Terraformer Dreams - Chapter Two (complete)

[The Zig]

Chapter One - The Fly-Through Sector
--------------------------

Chapter Two – Danger is coming...

"Failing to prepare is preparing to fail." - John Wooden


Part 1: The Threat

Jo crossed into firing range, guns still pointed at the enemy ship, finger on the button, missiles loaded, poised, ready. It comes in... peace? This was a first! The Xenon had never come in peace. But then, the Xenon had never made contact before either. Altogether it was just unexpected enough to stop Jo vaporizing it then and there. Just. But he wasn't about to take any chances either.
“Xenon M,” he said. “State your intent.”
It didn't seem real. Was this real?
“I am Hzzar Qr of the Terraformer Epsilon. For valuable information do not attack. Danger is coming.”
“Right,” Jo responded. “So... what? Why are you here? What danger coming?”
“Xeno... uh, Terraformer ship,” Aksandros broke in. “This is Hillios Aksandros II at your service. I think we would both be greatly more trusting of you if you would power down and unmount your weapons. If you come in peace, then you can do this for us?”
“True,” the flat tone of the Xenon replied. A moment later, its weapon battery went off-line. Its guns vanished from the wings.
“Good,” Jo was saying. “Good. And no missiles? Okay, good. Right. Now what's this 'valuable information' you have for us?”
“Are you able to negotiate?” it asked.
“Negotiate?” Jo echoed, this was getting weirder. “What do you mean?”
“I understand that Human cultures are hierarchical. I must negotiate a return for my information. Are you of suitable status to negotiate on behalf of your culture?”
“What do you want, Xenon?”
“You can negotiate; true?”
“I can. I mean, I think I can. I'm not sure what you...”
“It all depends,” Aksandros interrupted. “On what you, the... the Terraformers want to trade. We are at war. It is... unusual. What do you offer? We will do for you what we can, but... Can you give us some idea of the value of this exchange?”
“My information will save your many species from extermination by a Terraformer ExtroFleet. It is priority one information. In return I seek asylum for myself and four other Terraformer Epsilon.”
“Asylum?” Aksandros echoed.
“We wish to surrender to you.”
“Okay,” Jo laughed nervously. “Then I will need to talk to my superiors.”
“Asylum from whom?” Aksandros asked.
“Work quickly human,” the Xenon insisted. “Danger is coming. While, negotiation is pending, I must give you the following data, else, negotiation will become meaningless. Data: a medium-sized Terraformer fleet is coming to take this system. At present you cannot resist. You will be defeated. The fleet is forming one system away. It will be here within two hours. You must prepare.”
“That's it Xenon. Now I know you're... Y'see, that's impossible. We own both systems – East and West – we've had traffic through all tazura and I haven't heard of any trouble in either system. There's no attacking fleet, Xenon. What are you..?”
“Your data is incorrect,” the Xenon replied. “There is...”
“Another jump gate,” Aksandros hissed quietly.
“Another gate?!” Jo laughed derisively.
“True,” it said. “Sector 892, jump-gate North.”
“I knew it,” Aksandros was saying. “It showed up on IR. I mean, I didn't know it, but I thought there must be. The InfraRed is just too high in the field. It didn't make sense. I thought it had to be...”
“There's another jump-gate in this system?”
“True statement,” the Xenon said flatly.
“No! They've looked. There are two gates: East, West. I mean... they check these things. The surveyors. How could there be more?”
“They can't scan the field,” Aksandros muttered. “And there's no profit there. So why would any one else look?”
“But they do. Someone does. I mean... they must!”
“One Human scout detected 892, jump-gate North, three point two years ago. We destroyed this ship. We have a constant patrol protecting this gate. No others have come near enough to find 892 jump-gate North. We have contained this data.”
“But...” Jo stalled.
“You seek asylum?” the Teladi asked again.
“True.”
“Asylum from other... uh, other Terraformers?”
“True.”
“For yourself and which others?”
“Terraformer Epsilon. I am one of, Terraformer Epsilon.”
“Epsilon? So... you're different from normal Xenon?”
“Right,” Jo pulled himself together. “We can't waste time here. If this is true – and I say if - it'll need to go to the top. I'm going to need to make some calls. Xenon ship, proceed in front of me towards the Terracorp station. It's the one nearest the centre of the ecliptic, the only Power Plant. Keep to 80mps, and await further instructions.”
“Target acquired. Proceeding at 80mps.”
“Right. Keep your weapons down, Xenon. Good. Teladi, I'll follow this through. I recommend you get out of this system just in case all this turns out to be true.”
“If it's all the same,” Aksandros' curiosity was piqued. “I'd like to stay to see...”
“See if there's profit here, huh? Whatever, Teladi, just keep out of the way. However this pans out, things are likely to heat up around here – and you're a sitting duck with those shields. I think you've worn out your luck for this decazura. Watch out for yourself... Ha! Look at me, telling a Teladi to look out for himself! Next I'll be telling a ghok to fight!”
...

