Considering that the first 4 chapters are fully edited by Conrac, on spelling/ grammatics and so forth, and the story itself is written up to chapter 7, i will post the first chapter as a teaser.
When its all finished, i was planning to place it on an ISO file, with screenshotvideos included.
And put it available for download somewhere.
But thats all in the near future, for now Chapter 1
Regards
TRX
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onBoard the hovercraft: 'the Blue Distortion'
Chapter 1.
The sound of the passive sensor display, and other electrical equipment on the bridge of the hovercraft
The Blue Distortion, broke the silence of the midnight watch. Although the bridge was probably the most organized part of the ship, it looked a bit messy. Some tools scattered here and there, an empty cup belonging to the Captain, and the occasional spare wire on the floor, used in a hurry and left on the floor in a busy moment as one problem was solved and the next undertaken. A blue light blinked on the communication station, showing that only one secure line was active, monitoring the Emergency Band, indicating the Captain's and the ship's readiness to respond to a call to the defense of New Zion at a moments notice.
The hovercraft, nearing the end of her time in the maintenance dock, was finally in a reasonable state and almost ready for a return to duty as yet another year of war drew to a close. At the moment,
Baby Blue was occupied by two people; the ship's captain, and his female operator. It was an odd situation for a hovercraft to be manned by a skeleton crew in dry dock, but then again, considering that the war had been going on for at least six hundred years with no end in sight, perhaps it was no surprise that from time to time both the crew and the machines that bore them into battle would need time to refit and recharge before returning to the fray. This time the Captain himself, TRX, had needed the break, to rest and mentally recover as he reflected on events in Matrix as well as in the flesh. Most of the crew had been reassigned to other ships, just prior to the refit. Two had elected to stay with the ship as she made her way to dry dock in Zion that fateful June day. The loyal ship's operator, Lyrics, honoring the pact the two warriors had made when TRX ascended to a captaincy and chose Lyrics from among seven eager applicants for the job had elected to stay aboard.
The Blue Distortion's chief engineer, Othala, had also committed to stay with her man, despite the recent evolution of their relationship when TRX's blue pill wife, Sandy, had been discovered to be awaken as a Zion operative in the
SM Network flotilla.
Little did the trio know that they would soon be immersed in the desperate evacuation of Zion to a newly established secret base. Few operatives at the time were aware of the preparations that had been made to create the New Zion base of operations in a strategic and tactically safer location. Commodore PS10N, commander of the fleet
The Brethren to which the
Baby Blue belonged, was the exception. Perhaps PS10N's enigmatic smile as he approved TRX's request for leave and ship refit should have warned TRX that something unusual was in the wind. Would be just like the Commodore to see threads of destiny converging in order to provide additional transport capability to humanities' last free city at a time of great need, eliciting that enigmatic smile.
Though tired and worn
, The Blue Distortion and crew would go on to serve with distinction over the next month and a half during the evacuation of Zion. She was among the first of Zion's hovercraft to engage Sentinels since the end of the Truce, and even emerged victorious against Cypherite crewed hovercraft that attempted to impose their will over a free humanity. During this period TRX and Othala resolved their relationship as they came to grips with the revelation that Sandy had awaken and with Othala finding new love in the form of the free born engineer T-Fork ,who worked tirelessly with Othala to keep
Baby Blue up and running during the evacuation. With the evacuation complete, Rex and Othala parted as friends and Othala went on to marry T-Fork. Rex was honored to give the bride away at the wedding.
Rex and Lyrics were allowed to remain aboard
Baby Blue as she was refit. Despite the secure defenses of New Zion, newly appointed High Commander Roland, remembering the lesson of the
Mjolnir wasn't about to take any chances and insured that the refitting hovercraft would be a strategic reserve asset and that she had enough mobility and the crew to deliver a EMP pulse if, when and where required. Othala was granted an extended leave to honeymoon with her husband and explore New Zion.
And so the months past, perhaps not the most restful R&R for Rex and Lyrics and certainly not the most efficient refit of a hovercraft in the history the of Zion yard dogs, but the work proved therapeutic for the pair and the knowledge that even in dry dock they provided an important defensive contingency to New Zion's defenses a great honor.
The pair normally worked sixteen to eighteen hour days, including a twelve hour watch on the bridge to meet the defensive responsibilities assigned to
The Blue Distortion, however, the New Zion defenses proved as formidable in reality as they were on paper and
Baby Blue was not even called to go light on her pads throughout the long refit. The Captain would stand the day watch while the yard engineers where aboard so that he could coordinate and inspect the work. In the evening, when the yard workers had left Lyrics would take the bridge station. Lyrics during her watch would often see the Captain with the ship's internal cameras walking around with wrenches, materials, wires or other equipment to do repairs or adjustments that the day's yard work had revealed. Lyrics knew from first hand knowledge that Rex literally knew every nut, bolt, wire and integrated circuit aboard
Baby Blue. That level of technical competence had enabled to pair to devise a remote interface that allowed the watch stander to move about the ship instead of being riveted to the bridge. They only used it when the Defensive Condition set by Zion Command was Normal or lower so as not to impact the readiness of
Baby Blue to respond. As a result the change of watch usually occurred in the ship's mess rather then the bridge itself so that the two warriors could exchange notes and plans for the day.
Things had been going well for many months, but in the last week the Captain had become remote. They didn't speak to each other very much in the past week. Her captain had been avoiding conversations except if/when absolutely necessary....
