The Nisos

Have a great FTL experience you would like to share? Post here!
QuintonBeck
Posts: 9
Joined: Mon Oct 15, 2012 2:33 am

The Nisos

Postby QuintonBeck » Mon Oct 15, 2012 2:44 am

Chapter 1

Captured. Again. Seemed to be the fate of the Nisos’s crew to end up incarcerated in a Federation prison. Even with the Rebels beating down their doors the Feds still found time to lock up the Nisos and her crew. It probably didn’t help things that their ship was a re-purposed and ‘privatized’ Federation Cruiser of the utmost, what some might say, ‘classified’ variety that had been crusing through highly contested Federation space. Though to be completely fair Ferris had been senior officer on board when he took it out from dock those few years ago to ‘test the inertial dampeners’ And the dampeners had certainly been tested. Alongside the FTL drive and weapons system when putting as much distance between Ferris and his upcoming court martial.

It seemed the Federation frowned on desertion quite a bit even during their war against the Rebels, and they had sent a sizable taskforce to bring the Nisos back into dry dock. A paint job at a less than reputable space dock, the acquisition of a crew made up of Ferris’s old friends Alex and Valeria had delayed capture but not prevented it and now the three crewmembers were sitting in a Federation pen waiting for the order from on high to have them imprisoned for life sentences.

The Nisos herself had already been impounded and was sitting painfully still, grounded in the Federation hangar. Before the three crew had been whisked away Ferris noted that the impounding lot seemed to be searching the ship quite intensely, as if looking for something specific, beyond the extent of the customization put into it by the crew. Not that the customization was much to speak of. Ferris had sold the burst laser originally equipped on the cruiser in order to afford an improvement of the ship’s artillery beam and the minimal scrap gained in their short time as mercenaries had only afforded them the basest of weaponry to replace it. Still, the secret Federation weapon had saved them more than a few times before their eventual capture so Ferris held no regret for his actions.

As they sat in their cell Ferris glanced over towards Valeria. The Slug seemed on edge and Ferris could hardly blame her for that, but the way she kept glancing at the Federation guards outside as if expecting something made Ferris curious and a bit nervous.

Ferris stood up, pretending to pace back and forth for a bit before coming to rest next to the Slug.

“What’s up?” he whispered so that the guards couldn’t hear.

“You remember those Rebels we ran into out near Sigma 6 a few months ago?” The slug replied telepathically.

Telepathic reply wasn’t the most comfortable for Ferris but he understood Valeria’s reasoning behind it. Nothing was quieter than mind speak.

“Sure I do, they seemed real interested in the Nisos, the kinda interest that got them shot down if I recall events correctly.” Ferris whispered back, still unable to master telepathic communication himself.

“Yes, but I read something off them before things escalated. They seemed to think the Nisos had information about their fleet. Do you know anything about that captain?”

“There’s lots of classified information on the Nisos,” Ferris admitted, “The kinds of information a lieutenant in the Federation doesn’t have access to. I figured it was mostly about the Artillery Beam and since we figured that one out on our own I assumed we didn’t need it. You think the Rebs wanted the information on that?”

“I don’t know captain, but they certainly seemed intent on trying to capture the ship, and the Federation sent an entire task force to retrieve us. Even if the Nisos is a state of the art ship, they’re fighting a war, what’s one ship lost to a deserter if that’s all it is?”

Ferris nodded and felt a warm buzz of electrically charged air as Alex approached his two shipmates.

“Guys, I dunno what it is but I’ve been picking up a lot of comm. chatter in the air. I think something’s going on outside.”

Ferris squinted his eyes as he thought. These were the benefits of a multi-racial crew. One of the many reasons desertion had not led him into the arms of the xenophobic rebellion.

“What do you think it is they’re talking about?” he asked quietly.

“I couldn’t say Rick, I’m just picking up the buzz of-“

“Get down!” Valeria shouted to the minds both of her companions as an explosion ripped through the far wall of their cell, roasting the Federation guards and leaving a gaping hole into the hallway beyond.

The three prisoners stood dazed as the world ran by soundless, their ears still ringing from the explosion. Outside the cell in the hallway fires were spreading and Federation guards armed with weapons were racing down the hall.

Ferris recovered first, grabbing both his companions and shoving them towards the hole in their cell. He stooped to recover the blaster from one of the now deceased guards and Alex and Valeria did the same. Sound slowly returned as the three companions raced down the halls, following the signs that seemed to indicate the direction towards the hangar. As they ran the sounds of laser fire rang out in the halls and glimpses of scorched uniforms, Federation and Rebel, skipped by.

