StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Thread for interesting posts that got retconned for some reason.

Original response to Dahak's tractor attempt

"Kiroter'nah ship do not move one inch or you will be destroyed. You will be towed into a parking position in lunar orbit. Do not resist the towing. And, above all, do not try something like this again or we will destroy you. After you have been secured in orbit, your ship will be searched and impounded until such a time we deem it acceptable to release you."

how dare they Access to this ship's technology cannot be permitted.

"Kari'naha, they are locking tractors. Shall we cloak?". Taxaani-Rokain#7-Myaar'neth, the deputy tactical co-ordinator, was clutching his perch hard enough to dig his claws into the polymer.

fly? Failure on all scenarios.

Kari'naha bared her teeth. "No. Even if they can't track us they'd blanket the volume around our current position with weapons fire and destroy us before we could get moving. Disengage neutronium containment safeties, set self destruct for total disintegration."

they want to drag us to their den before dissecting us Modelling; transit to moon will increase range from weapons platforms, maximum at 73% complete. Checking escape scenarios. 0.38 success probability. we must try serenaas deserves that at least

Taxaani-Rokain#7-Zaahneesh, the communications co-ordinator spoke up; "Kari'naha? The self destruct? Is it the only way?"

"We must go down fighting, or the humaans will think we are easy prey!" Myaar'neth snarled.

"We will not arm weapons. Reduce engines and shields to minimal levels. Signal the humans that we accept..."

"You cannot intend to surrender this ship?"

"We will surrender nothing. Begin reconfiguring the warp masking array to mask an engine power build-up. Once we get moving, slowly bring the warp amplifiers up to 100% readiness. Ripped wings, I wish we carried distortion wave emitters, we could disrupt those tractor beams without damaging the humaan ship. Myaar'neth, can our particle-lasers destroy their tractor device without significant collateral damage?"

"Simulating... yes. The beam must create a weak point where it passes through their shields. I believe we can exploit that with minimal enemy casualties."

"Co-ordinator, I have signalled our surrender the human control centre, their heavy cruiser is preparing to take us under tow, their destroyers will be flanking us. But co-ordinator; there may be a better way."

"What is your proposal Zaahneesh?"

"The displacers. If we create a series of displacement nexuses along the path of the tractor beam, will that not disrupt it?"

"An ingenious suggestion. Take it to engineering, you are released from your post. We will try your way first. If it fails, we taste humaan blood today."

----

The K.O.S.C. Elucidate drifted through space, appearing from a distance as a gaggle of pearly grey eggs trapped in an intricate lattice, flattened into a roughly triangular shape. Ahead the Hegemony heavy cruiser Kobe drove purposefully ahead, the tractor beam linking the two ships barely visible as a shimmering of the background starfield.

Success probability now 0.57 with combined strategy. as good an escape route as i could expect

"Engines and cloak are primed. The masking appears to have prevented the humaans from noticing the build-up. Decoy spread ready. Particle-lasers and displacers ready for fast warmup.'

Myaar'neth was in a state of maximum alertness, fixated on the tactical display. The Elucidate was surrounded. hounded by a flock of kar-zekels Kari'naha thought. Point of minimum defence coverage reached.

"Execute displace sequence!"

Power flooded into the Elucidate's displacers, building to a crescendo while the technicians frantically brought the ship's weapons online. A series of bizarre warping distortions appeared ahead of the ship, right in the path of the tractor beam. The fast warm-up rendered the displacer imprecise, and the interactions of the device with an alien tractor beam could not be fully predicted. Flashes of light appeared, and the beam seemed to burst into strands of visual distortion exploding in every direction. The Elucidate lurched forward, while the enemy cruiser shuddered from the feedback.

"It is working, Kari'naha. We are gliding free!"

"Maximum sublight, now! Decoys away, full spread. Engage cloak, begin evasive maneuvers, pattern beta."

The Elucidate lept away on a spiralling course, blinking out as the cloak wrapped its distortion shroud around the ship. A spray of sixty four tiny drones shot through space around it, each broadcasting hyperwave noise and signals designed to resemble cloaking bleed. The human ships finally reacted, pouring fire into space in the direction that the Kiroter'nah ship had travelled.

A pounding sound reverberated through the command space, cutting through the hum from the straining engines. Then another.

