Re: So I did something. (Original Sci-Fi, critics wanted)
Posted: 2013-09-24 08:12pm
So this is the last segment. There'll be bonus content down the bottom.
Story:
NEAR EARTH
The dreadnought INS Victory span slowly in space.
The ancient ship was covered in a plethora of wounds; everything from point-defence gun rounds to a single, devastating antiparticle beam that had cored through the once-proud ship. Its reactors were gone, destroyed by the beam, and lights flickered on and off as emergency power was slowly established.
Captain Horatio Jackson slowly woke up in the captain's chair. His status panels were flashing red, when they were on at all. The lighting on the bridge had switched to the emergency red-lights, and most of the crew were unconscious. He keyed in the sequence for the medical kits built into the chairs, and watched as his crew woke up.
The sensor officer was the first to report; “Confirmed Seraphim kill.” That was the most important thing.
Damage control was next, slurring as she spoke; “Dama- Damage to all systems. One beam tube is still operational, but we don't have power to fire it. Reactors... they're just gone. Backups are going to be have to be patched in manually. Engines are out, we've got very little control over manoeuvring thrusters and I can't see the fuel tanks on here.” That was to be expected; dreadnought-on-dreadnought combat had always been extremely deadly.
“Alright,” he ordered, “try and regain as much control as you can. Get this spin stabilised, and have someone work on getting those backups up. We might be about to go into combat again, and I want to get at least one shot off if we do.”
“Their battleship's pulling alongside us,” said the sensors officer.
“We're being hailed,” reported the communications officer. Jackson nodded to them, and a second later the face of the Sky-Warrior admiral filled one of the screens.
“That was an... interesting interlude,” screeched the face. “I would like an explanation, if you don't mind.”
“That,” Jackson replied, “Was what we called a Seraphim. They're some sort of species that evolved in a high-energy region of space, or something. They were very dangerous, and could kill fleets in seconds. What they don't kill, they... turn. All it takes is the slightest hint of submission, and they have you. Hell, back when humanity was young, one of them screamed for some reason. It was audible on Earth from their nest; started most of our major religions. Thankfully, that one should be the last, although how the hell it survived I have no idea.”
The admiral considered this for a few seconds, then nodded to himself. “My fleet is retreating. We have just twenty ships left, all of them damaged. Goodbye, Captain Jackson.” The channel cut off.
What was left of the Clan fleet pulled away from Earth, heading towards the Transway point at Mars. As they left, Jackson relaxed in his chair, exhaling to release the stresses of battle. Then, he turned to Carter.
“So, any theories?” he asked.
“As to the Seraphim?” she said. He nodded. “Well,” she continued, “it probably went dormant somewhere in the solar system. That barge came across it, and woke it up. It would have had to have been somewhere nutrient-rich, close to the conditions we found in their nest.”
“A gas giant would work,” Jackson interjected. “Jupiter's big enough that it could have escaped detection.”
“You do realise this probably means there's more of them out there,” Maria said. “The odds of that one being the only one to try to go dormant are almost astronomical.”
“Actually,” Jackson replied, “I think that one was the one that brought down Earth, back then. After we killed the nest, it didn't get any more orders, so it just found somewhere to sleep and settled down. Considering we were the only species they knew about...”
“And if you're wrong?”
“Oh, we're going to go looking for more of them as soon as possible. I just meant that we probably won't find one in any of our systems. Speaking of which, we should probably try and get the ship patched up.”
Around them, the crew bustled, trying to coax the dreadnought back to life.
________________
EPILOGUE
One Year Later
The Alliance Dreadnought ANS Victory floated in space. Beside it was the destroyer ANS Salvager's Joy, her turrets now part of the ship rather than welded on. On the dreadnought's other side was the battleship ANS Mother's Talons, refitted with ancient Earth technology.
Around them were six hundred ships of the Alliance fleet. Most of them were Clan designs, upgraded in the orbital yards that the Magi had been able to assemble. There were a smattering of independent designs too, races which had recently discovered that there was alien life in the galaxy. They had been greeted with open arms, and invited to the Alliance. There were also a few Earth-built ships in the fleet, crewed by a mixture of the various races.
Behind the fleet floated the Great Roost. The war with the Sky-Warrior King and his court had taken several months, but between massive slave rebellions and the defection of most of the Clans, the result was inevitable. For several months, the green orb had burned, under siege within and without.
Now, however, the planet had turned into a trade hub. There had been talk of declaring it the capital of Alliance space, but a space station in Beta Arae had been found, a huge, ancient habitat which had been abandoned by the Earth empire over a thousand years ago.
