Ben Zwycky

It's old, I'll update it someday (yeah, right) I've got a modem now Will be more active I hope. Later,

Hi everybody! My situation is stabilising at work so I've had a little time to try and catch up with what's going on. I'll get filling in that form, unless http://www.volny.cz/benzwycky/Svoboda/Commander.htm is good enough for now. I'm probably going to be more of a roleplayer than multiplayer gamer, although I'll try to get involved in that when it comes along For months I had a modem but no phone line, then I get a phone line, then I move and don't have one, then my comp gets stolen, along with my modem, then I get a phone line, and have mostly rebuilt my comp from my own money (it wasn't insured) and still don't have a modem I should be able to pop in once or twice a week until then, and I have been working on the next chapter of 'Ambitions', so hopefully that'll get moving again shortly. Never did hear back from SC about those permissions. Not his priority right now, I know. Anyway, just letting you know I'm still alive (and patiently looking forward to BCM, of course

I forgot to mention, I have the money in cash in Czech crowns, so no ordering from abroad this time round. You recommend the geforce2 MX 400 64MB SDRAM over the geforce 2 pro 64MB DDRAM? That would save me enough money to get the Athlon 1.4 and still be under budget. What about the cooler, then. Do you think a Volcano II would be adequate?

For some reason I believe you, Paddy OK, I've gone just over budget (by 800 Kc's (about 15 quid)) with this setup, what do you guys think? Seagate Medalist U6 40GB 5400rpm Microstar K7 Master (AMD 761 chipset) Athlon 1 gHz/266MHz Cooler Master DP5-6H51 (for up to 1.2 gHz) 256MB DDR 266MHz memory Artec DHS-G40 16x/40x ATAPI DVD-ROM Microstar MS8831 Geforce 2 Pro 64 DDR TVOUT internal IDE ZIP 250MB I can get a better power supply (I'll just use my old one for now), modem and a scanner later, preferably fairly soon. This is just to get me up and running again. Anyone see any problems/conflicts/wastes of money there? I haven't bought anything yet. Thanks for your suggestion, Fendi. Anyone else have anything to say on that? I can't order from english computer shops, because they don't deliver to the Czech Republic Later guys,

Hi, I┬┤m back from my honeymoon and it was great, even though the news on Tuesday spoiled things a bit, and the weather was terrible. Eva is so wonderful and I'm so happy I married her . I'll get you guys some wedding photos sometime. Anyway, when we got home from the honeymoon, we had a bit of a nasty shock. We had been burgled. Luckily for us, they only took stuff they could easily carry and sell, like our passports, jewellery and money (of which they didn't find much). They didn't take any of the wedding presents we had got, and they missed a lot of things they could have easily taken, so nothing of sentimental value has gone, and we're quite happy at all the stuff they missed. Annoyingly, however, they took all the components out of my computer, the motherboard, cards, hard drive, ZIP drive, DVD drive, power supply, modem, scanner. What I have left: Monitor Printer keyboard mouse case floppy drive old power supply that I'd just upgraded from (non-athlon approved) all my CD's (including win2k and 95, all software and drivers for the cards they took) so now I need to get replacements for those missing parts. I have a limited budget, so I'm looking for value for money, reliability and stability rather than pure performance. It has to be an Athlon, really, probably in the 800MHz-1gHz range, and I'll have to get another ZIP 250MB because all my backups were on that (which they also left behind) but I need your advice/experience with different combinations of motherboard/graphics card/DVD drive/hard drive with my old system ASUS A7V, radeon 64MB DDR IBM Deskstar 30GB UDMA100, MATSHITA DVD ROM 10 SPEED (OR 8 SPEED I can't remember), I was having problems with DVD playback (low frame rate) I wasn't sure whether it was the software with the radeon, or the motherboard or the DVD drive itself which was the problem. Please make a few suggestions, as I'm not sure exactly which parts will be available here (I'll try to get a component/price list from a wholesaler in the next few days) Thanks for your help,

