Border Disputes Chapter 3 (1/2 also inside)

[Hawk_strike]

If youve read the other chapters just scroll to the bottom, ive put them here cos its been a while since i posted the original chapters and links can be tedious for the reader


Border Disputes.

Setting:
Here’s a little background on the story, it’ll help you understand what’s going on, because am starting the story a little Abruptly

Year: 784 (2954)

A long time has passed since the Kha'ak wars, the Insectoid race has resorted to merely Raiding like Pirates, it is still unknown why they started attacking the X Universe in the first place, but they’re are regular Incursions into the known Kha'ak sectors, in retaliation (the Kha'ak wont play that big a role in the story, am just giving you some background info). The Xenon have recently Captured the Sector of Getsu Fune, Long Xenon Sprints finally broke through when racial relations broke down, and the large Multi Race force Stationed there was withdrawn to their home territories. The Argon and Boron are still close allies, but the Split and Paranid have become just as close, and the teladi off course support the group with the largest pocket book.

The Story starts on a Argon Centaur stationed in Aladna Hill, which as you can tell from any maps you have, is stationed near a block of pirate sectors, the Centaurs registration is "Argon Patrol 118" a crew of 10 in a failed Argon redevelopment program for the sector.

Main Character in the Story is One Captain Seldon; the former Lieutenant Seldon that served on the Argon One with the now retired Ban Danna (the one who was asked to prepare a disco :/)

Chapter One: New Dynasty


-"And the fires of the sky shall burn, and you will know your final day of judgement has come"-

Captain Seldon sat down on his rusty metal captains chair and looked out into the space that was his dominion "25 years in the service and this is what ive got, a rusty old Centaur and a job making sure Space weed doesn’t reach kids that sit around screwing each other all day" he thought to himself. He rocked back on his chair, and watched the freighters go in and out of the West gate, all day all night watching the west gate. If he were lucky, he’d get to order his Weapons Engineer Richard Gardna to blow up a Pirate Orinoco.

The ships Navigator, Saya Yamato stepped through from the scanning room to the bridge "Ah good morning sir, and how are you today?" she said in that joyful voice, the joyful voice that manages to be maintained even when the ship is venting Atmosphere, and there’s 2 Wasp Missiles on there tail "MORNING! How the hell do we know its morning! We’ve got stars, and ships, in and out, in and out!" he screamed. Saya recoiled slightly in her stance "well we do have a clock sir?" "Yes I know we’ve got a clock, look am sorry, but ive been serving 25 years and this is what I get, respectfully saya, your nice and all, but I wasn’t expecting to be stuck in a rusty space bucket this late on.""Well sir, am a virtually a rookie, but if it wasn’t for this rusty space bucket this sector would be virtually defenceless, the pirates would pillage this sector, your doing good for allot of people" Saya said in the same joy filled voice of happiness, as if bunnies where dancing on the bridge and they’d all just won the lottery. "Yar I know, Saya, do me a favour and get a scan of that Split convoy that’s just entered, there a long way from home." "Yes sir, immediately."

A couple Minutes later Saya returned, "its a convoy of 3 Split Iguana, 5 Split Mamba and a Modified Paranid Nemesis" "hmmmmm, hail the 3 novas, we might need support here, once you’ve done that, hail Corvette and see what response we get." a couple seconds later a split admiral appeared on the View Screen "All Hail the Family Rhonkar!""All Hail!" Captain Seldon respectfully replied, "What is your business here in this sector?" "Split seeks refuge, family Rhonkar deposed by the treacherous Family Njy, Paranid accept Njy as Imperial house, Rightful Split Emperor have no were to go." Seldon looked stunned, as the dynasty that stood 80 years fell in an as of yet obscure and unknown event to even the Argon Intelligence services. "Please stop your engines and prepare to be boarded for Security reasons, you may maintain arms as we search your vessels for illegal goods, if none our found I will submit your request to the Senator down on the planet" "Split see not why Search necessary, Split formerly protest, However very well, Split stopping engines” the view screen cut abruptly as the conversation was ended.

