Read more about the contest HERE
"Whoever fights with monsters should see to it that he does not become a monster in the process.
And when you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you."
[beyond Good and Evil, aphorism # 146.]
PEGI 16
He was obsessed with this book .
A gift from his beloved Callina, just before she succumbed to the bonds of the new virus that was hitting humanity like a Horseman from the Apocalypse.
No cure for it , they said . Only medicinal halfmeasures to keep her at a coma until … But it would cost. A lot.
The Imps, the Feds, the Jerries, all had pieces of the medicine, what was legal here was illegal over there , so he played them all like a violin.
He ‘d do them all , like a mad dog unleashed ,for all he saw was Callina’s eyes gazing at him ,empty like the abyss …
But no matter how many hours he put on the stick , the doctors wanted more. He knew greed when he saw it.
Greed, Another virus they couldn’t cure ,right? Hypocrites.
But he was a better hypocrite than them .
It was a good thing the Feds offered him a Patrol Officer position.
Made him fly closer to the pirates, turning dozens of them into pure skulls and bones, until they knew him face to face, until one of them broke and spilled the beans .
Soon he was a double agent.
Pays the bills better.
This time they sent him to who-knows-where. He is supposed to cut a deal between the druglords and whatever these sickly green biodevils are anyway .
His fingers caressed the worn leatherback cover of the book, the engraved words were like a snake creeping up to the bosom of his soul .
Good ,evil ,what was he?
What has he become ?
His eyes went blank like the darkness engulfing his cloaked “Lioness “, a lend-leased tackler to get the job done.
A sudden blip on his scanner snapped him out of his trance.
He is here.
“It” is here .
His mind stood still .
The abyss incarnated was gazing at him .
Him ,the aphorized hypocrite, the dedicated lover .
It has begun.
edit by author:
I made a few changes to pass the PEGI 12 rules. I hope you dont mind and I apologize for this mishappening due to ignorance . Not intended .
Ingame name : LeoN300
Symbols as in spaces, dots and all, right? Huh, this will be a tough one.
Symbols as in spaces, dots and all, right? Huh, this will be a tough one.
Yes.
I forgot that i reserved this spot xD You can delete it.
[The leged of Garret, greatest mercenary in the star system Vol, 1]
From the lightly blue tinted window of one of the slave ships, Garret looked out as they were about to make the space jump that would take him from his just concurred planet, a vast and wildly beautiful piece of the galaxy into the un-knowns of space. Garret, in all of his 17 years had never set foot outside his own planet which can be found in the outskirts of the Kayeed sector, he thought it kind of sucked that his first time was as a slave to the massive raiding party that had pillaged his village. He was sure his people as well as himself would be sent to the mines in the Velorum sector. As if to answer his thoughts, the huge blast doors began to slide open and Garret could see the tension on everyone’s face as the imposing figure of a deformed man walked in, clad in armor and a sinister smile. He pointed at a few people as if at random but then it hit Garret, everyone the armored man was pointing at were the elderly of people roughly above the age of 40 from our village. Once he was done, the pirate looking men and women behind him began to take the selected away, Garret managed to hear one pirate snicker at an old man saying “your gona die in em mines ye old geza!” and the amusement that gave the pirate sickened Garret and a cold rage began to stir in him. Before he could move from his position by the window the armored man continues, “The rest of you are going to fight in the Space Battle coliseum, many of you will die horrible deaths, but 1 maybe 2 of you will survive to become pilots I can use, either way, you will earn your keep!” Garret had only heard rumors of the Pirate Coliseum, viciously unforgiving as the saying was, ‘those who dwell in space too long are captured by the darkness and die in the depths of the pirate coliseum!’ Garret had lived a life full of adventure but today, he felt fear like he had never knew existed.
The week of traveling in a room filled with so many other people had everyone on edge, but everyone went silent once they saw the giant asteroid gliding among many smaller ones. The sheer magnitude took everyone’s breath away. It was easily as big as their small planet and all around it were turrets and spires sticking out giving it the appearance of a sea urchin. Garrets and the others were taken in through one of the many entrances, darkness enveloped them as the sounds of the ship cracking and screeching all of a sudden became the only thing they could comprehend, making the experience an ere and disturbing one. After what seemed like a long time, sounds other than the ships could be distinguished, the ship was getting ready to dock and light began to flood into the windows as everyone rushed to see what awaited them, Garret hung back…not in a rush to witness the horrors that awaited them.
