Beyond the Horizon

[Dracus]

-----In the cabin of Raven Darkwater --------
--------aboard the Spitting Cobra------------

Raven sits in the dark; he has been unable to really sleep since he Last set eyes upon her. Why did they leave so much un-spoken? He should have demanded that high command send another to lead the mission. He should have said something.
It has been 9 days since Amber led the sweepers into Z’trop and there has been no contact with them since. The plan was for us to wait for some contact before going in. If no contact is ever made, then we are abort our mission as it is likely the minefield is still intact. We are all that stands between the survival and complete destruction of our people.
The shipyards were completely un-prepared for supporting a full-scale war so the arrive of new ships is slow.
Raven turns to the recorder and prepares to enter a log.
“Stardate 2411.8” Raven begins; “Beta fleet remains at post near the Z’trop warp point. We still have not received any word if the minefield has been taken down. Two more destroyer class ships have arrived; bring our fleet total to 14; 5 escorts, 6 frigates, and 3 destroyers.” Raven pauses for a minute and then continues; “First I would like to request that the crew of the Little Thunder be given full honors for their actions and be increased in rank. Second, I would like to request that Steve Rain, the older brother of Amber Rain, have his rights restored and be allowed to leave the prison colony on Wayland III. He record is to be cleaned.
Third, My crew and those of the other ships in beta fleet are not to be held responsible for following my next set of orders.”
Stopping the recorder, Raven rises from the chair and moves to the view port. Looking out toward the warp point, “Damn you, Damn you all to hell!”
Raven quickly turns and head out into the corridor.

****On the command deck of the Spitting Cobra****

The comm. Officer reports “We have just received word from High Command that Alpha fleet has gained control of the skies over Alkalurope IX. They lost one ship and another took a lot of damage. 139 crewmen were killed. They also report that 3 ships of unknown firepower are heading toward them at high speed. Alpha fleet reports that they will not retreat and plan on standing holding the planet. They also inform us that we are to remain at station.”
Vic Dodge replies, “Inform the Capt.!”
“He is not in his cabin.” Responds the comm. Officer.
Just then the door slam open and Raven enters the command deck.
Vic starts to report, “High Command says…”
Raven, paying no mind to him, turns to the comm. Officer; “Any word from the sweepers?”
“No sir!’
“Prepare the fleet” replies Raven.
Vic stops mid report and says,
“You are not about to do what I think you are about to do? “
Raven continues giving orders “All hands on deck!”
“Sir, All ships are responding, do you wish an open comm.?”
“Yes”
“Comm ready sir!”
Vic says, “High Command will not like this.”
“**** High Command!” Raven quickly snaps.
“Attention all hands! We have not heard from the sweepers since they went in. It is time we bring them home.” While still on open comm., Raven turns to his own command crew; “Any problems with that?”
Not one person said a word.
“Good, then all hands, battle stations!”
“Helm, As soon as the fleet is in position, take us in.”
Raven then quickly moves to his jump chair as the ships of Beta fleet prepare for what lays on the other side.

==================================================
Next ----
Is Amber still alive or has the sweepers been blown away?

________________________________________________
side note:
I am hoping that my attempt to develop my main characters and give you a sense of how they are is playing out well.

[ 02 December 2001: Message edited by: Dracus ]

[Dracus]

+++(flashback 9 days)+++

Amber turns from the video monitor to address her crew. "We have recieved our orders. Line them and lets go." The Sweepers take up the standard convoy type formation and head for the warp point. Amber takes one Last look at the warships of beta fleet and then gives the order.
Little Thunder enters the warp point, One by one the sweepers dis-appear from Sigma Draconis on a heading that just maybe then gates to hell.

********************Death all around*************

"How long have we been in the warp stream?" Amber asks. She has gone through a jump a hundred times and still she loses track of time.
"Seven hours. " is the reply; "we should be existing within the next hour."
"As Soon as We are out, bring all weapons Online and scan for those mines."

(20 minutes later)

"We are exiting the Warp point in 10.....9....8..." Reports the hems officer.

There is a quick flash and Little Thunder enters Z'trop. As soon as the ship enters normal space, an explosion rocks the port side causing the outer hull to cringe. Before anyone can respond, a second explosion hits the starboard hull causing it to buckle. Steam from the heat transfer pipes began to pour into the corridor. A crewman passing by is Hit full force from the steam as it burst from the pipe instantly killing him.

"Full stop!" Yells Amber, Were are those sweepers?"
"They are 5 minutes behind us and there are more mines moving toward the ship!"

Little thunder quick comes to a full stop, right in the middle of the mine field. The first two mines were in the direct path of the ship. Now that it has stopped, The mines are homming in on the metal hull. Little Thunder is a sitting duck. If they move forward, they will run into more mines, if they move back, they will slam into the emerging sweepers.

"How long before those other mines hit us?" Ask Amber.
"3 minutes and 4 mines will collide with our port side, 6 minutes and 10 more mines will blow us out of the sky!" Snaps the comm officer.
Amber could heard the fear in this man's voice; She too was scare.
"A--LL hands bbbbrace for Impact!" Amber says.

--------------------------------------------------

To be continued........

[ 07 December 2001: Message edited by: Dracus ]

[mac5732]

Dracus, excellent, keep it up, ever think of publishing?

just some ideas mac

[zen.]

