Forerunner Series - Total Eclipse #12

Chapter 4

April 12^th, 2279

Mars Orbit – Ares Naval Shipyards – Dock 114

Warhawk Class Light Carrier El Oso

Captain Jeremy Willis

            “Captain, all sections checked in, ready for departure.”

            Willis was maintaining his trademark stoic front, but inside, he was excited.  Finally, after years of reconstruction on the El Oso, months of logistical nightmares, and weeks of training, it was finally time to put it all to the test.  All of his crew had finally found their way on board, all the equipment had been stowed, and the majority of the problems fixed.  The El Oso was as ready as she’d ever be.

            “Give me shipwide,” he said to the communications officer Lieutenant Sara Glenn. She nodded to him after a moment.

Forerunner Series - Total Eclipse #11

Chapter 3

Mars Orbit - Ares Naval Shipyards

February 28^th, 2279

Trainees Redding, Beasley, Vermanov, and Drake

            “Cutting it a little close.  Still, I’m impressed you’ve all made it on time.” Steiner’s nasally voice came in over the radio.  The two Switchblades had made it to the coordinated they’d been given by Ares Control just shy of eight thirty. 

            “Welcome to hell, Blue Group.  Redding, Beasley, you are Blue One.  Vermanov, Drake, you are Blue Two.  Your mission, and thus your test, is to survive.  That is all.  Good luck.”

            “What?  That’s it?  Survive what?” Sasha asked loudly in irritation.

“Shyla, I’m showing targets inbound.  No IFF signature,” Nate said suddenly, sitting up straighter in his seat.

Forerunner Series - Total Eclipse #10

February 27^th, 2279

150,000km from Mars

“Death Course”

            ‘Death Course’ lived up to its name.  It had been almost second nature for Redding and Beasley to save forty-some lives on an escape vector away from the station, but running the course of markers that Michaels had conjured was something altogether different.  Michaels had programmed them to move randomly, sometimes folding in on itself, and other times looping to confuse the course.  Michaels was severely proud of his so-called ‘Death Course’ and had humbled cadets with it every year.  To pass, pairs had to navigate down the constantly shifting course while destroying all targets and defending all incoming fire.  Any hits, missed targets, or falling off-course was instant failure.  Cadets were given two tries.  Failing both meant failing the course, and a return trip next semester. 

Forerunner Series - Total Eclipse #9

Mars Orbit – Ares UTF Naval Shipyards

Warhawk Class Light Carrier El Oso in drydock

Chief Engineer Ethan Grimes and Exo-Armor Leader Commander Haley Odell

            “That’s it, just ease it back, one step at a time,” Chief Grimes said over the radio.  He was down on the tarmac using lightrods to guide the large exo-skeletal armor into its docking clamp.  The Exo-Armors were brand new to the UTF Navy inventory.  They were designed as close-range anti-air point support for capital ships.  It wasn’t completely decided yet if the machines were successful in that role, so the El Oso was given one squadron of prototypes as a test case.  The so-called Knights piloting the armor were a mish-mash of handpicked sailors.  Most with space piloting backgrounds, they had all been given special training for the suits and were then dispatched to the El Oso for trial testing.  So far, the jury was still out.  The machines were extremely complicated, and therefore prone to problems.  One of the biggest issues was docking, as Squadron Leader Commander Haley Odell was finding out.  She cursed as she missed the step and had to quickly regain the large machine’s balance. 

Forerunner Series - Total Eclipse #8

Chapter 2
February 26^th, 2279

Mars Orbit – Deimos II Space Station

Sergeant-Major Michaels and Cadets

            “Welcome to space!  Well, as close to space you’re going to get until you receive your postings.  From here on out, you’ll be training in low-G and zero-G environments.  You’ll also be piloting the Swift trainer.  The Swift is a little larger than the Fangs you’ve become accustomed to, so get yourselves familiar with it.”  Michaels was leading the class of cadets from reception through the commons area of the gravity ring.  The station was rather old, and had been built before gravity generators had been invented, so still used spinning rings to generate false gravity.  It was disorienting, but got the job done.   

