Topic: In an office chair on M'Raa...  (Read 51030 times)

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Offline KAT MRess

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Re: In an office chair on M'Raa...
« Reply #60 on: September 02, 2007, 06:44:20 pm »


EDITED FOR CONTENT...


 ;D
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Offline KAT MRess

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Re: In an office chair on M'Raa...
« Reply #61 on: September 04, 2007, 02:59:16 pm »
Hee hee, you still remember that.

I could always repost the entire story to remind everyone else...
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Offline Soreyes

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Re: In an office chair on M'Raa...
« Reply #62 on: September 05, 2007, 12:55:06 am »
Hee hee, you still remember that.

I could always repost the entire story to remind everyone else...

 :laugh: :laugh:   please do ;D


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Offline KAT MRess

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Re: In an office chair on M'Raa...
« Reply #63 on: September 07, 2007, 12:15:06 pm »
Decisions, decisions...

To flash back the story here...

Or to start a new thread altogether.
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Offline KAT MRess

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Re: In an office chair on M'Raa...
« Reply #64 on: September 10, 2007, 11:18:13 pm »
Hmm, I know what I can do...




“What do you mean Unidentified?” M’Ress demanded. “Does it not have a subspace transponder?”

In Wartime it was common for ships to not immediately broadcast their ID’s, especially on covert missions. But this was peacetime. Everyone should be readily identifiable.

“No Sire.” Came the response, “There is no recognizable transmission from the vessel.”

“On screen” The display came to life with a display 2 dimensional display of all the ships in the area. The cluster in the bottom right was the convoy and their escort, while a single blip appeared in the top left. It was definitely on an intercept course.

Damn strange. As he pondered the possibilities, he realized everyone else was paying attention to the situation. Tr’rin was now standing behind his chair, holding the back, gazing at the viewscreen as she was truly seeing it in use for the first time. He had to give his crew credit, as distracting as her presence was, they were able to set it aside and give their full attention to a possible threat while still carrying out their responsibilities.

On the screen, the smaller lone blip moved slowly closer to his position.

“Can you get a visual?”

The tactical officer acknowledged the request and moved his hands across the console. The unknown was still at long range, with residual interference from the Nebula he may not be able to. M’ress waited patiently.

“Visual coming in sire.”

The top right of the screen opened up a new view. It was grainy and the ship itself was small, but the dual hull was unmistakable.

Lyran.
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Offline KAT MRess

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Re: In an office chair on M'Raa...
« Reply #65 on: September 11, 2007, 10:58:00 pm »
M’Ress swore to himself. Behind him, Tr’rin’s ears twitched and her eyes widened at the ferocity of the oath.

The detail was difficult to make out, even the size was tough to gauge due to the fact there was nothing to compare to. They couldn’t even discern markings at this distance.

“Can you get a fix on the size of that vessel.” He asked the Tactical officer.

“Working…” came the reply. M’Ress had to give then some time to work as all the sensors were still battling the residual interference from the Nebula. After several seconds the reply came… “Mass indicates the vessel is a Light Cruiser, however I’m having trouble locking in the exact class.”

That was to be expected as the image was poor at best.

But the main question was why were they flying with no beacon? And why were Lyrans in this area close to the Kzin border?

“Sire, incoming transmission from the Convoy. They are requesting your intentions toward the intruder.” So they noticed it as well.

Regardless of intent, he had to protect the convoy.

“Helm move to intercept.”
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Offline KAT MRess

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Re: In an office chair on M'Raa...
« Reply #66 on: September 18, 2007, 07:36:01 am »
“Take a direct course and get us away from the Nebula so we can get a clearer picture.”

Tr’rin quietly cursed herself for the bad timing. She had come to the bridge simply because she was bored, only to find herself in the middle of a developing situation. The ship that had appeared did not look friendly and she recognized the race. Lyrans. The age old traditional enemies of the Kzin.

Although back in the office there were pictures of M’Ress with certain Lyrans (he had defended their Homeworld in a previous War against a mutual enemy), they had never come to amicable terms. Indeed relations were still strained at best.

This was all confirmed by the oath that she heard come out of M’Ress’s mouth. She’d had heard bad language before, but never quite that venomous. She quickly debated leaving the bridge to let everyone do their jobs but found herself rooted to the spot out of some kind of morbid fascination.

“And Helm, make sure you keep a distance between us and them.” M”Ress was saying, “I don’t want that damned Generator touching us.”

“Aye aye Sire.”
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Offline KAT MRess

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Re: In an office chair on M'Raa...
« Reply #67 on: September 19, 2007, 03:16:51 pm »
I'm gone for a week... enjoy.





The distance between the two ships closed slowly. Whoever it was, they were in no hurry.