The dreadnought herself was pristine. Almost every single wound it had taken had been repaired, new armour plates fitted, sensor antennae replaced and weapons refitted. The beam arrays now numbered five, just as they had when the ship was launched. One thing was different, though. A scorch mark circled the centre of the ship, as seen from the front. The Seraphim's antiparticle lance had struck there, and the scars remained as a reminder of what humanity had sacrificed.
Ancient auto-routines, now re-wired, made sure the ship was still operating. Cleaning robots stalked the hallways, moving out of the way of the crew as they bustled about their duties. Groups of fighters launched on patrol, more coming in to land. The weapon banks, still ready, sat idle. They had spat death at the creatures once thought of as gods, and none since the King had dared to challenge them.
As one, the fleet surged forwards, splitting into task forces and patrol groups. The Talons took a fleet out to Beta Arae, to guard the capital. The Joy went out to the border regions, to search for new species and to guard the ships that had been assigned to deploy new Highway Access Points across the galaxy.
The Victory left, alone, to hunt down any Seraphim that had survived and gone dormant. The dreadnought was the only ship equipped with T-band sensors, capable of detecting a Field at long range. They were too complex for even the Magi to produce yet.
As the ancient ship pulled onto the highway, it rolled in salute. Its crew sent a message to the rest of the fleet; “We will return.”
_______________
EARTH
France, Lyon
Leesh ran. Around her, the city shimmered in the daylight. It had finally been repaired; what had once been trees of stone were now solid buildings, packed with people. She came to a park, one of the city's robots helping some workers lay down a bench. The gun on its arm, welded on a year ago, hadn't been used in a very long time.
The city's defensive buildings had been retracted into the ground some months before, the space above them used for open-air markets, swimming pools and parks. A car rumbled past her, the occupants listening to some ancient Earth music.
She finally came to her home, her legs burning with the effort. Stepping inside, she was greeted with the voice of one of the Magi; “Welcome back, Councillor Leesh. There are several issues that require your attention: the rebuilding of London, the-” She cut it off.
“I don't want to deal with that right now, okay?” she said. The screen showing the command centre, converted into a council room, cut off. She walked into the living room.
“How was it?” asked Land as he saw her.
“Not too bad,” she replied, kissing him. “We had a vote on some minor stuff; things like traffic control and so on. We could just get the Magi to do it, but they've made it clear they'd rather not interfere in people's lives too much. Most of their attention's on the rebuilding works anyway. How'd it go for you?”
“It went well. I managed to start some of the children on some actual programming work, and we did some salvage practice today,” he said. “I'm thinking of taking them over to one of the other cities, controlled conditions, and have them each recover something interesting. Would be useful experience.”
“How about the little ones?” Leesh asked. She was always interested in what Land's classes were up to; it made a change from the council.
“Basic literacy and numeracy, as well as some computer work. This year's lower class should be done before the summer,” Land replied.
“That's good. Hey, if you do go over to one of the other cities, I'll have to find a reason to tag along. I could use a holiday,” she said. Land laughed at that. “Anyway,” she continued, “I'm going to have to go upstairs for a bit, sort out some paperwork. Can you get dinner started for me?”
“Yeah, fiiine,” he said, feigning reluctance. “Oh, yeah,” he called, as she walked up the stairs. “Your father called. He's having fun, apparently he found a boat somewhere and he's gone fishing.”
“Good to hear,” she called back.
For the first time in over thousand years, humanity enjoyed peace.
____
BONUS CONTENT: FTL Travel
FTL travel in this universe is accomplished in two ways. First, there's the generic space-warping drive. Point ship at target, ship goes there. This, however is relatively slow - the Victory, for those of you paying attention, can break about 14 light-years per day.
The second way of breaking the light barrier is with a Highway (Or a Transway if you're from one of the Clans - yes they are the same thing in case anyone's confused). These are essentially permanent tunnels in the fabric of space. My physics knowledge isn't good enough to come up with detailed mechanics, but there is no light-speed barrier and all acceleration is vastly improved. The base speed on a highway is about 70 light-years per day. You can go faster, but that creates risks akin to going over the speed limit on a crowded motorway.
Objects on a highway can interact with each other. Collisions can occur, and it's possible to actually dock two ships together entirely in the highway if it's clear enough. Weapons can theoretically be fired while travelling on it, but it's not usually a good idea; the tunnels can be destabilised if enough energy is pumped into them. In the heyday of the Empire, special service stations were set up inside the highway tunnels, allowing smaller ships to take longer journeys. I didn't get a chance to work this into the story, but yes you can find something akin to an American trucker stop in space.