Forerunner Series - Total Eclipse #7

Mars – MCNA – Commons

PT Shyla Redding and EWOT Nate Beasley

            Beasley caught up to her just inside the commons area.  She had stopped, and even though he couldn’t see her face from behind, her body language indicated she was downright furious.  When Beasley saw past her, he understood why: the whole of the commons had stopped talking when she entered.  Some looked irate, others looked congratulatory.  Beasley had forgotten, but it was a major event that an Academy record had been broken, and two records on the same day by the same crew were practically unheard of.  The cadets in the Commons didn’t know whether they should be celebrating or forming a lynch mob.

            “How’d you do it, Redding?  Hack the Tower’s clock?  Hack the drones?  Nobody could do that run in under fifteen,” said a fiery brunette standing at the head of a large group of cadets.  Pilot Trainee Sasha Vermanov was something of an Academy idol.  Her fan club, formed of other cadets that idolized her, followed her everywhere she went.  Of all the people Shyla had ever met in her entire life, she hated Vermanov the most.  Shyla, unable to leave the bait alone responded, “No, it’s possible, just not with your skills, Vermanov.”

Forerunner Series - Total Eclipse #6

February 16^th, 2279

Mars – Melas Chasma Naval Academy

Pilot-Trainee Shyla Redding and EWO-Trainee Nate Beasley

            That afternoon, Shyla and her fellow cadets were at attention in formation in the hangar.  Michaels was passing out the revised pairing list.  Pilots were always paired with an Electronic Weapons Officer.  Piloting space fighter craft was a tricky affair at best and adding anything but piloting to the to-do list had quickly been proven too taxing for a single person, the Navy had quickly found out.  An Electronic Weapons Officer had then been added, and that person, sometimes referred to as the Guy In Back, or GIB, handled everything from weapons, to electronic counter-measures, and electronic counter-counter measures.  Since the two roles needed to be performed as one to create an effective combat unit, pairs were started early and always flew together.  Changes weren’t uncommon, but grew increasingly rare as the cadets moved through the academy. 

Forerunner Series - Total Eclipse #5

-= Total Eclipse =-
Chapter 1

February 15^th, 2279

Mars – Melas Chasma Naval Academy

Pilot Trainee Shyla Redding and EWO Trainee Garret Mathews

            “Oh jees-us!  God help me, God help me, God help me!” the guy in back screamed and cried as he was thrown over into a negative 6G dive followed by an almost 10G pull-out.  The fighter’s inertia dampeners and the GIBs G-Suit strained to keep blood flowing through his body.  Again, the fighter rolled out into a dive followed by a steep climb into roll to an inverted dive to complete a loop.  The EWO Trainee felt his stomach bail-out and he snatched for the airsick bag.  He didn’t manage to get his mask off in time and made a complete mess out of the backseat. 

Forerunner Series - Total Eclipse #4

UTFS Intrepid – Briefing Room

Commanders Philip and Lovell, Chief Engineer Dockins

            “A weapon?  I don’t like the thought of it,” Lovell said.  “I don’t like the thought at all.  There’s just been no anti-UTF activity, and the Forerunner mission has undeniably high public appeal.”

            “I know,” Dockins said.  “I don’t want to think about the alternative, sir, but I think Ms. Cho is correct.  If it was a weapon, we need to be open to the possibilities, and that includes the extra-ordinary.”

            Philip cleared his throat.  “Just so I’m clear here, gentlemen, you are referring to extra-terrestrial life, correct?  Just come out and say it.  We’re hundreds of light-years out of our own galaxy.  The possibility is definitely not zero.  My question: was it a warning?  To not proceed further?”

            “I’d agree with that,” Lovell supplied, nodding.  “The Sensor Pods, I think, would be obvious to just about anyone that had some level of scanner technology.  Has there been any word from UTF Naval Command yet?” Lovell asked.

Forerunner Series - Total Eclipse #3

March 4^th, 2253

Vigris Sector, Hatch System

UTFS Intrepid – Hangar Three

Chief Engineer Jim Dockins and Engineer’s Mate Lewis Fledgely

            “All hands brace for Jump Out,” came the call over the intercom.  The two engineers in spacesuits grabbed the railing with both hands and widened their stance.  The ship stuttered and groaned, lights dimmed and for just the briefest of moments the feeling of weightlessness.  After a moment, the complaining of the ship stopped and the lights came back up.  “Jump Out successful.  Designated coordinates reached, less than three meters slide.  Target acquired.  Running sensor scans,” the voice from the bridge continued.

