STGOD 2K5 Main Game

[Marcao]

Sabai Territory
Indas System, Indas
KT Designated Landing Area

The shuttle approached its final destination efficiently and with a grace of its own. The Knight Templar was like most interstellar nations capable of great feats of engineering, and their shuttle did not disappoint. The planetary surface of the planet below was elegant but beneath the surface a significant array of armaments laid concealed. Indas had been the heart of the Indashani nation, and it had been protected passionately.

The Sabai delegation awaited patiently, less than five minutes passing before the shuttle presented itself to the eyes of those that awaited it eagerly. Their landing was flawless, the shuttle touching down precisely on target. A murmur ran through the assorted delegates, a few comments exchanged before the Knight Templar delegation finally made its way out of its transport and revealed itself to the light.

A dozen eyes watched the Knight Templar delegation quietly, a few eyebrows raised at the chosen attire of three of the Templar representatives. The significance was caught, a new interpretation of the Templar faith considered. The information which the Sabai possessed about the nation was painfully small, something that was hoped this step would remedy.

A thought slid within Ashna’s mind as she awaited the Templar delegation to move a bit closer towards their Sabai counter part.

~Interesting is it not? It appears their faith encompasses several distinct ways of thought.~

Ashna glanced towards the man at her right and nodded, saying nothing as if fearing that speaking would break the mood that had descended upon them. A millisecond later her attention returned to the Templar delegation, a step taken towards them followed by another. She came to a stop roughly ten feet before them and nodded her head.

“My name is Ashna Murai and on behalf of the Sabai I welcome you to Indas.” Her words were spoken clearly as her eyes watched those of what she assumed was the lead Templar diplomat

[Jaded Masses]

Deep Space
Edge of the Waste
Time: 00:18 (+00:07 Arrowhead)

The Fidelity hung helpless in space, it's comm tower now encircled by a dense cloud of highly radioactive bits of dust, nothing the well shielded ships of our time can't handle, but more than enough to make communication impossible, while surprisingly viscious debris cloud continued to flow into clear space.

The airlocks opened and the crew of the shuttle was ushered in uncerimoniously along with any supplies they had with them. No sooner had they boarded the Fidelity when it happened.

Turbolaser bolts streaked out from the debris cloud from three angles at the cruiser and a dozen uglies tore out of the mess from all angles, heading straight for the Arrowhead, firing with whatever weapons they were armed with.

The point defense guns on the Fidelity began firing at the uglies moments after they appeared, while the ship's turbolasers began firing into the debris field where the turbolaser bolts had appeared from.

The Arrowhead warped away about another 2000mi in a barely noticeable moment. It fired a heavy missile towards the debris field. This missile was actually a shielded probe. It entered the field and began spotting, warping to a new position every few moments, relaying data via ansible. The Arrow head began taking down the uglies (fighters right?). It's PD was alive and the light cannon were tracking projected paths. Then it fired another heavy missile, this one burst into dozens of anti-fighter missiles and decoys, which pursued the remaining fighters. Given a moments rest the remaining shuttle unlocked and warped away at maximum FTL in till it cleared the debris field, after which it engaged its hyper drive and headed into UVP space with a plea for assistance and status report. Preemptively, it launched four heavy ship killer missiles. They began to warp around evasively waiting for targeting data. This cleared the cruisers tubes for further use.

On board the ship the group quickly began communicating with the fidelity crew. They were seeing if they could get more defensive systems on-line. However all were wary and tense, ready to fight if the fidelity proved to be in league with the attackers. Their weapons were ready and the group kept its amour on.

[Marcao]

Sabai Territory
Indas System, Indas
SC Designated Landing Area

The Stuart Corporation was granted immediate clearance in entering the world of Indas, a set of coordinates exchanged that would lead the Stuart delegation to the chosen landing point. All preparations had been completed for their arrival, to a far greater degree of accuracy than those prepared for the Knight Templar. The files on the Stuart Corporation were considerable thicker than those the Sabai possessed on the Knight Templar.

As the Stuart delegates glided down towards the planetary surface, the world below seemed to hold its breath. The shuttle arrived flawlessly, the Sabai watching the landing closely. The Stuarts were known to utilize gravity drives in their ships, something which the Sabai employed as well. Nonetheless, it quickly became apparent that both nations had different means of implementing those drives. Any further thoughts on the engineering capabilities of both their nations were dispelled as the Stuarts revealed themselves.

The lead diplomat of the Sabai delegation bowed before the Stuart corporation diplomats and spoke.

“On behalf of the Sabai we welcome you to Indas. My name is Peter La Rosh and I and mine will be your guide. ”

[frigidmagi]

Sabai Territory
Indas System, Indas
KT Designated Landing Area

“My name is Ashna Murai and on behalf of the Sabai I welcome you to Indas.” Her words were spoken clearly as her eyes watched those of what she assumed was the lead Templar diplomat

Kurik looked on the Sabai diplomat, at 6'9 he was used to towering over people, but she was almost a foot shorter then him. He took a brief moment to be thankful he wasn't wearing his old armor, he would have dwarfed the poor women. His wife twitched behind him, it was time to get started.

