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Post by Brandon on Nov 3, 2010 21:59:23 GMT
The ship landed with a loud bump and a clang. Not the smoothest landing, but he had had worse. Brandon turned off the ships controls and set the auto-defense parameters. Then he grabbed his coat off of the copilot's seat, which was empty, and headed out of the rear door down to the landing platform. He had never really gone anywhere by himself without someone to back him up. Being alone on this new planet would be a whole new world for him.
He left the little platform he had parked the ship on and headed down the street. He had heard rumors of this grand city, but what he first saw didn't please his expectations. He was at that point of the city where the slums and the rich areas of the city met. So one would see here a rich businessman and there a homeless man begging for spare change. Brandon decided he would head into the richer part of town. He was reasonably dressed. Anyone that saw him would think he was a mechanic in the royal shipyards or a good job similar to that. Dressed in jeans, a T-shirt (under which he had his thin bulletproof vest of course), and his leather jacket and shades, he would blend in with most of the people.
His first thought was to find out something about this place when he noticed his stomach growling. "I guess flying 20 straight hours without food isn't such a good idea," Brandon muttered as he started looking for a place to eat. He was looking for a market or a stand or a place where people would trade, maybe even a candy bar machine. He walked down the street until he spotted a diner. "Quaint," he muttered. He decided that a good breakfast would do him good.
He opened the door and quickly scanned the room. He noticed 5 people inside and then the staff. One person stuck out to him in particular, however. There was a man sitting at the counter with nothing but a cup of coffee before him and an empty plate. Brandon noticed all the other people inside were businessmen. So naturally if one REALLY wanted to know about the planet, what goes on behind the government's back and ways to get past certain...obstacles, this was the guy to talk to. Brandon sat down two seats away from the man but didn't speak to him. He pulled up a menu and looked inside. When the waitress finally came up to him, Brandon ordered a #5 combo and a cup of coffee. He finally decided to engage the man in conversation.
"Hi there."
The man looked up at Brandon, and then back at his coffee.
"Hi."
Brandon thought about how to approach this until he came up with a strategy. He immediately put his plan into action. He scooted over one seat to get closer to the man.
"I'm brand new here, and I was just wondering if you could give me any advice about the city here and the planet."
The man didn't repsond. When Brandon was about to ask him why he didn't answer him, he realized why. The waitress was coming bye with Brandon's food. She set it down in front of Brandon. He said a quick prayer and then began to eat his food, first eating the bacon on his plate. As he was eating, the man finally answered him.
"Actually I'm pretty new here to the city. I just got here a little while ago. Avoid the slums though. It's a rough section of town."
"What's wrong with it?"
"The people there range from just the poor to the extremely poor, and if you have anything worth stealing, they'll steal it. Where are you from?"
"I'm from a place far away from here. I travel a lot. I'm what you might call an obtainer and transporter of small things to "unobtainable" things."
The man gave him an interested look.
"So you're a smuggler?"
"If you want to call it that."
"Well, that's always handy to know. What's your name...oh no."
The man had looked up from the conversation to see five men walking toward the diner. Brandon looked up to see what the man was talking about. He saw the men and leaned in close to whisper to him, "These guys your friends?"
The man looked back at him with an annoyed look.
"Hardly."
The five men opened the door and walked inside. They walked right up to the man in a circle. Finally the biggest of them spoke.
"Well if it isn't our favorite traveler. I believe you left before you were supposed to, don't you?"
The man just sipped his coffee, then looked up and said, "I don't know what you mean..."
The big guy mocked the man childishly. "Oh you don't? You were just about to make a...charitable contribution weren't you? Then you decided to hurt my friend Joey. We'll just take a look and see what you have..."
He made a move to look in the man's pack, but the man knocked his wrist away. The big guy got immediately cruel-voiced.
"That's not very nice, now, isn't it? Looks like we'll have to teach you a lesson in giving..."
The five men circled around the man standing there. They got closer, and closer. Brandon could tell the man was getting ready for a fight. Brandon decided to speak.
"Is everything all right here?"
The big guy turned to him with an immature sneer.
"You just stay out of this, foreigner!"
