{"id":10,"date":"2008-02-25T20:18:36","date_gmt":"2008-02-26T01:18:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.auroraforce.org\/blog\/?p=10"},"modified":"2009-04-18T00:41:02","modified_gmt":"2009-04-18T04:41:02","slug":"vong-war-annals-week-of-feb-17-23-2008","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.auroraforce.org\/blog\/?p=10","title":{"rendered":"Vong War annals – Week of Feb. 17-23 2008"},"content":{"rendered":"

One thing that keeps you alive is the realization that nothing<\/em>\u2014nothing\u2014is ever exactly as it appears to be.\u00a0 ~ Karinlyyn Bridger Kel-Solan, Auyn Warmistress<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0Her chest heaved as she moved through her blade forms, jumpsuit stripped to the waist with the sleeves tied there.\u00a0 Sweat streamed down her spine, her tank top sticking to the damp.\u00a0 She\u2019d lost track hours ago of when she\u2019d started.\u00a0 Her thoughts were tuned to her blade, to its movements.
\n\u00a0\u00a0Focus.\u00a0 Nothing but me, with this blade as an extension of my arm, of my will.\u00a0 She exhaled a breath, whipping the blade around, leading with it.
\n\u00a0\u00a0Clang!<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Arin straightened, letting her blade lower, tip to the reed mats of her exercise room.\u00a0 She regarded with her cool, gray-blue gaze the red haired young woman before her, dressed in a heavy shipboard jumpsuit, a wicked dagger hanging limply in one hand.\u00a0 \u201cWhat\u2019s wrong, Ari?\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u201cJust\u2026needed to get out of the house,\u201d Arilyn shrugged slightly, tucking her dagger slowly back into her boot sheath.\u00a0 \u201cDad\u2019s home.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u201cHuh.\u00a0 That would explain why your mother wasn\u2019t at Ops this afternoon.\u201d\u00a0 Arin crossed the floor and sheathed the blade, hanging it back up on the wall.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u201cWhere\u2019s the Kerensky girl?\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u201cAsleep on the couch.\u201d\u00a0 Arin wound her hair up into a bun and pinned it there, toweling the sweat from her face.\u00a0 \u201cShe tries to hide it, but she\u2019s a mess.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0Arilyn looked toward the wall, at the weapons on display.\u00a0 \u201cA lot of people are.\u00a0 She\u2019s hiding things.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u201cYou\u2019ve been snooping.\u201d
\n\u00a0The girl smiled faintly.\u00a0 \u201cYou taught me well.\u201d\u00a0 She leaned against the wall.\u00a0 \u201cAnd Chase can\u2019t hide things worth a damn.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u201cDuly noted; I\u2019ll tell your mother.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u201cSo she\u2019s asleep on the couch?\u00a0 And you\u2019re here?\u00a0 You\u2019re not\u2026doing something\u00a0 that\u2019s going to lead to more information about\u2026well\u2026the bad guys?\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0Arin smiled briefly.\u00a0 \u201cShe\u2019s exhausted, and we\u2019re waiting to hear back on our\u2026inquiries\u2026about Will Canton.\u00a0 I know your mother called in favors, but I had a few tricks of my own to try.\u00a0 Now it\u2019s a waiting game.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u201cHuh.\u201d\u00a0 Arilyn sat down.\u00a0 \u201cMind if I wait with you?\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0The older woman shook her head, taking down to boken.\u00a0 \u201cNot at all.\u00a0 But on your feet.\u00a0 I\u2019m already sweaty, and you look like hell.\u00a0 Time to put color in your cheeks again.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0The young Hunter laughed and struggled to her feet, catching the boken flipped toward her as she rose.\u00a0 \u201cYes, Master.\u201d<\/p>\n

