Writing prose about ship combat

[Carlobrand]

Space combat as envisioned in Traveller isn't very cinematic for any of the ships involved, other than the flashbulb pop of nukes, the brief blinding flash of laser light crossing invisibly through space to illuminate and vaporize a spot on some ship's armor, the brilliant tracery of energy weapons, the occasional explosion of some random point in space - or of a ship...

Okay, I take it back. It IS pretty cinematic, just not the way most sci fi shows display it. To my mind it looks most like some ship or craft immobile against the background of stars, in utter darkness except for the glow of its drive, spinning and turning randomly on its axis, lit intermittently by the flashbulbs of invisible papparazzi, brief blinding sparkles on its hull and in space as lasers found it or its lasers found missiles, blinding white threads coming from the darkness or from its own fusion turrets, with tiny bright flickers against the black of space to suggest some other ship or craft is engaged in the same ballet dance some great distance away. Pretty, if your retinas could survive the ordeal.

 

[Matt123]

The job of prose here is to tell us about people who live (and die) by Immediate Action (but without using terms like that): they know what to do, either by a moment of insight, or doing by reflex what they're trained to do. While Travellers may not be more trained than ordinary civilians, the skills they are trained in are rare and supportive of Science-Fiction Adventure in the Far Future. Prose can show how that plays out. In turn, that can inspire players and referees.

In space combat there tends to those who can do something to influence their environment, or at least perceive they can (a cook can keep the coffee coming, but can't otherwise influence if they are hit). And those that feel the environment is out of their control (passengers, the assistant cook with a more realistic world view that hides in the can).

This comes to mind in part because of a TV experiment measuring blood pressure (as a stress indicator) of a stunt pilot and a chap sitting in traffic delays and running late for an appointment. The former was highly risky but had complete control of his environment, the second relatively safe but with very limited control of his environment. The stress levels of the guy in traffic were higher. Road rage is a thing, AFAIK stunt pilot rage isn't despite higher risk of death.

Traveller characters tend to able to influence things, hopefully for the better. One aspect of combat prose should perhaps attempt to capture the contrast between those that feel they can influence the situation in large (Captain, Pilot, Gunner) and small (Coffee or Medic/Damage control waiting for work) ways. Contrasting this with people who have no capacity to influence events at all, they are victims to circumstance. They may lack skills or they may lack authority. A retired pilot passenger watching a novice with his Captains trust, get them killed. Does he calmly wait for his demise or does he do what has to be done? And what does that look like?

The guy who landed his plane in the Hudson river and saved his passengers. Was he a hero or was he the most experienced person on the plane and in a position to use his training and skills (not intended to disparage the achievement). Contrast this with the parent in the back with three children who kept it together for their children while hoping the pilot could do something. Contrast this with the cries coming from passengers (maybe even cabin crew) who are either overwhelmed by their Amygdala or considered the situation hopeless. Meantime the pilot works in calm isolation surrounded by a focused, highly trained team who know they have a chance. The parent is surrounded by those who have succumbed to defeat and yet he or she still hangs on, fighting to the end, hoping and refusing to believe in the almost inevitable outcome.

In my mind the richness of space combat prose should capture all this variance in perceptions and responses to circumstance, from a wide range of characters that experience the stress and watch others performing quiet acts of heroism or not.

Of course I would rather be the Traveller player in control. But even the Captain or Pilot are passengers sometimes and I think the contrast in circumstances is interesting. The retired hero pilot locked in the brig, knowing he could have made a difference, shedding tears of anger frustration resignation and fury, as the ship disintegrates around him.

 

[Matt123]

On Fighters (under 100tons), keep in mind that most Traveller fleet combat scenarios do not involve TL15 fighters versus TL15 Battleships. Imperial civil war aside, all other enemies have lower tech than the Imperium.

The average TL of the Imperium is TL12. At TL12 Fighters (in CT, I can't talk to later rule sets) with Fleet sized computers tend to win engagements against same or lesser tech levels. These Fleet fighters will also tend to beat TL15 fighters with minimal computers. Every point of computer difference equates to a +/-1 bonus to both defense and attack.

A Fleet fighter has the maximum computer available at that tech level. At TL13 the cost of that TL13 computer (& power plant) makes Fleet fighters marginal. By TL14 and 15 the age of Fleet Carriers is over in favor of Battleships. The black shoes win out over the brown shoes. Keep in mind though that this has happened before. WWII saw the demise of black shoe captains and brown shoes dominated fleet engagements, TL9 & 10 sees black shoes rise again, TL11, 12, 13 brown shoes are in the fore, TL14, 15 back to BBs and black shoes.