____
Anyway, that's the end of this story. What did you all think? As in the title, be as critical as you like. Part of this exercise was to find out if I'm actually any good at this.
Story:
NEAR EARTH
The dreadnought INS Victory span slowly in space.
The ancient ship was covered in a plethora of wounds; everything from point-defence gun rounds to a single, devastating antiparticle beam that had cored through the once-proud ship. Its reactors were gone, destroyed by the beam, and lights flickered on and off as emergency power was slowly established.
Captain Horatio Jackson slowly woke up in the captain's chair. His status panels were flashing red, when they were on at all. The lighting on the bridge had switched to the emergency red-lights, and most of the crew were unconscious. He keyed in the sequence for the medical kits built into the chairs, and watched as his crew woke up.
The sensor officer was the first to report; “Confirmed Seraphim kill.” That was the most important thing.
Damage control was next, slurring as she spoke; “Dama- Damage to all systems. One beam tube is still operational, but we don't have power to fire it. Reactors... they're just gone. Backups are going to be have to be patched in manually. Engines are out, we've got very little control over manoeuvring thrusters and I can't see the fuel tanks on here.” That was to be expected; dreadnought-on-dreadnought combat had always been extremely deadly.
“Alright,” he ordered, “try and regain as much control as you can. Get this spin stabilised, and have someone work on getting those backups up. We might be about to go into combat again, and I want to get at least one shot off if we do.”
“Their battleship's pulling alongside us,” said the sensors officer.
“We're being hailed,” reported the communications officer. Jackson nodded to them, and a second later the face of the Sky-Warrior admiral filled one of the screens.
“That was an... interesting interlude,” screeched the face. “I would like an explanation, if you don't mind.”
“That,” Jackson replied, “Was what we called a Seraphim. They're some sort of species that evolved in a high-energy region of space, or something. They were very dangerous, and could kill fleets in seconds. What they don't kill, they... turn. All it takes is the slightest hint of submission, and they have you. Hell, back when humanity was young, one of them screamed for some reason. It was audible on Earth from their nest; started most of our major religions. Thankfully, that one should be the last, although how the hell it survived I have no idea.”
The admiral considered this for a few seconds, then nodded to himself. “My fleet is retreating. We have just twenty ships left, all of them damaged. Goodbye, Captain Jackson.” The channel cut off.
What was left of the Clan fleet pulled away from Earth, heading towards the Transway point at Mars. As they left, Jackson relaxed in his chair, exhaling to release the stresses of battle. Then, he turned to Carter.
“So, any theories?” he asked.
“As to the Seraphim?” she said. He nodded. “Well,” she continued, “it probably went dormant somewhere in the solar system. That barge came across it, and woke it up. It would have had to have been somewhere nutrient-rich, close to the conditions we found in their nest.”
“A gas giant would work,” Jackson interjected. “Jupiter's big enough that it could have escaped detection.”
“You do realise this probably means there's more of them out there,” Maria said. “The odds of that one being the only one to try to go dormant are almost astronomical.”
“Actually,” Jackson replied, “I think that one was the one that brought down Earth, back then. After we killed the nest, it didn't get any more orders, so it just found somewhere to sleep and settled down. Considering we were the only species they knew about...”
“And if you're wrong?”
“Oh, we're going to go looking for more of them as soon as possible. I just meant that we probably won't find one in any of our systems. Speaking of which, we should probably try and get the ship patched up.”
Around them, the crew bustled, trying to coax the dreadnought back to life.
________________
EPILOGUE
One Year Later
The Alliance Dreadnought ANS Victory floated in space. Beside it was the destroyer ANS Salvager's Joy, her turrets now part of the ship rather than welded on. On the dreadnought's other side was the battleship ANS Mother's Talons, refitted with ancient Earth technology.
Around them were six hundred ships of the Alliance fleet. Most of them were Clan designs, upgraded in the orbital yards that the Magi had been able to assemble. There were a smattering of independent designs too, races which had recently discovered that there was alien life in the galaxy. They had been greeted with open arms, and invited to the Alliance. There were also a few Earth-built ships in the fleet, crewed by a mixture of the various races.
Behind the fleet floated the Great Roost. The war with the Sky-Warrior King and his court had taken several months, but between massive slave rebellions and the defection of most of the Clans, the result was inevitable. For several months, the green orb had burned, under siege within and without.
Now, however, the planet had turned into a trade hub. There had been talk of declaring it the capital of Alliance space, but a space station in Beta Arae had been found, a huge, ancient habitat which had been abandoned by the Earth empire over a thousand years ago.