Brandon turned and in a flash had his two desert eagles at two of the men's heads. In another flash the man had his machete at the big guy's throat.
"Back off now and I'll let you live."
The big guy was shocked at the speed of the two men. Dissapointed he backed off and he and the men exited the store. The man turned to Brandon.
"Thank you for the help. I'm gonna get out of here before it's too late..."
Through the window, Brandon saw one of the men outside holding a gun aimed at the man. "Get down!!!" He grabbed the man and jumped to the floor. Shots started going off. The diner was being shot to shreds. Finally, Brandon decided he had to make a move before someone got hurt. He leaned over to the man, and they made a quick strategy. Then Brandon headed for the back door, avoiding gunfire as he went.
The men stood outside the door waiting. They knew he'd come out eventually. Finally they saw him getting up from the floor. One of the men raised his gun. The big guy interferred. "No. This one's mine. For Joey's sake." The man stepped out of the door. The big guy smiled wickedly. "Alright, no weapons allowed. I'm gonna avenge my friend fair and square. Put that knife on the ground." Orin put his machete on the ground slowly. He saw Brandon was almost in position.
"Alright. Now kneel."
Orin did so. He saw Brandon on top of the diner, pistols out.
"I'm gonna enjoy this...any final words?"
Orin looked at him with a smile.
"Yes actually. Goodbye."
The big guy looked confused, but raised his gun to fire. Sudddenly, Brandon jumped off the building and took two of the men down with him. This distraction was enough to allow Orin to pick up his machete and then dodge the distracted shot aimed at him. He sommersaulted backwards and gave the machete a toss. It embedded itself in the gut of the big man. By this time Brandon had taken out three of the others. Orin got up and together they battled the final man until he fled for the slums. The two looked at their handiwork and smiled. They shook hands, and Orin looked and Brandon and said, "What did you say your name was again?"
Brandon, smiling, glad that he made a friend on this planet, said, "I didn't. My name is Brandon. And yours?"Orin picked his machete out of the big man. "Mine is Orin." Brandon shook his hang again and said, "Nice to meet you Orin. I have a feeling we're gonna be good friends..."
TAG ORIN
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Post by Orin on Nov 6, 2010 15:14:19 GMT
The Hunted 1-2
“Guess I need to thank you now, don’t I?” said Orin. “Don’t mention it,” Brandon quickly responded. He turned to see Orin reaching into one of the thug's coat's pockets. "Um, What are you doing?" said Brandon. Orin finding nothing from the first pocket, checked another pocket on the dead man's coat. "I'm just checking for something..." his voice trailed off. Brandon turned to check if anymore thugs were outside, but then looked back when he heard Orin sigh. "What? Somethin' wrong?" Brandon asked. Orin, holding a small engraved coin in his hand, said, “Well, I wish I could say thank you and leave, but that’s not going to happen...not anymore.” “What do you mean?” “I happen to be a much hated person, Brandon. You see this coin?” Brandon inspecting the red and black metallic circle noticed it had an engraved dragon on it.
Brandon said, "Yea, and?" "Well," continued Orin, "That coin is a 'bad omen.' Basically I am wanted by a specialized fighting force from earth. I don't know their name, but we can just call them Hunters for now. That coin means that this man has somehow had contact with the Hunters; whether he is one, I can't tell. If he is one, we were extremely lucky to take him down, but if he really is a thug, he is probably just paid off to keep a watch on Galthos for the Hunters. If he finds me, he's supposed to report to them, then they kill me." "But, where are these 'Hunters' if he was supposed to tell them. I mean, if they are so organized, they should have shown up by now, right?" "Well, you do have a point, but because I killed one of these guy's friends back in the outskirts, he probably came after me for revenge, thankfully neglecting his duties. but like I said, I am not entirely sure. What I am sure of, is that now you are tangled up in this mess with me; the Hunters will probably be trying to kill you as well." “Oh, that’s not so bad, I am used to having people try to kill me; it never works, but they try.”
