That was my guess, as well.Mirage_GSM wrote:If I had to speculate...
If Lilly were with the rebels, I'd expect Hanako in that camp as well... So my guess for the rebel leader is Kenji:-)
Rebellion
Re: Rebellion
"Who are you, that do not know your history?" -Ulysses
Misha Time: United States of Misha Meet the Hakamichis
Awesome, served on the rocks: Hisao and Kenji- Master Detectives! (Check out the Archive for more!)
I wrote a book! Brythain edited it! If you like mystery and history please consider: A Sister's Habit
"You are absolutely insane. And entertaining." -griffon8
Misha Time: United States of Misha Meet the Hakamichis
Awesome, served on the rocks: Hisao and Kenji- Master Detectives! (Check out the Archive for more!)
I wrote a book! Brythain edited it! If you like mystery and history please consider: A Sister's Habit
"You are absolutely insane. And entertaining." -griffon8
Re: Rebellion
The rebel leader was mentioned as being male, so I agree with it being Kenji.
I found out about Katawa Shoujo through the forums of Misfile. There, I am the editor of Misfiled Dreams.
Completed: 100%, including bonus picture. Shizune>Emi>Lilly>Hanako>Rin
Griffon8's Writing
Completed: 100%, including bonus picture. Shizune>Emi>Lilly>Hanako>Rin
Griffon8's Writing
-
crushinator
- Posts: 34
- Joined: Tue May 01, 2012 7:11 pm
Re: Rebellion
Part 3 of the epic tale that has almost no relation to the original fiction from which the characters are based. Does Hisao still even have a heart condition? Can Hanako exist without Lilly? How many more popular science fiction plot devices will our writer steal from real authors? Keep reading REBELLION: A TALE OF DISABLED SPACE HEROES to find out!
The next morning came around quickly. Hisao’s quarters were slightly larger than his old ones. He remembered the countless nights he had spent trying to grab as many hours sleep as he could before being scrambled for drills, or the slightly more uncommon chance to participate in real combat. He didn't know which quarters he would prefer to wake up in right now, but he knew that his preference had little effect on what ceiling he would see when he opened his eyes.
Hisao stopped at the galley on his way to the bridge and picked up a cup of coffee. He knew he’d need the caffeine before the morning was out.
He entered the bridge and was met by a flurry of salutes. He tried to reciprocate but the coffee and data-pad in his hands prevented an effective response. He settled for a nod of acknowledgement to those nearest him. “At ease, everyone. Has the night shift clocked out for the day?”
The ensign at the Ship Status post turned to him. “Yes, sir. All except First Officer Ikezawa.”
Hisao spotted the back of Hanako’s head, poking up from the back of the captain’s chair. He approached from the side and placed his data-pad on the arm of the chair. “I trust your shift went uneventfully?”
Hanako sat upright in the chair, her hands on the console in front of her, “Yes, Captain. Nothing to report.”
“What’s our ETA to the 21st Jump-station?” Hisao took a sip from his coffee and eyed the transparent viewing window that dominated the forward wall of the bridge. The emptiness of space greeted him like an old friend. He wondered if there was a reason his quarters didn’t have a window, before remembering his survival was paramount so he had been placed as near to the centre of the ship as possible. Odd, his old quarters had been mere feet from the vacuum of space.
Hanako accessed a few commands on her console, bringing up the current itinerary for the journey. “We will reach the local jump station In approximately 5 hours. From there we require 2 jumps to get to the 21st Jump-station. We should be there late tomorrow night, provided we don’t catch any jump-stations during their refuelling cycle.”
Hisao completed his return journey to the viewing window and leaned against the captain’s chair, “Contact all the stations we’re using and instruct them to begin refuelling immediately if our scheduled arrival time coincides with their next cycle. Use the priority channel if you have to.” Hisao then remembered the time. “In fact, leave it to me. You should go get some sleep.”
Hanako turned to her captain, “It’s alright, I’m attending the meeting so I’ll be up till then.” She began inputting the necessary commands with impressive efficiency.
Hisao rotated Hanako’s console out of the way to let her up, she continued typing in mid-air for a split second, “I insist. If you won’t sleep, go get some breakfast or dinner or whatever your body-clock tells you to eat.”
Eventually, Hanako relented leaving an empty captain’s chair behind. She looked small, sat in the chair. But she still commanded effectively, which made Hisao wonder how he looked in the chair and what that said about him, and whether what it said mattered. Deciding not to hesitate in front of the bridge crew, Hisao took his seat and swung the console in front of him, he could have felt trapped had he not been more focused on getting the job done.
Hanako really had done a fine job with the night shift. The ship was green across the board; engine efficiency, system diagnostics and crew manifest were all tidy. Hisao flicked through the menus on the touch screen, trying to remember his academy training for bridge operations. It was awkward having to do it one handed, his other hand holding his coffee cup, but it came rushing back to him with every button he pressed. It was nostalgic, and he would have liked to revel in the feeling a little longer had the ship operations officer not piped up.
“Sir, the first captains to arrive are docking now.”
Hisao gulped, trying to swallow his trepidation, it was reluctant to meet his stomach acid so he drowned it with coffee, willing the caffeine to take effect. “Thank you, officer. You can tell them that I will meet them in the conference room.”
After appointing a reliable looking lieutenant as acting captain whilst the meeting took place, Hisao walked the short corridor that led to the conference room, relieved that it was still empty. He would have time to make himself comfortable before...
“Captain Nakai, we meet at last!”
Hisao turned around, being sure to exchange his worried expression for one he hoped looked a little more like the admirals he had met over the years. He racked his brain, trying to put a name to the captain’s face he saw in front of him. He had studied the fleet’s roster the night before, so it came soon enough.
“Captain Antigua, of the IKS Highland. A pleasure.” Hisao shook the hand of the portly man. He remembered that his service record was both great in length and breadth, but without any distinguishing features; much like the man himself, Hisao laughed on the inside.
Several other captains who had arrived with Antigua followed suit. After a few minutes wait, all but two of the invited captains had arrived. The room was near full of captains and first officers both standing and sitting, some were talking and some were sitting quietly waiting for the real discussion to begin. But all captains went silent when the door opened for the penultimate time.
Mutou Akio. All the other captains were new names to Hisao, except Mutou. Mutou wasn’t exactly a household name, but if you had any interest in Imperial history then you knew that the man who had just entered the conference room was somewhat of a legend. It was said that, as a High Admiral, he advised the Emperor Jigoro on nearly every fleet engagement of his reign. He was perhaps the Highest Admiral there has ever been. The only facts were that he commanded the IKS Yamaku up until the Emperor’s death when he took a self demotion upon himself as some kind of veneration for his lost comrade. He remained undefeated in battle; if you didn’t count the times he chose not to engage the enemy due to caution.
Now a Captain, Mutou commanded the IKS Cloud Pegasus. He walked up to Hisao, shook his hand and took a seat at his right hand, in silence. Hisao was suddenly made aware how inadequate he looked next to the strategic genius next to him.
Captain Antigua cleared his throat and looked to Hisao. “When can we expect the final captain? I was under the impression there would be 15 of us this morning, not counting first officers.”
Hisao, still standing at the head of the table, nodded. “Yes. There should be one more. From a medical frigate I believe. Unfortunately I haven’t found time to assess our support ships just yet.” Hisao looked uneasily at the captain of one of the Medical Frigates who was already present, “My apologies, Captain Nurse.”
The purple haired gentleman beamed. “It is no skin off my back. I appreciate that there are more pressing issues at hand.”
One of the captains toward the other end of the table spoke up, “Well if Nurse is here that leaves Tezuka, no wonder we’re waiting here like idiots. We’ll be sitting like this until the next Emperor if we don’t start without her.”
Hisao heard a slight grumble from the distinguished captain next to him before what had just been said made it through his ears and into his brain. Tezuka? It couldn’t be. He would have recognised her name if he had seen it. Even if he didn’t deliberately study the Medical Frigates’ manifests he should have at least glanced at...
“Hellooo.”
That voice. That aloof, nonchalant voice.
Hisao looked over to the door. There stood Rin Tezuka, apparently Captain Tezuka now. This was a turn out for the books. Rin saw Hisao staring and walked over to him.
She leaned in close, and spoke to him softly, “We’ll talk, about the things, but first we should talk about the fleet things.” Shaking hands with Rin would have been difficult seeing as she had no arms, so this greeting would have to do. She turned to take a seat somewhere toward the other end of the table.
Hisao nodded to no one in particular, not sure if he was looking forward to that particular conversation. He turned to the gathering of his fleet’s leaders. “Esteemed Captains of Battle Group Chi-7. As you are aware, we have been given the honoured task of engaging the separatist fleet currently forming outside the 22nd Jump-point.” Hisao accessed his data-pad, the lights in the room dimmed and the conference table came to life displaying some of the reconnaissance data that had been gathered on the enemy fleet.
One of the captains grumbled and spoke patriotically “Engage them? I say we do more than that! We’ll pulverise them like we always do.” He slammed his fist on the table for emphasis, causing the holographic display to flutter a little. A few of the other captains made some noises of agreement.
