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my mac blew up on me yesterday so i was wondering could one of u guys do me a favour. with the original EV documentation there was a story. (a paragraph or 2 on each page of the manual i think) could someone piece it together and post it here? i wanna show it to a friend.
thanks in advance
------------------ "Wow, how'd you get it to work?" "I ran a Physical Impulse Mechanical Stress Routine" "Huh?" "I kicked it."
I'm getting it now.
------------------ Visit my (url="http://"http://www.angelfire.com/indie/thecatacomb/index.html")cool EV site(/url) "I think that I shall never see a billboard lovely as a tree. Perhaps, unless the billboards fall, I'll never see a tree at all."
(This message has been edited by The Catacomb (edited 01-29-2001).)
My name is Robert Jaansen, but everybody calls me Scumdog. Its a nickname I picked up plying the trade routes across the pirate-infested combat zones between ah, but Im getting ahead of myself. I still have a few hours before my backup life support system gives out completely, so I can indulge in a bit of melodramatic exposition. That is, if the power cell in this recorder doesnt run out first...
Ahem. I guess Ill start at the beginning. I grew up on an agricultural plantation on Deneb III, and I thought that being a farmer was going to be my one and only career. Then, when I was only nineteen, the Great War came and changed everything. My friends and I, doing our duty to protect the planet of our birth, went down to the recruiting station and signed up. When the Deneb III militia and all the local militias of all the planets mankind had colonized was absorbed into the newly-formed Confederation the next month, we all became privates in the Confederation military. Most of my friends were picked for the Confed Marines, while I was selected for fighter school probably because of my reflexes. They all made fun of me because they thought I was going to miss out on all the action. I guess they were right I never saw them again, and three months later I heard that their entire company had been wiped out when the ground assault against the alien refueling base on New Washington had walked right into an ambush.
In the early years of the War, I was assigned to fly an F-37 Manta light fighter one that had been requisitioned from some planets militia forces, Ill bet for the 93rd Fighter Wing, on patrol around the perimeter of the Core Worlds. This was before the Confederation Navy really had any ships that were up to par with their alien counterparts, you understand, so what were mostly rear-guard patrols at first for me rapidly turned into last-ditch front-line defenses of the Core Worlds, as those damned aliens moved closer and closer to the heart of our little sphere of inhabited systems. It was only when we were able to bring our new series of warships into full production that we were finally able to turn the tide.
After I punched out of my Manta during the Battle of Sirius, I was given a medal and transferred to the 357th Fighter Wing, flying one of the new Confed patrol ships from the heavy cruiser U.S.S. Saratoga. We kicked alien ass all the way back to the fringe worlds during my tour on the Saratoga, and when the War ended I had over fifty kills to my name.
It was after the end of the War that I decided Id had enough of military life, and signed up as first mate of the civilian ore freighter Loadstar. I saw the galaxy while serving aboard that ship, and learned everything I could about the life of a merchant captain. I learned so much, in fact, that when I had finally saved up a substantial pile of credits I decided to invest it in a ship of my own. And thats where things started to get really interesting...
I remember the first time I ever sat in the pilots chair of my first ship, the cargo shuttle Journeyman. I hadnt been at the controls of a ship that small in quite a while not since I piloted a single-seat fighter during the Great War, in fact. It didnt take me long to get used to the controls again, though. They say piloting a starship is like riding a bicycle; once you learn how to do it, you never forget.
My first action as captain and sole crewmember of the cargo shuttle Journeyman was to land on the planet I was orbiting, the freeport of Levo. As I set down on the landing pad, I couldn't help but notice all the water around the spaceport perimeter. Sure, they say the island of Locanda is perfectly safe from tidal storms, but I sure wouldn't want my brand-new ship to receive a hull-washing without my permission...
I had been in many spaceports before when I was first mate on the ore freighter Loadstar, but I hadn't really looked closely at one before. The Levo spaceport was rather interesting there were several things to do there. I saw an automated mission computer terminal on one wall, and over on the west side there was a sign advertising some kind of spaceport bar, but I decided those would have to wait. If I was going to make any money, I figured I'd have to start trading some goods. I hoofed it over to the Levo commodity exchange to see what was for sale... I loaded my ship with foodstuffs from the Levo commodity exchange. Food is in demand on a lot of worlds, so I figured it wouldnt be tough to find a place to turn a profit on it.