“I don’t think you understand. If more thugs don’t come after us, then they’ll send in the big guns. I’m not talking evading the planet’s police here; I mean try to survive against a weaponized fighting force. Tanks, artillery, nukes….they’ll use any and all methods to try to kill me, and now you too.” “Ok,” said Brandon, “This is a little hard for me to understand, seeing as how you are one guy. I mean, you just used the word ‘nukes.’ What do you have that they want so badly?” “I wish I could tell you, but I don’t trust you enough. Just know what I mean when I say it could be of great value to any military.”
“But, these Hunters, they’re still human, right? They all react the same way when a bullet hits their body.” “Not these guys. Brandon, have you ever been injected with about 3.5 ounces of pure adrenaline in less that a second?” “No,” said Brandon inquisitively. “Well, these guys have. They all carry syringes to inject the stuff into themselves before combat. Brandon, I’m warning you now, if you ever, from now on, see someone pull a gun on you, you shoot them until there’s so much lead in them they can’t lift themselves off the floor. Any less, and these guys will, no questions asked, keep shooting back at you.” “But, I’ll know who they are right?” “Let me just say this, you see that homeless guy over there?” “Yea.” “Any moment now, he could pull a gun and light you up in the middle of the street.” “So they are disguised as civilians?” “They’re ex-spec-ops and ex-CIA agents, for all I know, you could be one.” “But I just helped you…” “Brandon, I had a seventy-five year old woman with a grandchild open fire on me with a .357 magnum in the middle of a diner just like this one; trust me, your killing me is no stretch of the imagination.”
“So what do we do?” said Brandon hearing sirens from ambulances and earth alliance police vans headed their way. “I suggest we get off this rock or out of this town as soon as possible. From now on, I guess I’ll stick with you. I tend to have trouble dealing with the Hunters by myself. Please, tell me you have a ship.” “Yea, I do.” “Good, we need to get to it as fast as we can. From there though, we may not be able to leave the planet. The Hunters will be checking space traffic. We can try to escape the planet or lay low here for a while, but be warned. The Hunters are a fast task force. They will probably already have sent some lesser soldiers to quarantine your ship. We may just be fighting our way out. Ready?” “I was born ready.” “Right, let’s do this.”
TAG BRANDON
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Post by Brandon on Nov 11, 2010 2:15:56 GMT
Brandon turned to him, a shadow of condition on his face. "There's just one problem."
Orin looked at him strange. "What's the problem. You. Me. Ship. Escape. You see a problem with that?"
Brandon nodded his head. "Actually I do. I came here on business..." Orin quickly interjected, " You mean to steal?" Brandon shot him a quick glare. "If you wanna look at it that way, then yes. But I have something I have to get. I can't leave without it. If I don't bring it to the buyer, he won't be very happy."
Orin groaned at let his head drop to his hand. "So let me guess? We can't leave til you have it?"
Brandon started pacing around the room. "Yeah. But think about it. If we got it and got out we'd have two advantages. One: the people after us would think that we'd go to my ship. So if we go somewhere else first, there might not be as much resistance at my ship. Two, I won't be in trouble with my buyer."
Orin looked back up. "Ok. I guess I have no choice. Plus I owe you one for your help earlier."
Brandon patted him on the back. "This should be easy. Basically, I'm looking for a prototype CTR unit..."
Orin once again interjected. "Whats a CTR unit?"
"It stands for Communications Transmit Router. It was originally intended as a router for army communications. But someone discovered it can also be used to hack enemy communications. The possibility with that kind of power is limitless. Soon APM soldiers will all have this new comm system. The AU wants to be able to hack it...."
Orin looked at Brandon in understanding. "And if they get this they can. And they hired you to get it. I like it. The less power people have in this galaxy the better. So what's our plan?"
Brandon showed his ARAM to Orin. It popped up a diagram of a facility. "It's simple enough. The facility is about as large as a church. First we'll have to take down the 5 guards inside of it. Then we move to the shipyards surrounding it. They have two rows of crates. Luckily this unit can be tracked with a code."
Orin looked at him inquisitively. "What's the code?"
Brandon smiled. "That's what we're getting inside the building. Once we have that we find a way about a mile west through the shipyards. Then my ship will be right there."
Orin smiled. "For once, a plan that actually sounds half-good."
