icekatze
Active Member
hi hi
I wrote this short story inspired by the Star Army universe. It might be terrible hack fan fiction, it might be reasonably enjoyable. Enjoyable or not, I leave that decision to you.
-----
UCS Nozaki
Peacekeeper Supply Vessel
Somewhere near the United Outer Colonies
A tall blue-haired woman sat hunched over at the command console and gingerly touched her forehead in an vain attempt to soothe her aching head, it had not been a very good day. After a short moments respite she exhaled a long sigh and pressed a couple icons on the display. A sparrows chirp signaled the recording unit had activated and she began to speak in a sweet, measured voice.
"This is Sub-Commander Komatsu Elena logging my formal report, we received orders to refuel and rearm a damaged cruiser six light years from our starting location. While on route, we were attacked suddenly by an unidentified vessel and sustained heavy damage. Commander Watanabe, the executive officer and most of the officers were killed when the officers mess was hit and I have taken command of the ship. Sensors, communications and..."
"Sub-Commander!" A loud, deep voice came from behind the command station.
Delicately pressing the pause icon, Elena shifted her seat to face the speaker and forced a faint smile to her lips. "Sub-Lieutenant Saito, what seems to be the trouble?"
The short, muscular man's normally elegantly kept hair looked a disheveled mess while his uniform was thoroughly splattered with a gel like substance that had bleached the color right out of the fabric.
"Sir, we've completed repairs on the core, but the cooling system was damaged. We're radiating a whole mess of signals all across the spectrum, but if we shut it down, I'm not sure if we'll be able to start it back up again!" He began in a rush before taking a brief pause to compose himself, "What I mean to say Sir, is that it might be some time before we can restart it. Should I have it taken offline?"
Elena wasn't sure if she had held her composure, but she made an effort now to remain pleasant. "Have the core taken offline immediately, dismissed." Then adding under her breath, "without the CDD there isn't much we can do with it anyway."
Pressing the record icon again, she waited for the telltale chirp before continuing. "Sensors and communications were destroyed in the first salvo, followed soon after by our point defense and a number of secondary systems. We were able to evade our attackers by hiding in a proto-planetary dust cloud but our CDD was damage during the escape and we..."
A sharp crack and a loud crash once again interrupted the log entry. Two of the senior petty officers has been bumped up to bridge duty after the attack and were having something of a disagreement. It had started innocently enough, peacekeeper Sato had taken over the helm position earlier and having little work to actually do at his station, was running his mouth instead. Petty officer Sazuki, however, took offense and it escalated from there.
"Its a good thing we're stuck in this cloud," Sato had said while resting his feet up on the console. "even if I had to maneuver this newly minted pile of scrap, it wouldn't matter which way we went. It all looks the same from here."
"This pile of scrap is keeping us alive, thank you very much." Sazuki turned from the navigations console and stared him in the eyes. "and if we're very lucky, we won't need to count on your expert piloting abilities."
"Anything is better then sitting around here while we wait for repairs, maybe we could signal a rescue ship." Sato returned her stare for a moment, then swept low in a mocking bow "But I am sure you know best. No doubt if you had been in command we wouldn't have..."
It only took a moment for them to end up on the deck and at each others throats. Sato got the upper hand and threw a punch at Sazuki's gut, but she rolled to the side and gave him an elbow to the jaw for his troubles. Just as she was about to land another blow to his face she found herself being pulled firmly to her feet with her arm pinned behind her back.
"Thats enough!" Elena nearly shouted, then sensing the tension leave Sazuki's arm, she released it. "You two are relieved. Before you confine yourselves to quarters, would you be so kind as to inform beta shift that you have volunteered them to skip the rest of their sleep."
Returning to the command console, Elena pressed a series of icons on the display and connected to the shipboard communications. Her hand hovered over an icon for a moment as she debated what to do next in her head, then pressed down on the display.
"Master Petty Officer, sorry to wake you." she said, her agitation showing through her voice for a moment. "Would you please see to it that peacekeeper Sato and petty officer Sazuki reach their quarters and stay there until their next shift?"
"Yes sir, right away sir." came the groggy response.
She quickly closed the link, but before she could return to the log entry subsystem, a slender woman wearing a charred safety suit with it's helmet held under her arm stepped up and stood at attention. Her blank expression showed only traces of a frustration.
