Chapter 1
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Help! I need Help!
The distress call came into Battleship Mississippis
control room. The Watch Commander immediately responded Unknown ship, please identify
yourself. What is your status?
This is Freelancer Echo 1, came the response, I
am Captain Trevor, flying Silver from Colorado. I just jumped into the system from New York
and Junkers are attacking me, they want my cargo! My escorts are nearly destroyed; Ive
taken heavy damage
We read you, the commander sent back. Im dispatching a wing
of fighters from LPI Huntsville to assist you, hold out a few more minutes and they should
be there.
Meanwhile, powered down and hidden in some caverns on New
Houstons moon, Abeline, two wings of Falcon heavy fighters and a Rhino freighter, piloted
by Xenos, were lying in wait. They landed there as the moon passed the far side of planet
Houston and had been waiting their time to strike.
Its a good thing you
arrived when you did, Trevor sent to the LPI forces once all the Junkers were chased off.
I wouldnt have lasted much longer with my fighter escort destroyed.
The LPI wing
commander replied, Think nothing of it sir, just doing our job. After a moment, the
commander added, My scanners are picking up a good deal of radiation coming from your ship.
Are you going to be all right?
Im not sure, Trevor replied, My ship took a
solid beating, its probably my engines. Where can I dock to have them looked
at?
The wing commander sent back Stop by the Mississippi , theres some good
engineers there. Theyll take care of you.
Thank you, Ill do
that
...
A short while later, Trevor popped out of a trade lane and found
himself orbiting planet Houston. The LPI wing commander sent to him Follow me
in.
Trevor formed up behind the escort and was taken to the Battleship. Thats
quite a monster youve got there. I pity the person who finds himself on the wrong side of
that battle.
Yeah, isnt she a beauty? was the response. Shes got enough fire
power to take on just about anything. The hull plating is thick enough to absorb several
torpedo hits and only begin to show damage. Shes the main reason we dont have more
trouble around here than we do.
As Trevor was about to dock, however, his escort was
called away. Whats wrong? he sent.
The wing commander replied, Its an attack!
Hurry and dock, dont risk taking any incidental fire. Ive radioed ahead and theres a
section of the docking bay set aside to keep the radiation contained. Hurry!
Trevor
took the suggestion and quickly landed his craft in the spacious docking bay of the
Mississippi.
Outside, the Xeno fighters had found their time to attack. The two
wings were composed of three Falcons each. One wing was flying cover for the Rhino
Freighter, while the other wing was engaging the defending LPI forces.
The sleek,
birdlike Falcons glided through space dodging most of the LPI fire and absorbing what little
they took without a second thought. Their polished golden canopies reflected the light of
Texas sun and their tarnished coppery hull plating blended in with the backdrop of planet
Houston making it difficult for the defending ships to engage them. They were each
outfitted with four Reaver Mk1s, high-end laser weapons, blazing away at the LPI forces and
simply shredding their ships to pieces. Their other gun mount was taken up with a sleek
Windstalker missile platform, which was judiciously used to finish off severely wounded
defending vessels.
The Rhino freighter didnt fare quite so well Its bulk made it
essentially a sitting duck. It was a long brick of a ship with several gun turrets but no
maneuverability at all. If it werent for the protection offered by a full wing of Falcons,
it would have been out of the fight pretty quickly.
The firefight went on for several
minutes, with the second wing of Falcons holding off everything LPI Huntsville and the
Mississippi together could send at them. The freighter, meanwhile, was steadily bearing
down on its target: The Mississippi.
Sir! a lieutenant yelled, running toward the
commander of the Mississippi. Sir, the freighter is headed straight for us, and scans
reveal a high yield Fusion bomb in its hold. Sir! Its going to ram us!
Calm
down, Lieutenant, replied the Battleships commander. Bring the ship about! he ordered.
Get all weapons online and target that vessel. I want it destroyed before it gets any
closer to us!
With deadly grace and lethal efficiency, the Mississippi turned itself
about and brought its primary cannon online, targeting it at the poor freighter. It didnt
stand a chance.
