FanFic: The Recollection of VanGarrett | FINAL Chapter: 10

[HUnewearl_Meira]

All right, I know everyone's been waiting for this, and the time has finally arrived. Here is the first chapter of The Recollection of VanGarrett. My short break was rather nice, but in all honesty, I do believe I'm more content when I've got comments on my own fic to read.

And again, I do want to thank everyone that's been giving the encouraging words, and sending me e-mails and PMs to tell me how much they enjoy my work. It's that sort of reaction that makes this all worth the time it takes to think up and write these stories.

On to business...

This fic should be quite easy to write, as VanGarrett is pretty much, well, me. In light of that, I've taken up to writing extra long chapters here, though I don't expect that there'll be as many in this fic. I'm aiming for about 10 or so.

Just to set things into perspective, this fic takes place before The Recollection of Meira, and will end more or less where The Recollection of Meira picks up.

Speaking of Meira... This has come up in a few other threads, so I think I should make a thorough announcement here. The first person that can correctly guess which celebrity's face I traced in Photoshop to get the picture of Meira in my sig, I'll give that person a sneak peak at the next chapter of The Recollection of VanGarrett. Don't post your answers here, though. Send them to me through PM.


All right, now without further procrastination, here it is-- The Recollection of VanGarrett!




Chapter 1

Ah, good. It worked. Maybe now I can relieve some of the boredom of this trip. My name is VanGarrett. I am a formally trained RAmar, currently stumbling across a desert on the surface of Ragol. Why am I here, you ask? There's a reason, actually. The short of it, is that my communications with Pioneer 2 indicate that I'm a good 100 kilometers away from the closest location they can drop a teleporter, and I ended up out here due to some fluke experience in the Ruins. There are some other curiosities concerning the circumstances of my situation, and I'll get to each of these in good time.
I should also note that I've tweaked my navigation device to link up with my MAG, so that I can simply speak this writing, and have it recorded into CSCII (Corallite Standard Code for Information Interchange) text. So if there's a punctuation error here or there, don't blame me. The MAG did it.
So, here I am, walking through the desert. This land is barren, uncharted, and by golly, I'm glad that my wife made me take that extra jug of water and bottle of insulin. Yes, that's right. I'm also a Diabetic, though in all honesty, I tend to neglect that detail. That?s enough on that.
The area I ended up in didn't seem to be entirely random. I suppose I could've ended up in just a spot in the middle of this huge desert, but it would turn out that there's another set of ruins out here. They're not exactly standing-- they're literally ruined. They also don't look much the same as the Ruins we've come to know and love. They seem to be a pile of broken stone pillars, and shattered concrete. My brief investigation of this place also revealed that there is no foundation for these ruins, beyond the large (mostly) broken plate of rock and metal they're sitting on. Very curious.
I've not figured out why they're there, but I thought that going over the details of how I got there might help me to peace some clues together. I also figure that, while I'm at it, I'll chronicle a few anecdotes, just to have them written down.
Because you, the reader, are going to try to picture me in your head, I suppose I should describe myself. If I weren't such a modest man, the description I would leave you with would sound something to the effect of, "Tall, good-looking, muscular and hairy. The kind of rugged ranger look that instills confidence in the on-looker."
That'd be misguided, though. The truth is that most guys that can meet the description of being "Tall, good-looking and muscular" aren't really the most useful people in the world. They're usually good for the purposes of broadcast programming, movies, and sometimes politics. The people doing the jobs portrayed in the movies are typically grittier, like myself. I'm fairly average in height, and I'm fairly chubby. I've received a few compliments on my eyes here and there, and I don't suffer from any facial deformities, but I can honestly say that I am hairy-- women with beard fetishes may find themselves drawn to me on a good day. Not that this has ever been a problem for me. It's just as well, though. I'm married now, to a very attractive HUnewearl, who was gracious and open-minded enough to give me a chance. Must've been my confidence. Unless she has a beard fetish that she never told me about. Oh yes, and for the record, I try to be as rugged as I can possibly be, because it does instill confidence in the client. I like to show up at the guild to talk to clients unshaven and carrying a big gun. I also seem to have a tendency toward browns and blues.

