An afternoon's work

Taymar · 27-07-2009, 05:38 PM

‘Ah Nuts’.
A red warning light started to flash in the cockpit, reflecting off the pilots visor and off the canopy. It was the proximity warning another Conflux fighter was inbound and homing in. The pilot’s left hand danced across the target identification controls, there was a brief clicking sound as the screen displayed various types of ship, it flashed green and the outline of a class 5 Snail was confirmed.

The pilot looked out of the canopy into open space, ‘Lets do this’ he said out loud. With that he hauled the stick backwards and throttled up to meet the on coming threat, the fighter rolled and climbed on to its new trajectory. The Snail was already within firing range and had opened up with barrage of fire from it’s mortars, the fighter shook as the shots detonated all round, the shields glowed and static cracked through the cockpit as one shot glanced off the starboard shields, ‘This is going to be close’, the pilot told himself. The Snail had seen the shot hit its mark and opened up with another barrage of fire the pilot rolled and dove as the two ships drew closer together. A mechanical voice rang through the pilot’s helmet ‘Target within firing range’. The pilot gripped the stick and opened fire with twin lasers the first two streaks of energy shot above the Snail as it manoeuvred to keep its target under the sights, the second two scored a direct hit causing the Snail’s shields to crackle as they absorbed the energy, the pilot adjusted the attitude and pulled the trigger, two more lances struck the Snail and it’s shields collapsed, the following two bolts caused the Snail’s bio mass to leak from inside the damaged shields, venting into space like pink steam. The Snail dove hard and increased its speed to avoid another volley, the pilot had already cut his momentum and was lining the Snail up as it levelled off, the pilot pulled the trigger twice and accelerated towards the target. The four lances of energy all struck home and the Snail was all but destroyed, more of its bio mass was venting in to the cold of deep space. The Snail was trying to recover, trying to accelerate but too much of its mass had been lost all it could do was turn to face its target and fire off a few more shots, the pilot had rolled the Snail back into his sights and he sped, headlong towards it he pulled the trigger as his fighter shook from a direct hit from the Snail, the pilot throttled back and pulled the nose of the ship towards the nearest jump gate, then a huge flash of light lit up the cockpit as the Snail detonated. The pilot checked the radar as he throttled towards the gate, ‘I hate those things’ he said and focused on the gate.

The distance meter ran down as the pilot approached the gate, his destination showing on the main screen. One last check of the radar throttle down and ready to hit the button to begin the jump sequence, he’d made it this far.

The fighter reverted to real space and its instruments calibrated themselves on their new surroundings, the pilot checked his systems and laid in his course, this was going to be a short hop through the system and out of the gate on the far side. The screen confirmed course and heading, ‘Piece of cake’, said the pilot as he allowed himself a brief smile. He throttled up and rolled the fighter onto its course.

The radar lit up with several yellow blips, moving objects possibly ships, the fighter was still too far away to make a positive identification, they were some way ahead but were on the same heading, the pilot increased the radar range and the ships systems set about identifying each of the four objects. Two Pirate fighters, a large hauler and a smaller cargo ship, the smaller cargo ship looked to be carrying the same markings as the two pirate fighters. The larger hauler carried markings the pilot knew very well it was the Omega Merchant Command insignia. O.M.C. were a major contractor for the T.R.I. and provided goods and services to all of the stations throughout the known universe, the pilot throttled up for a closer look. As the fighter drew near the comms crackled to life, ‘Incoming fighter, this is the O.M.C. vessel Lady’s Luck please identify yourself’. The pilot flicked the comms switch, ‘Lady’s Luck, this is the Fallen Wild ship Fire Blade, do you require assistance’. The comms crackled again and another voice came through the speakers, ‘Back off Fire Blade unless you’re prepared to take the three of us on’. The lead pirate slowed and turned to put the fighter in his cross hairs, long enough for the proximity warning to sound in the pilot’s helmet, then returned to it’s pursuit of the hauler. The comms opened up again, ‘Fire Blade, we have 200 clicks until gate threshold, are you offering assistance, over’, the pilot checked his radar and weapons systems, ‘Lady’s Luck, I’m on way’. The fighter increased to maximum speed as the pilot adjusted the friend/foe targeting system.

‘Fire Blade, you were warned, now feel the heat’. The lead pirate broke off pursuit of the hauler and lined the fighter up in its sights, the pilot was already jinking left and right, the pirate opened fire and four bolts of ion energy streaked towards the fighter, the pilot rolled the fighter and the bolts passed either side, not even touching the shields, the pilot fired two shots back and pulled hard on the stick, one shot missed the pirate, the other struck just behind the cockpit, causing the shields to shudder as they dissipated the energy, the shudder caused a loose connection on the pirates targeting system to disconnect, leaving the pirate without his ‘Dualist’ targeting display, ‘Aaarrrgghh, useless piece of junk’, the pirate shouted over the comms, the pilot allowed himself another smile as he dropped behind the pirate and opened fire, the pirate tried to roll and turn out of the sights of the fighter but the pilot was on him like a tired old flight suit. The lead pirate ship exploded as its fuel was ignited by the pilot’s fire, the pilot pulled hard on the stick sparks showered the fighters shields as it flew through the debris of the pirate.