"Gotta love those Split and there manners" Saya said jokingly, "Aye, id take a ship full of Narcotics to a Ship full of angry deposed Split any day.... Inform the Military of events as they evolve, we could see a sudden change in split stance, this could get volatile"

The Argon Patrol 118, affectionately christened "The Lump" by its crew set a course towards the Split Convoy with its novas and a newly arrived Argon Express a couple minutes later. The Soldiers on the Argon Express began systematically searching the ships, from top to bottom, trying to find an excuse to lock up the Split in these ships. Seldon sat back and watched as all this went on "Is everything going well over there?" "No problems yet sir" said the troop commander searching the Nemesis. It only took a few minutes though before events, that would change the state of universe even more then it had already been changed. Screams could be heard over the comm., as an explosion ripped the ship apart inside out.

"SIR! MASSIVE ENERGY SIGNATURE DETECTED COMING FROM THE NEMESIS" Saya screamed "get us out of here!" Seldon replied the ship turned around and headed full speed towards one of the few asteroids in the sector, behind it, the nemesis exploded, a massive shockwave emanating from its shattered fuselage, pushing the ships surrounding it away, and then ripping through the like they weren’t there anymore. Not even the Centaur could get away fast enough, even with its advanced sensors warning, and its increased speed. The ship was left dead in space, with multiple hull breaches, dead engines and no shields. Debris of the split and Argon ships destroyed floating around it, the bodies of family Rhonkar broken and bloodied, if indeed they where family Rhonkar, would not be telling anymore of the plight.

Chapter 2: Out of the Frying pan...


Captain Seldon crawled in a daze, electrical Cables flailing around him and broke glass of the monitors and sensitive Equipment. Seldon thought to himself, in an optimistic view that only he could "well at least I might get a new ship." He opened his eyes to find a smoke filled bridged, and called out to see who was around
"Saya!?!"
"Hahri!?!"
"Is anyone with you?" Seldon enquired
"Only Steven!"

Steven was the ships cook, he had a way of never being around when wanted, and always being around when needed
"What the Hell did you do to my Kitchen Seldon!"? Steve said trying to make light of a very bad situation
"It wasn’t me I swear, there was something in that Split ship... Where are you!?!"
"We're in the Navigation room"
"Right am coming!" Seldon finally got the courage to stand up when he got there
"Anything still working?"
"Only the Short range Gravidar, we can only see for 500 metres" "great, so lets analyse the situation" said Steven "We’ve got no Shields, we can only see for 500 Metres,
Were full of smoke, everywhere we go in the ship we could get electrocuted or sucked into space, and we don’t know if anyone other then us is alive, so its business as usual then" Steves little joke didn’t go down well, as suddenly Saya and seldon realised that indeed, they didn’t know who was alive, or the extent of the damage the ship had suffered.

They didn’t have to wait long before the Argon rescue and Salvage ships appeared to clean up, the 3 where extracted from the Centaur by a Small Argon Discoverer, as they pulled away, they found the entire drive section of the ship destroyed, and most of the crew quarters exposed to space or Totally destroyed, saya broke down as she saw her crew quarters, her only home. She joined the service because she was kicked out of her house, and now she’s back there, her pet cat buster was in her room at the time "I remember the way he used to scratch at the carpet, and id yell at him" she remarked.

It was potluck that the Centaur had been designed with the Command decks sealed off, otherwise the three wouldn’t have survived. But as it is, they were not thinking about how they survived, but how others died. They started the day with a crew of 10 as Steven pointed out, and ended up with three. "Your good luck seldon, id be dead too if you didn’t make me make me bring you a cup of water in the mornings." Seldon responded with a nod and looked back at the wreckage of the ship he so damned earlier.

The Disco Pilot thought now would be a good time to give seldon more bad news "Captain Seldon, your to report to the Titan Rigil Kent for a full debriefing, I hate to say it man, but command is fuming"
"When is the Rigil Kent Arriving?"
"Its scheduled to jump into the sector in 15 Minutes, admiral Kho is going to be aboard"
"Ugh just what I need, I get to be yelled at by a Silver Spoon"
"Aye, you know these terracorp types, seems like they run the Federation nowadays"
"Its not made any better by the fact that Julian Brennan became a senator, I remember when he was just a petty thief, all this cos his dads got cash"

The conversation dragged on for another 10 minutes mainly focused about how many high-ranking terracorp personnel had whittled their way into the Argon Government since the Kha'ak Wars.

