TGS snippet 5

Sitrep: I did a render test yesterday, since I knew I wasn't going to get much writing done. I tried Suqi, both in Daz and in Cinema.
A picture may be worth a thousand words but dang, it's easier to write it!
   I wanted to get a benchline on how long the renders would be and what sort of detail for the final product while also figuring out the pipeline.
  I couldn't get Daz to cooperate at all. The set, the lights, the background, the hair, none of that worked. I even had to switch clothes since her first dress had arrows attached to it.
  The render times were horrible and the hair wouldn't show up! I had to cancel trying to render her with grass. Just low poly grass like in the scene (Don't get cute, we're talking real grass, not the stuff people smoke), but nope, 30 minutes in and it was still trying to calculate it all.
  When I ported her over to Cinema, I set fur up but it was nasty. I really should have went with hair and taken my time but by that time I was pretty sure the render times wouldn't be acceptable. Again, I couldn't get grass to work either. 30 minutes and I gave up.\
The 2 renders I did get in Daz each took 10 minutes. The 2 in Cinema each took 7:30. For 1 character, stock lighting and sky, GI, AO, Best AA, simple ground. That's with my 8 core machine.
I may try again here when I go to lunch in a minute or so.

   What does all this mean and have to do with stuff? Well, I've been wanting to do a comic, and now a graphic novel for some time. Mechmaster (my friend in the UK) has his Dalek comic and has been trying to get me to do one of the comics I pitched to him years ago. (Zoids, etc)
  I even have 5 Federation stories blocked out. One is a full treatment and script. I even mentioned that 1 in TGS! I have most of the content for 2 of the stories too! GRR.
  In Daz I have a better rendering engine. (Iray, newer at least then Cinema 11's.) I realized right off that I'd need a dedicated render machine though, I'd go bonkers trying to render each panel of a 20+ pages per comic.
  Now I get why Mechmaster went that route. (I'm having a deja vu moment, I may have discussed this before in a post. Definitely emails with the betas.) I also see why some graphic novelists take so long to do stuff and sometimes go the low poly route.

  Pipeline: If I tried to port everything over to Cinema I'd have to rig each model, import it, fix errors, hand set anything like fur, groom them, etc (and do that for each pose) pose them, etc. The sets would be basically the same for some panels, just moving the characters and stuff. But that's all a pain in the rump. It'd also create gigabyte copies of the same content, over and over and over.

Anyway, that project is back on a back burner, though I may put around with it as I said above. Darn. On to the snippet!

Chapter 4 

Retribution Fleet

It had taken eleven weeks for the tattered remains of the Horathian offensive to retreat to the empty B-97a star system. Admiral De Gaulte had no intention of remaining in the star system long. No sooner had the Retribution Fleet exited hyper and begun licking their wounds as they lumbered across the empty solar system, two light cruisers exited hyperspace near the jump point behind them.

It was clear from their appearance that they had been sent to scout B-97a. Admiral Cyrano De Gaulte grimaced as he ordered his fleet to fall back on the jump point to B-97c at their best speed. He had no choice; the enemy was faster than him in hyperspace. His fleet had lumbered at their best speed in Beta while he was certain the enemy could hit the high octaves of Gamma band or even better. For all he knew, there was a fleet waiting in hyper for the message those two cruisers were going to deliver.

Which meant he didn't want to be anywhere near the star system when the enemy appeared. But, that presented a problem. Each of the damaged ships had done their best to make what repairs they could in hyperspace, but they needed time in real space to make more, especially repairs on the outer hull. Several of his ships needed a yard to for a full refit.

Making those repairs while underway was rough. Transferring logistic supplies from what was left of the fleet train and convoy that had lingered in the empty star system was even harder. He shook his head as the two cruisers were lost on their long-range scans. Judging from their headings, they were going to follow his force, but they were most likely smart enough to stay out of range.

“How long do you think we've got, sir?” Captain Chase Couglin, Executioner's flag captain asked carefully.

The admiral grunted. “If they are following us I don't think the enemy is ready to jump in behind us just yet. They would have popped back in and whistled them up. I think they were hurt as well. In fact, I know they were. How much remains to be seen. The same for how fast they can get their damage repaired and their ships resupplied.”

“But, they could drop out ahead of us. Or hell, they could already have passed us in hyper and those ships are chasing us into another trap,” Berney, his chief of staff, said with a shake of his head. There wasn't quite a note of panic in his voice so much as dread.

More than one person inhaled sharply at that idea as it sank in.

“He's right, sir,” Catherine murmured, turning to stare at the admiral. “If they figured out how to skip. Or they could have jumped direct to B-97c.”

