Competition, 2nd attempt

[Dreamor]

Roll up, roll up...

Main Website - http://eu.jumpgateevolution.com/


Competition Content –

The idea here is to write up the back-story of your evil (or good) ships captain (uh, you, the pilot) using any of the content you can find on our wiki or official site. The story should be no more than 5 pages (so short storys please!)
So everyone let your imagination run wild on this competition.

Materials:
You can use the official Jumpgate Press Kit



End of competition:
End of competition: Middle of May (17th May)



Don't post:
Don't post material that isn't associated with the contest.
No copyrighted material (no copy pasting from a novel!)
Don't post inappropriate material.


You must:
Post only one entry.
Your entry must be fully done (100%, no changing at a later stage)


The prize:
The prize is a Beta Slot for Jumpgate, there are slots also available for Funniest entry and if we get a lot of entries we may open up other groups.


The finalists:
The winner will be voted by the Judges.
*Judges: FH Mod’s
NOTE: Please upload your content to FH or a place like Photobucket - So your work is more visible and preserved when this thread is destickied and lost.

The only thing that i have to say is… GOOD LUCK!


Again, Closing Date is Middle of May (17th May)


*All decisions made by the Codemasters / FreddysHouse staff are final and non-negotiable

If you need any help or want to bounce ideas off, post here

 

[Nate]

We enter the Starship Mintwing as it orbits a gas giant, a brown bearded man stands above an eviscerated corpse infront of the crew.

"Arrrr me maties, I am ye Captain noo..Nate Dognestbeard is me name. Ye shall falla me ordars till ya walk the airlock plank. *Bawk* shut yur beak Sir Bawkabot fur arrr be givin me dastardly crew a talkin to."

"Irishy up with the sails warp factor 50."

"Bae cap we cannae I dunnae nu wut a warp factor be, and I dun rekin thar be 50 of em"

"Batton down yur trap Irishy and doo as I say arrr it'll be the airlock fur ye! *ooc* Less of the Scottish accent too please, your supposed to be Irish remember?" *Bawk*

"Naat a prablem captain would yee like some paw tah toes with yur warp?"

"Aye and that'll be all Irishy"

The Starship Mintwing flies in to the starset.

 

[Dreamor]

Good start Nate, thanks for the submission.

/bump for more entrys.

 

[Dreamor]

/bump...

 

[Nate]

Win by default?! Still a win tbh!!

 

[Dreamor]

Win by default?! Still a win tbh!!

LOL well we'll see... hopefully get more people post something...

Don't be afraid!

 

[Dreamor]

More entries guys!

I'm sure people can come up with something!

 

[Nate]

No more!! bwahahahaha

 

[Lethul]

No more!! bwahahahaha

You'll be deeply disappointed! *evil laugh*
To bad I'm nor artistic or very good at telling stories.
Curse these competitions, but I will try soon. Nate will go down, as usuall!

 

[Wonk]

We enter the Starship Mintwing as it orbits a goat made of wood, a brown bearded man stands above an eviscerated corpse infront of Michael Jackson.

"Arrrr me maties, I am ye Captain noo..Wonk Wonkeybeard is me name. Ye shall falla me ordars till ya walk the cheese shop. *Bawk* shut yur beak Sir Bawkabot fur arrr be givin me dastardly crew a talkin to."

"Irishy up with the sails warp factor 50."

"Bae cap we cannae I dunnae nu wut a warp factor be, and I dun rekin thar be 50 of em"

"Batton down yur trap Irishy and doo as I say arrr it'll be the airlock fur ye! *ooc* Less of the Scottish accent too please, your supposed to be Irish remember?" *Bawk*

"Naat a prablem captain would yee like some paw tah toes with yur warp?"

"Aye and that'll be all Irishy"

The Starship Mintwing flies in to the starset and gets destroyed by Laddey.

brand new, huh?

 

[Xandax]

Could write something but don't think I know enough about the "lore" of the universe to make it actually terrible interesting enough..... don't think the website gives out much information

 

[Dreamor]

I'm going to extend this until the end of the month in a hope we can get more interest.

Lots of useful information can be found @ http://eu.jumpgateevolution.com/factions.php as well as other sections in the Galactic Database.

 

[Lethul]

I'm going to extend this until the end of the month in a hope we can get more interest.

Lots of useful information can be found @ http://eu.jumpgateevolution.com/factions.php as well as other sections in the Galactic Database.

Pewh! Unlucky Nate Had a lot to do in the weekend so forgot all about it! But now im gonna do my best!

 

[Nate]

Just make sure it's not a funny one and we both can win!

 

[Lethul]

Just make sure it's not a funny one and we both can win!

Don't worry , i can't even be funny when i try!

 

[Bahumat]

And then the big pilot said to the little pilot "I am Beowolf"

I wanna win too!

 

[Dreamor]

And then the big pilot said to the little pilot "I am Beowolf"

I wanna win too!

nice try, if you put something more substantial in (even if just a short story type thing) I'll be sure to get you on Beta....

 

[Bahumat]

nice try, if you put something more substantial in (even if just a short story type thing) I'll be sure to get you on Beta....

Hehe I would love to get into Beta, but on reflection I did that on WAR and things such as lag/changes in classes or zones etc spoiled it for me at launch. I think with this game I wanna go in 'naked'

 

[Roo Stercogburn]

Thats not a bump...

...this is a bump!

