Charles Lindsey

Close what down Blades? You did an excellent job with it. I don't feel any more input is needed. You covered everything. It's wonderful as it is. I'm glad to have participated. That was a blast. I enjoyed it thoroughly. Perhaps again. {G} Charles/Chavik/McKendrick

[RP] On McKendrick groaned, "Ken..., uhh McKendrick?" he heard, as someone squeezed his hand. He opened his eyes and saw Neena Polovoski above him. He felt like he had had the flu about four times over. He saw his comrades gathered around his bed. Closing his eyes, and with the corners of his mouth twitching ever so slightly, he said, "Kenny is fine. I realize who I am now. How'd I get here?" "Another shuttle towed you in" "How? The Torino." "You got her. We were able to able to fire when she reset her shields." "Funny, I don't remember that. Was it a good fight?" A small pause. "We won." A pause from McKendrick this time. "The Chikuma?' "We are alive" "The Droidans?" "Defending themselves." The soft whisper of a servo broke the silence. "Rod?" A soft beep. Another small smile. "Tell them. Tell them all. Anyway you can. And take care of Neena till she can get you home." Blurry eyes focused on Miss Polovoski. "Miss Pol.. Polo.., Neena," McKendrick raised his hand feebly towards her face and brushed her cheek. A tear ran down his face. "I'm sorry. I only wanted to be a fighter pilot. I wish I could have done better." McKendrick's eyes fluttered closed for the last time and his breathing slowed to a standstill. [RP] Off

quote:just the time it takes to travel from one location to another and the time that the hyperjump engines need to recharge before allowing a jump. That's not bad. I must have misunderstood ealier. Even in the game, repairing one little item can take hours. Just plain old docking and trading ought to elpase a fair chunk even though the game doesn't elapse time for that. Fair trade off for story telling in my opinion. Factor in comms and what not and yes it takes a long time to get prepared and get there. Badgerius, that particular shuttle was modified with two power sources in an earlier part. Plus the sensors showed it was about to explode so McKendrick had a few seconds to get away. It wasn't quite the direct hit you're thinking of. I admit I did fudge a little bit to make people think that. Makes for a great "Out of the jaws of death and saves the day" post don't ya think. If you still want to see it put in a requisition to Neena Polovoski. {G} Charles

ROFL Badgerius! But they are far from indestructable. I thought long and hard before posting the antics I did. Your own shuttles don't have much AI other than what you tell them to do and an occasional RTB thrown in. The only ones that come close to an AI are the ones spit out by the larger carriers after they are destroyed. They have a FLEE order. Some of those are hard to catch. Given that and wondering how they would do with a "real" (there are no dedicated shuttle pilots) pilot led me to post what I did. I think it's consistent with the universe. Shuttles can fly as fast as IC's but they don't have that AI in the game. Ehhhh, that's one of the things we can fudge. Give a shuttle a real pilot and it's rather formidable IMHO. I wanted to prove that in the story. But she is falling apart as we speak. I'm still waiting on the follow-up. Here is where it gets tough. I do not agree with the no "intra-region" jump thing and I stated it before to Blades somewhere. Would you take Warp speed from the Enterprise or Hyperspeed from the Millenium Falcon? Of course not. Those things are part of those universes. Jumps are part of the BC universe. Blades and I ageed to disagree on this subject. Let it ride for this story. I may have one more good post left in me. Charles/McKendrick

This is turning into "did not, did too". I'm closing it. Laguna, thanks for letting us know how things worked out. Glad you were able to get it all running again. ------------------ Commander Chavik ICV Phoenix "We Shall Arise From The Ashes" Official BC3K Tester

