possible beauty pagent entry?
Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2010 7:31 am
Trying to come up with something for the beauty pagent. its ok to post and get criticism first right?what do ya think?
Backstory:
The Independent Colonies of Mars battleship is one of a kind. It began life not as a warship but a ‘Kochi’ class deep space mining freighter based out of Ibis colony port, just above the newly terraformed equator. Captained by Lieutenant Nicholas Reed, the ‘Hawthorn’ was often away on missions for a year or two at a time. Thus when they left port on April 7th, in the year of our Empress 2119, they were only vaguely aware of the growing political tension.
Although Mars and her twenty-seven colonies had declared independence from Earth over fifty years earlier, there had been almost no resistance in letting go of the colonies. At the time Mars was a significant drain on the Empire’s resources, drawing massive supplies to support the domed mining towns, and even more man power to replace the lives lost to constant accidents. However once free the colonies gradually began to prosper and were eventually able to complete the terraforming process Earth had begun. Earth, with its darkening skies of smog and calcified oceans grew jealous of Mars success and began to hunger for it’s resources.
Because of their success Mars was blind to the problems on Earth. Because of the bloodless ease with which they gained their so called independence, they were deaf to the ever more threatening overtures emanating from the Royal Court. The Empire had never really considered the colonies free though, just self dependent, and on December 7th, 2119 they chose to reclaim their assets. Initial broadcasts for cooperation were met by confusion and amusement by the colonists. Demands for surrender with outright disdain. When the Commander of the Royal Navy lost his patience and began shelling the cities, there was….nothing.
The Hawthorn was on the outer edge of the system mining asteroid fields when the first broadcasts of the massacre came in. Lieutenant Reed decided to prevent further transmissions to the stations in that area by towing a massive asteroid into the line of signal. Thus one of the Home system defense stations missed the order to detain all Mars vessels on sight and execute the crews. After some careful planning in stark contrast to the rage in their hearts, the crew modified the ship to look heavily damaged. They approached the station while broadcasting distress calls and the unsuspecting guards allowed them to dock for temporary repairs. What followed is best left unwritten but suffice to say the station was not long crewed by members of the Empire. Their blood rage temporarily sated, the crew began modifying the Hawthorn again, but this time for a different purpose.
The design of the Kochi class freighter was comparatively simple and ugly design for it’s time. Essentially a large U with three massive engines strapped to the back; the the ‘arms’ silos for ore. Mining drones carried ore to three silo doors on each arm or towed larger rocks into the middle to be cut up by powerful lasers. If it is too big, the ship is equipped with two ‘nutcrackers’, powerful rail guns able to penetrate to the rock’s core. Strategically placed powerful energized hull plating allowed the ship to cut through asteroid fields to the rich areas, much as the ice breaker ships of centuries earlier were reinforced to cut through ice. The generator is dangerously exposed to weapon’s fire in the center of the ‘U’. The ship maneuvers with eight main thrusters, and has a high but heavily armored bridge to allow full supervision of an operation.
The first modification the crew made was to strip all the armor off the base and reinforce the ship’s structure. What once would have been considered a rich load was dumped from the silos to make room for six pairs of the station’s anti-ship guns. They even managed to fit a berserker turret designed for taking out capitol ships. The Hawthorn already carried anti-fighter turrets for dealing with raiders, but the crew opted to switch to the station’s supply of explosive rounds. The Station's military grade jammer was installed, since Reed had no patience to the taunting and threats favored by the Royal Navy. Knowing they were running out of time, the last modification was to rename the ship as the Independent Colonies of Mars first battleship ‘Maliciously Indebted’.
Already Imperial forces had been dispatched to investigate the station’s silence. The Maliciously Indebted detached from the station and blew it apart with it’s ‘nutcrackers’. All drones were launched from the ship with orders to attach to every rock they could find and accelerate them towards Earth. A snail’s pace perhaps but nothing in the system was likely to be able to stop that many asteroids. With a small formation of ships in sight Reed ordered the cutting lasers, designed to pierce far tougher materials than naval armor, trained on the lead destroyer. “FIRE!”
