Bah, what a horrible year. Being hospitalized for quite some time to the point where story construction was at a CRAWL, hopefully things should pick up again. Heh...provided my health doesn't take a turn for the worse. Anyway...Chapter 11!

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Chapter 11.

While the two groups headed towards their destination, a young man screwed the final panel in place. It was a token gesture of course, the ship itself had been completed earlier that morning, but he felt that it was always nice to have a definite stop to a great work, a kind of 'this is the end' moment where everything was polished and ready to go, a pause before a new beginning, more for himself than anything. It had taken a long time to repair and make the final adjustments tot he ship that was his pride and joy. Like many pilots, the ship was the most valuable and useful thing he owned and he was very attached to it. It had been almost a year of work, each month packed with days, and each day packed with hours. Finally the girl would be airborne again, sadly just a bit too late to track the escaped prisoners. A middle aged rabbit shouted something not too far off.

"Did you hear? Devan Shell got out last night! Just bent the bars back and walked out, right past all the security! They've locked the whole place down, nobody in OR out! Hey! Hey! Pay attention, boy! You'll get hurt!"

David StrongGale looked up and scratched his head. His brown hair was neatly parted, with a pair of googgles being worn on top. His face had a barely noticeable scar on his right cheek and a thin smile. His clothing was somewhat similar to Joshua's, only he wore a silver shirt and grey jacket and trousers. On his back was a dangerous looking mace, the only weapon he ever carried. He'd gathered the needed funds for fuel and arms; the recent escapes were bothering him. Eyes shining a light purple, he got to his feet and watched a younger, brown rabbit clumsily load weapons onboard.

"Hey! You scratch my ship, and you'll be paying for the damage! You got that?! I've been spending too long in this place! I need to fly my ship again! WITHOUT anymore delays!"
David wasn't pleased with the fact that the repairs and re-ammunition had taken much longer than expected. Even doing the adjustments and reconstruction on his pride and joy HIMESELF would've have been significantly less cost AND time. That wrench he kept in the back pocket of his trousers always did come in handy...

Turning around to hear a fearful yelp, this was immediately followed by a resounding crash and several dull thuds, gradually calming down to a few metallic 'tings' David sighed, then his attention was grabbed by something else entirely. A young rabbits was being led towards the prison, rather against her will, by two rather hostile guards in prison uniform. She seemed undecided about what to do, struggling against her captors, but still moving rather briskly towards their destination. In a flash David was before the two guards, mace drawn and ready.

"What's going on?! You should be ashamed, harassing a poor girl like this! She may or may not be a prisoner, I don't know, but that's still no excuse you bunch of thugs!"

"Quiet, kid. She's suspected of aiding in the escape of Devan Shell. She's to be interrogated and imprisoned."

"Assisting? As far as I can tell he walked out right under your noses. She doesn't look like she's capable of doing anything, isn't Devan the genius? And if I hear one more person call me a kid, someONE is going to be taking a trip into the stratosphere!!" David retorted angrily.

"It's nothing, simply questioning and detainment until we figure this whole thing out. No need to panic. A simple procedure that will only take a few days."

"It has to be something if this is going to take place in secret."

"How the hell did you-"

"You're leading her AWAY from the prison, to that ship over there, and that's military, not public service, which probably means planetary security. I'd like to come along, just to make sure everything goes smoothly.., if you don't mind."

"This is indeed a matter of planetary security, and you will NOT interfere, on pain of being arrested and tried before a full military court...kid."

There was a hint of menace in the last reply, as well as saying the one word he hated to hear. David definitely wasn't going to let this happen now. He stepped forward to grab one of the guards, and ended up facing a hastily drawn laser rifle, not an inch from his nose. Instinctively he moved aside and forward, hearing the blast crackle just a hair's breadth from his left ear.

>Looks like I have no choice. Alright then...<

There was a blur and his mace whirled toward the guard on the girl's left, knocking him in the stomach with a sickening thud, like a steak being dropped onto a concrete floor. The guard yelled out in fury, but his tone soon turned to terror as he was sent hurtling into the sky with incredible speed. Another laser blast flew past, but David simply twirled his mace like a quarterstaff and a sudden vortex of wind knocked the remaining guard off his feet, depositing him several meters away with a loud thud, sans rifle.

The girl, now standing alone, petrified with shock and amazement took one look at the guard at her feet and fainted clean away. Evidently she couldn't stand blood. The disorentated comrade was groaning in a small pool of pain...and the other one...well, he wasn't going to becoming back down soon.

>Next time, you'll treat me with the proper respect. Now, we're going to need to move out of here. They'll be sending more troops after us<

David grabbed the girl's hand and before she had a chance to object and raced toward his ship, the StrongGale. Tossing his passenger inside with ease, he leaped into the pilot's seat and automatically pushed the sequence for immediate vertical liftoff. For a second the engines paused, as if unsure, then rumbling like a man clearing his throat they ignited for the first time in months, building to a steady roar, as if the ship were a cat that had just been asleep in the sun an was stretching and testing its claws. Then there was a flash and feeling of heaviness as the ship tore through the air and into space with blinding speed.

