Border Patrol (A Scythian Short)
Posted: Sat Mar 27, 2010 2:36 pm
Aloha forum goers - I have here an oddity that doesn't really fit anywhere else in the forum - it be a short story of sorts, based around the Scythian empire. This little piece of fiction, may be the first of many - or a simple one off - I'm not sure which yet, but it found its way into the most appropriate sub-board . . . and it may or may not be part of my story that I'm slowly glueing together in my head for "The Great Scythian Empire" so without further stalling for time . . . I present to you "Border Patrol"
----
//Timescale set
//Mission time +14 days, 3 hours, 27 minutes, 9 seconds and counting
//Scythian "Monarch" Class Battleship "Solaris"
//Scythian task group Atlantia Four - 1x Monarch Class Battleship with 5x Savager Class Frigates as Escorts
//Current Location - Scythian North Rim, "Devator" Star System
Space is awesome, it is also - most notably, empty and boring . . . well, most of the time anyway.
These where the thoughts drifting through the head of lieutenant Safros, as he sat in front of the ever updating Ladar screen.
Asteroid this, meteoroid that, gaseous substances detected here, unusual magnetic fluctuations there, odd planetary bodies here, there and everywhere - and then there's that good old friend to space - the vacuum - vast, huge, perhaps infinite, both completely deadly - and completely boring at the same time.
This had been the fourth hour of his shift as the task group continued its patrol around the north rim worlds. Many would consider this a moot assignment for those who had no interest in, well - anything really. Every Scythian world held its own resident navy that was considerably larger than a simple task group, and countless ships flowed throughout the Scythian empire - no incursion could go for long without being logged - and within moments reserve fleets would be en-route to the source of conflict, so endlessly patrolling the nothing that filled the gaps between the maps of Scythian space was a dead end job, for those with no imagination to do anything else with their existence.
10 years of mandatory military service, that was all it took to gain citizenship - the first 5 for Safros had been filled with basic training, endless days of marksman training, PT, unit drills and mechanical training that every single man woman and child would be indoctrinated into at the age of 18, his second 5 had been filled with officer school - endless technical specifications of every Scythian space asset in the universe, the yield of every laser and warhead, the tonnage and shield strength of every vessel - the layout of known enemy ships - how to map unknown enemy ships - how to best combat the VOL, if need be - how to kill an Immortal. First contact drills (the most current being how to handle the Assyrians - who the Scythian Office Of Naval Intelligence had been spying on for over the last 20 years, and no contact had yet been made, the best option was to let them come to Scythia - rather than the other way around), combat strategies and three dimensional combat drills.
All of this, every piece of knowledge and training - led to a lieutenants rank, sat in front of a rotating Ladar display - watching nothing.
Sometimes life really fucking sucks? Doesn't it?
His concentration waning, Safros peered up for a moment around the bridge - the rest of the command crew going about their duties on their various stations. His attention, as with every time his eyes wandered from his station - fell onto the ships Pilot, a young woman by the name of Cylen . . . to many, she wouldn't be much above average - but when your trapped in deep space, in a fairly small room with little else to look at, you find that your eyes often wander, and as per usual they fell down to the sight of her backsi-
It was at that point, he heard the beep.
Usually on a starship bridge - you where surrounded by various "boops", "beeps" and even the occasional "Bloop's" that are the general running of the ship, every so often the ships intercom would buzz, or someone would dare to speak aloud. Usually these noises would be harmless, innocuous - a plasma overheat in section 13-b, a laser lense would need re-alignment in one of the secondary laser cannons or some usual drone from the ship.
This beep however, was different - this beep was coming from his console, the console he was too busy ignoring in the favour of the pilots, rear. His head turned back quickly - and his eyes darted.
//INBOUND JUMP DETECTED
//DANGER CLOSE PROXIMITY
//VESSEL TONNAGE UNKNOWN - SUGGESTS SUPER-DREADNOUGHT CLASS VESSEL
//WARNING
//EVASIVE ACTION REQUIRED
Moments later, the bridge erupted into life - klaxons wailed - the crew startled into action and Safros was left in front of a monitor that for all intents and purposes was predicting incoming doom. The Captain came running onto the deck, demanding status updates - and blood red holograms ignited the air with three dimensional Ladar images, inbound and outbound vectors - and the jump point that was soon to share the same space as the Solaris.