[RP] On [Narrative On] Detonation + 20 seconds Few lights showed through the smoke in the cabin and electrical arcing could be heard throughout. The shuttle tumbled through space while the damaged systems tried to recover from the massive EMP that had washed through it. The force of the explosion itself had followed shorly thereafter. Already dead from the EMP, the shuttle shook as the shockwave had battered it violently while pushing it back towards open space. Detonation + 45 seconds McKendrick heard groaning; only to realize it was himself. He raised himself up off the floor where he had been thrown when the Guardran field had failed. Smoke filled the cabin and he only saw a few lights on the console. Some were blinking and some were not. As he watched a few more winked into existence. The thrum of the ventilation fans gave evidence of the life support system working overtime to clear the air. One fan squeaked somewhere deep in the shuttle. The reactors were just coming back online as were the sensors. The batteries had kept life support going but not much else. He pulled himself back into the command chair and winced as a couple of ribs ground their broken ends together. Smoke was stinging his eyes and a bead of sweat refused to drop off his eyebrow. Wiping it away he looked at his hand to see it had turned red with blood. Punching in the commands that would finalize the restart of the reactors he coughed again and winced at the pain. He brought up Tacops to see what the situation was. He searched for the Chikuma and found her. She had obviously been through a battle from the TTD readings showing intermittently on the Tacops display. And it appeared another ship was heading towards her. The Torino. The Chikuma didn't look like she would last against her. Detonation + 1 minute Another group of Battlecruisers showed on the far side of the display but it would take some time for them to reach the action. The Chikuma didn't appear to have that much time. If he could only buy her a few seconds. The engines refused to start. They had been abused over and over in his flight from the interceprtors and his pursuit of the probe. McKendrick took a wrench and crawled through the upper access hatch. When he got to the engines he saw nothing wrong yet they refused to start. He took the wrench and beat it in frustration. They still refused to start. McKendrick kneeled there sobbing. Preparing to watch the Chikuma's death he petulently delivered one last blow to a control box. A relay clicked, then another, and yet another and the engines came online. McKendrick climbed back into the command chair. Either hope or adrenaline filled him. A discordant hum filled the shuttle. The engines were not happy about being called upon once more as were the reactors. An off cycle vibration filled the shuttle as more and more systems came back online. McKendrick looked out the cracked viewport to see the occasional flare of IOD fire. Detonation + 3 minutes Checking Tacops he saw the Chikuma fighting the Torino. She was actually holding her off. The Torino was trying to come around for an aft shot while the Chikuma was desperately trying to turn. McKendrick had fought the shuttle's forward momentum and had actually stabilised the craft. He was almost close enought to see the Torino and the Chikuma. He set a course ofr the Torino nd the discordant hum inside the shuttle grew and the engines and reactors fought with each other. He had the Torino in view. She was firing upon the Chikuma. They had to be linked with Mallone to be firing upon the Chikuma. Just a little more, he thought. McKendrick shot past the Torino's engines and hugged her side. He actually saw view ports glide by as he was that close. He casually picked out sections he would like to destroy as he lined up the tractor beam that amazingly was the one system that while still damaged, was showing as green in the display. McKendrick shot past the bridge and was in "open" space once more. Once more the tractor beam shot out from the belly of the shuttle. McKendendrick was slammed against the viewport as the tractor beam locked onto the Torino and her mass suddenly slowed the shuttle to the relative speed of the Torino. McKendrick coughed blood as he picked himself up off the floor. Seeing the Chikuma in the viewport he knew he had to get the Torino out of range some how. She was belching fire in places and basically looked like he felt. Slowly the Torino was oriented into the shuttle's tractor beam. McKendrick, not bothering to expend the energy to sit doen, kneeled at the console and applied all the thrust he could to the engines while maintaining a valid tractor lock. The shuttle throbbed terribly at the demands McKendrick placed upon it. System after system blew while the shuttle tried to regain it's integrity. Shields died first. No matter though Kenny, shields are useless with a tractor beam anyway. Then Tacops went. McKendrick paid it no mind as he was operating on visual now. The NID computer blew as did the CVD screen. So long as the tractor held. The shuttle vibrated violently. Kenny watched the Chikuma slide slowly out of his field of vision as he dragged the Torino past any firing solution. Detonation + 4 minutes 40 seconds. [Narrative Off] Kenny [RP] Off [This message has been edited by Charles Lindsey (edited 01-23-2000).]

