Chapter 1 (Fate of the Armadeaus)
--------------------------------
DARK HAVEN
Chapter 2 (Portents)
Argon Fleet Command
Admiral Ornov stands in the conference room, alone, he stares out into the blackness of space contemplating his retirement. Still a couple of years away, but nothing could be better than being back on Argon Prime doing a little fishing in some remote lake. He thinks to himself 'Just me and the fish, no politicians no people no...' (A knock at the door) '...no interruptions, I might not even bait the line.'
Commander Reamus enters the room.
"Admiral Ornov, we received the latest log update transmission from the deep space patrol vessel Armadeaus a little over an hour ago."
"Yes Commander Reamus, there's nothing unusual in that. We receive the log update automatically from every ship every hour."
"Yes, but we didn't receive the next update ten minutes ago, the computer alerted us to this and we..."
"What! another communications malfunction. I swear if I get my hands on those bureaucrats who keep cutting our budget. They figure with the Xenon virtually eradicated they don't need us anymore. We can barely afford repairs and maintenance. It's only a matter of time before the Boron and Split flare up again, and guess who will have to step in. With our ships in this state we might just get our butts kicked this time.
Commander, do you know what happened last week to the Argon One ?"
"No Admiral, but this is..."
"Well I'll tell you. One of the GHEPT's fell off. I mean can you imagine, the pride of the Argon fleet patrolling home world and it just falls off. Some kind of damned space fungus, the lab boys are analysing it.
If this were ever to go public ... I don't know what I'd do."
"Admiral, we've been looking over the last log entries from the Armadeaus, it doesn't look like a malfunction. In fact they might have run into some trouble. We haven't been able to contact them."
The Commander placed his personal data pad (PDP) in a slot on the conference table then manipulated the appropriate controls.
A holographic three dimensional star map appeared in the air above the table as the lights dimmed.
The Commander zoomed the image into a particular solar system.
"This is the system the Armadeaus was patrolling at the time"
"This is one of the newly discovered systems?"
"Yes Admiral, discovered almost month ago. Currently known as X8.
As usual we sent a in scout to take a look around the vicinity of the gate, seeing nothing of interest, we sent the Armadeaus in for a more thorough search."
"The Armadeaus, if I remember correctly is one of the new M6 Corvettes.
Nice ships, pity we could only afford to build ten.
Who is the Captain?"
"Captain Jack Monroe."
"Never heard of him."
"Recently promoted, the Armadeaus is his first command."
"Well Commander, what did you find in the logs that is so troubling?"
Commander Reamus pressed another button on the PDP and the 3D map zoomed in further.
"You can see the gate in the bottom corner and the dotted line shows the path of the Armadeaus. As I zoom the image further you can see the Armadeaus at its last known position."
"Is that a station it is parked next to."
"Yes."
Reamus zooms further until the station and Armadeaus fill the view.
The Stations hull is black in colour and very smooth, creepy looking, and size compared to the ship shows that the station is not large.
"What do we know about this station, Commander?"
"Sensors couldn't penetrate the hull. So the logs can't tell us anything but size and shape. We compared it to all known structures and got a fairly close match. The Teladi Solar Power Plant is an 88% match on shape and size. Though the material the hull is made of clearly isn't a match."
"Looks like we've found some pirates here. They've got themselves a Teladi SPP, made a few minor alterations, slapped on a bit of black paint and stuck it out in the middle of nowhere."
"And the sensor blocking?"
"No doubt some new Paranid tech they have stolen. We know the Paranid have been working on sensor jammers. They really should be more careful with their prototypes.
There should be nothing to worry about, a station that size couldn't hold more than about 3 fighters, an M6 and its M5 are more than a match for three times that many.
Commander, where is the M5. It should be attached to the underside of the M6, I don't see it on the image there."
"According to the logs, the Captain took the M5 for a closer look." Reamus walks around the table. "You can see the M5 and the captain in his EVA suit round the back of the station here."
"Damn it Reamus, I'm not walking all round there. Rotate the image."
The commander returns to the other side of the table and presses another button.
"I see. What the hell does Monroe think he is doing floating around outside a pirate station! If he's not already a slave I'll make him wish he was!"
"The last thing the Armadeaus' sensors detected before this log update was sent back was the beginning of an energy spike."
"You mean weapons fire?"
"No much bigger. Almost enough to disrupt the update transmission, we received a lot of static with it."
"Any idea what would have caused that?"
"A Wormhole is enough to cause a little static but no disruption unless you are actually inside it. So no."
"Very well, what is the nearest ship to X8?"
The Commander zoomed the map back out to the large star map view showing all the known systems and dots showing the positions of all Argon Fleet ships. Then he zoomed in to an area showing sectors near X8.
"There is the nearest." He zoomed in on Ocean of Fantasy. "A patrol currently flying through Ocean of Fantasy en'rute to X10, another newly discovered sector."
"Which Ship is that?"
"The Jubilee under Captain Jessica Hall, another M6 on its maiden voyage, it is being escorted to X10 by two Elites."
"Contact Captain Hall and send her and the two M3s to investigate the 'missing' Armadeaus and the station. And tell her to be very careful"
Commander Reamus took his PDP and left the room.
...
Admiral Ornov leaned back in his chair.
The Admiral thought to himself -
'I hope it's only pirates.
I've been hearing about things, nightmarish things, moving like ghosts in the outer sectors.
I hoped just rumour, but as they say "every rumour has at least an element of truth"'
Admiral Ornov tapped a control on his console, a moment later the face of an old friend appeared.
"Argon Titan, General Kaar."
"Kaar you old menace, how are things?"
"Ornov, It's been too long. I'm well, all the better for being back out in the field, that desk job was killing me. And you still owe me a bottle of space fuel."
"I should know better than to gamble with you.
Anyway, I called because I may have a mission for you."
"About time, I've been patrolling this same sector for months, starting to get a little dizzy."
"I can't give you any details at this time, but sufficed to say prepare yourself and your ship for battle. I may call you at a moment's notice."
Dark Haven - Chapter 2
Moderators: TheElf, Moderators for English X Forum
), just as much as the admiral comes across as being very conceited 
-
Deleted User
-
Admiral Remus
- Posts: 237
- Joined: Wed, 6. Nov 02, 20:31
I wouldn't worry about naming the chapters. Simply name the story and then number the chapterscrunn wrote:Thanks again guys.
Chapter 3 is nearly done, don't have a title yet though.
Anyone else find the title more difficult to write than the chapter
Mmm, well, perhaps not 'all'.robroy wrote:I'm sure all will be revealed in the next installment
'All' will be revealed in the Final chapter
Al
![[ external image ]](http://www.geocities.com/secondbatch0203/sbpa1.gif){kind=link}