The Argon Titan Rigil Kent could be clearly seen leaving the eastern gate followed by a short and slightly rude hail "Discovery 089 you are cleared to dock with this vessel."

The Discovery Slinked into the docking port, dwarfed by the massive titan
"Pfft where was this when those pirates showed up in Teladi Osprey?" Seldon Cursed

They completed docking procedures and disembarked, Seldon was immediately handcuffed and taken to Admiral Saya Kho's Office
"What the hell happened!!!”? She screamed as he entered the office
"The ship exploded that all we know" Seldon Calmly answered
"Well seldon, am glad you can stay calm because the split and the Argon federation are at war, Half an hour ago we received a message that YOUR patrol ship was attacking a Split Refugee transport from the Boron conflict, the fact that theres at least 12 Argon and Split Ships in pieces out there, am inclined to believe them!"
Seldon couldn’t respond, what could he say, he knew he was innocent and here he was being confronted with the idea that hes started an Interacial war.
"Its most unfortunate that it had to be split ships though, they’re not as reasonable as the paranid or teladi, there taking this as an act of war, and several Split ships have mobilised in Thuruks Beard we believe there going to travel through Hatikvah's Faith and attack THIS sector from there, some for of Split justice"
Seldon just stared into space trying to comprehend what happened, did he do anything?
"What I want to know is WHAT WHERE YOU THINKING!"
"We didnt fire on those ships mam, why would we?"
"my question exactly, why would you?"

Seldon couldn’t be bothered telling the Admiral what happened, she wouldn’t listen, he was now to fester in the brig with his two comrades whilst his people prepare for war.

Chapter 3: Breaking bones while Laying Tomb stones

-"War is only Pretty when you win it"-

Captain Seldon was summoned to the court onboard the Rigil Kent, his issued defense team where Teladi Lawyers famous for doing little more then saying "I object!” and muttering to each other, he could do little as his stunted slime of a defence team argued that the entire crew had space dementia. Unsurprisingly the trial did not last long. Seldon and his Comrades where sentenced to Life imprisonment in one of the many Argon Penal Centres, for the crimes of threatening the security of the federation, murder and piracy.

After a week in the brig, Seldon was happy to be moved to a Prison Transport Corvette, the problem was, there are no Penal centres in the Argon frontier systems, and very few races spend money on equipping there M6 Class vessels with Jump drives, as there usually confined to the patrol of a single or bordering systems. Thus the Dilemma, which faced the Ship warden, he had three choices, sit around in the fringe systems, brave the Split Blockade of Hatikvah's Faith, or travel through boron space, only to reach the far more sophisticated Paranid, allies of the split. He decided to brave the blockade, it was a faster route, and he’d meet the same resistance going through Paranid sectors, so it was the logical choice. The high priority of the prisoners allowed him to request an M2 to assist in breaking the blockade and several smaller Corvettes and fighters.

The small Prison corvette jumped through the get first followed by 3 Patrol Corvettes, 6 Novas and The Argon Titan Asturias. Once the smaller craft where through, the titan followed, and as it jumped through the gate chatter befell the argon comms from the various pilots.

"Pilots hit them hard and fast, engage fighters, leave the capital ships to the Asturias, and for god sakes stay out of the Titans Firing solution, last thing we need is friendly fire, where here to break the blockade, not destroy the ships, once the prison corvette has past the Pythons firing range, head back towards the jump gates and jump out!"

The Asturias Turned blocking the way of the Gate east, and waited whilst the Split fighters and 2 M2s flew towards the massive ship, the split can never resist a fight, or so we've been told.

The 30 or so split Mambas and Scorpions flew full speed towards the corvettes, and with a sudden unison the argon ships let go a barrage of missiles and Lasers. The Mauve colours of the Asturias GPPC where almost beautiful, the barrages quickly silenced half of the fighters heading towards the Argon ships, the Split Light shielding working heavily in argons favour.

On a more equal Footing the Novas and Centaurs rush in between the Asturias Barrage fire trying to knock out fighters themselves. One of Centaurs "Argon Patrol 234" cleared the Asturias firing range in error, and came under a barrage of enemy missiles laser, it shields went down shortly by a Wasp missile slamming into its left engine, its reactor went critical soon after killing all those aboard, and leaving the command sector and Drive section blown apart as debris in space.

