Ambrosia Garden Archive
    • Moments of Pride and Accomplishment


      Thanks to Stud Beefpile's similar post on the EVO board, I figured I would post this topic here. We're going to turn this place into a spaceport bar, and here you can share all your favorite stories from the Escape Velocity game. Tell us about your favorite moments, and share your comments. Above all, just have some fun!

      Here's my first story. Happened a few years back, and I won't forget it. Enjoy! 🙂

      I was proud to own my brand-new Kestral, bought straight out of the good 'ol renegade planets north of Spica. I liked me lighting fighters, and all the extra firepower I had added to my ship. I carried three proton turrets, two torpedo tubes with fifty torpedos, and lots and lots of javelin rockets along with a few missiles. As was my reputation ever since I started playing EV, I was the "most wanted" of the Confederation, and a loyal follower of the Rebellion. Since I currently couldn't find a mission with the Rebels, I decided to head for Sol and have some fun. On the way there, I was attacked by a few patrol ships here and there, nothing much. But when I arrived at Sol, it was a different story. Two Confederation Cruisers, one frigate, and two gunboats inhabited the space outside Earth and Outpost Alpha. As first, I was thinking what most pilots would under such a force: "RUN!!!" As I was about to hit the jump button, and I decided that I would give these ships a try. As the Cruisers launched their patrol ships, the gunships were heading my way. I was out of range of the frigate's missiles, so they didn't hurt me. And for some reason, the Cruisers didn't fire their torpedoes like they normally did, to my surprise and relief. The gunboats were on my moniter-viewing area, and I launched my lightings. I immediately ordered them to take out one of them, while I went for the other. My fighters obeyed well, in which they fired a deadly array of heavy rockets, javelins, and energy weapons at the poorly-protected Junkboats. It then went off in flames, and I ordered my fighters back to my ship for repair. The other Junkboat fired a heavy rocket at the rear of my ship, and I answered with anger. My three proton turrets quickly dealt with him, and my shields, now around 80%, recharged and I headed for the frigate who was far ahead of the cruisers. Since my shields were in good order, I decided to charge him straight-forward on my first and maybe second run. As I headed for him at top speed, I was able to release around 10 torpedoes before we were in turret range. His shields were depleted to somewhere around 30/40%, and I switched to my javelins. I fired them as quickly as they would allow, at the same time firing my protons at the Confederation Bozo. As I passed him, I received a heavy rocket and proton fire, knocking my shields to about 70%. But I was in better shape then he was. I came around for a second pass, this time releasing my fighters. As I charged him again, I ordered my fighters at him also. Fortunately, I was able to receive most of the fire while my fighters shot up the back of the frigate. I took two more heavy rockets and proton fire, and both my fighters were around 80% shields. I then watched gladly as the frigate lurched to a slow pace and burst into flames. Hah! Uh-Oh...I forgot about all those patrol ships that were headed my way...=O About eight or so patrol ships showed up on my radar screen, and since they were faster then me, I began to run and attempt the Monty Python. While my fighters entered my ship, the first patrol ship came on my moniter-viewing area, and as soon as he was in range of my protons, I gave it to him. The first two patrol vessels were simple to take out, but the next four were bunched together, making them hard to destroy. I was only able to knock out one while the other three patrol ships fired their protons. (They were now out of missiles, which had fallen short of me previously) My shields began to drop as I turned to fire off some javelins. About 20 seconds later, I finally took the trio down, but my shields took a beating. 40%. The other two patrol ships came my way, and since there were only two or so (I can't remember if there were only two left...I think there were) remaining, I let my fighters deal with them. The patrol ships were easy meat for my lightings, and they were quickly destroyed. As I recalled the fighters, I then began to make the long journey back toward Earth to fight the Cruisers. By the time both the ships were on my radar, my shields were fully funtional, and in good shape. I circled around the first Cruiser, far enough away to stay off my moniter-viewing area. I fired all forty torpedoes I had left, bringing his shields down to around 35%. Since I had a few missiles, (10, I believe) I fired them as well, and the Cruiser was then left with about 25% shields. I then made a swift strike at the backside of his ship, firing away with javelins and protons. The Cruisers proton turrets were hurting me, but I was hurting him, too. After my first pass, he was at 10% shields, and I was at 60%. I made my second pass, doing my best to stay behind him and avoid most of his turret fire. Finally, he was on his armor, and the Cruiser and I had a dull to the death. By the time I disabled the blasted Weirdo, the other cruiser was on my screen. As I flew away from him, I released my fighters to destroy the disabled cruiser, then recalled them. My shields, which were close to armor after fighting the Cruiser, were slowly recharging, so I decided to wait out the time and wait till I had full power. While I was waiting, my red alert siren went off, and a patrol ship headed for me. Once again, I was able to avoid his missiles, and I took him out without any damage using turret fire. By the time my shields were up to full, me, my 150 or so javelins, my lightings, and the cruisers were left. I headed for the cruiser, and gave him all I had. After the first pass, his shields were around 80%, while mine drifted down to around 70%. I made a second pass, this time circling him and being able to avoid some of his turret fire. I then flew away, aware of the damage I was taking from the Cruiser. I released the Lightings, and my ill-fated escorts made their way toward the Confederation moster. I waited a moment and watched. The Cruiser was knocked down to 50% shields, much thanks to the heavy rockets. As I ordered them back, one of my lightings was destroyed by heavy proton fire. The other was badly damaged, but managed to make it back to my ship. I then made my way once again toward the beast, and fired my remaining javelins and proton turrets. I brought him down to around 30% shields, while I was around 40. I released my remaining lighting, and sent him towards the Cruiser. Of course, he was destroyed, but he did his job. The cruiser, was down to 15% shielding, and I was about half normal status. I made my next run, hoping to finish him off. We both shot at each other like angry bees, trying to bring the other down. Finally, I disabled the Cruiser, and my duraplex armor saved my life. I then destroyed the Cruiser, extremely relieved to know I had pulled this attack off. I headed away from the blast of the Cruiser, and made my way toward my Rebellion friends. Boy, was I happy, even if I had lost my highly-valued lightings. Anyway, this was one of my favorite stories on Escape Velocity. Hope you liked it!

