I want to write the climax/payoff for a story, but I'm not sure of the events.
The setup: a corvette has tracked a Vargr pirate to a gas giant. Three corsairs (three, not one!) rise up from the atmosphere, quite distant from each other, forming a 2-D triangle of sorts around the Corvette.
Having superior engines, the Corvette can simply boost out of orbit and leave. Having superior firepower (and a character we care about), however, the Corvette can stand and fight -- which it obviously must and will do.
Also obviously, at least some of the Corvette's crew must survive.
That's where I am.
It mustn't be an easy fight for either side. So we have jump drives slagged, armor damaged in key areas, bridges blown out, and so on to ratchet up the tension. Because just because I won't kill off the main character, doesn't mean I can't kill off the main character, right? Or have him taken captive and sold into slavery. Or have him challenge the lead Vargr for top-dog spot in the corsair band, for that matter...
Ideally, I'd like the payoff to be where the corsairs are defeated, barely, with one of the un-important ones turning tail and abandoning the lead pirate, perhaps at a critical point, or perhaps even after the battle is decided.
But how do I write ship combat?
Here's how I cannot write it:
(1) ship A shoots ship B
(2) ship C shoots ship B
(3) ship B shoots ship A
...
YAWN.
So. I guess I have to write it from a people's-eye view. What a crewmember is seeing, rather than (for example) the captain, who is tactically engaged and knows everything that's going on. BORING! Or am I mistaken?
The setup: a corvette has tracked a Vargr pirate to a gas giant. Three corsairs (three, not one!) rise up from the atmosphere, quite distant from each other, forming a 2-D triangle of sorts around the Corvette.
Code:
P
C
P P
Having superior engines, the Corvette can simply boost out of orbit and leave. Having superior firepower (and a character we care about), however, the Corvette can stand and fight -- which it obviously must and will do.
Also obviously, at least some of the Corvette's crew must survive.
That's where I am.
It mustn't be an easy fight for either side. So we have jump drives slagged, armor damaged in key areas, bridges blown out, and so on to ratchet up the tension. Because just because I won't kill off the main character, doesn't mean I can't kill off the main character, right? Or have him taken captive and sold into slavery. Or have him challenge the lead Vargr for top-dog spot in the corsair band, for that matter...
Ideally, I'd like the payoff to be where the corsairs are defeated, barely, with one of the un-important ones turning tail and abandoning the lead pirate, perhaps at a critical point, or perhaps even after the battle is decided.
But how do I write ship combat?
Here's how I cannot write it:
(1) ship A shoots ship B
(2) ship C shoots ship B
(3) ship B shoots ship A
...
YAWN.
So. I guess I have to write it from a people's-eye view. What a crewmember is seeing, rather than (for example) the captain, who is tactically engaged and knows everything that's going on. BORING! Or am I mistaken?