“Comm, try to hail them. Use Standard code and the Secure ones we know of. ”

There were several beeps followed by silence. Then the process was repeated.

“No response sire.” Damn!

“I don’t like this at all,” M’Ress said under his breath, only loud enough for those closest to hear.

“Yellow alert.” was the immediate response from his Exec, who was one who did hear. Normally he would cut the Exec off for “Jumping the Gun”, but this situation did warrant that reaction.

The activity on the bridge increased causing Tr’rin’s claws to clamp into the back of M’Ress’s command chair. More screens flashed on, coloured lights flashed and troops appeared around the bridge. She tried to make sure she was out of the way.

Combat?! Her timing really was bad.
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Offline KAT MRess

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Re: In an office chair on M'Raa...
« Reply #68 on: September 27, 2007, 11:13:00 pm »
“Comm, issue a warning not to approach. Any closer to us or the convoy and they will be fired upon.”

The communication officer relayed the command, but was met with silence.

“Repeat the warning.”

Again no response. The Cruiser still continued it’s course closer.

“If that’s the way you want it, then no more Mr Nice Kzin,” M’Ress said to no one in particular “Tactical, Red Alert! And warm up the Scatter packs!”

This time the reaction was more explosive. Yellow alert merely changed lights, added some troops and some screens, but Red Alert was far more drastic. First off a loud klaxon sounded seemingly right in Tr’rin’s ears, causing Tr’rin to start more than a little. Her claws dug into the chair even more, her ears flattened right back and her tail started to twitch so bad she couldn’t control it. At the same time more screens lit up, activity exploded as everyone seemed to start talking at once and consoles started to make even more noise and flash even more. All of this emphasized by the lights dimming down.

The sharp tug on the back of his chair reminded M’Ress that she was still there. He turned to tell her to go back to her cabin, but at that moment all hell broke loose.
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Offline KAT MRess

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Re: In an office chair on M'Raa...
« Reply #69 on: September 28, 2007, 07:49:24 pm »
Hey, I got to typing and I was on a roll ... so here is a bonus for you.




Several events happened in rapid succession so fast Tr’rin could barely comprehend what occurred.

The ship on the screen flashed briefly, seemingly in an explosion of energy. Almost at the same time it leapt forward so fast it seemed to be in two places at once. One was where it was supposed to be and the other impossibly close.

So close it could touch them with all that crackling energy.

In the few brief moments between the energy pulse and the sudden movement, M’Ress was barking commands, something to do with launching and firing. Then her entire world seemed to lurch from under her and she unwillingly let go the chair.

*****

The instant M’Ress saw the flash out of the corner of his eye, he knew what was happening.

“Launch scatterpack! Fire all drones!” was all he could get out before the ESG hit.

The ship surged violently to the side as the Lyrans sphere collided with his shields. He was thrown out of his chair by the motion. The Lyran captain must have set the Sphere to close range, anticipating being able to execute this manoeuvre judging by how much damage was inflicted. Proximity alerts and shield alarms were immediately sounded.

“Shields down!” came the confirmation from the Tac officer.

“Where are my drones?!” M’Ress demanded as he made his way back across the deck to his chair.

“6 drones away sire!”

Kshat, 6 won’t be enough!

“Target that generator with phasers and fire the moment the shield drops!” he bellowed above the noise at the weapons officer then turned to the tactical, “Status on the Scatterpack and where’s my last drone?!”
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Offline KAT MRess

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Re: In an office chair on M'Raa...
« Reply #70 on: September 30, 2007, 11:22:36 pm »
“Scatterpack away! Drone number 7 launching now!”

Number 7? By the maker he would have someone’s hide for this.

Another surge sent him reeling again, this time in the other direction, as streaks of light from the Lyran ship cut into them. M’Ress was flung face first against his chair, but he was able to get a grip on it and hold on. Something collided with the back of his knees almost sending him down again. Even more alarms were sounding.

A bright light from the screen indicated that the first of the drones were making contact with the other ship. In rapid succession there were 6 explosions, however the shimmer of the others ships shield was still there.

M’ress couldn’t wait for the shield to drop, he needed to get through that shield. “Fire all phasers.” he ordered above the cacophony on the bridge.

Immediately streaks of light came from the Katnip. Most were dissipated on the shimmer but the last few made in and hit various points on the hull of the other ship. An explosion larger than the rest registered. A last trail of ions made it’s way quickly in and scored an ineffective hit on the hull as the area was already dark from phaser fire.

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Re: In an office chair on M'Raa...
« Reply #71 on: October 04, 2007, 02:31:16 pm »
Another pulse from the Lyran ship and the Katnip surged again. Consoles and panels exploded around him on the bridge.

A couple more flashes from the Katnips remaining phasers and another explosion erupted from the other hull. The pulse died away.