"On behalf of my staff and the realm Templar, I thank you Ashna Murai, for your warm welcome." He said. His staff stayed in line behind him quietly.

[Vohu Manah]

The Arrowhead warped away about another 2000mi in a barely noticeable moment. It fired a heavy missile towards the debris field. This missile was actually a shielded probe. It entered the field and began spotting, warping to a new position every few moments, relaying data via ansible. The Arrow head began taking down the uglies (fighters right?). It's PD was alive and the light cannon were tracking projected paths. Then it fired another heavy missile, this one burst into dozens of anti-fighter missiles and decoys, which pursued the remaining fighters. Given a moments rest the remaining shuttle unlocked and warped away at maximum FTL in till it cleared the debris field, after which it engaged its hyper drive and headed into UVP space with a plea for assistance and status report. Preemptively, it launched four heavy ship killer missiles. They began to warp around evasively waiting for targeting data. This cleared the cruisers tubes for further use.

On board the ship the group quickly began communicating with the fidelity crew. They were seeing if they could get more defensive systems on-line. However all were wary and tense, ready to fight if the fidelity proved to be in league with the attackers. Their weapons were ready and the group kept its amour on.

Five minutes in hyperspace, the UVP Task Group "Calchas" continued on it's course. Vice-Admiral Urvan's men knew the drill. Combat stations stood ready, over 100 fighters prepared to deploy, and the Marines were staged. Privately, Geus felt the loss of communication was probably minor equipment, but absolutely nothing was certain outside of their territory. There could be no mistakes.

[Alyrium Denryle]

From: KSE Diplomatic Office
To: Federation of Thaumaturgists
Re: Diplomatic Relations

It has come to our attention that our nations have not yet exchanged ambassadors or initiated formal diplomatic relations. Since you are petitioning to join the Eastern Rim Trading Compact, an organization that we are a founding member of, we would like to get to know you better. If you would like to exchange ambassadors and initiate formal diplomatic relations, please reply to this message.

From: Atinius Belanause, High Preist of helm, Federation of Thaumaturgists
To: KSE Diplomatic Office.
Re: Diplomatic Relations

We would be happy to exchange ambassadors. We can send Father Gran Glitterkrank in three days.

I wanr you though, Helm demands that all priests perform a sort of honor ritual when they arrive at their posting(insett the kneeling ritual) SO you may want to brief your diplomatic liason. And he is a little on the short side

~Atinius Belanaus

[InnocentBystander]

The Arrowhead warped away about another 2000mi in a barely noticeable moment. It fired a heavy missile towards the debris field. This missile was actually a shielded probe. It entered the field and began spotting, warping to a new position every few moments, relaying data via ansible. The Arrow head began taking down the uglies (fighters right?). It's PD was alive and the light cannon were tracking projected paths. Then it fired another heavy missile, this one burst into dozens of anti-fighter missiles and decoys, which pursued the remaining fighters. Given a moments rest the remaining shuttle unlocked and warped away at maximum FTL in till it cleared the debris field, after which it engaged its hyper drive and headed into UVP space with a plea for assistance and status report. Preemptively, it launched four heavy ship killer missiles. They began to warp around evasively waiting for targeting data. This cleared the cruisers tubes for further use.

On board the ship the group quickly began communicating with the fidelity crew. They were seeing if they could get more defensive systems on-line. However all were wary and tense, ready to fight if the fidelity proved to be in league with the attackers. Their weapons were ready and the group kept its amour on.

Deep Space
Edge of the Waste
Time: 00:19 (+00:08 Arrowhead)

The PD Beams on the Fidelity reached out and touched three of the uglies, tearing them apart without question, two more were sent spiraling outward into space, unlikely to rejoin the fight anytime soon. Likewise the PD weapons and missiles sent out by the Arrowhead found their way to 4 uglies, a 5th was disabled.

Before she could engage her warp manuver the Arrowhead was hit by two cruiser scale turbolasers and a few light escort scale turbolasers, it's shields absorbed the hits without trouble. The uglies completely missed their target and came about for another pass, over two dozen more few out of the debris field, again their attack focused on the non-immobilized Arrowhead.

Nearly a second had passed since the Arrowhead had completed it's warp manuver when a weak interdiction field went up in the area, the field was small, and decidedly weak, but at less than 5000km from the debris field it was enough to prevent the Arrowhead from going back to warp, to say nothing of using it's hyperdrive. The shuttle, with no lack of luck, had nearly gotten beyond the range of the weak interdiction field when it was kocked out of warp. It would take a few minutes of repairs and travel before it could jump back into warp - however it was in little danger of being destroyed at this point.

