Frozen - Prologue

Moderator: Zeratul2k

User avatar
Zeratul2k
Captain Catnip
Posts: 2261
Joined: July 11th, 2007, 6:10 am
Location: Holding low orbit over All Anime World
Contact:

Re: Frozen - Prologue

Post by Zeratul2k » September 15th, 2008, 3:57 am

* William had piled a few components on a side of the cargo area, near the door to the living quarters, when he noticed a small black box on a corner. He picked it up and examined it. It had the Black Mesa East logo on it but there was some kind of lock in it. What's this? This lock is too heavy-duty for a box this small... He shrugged and put the box in the pile then went back to looking around for more components he could use. In the dome-like structure over the engines, Hyunkel was looking through a pair of binoculars at the cloud moving behind them. Leona walked next to the dome and looked up to him. *

Leona: So, any clues of what ship it is?

Hyunkel: No... only thing I can say so far is that it's black... aaand...

Leona: And what?

* A small flash from within the cloud called Hyunkel's attention. He adjusted the focus on the binoculars while wondering what it was. A few seconds later he saw a second flash. And a puff of smoke. He jumped down of the dome while yelling at the top of his lungs. *

Hyunkel: Incoming fire! Everybody below deck!

* The first shell missed the hovercraft by almost a full 100 meters, and the second a few seconds after was closer, at about 50 meters. Avan looked at the explosions, cursing under his breath. *

Avan: Baran! To the sea at flank speed! Aimi! Keep the engines running! I don't care if you have to work a miracle!

* William jumped when he heard the first explosion. He looked around, panicking. When he heard the second explosion, he ran to the pile and quickly threw everything inside the living quarters before closing the door. What the bloody hell is going on!? *
So, Lone Star, now you see that evil will always triumph... because good is DUMB!

User avatar
oldwrench
Ojiichan
Posts: 4042
Joined: July 10th, 2007, 5:35 am
Location: Erehwon MN USA
Contact:

Re: Frozen - Prologue

Post by oldwrench » September 15th, 2008, 5:26 am

Jim: At least the temps came down some. *Jim looked at Aimi.* I guess we're going to find out if your engines can break or not..... If you run the injectors full rich it'll help keep things cooler....... it's hell on the fuel economy though.

Aimi, punched some keys: Alright, full rich....... Fuel economy?? I don't think that would matter right now.
Dogs have owners, Cats have staff

Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.

User avatar
oldwrench
Ojiichan
Posts: 4042
Joined: July 10th, 2007, 5:35 am
Location: Erehwon MN USA
Contact:

Re: Frozen - Prologue

Post by oldwrench » September 15th, 2008, 10:55 pm

* Jim could feel the tension in the room, and in the hovercraft. Jim looked at Aimi, she was staring intently at the instruments. She had short, dusty brown hair, a dirt smudged, round face with full lips, a small nose, and hazel eyes behind her large pair of glasses. Jim could see the tension in the woman.*

Jim, calmly: I take it something is after us?

Aimi, not looking up: Ya, pirates most likely......... and they have cannon. *She frowned, the temp on nuber three was climbing to high again....*

Jim: How far till we reach safety?

Aimi, her fists clenched on the console: About 15 clicks.

Jim: To far,...... am I right? *Aimi just nodded.* You have to cut back number three, at least ten percent.

Avan looked at Jim: No, we can't slow down, leave them at full power.

Jim looked Avan in the eye: Would you rather loose ten percent now, or a hundred percent in a couple minutes?

Avan: Damn... he is right, we can't loose an engine....... and beside, he is an elder...... damn. *Avan turned away.* Do what you have to Aimi, just keep that engine running.

*Aimi dialed the engine back, hoping it would buy them just ten extra minutes, without letting the pursuers gain too much.*

Jim looked intently at the board: Lean out the other engines by three percent. *Aimi looked at Jim.* Just do it, we'll try to run them hotter, might get more power. I hope they still build a safety factor into their turbines. Ok, two more percent. *They watched the temp start to climb slightly as the RPM increased.* Two more percent.......... *The temp started to climb.* Back up one percent.

*Aimi looked over at the older man, intently watching the instruments. The three engines were pulling 112 percent power output....*

Aimi: How did you know that.....

Jim: Old trick, to test the thermal safety margins, leaner is hotter, more heat is more power........ till you burn it down.......... You have to watch it real close, in case of a thermal runaway.
Dogs have owners, Cats have staff

Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.

User avatar
Zeratul2k
Captain Catnip
Posts: 2261
Joined: July 11th, 2007, 6:10 am
Location: Holding low orbit over All Anime World
Contact:

Re: Frozen - Prologue

Post by Zeratul2k » September 16th, 2008, 1:19 am

* Baran was maneuvering the hovercraft in zig-zag while the explosions went off around the ship. Slowly, the pirate ship gained ground on the "Machinae Prime" as it's guns fired round after round. Avan looked through his binoculars again and this time he could see the profile of the enemy ship. *

Avan: Aww, crap...

Baran: What now!?

Avan: It's the "Shadow Of Deth".

Baran: Weren't they in Carl?

Avan: Apparently not. We'll have to jettison our cargo if we want to escape.

* Avan examined a map then turned towards Baran. *

Avan: Change heading, 20 degrees port. We'll take a shortcut through the valley.

Baran: Changing heading, 20 degrees port!
So, Lone Star, now you see that evil will always triumph... because good is DUMB!

User avatar
oldwrench
Ojiichan
Posts: 4042
Joined: July 10th, 2007, 5:35 am
Location: Erehwon MN USA
Contact:

Re: Frozen - Prologue

Post by oldwrench » September 16th, 2008, 6:23 pm

*Jim watched the instruments closely. The woman was good, she'd picked up the idea and was delicately balancing the engines between maximum output and thermal melt down, coaxing a little more speed out of the craft. Jim looked at Aimi*

Aimi: He must be a top mechanic, how else would he know this much about the engines? But where is he from? Avan must have picked them up at the last stop, him and that tinker guy. What were they doing out here? And why was he so damned calm right now...... did he know something...... what if they're pirates? Aimi looked up at Jim, just as he looked at her. Jim smiled. She looked back down.* Can't be, why would he be helping if he was?

Jim: At least she doesn't look angry anymore, just suspicious....... Like I'm her Saturday night date and I just told her "trust me".
Dogs have owners, Cats have staff

Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.

User avatar
Zeratul2k
Captain Catnip
Posts: 2261
Joined: July 11th, 2007, 6:10 am
Location: Holding low orbit over All Anime World
Contact:

Re: Frozen - Prologue

Post by Zeratul2k » September 16th, 2008, 9:24 pm

* A few minutes later they reached the valley and Baran maneuvered down into the canyon, leaving the pastures behind. As he took the corners, sometimes leaving only a few meters between the ship and the canyon walls, the pirate ship stopped firing since they didn't had a clear line of fire anymore. Avan turned to Aimi and Jim, looking relieved. *

Avan: Put the engines back to normal. We need to slow down a little here or we might end crashing against a wall.

Baran: No we won't!

Avan: Shut up, you!

* Leona ran into the bridge from the living quarters and looked around. *

Leona: Captain? Everyone downstairs is asking how we are doing.

Avan: We are out of trouble... for now. We'll be in firing range again after we leave the canyon, so... tell Hyunkel to get ready.

Leona: Ok!

* Leona ran back inside again while Avan looked at the map. *

Avan: Once we get out of the canyon the sea will be 3 clicks away. The pirates were a little more than a click behind us so... we'll have to dash again. Once we jettison the cargo we'll be in the clear, the Machinae Prime is way faster than the Shadow Of Deth... I just hope they don't have any tricks under their sleeve...

* In the Shadow Of Deth, Hadlar, the pirate captain, sank on his chair with a smirk. *

Hadlar: Tinkerer!

* A frail looking old man walked towards Hadlar and bowed at him. *

Hadlar: Prepare the water-metanol injectors. We'll give them a surprise after we leave the canyon...

Tinkerer: Yes, sir.
So, Lone Star, now you see that evil will always triumph... because good is DUMB!

User avatar
oldwrench
Ojiichan
Posts: 4042
Joined: July 10th, 2007, 5:35 am
Location: Erehwon MN USA
Contact:

Re: Frozen - Prologue

Post by oldwrench » September 17th, 2008, 2:03 am

Jim looked at Aimi: Don't you have any weapons? Explosives or something? If i had one damn TOW anti tank missile, I could slow them enough so we wouldn't need to worry.

Aimi: Anti tank..... missile?? What are you talking about?
Dogs have owners, Cats have staff

Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.

User avatar
Zeratul2k
Captain Catnip
Posts: 2261
Joined: July 11th, 2007, 6:10 am
Location: Holding low orbit over All Anime World
Contact:

Re: Frozen - Prologue

Post by Zeratul2k » September 17th, 2008, 4:03 am

* William had walked out of the living quarters once the bombardment had stopped and was looking around the cargo bay again. Leona had told them what Avan was going to do so he needed to make sure he had as much components as he could. A few minutes later he saw Hyunkel walking towards the rear of the hovercraft carrying a huge and very old looking kind of rifle, with Leona carrying an ammo box behind him. William walked up to them, helping Leona with the box. *

William: Pretty big gun... Didn't knew you had this kind of things still around...