I suppose it started with a request from another hunter. This man was a HUmar by the name of Jube Acino, and he was looking for a couple of rangers to back him up. He was a hunter of legendary status, and was, at one time, an instructor at the Hunters' Academy on Coral. The class he taught? His was the absolute last class a hunter had to take, if he was to go for the highest degree in Hand-to-Hand Combat. I cannot emphasize enough, just how good he was at beating down an opponent. When bare fisted, he was killer. Now, let him use his pair of katanas, which he affectionately named Grimm and Dante, and you'll see a show you'd never thought possible.
Being graduates of the Academy, and both RAmars at that, my pal HuBBsDoctor and I would fill his request. Accepting the quest, we were joined by a tall and lanky RAcast painted red, white and blue, who claimed himself to be named, "FreedomJu". After accepting the quest, Jube kept us waiting for a few beats, not immediately appearing to explain the job. So, we all stood around and waited. Finally, he stepped into the guild, and gathered us together.
Jube stood at about 1.83 meters. He?s fairly tall, but not overpoweringly huge. His hair is an oddly vivid shade of blue, tied back, and braided into a lock that reaches halfway down his back. His shiny HUmar uniform this day was white with blue trim.
Being all collected into one place, Jube gave us a briefing in the Hunters' Guild. He straightened his garb, then corrected his posture. Placing his hands behind his back, he spoke. "Gentlemen," he said, looked over us, then continued, "I've a dangerous mission for you. I've looked into your bios, and it seems that all three of you are sufficiently experienced. Two of you are even graduates, with honors, from the Hunters' Academy on Coral. Congratulations."
HuBBs and I nodded at this. We knew precisely whom he was talking about when he said that. Of course, given that there were only three of us, and HuBBs and I both knew that the other had graduated with honors, I'm thinking that FreedomJu knew who was who here, as well.
Jube leaned toward us, and continued, "This is a rather secret mission. I won't explain the details right here, but I will tell you now, that if anyone distributes the details of this mission, I will personally seek you down and gut you."
We all acknowledged this through various gestures. Shrugs, nods, gulps, you get the idea. With that acknowledgement, he lead us all to the Hunters' Deck teleporter, where we teleported down to the Ruins. Now, obviously, I can't write here, what he explained about the details of the mission, I can tell you that he explained to us, that because he requested a sizeable favor from Black Paper, he was bound to repay them with an undisclosed number of other favors.
I do believe that I know what the favor was, but alas, it is of a personal issue to several friends of mine, and I won't do them the dishonor of disclosing that information here. Besides that, I don't want Jube to come and gut me. If I sound like I'm afraid of what he might do, then it's because I am. I may be part of the elite, but I'm a chubby RAmar, and I don't stand an ice cube's chance in the first area of Caves against Jube, even if I anticipate what he's going to do.
I can, however, share some of the highlights of the action. During the course of this quest, I saw Jube accomplish the feats that I shall describe henceforth.
First, I saw him pull out Grimm and Dante. Or rather, I didn't see him pull out Grimm and Dante. One instant, he was running and ducking into a roll, the next instant he was standing on the other side of a group of Dimenians, waiting for the domino effect to begin dropping their upper portions to the ground, with both swords in his hands.
I also saw him avoid a cluster of Delsabers by jumping, kicking off of the one in front of him, moving more or less backward, and ending his jump by slicing down the back of the Delsaber that was behind him with Grimm and Dante, as he came down from his forward-flip.
Standing up, he tripped the Delsaber to his left, using the business end of Grimm against the Delsaber's face as the tool to push the creature over his foot. Ripping the sword from the Delsaber's head as it fell, he slashed it across the chest of the Delsaber he'd kicked off of a moment before, and beheaded the Delsaber to his right.
The Delsaber he'd tripped, stumbled its way back to its feet, obviously rather distraught by the gaping hole in its head, but it didn't have much time to worry about it. Without breaking the flow of movement he'd started with the beheading of the Delsaber that'd been on his right, he threw Dante in the general direction of the first Delsaber, and as he dropped, he kicked the sword into the Delsaber's torso. At some point in this, he also tossed Grimm at the Delsaber he'd slashed across the chest, which was then kicked in such a manner that the katana impaled its head.
Rolling backward, then up to his feet, Jube stopped, and channeled Photon energy his Panzer's Tail had accumulated, through the swords, resulting in a light show that rather thoroughly laid waste to what remained of the Delsabers. This whole thing occurred in less time than it takes a Delsaber to plan and execute an attack. We, the rangers, stood rather impressed.
We also saw him side step a jumping Delsaber, and get it to kill itself on his swords by its own momentum. I've yet to see anyone else do that. I don't know why. It's a genius strategy, and when jumping from a sufficient distance, there's plenty of time to prepare your attack. Still, it must be a Jube thing.