Impact T-1 minute 50 seconds McKendrick settled back down into the pilot's chair after having the scare of his life. He fully expected Mallone to come crawling out of the console now. He gave it a few half hearted taps and tried to chuckle. It died in his throat even before it half formed as more laser fire drew his attention to flying the shuttle. He quickly threw the shuttle in another victory roll. It was almost the only thing that delayed the peppering of the IC's guns. He had tried sending false signals to the interceptors. Patrol hadn't worked, RTB hadn't worked, Autoland hadn't worked. He had tried a jamming signal. The pilots simply rotated frequency phasing. The shuttle's transmitters just did not have the guts to punch through that. He had even half-heartedly tried the tractor beam again. Though each attempt had gained him a few precious seconds lead they were simply too good for him. Understandable in a flying box, he thought grimly. They were just too good. ------------------------- (T- 1 minute 30 seconds "Autopilots engaged!" screamed Dancer over the comms. "Revert to manual," said Bruce as he combined voice with action. A few seconds later an RTB order danced across his screen. He quickly cancelled the Torino as the flight path and reassigned the shuttle while ordering Dancer to do the same. The tractor beam lashed out once more and almost caught Bruce unawares. "Damn he's good," said Dancer. "I didn't think shuttles could do that." "Hang on Dancer," said Bruce, "He ain't got nowheres ta hide." The IC pilots concentrated on firing at the renegade shuttle. Several shots connected but not quickly enough to damage the shields to any significant degree. The recharge rate was slowing but he would still make planetfall before they could get him. Damn that SOB was good thought Bruce as the shuttle surged forward. T - 1 minute) ------------------------- T- 1 minute 15 seconds He had run out of tricks and his evavise manuevers were losing their originality as well. They grew increasingly complex. Swing left, then right, then a roll, then two, then half a roll and back the other way. He was becoming increasingly predictable. The seconds he had gained waxed and wained by the tell-tale thud of laser fire against the shields. They were having an increasingly difficult time recharging and not even the augmentation of the extra power source had helped. The system itself was the bottleneck. He applied some of the spare power to the engines and surged forward. T - 1 minute He had it. He had gotten a positive lock on the probe. It had taken steady flying and some little fire from the interceptors but he had it. As he prepared to head back towards open space McKendrick activated the tractor beam. T- 55 seconds The tractor had failed to lock on. McKendrick quickly double checked his flight path. It showed it had been true but had apparently been off by a hair. He lined up again and the tractor beam lanced out once more only to find empty space. T - 45 seconds. McKendrick checked his sensors and cursed. The probe was shifting sheild harmonics to counter-act his tractor beam. It was performing a jink maneuver as well. Mallone or his cronies had been smart. The probe had passed him once more as he thought out to do what next. Another shot from the interceptors hit his sheilds while the others passed harmlessly by him. They passed by him but not the probe. The shots hit the probe and momentarily disrupted its cloak. McKendrick saw it for the first time. It looked rather like a wasp. The probe had been mounted more toward the engines and the cone was pointing aft. It's solar panels had swept rearward obviously for entry into the atmosphere. It made sense. The normal heat sheilding provided the engines would also shield against atmospheric entry. The probe would burn up shortly allowing the missile to drop and redirect itself towards its target. Another shot from the interceptors disabled the probes cloak allowing McKendrick to finally see his target unhindered. T - 40 seconds. The tractor beam would not work. He would open the shuttle cargo doors and catch the damn thing if it weren't for his passenger. McKendrick thought of his passenger and how he had gotten there. The fight that had caused that. What had caused that he did not know and Neena could not explain either. Only that Stone was gone and Mallone had taken over. He thought of Neena and holding her. He thought of Stephanie and how she had found him in the shuttle. He wondered how she was. He thought of all his friends aboard the Chikuma and the events that had led to him being there. The years in Galcom academy studying to be an interceptor pilot only to be told he was more suited to being a flight engineer. The years in the city that had led him to Galcom academy. His childhood that had made him want something more after seeing the airshow. They had been so graceful. His eyes felt puffy and his throat constricted as he pushed the shuttle once more. Having the probe in his sights helped. He hit the probe hard. It only served to push him back and the probe forward. T - 30 seconds. He had hit the probe too hard. It took him a few seconds to catch back up and hit it again. T - 20 seconds He was getting the hang of it. His sensors showed internal damage of the missile itself. He had still pushed it a litle too hard. perhaps a lighter tap. Once more laser fire danced off the sheilds. T - 15 seconds. He got under the probe and missile this time and hit upwards. He had already knocked it off course a couple of times. It should have entered atmosphere a while back. He hit it again. T - 13 seconds And again. T - 12 seconds And again for Rod, whom he had saved from death but condemned to life. T - 11 seconds Once more for Stephanie. The sensors showed internal damage but it fizzled out and stabilised. T - 10 seconds And a final thrust for Neena. The sensors showed a reaction. T - 9 seconds It was building in spurts. Slowly rising then falling again. A quick burst then almost nothing. T - 8 seconds Then a slow burn. Slow but hard. Lethargic yet intense and destined to light up the heavens. T - 6 seconds McKendrick banked the shuttle hard. The engines screamed in agony at the power applied to them. The shields throbbed and the console gave off sparks as the power conduits tried to handle so much energy coursing through them. Sgt Diamond had yelled something in the moment of their impending doom in the shuttle bay. T - 5 seconds It had helped. "FOR LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!" T - 0 seconds The heavens lit up.

