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Darth Chaltab

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21-Mar-2004
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6-Jan-2011
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Post
#68919
Topic
must play games
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/68919/action/topic#68919
Time
Quote
Originally posted by: Luke Skywalker
see everything there sounds awesome except for the whole combat thing....
i want to be in control of my fighting... not just making decisions and then watching the computer make it look pretty....

i've always hated that aspect of RPG games...
it totally brings bordom to a new high....

thats just what i find anyway



Trust me. The combat in KotoR is never boring. You don't just sit there and let it happen, you have to make desciions. In some of the most intense battles, you might get wasted and end up with 30% health, but if you can use strategic skill, or just luck and turn it around. It is really satisfying snatching victory from the jaws of defeat (yeah, that was cliche)

You just have to try it. Rent it or something.
Post
#68911
Topic
The New Jedi Order - book series
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/68911/action/topic#68911
Time
Quote
Originally posted by: Kaiju Eiga
Quote
Originally posted by: Shimraa
hey i was wondering what did you think of the twist concerning Shimrra at the end of NJO.


He's a badddd dude. Luke almost had his head handed on a platter, but of course Luke prevailed. Just goes to show you that Luke is the greatest of the Jedi, second to Yoda of course.

Kevin


I think that Shimraa was reffering to the twist that Onimi was using the Force to control Shimrra.

Honestly, I thought it wasn't that surprising, and it honestly fell a little flat with me. It made ever scene with Shimrra fell as though it meant nothing. It would be like if In the end of Jedi, we learned that Vader is in fact, not Luke's father.

BTW, nice sig, Eiga.
Post
#68619
Topic
Beautiful Women
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/68619/action/topic#68619
Time
Quote
Originally posted by: Bossk
W40, I was just looking her up on IMDb to find out who she was and I loved one of the comments they had in her bio...

Quote
Trademark:
Very short skirts


Yeah! Now we're talkin'!

I thought you were married.


And, Luke, the "grinding" photo is sort of uncalled for. For some people that is suggestive. Go figure.
Post
#68333
Topic
must play games
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/68333/action/topic#68333
Time
The new Xmen game is not turn based, as far as I know. It is an action RPG.

Luke and Win, KotoR is turn based, and an RPG, but the fight animation happens in real time--it is nothing like final fantasy. There are also several minigames. Pazzack is a card game that is basically Sabaac with out the Ryn face cards, there is a swoop racing track on at least three worlds, and you can shoot down Sith fighters when escaping from the Leviathan, (think ancient Star Destroyer). As far as leveling-up goes, you can let the computer do the whole thing with a tap of a button. Or you can customize your character. You can even Auto-upgrade your stats, and separatley choose for yourself which Forcepowers you get.

The combat itself is sort of hard to describe in few words. When you first encounter an enemy, the game pauses and lets you decide to run or fight, but there is no swithcing from movement to battle engine. You can give your three people up to four commands for a total of twelve before unpausing the game, and they will excecute them on their own, You can pause the action at anytime during a fight to survey the area, switch who you're controling, and give them commans. But you never have to pause the game, it is just helpful. There is a hotbar at the bottom left of the screen that allows you to pick special actions, such as critical strike, throw grenade, or Force powers, or use drugs and medpacks.

That is all I can think of right now. I don't want to spoil any of the plot for you.
Post
#68189
Topic
Posting stories here
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/68189/action/topic#68189
Time
Chapter Five: The Parade of Bloodlust


