Following her restoration in 2022, the battleship USS Texas BB-35 disappeared in the Gulf of Mexico en-route back to Texas. Suddenly, those aboard her find themselves in a new world, and may soon have to fight for their lives
We were still pretty apprehensive about this, and could only hope that the meeting with the Rear-Admiral, as well as anyone else we would soon be meeting, would go well.
And what do you mean by "hard part"? If you're referring to the technical specs of the Texas, no, there will be more of that. If you mean no more combat, nope, we haven't even scratched the surface of that yet. What do you mean by that?
And yeah, things could end up going sideways, but let's just hope that everything stays cool and calm......and that Twilight doesn't go too overboard with asking the Texas crew questions, or trying to study them!
Great new chapter, glad they used the seaplane they had and too bad that it couldn't get more pictures taken due to the Pegasus attacking it, I laughed so hard at that part where the Navy Officer talked back to Rainbow and how she sat down on the roof like that, that was PERFECT, I can't wait to see what happens next and what about the Tug Boats, are they going to come into the Harbor before the Texas will?
And suddenly my “this is a trap” senses are going off, something isn’t right and Bob should have set up a meeting on one of the rigs as a neutral meeting ground rather than sending seven men and his acting XO into enemy territory!
10 by 50 lenses are great couple with cameras, as long as you can damp the vibration and counter traversal distortion, but then you have the problem that after all these years, the digital processing algorithms are utterly useless for image processing relative to optical enlarging, and so you might get a couple magnification, but you cant do the 200 times that microfiche can. Otherwise, taking a telephoto picture from 8000 foot up would be like trying to read a paper at arms length. During an earthquake.
Reliability of valves could be absolutely horrendous depending on enviroment, power levels etc. Usually the heating filament is the part that fails most often, and given incandecent bulbs, which run at constant power, have about 1000 hours reliability, and the radios been bounced all over the place, was it the however many hundreds of tubes in Collossus, same era, could have problems running for an hour without a fail?
Given the sea plane, its a good thing the Equestrians are not used to the end of WW2 designs, because that Foot Float looks awfully like a Humongous bomb to the paranoid. Especially if its full of fuel.
Between Rarities Decry, Dashs Ego and Spikes fire messaging, having itchy trigger fingers and active readliy available weapons is just asking for a shooting.
"And that's not all, Sir." Gary added. "I've been able to make a lot of use of the zoom features on my cameras, and I've been able to see right down to street level, and what I've seen is a bit startling. I can't seem to see any people anywhere! Instead, all I can see are what appear to be a few bipedal....almost equine-like beings peering out of some of the buildings, but it's hard to hold the camera steady at that high of zoom to see for sure. I've snapped a lot of pictures, and have taken videos for analysis once we get back to the ship. This is getting really strange out here, Sir."
...I’m sorry bipedal? Quickly checks the story tags Anthro!?
That did not say Anthro before, I’m sure of it! I know because I avoid Anthro stories!
Onto the chapter at hand, I have to agree with 10325398 in that the radio cutting out when it did was too convenient. And by that I mean it was clearly used to delay contact till the Mane 6 arrived. You could’ve simply altered the timeframes slightly to accomodate the arrival better, instead of making a pristine-condition radio suddenly break after like, an hour or day of use.
I also gotta say, Rainbow’s being portrayed a bit on the cringy side here. Too aggressive, and the way she was shut down was also just cringy.
And finally, for all of Rob’s “I take care of my crew”, he just sent 9 of his crew - XO included - into potentially hostile territory. In this situation you either meet on friendly ground, or on neutral ground. You never settle for hostile ground, because then the away team is cut off if something goes wrong.
I'm glad that you liked the new chapter a lot. Yes, the Kingfisher seaplane made her first big debut, but was also attacked. And I was hoping that a lot of people would like that scene where Rainbow got shut down. I was thinking of "Full Metal Jacket" when I wrote that, and it seemed to have come out just fine. And yes, the Tugboats will be returning in Chapter 5, and will have more prominent roles to play in the future, especially when the battles start.
