| Author |
Darkspace - Twilight (Now with Alternate Ending!) |
Meko
Grand Admiral
Joined: March 03, 2004
Posts: 1956
From: Vancouver
|  Posted: 2004-10-18 00:32
no hes a new race of bird brains that forever strive to be obscenly clean.
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Fatal Rocko Willis
Fleet Admiral
Fatal Squadron
Joined: March 01, 2003
Posts: 1336
From: Kentucky
| Posted: 2004-10-18 01:00
Heck..... He knows he can throw me into one of his stories.... there is always space for an Extra in a red Shirt to die somwhere! or maybe My little ol' Multirole Supply/Engineer ship will come save the day to a ship stuck in deep space... kinda like a ship that was written off and beleived dead LOL oh well through me to the wolfs if you want to for all i care 
Rocko
"Live from Iraq, it's Saturday Night!"
Data used in this document is made from 100% recycled electrons and magnetic particles. No electrons were harmed in the creation of this document.
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Coeus {NCX-Charger}
Admiral, I can't read,
Sundered Weimeriners
Joined: February 16, 2004
Posts: 3635
From: South Philly
| Posted: 2004-10-18 01:19
ROFL Rocko, I've got my hands full of characters at the moment... but I do plan to kill a few off soon 
And now... finally... the long awaited Chapter 10! Rack 'em stack 'em and pack 'em, on with the show! A lot smaller than most people would like, but I need to get what I've been working on out there so I can work on it from class  Enjoy!
MS Word Doc linky!
And a special little gift! The song that I had in mind for the scene involving Backslash in this chapter, play it when you start reading Backy's section
Backslash Scene Zipped MP3 (8mb)
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Chapter 10
Bito listened intently to the chatter of the battle going on outside of the Sol system. As commander of the 2nd fleet, he couldn’t abandon his post to defend them, lest the home system or outer colonies come under attack. He had ordered all freestanding combat vessels to the Sol system by way of the Ross cluster, but with so many fleets converging on Sol it was hard to tell if there were going to be any available Jump Cruisers or Stations to bring the troops in on a regular basis. Roger had his hands full dealing with the K’Luth that were invading Oblivion that he had just pushed out of the Ross cluster, and couldn’t spare any ships from the front line, and has been forced to constantly move his station.
The future of the ICC in the Sol cluster lay in Fornax’s hands. Bito shuddered at the thought. It had been Fornax’s ineptness that allowed the UGTO to escape the Nicea cluster in the first place, and that weighed heavily on Bito’s mind. All in due time, however, will the faults be placed. Bito reached a hand out to his desk and plucked another cheese square from the dish, and was about to eat it when the door to his office opened and the chief of security and the chief communications officer of Juxtapose Station walked in. The look on their face froze Bito’s hand in midair, the cheese melting in his fingers. “From the looks of it,” Bito said, “I’m glad I’m sitting down.”
The two officers looked at each other, each one non-verbally prodding the other to speak first. Finally, the security chief – Commander Oswald – pointed to his rank insignia, and Lieutenant Carlson spoke up. “Sir, a small K’Luth vessel has de-cloaked just outside of weapons range, but inside the Interdictor field…” Carlson trailed off.
“Yeah? So?” Bito was annoyed; they had caused some of the cheese to melt; now it didn’t taste as good.
“Sir, they broadcasted their surrender as soon as they de-cloaked. They have singled you out by name and wish to speak with you face to face, and accept any terms we propose to that end.”
Bito sat in a state of shock. After a few seconds, he mustered up the words to properly assess the situation. “Holy crap…”
*****************
In the small shuttle bay of the Absolut, Backslash stood in front of the remainder of his crew. Between the battle, and the loss of the bridge, a whole third of his crew had been lost. They were still in the middle of nowhere, their hull integrity was shot to hell, had no clue where any help may lie, and had even less idea as to how they were going to survive. What better time to hold a memorial service.