The probe penetrated the dust cloud with much success, line of sight communicators allowed it to relay the position of a decidedly pirate destroyer, with an interdiction field now active it could not execute the already dangerous warp manuvers in the debris cloud, it was unceremoniously executed by light laser fire from the pirate destroyer.

Sensor Data:
Vessel Classification - Heavy Frigate
Length: Approx. 650 meters
Weapons: Several small turbolasers, light PD, single missile silo.
Defences: Poorly Shielded

In the debris field the pirate frigate could hardly move and was an easy target. If the Arrowhead fire all it's heavy guns into the debris cloud, there was a good chance 80% of them would find their target, unshielded missiles stood a 30% chance of hitting between the debris, lack of real-time guidance and whatever point defense fire the pirate ship could muster. The Arrowhead's torpedoes could no longer warp, but now had targeting data, of the four, one was likely to hit if it entered the debris field at sublight speed.

If the shuttle had remained to relay communication the Fidelity could have aided in the couter-fire with her heavy turbolasers and shielded torpedoes, but as it stood, it would be another twenty or thirty seconds before comms could be re-established. For now the medium guns on the Fidelity fired almost blindly into the debris field while it's PD Beams sent another volley of death towards the uglies.

Pirates destroyed:
Uglies - wave 1:
3/12 destroyed by Fidelity
2/9 disabled by Fidelity
4/7 destroyed by Arrowhead
1/3 disabled by Arrowhead

Remaining:
At least 2 unknown pirate vessels
1 Pirate Heavy Escort
30 Uglies (swarming the Arrowhead)

[Dahak]

Sabai Territory
Indas System, Indas
SC Designated Landing Area

The Stuart Corporation was granted immediate clearance in entering the world of Indas, a set of coordinates exchanged that would lead the Stuart delegation to the chosen landing point. All preparations had been completed for their arrival, to a far greater degree of accuracy than those prepared for the Knight Templar. The files on the Stuart Corporation were considerable thicker than those the Sabai possessed on the Knight Templar.

As the Stuart delegates glided down towards the planetary surface, the world below seemed to hold its breath. The shuttle arrived flawlessly, the Sabai watching the landing closely. The Stuarts were known to utilize gravity drives in their ships, something which the Sabai employed as well. Nonetheless, it quickly became apparent that both nations had different means of implementing those drives. Any further thoughts on the engineering capabilities of both their nations were dispelled as the Stuarts revealed themselves.

The lead diplomat of the Sabai delegation bowed before the Stuart corporation diplomats and spoke.

“On behalf of the Sabai we welcome you to Indas. My name is Peter La Rosh and I and mine will be your guide. ”

Special Envoy Serath Meyhalm was close to two meters tall and didn't show one sign of age. More to the point, he did look like someone barely 18 years old, like a reincarnation of ancient Adonis.
When he spoke, one wasn't just as sure about his age. The deep voice spoke softly, "Dear Ms. La Rosh, I am Special Envoy Serath Meyham and I thank you on behalf of the Corporation for this warm welcome. I hope this will be a very productive and fruitful exchange of ideas."
The delegation comprised of 20 people and an honour guard of 10.
While the special envoy spoke, the shuttle lifted itself soundlessly from the landing pad and raced up to its mother ship.

[Darksider]

From: Atinius Belanause, High Preist of helm, Federation of Thaumaturgists
To: KSE Diplomatic Office.
Re: Diplomatic Relations

We would be happy to exchange ambassadors. We can send Father Gran Glitterkrank in three days.

I wanr you though, Helm demands that all priests perform a sort of honor ritual when they arrive at their posting(insett the kneeling ritual) SO you may want to brief your diplomatic liason. And he is a little on the short side

~Atinius Belanaus

That will not be a problem. We have sent the navigational coordinates for our outer colony of Ragnar in this transmission. Please direct your ambassadors there. Also, while we will allow you to send warships to escort your diplomatic envoy, we ask that they do not enter Krytosian space. We will guard your ambassadors once they pass our borders.

[White Haven]

SCSS Mjolnir

"Message from the flag, sir. We've received our mission orders." The young petty officer hands over a folio to the captain, who accepts it with a nod, then breaks the seal and extracts the wafer-thin datasheet within. He frunts a few times as he scans over the short, to the point directive.

Code: Select all

Intelligence operatives have completed their interrogations of the pirates you captured two days ago. Enclosed are hyperspace coordinates relating to the base's position, as well as an assessment of the target's defenses. Give no quarter.

