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Stories; Written by anyone who wants to share.
Topic Started: Dec 16 2005, 11:08 PM (1,246 Views)
Bob 121
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Librarium Adept
Ok, this is everything I have so far.

Chapter 1:

A single man cannot and will not stand alone against
an enemy such as that of the Aprion Republic. Only through
unity can we truly destroy the threat to our great nation.
- High Councilor Gregor Steele

I made my way up the worn marble steps of the inner Council Chambers towards the Great Hall. This is not the first time in my life that I have ventured through the ancient colonnades of the Erebian High Council Chambers; nevertheless, the building’s magnificence never seems to wear. I believe that that was the architect’s intent when building it, an ambition that was certainly sated. Upon reaching the polished golden doors, I enter one of the colonnade’s main antechambers, and flash my identification at the guard, who promptly grants me access to the Council Chambers. The Councilors do not like to be kept waiting.

It is extremely difficult to not stare at the intricate carvings that adorn the enormous domed room, despite my best efforts I realize that my mouth is open as I stare at the beautiful artwork that encompasses me. I’ve heard that the entire room is a means of catching its visitor’s off-guard, a way of giving the Council an edge; I’d have to say I agree. The Councilors are arranged in a semicircle while a solitary chair sits in the middle. Politicians are often extremely good at subjecting the psyche through the use of subliminal techniques; a tactic that they use on friend or foe regardless.

I addressed the arranged Councilors before taking a seat on the chair. “Senior Judicator Ames Lier, the Council summoned me today.”

Councilor Belthzen regarded me with a nod, as did several other Councilors.

Finally, after a second of silence, Councilor Arden rose from his seat. “Judicator Lier, as you know, our war against the Aprion dogs has run into a problem. The speed and efficiency of the enemy’s response to our attack was exceptionally well executed. Several of our Lord Marshals have requested large numbers of auxiliary troops to replenish their losses. We have, of course, planned for this setback and have the resources needed to meet our military’s demand but I do not particularly like the fact that we are already digging into our reserves this early into the conflict.”

Councilor Toren suddenly cut Arden off. “Perhaps we should tell the Judicator his assignment?”

Councilor Arden regarded Toren with an icy glare. “Very well, Marcus, although I would see to it that you resist interrupting a fellow Councilor in the future.

I tried my hardest to keep a neutral expression as the two Councilors quarreled with one another. Several of the Councilors didn’t remain as dignified and I could have sworn that I saw more than one smirk flash across their collective faces.

Councilor Arden began talking once again. “As I was saying before I was interrupted by my esteemed colleague, our plans are already in jeopardy and I do not believe that we will be able to keep the initiative if we have more problems on the front. One of our Lord Marshals has requested a Conciliatory representative in order to keep a General under control. The man in question is General Nicholas Etton. There have been reports that he has been questioning orders and refusing to carry out attacks against enemy forces. Your task is to “advise” this General and ensure that he carries out his orders.”

I nodded. “And if I find out the General is incapable of command?”

Councilor Whier spoke up. “If, upon your arrival, you find the General to be unfit for leading our righteous forces, you are required to remove him from command of the Erebian Armed Forces and perform a summary discharge.”

Councilor Belthzen began to speak. “We have already arranged for your transportation to the Clarion Front. Prepare yourself Judicator; you leave tomorrow. I will send you’re updated clearance codes to your quarters this evening. You may leave.”

I got up from the chair feeling somewhat stunned; Judicators rarely visited war zones. We were a means of maintaining internal security against terrorism, crime, and other dangers that posed a risk to the stability of the Confederacy. I left the Council Chambers and made my way through the Great Hall, my head so full of questions that I hardly noticed the magnificent artistry that had hypnotized me earlier.

* * *

The trip to my hotel room long was uneventful; my personal driver and bodyguard, Macharius, who has served me since I acquired the rank of Judicator, had memorized the route perfectly even though I’ve only lived in the room for two weeks. A Judicator is not an easy job to attain, or live, for that matter; you must always be prepared for anything that may arise. Due to the work that I do, I’ve never lived in one place for much more than a couple of months since my graduation from the Judicial Institute.

