(no subject)
Nov. 1st, 2006 08:18 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tigerAnd heeeere we go. Starting with this entry, we have the NaNo 2006 attempt.
"RED ALERT! RED ALERT! BRAVO SQUAD PILOTS REPORT TO FLIGHT DECK!"
The alarm shook Captain Robert Corlo from a light sleep, and he was dressed and ready to fly not 5 minutes later, having had the Red Alert drill pounded into his skull since he was nothing but a green recruit. Putting on the flight suit in 1 G was always difficult; ever since he left his home he had to wear an exo-frame which allowed him some semblance of "normal" movement, but made getting dressed in an emergency difficult. Shutting the last closure on the frame not only completed his dressing, but also powered it on, reducing him from the otherwise oppressive weight to something closer to the .5 G that he grew up with, thanks to the gravity field generated by the frame. He carefully checked the charge on the frame's power pack, and made a mental note to hook into the his fighter's power grid as soon as possible. Making his way down the corridor and across the hall from the pilot bunks to the over deck, he joined the rest of his team in the briefing room to get their orders.
The briefing lasted no more then five minutes. A Shivan droneship had been spotted en-route to the planet they were currently in a holding orbit around, and they had been on standby to defend the planet. There was the ship he was on, the Sir Edmund Hillary, which would provide fighter escort and defense against the swarms of drones the ship would release once it got within range. The task of destroying the droneship belonged to the destroyer Sh'Maa and it's impressive array of plasma cannon and anit-matter missles. The truce between the Tigereans and the Humans was previously tenuous at best, but the Shivans threatened all life in the systems they targeted. With that in mind, an alliance was struck between the two races in order to destroy a common threat which threatened not only them, but all life in the galaxy. Bravo Squad was to keep the droneships from entering atmosphere. The other squadron aboard the Saint Helens would keep the drones from attacking the three capital ships while they focused on the dronship itself. The briefing over, they all trooped into the departure bay adjacent to the briefing room. The squadron all climbed into the life support pods on their respective fightercraft. They all were flying buzzsaw class fighters while the pilots of Alpha Squad had already launched in their tornado class bombers to head over the the Sh'Maa for a briefing by the Commander on how the assault on the dronship was to take place. Robert boarded, made sure that his frame connected squarely and completely to the attachments on the life pod, and verified that the power interconnects were in place and working. When he was satisfied that all was working properly, he signalled READY to the squadron leader and his CO: Lt. Colonel Ted "Action" Jackson, who was a decorated vetren of the last Earth - Tigerean war. The radio crackled to life as his pod's entry panel sealed up. "Bravo Squad, this is Bravo One. Prepare for Combat. The droneship has just entered the system and is five minutes out. Flight control will automatically queue for departure in 15 second intervals. Go get em! Bravo One out." The room turned red as the doors sealed and Jackson's pod sank backwards out of the room afterwards, with a heavy blast door sealing the space that the pod was occupying. The rest of the squadron left in the same manner in 10 second intervals.
Robert's callsign was Bravo Six. He was the fourth out of the gate, and just just arriving at the directed holding area when his ship's AI announced that the first wave of drones were heading in the irection where they were stationed at. The battle started, and the space around the planet started to become filled with the sounded explosions of drones being torn apart by the buzzsaw's four anti-matter streamers. The fighter's on-board AI handled the tasks of life support, damage control, and targeting the four streamers. The donres they were fighting had no sheilds to protect them, but the Shivans made for that with the sheer number of drones that a ship carried. The first wave of drones stood at nearly 2,000 individual targets, all controlled by the droneship's onboard intellagence. The battle was fierce, but none of Bravo squadron were severly damaged in the first assault. By the fifth wave when the droneship was finaly taken down, Bravo had three ships that damaged in one way or the other that effectively took them out of the running. The ships were taking advantage by a short lull when it happened. Robert's ship was doing ok even though it's upper starboard "arm" had been damaged when a shivan fighter had detonated near the enginepod and knocked it offline. Robert and the fighter's on-board had compensated for it when the AI sounded an alarm. "Bravo squad! This is Bravo Six! I've incoming on my starboard side! Assistance req-"
One drone that had managed to survive the fighting was making a last ditch effort to get to the surface of the planet, and was rushing at Robert's fighter at the maximum speed it could travel. Before the AI or robert had a chnge to spin the limping fighter to train it's canon on the drone, it collided with the fighter, slamming into it at nearly 200 kph. The impact knocked all electrical systems offline, destroyed the damaged engine pod and damaging the lower starboard engine pod. The main body of the fighter took the rest of the impact, putting the lifepod into statis after the carrier frame was caved inward and into contact with the pod. To the ship's credit, the lifepod's integrity was not breached, which left Robert in a very bad situation: his ship was drifting to the surface, and the ships that were in range were not able to assist him in any way.