I don't check these forums too often. Here's something I knocked up in a break at work tonight. There are areas which could use extra detail but the goal was to get something done for a bit of fun within a finite timeframe and to keep it forum-post sized

So I'm chugging the tug into low orbit. We've got a maintenance coming up and I've got one more run to make before we dock for two weeks of sweet downtime. Burners were a bit sluggish but that’s ok. She'll be running fine soon enough. Gash as usual was in the galley, Frieth was in theory messing with the engines but I knew in actuality he was probably otherwise diverted. I could never figure out why we paid Frieth. Anything small and Bessie auto repairs. Anything big and Frieth wouldn't know how to fix it. Mostly Frieth messed with his chemistry set and had a nice side line going when we hit the docks. Any potion any occasion, Frieth could brew it. Last time he got a reprimand for not being up to date on maintenance logs the dock supervisor was off work for a week shitting green goop.

Anyway, we get a call from Falls Harbour we're to switch. There's some damaged passenger liner limping into our zone and we've to help them the rest of the way to orbit. Bessie is the only liner-rated tug available. So off we go. Its about thirty minutes of free flight. I grumbled the co-ords to the Nav and its tinny automated voice confirmed. Bessie changed course and her bulky drives swung around towards Falls Harbour, pointing us in the direction of the liner.

I hate these idiot civs that don't look after their ships. We get maybe three a month that have skimped on servicing or cut corners or let some newbie helmsman try something he saw in a tri-vid once and always wanted to try. And because these twonks mess up its going to make me late to the
bar. Grrr.

Falls Harbour diminishes until its just a small point of light above the planet and I settle back into the pilot couch and rest the ol' lids for a few. The minutes drip by until the Nav persona chimes with the proximity warning. Bah. I hoped they would fix the Nav's voice when Bessie goes into maintenance mode.

There it was, rather a sweet liner too. Clean lines, clean paint. Company logo bigger than ol' Bessie on the side. I bang on the intercom for Gash to stop feeding his face and go set up the grappler field and I start to swing us around in line with the crippled ship. Even at this angle I could see its drives were struggling, the blue glow from its engines flickering instead of being a constant burn. Time to talk to their captain.

No video, audio only. Such a cliché. We pass some pleasantries and the captain thanked us for our prompt response, saying his power core glitched and blew part of the lower decks and reduced the power output to near life-support only. I muttered a response and signed off. Being light years from any war zone, we don't usually need to worry overly about Solrain or Octavius here but regs is regs. I sent a recording of the convo to Falls Harbour for ID confirmation. Thinking back on it, I always regard this as the point where it all went wrong, the defining moment that shaped what came after. It wasn't really. Everything that happened was set in motion for me when I answered that first call from Falls Harbour.

Bessie confirmed sending but couldn't confirm that Falls Harbour received it. Oh crap. I leaned forward and thumbed the comms, "Frieth, pop a scuttler. Send the remote feed straight to helm control."
"What?"
"Scuttler. Prep. Launch. And wake up. Take a Go-Right and flush your system fast. Last thing I need right now is a spaced spacer. When you're done with that, find Gash and get up here."
Frieth made groaning noises but a minute later the my console confirmed a Scuttler was leaving Bessie. Handy things Scuttlers. Normally they are just used for checking for holes in Bessie and such like but they are also handy remote drones too if you need one. I made sure Bessie was under Nav control and heading back to Falls Harbour then gave all my attention to the Scuttler. We would sometimes have Scuttler duels when things got quiet and I was a dab hand with these things. Hit the micro-jets just enough so it moved back towards the liner at a gentle rate, appendages tucked in beneath it where they were safe.

A few seconds later the Scuttler was on the liner's hull and I began a sweep underneath to the rear of the ship. As it neared the rear I couldn't see any sign of damage. Most ships followed fairly similar rules - physics is physics. Engines and their ancillary systems had needs and there was only so much you could do aesthetically. The Scuttler reached the rear. Zero external sign of damage. I sent it on a path around the back of the ship that covered all sides.

Gash and Frieth arrived in Main Pilot just as the comms lit up. It was the liner captain, "I see you've sent us a repair drone. I don't think it will be able to do much but we thank you for the effort."
"Yeh, well. We get extra brownie points with the port authority if we can speed up repairs with initial analysis and such."
"I'm sure. Please accept our thanks. I'll have some of our people bring you something extra for your trouble."
The captain signed off and I felt a chill down my spine.
"Guys, suit up. Frieth, activate every Scuttler we got, load the duelling program and disable the failsafes. Gash, as Frieth gets them ready, you put them at every airlock and portal."
"What?" they chorused. Both looked like I'd shoved a shock stick somewhere tender.
"That ship isn't a disabled liner anymore."
I pointed at the Scuttler display. The reason the engines were flickering wasn't because of any explosion but because a large chunk of the drive area had been cut away and it simply wasn't there any more. Clearly visible inside were fighter craft clinging to the metal struts like metalic bats. I had no idea if they were Solrain or Octavius ships.
That liner must have been running on stored power.

Gash and Frieth practically ran from Main Pilot. Before leaving the helm I programmed in a new course then locked the controls and watched the controls go into low power. I turned to leave and then paused. The controls all lit up again. I growled and continued. Virals. Whoever was on that liner was in the middle of subverting Bessie. I'd heard stories of pirates that took control of your ship then spaced everyone on board. Fast way to empty a place with minimal fighting.

I quickened my pace to my suit locker. It only took a few seconds to suit up. I was just latching the seals when the lights went out. I saw dust eddies as the air was clearly starting to bleed from Bessie. Bastards. A few seconds later the emergency lighting came on, the traditional low red glow synonymous with "You're fucked".

"Frieth, you done with the scuttlers?"
"Few seconds more."
"Ok, roll them out then meet me at the belly 'lock. Gash. You too."
"Right." answered Gash over the comms.

