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Pirates: UNSC Nemesis; Chapter Two
Posted By: Steele<hoffmansteele@hotmail.com>
Date: 24 November 2003, 2:51 AM


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Pirates: UNSC Nemesis; Chapter Two



Dramatis Personae:
Captain Jack "Ice" Xhaxin—Commander of the Blazer and the Blazers, a notorious pirate group
Captain Rick Vander—Commander of the Space Vixen, a corvette in service with the Blazers
Captain Eric Williams—Commander of Lover's Bane, a corvette in service with the Blazers
Colonel Samuel Martinez—Commander of the Blazers' boarders, former UNSC ODST
Colonel Allan "Klick" McCoy—Commander of the Blazers' fighter squadrons, former Marine
Lieutenant Lara Hunt—UNSC spy serving as a bridge crew member in the Blazers
Patrick Shannon—A vicious, hired assassin serving the Blazers

1300 Hours, September 7, 2494 (Military Calendar)/
Unknown Location, Blazer HQ

      Lieutenant Lara Hunt walked quickly down the corridor, staying close to the bulkhead, and keeping an eye on her six. Captain Xhaxin now knew there was a spy within the Blazers—she could tell it by the look in his eyes.
Turning a corner, she shifted her hand down to the M3E pistol at her waist, comforted by its cold, hard feel. She peeked back around the corner and saw what she had expected: two pirates had followed her, their HMG-38 rifles at the ready.

      She quickly ducked back around the corner and continued to her quarters, boot heels ringing on the deck. She was pretty sure that her identity was a secret, that the pirates were just checking out all the bridge crew, but one had to be careful. Picking up speed she stopped at her door and punched in the password. The door opened with a hum. She stepped inside and collapsed on the bed.
She had been inserted into the Blazers four months ago and had stopped every major raid since then, but hadn't managed to find the location of the Blazers HQ. And it fustrated her. Here she was, inside the very place she wanted to destroy, yet she had no clue where it was. Captain Xhaxin was a very careful man.

      Sighing, she rolled over and looked at the video screen above her bed. It was currently playing an old movie, one she enjoyed, but wasn't in the mood to watch right now. She had to figure out a way to find out where she was and then give that information to the UNSC. Even if it cost her own life.
The Blazers were cruel and merciless, led by a cruel and merciless man, and they needed to be stopped. But how?
Then an idea it her. It was daring and risky, but it just might work. With a new determination she set to work.



      Captain Jack "Ice" Xhaxin stared at the man before him. He was pitiful. He was stripped to the waist, with welts, bruises and blood covering his torso. His chest heaved with exertion as he tried to breath through a pierced lung. Both his arms were snapped out of joint and he hung by them, tearing the skin, muscles and nerves. His face looked like a swollen, misshapen lump of purple and blue. Most of his teeth were missing.

      "Now, I'm not going to ask again. How are you giving the UNSC their information?"

      The man tried to answer, but he couldn't and just hung there helplessly. Jack shook his head and nodded to the pirate standing beside the man. The pirate grinned, and slammed an iron pipe into the man's chest.

      Jack heard snapping bones and saw the man's chest give away like an overripe piece of fruit. A shockingly white rib poked through. Jack sighed, resigned. "Get rid of him."

      The pirate nodded and carried the man into another room, before launching him into vacuum. Jack looked at the man behind him. "What do you think, Rick?"

      Rick Vander, Captain of the Space Vixen shrugged. "I don't believe he was the spy."

      Jack nodded. "Me either. But he shouldn't have sent that last message. We have no clue where it went."

      "Yeah, but he was a useful blast boat commander," said Rick.

      "He shouldn't have disobeyed orders."

      Rick nodded, but kept silent.

      The intercom above Jack's head suddenly blared. "Captain, we have an incoming shuttle at the rendezvous point."

      Jack's usual stern face splint into a grin. "That'll be Patrick Shannon."



      He was a big man, almost two meters tall and 110 kilograms. His smile was frighteningly white, yet it never touched his eyes, and seemed to be full of mirth. He moved with the gait of a large predatory cat. He was an assassin by the name of Patrick Shannon.

      He stepped off the rendezvous shuttle and into the Blazers HQ. He'd been driven in by a shuttle and had no clue as to where he was; as always Xhaxin was being careful. The pirate Captain had given him his orders specifically, telling him to follow them to the letter, promising a hundred million credits in a secret account upon completion.

      Theoretically, his mission was simple: Pretend to join the Blazers through standard recruitment and hunt down the spy within the organization. Upon finding the spy execute him—with extreme prejudice.

      Implementing his plan, however, might be a little tricky. For whoever the spy was they were probably a highly trained UNSC operative and probably knew who he was. Thus he would need an identity.

      Shannon looked around at his greeting party. The four pirates were wearing the armor of the elite Blazers, called the Immortals. They moved up to surround him and the first one reached out and thumped him in the chest with a baton.

      Shannon grinned to himself. Big mistake. His left arm shot out faster than a striking cobra and snagged the pirate's arm, breaking it. He then turned and snapped a kick out, hitting the leftmost pirate in the chin, clicking his teeth together. The pirate fell back stunned, as the other two advanced.

      The first one came around to his left and backhanded a blow that would have caught Patrick in the head had he not ducked under it with super-human reflexes. Once inside the pirate's guard, Shannon reached out, grabbing the man by the throat and hurling him at the last pirate. The two collapsed into a jumble.

      The one on bottom tried to get up, but Shannon put him back down with a vicious kick to the head. The door behind the pirates opened up and four more pirates poured in, this time armed with HMG-38s.

      As if by magic, a pair of chrome M4D pistols appeared in his hands, their large muzzles pointed at the pirates. Shannon stood, waiting out the standoff.

      A short, stocky black man entered behind the pirates and looked around at the Immortals groaning on the floor. His scarred face split into a grin that looked something like a shark's. "About time someone put those cocky Immortals in their place. Are you Bernard O'Neal?"
Patrick Shannon nodded. "Call me Ned."

      The black man said, "Well, we've been expecting you. It's not too often we get recruits with your obvious talents."

      Shannon smiled. "I'm sorry about these guys, but they seemed rather threatening."

      The black man beckoned Patrick to follow him as he turned around. "Come, I'll show you to your quarters."

      Patrick grinned broadly and followed the guy. Maybe this job won't be that bad after all.



      Jack grinned as he watched the video of Patrick Shannon's entrance. "He's good. He'll get the job done. Until then, we're going to remain here."

      Rick surveyed him carefully. "Are you sure, Jack? I mean, he's obviously skilled, but so is this 'spy.' Are you sure we even have one anyway?"

      Jack glanced back at him. "I'm positive. There's no way the UNSC could've known about our last raid. No way. You didn't even know until the last minute. Only myself and the bridge crew had a clue as to what was about to happen."

      "Those UNSC ships could've been a complete coincidence."

      Jack shook his head. "No. They jumped in with their weapons at full charge. Plus they had locks on us way too quickly. Even the UNSC's targeting computers aren't that good."

      Rick sighed. "You're right. I better get back to the Space Vixen." He turned and walked away, headed back to the hangar-bay.

      Jack turned back to the display screen and watched Patrick Shannon's entrance one more time. When he found the spy, there was going to be total hell to pay. He didn't care who it was.





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