Into the Fire is a story written by brickman6851 on the Gallery. In this story, Brickman's character, John Brickman is given a dangerous new mission to retrieve a pure Maelstrom source from the midst of the Maelstrom black hole.
This story follows a gallery format, so each chapter is relativly short, but length isn't everything. Anyway, I had tons of fun reading it and I hope you will too.
Without further adieu, here's Into The Fire...
Chapter One
With a roar that rocked our ship, the brilliant flash of an explosion tore the small fighter to bricks. I threw the Dawn into a sharp corkscrew to dodge the debris, mindful of the other fighters on our tail.
“I’m going to try an Immelman. Try and get some of the ones on our tail.” I yelled to Yakobay, my gunner.
“Right.” he replied, gripping the joystick.
G-force crushed us into our seats as I opened the throttle and pulled the nose up into a 180 degree turn. I could hear the ship’s imagination blasters rattle as Yakobay tried to take out some of the annoyingly maneuverable fighters.
I heard an explosion, and saw a flash like lightning as we rocketed toward the top of the loop. Suddenly, one of the Maelstrom fighters blew up practically in our faces, nearly blinding me and throwing the Dawn off balance with a crack like thunder.
“That explosion took out engine #4” the businesslike voice of Markon — ship’s mechanic — informed me over the intercom.
“Any chance of getting it back online?” I radioed back, preoccupied with keeping the ship flying straight.
“No, I don’t think so. The damage is pretty bad.”
The fighters outside turned around, vultures returning to prey on our crippled ship.
“Right. Okay. Shut down #1 and I’ll try to get us home.”
I felt the engine opposite the damaged one power down. I regained control of the ship and ducked under one of the purple fighters. The rattle of yako’s imagination canon rang through the ship again, but with two engines offline, I wasn’t able to keep up with the fast little ships anymore.
“Nexus Starship Dawn, we are hit. Running on half power. Attempting a run back to base. Any available ships please cover us.” the staticy voice of our cadet radio operator, Phil, crackled over the loudspeakers.
"Wise words by wise men write wise deeds in wise pen." —Lollimon the Wise
“The kid’s keeping his cool.” Yako noted, gritting his teeth and continuing to shoot at any fighter that came near.
“Yeah, this time. But I hope, for his sake, we can get out of this one.”
“His sake? What about my sake?” Yako took a second to shoot me an offended look.
I laughed halfheartedly, dodging a fighter that was attempting a run on the ship. The Dawn felt far too slow and heavy. My hand was starting to hurt from pushing on the throttle.
“Nexus starship Spark responding, we’ll try and provide some cover while you get back to base.” A reply came over the radio after what felt like an eternity.
A battered starship that looked something like a squid pulled up alongside us, and the owner gave us a salute. I waved in return, immensely grateful for the backup.
“Smallfry! Is that you? I thought you’d still be in the hospital ” I heard Markon’s voice on the radio.
“You know me, no injury ever keeps me down long.” the pilot of the ship that had come to our rescue replied. “Besides, sick leave was never for me.”
The pilot punctuated that last sentence with a burst of imagination fire that blew up another one of the seemingly infinite Maelstrom fighters.
In a few seconds, we were nearly into the safety of a Nexus Force outpost. I told the Dawn to hold on just a little longer as we streaked towards the imagination force field.
The fighters following us exploded on the Maelstrom-proof field, as we finally made it to safety. I breathed a sigh of relief, and started to pull the Dawn into a braking circle around the outpost.
“Aw man,” I heard Markon’s voice over the intercom,
“This is gonna take WEEKS to fix!”
"Wise words by wise men write wise deeds in wise pen." —Lollimon the Wise
Explosions and flashes of laser fire illuminated the damaged starship we were now standing outside. I could feel the heat wafting off and I was starting to detect the sickening smell of burnt oil.
“Portside engine is shot.” Markon observed. “It’ll need a new one.”
He wasn’t kidding. The entire port side of the Dawn had been charred, and she’d need new paint. The portside engine had gotten the worst of it though, half-obliterated by the explosion from the fighter.
The Maelstrom war had been going in earnest for about two years now, and I was exhausted, stressed, and tired of constantly missing death by a hair. But we had to keep fighting — if we let the infection spread, there wouldn’t be anything left of us in a matter of months. Just mindless purple drones. Anyone infected becomes the servant of Baron Typhonus, the man who started this whole mess by corrupting the largest source of pure imagination with his selfish and evil ideas.
A fire vehicle sped by as we trudged towards the central building.
“Don’t worry, Brick, we’ll get her fixed.” Yako assured me, as I stopped to watch the minifigures spray the Dawn with precautionary fire-###ant foam.
“I know.. I just wish we could get back out there.”
