The Stages of the Game.
Copyright Jerod Underwood Park 1997
All rights reserved
Stage 1:
Scene: As the screen fades in, the visible exterior view
is of loading bay 7 with the PSI 5 Trader, (SHIP NAME HERE),
filling up most of the space available within the hanger. You're
sitting within your gunnery pod, dangling from the claw of a
crane, being swung over to pod support tower number 3, (located
on top) while work people are busy loading supplies into the
ship's storage hulls below. A voice can be heard over a loud
speaker announcing that the ship will be departing soon. Your
communication screen comes alive with a pre-recorded message
from your captain debriefing you on the coming mission and giving
you a warm welcome to the (SHIP NAME HERE). Then, final notice
comes echoing out through the loud speaker as the work people
secure the hull doors on the ship and depart the loading bay as
the crane lowers your gunnery pod into position on tower 3. As
the crane releases and withdrawals, the primary lighting dim out
until only the blue flood lights remain. An oxygen depression
warning siren starts to go off, giving notice of the bay's
preparation for the vacuum of space. Then, with a loud sound, the
bay's main hanger doors begin to separate, exposing the bay to
outer space. The sliding of the doors creates an echoing rumble
which bounces off of every wall in a low, grinding sound. Next,
the main propulsion engines come to life, emitting their own
unique sound of a powerful force being unleashed upon the
unsuspecting stars, now visible through the gaping hole where two
massive doors once were. The ship begins to lurch forward. Your
instrument panel lights up, relaying their usual bits of
information. As the ship clears the bay, the exterior sounds
become eerily quiet, except for the engines, which still channel
through the framework of the ship. As you look out the wide
window of your gunnery pod, you see The Gravity Ring lurking
ahead. Its pull grows stronger as the ship grows nearer. As
speeds accumulate, you begin to see the distortion effect at the
center of the ring as star light becomes warped by the gravity's
pulling force. Before you know it, the ship enters the ring's
center and is thrust out the other side at blinding speeds. The
visual universe becomes almost a negative effect of the norm.
Space itself looks almost white with specks of black moving at
break neck speed more than a flash of stars passing by. Within
seconds, the ship begins to decelerate by applying full reverse
thrust with the two main engines. The look of space returns to
its usual pitch black look almost immediately. Except, for that
unusual shiny, semi-transparent glow that engulfs the view in
front of the ship's bow. As the ship comes to a complete stop,
the communication's screen displays the captain's face as he
gives the order to fire the plasma bolt. Its large firing button
is flashing a bright green upon the display counsel. You press
it. Your HUD sights shine upon the window of your gunnery pod as
a ball of energy forms on the bow of the ship in front of you.
You aim at the shine phenomenon in front of you. And fire. A
second later, it launches. Then, it impacts with the field in an
explosive blast effect, tearing a gaping hole in the fabric of
the shielding of the pirate's blockade. More then wide enough to
allow the ship to pass through. And as the engines begin to
propel through the gap, you can already see the force field
beginning to rebuild over the edges of the damaged area. As the
engines begin to run at top speed, you can't help but feel like a
turtle after experiencing the Gravitron Tunnel firsthand. But,
that feeling soon disappears with the arrival of the first of the
pirates come to disable your ship and steal your cargo. They
begin with a classic fly by shooting style using lasers. The
Class 8 shielding absorbs it like there was never anything there.
You return fire with a couple well placed plasma rays. Their
shielding overloads and goes down. You take a second shot, but
since the scanning officer has yet to get a weapon's lock on
them, your shots only make a near miss. You prepare for a third
time, but are cut short by the HUD indicating that they are out
of range. They may have gotten away, but there are many, many
more of them out there, ready to attack your ship. And the fact
that you are on their home turf doesn't help the situation any.
But, you already knew that before you signed up to be a weaponry
officer for the PSI 5 Trading Company.
As you progress into the planetary system, (six planets,
second to the star is the destination) a wave of twelve small
fighter craft just seem to appear out of the darkness of the
background. The scanning officer makes a quick identification
check of the make of the ships and the species known to make
them. The results appear on your HUD with recommended weapons to
use. Just as you suspected. Flarkan's. Long known enemies of The
Earth Alliance. After all, they have laid claim to this system
for many years. The captain gives the order to fire on them. And
so, the real battle begins. Luckily, the route planned heads
straight through open space and far away from any planets, moons,
asteroid fields, or any natural phenomenon.
