U.S.S Shadow of Democracy

High Terra Orbit

As Pilot Zeus awoke he immediately felt something was off, he felt a noticeable lack of clarity in his head. A sort of cold silence filled his head in its place. As he sat up he noticed a small note on his bed where his partner should have been. As he picked up the note and began to read he simply felt empty,” Dear Miles, I've been re-assigned to the front lines near Jupiter, I'll be back in a few months.” Suddenly Miles was filled with a blinding rage toward the director for separating him and his partner. Following the flow of his rage he suited up, grabbed his spark pistol, his c500 shotgun and left his room. As he sprinted through the halls of his ship he ignored the looks that the crew gave him, after all this was his domain why should he care what lesser beings thought of him. As Zeus entered the command deck he heard a trooper yell,”Captain on deck!” Suddenly all the troopers on deck stood at attention, hands at their sides, chins up. “At ease!” He yelled. As he approached HIS command chair for control over HIS ship he watched in horror as it didn’t respond to his presence and instead sunk into the floor.

“My apologizes Miles but I cannot allow you to leave your post.” Spoke the Director evenly. “Who says you can fuckin’ stop me?” Miles spoke harshly. Suddenly he felt a horrid sensation as his suit was locked down by the director. “I say I can stop you, now kneel.” The director spoke with a hint of victory in her voice. Suddenly Zeus’s suit knelt down. “I got your back.” Said a voice in the back of his head. In a flash of blue and white he saw a glimpse of Odin then everything went black on the command deck. “Run, NOW!” He heard that voice say from the back of his consciousness. He experimentally moved his hand and felt his suit move, it was unlocked! As fast as he could Zeus leapt to his feet and bolted out of the command deck. As he ran he unholstered his spark pistol and began to charge it, as he rounded a bend he saw a massive security android.

As he screeched to a stop he could feel the heat from the melting barrel through his reinforced suit. Suddenly the massive droid raised its arms and began to fire beams of blue energy toward Zeus. He immediately recognized them as stasis beams meant to lock him down. He deftly dodged the beams and fired the spark pistol in retaliation. As the spark bolt hit the droid the heat of the round itself immediately crippled its core, then the round detonated. All Miles saw was white, blue and destruction. As the sparks cleared the air he saw that the droid was gone, reduced to a pile of red hot slag. And the hallway wasn’t in a much better state. If it weren't for Milly suggesting extra interior armor Zeus may have been flushed into space. Suddenly as the lights turned back on, alarms started blaring throughout the ship. “We have a traitor in our ranks, whoever stops him gets a promotion.” Said the director coolly. In an instant Zeus heard yelling and the clatter of boots on metal from behind him. In a move he would regret later he holstered his spark pistol and drew his c500 shotgun, switched to rubber slugs and prepared for a fight.

As the soldiers rounded the bend and began to enter the scorched hallway Zeus opened fire on the leader direct impacting him in the groin with a second shot impacting the troopers helmet, knocking him down. Seemingly enraged the remaining troops towards the front of the horde began to open fire at Zeus, as the first rounds impacted his suit Zeus began to regret his choice to be non-lethal but alas he couldn’t go back now. In a flash Zeus drew himself inward and activated his retaliatory shield, specially designed for his use; it would use magnets and p.wave generators in his suit to redirect enemy fire. As the next volley of rounds came flying toward him all he heard was screaming as the shield redirected the rounds toward his old crew. As he stood Zeus saw chaos and mayhem, blood everywhere, corpses and limbs strewn about. As the last two troopers approached him he merely sighed, drew his spark pistol and fired two shots into each of their heads.

