Blog of a Deep Space Explorer (Part 4)
The nav map is showing 52000 / 0 / 0 - there's nothing out there showing on the map even at full zoom out - and I mean nothing; strange! We carry on, in Erato space at 65000. At 67000 we are in Cerulean space, at 68000 we pop into Onyx Omicron and at 69000 back into RiftSpace
The champagne goes back into the locker
We are also changing Ghost Planets! (more of that in a minute)
75000 Aries, a quick blast through Revloch, 77000 E870 (in Emerald), 79000 L480 (in Lambda), 80000 Erato again!
Then the sequence cycles . . . over and over again
There are five Ghost Planets. Two appear to be made of a material that completely absorb electromagnetic radiation across the full spectrum - long wave radio through to gamma - it is absolutely and completely black. One is strange in that when I approached it receded or at least got smaller. It's almost impossible to get a distance fix on something that isn't actually there and absorbs everything that you shoot it with! They still do the vanishing trick though.
Erato's ghost is another maverick; it appears directly behind, bright and clear with all its surface details shining out. Then after several seconds it vanishes. I turned round and headed for where the planet should be - after a few thousand km it popped into existence, but it didn't get any bigger as I continued. I flew through a cloud of ice crystals and just as I reached the edge of the sector It disappeared again. Turned round again, headed back to the sector centre but no sign of it!
The other two are grey ghosts, but show detail up when their image is contrast enhanced and the frequency histogram spread.
I've got a hunch that I'm looking at the actual planets in the systems the nav map is showing. Even though I'm now nearly 200 000 sectors away. I need to do some checking when I get back unless there are images in GOOGLE or WIKI!
Quite a nice job really, well funded, a meaty problem and able to relax without worrying about being bounced by hostiles. Wrong!!
We are docked refuelling, relaxed, me with a coffee as the tank slowly fills. The hostile attack alarm (HAA! no less) goes off, my heart rate goes off the scale and a frantic scramble to the pilots seat! Where did these three reds come from? Rear and port shields are looking poorly (the central column is protect our starboard side) . . . no chance of getting a shield array up, so "full military afterburner". A frantic fumble with the nav map and plant a destination marker at random. As soon as we are out of the fuel processor the ship starts to twist and do a forward roll at the same time. Which certainly wasn't me - I'm not that good, even after all the simulator practice. VICE's voice murmurs in my ear . . . "evasion pattern alpha three eight one" yee haa! then "get ready to take control in three . . . two . . . one . . . yours!". . . what?! . . . noooo! . . . well yes as I hit the jump button and we start to accelerate. The twisting and turning threw off their aim and we only received a couple of hits but rear shields are out, hull integrity at 87% and the front shield took a missile!
Adrenaline is a great thing. Heart thumping like a rivet gun, but time feels like it's slowing down. A quick look around and realise I didn't jump very far! But the three reds are still together . . . hee hee! I'm far enough away to prepare, switch to IDS, swing around and wait a second of so for an excal missile lock on number one hostile. I start a sideways slide towards the second ship and as the first ship closes, hit the missile launch button. And what a lovely sight! The first three missiles take out the hostile before he/she/it can respond and the other five missiles start to hunt for a new target. Number two slides into MTDS range and I start hosing it down . . . sideways slide, turn to keep the nose on him, afterburner to stay in range and his shield flares blue, the target indicator turns a very pretty red and he starts to smoke and glow! Boom! Just like the simulator!
Two out of three, so where's the other? Eyeball the radar and swing round towards the third, in time to see him frantically trying to avoid missiles 6, 7 & 8. Thankfully he doesn't! Boom number three.
My chest is going to burst, I'm slick with sweat, so I do what any not very good, very lucky and still alive pilot would do - I start to shake uncontrollably and then I throw up. Twice. Not ever so heroic, but it dawns on me that unlike a simulation, death can be pretty permanent when the opposition is using real ammo. At least three people died in the last five minutes - hostile or not, they were people. Wished they were Vonari or Reavers instead,
When my legs have stopped wobbling too much I go shower, dress, have a very stiff drink, remember the throwing up part, clean the cockpit, nearly throw up again - yuck - have another shower, have another stiff drink and flop into the weapons op's pit.
I thank VICE for initiating the evasion protocol without waiting to be asked. He's modest about it and agrees with my (excellent!) idea of tweaking our sensor array to detect hostiles and neutrals much further out and triggering an alarm based on the direction of their flight as well as distance. The aftermath of an adrenaline high plus alcohol means that I sleep like a log. I awaken cold and stiff as a log a few hours later and wished that I'd crawled into my hammock before the sleeping like a log bit! Into the hammock and a few more hours of sleep.