Robert regained conciousness, and tried to get the AI to give him a damage report. When the Ai didn't respond, he instinctivly felt with his left arm to the circuit panel, and hit the switch for the emergency lights. In the dim red glow of the lighting, he saw his worst nightmare unfolding. The right side of his pod was dented inward at a dangerous angle, the navigation controls smashed beyond use. "If I could get the AI running, I might be able to see about that," he thought. By feel he found the breaker for the onboard computer, and flipped it back on. A visual inspection of what he could see outside the pod indicated that the port side of his ship was OK, so he brought the port side back up. The radio came to life at the fifth breaker: "BRAVO SIX, PLEASE RESPOND. OVER" The mechanical boardcast was toneless, and he pressed the reply button. "Bravo squad, this is Bravo six. I've taken severe damage. My AI is re-starting, so I'll have damage control information ina bit. If possible, I need someone to tell me what systems on the starboard side are remaining. Over." The reply was immediate: "Bravo Six, this is Bravo Two." This was Major John Anderhall's callsign. "Although I am unable to assist, I can give you visual on your damage. Upper Starboard arm is gone, lower appears to be venting near the engine pod. Serious damage on main trunk where uper arm used to be. Port side appears to be OK. After trunk and Fore trunk appears to be OK. In addition, you are adrift , and based on my vector plot, you will be entering the planet's gravity well in ten minutes at your current rate. Over." Robert groaned. Great, I survived a diret impact only to crash. Vunderbar. "Bravo Two, Bravo Six. Thanks for the report. My AI should be coming up shortly, I'll see if she's able to bail me out. If not, I'll see you planetside. Bravo Two out." The AI responded seconds later that it was gathering data on the remaining system. a minute later it returned with the sad news. It could not get him out of the well, but it could at least slow him down enough so make a salvageable landing attempt. Roberte shrugged, and actioned it. Bravo One radio'd in during the final positioning thrust that he had contacted The Hillary and they would send down a rescue team as soon at they found where he was going to hit. "Sit tight, dude. We'll get you out of this yet." Robert Acknowleged this as the final re-entry burn started, and his fighter fell from the sky
The re-entry burn was as perfect as a heavily damaged 45 ton starfighter could manage, and what little aerodynamics that the fighter offered in atmosphere were not enough. The fighter protected it's passenger one final time as the craft came down on it's port arms and backwards. There was enough lateral movement that the crash site was a smear against the wooded landscape some 100 yards long and 30 yards wide, the pieces spread in a fan originating from the impact point. Robert's last thought just before the craft hit was Let me live, or die quickly. The glowing contrail of the engine's exhaust was visible for several miles in all directions, and was noticed by the inhabitants, who did the most sensible thing after being told to stay inside: they contact the local law enforcement and told them what happened, who were dispatched along with a medic to the scene of the crash. The fire brigade was also dispatched to put out the small fire that had started due to the engines being at full thrust to try and slow the crippled ship down to make the impact survivable. The brigade moved easily, and got the fires out within minutes of their arrival. Then they went to inspect the crafdt that had made such a blazing entrace onto this world, their tails twitching nervously as the smell of superheated metal permeated the air.
