What does rough copy mean? To me this indicates that I will be updating the descriptions of various 'items' like M2 -could mean lotsa things to a newcomer, so at least one M2 will get a full ship-type description.As required: the plot will adjust; names will be added and altered; history will be edited; you name it and I may be reworking it, although I am going to try to keep the essential direction of things intact
One essential is that I will be adding some breakers to put space between paras, and make identity of viewpoint clear(er).
This will take time, so meanwhile, be naughty, have fun and don't get caught - unless you want to be
. WE WERE SUSPENDED IN THE VOID
rough copy
chapter 1
We were suspended in the void, as we had been since 'The Time Began'- our proud cities, our homes, our lives, our hearts, our souls, floating in eternity. We live for the joy and the revelation, for the dream-time and the building of our Gardens and Citadels of Light. See how the colours of a thousand suns are reflected in the walls of the hard sharp substances, the glittery bobbits of unfathomable alien design, and the jagged slabs the far-travellers shed when their titanic battles pass us by.
Some times, when they pass nearby, we go to visit them. we dance and shine our joys and sorrows for them: 'Come out, come with us, share our hope eternal,' we say to them, but never do they reply, no answer, no response, no call is felt in the continuum.
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chapter 2
Silent Thunder
Exerpts from Pilot's Log of the Silent Thunder
LOG I have sent the Reef to my son to form the basis of his fortune upon the occasion of his immanent Maturation Ceremony, as did my father for me:
LOG/histLittle more than an eggling was I, glorying in the Goner Tales of the Hero Brennan, who the argon claim as their own. They forget it was we Teladi who rescued him: repairing his ship, upgrading his datacore, loaned him a maturity stake and sound advice to fare out into the spacelanes, trade and make profits - just as we give our egglings.
LOG/hist The data core upgrade, which was as good as you could get in those days, was like everyone else's supplied by the Seizewell Infohac Corporation. They were once a galactic monopoly, and very profitable, yet now only a memory. They failed to honour a contract with a freelancer they engaged to ensure monopoly maintenance.
LOG/hist Grandpa, funnily enough, was already poised to set up the iTg and its franchises. He always said of SIC their products were bedevilled by endless inaccuracies propagated by a lack of thorough infoveting procedures that their arrogance persuaded them were of no consequence. = caesar SIC in omnibus. After all their billions of customers among the five races could not be wrong, could they? Apparently not, and the billions of customers all agreed with Grandpa, for when the crunch came, no one suggested an investigation...
LOG/hist Another valuable lesson SIC failed to pick up on – never piss off your own security. They made themselves ripe for it.
LOG/hist Nowadays the iTg is one of a number of prestigious vendors, whose names are bywords for accurate and trustworthy information brokerage among the races, and highly profitable business it is too. Needless to say (hint) iTg security is more than excellent and very discrete
LOG Thus, as is the custom, i am absenting myself for the duration of my son’s Ceremony, just to give him a little extra space while he esstablishes himself.
LOG I have always been fascinated by spaceflies – just the sight of them shining in the darkness between the suns is enough for my soul. But what do we really know about them – they ‘fly’ as fast as many modern spaceships, are unbelievably tough – I have heard a tale of a split raptor that rammed one head-on, and was stopped cold. Astounding creatures.
LOG There is something about them, something I had never met before, a kind of blessing, a beneficence draws me to them, and so having set my affairs in order i board Silent Thunder – flyward bound, heh, I set course for a swarm.
LOG It was in a little known area of space. Rumor had it that it was right on the edge of explored space, so I had ventured further and further out towards the rim stars chasing this dream of a swarm.
When I first found the sector I had the strangest feeling it was in an area where the odd Nvidium asteroid might be found and thus had more than one reason to return…proffitsss?
to be continued...in ch3
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Chapter 3
This One was curious, this One we had sensed before in the Greatship, but this time he comes alone in one of the Smallships that travel with the Greatship. It was said of the Time Before the Greatship that the Darkships would come and tear from our sense-nets those of our kin who strayed too close to them. But since the first coming of the Greatship we had not sensed anymore Darkships – only the ‘Ship of Pain’ - which came after the Greatship had left this last Time – and departed when we attacked.