Jim arrived at Felt at noon on Monday. Felt was a pretty world to look at. Not, however, a nice place to live, at least in Jim’s humble opinion. First, it was cold. It was frigid compared to Kanta. Jim once heard that in winter people had froze to death on the equator! It was probably a myth, or a joke that became an urban legend, but it wasn’t really unbelievable.
Strangely, Jim had been invited to the house of General Colonel F. Greglithf, rather than any imperial command station. He set his boat down on the carport outside Greglithf’s house and entered. The house wasn’t extravagant, but it certainly wasn’t sparse ether. The interior was covered in finished hardwood that didn’t look to be of Feltian origin. He followed the natural progression of rooms until he found what appeared to be study. There, in one of a pair of teal armchairs next to a large fireplace, sat the general in uniform. He was reading a book and appeared to have been smoking a pipe, which was very strange for a Feltian. Colonel looked up.
“Welcome Lt. Raynor,” he said. His tone was surprising because it wasn’t the strict “general tone” that he had always heard Greglithf use. It was more of an old-man tone. The kind of tone that someone else’s benevolent grandfather would use to greet a visitor when visitors had been sparse.
“Sir,” Jim acknowledged. He wasn’t sure what to make of Greglithf’s unusually jovial tone.
“Have a seat,” said the general. He pointed to a huge trophy mounted on his wall. It was some kind of enormous turquoise creature with humanoid features and massive horns. “You see this on my wall here?” he asked rhetorically.
“Sir, yes sir, very hard to miss, sir,” came Jim’s nervous reply.
“This here is a hathalou ghoct,” the general continued. “Shot’im back in 69’—I was a much younger man then, Mr. Raynor.”
Jim nodded, not wanting to agree or dispute in fear of arousing the infamous Greglthf temper.
“Alas, I am now much too old to go on the hunt. But strategy. Strategy is my calling now. And allowing terrorist cults to go unchecked is not sound strategy. Unfortunately, that is what is happening. Ever since the ToFu act, these crazy hate cults have gone unchecked and threaten to evaporate the fragile peace this galaxy finally enjoys”
The “ToFu” act the general had referred to in the speech he had obviously been rehearsing was the now-infamous Total Freedom of Religion Act of 2365. It basically made any and every cult legal within the Empire of Earth. Before, only monotheistic religions that the constitution had deemed “legitimate” had been allowed to practice in open public. Unfortunately, a small group of Parthonian activists had pushed for a new stance, and more unfortunately, it had won. The fruits of this mistake were reaped in 2470 when the same Parthonian groups ceased control of the government facility on Iif and used its defenses to level half a city in the name of their god of justice Salith. Apparently the Parthonians had some sort of taboo against eating cucumbers, which was the chief industry on Iif at the time. Jim’s opinion of the law hadn’t increased any when his brother Trav had been killed in an uprising of Vorth Monks.
“What are you talking about, sir?”
“I am talking about a new cult called the Eyes of Vengeance. They are mostly Smuell and Ki’lail. The have a furiously anti-Senarian rhetoric. They hate Senarians. And they are militant. Or so the evidence indicates.”
“Can one really blame them for hating Senarians?” Jim inquired, tongue in cheek.
“This is serious! No joking Raynor! Your orders are to infiltrate their enclave on the outskirts of Coil. Gather info and report back to me.” The aged-general handed Jim an equipper and bid him fairwell.

Jim reached the location of the cult’s enclave with in the next four hours. He used a second quipper to cloak himself in the most inconspicuous clothing one could use on a man of Jim’s size. He flowed though the endless stream of pedestrians, trying not to stand out among Coil’s 500 million inhabitants and visitors.
On the outskirts of the city, he ran into a suburban area in which the cult was known to operate. After a few minutes he came upon what appeared to be a parade. A parade made of mostly Smuell and Ki’lail. He heard their loud chant from several blocks away.

Boiin-Moiin-FanTan-Choin
Boiin-Moiin-FanTan-Choin Ba-Doin
Boin Moin Fantach oin Bad al-al oin.

To avoid the mind-reading glares of the paradeers’ third eyes, Jim ducked into a narrow side street. There he found it crowded but manageable. Then he saw a Smuell in a familiar robe, with the three-eye insignia. He had his back to Jim, and walked hurriedly, concealing something in this cloak. Jim knew then that the parade was only a diversion for some less legitimate business. He followed the Smuell as he droned on in the annoying singsong dialect of So’muish.

Boiin-Moiin-FanTan-Choin
Boiin-Moiin-FanTan-Choin Ba-Doin
Boin Moin Fantach oin Bad al-al oin.

Jim had been cautious not to be caught following his quarry. It was obvious that this guy was no genius. He was clearly a lackey and by extension lacked any real intelligence. Otherwise he wouldn’t have been chanting his religious mantra the whole way home.
After following him for about half a mile through the crowded streets of the capital, the careless cultists had found his way to an ancient and purportedly abandoned district of the city. There, predator and prey made their way to an ancient cathedral in honor of who knows what. Jim turned on his stealth field and followed the foolish Smuell in.
The Smuell cultist chanted his mantra again at the altar and it slid away, revealing a staircase that Jim followed him down cautiously. The basement corridor led to a huge open convocation center where hundreds of three-eyed creatures were gathered in front of stage with a large podium. And they were all chanting. All chanting…

Boiin-Moiin-FanTan-Choin
Boiin-Moiin-FanTan-Choin Ba-Doin
Boin Moin Fantach oin Bad al-al oin.

