               

"What's going on?" Daishi demanded.

"I don't know." Geist responded. "But this place is going to come down around our ears if we don't leave now!"

Daishi nodded. "Lets move it people." He said.

Narm looked around briefly.

"Where's Stonney?" He asked.

-----

Kosvor felt another rumbling as the bombardment continued. The savior had come, as prophecied. With fire from the sky he would clense the old ways and lead the gallaxy to salvation. That left only one thing.

"I knew you would come, Inceptor." He said as soon as he detected the new presence in the chamber. "Your action will usher in the new order."

-----

Admiral Karl Garrett felt the strike cruiser Raul break out of hyperspace into the Gauss system. He had left his flag captain to handle the other battle while he hopped a strike cruiser here. He needed to be here for the finale.

He watched the rebel cruiser group enter hyperspace after finishing their job. Quarrell's command ship would break away from the rest later and head to a secret rendevous point. A new recruit for the New Empire.

"Ready my shuttle."

-----
Meanwhile...

The Sweetums broke out of hyperspace in the dead space between systems, leading a battered group of support ships.

The IW fleet had been hounded endlessly by Karl Garrett's warships. Every time the IW ships emerged into a new system, the found the enemy waiting.

Finally, Kevin ordered the IW to scatter.

Jingo paced around the bridge. He had been placed in command of this rag-tag force of ships and ordered to flee to this rendevous point.

"Is there anyone else here?" He asked.

"No sir." The ship's commander said. "We have no other contacts."

The Intruder and the rest of the fleet should have gotten here already. Unless Garrett's forces caught up with them...

"We'll wait for them." Jingo said finally.

They waited for days in vain. The Intruder never arived.

-----

The battered Soldiers of the Gauss Millitia and IW POD emerged from the ruins of the temple, only to find Stonefish waiting outside.

"What were you doing?" Master asked.

Stonefish smiled. "You don't want to know."

Another man stepped foreward. Karl Garrett.

"Greetings gentlemen." He said. "I see you have completed your task."

Geist looked back at the ruins. "I guess we did."

"I would like to borrow to my brother." Karl said.

Stephen, semmingly aprehensive, nodded and walked off with him.

Geist turned to Mellisaa. "Hon, Marry me."

"What?" Mellisaa said, stunned.

"Right now I'm sore, tired, and filthy, and all I can coherently decide is that I was an idiot to let you go before. Marry me quickly before I change my mind."

-----

"You did not fullfil my request." Karl said when the two were our of earshot.

"No, brother." Stephen responded.

"You instead attempted to kill the man I asked you to recover. Why?"

"Amon Nezumi was of no use to us, though skilled he canot be controlled. He was further preparing to ally himself with the Crusaders, which made him a threat to our home and the galaxy." Stephen sighed. "At some point, brother, the ends cannot justify the means."

"Exactly." Karl said.

"What?"

"I needed to know if you would carry out an order you knew was wrong." Karl said. "I need an advisor that is not only willing to tell me that I am wrong, but is willing to act on it."

"Advisor?"

"Chief of intelligence, if you are interested. Not that it matters but I will also restore your old General's rank."

"I don't know if I am ready to return to this." Stephen responded.

"It is, of course, entirely up to you. My ship will stay here for a week or so, you have until then to decide." Karl turned and began to walk away.

"Karl?" Stephen said.

"Yes?"

"Why the bombardment? You could have destroyed the Crusaders at any time. Why now?"

"Prophecy. 'And the inceptor shall strike down the master of the old, this shall usher in the savior, who shall come and cleanse the temple with fire from above. And he shall build a new order, and bring light to the stars.'"

"What!" Stephen uttered in suprise. "This is..."

"Heresy?" Karl responded. "Not hardly. What do you think we have been trying to build? The New Order is already growing."

"Of course." Stephen shook his head. "Taking a prophecy out of the Crusader's own texts... You realize anyone left in that pile of rubble will want to follow you as the Savior."

"That they will. And they will do it my way."

Stephen nodded. "What about the Intruder Wing Agents?"