[rp] The small, flat circular box was only noticeable to someone very familiar with the room. It was placed on the ceiling almost directly above the comms computer, matching the shape and size of the service hatch it replaced. The only give-away was the lack of handles for opening it. "How long has that been there?" "Sir, it appears that one of the service hatches has been replaced with a flat-panelled device of the same size and shape. It's unclear how long it has been there." "We'll have to assume not very long since your guy was still so close to the scene. Look around carefully for other devices, but be prepared to make a quick exit. Good work. Teams 1, 5, 6, 7, and 9 to 12- search your assigned areas, especially near vital station systems, for new flat-panelled objects. They could be instead of an entrance hatch, ventilation grid, anything." "Aye, sir" "On it." "On our way." "Right, we'll need to contain and destroy those saboteurs before they do any more damage." "That's being worked on. How's it going, Doug?" "Everything's under control- a quick Maori side-step and we're in. Are the shields ready yet?" "Yep, I've got a tech down there and they're responding to manual control." "OK, the Commander's going to co-ordinate things. McIlroy out." "A quick what?" "Maori sidestep. Oh, it's Doug using his rugby terminology again. The Maori are an originally aboriginal human race who live on many small islands in the south Pacific on Earth. They were famous for their very large, fast and aggressive rugby players, and their war dance before each game." The Svoboda glided invisibly into position, about a click from the station. "Co-ordinates locked." "Anyway, when a normal player wanted to break through an enemies' defensive line, he would either charge at a gap, try to draw in defenders to make gaps for other players or weave their way through using their agility and speed. The Maori became renowned for a slightly different tactic, which became known as the Maori sidestep." "Which was?" "Charge straight at an opposing player, knock him down, then walk over him." "I like the sound of that," smiled Sergeant Ko-gin. "Briggs, stand by to lower the shields on my mark." "Aye, sir- standing by, Weapons computer on-line in 2 min- Woah, Oh, ****!" "What?" "Someone's just sent a ping through the system! The comms computer's going crazy- it's trying to send signals to all the other systems at once." "Comms are down- switching to backup system." Three faint tremors came in quick succession, almost merging into a rumble. "What was that? The flat-panelled devices! All teams, report!" "Briggs, lower shields!" "Hang on, sir, they've knocked out internal station comms. I'll need to signal my tech." The interference on incoming messages was so intense that there was barely any recognisable signal "T--- -n- ---- -----ng -- ---ort" *crackle* *hiss* "This is no good, switch to emergency text only, routed through the Svoboda's comms. Right- all teams report." Sergeant Ko-gin's handset converted his voice into a simple text message, encrypted it and then sent it via the Svoboda's comms computer to all his men's backup handsets. "They're still in their base. Perscan is still working!" "Lower the shields! Respond if you get this message" "Weapons computer, comms and Tacops have all been destroyed. Oh, dear." "Reports coming in from teams 1, 5, 6 and 7. Nothing to report in their areas. Also from 10 and 12." "Come on guys, tell me you're alive." "Well done, Briggs, shields are dropping." On the bridge of the Svoboda, the console screens started to distort slightly. "There's a cloaked vessel in the region, maybe two," reported Steve. Ben watched the station shield indicator drop rapidly towards zero. "Ready on my mark" Simon thought aloud, "Think they can see this coming?" "2, 1, fire!" The Svoboda's main gun fired twice at full power and four Vagrants arced their way towards exactly the same point in quick succession. The first three, together with the IOD blasts blew a hole about 2m wide in the station's armour and the fourth flew right through the whole and detonated in the middle of the room to devastating effect. A column of flame erupted out of the hole in the station armour and a single sabouteur was catapulted headfirst out of the doorway into the corridor accompanied by a large amount of debris. As he hit the opposite wall, his head bent sideways before the rest of his body slammed against the hard metallic surface, then dropped to the floor with his head at a very unnatural angle. "Mission successful, no survivors." "Sir, team 2 reports that the flat-panelled device was an area denial bomb which has scattered anti-personnel mines all over the room the comms computer itself was probably destroyed by a second device triggered at the same time, which would have been the tremors we felt. Only two of them survived the blast. Teams 9 and 11 have been wiped out, probably by similar devices." Pain and anger was detectable in Sergeant Ko-gin's voice as he spoke, "But we got those kra-chek. Teams 10 and 12, verify area denial weapon use around the Weapons and Tacops Computers." Back on the Svoboda, an alarm sounded. "Enemy vessels decloaking! 2 Carriers!" Battle had begun.[/rp] Sorry to leave you all at this point, but I've got to go and get married Hopefully I'll have the next chapter by the end of the month. Later,

Well, I'm sorry to add my congrats so late, but here they are! I'm afraid I've been a bit busy getting ready for my own (on saturday) and not having a phone line (again! argh!) for a month has kept me away from the boards for a while, and I'll be slightly unreachable for a while Good luck, I'll tell you all how it turns out (I was trying to get an invite up on some webspace, but I've run out of time. If I do, it'll be at http://www.webpark.cz/preklad/Announcement.doc , but it looks like I won't be able to) *edit* done, but the adress I gave before wouldn't have worked. If you want to contact me, it'll have to be through [email protected], but don't expect any quick replies [ 09-05-2001: Message edited by: Ben Zwycky ]