"Sub-Commander. I...I am afraid repairs to the CDD are impossible. I apologize."
Elena rose to her feet, the pounding in her head seemed to grow twice as strong the moment she heard the news. She paused a moment to collect herself and her hand rose unbidden to her forehead.
"What do you mean repairs are impossible?" Elena asked in a voice that she hoped sounded patient.
"We simply don't have the spare parts or materials. These are complex systems, its not like we can just turn a wrench, hammer some spare plating and..." She started, but saw the look on the Sub-Commander's face, "My apologies, I am as frustrated as you are by our lack of progress, but please believe me when I tell you 'we do not have the means to fix this.'"
"Sub-Lieutenant, we have been sitting here for less then twenty four hours. I refuse to accept that we have exhausted all of our resources yet. Please continue your efforts to repair the CDD."
"But..." The weary engineer started, eyes wide in exasperation.
"If you say you don't have the tools, then build them. If you don't have the tools to do that, use your wrench and your hammer. If you don't know how, I suggest you spend some quality time going through the online manuals until you find a solution. I don't care how long it takes or how circuitous the path. You'll put on a suit and rummage through all eight hundred and twenty cargo containers until you find the materials you need if you have to, because we're not going anywhere until it is fixed. Do you understand me?"
"Yes sir." came the reply, cold as granite, muttering an pointedly directed expletive under her breath as she walked off the bridge.
Without pausing to collect herself, Elena quickly turned around resumed the recording, hoping to finish before she was interrupted yet again.
"Ahem..." she began again, clearing her throat "We are continuing repairs, but it seems unlikely that we will be able to complete our mission on time, if at all. My tactical advisor tells me that the nature of the attack suggests that the orders we received may have been a ruse from the start, but at present there is no way to confirm that theory and I am compelled to attempt to complete the mission. However, if it should turn out that this was a trap all along, when we reach our destination there may be little we can do to escape the enemy a second time. They did not respond to our hails and presented no terms of surrender, I am ... oh..."
A bright light shone through the forward view panels for a moment, catching everyone's attention. The very large and very near silhouette of the hostile ship was unmistakable.
"If...if anyone finds this." her voice leapt from her mouth without a moment's thought, "Tell Hayato I love him."
I wrote this short story inspired by the Star Army universe. It might be terrible hack fan fiction, it might be reasonably enjoyable. Enjoyable or not, I leave that decision to you.
-----
UCS Nozaki
Peacekeeper Supply Vessel
Somewhere near the United Outer Colonies
A tall blue-haired woman sat hunched over at the command console and gingerly touched her forehead in an vain attempt to soothe her aching head, it had not been a very good day. After a short moments respite she exhaled a long sigh and pressed a couple icons on the display. A sparrows chirp signaled the recording unit had activated and she began to speak in a sweet, measured voice.
"This is Sub-Commander Komatsu Elena logging my formal report, we received orders to refuel and rearm a damaged cruiser six light years from our starting location. While on route, we were attacked suddenly by an unidentified vessel and sustained heavy damage. Commander Watanabe, the executive officer and most of the officers were killed when the officers mess was hit and I have taken command of the ship. Sensors, communications and..."
"Sub-Commander!" A loud, deep voice came from behind the command station.
Delicately pressing the pause icon, Elena shifted her seat to face the speaker and forced a faint smile to her lips. "Sub-Lieutenant Saito, what seems to be the trouble?"
The short, muscular man's normally elegantly kept hair looked a disheveled mess while his uniform was thoroughly splattered with a gel like substance that had bleached the color right out of the fabric.
"Sir, we've completed repairs on the core, but the cooling system was damaged. We're radiating a whole mess of signals all across the spectrum, but if we shut it down, I'm not sure if we'll be able to start it back up again!" He began in a rush before taking a brief pause to compose himself, "What I mean to say Sir, is that it might be some time before we can restart it. Should I have it taken offline?"
Elena wasn't sure if she had held her composure, but she made an effort now to remain pleasant. "Have the core taken offline immediately, dismissed." Then adding under her breath, "without the CDD there isn't much we can do with it anyway."
Pressing the record icon again, she waited for the telltale chirp before continuing. "Sensors and communications were destroyed in the first salvo, followed soon after by our point defense and a number of secondary systems. We were able to evade our attackers by hiding in a proto-planetary dust cloud but our CDD was damage during the escape and we..."