Hyunkel: It's something that has been passed down in my family for generations. There are actually quite a few people who know about "this kind of things".

* Hyunkel grinned as he put the gun down. William and Leona watched him as he laid in the ground, examining the weapon. When he finished he opened the box and took out a big round and loaded it in the gun. William took another from the gun and examined it. It wasn't much different from the rounds back in his time but this one had the markings on the side of the casing instead of the base. *

William: "20 mm Armor Piercing / Incendiary"... so... you're gonna use this against that big hovercraft?

Hyunkel: No, I'm gonna use it to hunt us dinner-- what do you think?

William: Chill, dude. What I mean is, here you are with a big rifle against a hovercraft armed with... what? 2? 4 cannons?

Hyunkel: Should be more than 4... I could tell you if I knew what ship it is.

Leona: It's the Shadow Of Deth.

Hyunkel: Oh. Then it's four 120 mm and eight 60 mm cannons.

* William stared at Hyunkel for a minute, while processing what he had just said. He then turned around and headed towards the living quarters again. *

William: We are SO dead...
So, Lone Star, now you see that evil will always triumph... because good is DUMB!

User avatar
oldwrench
Ojiichan
Posts: 4042
Joined: July 10th, 2007, 5:35 am
Location: Erehwon MN USA
Contact:

Re: Frozen - Prologue

Post by oldwrench » September 17th, 2008, 5:29 pm

Aimi: Hyunkle has a 20 mm gun, He probably is getting it ready.

Jim looked at Aimi, incredulously: Shooting elephants with a BB gun.........

Aimi: What???

Jim: just an old expression..... Three clicks, whatever they are, I think we better try overdriving the engines past the limit and hope they hold together.

Aimi: We dump the load we'll gain quite a bit. Maybe we can push three up for a few minutes too........... Old expression? I've worked with elder mechanics before, but I've never heard thing like you come up with....... just how old are you?

Jim thought a minute: Well young lady...... I guess I'd be about a thousand eighty four years old.

Aimi looked at Jim, then laughed: You are a madman....... Where did you come from?

Jim: Well, I was born in Adrian Michigan..... Last I was living in Atlanta Georgia, since I sold my aircraft repair business, I was just traveling around.

Aimi: Aircraft? You worked on dirigibles? How do you know so much about turbines?

Jim: Well, we did have blimp engines now and then...... we worked on anything from single cylinder ultralights up to the big turbofans from the Boeing 787's. *Aimi was staring at Jim.* A, that's right, this is a different time..... what kind of airplanes do you fly.

Aimi: Airpanes?? What do you mean...... is that.... *Aimi looked back down at the instruments.* There are legends, that in the ancient times, men could fly like the birds........ just legends. But, a thousand and eighty years? *Aimi looked at Jim.* You mean heavy aircraft?...... Did you really see one?

Jim smiled: Good grief, you mean they only fly gas bags??? I've seen lots of them, I spent my life with "heavy" aircraft........ We get out of this mess, I'll tell you about it.
Dogs have owners, Cats have staff

Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.

User avatar
Zeratul2k
Captain Catnip
Posts: 2261
Joined: July 11th, 2007, 6:10 am
Location: Holding low orbit over All Anime World
Contact:

Re: Frozen - Prologue

Post by Zeratul2k » September 17th, 2008, 6:50 pm

* Baran took another corner and the walls started getting lower and lower. Avan turned to Aimi and Jim, looking serious. *

Avan: Here we go. Work your magic, you two.

* In the back of the hovercraft, Hyunkel was laying ready to open fire. When they left the canyon the ship suddenly started accelerating again. A few moments later the Shadow of Deth left the canyon as well and started firing almost instantly. Hyunkel took aim through the rifle scope and began firing as well, trying to hit something vital. After a couple of shots he noticed black smoke coming out of the pirate ship's engines. Leona, who was besides him with a pair of binoculars noticed it as well. *

Leona: Did you hit the engines or something?

Hyunkel: Can't be... I was aiming for the gun sights.

Leona: That smoke is coming from all of their engines, what is it?

Hyunkel: I have no idea... but I think it's closing on us.

* In the bridge, Avan looked back at the pirate ship. *

Avan: They are DEFINITELY going faster than before... and faster than us, too. At this rate they might even--

* A explosion on a side of the cargo bay shook the whole hovercraft, interrupting Avan. *

Avan: Crappit...
So, Lone Star, now you see that evil will always triumph... because good is DUMB!

Post Reply