"Co-ordinator, we are taking hits from their pulse xaser weapons. They seem to be firing blind, but with that fire rate a few shots are still contacting." The Eludicate was blind and defenceless under cloak.

"One HK turret disabled, three hits on the aft tactical module. Two PEs offline. Executing Kalimna's spiral... Now one on the aft reactor, no two...

A disembodied voice burst through the internal comms; "Kari'naha, convertor assembly delta is out, core containment is fluctuating but holding, we are attempting to stabilise but with the safeties off we can't take many more hits."

weave through the trees outfly the kar-zekels they have terrible claws but the chiro terah are cunning...

"No more hits. Sensors are restricted by cloak, but 21 of our drones our down. They seem to be chasing the drones."

quick before they tighten the net FTL interdiction perimeter reachable in 43 chronons given minimally convoluted course.

"Step down to evasive pattern gamma. Get us into FTL as soon as possible. Re-engage neutronium containment safeties. Damage control to focus on the aft reactor before weapons, they may be able to track any leakage."

"Kari'naha, are we to abandon Serenaas, Cahaan'nol and Tara'shaani? To dissection by those humaan barbarians?"

they wanted to meet these vicious predators they chose their fate but they are of the flock no chiro terah deserves to be abandoned to the tortures of such beings

"No Zaahneesh, we will not abandon them. I will not break that trust. But we cannot hope to reach them now. First we must get to a safe range to inform the overflock of what has transpired here. The humans betrayed our trust, we followed their instructions, but they intended to capture and dissect us and then tried to kill us when we flew from their trap. The Contactiphiles cannot maintain their position after this. But then we will loop back, observe under cloak and find a way to extract them. We will start by rescuing these misguided children from their own folly and then we will do the same for the overflock itself."

Original spatial minelayer intro, retconned by apology for the attack that triggered their deployment

The Voyager-class K.O.C.D. Broken Script slipped through deep interstellar space, heading for the Hegemony naval base at Shina-Tsu-Hiko. The cloaked minelayer would soon decelerate, easing into a slow patrol pattern just outside the system. Its mission; to create dangerous anomalies along the direct FTL trajectory between Hegemony and Kiroter'nah space, close enough to the departure point that any invasion fleet the humaans launched against the Overflock would be unable to avoid serious inconvenience and delays. Its three sister ships proceeded on their own missions to mine the departures from other Hegemony colonies and likely staging areas. If the Hegemony never set out for Kiroter'nah space, they might never discover the existence of the anomaly fields, but if invasion was their goal they were in for an unpleasant surprise.

I put a lot of work into this, so even if it's no longer valid in game, I'd like it to survive in some fashion.

---

Thirdfain wrote:ORP Bialystock

"Really, now?" The Major-General chewed thoughtfully for a second. "That reminds me of a quote I once heard, damned if I can remember from where... 'the only difference between politicians and thieves is the scope of their operation and the quality of their propaganda.' Was that Stalin? Or perhaps Pilsudski?"

The Duke shrugged expansively.

"Ah, I was paraphrasing anyways." Her face hardened, slightly. "I wish you luck at the hearings, your highness. It has not escaped the attention of the Fleet that your men are less likely to rape and kill than the freebooters, but even you must admit that 'less likely' is not 'will never.' Piracy is piracy, and your King will have a great deal to answer for before he can hope to be accepted as a statesman as opposed to a criminal."

-Sol System, The Bialystock-

The Duke of March closed his eyes and sat quietly for a moment.

“I regret that we could not reach a more amenable solution. The King will be most disappointed when the new reaches him.”

The ship lurched imperceptibly as the generators engaged and the Bialystock began to move.From outside the decorative window, the massive form of the Balthier could also be seen coming under power. With the Riftspike and Jackyle also subdued and moving into formation, the massive carriers received word that the situation was well in hand and began to make their plodding way back towards the Polish space station.

The Major General allowed herself a small inward smirk. This capture had been easier than expected. She could get used to more honest pirates… But her mood soured as she noticed that for the first time, the Duke of March looked completely at ease and he sat regarding her with a smirk of his own. Her eyes darted back towards the viewport, searching the textbook formations for some sign of trouble.