Where things get interesting however is when you design Imperial TL15 Fleet fighters to take on and defeat TL12-14 Navies. BBs are expensive to fix and should be available undamaged for serious threats. Fleet fighters however can be churned out by the hundreds or thousands and then stockpiled on Depot factories. Fighters are also fast and cheap to repair. Pilots are easy to come across, every Scout is trained, every Purser can fly a ships boat, every teenager that can bullseye a Womp Rat from his T-16 Skyhopper wants to be a fighter pilot. Unless they join the under dogs.

TL15 Fighters versus TL15 BBs is only a thing in civil wars. Fleet designers don't typically design for that scenario.

 

[Leitz]

I knew this was somewhere...


#####

Treetops softly moved above her. Early morning vapors lifted from the lake’s glassy surface as pops and cracks came from the small camp fire. Smoke eased its way up her uniform and danced around her collar.

Trail Rat stood at parade rest. She held her notebook tight as she stared straight ahead and waited for his judgement.

“Sergeant Seqoiyn’s usual parameter is that you get one question, Cadet.” He said. “Is that true this time?”

She risked a glance at him. Permission to speak. To explain. Not to gush.

“Yes sir. Sergeant Seqoiyn focuses on leadership models from the War of Independence. We are reading detailed battle accounts and personnel backgrounds on the key leaders.” She paused. Their eyes met. “I’ve read a little more on my own.”

“And you scheduled an appointment to ask one question?” He wrapped a heavy cloth around the quanna pot’s handle and refilled his mug. “Early in the morning. Away from everyone else.”

“Yes sir.” She took a deep breath and then choked on the smoke. “Sorry sir.”

He smiled and waited.

“Sir, my maternal proginator has granted written permission for me to discuss this with you. She has made me aware of the sensitive, and perhaps difficult, nature of the answer.”

“Does your mother know you call her that?” He grinned.

“Only if you tell her. Sir.” Trail Rat smiled. If he was grinning she might survive.

“Sir, one question.” Her tone dropped. She had known this was her destiny even as she struggled against it. Her mother had looked on sadly as she formulated everything into a few simple words. Her mother had held her tight and told her how brave she was. How proud she was. How scared.

“Sir, what was it really like?”

He sipped his quanna.

The breeze fell through the trees and reminded her it was still winter. The fire blazed as sparks tumbled wildly then died quickly.

He sighed. From deep inside his ruck a second mug appeared. He nodded to a dry spot next to him and she sat. She carefully welcomed the hot mug.

He smiled. She saw the ghosts in his eyes. Friends lost. Enemies killed. People loved.

“Terrifying.”







“Sonofa...”

Marco swore as a thin rod sheared from the inner hull and ran itself through his thigh. Straps kept him from being tossed around as the ship tumbled through the atmosphere. A thin hole through his armor and the meat of his leg. The back side of the armor had stopped it from impaling him in place. Alarms lit up the Heads Up Display in his helmet as a local anesthetic was prepared near the wound entry point.

“Accept?” The armor’s computer queried. He had coded it to Irene’s voice. Hopefully she didn’t mind when he cursed. A lot. Like right now. He had grinned when she taught him a couple new words.

“Half dose.” He replied.

“Is anyone flying this tub?” He shifted and the internal monitors showed Alpha struggling with the controls.

“Please repeat.” She said. Velocity was tagged in the HUD and he scanned the images of damage. Whoever had shot them out of the sky had done a great job. The pilot was trying to atmo brake enough without killing them all. In theory.

“Ignore. Crew status?” Bioscans of the others prioritized on his HUD. Elevated respiration and tension levels but within expectations for a star ship about to hit a planet at high speed. Marco referred to the others as Alpha, Beta, and Gamma. It was a classified mission and he doubted the names they had given him were anything more than a fiction for the moment.

Alpha was a slightly older male spacer. Marco got the feeling the man had been places he wouldn’t talk about. The Confed Scout Corps was like that; silent and deadly with no questions asked. This mission would have given Marco an in with their recruiters if it hadn’t failed before starting.

Beta was still strapped into the turret. Heavy laser fire had destroyed their enemy but not quite fast enough. Marco’s age, Beta was the overt contact person for the team. Pulled in from the Merchant Marine and briefed on the target locations customs and curtesies. Beta wasn’t a bad sort at all. Probably fantastically rich and success would have given him an option for a corporate corner office or a posh captain’s chair.