As everyone was being pushed and shoved out of the slave ship and onto what seemed like a platform, they were aligned into 4 lines and Garret thought they have easily 200 people here, and not all of them were from his small village. A woman who wore armor similar to the armored man stepped up onto a platform slightly higher than the one they were on and looked at them with cold dead eyes, “My name is Veraisics, and I’m going to be your undertake. In 4 weeks you will all be taught how to pilot and fight. You shall all be put in squadrons of 5, if you can make 5 into 1, you might survive.” Garret thought that was strange, make 5 in 1? And just as he pondered this a group of Pilates passed besides him and there they were again, the lifeless eyes of people who seemed to have no fear of concern and the fear he felt on the ship came rushing back as he remembered where he had seen such eyes, back in his village, there were these predator like creatures that resembled lions, except they were not. They were a genetic by product on biological warfare that had once ravaged his home planet. These creatures knew no fear, you would often find some at the bottom of the cliffs or strolling into the range of turret fire, the sight always frightened Garret, and how could you not be afraid of dying? He thought to himself in a silent panic, he felt a sudden light squeeze on his shoulder and as he looked back, a brown skinned boy with luminous blue tattoos running from his forehead down into the neck of his shirt smiled and said, “you look, smart, let’s get through this okay?” Garret looked at him, a little confused but managed a nod.
The four weeks passed quickly and so did the lessons, as luck might have it, the boy with the tattooed face was called Nnual and was a sub race of old humanity just like Garret was and they had also been assigned into the same squad. The other 3 members were all girls who were all individually tougher than both boys combined, or so they thought. Their squad was called Brand Squad, to pay homage to the planet that majority of the people had come from, which was called Brand by many locals. This squad had many successes and friendships were built, the pirates were not as mean as Garret had thought they would be, they kept to themselves most of the time and they were treated all the new squads just like any other recruits.
Garret and his squad were among the more successful, having mastered the Jericho Axe-X ship and the rest of his squad favoring the strong Empire Hercules ships but not Nnual, he preferred the Federations Swift ship, and boy could he fly that thing. The moral was high and this group could take on anyone, or so they thought…
The shields around the entrance into the deep asteroid arena opened and the squad flew in to find a vastness filled with ship parts and rock floating all around, Garret had not seen something like this before but he could imagine the amount of violence you would need to result in what he saw and the fear came flooding back like it had just been hiding, and that’s when he saw it, the doomsday missile! Headed straight for the Hercules ship ahead of him. He threw up his Diffusion shield module as if by reflex and pulled his ship into reverse as he directed full power into the reverse thrusts and prayed to God it would be enough.
He came too, sparks going off all around him, slowly garrets vision cleared and floating before him were new ship parts mixed in with the old and among them the happiness that he had gotten used to. His eyes unfocused and a memory came back to him, the cold eyes every veteran pirate had…and a sad thought crept into his mind, now he would be just another one among them.
The Caltrop Knight
1941 characters - http://www.lettercount.com/
1891 characters - http://www.wordcounter.net/
It was dark within the cockpit of the Caltrop.
“Computer, systems check” I said drowsily, as I began to wake.
Computer - Understood, Running diagnostics.
Engines - Offline
Internal Lighting System -Offline
Life Support - Offline
Oxygen levels - 42%
Weapons Systems - Offline
Pilot Interna-
I bolted up into an upright position, a shocked expression no doubt stuck on my face. “Yeah, yeah, that’s enough information. I only wanted the ship’s Diagnostics, not my own.”
Computer - Would you like to turn on the offline systems?
“Yes, Activate all systems, and run a diagnostics check on how they went down”
Computer - Attemping activation…
I began to mutter to myself “How did I sleep through something like this?”
Then a terrifying realization struck home.
Computer - All systems online.
Oxygen levels - Returning to 100% capacity
The HUD turned online, and a planet surrounded by biomorphs appeared on the visor.
Ailyasviel Had found the Alien home world.
"Find me the nearest warp to friendly space, we need to relay this information as fast as possible.
I don’t know how we got here, but I sure won’t die here."
There must have been a some kind of malfunction in one of the warp gates, and it tore us apart from the warp itself…
“Anything yet?”
Computer - No warps or jumps of any sort are within the sensors range.
I suggest hitching a ride?
“Hah, very funny. What did you really find?”
Computer - that is exactly what I found, now you’ll either bel- wait, an irregularity has now appeared on the sensors, It’s a warp.
It appears to lead directly to The pirate sector Fort Muerto.
“Where is it?”