There were a number of other feats of martial goodness performed by the mighty Jube, but I think I should go ahead and, rather than continue to harp on how "leet" Jube is, continue on to explain the gist of what we were doing down there; as well as why the former Evolved Combat Techniques instructor needed three rangers with him. After several rooms where we all more or less just watched Jube kill things, he eventually stopped us. He looked to HuBBsDoctor, and said, "You. Stay in this room."
HuBBsDoctor looked at him oddly. "Just me? What am I to do in here?"
Jube replied by pointing at an object on the ceiling. He explained, "When you hear the explosion, shoot that thing. After that, you'll be free to return to the guild. Take the object that drops to the ground back to the guild, and leave it with the woman at the counter, as evidence that you've completed your job."
FreedomJu looked at the object and said, "That thing's awfully small... Is there going to be anything left after he shoots it?"
Jube started walking toward the door to the next room. "More of it will drop down." Having that answer, FreedomJu and I followed him.
A few rooms later, he had FreedomJu stay to shoot another object near the ceiling, and had me follow him to yet another room. In this room, at the ceiling, he wanted me to shoot yet another object, and again left me with instructions to take the object that falls from it back to the guild. It was my job, so of course I complied.
I rested myself on a piece of rubble in the floor. I believe it was a chunk of a small, personal aircraft. Left over from the Pioneer 1 Military's expeditions here in the ruins, would be my guess. I trained my Justy on the object. From some distance away, I could hear Jube's sword clang. Before long, there was some shouting, too. I can't tell what that shouting was. Let it suffice to say that hearing the tone in Jube's voice that I was hearing, made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end, and I nearly dropped my rifle.
I think I can share the last couple of things I heard shouted before the explosion, however. First I heard an unidentified man, who I'm fairly certain is dead now, shout, "You fool! I am above consequence!"
Then I heard Jube shout, "Sometimes," then a pause and a clang, followed by, "You'll get what's coming to you!" This statement was then followed by a loud popping noise, and concluded with, "This time... It's ME!"
At that point, an explosion rattled everything. I physically felt the structure of the Ruins shift underneath me. My training at the academy suggests to me that an old-fashioned block of C-4, with a Nitro-glycerin-based detonator, caused the explosion. The smaller explosions that followed also suggest to me that he had planted a number of secondary charges in the room. This is a guy that plans ahead.
About this time, the object in the ceiling began to drop, so I shot it. It shattered as though it were a construct of stained glass, and a small object fell from it. I can't reveal what this object was, but needless to say, I snatched it up, and gave a quick toot on a Telepipe to return to Pioneer 2.
I found HuBBsDoctor and FreedomJu piping up around the same time I did. We each looked at each other. FreedomJu was the first to speak. "You don't suppose he just killed himself down there, do you?"
HuBBs shook his head. "Jube? Nah. Even if it's a kamikaze mission, Jube'd never let himself get killed."
I concurred. "Indeed. He's waaaay too strong willed. I guess he just figures he's got too much to live for." Which indeed, Jube is still alive and fighting. Some of the rumors about Jube back at the academy were pretty scary. They say that when he was fighting in the wars, he took a spear through his heart in the heat of battle, and still managed to last the next half hour it took for him to bring down the army he was fighting against. Last man standing on the battlefield, no less. From what I understand, when it was over he stumbled his way into a vehicle, crashed in the parking lot of a hospital, and collapsed on the front desk of the emergency room.
They also say that he single-handedly brought down a fleet of Arima-Class Assault Garanz with a broken arm, and no weapons. Consider that a single Garanz has no less than 10 missile turrets, and an Arima-Class Assault Garanz is at least five times the size, with over two hundred missile turrets... Yeah. If it were anyone but Jube, I'd never believe it. Well, that's not true. I've heard grander war stories about Heathcliff Flowen, not to mention a few exaggerated tales in recent times concerning The Great Sword Zoke Miyama and Donoph Baz.
Anyway, we each compared the objects we'd received. Each one of us acquired something different. It wasn't long before we discovered that HuBBsDoctor and FreedomJu pieces could be fit together, but mine didn't seem to be involved. We didn't exactly know the specific purpose of these things, or why mine was so different. We decided that it wasn't much of our business in any case, and took the objects to the guild.
After FreedomJu and HuBBsDoctor had turned in their objects, I went to turn in mine. The lady at the counter wouldn't exactly accept it, however. "I'm sorry, VanGarrett," she said, and continued, "But I was specifically asked by Jube to have you deliver this object to a man named Randon Bragwin."
"Randon Bragwin?" I asked. I thought about the name, thoroughly not recognizing it, but after accepting what I'd heard, I asked, "All right. Where am I to find him to deliver it?"
She gave me a few addresses. One was a cafe near the University of Pioneer 2, and the other was an apartment on the residential deck, maybe about twenty blocks from my own place of residence. Without any more questions asked, I teleported the object into my inventory, and sent myself off to the streets of Pioneer 2.

