Good
 

Download

By Bites_his_Nose
07/24/2010 - 18:48:12

Type: Spaceship
Rating: 4.85 (Good)
Tags: aircraft, airship, blimp, clue1, ethereal, ghost, ghostship, pirate, ship, skull, specter, sporescavengerhunt2010

• Comments

• View on Spore.com

Description

The Black Phantom - once a name that instilled terror in every sky-captain's heart. Piloted by the dread pirate Coleus Aarkveld, the airship was rumored to be a true phantom rather than a construct of steel and timber. The few survivors of her attacks told wild tales of heavy shells passing straight through her as though she were made of air and of how she could suddenly change position - one moment chasing a fleeing ship; the next appearing directly in front and above it. It was the consistency of these tales, along with the courage and ingenuity of one brave man that lead to the Phantom's downfall. Fredderik Douwne, a lowly deck hand on one of the Phantom's targets (later to become Admiral Douwne, High Commander of the Telorian Air Navy) made it his quest to discover how the Phantom could perform such supernatural activities and sought out survivors from several other Phantom attacks in order to compare accounts of the attacks. He discovered that each time, the attacks followed the same pattern. They would only occur at night and only when weather conditions would greatly impair visibility. The signature blazing eyes and mouth of the Phantom would always appear out of the mist and bear down on the victim at an angle. Shots fired at the Phantom at this time would have no effect and the victim would commence to fleeing. After a short chase, the lights of the Phantom would suddenly blink out and then reappear directly in the victim's escape path. At this time, the victim would be unable to bring its guns to bear before the Phantom would open fire and destroy or greatly damage the victim. Douwne realized that this pattern must be significant and, after giving the matter some thought, he hit upon the solution. The first sighting of the Phantom was actually three small one-man cruisers fitted with large lamps and flying in formation. In the murk and darkness it would be impossible to see between or behind the blinding light of the lamps. Shots fired at the decoy "Phantom" would pass harmlessly between the small cruisers. The decoy would draw the victim's guns in the opposite direction of the real Phantom even as the decoy cruisers angled their approach to drive the fleeing victim into the most advantageous position for the real Phantom. As the victim moved into the desired location, the decoy cruisers would switch off their lamps and the real Phantom would turn on its own lights, giving the illusion of teleportation. Douwne brought his theory before the Telorian council and was promptly made captain of a small warship disguised as a freighter. The brave captain then flew his ship through known danger zones, waiting for the ideal conditions to occur. Eventually he was attacked in exactly the manner he had theorized. He played along with the attack but had the bulk of his firepower aimed in the direction that the real Phantom would appear in. As the decoy lights went out he opened fire before the Phantom turned on its own lights and the Phantom's hull erupted in a fiery storm of explosions. The blazing Phantom sank without ever firing a shot. The fog was too dense for Douwne to locate the Phantom's wreckage that night or the next day. And when he did return to search for the wreck two days after the attack, he could find nothing. Perhaps the Phantom was buried in a rock slide or scattered into pieces too small to spot from the air. Or perhaps the wily Aarkveld somehow managed to spirit his ship to safety and is still out there.