New Story

Chapter 1 The Breeding Darkness As night fell over the continent of Greater Albany on Manhattan, one residence still remained active in the Boston District of the region. In this residence lived the legendary Edison Trent, cited as a hero of the first order for his heroic part in the great Omicron War of 803 AS (Which was as yet still unknown to the public). In his bedchamber, the freelancer was lying on his bed, deeply absorbed in a neural communications program that allowed him to communicate great distances privately with other people who´s neural nets he had access too. At the moment, he was attempting to contact his old friend, Jun´ko Zane, who was currently on New Tokyo. As of the moment, he was having trouble contacting her, so he decided to leave an optical imprint in Juni´s neural net to indicate that he had contacted her. This night wasn´t the first he had stayed awake. As Trent looked over his past logs in his neural net, he recounted all the incidents, big and small, that he had encountered. He examined a visual record of the Second Yanagi Battle, in which he and a group of blood dragons, along with the prefect of Honshu, Lord Hakkera, had destroyed the Rheinland flagships Fenrir and Jormugand, crippling the Rheinland war effort during the Nomad infestation. Lord Hakkera. It had been so long since he had spoken to the powerful man. As with Juni, Trent attempted to contact Lord Hakkera. Lord Hakkera responded. Trent: Lord Hakkera. It´s been a while. Lord Hakkera: Indeed it has, Trent. How have you been keeping yourself ? Trent: Well enough, thanks. How about you ? Lord Hakkera: Just as always. Trent: Lord Hakkera, have you heard from Juni lately ? Lord Hakkera: I spoke to her recently. She´s on New Tokyo - Trent: That I already know... Lord Hakkera: Let me finish, Trent. A recent discovery by a Samura team investigating the Ryu Kyu basin in the Matsuo region had found ... something strange, to say the least. Trent: Oh ? And what has that got to do with Juni ? Lord Hakkera: Your very brusqueness in this matter annoys me, Trent. Allow me to finish, please. Trent: I´m sorry, Lord Hakkera. I´m just tense. It´s been a while since Juni spoke to me and I´ve become anxious about what she´s been upto. Lord Hakkera: Understandibly. Trent: So what were you saying ? Lord Hakkera: In the Ryu Kyu basin, a Samura team exploring for polymer sources came upon a pyramid with strange markings all around it´s faces. It appeared to be emanating an as yet unknown form of energy. After that, the Samura research team became seriously ill. When the New Tokyo government sent down unmanned machines to the archeological anomaly, a strange sighting was detected. numbers of odd, blue energy orbs were recorded flying about. Trent: Oh god ..... Nomads ? Lord Hakkera: It would appear that way, though the objects did not attack. Nomad aggressiveness patterns have increased recently in the Omicron systems, which does not account for the somewhat peaceful behaviour of the orbs. However, we have also found traces of nomad energy streams near the pyramid, indicating a relation with the orbs and the nomads. Trent: What does Juni have to do with all this ? Lord Hakkera: I didn´t want to be the one to tell you this, freelancer. Juni had recently investigated the site and was not seen to resurface. communication transfers were sent all across the Ryu Kyu, but no sign of Juni or her team has appeared. Trent: *Silence* Lord Hakkera: Trent ? Trent: I have to go, Lord Hakkera. At this moment, Trent signs off his neural net and awakens from his neuro-stasis. He ponders all that he has just absorbed. What had happened to Juni ? What were these orbs ? What did the nomads have anything to do with this ? Suddenly, Trent sensed an electrical pulse going off near his doorway. He slowly handled his Detroit pocket canon and crept to the door. The photo-switches were off, so he turned on the infrared sensors which he had installed in his eyes. he kept his back to the foyer wall, and watched the entrance to the doorway. Suddenly, he felt a body enter the foyer. In a swift move, grabbed the intruder by the next, pointed the pocket canon at his head, and switched on the lights with a neuro-command. The intruder suddenly started shouting out loud, and Trent, with a grin on his mouth, inspite of what he had just heard, said: "Why, it´s Cosmo Van Neptor, you old artifact dealin´ scum. What brings you to my place ?"

