[Fan Fiction] Looking forward to the Mirror (Completed)

[Grayhome]

In support of Dragoongfa's direction for the story in regards to Umiak software, the Umiak would have had access to multitudes of different forms of alien software and hardware over the centuries, and plenty of resources to dedicate towards developing software and hardware designed to infiltrate them.

[Krulle]

SpoilerShow

Chapter 11, part 2
He wasn’t surprised to find it inside one of the smaller openings of the asteroid field, an opening that was littered with numerous small asteroids that just floated around, forming a small cloud of shorts that was caught between the feint gravity fields of the bigger ones around them while letting out a wide range of electromagnetic emissions. The humanity captain obviously used such openings in order to hide his ship from them during the chase, by doing so he had managed to nullify their numerous scans, thus forcing them to rely solely on the software reports for the location of the humaniti ship.

The ship itself was red with whit white markings and looked a lot like a fish with a fat, oversized tail where its primitive fusion engines were. It looked nothing like the Enemy’s ships or the various divergent Hierarchy designs he had seen in the past. It was small, small enough to warrant only the 93 crew members that that the device reported and it didn’t have anything threatening for weapons. Just a small laser turret and two missile launchers which almost certainly carried fusion type missiles, too slow to be a threat even from such a close distance. The last thing that became obvious was that the Humaniti didn’t have defensive screens as their ship completely lacked the necessary emitters.

I'm just taking the software thing as a story element....

I'm more interesting in finding out if the hidden Loroi has anything to do with the asteroids moving towards the Umiak ship....

Let's see if more traps have been prepared to spring... :=)

[Mr.Tucker]

Screen are just big overpowered magnetic fields. The don't work on lasers according to the Insider. Only on particle beams.

[dragoongfa]

Screen are just big overpowered magnetic fields. The don't work on lasers according to the Insider. Only on particle beams.

Nice catch and fixed...

Not much of a change story wise though, just wanted to emphasize the hopelessness of the firepower disparity by pointing out that it wouldn't even get near the armor itself.

[Grayhome]

My vote is for the Terrans show versatility and adaptability and reprogram the Umiak's malware to send false positions back to the Umiak vessel, allowing the Terrans to get into a tactically superior position. Or even reprogram the malware and send back a shut down code to disable the enemy ship so they can board them. Or the reprogramed malware activates the Umiak vessel's self destruct sequence, something along those lines.

Something about the Terrans reverse engineering an alien computer virus, improving it and using it against the virus's original creators amuses me.

Dragoongfa does the Terran vessel have any assault shuttles, boarding pods, w/e to deploy marines?

[dragoongfa]

Provided that no one is shooting at it any shuttle can carry marines from point A to point B. What the marines do then is a totally different matter.

[Zakharra]

Provided that no one is shooting at it any shuttle can carry marines from point A to point B. What the marines do then is a totally different matter.

Play 'Chopsticks' on the hull of the Umiak ship with sledge hammers?

[dragoongfa]

Chapter 11, part 3

“There are four Umiak shuttles on approach Lieutenant.” Captain Asteios informed him using their suit’s comm. system instead of the ship’s.

“Looks like they are not holding back for this.”

“Our odds were bad to begin with.” The captain reminded him.

“How much time until we see if the plan works?” Lieutenant Allerberger asked.

“Six minutes, more or less.”

“More or less? That doesn’t sound like you sir.”

“It’s not a precise plan.”

“That’s one way to put it, never thought that I would see so many ballsy boy scouts.” The marine commented.

“I will pass the compliment, as long as you make sure that they have a ship to come back to.” The captain reminded him.

“Stop four shuttle loads of Umiak marines? You could at least make our part of the plan challenging.” Lieutenant Allerberger joked.

“We still have a few extra space suits if you think they will help that.” Captain Asteios replied in earnest.

“I still can’t believe that I fit in one of those.”

“You are the one who volunteered.”

“I didn’t volunteer sir.”

“What?”