Computer - Within Biomorph sensor range. Not far from that planet before us.
It also appears that a large fleet of Biomorphs, and something much larger, is making its way to the warp.
Ailyasviel, dodging lethal blows, sped towards the warp. Did she make it back? How will this information be used against Biomorphs?
In-game name - WolfKhan
(Each letter - W O L F K H A N - to ensure 100% accuracy, Only the ‘W’ and the ‘K’ are capitalized)
i cant see my post 
So here is my story, due to the 1945 symbol (space, points, everything) it was not possible to write a perfect story, increase the limit to 4000 and i’ll give u a perfect one. :005j:
The Interrogation
One of our Captains, Siron Talas just caught one of the high rank Cyber officers. It’s time to get answers on our questions.
Vice Admiral John Nero, Pilot Name " O mega F ighter" will lead the questioning.
As we all know, the Cybers are Cyborgs, we will get the answers we want for sure, we’ll force him to give us the answers, we caught his brother as well. If this won’t force him, we have other plans. And his Jericho, family is everything for them.
His name is Astarius Toro, he is commodore of the " C yber-Unity" and it looks like he became really cooperative… Let’s continue the questioning.
OF : “So, Mr. Toro, let’s continue.”
C : “Okay.”
OF : “So, what did you do when our Convoy got attacked by our pilots?”
C : "… We wanted to deliver weapons to Abandoned Complex, it’s one of our military outposts.
OF : “Good to know, and what kind of weapons?”
C : “Turbophasers.”
OF : “So you try to equip Cyber ships with biomorph weapons and equipment?”
C : “Yes, it’s experimental. But the convoy enabled self destruct because we can’t risk that we get caught.”
OF : “Apparently it didn’t help.”
C : “Yes, that Imperial Captain was just too good.”
OF : “And what do you know about the alliance with the biomorphs?”
C : “I’m high rank, but not that high rank. They said they want to move one of their ‘Leviathan-Spheres’ into Fort Muerto and destroy the triangle. But they need us to place the intensifier particles that they can create a wormhole with the proper size.”
OF : “Hmm… that’s not good, we’ll continue that discussion in a high-security station, you get moved there soon.”
1 day later, loss Report.
“The convoy which was moving top-secret prisoners from Guardian-17 to our outpost on Wastes got attacked by an alien fleet at 3am, all ships got destroyed, nobody survived.”
OF : “Hmm, that have to been biomorphs, they plan something really big, looks like they don’t want us to know their plans, next time we are prepared.”
1945 symbols (With spacebars, points etc.) limit reached. :012j:
You reserved a spot and then didn’t use it 
Nice story, although it seems like you ran out of characters before finishing it… The ending is a little hasty I find. But hey, I couldn’t write any better one so I’ll shut up XD
I forgot that i reserved this spot xD You can delete it.
You reserved a spot and then didn’t use it
Nice story, although it seems like you ran out of characters before finishing it… The ending is a little hasty I find. But hey, I couldn’t write any better one so I’ll shut up XD
So here is my story, due to the 1945 symbol (space, points, everything) it was not possible to write a perfect story, increase the limit to 4000 and i’ll give u a perfect one. :005j:
I’d write a 7500 symbol story if there would be no limit, my post in the “Catch the biomorph” has a length of 5715.
"Hunted"
They had to be after the Iridium.
Maru breathed heavily into her respirator. Even that muffled noise seemed loud in the otherwise grave-like stillness of her battered old Styx’s cockpit.
All the screens arrayed around her were black, save for one. Her gloved finger hovered anxiously over the main system activation control.
Seconds passed. They were getting closer.
The only system she’d dared to leave on was her passive scanners; as soon as she’d made it to the achingly meager refuge of a few clustered asteroids, she’d shut off everything else. She cursed those …things, watching the four blips draw nearer, the numbers indicating distance beneath their icons ticking steadily lower.
They’d appeared out of nowhere, leaving warp some distance behind her frigate with a roar that shook her Styx’s heavily armored hull. After that it had been a panicked blur; the din of warnings across every sensor module blaring in her ears as she raced for cover. They were massive and even at a glance, they definitely weren’t human. She felt a shiver run through her, recalling the sickly green glow of their weapons, already powered up. Eager to hunt.
The worst part was that she couldn’t even tell if they’d spotted her. The alien craft hadn’t changed bearing since they’d appeared, but their path drew them nearer with every moment. She gritted her teeth, hoping that her cargo, several bays full of Iridium destined for New Eden, wasn’t drawing the beasts directly to her.