As we pulled into the parking garage Macharius informed me upon our arrival; an old habit that he’d no doubt learned years earlier as a young cadet. Macharius was a bull of a man; his bulk was matched only by his fierce loyalty to me. Macharius was dishonorably discharged from the Erebian Military Academy for not finishing his final test; a test that required him to engage another cadet in unarmed combat to the death. He was disgraced and would have probably wound up either dead or some crime lord’s henchman if I hadn’t taken him as my bodyguard. Macharius realizes this and has served me in unwavering faith ever since. There were definitely things that a man never forgot. As we walked, Macharius’s gaze darted back and forth, penetrating the shadows for any threat as we made our way to the lift.

Macharius and I took the lift up to the fourth floor of the hotel and exited into the hallway. Almost immediately I sensed that something wasn’t right, Macharius sensed it too and immediately threw me back into the elevator, an armed man stood in the hallway and fired several rounds at us before running the opposite direction and entering a stairwell. I saw the rounds whiz past Macharius and got up from my prone position on the lift floor. For a moment I thought that we’d gotten out unscathed until Macharius fell to the floor clutching his abdomen tightly.

I moved his hand to reveal a gruesome wound; a round had penetrated into his side. Due to the large quantities of blood I couldn’t tell if the wound was fatal so I pulled my comm. out and dialed the nearest infirmary.

By now several of the other guests had appeared in the hallway in varying states of undress. I shouted at a man in briefs and a dirty T-shirt. “This man needs help! Does anyone have a first-aid kit?”
Several of the guests just stared in shock as I struggled to control the bleeding. One man eventually ran up to me and handed over a small medical kit. There was some gauze and disinfectant but that was about all the useful material inside.

Sensing that the kit wasn’t anywhere near what the injured man needed he tried to add, perhaps in an effort of self-consolation. “I called the paramedics. They should be here any minute.”
I ignored the man, instead focusing on controlling the bleeding with the meager roll of gauze. Within minutes, the paramedics arrived and evacuated Macharius quickly and although I managed to stabilize Macharius’s condition before they arrived, probably saving his life, I couldn’t help but feel guilty; if he hadn’t pushed me into the elevator then perhaps he wouldn’t have been shot. I’d often heard about stories of soldiers who had seen their friends killed or wounded in battle and then feeling guilty about surviving later on. I never really understood what that felt like up until tonight. As the paramedics took my only true friend away I entered my quarters, only to find the door slightly ajar besides that my room was completely normal. If not for catching the thief in the act, I probably would have never noticed a break in.

Erebian police forces arrived seconds after I stepped through the doorway and immediately began cordoning off the surrounding area. An officer approached me from behind; he obviously didn’t know who I was or whom I represented because he began speaking in an almost offensively pompous tone. “I’m sorry sir but a robbery has occurred here and we can’t allow you to enter the crime scene. He added almost nonchalantly. “We have very delicate situation here that can only be handled by trained experts so if you don’t mind I’ll escort you out.”

I turned to face him, as he saw the Judicator’s emblem on my overcoat, the man’s eyes grew wide and his smug grin was replaced by a look of alarm. Anger flooded into me at the arrogance of the man in front of me. “I’m sorry, Lieutenant.” As I spoke, I emphasized the word Lieutenant and the officer shrank almost visibly. “But I’m going to have to ask you to leave, I wouldn’t want your incompetence to hinder this investigation. Please remove yourself from my presence before things get uncomfortable for both of us.”

“Yes, o-of course Judicator, I’ll just go help secure the area.” The cowed man managed to stutter as he turned and half walked-half ran from the room.

