ANNOUNCEMENT Life on a Fleet Carrier - Competition!
I had a few logs in my time on my fleet carrier, unfortunately, they were flushed into space.
Film noir. Yeah, I love it. At first I was thinking this pilot should look more like Humphrey Bogart. Then the pilot got lost and I realized, "Yeah, the casting director found the perfect guy." Nice video.
I have submitted an entry. And will be part of a scene in next years animated Elite Dangerous series.
Thanks for the competition fdev! Had some fun writing a short story around an exploration mission, The Search for the Pequod, that's heading out soon, it's now linked as 'deeper lore' in the mission thread, though I'll paste it here if people are interested.
Armand's Last Stand
The search of Lyra’s Song was progressing. Armand knew his findings were related to the Brain Trees (whoever let that idiot Ram name them should be reprimanded) and the Guardians. Finding Quadripartite Trees would prove him right, not that fool Ram.
A quiet ping from the detector, the trickle of ionising radiation indicating an inbound warp signature. Not a ship - this was bigger and more worrying - a Massive frameshift anomaly. Massive - but smaller than a megaship like Armand's much missed Cete - maybe one of those new Drake class Fleet Carriers he had heard about? This made the signal far more urgent. While megaships took a week to jump the newer fleet carriers could move far faster, meaning it was incoming in minutes - no time at all! The identification in Armand’s navigation panel was the “DSSA Gam Nine”. DSSA meant nothing to Armand - some new initiative, they were springing up all the time - but Gam Nine - that made it personal. They were coming for him, and didn't care if he knew it. Armand knew his heritage, his famous namesake, that tale of obsession with a white whale, the eight meetings, or Gams, with ancient sailing ships which framed the tale. Whoever was coming also knew this, and knew that Armand knew. He was in trouble.
Armand swung into action - the opening of the fleet carrier jump portal was imminent, there wasn't much time to act. His ship the Pequod was an old original Krait which had been stowed on board the Cete when that ‘unfortunate incident’ had happened, so had the advantage was that it was built for smuggling, built for hiding things from the prying. In this case he was going to have to hide himself. He squeezed into one of the concealed holds, hoping that the age of his ship would confound the searchers. They would be here soon.
…
They were on board. Sounds were getting closer. Armand shuddered in his confinement, his shaking hand holding a sliver of metal in front of him - his last defence against the intruders. The door in front of him squealed, resisting to the last as it was forced back. Armand was confronted with two blackly space suited figures with those garish orange symbols confirming their allegiance.
One figure reached forward as Armand thrust the metal shard. The figure snatched it away, throwing it casually over her shoulder to her companion "Dammit Melville! Bad enough taking the Lab 5 drinks cabinet key, but bringing it all the way out here? Luckily we had to bring the Gam Nine here for the DSSA, otherwise we’d have been even more annoyed. Make use of her to repair your ship - we might have broken the Pequod a bit looking for you. Gam Nine should make a nice base of operations for your work. Try not to repeat what happened on the Cete, and next time you want a drink, remember to return the key afterwards. Count yourself lucky it wasn’t a biscuit locker..."
(and yes, I also submitted via the correct channel
)
Armand's Last Stand
The search of Lyra’s Song was progressing. Armand knew his findings were related to the Brain Trees (whoever let that idiot Ram name them should be reprimanded) and the Guardians. Finding Quadripartite Trees would prove him right, not that fool Ram.
A quiet ping from the detector, the trickle of ionising radiation indicating an inbound warp signature. Not a ship - this was bigger and more worrying - a Massive frameshift anomaly. Massive - but smaller than a megaship like Armand's much missed Cete - maybe one of those new Drake class Fleet Carriers he had heard about? This made the signal far more urgent. While megaships took a week to jump the newer fleet carriers could move far faster, meaning it was incoming in minutes - no time at all! The identification in Armand’s navigation panel was the “DSSA Gam Nine”. DSSA meant nothing to Armand - some new initiative, they were springing up all the time - but Gam Nine - that made it personal. They were coming for him, and didn't care if he knew it. Armand knew his heritage, his famous namesake, that tale of obsession with a white whale, the eight meetings, or Gams, with ancient sailing ships which framed the tale. Whoever was coming also knew this, and knew that Armand knew. He was in trouble.
Armand swung into action - the opening of the fleet carrier jump portal was imminent, there wasn't much time to act. His ship the Pequod was an old original Krait which had been stowed on board the Cete when that ‘unfortunate incident’ had happened, so had the advantage was that it was built for smuggling, built for hiding things from the prying. In this case he was going to have to hide himself. He squeezed into one of the concealed holds, hoping that the age of his ship would confound the searchers. They would be here soon.
…
They were on board. Sounds were getting closer. Armand shuddered in his confinement, his shaking hand holding a sliver of metal in front of him - his last defence against the intruders. The door in front of him squealed, resisting to the last as it was forced back. Armand was confronted with two blackly space suited figures with those garish orange symbols confirming their allegiance.
One figure reached forward as Armand thrust the metal shard. The figure snatched it away, throwing it casually over her shoulder to her companion "Dammit Melville! Bad enough taking the Lab 5 drinks cabinet key, but bringing it all the way out here? Luckily we had to bring the Gam Nine here for the DSSA, otherwise we’d have been even more annoyed. Make use of her to repair your ship - we might have broken the Pequod a bit looking for you. Gam Nine should make a nice base of operations for your work. Try not to repeat what happened on the Cete, and next time you want a drink, remember to return the key afterwards. Count yourself lucky it wasn’t a biscuit locker..."
(and yes, I also submitted via the correct channel
)Explanations:
* Yeah, it's not spelt that way, but the forums swear checker complained - mods feel free to delete if you hate good literature
** seriously - they aren't
- Melville really is an in-game professor who discovered the Guardians - in-game he died in an incident on his mega-ship the Cete, this story wonders if he escaped (which fitted well with my expedition). He did argue with the engineer Ram Tah.
- Armand is a form of the name Herman. Herman Melville wrote Moby Diick*. The game doesn't tell his first name (I think), so I made it up
- The Pequod is another Moby Diick callout - it was the name of the main ship in that story. Likewise the gams are in the novel.
- The invaders on a mission travelling 35000 Ly to recover a drinks cabinet key are, of course, Canonn scientists - their love of hard liquor and biscuits is well known, as is their orange logo. Canonn members are helping with the placement of the DSSA Gam Nine in July and will be looking for the Quadripartite Pods & Trees, though they aren't related to the Guardians ... as far as we know** ...
* Yeah, it's not spelt that way, but the forums swear checker complained - mods feel free to delete if you hate good literature
** seriously - they aren't
Docking onto the known pirate fleet carrier, Sen makes his way to the center dock. There a makeshift bar has been set up with a familiar face working the other side of the bartop. Laur, the young novice pilot that has worked in bars in stations and ground stations all over the bubble has seen Sen walk in. Shaking her head "no" in an attempt to signal him as to the danger that lurks, he walks up to the bar reading her expression and looks over his shoulder. Three pirates approach as they know the bounty hunter is looking for someone they know. Laur knows to get clear as she jumps over the bartop to make her way to the exit. Sen turns and smiles. "Well looks like I found the right place."
Also sent via correct channel.
Also sent via correct channel.
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I've written two. The original one I couldn't get under 500 Characters, so I've gone with a different one. I'll rework the first one and put that up as a 'Proper' Sanctimonious story later.