The curtain at the end of the stage pealed away and from behind it stepped a beautiful Ki’lail woman. Her hair was shoulder-length and a deep magenta, and her three eyes scanned the crowd of followers. From their now wild euphoria, Jim had no doubt she was the cult’s leader. She steeped forward to an audio-mic and began to speak in Ki’lian. Jim extended the reach of his stealth field, and brought out his pocket translator and read the speech she gave.

”…And, at last we will take our vengeance. The Senarians that so long ago drove us away from our homes and tore apart our empire will fall. And we will then be free to reclaim the control of the Galaxy that is rightfully ours!!!! I have now obtained the final key to our victory. The key that has so long eluded us is now in my possession. Shortly I will decipher the coordinates of the weapon. The weapon that was stolen from us so long ago! I go now to our home base on Somu’e to meet with my master, Tulva. He will then go with me to the Starless of old and we will destroy the hated enemy forever!”

Jim shuddered as he read off the text. If memory served him correctly, about 800 years before terrans had come to the Aldranea galaxy, Senarians had invaded the space of the ancient Xel Empire and torched Ki’lai and Somu’e from space. And then there was the legend of the starless weapon planet. It was said that the ancient Senarian General Pelenthou Kehkz captured it and had used it to win that war.
If it really existed…

Then the crowed started again, louder than ever. Boiin-Moiin…Jim looked down at his translator again and read the numbing chant that he had been hearing for hours but not comprehending.

“The Secret Within!
Post
#68188
Topic
Posting stories here
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/68188/action/topic#68188
Time
Chapter Four: Peace, Interupted

The endless expanse of cityscape stretched out before Najenkur Kehkz as she piloted her air-car over the titanic urban sprawl called Intrepid City. She had an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. This was her first time visiting her parents’ house in more than 100 years. At 272, Najenkur was no child.
She had been estranged from her parents since she had become a Christian at the mission on Celeste 90 years ago. Her parents, devout Senarianists, had not agreed with her decision and had told her not to come back. But a century can cool a temper, or make it 1000 times hotter, and in her parents’ case, a cooling certainly had taken place. They had invited her to their house to baby-sit her younger siblings, most of whom she had never met.
She set the car down in a suburban parking area a few blocks from the house. She had never been here before; when she first left her home, they had all lived on Xerguun 8. She walked down the three blocks, turned right and walked two more, and found the house where her parents now lived. As Naj approached the door, it slid open and she went inside.

Her reunion with her parents had come and gone it a strangely matter-of-fact manner. They had all seemed to simply avoid the subject of the past 100 years altogether. It was as if she had never been gone. She didn’t know if she should laugh or cry.
She had been conversing in Senarian all day, as her younger siblings did not know English, which was quickly becoming the galaxy’s chief language. Not because it was easier than Senarian, but because Earthlings, with their shorter lifespans had less time to learn the Galaxy’s many languages. The same could be said of Zoine, but few of them were even bilingual, and most were illiterate, by choice. Naj’s sister Shayla, her brother Alad, and her baby sister Tiriisi had been watching the second Star Wars movie called “Et Sekel Analis ej Pat” when Naj’s younger sister Selly walked in.

Selintou had been the only other member of the Kehkz family that she knew of to reject the arrogant philosophies of Senarianism, which basically said God ordained that Senarians were, by birth, the greatest race and had the right to rule everyone. Selly was a born-again Southern Baptist. Even after all these years, Naj couldn’t figure out what the importance of “denominations” was.
She could figure out that Selly’s arrival was fairly well-timed, however, when she got a call from her commander, Kelenthou Pen, who gave her orders to leave immediately to investigate a cult based on Somu’e called the Eyes of Vengeance. So much for a family reunion, she thought. Naj left immediately, using Selly’s space boat rather long-hauling it back to the spaceport. A few short calculations and the space streamed into the stunning blue that denoted faster-than-light travel. She may have lost her parents permanently after this, but that didn’t matter. She had no regrets. She leaned her chair back, and as she fell asleep the words of that ancient terran hymn swam in her mind: Nothing compares to the promise I have in You…