The weapon had hardly begun to fire when the Rhino went up in a blaze
of glory. Its escort ships were knocked back by the blast from the Fusion bomb and were
instantly out of the fight. The other wing of Falcons decided to take the better part of
valor and strategically removed themselves from a bad situation.
A short while later,
while sweeping through the debris, the LPI forces found the burnt remains of the once
beautiful Falcons and, surprisingly, all three pilots were still alive. It didnt take long
for the LPI forces to lock on their tractor beams and tow the derelict ships to the
Once in the prison, the three now captive Xenos were interrogated. They
seemed to know nothing more than that they were there to create a diversion so their leader,
Uriel Khan, could be rescued. With the failure of their mission, that rescue likely
wouldnt come now. After a few days, the LPI decided they could get no more information
from them and the prisoners were locked in the Xeno section of the prison.
The
supremely overconfident people in charge of the LPI Huntsville prison compound reported to
their superiors that everything was under control. They didnt bother to increase patrols
or security, feeling that their facility was perfectly safe and under no threat at
all
Down in the Xeno section of the prison, one of the new prisoners was reporting
in. From within a barrier of fellow Xenos, he said, Uriel, a rescue is underway.
Everything is going according to plan. There is a transmitter thats implanted on my skull
and disguised as a metal plate. Its dormant now so it wont be detected, but when the time
is right, Ill activate it and your rescuers will be led right to you.
How will we
know when The time is right? asked Uriel.
Trust me, well know. was the simple
response.
Somewhere in the midst of North Dallas debris field, a wing of
Falcons glided into Beaumont Base, a facility run by the Junkers. The commander of the wing
reported, Everything is going according to plan.
Back on the Mississippi,
Trevor was patiently waiting for repairs to begin on his ship. Fortunately, the problem
seemed to be fixable, though it would likely take selling off a good chunk of his cargo in
order to pay for it. However, with the recent space battle, all the technicians aboard the
Battleship were busy repairing the fighters that had been damaged by the suicide assault.
It would take several days before they could take a better look at the problem, but that
suited Trevor just fine, he could certainly use some down time, and the Mississippi had
excellent recreational facilities.
Almost a week later, the LPI fighters were
repaired and one of the Techs was free to work on Trevors ship. In the Mississippis
lounge, Trevor was working on finishing a bottle of Sidewinder Fang. He pulled a small
remote of his pocket and placed it on the table in front of him next to his drink.
He
looked down at his watch and as he did so, alarm klaxons began to go off. The lighting in
the lounge went out and was replaced with low-level red lights. He sat there calmly as a
voice came over the comm. announcing, A fusion bomb has been found in the docking bay. All
hands find and secure Captain Trevor immediately.
Trevor drained the last bit of
Sidewinder Fang remaining in his bottle and remained seated as all around him weapons were
drawn and aimed at him. As he put down the empty bottle he called out Not today boys!
With his other hand, he pushed a small red button at the top of the
remote
I was sitting in a seedy bar on Planet Manhattan. I had a bottle of
Sidewinder Fang, the last the bartender had, and I was well on my way towards being drunk.
Just as things were beginning to look up, in she comes.
Shes really not that bad to
look at, tall with an athletic build, her dark hair pulled tightly back to better fit under
her helmet. Shed be much better to look at if it werent for the fact that shes my boss,
and she almost got me killed.
I try to hide behind my bottle so she cant see me, but
to no avail. She heads straight for my booth and, without even the formality of asking my
leave, she lowers takes a seat and tries to talk to me.
Look, I interrupt, Im
relaxing. You know that. She tries to say something else, but I cut in again, nearly
having your ship turned to scrap while youre in it has a negative effect on your attitude
Last time you came to see me, you told me you had an easy job for me. It was just a little
mop up action, take care of some sort of trade secrets the Lane Hackers stole from Deep
Space Engineering.
She tries yet again to get in a word, but I just keep on going,
Oh, I know you didnt realize theyd have that fourth weapons platform But it sure would
have been nice for you to tell me about the first three!
