Official Spacefleet RP

[zarikrahia]

Zari brightened. "Oooh, yes, I forgot! I've been working on regular clothing to make it fireproof...and on this for part-animal opponents. It whines and hurt their ears...and mine too, come to think of it. And I've been replicating the the acid ballpoint so some of pur less offensive units can use 'em. Who knew being stabbed with a pen could be that harmful?"

Ienalle sneezed. "Zari, your wristcomp is about to go off. I think it's either Gak or the You-clone, judging from the noises."

Zari paled and answered the call almost before the tone sounded. "Hello? What? Yes. I know. I'm sure she's an excellent exorcist, but are you sure you need one? Can't you just ask them to be quiet?" There was a silence as the Zari-clone gabbled down the line, obviously distressed. "Wait...why are you out of the tube? I told you to stay in there until I wake you up. How did you get out? Who let you out?" More gabbling.

Zari hissed. "I'm going to kill Aikran. He takes everything too literally." She head-desked. "Sorry about that. I joked about letting the Me-clone out yesterday and it seemed Aikran interpreted it as a command."

The clone kept yakking away, unaware Zari wasn't paying attention. The waiterbot arrived with Zari's food and stood there, unsure of whether to put the plate in the usual place (Zari's head was in the way) put the plate in the nearest free space (other side of the table) or just stand there.

It opted for the third option.

[Fraze]

Fraze finished the last of his lemonade. He put seven shinies on the table--six for the meal plus one for a tip. Of course, the serving robots didn't get paid, but the idea of a tip was hard to get out of one's head, and if anything, Fraze thought it might go to the cook.

"I'm headed off to the holodeck for some exercise," he told his friends. "If anyone wants to come along either now or later, feel free. If later, I'll meet you there."

---------
Fraze arrived at the holodeck. He was carrying several things: a small duffel bag, a standard plasma rifle, and a rough-hewn stone Table. Not a table, but a Table. Several of the fifty or so rooms was open and ready to be used. He walked past the occupied rooms. Some of the windows were transparent, revealing a range of activities--ranging from combat simulations to interactive mysteries. Others were opaque, for various reasons. Some people wanted privacy during their training, other people simply didn't want people to know what they were doing. He came to an unoccupied room, typed his access code, and went in. It was large enough for a good ten or fifteen people to move around in comfortably. Perfect.
Fraze laid down his plasma rifle and duffel bag, and positioned his Table in his hands. "Computer," he spoke aloud. "Run training program Fraze 1, difficulty level 2."
There was no background; the holodeck looked just as it did when not in use. However, a figure appeared two meters to Fraze's left. The figure was roughly human, but with no visible features. It was as though a person with no eyes, nose, ears, mouth, or hair had been covered in skin-tight light gray plastic that obscured all the distinguishing characteristics that weren't there.
The figure raised a fist and charged at him. Fraze swung his Table in a two-handed horizontal arc--more power than in a one-handed swing, but less speed and less reach. The hologram jumped backward, the table grazing it across the chest. Of course, with a blunt weapon, "grazing" doesn't count for much at all.
Fraze took the offensive now, taking the Table in one hand. He grasped it by one of two legs that pivoted, and swung it around like a mace. He had time to build up speed, aiming for the hologram's head. He made contact, and the hologram disappeared.
"Computer: Increase difficulty to level 4."
Another one replaced it, this one carrying a Table of its own.
Again, the hologram took the initiative in a motion nearly identical to the one Fraze had last used. Fraze dodged backward and blocked with the flat face of his own Table. The impact of the hologram's Table against his sent his flying backward; he allowed momentum to carry his arm in a circular sweep toward the hologram's legs. He hit one leg, missed the other.
Fraze's mouth cracked into a grin. He hadn't been able to fight another Table weilder for years before joining Spacefleet, but now he could at least fight a hologram of one.

[Omni]

Ethan made his way past the holodecks, glancing into the door of each one. No, no, no, no… Ah! Yeah, that was Fraze. Who else in Spacefleet fights with tables?

Ethan took the transmitter Hoshikira gave him out of his pocket, plugging it in. Ready to begin the Holotraining, he turned to the door.

"Siber, let's go."

Ethan took with him what he normally carried: his Ultrek Rifle and his dagger. As he entered the holodeck, he unsheathed the latter, and with a flick of the wrist, he sent it flying toward the holographic enemy.

It landed just below the hologram's shoulder.

…Well, Ethan hadn't thrown the dagger much, yet.

"Siber! Bite! …AAUGH! Not me!"

