The proximity alarm beeped just loud enough for the solitary figure open his eyes and look at the screen. There it was, a radar blip. A ship coming through the ionosphere. Someone was coming to visit.
“I guess we’d better roll out the red carpet,� the man said to himself, or to the computer. He wasn’t sure who he talked to anymore and didn’t much care. He had been alone for so long that he had developed the habit of talking to himself. It was a habit he had to suppress at times when absolute stillness was required. He was thin and tall with large hands and the dirty blond hair in the Aries style: straight, soft, and unstyled. It just lay there on his skull as though it were poured onto his head and solidified as it fell. His body, when he wasn’t actively doing something, was perfectly still, while his eyes roamed the room like caged birds trapped in that unmoving skull.
He reached for the Gauss rifle that he kept next to the cot. It was an enormous weapon that was as tall as his two meters if it stood on end. The man tapped a button that opened the pressure seal on the outer door. Aries had an atmosphere, but the heat was so extreme that it did not allow for open windows. The iron hatch balked and then rumbled aside with a deep groan.
Light from the large red sun streaked in as the hatch opened, and red dust caught in its rays glowed like a hydrogen-rich emission nebula. The air came in like a blast from an oven, and the figure flinched slightly as it stung his face before he put his mask on and drew the enormous rifle down to find the ship coming into range. From his craggy mountain fortress, the man could see and shoot anything within twenty clicks. He had a kill zone the size of a small country.
In the crosshairs, he could see the ship landing at a respectable distance. The cockpit opened and someone stepped out. He zoomed the scope in on the pilot until the crosshair was neatly centered on the pilot’s helmet. He thought about squeezing the trigger, itched to do so, as he hadn’t killed anyone for several days and was beginning to get bored, but he thought he should at least find out who it was first. The pilot was looking right at him, too, apparently knowing that he had a rifle trained on him from about ten clicks away. He waved. The pilot was someone who knew his habits. Since that someone was still alive, the man concluded that he must be a friend.
He trained the rifle on the ship itself: an old-model Wraith with stealth alterations. The nose of the ship showed a female harlequin.
“Hmm, the nefarious Captain Devious is here,� he mumbled as he closed the hatch, set the rifle down. He then went into the back of the cave to boil water for tea. After putting the kettle on, he sat down and watched the pilot’s progress on his monitor.
An hour later, the pilot arrived and respectfully waited to be invited inside.
“Don’t just stand there, come in.� The man pressed the switch to allow the hatch to open. Devious stood uncertainly in the portal and then walked in, taking off his helmet.
“Good afternoon,� said Devious.
“Well, well, well, I’m honored,� said the Aries man with barely detectable sarcasm. “What great event precipitates the arrival of the esteemed Captain Devious?�
“Hello, Doctor Scope! It’s great to see you again. I see you’ve been keeping fit despite the heat,� said Devious, a wide cheese-eating grin pushing up the corners of his moustache.
“Whatever you’re selling, I’m not interested. Tea?�
“Earl Grey, thank you,� replied Devious. The two men sat down on the pile of rags that passed for Scope’s sofa. “You haven’t even heard what I have to say and you’re already dismissing me.�
“What could you say, you unrepentant miscreant, that could possibly interest me?�
“Let me put it to you this way,� said Devious after a few sips of tea. “We want to give you the opportunity to put a slug through the cranium of a vonari.�
Scope set his tea down. “Okay, I’m in.�
Insertion
-
Nigel_Strange
- Captain
- Posts: 1254
- Joined: Fri Mar 25, 2005 5:51 am
Insertion
He loved it: the feeling of speed, of acceleration. He loved it more than anything else. When he pushed the throttle full forward, “balls to the wall� as the ancient fighter pilots used to say, and felt his body being embraced by the force of acceleration, his entire being was bathed in a kind of bliss that he could find nowhere else.
The pilot pushed his little souped-up Raven past the limits where most pilots would begin to whimper. The cave walls blurred past, but he knew where he was going and how to get there. The other speedy fighters were already assembling around the energy ball, waiting for him to try his move. They could not catch the Skymaven, though. Nobody could.
Skymaven unfocused his visual attention. It was a trick he had developed to increase his situational awareness. Most people focus their attention on what they’re directly looking at. It’s just human nature. The fovea of the eye is the most densely packed area of the retina, jammed with photoreceptors, neuroganglia, and a big, fat pipe that runs to the brain called the optic nerve. For most people, the fovea handles almost everything they take in: what they look directly at is what they see. Skymaven, however, had mastered the trick of spreading his attention from what was directly in front of his eyes, so that he could take in more around him. He scanned the positions and trajectories of the craft from the other side and mentally plotted where they would be in his mental representation of the three dimensional cave interior. He plotted the best course for his own ship, anticipating everyone else’s moves, and then executed the plan, all within the blink of an eye. Before anyone could respond, he had the energy ball in his tractor beam and was already swinging around a cave wall back to the goal. His situational awareness was a full 360. He couldn’t see it all at once, but he could feel it. He could take it in with his peripheral vision, the orb, reflections off the canopy. It all added up to a representation of his universe and through it, he flew like a hummingbird.
“Once again, Skymaven takes the ball for the Jets. Dan Somber is one of the best guards in E-ball. The Newts are lucky to have him, but even he can’t stop the Skymaven from his goal. Skymaven is up the north end of the cave and swinging through the eastern bottleneck, where Elke and Zain are waiting to try to intercept.� The announcer droned on as the crowds in various bars and seedy gambling dens across the Pearl system cheered, booed, or quietly exchanged money.
He felt it before he saw it. A particle cannonade dislodged some rock from a nearby cave all. Someone was shooting at him. Bastards! He thought. E-ball was supposed to be a no-weapons game, but some idiot either didn’t read the rules or chose not to abide by them. Well, let them try, he thought. They couldn’t get him in their gunsights. It just made the cave look a little more colorful with lasers and particle cannons lighting the way for him. As he rounded a corner, another pilot from the Newts rushed at him in a clumsy and (to Skymaven) sluggish attempt to dislodge the energy ball from his beam. Skymaven cut the throttle and glided forward, then, as the other ship came, he spun 360 degrees on his pitch axis, releasing the tractor beam just at the right moment to send the energy ball sailing over the other ship, meanwhile, he engaged his thrusters so carry his little Raven beneath the ship. He then gunned the afterburners and re-captured the energy ball as it ricocheted off the cave wall. The announcer and the crowds, wherever they were, roared with delight.
Zain, who had been shooting at him, launched a missile. Skymaven heard the incoming klaxon and looked down at the orb to see where the missile had come from. “Big mistake,� he said, simultaneously releasing the energy ball so that it would continue coasting forward toward the goal, engaging the reverse afterburners, and using the attitude thrusters to change his vector so the missile would pass overhead. Zain watched as Skymaven’s ship screamed toward him, backwards. He tried to turn in order to avoid the collision, but he was too slow. At the last minute, Skymaven flashed his forward afterburners in Zain’s windshield, causing him to flinch and look away, blinded by the exhaust. Skymaven then dropped a flare right on the nose of Zain’s craft and casually drifted away as Zain’s own missile, which had been chasing Skymaven all this time, homed in on his own ship. Meanwhile, the energy ball had drifted into the goal.
“Skymaven scores!� cried the announcer. Although sound does not travel through the vast distances or the vacuum of space, Skymaven imagined that he heard the throngs of exultant fans chanting his name, and the resentment of the fans of the other team turning their lunches into indigestible bile.
