Congrats to last week's winner, insanephoton, and the great topic he picked for us this week! It brought Drabblers out by the droves! Sometimes, getting people to write can be painfully simple.
Psykokow hosts the Abraka-Drabble live reading show and comedy hour at 7pm GMT, Fridays on...
HUTTON ORBITAL RADIO! http://streaming.radionomy.com/HuttonOrbitalRadio (audio only)
LAVE RADIO! http://laveradio.com/ (audio only)
TWITCH! http://www.twitch.tv/psykokow/ (audio & visual)
and will also be uploaded to his You-tube channel & anywhere else he can infect the world with our drabblings!
Remember, the winner(s) of this week's Drabble Contest get to choose next week's topic. They also get to wear the Drabble Crown for a whole week.
_________________________________________________
01 - Futuristic Kung Fu - A matter of conscience
A small group of people had already assembled as the Cobra landed on the pad. As the ramp settled down, tension mingled with fog in the air, as a suited figure walked down the steps and climbed back up onto a makeshift platform of cargo canisters, all in silence.
“Dear friends, I am glad you could make it.” He said. What he said next visibly disturbed the spectators. When he finished, one of them spoke out, voice heavy with contempt.
“So your plan truly is to wretchedly bribe them into voting for our Drabble?”
“As simple as that.” He confirmed.
_________________________________________________
02 - Edith_The_Hutt - The Gordian Job
"It's a simple operation," explained Max, schematics dancing on his AR goggles, "First I need to disengage the lasers around the safe door in the correct order, input the fake biometrics and pick the tumbler lock with these non-conductive pins. Then we put a pressure seal around the door, swing it open, remove the Diamonds, reseal the safe and hurry to the SRV before security realise we were ever on board."
Bernie drew his blaster and shot the safe open.
Dodging laser fire as they dived into the SRV's waiting hatch Max had to admit that Bernie's solution *was* simpler.
_________________________________________________
03 - T.j - A simple plan for a simple man
The plan was simple,
There shouldn't have been problems.... So, why was everyone angry??
The screams of rage grew louder, the sound of flaming torches banging against the doors deafened him...
A pitchfork slammed through the door nearly skewering his head to the panel behind him.
He screamed, a little wee came out...
The lunatic had added 13 zeros to it he bemoaned to himself.
What the hell was I thinking letting that maniac send out the info over the Galnet????
'That's the last time I let Kow announce the pricing structure for the new Och-ulus Rrrrift v69' Palmer wailed.
_________________________________________________
04 - moose666 - The meta plan
"The plan is simple, first, we weaken kow's defences by bombarding him with enough puns to give him an
aneurysm, then once his brain has ejected, we smear it over the biometric sensor to get access to his
cargo hold full of mister trees. Next, we make a serum out of what's left of his brain and a few bottles
of 'F&%k Off Cough' and inject it into the Psykoconda's FSD and use it to jump to the Auriga nebula. Then we..."
"Dude, stop, if your plan is longer than a drabble, then it is not by any means 'simple'."
_________________________________________________
05 - Frank - Of Mice and Keyboards
The sign on the large grey imposing building read "MegaCorps Incorporated". Below that was their motto "we will crush your soul". It was going to be a scary job interview.
The bloke who showed Sheila the office afterwards was Gary. He was friendly enough, "Don't tell anyone but we all play 'Excellence: Desperate' on the computers during lunch breaks."
"Aren't you worried your supervisors will find out?"
"Nah! Nothing shows up on the logs. We route the game through a network made from our watches"
"That must've been difficult to set up"
Gary smiled. "Nah! It was a simple LAN"
_________________________________________________
06 - Simoof - I've got skills, wotcha gonna do about it.
I sat on the edge of the no-fire zone, waiting for newbs to clear the toast-rack.
Every new pilot would take their first flight here. Coming to terms with basic manoeuvres made them sitting ducks - an easy way to increase your kill rate.
The station birthed a new sidewinder. Clear.
I waited as it slowly moved towards me. Patience.
Slowly it crossed into the danger zone. I was still unnoticed - good.
My hardpoints deployed. I fired.
*BOOM*
The ship stalking the newb destroyed.
"I've upgraded since you welcomed me months ago."
"Thank you" the sidewinder blurted.
Then I targeted it.
_________________________________________________
07 - Alien - Codespotting
Choose Strife. Choose a hobnob. Choose it here. Choose a parody.
Choose flying machines, SRV's, and data scanners.
Choose good armour, low weight, and rebuy insurance.
