Hmm, I didn't know we could use horizantal rules in the Comnet. That's cool. Figured that out while working on this excerpt. Anyway. I included the hr tags to seperate posts.
This excerpt is taken from my personal story,
A Rodent's Tale. It takes place during the Battle of Ugron (a Naval writing competition) just after Shazam and I have rescued Admiral Daishi. Daishi had been shot down, and Shazam and I had aided in his extraction.
RE: A Rodent's Tale (Edited Version) March 5, 2004 6:09:11 AM
"Well Shaz, that could be interpreted in two ways. One involves sitting here twiddling our thumbs until they've patched up the admiral. I kinda like the idea of flying around killing more Rebels, myself." Chippy grinned. He hadn't felt this bloody in a long time. Wait, had he ever felt this bloody? He didn't think so... Oh well. "Saddle up, we're gonna have a little fun with that Rebel base."
They fired up the TIE's and headed in the direction that the prisoner had indicated. "They probably won't have much in the way of defenses, being a secret base. Help keep them from showing up on scanners. We'll blast what little they do have, then strafe the barracks and troops. Heh. See how many of the sons-a-crack-whores we can fry."
Again he saw Sarah's face. God, how he missed her. She hadn't approved of him joining the military. But he wouldn't think of that...
This time Chip flew nap-of-the-planet, hugging the surface and nearly skimming the trees. Dangerous, yes. And any little thing that startled him could send him screaming into the branches. But it would give the Rebels less time to shoot, as by the time that they had realized that he was heading their way, he would have already arrived.
"Chip, you gonna be okay flying above the canopy like that?"
"No one would shoot at me. It's a secret base, remember? Shooting would only give them away. Besides, I can see through the tree cover better from down here."
Again, Chip found himself daydreaming. The two suns had almost completely set, leaving gold streaks of light on the forest canopy. It even made cool shadows among the trees. Wait a minute, the shadows were starting to form a pattern!
"Chip... I think I found something..."
"I think I see it, too. What does the pattern form? I can't tell from down here."
"It's... It's a giant symbol of the New Republic!"
There was a huge, camouflaged base, complete with hangars, turbolasers, and a barracks for the pilots. Chip had to yank on the control stick, otherwise he was going to run smack into the awakening turrets. It didn't take long for the turbolasers to open fire, the big AA cannons trying to give the Rebel pilots time to get in the air.
Chip saw a group sprinting for the nearest hangar, and homed in; it was far easier to shoot a pilot in the open than to try and dogfight. He set his targeting reticule just ahead, so that the Rebels would sprint directly through his line of fire. He hit the trigger. While armored flight suits can protect against some flak and shrapnel, along with the occasional indirect blaster shot, there wasn't a snow ball's chance in Hell that the suits were going to protect against Chip's starfighter cannons. Most of the pilots went to their Maker all at once. The rest were so horribly burned and scarred that they would never withstand the rigors of combat flying again. But the turrets forced Chip to pull up, so the next group to run out made it safely to their fighters.
Whatever person had laid out the base was an idiot. In their zealousness to protect the fighter hangers, turbolaser turrets had been placed directly in front of the hangar doors. It was suicidal to fly Z-95 "Headhunters" against TIE fighters anyway, as the slower "half an X-wing" fighters just didn't have the speed or maneuverability to compete. But the hapless Z-95's never even had a beginner's chance at shooting down the pair of Imperials, due to the idiot placement of the turrets.
As the Z-95's barreled out of the hangar, they wound up flying directly into their own turbolasers' fire. The first few to be plastered took hits in the nose and wings, sending them careening off into the nearby buildings. The last one took several hits to its powerplant, causing an explosion that turned the entire area into one huge fireball. In all, four Headhunters were obliterated by friendly fire.
"Screw this, Shaz. They're gonna have plenty of reinforcements in about half a second. I say we get out of here while the getting's still good."
"Too late. Three Z-95's made it out, and a pair of A-wings just entered the atmosphere!"
"They've got missile lock! We have to split up, we're too pretty of a target for those A's if we stay in formation."
"I'm staying on your wing! Why can't we get a flight of TIE Advanced in here...
The missile detonated just to Chip's rear. The port solar panel disintegrated, Chippy flipped upside down, and slammed straight into Shazam's ion engines. There wasn't even time for a mayday, as everything flashed into a white haze.
-----------------------
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." -Albert Einstien
"There is a certain kind of peace that can be found only on the other side of war." -Sean Connery as King Arthur in "First Knight."