“Stop right there Federation scum!” A rebel had appeared in front of the three companions, weapon drawn and leveled.

“You think working with those filthy aliens will save you? The only true peace is through conque-“

Three shots rang out, ending the Rebel’s soliloquy. The three companions glanced at one another rolling their eyes in three different ways before continuing on down the hallway.

Chapter 2

The door to the hangar was open, klaxons sounding and lights flashing red as small skirmishes lit up parts of the hangar. The Nisos sat placidly in the middle of the hangar. Occasional small laser fire glancing off her hull harmlessly, causing Ferris to wince each time it did.

Ferris took careful aim at a collection of FTL fuel barrels and squeezed the rigger on his pistol. The explosion rocked the room and drew attention giving the three crewmembers time to race across to the Nisos. The boarding ramp and door were sealed, Ferris moved to address the key pad while Alex and Valeria moved to cover him, crouching behind some storage boxes to prevent their own death by laser fire. Ferris input the codes he had assigned during his time as captain.

Valid. Welcome back Captain Ferris.

“This is why the Federation’s losing the war,” he murmured as the hatch began to open and the ramp lowered.

Laser fire, which had so far avoided the three convicts, now began to focus itself in their direction as the opening hatch drew unwanted attention.

“Get in, get in!” Ferris motioned for his crew to ascend the ramp and followed behind them, “Everyone to stations! Let’s get the hell out of here!”

Ferris could hear the small laser fire pinging off the hull as he raced to the pilot’s seat, closing the hatch they had entered and prepping for takeoff. Or at least he would have started prepping for takeoff if the console hadn’t been locked down. A forced grounding by the Federation.

Ferris slapped the comm. button, opening a channel to flight control.

“Federation flight control this is the Nisos requesting permission to depart, emergency override Alpha one nine-“ as Ferris began reciting his no doubt outdated emergency codes a massive explosion erupted outside the ship and the console cleared of lockdown warnings.

“We’re down one missile captain but we should be able to depart,” Alex’s voice came over the comm. system.

Ferris grinned, spooling up the engines, the Nisos lifting off of the hangar ground and heading out of the bay, lifting up into the sky with her nose towards the outer atmosphere.

Chapter 3

Free and clear would not have been the best way to describe the skies above the base. Rather, harsh and packed with laserfire would have been a better description. Ferris regretted once again his lack of a cloaking system as he dodged weapons fire, spooling up FTL for a jump to the next sector. Capital ships were slugging it out with one another as fighters and bombers danced wildly in the inky black above the blue-green world below. It might have been beautiful if it wasn’t so damn frightening.

Two fighters swooped in on the Nisos, one Federation, one Rebel. Together they could have easily overtaken Ferris and blasted him into submission but when they caught sight of one another they moved instead into positions of attack against one another. Deciding their fight was not his fight Ferris moved the ship hard starboard and out of their weapons range.

Hails were bombarding the Nisos almost as much as weapons were. Rebels, Federation. They all seemed very interested in what the Nisos was up to. Ferris didn’t reply to any of them as word came from Valeria that FTL drive was fully charged. Ferris punched the jump button and the odd sensation of FTL jumping swept across the ship. They arrived in an empty sector. Just the FTL beacon and space, no planets, no stations. Ferris breathed a sigh of relief.

“This is Captain Ferris to crew, we’re free and clear. I’m going to take us towards somewhere uncivilized where hopefully neither Rebels nor Feds mess with us and we can get back on track with our lives til this whole war business sweeps over.”

“Very good captain,” Valeria’s voice sounded in his mind.

“You got it captain,” Alex said over the comm.

Chapter 4

Ferris contemplated resting at this beacon but decided it was best not to risk the possibility of either of the two fleets tracking their jump and prepared himself for another jump.

While he waited he reviewed the Nisos’s logs from the time he had been incarcerated. It seemed the Feds had been going over the Nisos’s flight data from its time under Ferris. Guess they wondered where their little pride and joy had been wandering about. Ferris chuckled, the first stop had of course been the bar at Alpha Kioni in Zoltan space where he had found Alex Rigopulus, fine ensign of the Zoltan border police, attempting to use his rank to get a free drink at the bar. It might have worked too if his rank had been anything even resembling legitimate. As it was though he had been thrown out just as Ferris had arrived and was eager to join up again with his old pal from the academy, even more so once he had made sure they hadn’t been ‘called out of retirement to fight one last battle for the Fed.’ Ferris chuckled, poor bastard watched too many Old Earth action movies.