~3 hours later~
Two men stood in a dark room. They were talking about something, weapons in hand. One was older, with gray beard and partially gray hair. The other rather young, in a mechanic's uniform. Another man entered through the door in the back of the room. He came right up to the men, and then went stock still at attention.
Grey-haired man: Yes, sergeant. What is it?
Sergeant: Sir, I just wanted to let you know we're all set to go.
The grey-haired man nodded his head. Keep tabs on him. We'll know when to move in. He then looked at a monitor. On that monitor was Orin and Brandon talking and gearing up.
~1 hour later~
Silence was the key. The building lay straight ahead past the gate. Brandon could see a guard right outside the gate. He turned to Orin. "Okay. Here's the plan..." Brandon explained how he wanted to get past the guard. Orin smiled when he heard it. Then they set it immediately into action. Orin headed around left out of sight of the guard, simultaneously pulling out his machete. Brandon, in normal street clothes, walked straight up to the guard with a worried look on his face.
"Where's my daughter? Have you seen her? She got lost and I don't know where she is!"
The guard seemed taken aback but responded. "Sir, just calm down. I'm sure your daughter is fine. Now what does she look like?"
Brandon was counting down in his mind. 5.
"Well she's blonde." 4. "She's four years old." 3. "She's really sweet." 2. "And she's not real." 1. Orin jumped out from seemingly nowhere with machete in hand. He stabbed the man in the chest. The guard turned to face Orin. He pulled out his gun. He turned off the safety. And... SNAP!
The man fell to the ground. Brandon stood behind the man. Orin looked at him. "What did you do?"
Brandon wiped the sweat from his head. "Had to snap his neck. Now let's get this body hidden and you dressed up."
They moved the body out of the way where it couldn't be seen. Then Orin put on the guard uniform and took the guard's keycard. He then took Brandon and cuffed him. Then led him inside the compound.
Brandon was thinking. Thinking about every part of the plan left. This was the most critical step though. Finally they got inside the building. The inside was very dank and dark. Musty. Cold. This building obviously didn't see many visitors. Orin led him into a room and presently brought back all 5 of the men that were stationed inside the building. They looked at him, then started asking Orin questions. Orin walked inside and looked at Brandon.
"Just play along." Orin whispered. Then he continued. "Who are you working for?" Brandon didn't respond. "What are you hiding from us?" Brandon still kept quiet. "I've told them who you are." Brandon finally spoke.
"What? You don't know who I am..." Brandon faked fear, trying to be convincing. "...you can't know..."
Orin smiled evily. "Oh but I do, and you're going to tell me what I want to know. You five! Get in here! I'm gonna need your help. the five came in one by one. As the last one entered the room, Orin turned to Brandon and said, "Any last words?"
Brandon started smiling. Then he looked at them. "Suckers..."
Orin struck the first blow by stabbing one of the men in the back. Brandon took advantage of the distraction and was able to unlock the cuffs (of course Orin had given him the keys earlier). He instantly reached for his throwing knives. One went flying into a man's heart. Then another into a man's leg. By that time, Orin had finished the other two men. Now only the wounded soldier remained. Brandon kicked him on the wound and yelled "Where's the keycode log?!" The man whimpered in pain, but he eventually pointed to the control room for the crate-crane. Brandon walked into the room and checked the log. He found what he was looking for, entered the keycode into his ARAM, and then erased the item from the log. He walked back into the room. "I'm feeling generous today..." he said to the wounded soldier. And with that, Brandon pulled out a grenade, dropped it, and followed Orin out of the building. He heard the explosion go off and smiled, having pulled off that part of the plan perfectly. Something wasn't quite right though. And then he could see why. He saw APM soldiers. How had they known? Fortunately they were very bad at advancing stealthily. Brandon knew they didn't have much time.
He signaled Orin so that Orin knew about the APM. Orin had already seen them, however, and acknowledged that to Brandon. They walked normally to the crate. They went inside and got the CTR and walked out. Suddenly, Brandon's ARAM started buzzing. He looked down. One message was there and only one.
He survived wind, ice and rain. Kidnapping and loss he travailed. Now he is watching. Lead the soldiers to their death by Sunfighter.
Brandon's eyes widened. He only knew one person who had gone through kidnapping besides himself... but it couldn't be...could it?