When Najenkur arrived on the Smuell homeworld of Somu’e Thursday evening, she hadn’t expected to find anything particularly pressing. Cults sprouted up all the time, especially among people as superstitious as the Smuell. Not that Naj had to like it.
Her contact, an Ajnin operative under the guise of a street urchin, led her to the enclave where the cult had been meeting. “Anything I should know before I go in there?” She asked him.
“Well. They are all psionics users,” he said. “I’m sure they already know you’re here, as strong a psionic signature as Senarians have.”
“Wonderful,” Naj remarked dryly. She entered the building in full stealth mode, with barely a slit of the stealth field pulled away to let her see. She wore a psi-blocking visor to prevent the inhabitants from seeing the slit that represented the visible part Naj’s psionic signal with their third eyes.
Naj crept through several long corridors before coming to her first obstacle, a door with two guards. Not that the guards were any problem, but the door itself was obviously not designed with nine-foot-tall Senarians in mind. The second obstacle was in the same place, though less obvious. Security cameras. Were she to take out the guards and open the door, she would be caught. Thankfully the door opened briefly, and through the threshold came several Smuell and a Ki’lail with two Ajnin bodyguards. The Ki’lail had very pale, aged looking skin. His hair was a deep, dark sapphire. Najenkur thought for a minute he looked familiar, but it couldn’t be. Ki’lail don’t live that long.
Najenkur, as quietly as she could, ran towards the door and dived through it and between the two guards. She used her psi, which didn’t have the benefit of being focused through a third eye, like that of Smuell and Ki’lail, to slow her decent enough not to make a noise when she landed. A few surreptitious glances later, she was back in the most important tool of espionage: darkness. In fact, the entire complex was strangely dark, which, while a stupid design mistake, was very convenient for any infiltrator.
Naj crept cautiously down a long corridor, mostly carved out of the natural rock now. After at least fifteen minutes, she got to what seemed to be the end. There was an alcove cut in the rock, and the far wall registered a bit warmer than the rest. She used her mind to loosen a rock precariously lodged in the cave wall and it fell and rolled through the alcove’s end as if not there. As Naj expected, a hologram. She only tested it with a rock to avoid testing it with her head. On the other side, the Senarian spy found herself in an enormous courtyard. She stood on a balcony overlooking some bizarre apparatus that resonated with psionic energy. And in the center, was Jirinau Tulva.
Najenkur didn’t want to believe it at first. How? Tulva was Ki’lail, and he couldn’t possibly still be alive. They had met nearly 190 years ago, and then he was already in his eighties. But it was impossible to mistake. That was Tulva, and he was still alive. He was obviously aged. His body looked as though it was falling apart. But that likeness was unmistakable. Perhaps he was a clone.
The assistants that had been with him earlier, sans the bodyguards, entered through a side door behind him. The one that took up the rear pushed a hover-cart full of small ovoid gems that glowed with a faint pink light. And Naj could feel them radiating psionic energies. And they felt like… people. The assistants placed nine different crystals in cylindrical podiums surrounding the platform on which Tulva stood. After a few chilling chants in So’muish and Ki’lian, The podiums glowed and light was everywhere. And beams shot from the podiums were pounding into Tulva and being absorbed. And when the lightshow was over, the assistants were dead, or lying unconscious, and Tulva alone stood, looking not a day older than thirty.
Post
#68174
Topic
Posting stories here
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/68174/action/topic#68174
Time
Chapter Three: Duty Calls

Sarah awoke the next morning in a guest bedroom at the Raynor estate. She showered and walked to the electronic wardrobe. With a few button taps and a blaze of light, she was suddenly dressed in her favorite hot-pink shirt and a pair of jeans she bought at a flea market on Mraxis.
The previous night had been very weird. Sarah marveled at football’s amazing ability to absorb the very souls of men and cause them to ignore the dearest people in their lives. It wasn’t unexpected, though. The girls had gone up stairs and, of all things, practiced with Bo staffs, the ancient oriental weapon that was essentially a big stick designed to knock people senseless. Sarah, with her Seiin strength and martial training, had been quick to best most of the girls. Itin’s wife Mara had nearly defeated her, but Sarah had managed to rout her at the last minute with a skillful set of reverse strikes that kept Mara guessing at where to block. The only person able to defeat Sarah was Jill Raynor herself.
As Sarah decended the winding stairs of the mansion, she noticed that she couldn’t feel Jim’s ki. That was unusual, considering he was the strongest human in the house. When she got to the bottom of the staircase, she saw Jim’s family, along with some of his old friends at the kitchen table. The look on their faces told Sarah immediately that something was very wrong.
“What is going on?… Where is Jim??” were the first words out of Sarah’s mouth. Jim’s parents gave an anxious sigh before his mother answered.
“Last night, he was called by General Greglithf. He was given a Police Mission.”
“Oh…” Sarah said as her heart sank. One of the requirements of military service within the Empire of Earth armed forces was, that during peace time an even while on leave, as she and Jim now were, the government could call outstanding military officers—or any officer, for that matter—to engage in various law enforcement or investigative missions. They were especially important for international affairs because local cops weren’t allowed to police activities taking place out of their jurisdiction, and outside the Empire certainly qualified.
Sarah assumed that it was an international crisis.

