(Posted on 07-27-2000)
UE FIGHTER
Volume 1-Ambush
As I walked through the long corridors of the U.E.S. Earth, I felt a nudge of pride. Even though I was a combat hardened pilot, I couldn't help but feel excellent about myself everytime I was commended. Yet, right now, wasn't really the time to think about that. I finally walked to the hanger door at an intersection in the hall. I hit a button on a small console to the right of it. The door opened with a piercing hiss.
"Home sweet home."
I walked over to my fighter, which had been modified with an advanced turning jet system which every fighter had on the ship. My name was Zak Coleman, I was an elite United Earth pilot for the newest capital ship called the U.E.S. Earth. It was a UE Cruiser, that had been made in salute to and in honor of Anna Balishova and the United Earth Navy.
"Morning, Barry."
"What's goin' on, my man?" Barry replied. He was a fellow pilot for fighter No. 03. I had No. 02.
"Nothin' much, man. You ready for today's test flight?"
"Are you kiddin' me? This is gonna be da' bomb."
I laughed slightly. Then I stopped and climbed up a ladder into my ship. I sat down into the comfortable seat of my small cockpit. I looked out over the hangar and spotted another fellow pilot, as well as a friend.
"Hey, Justin. Are you ready?"
"Let's kick the tires and light the fires, man."
"Well, okay," I said with a "let's go" kind of tone.
I hit a switch on my main console, and the shiny, jet black canopy closed over me. I felt secure and safe in my new fighter. I had only flown it once, but I loved the feel of its modified maneuverablity capabilities. Once this kind of ship was mixed with a pilot like me, it was practically a one-ship army.
The pilots strapped themselves in as I glanced at my targeting computer. There was only one rookie in the entire group of five pilots. His name was Delhu. All of us were to train him with moving targets. We were to help him, and even have him shoot at fighter-projected holograms.
I saw Delhu's ship hover over the hangar bay, but only for a few seconds before it cruised toward the exit. It lauched out with its engines roaring. My ship followed, as well as Justin's, Barry's, and the others'.
As we went through the object-field, we entered the dark, cold void of space. The object-field was the force field in the exit of the hangar that kept the oxygen and nitrogen inside, rather than outside. The stars glimmered as I saw the others, cruising slowly and steadily behind Delhu.
"Okay, hotshot," I started with a grin. "Today we do the methods of targeting and hunting. You ready, rookie?"
"As I'll ever be," he replied with a firm, calm tone.
"Good, then let's see you take out these three drones."
I saw the three unmanned space crafts go straight over me and Delhu, and they split up into three directions: One to the left, one to the right, and one that went hurling down. Delhu pursued the one on the left. I slowed down to nearly a stop and activated my commlink.
"Units 3,4, and 5, stand back, and let him do this on his own, I don't want anyone to give any advice or to interfere yet."
"Roger that, bro," I heard Barry say in a cheerful tone over the static.
Delhu's ship swayed from one side to another of the drone's path. He hadn't even started firing yet. I was stumped at why he was waiting. Maybe he was waiting for a homing missle lock, but according to his manual he shouldn't do that yet. So I simply waited.
"My weapons system is malfuctioning," he said out of the blue.
"Okay, one second," I said, switching over to a private channel with the ship's command. "Training Command, what's going on? Did you do that on purpose?"
"Do what?" they asked.
"Beta one's weapons system is malfuctioning."
"We don't know anything about it. Have him return to the hangar."
But it was too late for that, as Voinian Cruisers poured into the system. With 7 of them, they were outnumbered. Delhu pulled back, and started heading for the hanger at full speed.
"Crap! Unit 4 take my wing."
"On my way."
"I'm gonna thump 'em," I said, as I punched the accelerator.
"Got it, Zak. Barry you're coming with me, lets take out their fighters first."
"Fighters? I don't see anything!"
"They're there, check your scopes, mark three-five."
"Got it."
Justin and Barry veered to the left and headed past the other side of the U.E.S. Earth. At the sight of about 12 fighters heading torward us, No. 04 pulled to under my ship, and began firing at a Voinian Interceptor coming from the right. I pulled down to a level point with him and began firing at a fighter right next to his target.
Neutron cannons blazed past us, and although it was the vacuum space, and I was inside of my ship, I could have sworn I could hear them buzzing past the ship. Homing missles from both of us launched out of our underbellies, and hit both of the fighters, giving them a victorious bang.
"Pull back, 4."
"Yes, sir."
Both of our ship's noses turned up and over as we turned around in a poetic rhythm. We increased our speed to the max, because I already knew what the next order was. It was the way it always happened. Because there were so many of them, the warship, no matter what it was, would have to retreat at the threat of such a large fleet. So, for that matter, I wanted to get back to the ship fast, and in one piece.
"Oh no. Sir, they've got a lock on me."
"Shake 'em."
"I'm tryin'!"
"I'll take them!"