Chapter 2 The Past Revisited Inside Edison Trent´s home, a minor commotion had broken out. Someone had just broken into his house, and he had them pinned against the wall. Suddenly, Trent said: "Why, it´s Cosmo Van Nester, you old artifact dealin´ scum. What brings you to my place ?" The intruder desperately struggled against Trent´s grasp, but sucumbed to his Trent´s strength. again, Trent asked, " Cosmo, what ARE you doing here ?" Cosmo: Ah, crap, you caught me. Trent: You know, saying that won´t really get you out of this. Now, what the hell are you doing here ? Cosmo: I ... needed to get some advice on something. Trent: You and I both know that that´s not the real reason for you being here. Cosmo: Awe, come on, just lemme go and I´ll tell ya ! Trent: No deal, Cosmo. Now, I´ll give you 3 seconds to tell me before I rip you in half with this little Detroit toy. Cosmo: No, please, don´t, I don´t wanna die... Trent: Then tell me why you´re here. Cosmo: Then lower that thing, will ya ?! Trent: Fine. *Trent lowers the Detroit pocket canon.* Now then. tell me why you broke into my house. Cosmo: I needed some stuff. I knew you wouldn´t listen to me if I asked, but I really need it. Trent: Ugh... How much do you need and what do you need it for ? Cosmo: 500 credits, for ... repairs. Yeah, that´s right. My Startracker needs some repairs. I wouldn´t even have to be flyin´ that thing if you hadn´t gone ahead and wrecked my patriot. Trent: Business is business, however nasty it may be. That´s why your patriot had to go. You don´t really need the cash for repairs do you ? Cosmo: ´Course I do ! Trent: You need a fix. Cosmo: I ain´t touched that ca´mine in months. Trent: Oh, Cosmo, Cosmo, Cosmo ... when´ll you EVER learn ? Cosmo: Huh ? Trent: I saw you last night, at the Stellar Club. Suckin´ down Liberty Ale and popping cardamine. Cosmo: No ... it wasn´t me ... I was workin´ last night. Trent: Oh yeah ? Where ? Cosmo: Oh, all right, ya got me. Trent: I´m not loanin´ you the creds. Not for cardamine, anyways. Cosmo: No, please, I really need it, I - At this moment, Trent throws Cosmo out of the door, taking his pulse door breaker device from him. He can still hear Cosmo´s squeals outside, and a moment later, he heres the whirring of an LPI transport. Good ol´ neighbors, thinks Trent. He goes back to his room, lying on his bed and thinking of Juni, when suddenly he gets another comm signal. This time, however, he got it on the video-sat. He answers the signal. Trent: Hello ? King: Trent, nice to see you again, old friend. how´ve you been ? Trent: Fine. Just had a weird meet. King: Who with ? Trent: Cosmo Van Nester. King: That little bucket o´ crap ? What´d you do with him ? Trent: Threw him out. He got snagged by an LPI patrol. King: Good for you. Listen, Trent, I just heard about Juni on the LSF main broadcast channel. Sorry, brother. Trent: *sighs*. I don´t know what to do. I just don´t know. King: Well, we at the Liberty Military do. I´m going with an escort wing to Planet New Tokyo right now. If you wanna join me, come to the Missouri by BTZ 06:00. Trent: Thank you, King. King signs off the video-sat, and Trent begins to think again. Joining King on his hunt for Juni was very tempting, so Trent resolved to leave straight away. Trent put on his trademark brown suede jacket and got into his Kishiro-make starflier. It was a long flight to the landing pad. As Trent initiated the fission core for his starflier, he mapped his way through Greater Albany´s skyways.The landing pad was towards the west, in the Philadelphia region of Manhattan. Trent started straight away. Trent, looking around Greater Albany, still thought it was very active at night, just as day. With it´s starscaper style towers, it´s modern streetways beneath him, and the flashing lights all about, It totally reflected the aura of ancient New York on Earth as "the city that never sleeps". Once Trent had island hopped from the Albany twin islands to Philadelphia, he headed straight to the landing pad. Once he landed, he headed straight for the bar. It was midnight right now. Maybe he could catch Bob Swaffer on his shift. Trent entered the bar, and spotted familiar faces all around him. Thankfully, Bob was still there. Trent greeted him like a long lost friend. Bob: Hey, Trent, nice to see you again. Trent: Nice to be seen. Bob. I heard about Jun´ko Zane, Trent. Just wanted to know that I´m really concerned too. Trent: *alarmed* Who told you ? Bob: King was here a couple of minutes ago, but don´t worry, I won´t tell another soul. Trent: Thanks, Bob. Got anything for me ? Bob: Well, I do have a rumor to pass along. Trent: I´m interested. Bob: Okay, here it is. A friend of mine in Samura Industries told me that a while ago, while he was on an escort job in the Sigma 17 system, he had encountered some strange readings near the Kurile docking rings. Trent: What kind of readings. Bob: Unknown particle signatures, to be correct. Trent: Maybe it was just Corsairs. Bob: Trust me Trent, he seemed really spooked. He was about to continue, but his CO ordered him back to the convoy, so he had to cut his story short. Trent: Oh. Well, thanx for the info, Bob. Bob: Keep in touch, freelancer. As Trent walked away from Bob, ignoring all the people in the bar who he had met before, he pondered over the archeological dig on New Tokyo and the strange readings near Kurile. He knew that it was near the Omicron Theta jumphole, but he had no idea that jumpholes emitted spooky objects with strange particle signatures. Trent walked out into the landing pad, covered by the starry night. He got into his starflier, but did not initiate the anti gravity boosters. instead, he hovered to a small garage type building to the side. He had bought this facility months ago. He opened up the garage with a neuro signal and hovered in. Then, Trent got out of his starflier, and into his fully customized Eagle Fighter, equipped with the best that Sirius had to offer. He piloted this work of art out into the landing pad, preparted his anti gravity boosters, and jumped into the atmosphere. As Trent sighted the docking ring coming into his view in the upper atmosphere, he hailed the ring´s command port. He was acknowledged to depart. "Still alot of traffic around Manhattan at this time," Trent thought, even though he realized that there was absolutely no fluctuation in the amount of space traffic around Manhattan. It always had been so. Trent slowly floated past Danimae Station, set up next to the West Point trade lane to monitor the cargoes being carried from the academy´s intersection. He initiated the trade lane sequence through yet another neural signal, and entered the lane. Immediately, Trent felt a feeling of lightness drift through him. He always felt this way in a trade lane, as if he was converted to visible light and given a super luminal boost through the trade lane. Perhaps that´s what exactly happened. Either way, Ageira Technologies, one of Liberty´s primary interests in the business world, would never let up of how their trade lane and jump gate technology worked, though there were rumors that the Kusari Navy and Kishiro technologies had jointly developed a trade lane technology, produced by back engineering captured Agiera technology. West Point. The illustrious academy of Liberty´s proud naval fleet. Suddenly, Trent remembered that Marcus Walker used to be second-in-command here. How long ago it felt. Trent then floated past Brooklyn station, the wayfare stop for convoys between West Point and the Norfolk Shipyards. Trent initiated the trade lane and sat back for the ride. When Trent dropped back from light space, he turned to the battleship Missouri. She was truly a picture perfect site. He had never seen anything grander than this ship, unless it was the Osiris fending off the flagship of the West Rheinland Military in Hamburg. The Missouri was truly a daunting ship. With 16 defensive laser turrets, 4 missile turrets, 4 flak turrets, and 2 enormous plasma turrets, it was truly a ship that could only be considered attacking by the most daring Outcast. Trent noticed a buzz of naval activity around the Missouri. He recognized them as LSF issue ships. As he got closer, one of the shops hailed him. LSF officer: Mr Trent, Mr King´s waiting for you on the deck. Trent: Thank you, officer. Trent was a bit apprehensive on how King knew he would come. however, he simply docked with the battleship and waited for the situation to play itself out. *********************************

Hey, guys, thanks for the comments, I really appreciate them =) I´ll keep writing the chapters, and trying to think of better chapter names before I run out of them, but in the meantime, I might have trouble posting the chapters, because I have the SASSER virus at the moment. I just need to try and download the safety patch (If it actually works) And hopefully the chapters will come regularily. =D Peace out.