Chosen, Sometimes, It's not a good thing...

[Mahajarah]

*Authors note: This is just a little project I'm doing. Please comment on it, Criticisms are encouraged.*

Darkened, The room had it's typical sensors and arrays, All reading the same normal displays. For 25 years the same beeps, whirls, and screeches that one could expect from a relay station positioned in the middle of nowhere. One Jason briggs sighs in frustration. "And WHY are we scanning this section again?" The other, A white-collared asshole by the guise of Gary Ular, Shoot the impatient Jason a nasty look. "Just do your job, Private. If I ask you to scan the earth, you scan it. If I ask you to scan Jupiter, You scan it. If I ask you to jump, you say, "How far?" Jason merely stared dumb-founded at the pretentiousness of his commanding officer.

Jason, still intent on arguing, retorted "Sir, No offense, but nothings ever came out of the section Latis. It's dead space! No radio waves, No Hails, Nothing!" Gary merely stared at jason. "Just do your job. There's a reason I'm Lieutenant and you're a private."
"Yeah, You just LOVE throwing that around. And I wonder how many times you had to go down on the captain to get that rank?"
"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?" Jason, Already fired up, Opened his mouth to retort when a shrill SKREE-EE-EE! cut through the tension formed between the two.

Jason, Immediately taking his position, started to type on the terminal in front of him to discern the source of the noise, Now repeating again. "Radio signal detected on on board scanner. Short range."
"No shit. Who is it? Galactic federation? Universal Commerce Commission?"
"Signals unmarked. It seems to be off the record."

Gary straightened up. "Jason, Do you know what this means? This is astounding! I'll take over. Contact Officer Mellisa! This could be alien life from this sector!" Jason, Nodding with no argument, Stood up and ran out of the room. Gary, taking his position, Started to record a log of what was happening. Perhaps the smartest thing he ever did.

"Communications Officer, Lt. Gary Ular reporting. We have just discovered a new radio signal for section Latis, Codename: SALAMANDER. We are unsure of the source of the signal, but it's immense! The signal is unmarked, and It seems to be broadcasting very close to us. Within perhaps even a standard cycle!" Gary perked up upon also hearing a Shrill escalating tone. "O..Oh my! They're hailing us!!! This is indeed not a false alarm! This is another sentient alien life form!" Gary furiously typed in the acceptance codes into the console. "This is the Relay station 125-A. Identify yourself."

Gary stood rigid at the unrelenting silence from the speaker. An antagonizing half a minute passed of radio silence. "This is the Relay station 125-A, Authority Planet Aqous of the Galactic Federation. Please Identify yourself." Gary started at the flat-lined radio frequency. Gary sighed, and began to get up before another sound emitted from the terminal. The visual scanners. Gary sat back down as fast as possible, almost falling out of the chair and entered in the codes to activate long distance visual scanners.

Gary waited in awe as the scanners activated. What he saw was a horrendous ball of floating flesh enveloped around one of the biggest ships he had ever seen. Gary, taken aback, almost to the point of vomiting, Soon reconized the familiar hail sound that screeched from the termials. As he answered it, he all too soon lost that happy feeling of discovery he origonally had. "This is the relay station 125-A. Identify yourself." Heavy breathing erupted from the speakers followed by a clear voice. "Stop looking at me."

Gary, looking back at the monitor, Soon formed a grotesque face of horror and shock as the flesh seemingly gave birth to small shuttle craft. "This is relay station 125-A. Cease Deployment immediately! I repeat, Cease Deployment Immediately."
"You think you intimidate me? I Laugh at your kind." The voice replied as a small light formed along the basin of the flesh ball. It stood for a second before it enlarged and engulfed the screen of the terminal, followed by the undeniable roar that a plasma weapon causes.

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"Sir, We're receiving a transmission from Planter Aqus." Senior commander Mellisa perked up, looking at the wide-eyed intern. "What are they hailing Us for? Gradius Has nothing to do with the affairs of a Monitoring plant." The intern shook his head. "Ma'am, I mean Commander, They're under attack!" Mellisa looked at the man as if he just had suggested that the world was on fire, and rushed to the command center. Upon reaching it, she noticed that the entire center was being flooded with S.O.S's and hails from all manners of races and places. All of them were asking for help.