-Vice Admiral Elyssa Mandraki, First Battle Squadron, Sixth Cruiser Squadron

"Commander Elson, bring the ship to general quarters in ten minutes, we hit our target in fifteen. Chief Bryant, give me all hands." At a responding nod, the captain begins to speak again, this time echoed all throughout the heavy cruiser on its PA system. "This is the Captain speaking. In a little under fifteen minutes, we will be hitting the base of the pirate strike force we interdicted two days ago. I expect nothing less than your best, and I've been your commanding officer for long enough to know that I'll have it. You know your jobs, be prepared to do them. Captain clear."

Hyperspace

A tightly-packed formation of ships slides along through the black-streaked red of hyperspace, making frequent course changes to evade one of the less stable regions along the route to the pirate base. The Mjolnir rides just behind the formation's three battleships, providing rear cover for the squadron.

Unnamed system on the fringes of the Eastern Rim

A ramshackle station built around the wreckage of a century-old bulk hauler floats in wide orbit around an airless ball of rock. Surrounding it are a cloud of corsair ships, prize freighters, and bits of armed rock, strewn about in barely-organized parking orbits. With perfect sychronization, eleven separate flares of white light violate the crystalline void and then extend into short-lived tunnels, receding away towards infinity even as they hurl an equal number of warships into normal space. One group emerges right on top of the station, a battleship, two battlecruisers, and two light cruisers. The balance of the fleet, an additional two battleships, three escort carriers, and a lone heavy cruiser, emerge further away.

Preplotted fire-plans spring into effect, the close-attack group opening fire with stunning violence. As railgun shells scream free of their turretting cannon, four searing balls of hellfire erupt against the station's defense shields, the blasts of matter-antimatter annihilation just outside it sending astronomical levels of energy slamming into them. The other six ships aren't standing idly by, far from it. All three carriers are pumping their deckloads into space, and at the same time the warships accompanything them swing around, presenting a unified broadside firing-line. Eighty-four hatch covers snap open, each open bay spawning an antimatter-head missile in a single, coordinated salvo.

Time elapsed from emergence: six seconds.

As the assaulting force poured annihilation into the pirate defense fleet, sensors began blaring. Coherent beams of energy cascaded out of the mysterious realms 'above' and 'below' normal space, and began slamming into the pirate base. Like cutting lasers, coherent energy carved into the structures and support of the base, even as the sources only just began to fade into view.

With a near-perfect engine signature match, the sensors of the Sixth's ships were watching the same Corsair ships, so recently reported to be raiding Auroran shipping, come down on a pirate base like death incarnate. The swarm of lesser ships escorting the Psychopath didn't even bother locking their weapons; they came without speech or justification, bringing only gruesome, sudden death to the freelance pirates.

Either of the forces assaulting this particular pirate base of operations would have sufficed. HALF of either of the forces would have. Taken together, the sudden, overpowering violence with which the base and its attendent fleet is destroyed is almost revolting. Salvos of missiles explode upon debris fields left by massive energy-beams, CREWS mounts sweep across the fires of matter-antimatter annihilation to rend dying hulks apart, and fighters...fighters stay the hell away from that level of insane violence.

As the crucible around the raider operation fades away into the void, debris trailing out in all directions, the commander of the First appears on open-channel comms across the system.

Code: Select all

This is Vice Admiral Elyssa Mandraki, First Battle Squadron, Sixth Cruiser Squadron. Identify yourselves.

As her signals are ignored, the First shifts into a new battle formation, tightening up, closing the range between the two elements, establishing fighter cover over the whole group, and arraying themselves against the newcomer. No one fires, no one's that suicidal against that level of firepower. And then...with not a single word, the Black Alliance force simply departs, leaving the Sixth in command of what's left of the battleground.

[Rogue 9]

"Most assuredly. Pirate scum. We were lucky the Hermes' captain decided to stray from his usual patrol and shadow us, otherwise, I may be on the fugue plane waiting for Helm to take me into his realm." he said with a smile while he got to his feet. No small task for anyone in field plate, but he made it seem easy. Hw was definently used to wearing it. Truth be told, he could sleep in the stuff.

"I apologize of my introduction embarassed or unearved you, it is something that Helm demands I do in order to show respect when I m first assigned to a position and meet my diplomatic liason or the commanding officer of a ship, whichever comes first" he explained with a little smirk, as if he found the whole proceedure amusing. He was the sort of man who could find happiness and humor in any situation.

Captain Weston, on the other hand, was dead serious. "There are two things the Republic Space Command does not abide, Ambassador. Wars of conquest, and pirates." He turned to the pilot of the Vincent. "Where and when were you attacked, and by what force?"

[Alyrium Denryle]

"Most assuredly. Pirate scum. We were lucky the Hermes' captain decided to stray from his usual patrol and shadow us, otherwise, I may be on the fugue plane waiting for Helm to take me into his realm." he said with a smile while he got to his feet. No small task for anyone in field plate, but he made it seem easy. Hw was definently used to wearing it. Truth be told, he could sleep in the stuff.