I had my own job to do while they finished off. I quickly made my way to the belly airlock and hunkered down while I got to work. I heard a loud clang and a shudder as if something had bumped into us. I wasn't surprised.
"Guys, now is a good time to not be not beside me."
I felt vibrations from the decking and both crewmates entered the belly airlock.
"Grab something. We're blowing out of here. No voice comms from this point or we're dead meat." They both nodded.


I felt more vibrations, rhythmic and strong. Company incoming I figured. I punched the safety override and blew the safety bolts on the airlock. The door flew off into space. I motioned for Gash and Frieth to follow me and activated my pack jets. This was the dodgy bit. If you make a mistake without a restraining line you can easily end up floating off into space to spend your last breath looking at the big black nothing.

As we floated out of the airlock I saw a suited figure appear behind us and raise some kind of weapon. Before the figure could aim properly a scuttler launched itself out of nowhere and speared him through the chest. Globules of red spurted out into vacuum. We won a lot of duels with crews from other tugs. Gash was a genius at softprog.

We hit the liner's skin and magnetized our boots. I hated clumping around the outside of ships but it was sometimes part of the job description. Not sure what our job description was right then but our mission statement was pretty clear, "Don't die."
Gash and Frieth landed behind me and we began moving to the rear of the liner. I half expected to see men in spacesuits popping out from airlocks at us but nothing happened.

Reaching the rear was almost an anti-climax. The drive area was massive, even with part of it cut away. I pointed at the three nearest fighters and nodded my head towards them. I couldn't see Gash or Frieth's faces behind their visors but I imagined they were rather shocked. We launched inwards
and hit the deck near the fighters. None of us wasted any time and ran as fast as our metalic boots would let us. Nearby, the scuttler lurked, a comlink appendage trailing into the power feeds that ran to each of the three fighters.

I had no doubt that when we woke up the fighters, warning lights would come on all over the liner's bridge. I jumped inside and prayed the controls were approximately standard. As I slid into the cockpit the controls lit up and the seat started to adjust itself to my spacesuited body.

Hmm these looked fairly basic compared to Bessie's controls, except for a lot of stuff that looked like shielding and weapons related. I looked over at the other fighters and both Gash and Frieth were in. My fighter detached and gently nosed into open space. Gash and Frieth followed a few seconds behind. I gently squeezed the afterburner and felt nausious as I was suddenly pushed back in my seat. Ok, don't abuse that button again. The fighter wobbled a bit as I turned it, trying to get used to the controls. Looking back into the liner, I saw more figures entering the drive area
and running towards the fighters.

I sent a signal to the scuttler inside the makeshift hanger that activated its dueling mode, maximum agro. It wasn't much but all extra time was good extra time.

Staying with the suit intercomm, I signaled Frieth and Gash, "They won't be happy with us."
Gash answered, "What do they want? I mean, I guess they are heading to Falls Harbour."
Frieth said, "Nothing much at Falls Harbour."
I said, "Doesn't matter. We've got until they launch to learn how to fly these things."
Gash laughed, "We're so screwed. We're Tuggers, not fighter pilots."
I grimaced, "Not anymore."

 

[Dreamor]

LOL now thats a post

I'll try and tie this up Sunday night, so get in before the closing time (midnight) and I'll see what access we can get people

 

[Merket]

ahh, I nearly missed this thing. JGE is the holy grail for me, so glad i found this in time. Nate, how are you bud? been awhile since WAR beta! , anyway, heres my story;

(if someone got a good webiste for file uploads, im all ears)

EDIT 1 file uploaded, http://www.sendspace.com/file/ctdcxz

The Cerulean Clouds region of space was situated along the fringes of Solrain space. It was aptly named because of the plethora of nebulae and gaseous cloud formation that littered the area. It was sparsely populated since it had no real planetary formations to speak of, nor any major space hubs. The only thing that the region had going for it itself was the export of gas and minerals for to the core worlds. There was a dozen or so mining facilities that were currently up and running, huge behemoth like structures that were purpose built for one reason. Current and accurate star charts was something that was highly sought after on the open market, since thanks to the erratic nature of space in this sector, updates needed to be made every other month to be kept up to date. This in turn led to the old and derelict mining facilities, the ones that had been abandoned for newer ones, getting converted into smuggler and space-pirate havens. It was in one station such as this, one that didn't even have a proper name that Captain Merk Eth found himself waking up and wondering just what the hell he had gotten himself involved with.


“Captain?” the high pitched chirp of the intercom could for all intents and purposes have been two pieces of metal ground against each other. It wasn't only the noise itself but the smugness in which the voice on the other end was enjoying itself with waking him up from the hungover from hell that made him annoyed. “Captain?, are you awake? I would hate to disturb your precious sleep, but our client has arrived” Merk pulled himself painfully out of his bunk, and put on a somewhat clean flight jacket and boots. They weren't exactly shiny either, but right now it wasn't something that he concerned himself with. The deal was done, there was nothing that could turn it sour now. And yet, as he made his way to the docking bay the notion that something just wasn't right with this whole affair couldn't escape his mind.

***************​

The previous evening had begun much like every other for the past week; after trying to find some haul or delivery and finding out there was none available from the datatabs, he once again resigned himself to another night of mindless drinking and gambling. Merk's last few hauls hadn't been especially successful, even up to the point where he had been captured by a Quantar patrol. It wasn't so much that he couldn't have evaded the patrols, god knows those religious nuts aren't the best flyer's out there, it was the simple fact that they had been guarding the only viable jump gate that led out of the system. Facing that, there hadn't been any other option than jettison the cargo and repay the client out if his ever diminishing “emergency fund”. They had arrived in the 'Clouds since he knew this was a place were he was sure to get some new employment, and the fact he had some old debts to collect from “friends” who hadn't payed him back.