Zain heard the announcement as he blinked from the flash of Skymaven’s exhaust. Then, a second later, as his vision began to return, he saw for a tiny fraction of a second his own warhead cracking the glass of his windshield.
The explosion shook the cave, but there was no sound. No sound at all…except the smug laughter in Skymaven’s cockpit. He had won the game, and now it was time to go home. He found the exact location in the cave, angled his ship to point at the precise heading, and engaged the fulcrum jump drive. The cave sped past in an increasingly blurred vagueness as he was bathed in the blue glow of the warp tunnel. His hand went to the shield controls.
Suddenly, he heard the wind tearing at his ship as the white-hot ionized atmosphere cascaded from his wingtips. He simultaneously slammed the reverse afterburners and maximized the forward shield, keeping an eye on his shields as the front absorbed all the energy from the back and sides. After the back and side shields were almost gone, he released the shield routing button to let them equalize. By this time, he had slowed to the point where he was no longer burning in the atmosphere. After a few more minutes of flying, he landed near his home on Pearl. As the cockpit opened, still hot and smoking from his reckless atmospheric jump, he saw another pilot leaning against his home next to the front door.
“Nice flying, as always,� said Captain Devious.
“Thanks,� said Skymaven, taking off his gloves and helmet and dropping them into the cockpit. He swung himself out and walked toward the other man. “How’s life in the savage, uncivilized Rift?� he asked.
“Heating up,� said the captain. “I don’t suppose I could interest you in a job.�
“A job?� Skymaven looked disappointed. He debated silently whether or not to let the man in for a drink. “How mundane.�
“Well, more of a ‘caper,’ actually.�
“A caper, is it? Well, you had better come in and explain over a drink.�
The pilot pushed his little souped-up Raven past the limits where most pilots would begin to whimper. The cave walls blurred past, but he knew where he was going and how to get there. The other speedy fighters were already assembling around the energy ball, waiting for him to try his move. They could not catch the Skymaven, though. Nobody could.
Skymaven unfocused his visual attention. It was a trick he had developed to increase his situational awareness. Most people focus their attention on what they’re directly looking at. It’s just human nature. The fovea of the eye is the most densely packed area of the retina, jammed with photoreceptors, neuroganglia, and a big, fat pipe that runs to the brain called the optic nerve. For most people, the fovea handles almost everything they take in: what they look directly at is what they see. Skymaven, however, had mastered the trick of spreading his attention from what was directly in front of his eyes, so that he could take in more around him. He scanned the positions and trajectories of the craft from the other side and mentally plotted where they would be in his mental representation of the three dimensional cave interior. He plotted the best course for his own ship, anticipating everyone else’s moves, and then executed the plan, all within the blink of an eye. Before anyone could respond, he had the energy ball in his tractor beam and was already swinging around a cave wall back to the goal. His situational awareness was a full 360. He couldn’t see it all at once, but he could feel it. He could take it in with his peripheral vision, the orb, reflections off the canopy. It all added up to a representation of his universe and through it, he flew like a hummingbird.
“Once again, Skymaven takes the ball for the Jets. Dan Somber is one of the best guards in E-ball. The Newts are lucky to have him, but even he can’t stop the Skymaven from his goal. Skymaven is up the north end of the cave and swinging through the eastern bottleneck, where Elke and Zain are waiting to try to intercept.� The announcer droned on as the crowds in various bars and seedy gambling dens across the Pearl system cheered, booed, or quietly exchanged money.
He felt it before he saw it. A particle cannonade dislodged some rock from a nearby cave all. Someone was shooting at him. Bastards! He thought. E-ball was supposed to be a no-weapons game, but some idiot either didn’t read the rules or chose not to abide by them. Well, let them try, he thought. They couldn’t get him in their gunsights. It just made the cave look a little more colorful with lasers and particle cannons lighting the way for him. As he rounded a corner, another pilot from the Newts rushed at him in a clumsy and (to Skymaven) sluggish attempt to dislodge the energy ball from his beam. Skymaven cut the throttle and glided forward, then, as the other ship came, he spun 360 degrees on his pitch axis, releasing the tractor beam just at the right moment to send the energy ball sailing over the other ship, meanwhile, he engaged his thrusters so carry his little Raven beneath the ship. He then gunned the afterburners and re-captured the energy ball as it ricocheted off the cave wall. The announcer and the crowds, wherever they were, roared with delight.
Zain, who had been shooting at him, launched a missile. Skymaven heard the incoming klaxon and looked down at the orb to see where the missile had come from. “Big mistake,� he said, simultaneously releasing the energy ball so that it would continue coasting forward toward the goal, engaging the reverse afterburners, and using the attitude thrusters to change his vector so the missile would pass overhead. Zain watched as Skymaven’s ship screamed toward him, backwards. He tried to turn in order to avoid the collision, but he was too slow. At the last minute, Skymaven flashed his forward afterburners in Zain’s windshield, causing him to flinch and look away, blinded by the exhaust. Skymaven then dropped a flare right on the nose of Zain’s craft and casually drifted away as Zain’s own missile, which had been chasing Skymaven all this time, homed in on his own ship. Meanwhile, the energy ball had drifted into the goal.
“Skymaven scores!� cried the announcer. Although sound does not travel through the vast distances or the vacuum of space, Skymaven imagined that he heard the throngs of exultant fans chanting his name, and the resentment of the fans of the other team turning their lunches into indigestible bile.
Zain heard the announcement as he blinked from the flash of Skymaven’s exhaust. Then, a second later, as his vision began to return, he saw for a tiny fraction of a second his own warhead cracking the glass of his windshield.
The explosion shook the cave, but there was no sound. No sound at all…except the smug laughter in Skymaven’s cockpit. He had won the game, and now it was time to go home. He found the exact location in the cave, angled his ship to point at the precise heading, and engaged the fulcrum jump drive. The cave sped past in an increasingly blurred vagueness as he was bathed in the blue glow of the warp tunnel. His hand went to the shield controls.
Suddenly, he heard the wind tearing at his ship as the white-hot ionized atmosphere cascaded from his wingtips. He simultaneously slammed the reverse afterburners and maximized the forward shield, keeping an eye on his shields as the front absorbed all the energy from the back and sides. After the back and side shields were almost gone, he released the shield routing button to let them equalize. By this time, he had slowed to the point where he was no longer burning in the atmosphere. After a few more minutes of flying, he landed near his home on Pearl. As the cockpit opened, still hot and smoking from his reckless atmospheric jump, he saw another pilot leaning against his home next to the front door.
“Nice flying, as always,� said Captain Devious.
“Thanks,� said Skymaven, taking off his gloves and helmet and dropping them into the cockpit. He swung himself out and walked toward the other man. “How’s life in the savage, uncivilized Rift?� he asked.
“Heating up,� said the captain. “I don’t suppose I could interest you in a job.�
“A job?� Skymaven looked disappointed. He debated silently whether or not to let the man in for a drink. “How mundane.�
“Well, more of a ‘caper,’ actually.�
“A caper, is it? Well, you had better come in and explain over a drink.�
-
warsign
- Captain
- Posts: 1775
- Joined: Thu Apr 24, 2008 10:04 am
Insertion
What a game! Like it. We have to play this in MP! (exists in the game, how many of you know it?)
This story has just begun from different ways which I prefer more!
He combines a team for the job!
Gorgeous! Just downright mean...
-warsign
[Edited on 7-13-2009 by warsign]
This story has just begun from different ways which I prefer more!
He combines a team for the job!
Gorgeous! Just downright mean...