And I'm glad that you liked this chapter. However, I don't think that it'll be done before next weekend, as writing chapters takes about 2 weeks minimum, and that's with me being able to spend a lot of time writing per day. I'll do my best to get Chapter 5 out soon, but it'll most likely be about 2 weeks or so.
And I'm glad that both of these scenes made you laugh. I didn't intentionally mean for the "problematic, plane-punching Pegasai to be so funny, but decided to leave it in anyway, as it might be. And yeah, RD learned the hard way why you should NEVER challenge a military officer. He just might go Sgt. Hartman on your ass, and you'll deeply regret it!
And don't worry, right now as we speak, plans are underway to restore the ship, thanks to the Texas State Legislature setting aside $35 million dollars to restore the ship. Sometime before the end of this summer (2020), the ship will be towed away from Houston, and to a shipyard on the Gulf Coast where her hull will be fully restored, as will her 5in guns, and all of her other AA guns too, the deck will get some work done, and areas will be repainted too. In 2022, Texas will be done with her restoration, and will be towed to her new home, which will be somewhere else in Texas that will attract more visitors, and therefore, more money to keep up restorations
And that's what I was kinda shooting for with how I set this up. I wanted to keep tensions high so that you'd be eagerly awaiting Chapter 5, and all of your answers. Though while it isn't quite enemy territory, perhaps Captain Bob should have thought his idea through a little bit more before sending David, and 8 others into what could be a trap
And yes, the Texas has several signal lamps for ship to ship communications, though they haven't been used in this story yet, mostly because they don't work the best in the daylight, as they can't be seen very well.
And this isn't as BS as you might think. Why did the radio break down? Because I promised a reader, "Pentium100", who helped me a lot with radios and clocks in Chapter 3 that it would, just so that there could be demonstrations of vacuum tubes, and tube-testers. It might sound a little fishy/out of place, but it was done to keep the tensions up, give a source of urgency, and because I promised "Pentium100" that I would include the scene as a thank you for all of his help in helping me understand old radios and clocks for Chapter 3. I didn't include it to slow down anything, it just happened that way. Though if you're not convinced, flipping through that many frequencies, and running the radio at that much power probably wasn't very good for it, even if it was magically restored, thus causing the blown tubes. However, this will still be the last radio breakdown for a while.
And I never changed it; this story was always meant to be Anthro, I just forgot to tag it as such when I created the story, and had to correct it recently. Sorry if I crushed any dreams with my honest mistake
I know very little about cameras, which is why I didn't really go into any technical details with any of them in the chapter. Though I do know that the higher you have the zoom, the more steady you have to hold the camera, which Gary found out the hard way as he was trying to see down to ground level through his camera at 5,000 feet. It just wasn't working very well.
And that's what I've heard. I've heard that some models of vacuum tubes were notorious for failing prematurely. And yeah, this happened on the Texas. Those tubes had been run at full power, and for a long time without any breaks, and this finally caused a few of the tubes to blow out, thus rendering the radio useless until they were repaired. And then this led to the scene of no one but a few knowing how to fix the tubes, which was thankfully done before any shots were fired
Yeah, that is a really good thing. I didn't think about that, but you've got a really good point.
And yeah, that could certainly lead to trouble. I guess that you'll just have to wait and see what happens next with Chapter 5 to see how it all pans out
10325506 I just personally don’t like Anthro stories. I significantly prefer Feral. So, in some ways, yes, you did crush them.
I mean, they’re ponies, not furries. Plus Anthro MLP just looks... off, to me. Always. And reading about it doesn’t stop that mental image as my brain tries to wrap around how the hell that looks.
That’s not to say I haven’t read Anthro stories to be fair, but only if they’re good enough to make up for it. We’ll see how this story stacks.