But this Curious One, there was something I’ve sensed in him of the Old Ones who left with our friends in the Long Ago. We sensed a Greatsoul.
What? You know not of the Old Ones of the Longtime Before. Once we were theirs. In the Faraway beyond the Forbidding most of our Kin still are. They are as we should have become, Soulships of the Old Ones. They left with our friends in the Long Ago, singing their way across the Galaxies, their wings of gossamer shed, and in their place, Soulspan Uplifts. They left when the new races began their rise…when will we see you again? We are alone. How could we let them leave us?
Why are we not with them? How could we leave our homes, our birthplaces, and our Heart-stars. We are the tied – we cannot depart, ever, for that would destroy us – we told them to leave without us. Yet without them we can never transcend, we can never become that which we were meant to be – Soulships of the Old Ones.
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Chapter 4
WORKING very ROUGH - HERE IS THE STATE OF CH4
Chapter 4
LOG As I climbed into ‘Silent Thunder’s’ Airlock I felt strangely detached from the continuum. The ‘Reef’ had been my home for the greater part of my life.
…Her Flight Deck. +3 hangars
Engineering: repair shops; refinery; engine rooms; life support; shields; medical
Gunnery: main cannon; 4 large blisters; lotsa pea-shooters (varies); armory
Missile Decks: storage; load; tubes.
Intelligence: - comms; strategy and tactics briefing; special ops; training; trade central
Living Quarters: rec rooms; refectory; cabins; and dorms.
Storage: minerals; processed materials; spares; mechanicals; domestic; trade.
More, more, more…
http://www.freewebs.com/gremlinhome/websalbum.htm
LOG A ship? She is a whole world in herself. Given time and raw materials, she could probably make anything you wanted – and you would start with the tools and machines to make machines – she can fight off her own weight in fighters, trash a space station, or an M2. She can trade, jump, run, and attack both space-based and ground-based forces and installations. As an operations base she is second to none. Her Class – Operations Support Tender 1A / OST1A.
LOG The thing about the Reef is her adaptability. Whatever you want, bolt it on almost anywhere. Brilliant concept. Just like a coral reef back on terra, a framework onto which various organisms latch, for safety, for increase, a home. In the normal way of things, the only things she needs to buy in are ships, and people, and she could handle a chreche easily. The big fat sausage, I love her.
LOG It’s not as if I’ll never see her again, but when I do she will no longer be mine, and she will be changed. Every ship has her own feel, and responds differently to each captain and crew change. Ssss no, she won’t be the same again. Goodbye.
LOG Tung Pee is on comms – short sharp, concise. Running checks, ignition: the walls slide past in one seamless russshhhh….. and we’re out into the void. The ‘Reef@ falls away, and as it’s outline dwindles the stars shine through.
LOG If I had nothing else to build my life on this would destroy me, but I have been trading, building factories, and recruiting pilots all over for some years now. The ‘Reef’ was my base of operations for this – if I wanted I could buy an M2 or M1, from any of the races, and crew it with top people, but right now I prefer the solitude that an M3 like ‘Silent Thunder’ offers. She’s as good as it gets, if you want to go solo, and was ‘first ship’ for the ‘Reef’ these past couple of years. The Reef carries a maximum of three ships, the rest of the cargo capacity is for Nav-sat, Drones, Laz-towers, you know? The usual essential toys. I am comfortable with Silent Thunder, somewhat battered as she is, but the Reef has always been special to me…I still cannot believe what is happening…
LOG My course is laid in to the gate, and I settle into the chair with a sigh, scanning the lanes, the surrounding sectors, for threats, profit opportunitysss, always checking the details, and then the iTg business, trade and manufactories nets – holiday or no, it’ss always time to make profitsss.
