The RP
WarZone...
Page: 112
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"Captain! Ghost detected at long range, 20 degrees to starboard!"
Andropov started, though a part of his mind was saying "I _knew_ it!".
Because "ghost" was the slang the sensor teams used to refer to ships,
most notably those of the Vulcans, which seemed, to Imperial sensors, to
have no detectable mass. "Get me a class identity" he ordered, as an aide
adjusted a small screen nearby. He didn't bother looking out of the window.
Out in the depths of interstellar space, it was too dark for ships to be
seen even at close range, so one had to rely on electronic enhancement.
What he saw on the screen puzzled him though. At first glance, it looked
like a large, animated model of Uranium atom, with the multiple electons
moving in complex, unpredictable orbits around the small central nucleus.
The "nucleus", in this case, was a ship. "Sir, its Vulcan. A light cruiser..
we think". "you THINK?" "Well..(gulp).. sir, something is interfering with
our scanners. We can't get a direct lock on it!" Under Andropov's glare,
the crewman stammered on: "its all those smaller things. they're.. transmitting
on the same frequencies we use to scan!" "Move us closer!" ordered Andropov.
"Pass the order to the rest of the fleet! Whatever they're doing, they've
no business doing it here!" Slowly the ponderous Imperial ships came about,
and accelerated in the direction of the engimatic ship.
Scottty
<[email protected]>
- Thursday,
September 16, 1999 at 17:24:24 (MDT)
The ship was a light cruiser of the Vulcan Defense Fleet, the VDF
_Cyclotron_. On the bridge, Captain Starn watched the incoming Star Destroyers
closely. Had he been human, he would have been smiling. With over 90 of
its remote probes moving around it as if in eccentric orbits, his command
was indeed a bizarre sight. "Go to phase two of the plan once they reach
visual range" he ordered the bridge crew in the calm, measured tones he
always used. "Once they get within 30 000km, move away, matching their
speed. This should be interesting." In the space around the _Cyclotron_,
the remote probes increased the speed and complexity of their manouvers,
and began to emit rapid blue flashes from their nacelles.
Scottty
<[email protected]>
- Thursday,
September 16, 1999 at 17:24:47 (MDT)
Now the Vulcan ship was closer, and the ISDs began to launch their
fighters. "3 to one odds!" smirked Andropov. "We outgun them for sure".
Still, something puzzled him. Staring at the tactical display in front
of him, he tried to guess at what in space the Vulcan captain was trying
to achieve with that cloud of probes. They were known to be able to double
as fighters, but they were certainly not deployed for battle.. they looked
more like they were trying to emulate a swarm of insects. But there was
a pattern to it.. or was there? Just watching them was making him dizzy.
Blinking, he stood back from the display and turned to the main window.
Their quarry was visible in the distance now, as a flickering pattern of
blue lights.. flashing and swirling.. it made ones head spin to watch...
Suddenly something clicked in Andropov's mind, and he turned from the window
at once. Already many of his bridge crew were staring, slack-jawed and
blank-faced, at either the window or their screens. "Its a trick!" he yelled,
cuffing the subordinate nearest him to bring the man back to his senses.
Grabbing the microphone himself, he sent out an urgent order. "Attention
all units! This is Captain Andropov! Do not look directly at the Vulcan
ship! I repeat, do NOT look at the ship! All targeting is to be electronic!
Anyone who looks at that pattern for too long risks being hypnotised!"
Scottty
<[email protected]>
- Thursday,
September 16, 1999 at 17:24:55 (MDT)
*Touching down in a port, Cyborg Stan once agains wanders out of
the shuttle. Once you've seen one trashy, dirty, smelly spaceport, you've
seen them all. He then wanders over to the local drugstore, or Wal-Mart,
or Office Depot, or something like that. I dunno. Anyway, he buys two rather
large-ish plastic storage containers, and a can of spray paint. He also
checks the listing of various departure times for the Interdictor's crews......
there. That looks like a good spot.*
Cyborg
Stan of CyKoLaJx, Inc.
- Thursday,
September 16, 1999 at 17:25:31 (MDT)
"Sir" said an aide, " we cannot lock onto that ship electronically!
And our mass detectors are useless. If we cannot aim at them manually,
how are we to target them at all?" It was a good question, and Andropov
had no answer.
Scottty
<[email protected]>
- Thursday,
September 16, 1999 at 17:29:11 (MDT)
With a snarl at the humiliation, Andropov ordered his fleet to retreat.
