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Post by Brandon on Jan 25, 2011 1:52:00 GMT
Orin couldn’t believe he was doing this. Brandon had made him dress up in a suit and tie, far from what he liked to wear. "Do I really have to do this?" Brandon had the faintest smile on his face. "Yeah you do. It's essential we talk to my friend." "Do you have friends everywhere?" Brandon smiled. "When you're a smuggler, you meet a lot of people and make friends believe it or not." Orin even chuckled at this.
Brandon then turned to his stash of weapons. "Alright. Now for weapons..." Suddenly Orin was interested. "Yeah. How exactly are we gonna do this? I'm guessing we're not going in guns ablaze?" Brandon nodded. "Correct. Since we'll be in an urban enviorment, we can't go around with obvious weapons. Instead we'll limit ourselves to knives and concealed weapons." Orin looked downcast. Brandon knew Orin didn't like to work in a disguise.
The trip had been relatively easy to go from Galthos to Apothos. Brandon had kept their arrival secret, knowing that the Hunters could be watching. Brandon had spent a few days looking for his old friend Victor who had smuggled weapons for two decades. Victor had had dealings with many mysterious clients, and Brandon assumed one of those clients could be the Hunters. When Brandon finally found that Victor ran a nightclub in the center of Apothos, he went back to Orin and prepared for their mission. And now Brandon and Orin were ready to go confront Victor. Not that Victor was violent, but you never know who you might run into.
Brandon led the way from the hotel they had been using as a base out into the streets. The streets were filled with the rich and pompous. All the richest residents lived in this area. They had to play the part of rich people. Brandon of course was a natural. In his young smuggling career he had been in these enviorments a lot. Orin, however, had more trouble looking natural. They pulled it off though, and they finally made it to the nightclub, named Club Anmut, and went to the front door. There was a bouncer outside. Brandon suddenly recognized who it was. Brandon knew now getting in would be no problem.
"Yuri!" The big man looked up. He was about 290 pounds of pure muscle. He smiled. Orin noticed the man was missing teeth. "Brandon," he said in a thick Russian accent, "it is good to see you again." Brandon beamed back. "I know! How long has it been since the whole transport ship raid fiasco?" "Not long enough, my friend." Both of them laughed. Orin felt a little awkward but kept up his cover. Then Yuri looked at him. "And who is your friend?" Brandon suddenly stopped smiling. He hadn't thought of a cover name for Orin. "Uhhh...this...is my friend... Justin Case" Yuri thought about the name for a second, then decided it was nothing and turned back to Brandon. "Very good. Why exactly are you here though. I thought you would be busy smuggling something..." "Well I actually need to speak to Victor. Is he here tonight?" "Oh yes. He in back. Please go ahead and see him."
Yuri let them both through. Orin then slapped the back of Brandon's head. "Ow! What was that for?" Orin had a grimace on his face. "Justin Case? Really?" "What? It was all I could think of on short notice..." The two of them wandered through the nightclub. The nightclub was huge. It took up a whole 50 story skyscraper. Even though it was only 9 pm, people were already acting crazy. Orin looked at Brandon. "You used to hang around these people?" Brandon looked at him. "No way. I was raised in church. I was around the civilized people. My future "connections"." Orin understood. They continued up all the way to the 50 story. Orin was about to ask Brandon something else when suddenly a man approached Brandon and him.
Brandon smiled wide. "Hi there. We need to speak to Victor please." The man showed no emotion. "I'm sorry. Victor is not seeing anyone tonight. You'll have to come back another time." "Can you just tell him Brandon is here?" The man sighed. "Fine." And he walked into the back room. He came back a few minutes later. "I'm so sorry Mr. Jacobs., Victor would be happy to see you. He's on a tight schedule though, so he requests it doesn't last long." While he said this he led Brandon and Orin into a lounge with a large sitting area and a huge desk. A man in his 40s stood behind it video-chatting with another man. When he finished he turned around and saw the two of them.
"Brandon!" he said in a thick Russian accent, "It is so good to see you. Please come in. Come in. Can I offer you a drink maybe? Or are you hungry? I can have some food made for you." Brandon waived it away. "No thanks Victor. We actually came for some information. We want to know about a group that you might have sold weapons too illegally." "Ahh yes. Who were you thinking of?" "They're called the Hunters, and they..." "The Hunters! How do you know about..." Victor stopped, white faced. "They are deadly beyond belief. After I sold them weapons 7 years ago they've been trying to do away with me since..."
Brandon knew they had a chance after all. "What do you know about them?" Victor looked worried. "Unfortunately everything. Names. Locations. Shipping Logs. Hitlists." Orin spoke up. "How did you get that?" "I stole it once while I was at their base for a meeting." Brandon had hit the jackpot. "Where is it? Where's the base?" "It's all right here on my laptop." Suddenly Victor's cell phone rang. He reached to answer it, but Brandon stopped him. "Focus on this Victor. We don't have much time." Victor stopped and then opened his laptop. "Ok, fine. Here." He plugged in a storage device to his laptop and started copying the files. "Alright, you can take that when it's done. Now I need to go and..."