When I arrived at the apartment, I hit the buzzer. I was greeted by an electronically muffled version of a voice that could start jealous wars among men. The voice was that of Meira Bragwin, the lovely young Newman that Randon Bragwin lives with. Through the intercom, she said, and I am so incredibly not kidding here, "Helloooo! Who is it? Can I help you, today?" I suppose the text version of the greeting doesn't seem that unusual, but believe me, it oozed a sort of cuteness that would make some guys cringe, and others topple over. Luckily, I'm happily married, and thereby immune to such charm. Mostly. I will admit that it did catch me off guard. Especially since I was expecting the deep, manly voice of Jube's old student.
Recovering from the initial shock, I stated my cause. "Hello... I'm looking for a man named Randon?"
She was quick to reply, "You're looking for Randon? Can I ask who you are?"
In my job, I've realized that just telling someone your name typically doesn't help to identify you in any meaningful fashion. Except, of course, in circles where you have a reputation, in which case your name can potentially be an intimidating factor. I chose to identify myself by my relationship, instead. "Jube sent me to deliver something to him. Might I ask who you are?"
In a strangely cheerful voice, she proclaimed, "I'm Meira!" I could seriously picture her at the intercom on the other side of the door with a grin so huge that she has to close her eyes to accomplish it. From my own observations of her behavior, I'd say that the image I had in my head was uncannily accurate. I can say that by this point, I'd realized that she was rather naive, but unusually strong-willed. Someday that girl is going to do something that most would never expect. Actually, I'm guessing that if Randon goes missing out of all this too, then she'll probably take a couple of days to build up her confidence then go join the Hunters' Guild to find him.
I asked her at this point, "So... Can I speak with Randon?"
She replied, "Oh! Yeah! You wanted to see Randon! I'm sorry; he's not in right now. What did you say your name was?"
I smirked and replied, "I didn't, actually. I only said that Jube sent me. My name is VanGarrett. I was given the location of a cafe near the university to check if he wasn't here. He doesn't happen to be there, does he?"
Her response to this was, "No, I'm sorry VanGarrett, he went down to Ragol on a quest. You can come in and have a cookie, though!"
I choked at this remark. I sputtered from my throat a bit, somewhat embarrassed, and said, "Well, um, I've really gotta see to it that it's delivered directly to him."
She laughed playfully and said, "It's okay! He should be back within the next thirty beats or so! Come on in, you can wait here for him, if you like!"
I couldn't think of any sort of argument to counter this. It would certainly be to my own advantage to stay and wait, and bonus, I'd get a cookie for my trouble. All I could say was, "Well, you've got me. Sure, I'll sit and have a cookie with you."
With that, there was a beep from the door, and it slid open. Standing behind it was a smile and a huge pair of green eyes. Purple hair fanned out into two locks behind her head, and she was wearing what I assume to have been from the section of her wardrobe that she wears only when she doesn't intend to leave the house; I come to this conclusion because these articles of clothing were rather worn. Denim pants with holes in the knees, and a tight pink t-shirt with sleeves that stopped halfway down her forearms. This shirt also bared a picture of a super-deformed Rappy on the chest. To put it mildly, the Rappy on her shirt was well presented-- but I couldn't see its feet, if that mental image means anything to you. Suffice to say, she was quite the attractive pointy-eared young woman.
The ensuing conversation started with some generic first-meeting pleasantries. Over the course of the conversation, she explained the way that she and Randon live, and I explained that I was married, and how my wife and I live. The typical get-to-know-you stuff. The cookies were some of the best I've had, too.
This is how I met Randon and Meira. Randon and Meira are a couple whose relationship defies any established relationship description I've ever seen. They aren't intimate in any way, but they seem to love each other as if they were. In fact, I'd say that superficially, they seem like a classical husband and wife-- Randon goes out and earns Meseta, and Meira spends it. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that Meira goes out and prowls the malls while Randon's gone. She takes care of him, though. When he comes home injured, she takes care of his wounds, she prepares their food, keeps the apartment clean, and she makes sure that they're stocked on everything they need. In our conversation, Meira told me that she'd never known their relationship to be any different. It seems kind of strange to myself, but there's a strange harmony to it.
When they greet each other, she's always got a kiss on the cheek for him, as well as a hug, the enthusiasm of which I'd previously only seen in cartoons. Yet, somehow, there's no physical intimacy there. They sleep in separate rooms. I'd suggest that they're like siblings, but I've never seen siblings before that like each other so much. They do share a common last name, however: Bragwin. Of course, I do know why this is, though I'm not at liberty to say. It's a rather personal matter to the two, and I refuse to discuss the details.
Randon's also very protective of Meira. I've seen him put a good friend flat on his hindquarters, for merely suggesting the thought of, err, "spoiling her innocence." Randon was a first-hand student of Jube for several years, and through most of the trip from Coral to Ragol, so needless to say, Meira is very well protected.
After roughly 25 beats or so, our conversation was interrupted. Meira's ear twitched, and she started looking around the room giving the impression that she'd been alerted by something. She then jumped from her chair and leaped to the door just in time for us to hear Randon state his name to the door's voice lock. A deep and almost raspy, "Randon" came from the other side of the door, and that door opened to reveal the HUmar himself.
Randon stood a bit over a meter and three quarters tall or so. His uniform was a grayish, and showed its usage rather well. His hair was a bright brown color. It is an unusual color. Kind of a golden brown, really. It was also rather long. I suppose this was a hairstyle he'd adopted from Jube's example. His face suggested years and years of experience on the battlefield, but somehow maintained a youthful reach. This, I would assume to be from his decided lack of facial hair. Curiously enough, some guys go without facial hair, they look like young men. I go without facial hair, and I look like a twelve year old.
Meira jumped onto Randon, and hugged him. Perhaps I put that a little blandly. Let's remember that when Meira hugs Randon, it isn't a simple 'come here and let me put my arms around you' thing. It's more like the way a cat will wait outside of a rodent hole, and as soon as the guy comes out, she's on him like cheese on pizza.
So she's kind of hanging on Randon, and he hugs her back, just to hold her up, if nothing else. A swing around for effect, and then she pulled herself up to kiss him on the cheek, and returned to the ground. That's about when he saw me. I could see that he was going to pronounce the inevitable, "Who are you?" so in a rare display of spontaneous anticipation I decided to spare him the trouble, and introduce myself before he had the chance.
I stuck my hand out to him to offer it for the shaking, and said, "I'm VanGarrett. Jube sent me to deliver an object to you."
He shook my hand, and raised an eyebrow. "You know Jube?"
I replied, "More or less. I graduated from the Hunters' Academy on Coral. You'd have to be a freak to graduate from there without knowing who he is. I accepted a quest from him today, in any case."
Randon nodded. "So what's this thing that he wants you to deliver?"
At his request, I procured the object from my inventory, and handed it to him. "Here."
He took it and examined it. After he'd become sufficiently confused by it, he asked me, "What IS this thing?"
My answer was, of course, "Your guess is as good as mine. It was acquired on a trip to the Ruins."
Randon nodded and continued to examine the object, as Meira started looking around curiously. Randon looked at her. "Something wrong?"
She looked at him, and said, "Something just doesn't feel right."
This alerted Randon, as he was much more familiar with Meira's behavior than I. He immediately got ready for visitors, and I took the que to do the same. Trouble was brewing.




