ZOMG! A big contest! =0 {Winners in First Post}

[Dreamis-Tepes]

Are we allowed to do fan-fictions?  

[SomaCruz-darklord]

I think I'll stay out of this contest. I have tried but I can't think of any ideas. Best of luck, everyone! mrgreen  

[Draculas-Mistress]

Awe don't do that Soma. I kinda bragged about you to everyone sweatdrop  

[SomaCruz-darklord]

Bragged? redface I have to say I'm flattered and thanks, but I'm not sure what to write about for the contest, can a sample chapter of something pass as a short story submission? If so then I might have a good idea, and I could enter.  

[Draculas-Mistress]

Yeah, but I might keep asking what happens. mrgreen  

[SomaCruz-darklord]

Ok then, a sample chapter it is. I have one in mind already.  

[Draculas-Mistress]

Goodie! blaugh  

[Kenshin Belmont]

Ok, here's mine. I figured that many posts would be good for those who can't come here and stay for a long time. I think the difference in posts can help in telling which chapter is which. You can read more about it on my Fanfiction account. My user name there is Fernand J. Sea!

Captain Michael’s first mission

Captain’s Journal, Chapter 1:

I wonder if I should be glad I'm a different person now. The good thing is; nobody I know seemed to be upset with me getting the modification that my body needed for space travel. After boarding my brand new Galaxy Cruiser named "Danoga", I began to thank god for the chance to see space. Though I already met the crew I would be working with a few weeks earlier, I didn't think there were any surprises for me left before I got to the bridge; but how wrong was I, it seems that, at the last minute, one of the assigned members was re-assigned somewhere else, so I found my gorgeous ex-wife as the new pilot. For a second, I thought "Dammit", but then again, I began to think if there was any reason for me to still resent her for just leaving without even leaving a note. Anyway, after un-docking with the Battle station "Chimera", we looked upon the stars on our monitors and the feeling was indescribable. Our first assignment is to go to the first star close to our home planet, we had named it the Kosanova system, Since our scientists said the probes indicated signs of intelligent life there, we we're being sent to make first contact.

This was a big deal for me, I don't know why but sometimes I just like to describe things in my journal. I guess anyone could say that I'm not like any other person, well, not anymore anyway. It's just that my ship, my GC as I like to call it, is really quite something else. It can go at the speed of light, so we'll be at the Kosanova system in four and a half years. I don't know why I'm saying this but still, I want to do it anyway. Since the Danoga has long range scanners of about a light year of range, it's always wise to go with this strategy the scientists came up with. Frankly I don't know much about engines and stuff, but at least I have enough knowledge to figure out my way around the engine room. Anyway, the strategy is to start the journey on a set course, then, some time afterwards, come out of light speed to check the area ahead with the long range scanners. That way we won't run into anything that's out there. Funny how light speed is really, to us is so fast, but if you could look at something traveling from one star to another it might look like a snail's pace. So it's slow enough to travel, but too fast if you have something in range and you want to stop, or change course to avoid it. Well, I'm gonna go to bed now, wait a sec, I'm so new to the modification, sometimes I don't remember that I don't need to sleep anymore. Ha-ha! Oh boy, anyway, I should be getting acquainted with my crew now so I'll be leaving. End recording.

(As you might have noticed, the captain says he doesn't know much about engines. He's just so damn modest that it almost got him in trouble a few times.)  

[Kenshin Belmont]

Captain Michael’s first mission

Captain’s journal, chapter 2:

It's been about a year since the mission started, wow, I can't believe it's gonna be 3 and a half more years until we get to Kosanova. I haven’t even had time to feel bored, every time we have to start the light speed engines we have to go to stasis. I really wish there was a faster way to travel but, until the scientists can come up with something then... Then again, I might be able to help a friend of mine with his research after I get back, there's so much that I want to find out after we get to the new system. To think that it took me less than a year to get familiar with my crew, I mean, there aren't many of us on the Danoga but still, with these many stop and go things, I have found time out of stasis to get to know them at least a little. I still can't get over my best friend Ferguson being here as the chief engineer. Although I consider all the crew as a family now, I hope I can make more friends after the mission.

I still get the feeling that I need to sleep and eat even though my body no longer needs to; I guess my mind hasn't gotten fully used to this whole deal yet. Even though we captains and some of the diplomats on the crew have special modifications that allow us to eat things, eating is no longer necessary to sustain us. I wonder if we'll have to eat whatever the beings at Kosanova offer us, we don't want to offend anyone after all. Although we also sent probes there to make some kind of initial contact, we haven't made physical contact with them. First contact; I wonder how will they see us, I wonder how we will see them, will they be human? Will they be humanoid as well? I have no idea of what to expect when we get there, but I will sure treat them with respect, if they're as advanced as us or more, then they deserve it. Now that I think about it, what will my little girl think of all this? Is this gonna be good for earth? Can we teach these being something? Could they teach us something new? Well, gotta go to the bridge to check our route, I don't want no asteroid to be getting in our way or something. I trust my ex-wife Sophia won't be flying us into a star, ha-ha. Aside from keeping my journal and getting a few boost of energy every now and again, there's nothing much to do in my quarters. I guess there are so many things to take care of on a starship that we can't afford to take lunch or bathroom breaks.

