By UNS Eagle Head GM (Foreman) on Tuesday, July 23, 2002 - 11:23 pm:

If the crew of the Eagle thought they had it bad, they should be thankful they weren’t stationed on the Corsair. Each of the four VF-17s raced back to the PT Boat in record time as the Corsair quickly prepared for the fold. It seemed like an eternity before the Eagle was finally ready to initiate the fold.

“Get us as close to the Eagle as you can” came the stressed order from Commander Cage. “As soon as they fold out, we’re going with them.” Sweat had begun to bead up on his forehead as the main screen showed one of the two battle cruisers dump its entire payload in their direction.

“Missiles inbound Sir!”

“Defensive cover! Buy us as much time as possible!”

“Aye sir!”

Despite the best efforts of the entire crew, the barrage was just too much for the PT Boat to deal with. Stray missiles escaped the defensive net and scored solid hits, completely wiping out the Corsair’s defensive net. Explosions rang out all along the ship’s side as wave after deadly wave gouged the ship’s hull. Thin armor quickly melted away and peeled back leaving a thin layer of scorched metal. 1st Lt. Domino Slaide and 2nd Lt. A.J. Williams were both caught in laser fire as it punctured their respective hangars. They never had a chance.

The Eagle folded, taking the Corsair along with it.

A sigh of relief passed through the members of the bridge. It would be the last breath they ever took for the Corsair and Eagle defolded in the middle of a barrage of 50 LRMs. The bridge exploded in a fantastic display of fire and gore. Only Lt. Tetsuma escaped the blaze, though she would be forever scarred by second-degree burns as flames licked at the entire left half of her body. She didn’t have time to nurse her wounds as she was thrown across the bridge like a sack of potatoes. The jolt was brief. Shortly thereafter, Lt. Tetsuma lifted softly off the deck as the artificial gravity disappeared and the lights went out.

The Corsair smashed headlong into the flank of the Eagle just after the bridge exploded. Everything and everyone on the Corsair was thrown to their feet or across the room as the Corsair came to a screeching halt. One who was well aware of this was Lance Corporal Tommy Lee. Housed in the forward torpedo room, he was the first to experience the awful collision as the room practically folded around him. Miraculously, his life was spared as a weakened bulkhead sheared away deep into the Eagle, throwing him deep into a dark hallway with nothing more than minor lacerations. However, he was now weightless in a completely dark… place. Apparently, the only reason he is able to breathe and his eyes aren’t exploding from the absence of pressure is that the Corsair somehow fused itself to the hull of the Eagle forming a tenuous seal.

The Eagle/Corsair folded for the last time before reappearing an unknown distance from its previous position. Further, it was on a collision course with a planet that grew larger and larger with each passing moment.

By Lance Corporal Tommy Lee on Wednesday, July 24, 2002 - 02:39 pm:

“Defensive cover! Buy us as much time as possible!”The orders didn’t need to be repeated. Moving like a man possessed Tommy loaded and fired the torpedo’s as fast as he could, sending them screaming into the Corsair’s defensive net. The net, while good, apparently wasn’t enough. Stray missiles broke through, impacting the Corsair with the full furry of hellfire. Tommy heard it before he felt it, the explosion ripped at the thin armor of the ship most likely turning it into slag or worse. “God damn it!” Tommy cursed himself he was out of torpedoes. “Piece of shit recon ship, I should have stayed with the battalion!” Then there was peace, they had folded, Tommy breathed a sigh of relief.


Then it happened, they had defolded in the path of a swarm of LRM’s. Tommy opened his mouth, about to curse again, but was cut off by the impact. Boom!!The explosion flung Tommy against the hatch, his headset/radio dug into his head leaving small gouges. For the first time Tommy was afraid, he didn’t want to die he wanted to go home. Before he was reduced to a sobbing mass his years of training kicked in. The Corsair was his home, he had to protect his home and any of the crew that were still alive. His resolve strengthened Tommy began turning the wheel on the hatch, he was going to save his ship.


Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on the way you looked at it, Tommy didn’t get a chance to save his ship. The Corsair impaled the Eagle, ripping its way through decks and bulkheads. This time Tommy had no chance to avoid injury. The room began to collapse around him and Tommy reached like a true marine, he cursed. “Ah shit!” Tommy watched in horror as his room became his coffin. Suddenly the bulkhead ripped free and the Corsair jolted to a stop. Tommy didn’t have time to get his bearings as he was sent flying out of the new hole in the ship, with jagged pieces of metal ripping his uniform and body. A sharp pain shot though his arm as a piece of metal broke off, leaving itself imbedded in his bicep. The gravity failed leaving Tommy floating in wherever he had been launched.

“Still alive! Ha I’m still alive!” Indeed Tommy was alive though he had many small wounds there was nothing that could stop him from completing his self ordered mission, he would save as many people as he could. Tommy turned and began the slow process of kicking his was back towards the remains of the Corsair. The dark was suffocating, leaving no trace of light that Tommy might navigate by. For a few minutes Tommy tried to find the Corsair then his hand touched a piece of metal that was ice cold, the cold that only comes from exposure to deep space, he had found her he had found the Corsair. Pausing only long enough to turn his radio on Tommy pulled himself into the ship while transmitting, “This is Lance Corporal Tommy Lee, if anyone can hear me please respond. I repeat, this is Lance Corporal Tommy Lee, please respond.”

The ship was wreaked with twisted metal and melted plastic making any movement a painful experience. Tommy felt his was along the bulkhead desperately trying to find a hatch. By now his hands were the consistency of shredded beef and if it wasn’t for his Nomax gloves he would probably be missing a few of his fingers. “Come on where are you.” Tommy mumbled while his futile search. After a few minutes Tommy was about to abandon his search and try and save himself when he found the hatch and much to his joy it was ripped free from its hinges. Placing on hand on the frame and the other in front of his head to protect himself Tommy slowly pulled himself through.

“Private Rhodes if you can hear me I want you to answer me. Lead me to you.” Tommy listened in vain for there was no answer. Damn it he’s dead, I’ve got to find his dog tags. Using what he knew about the layout of the defensive guns Tommy drifted around in the dark cramped area. His hands were feeling the cold metal, guiding him around by touch along. A tinge of iron tainted the thin air, blood was floating up from below him. Taking a deep breath Tommy reached down and felt it, the body of one of the marines. Working with as much speed as he could muster Tommy found the dog tags and ripped them form around the neck of his dead comrade. “I hope you found peace my friend.” Tommy felt a tear leave his eye and float up, this is not how it was supposed to end for them.

The cold air was beginning to take its hold of Tommy causing him to begin to shiver. Hypothermia, I don’t have much more time. “This is Lance Corporal Tommy Lee, anyone please respond.” Tommy’s voice betrayed the fact that he was nearing the point of exhaustion. “Must keep going, I know someone must have survived, fate wouldn’t be so cruel to me would it?” Tommy keep moving and after a few more minutes something bounced off his head. Reaching out Tommy felt the object, it was a barbell he had made it to the common room. I made it here now above me somewhere should be the hatch to the bridge If I get up there I might be able to us the radio to get help. With renewed energy Tommy began searching around for the hatch.

By Bishop (Bishop) on Friday, July 26, 2002 - 04:18 pm:

Bishop had been sitting at one of the side-by-side flight controls. And he was doing what he was being paid to do, pilot. He struggled with the flight controls as he tried to maneuver, but this was a PT Boat not a VF. The ship shuttered as warheads detonated against its hull. He looked down at one of the multifunction displays to find two our of four VF outlines flashing red. Two pilots of the boats small compliment of VF’s were dead. The radar screen was lit up like a Christmas tree. Dozens and dozens of the missiles had positive locks by now the threat receiver telling him what he already knew.

I can’t evade them.

Accepting the inevitable is hard. It is even harder when the inevitable is several dozen long range missiles. And it is even harder when you’re the pilot at the controls. As the wave of missiles exploded the Corsair was knocked off its flight path and directly into the Eagle just before fold.

