Phantasy Star: Fringes of Algo

Unidentified Pirate vessel, Mota class – Mission time: 5 minutes

Flynn and his squad continued their ascent, now near the bridge deck. Captain Ashley called back over the radio. “Captain Ashley here. No sign of Sergeant Merrick or his men. Standby.” He paused before speaking again. “Sergeant Merrick, please advise us of your status. Over.”

Sergeant Merrick came back with a reply soon after, his voice calm as usual. Sounds of gunfire could be heard in the background. “This is Merrick. Something must have gone wrong with the teleporter. We’re 2 decks down towards the rear of the ship and are taking heavy fire. Requesting backup immediately.”

The Captain responded. “Understood Sergeant. Alright Zedek. You’re to proceed to his position and escort them to the bridge. Get there as quick as you can. Over.”

Flynn keyed his radio and responded. “Understood Sir. We’ve arrived at the deck now and should be with them soon. Out.” Having heard the new orders, his squad had already vacated the maintenance shaft and had taken up defensive positions around the access hatch. Rika was looking around nervously, her pistol gripped tightly in her hands. Flynn moved to reassure her.
“Sorry. We didn’t really plan for this. But just stick close to me and you’ll be fine. Make sure to check your targets before you fire.” He paused. “That goes for the rest of you. Remember we’ve got friendlies in here.”

They moved down the corridor, heading towards the sound of gunfire. “Don’t fire until I say so. We want to take them by surprise.” He keyed his radio again. “Sergeant Merrick, This is Zedek. We’ve arrived and are coming your way now. Just hold on a bit longer. Out.”

Flynn and his squad approached a door. The sound of gunfire could be heard a lot clearer now. They took up position around the door and prepared to enter. Flynn nodded and a solider by the control panel opened the door. It slide open and they stepped inside. Immediately picking out Merrick and his technicians who were hiding in cover, they singled out the pirate defenders and opened fire, felling a few of them and sending the rest back into hiding. Sergeant Merrick stood up from his cover and composed himself.

“Nice timing Zedek. Holding off a bunch of pirates isn’t exactly easy when it’s just you and a few technicians, you know?” Flynn could see the technicians were shaken by their experience but otherwise uninjured. “We’ve not taken any casualties, a small miracle if you ask me.” He paused. “We should get going. The longer we stand about the more time the pirates have to organise themselves.”

“Agreed. Let’s go. Everyone, take up positions and keep the technicians covered. We need to get them to the bridge in one piece.” Moving back to the other side of the door, Flynn ordered one his troops to close it.
Rika then stepped up to the control panel and plugged one of her devices into it before dialling a few commands in. After a few seconds she removed it. “I’ve scrambled the locking mechanism. It should keep them off our backs for a while. “

But no sooner had they started up the corridor, hurrying to the bridge deck, they were attacked by a group of pirates emerging from the maintenance shaft.

“Damn it all!” Flynn cursed. “Defensive positions everyone. We have to get them clear of that hatch.”

He was about to ask Sergeant Merrick for a suggestion when the radio came alive again. “This is Captain Ashley. Four more Mota class ships have appeared and are moving to engage. I’m reading three Novas and a Pulsar class. They’re pirate vessels, making it nine of them to our four and they’ve already engaged our fleet. We need you on the bridge on the double!”

“Understood Sir. We’ll be there ASAP.” Flynn turned to Merrick. “What do you reckon?”

“They’ve gone.” Came the reply.

Flynn was about to question him when he realised the gunfire had stopped. Taking a look he noticed the corridor was empty. “They’ve abandoned their position? What’s going on?”

“I’ve no idea, but we should get going before they come back with more help.”

The radio came alive again. It was the Captain and there was urgency in his voice. “Guys, listen. Just after those ships arrived I detected a teleport signal coming from down the corridor behind you.”

Merrick was the first to respond. “So what’s the problem Sir? We can take them on ourselves can’t we?”

The reply came back. "Not from what I can tell. I’m reading a Cast kill squad. A large one at that. It easily outnumbers all of you there. Ah Hold on.” There was a pause. “I’m detecting more of them across the ship now. You’ve got to get out of there!”

“Understood Sir. Out.” Flynn turned to his soldiers, some of them looking uneasily at the door behind them.

“Good thing we locked it. Should buy us some time. Goodness knows what Cast are doing here, but we’ll worry about that later.”

He looked at the two soldiers carrying the weapon platforms. “Right. You two set those up here and have them facing the door. We’ll need a good head start if we’re to get to the bridge without being cut to pieces.”
The platforms were set in place almost immediately. “Alright then. Let’s get out of here before they get through. Keep the rear covered and we should all get up to the bridge before…”

He was cut off as impacts started sounding on the other side of the door. The cast had obviously given up trying to open the door and had opted for blasting it to pieces instead. The door began to buckle and eventually fell before the blast of a photon cannon. The automatic weapons began firing but were quickly destroyed as the Cast made their way through, their advance merciless.

Merrick called out the order, but everyone was already taking defensive positions as they prepared to fight off the attackers.

Seemingly unconcerned for their own safety, the Cast moved into the corridor and opened fire with everything they had, forcing the soldiers to take cover under the barrage of fire, firing blindly as they did. Flynn opened fire on one of the Cast but his shots didn’t seem to phase it at all.

“It should have returned fire but it didn’t even flinch! It’s almost as if they don’t care for themselves. What the hell’s going on here?”

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Esper Mansion

Claire was stood atop the platform in her classroom, a glowing mass of photons swirling around her outstretched hand as she addressed the class.

“As you all know, this is Resta energy. The glow it gives off is unique as well as the pattern. Remember, you can always tell what kind of technique is being used by feeling the photonic flow as well as the appearance of the charge itself. In the case of Resta energy there are many levels to it, depending on the strength required which is judged by the severity of the injury. Remember, it does no harm to use too much photonic energy in healing, but the higher volumes demand greater mental focus.”

She paused then continued. “Now, feel the flow of photons as I increase the charge of this Resta technique.”

She increased her mental focus and channelled more photons into the technique, feeling it respond as it grew in intensity.

As she worked, her concentration was disturbed. She could feel something tugging frantically on her mind. She immediately knew what it was.

“Flynn. Something’s wrong. He’s…in danger! No!”

She forced herself back to the present moment. Her summoned photonic energy was becoming unstable and she was forced to extinguish it. A look at her class showed a number of concerned faces looking at her. Though visibly shaken, she tried to cover it as best she could and keep her voice even.

“Why don’t we take a break there? We’ll…come back to this later.”

She made her way hurriedly off the platform and headed for the door at the end of the room, not pausing for anything; she opened it and hurried into the corridor to return to her room. She could feel it in the back of her mind. Flynn was in terrible danger unlike any she had felt before when he was fighting. Something terrible was going to happen. She kept her head low as she hurried past people in the halls, the start of tears in her eyes.

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