Maru held her breath as the pack of ships advanced. In a moment they’d be close enough to be completely eclipsed by the asteroid until they had passed her.
If they passed her.
The four icons vanished abruptly as they overtook her clump of rocks. She couldn’t tell how long it was taking. Maybe a few seconds before they reappeared on the other side? Time seemed to work in slow motion as she stared fixedly at the sensor display.
Then she heard them roar again.
Had fun writing something a little tense. Hope you guys enjoy.
“Hunted”
They had to be after the Iridium.
Maru breathed heavily into her respirator. Even that muffled noise seemed loud in the otherwise grave-like stillness of her battered old Styx’s cockpit.
All the screens arrayed around her were black, save for one. Her gloved finger hovered anxiously over the main system activation control.
Seconds passed. They were getting closer.
The only system she’d dared to leave on was her passive scanners; as soon as she’d made it to the achingly meager refuge of a few clustered asteroids, she’d shut off everything else. She cursed those …things, watching the four blips draw nearer, the numbers indicating distance beneath their icons ticking steadily lower.
They’d appeared out of nowhere, leaving warp some distance behind her frigate with a roar that shook her Styx’s heavily armored hull. After that it had been a panicked blur; the din of warnings across every sensor module blaring in her ears as she raced for cover. They were massive and even at a glance, they definitely weren’t human. She felt a shiver run through her, recalling the sickly green glow of their weapons, already powered up. Eager to hunt.
The worst part was that she couldn’t even tell if they’d spotted her. The alien craft hadn’t changed bearing since they’d appeared, but their path drew them nearer with every moment. She gritted her teeth, hoping that her cargo, several bays full of Iridium destined for New Eden, weren’t drawing the beasts directly to her.
Maru held her breath as the pack of ships advanced. In a moment they’d be close enough to be completely eclipsed by the asteroid until they had passed her. If they passed her.
The four icons vanished abruptly as they overtook her little clump of floating rock. She couldn’t tell how long it was taking. Maybe a few seconds before they reappeared on the other side? Time seemed to work in slow motion as she stared fixedly at the sensor display.
Then she heard them roar again.
Had fun writing it. Hope you guys enjoy.
1954 characters!!! over limit!!!
1954 characters!!! over limit!!!
Word 2013 said I was at 1944, but I’ve adjusted two words just in case. Should be fine now. Enjoy~
A Day in the Life of a Vagrant Mercenary…
You stare at the clock ‘tick’ ‘tick’. You stare at your watch ‘click’ ‘click’. Again you search the terminal ‘scrolling’ ‘scrolling’. You search for offers, for contracts, for deals, and as you stare the only thought that enters is “Maybe if I stare long and hard enough something good will appear!” Nothing. It’s been weeks, sure you’ve gotten some jobs, but only for your ships, not for you. You sit is your room staring at the screen, and glancing at the clock. You wish something would happen, anything to get your mind off this irritating idleness, hopefully to make a little credits, but anything; an explosion, an emergency… heck, even some type of invasion to get that feeling of usefulness again.
It’s the station’s night cycle again, time for another night at the bar, another morning checking the terminal, another afternoon warping to the next station, another evening staring at the clock, and another day of disappointment.
Suddenly a message appears, your heart practically leaps with excitement! Oh, it’s just a notification. One of your “ship-for-rent” successfully completed an operation. You sit back, depressed and disappointed more than before. At least you got something to do tomorrow, fixing your own ship for damages that weren’t your fault. You notice the message doesn’t even have your name, it just has “Mercenary” printed plainly and generically. A thought pops into your mind, “They don’t need you, they have literally thousands of other pilots to pay and send to their deaths, they needn’t waste their time with you.” You argue with yourself “Hey! I’m ready and willing to fight and to die for just a couple credits!” Then you realize what you just said.
It’s going to be a long, boring night. Maybe tomorrow will be better…
((Note: Word 2013 says this is 1826 characters))
" Flowers"
Only 1601 characters!
I planted flowers this morning.
Cosmos and poppies and goldenrod. Bartle had forbidden it, but I wanted to show the children something beautiful, something colorful. In the darkness of space, such things are rare.
Excited, I usher them in, and assemble them before my humble garden.
Smiles appear on faces, and excited cries fill the gloom.
“Wow!”
“It’s pretty.”
“I like this one.”
They are like flowers themselves, they bloom before my eyes.
And then the question.
“What color is this?” asks one, pointing to the goldenrod.