Finally Im finished with
my rant and she manages to speak, Look, Ive apologized for that already. Our intel.
indicated those weapons platforms would be offline so I didnt bother to mention
them.
Next time, I responded, tell me. I had to spend every credit I earned for
that mission, and then some, to have my ship repaired. It took two weeks for them to sort
out the mess of wires from my weapons control panel exploding!
She just sat there
staring at me, giving me that look my mother used to give me when I was being stubborn or
foolish. Fine! I blurted out, What is it you want this time?
Its big. Real
big. LPI screwed up and they want us to fix it.
She had my attention. Big
screw-ups meant big payoffs, and LPI always paid well anyways. What happened? I
asked.
She told me a story I could hardly believe. Apparently, LPI had received all
the warning they needed to have put their facility on full alert, but they allowed this to
happen anyway. They had received several reports indicating that the Xenos were planning a
rescue; they knew something strange was up with the Junkers, yet they were still
unconcerned.
Finally, she came down to it. The Mississippi had been gutted. Only
some of the upper decks were still useable. Apparently, a fusion bomb was detonated from
within the battleships docking bay. During the confusion immediately following the
explosion, someone launched several torpedoes at the LPI Huntsville facility and somehow
tracked down and rescued Uriel Khan, a Xeno leader incarcerated there. Hundreds of inmates
were killed, as well as the Warden and most his staff, and even a large number of their own
people.
We believe theyve ran towards the Colorado system, though we cant be
certain, she told me. They evaded our scouts while traveling through New York. We know
Khan was operating in Colorado when he was captured, and weve seen reports that point
towards Ouray Base in the Silverton asteroid field.
It took several minutes to
process all this information. The more I thought about this, the more certain I was that
the best course of action was to get in my ship and fly as far and as fast in the other
direction as I could. Im in. I told her.
Good. Ive suggested three people for
your wingmen, two of them were involved in the last capture of Khan. She handed me a data
pad then added Last time they captured him, they used a little known jump hole between the
New York and Colorado systems that put them right in the middle of the Silverton field.
Ill upload the data to your neural net. Good luck.
She got up and walked away
without offering another word. I was too absorbed in reading the data pad she handed me. I
drained the last of my Sidewinder Fang, sighed, and then headed to the landing pad to
prepare my ship for launch.
In orbit a short time later, my wingmen, Rock,
Bulldog, and a new guy, Blaze, were waiting. I was flying my Barracuda, a well-armored ship
that handles a little stiff but can take a punishing and has the power to thrash the enemy.
I had it configured with my favorite loadout, a pair of Advanced Skyrails and four
Winchester Mk 1s.
Its about time you joined us, came a voice over the comm. That
had to be Rock; he was always in a hurry and never on time himself. It seemed he had
already forgotten about me covering for him last time he had a hangover and couldnt fly
himself out of a paper bag
Yeah, yeah, talk it up, I responded, If youd almost
gotten killed because of bad intelligence, youd be pretty slow launching
too.
Youre still whining about that? he asked.
Its not something you
exactly forget I paused, and then asked Is everyone ready to track down a rogue
Xeno?
Everyone responded affirmative so I sent Alright, Im sending coordinates to
the jump hole well use to get us into the debris field right next to the Ouray facility in
the Silverton field. Rock and Bulldog, youve flown this route before, keep a lookout for
anything out of place.
With that, I punched the cruise drive and headed for a trade
lane that would get me as close as possible to the jump hole we intended to use. I noticed
both Rock and Bulldog had brand new Hammerhead ships, while Blaze was still stuck with a
Piranha. Hopefully hed be able to keep up. Hopefully Id be able to keep up
We
came out of the trade lane near a Liberty Navy patrol. As usual, they couldnt resist
scanning our cargo holds; as if our Bounty Hunter ships and transponders couldnt clearly
tell them were on their side Oh well, at least they were doing their
jobs
Eventually, I got the response Bounty Hunter, you are free to go Good
hunting. With that, we turned off the well-traveled space lanes and headed for the
uncharted jump point not too far distant.