-warsign
[Edited on 7-13-2009 by warsign]
-
Maarschalk
- Captain
- Posts: 7645
- Joined: Wed Feb 25, 2009 12:24 am
- Location: USA, Also check your six!
Insertion
Yes it exists in the Game, and I think only a few know about it. Some stumbled upon it not knowing what these things were. I myself discovered some of them this way! The Game seems to exist in at least 2 places! One in a Cave and one in a Nebulae!Originally posted by warsign
What a game! Like it. We have to play this in MP! (exists in the game, how many of you know it?)
This story has just begun from different ways which I prefer more!
He combines a team for the job!
Gorgeous! Just downright mean...
-warsign
[Edited on 7-13-2009 by warsign]
Arvoch Alliance Stat:
Evochron Legends Stats:
Evochron Mercenary Stats:
Darkness is the absence of Light as Evil is the absence of Good
Evochron Legends Stats:
Evochron Mercenary Stats:
Darkness is the absence of Light as Evil is the absence of Good
-
Nigel_Strange
- Captain
- Posts: 1254
- Joined: Fri Mar 25, 2005 5:51 am
Insertion
Sundog kept looking at his navigation map, but there was nothing there. Nothing. Empty space was all that the scanners picked up, yet, the coordinates he had been given were specific, though they did not list an exact location. It was in the Sapphire system, and the sector was ostensibly empty. He began to have gnawing suspicions of being sent on a wild goose chase. He definitely had bad recollections of his trip to The Rift and his near-death experience. It was all behind him, now, or was it. He sometimes still looked in the mirror and saw the void staring back.
One last jump, then he’d be in the empty sector. He hit the jump button and when he came into the empty sector, he noticed it was not empty.
“What the…� he trailed off. It was in plain sight: a large blue reflection nebula. He double-checked his navigation map and saw that the nebula was still absent. How did they manage to conceal a nebula from the charts? Was there something wrong with his navigation system? Or was there something more sinister at work, something more conspiratorial. Maybe someone was able to delete the existence of certain places from the charts. How anyone could do this he didn’t know. He thought that the charts were built from the long range scanners, but the scanners would be able to pick up the nebula. Perhaps the nebula emitted some kind of radiation that interfered with the workings of the navigation system. If that was the case, there might be danger in going in.
There was a blue blip on his radar. Of course, he thought. There is a base hidden within the nebula. That was where he had to go. He couldn’t lock a jump point onto the base directly, since it didn’t appear on his navigation map even though he could see it dimly through the ionized gases of the nebula. He would have to pilot the ship in manually, something he hadn’t done since his early piloting days before joining the military.
The base seemed to be deserted, so he parked there and waited. The automatic trading screen connected and he surveyed the goods. They were the usual variety, which he thought was odd, since the base was so well-hidden. What kind of trade did they think they could get when nobody even knew the base was there? It would be a perfect place for trading illicit goods, he surmised, but nothing appeared on the trade screen but the usual materials: meds, minerals, ship components.
“Can I help you?� came a voice suddenly over the radio. Sundog nearly jumped out of his seat, or would have, had he not been securely fastened in.
“Hello?�
“Hello…�
“Are you Free William?�
“Who wants to know?�
“My name is Sundog. I’m from Clan Destiny. Captain Devious sent me.�
“Well, Sundog. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Now please go away.� The voice had a cold and weary quality.
“I’m sorry, but that is not an option. I have to personally deliver this message.�
“Well, you can’t. You cannot come in. I’m sorry, but that’s how it is.�
“Why not?�
“Germs.�
“Germs? What do you mean, germs? I don’t have any diseases.�
“I’m afraid I just can’t take that chance. It’s taken me several years to get the bacteria here more or less organized, and I’m not about to let a bunch of strangers in to muck I all up.�
“It’s just me.�
“What?�
“I’m not a bunch of strangers,� Sundog replied. He hadn’t even met the man, yet, and he was already starting to enter the acute hatred stage. “I’m just one person.�
“There are one hundred trillion eukaryotic cells in the human body. However, there are also one quadrillion prokaryotic cells in that same body. Do you have the slightest idea what that means?�
“Not a clue,� Sundog admitted. It sounded like biology, but aside from that, he was not really sure.
“It means that what you naively and arrogantly refer to as a ‘person’ is actually nine-tenths bacteria. You are a bubbling blob of protoplasm, brimming with single-celled organisms, and the part of that community with which I am now speaking is in the minority. It is this majority of strangers that I don’t want to muck up my work here.�
“I’m not leaving here until you listen to the message.�
“Can’t you play it over the radio?�
“I’m supposed to deliver it in person. Those were my orders.�
“You don’t have to follow your orders, do you? I mean, if you don’t have free will, then what are you?� crackled the voice on the radio.
Sundog sighed. He was tired and quite ready to give up. He might as well play the message over the radio. He opened the message cylinder and pushed the button. A small hologram of Captain Devious appeared and did a courtly bow.
“Greetings, Free William of the Invisible Base in the Uncharted Nebula. I apologize for sending someone else to deliver my message instead of visiting you personally, but I am tied up at the moment. I’m sure you understand.�
“I understand completely,� cracked the voice over the radio.
“At this moment, you are most likely looking at a ship parked in your base, having turned down the offer to receive this message in a congenial fashion. I understand your reluctance to admit visitors, but I must emphasize the exigency of our situation. We need your help. Please board the messenger’s spacecraft and allow him to transport you to the Aurora. Everything will be explained at that time. I can personally assure you of your safety.�
“Right: I’ll hop right into someone’s ship with a complete stranger and let him take me wherever he wants,� said Free William over the radio, his voice seething with sarcasm. “You can tell your captain to—“
“In the event,� the recorded message continued, “that you do not comply with my personal request, my messenger has been instructed to withdraw to a safe distance and begin launching fulcrum torpedoes at your base…� Sundog’s arms flailed wildly as he realized that the sentence he just heard was about himself. Of course, he had received no such orders, and had no idea that he was going to be used in such a way. He checked the weapons MFD. Yes: four fulcrum torpedoes were loaded in the missile bays. Bastard! He thought bitterly. I’m not going to do it. They could have at least old him that he was going to make threats on the base, but then, they probably would have needed to find someone else to do it. Sundog vowed to exact revenge on Devious when the next opportunity arose.
“The messenger will await your answer for 30 seconds before commencing the bombardment starting…now,� Devious concluded.
“I suppose I had better pack my bags,� came the tired, defeated voice over the radio. “Connect up to the airlock and I’ll let you in.�
Sundog complied. In a few seconds, the airlock was sealed and he pressed the button to open the hatch.
One last jump, then he’d be in the empty sector. He hit the jump button and when he came into the empty sector, he noticed it was not empty.
“What the…� he trailed off. It was in plain sight: a large blue reflection nebula. He double-checked his navigation map and saw that the nebula was still absent. How did they manage to conceal a nebula from the charts? Was there something wrong with his navigation system? Or was there something more sinister at work, something more conspiratorial. Maybe someone was able to delete the existence of certain places from the charts. How anyone could do this he didn’t know. He thought that the charts were built from the long range scanners, but the scanners would be able to pick up the nebula. Perhaps the nebula emitted some kind of radiation that interfered with the workings of the navigation system. If that was the case, there might be danger in going in.
There was a blue blip on his radar. Of course, he thought. There is a base hidden within the nebula. That was where he had to go. He couldn’t lock a jump point onto the base directly, since it didn’t appear on his navigation map even though he could see it dimly through the ionized gases of the nebula. He would have to pilot the ship in manually, something he hadn’t done since his early piloting days before joining the military.
