The siege of station Zeta

[verbosity]

a small disclaimer, this story is as yet unfinished, and I'll probably do a couple of re-writes once Its complete

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The siege of station Zeta
part 1

Janov stared at the displays in disbelief, The first attack had come without warning. The radar probes stationed around the sector were knocked out seconds before a series of explosions. "fulcrums, they're sending fulcrums at us" he thought. The attack was short lived, and he set about assessing the situation at the conn. Whilst stations were designed to withstand sustained assaults, somehow the attack had damaged the communication and navigation arrays. Janov activated the station intercom "Attention all, The station is under attack, we are deaf dumb and blind, lockdown the docking bays, and prep a scout ship for recon, janov out". Reports started coming in from around the station, apart from the external arrays, damage had been light, and injuries had been minor.

Zain sat in his quarters, the lights dimmed and a glass of scotch in his hand, taking a sip he thought back to his past, unaccounted except for his own conscience. " Jass ,why'd you do it?" he thought to himself.

Zain had been a spacerat from his earliest days, and had jumped into a ship as soon as he gained his licence. he remembered his early years fondly, an endless adventure, shipping, fighting even the occasional pirate spree. he had been one of the first pilots to find where the renegades had gone, the so-called Riftspace, but when the Vonari war had broken out he had enlisted. An old friend, now a teacher now at the OTA had once told him that they told tales to the rookies of him as one of the 'Legends' of the early part of the war. " War? no it's no war" He thought to himself " It’s an endless onslaught, wave after wave of them, never stopping, there hasn't been a single break in their attacks in the last ten years. We're breaking up, all of us, it’s only a matter of time before something gives, and then everything will fall".
Zain was right, almost everyone in the alliance knew he was right, damn near everyone in the Evochron quadrant knew it. Systems had been declaring themselves independent, rumours abounded of a new 'federation' navy being built, and yet all the while the alliance threw everything they had at the frontline, with nothing to spare for anything else. " they're giving the whole quadrant over to the mercs, heaven help us". He sank his glass, the harsh scotch burning his throat, and poured another as he fell back into the bittersweet abyss that was waiting for him "Jass.." he murmured again. As the attack hit, for a moment thought he was dreaming, reliving that fateful day 10 years ago, he was shaken out of this by the scotch bottle on the table beside his chair falling, shattering on the ground in front of him. " So it’s happening, well it had to happen sometime".

Striding into the conn room Zain took command, "stations everyone, maintain alert. Janov, whats the sitrep?" he called. " station is in lock down sir, minimal damage to major systems, though nav and comms are down, no response from radar probes, and we've got a scout ship ready to fly" Janov responded. "casualties?", " a few minor injuries, nothing critical commander". "good" Zain sighed " alert the med bays, there'll be more before this is out. I need to know exactly what happened". "it was sudden sir" Janov reported " radar probes went down just as the attack started". "Hmm, whoever it was, they know what they are doing. ensign," Zain motioned to the ensign sitting at the tactical console "Ensign, scan the logs, if we're lucky we'll have a shadow from the last seconds before the nav went down". "yes Commander, what am I looking for?" the ensign queried. " Well those were fulcum device, so whoever is out there is human, I'd guess that we're looking for several ships judging from the speed and effectiveness of that attack".

Commander Zain tapped the intercom " Spanners, we need nav and comms back" A voice came back over the comm channel " nav should be up within the hour sir. but sir, the comms are gone". "Freak!" thought Zain " ok Janov, lets get some eyes out there spring the bird". Janov tapped at his console " Bird is on the wing commander" replied Janov indicating that the scout ship had been launched. " ok, meet me in my ready room Janov" Zain said, making his way toward the ready room door.

"somehow they always end up looking the same" thought Janov as he walked into the ready room. The room had the same gun-metal walls of the rest of the station, one wall held the certificated and merits of the Commander and some of the crew, including himself, the opposite wall had an old wooden writing desk, which showed the signs of being both old and unused, varnish peeling from the wood in places. A small model of a talon configured for light combat duties sat on top of the writing desk on a stand with the plaque ‘Warbird’ etched into it, a reminder of the commanders first ship, at the end of the room a large mahogany desk with a maroon leather covering, and at the other side of this the commander, with uniform unbuttoned at the collar, a glass of scotch in his hand, and looking as tired as if he'd never slept in his 54 years. " sit Janov, somehow I think we'll be here a while" Janov sat and Zain handed him a glass already filled with an amber shot of scotch. "Jack, whats going on? why would anyone attack a station? with our gravity field we're dammed near invulnerable, only the pineapples can damage us, with , well you know." Zain stared into the glass.