End recording.  

[Kenshin Belmont]

Captain Michael’s first mission

Captain’s journal, chapter 3:

God, where should I begin? This whole deal was really tough on me and the crew but fortunately, we got through it. I guess I should start from the moment we received that distress signal, it was a few moments after coming out of light speed to check on our route. Let's see, after resuming our positions, we had to begin scanning for possible obstacles in our route to the Kosanova system. We were about to resume our course when we discovered a distress signal not far from where we were. We were passing close to a solar system where, apparently, there was no star. The planets, which by the way, there weren't many of them, were all frozen and dead. The signal was coming from an asteroid field in the system. I decided to check it out just in case help was needed. According to regulations, a transport bearing a rescue team can consist of only 5 members. I, being still as human as I remembered, thought that 5 were just too few. So, I decided the rescue team should have been of at least 8 people; that would be 4 guards, instead of the usual 2; 2 doctors instead of the usual 1, my first officer Santiago and myself), with that settled, we boarded a transport and headed towards the place where the signal was coming from.

When we arrived at the field, our transport collided with what seemed to be an invisible rock. This was because the asteroid was made from an unknown black material, so black that we didn't see it until it came that close; even our instruments couldn't detect the darn thing. Fortunately for us, the shields absorbed most of the impact. The signal suddenly was dying out; we barely made it there before the signal completely disappeared. The place the signal came from was a huge asteroid in the middle of the field; it also had a bunch of those black rocks surrounding it. I was piloting so I managed to calibrate the sensors to detect these unusual rocks. With that out of the way, we landed inside the asteroid where we saw a big space ship encased within the asteroid. We were pretty shocked to see that, but we had to scan the ship before we decided to enter. After the scans revealed 10 fading life forms and nothing much inside, we decided to go in after sending a few messages to the ship, mostly because we didn't get a response. The inside of the ship was like nothing I ever saw before; it didn't have stairs, doors or buttons you could operate by hand. Instead, it had tube shaped corridors, things connecting to rooms that had the shape of a strainer, and tiny levers and sensor pads could be visible all over the vessel. I was thinking what kind of beings could possibly be here; I was gonna find out soon enough. The life forms we encountered were not showing any signs of being awake, they were dying, slowly, but surely, they were. With the help of my crew we managed to restore the life support system of their ship. Although at first we didn't understood how the darn thing worked. Unfortunately, by the time we got it working, some robots sprung from the walls and attacked us. It was a very difficult situation to get out of, since they threw a lot of things at us; from gas, to some sort of bullets, to laser beams. Now I know that if we still had our human bodies, we would have never stood a chance against them. After a tough battle, and thanks to our cunning and strength, we managed to beat the robots and save the life forms on the vessel. After learning their language thanks to my telepathic first officer, we learned how some beings from another world not far from here came and managed to accelerate the decaying process of their sun. Afterwards they killed most of their people (if you can call them people). Finally, some managed to get away to other systems, but this group was still here when the next wave of ships came. They encased their ship inside this asteroid and hoped they'd die out here. Well, at least we had made a couple of friends along the way. Geez, I almost forgot, I have to go check the ship's systems. I guess my mind wanders off too often.

End recording.  

[Kenshin Belmont]

Captain Michael’s first mission

Captain’s journal, chapter 4:

Finally, we're only a light day away from the Kosanova system; this is our last stop before we get there. I already sent a message to the Kosanova planet to alert them of our arrival, we're moving out as soon as they answer. This gives me some time to relax and play for a while with my friends. By now I even managed to become friends with my ex too. Can't believe it took us 2 years to finally patch things up. Most of that time we were in stasis so, it might have taken us less time in a different situation. So far the trip hasn't had anymore problems since the incident with the Farluvian, wait; it just hit me now that I didn't get the chance to mention their species name in the last journal entry. Imagine that! Anyway, the Farluvian must be on their way to a new system right about now. They also had similar Light speed engines as we have. I wonder if the people at Kosanova have something different or something similar. I'll take a break for now because; I just don't have anything else to add to my journal at this point. Let's see, I finished checking every last system on the ship, everything looks normal. Aside from that; is there something else I should have done by now? I guess not, frankly I can't wait for the response from Kosanova. Will they be eager to meet us? What will they expect from us? I wonder what kind of protocol we will have to follow, since I already sent them our etiquette protocols. Can any of our actions be insulting to them? I hate to think that something we'll do during the meeting will result in chaos. Well, I better not think about that now. I'll resume the journal once I receive notice from our space neighbors.

