The Omega system -- its unofficial name among crew members of the Turncoat called Goliath -- was full of activity. UE Destroyers, UE Fighters and their motherships UE Carriers, along with those massive warships, the Omega Cruisers, all floated through space; some practicing attack maneuvers, others getting repairs, and others just floating lifelessly through space, awaiting the arrival of their opponents. In the middle of all the activity was a lone Turncoat and its Krait escorts.

The Goliath had received many technological upgrades from Outpost Omega. Its shields were stronger, its armor was thicker, and its weapons were much more powerful. The blaze turrets had been replaced with new turrets which used modified blaze technology. The strength of the weapons was greatly increased. But there was one weapon in the Goliath�s arsenal that was truly powerful: a nuclear bomb called the �forklift.�

The only sound that could be heard within the cockpit of the Goliath was the occasional beep from one of the various computers. Duke Bullwhip, Tom Hunnicut, and Octavian Augustus all sat in silence, watching the goings-on outside. Outpost Omega lay in orbit around a large, bleak, gray world, and, stationed on three sides of the station were Outpost Omega�s defense platforms and sensor buoys (all of which were receiving last-minute repairs and upgrades in preparation of the arrival of the Renegade fleet).

All three of them stared at the jump point which would give the Renegades entry to the system, because, at this particular moment, the Renegade fleet was already traveling in hyperspace towards the Omega system, and, at any moment, that jump point would open its mouth, and spit out hundreds of Renegade warships and fighters.

The pilots of Marauder Wing had already launched their fighters and were hovering near the Goliath, awaiting orders from their captain.

Following the death of Chris Quinn, each pilot moved up in ranking. Mike Pearson (the most experienced pilot) became the wing commander and took the call-sign Marauder Leader. Scott Kennedy became Marauder Two. Daniel Wright became Marauder Three. Stephen McNamara became Marauder Four. And Jack Lawrence became Marauder Five.

(The new) Marauder Leader spoke into his comm-unit: �Everyone all right out there?�

�Everything�s in order. Ready for combat,� replied Scott Kennedy.

�Same here,� replied Wright.

Similar responses came from McNamara and Lawrence. The entire wing was ready to fight, and no further repairs and preparations were necessary. Much like the Goliath, the Kraits of Marauder Wing were given shield and weaponry upgrades, giving them a better chance of survival against the Renegades. But, even with said upgrades, the Kraits were still weak, easily-destroyed fighters, that were little more than a nuisance to larger ships.

�Good,� replied the wing commander. �Two, Five, you�re going to be flying my wing. Four, you�ll be flying with Three. Our job is the same as the Goliath�s,� he explained. �When the Renegades drop out of hyperspace, they will be momentarily dazed with jump shock. The effects of jump shock will greatly reduce their ability to fight back, and should be as easy as shooting fish in a barrel. Destroy everything that comes out of the jump points, and, if one gets by, find another target, because the Outpost Omega defense fleet will be handling everyone that gets past the initial blockade.�

The �blockade� that Pearson spoke of was made up of five ships: the Goliath, two UE Destroyers, and two UE Carriers and their fighters. The sensor buoys discovered the Renegade fleet while scanning the warp lines leading into and out of the Omega system. All five ships positioned themselves around that jump point and waited for the time to come.

Duke Bullwhip looked down at the computer console in front of him. In the lower left corner of the monitor was the Renegade fleet�s estimated time of arrival; five minutes and counting.

The five minutes seemed like an eternity to everyone, but soon, the ETA was at only ten seconds. Duke watched it fall to nine... eight... seven... six... five... four... three... two...

One... The final second had passed, but nothing happened. The jump points didn�t open up; the Renegade fleet did not appear. Nothing happened.

Duke Bullwhip had seen (and participated in) his share of space battles during his lifetime. Hell, he�d even fought for the Human race during the Battle of Sol. An opponent more fierce and terrifying than the Voinians would be hard to find. But, for some reason unknown to him, Duke was nervous about the upcoming battle. He shook off his nervousness. The slightest hesitation during the battle would cost him his ship, and his life.