(1693/1667)
"RED ALERT! RED ALERT! BRAVO SQUAD PILOTS REPORT TO FLIGHT DECK!"
The alarm shook Captain Robert Corlo from a light sleep, and he was dressed and ready to fly not 5 minutes later, having had the Red Alert drill pounded into his skull since he was nothing but a green recruit. Putting on the flight suit in 1 G was always difficult; ever since he left his home he had to wear an exo-frame which allowed him some semblance of "normal" movement, but made getting dressed in an emergency difficult. Shutting the last closure on the frame not only completed his dressing, but also powered it on, reducing him from the otherwise oppressive weight to something closer to the .5 G that he grew up with, thanks to the gravity field generated by the frame. He carefully checked the charge on the frame's power pack, and made a mental note to hook into the his fighter's power grid as soon as possible. Making his way down the corridor and across the hall from the pilot bunks to the over deck, he joined the rest of his team in the briefing room to get their orders.
The briefing lasted no more then five minutes. A Shivan droneship had been spotted en-route to the planet they were currently in a holding orbit around, and they had been on standby to defend the planet. There was the ship he was on, the Sir Edmund Hillary, which would provide fighter escort and defense against the swarms of drones the ship would release once it got within range. The task of destroying the droneship belonged to the destroyer Sh'Maa and it's impressive array of plasma cannon and anit-matter missles. The truce between the Tigereans and the Humans was previously tenuous at best, but the Shivans threatened all life in the systems they targeted. With that in mind, an alliance was struck between the two races in order to destroy a common threat which threatened not only them, but all life in the galaxy. Bravo Squad was to keep the droneships from entering atmosphere. The other squadron aboard the Saint Helens would keep the drones from attacking the three capital ships while they focused on the dronship itself. The briefing over, they all trooped into the departure bay adjacent to the briefing room. The squadron all climbed into the life support pods on their respective fightercraft. They all were flying buzzsaw class fighters while the pilots of Alpha Squad had already launched in their tornado class bombers to head over the the Sh'Maa for a briefing by the Commander on how the assault on the dronship was to take place. Robert boarded, made sure that his frame connected squarely and completely to the attachments on the life pod, and verified that the power interconnects were in place and working. When he was satisfied that all was working properly, he signalled READY to the squadron leader and his CO: Lt. Colonel Ted "Action" Jackson, who was a decorated vetren of the last Earth - Tigerean war. The radio crackled to life as his pod's entry panel sealed up. "Bravo Squad, this is Bravo One. Prepare for Combat. The droneship has just entered the system and is five minutes out. Flight control will automatically queue for departure in 15 second intervals. Go get em! Bravo One out." The room turned red as the doors sealed and Jackson's pod sank backwards out of the room afterwards, with a heavy blast door sealing the space that the pod was occupying. The rest of the squadron left in the same manner in 10 second intervals.
Robert's callsign was Bravo Six. He was the fourth out of the gate, and just just arriving at the directed holding area when his ship's AI announced that the first wave of drones were heading in the irection where they were stationed at. The battle started, and the space around the planet started to become filled with the sounded explosions of drones being torn apart by the buzzsaw's four anti-matter streamers. The fighter's on-board AI handled the tasks of life support, damage control, and targeting the four streamers. The donres they were fighting had no sheilds to protect them, but the Shivans made for that with the sheer number of drones that a ship carried. The first wave of drones stood at nearly 2,000 individual targets, all controlled by the droneship's onboard intellagence. The battle was fierce, but none of Bravo squadron were severly damaged in the first assault. By the fifth wave when the droneship was finaly taken down, Bravo had three ships that damaged in one way or the other that effectively took them out of the running. The ships were taking advantage by a short lull when it happened. Robert's ship was doing ok even though it's upper starboard "arm" had been damaged when a shivan fighter had detonated near the enginepod and knocked it offline. Robert and the fighter's on-board had compensated for it when the AI sounded an alarm. "Bravo squad! This is Bravo Six! I've incoming on my starboard side! Assistance req-"
One drone that had managed to survive the fighting was making a last ditch effort to get to the surface of the planet, and was rushing at Robert's fighter at the maximum speed it could travel. Before the AI or robert had a chnge to spin the limping fighter to train it's canon on the drone, it collided with the fighter, slamming into it at nearly 200 kph. The impact knocked all electrical systems offline, destroyed the damaged engine pod and damaging the lower starboard engine pod. The main body of the fighter took the rest of the impact, putting the lifepod into statis after the carrier frame was caved inward and into contact with the pod. To the ship's credit, the lifepod's integrity was not breached, which left Robert in a very bad situation: his ship was drifting to the surface, and the ships that were in range were not able to assist him in any way.