They’d moved pretty fast after they noticed some Fed workers checking ship Ids at one of the other docks. It had been pure coincidence they had even run into Valeria on their way off planet. In fact, they had both suspected the Slug was one of the inspectors when they first saw her.

Valeria had always been quite adamant about proving herself and her people in the Federation and that had meant avoiding, shunning, and holding a general disdain for hoodlums of Rick and Alex’s variety. Turned out however that her captain had turned Rebel, booted her and the rest of his alien crew off at this spacedock and her attempts to find another ship and give information about her captain had been bogged down and ignored by Federation bureaucracy in favor of ‘other more pressing matters.’ Needless to say, in her disillusioned state, she had gladly agreed to join the two hoodlums from the academy in their trek into merc space to pursue the lives of freedom one simply couldn’t find in structured space.

Ferris reminisced as he browsed through the jump logs, losing himself in a particular memory in which a Slug ship had tried to convince Ferris quite adamantly that he needed hull repair at an exorbitant price, attempting to nudge his mind to agree with mental suggestions unaware Valeria was preventing any modicum of success on his part. As he remembered the look, of what can only be described as irate shock, cross the Slug’s visage the FTL recharge light binged and Ferris grabbed the comm.

“Prepare for FTL, we’re moving out.”

Ferris put the records away, leaving the investigation into what the Feds had uncovered for a later date as he prepared to engage FTL.
zJack7331
Posts: 24
Joined: Wed Oct 03, 2012 8:59 pm

Re: The Nisos

Postby zJack7331 » Wed Oct 17, 2012 5:44 pm

Wow. Nice story.
Could have used a bit more grammar with the speech, but apart from that, it's an exceptional story.
QuintonBeck
Posts: 9
Joined: Mon Oct 15, 2012 2:33 am

Re: The Nisos

Postby QuintonBeck » Wed Oct 17, 2012 8:45 pm

Happy to see a reply. I thought the Nisos was a bit of an under-serviced ship in the story department so I wanted to give it a shot. It's color scheme and crew just shouted mercenary to me. Or at the least an 'independent business' that had somehow gotten a Federation Cruiser. I was waiting to see if anyone cared to read it before I went about posting more but now that I know I've got at least one reader I will write up some more later.

What did you mean by more grammar with speech? I've always found dialogue the most challenging aspect of a story. It isn't that I don't know what I want characters to say but rather how I write it so what I mean to say comes across. I also really wanted to add in a lot more but I didn't want to make it long and ramble-y either. Any tips, ideas, and suggestions are appreciated and thanks for reading. :)
zJack7331
Posts: 24
Joined: Wed Oct 03, 2012 8:59 pm

Re: The Nisos

Postby zJack7331 » Wed Oct 17, 2012 9:04 pm

For example,
“Federation flight control this is the Nisos requesting permission to depart, emergency override Alpha one nine-“
Should be
“Federation flight control - this is the Nisos requesting permission to depart. Emergency override Alpha one nine-“

I know it's not a big deal, but I'm..well, you could say, a grammar Nazi. But please, write more :)
Mister Sammy
Posts: 71
Joined: Fri Sep 21, 2012 4:50 pm

Re: The Nisos

Postby Mister Sammy » Fri Oct 19, 2012 2:28 pm

Arrghh! More, damn you, MORE!! I can't wait for the next chapter!
QuintonBeck
Posts: 9
Joined: Mon Oct 15, 2012 2:33 am

Re: The Nisos

Postby QuintonBeck » Sat Oct 20, 2012 5:32 am

Apologies dear readers! The next chapter is here! Probably write some more this weekend as well, but for now there's this.

Chapter 5

There was a ship at the beacon bearing the markings of a mercenary-pirate. Ferris’ hand hovered over the red alert button before a hail pinged on the screen in front of him. Ferris answered the hail and a human face appeared on the display screen in front of him. It was an older man, his hair was groomed but it was rather apparent this was not its native state. A messy beard had been groomed into some semblance of order. Obviously he was going the reputable mercenary route. He began speaking,

“Good sir! It seems you’re having some troubles with the Rebels. I’d like to help you, but I can’t afford the upkeep required on this hunk of junk I’m flying…. Maybe we can come to an arrangement? My ship can upload the records of our scouting this sector for a small price or even see about slowing down the Rebel fleet for you?”

“Rebel fleet? What are you talking about?” Ferris said, confused.

The other captain looked confused by Ferris’s bewilderment, “Your ship is pinging with Rebel tracking signatures. I imagine they’re already on their way. It’s not my business to ask questions as to why just to offer solutions.”

Ferris remained stoic. Why the Hell were the Rebs tracking his ship. Why did everyone care so much what the Nisos did?