His cell phone rang again. He took it out of his pocket and turned it on. Brandon heard a beeping. Orin heard it too. They lept to the floor. An explosion. Brandon looked up. Victor was on the ground, bleeding profusely. Brandon lifted his head. He was trying to say something. Brandon looked into his dying friend's eyes. "What is it?" Victor struggled to speak. "The base....asteroid...earth 2. Now....go....stop them..." Victor died there in Brandon's arms.
Brandon knew now the Hunters would be here soon. "Orin check the hall for Hunters!" Orin ran to the door. Brandon checked the progress of the download. 89%. Almost there. Orin came back in. "The two guards outside are dead too." Orin barred the door. "What now Brandon?" "We get this info and get out of here!" 93%. Suddenly shots rang out from everywhere. They hit the floor. 97%. The door blew open and two Hunters ran into the room. Brandon pulled out his guns and opened fire. 8 shots. 8 hits. They kept coming. Brandon pulled out the storage device. Then he grabbed the laptop and Orin's arm and jumped out of the window into the pouring rain that was now beating the city and onto a metal awning below. He knew what had to be done. "Orin! Take this and get back to the ship. Once you do say type this into the computer: BrandonCommmand12. That'll lockdown the ship." "What are you gonna do?" "I'm gonna lead them off your trail. They only saw the laptop." Orin nodded, then he took the USP drive. Brandon took the laptop and prepared to jump. He turned to Orin. "Be careful." Orin nodded.
Then Brandon jumped down to the next roof. He was moving awning to awning. Directly in front of him about 30 feet away was another building. He jumped down 3 more awnings then sprinted and jumped to the other building, grabbing onto a window washing scaffold. Suddenly he noticed that one of the Hunters was right on his tail. He quickly lowered himself from the scaffold to a balcony below. He busted through the glass door and ran through the cubicles with the Hunter about 30 feet behind him. Brandon fired twice on the run. He saw the elevator ahead. He pressed the button and then ran down the staircase. He was on the 40 floor. He ran down 10 flights of stairs then went into the office space. He looked for another staircase to try and throw the Hunter off his trail.
The Hunter wasn't fooled. He appeared on the same floor. He raised his gun, ready to fire. Brandon hoped and prayed as he wildly shot. Somehow it hit the man's hand. Brandon used the distraction to jump desperately out a window he had noticed had a slanted roof outside. He crashed through the glass and started sliding. He was now sliding out of control. He struggled to stop. The Hunter was behind him sliding down, gun ready to fire. Brandon rolled to the right, but not soon enough. A shot was fired, and Brandon felt a sting in his right shoulder. But the Hunter hadn't noticed the end of the roof. The Hunter fell off the edge, almost 30 stories down to the ground. Brandon lay there, trying to figure out where to go from there. He looked around and saw the river below him and city buildings in all other directions.
Suddenly a police helicopter shone its light on him. APM. Brandon knew he had to jump. He climbed up the slanted roof about 20 feet, then he got a running start. The police helicopter this whole while was turning and Brandon saw a sniper taking aim. Brandon jumped, dropping the laptop toward the street and falling into the river. He landed just like he'd been taught. He let himself float downriver, then eventually got our at a bridge and headed back to the Sunfighter. He really hoped Orin would be there when he got there.
~3 hours later~ A black car pulled up to the sidewalk. Two men in suits got out. "So we lost one of our Hunters?" said one of the men. The other was quick to respond. "Yes. Whoever this new person is, they must be good to take out Matheson. He was one of our best officers." They walked over to where the laptop had fallen. One of the men picked it up. "Are you sure they didn't get any information?" "Positive. Our intel informs us that they had Victor Kremsky's laptop. Then they split up, one with the laptop and one with nothing." "Very good..." said one of them as they climbed back into the car. "...no worries then."
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Post by Orin on Jan 26, 2011 0:53:27 GMT
The Hunted 1-3-2
Brandon grabbed Orin’s arm and pulled him along as he jumped through a window out into the pouring rain. Brandon yelled over the sound of rain and thunder to Orin, “Orin! Take this and get back to the ship. Once you do type this into the computer: BrandonCommmand12. That'll lockdown the ship." "What are you gonna do?" Orin yelled back. "I'm gonna lead them off your trail. They only saw the laptop." Orin nodded, and then he took the USB drive. Brandon jumped down to the next roof and was gone in a flash with a Hunter chasing him. Being fifty stories up created some problems when jumping from roof to roof (i.e. wind). But Orin didn’t really have a choice. He took a step back and threw himself across a ten foot gap between some awnings. His landing was haphazard and he almost slid off! But he managed to pull himself up and roll over just in time; a Hunter climbing out of the window to Victor’s office. Orin drew his pistol, but hesitated to fire, it was raining which bothered Orin’s aim. Due to Orin’s hesitation, the Hunter simply pulled himself through the window and stood up on the rainy rooftop.