“I'm afraid Ms Kho is busy at the moment Mr Slammer. If you want to leave a message, I'll make sure that she...”
“I need to talk to her now,” Jo insisted.
“She's not available now,” the prim, young woman replied.
“I know she's a busy woman, but she needs to hear...”
“That's right, Ms Kho is busy. She isn't available. Not to fighter staff.”
“I'm dealing with a situation here! I need to talk to her now.”
“No,” the prim, young woman responded. “You need to talk to your duty manager, or just maybe your station manager. Ms Kho does not deal with 'situations' for every far flung fighter pilot. ”
“Please! We don't have time for this: I'm escorting a Xenon M back to a Terracorp station in...”
“Fantastic! You've captured an enemy ship,” her voice was saturated with sarcasm, dripping. “Well done. You must be very proud. Now just tell your duty manager and I'm sure you'll get a bonus. A promotion even. Now, really, I have other calls pending, so if there's nothing important? Great! Thank you.”
“I...” The line was dead - the screen had gone black. Jo sighed. He could just picture Elena Kho in her office – the hub of Terracorp – the calls flooding in, a thousand things all demanding her attention. He flashed back to his meeting with her some jazurae back. A busy woman; that's what he remembered of her. It must be worse now, since the Khaak and what happened to Kyle. It must have been hard on her. How did she cope?
But no, he decided, this is important. Elena Kho will want to hear this directly. He put another call though to Elena Kho's office, his call went into the queue. They were about half-way to the station now: the Xenon ship was still straight ahead, the Teladi was to his side. All good. He waited for his call to be answered. Another mizura or two passed before his comm screen lit up, this time his sleepy-looking station manager was on the line.
“Jo, what's going on? I hear congratulations are in order: you've captured a Xenon ship?”
“Yes. And then some! There's a...”
“Great,” his manager cut him off curtly. “I just had an interesting call from HQ, Jo. They woke me up. Jo, why are you calling Elena Kho?”
“What? I...”
“You're a decent enough pilot, Jo, no doubt. But at Terracorp, we have process. Procedure, Jo. Do you remember your induction?”
“I...”
“At your induction we went through a thing called 'the chain of...' ”
Jo sighed, tuned out. So much bull. Suddenly he missed his Argon Navy days.
“I've got a live Xenon.”
“... and we... You're... you're what?!”
“Check the recordings!” Jo snapped. “Zeus! I followed procedure. I posted in the black-box footage already. Read it! Start helping me out here! I have a live Xenon right here, in front of me, now. It's made contact, it says it comes in peace. It wants to negotiate 'asylum' for itself by offering us 'invaluable' information. If I had my way, I'd vaporise it. Now. In a heartbeat. I don't trust Xenon. But it's not just me here, it says a Xenon attack fleet is on its way here to wipe us all out. Maybe just an hour or two away. So really, I need to speak to Elena Kho!”
“Uh...” he swallowed. “Is it... Is it, telling the truth?”
“I'd say 'no' just cos it's Xenon. But honestly I don't know. So could I please speak to Elena Kho?”
“Um, okay Jo. I'll get right on it. Don't you worry.”
“Thank you!” Jo sighed.
Jo's call to Elena Kho was still pending - that damn Personal Assistant must be screening calls, he decided, ignoring him. Fixing her nails. They were now only seven mizurae from the station. The Xenon was still floating ahead of him, nothing had changed. All was as it should be.