Over coffee the next "morning" I contemplate on those pilots who actually enjoy, nay live for the excitement of a "fur ball". They can only be physiologically addicted to adrenaline highs! They are welcome! But a small voice in my head whispers gently to itself . . . "but it was fun and we survived!" I ignore it. And plan to spend more time in the AA simulator.
We are back to gathering data and checking it against hypotheses - it takes time and patience. I research the history of this little bit of the Universe. The official history (available from SeeJay's site and all good e-book e-stalls) is well written but a bit soulless. Then I come across a history written by a pilot called the_rami. I remember the name from Legends, but don't recall seeing him around for a long time. It's a more personal and gives a feel of what it was like to live when there was civil war and Earth was nearly obliterated. the_rami seems to be a bit of a conspiracy theory freak . You know the sort - the Government is keeping secrets from us and doesn't tell us everything and there are little green men out there. (Actually they are little brown dogs, a group that looks like they head butted a meat-grinder (and lost), a very sexy three metre purple feline race (the ladies of the species that is - the males are closer to three and a half metres and don't look sexy at all!), some dudes who are linked into a hive mind and fly in factory sized ships of a cubic disposition and some guys with wrinkly bony foreheads. You don't want to cross any of them! Anywhere. Anytime!
I decide to put together an appendix to the official history of Evochron with some extra details from a variety of sources. I fully acknowledge these writers as the source of all that is written in the appendix. If you look at the Official History it is split into sections. I've titled the sections in the appendix the same as the Official ones. The dates between sections overlap quite a bit because many developments took place in parallel. The stories aren't necessarily in date order. Read the two versions together.
This example gives a good feel for the difference between the versions. The first five paragraphs (omitted here) are more or less the same. The ending is quite different.
The official version: Enigma (2285-2287)
. . . The Vonari made a push for Earth itself on July 1st, 2287. Earth's Naval forces intercepted the Vonari attack force, which consisted of numerous large ships matching the description of the spacecraft that attacked the Becker.
In a massive battle, two Lamprey pilots escorted by a wing of StarWraiths succeeded in reaching a Vonari vessel and planted several hull charges. The hull charges proved effective and four explosions rocked the dark vessel and tore it apart. The explosion was large enough to also destroy the surrounding vessels flying in close formation.
The expanded Version: Enigma (2285-2287)
. . . Despite this Federation and Alliance forces still sniped away at each other! For example, shortly afterward, a small group of experienced F-144E pilots stationed in the Enigma Asteroid Base were involved in a serious fire fight to escape their own base. Alliance marines had attacked and taken over the automated defences of the station. The pilots were faced with the choice of surrender and incarceration or fighting back. They created a plan to disable the defence system, now reprogrammed to prevent them escaping in their fighters. Several small groups created distractions by attacking storage areas and feinting attacks on the main and secondary control rooms. These "hit and run" tactics occupied the invading marine forces creating a breathing space for the main group to use the atmospheric distribution duct network to reach the armoury. Now effectively equipped for a counter attack, the pilots continuing to use diversionary attacks entered the defence system control room and disabled the relevant defence network.
Deep in space, beyond the reach of the long range sensors of the Enigma Asteroid Base the Alliance Marine Assault Group was making its last minute checks - weapons locked and loaded - space armour sealed - radio checks - lucky talismans in place - ammo pouches full. Since at this point they were strapped securely into the stubby, heavily armoured and rugged but ugly little drop ships, checking wasn't easily. But it was the third full check they'd done, so it didn't really matter - the first two were before embarkation and each marine had checked his own and his buddy's gear as well.
The space armour was almost literally bomb-proof, was very manoeuvrable in flight in a zero gravity environment and could be equipped with an impressive array of heavier weaponry. Wearing one was like wearing a small fighter and gave it's wearer it a sense of invulnerability. It was also heavy and not easy to use in a up close and dirty fire fight, despite the servo enhancement built into the arms and legs. The marines would have preferred the lighter battle armour they normally wore, but the target had to be approached from space and its outer hull breeched first. Another weakness was the poor visiblity through the plasteel visor. tactical awareness came through a comprehensive HUD display. AI modules analysed the tactical situation and superimposed a simplifed FoF outline over each target, colour coded by threat priority. The display updated nearly instantaneously - In space invaluable - inside the corridors of the base there wouldn't be time to read the data and plan the apporpriate response - it was going to be down to reflexes and experience and training and an unshakeable trust in your buddy to mind your six.