“It’s yellow.”
“Like the sun on Earth? My mother told me that the sun was yellow.”
I hesitate for a moment.
“Yes, like the sun.”
“Do you remember?”
The children gather around me now, bright faces full of curiosity.
“Remember what?” I hear my voice, familiar, yet not, echoing off the walls of the prison ship.
“The sun.” Eager eyes follow me like sunflowers on a clear day.
I remember. Of course I remember. Even though 50 years have passed since our exile, I still remember the light; blinding and brilliant. Even with my eyes shut tight, I still remember the warm glow. Even in the frozen grip of space, I remember. It was like when you put your hands near the stove, that warmth you feel, only it was everywhere, inside and out. In it’s light, everything was beautiful. In it’s embrace, everything would turn out all right.
But… they would not understand. They know naught but the arctic grasp of the abyss. And yet they would miss it all the same.
And I hear my voice again, familiar, and unfamiliar, speaking softly to the children.
“No, I don’t.”
I open my eyes.
And the flowers have wilted.
P.S. This was really fun.
Stuff
Btw, that’s over 6000 characters, maximum is 1945 , 09.05. 1945!
This page said it’s exactly 1945. I believe it, as right now I don’t have a Unix shell.
It should be safe for 12+ people, nothing gross, but lets go tumblr style. Trigger Warning: implied death.
B’nder walked to his old warship with a stern expression. The maintenance just finished with their work, and they pulled back, leaving a steam trail and a faint scent of fresh oil. The veteran stepped up a ladder to reach for the forward railgun. The diagnostics panel told him the gun was in perfect state, parallel electric railing functioning, eezo-conductors finely balanced.
Still, when it counted, the weapon failed him. It should have been a routine execution, just some lowly pirates who wouldn’t dare shoot at the navy. They were ambushed. His nephew was on his first assignment today. He was Jeph’s protector. If the gun hadn’t jammed, he could have finished the attacker before they overloaded Jeph’s shield.
Jeph’s face was scared on the visual comms, as his cockpit was flooded with red light. The old man yelled over the comm, telling his nephew to activate his diffuse shields. That should have given enough time for the shields to reboot, enough time for the others to finish the attackers. Jeph didn’t hear him or just froze, but he reached for the controls too late. The ion beam burned through his left thrusters, and he started drifting to that direction. B’nder tried to maneuver out of the way.
His knuckles turned white as he remembered how hard he pulled the controls to move the sip up.
Stepping down to the ground, he walked to the side, where a huge scratch marked the spot where his nephew crashed into his ship. The repair systems already covered half of the original damage.
His ship was unharmed, so it took the hit with minor jarrings, but Jeph was not so lucky. The emergency systems were just not fast enough when the impact hit his reactor, and the plasma flooded the cockpit. Thankfully the comms turned off before it got ugly, he only saw the ejected pit flaring up for some seconds.
B’nder stood there, head hanging. He started to sob as the nanobots dissolved the last trace of his nephew.
Player: fasz.
IGN: SoldiersFortune
Nothing too graphic, I think…
I am dying.
The cold railing of the bridge pit cuts into my hands, its rough surface all that stands between me and the void. Gale force winds rip past me, carrying crewmembers, debris, bits of clothing torn from my body, and the very breath from my lungs out through the gaping maw where the ship’s bow used to be.
I see a pretty young ensign, her arms flailing for a handhold, as she strikes the edge of the ragged breach. The torn metal cuts through her flesh, granting her a merciful end.
Gray begins to descend on my vision, and my hearing becomes distant and hollow. Somewhere far away from my body, I feel my hand begin to slip as the wind dies out. Sharp debris are embedded in my back, and I briefly ponder my lack of pain.
There is a loud pop, and I can hear no longer. The grey is slowly turning black. My lungs reach for frozen air that doesn’t exist, as my feet being to float from the deck. Blood floats ponderously from my mouth forming tiny crystal-red planets.
I drift.
Something is wrong. I feel a presence. A sensation sicklier than death is crawling over my body. Crawling in my body! I scratch at my frost-covered skin with stiff, cold fingers, unsure of what I am fighting against.
Then I feel it. I sense the all-conscious mind from beyond, calling me to evolve; to re-form and become. Hot needles dig into my brain, dividing and dissolving mind, flesh, and bone. My blind eyes widen with anticipation.
I am dying.
BuT I wiLL liVe AgAin.
Character Count [MS Word]: 1190 (not including spaces)
God that is creepy SoldiersFortune