The Corvette Prison Transport attempting to slip past the blockade, was spotted. Suddenly it suffered the same barrage as that of Patrol ship 234. Its engines where hit, resulting in the reactor going critical and the Drive and command sections being blown apart as large chunks of debris.

From his Secure Cell Captain seldon could hear the screaming of the inmates not lucky enough to be "sealed up" he could hear a fire roaring inside the ship, but could not hear the engines. He got a sudden feeling of deja vu. His fear forced him to do something he hadn’t done for a long time, pray that Steven and Saya where on Separate Transports or still on the Rigil Kent, his only friends, only people who knew what happened that day, hahri had never had time to greave the loss of his crew before being risked away, his life now in the hands of a ricketty old prison transport.

After an hour or so, the screaming and the sounds of fire and flame stopped, Power on the Magnetic locks had gone, and he opened the door to the smell of burnt flesh, it was cold, very cold. Power to the ship had vanished, the generator crippled in the inferno. All seldon could do was wait for some Teladi Salvage ship to pick up debris. Off course he didn’t know where he was, or what was outside.

The Asturias was lost in the attempt to break the blockade, its debris scattered in 3 big pieces around the sector, some crewmen still alive, most not. The ship exploded from the inside un-expectedly, effectively ending the battle.

Only 2 of the Centaurs, and 3 of the Novas got out fairly intact, thus was the result of the first battle of the Argon-Split wars, and but one section of a long line of territorial Disputes.

Four more hours had passed, Captain seldon sat curled in a ball, freezing, hanging on to the hope that a salvage ship would pick up the tantalising wreckage of a shattered centaur...

[KiwiNZ]

Nice turn of events. Looks like he is going to get a second chance after all ... or ends up in slavery

Looking forward to the next chapter.

[Hawk_strike]

Next Chapters gonna be the best so far

[CGrand]

A good Start!


Keep it up!



-- though how do things rust in space?

[Hawk_strike]

Lol no the INSIDE of the ship was rusty, specifically his chair as he says, anything can rust in a breathable atmosphere, you need to breathe... even on a space ship

[Mastery]

great story.

about rusting, things can rust if there is an atmoshphere(at least an earth one) but not all metals rust and nothing can rust when it has 0% contact with air... i hope

[KiwiNZ]

Appears as if his imprisonment would not last for too long. Though, that could be death or freedom. What one wonders is just, did the Paranid stage this to start a war between Argon and Split or was it sabotage from a third party? Or a party within the Split reigns?

Looking forward to the next part!

[Mastermue]

Like the story! Nice one!

Looking forward to the next chapter!!

[Capt_Newbie]

I came upon this thread while looking for the name of Saya Kho's ship (Nikki-something, as I recall).

Nice story, and respect to anyone who makes the effort to get literary.

The one thing that bothers me is that a little licence seems to have been taken with military protocol to engineer the 'accused of a crime they did not commit' scenario.

Even assuming the person in charge didn't keep the Argon authorities (in Light Of Heart?) apprised of the situation when encountering unknown ships, so they would know what led up to the 'attack', it's quite a stretch that almost every Argon ship would be destroyed, and the one crippled with three survivors.

Then too, even if Seldon didn't feel like telling Kho what happened, he wouldn't have been given much choice, what Saya and Steven had to say about it would probably lead to further questioning. I would have expected Kho to have most of their accounts before they even got off the recue ship.

But like I said, I think that bit was rushed to get to what the author really wants to write about, so I'd slap 'literary licence' on it, and look forward to the next chapter.

[Capt_Newbie]

Another thing or two... why was Seldon 'sealed up' unlike the other inmates, and a Navy ship's cook called 'Steven'? Wonder who'll play him in the movie?

[Blown]

(clears throat)

If you really want to write this sort of story, go read up on 'The A-Team', the Numerous Star Trek Episodes that addressed similar concerns, remove the idea that 'those with money control politics' (I get enough of that spiel from my government and the unions of my country, it's an election year) and start again.

There are a lot of ways to write one of these, but the best way is to pick it up from the prison cell as he breaks out, (see terraformer dreams for some examples of good ways to do that) that way you only have to reference the past incident in vague details.

Also, you can have a bit of fun with it...

But please, KEEP THE POLITICS OUT!!!