kingmakeress
Petty Officer
I tried to hold technical details back, as I am more interested in the implications and the philosophical extensions of AI and machine learning!
Confederation low observability fighter
- Thread starter kingmakeress
- Start date
Bandit LOAF
Long Live the Confederation!
So the AI attempt inspired me to think about how I'd tell the story and I ended up kind of loosely describing a setup that I think is kinda cool.
Prologue:
"Savage Flight. Combat air patrol of K'Tithrak Mang, Kilrathi Sector HQ."
We open on a trio of prototype Strakha on patrol. They are decloaked but on alert for something. They are continually laser-pinging other Strakha elements about their locations. Through conversation we learn that one of the pilots is MARJAKH NAR KUR'U'TAK, one of our viewpoint characters.
Marjakh is the son of Zurakh, who died testing the original Strakha prototype two years earlier. He is YOUNG, a wet-behind-the-ears Fourth Fang who is on his first combat assignment. But it is also already clear that he is a natural pilot and that he was weaned on Zurakh's theories of stealth combat. His politics are simple and he is not the most thoughtful kil but there is a fury deep in his bones, he wants to kill humans… but not just any humans, human fighter pilots like the ones that tricked and executed his father.
Over the past two years his mother GHARNA has relentlessly pursued one goal: achieving her dead lair-mate's dream of a fully stealth fighter (which we will find speaks specifically to the Kilrathi hunting instinct). This has been a scientific and a political feat: she has worked countless Varni slaves to death developing the two-way phased photon cloak and she has become embroiled in court politics in order to sway Prince Thrakhath to support her goal. (She is introduced as a scientist, but we will come to find that in Kilrathi society that is simply a very specific kind of slavemaster.)
On the other paw, Marjakh's wingmen despise him; they call him Bastard and joke about his parentage. His mother is pretty close to the new Prince, isn't she (this is the first hint as to the specific time this takes place)? They blame her–and by proxy him–for their predicament, assigned to these ridiculous weak stealth fighters defending a base far from the front lines. We find that they resent her having maneuvered Thrakhath into putting resources (and his top pilots) into this farce. They want to be fighting and not serving some female /scientist's/ fantasy. Deep down, Marjakh wonders if he feels the same way.
Suddenly, there's a proximity alarm. "It is as she said. Savage flight, cloak." The Strakha vanish as the distant target comes into view. It's a massive human carrier, Bengal-class. Marjakh consults his warbook. 700 meters long. He exclaims: "the Tiger's Claw!" We see the Wing Commander 2 intro now but from the perspective of Marjakh. A timer display in the cockpit reaches zero. He decloaks, fires his torpedoes and…
CHAPTER ONE - FIVE YEARS LATER…
Open in media res: Paladin (viewpoint character) and Hobbes are taking cover against a (tan) durasteel barrier on one side of a bridge that towers over a lava flow. On one side is a Kilrathi fortress and the other a landing pad with a beat up merchantman. We've joined them at the tail end of a fantastic spy adventure; Hobbes is protecting some kind of briefcase (contents never explained) and they're having a swashbuckling firefight with Kilrathi guards as they escape towards the Diligent. It's light and funny - they're quipping, Ralgha is comically frustrated that Paladin isn't taking any of it seriously enough. Plenty of "ach laddies" and "caught me with me kilt down"s. They make it to the Diligent and blast off… it takes a big hit from a Kilrathi turret as it escapes and Paladin comments that that's going to be the end of the old girl, we're going to have to get the 'Heather out of mothballs.
As they escape the Kilrathi planet, we get a conversation between them that tells us who they are and what they've been up to. Specifically, they've been spies going on these missions together since they helped liberate Ghorah Khar. We get all kinds of fun hints about the things they've been involved with since but nothing specific. Ralgha talks about how this is his last job, he's getting the fighter assignment he's been begging for since he joined the force. Paladin is going to miss him but he has a promotion looming too: he's the new sector chief for Special Operations.
