My First Story

I know it´s a little stupid, but if YOU think so, please tell me. Zekk sat in the hold of the Dromedary type freighter Cassiopeia, believing that his luck had reached an all-low. Here he was, a prisoner of the Kusari. They were human, and for that, Zekk was grateful. When his father had been killed in the war between the colonies, Zekk immediately went out to avenge his father´s death, but so far, he wasn´t doing a very good job. "Okay, all of you, you are all now prisoners of war." The soldier nearest to the cell yelled out. "You will all be questioned, and if any one of you becomes stupid and tries to break out of here, he will be killed." The man said that and walked away. Zekk sadly and tiredly sat down. He had no chance of escaping. With luck, he might become a slave in a rich person´s house. "Psst." Zekk heard a whisper in his ear. "Hey! Come over here." He looked in the direction that the voice came from, and was astonished to see a muscular-looking man sitting on the floor, much like Zekk. "Me?" Zekk asked, what would a guy like that want from him? "No, some imaginable being that is in this room. Of course you! You´re a strong kid, aren´t you?" "Yes, I am, but what does that have to do with anything?" "It has everything to do with anything! I intend to escape, and to do that, I will get the guards´ attention, then you grab one of their rifles, and do what you have to do!" Zekk was thinking that it would be a great idea, but his brain kept on remembering the punishment. Death. "Who are you?" "Name´s Borun Karath. So, what will it be, flyboy?" "Count me in." "Good. Let´s do it now. On my signal, attack the guards, grab their guns, and shoot them." "Yes, sir!" Zekk half-whispered, half-shouted. Then he went off to prepare his attack. Zekk wasn´t expecting the type of distraction that the guy created. The kind he was thinking of was yelling, screaming, and acting wild. The distraction that he actually did, though of was much more active. An explosion rocked the brig, and immediately the force field went down. The two guards rushed inside the brig with their laser rifles up and charged. Zekk leaped toward one from behind, and managed to grab one of their handguns. He pointed it at them and said quietly: "You´ll be wanting to be putting the rifles down about now." Which they did without hesitation. "Good. Now just step more into the brig, thank you. Borun, you can come out now." "Great job Zekk! I knew I could trust you to get the job done." Borun praised Zekk repeatedly. He then went the control panel and turned on the force field. Suddenly the alarm started blaring. One of the guards had a comlink! He had used it and alerted the bridge. "Now will be a good time to leave." "Yeah, that would be a great idea wouldn´t it? But where will we go?" Zekk was worried. "I have a base, not far from here. We can use a scout ship to get to a planet, and then take a transport to my base. Come on!" Edited by - The_Corsair on 5/26/2005 4:29:21 PM

Well, I had a better version, but it was deleted, or lost. I guess a dromedy can carry a scout fighter, it´s big enough. Here is the next part: Chapter 2 "Great landing, Borun." Zekk commented as he looked at the charred and burning wreck of the destroyed scout ship. How he and Borun had escaped the crash was beyond Zekk´s comprehension. "Thanks, now all we have to do is acquire a transport." Borun said dryly. "And how do you propose to do that?" "We can steal it! This is Kusari space, after all." Borun said with a wry smile. "Yeah, I guess so, but it sounds kinda wrong." "Hey, kid, don´t get all right and wrong over me, okay? I´ve had enough problems as it is." "Oh? Do tell." Zekk was curious. "Uh, well... like you saw, I was a prisoner... and um..." "Why were you taken prisoner?" "That´s my problem, not yours. Guess what? When we get to my base, I will let you have the first pick of my custom made ships. And you can upgrade it all you want with the extra parts that I have." The idea calmed Zekk and he was silent the rest of the way to the spaceport. Once at the spaceport, Zekk was enthralled about what Borun did. He first looked at all the transports for sale, then he paid a guy for the transport, and Zekk and him took off. "Borun, I thought you said that we were going to steal a ship?" "I changed my mind. I thought that if we bought a ship, it wouldn´t be put on the neural net marked as stolen." "Ah, well then, good thinking." Zekk decided to retire in the cargo hold of the ship. He went and thought about how lucky he was to escape from the Kusari. Chapter 3 "Wow, now this is impressive." Zekk said as they slid into the docking bay of Borun´s base. Docking spaces lined the bay, and most of them were filled with custom-made ships with awesome looking chassis´. "And you said I could pick one to upgrade and have?" "Yep, you saved my life, so why can´t I give you a little bit of a reward?" "Giving me a custom-built ship is just a little bit of a reward? Why didn´t you just tell me how cool these were... wow, now