Many hours later, (actually minutes, just feels like
hours) you approach the colony planet that you are scheduled to
deliver the cargo to. You are still firing at several pesky
pirates who just won't give up as the scanning officer radios
ahead to the planet for security measures and reinforcement
fighters. Time seems to crawl by. And yet, those ships just keep
eluding your fire. Then, as the reinforcements close in on your
position, the three pirates seem to gang up and try to destroy
your gunnery pod. They come in at high speed, firing plasma rays
all the way. They start out by concentrating on the upper shields
of your ship's hull. The attack overwhelms the ship's defensive
grid, leaving your pod with only it's on board shield dome. Then,
they start to concentrate on your pod. You let loose with six
missile attacks, followed up with plasma ray and laser
combinations on the center ship. The missile explosions rendered
the middle ship's defensive screens inoperable, allowing the
plasma ray/laser combo to tear the middle ship to pieces. The
explosion caused the other two ships so much damage to their
defenses, they broke off the attack and made a hasty retreat.
Luckily, your pod's defensive shielding held up to the
punishment, this time.
Escorted by the colony's fighters, the (SHIP NAME HERE)
docks with the small space station in orbit with the colony's
planet by connecting the space station with the storage hulls of
the ship via an extendable travel tube.
Scene fades to black. Then, the game credits begin to
roll upwards onto the screen with appropriate music and a female
voice announcing that the pass card for the next level can be
picked up as the player exits the machine at the card reader slot.
Next time the player plays the game, he/she inserts the
required credit(s), then inserts the pass card into the card slot
(located above the quarter slots), and presses the start button
(the button is a combination of the start and plasma bolt) to
begin stage two.
Stage 2:
As the viewpoint fades in, you find yourself at an older
space station located at an outer point post. At the moment, your
pod is located inside a launching tube while the (SHIP NAME HERE)
is docked outside, latched up to an exterior flexi-bay. The sound
outside the pod is rather quiet due to the privacy of the tube's
steel structure. The only light outside the pod is provided by
the light liners, lit up in a combination of soft white and red
lights. The red indicates that the launchee is to stay in a
stationary position until the order to launch by a flight
controller officer is given. Seconds later, that order comes
through and the lighting conditions change to blue and green. SAL
(Systems Analysis Lutron) fires up the aft thrusters and the
gunnery pod begins to lurch down the tube towards the space where
a circular swivel door used to be. As you exit the tube, you can
see the (SHIP NAME HERE) just being released from the docking
arms of the flexi-bay out of the bottom of the wide view window.
As SAL begins the approach towards pod support tower number 3, a
brief message comes through the communications system from the
captain. He reports on the mission in general and on the close
fly by of the moon of (MOON NAME HERE), where a base run by the
species known as the Skronts are rumored to be located. SAL links
up the pod with the tower just as the main engines come on line.
The ship makes a 72 degree angle turn to come about to face The
Gravitron Ring. The navigation officer enters the configured
gravity pull figures into her counsel for correct launching and
stopping speeds needed to arrive at the pirate's system wide
shielding that stands in the way from arriving at the scheduled
delivery planet where the colony is located at. The Gravity Ring,
having receiving the data and activation codes, begins to warp
space in its own way and pull the ship into it's heart. Before
you know it, the ship has entered the tunnel of light. After only
two seconds, reverse thrust is applied for braking procedures.
Four seconds later, the ship breaks out of the tunnel back into
normal space. With plasma bolt ready, you prime the gun and fire
at the shielding. It tears open like a wet napkin. The ship
proceeds into the system as the shield reseals behind it. Almost
immediately, a Skront scout ship comes heading your way, most
certainly giving notice to all other pirate ships in the vicinity
of your ship's position. Then again, did you really expect
anything else? After three and a half minutes of doing battling
with pirate ships, the (SHIP NAME HERE) closes in on the moon
(MOON NAME HERE). And, as rumored, a number of at least eight
Skront fighters emerge out of the far side of the moon, ready for
battle. As the navigator initiates an evasive maneuver at full
speed, you begin to notice some energy loss to your weapon
systems. Unfortunately, even with the pod's generator, you still
have to deal with the limited energy crisis that has always
existed on board these freighter ships. But, who ever said that
this job was ever going to be easy?
