Chapter 5: A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...
Blue One slumped down into his chair exhausted; he needed sleep in the worst possible way. ‘Blue One’ was not his name but his designation in his fighter wing, and he was not human. On their distant and only briefly scouted world, humans did not even exist yet. The Earth itself was still, as far as life goes, in a very early stage of development. A few of the single celled life forms had only just decided that working together to create a more efficient combined life form would be a good idea; and none were big enough to be seen by the naked eye.
The race now commonly known as the Ancients was not in fact a race, but a conglomerate of many worlds and races working together as one for the common good.
Blue One was a member of one of these races and a genius, he never thought of himself as one, but anyone looking back through history agrees that this is true. He was the first person in the history of the Ancients to create sentient artificial intelligence. He had advanced the field of S-A.I. by having an extremely in-depth knowledge of computer chip design and biology. It was the combination of both of these fields, which made the first S-A.I. possible. It only had the intelligence of a two year old, but it was fully sentient none the less. It was now 3 months after that miraculous discovery, but the work had progressed no further. Approximately 10 hours after the first S-A.I. had been turned on, a new race called the Sohnen had been found. Unfortunately they were not friendly.
From that moment on there had been war between the Sohnen and the Ancients. It was not a war that would last much longer. The Ancients combat craft where far superior to the Sohnen ones, and the only reason the war was still continuing was due to numbers. The Sohnen were fighting close to their core sectors and had thousands of ships to call upon to support the war effort, and more were being made at an astounding rate. Even though the combat kill ratio was approximately 100:1 in favour of the Ancients, the Sohnen always seemed to have the same amount of combat ships in all classes available. Where as this particular race of the Ancients was very close to the extremities of the Empire and had very few combat worthy ships to hand.
More ships were on their way, but on their way was not here and fighting.
So for now the former scientist waged war from the cockpit of a fighter.
He looked down at his desk without really seeing it. He was having a small internal debate with himself - should he go to bed or not. He knew he should, and he would get a better rest in bed. On the other hand, could he really be bothered too raise the energy to haul himself back out of the chair he had only so recently, and gratefully, managed to sit in.
After another minute or so of debate, and with a weary sigh, he managed to return to a standing position and headed for his bed.
He awoke with a jolt. The station was blaring the attack alarm, the Sohnen were coming again. Glancing down he realised that he still had his clothes on; he must have forgotten to remove them in his exhaustion. Unfortunately there was no time to change them now.
He glanced at the clock as he rushed past it grabbing his jacket on the way out of the door, and returning once again to the cockpit of his fighter. 3/25th of a cycles sleep, he really needed another 6 before he would even begin to feel rested. ‘A cycle off would be nice.’ He thought to himself wryly, knowing that would not happen until reinforcements arrived.
He turned left out of his accommodation and ran along the corridor to the pilots’ crew room to get his flight gear. As he entered so two of the three other pilots in his wing greeted him, the third was just coming through the door behind him.
“Any idea what we’re up against this time skipper?” Blue Two asked.
“No, not yet. I was asleep when the alarm went off.” He replied. “Just as you should have been.” He finished with a good-natured smile.
“Aye, I was. Didn’t please the wife though, I can tell you.” Blue Two laughed.
“Aren’t there enough little ‘Blue Two’s’ running around already?”
“You wouldn’t think so the amount of fuss my wife kicks up when I come home too exhausted for anything but sleep.” He said winking.
Their commanding officer entered the room cutting off any further banter. He looked quickly around until he saw Blue One and then motioned for him to follow. They stopped just outside the crew room.
“Sir?” asked Blue One.
“Here are your orders Blue One.” The C.O. said handing a small data chip over. “It’s the usual stuff, nothing special.”
“Then why are we out here in the corridor?” Blue one inquired.
“Your Wing has seen the most action over the last two weeks, and I just want you to keep an eye out for any mistakes that might crop up due to exhaustion. Either from lack of sleep, or from combat fatigue. Unofficially I want you and your group to try and stay out of the thick of it today if it’s at all possible.”
“I understand, but I doubt we can stand by and watch if we’re needed.”
“I didn’t mean that, just take it easy today. I don’t want to lose good men just because they are tired. Just stay out of massive fur fights if you can help it.” He finished smiling.
