Zone Of The Enders Fan Fiction ❯ Zone of the Enders: Triad 2177 ❯ Genesis ( Chapter 1 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Silvace Atronach 
Where it all begins...
Non Anime: Zone Of The Enders Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Sci-fi / Romance / Mecha / Comedy / Adventure / Action / Angst | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 11.10.2003 | Updated On: 01.27.2004 | Pages: 5 | Words: 6.8K | Visits: 420 | Status: Completed
Where it all begins...
Non Anime: Zone Of The Enders Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Sci-fi / Romance / Mecha / Comedy / Adventure / Action / Angst | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 11.10.2003 | Updated On: 01.27.2004 | Pages: 5 | Words: 6.8K | Visits: 420 | Status: Completed
<HMTL>
<TITLE></TITLE>
<BODY>
<P>Short foreward: When I finished playing Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner, I have absolutely no idea why, but I wanted to write a fanfic. The first thing I did, like every story I write, was look back upon my influences:
<P>- Movies with lots of guns and cool action
<P>- Anime with lots of guns, mecha, and cool action
<P>- My plethora of odd music tastes
<P>- Xenogears
<P>And then I began.
<P>I took note of the fact that, well, I didn't play ZOE for the plot; I played it for the ultra-l33t Orbital Frames. To be honest, I'm only a modest fan of the military-based mecha stuff; I'm more of a Zoids Zero and Xenogears/Xenosaga fan when it comes to mecha. SO....I took a different approach: make it about everyday people.
<P>That's right, even though Dingo, Ken, and Leo are all starred in this as well as my original characters...well, all the big war themes and stuff were cut. In fact, like Xenogears, it takes on a kind of odd esoteric feel instead of a war-based feel. You spend a lot of time watching their daily lives go about as well as watching them battle through their oddly aquired Orbital Frames. You also get to see them battle their own shady pasts which are always catching up with them. I've been complimented on this unique twist and I hope new readers like it too.
<P>I also took another change to liberty. While the ZOE games thrived on the "good" and "bad" mecha (Jehuty vs. Anubis for the core theme), the importance of the mecha has been dropped. The only real reason they weild these fantastic weapons is because the enemy is doing the same thing (and because they're getting paid too! ). Don't fret, though, because later on there IS one particular mecha that is.....well.....you'll see. I'm going to pull a Kojima here and not even give you a clue.
<P>Be on the look out for the tons of references both obvious and obscure. This story has been highly inspired by many things; action movies like Desperado, music from Pink Floyd all the way to VNV Nation, and anime like Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, and Noir. I like to think of them as small tributes to my favorites.
<P>Now, on with the show...featuring the all new unedited Chapter 1. I actually cut this introduction out, but after reading Wing Zero Alpha's rather interesting one, I reconsidered it.
<P ALIGN=CENTER>- Silvace Atronach, October 14, 2003
<CENTER><P>-----------------------------</P></CENTE R>
<P>In the year 2174, humanity had been brought back from the brink of non-existence. The mighty space fortress Aumaan was destroyed, the leader of BAHRAM struck down in one blow, and the hero survived while staring oblivion itself in the face. The war was over; his deeds gave Mars the right to ask but one thing of Earth in return for one of their people saving all of mankind. All they wanted was to be left alone, for Earth to set Mars aside and let them be their own community.
<P>The wish was granted, but on one condition. Earth insisted that any and all forms of agression against Earth or its people to be snuffed out across Mars and the Jupiter colonies. Mars agreed entirely, wanting nothing more of war with Earth; there would no longer be any transgressions between the two of them.
<P>So Earth geared up its finest military and set off across Mars on what was nicknamed "The Terran Crusade". Through careful intelligence gathered in the months beforehand, Earth had found a few hundred resistance factions both large and small. Unfortuneately, with BAHRAM's might, they were simply cast into the shadows, waiting for BAHRAM to fail so they would pick up where they left off.
<P>These factions were privately funded, often by anti-Earth individuals or companies who claimed absolutely no sponsorship for their cause. They were usually huddled up out in the wastelands of Mars or spread out over several counties in small groups.
<P>The interesting thing about them, however, were that some excelled greatly at things BAHRAM probably never considered study in. While BAHRAM had the Orbital Frame on their side, some groups put stock into such things as highly advanced firearms, medically researched combat enhancement drugs for soldiers, compact extremely high-payload explosives, crudely designed "super" L.E.V.'s, and rumors still spread of bare-bones Orbital Frames developed by third parties outside Nereidium. While none of this was considered as much as a threat as the standard Orbital Frame, Earth still wanted none of it to exist anymore. A time of peace was finally at hand, and it was time to bury the hatchet for good between Mars and Earth.
<P>Within the time between 2174 and 2175, Earth had weeded out and eliminated a number of factions that reached almost two hundred. While some were full-scale and fully funded BAHRAM copies, most were three guys with an Ak-52 sitting in an old pickup truck at the front gates to their farm dome. It didn't matter to Earth, everyone who wasn't killed in their attacks were arrested and sentenced to prison on the charge of dissention against Mars' pact with Earth. The raids on installations were fantastic, ranging from simple arresting proceedures to brief battles between the faction's flawed military technology and Earth's Phantomas. Earth won every single battle and all involved with the faction were captured or killed.
<P>When Earth was satisfied, they obediently left Mars and both planets quietly went on with their own affairs.
<P>But then a year past. In 2176, several infuriated Earth military officials and political icons raised the question of whether or not they had done what was right. The fact was clear, Vascillia County officials on Mars supported the BAHRAM army and its cause; to them, Mars would never forgive Earth for making fools of them. These officials claimed that Mars was slowly preparing for another war, this time on Earth's own soil and among the few developing Asteroid Belt colonies on Juno and Pallas. Many people on Earth backed them, both minor officials and the people themselves and demanded that Mars be kept in check at the very least.
<P>So with no warning, Earth landed a massive army on Mars and reoccupied. After gaining their foothold on Mars, a few squads were even sent to the Jupiter colonies and Ganymede (which was nearly completely terraformed). This set off a series of debates among Mars and Earth officials; while Mars claimed to have done nothing wrong and were not hiding anything, Earth was still determined to make them pay for grievances left over from the war.
<P>Such things as the Orbital Frame design and all developers for the Orbital Frame were confiscated and arrested; all records of Metatron research were erased from Mars military databases. In addition, they outlawed the development of Orbital Frames and any other Metatron-based bodies across the solar systsem to ensure absolute victory if war were to happen. Nereidium and a few other weapons developers (like Ryan Corporation) were still allowed to develop combat LEVs and to research anything they wanted outside of Metatron itself; but for the most part, Mars became a barren rock when it came to technology, paling in comparison to Earth.
<P>The people were infuriated and the debates have lasted months. It is now late 2177 and tensions are greater than even during the war. Small factions, who went into hiding the moment Earth set out on its Crusade, have been appearing and attacking Earth installations on Mars in an attempt to cripple relations. At the current rate, Mars will once again be repressed and another war may break out.
<P>But that doesn't matter to Jim Hauser.
<P>Jim Hauser is a self-professed freelancer. He owns and operates a medium-class freighter he named Entropy because of his personal belief in the universal state of chaos. When he left his old life behind, he took this ship and decided to wander the stars, leading a life of peace and transcendentalism.
<P>He returned to Mars one day when his ship was crippled badly while fighting off a rival and met Nash Harsborough. The ever mild-mannered Nash fixed Entropy even better than it was and for this, he hired him on the spot. Nash is now the repairman and engineer on Entropy.