The base seemed to be deserted, so he parked there and waited. The automatic trading screen connected and he surveyed the goods. They were the usual variety, which he thought was odd, since the base was so well-hidden. What kind of trade did they think they could get when nobody even knew the base was there? It would be a perfect place for trading illicit goods, he surmised, but nothing appeared on the trade screen but the usual materials: meds, minerals, ship components.
“Can I help you?� came a voice suddenly over the radio. Sundog nearly jumped out of his seat, or would have, had he not been securely fastened in.
“Hello?�
“Hello…�
“Are you Free William?�
“Who wants to know?�
“My name is Sundog. I’m from Clan Destiny. Captain Devious sent me.�
“Well, Sundog. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Now please go away.� The voice had a cold and weary quality.
“I’m sorry, but that is not an option. I have to personally deliver this message.�
“Well, you can’t. You cannot come in. I’m sorry, but that’s how it is.�
“Why not?�
“Germs.�
“Germs? What do you mean, germs? I don’t have any diseases.�
“I’m afraid I just can’t take that chance. It’s taken me several years to get the bacteria here more or less organized, and I’m not about to let a bunch of strangers in to muck I all up.�
“It’s just me.�
“What?�
“I’m not a bunch of strangers,� Sundog replied. He hadn’t even met the man, yet, and he was already starting to enter the acute hatred stage. “I’m just one person.�
“There are one hundred trillion eukaryotic cells in the human body. However, there are also one quadrillion prokaryotic cells in that same body. Do you have the slightest idea what that means?�
“Not a clue,� Sundog admitted. It sounded like biology, but aside from that, he was not really sure.
“It means that what you naively and arrogantly refer to as a ‘person’ is actually nine-tenths bacteria. You are a bubbling blob of protoplasm, brimming with single-celled organisms, and the part of that community with which I am now speaking is in the minority. It is this majority of strangers that I don’t want to muck up my work here.�
“I’m not leaving here until you listen to the message.�
“Can’t you play it over the radio?�
“I’m supposed to deliver it in person. Those were my orders.�
“You don’t have to follow your orders, do you? I mean, if you don’t have free will, then what are you?� crackled the voice on the radio.
Sundog sighed. He was tired and quite ready to give up. He might as well play the message over the radio. He opened the message cylinder and pushed the button. A small hologram of Captain Devious appeared and did a courtly bow.
“Greetings, Free William of the Invisible Base in the Uncharted Nebula. I apologize for sending someone else to deliver my message instead of visiting you personally, but I am tied up at the moment. I’m sure you understand.�
“I understand completely,� cracked the voice over the radio.
“At this moment, you are most likely looking at a ship parked in your base, having turned down the offer to receive this message in a congenial fashion. I understand your reluctance to admit visitors, but I must emphasize the exigency of our situation. We need your help. Please board the messenger’s spacecraft and allow him to transport you to the Aurora. Everything will be explained at that time. I can personally assure you of your safety.�
“Right: I’ll hop right into someone’s ship with a complete stranger and let him take me wherever he wants,� said Free William over the radio, his voice seething with sarcasm. “You can tell your captain to—“
“In the event,� the recorded message continued, “that you do not comply with my personal request, my messenger has been instructed to withdraw to a safe distance and begin launching fulcrum torpedoes at your base…� Sundog’s arms flailed wildly as he realized that the sentence he just heard was about himself. Of course, he had received no such orders, and had no idea that he was going to be used in such a way. He checked the weapons MFD. Yes: four fulcrum torpedoes were loaded in the missile bays. Bastard! He thought bitterly. I’m not going to do it. They could have at least old him that he was going to make threats on the base, but then, they probably would have needed to find someone else to do it. Sundog vowed to exact revenge on Devious when the next opportunity arose.
“The messenger will await your answer for 30 seconds before commencing the bombardment starting…now,� Devious concluded.
“I suppose I had better pack my bags,� came the tired, defeated voice over the radio. “Connect up to the airlock and I’ll let you in.�
Sundog complied. In a few seconds, the airlock was sealed and he pressed the button to open the hatch.
-
tha_rami
- Commander
- Posts: 892
- Joined: Tue Jan 25, 2005 2:20 pm
- Location: Netherlands
Insertion
Thats 3 men.
By the way, there's another energy pod game somewhere near the planets in the Serene system.
By the way, there's another energy pod game somewhere near the planets in the Serene system.
tha_rami - The best way to predict the future is to invent it.
Vlambeer - Dutch indie game studio
Twitter - Weird news, life updates & game-related news
Vlambeer - Dutch indie game studio
Twitter - Weird news, life updates & game-related news
-
verbosity
- Captain
- Posts: 1155
- Joined: Thu Sep 07, 2006 7:38 pm
- Location: Deep Space 9
Insertion
I think we should get a verb-ball league goingOriginally posted by tha_rami
Thats 3 men.
By the way, there's another energy pod game somewhere near the planets in the Serene system.
verbsleagues.co.uk sw3dg web stats systems
uaithne.com eco-living project
rulerofzu.com free fantasy mmorpg
jesterscup.com webby stuffies
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Nigel_Strange
- Captain
- Posts: 1254
- Joined: Fri Mar 25, 2005 5:51 am
Insertion
The first thing Sundog noticed when the hatch opened was the warm, dank air that wafted in from the station. If he closed his eyes, he could almost imagine that he was in a tropical swamp on Emerald. He wondered if he was contracting some horrible disease from breathing the atmosphere aboard the station. With some trepidation, he stepped onto the lift and descended into the bowels of the metal giant.
As the lift descended, he expected the artificial gravity to kick in, but it never did. The station operated without artificial gravity, or even centrifugal gravity, as was practiced in the old days of space settlements. When the elevator reached the mid level, it stopped. The hatch slid open, and he grabbed the nearest handrail and shoved off with his feet, propelling himself forward through the dark hall.
“Don’t touch anything,� William’s voice reverberated through the hallway. It was a much more commanding voice when it filled the entire station’s PA system. The hallway was dark and, like the rest of the ship the air was warm, wet, and pungent. The floor beneath him was a metal grate through which he could see flickering lights below, but not enough light to illuminate his way. Instead, on either side of the hallway, were rows and rows of cylindrical tanks, lit with a dim, greenish light. Inside each of the tanks floated a shape of some sort: organic, but besides that, difficult to define. Some of them looked vaguely humanoid, some ichthyoid, while others looked like the larvae or pupae of giant insects. He tried not to contemplate what kinds of creatures these had been, or perhaps might be some day. As he cruised by, he thought he saw one of them flinch out of the corner of his eye, but as he turned, there was no movement.
“Make a right at the next corridor,� said William.
As he turned, he saw that something was coming toward him from down the dark hallway. It was fast and it was much more adept at navigating in the weightless environment than Sundog was. Sundog splayed his arms and legs in the hope of grasping something to steady himself as the thing shot toward him. He could not make out its shape, only how the lights glinted off of it as it blurred forward, limbs easily catching unseen handholds and propelling it with ridiculous ease and alacrity. It was big and, from what he could tell, metal. In a few seconds, it had closed the distance, and Sundog was staring directly into the orbits of some metallic semblance of a face. His hand went to his sidearm automatically.
A cold robotic hand seized his wrist and forced him to drop the weapon, which floated away into the darkness and clattered on a metal surface somewhere distant.
