Tale of the Week 292: Leap of Faith - Winner's Circle

[Turkafinwë]

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Leap of Faith


With thanks to Commissar Caligula_ for the use of his Game Picture of the Week 100 submission. Please rep him by clicking on the little green cross. You may find more of his works here in his gallery.

Competing in the Tale of the Week competition is a bit like taking a leap of faith, you enter not knowing where you will end up. Three writers have taken the jump but only one can emerge victorious. Congratulations to Alwyn on his win, telling the tale of a captain making the leap in order to save her crew from certain death. Alwyn receives one Writers' Study competition point bringing his total up to a stunning twenty-six points!

If you missed a chance to read the storyboard you can catch Alwyn's winning entry below:

TotW 292: Leap of Faith - WINNING SUBMISSION

Captain Zhang watched impassively as the yellow icons disappeared from her view, one by one.

“I believe the rebel fleet is defeated. Prepare to jump,” she ordered.

“Captain, a jump signature is forming right behind us!” Navigator Wu’s voice was steady despite this surprise, he sounded alert and confident. The Blue Sky was a Sentinel-class warship, with the heaviest armour and the most accurate interceptor batteries in New China’s fleet.

“What distance?” asked the captain.

“Just twenty lǐ, and a vessel is emerging fast.” replied Wu.

“We are receiving a signal,” said Communication Officer Li. “They say they’re the Yellow Dragon, they’re ordering us to surrender.”

The captain’s fingers probed the projection in the air in front of her, rapidly selecting icons to explore options and dismissing each one.

“We’re not agile enough to evade their fire and we’re too slow to escape, “said the captain. “We could turn to engage them, but that ship is Champion-class. The danger is that they have the firepower to wreck our engines before our main batteries could return fire.”

The captain turned to Li. “Open a channel to the Yellow Dragon.”

“This is Captain Chen of the Yellow Dragon,” came the voice from the enemy vessel. “Your position is hopeless. There is no dishonour in surrendering, your crew will not be ill-treated.”

Captain Zhang responded, “You have a reputation for trustworthiness and your ship has the advantage of mine. My ship would be a valuable prize, but I can deny you this prize and your vessel is not at a safe distance from mine.”

Wu and Li looked anxious, as their captain made the implicit threat to overload the Blue Sky’s jump engines, which would scatter fast-moving shrapnel in all directions.

“I have confidence in my firing team, they could destroy your engines before the overload became critical,” replied Captain Chen.

Captain Zhang said, “Have you scanned the wreckage in orbit around the third moon? Tell me, were your rebel allies fighting warships or civilian vessels, before my ship arrived?”

There was silence for a moment. Then Captain Chen exclaimed, “They appear to be civilian vessels, but perhaps this is some trick. I joined the rebels when...”

Captain Zhang interrupted, “I know why you joined. Your mother was killed on a civilian transport which was destroyed by an imperial warship, the White Tiger. The White Tiger’s captain avoided punishment, as he is favoured by the ten corrupt viceroys who serve the Emperor.”

“If you know this, how can you continue to serve in the imperial fleet?” asked Captain Chen.

“I am taking a risk telling you this,” said Captain Zhang. “I am only telling you because of your honourable reputation. There is a group of imperial officers who are secretly planning to remove the viceroys. But your rebellion is strengthening the Emperor’s reliance on them! You could join us, your ship could tip the balance. I’m asking you to trust me.”

A big thank you to everyone who submitted an entry or voted in the poll from me on behalf of all the WS Staff. This competition would be nothing without everyone who gets a Tale penned. The community is really what drives these competitions. Thank you!

TotW 292: Submission thread | Voting thread

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[Swaeft]

Congrats Alwyn! It was certainly something I never envisaged myself reading from such a TotW - and that's what sold me. Great job to the rest as well, and Turk, thanks for taking over for me. Well done all!

[Alwyn]

Thanks Swaeft, this was fun to write and hopefully the influences came across. Thank you to Turkafinwë for an enjoyable writing challenge, Caligula for the inspiring image and to my fellow entrants.

[Kilo11]

I also really enjoyed it Alwyn! And it was a treat to see you around these parts with a submission. I don't remember when that happened last, but your tales are also good ones!