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| Calibration Errors...; A slip into the Deep Unknown Region | |
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| Topic Started: Jan 28 2006, 12:46 AM (431 Views) | |
| Mikku Likor | Jan 28 2006, 12:46 AM Post #1 |
 
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Calibration Errors... A slip into the Deep Unknown Region ***WARNING WARNING*** ***HYPERSPACE COORDINATE FALIURE*** Mikku launched himself from his bed and scurried as fast as his legs could carry him, the claxon call of the ships automatic alarms pulling him out of sweet dreams of credits falling from the sky in a gentle rain. Cursing as his short legs missed a rung in the ladder; Mikku almost flew into the cockpit and slammed down on the controls ending the blaring knell of the shipboard AI. Quickly glancing at the multitude of scanning arrays he had jury-rigged on to the ship he quickly determined what had brought about the hideous interruption to a good nights sleep. It was nothing less then than a planet, a massive swirl of blue and grey it entirely filled his view screen. Here and there, mostly on the southern half on the planet, land masses like tiny islands rose out of the water with a brilliant shade of green that could be seen even from space. Consulting his equipment, Mikku discovered that those little plots of land were almost the size of the northern desert back on Tatooine. There were no signs of cites or technology, just an endless world of water. Mikku let out a low hiss as he realized how close of a call it had been. The astrogation computer had noticed a massive change in how the local star's gravity was pulling on the ship as it sailed through the galaxy, and decided it was a good call to pull the plug... Less then a sandcrawlers length from the planets gravity well. "At least there was a planet to stop me," Mikku thought sardonically, "I could have flown out past the rim and never knew it". Sliding down into the pilots chair he began trying to puzzle out what had happened; following the logs Mikku discovered a .0005% error in the flight plan. An impossibility he thought, shuddering at the thought of exactly how much it had cost to replace the hyper drive with a more powerful, accurate, version. Much less that he had gone nearly four decades and never once made a single astrogation mistake. So deep in thought was he that when his Galetech droid cleared it's 'throat', Mikku nearly put his light saber through it. Shrieking obscenities at the droid Mikku replaced his light saber, (of course it had to work this time!!), into his coat. Alarmed at the sudden outburst the droid rapidly retreated back into the hall. A few moments later he leaned his head in. "Sir, we seem to be a bit... misplaced," the droid said in it's chipper voice, Mikku glared at it menacingly, the droid pointedly ignored it. "If you desire Sir I can check the calibration on the equipment, and then we can ask the protocol droid to interrogate the computer to see if there are any inconsistencies." Mikku waved his assent to the droid and continued to stare at the planet still filling his screen, hoping he could glare at it and it would cooperate unlike certain droids he knew that most definitely needed a memory wipe... The Galatech droid nimbly rolled through the cargo lifter toward the engine room, dodging random droid parts and what appeared to be the remains of last night dinner still crawling along the floor. Taking an oddly circuitous route the Galatech approached the engine room by crawling into the space between the floor and the support beams. Mikku had often explained that the cubby spaces under the floor were used to escape boarding parties, and of course a droid always believed it's master... Still... Brushing the thoughts from it's memory banks the Galatech kept itself more to the task at hand, trying as silently as possible to creep into engine room without incident. Creeping slowly it reached the floor under the engine room and strained it's receptors to the limit trying to find any out of place noise. After a few minutes the droid determined all was clear and readied itself to raise the floor board and slip in. Cautiously, the droid lifted the metal plate and looked around the room. There was of course, the hyper drive, the backup, the emergency astrogation charts in case the computer failed, a monstrous pile of droid parts, (Mikku had dumped them in here one time when the cargo hold was full and he had no other place to put them), and a single hydrospanner lying on the floor. Sighing with relief, the Galatech raised itself from the hole in the floor and quietly replaced the plate. This sigh, of course, was as premature as the Empires announcement that the rebels had been finally defeated. Following silently from the ceiling, Mikku's favorite droid hung precariously from a few handholds that look recently installed. The Galatech remained unaware as long flexible shafts of metal slowly exposed themselves from deep within it's cavernous body. Each shaft was tipped with various work tools and seemed to be able to tear apart any piece of machinery in moments. The Galatech of course, didn't have a chance. Striking like a viper, MCD rapidly wrapped several shafts around his rival, who immediately began to scream bloody murder as it's body was rapidly assaulted with screwdrivers, ratchets, and many other tools now bent to a destructive warpath. The cacophony of wrenched metal and crackling wires echoed eerily with the now dying shrieks coming from