The suits were also prone to disruption by em pulse weapons. Again, in space not such a problem - The marines worked in close knit four man teams (actually "person" since the girls were on the front line as well!); any pulse large enough to take out the spread out teams would risk taking out the hostiles as well
Four teams of four made one squad. Two squads made up the assault group. Each team had its own mission target. The planners weren't expecting heavy resistance - A small security detail of Federation marines weren't going to be much of a problem - not elite, being more of a police force. The bulk of the combat trained personnel on the base were pilots - no match for elite marines in a fire fight!
Each team checked off it turn to its Squad Leader in Team One. The Squad Leader reported to the XO on the Armoured Transport's battle bridge
"Red Squad ready to go!" . . . "Blue Squad ready to go!"
"Copy that Squad Leaders" Jump in five . . . four . . . . three . . . . two . . . . one . . .
A perfect operation; the transport dropped out of jump a thousand meters away from the base, the four drop ships ejected, reoriented themselves and shot towards their entry points. The transport dropped a communications jammer and jumped back out before the drop ships had finished turning!
Inside the station the proximity alarms started to pulse. The operations room sat frozen rigid for a fraction of a second and then burst into frantic activity. The Watch Officer scanned tactical screens and waited for the analysis. Within a few seconds reports started to appear. One medium ship jumped in on the far side of the base and almost immediately jumped away. Four small radar blips detected spreading out and accelerating towards the base
"Call to Battle Stations please Mr Anderson"
"Sir"
a pulsing light started all over the base . . . a calm but assertive voice repeated "report to your battle stations - this is not a drill . . . this is not a drill . . "
All across the base people looked at the speakers in shock. And then started to move under the tongue lash of the various officers and team leaders. "this is what we've been trained for - now MOVE IT!" Crew were jogging this way and that some looking serious, some bemused and a few apprehensive.
The drop ships hit the surface of the base and harpoons fired into the rock, holding them in place. Explosive bolts on each drop ship exploded and then the whole side of the ship blew off. restraining clamps released and the marines surged forwards towards the maintenance access ports near them.
Electronic codes were squirted at the locks, releasing them and the doors swung open.
Red Leader used the tight beam coded communicator - the only device that was programmed to bypass the jammer - "Red Leader to Eagle - access achieved". The XO, coordinating the attack on the Cruiser smiled. The intel they had received from within deep sleeper agents within the Federation was good!
Each team made a smooth entry, and headed for their preliminary objectives; the control room was isolated and locked down, communications cut removing the risk that the jammer might be bypassed, the armoury locked down and all internal blast doors lowered and locked. Effectively the base was sliced up into a series of "prison cells".
17 minutes, deaths on both sides zero, Phase One accomplished
The teams then started on Phase Two - locking down the base properly. They spread out, heading for major centres in the base to subdue and lock down any means of calling for help or organising a counter attack. Though heavily outnumbered, the marines were like one man tanks - few attempted to stop them when they unsealed a door and entered an area and they didn't resist for long. A few bones were broken - it's hard to stop someone gently when wearing a suit that can crush steel! These were the enemy but unnecessary collateral damage would be counterproductive!
Blue One had been tasked with securing the automated defence system for the base. This was the primary target. The base was to be secured and the defences made safe so that the cruiser could approach and complete the occupation. In the meantime the auto defence was set to destroy any ship within 1000km of the base. Once the base was secure the defence grid would be switched off and the cruiser would arrive!
Estimated time for phase two was 60 minutes
The Fighter CAP group was 10 000K out and blissfully unaware
A simple plan that was running like clockwork except . . .
The Defence Squadron flew F144E StarWraiths. They were an elite picked from amongst the elite pilots of the navy. Their CO wasn't very pleased with the last practice - they were getting cocky and therefore slack, not that an outsider would have noticed the problem!
They were listening very carefully whilst the CO laid it on - she'd just got to the part where they were invited to consider an alternative career when the call to battle stations began. Pilots ran to the locker room and started to put on flight suits.
The marines later admitted that they has drastically underestimated the courage and abilities of the "fly boys". Once officer later stated in a debrief; "We had grown to believe our own insult . . . " you fly while we die" and thought we were taking in a group of soft pseudo-soldiers who had no combat experience and no guts for an eye to eye fire fight - we were very mistaken!"