The cargo ship was almost on top the hauler as the second pirate fighter was trying to take down its shields, the cargo ship suddenly veered off and dove under the hauler, the pilot lost sight of the cargo ship as he lined up the second pirate, he opened fire causing the pirate’s shields to glow, the display showed heavy damage to the pirate’s shields but his hull was still intact, the fighter shuddered as the cargo ship had dropped behind the fighter, taking advantage of the pilots focus on the other pirate fighter, ‘Nuts’ the pilot said out loud, he throttled back and flipped the fighter through 180 degrees the cargo ship was firing and hadn’t reacted to the fighters flip, the pilot opened up with the guns, direct hits scored against the cargo ship as it climbed to avoid a collision with the smaller craft, as the cargo ship passed over head, the pilot had the guns trained on the hull, hit after hit brought the shields and hull down to dangerous levels, the cargo ship veered off and accelerated away, oxygen and other gasses venting from it’s damaged hull, the second pirate fighter had broken off from the hauler, without the added fire from the cargo ship, it was hopeless to try and disable the haulers shields, the pirate rolled to line up the fighter, the pilot had delayed throttling up, waiting to see if the cargo ship was coming around for a pass, the proximity alert sounded as the pirate fighter opened fire, two direct hits brought the fighters shields down, the pilot pushed the throttle to full and headed towards the hauler, he jinked left, right, up and down to avoid the pirates fire with his shields down it was just a matter of time before the hull failed. The hauler was 20 clicks away and closing, the pilot flipped the safety from the missile launcher. The pirate was closing fast but not fast enough, the pilot steered the fighter behind the hauler, cut the throttle, flipped the fighter and waited for the pirate to appear from behind the hauler, the pirate broke around the hauler at full speed, unable to bring his guns to bear quickly enough on the drifting fighter, the pilot launched one of his missiles and throttled forward, the missile struck the pirates shields, destroying the generator totally and causing massive electronic failures, the pilot opened fire with his guns, the second pirate exploded, lighting up the side of the hauler. The pilot throttled down and turned to follow the hauler. ‘Congrats and thanks Fire Blade’.
The pilot let out a long breath.
‘You’re welcome Lady’s Luck, where are you heading’?
‘Solrain Core and you’,
‘If you’re buying the beers, me too’,
‘Roger that Fire Blade, see you dirt side’.

The pilot allowed the hauler to jump first as he double checked his instruments, the shields were coming back up but the hull had been damaged, ‘Another repair bill’, the pilot thought as he initiated the jump sequence.

Taymar · 29-07-2009, 08:55 PM

Please feel free to comment on the above article, I'm going to get stroppy if you don't like it and I'll happily take the praise if you like it.

Roo Stercogburn · 31-07-2009, 12:29 AM

Finally, someone writing a Jumpgate story with actual fighter action in it.

I've been puzzling over why people are posting stories and shying away from it when one of the big themes of JGE is shoot-em-up fighter combat. Immersive background is great but when it comes down to it I want a white knuckle ride.

Only minor niggles here. Grammar/punctuation and perhaps some of the sci fi technology references, though that is likely merely my perception and personal bias rather than a critcism.

Write more

Taymar · 31-07-2009, 07:19 AM

Thank you for a frank and encouraging reply.

It’s not easy to describe the manoeuvres and there are times when the technical bits can cause problems, you can also get bogged down in the overall description of the scene and miss the little details that make it flow.

I may sit down a write some more over the weekend.

Roo Stercogburn · 31-07-2009, 04:33 PM

Agreed, thats what I find. How to keep the sense of speed going while at the same time conveying the action with enough information so the reader can easily envisiage it

Taymar · 11-09-2009, 06:01 AM

More dribble from Taymar is on the way, I've had a few things to deal with of late but I have been writing and I'll post it up once it's worth reading.

Fluffy(destroyerofworlds) · 26-02-2010, 07:13 PM

I read this a while back when i wasn't a member. Meant to register and comment but didn't get round to it P:

cool story dude.