      ~Captain Skyblade

      Visit my EVO website! (url="http://"http://artworks.tmgmedia.net")http://artworks.tmgmedia.net(/url)

    • I have a moment to offer which will seem lame in comparison, but it's all relative, yes ?

      I've been working on a plug for a while, off and on as time permits. The formulae for creating ships and such in EV aren't quite rocket science, but they're sufficiently involved that I tend to forget how to do things between sessions. I always struggle for a while to recall how to create a given ship, how to equip it with weapons, et cetera. Then it all comes back.

      So it took me some time to populate the plug with all the vessels I needed (and their respective governments and such), but I did. The next step was to begin writing missions, and eventually I reached a point where I needed to test them out—especially a mission involving a clash between pirate forces and my newly-formed Thanos IV military. As the player, my role was to weigh in on the side of Thanos, but when I saw the fight actually taking place—ships I had put into the plug with my own sad little hands, flying around, blowing privateers out of the sky—all I could do was sit there and cheer! "Go get 'em, lads!" I shouted. And indeed, my feisty little fighters did not rest until the last pirate ship had been destroyed.

      It's happened ten thousand times since, of course. Still, that first time was kind of cool.

      ------------------
      PlanetPhil
      not drowning, waving

    • Quote

      Originally posted by PlanetPhil:
      **I have a moment to offer which will seem lame in comparison, but it's all relative, yes ?

      I've been working on a plug for a while, off and on as time permits. The formulae for creating ships and such in EV aren't quite rocket science, but they're sufficiently involved that I tend to forget how to do things between sessions. I always struggle for a while to recall how to create a given ship, how to equip it with weapons, et cetera. Then it all comes back.

      So it took me some time to populate the plug with all the vessels I needed (and their respective governments and such), but I did. The next step was to begin writing missions, and eventually I reached a point where I needed to test them out—especially a mission involving a clash between pirate forces and my newly-formed Thanos IV military. As the player, my role was to weigh in on the side of Thanos, but when I saw the fight actually taking place—ships I had put into the plug with my own sad little hands, flying around, blowing privateers out of the sky—all I could do was sit there and cheer! "Go get 'em, lads!" I shouted. And indeed, my feisty little fighters did not rest until the last pirate ship had been destroyed.

      It's happened ten thousand times since, of course. Still, that first time was kind of cool.

      **

      Hehehe...Sounds like fun. For anyone else out there who's got some good stories, post them so all can enjoy!

      ~Captain Skyblade

      Visit my EVO website! (url="http://"http://artworks.tmgmedia.net")http://artworks.tmgmedia.net(/url)

    • My biggest accomplishment is yet to come: completion of the Astrodyne Weapons Mission. (I keep destroying, rather than capturing the Exec Transport. Dooh!)

      So my second biggest will have to do ... for now:

      After tons of hours as a Rebel sympathizer I wanted to allow the "dark side" of me to play EV. I set up a pirate pilot. Having read many Velociteers' comments about "best ships" for pirating, I "kinda rushed it" and purchased an Argosy. But I ran out of credits before I had it sufficiently outfitted. (I could not even buy more fuel than the two jumps worth in my tanks.) Desperate for credits I accepted a high-paying UGE mission from Spica (I think?) to Eridani.

      The trouble was I had already pillaged several ships in the Kathoon and Levo systems ... and those two systems were on my route. The wrath of Kathoon's Rebels and Levo's Militia was added to the pirates (?) trying to thwart my success on UGE's mission. It nearly drove me crazy trying to complete the Kathoon-Levo jump in my WAY too slow Argosy. (I was not on
      "Strict Play".)