He struggled for words. Thoughts, memories, events, they all played out in his mind as if they were part of a movie reel. Charlie looked Backslash directly in the eye, and both could see the tears that streamed down the others face. He looked away from Charlie at the empty casket that served as Marie’s memorial. Only a handful of the caskets had any bodies in them, none of which were from the command deck; the damaged to the bridge had been complete.
He finally came to terms with the fact that there weren’t words in any language in the known or unknown universe that could communicate how he felt, and how he imagined the rest of the crew felt. He said as much, and was greeted with nods and salutes. He stepped down from the platform.
“Crew, attention!” the chief of the Honor Guard said. “Face ranks! Hand salute!” were the commands that followed. Backslash didn’t hear any of them, or any that followed. He just stared at the caskets. He felt the hatred boil up inside of him. Now he had been betrayed by two governments. This one because they didn’t even send the ships needed for the mission. A bomber cruiser! From that moment on, Backslash vowed to find whoever had ordered him into such a ship, and exact revenge. Marie’s death had been a meaningless and needless one. It would be the last of its kind at the hands of the person responsible.
*****************
Coeus struggled to ascend the dune. It was hot, his lungs burned with sand and dust, and he had no way of knowing if a rifle awaited him at the apex of the small mountain of sand. He reached the top and was relieved to see that the nearest rifle was a quarter-kilometer away, its owner unaware of Coeus’ presence. He counted three hover-cars, in addition to Lelandra’s archaic wheeled vehicle. He couldn’t see Lelandra anywhere, nor could he tell why the armed men were milling about. It was plain that they were guarding someone inside. But was it a meeting, or an interrogation… or somewhere in between? One thing was for certain, it sure as hell wasn’t midday tea time – it was too damned hot for that.
He began to make his way around to the back of the small adobe house, and found a spot to descend undetected. With his pulse pistol in hand, Coeus contemplated various approaches, when he finally decided on the simplest one. He walked up to the nearest guard, tapped him on the shoulder and slugged him when the poor underling turned around. The firefight that ensued was short and fierce. A guard jumped from the porch of the small hut and began spraying wildly for the three seconds that remained of his life in Coeus’ direction. Coeus shuffled sideways back and forth, and then jumped behind the wheeled vehicle. He ducked behind one of the tires and spun around the other side, shooting from the driver’s side through the cabin to the two guards approaching the passenger’s side. They both dropped quickly, not even getting within three meters of the vehicle.
The final guards inside came out with guns ready, but they weren’t smart enough to realize that they shouldn’t have brought their commander with them. Coeus had perfect position to kill the commander, and told them so before they started shooting.
“You have an interesting way of saying hello, Admiral. I wasn’t aware that the ICC trained their officers to be so reckless.” The man said. He had an air of authority about him, obviously some military experience. Yet the fact that he had come right out told Coeus that the man had not served any combat time.
“Nice to see that my reputation precedes me. Too bad that I couldn’t precede you, whoever you are.” Coeus said. He had to open the dialogue somehow. “I had a feeling that I wouldn’t be able to just stroll up, and from the way the other guards reacted I think I was right. Let’s play pretend now though.” The mystery officer had a quizzical look on his face. In any other situation it would have been comical. “How about we all pretend that we are civilized human beings, and go in side for some afternoon tea.” Coeus thought about what he could to do ensure his safety.
“I do hope you are joking, Admiral. It is almost a hundred and fifty degrees in the sun, so I can only hope that you are delirious and didn’t just suggest we drink something hot.”
“Ahh, a fellow cynic. This relationship has some great potential!” Coeus swept out from behind the rusting hulk that was Lelandra’s transportation. Lelandra, the person whom he was here to see, and who the mystery officer was as well apparently. Lelandra, the long lost family that Coeus would never openly acknowledge, and who Coeus still had yet to see today, or for the last five years for that matter. “Iced tea, then.” Coeus holstered his plasma pistol and walked towards the open door. He passed the two perplexed guards, and into the house. Mystery Officer followed, the guards stayed outside.