<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: HUnewearl_Meira on 2003-12-19 12:44 ]</font>


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: HUnewearl_Meira on 2004-01-05 21:27 ]</font>


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: HUnewearl_Meira on 2004-01-10 00:10 ]</font>


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: HUnewearl_Meira on 2004-02-09 15:30 ]</font>


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: HUnewearl_Meira on 2004-02-11 19:43 ]</font>


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: HUnewearl_Meira on 2004-02-26 21:02 ]</font>


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: HUnewearl_Meira on 2004-03-11 10:22 ]</font>


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: HUnewearl_Meira on 2004-03-24 12:21 ]</font>


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: HUnewearl_Meira on 2004-04-05 13:25 ]</font>

[KaFKa]

0.0... go VanGarret...

yes, finally meira puts up the next recollection fic i love it. gOOD sHIT...



i wanna cookie too...

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: KaFKa on 2003-12-12 09:28 ]</font>

[MQuantum]

Yay.... I'm so glad to be reading a Recollection again...

I was busy and did a random check here, and when I saw this I suddenly wasn't busy any more. Odd how that works...

I see this is going to shape up into another great story. (As if it could do anything less... )

[navci]

w000000tttt!!!

the VG cover pic will be done before you finish the fic! (well, that gives me lots of time I think)

Meira is so cute. Hehe. =}

[Sord]

to quote what they would say at my school, SWEET! (and i don't live on a coast ) Great fic, i was forgetting how good they where, it took me a moment to register who Randon was before it slapped me in the face. I'm rambling but this is great work!

[Sunblast]

Wow, this stuff is the shizneato! Go VanGarrett! Doin' it all for the cookie! Yum.

[BOC]

now that was a sugar coated chapter of mucho coolness.

good to see you writing again meira! excellent stuff as always.

The MyTea B.O.C. sixth sense is telling me that this is going to be another amazing addition to the recollection series. course, a blind monkey could tell that.

*strokes chin* hmmmmmm, should put that beard fetish thing to the test.

keep up the great work!

PEACE!!!

[Garanz2]

N.I.C.E

Good to see meira's back on the writing scene! Keep up the good great excellent godlike work meira!

[HUnewearl_Meira]

Hmm... It's been a busy week... Stupid holidays... I'm gonna have to really get my write on this week to build my lead back up, if I am to continue posting a chapter every week. Interesting how my old habit of putting off doing homework back when I was in school has translated over to other areas in my life.

Anyway, we continue where we left off at the end of chapter 1, and learn a few more things about VanGarrett's life. Also, the keen-eyed will notice the not-so-discrete shout out to those that took the time to reply to Chapter 1 (forgive me, if I overlooked someone). I really appreciate it, people!

So, here we go...