I watched him leave with distaste. The ignorant fool! I banished the man from my mind and went to work, taking in every possible detail about the room, searching my memory for anything that would seem out of place from when I left earlier. There was nothing left behind, and nothing was missing either. This confirmed my suspicion that whoever was responsible for this wasn’t interested in stealing any of my possessions; they were looking for something, possibly information of some kind. Regardless, they shot Macharius and they would no doubt come after me again. After informing the still-anxious officer who was pacing the hallway outside of my room that his men could begin investigating the crime scene I left the hotel, opened my comm., and called Thomas Napier.

* * *
Thomas Napier is my direct superior, he is one of the highest-ranking Judicators in the Judicial agency, and therefore, is not required to work in the field. I like to think of him as almost a father figure; Thomas has always acted as a father to me since I joined the Judicial Academy when I was eighteen. Since I never really knew my father growing up, or my family for that matter, he helped me through many difficult times.

It was Thomas who received and relayed my instructions to come to Erebus City to meet with the High Council. He also served as a representative of the High Council, which was why he was appointed to supervise my summons there. Thomas’s comm. picked up after the second ring and instantly recognizable, almost humorously haggard voice came through the speaker. “Hello Ames! How’s everything going? Did you’re meeting with the Council go well?”

“Thomas, I have a problem. A big one.”

“What is it son?”

“I was attacked outside my hotel room by an armed gunman after we caught him breaking into my hotel room.”

Thomas inevitably interrupted me after that last comment. “What! Are you all right? Are you hurt?"

I could tell even over the comm. that he was genuinely worried for my safety, something that truly touched me. “Yes I’m fine, but Macharius isn’t. He was hit, pretty badly too. The shooter ran away and I didn’t see enough to get a positive ID.”

“Is Macharius alright?”

“I don’t know. He was bleeding pretty badly. Listen, I think that this was aimed for me. I checked my room and nothing was stolen. The thief was obviously looking for something in particular. He was very careful about entering. It was definitely supposed to be a covert op. I don’t know what he was looking for but whatever it was, I don’t think he got it.”

Thomas’s voice carried a hint of worry now. “Ames, do you need anything? I can send a squad to get you.”

I declined, although grateful for the offer. “No Thomas, that won’t be necessary, but if you could check on Macharius for me I’d really appreciate that. I don’t have enough time to visit him myself, I’m leaving for the front lines tomorrow morning.”

“Of course, Ames. I’ll try to get back to you before you leave.”
“Thanks Thomas.” I cut the connection and found that I had wandered down to the hotel’s main lobby; a huge room constructed entirely out of smooth, dark marble and occupied by numerous mahogany furnishings arrayed around a quaint fountain. Noting several expressions of shock and horror that were being directed towards me by the other guests, I suddenly noticed that my hands were still covered in blood. I quietly slipped them into my coat pocket and made my way towards the registration desk.

I approached the desk and asked the hotel manager, a balding, overweight, squirrelly-looking man if I could go over the security recordings. He was hesitant at first but gave in hesitantly after I flashed my identification. He took me into a back room that looked as if it hadn’t been disturbed since I was born. The fluorescent lights flickered on and off for several seconds as if trying to decide to whether or not they wanted to turn on. They didn’t. By now I was not amused. As I produced a flashlight from my coat pocket the room’s state of disrepair was revealed in full; stacks of disks were piled all over the paltry eight-by-eight foot room and a lone computer screen was half-buried underneath it all. The manager timidly pulled a fold-up chair our from under a pile of disks and handed it to me. The man turned to leave and told me that if I needed anything else that he would be outside. As he closed the door, a stack of precariously piled disks fell to the ground with a crash.

* * *
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Bob 121
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It took me about an hour to find the camera feed to the fourth floor hallway. The recorder was buried under a half-eaten half-decomposed sandwich who’s contents I couldn’t identify. What the camera revealed wasn’t nearly as helpful as I would have hoped; the man was wearing the normal hotel garb but was also wearing a black mask that prevented me from seeing his face clearly. The stairway cameral proved to be just as useless; all it caught was his back as he escaped down the stairway. Nevertheless, I copied both disk’s contents to my portable data storage device, or PDSD, as I like to call it.