[rp] The model of the station broke apart into large sections and the residential section rotated and grew to fill the entire screen. "Sergeant Ko-gin, would you like to account for your men?" The burly commander of the station's marine contingent peered over the administrator's shoulder at the perscan screen. He pointed at various locations on the screen. "That should be team 4, team 8, team 3, team ... hmm. Those your guys?" He inquired indicating a cluster of dots near the edge of the station. "No, mine are either on my ship or in the turrets. Looks like those are our playful friends, and they've made themselves right at home. How many do we have...6, 8... 10" "And in a very defendable area. They can see far up the only access corridor in either direction, and they probably have their own detectors and booby traps all around them." "But, they're right on the edge of the station- only the station armour between them and the outside." "You mean land troops on the outside and cut or blast through? They must have predicted that- They'd spot you in a second." "Not exactly... Commander?" "Yes, Briggs?" "We have located the saboteurs. They have a small encampment right on the edge of the station." "Right on the edge?" "That's right, sir. Here are the co-ordinates." "Hmm... well, that'll make things a whole lot easier, won't it?" "Yes it will, sir." "I'll launch and cloak the Svoboda. Tell me if you find any others." "Right, let's see if they have anyone somewhere else- bring up the vital station systems and their surroundings." The station model reformed then instantly broke apart and another section rotated and grew to fill the screen. "Tacops Computer, clear- Main Computer, clear." Another section, "Weapons Computer, clear- Station Command Centre, clear." Another Section, "Operations, clear- Comms Computer, clea- no, wait, who is that?" "Those are my guys- team two." "But aren't there normally five guys in each patrol? There are six dots there." "Rotate that view. See, there, that one's seperate from the group. He's in a service duct." "Team two, investigate unidentified individual in the service duct 5 metres north of your position." "Aye, sir- checking it out." "Other areas: Team 1... Team 5... Team 7. Looks like he's the only one unaccounted for, and we can start planning our assault." Ola Ti-tor, the leader of team 2 silently signalled to his men. One of his men moved to the hatchway entrance, two others moved to the right side with weapons at the ready, and Ola and the remaining man stood ready on the left- they were in position. He nodded. The man at the entrance quickly opened the hatch and backed away, Ola and the man opposite him quickly aimed their rifles down the duct, switching to infra-red view in the dim light in the duct. The shape of part of a human form glowed clearly against the cold background. "Halt! Identify yourself." "System Engineer Ugo Ga-wol, performing maintenance on the power grid." "Sir, do we have a system engineer by the name of..." "Grenade!" The unmistakable clank, clank, clank of metallic objects bouncing along a metallic surface were temporarily drowned out by a burst of automatic rifle fire ricocheting down the duct. Then came the scrambling of humanoid bodies diving out of the way of the entrance hatch, then the huff of a smoke grenade and the deafening boom of a frag grenade. "You guys all right?" "Yes, sir." "Is he still there?" "I can't see through all this hot smoke." A disembodied voice from Ola's communicator gave him the news, "don't bother, he beamed back to his base before the grenades went off. Check whether he was on his way to or coming back from planting a device." "Aye sir, on our way." One minute later the report came back, "sir, we may have a problem."[/rp] Well, I'll be packing up my comp tomorrow for the big move to my home for the next year (at least) and which after the 8th of September will be me and Eva's first marital home I should be up and running again by the middle of next week, so I should be able to carry on with this story. Later,

I did, and I did good work! We need a better (as in pictorial) tacsupport logo, I think. Any ideas, anyone?

how about this? http://www.volny.cz/benzwycky/Svoboda/Art/Gallery.htm Nice work

0230 March 16th, 3001 "Briggs, this is Zwycky. Progress report." "All simulation spaces are active and running smoothly. We're ready to isolate the station turrets and missile pods. Are they all manned yet?" "We have one of the Svoboda's marines and systems engineers at each emplacement ready to reinitialise and activate manual turret control at your command. It's not pretty but it's a whole lot better than nothing. Let's hope no-one decides to put the station's defences to the test in the next few hours." "I'm with you on that one, sir. We're on it." The administrator typed in the isolation command, placed his finger over the "proceed" key, winced, and pressed it. Nothing happened. No explosions, no alarms, no warning lights, no changes in any system sounds or screens. The administator looked up at Briggs, who was calmly examining a data flow diagram on his screen. "Did it work?" " 'Course it did. What did you expect? No-one's going to notice any change unless they try to do something unusual on the system. Tell our techs they can reinitialise the turrets and lets move on to the next system." "OK, comms?" "No, we'll leave that until last, since it's the most visible system from the outside. Let's break the rest of the links then get perscan and the weapons computer up and running again, so we can find those saboteurs. How would your troops communicate if the stations comms computer went down?" "They have a backup system- their communicators can link directly to each other without the comms computer, but only up to a limited range, and it drains their power cells significantly, so they can't use them for more than half an hour or so of actual broadcasting and receiving. Generally we tell them to send text messages where possible, as that uses less power, but it's pretty slow and awkward for them, so they're trained to move round in squads and take it in turns being the comms guy for their squad." "Hmm- we could solve the range problem by routing the text messages through the Svoboda's comms computer. But only as long as it's just text messages, because it's only designed to cope with the ships own message traffic, which is an awful lot less bandwidth than a station's." "Right. All system connections are severed. Turrets are scrubbed, reinitialising and responding to manual control. Scrubbing perscan and the weapons computer." 0300 March 16th, 3001 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION LOG 0243 TURRETS ISOLATED 0245 TURRET CONTROL SYSTEMS PURGED. MANUAL CONTROL ACTIVATED 0248 ALL SYSTEM LINKS SEVERED 0250-0257 WEAPONS COMPUTER SYSTEM PURGED 0252-0256 PERSCAN SYSTEM PURGED 0254 POWER GRID SWITCHED TO MANUAL CONTROL. 0259 WEAPONS COMPUTER SOFTWARE REINSTALLATION BEGUN ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 0325 March 16th, 3001 "OK, we can put in this security program for now. It's a placeholder really, but it should be different enough from what you had before to stop them getting in for a while." "Right- so, we can start up perscan now." "Yep, it won't have the IFF's loaded yet, but we should be able to work out which ones are the bad guys once we've accounted for all of our people. Disable the alarms before you start it up, though. We don't want them to know we've got our eyes back." "Done. Restarting." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- INITIALISING STATION PERSONNEL SCANNER SYSTEM LOADING STATION MODEL ............ DONE LOADING OBJECT DATABASE ............ DONE LOADING VIEWER ............ DONE LOADING SYSTEM TOOLS ............ DONE RETRIEVING DATA FROM STATION SENSORS ----------------------------------------------------------------------- A rotating 3D model of the station grew from the middle of the screen to form the station overview, filled with thousands of little blue dots indicating the position of every person on the station. "Okay, let's cut to the chase. Bring up the residential section."[/rp] OK, pending a couple of permission issues, this story should be up and running again (I hope ) Anyone wanting to take part must email me first at [email protected] (I should have a non-vanity email adress to give you all by tomorrow)

