Once Upon The Stars (old thread)

[Atrocities]

Once Upon The Stars
"The Story of The Pandoran Freespace Republic"
By: William Christopher

Prelude

“Incoming!” It was all Commander Tom Christopher had time to say into his com before the air to air Zeus missile struck his wing man dead on, turning his Predator class fighter into an airborne fire ball.

Tom banked his own fighter hard to the right and increased thrust to maximum in order to avoid the Backstabber fighter that had just killed his best friend. He could not engage the fighter for he had expended all but two of his Maxitor air to air missiles and had nearly exhausted his supply of Depleted Uranium Cannon shells. It had been a furious battle with nearly three hundred fighters, and friends lost. Now all that remained in the sky aside from Tom’s own Predator fighter and a Ulysses class interceptor from Eco wing, were the massive sky ships and the Backstabber fighters of the Global Alliance. All that stood between the air fleet of the Global Alliance and the capitol city of the Praetorian Republic were two lone fighters.

“Eco One-Three-Seven this is Icon Two, Target those GA fighters and clear me a path. I am going to make a run on that Airborne Carrier.” Tom knew that Joe Kelly was a good pilot and would follow his orders to the letter without question.

“I’ve got you covered Icon Two,” Came the reply from Eco One-Three-Seven. “God be with you Tom.”
“Roger Joe, its been fun.” With that Tom banked his fighter toward the Global Alliance’s large airborne carrier Tempest. He began his attack run as Joe accelerated past him and engaged the GA fighters. The GA fighters were not expecting such a tactic and vectored off as Joe closed distance upon them. This gave Joe in Eco One-Three-Seven the initiative and he pressed it home shooting down two GA Backstabber fighters before they could evade.

Eco One-Three-Seven continued his deadly assault clearing a path for Tom to make his run on the Tempest. As Tom vectored in, he could see that Joe was making short work of the GA fighters. They were after all years behind Praetorian technology. Centering his attention back upon the Tempest, one of the largest airborne ships ever built, Tom plotted his attack. It had to be exacting for he would not have the ammunition or the chance to make another pass.

“My god that thing is huge.” He heard himself mutter aloud as he closed ranged. It was at that moment that the Tempest defensive gunners opened fire. They fired everything they had at him, but Tom and his Predator were far too maneuverable a target. Tom closed ranged and locked weapons onto the Tempest hull. His attack would target the port side of the Tempest ultimately focusing upon the weakest spot of the ship.

“Joe if you can, get clear. When this ***** goes, she going to take out everything within a five mile radius.”
“Roger that Icon Two, good hunting and I’ll see you on the flip side.”
“Copy Eco One-Three-Seven, the flip side it is.”

With that Tom pressed his acceleration control as far forward against its stops as it would go. He could feel the G force of his acceleration as his fighter accelerated to maximum.

“Thank god for inertial dampeners.” Thought Tom as he began to fire on the Tempest at point blank range. He made a strafing run down her port side hull focusing his attack on the only weak spot this massive air ship had. Its hangers. Tom fired his Last two Maxitor air to air missiles directly into the amid ship hanger before veering off.

“Birds away!’ He yelled into his com as he spiraled down and under the Tempest on his course away from the ship. Seconds later the two missiles that he had fired impacted within the hanger of the ship detonating against the amid ship magazine causing a massive chain reaction of explosions that were now ripping the ship apart.

The final explosion came without warning as the Tempest erupted into the largest fireball that Tom had ever seen. Although he was moving well past mock three away from the Tempest, the expanding debris cloud from the Tempest destruction was fast approaching him. There was nothing he could do but try to get below and away from the bLast radius as fast as possible in the off chance that if he is hit, it won’t be badly. Tom pitched his fighter down at such an abrupt angle he had doubted whether or not the inertial dampeners would work, but they did. The ground was fast approaching when he pulled up on the control stick and leveled off. Just then the debris cloud hit his fighter, the pinging and banging sounds quickly subsided as debris cloud dissipated and he accelerated away from it. Making a quick check of his systems he noticed that he had exhausted all of his Depleted Uranium Cannon shells, and was nearly out of fuel.

