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Everybody held on to their restraints on their seats as the ship continued to lift up and up, through the atmosphere. There was a great deal of rumbling as they went into the upper atmosphere. “Sir, we’re exiting the planet’s atmosphere, hold on!” exclaimed Professor Angleoptorus, grabbing a hold of his own seat tightly as he said so.

Bricthorous held on, but looked back at the same time. He and the rest of the team were leaving the planet, but it was to protect it. It was a beautiful view from way up in space… he was going to think of it once he landed on Ionathon. It would be that beautiful planet he was going to protect, the planet he and his team were fighting for. No harm was going to come to it. Not on his watch.

Within a few minutes, the planet was entirely behind them. “Lieutenant,” spoke the professor, “are you ready to initiate the hyperdrive?”

“Yes, Professor,” replied Threetoe, and he pressed a few buttons to initiate.

“Waiting for your go-ahead, Captain.”

(short post is short... ><)

Captain Raptor made a small grunting sound. "Lieutenant, Professor. How close can you get us to this planet Ionathon?"

Still strapped into their seats, Threetoe and Angleoptorous fiddled some with the controls; while one inputted some commands into the console, the other pulled up a holographic display of the Jurassican star system. Their current position was marked by a flashing icon near the center of the diorama. "Well," Threetoe began, swiveling around in his seat, "according to the coordinates Mendestabar gave us, Ionathon should be somewhere beyond the southwestern outskirts of the system. I've cross-referenced his directions with some old charts and maps that were in archives, and reckon it to be riiiiiight arounnnd..." The holographic image zoomed out until their icon shrunk down to a speck in size, then magnified in again on an edge of the system. Mere dots expanded into actual planets until one came into focus that was marked as their current destination. "...here."

Captain Raptor took off his restraining belt and jumped off his seat so that he could better examine the hologram. The planet of Ionathon was a dominantly gray color, humble in size, with three moons revolving around it as electrons around the nucleus of an atom. Captain Raptor fell short on what to think of it; from the image displayed in the hologram, it just seemed so unlikely that the fate of Jurassica's future could depend so much on this one planet. Of course, Captain Raptor wanted to know as much as he could about it before hyperspeeding his way into sudden danger for it. "How long will it take us to reach that location."

This time, Professor Angleoptorus answered. "Given the standard conservation rates for power and life support at hyperdrive, I estimate that we will have the planet within sight in a couple of hours, with plenty left over for normal operation."

"You mean, given that everything goes smoothly and according to plan," Captain Raptor corrected. "What do we know of climate? Time conjunction? Native species?"

Professor Angleoptorous and Lieutenant Threetoe looked at one another quizzically, then turned back to him. "Almost nothing," they answered in unison. After another quick glance at one another, Threetoe continued. "Any records of places that reside outside our system are kept in a secured and confidential database. It was trouble enough getting the exact location as it is."

"You mean the good Mendestabar didn't find it in himself to warn us of these things?"

Threetoe looked like a small hatchling that had just crash landed his first plane. Captain Raptor knew better than to take it out on him, so he decided not to pursue the matter further. Though he kept telling himself that this was for the betterment of Jurassica, he didn't exactly believe this mission was starting out the way he wanted.

"Set the coordinates and prepare to activate the hyperdrive."

The others made all the necessary preparations in silence before Threetoe announced, "Coordinates are set. Hyperdrive, fully charged and functional. Awaiting your command, sir."

"Launch us."

And with that, the levers were pulled down that discharged the hyperdrive. Captain Raptor watched with inward fascination as the stars around them grew until a white light had filled up the bridge window and propelled them at hyperspeed through the star system each of them knew all too well.

They were going into unfamiliar territory, and though Captain Raptor was only now feeling a little excited himself to be undertaking such an adventure, he knew to be weary... no one present knew what to expect.

During the time it took the ship to arrive at Ionathon, Professor Angleoptorous did what he could with the onboard computers to find out anything at all about Ionathon. He'd heard of the planet before, but he didn't know much about it, other than what he was told by Mendestabar.

"I can't believe I can't even get access to find out how many dinosaurs live here..." he said to himself, "They could at least have let us know that or the population density or..." he trailed off, eyes widening at the screen.

"What is it?" inquired the Master Seargant.

"We've got an incoming transmission from the military compound we're supposed to be visiting... it's marked as 'Urgent'."

"Put it through," ordered the Captain. Lieutenant Threetoe looked over, seeming very worried.

Angeloptorous pressed a few keys and the image of a Triceritops in military garb appeared on screen, holding a menacing blaster in one hand and, apparently, the transmitter in the other. "Are you the Captain Raptor squadron?" he asked, frantically.