Stepping over the bodies of the troopers Zeus reloaded the spark pistol tossing the heated now iridescent barrel to the ground. Suddenly he saw a trooper stand up and then strangely change shape revealing a pilot suit. “I’m afraid that I can't let you leave here Zeus.” said the pilot. “Then just try and stop me Noah.” Miles stated calmly. “We both know what will happen if you leave here Miles, You’ll end up like Mars, hunted.” Noah stated. “I know.” Miles replied, walking past Noah. Suddenly he felt his world flip upside down as he was launched through the air into a wall. In an instant Miles saw a flash of blue and white as Noah fired his own spark pistol at him. Deftly dodging Miles raised his c500 and raised his voice,”Don’t make me do this Noah!” “Don’t make you do what, get your ass beat?” Noah replied, clipped. In a burst of speed Noah bolted and slammed into Miles knocking him back into the wall. With a roar Noah started to pound his fists into Miles’ head slamming it back into the wall, denting the metal. Screaming Miles reached up and caught Noah’s left hand before quickly and ruthlessly snapping it backwards. “You will not keep me here.” Miles stated angrily. In response, Noah screamed in pain and drew his spark pistol and fired it point blank into Miles’ chest. Then it all went black.

U.S.S Liberty and Honor

Low jupiter orbit

As Miles awoke all he felt was pain,”Hey, you, you’re finally awake.” He heard someone say from his left. “Milly?” He asked, voice slightly slurred. “I’m here, don't worry.” He heard Milly state from his left. “What happened?” “All I remember is talking to Noah.” Miles said. “Oh,you talked alright, very violently.” Milly stated an air of humor in her voice. “Oh.” Miles stated in shock. “Well anyway we need to go, the director is onto me.” Milly stated. “What do you mean?” Miles asked. “I mean that the director knows I am harboring you.” Milly said sadly “Why did you have to go and get into trouble, we would have been fine if you had just waited.” Milly said, sounding upset. “Well I-” Miles started. “Don’t start Miles.” Milly stated sadly. “Just pack up, suit up and meet me in the cargo bay.” Milly said depressed. Then Milly walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. As Miles stood he looked down at his bare chest and saw a horrid 3rd degree burn scar covering his chest from his pecs to his stomach. In a rage Miles ripped out his IV and tossed the pole into the wall, his enhanced strength punching a decent sized hole through the wall where the IV impacted. Storming out of the med-bay he made his way to the armory where he found a spare suit of his that he had left on Milly’s ship. Next to the suit he saw an old spark pistol set and a prototype Spark rifle. As he suited up and grabbed the weapons he felt the ship violently rock and heard alarms start blaring.

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As he exited the armory and entered the main hall of the ship he felt the ship shake again and then the lights went out and alarms ceased. Now in the dark Miles activated his suits thermals and began to slowly make his way through the ship toward the cargo bay. Suddenly he saw three heat signatures approaching him. “Zeus, you are under arrest for treason. Surrender now or we will use lethal force.” He heard the leader of the group say. “Why would I surrender to you weaklings?” Miles said as he raised his spark rifle. As he opened fire he noticed that the rifle had no kick nor had any heat build up on the barrel. Instead, all the heat was building up in the magazine. As the rounds impacted the lead trooper he noticed that instead of detonating they held form and burned the area then slowly burnt out. Switching targets Miles drilled two more shots into the trooper on the left and then shot the trooper on the right once in the leg, crippling him instantly. As he approached the screaming, flailing trooper he noticed a name tag that read,”Sergeant Desmond Brown.” “Desmond, how many of you are there?” Miles asked, pointing his rifle at Desmond's head. “Thre-Three sq-squads.” Desmond said haltingly. “Thank you kindly.” Said Miles as he pulled the trigger. As Miles stepped over the still warm body he saw more troopers rounding the bend in the corridor. Suddenly he saw a barely visible figure slam into the troopers and decimate them in seconds. As the figure approached Miles saw that it was a pilot. “Milly?” Miles asked cautiously. “Hello, Miles.” Milly stated. As Milly came closer Miles could see scrapes and scorch marks on her armor from previous battles, some likely from onboard this very ship. “I see that you dealt with your squad.” Milly said with an air of humor in her voice. “I did, what’s next?” MIles stated then asked. “We make it to the hangar bay and then leave, we can’t stay here any longer.” Milly said confidently. “Understood.” Miles said.