Jim regretted leaving his family and Sarah in the middle of the night. He hated it. He wanted to hate General Greglithf for giving him this mission. But that wasn’t going to do any good. He was also disappointed in the outcome of the Ultra Bowl. The accursed Felt Fighting Fichuses had bested the Texas Titanic Longhorns 45 to 43. A lousy safety had decided the fate of the game! Jim ignored his anger and turned on a holo-sermon given by his favorite pastor, Reverend Justin Smith. It was about anger.
Figured.
He had downloaded the last few days worth of TV and HV programming before making the thirty-six hour warp-jump to the planet Texas, where he would use the planet’s gravity to slingshot himself to his the vector of his final destination: Felt.
The irony of the timing of his journey amused him for a minute, as well as the pastor’s joke about animal-rights activists. Jim watched the bright blue stream of hyperspace streak by out of the cockpit. He leaned his chair back and fell asleep.

Sarah was staring out the window when her own call came. General Robert Seguin, who had never been her commanding officer before, contacted Sarah at 8 PM Sunday night, Kantapolis standard time. Her instructions were to simply leave as soon as possible and go to the Ithguad Memorial Hospital in Laredo City on Texas, and that she should come prepared to have every skill in her arsenal tested.
She left at 8 AM the next morning. She was limited to public transport, since her own precious Stallion was still at Iif. She had to go on-foot, as her mission was a secret and she very well couldn’t steal one of the Raynors’ cars. She got to the spaceport around nine-thirty and found a flight to Texas. Well, she thought, this is going to be fun.

After nearly forty hours in cramped quarters on the space-bus to Texas, Sarah needed to stretch. She rented an air-car from a rental agency. To her surprise it wasn’t a Ford. It was another hour of flying before she sat down at the Ithguad Hospital. She was escorted to a room on the 320th floor, where there were several nurses and military types waiting for her. There was also a hospital bed, and on it was a woman who appeared to be sleeping.
“Welcome, Lieutenant,” began the highest-ranking military officer. ”I am Admiral John Hammock.”
“Sir,” Sarah acknowledged, “May I ask what this is about. I would like to know why I was called off my leave.” Sarah realized that she could’ve been more respectful.
“This,” the general said, pointing to the comatose woman on the bed, “is why you’ve been called here. Her name is Kiva Andur, and she works for the infamous pirate vessel the Iien Blian. I fear her confederates may be involved in matter of international security.”
“I see.” Sarah looked again at the woman on the bed. She looked to be about Sarah’s age, roughly her build, similar hair color. There were some nasty scars on her face, arms and legs. One scar on her forehead looked especially fresh. The general opened his mouth to speak.
“Our medical officer, Lt. Yalm Wessil, will brief you further.” He motioned to the scruffy-looking Tye officer on the other end of the room.
“Well,” Yalm began, “the patient, Ms. Andur, essentially seems to be in a coma. We have found no way to revive her. The most puzzling aspect, however, is her brain activity. Nearly all of her mental functions seem to be shut down. The only functions that are currently active are life processes. Though her heart still beats and her lungs still work, she essentially isn’t there. It is as if her mind is wiped clean, torn from her body.”
“Sounds like some sort of psionic attack to me,” said Sarah.
“I was thinking the same thing,” replied Yalm. “But that isn’t the most important issue right now.” Yalm pressed a button and a gravity beam flipped the cadaverous body over. He continued, “In the back of her thy,” he said, touching a portion of the woman’s leg, “there seems to be implanted an ECU.” The piece of paper in his hand that he had held over the pirate converted into energy and entered the implanted blit, concealed behind a scar in her thy.
“So what significance does this have?” inquired Sarah of Lt. Wessil.
“Wait till I show you what we found in it”
Post
#68172
Topic
Posting stories here
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/68172/action/topic#68172
Time
Chapter Two: Prelude to Revenge