      I lost count of how many times my pilot was killed. I can tell you I spent two straight hours one day, three hours the next (Really.) and finally, on my third day of brain damage(!) I succeeded. I landed on Levo and received payment for a cargo delivery. This allowed me to purchase more fuel ... and THAT allowed me to use the Argosy's after-burners to avoid my bad guys. "Rust Beard's" evil ways continued and the galaxy has not rested since.....

      (Post script: I eventually maxed-out that Argosy with turrets, shields, etc., and it STILL got me killed too many times against Kestrels and Confed Frigates. I concluded the Argosy was "less than ideal" as a pirate ship. I swapped the Argosy for a 'Vette and my rampage has not quit since. Rust Beard's 'Vette conquers Frigates and Kestrels with relative ease. And, with deliberation and attention to shield strength, Confed Cruisers and Rebel Destroyers can be taken too. Arrgh!)

      ------------------
      Let's see what this button does....

    • Excellent story, Karl! Please post any other stories you have or are in the process of completing. Ok, here's another one I have...

      Atlast! I had completed all of the Rebellion missions. Some of them had been hard, from bringing Rebel Commandos to Luna to destroying the Alien fleet. I had been collecting money, so I had the funds to buy my favorite ship (besides the destroyer). I bought me a Rebel Cruiser, outfitted it with everything I wanted: lots of proton turrets, heavy rockets, torpedoes, and mantas. I then hired four destroyers, and two ketrals. (I highly respected the kestrals for their quick strikes and lightning fighters) Then, I headed for some Confederation worlds. First, I went to Sol. When I arrived, a little to my dissapointment, there was only one frigate, two junkboats, and a couple of patrol vessels. The junkboats were intercepted and destroyed immediately by the lightings, while my mantas swarmed and destroyed the patrol ships. My fleet had fun with the frigate, where for about 15 seconds we bombarded him with everything we had. Before long, he shot away in flames, and I decided to head for Centauri. Now Centauri was a different story from Sol. Usually, Centauri is a quiet place, with little if any war activity. When I arrived, there was one cruiser, a rare four frigates, around three junkboats, and 2 patrol ships (not including the ones being carried on the cruiser) My fleet immediately went to work. One of my mantas was hit and destroyed by a nasty heavy rocket from a junkboat, but the lightnings avenged the manta. Two junkboats were destroyed by the weapons-packed lightnings, and one of my destroyers feasted on the other with a barage of torpedoes. Now the frigates were a problem. Even though we could easilly beat them with our huge fleet, they could inflict some serius damage. I got my fleet together and headed away from the cruiser so we could engage the frigates alone. By now, the cruisers patrol ships headed torward us, in which a couple were once again destroyed by the lightnings, and our deadly array of proton fire took out the rest. Now we took on the frigates. I took my fleet straight towards them, in which missiles and torpedoes began flying from both sides. My ship was in the lead, and had taken a few hits. I ordered my mantas at one of the frigates, and the lightnings began to do the same. Our ships met with a loud clash of heavy rockets and proton fire. My ship was now down to around 60% shields, but I had faith in my cruiser. The frigate my mantas had been fightings was just about crimpled from my torpedoes, though I had lost two of my mantas. I ordered my remaining mantas to return to my cruiser, while me and my fleet continued against the frigates. I finished off the frigate that had destroyed two of my mantas with a few more torpedoes, and gave him a evil laugh as he burst into flames. The other three frigates were still fighting, in which were all targeting one of my destroyers. "Oh no you don't!" I said to myself, as I took my ship towards the frigates. I released my mantas, ordered them at another frigate, and four lightnings continued to swarm the battle lines. I destroyed another frigate, in which my heavy rocket disabled him and I finished him with proton fire. However, my destroyer was now gone, making me rather enraged. My fleet continued to pound the frigates. By now, the Confederation Cruiser was getting closer, so we had to hurry. One of my kestrals and destroyers turned another frigate into dust, leaving the other frigate alone. Three of the lightnings were now destroyed, but we could take it from here. We all gave the last frigate some wrath, but it didn't die without a fight. While his shields began to fall at a alarming rate, one of my kestrals that had slowly been wearing away was destroyed, at about the same time the frigate exploded. I had lost two capital ships, but my two mantas somehow lived the firefight, and I ordered them back to my cruiser...They had done enough this battle. The single lightning was the first to reach the cruiser. Although it was destroyed, the cruisers shields were now around 95%. Our fleet made a dash for the lonely cruiser, and we showed him the meaning of anger. Proton bolts shot in all directions, heavy rockets flew, torpedoes sounded...The noise was amazing! We continued to fly circles around the cruiser, taking advantage of our swift tactics. One of my destroyers suddenly jerked to a stop, and was then destroyed. I hoped that was the last ship I would lose...Finally, we took the cruiser's shields down, and his armor was all that was left to deal with. proton fire finally disabled him, and he was destroyed. It was one big battle, that's for sure. My fleet now numbered my own Rebel Cruiser with a shield status of 28%, two rebel destroyers, and one kestral. I had lost some good vessels, but I had made the Confederation pay with their lives. 🙂 Oh well, thought you all might like this story. Please share any you have!