Not a word more.....
He would say "Good morning" at breakfast, go about his daily work, and finally "Good night" when he went to sleep.
Occasionally he would issue an order or ask a question, but that had become the exception rather then the rule.
Normally Lyrics wasn't a person that would get cranky easily, but on the other hand, she needed a good atmosphere around her. Given the two normally had a very good working relationship, and could really discuss matters with each other in all due respect, made the situation that much harder to bare.
After three days she started to get a little cranky and resentful. Finally the dam broke after a week, and an argument ensued at watch change that evening. She had lost it and crossed the line, by badmouthing him in a heated discussion, in a way that made it personal. Not at all displaying the respect an operator should show her Captain.
TRX would have been entirely within his rights to have given her the consequences for her insubordination but instead realizing his remoteness in the past week and the grueling nature of their schedule sadly responded.
"Thank you for your disrespectfulness, Lyrics... I am going to pretend you didn't just say that to me. I'm going to my cabin to get some sleep. I hope for your sake, that when I see you in the morning, you will have lost this nasty attitude you just pulled on me."
That night the midnight watch was especially long. Lyrics sat at her bridge station, trying to distract herself by playing through a complicated chess problem with pieces and board she had made herself, while monitoring the Emergency Band. The exercise was of no avail, she continued to replay the argument in her mind wishing she could retract those words.
Finally the long watch drew to a close. Quickly she typed some commands on her keyboard, and removed some rubbish around her workstation picking up the remote headset and headed to the mess for the change of watch. The exact timing of the watch change was flexible as their schedules would overlap in the mess by anywhere between 30 minutes and two hours depending on what was going to happen during the day. The only requirement that the Captain set would be that the change occurred before the yard dogs arrived for the day and then again after they left.
Lyrics walked through the narrow corridors to the mess, arriving before her Captain. Opening a cabinet, she removed a tin can, and poured herself a little bit of liquid fire made famous by Dozer the venerated pilot aboard the Nebuchadnezzar.
"Cheers", she whispered to herself before she took a shot of the strong substance, making a face as if she had just taken a bite out of a lemon. She couldn't resist letting out a "phfoohh" after she slammed it.
Next, as was her custom, she made some coffee, on a weird jury-rigged coffee machine that made a sound as if it were protesting against the fact that the universe existed at all. Just in time as things turned out because she could hear some grumpy mumblings and her Captains footsteps in the corridor.
"Good Morning, Lyrics.... How did the watch go" said TRX in a neutral tone, as he stepped through the doorway and seeing that she had made him the traditional cup of black goop that passed for coffee in the Real.
"Good Morning Cap.... It was absolutely the worst watch I have ever stood.... I'm sorry T... I shouldn't have snapped at you like that, and I....."
TRX gently interrupted her: "Listen Lyrics, I appreciate the fact you are sorry for the things you said to me. You should be considering that you were way out of line there. But, I do understand why. I haven't been Mr. Sunshine this past week and I didn't give you the attention you deserve. Actually, I'm a little glad that you did stand up to me, because if you don't do that, whom else is going to do it?"
Lyrics smiled while giving TRX a cup of 'coffee'.
"Thanks T, you always make me feel better on the right moments. By the way, what was the reason you were keeping your distance? You aren't usually an introvert"
TRX hesitated a moment, and then started explaining.
"About a week and a half ago I received a transmission from Merrit, aboard the hovercraft Logos II. I personally took the call, as you were freshening up before dinner at the time. She updated me on the tactical situation in the Matrix and how she needed all the help she could assemble. We need to get back in the saddle, Lyrics and soon. She said that I would have about a week to get
The Blue Distortion ready for action. At that point I was to rendevous with Captain Niobe in a downtown office building near the South Vauxton Central hardline for further orders. Merrit also informed me that Othala was being recalled to duty and will be assigned to us within the same time frame."
"As you know with the end of the Truce, extraction operations have become much more dangerous. Merrit informed me that we should be prepared to recruit a bluepill from somewhere near the Kedemoth Central hardline where an extraction point is being set up."
"So for the last week I have worked very hard on tweaking the ship to bring us up to 110% readiness. That isn't exactly my favorite pastime and I will certainly be happy to see Othala back at her post to handle the task in future.... She really is a genius at troubleshooting and maintenance"
"I decided to work hard at it, and let you know we were going to be on active duty again the day I finished the job."
"Yesterday I finished, I am scheduled to jack in tomorrow at 19:00 hrs."
"That means you need to tweak the operation station today after you get some shuteye. Get a good six hours sleep, that way the yard dogs and I can help you before they go off shift. After that I will make dinner for us and then we can make our way to the provisioning dock to get supplied for our mission tomorrow."
The work outlined by the Captain was completed as planned. Everything that could cause a possible conflict while jacked in was checked and double checked. System improvements were implemented and updates performed.
After dinner the pair of warriors made their way to the bridge, the Captain settling into the helm seat while Lyrics took the communication station. The excitement and fire was evident in their eyes as they ran through the checklist that would bring
The Blue Distortion light on her pads and set them on a course to harms way to fight the good fight.
"Ok .. Lyrics, All buckled up?"
Lyrics responded with a strong and precise "Affermative" followed by a "Let's stick it to them" as her Captain pulled up on the collective and Man and Machine
leapt into the air eager for the adventure.