Gamma was shunting power to the forward grav plates. He was the academic of the group with deep insight into engines and people’s guts. Marco had met Gamma two years ago and was pretty sure the Confeds had to recalibrate their intelligence tests to measure Gamma’s smarts. Naval officer, doctor, engineer. It was simpler to call him Gamma.

Three highly trained clandestine operatives sent to destroy a major weapon as a precursor to a Star Confederation invasion. Skilled in espionage, foreign contact, advanced weapons engineering, and a medical doctorate as cream on top of the quanna. A high probability of success against all odds.

Three operatives and their trigger monkey. “Kinetic Operations Specialist” was Marco’s official non-official off the books title. Marco had his certifications. He loved the on-board computer in the armor and could use it a lot easier than some of the other Marines. He had shown Irene how to access voice commands in her battle dress. She blushed when her voice came from his computer. She taught him another word as well.

Lance Sergeant Marco Aurelio Domici. Fire Team leader from Prince Allesandro’s Jump Light Brigade. A mercenary Marine just like his lover Irene and his father Aldo. Marco didn’t have a PhD; leaving seminary to kill people seems terminal to academic growth. Killing he learned to do. With a wide variety of weapons from a dozen technological levels. Or with his nude body.

Marco’s dreams often resurrected the ghosts of his opponents. Atrean commandos bent on destroying his unit. Psychotic land grabbers trying to destroy the scientific outpost Marco’s team was hired to protect. That assignment had been all fun and suppressive fire until one of them shot Irene.

Seventeen ghosts learned not to mess with Irene.

“Do you have ghosts, sweetheart?” He whispered. Irene was no slouch in the field. Half a head taller than him and twice as strong, Irene could easily wear advanced power armor and happily shoot weapons normally mounted on tanks.

“I do not understand. What do you require?” Her voice said.

“You. Naked.” Marco grinned. Never hurt to ask.

“I’m sorry, that option is not available at this time.”

“Just my luck.” Marco sighed. The ship flipped over and he nearly puked. Pain tore through his leg.

“Okay, let’s fix this. Lacar remote targeting.” Marco used the bouncing to lever his laser carbine across his chest plate.

“Firing inside the ship may cause damage.” Irene said.

“Take it out of my pay.” Marco squeezed off a shot. It bit deeply into the metal and he felt dissipated heat burn his muscle. A second shot severed the metal. Marco yelled Irene’s favorite curse and pulled the rod from his leg.

“Clean, cauterize, and seal armor.” He said. “Sonofa...that hurt.”

 

[Condottiere]

Very dependent on specific edition rules.

Mongoose speeds up combat once you get into dogfighting range, and as it stands, rate of fire is concurrent with combat rounds, so you could really unload on your target, empty your magazines, and see if you can safely withdraw to your mothership.

 

[Ulsyus]

Mongoose speeds up combat once you get into dogfighting range, and as it stands, rate of fire is concurrent with combat rounds, so you could really unload on your target, empty your magazines, and see if you can safely withdraw to your mothership.

That's the version I don't have. What's the rationale for speeding up combat at closer range? How close is dogfighting range in comparison to the other range bands?

 

[kilemall]

OP, I have a yen to write an exciting battle story illustrating the current state of my CT/HG maneuver game and how having mechanics designed for drama and brains can drive what you seek.

Would you prefer it in this thread or a separate one?

 

[Matt123]

Pop it in a new thread. It will be much easier to find again later.

 

[Tiikeri]

This is me kind of trying to talk through the issues about writing prose about ship combat.

Ship combat in and of itself doesn't seem that engaging, unless it ties in with the experiences of the people in those ships. Otherwise, it's just two tin cans shooting at each other in space.

Right? Or am I missing something?

Completely right.

I mean, isn't this also the concern with ship combat rules as well? The rules tend to reduce to tin cans shooting at one another, with maybe the Gunners being the ones to make any sort of actions... and those actions are typically just reduced to rolling dice rather than making any meaningful decision.

BUT I DIGRESS, because I don't want to talk about combat RULES. I want to talk about WRITING prose around ship combat.

I think invariably this means that the combat part of ship combat is almost background -- it's nowhere near as important as what's happening to the characters going through the event, what's happening to them, and what they're saying, thinking, feeling, and doing.

Any thoughts here?