Orin dove down from the awning onto a rooftop of an adjacent building and began sprinting to a doorway that led down into the building. He dove through the door of the building and landed at the bottom of a short flight of stairs just as two of the Hunter’s bullets found their place in the wall just above his head. Orin quickly recovered himself and ran down another flight of stairs and through another door into a floor of the building with the Hunter close behind. Orin ran down a hallway as surprised office employees cried out when they saw his pistol. At the end of the hallway Orin stopped; it was a dead end. The only thing there was a floor to ceiling window which only lead to a fifty-some story fall to one’s death. He turned and started to run back just as the Hunter entered the hallway. Orin looked back to the window only to be met with a bright searchlight; an APM police helicopter was hovering outside the building. He was surrounded. He could either be killed by the Hunter, or by the sniper now taking aim at him from the APM helicopter.
In the next split second, Orin had made up his mind. He turned to the window and began sprinting at full speed. He shot his pistol at the window breaking the glass and jumped. The next second felt like an eternity as a whole clip of pistol ammo from the Hunter whizzed by Orin while he was in the air. Then, Orin felt cold steel; he made it. Orin was now hanging onto the helicopter. The sniper was so surprised that Orin merely pulled the man off-balance which caused the soldier to fall out of the chopper to his death. Orin paid no attention to the shocked pilots of the chopper as he climbed inside and tied a piece of rappelling cord around his ankle. By this time the pilots started to pull out their side arms. Orin turned and quickly dispatched them both; however, one of the pilot’s bodies fell limp onto the controls of the helicopter! Orin looked back at the building just in time for the Hunter to run back into the stairwell and perceivably down the stairs; he knew what Orin was going to do.
The helicopter pitched violently to the left toward the building as Orin jumped out, still connected by rope to the helicopter. He felt like he was free-falling for moment, but then the helicopter collided with the building. The rope shook violently and then became taught suddenly as the helicopter embedded itself into the side of the office skyscraper. Orin swung down toward a window in the building. “This is going to hurt if I don’t time this right...” Orin thought as he felt the speed of the pendulum motion of the rope increase. Then, just before colliding with the window, Orin cut the rope free so the he flung himself directly through the window. After coming to a rolling stop on the office floor of a surprised worker, he checked himself. A few minor scrapes from glass cut into his arms, but other than that, he was fine. He picked himself up off the office floor and turned to the stunned employee and said, “Boss didn’t prepare you for this, did he?” Outside, he could hear gunshots and screams of panic. The Hunter! He was already on the same floor as Orin!
Orin burst out of the office room and into the main floor of cubicles. There, over a crowd of screaming people, was the Hunter with his gun raised and aimed at Orin. Orin dove to the floor as a whole pistol clip of ammo from the Hunter collided with the wall behind him. Orin ran while crouching behind cubicles hoping that the Hunter would lose him in the confusion. All Orin had to do was make it to the stairwell. He kept his head down since the Hunter was still on the other side of the room. After Orin got close to the stairwell, he could tell it was jammed with frantic and screaming office employees trying to escape the mayhem. Obviously, Orin now knew that the stairwell was not an option; with twenty stories until the ground floor, Orin still had a ways to go, how would he get down?
He decided that he would make up the plan as he went. Orin located what seemed to be a maintenance elevator shaft. Orin ran to the shaft and called the elevator. It was 10 stories up, but these elevators were slow. The Hunter had by this time located Orin and started firing on him. Orin overturned a desk and used it for cover; all he had to do was get into that elevator. The Hunter shot everything he had at that metal table, but to no avail, Orin was kept relatively safe behind the metallic barrier. Orin popped up from the table and unloaded many rounds at the Hunter and then took cover again. He could hear his assailant groan in anger. Orin must have misjudged the position of the Hunter for when Orin started to peek his head over the table, he hit his head on something hard and cold, like the barrel of a pistol. Somehow, the Hunter had traversed the distance to Orin in a matter of moments and was now about to execute him.
Time slowed for Orin. It wasn’t the first time a gun had been held to his head, but he thought this would be the last. Orin clenched his teeth, he dared not move. The Hunter pulled the trigger. Click!......Click!....The Hunter was out of ammo! Orin used his chance. He quickly kicked the Hunter as he launched himself from the ground. Orin pulled his pistol and fired. Click! Orin was out too, but he had one extra magazine. Yet, his reloading was too slow, the Hunter was already retaliating. Orin dropped his pistol as he felt the brute force of an adrenaline fueled punch from the Hunter...straight to the gut. Orin coughed blood as he fell to the ground. He swung his leg in a kicking motion knocking the Hunter to the ground as well, but the assassin was far stronger than he. Orin couldn’t pick himself up from the ground quickly enough. He rolled over but was only met with the Hunter’s foot to his throat. Orin choked as the Hunter rammed with all his might to crush Orin’s windpipe.