"We are," the captain replied.

"How far away are you guys? The rebels have executed the president of Ionathon and they're sending out a massive militia and anyone in the military that supported them against us!"

"I thought only a few people were supposed to know what you guys are doing up there," quipped Bricthorous.

"Well, they know of our presence, and that Ionathon's allies with Jurassica, but I've got a feeling that they raided files in the government buildings and found out about that... wait... Oh, shi-" Screaming and blasters could be heard in the distance. "I gotta go! Get here as soon as you can! We could use some help! Ion Base out!"

The transmission ceased.

Professor Angleoptorous shivered a bit, Bricthorous cracked his knuckles and the Captain seemed to be deeply pondering the situation.

"How much time until we arrive?" Bricthorous asked.

"About an hour, maybe less, if we're lucky," replied Threetoe.

"I think we should get to the base as our first priority... maybe we'll find out just how urgent matters really are down there," he replied.

[WARNING: -REEEEEALLY- confusing post. XD But I did that math, and everything checks out.]

"Hmmm," was the extent of Captain Raptor's reply as he strode up to Professor Angleoptorous, who was busy monitoring the progress of their hyperspeed warp on a monitor. "Can you trace the exact time and location that last transmission was sent?"

"Of course," the Professor remarked in an obvious tone over the rim of his spectacles.

"Do it."

The professor gave Captain Raptor an questionable look, but even he knew better than to disobey commands. After pulling up the transmissions log on another screen and pushing more buttons, he adjusted the rim of his spectacles with one of his small, mechanical arms and read from the screen. "Well, captain, you should already be aware that messages sent with an Urgent tag are live feeds; they travel on their own channels to ensure they arrive with all expediency and override all other priority statuses. The transmission is sent as it's occurring, which... as you know... wasn't more than two minutes ago. However, that last transmission was sent from Ionathon Base, Sector 32-XE. Would you care for the planetary coordinates?"

Captain Raptor strode anxiously around the bridge, muttering to himself. His killer claw clicked melodiously on the metal floor like a metronome that was driving the other crew members crazy with similar nervousness.

"Is there something wrong, Captain?"

"Urgent messages are live feeds," Captain Raptor said, still pacing. "But you're forgetting one thing, Professor -- we're currently in hyperspace."

Everyone could literally see the cogs start to turn in the professor's head. Though the others were at a loss of what was going on or what they were talking about, they knew whatever was going on was important, so Threetoe and Brichthorous merely exchanged confused glances and listened on.

"The speed of light is roughly 3 million meters per second," Captain Raptor pondered. "You are right, professor; Urgent messages do have their own channel so they can arrive to whoever needs to get them faster. Tell me; what's the fastest data transmission speed?"

Angleoptorous blinked. "Roughly five terabits per second within a 1000-mile radius of the transmission point."

"Threetoe. You said we were an hour away from Ionathon, right?"

"Yes, sir..."

"3600 seconds in an hour; multiply that by the three million meters a second we're going at, and you get...?"

"10.8 billion meters an hour," The professor clicked. "The speed of the transmission." The Captain was about to continue, but as it appeared, the professor already had everything worked out. "There's 1609.344 meters in a mile; multiply that by the 1000-mile radius and the 3600 seconds in an hour... then put that product under the total of 5 terabits times 10.8 billion meters. The resulting number is..."

A brief hiatus of awkward silence filled the cabin; all eyes were focused on the professor until he finally whispered, "9.32... 9.32 Terabits per second. B-But that's... that's impossible!! No technology was ever so capable!!"

"Either it is on this planet," Captain Raptor growled. "Or it might be possible that this transmission was really sent hours in the past. In which case, it would be far too late for us to come rushing to anyone's rescue."

The dinosaurs on deck were all stunned into another period of silence before Threetoe spoke up. "What should we do?"

Captain Raptor straightened. "We continue as planned. I don't want to make a mess of things any more than we ought to, so we come in nice and easy. Secure the rendezvous point and hopefully find out just what the heck is going on. An update on our status?"

"We'll be exiting hyperspace soon," Threetoe said. "Once we enter the Ionathon air defense zone, the security passes Mendestabar gave us should provide clearance for landing within the Jurassica military complex."

"Before we land, I want you all suited up and ready in case anything should go wrong... or has already gone wrong. At the first sign that we're in over our heads, we bail. Everyone understand?"

The dinosaurs all nodded.

