Star Fleet: The Revenge of Makara

Chat about creative work on other sites
Shane
Posts: 944
Joined: Fri Dec 07, 2001 9:10 pm

Star Fleet: The Revenge of Makara

Post by Shane »

Cheers.
I like parties, I like fun, I want to live in a hamburger bun!
Shane
Posts: 944
Joined: Fri Dec 07, 2001 9:10 pm

Star Fleet: The Revenge of Makara

Post by Shane »

Chapter 20: CaptureCaptain Arkama looked at the holographic map that was projected in front of him on the bridge of his Imperial battle cruiser. A small pulsing area showed their destination - The Temple of the Ancients. The temple was located deep inside the planet in a vast chamber and a treacherous cavern passage led to this chamber from the surface of the planet.Arkama wondered if this great power his symbiont spoke of was worth all of the military hardware they had expended. 'Captain Arkama!' said one of his Termoid crew, 'Two Imperial fighters approaching!''Allow them to land!' hissed Arkama's symbiont, 'And bring them to me for debriefing!' continued Arkama, who wanted to know what had become of the countless search parties sent out and why these two fighters were the only ones who had so far returned.The two Imperial fighters flew into the battle cruiser's landing bay and came to a halt. A reception committee awaited them in the form of a squad of armed Termoids. ‘We are to escort you to Captain Arkama!’ said the squad in discordant unison.The two fighters remained motionless with no response given to the squad’s request. One of the termoids took a scanning device from its utility belt and pointed it at the fighters.‘Anomaly! Anomaly!’ screamed the termoid.The image of the two imperial fighters flickered and faded and was replaced by the solid forms of Shiro Hagen’s Braincom and Emma Steel’s X-Fighter. A swivel mounted gun pod opened underneath the X-Fighter’s cockpit area.‘Eat this!’ said Emma, as she cut the termoid squad into ribbons with rapid laser fire.‘Well, so much for the stealthy approach!’ said Shiro.‘Sorry, boss!’ smiled Emma, ‘They clocked us!’‘No matter. The new FG circuits did their job.’ said Shiro, ‘We've got inside. now let’s find this madman!’The two climbed out of their cockpits and pulled out their laser pistols as alarms started sounding throughout the ship.‘Follow my lead Emma!’ said Shiro, ‘Remember your academy training. You’ve stormed this ship a thousand times before!’‘Yes Captain!’ said Emma proudly, she could be a hothead at times and probably went to the same charm school as Barry Hercules, but when it came to Shiro there was nothing, but adoration. She would flirt and tease him at times, but on other occasions she could hardly breath when he walked into the room. She loved him.On the bridge, chaos had ensued as a startled Captain Arkama watched the two intruders running amok in his hanger bay, via his view screen. He didn’t recognise the female, but the male was on the top of the Imperial Alliance’s hit-list.‘Shiro Hagen!’ shouted Arkama, ‘He must have been made aware of our objective, but how?’ hissed the symbiont eye patch. Arkama turned to his command crew. ‘I want Hagen and his companion captured alive!’Back in the hanger, Shiro and Emma had just despatched two more termoids. Shiro stopped for a moment and grabbed an object from his belt pack. It was a small metallic sphere with a similar paint scheme to PPA's drone units. Shiro held out the sphere in the palm of his hand.'ID1, activate!' said ShiroA bar of red light appeared on the surface of the sphere as it levitated above Shiro's out stretched palm.'Find the ships central computer system and gain access!' said Shiro.ID1 beeped a response and flew off.Shiro and Emma ran out of the hanger and into a corridor, blasting a few more termoid troopers on the way. Emma rushed around the corner, but was pulled back by Shiro, saving her from a volley of stun bolts. A group of termoids had set up a gun emplacement, blocking the most direct route to the bridge. A lift cage suddenly emerged from the floor behind them and deposited a squad of termoids. Shiro and Emma had been caught by surprise, but managed to turn around in time to take out two of the squad before being hit by a pair of stun bolts from the surviving members of the unit.Shiro and Emma fell to the ground unconscious. Arkama's personally customised ship, which enabled him to despatch troopers practically anywhere, had caught the two intrepid heroes off guard. They were now prisoners of Captain Arkama.Shiro awoke in the ships holding cell; his arms and legs were bound, but he was stood in an upright position. Two termoid troopers were standing guard over him while a cloaked figure walked into the cell area. Shiro gazed at the man attired in a similar fashion to Commander Makara.'Captain Arkama I presume?!' said Shiro defiantly, although his voice was still a little weak from the effects of the stun bolt.'Indeed!' said Captain Arkama, 'And you are the great Shiro Hagen. Responsible for the fall of the Imperial alliance, along with your friends.''Where's Emma!' said Shiro.'Oh, your friend?' said Arkama's eye patch, 'She'ssss quite ssssafe... for now.'Arkama walked closer to Shiro.'Her continued safety is in your hands, Captain Hagen.' said Arkama, 'I won't lie to you, you are to be converted no matter what happens. You are far too valuable a warrior to merely execute. No, you are to be the first in a new order of Imperial officers who will serve under me - the supreme ruler of The New Alliance! Your friend though, Emma isn't it? She is of less value to me.''Don't you dare hurt her Arkama!' snarled Shiro.'Ah, maybe more than just friendsssssss!' hissed Arkama's eye patch.Arkama smiled, and called for a view screen to descend into the cell area. An unconscious Emma Steel could be seen strapped to a chair with a memory dissimulator unit hanging over her head.'No!' screamed Shiro, who now truly realised what the young space pilot meant to him.'I offer you a bargain.' said Arkama, 'Tell me who else is here with you and how you have come to know about this planet and our mission on it, and your friend will be converted along with yourself.' Arkama's symbiont's eyes started to burn bright red.'Resisssst and I will sssssslowly and painfully wipe her mind completely!' hissed Captain Arkama's eye patch.
I like parties, I like fun, I want to live in a hamburger bun!
User avatar
Vanessa
Posts: 389
Joined: Mon Sep 27, 2010 12:43 pm
Location: UK