Suddenly his comm screen lit up with the hard face of Elena Kho. Jo had always supposed Elena was kind of attractive, but personally he found her stare slightly unsettling. There was something strange, almost psychotic, about her eyes.
“Jo Slammer,” she smiled. “It's been a long time. I hope you're well.”
“Yes,” he said. “I'm fine, Ms Kho. First though, I was sorry to hear about Kyle. Any news?”
“Nothing yet, Mr Slammer. He's stable, whatever that means.”
“Right.”
“Now, I was told this call was important – priority one actually. Though my lackeys wouldn't say why. I'm incredibly busy at the moment, Jo, so tell me what I can do for you.”
“Right. In short, a Xenon M made contact about twelve mizurae ago.”
“Made contact,” flatly, just a quick raise of her eyebrows showed it was a question.
“Made contact. Yes, I know how that sounds! It says it comes in peace, and is seeking asylum from the Xenon. In exchange it offers information. It says the information is vital to our survival.”
“Amazing...” she hesitated. “I'll get onto the Argon government right away, and I'll send some Novas to support you in case any more show up. For now, just escort it to the nearest trading station. We'll pick things up from there.
“Thank you, Jo, for persevering to let me know about this personally. Sorry if due process slowed you down.”
“It's fine, but that's not all. There's a threat.”
“The ship's a threat?”
“No. Not this ship, but there is a threat on this system. Apparently a Xenon fleet is due to come in from some unknown gate in the North. The Xenon says this fleet will be here within two hours.”
“Two stazurae?”
“Hours. It specifically said 'hours'.”
“Strange. How seriously should we take this, Jo?”
“I don't know. At first I thought it was a trick, I mean if there was a North gate we'd know, right?”
“Ha!” She seemed far from convinced. “Perhaps.”
“But this ship, this M, came from nowhere. There isn't a Xenon system for seven sectors: how else could it get here? And it did appear in the 'roid field to the North. A Teladi who was with me when we made contact was saying something about IR readings from the field.”
“An IR signature? Pretty definitive. What kind of defences do you have over there?”
“Uh... it's just me really. I'm the only M3 here. We've got a couple of M4s, four M5s. There's maybe a dozen other M4s and M5s in the system. That's it.”
“Okay,” Elena Kho's voice had recovered some of its urgency. “I'm going to need to break comms very soon to sort this out. So that you know: this is probably a trick, but I'm going to treat it as a serious threat. Terracorp will scramble our new M2 destroyer, an M6 and as many fighters as we can spare. Hopefully the Argon Navy will also add some ships but we can't count on them, although they'll certainly send a diplomatic envoy. What you need to do first is get that Xenon somewhere secure, preferably in a shielded station where he can't be detected. Disable his weapons first obviously.
“Next... Well, we have to hope this attack doesn't come, or at least that it comes later rather than sooner. We aren't ready for this. In two hours I can't promise more than some fighter ships. Our larger ships will take longer to prep. Until the our M2, or any Argon Navy ships appear on the scene, Slammer, you're in command. You'll need to arrange the defence. If they attack in this time, you've got to make our defence count. This Teladi should be able to tell you where the attack is coming from, so send out some scouts, gather information and organise the fighters. You know the drill. Turn everything to your advantage, Jo. Elena out.”
“Wait! I'm just system patrol. I can't lead the defence! What about the Defence Commander?”
“I know your history, Jo Slammer. Your real history. I can think of no one better.”
...