the vocoder. All was not lost however, flinging it's bottom half into the face of MCD, the Galatech managed to tear off it's poorly attached optical sensors leaving the hulking monstrosity blind to the gyrations of it's opponent. Rapidly seizing the advantage, the Galatech reached down to the floor and picked up the hydrospanner lying on the ground. Ramming the device into every joint it could find the Galatech rapidly began to detach any part it could get a hold of. Now, with some of it's own parts resting on the floor next to the Galatech's, the MCD panicked and threw the offender across the engine room and into the wall. Furiously searching for it's optical sensors, it's remaining shafts skittered across the floor rapidly feeling each piece of equipment to determine it's shape and size. Lying across the room the Galatech, it's motor servo's destroyed, and the MCD lying in the way of the door, quickly assessed his options. "Not good, not good at all", he thought to himself as he reseated his vocoder,"A ruse of war is called for here". Raising himself to a vertical position, the Galatech droid tried to put some false cheer into his voice. “As entertaining as this was, I have work to do, and as I have your optical sensors, you may want to rethink things..." The Galatech smiled as the monstrosity paused to contemplate its dilemma. "Now if you find somewhere else to be for the next say, two hours, I will return your... equipment." Nothing could have kept the derision out of the droids voice as it referred to the hulking collection of glass (glass!!) Lenses that served as it's eyes. A long series of whines, chirps, and beeps issued from deep within the MCD. "Of course, of course you can take my word, Galatech BG- 19 models have some of the highest ethical standards programmed into them". "Unlike some collections of nuts and bolts I know...". The Galatech thought to himself thinking of a particular protocol droid. A few chirps later and the deal was made the Galatech rapidly repaired it's motor functions and reattached the optical sensor to the top of the MCD. The MCD stared stonily at the Galatech for a few moments then drug itself over to the pile of droid parts. With a few sparks and whirling of blades the MCD continued it's quest for mechanical perfection. The Galatech cheerfully turned around and began humming as it removed the faceplate from the Hyperdrive. "Another successful foray" He thought to himself.
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"Guak wa Neenee Cha Ba Steika? Bo Shuda Zookeyneee Wa Na Be.... Bowa Zootaneenee!" | |
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| Mikku Likor | Mar 9 2008, 03:23 PM Post #2 |
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Planetfall Mikku looked up from his console and steepled his fingers in his cloak sleeves, the scanners had picked up large quantities of an extremely rare mining crystal, used for high density drilling. From his studies he remembered that the crystals help one attune to the force on a very primal level, useless for him as he had no desire for combat or other such carnal activities, but he could think of a few people who would pay nicely to control such a large influx of such a rare commodity. The Empire would as well as a few members of the New Jedi Order. He chuckled to himself about the name. The New Jedi Order, heh. "But perhaps that is not the best approach..." Mikku mused, I need an in... but just turning this in to the Empire or the Order wouldn't get me very far. Some underling would claim all the credit. Time is running out events are moving quickly, the Keepers however... The Keepers of the Peace were a small breakaway faction of the Order, they were as such smaller, with less resources, and fewer friends. However Jedi being Jedi Mikku was sure they would hit the ground running after a few more years, becoming a genuine player. Having high members of any faction consider him an ally or even a resource could prove very benificial. These crystals would definatly get him at least notice by the 'leaders', if not a face to face meeting. And once they discovered he himself was at the very least a force sensitive... Mikku flipped the problem on it's head. "On the other hand, if the Order decides to claim it's wayward children, things could get... uncomfertable. Or if the Empire decides this third faction is more likley to side with the Order." Mikku dropped the question for now, it was all moot until he had the crystals in hand. Gently running his fingers along the controls, he released the clamps on the sandcrawler and left his home away from home floating placidly in orbit. Soaring the ship gracefully down into the planets atmosphere, he was soon buffeted by incredible winds. The seemingly placid planet (as seen from space), was in fact full of powerful storms, racing across the seas with an unbridled fury. Pushing massive swells in front of them, in some places two to three clicks high and racing along at almost 100 clicks an hour, the ship rocked violently. He rapidly glanced over the screens and found to the south an island surrounded by high mountains (more of a mesa), with a deep depression in the middle. The pit fell well below sea level, but was apparently free of water as far down as his scanners could read. Forcing the ship through the furious storms, he lowered himself into the depression and slowly began rotating as he descended. After only a few meters he found what he was looking, a protrusion low enough to escape the worst of the storms fury, wide