It was a nice morning on the Planet New London, there was only a light rain, as Roddy stood on the Prow of his boat the Jammy Dodger. He and his wife Rita had owned that boat for many years and they had spend them doing salvage work in the canals of New London for the Police other factions.
"Hey!" Rita called to him from the small bridge, "Go down and check the main reactor will ya? It bloody loud and think the second engine coil may be jammed!"
"Alright be back in a minute!" He climbed down the ladder to the main cargo hold, and proceeded to the engine. Sitting down, he talked to himself as he did a preliminary check to the old ships small reactor. He had barely been working for 10 minutes when he heard sounds of fighting above.
"Rita! Whats going on?" He shouted from the top of the ladder. I dunno but I think some of those space jockeys are going at it!" Before either of them could make a move, a strange blue ship, most likely from Rheinland, flew over head, followed by ten bloodhounds.
"What the bloody hell is going on?!" Roddy shouted to no-one in particular as the bloodhounds opened fire and the blue ship caught fire and crashed into the canal about 1 kilometre ahead.
"Roddy dear, I smell a salvage, and good money from this one! All ahead full!" Rite called excitedly as she pushed the bug red button on the roof of the bridge, and the small boat sped down the sludgy canal in New London.
Roddy busied himself by getting their cannon on the prow ready. They had that thing installed about 3 years ago, after a small Junker raid. All it really did was fire water, densely packed and at super high speeds. An impact on the chest could break a few ribs and send a target flying a few feet. Head shots usually resulted in sever neck injuries.
Rita tossed him a duffle bag filled with old chunks of metal and rusty tools. With a flick of a switch, the water cannon could become a deadly flak turret. He fired of one concentrated burst of water at the bloodhounds and five of them peeled off from the dying rheinland ship. He made a few adjustments to the cannon and place a bent wrench into the barrel of the flak gun.
'BAM!' The wrench flew at somewhere around the speed of sound and took off one of the bloodhounds engines. It spiraled down and it a bridge support. He dropped in a metal cross and took aim again, but the shot missed by 2 feet.
"Roddy!" Shouted Rita, "Get out of the Gunners seat and take the helm you lousy shot! Lemme have a go!" Rita jumped in and placed something that looked like the broken head of a morning star (spiky mace in case ya dont know) into the barrel.
Roddy swerved to avoid a missile from a pirate as the bloodhounds dove into an attack run. 'BAM!' A bloodhound crashed, its cockpit blow open and its pilot reduced to a meaty paste. "Sorry about that, chap!" called Rita as she slid a small metal gargoyle into the cannon. "She stopped fort a moment. and place three more chunks of metal into the barrel for good measure.
'BAM!' The cannon decompressed violently and another ship was hit with four chunks and exploded. Roddy spun the Jammy Dodger into a narrow ally between two large corporate towers and the remaining two bloodhounds followed, shooting their blasters as they came.
In such a narrow space it was impossible for Rita to miss the next shot as was able to hit both of them with a large spike that traveled through the first cockpit and hit the engine of the second.
"Right," said Rita, "Move to the crashed ship, it should be somewhere around here" She pointed to the map on the roof of the bridge.
In about 30 minutes they had found the Rheinland ship for that was clearly what it was. There were there remaining five pirates on a section of dock that wasnt destroyed and they seamed to be unloading some strange containers from the gunboat. The bloodhounds were parked in close proximity.
Roddy navigated the Jammy Dodger on low power by a nearby building. Rita signaled to him as she finished loading the gun and they sped out into the open and then in a flash one of the pirates' ships was blow in half by a metal chunk in its fuel reserves.
The pirates were stunned and they dropped their boxes to pick up guns lying around and opened fire on the Jammy Dodger. Rita blasted one with a burst of water and sent him sailing into the sludgy canal.
Lying in a pile of rheinland military bodies, one of the troops sprang to life. He had been faking unconsciousness and he struck down two of the pirates before they could do anything. The other two pirates, on a small scrawny man and another very large albino man, shot at the rheinland man and he fell over as a las-blast hit him in the thigh. This was the distraction Roddy and Rita needed. They pulled the Jammy dodger to the side of the pier and jumped out, grabbing large blunt objects. The two pirates didnt stand a chance and they were both unconscious before they could say "ahoi!"
Roddy ran over to the dying rheinlander. "Sir! Are you seriously injured? What happened to your ship?!"
The rheinlander coughed up blood and said "My crew and I were on an important secret mission for RM." He coughed again. "We were carrying nomads, dont ask what they are, to the Cambridge research institute down here on the planet. They were for a small branch of scientists and the tests they were planning weren't exactly legal, but they said that the Rheinland Military would get a prototype of the new anti-nomad gun they were working on. Unfortunately as were docked with the planet, a large group of Junkers ambushed us." He coughed some more. "Apparently it was a trap set by them to get their hands on these nomads, probably for some disastrous plan."