“Not for the space suits anyway; to put a long story short our final briefing before leaving covered the fact that ‘our personal safety is a secondary concern in case the marines would be the ones to pursue close first contact’, which the general was kind enough to translate it to ‘No combat armor, no heavy weapons and no shooting back unless they really are trying to kill you’.” Lieutenant Allerberger explained.

“And there I was, thinking that your temporary rank was harsh.” The captain replied.

“You know the rules sir, no marine higher than the rank of lieutenant can be posted on a frigate sized ship.”

“And because regular lieutenants couldn’t be trusted to command a marine detachment of the contact mission they decided to cut your rank for the mission, then they proceeded to post Lieutenants as Privates and Captains as Sergeants. Which reminds me, isn’t Master Sergeant Anderson a Major as well?” Captain Asteios asked.

“He is but I am his senior by two years so he took the next best position that was left open.”

“Marines…”

“Those are the rules sir.”

“The rules also say that the Marine detachment of a Bennet class ship is limited to two squads of six, 12 marines in total. Not that I am complaining right now but you are twenty in total and I got 8 less crew to work with.” The captain replied.

“Rules are meant to be broken sir.”

“Marines indeed…” The captain audibly held his breath at that. “Two of the Umiak shuttles look like they are in a slow holding pattern, the other two seem to head towards the shuttle bay.”

“How much time till the plan works?”

“Five minutes.”

“I have had shorter liberties.” Lieutenant Allerberger commented.

“Just keep the bugs off my ship Marine.”

“Will do.”

He half expected that they would go for the shuttle bay first, it was common sense since the shuttle bays were always near the main elevator of a ship and judging by the descriptions that the Orgus gave of the alien ships they had visited, everyone held that basic principle not just humanity. Because of that he had posted a full squad there, with the other two covering engineering and the bridge.

“ Alpha squad, two shuttles are coming towards you. Beta squad you are to push back any breach on the command deck, Charlie squad send one of your elements to the shuttle bay.” Acknowledgements instantly flashed on his HUD and he quickly trotted towards the shuttle bay which was a short distance from the armory where he was doing a last minute check of his equipment. They had done this drill a dozen times, a couple of them with full combat load outs but this time it felt different, as it always did.

The one thing that made this worse was the complete silence due to the lack of atmosphere now that Matveyev was at full combat alert, fighting in a vacuum had its advantages for the ship. It made damage control easier and completely erased the danger of a fire but the silence was always unnerving for him and his Marines, something that was made even worse by the muffled sounds of their footsteps that were carried through their armor. This nervousness combined with the knowledge of imminent combat and the chemically induced exhilaration that all of them felt made for a rather unusual state of mind.

It wasn’t exactly a mix of fear and self confidence, it was hard for even the most experienced veterans like himself to describe; the only way that anyone could ever come close to describe that state of mind was to call it ‘being in the zone’. By themselves the chemicals would just induce a sense of being superhuman, they enhanced their reaction times in a way that felt like time was running slower, they allowed them to draw out their full strength in an instant, they made them forget their fatigue and even nullified the pain should the worse happen. Adrenaline always had this effect on humans but what was pumped into them by their combat armor was more potent than what was produced naturally by the human body.

The chemicals alone, despite their many benefits, weren’t what really allowed them to carry the more than 100 kilograms worth of claustrophobic armor, heavy weapons and equipment. The armor’s supplementary servos and spinal support did help with the weight and did enhance their mobility but most of the work was still done by old fashioned flesh and bone.

It was odd, in its own way; that the pinnacle of personal human armament relied almost exclusively on the pinnacle of the male human body. They all hated everything that had to do with it, Marines and dirt eaters alike, the rigid diets were aggravating, the hormonal treatments and regular medical checkups were a testament to their patience but worst of all was the muscle training itself which drove them all the way to crazy town and back. Still despite all this hatred they all felt, they loved the results.