“Yes Sir. I understand.” A wicked smile crossed Blue One’s face. “I’ll keep them on straggler duty Sir.”
The C.O. smiled. “That should do it, and I’m glad that it’s you that’s got to listen to the complaints.”
“I tell them the order comes from you. That should stop any girlie whingeing.”
The C.O. laughed at that, then turned and left.
Blue One re-entered the crew room, clapped loudly a couple of times and then raising his voice to be heard said. “Blue Wing – Listen up. We are on straggler duty today, so bring a book.”
Blue Four looked up and said. “Shit skipper, couldn’t you have got us out of that?”
“What are you complaining about Blue Four?” asked Blue Three. “You want a medal every time you go up?”
Blue One jumped in before an argument started. “I for one am glad about getting straggler duty. I don’t know about you lot, but I could do with the rest.”
Blue Two and Three smiled and nodded in agreement. Blue Four looked thoughtful for a couple of seconds and then replied. “Aye, you’re right. I could sleep for a cycle quite happily.”
Straggler duty was important, but boring. It involved hanging around behind the battlefront and picking off any enemy ships that broke through the lines before they had a chance to turn and attack from the undefended rear. With the power, speed, and weapon superiority of the Ancients ships, this infrequent event happened even less.
Because of this Blue wing, apart from two very brief skirmishes, had spent the last 4/25th of a cycle doing nothing but patrolling backwards and forwards across the rear of their lines.
Blue Two opened the inter-wing communication channel and asked. “How long ‘til they decide to go home again do you reckon skip?”
Blue One thought for a minute then replied. “The gate hasn’t activated for quite awhile, so I suspect that it won’t last much longer now. We can go and get some sleep then.”
“That would be nice!” Blue Three chimed in sarcastically. “It’ll be better than falling asleep at my flight stick anyway.”
“If you fall asleep at the stick, I’ll push you into an asteroid myself.” Blue one retorted in good humour.
Blue Four interrupted the banter. “Heads up! The gate is activating again, just as we were getting bored…”
All four of the pilots in Blue wing kept an eye on the gate and watched more and more wings of fighters coming through it.
“Close up girls, this doesn’t feel right.” Blue One said into the comm. and then changed channels so he could speak to ground control. “Multiple wings of fighters are coming through the gate.”
“Anything else appearing through the gate?” Ground control asked.
“No, not as yet, but there is a hell of a lot of fighters suddenly in-sector and they are still coming. I don’t like the feel of this.”
“Thank you for your report Blue One, but please keep your personal opinions to yourself.”
“When you’re stuck out here watching all these ships coming through the gate, rather than sitting pretty down there on the planet, you will find that personal opinion from experienced pilots is the best gauge of what’s going on!” Blue One snapped his comm. off in anger. “Idiot!”
“That’s one way of getting out of straggler duty skip. Get yourself busted so far down the ladder they won’t let you near a fighter again. You’ll probably get to fly a nice new garbage scow.” Blue Two laughed over the comm. channel.
Before Blue One had a chance to reply two Sohnen ships broke through the lines near Blue Wing.
“Heads up, two hostiles through the lines. Three and Four take the one on the left. Two, you’re with me. Weapons free everyone.” Blue One ordered over the comm.
Three lights on his wing leaders panel lit up signifying the weapons on the other ships had changed from ‘Safe’ to ‘Live’. There were no replies of confirmation over the comm. they weren’t needed.
The four ships split into two pairs and progressed towards their designated targets. Blue One lined up the Sohnen ship in his sights, and when the range was right he launched a missile. Blue Two’s missile trail could be seen following in the wake his own, and to the left another two missile trails from Blue Three and Four could be seen paralleling each other towards the other Sohnen ship.
Blue Ones missile missed, but Blue Two’s hit the Sohnen ships shields. They didn’t drop completely, but a sizable chunk was now missing. The other two missiles also missed and Blue Three and Four engaged their ship with lasers. Blue One returned his attention to his Sohnen ship and opened up with his own lasers. Blue Two followed suit and they managed to catch the Sohnen ship in a cross fire which stripped the ship of it’s remaining shields and left a brief expanding ball of flame and debris. Turning as one, he and Blue Two went to help Three and Four, but as they finished their turn the second Sohnen ship also erupted into a ball of fire and was no more.