The contracts that he had been so sure to get had failed to materialize and he was now sitting brooding alone in a corner table in one of the seedy dives on the lower levels of the station. He was so wrapped up in staring down his glass he didn't notice the man approaching his table with a purposeful walk. “ aww, chin up old chap, I've got good news for you!, no need to sit around and sulk I tell you! “ Merk looked up suspiciously into the eyes of his tactical officer, Danan Vandres as he sat himself down and whistled to the barkeep for a bottle of the local brew. “ oh yeah? What have you found out? Don't tell me its another on of those Octavian Ox deliveries, I swore the last time I would never sink so low again. It took a damn month for us to get rid of the stench from hold-2” .
“No, would I ever try to get you involved with something as horrible as that? To see you squirm and curse for 3 weeks again?” Vandres smiled innocently. The nerve! Merk thought; if he hadn't been such a damn good weapons expert he would have gotten rid of him a long time ago. “ Very well, he sighed – What have you got for me?”. “I thought you would never ask old boy. Well you see, I was nosing around top-floor when I heard about this guy who was looking for a ship. The odd thing is that he had been here for almost two weeks without finding one, which is in itself puzzling considering the rumor also stated he was paying in hard currency, Octavian credits.
So anyway, I managed to get hold off the guy and told him I might have the ship he was looking for, in fact the fastest ship in the entire sector!, well he was only too quick to ask for a sit-down with us. In fact, I think I spot him entering the bar just now” he pointed out a single figure that seemed to move with an odd gait, and didn't seem sure on where he was going at all. “ Herr Pieters! Over here, grab a chair and lets get down to business” Vandres shouted, and it was loud enough to be heard even over the normal buzzing in the bar. Pieters jumped at the sound of his own name, but started to move to their table nonetheless. Merk noted with interest that the rest of the customers had gone silent, save the occasional whisper and accusing stare. It all seemed to be related to their would-be client which didn't exactly make him feel comfortable. “Ahh, my good man, I see you finally found us eh?” Vandres said. “ let me introduce you to the finest captain in the sector, Captain Eth; captain, meet Herr Pieters”. “Nice to meet you sir, I'm captain Eth, now what manner of business is it you have in mind for us?”. Merk said, though it felt anything but nice to meet this man. He wasn't big, but most of his stature was hidden beneath his nondescript robe. Even now, he had his hood up though this close it wasn't hard to make out the features of his face, which for all things and purposes could have belonged to a ferret or some sort of rat Merk concluded. “ah yes, captain Eth, I have heard a great deal about you. Both good and bad, yes sir, thats what I heard”. He licked his lipped nervously before he continued “you see, I have some cargo I need transporting to the core worlds, its a simple delivery mission, nothing fancy. I pay good money, yes sir enough to make you a well off man If I can say so myself”. “Herr Pieters, let me be blunt. This all sounds too good to be true. Ive heard you made the same offer to pretty much every captain on the station before I arrived and they all turned you down, now why is that? What is it your not telling me about this so called “simple cargo run”?


Pieters gave him a stare and seemed to weight the pro's and con's of giving out anymore information. “ Very well captain, I see you are perceptive enough to understand its not as simple as I originally outlined. The truth of the matter is that you will probably find out what this is all about without me telling you so I might aswell do it. The piece I need delivery of is a new type of weapon targeting system that I managed to....acquire. I ….found it on a Octavian heavy fighter together with my associates and ever since then we have been one step ahead of the Octavian security forced in trying to get away, to the safety of our buyer. Everyone here is getting jumpy because they know that everyday I stay here, means that the Octavians is one step close in finding out where I'm hiding. And believe me they won't show any restraint in doing whatever it takes getting that hardware back. Including blowing up this station”.


Merk looked over at Vandres who had a bemused smile on his lips, but otherwise didn't make any attempts to let him know what he thought about this bombshell that Pieters just dropped. One the one hand, getting involved with anything that concerned the Octavian naval intelligence wasn't something that he looked forward to, they were more than capable of doing their job he grudgingly had to admit to himself. On the other hand, this could be his ticket out of here, literally since his fuel reserves were dangerously low. Most of the crucial repairs had already been finished and for the last few days had been wasted waiting for a haul. He quickly decided on a course of action. “ Herr Pieters, I thank you for your bluntness. As for our capabilities to finish the mission to your specifications you need not worry, the Vixen is the fastest ship you will find around these parts. As for our fee, ill settle with no less than double that which you offered. And thats my first and only offer”. Pieters agreed to the new terms without hesitation, and Merk cursed himself for not demanding an even steeper fee. They made some final preparations, and decided that Pieters would arrive together with the cargo the next morning. Pieters excused himself and Merk saw him shuffle away out of the bar. “well, that went well. Wouldn't you say Danan? We just have to make sure the Vixen is running at 110% if we are gonna stand a chance escaping the Octavian blockade. “ “ At this stage I would say we don't have much of a choice captain, like it or not. Remember, the Octavians cannot launch any official strike-force this deep into Solrain space, so they have a much smaller task force at hand” “ Merk continued” ….which also means they have the best of the best, its going to be imperial marines in heavy gunships. Thank the stars we made those engine upgrades since they will surely come in handy if we are going to stand any chance of evading those brutes”