After blasting off with a cargo bay full of food, I cruised outward, toward the perimeter of the Levo system. On the way I passed another ship a light freighter, by the looks of it which was dropping into Levos gravity well after finishing its hyperspace jump from a far-off system. Being a neighborly sort of pilot, I hailed them and said hello. Their captain told me the location of a good place to sell the food I was carrying... a pretty useful piece of information, I thought. A starship captain always needs to know where he stands not just in terms of where he is, but also how hes doing. My star map and my computers summary screen were my most valuable sources of information.
After getting used to the controls of the Journeyman, visiting Levo and buying a few goods, and hailing a couple of passing ships, I decided it was time to move on to bigger and better things. I set course for the Capella system and cruised outward, away from the clutches of Levos gravity well, into the fringes of interstellar space. When I was out far enough, my computer signaled that everything was ready for hyperjump. I still get a thrill every time my ship leaps into hyperspace, because I just know that when I drop back into realspace theres going to be a whole new set of adventures and things to see. Well, normally there is, anyway. Ive got a feeling I wont be making any more hyperjumps any time soon...
The trip to Capella took an entire day, measured in real time, but for me the process was instantaneous. There was the standard nausea and dizziness that I always get from a hyperspace jump the Navy docs told me everybody gets that, something about traveling so far in zero time doing something to your inner ear but it passed quickly, and I scanned the status display and found that the jump had been successful. I was on the edge of Capellas gravity well, about one light-second out. I was almost immediately buzzed by two patrol ships, just like the one I used the fly, and I gave them a friendly wave out my cockpit window. In the distance, a luxury liner was dropping into high orbit around Capella, and the planet itself glowed bright green and blue a few thousand kilometers away. After my trip to Capella, my fuel supply was depleted somewhat, so I refueled at the Capella spaceport. It was only a hundred credits, and you can never have too much fuel, I always say.
The Tau Ceti system is truly a beautiful place the inhabited moon Merlin sweeps majestically around the rusty sphere of Tau Ceti IV once every twenty-three days, and the bright pinprick of light that is the colony of New Columbia hovers in the distance. However, in systems like that my ships navicomputer always got a little confused, as there was more than one place it could try to land. I always got around this by telling it exactly where I wanted to go.
It didnt take me long to tire of hauling other peoples cargo around for them. Sure, being a merchant doesnt pay too bad, but the reason I bought the Journeyman was so I could have a little excitement now and then, not just to continue doing my old job. I had a desire to visit the Fringe regions the band of sparsely-settled systems on the edge of explored space and see what life was like a hundred light-years from the center of known space.
I knew from my two tours as a fighter pilot that the Fringes are a dangerous place to travel without some firepower on your side, though. In those days it was the aliens; now its the Rebellion and the damned pirates. All the independent systems have trouble with pirates to some degree, and the farther out you venture, the more risk you run. For that reason alone, I wanted to equip my little ship with a bit of extra protection from attack.
I didnt see the pirates until it was almost too late. The first warning I got was when my threat warning board lit up like a Christmas tree, and the ships master alarm screamed a shrill alert in my ear. I frantically stabbed at the targeting controls to try to locate the ship that was making my plot board go wild with computed intercept trajectories.
There it was, about six hundred klicks away, closing fast from around the night side of Nimbus III. My targeting scanner identified it as an Argosy-class light freighter, piloted by Renzan Lefnor. The pirates really like using Argosies for raiding the supply routes, as theyre more than a match for most unprotected freighters and can carry off a large stash of loot as well. I activated the navigation computer and evaluated my options: I was too low on fuel to attempt to hyperjump out of the system, and the attacking pirate ship was between me and the safety of Nimbus III. There was no choice but to fight it out.
Fortunately, I wasnt defenseless. By this time I had upgraded the Journeyman quite nicely, with a pair of laser cannons and a layer of ablative armaplast plating for defense. The Argosy was much bigger, but I had the advantage of surprise he couldnt have been expecting me to fight back. I punched the acceleration controls and steered the ship onto an intercept course while warming up the firing circuits...
Even with all the amenities Id added onto her, the Journeyman was no match for the pirate Argosy. The dark freighter was many times bigger than my tiny shuttle, and its gun crews could bring their turrets to bear quicker than I could swing my craft around. My little ship put up a good fight, but I knew it was over when my shields failed with a crackle of fried electronics. As the smell of burnt insulation and the sound of overloaded and sizzling power couplings filled the cabin, I knew my ship was dying. It was then that I said a silent prayer of thanks to whatever had made me spend the extra credits to buy that Markin-Bater escape pod. I climbed in, sealed the hatch, and pulled on the eject handle as if my life depended on it. Hey, thats pretty funny... I hope that when if somebody finds this, they wont edit that part out.