----------

Meanwhile, in another part of Spacefleet's station, a sound played as a window opened on Hoshikira's computer. In the window, computer code scrolled, showing all information in a core computer language. Next to the code was a real-time video stream in first person, among other things. Hoshikira watched as the knife flew through the air, motion tracking likes appearing, showing the path it took. She also watched as calculations were 'written', and then stored.

"Fascinating…"

[Bacon]

In the holodeck, Bacon brandished an experimental assualt rifle he had built himself. He hadn't designed projectile-firing weapons before, and neeless to say the "Saturn Grenades" were a black mark on his record, but while he was upgrading X-3's weapon systems, he figured he had a good enough knowledge of ship weaponry to try to downscale the basic principle of standard Spacefleet Fighter armament into a 3 foot by 1.5 foot by .5 foot frame he called the "Carnage Assault Weapon".

Partially he wanted to try out the prototype weapon to see if the design was ready for mass production, but also after an incident or two planetside, he felt his Pulse Charger and katana were a bit lacking, so training himself in the use of the weapon would prove useful. Besides, once it was mass-produced he could just keep the prototype for himself.

Spawning a few of Clint's specialised ninjabots, Bacon prepared himself for their imminent attack. When they come, his new toy would be ready for them. A shadow appeared, and Bacon's head jerked around to face it. The holographic robot swung it's katana downwards at him, but his finger was already pulling the trigger. BRAKBRAKBREKBRAKBRAKBRAK!!!!

Hmm... not too different from my stunner... just point and shoot. Results are a little less tame, but still...

_______________________
((Rogue Council, City of Ondor))

ZOC nodded at Hrothgar's request, "But of course, naturally your men would know your technology best, however if this is to be a joint effort that would mean some of the crew would also have to be Laketans. You and Vedrik can get into making the exact crew roster later, but I want one thing clear: one man will captain this ship. It isn't going to be you, and it isn't going to be me. This ship will be under the command of Vedrik."

"What?!" Vedrik asked with eyes wide. He had figured ZOC as the power-hungry sort, that would demand the ship for himself. This new revelation caused Vedrik to rethink the younger officer.

"If you will allow me to continue..." ZOC growled at his 'superior', before turning back to their Togorian host, "You and I shall command a supplemental fleet, you commanding the Togorian half, and I the Laketan half. As a wise Admiral/General once said, 'An Iron Fist is useless without the arm to swing and the brain to control the blow'."

Vedrik smirked, that sounded more like the Hoojib brat he'd come to know and despise. Commanding an entire fleet, eh? He'd like to know how ZOC thought he could do that; after all he was still one of the most junior officer in all of Laketan space, and couldn't possibly have that much influence with fellow Captains and Commanders.

[zarikrahia]

Zari un-headdesked, took her food from the waiter and ate. Happily and with gusto. Like a vaccuum cleaner. But without the noise. That task done, she zoomed off the hall in a blur of brown hair, red, purple, dark blue, and black fabric, and paper. Ienalle was close behind. Taking several "shortcuts" involving flying up stairwells and cutting through empty rooms, Zari hurtled throught the staion in her usual pell-mell fashion. That being, with seemly no rhyme nor reason.

Arriving at the hologram decks, Zari decided to pass on the extra walk and the time and reached out with her mind. Her awareness brushed over the hundred-odd people in the holodecks, leaving unexplainable thoughts of light and warmth and reading by the light of a candle, more than one, and rugs covered in cat hair one had to constantly clean, and the first falling of autumn leaves, and the creak of a childs swing, and the rush of satisfaction Zari felt upon the creation of five viable clones. Searching for the echoes of those thoughts didn't take long. She blinked. Aha. Fraze and Ethan. Following those traces didn't take long.

Zari joined the holodeck, summoning her staff and drawing a nasty-looking kitchen cleaver in the process. "Computer, honey, would you be so kind as to run training program ZariKrahia on level three, and training program Ienalle on level two? Thanks."

The computer, as perplexed as a computer could become, obeyed. Ienalle found herself fighting another shapeshifter, this one quite a bit larger, while Zari charged at a group of hologram-enemies, letting loose a cat-yowl as she did so.

They were both apparently finding the exercise hilarious.

[Amneiger]

"Load experimental program Mazerunner in debug mode. Use stealth settings."

Wooden blocks rose up in front of Amneiger, stacking and multiplying until they were too tall to see over. The entrance to the maze was right in front of him.

He slowly walked in, easing one foot in front of another to minimize noise. He could hear the patrols moving through the maze with their heavy boots. Careful, careful...


_______________________



"I want a listing of the ships for each of these fleets. And why, " Hrotghar pointed at Vedrik, "him?"