After five grueling minutes of continuous combat, the
communications officer reports some good news about weaponry
support from the colony's space station as soon as your ship
comes within range. Which happens to be only a few more seconds
away. Before you can even say "Gotcha!!!", you see the helpful
sight of thermo cannon fire lighting up amongst the blackness of
space. The pirate's, either exhausted or crippled from the fight,
make a hasty retreat back to their base. Looks like you won this
one.
Next time the player plays the game, he/she inserts the
required credit(s), then inserts the pass card into the card slot
(located above the quarter slots), and presses the start button
(the button is a combination of the start and plasma bolt) to
begin stage three.
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=================(Soon to come.)=================================
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Scene 6:
As you enter your gunnery pod, you can't help but wonder
what your new ship and crew members are going to be like. After
all, you were an excellent member for your old team. You knew
what to expect of them and vice versa. But now, you can't help
but wonder if your ready for this. So soon. And to change teams
during such a dangerous mission, too. But, there last weapon
officer lost his life on the last mission and they desperately
needed a new officer to replace him. And your records were chosen
by this captain as the best choice available. But still, you just
can't help but wonder whether or not you can adapt to this team
so quickly. But no time now to think and ponder. Because, you've
got a ship to protect and a job to do.
As you close the hatch of the pod and settle into your
seat, SAL lifts off the cargo bay floor and thrusts the gunnery
pod into place aboard the S.S. Monte Hue. A message comes across
the communication's channel from the flight controller saying,
"PSI 5 shipper Monte Hue. You have permission for launch. Over."
Then, a siren sounds as the bay begins the decompression cycle.
Seconds later, the hanger doors slide open and the ship begins
propel forward. Once cleared of the bay, the ship heads for The
Gravitron Ring, on course for the colony (COLONY NAME HERE),
located in quadrant 87. After clearing the light tunnel, you
punch the usual hole in the field and fly through it. The
reception on the other side is not what you were expecting. Once
clear of the disrupting effects of the field on communication's
systems, your communication officer receives an S.O.S. from one
of the colonist's planetary hopper craft with no signs of help on
the way. And since the authority codes check out, the captain
orders a diversion to the outer planet in the system, the source
of the signal. The two engines roar to life with a mighty thrust
as the maneuvering retros flair up for aiming control. The
communication officer relays a reply to the distress call as the
navigation officer informs the captain of the dangers of
unauthorized schedule changes. Regardless of the dangers posed by
the rescue mission, the captain continues to lead her ship
onwards towards the distressed planet hopper. A moment later, you
arrive at the planet. You can see the crippled planet hopper just
barely making a stable orbit around the dark side of the planet.
You wait patiently as the S.S. Monte Hue grapples onto the hopper
with four tow clamps. Then, after reeling in the shuttle, the
Monte Hue swings around and heads back to the main route, just in
time to meet up with the first wave of pirates on the attack.
This mission is going to be hardest yet, due to the
required protection of the highly damaged planet hopper in tow.
First of all, the ship's aft deflector's have to extend around
the shuttle in tow to offer it protection against enemy flack,
thus weakening their effectiveness and requiring more power for
the extra yardage. Second, a well placed shot could easily
penetrate the shields and destroy the planet hopper in one hit.
So, incoming fire towards the rear must be intercepted by either
your or one of the other weapon's officers. Third, the extra
drain on the already stressed power system may mean less
effective weapons for you. And fourth, the time used up in the
rescue mission is going to make arriving at the colony on time an
even harder objective than it already was. So, with your task
laid out in front of you, have good luck and some great hunting.
Next time the player plays the game, he/she inserts the
required credit(s), then inserts the pass card into the card slot
(located above the quarter slots), and presses the start button
(the button is a combination of the start and plasma bolt) to
begin stage seven.
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=============(More to come.)=====================================
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Proceed to part 2 of the story board
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Copyright Jerod Underwood Park 1997
All rights reserved