Perhaps they were superhuman after all, able to fight for days at a time while carrying a hundred kilograms of equipment without feeling fatigue; perhaps they were superhuman or perhaps they were the monsters that those poor schmucks in the middle of the 21st century screamed about when they faced the first generation of Armored Shock Troops.

“Any sign of them?” He asked the moment he stepped into the empty shuttle bay.

“No sir, they are late.” Sergeant Reman reported. He checked the time and he was surprised to see that only 20 seconds passed since he last spoke with the captain, one of the side effects of the chemical cocktail he was pumped full of.

“If I was them I would go hard and fast with multiple breaches at the same time, in order to overwhelm any local defenders. Any sign of ECM so far?” He asked as he quickly inspected the make shift defensive positions 'A' squad had prepared in the past hour.

“No.”

“They are going to blanket us with everything they have when they breach us. We may have to go full hydraulic and with manual aiming. I hope that everyone remembers how to properly fire your weapons without HUD assist.”

“Yes sir.”

“Good.” Lieutenant Allerberger replied and begun checking his armor and MD-45 rifle one last time and couldn’t help but chuckle when the old joke came to him. “Why do we call a 20mm mass driver a rifle anyway?” He asked in the open channel with a mocking voice.

“Because you are a rifleman you fucking fish.” A chorus of voices replied with the most exaggerated drill sergeant imitations they could manage.

“In all my years of training damn fresh nuggets like yourselves there is always one idiot in every platoon that asks this damn question!” He begun with his own imitation of a drill sergeant, trying to forget that he was one of the idiots who asked that question. “Well, let me tell you something my sweet little asshole while you drop and give me twenty, this is called a rifle because you are a rifleman! Being a rifleman means that you are a killer and as a killer you will fight and kill everything that you will be pointed at. Every rifleman is a killer and every Marine a rifleman, so I don’t care what you will come up against; if it is an idiotic corporate mercenary you will fucking kill it, if it is a fucking blue elf you will fucking kill it and if it is a damned black blooded bug make sure to kill it fucking good!”

“Every Marine a Rifleman!” A chorus of marines replied.

“Good, now drop down and give me another twenty!” His men managed to laugh for a few moments before their comm. channels were quickly filled with static.

Talk about timing. Lieutenant Allerberger thought as his HUD shut itself down.

Chapter 12, part 1: http://www.well-of-souls.com/forums/vie ... 232#p20232

[dragoongfa]

End of chapter 11 which more or less marks the end of Act 2.

God I hate last hour rewrites.

[Grayhome]

Another excellent chapter! I question the commanders who sent off their vessel without heavy armor and weapons but diplomacy first.

[Krulle]

Well, if a first contact on such a diplomatic mission requires guns, the mission has failed anyway.
If you did not use armour and heavy guns, you have a chance of the other side noticing afterwards (during debriefing) that you might indeed have been on a diplomatic mission like you stated, and might hold fire on their second contact. It's a way of collecting diplomacy points.

And from the view of admirality:
if you need guns, you're dead as humanity is outpowered by anything else. So you'll not come back anyway. With or without armour. No changes in the result.

[Grayhome]

Then why bring military vessels at all? Wouldn't it be cheaper to re-purpose and refit civilian craft?

[dragoongfa]

The Scout Corps are probably the only outfit trained and equipped for first contact since its inception. They are the ones who jump into the complete unknown while expecting to meet the unexpected. All things considered they are available asset that is both properly trained and equipped for such a mission in the limited time available to the TCA. There have to be some civilian NGOs and plenty of diplomats who could theoretically do a first contact but they would not be commissioned officers which are bound both by certain laws and a strict code of professional behavior.

Closing I have to point out that a commissioned military officer does legally represent the government. In the canonical story Alex is a commissioned officer and as such he does represent Humanity even if he isn't a civilian diplomat while Humanity does have a way out by pointing out that although he is a legal representative he doesn't have plenipotentiary authority.