His next coughs were extremely painful looking and the spat out more blood. "Now I need you two, to go inside and push the green and read button in the cargo bay. This with self-destruct the nomad containers and rid of evidence. Then take the gunboat and say that we were suffering from technical difficulties and crashed, with no survivors. Now remember only tell it to people who ask. Use the gunboat as you see fit, but dont tell the real reason you go it, understan...." He coughed violently and rolled over, obviously dead.
"Well, Roddy, it looks like were space captains now eh?" Said Rita as they climbed about the gunboat. Roddy pushed the button without really thinking, hoping it was the right thing to do and a small thud came from outside. "Indeed Rita! Many adventure await in space!" They programmed the Jammy Dodgers onboard computer to drive it self to their garage, and smashed a small bottle of wine they found in the captains room across the bulkhead of the gunboat, Christening it the Jammy Dodger II.
They flew to the local bar they hung out it a lot and pick up a few old friends to help crew the gunboat, such as Sid, who would be second in command to the pair.
Upon leaving the Cambridge docking ring, they smiled at each other, knowing that they could do so many more things now that they had a 34million dollar piece of equipment at their disposal, and that they would find out what the Rheinland guy had been talking about and why he had died for it. They flew away from Cambridge, chatting happily away to the disgruntled Brentonians and set off for the far reaches of space.
End Part 1
OOC: wow I finally wrote that and I really enjoyed writing it too! Please post some comments! Thanks a bunch!
T'is very good and long. And explains perfectly (if unexpectedly) how they aquired their gunboat. It did absorb me and i was imagining the story and i was reading it.
Part 2! I know you guys were all waiting for this so here it is!:
The Jammy Dodger was cruising through the omega 41 system at a leisurely pace. Roddy was asleep and snoring loudly at the helm, and Rita was sifting through some navigation charts they had picked up, hoping to plot a course through the edge systems. They had been exploring the house systems the last few weeks, stay mostly within the protection of the militaries and occasionally going through the connecting systems like the sigmas and Taus.
This was the Jammy Dodger's first real test of strength, all the stories Rita had heard of these places were that of horror and piracy. The corsairs and outcasts were supposed to board any ship they came across and do horrible things to the occupants and then slowly kill them. Not to mention the mysterious 'nomads,' The aliens they were starting to here more and more about, and the reason they had gotten the Jammy Dodger in the first place.
She located the approximate place of the Zoner base, Freeport 5 (ooc: not sure) and she left the bridge to head for the gunboats small galley for a bite to eat and a drink.
Roddy was having a nice dream. He was lying in his old bed in the apartment on New London and the sun was shining in (which was a surprise, it usually rains!) and he was enjoying it just sitting there, when a strange hooded man came and started making beeping noises into a large megaphone. It was getting annoying and then the figure shouted "RODDY" about 3 times before Roddy stood up in his pilots chair on the Jammy Dodger. Rita was shouting in his ear and the unknown contact alarm was beeping in he back ground.
"Get up already you lazy oaf!" she said. "I think there are corsairs in bound!"
"Wha-, huh?" Roddy muttered. "What is it?"
"Damnit!" She splashed a small amount of her luke-warm coffee on his face.
"Holy crap! Corsairs in bound!" He shouted, suddenly wide awake.
"Bout time too....." Rita muttered.
The scanner screen showed a squad of four heavy fighters and one super heavy fighter. The lead one flew up to them.
"Halt! You worthless scum gonna any gifts for us?" said the Lead one in a scruffy voice
"Quite frankly, no. Our holds have been empty for some time now, and all were doing is exploring really" Replied Rita, smartly
"How much money you got?" The Corsair said again
Roddy saw their credit balance said somewhere about 10 million. "Oh About 100thousand. We got raided by Hessians coming here." He hoped his voice did show his lie.
"Well, how many did you kill?"
"All seven, cept the leader."
"We any enemy of the Hessians is an enemy of ours. You guys can leave."
Roddy and Rita stopped and stared at each other "Are you guys supposed to be really evil or something?"
"Well why would we attack you guys? You have nothing of value and you appear to hate our enemies. Your rep shows it. Feel free to land on any of our bases if you wish. Just dont get too comfy."
And with that final note, the corsairs left, leaving the crew of the Jammy dodger stunned. "Well that was, strange." Said Roddy. "No kidding..... Well, no cense sitting around. Lets keep going to Freeport 5!" Replied Rita, and the Jammy Dodger moved deeper into the edge worlds.
The Jammy Dodger came through the Jump Hole from Omega 41 into Omnicron Gamma. The radiation was bad, but not as bad as the Black star of Omega 41.
"Well? where too next?" Said Rita.
"Im not really sure," replied Roddy. He turned on the system communicator. "Ahoi! Zoner chap! Were kinda bored here and we dont know what would be a good place for some explorers to check out?"
"Whoa! Random but alright! I'll give you guys a hint." Replied the dromedary pilot, surprised he was being asked that. Not many dared explore the Edge Worlds. "I heard, that if you are really brave and your ship is good enough, you can go deep into the artifact cloud to the north of Gamma, and find a jump hole. Supposedly it leads to planets run by strange beings who see the most expensive equipment know to the colonies. Be careful of the aliens though. They are also said to patrol around that area. Thats all I know! see ya later, freelancers." And with that the zoner left through the jump hole to omega 41.