If you don't already have this book, I enthusiastically recommend it:

Techniques of the Selling Writer, by Dwight V. Swain.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/techniques-of-the-selling-writer-dwight-v-swain/1103673635?ean=9780806111919

This book gives you the vital foundation you need for writing any kind of fiction.

Some pearls of wisdom among many:

The reader experiences the story through the emotions it inspires in him. Make the reader feel.

Events matter only because of their effects on a character. Make the reader care / be interested in what happens to the character, even if the reader doesn't like the character.

Use a focal character to orient the reader to the events. He is the lens through which the reader sees the story and the perspective through which the reader experiences it. How the focal character reacts and feels tells the reader how to react and feel. Example: A ship explodes. Does the focal character thrust his fist in the air with a triumphant roar, or does he smash his fist against his control panel howling in anguished grief?

Make the reader feel through sensory impressions. Describe events in sensory impressions. Use all the senses. The actinic flash of the particle beam impact, the concussive blast slamming the hero like a giant fist, the cold clammy sweat in his vacc suit, the shriek of the shearing bulkhead, the acrid stink of burning electronics mixed with the obscene stench of roasted flesh.

Use the most specific adjectives, nouns and verbs you can. Consider the difference between these words: Animal, predator, feline, tiger, sabretooth tiger. Search for the right word to inspire the feeling you want. Don't say, "The blue flash..." say "The incandescent beryl flash..." Don't say "The steward poured the wine", say "The steward charged the long-stemmed crystal glasses with a rich Pysadian vintage." or even "The steward slopped a carafe of sour posca into the battered Navy-issue tankards."

Always present events sequentially. Realistically, the hero could draw his snub pistol from its holster while yelling "They're pirates!" at the same time, but the written word is sequential. Present events in this sequence: thought/feeling, involuntary response, deliberate action, speech.

Example: Eneri remembered those numbers; they were the unit designation of the customs team found dead and stripped two months ago. His mouth went dry. The sallow-faced impostors fanned out while their hard-eyed leader raised his hand with a smirk. Eneri jerked his illegal full-auto snub pistol from its holster. "They're pirates!"

Write in pairs of motivation-reaction, or stimulus and response.

Stimulus: Eneri remembered the numbers.
Response: His mouth went dry.
Stimulus: The sallow-faced impostors fanned out.
Response: Eneri jerked his pistol from its holster. "They're pirates!"

or

Stimulus: Despite the scuffs and abrasions, Eneri could still make out the unit designations on the customs team's battered combat armor.
Response: Eneri remembered those numbers (thought); they were the unit designations of the customs team found dead and stripped two months ago. His mouth went dry (involuntary reaction).
Stimulus: The sallow-faced impostors fanned out.
Response: Eneri jerked his pistol from its holster (deliberate action). "They're pirates! (speech)."

The book calls these pairs of stimulus and response motivation-reaction units.

Later chapters discuss how to build conflict, pace tension, and all the other techniques you'll need to write a compelling piece of prose.

I also recommend these books:

Creating Story People, by Dwight V. Swain

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/creating-characters-dwight-v-swain/1113127005?ean=9780806139180

Anatomy of a Story, by John Truby. This book is a truly excellent tutorial on plotting and story structure. This book lays bare all the techniques that the masters use, with examples from Star Wars, Harry Potter, and many others.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/anatomy-of-story-john-truby/1100196082?ean=9780865479937#/

 

[Enoki]

A far trader in an iffy system...


“Captain, the merchant ship is an issue” Lori says.

“It is? Why?” Kai asks.

“It is heavily armed.” Lori shifts some data from her sensor display to Kai’s.

“Oh, it really is isn’t it? Good thing you caught that.”

“Orders Captain?”

“Um, suggestions Lori?”

“Watch and contact.”

“I guess it’s worth a try” Kai replies.

“Kasakabe should do it.”

“Why Kasakabe?”

“Ral Ranta. She speaks it best.”

“Ah, I see what you mean.” Kai gets on the ship’s intercom. “Kasakabe come to the bridge please.”

Kasakabe arrives, she scowls at Kai.

“There’s a ship in orbit with us that we think is a pirate crew. I’d like you to call them as a Ral Ranta vessel.”

Kasakabe gives a wave of her hand. “No problem. Do calalli. Lori, lock weapon on.”

“Understood.”

Kai cringes.

Lori gets on the ship’s announcing system. “Attention aboard Chiobal-San. Quarters. All hands to battle stations. Battery lock on target bearing zero two one by eight nine point two two. Prepare to fire.”