The Base XO's voice came over the speaker a few minutes later. "Scramble everything that you can fly. We have intruders, heavily armoured and it looks like a takeover rather than a hit and run. Get everything out and away."
The pilots, though already moving quickly, accelerated their flight preparation.
The briefing room is located in the hangar decks. A sub-armoury is also located there. All of the Wraiths are sitting hot in their launch cradles, fuelled but with minimal weapons, ready for another simulation in which the pilots would be expected to prove the CO wrong in her analysis of their skill, dedication, parentage and worthiness to remain in the squadron. The fighters could be scrambled in just a few minutes.
The Auto Defence System alarm started to tweet its own message and almost simultaneously the XO's voice came on again. "Belay the launch order - the buggers have set the system to destroy anything moving out there!"
The pilots were trained as Navy
Marine Pilots which meant that they did the full boot camp training with regular marine recruits and also ground attack, air drop and space combat training that regular marines specialised in. They did training for the tactic planning that marines were expected to know - there might not be any officers surviving to make decisions! The pilots would be expected to fight alongside and just like the regular marines if grounded or when necessary for the mission - despite the multi-million credits spent training them to fly combat missions. Combat in space is pretty close up and personal too!
The CO looked at the pilots who had been sprinting towards their ships, but who were now frozen looking at her. The launch crews were putting the ships back on "ready wait"
"OK boys and girls, no flying today until the ADS is down. Soooo . . . it's probably up to us to take it down. Tigers - armoury and get pulse rifles, kinetic pistols and stun grenades for the teams. Leopards, pull up the ship schematics - I want a route to the ADS control room that avoids the bad guys, but we can cover in less than a week! Cheetah's I want a plan for a distraction that doesn't involve destroying half of the base. Lynx - I want every ship final prepped so that when we can go we can go as soon as the pilot is strapped in the cockpit sealed" . . . . come on you pussi-cats - MOVE!"
The flight leaders reported over the next 15 minutes
"we've also found some em pulse grenades - they'll need to be close but should shut a suit down for a minute or two at least"
"we can have half the ships ready for instant launch within 15 minutes - all of them in about 25!"
"the main blast and damage control doors are locked down. Even if they were open the route to the ADS will be fully covered by the hostiles. But . . . the Jeffries tubes will allow us to get to the entrance to the ADS, bypassing everything else. If our guys are doing their job and keeping the hostiles busy
there should be a minimal force to deal with when we get there"
"we can use the Jeffries tubes to head towards the armoury and towards the comms centre- they'll expect someone to head for them. We can make enough of an effort to make it look real - they should put a perimeter defence around the main areas far enough out to give them some manoeuvring room - we can keep them occupied"
Details were sketched out and then firmed up in 10 minutes of heavy discussion.
"OK people - let's make this happen! I'm not having my babies taken by the frakking Alliance . . . . and I'm not ready to lose you lot either!
The distraction team managed to "entertain" the hostile marines with feint attacks and spectacular explosions. The space armour, ideal for space and drop shock troops was simply too ponderous for the hit and run tactics the pilots employed. But there were several few flesh wounds, scrapes and bruises and three fatalities. They convinced the marines that they were serious about getting to the armoury and the communications room and the marines set up a perimeter line just as predicted.
The ADS attack team crawled through the Jeffries tubes as fast as they could whilst remaining quiet when the tubes ran parallel to main corridors and very quiet as they passed near the perimeter line. At last, with sore hands and scrubbed knees they emerged near to the ADS door in a side corridor. A very surreptitious peek revealed two armoured forms outside the door. Plan A (to walk in) went out of the airlock - Plan B, less appetising, would be needed.
One pilot, Lt James Grant, volunteered to "do the business" and re-entered the tube. Jeffry tubes are found everywhere on space ships and on bases. They fill the internal space like blood vessels fill a body, carrying necessary conduits and cables everywhere needed. They have access panels at regular and frequent intervals. The designers are not idiots however and access to or from the tubes isn't possible in sensitive areas like the armoury and the comms hub.
So, James slowly and very quietly crawled to a point above the "suits". The rest of the team waited tensely out of sight, speaking to which ever gods or spirits that protected them, praying that no other marines would join these two and that James would be OK.
James opened an access hatch a crack, primed two grenades and dropped them. He dropped the hatch and frantically scrambled backwards. The marines looked down when the grenades hit the floor. One started to raise his rifle upwards to hose the ceiling and whoever was up there . . .