After her death, Jack Zain had fallen into the bottle, he sat there day after day at the bar of " I don't remember", sat there for months, just staring into glass after glass trying to forget. That been interrupted one day, by the arrival of the Admiral Bower " Jack we need to speak", he said as he sat down at the bar beside Zain, Ordering a bourbon for himself " "you've nothing to say that I want to listen to". " Freak Jack! Don't you think I don't know you blame yourself, the wolfies, me, the Alliance, the goddam universe for all I know. But jack I need you, just listen to what I've got to say". " Freak you!" Zain snarled back " She's gone, and she'd still be here if it hadn't been for you!". " Yeah, I know Jack, I blame myself for it too, we should've known, could've tried harder. But it happened and I'm going to live with that, with her loss on my conscience. But you, you've got a chance to turn the tide, to push them back. We need you to save us Jack."
A few Days later Jack Zain walked into the Alliance headquarters wearing the uniform he'd promised he'd never wear again, He was directed into a conference room, to meet Admiral Bower, another admiral wearing an S.O. designation on his shoulder, and a couple of tech sergeants. "thank you for coming Jack, this is Admiral Thorn from S.O." Jack snarled, and refused the admirals proffered hand. ", Hmm, and this is T.S. Owens , and T.S. Mc Walter". Both Glimpsed at each other briefly and decided to salute rather than risk their hands being refused. Jack returned the salute, with a smirk, the first glimpse of a smile for over a year. Admiral bower contined "Lets sit gentlemen, Owens please you may begin". Owens stayed standing, flicked on the view-screen on the far wall and began " Gentlemen, let me introduce, Project Zeta……".

Jass, He’d met her near the end of his first Command, the Alliance Cruiser “StrongBoy�. The StrongBoy wasn’t big or fast Being an old type-C model, but it What it lacked in finesse it more than made up for in firepower. Zain had been ordered to escort a fleet of medical and science vessels From Sapphire to Deneb, to help with a new contagion that had emerged there. The ‘Black-Jack’ run was so-called because it was a gamble whether there’d be action or not. Usually a Cruiser and a wing of heavy strike craft was enough to deter would-be pirates, but every so often they’d get brave and try their luck. If attacked though Zain knew his headache would be different, the ‘med-jocks’ ( as they called the captains of med and science vessels), knew their ships would not last long against an attack, and would sometimes risk a ‘flat jump’, before their engines were fully cycled, or before the rest of the fleet was ready, and this was what gave the pirates a chance. Flat jumps rarely sent the ship to the plotted location, and often left the ship with heavy damage, To the pirates this meant easy pickings. The convoys journey had been quiet ( “too quiet� Zain he thought, as they passed through Rucker) until Virgo, When an Old battered federation Cruiser had appeared with a wing of Strikers. As usual the Rebel craft were outmatched and outgunned, but over the intercom came a panicked voice, “they’re attacking us, we’ve gotta jump�, Zain had opened the intercom “ freak man, hold your position till we’ve cycled back up!�. Another voice came on the intercom then, “you’re not going anywhere, leave now and you’ll die, and more will die in Deneb�. Zain looked at the tactical HUD, and saw one of the medical cruisers pitch left, crossing over the panicked captains flight path, and stopping him from jumping, “Medical ship Chapel to Captain Zain, that blockheads not going anywhere till the rest of us are! Sort out those rebels and we’ll be on our way�. He should have been angry, furious even, but a small smirk curled the corner of his mouth as he opened the intercom “ you hear the lady, boys lets take them out�. The rest of the run was clear sailing. After they arrived at Deneb there was the usual formal diplomatic events, and at a ‘thank you’ dinner thrown by Denebs governer, he meet her.
“So you’re the plucky pilot who risked her ship in virgo?�
“That Damned Hayden, I don’t know how he got a command, should’ve stuck to shipping ore around Erato�
Zain chuckled “ not often you hear a med-jock talk like that, I’m Jack Zain�
“ This my first command, what is it you mils call us, wet eared? I used to be a Science officer upon an old merc explorer-ship, a deep space leviathan. I’m Jass Ortyn, it’s a pleasure Captain�
“ The Pleasure is mine Jass, and while we’re under the sky, you can call me jack, You had some guts back there, could’ve lost your live, and your ship, back there if he’d tried to jump�.
“Like I said, Hayden is a goddam coward, he wouldn’t do anything that foolish.�
“I’ve seen it before, I was at opel, when a med-jock wiped out 6 ships in one go by flat-jumping�
“youch. Say Jack, I’m starving, you fancy skipping outta here and grabbing a gorfburger� her eyes sparkled
“ I thought you’d never ask�. He replied