Orin leaned in when he saw Brandon freeze. "Is everything alright?"
Brandon looked up shocked. "Yeah I think so. We need to get to the ship now. Run."
They ran not a moment too soon. They started running and so did the APM soldiers. They ran as hard as they could. Brandon was typing commands on his ARAM as they went. The ship was warming up. The ramp was lowering. The APM was finally catching up. Orin and Brandon were just about to escape when..."STOP!"
They had been caught. They turned. They were completely surrounded. Orin leaned back. "Let's go down fighting.'' Brandon whispered back "Just wait for it."
Orin was perplexed. "Wait for what?''
"This!" screamed Brandon. And he waved his arm, then ducked. Bullets rained down from every direction on those hunters disguised in APM uniforms. From the rooftops automatics and snipers alike fired full tempo. Orin started crawling for the ramp. He made it inside. The leader who had stopped them finally regained his composure. He pulled his gun on Brandon and two shots went off. But one wasn't his. Brandon felt a searing pain in his shoulder, and his vision started going blurry slightly. But he saw the man fall to the ground dead.
Soon the men from the rooftops were on the ground patroling the area. Brandon was getting up slowly when a grey-haired man came up to him.
"It's been a long time since I've seen you."
Brandon looked at him, trying not to feel the pain in his shoulder but concentrate on the man. "You knew my father, didn't you? You sent the message to me didnt you? Where's my dad? Is he ok?" The man smiled. "Oh he's fine. And he's glad he's sitting here with you right now."
Brandon looked at the man, tears in his eyes, and asked, "Dad? Is that you?"
"Yes son. It's me."
Brandon completely forgot about his shoulder. He ran to his father and hugged him. It had been so long. So hard. So painful without his father there. Now he was with his dad again. "But I thought you must have died? How'd you escape? What are you doing here?"
Brandon's father released his son from their bear hug. "No time now. You must get away. More of these disguised agents will be here soon."
Brandon looked at his dad, not wanting to leave him. "But we can hide. We don't have to leave. I'm not gonna leave you here."
"You have to. We'll handle clean up and cover for you guys. They will kill you and Orin if you don't get away."
Brandon looked puzzled again. "But we wont be able to leave without clearance, and..."
"Don't worry. I've already taken care of it. Now go."
Brandon hugged his dad tight. "I don't wanna lose you again, dad."
His father, tearing up, choked out, "Don't worry. I'm sure we'll see each other soon. Now go! Go!"
Brandon limped up the ramp. He closed it behind him. Then he ran to the cockpit. Orin was sitting there. "Who was that?"
Brandon smiled, tears in his eyes, and said, "Someone I haven't seen in a very long time.'' Brandon ignited the engines. He was lifting off. "Now let's get out of this place. Hit the thrusters Orin. Ok...PUNCH IT!!!"
And the Sunfighter blasted off into the sky, into the atmosphere, into space. They were off. They had escaped...for now.
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Post by Orin on Nov 26, 2010 23:41:40 GMT
“Just looking at space makes you realize how awesome it is, doesn’t it?” said Brandon to Orin. “I wish I could agree…” replied Orin. The two had just barely escaped Galthos with the help of a well-timed reunion between Brandon and his father. They faced no resistance whilst leaving the planet and were now somewhat safe in the middle of space all thanks, in no small part, to Brandon’s father. The Sunfighter had a small cockpit considering the overall size of the vessel, but Orin was thankful just to be alive.
“So, Orin,” continued Brandon, “I’ve saved your life twice now…” “Indeed, you have; I am in your debt.” said Orin. “I guess you could say that…” “You want me to tell you more about where I come from, why I am here, and why I am being chased, don’t you?” “Well…yes.” “I guess I owe you…I’ll start with earth. Yea, I was born there. I don’t know how old you are or if you’ve ever been there. Let’s just say that my birth was bad timing. I grew up as a pretty normal kid. I went to school loved going shooting and tinkering in the garage with my father, but I had a different perspective than most other kids my age. See, support for the APM on earth is higher than on Apothos. They practically indoctrinate the civilians. So naturally when others saw that I was sympathetic to the AU, I was shunned.”
