Forsake Ruins: Part 4 (466 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 2 on 5 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Craig Williams <thetyrant82.at.hotmail.com> (View user info) at 2005-04-29 05:43:38 EDT
Part 3: http://www.ubersite.com/m/64985
Part 2: http://www.ubersite.com/m/64817
Part 1: http://www.ubersite.com/m/63802
"No sentry guns, no defences except for the shields." said Matuno. "And harbour control rejects all docking requests."
"So the big question is how the heck do we get onboard this thing," Mattias wondered out loud.
"And why haven't the Angel's claimed it for themselves, assuming they even know it's here," said Matuno.
"The shields," said Kirlana, sounding a little nervous. "Take them down, and you'll get in. It's an emergency failsafe mechanism built into most station's AI. If no active defences are remaining and the shields are breached, the AI automatically shuts harbour control down, allowing anything from the outside to get in, and anything from the inside to get out. The thinking was that if something was powerful enough the take down a station's defences—natural or man-made—then it assumes that hull failure and catastrophic loss of life are imminent. It makes zero sense to keep harbour control active at that point. The station is either already lost or about to be destroyed."
"How do you know all this?" asked Mattias.
"The Amarrs learned about it the hard way during the Rebellion," she answered. "The Minmatars tried it successfully during some pretty ballsy missions to rescue slaves just after the Jovians crushed the Amarr invasion fleet."
"Thank God for that," muttered Matuno.
"God had nothing to do with it," she answered. "Because there's no such thing."
Her words resonated in Mattias's mind. He wasn't a religious man—at least not in a traditional sense. But the comment still made him uncomfortable. Regardless of her rebellion against the religious paradigms of the culture that she was born into, to hear an Amarr say there was no God was extremely disturbing.
The plasma and fire escaping the gashes in her ship drew his attention for some reason. He decided to reclaim his team's focus.
"So what you're telling us is that we don't have the firepower to get inside."
"In so many words, yes. Even if we had unlimited ammunition, our three ships combined couldn't overtake the shield's rate of regeneration." Mattias's attention was diverted again, this time towards the station's hull, now more than 3 kilometres away from the Blackbird. The surface appeared to distort itself slightly, and a ripple began to move across it from left to right. Mattias's sixth sense screamed danger to him, and his heart stopped as he realized what was happening.
"Both of you put your shield hardeners on." Mattias ordered.
"Say again? I don't see any—"
"Now! Quickly!" Whitish-blue auras enveloped all three ships as the bounty hunters followed Mattias's instructions, unsure of their purpose. One second later, the reason became perfectly clear, as a Jovian Wraith-class frigate uncloaked just 300 meters from Mattias's Blackbird. Although the Wraith was the smallest ship in the group, it was the most technically advanced, and had the enormous tactical advantage of being able to cloak itself. In numbers, the Wraith was among the deadliest ships in space. Mattias wondered if there were more of them nearby.
"I can't lock him up," said Matuno. "And even if I could, he's too close, I doubt I could hit him with anything."
"Stop trying," answered Mattias. "Who knows how many others are out here. We'd be in pods or worse by now if he had bad intentions." He brought his ship to a complete stop. The Wraith gracefully slid alongside, closing to within 100 meters. The Jovian opened a communications channel with him.
"A thousand apologies for my abrupt appearance, Captain Kakkichi" began then Jovian. "But the circumstances required this choice of tactics."
"What can I do for you?" asked Mattias. He had never spoken to a Jovian before, let alone been this close to one of their ships. The camera drones were snapping pictures like crazy.
"My name is Veniel, and as you already know, I hail from the Jovian Empire." His voice sounded almost hollow, like a drone. Mattias studied the portrait of the "man" speaking to him. He was human, but so...not human either. The Jovians were products of genetic engineering, literally harvested from cultures and grown in fetus test tubes until "maturity", as they coldly referred to it. "Would you like me to invite your crew to participate in our conversation?" he asked.
"Allow me," answered Mattias, patching in Kirlana and Matuno. "How long were you following us for?"
"It isn't often when the Angel Cartel actively hunts anyone specifically, let alone blockades the entrances to solar systems for the occasion. I had to find out for myself who the recipient of this honour was." He paused for a moment. "I have to say Captain, that I am very impressed with your tenacity for survival."
"I'm glad you find it entertaining," Mattias shot back. "But as you can see from the condition of my fleet, I don't have time for games."
"Of course not Captain, I understand completely. But before I leave you to your business, I have to ask...how, exactly, did you find this station?"
User Reviews
Submitted by Brdn_Nkd (user info) at 2005-05-10 11:01:42 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Great stuff, you must continue. I missed the additions before and am now catching up. I definitely know about low reviewer rates but I soon found that the reviewers I did have tenaciously followed the story and offered some good feedback.
Submitted by c1ndy (user info) at 2005-05-09 08:05:07 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
+2 for being English. Your story is a bit complicated for me- nothing wrong with the writing.
Submitted by Williams_2004 (user info) at 2005-05-03 03:47:00 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Feijuada (user info) at 2005-04-29 10:46:41 (#)
Ranking: 2
One review after three hours?!
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Due to the lack of reviews of the story that I have been posting over the last month or so, I have decided to stop posting anymore of it. It is obvious that uber users other than the ones that have reviewed it dont appreciate that story. Sorry to all of you who wanted to see more of the story, but I just fell it is a waste of your time and my time when I am only getting around 8 reviews per post.
Thank you and Good Bye
Submitted by Feijuada (user info) at 2005-04-29 10:46:41 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
One review after three hours?!
Submitted by Jeanneee (user info) at 2005-04-29 09:15:46 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
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