He made a high speed turn and centered his course back toward Camellia, the capitol city of the Praetorian Republic. Camellia was the focus of the Global Alliance’s attack. Camellia was a magnificent city and among the most pristine on the entire planet. It’s glass pointed towers stretched for two miles into the sky and could be seen from hundreds of miles away. Now all of that was in the very real and great danger of being lost as the Global Alliance pressed its attack. Tom knew that unless he could refueled and rearmed his fighter, his role in this battle would be over. Camellia’s Last chance at continued freedom was now up to him and Eco One-Three-Seven to ensure.

The Global Alliance attacked without provocation and the Praetorian Republic did not have the time to mount a united defense. It had been up to the Camellia Air Guard to defend the city from attack. A job that Tom was prepared to die doing. As he approached the city he could see clouds of smoke rising from the horizon billowing out from many of the cities towers. What had once been a magnificent sky line was now a jagged and mangled mess of twisted metal and glass. Whole towers were a flame and many more were missing entire sections. He could see the Global Alliance heavy air assault frigates pounding the city with Depleted Uranium Cannon shells. The GA fighters were buzzing about the city firing upon it without response, the city was defenseless. They had failed. He had failed. So in though was Tom that he did not see the Backstabber fighter slip in from behind and above him. So intent on returning to defend Camellia that Tom was oblivious to the danger he had flown into until it was to late.

“Warning warning missile lock confirmed.” The fighters computer alarm blared only seconds before the first Zeus struck. The entire fighter shuddered violently but did not exploded. The Zeus air to air missile had not detonated.

“Thank god for GA craftsmanship.” Commented Tom has he banked right then back fast to his left. He pulled back upon the accelerator control and the control stick causing his fighter to nearly stall as the second Zeus missile shot past him and began a slow return arc. Within milliseconds of his controlled breaking maneuver Tom had pushed the accelerator control full forward again and was now banking his fighter toward the ground in a left hand roll. It was his only hope of escaping the Zeus missile.

“Warning warning multiple missile locks confirmed. Warning warning, fuel expended.” These new alarm changed everything. Without counter measures, weapons, and out of fuel, Toms only hope of evading the missiles was to cut his engines and coast in for a landing.

“Get it on the deck Tom.” He thought as he cut his engines and grabbed the control stick with both hands. Even with gravity control and inertial dampeners he knew the fighter would fall from the sky like a brick without its engines. But it was his only chance at evading the Zeus air to air missiles that were now hunting him.

Tom’s fighter was far from graceful as it made its rapid decent toward the ground, Tom worked the control stick with both hands attempting to keep the fighter from banking to far left or right. It was working, and Tom knew it for he had not yet exploded into a fire ball or rolled upside down and crashed into the ground. The Predator’s landing was far from text book, but well away from a crash. Tom had lowered the landing gear only seconds before his fighter touched down. The forward gear collapse immediately upon landing throwing Tom forward against his restraints. The nose of the fighter dug into the soft ground and heaved dirt and grass over the canopy into the sky. The aft landing gear remained in position as the fighter plowed deep into the ground and continued its forward momentum for several hundred meters before finally stopping. Tom wasted no time, he hit the emergency canopy blow control. The canopy blew away from the fighter with a loud pop leaving a cloud of gray smoke and dirt behind to fall into the cockpit. Tom had already released the restraint harness and was climbing out of the cockpit when he heard the explosions. He looked around for the source before noticing the several smoke plumes. “Well at least they didn’t hit me.” He thought as he slid down the side of the fighter and onto the ground. From where he was standing, Tom could see that he was only about a mile from the city of Camellia, and the continuing battle. He knew that the ground forces at Camellia could not hold off the shock troops of the Global Alliance for long. It was only a matter of time now before the city, and the Praetorian Republic would fall. Millions of innocent people, men women, and children would pay a horrible price for his failure.