And I said this before, but I'll say it again, the radio breaking down was NOT meant to delay the meeting with the Mane 6, but instead was me fulfilling a promise that I made to Pentium100 to include that scene of the radio breaking, and being fixed as a thank you for all of his help with the radios and clocks in Chapter 3. It might have been a bit convient, but yet it might not be. Remember, the Texas has been going for what could be literal days at this point due to the time-issues in Chapter 3, so that radio had been running at full power for longer than just an hour or 2. This is why those few vacuum tubes finally failed, and needed to be repaired. And it was just a few vacuum tubes, not the whole radio. The fuss was over the tubes themselves, and how no one in the radio room even knew how to fix the tubes, never mind test them to see if they were good, and was a nice addition in my opinion.
This plays a bit into her character in the show. Remember, she's often cocky, arrogant, brash, and rushes into things without thinking, and has gotten hurt in the past. Luckily, she was shut down here before she did anything foolish. And I didn't think that Rear-Admiral Sky Sea's reaction was too cringy, and neither did other readers. I was thinking of "Full Metal Jacket" when I wrote that, and I thought that it would be a nice touch to include.
And you're not the first one to point this out. The truth is, I wasn't fully sure of how to handle this scene, but I based it on several things. The first and primary source for these scenes was the story's inspiration, the now defunct "Arizona's Revenant", where a similar scene took place when the Arizona's crew went ashore. Another thing was Captain Bob making a decision that could possibly have fatal consequences. Remember, he is getting close to being a senior-citizen at this point. Age has dulled his mind a bit, causing him to make a few not-good decisions here and there. This is part of his character. I decided to go with them making landfall in Equestria in the end, knowing that someone was probably going to call me out on it, however, there's a reason why the Texas is still at Red-Alert. If anything goes wrong, then the Texas will be using as many guns as can be manned to deal with the threat, which would prove to be quite devastating to the Equestrians.
And you mean to tell me that I've been spelling it wrong all this time? That's how I've seen it spelled before, so does that mean that others could be wrong too?
10325515 Eh, they're not for everyone. Some people like them, others don't. I like them, which is why most of my stories are either Anthro, or Humanized-Ponies. I'm sorry for crushing your dreams though.
And I hope that this story stacks up to your expectations. I think you'll find that it'll be well worth sticking with the reading
How did I not catch on that this was an anthro story in the first three chapters? Silly me must've just missed it. Still a great story with all the details for the Texas, so I'll definitely keep reading even though I generally don't follow anthro. Can't wait to see how the first meeting turns out!
Hmmm, as for those who called BS on the blown tubes, don't. Quality Control during WWII is not as it is now and once the initial designs were approved, they were made as fast and in as much quantity as possible. One found out the hard way whether they quit in minutes or lasted for months on end. Plus cascades were possible (the initial blown tube taking others with it).
And I'm glad that you like the story, and all of the details abut the Texas so far. And yes, please stay tuned for Chapter 5, as it'll certainly be interesting for that very reason.
And yes, you are correct. Magically restored or not, vacuum tubes were still notorious for failing, which is what happened here. The tubes are all the same, and some will last longer than others.
And yeah, it was nice to see the Pegasai Scouts for the first time. They will also make appearances later on in thee story
Woo!
10325091
Hello Boeing-787,
And yeah, Chapter 4 is here! Yay!
Ok the hard part is over?
Murphy: Boy you have meet a big mistake
This is getting interesting.
10325119
Hello RanBro,
And what do you mean by "hard part"? If you're referring to the technical specs of the Texas, no, there will be more of that. If you mean no more combat, nope, we haven't even scratched the surface of that yet. What do you mean by that?
10325120
Hello Ryder Steele,
And yeah, things could end up going sideways, but let's just hope that everything stays cool and calm......and that Twilight doesn't go too overboard with asking the Texas crew questions, or trying to study them!
10325129
Hello Jamesonboo22,
And yeah, it really is. And things will just keep getting more and more interesting from here on out
Great new chapter, glad they used the seaplane they had and too bad that it couldn't get more pictures taken due to the Pegasus attacking it, I laughed so hard at that part where the Navy Officer talked back to Rainbow and how she sat down on the roof like that, that was PERFECT, I can't wait to see what happens next and what about the Tug Boats, are they going to come into the Harbor before the Texas will?