<P>When Jim decided to take up salvaging, he decided this on Ganymede. He hired a lovely young ex-cop, Vera Michaels. Vera was trying to break into the salvaging business because she use to operate LEVs in her line of work as a special forces police officer. Jim hired her along with buying an old rebuilt Phantoma. Vera is now the recovery LEV operator on Entropy.
<P>One day when Jim decided he couldn't even fly his own ship for peanuts, he landed (rather awkwardly) on Mars. He found a fresh-out-of-school pilot and hired him without even meeting the man. And so, one day, the certainly unique Miryhn Troxel wandered into the ship for his first day of work. Miryhn is now the main pilot of Entropy.
<P>So now Entropy is freely wandering the solar system, salvaging parts and refuse for cash. It is a place of strong belief in the individual just as transcendentalism should be and it is a place of true liberation from the chaos humanity seems to keep sending itself into.
<P>And this is where their journey begins...
<CENTER><P>-----------------------------</P></CENTE R>
<CENTER><I>"In the beginning..." - The Bible, first line of the book of Genesis</I></CENTER>
<CENTER><P>-----------------------------</P></CENTE R>
<P>"Here's to you, Mars..." he said, staring out the observation deck windows. He lifted the cup to his lips and took a long sip of the coffee, reflecting quietly. Jupiter, like Earth, was merely a bright dot in the sea of stars visible in the windows. Mars, however, was much more visible off to the right, but he didn't like to look at it. Mars was nothing but an eyesore since the occupation. No one wanted to think about what was going on there; it was all just one big mess waiting to explode.
<P>"How long have you been up here anyways, Miryhn? The captain's looking for you," the woman beside him whined.
<P>"Oh, didn't notice you there. I've been here about an hour or less. I don't see what the hell he would want me for right now. We're not suppose to leave for another day, right?" Miryhn asked, placing the cup on the coffee table beside him.
<P>"You know Jim, he's always changing plans. The guy couldn't keep anything on schedule if his life depended on it," the woman said sarcastically.
<P>"Vera, that's pretty harsh. He manages to keep his smoke breaks on schedule," Miryhn replied with a chuckle.
<P>"That chain smoking habit of his will kill him someday, if all his loaners don't first," Vera retorted.
<P>"True. Well, I'll go see what that dickhead wants now. Lately he's been working me like a dog on the bridge consoles. I keep telling him I'm a pilot, not a mechanic. That's Nash's job," Miryhn said, getting up from the couch and starting out the deck hatch.
<P>"You know, Nash keeps bitching about the engines and Jim sends him down there so he can lay on his ass in the nice, cold coolant room. Next time he does that, I'm gonna beat the hell outta him like I did when he was about to try and take out my LEV," Vera said, picking up Miryhn's cup.
<P>"So that's his secret. If not for my extremely important job of piloting the ship, I'd pull that too once in a while. After all, I'm the favorite of the crew," Miryhn said sarcastically, then laughed as he left.
<P>"Favorite, humph. Yeah right!" Vera said and finished Miryhn's coffee.
<CENTER><P>-----------------------------</P></CENTE R>
<P>"There you are. Get your shit together, we're leav'in," Captain yelled at Miryhn as he walked inside the bridge.
<P>"We can't, Nash is slacking off on his job. However, freighters aren't that easy or cheap to fix, I don't blame him for taking so long," Miryhn said as he casually walked up the stairs to the controls riser of the ship and logged into the computer. He put his long, silver hair into a slightly frizzy ponytail and loosened his black, short-sleeved collared shirt from his sweaty chest. He shook his baggy blue jeans to loosen the air in them and slipped off his black sneakers. "By the way, can we turn on the A.C. for once around here, Jim?"
<P>"This ship is just fine the way it is. Medium freighter-class AB07 cargo and passenger transport ship, product of the fine Penultra Shipbuilders Corporation of Ganymede," Jim said, preaching the legistics of his ship and ignoring Miryhn's request. "The Entropy is practically new! Why is it taking so much time and money to fix it, eh?" he added, turning toward the back of the ship.
<P>Miryhn shrugged and shook his head. "Ask Nash, not me," Miryhn said, pressing some buttons on the navigation computer.
<P>"Alright, fine!" Jim yelled and immediately left the bridge.
<P>"Poor Nash, I hope he's frozen to that coolant room floor by now. He deserves it," Miryhn said with a grin.
<CENTER><P>-----------------------------</P></CENTE R>
<P>"And the blue one goes here...and the orange one goes here..." Nash said, connecting several wires in place inside the compartment of a piece of the engine machinery. He connected the last wire and started to ratchet the compartment hatch back on.
<P>"Nash, you lazy-ass! Where you are you!?" Jim yelled, barging into the engine room.
<P>Nash dropped the ratchet and began to sweat more than he was from the stuffy interior of the ship; the fear of God was put in him by Jim's yell. He knew he had been taking his job lightly lately, but he, like the rest of the crew, was sick of Jim trying to save money by not running the air conditioning. It was his attempt to save money on coolant. He ran his fingers through his short, bushy, red hair and took a deep breath. He let it out as he stood up and walked to the end of the row of machinery he was in.
<P>"Yes, Captain?" Nash said timidly as he poked his head around the corner.
<P>"Nash!" Jim said, charging toward him. Nash stepped out from behind the machinery into full view and awaited whatever punishment Jim would lay on him now.
<P>"Nash, tell me, how much longer until this thing will run?" Jim said firmly.
<P>"Oh! The repairs? I'm almost done, I just need about an hour," Nash said, grinning to hide his anxiety.
<P>"Good, now hurry up!" Jim said and turned around to leave.
<P>Nash wiped the sweat off his forehead and started to walk back to his work.
<P>"By the way..." Jim added, turning around again.
<P>"Y-yes, Cap'm?" Nash said as he turned to Jim again, knowing this time he was gonna get it.
<P>"How much did all this cost?" Jim said, taking off his orange baseball cap to scratch his head.
<P>"Um, about two thousand. We wouldn't have to replace so many parts if you'd tell Miryhn not to fly through debris every time he tries some daredevil stunt!" Nash said, frowning and turning up his nose at speaking Miryhn's name.
<P>"Give him a break, he keeps us from getting caught, eh?" Jim said with a laugh. "Now get back to work, we don't have time to kill," Jim said, going back into his serious tone.
<P>"Yes, sir!" Nash said, smiling again and hopping back to his machinery.
<P>"Moron pampered kid," Jim said under his breath as he left.
<CENTER><P>-----------------------------</P></CENTE R>
<P>"I'm telling you, Hesperia Gales has nothing on Caleb Barons. Old school is going out and the new is in!" Vera said as she spun around in her chair after opened a can of Pepsi. She loosened her blue tank top off her breast, readjusted her white shorts and took a long gulp of the soda.
<P>"Like hell. You're only thinking about '73. It's only been three years, that's not enough time for 'old' and 'new' schools to form," Miryhn replied, propping his feet on the rail of the control panel and looked down from the riser at Vera.
<P>"Hersperia is the last of a dying breed. You see-" Vera said, interrupted by Jim entering the bridge. Jim had lit up a cigarette and let out a puff as the hatch opened.
<P>Jim looked at each of them. "Don't let me interrupt you, keep talking. We're waiting for numbnuts to finish fixing the engine," Jim said, relaxing in the "captain's chair", the most ornate seat on the entire ship with upholstery that wasn't peeling or cracked.