      ~Captain Skyblade

      Visit my EVO website! (url="http://"http://artworks.tmgmedia.net")http://artworks.tmgmedia.net(/url)

    • Hey, Karlos...

      When you want to disable ships, use torpedoes. They're the best.

      Exec. ship: 1 torpedo. He's disabled, and you can get the escorts. Fire and forget, amigo.

      Bulk Freighter: Use 2 torpedoes. Same strategy.

      All the best,
      ElG7.

      ------------------
      KIRK: Very funny, Scotty - now beam down my clothes!
      (url="http://"http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/webboard/Forum10/HTML/002301.html")Darkest Hour – An EV/O Saga(/url)
      (url="http://"http://www.ambrosiasw.com/webboard/Forum10/HTML/002253.html")Slow-reading Story(/url)
      (url="http://"http://www.ambrosiasw.com/cgi-bin/vftp/dl-redirect.pl?path=evo/guides&file;=TechFolder.sit")Captain Canardley Ableson's Technical Guide to the EV/O Universe(/url)

    • Here's another one. Guess you could entitle it "The Day I Blew Matt Up." 🙂 Enjoy!

      Matt Burch! After a long and stressful hunt, I had finally found the guy I wanted to destroy...I had completed all the Confederation missions. (for once: I've only done the Confederation strings once, and the Rebellion string about five or six times. 🙂 ) I was now proudly flying my Confederation Cruiser: The most powerful vessel in the game, besides a high-tech kestral with the name of "Matt Burch." Since I had now completed all the missions, all I wanted to do now was blow up the rediculous kestral, and I was content to do so. After stumbling over him in a system in the southern portion of the galaxy, I decided it was time to fight. I fired a single torpedo at him to announce I meant bussiness. Of course, he released his enhanced lightings at me, and we dulled it out. The lightings fired rocket after rocket and plenty of javelins and laser beams, but they weren't a match for such a large capital ship. My proton turrets slowly tore through the lightings shields, and my neutron cannons and heavy rockets continued to fire as well. Before long, both the lightings were a flaming ruin, and my shields were at 60 percent shields. I now headed away from Matt's approaching Kestral to give me some time to recharge my shields. Since his ship was faster then mine, I released my five patrol ships, and ordered them at the powerful ship to evade his attention from me. The patrol vessels didn't last to long, but I was firing torpedoes all the while. (I had three launchers, so I could shoot them pretty rapidly) By the time all the patrol ships were destroyed, Matt's shields were now at 78%. I still had a long way to go, but I was going to try. Now that my shields were around 90%, I made a dash at the enraged kestral. As I headed torward him, I was able to release about ten torpedoes in rapid succession, followed by two heavy rockets and plenty of proton fire. As I past by, I took a couple of heavy rockets and proton fire in the front as well, depleting my shields to about shields to about 70%. Matt was now at 50% shields, but they were recharging quite rapidly. I decided to head away from him, and let him slowly catch up with me, while I fired my torpedoes. Since I had a rediculous store of 100 torpedoes, the supply didn't bother me. As Matt got closer, I released around thirty torpedoes before we were in turret range. His shields now dipped to 27%, and we began to dull at close range. I then received a huge number of heavy rockets, which brought me down to half my normal shield status. We continued to face one another, and my torpedoes and protons continued to fire. I quickly switched over to me neutron blasters, which I had no idea how much of an effect they had on the kestral. Atlast, Matt was down to 2% shields, and I was down to 10% shields. Matt began to flee in an attempt to leave the system. I wasn't letting him leave this fight after such a long engagement! As he fled, I released a long volley of torpedoes, finally disabling him. I was so enraged at the galactic menace that I didn't care to steel all the money he carried. I destroyed him instantly, roaring with laughter at the same time. "I got you, Matt! You are no longer the most powerful vessel in the universe!!!" (no offense, Matt, but I just had to share the story. 🙂 ) Hope you all liked the story. Also, I wanted to know how you all have been able to destroy Matt Burch? What kind of tactics did you use? What ship did you fly? Share away!

      ~Captain Skyblade

      Visit my EVO website! (url="http://"http://artworks.tmgmedia.net")http://artworks.tmgmedia.net(/url)

    • All hail the great Matt-Killing God!

      ------------------
      If a PC crashes in the forest, and no one hears it, did it really crash?

    • Quote

      Originally posted by Firestorm14:
      **All hail the great Matt-Killing God!

