SUBLIMEinal
Well-Known Member
System P1-04, Nepleslian Colonial Expanse
The beauty of it all was the first thing to strike Walter. The sun's rays touched on the shining metallic sands of the desert, the glint reaching even back to orbit, and into the bridge of the DD4-b that now orbitted it. Captain Walter Curbing inhaled the designer atmosphere he had specially requested routed to the bridge, smiling, and exhaling with a satisfied sigh. Over the fleet communications network, a great deal of chatter over just how lucky the 1st Logistics Expansion Group was to find a world so exceedingly rich with resources. The elation was heightened at the news of the 2nd LEG receiving quite possibly the worst system imaginable for the project: A big, barren dirtball with no atmosphere.
Walter sat down in the cushy captain's chair, grinning at the display screen in front of him, barely aware of space and time forcing itself apart kilometers behind him to make way for the relatively small portion of the 25-ship task force entering the system. Around them, Kante stations began pulling themselves from the dark void as well, instantly beginning their rapid scans of space. Walter extended his arms in front of himself, cracking his knuckles palms-out.
"Well boys, let's get started."
Planet P1-4, dubbed "Prydein" shortly after the 1st LEG arrived in-system, is a large, mineral-rich planet covered in deserts and sparkling blue oceans, teeming with delicious sea creatures in gigantic numbers.
DAY TWO
The pilot of the Firefly yawned as he waited for the modified destroyer to stop digging through his pull from the large cliffs. He looked back to his magazine, some five-cent rag he had pulled off the rack at the last minute, and was mostly comprised of porn with production values so low it was quite possible an entire printing could have been done with some change from in between the cushions of no more than two couches. Suddenly, however, the small craft was jolted, and the pilot looked up. A voice piqued up over the communication line.
"Sergeant, you are cleared for take off. This will be your last flight of the afternoon. Hurry back!" The DEIMOS AI called cheerfully over the speaker system in the cockpit.
"Yes, ma'am." The enlisted soldier took a look at the read-out present on the small ship's computer panel, making sure the nanosac was empty and the DD4-b had disengaged its arms from the Firefly. He then took a sip of the cold beer he had left at his feet as the ship lifted off and sped away over the bright desert sand, leaving the much larger craft to continue pulling in the heavy sand and rock beneath it, as well as the pure ores being brought from miles around. The ground below the DD4 was already beginning to show signs of use, namely manifested in a rapidly growing depression in the ground the ship occupied, the source of this being the constant stream of the finely crushed stone pulled into the starship's stomach.
Four miles away from this spectacle, however, was another, far more alarming operation. As the Firefly drew near, it's pilot whistled at the terrifyingly large maw formed in the ground by dozens of junker drones from the Troubleshooter vessels, two of which hovered over the gigantic pit, collecting resources for themselves, as well as beaming their instructions to the small robots. The hole was already close to 2 kilometers wide, with a good 4 heading straight down into the earth, from which a constant tide of Junkers and Fireflies entered and left. However, all of this was rather obscured by the massive amount of dust present in the air from the operation. To any man who should be standing away from the massive pit, all that would be seen was a rolling cloud of sand, with small, dark outlines shooting through it.
Suddenly, a pair of communication lines opened in the cockpit. One came from the nearest Troubleshooter warship, a simple request for identity, which was quickly granted. The next came from one of the dozens of Fireflys flitting throughout the pit.
"Hey there, Sarge! Day's winding down, eh?"
"Aye, Soldier. Command get you the latest yet?"
"Yessir. Enough raw material's been pumped outta that pit to build a damn city."
The sergeant whistled, maneuvering his small ship nimbly into the massive dust cloud, dodging a small group of Junkers shooting back towards one of the hovering Troubleshooters, all of them toting ore. He flew down the deep, massive shaft, his scanners sweeping over walls, looking for the largest concentration of rock that hadn't already been torn from the ground. He found a good spot and opened up with his cutting lasers, graviton beams pulling the chunks of rock into the slowly expanding nano-sac.
DAY THREE
The Warhorse pulled away from the DD4-b. After only ten minutes, both the ten cargo modules and its passenger section were completely filled with the raw materials that had been pulled from the ground. Lieutenant Ribson glanced at his sensor read-out. The other six starships that had accompanied him were under similar conditions, being quickly loaded with metals and rocks by either the large Troubleshooters or the DD4-bs. The first loads were being carried away, back to feed the maw of Nepleslian industry.