Orin began to feel nausea from a lack of circulation to his brain as the man’s boot pressed with even more force. Orin struggled with his right hand to reach for something, anything to help him. Then he felt it, something cold....and sharp. Orin grabbed the small object (A piece of glass) and rammed it through the Hunter’s ankle, snapping the assailant’s Achilles tendon. Though the man felt no pain, he crumpled to the ground. From now on, if the Hunter tried to support himself on that leg, he would only fall. Orin recovered slowly as he gasped for air, he found his pistol and ran for the elevator, arriving there just as the door opened. The Hunter grasped a chair and picked himself up off of the floor. Supporting himself with one leg, the persistent man hobbled quickly toward the elevator whose door wasn’t closing fast enough. Orin knew the Hunter would make it in before the doors could shut. Orin found a small hatch in the ceiling of the elevator which he flung open. He managed to climb out of the elevator just as the Hunter grasped his leg. Orin fought to free himself but couldn’t. Then he remembered his extra clip.
He quickly reloaded his handgun and fired a shot into the Hunter’s arm. Some tendons must have broken, for the man’s grip lessened slightly. Allowing Orin to free himself and stand on top of the elevator. Orin grabbed a metal bar on the wall of the elevator shaft and then fired several shots at the supporting cord of the elevator. With a quick snap the elevator was sent free-falling away from Orin twenty stories to the ground floor, with the Hunter still inside. An explosion at the bottom of the shaft put the final nail into the Hunter’s coffin.
Orin jumped back the main office floor. To say the place looked disheveled would be an understatement. Orin knew he couldn’t go down through the stairwell where the police would be searching the crowd for him, so he located a fire escape and used it instead. The streets around the building were fraught with panic, which Orin skillfully avoided. After making sure no one was tracking him, Orin went back to the Sunfighter and located the security computer aboard the vessel. He entered BrandonCommand12 and heard doors locking within the ship. He pulled the USB drive out of his pocket and placed on a table. “All of that, for this...” he mumbled to himself. Now all he could do was wait for Brandon to make it back.
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Post by Brandon on Jan 29, 2011 7:01:48 GMT
Orin sat in the ship and waited. A few hours later he finally heard something outside. He grabbed his pistol and took aim at the door. He heard a shuffling sound, and then breather a sigh of relief. It was Brandon, and that gave Orin a sense of relief; but then he realized something was wrong. Brandon was limping and extremely pale. He suddenly fell to the floor. Orin rushed over to help Brandon. The last thing Brandon saw was Orin. He formed the words "Do...you...have it?" Orin nodded. "Yeah, but I need to get you help." "NO! I'll be fine. I...'' And then Brandon fell unconcious.
[Some time later...]
Light. A light. That's what Brandon could see. He tried to remember where he was, what was happening, but his mind was fuzzy at best. He could just see scattered images. A building. A man. Falling into darkness. A room with monitors. Writing a note. Brandon pulled himself up. He was in a room. One light was shining on the bed where he had lay, but there were no other lights and no one in the room. Brandon headed for the door, but stumbled dizzily and fell, knocking over a table on his way to the floor.
Suddenly, he heard a rush outside the door. How was he going to fight in this condition? He readied himself to fight however he could. Orin entered the doorway in a panic after hearing the noise. He saw Brandon on the floor and rushed over, picked him up, and helped him back to the bed. "What are you doing? You shouldn't be up." "Where am I?" "You're back at the Sunfighter. Eh, don't worry. You'll remember eventually. When you got back here you'd lost tons of blood. I've been trying to help you recover, but it's been a slow recovery. You really need help.''
Brandon understood. He knew he'd need a doctor, but he didn't want to go to an emergency facility for fear of being captured. "I know Orin. I know. We will worry about me in a bit though. Have you looked at that info yet?" "No. I've been too busy taking care of you." "Well, now's the time. Plug it into my laptop. Then we'll see about help."
Orin went and got the USP and plugged it into Brandon's laptop. The files began to load and Orin became wide-eyed. "Oh my heavens. What did he get himself into?" "What's there?" Brandon said hopefully. "Everything. Names. Assignments. Addresses. Even SSNs. I don't believe this... How did he get these?" "It's Victor. He gets everything he can on his clients. Check about bases." Orin punched in some search parameters, hit the enter button, and waited. "I've got one thing." "What is it?!" Brandon exclaimed as he sat up too fast, then fell backwards dizzily.
"A visit by Victor to a prison base to talk about security. The coordinates show an asteroid not too far from Apothos, but behind a moon so as to keep it hidden. Perfect hiding place. And according to this they've been using freighters as a disguise to get to it. I can't believe no one's found it though." Brandon lifted his head from the pillow. "Well they are professionals." "True. Ok, we've looked at the USP. Now can we get you some help?"