Chapter 2

I stood with my back against the wall, next to the door. My hand sat on my Varista, ready to draw and fire, should trouble arise. It's always an interesting position to be in. When a person enters a door, they typically don't look to the side of that door on the other side of the wall, in the direction that they approached the door from. The result is that you can be standing right there, and they'd never realize it, until it's too late.
There was a buzz on the door, followed by a masculine voice. "I represent the Galactic Mobile Infantry 32nd Squadron, WORKS. Open up."
Randon hit the button on the console to open the door. In stepped another nameless soldier from Works. Randon confronted the soldier with a fairly threatening look on his face. It wasn't hard for him to pull it off, either. It was a very similar expression to that which he presented to me, when he arrived. "You've got one minute. Make it quick," he told him. Randon was far more skilled than any member of Works, and he knew it. He also knew that this member of Works was intruding in his home, which meant that he had sufficient legal means to attack, if he refused to leave when asked.
The soldier stood confident, at eye-level with Randon. "I am under orders to inquire on Jube Acino's activities. You are his former student. Tell me what you know."
At this point, I stepped away from the wall, and made my own comment, indeed, taking the soldier by surprise. "The affairs of Jube Acino are none of your business. He has been dealing with personal matters recently. That's all you need to know."
The soldier jumped at first, but then looked at me and sneered. "Stay out of official Military matters, RAmar! I'll have your Hunter's License nullified!"
This annoyed me. Most importantly, because seeing that I'm a graduate of the Hunters' Academy, I'm sanctioned by the Government as a Hunter. In other words, my license is set in stone. It also means that I'm considered to be a member of the government's Special Forces. I stepped closer to the soldier, showed him the backside of my Section ID, and commanded him, "Stand down, Lieutenant! You are in the presence of a superior officer!"
The soldier backed away, and moved toward the door. "I apologize for the intrusion, Sir. Permission to depart, Sir?"
I nodded to the soldier and said, "Get out of here." It's quite a feat to intimidate someone that much, when they're half a head taller than you. I was standing on my toes to get over him.
Randon approached me as I put my Section ID back into its socket. He watched me, and nodded. "That was impressive. Are you really his superior officer?"
My reply to this was, "I've been a Special Forces Operative since '82." I snapped the ID into place, and looked up at him as I said this. "The industry is good to Hunters' Academy graduates."
So Randon sat down, and explained, "That's interesting. I never went to the Academy, myself. Jube took me on as his final student, after his legal squabble with the Dean of the Academy."
I should note that Jube was fired from his position at the Academy, about a year before Pioneer 2 took off. He and the Dean had a very intense political argument, which nearly came to blows. To sum it up, their philosophies conflicted. As much as it may be to my own disadvantage at times, I must admit that I would have to agree with Jube's side of the argument-- Special merits and benefits really need to be earned, rather than given away to any shmoe that whines because they didn't get one.
The conversation after that was fairly dull, so I'll go ahead and summarize a bit further. By interrupting when I did, and also by proving association with Jube, I gained Randon's trust and respect. We talked a little more about Jube, the Academy, and the Pioneer Project, then I respectfully said goodbye, went to the Hunters' Guild to collect my Meseta, and went home.

Arriving at my apartment, my wife and I greeted each other with the usual hug and a kiss. She does tend to try to stay latched onto me longer than I try to stay latched onto her. I suppose that's a normal female impulse, however. Not that I'm complaining. At least I know that she still loves me.
My wife, Maegan, is a registered HUnewearl at the Hunters' Guild. We met while I was taking a few classes on manipulating current technology at the University of Pioneer 2. It was the oddest thing, really. When I first saw her, I had this thought run through the back of my head, that was something of a personal narrative in the third person. It said, "And little did he know, that this woman would soon be his wife." It seemed a strange idea at the time, as I had been involved in a rocky, but dedicated relationship with another woman at the time. Still though, with very little effort on her part, she managed to steal me away.
Her lovely brown eyes match her hair, which is long and bouncy, her hips are slim, and in my own not so humble opinion, there's no one on this ship that looks better in a brown top and shorts. Furthermore, perhaps it's entirely because she's my wife, and I take comfort in that fact, there is really nothing that soothes me more after a long day's tempting of death, than her voice saying, as she did at this point when I walked in, "It's Garrett!"
She says this in a playful tone, but don't get me wrong-- she isn't this way at all times. She's normally rather serious, even when she's playing a game. That doesn't change the fact, however, that she sometimes gets into a playful mood, and most particularly when I just get home, and we don't immediately have anywhere to go.
To go on a tangent, I do rather wonder what she's doing right now. I would imagine that she's probably using her status as a licensed Hunter to try to find out what happened to me. That could be rather brutal, indeed.
So, anyway, we kissed, held each other for a moment, then went on to our own business. She was feeding a number of MAGs. Her recent trips to Ragol had presented to her, a number of MAG cells, which, when fed to a MAG meeting certain prerequisites, will cause the MAG to spontaneously evolve into a form which, in theory, should be more interesting.
When confronted about my MAG's color, I typically insist that it is a "Manly light-red." Others typically accuse it of being pink. A tip that anyone can receive from my pointy-headed HUcast friend, Draconis, is that you do NOT want to argue this subject with me while I'm having a beer after a long, hard day. Believe me: Tipsy or sober, an Inferno Bazooka still hurts-- a lot. And let's all remember that alcohol degrades judgment long before it degrades your aim. Just remember that the Bhirava is Light Red, and we'll all be fine.
As I sat down at my terminal to check my daily web comics and forums, Maegan summoned my attention. "When do you want to eat dinner?" she asked. I find that a good marriage consists of two people who agree on what tasks belong to who. Maegan and I, both being the old fashioned sort, agree that I'm responsible for the bulk of our income, and she's responsible for keeping me healthy. So while she is rather skilled, and she does enjoy taking the occasional quest from the Hunters' Guild, she is, above all else, a house wife.
I leaned back in my beat up, felt executive's chair, blew some air out of my lungs and replied on the next breath, "Whenever you feel like making it, is good enough for me." This is more or less my typical response. I'm typically not direly hungry when I get home, as she usually prepares a pretty decent lunch for me, though every once in a while, I may be inclined to ask that she get cooking rather quickly.
Given that, she returned to feeding MAGs, and reading a book to pass the time. Things were going rather quietly, and I was checking the forums. Users going by names of KaFKa, MQuantum, navi, Sord, Sunblast, BOC and Garanz2, among others, were announcing in reply, just how much they enjoyed reading my latest writings. Things like that may very well be why I continue writing things. This account I'm writing now, may be my best to date.
Other forums that I visit were beginning to flare up with rather untactful (perhaps even ignorant) comments concerning Principal Tyrell's ability to accomplish the task of leading us to Ragol. The unfortunate public doesn't know of the horrors of the planet, as Hunters' Guild members do. They just don't know. That doesn't stop them from cursing and behaving as if the media has supplied them with more information than the Principal uses to form decisions, but then again, any political figure is subject to scrutiny, and will inescapably be the butt of countless ill-contrived jokes. But I digress, free speech is protected by our government, regardless of how irrelevant, arrogant, or ignorant someone's comments may be.
Actually, the public's doubt may be working to the Principal's advantage. As long as they're preoccupied with insisting that he's an imbecile, they're not trying to figure out what really IS going on, on Ragol.
All right, well, to cut out the rest of the boring parts, shortly after a dinner consisting of the dubious ground meat the grocery stores provide us with, combined with some pasta and pre-packaged seasonings, HuBBsDoctor sent me a message. Neglecting the actual wording, he more or less asked me what the plan for the next day was. I told him that if he didn't have any better ideas, then we'd be choosing a quest from the guild, as usual.
Well, on that particular night, he did indeed have a better idea. He'd overheard that a wealthy organization aboard Pioneer 2 was going to commission a quest of some significance in the morning, and he suggested that we take it. I told him that it sounded like a good idea, to me.
Of course, I asked Maegan if she wanted to join us. "Maegan?" I asked.
Her reply was a short acknowledgement. "Hm?"
With her acknowledgement, I continued, "Do you want to join me and HuBBsDoctor on a quest tomorrow?"
Now, Maegan doesn't take a lot of quests, so she's rather choosey. She wanted to know a bit more about it. "I dunno. Maybe. What's it about?" she said, as she sat down next to me on the edge of the couch behind me.
I explained more, saying, "We're to investigate the whereabouts of a HUcast named Akolyte. Evidently he's been missing for a few days, and the group responsible for him is getting worried."
The suggested idea that a HUcast would be in danger confused her. In a sort of confused ponder, she questioned, "They're worried about a HUcast? Can't a HUcast normally take care of himself?"
The problem wasn't that the HUcast was in danger, though. In need of further explanation, I told her, "Well, yeah, but that's precisely what they're worried about. Him taking care of himself. They say that when he starts killing, he doesn't stop." So really, the concern wasn't so much that the HUcast might get harmed, but that the HUcast may get loose and go on a killing spree. I continued, "HuBBs is figuring on it being one of those quests that lasts for a few days. We could end up following this guy anywhere."
Using the sort of movement one expects from an annoyed person, she got up from the couch, and as she turned away from me, she said, "Urg... You know I don't like those long quests."
I nodded, half expecting her response. "I know, I just thought I'd ask you if you wanted to be involved, since you're gonna be hearing about it for the next few nights, anyway."