"Are all these hails to us?!"
"No, commander, They're on universal Frequency."
"Isolate them! I want a full list of Frequencies, Locations, Commaners, and Their current status! NOW!"
She walked forward as everyone, men, women, and other creatures started to sort through the numerous cries for help and she silently looked at the screen. She marveled and the same time cringed in fear at the giant alien ship that was revenging the universe, one planet at a time. "I fear we may not be able to take this on. Call a meeting, All planets. We've got to discuss our strategy.In the meantime, Deploy the entire force"
"You mean..."
"Yes, The entire Anti-Assault Force. Every ship in service. We've got to hold off that...thing, until we have a viable course of action.

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It sat in dank dark, Hovering. Surrounded in a plasma medium, lightning arcing off it's very form, The life form known as Bacterion processed it's thoughts. Aqus, Botanos, Maoi, Even Terra was his. Sure they were backwater, and out of the way. But if he took them out first, They're be no back-up, no resistance when he struck the federation head-on. They had no way of breaking his army. His armada had been perfected and built for this very day. Over and over again, He thought, simulated, perplexed, until he had the perfect scenario.

It Silently laughed. "Master Bacterion, We've engaged the Federation ships. Your command?"
"Show them no mercy." It said loud and clear. "We will eliminate the federation and control the universe. Soon, It will be perfect. Do your job, and we will be victorious."
"Yes, My liege." Echoed the robotic voice as the brain sat in silence again. "Soon, We shall rule. Soon..."

[Mahajarah]

It had been about 2 weeks since the "Salamander" had attacked Aqus. Several other planets had fallen since then, and only a handful of planets with a military remained. There was the earth, The location hidden away from most other races, The planet Gradius, Which was a Economic-militant power under the earth's influence, and the planet Enker, A scientific trade planet bent on making new technologies and persuading races to endow in their new discoveries at a high price.

Representatives from each planet were stationed at a conference at gradius, at a location unknown. One of which was Mellisa, The head of Aqus research and development, and commander of the Atmospheric wing of the Anti-air Gradius Task Force (A.A.G.T.F). She was an older woman, Half white, half again, Born on gradius, and never visiting her hometown again after seeking a career in the military.

She looked around at the other representatives. Few were from earth and only one from Enker. The rest were militant wings from Gradius. Earth's military was focused on it's own problems while Enkers wing was struck down by salamander forces, roughly named Bacterions, as the crafts they piloted had no actual pilot, but a computer virus that was sentient.

"Aqus has not responded to hails for 2 weeks. Neither has Terra, Moai, Ignus, Bius, and just recently, Dune. bacterion forces have been sighted in the nearby Dune outskirts, a mere 50 cycles from gradius. Even with our might, We won't be able to handle the sheer number of ships that the salamander has. Because of this, The federation has called us to discuss tactics and suggest ideas against the new bacterion threat."

The enker scientist, a frail Asian man, spoke up. "The bacterion forces are, to our knowledge, merely a computer program enbedded inside of a ship via a memory core. The lesser ships merely have the programs hardwired in, but the larger "Core" ships seem to be better defended against virtually any weapon we've thrown at it.I'd suggest we'd employ a galatic wide EMP bombing formation in order to nullify the threat."

In response, a Female earth delegate responded, "Although arguably effective, That would hurt us as well. If they went down, and our defenses dropped due to the EMP, Then they could use planet based weaponry, or heaven forbid, be shielded against emp to begin with, and then rip though our forces like they were tissue paper."

"In lieu of that idea, the earth has developed an inter-universal force gun that can completely obliterate a class-m planet with one shot. It's strong enough,and if we fire now, the shot will hit the salamander in a mere few minutes. They'll never see it coming."

Mellisa thought for a bit. "There are other planets in the way, yes?"
"Well, yes. Now that you mention it, there are a few."
"Are their lives worth a shot at a force that is resistant to everything we've tried so far? Is sacrifice worth it just for a shot that may not even work at a militant juggernaut?"

The enker scientist, obviously not a patient man, sharply spat out "Well, It's the best that we've got so far. It's a better bet to destroy a few planets than risk the entire galaxy. We're talking about 20 or 30 billion versus trillions of innocent lives. Besides, One said planet is a prison complex. Good riddance!"