Brandon thought for a moment. "Yeah. I'll give you instructions to my place here on Apothos. Go find Frank. He knows a bit about army medical stuff. Bring him with you but don't give him any information other than I've asked him to come." A few hours later, Orin returned with Frank. Frank saw Brandon on the bed. "Are you sure he's ok?" Orin nodded. "For now he is. But he needs a bit of attention. Can you help?" "Of course." Frank walked over to Brandon. Brandon heard the noise and awoke slowly, then spoke. "Hey there buddy how have you been?" They both laughed and started to talk. Orin was lost as he heard them talking of people and places he hadn't heard of. Finally they finished talking and Frank gave Brandon the medical attention he needed. "You should be fine in a few days. Do you want me to bring Lucius, Daniel, and Kurt by?" Brandon shook his head. "No. Let them do what they need to do. In fact, promise me you won't tell them about you even seeing me. Ok?"
Frank had to think. Finally he and Brandon shook on it, and Frank left. Brandon turned to Orin. "Alright. Well our next step is getting to the asteroid, but until then we'll have to find something for you to do while I recover." "What do you suggest?" "Do you remember that list of Hunter agents?" Orin frowned. "Yeah." Brandon smiled. "Are you good at recon and assasination?"
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Post by Orin on Feb 12, 2011 21:53:46 GMT
The Hunted 1-3-4
Orin turned to Brandon and said, “Wait, you don’t mean track down another Hunter and assassinate him, do you?” “Well,” Brandon said coarsely as he shifted his weight on his wound, “That’s kinda what I was going for...” “Why would that help us?” “I figured that the Hunters here would maybe, if you trailed one, lead you back to a ship of some kind; then we’d know what ports they were using to get on and off this planet.” “Hmmm,” Orin thought for a moment, “It’s not that I dislike what you’re going for, I just think that this is a bad idea; let me explain. First off, you’re here wounded. If the Hunters found you, you’d be vulnerable and they’d have quite sometime to figure out a way into here. Second, both you and I know that we barely escaped our pursuers back there. Not to be selfish or anything, but putting myself into harm’s way again seemed like a bad idea as well. Finally, even if we did figure out how they were getting on and off Apothos, how would that help us? As soon as you heal, we’re out of here; we got to save your father right? I can stay here and try to pull together what I know about the Hunters and their killing methods; if we are going to go to the hornet’s nest, we might as well be armed with a few cans of bug spray, right?”
Brandon thought for a bit, then said, “You’re right; maybe the recent events have messed with my brain or something.” “Besides,” Orin replied, “I got to keep an eye on you anyways. You shouldn’t start getting up and about too soon; that could ruin the healing process. I spend the next few days gathering information about the Hunters from my past experiences with them, maybe they’ll have some kind of weakness. Get some rest; I’ll come check on you tomorrow.” Orin left the room and entered another, his quarters. He would have to try hard to remember that numerous attacks he had survived by the Hunters.
Then the key word in all was survived. Orin had only killed one Hunter, the one here on Apothos. Never had he truly beaten one. Even this recent kill was extremely close. But he had to think. He thought of how he avoided a Hunter one time by running into a crowded street. The Hunter wouldn’t pull his gun in public, but that wouldn’t work here in the Arcia system. Another time he escaped a Hunter by car, but that wouldn’t help when Brandon and he were assaulting the Hunter base. What was the answer?! It frustrated Orin to no end. Every time he had faced off a Hunter, he had to run; he HAD to. There was no choice, it was that or death to him and so many others. He removed the small book from his pack and said quietly, “Oh the troubles I’ve gone through to keep this safe. Where is Elliot Danver?” Orin snapped back to his thoughts on the Hunters.
For days, Orin thought while Brandon healed. Every time Brandon asked if Orin had come up with any kind of breakthroughs Orin had to answer no. Then, after about a week of thinking and researching, Orin had an epiphany. Every time he had to face a Hunter, he HAD to run. But what if he didn’t run? What if he had the resources to hunker down and fight? Orin paused; almost every encounter with the Hunters caught Orin off-guard. They always knew where he was, but he never knew where they were. He was always surprised, and so he always ran! But now, Brandon and Orin were going to surprise the Hunters. It’s the last thing they suspect! The element of surprise was key, but what about the Hunters’ adrenaline-fueled fighting prowess? Orin thought. The last time when he killed the Hunter...barely...he only had a pistol. Anyone running on that much adrenaline with body armor, could easily stand up to a couple clips of pistol ammo. But what if Orin had had bigger guns, with larger rounds, and more ammo? Brandon was a legendary smuggler, he would have access to weapons like that. The big guns, that’s what they needed. They needed to surprise the Hunters on their home turf with brute force. However, Orin never forgot his policy of avoidance when it came to fighting Hunters. If Brandon could set the Sunfighter down on another part of the asteroid so that the two could sneak into the base, then they could save their firepower for when they needed it. That’s it! Stealth, surprise, and brute force would all have to be used to beat the Hunters this once. Orin knew that if they made it off that asteroid, more Hunters would come, and things would be worse than before, but that was a risk Orin would have to take. Orin relayed this information to Brandon who was quite pleased with the ideas that ha had offered. Now Brandon had that much more information with which to formulate his plan.