She composed herself and gave a wintery smile of her own. “Why the smug look, Your Majesty?”

“Tell me, did the deep scans you made of our ship happen to register the abnormally large crew compliments on all three of our vessels?”

The warning bells in Małysz’s head began to ring louder. “What are you talking about?”

Eddard’s smirk grew into a full gloating grin, “Blackmast Marines specialize in ship-board fighting and capturing hostile vessels.”

“I thought you said that the crews were all new recruits!”

Eddard grabbed the bottle of wine from the table and slouched back in his chair. “I’m a pirate. I lied.”

-TheRiftspike-

Captain Brastine checked the bridge chrono as his ship began to move in formation with the other pirate and polish vessels. The battle for his ship had been hard fought but swift, as the Polish boarding parties had been caught nearly completely off-guard by the efficiency and ruthlessness of the Pirate counter-boarding party. If the Duke’s plan had any hope of working, they needed to know if the Jackyle had also successfully avoided capture and kept its cover intact.

The fact that none of the Pirate ships had been fired on and the dangerous heavy carriers were moving away made it appear as if things had gone mostly to plan, but it was important to be sure. He nodded to his comm officer.

The comm officer then stood and left his station, approaching a massive, tight beam lantern which had been set against the port viewport. He thumbed it on and depressed the contact in a short pulse, followed by two longer pulses.

Brastine held his breath. The signal couldn’t be intercepted, but if the proper response was not given, then it meant that the Duke’s back-up plan might be in much worse shape.

After another moment, the comm officer gave a thumbs-up as he discerned a two long pulses followed by a short one from the bridge of the Jackyle.

“Prepare to raise the shroud, then drift us forty degrees south and hold shroud for two minutes. At the end of the time, drop the shroud and burn for the edge of the system!”

-The Bridge of the Bialystock-

The officer of the Watch started in surprise as the two enemy cruiser signals vanished. Before he could do more than register the information, things went from bad to worse. The Cruiser from the 3rd division, which had taken boarding teams dispatched to the Jackyle back aboard now opened fire on its own light carrier.

The horror continued as the massive Battleship which his ship still hung next to fired its missile pods into the two Orzel EW ships which had escorted the cruiser groups and its light guns began to target the frigates which still surrounded the deteriorating formation. The massive ship began to turn and the Watch Officer found his voice.

“Target the engines! Keep the pirate scum from escaping!”

But as he gave the order, las-fire could be heard in the corridor outside the bridge.

-Diplomatic Quarters of the Bialystock-

The corridor filled with the sounds of fighting and the Duke of March favored the Major General with another grin.

“I hope you won’t mind telling the Pirate King about your diplomatic grievances in person.”

UCBooties wrote:I put a lot of work into this, so even if it's no longer valid in game, I'd like it to survive in some fashion.

That does sound fun, shame you (presumably) didn't get away with it.

Starglider wrote:That does sound fun, shame you (presumably) didn't get away with it.

Not even close to getting away with it.

Here's an RP post that was never completed due to nt01jones having to withdraw from the game:

OPENING (nt01jones)

Once outside the Space Port the leader of the group of Angels stretched Her wings out, flapping them a little as she adjusted to the light. The area surrounding the Port was very flat, one could see for miles without an obstruction. The only structure besides the space port was grayish floating tower like structure off in the distance a little over a mile away, It had all sorts of protrusions over it’s structure. If one looked hard enough he would notice small objects coming in and out of the protrusions. It couldn’t have been more then 10 stories in height. The Leader pointed her beak in the direction of the tower “We’ll be holding the Summit there my friends. I hope your wings are up to the task, we don’t have any vehicles here besides the Space vessels in the port and the only way to access the University is by flight. The wizard’s shall remain here. For the time being.” As one the ‘Angels’ Leapt into the sky, they traveled slow enough to easily keep with the Kiroter'nah.

