I never realized how long this was... This is the story of Ranger. I woke up on hard concrete to the sound of sirens. I propped myself up on my elbow. My hair fell over my shoulder as I gazed out of the small window into the night. The all-too-familiar wail of Enforcer vessels and the flashing colors of orange and blue filled my senses. They found me. I hefted myself out of my sleeping back and it collapsed once my bare feet left it's opening. I hastily threw on my boots and backpack as I grabbed my rifle. Thankfully I packed my stove the night before. The door was only a few paces away, so I ran for it. Just then a hail of laser obliterated the window, as well as my former resting place. I looked over my shoulder at what was left of it. I did not like what I saw. The mass of G.E.'s was different this time from the last. They finally got the idea that humans weren't enough to catch me and sent Reavers to help them. The machines hovered mid-air, their multitudes of red eyes shifting, examining the architectural carnage. I could hear their rotors as if they were right outside, instead of at least a hundred meters away. When I finally got to the door, I reached for the handle, intent on opening the door. Until I heard someone on the other side. I couldn't tell who it was, but they were speaking a native tongue, not English. So instead, I erred on the side of caution and removed the fusion cutter that I had acquired recently from its holder on my belt. I then proceeded to cut the knob off the door and let it drift open. The voice stopped abruptly. I nudged it open with my rifle, knowing it was a stupid move. I heard the click of a pistol from behind it, and a cautious footstep. Well. Here goes nothing. I flicked the door open with the tip of my rifle flipped the butt up into what I presumed to be a Native's face. It collided with something hard and I heard a thump against the ground. I didn't realize my eyes were closed, so I opened them to examine my victim. I was right. It was a Native... I think. He had the same purple-and-lime helmet and uniform, and a standard-issue Eagle pistol. But I couldn't see his face. I looked left and right at the hallway before kneeling down at his side and removing his helmet. It was not a Native, but rather a human. With a blue scar down his right eye. Creepy. I took his helmet and put it on my head. I've been meaning to try to get one, but you can't exactly go to the nearest convenience market and say "hey, I'm on the wanted list, can I have some military-grade armor? Thanks." You just don't. Footsteps and voices echoed though the building. I had to get going. G.E.'s waste no time. I grabbed the pistol and hopped up with my new gear in tote, took a running leap to where my cycle was waiting, in a hole in the floor just a few doors down. A hole in the side of the building lets me escape to get food. There is a projector in the wall that I acquired from a derelict to make this hole as inconspicuous as possible, which, so far, has worked. From there I can go thirty or forty miles out to where my ship is concealed, park inside it, and make a swift getaway. I've been hidden here for quite some time, though. So leaving will be hard. Y'know, I am fairly surprised, impressed, even, that G.E. found me. They usually aren't this creative. I walked down the corridor, my new helmet showing me everything in sight, until I found a door with a small umlaut "a" in the top right corner. Someone had put it there before this building was abandoned. No clue who. I pushed the door in and hopped down onto my cycle. The chip in my boot signaled it to turn on and I shoved the handles forward as I bent low along it. I flew out of the building at near-blinding speed, on the other side of the Reavers. Or so I thought. A hail of yet more gunfire stormed from another cloud of Reavers and G.E. vessels, barely missing my souped-up ride. I painted it in Meta from the previous planet that I seemed refuge on, so all they could aim for is the lagging sound and a slight bending of light. Thing was silent as the void. Eventually they stopped firing as I flew out of range at a supersonic breakneck speed. The dome over my body protected me from and damaging junk that could be around. I have no clue why people would make cycles like that if they weren't air-tight. But hey. It looks cool. The G.E.'s were in hot pursuit but I had a huge lead on them. And it had yet to go into the labyrinth were my ship was located. They're not gonna catch me any time soon. It took only a few minutes to reach the labyrinth. I looked up from inside the dome. A huge derelict Arkship loomed above. I smiled. Man I loved that thing. I found the Arkship a year or two ago, about a month after I got here. It was where I got most of my spare parts. And some tech for repair. There was a computer inside that I managed to get fired up. Apparently the ship