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Post by Brandon on Apr 2, 2011 4:35:25 GMT
Brandon and Orin were busy preparing for their planned assualt on the Hunters. They both knew this was a longshot, but they knew they definitely had a chance at succeeding. Brandon thought Orin's idea was brilliant, and Brandon knew just where to get big weaponry. They were stocking the Sunfighter with necessary food, water, ammo, medical supplies, and other necessities when Brandon's PDA started to ring. Orin watched as Brandon answered the call, said some phrases in Russian, and hung up the PDA again. Brandon looked at Orin.
"He's got what we need. We need to meet him in 45 minutes."
"Where?"
"The South River Bridge. It'll be busy with rush hour traffic when we get there. Then he'll take us to the supplies."
"Why did you speak Russian to him?"
Brandon look over at Orin skeptically.
"He's of Russian descent. Why do you care so much?"
Orin shrugged as he lifted a box into place in the cargo bay.
"It just seems like a lot of your friends are Russians."
Brandon smiled.
"What can I say? Those Russians love breaking the law I guess."
45 minutes later the two of them were walking on the South River Bridge amidst the thousands of people there. Orin was scanning ever person in the crowd for some sort of enemy that wasn't there. Yet Orin was convinced someone was about to try and kill them. The two of them waited by a newsstand until a big man of about 300 pounds came up to the newsstand. He finally spoke.
"Мира. Любовь. Уважение."
Brandon swiftly replied.
"Так мы братья."
The big man smiled and hugged Brandon. He had a very thick accent. Orin had trouble understanding him while Brandon understood easily.
"Et has been so long, my friend. Ze last time had to be yearz ago. Boot I have what you ordered my friend. Follow me."
Brandon signaled to Orin and they followed Brandon's friend. Orin walked beside Brandon and started asking him questions.
"So, Brandon, who is this guy?"
"His name is Peter Petrosvki."
"And where exactly did you find him?"
"An old friend."
"From where?"
"My military days."
Orin stopped in his tracks.
"You were in the military? I thought you had always been a smuggler?"
"I don't wanna talk about it."
"But what military were you in?"
Brandon turned and glared at Orin with a fire in his eyes Orin didn't know Brandon possessed.
"Be quiet right now Orin."
Orin realized Brandon was furious, so he stayed quiet. The 3 of them walked along as quickly as Peter's size would allow them to walk. Finally they reached an alley where Peter turned and went into the darkness. They finally reached an old factory where Peter knocked on the door twice. The door opened and they went inside. Inside was nothing. The factory floor was completely empty, except for right in the middle. In the middle of the floor were 3 large boxes. Peter now pointed to these with a sausage-like finger.
"One box-weapons. Another-armor. Last one-Big Boom supplies."
Orin turned a skeptical eye to him.
"You sure this is all we need?"
Peter returned the skeptical eye.
"Of course et is. I always know just how much supplies you need. Theez allow you to break in undeetected, do your damage, escape, and make beeg boom!"
Brandon smiled.
"Thank you Peter. We'll come back to pick it up tonight with the ship."
"You're welcome my friend. Do your work. В ее имя."
Whatever the Russian had just said brought a tear to Brandon's eye. He stood there with a blank stare, then turned to Orin.
"Let's go get the ship."
Orin and Brandon made their way back to the ship. The whole while they were walking back to the ship Orin was thinking about all that Brandon had showed today. Obviously something else is in his past, Orin thought. He wanted to find out what, but now wasn't the time. He needed to focus on the mission.
They got back to the ship. They fired up the Sunfighter and then went and collected the crates. Orin went to the boxes and opened them.
"Whoa! What are these?"
Orin held up two rifles. Brandon smiled wide.
"These are P97s. Latest model. 35 round clip. Attached launcher."
"What kind of launcher?"
"Multiple projectile. We're gonna use these though."
Brandon pulled out a couple of what looked like grenades. He tossed one to Orin.
"These are firebombs. Good for blockades in hallways and causing max damage to close quarters facilities."
"Sweet!"
"And this is our ticket inside."
Brandon held up a suit of armor. Orin strained his eyesight.
"I can barely see it."
Brandon smiled.
"Exactly. Prototype Chameleon suit. Lightweight, bulletproof, and it does a great job at confusing the enemy into wondering if you're there or not. And this is for the grand finale."
Brandon pulled out a package about 1 & 1/2 feet by 1 & 1/2 feet and about 5 inches high. He placed it deliccately on the table. Orin looked puzzled.
"What is it?"
"This my friend is an EMP. Large enough to knock out half this planet. When we set this off, that base will be out of comission for years."
Orin was starting to understand.
"So..."
"So," Brandon said, "we break in, set the EMP in the middle of the base near their internal power plant, rescue my dad, escape, and blow the EMP."
"That's just crazy enough to work," Orin said.
"Oh and one more thing."