Was very excited to see this chapter hope to see another one before next weekend as always keep up the awesome work!
This part made me laugh and Rainbow Dash got owned hard (never mess with an officer of any type).
Man i hope they do restore it last time i saw it was a year ago.
And suddenly my “this is a trap” senses are going off, something isn’t right and Bob should have set up a meeting on one of the rigs as a neutral meeting ground rather than sending seven men and his acting XO into enemy territory!
Wow
Doesn't the ship have signal light for morse code?
Call bs on the radio thing. It's all magically restored to prime condition but the radio breaks. Come on! Lamest excuse to delay contact.
That was close i hop it’s goes well great work I can’t wait for for your next chapter
10 by 50 lenses are great couple with cameras, as long as you can damp the vibration and counter traversal distortion, but then you have the problem that after all these years, the digital processing algorithms are utterly useless for image processing relative to optical enlarging, and so you might get a couple magnification, but you cant do the 200 times that microfiche can. Otherwise, taking a telephoto picture from 8000 foot up would be like trying to read a paper at arms length. During an earthquake.
Reliability of valves could be absolutely horrendous depending on enviroment, power levels etc. Usually the heating filament is the part that fails most often, and given incandecent bulbs, which run at constant power, have about 1000 hours reliability, and the radios been bounced all over the place, was it the however many hundreds of tubes in Collossus, same era, could have problems running for an hour without a fail?
Given the sea plane, its a good thing the Equestrians are not used to the end of WW2 designs, because that Foot Float looks awfully like a Humongous bomb to the paranoid. Especially if its full of fuel.
Between Rarities Decry, Dashs Ego and Spikes fire messaging, having itchy trigger fingers and active readliy available weapons is just asking for a shooting.
...I’m sorry bipedal? Quickly checks the story tags Anthro!?
That did not say Anthro before, I’m sure of it! I know because I avoid Anthro stories!
Why’d you change it?
Onto the chapter at hand, I have to agree with 10325398 in that the radio cutting out when it did was too convenient. And by that I mean it was clearly used to delay contact till the Mane 6 arrived. You could’ve simply altered the timeframes slightly to accomodate the arrival better, instead of making a pristine-condition radio suddenly break after like, an hour or day of use.
I also gotta say, Rainbow’s being portrayed a bit on the cringy side here. Too aggressive, and the way she was shut down was also just cringy.
And finally, for all of Rob’s “I take care of my crew”, he just sent 9 of his crew - XO included - into potentially hostile territory. In this situation you either meet on friendly ground, or on neutral ground. You never settle for hostile ground, because then the away team is cut off if something goes wrong.
Oh, PS, it’s “Pegasi” not “Pegasai”
10325188
Hey Dusk,
I'm glad that you liked the new chapter a lot. Yes, the Kingfisher seaplane made her first big debut, but was also attacked. And I was hoping that a lot of people would like that scene where Rainbow got shut down. I was thinking of "Full Metal Jacket" when I wrote that, and it seemed to have come out just fine. And yes, the Tugboats will be returning in Chapter 5, and will have more prominent roles to play in the future, especially when the battles start.
10325203
Hello Prince Jules Moonshade,
And I'm glad that you liked this chapter. However, I don't think that it'll be done before next weekend, as writing chapters takes about 2 weeks minimum, and that's with me being able to spend a lot of time writing per day. I'll do my best to get Chapter 5 out soon, but it'll most likely be about 2 weeks or so.
10325213
Hello Edguy0009,
And I'm glad that both of these scenes made you laugh. I didn't intentionally mean for the "problematic, plane-punching Pegasai to be so funny, but decided to leave it in anyway, as it might be. And yeah, RD learned the hard way why you should NEVER challenge a military officer. He just might go Sgt. Hartman on your ass, and you'll deeply regret it!