Which demo was it? And ummm, if I may ask what are your specs? Extreme requirements? 124 megs (128 maybe?) RAM is extreme? Most baseline systems (P333 - P400 from what I've seen. Yes P500's are common and P700's are hitting the market but the base machine is P333 - 400 correct?) come installed with 64 meg ram. It just isn't that extreme anymore. Hardware is finally outrunning games I think. The base for most games is P233 with a reasonable amount of Ram isn't it? (I really am asking for verification here. The games I have seen only require a 233 with perhaps a 333 recommended. Plus adequate RAM.) Anyway somewhere in another thread I posted a link to 3dfiles.com with the newest 2.09 based demo. Try that and the newest drivers. Or the ones on this site. ------------------ Commander Chavik ICV Phoenix "We Shall Arise From The Ashes" Official BC3K Tester edit in: here it is http://www.bc3000ad.com/ubb/Forum7/HTML/000481.html [This message has been edited by Charles Lindsey (edited 01-19-2000).]

Impact T-6 minutes 30 seconds McKendrick checked his CVD to see the last vestiges of the "enemy" fighters TTD wink out. He then felt again the dull thud indicating laser fire. Checking Tacops he saw that another two fighters had come to intercept him. He must have raised some eyebrows with his last stunt he thought, finally remembering. Six raiders with varying craft and four interceptors. These things aren't all that bad after all. If they only had some weapons they whould be quite formidable. Right up there with the super fighters. I'll have to put that into Galcom when I get back. More fire peppered his shutle and broke his reverie. Again he lashed out with the tractor beam only to find nothing. Quickly raising shields again he checked Tacops and saw that the interceptors had veered away. They were staying out of tractor range. That's one small blessing, he thought. At least I'm harder to hit from this distance. Several more thuds gave lie to that thought. Either that or these guys were extremely good. "Well let's just see how you like playing chicken," he said aloud as he applied the retro rockets and came to a relative halt. The IC's reacted in plenty of time and veered away once more but not before getting off several good shots. He checked his sensors and saw that the probe was less than six minutes away from the planet. "Sorry guys, no more time to play, gotta scoot." The engines whined in pain as he once more applied full throttle and transferred some of the extra power to them. The rest went to the shields. For the next few minutes McKendrick maintained course towards his target. He readied the tractor beam while dodging laser fire. If I make it, he thought. I'm dying the death of a thousand cuts here. The planet began taking shape out of the void. First as a dull point then it slowly grew to a definite disc as he appraoched it. He couldn't see it but his sensors told him he was close. Just a little over two minutes away and then he'd hauled that puppy back from whence it came. Impact T-2 minutes 45 seconds McKendrick F.E. #13 [RP] Off

I use Tacops and set waypoints. Works like a charm. I like to bring the BC close to the planet. Observe the planet, choose the ship, choose the instruction, place the waypoint, click launch. The reason I like to bring the BC close to the planet is so that the shuttles will not have very far to fly and by the time I am giving instructions to the third shuttle the fist one has already made planetfall and you can see it drop its drone. ------------------ Commander Chavik ICV Phoenix "We Shall Arise From The Ashes" Official BC3K Tester

Bad install or bad patch (I.E. bad download). Re-install. If that doesn't fix it get the download again. Then try again. The absence of the map pak will not prevent tacops from observing the planet. It just populates them. How are you trying to observe Hugo? Are you getting weird output or none at all? Sounds like a bad patch. Oh, and don't use your old saved games from 2.00 or 2.08. Start a fresh one. You may want to try that first if you haven't already. It's easiest. ------------------ Commander Chavik ICV Phoenix "We Shall Arise From The Ashes" Official BC3K Tester [This message has been edited by Charles Lindsey (edited 01-14-2000).]

