Post A Reply
my profile
|
directory
login
|
search
|
faq
|
forum home
»
Flare Sci-Fi Forums
»
Sci-Fi
»
Designs, Artwork, & Creativity
»
*Rise of the Warspite*
» Post A Reply
Post A Reply
Login Name:
Password:
Message:
HTML is enabled.
UBB Code™ is enabled.
[QUOTE]Originally posted by HappyTarget: [QB] Heres Chapter 3. Is anyone out there reading this? I could really use some kudos or critisim. The silence is deafening! :D CHAPTER 3 The transport ship translated out of hyper almost exactly where astrogation said she should be. Swirling rainbows highlighted the 450 km diameter Warshawski sail as the power bled from the translation to n-space. The twin suns gleaming in the distance signaled she had arrived in the Manticore system. "Com, inform Manticore Control of our arrival and request instructions." "Yes captain. Manticore Control, this is cargo ship Dream Seeker. Registry number 458820-EN34, requesting queuing info." "Reconfigure from Warshawski sail to impeller drive and lay in the course Control sent us." "Aye sir." 'Damn but its good to be home, I really need some R and R after eight months in space', the captain thought to himself. "Com, give me ship wide intercom please." There was a momentary pause as the appropriate switches were thrown. Then the com officer gave Capt. Valdez a thumbs up. "Attention passengers and crew. This is the Captain. We have successfully arrived at our final destination. We will be docking within two hours. In order to disembark in an orderly manner, please have your ID and luggage ready before then. That is all, thank you for your time." The ship slipped through space silently, finally butting up against the comforting mass of the station. The passengers began to disembark, most in either the gold on black of the Manticoran navy, fewer in the blue on blue of the Grayson navy, toped of with a light sprinkling of civilians. One of the last to swing out of the tube was Lt. Cmdr. Thaddeus Armstrong. His short black hair went perfectly with his uniform. Armstrong would normally have cut a dashing figure, recruitment poster material. Yet now he seemed like a man haunted. Thad had been set up to take the fall for a failed mission by a CO who wanted him gone from his command. He had been transferred to a paper-pushing job, with enough black marks on his record to guarantee that he would never get another hyper capable command. Anger welled up in him, almost overwhelming the hopelessness. How could he have let this happen to him? Was there still some programming hidden deep in the recesses of his mind? Was that what had prevented him from speaking out against his persecutor? Or was it just his stubborn sense of honor that wouldn’t let his dark past come out into the light of day? He shuffled to the pinnace that would take him to his final destination. Shuffling along, barely looking where he was going, he missed a incredible vista out one of the stations armor plast portals. The night side of the planet Sphinx, bejeweled with wreaths and clusters of lights beckoned yet was snubbed. Taking the seat farthest from the other passengers in the three-quarters full flight, Thad puts on his best don't mess with me expression. It seemed to work because the other occupants of the pinnace left him alone. Hence he was startled when a hand touched his shoulder. He looked up to see who would have the gall to disturb him, and was shocked at who the owner of the hand was. The smiling face of Lt. Jennifer Yuki looked down at him. "Hello stranger, thought you could get away from me did you?" "Ba… Bu… Wha…", Thad stammered then finally managed to squeak out, "What are you doing here?!" "Well to make a long story short, when I learned what that jerk Thanguae was doing to you, I had to do something. All your senior officers, and most of the crew tried to reason with him but he would have none of it. I finally went to him and said that he would have lost all three merchantmen and the destroyer as well if you hadn't been in command. He exploded and told me to shut up and not talk about things that were none of my business. But stubborn me, I wouldn't back down. He finally said that since I liked you so much, I could join that 'monster in oblivion'! So here I am." "You really shouldn't have done that! You are one of the best Tac officers that I have ever seen. Now you have gone and destroyed a promising career over nothing!" "No! Not nothing! What he did to you was wrong, and I couldn't live with the person I would become if I had said nothing. Don't worry about me, I'll get by. Now cheer up! Don't look at your assignment planet side as a bad thing, look at it like an opportunity. You can prove to your new CO how good you are and cast doubt on Thanguae's reports. We can get out of this hole yet!" "I can't believe that the crew really went to Thanguae, not after I got so many of them killed." "Are you deaf? We all think that it was because of you that we made it!" "That wasn't skill, that was luck!" "The best commanders are usually the luckiest. Now, where did they send your sorry but? Sanitation detail in the Marine barracks?" That last remark finally caused a fleeting smile to cross Thad's dour face. "That’s better, so where ARE you assigned?" "Recruitment officer on the planet Sphinx. You?" "Well I'll be a monkeys uncle, me too!" Something told him that it wasn't an accident that she ended up working in the same place and at the same job he did. For the time being, Thad decided to let it slide. Her optimism and good spirits were infectious, and he soon began to feel better. By the end of the trip, she had convinced him that what he had here on Sphinx was an opportunity. When life gives you neo-lemons, you make lemonade. [/QB][/QUOTE]
Instant Graemlins
Instant UBB Code™
What is UBB Code™?
Options
Disable Graemlins in this post.
*** Click here to review this topic. ***
© 1999-2024 Charles Capps
Powered by UBB.classic™ 6.7.3