"People like you are the reason people like me take medication." -Cool T-shirt
FL/PO2 Chipmunk Man/Kaph 3-1/Phoenix/mSSD Atrus/DEF/VEN/VE/(=A=)[LoC][MC:1]
[This message has been edited by chipmunk man (edited March 5, 2004 6:14:23 AM)]
Shazam
[VE-NAVY] Petty Officer 2nd Class (PO2)
RE: A Rodent's Tale (Edited Version) March 5, 2004 9:39:41 AM
This is where the shotgun became so popular... <
-----------------------
*Flash Was Here...*
My Real Bebop: (=A=)
chipmunk man
[VE-NAVY] Petty Officer 2nd Class (PO2)
RE: A Rodent's Tale (Edited Version) March 7, 2004 7:35:17 AM
Don't you worry Shaz. Our little run-around is coming.
-----------------------
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." -Albert Einstien
"There is a certain kind of peace that can be found only on the other side of war." -Sean Connery as King Arthur in "First Knight."
"People like you are the reason people like me take medication." -Cool T-shirt
FL/PO2 Chipmunk Man/Kaph 3-1/Phoenix/mSSD Atrus/DEF/VEN/VE/(=A=)[LoC][MC:1]
chipmunk man
[VE-NAVY] Petty Officer 2nd Class (PO2)
RE: A Rodent's Tale (Edited Version) March 8, 2004 6:52:14 AM
Chapter 3
A groan, a moan, and Chippy sat up. Oh man, did this battle ever suck! What was that, the second TIE that he had wrecked today? The fourth? He couldn't quite remember. His solar panel had been blasted off, and then? Something about ejecting... Yes, there was the ejection seat, five yards away. But that meant that Chip had already unstrapped himself and crawled out. How long had he been here? Damn befuddled brain. Concussion? No, just incredible trauma. Nothing broken? Wow, no major injuries, let alone actually being alive.
Shazam. Where? Oh, sitting against a stump. He must have ejected, too. Lucky that they had landed together. Burned wreckage a ways off. Seats had done there jobs, carried Chip and Shazam far enough from the doomed TIE's that the Rebels hadn't found them yet. Rebels. Damn the Rebels. They'd stolen Sarah from him. Rob remembered the goodbye in the grove of trees, her pleading with him not to go. "Please? Stay with me?"
I have to go, after what they did..." Chip grabbed his pounding head. "NOOO!"
Shazam stirred. "Wha? Chip?"
Then there had been the day that they had met...
His friend Brain's voice. "You check out that gal in the red dress? Pretty, ain't she?"
What? Brian wasn't here... How? "To tell you the truth, I was looking at her friend, in the green."
Shazam was shaking him. How had Shazam gotten here? Chip had been back at that camp, with Brian and Sarah. "Chipmunk? Chipmunk! Someone's coming..." Shazam was right someone was coming. Was it the rescue team? Rebels? No, it was Sarah, inviting him to the dance. The Victorian ball hosted by the camp. But Chip had been in a forest?
He thanked God that he was in Viper squadron, as that extra elite-squad-member pay had gone towards a pilot pack and some dandy weapons. It was dark out, must have been early night by now. He had heard something on the comm. Systems earlier about a team on the ground. Who was in charge? That was right, it was JMac. JMac, the former training officer from the Naval Academy. Chip gripped his commlink. "Commander JMac, are you there, sir? Commander, this is LCRW Chipmunk Man. Sir, someone is sneaking up on my position, is it you? I don't want to shoot any friendlies... Sir?" No answer.
Damn, he had to see! "Shazam, get down. Now. I'm gonna light things up a little." Chip didn't have much in the way of flares, but he did have a pair of white phosphorous grenades. He, nicknamed "willy-peter" bombs, these suckers made a bright flash, and threw a burning white powder all over the target area. He waited for another twig to snap, closer this time, and chucked the grenade.
A crash, a flash of white light, and three Rebels were covered in burning willy-peter powder. Screams cut the night as Chippy and Shazam hightailed it for a new hiding spot. Chip gripped his weapons so tightly that his fingers hurt. Let's see, what was left? One more willy-peter, two fragmentation grenades, a DH-11 blaster pistol, and Chip's very special close combat weapon. He had never used his 8-gauge shotgun against a living target, but it turned paper and cardboard targets into mush. God help any Rebel stupid enough to attack.
They were running, twirling away from the under brush that tried to snag them. Twirling, just like Chip and Sarah had done at the dance. How he loved the Virginia Reel! It involved smaller groups than other Victorian reels, six couples in two lines, gentlemen facing ladies. Yes, that was right, forward and back twice, then the head gentleman and bottom lady...