Captain Antigua, who was sat on Hisao’s left, spoke in a friendlier manner, “Captain Nakai, I assume you’ve gathered us here to present your battle strategy. Please do tell us exactly how you intend to purge the galaxy of these...anti-imperialist destitutes.”
The words caught in Hisao’s throat. How would owning up to not having a plan go down in front of all these captains, all of whom had more years in the field than he? “I uh...”
The door opened with a slight whirring noise and in stepped his first officer. Hanako avoided eye contact with the other captains and walked up to Hisao’s end of the table, standing behind him.
“I was counting on the experience of my captains to formulate a plan.” Hisao took a seat and placed his data-pad on the table in front of him, “I want to take advantage of every resource I have at my disposal.”
A warm hand, pudgy clasped his left shoulder. “A wise decision, sir. I myself have several ideas that could ensure our victory, you may look no further for your battle plan.” Said a smug Captain Antigua.
“I appreciate your confidence, Captain. But I must insist on everyone in this room contributing as much as they feel is necessary, and more if they think it would help.”
The discussions began immediately. Hisao soon recognised the key figures in his team of commanding officers. Captain Antigua favoured sticking to clear cut, traditional tactics. He suggested forming a battle line of the non-commanding frigates, followed closely by the Cloud Pegasus flanked by the fighter carriers. That should make it easy to form a pincer movement of fighters once the enemy engaged the frigate line.
Another frigate captain endorsed the pincer movement strategy, claiming that in all the battles he had fought against separatists the enemy had begun to panic once their escape routes were cut off. He added, however, that the Cloud Pegasus should lead the charge, striking fear into the enemy’s leaders.
Captain Mutou was the one person Hisao hadn’t heard from. He chose to keep quiet, leaving once to grab some coffee. Hisao turned to the veteran and asked “Captain Mutou, I know you have an opinion on how we should form up the fleet, please share your wisdom.”
Mutou seemed to come out of a daze. He sat up straighter and rested his head in his hand, looking like a philosopher. “I can’t share wisdom. Wisdom is earned or, rather, grown. I can tell you that a traditional formation like the one we seem to be going for," he claimed, "would be a bad idea.”
The other captains guffawed. The traditional tactics suggested by Captain Antigua had been the sole topic of conversation for over an hour, now apparently to be struck down by the military genius in their midst.
Mutou continued undeterred by the disbelief of those present, “These separatists aren’t your usual organised pirates. They’re rallying behind something, and they have a goal.” Mutou grabbed Hisao’s data-pad and brought up an image of the route from the 22nd Jump-point to the grand space station that held the senate. Or, at least, used to hold the senate before the Empress dissolved democracy in secret, as Hisao had come to learn.
“These separatists won’t fall for the usual gun-ho attitude of everyday Imperial tactics. They’re smarter than usual.”
Hisao was reminded of something similar that the Empress had said, and was therefore more inclined to believe Mutou. “What do you suggest?”
Mutou sighed, performing a few complex hand gestures on the data-pad, changing the holographic display on the table to a representation of the fleet. The ships moved from a categorical arrangement into a staggered formation, with the Cloud Pegasus at the forefront. Hisao also noticed the blue icons that represented the fighter squadrons were no longer aboard the fighter carriers, but were on the Cloud Pegasus. The green symbols that stood for the Ground Assault Mechs had also moved from their respective transports to the fighter carriers.
Captain Antigua audibly chortled, “You must be joking, how can moving our Mechs and fighters possibly be to our advantage?”
Mutou seemed to be grinning, or was he sneering? It was tough to tell with the light from the holograms causing his face to be partially cast in shadow. Everyone in the room could tell this was a man who never made jokes. “The way I see it,” he stood up with the data-pad and started walking around the table. “The enemy has no choice but to prioritise the destruction of the Cloud Pegasus. If they can get rid of it, the battle is as good as theirs. Therefore,” Mutou pressed a few buttons and the battle simulation began. “If we use the Cloud Pegasus as bait, lure them in.” He activated his strategy and the fighters swarmed out of the Cloud Pegasus, engaging the enemy ships. “We can take them by surprise.”
Hisao would have been impressed, were it not for his extensive knowledge of the fighter capacities of every Imperial ship class. “Where do you intend to store all the extra fighters? The Cloud Pegasus already has its full complement.”
Mutou seemed ready with a retort, “I’ve already begun modifications for our cargo bays, the rest can land above the engines, outside the ship, where their presence should be masked by the radiation.”
“You forget the most obvious flaw in your plan,” said Captain Antigua, seemingly excited about putting down the great Akio Mutou. “Your formation has our flanks defended by our fighter carriers, without their complement of fighters they’ll be overrun in minutes.”
“That’s what the mechs are for,” began Mutou. “With their fleet under attack by fighters and our heaviest ship, they’ll have no choice but to commit their frigates and cruisers to the counterattack. Leaving their fighters and light bombers to try and gain an advantage elsewhere.”
Hisao could remember a number of times when he had been in a similar situation, the main fleet engaged while his squadron of fighters were ordered to attack specific targets or escort bombing runs to gain the upper hand wherever possible.
“I imagine the fighter carriers on our flank would look very appealing to them.” He altered the simulation so that enemy’s fighters and bombers moved to each side of Hisao’s fleet. “Moreoever, once they realise that they have no fighters to defend themselves they’ll go in as close as possible to cause maximum damage. That’s when our mechs open fire; we’ll position them on the outer hull. It just so happens that we have enough mechs to make an effective barrage of plasma fire.”
It was certainly an ambitious plan, easily worthy of the great Mutou. Imperial Mechs were equipped with electromagnetic attenuators, which masked their signals when waiting to ambush an enemy. They were perfectly equipped to surprise attack the enemy fighters. Hisao also noted that the mechs were constructed of the same material as the hulls of Imperial starships, meaning they should be camouflaged enough in case the enemy pilots were especially eagle eyed.
“Our remaining frigates will divide their strength equally between supporting Cloud Pegasus and the carriers, but only once the strategy is in full effect.” Mutou recognised Hisao, “Forgive me Captain, but it seems the name of your ship, which will take position astern of the carriers, has escaped my memory.”
It hadn’t escaped Hisao’s. He had spent most of the night searching his soul for the right phrase or character from history to suit what he thought this ship was akin to. It had surprised him what he had settled on had been so simple and relatively unhistorical.
“You shouldn’t apologise Captain Mutou, I have yet to publicly name this ship until now. IKS Hand of Shizune will watch over the battle, and fight for its namesake should the need arise.”
Mutou seemed oddly pleased at Hisao’s choice, “Aye Aye. Remain in the staggered formation as if waiting for the enemy to advance.” He tossed the data-pad over to Hisao, "Until I give the signal."
The next morning came around quickly. Hisao’s quarters were slightly larger than his old ones. He remembered the countless nights he had spent trying to grab as many hours sleep as he could before being scrambled for drills, or the slightly more uncommon chance to participate in real combat. He didn't know which quarters he would prefer to wake up in right now, but he knew that his preference had little effect on what ceiling he would see when he opened his eyes.
Hisao stopped at the galley on his way to the bridge and picked up a cup of coffee. He knew he’d need the caffeine before the morning was out.
He entered the bridge and was met by a flurry of salutes. He tried to reciprocate but the coffee and data-pad in his hands prevented an effective response. He settled for a nod of acknowledgement to those nearest him. “At ease, everyone. Has the night shift clocked out for the day?”
The ensign at the Ship Status post turned to him. “Yes, sir. All except First Officer Ikezawa.”
Hisao spotted the back of Hanako’s head, poking up from the back of the captain’s chair. He approached from the side and placed his data-pad on the arm of the chair. “I trust your shift went uneventfully?”
Hanako sat upright in the chair, her hands on the console in front of her, “Yes, Captain. Nothing to report.”
“What’s our ETA to the 21st Jump-station?” Hisao took a sip from his coffee and eyed the transparent viewing window that dominated the forward wall of the bridge. The emptiness of space greeted him like an old friend. He wondered if there was a reason his quarters didn’t have a window, before remembering his survival was paramount so he had been placed as near to the centre of the ship as possible. Odd, his old quarters had been mere feet from the vacuum of space.
Hanako accessed a few commands on her console, bringing up the current itinerary for the journey. “We will reach the local jump station In approximately 5 hours. From there we require 2 jumps to get to the 21st Jump-station. We should be there late tomorrow night, provided we don’t catch any jump-stations during their refuelling cycle.”
Hisao completed his return journey to the viewing window and leaned against the captain’s chair, “Contact all the stations we’re using and instruct them to begin refuelling immediately if our scheduled arrival time coincides with their next cycle. Use the priority channel if you have to.” Hisao then remembered the time. “In fact, leave it to me. You should go get some sleep.”
Hanako turned to her captain, “It’s alright, I’m attending the meeting so I’ll be up till then.” She began inputting the necessary commands with impressive efficiency.
Hisao rotated Hanako’s console out of the way to let her up, she continued typing in mid-air for a split second, “I insist. If you won’t sleep, go get some breakfast or dinner or whatever your body-clock tells you to eat.”