An explosive grenade in a zero G environment can blow an armoured marine a long way - until he can use his thruster system to regain control. A grenade can badly scratch the painted insignia on the suit. A fragmentation grenade can even put a few scratches in the surface of a suit. If James had dropped a couple of frag grenades, James would be dead and the story would have had a very different ending
This wasn't a zero G environment.
The grenades emitted a sound, a cross between a pop and a whine. The rest heard that and then heard what sounded like a metal tree hitting the floor. Another careful peek and they saw one armoured figure on the floor and the other standing perfectly still with his rifle half raised. The suits were "dead", at least for a few minutes! The em pulse grenades had done their job.
Inside the suits the marines lost the ability to move. They also lost communications and their tactical overlays. Neither was looking down the corridor, but from the corners of their eyes they could see who had taken them down. Frakking pilots - "up into the air junior birdmen" - soft pilots who never actually get their hands dirty in real fighting!
The suits started their auto reboot sequence - em pulse could only disable temporarily, not permanently - self checks were completed and the computer core prepared to reactivate all its systems. Similar thoughts in two minds . . . "one more minute and we will have these frakkers! - they are toast!"
Marine training isn't all brute force and tactics - it also contains electronics, computing, vehicle and weapons repairs. One vital session is dedicated to permanently disabling an armoured suit - it takes 30 seconds. The lecturer hadn't anticipated carrying out the procedure when the suit was occupied by a hostile but the technique is the same anyhow!
The rest, as they say, is history. The team accessed the ADS controls and shut the field down and also locked the controls so that no-one could reactivate it. As they left they also locked down the room, jammed the door and retreated as quietly as they had arrived.
The distraction team made a show of being "beaten" buy a superior force and retreated.
Back in the launch bay the fighters were ready. Three pilots were incapable of flying because of their wounds, another five were dead. The launch crews had also prepped a Personnel Carrier and the wounded were loaded in.
They succeeded in launching a significant proportion of the fighter assault group, setting the auto destruct on the ships they couldn't take, Though it was a long journey, they rendezvoused with the "Lexington". From there this group of elite pilots took on a major role in the defence against the newly revealed (and at this time unknown) threat - the Vonari.
Just a thought but sometimes I think we don't deserve to survive as a species!
The Vonari made a push for Earth itself on July 1st, 2287.
The following is taken from a Military Intelligence Debriefing Report. The language is typically understated.
A large Vonari vessel along with several slightly smaller (and as we were to later identify them) "Drop Shock" Invasion Troop Carriers appeared from jump space near to Earth on July 1, 2287.
The Earth Defence Force Fighter Squadrons (our last line of defence), stood their ground and fought with tenacity despite being heavily outnumbered by a technologically superior force of Vonari A-50 fighters protecting the Vonari Invasion ships Their sacrifice bought the time needed for the "Lexington" to arrive. In the subsequent fire fight two Lamprey pilots (see Debrief Report EDF-CCAx- 196968737) under the cover of the F-144E pilots from the Enigma Asteroid Base succeeded into breaking through Vonari fighter defence shield, and evading Vonari anti-ship turret fire.
Mention must be made of the exemplary determination shown by the pilots of the covering F-144E squadrons and the Assault Groups from the Earth Defence Force which maintained a nonstop and overwhelming attack against the defensive capability of the Vonari ships in order to protect the Lampreys. Many reports have been received of pilots disregarding the chances of their own survival to ensure that the Vonari fighter cover and the capital ships' defence network remained saturated.
The Lampreys reached the Vonari main vessel and planted four antimatter mines on its hull. The Hull Charges turned out to be effective, as four explosions rocked the dark vessel and tore it apart. The threat to the Earth defence network was eliminated. The Drop Ships proved to have little independent defence capability, depending on the big carrier to clear a path and defend them. The Drop Ships attempted to jump away. Two did, seven were destroyed and one disabled severely.
The losses of the defensive fighter screen was in excess of 70%. Neither Lamprey survived the resulting explosion.
I can tell you more about the untold History of Evochron in my next blog, but before I finish there is an invitation I would like to extend to everyone reading this.
As you know my home is
DSRS Copernicus. My family still live there. All of you are welcome to visit this Christmas and if you go the "Beaker Bar" and mention my name, there will be a free meal (not a Gorfburger!) and a drink for you - to celebrate Christmas.
The station is in
968 7 3944, just a few sectors from the Vonari border
Merry Christmas, however you celebrate it! 
 
[Edited on 23-12-2011 by DaveK]
Innovation and imagination. I love it.
:P
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