      **

      LOL!! Um, no. I give the credit to my trusty ship that brought me out of the battle alive. Besides, Matt's a good guy, I just don't like his kestral... 🙂

      ~Captain Skyblade

      Visit my EVO website! (url="http://"http://artworks.tmgmedia.net")http://artworks.tmgmedia.net(/url)

    • I have two moments to share.

      1. The event that hooked me into Escape Velocity for good so long ago:
        I had made some money ferrying passengers in my shuttlecraft, and had saved enough to buy a clipper, equipped with a missile launcher and all the missiles I could carry. It was my first venture into the world of fighting, revenge against the pirates, and disabling them. After I dispatched of a few pirate clippers I got the challenge of a lifetime for little rookie me: a Corvette in all its majesty and allure appeared out of nowhere, firing its vollies with ferocity. My shields were below 50% before I got up to speed. I ran and hid behind asteroids, flying in a large circle around the Corvette. I began to release my missiles, continuing in the large circle. He ran out of missiles, and I disabled him before he could escape. The moment of truth: I had a 1% chance of capturing him, but I said screw the money and went for it. I GOT IT!!
        I was beside myself; I could hardly believe it! Immediately the warning sounded that more pirates were on the way. Two clippers attacked me, and in my excitement to flex my Corvette muscleI had failed to realize that my shields were still at minimal from my own attack on my new ship.
        I died from a few hits by two Clippers. How ironic. The Corvette was in my possession for only a few seconds, but it was a moment of excitement I could not forget.
        Needless to say it was a long time before I earned my way into my second Corvette.

      2. My greatest accomplishment: After TWO YEARS of writing the story, making missions, creating ships, collecting art, sampling music, and dogged experimentation of how I could bend all the EV rules, Mugabi and Destiny was finished. My headaches stopped immediately after; I wonder why.

      ------------------
      Mace means no.

    • My moment in pride was destroying the confed cruiser all by myself, i bought a fighter bay along with my lightnings and killed pirate kestrels before they had a chance to unlease their lightings so i boarded and stole. Now i went to go find a cruiser let my 6 fighters out and fired my torpidos. That made it very simple.

      ------------------

    • Quote

      Originally posted by bugsbug:
      **My moment in pride was destroying the confed cruiser all by myself, i bought a fighter bay along with my lightnings and killed pirate kestrels before they had a chance to unlease their lightings so i boarded and stole. Now i went to go find a cruiser let my 6 fighters out and fired my torpidos. That made it very simple.

      **

      Hehehe...I remember the first time I destroyed a Confederation Cruiser. I was totally amazed. 🙂 What kind of ship were you in when you destroyed your first kestrals and Confed cruiser?

      ~Captain Skyblade

      Visit my EVO website! (url="http://"http://artworks.tmgmedia.net")http://artworks.tmgmedia.net(/url)

    • First time I destroyed a kestral? I have no clue anymore. Recently I started up EV again. The first time in that game was in a Rapier. It jumped in and sent its fighters out. 3 pirate corvettes were there too and they weren't making it any easier. After a good long time of disposing of the fighters and disabling the corvettes (for credit purposes), I went after the kestral. I had several torpedos and a lot of guts to go after the behemoth. It fought till it was down to 10% and started to flee. I was at 50% armor. Several more volleys and it was in its jumping sequence. I interrupted it and disabled it before it could fire back. The 700k credits between that and the corvettes made up for more than the weapons spent. I tried but was not able to capture and of them.
      The first Confed Cruiser? I defeated one in a Kestral. Of course, I used no tactics in that fight. I went head on and fought it till I was at 2% armour. Luckily, I dodged enough bullets so that its fighters were destroyed, no backup was coming, and it was disabled. My fighters were gone too but it made little difference. It was then that I found out that Confed cruisers give no cash :frown:.

      ------------------

      Are you gonna tell him that's a boy cow?
      Naw, he'll figure it out.

    • (quote)Originally posted by Desert Fox:
      **First time I destroyed a kestral? I have no clue anymore. Recently I started up EV again. The first time in that game was in a Rapier. It jumped in and sent its fighters out. 3 pirate corvettes were there too and they weren't making it any easier. After a good long time of disposing of the fighters and disabling the corvettes (for credit purposes), I went after the kestral. I had several torpedos and a lot of guts to go after the behemoth. It fought till it was down to 10% and started to flee. I was at 50% armor. Several more volleys and it was in its jumping sequence. I interrupted it and disabled it before it could fire back. The 700k credits between that and the corvettes made up for more than the weapons spent. I tried but was not able to capture and of them.
      The first Confed Cruiser? I defeated one in a Kestral. Of course, I used no tactics in that fight. I went head on and fought it till I was at 2% armour. Luckily, I dodged enough bullets so that its fighters were destroyed, no backup was coming, and it was disabled. My fighters were gone too but it made little difference. It was then that I found out that Confed cruisers give no cash 🙂 Yes, the first time I destroyed a Confed Cruiser was in my kestral. The Kestral makes a excellent ship any day, from being a speedy and dangerous trader / merchent to an excellent warship.