They return home and get a briefing (from Vance?) about a new mission; intel has noticed that the Kilrathi have been specifically raiding planets and facilities that tend to have physicists. It's known that Kilrathi science functions this way and this suggests they're trying to develop some sort of technology but HQ has absolutely no idea what specifically it could be. The two are to sneak behind enemy lines and find out first where these slaves are being transferred and what they're being used to do. The plan: Ralgha will pose as a Kilrathi merchant who has human slaves to sell: Paladin and another agent who will pose as notable human scientists. The mood is still light, the two of the cursing the fortunes of war for keeping them away from their promised next assignments.
CHAPTER TWO
The Emperor's Court on Kilrah. We see Gharna briefing Thrakhath on the stealth fighter program. Marjakh is present; he is a First Fang now and wears an Icon of Sivar on his chest. Much was lost when the facilities on Ghorah Khar were destroyed (this killed the slaves that developed the cloak) but she has been rebuilding her laboratory and has high hopes (the slaves are no longer just Varni, we will introduce a cast of them which includes a human scientist). She is obviously flirting with the prince at points and Marjakh shudders internally, but he can not interrupt or show emotion. Thrakhath's initial fears about the effort are forgotten and he approves her desired budget (considered ridiculous by the barons) and instructs an unhappy rival clan leader to assign her the pick of their high intelligence human prisoners.
The meeting ends and we retire to a conversation between Marjakh and Gharna. Mother, is all of this necessary? You disgrace our father. No, Marjakh, I honor him. His invention (again, he was a slavemaster, not an actual inventor) will end this war and the Kur'u'tak, not the Kiranka will be ascendant. Marjakh does not quite believe this, but he accedes. She goes on: haven't my plans served you well so far? He has to admit, they have. He is no longer an outcast, he is now the kil that destroyed the famed Tiger's Claw. The past five years have seen him comet through the ranks. He is an ace of aces now and an instructor at the new imperial school for jak-ta pilots, the Empire's effective master of stealth combat. He feels accomplished having sent so many human souls to serve Zurakh in the afterlife… he is less sure about the future of the stealth fighter program. He knows everything is not wine and arakh leaves; despite her briefing to Thrakhath, there has been little progress towards recreating the cloak. Is he training pilots who will never even have a fighter?
Prologue:
"Savage Flight. Combat air patrol of K'Tithrak Mang, Kilrathi Sector HQ."
We open on a trio of prototype Strakha on patrol. They are decloaked but on alert for something. They are continually laser-pinging other Strakha elements about their locations. Through conversation we learn that one of the pilots is MARJAKH NAR KUR'U'TAK, one of our viewpoint characters.
Marjakh is the son of Zurakh, who died testing the original Strakha prototype two years earlier. He is YOUNG, a wet-behind-the-ears Fourth Fang who is on his first combat assignment. But it is also already clear that he is a natural pilot and that he was weaned on Zurakh's theories of stealth combat. His politics are simple and he is not the most thoughtful kil but there is a fury deep in his bones, he wants to kill humans… but not just any humans, human fighter pilots like the ones that tricked and executed his father.
Over the past two years his mother GHARNA has relentlessly pursued one goal: achieving her dead lair-mate's dream of a fully stealth fighter (which we will find speaks specifically to the Kilrathi hunting instinct). This has been a scientific and a political feat: she has worked countless Varni slaves to death developing the two-way phased photon cloak and she has become embroiled in court politics in order to sway Prince Thrakhath to support her goal. (She is introduced as a scientist, but we will come to find that in Kilrathi society that is simply a very specific kind of slavemaster.)
On the other paw, Marjakh's wingmen despise him; they call him Bastard and joke about his parentage. His mother is pretty close to the new Prince, isn't she (this is the first hint as to the specific time this takes place)? They blame her–and by proxy him–for their predicament, assigned to these ridiculous weak stealth fighters defending a base far from the front lines. We find that they resent her having maneuvered Thrakhath into putting resources (and his top pilots) into this farce. They want to be fighting and not serving some female /scientist's/ fantasy. Deep down, Marjakh wonders if he feels the same way.