The mercenary pirate Kiva Andur sat in the negotiations room, really the living room of a high penthouse on one of the many high-rise towers of the planet Texas. She had been hired to extract some coordinates from a Ki’lail thug who made residence here on Texas. She didn’t exactly know what they were, but the Captain was going to get well paid for it. By some rich debutante from Ki’lai, she overheard.
She had brought here her own Ki’lail companion to sense deception and for backup, just incase the deal went sour. Just as she was finishing that thought, the door across the room opened and two figures walked out.
The contact, code-named Sirius White, was a male Ki’lail, his three eyes framed by a dark emerald hair. The other figure, a Smuell of indeterminate gender had a deep lavender skin and was wearing what appeared to be armor of some sort, underneath a flowing black robe with an insignia on the chest plate.
“Welcome Ms…” He began.
“Andur,” Kiva replied.
“Ah yes the famous Kiva Andur; feared assassin, most notorious for the incident on Tol’Gil’fa. How many people died that day?”
“It looks like you do your homework,” Kiva remarked dryly.
Suddenly, Tem Path, Kiva’s lie detector sprang to her feet and screamed “It’s a trap!”
”What?—“ Kiva asked.
The walls behind Sirius White abruptly came alive as six hidden panels slid away to reveal armed sentries. Sirius White took the first shot of some sort of strange energy weapon and collapsed to the floor. From Tem’s third eye shot a blinding stream of orange light, which blew the wall to pieces, killing at least five of the dozen or more guards. The remaining guards hoisted their weapons and pink fire lanced out and burned Kiva into ashes. Her ashes appeared to sweep over the whole area and darkness consumed all until Kiva’s eyes abruptly snapped open.

Ridiculous nightmare. That wasn’t how it really happened obviously. It had, in reality gone fairly smoothly, as smooth as things Kiva Andur was involved in, at least. Her companion had been zapped by Sirius White himself, with some sort of strange psionic virus that had caused Tam to suffer for a week before she was eventually destroyed by her own mind. Of course, at that first display of treachery, Kiva had shot him. Thankfully they had gotten away, and Kiva had found a safe place to lie low while White’s lackeys were still searching.
While Tem was at the hospital, she had relayed the info she was able to attain when she had read White’s mind. It seamed to horrify her, and Kiva soon understood why. The coordinates that she was meant to extract were supposedly the location of the legendary starless planet that could destroy civilizations. It was presumed a myth, but if the Captain’s contacts were willing to pay so much for the coordinates….
Kiva had sent several transmissions to her only confidant aboard the Iien Blian, a half-vurkan named Ishori. She was serving as the science officer, but she was a skilled fighter, and probably Kiva’s only real friend. She saved back up copies on hard disks and hid those in the secret blit, a device designed to store matter as energy and convert it back again, surgically implanted in her left thy.
She predicted that her transmissions wouldn’t ever reach the Iien Blian. Captain Cortez didn’t want his location given away to the daucht police.
Kiva suddenly felt a blast of heat and the wall near her gave way. She had only seconds to react. She drilled multiple bullets from her favorite pistol Itchy into her target before she examined it to see what it was. A glance told her it was a humanoid grunt in some sort of power suit, and with her Seiin sensory powers, she could feel more. The wall was suddenly riddled with holes from machine gun fire, and Kiva took the only available escape: the window.
Bad decision! Kiva used her Seiin strength to leap to the building across the street from her apartment. The distinctive hum of an air speeder fishtailing behind her caused Kiva to leap a second time before looking back. When she did look, she discovered a black Corvette with tented windows and narrow cylinders protruding from the grill. Suddenly the cylinders came alive with machine gun fire. It was just before dawn, reflected sunlight lit most of Laredo City.
Kiva took off. She suddenly hated herself much more than ever before for never learning how to fly.
She started through town, jumping off roofs, running along the sides of buildings, skimming narrow ledges and performing all sorts of ki assisted acrobatics. Unfortunately, the speeder stayed behind her, pouring machinegun fire into her general direction, and before long, and another car had joined it in pursuit, and she was beginning to feel fatigued. She leapt over some morning traffic, boosted around the corner, braced for impact. The window that she had slammed into shattered, and Kiva sent an explosion of ki around her to clear the shards of glass that surrounded her. She sprinted across the building, shot out the opposite window and leapt out to continue her flight. In mid-air, she saw one of the cars, the Corvette, round the corner created by the building she just exited. Bringing her guns around, Kiva dialed her guns to maximum power and took careful aim. She squeazed of three rounds from each gun, and the Corvette erupted into a ball of fire. Unfortunately, the remaining speeders were on her again by the time she rounded the next city block.
Kiva heard the single gun on the second speeder charge and fire, and she suddenly felt as if every nerve ending in her body was on fire. She lost concentration and began to fall.