Eventually, Hanako relented leaving an empty captain’s chair behind. She looked small, sat in the chair. But she still commanded effectively, which made Hisao wonder how he looked in the chair and what that said about him, and whether what it said mattered. Deciding not to hesitate in front of the bridge crew, Hisao took his seat and swung the console in front of him, he could have felt trapped had he not been more focused on getting the job done.
Hanako really had done a fine job with the night shift. The ship was green across the board; engine efficiency, system diagnostics and crew manifest were all tidy. Hisao flicked through the menus on the touch screen, trying to remember his academy training for bridge operations. It was awkward having to do it one handed, his other hand holding his coffee cup, but it came rushing back to him with every button he pressed. It was nostalgic, and he would have liked to revel in the feeling a little longer had the ship operations officer not piped up.
“Sir, the first captains to arrive are docking now.”
Hisao gulped, trying to swallow his trepidation, it was reluctant to meet his stomach acid so he drowned it with coffee, willing the caffeine to take effect. “Thank you, officer. You can tell them that I will meet them in the conference room.”
After appointing a reliable looking lieutenant as acting captain whilst the meeting took place, Hisao walked the short corridor that led to the conference room, relieved that it was still empty. He would have time to make himself comfortable before...
“Captain Nakai, we meet at last!”
Hisao turned around, being sure to exchange his worried expression for one he hoped looked a little more like the admirals he had met over the years. He racked his brain, trying to put a name to the captain’s face he saw in front of him. He had studied the fleet’s roster the night before, so it came soon enough.
“Captain Antigua, of the IKS Highland. A pleasure.” Hisao shook the hand of the portly man. He remembered that his service record was both great in length and breadth, but without any distinguishing features; much like the man himself, Hisao laughed on the inside.
Several other captains who had arrived with Antigua followed suit. After a few minutes wait, all but two of the invited captains had arrived. The room was near full of captains and first officers both standing and sitting, some were talking and some were sitting quietly waiting for the real discussion to begin. But all captains went silent when the door opened for the penultimate time.
Mutou Akio. All the other captains were new names to Hisao, except Mutou. Mutou wasn’t exactly a household name, but if you had any interest in Imperial history then you knew that the man who had just entered the conference room was somewhat of a legend. It was said that, as a High Admiral, he advised the Emperor Jigoro on nearly every fleet engagement of his reign. He was perhaps the Highest Admiral there has ever been. The only facts were that he commanded the IKS Yamaku up until the Emperor’s death when he took a self demotion upon himself as some kind of veneration for his lost comrade. He remained undefeated in battle; if you didn’t count the times he chose not to engage the enemy due to caution.
Now a Captain, Mutou commanded the IKS Cloud Pegasus. He walked up to Hisao, shook his hand and took a seat at his right hand, in silence. Hisao was suddenly made aware how inadequate he looked next to the strategic genius next to him.
Captain Antigua cleared his throat and looked to Hisao. “When can we expect the final captain? I was under the impression there would be 15 of us this morning, not counting first officers.”
Hisao, still standing at the head of the table, nodded. “Yes. There should be one more. From a medical frigate I believe. Unfortunately I haven’t found time to assess our support ships just yet.” Hisao looked uneasily at the captain of one of the Medical Frigates who was already present, “My apologies, Captain Nurse.”
The purple haired gentleman beamed. “It is no skin off my back. I appreciate that there are more pressing issues at hand.”
One of the captains toward the other end of the table spoke up, “Well if Nurse is here that leaves Tezuka, no wonder we’re waiting here like idiots. We’ll be sitting like this until the next Emperor if we don’t start without her.”
Hisao heard a slight grumble from the distinguished captain next to him before what had just been said made it through his ears and into his brain. Tezuka? It couldn’t be. He would have recognised her name if he had seen it. Even if he didn’t deliberately study the Medical Frigates’ manifests he should have at least glanced at...
“Hellooo.”
That voice. That aloof, nonchalant voice.
Hisao looked over to the door. There stood Rin Tezuka, apparently Captain Tezuka now. This was a turn out for the books. Rin saw Hisao staring and walked over to him.
She leaned in close, and spoke to him softly, “We’ll talk, about the things, but first we should talk about the fleet things.” Shaking hands with Rin would have been difficult seeing as she had no arms, so this greeting would have to do. She turned to take a seat somewhere toward the other end of the table.
Hisao nodded to no one in particular, not sure if he was looking forward to that particular conversation. He turned to the gathering of his fleet’s leaders. “Esteemed Captains of Battle Group Chi-7. As you are aware, we have been given the honoured task of engaging the separatist fleet currently forming outside the 22nd Jump-point.” Hisao accessed his data-pad, the lights in the room dimmed and the conference table came to life displaying some of the reconnaissance data that had been gathered on the enemy fleet.
One of the captains grumbled and spoke patriotically “Engage them? I say we do more than that! We’ll pulverise them like we always do.” He slammed his fist on the table for emphasis, causing the holographic display to flutter a little. A few of the other captains made some noises of agreement.
Captain Antigua, who was sat on Hisao’s left, spoke in a friendlier manner, “Captain Nakai, I assume you’ve gathered us here to present your battle strategy. Please do tell us exactly how you intend to purge the galaxy of these...anti-imperialist destitutes.”
The words caught in Hisao’s throat. How would owning up to not having a plan go down in front of all these captains, all of whom had more years in the field than he? “I uh...”
The door opened with a slight whirring noise and in stepped his first officer. Hanako avoided eye contact with the other captains and walked up to Hisao’s end of the table, standing behind him.
“I was counting on the experience of my captains to formulate a plan.” Hisao took a seat and placed his data-pad on the table in front of him, “I want to take advantage of every resource I have at my disposal.”
A warm hand, pudgy clasped his left shoulder. “A wise decision, sir. I myself have several ideas that could ensure our victory, you may look no further for your battle plan.” Said a smug Captain Antigua.
“I appreciate your confidence, Captain. But I must insist on everyone in this room contributing as much as they feel is necessary, and more if they think it would help.”
The discussions began immediately. Hisao soon recognised the key figures in his team of commanding officers. Captain Antigua favoured sticking to clear cut, traditional tactics. He suggested forming a battle line of the non-commanding frigates, followed closely by the Cloud Pegasus flanked by the fighter carriers. That should make it easy to form a pincer movement of fighters once the enemy engaged the frigate line.
Another frigate captain endorsed the pincer movement strategy, claiming that in all the battles he had fought against separatists the enemy had begun to panic once their escape routes were cut off. He added, however, that the Cloud Pegasus should lead the charge, striking fear into the enemy’s leaders.
Captain Mutou was the one person Hisao hadn’t heard from. He chose to keep quiet, leaving once to grab some coffee. Hisao turned to the veteran and asked “Captain Mutou, I know you have an opinion on how we should form up the fleet, please share your wisdom.”
Mutou seemed to come out of a daze. He sat up straighter and rested his head in his hand, looking like a philosopher. “I can’t share wisdom. Wisdom is earned or, rather, grown. I can tell you that a traditional formation like the one we seem to be going for," he claimed, "would be a bad idea.”
The other captains guffawed. The traditional tactics suggested by Captain Antigua had been the sole topic of conversation for over an hour, now apparently to be struck down by the military genius in their midst.
Mutou continued undeterred by the disbelief of those present, “These separatists aren’t your usual organised pirates. They’re rallying behind something, and they have a goal.” Mutou grabbed Hisao’s data-pad and brought up an image of the route from the 22nd Jump-point to the grand space station that held the senate. Or, at least, used to hold the senate before the Empress dissolved democracy in secret, as Hisao had come to learn.
“These separatists won’t fall for the usual gun-ho attitude of everyday Imperial tactics. They’re smarter than usual.”
Hisao was reminded of something similar that the Empress had said, and was therefore more inclined to believe Mutou. “What do you suggest?”
Mutou sighed, performing a few complex hand gestures on the data-pad, changing the holographic display on the table to a representation of the fleet. The ships moved from a categorical arrangement into a staggered formation, with the Cloud Pegasus at the forefront. Hisao also noticed the blue icons that represented the fighter squadrons were no longer aboard the fighter carriers, but were on the Cloud Pegasus. The green symbols that stood for the Ground Assault Mechs had also moved from their respective transports to the fighter carriers.
Captain Antigua audibly chortled, “You must be joking, how can moving our Mechs and fighters possibly be to our advantage?”
Mutou seemed to be grinning, or was he sneering? It was tough to tell with the light from the holograms causing his face to be partially cast in shadow. Everyone in the room could tell this was a man who never made jokes. “The way I see it,” he stood up with the data-pad and started walking around the table. “The enemy has no choice but to prioritise the destruction of the Cloud Pegasus. If they can get rid of it, the battle is as good as theirs. Therefore,” Mutou pressed a few buttons and the battle simulation began. “If we use the Cloud Pegasus as bait, lure them in.” He activated his strategy and the fighters swarmed out of the Cloud Pegasus, engaging the enemy ships. “We can take them by surprise.”