A brief period of silence erupted after the ‘Angels’ Formed up with the Kiroter'nah. The leader broke the silence with an question “Pardon me if this comes out as rude or disturbing, we do not intend it to be so. Normally we use our powers to learn another being’s language so we can communicate with them easier. We don’t have names and when we refer to another of us we use our power to indicate who we are referring to, but you people seem to be.. ah, not Biological so communication may be a little difficult.” (insert Responses and further development here)

---

Arriving at the tower one can see that the Protrusions are branches of a sort with entrances to the Tower, the object moving about the tower are humans floating around, apparently being instructed by an angel in what ever they are doing. Also there seem to be other ‘classes’ taking place on other branches, one group seems to be creating rocks and magically throwing them, while another group hurls light at said rocks. The leader indicates an empty branch for the Kiroter'nah should land. Once they settle down, one of the golden colored ‘Angels’ move towards what looks like a sealed hatchway with a small tree growing next to it. The ‘Angel’ makes a little movement with his beak towards the tree and suddenly the Tree bursts into flames and the door opens. He then steps to the side of the door using his head to gesture for the Kiroter'nah to enter.

The inside of the tower was to human eyes, very plain. But to those sensitive to ultraviolet light it was very vibrant and full of life, one got the feeling of being in a palace. Inside there were Humans and ‘Angels’ everywhere (more humans then ‘Angels’). There was no complete floor nor where there and stairs. The only way to move from place to place was by flight. There was the occasional large red spider like creature crawling along the walls from place to place, but they were far a few between. Three Humans all in purple robes, came up to the delegation. “Welcome to the University of Omar, the council is waiting. Please follow me” the Middle human bowed his head and floated up towards the top floor.

The Amphitheater had over fifty beings, most were human. There was seven of the spider Creatures that were seen in the hall present, interestingly enough the ‘angels’ seemed to keep their distance from them. The amphitheater seemed even more colorful then the main area of the tower, if that was possible. The human who lead the Kiroter'nah here showed them to some perches at the center of the Amphitheater, the perches seem like they’d recently been install there. The Human waited for the Kiroter'nah to take their perches, before moving off to stand behind the Kiroter'nah. It didn’t take much to figure out that his job was to safeguard the Kiroter'nah emissaries. Shortly after the Kiroter'nah had taken to their perches the Amphitheater went silent as the Council waited for the Kiroter'nah to speak.

FIRST SPEECH (Starglider)

"It is with great pleasure that I address you today. The Kiroter'nah have searched the stars for many decades for intelligences we could call friends. While we have found numerous species which we have been pleased to open relations with, we have always dreamt of finding a people of the sky who could see the universe from a perspective similar to our own."

(some description of the Kiroter'nah and the Overflock here)

"I expect your are curious about the North Galactic Treaty Organisation. Certainly setting it in motion has been one of the greatest successes of the xeno relations group. Regrettably there has been a great deal of malign propaganda coming out of Poland and their lackies regarding the alliance, but I will address that later. Reading the articles of the treaty should make it clear to any sapient being that the alliance is purely defensive and voluntary in nature, an intent fully consistent with all of its actions to date. There is no provision for aggressive operations, only for the joint defence of the most vulnerable members. Admission of new members and indeed any official acts other than defensive interception of hostile ships can only be taken with the full consent of every member government."

"To date the NGTO has faced only one clear and present threat, the attacks on the Nephilim outposts and the NGTO conference site, which gave every appearance of being a prelude to a general assault by the Heralds of Xylyx. Naturally all the member governments contributed to a joint defensive fleet to protect the Nephilim from any large scale incursion. We believe this measured and restrained action was successful in preventing further assault, if not by the Heralds then by whoever attempted to frame them (and we have our suspicions, though no hard
evidence at this time). Sadly it seems likely that this will be only the first test for the NGTO, given the worsening galactic security situation, but it was a test that was passed with flying colours. We have watched with pride as the nations of the NGTO have jointly worked to strengthen each other's defences and also participate in cultural and economic exchanges that have benefited us all."

"The humans of Terra have a great deal of potential, which could better this galaxy or lead to its ruin. When we first learned of the terrible power of the human fleets and the massive fortifications of their home system, we were naturally concerned about their designs on the free peoples of the galaxy. The former Terran empire is hardly a reassuring precedent of what they will do with such overwhelming military power. But looking closer we found that some humans had embraced diversity, embraced freedom and embraced living in peace with other species."