[Bacon]

Bacon noted the weight of the weapon as he turned to gun down another holographic enemy. It was hefty, but not unweildy, so that it moved almost like a part of him.

_______________________
"Let's just say I owe him a ship." ZOC smiled. "I have a list prepared of my half of the supplemental force, I will allow you or your staff to decide on the Togorian ships. I hope twenty of your best ships isn't too much to ask, is it?" He pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Hrothgar. Of course these days it was general practice to take notes digitally, but ZOC always prefered using paper.

The list of ZOC's ships read:

Grecht tu Zioscey, Demon Nova, Radig Sukora, Vadlin cin Tasa, Vinve Noran, Bloodfang, Alder Naric, Firefang, Wolfspeed, Vampire Heart, Neri cas Strai, Death of Worlds, Vivnekran, Telliks tu Vedaro, Thunderheart, Kretar cin Neri, Zulch tu Darnec, N'var Isabo, Grivnor Hechns, Phoenix Breath, Final Sword.

[Amneiger]

Amneiger pressed himself up against one of the maze walls; he could hear footsteps approaching his position. Well, time to test something. "Computer, give me a silenced rifle." He picked up the gun that had appeared at his feet, took a deep breath, and leapt around the corner.

The sentry completely ignored Amneiger and continued on his patrol route.

Amneiger frowned. "Computer, pause." He walked forward until he found the sentry he had seen earlier. "Computer, show me the memory dump from this object." Words and numbers flickered in the air in front of Amneiger. He frowned as he looked down them. "Computer, show me the code for the sentries." Amneiger made a few changes and closed it again. "Computer, unpause."

The sentry looked up. "Hey, stop!" He raised his own gun and opened fire. Since this was debug mode the laser blasts simply passed through Amneiger harmlessly, but he could hear the other sentries shouting in response to the gunfire. "Computer, stop and restart simulation."


_______________________



Hrothgar grunted and nodded. "There are some ships that I have in mind, a few that are new and that I want to test." He pulled out a holopad, pulled up a list of ships, and showed it to ZOC.

The list read:

Dryshdyn, Yonnrdther, Crudsgar, Vulnal, Rortan, Dreghrtcer, Swokther, Lonrusk, Hikghaw, Vosthem, Kiygar, Leshck, Chrogash, Lykphgar, Wubltwar, Wharrmos, Nopghar, Quyrther, Kasvor, Kiycer

[zarikrahia]

Zari disarmed one of the ten enemies still remaining, twisting it's arm behind it's back and tackling another one using the disarmed enemy as a sheild. Ienalle grinned at her. "Youth and skill!" she taunted cheerily, leaping onto her simulations back and balancing there. Zari dodged an attack and pulled a face. "Age and treachery!" she shot back, in similar high spirits.

A breif thought flashed through her mind. Ayine would be really proud. She shoved it away, not wanting to deal with the subject at that time.

[Fraze]

Out of the corner of his eye, Fraze saw his comrades come in to the holodeck and begin their own training routines. He couldn't wave to them, he was in the middle of a simulated battle.
Block. Swipe. Swing. Parry. AUGHWATCHYERHEAD! Swing. Jump.
Fraze hopped away from his enemy to buy him a second. In that time, he gave the leg of the Table that he was holding a swift tug on either end of the joint on the leg. Two razor-sharp blade snapped out from slits on opposite sides of the Table. The blades ran the entire length of those sides.
He jumped back toward the featureless holographic enemy, spinning the Table in a counterclockwise motion with his right hand. The hologram raised its own Table to block, but missed and was--nearly literally--disarmed.
The hologram vanished. The program adjusted itself, and a new opponent appeared. This one had a Table identical to Fraze's, with the blades extended.
He wasn't surprised. In fact, he had been hoping for this. The hologram's blade was programmed not to break the skin, but would inflict pain proportional to the wound that would have been caused.
Dulling the opponent's blade was the most effective way of fighting against a bladed Table. It was also the most difficult and the most risky. Fraze's Table was stone, but was magically enhanced to be harder than regular stone. If he could get the hologram's Table's blades to hit against the face of his own Table, the blades would be dulled significantly. This required incredible accuracy and pinpoint blocking.
The hologram charged, swinging its Table in a wide, semicircular arc. Fraze held up his own Table to block with its face. He hoped to hit the blade, but instead hit the non-bladed side of the hologram's Table. He recovered and swung at the opponent's legs. The hologram jumped straight over his swing. I don't remember putting that in the program, he thought. Maybe the computer's smarter than I thought. Had he known the difficulty Amneiger was currently having, he would have laughed.
The battle continued for several minutes. Neither one managed to wound the other. Finally, Fraze managed to hit the holographic Table's blade with the face of his own Table. Sparks flew as the blade scraped across the rough surface. The holographic enemy took several steps backward, and Fraze seized the opportunity.
"Computer," Fraze said. "Load program Fraze 2, level 2."
Another featureless hologram appeared, but this one was barefoot, wearing a white shirt and white pants. "Computer, pause program," Fraze commanded as soon as the hologram appeared.
Fraze went to his duffle bag and took off his pants. Below them, he had on a pair of white pants like the hologram's. His shirt was already white as well. He took off his shoes.
The outfit was comfortable, flexible, and light. He took several minutes to stretch. He was quite flexible, especially for one of the male persuasion. "Computer, resume program and play music file: Paranaue."