“It's possible,” the admiral replied with a nod to Berney and then to his staff OPS officer. “Have the screen out as far as we can safely push them. I know Nimitz and the fleet train have been here waiting, but we can't take any chances. We'll know more when we catch up with the convoy in B-97c.”

“Aye aye, sir.”

“I was going to send the worst of our damaged ships on ahead and try to hang on to the star system. I don't know if that is possible anymore. We may have reinforcements in hyperspace on the way. Then again, we may not. Or, we may not have enough. Politics and war,” the admiral mused with a shake of his head.

Catherine bit her lip slightly but didn't say anything.

“Lose them or lose the fleet. A tough decision, sir,” Captain Couglin murmured.

“I know. We'll try to delay it as long as we can. But, I want the engineers to know we might have to drop everything and make a run for it at any time. So make sure they don't tear into anything they shouldn't.”

“Aye aye, sir. Several of the ships have major frame damage. If we want to squeeze more speed in hyper or subspace, we're going to need to deal with it and other repairs. And they've made it clear it has to be done when we're not underway,” Catherine warned.

“We've got frame damage as well,” Captain Couglin stated. “Our sublight drive has only lost about ten percent. We've patched the fuel leaks.”

“Understood,” the admiral rumbled. “Tell your people to do their best internally and externally.”

“We've got a lot of shuttles on SAR duty. It's putting a lot of time on their clocks,” Berney stated.

“It can't be helped. I want everything we've got on a courier. Keep a running update and put the courier ahead of us with the screen.”

Berney grimaced but then nodded. They had already sent a courier off ahead of them the moment they'd exited hyperspace. The little ship had departed the star system a bare day before their uninvited guests had appeared in an explosion of energy astern of the fleet.

“I don't know what sort of reinforcements White will get. We have to be ready for anything. I want you to process as much as we have while we can on top of everything else,” the admiral said, turning to his staff. They nodded.

:::{)(}:::

Crown Princess Catherine Ramichov took a moment to take stock of her changed situation once things had begun to wind down in the fleet. She had a few moments before she needed to sleep. She had put off a lot of thought of the future to deal with the crisis of the moment, but it was beginning to nag at her hind brain and had finally bubbled out of her subconsciousness to make her face it at last.

She was there, the new crown princess. There, she had thought it, she thought in amusement at herself. It had come to her when she had realized her brothers were most likely dead or captured. Either way, they were out of the running to succeed their father now, which firmly thrust herself into the spotlight.

She wasn't certain she liked it. The spotlight was a dangerous place to be. It drew all the attention, she couldn't make a mistake, and everyone had their knives sharpened and ready in the shadows for her. A single mistake could mean her life.

She should know; up until their jump, she had been one of those people waiting for her twin Adam to stumble. She'd even been ready to give him a handy push should he need it. But she'd been content to wait, to bide her time until their father fell.

Now though, now it was a whole new game—a dangerous one. She was well aware that her younger siblings and their supporters, most notably her stepmother Irazabeth, would be eyeing her like sharks smelling blood in the water.

And she would be eyeing them too, for she was the slightly larger shark and self-preservation was drilled into her.

Marina might be a source of aide. Might she thought as she cataloged the woman in the maybe column. Marina's place and plans had been abruptly shaken by Adam's death. She would know she was on the way out so might grasp at any offer of token support she could get.

As next in line, Joseph would be eyeing to replace her. But if he was smart, he'd hold his place in line and back her against Irazabeth, Kevin, and Khali.

She shivered. She had shifted an unwanted betrothal to Khali, the youngest of their brood. She was certain her young half-sister despised her for it. There would be no help there, far from it.

Her grandmother Jezebel, the dowager empress, would be of some help … unless she cut a deal with Irazabeth. She wouldn't put it past the bitch she thought with a curled lip.

But, all that would be moot if she herself didn't survive to see the homeworld again. She grimaced as another realization came to her. She not only had to survive, to get there, but also survive the gauntlet of recriminations for the failure of Cyrano and the Retribution Fleet in its mission to crush the Federation. As the admiral's chief of staff, she was in the crosshairs right alongside him. Given her newfound and somewhat ironically unwanted position as crown princess, those who would see her fall would most likely do something to tarnish her while she was vulnerable.

Her lips thinned. That was okay, many would identify themselves in the process. She would find allies as well, but she would need to be careful. The old saying, keep your friends close but your enemies closer, ran through her head. An enemy would cozen up to her, get her to lower her guard … she would have to be careful indeed.

:::{)(}:::