When they arrived at the station, four mizurae later, the Terraformer ship refused to land.
“Your defences are inadequate. While, security inadequate, is true, I will not land.”
“But...”
Jo tried hard to persuade the Xenon; it would not be persuaded. Finally Jo, exasperated, got their station's two M4 fighters to stand guard over it. 'I don't need this,' he was thinking. 'Work to do. Think it's time to call in the old gang.' He smiled to himself.
“Terracorp Comms, patch me through to LooManckStrat's Legacy.”
...



Part 2: The Seer

“Welcome aboard this Terracorp Station.”
The station defence commander stalked through the docking bay, his chin tucked down onto his over-sized chest, a scowl etched into his face. A ship engineer, attention focused on his hand-held computer, almost had to dive out of the commander's way.
'What's his problem?'

“Terracorp wishes great profits to you.”
'I'm gonna vaporise that damn greeting computer of these days,' the commander was thinking. 'Which one next? Paranid? 'Terracorp honours you...' '
“Terracorp honours your Priest Duke.”
'Grrr! Uhn... The Boron one? God no!' The commander spotted that the lift doors were open; bolted for it. An instant later, he crashed into the elevator quickly tapping the button. The sound-proof doors were closing behind him. 'Come ooon!'
“Welcome friends! Terracorp is pleased to...” The doors cut it off mid-sentence.
He sighed. He just wasn't in the mood for all that. Not today.
...


At that moment, Jo was in a conference call with fighters from all the stations in the system.
“Of course, we stand ready to assist you, Jo” a Boron pilot from the Crystal Fab was saying. “We have only two Makos and six Octopus light fighters, but of course these are at your disposal should the attack occur.”
“Your station can confirm what you say, Jo?” asked an Argon pilot from the Silicon Mine Beta.
“Of course,” Jo answered.
“Okay, I'll talk to my people and they'll talk to your people... you know the drill. Let the bureaucrats do their thing. But I'm sure we'll assist. It's about time we saw some action out here!”
“What have you got?”
“A Buster, three Discos. Our Nova went to escort a company freighter over a maz ago, we haven't seen it since!”
“It's 'bout the same for us,” said the Silicon Mine Alpha representative. “'Cept we got two Busters. Never had nothin' fancy as a Nova. Had an Elite once upon a time. Long time ago.”
“Right,” said Jo. “I'll get back to you all with further instructions later on. Thanks for your help. We can do this thing. There are more ships on the way. Terracorp, Argon military, but these Xenon could be here any miz, so we've gotta be ready. Stay sharp!”

With the call over, Jo did the maths. In the whole system: One M3 heavy fighter – Jo – seven M4 medium fighters, sixteen M5 scouts. It was worse than he had expected. How could he make a defence without defenders? How long did he have? He needed answers.
Jo searched through his comms computer. There. He opened a channel.

“Terracorp patrol beta, Davi Abanty, reporting in.”
“Ah! Davi!” Jo smiled. “Are you flying that ship you told me about?”
“'That Ship'?! You mean my ship? The Teiresias. Damn right I am! Can't let any fool fly this baby!”
“What's it like? You said it's fast, right?”
“Heh! Hell yes! I told you, it's a Disco maxed out and then some. Terracorp maxed it to 490, but then those friendly folk over at Lyrae tweaked it up further. 600mps.”
“Six hundred?”
“Give or take.”
Jo smiled. “I've got a mission for you.”
“Right, right. Station said you were in command. What's the deal with that?”
“Long story, Davi. Tell you all about it over a pint. Right now I need you to do some scouting for me.”
“Hey, for you, Joey: anything! Where d'you want me to go!”
“North. The 'roid field.”
“Sure. What am I looking for?”
“A gate.”
Davi swallowed. “A gate? But...”
“The Xenon M over at the station says there's a gate up there. I have reason...”
“The Xenon says..? Jo do you, you mean..? Zeus, that thing's alive! That Xenon is...”
“Says it's defecting. Whatever. Right now I need confirmation that this gate exists and exactly where it is. Its coordinates. Can you do that.”
“No problem. I've already set a course. I'm wrong side of the system, should reach the edge of the field... under five miz. But this is crazy. A Xenon... told us... Phew! Right, anyway, it's a big field, with low scan visibility. Any ideas where to start?”
“Maybe. Ask that Teladi Vulture when you fly by the station. Think his name's Sandra or something.”
“Teladi?” Davi mock-sighed. “You're the boss.”
...