"The Trans Genetic Alliance were our first choice for membership in the NGTO, due to their clear love for internal diversity, peaceful colonisation and good relations with other species. The nations of the NGTO soon added the post-humans of the Golden Sky Combine, based on their exemplary record and their eagerness to be a part of a greater, multi-cultural and multi-species whole. As we began to learn more of your nation, we became sure that you would be fine allies and perhaps eventually partners in the alliance. Like the UISC you have have taken a nation of several different species and forged a free and equal partnership, working together effectively for the good of all. Like the TGA, your humans have embraced peaceful co-operation and a multi-species galaxy."

"The Polish Empire and the 'Heavenly Hegemony', by contrast, represent all the worst qualities of the humans. The Polish Empire has seized ships of a sovereign nation which they had assured safe passage to, and neither the ships nor the crews have been seen since. They wanted them, so they simply took them, without a single complaint from the lackey-stuffed CON. When the NGTO suffered apparent Herald attacks, naturally we moved a defensive fleet into place to protect the Nephilim. The Polish lies started immediately of course, that this was somehow an aggressive act. They tried to order our fleet home as if it was their natural right to dictate what the other peoples of this the galaxy do with our ships."

"Note how quick the Polish were to defend the clearly insane machines. We now believe that the mysterious ships which destroyed the Nephilim outposts were of Polish origin, or perhaps those of their 'United States' lapdogs. They almost certainly deliberately provoked that incident in an attempt to gain a pretext for invading NGTO space, and only cool heads and prudence on our part prevented their scheme from being completely successful. As soon as it was clear that scheme had failed, they began preparations to invade the League of Thought, brutally destroying their envoy ship under trumped up charges. Of course their lackeys on Terra have no objection to this either, praising the Polish and promising them even more support!"

"Now they are now allying with the slaver squids of the Khurlassian Republic. Unlike the nations of the NGTO they have no scruples, no moral qualms about what depths they sink to in their pursuit of power. We believe, though as yet there is no proof, that they are directly responsible for the nuclear explosions in Africa. The Polish and their lackeys seek to punish the one earth nation that has dared stand against their dominion. As for the Hegemony, they seem content to ride the Polish coat-tails for now, but they have shown exactly the same pattern of behaviour in the incident with our diplomatic ship. They offer safe passage, then attempt to seize the ship, it's crew and it's technology, then when they cannot get what they want they try to destroy it. Finally there is a clumsy cover-up to maintain a flimsy pretence of a moral high-ground."

Kononaa'iit's tone became more strident; he leaned forward on his perch, gesturing with his hands and half-spreading his wings behind him.

"We believe that the Polish Empire is leading many of the Terran nations into an inevitable campaign of conquest and domination. They aim to use their vast military fleets to crush and dominate all other nations, starting with their most vulnerable neighbours. They have no place for any other species or even variants of humanity different from their own; the Heavenly Hegemony in particular has a clear human supremacist agenda that if given full expression would result in the extermination of all other species. If the free peoples of the galaxy stand by and do nothing, we fear that the ultimate fate of the Stellar Dominion will be slavery of your humans within the Polish Empire, while your own people are hunted down and exterminated by Hegemony death squads."

"Despite the inexcusable actions of some of the Terrans, I can assure you that neither the Kiroter'nah nor the NGTO will strike first. Ours is a defensive alliance concerned with first and foremost preserving the security of its member nations, and secondarily with promoting trade and intercourse between our peoples for the betterment of all. But if and when the Polish and the Hegemony begin their campaign of conquest, the NGTO will be the only hope the galaxy has of stemming their advance. Even we cannot indefinitely resist the terrible power of Terra and her lackeys alone, but we can only hope that if it comes to open conflict, the free nations will rally around our core of defenders to repulse and contain the Terran aggression."

Kononaa'iit bowed his head and drew his wings back in, seeming to compose himself for a moment. When he spoke again it was in a gentler and less evocative tone.

"Again, I would like to offer the Interstellar Dominion in general and your people in particular the friendship of all Kiroter'nah. We would love to learn more about your culture, and invite you to visit Haven, our own home world, so that we can show you more of ours. On behalf of the nations of the NGTO I would like to say that we are prepared to come to your defence, should you wish it, if the Polish or any other power attempt to initiate hostilities against you. Should you in the future wish to become full members of the NGTO, the Overflock would certainly be happy to sponsor your admission, though of course it can only be with the consent of the other six member governments."