STGOD 2K5 Main Game

[frigidmagi]

Commodore Kring nodded looking at the holographic display that ringed the flag bridge on the Heavy Cruiser Dark Vision.

"Sir, we'll be in Azgert shortly, from there we will begin mapping out the most likey safe routes." The Plot Officer reported.

"Very good, Commander." Kring replied. Has the task force heading out to begin the process of mapping out a safe Hyperroute to the 6th Crusier Squadron.

-Force Declaration-
1 Barakiel class heavy crusier
2 Charbiel class crusiers
4 Erellim class destoryers
4 Rogziel class heavy frigates
4 Abbaton class frigates
4 Zephon class light frigates

[Chris OFarrell]

"Warp reversion ... now. My Lord, we have arrived at the system. Sensors are heavily degraded in this sector from the arrival of Third Yarmuk's event wave. One ship is on our scopes; NOFR Foundation of Iron."

"Thank you, captain. Prepare my shuttle for transport, I shall meet aboard that ship. Inform the Foundation that I shall be arriving shortly, please"

Lord Calcite, CNO of the SKS, took off on his shuttle to the ship. His intelligence reports and what remained of the SKS' once-vast early-warning system had seen it, occasionally. He had made sure to discredit any tales from spacers, for there were some secrets that were needed. But what did the Republic want with them? They sealed the wormhole long ago, behind their own fleet which went on its suicidal attack at Third Yarmuk...

*Note, this takes place roughly at the same time as this last post, we havn't been doing nothing all this time *


O'Farrell watched as the small SKS shuttle launched from its Mothership and swung around onto an intercept course. Small and quick, it hopped skipped and jumped with skill through the nebula and debris on a course for the Foundations main shuttle bay. Of course very few people would know where the main shuttle bay on a Dauntless II class cruiser would be, given that it was sealed and covered with bioarmour. A quick tap of his command console and the bioarmour pealed back to show the heavily armoured hull underneath, which smoothly parted to reveal the brightly lit hanger inside.

Still, he hadn't survived this long by freely letting everyone in who asked.

"Send the challenge" he ordered.

"Receiving proper response" the communications officer stated with some surprise. After all, very few people would have access to or even remember three hundred year old recognition codes.

"Landing cycle commencing. Should I retract the hull?"
"Negative" Chris decided. "No reason to make us look unfriendly. Commander, you have the Bridge"

Chris stood with a swirl of his command cape. He really detested the thing, preferring the much more utilitarian jumpsuits he usually wore, but appearances had to be maintained. He exited the bridge and stepped into the transporter room just outside. Moments later, he materialised on the cavernous if mostly empty hanger bay. Outside, the SKS shuttle lined up on the landing light patterns and expertly pushed through the atmospheric containment force field towards the indicated landing spot where a squad of Marines waited, their very function power armour polished until it gleamed.

The small shuttle flared and settled to the ground with a slight hum of repulsors, small jets of coolant hissing from vents as the ship powered down to standby mode. Then with a whirring, the ships hatch opened and the CNO of the Star Kingdom of Serenity stepped out. With a subtle gesture, Chris dismissed the honour Guard behind him.

Putting on his best diplomatic smile, Chris stepped forward. The pair exchanged all manner of diplomatic Smalltalk then adjourned to the small conference room off the hanger bay and sat down. Offers of refreshments and so on were made, all politely refused. Nodding, he set his face and started to tell exactly what he needed. Glad that the tiny holocams in the room were operating, the look he was about to get would no doubt be priceless....

[White Haven]

BFE-007 IV, Fort Resolute

Admiral Wallace Allanby sits at a desc strewn with a number of wafer-thin display sheets, scrolling through the contents of one of them as a petty officer steps into his office. After freezing the scroll and setting the training report down, he focuses his attention on the aide, clearly new at her job and worried about interrupting the deputy CO of the Sixth Cruiser Squadron. "Yes, PO?" the man's deep, gravelly voice asks, "What is it?"

