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Post by me on Mar 26, 2007 16:36:19 GMT -5
It was an awe inspiring sight, the blue and green jewel called Earth set in the center of the massive orbital rings. Above it hovered the moon in all its glory, its cratered face covered with industrial facilities. Shuttles ran between the surface and the industrial rings orbiting the moon. Most carried ore in varying amounts, but still others carried skeleton crews to the warships being built in the orbital rings. Ships were being moved into the standby zone until they could retrain the crew men who would usually control the metal behemoths.
The newest incarnation of the fleet was almost ready to go. Older ships were being recycled to fuel the industrial revolution, and their crews were being recycled as well. Men who had once crewed old ships armed with kinetic weapons now manned powerful ships firing beams of energy. In several more years they would probably have to go through this all over again. It was sobering upon reflection.
The sound of rushed efficiency brought him back to reality. A naval rating rushed forward with transcripts of a recently decrypted message in hand. The rating quickly saluted and then said, "Admiral, all ships in fleet group three have finished supply. We can now set sail at your leisure."
It was a quaint term, but unfortunately tradition dictated the words that he could use in situations such as this, and tradition also dictated his next move. "Have all ships in the fleet group set course for Jupiter, thirty percent speed please."
"Aye Aye, sir."
Some traditions had changed. You couldn't exactly travel anywhere on old fashioned screws, and even if you could it would be a very inefficient form of propulsion. The rating snapped off another crisp salute, and left to inform the navigators of his wishes. He was once again left to his own devices.
The only thing that he could think about was the massive power that he commanded at the helm of the Dreadnought. The power to decimate inhabited worlds, or orbital colonies. By himself he could destroy many of the smaller battleships that formed a part of his fleet, but what would he do with that power?
He would be regulated to the protection of the Core system, Earth, and not to the more interesting outer colonies. He could always dream....
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Post by Remis on Mar 26, 2007 16:57:04 GMT -5
I have no clue what is going on. But pretty interesting.
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Post by Dagothkitty on Mar 27, 2007 17:33:14 GMT -5
Spelling Error: Salt to Salute
Word Error: Screws to Crews
By the way, it sounds good.
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Post by me on Mar 27, 2007 20:45:52 GMT -5
No screws...Modern Warships are propelled by large propellers called screws
You got me on salt though =_=
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Umaril
Rookie
[M:0]
Posts: 1,045
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Post by Umaril on Mar 28, 2007 12:05:52 GMT -5
"Master cheif poured some salt on his commander..."
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Post by me on Mar 28, 2007 15:31:14 GMT -5
Now thats funny. I fixed the salt thing
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Post by me on Apr 1, 2007 2:06:52 GMT -5
With the naval rating gone, he returned once more to the workings of tradition. Tradition stated that he was to remain on the bridge, and stare out into space. Like most naval traditions it originated during the days of a sea based navy. His presence was supposed to inspire the bridge crew into working harder, and it served another more practical purpose. Hopefully he would be able to spot an enemy ship, or other navigational hazards.
However he knew that he could never out preform the ladar, or even the inferior radar systems. Even if he could, he had crewmen manning stations specifically designed to analyze feeds from exterior cameras, all for the expressed purpose of locating un-authorized craft or navigational hazards.
Manpower and technological breakthroughs had eliminated most of the practicality in tradition, but he did have to admit, the view was...unique. Millions of miniature diamonds were set in an endless black parchment, and that only described the background. Nebulas and other astronomical phenomena decorated the vast space that dominated his view.
He turned for his customary inspection of the bridge. This was one of the few optional traditions, and during times of war it could possibly interfere with his crews performance. He had just made his way to the men manning the communication systems. One of the crewmen looked up from his console, and said, "What convenient timing sir, we just received a feed from Fleet Admiral Swanson. We need your personal key to decrypt the message."
He entered the series of digits and letters that composed his personal decryption key. The screen resolved into the image of a middle aged man, who had a neatly trimmed white beard, and greying hair crowning his head. "Admiral Hawkes, starting today we are in a state of war."
"Sir? I don't follow..."
"The entire west fleet has mutinied, and taken over several major systems. Whats worse is the fact that they now have access to several un-exploited systems, and one of our major shipyards."
"Sir, you cant be serious."
"It gets even worse, not only do they have the ability to manufacture the newer warships, but the entire western fleet has already been outfitted with the newer war ships. So far only three of our fleet groups have been outfitted, which could barely take on a fraction of the western fleet group."
"I guess you want me to take my fleet group to harass the enemy?"
"Yes, we have assigned several fabricators and Infiltrator class ELINT ships, as well as enough supply ships to keep your fleet running until reinforcements arrive."
He could only nod. It would be his first combat mission with this fleet group, and he could only hope that he could survive it.
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Post by Uesugi on Apr 1, 2007 2:16:43 GMT -5
I like it, me. I'm a true sucker for anything written about space... so much possibility...
ladar to radar; tradition could be used a bit less (don't know what you would use though);remember apostrophes in words like can't.
Otherwise, looks like we'll get to see some space action. Can't wait, I know you'll carry it well, like in BN. never heard of ladar before, but your story...
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Post by me on Apr 1, 2007 2:20:09 GMT -5
ladar=detection system utilizing lasers to detect objects/provide accurate information on the object
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Post by DEATH97 on Apr 1, 2007 6:27:00 GMT -5
Nice work (me). I like to see more variety in the Writing Sections. We have alot of swords and wizards, but too few space, and futuristic tales. And its good timing too, because I've been in the mood to read these type of stories.
