Just sent you an email re: Fenspace...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
Yep. In the process of getting caught up on everything now. Expect more in this space tomorrow. :p
.... Okay, I think in order for this to have the best results, we need a plausible reason for everything they need to be right where they need it.
And really, the best I can come up with so far is that Ben, Gina, and company are on their way to Earth for some family vacation time - he's wanted to take Gina and the kids to Malaquite Beach on South Padre Island for such a long time...
So, vehicles and people in the retinue...
-Peacemaker-class Brilliant Starlight (Ben's personal Peacemaker, a sort of Roughriders-1, if you will.)
-Blackbird-class Magnificent Midnight
-Pair of VF-4 Lightnings (Ben and Gina's personal ships in appropriate Blackrider and Redrider colors)
People:-Benjamin Rhodes-R. Regina Langley-Rhodes-Mayonaka Langely-Rhodes-Natalie 'Nuku-chan' Jennings-Valerie 'Kitten' Jennings
Suggestions for other people to take along are welcome.
Thoughts?
He wants to have a vacation in the US on Earth and takes 4 warships/fighters with him??
If he was working, he'd have brought the entire Wing. Besides, Magnificent Midnight is Mayonaka's main body...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
A bit that probably won't be in the scene, but forced its way out of my brain and onto the screen:
Ben looked at Noah, smiled, and winked. "You're lookin' for passage to the new Earth?"
Noah didn't reply for a brief second... until he recognized the quote. "Yes indeed, if it's a fast ship."
"Fast ship? You've never heard of the Magnificent Midnight?"
"Should I have?"
"It's the ship that made the Pluto Run in less than twelve hours. I've outrun Federation starships. Not the local bulk cruisers mind you, I'm talking about the big Gagarin ships now. She's fast enough for you old man. What's the cargo?"
"Only a passenger. My guest... and no questions asked."
"What is it? Some kind of political trouble?"
"Let's just say we'd like to avoid any Convention entanglements."
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
Quote:robkelk wrote:
A bit that probably won't be in the scene, but forced its way out of my brain and onto the screen:
Ben looked at Noah, smiled, and winked. "You're lookin' for passage to the new Earth?"
Noah didn't reply for a brief second... until he recognized the quote. "Yes indeed, if it's a fast ship."
"Fast ship? You've never heard of the Magnificent Midnight?"
"Should I have?"
"It's the ship that made the Pluto Run in less than twelve hours. I've outrun Federation starships. Not the local bulk cruisers mind you, I'm talking about the big Gagarin ships now. She's fast enough for you old man. What's the cargo?"
"Only a passenger. My guest... and no questions asked."
"What is it? Some kind of political trouble?"
"Let's just say we'd like to avoid any Convention entanglements."
We can also mess with the time period that my posts happen in if you need that 'distraction' of new earth's grid.
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Characters
Sabre Fang
Dakota
I'm thinking the "distraction" might be better after the infiltration - that way, if somebody thinks the "distraction" actually was a distraction, they'd start looking at the wrong radar traces for the other operation.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
Quote:HRogge wrote:
He wants to have a vacation in the US on Earth and takes 4 warships/fighters with him??
Quote:robkelk wrote:
If he was working, he'd have brought the entire Wing. Besides, Magnificent Midnight is Mayonaka's main body...
Yeah. The only reason why Ben is able to take a vacation on Federal Land is because he finally made peace with the US Government over the Blackbird from Lackland fiasco. (When Haruhi strongarmed Ben into becoming the leader of their starfighter corps, such as it was, Ben asked for a Blackbird in return... he never specified
where it came from... so they snagged Ichiban from Lackland Air Force Base.)
That said... there's still people he's unpopular with. Two warships and two fighters is traveling
light. Especially when you consider the hardware and expenses involved when the US President travels.
Quote:robkelk wrote:
A bit that probably won't be in the scene, but forced its way out of my brain and onto the screen:
Ben looked at Noah, smiled, and winked. "You're lookin' for passage to the new Earth?"
Noah didn't reply for a brief second... until he recognized the quote. "Yes indeed, if it's a fast ship."
"Fast ship? You've never heard of the Magnificent Midnight?"
"Should I have?"