The hologram regained motion, appeared to see Fraze, and began a fluid, swinging motion. Fraze faced it and matched it, mirroring the motion. The hologram moved forward and kicked in a wide circular arc. Fraze evaded and responded with his own kick, moving his upper body down and his leg up toward his opponent. His opponent cartwheeled out of the way, Fraze moved to head-butt it in the chest while it was upside down. He was too late, and nearly received a straight outward push-kick in his own chest. He bent backward, nearly going into a backbend to evade.
This wasn't really fighting, he knew. It was just fun.
"Computer," he said, his breathing heavy. "Increase difficulty...to level 4 and choose a...faster version of...the same song."
The computer did as it was told. The game sped up. They were playing for real now. Evasion was so deeply ingrained in Fraze's thinking about this exercise that it was difficult to come up with an actual attack. He sped up his kicks and looked for openings to take down his opponent. Eventually, he found such an opening when his opponent had only one foot on the floor, twisting around backward in a spinning kick, and did a leg sweep. His opponent fell.
Fraze nearly fell as well. The game was tiring. He leaned against a wall to catch his breath and observed his friends. "Computer...end music."
The others were deep in their own exercises. He found it interesting to see how each one trained differently.

((Explanation of the first paragraph: Two neighboring legs on Fraze's table have socket joints that allow them to rotate freely. These socket joints are a bit above the hand grip on each leg, about eight inches from the bottom of the leg. One of these joints houses a trigger. When the joint is pulled apart, the trigger releases the blades along the two opposite sides of the Table.
These blades obviously cannot be used very effectively in the way that one would use a sword. The blades do not protrude outward from the table very far; rather, they resemble the blades on a razor. Therefore, they are best used for slicing rather than stabbing. The best way to utilize them is by swinging the Table around on one of the two socket joints. This makes the blades difficult to see for the opponent, and facilitates a very fast cutting motion.
The Table originally only had one blade; however, I believe it would be far more effective with two. This way, the Table can be swung either clockwise or counterclockwise, and a blade will quickly face the opponent.

Yes, I have given Table fighting a ridiculous amount of thought.

The movements in the second part of the post are movements in capoeira. In order, they are: queixada, mea lua de compasso, au/cartwheel, cabeçada, benção, and an incomplete ponte/backbend. The last two moves are armada and resistencia. I haven't played capo all summer, so I guess this post is a way to let me do so vicariously, while at the same time making myself seem a bit better at it than I really am.))

[Deleted]

While everyone was training in the holodecks, so was Bettyming, who had sub par fighting skills, but was so smart it was scary. She had the broken piece of glass she carried everywhere with her in her hand, and she swung at the hologram enemy. She was robot-less now, and she was having a hard time, until Bettyming found the hologram's weak spot; it would frequently raise it's holographic arm, exposing what would be a very important vein. Swipe."That was better than my usual performance," said Bettyming, whose voice was slightly muffled from the gas mask she refused to take off.

[Omni]

Ethan couldn't believe it. The hologram completely ignored the knife in its shoulder and continued focusing on Fraze. Why would it do that? …Wait, maybe it was designed to be a one-on-one practice? It seemed possible, and everyone else seemed to be doing it. It was just that when Fraze asked if anyone wanted come along for exercise and training, Ethan thought he meant to join him, practice fighting as a team.

Ethan managed to get Siber off of his ankle with a 'drop it' command. When the first table-wielding hologram disappeared, the knife also dropped out of its shoulder. "Siber, go get my knife." As Siber dodgingly ran to pick up the weapon, Ethan realized that he didn't have any personalized training programs. He decided would want to make one sometime, at least to work on Siber's training. It would help if he gave Siber some moving, interactive targets to work with besides himself; something which might explain why Siber automatically went for him. Or maybe it was because he didn't specify a target. At any rate, that 'bite' trick needed some work.