Star Fleet: The Revenge of Makara

Post by Vanessa »

Well, this is indeed a most excellent read!The plot twists and turns, I'd have never thought that Shiro and Emma would get captured so easily. I guess they relied a bit too much on their simulated training sessions using the original Kathaar cruiser's layout.Familiarity breeds contempt as the say I guess this means that Braincom has also been captured!I really like the "ID1" min-PPA drone idea!All in all, a very enjoyable and enthralling tale.Thank you Shane, lookin' forward to the next installment.
Evasive Manoeuvres!
Shane
Posts: 944
Joined: Fri Dec 07, 2001 9:10 pm

Star Fleet: The Revenge of Makara

Post by Shane »


(Vanessa @ May 10 2011,13:03)QUOTEThe plot twists and turns, I'd have never thought that Shiro and Emma would get captured so easily. I guess they relied a bit too much on their simulated training sessions using the original Kathaar cruiser's layout.Familiarity breeds contempt as the say  Cheers Vanessa, yeah that's the main idea behind the ease of their capture plus the many custom traps and defenses that Arkama had installed. However, I might extend Shiro and Emma's rampage on the ship when I come to collect all of the chapters into one coheseive tale, as reading it again, their raid does end a little bit prematurely, maybe. Ditto, with the termoid battle in chapter 19. I've already thought of a few extra scenes and ways to flesh out some of the existing sequences a bit more.



I like parties, I like fun, I want to live in a hamburger bun!
User avatar
Crash
Posts: 1920
Joined: Mon Sep 09, 2002 8:16 pm
Location: EDF Moonbase
Contact:

Star Fleet: The Revenge of Makara

Post by Crash »