Karl briefly shuddered. It was a decision that he never wanted to make, but had no choice. "Let them stay for a week or so. The government won't allow them to send communications out, to preserve their security."

"Why is that important?"

Karl shook his head. "I can't tell you yet. All I can say is that it had to be done. No matter how much I wished it wasn't necessary."

Stephen looked back at the gathered IW troopers. "My god, Karl..."

"You always were good at figuring things out."

"They were my freinds and comrades..."

"And they were our enemies. They would never accept what had to be done."

"Eventually..."

"We do not have time for eventually, Stephen! Events are moving to fast." Karl paused. "It had to be done."

Stephen nodded finally. "I know. I also know you will need my help."

Karl smiled. "Welcome back, General Garrett."

(I call this runon finished, of course others don't have to agree...)
------------------
Jociam Geist
Lt Colonel (ret) Intruder Wing

"I did it. Do you think I've gone to far?" -Dave Mathews Band

"A warrior leaves broken bodies in his wake because he knows the dead can never harm him." -Vlad Ward

"Quiet! A few more spot welds and lilly will be invincible!" -Uribitaki

[This message has been edited by Geist (edited May 12, 2001).]

posted May 12, 2001 01:09 PM               

------------------
Jociam Geist
Lt Colonel (ret) Intruder Wing

"I did it. Do you think I've gone to far?" -Dave Mathews Band

"A warrior leaves broken bodies in his wake because he knows the dead can never harm him." -Vlad Ward

posted May 13, 2001 12:21 AM               

The government of Gauss had treated them well enough, he supposed, but Viper was sure they were holding something back.

He shared his feelings with Master and Stonefish, the two Jedi, and found that they felt the same way.

Figuring that they needed to figure out what was going on, Master and Fish agreed to cover Viper's disapearance while he checked it out.

As they were being led down a hallway, Viper quietly slipped away, and the Jedi began to fog the minds of those around them...

_____________________________________________

COL Argon Viper{ret}

�The Fallen Angels aren�t a unit, we�re a pattern of behavior�--The Fallen Angels

�Insanity isn�t a mental condition, it�s a way of life�---me

posted May 13, 2001 02:13 AM               

For most of his life Daishi had fought long and hard battles to protect the secrecy that his homeworld desired so much, that is why he suspected that there were hit teams on thier way to kill them now. Even if Daishi could get the Fallen Angels to some area where they could fight, the frozen landscape could not provide for them, thus the choice between death by starvation or the slim chance of a miracle.

Daishi was willing to gamble on a miricle this day.

Since all of the Fallen Angels are pilots as well Daishi had been considering the option of overunning the starport and grabbing enough fighters to blast through whatever blockade now existed in orbit. Though as it stood Daishi suspected it was not the goverment itself that had sent for the hit team but another wild card that he could only suspect was here.

"Narm, pass the word without using the comms that I'm going to follow Argon's example. If you don't hear from me within three hours there won't be any me to hear from. I'm going to go check out something and if I find what, or more precisly who, I expect I'll send a comm signal. When you get it I want the Fallen Angels to get ready for the bloodiest fire fight they have thus far had." Daishi said as Narm listened and nodded.

Daishi slipped away from the group and quickly walked toward where he suspected Stephan had secreted himself away from the Fallen Angels.

Daishi's tracking skills were old but they still worked, almost too well. Stephen had been talking to what Daishi had suspected was his brother, the two kept too much distance between themselves and the Fallen Angels to be sure and now Daishi was following the trail of what he hoped was Karl Garret.

Daishi knew he was right in suspecting that following the trail was too easy when he heard the sound of a ballistic weapon's firing pin being levered into position.

"Well it seems I have told a former XO a little too much about my armor. I trust that we are not alone." Daishi said to his new companion.

"Yes General, indeed you did. You are also quite correct about us not being alone." The familiar voice of Karl Garret replied.

"I think I may have commited an operational blunder, but at least I know one more thing now then I did before." Daishi replied.

"Oh what is that?" Karl replied.