“I didn’t have many friends other than my father, but he was working for the firm so much I rarely got to spend time with him.” “What firm?” asked Brandon. “Some high up tech company that researches a variety of technologies for different customers, including the APM. My father was a chief developer there, meaning he thought up the technology and others followed his instructions.” “Okay, but what does have to do with why you’re here?” “Well, I’m getting to that. You see, one night about two years ago I was sitting in my home with my family (yes I did have one) when the doorbell rang. I answered it to find a package there with my name on it. After opening the package and digging through a lot of bubble wrap, I found this.” Orin presented a small note-card sized book that was about as thick as a dictionary. Brandon looked inquisitively at the book and asked, “What does it-” “That, you will have to wait to see.” “Well, how often do you read it?” “Everyday. Also, inside that package was a note from my father. It read:
Dear Son,
By the time you get this package, I will already be dead. Within, as I am guessing you have already found, is a book. This book holds the key to the next thousand years of technological prowess. Son, I know that I have always tried to convince you that the Apothos Private Military were trying to keep us safe, but I was wrong. You’ve been right all along! The APM are really just trying to oppress us. However, they can’t achieve this until the AU is eliminated. Orin, take this book to the AU, but tell no one, you must find a scientist named Elliot Danver. He was my colleague a long time ago; he’ll understand. If Elliot is dead, destroy the book. If you’re life is in danger, never hand the book over; trust me when I say destroying it is the better option if you can’t find Danver. Son, leave immediately! Take your family on the next transport to the Arcian System and flee! I am sorry for this, but you are my last hope.
Love, Dad
“So you came here?” asked Brandon. “No, not immediately. I went to work the next day just the same as usual. But, before I left for work that day, I had a curious feeling to bring the book with me. At lunch, I opened the book and seeing the title knew its importance. I sped home to get my family to safety, for now I knew just how dangerously important this book was….I was too late.” Orin hung his head. “Remember the Hunters I told you about?” “Yea,” said Brandon. “Well, they had already killed my family; my daughter, my son, and my wife…dead. They had searched the house and had not found the book, so they killed my family.” Orin paused for a moment and after regaining his composure continued, “I wanted to kill every person on earth who had ever been affiliated with the government or the APM, but that wouldn’t be possible.”
“What did you do next?” Brandon once again inquired. “Well,” Orin said, “That’s when I stowed away in an Arcian bound vessel and jettisoned down to Galthos, but not after spending a long while evading the Hunters on earth.” Brandon, putting together the pieces finally said, “So, you’re from earth, you have a potentially war-changing book, a need to find a man named Elliot Danver, AND you have a grudge against the APM.” “Exactly.” “Well, guess that makes us friends.” Brandon turned and looked out the pilot’s view of the Sunfighter; space, uninhibited, lay before him.
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Post by Brandon on Nov 28, 2010 0:00:34 GMT
Orin looked at Brandon and sighed. "So what now?"
Brandon concentrated on flying the Sunfighter but answered. "Now we get the CTR Module to General Harrison at the AU HQ."
"And when will we get there?"
"Well, I've been booking it, so 10 minutes."
The ship made its way into the atmosphere. After clearing it, suddenly Brandon heard a voice on the radio. "Copy, Sunfighter, this is AU HQ, callsign please." Brandon picked up his radio mic and said, "SF 137 designation Brandon Jacobs, Smuggler First Class." "Copy Brandon Jacobs. You are cleared to land."
Brandon steered the ship down towards the base. The radio crackled. "This is AU HQ, please land at deck 3." "Copy command. Landing at deck 3." And with that, Brandon started to land the ship on the deck.
The ship landed gently. It felt like home to be back here at the AU base. Orin looked sceptically at Brandon. "So this is AU HQ?" Brandon could understand his skepticism. "Don't worry. You'll be fine here. The person in charge is a friend." Orin still showed doubt in his face and voice. "Do you trust him?" "With my life." Orin couldn't argue with that kind of trust. "Alright. Let's go."