            Dockins held up his heavily padded arm and punched in a command on his computer bracer.  A holo-display flickered to life and Dockins patched in the sensor feed.  Fledgely watched the vid from his own bracer.  The feed showed an artificially enhanced live camera feed of the silent pod.  Fledgely groaned.

            “Power’s out for sure,” Dockins reported.  “Looks like something beat the crap out of it.  Heavy structural damage.  Did we get any errors on the Polyhedron Shield?”

Forerunner Series - Total Eclipse #2

UTFS Intrepid – Pod Bay Alpha

Chief Engineer Jim Dockins and Assistant Chief Zack Smith

            Dockins walked over to the Pod Master Console and took a seat.  Smitty grabbed a vacant chair and rolled up behind him sitting in it backwards leaning on the backing.  The PMC itself was large, taking up most of a wall.  It held the master controls of all twelve pods, and one panel of controls for each pod.  Four panels were currently lit up, several rows of green lights gleaming brightly.  Translucent, dull yellow screens floated above the consoles reporting information, diagnostic results, and command interfaces for each pod.  Dockins reached out, grabbing the corner of the floating display and moved them one at a time into a semi circular arrangement in front of him so he could have easier access to each pod.  They all reported the same thing: launch status green.  Each pod was loaded into a special airlock specifically designed for sensor pod launch and capture. 

Forerunner Series - Total Eclipse #1

Prologue

March 3^rd, 2253

Vigris Sector - Hatch System

UTFS Intrepid – Pod Bay Alpha

Chief Engineer Jim Dockins and pre-flight technical staff

“What the hell is it now, Smitty?  You told me that pod was ready to go an hour ago, and now I’m seeing the red light of death on the monitor.  Captain’ll chew my ass if we don’t launch on schedule,” said the burly chief engineer.  The Forerunner Intrepid held a compliment of twelve pods: three groups of four for three separate system surveys.  Each pod had to function or the survey wouldn’t be complete and the mission would be construed a failure.  For a ship carrying almost eight hundred crew, explorers and scientists whose sole mission was system survey and colonization preparation and with nearly forty billion Federation credits invested, everything came down to the Mark II Sensor Pod.   If the pods didn’t work, the mission was a wash.  And if the mission was a wash, nobody got paid.  Chief Engineer Jim Dockins would be held fully responsible for this, so of course, the man had stress-induced stomach pains since last Tuesday and was visiting the toilet once every forty-five minutes.

Chapter 33: Just Visiting

Gavin woke with a start and started calling out.  “Hughes?  What happened?  Are we ready?”  There was no answer.  Gavin looked about and realized many things at once.  He had a body for a start and relished the simple feeling of flexing muscles long left unused.  He was no longer attached to the VI gestalt, the silence of their absence almost deafening.  And he was in a place he’d never thought he’d see again.  The small cottage was exactly as he remembered it: dark, dreary, and a lone fire in the hearth birthing deep shadows.  As Gavin looked about in his confusion, a shadow detached itself from the wall. 

“Back again?” the shadow said.

Chapter 32: Rook Takes Queen

“This really is an impressive ship,” Tenner commented as he finished his tour, heading back into the main lounge.  Hughes stood casually by waiting for Tenner to finish looking about.  “It’s really a shame I have to turn it over to the client; she would have made an excellent addition to my fleet.”

“The Praetorian is certainly something,” Hughes said casually.  “But she is only as good as her crew and Captain.  The living computer certainly made her a deadly weapon.”

Chapter 31: Tragedy

            “Target position check,” Tenner ordered, almost casually.

“No change,” the Hunter from the sensor blister called back.           

“Excellent.  Maintain speed and heading,” Tenner ordered, but before his helmsman could reply, a bright wash of light strafed the forward hull just before the bridge.  The deck heaved and men were thrown to the floor as a forward laser battery was bisected and exploded.  Pulling himself back into his chair, Tenner roared for order.  As the flames parted, he watched the Scythe twirl away as the anti-air weapons littered across the upper hull of the Vicious exploded into action, tracking the target, but too slow to keep up.