"It's the ship that made the Pluto Run in less than twelve hours. I've
outrun Federation starships. Not the local bulk cruisers mind you, I'm
talking about the big Gagarin ships now. She's fast enough for you old
man. What's the cargo?"
"Only a passenger. My guest... and no questions asked."
"What is it? Some kind of political trouble?"
"Let's just say we'd like to avoid any Convention entanglements."
*Laughs* Ah man! The best part would be to have Skuld right there... and start giggling wildly once she realizes what we're doing. Gina just sighs and shakes her head while Mayonaka just grins.
Quote:robkelk wrote:
I'm
thinking the "distraction" might be better after the infiltration - that
way, if somebody thinks the "distraction" actually was a distraction,
they'd start looking at the wrong radar traces for the other operation.
Besides, if anybody needs a distraction, then you can't ask for anyone better than Benjamin for the task. He'll take to it all while howling like a loon. Something like this:
click for crazed laughter.
blackaeronaut Wrote:robkelk Wrote:A bit that probably won't be in the scene, but forced its way out of my brain and onto the screen:
Ben looked at Noah, smiled, and winked. "You're lookin' for passage to the new Earth?"
Noah didn't reply for a brief second... until he recognized the quote. "Yes indeed, if it's a fast ship."
"Fast ship? You've never heard of the Magnificent Midnight?"
"Should I have?"
"It's the ship that made the Pluto Run in less than twelve hours. I've outrun Federation starships. Not the local bulk cruisers mind you, I'm talking about the big Gagarin ships now. She's fast enough for you old man. What's the cargo?"
"Only a passenger. My guest... and no questions asked."
"What is it? Some kind of political trouble?"
"Let's just say we'd like to avoid any Convention entanglements."
*Laughs* Ah man! The best part would be to have Skuld right there... and start giggling wildly once she realizes what we're doing. Gina just sighs and shakes her head while Mayonaka just grins.
Hey, if it works, use it!
(Skuld's comment to Mayonaka: "I like these two. They're silly." Leda's reaction would match Gina's.)
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
Quote:robkelk wrote:
(Skuld's comment to Mayonaka: "I like these two. They're silly." Leda's reaction would match Gina's.)
"Oh, I know! It's why I picked him to be my daddy."
Okay, I recently just played through that wonderful little indie-gaming gem known as
Thomas Was Alone... that, along with the soundtrack I picked up with my Humble Bundle has inspired me. I think I can handle writing this.
BTW: Thanks for that bit about Ben being the next closest guy to going interdimensional. (Or, given how Noah is just going to sit on the spells, that makes Ben THE MOST likely to do so
first.)
EDIT: Query: Would 60 Gs of acceleration be too much of an upgrade for the
Magnificent Midnight at this time or should I tone it down to 40? (Last I recall we had it originally set at 30 when she was first waved up in 2012.)
Quote:EDIT: Query: Would 60 Gs of acceleration be too much of an upgrade for the Magnificent Midnight at this time or should I tone it down to 40? (Last I recall we had it originally set at 30 when she was first waved up in 2012.)
Even with handwavium inertia-dampening assistance, how many Gs can the airframe take? Ultimately that's your upper limit. (And the limit will be lower if the pilot can't take as many Gs... but
Midnight can fly herself.)
I'd be inclined to say
Midnight can only take 40 G, but one of the newer Blackbirds might be able to handle 60.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
I'll just say that the wave quirked in a particularly weird way with the
Midnight. Internally she has the protection that drive fields afford most other ships... externally she behaves as your standard acceleration-type drive... albeit with a thrust-weight ratio that's the envy of just about everyone out there.
Note: Production model Blackbirds, of course, do not have this quirk and accelerate as well as you would expect.
And now, an attempt at some snippets.
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Benjamin had always had something of a sixth sense.
Sometimes he listened to that little voice that whispered in his ear. Sometimes he didn't.
Rarely were the consequences detrimental - he knew better than to make the really big mistakes. Most times when he gambled against these small warnings it was with relatively low stakes... the drawbacks were far from insurmountable, but far from desirable, too.
One such decision was the date he set for their first family vacation on Earth.
Not that Benjamin hadn't taken his family out on vacation before - Mars always had some nice spots, as did the Moon and the Crystal Cities. Even the outer planets had their attractions, desolate as they were.
