I will post...soon

[Volvere]

What the subject says.

And is there a reason why I can't post anywhere else?

-Volvere

[uynv]

You can reply to posts in most if not all the boards you see, but start topics in only a few like this one and the Bitch Board.  Let me know if this is not the case.  After you make a number of posts your access will increase and you'll be able to start topics in other boards

[Volvere]

Okay, the more I look at this, the more it won't write itself...So here's some short craptastic dialog. Think briefing. Also think space fleet. If you somehow convince me to do the November-novel thing, it will probably be around this.


For all the new recruits, pilots, and other personnel arriving aboard the UTF Crusader, I am Captain Blackmore and for the next five years this will be your home. Your tour of duty starts once we leave Earth and join the rest of the seventh fleet. Escorting us to our rendezvous point are the UTF Prussia and the UTF Nanjing, two dragon–class corvettes, and the UTF Aztec, a naga–class cruiser. The science vessel, Hawkings’ Chair, will join us en route, along with a number of freighters headed for the Outer Colonies.

As many of you are aware, the Crusader is one of the oldest vessels that has served Earth and the home worlds since the beginning of terraformed space. Scheduled to be decommissioned ten years ago, Space Command began an ambitious retrofit operation to help bolster the number of vessels after the costly Colony War. The Crusader is now entering into its 65th year of service, being redesignated as a heavy corvette carrier.

Some of you are excited about this; others this is a very discouraging twist of fate. The Crusader is a hybrid ship, combining a century’s worth of technology in an ad hoc way. Naturally she’s not the fastest or best equipped. Maintenance problems occur regularly. Cold showers are the norm. And dry rations consist of your daily meal. What I’m describing sounds no better than one of the outpost colonies on the fringes of known space. If you can weather these hardships, then the Crusaders’ spirit will start to take over and you will truly see why this ship continues to inspire success for the fleet.

For the onboard pilots, I say this to you: failure is not an option. Although this ship may be outdated, the fighters, bombers, and interceptors you will be flying are all top of the line. These new models are at your disposal. We cannot afford to lose a single one. Your success or failure could easily mean the life or death of 8,000 personnel.


Did I mention it was really short? Also that game you sent me a link for looks kinda cool.

[uynv]

Looks like a solid fun start and works towards the "only dialogue for four pages" goal.

One thing though "Failure is not an option... we cannot afford to lose a single one...." sounds too extreme and unrealistic.

Twilight Imperium so far seems like a great game, though I want to play a few more times before passing final judgement.  When I get back from Japan we should play with my friends.

[foolish]

Hi Volvere. Good, solid start. I say this because it captured my attention, and usually the beginnings of any piece of writing utterly fail to do that for me. I'm more likely to read a book if I start somewhere in the middle or first third and get hooked after reading a few pages, then go back and slog through the beginning, than I am if I try and start at the very beginning. I suppose I'm a bit of a philistine.

And everyone --in the world-- should participate in the November novel writing. So don't even think about not writing a novel in November. 

[Volvere]

Okay, okay, I'll take out that one line. I just need something to let the pilots know that every mission is important, even if its routine and simple.

I'll work on this some more later, I guess. I keep seeing ships and not characters though, so that might be a problem. I also have trouble with names and not using every cliche in the book.

And you don't really expect me to keep writing just dialogue, do you? I ain't down with that, seeing that this short few paragraphs took me several days...maybe two pages, but not four. I need my details and the other parts of fiction.

[Volvere]

Just something I whipped up during the time since my last post. It's different dialogue. Probably from some veteran pilot or something. Still fleshing out the background a bit. I think I'm going to try to tell a human vs human story as opposed to humanity vs aliens, just cause I haven't seen it done.
Back during the war, my uncle used to raid the merchant ships that the colonies used. He used to run with Intel and some of the covert divisions. It be him and his co-pilot in this junker of an old shuttle. It was a really beat up piece of shit; one good shot and the power generators would be off. Anyways, they’d used to broadcast on all the local channels that they had just come out of a skirmish with the UTF and that they had information vital for the colonies. So whatever merchant was in the area felt it was their duty to pick up this shuttle and try to get them back to whatever faction’s headquarters was around. Docking-wise you see, as freighters didn’t typically have any type of hangars.

Now the merchant ships were slow enough to begin with, but with a sixty meter tumor on the side of your ship, draining all available energy resources and skewing the fold drive field, that sort of tends to make you go from normal speed to a basic crawl. Did I mention my uncle was a master storyteller? He’d weave a tale so unbelievable (something about Earth having like twenty juggernauts ready to strike each of the colonies’ sectors and something about a cloaking device) that the merchant’s crew would either try to over-power their own systems for compensation or try to get that old shuttle up and running. My uncle would let this go on for a day or two at most, before he slit the snake as the saying goes.

Now you have to remember that the shuttle, once it docked, would begin to share some of the merchant ship’s systems. In reality it was seeing how it could feed the freighter with false data. Once it discovered that, on my uncle’s command, it would broadcast a false IFF signal of a massive warship that just folded into the area. As the merchant crew saw this on their sensor screen (and not trusting their eyes), they all nearly abandoned ship. Simulated ‘hits’ would rock the freighter back and forth. A few were foolish enough to try and fight, but my uncle had plans for that possibility. In any case, once the crew left the ship, the pirates that were loyal to our cause would fold in and strip the freighter clean. Sometimes a few UTF ships would come in and shoot the freighter down. Nobody shot the escape pods down in order to spread the rumors.

What’s the point of all this? Well don’t go trusting those computer systems in your fighters too much. Use them well enough if you’re in empty space, but don’t be overly reliant on them. Fighting in an asteroid belt or an plasma-heavy nebula messes with the sensor data. You’d be lucky not to shoot down your wingman by mistake, as opposed to the enemy. The Colony War had too many ‘friendly fire’ incidents, mainly because both sides were using the same hardware. Sure Earth could produce more numbers and better software, but the Colonies had terrain advantages and the experience of being on the frontier. But none of that really mattered in the end.

[uynv]

Posting from Japan:

A  cross between Firefly and BSG, not a bad mix and a world many would be interested in exploring.

If you can`t do four pages, try 2-3 of dialogue then if you feel up to it expand it out to 4-5 pages with non dialogue and with some editing it can be posted as a finished story by you