[Krulle]

Then why bring military vessels at all? Wouldn't it be cheaper to re-purpose and refit civilian craft?

Cheaper yes, but spacefaring may be so expensive that it is impractical to transport goods between worlds at all, except during economy start-up of a colony. So it may well be that there is no money to earn in space, so there might not be much of civilian spacecraft.
And even then they might be more of gigantic transport ships, whcih would be totally oversized for such a mission, where the ability to run fast and far might be necessary...

[Grayhome]

Krulle my point was to try to get you to acknowledge that this is a military vessel with massive numbers of military grades weapons, in the form of cannons and torpedoes. Not having small arms, battle suits and light mechs (all of which is TL9 tech) is... odd. To me at least.

There are a ton of small arms listed in GURPS that are at TL 9 and would be terrifying to any enemy. A few of them are were even custom made to be used by lower TL civilizations against higher TL civilizations. Heavy plasma flamers and SPLAT guns, for example, would be terrifying even for an Umiak hard trooper in heavy armor.

[dragoongfa]

I would like to point out two things:

1) The Outsider uses a modified GURPS setting with its own rules in regards to the tech level, something that only Arioch has access to since he is the one who wrote it.
2) The Marines do have advanced TL9 weapons with them and I think that I have given a minor description to their combat armor and their small arms (that are 20mm Mass Drivers and something called SHEAP).

I think that I may have to rewrite that the 'no armor and no weapons part' was solely for the pursue of first contact by the marines, not when someone actively tries to storm the ship.

[Argron]

I really liked this piece, the best among the last few IMO, can't wait for next week.

[Grayhome]

Sweet dragoongfa, can't wait to see what the marines have in their armory.

[Mr Bojangles]

I would like to point out two things:

1) The Outsider uses a modified GURPS setting with its own rules in regards to the tech level, something that only Arioch has access to since he is the one who wrote it.
2) The Marines do have advanced TL9 weapons with them and I think that I have given a minor description to their combat armor and their small arms (that are 20mm Mass Drivers and something called SHEAP).

I think that I may have to rewrite that the 'no armor and no weapons part' was solely for the pursue of first contact by the marines, not when someone actively tries to storm the ship.

I enjoyed the glimpse that you offered into the Marines. I hope you'll offer more details as your story progresses. I was definitely surprised about the fact that they're carrying 20mm mass drivers as personal weapons on ship. I'm wondering how you're going to get around the whole "punching holes in the hull" issue (something to do with SHEAP, maybe?)

[dragoongfa]

There are two reasons as to why one doesn't want to use weapons that damage the ship itself.

1) Damage to the hull, punch a hole in it and atmosphere quickly leaks out which makes the survival of anyone who is not suited up problematic at the least.
2) Damage to critical ship systems, a ship isn't just the hull, it's the combination of the hull and every last system within it. Certain systems must never be damaged or the ship itself becomes a floating coffin in no time.

For these above reasons it stands to reason that no one would use weapons that would cause unnecessary damage to their ship. The humans however have two problems with the above, one which is subtly apparent and one that will be covered in the next chapter.

The subtle one is that they really don't want anyone get their hand on their ship's computers, be it Loroi or Umiak. If any of the two get their hands on those computers then the game is over for humanity because the one who gets their hands on them will know everything. I bet that the TCA has installed more than a couple of safeties on the systems that would cause them to self destruct but how can the be certain that the highly advanced combatants won't have some way to somehow bypass those? The only two safe ways is to make sure that the Aliens won't get near the computers at the first place and a Samson option which no one in their right mind would invoke unless they were pushed to the very edge.

The one that will be covered in the next chapter has to do with how effective Armored Shock Troops (ASTs) proved to be because of how ineffective 'normal' sized weapons were against them in the various conflicts in the 21st and 22nd centuries. The earliest ASTs were called monstrous not only because of their high aggression (due to the unstable chemicals pumped in them) but also because they just couldn't be killed by anything less than heavy weapons fire.

The rest will be covered in the story.