Digimon Fan Fiction / Gundam Wing Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction / Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ The Second Annual Mediaminer.org Big Fanfiction Contest/Award Ceremony/Oscars/Emmies/Golden Globes Thingie! ❯ Scifi ( Chapter 8 )

Special thanks to all participants

Special thanks to all judges

Special thanks to Microsoft for sponsoring this event

Special thanks to NBC for letting us have their auditorium

Special thanks to all the fans of Doctor Who

Special thanks to the actors, writers, etc. of the movie Freddy vs. Jason

No thanks to the actors, writers, etc. of the movie Deathstalker and the Warriors from Hell. What the hell was the editor smoking when he put that piece of crap together?

**

"All right, filthy stink creatures, Zim has returned and now he orders you to BOW DOWN BEFORE HIM!"

None of the people in the audience were paying attention to Zim as he continued to yell at the microphone that, coincidentally, was actually turned off, so no one could hear him even if they were listening. Mr. T finally got Zim off of the stage and sent him off into space once more, letting Fanilia take the platform.

"Don't you just love a good story about space battles, aliens, and weird technology?" she asked.

Someone shouted out "No!" Fanilia narrowed her eyes and growled.

"Oh, yes you do, damn it! Anyway, this next category is for the geeks and nerds out there. And here, for your enjoyment, is Becca Stareyes!" she announced.

Becca came out and hugged Fanilia, prompting some of the more perverted geeks of the audience to take photographs of it. Mr. T promptly beat the crap out of them and took their cameras to Psy. In any case, Becca took the podium.

"Well, Science Fiction turned out to be a small category -- heck, I had to eliminate one award because I got no entries for it -- but the competition still was pretty steep -- I was forced to read more into several stories to make my decision. So, sorry that the Warp Factor 9 Award for Best Technology doesn't exist, but now, here is the winner for the Crop Circles Award!"

She pulled out the envelope and opened it. "`Another Story, Another Journey,' by Shaneyell!"

Shane put down his other award and came running up the stage as the excerpt screen came back down...

EXCERPT:

The slim blonde met her captain's eyes steadily as she

checked over her file. "We crossed the warp signature

of another Solonoid ship, probably left behind when

they received a general order to retreat," Lauren

reported crisply.

Gail could hear the murmurs around the table, the soft

repeating of, "Another ship made it." Or, "There's

other survivors." The bridge crew quieted after a

moment, but Gail saw the hope in their eyes. And she

hated herself for having to crush it.

"If we warp out after their ship, what will the

Paranoid forces do?" a grim faced Gail made herself

ask Danielle softly.

The mildly sick expression on Danielle's face told

Gail that she had figured it all out. The tactical

officer quietly said, "Our ECM is far less effective

when we're on the move. They would spot us

immediately, and pursue." She paused a moment, "And

unless we were remarkably lucky, both ships would

probably be destroyed."

Gail was faintly surprised that Tanya spoke up right

then, "So why don't we run the other way, try to lead

the Paranoid ships off?" She shrugged slightly, "Hey,

who knows, we might even be able to out run them."

Allaine and Gail had talked about all this before

hand, of course. They and one other. But they hadn't

been really expecting to get this kind of support from

any of the bridge crew. "I'm a little surprised to

hear you say that," Allaine managed.

"We fighter jocks know we're all living on borrowed

time," Tanya shrugged again, "I figure if we're going

down anyway, let's save another ship in the process."

"We are not going down, as you so eloquently put it,"

Gail said to her forcefully, "I intend to do

everything I can to keep this crew intact."

"Tactically, though, it's not too bad of a plan,"

Danielle looked up to say coolly, "as long as we have

enough supplies and materials. We could quite

successfully wear the enemy force down in this sort of

running fight."

Karin leaned forward, "I'll redirect the salvage

crews. We'll need reactor components and fuel

reserves, if we're even going to attempt this." She

paused a moment before she asked, "But where, exactly,

do we run to?"

Knowing this question was coming, that was Catty's cue

to take over the display screen just as Gail and

Alliene had rehearsed with her earlier on. A very

simplified overall map of the Solonoid and Paranoid

territories appeared on the screen.

"Before we first encountered the Paranoid we launched

several colony ships through this region," Catty

highlighted a path right through part of Paranoid

space, "where they established a few colonies. At

least one of the colony ships then left both our and

Paranoid territories, going off into completely

uncharted regions of space."

Allaine smiled grimly, "We're certain that the

colonies themselves were totally destroyed by the

Paranoid, but there may be supplies and material's we

can salvage."

"And then go try to find the missing colony ships,"

Lauren murmured.

Gail stood up from her seat, gazing out into space.

"There's no guarantees in any of this, of course. The

Paranoid could take us down before we even reach where

the colonies were, much less finding the lost ships,"

she said simply.

"There's never been any guarantees in this job,"

Danielle said firmly.

"I really hate to have to agree with her," Tanya gave

Danielle a very disdainful look, "but I think she's

right about this. You've got a good crew here on the

Lady Grace, and I figure we've got as good chance as

any to pull this off."

There was a general chorus of agreement from the women

of the command staff. Gail smiled, keeping her face

turned away as she felt tears prickling at her eyes.

Keeping her voice as steady as she could manage she

said, "All right. We'll do it."

END EXCERPT

"Gall Force isn't the most well known anime, so I want to thank everyone who reviewed. You kept me going on this fic."

There was heavy applause from his brief speech as he walked back down to his table. Fanilia came back out, hugged Becca once more, and retook the podium.

"Next up is Continuation! Stay tuned!"

Continued...