| Author |
Jupiter Fleet - Yes, its actually an update |
Axianda The Royal
Fleet Admiral
Terra Squadron
Joined: November 20, 2001
Posts: 4273
From: Axianda
|  Posted: 2005-08-26 12:46
WOOT great story mate gimme next chapter 
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- Axi
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JackSwift
Cadet
Sundered Weimeriners
Joined: October 30, 2002
Posts: 1806
From: Where the Sun dont Shine (Seattle-ish)
| Posted: 2005-08-26 13:03
Oh man, I've gotta read everything over again... 
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(too lazy to rehost that old sig)
\"Errare Human Est.\"
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James Bum007
Grand Admiral
Pitch Black
Joined: April 23, 2003
Posts: 480
From: Queens, New York
| Posted: 2005-08-26 13:20
Ok, time to get this publish for real. This is good stuff man.
"Nough Said"
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BackSlash
Marshal
Galactic Navy
Joined: March 23, 2003
Posts: 11183
From: Bristol, England
| Posted: 2005-08-26 16:36
more!
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Coeus {NCX-Charger}
Admiral, I can't read,
Sundered Weimeriners
Joined: February 16, 2004
Posts: 3635
From: South Philly
| Posted: 2005-08-26 20:24
Damnit... no one bumps my story anymore... granted I haven't done anything for it in ages... lol
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Darkspace: Twilight
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Tbone
Grand Admiral
Joined: July 21, 2001
Posts: 1756
From: Vancouver
| Posted: 2006-08-12 18:53
Chapter 9:
The call to the Beowulf took Captain Murney by surprise. The stand down order had come through an hour earlier to the assembled mass of soldiers; to the chagrin of some, to the relief of others, still more had a mix of the two. The troops had been departing the transport ships to return to the various moons when the ship intercom had ordered Murney to report to the closest communications screen for an eyes-only message. With a glance at King, who only shrugged, Murney turned and pushed her way backwards through the advancing soldiers to find a station. She found one in a small alcove off the main corridor and entered her personal access code. She called up the waiting message; it was short. “Captain Murney, please report to the Beowulf.” She blinked twice then shut down the station and went to find King and organize the rest of the platoon.
* * * *
Murney wanted to say “You’re crazy,” but that isn’t the sort of thing a captain says to an admiral, even if he is in the navy. Instead she settled on a short stunned silence, glancing over the plan on the computer screen in front of her. The problem was, besides being utterly insane, it wasn’t a bad plan. Devine was able to retrieve a partial map from Yaaknar’Lan’s head and input it into the computer so they weren’t going in blind. It was obviously a city-like complex and Murney’s team was heavily trained in urban combat. The defenses were supposedly minimal, so sending in a platoon was overkill. Meaning that if they weren’t minimal, it was still a fair fight, one Murney was confident they could win. And whatever that creature they said was there would, hopefully, be controlled by Devine. “When do we leave, sir?” Murney asked after a moment.
“Is your platoon assembled, captain?” Murney nodded. “Then we leave as soon as you and your people are transferred to the Normandy.” The Normandy was a Torpedo Cruiser, one of the few close range ships that remained relatively unscathed. Most of the others had damaged armor plating or were undergoing what repairs could be done. Out of necessity, they also took some torpedoes from other ships to bring the Normandy to a full ammo load out. The cruiser was docked to one of the Beowulf’s airlocks and Murney’s platoon was transferring their equipment onboard when Stewart and Madsen came striding down the corridor.
“You’ll be going with them, then, sir?” Madsen was asking.
“I’m off to save the universe, captain. I couldn’t let anyone else bear that,” Stewart responded.
“Even if they would gladly bear it, admiral?”
“Even then, captain.” They fell into silence as they watched the equipment being loaded. A few minutes later, Devine came along with Yaaknar’Lan. The two officers turned to face them. “Are you rested, councilor?”
“Adequately, admiral,” the K’luth responded through the translator. “Although your ‘bed’ is an odd way of obtaining rest, I made do with the floor. In any case, whatever rest I got will have to be enough.”
Stewart nodded. “Devine?”
“Ready and able, admiral,” was the expected response.
“Sir?” It was Murney. “The last of the equipment has been loaded and my people are setting up in the cargo hold. They’re doing a weapon and armor check and the explosive charges tested fine. We’re ready to depart.”
“Thank you, captain, we’ll be aboard momentarily.” Murney saluted and turned to enter the airlock. “Captain Madsen, I hereby relieve command of the UWS Beowulf to your command. Take good care of her.”
“I’ll keep your seat warm, admiral. Good luck and god speed.”
The two men didn’t salute, instead they shook hands. The admiral turned to Devine and Yaaknar’Lan. “Gentlebeings, lets go save the universe.”
* * * *
After detaching from the Beowulf the torpedo cruiser angled toward the jump gate leading to Alpha Centauri and engaged its ECM cover. With a burst of light, it reached FTL speeds and would reach the gate in minutes where it would either be destroyed or it would slip by completely unnoticed. The Normandy’s crew soon found that they would indeed make this first hurdle in their journey to Groombridge as the ship deftly moved between patrol ships and passed through the gates activation radius, flinging it light-years to the connected gate in Alpha Centauri. After this, it soon became apparent that Yaaknar’Lan was telling the truth. They encountered no one at any gate nor did they detect many in orbit around any planet they passed near. If anybody had bothered to time the journey, it would have been the quickest journey from one end of the explored galaxy to the other since the war began. Despite the ease of travel, the crew was still tense, though with a K’luth on the bridge it was understandable.
