Beyond the Horizon

[Dracus]

****Cont of "Death all around"*****************

Next 3 minutes seems like hours as the crew of the Little Thunder prepared for what most likely could be their own deaths.
Then as quickly as time seemed to slow down, it jumped back into normal speed and the first of 4 mines slammed into the port side of the ship just behind the command deck. The explosion ripped a hole in the outer hull; the air began to spill out from the breech plating. Before anyone could respond, 3 more mines hit the port side cannon and engine room.

In the engine room------

The chief Engineer barks orders; “We have a leak in pipe 3 causing the starboard engines to overheat. Get 2 men up there to fix it now!” Just as two techs exited the room; the ship rocked as an explosion hit the port side. “That one felt like it hit near the front of the ship!” Yelled the chief, but no one heard him as the deafening sound of a second explosion traveled across the engine room. As the chief turned toward the sound of the second mine’s impact, two more mines hit the outer hull; knocking the chief to the deck.
A ball of fire instantly rolled across engulfed the room burning the flesh from the bones of everyone in its path.

On the command Deck------
No sooner then the Last of the mines finished tearing through the ship, Amber jumped to her feet. “Damage report!” she demands.
“We can’t contact any other part of the ship, there is no way of knowing the extent of the damage at this time.” Reports the comm. Officer.
Amber thinks to herself; ‘3 minutes and there won’t be anything to report anyway’;
“Get to work on it.” She orders.
2 minutes until the next group of mines hit us. “Reports the ops station.
Amber heads across the deck toward the ops station.
“Where the hell are those sweepers?”

***********************************************

To be cont. --------------

[mac5732]

keep it coming, looking foreward to next installment

just some ideas mac

[Puke]

a dramatic lesson in why to use fleet groupings when sending escorts with sweepers through a wormhole. I think the best stories come from the situations people get into when they have not played a game much and they are not yet familiar with how all the quirks work.

im hoping they are going to be confounded by the 'clear orders when entering a hostile system' feature, or the supply minister turning them around at the most inoportune time.

edit: not that i think that the author is unexperienced. quite the contrary.

[ 12 December 2001: Message edited by: Puke ]

[Dracus]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Puke:
a dramatic lesson in why to use fleet groupings when sending escorts with sweepers through a wormhole. I think the best stories come from the situations people get into when they have not played a game much and they are not yet familiar with how all the quirks work.

im hoping they are going to be confounded by the 'clear orders when entering a hostile system' feature, or the supply minister turning them around at the most inoportune time.

edit: not that i think that the author is unexperienced. quite the contrary.

[ 12 December 2001: Message edited by: Puke ]

---

Puke, this really put a damper on the story.
As I must now step out of the story world to explain the real play. The ships are actually in a fleet and by game standards did go through together.
But in my story, warp points are not large objects that can just get larger to allow ships to pass all together. besides The way I am trying to play it out, makes for a better story, then just having a fleet come through and either clean the mines or get distroyed don't you agree.

[ 12 December 2001: Message edited by: Dracus ]

[Puke]

i think it does make for a better story, indeed. i appologize for attempting to humorously relate it to real-game events, i had not intended to squelch the plotline. i would certainly like to read more, so the peanut gallery will now remain silent.

my appologies.

[dmm]

Hee hee ... Dracus is a typical temperamental artiste. Please, nobody comment on the "deeper meaning" of his work, or we'll never get to find out what happens next!

[Joss21]

Keep ip with the goog work, Dracus.

I just want to comment on something regarding the "english joke" on communitary writing.

There is a game variation called "Succesion Game", that is very successful in many game communities. I first saw it on Civilization 3 forums.

You just group 4 or 5 players with desires to write a storyline, each one playing 15-20 game turns and writing their story based on the game on play. After that turns, a new player comes in, to follow the story of the empire.

I�ve never been in one, but i�ve read several of them and look very well.

Just an idea.

Joss21

[Dracus]

+++++++"Death all around" cont...+++++++++

Just as Amber reached the ops station, a bright flash caught her eye. She quickly turns toward the starboard window.
The mines hitting the port side have caused the ship to twist on its axis just enough to see the Warp point starboard from the command deck.

Amber is able to make out the shape of the first sweeper as it emerges.
Over her shoulder, she hears ops report; “Mines inbound 1 minute to impact!”
Amber does not respond; mumbling a good luck to the sweepers under her breath, she turns from the window and returns to her command chair.

