The Hammer was involved in one of many border incidents in 2291 that saw it almost destroyed by Dakota privateers. The Hammer managed to drive the privateers off, but was badly damaged. Sears’ engine section was badly hit and there was a hull breach. Sears managed to save more than half his engine crew – who in turn were pivotal in repairing the Hammer’s engines enough to get it back safely into deeper Union territory,  however he was forced sacrifice the lives of eight of his men by sealing them in a compartment that was depressurising, in order to save the ship. This decision would be one he would never forget.

The Hammer went into dry-dock for two months at the Jupiter Naval Yards and most of her surviving crew were transferred, Sears suffering from guilt, chose to stay and was in-turn promoted to X.O. serving under Captain Stark.

The Hammer was re-assigned to the Imperial 8^th Colonial Fleet and took part in the invasion of Hoyle in 2297.

In 2299 Sears learned his ship would be a part of the upcoming invasion of the Reinager System, he vowed he would not lose any more men.

Sears is a man of high integrity and his men know it, while he may have been a bit of a wildcard in his youth, ever since losing men under his command he is a man who sticks to the rules. Sears still suffers from guilt at losing his men eight years ago and he will do whatever it takes to gain redemption.

Go to James Sears Character Page

Well after much heartache and hassle and over the top ridiculous crap happening – Part 8 is finally finished and released on youtube.

See it right here!

And I hope you enjoy it.

Lew

Well this week has been very busy, much work has gone into Part 8 which I’m very happy to announce is finally finished, with all the sound levels checked, all the pictures rendered and it shall be released later today!

Much work has gone into the foliage of the planet as will be quite evident, we will also see the creation of a new main character – Lieutenant Commander James Sears voiced by Kevin McCulley, Sears is going be in for the long haul and his story is going to be a tough one, which will be clear to see in the next few parts.

One of my close friends has gone off to Europe to travel for two whole years – lucky schmuck! Before he left he gave me back a birthday present I gave him years ago – the first season of Kojack on DVD – total schmuck! And so in my downtime (render-time) I’ve become quite acquainted with Lt. Theo Kojack and may I say for a 1973 crime series – this – is – freaken – awesome! So for the last two weeks my downtime has been split between the first season of Kojack and Fringe – both very epic.

On a slightly humorous note, I discovered that youtube has implemented a new word recognition subtitle program for it’s videos – basically it listens to what gets said and does it best to guess it and put it into subtitles for hard of hearing. So I did what any youtube user should do and I put it to the test with Frontier – Prelude to Darkness: Part 7.

After doing this I now believe youtube has some vested interest in the elections, please see below….

Paski explains the voter merits

'Red' confirms the voters are pleased

Yes Paski time flies in the senate...

'Red' revelas he once murdered a woman...great guy to have in the dropship next to you

Somehow Koenig has mistaken Ender for one of Capitol Hill's finest...

Koenig may be partial to Bill though...

But don't worry Commodore Greene tells us exactly where it's all happening...

At the Battle of Van Gaal VI the Wiltshire provided close support to Sabre Squadron and came to the aid of Captain Webster at one point.

However soon after the Wiltshire fell victim to the newly discovered Dakota super-cannons, her forward hull was ripped off and the aft sections quickly disintegrated in the space of three seconds.

She was lost with all hands.

Go to U.S.S. Wiltshire Ship Page

Gaff joined the Guardian Point Imperial Air Academy on Alpha Centauri in January 2297 and six months later was in his own cockpit flying off the U.S.S. Patton (SCA-703) from the Imperial 8th Colonial Fleet.

Gaff flies in Sabre Squadron in the number 3 position, under the new command of Major Caine who took over as Squadron leader from Captain Webster who now serves as Squadron X.O.

Sabre squadron considers Gaff a great asset and a dependable wingman to have watching their six. Gaff is eager to fight and very keen to kill Dakota.

Go to Daniel Gaff’s Character Page

This week has been a roller-coaster, on Monday night at 11:30pm the drive containing all frontier animations stop registering on windows.

You can imagine the look on my face…one of sheer terror. Thinking all was lost (as my backup situation leaves quite a lot to be desired) I phoned my wife’s brother in law who took the drive away to look at.

So Tuesday was spent in absolute suspense hoping against hope that the news would be good and there would be a way to recover all the data on this drive.

At 3pm I get a phone call and the news couldn’t be better: ‘the drive is fine, but your power supply needs upgrading’. It seems all the extras I had added onto this system: extra 2GB RAM, extra 1TB Drive had pushed the power supply over its maximum.

So thank God everything was fine and the animation now continues – God bless my wife’s brother-in-law.

As for Part 8 – it is sitting currently at 71% and I imagine I’m on target for the early March release on youtube.

This week has seen animation of foliage on the surface of Toyr’diablo as we get closer to the first troops disembarking from their carryalls and into enemy territory.

Without giving away too much I would say it’s going to be a bumpy landing.

Other non-animation specific things occurring this week – I started playing a game called Broken Sword 4 – which is a major throwback to the old Police Quest style games on the late 80s/early 90s, and let me tell you that Police Quest II: The Vengeance was one of the first games I played as a kid and definitely one of my favorites of all time (sometimes I even go back and replay it now). So Broken Sword 4 is shaping up to be pretty nostalgic.

And more space orientated old-school gaming, there’s a wicked article that wcnews.com is covering about a review of Wing Commander IV from 1996 (the Wing Commander Series is actually one of the key inspirations for the Frontier series), check it out here!

Stay tuned for more.

Lew

The Manchester was apart of the detachment led by the U.S.S. Roanoke (SDD-1081) from the Imperial 4^th Colonial Fleet sent to rescue the C.S.V. Nile Road (TC-26) at Van Gaal VI.

Upon engaging Dakota forces the Manchester was the first ship to be destroyed by a new Dakota super-cannon that had been installed onto their destroyers and cruisers.

The Manchester was annihilated in a matter of seconds, there are no known survivors.

Go to U.S.S. Manchester Ship Page