Well, with a delay lengthened by a very stressful job (which is now over ) and lack of phone line (which has now been put in ) on we go: [rp] 0100 March 16th, 3001 "OK, let's see what we have here," enthused David Briggs, as he hooked up the System Infiltration Console, "Hmm. Comms, Logistix, Weapons, Tacops, Tactical, Perscan." The system administrator gasped at the ease with which Briggs was able to access the station's most vital systems. "You guys really need to upgrade your security system. I didn't even need your access codes to get in here. I know some good people you could talk to about that, but we'll worry about that later." He nervously agreed. David tapped a few keys and brought up a series of windows of scrolling text. "OK, scrub and reinitialise perscan. I'll be monitoring all the incoming and outgoing message traffic to all these systems, and hopefully we'll see where that bomb is coming from." "OK, formatting." The perscan activity monitor dropped to zero, and the perscan screen changed from a jumble of random characters to a blank screen. While they waited, the administrator searched through the software datacubes in his personal safe and Briggs eagerly watched his screen for any anomalous system behaviour. A few minutes later, "OK, it's clean. Reinitialising." The administrator inserted a datacube into the slot and a single spinning galcom logo appeared on the perscan screen. "Administrator retinal scan required." Announced the console. The retinal scanner was activated and the administrator obliged. "Identity confirmed. Proceeding." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- INITIALISING SYSTEM TOOLS LOADING STATION MODEL LOADING PERSONNEL IFF CODES ┬║┬À┬┤┬▒┼ÆÔÇí┬ñ┬ñ┬ó ┬í┬╗┬│┬▓ÔÇ░┬¿┬¬o├ÿ├×┬┐,*%!V3o┬ÅÔÇ╣╦å"ÔǪ-├ì├▓QKÔÇí╦£┬╗┬¢├Á ,*%!V3o┬ÅÔÇ╣╦å"ÔǪ┬║┬À┬┤┬▒┼Æ┬▓ÔÇ░┬¿┬¬o├ÿ├×┬┐┬Å"┬░├ì├▓Q╦£┬╗┬¢├Á├ÉF┬À┬╣2#!*┬ÅÔÇ╣╦å"ÔǪ├ì├▓QKÔÇí╦£ ┬╗┬¢├Á├É#!*}┬Ø├¢├ÜZ┬»ÔÇ░┬ÑãÆ#!*├é[].┬ØZ┬╗┬│┬»ÔÇ░┬Ñ┬ó}[Q.┬┤┬▒┼ÆÔÇí┬ñ┬ñ┬ó ┬í┬╗┬│┬▓ÔÇ░┬¿┬¬o├ÿ┼íeD" b├×┬┐,*%!V3o┬Ø├¢├ÜZ┬»ÔÇ░┬Ñ├é├é.┬┤┬▒┼ÆÔÇí┬ñ┬ñ┬ó ┬í┬╗┬│┬▓ÔÇ░┬¿┬¬o├ÿ┬┐ÔÇ╣╦å"ÔǪQKÔÇí╦£┬╗┬¢├Á├Ém┬º├àF┬À┬╣├▒├¡2j,*%!V3o1┬ñ┬ÅÔÇ╣╦å"ÔǪ┬║┬À┬┤┬▒┼Æ┬▓ÔÇ░┬¿ ┬¬o├ÿ├×┬┐├ì├▓QKÔÇí╦£┬╗┬¢├Á├Ém┬º├àF┬À┬╣├ö├¡!8P├ºa?[@┬▒├▒├¡2j#!*}┬ÅÔÇ╣╦åÔÇí╦£┬╗┬¢├Á├É#!*}┬Ø ├¢├ÜZ┬»ÔÇ░┬ÑãÆ#!*├é[].┬ØZ┬╗┬Ñ┬ó}[Q.┬┤┬▒┼ÆÔÇí┬ñ┬ñ┬ó ┬í┬╗┬│┬▓ÔÇ░┬¿┬¬o├×┬┐,*%!V3o┬Ø├¢├ÜZ┬»ÔÇ░┬Ñ├é├é.┬┤┬▒┼ÆÔÇí┬ñ┬ñ┬ó ┬í┬╗┬│┬▓┬¿┬¬o3oÔÇ╣╦å"Q╦£├Ám~#$├ù├ï┬º┬À┬╣ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- "Same every time." "Yes, gotcha! Hmm, that might be awkward." "What have you got?" "You see here? The weapons computer sent two files with almost the same name; the second one has a space before the file extension. That's the virus- it's in the weapons computer." "Well, we can't shut down the weapons computer, the station would be defenceless! And anyway why didn't they make the logic bomb take the weapons computer down?" "Maybe it will when they send a trigger message, but I don't think it'll be as simple as shutting down the weapons computer." "Simple? It takes a lot longer to reinitialise the weapons computer than perscan- there are an awful lot more subsystems." "What I meant was, the virus in the weapons computer is there to keep the virus in perscan running. Maybe there's another virus monitoring the one in the weapons computer, and another one monitoring that, and those other viruses might do something more serious than just reload the others." "So what do we do? We can't shut everything down at once. If you're right, even a tiny delay between system shutdowns could trigger something serious. Just shutting everything down anyway would cause mayhem." "So we have to isolate all the systems from each other before we reinitialise them." "Isn't that going to trigger just what we're trying to avoid?" "Not if they don't notice. You ever written a psi-deck program?" "Of course, what has- you mean simulate all the stations systems? The psi-deck doesn't have that kind of processing power." "Not on it's own. Half the station is evacuated, so a lot of system resources aren't being used, and this little toy has a bit more kick than you think," Briggs smiled, proudly tapping his console. "Anyway, we only need to simulate the signal traffic between the systems. First of all we need to route each system link through two adaptive simulation spaces in series, but just set them to passive learning for now. It'll take a while, but shouldn't set off any alarms." "We hope. I'll bring up the files from the psi-deck." "The psi-deck's adaptive programs are good for a lot of things, and I'd have no hesitation in using them if there was no alternative, but they're not designed for this kind of simulation, so they tend to be a little imprecise and use a lot of system resources." "Which are at a premium. What else have you got, then?" "I've got a couple of much more specific and efficient simulation programs. Here you go- it's called Smooth Talker. The interface is a bit basic, but it does the job." "Hmm. I see what you mean. Sort of reminds me of Psi-OS 9." "It uses a highly modified and streamlined version of Psi-OS 8, but if you know Psi-OS 9, then you shouldn't have too many problems with it." 0130 March 16th, 3001 A faint light briefly shimmered in each of Centris Station's weapons turrets. IOD Turret 8, Centris Station System Engineer Mike Weston and Marine James Foster surveyed their new temporary home. Mechanically it was reasonably well maintained, since it was such a critical system, but it obviously hadn't been occupied for quite a long time- a few burnt and broken circuit boards and a couple of leftover lengths of plasma conduit formed a haphazard pile on the gunner's seat and the whole gunner's area, including this pile, was decorated with a thin brown layer of dust. Mike cleared the pile from the seat and cleaned the gunner's console screen before performing a routine diagnostic. "I sure like the view," grinned James as he looked out at the beautiful Sa-marilad (Heaven's Fire) Nebula through the turret's armoured bubble canopy. He could have no idea how many pairs of eyes were looking back at him. Classified reports were analysed. Secret meetings and discussions were held- some heated, some desperate, some calm. Plans were formed (some risky, some ambitious) and messages sent out. A chain of events was started. Shrouded figures in various darkened rooms thought they were in control of what was about to happen. Only the unforgiving passage of time would reveal who was in control of what.[/rp] [ 08-01-2001: Message edited by: Ben Zwycky ]