After entering the Procyon system several hours after leaving the Sol system, Yaaknar’Lan was escorted to the cruiser’s small shuttle hanger by Stewart. “Will you be able to convince your people?” Stewart asked, for what seemed like the hundredth time.
Yaaknar’Lan glanced questionably at the human. “There will be no ‘convincing’ involved. They will look into my mind and know. Or the creature and the renegade Leenan’Era will have already succeeded and we will have lost.”
Stewart grunted. “Sometimes I wish we could be so sure of our own people.”
“Only sometimes?” Yaaknar’Lan asked curiously.
“There is something to be said for a private mind.” This earned the admiral another look. The sentiment was both incomprehensible and disturbing to the K’luth. As a councilor, he was mentally trained to cope with the long periods of isolation that may befall him (such as the current situation) but it was not something to relish in. He would be quite happy to return to the comforting mental hum of his own people.
Reaching the hanger, it occurred the admiral that there wasn’t much else to say. Like Yaaknar’Lan said, they would either succeed or they would fail. No grand speeches would help. No expressions of sentiment, if there was any, to encourage. The only thing that seemed to fit was, “Good luck.”
Another glance but this one softened slightly. The K’luth turned to face the admiral and extended his lower right hand (claw?) in a handshake. “I believe this is the appropriate gesture in your culture.” The admiral quickly reached out to grasp the offered hand (claws?) and shook it. Grasping the large appendage was awkward but Stewart managed, although his hand barely covered half of Yaaknar’Lan’s.
“It suits the situation quite well, councilor. Do your job, and I assure you we will succeed in ours.”
* * * *
“He’s away,” Stewart said to Devine when returning to the bridge.
“Do you think we’ve made it in time?” Devine asked.
Stewart stared forward for a few seconds before answering. Upon reflection, he felt Yaaknar’Lan’s own answer was the best. “We either have or we haven’t. There isn’t any middle ground, no half measures. Helm, as soon as the shuttle has entered the Sirius system, take us through and bring us to within communication range of the Groombridge jump gate. We’ll wait there for Yaaknar’Lan’s signal.”
* * * *
Yaaknar’Lan wasted no time in opening communications with the ships in Groombridge, a near instantaneous process with K’luth technology. He was immediately brought aboard the Kesh’Rath class command dreadnaught (humans called it the Ganglia) where he was subjected to the interrogation. It was intensive but, as with all things telepathic, swift. The commander of the ship spoke to Yaaknar’Lan as they eased his mind out of the probes put through it.
Councilor, we have seen your mind and know you are pure. This ship and this fleet are at your command; we will follow your orders.
If Yaaknar’Lan was human (and had command of his outer faculties) he would have sighed in relief. There is no time to waste. There is a human ship outside of the jump gate leading to this system. I must send a message to it and inform—
Yaaknar’Lan stopped. There is something wrong…
NO, COUNCILOR. SOON EVERYTHING WILL BE RIGHT. THANK YOU FOR THAT INFORMATION ON THE LOCATION OF THE HUMANS. THIS FLEET SHOULD HAVE NO PROBLEMS HANDLING THAT SINGLE SHIP.
Yaaknar’Lan immediately felt the tendrils on the creature begin to spread throughout the ship and its crew. There was only one option left, and he seized it. Still connected into the ships system, Yaaknar’Lan sent out the command taught only to Tribal Council members and protected by blocks not even the probing he had just submitted to could detect nor, he hoped, the creature. It sent out an instantaneous order to all ships systems, all ships connected to that ship, and all those K’luth connected, to be cut off from any outside telepathic link. Within the time it took for the neurons in his brain to fire, the order had reached every ship in the system. Unfortunately, it was not sent in time for everything to be done.
[ This Message was edited by: Tbone on 2006-08-12 18:55 ]
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!Lono! {Rogue Kluth}
Cadet
Joined: April 19, 2002
Posts: 128
From: Hawaii
| Posted: 2006-08-12 20:27
and the saga continues w00t!
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Shahks, dey only byte wen u touch dea privet pahts.
Calm down befoa I karang ur allahs!
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RagAnok
Admiral
Joined: February 02, 2004
Posts: 237
| Posted: 2006-08-13 04:10
woot i had given up on you updateing it
good work Tbone
Ps next chapter soon i hope
PPS coeus get your butt into gear and get to writing your next chapter as well
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Telekinesis, thats what you need, just lay back and let your mind do the walking
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Coeus
Grand Admiral
Sundered Weimeriners
Joined: March 22, 2006
Posts: 2815
From: Philly
| Posted: 2006-08-13 12:37
Twilight was finished - Week of Hell is on indefinate hold on account of I don't like the way its going so far.
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Do I really look like a guy with a plan?
'I'm gonna go crazy, and I'm taking you with me!'
ICC Security Council Chief Enforcer
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