Mellisa shook her head. "Regardless, It's not right! We can think of something different rather than fire something that may not even work! And if it doesn't, They'll know the location of earth! After razing gradius,if even that, they'll go straight to earth and completly destroy what civilization that the human race has left!"

Silence fell throughout the table. Finnaly, after a solid minute of tension, the Astromonical Wing commander, Lord Paul McCavin "British" spoke up. "Well, Me and a few others have been delevopin' a new experimental plane. It's worth about 60 trillion dollars so far and We're thinkin' it could be one of the strongest fighters we've ever deleveoped, if not the strongest fighter the universe has ever seen."

"We call it the Multi Attack X-fighter, but most of the boys refer to it as the 'Vic Viper'. It uses warp manipulation core technology, an array of multi-function missiles, and a tageting system that is so revelutionary, It could shoot a card out your hand from orbit. It also uses experimental Obtuse Phantom Impulse Tactical Orbiting Navigation systems, or OPTIONS for short. They mimic the ships moves and even fire missles and firepower as the Viper does. Hell, we've even installed a state of the art Force feild system, although we could outfit it with a experimental shield system that focuses mostly on the front or back."

Melissa, intrigued so far, ask in curiosity "Why didn't your team deploy this two weeks ago?"
"Well, we didn't have the clearance. We still don't. You see, The federation views the viper as too dangerous to use. It has an array of guns, missiles, and lasers that could rip through any ship and could destroys entire planets. That kind of power misused could be catastrophic. It would be the end of civilization."

"And what do you call what's happening now, Sir Paul?"
"Lord, Ma'am. Well, That's what we need to discuss. If this committee is in favor of deploying the Vic Viper or MAX, whichever you prefer, We'll outfit it with the weapons we deem fits the situation, and we'll send it out in a day at the latest. The only thing we truly need is a fighter to pilot it."

Eventually, the group agreed on a plan of action. They'd send the Vic viper with their best pilot, Alone with little back-up against an entire army, and arm the Earth Force Cannon. If the viper failed, they'd fire the cannon at maximum power, Obliteration the earth and several planets in the process at one final attempt to destroy the bacterion threat.

Multiple sessions with multiple fighters from both earth, gradius, and enker were held to see who could handle the powerful and difficult vessel. None seemed to be able to pilot it. Eventually, It came down to a handful of pilots. A handful of both fresh and seasons pilots that would either break the mold or doom the galaxy to destruction and chaos.

[Mahajarah]

*In case anyone is wondering or doesn't know, This is a fan-fiction based on the Gradius series. It takes a mix between the first and third games. I was inspired to write out this rather rough story because of the lack of actual creative content behind it.*
(it also occured to me that there may be some here that do not know what the vic viper looks like.

)
As I said, comments and criticisms are encouraged. Please, I cannot improve unless You speak up! )

As it turned out, It came down to two after hours of simulation. One was a hot-shot female pilot who just shipped in from earth. She had over 300 flight hours of experience and she had the notorious attitude of an ego-ridden boaster whose attitude was overshadowed only by her attitude. She was a fair faced woman, with glowing blue eyes and a brunette hairdo that could easily be mistaken for a buzz-cut.

The second was one worn Fighter who had seen mostly simulation and not that many flight hours. He had join the Corps around a year ago and showed major premise. Not much was known about him other than his looks. He was a smaller man with a slight tan and rough brown hair. He had a scar across his face, starting at the mouth and ending at the cheekbone where an explosion caused by an inappropriately pressurized oxygen tube burst part of his mask open, causing a buckle to dig into his face. He had tons of experience as a gunner through multiple simulations and tactical run-ins with the 'nefarious' yellow squad.

Neither had seen true combat, but most pilots didn't get the chance too. At the time, the Federation armada was one of the most trained and well-honed fighters in the universe. In comparison, It was almost similar to the old world S.A.S. Also, Most planets had joined the federation because of the significant step forward it offered in technology and in moral ethnics. This did not mean that the federation didn't have it's enemies, just none brave enough to step foward.