Well, thanks for your faith in me there, DeSylva- I'm not dead yet, but a bit restricted. I'll be moving to a flat with a phone line hopefully within the next thirty days, then I'll be cooking again (and my lovely Eva will be moving in as well after she becomes my wife on the 8th of September ) in the meantime, I've been working a little on 'Ambitions' and I'll probably be posting a couple of chapters the next time I'm in Eva's office. I'll need SC's permission for a couple of the things I have planned there, which'll be difficult to get since I only have vanity email access at the moment ( [email protected] ) (don't expect replies to be instantaneous ) So if one of you doesn't mind having the story a bit spoiled for them, you could email me, I'll tell you what I have planned, and you could speak to him for me, or something? I finally got out of my nightmare job, so I have some time for other stuff now. I can't say I'll have enough time for a high ranking command position, but I'll be happy to take any post you think I'm worthy of. See ya all later (not too much later I hope )

Nice to see you back, sir! (and nice to see my name on the 'included without question' list ) If I ever get thisphone line situation sorted out, then I'll be able to be a lot more active. Until then, I'll just pop in from time to time (either via Eva's office or an internet cafe) to check the forum and hopefully keep 'Ambitions' going Later, ------------------ Cmdr. Ben Zwycky GCV Svoboda, ISSHQ (Saturn) Centauri Flight Group Leader, Defence Wing - ISS Fleet "honour is what no man can give you, and no man can take away" [This message has been edited by Ben Zwycky (edited 04-02-2001).]