[RP] On Without the IC's attacking McKendrick had a few minutes to himself. Minutes to plan. Minutes to think. Minutes he had rather not had. They reminded him of the problems he was to face. He rechecked his sensor readings. The probe was still on course. The tachyon signature had increased slightly. Apparently the probe had taken some damage before being launched. Not enough yet to nullify the cloak but enough to get a better reading. He went down into the cargo bay and checked the auxillary power sources. The shuttle's reactor was still providing plenty of power and the ATV reactor was operating at peak capacity. The batteries had not been touched since installation and all were showing a full charge. He sealed the bay door and climbed back in the cockpit, checking the tracking systems and the tractor beam. A1 condition. It would be a simple matter to snag the probe with the tractor beam and pull it to a safe distance. At least he hoped that. Probes were fast due to their relatively light nature but this one had a missile on it's back and it had been slowed considerably. Plenty of leeway. He hoped. Before those thoughts could drag him down into despair he felt and heard the dull thud against the shields that indicated laser fire. Finally settling into his chair he quickly checked Tacops. Two more fighters had broken off the engagement and were attacking him. McKendrick acted without thinking. Shortly after two more IC's were destroyed. Had anyone been watching they would have seen the IC's line up side by side and begin firing at McKendrick's shuttle. They would have seen the shuttle begin a victory roll of sorts. A roll with just enough sideways thrust to make it corkscrew through space. They also would have noticed that the IC's had trouble firing upon the shuttle. They would have seen the IC's apply more thrust and bring themselves closer to the shuttle to get a better bead. The last thing they would have seen was a tactor beam lancing out from the shuttle, grabbing an IC, and as the IC was carried around the corkscrew they would have seen it slam into the other IC with the force of a hammer, exploding both. On the bridge of the GCV Universe the tacops commander reported to Fleet Commander Stiles, "Sir, the two IC's that engaged the Chikuma's shuttle are gone." Fleet Commander Stiles visibly blanched. Whether from anger or fear the Tacops commander could not tell but it did not look pleasant. Beginning very quietly and rising to a shriek, the white being replaced by the red of fury he said, "Could you please tell me how a shuttle could destroy two, count them two fully equipped interceptors?" Aboard the shuttle and with the interceptors gone (he was not quite sure how), McKendrick once more plotted a course towards the probe. Again he had lost some time. Still enough though. Michael McKendrick F.E. #13 Charter Member 1st Offensive Shuttle Squadron [RP] Off Hehe, the timing couldn't have been better David. Mine post slides right in. Cool. Blades you'll have to time stamp it for me.

Cheaters. All of you. Hrmmph. Chavik

quote:I have been told "No new ships, no new tech." Why are my ears burning? Well, with the assurances you have given that your ship will be destroyed and you won't have any sneaky futuristic devices to wreak havoc in the universe I'd say give it a shot. You must enjoy a good time paradox. I do. (Try "The Red Limit Freeway" by John DeChancie). Just out of curiosity, how's he gonna get back? And if the Glory is from a different universe how can we tell she's antiquated? Don't worry, I about got that one figured out. Drive capabilities, sensor capabilities, etc. Sounds like the story is going to be character driven and not tech driven, and knowing that Derek is going to give us a new "sector/galaxy" to play in for 3020, it sounds ok if done well. And it seems like you will. My opinions only. We've talked other threads to death as well. Start it and see. You'll know if something is wrong. ------------------ Commander Chavik ICV Phoenix "We Shall Arise From The Ashes" Official BC3K Tester