Mark was thrown from his seat with the shrieking sound of metal on metal as the hull of the Corsair fused with that of the Eagle. The bright colours of the fold quickly gave way to nothingness as the power went out. Mark slammed onto the deck of what was left of the bridge. He hardly had a moment get his orientation back when the artificial gravity went out. He felt around in the darkness, finding his seat. Too bad it wasn’t connected to the deck plating anymore.

He reached up by chance grabbing the deck platting. He pushed off of it and settled his feet on the ceiling. He felt around finding a few controls that he recognized. There wasn’t even emergency lighting on. Reaching into his flight vest he pulled out a small LED flashlight. It shone like a beacon in the darkness of what was left of the bridge. He crawled forward towards his old console using the electrical conduits on the ceiling. He made his way to the forward port holes. With the sleeve of his flight suit he scrubbed off the caked on soot.

He closed his eyes for a moment and let out a calm sigh. It could have been worse he though to himself. Just then he heard Lee yelling from the floor below, well above now. Mark’s head was aching and the Corporal’s yelling wasn’t helping.

“Yea I’m still alive! I’m on the bridge checking for survivors. If you can, check the hanger bay. If the seals were intact, some of the pilots might have survived. Then get your ass up here. We have to get off this ship as soon as possible.“ Bishop yelled out.

Mark searched the bridge only finding one survivor. He floated his way over the escape hatch and began a manual start up. Its systems were independent of the ships and hopefully were not damaged. They’d need the escape trunk to get off the dying vessel.

By Lance Corporal on Friday, July 26, 2002 - 07:32 pm:

"Yes I'm still alive! I'm on the bridge checking for survivors. If you can check the hanger bay. If the seals were intact, some of the pilots might have survived. Then get your ass up here. We have to get off this ship as soon as possible." The voice of Lt. Sanderson came softly through the bulkhead. Stop for a second Tommy determined from where the voice came from, behind him. Clearing his voice the shivering Tommy called out, "Will do AFTER I get the bodies of my marines. I'm taking them home for a propar burial." Pulling himself hand over hand to in the direction Sanderson's voice had came Tommy felt the cool metal of the hatch brush against his torn hands. By now hypotermia was really starting to kick in and if Tommy could have seen his vision would be blurred. Using all strength Tommy turned the wheel and opened the hatch.

The tube and ladder were in suprisingly good shape with only a few rungs being snapped or warped. Tommy pulled himself up until he hit the second hatch. For a second Tommy hesitated then he remebered that an officer was alive up there and he had a duty to report. Again using all the strength he could muster Tommy turned the hatch and popped out into the charred bridge. The residual heat from the fire helpped warm him a bit but not enough to dispell the hypotermia. Tommy crawled over to were Bishp had placed Lea and checked her out. "Damn sir, I'm not medic but this looks bad. I'll stick my jacket on her to try and keep her warm." Without another word Tommy removed his jacket and wrapped Lea in it. Just as he was about to turn away and head back down to the common room Tommy noticed the glint of something metal in Lea's pocket. Reaching out in the dim light Tommy carefully removed it, it was a flashlight. "Thank you ma'am!" Tommy called over his shoulder as he headed back down the tube with his newly acquired light.

Back in the common room the beam of light showed the extent of the damage. Twisted metal jutted out everywhere giving Tommy the feeling he was very lucky in his previous trips around in the dark. "Arg!" a moan from the aft section of the ship caught Tommy's attention. "Cpl. McIvory? Can you hear me?" No response, the Corporal was either dead or very close to it. Flipping around again Tommy resumed the slow and ,by this point, extremely painful process of getting to the aft section of the ship. The fact his vision was blurred really didn't help much and Tommy found that it was faster to use his ever weakening sense of touch.

As her neared the aft Tommy found that the air in the room was increasingly cold and thin. "Air leak." He muttered to himself as he pressed on. I'll have to seal this off once I get the bodies. Tommy made a mental note of it. The thin beam of light comming from his flashlight struck the body of Corporal McIvory, or what was left of it. The Corporal's body had been pinned under a pile of scrap and it looked like the impact with the ship had ripped his upper body free. looks like he suffered for a while before he died. Tommy thought when he ilumminated the face, showing it twisted in agony. Tommy looked at the corporal's body one last time before choosing to continue back to were the final marine must have died.