27-07-2009, 05:38 PM	#1 (permalink)
Taymar Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: On your six Posts: 458	An afternoon's work ‘Ah Nuts’. A red warning light started to flash in the cockpit, reflecting off the pilots visor and off the canopy. It was the proximity warning another Conflux fighter was inbound and homing in. The pilot’s left hand danced across the target identification controls, there was a brief clicking sound as the screen displayed various types of ship, it flashed green and the outline of a class 5 Snail was confirmed. The pilot looked out of the canopy into open space, ‘Lets do this’ he said out loud. With that he hauled the stick backwards and throttled up to meet the on coming threat, the fighter rolled and climbed on to its new trajectory. The Snail was already within firing range and had opened up with barrage of fire from it’s mortars, the fighter shook as the shots detonated all round, the shields glowed and static cracked through the cockpit as one shot glanced off the starboard shields, ‘This is going to be close’, the pilot told himself. The Snail had seen the shot hit its mark and opened up with another barrage of fire the pilot rolled and dove as the two ships drew closer together. A mechanical voice rang through the pilot’s helmet ‘Target within firing range’. The pilot gripped the stick and opened fire with twin lasers the first two streaks of energy shot above the Snail as it manoeuvred to keep its target under the sights, the second two scored a direct hit causing the Snail’s shields to crackle as they absorbed the energy, the pilot adjusted the attitude and pulled the trigger, two more lances struck the Snail and it’s shields collapsed, the following two bolts caused the Snail’s bio mass to leak from inside the damaged shields, venting into space like pink steam. The Snail dove hard and increased its speed to avoid another volley, the pilot had already cut his momentum and was lining the Snail up as it levelled off, the pilot pulled the trigger twice and accelerated towards the target. The four lances of energy all struck home and the Snail was all but destroyed, more of its bio mass was venting in to the cold of deep space. The Snail was trying to recover, trying to accelerate but too much of its mass had been lost all it could do was turn to face its target and fire off a few more shots, the pilot had rolled the Snail back into his sights and he sped, headlong towards it he pulled the trigger as his fighter shook from a direct hit from the Snail, the pilot throttled back and pulled the nose of the ship towards the nearest jump gate, then a huge flash of light lit up the cockpit as the Snail detonated. The pilot checked the radar as he throttled towards the gate, ‘I hate those things’ he said and focused on the gate. The distance meter ran down as the pilot approached the gate, his destination showing on the main screen. One last check of the radar throttle down and ready to hit the button to begin the jump sequence, he’d made it this far. The fighter reverted to real space and its instruments calibrated themselves on their new surroundings, the pilot checked his systems and laid in his course, this was going to be a short hop through the system and out of the gate on the far side. The screen confirmed course and heading, ‘Piece of cake’, said the pilot as he allowed himself a brief smile. He throttled up and rolled the fighter onto its course. The radar lit up with several yellow blips, moving objects possibly ships, the fighter was still too far away to make a positive identification, they were some way ahead but were on the same heading, the pilot increased the radar range and the ships systems set about identifying each of the four objects. Two Pirate fighters, a large hauler and a smaller cargo ship, the smaller cargo ship looked to be carrying the same markings as the two pirate fighters. The larger hauler carried markings the pilot knew very well it was the Omega Merchant Command insignia. O.M.C. were a major contractor for the T.R.I. and provided goods and services to all of the stations throughout the known universe, the pilot throttled up for a closer look. As the fighter drew near the comms crackled to life, ‘Incoming fighter, this is the O.M.C. vessel Lady’s Luck please identify yourself’. The pilot flicked the comms switch, ‘Lady’s Luck, this is the Fallen Wild ship Fire Blade, do you require assistance’. The comms crackled again and another voice came through the speakers, ‘Back off Fire Blade unless you’re prepared to take the three of us on’. The lead pirate slowed and turned to put the fighter in his cross hairs, long enough for the proximity warning to sound in the pilot’s helmet, then returned to it’s pursuit of the hauler. The comms opened up again, ‘Fire Blade, we have 200 clicks until gate threshold, are you offering assistance, over’, the pilot checked his radar and weapons systems, ‘Lady’s Luck, I’m on way’. The fighter increased to maximum speed as the pilot adjusted the friend/foe targeting system. ‘Fire Blade, you were warned, now feel the heat’. The lead pirate broke off pursuit of the hauler and lined the fighter up in its sights, the pilot was already jinking left and right, the pirate opened fire and four bolts of ion energy streaked towards the fighter, the pilot rolled the fighter and the bolts passed either side, not even touching the shields, the pilot fired two shots back and pulled hard on the stick, one shot missed the pirate, the other struck just behind the cockpit, causing the shields to shudder as they dissipated the energy, the shudder caused a loose connection on the pirates targeting system to disconnect, leaving the pirate without his ‘Dualist’ targeting display, ‘Aaarrrgghh, useless piece of junk’, the pirate shouted over the comms, the pilot allowed himself another smile as he dropped behind the pirate and opened fire, the pirate tried to roll and turn out of the sights of the fighter but the pilot was on him like a tired old flight suit. The lead pirate ship exploded as its fuel was ignited by the pilot’s fire, the pilot pulled hard on the stick sparks showered the fighters shields as it flew through the debris of the pirate. The cargo ship was almost on top the hauler as the second pirate fighter was trying to take down its shields, the cargo ship suddenly veered off and dove under the hauler, the pilot lost sight of the cargo ship as he lined up the second pirate, he opened fire causing the pirate’s shields to glow, the display showed heavy damage to the pirate’s shields but his hull was still intact, the fighter shuddered as the cargo ship had dropped behind the fighter, taking advantage of the pilots focus on the other pirate fighter, ‘Nuts’ the pilot said out loud, he throttled back and flipped the fighter through 180 degrees the cargo ship was firing and hadn’t reacted to the fighters flip, the pilot opened up with the guns, direct hits scored against the cargo ship as it climbed to avoid a collision with the smaller craft, as the cargo ship passed over head, the pilot had the guns trained on the hull, hit after hit brought the shields and hull down to dangerous levels, the cargo ship veered off and accelerated away, oxygen and other gasses venting from it’s damaged hull, the second pirate fighter had broken off from the hauler, without the added fire from the cargo ship, it was hopeless to try and disable the haulers shields, the pirate rolled to line up the fighter, the pilot had delayed throttling up, waiting to see if the cargo ship was coming around for a pass, the proximity alert sounded as the pirate fighter opened fire, two direct hits brought the fighters shields down, the pilot pushed the throttle to full and headed towards the hauler, he jinked left, right, up and down to avoid the pirates fire with his shields down it was just a matter of time before the hull failed. The hauler was 20 clicks away and closing, the pilot flipped the safety from the missile launcher. The pirate was closing fast but not fast enough, the pilot steered the fighter behind the hauler, cut the throttle, flipped the fighter and waited for the pirate to appear from behind the hauler, the pirate broke around the hauler at full speed, unable to bring his guns to bear quickly enough on the drifting fighter, the pilot launched one of his missiles and throttled forward, the missile struck the pirates shields, destroying the generator totally and causing massive electronic failures, the pilot opened fire with his guns, the second pirate exploded, lighting up the side of the hauler. The pilot throttled down and turned to follow the hauler. ‘Congrats and thanks Fire Blade’. The pilot let out a long breath. ‘You’re welcome Lady’s Luck, where are you heading’? ‘Solrain Core and you’, ‘If you’re buying the beers, me too’, ‘Roger that Fire Blade, see you dirt side’. The pilot allowed the hauler to jump first as he double checked his instruments, the shields were coming back up but the hull had been damaged, ‘Another repair bill’, the pilot thought as he initiated the jump sequence. __________________ Just one last kiss before raising hell . .Beyond the Pale! Last edited by Taymar; 27-07-2009 at 05:43 PM.