“Please excuse the use of force,� came the voice from the corridors. “I can’t have you blasting away at my precious base, can I?�
“Sorry for fearing for my life with your killer robot bearing down on me,� said Sundog. “Is this how you treat all your guests? Would you please tell your thing to release me?�
“All in good time. I think you should go with the robot and have a seat in my dining room.�
“Do I have a choice?�
“If you want to leave now, empty-handed, then you are free to do so, but if you want me to come with you to the Aurora, you need to be escorted to the dining room. You will understand, I hope, eventually.�
With unnecessary force, the robot yanked him through the hallways, past more bubbling containers of liquids, computer arrays, and other robots. The place was teeming with robots, small, buglike ones that seemed to scuttle around without purpose, medium ones that performed menial functions around the station, like moving the water-filled tanks around, connecting them up with one another, all the way up to the giant escort-bot, which was slightly bigger than a man. Sundog had never seen so many autonomous machines in one place and could not imagine why the station would need so many of them.
He was roughly pushed into a large, somewhat comfortable leather chair. Before he could protest, however, his hands and legs were strapped to the armrests and foot plate.
“Hey, wait a minute!� protested Sundog. “What kind of a dining room is this?�
“It is my dining room,� said William. “You see, I don’t really need food the way you do, so the room that functioned at one time as a dining room now serves a different purpose. However, I can see that you, the guest of honor, would like to meet your gracious host.�
There was a table in front of him, but the room was mostly dark. The table was illuminated from above by a harsh yellow, flickering light. Around the room, he could not see much but the curved metal surfaces of what looked like more metal tanks with tubes flowing out of them. Across from him, on the other end of the table, was where he would expect to see his host. Instead, what he saw was a dimly lit, greenish circle of light. There was something else there, too, a dark shape that moved ever so slightly within the circle. It was hard to make out, however.
“Lights,� commanded William. A spotlight came on and lit up the tank across the table from Sundog. It was a large, oblong tank with small round windows in various locations. It bristled with many tubes and cables that emanated from it like corded hair from a prolific scalp. The tank was gleaming steel, but for the many plastic computer screens displaying readouts on it. The readouts, however, appeared to have stopped. Instead of green bouncing lines and scrolling information about the vital signs of the creature that floated in the tank, there were static messages, like SYSTEM ERR and red, flashing diodes. Sundog stared at the tank for a few seconds, then stared at the robot. The robot waited patiently for Sundog to either figure out what was going on or to ask questions.
“So, now we meet, face to face,� said William.
“What is the meaning of this?� asked Sundog.
“Do you believe that a human being has a soul?� asked William’s eerily disembodied voice, which emanated from everywhere now. The robot, acting on some cue, lowered a metal cage over Sundog’s head an started tightening screws to hold his head perfectly still within it. Sundog began to scream incoherently as he felt the screw-ends digging into his skin and clamping his cranium in a vice-like hold.
As the lift descended, he expected the artificial gravity to kick in, but it never did. The station operated without artificial gravity, or even centrifugal gravity, as was practiced in the old days of space settlements. When the elevator reached the mid level, it stopped. The hatch slid open, and he grabbed the nearest handrail and shoved off with his feet, propelling himself forward through the dark hall.
“Don’t touch anything,� William’s voice reverberated through the hallway. It was a much more commanding voice when it filled the entire station’s PA system. The hallway was dark and, like the rest of the ship the air was warm, wet, and pungent. The floor beneath him was a metal grate through which he could see flickering lights below, but not enough light to illuminate his way. Instead, on either side of the hallway, were rows and rows of cylindrical tanks, lit with a dim, greenish light. Inside each of the tanks floated a shape of some sort: organic, but besides that, difficult to define. Some of them looked vaguely humanoid, some ichthyoid, while others looked like the larvae or pupae of giant insects. He tried not to contemplate what kinds of creatures these had been, or perhaps might be some day. As he cruised by, he thought he saw one of them flinch out of the corner of his eye, but as he turned, there was no movement.
“Make a right at the next corridor,� said William.
As he turned, he saw that something was coming toward him from down the dark hallway. It was fast and it was much more adept at navigating in the weightless environment than Sundog was. Sundog splayed his arms and legs in the hope of grasping something to steady himself as the thing shot toward him. He could not make out its shape, only how the lights glinted off of it as it blurred forward, limbs easily catching unseen handholds and propelling it with ridiculous ease and alacrity. It was big and, from what he could tell, metal. In a few seconds, it had closed the distance, and Sundog was staring directly into the orbits of some metallic semblance of a face. His hand went to his sidearm automatically.
A cold robotic hand seized his wrist and forced him to drop the weapon, which floated away into the darkness and clattered on a metal surface somewhere distant.
“Please excuse the use of force,� came the voice from the corridors. “I can’t have you blasting away at my precious base, can I?�
“Sorry for fearing for my life with your killer robot bearing down on me,� said Sundog. “Is this how you treat all your guests? Would you please tell your thing to release me?�
“All in good time. I think you should go with the robot and have a seat in my dining room.�
“Do I have a choice?�
“If you want to leave now, empty-handed, then you are free to do so, but if you want me to come with you to the Aurora, you need to be escorted to the dining room. You will understand, I hope, eventually.�
With unnecessary force, the robot yanked him through the hallways, past more bubbling containers of liquids, computer arrays, and other robots. The place was teeming with robots, small, buglike ones that seemed to scuttle around without purpose, medium ones that performed menial functions around the station, like moving the water-filled tanks around, connecting them up with one another, all the way up to the giant escort-bot, which was slightly bigger than a man. Sundog had never seen so many autonomous machines in one place and could not imagine why the station would need so many of them.
He was roughly pushed into a large, somewhat comfortable leather chair. Before he could protest, however, his hands and legs were strapped to the armrests and foot plate.
“Hey, wait a minute!� protested Sundog. “What kind of a dining room is this?�
“It is my dining room,� said William. “You see, I don’t really need food the way you do, so the room that functioned at one time as a dining room now serves a different purpose. However, I can see that you, the guest of honor, would like to meet your gracious host.�
There was a table in front of him, but the room was mostly dark. The table was illuminated from above by a harsh yellow, flickering light. Around the room, he could not see much but the curved metal surfaces of what looked like more metal tanks with tubes flowing out of them. Across from him, on the other end of the table, was where he would expect to see his host. Instead, what he saw was a dimly lit, greenish circle of light. There was something else there, too, a dark shape that moved ever so slightly within the circle. It was hard to make out, however.
“Lights,� commanded William. A spotlight came on and lit up the tank across the table from Sundog. It was a large, oblong tank with small round windows in various locations. It bristled with many tubes and cables that emanated from it like corded hair from a prolific scalp. The tank was gleaming steel, but for the many plastic computer screens displaying readouts on it. The readouts, however, appeared to have stopped. Instead of green bouncing lines and scrolling information about the vital signs of the creature that floated in the tank, there were static messages, like SYSTEM ERR and red, flashing diodes. Sundog stared at the tank for a few seconds, then stared at the robot. The robot waited patiently for Sundog to either figure out what was going on or to ask questions.
“So, now we meet, face to face,� said William.
“What is the meaning of this?� asked Sundog.
“Do you believe that a human being has a soul?� asked William’s eerily disembodied voice, which emanated from everywhere now. The robot, acting on some cue, lowered a metal cage over Sundog’s head an started tightening screws to hold his head perfectly still within it. Sundog began to scream incoherently as he felt the screw-ends digging into his skin and clamping his cranium in a vice-like hold.