Well, until I get a phone line in my flat I'm restricted to just checking the boards every so often. ------------------ Cmdr. Ben Zwycky GCV Svoboda, ISSHQ (Saturn) Centauri Flight Group Leader, Defence Wing - ISS Fleet email:[email protected] ICQ:72897748 "honour is what no man can give you, and no man can take away"

Well, this is close enough to the subject I think. My fiancee's brother Petr was helping out a technically-challenged uncle of his with the basics of windows, when the uncle said: "Help! Everything's disappeared and now there are elephants on my computer!" Petr then patiently explained what a 'screensaver' was. ------------------ Cmdr. Ben Zwycky GCV Svoboda, ISSHQ (Saturn) Centauri Flight Group Leader, Defence Wing - ISS Fleet email:[email protected] ICQ:72897748 "honour is what no man can give you, and no man can take away"

Sorry I'm so late with this, but happy birthday, Nick! (that's what happens when you don't have weekend access ) ------------------ Cmdr. Ben Zwycky GCV Svoboda, ISSHQ (Saturn) Centauri Flight Group Leader, Defence Wing - ISS Fleet email:[email protected] ICQ:72897748 "honour is what no man can give you, and no man can take away"

Selamat datang Cmdr Eu! That's about the limit of my malay, being an ignorant englishman (well, nearly ) Welcome to the community and glad to have you around. Once you're getting settled in the BC galaxy, check out the different fleets and the rpg forum for another aspect of this game and community. Selamat tinggal (is that right?) for now , ------------------ Cmdr. Ben Zwycky GCV Svoboda, ISSHQ (Saturn) Centauri Flight Group Leader, Defence Wing - ISS Fleet email:[email protected] ICQ:72897748 "honour is what no man can give you, and no man can take away"

Two chapters in a week! IÔÇÖm doing well [rp]0046 March 16th, 3001 ÔÇ£Docking beams activated. TheyÔÇÖve got us, Ben.ÔÇØ The exterior of the station had a number of different coloured plates welded randomly across its surface, and the majority of the residential sections of the station appeared to be without power. The Svoboda was slowly brought in to the main docking bay, and it became apparent where those plates had come from. Interior dividing bulkheads either had large sections cut out of them or had been removed completely. As the docking confirmation light all lit up, a message came through the internal station network: ÔÇ£Activating CommlinkÔÇØ ÔÇ£Welcome to Centauri Station, Commander! Where is the transport?ÔÇØ ÔÇ£Transport?ÔÇØ ÔÇ£We were told to expect a terran transport escorted by a terran battlecruiser.ÔÇØ ÔÇ£IÔÇÖm afraid there must have been a misunderstanding. WeÔÇÖre the transport- we filled all our shuttles with spare parts, repair materials and weapons for bringing here. We even filled what little space we had left in our transporter room. Not as good as an MRT-15 I know, but it should help.ÔÇØ We are grateful for your efforts, and those parts will come in very handy, but as you can see, our need is great. While your cargo is being unloaded, please make your way to the main control room, as I would like to discuss some things with you. An escort is just arriving at your airlock now.ÔÇØ ÔÇ£IsnÔÇÖt your transporter working?ÔÇØ ÔÇ£Yes, but it is not at 100% efficiency, and there have been a few minor incidents.ÔÇØ ÔÇ£Hmm. I donÔÇÖt particularly want to be a ÔÇÿminor incident, but our own transporter is working just fine. Send us the co-ordinates and IÔÇÖll be there within a few seconds.ÔÇØ ÔÇ£As you wish, Commander.ÔÇØ ÔÇ£Co-ordinates received,ÔÇØ reported Karen, ÔÇ£Relaying them to the transporter room.ÔÇØ A couple of seconds later the familiar spatial anomaly appeared in front of BenÔÇÖs eyes and before he could say another word he was in the spacious main control room of the station. The tacops viewer dominated one side of its circular wall and a multitude of screens and consoles of various descriptions covered the remainder, most of them manned. In the centre of the room were a couple of almost semicircular consoles with a swivel chair in the middle, on which sat the station Commander. He stood to greet Commander Zwycky. ÔÇ£Ah, Commander, welcome. As you can see, we have some major problems. ÔÇØ he said, indicating to one of the bigger screens which was showing a series of internal views of sections of the station. Perhaps the most disturbing illustration of the stations degradation was the view of the stationÔÇÖs main welcoming hall. Public access terminals, comms terminals, and the majority of the shops and restaurants had been totally gutted, their materials and parts no doubt scavenged for more vital station systems. These were the hallmarks of a fortress that had been under siege for a long time. ÔÇ£I had no idea things were this bad. How could you run out of parts so quickly? I was here one week ago and everything seemedÔǪ.ÔÇØ A faint tremor interrupted him, as did an alarm on one of the consoles ÔÇ£ÔǪto be fine.ÔÇØ ÔÇ£Explosion on Deck 12, section 38. Hull breach in sections 38 and 39 on Decks 12 and 13ÔÇØ ÔÇ£The residential section,ÔÇØ sighed the Station Commander tiredly. ÔÇ£Send repair team 6 and security teamÔǪÔÇØ looking down a list on his console screen, ÔÇ£three.ÔÇØ He rattled off the orders as if he had given them for the tenth time that day (in fact it was only the fourth). ÔÇ£We have a number of saboteurs on board. They wrecked perscan with a logic bomb and ever since have been almost impossible to track, except by the wake of destruction they have left behind. This is a very large station and there are a lot of places to hide in it. We know they are probably based somewhere in the residential section, since it was evacuated three days ago and main power to it was cut yesterday, but even that has 12 levels and 100 sections on each level. Plus there are the service tunnels and air ducts- we could be searching for weeks and not find them.ÔÇØ ÔÇ£So weÔÇÖve got to get perscan back on line.ÔÇØ ÔÇ£Believe me weÔÇÖve tried, but every time we scrub the system and reinitialise it, the logic bomb reinstalls itself and scrambles everything again.ÔÇØ ÔÇ£OK, I think I have someone who can help there. Svoboda, this is Zwycky.ÔÇØ ÔÇ£Yes, Commander.ÔÇØ[/rp] This plot is going to develop slowly, but will be pretty complex in a while. Anyone wanting to be part of it should contact me at [email protected]. You can still use my profile address, but that is not going to get to me as quickly. I have to talk to my landlord about getting this phone line sorted Later, ------------------ Cmdr. Ben Zwycky GCV Svoboda, ISSHQ (Saturn) Centauri Flight Group Leader, Defence Wing - ISS Fleet email:[email protected] ICQ:72897748 "honour is what no man can give you, and no man can take away"