Blue One started to comm. his wing. “Right, form up and lets get ou…”
The onboard computer interrupted him. “Inbound missile..Inboun..In..In..Inbound missile.”
Five missiles had been launched at him in such quick succession that the computer was stuttering trying to keep up.
“SHIT!! So much for keeping out of a fur fight.” Blue One pulled hard to the right trying to shake the missiles lock on him.
“Three more bad guys have made it through and are hassling the skipper. Lets make them regret it lads.” Blue Fours voice said over the comm. system.
Blue Three and Four hurtled passed Blue Ones’ cockpit windows, one on either side of him. They were so close that his ship shook in the wash of their engines. There was a brief flash from behind him and the computer announced. “Missile destroyed.” Blue Three or Four had managed to remove one of the missiles from the running. Only four to go.
Blue One pulled back on the stick starting a half loop, bringing the ship around to face the direction he had been coming from. Blue One suddenly threw the control stick into a different position, a manoeuvre which if he had be in an atmosphere bound plane would have caused him to go into a flat spin. Manoeuvring thrusters and attitude jets screamed in complaint, and the whole ship rattled and shuddered at the unexpected move. Through his left window Blue one saw a missile go past and continue onward into open space. By the skin of his teeth he had missed being hit and had managed to break the missiles lock on him. He reversed the flight sticks’ position back to where it had been and continued his loop. Another flash from behind him. “Missile destroyed” the computer said. Glancing back he could see Blue Two chasing the pair of remaining missiles that were still on his tail.
The comm. came alive. “Blue three here. We could use a hand if you have finished playing chase. No pressure, just if you have time and all that…”
While weaving and trying to throw the last two missiles off his tail, Blue One looked out of his cockpit towards where Blue Three and Four were dog fighting. They needed help all right. Instead of the three Sohnen ships he was expecting to see, he found Blue Three and Four engaged with seven ships. More must have broken through the lines while he was busy dodging missiles.
There was flash of white light that filled his view, which was accompanied by the ship being violently shunted to the left. “Shields 73%.” the computer dispassionately reported. One of the missiles had got him. He pushed down hard on the flight stick and sent his ship into a reverse loop. He saw the last missile fly past overhead, but then begin to turn to the right back towards him. He had just missed being hit by that one as well, but hadn’t managed to shake its lock on him. He pulled the stick back and to the right pulling out of the reverse loop and into a banked roll. Lasers shot past his cockpit window and made him slam the flight stick to the left. Glancing at his scanner Blue One found that he now had two more Sohnen ships to deal with as well as the remaining missile.
“Ever felt like you shouldn’t have got up this morning?” He said to himself.
He swung the ship back to the right to take himself underneath the two newest Sohnen ships. He didn’t like to ignore the missile, but the Sohnen where a much higher priority. His shields were high enough to absorb another missile hit if they had to, but a concentrated attack by the two Sohnen ships could quite easily end his cycle early. As he passed underneath the two Sohnen ships they also turned trying to engage him. Through the top of his cockpit he saw the Sohnen that was directly above him take a laser barrage to the shields. Good, Blue Two was still out there.
Blue one looped around the same Sohnen ship trying to bring his own weapons to bear from a different angle and help Blue Two. Lasers lit his shields up; the second Sohnen had a bead on him. He yanked the ship about hard and opened his throttle to maximum. Shooting between the two Sohnen ships he pushed the ship into another loop bringing him all the way around the second Sohnen ship until his lasers could get a shot off at the first ship but removing himself from the firing line of either of the Sohnen. Blue Two was still engaging the first ship and another stream of weapons fire struck its shields taking a huge chunk out of them. Blue one also opened up on the first ship with his lasers, and buy the time he had to turn away from the Sohnen fighter so he didn’t fly straight into it, the shields were almost gone. Pulling hard on his flight stick he started to circle around the stricken Sohnen ship ready for another run, when it surprised him by suddenly exploding seemingly of it’s own violation.
The comm. came alive with Blue Two’s excited voice. “Fantastic flying skip, the way you took the shields down to almost nothing and then brought that Sohnen ship into the path of one of their own missiles. Years from now people will still be talking about that move. Brilliant!”