"Chip! Chip, we should stay here, in this ditch. We can use it as a hiding spot and a trench. Chip? You okay?" Yes, yes. Good spot to hide. Chip gave Shazam a pat on the pack and sat down. He was glad that Shazam was here, he found himself starting like the kid. Sort of reminded Chip of his buddy, Gearhart. Making sure that the shotgun was fully loaded, he warned Shazam to stay away from the gun's muzzle.
"This thing doesn't look like much, but it'll turn you into a misshapen burger patty." He tried to concentrate on watching the darkness, but couldn't, his head was swimming and spinning too much. Spinning, just like Chip's favorite part of the dance...
The step that defined a dance as a "reel" was Chippy's favorite, called chaining-down-the-line." You gave your left hand to a person in the line, did a left-hand-turn, then gave your partner a right-hand-turn, and followed with another left turn to the next person in the line. You continued with left to the line, right to partner until you had spun your way from the top of the line all the way to the bottom. Sometimes it became very confusing, with the Snowball Reel even named for the fact that it resembled a blizzard. Sarah's dress was a shiny, shimmering blue, and in the soft light of the ballroom almost seemed to give off it s own light. The dress was a Victorian hoop skirt, and over her shoulders was some sort of lace that draped down. She was wearing very thin gloves, made of small, white yarn loosely knitted together.
He remembered how the ballroom had looked that November night: the lighting, the people, the band. The room was pretty big, though Chip had always been horrible at estimating sizes and couldn't really say exactly how big. The dance floor itself was probably about the size of his old high school gym, with a large area around the walls devoted to dozens of tables. It was a big room, but hadn't been big enough, as the place was absolutely packed. There really wasn't enough room, and the ladies were having a heck of a time with their big hoop skirts. The lighting had left something to be desired. It was a dull yellow, sort of like when three of the four light bulbs in your bedroom were burnt out. But it didn't really matter much, as Chip wasn't exactly paying attention to the rest of the room. And why should he, when he was busy waltzing with such a pretty girl?
The dance master could have been better, he took way too long to explain the steps of the various dances. He would spend what seemed like twenty minutes to describe the moves before the dance would start. Not that the people were paying attention to the poor guy, anyway. It was annoying, really, that the people would ignore the dance master, then complain when they didn't understand the dances. But again, Chip had something else holding his attention. He d never seen this dress before. Before she had always worn a sort of foresty-green. When Chip thought about it, her dress was almost the same color as the uniform on the approaching Rebels...
A blaster bolt, a scream, and Chippy fired. He fired twice more, found another target, and fired again. Buckshot shredded the underbrush, and a handful of short shrieks pierced the night. Shazam scrambled over the edge of the trench, paused to examine the bodies, and jumped back in.
"Good Lord, Chip! That's a helluva gun! You blew one guys head clean off, and... Well, maybe not clean off, there's little tendrils and mushy stuff hanging off, but maybe I didn't need to tell you that, err, well, anyway, he's dead. And the other one is, well, he's..."
"Disgusting?" sighed Chip.
"Yeah! It's sicker than you could ever imagine. Good Lord, that gun's a nasty little thing. Really makes a roar, two. Where'd you get it?"
"I dunno. Imperial Center? I dunno. I just wanna sleep..."
Bright lights filled his vision. More figures. Who? Stormtroopers. The rescue team! "You men, follow us! This planet is going to be bombarded! We have to leave, now!" Hands pulling him up into a transport. But all Chip could think about was rest. He closed his eyes, and was back among the blue wool uniforms and swishing hoop skirts.
* * * * * *
-----------------------
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." -Albert Einstien
"There is a certain kind of peace that can be found only on the other side of war." -Sean Connery as King Arthur in "First Knight."
"People like you are the reason people like me take medication." -Cool T-shirt
FL/PO2 Chipmunk Man/Kaph 3-1/Phoenix/mSSD Atrus/DEF/VEN/VE/(=A=)[LoC][MC:1]
-----------------------
XO/FL/WO1 Chipmunk Man/Kaph 9/Phoenix/mSSD Atrus/DEF/VEN/VE/(=A=)(=SA=)(=*MA*=)[LoC][MC:1]x3[LSM][VC:B]
"I know what you're thinking, punk. You're thinking, 'Did he fire six shots, or only five?' Well to tell you the truth, I've forgotten myself in all this excitement. But being this is a .44 magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and will blow your head clean off, you need to ask youself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya? Punk!"
-"Dirty" Harry Callahan