[RP] On McKendrick checked his sensor readings. There were energy signatures all over the place but he was only interested in one. There it was, a faint tachyon emission. Dead ahead and he was gaining slowly. The engines whined as he put the shuttle at full throttle. "Banish, we should intercept in three minutes." "Understood" "Unidentified shuttle, this is IC1 of the GCV Vagabond, you are proceeding towards a secure engagement area. You are ordered to halt and return to your ship. I repeat, you are entering a secure area, you are ordered to go back." McKendrick swore, this was all he needed now. A check of tacops showed two fighters shadowing himself and two had taken up a position behind Banish. "Sorry guys, I've lost a probe and I have to go find it. No can do. I promise I won't mess up your playpen though." "Unidentified shuttle, you are entering a secure engagement area. You are ordered back. You are not to proceed any farther. We have orders to destroy you if you do not comply." McKendrick flipped to the private channel," Banish get ready, this is going to get messy," he said as he carefully lined the shuttle up. The power meter was pegged. McKendrick transferred more power to the tractor beam as he got ready. "Guys, I got to find that probe. It has sensitive data and we need to retrieve it." "Unidentified shuttle, we do not show a probe in the region. Stand down now or we will be forced to fire." "Well if it showed it wouldn't be lost now would it?" said Mckendrick. He was finally lined up. Now or never. McKendrick hit the tractor beam and caught one of the IC's. He hit the afterburners and pulled away from the group. The IC was held fast. McKendrick applied more power to the tractor beam until the IC started spitting sparks in the CVD image. Just to be sure he sent a carrier wave along the tractor beam that would be sure to fry the computer. With luck the escape pod would still work. He didn't have time to check though as he put the shields back up. In the moment of confusion Banish had broken free as well but was being pursued by the other two IC's. Things were not going well for him. Once more McKendrick applied the afterburners and put himself between Banish and the attcking IC's. He threw power at the shields to absord the laser fire. Banish's IC recovered quickly and at a command from him they broke in opposite directions. The third IC had come around and was heading straight towards him. With the shields throbbing from the extra power McKendrick flew straight towards the IC. As it finally realized what was about to occur it tried to veer off but it was too late. McKendrick mirrored his evasive move and gave him a glancing blow. The IC went spinning off course. McKendrick brought the shuttle around in a u-turn that made it groan in protest. The IC was lighter and more maneuverable but the shuttle had an extra power supply and more mass. McKendrick never gave it a chance to recover from it's spin. Again he flew the shuttle into the lighter craft and once more to finish it. The craft was badly mangled over the much of it's surface. He was sure the shuttle didn't look much better at the point of impact but it was still servicable. Banish was still dancing a merry dance with his two friends as he checked sensors. The probe had gained a respectable lead. Signalling Banish that he was once more on his way after the probe McKendrick again targeted the probe and began chasing it again. [RP] Off There you go. Part two. I figured Ben/Banish would want a crack at his friends. Hope you like it Blades. One more to go. McKendrick

quote: I've also been told that you guys are a little picky about inserting new characters (like mine), so let me know if there is any problem. I don't have a problem with new characters. I do have a problem with things that are not consistent with the game and it's universe. That said go to the links page and check out the 666th Covert Ops Arm. Done well certain things can work. No new ships, no new tech. Just outline your story or whatever you feel is necessary. People will join if they are interested. ------------------ Commander Chavik ICV Phoenix "We Shall Arise From The Ashes" Official BC3K Tester

Sure, all good chases take their time, just {grunt} let me tighten {grunt} these screws {Grunt,grunt} a little more. Hehe. Well, here is part one. [RP] on McKendrick shuddered. Kenny? Since when had miss Polovoski gotten so familiar? The stress must be getting to her. Three days ago he had barely known she existed. He had known but she was just one of the muckety-mucks in charge, and a hard-assed bitch by all accounts as well; he was just a flight engineer doing his job,one of the little gys who she probably didn't even look twice at. All that had changed ever since he had brought that goon Mallone on board. They had gone throught some strange events. He had practically assaulted her to get her in his quarters and explain what was going on. Then the incident in the shuttle bay with those flying turrets, one of the more frightening events in his life yet she had stayed calm. She hadn't een that hard when he had grabbed her. What was it that made strange bedfellows? Politics, that was it. There was something else though. War and stress and all that that made people do strange things. Mckendrick pushed those thoughts aside as he prepared the shuttle for launch. By happenstance or forethought, he couldn't really figure out which, he was in the very same shuttle they had taken refuge from the drone, the one they had modified with the extra powerpacks and the reactor from the mostly destroyed ATV. Kenny, he thought. She hadn't said it with any malice nor condescendingly. It was still creepy though. Then again. That thought vanished as the engines hummed to life. It was a sound quite unlike anything he had ever heard but reassuring in it's way. Rather like the sound one heard when an extremely large electric motor began to turn when coupled to an extremely large turbine. That combination of high pitched whine and deep throated rumble. Or perhaps more like one where the capacitor never would kick in and the motor was vainly trying to accomplish it's task without the extra kick needed to get it up to speed. That was depressing. He was freaking and he knew it. Practically shaking. Billions of people she had said. That had not been good to hear. Along with Kenny. What was she thinking? He was shaking now. He was prepared to do whatever he could. But a shuttle? A flying crate? This old crate had proved itself once before he thought. He hit the launch button. Nothing happened; McKendrick wanted to scream. He had gone through all that trouble to take out the computer core and still htey didn't have launch control. No time to try to repair it manually according to Neena. And now I'm on a first name basis with her as well, he thought, smiling brimly to himself. All I have to do is get past the forcefield and into space. The thoughts came quickly and unbidden. If it couldn't leave under it's own power it could leave under someone else's. He ran to the rear entrance and motioned to the droids. He quickly explained what he wanted them to do. "Then get to engineering and bypass that equinox thing and get this ship operational again. " With that he closed the hatch once more and settled into his seat. Two bumps signalled the ATV's had connected with the shuttle and McKendrick watched as he drifted slowly out of the shuttle bay like so much garbage. It only took a moment for the shuttles' systems to realize it was not in the bay any longer. Alarms sounded as they tried to orient the shuttle onto a reference plane. Another second and the systems had identified the systems and the alarms quieted. An IC, sleek and graceful, flew past the viewport. "Banish? Is that you? Neena has instructed us to go after that probe. You are to provide cover. We've got a probe to find." He looked around for the Chikuma but she was gone. Or rather just not there. Still cloaked. Whether it was by design or not he didn't know but suddenly he felt very lonely. "I'm on my way Neena, godspeed to you as well," he said into his comms badge. He rather doubted the limited range of the badge would cut through a cloak and shield but he felt better for saying it. He hit the throttle and the shuttle surged towards the general direction of the probe. As he was bringing up the sensors his comm badge gave a faint sound of static but he couldn't make anything out of it. Very alone indeed. [RP] Off Michael McKendrick Flight Engineer #13 "When in doubt; run, holler, scream, and shout" Tomorrow {hopefully} that actual chase. Thanks to Ron for jacking the shuttle up. And all other previous posts I referenced.

