Jumpgate Evolution

"…are keeping tight-lipped as to the specifics, but the news is clear: There is a madman on the loose, having already killed several people at TicTac Uniform Medical Center. Most noteably, Dr. Jorg…

The hologram was switched off, and the little man on the chair chuckled to himself with sneering satisfaction. He motioned slightly with his hand and the chair slowly turned toward the figure seated in the darkness of a single corner in the room. Smoke wafted into the light from a thick-lit cigar.

"You sure made a mess out there. A man after my own heart. Almost makes me sad that I had to endure so many years of alterations just to live. Even looking like a midget, I’d love for a chance to create Hell out there." The little man stated dryly. The smile on his face seemed to rip his skin apart, as it appeared to almost be synthetic in nature.

"I was hungry. Couple ‘o hundred years or whatever will do that to a man, you know." The dark figure said. "After seeing your name on a few manifests, I knew I could get what I needed from you, JC_Sabre."

The smile faded quickly, "Don’t call me that. That name is dead, that man is dead. It’s ancient times as far as I’m concerned…the world is a new place."

"What world? Quanus? You’re s*****ng me. This isn’t even the same spot in the universe that we knew. How you survived all this time eludes me."

JC_Sabre chuckled once again. "You may have owned me in space, Viper, but here and now…I own you."

The movement was quick, quiet, almost surreal. The lit cigar he had been chewing, violently bounced off the floor in a shower of burning sparks as Viper had his hands around JC_Sabre’s neck before he could even comprehend what was happening. His fingers squeezed, like the coils of a boa, and slowly began to choke the life from what was left of the little guy’s body. He hissed smoothly, "No one owns me except the Emperor! I don’t care what you think you are here, but it is far from anything that has power over me."

JC_Sabre tried to swallow, but it got pushed back, and he silently drooled unto his chest. Viper’s face was close, his lips tight, the breath a steady breeze. "You will give me the manifest of the coolers that we all were put in. You will give me the location of the others, or I will show you what we did to little Quantar weasels who thought too highly of themselves…"

Sabre again tried to swallow, then speak, but just a small gurgle came out.

"What? I can’t hear you." He squeezed tighter.

"Grrrlph!"

"Oh! You know where they are? Excellent. I knew you could help!" Viper released his grip, and Sabre fell off his chair in a heap of gasping and coughing. As he continued to attempt a breath, he coughed harder, then puked a gush of green bile unto the expensive, polished floor.

"You…." more coughing, "…are a son of a bitch!"

"Flattery, " Viper quietly said, "will get you nothing but dead."

The little man looked up at Viper with old, tired and bloodshot eyes, and gave him a resenting look. Viper smiled warmly.




IT HAD BEEN NEARLY 5 HOURS SINCE VIPER HAD gotten the information on the whereabouts of the rest of his friends from his old buddy, JC_Sabre, and even though he had to kill a few more people and steal a ship, he still hadn’t gotten much farther than a few sectors out from core system.

It had definitely been a sight to see the new Core station. No matter the hate he harboured, he could not deny it’s beauty in design, so elegant to detail. When he jumped out through the funkiest looking Jumpgates he’d ever seen, he looked once more at the Core station, and revelled in the day that he and his friends would turn it into a smoldering, floating junkyard.

He was in unknown territory, but the onboard computer guided his set path to the one planet that his cooler had been found. According to records, there were more than one, but a few had been unearthed which no longer contained anything alive. The shift in the rock had destroyed their life support.

After that verse, Viper hoped that the Emperor was not one of them. The remaining coolers were scheduled for removal within two months to learn more of history. As these were public records, Viper concluded that the planet would be guarded. Well.

Even as he welcomed the oncoming battle, he couldn’t help but feel alive once more as he piloted the ship he had commandeered. Although organinc in design, as with most things Quantar, it was still foreign to him, even some of the new language. Time changed everything it seemed. Except the will to live, to fly.

There would be blood he foresaw, when all his living friends were released. Viper, although confident, understood he would need to take them somewhere safe to have them revived properly as he was. There was only one place in this new universe that could conceivably and realistically work…

Hyperial.

So it was decided.

A small alarm went off, and Viper saw that the planet was coming into view.

As well as several dozen ships that were frozen in orbit. They were all Quantar. Except the smaller blips on his screen that were dancing around the gigantic ships, which were now only coming into focus.

Capital ships. Then he started seeing weapon trails, and small pops of bright lights, almost like tiny lightning. It was obvious that a battle had already begun.

Even though he was lusting for a fight, he thought of slipping past the battling ships instead unnoticed. What better way to embarress the Quants after all?

And when he flew through waves of pirate ships and Quant laser fire, he couldn’t help but laugh outloud at how stupid all of them were, for letting this one small ship by without notice…without knowing what he was planning to do to this new universe.

He laughed all the way until he landed, wiping tears from his eyes. Not one laser had touched his shield, not one ship had scanned his cargo hold. Indeed, it was another sad day in a long line of sad days for the people of the Holy Damned.

Rocklickers.

He had landed near the ruins, and was near the entrance of a chasm that led to the tunnel which was dug out of the collapsed city’s edge. There were no guards here, which was another mistake.

As he continued down the labyrinth of darkness, he knew his chosen path was well within reach. Viper lit a cigar, puffed on the stogie and vanished into the blackness of the endless void…

…a small chuckling echoed among the walls from his direction…

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Viper2c : A drug against war, a candy for Anarchy

Kein Mehrheit Für Die Mitleid

Who will live and who will die?

I can’t wait to find out.