***************​

Merk was still thinking about last nights events when he arrived at the cargo bay doors. He jumped out to join the rest of his crew, Danan and the engineer, Mac as they waited for Pieters to arrive. “any sign of him yet? I want us to clear the station as soon as he arrives.” “ don't worry captain, I have everything prepared on my end. Weapon systems are fully operational, now, I'm not sure if the same could be said about engineering....” Danan and Mac usually argued about everything, and they both tried to take potshots at the other when the opportunity presented itself. Mac made an obscene gesture in Vandres direction and turned to face the captain “ Don't listen to that nitwit, the engines are as good as new. It didn't hurt that we got to fill the Vixen up with the best fuel these pirates had in stock, no, Pieters has lived up to his side of the deal so far I must say”. As they were debating, Pieters appeared through a entrance on the other side of the docking bay. He gave a nervous wave, and made his way across the ramp that loomed over the huge opening to space, which was protected with void-shielding. “ahh, captain how good to see you again, now if we just...” Pieters never got the chance to finish the sentence before a loud explosion that rocked the entire docking ledge could be both heard and felt. There was no sign of any damage, so it must have taken place somewhere else on the station, and with that much of an impact this far down, it must have been hell of a blast Merk concluded. “ Danan, find out what that was, Mac, I want you to fire up the Vixen and initiate emergency take off procedures. I want us out of this station as soon as possible. Grab Pieters and the cargo and get them strapped in”. They all moved out without further debate, and Merk made a silent prayer to the stars that they would be getting out of here in one piece.


He had won the Vixen on a rigged game of cards 3 standard years ago, and at first he had simply planned to sell her of as scrap, gut her and take out the most valuable pieces of hardware. She was of an old design, her line of ships went out of production almost 40 years ago, but when he first got a proper look at her and saw the smooth and graceful hull he instantly fell in love with her. Ever since then he had sunk all of his profits into making her the best cargo runner possible. It was now time to see just how much of those improvements would help him. “captain?” “ Go ahead Danan” “it appears that an assault boat with Imperial Marines made a forced entry into the main docking hangar, blasted a hole right through the outer plating. It also means that they arrived sooner than we expected. I commend you on your prudence of moving us to the smaller dock last night. They must have gotten hold of the manifest and knew exactly where to look for us”. Indeed, Merk felt a moment of relief when he had managed to bribe the docking officer to move them here, off the books last night. “Mac, get every system up and running, Danan, get those weapons hot for action. We may need them”. He started the pre-flight check, and hit the release button for the docking clamp. It would ensure they would hang in the vacuum above the shields, but otherwise free to move around. Much to his surprise, they refused to budge. If he was to guess, the Octavians had hacked into the docking computers to block any attempt to get away. There was only one option left. “ Mac, get down and start working on a manual clamp release” “manual? That will take at least 20 minutes. “ don't argue with me, just do it.” “very well, I will get started at once”.


Ten minutes later, and everything was up and running, even the forward missile launcher was operational. We might just get away with this, Merk admitted to himself with a quick smile. The smile went away quickly, when he spotted black and rust-red clad troops beginning to flood the other side of the bay. Damnit! They got her faster than I thought was possible. “ Danan, get me the port side laser banks, on the double” the acknowledge signal chirped and a few seconds later the laser started to come on line indicated by the charging up of the energy banks. “Alright people, I will buy us some time here, but if were not out of here soon its all over” he turned off the com, and began triangulating target signatures. At the same time, small arms fire from the incoming marines began to rattle across the hull.
He spotted a couple of rocket launchers, and they could actually make some damage to the ships if they got some lucky hits. It was clear however that they didn't have anything heavier with them, no, this was obviously a covert operations team that had planned to make a fast entry relying on the targets unawareness of the attack. Merk continued to spray the other side with laser fire, and he saw with satisfaction as a handful of marines went down, almost vaporised by the laser. In space, it wasn't a particularly powerful weapon but against infantry at almost point blank range it could wreck havoc. The rest of the marines got pinned down, and it looked like they wouldn't cause any more problems. A satisfying thud and clank could be felt, and it could only mean one thing; Mac had managed to release the docking clamps. Merk quickly ignited the boosters, and the Vixen gracefully started to maneuver through the void-shielding out into open space. As they got clear of the station, Merk made a few radar sweeps to try to locate the Octavian ships. It was a risky move, because it would also mean they would spot his location but it was a risk he had to take; as it was he was practically flying blind. As he suspected, the enemy vessels, four of them were clustered outside the main hangar on the other side of the station, weapons primed but the engines appeared to be idle. “ Mac, you know those fuel boosters we were saving for a special occasion? Now is the time to plug 'em in. Danan, prepare a full missile and chaff load, maximum spread. We need to mitigate all the damage we can. Theres little point in trying to damage those gun-ships, we should focus on clearing out of here as soon as we can”.


The nearest Jumpgate wasn't that far away, but the question was if they would be annihilated before they reached it. As he began to plot a course, alarms started to sound off; the Octavian ships had started to move in on a intercept vector and was locking on to the Vixen. “Start deploying countermeasures, and send out a couple of torpedoes while your at it. “ Roger, weapon systems engaged captain” . He heard the familiar sound of the chaff beginning to detonate behind them , electromagnetic interference to confuse the on-board targeting matrix off the enemy missiles. It would have little effect if the Octavians managed to close to laser range however. A torpedo must have managed to get a lucky hit, since before he knew it Merk found himself flying across the bridge and ending up spread near the outer hatch. He grabbed a railing and rose up with the rest of the cockpit spinning. “what the hell was that?, what happened to our shields? Damn you answer me Mac!” moments later, the intercom answered back, although with lots of static, a negative effect of deploying chaff in such proximity of the vessel” …..ot passed the shields........ rupted..... main.... offline, repairs in progr....” it cut off and Merk didn't manage to hail the engine room again. If the main power conduit had been damaged as all signs pointed to they would be lucky if the shields could survive another hit, let alone getting the engines to operate at maximum efficiency. He glanced down to the radar image; the gunships were getting closer, no doubt about it. Soon, they would be inside the effective arming range of the torpedoes, but by then it could all be over. There was no way they could withstand the concentrated laser barrage from the incoming squadron. He made some mental calculations and came to a grim conclusion, there was just no way he would be able to reach the Gate in time, he had to buy them some time.