Good work, Dracus. I don't think I've ever been that interested in minesweepers trying to break a minefield.

Although for some reason, when Raven started thinking about all that relationship stuff in the midst of war, all I could think of was that old joke about the guy and girl who had to collaborate on an English assignment together, and each had to write a part. If you don't know the funny of which I speak, I can try to dig it up and post it here.

[Dracus]

Thanks Everyone. While I can not promise it, I will try to write some every few days.

Zenbudo, I have not seen that joke, but I for one do like good jokes.

Mac5732,

I don't know, I did kind of think about it for a second then I thought "man, I can't spell that well, that is why I write code for a living."
What makes it somewhat easy is that the readers of this forum are forgiving when it comes to my typos, Which I am highly greatful for.

But who knows, maybe I will pull all this and re-do it a little; then submit it just to see what would happen.

For those of you who would like to re-read this in top/down format, just let me know and I would be glad to include a running txt file of the story.

[ 07 December 2001: Message edited by: Dracus ]

[zen.]

You asked for it.

zen

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The English Assignment

This assignment was actually turned in by two English students:
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Rebecca and Gary
English 44A
SMU
Creative Writing
Prof Miller

In-class Assignment for Wednesday

Today we will experiment with a new form called the tandem story. The process is simple. Each person will pair off with the person sitting to his or her immediate right. One of you will then write the first paragraph of a short story. The partner will read the first paragraph and then add another paragraph to the story. The first person will then add a third paragraph, and so on back and forth. Remember to reread what has been written each time in order to keep the story coherent. The story is over when both agree a
conclusion has been reached.

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At first, Laurie couldn't decide which kind of tea she wanted. The chamomile, which used to be her favorite for lazy evenings at home, now reminded her too much of Carl, who once said, in happier times, that he liked chamomile. But she felt she must now, at all costs, keep her mind off Carl. His possessiveness was suffocating, and if she thought about him too much, her asthma started acting up again. So chamomile was out of the question.
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Meanwhile, Advance Sergeant Carl Harris, leader of the attack squadron now in orbit over Skylon 4, had more important things to think about than the neuroses of an air-headed asthmatic bimbo named Laurie, with whom he had spent one sweaty night over a year ago. "A.S. Harris to Geostation 17," he said into his transgalactic communicator. "Polar orbit established. No sign of resistance so far ..." But before he could sign off a bluish particle beam flashed out of nowhere and bLasted a hole through his ship's cargo bay. The jolt from the direct hit sent him flying out of his seat and across the cockpit.
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He bumped his head and died almost immediately, but not before he felt one Last pang of regret for psychically brutalizing the one woman who had ever had feelings for him. Soon afterwards, Earth stopped its pointless hostilities towards the peaceful farmers of Skylon 4. "Congress Passes Law Permanently Abolishing War and Space Travel," Laurie read in her newspaper one morning. The news simultaneously excited her and bored her. She stared out the window, dreaming of her youth -- when the days had passed unhurriedly and carefree, with no newspapers to read, no television to distract her from her sense of innocent wonder at all the beautiful things around her. "Why must one lose one's innocence to become a woman?," she pondered wistfully.
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Little did she know, but she has less than 10 seconds to live. Thousands of miles above the city, the Anu'udrian mothership launched the first of its lithium fusion missiles. The dim-witted wimpy peaceniks who pushed the Unilateral Aerospace Disarmament Treaty through Congress had left Earth a defenseless target for the hostile alien empires, who were determined to destroy the human race. Within two hours after the passage of the treaty, the Anu'udrian ships were on course for Earth, carrying enough firepower to pulverize the entire planet. With no one to stop them, they swiftly initiated their diabolical plan. The lithium fusion missile entered the atmosphere unimpeded. The President, in his top-secret mobile submarine headquarters on the ocean floor off the coast of Guam, felt the inconceivably massive explosion, which vaporized Laurie and 85 million other Americans. The President slammed his fist on the conference table. "We can't allow this! I'm going to veto that treaty! Let's blow'em out of the sky!"
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This is absurd. I refuse to continue this mockery of literature. My writing partner is a violent, chauvinistic, semi-literate adolescent.
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Yeah? Well, you're a self-centered tedious neurotic whose attempts at writing are the literary equivalent of Valium.
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*******.
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*****.
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[Puke]

hehe. reminds me of a parody of Online hot-talk that i read that has the guy unable to operate a bra-clasp and ends with the curtains catching on fire.

[mac5732]

Zen that was good, what grade did they get from the teacher?

Dracus, I think you should look into a full novel or at least something on that line, the story is very good, and besides, most of us here can't spell that good either...that's why they make spell checkers,

just some ideas mac

[ 07 December 2001: Message edited by: mac5732 ]

[zen.]

Puke: Hmmm...yeeeessss, I do seem to remember that one! OH that was FUNNY -- she kept trying to do the fantasy thing and he kept interjecting with reality...it was KILLER! lol

mac5732: I dunno. I suspect that this is one of those e-mail jokes that has been circulated for years, and not necessarily true. Funny as all get out, though.

zen
_ ______ _
Murphy's 20th Law of Combat: The easy way is always mined.

::edit::
Omigosh...I've been rated! Thanks for the five stars! I love you guyz. *sniff*

[ 07 December 2001: Message edited by: zenbudo ]

[Sinapus]

zen: I think there was something like that in an issue of Calvin and Hobbes.