Bricthorous wasted little time in preparing himself for battle. Two blaster pistols at his side, and a laser rifle cradled in his arms appeared soon after he was done fiddling around the small makeshift armory. He also double-checked on the mechanical portions of the Professor's body, making sure they were armored as they could be and were fully functional. He also took over the controls briefly as the professor armed himself with only a pistol, which he holstered at his side and went back to the controls.

As the other two armed themselves for the landing, Professor Angleoptorous took the ship out of hyperdrive as it approached Ionathon from a distance. They were close enough to see it out of the front windows, the grey planet that, had they not known what they were heading towards, the team would've thought it uninhabited.

Bricthorous cocked his rifle. "I've got a bad feeling about this..." he mused to himself.

"Something's wrong," Lieutenant Threetoe said, his eyes focused hard on the blinking devices in front of him. After twisting a few knobs and pushing some buttons, he said, "The Ionathon air defense system should have made contact with us by now. But the frequency's dead. I can't seem to get a feed from anywhere."

"Maybe the signal's just hidden," Captain Raptor replied.

"Perhaps." Threetoe and Angleoptorous looked hard at work before Threetoe lifted his head at the mechanical dinosaur. "Can you isolate the radio channel and run a diagnostic scan for any hidden signals?"

"Already on it," the Professor said without looking up.

"Keep trying," Captain Raptor grunted. "If there's anything going on down there, we need to know what; the last thing we want is for the Jurassican military on Ionathon to mistake us for--"

KABOOM!!!

The captain never got to finish his sentence as he was pitch forward by a massive explosion that rocked their small ship. He smashed right into Master Sergent Brichthorous, and the two dinosaurs tumbled head over tails on one another before Captain Raptor leapt back to his feet. "REPORT!!" he roared.

Lucky for Threetoe and Angleoptorous, they were strapped into their seats and had sustained minimal shock. "Enemy attack bearing 234.55 degrees. Ship's shield system is functional at 74%," Angleoptorous read frantically from the screen.

"Lieutenant!"

"I don't know what's happening!! I broadcasted our presence and the security codes PRECISELY as Mendestabar gave them!!"

"No time to loose," Captain Raptor said hurriedly. "Threetoe, put the ship on manual evasive maneuvering. Professor, try to get a lock on the enemy target! I want to know who that is and why they're attacking us. Get a message through the comm line get that security code to work! Brockthorous, man the starboard cannons in case these dinos think they can intercept us. Stations, everyone, we're under attack!!"

Bricthorous got to the controls for the ship's turrets and flipped all of them to the "On" position. "Where's the enemy, Professor?" He asked anxiously.

"Working on it!" he replied, tapping away at both the keyboard and the touch screen in front of him. Before too long, he found an enemy ship to their right. "Got it!" he exclaimed, "Five points off the starboard side! Looks..." he examined the image a little more closely, "Looks like a modified cargo ship! It's gonna have heavy armor! Give it everything you've got!"

"On it!" Bricthorous replied, "Permission to fire, Captain?"

"Granted. At least hold them off enough to get us into the atmosphere!"

"Yes, sir!" And with that, the Master seargant fired away at the attacking ship with every blaster turret he could control on the ship at any one point in time. The professor could control a few other turrets from his control panel, but they were the secondary blasters, as opposed to the main batteries that Bricthorous was operating. Everyone inside could hear the loud "PEW PEW PEW" from above and along side the ship as he fired away at the attacking ship.

[typing this from my dsi, so i apologize for any mistakes.]

Another explosion rocked the ship's hull, and Captain Raptor lurched forward again, his small arms failing to catch a lasting grip on anything. "How are we, Lieutenant?"

"Sorry, captain, can't talk right now... too busy steering this-- WHOA!!" Threetoe twisted the steering mechanism sharply to the left, as a small fleet of smaller, fighter ships glided straight for them. Captain Raptor made a mental note to himself to install better shock absorbers when they had the chance as his head hit hard against the wall and he growled something under his breath.

"Captain, you'll be happy to know that I've been able to deduct that these forces, whoever they are, are not a part of the Ionathon military. Being in a sector so closely out of range, it's more likely that these are a band of rather well-organized space pirates. Their attack pattern also indicates--"

"At this point, I'm not seeing any reason why I should be happy with any aspect about our current situation," Captain Raptor snapped. "Who are these dinos?"

"The sectors just outside our star system have always been a hot spot for pirate activity." Angleoptorous looked hurt, and despite the air, Captain Raptor made yet another mental note to apologize to him once this was all over...

...for the present time, however...

"How soon can you ready Alpha pod, professor?"