“Tell me!”
The Station Commander visibly shrank behind his desk. “The order came straight from Kho!” he squeaked. “It's out of my hands.”
“But, how?” the Defence Commander demanded. “Defence is my job. I command our fighter ships, no one else. How did some little patrol pilot with no battle experience usurp it from me.”
“Well... apparently he performs exceptionally well... uh, in the simulators.”
“Simulators!” the Defence Commander looked at him with disbelief. “I helped win this system. I fought in... What's his name again?”
“Slammer. Jo Slammer.”
“Never heard of him!”
“You must have!” the Station Commander pointed out incredulously. “We've only got eleven pilots! He flies our only M3.”
“What can you tell me about him?”
“Uh... not much.”
“Except that he has no battle experience?”
“None. See for yourself.” the Station Commander led the way to the terminal, sat at the controls. “Here. See, no previous M3 experience. Looking through... uh, looking back, as far as I can see... Yes, this assignment was the first time he's flown any fighter ship.”
“Can that be right?”
“He flew a freighter, briefly.”
The Defence Commander stared back at him.
“I'll check the Government database,” the Station Commander said quickly. A mizura passed. “There, see? It's right. No fighter experience. Before this, some freighter work in President's End, then a few jazurae in Space Traffic Control at the Trading Port in Light of Heart.”
“A Space Traffic Controller... in our M3? How the hell did he get the job?”
“It was before my time. Let's see... Ah, look. Here! There was an intervention from management. It looks like he was fast-tracked through the whole application process. He was just presented to all Terracorp stations as an available pilot. We took him on. It was only later when his portfolio arrived that they noticed his qualifications were, um, sparse. My predecessor did investigate, but it turned out Elena Kho was supporting his application, so he let it drop.” The Station Commander shrugged.
“Kho, huh? Well at least now I know,” the Defence Commander said grimly, “Who you gotta cop to get ahead in this place!”
The Station Commander shifted uneasily. He always felt tense around the Defence Commander – the man was volatility incarnate. A comm screen lit up, one of the other stations was trying to get through.
“Kristan,” he said, using the Defence Commander's first name to break the tension. “You're making a big deal out of nothing. Sure Slammer's in command on paper, but who do the pilot's trust? Who are they gonna look to for leadership? Who are they going to have to answer to when this is over?”
The Defence Commander rubbed his hand across his chin.
“Let Jo Slammer have his moment,” the Station Commander went on. “Sit this one out in the background, and just be sure you're ready to make the save when Slammer ahh... cops it all up!
“Now, get on. You've work to do. And I've got to take this call.”
...


Jo was watching Davi's ship pushing into the asteroid field when, in the corner of his eye he saw his scanner screen go blank. He looked directly at it, now just a black screen.
“What the..?”
Without warning it came back to life, and Jo had active-scan coverage of almost the entire central system, including a circle eating into the asteroid field.
'<Phht>' The comms channel burst to life, a Teladi face staring at him. Jo had not even had a chance to press the 'answer' button.
“Aksandros here,” hissed over the comms. “I've streamed data from all the fighters in the system into your scanners. It's two way, so you can now use other ships to scan things outside of your scanner range. It should help you to see what's happening. This isn't really legal, so keep it quiet. Aksandros out.”
“How the hell...”
“What?”
“What did you say? What have you done?”
“Basically,” Askandros sighed. “I've got you a real time scan of the whole system. I patched you into all the other fighters and stations in the system, so now you can see everything they can see. Okay?”
“Wow! Real time? But how did..?”
“I had to bend some laws, but it's basic hacking. You can use their scanners remotely in exactly the same way as you'd use your own. Just don't tell anybody. The other ships don't know we're in their systems! Heh!”
“So I can see everything every other ship in the system can see?”
“Just fighters and stations for now, but yes.”
“Wow... genius! Thanks Sandra!”
“Aksandros.”
“Sure. Um... thanks.”
“Just doing what I can to help. I also told your friend where to find the gate.”
“Thanks again... Aksandros!” Jo sounded out the name. Maybe he had underestimated this Teladi.