>So Devan's escaped, huh? I guess I better find Joshua and let him know. He'd be somewhere...maybe Radiance, if I'm lucky. But...if that girl is an ally of Devan...I think we could use her to track him down...that will wait until she wakes up...< David muttered, annoyed.

The girl lay sprawled over one of the passenger seats, where she had landed. By all accounts she looked perfectly harmless, and certainly not the type to aid a master criminal and dictator. Something was definitely wrong with the guards too; the whole situation was rotten somewhere. David set the course to Radiance; there was a brief pause as the ship seemed to decide something, then a jerk as it moved toward its new destination, gravity dampeners acting to muffle the incredible speed. It would only take an hour to arrive.
The StrongGale WAS the fastest ship in the entire dimension, after all.

Down below on Carrotus, a group of reinforcements were being marshalled, just in time to see the ship vanish, a speck in the distance, hidden by clouds. In the confusion several ships were launched to pursue, but they were called back when it was discovered one injured and dizzy soldier, while the other one...his beacon detected that he'd landed...well...right through the roof of Carrotus castle...
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Zac sighed. It was no wonder the girl hated him so much. What the frell was she doing in the military anyway? The only possible explanation he could think of was trying to hunt him down, just like the other psychos he seemed to come into contact with, especially one that he and Joshua had dealt with not too long ago. At least she wasn't trying to strangle him now, maybe she was grateful, or bidding her time. The whole situation was one big mess.

Radiance wasn't too far now; he could see it in the distance, a small speck in the inky vastness of space. Technically it classified as mischmetal, that strange hodgepodge of constructions not otherwise classifiable, space junk, destroyed ships, illegal hideouts and things that just didn't make it onto the map. There was a lot of space, a lot of junk, both natural and unnatural, and it was very easy to build something that nobody would notice.

And so they had; Radiance had been their headquarters since... ages. It had been a masterpiece of deception to build, being constructed by Joshua, Zac...nearly all of the original members of Gaming Force. Built from scrap, cheap metal and various surplus parts. Nobody had ever known enough about the whole design to figure out what they'd been up to, and a little cash and kind wording had made sure that nobody ever would. It looked tiny, hung in the black void, orbiting its cold star, but in reality it was huge. Inside it could hold half a fleet of space fighters, with room for more. As Zac approached a familiar electronic voice crackled.

[Radiance...Come in unidentified ship. Identify yourself and insert the landing codes.]

Zac reached into his pocket and pulled out a computer chip he always held onto, in case something like this happened. It was inserted into the ship's data port and there was a pregnant pause as the information was sent. It didn't take long, but Zac found himself sweating with anticipation every time. Finally there was a subtle click and the landing bay opened, a shadowy hold in the station, as if it were preparing to swallow him and his ship utterly. He cruised in toward the bay, scanning his eyes over the dented, patchwork metal that was the station's outer skin. Even close up it didn't look anything special, and that in itself was its greatest strength.

The ship landed without too much trouble and the bay closed and repressurized after a minute or two. A few lights flickered on automatically, so the two arrivals had something to see by. Outside the bay was as silent as a tomb, their footsteps echoed over the cold floor like the clicks of a gigantic clock. Neither of them spoke, the silence was as heavy as sheet lead, pressing down upon them, stifling all attempts at conversation. Suddenly there was a short gasp and Zac looked over at his unwilling ally...

>Hm?<

...who was already diving towards the floor, arms raised over her head to protect her face. In a flash Zac was down too, obeying the instinct to get down, and landing heavily on the girl. There was a flash that missed them by inches and a shield of ice seemed to sprout from the floor like a frozen wave, looming over them as if about to break on some chilly shore.

The ice continued to grow at breakneck speed, twisting away from the wave and heading straight for the newly arrived ship, dancing over its nose and thickening like a snowy blue fist, grasping and crushing the metal beneath. For a second all that could be heard was the crackling of cold ice, then there was a strange silence, before the ship gave a strangled creak, a muffled thud... and exploded into fragments.

Metal shrapnel as long as Zac was tall and as jagged as shark's teeth shot through the air; the ice had smothered most of the blast, but there was still a whizzing noise as the lethal metal spears found their targets in walls, floors and the ice that stood between them and the cowering duo. The wall crackled and shattered, but still held... just. One side was peppered with debris, and a shard had penetrated deep enough to have scratched Zac's arm on the way past.

Zac scrambled to his feet and looked at where his 'borrowed' ship had been; there was nothing but a mound of broken ice and twisted sheet metal, surrounded by a halo of fragments embedded into the floor and walls. Beside him the ice shield crackled and snapped, then gently collapsed into a pile or crumbled pieces, each as sharp as the metal that had destroyed it For a few seconds there was utter silence, save for the sound of settling ice before Zac's passenger got slowly to her feet. The landing, with Zac on her had bruised her nose and it was now bleeding copiously. She groaned.

"I guess I was wrong, this day can get worse."