The organization funding the quest refused to be identified, but the pay off for each individual Hunter was a good seven-hundred thousand Meseta a piece, which seems to be a rather hefty day's pay. More even, than one is likely to be able to get for selling goods found while on the quest.
A representative from the organization was there to explain the quest to us. She was a fairly tall woman, dressed in a very business-like manner. HuBBs and I both looked her up and down, though I'm fairly confident that she caught HuBBs' attention a bit more strikingly than she caught mine. She had one of those sophisticated accents that only occurs in people that are both rich and arrogant at the same time. You know the sort. The kind that people get when they're sure that they're better than you. "Good morning, Gentlemen," she greeted. "The purpose of this quest is to secure the whereabouts of a HUcast by the designation, DRAGOON-03: Akolyte."
Thus far, we kept up with what she was saying. After a few acknowledging gestures on our part, she continued, "DRAGOON-03 is a prototype combat android, designed by the Bortevo Corporation. It is our understanding that the DRAGOON series was designed under a contract with the military, as a soldier replacement unit. One DRAGOON-type was intended to replace 1,000 soldiers. Its specialty is combat with multiple opponents." As she said this, she gave us both discs containing tactical specifications for Akolyte, which looked like someone had thrown together in a rush. Very very cheap-looking discs. The labels looked like they were written directly onto the discs with a pencil. We immediately put them into terminals in our arm wear, and examined the information. She continued, "Be especially careful," she said, "Of the DRAGOON-03's special weapon. It's known as the Positron Bolt, and it's said that the weapon gets more powerful every time the android kills."
That was a comforting thought. So basically, by the end of the briefing, we understood that we were to start searching the ship and Ragol for this android of immense power, and desire to kill. There are some very thoroughly examined and carefully planned reasons why this quest has such a high-off. Someone at this organization started planning this quest, and when he was finished, he realized that it's going to take a very large some of money to make someone change their opinion about wanting to find Akolyte. The very idea is rather absurd. Yes, let's go and find a 2-ton android that's going to want to scatter our innards in a rather gratuitous manner upon detecting our presence, just for the fun of the task. It's jobs like this, where our education in the art of being a Ranger really pays off. A relatively inexperienced Hunter would've found himself in many places at once, upon nearing completion of this quest.