“It may be a while..” Phil interjected, “orders for Bulldog parts take forever to go through since the factories are so overburdened. I used to have a waiting list longer than my arm when I was selling in Avant.”
I winced, remembering the wait last time we’d had to make a major repair.
“Looks like you guys had better try and find a new ship assignment.” I signed, as we stepped through the wide doorway of the central building.
“I guess..” Yako grunted reluctantly.
“I guess I’ll ask my uncle about it.” Phil sighed.
“Call me when the parts come in. I can fix it in no time.” Markon promised.
We bid each other goodbye for the time being, and went our separate ways. The others were headed to the base’s strategy department for new assignments, but I had to report to the base’s general.
"Wise words by wise men write wise deeds in wise pen." —Lollimon the Wise
I strode through the high-ceilinged, grey building, still on-edge from our close encounter. The battle still flashed above, visible through the glass ceiling.
Soon, I found the general in the war room. The exchange went like I expected — except I was told to head to Forbidden Valley while the Dawn was put in storage here.
“Forbidden Valley, sir?” I asked, confused. Usually in an event like this I’d have been sent to a shipyard to try and find a functional replacement ship.
“Yes, Captain,” he confirmed not looking up from the holo-map he was using to direct the battle, “I have orders to send any available starship captains to Darkflame.”
I wandered out of the war room, more confused than when I’d entered.
Vanda Darkflame was the leader of the Paradox faction, one of four divisions of the Nexus Force. The Paradox fight the Maelstrom by turning its own force against it. But I couldn’t fathom what Darkflame would want with an Assembly member like me.
But orders were orders. I found a rocket pad and prepared to leave. I slotted in my memory device and stood back as my rocket reconstructed. I could feel the crackle of energy and the rush of displaced air as the form of my rocket solidified. I took a deep breath to steel myself, and clambered into the cockpit. All I could think was,
“Here we go again”
"Wise words by wise men write wise deeds in wise pen." —Lollimon the Wise
Into the Fire is a story written by brickman6851 on the Gallery. In this story, Brickman's character, John Brickman is given a dangerous new mission to retrieve a pure Maelstrom source from the midst of the Maelstrom black hole.
This story follows a gallery format, so each chapter is relativly short, but length isn't everything. Anyway, I had tons of fun reading it and I hope you will too.
Without further adieu, here's Into The Fire...
Chapter One
With a roar that rocked our ship, the brilliant flash of an explosion tore the small fighter to bricks. I threw the Dawn into a sharp corkscrew to dodge the debris, mindful of the other fighters on our tail.
“I’m going to try an Immelman. Try and get some of the ones on our tail.” I yelled to Yakobay, my gunner.
“Right.” he replied, gripping the joystick.
G-force crushed us into our seats as I opened the throttle and pulled the nose up into a 180 degree turn. I could hear the ship’s imagination blasters rattle as Yakobay tried to take out some of the annoyingly maneuverable fighters.
I heard an explosion, and saw a flash like lightning as we rocketed toward the top of the loop. Suddenly, one of the Maelstrom fighters blew up practically in our faces, nearly blinding me and throwing the Dawn off balance with a crack like thunder.
“That explosion took out engine #4” the businesslike voice of Markon — ship’s mechanic — informed me over the intercom.
“Any chance of getting it back online?” I radioed back, preoccupied with keeping the ship flying straight.
“No, I don’t think so. The damage is pretty bad.”
The fighters outside turned around, vultures returning to prey on our crippled ship.
“Right. Okay. Shut down #1 and I’ll try to get us home.”
I felt the engine opposite the damaged one power down. I regained control of the ship and ducked under one of the purple fighters. The rattle of yako’s imagination canon rang through the ship again, but with two engines offline, I wasn’t able to keep up with the fast little ships anymore.
“Nexus Starship Dawn, we are hit. Running on half power. Attempting a run back to base. Any available ships please cover us.” the staticy voice of our cadet radio operator, Phil, crackled over the loudspeakers.
Into the Fire is a story written by brickman6851 on the Gallery. In this story, Brickman's character, John Brickman is given a dangerous new mission to retrieve a pure Maelstrom source from the midst of the Maelstrom black hole.
This story follows a gallery format, so each chapter is relativly short, but length isn't everything. Anyway, I had tons of fun reading it and I hope you will too.
Without further adieu, here's Into The Fire...
Chapter One
With a roar that rocked our ship, the brilliant flash of an explosion tore the small fighter to bricks. I threw the Dawn into a sharp corkscrew to dodge the debris, mindful of the other fighters on our tail.
“I’m going to try an Immelman. Try and get some of the ones on our tail.” I yelled to Yakobay, my gunner.
“Right.” he replied, gripping the joystick.
