Frontier - First Encounters(Elite3)

[child of Thor]

I think that denial might be a cunning plan, like i think in our world of mass-market hyper hyped games(that mostly suck imho), a cunning plan could be to do the complete opposite and anti-advertise your game before release
ok i'm clutching at straws - no Elite4 means i will be forced to carry on Thorssons quest in FFE for ever+ever

I better do some playing and writting this weekend then

[Hueij]

In the meantime, someone got tired of waiting and decided to act It looks ambitious and I doubt he will finish it but it sure looks good.

http://www.fl-tw.com/Infinity/index.php

[child of Thor]

i have seen this before - the MMOO bit disturbs me, its just so hard to get the right kind of player to play against from my short experience of it(MMORPG's that is). Stats leveling up becomes the be all end all and can destroy the real role play+story of the game. Still the more attempts at the next Elite the better, someones going to nail it one day
In the mean time we got FFE and its crumbly old graphics

[C0ckney]

it sounds very good, although i'm not into RPGs. but i'll believe it when i see it

[child of Thor]

Part 8:

Childov Thorsson gently eased down on the throttle as the Mary-Sue came into dock on Taylor’s Colony, he couldn’t see the Galactica Falcon anywhere but she had definitely arrived here six days ago. He inwardly swore, hoping that he wasn’t too late; to lose her now after all his efforts was beyond contemplation.

A few hours later of trawling the bars and info booths and he’d discovered that she was berthed in Taylor Colony’s Mayors private docking pad. Very interesting but it made Childovs next task all the harder.

********************

Mayor Tom Adder had just finished catching up with Admiral Saunders, each hearing the others life story from the past 10 years.
William had left the crew of the Falcon to see the sights and amuse them selves, they all needed a break and some 'shoretime'.

Tom had had a few troubling moments as William got to the recent events in his life, but after a few minutes reflection he found it wasn’t a difficult choice to make, after all he had a fugitive on his hands – one that had been a great friend for many years, even when they were both too busy to keep in touch.

“Listen Will, I know a place on planet where your man Gus can fix the tag for your craft, and if your right about the ships specs then letting either the Feds or the Imperials get hold of it would lead us into another Galactic War, something that all sides will lose from”

William nodded, “ Yes it wouldn’t be so bad if just giving the blueprints to all sides would solve the problem. Its just that the alien drive technology in the Galactica Falcon is a one of, it cant be built by anyone except the Thargoids.”

William went silent for a moment quietly brooding, “ To be honest Tom I’m torn over the best course to follow. In some ways I want to keep the Falcon, she may prove useful to mankind at some critical point in the future, like if the Thargoids ever appear again. But then I don’t know if I’m cut out for this life on the run, and part of me just wants to let her drift into a sun and that would be the end of it, neither the Imperials or the Federation would gain a potentially war wining ship and the alien technology.”

“It’s not an easy situation for you I agree”, Tom offered, “still you do have friends and with a new ID and make-over you may well be able to start a whole new career? I can see the worth to us all keeping her around for a while longer at least, and if it gets too much you can always destroy it, of course you’ll still be a hunted man. It’s a tough call.”

********************

Childov had met Gus in a spare parts shop, it seemed the Galactica Falcon was going to be staying around for a while longer, although Gus didn’t specify exactly how long.

At first Gus had been surprised to see him, surprised and happy to see an old friend on a chance encounter. Then he'd gotten a little stiff, probably as he realised that in his current situation he had to be careful to let nothing slip. Childov likewise had to keep up the pretence that he didn’t know what Gus did. It was a fun few hours, helping get the spares that Gus was looking for, and it provided the perfect opportunity.

As Childov left Gus and his supplies at the Star Port entrance, he didn’t like the sensation of guilt that suddenly came over him.

[Hueij]

Yes, commander Thorsson is back!

[child of Thor]

why thanks and i hope Commander Hueij in his (almost)brand new Asp is still plying the space lanes

Actualy you can thank Ogame for this latest chapter - waiting for a whole bunch of laser cannons to get built takes a while

[child of Thor]

Part Nine:

Three days later, and Admiral William Saunders was sat staring out at the docking bay walls of the Gilmour Orbiter. It had taken two hours to fly from Haynes Landing to the space station, and it was here that they were parting company with Gus, he had done the work on the Falcon’s ID tag, and had said he needed to get back to his regular work.

Everyone had said their farewells and promised to keep in touch, and now William was just waiting for the departure clearance from docking control. So now they were just three again, three against the combined law forces of the three governments of inhabited space.

Well there was another section of colonised space that was neutral in this situation, and it was to here that they had decided they needed to go to hang low for as long as it took. With the new ID it would make it virtually impossible for the people following them, still disappearing from these sectors of space felt like a very good idea just to be on the safe side.

He looked around at the others, they all seemed to have benefited from their recent break, Anne smiled back at him and even his young pilot looked like they were finally starting to get over the recent traumas.