Well, after the longest break so far and an indefinite move to Prague, IÔÇÖve found I have a little time to carry on with this story. For how long I will have this spare time is a very good question. On we go [rp]0032 March 16th, 3001 Two of the shuttles darted out to the exit points of the jump anomalies, one charging at an exit point at top speed, the other using a slightly more cautious approach. He used the rapidly decreasing distance to target indicator to gauge when he should arrive, aiming to get there just after the approaching fighter, when it would be at its slowest and therefore most vulnerable point. The charging shuttle overshot its mark by about 3 seconds, itÔÇÖs pilot cursing himself and desperately trying to circle back round to attack itÔÇÖs target, but too late- Interceptor 4 was easily able to reach combat speed. The more cautious shuttle timed his run to perfection, and before Steelfingers knew what had happened he was enveloped by the gentle blue glow of its tractor beam. ÔÇ£Gagh! HeÔÇÖs got us in his tractor beam. Someone help me out here!ÔÇØ ÔÇ£On my way,ÔÇØ chimed Poltergeist as he climbed sharply to line up the enemy shuttle. ÔÇ£Keep your distance- he might try to swing us into you.ÔÇØ ÔÇ£Can you shoot?ÔÇØ ÔÇ£Negative, weÔÇÖre held at an angle to him. Wait, the cargo door is opening?ÔÇØ ÔÇ£Repeat that steel, it didnÔÇÖt make sense.ÔÇØ ÔÇ£The shuttleÔÇÖs cargo bay doors are opening.ÔÇØ The armoured door to the shuttleÔÇÖs cargo bay slowly rolled up to reveal a humanoid figure in a space suit carrying a multi-mode rifle, which he aimed at the paralysed craft. ÔÇ£HeÔÇÖs got a rifle! Take ÔÇÿim Polt!ÔÇØ Since the shuttle was now running on autopilot, Poltergeist found it relatively simple to make his attack run, although matters were slightly complicated by his desire not to hit his friends and the shortage of time he had. As he closed, the bright stream of energy bolts that hammered into IC-1 made this lack of time more evident. Poltergeist fired two shots into the inviting gap, the first hitting the upright figure to devastating effect and the second causing a minor explosion within the cargo space, blowing everything out into the void except a lone charred boot held magnetically to the floor. The tractor beam, however, was unaffected and still held IC-1 in its colourful embrace. This situation was quickly rectified with a precise burst. ÔÇ£Thanks, Polt!ÔÇØ ÔÇ£We owe you a drink, bud!ÔÇØ ÔÇ£Just focus on staying alive and getting those other shuttles.ÔÇØ Now freed, Steelfingers and Cutthroat exacted revenge on their previous captor. ÔÇ£ThatÔÇÖs what I call going out with a bang!ÔÇØ ÔÇ£Yeah! OK, now whereÔÇÖve those other two got to?ÔÇØ The impatient shuttle was having a torrid time from IC-4: itÔÇÖs tractor beam, shields and life support system were all badly damaged and itÔÇÖs engines had taken a couple of hits. The shuttleÔÇÖs pilot knew his time was running out, so he afterburned and flew dead straight for a few seconds to get Carrion and Showcase directly behind him and heading straight for him. He took a lot of hits as he slammed on his retro rockets and decelerated extremely quickly, closing the gap to under 300m before activating the shuttleÔÇÖs self-destruct, attempting to hit them with the full force of the explosion. Carrion noticed the rapidly decreasing distance and turned sharply to avoid a collision. This meant he was heading away from the explosion and took the force of the blast (and a couple of small chunks of white-hot titanium) with the back of his craft. As a result his engines were damaged, though not heavily, since his shields took the major part of the impact. ICÔÇÖs 1-3 all ganged up on the final shuttle, attempting to disable itÔÇÖs tractor beam as quickly as possible, while being careful to keep their distance as much as they could. The shuttle twisted and turned heroically, but in vain as itÔÇÖs engines were hit again and again until it could barely crawl through space. It was finished off with a single questor missile from Livewire, enabling them all to back away to a safe distance. ÔÇ£Any sign of that Violon?ÔÇØ ÔÇ£There was a faint moving anomaly about 1000km from the jumpgate, but it disappeared very quickly.ÔÇØ ÔÇ£Hmm. Looks like it doesnÔÇÖt want to show itÔÇÖs face this time. Damage report,ÔÇØ requested Ben SteveÔÇÖs fingers danced across his console as he brought up the information: ÔÇ£According to our telemetry, ICÔÇÖs 2 and 3 are undamaged, IC-4ÔÇÖs engine is at 82% and itÔÇÖs life support is at 91%. IC-1, however, didnÔÇÖt fare so well. They sustained damage to their fore armor, HUD, CVD and lasers, all at 70- 75%, and itÔÇÖs Weapons pod is at 60%, so they can only use half their launch tubes. Steelfingers has also been injured, though not seriously- his LF is reading 83%ÔÇØ Steelfingers, howÔÇÖre you doing ÔÇ£Just a scratch, sir,ÔÇØ he reported, the trickle of blood running down his sleeve in plain view. ÔÇ£Nevertheless, once weÔÇÖre all through the jumpgate, you are to return to base for repairs and report to medibay. Redwood will take your placeÔÇØ ÔÇ£Yes, sir.ÔÇØ ÔÇ£LetÔÇÖs go and make our delivery.ÔÇØ ÔÇ£Hyperdrive activatedÔÇØ The jump anomaly seemed to form out of nowhere, hang around for a while then disappear. About thirty seconds later the jumpgate to Cronus flashed, but no ship appeared out of it. The SvobodaÔÇÖs Interceptors in turn then passed through the gate. ÔÇ£Retrieving data.ÔÇØ There was no space activity in the Cronus region. No shuttles, no transports, no patrol craft. This by itself was not unheard of, but given the amount of activity in Treas, this was slightly unnerving. The Svoboda decloaked and IC-1 docked to make her repairs. ÔÇ£WhatÔÇÖs happening in the other region? WeÔÇÖve still got our probe there. Oh, and send those mighty ducks the self-destruct order. We don't want any innocents thinking their running to a safe haven and landing on one.ÔÇØ ÔÇ£Mighty Ducks destroyed. Activating Tacops ComputerÔÇØ The 3-D view of the Cronus region was quickly replaced with the view of the probeÔÇÖs region, and the three red targets stood out immediately. One Violon and two of itÔÇÖs fighter compliment, the fighters on their way to the probe and the Violon heading for the jumpgate. Before the Violon arrived at itÔÇÖs desteination, the fighters arrived at theirs and quickly launched a volley of missiles at it. Just as the Violon was nearing the end of its jump the missiles impacted and the view flashed back to the current region. ÔÇ£Probe lost.ÔÇØ ÔÇ£Looks like heÔÇÖs heading for us, or heÔÇÖs going to mine the jumpgate. Full alert- everybody watch the jumpgate and be ready to pound anything coming through.ÔÇØ Five minutes passed. ÔÇ£Looks like heÔÇÖs mining the gate.ÔÇØ Head to the station. LetÔÇÖs do what we came to do then figure out a way home.ÔÇØ ÔÇ£Hyperdrive actived.ÔÇØ [/rp] Well, there we go for now. IÔÇÖm back . Me and Eva are just off to celebrate our 3/4 anniversary Later, ------------------ Cmdr. Ben Zwycky GCV Svoboda, ISSHQ (Saturn) Centauri Flight Group Leader, Defence Wing - ISS Fleet email:[email protected] ICQ:72897748 "honour is what no man can give you, and no man can take away"