was called "Kalikar." Some ancient name. I tried to translate it with my mobile but it had to be eons old. It didn't match anything. I didn't expect it to. But I wonder where it's from? Arkships are for intergalactic migration. So it had to come from many lightyears away. Perhaps billions. Anyway I drove in and went through the gargantuan beast's hull to where my ship sat. It was a big, black freighter-like ship, only slightly smaller. But big enough to support myself. It had it all. A sunlamp greenhouse. A freezeroom. A microwave. And plenty of space. I had enough food and water to last for more than a year in space, even with massive meals. It was my home. I went right on up and into the ship and dismounted in its cargo hold. The cycle quieted down as my boot left it's pedal and the stability arms swung down to hold it in place. Then the ship started up with a mild purr of good old-fashioned Zagrothian tech. The good stuff. I made my way to the cockpit, and strapped in. I had barely stepped on to the foot panel when footsteps sounded from within the ship. They got closer, closer, the sound of metal-on-metal echoing through the ship. I reached for my rifle leaning against the seat and silently unstrapped and unmounted it. The noise was closer. I hunched down and hefted the barrel up, clicked the starter into ready. The sound was now at the doorway. I leapt out from the side with my rifle pointed forward screaming would-be bloody murder. But what was in the doorway was not a wanderer. Not a G.E. It was... "Sir!!!! Please, sir!!! Don't shoot, sir!!!!" The thing fell down with a clank. It was Rhett. My droid I built before I went on the run. "Rhett, I've told you thousand times! Don't sneak up on me, and stay in the cockpit when I'm out! My gosh." I hefted him up, careful not to put my hand in his gyro. I've been meaning to find a carapace for him. But nothing fits. And the one thing I don't have is a metalforge. "I'm terribly sorry sir. I thought I might tidy up a bit, sir. And I don't like the things outside. They are frightening, sir." Oh no. "Rhett?" "Yes, sir?" "Exactly how much did you 'tidy up'?" "I'm not sure I comprehend, sir." "Nevermind." I walked past him and into my "kitchen". Nothing seemed out of place. Except the crates full of food and drink were gone. I looked in the compartments on the wall. Nothing weird. "What did you do, Rhett? Nothing's different." "Sir, I deposited the spare parts into a more accessible arrangement." I walked around the bend where the cargo hold was to the other side, into the machine shed. I opened the door and stepped into a nightmare. "Oh my gosh, Rhett. Why...." The cursed droid had taken all the parts on the walls and made them into his own mechanical snowman. "See? Now they are all fit and modular. Sir?" "No, Rhett. No... Ugh... Why...." I put the parts back into the grabby little arms on the walls, back where they belong. "Fit and modular". Right. "Um, sir?" "What." "The scanner is picking up vessels nearby." Oh. I had almost forgotten with my lead on them. I made my way over back to the cockpit, Rhett in close pursuit. I deposited my rifle on the little claw by my seat and strapped in. Rhett inserted himself into the seat next to mine and inserted his hands into the modified controls. He was now the ship. My hands flew over the screen panel, almost as if it were instinct, flipping on safeties and firing up engines. The sound of doors closing echoed through the hull. Then the guns came alive. Then shields. Finally engines. Rhett, via the panel, gave the "go" signal. She was ready. A piece of the Arkship’s hull dissipated, as it was also a casted image from my ship. The ship lurched as it left the ground, the legs retracting, then we were off. The Reavers opened fire, but we were already well into the atmosphere, and then out. But our problems had only begun. At least half of the Galactic Enforcement's fleet was in orbit, the massive sledgehammer-shaped Monitors, along with a few hundred Destroyers, and then one of the five Carriers: the G.F.S. Lord Cartyr's Rage. Not the largest, but still big enough to carry several Cruisers, which are nearly three times the size of a Destroyer. Which are big. I switched the new surwarpdrive to 7, hoping it could take such a high jump. I used to have a warpdrive, but I found this a few years back. Figured I'd take it. The ship shot forward at 70 times the speed of light. I had no clue where I was going, but I found out soon enough. The ship gradually stopped, as not to kill me with the inertia. When things finally became visible, I found myself in front and a great black planet. Rhett beeped the display at me. On the panel was the planet's name, flashing in red. Balaos. I've never been there before. Never planned on it, either.