      ~Captain Skyblade

      Visit my EVO website! (url="http://"http://artworks.tmgmedia.net")http://artworks.tmgmedia.net(/url)
      **

    • It was a lucky win. The other 7 times it was a draw because I wasn't paying attention to my shields/armor. I got shot down when his shields went down. So, as a poor loser, I kept firing with what I had as long as I could and sure enough, I hit it enough times to start its destruction. It blew up as I went back to the EV screen.

      ------------------

      Are you gonna tell him that's a boy cow?
      Naw, he'll figure it out.

    • A long time ago,somewhere near Tryvin,a majestic Battleship made it´s way through space while the wealthy captain watched deep in thought the glow of a far-away nebula in the endless width.With proud he touched the insignia of a Confederation Space Navy Admiral stitched up on his measured blue uniform,thinking thoughtfully of his paradisiac villa on Rigel.
      He was still lost in thought,when suddenly something red coloured warped in just several AE past.The sirens began to scream through the ship.
      Arrived on the bridge,his IO tought him the scanner readings;they had to face a Cruiser sized Rebel vessel.Howewer the battleship was about three times bigger,an uncanny feeling creeped him up.
      Deciding to get an early advantage,he ordered the interceptor pilots to launch,keeping back the bigger PT Boats for a second offense;if necessary.Two squadrons of light-armed Flea Interceptors accelerated towards the dark red Cruiser,warming up their Proton Cannons,ready for hard battle.The Admiral watched concentrated on the screen,waiting feverishly for reaching weapons range."Torpedo Tube One and Two:...Fire!",he commanded with strong voice.Two yellow-glowing antimatter torps flew into the dark where the enemie awaited the fighter attack.Soon also the interceptors reached cannon range and opened fire.
      It was answered with a heavy rocket.
      Wing leader FI62 saw it coming towards his cockpit and was pushed from terminal velocity to negativ acceleration -300ľ in micro seconds,his Flea brutally ripped to pieces,dragging two others into death too.Simultaneity,a destructiv shower of uranium bullets covered the small vessels,leaving most of them exploding. Only 5 survived the assault,escaping back to their mothership.
      The Admiral meditated revenge.
      Torpedo Tubes fired continously large numbers towards the almost undamaged Rebel Cruiser,which often succesfully tried to avoid them.He wondered why the rebel captain didn´t open fire,supposing a perfidious trap.The two PT Boats were launched,each of them carrying five experimental Torpedo launcher and 35 Torps."This should finish them up",the captain thought while ordering the crew only to open torp fire when target is unable to avoid it.
      The Rebel Cruiser launched quickly four missiles,disabling one of the boats immediately.This maneuver brought the ship in a dangerous situation,and it had to put in devastating torpedo bombardement.It hardly escaped hiding behind one of the rare asteroids flying past.then it opened missile fire,destroying the devastating Torp carrier with a huge explosion.Howewer, the battleship was in turret range,and twelve neutron turrets blasted the cruiser down to tritanium armour,rockets passed only kilometres away.The Rebel boosted head over heels away to save life,but soon stopped and circled towards the Confed,launching two small vessels.
      "Identification!",the Admiral commanded roughly.After seconds,the IO answered disconcerted:"Sir....these ships are Confed PT Boats!"
      The Rebel Captain ordered the boats to saunter the cruiser,and twelve torpedo launcher brought destructive antimatter fire towards the battleship.Three devastating lances pierced through the Battleship,smashing down any shields and armour.The Space around the Battleship was filled with great explosions.The Admiral stood on the trembled bridge,knowing that his great,but hardly movable ship was lost to a crafty Antagonist.The nuclear aggregats began to melt down,and he pushed his unconscious IO in the only still functionable Escape Pod and saluted.

      The Planets and Stations in the western sector of the universe registered a huge blast of IR and ?-rays from somewhere near the Tryvin system.Some days later a heavily damaged Cruiser landed on New Bavaria,the crew emaciated but with a light brilliance of glory in their eyes.

      Well,if grammar isn´t as perfect as yours,please be appreciative.
      This battle I fought with my Cruiser in the "Galactic Scourge" expanded universe.

      ------------------
      ..it´s ...not..in....the..book..

    • An extremely well-said story, Hanson! If you've got anymore as good as that one, post them by all means! The best part of the story was that the Rebels won. 😉

      ~Captain Skyblade

      Visit my EVO website! (url="http://"http://artworks.tmgmedia.net")http://artworks.tmgmedia.net(/url)

    • This made me embarrassed.
      thanks for your positiv response.

      I´m trying to submit more and to improve my (AE)english,but time is rare.

      ------------------
      ..it´s ...not..in....the..book..