“Freeze!” Said a metallic voice from behind Tom. The noise from the guns of the overhead Global Alliance ships was so thunderously loud that Tom had not heard the dozen or so men in armored battle suites come up behind him until one of them spoke. As Tom slowly raised his hands and began to turned something hard hit him knocking him to the ground. Tom had enough time to look up once before a second blow knocked him unconscious. Tom never saw who it was that struck him, but he knew that the man who had hit him wore the uniform of the Global Alliance.

[ March 18, 2003, 16:37: Message edited by: Atrocities ]

[Ragnarok]

Wow, great story Atrocities. I like the way it is going so far. I look forward to the next part of it.

[Atrocities]

The Discovery

2391.6
Eleven Years Later….

The weather on the Victorian Glacier of the Northern Continent of Bastion during the summer months is less than hospitable yet far more welcoming than that of the winter weather. It is because of these somewhat friendlier condition that many scientist studying the ice flows of the Victorian Glacier choose to do their research during the summer months.

Dr. Brook Mentor was an middle aged physically fit man with streaks of gray running through his otherwise jet black hair. Dr. Mentor was the planets most revered scientist in the study of gravitational technology. He was also a great inventor of new technologies for which he found himself this day standing in a tent on the northern most plain of the Victorian Glacier.

Dr. Mentor had a busy day planned for himself and his staff. It was up to them to determine the depth of the ice flow by means of gravimetric core sampling. A new method that had not yet been tested. The old fashioned way was to use an iceothermic laser to resound the depth by the use of reverting laser measurements. A time consuming process that required several peaces of temperamental equipment. More accurately as Dr. Mentors staff had begun to not so affectionately refer to the equipment as, cold weather temperamental equipment or CWTE. With this new technology the job of measuring the ice pack in this section of the Victorian Glacier would be cut in half. Measurements this far up the Glacier had never been attempted before because of the equipment limitations. But now with this new technology, it can be done.

Dr. Mentor worked mildly on the new equipment making minuet adjustments and other modifications. He wanted the test to go smoothly after all it was his invention, and if it worked, it would revolutionize the field of gravitational technologies. He was working slowly but with deliberate effort when Nina Smith approached

“Dr. Dr Mentor!” Nina asked. “Dr. did you hear?” Nina was a young twenty something student of his who was as eager to learn as she was to please. She was a strikingly beautiful women of medium build with ample blond hair that hung down to her waist. She had the most radiant green eyes he had ever seen, and often marveled at the brilliance that radiated from them like beckon in the night sky. She was among the most intelligent women that he had even known, and he had come to both admire her and love her as much as he had his own daughter before her untimely death.

“Dr., have heard?” She asked again as she stepped up next to him and peered down at what it was he was working on.
“Heard what my dear?” He asked as he continued his work without looking up.
“They found something under the ice.” She was very excited and it showed. Dr. Mentor looked up from his work and faced her.
“Who found what under the ice Nina?” He asked.
“The advance team found something big under the ice just over the peek to the east.” She replied. “I thought you had been told. I only just found out about it five minutes ago from some of the other students.” No doubt about it, she was excited.
“Dr. Ramzies group found something under the ice. No, I had not heard.” It was puzzling for him for Ramzies should have communicated any findings he or his team had made in immediately. “Who did you say you heard this from?”
“Melissa Anne told me about it. She and Mike Roberts are over in the supply tent gathering supplies for Dr. Ramzies. They had told me that they had just gotten back and were surprised that a research team wasn‘t being assembled. ”
“Indeed.” Mused Mentor as he looked out toward the east. “I wonder why Bill didn’t call it in. Here, why don’t you walk with me over to the supply tent. I want to have a talk with Ms. Anne.” With that he and Nina existed his work tent.

