Thu May 20, 2004 9:10 am
Freelancer: After The Nomads (Resurrected Fan Fic)
I made a new thread for this because the old one got a bit messed up
I can still remember the day when they came back, Trent, Juni, King, etc. It was a glorious day, although no one knew exactly what had happened. All we knew that President Jacobi had been taken hostage and then been rescued by these three people and the Order. Orillion, the real leader of the Order had been allowed to come to Manhatten and everyone who took part in the fight against the Nomads was awarded medals. No one was quite sure what had actually happened to the Nomads, some said they had all died, some said they wouldn’t come back. I didn’t though, I thought that they were still out there, them and their masters, the Dom Kavosh. Unfortunately for us, however, my suspicions were going to be proved right…
Two years later, many had forgotten that the Nomads had ever existed, especially since very few people had actually seen them. At least, that was until news reports started coming in about a Rheinland battleship disappearing while on a routine mission around the new hypergate. Some people suspected some criminal organisation, such as the Outcasts, but many, including me, knew that even the dreaded outcasts couldn’t take down a battleship that easily. Other than suspicions, life continued as normal, I flew my usual escort mission with BMM, guarding a shipment of alien artefacts that was travelling to New Berlin. As we passed through Omega – 3, suddenly a great purple light surrounded us. Instinctively I turned away from the rest of the convoy to try and escape it, I could smell the ‘light’ melting through the tail of my ship, and I barely managed to escape it. As I turned back to look at the convoy, all that was left was a cloud of smoke and a few pieces of debris…
I limped to Freeport 1 where I sat and contemplated what I had seen. I decided to tell the owners of the base, at first they didn’t believe me, but I managed to convince them by flying with them to the spot where it occurred and showing them the remains. I managed to recover the data recorder of the train and I brought it back to Freeport 1. There I watched the last few moments before it was destroyed. It wasn’t long before the story was spread all around Sirius. Returning to Planet New London, I sat and thought about what a terrible thing had happened and how close I had been to dying. The next day I was surprised when Orillion himself called me. He asked if I would be willing to join the Order, since they had suspicions that this could have something to do with the Nomads and the Dom Kavosh and they thought my experience could help them. Although I had no idea how I could help an organisation like the Order, I agreed…
My first day with the Order was an interesting one, I was met by two escorts who flew me out to the Osiris, where I met Orillion. Here he asked me to describe my encounter while he sat still, nodding at my remarks. I was still in shock just from being here, let alone talking to Orillion. After our conversation, he took me to see the Order’s new heavy fighter, the Horus. I told him I thought it was a great ship and to my astonishment he told me that I was to have one and that I couldn’t work for the Order without a decent ship. Then he took me to see the equipment dealer, where he said I could have any weapons I wanted. I was dumbfounded at his generosity. Then he told me that we were going to meet some people. He took me to the bar and ordered me a drink when I heard someone say my name. Turning around I saw Juni, Trent and King, my heroes…
Leaving the Osiris, we headed back to where the rest of my convoy had disappeared. Here we began to conduct a search for any clues that might have been left behind. We searched for 3 long hours but nothing. Just as we were about to leave, I saw something, a purplish glow in the distance. I went to investigate, radioing the others to follow. As we approached, I realised there was nothing on my scanners, yet there was definitely some disturbance. Trent remarked that it looked like some sort of huge jump hole. Just as we got there, it seemed to come to life, as though it had been turned on. Then we saw it. A huge ship, bigger even than a battleship. It was like the Nomad battleships, except bigger, better and even more powerful…
We were so shocked at this sudden occurrence that we almost forgot we were still cloaked. We sat there in silence, watching this huge ship fly out of the jump hole. It headed towards the place where my convoy had been attacked. Silently, we followed it, trying not to get too close. When it reached the point where my convoy had been destroyed, it vanished. It had cloaked. This turn of events was even more worrying, we now knew there was a huge ship flying around unnoticed, who knows there could be hundreds of them flying around and no-one would notice…
Suddenly a huge beam of purple light seemed to fill the space around us. We could just make out the ship behind it, it seemed to be firing some huge cannon, not at us, but at the navy patrol that was passing through the system. We had to get out of there and warn the governments, otherwise there would be no chance for mankind. We quickly and quietly flew away, to Bretonia space. We landed at Planet New London, where Orillion contacted the Osiris and told them what we had seen. Juni, likewise contacted Liberty. I couldn’t yet believe it, I was now in the middle of this, just like my heroes had been against the nomads…
Once aboard the Osiris, I discovered that the Order had been secretly developing a new type of engine, a sort of 'jump drive' that could get a ship from one system to another in a matter of seconds. One of these prototype engines had been installed on the Osiris, and we were going to use it to jump to a new, undeveloped system that had been discovered on the edge of the Sirius sector. I held my breath as it charged up, before a deafening blast shook the entire ship...