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Nigel_Strange
- Captain
- Posts: 1254
- Joined: Fri Mar 25, 2005 5:51 am
Insertion
The susurrus died down quickly when the Commander Konrad walked into the room. The officers and other military personnel stood to salute and were then allowed to take their seats. The room was mostly dark except for a large screen on one wall from which flickered an introductory slide. Konrad walked in front of the screen and pulled out his retractable pointer, which the crew affectionately called The Gesticulator 5000. He lengthened the pointer with a series clicks and pushed it back together again, using this as a kind of signal for the briefing to come to order.
“Gentlemen,� he began. “I am glad that you all could make it to the Aurora with so little information to go on. I know that for some of you it was a tremendous leap of faith, however, most of you know Captain Devious to be a man of his word—“ snickers and chuckles rose from the audience as the commander looked slightly annoyed. “—despite some recent history in Deneb which is still under investigation,� he cleared his throat. “Thank you for coming. I hope you will soon understand why secrecy has been maintained to such a high degree.
“As you know, our systems have been under attack by an alien force whom we know as the vonari. After first contact, they have been steadily building attack forces and then assaulting our systems, usually taking them by surprise. This is known to everyone in Clan Destiny, but some of our new recruits might not know about the severity of the situation. The Aurora operates mainly within Riftspace, and its main objective is to contain the vonari and above all to protect the Sol system, the birthplace of mankind and our ancestral homeland. Even though we are not exactly welcome there with the current regime entrenched, we still feel an unambiguous obligation to protect our ancient homeland at whatever the cost. This might strike some of you as being romantic, but to you I would mention that should Earth be destroyed, the effect on morale throughout Evochron would be devastating. The will to fight might collapse into despair, and then the vonari would just walk all over us. We cannot, must not allow that to happen.�
Behind him, the screen showed an image of a starmap, showing the various systems of Evochron, including Riftspace and Earth. It then showed a red circle in the top quadrant, indicating vonari territory. Red triangles radiated out, attacking human controlled systems in the north. Meanwhile, a few red triangles sneaked in at the bottom. The map suddenly zoomed in to this area. The crew recognized it as a map of Riftspace. The triangles converged on the one planet in Riftspace and disintegrated it.
“As most, but not all of you are aware, the vonari launched an offensive in Riftspace and succeeded in destroying our homeworld, Planet Freedom, with a handful of vonari cruisers. Since then, we have had no home to return to, just an asteroid field where our home once existed. This fact, alone, might weaken the resolve of the Alliance military, as they would not easily cope with the idea that the alien invaders have a weapon capable of destroying entire planets. Since then, the vonari have mounted attacks in several sectors at once. We believe that these attacks in Sierra and Talison are diversionary tactics meant to take our eyes off Riftspace. Although Earth is well protected against landing craft, it is still vulnerable to the weapon that destroyed Freedom, which is why the Aurora is in operation in Riftspace around the clock.�
Most of the crew were nodding off with the history lesson they were all familiar with. However, Scope and Skymaven paid close attention. For them, much of this information was new. “Now I’ll turn the meeting over to Dr. Eckhardt.�
A bespectacled man with a round face and a small upturned nose stood up and used an air mouse to move a cursor on the screen. “Now for your favorite part of the briefing,� he said in a weasel voice. “The science lecture.� He waited for a few seconds of uncomfortable silence for someone to laugh at his joke. One could actually hear the smile fading as his chapped lips scraped dry teeth. “Which one of you can tell me how to disintegrate a planet?� he asked, hoping to put the pressure on the audience. “Anyone?�
“A great big fat pile of explosives,� said a cockney voice from the back. A few faces turned to look at Mongoose and nodded with approval.
“Next?� asked the doctor.
“What’s wrong with explosives?� demanded Mongoose.
“Gravity has a strange property that it pulls things together,� said the doctor. “Explosives on the side of the planet would push the planet out of orbit, but not likely disintegrate it, especially if it has a liquid core as Freedom did. Even if you managed to put enough explosive in the center of a planet, you have to not only blow it up, but blow it up with sufficient force that the pieces don’t fall back together, which means it would need to explode with enough force to move all of the mass of the planet outside escape velocity. All of the Alliance navy’s fulcrum torpedoes wouldn’t suffice.�
“Oh…yeah…I see,� said Mongoose, apparently mollified.
“Send an asteroid into it,� suggested someone in the middle of the room.
“Or maybe a comet.�
“Energy beams.�
Dr. Eckhardt smiled politely as the lame suggestions poured in, looking more superior and smug with each outburst.
“Neutralize the gravity,� said Sundog. Everyone turned to see who just walked into the room.
“Would you care to explain?�
Sundog continued: “The vonari ships have a specialized beam that neutralizes gravity. Since gravity is the primary force holding a planet together, if you can neutralize the gravitational field, the planet’s own rotation would tear it apart.�
“That’s precisely it! I’m glad someone is paying attention. As most of you know, gravity is a distortion of space, commonly shown as a 4th dimensional depression. In fact, it is a spatial density field that surrounds massive objects caused by the displacement or distortion of space by subatomic particles. The cumulative effect of the tiny distortions in a small area causes the warping effect. The vonari weapon, if you can call it that, is essentially a space-smoothing ray, or a space-flattener. It resets the spatial density to zero, causing the planet to disintegrate. This is the reason why the ray is so useless against our own capital ships. The ray attacks gravity, and our ships are not held together by gravity, so the ray is mostly useless. Against a planet, however, they are devastating.�
Captain Devious reached up and grabbed Sundog by the wrist and sat him down in the seat next to him so he could whisper angrily at him.
“Where the hell have you been these last seventy four hours and where is Free William, whom I sent you to collect?�
“I am Free William,� said Sundog.
“Gentlemen,� he began. “I am glad that you all could make it to the Aurora with so little information to go on. I know that for some of you it was a tremendous leap of faith, however, most of you know Captain Devious to be a man of his word—“ snickers and chuckles rose from the audience as the commander looked slightly annoyed. “—despite some recent history in Deneb which is still under investigation,� he cleared his throat. “Thank you for coming. I hope you will soon understand why secrecy has been maintained to such a high degree.
“As you know, our systems have been under attack by an alien force whom we know as the vonari. After first contact, they have been steadily building attack forces and then assaulting our systems, usually taking them by surprise. This is known to everyone in Clan Destiny, but some of our new recruits might not know about the severity of the situation. The Aurora operates mainly within Riftspace, and its main objective is to contain the vonari and above all to protect the Sol system, the birthplace of mankind and our ancestral homeland. Even though we are not exactly welcome there with the current regime entrenched, we still feel an unambiguous obligation to protect our ancient homeland at whatever the cost. This might strike some of you as being romantic, but to you I would mention that should Earth be destroyed, the effect on morale throughout Evochron would be devastating. The will to fight might collapse into despair, and then the vonari would just walk all over us. We cannot, must not allow that to happen.�
Behind him, the screen showed an image of a starmap, showing the various systems of Evochron, including Riftspace and Earth. It then showed a red circle in the top quadrant, indicating vonari territory. Red triangles radiated out, attacking human controlled systems in the north. Meanwhile, a few red triangles sneaked in at the bottom. The map suddenly zoomed in to this area. The crew recognized it as a map of Riftspace. The triangles converged on the one planet in Riftspace and disintegrated it.