End recording.  

[Kenshin Belmont]

Captain Michael’s first mission

Captain’s journal, chapter 5:

My god! I finally received the message back from the Kosanova system. They seem glad that they'll be able to meet us soon, since the message was in video, I know now what they look like. I sent them a video message of my own so they know what I look like as well. It's kind of comforting to know that these people are human as well. Now that we have confirmation of the landing coordinates at the planet, we'll be resuming course soon. Although I hope it's not a trap, these modified bodies of ours should help us deal with anything. The ambassador said that they have new technology for us; maybe we can make a trade with them. There's something that's troubling me though, the ambassador also said that they have made contact with two other planets already; their technology allows them to reach other planets faster than with the tech that we have. If the Bandosian, as they like to be called, didn't know much about the farluvian, did any of the other two species attack them? I'm dying to know the names of the other two systems, on earth we have named those the gamma-centaury, which is at 7 light years away and the Ceti-Alpha star, which is at 7.2 light years away. Sometimes I wonder if there are other planets out there that are like earth, This Bando planet certainly looks like it. I've been studying the Bandosian files that were sent to us and I'm finding lots of things in common.

Well, after finishing with this I'll give the order to move on. As much as I want to meet the Bandosian I have to learn their manners if I want to cause a good impression. I didn't spend all those years at the academy for nothing; I wonder sometimes what I would be doing right now if I didn't study so hard. I'm sure I'd be anything but a writer; I wouldn't know where to start. Since I have nothing else to say I guess I'll just finish reading this report on the Bandosian culture. I wonder if they already finished reading the ones I sent. The crew already has copies of all this, I hope they study them carefully. We didn't come all this way to embarrass ourselves.

End recording.  

[Kenshin Belmont]

Captain Michael’s first mission

Captain’s journal, chapter 6:

Let's see, where should I start? So much has happened since I got back to the Danoga. It feels weird after everything that's happened, especially now that the Xanderians are threatening us with war. I knew something was wrong after the reports of a spy inside the Danoga. That was only moments after I got out of the meeting between myself and the Ambassadors from the Kaaav, Xander and Bando systems. We talked about a trade of technologies because we have developed a modification on our human bodies, we also have a type of weapon they don't have, and I don't think they have any Telepaths on any of their worlds, so they asked us if they could do some research on the subject. They on the other hand, have technology to send messages in seconds through a complex method. I have to study that because right now I have some idea how it could work; Frankly, I don't want to get into it right now. So, they also seemed to have some sort of technology that allows them to travel faster than the speed of light, not at great speeds though, it's more like they found a rift through time and space, it's like a new dimension they explained. There, light years become days, so it's much easier to travel between the stars. As they explained, it was a joint discovery between the Bandosian and the Kaviar people. I still can't get over how they call themselves, my first officer asked at the meeting if they preferred to be called Caviar, with a "C", I noticed he was kidding but without letting the ambassadors know it. We were surprised when the ambassador told us how impressed he was with my first officer's intuitions. Ha! If he only knew! Anyway, should I describe each of these cultures? I think so, well, I already mentioned the Bandosian culture so I'll skip them.

The Kaviar people are human as well; the differences are that they are all short, kind of like what we call "little people" back on earth. This is a culture of, as my first officer said, Dwarves. They are incredibly strong, intelligent, but they seem a little, as the Bandosian ambassador said to me in confidence, greedy. This is a proud race, they value combat above all else, even material possessions. They’re also proud of their achievements in the field of science and respect power and anyone who has lots of it. The Xanderian however, are very similar to the Kaviar, the differences are that, they seem to be a lot greedier than their neighbors. These people, at least the few I saw, were not human. Either they were at some point and then they found a way to modify their bodies, kind of like us; or they were always that way, which I doubt. They seem reluctant in sharing technology with anyone; they are a powerful race who apparently, is even older than the two neighboring systems. Life on their planet probably began a lot earlier than on Kaaav or Bando. Aside from those small differences, these beings are quite alike the Kaviar. The reason for the war threats is because the Xanderians demand that we surrender our technology, but I told the ambassador I can't make those kinds of decisions on my own. So, the Bandosian have given me, maybe because the Xanderian had something to do with it, one of their sub-space traveling gizmos, as well as one communicating device; this is so we can return quickly to earth and discuss this matter of the trade with the leader of the Republic. Then we can communicate with the Xanderian leaders and let them know of our decision. I hope I can persuade the Xanderians to back off a little before I have to go back.

End recording.  

