From: ender@rodan.UU.NET (Pete "Ender" Walsh)
Newsgroups: alt.romance.chat
Subject: Space Cadets, episode 29
Date: 25 Jan 1993 06:08:05 -0500
Organization: UUNET Technologies Inc, Falls Church, VA, USA
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: rodan.uu.net

Spaaaaaaaaaaace Cadets, episode #27:  "All Dreams Must End"
=============================================================================

{MROC here...  Ender finally gave up on his plan to move the mysterious
fighter we found, mumbling something like "Just a little kink in the plans,
that's all".  Apparently he'd revised his plans for rescuing Dohram and
Andrea when we found the ship.  He'd been running around like a madman, but
had called Kathy to the lounge, along with Oingo and Boingo, and promised
to reveal his plans to us...}

K:  "Are you finally gonna tell us what you have planned?  You and Oingo
     and Boingo have been buzzing around for a couple of hours now."

E:  "Well, there's not much time before that transport carrying the Shark
     is gonna be here and I wanted to get a few of Susan's hologenerators
     mounted on some of the asteroids, and a few positioned outside the
     asteroid field, towards the path the transport will most likely take.
     It's a shame we couldn't get that fighter aboard, I wanted to use it
     in my plan..."

M:  "How does the location of the ship inhibit your use of it?"

E:  "I wanted to suit up and sit in the cockpit, then use the
     hologenerators to make multiple images of the ship to use as a
     sort of `phantom fleet' to threaten the transport with.  When
     I needed to transmit to the transport as myself I could pop the
     canopy, remove my helmet, and you could send a tight shot of me
     so the ship wouldn't be visible.  Now I'll be sending holos of the
     ship with no one in the cockpits...  and I'm betting they'll notice
     that REAL quick.  Having an image of a person in the cockpit might
     slow them down a bit, make the attack more believable.  I was hoping
     that `physical' evidence of bodies aboard the ships would convince
     them enough that they wouldn't bother with life-sign scans."

M:  "We could put a rigged suit in the cockpit..."

E:  "No good...  it wouldn't move.  Sure, they won't be able to see much
     movement anyway, but if they DO and see a head swivel in the proper
     direction at the right time, that would be VERY convincing.  I was
     going to watch the screens through the canopy and have one of my
     ghost ships do a fast flyby of the transport's bridge.  Look their
     way and maybe even give 'em a wave."

K:  "I could go sit in the cockpit."

E:  "No good.  That canopy won't let any signals through.  How would
     you know when to do your head swivels, waves, whatever?"

K:  "You could rig a screen outside the canopy for me to watch.  The
     additional bonus is that I could be doing things as you are
     transmitting.  Don't you think they'd catch on that they are either
     seeing people in the cockpits or seeing you on screen, never both?"

E:  "It's too dangerous.  MROC said that there's a danger that several
     asteroids might collide with that one at any time.  We should have
     enough holos of the ship by the time that happens to carry on our
     charade if necessary.  But I intended to have the `Plat well
     away.  Even if you managed to get off the asteroid before such
     a thing happened, how would you get to the `Plat?"

K:  "You and the `bots didn't seem to have much trouble when you were
     bouncing from rock to rock."

M:  "Let her take Oingo and Boingo with her.  I'll continue to monitor the
     asteroid paths and give them plenty of warning.  They can aid her
     in returning here."

E:  "I don't like it...  but okay...  suit up.  I'll have O & B rig a
     screen for you.  I hope you can act."

=============================================================================

{An eternity (for me) later Kathy was in place and Ender paced the floor of
the bridge...}

E:  "I can't even talk to her because of that damned shielding!"

M:  "I could arrange to send text message to her screen."

E:  "Argh.  That would just frustrate me further.  I could talk to her
     but she couldn't reply.  Still...  better get that setup anyway
     in case I need to send her some important info."

M:  "I thought that's what you were refering to in the first place."

E:  "No...  I just wanted to hear her voice..."

M:  "...one last time?  That's it isn't it... you feel you've sent her into
     danger?"

E:  "Yes.  I won't be seeing her again."

M:  "The chances of that are VERY slim.  We've taken every precaution.
     possible.  Yes, there are various and sundry dangers to this
     situation.  But you didn't SEND her into it.  You tried to stop her."

E:  "But I didn't.  I didn't even really try...  I was thiking the very
     same things in the back of my head...  that Kathy could do it for
     me.  I didn't stop her because she was volunteering to do what I
     wanted to ask her to do."

M:  "But she didn't volunteer to please you.  She volunteered to HELP
     you.  I can assure you she didn't know that you wanted her to
     do it.  In fact she was quite proud that she had thought of 
     something you hadn't."

E:  "I'm glad to know that."

M:  "She's not going to die."

E:  "Shut up."