Frustrated, I left the room with the two disks in hand and thanked the hotel manager who, from the expression on his face, was still embarrassed about the security station’s state of disrepair. I made my way back to the fourth floor and approached the Police officer who I’d spoke to earlier. The man gave me an apprehensive look but otherwise seemed completely confident, probably because his men were around. My comm. rang, causing my hand to involuntarily snatch it out of my pocket; “Hello?”

It was Napier. “I’m at the hospital. Ames, you might want to get down here. I need to talk to you, in person.

Thomas’s tone didn’t sound good. “How’s Macharius doing? Is he alright?”

“Listen, just come to Cardion Hospital as quickly as possible. It’s important.

“Allright, I’m coming.” I cut the connection and walked over to the officer and handed him both disks. “Clean these up as best you can. Relay your findings to Senior Judicator Ames Lier immediately. Don’t share this information with anyone else.”

He nodded; “Yes, of course sir. I’ll get those to you immediately.”
“I’m sure you will, Lieutenant.”

I turned and left. Once I made my way back down the stairwell and got into my car. It felt slightly disconcerting not having Macharius around. I felt open, vulnerable.

I started the car and exited the parking garage, my PDSD displaying the directions to Cardion Hospital. It took me a lot longer to reach the hospital than I had expected it to take. There was an unusual amount of traffic tonight. It took me even longer to find Macharius’s room. I suddenly realized that this was the first time I’ve been in a hospital since my mother died. I banished the painful memory away and asked a hospital worker clad in a white lab coat, baby-blue facemask, and white gloves where Macharius’s room was.

When I finally arrived I found Thomas Napier standing outside in the hallway. Amazingly, he looked even more tired than my mental image of him did.

“Took you long enough.” Napier muttered. “Never mind, I have something important to tell you.”

I was perplexed. “How’s Macharius doing? Will he be alright?”
“They’ve stabilized him.” Napier motioned through the glass towards the two doctors who were bent over Macharius’s large form. “The round was still inside of him. It was when they removed it that I noticed that we had a problem. Take a look.” Thomas fished something out of his pocket before revealing a small, perhaps centimeter-long bullet. However, this bullet was very different from that of normal firearms, even my custom-made Judicator’s pistol. Strange characters were inscribed laterally all along the bullet; the sight of them unnerved me greatly. As I reached for it Thomas snatched his hand back defensively. “Careful.”

I looked at him, surprise and confusion probably showing all over my face. “Hey!”

My question was immediately answered as Thomas carefully prodded the tip of the bullet with a scalpel. I couldn’t help myself from jumping as the sides of the bullet flew apart, forming dozens of cruel-looking, tiny razors. Thomas tapped the tip of the round with the scalpel again and the blades retracted back into the bullet at lightening-fast speeds, returning the bullet back to normal. “Found that when they were removing the bullet from your friend. One of the doctors got a little careless and fwissh! Hand got all cut up.

I stared at the bullet in Thomas’s hand with a mixture of revulsion and fascination. “What is it?”

Thomas shrugged. “My guess is that it’s some sort of special ammunition, very effective. I’m guessing that there are sensors in the tip that somehow allow the bullet to sense when it hits a high-density object, at which point it deploys. As you can tell, it’s an extremely high-tech shredder round. I’ve never seen anything remotely like that before. It’s certainly not Erebian.”

Exasperated; I pointed at the bullet fiercely. “How could the Aprion Republic make something like… that?” We’re talking about micro or even nanotechnology here! We didn’t have that kind of tech even before the Great Conflict!”

Thomas blinked. The expression of concern displayed on his features showing all that I needed to know; he’d thought the exact same thing. “I don’t know what that thing is or who made it but what I do know is that whatever’s going on out there, you’re going to be caught up in the middle of it. I want you to be careful out there Ames.”

I nodded, trying to keep a carefree expression. “Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine.” Deep inside, however, I felt as if I had just lied.