Hisao would have been impressed, were it not for his extensive knowledge of the fighter capacities of every Imperial ship class. “Where do you intend to store all the extra fighters? The Cloud Pegasus already has its full complement.”
Mutou seemed ready with a retort, “I’ve already begun modifications for our cargo bays, the rest can land above the engines, outside the ship, where their presence should be masked by the radiation.”
“You forget the most obvious flaw in your plan,” said Captain Antigua, seemingly excited about putting down the great Akio Mutou. “Your formation has our flanks defended by our fighter carriers, without their complement of fighters they’ll be overrun in minutes.”
“That’s what the mechs are for,” began Mutou. “With their fleet under attack by fighters and our heaviest ship, they’ll have no choice but to commit their frigates and cruisers to the counterattack. Leaving their fighters and light bombers to try and gain an advantage elsewhere.”
Hisao could remember a number of times when he had been in a similar situation, the main fleet engaged while his squadron of fighters were ordered to attack specific targets or escort bombing runs to gain the upper hand wherever possible.
“I imagine the fighter carriers on our flank would look very appealing to them.” He altered the simulation so that enemy’s fighters and bombers moved to each side of Hisao’s fleet. “Moreoever, once they realise that they have no fighters to defend themselves they’ll go in as close as possible to cause maximum damage. That’s when our mechs open fire; we’ll position them on the outer hull. It just so happens that we have enough mechs to make an effective barrage of plasma fire.”
It was certainly an ambitious plan, easily worthy of the great Mutou. Imperial Mechs were equipped with electromagnetic attenuators, which masked their signals when waiting to ambush an enemy. They were perfectly equipped to surprise attack the enemy fighters. Hisao also noted that the mechs were constructed of the same material as the hulls of Imperial starships, meaning they should be camouflaged enough in case the enemy pilots were especially eagle eyed.
“Our remaining frigates will divide their strength equally between supporting Cloud Pegasus and the carriers, but only once the strategy is in full effect.” Mutou recognised Hisao, “Forgive me Captain, but it seems the name of your ship, which will take position astern of the carriers, has escaped my memory.”
It hadn’t escaped Hisao’s. He had spent most of the night searching his soul for the right phrase or character from history to suit what he thought this ship was akin to. It had surprised him what he had settled on had been so simple and relatively unhistorical.
“You shouldn’t apologise Captain Mutou, I have yet to publicly name this ship until now. IKS Hand of Shizune will watch over the battle, and fight for its namesake should the need arise.”
Mutou seemed oddly pleased at Hisao’s choice, “Aye Aye. Remain in the staggered formation as if waiting for the enemy to advance.” He tossed the data-pad over to Hisao, "Until I give the signal."
Re: Rebellion
I'm imagining Grand Admiral Thrawn teaching Hisao's science class now, which is both awesome and annoying, because he should be an art teacher 
Great read, as normal. Oh, and the name: awesome.
Great read, as normal. Oh, and the name: awesome.
"Who are you, that do not know your history?" -Ulysses
Misha Time: United States of Misha Meet the Hakamichis
Awesome, served on the rocks: Hisao and Kenji- Master Detectives! (Check out the Archive for more!)
I wrote a book! Brythain edited it! If you like mystery and history please consider: A Sister's Habit
"You are absolutely insane. And entertaining." -griffon8
Misha Time: United States of Misha Meet the Hakamichis
Awesome, served on the rocks: Hisao and Kenji- Master Detectives! (Check out the Archive for more!)
I wrote a book! Brythain edited it! If you like mystery and history please consider: A Sister's Habit
"You are absolutely insane. And entertaining." -griffon8
Re: Rebellion
QFFT.Hoitash wrote:I'm imagining Grand Admiral Thrawn teaching Hisao's science class now, which is both awesome and annoying, because he should be an art teacher
Great read, as normal. Oh, and the name: awesome.
Should be interesting to see just what kind of history Tezuka & Nakai have.
I found out about Katawa Shoujo through the forums of Misfile. There, I am the editor of Misfiled Dreams.
Completed: 100%, including bonus picture. Shizune>Emi>Lilly>Hanako>Rin
Griffon8's Writing
Completed: 100%, including bonus picture. Shizune>Emi>Lilly>Hanako>Rin
Griffon8's Writing
Re: Rebellion
I love this SF cliché storm, if you forgive me calling it like that. The SF setting is a lovely variation.
Kind Regards, B.
Feeling like your heart is broken? Need to get it off your chest? Tell your story here.
Take a look at Eruta my jRPG under development. New web site since december 2012.
Play Ature, my free and open source indie Atari 2600 action adventure game.
All great love is above pity: for it wants - to create what is loved! -- F. Nietzsche - Thus Spoke Zarathustra.
Feeling like your heart is broken? Need to get it off your chest? Tell your story here.
Take a look at Eruta my jRPG under development. New web site since december 2012.
Play Ature, my free and open source indie Atari 2600 action adventure game.
All great love is above pity: for it wants - to create what is loved! -- F. Nietzsche - Thus Spoke Zarathustra.
-
crushinator
- Posts: 34
- Joined: Tue May 01, 2012 7:11 pm
Re: Rebellion
The room was in revered silence. Each captain seemed to be either content with or silently criticising the plan, most likely determining how much danger their own ships would be in. Hisao was almost ready to declare a vote for approval of the plan before Rin spoke up.
“What if the other captains see through our plan?” she asked flatly.
Captain Francis seemed ready to settle her fears, “Thoughts like that are what cause plans to fail, my dear.” He placed his hands on his round belly, “In any case, what would you have us do instead? Captain Mutou’s plan is worthy of our support, don’t you think?”
Rin’s attention seemed to be focused on the holographic display, but Hisao thought he wouldn’t be surprised if she was more interested in the technology than the strategic data, or even more likely that she was looking straight through the display and out the window the other side into space.
“It’s Captain, not dear. And I think that in case they figure out our plan, we should have a different plan instead, but if they think we know that they know what we are going to do, or rather think we know that they know what we are planning to do right now but not what we will actually do then we should do what we are planning to do right now so that they are definitely surprised.”
All Hisao could hear was the air conditioning.
“I think what Captain Tezuka is getting at,” said Nurse, quick to defuse the tension, “is a double bluff, not counting Captain Mutou’s surprise tactics, which actually puts us back where we were 5 minutes ago.”
Rin considered Nurse’s translation for a moment before nodding, “Yes, that’s exactly what I’m getting at. I was actually going for a quadruple or preferably octuple bluff. But I now realise it simplifies to the same thing if we don’t have enough time to build fake mechs out of straw.”
If Rin was happy, Hisao was happy. “It’s settled then. If anyone would like to have a vote then we can, but otherwise I think we should return to our ships and begin preparations.”
The shuffling and murmuring told Hisao that no vote was necessary, so he started wishing the other Captains farewell. Mutou approached him, handing him back his data-pad.
“The plan will work, I have no doubt. Your experience flying X-10s will be invaluable when commanding the fighter attack.” He said, before leaning closer, “But I have an issue I need to discuss in private, on the Cloud Pegasus.”
Hisao glanced at the other two people in the room, Hanako was talking to Rin. Rin seemed distracted, and her eyes met Hisao’s.
Turning back to Mutou, Hisao explained “I have some business I need to attend to but I will join you on the Cloud Pegasus as soon as I can.”
Mutou seemed satisfied, saluted and left the room for his shuttle. Hisao approached the two women and Hanako faced him.
“I think that was very successful, sir.” She said smiling gently, “Not just the plan, but the way your captain’s respected you. I think Mutou responding to you without being condescending helped a lot.”
She was right, of course. That was a habit of hers, being right.
“Agreed, it’s a shame we couldn’t implement the full extent of Captain Tezuka’s plan however. What was that about straw mechs?” Hisao joked. His candidness might have made his first officer uncomfortable, but Hisao couldn’t keep his captain’s demeanour relentlessly.
Rin didn’t seem interested in discussing the details in front of Hanako and appeared to turn on a “Captain Mode” switch for a brief time. “Lieutenant Commander, please allow your captain and I to discuss matters in private.”
Hanako was mildly surprised by the request, but followed protocol without any reluctance. “Yes, Ma’am.” She took a right out of the conference room, leaving Hisao assuming she was headed towards the crew quarters. He made a mental note to get all of her thoughts on the meeting as soon as he could.
Hisao felt a weight on his shoulder and chest, Rin had put her face as close to his shoulder as possible and leaned on him in what she called a hug.
“I thought we were going to talk about straw mechs,” he lied, before placing his hands on her back.
“I’m sure we can find something more important to talk about.” She said, her voice muffled by the fabric covering her mouth. She didn’t seem to be intent on ending the embrace any time soon.
“Rin,” said Hisao, as if saying her name might make the words come easier. “What happened?”
This made her lift her head up, and she rested her chin on his shoulder, her mouth was close to his ear so he could hear her whispers. “We graduated.”