A mizura later Jo saw a North Gate appear on his display.
<beep> The comms screen lit up. He pressed the answer button.
“Jo! I've found it,” it was Davi. “A North Gate. Relaying coordinates.”
“That's uh... great. Thanks,” Jo said. Of course Davi didn't know Jo could 'see' the gate already.
“Can I go through?” Davi was asking. “I mean... should I... Do you need me to go through?”
“Yes,” Jo said. “Definitely. Go through, but be careful, it's almost certainly a Xenon sector. Keep right up at 600mps, and don't go near any enemy. Just see what you can see. Find out what you can about this fleet, and then get back here. I need to know what to expect.”
“Wilco,” Davi signed off.
'Wilco?!' Jo was watching on the scanner. Davi's ship really was fast. Jo scanned the Gate through Davi's scanners, it really was that easy! Thank you Aksandros! The Gate's serial number and lock-on frequency registered in his computer's universal map and logged in his data files.
“Excellent.”
He pressed some buttons beside the comms screen.
“Hey, home-base. Patch me back to LooManckStrat's Legacy.”
...


Davi Abanty was fast approaching the Gate's entrance. The Gate was unaligned with the ecliptic, it was about twenty kilometres east, and slightly North of where it should be. It was also tilted, facing almost directly upward – at a right angle to the ecliptic plane.
He pulled his ship's nose around toward the event-horizon of the Gate - the swirling, white shimmer now filling up most of his view. Then, in an instant, the shimmer disappeared. He had passed the point of no return. This was it! For the first time, he was going into a virgin system, a system still uncharted, unseen by human eyes.
The 'gate tunnel'. The endless fall through the neon haze; the distant darkness that got ever so slightly closer. He'd read somewhere that every tunnel ultimately leads to the same super-massive black-hole at the core of the universe. Apparently, this singularity was the driving force behind the Gates.
'The speed of light melts before it's gaze; classical physics is powerless before it!' That's what they'd said. So maybe it wasn't true, but Davi loved the idea. He loved to think that throughout the whole universe, no matter who you are, what you are, or where you're going, this one source fires it all. Davi wondered again: what kind of ancient being could have harnessed that kind of raw power?
Without warning, the tunnel, the free-fall and the singularity was gone and Davi was instantly back in normal space. The space in front of his eyes seemed to warp and melt as his eyes re-adjusted from the motion. Instinctively he hammered the thrusters, nearly 8g of acceleration, and was squeezed up to 600mps. His computer had detected enemy ships nearby. He looked down at his scanners.
“Uh oh.”
...