I pulled back, pushing my ship's turning to the limits, even though the turning jets were there, I still whipped the ship around jerkily, and violently. My engines at a full roar, I headed toward the ship that had No. 04 as a target. I looked at my targeting computer quickly.
"I've got you now, sucker."
My blaze cannons pierced the Voinian armor, and the fighter went into a ball of flame. Shields took 60% damage from the other fighter's blasts. Barely maneuvering through all of the fire, I saw No. 04, it's engines screaming down the space battlefield only meters from the ship. I, on the other hand, was lagging behind a good 2 kilometers away.
"This is command, get back to the ship now!"
"That's the order as usual," I said quietly, and matter-of-factly.
"No. 02! This is command, we need to get out of here, now! The only choice you have to get back fast enough is to burst the engine. You have to do it."
I glanced at the status screen. The engines were barely hanging on. It would destroy me. I couldn't let them talk me into it. It was way too risky. Even though I had lived through situations like these, this wouldn't do at all.
"I can't, I'll explode," I replied to command simply.
"You have to! Our shields are at 30%, we can't take any more, you have to go, now!!"
My head dizzy, and hazy all of a sudden, my body went into a fever. I took another neutron cannon hit. One more piercing shot and I was done for. My heart raced, and my blood boiled. I closed my eyes, and hit the engine self-destruct button. The engines gave a bang, and the circuits fired up. My console went blazing into sparks. My blaze cannons caught on fire. The nose of the ship, went boiling into extremely hot tempetures, and I started sweating.
"I pray to the Lord for thee to let me live!" I yelled inside my cockpit.
My ship went spinning through the object-field into the hanger, I hit the middle section as all of the other fighters had already landed to the sides. I hit the back of the hanger with a heat-pulsing crash. My vision blacked out. . .
About "UE Fighter":
It basicly all started when I wrote Chapter 5 of "Jade's Return." In that chapter, they battle a new brand of aliens (which obviously is better than the old brand,) and have to dodge cannons that are pitching fire at them. What I never really got to achieve in that was the way the fight was written. I couldn't really put in something that would make a lot of sense, or be quick enough for the fighter battles to really be described the way I wanted them to. Because in Chapter 5, the situation is so complex, that if I were to write more than that, it would cause the text to be too long and the events too streched. Because that scene happend so quickly, that's the way I had to write it. So from that point, I really wanted to go back into a new story, starting fresh, and make the entire story of this pilot named Zak Coleman and how he survives his adventures and missions. So now, since this is something brand new, and the entire story is about fighter battles in the EVO universe, I'm able to be a lot more descriptive and still have the scene be quick, and action-packed. Because what I didn't want to do in Chapter 5 of Jade's Return was have it be too descriptive, or to put in more than what would really make the story good.
Another element was the events, and the descriptive point of view in "A Hidden Legacy." The thing that I never really got to do in "A Hidden Legacy" was have a really, action- packed suspenseful scene that would change the way a person would look at the story rather than just reading about Doc's ongoing deep thoughts. So this was definately a new point in my story writing days. Besides that fact, in "A Hidden Legacy," I hadn't really had a lot of experience, and the idea I had about Doc was really pretty sketchy as of Chapter 1. Once I got into Chapter 2 I started to develop it more, but really "A Hidden Legacy" was a "as you go along" kind of thing. It was also my first chapter book that I had ever written. None of these books get published, because for these stories to get published is to this point, pretty much impossible considering the things I would have to go through.
In the future, however, I will be wanting to publish some of my later work. None of my published books will be on EVO, but more likely, on a different subject. Maybe even my very own sci-fi idea that would create a whole new plot-line. Several have told me, that although my work on EVO is good, they recommend something having to do with the original Escape Velocity story. Yes, it has more room for expansion, but that's not, typically, what I am really looking for. EVO is definately a story that I will cling to for most of my stories in the future. The truth is, it has plenty room for expansion, it's just that the stories are more complex.
So from this point on, I shall live off of my own thoughts regarding my stories and EVO. I intend to improve more and more as I progress through not only this series, but the "Docmother" books as well. Here are the planned volumes for this series:
-Vol. 2-The Explanation
-Vol. 3-A New Threat
-Vol. 4-Victory Or Defeat
-Vol. 5-Dark Heart
-Vol. 6-Zak's Loss
and more to come. . .
Here are the remaining books for the Docmother series:
1.Jade's Return-16 Chapters
2.The Renegade Conspiracy-21 Chapters
3.Doc's Final Battle-14 Chapters
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE DOCMOTHER EVENTS AND PRODUCTS COMING SOON READ UP IN THE COMMENTS SECTION OF THIS STORY.
(This message has been edited by moderator (edited 07-27-2000).)
(This message has been edited by Jake101 (edited 09-02-2000).)
I would be willing to go through the trouble of getting and editing all your stories, and putting them into one, free downloadable file from the EVO site. If you want me to, just reply, if not, don't reply.