Both fighters were sitting in the vic-viper itself finishing their simulated run throughout an obstacle course.
"Mark, Activate Option 2, Gun down the switches."
"Activating Option 2. Jaina, Prepare for a speed boost."
The Viper dropped out a small Grey tube that spun wildly, emitting an orange glow that soon followed behind the Vic viper. It also Shot foward significatly as the flame behind it that was emitted by the warp engine soon Doubled in size and intensity. Jania Struggled to keep the viper under control in it's warp state. This was not an easy task as the Viper tended to be oversensitive during it's intense speed.

Mark, Keeping an eye on his radar, Noticed something coming up behidn then, He moved the options into position to see what the ogject was. Much to his remorse, it was a Mark 1 core, A large ship with an energy core and armed with 4 armor piercing lasers. It open fired, sending a hail of plasma upon the Viper, which navigated through the hail as if it were nothing. Jania on the other hand was having slight problems in the fact that she was pinned with no way to fight back. "Mark, Activate your rear guns and open fire!"
"Already ahead of you. Commencing rear gun."

As the viper continued its unnaturally fast pace, A 50 cal gun appeared at the end of the viper. Marks display emitted a beep as the words "OK!" appeared on his screen. His view of Jaina's flight helmet and the front view of the cockpit was replaced with the rear-guns views. He adjusted his aim and the OPTIONS Position and opened fired.

Bullet upon Bullet evicted from the gun, each one lined with red plasma that exploded upon contact with any kind of surface. The core, sensing the danger, Broke off it's pursuit to fly above the viper. Riddled with holes and leaking Fuel, It shot forward to cut off the Viper. In response, The viper shot upward in a V pattern, Taking a pass at the front of the core, Where mark let loose another burst of bullets. This time, The hail of lead shredded the barrier housing the core, while some of them hit the core itself.

The ship slowed down and took a cautious approach, Now Lining it;s shots at the viper, Getting dangerously close each time. One laser actually shot by the cockpit, upon mark felt the ship jerk as Jania announced "I'm blinded. The laser interfered with my front camera. We've lost auto target."
"Then we'll Have to do it the old fashioned way. Activating Cruise missile!" The viper released 4 missiles from it's bay, all of them aimed towards the Core. The viper jerked as it released its payload and shot towards the damaged ship. "Steady!" Mark whispered as he controlled the missiles through a joystick in his cockpit. Eventually , the core fired at the missiles, obliteration 3. The final missiles glided into the small space where the core was and made contact, releasing a spray of anti-matter and obliterating the core.

The Viper slowed down as the core drifted into space, explosions racking its hull until it violently self destructed, scattering plasma and electrical energy everywhere. Jania sighed in relief and the Vic-vipers computer accounted cheerfully "Simulation Beta completed. Releasing Safety locks. Ceasing computer combat emulation program." The screen went black as the cockpit opened up. Jaina and marked climbed out of the cockpit and started to walk away to the control to see how they scored with the familiar voice of Lord British spoke up. "Well, Aren't YOU quite a team?" He said as he walked towards the two. "Taking down a MK-1 in under 1 minute? Not even our fleet could take on those things, let alone one star fighter."

Mark lightly smiled. "She's a good ship sir. The aim is tight, and the weapons system is amazing. I could literally control the Micrometers of the cannon if I felt like it." Jania smirked at mark. "You DO realize who was piloting the thing, right? If it wasn't for me, We'd be simulated scrap right now. No other pilot could handle that thing with how fidgety that ship gets at high speeds."
Lord British frowned at the remark. "Fidgety? That ship is THE most expensive and THE most powerful ship we have... and you call it Fidgety?"

"Sir, With no disrespect, It is. I'd barely nudge it and it'd move about 40 kilometers. If you could install a throttle system before launch tomorrow, It'd be a lot easier to pilot."
Lord British's Brow furrowed deep. "We've done what we can. If you speed up, you live with it. You can release energy from the warp engine in order to slow down, but you can't drastically stop, as the ship would be torn apart from the raw kinetic energy lash."

Mark, noticing that Jania was in an argumentative mood, finally said "Jania, Shouldn't we be going to the control to see our scores? Not sure if you want to, But I'm gonna go meet up with Sebastian and Kayla and get a drink."
Jania, after staring hard at British, finally said "Yeah, that sounds good. I could use something to loosen me up." And with that, The two left their commanding officer to see their near perfect scores, and to head off for one last good time before their perhaps final mission.