The trek a crossed the ice from Dr. Mentors tent to the supply tent was a short one. Most of the tents in the camp were within twenty meters of the supply and mess tents. Of all of the expedition Dr. Mentor had been on, this one was the most particular of them all. Because of the furious winds that whipped down from the northern pole of the planet, their base camp had to be set up in a man made gully cut from the ice by the Global Core of Engineers. The whole process of excavating this site for the base camp took the Corps about six weeks to complete. It was not a large area, but large enough to provide suitable cover for the scientist and their equipment. Dr. Mentor pondered many things as he and Nina entered the supply tent among them, what it was that Dr. Ramzies had discovered.

“Melissa, Dr. Mentor would like to speak to you.” Nina said as she and Dr. Mentor entered the supply tent. Melissa Anne was a tall slender average looking women with very short cut hair. She was in the process of gathering imaging equipment when they entered and her hands were full.
“Here allow me.” Offered Dr. Mentor as he took a few peaces of equipment from her arms and set them down upon the work table.
“Nina has told me that Dr. Ramzies and his team have discovered something under the ice to the east of here, is that correct?”
“Yes Dr., I thought he had commed the discovery in. I was sent back with Mike to gather the imaging scanner, a generator, lights and fuel. We were to meet with you and your team and lead you back to the site. I kind of figured that with a discovery of this kind, he would have alerted you by the time we got back here. I was surprised to see that you had not organized a research team. I had planed to talk to you as soon as we had gathered our gear.”
“No, Dr. Ramzies has not commed in.” Replied Mentor as he pondered why. “Could your com unit have gone down?”
“No sir, it’s one of the new vector communications units. You know, the ones they put on the space shuttles.”
“Hum, well I will buzz him then. Go ahead and continue gathering the supplies he has requested. I’ll be back in a moment.” Dr. Mentor turned and existed the supply tent without waiting for a reply.

“Commander Thomas Allen Christopher?”
Tom Christopher was busy working under his 2320 Vulcan Ascender, a classic ground car that he was in the process of restoring, when out of the blue came the question. He ponder for a second on whether or not he should respond or simply ignore the question and continue working.

“Excuse me sir, are you Commander Thomas Allen Christopher formerly of the United Global Alliance Air Force?”

Ok, he thought, there was no escaping it, he pulled himself out from under the Ascender and looked up at the man asking the question. He was in uniform, an officer from the looks of it. About a meter and a half tall, with dark black hair cut military style and a boyish face.
“Who wants to know?” He asked politely.
“I am Lieutenant Richard Hess of the UGAAF sir, and I have been asked to find you.”
“Well good for you Lieutenant, you’ve found me. So what can I do for you?”
“Sir I need for you to accompany me to the capitol.”

Tom had moved to a sitting position by this time, and was wiping the grim from his hands with a shop rage. He made a slight sighing sound as he stood and looked down upon the shorter man. Tom Christopher was an imposing man at nearly six feet eight, and years of military service had shown him that using his size to intimidate people often gave him an advantage. “Why?” He asked of the smaller man standing before him.

“Well sir.” the young man took a stepped back. “The Prime Minister has sent for you.”

This was not what Tom had expected, he had figured the lonely Lieutenant was sent to fetch him for some military brass celebration honoring him yet again for his heroic exploits during the battle for Camellia. A setting that Tom had long since grown tired of. “What for?” He asked the Lieutenant as he walked toward the shop sink.

“I am not purvey to the information Commander.” Replied Hess.
“Stop calling me Commander, Lieutenant.” Said Tom as he washed his hands. “I am retired.”
“Yes Commander, I mean sir.” Hess said nervously.
“Tom, call me Tom.”
“Very well Commander, I mean sir.” The young Lieutenant looked down nervously. “Sorry Mr. Christopher.”
“What is it Lieutenant, never met a war hero before?” Asked Tom as he dried his hands.
“I have met war hero’s before sir, but not one as distinguished as yourself.” Replied Hess with genuine sincerity.
“I am no war hero Lieutenant, I am a merely a victim of circumstance. That’s all.” Stated Tom as he hung up the towel and began to remove his shop coveralls. “So you have been sent to fetch me for the Prime Minister for reason unknown to you. Is that correct?”
“Yes Sir.” Responded Hess.
Tom gave Hess a slightly benevolent look. “Sounds like a set up to me.” He finally said as he finished removing his coveralls. “Are you a car buff Lieutenant?” Ask Tom as he noticed the young Lieutenant admiring his collection.
“Yes sir, I am.” Replied Hess as he looked about the shop.
“Then my young friend, we have something to talk about on our trip to see the Prime Minister.”