In the ready room, Janov sipped at his bourbon, “ Zain what’s going on here? There’s something your not telling me�.
“Janov, I’d hoped we’d never have to deal with this, but there is a risk to the station. From the Andromeda drive�.
Janov’s throat went dry “jeez, you mean?�
“ well I hope it’s not the case, Freak man I’m praying its not the case. But if it is we’re gonna have one hell of a fight�.
Zain tapped the intercom “tactical, what do you have for me?�. The voice crackled back over the comm. “ No reply from our bird sir. I’ve checked through the logs and found a couple of shimmers and what I’m guessing is an old type-D jumping in just before our arrays went down�.
“shimmers..� Janov started “ so we’ve got at least 2 birds with stealth tech and a cruiser outside, chances are our birds been downed, looks like we might be here for a while.�
“If we have a while� Zain replied, before tapping the intercom once more “ Spanners, we need eyes, and soon!�

In Alliance headquarters Zain looked in disbelief and the view-screen in front of him.� Let me get this right sergeant, you’ve managed to reproduce the Andromeda device?�
Tech sergeant Owens sighed and started again“ not quite, we’ve managed to reverse engineer a drive based on the technology, with a few limitations. In short commander, based on this device we can easily transport a station to any point in space�.
“so someone sets off ones of these ‘constructor’ devices of yours , and a few minutes later a station appears?� Zain asked.
“essentially yes commander� T.S. Mc Walter interjected “ the drive will only work for transport once, but it will also power and provide a residual ‘gate’ for the movement of materials. We’ve already got a prototype Station complete, and have several supplementary structures in construction�.
“Jack,� The S.O. Admiral started “it’s not quite what we were hoping, but this technology could save us, save humanity in Evochron, even win the war for us. “
Zain Snarled at Admiral Thorn “ what do you want from me?�
“Take it easy Jack,� Admiral Bower replied “ We need a crew to travel out and test the constructor device, and the station. We need someone we know will do the job. Freak Jack we need you.�

One month later, Jack walked onto the bridge of the Alliance Carrier Omega. “here is is Jack� said Bower “ welcome to the farstar construction site�. Zain looked out of the bridge windows. They were in a system Jack hadn’t seen before. A small orange sun in the center of a solar system of asteroids. Nearer the carrier Jack could see hundreds of freighters ferrying, mining, shipping to and from the asteroids to a station construction yard, with another one by its side. “ Jack, you see? Each of these construction yards is over five cubic kilometres in size, it’s the biggest project mankind has ever started.� Bowers was visibly excited as he continued “ we’re building another station construction yard as you can see, and once that’s done we’re going to build similar, smaller ‘probe’ structures. With this we can hold off the onslaught Jack, we can push back the Vonari�. Bower lead Zain to the lift, and they travelled down to the hanger bay. Jack looked out to the single ship in the bay. “ here she is� bower held out his hand pointing at the renegade class ship. “we’ve christened here the ‘Ortyn’. You’ve got your crew together?� Zain nodded, “ Good you leave oh six hundred tomorrow�.

Sapphire in Spring was beautiful. They had rented an old log cabin and taken their leave together. The cabin was nestled at the edge of a lake near the mountains, one small stream ran gently past the side of the cabin down toward the lake, and the tall pines of the surrounding forest gave a comforting sense of enclosure to Zains spacerat instincts. Jass sat on the edge of the cabins porch enjoying the pink and red evening sky as Jack prepared a small fire. “You know Jack, I could be happy here, just you and me.� Jack Laughed “ oh its beautiful, but you’re as much of a spacer as I am, sure it’s beautiful here, but I know you’d rather have four solid walls and the view of the ‘way.� “maybe� she replied “ but this is special, jack , If nothing else we’ll always have this�. Jack laughed “ We’ll always have Sapphire in spring, sounds like one of those holvids of yours�. Later that night as tey lay curled up beside the fires Jass looked up to the sky, “They are different down here, under the sky. Not as clear, but they twinkle�. Zain turned to Jass “I’ve taken another tour, they’re sending me back to the front line�. She stared into his eyes “ I should be angry, but I know you couldn’t avoid your duty, which sector?�. “Sierra� he replied. “ well that’s not too bad, I’m posted in Agate most of the time, we’ll still get time together.� Zain grinned “ and we’ll always have spring in Sapphire�.