Thomas Napier turned to leave, carefully placing the strange bullet into my right palm. “Well, I have to go now Ames. I’m old you know, it’s past my bedtime. I’ll see you when you get back.” With that, Thomas left me alone in the hallway.

I waited almost an hour for the doctors to exit the operating room before approaching them. “Excuse me sir, how’s he doing?”

The doctor somehow managed to look at me and his clipboard at the same time, scribbling something down on the paper frantically. “He should be okay. We’ve stabilized his condition, so his chances of survival are good. He won’t be going anywhere for a while though.

No big surprise there. “Is he conscious?”

The doctor shook his head. “No, he’s been out for a while now. During the operation we put him under anesthesia. Even if he were conscious I wouldn’t recommend you see him until he’s fully rested.

I thanked the man and he left, disappearing down some hallway to some other room in the labyrinthine hospital. I glanced at my chronometer; I had roughly ten hours before I was to leave for the front lines. I quickly scratched a makeshift letter to Macharius telling him that he had probably saved my life and that he fulfilled his duty. He’d like that. I handed the letter to a passing nurse to give to him when he awakened.

Just as I was about to leave I saw a man leave a storage closet that was perhaps ten meters down the hallway dressed in hospital fatigues. The strange thing was, he was holding a pistol in his right hand. Instinctively, I ducked a fraction of a second before the gun went off; I heard the bullet fly past my ear with a strange whining noise. The nurse that I had given Macharius’s letter to started screaming and ran down the hallway; miraculously untouched by the gunman’s fire. Two more rounds tore past, both coming dangerously close to hitting me. I scrambled into Macharius’s adjacent room and pulled out my own pistol. Two more rounds impacted on the doorway, sending splinters of wood and bits of plaster flying outwards. For several seconds there was no noise whatsoever, I cautiously looked through the doorway and saw the gunman run down the hallway and turn a corner.

By now, I was sick of being shot at so I ran after him. I tore down the hallway and rounded the corner without stopping, cursing as I slid across the waxed tiles. If I hadn’t slipped, however, I wouldn’t have been able to swear; a bullet impacted on the wall behind me, missing my head by mere centimeters. I sprang to my feet and fired a couple shots at the fleeing man while jumping over a cowering janitor.
The gunman reached an elevator bank and disappeared inside one of the lifts, the door closing in my face, leaving me with an alarming mental image of the man’s face. His cold blue eyes seemed to bore into me, and for the split-second that I saw him I went cold. The elevator doors closing broke me from the trance and I ran to the nearby stairwell, noting the illuminated light above the lift; he was headed for the garage, probably for his car. I half ran, half slid, down the stairwell and reached the garage just in time to see the lift door open, bright light filling the dark garage. I cocked my pistol and approached the lift cautiously, using what shadows I could to my advantage.
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Not bad.
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Bob 121
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Don't be fooled by my sig. Any suggestions or comments (Stuff you'd like to see included maybe) would be greatly appreciated. Nice and Not bad are good but they don't really help me improve if you know what I mean. (NO Offense to anybody who's posted already. I still appreciate your comments its just that for me to improve more detailed comments would be helpful.)

I might be on hiatus for a while now becuase I'm embarking upon a number of projects such as:
1: Making a custom MJOLNIR Armor (Master Chief armor) for holloween/Halo movie release/walking around my neighborhood to scare people.
2: Making a stop action movie with action figures with Finkleburg
3: Finals
4: Numerous trips to various places over the summer.
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Bob 121
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I'm moving this story to the Off topic subforumas per the directions of Lord Militant General Hlfranklin.
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Specialist290
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Here, let me give some help ;)

Admin Action: Topic moved.
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AK-47? Check
Fedora? Check
Fur coat? Check
Sunglasses? Check
Good to go...
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Bob 121
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Specialist290
Jun 23 2006, 10:32 AM
Here, let me give some help ;)

Admin Action: Topic moved.

:thumbsup: Thanks Mr. Admin guy!
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