My poor battered shuttlecraft dwindled to a dot in the distance as the powerful fusion rockets propelled me and my escape pod away from the stricken vessel. The laser bolts that still pounded the shuttles side formed an eerie green ribbon connecting the pinpoint that was the shuttle to the larger dot of the pirate ship. Suddenly there was an explosion, brighter than the sun, and the speck of my shuttle became a rapidly-expanding cloud of ionized gas and metal fragments.
I dont know why the pirates didnt board her before they blew her up I guess maybe they scanned me and saw that I wasnt carrying much of value, or maybe Renzan Lefnor just liked picking on harmless shuttlecraft. As I unwrapped a crunchy ration stick and tried to figure out where my present course would take me, I thought of all the systems Id visited with the trusty Journeyman, and vowed to make Lefnor pay for his transgressions if I ever encountered his ship again.
I drifted for three days before a passing freighter picked me up. Man, I mustve read that complimentary Markin-Bater brochure a hundred times. The freighter captain dropped me off in the Farla system, where I withdrew everything I had from my bank account in order to be able to afford a new ship. Id made quite a pile of credits as a merchant during that year, so I decided to forego buying another shuttlecraft and move up to something bigger.
It took three days to sign all the papers and hire the crew of my new ship, a Maskirovka IPV-1 corvette. That trim little vessel was one sweet machine, whose every line and contour evoked images of speed and power. I also liked the size of its cargo hold with this ship, I could make money as a mercenary or a merchant. I decided to call it the Avenger, in honor of the shuttlecraft I had lost. Renzan Lefnor better watch out if we cross paths again, I chuckled to myself. spent the evening before we pushed off in the Farla spaceport bar, relaxing with my new crew. Id had enough command experience on the Loadstar to know that its important to get to know your crew members. One of my turret gunners and a couple of engineers mates were gathered around the slot machines, and my helmsman, navigator, and communications officer were lounging at the bar. I was sitting at one of the tables, swapping space stories with my new executive officer, when this guy came up and sat down across from us. He gave us this story about how his shipping company was running low on transport capacity that week, and how he had an extra shipload of parcels he needed to get to the settlement on Mirimas.
I talked it over with my XO and agreed to help him out. It would be an easy job, we figured, and since I was running low on credits after buying my new ship, it would help pay the bills. Now that I look back on it, I realize that that was when all the troubles really started. Heck, I shouldve just stuck to being a simple trader...
We left the Farla system early the next morning, after loading the parcels aboard the Avenger. On the way to our rendezvous on Mirimas, we saw a couple of formidable-looking pirate ships harassing a convoy of freighters, but we had a deadline and couldnt stop to lend assistance. We knew that the territory we would soon be passing through was crawling with Rebels and pirates, though, so at the next system we decided to stop and hire some temporary help to aid in our defense.We let the two hired Defenders go after we made it safely through the combat zone and into the Mirimas system. After wed delivered the parcels and collected our payment a handy little sum, if I do say so myself we set out again to see what opportunities lay in store for us.
Mirimas is one of the more remote settlements in the galaxy, and by the time we had safely delivered the cargo there, we were far off the charted trade lanes. Its out there, on the fringes of explored space, that the space pirates make their living. Because I knew they were out there, I kept all decks on yellow alert around the clock. It turned out to be a smart move, too I sure wish I had remembered to do it yesterday... Anyway, as we were preparing to make the jump to Blakes Star, heading back towards explored space, we were jumped by pirates.
Instantly, my executive officer was shouting orders to the crew. Pirates off the starboard bow! Shields up, red alert! Starboard batteries, prepare to fire! Belay that last order, I said into the PA mic. All turrets, hold your fire. For I had recognized the pirate vessel the scanners identified it as the Darksun, captained by Renzan Lefnor. His Argosy was no match for the Avenger, and I knew it I wanted to have some fun with him first. I ordered my comm officer to hail the pirate vessel... all we got was static. Very well, if thats the way he wants to do it, I mused, picking up the mic again. Attention, this is the captain, I addressed them. Go to general quarters. All hands to battle stations. Missile bay, load tubes one and two and prepare to launch on my command. Starboard batteries, you are cleared to fire.
