Contemplating a sci-fi adventure.

[Saigonnus]

Hey Scribes, I have been contemplating working on a project for a bit and I am wondering what you think of the basic concept. Any thought coming to you about the content or things you can think to add would be welcome.

A young man is on his first deep-space vacation to one of the most expansive space stations in the region where he meets up with some friends. He chooses the location because it is at the far reaches of the territory and offers nearly every sort of diversion a young man/woman could want (some questionable but kept "underground" for the most part)
While they are there, the station is attacked by the Kirlavians, who want to expand their territory by regaining what had been taken centuries before by the "empire" (not really an empire for all intents and purposes) mainly comprised of humans and a few other alien races. He is drawn into the battle himself when the station is taken by the Kirlavians and he is ejected in a life pod and sent to a small remote colony. The colonists have a couple of ships to help the station, but not enough men to man them properly, so Link (the protagonist) volunteers along with his friends to serve on a warship heading to rendezvous with the rest of the fleet being assembled.

Other pods go to other colonies and are recieved differently depending on the disposition of the men/women of the respective colonies (miners tend to be mean for example... or protective over their ores)

At the same time several colonies (a couple of large, but mostly small agricultural/mining colonies) are attacked and even more people from the region rally to fight off the Kirlavians.

I'm thinking of incorporating a relatively small expanse of space (a number of planets, moons, colonies and other space stations) into the mix but not quite sure yet how I'd want to do that, and I am open to suggestions. I would also like to incorporate some sort of love interest for the Protagonist, but haven't given that aspect even an inkling of a thought on how to do it.

That's about what I have gotten for the concept so far.

 

[JCFarnham]

First thing I'd want to do is tie down exactly why Link feels he is obliged to deal with this threat when other more competant people are doing pretty badly. Hero complex? Has some one forced his hand and he can't get back to normal life with out helping? It not a hole yet so to speak, but I could see it quickly becoming one as you heap more plot on this guy. Oh and while your at it, why are his friends following him? Wouldn't they all rather kick back on what ever planet they're sent to and just chill? They were on Vacation anyway right haha.

Actually, complete side track here but I'm reminded of the Rush Hour films, Carter just cannot catch a break and have that vacation he keeps promising himself.

Anyway. Second thing I'd want to do is figure out the precise mechanics of the war. What is the reason behind the Kirlavian attacking for expansion? Is it one guy in power ordering them to? Is it a case of the cultural consciousness says so? While it would be enough in some cases to have this enemy attack just to expand and leave it at that, it would leave them rather flat and undefined. Here's some advice I was given, or over heard, can't remember: Even the bad guys are people. Do these aliens neeeeed more land or are they just being overly patriotic and warmongering?

So far it looks as though you travel some pretty decent distances in this story idea. It might be worth figuring out your star drive, whether you handwave it or not, spend a long time or a little time, a well defined travel method would do wonders for you plot because: 1) We're talking war here. The problem of getting around is one of the quickest ways to find some strategy. You're "empire" wants to beat these guys? So where are they hitting, and why, and how? A well defined drive would help on both sides of the conflict. 2) I mean... your protagonist and his friends need to get that vacation some how right?

As for the love interest thing, try this. Figure out what makes Link tick. Discover what his personality is missing and what he needs a companion to be, and of course what he thinks he's missing. I believe its Jung who came up with the idea that good couples are two halves of the same whole, completing each other... The main thing I would warn against is creating a female [or male] character and having him fall in love just because she's [or he] the only person about. That's the majorly contrived Hollywood way of doing love interests. We can afford to be cleverer than that.

Hmmm I'm sure I could think of more to say, but I've already give you a fair sizeable chuck of questions to answer there. I'm going to leave off for the moment, let you figure some things out and ... well, I'll be happy to offer any more of my opinion on this.

 

[Queshire]

I agree, why is he fighting? From what I understand, he's pretty rich right? To go on that vacation and all. If I was him, I'd just want to get the hell out of there as fast as possible. I think it'd be interesting if he was forced to fight or pulled into the battle against his will. I can just imagine him getting a reputation as a fearsome invicible warrior, when really he's just doing his best to stay alive.

 

[Saigonnus]

I haven't delved into the particulars of transportation; particularly the "stardrive", though a couple ideas came to me when I read this and I may put one of them to use. I was thinking about perhaps a drive that simply "folds" space so the beginning and end of the "course" are the same point or at least a lesser distance. Another option would be to create artificial worm holes. I would think an advanced culture would have some sort of high-speed travel if they've managed to colonize worlds so far from their own.

As for Link, his father is stationed on a science vessel and had to scrape and save to send Link of this vacation and it was a reward for graduating the equivalent of the academy, so he's basically one step away from serving on a ship at any rate and not really from a rich family. His father (who is a single dad) has always been hard on him and he just wants some words of praise from the stubborn guy who is very sparing with such things since his wife died a couple years before. He feels obligated to protect the "empire" and those people that cannot defend themselves, not really for any sense of garnering glory or a reputation.