[Kenshin Belmont]

Captain Michael’s first mission

Captain’s journal, chapter 7:

Damn! After a long time I'm finally in my quarters being able to record my journal. I always update my log every time something happens but, my journal isn't as important so, I gotta work on it only after I've accumulated enough material. Let's see, oh yeah! I was gonna say that after I managed to talk to the ambassadors a bit more, I was granted some relief. Although I no longer had to tell the president of the republic about a deadline, I still had to present him with the trade proposal. I doubted he would go for it but, after he considered it with the advisors, he accepted. I wasn't surprised with the decision, what surprised me the most was that, the people in the government wanted this trade to happen almost as much as the Xanderians.

Five days had passed since I left the Bando System, I was on my way to the Danoga to leave earth when, I was being called upon. I got so used to having a comm. attached to my ear that I almost forgot I had it in there. For a second I even thought someone was behind me. That was hilarious; anyway, turns out my kid went to the IBS just to see me. Wait a sec, what if someone hearing or then again, reading this journal is kept wondering what IBS means? I guess I should mention that back in the days, the international space station was upgraded to IBS, After all countries fused together 15 years ago, they decided that an Independent Battle Station should be available. From there, without having to ask earth control for materials or anything at all, the IBS should have plenty of modules that take care of every need. The astronauts would obviously had to have modified bodies in order to be allowed up here. That way no food would be required on board, no bathrooms and no oxygen either.

Although there have been two versions of the IBS so far, the second one is not as beautiful as the first one. Geez, I'm getting off the subject here. Anyway, I went back to the Bando System, I still can't get over the fact that we got there in just 4 and a half days, thank god that there were no problems on the way. So, after getting through to the ambassadors at the United Planets Council, I went and met with them. They were quite pleased to see the cargo I had for them, there were lots of files and data on our tech but, they didn't have the necessary devices to read the data crystals, so the republic also sent the computers needed for that. Language is not a problem with the telepath translators on the crew.

I waited for some time to see what they had to say about the data crystals, they immediately handed over their files on their technology. Although I received all the data from the Bandosian ambassador, I still couldn't shake the feeling that there was something wrong.
EXCUSE ME SIR, BUT WE NEED YOU ON DECK!
I'm on my way Sophia! Oh boy, I wonder what could it be this time, thank God they built my quarters next to the bridge.

End recording.  

[Kenshin Belmont]

Captain Michael’s first mission

Captain’s journal, chapter 8:

Dammit! I should have seen it coming. Moments ago, we were barely beginning to examine the files given to us by our so called friends when Willow, my science officer, discovered a virus implanted in the data. By that time we already lost our sensors and long range scanners. The virus, although new to our technology, adapted quite well and was spreading fast through all our systems. Although most of my crew was suspicious of the Xanderians, I had my doubts about the Bandosian as well. I immediately ordered the hangar doors to be opened while they were still operational, I wanted some fighters to be out there just in case we got attacked. I managed to see through the bridge's window how many warships were headed our way. Meanwhile, Willow was working on a way to eliminate the virus, in the mean time; I had to maintain the Danoga in one piece. Weapon systems failed after taking out a few of the warships but, there were more of them out there than we had fighters. Our fighters are robot operated, so there's no chance of risking the lives of valuable pilots. There are a few fighters reserved for members of the crew, as well as bombers for some others. Back then, I didn't want anyone out there.

Since I detailed the battle in my log, I see no reason why I should mention the entire thing in my journal. The point was that, Thanks to Willow, we managed to come out ok; the Danoga took some heavy damage but still... I had no idea there was a small fleet heading for earth at that very moment. That was the reason for the virus they implanted on our Galaxy Cruiser. They didn't want us to know they had dispatched ships to our planet. Afterwards, I had a chat with the ambassador and demanded to see the leaders of their world. They apologized to me and explained that the Xanderians are pretty much in control of everything around. Although I still didn't trust these people, they were the ones who told me about the Xanderian strike on earth. So, I decided to give them a break. They also gave me the idea of using the Danoga's light speed engines once it entered subspace. That way we would get to earth in less time than the Xanderian Warships. Back on earth, we have a few battleships and a planet protection net of satellites as well. What I was a little concerned by though, was the surprise attack. Could earth be prepared for one? This got me thinking, since we're the first generation of humans that got modified we still think somewhat the same as always; how would the next generation think?

We got to earth before the Xanderians, thankfully. I alerted the president of the attack and we were expecting it. After it was all over, the republic had to protect the Bandosian people for helping us out against the Xanderians. The republic is sending, not only one of our most powerful battleships, but also, they added some new integrants to both the Danoga and the Battleship Agamemnon. I'm not sure if I should mention what these were in my journal, after all, who knows if someone might miss-use this. Anyway, a war was just starting out and we didn't start it. Although we don't want to finish it, it looks like we might have to. I hate this whole thing; I hope we can avoid this. I'm gonna have to go to the Xander system while the Agamemnon goes to the Bando system. I hope I can talk to the leaders of the Xanderians so they start behaving like a civilized culture.

End recording.