A sharp crack and a loud crash once again interrupted the log entry. Two of the senior petty officers has been bumped up to bridge duty after the attack and were having something of a disagreement. It had started innocently enough, peacekeeper Sato had taken over the helm position earlier and having little work to actually do at his station, was running his mouth instead. Petty officer Sazuki, however, took offense and it escalated from there.
"Its a good thing we're stuck in this cloud," Sato had said while resting his feet up on the console. "even if I had to maneuver this newly minted pile of scrap, it wouldn't matter which way we went. It all looks the same from here."
"This pile of scrap is keeping us alive, thank you very much." Sazuki turned from the navigations console and stared him in the eyes. "and if we're very lucky, we won't need to count on your expert piloting abilities."
"Anything is better then sitting around here while we wait for repairs, maybe we could signal a rescue ship." Sato returned her stare for a moment, then swept low in a mocking bow "But I am sure you know best. No doubt if you had been in command we wouldn't have..."
It only took a moment for them to end up on the deck and at each others throats. Sato got the upper hand and threw a punch at Sazuki's gut, but she rolled to the side and gave him an elbow to the jaw for his troubles. Just as she was about to land another blow to his face she found herself being pulled firmly to her feet with her arm pinned behind her back.
"Thats enough!" Elena nearly shouted, then sensing the tension leave Sazuki's arm, she released it. "You two are relieved. Before you confine yourselves to quarters, would you be so kind as to inform beta shift that you have volunteered them to skip the rest of their sleep."
Returning to the command console, Elena pressed a series of icons on the display and connected to the shipboard communications. Her hand hovered over an icon for a moment as she debated what to do next in her head, then pressed down on the display.
"Master Petty Officer, sorry to wake you." she said, her agitation showing through her voice for a moment. "Would you please see to it that peacekeeper Sato and petty officer Sazuki reach their quarters and stay there until their next shift?"
"Yes sir, right away sir." came the groggy response.
She quickly closed the link, but before she could return to the log entry subsystem, a slender woman wearing a charred safety suit with it's helmet held under her arm stepped up and stood at attention. Her blank expression showed only traces of a frustration.
"Sub-Commander. I...I am afraid repairs to the CDD are impossible. I apologize."
Elena rose to her feet, the pounding in her head seemed to grow twice as strong the moment she heard the news. She paused a moment to collect herself and her hand rose unbidden to her forehead.
"What do you mean repairs are impossible?" Elena asked in a voice that she hoped sounded patient.
"We simply don't have the spare parts or materials. These are complex systems, its not like we can just turn a wrench, hammer some spare plating and..." She started, but saw the look on the Sub-Commander's face, "My apologies, I am as frustrated as you are by our lack of progress, but please believe me when I tell you 'we do not have the means to fix this.'"
"Sub-Lieutenant, we have been sitting here for less then twenty four hours. I refuse to accept that we have exhausted all of our resources yet. Please continue your efforts to repair the CDD."
"But..." The weary engineer started, eyes wide in exasperation.
"If you say you don't have the tools, then build them. If you don't have the tools to do that, use your wrench and your hammer. If you don't know how, I suggest you spend some quality time going through the online manuals until you find a solution. I don't care how long it takes or how circuitous the path. You'll put on a suit and rummage through all eight hundred and twenty cargo containers until you find the materials you need if you have to, because we're not going anywhere until it is fixed. Do you understand me?"
"Yes sir." came the reply, cold as granite, muttering an pointedly directed expletive under her breath as she walked off the bridge.
Without pausing to collect herself, Elena quickly turned around resumed the recording, hoping to finish before she was interrupted yet again.
"Ahem..." she began again, clearing her throat "We are continuing repairs, but it seems unlikely that we will be able to complete our mission on time, if at all. My tactical advisor tells me that the nature of the attack suggests that the orders we received may have been a ruse from the start, but at present there is no way to confirm that theory and I am compelled to attempt to complete the mission. However, if it should turn out that this was a trap all along, when we reach our destination there may be little we can do to escape the enemy a second time. They did not respond to our hails and presented no terms of surrender, I am ... oh..."
A bright light shone through the forward view panels for a moment, catching everyone's attention. The very large and very near silhouette of the hostile ship was unmistakable.
"If...if anyone finds this." her voice leapt from her mouth without a moment's thought, "Tell Hayato I love him."