Zan hears the orders. She sits straining to touch the controls, her hands shaking.

Ikki in the starboard turret starts pushing buttons. “Let’s see-- Power up, target select-- Oh, Kopa! It’s just like the display in one of those vid games…”

With the ship’s weapons locking onto the merchant ship Kasakabe calls them. “Bizim sol tafadan min kilometr gami. RR iki, besc, dörd, yeddi Chiobal-San bu Ral Ranta. Kavab vä ölümäk! (Ship ten thousand kilometers off our port side this is the RR 2547 Chiobal-San from Ral Ranta. Respond or die!)

“Ral Ranta? You’re a long way from home. This is the Captain of the Invecta. We have no intentions on your vessel. It isn’t permitted here. We’d be in deep trouble with the Syndicate if we did anything in this system. You can power down your weapons guys.”

Kai slumps in her chair. “That’s a relief.” She calls Zan and Ikki. “You can power down and get out of those turrets. We aren’t going to be using them this time.”

Zan tilts her head back and exhales heavily.

“Darn! Just when I was going to get to try this out too…” Ikki twists her lip up looking at the blinking “fire” button.

 

[Blue Ghost]

This is me kind of trying to talk through the issues about writing prose about ship combat.

Ship combat in and of itself doesn't seem that engaging, unless it ties in with the experiences of the people in those ships. Otherwise, it's just two tin cans shooting at each other in space.

Right? Or am I missing something?

I mean, isn't this also the concern with ship combat rules as well? The rules tend to reduce to tin cans shooting at one another, with maybe the Gunners being the ones to make any sort of actions... and those actions are typically just reduced to rolling dice rather than making any meaningful decision.

BUT I DIGRESS, because I don't want to talk about combat RULES. I want to talk about WRITING prose around ship combat.

I think invariably this means that the combat part of ship combat is almost background -- it's nowhere near as important as what's happening to the characters going through the event, what's happening to them, and what they're saying, thinking, feeling, and doing.

Any thoughts here?

Post 6999

My take is that whatever suits you best. Space combat, for all of its flavor goodness in a space opera vein, for the OTU, is probably a combination of dynamic and bland.

Space combat was never a big part of any of our Traveller gaming session, though it did happen on occasion. It was fairly vanilla flavored in a Task Force Games sort of way. That is you had to toss in your imagination for the cinematic effects to take hold, or rely on the Ref to dish out the "booms", "bangs", and "zips" for the lasers and whatever else was being employed.

Back in the early 90s I really learned to write by reading other author's take on how to describe action and combat. If you have a working knowledge of your environment, then dream up what you think would happen. If you don't know, then just make something up and suffer the consequences when a reader/fan points out your scientific inaccuracy on page such-and-such on paragraphs X, Y and Z.

I think Supp-4 mentioned Star Wars as being space opera fare down in the Random Static section, and if you've ever read any of the SW novels (I read the Empire adaptation, and the early Han Solo novels) you'll note that the combat sections are dynamic, but also lacking in a lot of scientific accuracy for the sake of exposition--more like a negotiated medium between the two.

.... I didn't want to bring this up on this website, but the first screenplay I wrote for my film program was about a space fighter squadron, how they were separated from their carrier and forced to fend for themselves. I watched every scifi film up to that time to get a sense of what worked, and what was at odds with what we know about space. I made the decision to just go ahead and write the script with all the scientific accuracy I could muster. If it were ever shot, then it would be up to the director to inject life into the thing. When you're writing prose for a space story, then you become the director and decide how much texture you want to add.

I hope that helps some.

 

[atpollard]

Post 6999

Congratulations. Now you gotta make your next post REALLY special. :rofl:

 

[Tiikeri]

Additional thoughts.

Try to find documentary sources about warfare that is most like how you envision Traveller space combat to be, and pay attention to the human tensions in those situations.

The experience of submarine crews might be a good source from which to draw inspiration. Here are some similarities I can think of off the cuff:

Both starship crews and submarine crews are cut off from the outside world, and only experience what's happening through their sensors, communications systems, orders, reports, their own actions, and the impact of enemy fire on their vessels.

There will be hours and hours and hours of waiting while the vessels maneuver. Crews won't know what's happening, how the battle is going, or much of anything else unless they're hearing it from the crewmen who are in the know (comms operators, operations cell, etc.) There will be a huge contrast between those in the know (operations, fire direction center, leadership, pilots/helm, sensors/comms) and those in the dark (engineering, life support, damage control, maintenance, ship's troops, logistics, administrative).