Sorry to hear that William. I┬┤ll be praying for you and your family. My move to Prague has gone reasonably well, except my comp has fallen victim to czech beaurocracy and is stuck in customs until I give them a huge deposit to make sure I'm not just selling it on and also jump through some diplomatic hoops. Oh, well. Such is life. I'm sorry for my abscence from ISS affairs, I'll get myself up and running again as soon as possible (which may be a while) Later, ------------------ Cmdr. Ben Zwycky GCV Svoboda, ISSHQ (Saturn) Centauri Flight Group Leader, Defence Wing - ISS Fleet email:[email protected] ICQ:72897748 "honour is what no man can give you, and no man can take away"

Good luck, cruise. Now's the time for me to be heading off as well. My comp's all packed up ready to be shipped over to Prague tomorrow and I'll be following it the day after. I'm going to go and be with my lovely Eva . This isn't goodbye, I'll get it hooked up again over there as soon as I can, and will continue the great testing quest from there (and you never know, I might even carry on with 'Ambitions' sometime). (Hopefully I'll be able to get a permanent connection once I'm settled in properly, which'll be nice for multiplayer testing/playing, but that might be a month away.) ------------------ Cmdr. Ben Zwycky GCV Svoboda, ISSHQ (Saturn) Centauri Flight Group Leader, Defence Wing - ISS Fleet email:[email protected] ICQ:72897748 "honour is what no man can give you, and no man can take away"

...and make sure you have your speaker volume and bass turned right up

Well, since Gallion's got all of them except the last 2 rp trivias, I'll answer those: Hasenau (you should have got that one, Gallion, Blades had you cast as the one who got him out ) and Genesis I guess I just had to look smart somehow ------------------ Cmdr. Ben Zwycky GCV Svoboda, ISSHQ (Saturn) Centauri Flight Group Leader, Defence Wing - ISS Fleet email:[email protected] ICQ:72897748 "honour is what no man can give you, and no man can take away"

Happy Birthday, Rattler! ------------------ Cmdr. Ben Zwycky GCV Svoboda, ISSHQ (Saturn) Centauri Flight Group Leader, Defence Wing - ISS Fleet email:[email protected] ICQ:72897748 "honour is what no man can give you, and no man can take away"