LOG As we approach the shimmering Gate a Teladi Vulture flashes into being (saw it approach the other side) the icon shows green, and I noticed is one of ours – the guild is everywhere. But this one carries my eldest – good luck son, my heart whispers, as I remember the first time he gouged me for more pocket-money. I don’t enter into negotiations on this subject with him present anymore, because he now charges interest! But I watch him pass silently – he would not thank me for interrupting his ceremony. I’ll see him at the bank, when it’s time to repay the loans. A happy reunion that will be, and especially with the bank manager there to tell us how many profitsss we will have accrued. Happy trading.
LOG Then we’re in the lane, on approach to the towering disk of the Gate, and it expands still, until the engines are cut as the gate fills my vision, and…we splash…-life is a roller-coaster-…thrumm …out through the far splash ..side
LOG The sectors fly past in a dream, another sector, another gate, world after world, star after star, the neblae, and dust clouds flash through the spectrum, one after another, the colours deepen, darken, stars thin, until one last splash, and everywhere stars are dancing in the void – I am surrounded by tens and tens of fluttering light forms. I’m back…
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Chapter 5
“Welcome! Welcome! Welcome!!” we dance. The Curious one glides slowly towards us in the smallship, and we share our joy in the Pirouette and Spirals, Broad Parabolas and Swift Vertices. Basking in Suns’ Lights. “See our story, hear our dance, we dance our joy for you. Hear us!, Hear us!”LOG I glide Silent Thunder towards my dancing friends – what joy they express in life – if only we could understand what they are saying. No one ever has.
LOG I shake myself awake, and ease through their ranks. Their dance is becoming more and more compelling, almost hypnotic, I break my awareness free with a jerk of my head – time enough for that when I have completed the scan for the Nvidium Asteroid!
LOG Boosting up gradually, I pull away toward the west to start my sweep, and I pull a bright tail of twinkling stars in my wake, while others sweep back toward their habitat, a glittering junkpile in the Easterm edge of the sector, just on the edge of the ‘grid’, no doubt to do space flyish things.
Many of us follow as the smallship gradually accelerates towards a small group of ‘stones’ across the way, yet others return to our Void-Home to dance among its spires, weaving the Pattern of the Welcome into the This Time.We sense the Curious One’s interest in these Rocks, but cannot understand the reason for it. After all they are simple barren rocks, nothing of use or interest there. But we enjoy his enthusiasm, and most especially his curiosity - it touches something deep within us, and his feeling are so clear to us, why can he not hear us? Heart-suns’ light flow like dappled waves over the skin of his smallship, and we dance to our reflected reflections thereon. Dance on…
LOG I can hardly believe this, I have a huge cloud of spaceflies trailing me, hundreds of them – Silent Thunder glides on a never ending carpet of whirling lights – I switch off the cabin lights, dim the consoles and hud to bask in this glorious display. What are they trying to say I wonder? For I am sure they are trying to say something….
?LOG? So as we flow, dance on I light up a spool of spaceweed. NOW WAIT A MINUTE, I am Teladi, and spaceweed does not affect me as it does other races – that is not a matter of opinion, it is Medical Fact – like the Boron and water, they actually breathe it. It does not harm them, it is a fundamental part of their nature, not an addiction, it is good for them. Without water they die, if other races try to breathe water they die – should we make water illegal? I think not.
LOG Some people would say that spaceweed is not essential to Teladi, but I believe that to dismiss the teladi point of view would be entirely unreasonable, and unhelpful. We Teladi are blessed with a very highly developed sense of the value of things. Sometimes we get too focussed on the details and lose our sense of proportion, but spaceweed acts as a very mild balancing agent, and helps us to relax and recoup energy and think things through more thoroughly.
LOG/hist When we first met the races we naturally explored all avenues for mutual profit, and offered to share our good fortune in the matter of spaceweed, and had no idea of the full effect it was having on them because they always told us it was wonderful, and if their behavior sometimes seemed a bit strange to us, we were not concerned because these were alien peoples and we expected strangeness, thus we simply adapted our opinion to accommodate. Seeing that our new friends desired more and more spaceweed we were only too happy to grow and process increasing amounts and sell it to them at very reasonable, and profitable prices. Thus a huge industry developed that our economy was heavily dependant on at a time when we needed to accrue every resource we could lay our hands on to even hope to interact with the more technically advanced races. Believe me, when I say that in one very important respect spaceweed actually held us up because almost all of the technicians we worked with were out of their minds. And of course, when dealing with the Split , it is essential to gain their respect through tough bargaining, and non-confrontational dynamics – like being indispensable in a non capturable/killable way.