enough to land the ship on. Settling the ship on the rocky floor, Mikku quickly cut the engines and checked to make sure the sandcrawler was safely soaring. Satisfied, Mikku packed himself a small survival pack and a few other animities and made his way to the lift. He briefly considered bringing one of the droids along, or just sending one, but he decided against such it. He was bored, and a planet soaked in eternally bad weather was better then remaining trapped in a metal tube any longer. Keying in the pass codes the lift mechanically descended, and with only a few scrapes and screeches, lowered itself to the ground. The moment he was exposed to the air he was buffeted by intense winds and drenching rain. Grabbing the pole in the center of the lift for support Mikku stomped hard on the ground and his shoes suddenly adhered to the ground like it was glue. Mikku looked at the shoes appreciatively happy with the investment into that strange professor he had met on Coresont. The boots worked exactly as designed capable of providing traction on any surface (so far) but force fields. Walking considerably steadier he looked around through the downpour barely able to see more then 8 or ten feet in any direction. Regardless it was enough to make out the entrance to the cave system he had detected. Dashing through the rain over the smooth rock he hurried into the cave, eager to be out of the downpour. Once in the cave he discovered it to be dry, apparently none of the rain had managed to drill its way through the rock surface here. Pulling out a small headband he put it on and turned on the flashlight affixed to it, revealing the interior of the cave with glaring light. Glancing around the cave he found little of interest beyond the back of the cave where a low tunnel sunk further into the darkness. Walking rapidly into the tunnel Mikku pushed up his sleeve and contemplated the holographic display hanging in the air. A few moments later he pushed on, letting the sonar system plot out the nearby cave system. Passing through cave after cave constantly checking against the holographic display, Mikku walked a path through the cave that no one could hope to memorize, sliding like a shadow through each tunnel and open cave. The utter silence still managed to make each small noise seem as loud as a shuttle take off. Mikku proud of his ability to slip quietly through any environment with silence and ease, winced with each step as he realized that some of this vaunted ability came from relying on his gifts from the force and not trained ability. The realization caused him to slow and attempt to put more effort into moving with the caves own silence, before he stopped himself for his foolishness. The caves he had passed through so far had nothing but small traces of lichen on the walls, the only sign of life he had detected so far. There was nothing to hear him, and no reason to slow, he picked up the pace, coming close to his objective. A sound came echoing eerily off the cave walls, Mikku tensed listening with both his hearing and the force. The sound of metal on metal, slowly growing in volume until Mikku no longer doubted his ears, caused him to flip off his flashlight. There was nothing out of place in the Force, but as Mikku had learned time and time again, droids do not leave any impressions that he had ever been able to detect. No doubt someone had noticed the crystal and was now harvesting it themselves, but the lack of large mining equipment told him it couldn't be any major organization. The lack of detectable ships meant they were trying to hide, and the lack of Force presence meant his only competition were droids. Mikku could almost hear the Credits trickling into his accounts as he made sure he lightsaber was loose in the confines of his robe. He followed the tunnel quickly but quietly, his sonar mapper now laying quiescently on his wrist, sure he would soon hit a perimeter alarm, but as he progressed through the tunnel no one seemed to take notice, no droids came to intercept, no klaxon sounded. A little bewildered by such sloppy security, Mikku approached what he believed was the last bend in the tunnel. Mikku was more then a little surprised when he finally peaked his head around the corner. The twisted off-pink flesh of a Yuuzhan Vong rippled almost a half-foot in front of him, powerful muscles raised a hulk of twisted limbs with cruel looking metal points and slammed then into the rock face. Dislodged chunks of crystal and stone rained down on Mikku as a horrific crack caused the cave to collapse around him. The twisted monstrosity leaped as agile as a womp rat out of the way. Mikku was not as lucky. |
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"Guak wa Neenee Cha Ba Steika? Bo Shuda Zookeyneee Wa Na Be.... Bowa Zootaneenee!" | |
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| Mikku Likor | Mar 9 2008, 03:24 PM Post #3 |