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Darkspace: Twilight
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BackSlash
Marshal
Galactic Navy
Joined: March 23, 2003
Posts: 11183
From: Bristol, England
| Posted: 2004-10-18 01:38
*dances*
TIS KILLING TIME!
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Meko
Grand Admiral
Joined: March 03, 2004
Posts: 1956
From: Vancouver
| Posted: 2004-10-18 06:33
"it doesnt precede you" not I.
Isnt he in a bomber destroyer?
and
Quote:
| After a few seconds, he mustered up the words to properly assess the situation. “Holy crap…”
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simply marvelous =)
i love it.... next installment NOW!
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Tiffy Rando
Grand Admiral
Joined: January 19, 2003
Posts: 354
From: Austin, Texas
| Posted: 2004-10-18 09:05
Wow for the first time in a while I feel inferior as a writer, and Fattirob can tell you what an accomplishment that is, he's seen some of my writing... looks like I have work to do.
P.S.
I should get in the story at some point, I have too much history with the $|P to not make it in: (Former Second in Command)
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Flagship: MCC-717: C.S.S Antaeus
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Coeus {NCX-Charger}
Admiral, I can't read,
Sundered Weimeriners
Joined: February 16, 2004
Posts: 3635
From: South Philly
| Posted: 2004-10-18 09:16
Heh, I'm not up to speed on any of the pirates really... I just used them as an element because when I started the story they had just gone to UGTO to help even things out in the MV
And yes, he is in a bomber dessy... lol. That time I spent on UGTO screwed with my mind man! That and the fact that I was writing that at like 2am
Lady, many gracious thanks - and I don't believe that any writer is superior or inferior in the grand scheme of things, just different. Some people have their good passages some times, other people at other times. All things balance out in the end.
Ok ok, I'll work on Chapter 11 now, maybe 12... heh. This story may turn out longer than I had anticipated originally... hehe.
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Darkspace: Twilight
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Coeus {NCX-Charger}
Admiral, I can't read,
Sundered Weimeriners
Joined: February 16, 2004
Posts: 3635
From: South Philly
| Posted: 2004-10-18 10:50
Weeee! Here we go again! Lil more action in this one, leme know if ya catch anything amiss!
MS Word Doc
Sorry, no music this time around 
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Chapter 11
Another blast rocked the Havoc, and another, and yet another as Switchblade ordered the Assault Dreadnaught to advance even further. Wyke had wisely ordered the fleet to converge on the one weak link in the ICC defensive line, the NCX-Ticonderoga. Switchblade knew it well, it was Admiral NubMarine’s, and it maintained the reputation as a slugger of a ship with a damn fine crew. Switchblade intended to end that myth. With the nearest ICC cruisers more than 2000gu away and still headed the wrong direction to intercept, the fleet chugged on under constant fire from the Dreadnaught and its measly companion of an Interdictor. The real harassment were the fighters. They couldn’t use their pulse shield, because friendly fighters still outnumbered enemy fighters 2 to 1, and were providing quite an edge over the ICC in clogging up their navigational systems.
“Admiral, the Interdictor has started moving away from the Ticonderoga, but at too slow a pace to be attempting escape.” Switchblade glanced over at his navigational screen. NubMarine’s penchant for confusing tactics seemed to endure. He started to wonder just how well thought out most of his enemy’s hair brained schemes were. He had a reputation for a reason… but that didn’t matter. Against a fleet of this siz- “Admiral! The Ticonderoga is turning towards, they have engaged at maximum speed and have begun firing from all batteries. Their forward shields are holding sir!” the ensign said.
“Full ahead flank, order the fleet to maintain pace, cruisers slightly ahead to absorb some damage.” Switchblade ordered. It wasn’t until both ships were toe-to-toe at 500gu apart and closing that something clicked in the back of Switchblade’s mind. “Order all ships to abort! Hard to starboard, all fighters return to hangar bays, abort. I say again, abort the run at the Ticonderoga!” It was too late, a wave of destructive energy hit the already beaten and battered ships. In moments, an attack wing of a dozen dreadnaughts and even more cruisers lay limp in space. The Ticonderoga swam through the drifting hulls and began picking them off one-by-one.