Scattering in differing directions, the huge Imperial ships fled from the
single light cruiser. Not all had heeded, or even heard, Andropov's warning
in time. A number of TIE's and a Skipray, were left floating in space,
their crews mesmerised by the flashing blue lights. Reachin out with multiple
tractor beams, the _Cyclotron_ gathered these into its own shuttle bay,
having first beamed the pilots into the brig.
Scottty
<[email protected]>
- Thursday,
September 16, 1999 at 17:35:48 (MDT)
The 1200th under Captain Alexei, shadowing the 1298th under Andropov,
receives the situation report. Arriving out of hyperspace just short of
the formation of Vulcan drones, the 2 ISDs in a line ram the drone formation
and open simultaneous broadsides. In the next instant, Andropov's own vessel,
their timing off by several seconds due to the Vulcan ploy, do the same
maneuver from 90 degrees perpendicular. The ships do not stop. Continuing
at high impulse, over a hundred guns tracking, they leave the vacinity
with bare moments to spare before the Vulcan cruiser blossoms into destruction.
Unfortunately, as they wanted to capture some of the probes intact for
study, none survived the explosion of their mothership. Returning to the
disipitating gas cloud, the wreckage was sorted and loaded by tractor beams
from the much chastised Andropov. Alexei's shadow fleet had meanwhile left
the vacinity, yet still maintaining within hyperwave alert. In short order,
the fleet returns to Empire space. Alexei ponders the possible reason why
the Vulcans would be suddenly warlike after so many centuries of neutrality.
Perhaps it is time he brought his suspicions of an internal Vulcan civil
war and policy change to the Council. Yes, the Council would know more
of what is going on from the network of Imperial Intelligence assets in
Vulcan space..
Captain
Alexei
- Thursday,
September 16, 1999 at 18:03:22 (MDT)
*A few hours later, something like a GNK Powerdroid wanders up to
a hangar bay. Inside, a shuttle was about to depart.* Guard : Hey! You
can't enter without-- *Sees the offered bottle of bloodwine.* Uhhhh......
nevermind. Knock yourself out. *Shows the 'droid to a nice spot within
the ship, which then takes off with a rattle, spewing out a bad-smelling
cloud of sooty smoke.*
Cyborg
Stan of CyKoLaJx, Inc.
- Thursday,
September 16, 1999 at 18:26:32 (MDT)
*Watches the tactical map as the _Still Unamed_ zips past.* You
idiot! You forgot to stop! You were supposed to take us TO the _Still Unamed_.
Not to the other end of the universe in that direction! *"How do I stop
this thing?"* Did you try the "Stop" button? *"There's no button here marked
"Stop" or anything like "Stop!""* ARGH!! Just hit buttons until we do stop
then!
TDK
- Thursday,
September 16, 1999 at 19:03:28 (MDT)
'It is time,' thought Mel, as he saw the spider walk it's way to
the lab, stopping just short of the force field. A quick message from the
spider told who was really controlling this one, with a personal message:
'Good evening, Brother...' Skittering up to the controls, the spider quickly
set about deactivating power to the lab, which would disable the force
field confining him. Success! The field was down. Quickly, wasting no time
for the humanoids of the ship to realize what had happened, he ran outside,
reactivating power, hoping no one noticed. A blaring alarm squashed that
hope abourning. Scooping up the chrome spider, Mel communicated to it,
cutting back on audio in the need for expediency 'Have you found her?'
'Yes, Elisia is well, physically, however, Jadesfire is currently controlling
her.' 'Good.' 'I assume you have the device,' Being purposefully vague
in case, by some chance, anyone heard and understood. 'I have it. I shall
wait until...' 'I know. Remember, I know how you think.' and if the expresionless
spiders could smile, it would have. The spider opened channels again. 'You
should drop me here, so I can get to the others. After getting used to
this body, and this existence, for that matter, I've conceived a plan whereby
we could get Elisia away from here. Just ensure her unconsciouness. We'll
take it from there. We have a shuttle prepared in the bay. We will leave
one minute after you activate the device. Please be sure you do what you
must...' 'You know I will.' Mel cut 'himself' off curtly. It had been nearly
a minute now that he'd escaped. Jumping down an access tunnel several decks,
he found himself on the shuttle deck. Piping up again, his emulated self
continued... 'The best I can tell through Spidernet, most of the security
is here, on this deck, close to the shuttlebay. It would be wise to release
this unit now to avoid risking it's termination. Good luck, Brother...'
Mel let it go, running past, moving inhumanly, hoping to get to the Far
Star before anyone else...
Infinitech
<[email protected]>
- Thursday,
September 16, 1999 at 22:08:59 (MDT)
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