"Huh?" the crew all said in unison. It was known among all of them that their humble ship consisted of only three escape pods; Alpha, Beta, and Gamma. Being that the whole crew and a few others could manage to fit in two pods, the remaining pod had been especially outfitted to serve as a separate, smaller fighter ship.

"You're not planning on going out there, are you captain?"

"It could buy us some time. That modified cargo ship may serve as these pirates' motherload. If I can draw their fire, it could give you the time and advantage you need to call for help."

[sorry for the double-post, but i overshot the maximum text field length on my previous entry and i just have a few more things to add.]

...

Captain Raptor saw the doubt in his crew mates' eyes, and his feelings suddenly became mixed... as if someone had flipped his instinct switch to "off" and he found himself wondering if his own idea were plausible. Even if he did getbthe diversion he wanted, that would mean having to dodge a roughly a whole fleet of enemy fighters on his own.

But then Captain Raptor remembered that his own survival should have no impact on any decisions made for the betterment and well-being of his crew, the mission, and his ship. He tried to realize that that was what being captain meant, but though he tried to drown his trepidation in the consolations of honor and duty, if Captain Raptor saw any other way that didn't involve any likely possibility that he'd be killed, he'd have taken that instead.

He didn't allow himself enough time to dwell on the maater. In mere minutes, Angleoptorous had prepped Alpha pod for launch. Captain Raptor jumped in and strapped himself securely inside.

"We'll still be able to keep in touch through the ship's local channels," came the professor's voice from a speaker.

"Excellent. See if you can get a link up with that Ionathon military base and call for back-up."

"Will do, captain... And captain?"

"Yes, Professor Angleoptorous."

"Good luck."

Captain Raptor was about to say something, but before he could, the pod was launched and Captain Raptor was sent hurling out to meet their foes.

Being what Captain Raptor was, he favored speed and cunning over brute force. The motherload ship was too large and heavy to catch up with his own starship, but it was the fighters that he was more worried about. He trusted everyone of his team to do what they needed to and do it well. Now Captain Raptor was allowed the luxury of worrying about his own skin...

(Sorry for the short post. >< Not a whole lot the others can do except this, right now)

“I really wish there was a plan to get away from this that didn’t involve martyrdom…” mused the professor silently to himself, “those darn pirates are probably out on a revenge trip after we captured their friends three years ago.”

Professor Angleoptorous fiddled with the controls a bit, trying to divert the pirates’ fire away from the scouting pod that was heading towards them . Bricthorous did the same, firing everything he could at what appeared to be the ship’s weak points, including windows near the front of the ship, where he assumed the cockpit of the ship would be. “Come on, captain,” Bricthorous said to himself, “you can do this…”

Captain Raptor shot out of the starship Megatooth, and began to head straight for the hunk of metal from which the enemy fighters were dispatched. He shot a few warning shots to gain the attention of the few that were hovering around the Megatooth, and after a few close hits, they fell back and left his starship alone. Retreating back within a safe radius of their motherload ship, they would regain their formation and strike back at Captain Raptor's small pod.

Lucky for him, however, Captain Raptor's smaller craft made it easier to maneuver and dodge their fire. Despite his ace skills, however, he constantly had to double back before he could get close enough to the motherload ship. During his time, Captain Raptor kept all his focus on what he was doing, hoping somewhere in the back of his mind that his crew would be able to make good due with the time he was able to buy them.

A flashing red light filled his cabin, and a warning announcing a missile lock rang in his head. Immediately the captain gripped the steering mechanism with a crushing grip and pulled up with all the strength he could muster. His ship jostled, then angled sharply just in time to avoid the incoming projectile. He sighed out in relief. "That was close."

As predicted, any and all means of communication from this craft to either the enemy ship or the Ionathon base below were unsuccessful. Captain Raptor was beginning to think unsettling thoughts about the supposed outcome of this mission, but once again, he forced himself to concentrate more on the matters at hand.

A couple times, he was hit, and even a small laser would rock his craft to worrisome limits.

"Defense shield at 28%," Captain Raptor growled. "Professor, prepare to reel me back in. Once I get back, prepare to make an emergency landing. Security code or not, we're getting out of this mess!"

"Yes sir!" replied Angleoptorous, "powering on the retractor beam in three... two... one!" A loud, mechanical crescendo could be heard from below the floor of inside the Megatooth not unlike that of a tornado siren. "Bricthorous," ordered the Professor, "do your best to disable at least one of those ships, now that they're distracted from us! It should buy the captain more time!"