"I apologize of my introduction embarassed or unearved you, it is something that Helm demands I do in order to show respect when I m first assigned to a position and meet my diplomatic liason or the commanding officer of a ship, whichever comes first" he explained with a little smirk, as if he found the whole proceedure amusing. He was the sort of man who could find happiness and humor in any situation.

Captain Weston, on the other hand, was dead serious. "There are two things the Republic Space Command does not abide, Ambassador. Wars of conquest, and pirates." He turned to the pilot of the Vincent. "Where and when were you attacked, and by what force?"

"I memorized the coordinates<coordinates, in international space> It was by a light cruiser equiped with interdiction equipment. Probably trolling the area for merchant ships. The attack was 6 hours hyperspace travel from here"

[Alyrium Denryle]

From: Atinius Belanause, High Preist of helm, Federation of Thaumaturgists
To: KSE Diplomatic Office.
Re: Diplomatic Relations

We would be happy to exchange ambassadors. We can send Father Gran Glitterkrank in three days.

I wanr you though, Helm demands that all priests perform a sort of honor ritual when they arrive at their posting(insett the kneeling ritual) SO you may want to brief your diplomatic liason. And he is a little on the short side

~Atinius Belanaus

That will not be a problem. We have sent the navigational coordinates for our outer colony of Ragnar in this transmission. Please direct your ambassadors there. Also, while we will allow you to send warships to escort your diplomatic envoy, we ask that they do not enter Krytosian space. We will guard your ambassadors once they pass our borders.

"Thank you for the coordinates. Here are the coordinates for our homeworld of Largos IV, we call it Mystara.<coordinates>. Bring whatever escort you require, and we will switch off escort duties at our border"

[Darksider]

[Ragnar System, Krytos Star Empire]

The KSN heavy cruiser Startide sat in orbit above Ragnar three, which, as of late, had become a staging ground for the KSE's deployment of diplomats to all the other nations. Captain William Ackerson paced around the Startide's bridge.

"Are they ready yet?"

"Diplomatic shuttle thirty-two reports a succesful launch. We should be ready to jump to hyperspace any second now."

The Diplomatic carrier shuttle Freindly Relations emerged from the planet's atmosphere, and headed to rondevous with the Startide.

"The shuttle is ready, navicomputers are synchronized."

"Jump to hyperspace"

The stars shifted into lines in front of the bridge window as the two vessels leapt into hyperspace.


[Uninhabited Neutral System, several hours later]

Captain Ackerson nearly fell as the Startide was ripped prematurely from hyperspace.

"What the hell just happned?"

"Interdictor sir. A strong one"

"Charge weapons and raise shields. Try to move us infront of the Freindly Relations"

"Sir. Picking up a small pirate armada emerging from a nearby asteroid belt. They're hailing us"

"Put them through"

A message from the pirate fleet came through over the ships comm

"You have fallen into the trap of the Belt Alliance, Krytosian scum. Surrender your cargo and we might make your deaths slow and painless"

A frown formed on Captain Ackerson's face

"Do not reply. Get us between the transport and that fleet. What are we up against?"

"Picking up nine frigates, two destroyers, and a cruiser. They're closing fast. They'll be in weapons range in five minutes"

"Are our comms being jammed?"

"No, but I don't know whose going to hear us anyways. The only systems within range are our own, who can't get to us in time, and the Commonwealth colonies, who won't give a damn."

"Send out a distress signal anyways, and put us on course for that fleet. Let's meet them head on."

The communications officer turned back to his station

"Attention! Attention! This is the Krytosian heavy cruiser Startide we have been ambushed by pirates and are under attack. Any available vessels please render immediate assistance, repeat, we have been ambushed by...."

The captain turned to the weapons officer.

"Are they in range yet?"

"Yes sir, foreward weapons have a lock on one of the destroyers.

"Fire at will."

The Startide sprayed volly after volly of energized death at the pirate fleet.

[Alyrium Denryle]

"Attention! Attention! This is the Krytosian heavy cruiser Startide we have been ambushed by pirates and are under attack. Any available vessels please render immediate assistance, repeat, we have been ambushed by...."

Thamauturgist Dreadnought Tyr's Fist
"Father Kranus, Magus Svim. we are picking up a distress signal from a Krytosian heavy cruiser under attack by a what seems to be a pirate armada"

"Are we in range Deacon Frost?" the mage said

"Yes magus, we can be there in ten minutes"

"Inform the Interdictor Binder that we will be jumping in thirty seconds, and give the coordinates of the distress signal."

"Yes father"

"And send them a transmission inform them that we are on our way. Tight beam, encoded"

"By all means sir" Frost replied to the mage.

THirty seconds later, both ships jumped into the scary red world of hyperspace. The two vessels had been patrolling the route that the dIplomatic Shuttle Johansen would take to the KSE, in order to avoid the problem they had the day previous with the Vincent.