Bill Ramzies was a smart man who knew when to keep something off the air. He had spent nearly thirty years of his scientific life working for the Global Alliance Military Command Research Division and had come to understand that the less you said the less those who listened knew. Ramzies was in his mid sixties now, and exploring the Victorian Glacier and its ice pack had become his lives work. But now, that was about to change and he did not want to loose the opportunity before he had the chance to explore it.
“I can’t talk about it Brook. I think it best that you bring your new core sampler and your team over here as soon as possible. You have got to take a look for your self.”

Ramzies was standing next to the com unit while his team was working nearby. Ramzies knew that Mentor was a a smart man and would realize that if he did not want to talk about what he had discovered over an open Com channel than it was indeed a monumental discovery.

“We’ll be at your location in about three hours.” Mentors voice was as clear coming our of the com unit as if he were standing next Ramzies in person. Ramzies waited for Mentor to finish before speaking.
“Brook, bring as many supplies and personnel as you can. I have a feeling we are going to be here for a while.”
“Understood Bill. See you in about three hours then. Base camp out.” With that Ramzies switched the com unit to standby and began taking in the site around him. He and his team had spent the better part of the day mapping out the circumference of the object they had found under the ice. It was massive, nearly a half a mile in diameter. A truly impressive find. And one that would surely put his and his teams names in the history books for all time.

Dr. Mentor and his team arrived at Dr. Ramzies discovery site in just under two hours and thirty minutes. The journey acrossed the ice plain was a tedious one and not without its share of danger. Since the turn of the century over twenty six people had died during expeditions to study the Victorian Glacier, and Dr. Mentor was determined that neither he nor any member of his team would become victim number twenty seven.

As Dr. Mentors Snow Marshal, a small ten man transport with great range and agility, hovered in for a landing he could see the markers that outlined the circumference of the object that Dr. Ramzies and his team had discovered. It was massive.

As soon as the his Snow Marshal had landed he opened the door and stepped out. He was immediately met by Dr. Ramzies and they shook hands and exchanged pleasantries.
“I see you have already mapped out its boundaries.” Said Dr. Mentor as he and Dr. Ramzies walked away from the Snow Marshal toward what appeared to Dr. Mentor as the camps operations tent.
“Yes, we spent the better part of today doing it. This thing is massive Brook. I am talking at least one hundred to two hundred and fifty million tons.” Dr. Mentor stopped and looked at his college Dr. Bill Ramzies with astonishment.
“Are you certain?” He asked.
“Not for sure yet, but with your Gravimetric Core Sampler and our imaging scanners, we should be able to obtain an accurate size assessment.” Replied Ramzies with eagerness in his voice.
“What do you think it is Bill?”
“To be honest at first we had thought it to be an undiscovered city, perhaps pre-Sylvanian, but after a bit we began to realize that this thing was no ancient city.” He and Dr. Mentor resumed walking. “I think we may have discovered a vessel that originated from another civilization.”
“You can’t be serious?” Said Dr. Mentor. “You think you have discovered a space craft?”
“I am not sure, but whatever it is, it is incredibly old.” As he and Dr. Mentor entered the operations tent, Dr, Mentor took a seat and accepted a hot cup of cannaberry from an assistant working in the tent. As he sipped the hot cannaberry with apparent satisfaction Dr. Ramzies busied himself giving orders to a few of the new arrivals as they set about the task of setting up a camp. Once he had finished he returned his attention to Dr. Mentor.
“We should have the camp up in about four hours or so. In the mean time if you would like, we can begin setting up your gravitational equipment.” Ramzies said as he sat down in chair next to Dr. Mentor.