She had managed to slow her descent. At least that is the last thought she had before she landed, and the first when she awoke. The second was "Who am I?" And the third was Daucht Bledit. Then she remembered. The chase.. the fall…
There were several pedestrians now gathered around her, and she heard the slamming of a nearby car door. She tried to set up and it hurt to move. She eventually got to her feet, and found an intact Senarium hypo in a blit attached to her belt. She injected the healing solution into her neck and the puncture was healed by the time she discarded the injection. Senarium was a remarkable healer, although quite fatal to most humanoids in all but the smallest doses. She felt considerably better now, but was still rather week from the fall.
A group of what appeared to be armed hit men appeared amongst the crowing crowd of pedestrians. She assumed attack position. The first hit man fired, and she rolled right and felt an excruciating pain in that shoulder. The pedestrians fled, and Kiva leapt to her feet. Leg sweep. Ki punch. She dogged a second stun bolt. Why stun? Her fist made contact with an enemy face and she felt bone crunch inward, as his skull tore his brain apart. In a minute 12 attackers were reduced to three.
One of the remaining hitmen got a hole drilled through him with a blast of fire from Kiva’s palm. The next was killed instantly when a powerful kick drove him into a nearby forticrete wall and broke his spine in many, many places.
Then she saw a Smuell in body-armor standing on the opposite street corner raise a stun blaster and she dogged with a soaring back flip over the third hitman. In the air, she prepared her favorite attack. The Delayed Fusion Cutter. Two atoms wide, it basically caused all the atoms in its path to fuse with the nearest atom also touched by its energy. Most never saw it coming. The final hitman was like most. The problem was the delay. The Smuell with the stunner aimed again and fired ferociously at the exhausted mercenary, and she went down.
By the time she opened her eyes and saw him, several Ki’lail in tuxedos and two-eye sunglasses were als
Post
#68168
Topic
Posting stories here
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/68168/action/topic#68168
Time
I might as well post the first part of My story here now.

Quote
[prologue]

In the Aldranea Galaxy, it is the summer of 2409, and the long and bloody Fourth Galactic War is finally over. And that war's heroes can finally enjoy a moment of peace. But evil never sleeps, and those who allow hate to burn inside them will eventually lash out and find away to take their revenge...

Quote
Tales from the Galactic Wars: The Secret Within--Chapter One: A Moment's Peace