Father Kranus, a priest of Tyr, god of justice, would be remisce in his duties if he allowed pirate criminals to escape. ANd Magus Svim, well, his duty was to improve the lives of those he is around, nd therefore is duty bound to assist as well.

[Darksider]

[KSN Heavy Cruiser Startide, uninhabited neutral system]


One of the pirate destroyers streaked past the Startide, flames streaking out of it's interior. Seconds later, it exploded in a brilliant flash.

"Report on enemy fleet?"

"One destroyer, two frigates, and one cruiser destroyed, two frigates heavily damaged and retreating. Picking up two more cruisers and three more destroyers coming from the asteroid belt."

"Damn. How are we doing?"

"Missile batteries two and seven are damaged and offline, shields are at 47 percent, and hull sector three has sustained minor damage"

"Concentrate your fire on the nearest cruiser"

One of the damaged frigates exploded, struck by a Neutron beam from the Startide. The ship began pouring fire into a pirate cruiser's foreward sheild section as the Freindly Relations dodged and weaved, attempting to avoid enemy fire.

"Sir, we're picking up a transmission from the Thamauturgist Dreadnought Tyr's Fist, they say they're patrolling this spacelane to ensure the safety of their diplomatic shuttle. They're on there way to help us out."

the cruiser in front of the Startide exploded in a flash before the bridge windows.

"Looks like we caught a break after all."

The ship shuddered, hit by another salvo from the Belt Alliance fleet

"Shields at 19 percent!"

"I just hope we live long enough for it to matter...."[/i]

[General Zod]

a diplomatic cruiser whisks through hegemony space en route to the hub convoy. shortly a transmission is sent from the vessel.

to: the hub
from: chairman mbadi

i am presently aboard the shuttle carrying myself and the ambassador of the imperium. provide coordinates for rendezvous and we will arrive shortly to discuss the situation.

[Ace Pace]

a diplomatic cruiser whisks through hegemony space en route to the hub convoy. shortly a transmission is sent from the vessel.

to: the hub
from: chairman mbadi

i am presently aboard the shuttle carrying myself and the ambassador of the imperium. provide coordinates for rendezvous and we will arrive shortly to discuss the situation.

To: chairman mbadi
From: The Hub

The hub is currently located here [Encrypted message follows], we eagerly await your arrivel.

[General Zod]

a diplomatic cruiser whisks through hegemony space en route to the hub convoy. shortly a transmission is sent from the vessel.

to: the hub
from: chairman mbadi

i am presently aboard the shuttle carrying myself and the ambassador of the imperium. provide coordinates for rendezvous and we will arrive shortly to discuss the situation.

To: chairman mbadi
From: The Hub

The hub is currently located here [Encrypted message follows], we eagerly await your arrivel.

the shuttle arrives within minutes, as coded communiques go back and forth for docking clearance and information. shortly after the shuttle docks on the ship whose coordinates were provided, and the chairman, ambassador and 4 cyborg marine honor guards depart from the shuttle.

[Jaded Masses]

The interdiction field only slowed the ship and the missiles in warp, they zipped around the battle field, but the cruiser held fast. Several more fighters came down under its guns, downing eight and disabling two more. Its pre-launched missiles went into the debris cloud toward the known path of the destroyer. They went in a wide circle, with the destroyer in the middle. They were no probes but they still had sensors. They coordinated via ansible, combining the effectiveness of their meager sensors. When they had a definite target they struck at once, coordinated with a strong blast of ECM from the Arrowhead, to fault the PD on the destroyer. Even so the destroyers weapons downed one missile, and another detonated short only very slightly damaging the destroyer. The other two hit dead on, their explosions being directed into a narrow cone that was almost a beam. Those two explosions caused great damage to the ship.

The Arrowhead launched three more missiles towards the hostile ship. The ECM was only stopped long enough for the missiles to reaffirm their target's position. Then they struck as well, only one being shot down, the other two hitting dead on.

The fighters around the ship were suffering in the thick soup of space after the ECM was turned on. So were the Arrowheads guns, but by leaving a band open and changing it every few moments it fared somewhat better.

[White Haven]

Encrypted messages arrive on six worlds and one station, because the Stuart just have to be special. They are received by seven Sixth comm officers, and read by seven foreign outreach officers. Seven uniformed diplomats inform their hosts that they request an audience at the earliest possible moment. And all seven deliver the same message, albeit with different wording. 'Who are these?'

<Sensor and visual footage of part of a recent Sixth engagement>

Code: Select all

As the assaulting force poured annihilation into the pirate defense fleet, sensors began blaring. Coherent beams of energy cascaded out of the mysterious realms 'above' and 'below' normal space, and began slamming into the pirate base. Like cutting lasers, coherent energy carved into the structures and support of the base, even as the sources only just began to fade into view.