“ Danan? Deploy the mini-nuke, minimum arming range. Set it on a vector just ahead of us.” “captain? What are your intentions, go out in a blaze of glory?take them with us? It doesn't make much sence. “ “ I know it doesn't, bear with me. Set the countdown to a delayed sub-routine, something that their scanners won't be able to pick up, that should be able to buy us some time and get us safely to the gate” “ should? Thats sounds like an awful risk to be taking captain, why not just eject Pieters together with the cargo and get away from here safely?” “ Well for starters, the Octavians won't just let us get away with this no matter what we do. And that means no profit from the haul, and a probable seizure of the Vixen, so at this stage its a risk i'm willing to take” “ your the captain” and with that they both logged off. Merk gripped the control tightly and muttered a short prayer to the stars, it was time to put those fuel injectors to the test.
“Mac, you got that conduit up and running again?” “ No captain, but I managed to rig a bypass. Everything is working again, but please don't push her to hard!” with a manic grin, Merk proceeded to launch the nuke simultaneously as he pushed the throttle to the max.


He could see the radar images of the enemy vessels slowing down, and could guess that they were unsure on how to proceed. He laughed as he could imagine they were wondering what kind of a madman was launching a nuke and flying into it in which looked like a suicide vector. The Jumpgate was now visible with the naked eye; the deep blue ball of energy that meant the salvation from a certain death. The Vixen moved in, with all thoughts to a proper approach speed forgotten, and as they blasted through the bubble Merk looked over the countdown which reached zero. He pulled up the rear image scanner just in time to see the brilliantly white cloud of the detonation.

***************​

some time later, The Vixen limped out of the Jumpgate that marked the boundary of the Solrain Core region. Merk couldn't believe that the actually pulled it off. “captain? Danan here. It appears our honored guest didn't survive the transition, something to do with a malfunctioning grav-couch in the cargo bay according to Mac” Merk almost sighed with relief. Herr Pieters was a nuisance to say the least, and it would have been one frustrating trip with him constantly making demands. No, it was better this way, they stilled had the contact they needed to get in touch with, and the targeting matrix hopefully intact. Life was good, and it was about time captain Merk Eth got a break. He keyed in the command for auto-steering and dropped almost instantly asleep in the bunkbed.

 

[Lethul]

Ugh, i was gonna write something like Nate did But with these last 2 posts i guess i don't have too

 

[Old Nicodemus]

He sat hunched over his drink in the crowded bar, slowly nursing it to it's conculsion. A nervous bead of sweat slowly trickled down his neck and rolled under the collar of his flight suit. He'd agreed to meet his contact in this bar on a back end station in the arse end of nowhere.

Then the Octavian ship had arrived and it's complement of crew had piled into the bar. He'd quietly sidled his way over to one of the corner booths to try and avoid the inevitable rowdy bragging that a military compliment would bring, and also to avoid any close encounters with fist or bar furniture when the rowdy behaviour turned drunken and most likely violent.

So far he had been ignored and he hoped it would stay that way. He wanted nothing more than to get tonight over and done with and climb back into his ship and depart. Even more so now.

Loud laughter from the group of octavians made him look up, in his musing he'd missed an old man in threadbare clothing enter the bar. Unfortunately the Octavians hadn't missed him enter and had closed around him and were looming drunkenly over him loudly braying drunken slurs.

From the corner of his eye he saw movement and turned his head to see what it was more clearly. One of the bar staff was slowly approaching his table.

Another loud roar of raucous laughter filled the room.

The young man who stopped at his table looked at him closely and slowly smiled.

A pained cry sounded that was follwed by even more laughter.

The waiter lent in closer.

"May I suggest a bowl of the house daily sir, with a plate of the sandrian peppers?"

Suddenly the room felt cold to him, that was the code, this was his contact! He looked over at the Octavians and the old man struggling to get up from the floor while being pushed back down again by a less than tender boot.

He licked his suddenly dry lips and looked at the waiter. "As long as the peppers are fresh."

The waiter smiled and nodded. Then ambled off towards the kitchen.

A few minutes went by, nervous minutes. The Octavians continued to harrass the old man on the floor. Finally the waiter reappeared carrying a tray with the food on it. He stood with his back to the Octavians and lowered the tray onto the table. More laughter errupted from behind him.

The waiter leaned down as though pretending to listen over the sound of the Octavians behind him. "Eat the food, then report back to your ship. We have accessed the panel and removed your report. You are to continue gathering information on the local Prelate and his diversions. You will find 2 crates of medical equipment ready to be loaded. You are to drop them off at the regular place for the Ravagers to find. Avoid inspection."

With that the waiter stood back up again and smiled. "Anything else sir?"

He shook his head and picked up the fork and attacked the food with little enthusiasm. The waiter moved off.