To be continued.
The beauty of it all was the first thing to strike Walter. The sun's rays touched on the shining metallic sands of the desert, the glint reaching even back to orbit, and into the bridge of the DD4-b that now orbitted it. Captain Walter Curbing inhaled the designer atmosphere he had specially requested routed to the bridge, smiling, and exhaling with a satisfied sigh. Over the fleet communications network, a great deal of chatter over just how lucky the 1st Logistics Expansion Group was to find a world so exceedingly rich with resources. The elation was heightened at the news of the 2nd LEG receiving quite possibly the worst system imaginable for the project: A big, barren dirtball with no atmosphere.
Walter sat down in the cushy captain's chair, grinning at the display screen in front of him, barely aware of space and time forcing itself apart kilometers behind him to make way for the relatively small portion of the 25-ship task force entering the system. Around them, Kante stations began pulling themselves from the dark void as well, instantly beginning their rapid scans of space. Walter extended his arms in front of himself, cracking his knuckles palms-out.
"Well boys, let's get started."
Planet P1-4, dubbed "Prydein" shortly after the 1st LEG arrived in-system, is a large, mineral-rich planet covered in deserts and sparkling blue oceans, teeming with delicious sea creatures in gigantic numbers.
DAY TWO
The pilot of the Firefly yawned as he waited for the modified destroyer to stop digging through his pull from the large cliffs. He looked back to his magazine, some five-cent rag he had pulled off the rack at the last minute, and was mostly comprised of porn with production values so low it was quite possible an entire printing could have been done with some change from in between the cushions of no more than two couches. Suddenly, however, the small craft was jolted, and the pilot looked up. A voice piqued up over the communication line.
"Sergeant, you are cleared for take off. This will be your last flight of the afternoon. Hurry back!" The DEIMOS AI called cheerfully over the speaker system in the cockpit.
"Yes, ma'am." The enlisted soldier took a look at the read-out present on the small ship's computer panel, making sure the nanosac was empty and the DD4-b had disengaged its arms from the Firefly. He then took a sip of the cold beer he had left at his feet as the ship lifted off and sped away over the bright desert sand, leaving the much larger craft to continue pulling in the heavy sand and rock beneath it, as well as the pure ores being brought from miles around. The ground below the DD4 was already beginning to show signs of use, namely manifested in a rapidly growing depression in the ground the ship occupied, the source of this being the constant stream of the finely crushed stone pulled into the starship's stomach.
Four miles away from this spectacle, however, was another, far more alarming operation. As the Firefly drew near, it's pilot whistled at the terrifyingly large maw formed in the ground by dozens of junker drones from the Troubleshooter vessels, two of which hovered over the gigantic pit, collecting resources for themselves, as well as beaming their instructions to the small robots. The hole was already close to 2 kilometers wide, with a good 4 heading straight down into the earth, from which a constant tide of Junkers and Fireflies entered and left. However, all of this was rather obscured by the massive amount of dust present in the air from the operation. To any man who should be standing away from the massive pit, all that would be seen was a rolling cloud of sand, with small, dark outlines shooting through it.
Suddenly, a pair of communication lines opened in the cockpit. One came from the nearest Troubleshooter warship, a simple request for identity, which was quickly granted. The next came from one of the dozens of Fireflys flitting throughout the pit.
"Hey there, Sarge! Day's winding down, eh?"
"Aye, Soldier. Command get you the latest yet?"
"Yessir. Enough raw material's been pumped outta that pit to build a damn city."
The sergeant whistled, maneuvering his small ship nimbly into the massive dust cloud, dodging a small group of Junkers shooting back towards one of the hovering Troubleshooters, all of them toting ore. He flew down the deep, massive shaft, his scanners sweeping over walls, looking for the largest concentration of rock that hadn't already been torn from the ground. He found a good spot and opened up with his cutting lasers, graviton beams pulling the chunks of rock into the slowly expanding nano-sac.
DAY THREE
The Warhorse pulled away from the DD4-b. After only ten minutes, both the ten cargo modules and its passenger section were completely filled with the raw materials that had been pulled from the ground. Lieutenant Ribson glanced at his sensor read-out. The other six starships that had accompanied him were under similar conditions, being quickly loaded with metals and rocks by either the large Troubleshooters or the DD4-bs. The first loads were being carried away, back to feed the maw of Nepleslian industry.
To be continued.