Brandon held up a bullet with a red tip.
"Armor-piercing shells."
Both of them grinned. Brandon pointed to the cockpit.
"Let's go get 'em."
The both sat down at the controls. Brandon locked in coordinates. Then Orin turned on thrusters. They would have to get off the planet quick so as not to be detected by the APM. Brandon turned and looked at Orin. They were both smiling.
"Alright, Orin. Coordinates set. We're ready. Punch it!"
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Post by Brandon on May 5, 2011 3:49:44 GMT
Brandon knew what they were about to do was crazy, but they had no choice. They had to get his dad. He didn't like thinking about how things could go wrong, so he pushed the thought out of his head. No longer would he be hunted by the Hunters. Now he was the hunter. Suddenly his mind was brought back to attention when he heard Orin telling him that they were near the coordinates. Brandon looked at the monitor. He steered the ship towards a location a few miles away from the base. They would space walk to the base and then take care of things from there. The asteroid finally came into view. It was not the largest piece of real estate around, but all the metal from nearby asteroids made the instruments on the Sunfighter go fuzzy. He realized this was a great defense mechanism. It was no wonder that no one had found this before.
Finally, he landed the ship. Brandon and Orin took their time suiting up. It was getting close to 6pm. Most of the Hunters would be at dinner and out of uniform when they struck. They got everything packed and ready. Then they set the Sunfighter to cloaking mode. They stepped out into the oxygen free atmosphere in full spacesuit. It was a very interesting feeling walking on that asteroid. Brandon thought that this must be the closest he'd ever get to flying. He could hardly believe the feeling of fun he was having while he was most likely going to his death. No. He wasn't going to die. He felt it. He made his own fate, and he knew he would make it out. At least he hoped.
Finally the base started growing bigger and bigger until it was completely imposed upon their views. Brandon's voice came crackling over the PA system in their helmets. "Orin. Come in." "This is Orin. I read you." "Set suits to power. We're gonna blend right into the rockface behind us." "Copy." Both of them turned on the chameleon suits. Brandon saw his arms start blending in with the background.
Little did they know right now a Hunter was looking right at them. He saw two....somethings. He thought he saw something...but it didn't look like anything. He rubbed his eyes and muttered, "And I didn't even drink last night."
Brandon and Orin finally made it to the base itself. Orin's voice suddenly came through the helmet. "Ok. Now where?" Brandon pointed to the right. They walked along the wall until they came to a maintenance hatch. Brandon walked up to the keypad and entered a code. Nothing. He tried another one. Nothing. He tried the third. Still nothing. "Alright last one," he said. He entered it. Finally the door opened. Both of them rushed inside. Once the airlock has sealed, they cut off the air to their helmets. They took out their weapons and got everything loaded and ready. "Alright," Orin said, "let's do this." They did a fistbump, then proceeded inside.
They followed the hallways. Left. Left. Right. Left. It went on and on. They met little to no guards and made their way easily to the generator room. Brandon found the correct code and they went inside. They set the EMP in between the 4 main power generators. They were setting it when suddenly the door opened. Brandon tossed the detonator he was working with into a nook where no one would see it. It was two guards and a maintenance worker that had entered. The two Hunters obviously didn't think anyone had gotten into their base because they didn't really look for anything. The maintenance worker was walking towards generator 1 when he thought he saw a shape. The shape was Orin. The man stared and thought. He was so confused. One of the guards noticed his face. "What's the matter, worker?" The man looked at the guard, puzzled. "I don't know. I thought I saw something. Something like a person." "Have you been hitting the bar hard or something?" asked the guard. The worker chuckled, "The wife must be driving me nuts." The three laughed and finally left. Orin's voice came over the PA. "That was too close."
Brandon picked up the detonator and began working on it again. 5 minutes later, Orin began to get frustrated. "You almost done?" Brandon replied. "Almost. Blue here. Red wire there. Now I set the microprocessor with the timer, and bam! There we go!" Orin smiled, "Alright. Now let's get your dad and get out of here." The two made their way out of the room and headed toward the prison block.
They finally made it to a giant steel door. Brandon saw two guards. Orin was reaching for his gun, but Brandon stopped him. "I got this. We can't make any sound." Orin was wondering what Brandon meant to do, but by now he had come to trust Brandon. Brandon was really the only one he did trust. Brandon suddenly out of nowhere started flipping objects and throwing them at razor sharp speed. The two guards fell to the floor without a sound. Now Orin realized what had happened. "Throwing knives. Nice. Where'd you learn to throw like that?" Brandon smiled. "A long time ago when I was in the military. I don't want to talk about it." Once again Orin wondered what military Brandon meant. He wanted to bring it up, but now was not the time.