****Aboard sweeper 001****************************

Capt. Robert Black looks at his clock, “Prepare to exit! Bring the magnets Online and charge the rods!” he orders.
The sweeping units have never been tested on live mines before. The crews aboard sweeper 001 are about to take on their first live mission.
The timing for charging the units have to be carried out with precision; Too soon and the ship will be torn apart as the magnets react with the fields in the warp channel; Too late and the ship may not be able to handle the mines.
“We are exiting the channel sir.” Reports the hem.
Just then the blue glow began to fade and the darkness of space could be seen once again.
“We are out sir.”
“I have a fix on the Little Thunder and there are a group of mines heading straight for her!” yells Ops.
“Then lets go to work!” Replies Robert
The Sweeper heads in and cuts across the path of the mines. As It Travels across the bow of Little Thunder, The magnets begin to draw in the mines.
“Take them out!” orders Robert.
The harmonic impulse spreads from the ship and starts to cause the mines to explode.
“The other sweepers are entering the zone sir and more mines are heading our way.” Reports ops.
“Good lets clean house then.” Replies Robert.
Just then there was a flash Sweeper 003 disappeared from the scanners.
“We just lost number 3 sir.” Reports ops.
“Number 5 is reporting failure in two if its harmonic rods Sir.” Reports the comm. Officer.
“Number 5 has been lost sir.”
“Scanners show most of the mines have been cleared.” Reports Ops, “also 2 and 4 are reporting heavy damage.”
“A cluster of mines are heading for little thunder. “
“Take us in!” Replies Robert.
In the control room---
As 001 engages the Last cluster of mines, The Rods begin to overheat.
”Captain, We have to shut em down or we will lose them all!!!” Tim screams into the mike.
“Keep running, take out as many as you can before they burn up!” comes the reply.
“Alright boys, you heard the Capt. Keep em hot!” Tim shouts to his crew.

Back on the command deck-----
“We just lost all the rods!” comes a voice through the speakers.
“There are still 12 mines in route!” reports ops.
“Well let’s go shake hands then!” replies Robert.


++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++++++
next----the fate of sweeper 001 and little thunder…………….

[Dracus]

Is the suspense killing you or what? I know it is killing me and I am the one writing it.

Coming today ---- the outcome of the sweeper mission. Stay tuned, do not touch that mouse. More exciting stuff to come.

Oh and Happy Holiday from Cosmic_Inc
And Me.

[ 22 December 2001: Message edited by: Dracus ]

[Dracus]

Just as the first of the mines were within seconds of hitting the Little Thunder. Sweeper 001 Made contact, the force of the impact caused the mine to travel along the outer hull of the ship before bouncing off and exploding.

****On the command Deck of Sweeper 001******
“Sir the first mine of the group will make contact with Little Thunder in 30.”
“Take us across her bow.”
The Sweeper crossed so close to Little Thunder that it looked as if they had made contact.
“Ram that Mine!” Ordered Robert.
Hem quickly turned the ship and the mine slammed against the hull plating. The explosion rocked the ship but the plating held.
Now that the sweeper was between the mines and Little Thunder, the Mines were no longer homing in on the flagship.
“Impact in 10!”
“All hands prepare for impact.”
The Last of the mines began colliding with the sweeper.

****Command Deck ---Little Thunder******************
“Those Mines are heading straight for us. Capt.!” Reported Ops.
Amber headed for the view port to get a better look.
Just then the ship shook, knocking her to the deck.
“What the hell was that?” Amber yelled as she rose to her feet.
“Another ship just came across our topside,” responded Ops.
Amber ran to the view port just in time to see the Sweeper being pounded by mines.
“Get us away from that ship!” She screams.
“Main engines are still down”, responds Helm.
“Then use the docking thrusters and push us sideways!” Amber replies turning from the window.
Just as the ship starts to move, the shock wave of a large explosion slams into the ship. The outer hull buckles as the communications array is ripped from its mount.
A Cascading failure shuts down helm control and the docking thrusters.
“Damage Report!”
“Helm, communications, and sensors are all down. We have no way of knowing how many are dead. Looks like life-support is on backup battery power. “ Responds Ops.
“Issue the hand-held two-ways and get some-one down to the engine room to work on life-support. Those batteries won’t Last forever.” Orders Amber. “And get those sensors working, we need to know if any enemy ships are heading in to finish us off.”


****Ship’s Log ---Little Thunder*************************

“It has been 8 day’s since we first entered Z’top. Repairs on the ship are coming along slowly. The crew has done wonders with limited tools and spare parts we had onboard.
Life Support has been fully restored and we have managed to get external sensors back Online.
We lost 18 crewmembers for the total complement of 83. Our chief Engineer was injured but the doc says he will live.
Once we got sensors back Online, we could not locate any of the sweepers. It appears they have all been lost. There were a few escape pods floating around but due to engine damage, we were unable to rescue any before their life-support ran out. Official loss is all hands for all sweepers.
The minefield is gone but we have no way to transmit this information back to high command. We have our engines back up but are unable to generate the field needed to safely travel the warp channel.
Scans of Z’top show that there are a handful of enemy ships in orbit around the planet on the far side of the system. Either they do not know we are here or they know that we are damaged and do not feel threaten.
Engineering is preparing a device that we can load all data onto and drop in space. In case we do not survive. It will be ready in 3 days and then we plan on attacking the planet nearest to our current position.
I would also like to state for the record that the crew of sweeper001 gave their lives to save ours by driving their ship into the Last of the mines. “
“End Ship’s Log. “
As Amber finishes the log, she thinks to herself; “God I hope he understands.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next---- I don't have a clue I will have to play a few to find out.

Hope you all have enjoyed the story so far.


I will continue writing this after christmas if you all are still interested.