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New Empire, Jake, Chapter 2

Draconis capital was a bustle of activity this time of day. The roads were fairly clear, but the workday was only three quarters of the way through. This meant the people were still running here and there. One or two hybrid cars shared the road with Jake at a time, but traffic was still slow because of people constantly crossing the street. The empire counsel had implemented a plan to connect a vast majority of the buildings in the downtown area with high-rise walkways, but construction wasn’t to start until next week.

No one would’ve guessed that the city would grow so fast with tension growing between the colonies and Earth. Jake hated it; not the effect the new population had on the Empire’s economy, but the crowd itself. Jake hated being crowded in by all these people. He didn’t mind so many people of so many cultures co-existing together. He just didn’t like being in the middle of it.

On a nice day like this Jake didn’t mind the traffic as much, but he was anxious to look at the information that Gary had given to him. If this job didn’t require as much physical effort on his body that the infantry did he’d be happy to try it out. Although he hadn’t read into the details the thought of traveling within the colonies was very appealing.

By the time Jake got out of the high-traffic areas and arrived at his home on the city outskirts he found himself seriously considering Gary’s proposal.

He parked his car behind the house and went in the back door. He had grown accustomed to leaving his house unlocked lately and it was a habit he was finding hard to break. Crime was nearly non-existent before the population explosion but it was steadily on the rise. He did, however, leave it unlocked while he was home because entering then would be an intruder’s biggest and possibly last mistake in life.

Jake turned on the computer and stuck the disk in. While it was booting up he went to the kitchen, got a bottle of water, and then plopped back down in front of the computer.

The disk didn’t have much on it; just a personnel file and a mission description. The mission was simple. He was requested to bodyguard a new recruit in the empire. This was to be covert and discreet. He was going to be placed as a counselor in the Draconis training facility and then transferred with the recruit upon graduation to whatever post she chose.

The personnel file was of more interest to Jake. He wanted to know why someone entering into military service would need guarding. Obviously this person would be placed into a non-combative line of service or else the point would be moot.

With the amount of security currently on a military installation the odds of seeing action in this sort of assignment was extremely small. That didn’t really appeal to Jake, but taking this job would put his foot back in the door with the empire (with his current rank and pay as well). After this assignment maybe he could transfer to a teaching position involving real troops who saw action, and that would make him happy.

Her name was Jalia Quinn. She was apparently the daughter of a highly valued scientist from Nova Domus who was already displaying as much potential in defense technology as her father at the young age of 16. It would still be 2 weeks before her arrival on Draconis and she had made no official declaration of a career path so the council had decided to put someone trusted in charge of her protection just in case.

Gary was that person, but since a lot of people knew him it would call attention to Jalia so he decided to entrust the job to Jake.

Jake picked up the phone and called Gary’s office. When Gary picked up Jake wasted no time getting to the point; “How long would this assignment be?”

“Indefinite. It truly depends on where this girl ends up in the end. If she decides to work at a nice, cozy, high security lab then she won’t need protection. If she picks the front lines then you’ll be up there with her. She’ll be coaxed into an “egg-head” position, but not forced. If she doesn’t go that way her father and his associates are a major resource of the empire so she’ll still need protecting.”

Jake leaned back in his chair and sighed. “That word worries me.”

Gary laughed, “What word?”

“Indefinite, but chances are someone with the brains to work in a lab probably won’t want to be in the thick of battle.”

There was a short pause, then: “Oh heck Gary. Sign me up; we’ll work out the details tomorrow.”

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New Empire, Jake, Chapter 1

The air was 67 degrees in Draconis Capital on that Thursday afternoon. To Jake Manly it was perfect for training; not too cold, and not hot enough to provoke a heavy sweat. The dojo was quiet and calm for a rare couple seconds during training. One of his students was in a fighting stance before him, preparing to attack. The other 11 were sitting around the floor in various spots they had chosen before class… Observing what was taking place.

Jake was demonstrating what he called “The grab and slab”. It was a move that his father had devised in a bar fight while wielding a pool cue. He was drunk at the time and the limberness he had helped in the maneuver. His class had heard of it and begged for a demonstration.

Both precipitants were armed with cushioned batons, a single one to each. Jake held his in his right hand out and up behind him. His left hand outstretched towards his opponent, with elbow slightly bent to cushion the upcoming blow. His legs were also slightly bent to assist if needed.

His student opted for a more direct approach. Since this defense was aimed against a clumsy or untrained opponent he had offered a swift over-head swipe… This came fast.

Jake acted quickly to catch it. By the instant his left hand contacted the baton his body and arm were contracting to soften the blow. This gave him half the length of his body to stop the batons movement, but before his opponent’s weapon could slow his was already in motion. He brought his baton around in a quick, smooth arch and stopped it short of his opponent’s knee. By then Jake was squatting on the dojo floor and was holding his students baton just short of his own head.

