Liberty Police, Inc. Reporting Office

[themasterelite]

Deveron Kerry's Patriot flashed into New York, straight from California. A Gunboat had followed him through, but it seemed to be disregarding him. He scanned it by instinct, only to realize it was a Cartel-labelled, Merc ID'd Orca Gunboat.

What in the name of the Chief?! came his thoughts like a full-auto machine gun. He could not for his life understand how the Cartel got themselves a Bounty Hunter Gunboat. The idea scared him immensely. Were the Hunters far more corrupt than he and his superiors thought?

Sadly, he had no time to investigate. The last few hours had made him quite ill, and he had to find O'Brian...if that missile spamming Outcast had left anything to look for.

He flew around Fort Bush, the last area he had detected O'Brian's signal. There was no sign of any wreck nearby, or salvage crews.

Fort Bush, this is Officer Deveron Kerry of the LPI, do you have Officer Hull O'Brian recovered?

Negative, Kerry. No sign of him. Lost his signal about three hours ago came the reply from one of the staff on duty. Sounded busy there as it was, which gave Kerry some comfort. Perhaps they'd just missed him.

Very well, keep a look out for any reports, over.

His afterburners hit full before he even finished his sentence. He could only wonder and hope.
_________________________________________________

Kerry was exhausted. He had been searching for four hours. No sign of O'Brian's pod anywhere, or even a hint of a destroyed ship. Almost as if he had disappeared or something. Right off the map.

Suddenly, as he set his ship on autopilot, he saw something out of the corner of his windscreen. It was...a shimmer. Of what he could not tell, but it was something, and he had to find out what...

He hit his cruise engines and flew in the direction of the anomoly. Even as he flew, it seemed to dim. Like a cut trade lane in slow motion.

Closer...closer...he could read an object on his sensors. What exactly it was, he could not determine. The readings were too vague, almost as if something were half-jamming them.

Finally the object came into sight. It was a Liberator. Kerry felt his half-asleep hopes rise and then suddenly fall when he remembered that Hull had been in his bomber when he lost contact. Who was this, and why was it so far from Liberty.

How far, sadly, suddenly came to him. He set his scanners on long range only to realize he was nowhere near New York. In fact, his sensors showed him somewhere past California...in a massive void between California and Magellan. How did I get way out here?

Unidentified Officer, this is Deveron Kerry of the LPI, please identify yourself, over.

Silence. The Liberator slowly drifted in space, otherwise motionless. Lifeless. It was quite close now. Kerry could see scars on its wings and hull. Laser blasts that should have destroyed such a fragile vessel. But nonetheless it was intact.

Suddenly, his scanners went nuts and started beeping. The map blurred until there was nothing but a massive flat layer of black, and the viewscreen showed a sudden torrent of violent subspace forces. An Ion Storm.

As his ship was buffeted by the spatial winds, Kerry realized the Patriot remained unaffected. Almost as if it wasn't there.

Suddenly a single clear detail came up on his scanners. It was from the other Patriot

An escape pod floated out of its hold...literally floated, as there was no sign of Tractor beam activity. Kerry's Patriot suddenly felt still, as if the Ion Storm had never been, even though he could see it raging around him quite clearly.

The pod flew close to his vessel. Suddenly he remembered the reading from his scanners and looked down.

Escape Pod detected.

Duh Kerry said to himself, but before his mind could bring himself to say anything more he saw the second line.

Hull O'Brian.

He stood lifeless at the controls, senseless as to what to do. Suddenly his mind snapped back into action and he hit the Tractor Beam autofire trigger on his side console. The pod was yanked into his cargo hold.

Suddenly the other ship moved...no signs of engine activity. It just...moved.

What the-?

It moved quickly too...turned around and flew...flew at speeds that must have been near that of a fighter in a Trade Lane. Kerry's ship suddenly was shook again from a torrent of Ion Storm winds. As he struggled to regain control of his ship, he saw a flash of lightning, and in it, a looming shadow.

A station, large and silent. A passive derelict that would haunt him for all time.

His sensors were scrambled to everything else, but one thing showed clear...

Chula Vista, 207th Precinct. LPI.

At the same time, something came through his comms...a voice.

Don't think you ain't going to see this place again, Kerry came the voice, cold and hard. Kerry couldn't recognize it, but he saw one more thing appear on his sensors.

Sargeant Price, 207th Precinct.

And all was still...there was nothing...
______________________________________________________________
Kerry woke up with a nasty headache. He was in the Badlands...somewhere. He checked his hold reflexively and saw Hull O'Brian's pod. The memories of that Ion Storm...of the 207th Precinct. Of Sargeant Price, all came flooding to his head like a brick wall. It literally felt like a brick wall. His head hurt so much...like something was squeezing juice from his brain like they would a lemon from old Earth.

He half-heartedly hit his Cruise Engines and flew out of the dark matter cloud. He jumped on the trade lane that materialized before him.

Before he knew it he was on Fort Bush, head still hurting, though not as much.

Is Officer O'Brian going to be alright, ma'am? he asked a nurse as she closed the door to the room where medical had him hooked up to Life Support.

He'll be fine. We know that much. You need rest now, Officer, don't you deny it no longer.

Kerry managed to mumble an aye before half stumbling to his quarters, where he crashed on his bunk, narrowly missing hitting the one above with his head.

And all ceased to be. Kerry was asleep before he had even hit the sheets.

---

"He who has one thousand friends will find he has not a friend to spare, and he who has one enemy will find him everywhere."
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