The dreadnought herself was pristine. Almost every single wound it had taken had been repaired, new armour plates fitted, sensor antennae replaced and weapons refitted. The beam arrays now numbered five, just as they had when the ship was launched. One thing was different, though. A scorch mark circled the centre of the ship, as seen from the front. The Seraphim's antiparticle lance had struck there, and the scars remained as a reminder of what humanity had sacrificed.
Ancient auto-routines, now re-wired, made sure the ship was still operating. Cleaning robots stalked the hallways, moving out of the way of the crew as they bustled about their duties. Groups of fighters launched on patrol, more coming in to land. The weapon banks, still ready, sat idle. They had spat death at the creatures once thought of as gods, and none since the King had dared to challenge them.
As one, the fleet surged forwards, splitting into task forces and patrol groups. The Talons took a fleet out to Beta Arae, to guard the capital. The Joy went out to the border regions, to search for new species and to guard the ships that had been assigned to deploy new Highway Access Points across the galaxy.
The Victory left, alone, to hunt down any Seraphim that had survived and gone dormant. The dreadnought was the only ship equipped with T-band sensors, capable of detecting a Field at long range. They were too complex for even the Magi to produce yet.
As the ancient ship pulled onto the highway, it rolled in salute. Its crew sent a message to the rest of the fleet; “We will return.”
_______________
EARTH
France, Lyon
Leesh ran. Around her, the city shimmered in the daylight. It had finally been repaired; what had once been trees of stone were now solid buildings, packed with people. She came to a park, one of the city's robots helping some workers lay down a bench. The gun on its arm, welded on a year ago, hadn't been used in a very long time.
The city's defensive buildings had been retracted into the ground some months before, the space above them used for open-air markets, swimming pools and parks. A car rumbled past her, the occupants listening to some ancient Earth music.
She finally came to her home, her legs burning with the effort. Stepping inside, she was greeted with the voice of one of the Magi; “Welcome back, Councillor Leesh. There are several issues that require your attention: the rebuilding of London, the-” She cut it off.
“I don't want to deal with that right now, okay?” she said. The screen showing the command centre, converted into a council room, cut off. She walked into the living room.
“How was it?” asked Land as he saw her.
“Not too bad,” she replied, kissing him. “We had a vote on some minor stuff; things like traffic control and so on. We could just get the Magi to do it, but they've made it clear they'd rather not interfere in people's lives too much. Most of their attention's on the rebuilding works anyway. How'd it go for you?”
“It went well. I managed to start some of the children on some actual programming work, and we did some salvage practice today,” he said. “I'm thinking of taking them over to one of the other cities, controlled conditions, and have them each recover something interesting. Would be useful experience.”
“How about the little ones?” Leesh asked. She was always interested in what Land's classes were up to; it made a change from the council.
“Basic literacy and numeracy, as well as some computer work. This year's lower class should be done before the summer,” Land replied.
“That's good. Hey, if you do go over to one of the other cities, I'll have to find a reason to tag along. I could use a holiday,” she said. Land laughed at that. “Anyway,” she continued, “I'm going to have to go upstairs for a bit, sort out some paperwork. Can you get dinner started for me?”
“Yeah, fiiine,” he said, feigning reluctance. “Oh, yeah,” he called, as she walked up the stairs. “Your father called. He's having fun, apparently he found a boat somewhere and he's gone fishing.”
“Good to hear,” she called back.
For the first time in over thousand years, humanity enjoyed peace.
____
BONUS CONTENT: FTL Travel
FTL travel in this universe is accomplished in two ways. First, there's the generic space-warping drive. Point ship at target, ship goes there. This, however is relatively slow - the Victory, for those of you paying attention, can break about 14 light-years per day.
The second way of breaking the light barrier is with a Highway (Or a Transway if you're from one of the Clans - yes they are the same thing in case anyone's confused). These are essentially permanent tunnels in the fabric of space. My physics knowledge isn't good enough to come up with detailed mechanics, but there is no light-speed barrier and all acceleration is vastly improved. The base speed on a highway is about 70 light-years per day. You can go faster, but that creates risks akin to going over the speed limit on a crowded motorway.
Objects on a highway can interact with each other. Collisions can occur, and it's possible to actually dock two ships together entirely in the highway if it's clear enough. Weapons can theoretically be fired while travelling on it, but it's not usually a good idea; the tunnels can be destabilised if enough energy is pumped into them. In the heyday of the Empire, special service stations were set up inside the highway tunnels, allowing smaller ships to take longer journeys. I didn't get a chance to work this into the story, but yes you can find something akin to an American trucker stop in space.
____
Anyway, that's the end of this story. What did you all think? As in the title, be as critical as you like. Part of this exercise was to find out if I'm actually any good at this.