Suddenly, there's a proximity alarm. "It is as she said. Savage flight, cloak." The Strakha vanish as the distant target comes into view. It's a massive human carrier, Bengal-class. Marjakh consults his warbook. 700 meters long. He exclaims: "the Tiger's Claw!" We see the Wing Commander 2 intro now but from the perspective of Marjakh. A timer display in the cockpit reaches zero. He decloaks, fires his torpedoes and…
CHAPTER ONE - FIVE YEARS LATER…
Open in media res: Paladin (viewpoint character) and Hobbes are taking cover against a (tan) durasteel barrier on one side of a bridge that towers over a lava flow. On one side is a Kilrathi fortress and the other a landing pad with a beat up merchantman. We've joined them at the tail end of a fantastic spy adventure; Hobbes is protecting some kind of briefcase (contents never explained) and they're having a swashbuckling firefight with Kilrathi guards as they escape towards the Diligent. It's light and funny - they're quipping, Ralgha is comically frustrated that Paladin isn't taking any of it seriously enough. Plenty of "ach laddies" and "caught me with me kilt down"s. They make it to the Diligent and blast off… it takes a big hit from a Kilrathi turret as it escapes and Paladin comments that that's going to be the end of the old girl, we're going to have to get the 'Heather out of mothballs.
As they escape the Kilrathi planet, we get a conversation between them that tells us who they are and what they've been up to. Specifically, they've been spies going on these missions together since they helped liberate Ghorah Khar. We get all kinds of fun hints about the things they've been involved with since but nothing specific. Ralgha talks about how this is his last job, he's getting the fighter assignment he's been begging for since he joined the force. Paladin is going to miss him but he has a promotion looming too: he's the new sector chief for Special Operations.
They return home and get a briefing (from Vance?) about a new mission; intel has noticed that the Kilrathi have been specifically raiding planets and facilities that tend to have physicists. It's known that Kilrathi science functions this way and this suggests they're trying to develop some sort of technology but HQ has absolutely no idea what specifically it could be. The two are to sneak behind enemy lines and find out first where these slaves are being transferred and what they're being used to do. The plan: Ralgha will pose as a Kilrathi merchant who has human slaves to sell: Paladin and another agent who will pose as notable human scientists. The mood is still light, the two of the cursing the fortunes of war for keeping them away from their promised next assignments.
CHAPTER TWO
The Emperor's Court on Kilrah. We see Gharna briefing Thrakhath on the stealth fighter program. Marjakh is present; he is a First Fang now and wears an Icon of Sivar on his chest. Much was lost when the facilities on Ghorah Khar were destroyed (this killed the slaves that developed the cloak) but she has been rebuilding her laboratory and has high hopes (the slaves are no longer just Varni, we will introduce a cast of them which includes a human scientist). She is obviously flirting with the prince at points and Marjakh shudders internally, but he can not interrupt or show emotion. Thrakhath's initial fears about the effort are forgotten and he approves her desired budget (considered ridiculous by the barons) and instructs an unhappy rival clan leader to assign her the pick of their high intelligence human prisoners.
The meeting ends and we retire to a conversation between Marjakh and Gharna. Mother, is all of this necessary? You disgrace our father. No, Marjakh, I honor him. His invention (again, he was a slavemaster, not an actual inventor) will end this war and the Kur'u'tak, not the Kiranka will be ascendant. Marjakh does not quite believe this, but he accedes. She goes on: haven't my plans served you well so far? He has to admit, they have. He is no longer an outcast, he is now the kil that destroyed the famed Tiger's Claw. The past five years have seen him comet through the ranks. He is an ace of aces now and an instructor at the new imperial school for jak-ta pilots, the Empire's effective master of stealth combat. He feels accomplished having sent so many human souls to serve Zurakh in the afterlife… he is less sure about the future of the stealth fighter program. He knows everything is not wine and arakh leaves; despite her briefing to Thrakhath, there has been little progress towards recreating the cloak. Is he training pilots who will never even have a fighter?
kingmakeress
Petty Officer
It feels very WC2 in style and references, could it be a fictional bridge between SM2 and WC2?