<P>"We were just chit-chatting. We were waiting for you to tell us what the hurry is," Vera said.
<P>"Oh, yeah, that. Well..." Jim said, propping his chin on his elbow on the armrest.
<P>"Just a quick note, Captain. Larson called while you were out. Says he thinks the others are already after 'it' and he needs you to hurry up," Miryhn said, reading off a post-it note that was peeling off the railing due to the stuffy air.
<P>"Oh for the love of...shit..." Jim whined, putting his cigarette in an ashtray and rubbing the temples of his nose.
<P>"Sorry, it just sounded important," Miryhn apologized, holding his hands up.
<P>"Naw, don't worry about it," Jim said as he ran his hand over his face and groaned. "We can wait a little while for Nash to finish," Jim said, putting the cigarette back in his lips.
<P>"A 'little while'? Captain, I'm about to have a heat stroke here!" Vera complained as she put her light-blonde hair up in a high ponytail.
<P>"I know, I know. But as I've said before and I'll say again-" Jim started to say.
<P>"We know. 'Coolant isn't cheap, we can only use it on the engines'," Miryhn finished for him. "You've said that a hundred times, Captain, but who's going to run the ship if we're all dead of heat stroke?" Miryhn added, putting his feet on the floor and leaning his elbows on the control riser's railing.
<P>"After this haul, we'll have enough scratch to put this whole ship on ice, so stop bitching!" Jim said, raising his voice. He tapped the cigarette on the edge of the ashtray and put it back in his lips.
<P>"I sure hope so, I get the feeling you guys like seeing me half naked," Vera said with detest, crossing her arms over her breast.
<P>"I'm certainly not complaining," Miryhn said with a grin. Vera giggled flirtatiously.
<P>"Give it a rest you two. Miryhn, you should know Vera won't be impressed with anything after seeing the size of the new cannon on her LEV," Jim said, grinning.
<P>Miryhn frowned and leaned back in his chair.
<P>"Aw, don't be so mean, Captain. He's cuter than you!" Vera said, taking another gulp of her soda.
<P>"Ha-HA! Got 'em! Got 'em!" Miryhn said grinning and pointing to the palm of his hand.
<P>"Come on, Captain, enough suspense. What is this 'haul' you mention?" Vera said, crossing her legs casually.
<P>"It's a surprise. You'll find out at Cam's place," Jim said, folding his arms behind his head as he leaned back into his seat.
<P>"Can't hardly wait," Miryhn said, sarcastically. "Yo, throw me a Pepsi, will 'ya Vera?" he added, holding up his hand.
<P>"Captain, Cam Larson...isn't he the guy who-" Vera said as she tossed Miryhn a Pepsi.
<P>"The guy who's girlfriend I busted a nut with? Oh yeah!" Jim said, bumping his crotch upward a few times.
<P>"You're sick. She's fat and has that mole on her neck!" Miryhn said with a grimace.
<P>"Naw, that was Litia. I'm talk'in about Margarette. Anyways, he's got a nice wreck lined up for us to pinch as much as we can from. I don't know anymore than that. The rest we'll find out when we get to his place," Jim said, rubbing the rest of his cigarette out in the ashtray and immediately lighting up another.
<P>"Great, Cam Larson, the guy who said we'd find two tons of Metatron on that one ship and all we got was a few tons of scrap shit. Not only once, mind you, but three times!" Miryhn said bitterly before cracking open his Pepsi.
<P>"He's right, Captain, he's not very dependable," Vera chimed in.
<P>"We have nothing better to do, right?" Jim said, shrugging,"The shipping lane wrecks have been low since BAHRAM was weeded out by the U.N.S.F. and there's been less and less stuff to grab from them. Plus, scrap is all we can sell. No one wants all the bullets, guns, and LEV parts we keep finding. We can either sell 'em to Jose for peanuts or just leave 'em there," Jim explained.
<P>"Alright, fine, I get the point," Miryhn said, leaning back in his chair again, propping his feet on the railing. He took a long gulp of his Pepsi before setting it down to fiddle with the computer again.
<P>"Yeah, you have a good point, Captain. I guess this is the life we chose so we have to deal with what comes to us, right?" Vera said, finishing her Pepsi.
<P>"Being an Ender is such a lucrative job, eh? If you could call it a job. Living on the edge of unemployment certainly is difficult," Jim brooded as he took a long puff of his fresh cigarette.
<CENTER><P>-----------------------------</P></CENTE R>
<P>As soon as the ship was in operating order, Entropy broke orbit around the Pallas asteroid mining colony and took off for Jupiter. A few hours later, they arrived within the perimeter of Antillia and it's new sister colony, Erigan. Nobody was entirely sure who named it that; rumor has it a top official in the Space Force's resource mining commission named it after his daughter.
<P>"Three minutes until arrival at artificial satellite Erigan," Miryhn announced as he glanced over at the navigation computer. He looked back up at the bridge's glass canopy to continue steering the ship. He reached for a lever jutting out of the right side of the seat base frame, the throttle, and eased it down to slow the ship and prepare for the relatively short dock they'd make at the colony.
<P>"Good, good. I can't wait to get the coordinates for this next haul. It sounds interesting," Nash said, twiddling his thumbs and staring at the ceiling.
<P>"Keep yer' pants on, kid. We're leaving right after we get the disk. No telling if Will Carson or Kraimer Stein have already sent their lapdogs after it yet. We can only pray word hasn't got out to them," Jim said, stretching out in his seat.
<P>"By that you mean we're Cam's 'lapdogs', Captain?" Vera said sarcastically.
<P>Jim looked over at Vera, who was grinning at her comment. "No, we're merely...'freelancers' who happen to...'submit' our...um...'findings' to him. Besides, we also sell stuff to Jose," he replied, smiling with confidence in his retort.
<P>Miryhn snorted and started laughing mildly. Vera and Nash joined in the laughter as Jim growled.
<P>"Psh, morons," Jim said under his breath and propped his chin on the armrest with his elbow.
<P>"You know, the way we work, we're kind of like pirates. We take stuff from ships that belong to other people, right?" Nash asked, wiping his brow of sweat.
<P>"Suddenly getting a conscience about this, Nash? I remember a month or two ago when you signed on you said you were ready for anything, moral or not," Miryhn reminded him.
<P>"I am ready for anything! Just you watch, smart-ass!" Nash yelled as he turned his chair to the controls riser. "But captain, piracy is a serious crime. Aren't we doing just that?" Nash asked, turning his chair back toward Jim.
<P>"Naw, pirating would be if we ran right inside their ships, waving guns or something around, and stole their crap right out from under them while they were on the ship. We go after the ships after they've been abandoned," Jim explained.
<P>"So we're more like...deep-sea treasure hunters, right? Like those divers back on Earth?" Nash said as Miryhn further slowed the ship.
<P>"Yeah, exactly! Nash, you're pretty damn smart. Not like certain women who read too deeply into my comments," Jim said bitterly.
<P>Vera giggled and rotated her chair a few times.
<CENTER><P>-----------------------------</P></CENTE R>
<P>Jim leaned against the airlock wall, waiting for the clamp to secure the ship in place within the exterior-opening hangar of the colony. He considered lighting up another cigarette, but he knew no amount of tobacco would help the aggrivation Cam could give him.
<P>"Magnet clamp in place, captain," Miryhn said over the intercom as the ship mildly shook into place. Jim staggered off the wall at the tremor. He regained his balance and stood in front of the door. "Hurry back, captain!" Miryhn added quickly.