“How much for that sensor data?” Ferris asked.

“6 scrap,” the captain replied, “and the price is non-negotiable.”

Ferris nodded, “I’ll have it transferred over. May we dock?”

“That won’t be necessary captain, we have a cargo grade teleporter.”

“Ah, good then,” Ferris nodded, “Let’s make the deal then captain.”

The bearded man on the screen nodded and after some ordering around on both sides of the screen the transfer was complete and the Nisos had a better picture of the current sector’s layout and hazards while the other ship, the Keeler as it was, was a bit richer.

“Thank you for your business Captain Ferris, and good luck out there.”

“Thanks captain, hopefully I’ll find some. Any idea where I might go to lose the Rebs?”

“I’d suggest pirate controlled sectors, civie sectors like this one might have spaceports you could disappear into, and possibly slug space. Though, the tricky bastards’d probably kill you as quick as any Reb would.”

Ferris nodded. Valeria may have been dutiful and honorable but she was certainly the exception, not the rule.

“Safe travels,” they both signed off the hail.

Ferris moved the ship out of range of the beacon, not wishing to interfere with the other ship’s operations and equally wishing for some privacy with which to think things over.

“Valeria, Alex, report to crew quarters for a crew meeting.”

After a few minutes the three crew members were assembled in the mid-deck quarters.

“I’ve just found out that our ship is being tracked by the Rebel fleet. Now I don’t know why, but I think it may have something to do with the locked and encrypted files within the Nisos’s data banks. We simply don’t have the ability to access the information at this current time, however I believe it is important we do decipher it so that we can decide what to do with it. I don’t care if we give it to the rebel fleet itself but until we know what we have we’re playing blind and I’m not going to play this game blind. Now, I’m open to suggestions on how we try and crack these files open.”

“An Engi?” Alex said, “Maybe one could tap right in and de-encrypt it for us.”

“Not bad,” Ferris nodded, “But it’d need to be an Engi we trusted not to run off with the information and do something else with it. We don’t want to lose our monopoly on the information.”

“It’s Federation encrypted. If we found a high ranking Federation officer or an intelligence member, they could likely figure it out for us too,” Valeria added.

“Very true, though I’d trust the Federation only slightly more than I’d trust the Rebels and only because they need the goodwill for their war effort. That and we’re transmitting a Federation IFF. It was a good idea when they had more than half the galaxy under their control but now I wouldn’t mind a solid civilian IFF now.” Ferris said.

“Perhaps a research station might have an Engi willing to help us?” Alex continued his line of thought.

“It’s plausible,” Ferris nodded, “And according to the star maps we just picked up there’s a research station nearby even. We’ll head in that direction and see what we can find. Maybe we can figure out WHY the entire Rebel fleet is on our tail and then maybe figure out how we’re going to deal with that. Crew dismissed.”

Alex got up and left, his absence causing the lights to flicker as he left the room and brighten in the hallway he was walking through. The Zoltan were an intriguing race and despite their short stature the amount of raw power that emanated from them always impressed Ferris. It’s what had drawn him to their religion for a time.

As he prepared to head back to the cockpit he heard Valeria in his mind.

“Captain, may I speak to you for a moment?”

“Of course Valeria, what is it?”

“I understand we are not taking sides in this war Captain but I believe in the Federation.”

“Now look Valeria, don’t ask me to drop you off so you can sign back up with them. They’re just as messy as the Rebs and-“

“I’m not looking to leave your service captain,” she interrupted, “I just wanted to let you know that, while the Federation certainly has its dirtier sides, I still believe in it and I think somewhere beneath your mercenary exterior you do too and I just want you to remember that.”

Ferris nodded, “Thank you Valeria.”

“Captain,” she said as she turned and glided back towards her post.

She wasn’t entirely wrong. The Federation had been a good thing for Lieutenant Rick Ferris, comm. officer of the Federation Cruiser prototype Liberty, now the Nisos, but it had been equally a bad thing for Rick Ferris, court martial recipient due to an incident with a superior officer aboard the Liberty. He wasn’t sure what all he believed in outside preserving himself and his crew but he knew it wasn’t some ideology of some military force. It was certainly his own.

As he reached the cockpit and sat down in the pilot’s chair he opened the FTL star chart and noted the bing of a distress beacon. And not just any distress beacon, but one at the research station the Nisos was going to investigate.

“This is Captain Ferris to crew, get ready to jump and prepare for an emergency, we’ve got a distress call and we’re moving in to answer.” Ferris said quickly as he engaged the FTL drive, sending the Nisos hurtling through space to the beacon where hopefully some answers could be found.