Another mission. Damn. He thought he was close to getting out. He'd done everything they'd asked of him, yet still they asked more. He stared gloomily at his plate, damn Solrain Corp Rats had him by the short and curlies. He'd have to think of somethng to get out, but what.. he wasn't so sure.

He winced as an Octavian boot connected with the old mans face.

Time he wasn't here.

 

[Nate]

Hey stop!! I wanted to win

Hey Merketh I'm great cheers! Yourself?

 

[Lethul]

Hey stop!! I wanted to win

Hey Merketh I'm great cheers! Yourself?

Tbh you deserve it since you did it before the first deadline

 

[Roo Stercogburn]

I poked Shaeffer too. Currently though he's drinking beer. Might be another post or so coming along soon.

Regardless, as posted above Nate is indeed the deserving one

 

[Dreamor]

Good posts so far people!

You have until Midnight

 

[Merket]

hey mate, all is well here. Havent played WAR for a few months and cant say I miss it especially with the way it degraded after the beta :/ looking forward to JGE as I assume you are and possibly Aion later this year.

 

[Shaeffer]

Spot the reference(s)

Yo

Just in time for the deadline, but frankly I'm really not all that fussed. This was so utterly done for the silliness

Give it to Nate imo I'm not so much jumping on the bandwagon as pulling those reins and yeehawing for all I'm worth.

Decided to go for a somewhat tongue in cheek approach, and wanted to hijack the thread by inserting my own competition of Spot the Reference

Enjoy...


~


‘Alright, I’m in.’

‘You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into’

‘It’s the right thing to do. I can’t expect you to understand. I just need to do it. Revenge maybe.’

‘Revenge? I don’t fancy your odds.’

‘Never tell me the odds. I’ve got nothing to lose.’

‘I disagree. The stakes are high.’

‘The stakes are always high. What about you, if its so dangerous why are you going ahead with it?’

‘Maybe I like the excitement.’

‘Maybe you’re fucked in the head’

‘Maybe’

‘Whatever man. I’m in’

‘Fine. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Lay em.’

‘Hope you brought an airbag my man, 4 asteroids.’ There was a sharp intake of breath from all in the room. Captain Devon leaned back in his chair, and smirked. Shaeffer nodded, impressed. ‘Thats good Devon, very good. 4 asteroids. Mmm-mm. Well played. Beats my cards for sure,’ he continued, flicking his onto the table. ‘Or at least it would, if it were 4 stars.’
Devon’s smirk vanished, as he stared at Shaeffers cards. 4 planets. ‘Uh..’
‘Indeed. Uh.Good retort that man. I do believe I win. Again.’

Shaeffer savoured the bar-room atmosphere for a moment, before leaning over the table, dragging the pot towards him. Devon looked on, teeth gritted in a pale face. The money jingled into Shaeffers bag with a satisfying ‘clink’. Well, it was satisfying to Shaeffer, anyway. A thousand credit piece dropped off the table, and rolled back towards Devon’s boot. ‘Could you please pass me that, Captain?’ Shaeffer asked, a mask of innocence on his face.

Captain Devon just looked at him, then at the rest of the grinning faces of the Shadowed Night cronies around him. ‘Not awesome man, not awesome,’ he muttered, before stomping off, laughter from the mercenaries ringing in his ears.

~

The following morning, Caessa strolled down the corridor towards Shaeffers quarters. 2 months they’d been based on Colbert station now, and still she hadn’t gotten used to the layout of this place. Whilst approaching Colbert 8 weeks ago, she and the rest of the mercs had all commented on how small and insignificant it looked compared to other Solrain installations nearer the core. It’s hard to appreciate the scale of these places whilst you’re out there in the Black.

Now, two months later, she was quite probably the only female who hadn’t figured out how to get to Shaeffers quarters. Granted, she was also probably the only female who hadn’t charged a share of his winnings from playing that dumb game Solar for the pleasure of his company for ten minutes, but that on the other hand was something she took pride in. It certainly wasn’t for the lack of trying on his part. You’d have thought he’d have learnt his lesson by now. Maybe she needed to kick the shit out of him again, reinforce the point a little. Yeah.

Her mood lifted by the thought, she turned the corner to reach her destination and walked straight into a fight.

~

Shaeffer was sent flying onto the glass table, shattering it, air expelled from his lungs quicker than oxygen from an airlock, just as she walked in. Shooting a look that said ‘don’t ask,’ he rolled to his feet, launched himself off a chair over the kitchen counter, pair of sai’s at the ready before tangling with his robot assailant. Caessa recognised it as a 74-KH model, outdated by todays standards by quite some way, but the two shortswords in its hands didn’t make the weapons any less lethal.

Parry after parry, stroke after stroke, man and machine locked up. All 4 blades whirred and tore through the air. For a moment it looked like Shaeffer was forcing the machine back, before the 74-KH landed a solid, metallic fist to Shaeffers nose, forcing him to stumble back.
‘Argh. Alright alright, end simulation,’ he groaned, trying to stem the bleeding. Instantly, all 4 blades disappeared into nothingness. The glass table restored to its pristine condition, scattered bottles and glasses reformed. The 74-KH remained, but lowered its hands. A small nozzle extended out of its wrist area and blasted the bloodied metal with a short burst of water.