"Where you were exactly. You see Karl I used to be just like you, a world to defend, a cause to beleive in, and a goal to aspire to. The difference is I've been trained to fight against opponents superior in numbers, equipment, and even leadership. That is what gives me my advantage." Daishi said as he turned to face the man that had caused so much greif for the Fallen Angels and the Intruder Wing.

"Transmiting a homing signal now are we, naughty naughty. Hopefully so that we can spare your troops from having to watch you die it didn't penetrate the jamming we set up." Karl replied.

"Actually I was counting on you jamming communications. You see we can predict each other too easily. Just as you knew I would find you I knew you would prevent me from signaling for reinforcements, thus my trap was set." Daishi said as he heard the exchange of blaster fire near his position.

"Not bad General. You do seem to have forgoten one slight detail. I still have you in my sights and I can kill you well before any of your men can save you." Karl replied.

"That is what you think." Daishi said.

Daishi was now glad he set his armor to no longer restrain his movements so that he could remain acustomed to his homeworld's naturally higher gravity. In all of Daishi's travels he had never come across a place that was inhabited and had a higher gravity then his homeworld. Right now that fact was paying off in the form of comparitivly increased speed and strength.

Daishi quickly covered the distance between himself and Karl. A sharp sensation of pain in his left thigh told him that his plan was working thus far.

Wrenching the slug thrower from Karl Daishi saw the reserve guard. Karl was a very meticulas planner and Daishi knew he had about five seconds to get himself and the Fallen Angels out of there before they were dead.

Running toward what few Fallen Angels that successfully interpreted his orders Daishi clearly indicated that they had to get the hell out of there.

Arriving back at thier camp Daishi knew that they had about an hour before a unit came down and squashed the Fallen Angels where they sat.

The heavy reliance on speeder bikes was one of the keys to the Fallen Angels always staying ahead of thier opponents. Right now it had bought enough time for Daishi to treat his wound and fix his armor.

Everyone was now preseant and accounted for including Melisaa except for Argon. He had not returned from his soujourn yet.

"Allright. Hopefully Argon has been checking out the positions of goverment forces as I suspect he has. Otherwise we are going to be fighting blind toward the space port. Geist, myself and Melisaa will take a transport from the starport. Everyone else is to grab whatever fighters they can. I suspect that there is a ship up there waiting for us and we're going to have to slip past it somehow. If there are not enough fighters then we'll have to risk taking everyone up in the transport. We'll wait fourty minutes fro Argon to return. I'll comm him in ten, Narm by then I want you to have done your magic on our comm system and broke through this jamming." Daishi breifed as he proceeded with treating his wound and patching his armor.

------------------
"Indecent exposure is fun." Sonatina

"If we have all knowladge then we would not wish to seek what we know, but if we had no knowledge how could we even ask a question?" Plato on knowladge.

posted May 13, 2001 02:38 AM               

"I don't want us to split up, Colonel." Daishi responded.

"I have to do this. Either now or later, and later could get a bit hairy."

"Alright. Just make it quick."

-----

Geist found Stephen in the officer's lounge.

"Hello, Colonel." He said. "Hiding in the most obvious spot."

"Major Geist." Stephen responded. "I figured you would want to be leaving with the rest of your unit."

"I won't miss my ride. I just thought you might want this." Geist said, pulling a unit patch out of his pocket and dropping it at Stephen's feet.

Stephen picked it up. It was the insignia of the Second Heavy Infantry Regiment, his old command.

"Why did you lead us there, Colonel?" Geist said. "We lost four thousand good men on Eridani. I want to know why you let it happen."

"I assume Kevin told you the story." Stephen replied.

"That you forged orders to launch an attack against Eridani. We also know you knew what was waiting for us."

"Oh?" Stephen said, with genuine humor in his voice. "And who told you that?"

"Your own adjutant." Geist responded.

"An unimpeachable source. A loyal son of the Empire with a spotless record. Probably with an enormous amount of evidence to support his assertion."

"Right you are, Colonel. I want to know why you lead us into it. Was it your brother's idea?"