10325224
Hello Professionalac,
And don't worry, right now as we speak, plans are underway to restore the ship, thanks to the Texas State Legislature setting aside $35 million dollars to restore the ship. Sometime before the end of this summer (2020), the ship will be towed away from Houston, and to a shipyard on the Gulf Coast where her hull will be fully restored, as will her 5in guns, and all of her other AA guns too, the deck will get some work done, and areas will be repainted too. In 2022, Texas will be done with her restoration, and will be towed to her new home, which will be somewhere else in Texas that will attract more visitors, and therefore, more money to keep up restorations
10325250
Hello badbog187,
And why are you sad? You should be happy, as this was a great chapter.
10325252
Hello Moonlit_Stardust,
And that's what I was kinda shooting for with how I set this up. I wanted to keep tensions high so that you'd be eagerly awaiting Chapter 5, and all of your answers. Though while it isn't quite enemy territory, perhaps Captain Bob should have thought his idea through a little bit more before sending David, and 8 others into what could be a trap
10325271
Hello marcus 12,
And I'm glad that you liked the chapter. I worked really hard on this one to make it good.
10325335
Hello SOG Avenger225,
And yes, the Texas has several signal lamps for ship to ship communications, though they haven't been used in this story yet, mostly because they don't work the best in the daylight, as they can't be seen very well.
10325398
Hello Admiral Q Ponyfan,
And this isn't as BS as you might think. Why did the radio break down? Because I promised a reader, "Pentium100", who helped me a lot with radios and clocks in Chapter 3 that it would, just so that there could be demonstrations of vacuum tubes, and tube-testers. It might sound a little fishy/out of place, but it was done to keep the tensions up, give a source of urgency, and because I promised "Pentium100" that I would include the scene as a thank you for all of his help in helping me understand old radios and clocks for Chapter 3. I didn't include it to slow down anything, it just happened that way. Though if you're not convinced, flipping through that many frequencies, and running the radio at that much power probably wasn't very good for it, even if it was magically restored, thus causing the blown tubes. However, this will still be the last radio breakdown for a while.
10325422
Hello Dinokid11,
And yeah, that was close. I'm glad that you enjoyed the chapter, and Chapter 5 will be really interesting, and something that you don't want to miss!
10325465
Hello Warrior Kitten,
And I never changed it; this story was always meant to be Anthro, I just forgot to tag it as such when I created the story, and had to correct it recently. Sorry if I crushed any dreams with my honest mistake
10325439
Hello Booster Spice,
I know very little about cameras, which is why I didn't really go into any technical details with any of them in the chapter. Though I do know that the higher you have the zoom, the more steady you have to hold the camera, which Gary found out the hard way as he was trying to see down to ground level through his camera at 5,000 feet. It just wasn't working very well.
And that's what I've heard. I've heard that some models of vacuum tubes were notorious for failing prematurely. And yeah, this happened on the Texas. Those tubes had been run at full power, and for a long time without any breaks, and this finally caused a few of the tubes to blow out, thus rendering the radio useless until they were repaired. And then this led to the scene of no one but a few knowing how to fix the tubes, which was thankfully done before any shots were fired
Yeah, that is a really good thing. I didn't think about that, but you've got a really good point.
And yeah, that could certainly lead to trouble. I guess that you'll just have to wait and see what happens next with Chapter 5 to see how it all pans out
10325506
I just personally don’t like Anthro stories. I significantly prefer Feral. So, in some ways, yes, you did crush them.
I mean, they’re ponies, not furries. Plus Anthro MLP just looks... off, to me. Always. And reading about it doesn’t stop that mental image as my brain tries to wrap around how the hell that looks.
That’s not to say I haven’t read Anthro stories to be fair, but only if they’re good enough to make up for it. We’ll see how this story stacks.