<P>"Yeah, yeah. Just keep the engines running, ok? I'll make it short," Jim replied with annoyance. He truly loathed seeing Cam face-to-face.
<P>"'Make it short'? With Cam? Psh, yeah right. He talks more than an old lady," Miryhn commented as the airlock opened.
<P>Jim shook his head and started down the gangplank on the side of the clamp arm. He began to be sorry he missed lighting up previously as Cam approached. Cam normally didn't get within a few feet of Jim if he was smoking; he was known to have an irrational fear of second-hand smoke.
<P>"Jimmy Hauser! How the hell are you doing?" a short and stout man said, leaning on a piece of the clamp machinery.
<P>"Hi, Cam. Just hand the disk over and skip the small talk," Jim said with all seriousness.
<P>"Woah, woah, cool 'yer jets, compadre! You know I gotta keep this stuff secret. I can't just transmit over computers, the feds might find me!" Cam said, rubbing his stubby hands together, making squishing noises from his nerve-induced sweat.
<P>Jim grimaced and held out his hand. "Disk, now!" he commanded.
<P>"Ok, ok. But you didn't-get-this-from-me, ok!?" Cam said nervously, articulating slowly.
<P>"Who the hell would believe me?" Jim said with a grin.
<P>"Ok, here it is," Cam said and pulled a small disk from the pocket of his ratty jeans.
<P>Jim snatched it from his hand and sighed. "You really don't have to do all this. I seriously doubt 'the feds' have time to deal with the likes of you," Jim said, tossing the disk up and down a few times.
<P>Cam shrieked and lunged for the disk. Jim held it up above his head and Cam collided with Jim's barrel chest.
<P>"Cam, what the hell is wrong with you?" Jim asked, pushing Cam off.
<P>"You have no idea how hard it is to find such a prime wreck like that, do you?" Cam replied bitterly as he staggered back.
<P>"No, I don't. Well, whatever, I'll see 'ya around," Jim said as he turned to leave. "I'll send you your cut if we find anything," he added as he starting walking back to the ship.
<P>"Better hurry, Ernie Diaz already hit me up for that data," Cam said, stupidly fixing his crew cut.
<P>"You did what?" Jim said, whirling around and pushing Cam to a block of machinery by his shirt.
<P>"Ernest Diaz, he already came here. He payed me for it pretty well. At least I charged him, right? You're getting it for free!" Cam sputtered out.
<P>"You mean he played you pretty well. How much chump change did he offer you?" Jim said, shaking Cam back and forth a bit. "He's the son of one of the biggest land owners in the Jupiter colonies. You know he could easily afford to give away whatever he gave you," Jim said in fury.
<P>"Can't say, business details. After all, Jimmy, I'm a businessman. I have nothing to do with your stupid rivalry with Ernie," Cam said, starting to thrash out of Jim's grasp.
<P>"'Business details' my ass! He probably flicked ya' in the nose and you cried like a baby while you handed him the data to our wreck," Jim said, easily lifting Cam up high enough on the machinery that he was flailing his legs in midair. "Don't forget, Cam, this is our life, it's what we do to get by. Ernie could easily just go home to Antilia or Ganymede and go suck caviar and have everything on a silver platter. We're not that fortunate, are we?" Jim added with much heated anger.
<P>"Your wreck, his wreck, I don't give a damn! They're all the same to me! If you want more money, take up sewing or something!" Cam snapped. He began to sweat again, strongly hoping Jim wouldn't go nuts and beat him up. Jim was known for fits of violence once in a while, but Cam knew he wasn't stupid enough to attack his main contact.
<P>"I guess you're right. After all, Ernie works for Kraimer Stein. You lost money in this deal," Jim said with a grin as he dropped Cam on his behind.
<P>"Not true. Ernie works for everyone," Cam said, correcting Jim.
<P>"Shaddup, I've had enough of this," Jim said, storming back up the gangplank and into the ship. "I'm leaving, call me if you find anything else."
<P>Cam sighed and got up to his feet. "Great guy and all, but one hell of a temper," Cam said with a sneer, dusting himself off. "Reeks of cigarettes too," he added as he turned around to leave the hangar.
<CENTER><P>-----------------------------</P></CENTE R>
<P>"Shit, captain, you damn near killed him, didn't you?" Miryhn remarked as Jim entered the bridge.
<P>"Fire the engines! We're leaving right now!" Jim said, tossing Miryhn the disk.
<P>"Alright, just gotta load this and-" Miryhn said, poking the disk into a disk drive.
<P>"Shuttup and GO!" Jim snapped.
<P>"Okay, change of plan. Releasing clamp, firing engines," Miryhn said, keeping naturally calm to Jim's yells.
<P>"Don't bite his head off, captain, he's just doing his job," Vera said, pressing some keys on a console keyboard. She submitted the payment for the short docking through what they called the "cash console" amongst the crew. It was the computer that they ran all the finances through, personal and business-wise.
<P>"Sorry....sorry. Cam sold the data to Ernie Diaz," Jim explained. "Whenever I hear that asshole is in on something of ours, I just get so frigg'in pissed!"
<P>"It's understandable. He's just in it for fun, not the lifestyle," Miryhn said as the ship jerked mildly after the clamp let off.
<P>"Not to mention he's into a plethora of other illegal activities we wouldn't think of doing," Jim said with a cigarette in his lips. He lit up and drew a long breath.
<P>"Like?" Vera said, turning from the "cash console".
<P>"Shit, like gun running, drug running and distribution, assasinations, mercenary work, and God knows what else. He's a damn criminal and he can do whatever he wants," Jim explained, dabbing ash off the end of his cigarette into his ashtray. "It's 'cuz his dad owns half of Antilia and Eden and he's filthier criminal-wise than Ernie is. No one will touch him. Not the police, the gangs, nobody," Jim said bitterly as he replaced the cigarette in his lips.
<P>"Then why are we going off to fuck with him?" Miryhn asked.
<P>"We'll beat him to it. His Valkyr is no match for the speed of the Entropy after we retro-fitted it with the latest Vernier engines, right Nash?" Jim said, grinning.
<P>"Yes, captain! The maximum speed attainable is an absolutely incredible-" Nash started to go on about.
<P>"No one cares, Nash. We can haul ass, that's all that matters," Miryhn interrupted. He grinned as they left the perimeter of the colony and threw the throttle back. Everyone jerked back as the ship accelerated..
<P>"How about you let me finish for once, Miryhn?" Nash said, turning red with embarrassment.
<P>"How about you shuttup and quit slacking on your job?" Miryhn said, not afraid of his boldness. He knew Nash had been fooling the captain lately and that comment wouldn't slide easily.
<P>"Asshole," Nash replied.
<P>Miryhn didn't reply.
<P>Vera rolled her eyes. "Children, not right now!" Vera said condescendingly.
<P>Jim had a good laugh at her comment. "You two are gonna kill each other someday," Jim said, dabbing the ash off the end of his cigarette into a nearby ashtray.
<P>"He started it," Nash whined.
<P>Miryhn still didn't reply.
<P>"Say something, don't ignore me!" Nash yelled.
<P>"Ignoring you makes you shuttup. At least it use to work," Miryhn said over his shoulder.
<P>"Keep your mind on business, Nash, we gotta go get ready," Jim said, getting up from his chair and putting out his cigarette in the ashtray.
<P>"Lovely, we have to 'get ready'," Vera said sarcastically.
<P>"Come on, you love piloting your Phantoma, right?" Jim said, opening the hatch.
<P>"That new navigation computer is a piece of shit. Why'd you replace my old one?" Vera whined.