Stephen sighed. "I admit it; I was still an officer of Karl's fleet when I was in the IW, and I passed information to him," Stephen's voice hardened. "But I did not know what was waiting for us at Eridani."

"And why should I believe that?"

"Because I swear it on whatever honor I have left, and because at the time Karl had no interest in seeing the intruder wing destroyed."

"Getting our ships to defect to him..." Geist stopped, a look of fear sweeping across his face. "At the time... What do you mean 'at the time'?" Geist angrilly focused the force, pinning Stephen to the far wall. "WHAT HAS KARL GARRETT DONE!"

A moan of pain escaped Stephen's lips as Geist sifted through his mind. "Dear God... NO!" He dropped Stephen and ran out of the room. "General!" he called on his comlink, "We have to hurry! Pick me up at the base. They are going to destroy the Intruder!"

Stephen staggered back to his feet and watched Geist leave. "It's too late, Major," He said. "By now it is already done."

------------------
Jociam Geist
Lt Colonel (ret) Intruder Wing

"I did it. Do you think I've gone to far?" -Dave Mathews Band

"A warrior leaves broken bodies in his wake because he knows the dead can never harm him." -Vlad Ward

posted May 13, 2001 02:29 PM               

He slips toward the spaceport, taking note of everything that might get in the way on his datapad.

As he reaches the spaceport, he sees a tug lift off... registering an Imperial signal.

With this new developement, Argon decided to break comm silence.

"Daishi,"said Argon,"Why would an Imperial tug be lifting off from the spaceport?"

"What!?!"comes back,"I have no... wait a second..."

After a bit, Daishi comes back on the line, sounding strained.

"I think I know why..."

_____________________________________________

COL Argon Viper{ret}

�Insanity isn�t a mental condition, it�s a way of life�---me

�Vulcanized Rubber? I�m surprised they trust me with a piece of string�---me

posted May 23, 2001 03:37 PM               

"Yeah,"said Daishi,"I know, we're all on our way to the starport, find some fighters, tell us where they are, and use one of them to try to at least warn the ship."

"Yes sir,"said Viper, heading off to find a comm unit...
_____________________________________________

COL Argon Viper{ret}

Diplomacy means saying something soothing as you squeeze the trigger, right?
--Wes Janson(a good quote from a rebel, unbelievable)

"Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain." -- Lily Tomlin

posted July 18, 2001 08:24 PM               

There, not ten feet away from him, was a twenty foot tall lightning rod.

He quickly moved over to it, using it to enhance his signal, and set his comm to automatically repeat his message.

Now all that was left was to record it.

"Intruder, this is COL Argon Viper,"he said,"you have an incoming tug, we believe it is filled with explosives, beware."

At this, he set it to automatically broadcast on a loop, and resumed his search for a fighter.

After another minute, he finds something suitable, and A-wing fighter.

He climbs in and blasts off, maneuvering wildly to avoid the area's surprisingly accurate fire.

As he climbs out of range of the groundbased weaponry, he sees that the tug is halfway between him and the Intruder's defenders.

Suddenly, as he tries to maneuer a little, he realises something.

The tug's tractor is locked onto him!!!!

He moves frantically, trying to break the lock, but nothing works.

He remembers the trick with warheads, but finds that he has none.

He then looks at his scanners, and sees that a flight of X-wings has pulled in behind him and is rapidly gaining distance.

Within a few moments, he will be within their firing range.

Suddenly he realises that, with the extra propulsion of the tractor beam, he is now in firing range of the tug.

He quickly aims and fires, scoring a direct hit on the tractor beam generator.

Too late, the pilot tries to move out of the way, as Argon's lasers converge on the center of the tug, blowing it to bits.

Suddenly, from the miniscule explosion marking the tug's death, a massive explosion, 500 meters in diameter rips from the wreckage.

The fighters from the Intruder remain at a safe distance, but Argon Viper is only 200 meters from the explosion, 50 meters too close.

Argon's ship is battered and bashed as the explosion forces his ship violently away from it's center.