Yes! I love to see the 'Apache minigun turret' on the X-Fighter getting some play. I don't know why I couldn't get that idea out of my head when I tried to imagine the ship. One idea that occurred to me in thinking about the game was how insufferable PPA would be if he had his own platoon for robot subordinates onboard the ship.The examples I came up with were red, internal security robots, green surgical ones and blue repair models.The Gunboy weapons from the game certainly draw some inspiration from the PPA design if you look closely at their sprites although the main idea is from Descent3 and I just had to have it for protecting the base in Mission 13. I prefer my design to theirs but you can compare for yourself: [ http://www.xbomber.co.uk/iv/#/content/S ... /m15-5.png | http://uk.gamespot.com/features/descent ... are23.html ].
Dream big and bold and daring.
Shane
Posts: 944
Joined: Fri Dec 07, 2001 9:10 pm

Star Fleet: The Revenge of Makara

Post by Shane »

Cool! It's a great idea to incorporate the PPA design as a kind of 'orbit ball' as found in all the classic arcade blasters of yore, like Side-Arms, Nemesis, R-Type, etc. I also like your idea for all the different drones on board X-Bomber. That would really work in the context of a video game. I'm kind of glad that I've killed the drones off in my story for the time being though. PPA has always been the kind of 7-Zark-Z of Star Fleet, so having a dozen of them on a ship would do anyone's head in! Going to stick with a computer-based PPA for the remainder of this tale, but all bets are off for the next one. Who knows, there may even be a steam version of PPA in the works (Perfectly Percolated Android). ID1 (Infiltration Droid One) is a similar plot device as R2D2 or Doctor Who's sonic screwdriver, but with none of PPA's attitude.
I like parties, I like fun, I want to live in a hamburger bun!
Joe Meredith
Posts: 48
Joined: Wed Mar 02, 2005 9:38 pm

Star Fleet: The Revenge of Makara

Post by Joe Meredith »

This is astonishing stuff! I haven't read through it all, my eyes can't cope with reading off the screen for too long, so I have copied it all into a word file so I can print off and read - though I will have to find someone who's got a printer! I once thought of a continuation for the SF saga - but I think your story makes my idea redundant Shane!Well done!
Shane
Posts: 944
Joined: Fri Dec 07, 2001 9:10 pm

Star Fleet: The Revenge of Makara

Post by Shane »

Thanks a lot Joe that's really kind of you.I think you should definitely go ahead with your own continuation of the show. So far all of the fan fiction miraculously link together, but there's no reason why someone shouldn't have a crack at their own vision of what happens after the series ended.Vanessa's fantastic story, Rise of the Alliance delves into multiple dimensions, so there would still always be the chance of a continuity between all of the stories even if someone wanted to do their own thing.I think it's really great that you're transcribing the series. Vanessa and I have been thinking of compiling a Star Fleet omnibus with all of the fan fiction, the short stories from the 1984 annual, the text parts of the Look-In strip and a transcription of the show in chronological order. So a series script would be a god send, as I don't have the time or patience to do it myself.
I like parties, I like fun, I want to live in a hamburger bun!
Shane
Posts: 944
Joined: Fri Dec 07, 2001 9:10 pm

Star Fleet: The Revenge of Makara

Post by Shane »