<P>"Nash said to," Jim said innocently.
<P>Nash laughed nervously as Vera glared at him.
<P>"About fifteen minutes 'til arrival, folks," Miryhn said, accelerating the ship a little more.
<P>"Excellent. Vera, Nash, come on," Jim said, waving his hand toward the door as he left.
</BODY>
</HTML>
<TITLE></TITLE>
<BODY>
<P>Short foreward: When I finished playing Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner, I have absolutely no idea why, but I wanted to write a fanfic. The first thing I did, like every story I write, was look back upon my influences:
<P>- Movies with lots of guns and cool action
<P>- Anime with lots of guns, mecha, and cool action
<P>- My plethora of odd music tastes
<P>- Xenogears
<P>And then I began.
<P>I took note of the fact that, well, I didn't play ZOE for the plot; I played it for the ultra-l33t Orbital Frames. To be honest, I'm only a modest fan of the military-based mecha stuff; I'm more of a Zoids Zero and Xenogears/Xenosaga fan when it comes to mecha. SO....I took a different approach: make it about everyday people.
<P>That's right, even though Dingo, Ken, and Leo are all starred in this as well as my original characters...well, all the big war themes and stuff were cut. In fact, like Xenogears, it takes on a kind of odd esoteric feel instead of a war-based feel. You spend a lot of time watching their daily lives go about as well as watching them battle through their oddly aquired Orbital Frames. You also get to see them battle their own shady pasts which are always catching up with them. I've been complimented on this unique twist and I hope new readers like it too.
<P>I also took another change to liberty. While the ZOE games thrived on the "good" and "bad" mecha (Jehuty vs. Anubis for the core theme), the importance of the mecha has been dropped. The only real reason they weild these fantastic weapons is because the enemy is doing the same thing (and because they're getting paid too! ). Don't fret, though, because later on there IS one particular mecha that is.....well.....you'll see. I'm going to pull a Kojima here and not even give you a clue.
<P>Be on the look out for the tons of references both obvious and obscure. This story has been highly inspired by many things; action movies like Desperado, music from Pink Floyd all the way to VNV Nation, and anime like Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, and Noir. I like to think of them as small tributes to my favorites.
<P>Now, on with the show...featuring the all new unedited Chapter 1. I actually cut this introduction out, but after reading Wing Zero Alpha's rather interesting one, I reconsidered it.
<P ALIGN=CENTER>- Silvace Atronach, October 14, 2003
<CENTER><P>-----------------------------</P></CENTE R>
<P>In the year 2174, humanity had been brought back from the brink of non-existence. The mighty space fortress Aumaan was destroyed, the leader of BAHRAM struck down in one blow, and the hero survived while staring oblivion itself in the face. The war was over; his deeds gave Mars the right to ask but one thing of Earth in return for one of their people saving all of mankind. All they wanted was to be left alone, for Earth to set Mars aside and let them be their own community.
<P>The wish was granted, but on one condition. Earth insisted that any and all forms of agression against Earth or its people to be snuffed out across Mars and the Jupiter colonies. Mars agreed entirely, wanting nothing more of war with Earth; there would no longer be any transgressions between the two of them.
<P>So Earth geared up its finest military and set off across Mars on what was nicknamed "The Terran Crusade". Through careful intelligence gathered in the months beforehand, Earth had found a few hundred resistance factions both large and small. Unfortuneately, with BAHRAM's might, they were simply cast into the shadows, waiting for BAHRAM to fail so they would pick up where they left off.
<P>These factions were privately funded, often by anti-Earth individuals or companies who claimed absolutely no sponsorship for their cause. They were usually huddled up out in the wastelands of Mars or spread out over several counties in small groups.
<P>The interesting thing about them, however, were that some excelled greatly at things BAHRAM probably never considered study in. While BAHRAM had the Orbital Frame on their side, some groups put stock into such things as highly advanced firearms, medically researched combat enhancement drugs for soldiers, compact extremely high-payload explosives, crudely designed "super" L.E.V.'s, and rumors still spread of bare-bones Orbital Frames developed by third parties outside Nereidium. While none of this was considered as much as a threat as the standard Orbital Frame, Earth still wanted none of it to exist anymore. A time of peace was finally at hand, and it was time to bury the hatchet for good between Mars and Earth.
<P>Within the time between 2174 and 2175, Earth had weeded out and eliminated a number of factions that reached almost two hundred. While some were full-scale and fully funded BAHRAM copies, most were three guys with an Ak-52 sitting in an old pickup truck at the front gates to their farm dome. It didn't matter to Earth, everyone who wasn't killed in their attacks were arrested and sentenced to prison on the charge of dissention against Mars' pact with Earth. The raids on installations were fantastic, ranging from simple arresting proceedures to brief battles between the faction's flawed military technology and Earth's Phantomas. Earth won every single battle and all involved with the faction were captured or killed.
<P>When Earth was satisfied, they obediently left Mars and both planets quietly went on with their own affairs.
<P>But then a year past. In 2176, several infuriated Earth military officials and political icons raised the question of whether or not they had done what was right. The fact was clear, Vascillia County officials on Mars supported the BAHRAM army and its cause; to them, Mars would never forgive Earth for making fools of them. These officials claimed that Mars was slowly preparing for another war, this time on Earth's own soil and among the few developing Asteroid Belt colonies on Juno and Pallas. Many people on Earth backed them, both minor officials and the people themselves and demanded that Mars be kept in check at the very least.
<P>So with no warning, Earth landed a massive army on Mars and reoccupied. After gaining their foothold on Mars, a few squads were even sent to the Jupiter colonies and Ganymede (which was nearly completely terraformed). This set off a series of debates among Mars and Earth officials; while Mars claimed to have done nothing wrong and were not hiding anything, Earth was still determined to make them pay for grievances left over from the war.
<P>Such things as the Orbital Frame design and all developers for the Orbital Frame were confiscated and arrested; all records of Metatron research were erased from Mars military databases. In addition, they outlawed the development of Orbital Frames and any other Metatron-based bodies across the solar systsem to ensure absolute victory if war were to happen. Nereidium and a few other weapons developers (like Ryan Corporation) were still allowed to develop combat LEVs and to research anything they wanted outside of Metatron itself; but for the most part, Mars became a barren rock when it came to technology, paling in comparison to Earth.
<P>The people were infuriated and the debates have lasted months. It is now late 2177 and tensions are greater than even during the war. Small factions, who went into hiding the moment Earth set out on its Crusade, have been appearing and attacking Earth installations on Mars in an attempt to cripple relations. At the current rate, Mars will once again be repressed and another war may break out.
<P>But that doesn't matter to Jim Hauser.
<P>Jim Hauser is a self-professed freelancer. He owns and operates a medium-class freighter he named Entropy because of his personal belief in the universal state of chaos. When he left his old life behind, he took this ship and decided to wander the stars, leading a life of peace and transcendentalism.
<P>He returned to Mars one day when his ship was crippled badly while fighting off a rival and met Nash Harsborough. The ever mild-mannered Nash fixed Entropy even better than it was and for this, he hired him on the spot. Nash is now the repairman and engineer on Entropy.
<P>When Jim decided to take up salvaging, he decided this on Ganymede. He hired a lovely young ex-cop, Vera Michaels. Vera was trying to break into the salvaging business because she use to operate LEVs in her line of work as a special forces police officer. Jim hired her along with buying an old rebuilt Phantoma. Vera is now the recovery LEV operator on Entropy.