that is an amazing ship. Look at the design! It is unlike any ship I have ever seen!" "That´s the Titan. She´s the pride of my custom-made fleet. She´s yours if you want her. Plenty of room for upgrades." "Yes, she´s the one. When can I start on the upgrades?" "When are you ready?" *** Zekk was beneath the Titan when Borun came up to him and began a long speech about how he had to go on trip to meet some old friends and trade. “Sure Borun. I´ll be here when you get back. I´ve already installed a super-shield. Where did you get these parts? They are awesome!” Zekk questioned. “Um, I got them from trading. You can install whatever you want with the parts. But make sure that ship is more or less ship worthy when I get back will you? I want to take you to the obstacle course, and I think you would have a great thrill in seeing what your own ship can do. Right?” “Yeah, that would be cool. Ya know, I forgot to thank you for helping me escape that prison ship; I was as much as a prisoner as you. Oh, and thanks for the Titan, she´s going to be my pride and joy.” Zekk smiled and entered his ship. Borun smiled knowing Zekk had no idea what he was really doing. Edited by - The_Corsair on 5/27/2005 7:29:00 PM

I´m glad that you like it. Here is the next part. BTW, what are the mistakes, Grit? Chapter 4 So, what is Borun really doing? Zekk thought as he began to insert the cloaking drive that he had found. It was in first class condition and Zekk knew it would be handy in space and battles. Borun isn´t a trader. I know there is a reason for all the fighters, and they aren´t for trading, they´re more like… Zekk´s thought concentration was broken as Borun walked into view. Zekk had luckily just closed the engine compartment hatch that showed the cloaking drive, newly installed. For some reason, Zekk didn´t trust Borun anymore. “Hey Zekk! How´s the Titan? Space worthy I hope? What have you installed on her?” Borun seemed curious, too curious. “Well, the shield was tested and has 100 percent efficiency. Navigation computer was just installed, along with the holo-projected controls. I installed a thruster and cruise engine. That´s about it.” Zekk trusted the man less and less as the moments went by. It was just a gut feeling but he knew that Borun couldn´t be trusted. “Space worthy?” “Just about. I just need to put the cargo hold in order and I can fly her. The holo-controls are more precise then solid ones. They should be fun to fly with, although the joysticks are solid, all the commands are at the touch of a finger.” “Great, meet me in space.” Borun smiled in an odd fashion. Zekk couldn´t place it, but he didn´t like him very much. *** “Well, that ship is certainly made for you, Zekk.” Borun commented as they landed. The space flight was a mix of navigating, shooting, and speed. The obstacle course in space had Zekk´s adrenaline rushing. “Yep, um, Borun, I really think I need to get back into the war. I have a ship, thanks to you…” “Nonsense. I want you to stay here for one more time. I need to leave to trade. And I need to leave right now. I´ll see you later.” Borun´s huge ship roared away. It entered space and activated its cruise engines, and it wasn´t alone. Chapter 5 Borun sat in his cockpit, smiling to himself. He had Zekk in his hands. He would come back and give Zekk the choice. Become what he was, or go to the outer worlds in shame. The sixteen year old would have no choice but to follow Borun´s example. Suddenly the navigation computer started beeping, he was coming up on his destination. The place was a jump gate from this system to Tau-31. Then Borun sat, waiting for a fat transport to come… Zekk watched Borun´s ship from his own cockpit of the Titan, with the active cloaking device humming softly. He checked the power output and input again. The device was working within normal boundaries. He wished he knew what Borun was doing, but there was no chance of that if Borun didn´t go anywhere. A loaded transport came out of the trade lane, a slower form of transportation than a jump gate, but adequate for in-system travel. Borun´s ship moved to intercept it, and Zekk scanned it. Wow, Zekk thought, gold, jewels and artifacts. Suddenly Borun´s ship, the White Knight, fired on the transport, and it exploded into a million pieces, a million pieces of gold, jewels, and artifacts. “NO!” Zekk screamed. Borun, the man who befriended him, the man who saved him, was a pirate. He could see Borun tractor in all of the loot, and he couldn´t do a thing. He wouldn´t do a thing, which would give away his position. As powerful as the Titan was, it couldn´t compare to Borun´s light frigate. Zekk sadly turned the Titan´s back to the wreckage and speed away. He knew what he had to do, and it wouldn´t be easy. Edited by - The_Corsair on 5/29/2005 8:35:04 AM

Yeah, that´s my dream ship in freelancer, but unfortunatly i can´t have cloaking... <img src=smilies/icon_smile_sad.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle> I´m nobody. Nobody is perfect. Therefore, I am perfect. <img src=smilies/icon_smile_big.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle>