As Tommy neared the rear-most section of the ship he felt as if he was crawling deeper into a tomb. The privates body was there but like like his companion it was deeply buried in wreckage, there was no way the body could be returnned to Earth. Not thinking about the awful sight before him Tommy reached out and ripped the dog tags off the dead man's body before turnning and heading back to the body of his CO. Tommy's body felt as if it was on fire the numerous wounds and thin, cold air was taking a stronger hold on him. Reaching the body of Cpl. McIvory, Tommy pulled the dead man out infornt of him and used his numb legs to kick towards the common room.

Once he reached the common room Tommy let go of the body and turnned back to the hatch. With his strength being sapped away by the cold it took longer then Tommy thought was possible to seal the aft-section off. "Sanderson I've got the body of my CO with me and I'm coming back to the bridge. I'll make a stop by the pilots to see if any of them are still alive. There was a leak near the aft so I sealed the hatch. I hope it holds long enough for us to get out of here." Tommy yelled though chattering teeth. Pushing the body of McIvory up the tube to the bridge Tommy headed to the torpedo room and the pilots.

The torpedo room itself was a sorry sight. The hole that Tommy had been thrown through was still there, a possible escape option if it came to that. Looking down to were the access tube to the pilots was Tommy said a quick prayer before carefully opening the first hatch. Energy was failing him and though one last burst of energy Tommy managed to get it open. Looking down on the second hatch Tommy chose not to open it for fear of a seal failure. Calling on what little voice he had left he called out, "If any of you pilot boys are still alive down there get your sorry asses up to the bridge." Then using the last vestages of his strength Tommy Headed for the bridge.

By Mark Sanderson (Bishop) on Friday, July 26, 2002 - 09:13 pm:

Mark bowed his head in silence for a moment. Losing fellow Marines was always like losing a brother or sister. He had dragged Tetsuma over to the escape trunk and she was floating listlessly. He had the small flashlight in his teeth and was opening a panel when Lance Corporal Lee stuck his head out from the bottom hatch. “Tommy its going to get plenty warm in here soon enough if we don’t get the hell outa here.”

Digging his hands in to bundles of wire he pulled, stripped and spliced a few of them to get the desired result. The rectangular light labeled “Emergency Exit” lit up. Pulling a large handle the hatch to the escape trunk squeaked open. He gently set Tetsuma into a lock down harness at least she was still alive. He powered up the trunks systems, the walls between the personnel harnesses were lit lighting up. All the systems seemed to be operating properly.

Exiting the escape trunk he looked back towards the forward portholes. Mark saw a flicker of red streak by. They had begun entering the upper atmosphere of the planet. He heard the echo of Tommy’s voice again. “Yea sure take your time. Got lots of time...” He said checking the porthole again. The ship shuttered slightly he could feel the pitch change.

Looking up he saw the cold body of McIvory floating his way. He grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him into the escape trunk. At least he was in once piece. He had been lucky to escape the flames. Lea had made it out alive barely surviving the fire. Unfortunately not everyone else from the bridge crew had been so lucky. The place was charred black from fires. He went back into the escape trunk waiting for Lee to get back and anyone else who was alive. If there wasn’t time he’d have to leave without the other pilots. Not something he wanted to do. Hopefully if they were still alive they could detach their Nightmares and escape that way. The Corsair jostled again. “Shit we must be hitting thicker atmosphere.” He began strapping himself into the harness nearest to the hatch and the escape trunks controls.

By Lance Corporal Tommy Lee on Friday, July 26, 2002 - 09:30 pm:

Tommy's head reappeared followed by the rest of his almost convulsing body. "Siiir, I'lll gggivve deeem twwwoo minuuuteeeeeessss annnnnnnnddddddd tthhhhhhhen Ii'lll go bbackk dddown." The hypotermia was advancing faster then he thought it should have. "Sshhe ok?" He asked pointing a shakey finger at Lea.