Robert regained conciousness, and tried to get the AI to give him a damage report. When the Ai didn't respond, he instinctivly felt with his left arm to the circuit panel, and hit the switch for the emergency lights. In the dim red glow of the lighting, he saw his worst nightmare unfolding. The right side of his pod was dented inward at a dangerous angle, the navigation controls smashed beyond use. "If I could get the AI running, I might be able to see about that," he thought. By feel he found the breaker for the onboard computer, and flipped it back on. A visual inspection of what he could see outside the pod indicated that the port side of his ship was OK, so he brought the port side back up. The radio came to life at the fifth breaker: "BRAVO SIX, PLEASE RESPOND. OVER" The mechanical boardcast was toneless, and he pressed the reply button. "Bravo squad, this is Bravo six. I've taken severe damage. My AI is re-starting, so I'll have damage control information ina bit. If possible, I need someone to tell me what systems on the starboard side are remaining. Over." The reply was immediate: "Bravo Six, this is Bravo Two." This was Major John Anderhall's callsign. "Although I am unable to assist, I can give you visual on your damage. Upper Starboard arm is gone, lower appears to be venting near the engine pod. Serious damage on main trunk where uper arm used to be. Port side appears to be OK. After trunk and Fore trunk appears to be OK. In addition, you are adrift , and based on my vector plot, you will be entering the planet's gravity well in ten minutes at your current rate. Over." Robert groaned. Great, I survived a diret impact only to crash. Vunderbar. "Bravo Two, Bravo Six. Thanks for the report. My AI should be coming up shortly, I'll see if she's able to bail me out. If not, I'll see you planetside. Bravo Two out." The AI responded seconds later that it was gathering data on the remaining system. a minute later it returned with the sad news. It could not get him out of the well, but it could at least slow him down enough so make a salvageable landing attempt. Roberte shrugged, and actioned it. Bravo One radio'd in during the final positioning thrust that he had contacted The Hillary and they would send down a rescue team as soon at they found where he was going to hit. "Sit tight, dude. We'll get you out of this yet." Robert Acknowleged this as the final re-entry burn started, and his fighter fell from the sky
The re-entry burn was as perfect as a heavily damaged 45 ton starfighter could manage, and what little aerodynamics that the fighter offered in atmosphere were not enough. The fighter protected it's passenger one final time as the craft came down on it's port arms and backwards. There was enough lateral movement that the crash site was a smear against the wooded landscape some 100 yards long and 30 yards wide, the pieces spread in a fan originating from the impact point. Robert's last thought just before the craft hit was Let me live, or die quickly. The glowing contrail of the engine's exhaust was visible for several miles in all directions, and was noticed by the inhabitants, who did the most sensible thing after being told to stay inside: they contact the local law enforcement and told them what happened, who were dispatched along with a medic to the scene of the crash. The fire brigade was also dispatched to put out the small fire that had started due to the engines being at full thrust to try and slow the crippled ship down to make the impact survivable. The brigade moved easily, and got the fires out within minutes of their arrival. Then they went to inspect the crafdt that had made such a blazing entrace onto this world, their tails twitching nervously as the smell of superheated metal permeated the air.
(1693/1667)