“As most, but not all of you are aware, the vonari launched an offensive in Riftspace and succeeded in destroying our homeworld, Planet Freedom, with a handful of vonari cruisers. Since then, we have had no home to return to, just an asteroid field where our home once existed. This fact, alone, might weaken the resolve of the Alliance military, as they would not easily cope with the idea that the alien invaders have a weapon capable of destroying entire planets. Since then, the vonari have mounted attacks in several sectors at once. We believe that these attacks in Sierra and Talison are diversionary tactics meant to take our eyes off Riftspace. Although Earth is well protected against landing craft, it is still vulnerable to the weapon that destroyed Freedom, which is why the Aurora is in operation in Riftspace around the clock.�
Most of the crew were nodding off with the history lesson they were all familiar with. However, Scope and Skymaven paid close attention. For them, much of this information was new. “Now I’ll turn the meeting over to Dr. Eckhardt.�
A bespectacled man with a round face and a small upturned nose stood up and used an air mouse to move a cursor on the screen. “Now for your favorite part of the briefing,� he said in a weasel voice. “The science lecture.� He waited for a few seconds of uncomfortable silence for someone to laugh at his joke. One could actually hear the smile fading as his chapped lips scraped dry teeth. “Which one of you can tell me how to disintegrate a planet?� he asked, hoping to put the pressure on the audience. “Anyone?�
“A great big fat pile of explosives,� said a cockney voice from the back. A few faces turned to look at Mongoose and nodded with approval.
“Next?� asked the doctor.
“What’s wrong with explosives?� demanded Mongoose.
“Gravity has a strange property that it pulls things together,� said the doctor. “Explosives on the side of the planet would push the planet out of orbit, but not likely disintegrate it, especially if it has a liquid core as Freedom did. Even if you managed to put enough explosive in the center of a planet, you have to not only blow it up, but blow it up with sufficient force that the pieces don’t fall back together, which means it would need to explode with enough force to move all of the mass of the planet outside escape velocity. All of the Alliance navy’s fulcrum torpedoes wouldn’t suffice.�
“Oh…yeah…I see,� said Mongoose, apparently mollified.
“Send an asteroid into it,� suggested someone in the middle of the room.
“Or maybe a comet.�
“Energy beams.�
Dr. Eckhardt smiled politely as the lame suggestions poured in, looking more superior and smug with each outburst.
“Neutralize the gravity,� said Sundog. Everyone turned to see who just walked into the room.
“Would you care to explain?�
Sundog continued: “The vonari ships have a specialized beam that neutralizes gravity. Since gravity is the primary force holding a planet together, if you can neutralize the gravitational field, the planet’s own rotation would tear it apart.�
“That’s precisely it! I’m glad someone is paying attention. As most of you know, gravity is a distortion of space, commonly shown as a 4th dimensional depression. In fact, it is a spatial density field that surrounds massive objects caused by the displacement or distortion of space by subatomic particles. The cumulative effect of the tiny distortions in a small area causes the warping effect. The vonari weapon, if you can call it that, is essentially a space-smoothing ray, or a space-flattener. It resets the spatial density to zero, causing the planet to disintegrate. This is the reason why the ray is so useless against our own capital ships. The ray attacks gravity, and our ships are not held together by gravity, so the ray is mostly useless. Against a planet, however, they are devastating.�
Captain Devious reached up and grabbed Sundog by the wrist and sat him down in the seat next to him so he could whisper angrily at him.
“Where the hell have you been these last seventy four hours and where is Free William, whom I sent you to collect?�
“I am Free William,� said Sundog.
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tha_rami
- Commander
- Posts: 892
- Joined: Tue Jan 25, 2005 2:20 pm
- Location: Netherlands
Insertion
Poor Sundog. I liked the guy. Ah well, in love and war...
tha_rami - The best way to predict the future is to invent it.
Vlambeer - Dutch indie game studio
Twitter - Weird news, life updates & game-related news
Vlambeer - Dutch indie game studio
Twitter - Weird news, life updates & game-related news
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Nigel_Strange
- Captain
- Posts: 1254
- Joined: Fri Mar 25, 2005 5:51 am
Insertion
Captain Devious stared at Sundog for a moment. “Would you care to explain?�
“After the briefing,� replied Sundog. “I want to hear what Dr. Egghead has to say.�
“Eckhardt.�
“Whatever.�
“As you know, the vonari have been entering our space through a wormhole. It is convenient, though not entirely accurate, to think of a wormhole as a tunnel between two places in three-space. Riftspace is rife with wormholes. There has been a lot of speculation as to how Riftspace came into being. The wormhole distribution seems to be too linear and regular for it to have happened naturally, so we suspect that the wormholes were artificially created—“
“By whom?� asked someone in the audience.
“We don’t know by whom,� replied Dr. Eckhardt. “All we do know is that the likelihood for the wormholes to have appeared in their current locations by natural processes is as close to zero as you can statistically measure. Their positions are so exact and so regular, that they must have been placed there by someone…or something,� he added dramatically, raising an eyebrow.
“Now, back to the main topic,� he resumed. A graphic showing the ends of a wormhole meandering through different parts of a plain appeared. “The vonari are coming into Riftspace via this wormhole. This means that they must have control over the other end of it.�
“We’ve already scouted that wormhole,� said Mongoose. “We can get to vonari space, but there is no way from there to Riftspace. It’s a one-way ride.�
“Almost,� replied Dr. Eckhardt. “Some wormholes do not have a one to one beginning and end. Some are bifurcated, and others might possibly lead to wormhole nexi.�
“You think Riftspace is a wormhole nexus?� asked Sundog.
“Riftspace is a three-space grouping of wormholes, but not nexus. A wormhole nexus of this kind would exist in hyperspace. In the case of the vonari wormhole, it appears that our ships are thrown out of hyperspace before completing the journey to the other end. Think of this wormhole as a kind of fork with one entrance and two exits. We always take the exit closest to us because it is curved less. The other exit is somewhere in vonari space. Coming the other way, they can come directly to Riftspace.�
“So, in other words,� interjected Sundog, “we have a one-way wormhole to Vonarion and they have a one-way wormhole to Riftspace and that both terminate in the same wormhole on our side, but in different locations on the vonari side.�
“Correct.�
“I’ll take it from here,� said Commander Konrad. “Thank you, Dr. Eckhardt.� Eckhardt smiled and sat down. “Many of you have already guessed the mission, but for the benefit of the rest of you, here it is. Right now, we’re calling this Operation Outreach.
“We need to find the vonari end of the wormhole that leads into Riftspace. Once we find it and collapse it, the vonari will no longer have a shortcut into Riftspace. We’ll need to send out some scouts to work completely invisibly in vonari space, and for an extended period of time. This means no fighting and maximum stealth. The Aurora will be moving into vonari space in order to provide support. Once we find the wormhole, we move on to phase two.�
“How do you collapse a wormhole?� asked Mongoose.
“With a space-flattener,� replied Konrad. “As you have just been made aware, wormholes are distortions in space. In theory, a space-flattener would be able to collapse one end of a wormhole. Our goal is to collapse the vonari wormhole from the vonari side. We have never collapsed a wormhole before, so we do not yet know if it would also collapse the wormhole from our side. If Dr. Eckhardt is right, and our wormhole is bifurcated, then it might leave a single hole going from our side to the other. This would make the vonari wormhole a two-way wormhole. At that point, we could either fight for control of the other side, leaving the hole open so we would have ingress into vonari space, or we could collapse it. The other possibility is that when we collapse the vonari side of the wormhole, it would create a collapse on our end as well. In either case, I think you understand the consequences.�
“It’s a one way ticket to vonari space,� said Captain Devious. “Whoever collapses the wormhole from the other side would be stuck there.�
“So, how do we get our hands on a space-flattener?� asked Mongoose.