“That wasn’t deliberate, that was luck.” Replied Blue One. “Keep your mind on the second ship. I don’t want to have to write to your mother about how her son got himself killed cheering during battle.”
Blue Two’s answer was to send a stream of laser energy towards the second Sohnen ship. With Blue One and Blue Two taking turns to fire at the second ship, and then circle away until they were in position for their next run, the second Sohnen fighter didn’t last very long.
As soon as the second Sohnen ship exploded Blue One looked at his scanner for further enemy ships. There were none, so he instantly checked on Blue Three and Four. They still had 5 of their 7 original Sohnen fighters swirling around them, but their shields were starting to get into the dangerously low region of the energy dial.
Blue one opened the wing wide radio channel. “Blue Two form up on my wing, lets go and help Three and Four, I don’t see why they should have all the fun.”
“Aye aye skipper.” Came the reply from Blue Two.
“I see you two are going to turn up fashionably late as usual.” Blue Three quipped over the open channel.
“Well you know how it is honey. You ask people to the party and they always bring uninvited guests with them.” Blue One answered him smiling. “And I just couldn’t do a thing with my hair…and I had nothing to wear…I laddered my tights…and then the cab was late…I nearly sprained my ankle in these damn heels…then I realised I’d left the iron on and had to go back to switch it off. It’s just been one of those days sweetie.”
Blue One could hear the other three chuckling over the comm. system. Good, he had been able to make them relax a little.
As Blue One and Two neared the battling fighters, Blue Two asked. “What’s the game plan here skip?”
“If it isn’t one of ours and moves – shoot it!”
“Aye aye.”
At the same moment that Blue Two finished speaking, Blue One and Two came within missile range and two missile trails could be seen stretching away from both fighters. Both of Blue One’s missiles hit their target and Blue wing had one less Sohnen ship to worry about. Only one of Blue Twos missiles hit their target, but the second missile had maintained its lock and started to turn back towards its intended target.
Blue One and Two entered the fray and immediately had to concentrate on not being hit by the maelstrom of laser fire, while adding their own lasers to the deadly soup of space battle. It was an even match in numbers, the four fighters of Blue wing vs. the Four Sohnen ships. Unfortunately for the Sohnen the Ancients fighters had the upper hand when it came to technology. From a tactical stand point, the Sohnen, within seconds, had gone from the winning position of five ships to two ships, to the losing position of a matched number of ships with a superior foe.
Blue One dodged and weaved amongst the other fighters; there was just no way to keep a constant position for prolonged firing at any one Sohnen ship. All you could do was make sure you weren’t hit and snatch shots at any enemy fighter that passed through your reticule. Both tasks being easier said than done. To the left of him Blue one watched another of the Sohnen ships rapidly become component parts of the whole - another one down. Out of the corner of his eye he saw another ship on an attack vector for him. Quickly reacting he jinxed his ship down and to the left, at the same time that he did this the attacking ship jinxed in the opposite direction as if it was also trying to avoid having its lasers trained on Blue One’s ship. Blue One looked up at the ship as it passed overhead. His instinct had told him that it was an enemy ship, but looking at it he realised that it was a ship from his own wing. That explained the other ship also trying to get him out of the sighting reticule. Blue One returned his attention to the view in front of him and immediately slammed the flight stick to the side, but it was to late.
The last thing Blue One remembered of that battle before passing out, was spinning off into space in his ship; right after the wing had been torn off in the collision with a Sohnen ship.
Chap 6: http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=181398
Living ship Chap 5
Moderators: TheElf, Moderators for English X Forum
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Aragon Speed
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Living ship Chap 5
Last edited by Aragon Speed on Tue, 8. Jan 08, 15:06, edited 1 time in total.
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Syndrome
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Personally from a reader's perspective I do enjoy the more scocial situations but I understand that in a good story, all sorts of writing is needed to some extent.
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Aragon Speed
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![[ external image ]](http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/8375/sc2siggybc4.jpg){kind=link}
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Aragon Speed
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Syndrome
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My thoughts exactlyAragon Speed wrote:Chapter 6...Syndrome wrote:If you don't like it then there's no problem focusing back to the social kind of style. I certainly wouldn't complainAragon Speed wrote:I just couldn't get this chapter to flow. I suspect it's because I'm really not into combat in RL.
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Gvork
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Aragon Speed
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