Here is another part. Don´t worry, this is a VERY long story. Kinda. As Zekk took off from Borun´s base, his controls flared to life with warning that an incoming ship had appeared on scanner. He quickly discovered that it was the White Knight, Borun´s ship. What am I doing? Zekk asked himself, why am I leaving? What has Borun done to me that would make me hate him? He is a pirate! So? So that makes him bad. His mental conversation was interrupted with alarms claiming that the ship was approaching closer. “Zekk? Is that you? What are you doing leaving?” The communications blared with Borun´s voice. “I´m leaving, Borun. I know what you are. And I couldn´t live with myself if I helped you pirate.” “Wait, Zekk. Don´t leave just yet. I brought back a really cool item for your ship, the Titan. Come on, go back and land. I´ll give you the piece of equipment, we can discuss this leaving thing, and then you can make a choice.” Borun obviously didn´t want Zekk to leave. Probably because Zekk was one of the few people alive who knew what Borun really did in his “free time”. “Goodbye, Borun. I don´t want to part as enemies, so I´ll tell you what. I´ll call you if I need you, which might be soon. Then you can bring that piece to me.” Zekk silently pressed the holographic button that activated the cloaking device. While the ship powered up, Zekk waved to Borun and hit the turbo button. Borun sat there, long after Zekk´s ship had disappeared from his sight and sensors. Zekk had found the cloaking device. If only he had known. Borun dimly heard the man from the traffic control center asking what was the matter. He didn´t bother to answer. He put his head in his hands and just sat there, motionless. Zekk was going to be such a good friend, too. Now Borun waited every day, just for Zekk´s video transmission. Chapter 6 Six months later Zekk was a part of the IMC (Intergalactic Mining Corporation) as a recon scout of Tau 31, a system that IMC controlled. Patrolling places that the IMC cargo ships often traveled, making sure that no pirates were in those sections. He used his cloak, and when there were pirates, Zekk easily overpowered them, because he usually took them by surprise. He got this job by talking to their recruiter on Holman Outpost. His name was Jason, and he was about 37 years old. Zekk had told Jason that he was looking for a job, and he had his own fast, powerful ship. Included with his service, he would use his cloaking device. Jason had immediately agreed to give Zekk a recon scout job. The pay was good, and Zekk enjoyed the freedom that came along with his job. Right now, he slowly patrolled the Carson nebula, a dense purple cloud with small asteroids, comets, and some explosive pockets of radiation. Zekk watched as an IMC cargo transport carefully navigate through this dangerous nebula. Suddenly, a giant shadow could be seen against the purple. Zekk hailed the transport and warned them. “Cargo transport five dash one, be advised, an unknown object has appeared on the starboard side, repeat, an unknown object has…” Static suddenly cut Zekk´s transmission. “Hello? Cargo transport five dash one? Are you there?” “Unknown ship, this is the destroyer Argon, power down your engines, and prepare to be brought into my ship.” Zekk sat there, motionless, they were talking to him! How could they even see him when his cloaking device was activated? Zekk suddenly was pressed against his crash webbing as he was caught in a tractor beam. “Not today, Argon!” Zekk yelled as he fired two missiles, two torpedoes, and ten powerful laser blasts at the source of the beam. The following explosion ripped a hole the size of Zekk´s ship where the tractor beam came from. Zekk shot off into space the minute the beam died out, leaving the transport to its fate, he wasn´t an escort, he was just a scout. He checked his holographic controls and readings. Ah, that´s what it was; I forgot to activate the cloak. Zekk felt much better once he knew that they weren´t seeing through his cloak. He raced back to Holman Outpost and reported what he saw to Jason. “I thought so.” Jason said when Zekk finished his report. Zekk was still in his black flight suit, and his light brown hair was in a mess. “I´ll report to the IMC headquarters to tell them of this situation. You say that your cloaking device still is working as it should?” “Yes sir, the only reason they saw me was because it was turned off.” Zekk sternly answered. “Did you get a good look at the ship?” “Yes sir, it is a Mark 5 destroyer, designation: Argon.” “Wait, did you say the Argon? Zekk, you just ran into the most powerful pirate in the Outer Worlds! No hope in rescuing the transport. Do you think…” Jason paused for a second, “…do you think you could look around for his base? I could get you a hundred-thousand credit bonus.” “Why not?” Zekk turned sharply and started walking away. All the data he needed was already transferred to his ship´s computer. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ I´m nobody. Nobody is perfect. Therefore, I am perfect. <img src=smilies/icon_smile_big.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle> Edited by - The_Corsair on 5/30/2005 7:38:52 AM