Choose fixed weapons over gimballed. Choose a starter system. Choose your wing-mates.
Choose spirit-crushing HazRes sites, stuffing Truckers into enemy fire.
Choose to end of it all, being crap at combat, nothing more than an embarrassment.
Choose your future.
... But why would I want to do a thing like that? I chose somethin' else. I chose solo mode.
And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you've got a simple plan?
_________________________________________________
08 - FelixBast - Flying in the face of danger
As the Vipers headed straight at them, Felixbast opened communications to his wingman.
“We need a simple plan. Max the shields. Stay close together and plough full speed through them. Once clear, we boost out of firing range and jump to hyperspace before they can turn.”
He looked to the hired mercenary in the Cobra, next to his. The helmeted figure silently nodded agreement.
“Now”
Pushing the throttle to max, Felixbast’s ship roared forward, his shields flaring as laser fire rained down.
The mercenary spun his ship 180 degrees, boosted and disappearing into the blackness said, “My plan is simpler”.
_________________________________________________
09 - Galactic Midden - Likely story
"Tell another Gramps!" the cadets cheered.
"Well..." the sergeant smiled wryly, "that wasn't the end of the old miner."
"He lived!?"
"Yep, quite surprising really after getting double crossed on his mission and his entire mining crew drugged, but tough as old mag-boots that one was. Like many frontier miners he lived with a permanently Janx infused bloodstream and that's what annulled the poison. Turned it into nothing more than a weak simulant, which is when Frank learned Janx's secret.
You might recognise the cure-all sold under the Sim-Pill plan by its slogan, 'Not right? Get Janxxed, the miners' delight'".
_________________________________________________
10 - Splendour - The Price of Failure
Rien snatched at a floating dataslate and stowed it securely. It had been a simple plan. Move into Imperial space where their misdemeanours in the Federation wouldn't count against them, run cargo delivery jobs, get their finances back in the black.
Jan was incandescent. "Why take a shortcut through an anarchy system? Did you even read the penalty clause for failure? 800000 credits! We're bankrupt! And you know what happens to Imperial debtors? That!"
She gestured out of the cockpit. The slow tumble of the ship gave an excellent view of the pirates leisurely scooping up canisters of imperial slaves.
_________________________________________________
11 - MrMogadon - A Celestial Plan
Celeste nervously chewed her bottom lip and toyed with a strand of her long auburn hair, waiting for Captain Jonas to reply.
“Well, Celeste, it’s a simple plan. Unusually simple in fact. Perhaps even, too simple. Bank couriers don’t just hand over stacks of bearer bonds because you ask nicely and remember to say ‘Please’ and ‘Thank you’.
Some gun waving, verbal threats and a degree of unpleasantness is considered de rigueur”
Celeste looked crestfallen.
“Sorry for wasting your time”, she whispered, turning to leave.
In a quavering voice she asked “Does that mean I have to give them back?”
_________________________________________________
12 - Erik Marcaigh - Escape Pod: Unused
I sat quietly in my Python, "Frankly Mining", peacefully docked at Robigo. Even though I left the mining lasers in place, the refinery, collector, and prospector limpet controllers had all been discarded for more cargo space long ago. Dust from various ore fragments still remained around the ship. There's a new, bigger ship in my future.
I accepted another mission from the Cartel to transport slaves. Before the last one had even been loaded, I was already selling them on the black market.
The only thing I didn't figure in this simple plan was the hitman's pistol in my face.
_________________________________________________
13 - Listeri69 - Imperial Diplomacy
The devastation lay all over, an inch thick ooze covered the floor making the steps slippery and the floor unobservable.
Bodies lay slumped over tables, flesh covering them, an occasional groan pierced the air and a squelch made Lou turn around
'What the hell happened here old chap' he muttered more to himself than anyone around him, his hand tightened on his mop as he realised the days of work ahead.
One of the Bodies sat upright a large bone protruded out of his head moving a trifle to one side he spoke
'It all started with a simple Flan....'
_________________________________________________
14 - Missileman - 1 Green Bottle
What do miners know about anything? Well other than mining, mining and drinking.. most the good ones are too old to move and the young 'uns well lets just say they can't recognise their Asp from their Painite. But legend has it there is one miner out there who knows just how to get every last crumb of mineral from his rocks, and won't use slaves to do so, we just need to lure him out of retirement with a simple plan. then this pristine reserve will be ours for the taking any ideas?
Yeah I got one word...