G-force crushed us into our seats as I opened the throttle and pulled the nose up into a 180 degree turn. I could hear the ship’s imagination blasters rattle as Yakobay tried to take out some of the annoyingly maneuverable fighters.
I heard an explosion, and saw a flash like lightning as we rocketed toward the top of the loop. Suddenly, one of the Maelstrom fighters blew up practically in our faces, nearly blinding me and throwing the Dawn off balance with a crack like thunder.
“That explosion took out engine #4” the businesslike voice of Markon — ship’s mechanic — informed me over the intercom.
“Any chance of getting it back online?” I radioed back, preoccupied with keeping the ship flying straight.
“No, I don’t think so. The damage is pretty bad.”
The fighters outside turned around, vultures returning to prey on our crippled ship.
“Right. Okay. Shut down #1 and I’ll try to get us home.”
I felt the engine opposite the damaged one power down. I regained control of the ship and ducked under one of the purple fighters. The rattle of yako’s imagination canon rang through the ship again, but with two engines offline, I wasn’t able to keep up with the fast little ships anymore.
“Nexus Starship Dawn, we are hit. Running on half power. Attempting a run back to base. Any available ships please cover us.” the staticy voice of our cadet radio operator, Phil, crackled over the loudspeakers.
CoughcoughDawnTreadercoughcough? O.O
Excuse me? Oh, lol.xP
"Wise words by wise men write wise deeds in wise pen." —Lollimon the Wise
I peered through the fog, gritting my teeth against the cold wind. My rocket rattled as I descended through the bumpy air. Visibility was almost zero, with the purple mist filling the entire sky around me — only the instruments confirmed I was actually moving.
Growing impatient, I pushed the throttle open further. Other than the whine of my engine, the world was dead quiet.
It had been a while since I’d been to Forbidden Valley, but the memories of it were still fresh in my mind.
Forbidden Valley was the ancestral home of the ancient ninja, and the training ground for new ones. It was also a hotly contested battleground where the Maelstrom used the ninjas’ combat techniques against them.
Or tried to — the maelstrom had never been able to penetrate the gates that protected the ninja.
Suddenly, the chunk itself tore through the fog, just a few decabricks away. I gasped, hurling the rocket into a corkscrew, barely avoiding a collision with the desolate rock at several hundred kilobricks per hour.
I cut the throttle, thankful that I’d somehow managed to avoid an untimely demise yet again.
I set the rocket down on the regulation landing pad. Its bright colors and high-tech look seemed out of place in the mystical and ancient atmosphere of Forbidden Valley.
With a sigh, I made an attempt to relax my still tensed-up muscles and loaded the rocket back onto my storage device.
I waded through the thick purple fog to the main gate, hoping that whatever Darkflame had in store for me wouldn’t be any scarier than nearly smashing into a hunk of rock at high speed.
“They told me you’d be coming, but I didn’t expect you to arrive so quickly.” The low voice of the Paradox faction leader issued from the fog, making me jump.
I was trying to figure out whether the pun was intentional when she spoke again.
“I hope you’re up for a dangerous mission, Brickman.” she informed me, turning to lead me to the main gate of the city. “The assignment I’m about to give you will be far more dangerous than a little impaired visibility.”
I decided not to reply to that.
"Wise words by wise men write wise deeds in wise pen." —Lollimon the Wise
Darkflame led me to an empty conference room buried under the ground, and shut the door behind us.
She sighed, turning to tap in a password on the computer in the echoey conference room. The silence was more eerie than awkward as the large screen at the end of the room warmed up.
As the image faded in from blackness, I began to make out a photo of a maelstrom infected brick in a Paradox lab somewhere.
“The information I’m about to give you is sensitive.” She droned, beginning a familiar message, “Do not retell this unless given specific permission to do so, or you will be held responsible.”
“Understood” I replied automatically.
“The Maelstrom spreads by infection, corrupting everything it touches.” she continued. I got the impression she was greatly simplifying the subject, but I nodded in agreement.
“Everything we’ve encountered so far has been healthy bricks infected by Maelstrom. Our scientists have theorized that there is also a pure form of Maelstrom. This kind of Maelstrom can be found near the edges of the black hole, and a sample would be invaluable for our research.”
I stared at her incredulously.
“You mean we’re going to be flying a mission to the heart of Maelstrom territory?” I asked, hoping I was wrong.
“That is exactly what I mean, Captain.”
"Wise words by wise men write wise deeds in wise pen." —Lollimon the Wise
I strode through the high-ceilinged, grey building, still on-edge from our close encounter. The battle still flashed above, visible through the glass ceiling.
Soon, I found the general in the war room. The exchange went like I expected — except I was told to head to Forbidden Valley while the Dawn was put in storage here.