And, in that instant, the jump points opened up, with Turncoats, Kraits, and Helians coming in from every direction. The crews were experiencing jump shock, and, consequently, all of the ships were on autopilot. This weakness, if properly exploited by the defenders of Outpost Omega, would give them the ability to destroy the Renegades before any damage could be caused.

As the Renegade fleet arrived, Duke Bullwhip heard one of the members of Marauder Wing yell a battle cry.

�Let�s do this,� said Marauder Leader.

The fighter squadron split into two groups, and both groups went to go �shoot fish in a barrel.�

The first target that Daniel Wright and Stephen McNamara found was a Helian. It had just dropped back into real space, and its small crew was just getting hit with jump shock.

�I�m going in,� Wright said. �Watch my back.� The Krait swooped down towards the Helian. Bolt after bolt of the blue energy from the modified blaze cannons tore into the Helian�s shielding. �Your turn,� said Wright as he soared back up.

His wingman, McNamara, swooped down low, and hit the Helian with a barrage of blue energy bolts. The shields of the Helian dropped. Alert klaxons began to roar, the Helian�s crew was finally recovering. There would only be a few more short moments of weakness, but, in the ship�s current state, a few moments would give the two Marauders a chance to turn them into space dust. Stephen glanced down at his sensors screen, the hull was beginning to breach for the Helian, but now its weapons were charging, and its scanners were searching for a missile lock.

Seeing that the Helian was beginning to put up a fight, Daniel Wright hit the throttle and maneuvered his fighter down towards the Helian. Two targets would make it harder for them to aim, and two sets of cannons would make it easier to destroy the Runagate Helian. �Thought you could use some help,� said Wright to his wingman.

�Yeah, thanks,� replied Stephen.

Bolts of energy crashed into the Helian�s armor, while only the occasional blaze shot or needle missile would even graze the shields of the Kraits.

�She�s going to blow,� remarked McNamara, as atmosphere began to leave the ship through hull breaches and licks of flame began to appear. The two pilots searched for another target.

Like shooting fish in a barrel...

Duke Bullwhip didn�t like this. Duke had no problem with destroying the Renegades. The Captains of Freeport and the other various factions among the space pirates deserved to be wiped off the face of the galaxy, in his opinion. It was the way that they were killing them. These men -- these Renegades -- had no idea that they were going to be completely obliterated, and, what bothered him the most, was the fact that (most of) these men didn�t even get a chance to defend themselves (a few struggled after jump shock wore off). The bounty hunter felt bad about killing the Renegades, but knew that, were the situation reversed, the space pirates would not have thought twice about destroying his ship and his crew.

Duke Bullwhip was at the helm of the ship, maneuvering it around the opponent Turncoat. The Turncoats, unlike the Kraits and Helians in the Renegade fleet, were harder to destroy. With stronger shielding and armor, their defenses were more intact than those of the smaller ships. This Turncoat, in particular, was putting up one hell of a fight.

Evasive maneuvers are hard to use successfully in a ship the size of a Turncoat, but Duke Bullwhip�s opponent was dodging and weaving around the bolts of energy that the Goliath fired. Duke placed his hand on the controls of the secondary weapons. The controls to the forklift -- a bomb so dangerous, powerful, and expensive that Duke could only be given five -- were underneath his fingers. Duke�s mission was to hold the line, and prevent as many Renegades as possible from making it deeper into the system. This situation, he decided, warranted use of a weapon such as the forklift.

In the Human race�s early days of interstellar travel, they were very cautious. Low-cost, unmanned probes were sent in to scout the system out first. These probes contained good navigation and sensor systems, but they were unmanned, and the lack of life aboard the probes, the designers were able to cut corners while constructing the hyperdrives and their diridium warp coils. When one of these probes came in contact with an asteroid or some other space phenomenon, the warp coils would blow, and the explosions created were awesome. In later years, the need these probes were no longer necessary. Diridium had, however, proved itself to be useful in the construction of nuclear weapons, and this use was not soon forgotten by the Human engineers.