With a near-perfect engine signature match, the sensors of the Sixth's ships were watching the same Corsair ships, so recently reported to be raiding Auroran shipping, come down on a pirate base like death incarnate. The swarm of lesser ships escorting the Psychopath didn't even bother locking their weapons; they came without speech or justification, bringing only gruesome, sudden death to the freelance pirates.

Either of the forces assaulting this particular pirate base of operations would have sufficed. HALF of either of the forces would have. Taken together, the sudden, overpowering violence with which the base and its attendent fleet is destroyed is almost revolting. Salvos of missiles explode upon debris fields left by massive energy-beams, CREWS mounts sweep across the fires of matter-antimatter annihilation to rend dying hulks apart, and fighters...fighters stay the hell away from that level of insane violence.

[Bugsby]

The Chamber of the Emperor was a great hall, a high vaulted ceiling supported by dozens of tall collumns. It was half throne-room, half cathedral. The Emperor sat on his chair, a small, uncomfortable affair. But for one directly connected to God, creature comforts were of the smallest concern. He had sent forth his will, and the Body was coming. As if on cue, each of the members of the body stepped forward out of small side passageways. Each passage led to the personal quarters and offices of each of the members. The only excpetion to this was the Womb. She came from the front entrance to the Chamber, from the Great Cathedral of Purity. Services were taking place in the Cathedral, but when the Emperor called, the Womb answered. She had no choice.

The Body made its way to the Emperor, and the seven members knelt in a circle around him. The Emperor didn't stir, but they all heard his voice in their heads. "Disturbing news has reached me from the Eye. Speak, that the others may know."

The Eye spoke aloud: "The galaxy is in turmoil. This is clear to all who would see it. Piracy has become so rampant since the Wars that a coalition has built up to fight it. This is the largest international organization to form since the Entente. At the same time, it appears the Aurorans have begun looking to retake their old holdings. Diplomats have been exchanged between many major powers. I only know of a few, but where one is visible, ten operate in secret. The galaxy stirs once again."

The Leg: "Why should this be of any concern to us?"

The Mouth: "For whether we will it or not, we are now a power in this galaxy. I know this. Those bound to me have been receiving a different kind of welcome from the governments they visit. More respect, more fear. The Purified make up a large majority on twenty worlds now, and within three years I expect four more of those to become completely Purified. We are growing. Other have taken notice."

The Womb: "A blessing. The spread of Purity is a blessing indeed to all in the galaxy with noble hearts."

The Arm: "Yet I grow nervous. Those bound to me were first tasked with protecting the Domain when it was small. Yet with the growth, nearly every military officer and soldier to receive the Blessing has chosen to be bonded through me. And with them have come thier ships, their supplies. I am now in command of a large and capable military force. I am happy, for now no small rebellion will attack us in open force. Yet my unease grows, because I fear that in addition to being seen as a Power, the Domain will be seen as a Threat."

The Mouth: "Indeed, my job of late has been mostly calming the fears of other local powers. Although we have never given the Blessing to one who does not want it, many fear that we will attack one of our neighbors and force the entire population to be Purified. A ludicrous proposal, yet one that others fear. And how can I let them know I am in earnest without giving them the Blessing and thus confirming their fears?"

Then the Emperor willed quiet in the room, and there was quiet. The Emperor closed his eyes, shutting out the world to commune with God, and soon each of the members of the Body were given their answer.

The Arm, the Hand, and the Ear left, to go about their normal business.

The Eye went to find out more about all the governments in the galaxy. Soon representatives of the Eye would travel to each world in the Galaxy, not to spy, but to learn all they could about the different powers and different worlds in the galaxy, large and small. They would know, and what they would know, the Eye would know.

The Mouth sent envoys to all of the closest nations. His was a mission of curiosity. How exactly did the large powers of the galaxy view the Purified? Did they present any threat to the Domain?

The Womb and the Leg were the last two left in the Chamber. The Emperor gave his blessing to them, then sent them forth. The Womb was to pick her most skilled priests and send them to the closest nations. Some of those bound to the Leg must accompany those priests, to accept any who would receive the Blessing.

The Domain was growing, but not fast enough. All the Galaxy must hear the Word. All the galaxy must have the choice to become Purified.

Envoys and missionaries sent to:
New Terra
Beta Aquilae
Arigon
Castille
The Shi
The Affront
Nyfitsar
Eight-legs
Quylthug Confederation

[Dahak]

Stuart System, Orbital One

Ling Tiang scanned through the report from the 6th Cruiser Squadron representative. "Well, we cannot give you any more detailed information, frankly because we do not have it. Our contacts with this 'Black alliance' have been very limited in the past and not very pleasant. We are willing to give you access to information we have gathered," she smiled. "As a token of respect and friendship, of course."
Which meant that at least something was hoped for in return.