Chapter 30: Through the Fire and Flames

Kella banked hard, the sudden force throwing her into her restraints as she dodged a salvo of incoming missiles.  She launched flares and immediately banked again in the opposite direction.  Some of the missiles took the bait, but not all.  The warning buzzer sounded shrill over her ragged breathing as she forced her Scythe into a vicious half-barrel roll followed by a hard climb.  The missiles couldn’t keep up with the maneuvering and having lost target lock, detonated.  She felt the shockwaves roll over the mech and was instantly glad they hadn’t been any closer.

Appendix Entry #2

Sentinel Appendix

Entry #2: Technology #2: Mech Tech

Mirror Shield / Reflective Shielding – A variation on holographic technology that refracts all light directed at it, used as a counter to Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation (LASER or laser) weapons.  These devices can safely negate beam weaponry (within certain limits); however, their power consumption makes them highly localized, covering only a small area, making them difficult to use effectively.  Pilots generally outfit the mirror shield to one of their mech forearms and use them much like a traditional shield, but other implementation methods are not uncommon.  Since incoming beams travel at the speed of light, most mecha are also painted in a light-scattering reflective coating that can help to dissipate the beam (into fuzzy light) in order to give the pilot enough reaction time to bring up the mirror shield and reflect the rest of the light safely away.  If a pilot is too slow in raising the shield, the beam will quickly burn past the reflective coating and cause moderate to critical damage depending on the power of the beam and the longer it sits in one location.

  

As a side note: Mirror shields are useful only against other mechs that have beam weapons with comparable power capacity.  These defenses are utterly useless against Capital Class beam armaments where the size and power are nearly inexhaustible and the best defense is dodging the weapons altogether.  Dodging a weapon that travels at light speed is accomplished by moving quicker than the turret can track, or using sensor shadows to prevent a lock on.  Outrun the system, not the weapon.  Some Capital Ship gunners, however, take great pride in the number of mecha they destroy with beam weapons because of the natural difficulty of the target.  

Chapter 29: Enemy of My Enemy

“Gavin,” Hughes called in over the vox channel from outside.  “This ship is a mess.  Didn’t anyone teach you how to make evasive maneuvers?” 

“Stow it,” Gavin growled back.  Granted Hughes hadn’t been aboard it at the time, but it had been the Gladius that had done the damage.  Hughes had been running around the upper hull of the Praetorian with a small army of repair bots in a mad dash to get the giant plane repaired and had stopped no less than three times to point out Gavin’s flaws in evasive technique.

“Are you sure it’s ok to have him out there?” Kella repeated for the second time from the commander’s chair.  She was busy coordinating the repair bots with Hughes allowing Gavin to concentrate on the internal repairs that needed his attention, but had been listening to the chatter.

“No,” Gavin admitted.  “But there is a reason to my madness.”

Kella nodded without looking at the remote.  “I’ll trust your instinct.  Can’t be any worse than mine, right?”

Appendix Entry #1

Sentinel Appendix
Entry #1: Technology #1: Mech Tech 

Armature – the mechanism used to control the main arms of a mech. The pilot places his/her arms into glove-like appendages built into the cockpit rollcage that offer a 1:1 control mechanism for the mech’s arms and hands. The gloves contain tactile response pads that supply pressure to the fingertips of the pilot, and pressure sensors in the mech's hands pass on that information to the tactile pads in the gloves. If the operator picks up an object, they feel the tactile response of exactly how much pressure they are using to grip the object which allows pilots to perform incredibly delicate operations with the mech arms. In some advanced models, the tactile response is sophisticated enough to pass on even the texture of an object as well as pressure, allowing for even greater control over the machine (ie - slippery, wet, dry, rough, etc).  Pilots using this advanced system often boast of handling eggs, tiny in the hands of their machines, without cracking them.

Information Flow
Object || Finger Pressure Sensor <-> Mech Aritificial Multiplexing Nervous System <-> Pilot's Armature <-> Pilot.

Chapter 28: Power Plays

“Status?” Deckert ordered from the command chair of the Gladius.  Abigail had noticed he’d finally sat down in the chair after the Praetorian had disappeared in a ball of fire plunging into the planet’s atmosphere.  In the few hours since the battle, the repair teams aboard the Gladius had been working at breakneck paces to finish the repairs and get the Gladius fully operational in order to take the Praetorian on again.