The design of the probes was slightly changed; its hyperdrive was replaced with a diridium warhead, but the extremely accurate navigation system remained. The result was the powerful and lethal forklift bomb.

He pushed the button on the console, and, with a low rumble, the forklift had left its launcher. The Turncoat tried to dodge the forklift. The nuclear bomb soared past its target like one of the Voinian Empire�s unguided rockets. Duke Bullwhip frowned when he saw that the bomb had missed the Turncoat. He was about to tell the gunners (via wrist-comm) to open fire again, when he watched the yellow bomb turn around and slam into the hull of the unsuspecting Turncoat.

At the end of the forklift, there are two prongs. These are used so the diridium warhead can latch onto its target, and hold on, causing more destruction to the enemy. Sparks flew everywhere when the metallic prongs of the forklift scraped against the metal of the Turncoat�s hull. The prongs ripped holes through the ship�s armor, and, then, with the diridium warhead in place, the entire forklift exploded. The bomb exploded, and the explosion was so powerful that the entire Turncoat was turned to nothing but chunks of hot wreckage and debris, and the aftershock of the forklift actually caused the Goliath to shake.

The awesome display had almost hypnotized Duke. He shook it off, and began to search for another Renegade target. He glanced down at his sensor scans, and saw something that he didn�t like: a massively-upgraded Turncoat had just hyperjumped into the system. A massively-upgraded Turncoat called The Nadir.

The Marauder Wing Kraits continued to battle the other Renegades, but Mike Pearson made an observation: the Goliath had broken away from the rest of the blockade ships. It appeared to be following another Turncoat. �Goliath, this is Marauder Leader. What�s going on over there?�

For a moment, there was only static over the comm-unit. Then Duke replied: �Leader, this is Goliath. Something has come up. All fighters are to report back to the hangars ASAP.� Duke closed the comm-connection.

Letting out a sigh, Pearson said: �Well, you heard him.�

The Nadir picked up Needle Edwards in the Huron system. Duke Bullwhip was sure of that. That meant that Edwards was aboard that ship and in the Omega system. While Duke�s current mission was to guard the jump points, he also had a duty to capture Edwards. With all of the pilots and their ships aboard, Duke piloted his Turncoat after The Nadir, which, at this moment, was blasting past the Outpost Omega defense fleet.

Duke had the Goliath moving at full speed, and he had the afterburners going. Needle Edwards was not getting away, not after all of this. The Nadir spun around to face the Goliath, and alert klaxons began to roar in the cockpit. �Looks like he sees us,� Duke mumbled to himself.

Tom Hunnicut glanced down at the sensors screen. �The Nadir�s weapons systems are charging.�

Duke held the comm-unit up to his mouth; �Battle stations!� He placed his fingers back over on the secondary weapons controls. A barrage of needle missiles hit The Nadir�s shields, and the Renegade Turncoat returned with blaze cannon fire. Then, unexpectedly, The Nadir turned around and continued on its way... to Outpost Omega.

�Where do you think you�re going?� Bullwhip said, as he put the Goliath at full speed on an intercept course with the other starship.

By the time the Goliath had caught up with the other ship, they were already approaching Outpost Omega. The Nadir blasted a hole into one of the station�s docking bays and soared right in. Duke had the engines brought to a full stop, but the Goliath continued to move towards the hole the Renegades had created. The Goliath, which had been approaching at a different angle, crashed right into the hull of the station, causing the Turncoat�s starboard wing to snap off. Duke tried to maneuver the Turncoat in through the hole, but, because of the speed and angle that he came in at, this was impossible.

Needle Edwards and the Nadir made it onto the station, and they were undoubtedly searching for the top-secret weaponry that Outpost Omega was rumored to have. With Task Force Omega concentrating on events outside the station, very few were left to handle any boarding crews that may have gotten on. It was up to Duke Bullwhip and the crew of the Goliath to stop them...