Brandon could see outside a small crowd was gathering. Most of them had heard of this important mission to grab the CTR Module. He went into the cargo hold and grabbed the module. He put it inside a case and then he and Orin exited the ship. The completely ignored the people standing around waiting for some word from the smuggler. The two went inside the control center of the base. Brandon led the way down the hallway. They passes door after door, until finally they came to a room filled with monitors, TVs, and people. Brandon turned to Orin and said, "Orin, welcome to AU Control."
Orin looked at all the equipment. It surprised him how advanced the AU was. A little while ago, he had thought the AU was a rag-tag band of rebels. Now he could see he was wrong.
General Harrison walked up to Brandon. The two men hugged. Then Brandon introduced Orin to the general. "Uncle, this is Orin. I met him on Galthos and he was instrumental in the attainment of this." He held out the device to his uncle. The general stared at it for a second, wide-eyed. "You actually got it?" Brandon nodded. "I didn't think anyone would be able to track it down." Brandon pointed at the device and said, "It wasn't easy. My contact inside the APM even had trouble finding out about it. In fact, that's what I want to ask you about. He got captured after giving me the information. I'm requesting a strike team to liberate him."
General Harrison nodded. "Permission granted. How many you want?" "I want Lucius, Kurt, and Daniel." Harrison looked at the ground, sighed, and turned back to Brandon. "We haven't heard from them in a while." "What do you mean? They're fighting right?"
The general walked over to a table with a coffee pot and got himself a cup. "They went undercover about a week ago. Since then they've gone dark. No contact for a while now." Brandon walked up behind him. "Well do you know where they are?" "Oh yeah. They're on Apothos." "Ok, we'll go after them." Brandon turned along with Orin. They were exiting the door when the general said, "Wait. There's something else you should hear." Brandon turned back. "What is it?" General Harrison looked at Brandon. "Your father has gone missing. Kidnapped it seems."
Brandon froze. Orin looked at Brandon. He finally approached and tapped Brandon's shoulder. "You ok?" Brandon looked up, tears in his eyes. "No. I'm not. Let's go." They went to the ship. Orin was confused. "So where are we going?" "Where the the Hunters keep prisoners?" "You have to be kidding me?!" "No. They're not gonna take anything else from us." And with that, Brandon started the ship, and lifted off into space once again.
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Post by Orin on Jan 16, 2011 18:41:15 GMT
Orin couldn't believe what was going on, what had just occurred in the space of about an hour. Orin remained silent as he sat next to Brandon; all Orin really wanted to do was get the facts straight. The smuggler's father had gone missing; that much Orin was aware of. However, that was the only thing that he could be sure of, the rest...was all blurred by the lack of information given. Yet, if the Hunters were responsible, then, as Orin was unsure if Brandon knew, the retrieving of Brandon's father would be an utter suicide mission without either an army or some really good intelligence. He had to convince Brandon that fast action, in this case, was poor action. Orin turned to Brandon. He could sense the smuggler's angered but somehow helpless tone. Orin then knew exactly how he would start trying to persuade Brandon. "You don't even know where the Hunters would keep prisoners or if they even have a base of operations in this system, do you?" asked Orin rhetorically. "No" Brandon said in a defeated tone, "but I'll search every last inch of this system if I must in order to find him!" "I don't mean to be antagonistic here, Brandon, but that could take a while. By the time you did find your father, he might already be..." Orin's voice trailed off. Thankfully, Brandon didn't get angry at this notion; but instead he lowered his head and said "I had only a few minutes to talk to him....and now he's gone.". Orin said, "Look Brandon, don't give up hope. I'm sure that your father can handle himself. The man obviously knows what he's doing. And if it's any consolation, the Hunters probably won't kill him. They want to kill you, they will probably use him as a hostage." Brandon turned and said after recovering himself, "You know more than me about these Hunter characters....what should I do?" "Well, what WE should do is not charge into every suspect place that we think is the Hunter's base. Now normally I try to avoid Hunters because they usually mean sure death. If we were smart and well-informed of any upcoming conflicts with the Hunters it would improve our chances. Don't get me wrong we'd still die, but at least we'd go down fighting." "You're to negative." Brandon said. "But, we would have to find somebody who knows a thing or two about thhis system." "Like an informant?" "Yea, you know someone?" Brandon chuckled, "I guess you could say that."
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