LOG/hist So by the time we came to realise that there was a very real problem, and not just propaganda by competing companies trying to get in on our territory and profits, it was too late. With the Xenon on the prowl we had no choice if all were to survive – not just Teladi. As much as any other race, perhaps because of the universal appeal of spaceweed, the Teladi Company was holding together and providing links between people who would not otherwise have been able to co-operate. Not just in the sectors owned by the five races, but also in those taken over by the Xenon. And now you wish to ask what the hell I am on about?
LOG/hist Everyone assumed initially, because of some of the appalling atrocities carried out by the Xenon on civilian populations and even the destruction of entire planets, that they sought our extinction. But if you think about it in hindsight, what they actually did was eliminate the base populations and facilities needed to sustain major planetary and orbital industry. One of the most obvious examples of this would be the Home of Light: a burgeoning Hi-Tec industry, that would have become the major researcher, developer and producer of key military and industrial components in the Argon sectors was almost totally eliminated. The damage included the almost total gutting of the vast skills base that supported it and vital knowledge lost that might have catapulted the Argon into a commanding technological lead.
LOG/hist Many Argons survived this catastrophe by fleeing the local grid, powering out of the stellar ecliptic, and not stopping their flight until the Xenon were driven back from the system. Then these brave refugees returned to the shattered remains of their dreams and piece by piece began to rebuild as an entirely space-based culture.
LOG/hist And so it was in the lightly populated Xenon sectors (later known as pirate and independent sectors) –planets that were colonisable remained largely intact, pockets of resistance to the Xenon survived, fearful colonists hid and prayed, scanning the skies for salvation or damnation. The brave souls who dared the bitter gauntlet of the colossal Xenon fleets in their antiquated rust-buckets to bring the basic supplies without which such splinter groups could not have survived.
LOG/hist Not only the Xenon, but also the military of the five races at first, terrified that such smuggling might spark off unanticipated conflict with the Xenon, stood between these pitiful remnants and survival. But from these few fragile enclaves were born the Pirate Worlds and Clans. People sneer at them nowadays, but to their own people they were heroes one and all. In their scrap-metal rust-buckets and rejects, they out-fought, out-flew and out-manoeuvered throughout Xenon, keeping their kin and kith alive at huge sacrifice, and incidentally, opening up the Xenon sectors to the through traffic of the five races. Thus enabling them to re-establish trade routes, providing cover for covert teams to gather vital intelligence and eventually to go on the offensive. Who do you think taught the pirates to tune their engines? Not the Teladi, though it might have been an idea, someone beat us to it. So there was give and tale all round, except that all the Xenon gave was fire and death.
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The Curious One, his emotions flow from one state to another, like the sparks of light on the Big Stone. Patterns, splash across his soul, jumping in and out of focus, and then there is an outpouring from within his cavern within the smallship, and all at once our wings hum in sympathy. For me it is as if something has awoken deep inside, I know not what, but the music in my wings strengthens, and turns into a constant throb. It is most strange, I have never felt like this before…-----------------------------------------------------
LOG As we approach the first group of asteroids, my escorts spread out and clear my forward path. Linking into my HUD I slow and lock onto the first of them, activating my mineral detector – nothing, a second, third, fourth, fifth, all blanks – oh well. I have time, and there are many here to survey, maybe it is time to rest?
LOG/recipe Yes, great idea, this is a holiday for me, yet I have travelled far, found much to think on, time to satisfy the inner Teladi. So I reach for the galley, to pull out the nostrop oil, with certain delicious ingredients that the Argon grow, to make an Argon version of an old family recipee: marrows y poivrons etouffeess a la style de paysano.
LOG/recipe This has to simmer in a large covered dish for a long time, so I then lean back in my flight chair, and bask in the reflected light shed by a hundred wings.…
cuntinues in Ch 6.....
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