Jake stood and bowed to his student, who promptly returned to his spot on the floor. “The grab and slab is great if your opponent isn’t too much of a fighter, and there are many different variations of it so adapt it to your immediate needs and if your opponent has a bladed weapon I suggest you use something else. Keep in mind that my father was drunk at the time. Now everybody remember to stretch and I’ll see you tomorrow.”

The order of the room dissolved, as everyone broke into the groups of friends that had formed in the past semester. Jake draped a white towel over his shoulder, made his way towards his office, and sat at his desk. His office was connected to the dojo by both a door and a rather large picture window. He would sit and watch the students stretch and leave in the groups in which they had appeared, and then he’d go back out and perform Tai Chi. He liked to close out his work day like that. It relaxed him for the drive home.

It wasn’t long before he noticed an old friend enter the dojo. Jake liked this person immensely but his appearance at this time of day was a bad omen. He stepped halfway through the office doorway and knocked on the already open door.

“Your being here can’t be a good sign Gary.”

Gary walked up to the desk and extended his hand, “Is that a way to welcome a man who’s saved your hide on multiple occasions?”

Jake stood, took Gary’s hand in both of his, and laughed, “If I remember correctly I’ve done the same. How are things going on your neck of the woods?” Jake then motioned to the chair across from him.

“Ah, it’s been boring since you retired.” Gary sat down and leaned back, “Looks as though you got a comfy gig here.”

“It’s pretty nice. Good pay, good people, and no bullets flying past your head.”

Gary leaned forward and crossed his arms on the desk, “Have you ever thought of re-enlisting in the Empire?”

“I knew you were here for a reason. I’m too old for that kind of work Gary.” Jake stood up and walked to the doorway. He stopped there and watched the last set of students walk out.

Gary swiveled his chair to face Jake, “This would be a ‘low key’ position. Same rank and same pay, but all you’d be doing is guarding a new recruit.” He pulled a diskette out of his pocket and laid it on the desk. “Everything’s on here. If you’re interested, call me. I’ll be planet-side for two days.”

Gary got up and placed his hand on Jakes shoulder as he passed him in the doorway and stopped. “I suggested you for this job because most people in the service now don’t know you and I’d trust you with my life. Just think it over.” With that he continued through the dojo towards the door, whistling as he walked.

Jake watched him disappear through the door. He had often thought about the friends he left behind when he retired from the Draconis Empire. Although he was still young at the age of 38 he couldn’t keep the pace that was needed in life or death situations. Two of his team retired when he did as well, but they disappeared into the colonies afterwards.

He was currently 44 and even though the thought of reenlisting appealed to him he was concerned about keeping up.

Jake swiped the disk off of the desk and grabbed his jacket. He had too much on his mind to meditate now so he’d just drive home.

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New Empire, Jalia, Chapter 10

The rest of the trip was relatively uneventful. About 15 hours from Viridis Pulcher the Majestic began its deceleration burn. Jalia sat with Jonathon and played chess for a few hours while he monitored the gravity plating and then retired to bed.

She awoke around 0830 the next day and the deceleration burn was still in progress. Jon had been relieved and was in his quarters (most likely asleep). Breakfast for the crew had been delayed during the burn for safety reasons, but Jalia was able to sweet-talk the cook into a snack.

At 0900 the Majestic made its first pass of Viridis Pulcher. It continued its deceleration burn while heading away from the colony and used the planets gravity to continue slowing. A couple of hours later the ship circled back and settled into a low orbit.

Jalia was a little disappointed that she didn’t get a very good view of the planet during their approach. The only real view was from the bridge and the captain didn’t offer any invitations during such a busy time. A few monitors throughout the ship offered a real-time view, but it wasn’t the same. The resolution was so bad that it was difficult to see anything but cloud cover and ocean.

The Majestic docked with a small transport shuttle that took Jalia down to the colony. Jon was the only one there to see her off. Everyone else was either sleeping or helping lock down the ship.

Her last view of the ship was during its unloading before her shuttle detached. A small fleet of around 6 shuttles had lined up for its arrival. The Majestic would release one of its large octagon cargo pods; a small shuttle would grab it with a slender mechanical arm, move aside for the next shuttle, and then begin securing it for the trip down.

Soon after the second Shuttle lined up for the next pod, her ship angled down for the descent. It would be years before she was to see the Majestic again.

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Examining our entertainment

Today I’m going to rant a little (again).

First I’m going to link to the story that set this off in my mind:

Tech Dirt: warner bros just keeps pushing people to piracy

It got me thinking: “Why is the movie industry so insistent on people buying movies before they’re available to rent when half of what they make these days isn’t worth the money?” So it started me down a path that resulted in this:

A lot of people complain about movies “sucking” these days but they provide little facts to back it up. Everybody’s opinion is their own and the internet makes everyone an audience for it. But today I thought: “Why not go back through the previous year and catalog the major movies that came out and do the same for the major movies coming out in 2012”. Then I’d compare them.

