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Hey,
Thanks for the reply Googlie, much appreicated. I loved the Mindworm series by the way. Good work.
Anyway I haven't settled on a firm story line yet but here's another little piece I've written. It's on the little used genre of covert ops and I'm just trying to see how it fit's into the SMAC universe.
Hope you all enjoy it.
Fnarrg
From the Night :
Vivian slipped silently out of the cold water and up and onto the cold stone ramp of the dockside. After checking the area to make sure it was clean she peeled back her mask and breathing apparatus and removed her swimming fins from her feet. From a waterproof pouch she extracted a large automatic projectile handgun and attached a silencer to its muzzle. Vivian checked the weapon over and then clenching the gun in one fist, scuttled further up the ramp like a black clad crab. Peeking over the top of the ramp she could just make out the uniformed guard standing under a large pile of crates, just some of the cargo littering the dockside, sheltering from the light sleet which coated the dark port. Creeping closer on stealth booted feet and gloved hands Vivian came to rest behind a crate marked ‘ Fragile ‘. After a moments pause she popped up from behind the crate just off to the left of the sentry’s position and put the man out of his miserable duty with two shots to the head. The only sounds were the quiet clacking of the handgun’s breech mechanism and the wet body hitting the ground. Another moments pause, Vivian tapped a button on her wrist communicator and imagined the other five members of her team rising from the depths near the bottom of the ramp. She waited. One minute later a hand tapped her on the shoulder twice and the now assembled group padded onward in a loose wide gaggle. They weaved between drums, reels, boxes and crates until a large three-story building loomed out of the darkness ahead. The team kneeled and went to cover as a slim man moved towards the door of the port administration office. Once the there the lone figure laid down his weapon and removed a tool kit from his belt and worked at the electronic lock for a whole two minutes until the door finally swung open.
“ Sorry about that “ said a voice on the team intercom, “ Door was double alarmed “.
The man recovered his weapon and moved back into the group. Once done the formation changed again. Vivian and two other operatives ran swiftly for the open door while the remaining three fanned out into security positions around the building.
Inside the trio moved swiftly through a reception area and into a work section filled with computers. Upon locating the room network server, which hummed along confidently on standby, the two operatives unslung and dug into their backpacks while Vivian stood guard.
One removed a satellite modem, which was swiftly deployed and it’s cables then hurriedly spliced into the server connection fibers. The other produced a large block of plastic explosive and placed it on the desk near them modem and began attaching detonators to it and setting them. With both tasks accomplished the three packed up and headed for the exit. However, halfway to the door 4 muted shots rang out over the open intercom channel.
“ Contact “ gasped another voice, “ A patrol to the south, I got two but the third’s running off, well out of range now, shall I pursue? “
“Negative” whispered Vivian, “ Everyone back to the extraction point, GO! “
Vivian turned a knob on her communicator and transmitted on another channel.
“ Shark One-Four, Rapier requests your presence for a hot evac, repeat HOT “
The group was back running along the dockside again, flitting here and there in the shadows. They soon broke apart from one another as they raced into the maze-like environment. Vivian could hear faint shouts and loud gunfire rolling through the wet air. She rounded a corner and nearly ran flat into an enemy soldier. The man began to swing his rifle up. Vivian stabbed the man in the throat with the fingers of her free hand and then roundhouse kicked him to the side of the head before triggering her pistol once into his face as he fell. Vivian ran on and skidded onto the dockside to see …nothing. Empty water.
Suddenly a searing white light leapt out of the black. Galvanized into action by instinct Vivian leapt behind a stone bulwark just in time to save her from a red-hot energy pulse that slagged much of the surrounding stone around her to soup. Other pulses tore into the dock and fire bloomed everywhere among the stacked goods. Flaming debris rained all around. Vivian cried out in shock and emptied the remaining rounds in her pistol clip into the passing laser-cannon armed skimship, the shots punching into it’s light plastic hull. The skimships engines screamed to a crescendo and then died away, along with the bright searchlight as the vehicle raced past. She looked up in time to see the patrol boat swinging round again out in the harbour. This time it would get her. Vivian crouched lower. The primal instinct to hide from a hungry predator.
Then a faint whoosh, very quiet… and an explosion rocked the harbour, the white searchlight replaced by an orange sooty flame. She looked up from her melted shelter. The patrol ship was no more. Mere shredded floating scraps remained. Instead a sleek black craft was knifing through the water towards her. An open hatch beckoned in its glossy side. Vivian ran and leapt into waiting, welcoming hands.