Chapter 21: EscapeThe Infiltration Droid: ID1 had been searching Captain Arkama's battle cruiser rigorously for a computer access port to exploit. Like Emma and Shiro, he was experienced with the inner workings of an Imperial battle cruiser, thanks to the captured Kathaar class ship that resided on Mars. But to his and both Shiro and Emma's dismay, the inner workings of this was quite unique, as if part of the ship was, or had been a living organism.His search had been thus far fruitless, but the spherical droid's luck was about to change.ID1 scanned a nearby console which was sending a large amount of information in Thalian code all across the ship. 'This was it!' his machine brain thought, but there was no point of access.He decided he would make his own and so with a couple of discreet beeps and a whirl of motors, a drill unit appeared out of his front hatch. He flew over to the console and proceeded to place the tip of the drill on the surface of the console. The little drone unit started to emit Thalian algorithmic patterns through the drill bit, to conceal his presence, and slowly drilled into the console. Once a little of the way in, the Thalian circuitry started to attach itself to the drill bit. ID1 was now connected to the ship’s systems. He would only have a short time in control before he would have to purge, for fear of being totally corrupted by the Thalian technology.He scanned the ship’s data banks and retrieved the mission logs. He then went onto part two of his mission. On completion of this the drone realised that something wasn’t quite right. The memory dissimulator had been primed and their were life forms in the prison area.He hacked into the security camera system and saw his humanoid master in restraints along with space pilot steel strapped to a chair in the interrogation area. He knew what he had to do in the event that his master was detained. In the interrogation area, Emma Steel was coming around from the nasty sting of the stun bolt. Her head ached and she was alarmed to find herself strapped into a chair with a couple of termoids watching over her and a memory dissimulator unit hanging over her head.‘W-W-What’s going on? Where am I? Shiro! Where are you?’ said Emma.A evil voice sounded over the speaker system.‘You are a prisoner of the Alliance, space pilot.’ said Arkama, ‘Shiro is quite safe. Whether you remain that way, though, is up to him, unless of course you wish to tell me the nature of your mission?’‘Drop dead you Thalian creep!’ said Emma, she had lost too many friends and family in the Thalian space war to ever make any kind of bargain with The Imperial Alliance. ‘Don’t you tell him a damn thing, Shiro!’Shiro was so proud. Emma was Star Fleet through and through!‘There’s your answer Captain Arkama!’ said Shiro, ’And I’ll die before I let you convert me.’Arkama’s expression was serious and he was about to say something, but the ship was suddenly rocked by a series of explosions which knocked Arkama and the termoid troopers to the ground. Shiro found that his arm and leg restraints had clipped open and so he took the opportunity to escape the cell and make his way to Emma.Outside of the battle cruiser the X-Fighter squadron revealed themselves as the cause of the carnage that was now in progress inside. ID1 had informed the squadron, who had been following the ship at a distance, to initiate an attack on the vessel. At the same time he released both Shiro and Emma from their shackles.Arkama was filled with anger and confusion as he fought to find the identities of these new attackers.‘What’s happening?!’ he said, ‘Who is responsible for this outrage?’‘Earth based fighters, Captain!’ said a nearby termoid, ‘Ten of them!’‘What!’ exclaimed Arkama.In the interrogation area, Emma could feel that she was no longer restrained and so leapt out of the chair and delivered a high kick to one of her termoid captors. She landed on top of the termoid crushing his skull with her boot while grabbing his laser rifle. She rolled to one side, dodging several blasts fired by the remaining termoid on the other side of the room, before lining him up in her sights and taking him down with a well aimed head shot.Shiro ran into the interrogation area at the conclusion of the skirmish, having dodged falling debris on the way there.‘Emma, are you OK?’ said Shiro.‘Yeah, no probs boss! Say...what took you?’ smiled Emma.Glad that each other was still in one piece they made their way back to the hanger area where a hovering ID1 was waiting for them by their, thankfully, unscathed star fighters.He beeped a series of tones to Shiro.‘Good work ID1!’ said Shiro, ‘Inform X-Bomber we need them now!’ID1 complied and then flew back into Shiro’s palm where he was placed back in his belt pouch. The two pilots then boarded their craft and prepared for take off.Arkama, was now back on the bridge and could see the two fighters readying their escape.‘This vessel shall be their tomb!’ he said, ‘Shields up!’‘Yes Captain Arkama!’ said the command crew, who tried in vein to raise the battle cruiser’s shields.‘Shields are inoperative, Captain Arkama!’ said the flustered termoids, worried at their Captain’s response.‘No! No! This can’t be!’ screamed Captain Arkama, as Braincom and the X-Fighter sped out of the hanger bay into space.‘Those accursed Humanssss!’ hissed Arkama’s eye patch, ‘They will not stop my destiny. Ready the Delta laser!’