Engineer Yarrow, Otherwise known as spanners Called up on the intercom up to the briefing room “ Commander we have eyes again, I rigged up a comms device, but they’re scrambling us�, Zain thanked Yarrow and motioned for Janov to escort him back to conns. “ eyes are up everybody, lets see what’s out there� he called as the strode in through the door. The Officer at the tactical console called up the security feeds, at first there was nothing to be seen outside of the station. Janov called out sector 15, magnify� one of the screens shifted to show an old battered cruiser, “ Well theres big bird, it’s an old type-D alright� said Zain. “ sir� called out one of the crew, I’ve got signs of debris near the docking ring, looks like the remains of our scout ship. “ they’re camping us� Said Janov, thinking aloud “ we know there are at least 2 cloaked ships out there, It means they can be right outside and be able to take any ship down before it can respond. “yes,� Zain agreed “ there may be more than 2 though, and as soon as we try to launch a full wing that cruiser would move in�. Zain set the intercom on station wide “ok boys and girls, we’re maintaining full alert for the time being, cons, keep your eyes out for any signs of shimmers, or any change in the status of that cruiser. Hangers prepare our strike wing and keep them ready for a fast launch. Spanners, I need you to monitor our energy systems, let me know if there is any sudden change in status. People we are in a siege situation, we have little idea of our enemy their strengths, or why they are here. Stay Alert, Zain out�.

The night before the Ortyn’s maiden voyage, Thorn came to see Zain. “ damn what do you want, Thorn?� He demanded as the door to his quarters slid open to reveal the S.O. Admiral. Thorn strode into Zains quarters and poured himself a drink “ you don’t like me do you Zain� he said with his back to the commander. “ I don’t like S.O. your lot caused her death� Zain Growled in return. “ I was told about the ‘Aries incident’� “incident? People were butchered, I lost my wife, Because S.O. needed to cover their backs!�. “ Ok commander� said Thorn pulling rank “ you don’t like us , but the fate of the alliance depends on your mission, and the fate of your mission depends on me. Now sit down and listen to what I’ve got to say� The next morning Zain called the crew to the hanger where the Ortyn Was undergoing is final checks. The crew was small, lieutenant Janov and chief Yarrow had served with him on the StrongBoy in Navigation and Engineering, along with T.S. Owens who Zain had picked for the role of science officer. While they prepared themselves and the ship the admirals arrived in the hanger. “welcome to the Ortyn, boys� Thorn called “ you’ll find some nice kit on this baby, it’s not fast, or a heavy hitter, but she’s got a Mantis jump drive, a Stealth generator, C5 shields, and your new toys, the build constructor and deploy constructor modules.�
Bower was next “your mission is to travel to your given coordinates behind Vonari lines near the sierra warzone, there you will utilise the deploy and build constructures, and if successful man the resultant station and sub-structures, god speed men.� “thank you sir,� said Zain “ok boys lets go we spring our bird in five.�

[Maarschalk]

Wow, another good story writer......very cool.......

[49rTbird]

Hi Verb, after re-reading part one this morning I found one part that has what I saw the first time.

: {ensign}," Zain motioned to the {ensign} sitting at the tactical console "{Ensign}, scan the logs, if we're lucky we'll have a shadow from the last seconds before the nav went down". "yes Commander, what am I looking for?" the {ensign} queried. :

I am probably wrong but the use of ENSIGN four times in such a short span reaches out to me and makes me wonder if they are all needed. I am a avider reader of SciFI and have over 700 books of it in my library of which many are collections of short stories. Your story really is good and am looking forward to reading more.

[warsign]

I want to read more...

[Nigel_Strange]

Nice work!

[verbosity]

I'm still writing at this, I've got a couple of thousand additional words, though a good chunk of them would count as 'padding' or are back story that would mostly be unneeded for people unaware of the universe. hopefully I'll post the next part ( though probably not the ending) sometime tomorrow.

[Marvin]

Originally posted by verbosity

... I've got a couple of thousand additional words, though a good chunk of them would count as 'padding' ....

Must be why they call you Verbosity (I think I might've mentioned that before ... if so, sorry ... "Yoda Moment" is my only excuse).

[verbosity]

yup, that and the fact that when I first joined here I had a post per day of around 24!

Though I may have to give up my mantle to muchtalk

as an interesting aside, I'm verbosity almost everywhere on the web ( one of three I found out recently ), before that I was verbal gerbil , but I lost my steam login and had to create a new one, and thus verbosity was born..........

[Edited on 5-26-2010 by verbosity]

[Maarschalk]

LOL...........

[Star King]

Nice story but way too many verbs!

[Maarschalk]

I did not know Verb himself was in the Story let alone many of him. Did he get cloned by the Terrasins...?......Did I miss something..?.........LOL......:P:P:P:P