"Sir...Admiral Alwin reports that the Knights Templar have deployed a force to begin scouting a hyperlane towards us. They recommend, in the interests of good relations, that we send a force to assist them. Admiral Blake, from R&D, also wants to send some of her survey ships along." The aide shrinks back a bit as the Squadron's second-in-command waves a dismissive hand.

"I know who Christina Blake is, PO," he snaps, it's been a long day and he's somewhat prickly at the best of times. He ignores the woman for the moment, glancing at the main terminal set into his desk and paging through a few screens before looking up again, "Elyssa's almost back from her patrol, get Hallmeyer moving to rendevous with them. The Third needs practice anyway, as always." He starts to dismiss the nameless noncom, then stops and adds, "Oh, and get Franklin to cut a few escorts loose from the CDF to ride shotgun on Christina's science ships in case they get separated. Dismissed." He waves towards the door and looks back down, picking up the sheet again.

Petty Officer Grace Caparelli quickly vacates the office, heaving a sigh of relief as soon as the door shuts...Allanby's one hell of a commander, but what a JERK! Let's see...get Vide Admiral Mandraki and First Battle Squadron back to base to refit and rearm, detail Rear Admiral Hallmeyer's Third Battle Squadron to assist the Templars, contact Rear Admiral Franklin for an escort so Admiral Blake's scoutships don't get ripped open stem-to-stern.

Half the qualification for being Admiral Allanby's aide is deciphering his distressingly-chaotic and un-uniform naming scheme for his fellow officers.

Within a few hours, flashes of light announce the return of the First Battle Squadron, several hard pirate kills under Elyssa Mandraki's belt. Ten minutes later, the Third Battle Squadron gates up into hyperspace for the trip towards the Templar unit, accompanied by a half-dozen attached vessels.

>Rear Admiral Julian Hallmeyer, CO, Third Battle Squadron
-SCSS Crimson Dawn, Greylight-class battleship, Commodore Christopher Stevens <Flagship>
-SCSS Tsunami, Greylight-class battleship, Commodore Marianne Tern
-SCSS Kellen, Godhand-class heavy cruiser, Captain Victor Evans
-SCSS Perseus, Pegasus-class light cruiser, Captain Percival Denby
-SCSS Triad, Pegasus-class light cruiser, Captain Esmerelda Trace
-SCSS Hailstorm, North Star-class escort carrier, Commander Veronica Kell
-SCSS Lightray, North Star-class escort carrier, Commander Kristen Hall
-2x Dagger-class boarding craft, Major Zachary Allen


-SCSS Scythe, Godhand-class heavy cruiser, Captain Carol Ursa
-SCSS Katana, Pegasus-class light cruiser, Captain Warren Parson
-SCSS Retaliation, Pegasus-class light cruiser, Captain Dawna Key
-SCSS Yale, North Star-class escort carrier, Commander Regina Harrison
-2x Survey ships

[consequences]

The Shi Combine finalised a deployment to bring more ships to bear on the pirate problem, and hopefully keep any sixty kilometer monstrosities from sneaking up on their holdings.

Roving pirate suppresion forces(on top of normal convoy escorts and patrols):
1 Black Tide class supercarrier
3 Divine Wind class fleet carriers
2 Widowmaker class carriers
4 Swarm class drone carriers
3 Katana class Heavy cruisers
45 Wakizashi class escorts


OOC: Going to be out of play till sunday afternoon, so this is my effort to pretend to contribute until then.

[phongn]

Admiral Lord Calcite, CNO of the Star Kingdom of Serenity (and therefore de-facto dictator of that nation) was dressed in the slightly-ostentatous uniform of a Royal Navy officer. The pomp and circumstance of Serenity I's long reign had never been really undone, not even in the hundreds of years after her death at the hands of the NRMD.