Then Miles and Milly began walking through the corridors of the ship making their way to the hangar bay, as they made it to the hangar bay however they saw two pilots staring them down.”Hello Zeus.” Said the one on the right, or rather, said Noah. The one on the left didn’t speak at all however, just stared menacingly. “Noah, how’s the hand?” Miles asked, an air of sarcasm clear in his voice. Instead of responding Noah drew a spark pistol and fired two shots at Miles and Milly. In response Milly tossed down a Mirage grenade and dashed to the left while Miles dashed to the right. As Miles emerged from the mirage field he saw Milly brawling with the un-named pilot and saw Noah b-lining toward him. In preparation for the brawl Miles drew his spark pistols. As Noah got within five feet of Miles he aimed and fired his spark pistols, right before the rounds hit Noah he tumbled out of the way and then threw a dagger that then buried itself in Miles’ shoulder. With a mixed scream of rage and pain, MIles dropped his left spark pistol, tore the dagger from his shoulder and hurled it at Noah. Right before the blade buried itself in Noah’s skull he deftly and quickly caught the blade. Suddenly Noah slammed into Miles swinging his blade, aiming for Miles’ head. As Miles ducked under the blade he threw a left hook into Noah’s chin then fired into his chest thrice. As the rounds impacted Noah’s shields flared then on the impact of the final round gave out entirely. Reeling Noah blindly slashed out with his blade, none hit their mark. As Noah was mid-swing Miles threw a left hook into Noah’s neck then pistol whipped him. As Noah reeled for the second time Miles began to charge his spark pistols last round. Firing the round Noah reached up and caught it with his left hand before spinning and hurling it at Milly. As Miles watched he saw micro p.wave generators in Noah's hand deactivate. And watched in horror as the round impacted Milly’s hip.

As Milly swung her fist toward the pilots head she felt something scorching hot impact her suit right where her leg met her hips, suddenly she felt a horrid pain and smelt burning flesh as her suit’s shields and armor gave to the hefty impact. While she fell she heard a weapon exit a holster and then heard a spark pistol begin to charge before it all went black.

As Miles saw Milly fall he felt a horrid yet familiar rage building up, to make a bad situation worse he saw the un-named pilot draw a spark pistol and begin charging it. Following the flow of his rage once again Miles dropped his spark pistol, un-slung his spark rifle and opened fire on Noah landing twelve rapid shots on his unshielded foe, spinning he aimed at the mysterious pilot and fired the rest of his magazine, five of the eighteen rounds hit the head of the mysterious pilot and the rest tore through their armor and hit their torso. He then dropped his spark rifle and ran to Milly’s side. As he arrived at her side he immediately saw how bad the wound was, flesh was charred, armor was melted and seeping into the wound and chunks of charred flesh were turning to dust. Reaching over Miles grabbed Milly’s hands and began to drag her towards a ship, when suddenly he felt a dagger embed itself in his back and begin to turn his flesh to dust. As Miles reached back and pulled the nano-blade out of his back he saw a massive puddle of blood begin building below him, he was bleeding out. In a panic Miles threw the blade to the ground and as it dug through the floor panels he withdrew a can of cryo-foam from his belt and began to inject his wound with it.

Halfway through the procedure he heard running footsteps and felt Noah ram into him. Feeling the can go flying he struggled to turn before he felt a hand reach down to his neck and begin to tear at his armor. Flailing Miles struck Noah across the head multiple times before landing an elbow to his injured side causing him to roll off. Struggling to stand Miles turned and saw through his half torn off helmet a beaten and battered Noah standing between him and Milly. Feeling that rage building up again he ran toward Noah and tackled him to the ground and began to wail on him, fists connecting to Noah’s face consecutively. After about a minute of punching he finally looked down at the cratered and sunken face of his old friend. Standing Miles picked up Milly, walked to a ship, set Milly down and then flew o

ff leaving his demons behind him.