Be ready for a fight boys, I sent to my
wingmen, Were likely to get a hot reception once we jump through.
It took us a
while to get to the jump hole. Cruise drive just doesnt cut it for traveling
inter-system But then again, if there were a trade lane here, it wouldnt be a very secret
jump hole, now would it?
Finally we got there. Amazingly, there werent any Xeno
ships prowling around the New York side of the hole. We unformed and took a few moments to
lay out our strategy. Rock and Bulldog, having taken this route before last time they
captured Kahn, would go through the hole first. After a few minutes, Blaze and I would
follow them through and see where we were needed. Hopefully, Rock and Bulldog would be able
to scout out the location of Xeno patrols before we revealed our full force and went on the
offensive.
Blaze and I watched as the other two went on ahead through the jump hole.
We were giving them ten minutes to do what they needed to do, then wed follow them on
through.
You nervous? I sent to Blaze.
A little he admitted, This is my
first real mission. Ive flown little operations before, backing up other Freelancers on
operations and whatnot. But no real Guild business yet.
Youve got a good ship, I
told him, remembering when I was in his place, Youll do fine. Just keep moving and stay
focused and youll earn a nice score, maybe even be able to get yourself a new fighter. Of
course, I didnt tell him that on My first mission doing Guild business, I managed not only
to soil my pilot suit, but I was sweating so much, I fogged up the faceplate of my helmet
and flew a good part of the mission blind
Thanks, he said, Ill keep that in
mind.
Looks like were up, I told him, Form up on me and well go through
together. As soon as were through, hit your afterburners in case there are hostiles
waiting for us. I couldnt resist adding, And try not to run into any
asteroids
Our ships glided up to the jump hole and we engaged our jump drives.
Ive always loved the view as you tunnel through space like this. Unfortunately, this time
I couldnt relax and enjoy it, I had to prime myself for the battle I knew was coming up
quickly.
We came through the jump hole into the New Colorado system, right into the
middle ofnothing Rock and Bulldog were parked near to the jump gate, bantering back and
forth, placing a bet on who would get the most kills.
Where are they? I immediately
sent.
Rock responded, I dont know. We did a sweep of the area, and everything is
silent. I did manage to find a little silver though that should pad out my pay for this
mission nicely.
Stay focused, I ordered him. The last thing I needed was my
wingmen sightseeing when we were in hostile territory. Bulldog, take point. Were headed
for Ouray station. Rock, run interference some, fly wide of us and see if you cant spot
any Xenos flying around. This silence makes me nervous. Blaze, form up with me on
A chorus of affirmations met my ears; we formed up, and flew off into the
asteroid field. We had clear sailing for about ten minutes, then
Ive got two
wings of incoming fighters, Rock sent, They appear to be Bloodhounds, nothing too fancy.
It looks like theyre trying to catch us in a pincer move, lets show those hounds what it
means to be Hunted.
Almost as one, the four Hunters broke towards the right group
and engaged it. The firefight was quick, and in the end, all four Xeno ships were dead, and
the Hunters were able to take out the other four without a problem either.
I sure
hope they have more than this, Bulldog quipped, Otherwise I wouldnt feel right about
taking all the money LPI is paying us!
Stay focused! I reminded them. Were
still in hostile territory. And theyve still got a base out there. Same orders as before,
lets move out.
After about twenty minutes of combing the Asteroid field, Bulldog
said Their facility is just ahead. Therell be a dense cloud of asteroids, then we break
into a clear section the base was built in.
Alright, I said, Bulldog, you have a
Torpedo Launcher, you distract the base. With your cruise disruptor Blaze, I want you to
watch for any fleeing ships and keep them in the area. Rock and I will keep their fighters
busy.
They followed the orders without hesitation. We hit our afterburners and
blazed in there, then split up. Blaze circled around the base, dodging much of the enemy
fire. As I neared, I got my first good look at this thing. It was impressive. Out in the
middle of an asteroid field, the Xenos had managed to build an installation that, from my
count, seemed to have at least 20 turret mounts protecting it and several landing bays.