They certainly had. Hisao didn’t feel like counting the years, but it had been long enough ago to feel like another life. His life at the Yamaku academy for Imperial officers was certainly self-contained, in that their lives consisted of simulations, lectures, exams and little else. It was there that Hisao had met Rin. They had both been chosen by the administration as the most capable in some field or another. For Hisao it had been flying fighters and leading them, for Rin it had been science. She was somewhat of a savant when it came to quantum mechanics, mechanical engineering, biology, chemistry and everything else that was important to the Imperial Science Consortium.
Being chosen as exemplary candidates meant they were placed in accelerated training programs and given the best tutors and resources available. Rin had helped Hisao with passing all the core non-military classes. Her outlook on physical processes and abstract, mathematical concepts were unique and required much translation on Hisao’s part. Nonetheless, when they didn’t help Hisao understand the science directly, they certainly provoked enough thought within him to build his own understanding.
Likewise, Hisao had helped Rin with everything that couldn’t be described using an equation. That said, Rin had attempted to design a computational model that could win any combat scenario. Hisao had only lost to it once before realising it had trouble dealing with 3 dimensional tactics as opposed to 2 dimensional.
As a result, he and Rin had grown close. Close enough to warrant contacting each other after graduation. Hisao had tried to contact her, but it was made clear that whatever secret project Rin had been placed on it was near impossible to get a message to her. Hisao had chosen to wait for word from her, but it never came.
“I tried to contact you.” Hisao started.
“I was classified.”
“I waited for you to send me a message or something, anything.”
Rin lifted her head of his shoulder and looked at the floor, leaning the top of her head against him. “It was the project, I got distracted.”
Hisao knew what she meant. When it came to a scientific problem that particularly interested her, Rin could become so enthralled that she forgot to eat. What made matters worse was that some concepts in science are considered “unsolvable” or “unexplainable”, something Rin would never allow and would work at such a problem until she solved it (which had never happened before) or until she decided that “technology had not advanced enough to solve the problem” and so she returned to advancing the technology.
“It’s OK, that’s” Hisao began, but was cut off by beeping from the room’s intercom speaker.
The answer button was just out of arm’s reach. “I should,” Hisao said.
“You should. They don’t stop beeping until you answer to them,” said Rin, apparently speaking from experience. She made no move to stop leaning on Hisao, however.
A voice he recognised from earlier that morning spoke to him, “Captain, there is an urgent message for you. It’s the Supreme Executor.”
The emotional reunion of old friends and the many questions that Hisao had ready to ask would have to wait. Unfortunately, leaving the Supreme Executor unattended any longer than necessary was the worst idea he had heard all day. A miserable situation to be in, but Hisao knew it to be the natural consequence of war.
After an awkward salutation and leaving a disheartened Rin in the conference room, Hisao found himself face to face with the Executor. She had somehow managed to plant an image of her face on every screen of the bridge.
“Hicchan! I knew I’d find you somewhere!” she grinned.
The honorific left a kind of stunned silence in its wake. There was no escaping it now, the rumours would spread ship wide by evening and fleet wide by morning.
Getting it over with quickly was most likely the safest course of action for Hisao’s pride. “Supreme Executor, do you have new orders for me?” he asked, making his way to his chair.
The executor’s eyes followed him across the room. “You don’t think I just called to chat?~” said the Executor, pouting.
At least when sat in his chair Hisao didn’t have to make eye contact with anyone. Anyone but the huge pair of eyes on the screen projected onto the viewing window in front of him. “I doubt the Empress would allow my mission to be interrupted with idle chit-chat.”
This only made the Executor’s sarcasm turn to undoubted indignation; she furrowed her brow, “I can do things without being told by Shicchan you know!”
Hisao wondered what happened to his plan of getting it over with quickly. It was likely banished to the same level of hell as his conversation with Rin or his career as a squadron leader or the respect his crew once had for their Empress’ second in command before she turned out to be a twentysomething girl with pink drills.
After a brief silence between the captain and the woman on every screen in the room, Hisao spoke up, “You said you had new orders?”
She seemed willing to relent on her aggressive posture, “Shicchan wants you, that is, Shicchan and I want you to stop over at the senate,” she said beaming once again.
Hmmm. It's been a while. Not only due to having other commitments, but also due to me writing really slowly. I actually cut about 800 words out of this part. The reason being that I had hit a rut and didn't know where I was going wrong. That was until I read an interview with GRRM where he said that sometimes his writing takes him down dead ends, and he has to go back and rewrite a chapter. I hadn't considered that I had taken a wrong turn and what I was writing didn't feel right because it wasn't meant to be. So I got rid of the part I was having trouble with and what we have here is the result. Hopefully I can move on and get this story finished before apathy takes me over once again, and I'm completely lost.
@Everyone: Thanks for the comments. Thrawn is a badass, so is Mutou, it only makes sense that you would make the comparison.
My little spiel at the beginning of part 3 was completely honest and I meant every word. I'm fully aware that this story is completely filled with clichés and other sci fi elements that are not my own. I expect if someone somehow managed to quantify this, you'd find this story has little to no original content.
“What if the other captains see through our plan?” she asked flatly.
Captain Francis seemed ready to settle her fears, “Thoughts like that are what cause plans to fail, my dear.” He placed his hands on his round belly, “In any case, what would you have us do instead? Captain Mutou’s plan is worthy of our support, don’t you think?”
Rin’s attention seemed to be focused on the holographic display, but Hisao thought he wouldn’t be surprised if she was more interested in the technology than the strategic data, or even more likely that she was looking straight through the display and out the window the other side into space.
“It’s Captain, not dear. And I think that in case they figure out our plan, we should have a different plan instead, but if they think we know that they know what we are going to do, or rather think we know that they know what we are planning to do right now but not what we will actually do then we should do what we are planning to do right now so that they are definitely surprised.”
All Hisao could hear was the air conditioning.
“I think what Captain Tezuka is getting at,” said Nurse, quick to defuse the tension, “is a double bluff, not counting Captain Mutou’s surprise tactics, which actually puts us back where we were 5 minutes ago.”
Rin considered Nurse’s translation for a moment before nodding, “Yes, that’s exactly what I’m getting at. I was actually going for a quadruple or preferably octuple bluff. But I now realise it simplifies to the same thing if we don’t have enough time to build fake mechs out of straw.”
If Rin was happy, Hisao was happy. “It’s settled then. If anyone would like to have a vote then we can, but otherwise I think we should return to our ships and begin preparations.”
The shuffling and murmuring told Hisao that no vote was necessary, so he started wishing the other Captains farewell. Mutou approached him, handing him back his data-pad.
“The plan will work, I have no doubt. Your experience flying X-10s will be invaluable when commanding the fighter attack.” He said, before leaning closer, “But I have an issue I need to discuss in private, on the Cloud Pegasus.”
Hisao glanced at the other two people in the room, Hanako was talking to Rin. Rin seemed distracted, and her eyes met Hisao’s.
Turning back to Mutou, Hisao explained “I have some business I need to attend to but I will join you on the Cloud Pegasus as soon as I can.”
Mutou seemed satisfied, saluted and left the room for his shuttle. Hisao approached the two women and Hanako faced him.
“I think that was very successful, sir.” She said smiling gently, “Not just the plan, but the way your captain’s respected you. I think Mutou responding to you without being condescending helped a lot.”
She was right, of course. That was a habit of hers, being right.
“Agreed, it’s a shame we couldn’t implement the full extent of Captain Tezuka’s plan however. What was that about straw mechs?” Hisao joked. His candidness might have made his first officer uncomfortable, but Hisao couldn’t keep his captain’s demeanour relentlessly.
Rin didn’t seem interested in discussing the details in front of Hanako and appeared to turn on a “Captain Mode” switch for a brief time. “Lieutenant Commander, please allow your captain and I to discuss matters in private.”
Hanako was mildly surprised by the request, but followed protocol without any reluctance. “Yes, Ma’am.” She took a right out of the conference room, leaving Hisao assuming she was headed towards the crew quarters. He made a mental note to get all of her thoughts on the meeting as soon as he could.
Hisao felt a weight on his shoulder and chest, Rin had put her face as close to his shoulder as possible and leaned on him in what she called a hug.
“I thought we were going to talk about straw mechs,” he lied, before placing his hands on her back.
“I’m sure we can find something more important to talk about.” She said, her voice muffled by the fabric covering her mouth. She didn’t seem to be intent on ending the embrace any time soon.
“Rin,” said Hisao, as if saying her name might make the words come easier. “What happened?”
This made her lift her head up, and she rested her chin on his shoulder, her mouth was close to his ear so he could hear her whispers. “We graduated.”
They certainly had. Hisao didn’t feel like counting the years, but it had been long enough ago to feel like another life. His life at the Yamaku academy for Imperial officers was certainly self-contained, in that their lives consisted of simulations, lectures, exams and little else. It was there that Hisao had met Rin. They had both been chosen by the administration as the most capable in some field or another. For Hisao it had been flying fighters and leading them, for Rin it had been science. She was somewhat of a savant when it came to quantum mechanics, mechanical engineering, biology, chemistry and everything else that was important to the Imperial Science Consortium.