Curling up into a ball Tommy tried to conserve his body heat. Taking a few deep breaths to stabilize his breathing Tommy spoke agian. "I'm NOT leaving this ship until everyone is safe. I'd rather die than leave a man behind." Sucking in a few more shaky breaths Tommy felt himself slowly starting to warm up. "Ahh sir? Ddid wee hhitt ssomeeting hot?"

By Mark Sanderson (Bishop) on Friday, July 26, 2002 - 09:57 pm:

Mark looked back at Lea. He really wasn't to sure how she was doing. He check her eyes with the flashlight seeing her brain responded to the bright light. Her burns looked pretty bad. "I'm not sure Corporal. She needs medial attention and we sure as hell can’t do that here."

Mark looked back at the controls it was giving limited sensor data. There was only so much hardware you could cram into something the size of a walk in closet. “Were getting deeper into the atmosphere. Our pitch has changed slightly its buying is more time but its increasing the drag along with the temperature. Were kind of shielded by the rest of the Eagle but its heavily damaged. It’d be like flying a god damn brick.” Mark understood how Tommy didn’t want to leave anyone behind. The worst part of being an officer was often making the tough decisions, even ones that would order people to their deaths. He had lost people under his command before. Signing letters of condolences were harder to do then you think.

Mark took off his flight jacket and tossed it to Tommy. It floated slowly towards him. “Go back…” Mark looked back at the controls. He began plotting an escape path on the little screen. Based on the assumption the Eagle continued its current decent. He didn’t look back at Tommy. “Four minutes. You’ve got four minutes. Any longer and I can’t be sure were all getting out of this alive. I can’t buy more time then that…”

By Jason Garland on Monday, July 29, 2002 - 03:59 am:

Jason awoke to find a rather unpleasant surprise to his eyes, he couldn't see... he couldn't see
anything!! All was pitch black to his eyes, he had his eyes opened but he couldn't see a thing.
However, he soon found to his relief that it was all a false alarm. He was floating, and he could feel that with his hands, nothing was beneath him. Obviously something had happened to the Corsair and the power was out. Jason tried to slowly moved as if he were in some kind of swimming pool and tried to touch any wall near him, though he wasn't the only thing floating as he would soon find out. the first thing he touched, wasn't as solid as he expected. He was feeling something solid, but not the wall, it had clothes on and boots, clearly it was the corpse of somebody. Now he knew why everything was so quiet. However, was everybody dead? He tried yelling "HEY IS ANYBODY ALIVE?" and stayed unmoving waiting for an answer. He soon started moving trying to find a way out of his location. He knew he was somewhere in his hangar but where?

By Mark Sanderson (Bishop) on Thursday, August 01, 2002 - 08:36 pm:

Mark paused at the sound of someone yelling. “Hey Garland! Looks like your on the wrong end of a ship burring up in an planetary atmosphere! Ya might considering getting your ass up here and living to talk about it later!” Bishop yelled out the escape hatch door.

By Jason Garland on Friday, August 02, 2002 - 12:28 pm:

Jason's face lit up as soon as he heard somebody's voice. Although the news weren't good, there was still chance of more survivors. "Hey, Lt. Sanderson, is that you? It's as dark as a black hole down here. I can't see a thing! Any light up there?" Jason tried to move in the voice's direction guiding himself by touching the nearby wall.

By Mark Sanderson (Bishop) on Saturday, August 03, 2002 - 11:28 pm:

“Garland we don’t got time for twenty questions. Get your ass to the escape pod now damn it, or die trying. That’s an order!” Looking at the screen again he checked their time not good. “Corporal Lee, get to him now and get him back here on the double.”

By Jason Garland on Monday, August 05, 2002 - 05:41 am:

"OK!"Jason yelled back, while trying to find some exit from where he was. "Lee!! You there?"

By Heather (Illusion) on Monday, August 12, 2002 - 10:59 pm:

Everyone, please read the Announcement thread.