“Warp power down!” “Main computer offline!” “Outer hull breach!” came the rapid reports.

Just then another flash of light filled the screen.

“Scatterpack away!” was the response from the Tac officer.

Finally, something in his favour. With 6 secondary drones bearing in on the side with no shield at this range, it was unlikely that the other captain could counter it.

M’ress was having trouble standing as something was wrong with his legs. Experience told him to ignore it for now so he focused on the screen.

“Helm, full impulse! Get some distance!”

Time seemed to slow as the wave of drones bore down. The distance between the two ships increased with agonizing slowness.

The drones passed the energy perimeter and crept on.

They made contact with the hull

They exploded in succession, all in the same location. Each one ripping further into the hull.
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Re: In an office chair on M'Raa...
« Reply #72 on: October 09, 2007, 05:24:00 am »
The resulting explosion caught the Katnip full on, but at least it was on the opposite shield, which was at full strength. The Helmsman not only maximized the distance but managed to turn the ship to take the brunt of the impact on a fresh shield.

Once again the Katnip surged. Normally the inertial dampeners would have compensated and made a smooth ride, but with main systems offline, it was chaos. It was all M’Ress could do to hold on to his chair. As a result he was the only one standing when it all settled.

He looked at the screen, which amazingly was still active, where there was only debris left.

“Secure from Red Alert.” he said through clenched teeth and keeping his eye on the screen just in case something else appeared. Also because he didn’t want to look down at his legs, “Damage assessment and repair crews.”

There was a pause before the Tac officer answered.

“Aye aye sire”

He looked over and saw that his Exec was down near the Tac officer. As he quickly looked around the rest of the bridge, he saw that several others were down as well. He reached over and touched the console on the arm of his chair.

“Medical teams to the bridge.”

As he scanned the bridge he could see that consoles were in ruins and panels were non-existent. Small fires were being extinguished by some of the bridge crew while others helped the wounded. With the entire crew accounted for and active on duties, he finally ventured a look down at his legs.

A still form, bleeding and unconscious was lying between his legs, limbs tangling his own.

It was Tr’rin.
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Re: In an office chair on M'Raa...
« Reply #73 on: October 17, 2007, 06:18:01 am »
What was he thinking!

Bringing a civilian on a warship when peace was still not established. He would have to explain this to her family if something seriously happened to her. He carefully removed his legs from her entanglement and bent over her. He cradled her head in one hand while he checked on her. She was still breathing, thank the maker for that, but she was bleeding from a gash on her head.

He sat knelt down on the deck beside her and straightened her out gently. From the movement of her limbs nothing appeared to be broken and there were no other sign of trauma.

Just then the medical teams arrived on the bridge. He was about to hail one over but bit off the request. He must follow protocol. She was not military and therefore the crew had to take precedent.

Fortunately the Med crew was very efficient. It only took a minute for them to quickly triage the ones who were down. Upon a command from the lead medic the bridge marines were engaged to take the more serious ones to the medbay, the exec included. It was then that he saw M’ress kneeling over the figure, gently holding her head.

“Who’s this?” Medic asked.

“My personal assistant.” A quick glance from the medic showed his disapproval, but that was all.

“Let’s take a look.” A triage scanner was passed over her.

“Hmmmm. Only a light contusion to the head here, she’s lucky. She’ll have a headache for a while but that’s it.” He cleaned up the gash on the side of her head and then administered an analgesic. “She’ll sleep for a while.”

The medic motioned for a marine, but M’Ress interrupted.

“Belay that. I’ll take care of her.” He glared back at the medic quietly answering his disapproval, “She’s entirely my responsibility.”

The medic seemed satisfied with that. After all he didn’t really have the bedspace to care for civilians.

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Offline Soreyes

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Re: In an office chair on M'Raa...
« Reply #74 on: October 17, 2007, 07:08:05 am »
More More :multi:


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Re: In an office chair on M'Raa...
« Reply #75 on: October 19, 2007, 01:42:24 am »
In the hands of the light, how much does it cost to say on riza?
                                                                Hemah

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Re: In an office chair on M'Raa...
« Reply #76 on: October 26, 2007, 06:20:22 pm »
M’Ress crouched down and picked her up. She was much smaller than a marine or any male for that matter and so he hefted her easily. He carried her to the turbo lift and then down the hallway to her quarters.

Just outside her doorway, however, he was stopped by repair crews. The lead engineer saw his approach and snapped to attention with the hand coming up in a raking salute.

“I’m sorry sire,” he began to report “but the passageway ahead is impassable. There is a hull breach in that cabin.” And he motioned to Tr’rins cabin.

“Thank you, Sergeant.” M’ress looked back down the passage. There was only one choice now. He headed back to his own cabin.

