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The void of space stretched out on the primary view screen of the Sand-Armor. Harold Longwright yawned, rubbing his tired eyes. Usually, Lieutenant Longwright was an alert and quick man; he had a reputation for being one of the best hotshot pilots in the Figaroan Mobilized Corps. The standard peacetime space patrol of twenty hours was a tiring experience.
"You awake, Lieutenant?" one of his squadron members asked over the tactical net. Harry muttered a few choice words before pressing the button to patch him back into the tac net. "Yeah, I'm awake. Keep your eyes forward, Sergeant. There's another three hours left of this patrol. I've never had a foul-up on a patrol yet. I sure as hell ain't gonna start now." "I gotcha, sir," the sergeant replied. They were the last words the sergeant would ever say. A moment later, three Derringer missiles converged on his blocky Sand-Armor. One hit it dead in the heavy, front center chest armor and only partially pierced it, the majority of the explosive warhead inside simply spreading over the frontal armor and charring the paint. The other two hit in weaker areas, piercing clean through the armor plating and pushing inside it. The two missiles expanded inside it, globes of white hot flame expanded and pushing the craft apart, spreading the frame out and cracking open the armor. The fires then caught the oxygen of the cockpit and the entire thing went up in a fireball. "Where the hell did those come from?" his executive officer snapped. Any feelings of tiredness had passed quickly. Longwright's eyes snapped down to the radar on his Sand-Armor's display. The enemy had come from below; he recognized the make as Imperial suits. He shouted a loud curse at his cockpit as the Imperial Space-Armor suits began to converge on the fourteen Figaroan craft. "Hellskimmers!" he shouted the name of his squadron into the tac net, smashing the communications button down. "Engage the enemy! Fire at will, I repeat, fire at will!" With those words, Longwright pushed the lever at his side forward and moved the stick down. The Sand-Armor dropped at a sharp angle and the powerful primary in the boosters flared to life. He grunted as their power sent him forward and then backward. Harry took his right arm and stuck it into the half-orb at his side, reaching for a handle inside. His fingers instinctively found a trigger on the handle. A grin widened on his face. The targeting sight of the targeting computer appeared on his forward view screen. A short adjustment of his hand brought the sight onto a Space-Armor below. "You're mine." He pulled the trigger back, making the Sand-Armor pull back its own finger onto the trigger of the huge rifle in its hand. A short burst of fifty-five millimeter rounds flung out of the barrel of the rifle, soaring through the air into the large Tek Armor below. The Space-Armor went flying back, several large bullet holes on its head and shoulders. Longwright was not about to surrender his advantage yet. His left hand seized the central piloting stick and pressed down onto the button on the top. One of the autocannons mounted on the upper chest of the Sand-Armor opened fire into the enemy below. A rapid burst of rounds slung into the Space-Armor, riddling it with holes. It was already on its way towards him; the burst of autocannon fire had failed to slow it enough. He cursed as he saw the Space-Armor lift up the sword in its right hand and slug it down at him. There was no time to twist away from his grasp; Harry pulled his Tek Armor's left arm to intercept the blow. The large, double-edged blade sliced halfway through his free arm. The Imperial craft began to reach out with its other arm to attempt to grab onto his Tek Armor's shoulder. If it grabbed a hold onto him, escaping would be near impossible. He pulled his arm from the right half-orb on the side of his cockpit and grabbed the stick, finding another button and pressing down on it. The flamethrower mounted on the side of his head opened up and spat a jet of fire directly at the head of the Space-Armor. It had sufficiently distracted the pilot. The fire stuck onto the armor and the superheated liquid began to eat away at it, the upper part of the craft covered in flame and blinding the sensors of the Imperial Space-Armor. Longwright promptly jettisoned his lower left armor and used his maneuvering thrusters to force him backward from enemy Tek Armor. He quickly aimed another shot with his rifle. This time, the rounds were fired at point blank range and tore clean through the Imperial craft. It faltered somewhat as internal stabilizer systems began to fail, tilting to one side. For a few milliseconds, a thin stream of atmosphere trailed from each piercing. Then a spark went off inside and the entire Tek Armor went up in a ball of flame, expanding outward and shattering apart in a single instant. Harry spun his Sand-Armor around to face three more Imperial units. He sent a burst of autocannon fire into the Space-Armor. One took about half of the burst by itself, the rounds puncturing the armor in a few places and adding several more riddles of bullets to the armor. The other two took less of the burst and already flew into action. He failed to get his Tek Armor out of the way of the laser beam fired by one of them. A bright beam of blue light connected them for a moment and Longwright grimaced as he watched the armor plating on his lower chest peel away. He twisted away from it as quickly as he could manage, but rolled directly into a Rapier missile. It connected with the Sand-Armor's right hip, but thankfully did not fully penetrate. The explosion still took a large chunk from the leg. If they had been on the surface, it would have been a crippling blow. He speeded past the two of them, towards the Space-Armor that had taken the majority of his autocannon burst. It attempted to intercept him with its sword, but he threw his rifle aside and ejected out his forearm blade. He parried the swing and then brought around the useless left upper arm of the Sand-Armor, smashing it across the enemy's suit. It served as a long enough distraction for Harry to maneuver his forearm blade to stab into the chest of the Space-Armor and cut straight up. The suit, already damaged, gave way and was ripped open. The pilot let out a silent scream as the air was sucked from his lungs. The Sand-Armor pilot turned his mecha triumphantly; only to find the two Imperial suits of Tek Armor he had faced earlier there. They each let loose a pair of missiles. The last thing Harry Longwright ever saw was a bright flash of light and then searing, burning pain. The battle was classified a border incident. A thousand years after the decimation of the War of the Magi, the Empire's bid for world domination resulted in another near destruction of Aeolus at the hands of a madman named Kefka. Since then, Aeolus rebuilt with the surviving technology and expanded on it. Things such as giant humanoid robots, spaceships and the colonization of other worlds became a reality. Magi-tek was forgotten as normal technology easily replicated its capabilities. A thousand years have passed since the War of Kefka. The various nations that inhabit Aeolus and her colony worlds are standing on the verge of war. As the governments of the countries move their forces into position for what will be the largest war in the history of all mankind, they ignore the wives' tales, myths and legends of the past, speaking of magical demons released upon a war hungry world. 6.27.00: Things are definitely moving forward. Chapter 2 through 7 are for the most part complete. I will eventually need to add a short section in Chapter Six: combat on how to handle aerial/space battles. I've also added DL's tek controls article ("Inside the Steel Giant: The Controls fo the Tek Armor") and a Character Worksheet that should be of great help to those who are making characters. 6.7.00: Got the page set up a few days ago. DL & I will bring you more as we get to some serious writing. DL will be in charge of worldbook and setting details while I tweak the FFRPG for all it's worth. There will be some minor changes here and there just for the sake of trying a few things such as a different default attribute mechanism. So far, I've gotten a draft of the character creation chapter done and more should follow swiftly. Final Fantasy 6000 Word97 Document (Temporary)
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