***

Stuart System, Avalon Prime, Stuart Plaza

The meeting took place in the reality of her office, for once. It was a rather happy meeting, all in all.
<<So, what's new to report?>> she datavised the people on the other side of her desk.
<<Ah, great things,>> Kajal Ethien answered her. The head scientist, or rather the human mind presenting the research of Datasphere and Consensus, was as all persons present looking stunningly good; and was in a very good mood.
<<Our experiments with probability weapons is rather interesting as of late. We have made progress on our bomb experiments. So far, we managed to create a short-burst probability tweaking in a volume of space. Not as accurate as our shipboard weaponry, of course, but more widespread. We're still having troubles to stabilize the matrix of the tweaking and the results are very, eh, random you might say. But in a few weeks, or months, we will get it to work.>>
<<Sounds good, Kajal,>> the CEO answered. <<Anything else?>>
<<Yes, more biological, actually,>> he went on, <<It is about the Isha'Qal. Their own version of affinity bonding is still not compatible with ours, sadly. But then again, it is only a biological backup solution for quantum com. But we discovered that they have a form of telepathy, as well,>> He beamed.
<<Telepathy? Adaptable?>> she asked, curious.
<<We are working on it, CEO,>> he nodded towards her. <<We are experimenting on some people right now and we feel certain that we might be able to splice this telepathy genetics into our genome. That would give us a third communications method for us.>>
<<That indeed is stunning news.>>
<<Yes, it is,>> he replied. <<One thing Datasphere has suggested is to go looking for other planets devoid any sentient life and starts assessing its potential. What we could have done with the Isha'Qal if we only got them earlier. The possibilities for custom-tailored client species are nearly unlimited.>>
<<Well, we should certainly look into this.>>

As they spoke, several deep-space probes were launched, scanning planets just off the border for suitable genetic material.

[Kyle]

Klingon Blockade Perimeter

TNS Eagle (Heavy Cruiser)
TG 515

"Commodore, the sensor net is detecting Klingon hyper signatures on a trajectory that would take them through our sector." Each Task Group of the Fifth Fleet had been assigned an area of the Klingon border that it was there responsibility to patrol. Fifth Fleet had seeded the entire Klingon border with a network of stealthed passive sensor satelites to watch for ships trying to cross the border. Whena ship was detected a message was sent to the task group responsible for that area.

"Ready tractor net for interdiction mode. Have Alexander slave her tractor net to ours."

"Aye, aye sir. Alexander has slaved her tractor net to our control and reports ready. Shadow has dropped back to support position and is readying fighters, Panama and Gladius have closed with Shadow in a screening position. Glorioso has closed in tight on our flank and Warwhip is doing the same to Alexander."

"Do you have a scanner lock on the Klingon ships yet?"

"Yes sir. I'm detecting six destroyers, and what looks like a medium freighter from the mass and energy reading."

That was a heavy escort for such a small ship. Nothing his Task Group couldn't handle though.

As the seven klingon ships approached the task group the two heavy cruisers released a burst of gravitic energy from there tractor nets. It created a directional short range interdiction field that dropped the Klingon ships into normal space. Then the problems started.

"Shit!" the expletive was uttered in a low voiced whisper of pure surprise. "Thats no freighter! Its a Battlecruiser." Things had just got interesting.

"All ships open fire." The two heavy cruisers and the pair of destroyers in tight as escorts opened fire immediatly pounding the Battlecruiser before it could fully stabilize its shields. "Order Shadow to start launching fighters as fast she can, we're going to need all the help we can get. Send out a call for reinforcements as well. All channels."

Luckily Klingon technology was rather backwards, or this would have been impossible. Instead it was just going to be damned hard.

The two Heavy cruisers continued to pound the Klingon Battlecruiser with particle beam fire and hypermissiles, but the battlecruiser poured fire into the two ships. The smart move would ahve been for the Klingon commander to concentrate on one of the cruisers, but klingon honor wouldn't allow him to ignore a foe that was attacking him.

"Order Warwhip and Glorioso to fall back and join up with Shadow." Destroyers had no place in a fight like this. Anyway once the first fighter strike hit the battlecruiser most likely the Klingon commander was going to send his six destroyers agaisnt Shadow. Four terran destroyers versus six klingon destroyers was a fair fight, two versus six would end badly though.

[consequences]

Pardah System
Sixth Cruiser Squadron Temporary Embassy

Admiral Miaoworo Tomokato remained silent until the end of the presentation "We have no concrete knowledge of the attacking fleet. From what little information we possess, the most likely culprit is the Black Alliance, but that's just because we haven't heard of anyone else using ships that big in recent memory. We will inform you if a similar situation happens with our forces"

___________________________________________________________________

Classified Memo:
All Shi Fleet Forces:

Have received information that vastly powerful force is operating without regards to territorial boundaries. Exercise increased caution during anti-piracy operations and patrols, do not provoke these people needlessly.

Attached file, with scant information available.