But there were place he always wanted to share with his family, places where they had not been welcome before. Places like Malaquite Beach in Texas, the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania, the Black Hills of South Dakota, and the Hawaiian Islands.
Recently, he'd cut deals with the US Government - certain intelligence disclosures, reparations for stolen property, and a sweet deal on certain ores that occurred rarely on US soil all paved the way for Benjamin Rhodes and his admittedly odd family to be welcomed back with open arms after seventeen years of being outlawed. Of course, there would be inspections to ensure that the presence of Handwavium would be kept to a 'non-volatile' form... but that was a minor inconvenience in the face of something potentially cathartic.
And so, when a slow time in the business of the Roughriders as well as Black Aeronaut Technologies had been forecast, Benjamin discussed the possibilities with his wife, made advanced plans with the US Government, and then made the arrangements within his own chain of command. There was much to prepare for, and while some may scoff at the notion of taking warships and fighters on a vacation, these people certainly didn't have enemies like Benjamin Rhodes did.
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More to come later when my head isn't about to smack the keyboard.
Jess didn't really need an office. Oh, for certain she did have one where she could handle all the day-to-day paperwork that she came across and make sure that it was all filed properly. But for the most part, Jess handled most of that business personally.
The Roughriders were, for the most part, paperless. It not only helped keep the consumption of biomass down, but it also made it a lot less likely that sensitive documents would fall into enemy hands without encryption. However, early on there would be problems with the networks. Computers would refuse to speak to each other (literally, usually due to some argument over a trivial matter), or there was an accidental severing of a network line ("Do you have any idea how much trouble it is to get a hold of that much fiber up here!?")... or, some areas just hadn't been wired up yet. So, in the beginning they relied on a sneaker-net and everyone carried specially 'waved one-terabyte USB flash-drives. And it had stuck ever since.
Ben and Gina had even gone one step further and made software to go with it so the moment someone plugged in their drive, the files in an outbox folder would be transferred to the terminal's inbox. Of course, it underwent a lot of tweaking to make it work better, such as addressing files for a specific person's terminal, but the point was that it worked. If not as fast as the 'normal way', then a lot more secure. (Indeed, 36 Atalante's 'Secure Network' much smaller than most others, relying solely on their sneaker-net to transfer sensitive files inside the base.)
And of course, Jess was largely responsible for ensuring that important documents made it to where they were supposed to go. With her one-hundred capable sets of hands and eyes, she was everywhere inside the asteroid base. But of course, she still needed a nerve center of sorts to work from. And what better nerve center that the Central Command and Information Center?
Ruri Hoshino noted silently as one of Jess's clones came and, without a word or ceremony, relieved the one that had been at its post for the last two hours. There was no need to exchange any information at all. The outbound clone simply removed her flash drive and the relief inserted hers in its place. Files were immediately exchanged, and as for the clones themselves? This was Jess. And what one Jess knew, all knew.
Ruri sighed to herself. Jessica Ayanami, despite being one of the nicest people she knew, was strange.
Ruri already knew long in advance that she'd have to get used to Jess's strangeness a little more. Without Benjamin Rhodes and his wife around it all fell to Jess to, temporarily, pick up the slack. For certain, as there wasn't anything critical going on, there wasn't that much slack to pick up. But Jess still the added workload, and so had to catch up on paperwork. Fortunately for her, she could sleep in shifts.
Setting those thoughts aside, Ruri began to close out all her active processes and settle in for her own rest cycle. As much as she'd hate to admit it, she was strange for an infomorph because she had a sleep-mode in which she could dream. It was an open secret at 36 Atalante, so naturally only Ben, Gina, and a small hand-full of the SMOFs knew about this, much to her peace of mind.
It was just as Ruri was setting the last of her wake-on triggers for the evening that a shrill and keening alarm tore the silence of the CCIC apart like the maddened raving of a five-hundred pound gorilla. The sound was very distinct by Ben's own design - he wanted to make certain that this sound could not be mistaken for anything else, and with good reason.
It was the DQS alert.
FUCK!!!
I was working on a new piece when a casual grazing of the touchpad with my thumb caused Mozilla to jump back a page and I lost all my work.
I'll try again when I get more sleep... it was pretty rough anyhow.