Fiction for the week
Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2015 10:25 pm
[Author’s note: They say when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Well my wife and I may not have the right recipe for lemonade because we keep getting lemons. From talking with some of you I understand a lot of you are in the same boat, either with health issues, financial woes, or death of loved ones. I feel for you and can say I understand. Luckily the game can be an escape from real life and the burdens we face. On that note I took a few minutes and penned a couple of tales based on common actions. I hope you read them, see your own empires in them, and escape the labours of real life into imagination, even if only for a few minutes.]
“Creating a GMU” by James MacKinlay
Action Code: 89 Location#1: XYZ12312 Fleet#1: 89
Action Code: 88 Location#1: XYZ12312 Fleet#1: 88
Action Code: 82 Location#1: XYZ12312 Fleet#1: 82 Special#: 300
Action Code: 99 Location#1: XYZ12312 Fleet#1: 99 Special#: 5000
Thomas MacGregor looked at the rest of his militia group as his thoughts went back to the previous night. They had started out as twenty young men and women out to defend their homes and their world. Now, including Thomas, there was only seven.
The majority of the battle had been over almost before it had begun. The orbital Fortresses had been hit first. No warning! Missile cruisers had just appeared, sent their deadly payload on their way and left orbit. They were gone even before the first explosions were visible in the night sky.
And then came the fighters. Wave after wave, stripping the Union of Planets fighter cover and then focusing on the marine units. Strafing run after run had destroyed any command and communication among the helpless defenders.
And then the true bombardment started. A massive fleet of missile destroyers and cruisers raining down their kinetic energy weapons on the heavy weapons squads and armour that the fighters had bypassed. Defending armour units were targeted multiple times and when the morning light came not a single one survived.
It was then that the assault shuttles started landing. Yesterday Thomas had been proud to serve in the Union of Planets Militia. Between the regular marine units and the militia there had been 264 companies divided up into 16 regimental army groups available to defend the planet. But that was before the fighter attack… and before the enemy landed 5000 companies of shock troops.
Not all his men were dead. Some had given up early in the fight… some had run. These seven were all that had stayed fighting until the armistance. These seven were all that agreed to fight the occupation. These seven would make the nucleus of a guerilla unit. And there would be other groups like this one scattered across the planet…. men and women, young and old… willing to fight. Maybe, just maybe, one of the other Union of Planets member worlds might be able to smuggle in some regular marine units to help fight.
But that was a long way off. First comes food, then shelter, then weapons. Thomas looked at his watch. Just about noon. “It took them 12 hours to take a planet” he thought to himself. “How long is it going to take me to get it back?”
-----
“A new flagship” by James MacKinlay
Action Code: 3 Location#1: XYZ12121 Fleet#1: 45 Qty:1 BCde: 27 Empire/Ship Name: Mistress
It had taken the better part of a decade but at long last Rick Buchanan’s dream was about to come true. It had taken years of petitioning government ministers to get them to have MegaCorp upgrade the shipyard. Then months of waiting while the shipyard, factories, and mining facilities were retooled. Then a little over a year of cajoling ministers to approve the funding. And then there was the battles over the cost over-runs as the tech needed for the build outstripped the empires technology. But now, within the hour, The Mistress would be complete.
The first in a new line of Carrier Mark 2s, The Mistress would only pack the same weapon tonnage as a Class 2 Destroyer Escort but its real power was the 40 fighters it could hold in its bays. She would be the most powerful ship in the sector, even the entire empire, at least until her sister ships were commissioned over the next six months.
Buchanan looked out the viewport at his vision becoming a reality. Never again would she be so perfect. Hopefully her guns would never see action but that was unlikely. Definitely her fighters would. Already Fleet Command had plans afoot, and even if she never suffered battle damage there was always micrometeorites that would penetrate the navigational shields and eventually pockmark her hull. But for now she was perfect, shiny and new, lights from the orbital shipyard illuminating every facet of her hull.
“Sir” the aide beside Buchanan said. “It’s time.”