“Forbidden Valley, sir?” I asked, confused. Usually in an event like this I’d have been sent to a shipyard to try and find a functional replacement ship.
“Yes, Captain,” he confirmed not looking up from the holo-map he was using to direct the battle, “I have orders to send any available starship captains to Darkflame.”
I wandered out of the war room, more confused than when I’d entered.
Vanda Darkflame was the leader of the Paradox faction, one of four divisions of the Nexus Force. The Paradox fight the Maelstrom by turning its own force against it. But I couldn’t fathom what Darkflame would want with an Assembly member like me.
But orders were orders. I found a rocket pad and prepared to leave. I slotted in my memory device and stood back as my rocket reconstructed. I could feel the crackle of energy and the rush of displaced air as the form of my rocket solidified. I took a deep breath to steel myself, and clambered into the cockpit. All I could think was,
I peered through the fog, gritting my teeth against the cold wind. My rocket rattled as I descended through the bumpy air. Visibility was almost zero, with the purple mist filling the entire sky around me — only the instruments confirmed I was actually moving.
Growing impatient, I pushed the throttle open further. Other than the whine of my engine, the world was dead quiet.
It had been a while since I’d been to Forbidden Valley, but the memories of it were still fresh in my mind.
Forbidden Valley was the ancestral home of the ancient ninja, and the training ground for new ones. It was also a hotly contested battleground where the Maelstrom used the ninjas’ combat techniques against them.
Or tried to — the maelstrom had never been able to penetrate the gates that protected the ninja.
Suddenly, the chunk itself tore through the fog, just a few decabricks away. I gasped, hurling the rocket into a corkscrew, barely avoiding a collision with the desolate rock at several hundred kilobricks per hour.
I cut the throttle, thankful that I’d somehow managed to avoid an untimely demise yet again.
I set the rocket down on the regulation landing pad. Its bright colors and high-tech look seemed out of place in the mystical and ancient atmosphere of Forbidden Valley.
With a sigh, I made an attempt to relax my still tensed-up muscles and loaded the rocket back onto my storage device.
I waded through the thick purple fog to the main gate, hoping that whatever Darkflame had in store for me wouldn’t be any scarier than nearly smashing into a hunk of rock at high speed.
“They told me you’d be coming, but I didn’t expect you to arrive so quickly.” The low voice of the Paradox faction leader issued from the fog, making me jump.
I was trying to figure out whether the pun was intentional when she spoke again.
“I hope you’re up for a dangerous mission, Brickman.” she informed me, turning to lead me to the main gate of the city. “The assignment I’m about to give you will be far more dangerous than a little impaired visibility.”
I decided not to reply to that.
Flying by instruments into a forbidden valley.... OxO YIKES!! Whew, he's safe tho. o.o
I flicked on the autopilot and leaned back in my rocket’s seat. I pulled out a notebook, which had been keeping Darkflame’s mission assignment safe in my pocket. I started to thumb through the creased pages, still numb from the shock of my newest mission assignment.
I hoped this pure Maelstrom source was important as they said it was. I would be risking myself and a lot of brave crewmembers to obtain this slimy purple goo. But if the research I was flipping through had even a grain of truth in it, the risk would be more than worth it.
The engine whined and growled as I sailed through the blackness of space, the world chunk Avant Gardens slowly growing larger in front of me.
I’d be meeting my crew there, all strangers by the look of the list Darkflame had given me.
I decided to give the autopilot a break and grabbed the stick again. Watching the colorful chunk in front of me, I wondered what my new crewmembers were up to.
“So did Vanda tell you anything about this new captain of ours?” Steven Spectre, a middle aged minifigure clad in heavy battle armor, stood in the shade of the Avant Gardens monument. Next to him was a female minifigure clad in an excessive amount of red known — naturally — as Scarlet Phantom.
“She sent me a profile if you wanna read it.” Scarlet offered, producing and unlocking an ibrick, all somehow without taking eyes off her novel.
The silence of diligent reading was suddenly cut by a high-pitched voice trilling “Having a Wonderful Time” as a grinning minifigure approached.
“I see you’ve made a purchase.” Steven observed, catching the man’s smile.
“Indeed.” Mack McCracken replied, tipping his singing frog hat. The frog bowed, having come to the end of his song.
“The vendors here are great. So far I like this much better than that assignment I had on Crux Prime.”
“Well don’t get too comfortable. According to the mission notes, we’re only here to meet up with some Paradox scientists.”
Suddenly, the singing frog burst into song again, interrupting the conversation.
“This is gonna be a long mission isn’t it?” Scarlet smirked, as Mack replaced his frog hat.
"Wise words by wise men write wise deeds in wise pen." —Lollimon the Wise
Oh, lol.xP
Oh, lol.xP