============================================================================

[Captain's Log, Ender speaking.  We didn't have to wait long for the
 transport to show on our long range scanners.  I almost felt excited
 when I saw it appear...  until I saw the two other blips following it.
 Before I could open my mouth to ask MROC told me what those blips
 represented...  Gizmonics' Scylla Class Destroyers.  I started revamping
 my program for the `phantom fleet', adding more fighters and more
 random patterns, and deciding to ghost the `Plat as well... as much
 for safety as for showing more `force'.  As the trio of Giz ships drew
 ever closer I found my eyes scanning the visuals for some sign of the
 Shark on the transport.  I found none.  I asked MROC for a magnification
 and spotted a distorted patch on the transports skin that was PROBABLY
 the cloaked Shark.  Where'd they picked up those two destroyers?
 There was only one answer.. K'Taak.  But why?  I didn't know then, I
 don't know now.  What mattered was that they were there and I had to deal
 with them.
 Finally they were close enough for me to launch my `attack'.  I hailed
 the transport, ignoring the destroyers for now, and ordered them to halt
 and prepare to be boarded.  This part was easy...  all my experience from
 my days as a pirate came flooding back.  I dare say I SWAGGERED in front
 of the bridge display screen as I counted out my demands.  The transport
 captain was momentarily taken aback, but then remembered his destroyers.
 A grin split his ugly, pitted face as he spat vulgarities at me and
 vividly, if not elegantly, told me what he was going to do or have done
 to me when HIS (I'm sure Giz loved that) destroyers sliced my worm
 infested ship apart.  When I smiled back he got a little more worried.
 When 200 fighters that his computers couldn't identify came out of the
 asteroid field I think he pissed his pants.  It was then that the
 commander of the lead destroyer cut into the conversation.  He went
 through a series of threats that were as vivid as the transport captain's,
 though less imaginative.  I made sure a few of my fighters gave each
 bridge a buzz and Kathy performed her job admirably.  I signed for MROC
 to begin hailing Dohram.  Dohram would have to move and move FAST while
 I had them occupied.  As soon as they started opening fire they'd
 start catching on.  I had the holos programmed to fire back, but of course
 it was all smoke and mirrors.  They'd SEE my fighters firing but they'd
 never get HIT by them.  When that happened we needed to move FAST.  MROC
 signalled that Dohram was ready.  I sent one of the phantoms towards the
 Shark's location and watched as the Shark detatched and melded with
 the phantom image.  It wouldn't fool anyone for long, but that wasn't
 the point.  Obviously I had underestimated the crews of the destroyers.
 Even while the destroyer commander and transport captain were arguing
 amongst themselves about the fighters some gung ho crewman fired a shot
 at one of my swooping illusions.  MROC was on the ball and made the holo
 `explode' quite nicely, but the rest of the crews on all three ships
 decided it was time to open fire.  I cut the commlink and began tracking
 the Shark.  Dohram was having a helluva time but seemed to be handling
 himself quite nicely.  I made sure that docking preperations were made
 and was about to handle the timely retreat of my `troops' when a
 brilliant flash caught my eye through on of the side viewports.  I looked
 to see the blasts of the Giz destroyers flashing by and... into the
 asteroid field.  The flash I had seen was one of the many asteroids
 currently beening smashed to atoms by the awesome firepower of the
 main guns of the destroyers.  MROC was yelling something about 
 the fighters winking out because of destroyed hologenerators at me
 but I wasn't really listening...  That must have been when I blacked out.
 I awakened sometime later (I later found out it was some WEEKS later) to
 the sound of voices whispering softly... a male voice and a female voice.

MV:  "His vitals look better today.."

FV:  "Yes...  Hey, look!  I think he must be waking up..."

 I opened my eyes a crack and blinked at the light.  I saw two soft
 blurs looking down at me.  I blinked a few more times and the blurs
 resolved into Dohram and Andrea.

D:  "Ender...  thanks for coming after me... us."

"No problem...  who else could I get to... fix all this junk."

A:  "Well thanks anyway...  Ender...  Kathy's..."

"Dead.  I know."

D:  "She almost made it...  she and the `bots made it off the asteroid,
     but her suit was punctured.  Oingo was trying to patch it when a
     stray shot got them.  Boingo made it back, otherwise we'd never
     have known."

A:  "Boingo says she made a recording for you...  he won't play it for us."

"I'll take it in my quarters."

D:  "You really should stay here in the medbay for a while longer."

"I said I'll take it in my quarters."

=============================================================================

{A few hours later Ender returned to the bridge.  There was a sly smile on
 his face, the kind of only seen on him a few times before...  most notably
 the time he slit a B'jangai terrorist's throat from ear to ear.  Before
 my time of course, but available in his criminal file.  He was dressed in
 his old pirate garb and had a glass of rose wine in his hand.  He strolled
 up to the command chair, settled in, put his feet up on the console and
 asked, in a conversational tone, where Dohram and Andrea were.  I replied
 that they had asked for privacy.  His smile widened, becoming almost
 feral, and he nodded.  "No need to bother them...", he said, "Just set
 a course for Earth."  When I asked why he would give no answer but
 "I'm the captain.  It's where I chose to go."}

=============================================================================

More unanswered questions coming soon in the next episode of...

SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCCCCEEEEEEEEEE CCCCAAAAAADDDDDETTTTTSSSS!!!!

=============================================-=================================
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