<P>One day when Jim decided he couldn't even fly his own ship for peanuts, he landed (rather awkwardly) on Mars. He found a fresh-out-of-school pilot and hired him without even meeting the man. And so, one day, the certainly unique Miryhn Troxel wandered into the ship for his first day of work. Miryhn is now the main pilot of Entropy.
<P>So now Entropy is freely wandering the solar system, salvaging parts and refuse for cash. It is a place of strong belief in the individual just as transcendentalism should be and it is a place of true liberation from the chaos humanity seems to keep sending itself into.
<P>And this is where their journey begins...
<CENTER><P>-----------------------------</P></CENTE R>
<CENTER><I>"In the beginning..." - The Bible, first line of the book of Genesis</I></CENTER>
<CENTER><P>-----------------------------</P></CENTE R>
<P>"Here's to you, Mars..." he said, staring out the observation deck windows. He lifted the cup to his lips and took a long sip of the coffee, reflecting quietly. Jupiter, like Earth, was merely a bright dot in the sea of stars visible in the windows. Mars, however, was much more visible off to the right, but he didn't like to look at it. Mars was nothing but an eyesore since the occupation. No one wanted to think about what was going on there; it was all just one big mess waiting to explode.
<P>"How long have you been up here anyways, Miryhn? The captain's looking for you," the woman beside him whined.
<P>"Oh, didn't notice you there. I've been here about an hour or less. I don't see what the hell he would want me for right now. We're not suppose to leave for another day, right?" Miryhn asked, placing the cup on the coffee table beside him.
<P>"You know Jim, he's always changing plans. The guy couldn't keep anything on schedule if his life depended on it," the woman said sarcastically.
<P>"Vera, that's pretty harsh. He manages to keep his smoke breaks on schedule," Miryhn replied with a chuckle.
<P>"That chain smoking habit of his will kill him someday, if all his loaners don't first," Vera retorted.
<P>"True. Well, I'll go see what that dickhead wants now. Lately he's been working me like a dog on the bridge consoles. I keep telling him I'm a pilot, not a mechanic. That's Nash's job," Miryhn said, getting up from the couch and starting out the deck hatch.
<P>"You know, Nash keeps bitching about the engines and Jim sends him down there so he can lay on his ass in the nice, cold coolant room. Next time he does that, I'm gonna beat the hell outta him like I did when he was about to try and take out my LEV," Vera said, picking up Miryhn's cup.
<P>"So that's his secret. If not for my extremely important job of piloting the ship, I'd pull that too once in a while. After all, I'm the favorite of the crew," Miryhn said sarcastically, then laughed as he left.
<P>"Favorite, humph. Yeah right!" Vera said and finished Miryhn's coffee.
<CENTER><P>-----------------------------</P></CENTE R>
<P>"There you are. Get your shit together, we're leav'in," Captain yelled at Miryhn as he walked inside the bridge.
<P>"We can't, Nash is slacking off on his job. However, freighters aren't that easy or cheap to fix, I don't blame him for taking so long," Miryhn said as he casually walked up the stairs to the controls riser of the ship and logged into the computer. He put his long, silver hair into a slightly frizzy ponytail and loosened his black, short-sleeved collared shirt from his sweaty chest. He shook his baggy blue jeans to loosen the air in them and slipped off his black sneakers. "By the way, can we turn on the A.C. for once around here, Jim?"
<P>"This ship is just fine the way it is. Medium freighter-class AB07 cargo and passenger transport ship, product of the fine Penultra Shipbuilders Corporation of Ganymede," Jim said, preaching the legistics of his ship and ignoring Miryhn's request. "The Entropy is practically new! Why is it taking so much time and money to fix it, eh?" he added, turning toward the back of the ship.
<P>Miryhn shrugged and shook his head. "Ask Nash, not me," Miryhn said, pressing some buttons on the navigation computer.
<P>"Alright, fine!" Jim yelled and immediately left the bridge.
<P>"Poor Nash, I hope he's frozen to that coolant room floor by now. He deserves it," Miryhn said with a grin.
<CENTER><P>-----------------------------</P></CENTE R>
<P>"And the blue one goes here...and the orange one goes here..." Nash said, connecting several wires in place inside the compartment of a piece of the engine machinery. He connected the last wire and started to ratchet the compartment hatch back on.
<P>"Nash, you lazy-ass! Where you are you!?" Jim yelled, barging into the engine room.
<P>Nash dropped the ratchet and began to sweat more than he was from the stuffy interior of the ship; the fear of God was put in him by Jim's yell. He knew he had been taking his job lightly lately, but he, like the rest of the crew, was sick of Jim trying to save money by not running the air conditioning. It was his attempt to save money on coolant. He ran his fingers through his short, bushy, red hair and took a deep breath. He let it out as he stood up and walked to the end of the row of machinery he was in.
<P>"Yes, Captain?" Nash said timidly as he poked his head around the corner.
<P>"Nash!" Jim said, charging toward him. Nash stepped out from behind the machinery into full view and awaited whatever punishment Jim would lay on him now.
<P>"Nash, tell me, how much longer until this thing will run?" Jim said firmly.
<P>"Oh! The repairs? I'm almost done, I just need about an hour," Nash said, grinning to hide his anxiety.
<P>"Good, now hurry up!" Jim said and turned around to leave.
<P>Nash wiped the sweat off his forehead and started to walk back to his work.
<P>"By the way..." Jim added, turning around again.
<P>"Y-yes, Cap'm?" Nash said as he turned to Jim again, knowing this time he was gonna get it.
<P>"How much did all this cost?" Jim said, taking off his orange baseball cap to scratch his head.
<P>"Um, about two thousand. We wouldn't have to replace so many parts if you'd tell Miryhn not to fly through debris every time he tries some daredevil stunt!" Nash said, frowning and turning up his nose at speaking Miryhn's name.
<P>"Give him a break, he keeps us from getting caught, eh?" Jim said with a laugh. "Now get back to work, we don't have time to kill," Jim said, going back into his serious tone.
<P>"Yes, sir!" Nash said, smiling again and hopping back to his machinery.
<P>"Moron pampered kid," Jim said under his breath as he left.
<CENTER><P>-----------------------------</P></CENTE R>
<P>"I'm telling you, Hesperia Gales has nothing on Caleb Barons. Old school is going out and the new is in!" Vera said as she spun around in her chair after opened a can of Pepsi. She loosened her blue tank top off her breast, readjusted her white shorts and took a long gulp of the soda.
<P>"Like hell. You're only thinking about '73. It's only been three years, that's not enough time for 'old' and 'new' schools to form," Miryhn replied, propping his feet on the rail of the control panel and looked down from the riser at Vera.
<P>"Hersperia is the last of a dying breed. You see-" Vera said, interrupted by Jim entering the bridge. Jim had lit up a cigarette and let out a puff as the hatch opened.
<P>Jim looked at each of them. "Don't let me interrupt you, keep talking. We're waiting for numbnuts to finish fixing the engine," Jim said, relaxing in the "captain's chair", the most ornate seat on the entire ship with upholstery that wasn't peeling or cracked.
<P>"We were just chit-chatting. We were waiting for you to tell us what the hurry is," Vera said.
<P>"Oh, yeah, that. Well..." Jim said, propping his chin on his elbow on the armrest.
<P>"Just a quick note, Captain. Larson called while you were out. Says he thinks the others are already after 'it' and he needs you to hurry up," Miryhn said, reading off a post-it note that was peeling off the railing due to the stuffy air.