The Kirlavian people are for this expansion, since they tend to be militaristic and known to be trouble-makers, are resentful over the empire's victories. Basically about 100 years before there was a massive conflict between the two cultures. At the time, the Kirlavians had the better ships and more skilled soldiers, but the sheer numbers the "empire" employed in that conflict had tipped the balance in their favor and they eventually pushed them back to the present "borders". The Kirlavians had lost most of their fleet in the final battle; either captured or destroyed and the wreckage later "salvaged" by independent scrap hunters.

The Kirlavian leaders have spent most of that hundred years implementing breeding laws (to increase population), new training requirements (like conscripting) and in the wake of more numbers to work with, have larger mining operations and resource collecting capabilities to build more warships and have the soldiers to use in the battles that are to come.

 

[Penpilot]

A few questions to clarify a few things that aren't clear from the brief description.

Why didn't the empire finish the Kirlavian's off or subjugate them in the first war, especially when they lost most of their fleet in the final battle? Which leads me to the question, was the empire aware of this Kirlavian military build up? If so, why did they allow it to happen instead of bombing them back to the stone age to prevent them from being any sort of threat again? Did this attack catch the empire completely by surprise? If so, why weren't they keeping a better eye on what seems like a sworn enemy and what I'm assuming is a boarder world/system.?

 

[Saigonnus]

Those are some excellent questions Penpilot, and I honestly haven't given the specific details much thought, just in a general sense of what I wanted to write about. I suppose I could create a brief history about the previous war and the effects on the present day. I guess the reason that comes to mind quickly would be that since it was a fairly protracted affair (the whole war) and the Empire had lost enough men and hardware that even though the Kirlavians lost their fleet, it wouldn't have been prudent to go for a planetary invasion on all their worlds and colonies (most of which have planetary defense capabilities). They instead signed treaties to end the hostilities since both sides were tired of the conflict.

In the hundred years that passed, the Empire could have gotten a bit "complacent" with the situation as it was and their guard wasn't what it should have been. They also don't know that the Kirlavians live a very long time (300 years in some cases) so many that remember the conflict and fought in it are still alive in comparison with the shorter lived humans, who aside from the lessons in a history book, know little about what a true threat they are.

The attack does indeed take them by surprise, and they actually have "moles" (people that act as spies) aboard the station, keeping them informed of the combat capabilities, so their attack will have a greater likelihood of success.

 

[Penpilot]

You might want to take a look at some of our history to steal some ideas on post war relations that lead to the second war. I'd suggest checking out what happened to Germany after WW I, specifically how they were treated. You can see how what the "good guys" did led to the Nazi's coming to power and why the German people were willing to got to war and start WW II.

Germany was sneaky in how they built up their military despite big brother watching and having rules limiting what weapons they could have and the size of what they could have. I'm not an expert but I remember they had limitations on the tonnage of the battleships. So they worked around that by building what's called the pocket battleship--- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutschland_class_cruiser -- which was basically a small ship with big friggen guns that sacrificing armor and stuff for the ability to blast other ships to dust in just a few shots.

I think Germany would be a nice model for you to study about how a defeated and beaten nation can rise to power again in short period of time and how they were allowed to start crap and get away with it long enough to come with in a hair of conquering all of Europe.

Any ways good luck and hopefully this helps.

 

[shangrila]

The Kirlavian people are for this expansion, since they tend to be militaristic and known to be trouble-makers, are resentful over the empire's victories. Basically about 100 years before there was a massive conflict between the two cultures. At the time, the Kirlavians had the better ships and more skilled soldiers, but the sheer numbers the "empire" employed in that conflict had tipped the balance in their favor and they eventually pushed them back to the present "borders". The Kirlavians had lost most of their fleet in the final battle; either captured or destroyed and the wreckage later "salvaged" by independent scrap hunters.

How large is the gap between their technologies? Because, honestly, I'm kind of struggling to see how the civilisation with superior ships, soldiers and (I'm assuming) firepower loses, especially in a science fiction setting. And by that I mean, in typical science fiction, the superior ships can take on a fair few lesser ships single handedly without taking a scratch.

Just an idea, but maybe you could introduce a third race that had something to do with the war. They don't have to be known to the humans, but they would be there to draw enough strength away from the Kirs to give the humans victory. You could even take it further and have this third race be the reason the Kirs are invading now; the third race is invading what's left of Kir territory so they have to invade the humans to get away.

And just a note; I think a good example of this in modern history (not my example, just your story) would be Russia and Germany during the 2nd world war. Russia was overmatched in nearly every way and yet just kept throwing people against the Germans, eventually winning out. However, and this is where my example comes from, the only real reason they had success was because most of Germany's forces were tied up in Europe and Africa fighting the other Allies. That, and they were totally unprepared for the brutal winter, but that's more of a side point.

 

[Saigonnus]

I appreciate all the input and I will take it all into account as I write up my premise. Keep it coming, it helps to give me a different outlook on things, give me questions I perhaps hadn't thought about asking.