As the launch clearance came through they all let out a collective sigh, they were in the clear at last and finally beginning to believe they could find a way out of their nightmare scenario.

As the Galactica Falcon started to move slowly backwards to get into its launch position, William chucked the now empty bottle of ezzy-tabs into the recycle waste disposal chute, unconsciously humming the advert tune of the ‘recycle or die’ campaign as he did so.

They slowly accelerated away from the Gilmour Orbiter, the plan was to fly deep into local space before jumping, hopefully ensuring their jump wake would be left unseen by any other ships.

“Ok lets leave the past behind us and think to the future”, he said enthusiastically, “Our coordinates are set for Lave, we should reach a suitable jump point in t-minus 73 minutes and counting”.

They took a moment to congratulate each other; William had prepared them the last of Tom’s Altairian cocktail for a toast.
“To a quiet and prosperous future!”, the sound of clinking glasses chimed through the Falcons cockpit.

[Hueij]

unconsciously humming the advert tune of the ‘recycle or die’ campaign

Nice touch

Lave

[child of Thor]

Originally posted by Hueij
Lave

The one stop destination for all with a troubled past
And more importantly for accuracy, one jump from Tau Ceti in the Galactica Falcon

[DrSpike]

I find this thread strangely surreal.

[Hueij]

Originally posted by DrSpike
I find this thread strangely surreal.

Well, you should have been there, way back in '85. Everytime I hear "The Blue Danube" I see a Corriolis (sp?) station rotating.

Lave, the place where it all started...

[Snotty]

Dude, the blue danube, I know exactly what you mean.

Certain peices of classical music are burned into my memory in my formative years courtesy of these games

[child of Thor]

The Blue Danube is my mobile ring tone and i can live with Dr.Spike feeling surreal
Its not too much a stretch to say that playing FFE is kinda surreal, the graphics do look like they've come from the surrealism movement sometimes

[child of Thor]

Part Ten:

Childov tracked the Galactica falcon as it made its way deep into system space; it was a risky move as this was where any pirates would be lurking. Hopefully he could conduct his next move without drawing too much attention too quickly.

*****************************

Admiral Saunders was keeping a close eye on the Falcons scanners, nothing appeared in range but he’d keep an eye out until the last moment before Hyperspace. They had made it so far it wasn’t an option to slip up right at the end of the journey.

“How long before Jump?” Anne asked, trying to sound casual, but unable to keep that slight edge out of the question.

“Two minutes fifteen seconds” William replied. It seemed like a long time when spoken.

Anne stared quietly out the forward view-screen; outside the dark blue expanse of space seemed to draw them on into its cold depths. Suddenly she felt very small and insignificant, even the stars themselves seemed balanced on the edge of potential oblivion; the dark vacuum was the beast that allowed light and life along for a ride.

******************************

Childov waited then pressed the trigger, and began his flight towards the Falcon.

The signal took two minutes to reach its target. Inside the Galactica Falcon chaos reigned. The explosion tore through the lower aft section where the hyperspace engines were; it wasn’t just pure chance that the storage facilities and the crates Gus had loaded were located here. In the cockpit the crew had witnessed a huge gust of air milliseconds before the shrapnel and fireball had blown the cockpit doors inward.

100 kilometres from the now drifting Galactica Falcon, Childov surveyed the stricken craft. He pulled the Mary-sue into a slow dive to bring into view that lower rear section. The damage had been heavier than he was hoping, but he’d have to check it out from the inside to be sure. Already kitted out in his zero-g suit, Childov checked his blaster was holstered securely before entering the airlock.

*******************************

It can be strange how seconds can last a lifetime. Part of Anne was still out lost in the vastness of the galaxy. The other part, her body, was clinging desperately to life – like the stars in the impossibly huge expanse of the void she mused; a smile tugged at the corner of her mouth, but the blinding pain wouldn’t let her realise her joke.

Somewhere she was aware of a sound, movement of something close, but it was too much effort to focus. “Let me think of the stars and the universe” she thought. It was so much easier.

*********************************

Two of the crew were dead, Admiral Saunders and the young pilot Childov didn’t know. The third, the policewomen was clinging to life, but Childov knew she wouldn’t make it.

He left the crew to concentrate on more important things. A quick look over the controls and systems showed him that it would be possible to get the Falcon moving again. This had to be a priority before the pirates and outer rim scavengers turned up, the explosion leading them to this location.

Ten minutes later and Childov was back aboard the Mary-sue. He’d used the tractor beam on both ships to lock onto each other, and a couple of grappling cables from the Mary-sue were attached to the hull of the Falcon to ensure he could tow his prize to a safe location. As he slowly powered away he didn’t look back at the debris field of the explosion. All the scavengers would find would be three 'fertilisers' and scraps of junked metal.



explosion picture below: