STGOD 4 Game Thread

Thirdfain · Post by **Thirdfain** » 2004-05-31 11:36pm

Unknown Space
Mechanoid Territory
VPX-11 System

As quickly as it had begun, it stopped. The corridors of the massive machine installation were smeared with blood, and crushed, still-twitching Constructs filled the halls. Cleanup squads of Hajr Stratiatoi infantry men and women worked there way through the regions already swept by the waves of Monacoran heavy troops, destroying the remains of Constructs with hellthrowers, and guarding the engineers who were pulling the best specimens back to the dropships, where they would be disassembled under heavy guard.

Computer nodes were cut from their housings, and carted off to the vessels as well. They would be given to Monacoran research teams for analysis.

Corpses were dragged from the wreckage, and checked by scanner for Machine implants- the Allied command had seen the images from Shi space, of the twisted cyborgs the Machines used as shock troops. Once clensed, the dead Ousters were returned to the troopships, which were already performing mass space-burials for the dead soldiers. Space around the whale-like transports was soon full of a tangled mess of frozen flesh.

The battles for the six Machine dreadnoughts had come to a close. Three of them had self-destructed, suiciding rather than coming under the grasp of the puny fleshlings. One, heavily damaged in the fighting, was coming apart. Engineers were already swarming over it, removing computer nodes and studying the Machine technology.

Two had not been sufficiently complete to have active self destruct devices. Their corridors, full of organic sludge which had once been several thousand Ouster marines, were now being clensed. Teams of specialists were moving through the silent vessels, escorted by Monacoran and Hajr marines, in hopes of finding computer cores loaded with star maps and other information.

Deep in the bowels of the Machine base, teams of Hajr Kavallarioi Assault troops and Monacoran special forces were approaching the site of what seemed to be the bases' computer core.

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2004-05-31 11:45pm

The computer core of the Tower was.. Quite intimidating to look at. It was a large, squat cylinder, with many cables running into it. The worst thing, of course, was it's optic sensor, which turned to the engineers surrounding it. It glowed with dull red in hatred of this puny things which had it surrounded. Perhaps lucky for them, the core, though sentient, lacked a self-destruct device. It's glare, though chilling, was largely impotent.

Two smaller versions of the same thing were recovered from the Dreadnoughts.

The shipyard itself at the top of the tower was disturbingly familiar for the Hajr troops. It was their own technology, either reproduced somehow, or taken. Because the Hajr would never ally with the Machines... Or would they?

Thirdfain · Post by **Thirdfain** » 2004-05-31 11:54pm

Unknown Space
Mechanoid Territory
VPX-11 System

General Sara su Kynisnet stared in disbelief at the report.

"I want a Marine guard and a shuttle immediatly. I'll take a look at this myself."

Minutes later, at the apex of the Tower, the General disembarked. Surrounded by Kavallarioi and ensconsed in an armored vaccum suit, she was quite safe.

"Junior Squad Leader, send a call to the Hector, and open a video channel to Admiral Santiago. He'll want to see this."

A group of Ouster and Monarcoran engineers were standing on one of the building struts. It was clearly made of foamed steel, a material only producable in zero-G foundries, a material used almost exclusively by the Ousters and Floaters.

The shipyard looked, almost peice for peice, like an Ouster military Womb, the likes of which now floated in deep space over the Cluster of Eketrina. It lacked, of course, the large pressurized worker's barracks, but it was otherwise a fairly accurate representation. The massive hull-plate cutting machines even were equipped with large-scale Ouster gropener-blades.

"What in the breathstealer's name is going on?"

Thirdfain · Post by **Thirdfain** » 2004-06-01 12:07am

On one of the two Machine Dreadnoughts, Bondman Admiral Atja su Miitgar disembarked, as Sara had, under heavy guard, and made his way to the fortified location where the Machine command-mind stood. Perhaps they would now be able to learn something of these invaders. Were they war-machines sent by some far-off alien power to destroy Known Space? With the news from the shipyard, he had been entertaining the notion that one of the hundreds of Dreamships the Floaters had launched before the Genocide Wars had decided to use robot starships to attack Known Space- he smiled inwards, at the thought of another group of Unbound following the Hajr's goal in such a radically different fashion.
Of course, the extreme alienness of the rest of the Machine technology made that hypothesis unlikely. Maybe these machines had far-off organic puppetmasters, or perhaps they were a relic of some long-dead race. In any situation, they'd know soon enough.

It's beady red eye stared at him. He imagined that if the soldiers around him hadn't washed it's glow out with floodlights, it would look quite malevolent.

He hadn't prepared for this moment, and it hardly mattered- the real information would be gleaned when they tore the thing apart and picked it's electronic mind in detail.

"What are you?"

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2004-06-01 12:15am

Thirdfain wrote:"What are you?"

"I am the Master Programmer of this facility. I overseer and operate all the Constructs within this tower, which you so rashly invaded. Your casualties were enormous; what did you hope to gain? The Overseer dealt with the conspirators on the worlds you called Terra and Halo." A pause from the massive Machine, as it's gaze focused despite the washout. "Perhaps they were not the only conspirators. Do you seek to destroy the Overseer? It warned us that may be so. Such a rash action. You will be destroyed if you continue such madness."

Thirdfain · Post by **Thirdfain** » 2004-06-01 12:18am

"I don't understand your words, Machine. Conspirators?
Why did you attack Terra? What did the Arcanists offer you for their suppot, and why? And finally, where did you come by a Military Womb?"

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2004-06-01 12:23am

Thirdfain wrote:"I don't understand your words, Machine. Conspirators?
Why did you attack Terra? What did the Arcanists offer you for their suppot, and why? And finally, where did you come by a Military Womb?"

"Conspirators. A word in your own language. Those who conspire. Is this too complex?" The red eye seemed to lessen it's penetrating stare. "I will simplify. The Arcanists allowed us diplomatic contact and appraised us of those individuals who were openly fearful of the Overseer's arrival at the diplomatic summit some time ago. They had been planning in secret.. That is, conspiring.. To ensure the destruction of the Overseer. As any rational being would, the Overseer dealt with them by assaulting them on Terra when they were clustered."

A several moment pause was made as the Machine considered the last question. "Ah. Analysis of data transmissions indicates your subsection of humanity refers to it's shipyards as 'wombs', a word reserved for the place within an mammalian organic grows it's child. Curious. The Womb we have was received as part of an agreement with allies we maintain amongst the Organic races."

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2004-06-01 12:29am

[AINS Repluse]

"Sensor report, Admiral."

"Yes?" Asked an increasingly impatient and annoyed Admiral Stryborn.

"Long rang sweeps and recon dronne records confirm it. We're essentially looking at a automated version of a Floater Cluster. I've looked it over and even compared it to the records from Kharam. There's no doubt about it. They're a pretty damn close match."

"I see." said Stryborn, already distracted by the implications. None of the possibilities were particularly pleasant. "Open a channel to the Ouster CO."

Thirdfain · Post by **Thirdfain** » 2004-06-01 12:29am

Atja blanched, but ignored the Machine's talk of conspirators.

"Allies. Allies amongst the Known Space powers."

Despite the knowledge that the machine could very well be lying, Atja was interested in hearing it's story. Once he had heard it's explanation for the Military Womb, he would learn ask more about this "Overseer" it kept speaking about... but first things came first.

"What deal? That's nonsensical. The Hajr has made no deals with your 'Overseer.' Who gave you the Womb? And why?"

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2004-06-01 12:32am

Thirdfain wrote:Atja blanched, but ignored the Machine's talk of conspirators.

"Allies. Allies amongst the Known Space powers."

Despite the knowledge that the machine could very well be lying, Atja was interested in hearing it's story. Once he had heard it's explanation for the Military Womb, he would learn ask more about this "Overseer" it kept speaking about... but first things came first.

"What deal? That's nonsensical. The Hajr has made no deals with your 'Overseer.' Who gave you the Womb? And why?"

"Scanning." The Programmer responded. "Access denied. You do not have sufficient clearance for the requested information." Can an automated voice sound smug? This one did.

"Why does speech of allies disturb you? Are you confirming that you do seek the Overseer's destruction, that you would deny it even the ability to make alliances?"

Thirdfain · Post by **Thirdfain** » 2004-06-01 12:32am

<< AINS Repulse, we are investigating now. The design of this facility matches that of a large-scale Military Womb of the sort used both by the local Floater clusters and the Hajr. We are investigating now. Your men are free to come down, General Sara su Kynisnet is investigating on the Machine facility itself.>>

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2004-06-01 12:37am

"We noted that from our scans which matched.... certain records. We will be dispatching a number of our Marine to the surface to help investigate."

Thirdfain · Post by **Thirdfain** » 2004-06-01 12:39am

"Scanning." The Programmer responded. "Access denied. You do not have sufficient clearance for the requested information." Can an automated voice sound smug? This one did.

"Why does speech of allies disturb you? Are you confirming that you do seek the Overseer's destruction, that you would deny it even the ability to make alliances?"

Atja smirked. They would find out all this machine knew, soon enough. This was merely a curiousity.

"I don't even know what the Overseer is. Besides, our explanation is clearly fallacious. Don't take me for a fool. The attack on Terra accomplished nothing, besides revealing the treachery of the Arcanists and uniting Known Space into a force against you. If you had actually been interested in defeating some threat to your... Overseer, than you would have attacked military targets. In murdering the civilians of Earth, you have opened yourself to the ire of all Known Space. So, without the falsehoods- you will tell me how that shipyard in orbit was built. How did you find Hajr technology?"

-/ooc Of course, Atja's assuming a lot in thinking that they'll be able to pump the thing's brain once they get it open.

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2004-06-01 12:46am

Thirdfain wrote:
"Scanning." The Programmer responded. "Access denied. You do not have sufficient clearance for the requested information." Can an automated voice sound smug? This one did.

"Why does speech of allies disturb you? Are you confirming that you do seek the Overseer's destruction, that you would deny it even the ability to make alliances?"
Atja smirked. They would find out all this machine knew, soon enough. This was merely a curiousity.

"I don't even know what the Overseer is. Besides, our explanation is clearly fallacious. Don't take me for a fool. The attack on Terra accomplished nothing, besides revealing the treachery of the Arcanists and uniting Known Space into a force against you. If you had actually been interested in defeating some threat to your... Overseer, than you would have attacked military targets. In murdering the civilians of Earth, you have opened yourself to the ire of all Known Space. So, without the falsehoods- you will tell me how that shipyard in orbit was built. How did you find Hajr technology?"

"The conspirators are dead. I would assert this as a success. This is a misunderstanding, and if there are sane beings amongst you, it will be resolved." The Master Programmer replied. "The Overseer is the progenitor of all Constructs. It crafts us in it's image, as we craft the lesser Programmers in our own."

The Machine, of course, had the patience of steel. "You lack the authorization for any more data on that subject. You terminated all hopes of gaining it in your attack."

-/ooc Of course, Atja's assuming a lot in thinking that they'll be able to pump the thing's brain once they get it open.

ooc: No kidding. Not only would they have to try and scan it's records, but the native language it thinks in is a few million years out of use.

Thirdfain · Post by **Thirdfain** » 2004-06-01 01:30am

Sara su Kynisnet just sat, staring at her display, thinking. The shipyard was completely unexpected.

Have we been played for fools? Ths Council didn't furnish the Machines with this. They have always been honest with the rank and file.

She just sat. Ideas ran through her head, possible explanations. The Womb was made with Hajr equipment, she was sure of it. It wasn't Floater technology, or a clumsy remake made via distance-photographs of one of the Military Wombs over Eketrina.

Text flowed down the nerest display- the Mind was being brought on board, in a fortified shuttle. The two Dreadnought minds were being turned over to the Monacorans for shipment home, but the primary shipyard mind would be escorted to Earth aboard the Inevitable Ascendence. Atja wanted to speak with it more. It had been an interesting conversation partener, as the short transcript she was reading suggested.

As she was reading, it hit her.

She sat up, shocked, from her reverie. She immediatly ordered a message sent home, mixed in with the rest of the coded chatter. There was something which the Speaker would have to address immediatly...

-----------

On the shuttle, Atja continued his conversation with the Mind.

"You speak of conspirators against the Overseer. Who, exactly, were targetted as conspirators?"

frigidmagi · Post by **frigidmagi** » 2004-06-01 01:40am

Sir Alexander Andersen twitched his tunic straigth has he headed for his appointment with the Asgard representive. A trade meeting had been set up. It was times like this he missed being on the Tactical Response Team for his worlds police. One bankrobbery later and he was knighted for saving a hostage, then the family tapped him. Now after training he was a bloody ambassador. He shrugged, duty over all...

He really missed his right as a citizen of the UP to carry arms however, as no diplomat was ever armed...

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2004-06-01 01:48am

Thirdfain wrote:On the shuttle, Atja continued his conversation with the Mind.

"You speak of conspirators against the Overseer. Who, exactly, were targetted as conspirators?"

The Master Programmer began rattling off names. "Magdilyn Hyrt, a major member of the Veithan government. Jon Cameron, director of intelligence and shadow leder of the Ravenlock,Freeman Jon Nobunaga, leader of the Floater Cluster of Inisha.." The names continued to rattle on. Many Monarcorans were implicated as well, on all levels of government.

"You will notice these individuals were successfully terminated. Our information comes from our Arcanist informant. We understand he is regretfully dead, perhaps some conspirators escaped."

Marcao · Post by **Marcao** » 2004-06-01 02:03am

Unknown Space
Mechanoid Territory
VPX-11 System

The Veithan task force settled to wait as the Monacoran and Ouster ground forces prepared to attack the mechanoid installation and naval vessels. It was unfortunate that Veithan ground force elements could not join them, but they were not ideally suited to the task. Furthermore, as the projections of the defenses and casualties rates were considered by Veithan AI’s, it was perhaps fortunate that such was the case. The data gathered throughout the battle was analyzed, the information broken apart to consider the behavior of all fleets involved. The data held therein could prove to be useful in the future, but pertaining to the capabilities of the mechanoids and that of their allies.

Vice-Admiral Helen Renara blanched slightly at the data coming in from the ground assault, the losses incurred on the allied forces reassuring her that under most circumstances she would prefer to flatten mechanoid structures and bases from orbit rather than invade. Sadly, such methods would leave little of valuable information behind. The sacrifice of the Monacoran and Ouster forces was considerable, and while it shamed her to admit it she preferred that the people of those nations perished over her own. She took a deep breath, her eyes closing for a moment as she considered the future. The fleet battle was relatively straightforward, but it would only get harder from now on. Of that she did not have much doubt.

~Vice Admiral, I think that you will wish to look at this.~ The thoughts of her sensor officer gently penetrated her mind, her eyes opening as she accepted the visual feed which the Persephone’s AI was attempting to open directly to her mind via her implants. In her eyes, she could see the present remnants of the mechanoid shipyard alongside an Ouster womb. The similarities were staggering.

~Have the similarities been confirmed?~ The admiral was incredulous, for surely this was another ploy? She had little love for the Ousters, and only a fool could not see the possible threat that they represented down the line. Nonetheless, she had no desire to go to war and it seemed unlikely, that the Ousters would have sent forces along for this attack if they had felt they would be implicated. The Ousters had not made many mistakes, and had kept their nose clean in galactic affairs. No, she had every intention on watching how this unfolded; Her mind tapping into the sensors of the Persephone itself and concentrating on the mechanoid structure. She had a feeling that when whatever the truth was revealed, she would not like it…

Post by **Alyrium Denryle** » 2004-06-01 03:16am

"The fact that you have so little experience with electricity alone shows when you talk about computing power. We also know that those Documents are missing because there is so much space left in your archives, and there are documents that we have referencing other documents, including those documents locations, which we can't seem to find anywhere. Your act does not help you, mage. You have fifteen minutes, then we take you to Estevan where we'll put you up in protective custody for a short time, while the nation decides what to do with you."

If you would be so kind as to tell me which document you are refering to, I may be able to tell you. Could you give me a reference? A book title perhaps?

Unless you mean spellbooks. Those were most assuredly taken. However, we do not keep records of our daily events in spellbooks

Dahak · Post by **Dahak** » 2004-06-01 05:42am

VPX-11 System

The fleet performed a short-distance swallow maneuvre, and re-entered normal space near the other fleets in system.
They sent a courtesy hail to the Veithan fleet.
The fleet's sub-Consensus noticed the increased scanning activity directed to the unusual looking yard.
<<What about it?" Eklund pondered.
<<Initial pattern matching indicates it to be a Ouster naval yard, though our information on the Ousters may be a bit sketchy,>> the Consensus answered.
<<It must be accurate, otherwise there wouldn't be such activity around it.>>
<<Agreed.>>
<<Fleet will stay here until the truth is unfolded. Otherwise, we will be going home. And charge the nodes, just in case. I don't want to be stuck here if something untoward comes to light...>>

Straha · Post by **Straha** » 2004-06-01 08:40am

Alyrium Denryle wrote: If you would be so kind as to tell me which document you are refering to, I may be able to tell you. Could you give me a reference? A book title perhaps?

"Sure. AR-QX5, report on "Army of the Empire's combined strength" refernces three materials, all missing, and the report itself is missing pages, most notably page 5 through page 152. Itinerary records for numerous high level mages are missing, most notably yours. Raistlin's personal agent, Dalamar, has a file that looks like it was severly tampered with. Whole records of regiments, er... legions I believe you call them, are missing. Not that those matter, mind you, we found all the evidence we needed of inflated army numbers. But, I will say, most shocking is that whole branches of your state department are missing files. You best be quick in explaining, we only have a short time left here before we leave, and needless to say the more you co-operate the kinder we will be. "

Post by **Alyrium Denryle** » 2004-06-01 09:00am

"That is... odd. I honestly cannot vouch for the actions of the rest of the council. Though, i gave orders over spells that they were not to hde or destry anything once I got in range. SO ether you are flat out lying, which is a common interrogation tactic, or they disobeyed my orders."

Karsus knew the little pissant was lying at this point, no such documents even existed, His and Dalamar didnt have written files beyond a psych evaluation for ths very reason.

Post by **Alyrium Denryle** » 2004-06-01 09:15am

"Admiral, sir... this is somwhat odd"

"What is it commander?" the admiral replied as the admiral lept from his perche, pivoted off a rod and landed next to the ships sensor officer

"well, it look slike that shipyard down there is of ouster construction"

"What in the name of the uni... holy shit.... COMMS! Get the ousters on a tightbeam channel"

<Hails ouster fleet>

Darksider · Post by **Darksider** » 2004-06-01 09:51am

(OOC: Sorry I'm so late to post this, my teachers are really piling it on these last two weeks of school.)

::::::::Uninhabited machine system, four days ago::::::

Elements of the KSN's first and third fleets made the transition to realspace alongside the other ships of the multinational armada.

"Orders sir?"

"Move to engage all defenders"

The fleet formed up, and opened fire on the defenses.

Once the defenses were clear, ground troops were prepped for an assault.

"Sir, i'm picking up a communication from the draconian fleet to the ousters. They say that the shipyard is of ouster construction."

"What?"

"Send a message to krytos, inform them of the events that have taken place here"

"At once admiral."

Straha · Post by **Straha** » 2004-06-01 11:20am

Alyrium Denryle wrote:"That is... odd. I honestly cannot vouch for the actions of the rest of the council. Though, i gave orders over spells that they were not to hde or destry anything once I got in range. SO ether you are flat out lying, which is a common interrogation tactic, or they disobeyed my orders."

"Sir, spike in retal seven."

"Ah, you think I'm lieing. We can measure that, did you know. Here, look, AR-QX5. You see the highlighted titles at the end, those are missing. You see this large section of ripped out pages, same thing. Here is Dalamar's file, a copy mind you. This is a psych report, and a listing of actions and locations from later times. The Psych Report is missing almost everything, and the itinerary is missing everything from about three montsh before the rape on, among other times. Your file here references your Itinerary, missing of course, and there's more still missing. The one thing very odd about this is that most of the missing files obscure any investigation into any alliances you may have had behind closed doors. For instance we're missing dealings with the Krell outside of basic payment transfer, we're missing your alliance with the Vampires, though there are references in some memos that hint at its existance. Etcetera Etcetera Etcetera. Now if you give a logical explanation, prehaps it'll save your ass when we make this public, so care to explain?"