Being chosen as exemplary candidates meant they were placed in accelerated training programs and given the best tutors and resources available. Rin had helped Hisao with passing all the core non-military classes. Her outlook on physical processes and abstract, mathematical concepts were unique and required much translation on Hisao’s part. Nonetheless, when they didn’t help Hisao understand the science directly, they certainly provoked enough thought within him to build his own understanding.
Likewise, Hisao had helped Rin with everything that couldn’t be described using an equation. That said, Rin had attempted to design a computational model that could win any combat scenario. Hisao had only lost to it once before realising it had trouble dealing with 3 dimensional tactics as opposed to 2 dimensional.
As a result, he and Rin had grown close. Close enough to warrant contacting each other after graduation. Hisao had tried to contact her, but it was made clear that whatever secret project Rin had been placed on it was near impossible to get a message to her. Hisao had chosen to wait for word from her, but it never came.
“I tried to contact you.” Hisao started.
“I was classified.”
“I waited for you to send me a message or something, anything.”
Rin lifted her head of his shoulder and looked at the floor, leaning the top of her head against him. “It was the project, I got distracted.”
Hisao knew what she meant. When it came to a scientific problem that particularly interested her, Rin could become so enthralled that she forgot to eat. What made matters worse was that some concepts in science are considered “unsolvable” or “unexplainable”, something Rin would never allow and would work at such a problem until she solved it (which had never happened before) or until she decided that “technology had not advanced enough to solve the problem” and so she returned to advancing the technology.
“It’s OK, that’s” Hisao began, but was cut off by beeping from the room’s intercom speaker.
The answer button was just out of arm’s reach. “I should,” Hisao said.
“You should. They don’t stop beeping until you answer to them,” said Rin, apparently speaking from experience. She made no move to stop leaning on Hisao, however.
A voice he recognised from earlier that morning spoke to him, “Captain, there is an urgent message for you. It’s the Supreme Executor.”
The emotional reunion of old friends and the many questions that Hisao had ready to ask would have to wait. Unfortunately, leaving the Supreme Executor unattended any longer than necessary was the worst idea he had heard all day. A miserable situation to be in, but Hisao knew it to be the natural consequence of war.
After an awkward salutation and leaving a disheartened Rin in the conference room, Hisao found himself face to face with the Executor. She had somehow managed to plant an image of her face on every screen of the bridge.
“Hicchan! I knew I’d find you somewhere!” she grinned.
The honorific left a kind of stunned silence in its wake. There was no escaping it now, the rumours would spread ship wide by evening and fleet wide by morning.
Getting it over with quickly was most likely the safest course of action for Hisao’s pride. “Supreme Executor, do you have new orders for me?” he asked, making his way to his chair.
The executor’s eyes followed him across the room. “You don’t think I just called to chat?~” said the Executor, pouting.
At least when sat in his chair Hisao didn’t have to make eye contact with anyone. Anyone but the huge pair of eyes on the screen projected onto the viewing window in front of him. “I doubt the Empress would allow my mission to be interrupted with idle chit-chat.”
This only made the Executor’s sarcasm turn to undoubted indignation; she furrowed her brow, “I can do things without being told by Shicchan you know!”
Hisao wondered what happened to his plan of getting it over with quickly. It was likely banished to the same level of hell as his conversation with Rin or his career as a squadron leader or the respect his crew once had for their Empress’ second in command before she turned out to be a twentysomething girl with pink drills.
After a brief silence between the captain and the woman on every screen in the room, Hisao spoke up, “You said you had new orders?”
She seemed willing to relent on her aggressive posture, “Shicchan wants you, that is, Shicchan and I want you to stop over at the senate,” she said beaming once again.
Hmmm. It's been a while. Not only due to having other commitments, but also due to me writing really slowly. I actually cut about 800 words out of this part. The reason being that I had hit a rut and didn't know where I was going wrong. That was until I read an interview with GRRM where he said that sometimes his writing takes him down dead ends, and he has to go back and rewrite a chapter. I hadn't considered that I had taken a wrong turn and what I was writing didn't feel right because it wasn't meant to be. So I got rid of the part I was having trouble with and what we have here is the result. Hopefully I can move on and get this story finished before apathy takes me over once again, and I'm completely lost.
@Everyone: Thanks for the comments. Thrawn is a badass, so is Mutou, it only makes sense that you would make the comparison.
My little spiel at the beginning of part 3 was completely honest and I meant every word. I'm fully aware that this story is completely filled with clichés and other sci fi elements that are not my own. I expect if someone somehow managed to quantify this, you'd find this story has little to no original content.
Re: Rebellion
Great read, as always. And as a fellow expert in cliche writing, the key is to have fun and just go with it, like you are
I've hit the rut thing, too. Heck, I've nearly had to scrap whole chapters before because I had written myself somewhere I just couldn't continue. Normally when you write you just go with it, but there are times when you need to step back and think for a minute.
I've hit the rut thing, too. Heck, I've nearly had to scrap whole chapters before because I had written myself somewhere I just couldn't continue. Normally when you write you just go with it, but there are times when you need to step back and think for a minute.
"Who are you, that do not know your history?" -Ulysses
Misha Time: United States of Misha Meet the Hakamichis
Awesome, served on the rocks: Hisao and Kenji- Master Detectives! (Check out the Archive for more!)
I wrote a book! Brythain edited it! If you like mystery and history please consider: A Sister's Habit
"You are absolutely insane. And entertaining." -griffon8
Misha Time: United States of Misha Meet the Hakamichis
Awesome, served on the rocks: Hisao and Kenji- Master Detectives! (Check out the Archive for more!)
I wrote a book! Brythain edited it! If you like mystery and history please consider: A Sister's Habit
"You are absolutely insane. And entertaining." -griffon8
Re: Rebellion
Hey, originality is often overrated, not to mention that in a few hundred years it will be practically impossible since everything "original" will have been done by then. Cliché storms like what you're writing can be great fun too, and in your case, it certainly is a lot of fun. So take heart and keep up the good work.
Kind Regards, B.
Feeling like your heart is broken? Need to get it off your chest? Tell your story here.
Take a look at Eruta my jRPG under development. New web site since december 2012.
Play Ature, my free and open source indie Atari 2600 action adventure game.
All great love is above pity: for it wants - to create what is loved! -- F. Nietzsche - Thus Spoke Zarathustra.
Feeling like your heart is broken? Need to get it off your chest? Tell your story here.
Take a look at Eruta my jRPG under development. New web site since december 2012.
Play Ature, my free and open source indie Atari 2600 action adventure game.
All great love is above pity: for it wants - to create what is loved! -- F. Nietzsche - Thus Spoke Zarathustra.
-
crushinator
- Posts: 34
- Joined: Tue May 01, 2012 7:11 pm
Re: Rebellion
“The senate?” asked Hisao, bringing up their ETA to the senate’s star system on his data-pad. “I thought we were trying to get to the Separatists as fast as possible, to keep their fleet numbers at a minimum.”
“We know, we know~” the Executor, taking on a faux-exhausted expression, “But one of the silly senators is still on board the station. If the separatists get her...”
Hisao saw he had no choice in the matter, “Then we’ll be dealing with an angry imperial planet or two as well as a separatist incursion, I get it.”
A smile crept through the Executor’s mock expression. “We knew you’d understand~ Hicchan.”
Hisao began relaying the orders to all the ship’s lieutenants through his chair’s console.
“Oh, and Hicchan~?”
If Hisao heard that nickname one more time, he thought he might cut off the Executor even if it meant a court marshal. He looked up from the console, his smile said he was ready to receive further orders, but his eyes told a dark tale of fury and revenge.
The Executor was unfazed, “Call me Misha.”
She ended the communication. Hisao wouldn’t have been surprised to hear giggling from one of the bridge crew; only his surroundings made this situation feel anything different to something from his high school days.
Tomorrow night. Tomorrow night they would be at the senate space station, they could pick up the senator and send her on her way. Then it was off through the 22nd Jump station and to battle. Hisao took his chance to check through the latest intelligence on their mission.
Out of the 100 or so probes that had gone through the 22nd Jump station, around 20 had survived long enough to provide useful data. It seemed the separatist’s fleet had grown according to expectations, and by the energy readings, it was still made up of relatively small and non-military vessels.
Whenever he had engaged an unknown enemy force before, Hisao had always been briefed by a superior officer on what to do. He would even be given real-time orders in the case that the enemy was of a significantly different size or capability than predicted. Now it was his job to give those orders. His academy training kept him calm, but a familiar scent brought on a protective instinct in him which also aroused fear in his artificial heart.
Instead of debating on whether that sense was real, seeing as it was being simulated by a piece of high medical technology, Hisao chose to get out of his chair and confirm his suspicion. It was confirmed. Rin stood in the doorway leading to the conference room’s corridor. Her attention had been taken by the large viewing window at the other side of the bridge.
Hisao turned to look out the window as well, just to see if she was looking at anything in particular. Nope, just black and specks of white, red and blue. “You can take a closer look if you want.” He said, looking over his shoulder.