At first I thought we were under attack again, but the sound soon died away and it wasn't long before we had reached our destination. According to Orillion we were now on the outskirts of the Sirius sector, beyond the Tau systems. Looking out of one of the windows on this ship, I was suprised to see a number of other ships flying around what looked like some kind of base. When I asked Orillion about it, he told me that the Order had been preparing for sometime in case of another Nomad attack. This was the centre of the Order's research and it was from here that they were going to launch their counter-attack...
I ended up spending a few days docked here, mainly because there was very little else to do. While the 4 main houses had been warned, there had been little they could do, now they were all involved in fierce battles against our new found adversaries. Haven, as this new system had been named, was the only safe place. One day I was shocked to see a group of outcast pilots wandering around, but I soon found out that the order was working with outcast scientists to try and produce a new form of ship that could at least have a chance against our opponents...
During my stay, I met many people from different parts of Sirius, corsairs, xenos, outcasts, rheinlanders, almost every faction. one person i noticed more than the others, was a girl called katherine, she seemed somehow different from everyone else, unusual, special. i didnt get round to talking to her very often, but when i did, i felt as though i was in the presence of someone greater than me. I couldn't quite pinpoint exactly what it was that drew me to her. I wasn't sure if it was her looks, her mind, or something completely different, i wasnt sure of anything. I never realised exactly how i felt for her until that day, when they came...
No-one was prepared, they seemed to come from nowhere. 2 huge juggernauts along with a number of fighters. All we had to defend ourselves were weapons, which seemed ineffective against them and a few as yet untested prototypes. All fighters were immediately launched, while everyone else prepared for evacuation. I was given a prototype. Katherine stayed behind. I now began to understand what I felt for her. It wasn't quite love, but I felt increasingly protective and I felt that this was my chance to do something for her, to protect her...
Once in space, I immediately felt adrenaline start pumping through my blood. I quickly locked on to the closest fighter and began firing, the prototype weapons seemed strangely like those of the enemy. As I my shots hit my foe, I thought of Kimberly still on the station, which only made me more determined to win. A gripping dogfight ensued, with both me and my opponent attempting to out manoeuvre the other. I had to admit that this was one nice ship. I soon managed to gain the upper hand and with one final shot, caused it not to burst into flames as one might have expected, but instead to almost vaporise, until all that was left was some blueish dust. Although I was shocked, I regained my composure and focussed on my next target. This proved to be easier, maybe due to the pilot... I suddenly thought, do these ships even have pilots?... or maybe just due to my experience. Although I seemed to be doing quite well, many of my comrades were falling and I could hear their screams of anguish and pain echo through my headphones. At the same time however, many of the enemy fighters had also been destroyed, but there was still the small problem of the two huge juggernauts approaching the base. By now, many of the people still left on the station had left, but some, including Kimberly, were still left on it. Orillion gave the order to retreat, but I wasn't leaving Kim behind, so I flew back to the station and hurried through the rooms to her. I found her in the armaments room, attempting to bring some of the prototype technology with her. I grabbed the rest of it and pulled her towards my ship. The station began shuddering; I assumed that the juggernauts were assaulting it. We fought our way through the debris that was now littering the floor. We reached my ship just as the station began to disintegrate. I took off, and looked back to see those ominous purple beams once more...
We headed towards the rendezvous, in an outlying system now uninhabited. As we approached it we found to our horror, that it was deserted. It seemed as though the rest of the force had already left. One base seemed to still be functioning, so we landed there and refitted, refuelled, and decided what to do next.
With all four houses under attack, there seemed little point in heading to any of the main systems, so instead we decided to use the outlying systems and go off in search for any help or clues. As we flew through system after system, our hopes fell, as they all seemed to be void of any signs of life whatsoever.
Since there seemed to be no point in continuing our search, we headed for Bretonia, hoping that not all was lost. As we approached Dublin, we were relieved to pick up some Molly ships on our scanners, showing that not all was lost. As we neared the ships, we were suprised to have had no radio contact with them, and even more suprised that they just seemed to be sitting in space. We soon found out why, there was no pilot! They were just sitting there in space, abandoned...
As we proceeded through the Dublin system we encountered more of the same things, everything abandoned. We soon moved through Bretonia to New London. Here we found something completely different. It seemed to be a hub of excitement, with many ships flying to or fro, each seeming to be occupied in its own way. The strange thing was the fact that there seemed to be no radio contact between any of them, as though someone had pressed the 'mute' button. Even when I attempted to contact them over the radio they seemed to just ignore me. All over the system I met the same thing, silence...
We slowly approached Planet New London, where we were greeted by something even more strange, the whole planet seemed to be glowing… As we moved in to take a closer look, a group of ships flew out of the docking ring, they looked suspiciously like those we had seen assaulting our base. Unfortunately they saw us, and unlike the rest of the ships in the system, they immediately locked on to us, and told us to surrender. At first we decided to run, but as we flew, we discovered that all over the system, every ship locked onto us. Soon, we were surrounded and forced to give up. They tractored us in, and that’s all I remembered…
on 5/24/2004 3:27:01 PM