Chapter 27: New Friends, New Enemies

“Why the hell would you do that?” Kella demanded.  She didn’t know what the hell this guy’s problem was, but she didn’t have time for it.  It had to be some ploy to manipulate her.  But why?  For what reason?  He had just given up a huge advantage.  He could have marched her all the way down to the brig, and taken back the ship.  Why did he let her go? 

“Because,” he said, shrugging.  “I’ve decided that my current employer does not have my best interests at heart.”

Chapter 26: Falldown

Kella gasped as she got a clear image of the Praetorian from her scanner.  The damage was worse than she had feared.  Half of its PDEs were leaving trails of gaseous discharge indicating severe damage, and several had been outright destroyed leaving large chunks missing from the swept wings.  Moving inward from the wings, Kella also saw ruptures all over the top hull, with long scores of burned metal crisscrossing all over.  It looked as if the plane had been in a catfight and lost. 

Chapter 25: Battles External

Kella zigged and zagged, dodging missiles and lasers fired off from the trio of enemy machines with ease.  The new Scythe was far and beyond anything it had been before.  Gavin hadn’t simply rebuilt it.  He’d reinvented it.  Maneuvers that had once been difficult at best were now smooth and easy.  Her onboard VI interface was fast and accurate, and, Kella noticed, had an avatar that looked suspiciously like Gavin’s camera remote.  She smiled at the thought. 

Chapter 24: Tactical Movement

Kella’s calves were aching by time she reached the fantail of the Praetorian.  The walk had taken longer than she had expected, and the constant effort required to dislodge the boots had drained most of her energy.  She still had plenty of air left, but she felt like she’d just run a marathon. 

“Ok,” she reported in, panting.  “I’m here at the base of the tail fins.”

“Roger that,” Gavin replied in acknowledgement.  “I have a good signal on you.”

Chapter 23: Battles Internal

The Praetorian had been picking its way through the asteroid belt for over an hour.  Gavin had hoped that the density of the field would provide them with enough cover to make a safe exit into slipspace, but instead Gavin kept picking up the Gladius following right after.  Every time he felt safe, it would suddenly loom in the distance.  It was quickly becoming obvious that they would have to fight their way free, and no fake transmission would help them out this time.  Gavin’s mood soured even further as he gave thought to exactly how the Gladius was tracking them.    

Chapter 22: Fall Down

“They’re between us and the asteroid belt,” Kella commented from the commander’s station breaking the harsh silence; the sensor holo glowing over her console. 

“I noticed,” Gavin replied. 

“How the hell did they get ahead of us?  We left them sucking space dust,” Kella asked.

“Recursive Drive,” Gavin mumbled.

“What?”

“Recursive Drive,” Gavin said, speaking up and spinning the remote to face Kella.  “It was only theoretical last time I checked, but, it seems they’ve figured it out.”

“Oh yeah?  And exactly what the hell does it do?”

“To put it simply, it creates slipspace inside slipspace,” Gavin explained.

Chapter 21: Break Away

Gavin’s remote greeted Kella as she entered the bridge.  He was once again in charge of the hovering fisheye, and it floated, rather impatiently it seemed, near the starboard windows.  Kella saw why as she got closer.  It was her first time seeing the strange delta-winged craft, and she didn’t like the look of it one bit.  It looked smaller, faster, and a lot meaner than the Praeotorian, which was saying something considering the Praetorian looked like a giant bird-of-prey.

Chapter 20: Snatch-N-Grab

It was the change in air pressure as the door opened that actually awoke her.  Kella’s head was awash in fog, and she slowly sat up, rubbing at her eyes to try and clear her mind.  What the hell happened?  She felt like she’d been on the bad side of a wrecking ball.  She looked around to get her bearings and realized she was in the brig.  Again. 

Chapter 19: Locked-In Synesthesia

Gavin reeled from the onslaught.  His mind was paralyzed by the sudden and relentless barrage of data from the now wholly connected gestalt of VIs.  His mind was unable to cope with the mass of data, and his vision had become filled with noise.  The static reached such an extent that it became a curtain of bright, piercing, white light that blinded him.  His hearing berated to such an extent that Gavin thought he’d gone deaf.  His brain, unable to handle the influx of stimulus, became overloaded and confused.