’74-KH is truly sorry for causing you injury, meatbag,’ it intoned.
Caessa raised an eyebrow and looked quizzicaly at Shaeffer. ‘Meatbag?’
Shaeffer glanced over at her. ‘I fight better with people I can hate. This pile of shit is the most obnoxious bucket of bolts in the Black.’
‘I see. Well, they do say that pets take after their owners. He’s got your eyes, too.’
‘Funny. And 74, what the hell was that anyway. Why couldn’t you just stab me with the imaginary weapons, damn sight less painful for sure yet still makes the point? Pun probably not intended.’
’74-KH apologises meatbag. Your orders were to provide you with an accurate simulation of a blade fight and to, 74-KH quotes, ‘make it look good for when she arrives.’ 74-KH has studied the logs of your previous interactions with the female known as Caessa and observed on several distinct occasions where she commented on wanting to see you come to harm. 74-KH obliged, and hopes that the female known as Caessa approves.’

Caessa laughed, eyes sparkling with rare good humour. ‘Oh the female known as Caessa thoroughly approves. Very much so. They tell you never to hit a man with a closed fist. But it is, on occasion, hilarious.’
Shaeffer continued to dab at his nose, hoping that the blood would at least distract from his embarrassment. ‘Stupid machine,’ he muttered.

‘What’s this all about anyway? Sai’s? Blade fight? You’re a pilot Shaeff, we all are. Fighters, gunships..we don’t often get boarded, and if we did, we’d simply shoot them?’
Shaeffer snorted. It hurt like hell, and came out more as a bubbled fart, but the meaning was clear. ‘I just think we should be prepared for anything is all. Its as valid a form of combat as any other, and last time I checked, we were in the combat line of work. I saw on some holo-vids back on New Caprica that the kings of old and their families used to train with blades daily incase of assassins in court. I like the idea, especially if I keep clearing up at the cards.’

Caessa shook her head and rolled her eyes. ‘Ancient Kings? Assassins in court? What, you’re thinking of yourself as royalty now? Some kind of...’ the words struggled to come, ‘..I dunno, some kind of Prince of the Shadowed Night now is it? Thats absurd.’
‘Huh. You make it sound so romantic Caes, I’m almost heartwarmed. Almost. Cute name though, I like it.’

Finally content that the bleeding had stopped, Shaeffer looked up sharply ‘Whats new to report anyway, any word finally?’
‘Aye, your ‘highness’, the transmission came in an hour or so ago. Would you believe that after 2months of nothing but cards and cavorting with 74’s, we now have a choice of contracts. The rest of the guys are down in 4-10 now, awaiting their ‘illustrious leader.’ She frowned. ‘They’re probably a bit pissed, too. If you’d let me give the message over the intercom rather than making me drag myself all the way up here to see you get the shit kicked out of yourself, we’d have been done 30mins ago.’

Shaeffer grinned. ‘Well, truth be told the lads will probably assume I’m late cos I either scored or that you did this to me. Either way, it’ll seem like progress! You mind keeping up appearances?’

‘I’m disinclined to acquiesce to your request asshole. Get to 4-10. And make sure that love bot of yours is switched off before you come. We don’t need another situation like back on Tenyks’

‘Is that a yes?’

‘It means no.’

~
They entered 4-10, Colberts main military briefing room, to the expected wolfwhistles. Caessa shot them a murderous look, but Kerrigan could always be relied on to be an ass. ‘You finally do her Shaeff?’ he drawled. ‘Me and the boys got a pot going on it!’

‘Frack you asshole,’ Caessa replied curtly. ‘You inbred shits aint making a penny out of my expense, especially you Kerrigan. I’m more likely to frack a cactus than I am your ugly arse.’
‘Ouch, Caessa, very ouch. With a mouth like that I have to ask...have you ever been mistaken for a woman?’
‘No shithead...have you?’
That shut Kerrigan right up, and, more pleasingly, switched attention from Caessa.

‘Right ladies if you’re all done with the jokes lets get to it shall we?’ A clearly amused Shaeffer nodded to Atlas, the groups communications officer. ‘The floor is yours Atlas.’
Atlas coughed. ‘Thanks. At 0845 this morning we finally managed to establish a connection, and downloaded a pair of contract offers from our employers. Many routers fried to bring us this information. It would appear that we have a choice people. The first is to search for a missing brother and sister. Apparently the sister is an escaped convict of some description, the brother a doctor. Details seem a bit sketchy as to location, there’s 14 files here with various bits of info, but looks like its mostly up to us to fill in the blanks.’

Shaeffer rolled his eyes. ‘So let me get this straight. In all of the Black, someone wants us...’ he gestured with his arm, ‘...this team of ultimate badasses, to find 2 people. What do we pay our taxpayers money for? Can’t the locals around the core find these guys? And anyway 14 files? Thats nowhere near enough. We need a shitload more than that for me to be satisfied. Honestly, God give me Serenity. No. Scrap that one Atlas.’

Atlas Shrugged and pushed up his spectacles.
‘Sure thing boss. The other is perhaps more to your style anyway. Solrain trade lanes have come under increasing attack recently from pirates. Intel has tracked them down to a small moon out in the Ooban system. The contract is simple. Exterminate the pirates. We have documents, maps, a few photos. Much more fitting for..how did you put it...our team of ultimate badasses.’

Shaeffer pondered and looked around at his team of 12. A cursory glance at the documents suggested that they would be outnumbered, although not out armed. Pirates usually followed the mob mentality anyway, albeit a mob with missiles and lasers a’plenty.

‘Hey, wait a minute.’ Kerrigan grabbed hold of one of the maps. ‘That ain’t no small moon. Scale on this map is way out. Easily a medium sized if going by standard galactic units.’

That made Shaeffers mind up for him. Outnumbered yes. Means a bit more glory and creds for those who live, and hell, he wouldn’t be all that sorry to lose a few pedantic cretins should fate roll a 6 anyway.’

~~

L

 

[Dreamor]

Closing, will let people know in the next few days