Rin shrugged, but made her way towards the window anyway. The window was half of a glass cube, reinforced with a ridiculously strong alloy of some kind, it stuck out the front of the ship, providing a kind of observation dome. Rin stepped out onto the see through floor to surround her field of vision with the window. Hisao had always got a feeling of vertigo whenever he did something similar, an odd sensation for someone who was used to flying around at thousands of kilometres per second in a flimsy fighter craft. It was an even stranger feeling for someone with an artificial version of the organ that produced the feeling. Would it be possible to make it so such feelings were eliminated? An emotional off switch, or maybe a heart thermocouple.
“I didn’t get one of these on my ship,” she said as she decided to slip off her sandals and sit cross-legged on the glass floor.
It certainly was a unique meditation space. Hisao braved his vertigo and, walked onto the glass, leaning against the side. Rin’s face was peaceful, her eyes closed. A shame, as the only colour the stars were missing was green.
“How’d you get a ship anyway? I thought we agreed you’d most likely be sent off to a secret imperial research facility working on hyper-drives or something.”
Rin smiled, “Not quite, but close.”
Hisao gave her a moment to remember his question.
The smile disappeared and she answered, “I got stuck on my project, so I asked for a vacation.”
Laughing, Hisao retorted “You’re a bad liar, Rin. But you don’t have to say if you don’t want.”
Rin opened her eyes, “Not lying. But thanks, you’ll know eventually anyway.”
The uneasy feeling this brought on wasn’t in his heart this time, it was a gut reaction. Something was up with his old friend, but Hisao had little chance to guess what it was before a blue speck in the distance started to take shape. A planet. Coming this close to a planet could only mean one thing; they had reached the local jump station. If he wanted to, and Hisao wasn't in the mood to delay on his orders, they could reach the Senate before the night cycle began. That would mean pulling a 24 hour shift, but Hisao had been standing and talking to his superiors or sitting and talking to his superiors or...kneeling and talking to his superiors for days now, ever since the Empress' summons came through. He was ready to see some action, even if it was to play taxi for a Senator.
"Do you still get jump-sick?"
"I don't think I'll ever get used to passing through the fourth dimension at anything but my own pace."
Hisao watched as the planet's proximity continued to increase, but an ever slowing rate as the ship's deceleration took hold. The Cloud Pegasus appeared at the edge of the observation dome, moving ahead of the fleet. The Fire-class dreadnaughts had always been slow to start and to stop.
Hisao straightened up, moving his weight off the glass wall. "I'll have to oversee the jump, so I'll leave you to..." Hisao began, but was caught off guard by the hurt, shocked look that Rin gave him. "...you're own duties."
Rin's shock subsided, she took a last look around the viewing window and stood up from her cross-legged position. "I should go back to the ship, my ship. If I'm gone too long I'm afraid I'll forget where I parked it."
Within the hour the fleet was mobilised for the jump, one more after this one and they would be within a distance of the Senate that could be traversed through more conventional methods. The jump stations worked by opening wormholes to their target destinations. It was theoretically possible to open a wormhole to any location using any given jump station, but it was a costly procedure in that it would almost certainly break the finely calibrated equipment. So it was the custom that each jump station only led to 1 or 2 other star systems, depending on the number of gates that were deployed.
Hisao opened a channel to all the ships in his battle group and througout his own ship. "Prepare for jump to the Rika System." He then signalled to his communications officer to send word to the Jump Station crew that they were ready. After all ships reported in ready, the jump gate came to life. The glowing aura around it's edge pulsed once before a distortion in the very fabric of spacetime rippled inward towards the gate's centre. Hisao watched as his console relayed the ship's engine's automatic activation, accelerating them to the threshold velocity required to break the wormhole's surface tension.
The journey was over in a flash, and the battle group found itself in some remote corner of the Rika star system. A red giant star loomed a dozen or so lighthours away. The local jump station was in orbit around a gas giant on the other side of the star.
Hisao opened the channel he had closed a few moments before, "Jump Complete, please resume your dut-"
"Captain! We have ships on an intercept course!" shouted a lieutenant behind him.
Hisao's console brought up a lidar reading of the battle group's ships, also included were 4 dots moving towards them. They were moving towards Hisao's ship, their intentions were undeniable.
The lieutenant piped up again, "No communications so far sir."
Another continued, "They're old trade freighters, retrofitted with some armour capabilites. If they're not seperatists then they're doing an excellent impression of them."
The results of the scans on the incoming vessels appeared on Hisao's screen. Everything his crew member had said seemed accurate. The ships were also running at an engine burn that exceeded the maximum level of the engines the trade freighters would have been built with. Modded trade freighters, enough to get through the local star systems undetected. But with military-grade scanning equipment, it was easy to see the modifications.
Hisao was painfully aware of the seconds that had passed since he was first made aware of the ships. Any hesitation now would be a mistake. "I'm coordinating an attack with the Highland, standby," Hisao said as he issued the command for the use of particle beam weapons, hopefully destroying one of the freighters and the ensuing explosion would be enough to disable all of the targets. Hisao had never been one for warning shots.
A moment later, the command was executed. The beam would have been invisible if it had crossed in front of the viewing window, and the targets themselves were out of view as well. The only results Hisao heard from the command were from his console.
The targeted freighter had been destroyed, the remaining vessels however were still on an intercept course, seemingly undetered by the destruction of their comrade. Hisao was about to issue another particle beam authorisation when the freighters suddenly gained an impressive speed boost. More modifications. They were now less than 30 seconds out from Hisao's ship. What they intended to do once they got close Hisao had not yet thought up. They could board, but with the battle group nearby it would be suicide, unless it was intended as a suicide mission and their only goal was the assasination of the up and coming Captain Nakai.
Hisao stopped himself before his train of thought went any further. With the incoming ships moving so fast, they would be within plasma weapon range in a few seconds. Hisao tapped in the command.
"We're picking up an odd signal," said a confused sounding officer, "It's directed towards the bridge and it's bypassing our jamming systems."
A few more seconds and the incoming ships would be overwhelmed by hot globules of plasma. "Try your best to jam it and monitor our systems for intru-"
A sharp pain filled Hisao's chest. The familiar ringing in his ears told him that his heart was malfunctioning. He slumped forward, the pain was too much to bear. He was vaguely aware of some shouting around him before blacking out completely.
Thanks for the kind comments and advice. I'll try my best to keep up with this story, as I've said I have ideas for where it's headed so it will be completed eventually. One of the things I was most apprehensive about was altering Rin's character so drastically (i.e. from Art to Science). As a Rinbro, I have trouble writing Rin as it will never be as good as I want it to be. Not to mention I'm by no means the best Rin writer, compared to some of the fan fiction I've read which seems to capture aspects of her personality (or at least what I perceive to be her personality) to excellent precision. I guess I'll just rely on the already established character traits that come with being a fan fiction writer, so I'm relying on you guys to fill in the blanks as it were.
“We know, we know~” the Executor, taking on a faux-exhausted expression, “But one of the silly senators is still on board the station. If the separatists get her...”
Hisao saw he had no choice in the matter, “Then we’ll be dealing with an angry imperial planet or two as well as a separatist incursion, I get it.”
A smile crept through the Executor’s mock expression. “We knew you’d understand~ Hicchan.”
Hisao began relaying the orders to all the ship’s lieutenants through his chair’s console.
“Oh, and Hicchan~?”
If Hisao heard that nickname one more time, he thought he might cut off the Executor even if it meant a court marshal. He looked up from the console, his smile said he was ready to receive further orders, but his eyes told a dark tale of fury and revenge.
The Executor was unfazed, “Call me Misha.”
She ended the communication. Hisao wouldn’t have been surprised to hear giggling from one of the bridge crew; only his surroundings made this situation feel anything different to something from his high school days.
Tomorrow night. Tomorrow night they would be at the senate space station, they could pick up the senator and send her on her way. Then it was off through the 22nd Jump station and to battle. Hisao took his chance to check through the latest intelligence on their mission.
Out of the 100 or so probes that had gone through the 22nd Jump station, around 20 had survived long enough to provide useful data. It seemed the separatist’s fleet had grown according to expectations, and by the energy readings, it was still made up of relatively small and non-military vessels.
Whenever he had engaged an unknown enemy force before, Hisao had always been briefed by a superior officer on what to do. He would even be given real-time orders in the case that the enemy was of a significantly different size or capability than predicted. Now it was his job to give those orders. His academy training kept him calm, but a familiar scent brought on a protective instinct in him which also aroused fear in his artificial heart.
Instead of debating on whether that sense was real, seeing as it was being simulated by a piece of high medical technology, Hisao chose to get out of his chair and confirm his suspicion. It was confirmed. Rin stood in the doorway leading to the conference room’s corridor. Her attention had been taken by the large viewing window at the other side of the bridge.
Hisao turned to look out the window as well, just to see if she was looking at anything in particular. Nope, just black and specks of white, red and blue. “You can take a closer look if you want.” He said, looking over his shoulder.
Rin shrugged, but made her way towards the window anyway. The window was half of a glass cube, reinforced with a ridiculously strong alloy of some kind, it stuck out the front of the ship, providing a kind of observation dome. Rin stepped out onto the see through floor to surround her field of vision with the window. Hisao had always got a feeling of vertigo whenever he did something similar, an odd sensation for someone who was used to flying around at thousands of kilometres per second in a flimsy fighter craft. It was an even stranger feeling for someone with an artificial version of the organ that produced the feeling. Would it be possible to make it so such feelings were eliminated? An emotional off switch, or maybe a heart thermocouple.