I like parties, I like fun, I want to live in a hamburger bun!
Shane
Posts: 944
Joined: Fri Dec 07, 2001 9:10 pm

Star Fleet: The Revenge of Makara

Post by Shane »

Chapter 22: The Battle of Gelma 2A dazzling light show was taking place above the dark eerie planet named Gelma 2 that rivalled the usual atmospheric activity of this hellish world in spectacle.A squadron of X-Fighters doing battle with an Imperial Alliance battle cruiser had been joined by Shiro Hagen and Emma Steel, fresh from their escape from Arkama's vessel. Both forces were evenly matched under the present circumstances and each side was taking an equal share of losses. The X-Fighter squadron had already lost two of their number while the battle cruiser was taking a serious pounding from the multiple laser torpedo strikes of the advanced Earth-based fighters.'Concentrate firepower on the ship's engines!' said Shiro, as he avoided a lightning energy beam from the Imperial cruiser.His wing 'man' Emma Steel was happy to oblige as she changed her ship's direction in mid flight so that her star fighter hovered passed the full length of the ship allowing her to unleash a barrage of laser beams and missiles that scorched and pounded a pattern across the surface of the vessel's hull. Once at the rear of the ship, she matched its velocity and launched a pair of laser torpedoes at its engines. The Gelma battle cruiser rocked violently from the impact, but still managed to maintain its trajectory.‘Wow! This ship is tough!’ said Emma, as she swiftly manoeuvred away from her current position to avoid the laser missiles that had been sent to her from the battle cruiser.Shiro checked his ship’s sensors; energy was emanating from the centre of the battle cruiser. Something nasty was about to be unleashed by Captain Arkama.Another X-Fighter got too close to the front of the battle cruiser and succumbed to its main lightening energy cannon, while his wing man battled hard not to be its next victim. It rolled and managed to dodge the second attack and flew back along the length of the ship. As it flew past, the Gelma battle cruiser opened a large hatch on its underside revealing a devastating variant on the dreaded Delta laser model mounted on a rotating turret. It fired a wide arc beam of energy in the direction of the fleeing star fighter and completely disintegrated it, while carving out a new canyon in the rock of the planet below. The energy beam maintained its integrity as the turret changed its direction swinging the blade-like energy ray like a sword and carved up another couple of X-Fighters who disappeared in a blink of an eye on contact with the deadly energy blade.‘My god!’ said Emma, ‘What the heck is that?’‘It’s a Delta laser!’ said Shiro, who remembered being on the receiving end of the deadly weapon when the Dai-X attacked the Imperial fortress planet. ‘All fighters - take evasive action!’But it was too late, as one by one the remaining X-Fighters were cleaved by the deadly energy beam. Shiro and Emma managed to escape the kill zone of the Delta laser, but were now having to contend with the full package of conventional weapons the Imperial cruiser had at its disposal.‘We won’t last long like this!’ said Emma Steel.‘Just remember the training simulator!’ said Shiro, ‘We’re not done for yet!’The two of them valiantly tried to out-run the cruiser with some impressive flying manoeuvres, but the Thalain vessel had now almost gotten them in the grasp of its Delta laser beam.The deadly energy blade was just about to claim the last two survivors of X-Squadron, when the battle cruiser was hit by a 4 pronged lightning energy blast, causing the Delta laser beam to malfunction and shut down, allowing Shiro and Emma a chance to make their escape.The energy attack had been delivered by none other than the X-Bomber, which had just made a daring atmospheric light-speed jump into the sector thanks to the information relayed to it by ID1 and PPA’s incredible computational skills.‘Looks like you guys could do with a hand!’ said a garbled Barry Hercules over Shiro and Emma’s radio units.‘Hercules?!’ said Shiro.‘Are we glad to see you!’ said Emma.‘Get your butts back to the ranch so we can finish off this Thalian scrapheap!’The two fighters flew back to X-Bomber, while the battle cruiser tried to gain some distance from this new threat to its mission.‘No! The fabled X-Bomber!’ said Arkama, ‘We don’t have a prayer against it. Retreat! Full quantum power!’On-board X-Bomber, Shiro and Emma had made their way to the bridge to a warm, but sombre welcome from the crew. They had all but lost the X-Fighter squadron this day; only Emma and her battered ship in X-Bomber's docking bay remained.'It's so good to see you both again!' said Professor Hagen, 'And I mourn the loss of our brave X-Squadron, but time is against us. Captain Arkama must not be allowed to reach his objective. We must destroy that battle cruiser!'
I like parties, I like fun, I want to live in a hamburger bun!
Post Reply