Well, if you guys like it, then i will post the NEXT part. It will be a long one. I think. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Titan was a small ship compared to the huge asteroids that circled the planet of 37X290. Hmm, must have gotten tired of making up names for planets. Zekk thought. The reason that made this planet look suspicious was that these asteroids were holograms. Also, the planet seemed habitable so why wasn´t it named something other than 37X290? He had been searching for days now, even weeks. Finally he had been led to this planet. A billionaire had bought it, and then he had just moved in. There weren´t many billionaires that came out here to buy a planet to live on. Unexpectedly an alarm blared, and the ship rocked with an explosion. Zekk looked out the cockpit to see a couple fast moving asteroids. Not all of them were holograms. He started dodging them. Then he called for backup because he knew that this was the pirate´s base. Zekk began dialing the address for Borun Karath´s communication device. *** “Right, now Borun, this base is at the coordinates Tau-23 sector 5C. Got that? Oh, and bring your little fleet of ships. And that part you said I wanted.” Zekk finished with a sigh. He had just completed a huge battle plan with the IMC and Borun. They were going to come in with lasers blazing, engines whining with the strain, and communication on full. The IMC would send a small fleet of 20 fighters, 5 frigates, and 2 heavy cruisers. Borun would send in his fleet of fighters and he himself would bring his new ship, the Black Knight. “Zekk, I was looking at the map you sent me, and…. I know this pirate. His name is Wesley Truman. With that, I know of his defenses…” Borun´s voice was talking, but Zekk couldn´t hear him, he wanted to spring up, call Borun a liar, and whack him one on the nose. It´s not true! It can´t be! But Borun said his name! How in the world could my father be alive? But a pirate! Wesley Truman? “Borun, did I just hear you say Wesley Truman?” Zekk choked out. “Yes, but what do you know about him?” “He´s my father. You know how I told you he died?” “No, you didn´t. Zekk, I´ve known Wesley for three years. He isn´t your father.” “Three years. That would be just about right. I´m 16, and that would make me 13 when my father “died”. I know! He probably deserted his squadron and became a pirate! Borun, you have to help me meet him. I have to talk to him.” “Okay, fine. I have a cloaking device on this ship, so you and I can sneak in, cloaked, land, and shoot our way in. Great plan.” “Thanks, let´s go.” Chapter 8 15 giant ships hung silently in outer space, 8 ships were Borun’s, and the rest of the ships were sent from the IMC. 8 frigates, and 7 heavy cruisers. Zekk sat in the Titan in command of a large fleet of fighters; everybody was ready, loaded and fully charged, waiting for the single command word that would send all the ships toward the planet of 37X290. He turned on the comm. and took a deep breath to say the command code to start the attack. &quot;Go.&quot; Zekk said as his ship lurched violently forward. The attack plan was perfect, he and Borun would cloak, destroy the power generator, then land. With the generator destroyed, the heavy cruisers and frigates would come in shooting. Zekk could see his fleet charge ahead, and he let them, because it would cover his and Borun’s cloaking. Zekk’s red engines shot him past the slow moving frigates and heavy cruisers, then past the quicker fighters, and after that, the planet itself came closer and closer. The lush green covered most of the planet, and the dark blue oceans took over the rest. “Okay, Borun, cover my flank.” Zekk spoke into the mike. “And where is that? You’re cloaked remember?” Borun said sarcastically, with a smile on his face. “Oh, sorry. Um, just blow up the stupid generator!” Zekk was irritated at his own stupid ness, and fired his own blue photons at the circular platform that was the generator. He could see the turquoise flare of Borun’s laser and the power generator on the planet exploded in a giant fireball. “Great, now we land and find my father.” *** Zekk snuck down long hallway with gun in hand, followed by Borun, with a bigger gun in his hands. They had managed to get past the guards without bloodshed so far, but Zekk had a feeling that the no bloodshed would end really quickly. The door at the end of the hall opened suddenly and he aimed his gun at the opened doorway, waiting for a person or two to come through. A grenade came through instead. “Borun! Grenade!” Zekk yelled a warning as it continued to bounce toward him. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`` I used to be The_Corsair, now i am Unsung_Hero. Sorry for the headaches that I cause.