“I’ll have Nina start immediately. Have you established any point of entry?” Asked Mentor.
“Not yet, that is what we need your equipment for. The image scanners can only give us a rough picture of the viewable sections of this thing. Your equipment can provide us with a 3d image.”
“Very well, I will have her set up directly in front of our position here, and begin working in a clock wise motion. It should take about twelve hours to complete the entire circumference that you have outlined.”
“I will have an extra viewer placed in here.” Said Ramzies as he and Dr. Mentor stood and placed their cups on the table behind them.
“Very good.” Replied Dr. Mentor and he and Dr. Ramzies exited the operation tent. “I will be assisting Nina if you need me.” With that he and Dr. Ramzies parted company and set about performing their independent tasks.

The process of scanning the objects outer boundaries with the Gravametric Core Sampler took less time than Dr. Mentor had expected. He and Nina Smith had nearly completed there scan when Dr. Ramzies approached yelling and waving his hands in the air.
“Stop! Stop!” He yelled as he came closer. Both Nina and Dr. Mentor looked at Dr. Ramzies with puzzlement.
“What is it Bill?” Asked Dr. Mentor.
“The Imaging team has found something.” He replied. “They think its an opening of some kind.”
Nina and Dr. Mentor looked at each other then back at Dr. Ramzies.
“Where?” Asked Nina looking around.
“At the eight o’clock position.” Replied Dr. Ramzies. “Your readings produced an anomaly and I sent out the imaging team to gather more information. They just returned.”
“Nina can you finish this up by yourself?” Asked Dr. Mentor politely.
“Yes Dr., I should be done in about an hour.” She replied.
“Good, once you’ve finished why don’t you grab something to eat then join us in the operations tent.”
“I’d rather just go out to the eight o’clock site and rescan it once I‘ve finished here.” Said Nina.
“There will be plenty of time to do that in the morning. And I will need you rested and full of energy for tomorrow.” Dr Mentor was smiling now, he knew she would go for days before taking time to rest, and it was his job to ensure that she did not over do it. He needed her, and he needed her rested and alert.”
“I’ll see you later then Nina. Lead the way Dr. Ramzies.” Siad Dr. Mentor as he and Dr. Ramzies began walking back toward the Operations tent. Nina continued on scanning.

“As you can see from the image, it is clearly an opening.” Said Dr. Ramzies as he pointed to an image on the viewer. “The imaging teams scans have confirmed it. It is an opening.” Dr. Mentor looked at the images before him, and quietly speculated on what this latest discovery meant.
“If these scans are accurate, than that opening is nearly half a mile down. We will need the Global Engineering Corp to cut an opening in the ice to reach it.” He finally said.

Dr. Ramzies looked shocked. “Well that would mean notifying Global Command of our discovery.”

Dr. Mentor could tell that Dr. Ramzies was not pleased with his suggestion or the prospect of governmental interference in his work.
“Look Bill, it is nearly half a mile down. That is not something that we are equipped to deal with. At best we could cut away maybe half that distance before the winter storms arrive. The Engineering Corp can do it in a matter of days.”

“I just don’t like the idea of turning this discovery over to the government. Remember I worked for them for many years, and I know how they think. They will shut us down, and slap a gage order on us to keep us from telling any one about our discovery.”

“You forget my friend, I have connections.” Stated Dr. Mentor as he mischievously smiled.

[ December 28, 2002, 22:50: Message edited by: Atrocities ]

[tokche]

it said that tom was in teh united global alliance air force...but in the first thread of this story it says that he is defending the capital of Praetorian Republic from the Grand Alliance and he was later captured. Other than that the story is great. Im guessing that the Praetorian Republic was assimilated into the Global Alliance. Keep the stories coming in!

[mlmbd]

Atrocities, very very nice story. It reads with a lot of interest, aswell. Well done!

mlmbd

[Raging Deadstar]

I liked the story, keep up the good writing