Suddenly, he finds himself in a shieldless ship, without weapons, and damaged engines, but, having saved the Intruder from one threat, he is able to head to ground.

As he approaches the ground he flicks the switch for repulsorlifts...

...flips it again, and grits his teeth, preparing to make a landing without repulsorlifts.

As the ground rushes up at him, he remembers his old fear of heights, and how approprate it would be in this situation...

_____________________________________________

COL Argon Viper{ret}

"Insanity is not a mental condition, it's a way of life"---Argon Viper

posted July 20, 2001 04:51 PM               

"The Intruder, here?" Stephen asked as he entered the bridge of the Strike Cruiser Raul.

"She came out of lightspeed a few hours ago, and has been limping insystem at about half power." The ship's captain said. "She has to have been through one hell of a pounding."

"Unexpected, but not unfortunate." Karl Garrett said. "The status of our suprise?"

"The tug is inbound... Wait, we have an a-wing closing on it from the surface. The A-wing is engaging, Damn! the Tug has detonated! The A-Wing is out of control and is falling towards the planet."

Stephen, for the briefest of instants, could have sworn he saw a smile flash across his brother's face.

"Are all of our personel aboard?" Garrett asked.

"Yes sir," the captain said.

"Then get us out of here. Damaged or not, the Raul is no match for the Intruder."

The captain nodded with resignation. "Aye sir."

Stephen turned and looked his brother in the eye. "May I talk to you in private?"

Karl nodded and lead Stephen to his cabin. "You are curious of something?" he asked when the door closed.

"You planed this from the begining. You knew that stunt with the tug wouldn't work. You knew we would be forced to run."

"If it hadn't been for the A-Wing, it would have." Karl responded.

"The Gaussians do not have A-Wings brother. Someone else left it there for the agents to find."

"That is supposition." Karl said.

"Don't stand there and act like you had no idea this would happen, I know you! Why, if you were going to let them go, did you launch this campaign in the first place?"

Karl smiled again, a smile of grim satisfaction. "Supposing, for the sake of argument, that you are right, this opperation was a success in all but one regard. We failed to trap and destroy the Intruder, the most battle hardened and experienced force we faced. In all other areas we triumphed. It serves as a reminder that our forces are not unbeatable, that our enemies will not simply present their throats to be cut. In the future our captains will be more careful, more precise, for now we have tasted defeat, and now we have an enemy. And also I have no real desire to destroy a band that I respect so much." Karl chuckled, "of course, this is all hypothetical."

"Dear lord Karl, why didn't you just tell me?"

"A plan so complicated and intricate, would you have believed me?"

-----

"So Garrett ran for his life. He didn't want to tangle with us it seems." Kevin was saying over the holonet to the assembled POD officers. "Did you guys accomplish what you came to do?"

Geist turned and looked back at the still smoldering rubble. "Yeah, I guess we did."

"Good. Geist, I just want you to know that I am going to personally kick your *** from one end of the Intruder to the other for that stunt you pulled going after Nezumi. But, welcome back. All of you."

As one, the POD officers, those still concious at least, saluted their commander.

"We're going home boys!" Daishi said after the transmission ended. He turned to Geist. "How is Argon?"

"He got beat up awfully badly when his fighter crashed. Nothing some time in the bacta won't fix though."

"Good, good," Daishi said. "One hell of a mess, eh Major?"

"Yeah. Our first major opperation, and the boys did fine." Geist responded. "Best of all, nobody is going to get shot for going awol."

Daishi nodded. "That's a plus."

The battered, tired soldiers of the IW pod climbed aboard their transport.

[Now that is a proper end.]
[and before anyone says anything, yes i was sort of planing it to end this way ]

------------------
Jociam Geist
Capt/Dream 1-3/Lightbringer, Fallen Angels/IW (ret)

"I did it. Do you think I've gone to far?" -Dave Mathews Band

"A warrior leaves broken bodies in his wake because he knows the dead can never harm him." -Vlad Ward

"Quiet! A few more spot welds and lilly will be invincible!" -Uribitaki