Thanks for the reply Googlie, much appreicated. I loved the Mindworm series by the way. Good work.
Anyway I haven't settled on a firm story line yet but here's another little piece I've written. It's on the little used genre of covert ops and I'm just trying to see how it fit's into the SMAC universe.
Hope you all enjoy it.
Fnarrg
From the Night :
Vivian slipped silently out of the cold water and up and onto the cold stone ramp of the dockside. After checking the area to make sure it was clean she peeled back her mask and breathing apparatus and removed her swimming fins from her feet. From a waterproof pouch she extracted a large automatic projectile handgun and attached a silencer to its muzzle. Vivian checked the weapon over and then clenching the gun in one fist, scuttled further up the ramp like a black clad crab. Peeking over the top of the ramp she could just make out the uniformed guard standing under a large pile of crates, just some of the cargo littering the dockside, sheltering from the light sleet which coated the dark port. Creeping closer on stealth booted feet and gloved hands Vivian came to rest behind a crate marked ‘ Fragile ‘. After a moments pause she popped up from behind the crate just off to the left of the sentry’s position and put the man out of his miserable duty with two shots to the head. The only sounds were the quiet clacking of the handgun’s breech mechanism and the wet body hitting the ground. Another moments pause, Vivian tapped a button on her wrist communicator and imagined the other five members of her team rising from the depths near the bottom of the ramp. She waited. One minute later a hand tapped her on the shoulder twice and the now assembled group padded onward in a loose wide gaggle. They weaved between drums, reels, boxes and crates until a large three-story building loomed out of the darkness ahead. The team kneeled and went to cover as a slim man moved towards the door of the port administration office. Once the there the lone figure laid down his weapon and removed a tool kit from his belt and worked at the electronic lock for a whole two minutes until the door finally swung open.
“ Sorry about that “ said a voice on the team intercom, “ Door was double alarmed “.
The man recovered his weapon and moved back into the group. Once done the formation changed again. Vivian and two other operatives ran swiftly for the open door while the remaining three fanned out into security positions around the building.
Inside the trio moved swiftly through a reception area and into a work section filled with computers. Upon locating the room network server, which hummed along confidently on standby, the two operatives unslung and dug into their backpacks while Vivian stood guard.
One removed a satellite modem, which was swiftly deployed and it’s cables then hurriedly spliced into the server connection fibers. The other produced a large block of plastic explosive and placed it on the desk near them modem and began attaching detonators to it and setting them. With both tasks accomplished the three packed up and headed for the exit. However, halfway to the door 4 muted shots rang out over the open intercom channel.
“ Contact “ gasped another voice, “ A patrol to the south, I got two but the third’s running off, well out of range now, shall I pursue? “
“Negative” whispered Vivian, “ Everyone back to the extraction point, GO! “
Vivian turned a knob on her communicator and transmitted on another channel.
“ Shark One-Four, Rapier requests your presence for a hot evac, repeat HOT “
The group was back running along the dockside again, flitting here and there in the shadows. They soon broke apart from one another as they raced into the maze-like environment. Vivian could hear faint shouts and loud gunfire rolling through the wet air. She rounded a corner and nearly ran flat into an enemy soldier. The man began to swing his rifle up. Vivian stabbed the man in the throat with the fingers of her free hand and then roundhouse kicked him to the side of the head before triggering her pistol once into his face as he fell. Vivian ran on and skidded onto the dockside to see …nothing. Empty water.
Suddenly a searing white light leapt out of the black. Galvanized into action by instinct Vivian leapt behind a stone bulwark just in time to save her from a red-hot energy pulse that slagged much of the surrounding stone around her to soup. Other pulses tore into the dock and fire bloomed everywhere among the stacked goods. Flaming debris rained all around. Vivian cried out in shock and emptied the remaining rounds in her pistol clip into the passing laser-cannon armed skimship, the shots punching into it’s light plastic hull. The skimships engines screamed to a crescendo and then died away, along with the bright searchlight as the vehicle raced past. She looked up in time to see the patrol boat swinging round again out in the harbour. This time it would get her. Vivian crouched lower. The primal instinct to hide from a hungry predator.
Then a faint whoosh, very quiet… and an explosion rocked the harbour, the white searchlight replaced by an orange sooty flame. She looked up from her melted shelter. The patrol ship was no more. Mere shredded floating scraps remained. Instead a sleek black craft was knifing through the water towards her. An open hatch beckoned in its glossy side. Vivian ran and leapt into waiting, welcoming hands.
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