So, we began our job, of hunting down Akolyte. Our purpose was to find Akolyte, and shut him down, if possible. We were, in any case, to at least find out what Akolyte's plans were, and report them back. That was the bare minimum requirement of the quest. Personally, HuBBs and I were content to fulfill that objective only, but I correctly predicted in my own head, that we'd end up far more involved in Akolyte's affairs than we had originally intended.
The first portion of the job was to follow up on a few leads we were given; names of people who'd reported seeing this beast. The first person to interview was a HUmar named Artemis. He was a short man, but he wasn't to be taken lightly. I've since known him to pack quite a punch. Physically speaking, he's not the quickest, particularly on those little legs, but he is actually quite strong. I've seen few people whip a large, sharp piece of metal such as a Last Survivor through the air as effortlessly as Artemis does.
Well, we found him felling a few Hildebears down on Ragol. His uniform was orange, and his short hair was green. I think he almost came up to my section ID on my chest, in height. His sword was taller than he, but dang could he use it. He jumped up, and bat a Hildebear on the back of the head with the broad side of his Last Survivor, thus causing the beast to stumble forward, and if I've ever seen a Hildebear's eyes nearly pop out of its head, this would be that time. As it stumbled, he whacked a couple of Gigoboomas to the ground, then promptly swung back around to the Hildebear just in time to whip the broadside into its gut, and firmly plant it into the ground, back first, while fashionably causing the Hildebear to spit up its previous meal. He smothered the Hildebear into the ground with his sword, the way you might push a patty of ground beef into a grill, to bring the juices to the surface. This last move was, of course, accompanied by a noise something along the lines of, "Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" but with a very satisfied tone to it.
HuBBs and I looked at each other, as he stopped tensing himself so much, then he fished a Meseta cube from the puddle resulting from the creature's upheaval. He looked down at it and said, "I swear, if another one of your race eats my money again, I'm gonna go on a genocidal tower of Ragol."
HuBBs called for his attention. "Are you Artemis, the HUmar?" he shouted.
Artemis looked at us and called back. "That depends! If you're here to kill Artemis, then my name's Bob, and Artemis went that way!" Concluding his sentence, he pointed at a door, and looked in its general direction.
I replied back to him, "Is that to suggest that if we're only here to ask a few questions about Akolyte, then you are indeed Artemis?"
He dropped his arm, and stowed his Last Survivor into his inventory before calling back, "If that's your intention, then I could very well be your man!"
HuBBs shouted to him, "Well, that would be our aim."
Artemis replied again, "You really must be Rangers then, because your aim is dead-on." He approached us, and as he got up to us, he continued, "What gave me away? It was the Pinkal ID, wasn't it? I told the girl at the desk that no HUmar secure in his masculinity would wear an ID that was pink in color, but nooo, they've gotta tell me that my name is a Pinkal."
I reacted to the word "pink" with something of an automatic reaction that I've built up from conversations about my MAG. "It's a manly light-red, dangit. Get it right."
HuBBs cut in though, before things progressed from there. "All right, so we've been told you've reported seeing Akolyte. Tell us about it."
Artemis stopped to think back to his sighting for a moment, then started explaining. He told us, "Well, he was a rather large HUcast. I don't know that he was anymore physically powerful than one would expect from a HUcast of his size, but I will say that he was unusually energetic."
HuBBsDoctor and I both eyed him, and shifted our weight from one foot to the next. "What were the two of you doing, exactly?" I asked
Artemis shrugged and answered, "Killing." We stared at him blankly for a moment, before he got the clue and continued, "I joined him doing a typical run through the Caves. He seemed to be killing just for the heck of it. Didn't seem to be too interested in traditional weapons, though. What really impressed me was when he grabbed a slime by the tail, beat it to death on a wall, then proceeded to use it to fling other creatures around. I finally left him alone, when he started coming after me."
HuBBs was becoming more interested, now. "Could you explain more about how he came after you?"
Artemis obliged. He explained, "Well, after taking down a Grass Assassin, I watched him turn a Migium inside out using only its accompanying Hidoom. What impressed me most about that part, was that he didn't wait for them to separate; rather, he pulled them apart, himself."
He paused, and we gestured him to carry on. "Oh yeah, well, anyway, after that, I told him, 'Hey, good job, fella!' at which point, I'm supposing he first noticed me. So he pulled a chunk of metal out of a door, and charged me with it. I only survived, because I freaked out, pointed in some off direction and yelled, 'Look! A Vulmer!' And the dumb nut fell for it! So while he wasn't looking, I 'piped back up to town, and that was that."
HuBBs and I nodded. "Quite interesting. Very interesting behavior," I said. So, as kind of a standard procedure for questioning, HuBBs and I both gave him our cards. "Let us know if you can think of anything else that might be interesting to us."
Artemis gave a big 'thumbs-up' gesture, and gave us his card in reciprocation. "I'd appreciate if you let me know if YOU find anything that I might be interested in."
With a smirk, and a returned 'thumbs-up', we left him to his business, and went on with our own research.

[KaFKa]

heheh, manly light-red...

yay i was mentioned!! (yay)

this is coming along great meira, although im not sure if they REALLY want to meet Acolyte... *look of shame*