Jo waited nervously for Davi to reappear.
The scanner up-link had died the moment Davi left the system, Jo had no idea what was going on through there. He just hoped that everything was okay, that the system would be empty and all this was some kind of elaborate bluff, some miscalculation by the Xenon. That would be ideal. That would be perfect. Then he could blow up this M, and get back to his simple life.
Elena Kho was calling.
“Jo,” she said. “How are the preparations going?”
“Well... okay I guess. I mean there's really not much to prepare. I could really use some more ships about now. What's the ETA?”
“That's what I'm calling about, Jo,” she began tentatively. “There's been a delay.”
“What? How bad?”
“A Khaak attack on Home of Light. Two clusters. Both are targeting our Power Plant.”
“Two clusters? Is it..? Isn't that plant right next to HQ?”
“Exactly,” Kho went on. “Our M6 was preparing to jump and our M2 was fuelled, but now we've had to pull them in to defend. Can't risk HQ. Until they're defeated, we can't send much your way.”
Jo sighed. This was getting worse.
“They could be here any minute. They might be here now!”
“A few M4s and M3s are headed your way from neighbouring systems,” Elena continued. “That's all we can offer for now. Our tactical officer estimates the battle here will be over in about 30 miz. We'll get our ships over to you soon after than. You'll have to make do till then.”
“With all due respect,” Jo was almost shouting. “I can't hold the system without ships! Right now a single M2 could destroy every ship I've got! We need some fire-power!”
“I know, Jo. I know. But there's nothing more Terracorp can do right now. These Khaak, the timing, it's almost like they're working with the Xenon. We just don't have the resources to fight both battles.” She trailed off.
Jo was silent.
“We've talked to the Argon government,” Elena went on. “They've got more resources than us, with any luck they'll send in something.”
“Luck?” Jo echoed. “We'll need more than luck.” His voice was low, flat; he was thinking out loud.
Elena looked down as if she was about to sign off, but then she changed her mind.
“Jo,” she said. “Use the Terracorp NavSat network to look around, check the neighbouring systems. Just this once, I'll authorise you a two point five million credit budget to hire extra defenders. Try other stations, look for freelancers. Don't buy. Stretch every credit. Two point five mills should get you at least five M3s on hire.
“Sorry it's not much Jo. It's the best I can do for now, do what you can.”
...


Unnoticed to all, five black ships entered the system through the North Gate. All M3 heavy fighters, one looked a lot like a Paranid Prometheus, three like Pirate Orinoccos, the last an Argon Nova. The ships were entirely black, a dull black – from the tails to the tips of the menacing heavy plasma weapons – dark as the void. Even the reflective coating on the cockpits was somehow much darker than usual. There were none of the usual safety lights on these ships, none of the standard radio signals were being transmitted: no identification codes, no license keys. No signals of any kind came from these strange ships. The thruster trails were equally strange. Unlike those of the known races, these trails, seen closely, looked like a small line of dark grey smoke. A smudge. More distantly, they didn't look like anything at all. Beyond a few kilometres these trails were almost invisible, as were the ships.
Unnoticed to all, these ships slipped silently west into the heart of the asteroid field.
...

-----------------------
Chapter Three - Scramble...

[KiwiNZ]

Good one. I particularly like '...inadequate is true ...'
Ol' Elena still is hard to get hold of.

Looking forward to seeing how that develops.

[bladeuk]

Very interesting, getting to a good pace, cant wait for some action!

[X-Periment]

Good one, man. Good one. Yo, I have an offer refusing is false:

Can you make the cover of your fanfic in 3D?

[The Zig]

Thanks people!
It took me a while getting the Xenon dialogue about right. Glad you liked it!
You can expect Chapter 2, part 2, probably... Thursday. I'll post it up on this thread at the top (so that it follows straight on from part 1).

A cover? ... Think I need to get the story done first! Seriously!
Although a 3D cover would be VERY cool! To be honest tho, I kinda suck at digital art! If anyone out there's into digital art and fancies giving it a go, you got my blessing. A picture of a Xenon drone would be cool! Or with the title 'Terraformer Dreams' maybe a picture of 'The Beach Borons'!!



I'll set it so that my e-mail's visible, anyone who feels inspired to do one can contact me!

[X-Periment]

Can do, Z. Expect to make a flash movie about it. But remember: an only cool Flash Movie is a video Flash movie. If yoU're done, send it to www.newgrounds.com . your fans shall be praised - including me!

[RSDark_Angel]

good story, sounds like theres gonna be a lot of tension and suspense later on I canna wait laddie!

[The Zig]

Okay,
Full second chapter up now.
Just scraped Thursday (as sorta promised!).. Now my fingers hurt!
Still all talk, I know, but I've a feeling the action should kick off pretty soon...

Z

[KiwiNZ]

Excellent second part. Good tension and good description of details. I guess with the Disco leaving the Xenon system we will also have the battle commence.

Looking forward to the next part!

[Barron]

..a great story so far ...looking forward to continuations

[Jsangster]

Can't wait to read more

[Glumski]

Hmmm!
A very nice story!
It was hard to understand, 'cause I'm German, but I like your story very much!