~ Erin<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u201cWhaddya mean he\u2019s right behind me?!\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0William Canton, former Captain in the Aurora Force, naval officer, defector, and guinea pig, ripped the control stick of his ship hard back to the right.\u00a0 The Imperial Landing Craft, Hawk\u2019s Beak, responded by rolling upwards and right, and streaks of\u2026something tore through the space he\u2019d previously occupied.\u00a0 Hawkeye, the R4 Astromech, squealed an obscenity and returned fire with the aft cannon.\u00a0 Despite the whole programming to avoid harm to living beings, the droid had no such compunctions with shooting rocks trying to kill him.\u00a0 \u201cControl, can you tell me what the hell these things are?\u201d\u00a0
\n\u00a0\u00a0The reply didn\u2019t cheer him any.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019re not sure exactly, we\u2019re getting some sporadic reports of unknown raiders hitting the Outer Rim.\u00a0 There are even reports of an attack on Xenen and the Golan System.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0The landing craft shuddered as the strange weaponized molten rock punched a hole through his left stabilizer.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s not really helpful right now, is there any good news you can give me?\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u201cGood news sir?\u201d The control officer asked.\u00a0
\n\u00a0\u00a0William jinked down this time.\u00a0 \u201cYeah!\u00a0 You know, good news!\u00a0 The stuff that says I\u2019m not going to die!\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u201cOh, well, in that case, the Jade Falcon is arriving on station in\u2026\u2026.well, right now.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0William looked up just in time to see a crescent shape materialize above him, ventral turbolasers opening up on the pursuing asteroids with brutal effect.\u00a0 \u201cJade Falcon, Hawk\u2019s Beak!\u00a0 You think you boys could follow a schedule and show up on time once or twice?\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0A rough voice laughed back at William.\u00a0 \u201cWe were just waiting to make an entrance!\u00a0 What did you do to piss off the local \u2018roids?\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0William settled his ship onto a straighter heading.\u00a0 The three pursuing rock-ships had ceased to exist within seconds of the Kestrel Corvette\u2019s arrival.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t have the slightest idea.\u00a0 When I showed up, they\u2019d already chewed our pirate friends to pieces.\u00a0 I\u2019ve snagged some good intel, but we\u2019d better get out of here real quick like.\u00a0 I saw something out there that I think we need to tell the boss.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0There was a pause over the comm channel.\u00a0 \u201cInteresting you should say that.\u00a0 I just received orders stating you are to return to the Claw immediately for debriefing.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u201dProbably for botching the deal with the \u2018rats out there,\u201d William groused.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u201cNegative\u2026they\u2019re sent from the Admiral himself.\u00a0 Something\u2019s happened.\u201d
\n*******<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0It (they), the one known once as Roger Vane (and so many others), watched as the three (of nine) died.\u00a0 Their voices left the song abruptly, almost roughly, and they (it) felt the disruption.\u00a0 The others voices began to shake, unsure in themselves, but it (they) sang the lullaby that eased all.\u00a0 The song settled, and the symphony grew again in confidence.\u00a0
\n\u00a0\u00a0It was of little consequence that the three (of nine) died.\u00a0 The interloper was one of the ones they (it) had been told to drive off, but try not to kill.\u00a0 Soon It (they) heard the new, youngest, most unsure voices, most recently added to the flock, cry out as newborns among the Host, and took to comforting them.\u00a0 The three (of nine) would be quickly replaced.
\n*******
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u201cWilliam!\u201d\u00a0 The older man, who\u2019d been graying twenty years ago and still looking the same, bellowed the name in one of the most menacing tones known to him.\u00a0 \u201cWhat\u2019ve you done now?\u00a0 The \u2018rats are all vanished, you managed to make some rocks shoot at you, and now the damned Aurora Force is poking around in my business!\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0William stopped and debated running back up the ramp directly behind him.\u00a0 It was not often that Admiral Vance Kaerion met a return at the docking slip, and when he did, it was usually unpleasant.\u00a0 He figured he could probably get his ship out of the dock and into range of the guns before they could stop him, and when they blew him up it would be much more pleasant than dealing with the old warrior.\u00a0
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u201cDon\u2019t you think about running,\u201d he growled.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll just let you go, and I\u2019ll follow you, and then I\u2019ll drag you out of whatever hole you try to bury yourself in and beat you with my own hands.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0William sighed and stepped alongside the Admiral, who immediately began walking.\u00a0 Hawkeye rolled behind them, carrying the flight recorder backups for the intel department.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m not quite sure what happened, but when I got there, the pirates were being blasted to pieces by the asteroid-ships.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0Kaerion snorted.\u00a0 \u201cA likely story.\u00a0 What else did you see out there?\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m not quite certain\u2026and if it\u2019s what I think it is, well\u2026\u201d\u00a0 William shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cI think I saw the Wolf\u2019s Pride.\u00a0 I\u2019m not entirely certain, but the transponder signal was still transmitting.\u00a0 It looked like it was almost entirely overgrown by rock, though.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0Kaerion stopped mid-stride.\u00a0 \u201cThe Wolf\u2019s Pride?\u00a0 The rumors are true, then.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u201cRumors?\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u201cYes, William.\u00a0 Rumors.\u201d\u00a0 Kaerion resumed walking.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m glad we sent you out there.\u00a0 He recognized you and your ship; anyone else would have been taken or killed, and we\u2019d know nothing.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0Now it was William\u2019s turn to stop and stare.\u00a0 \u201cHe?\u00a0 You mean\u2026?\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u201cYes.\u00a0 It seems Alexander recognized you.\u00a0 Or Diemos, as he\u2019s taken to calling himself.\u201d
\n*****
\n\u00a0\u00a0Aboard the Wayfarer Station, Xenen Orbit, a sensor technician suddenly sat up ramrod-straight in his seat.\u00a0 \u201cSir!\u201d he yelped.\u00a0 \u201cMassive hyper footprint!\u00a0 Over twenty ships, unknown quantity of fighters!\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0He looked up from his station and out the window and watched as a myriad of corvettes and transports and an innumerable amount of starfighters appeared off station.\u00a0 Sitting dead in the middle of the fleet was a twin-hulled monstrosity of two Victory-Class Star Destroyers joined together.\u00a0
\n*****
\n\u00a0\u00a0Vance grinned as his fleet appeared just outside Xenen orbit.\u00a0
\nSurprising these sorts was always good fun to him, and this far out it was enough that any hasty shots by the locals would have no effect.\u00a0
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThis is Admiral Vance R. Kaerion of Kaerion\u2019s Kestrels Mercenary Fleet, aboard the Mothership Falcon\u2019s Claw.\u00a0 We\u2019ve got some information you all might like to know.\u201d
\n********
\n\u00a0\u00a0Korssetti had been told that when he had a job, he would be contacted.\u00a0
\n\u00a0\u00a0He was never told how, he was never told who, he was never told when.\u00a0
\n\u00a0\u00a0He was just told that the time would come when he would serve the Master in the hunt.\u00a0 That is how he knew that when the young man who very nearly resembled the master in every way outside the horns sat down before him, that he was being called upon.\u00a0
\n\u00a0\u00a0Nicholas Kerensky smiled at his father\u2019s dog as he spoke.\u00a0 \u201cThe time has come for you to serve the master.\u00a0 We will find my sister, and we will hunt Indiana Bridger\u2019s children.\u201d<\/p>\n

-K<\/p>\n

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