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Post by me on Apr 1, 2007 15:19:04 GMT -5
Fleet group three gathered at the nearest jump hole. The jump hole was another anomaly that made space travel much easier. It was basically a wormhole that transported you to an adjacent system. Unfortunately anyone who could detect the jump hole could use it, and so the jump gate had been born. The jump gate pulsed energy which would disrupt the jump hole, disallowing travel using that jump hole unless a ship with the proper access codes came along.
After nearly an hour of waiting the appropriate ships had reached his fleet, and they were now ready to embark on their first combat mission. Admiral Hawkes transmitted a stream of electrons that comprised the code, and all the ships elongated, then disappeared into the jump hole.
It was near instantaneous. Several seconds later they appeared in an unfamiliar solar system. Admiral Hawkes tried to clear his head, and fight past the disorientation. He could see that most of his crewmen had already succeeded in this task. To be young again... but this wasn't the time to reminisce.
"Ensign!" he shouted.
"Aye, sir?" answered a nervous crewmen.
"The dampeners are malfunctioning."
"Aye, sir. The head mechanic just phoned up to tell us he found the problem. One of the yard workers had left a sonic screwdriver in their."
He was proud of the efficiency his crew had just demonstrated, but less so in the yard workers who had built the ship. They had somehow messed up a near fully automated process. "Tell the crew to do a walk down, and try to spot any other tools left behind by those yard workers. If we find more then thirty before we get to enemy held space, then the entire crew can think about a nice three day leave."
"Aye, sir!" the ensign said enthusiastically, before phoning the message throughout the entire ship.
It wouldn't be hard to find at least ten, or even twenty loose tools. The ship was many kilometers long, and from the right angle it even looked as long as the diameter of some planets! The Dreadnought was truly the most fearsome ship in the fleet. It carried three heavy triple laser batteries, and numerous smaller batteries. The only thing it lacked was a full compliment of anti-fighter turrets, but it still had the bare minimum coverage, as well as a screen of corvettes.
Another crewmen came up to deliver the ETA for the jump hole into enemy territory. They had around a day of transit, so he might as well rest. God knows he would need it when he got there, but when he did reach enemy territory he wouldn't be able to find it.
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Post by Uesugi on Apr 1, 2007 19:14:06 GMT -5
Their=there
That ship is mighty big. 'Twould be hard to dock... Liked the update, me. Good as always.
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Post by me on Apr 2, 2007 3:15:54 GMT -5
Thats why I made sure to specify from certain angles...but yes that is true. Though ships dont truly dock in my story...at least the bigger ships
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Post by Dagothkitty on Apr 2, 2007 17:13:43 GMT -5
I liked it me. I like the name of the kilometer ship as well. This kind of seems like a halo fic. I don't meen that in any offensive way, if It can be offensive... anyway, keep it up.
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Post by me on Apr 8, 2007 21:19:18 GMT -5
His fleet hovered above the jump hole into enemy territory, and adrenaline pounded through his veins as he contemplated just what was about to happen. He was about to lead a single fleet group against a force many times larger, and it he would be the first strike against the first major rebellion since humanity had reached space.
The only advantage that his force had, were the intelligence ships he had under his command. The newer sensor systems had yet to be shipped to the western fleet, and as such the enemy fleet wouldn't be able to detect cloaked ships. This was coupled with the fact that the older intelligence ships were larger, and couldn't function while cloaked without the updated sensor suite.
Unfortunately only two ships in the fleet could cloak, the missile boats, because they used older technology, and their intelligence ships, which were shielded from radiation and electronic interference. His intelligence ships also had another advantage, the ability to ping a system using a combination of ladar and radar systems, which would detect any man made construct, but unfortunately wouldn't tell you exactly what it was.
"I want two Infiltrator class ELINT ships to cloak and ping the system. Then they are to report back to upload the data they gathered," he said to the crewmen manning the comm. station.
"Aye, sir."
He watched as two Infiltrators disappear from view. The jump hole seemed to pulse, as the two invisible vessels plunged into the wormhole. Several minutes later the wormhole pulsed and the two ELINT ships reappeared.
The intelligence officer immediately began announcing the information taken from the short reconnaissance. "One fabricator beginning construction on a jump gate! Dozens of small contacts patrolling the system, ninety-nine percent chance corvette class! One large fleet twenty five ships or more depending on radar overlap. Ten stationary contacts most likely fighter stations or ion cannons."
"All ships, jump now!" he yelled over the comm.
The console elongated in front of him as the ship began to enter the jump hole. He could almost feel his atoms elongating, then the ship appeared in a new system. He immediately heard his weapons officer call out coordinates to the gunners over the comm. The main view screen switched to the camera which had the target in view.
Blue bolts made out of ions slammed into the weakening shields of the defenseless fabricator. Soon a bolt pierced the shell of energy and slammed through the frame of the fabricator. Columns of fire erupted from cracks that spread across the hard metal surface. A frozen body slammed into the camera they were using to view the carnage, causing static to burn across the screen. The image refocused on the burning hulk, showing the devastation that their newer weapons could cause.
His voice caught as he saw the pure destruction that the ships under his command could cause. Finally orders began to escape form his lips, "Launch the probes, and make best speed away from any major concentrations of enemies."
"And may God forgive us for the death we are about to cause."
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