Turning to face the crowd of VIPs behind him Rick Buchanan, head engineer of the Hrak Shipyard, dug out his prepared speech. Soon it would be time he thought, going over the actions in his mind. Press the button to release the bottle out of the airlock. When it smashed against the Mistress’s hull he would proclaim her commissioned and reveal to the Empire the name he had chosen. The name of the “lady” that had pulled him away from his family and occupied so much of his time over the last decade. Today the empire would get its new flagship.
“Creating a GMU” by James MacKinlay
Action Code: 89 Location#1: XYZ12312 Fleet#1: 89
Action Code: 88 Location#1: XYZ12312 Fleet#1: 88
Action Code: 82 Location#1: XYZ12312 Fleet#1: 82 Special#: 300
Action Code: 99 Location#1: XYZ12312 Fleet#1: 99 Special#: 5000
Thomas MacGregor looked at the rest of his militia group as his thoughts went back to the previous night. They had started out as twenty young men and women out to defend their homes and their world. Now, including Thomas, there was only seven.
The majority of the battle had been over almost before it had begun. The orbital Fortresses had been hit first. No warning! Missile cruisers had just appeared, sent their deadly payload on their way and left orbit. They were gone even before the first explosions were visible in the night sky.
And then came the fighters. Wave after wave, stripping the Union of Planets fighter cover and then focusing on the marine units. Strafing run after run had destroyed any command and communication among the helpless defenders.
And then the true bombardment started. A massive fleet of missile destroyers and cruisers raining down their kinetic energy weapons on the heavy weapons squads and armour that the fighters had bypassed. Defending armour units were targeted multiple times and when the morning light came not a single one survived.
It was then that the assault shuttles started landing. Yesterday Thomas had been proud to serve in the Union of Planets Militia. Between the regular marine units and the militia there had been 264 companies divided up into 16 regimental army groups available to defend the planet. But that was before the fighter attack… and before the enemy landed 5000 companies of shock troops.
Not all his men were dead. Some had given up early in the fight… some had run. These seven were all that had stayed fighting until the armistance. These seven were all that agreed to fight the occupation. These seven would make the nucleus of a guerilla unit. And there would be other groups like this one scattered across the planet…. men and women, young and old… willing to fight. Maybe, just maybe, one of the other Union of Planets member worlds might be able to smuggle in some regular marine units to help fight.
But that was a long way off. First comes food, then shelter, then weapons. Thomas looked at his watch. Just about noon. “It took them 12 hours to take a planet” he thought to himself. “How long is it going to take me to get it back?”
-----
“A new flagship” by James MacKinlay
Action Code: 3 Location#1: XYZ12121 Fleet#1: 45 Qty:1 BCde: 27 Empire/Ship Name: Mistress
It had taken the better part of a decade but at long last Rick Buchanan’s dream was about to come true. It had taken years of petitioning government ministers to get them to have MegaCorp upgrade the shipyard. Then months of waiting while the shipyard, factories, and mining facilities were retooled. Then a little over a year of cajoling ministers to approve the funding. And then there was the battles over the cost over-runs as the tech needed for the build outstripped the empires technology. But now, within the hour, The Mistress would be complete.
The first in a new line of Carrier Mark 2s, The Mistress would only pack the same weapon tonnage as a Class 2 Destroyer Escort but its real power was the 40 fighters it could hold in its bays. She would be the most powerful ship in the sector, even the entire empire, at least until her sister ships were commissioned over the next six months.
Buchanan looked out the viewport at his vision becoming a reality. Never again would she be so perfect. Hopefully her guns would never see action but that was unlikely. Definitely her fighters would. Already Fleet Command had plans afoot, and even if she never suffered battle damage there was always micrometeorites that would penetrate the navigational shields and eventually pockmark her hull. But for now she was perfect, shiny and new, lights from the orbital shipyard illuminating every facet of her hull.
“Sir” the aide beside Buchanan said. “It’s time.”
Turning to face the crowd of VIPs behind him Rick Buchanan, head engineer of the Hrak Shipyard, dug out his prepared speech. Soon it would be time he thought, going over the actions in his mind. Press the button to release the bottle out of the airlock. When it smashed against the Mistress’s hull he would proclaim her commissioned and reveal to the Empire the name he had chosen. The name of the “lady” that had pulled him away from his family and occupied so much of his time over the last decade. Today the empire would get its new flagship.