“I didn’t get one of these on my ship,” she said as she decided to slip off her sandals and sit cross-legged on the glass floor.
It certainly was a unique meditation space. Hisao braved his vertigo and, walked onto the glass, leaning against the side. Rin’s face was peaceful, her eyes closed. A shame, as the only colour the stars were missing was green.
“How’d you get a ship anyway? I thought we agreed you’d most likely be sent off to a secret imperial research facility working on hyper-drives or something.”
Rin smiled, “Not quite, but close.”
Hisao gave her a moment to remember his question.
The smile disappeared and she answered, “I got stuck on my project, so I asked for a vacation.”
Laughing, Hisao retorted “You’re a bad liar, Rin. But you don’t have to say if you don’t want.”
Rin opened her eyes, “Not lying. But thanks, you’ll know eventually anyway.”
The uneasy feeling this brought on wasn’t in his heart this time, it was a gut reaction. Something was up with his old friend, but Hisao had little chance to guess what it was before a blue speck in the distance started to take shape. A planet. Coming this close to a planet could only mean one thing; they had reached the local jump station. If he wanted to, and Hisao wasn't in the mood to delay on his orders, they could reach the Senate before the night cycle began. That would mean pulling a 24 hour shift, but Hisao had been standing and talking to his superiors or sitting and talking to his superiors or...kneeling and talking to his superiors for days now, ever since the Empress' summons came through. He was ready to see some action, even if it was to play taxi for a Senator.
"Do you still get jump-sick?"
"I don't think I'll ever get used to passing through the fourth dimension at anything but my own pace."
Hisao watched as the planet's proximity continued to increase, but an ever slowing rate as the ship's deceleration took hold. The Cloud Pegasus appeared at the edge of the observation dome, moving ahead of the fleet. The Fire-class dreadnaughts had always been slow to start and to stop.
Hisao straightened up, moving his weight off the glass wall. "I'll have to oversee the jump, so I'll leave you to..." Hisao began, but was caught off guard by the hurt, shocked look that Rin gave him. "...you're own duties."
Rin's shock subsided, she took a last look around the viewing window and stood up from her cross-legged position. "I should go back to the ship, my ship. If I'm gone too long I'm afraid I'll forget where I parked it."
Within the hour the fleet was mobilised for the jump, one more after this one and they would be within a distance of the Senate that could be traversed through more conventional methods. The jump stations worked by opening wormholes to their target destinations. It was theoretically possible to open a wormhole to any location using any given jump station, but it was a costly procedure in that it would almost certainly break the finely calibrated equipment. So it was the custom that each jump station only led to 1 or 2 other star systems, depending on the number of gates that were deployed.
Hisao opened a channel to all the ships in his battle group and througout his own ship. "Prepare for jump to the Rika System." He then signalled to his communications officer to send word to the Jump Station crew that they were ready. After all ships reported in ready, the jump gate came to life. The glowing aura around it's edge pulsed once before a distortion in the very fabric of spacetime rippled inward towards the gate's centre. Hisao watched as his console relayed the ship's engine's automatic activation, accelerating them to the threshold velocity required to break the wormhole's surface tension.
The journey was over in a flash, and the battle group found itself in some remote corner of the Rika star system. A red giant star loomed a dozen or so lighthours away. The local jump station was in orbit around a gas giant on the other side of the star.
Hisao opened the channel he had closed a few moments before, "Jump Complete, please resume your dut-"
"Captain! We have ships on an intercept course!" shouted a lieutenant behind him.
Hisao's console brought up a lidar reading of the battle group's ships, also included were 4 dots moving towards them. They were moving towards Hisao's ship, their intentions were undeniable.
The lieutenant piped up again, "No communications so far sir."
Another continued, "They're old trade freighters, retrofitted with some armour capabilites. If they're not seperatists then they're doing an excellent impression of them."
The results of the scans on the incoming vessels appeared on Hisao's screen. Everything his crew member had said seemed accurate. The ships were also running at an engine burn that exceeded the maximum level of the engines the trade freighters would have been built with. Modded trade freighters, enough to get through the local star systems undetected. But with military-grade scanning equipment, it was easy to see the modifications.
Hisao was painfully aware of the seconds that had passed since he was first made aware of the ships. Any hesitation now would be a mistake. "I'm coordinating an attack with the Highland, standby," Hisao said as he issued the command for the use of particle beam weapons, hopefully destroying one of the freighters and the ensuing explosion would be enough to disable all of the targets. Hisao had never been one for warning shots.
A moment later, the command was executed. The beam would have been invisible if it had crossed in front of the viewing window, and the targets themselves were out of view as well. The only results Hisao heard from the command were from his console.
The targeted freighter had been destroyed, the remaining vessels however were still on an intercept course, seemingly undetered by the destruction of their comrade. Hisao was about to issue another particle beam authorisation when the freighters suddenly gained an impressive speed boost. More modifications. They were now less than 30 seconds out from Hisao's ship. What they intended to do once they got close Hisao had not yet thought up. They could board, but with the battle group nearby it would be suicide, unless it was intended as a suicide mission and their only goal was the assasination of the up and coming Captain Nakai.
Hisao stopped himself before his train of thought went any further. With the incoming ships moving so fast, they would be within plasma weapon range in a few seconds. Hisao tapped in the command.
"We're picking up an odd signal," said a confused sounding officer, "It's directed towards the bridge and it's bypassing our jamming systems."
A few more seconds and the incoming ships would be overwhelmed by hot globules of plasma. "Try your best to jam it and monitor our systems for intru-"
A sharp pain filled Hisao's chest. The familiar ringing in his ears told him that his heart was malfunctioning. He slumped forward, the pain was too much to bear. He was vaguely aware of some shouting around him before blacking out completely.
Thanks for the kind comments and advice. I'll try my best to keep up with this story, as I've said I have ideas for where it's headed so it will be completed eventually. One of the things I was most apprehensive about was altering Rin's character so drastically (i.e. from Art to Science). As a Rinbro, I have trouble writing Rin as it will never be as good as I want it to be. Not to mention I'm by no means the best Rin writer, compared to some of the fan fiction I've read which seems to capture aspects of her personality (or at least what I perceive to be her personality) to excellent precision. I guess I'll just rely on the already established character traits that come with being a fan fiction writer, so I'm relying on you guys to fill in the blanks as it were.
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Mirage_GSM
- Posts: 6148
- Joined: Mon Jun 28, 2010 2:24 am
- Location: Germany
Re: Rebellion
I think Rin is fine.
But why does Hisao have an artificial inner ear?
But why does Hisao have an artificial inner ear?
Emi > Misha > Hanako > Lilly > Rin > Shizune
My collected KS-Fan Fictions: Mirage's Myths
My collected KS-Fan Fictions: Mirage's Myths
Sore wa himitsu desu.griffon8 wrote:Kosher, just because sex is your answer to everything doesn't mean that sex is the answer to everything.
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crushinator
- Posts: 34
- Joined: Tue May 01, 2012 7:11 pm
Re: Rebellion
I was thinking that if someone had an artificial heart, then the surgeons would also develop a way of letting the patient know if their organ is malfunctioning. So I imagined maybe they'd put an implant in their ear or something.Mirage_GSM wrote:I think Rin is fine.
But why does Hisao have an artificial inner ear?
Re: Rebellion
Fascinating.crushinator wrote:I was thinking that if someone had an artificial heart, then the surgeons would also develop a way of letting the patient know if their organ is malfunctioning. So I imagined maybe they'd put an implant in their ear or something.Mirage_GSM wrote:I think Rin is fine.
But why does Hisao have an artificial inner ear?
By the way, this started out feeling like KS meets Star Wars, but now it's a little more like Star Trek. The thought that Hisao would have an artificial heart makes perfect sense, as does the implant to track its functionality. It also reminded me of Picard. Though, the way the technology seems to be and the arrangement of the fleet is a little more reminiscent of Star Ocean or Xenosaga.
Regardless, though, the characters are what make the plot, and you've made use of the KS characters to great effect. Shizune as the Empress with Misha as her Executor felt downright normal. Hanako appearing as a decorated Officer is a little odd, but it makes sense in the world she's portrayed. Rin being a scientist rather than an artist isn't a hard leap to make, especially when you consider how many theoretical fields there are in science. Mutao as the wise, decorated Captain and former Admiral (Kirk circa Star Trek VI) was a stroke of genius.
I'm curious who this mysterious Senator is; though, I suspect it's Lilly. If that's the case, it would mirror her and Shizune's relative relationship in the KS storyline - where Shizune is the class president while Lilly represents one class. I'm almost certain Kenji is leading the Separatists; it perfectly fits his idiom. Lilly's classic disagreements with Shizune could be easily represented by a desire to attempt diplomacy before open warfare. I could just be completely wrong, though. It's your story. Please ignore anything I've said, it's mere speculation.