Chapter 18: Fair Play

            “So how long do you think we’ll have once I start cutting over the circuits?” Kella asked as she crawled through the muck, trying to ignore it.  The crawlspace below the Life Tube was worse because the humidity from the tube attracted all sorts of mold and mildew.  Kella had found a breather on Gavin’s recommendation before heading down into the space, but it helped little.  It was apparent that the space had never been cleaned, and had never been intended to be.

“I would imagine five minutes.  Maybe less,” Gavin said over her earpiece.  “I have a feeling they don’t know about me, or else you never would have made it in.  It might take them a bit to identify the threat, but they could be prepared for it.  You’ll need to be quick in either case.”

“Wonderful,” she said as she pushed aside a small partition separating the crawlspace from the access shaft to the AI housing.  From there was only a few yards to an access hatch, and then the AI housing just beyond.

Chapter 17: Turn About

Kella hit the ductwork below her hard.  With the platform now positioned vertically, nearly a half mile of struts, ducting, piping, walkways and most of the distance she had just covered in her mad dash to the Praetorian lay below her.  She’d only fallen a few feet, but she fell onto the metal pipes awkwardly, unable to brace her fall, and she felt the pain as the pipes dug in at odd angles along her back and shoulder.  Groaning, she picked herself back up and resumed climbing, but now she was climbing horizontally rather than vertically.  The Praetorian was still only a matter of yards distant.  She still had time.

Chapter 16: Panic

Still lost in thought, struggling through her inner debate, Kella didn’t even notice Sorsa walk back into the room until he gently laid a hand on her shoulder.  Startled, she jumped and Sorsa quickly withdrew his hand. 

“We have a problem,” he said curtly, walking back over to his cushioned chair behind the desk.

“I know, I need to move on,” Kella said morosely.

“Well, yes.  But no,” Sorsa said in his usual manner.  “I’ve been told there was some chaos at the space tower today.  Apparently, you have some friends that have come for a visit.”  Kella immediately feared that Tenner and his Deep Wolves had found her.  That was much too fast.  Did they not trust her from the beginning?

Chapter 15: Disappointment

Gavin finished telling his tale to Sorsa, who had been following intently at every word.  Kella was also riveted by his story, and wondered how it must be for such a man to be imprisoned in a cold, unfeeling metal shell.  Kella had picked up a few new details of Gavin’s life from the story.  She had been surprised originally to learn that Gavin had taken part in the Krix war, but even more so to realize that he’d actually stood toe-to-toe with the insectoid species on several planets in an attempt to drive them back.  He’d fought on the front lines, and what’s more, he survived.  She also guessed that it was then that Gavin and Sorsa had become acquainted, because for all of Gavin’s bluster, and Sorsa’s cold business sense, the two were fast friends, and had been for some time.

Chapter 14: Hunters

Hughes looked upwards with disgust through the Gladius’ main viewscreen at the ugly world suspended above.  He’d heard stories about Tal Rho’an, and all of them had been bad.  It was a lawless hole in space populated by the decrepit refuse of the galaxy.  Every Military trainee held the dream of being the hero that cleaned Tal Rho’an out, and saved the galaxy, but that was only a fancy that trainees clung to in order to survive boot.  Hughes never held that dream, but knew those that had, and the memories flashed back to him.  His frown deepened.

Chapter 13: Casual Shopping

Having found a crate of Military non-duty utilities, Kella stepped from the Praetorian’s boarding ramp and onto the grimy metal landing platform.  A cold wind swept over her, and combined with the dense shadow covering the lower levels, Kella involuntarily shivered.  She fidgeted with the vest she was wearing, mindlessly checking the pockets as she walked quickly past the un-manned scanning post and into the complex.

Chapter 12: Black Markets

“I don’t like this,” Kella said from the pilot’s chair on the Praetorian’s bridge.


“I don’t like this either,” Gavin said from the remote floating by the starboard window. Gavin could easily see the planet below from all of the external and internal cameras embedded throughout the plane, but confining his consciousness to one avatar seemed to make things easier. Gavin felt like he could breathe in one remote. Otherwise he just felt overwhelmed. “But it’s not like I can go to the Military for help.”

Chapter 11: Nemesis

“Major, the Hybrid system is now coming online,” the ensign reported from his station. Hughes turned to watch the show. He was seated in the captain’s chair of a very special warship. Built in tandem, but separate, from the Praetorian, this ship was small, fast, and armed to the teeth. It was the perfect nemesis to the Praetorian. In tandem, the ships would make for a formidable pair, but against one another, the Gladius had all the speed and agility to the Praetorian’s strength and was the perfect weapon to combat it.