The battle was over almost as soon as it had begun. A salvo of missiles exploded against the pirate ships port side, sending it drifting slowly away from the Avenger. As we closed within gun range, the turrets opened up and began to chew away what remained of the Argosys shields. Within seconds, the pirate ship was beaten, shields down and engines crippled, disabled and drifting in space. It was with great pleasure that I again picked up the mic and addressed the crew: Starboard batteries, hold your fire. Stand down from red alert, maintain battle stations. Weapons chief, assemble a boarding party at the ventral airlock. We lasered open the Darksuns cargo hold with a quick burst from our turrets, and sent workpods into the dark space to retrieve what cargo we could find. After we had plundered what we could about twenty tons of luxury goods, all told from the cargo bays, we blasted another hole in the hull and extended a refueling probe into the Argosys dorsal fuel tank. As ton after ton of slush deuterium was pumped up to the Avengers thirsty fuel storage pods, I considered the ship below. Most of the crew were still alive, a quick scan revealed most of the damage had been done to the engineering section so our computed chances of capturing the ship were not that good. I knew the Avengers crew, while brave and capable, would be hard-pressed to win in a hand-to-hand fight against the Darksuns remaining personnel. So, I decided to disengage our airlocks and escape intact with our booty. As we boosted away under full thrust, a weak transmission came through from Renzan Lefnors ship. Damn you, you infernal scumdog! was all it said. I guess thats how I got my nickname...
Thirteen light-years farther in towards the center of explored space, we came upon a space station orbiting the third moon of Arcturus VII. We were low on fuel and consumables and needed to put in for a resupply stop, but we were denied docking permission. Negative, Avenger, the dockmaster radioed us, The traffic pattern is full. No docking space available at this time. We were all tired and just wanted to set down and get a little R & R in the stations entertainment facilities, but that damn desk jockey wouldnt give us clearance. So, I called him up again and arranged to have a few credits transferred his way, as a sort of incentive... Acknowledged, came the reply, You are cleared for priority docking in bay two-niner. I guess a few credits can go a long way.
Yeah, those pirates are bad news, but even worse are the folks who get their kicks from dominating entire planets. It doesnt happen too much anymore first the Great War and then the Rebellion occupied everyones attention but not too many years ago it was almost common for unscrupulous privateers to extort planets for tribute. Why, I remember my father telling me stories, when I was knee-high to a banderfrog, of how he used to run the blockade to deliver relief supplies during the Oberon Conflagration. In that little conflict, a band of pirates based from the asteroid belt of the Wescoe system wiped out the meager defense fleet of the planet Oberon, imposed a naval blockade on the systems jump points, and demanded thirty percent the colonists income. Since the galaxys militias were all independent at that time, nobody could do much about it, except for a few independent freighter captains like my father, who took it upon themselves to help deliver relief supplies through the blockade. It took three years to expel the pirates from Oberon... a period during which they became filthy rich from taxes levied on the colonists, I might add.
Jeez, the oxygen meter is so close to zero that theres probably only a few minutes worth of air left in here. I guess Id better wrap it up...
Three years after the events Ive just described, the Avenger was on patrol near Learneds Star. It was just after the shift change at 1600 hours, and everybody was tired we had been out there, running cargo and patrol missions through unexplored territory, for nearly a month without any rest. The ship was running under normal alert status, and the crew was more concerned with making it until the end of the shift than tending to their assigned duties. I cant help but wonder what wouldve happened if Id maintained a condition of yellow alert and stayed on the bridge like I shouldve, given the potentially hostile area we were patrolling.
I was in my cabin, dreaming about what I was going to do when we reached Canopus VIII for some shore leave, when suddenly a huge explosion rocked the ship. As the emergency alarms wailed to life, I dashed out into the suddenly dark and smoke-filled companionway. More explosions jolted the ship, accompanied by the sickening screech of rending metal. I sighted a crewer coming toward me out of the smoke, and shouted Whats happening? at him. They came out of nowhere, sir! he yelled back at me, over the din of what I could only assume was a fierce space battle in progress. His face was ashen, like hed just seen a ghost. The whole bridge is gone, sir! They just blasted off the whole bow, all the way back to bulkhead C! Engineerings been hit, too last we heard from Mr. Johannsmeyer, the containment fields were shot to hell and the reactor was about to go critical! We
Suddenly, as another explosion slammed the Avenger, the port bulkhead split with a resounding crack of overstressed plastisteel, and the atmosphere began to rush out of the companionway. With a scream, the unidentified crewman was sucked out into the vacuum of space. I managed to grab onto a handhold, and scrambled up the corridor to the nearest comm panel, ordered the crew those who could hear me, anyway to abandon ship, and struggled to the nearest escape pod cluster. I strapped myself in and hit the reassuring red button on the console, and a severe jolt pushed me back into my acceleration couch as the escape engine fired.