Orin and Brandon moved the bodies to a maintenance closet and opened the steel door with the correct code. They didn't notice, however, the sign on the wall: HIGH RADIATION SCREENING. They didn't notice their suits starting to short. Two guards suddenly noticed them and started firing. Still believing they were invisible, it took a couple seconds for Orin and Brandon to react. It was too late. A bullet hit Brandon in the chest, but Brandon didn't go down. It had just hit the the chameleon generator. Orin ripped out his gun and started releasing bullets in all directions. Now more guards were streaming to their location. There must have been 5-6 Hunters now. That didn't stop Orin. Brandon was throwing knives in all directions. He saw one Hunter getting ready to use adrenaline. He threw a knife and managed to slice the adrenaline line on the Hunter's suit. Then a second later, the follow-up knife hit the Hunter between the eyes.
Orin's gunfire was heavy and accurate. The Hunters were giving ground fast. It was now two on two. The Hunters, out of desperation, pulled a fast one. One took a bullet to the chest so that the other could inject with adrenaline. Orin looked in horror as the Hunter started coarsing with adrenaline when suddenly there was an explosion. The Hunter was gone, blown to smithereens. Orin looked for the source. It had been a firebomb, and the smoke was still lingering from Brandon's gun. Brandon made a gun with his fingers and fake-fired it. Orin chuckled. Even in the most serious situation Brandon could find a way to be a clown.
Brandon ran to the main desk, where he perused the prison log until he found his father. "23-114B. This way!" yelled Brandon as he ran down the hall. Orin followed quickly. They finally found it. Brandon didn't see a keypad. "I can't get it open!" Orin took out his gun. "Move back!" Then Orin broke the lock with his gun. They broke through the door. Orin went in but felt a blow to his head as he entered.
When he finally looked up, he saw Brandon and his father in a hug. Finally the family was together again. Suddenly Brandon's father turned to Orin. "I'm sorry about your head. I thought they were coming to take care of me once and for all." Orin groaned, "Hey it's what I would've done." They all chuckled, but then Mr. Jacobs's face grew serious. "So how do we get out of here?" "Easy," replied Brandon as he handed his father a handgun and an oxygen mask, "we fight our way out." Mr. Jacobs smiled. "Sounds good."
The trio ran out of the prison block. By now the whole base was on alert. Orin saw Brandon taking out the detanator. "What are you doing?" Brandon grimaced as he fidgeted with the controls. "I'm setting the timer. We have to have it start running now." Orin quickly snapped back "But we might not make it back in time!" Orin waited for Brandon's reply. Finally he heard, "I know." All three knew the risk they were taking. They rounded a corner to find themselves faced with at least 20 Hunters. Orin looked at Brandon and they both nodded. All three dove for cover. Then the firefight began. Brandon and Orin both used firebombs. Now only 12 remained. Mr. Jacobs got a kill. Orin got 4. Brandon got 3. It was now 3 on 4. Brandon knew what he had to do. He signaled Orin. "Orin, take my dad to the ship. I'll distract them." "With what?!" yelled Orin. Suddenly, Brandon stood up and yelled, "Hey you guys!" The Hunters actually froze for a second. Brandon smiled and held up the detonator. "Tell your moms I said hi." All 4 Hunters got mad and started a charge for the 3 of them when Brandon ran off down a different hallway. 3 of the Hunters followed Brandon.
Orin knew there was nothing else to do but take Mr. Jacobs to the Sunfighter. But first there was the last Hunter. He turned to take care of the last obstacle. The Hunter was dead though, with Mr. Jacobs standing over him. Orin looked in amazement. Mr. Jacobs smiled. "What? You've never heard of double tap?"
Orin led Mr. Jacobs down the maze of hallways. All the while, he heard gunfire from other hallways. He hoped Brandon was ok. Brandon was usually fine on his own, but these weren't good odds. How much time did he have? 30 minutes. This would be close. They finally made it through the airlock and out into the atmoshere and rocky landscape. By the time they reached the Sunfighter they only had 7 minutes left. Orin knew if Brandon wasn't there they'd have to leave him. They got inside and ran to the cockpit. They were greeted by a smiling face in Hunter uniform. Orin almost shot out of instinct but stopped himself. It was Brandon. Orin wanted to ask so many questions, but he knew right now they needed to leave. Orin spoke quickly. "We need to get out of here now!" Brandon was still smiling. "I know. We're all set. Everyone sit down!" Orin and Mr. Jacobs sat quickly as Brandon lifted the ship into the atmosphere and started the thrusters. He kicked the power to full as he evaded AA fire from the base. He heard sensors indicating SAMs but hit the ship into a faster gear. 10...9...8...Ready?!7...Orin and Mr. Jacobs nodded...6...5...Alright...PUNCH IT!!!...2...1...0. They heard a massive explosion as the Sunfighter blasted off. Orin looked back and saw the Hunters base completely down.
He walked to the co-pilots seat and sat down next to Brandon. Brandon smiled. "We did it?" "We did it," Orin replied. They sat in awe for a few minutes in what they had done. Orin had so many questions, and he finally spoke up. "I have some questions for you Brandon, but first you Mr. Jacobs. I believe you have some info for us about a certain scientist?"
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