It was a day not unlike any other, as far as the temperate days go on planet Kanta. A gorgeous sunny day, and Jim Raynor was finally home. He drove a rented land speeder. A Ford. Typical of the rental companies. But that didn’t matter, because Jim was almost to his house—his home. The Raynor Estate they called it. But estate probably was a bit of an exaggeration. It was really nothing more than a mid-sized mansion, seated on the crest of one of the rolling hills outside Kantapolis, surrounded by a low stone fence that marked the 20-acre boundary. And it was truly not very different than any of the other hundreds of houses similarly located. But that didn’t matter either, because Jim was home.
Jim drove the red-and-silver flying sedan up his driveway and brought it to a park near the front door. He didn’t see either of his parents’ cars in the driveway. And the garage door was shut, but his parents never parked their cars there anyway. Jim shut off the engine and climbed out of the vehicle. He’d needed to stretch anyway.
“Well. This is it,” Jim said to his companion, Sarah Steele. The woman looked up at the house. She seemed interested, but didn’t speak. Jim fumbled for his house key, which was still shiny despite all the years of neglect. And then the door was open, and the two soldiers stepped inside. Jim kicked his shoes off and threw his stuff on the coffee table. Behind him, Sarah removed her brilliant pink and purple cloak and hung it on the coat rack
”So,” she started, “This is the famous Raynor estate. Nice.”
”Yeah,” Jim replied absently, only somewhat noticing that she didn’t seem to be nearly as impressed as most people who saw it, “But what I’m wondering is, where is everybody?”
”Beats me,” Sarah replied, still examining the architecture and furnishings.
”Is this pine she asked?
Jim walked into the kitchen. The kitchen was divided from the front parlor by a rather plain looking right wall. Directly across from the entrance was a bright blob that represented the sun coming in though the wall of windows and the fortiglass door that opened into the pool area. On Jim’s right, the hall lead to the bedrooms looked exactly as Jim recalled, save for a more faded carpet, and to the left, the living room was darkened. Dividing the cooking area from the dining area, a marble counter ran through the middle of the room, and on that counter that stayed so cluttered during Jim’s childhood, rested only a single open data pad with a simple note. Welcome home. And just then from behind, a cacophony of voices behind him--
”SURPRISE!!!” Jim turned to see is parents along with many of his old friends and their wives. Bill, Rick, Joe, Itin… and Jim was overwhelmed with emotion, something that he forgot was possible for him.
”Welcome home, Jim,” Jill Raynor said as she embraced her son. “I’m so glad your home. It seems like you’ve been gone forever.”
”Well. Eleven years is a long time, Mom,” answered Jim. “I suppose I’ve gone through a lot since then. I’m not sure I’m even the same person you remember.”
Jim’s father ignored Jim’s moment of deep thought, “Welcome home, son,” and he extended his hand. Not surprising, Jim thought. His dad was never a big fan of emotional reunions, and he didn’t really care too much for Jim’s decision to join the military in the first place. He always feared Jim would end up dead like…
”Hey Dad,” was all that Jim could muster.
And then out of the parlor, came Joe and Itin, carrying an enormous cake. One that didn’t look entirely edible, Jim observed. After a few short greetings with his old buddies, the group got Jim to sit at the head of the table in front of the enormous cake.
It had writing on it. Happy Homecoming.
And suddenly the top of the cake popped off and a familiar slender figure rose from the inside.
”Melissa!” Jim blurted as he hoisted the girl into the air out of the cake and onto the floor beside him. Though no less human than anyone else in the house, Jim was remarkably strong.
”Wow. I thought you were going to be running some errand out on Guetro!” Jim continued, now elated.
”Well, I wanted this to be a surprise,” Melissa replied. “Who is she?” Melissa asked, with more than a trace of jealousy in her voice. She had pointed to the beautiful redheaded woman across the room. Sarah. Jim had almost forgotten about her. Jim was across the room in a nanosecond.
”I would like you all to meet Sarah Steele,” Jim announced to the room. “She was… John’s wife...”
An awkward silence filled the room and Jim wished it hadn’t come up. He could already see that Sarah was upset. John had been a great friend to Jim, but he was Sarah’s husband. There was no way he could understand how she felt—how much more of a loss it was for her. But he had already told his parents the story, and that was that.

Sarah Steele was certainly upset. She didn’t like to think about John. The way he had died—how he was murdered. Disgraceful for a Seiin…for anyone. But Jim hadn’t meant to upset her, and she wasn’t mad at him. She couldn’t understand why John’s death still upset her so much. It was so long ago. Perhaps it was the way he had died.
Murdered… By a Zoine. How could her John die that way?
A sudden movement from the olive-skinned, black haired woman across the room caught Sarah’s eye. Melissa moved across the room to the electronic wardrobe on the wall. A few button-taps and a flash of light later, her ridiculous cake-girl costume was replaced by a white T-shirt and blue-jean shorts.
”I’m fine, really,” Sarah said to no one in particular. And it wasn’t really all that true, either. She decided that she needed time to be alone.
What a day. First she missed the ship that was supposed to take her to Iif, where her own space boat was docked, and then she almost broke down in front of Jim’s family.
She scanned the area for a place she could retreat to—somewhere she could go to be alone while she argued with herself about things. A back door that opened onto the pool area caught her eye and she knew she found her escape.
”Is it okay if I use your pool, Mrs., Raynor,” Sarah said to the older woman standing next to Jim. Or at least she assumed she was about 50, being Jim’s mother. She looked remarkably young for her age.
”Of course, dear,” the older woman replied, “And call me Jill. In fact, I think I might join you.”
Strange, Sarah thought. But she wasn’t going to argue. She followed Jill out to the pool area, roughly 250 square feet, Sarah estimated, the pool taking up half the space. A few quick selections on the Wardrobe, a flash, and Sarah’s jumpsuit was replaced by a red and purple one-piece swimsuit that fit remarkably well for one not being Sarah’s. Jill did the same.
“The game’s about to start!” was the last thing Sarah heard before she was submerged in chlorinated water.