29-07-2009, 08:55 PM	#2 (permalink)
Taymar Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: On your six Posts: 458	Please feel free to comment on the above article, I'm going to get stroppy if you don't like it and I'll happily take the praise if you like it. __________________ Just one last kiss before raising hell . .Beyond the Pale!

31-07-2009, 12:29 AM	#3 (permalink)
Roo Stercogburn Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 85	Finally, someone writing a Jumpgate story with actual fighter action in it. I've been puzzling over why people are posting stories and shying away from it when one of the big themes of JGE is shoot-em-up fighter combat. Immersive background is great but when it comes down to it I want a white knuckle ride. Only minor niggles here. Grammar/punctuation and perhaps some of the sci fi technology references, though that is likely merely my perception and personal bias rather than a critcism. Write more __________________ Roo Stercogburn Proud servant of Ancient Shadows in various guises in various online games.

31-07-2009, 07:19 AM	#4 (permalink)
Taymar Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: On your six Posts: 458	Thank you for a frank and encouraging reply. It’s not easy to describe the manoeuvres and there are times when the technical bits can cause problems, you can also get bogged down in the overall description of the scene and miss the little details that make it flow. I may sit down a write some more over the weekend. __________________ Just one last kiss before raising hell . .Beyond the Pale!

31-07-2009, 04:33 PM	#5 (permalink)
Roo Stercogburn Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 85	Agreed, thats what I find. How to keep the sense of speed going while at the same time conveying the action with enough information so the reader can easily envisiage it __________________ Roo Stercogburn Proud servant of Ancient Shadows in various guises in various online games.

11-09-2009, 06:01 AM	#6 (permalink)
Taymar Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: On your six Posts: 458	More dribble from Taymar is on the way, I've had a few things to deal with of late but I have been writing and I'll post it up once it's worth reading. __________________ Just one last kiss before raising hell . .Beyond the Pale!

26-02-2010, 07:13 PM	#7 (permalink)
Fluffy(destroyerofworlds) Member Join Date: Feb 2010 Posts: 97	I read this a while back when i wasn't a member. Meant to register and comment but didn't get round to it P: cool story dude.

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