    • Quote

      Originally posted by Hans Hansen:
      **This made me embarrassed.
      thanks for your positiv response.

      I´m trying to submit more and to improve my (AE)english,but time is rare.

      **

      Embarrassed? Sorry if I did embarrasse you, it wasn't my intention. I just realized that you were from Germany...You have very good English. I thought you were American when I read your story. 🙂

      ~Captain Skyblade

      Visit my EVO website! (url="http://"http://artworks.tmgmedia.net")http://artworks.tmgmedia.net(/url)

    • A large amount of cursing is heard from outside the bar. Then the doors open to reveal one flustered person carrying one rather huge box over brimming with vidpads, which he promptly places on a table with a rather large THUNK. Going back out, he comes back in hauling an antigrav pad holding several more bins, also overfilled with vidpads. One look at him tells everyone that this man is somewhat of a scholar and a mercenary as well. He bears many weapons, including a rather nasty disruptor. He walks up to the bar and orders a tall glass of scotch, which he promptly downs, then asks for a refill.

      Looking at everyone in the bar, he says, “Oh hi, everyone. My name’s Whitehawk, one of many histories. I’ve come and gone from many realities and hold many titles. All those pads hold accounts of my histories. I am merely an outlet, a collector if you will. I shall share a story now.” Grabbing a vidpad from one of the bins, he says, “Ah, here we go. This one is from Pale, an amazing tale. I call it the Battle of Endor ”


      Captain’s personal Log
      March 3, 2259

      Well, here I am on the surface of my homeworld of Endor, a moon full of life and joy, covered by trees and rivers and lakes. It’s been over four years since I was made a citizen of Pale, three since my commission as Major in the Pale Navy and first commanding Battlegroup Echo, a high honour indeed. I’m here on “shore leave.” Shore leave, my butt! My chief medical officer, Lt. Carol Mead thought it best, and said it was on “doctor’s orders.” Can’t argue with a ship’s med officer, because my first officer and senior officers back Carol’s decision. I swear it was mutiny.

      So I left my ship, the Guard-Kestrel Armageddon, a fine ship mind you(I can’t living on a military ship), on a lightning from Zaxted Starport. My trip was uneventful, although spending five days in a lighting reminds me of my shuttle days, minus the cargo bay. On my way through the Gamara system I encountered a Wight, which startled me at first, but I realized it was a merc ship out of Sauron, so I relaxed. Wights are mean ships, capable of holding four Rapiers and held many more batteries and ordince then many other warships. The Armageddon was the result of my defeating them at the battle of Nexus more then seven years before. Had it not been there that the pirate fleet had been stopped, then many systems around Nexus would be pirate held. I miss those days in battle and chaos. I’m getting too old.

      Anyways, as I jumped into the Osiris system on the fifth day, I was greeted by an assortment of wreckage, mostly freighters and a few destroyers. In more then ten years, I’ve never seen such a pile of debris. As I was about to close in on Endor, my ship shook. Looking at a console panel, I saw that my shields were down ten percent. I thought it was a piece of large debris, when my ship was hit again. Suddenly, my sensors picked up something; a pirate fleet. They had been hiding around Osiris III, the only planet in the system, around which Endor orbited.

      Putting the fleet on a small view screen, I paled. It was composed of one Wight, two mod-argosies, a corvette, and privateer. Privateers were a rare but deadly sight, an old huge freighter that looked harmless. Looks could be deceiving; privateers held one thing that made them feared: mod-corvettes. They were attached to the hull, and would spring out, and a privateer held seven of these ships.

      I had made sure that when the Armageddon was purchased, I had made sure that her fighters were equipped with superior shielding and armouring, as well as pulse cannons and more missiles and rockets. These saved my life that day, else I would not be recording this. Note to self, next time I’m “recommended” to have a vacation, bring this incident up.

      It was fruitless to make planetfall, as I would be blasted at high orbit, so did the unthinkable: I turned around and headed straight for the Wight, strafing it with my cannons. By then, the rapiers had been released so I was dodging rockets as well as missiles. Someone remind me to give a lecture on the dangers of forced shore leave later. Anyways, I fired two of my ten rockets at the Wight and dodged more rockets as I went. These rockets missed me and hit the Wight on its right wing, disabling it. I thanked God for this miracle. I turned around and moved on the four rapiers. Five minutes later, three of them added to the debris and one was disabled.

      I was wondering why no mod-corvettes were converging on me, but I didn’t have time worry about that. There was a corvette on tail, firing rockets and pulse turrets nonstop. I have attended the naval academy on Rigel and know many tactics that have saved my life. I did a nose dive and dove down as the corvette kept on going. Whirling back up, I strafed the underside of the corvette, taking fire as I did. As I neared the edge of the ship, I targeted the ship’s engines and fired a few missiles and ran for dear life. Three seconds later the corvette added to the wreckage of Osiris’s inner system.