As I drifted away from the stricken Avenger, now in its death throes, I rotated the escape pod 180° to face the scene of the battle. The ship had been hulled in dozens of places, I saw, with the most extensive damage having been done to the bridge and engineering section, of which the latter was glowing bright red from a reactor meltdown in progress. Finally the containment fields gave out and the Avenger exploded in a white-hot fireball.
I sat there, numb with shock, and tried to figure out who could have perpetrated such a blitzkrieg attack. A mottled red-and-black object flitted overhead at an incredible velocity, and disappeared into the distance. It was then that I realized who had been responsible for the hit-and-run attack on my ship. It was something I had hoped I would never have to witness again. It was...
Oh, damn! The power cell in this damn recorder is about to...
I finished!! As payment, you must visit my site in my sig
thanks
Your welcome.
(quote)Originally posted by The Catacomb: **Your welcome.:)
------------------ PlanetPhil not drowning, waving **
Lowly and humble Horace inquires as to how glorius and mighty PlanetPhil received 5 karma points from our mighty and gracious gods, the Moderators. Horace knows that as an unregistered user Horace, sadly, cannot obtain what is so sought after, the karma point, but for when Horace registers Horace wants to know how one receives so many points.
Quote
Originally posted by Horace: Lowly and humble Horace inquires as to how glorius and mighty PlanetPhil received 5 karma points from our mighty and gracious gods, the Moderators. Horace knows that as an unregistered user Horace, sadly, cannot obtain what is so sought after, the karma point, but for when Horace registers Horace wants to know how one receives so many points.
***forge runs to the bathroom and vomits.
------------------ The never duplicated Never capitalized And always puce: forge
Laughs so hard he vomits himself
Horace you don't have to be so respectful to Planetphil, he's not a moderator.
------------------ "One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all into the darkness and bind them, in the land of mordor where the shadows lie." Check out the upcomming Lord of the Rings Movies at (url="http://"http://www.lordoftherings.net/home.html")http://www.lordofthe...s.net/home.html(/url)
How did he get 5 karma points?!
------------------ Long Live Apple! Long Live the Mac! (url="http://"http://www.geocities.com/salrillian")http://www.geocities.com/salrillian(/url) (url="http://"http://www.geocities.com/evclassic")http://www.geocities.com/evclassic(/url)
By being a "model" webboard member.
Wow, I had this same problem a few days ago... I was looking for the EV docs, because of the way they described hyperspace travel (I needed a way to explain it in (url="http://"http://www.geocities.com/skyblade500/omega_conspiracy/")The Omega Conspiracy(/url), and the EV documentation was the only source I could think of). Anyway, I asked the people on #ev3, and Captain Scurvy e-mailed me a copy.
------------------ (url="http://"http://www.geocities.com/skyblade500/omega_conspiracy/index.html")The Omega Conspiracy(/url) - An (url="http://"http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/games/evo")EV Override(/url) Novella (url="http://"http://www.angelfire.com/ma3/skyblade/shadowblade")Shadowblade(/url) - A (url="http://"http://www.beenox.com/coldstone.html")Coldstone(/url) Roleplaying Game (url="http://"http://www.marijuana.com")The Internet's Answer to the Drug War(/url) ------------------
U gotta use Res-Edit.
You know, now that I look at this, I think that the doc was meant for EVGE as the names and places are similar to it. But that's just my theroy. And yes I know that EV was made long before EVGE.
Capt. Whitehawk
------------------ To be or not to be...Good question, what's the answer.
Originally posted by Captain Whitehawk: You know, now that I look at this, I think that the doc was meant for EVGE as the names and places are similar to it. But that's just my theroy.
No, it's part of the EV documentation... Of this, I am sure.
What I meant was that the names were familar as if it had been meant for EVGE. I know it is the documentation of it. As I recall in the orginal EV galaxy, there was no planet called Oberon, but in EVGE there was in Polaris space. That's what I meant. Hope that clairifies things.
------------------ The glory that comes with conquest...
(This message has been edited by Captain Whitehawk (edited 02-05-2001).)
Originally posted by Horace: ...our mighty and gracious gods, the Moderators.
Ya got that right!
Well, I'm not too sure about the other moderators, but I know you got it right with me.
------------------ EVula (url="http://"mailto:evula@evula.com")mailto:evula@evula.com(/url)evula@evula.com
You bet EVula!