"Understood!" he shouted in reply. He aimed the main turrets at one of the smaller ships and fired at it. The unsuspecting ship was hit directly each time, and before long the entire thing exploded, damaging two other ships, including the big ship, nearby. Seizing on this opportunity, he critically damaged another small ship, forcing it to retreat, and destroyed another one, all before they could react. The other smaller ships, clearly shocked by the damage it could do, backed off, but the largest pirate ship began turning towards them. With what firepower Bricthorous had left, he shot at the ship's engines. After the barrage of fire, one of the two large engines on the back of the ship fell off and drifted away into space. They could now easily outrun the hulking ship if they needed to. Bricthorous hit his comm link, "Captain! I knocked out one of their engines! We can easily outrun them, if we need to!"

Captain Raptor received the lock signal for the retractor beam coming from the Megatooth. "Excellent work, crew! It seems that this might--"

Suddenly, the cabin flashed red again, and once more, the announcement for another missile lock was made. "Oh, no..." Captain Raptor grabbed a hold of the controls, but sooner abruptly stopped. If he dodged out of the way, not only would he loose the retractor signal, the beam may well pull in the missile and critically damage the Megatooth, as it was not a homing projectile. Brichthorous's victory in knocking out the enemy's engines would be rendered for naught in such a serious condition; both landing and fleeing from the battle would prove to be impossible options. On the other hand, if he continued on his course, their humble starship probably wouldn't be able to sustain a hit for long during the critical process of retracting a pod.

But Captain Raptor wasn't worried so much about his ship -- he worried more for the lives of his crew. All these assessments, he made at lightspeed in his head, and it was only moments after he made his final decision that he whispered just loud enough to hear on the other end of the comm line, "Take care, you guys."

In that instant, a forceful blast knocked Captain Raptor out of the tractor beam. He pitched forward and roared out in pain as he slammed into the controls, then was shoved backwards into his chair again. Head spinning, he only caught a glimpse out the side window and saw that the entire left side of his craft had been shredded; only by a mere few feet of steel was he saved from the damage reaching the cabin and allowing the cold air of space to suck him lifelessly out. Alarms filled his head. Captain Raptor once more grabbed at the steering mechanism and desperately altered his course so that he wouldn't fireball straight into the Megatooth. His new path has headed straight for Ionathon's atmosphere. Entry would most likely tear up whatever was left of the tiny pod, and a tiny voice in Captain Raptor's head told him to give it up; he would never survive.

Was this the end of Captain Raptor?

No! The captain never gives up. He reached up and flipped all the controls to divert all available energy to the defense shield. Then he pulled on the steering mechanism with a brute strength he wasn't even aware he possessed. The front of the ship began to glow red as entry was made, and the defense shield was slowly decreasing in percentage. "COME ON!!" the captain shouted.

The ride was bumpy. Nothing in the captain's view stood still as he worked to loose speed and level the pod to the ground...

The three dinosaurs remaining on board only watched in shock and horror as their Captain's ship took a direct hit from the enemy gunship. They couldn't even tell if the small pod was even maneuvering on its own, at least, until they saw it entering Ionathon's atmosphere. In a pod that small, having taken that much damage, it was almost suicidal. Everyone was frozen in their places, unsure as to what to be doing now.

*Boom!*

A laser bolt hit the hull of the ship, and everyone snapped back to alert mode. "Threetoe," said the Professor, "take us into Ionathon. Follow the Captain's pod, use the trajectory it was taking, assuming it made it through in one piece."

"Y-yes, Professor!" stammered the dazed pilot, switching the controls for entry.

"All right," shouted the Professor, "take your seats! Focusing all remaining shields to the back to protect from enemy fire, and readying the atmospheric shields for deployment."

Bricthorous took his seat next to the now vacant seat of the Captain. He wasn't one to cry, but if he wasn't worried about his own safety, and the safety of the rest of the crew, then he probably would have fuzzy vision by now.

Threetoe and Angleoptorous flew in the ship at the fastest safe speed for atmosphere entry and dove directly into Ionathon's atmosphere. The Atmospheric shields deployed, shielding the craft more effectively than the normal shields would have, and everyone held on as the ship rattled from the somewhat thicker atmosphere of Ionathon, at least when compared to that of Jurassica.

Upon getting through the atmosphere, the pilot retracted the atmosphere shields and the professor began calculating the coordinates of the general area where Captain Raptor might have landed if indeed he was still alive.

"Well, Professor?" inquired Bricthorous, "where's the captain?"

"Be patient, Seargent," he replied, "but I think he's within walking distance of our military compound. Assuming it isn't overrun with enemies, it should be a safe place to leave the Megatooth while we look for him."

Nice plot and posts Swords and Rex. You put alot of detail in them....much more than I am capable of. Nice RP guys. ^^