      I then saw to blips on the sensors; they were torpedoes and thus couldn’t be jammed. I threw them off my tail and headed in after the mod-argosies, ready for the kill. Unless they’ve been hiding under a rock for the past three decades, people knew that these ships weren’t upgraded argosies, but a whole new class, meant for commerce raiding as well for light warfare. Armed with advanced laser turrets and torpedoes, one had to be wary.

      As I had been reduced to twenty percent shields and my rockets had been used, all I had were five missiles left. I took on the closest one, firing missiles and pulse fire as if tomorrow were but a dream, I disabled him and took on the outermost ship, firing the last missile I had and praying for a miracle. Yet in ten seconds my shields were down and my armour was at forty percent. I was lucky I had put a layer of armaplast on all the Armageddon’s fighters. I started to move away and thought of something. The lightning I flew was a fairly new design made by Blazington, Inc., and it held a newer generation plasma coil which provided less time on hyperspace travel by an hour. It also had more output.

      I retreated to the edge of the inner system and waited as my shields came back up. As they reached twelve percent, I accelerated back towards the mod-argosy, knowing that if my plan didn’t work then my first officer would be receiving a promotion. I thrusted my ship over the top of the argosy and fired my pulse cannons as I went as well as dropped my plasma coil when I was three meters behind. I was working on afterburners now, using what little fuel I had left as well as the thrust of my ship. I hit the detonation sequence for the coil and it exploded, destroying the ship and causing a small plasma wave, destroying much debris in the process. I was nearly caught in the edge of the wave, but mangaged to overcome it.

      I was yelling to my console saying that I won and lived, then I remembered the privateer. Fear struck my heart as I activated sensors, yet when I found the privateer, I saw that it had not dislodged its luggage. Then I realized it was disabled, had been the whole time. The pirate fleet had been towing it out when they saw me. I thanked God yet again for this miracle. As I scaned the vessel I saw that all seven mod-corvettes were still there. And yet I detected no life signs on board the ship or its “fighters”, so I decided to check it out. Working my way on afterburners, I headed towards the disabled ship and docked at its airlock.

      Arming myself with ion rifle, two ion pistols, and a few neutron gernades I headed through into the ship, ready for anything. As I walked through the coridors, I noted that all power but enviromental control, life support and auxilrilty power were offline. I headed to the bridge of the oversized frieghter and saw that no one was on board. I checked the last log entries and found the ship had been set adrift by its crew as it hijacked bulk frieghter. The captain had recorded in his last log that he and all his crew wanted to start a new life in wealth, so they had sent their ship adrift, hoping it burn in Osirio’s atmosphere, but no such luck. I make guess that a pirate faction had discovered that this ship was still in one piece so they sent a fleet out to bring it back...and destroy any who tried to stop them.

      It took me hours to examine the ship and the mod-corvettes, but I found no problems with any of them. All that neeeded to be done with privateer was a few minor repairs and she was good to go. There is an old Earth saying dating back to perhaps humanity’s birth, “Finders keepers”. As was right in the Blackthorne Agreement of 2199, any captain or explorer had the rights to comedere any debris or derelicts found, as long as no one alive was onboard. This right was true to the word, and indeed a few pirates had jumped on this right, claiming old ships and such. I thus claimed the vessel as my own as soon as I fixed up the engines and main power was back online. Alas my lightning was badly damaged beyond repair, so I set it adrift in space with the auto destruct set for twenty hour count. It would be a loss to the Armageddon but I would afford a new one.

      I brought my new toy into Derin Port, the only city on Endor, and many people saw me emerge from the ship, battle weary and ready for a rest. Many officals came up to wave vidpads in my face, some trying to ask me questions, while others asked me for rights to all the pirate debris in the system. I sold away the rights to all that junk except for the Wight. I later signed a form that declared me owner of both the Wight and the privateer, which shall add to my fleet very nicely. With all the money I collected, a healty sum of over two million, I gave it to many of the people of Endor who wern’t very stable, like the children of Dernis slums who deserved better lives.

      I’m here in my room on my family’s estate, who by now are largely gone on to Heaven’s light, I record this message for future reference. I have thought on my retirement, but I still have much to do. Like a my old friend Jim Rilley once said, “We’re only mortal. We live only a few scant decades, so we most make the most of it to the fullest.” I’ve lived with that saying for the past three years, and I know that until the day I retire I shall never yield. This vacation turned out to be a surprise...and it almost got me killed. When I return to the Armageddon, remind me to give Mead a medal and a promotion...as well as one day’s duty of scrubbing the plasma core.

      End Log


      Whitehawk takes a pull of his scotch and orders another one, this time a bottle of 2100, a good year. He then buys everyone in the room a round of Saurian Ale and says, “Anyone else got a story. I’m all ears...”

      ------------------
      They say the Devil's name is the most unholiest.
      They are wrong
      There is one who's name is even worse. His name is Bill Gates