“That is phase two,� said Commander Konrad. “We need to capture a vonari cruiser intact. The cruiser needs to be one that is fitted with the space-flattener weapon. Once we have the coordinates of the far end of the wormhole, we fly the vonari cruiser to it and use the space-flattener to collapse the hole. Simple, really. Thank the good Captain Devious for that idea.�
There was no round of applause, only blank stares.
“Gentlemen,� resumed Konrad. “Our mission is audacious and ridiculously difficult. Some might call it insane. However, in this war, nobody has done this before. The vonari do not expect a capture attempt, and have likely not taken precautions against it. In order for us to give it the greatest possible chance for success, we have assembled a special team of the best of the best. Dr. Scope is the best marksman in west Evochron. Skymaven is the best starpilot…anywhere. Our own Mongoose is…well, tell them what you do, Mongoose.�
“Kill scalies,� said Mongoose with a sneer, pulling out a pair of katars from their thigh-sheaths and doing a vicious-looking flourish.
“Right. So, all we’re missing is Free William, who is the only known expert in the vonari language.�
“You’re not missing anyone,� said Sundog. “I am Free William, or at least, part of me is part of Free William.�
“Sundog?� asked Commander Konrad uncertainly.
“I could not fit my entire consciousness into this body, so I downloaded a part of it, the part that understands the vonari language for one thing, including enough of my personality as I thought would suit your needs. So, now Sundog has two distinct personalities. The first one is his, and the second one is mine. When it comes to piloting, I’ll sit back and let him take control, but when it comes to understanding the vonari, then I assume control, while Sundog is asleep. At the end of all this, I expect to merge back with my superconsciousness in my station in order to absorb the new memories. It has been a long, long time since I’ve felt a body around me.�
“Okay,� said Captain Devious. “Remember when I asked you to explain and you said wait until after the meeting?�
“Yes,� said Sundog.
“Nevermind. I really just don’t want to know.�
“After the briefing,� replied Sundog. “I want to hear what Dr. Egghead has to say.�
“Eckhardt.�
“Whatever.�
“As you know, the vonari have been entering our space through a wormhole. It is convenient, though not entirely accurate, to think of a wormhole as a tunnel between two places in three-space. Riftspace is rife with wormholes. There has been a lot of speculation as to how Riftspace came into being. The wormhole distribution seems to be too linear and regular for it to have happened naturally, so we suspect that the wormholes were artificially created—“
“By whom?� asked someone in the audience.
“We don’t know by whom,� replied Dr. Eckhardt. “All we do know is that the likelihood for the wormholes to have appeared in their current locations by natural processes is as close to zero as you can statistically measure. Their positions are so exact and so regular, that they must have been placed there by someone…or something,� he added dramatically, raising an eyebrow.
“Now, back to the main topic,� he resumed. A graphic showing the ends of a wormhole meandering through different parts of a plain appeared. “The vonari are coming into Riftspace via this wormhole. This means that they must have control over the other end of it.�
“We’ve already scouted that wormhole,� said Mongoose. “We can get to vonari space, but there is no way from there to Riftspace. It’s a one-way ride.�
“Almost,� replied Dr. Eckhardt. “Some wormholes do not have a one to one beginning and end. Some are bifurcated, and others might possibly lead to wormhole nexi.�
“You think Riftspace is a wormhole nexus?� asked Sundog.
“Riftspace is a three-space grouping of wormholes, but not nexus. A wormhole nexus of this kind would exist in hyperspace. In the case of the vonari wormhole, it appears that our ships are thrown out of hyperspace before completing the journey to the other end. Think of this wormhole as a kind of fork with one entrance and two exits. We always take the exit closest to us because it is curved less. The other exit is somewhere in vonari space. Coming the other way, they can come directly to Riftspace.�
“So, in other words,� interjected Sundog, “we have a one-way wormhole to Vonarion and they have a one-way wormhole to Riftspace and that both terminate in the same wormhole on our side, but in different locations on the vonari side.�
“Correct.�
“I’ll take it from here,� said Commander Konrad. “Thank you, Dr. Eckhardt.� Eckhardt smiled and sat down. “Many of you have already guessed the mission, but for the benefit of the rest of you, here it is. Right now, we’re calling this Operation Outreach.
“We need to find the vonari end of the wormhole that leads into Riftspace. Once we find it and collapse it, the vonari will no longer have a shortcut into Riftspace. We’ll need to send out some scouts to work completely invisibly in vonari space, and for an extended period of time. This means no fighting and maximum stealth. The Aurora will be moving into vonari space in order to provide support. Once we find the wormhole, we move on to phase two.�
“How do you collapse a wormhole?� asked Mongoose.
“With a space-flattener,� replied Konrad. “As you have just been made aware, wormholes are distortions in space. In theory, a space-flattener would be able to collapse one end of a wormhole. Our goal is to collapse the vonari wormhole from the vonari side. We have never collapsed a wormhole before, so we do not yet know if it would also collapse the wormhole from our side. If Dr. Eckhardt is right, and our wormhole is bifurcated, then it might leave a single hole going from our side to the other. This would make the vonari wormhole a two-way wormhole. At that point, we could either fight for control of the other side, leaving the hole open so we would have ingress into vonari space, or we could collapse it. The other possibility is that when we collapse the vonari side of the wormhole, it would create a collapse on our end as well. In either case, I think you understand the consequences.�
“It’s a one way ticket to vonari space,� said Captain Devious. “Whoever collapses the wormhole from the other side would be stuck there.�
“So, how do we get our hands on a space-flattener?� asked Mongoose.
“That is phase two,� said Commander Konrad. “We need to capture a vonari cruiser intact. The cruiser needs to be one that is fitted with the space-flattener weapon. Once we have the coordinates of the far end of the wormhole, we fly the vonari cruiser to it and use the space-flattener to collapse the hole. Simple, really. Thank the good Captain Devious for that idea.�
There was no round of applause, only blank stares.
“Gentlemen,� resumed Konrad. “Our mission is audacious and ridiculously difficult. Some might call it insane. However, in this war, nobody has done this before. The vonari do not expect a capture attempt, and have likely not taken precautions against it. In order for us to give it the greatest possible chance for success, we have assembled a special team of the best of the best. Dr. Scope is the best marksman in west Evochron. Skymaven is the best starpilot…anywhere. Our own Mongoose is…well, tell them what you do, Mongoose.�
“Kill scalies,� said Mongoose with a sneer, pulling out a pair of katars from their thigh-sheaths and doing a vicious-looking flourish.
“Right. So, all we’re missing is Free William, who is the only known expert in the vonari language.�
“You’re not missing anyone,� said Sundog. “I am Free William, or at least, part of me is part of Free William.�
“Sundog?� asked Commander Konrad uncertainly.
“I could not fit my entire consciousness into this body, so I downloaded a part of it, the part that understands the vonari language for one thing, including enough of my personality as I thought would suit your needs. So, now Sundog has two distinct personalities. The first one is his, and the second one is mine. When it comes to piloting, I’ll sit back and let him take control, but when it comes to understanding the vonari, then I assume control, while Sundog is asleep. At the end of all this, I expect to merge back with my superconsciousness in my station in order to absorb the new memories. It has been a long, long time since I’ve felt a body around me.�
“Okay,� said Captain Devious. “Remember when I asked you to explain and you said wait until after the meeting?�
“Yes,� said Sundog.
“Nevermind. I really just don’t want to know.