I would write you a longer comment, but my English... I can understand it a kind of good, but writing in English is difficult!
May I translate it into German (I would post it in the German "Kreative Zone")?
I think it would take its time and maybe I would need a little help. but I think, I can do it.
Greets from Germany
Glumski

I will read "First house of Argon" tomorrow!
Oh, and my typical question: Where is chapter three?

[Lord of Nothing]

At the end of the story text.

[The Zig]

Thanks for the feedback.

Chapter Three is linked at the bottom of the text of chapter two. At the bottom of the first post on this thread. I read a few stories where you had to search around the forum for the next part, and it isn't fun, so I tried to link all my chapters together with 'story so far' links at the top, and a 'next chapter' link at the bottom. Hope that helps.

A lot of the links went dead once though, when egosoft changed the forum URL. I think I fixed them all, but if any of the links are still dead, let me know, and I'll fix them.

For convenience, here's a direct link to chapter 3 >> http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=88182

May I translate it into German (I would post it in the German "Kreative Zone")?
I think it would take its time and maybe I would need a little help. but I think, I can do it.

Yes. You're certainly welcome. Although, look before you leap! It's a big job. If you follow the links, you'll find there are twelve chapters plus an epilogue. And I experimented a bit with style too. But if you do want to do it, I'll help however I can.
(Although, I'm sorry to say that almost all my knowledge of German has been pushed out by Japanese in the last few years.)


It's nice to have a thread on the front page after all this time!

[Glumski]

I've found C3 yesterday...
I've read the whole story now and it's very nice. At "First House Of Argon" I'm at forum-page 4.

If I translate the sory, I will need a long time, but I think it's worth the time.
I didn't understand every word, but I could translate it out of the context.
I think I'll beginn with C1 in two or three weeks (I'm in holidays with our school class).

Thanks for the very nice story!
Glumski

[The Zig]

Cool!
Glad you liked the story!

As for translation - that's fantastic! If you need any help or clarification on anything, let me know, and I'll help however I can.

Edit:

p.s. It's great that you can read a story in another language. One of my ambitions with Japanese is to learn enough that I can read their literature and mythology. Sadly 'kanji' (Chinese style picture-writing) remains a BIIIG obstacle in acheiving this.

[Glumski]

I think your story is one of the best storys I ever read! (OK, maybe it's very bad English, I only know THAT it's English! If I were English I maybe wouldn't like it! I don't know!)

Well, your story isn't short...
I think I would need a few weeks for C1, maybe more or less.
But as long as there a websites like leo.org NOT GOOGLE TRANSLATOR there are no words I can't translate. The weapons could be difficult!
(IRE) Impuls Ray Emitter=(ISE) Impulsstrahlen Emmiter
or
PPS,
but I think I'll make it!

Well, Enlish is the world language, the lingua franca! I'm in grade nine now (at school) and this is my third story I read in English...
Chinese, Japanese and the other Asian languages are moe difficult than European languages! Most of the languages in Europe are made of Latin, in Asia it is something other! An Asian could learn Asian languages easier than European ones...

Good luck!
Glumski

[Glumski]

Ok, I've translated part 1 (chapter 2) now.
Here is the translation.

Of course I'll translate all the comments.

Greets from GE
Glumski

EDIT: In the German Creative Zone (Kreative Zone) we have to say for which age the story is. I set the age to 16+, OK?

[The Zig]

Sorry for the late reply.
RL's gone crazier, and this forum fell totally off my "to do" list!

Good progress on the translation. Wish I knew enough German to help out.

16+ seems like a fair age, as there is some violence in it.
Thanks again.

[Glumski]

Well, a late reply is better than no reply.
Who or what is RL?

Well, the translation isn't too difficult. As long as there are sites like dict.cc or leo.de I can handle it.

Yes. Twelve would be too low and 18 too high. But everybody in the "Kreative Zone" is reading the storys he/she wants to.

Greets
Glumski