Even during the battle, crews won't know much about what's happening. They'll feel the thrum of power as their vessels maneuver, and the lights might flicker as their weapons fire. Warning klaxons might sound while officers give commands through the comm systems. Crews might instantly execute battle drills then receive no other orders for hours.

People like stewards and ship's troops might have nothing to do over days of battle. They'll most likely stand ready to assist with damage control or something like that, but mostly they'll just wait for either the battle to end or their lives to end in any number of horrible ways.

Another thing is the extreme ranges. Even if a crewman were outside in a vac suit doing repairs or something, he wouldn't be able to see anything since enemy ships would probably be what, 100,000km away? If enemy fire came close enough for him to see, it might be the last thing he ever sees.

 

[whartung]

Kai slumps in her chair. “That’s a relief.” She calls Zan and Ikki. “You can power down and get out of those turrets. We aren’t going to be using them this time.”

Zan tilts her head back and exhales heavily.

“Darn! Just when I was going to get to try this out too…” Ikki twists her lip up looking at the blinking “fire” button.

Ikki turned away from the console and got up to exit as the fire button stopped blinking. Zan watched this and looked over at the main view screen, which was fixed on the armed merchant.

"Uh, guys?" was all Zan was able to utter as two missiles leapt from the merchant like a pair of cats on fire. Zan was unable to speak further as the barely visible lasers from the merchant started to carve up the bridge, Zan, and the rest of its crew like a hot wire cutter. Ikki started to fall apart in three large, irregular chunks as the gravity failed before getting pulled toward the ever larger holes in the hull that separated the warm, just humid enough to be comfortable, oxygen rich atmosphere of the room with the cold, uncaring black vacuum of space. Any words the rest of the occupants may have said were lost as the loud roar of the rushing air slowly faded along with the atmosphere necessary to convey the sounds.

Then, the missiles hit, violently informing the rest of the ships passengers and crew that the ship was under attack.

 

[Timerover51]

Greetings Robject, I was wondering if you are still interested in actual prose of ships in combat? I have a couple of samples, one of the fight between the armed liners Carmania and Cap Trafalgar in World War One, and one of the USS Marblehead under air attack in World War 2.

The liner fight is contained in Lewis Freeman's book, Stories of the Ships, in the opening chapters concerning the HMS Cornwall, which also has the captain of the Cornwall reporting on the Battle of the Falkland Islands. The link to it is here.

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/42604/42604-h/42604-h.htm

The book on the USS Marblehead can be found here at archive.org. You will have to skim through to the air attack portion. The book itself makes for interesting reading as to life on a warship and the various crew members.

https://archive.org/details/WhereAway

 

[robject]

Greetings Robject, I was wondering if you are still interested in actual prose of ships in combat? I have a couple of samples, one of the fight between the armed liners Carmania and Cap Trafalgar in World War One, and one of the USS Marblehead under air attack in World War 2.

I'll read those.

I will mention that the best prose I've read in this sort of vein is (1) WW2 stories refined by people who went through it themselves [e.g. the sinking of the Indianapolis], and (2) a piece of a story written last year by a Traveller author that was about the best "here's how I barely escaped with my life" Beowulf story I've ever read.

Neither are about shooting at other people. Both are about the nearly unbelievable and seat-of-one's-pants skin-of-one's-teeth survival of the main character.

 

[robject]

I knew this was somewhere...

“Is anyone flying this tub?” He shifted and the internal monitors showed Alpha struggling with the controls.

“Please repeat.” She said. Velocity was tagged in the HUD and he scanned the images of damage. Whoever had shot them out of the sky had done a great job. The pilot was trying to atmo brake enough without killing them all. In theory.

“Ignore. Crew status?” Bioscans of the others prioritized on his HUD. Elevated respiration and tension levels but within expectations for a star ship about to hit a planet at high speed. Marco referred to the others as Alpha, Beta, and Gamma. It was a classified mission and he doubted the names they had given him were anything more than a fiction for the moment.

This is what I'm thinking of.

Thank you for the example.

 

[Orr]

a piece of a story written last year by a Traveller author that was about the best "here's how I barely escaped with my life" Beowulf story I've ever read.

Could you point us to that, please?

 

[kilemall]

Give me the scenario and effect you want and I'll write one up here and now.