Chapter 10: History

Kella, breathing heavily from her exertion, could only just stare. She didn’t even take notice when Gavin’s remote entered the room to float near her elbow.


“I told you I wasn’t a computer,” Gavin said quietly. Kella looked from the floating camera to the body floating in the gel, her mouth hanging open. She had heard him each time he’d defended his existence, and each time, she’d ignored him. She always just assumed it was the AI asserting its sentience. She never would have guessed that the entity that called itself ‘Gavin’ was in actuality, a living, breathing human. Or had been, at any rate.

Chapter 9: Red Disagreement and Green Truth

Kella paced the bridge, each step taken in frustration. Gavin’s remote floated nearby idly watching her pace back and forth. They were still some fourteen hours from Tal Rho’an. She’d visited the bridge after picking her quarters and hadn’t left since. Although Gavin wasn’t looking forward to visiting the planet, each passing hour was a step closer to freedom. For Kella, each passing hour was a step in the wrong direction and a dismal future.

Chapter 8: Alliances

Sand and grit assaulted Hughes’ face, whipped into a veritable sandstorm frenzy by the thrusters of the descending Cav carrier, an aging Heater class. Its engines weren’t big enough, and it was too bulky, making it slow and awkward. Hughes wondered if that was the best they could procure on a dustball like Dulabar. He would have expected a higher ranking Military commander like the Colonel to at least be using the more modern Kite class.

Chapter 7: Freefall

Due to an excellent suggestion, I've changed the spelling on one of the character's names, and will be using that spelling going forward.  Good suggetion, Dad.  :)

Kella awoke to red-tinted clouds and a horrible, incessant buzzing. She realized with a start that she was still in her Scythe, so she couldn’t have been unconscious for too long. There was blood in her eyes and it was difficult to see, but she did finally recognize the buzzing. She wished she hadn’t. Her Scythe was empty, out of fuel. She must’ve burned the last of it in her desperate attempt to escape the missiles.

Chapter 6: The Duel

A little late, but better late than never...

The emergency reserve fuel indicator lit up in Kella’s cockpit. She completely ignored it. She was transfixed on the explosions flashing across Duckett’s Landing. Was she too late? Kella dropped altitude in order to pick up speed. She’d be damned if she let her prize get taken out in some Podunk landing strip in the middle of no where.

Chapter 5: Turbulence

“Sorry fellas, I appreciate the hospitality, but I really need to run,” Gavin said while commanding all the ports to seal up. The mechanic crew jumped clear as the auto-loaders stalled and backfired. Spare fuel rods fell from the gantry to clang loudly onto the tarmac. Gavin ignored the mechanics’ screams and warnings as he powered up the main engines. The mechanics couldn’t miss the ground-vibrating rumble of the massive Koenig engines powering up and ran for the trucks.

Chapter 4: The Sherbet Is a Lie

Hues got out of his jeep at the base of the tower and looked back towards the mammoth aircraft. He could barely make out the mechanics as they loaded fuel rods into the ports and supply crates into the cargo hold. If all went well, another ten minutes or so would see the Rear Admiral on his way and Hues would similarly be on his way to packing. Just a little further and this hellhole would be just another bad memory. But the good feelings died as Hues was confronted by the flight controller mere feet from his jeep. The controller had just run down the seven flights of stairs and was breathing heavily and obviously alarmed. It took the man a long moment to catch his breath before he could speak.

Chapter 3: The Airport

Major Evan Hues sighed as he looked out the window of the control tower. The tower presided over the most boring plot of earth the Major had ever seen. He had been assigned to his sleepy little post after a ‘difference of opinion’ with his previous commanding officer. Hues had been a little overly ambitious there, and the commander wasn’t pleased with Hues’ methods for rising through the ranks which the commander considered political back-stabbing. Defeated by the old buzzard, Hues was sent to the place where ambitions died, or as the local’s called it: Duckett’s Landing.

