a dark universe. by John Inflkt

They took me to manhatten in the first amoured transport available.

The air on manhatten was worse then i remember,but i guess thats what a whole planet of city does to it. I got a message from my old flying buddy, saying to meet him in the dragons den bar. At least theres someone in liberty with some heart.

We sat at the bar watching the vids of the huge alien gates eeriely arranged in a perfect cross. It seems strange that now after defeating the nomads we are going even further. The military dont tell the public much but ive heard my share of roumers.
"i heard what happended at west point" mark said.
"thay had no right kicking me out"
"you assaulted a senior officer what do you expect"
"He insulted my father" i responded.
"I wouldve been pissed if it was my father he was cracking about. In fact i think my dad would hook him in the mouth if he heard."
I laughed."your dad would probably have shot him in the mouth if he had heard what he said"
He laughed aswell "seems like you got him back though.""i heard you slept with his girlfriend."
-
-
I looked at him blankly.
"no, thts not what happened"
"im sor-
"his girlfriend slept with me"

We laughed and drank our way through the night.



I caught a transport to custodian to see a man i grew up with on the missouri, named Theo Dalma.
Mark told me hes Blood Gaurd now, big gun. We agreed to meet planet blood. The bar was empty.maybe because it was nearing sunrise, maybe because theo had organized it. I drank cool sidewinder fang, it was far better than the liberty ale manhatten stocks. it coats the throat, cooling,soothing. Who knew a drink could feel so amazing. Theo stormed in wearing a strange uniform i assumed to be the blood gard standard. Whatever it was,
I wanted one.

We talked about life, college, women, space everything that had happened sice those innocent days on the missouri. Somewhere we started talking about our families.

"Hows your father?" he asked
i turned away
"My father is one with the stars"
"im sorry" he said, apologetically.
"its ok, he died doing what he loved"
Then he asked cautiously "what happened"?
"he was flying through an unknown nomad system. His wing came under attack. They were missing,presumed dead. But heres the strange thing, before they dropped off scanners they were reporting activity, activity of other than nomad origin. They said that the heat signatures from the ship"s thrusters were similar to the standard sirius.
"so a nomad used our ship? Big deal!"
"no, nomads dont use ships other than their own.Ever.....but hes gone and so is everything else and i have to accept that."
We drank in silence.

Then he whispered in a soft tone -

"Ive got a job for you John"


WANT CHAPTER 2?

Nice job, Crewman! Two thumbs up! NOW FINISH CHAPTER TWO DAMMIT!!!

Nice work mate! Speaking of Members background, I haven't done oen yet.
Better get toi work.

Can't wait untill entry no#2

Nice! Pls continue

Wow i didn't think there would be this good of a response!thanks guys

I engaged engines, checked weapons and thanked theo. Its not everyday you just get given a ship.

It felt good, being back in space. Strangly alot like sidewinder fang. Cooling,soothing,relaxing. I could still hear theos final words resonating through me like a warning siren
"good luck.all the others failed" he had yelled, above the roar of the engine.
What did he mean exactly? Was this mission so dangerous that even the ruthlessly brave bloodgaurd hadnt been able to succeed?

It sent a chill through my body.



Ironically now i was docking at westpoint. Yes, westpoint military academy. The one place i get brutally thrown out of ,i return to.

However i did not return for the sake of having a bit more punching practice on leutentant asshole, i returned in search of some of the best pilots i knew. I walked the corridor. It was cold and artificially lit with a dark hospital-like feel. I stopped at a door and took a moment to bring myself together.these places had too many conflicting feelings. I had brought friends through this door, enemies through this door, lovers through this door and had reluctantly let in those that i despise.today i walk through this door not to bring anything like that. Today i walk through bringing a chance to fight, to recover, to capture, to escape and a chance to die.

The room is bright, vibrant.music is playing.loudly. I see the posters, some of beautiful babes and some of living legends. I see one, on the wall, it is of a man who fought for humanity, a man who gave his life time after time for us.edison trent. Mirriroring him are pictures of junko zane with, in someplaces, erotic coments written in red ink.

Lucas came up to me and slapped my hand in a subtle gesture of welcoming. Then he gave me a good ol man hug

"good to see you again mate" he said.
"Where are the others" i asked
"theyre in the mess hall"

We talked for a while about my banishment from the academy. It may have angered me but really, we had a good laugh about it.

The others stormed in cracking jokes about rheinlanders.typical.
They all stopped dead when they saw me.
"jonno inflkt. Come to blow up the station i presume?" danny announced

"only if youre on it"


We all laughed. We crashed on the chairs, josh threw me a rochester beer. How funny, tastes like criminals.
"so what brings you back to the west side?" justin asked
Lucas beat me to it "hes got a mission he wants us for"
"the buy and sell mission or the shoot shoot mission?
"the possibly get killed mission" i interrupted.there was silence. I thought maybe id scared them away.then..

"ok im in"
"me too"
"me three"
"who are we killing?"

I outlined the mission basics and gave all of them had a moment to ponder. I wondered who would be the first to say something.it was justin.
"so all you want to do is to fly in, kill these guys, collect some documents and get out silent? You mite aswell have hired dumbass xenos" he said.
But josh thought deeper.
"whats the the objective? What data is it?and you havent told us where we are going?

I lowered my voice to a whisper.....



......"its the dead coalition sleeper ship data.......


......and its in the nephele system."




At that moment, silence was an understatement......


CHAPTER 3?

Very nice story, and well written!

Was a pleasure to read

Inflkt ... you really not need ask if continue ... lets do it!

Good story inflkt! Now that i think about it, i need to write mine...

Yes! Write yours, dammit!

BRING ON CHAPTER 3!!!

Great stuff Inflkt! Maybe you should write source novels for Crossfire! (hell, it works for Battletech)

Good stuff, Inflkt!

This reminds me, I need to start bringing in some of the RP backstories I've created...

I was always told i was a good writer even in primary school. but i never thought i actually was.thanks alot guys. Id really like to write some mass effect novels possibly one day also