'Janx'
_________________________________________________
15 - Ventura_ - The emergency at Hutton Orbital
Matt came out of Supercruise beside Hutton orbital. He messaged Space traffic Control, requesting “an emergency landing pad”, they replied to his him “Matt, land at pad 3 and rescue services will meet you their”. A simple Plan to follow, so he thought.
He knew the state of his ship, so he manually docked, but something caught his attention. It was someone’s leg, covered by bits of the ship’s interior.
Landed, he moved the ship to the hanger. As the air filled the cockpit, he removed and throwing down his Remlock and ran to the person, hoping they were ok.
_________________________________________________
16 - Clef_Hanger - Mistakenly Killed__ A Rhyme-Loving Refuse Heap__by Bovine Madness
Psykowcow's
Excited howl.
Rubbing his hands with glee!
He felt a thrill,
A man to kill.
His name was Mr. Tree.
Accepted mission,
Rank, position.
Standing with locals increased.
His mood became merry,
His old adversary
Was soon to become "The Deceased."
The simple plan,
Just kill a man,
Had sadly gone astray.
He had begun,
But then a Sun
And moon got in the way.
The shadow cast
was deep and vast,
His quarry now was hidden.
His aim, not great,
So by mistake,
Kow killed Galactic Midden.
Haiku Headline:
Galactic Midden
Assassinated by Kow!
But enjoyed the rhymes.
_________________________________________________
17 - Sneevus - Gift of Loyalty
"The attempt on my life obviously failed."
The speaker paced purposefully around the dais.
"All the evidence points to my inner circle. One of you is the traitor."
"But Senator, we've been your supporters since the very beginning, surely it
couldn't be anyone here?"
"Only those close to me could have known my full itinerary... Not to worry, I have a plan.
In recognition of all your efforts, I present a gift."
The dais opened, displaying an elegant clock counting down.
"The Empire thanks you for your service."
The Senator's hologram smiled and faded, as the room exploded around it.
_________________________________________________
18 - insanephoton - Final Flight
Simoof had to die, everyone agreed, even Simoof. It had started a few years earlier when he had left to marry haggis heiress Edith Mogadon, He had allowed the rest of the crew of Frank Midden mining outpost to keep him on the books and divide his salary between them.
.
Now the auditors from head office were starting to ask awkward questions. The scam would have to end, but they could get one final bonus. TJ, Kow and Alien loaded the cargo ship with valuable minerals. Simoof would 'die' when the ship was lost, they would salvage the cargo later.
Psykokow hosts the Abraka-Drabble live reading show and comedy hour at 7pm GMT, Fridays on...
HUTTON ORBITAL RADIO! http://streaming.radionomy.com/HuttonOrbitalRadio (audio only)
LAVE RADIO! http://laveradio.com/ (audio only)
TWITCH! http://www.twitch.tv/psykokow/ (audio & visual)
and will also be uploaded to his You-tube channel & anywhere else he can infect the world with our drabblings!
Remember, the winner(s) of this week's Drabble Contest get to choose next week's topic. They also get to wear the Drabble Crown for a whole week.
_________________________________________________
01 - Futuristic Kung Fu - A matter of conscience
A small group of people had already assembled as the Cobra landed on the pad. As the ramp settled down, tension mingled with fog in the air, as a suited figure walked down the steps and climbed back up onto a makeshift platform of cargo canisters, all in silence.
“Dear friends, I am glad you could make it.” He said. What he said next visibly disturbed the spectators. When he finished, one of them spoke out, voice heavy with contempt.
“So your plan truly is to wretchedly bribe them into voting for our Drabble?”
“As simple as that.” He confirmed.
_________________________________________________
02 - Edith_The_Hutt - The Gordian Job
"It's a simple operation," explained Max, schematics dancing on his AR goggles, "First I need to disengage the lasers around the safe door in the correct order, input the fake biometrics and pick the tumbler lock with these non-conductive pins. Then we put a pressure seal around the door, swing it open, remove the Diamonds, reseal the safe and hurry to the SRV before security realise we were ever on board."
Bernie drew his blaster and shot the safe open.
Dodging laser fire as they dived into the SRV's waiting hatch Max had to admit that Bernie's solution *was* simpler.
_________________________________________________
03 - T.j - A simple plan for a simple man
The plan was simple,
There shouldn't have been problems.... So, why was everyone angry??
The screams of rage grew louder, the sound of flaming torches banging against the doors deafened him...
A pitchfork slammed through the door nearly skewering his head to the panel behind him.
He screamed, a little wee came out...
The lunatic had added 13 zeros to it he bemoaned to himself.
What the hell was I thinking letting that maniac send out the info over the Galnet????