"An unknown jump hole eh? This sounds like fun!" Said Rita and before Roddy had a chance to protest, she set a course for the artifact cloud.
"Are you sure we should be doing this......" He said
"Of course! Why are you afraid of the aliens! They can't be that bad."
"But, well, oh alright. Lets go....." He sat down in the pilots chair and wonder what kind of things awaited them
The Jammy Dodger floated amongst the dead hulks of countless corsair fighter. It was a very quite place, with little activity, save for the odd rock floating by.
Rita scanned the area for the jump hole. "Roddy I have a strange anomaly, it could be an active hole. The zoner was right after all........"
She was about to hit the jump activation rune, when four enemy contacts appeared on the short range scanners. "Pirates!" She said to Roddy. "And this time it appears they mean business!" Roddy flicked a few switches on the command consol, sending more power to the shields and guns, while Rita sat down in the main gun targeting chair.
He spun the Jammy Dodger around to face the fighters. They were still about fifteen kilometers away, just under effective shooting range.
"Locked on!" Said Rita. "Firing main cannon and two missiles at target three!"
"Fire at will!"
The Jammy Dodger shuddered slightly and a large ball of fluorescent-green death erupted from the gunboats main gun. It flew towards the fighters who were about 10 kilometers away and just under visual range.
It stuck the first one dead on, and shortly after, a pair of Rheinland missiles found home on the enemy hull. When the interference from the weapons had cleared, Rita looked at the screen and said "Kill confirm-" She was half-way through saying the enemy was dead, because anything that was hit but that combo of weapons was dead, there was no way any human ship could stand that, when she realize the target had half its armour remaining. "Target still coming!" She said with awe and surprise.
"Holy sh!t! What kinda ship can take that hit!" said Roddy in disbelief.
"Nothing made by the colonies, thats for sure....."
By this time the fighters were in visual range. At first glance you could tell they were alien. They were pink and clear through out the entire ship, save for a mass of energy at the center. They reached optimal range for their weapons and the Aliens opened fire.
The shots did horrendous damage to Jammy Dodgers shields. The gunboat had powerful shields, to show its superiority over fighters but these were not regular house fighters and they quickly brought down the Jammys shields to 50%.
Rita fired her main cannon at point blank range this time, and the alien had to time to turn out of the way. It was struck and then the shot was followed by the Dodgers turrets. The alien had taken a lot of punishment but this was too much. Its armour crumpled and the ship exploded.
"Nomads" spat Rita in disgust, for that was clearly what they were.
Roddy spun the Dodger around again, facing the nomad ships that were spinning around for another run. They opened fire and Rita answered with her guns, missiles and Cannon. The nomad guns stuck the prow of the Dodgers shields and Roddy had to go into a steep barrel roll to avoid the brunt of the attack.
One nomad ship flew over head, its armour weakened from the Dodgers salvo and Rita managed to get in two more missiles at the passing ship. It soon became another chunk of vapor in the Artifact cloud.
The nomads, obviously startled that their comrades had been killed, were taking their attacks more cautiously now, dart from in and out of the asteroids in the area.
This tactic didn't faze Rita, she fired another shot of the main cannon at the next asteroid a nomad ships was flying behind. The powerful shot annihilated the asteroid and stuck the crippled nomad fighter and it was no more.
The last nomad attempted to rush the Dodger from behind but Roddy pulled the ship so its side was facing the fighter, and with out comment Rita fired, taking the alien down to almost no armour and it stuck the dodgers shield when it exploded silently in the quiet of space.
Roddy, pushed a button and the junk from the battle was pulled on-board by the dodgers tractor beam.
Rita sat back in her chair, exhausted from the fight. "That wasnt too bad! I can't wait to see Unknown!
Roddy sighed to himself. "Here we go again......"
End Part 2
OOC: wow there ya go mates, hope you enjoy part II. I wrote it more along the lines of how real space would be, with ships being able to shoot each other from father away and having longer short range scanners (i.e., 10kilos)
Remember this isnt the end of their adventure, so keep the advice coming! And sorry about any typos
Also If you read PLEASE make a comment. I really appreciate it and like to hear what people say.
Ah well I hate to do this but i really need some responsese on this story cause im printing off both of them to show to some poeple at my Youth Group and I need to have some mroe replies first.
It's still good, your still using the actual relationships between different factions, and how they react to players, it's a great story, I still like it.
ooc: yes it was very good, pal. I love the name of their ship "Jammy Dodger". lol. it had good detail and was quite immersive. yes, i also agree with what marauder said on how you use other clans in your story. all green around the board.
![[Image: qvsigaz9.gif]](http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m37/Quintinius-Verginix/qvsigaz9.gif)
![[Image: death_through_duty.jpg]](http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q235/captain-purge-all/death_through_duty.jpg)