Chapter 2: A Quirk

Breathing a sigh of relief to be out of the complex, the Mercenary cracked the seal on her helmet and pulled it from her head. Her black, shoulder length hair tumbled down in a matted mess. Almost subconsciously she started running her hand through her hair working the knots out. She had eyes of deep, agonizingly beautiful blue that seemed to be depthless matching a likewise beautifully framed face that was marked only by a small scar that ran from her right eye towards her ear; a reminder of her first mission as a soldier of fortune.
The console beeped at her and she glanced at the curious message.

Santi-U

Ok....so here it starts.  I'm absolutely crazy.  I am going to attempt...attempt to write and post a new chapter of one of my w.i.p. stories each day.  This is going to be really hard.  50000 words in a month was freaking hard for nanowrimo...and now I want to write a chapter every day.

I know why I want to do this, I just don't know if I can.  I have a serious issue with following through on long-term goals.  I usually end of forgetting, or my priorities shift, or I just plain get lazy.  But this is something I want to work on, and this is how I've decided to go about it.  But seriously?  And entire chapter a day?


Yeah.

I give myself two weeks...tops.  Let the challenge begin.

Below is Chapter One of a story I have tentatively titled "Sentinel".  It's basically about a guy stuck as the brain/main computer of a large ship.  The concept isn't new, and was greatly inspired by Anne McAffrey's Ship Who Sang series of books, although I read these a long time ago, and am not too familiar with them anymore.  I do remember them fondly though and I heartily recommend them to any fan of fantasy/sci-fi...actually...she's a must-read author...look her up, pick a book, any book.

So we'll start with this.  If I manage to complete this project, I have about twenty other stories that could use re-writes or just get plain finished.  Please let me complete one!

Chapter 1: Theft

The Cavalier engineer looked over his work and nodded in satisfaction. Standing nearly twenty feet tall and humanoid in appearance, the object of the engineer’s attention was a true killing machine, a walking tank. To him, it was a beautiful, shining example of bleeding-edge engineering. Cav’s were designed to be the shocktroopers of the Union Military, and were brutally efficient at the job. At the same time, the high-performance machines required a lot of special attention to maintain best performance, and that’s where the engineer came in, and he loved every inch of those machines.

Fire Above the Battle

So I've been playing Final Fantasy XIII (some people would say obsessing, and I really can't argue the point), but I've noticed recently that several game review sites have taken points away from the game because it's too linear...

Um hello?  This is a Japanese-made RPG.  This isn't Rockstar San Diego.  There is a very big difference between eastern and western RPG philosophies.  Eastern Gaming Philosophy is all about the journey, and the story involved in said journey, while Western Gaming Philosophy is all about choice.  FF13 subscribes to the former, and choice is given a back seat in priority to the story, but this provides the game designers to script a much more in-depth experience.  Here's an example:

Western RPGs use the term 'sandbox' because it is an open environment that lets you do, well, whatever the heck you want.  Eastern RPGs aren't sandbox, instead, I liken them to the slide.  It's one way, but it's a helluvan exciting trip there.  Or a rollercoaster if you prefer the metaphor - you can't choose where your rails go, but that's not the point, it's the ride (journey) that keeps you coming back.

You don't really compare the two, now do you (slides or sandboxes)?  So when these game review sites are nitpicking that the game is 'too linear', I really have to laugh.  That's like saying the slide is no good because you can't build sandcastles with it.  I have no problem with sandcastles, but sometimes, I just want an exciting journey.

So reading those reviewers really disappoints me.  These people are supposed to be video game aficionados, so they should know the difference between the gaming philosophies and know not compare apples to oranges simply because they feel they have to nitpick something.  They should know better.  It's a good game, don't cheapen it.

Which brings me to another point.  Why do video game reviewers have to insist on revolutionary game play?  A new iteration of a tried-n-true franchise does not need to change the control scheme merely to keep things fresh.  If it ain't broke, don't fix it.  JRPGs are continuously slammed in reviews because they supposedly didn't bring anything new to the genre - but did they really need to?  Like God of War III for example.  It has the same control scheme, and a reviewer said it didn't bring anything new over its older siblings.  Again, I ask, why does it have to?  It's in HD.  It's Kratos beating the living stuffing out of everything.  It has giant female mountains.  What else do you want?!

Maybe this is a core problem of the larger whole.  Why does society need new things over old things just because?  Your cell phone works just fine, and does everything you want it to do, but you still 'upgraded' to the shiny newer one.  Why?  Because it was shiny(ier)?

Riddle me that, Batman.