'That's the last time I let Kow announce the pricing structure for the new Och-ulus Rrrrift v69' Palmer wailed.
_________________________________________________
04 - moose666 - The meta plan
"The plan is simple, first, we weaken kow's defences by bombarding him with enough puns to give him an
aneurysm, then once his brain has ejected, we smear it over the biometric sensor to get access to his
cargo hold full of mister trees. Next, we make a serum out of what's left of his brain and a few bottles
of 'F&%k Off Cough' and inject it into the Psykoconda's FSD and use it to jump to the Auriga nebula. Then we..."
"Dude, stop, if your plan is longer than a drabble, then it is not by any means 'simple'."
_________________________________________________
05 - Frank - Of Mice and Keyboards
The sign on the large grey imposing building read "MegaCorps Incorporated". Below that was their motto "we will crush your soul". It was going to be a scary job interview.
The bloke who showed Sheila the office afterwards was Gary. He was friendly enough, "Don't tell anyone but we all play 'Excellence: Desperate' on the computers during lunch breaks."
"Aren't you worried your supervisors will find out?"
"Nah! Nothing shows up on the logs. We route the game through a network made from our watches"
"That must've been difficult to set up"
Gary smiled. "Nah! It was a simple LAN"
_________________________________________________
06 - Simoof - I've got skills, wotcha gonna do about it.
I sat on the edge of the no-fire zone, waiting for newbs to clear the toast-rack.
Every new pilot would take their first flight here. Coming to terms with basic manoeuvres made them sitting ducks - an easy way to increase your kill rate.
The station birthed a new sidewinder. Clear.
I waited as it slowly moved towards me. Patience.
Slowly it crossed into the danger zone. I was still unnoticed - good.
My hardpoints deployed. I fired.
*BOOM*
The ship stalking the newb destroyed.
"I've upgraded since you welcomed me months ago."
"Thank you" the sidewinder blurted.
Then I targeted it.
_________________________________________________
07 - Alien - Codespotting
Choose Strife. Choose a hobnob. Choose it here. Choose a parody.
Choose flying machines, SRV's, and data scanners.
Choose good armour, low weight, and rebuy insurance.
Choose fixed weapons over gimballed. Choose a starter system. Choose your wing-mates.
Choose spirit-crushing HazRes sites, stuffing Truckers into enemy fire.
Choose to end of it all, being crap at combat, nothing more than an embarrassment.
Choose your future.
... But why would I want to do a thing like that? I chose somethin' else. I chose solo mode.
And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you've got a simple plan?
_________________________________________________
08 - FelixBast - Flying in the face of danger
As the Vipers headed straight at them, Felixbast opened communications to his wingman.
“We need a simple plan. Max the shields. Stay close together and plough full speed through them. Once clear, we boost out of firing range and jump to hyperspace before they can turn.”
He looked to the hired mercenary in the Cobra, next to his. The helmeted figure silently nodded agreement.
“Now”
Pushing the throttle to max, Felixbast’s ship roared forward, his shields flaring as laser fire rained down.
The mercenary spun his ship 180 degrees, boosted and disappearing into the blackness said, “My plan is simpler”.
_________________________________________________
09 - Galactic Midden - Likely story
"Tell another Gramps!" the cadets cheered.
"Well..." the sergeant smiled wryly, "that wasn't the end of the old miner."
"He lived!?"
"Yep, quite surprising really after getting double crossed on his mission and his entire mining crew drugged, but tough as old mag-boots that one was. Like many frontier miners he lived with a permanently Janx infused bloodstream and that's what annulled the poison. Turned it into nothing more than a weak simulant, which is when Frank learned Janx's secret.
You might recognise the cure-all sold under the Sim-Pill plan by its slogan, 'Not right? Get Janxxed, the miners' delight'".
_________________________________________________
10 - Splendour - The Price of Failure
Rien snatched at a floating dataslate and stowed it securely. It had been a simple plan. Move into Imperial space where their misdemeanours in the Federation wouldn't count against them, run cargo delivery jobs, get their finances back in the black.
Jan was incandescent. "Why take a shortcut through an anarchy system? Did you even read the penalty clause for failure? 800000 credits! We're bankrupt! And you know what happens to Imperial debtors? That!"
She gestured out of the cockpit. The slow tumble of the ship gave an excellent view of the pirates leisurely scooping up canisters of imperial slaves.
_________________________________________________
11 - MrMogadon - A Celestial Plan
Celeste nervously chewed her bottom lip and toyed with a strand of her long auburn hair, waiting for Captain Jonas to reply.