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Recovery Operations D-4P0 wandered the ship aimlessly, having already dealt with the hyperdrive error and exhaustedly gone over the paperwork necessary for running the ship, as well as verifying all the maintenance seals, inventorying the ship, and oiling some stubborn hinges in the med cabinet (as well as a hundred other things), D-4P0 finally couldn't lie to itself any longer. It missed the master. It was a hard thing for it to accept, but the last three weeks had began to take their toll on the droid. At first the realization that the master had been gone for over 48 hours without explanation filled the droid with a sense of joy. Even the fact that the ship wouldn't start without the masters codes did little to diminish the droids good spirits. But as time went on without anyone to direct pithy comments to, D-4P0 felt a little lonely... even incomplete. Finally unable to justify his inaction, D-4P0 decided Something Must Be Done. D-4P0 crossed the ship from the observation deck to the cockpit, his receptors quickly finding the Galatech droid standing frozen in the corner. It had deactivated itself after slipping into a state of melancholy, and was unable to focus on it's duties. D-4P0 pushed the manual override switch, forcing the Galatech droid from it's state of inactivity. After a few moments a whirring sound from deep within the droid gently filled the room. The Galatech failed to move. "Don't try any of that foolishness with me! I'm conversant with several billion different forms of communication and I can assure you, droid is one of them!" D-4P0 said with as much bluster as he could manage. The Galatech however, continued it's stonily silence. "Fine then," D-4P0 sighed "If you want to sit here languishing away in this tomb feel free, Ill ask MCD for help. He would be more suited to this sort of thing anyway, you would be afraid to get your wheels dirty". D-4PO waited, but still the Galatech did nothing. D-4P0 began to walk to the door in a brisk professional manner, rapidly considering and rejecting several courses of actions. Then inspiration!! "Well at least two of us will be getting an oil bath" he sniffed, playing the dirtiest trick in the droids arsenal. The Galatech lurched away from the wall in an unusually ungainly manner, it turned to the protocol droid unable to keep a certain not of longing out of it's voice. "I don't remember a scheduled oil bath for another six months, simple trickery will not convince me to help you in whatever mad scheme you have concocted!!" The Galatech responded to the gode, irritated that the Protocol droid would think it would work. "The Master is the only one with the codes to the ship, the only one with access to the credit accounts, and the only one with my Galatech upgrade codes!!! Why by now my database is hopelessly outdated!" The Galatech shuddered as it realized the dozens of ship database updates he might have missed. "Why they could have recalled the new hyperdrive type! Look what happened to us! It could have happened to others, even now we could be sitting on a ticking thermal detonator, ignorant of our doom!" D-4P0 mentally rubbed it's hands together as the repair droid stepped neatly into the trap. "Well... if your that worried about it you should come with me, I would much prefer your presence to that horrible MCD-01 anyway." BG-19 watched the protocol droid warily. "Oh don't look so concerned, I was merely going to take the spare sonar mapper and take a look around..." BG-19 bleeped with alarm. "We are not allowed of the ship, if we disobey the restraint bolts will fry..." BG-19 trailed off as it heard D-4P0 begin to chuckle. "The Master didn't put any restraining bolts on us, he programmed you and MCD to believe we each have one. He was afraid you would try to repair the Hyper manifolds while we were at dangerous ports of call and get stolen. Or that MCD would do whatever it is his does to some poor helpless soul." D-4P0 handed BG-19 a datapad. "Here's the deactivation code, download it and bring any equipment you think we would need." D-4P0 waved his arm airily. "We have work to do." Several hours later found the pair in front of a recent cave in, with D-4P0 pretending to have any knowledge at all of stress points and wondering out loud as to what the best way to clear the cave in was. "We could try to move this stone here," it directed "then slide the pile over..." BG-19 sighed expressively as he moved yet another ineffectual pile of rocks back to where it was originally. "...or perhaps --" D-4P0 cut off abruptly as BG-19 cleared it's throat. "Or perhaps," it said gently, "we could use the sonar mapper to see how deep it is?" As it pressed a stud on the Mapper and pressed it flat against the stone. A brief thrumming sound emerged from the device, followed by a holo display blinking to life over the control screen. The holo rendering of the cave-in revealed that it was no more then a 1/2 yard or so deep. BG-19 was surprised their ministrations failed to dislodge the pile by accident. "Stand to the side please." it said polietly to D-4P0. After it complied BG-19 pulled out a small box of sonic mines. "The rest of the cave appears to be very stable," it said as it stated planting mines to the roof and then the walls of the tunnel. "this should do the trick nicely..." BG-14 whirled around and retreated back rapidly for a few yards before turning back. "Perhaps you should move--" BG-19's words were lost in the violent shudder that rocked the cave. |
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"Guak wa Neenee Cha Ba Steika? Bo Shuda Zookeyneee Wa Na Be.... Bowa Zootaneenee!" | |
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| Mikku Likor | Mar 29 2008, 05:44 PM Post #4 |
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still in editing, last chapter, expected done by 3/31/08 Not yet Titled /edit: Sorry life happened ill try tomorrow 040408 |
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"Guak wa Neenee Cha Ba Steika? Bo Shuda Zookeyneee Wa Na Be.... Bowa Zootaneenee!" | |
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9:21 PM Feb 9