“Report!” Switchblade ordered. A lieutenant rose from among a pile of debris that once made up a scanning station.
“Sir, all systems are critically damaged, repairs are underway on the engines and weapons systems. We have sent for a supply ship, but I think any one that comes will have its hands full between that Dreadnaught and all of the ships disabled.” The lieutenant began picking through systems on the ship attempting to gain some element of control. “The good news, sir, is that the main battle fleet is undamaged and will be able to overrun this position in due time. The bad news is that ICC reinforcements are already underway to cover this flank from the looks of it. We will win the day, but not before we suffer more losses than we would have had our mission been successf-” the officer was knocked from his feet, as was Switchblade as blasts rocked the crippled and defenseless ship.
“Goddamnit, we joined forces with the UGTO so we could AVOID being fluxed! Get me Admiral Wyke on the line ASAP.” Switchblade groaned as he sat back in his damaged captain’s chair. How could he explain this.
*****************
The Absolut had made its way back to the main shipping lines with what little fuel remained. The worst part of getting there involved navigating through the asteroid field without a bridge. The remaining engineering staff had converted a small cargo bay into a makeshift command center, and routed most of the command functions to there. Primary engine control, however, still laid with the Engine Room – as it was on dedicated circuitry that only connected to certified bridge terminals. Backslash had decided that, given the fact that only one certified bridge-system capable terminal had survived the entire ordeal, weapons were more important to have immediate control over. Charlie agreed, and had set up a dedicated comm. link between the command center and the engine room. The help could still be controlled without a certified terminal, but engine speed, and the anti-matter drive both were more critical than which direction the ship was going, as the amount of power they generated was enough to destroy a small moon.
“Well, Charlie. Shut ‘em down, here is where we find out just how lucky we really are.” Backslash said. He could hear the engines being powered down, he was that close to Engineering. He also ordered the ship to switch to silent running. The shield generators, now fully charged, were shut down, engines taken offline, and emergency lighting the only allowed indoors. “Now, we wait.” Backslash said. He sat back in his uncomfortable replacement chair, and stared straight ahead at the blank starfield occupying the little screen they had for visuals. After a moment, Backslash got up and went to the back of the command center.
“Sir?” said the lieutenant-commander overseeing the operations terminal.
“I want you to try and piece together what you can of the orders database. Find out who assigned the crew to this ship. Send the information to my cabin when you have compiled it, I want to review it.” Backslash ordered. He saluted crisply and walked out the hatch. As he made his way to his quarters, Backslash’s mind moved a light-year a minute, as he plotted what he would do to the traitor who set him up.
*****************
Linna slammed her hand down on the console as she reviewed the situation. The Jump Cruiser Diligent had stayed behind the enemy lines to cover the Sobek, and in the process got itself cut off from the rest of the fleet. Only three ships had broken off to corral the two cruisers, they just all happened to be dreadnaughts. One of them was an Elite Assault Dreadnaught, the Grey Fox. That had been their first target. The Diligent got off a few nice shots with her Proton Cruise Missiles, which dented the EAD’s armor enough that Linna was able to swing the Sobek in between the other two dreads and take our the EAD’s engineering section. The remainder of the hull drifted lifeless as the two remaining Battle Dreadnaughts encircled the pulverized cruisers and continually pummeled them.
“Sir, its Admiral Powell on the line for you, urgent.” She knew what was coming next.
“Very well, put him through.” Linna said. Powell’s face was half covered with blood, much the same as Linna’s was earlier. She sighed as he came into view, and spoke before he could. “I agree, Admiral. What do you think would make decent terms for surrender?”
Powell smiled. His demeanor betrayed none of the fear he had at being captured by the UGTO. “I was hoping on unconditional surrender.” He said. “But as that is not an option, I have something else in mind.”
Linna struggled to get back to her chair as another blast rocked the Sobek. “I’m all ears, pal.” She said. Her usually smug attitude was less endearing than usual at the moment. Imminent death had a way of doing that to a perception.