<P>"Oh for the love of...shit..." Jim whined, putting his cigarette in an ashtray and rubbing the temples of his nose.
<P>"Sorry, it just sounded important," Miryhn apologized, holding his hands up.
<P>"Naw, don't worry about it," Jim said as he ran his hand over his face and groaned. "We can wait a little while for Nash to finish," Jim said, putting the cigarette back in his lips.
<P>"A 'little while'? Captain, I'm about to have a heat stroke here!" Vera complained as she put her light-blonde hair up in a high ponytail.
<P>"I know, I know. But as I've said before and I'll say again-" Jim started to say.
<P>"We know. 'Coolant isn't cheap, we can only use it on the engines'," Miryhn finished for him. "You've said that a hundred times, Captain, but who's going to run the ship if we're all dead of heat stroke?" Miryhn added, putting his feet on the floor and leaning his elbows on the control riser's railing.
<P>"After this haul, we'll have enough scratch to put this whole ship on ice, so stop bitching!" Jim said, raising his voice. He tapped the cigarette on the edge of the ashtray and put it back in his lips.
<P>"I sure hope so, I get the feeling you guys like seeing me half naked," Vera said with detest, crossing her arms over her breast.
<P>"I'm certainly not complaining," Miryhn said with a grin. Vera giggled flirtatiously.
<P>"Give it a rest you two. Miryhn, you should know Vera won't be impressed with anything after seeing the size of the new cannon on her LEV," Jim said, grinning.
<P>Miryhn frowned and leaned back in his chair.
<P>"Aw, don't be so mean, Captain. He's cuter than you!" Vera said, taking another gulp of her soda.
<P>"Ha-HA! Got 'em! Got 'em!" Miryhn said grinning and pointing to the palm of his hand.
<P>"Come on, Captain, enough suspense. What is this 'haul' you mention?" Vera said, crossing her legs casually.
<P>"It's a surprise. You'll find out at Cam's place," Jim said, folding his arms behind his head as he leaned back into his seat.
<P>"Can't hardly wait," Miryhn said, sarcastically. "Yo, throw me a Pepsi, will 'ya Vera?" he added, holding up his hand.
<P>"Captain, Cam Larson...isn't he the guy who-" Vera said as she tossed Miryhn a Pepsi.
<P>"The guy who's girlfriend I busted a nut with? Oh yeah!" Jim said, bumping his crotch upward a few times.
<P>"You're sick. She's fat and has that mole on her neck!" Miryhn said with a grimace.
<P>"Naw, that was Litia. I'm talk'in about Margarette. Anyways, he's got a nice wreck lined up for us to pinch as much as we can from. I don't know anymore than that. The rest we'll find out when we get to his place," Jim said, rubbing the rest of his cigarette out in the ashtray and immediately lighting up another.
<P>"Great, Cam Larson, the guy who said we'd find two tons of Metatron on that one ship and all we got was a few tons of scrap shit. Not only once, mind you, but three times!" Miryhn said bitterly before cracking open his Pepsi.
<P>"He's right, Captain, he's not very dependable," Vera chimed in.
<P>"We have nothing better to do, right?" Jim said, shrugging,"The shipping lane wrecks have been low since BAHRAM was weeded out by the U.N.S.F. and there's been less and less stuff to grab from them. Plus, scrap is all we can sell. No one wants all the bullets, guns, and LEV parts we keep finding. We can either sell 'em to Jose for peanuts or just leave 'em there," Jim explained.
<P>"Alright, fine, I get the point," Miryhn said, leaning back in his chair again, propping his feet on the railing. He took a long gulp of his Pepsi before setting it down to fiddle with the computer again.
<P>"Yeah, you have a good point, Captain. I guess this is the life we chose so we have to deal with what comes to us, right?" Vera said, finishing her Pepsi.
<P>"Being an Ender is such a lucrative job, eh? If you could call it a job. Living on the edge of unemployment certainly is difficult," Jim brooded as he took a long puff of his fresh cigarette.
<CENTER><P>-----------------------------</P></CENTE R>
<P>As soon as the ship was in operating order, Entropy broke orbit around the Pallas asteroid mining colony and took off for Jupiter. A few hours later, they arrived within the perimeter of Antillia and it's new sister colony, Erigan. Nobody was entirely sure who named it that; rumor has it a top official in the Space Force's resource mining commission named it after his daughter.
<P>"Three minutes until arrival at artificial satellite Erigan," Miryhn announced as he glanced over at the navigation computer. He looked back up at the bridge's glass canopy to continue steering the ship. He reached for a lever jutting out of the right side of the seat base frame, the throttle, and eased it down to slow the ship and prepare for the relatively short dock they'd make at the colony.
<P>"Good, good. I can't wait to get the coordinates for this next haul. It sounds interesting," Nash said, twiddling his thumbs and staring at the ceiling.
<P>"Keep yer' pants on, kid. We're leaving right after we get the disk. No telling if Will Carson or Kraimer Stein have already sent their lapdogs after it yet. We can only pray word hasn't got out to them," Jim said, stretching out in his seat.
<P>"By that you mean we're Cam's 'lapdogs', Captain?" Vera said sarcastically.
<P>Jim looked over at Vera, who was grinning at her comment. "No, we're merely...'freelancers' who happen to...'submit' our...um...'findings' to him. Besides, we also sell stuff to Jose," he replied, smiling with confidence in his retort.
<P>Miryhn snorted and started laughing mildly. Vera and Nash joined in the laughter as Jim growled.
<P>"Psh, morons," Jim said under his breath and propped his chin on the armrest with his elbow.
<P>"You know, the way we work, we're kind of like pirates. We take stuff from ships that belong to other people, right?" Nash asked, wiping his brow of sweat.
<P>"Suddenly getting a conscience about this, Nash? I remember a month or two ago when you signed on you said you were ready for anything, moral or not," Miryhn reminded him.
<P>"I am ready for anything! Just you watch, smart-ass!" Nash yelled as he turned his chair to the controls riser. "But captain, piracy is a serious crime. Aren't we doing just that?" Nash asked, turning his chair back toward Jim.
<P>"Naw, pirating would be if we ran right inside their ships, waving guns or something around, and stole their crap right out from under them while they were on the ship. We go after the ships after they've been abandoned," Jim explained.
<P>"So we're more like...deep-sea treasure hunters, right? Like those divers back on Earth?" Nash said as Miryhn further slowed the ship.
<P>"Yeah, exactly! Nash, you're pretty damn smart. Not like certain women who read too deeply into my comments," Jim said bitterly.
<P>Vera giggled and rotated her chair a few times.
<CENTER><P>-----------------------------</P></CENTE R>
<P>Jim leaned against the airlock wall, waiting for the clamp to secure the ship in place within the exterior-opening hangar of the colony. He considered lighting up another cigarette, but he knew no amount of tobacco would help the aggrivation Cam could give him.
<P>"Magnet clamp in place, captain," Miryhn said over the intercom as the ship mildly shook into place. Jim staggered off the wall at the tremor. He regained his balance and stood in front of the door. "Hurry back, captain!" Miryhn added quickly.
<P>"Yeah, yeah. Just keep the engines running, ok? I'll make it short," Jim replied with annoyance. He truly loathed seeing Cam face-to-face.
<P>"'Make it short'? With Cam? Psh, yeah right. He talks more than an old lady," Miryhn commented as the airlock opened.
<P>Jim shook his head and started down the gangplank on the side of the clamp arm. He began to be sorry he missed lighting up previously as Cam approached. Cam normally didn't get within a few feet of Jim if he was smoking; he was known to have an irrational fear of second-hand smoke.