At least Life wasn't boring any more, the sarcastic side of his mind suggested.
----
//Timescale set
//Mission time +14 days, 3 hours, 27 minutes, 9 seconds and counting
//Scythian "Monarch" Class Battleship "Solaris"
//Scythian task group Atlantia Four - 1x Monarch Class Battleship with 5x Savager Class Frigates as Escorts
//Current Location - Scythian North Rim, "Devator" Star System
Space is awesome, it is also - most notably, empty and boring . . . well, most of the time anyway.
These where the thoughts drifting through the head of lieutenant Safros, as he sat in front of the ever updating Ladar screen.
Asteroid this, meteoroid that, gaseous substances detected here, unusual magnetic fluctuations there, odd planetary bodies here, there and everywhere - and then there's that good old friend to space - the vacuum - vast, huge, perhaps infinite, both completely deadly - and completely boring at the same time.
This had been the fourth hour of his shift as the task group continued its patrol around the north rim worlds. Many would consider this a moot assignment for those who had no interest in, well - anything really. Every Scythian world held its own resident navy that was considerably larger than a simple task group, and countless ships flowed throughout the Scythian empire - no incursion could go for long without being logged - and within moments reserve fleets would be en-route to the source of conflict, so endlessly patrolling the nothing that filled the gaps between the maps of Scythian space was a dead end job, for those with no imagination to do anything else with their existence.
10 years of mandatory military service, that was all it took to gain citizenship - the first 5 for Safros had been filled with basic training, endless days of marksman training, PT, unit drills and mechanical training that every single man woman and child would be indoctrinated into at the age of 18, his second 5 had been filled with officer school - endless technical specifications of every Scythian space asset in the universe, the yield of every laser and warhead, the tonnage and shield strength of every vessel - the layout of known enemy ships - how to map unknown enemy ships - how to best combat the VOL, if need be - how to kill an Immortal. First contact drills (the most current being how to handle the Assyrians - who the Scythian Office Of Naval Intelligence had been spying on for over the last 20 years, and no contact had yet been made, the best option was to let them come to Scythia - rather than the other way around), combat strategies and three dimensional combat drills.
All of this, every piece of knowledge and training - led to a lieutenants rank, sat in front of a rotating Ladar display - watching nothing.
Sometimes life really fucking sucks? Doesn't it?
His concentration waning, Safros peered up for a moment around the bridge - the rest of the command crew going about their duties on their various stations. His attention, as with every time his eyes wandered from his station - fell onto the ships Pilot, a young woman by the name of Cylen . . . to many, she wouldn't be much above average - but when your trapped in deep space, in a fairly small room with little else to look at, you find that your eyes often wander, and as per usual they fell down to the sight of her backsi-
It was at that point, he heard the beep.
Usually on a starship bridge - you where surrounded by various "boops", "beeps" and even the occasional "Bloop's" that are the general running of the ship, every so often the ships intercom would buzz, or someone would dare to speak aloud. Usually these noises would be harmless, innocuous - a plasma overheat in section 13-b, a laser lense would need re-alignment in one of the secondary laser cannons or some usual drone from the ship.
This beep however, was different - this beep was coming from his console, the console he was too busy ignoring in the favour of the pilots, rear. His head turned back quickly - and his eyes darted.
//INBOUND JUMP DETECTED
//DANGER CLOSE PROXIMITY
//VESSEL TONNAGE UNKNOWN - SUGGESTS SUPER-DREADNOUGHT CLASS VESSEL
//WARNING
//EVASIVE ACTION REQUIRED
Moments later, the bridge erupted into life - klaxons wailed - the crew startled into action and Safros was left in front of a monitor that for all intents and purposes was predicting incoming doom. The Captain came running onto the deck, demanding status updates - and blood red holograms ignited the air with three dimensional Ladar images, inbound and outbound vectors - and the jump point that was soon to share the same space as the Solaris.
At least Life wasn't boring any more, the sarcastic side of his mind suggested.