A story of how I wish things were in AO, "Graduation Day"
Graduation Day
The siren wailed and wavered echoing off the sides of the buildings almost giving the impression the many tall "scrapers" were crying in anticipation of the coming attack. Near the foot of a large building a small figure ran in and out of shadows moving with great haste. He had good reason to hurry as his 'newb' days were over since he had made the magic level of 20. No longer safe during raids he was hurrying to the great bunkers for protection. Each bunker had all the necessities of life, mission terms, save terms and bank terms as well as teleport pads that could return anyone to their apartment during raids so there was no reason to risk your life during a raid unless of course you found a juicy mission that just couldn't wait for the raids end.
Some players known as "bunker rats" never left the safety of the bunkers except to take missions to nearby locations just outside the bunker. And while death wasn't permanent there reasons to avoid it during a raid. Dieing in a raid to anyone over level 19 meant resurrection in the enemy holding pen near Tir which meant suffering the insults of hoards of 'newbs' until the raid ended and the teleport pads allowed you to return you to home. And a low level wouldn't save you in a city raid as everyone over 19 was fair game to anyone attacking the city. Of course the attackers risked the same penalty upon death of being deposited in the holding pens in the center of the city with the only difference being a twenty minute addition in time to the end of the raid. Why risk this?
Well the reason was simple. If the attacking force could hit the city orb near the center of the city with enough concentrated firepower they would destroy it for four hours and in it's place would be a flashing banner proclaiming the clans as winners of the raid. And of course the opposite was possible to when Omni forces raided Tir hoping to inflict it with a flashing banner proclaiming Omni Tech's supremeness.
Leenes could see the bunker just across the courtyard but the open ground was littered with the bodies of the dead who fell when nearing the bunkers. He had indeed waiting too long to head for safety he thought to himself. Just to his left movement caught his eye followed by a cascade of flashes of muzzlefire as a small group of Omni's finest were holding off a larger force of clansmen trying to give the "lowbie" Omni's time to reach the safety of the bunker (anyone under level 30 could enter a bunker and increase the defensive rating of the city orb until it's distruction would be impossible when enough between levels 20 and 30 had taken their place inside).
"Get going Leenes!" screamed one of the soldiers defending the courtyard from a defensive position near the heavy plasma cannon emplacement which sadly sat unmanned as the cannon operator had apparently never made it to his post. Leenes streaked across the courtyard as fast as he could but before he made half the distance a deathcry behind him caught his attention and momentarily halted his escape. The soldier who had urged him to hurry lay dead along with two of his comrades around the base of the cannon. Without the cannon to worry them them clansmen were now entering the courtyard and were picking off anyone trying to enter the bunker. Anger welled up in Leenes who now just stood motionless in the middle of the courtyard while energy blasts were flying all around him.
"Arrrrrrrrrrggggggggggg" screamed Leenes who ran towards the approaching clansmen firing his weapon in short bursts in the direction of the attackers doing little damage to the much higher leveled clan fighters. They laughed at Leenes and ignored him while continuing their carnage not even caring enough to put him out of his misery. Leenes ran right through them without hesitation and continued on in an apparent escape attempt.
"Run little bug!, we will get you in a moment", laughed a large clan enforcer unaware of where Leenes was heading. The little fighter had another purpose in mind as he approached the the cannon emplacement at a dead run while reaching into his pocket and producing a cannon control card as he climbed up into the plasma cannon's control seat quickly inserting the into the console.
"I just graduated from heavy weapons school today!" screamed Leenes as the cannon roared to life and began to swing around towards the bunker. One clanner saw what Leenes was doing and tried to sound the alarm only to be silenced when the cannon spewed an energy blast at him leaving nothing but a blood spot where a clanner had once been. Twenty clanners turned in unison to this new threat only to be greeted by the sight of Leenes screaming like a banshee pulling the firing lever as fast as he could. One clanner fell, then another until nearly a dozen were down when finally a well placed shot sent Leenes flying backward out of the control seat. About that time dozens of Omni fighters counterattacked from behind the clanners quickly eliminating the threat.
Below the cannon lay Leene's body spawled on the ground where one Omni soldier approached to gaze at the sight of the brave little fighter. He began to laugh as did many others who approached the body because anyone looking down at the corpse saw Leene's dead smiling gaze staring up at them and they had no doubt that somewhere in Tir a little Omni fighter was creating a ruckus even while in captivity.