He had some difficulty opening the door as voice systems were down and he needed a free hand to open the lock on the door. But he managed it by hiking her higher up his shoulder. Once inside he eased her onto the bed, arranging her so she was comfortable. The medic said she would sleep for a while so he now could attend to what he needed to.

He was angry. He pulled out the bottle of bourbon he kept, for medicinal purposes, and swallowed a belt. Not too much, he needed to stay sober, but the burn helped him focus. That battle should not have happened. So many things went wrong. Nothing against protocols, but wrong nonetheless. If only…

The thought struck him hard. If he had given her the command to return to her cabin, she would have been dead. Even worse, she would have been pulled into space and he would have had nothing to return to her family. That took a lot of the sting out of the situation. Still, her she was, injured. But she might not have been if everything had executed properly, which brought him back to the events of the battle.

He stalked out the door. He was still angry. But now he had a target to vent on. One that would rightly deserve the wrath he was about to vent.
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Offline KAT MRess

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Re: In an office chair on M'Raa...
« Reply #77 on: November 01, 2007, 05:16:07 pm »
The turbo lift hummed as it moved to it’s destination. It took a longer than usual, but considering the damage the ship had just absorbed it was not at all surprising. It also gave him a little more time to review the battle in his mind. One detail kept standing out.

Drone #7.

Why didn’t it launch with the others?

IF the drone had launched properly, he wouldn’t have wasted phasers on the shield. Those phasers would have been used properly to target phaser and ESG emitters. If the shields had dropped before he fired phasers, the proper threats would have been neutralized and the second ESG wouldn’t have caused so much damage. As is was, #7 was completely ineffective as it neither tore down a shield or inflicted significant damage. It was only the proper timing of the Scatterpack that saved them. That and the fact the Lyran captain had incorrectly ignored the shuttle. Two pieces of luck that could not be relied on.

The turbo slowed. By now he was seething again, but he had to maintain some semblance of control. He clenched his hand into a fist in an effort to focus his control.

The door hissed open and he stepped out into the hall. Turning along the length of the passage he headed to the drone racks.

The door to the drone bays was damaged in an open position and he could see in before he arrived. Several crews were attending the various levels of damage. The Port side had sustained more damage as they had turned the take the explosion on the fresh shield.

#7 was a centrally located rack and therefore had little damage. But as he approached a figure he did not recognize immediately, detached, dropping a tool in the process, and moved toward him.

“I’m glad you’re…”, it never finished as a clenched fist flashed out.

The fist caught the figure in the jaw and spun him around to face the opposite direction. The figure then slid to the floor unconscious.
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Offline KAT MRess

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Re: In an office chair on M'Raa...
« Reply #78 on: November 07, 2007, 01:47:29 am »
M’ress glared at all the activity around him. Completely ignoring the prone figure on the floor he surveyed the damage. Eventually his eye fixed on rack  #7 where a familiar older Kzin was supervising the inspection of the launcher.

“Report!” he bellowed. One head from each rack turned, however, only the one he was looking at responded. Immediately the sergeant moved over and snapped a salute.

“Rack #7 reports minor damage, but still…” M’Ress cut him off.

“Cut the offal, what happened? Why did your rack not fire with the rest?”

He had to give this Sergeant credit, the return stare was level and even. It was still a nervous stare (his pelt rippled) but it was steady.

“The targeting mechanism needed resetting before launch, Sire”

“Targeting mech? That is the responsibility of the Targeting officer, unless I am mistaken.” The sergeant nodded, he knew better than to contradict his Captain, let alone the Patriarch. He was also becoming aware that his commanding officer already suspected the cause of the misfire and was merely verifying.

M’Ress drew in a sharp breath. “That targeting officer wouldn’t happen to be new and recently of my acquaintance would he?”

The sergeants eyes flicked down toward the inert form on the deck. “Yes Sire, a very brief acquaintance.” At least he wasn’t contradicting or disagreeing.

“Very well, carry on.” The sergeant turned and continued the minor repairs.

M’Ress gave one last visual inspection before he turned. In order for the targeting mechanism needing to be reset, standing procedures on not locking targets until the order to fire was given, had to be disregarded.  He moved rapidly toward the door and in the process, kicked the prone figure on the floor.

“Would someone clean up this mess?” he gestured at the floor and then left.
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Offline KAT MRess

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Re: In an office chair on M'Raa...
« Reply #79 on: November 08, 2007, 12:31:00 am »
Is it just me or has this become one of the most popular threads on this board?

It appears to be about number 15 on the all time list (by number of reads), behind only technical threads (reporting and updates).

I'm flattered everyone. Thanks.



Stay tuned, I figured a way to have a "flashback" as requested.
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