10325480
Hello Warrior Kitten,
And I said this before, but I'll say it again, the radio breaking down was NOT meant to delay the meeting with the Mane 6, but instead was me fulfilling a promise that I made to Pentium100 to include that scene of the radio breaking, and being fixed as a thank you for all of his help with the radios and clocks in Chapter 3. It might have been a bit convient, but yet it might not be. Remember, the Texas has been going for what could be literal days at this point due to the time-issues in Chapter 3, so that radio had been running at full power for longer than just an hour or 2. This is why those few vacuum tubes finally failed, and needed to be repaired. And it was just a few vacuum tubes, not the whole radio. The fuss was over the tubes themselves, and how no one in the radio room even knew how to fix the tubes, never mind test them to see if they were good, and was a nice addition in my opinion.
This plays a bit into her character in the show. Remember, she's often cocky, arrogant, brash, and rushes into things without thinking, and has gotten hurt in the past. Luckily, she was shut down here before she did anything foolish. And I didn't think that Rear-Admiral Sky Sea's reaction was too cringy, and neither did other readers. I was thinking of "Full Metal Jacket" when I wrote that, and I thought that it would be a nice touch to include.
And you're not the first one to point this out. The truth is, I wasn't fully sure of how to handle this scene, but I based it on several things. The first and primary source for these scenes was the story's inspiration, the now defunct "Arizona's Revenant", where a similar scene took place when the Arizona's crew went ashore. Another thing was Captain Bob making a decision that could possibly have fatal consequences. Remember, he is getting close to being a senior-citizen at this point. Age has dulled his mind a bit, causing him to make a few not-good decisions here and there. This is part of his character. I decided to go with them making landfall in Equestria in the end, knowing that someone was probably going to call me out on it, however, there's a reason why the Texas is still at Red-Alert. If anything goes wrong, then the Texas will be using as many guns as can be manned to deal with the threat, which would prove to be quite devastating to the Equestrians.
And you mean to tell me that I've been spelling it wrong all this time? That's how I've seen it spelled before, so does that mean that others could be wrong too?
10325515
Eh, they're not for everyone. Some people like them, others don't. I like them, which is why most of my stories are either Anthro, or Humanized-Ponies. I'm sorry for crushing your dreams though.
And I hope that this story stacks up to your expectations. I think you'll find that it'll be well worth sticking with the reading
10325525
Yes. Even Apple’s dictionary agrees with me. “Pegasai” never has been a word, “Pegasi” however, is plural for Pegasus.
A lot of people get it wrong to be fair, I rarely see “Pegasi” and see “Pegasuses” more, which is also wrong.
10325132
The 1 contact
How did I not catch on that this was an anthro story in the first three chapters? Silly me must've just missed it.
Still a great story with all the details for the Texas, so I'll definitely keep reading even though I generally don't follow anthro. Can't wait to see how the first meeting turns out!
Hmmm, as for those who called BS on the blown tubes, don't. Quality Control during WWII is not as it is now and once the initial designs were approved, they were made as fast and in as much quantity as possible. One found out the hard way whether they quit in minutes or lasted for months on end. Plus cascades were possible (the initial blown tube taking others with it).
Nice to see pegasi use in this chapter ...
10325488
Just that one scene made me laugh.
10325538
Yeah, at least the early stages of it anyway
10325529
Huh. My entire time being a Brony and I've been wrong about this spelling!
10325557
I'm glad. This means that I did something right!
10325549
Hello Chillean,
And yes, this story is Anthro.
And I'm glad that you like the story, and all of the details abut the Texas so far. And yes, please stay tuned for Chapter 5, as it'll certainly be interesting for that very reason.
10325555
Hello Frazikar,
And yes, you are correct. Magically restored or not, vacuum tubes were still notorious for failing, which is what happened here. The tubes are all the same, and some will last longer than others.
And yeah, it was nice to see the Pegasai Scouts for the first time. They will also make appearances later on in thee story
10325584
*Notices Anthro tag* Welp you just lost me (I despise anthro ponies, might regain me if you choose to remove the anthro)
praise be smart thinking! -edit spelling because just waking up.
10325486 Damn. Understandable however.
10325555
excepot this ship was made before WW2 and the ship was magically put in the best condition. so yes BS