So I did:

First I’ll give you short descriptions of the categories: “Original” is exactly what it seems to be. The film is an original story. I researched each one on Wikipedia and IMDB so it’s dependent on those sources. “Remake/Comic” are films that are either remakes of earlier films or films based on books or comics. “Sequel/Prequel” is exactly what it says. “Documentary/Based on” are movies either based on true stories or discussing real happenings.

The results were less than encouraging. The future of our entertainment appears to be at risk:

2011:
Original: 14 (One shy of a quarter)
Remake/Comic: 18 (One shy of a third)
Sequel/Prequel: 20 (4/11th)
Documentary/Based on: 3

2012: (Release dates announced so far)
Original: 3 (1/10th)
Remake/Comic: 6 (2/10th)
Sequel/Prequel: 21 (7/10th)
Documentary/Based on: 0

It was hard to place Phantom Menace 3D considering it’s a Remake of a Prequel but I placed it under Sequel/Prequel anyway. Harry Potter and Twilight were also difficult to place because they’re both based on books AND sequels, but I put them under sequels in the end because they’re both into their fifth or higher iterations. Other than that everything was fairly easy to place. Also notice that I kept personal opinions such as “Sucked”, “Good”, or “Watchable” out of the equation. This keeps data relevant for my readers but also is a double-edged sword (just because a movie was “original” doesn’t necessarily mean it was “good”).

The trend I see that really discourages me emotionally is the rise in Sequels and Prequels. It’s almost as if the movie studios find it easier to just keep feeding their audience the same material over and over again. The number of Remakes and Comic/Book movies being larger than Original Pictures seems to support that hypothesis.

In 2011 only one quarter of widely promoted films were original stories. So far in 2012 only 1/10 of announced films can be considered as original. Keep in mind that the projections for 2012 are subject to change as the year goes on but since we’re into February now I’d assume it won’t change much.

I’ll let you come to your own conclusions.

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New Empire, Jalia, Chapter 9

Jonathon led Jalia back down to deck 4 but instead of continuing to the airlocks he stopped at the first door on the left and readied his hand over the doors control panel.

“Close your eyes. You’re not supposed to see this.”

Jalia chuckled, but understood the need for secrecy. If the ships defenses were through this door then they wouldn’t want anyone to be in there that didn’t need to be. She turned her head, “I’m not looking.”

Jonathon tapped a few buttons and door hissed open. He took her hand “Come on. You can look now.”

She turned her head back as Jonathon pulled her into the new room. To her it resembled the command room on the top deck except the center table was not a flat display, but two small opposing monitor/keyboard combinations. No one was at any of the stations. The only signs of life besides Jalia and Jonathon were the occasional beep from one of the monitors somewhere off to her right.

“It seems quite now, but it gets frantic in here when we need the shields.” Jonathon let go of her hand and walked past her to the right side of the room. A very narrow hallway existed there. “This leads to the front of the ship. I know this hallway is small, but it hugs the stairway on the left.” He turned slightly sideways and started down the passage “This is why it’s good to exercise on a starship. Come on, what I want you to see is through here.”

The slim passageway opened into a room that was smaller than the previous but looked similar. There were no seats, but the walls were adored with monitors, controls, and removable panels. In the center of the room stood what appeared to be a round support beam that was about 1 foot in diameter and stretched from ceiling to floor. Jon pointed to it and walked to a small blank panel on the far wall.

“Stand in front of that pole,” He then tapped the panel. It lifted and slid up, revealing a small keypad underneath.

Jalia didn’t note the combination he entered, but the result was apparent. The lights in the room went out and were replaced by a faint red glow. Then a hiss emanated from the base of what Jalia had assumed was a support beam and it began to retract towards the ceiling, revealing a glass pole nearly as wide that pulsed with a brilliant blue light.

“That’s the vacuum capacitor that routes to the shields. That glass is tented 70% to solid so you can get an idea of how bright the static flow must be.”

Jalia stood in awe for a moment. The flashes coming from the capacitor in the center of the room border-lined on blinding but was, oddly enough, easy to bear. Maybe it was the bluish hue, but she believed that she could easily become hypnotized if left alone.

“Can I touch it?”

“Sure, it’s insulated. Just don’t stare for too long.”

Jalia slowly reached out and rested her hands the glass-like insulation between her and the power flow. It was enough electricity to instantly kill her and potentially destroy any evidence of what she once was. The glass was only slightly warm, little more than room temperature. “Why is it on if the shields aren’t up?”

“It would take at least 2 whole minutes to warm up from a dead start. Watch your fingers.” Jon tapped the controls again and the shielding began to lower. “That much time is an eternity when lives are at stake.”

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