Siber returned with the dagger in his mouth. "Good boy, now drop it." Siber did as told and Ethan picked the dagger up, sheathing it. Ethan limped over to a control panel, and brought up a listing of some of the training programs. Most of the options were humanoids with various fighting styles, although there was one that stood out: a karanadon. Apparently they were used during an invasion of the base shortly before Ethan arrived there, and apparently someone decided to make a holographic one. It would certainly be a different training experience. Besides, he wasn't sure he wanted to fight something with the AI to go after his injured ankle, just yet.

"Siber, stay…" Ethan took a few steps forward to be sure that Siber didn't follow. "Good boy. Computer, run program karanadon 1, difficulty level… 1."

A dinosaur-creature, big enough to almost-completely block off a corridor on its own, appeared. Ethan could tell that the programmer put at some effort into making it look like the real thing, as the shape seemed rather lifelike and it was even somewhat colored. It turned its head to look at Ethan. Ethan did a quickdraw with his rifle, pointing it at the holo-creature's head. The hologram snorted, charging, swinging its arm at Ethan clumsily. Ethan to jumped into a dive-roll out of the way, mostly using his uninjured leg, firing at the karanadon once. The karanadon ran right past him, then stopped, looking as if confused that its opponent disappeared.

"Hey, big guy! Over here!" Ethan taunted as he stood up and shot the karanadon in the back up the head. The karanadon shook its head, turned around, and charged, using the same tactic as before. Ethan used the same method as before to dodge, jumping even sooner this time. Not very bright. Maybe I should have gone with level 2, at least.

[Bacon]

Bacon turned, finding another holographic enemy. He raised the assault rifle, only for it to be knocked violently out of his hands. He ducked under the ninjabot's horizontal katana slash, rolling to his side to kick the anthropomorphic entity in something resembling a stomach. Having stunned his enemy, Bacon dove for the Carnage Assault Weapon, turning onto his back once it was in his hands, then fired a shot that removed the hologram's head.

Another enemy appeared, slashing at him as he lay on the ground. Bacon rolled out of the way, occasionally blocking strikes with the rifle's metal frame. The ninjabot paused for a second as though reconsidering its strategy. One second was all Bacon needed to twist around and blast it twice, once in the "ribs" and "heart" respectively. The mechanic quickly got to his feet before he cold get ambushed again.

_______________________

ZOC looked over the list quickly, surprised the Togorian would have it so accessable. No doubt it was simply a list of the best all-around ships in the Togorian fleet, not necessarily something specific for the situation. Although only a few names sounded familiar, ZOC said, "I've heard good things about a lot of these. A well put-together fleet, I must say."

[Amneiger]

Amneiger threw the bullet to the passageway across from him and heard the footsteps of the approaching sentry stop. He waited until he could see the sentry peering down the passageway, then fired three shots from a simulated silenced pistol into the sentry's head. The soldier collapsed.

"Computer, pause and show me the data from Sentry_Threat_Boards."

Good; the threat boards had registered the death of one of the guards and had responded by sending one squad to investigate and another to further secure the objective. He'll let the simulation finish before restarting and testing another case.


_______________________


Hrothgar smiled, not noticing ZOC's lack of specific praise. "Yes, they are. Anything else about your plan to attack Spacefleet?"

[Kengplant]

"Ha... haha... ha... ha... ha....
...." laughed Keng sarcastically. "Right. Real funny." she stated flatly as she stared at a training program chip that had just been handed to her that read Head Injury Avoidance. The marines that had handed it to her were desperately trying to supress their chuckles. They were failing rather miserably. "Right, back to work you guys."

The marines ran off congratulating themselves for their little poke and the Commado and for not getting penelized for it. In truth Keng was grinning as they left. "I'm going to need a better helmet..."

----

When she reached the training room she threw the chip into the programs database for it to load, then promptly selected a different training program. "Computer, Battleship Strategic Simulation. Ship to Ship single combat. Level range intermediate to advanced."

A shiny deck appeared around her with her very own holographic crew. Emmidiately one of her officers reported contact with another vessel. Seeing as how this was supposed to be a battle simulation she wasted no time with her orders. "Engage. Weapons at maximum. Fire one light missile at their belly."

In less than a moment the missile streaked away from them on the holo screen and blew into the other ships hull. It was enough to destroy the ship.

"Well. That was easy." she said in confusion, cocking her head.
"Mission failed. Ambassador's ship destroyed."
"... Oh... oops." well... this is why most people with no experience in commanding a battleship began with "Novice" or "Begginner". "Computer. Reset program. New scenario. Same difficulty." So... first lesson learned. Make sure the other ship is an ennemy before fireing.