, ermmm, Thinking. And Mom just got on the internet. (ministers and saints preserve me) I'll have to do a good bit of thinking to make it more than he chased the probe and knocked it out of the sky.

No major slowdown here. Unzipped 2.09 mpak1 to scripts, started new game, flew to Sygan, used fleet C&C to launch nine ships and no appreciable slowdown. I haven't re-installed the game since about preview D. ------------------ Commander Chavik ICV Phoenix "We Shall Arise From The Ashes" Official BC3K Tester

Launch T-37 minutes A sof t beep cut through the alarm a second before it fell silent. McKendrick whirled around with his rifle at the ready to see a thoroughly disheveled female in a medics uniform who was visibly paling at the sight of a rifle being trained on her. "Who are you?" he demanded. If at all possible she paled even more,"Tamara Jensen," she answered, "I've taken out Perscan, no one knows we are here. And you might be?" she asked hopefully. McKendrick almost laughed at the thought that she thought he might possibly be one of Mallone's men. "Michael McKendrick ma'am, Flight Engineer #13. Seems as if this is our lucky number today. How have you avoided those goons?" "Beats me," she answered, "I woke up in medibay with no one in site. Doc had mixed up something which quite nicely ate through the Perscan link." She pointed at the terminal that held the engineering links to the rest of the perscan monitors and linked them to the Perscan computer. It was a sluggish mass of goo that was still dripping in places. "I got down here and poured it on the termainal and hid, I heard footsteps then a comm-badge went off and I heard whoever it was being ordered to the Probe launch bay. And you?" "I been sneaking around this ship like a rat, I got two of Mallone's goons though. My instructions were to take out the computer core. Which as you can see..." "You did a fair to middling job of it," Jensen interrupted with a smile. McKendrick grinned, "I suppose so. Now hopefully Mister Polovoski can regain helm and launch control. I've been told to man a shuttle and give point for the Chikuma but I suppose we should see about getting you back up with the rest of the crew. By all accounts we have several hours to sort through the systems and get what we can back online." "I'm all over that," said Jensen, "I'm don't want to be alone right now." "Let's go then. Guys back to your stations, we don't want anyone trying to escape via the shuttles. Rod you are still with me," said McKendrick. They watched the drones head off towards the shuttle bay and a few seconds later McKendrick and Jensen headed back towards Neena and crew. Lights were flickering in the corridors as the ship's systems tried to regain some equlibrium. The ship seemed deserted with not another soul around. Occasionally a loose wire would crackle and spit sparks. McKendrick wondered what could have caused this damage. A firefight between The Chikuma's crew and the goons he thought. They were about to cross a side cooridor when they heard a battle raging. McKendrick, Jensen, and Rod hid in an alcove and waited. A few seconds later two of those flying turrets came into view and they were firing at each other. Jensen took a breath as if to scream but McKendrick covered her mouth with his hand and motioned quiet. The first drone had turned around and was flying backwards and got off a glancing shot at the one chasing it. Not satisfied it continued flying backwards until it hit one of the beams poking out of the ceiling. That was all the second one needed. Somewhat unsteadily it lanced off several shots in the direction of the first. Two shots connected and the drone exploded. Content that it's foe was dead the second drone unsteadily hovered in the area assesing its surroundings. McKendrick tightened his grip on Jensen. It was obviously scanning. It was almost upon them when the distant sounds of another battle could be heard. The drone whipped around at the stimulus and shakily flew off in that direction. McKendrick released his grip on Jensen who immediately sagged in his arms. As he steadied her she asked," What the hell were those?" "Just some little nasties we had the pleasure of meeting in the shuttle bay. Though they weren't firing on themselves at the time. I guess they've run out of enemies and have nothing better to do than fight each other. Come on . We've got to get back. " Luckily the sounds of battle were not coming from the direction they were headed. They made it back to section 15 to see the Doc and Neena lifting Sgt. Diamond onto a gurney. A nasty looking knife was laying beside him on the floor and Diamonds abdomen was bandaged. McKendrick winced. "Hi Doc," said McKendrick as he entered the area. "You know this gal?" As everyone turned to look at him McKendrick couldn't help but have a feeling of dread. "What's wrong? I got the core like you wanted. We still got a few hours to get everything hooked back up don't we? Well, don't we?" Launch T-24 Minutes [RP] off Sorry for the delay Blades but real life and the holidays. This catches me up and makes me concurrent with the last post I believe. I backtracked a little to stay concurrent and I haven't forgotten the usefulness of shuttles. Charles/McKendrick