Even more imposing were the three weapons platforms placed around it for defense.
As
we began our assault, the landing bay doors slid apart and, before they were fully open, two
wings of fighters flew out of the base. I punched my afterburners and headed for one wing
and I watched as Rock punched his and went for the other.
Bulldog! I called,
Target those platforms first; were taking heavy fire from them!
Already on it,
he responded.
I let loose my weapons, spraying fire into the close enemy formation
and sending them running for cover behind the asteroids. I picked one that was being
piloted rather well and focused on him first. He was goodvery good. I chased him around
the asteroids and was blasting him good, but he took the shots and led me right past their
base, through a hail of blasts from the turrets on the station and one of the weapons
platforms.
I chased him down and blew him to bits, pieces of his craft raining down
on an asteroid, but it cost me most of my shield batteries. I turned my ship about and
again hit the afterburners, looking for another target. It took only moments to find
another Xeno.
By this time, Bulldog had finally disabled two of the three platforms
and was sending torpedo after torpedo into the base. There was still no sign of Khan, so
Blaze had gone to help Rock clean up his wing of Xenos. Blaze should have stayed with what
I ordered him to do.
I watched in horror as another wing of heavy fighters, including
one vessel that Id only ever heard rumors about, a Saber, came blasting out of a burning
landing bay and headed straight for Rock and Blaze. I had no clue how he had found that
fighter, but I knew it had to be Khan. From what Id heard of this ship, it had the power
to disable a frigate by itself without breaking a sweat.
I yelled, Watch out!
trying vainly to warn my wingmen, but there was no way they could react in time. All five
fighters blasted into and through Rock and Blaze, sending Blaze spiraling crazily into the
asteroids. Rock managed to dodge around some asteroids and gain some cover, but he was
badly damaged as well.
Bulldog had broken off his assault and finished the last two
fighters in the wing I was chasing, and I quickly dispatched with the final one from the
other wing. Rock was in bad condition, but managing to avoid the worst of the fire. There
was still no sign of Blaze.
Bulldog and I closed on Kahn and his men and came at them
from the sides, trying to buy Rock some time to get back into the fight. It was beginning
to look pretty grim, however. Bulldog and I did our best to keep the Xenos at bay, but we
were fighting a loosing battle. Every time we managed to get one of them in our sights and
damage them, wed get hit by two of the other ships. By the time we got out of the way and
got to target another shot, our targets shields had already regenerated and wed start
again.
Rock managed to get away and do a quick nanobot repair of his hull so at least
he was no longer spraying plasma all over the place, though his shields were still
critically low. Still, he came back into battle with his guns blazing. Now we were keeping
fairly even with Khan and his men, but we couldnt seem to gain an upper hand.
Things
really began to look bad when Khans fighter escort finally managed to split up and keep all
three of us busy at once. To our horror, we saw his cruise engines charging. None of us
were able to dodge around and line up a shot and it looked like he was going to get
away.
Unfortunately for Khan, he had written off Blaze, who had somehow managed to
blast past us and nail Khan with a cruise disruptor. In that moment of confusion, Bulldog,
Rock, and I managed to break off from our engagements and target everything we had on the
nearly stationary Khan. His ship literally fell apart around him and the fight was over.
We finished off the remaining Xenos and tractored in Khans escape pod.
I thought
you were gone! I shouted to Blaze, though I was thrilled he wasnt.
I thought I was
too, he admitted, I bounced off several asteroids, but my drift path took me past some
nanos and shield batteries from a previous kill and I was able to tractor them in and
somewhat repair myself.
And that, good Bartender, is how we re-captured
Uriel Khan.
I think youre the biggest liar and braggart there ever was, came his
response, But here, have a drink on the house.
I grinned and looked down at the
data pad showing the deposit just made to my account and I decided then and there I would
take a real vacation this time. Somewhere my boss couldnt find me
Then I heard
someone behind me say, in an all-too-familiar voice, Ive got a new assignment for you.
This one will be easy, really!