To be continued…
Backstory:
The Independent Colonies of Mars battleship is one of a kind. It began life not as a warship but a ‘Kochi’ class deep space mining freighter based out of Ibis colony port, just above the newly terraformed equator. Captained by Lieutenant Nicholas Reed, the ‘Hawthorn’ was often away on missions for a year or two at a time. Thus when they left port on April 7th, in the year of our Empress 2119, they were only vaguely aware of the growing political tension.
Although Mars and her twenty-seven colonies had declared independence from Earth over fifty years earlier, there had been almost no resistance in letting go of the colonies. At the time Mars was a significant drain on the Empire’s resources, drawing massive supplies to support the domed mining towns, and even more man power to replace the lives lost to constant accidents. However once free the colonies gradually began to prosper and were eventually able to complete the terraforming process Earth had begun. Earth, with its darkening skies of smog and calcified oceans grew jealous of Mars success and began to hunger for it’s resources.
Because of their success Mars was blind to the problems on Earth. Because of the bloodless ease with which they gained their so called independence, they were deaf to the ever more threatening overtures emanating from the Royal Court. The Empire had never really considered the colonies free though, just self dependent, and on December 7th, 2119 they chose to reclaim their assets. Initial broadcasts for cooperation were met by confusion and amusement by the colonists. Demands for surrender with outright disdain. When the Commander of the Royal Navy lost his patience and began shelling the cities, there was….nothing.
The Hawthorn was on the outer edge of the system mining asteroid fields when the first broadcasts of the massacre came in. Lieutenant Reed decided to prevent further transmissions to the stations in that area by towing a massive asteroid into the line of signal. Thus one of the Home system defense stations missed the order to detain all Mars vessels on sight and execute the crews. After some careful planning in stark contrast to the rage in their hearts, the crew modified the ship to look heavily damaged. They approached the station while broadcasting distress calls and the unsuspecting guards allowed them to dock for temporary repairs. What followed is best left unwritten but suffice to say the station was not long crewed by members of the Empire. Their blood rage temporarily sated, the crew began modifying the Hawthorn again, but this time for a different purpose.
The design of the Kochi class freighter was comparatively simple and ugly design for it’s time. Essentially a large U with three massive engines strapped to the back; the the ‘arms’ silos for ore. Mining drones carried ore to three silo doors on each arm or towed larger rocks into the middle to be cut up by powerful lasers. If it is too big, the ship is equipped with two ‘nutcrackers’, powerful rail guns able to penetrate to the rock’s core. Strategically placed powerful energized hull plating allowed the ship to cut through asteroid fields to the rich areas, much as the ice breaker ships of centuries earlier were reinforced to cut through ice. The generator is dangerously exposed to weapon’s fire in the center of the ‘U’. The ship maneuvers with eight main thrusters, and has a high but heavily armored bridge to allow full supervision of an operation.
The first modification the crew made was to strip all the armor off the base and reinforce the ship’s structure. What once would have been considered a rich load was dumped from the silos to make room for six pairs of the station’s anti-ship guns. They even managed to fit a berserker turret designed for taking out capitol ships. The Hawthorn already carried anti-fighter turrets for dealing with raiders, but the crew opted to switch to the station’s supply of explosive rounds. The Station's military grade jammer was installed, since Reed had no patience to the taunting and threats favored by the Royal Navy. Knowing they were running out of time, the last modification was to rename the ship as the Independent Colonies of Mars first battleship ‘Maliciously Indebted’.
Already Imperial forces had been dispatched to investigate the station’s silence. The Maliciously Indebted detached from the station and blew it apart with it’s ‘nutcrackers’. All drones were launched from the ship with orders to attach to every rock they could find and accelerate them towards Earth. A snail’s pace perhaps but nothing in the system was likely to be able to stop that many asteroids. With a small formation of ships in sight Reed ordered the cutting lasers, designed to pierce far tougher materials than naval armor, trained on the lead destroyer. “FIRE!”
To be continued…