Cruisin, the mission pak will let you play as Insurgent. And it's tough, you have to run like a scalded dog to get to a safe haven. Seems almost everyone is our enemy. Makes sense, not only do we already have all of Galcoms enemies because we are Terran, Galcom itself is our enemy as well. Only a few friendly traders left about here and there. Get the mission pak and unzip it into your scripts folder. Start a new game as choose one out of three new castes. Go to mission control page for the 2.08 script and I think if you are playing 2.09 that one is tucked into the first post. {Edit in: It is, I just checked.} ------------------ Commander Chavik ICV Phoenix "We Shall Arise From The Ashes" Official BC3K Tester [This message has been edited by Charles Lindsey (edited 01-01-2000).]

Almost seems cheating but commanders also use it to give R&R to the crew. Wait a minute. Didn't you join the Insurgents on or about 12/20/99? And your playing around with Galcom? Tsk Tsk. You should wear that badge proudly! Speaking of badges, I don't see a sig. What you posted in Call to arms would be fine. "Cmdr Cruis.in, ICV Defiance" ------------------ Commander Chavik ICV Phoenix "We Shall Arise From The Ashes" Official BC3K Tester

War stories; do a search but this one is really interesting. http://www.bc3000ad.com/ubb/Forum7/HTML/000260.html Old but cool. Got a really good new one? Post it. Haven't seen a war story in a while. They are usually put in General Discussion. At the top of the page; just under the "post reply" button; is a faq link. That is this board's faq (ubb code) and not a BC3K faq. It explains quotes, urls, and smilies there. Last paragraph: NO!!! Do not use old saved games with any new version. If an updated version tries to tell an old saved game something it doesn't know about you are asking for troubles. ------------------ Commander Chavik ICV Phoenix "We Shall Arise From The Ashes" Official BC3K Tester

When did you sneak in Blades? I'm still thinking and got a good mind of what to do. I haven't forgotten anything it's just the holiday's and all that. Don't write me out yet. I still have to get Jensen back to the bridge(?) and get further instructions from Neena. Charles/Chavik/McKendrick "And miles to go before I sleep"

I can do that. At least you will know everything in that mailbox is BC3K related. Everyone: I always try to give the courtesy of putting BC3K in the subject or something quickly recognizable as being from the forum. If you get lots of spam you'll know what I mean. "Hi There!" is the worst greeting you can use. Just a little courtesy hint. I try to do it and appreciate it in return. Site looks good Blades. I poked my head in. Hope your bios are coming along. ------------------ Commander Chavik ICV Phoenix "We Shall Arise From The Ashes" Official BC3K Tester