“Well, Celeste, it’s a simple plan. Unusually simple in fact. Perhaps even, too simple. Bank couriers don’t just hand over stacks of bearer bonds because you ask nicely and remember to say ‘Please’ and ‘Thank you’.
Some gun waving, verbal threats and a degree of unpleasantness is considered de rigueur”
Celeste looked crestfallen.
“Sorry for wasting your time”, she whispered, turning to leave.
In a quavering voice she asked “Does that mean I have to give them back?”
_________________________________________________
12 - Erik Marcaigh - Escape Pod: Unused
I sat quietly in my Python, "Frankly Mining", peacefully docked at Robigo. Even though I left the mining lasers in place, the refinery, collector, and prospector limpet controllers had all been discarded for more cargo space long ago. Dust from various ore fragments still remained around the ship. There's a new, bigger ship in my future.
I accepted another mission from the Cartel to transport slaves. Before the last one had even been loaded, I was already selling them on the black market.
The only thing I didn't figure in this simple plan was the hitman's pistol in my face.
_________________________________________________
13 - Listeri69 - Imperial Diplomacy
The devastation lay all over, an inch thick ooze covered the floor making the steps slippery and the floor unobservable.
Bodies lay slumped over tables, flesh covering them, an occasional groan pierced the air and a squelch made Lou turn around
'What the hell happened here old chap' he muttered more to himself than anyone around him, his hand tightened on his mop as he realised the days of work ahead.
One of the Bodies sat upright a large bone protruded out of his head moving a trifle to one side he spoke
'It all started with a simple Flan....'
_________________________________________________
14 - Missileman - 1 Green Bottle
What do miners know about anything? Well other than mining, mining and drinking.. most the good ones are too old to move and the young 'uns well lets just say they can't recognise their Asp from their Painite. But legend has it there is one miner out there who knows just how to get every last crumb of mineral from his rocks, and won't use slaves to do so, we just need to lure him out of retirement with a simple plan. then this pristine reserve will be ours for the taking any ideas?
Yeah I got one word...
'Janx'
_________________________________________________
15 - Ventura_ - The emergency at Hutton Orbital
Matt came out of Supercruise beside Hutton orbital. He messaged Space traffic Control, requesting “an emergency landing pad”, they replied to his him “Matt, land at pad 3 and rescue services will meet you their”. A simple Plan to follow, so he thought.
He knew the state of his ship, so he manually docked, but something caught his attention. It was someone’s leg, covered by bits of the ship’s interior.
Landed, he moved the ship to the hanger. As the air filled the cockpit, he removed and throwing down his Remlock and ran to the person, hoping they were ok.
_________________________________________________
16 - Clef_Hanger - Mistakenly Killed__ A Rhyme-Loving Refuse Heap__by Bovine Madness
Psykowcow's
Excited howl.
Rubbing his hands with glee!
He felt a thrill,
A man to kill.
His name was Mr. Tree.
Accepted mission,
Rank, position.
Standing with locals increased.
His mood became merry,
His old adversary
Was soon to become "The Deceased."
The simple plan,
Just kill a man,
Had sadly gone astray.
He had begun,
But then a Sun
And moon got in the way.
The shadow cast
was deep and vast,
His quarry now was hidden.
His aim, not great,
So by mistake,
Kow killed Galactic Midden.
Haiku Headline:
Galactic Midden
Assassinated by Kow!
But enjoyed the rhymes.
_________________________________________________
17 - Sneevus - Gift of Loyalty
"The attempt on my life obviously failed."
The speaker paced purposefully around the dais.
"All the evidence points to my inner circle. One of you is the traitor."
"But Senator, we've been your supporters since the very beginning, surely it
couldn't be anyone here?"
"Only those close to me could have known my full itinerary... Not to worry, I have a plan.
In recognition of all your efforts, I present a gift."
The dais opened, displaying an elegant clock counting down.
"The Empire thanks you for your service."
The Senator's hologram smiled and faded, as the room exploded around it.
_________________________________________________
18 - insanephoton - Final Flight
Simoof had to die, everyone agreed, even Simoof. It had started a few years earlier when he had left to marry haggis heiress Edith Mogadon, He had allowed the rest of the crew of Frank Midden mining outpost to keep him on the books and divide his salary between them.
.
Now the auditors from head office were starting to ask awkward questions. The scam would have to end, but they could get one final bonus. TJ, Kow and Alien loaded the cargo ship with valuable minerals. Simoof would 'die' when the ship was lost, they would salvage the cargo later.
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