“There is a stray moon about 5000gu off your port side, start making full steam towards it” Powell said. It was plain to see that the Diligent already had.
“Um, I hate to break it to you Admiral, but that planet is in the opposite direction of our fleet, where I would think we want to be.” Linna was running out of time, the Sobek’s shields were nearly gone, IT missiles were exhausted, and had only a dozen Fusion Torpedoes between the two tubes. One of the hijacked Psi-Cannons was completely destroyed, the other two with less than 50% effectiveness. All fighters were destroyed, and only two mines remained in the damaged launcher. “I don’t know how long we can survive a run like that.” Linna said. She would never leave Powell, but she had wished he didn’t remain behind. As a Jump Cruiser, he had only a wormhole device, and couldn’t jump to safety now that they were out of Interdictor range.
“Trust me, stay directly behind me, or just barely in front if you can’t take the damage that is likely to follow. We can outrun the dreads, but barely. We need to go NOW.” Powell said.
“You better be right about this.” Linna said, and ordered her helmsmen to set course for that dead moon – directly behind the Diligent.
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Darkspace: Twilight
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Meko
Grand Admiral
Joined: March 03, 2004
Posts: 1956
From: Vancouver
| Posted: 2004-10-18 11:15
sneaky bastards gunna WH into the middle of the ICC formation and get those dread killed. either that or hes gunna WH somewhere Else to get those dreads killed. no other reason for being "Directly" infront of him =)
good stuff man... your keepign me up.. i should be sleeping!!!
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Coeus {NCX-Charger}
Admiral, I can't read,
Sundered Weimeriners
Joined: February 16, 2004
Posts: 3635
From: South Philly
| Posted: 2004-10-18 11:57
LOL, goto bed, I've got class in 30 minutes and have to study after that for my 5:00 class
And you have no idea what I'm gonna come up with for this one... hehe. You're on the right track, but I'm thinking something that hasn't been tried yet...
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Darkspace: Twilight
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Tiffy Rando
Grand Admiral
Joined: January 19, 2003
Posts: 354
From: Austin, Texas
| Posted: 2004-10-18 14:19
What amazes me though is that you pump this stuff out so quickly, I write extremely well, but I'm terrible at producing material quickly...
Mostly has to do with how I put my stories together, I should work on that...
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Flagship: MCC-717: C.S.S Antaeus
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Coeus {NCX-Charger}
Admiral, I can't read,
Sundered Weimeriners
Joined: February 16, 2004
Posts: 3635
From: South Philly
| Posted: 2004-10-18 14:38
I just freewrite mostly. That is why the grammar is less than perfect, the subplots scattered, and the installments fairly short. I have 4 hours between my 1st & 2nd class to write, which is when I usually do it
Doubt I'll get another one out today... its dinner time
My only advice is to get a notepad with all the characters you want to include, write down a short little paragraph or two about how the story goes, and fill in the blanks in the middle. I do the character notepad, but make the story up as I go along Makes it hella easy for me.
Ok, chow time!
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Darkspace: Twilight
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BackSlash
Marshal
Galactic Navy
Joined: March 23, 2003
Posts: 11183
From: Bristol, England
| Posted: 2004-10-18 15:18
/me silently hopes that his ship blows up and he gets a ship to command.
Other than my stupid ship
ace
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Coeus {NCX-Charger}
Admiral, I can't read,
Sundered Weimeriners
Joined: February 16, 2004
Posts: 3635
From: South Philly
| Posted: 2004-10-18 15:37
That IS a real ship! You're apparently just not a very good captain Great grunt, bad captain! Hehe... all shall be revealed!
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Darkspace: Twilight
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BackSlash
Marshal
Galactic Navy
Joined: March 23, 2003
Posts: 11183
From: Bristol, England
| Posted: 2004-10-18 15:39
!$&Ł$YRGSDVFXCsgfdhnafmddfdgfgsdaafra*FUSTRATION*
BAD PILOT/CAPTAIN!?!?!?!
grrrrr
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