<P>"Jimmy Hauser! How the hell are you doing?" a short and stout man said, leaning on a piece of the clamp machinery.
<P>"Hi, Cam. Just hand the disk over and skip the small talk," Jim said with all seriousness.
<P>"Woah, woah, cool 'yer jets, compadre! You know I gotta keep this stuff secret. I can't just transmit over computers, the feds might find me!" Cam said, rubbing his stubby hands together, making squishing noises from his nerve-induced sweat.
<P>Jim grimaced and held out his hand. "Disk, now!" he commanded.
<P>"Ok, ok. But you didn't-get-this-from-me, ok!?" Cam said nervously, articulating slowly.
<P>"Who the hell would believe me?" Jim said with a grin.
<P>"Ok, here it is," Cam said and pulled a small disk from the pocket of his ratty jeans.
<P>Jim snatched it from his hand and sighed. "You really don't have to do all this. I seriously doubt 'the feds' have time to deal with the likes of you," Jim said, tossing the disk up and down a few times.
<P>Cam shrieked and lunged for the disk. Jim held it up above his head and Cam collided with Jim's barrel chest.
<P>"Cam, what the hell is wrong with you?" Jim asked, pushing Cam off.
<P>"You have no idea how hard it is to find such a prime wreck like that, do you?" Cam replied bitterly as he staggered back.
<P>"No, I don't. Well, whatever, I'll see 'ya around," Jim said as he turned to leave. "I'll send you your cut if we find anything," he added as he starting walking back to the ship.
<P>"Better hurry, Ernie Diaz already hit me up for that data," Cam said, stupidly fixing his crew cut.
<P>"You did what?" Jim said, whirling around and pushing Cam to a block of machinery by his shirt.
<P>"Ernest Diaz, he already came here. He payed me for it pretty well. At least I charged him, right? You're getting it for free!" Cam sputtered out.
<P>"You mean he played you pretty well. How much chump change did he offer you?" Jim said, shaking Cam back and forth a bit. "He's the son of one of the biggest land owners in the Jupiter colonies. You know he could easily afford to give away whatever he gave you," Jim said in fury.
<P>"Can't say, business details. After all, Jimmy, I'm a businessman. I have nothing to do with your stupid rivalry with Ernie," Cam said, starting to thrash out of Jim's grasp.
<P>"'Business details' my ass! He probably flicked ya' in the nose and you cried like a baby while you handed him the data to our wreck," Jim said, easily lifting Cam up high enough on the machinery that he was flailing his legs in midair. "Don't forget, Cam, this is our life, it's what we do to get by. Ernie could easily just go home to Antilia or Ganymede and go suck caviar and have everything on a silver platter. We're not that fortunate, are we?" Jim added with much heated anger.
<P>"Your wreck, his wreck, I don't give a damn! They're all the same to me! If you want more money, take up sewing or something!" Cam snapped. He began to sweat again, strongly hoping Jim wouldn't go nuts and beat him up. Jim was known for fits of violence once in a while, but Cam knew he wasn't stupid enough to attack his main contact.
<P>"I guess you're right. After all, Ernie works for Kraimer Stein. You lost money in this deal," Jim said with a grin as he dropped Cam on his behind.
<P>"Not true. Ernie works for everyone," Cam said, correcting Jim.
<P>"Shaddup, I've had enough of this," Jim said, storming back up the gangplank and into the ship. "I'm leaving, call me if you find anything else."
<P>Cam sighed and got up to his feet. "Great guy and all, but one hell of a temper," Cam said with a sneer, dusting himself off. "Reeks of cigarettes too," he added as he turned around to leave the hangar.
<CENTER><P>-----------------------------</P></CENTE R>
<P>"Shit, captain, you damn near killed him, didn't you?" Miryhn remarked as Jim entered the bridge.
<P>"Fire the engines! We're leaving right now!" Jim said, tossing Miryhn the disk.
<P>"Alright, just gotta load this and-" Miryhn said, poking the disk into a disk drive.
<P>"Shuttup and GO!" Jim snapped.
<P>"Okay, change of plan. Releasing clamp, firing engines," Miryhn said, keeping naturally calm to Jim's yells.
<P>"Don't bite his head off, captain, he's just doing his job," Vera said, pressing some keys on a console keyboard. She submitted the payment for the short docking through what they called the "cash console" amongst the crew. It was the computer that they ran all the finances through, personal and business-wise.
<P>"Sorry....sorry. Cam sold the data to Ernie Diaz," Jim explained. "Whenever I hear that asshole is in on something of ours, I just get so frigg'in pissed!"
<P>"It's understandable. He's just in it for fun, not the lifestyle," Miryhn said as the ship jerked mildly after the clamp let off.
<P>"Not to mention he's into a plethora of other illegal activities we wouldn't think of doing," Jim said with a cigarette in his lips. He lit up and drew a long breath.
<P>"Like?" Vera said, turning from the "cash console".
<P>"Shit, like gun running, drug running and distribution, assasinations, mercenary work, and God knows what else. He's a damn criminal and he can do whatever he wants," Jim explained, dabbing ash off the end of his cigarette into his ashtray. "It's 'cuz his dad owns half of Antilia and Eden and he's filthier criminal-wise than Ernie is. No one will touch him. Not the police, the gangs, nobody," Jim said bitterly as he replaced the cigarette in his lips.
<P>"Then why are we going off to fuck with him?" Miryhn asked.
<P>"We'll beat him to it. His Valkyr is no match for the speed of the Entropy after we retro-fitted it with the latest Vernier engines, right Nash?" Jim said, grinning.
<P>"Yes, captain! The maximum speed attainable is an absolutely incredible-" Nash started to go on about.
<P>"No one cares, Nash. We can haul ass, that's all that matters," Miryhn interrupted. He grinned as they left the perimeter of the colony and threw the throttle back. Everyone jerked back as the ship accelerated..
<P>"How about you let me finish for once, Miryhn?" Nash said, turning red with embarrassment.
<P>"How about you shuttup and quit slacking on your job?" Miryhn said, not afraid of his boldness. He knew Nash had been fooling the captain lately and that comment wouldn't slide easily.
<P>"Asshole," Nash replied.
<P>Miryhn didn't reply.
<P>Vera rolled her eyes. "Children, not right now!" Vera said condescendingly.
<P>Jim had a good laugh at her comment. "You two are gonna kill each other someday," Jim said, dabbing the ash off the end of his cigarette into a nearby ashtray.
<P>"He started it," Nash whined.
<P>Miryhn still didn't reply.
<P>"Say something, don't ignore me!" Nash yelled.
<P>"Ignoring you makes you shuttup. At least it use to work," Miryhn said over his shoulder.
<P>"Keep your mind on business, Nash, we gotta go get ready," Jim said, getting up from his chair and putting out his cigarette in the ashtray.
<P>"Lovely, we have to 'get ready'," Vera said sarcastically.
<P>"Come on, you love piloting your Phantoma, right?" Jim said, opening the hatch.
<P>"That new navigation computer is a piece of shit. Why'd you replace my old one?" Vera whined.
<P>"Nash said to," Jim said innocently.
<P>Nash laughed nervously as Vera glared at him.
<P>"About fifteen minutes 'til arrival, folks," Miryhn said, accelerating the ship a little more.
<P>"Excellent. Vera, Nash, come on," Jim said, waving his hand toward the door as he left.
</BODY>
</HTML>