Unfortunately for O'Farrell's memoirs, Calcite was too old and canny a negotiator to visibly respond to the request. A tit-for-tat exchange of data. The Foundation of Iron would be permitted access to the Star Kingdom's datalinks--the same datalinks that fed information on what survived of her sensor network--and the man pledged support of his ship. He also would give access to the NOFR's remaining sensor buoys in this galaxy.

Presumably he had already given out requests to the other elder powers and perhaps the Kzinti; the offer specifically said that no information from the other Entente powers would have to be shared. But the offer was an expensive one. The NOFR was once an ally of the Star Kingdom in the NATO alliance but that alliance was long dead and a man in a pre-war light cruiser could be a dangerous foe indeed.

He would have to be watched. "Agreed. The neccesary equipment to interface with the network is stored about Procurator and will be shipped over as soon as I return."

[White Haven]

Looking over the sensor data and video files vice Admiral Rankin just showed him, the Supreme Archmagus, Antininus stroked his beard, as if trying to remember the ships class from memory. recalling historical files and old sillouette data.

FInally he answered.

"That is a Black Alliance vessel my friend. They are a massive group of pirates who were driven into the Magellianic(sp because Iam lazy) cluds several decades ago. They like to have a monopoly on piracy from what I remember... we never had many dealings with them though until recently we were to small to really bother with, so our data on their exact nature is somewhat limited."

"Pirates...pirates attacking pirates." Rankin muses, then gives a rough snort, "Well, thank you for your information...it's not the best news I've heard all week, but it's better than nothing. I'll keep you informed of any further encounters with them, of course."

[Alyrium Denryle]

Federation embassy in Leonina System

Father Davidicus Dev walked casually over t his counterpart's desk and handed him a file

"We in the Federation of Thaumaturgists are being struck more frequently by acts of maritime larceny by underequipped and poorly trained humanoid delinguents, Number One. Perhaps, if I may be so bold as to suggest. due to our physical proximity, it would be most prudent for your government to increase the level of energetic projectile protection abord your vessels which ply the hyper lanes carrying goods services and raw materials for hire, barter and construction, in order that they be more adequatley hardened as to discourage afforsaid acts of maritime larceny"

[Shark Bait]

Federation embassy in Leonina

Father Davidicus Dev walked casually over t his counterpart's desk and handed him a file

"We in the Federation of Thaumaturgists are being struck more frequently by acts of maritime larceny by underequipped and poorly trained humanoid delinguents, Number One. Perhaps, if I may be so bold as to suggest. due to our physical proximity, it would be most prudent for your government to increase the level of energetic projectile protection abord your vessels which ply the hyper lanes carrying goods services and raw materials for hire, barter and construction, in order that they be more adequatley hardened as to discourage afforsaid acts of maritime larceny"

Ambassdor one looked over the file for a fraction of a second filtering out all relivent data before speaking. "Yes we are quite aware of the pirates activitys infact our last shipment from your asteroid fields was attacked and the pirates made off with what your people would consider a large supply of sand. Since then we have placed several military grade spider droids on our ships and as for attaching more weapons I'm affraid I cannot do that at this time Daaaave."

[frigidmagi]

To: Grand Master of the Knights Templar, Lord Protector of the Wenasi Holds and Grand Admiral Talen
From: High Father Atinius Belanaus, High Priest of Helm, Federation of Thaumaturgists
Re: Diplomatic relations

Greetings and Salutations,

In light of recent aggressive acts by the Auroran Imperium, very near to both of our nations, it has become distressing that we have yet to establish formal diplomatic ties, let alone establish a significant consulate or embassy within your nation. Therefore, I wsh to inquire as to how amenable you and yours would be to an exchange of ambassadors

~High Father Atinius Belanaus

From:Grand Master of the Knights Templar, Lord Protector of the Wenasi Holds and Grand Admiral Talen

To: High Father Atinius Belanaus, High Priest of Helm, Federation of Thaumaturgists
Re: Diplomatic relations

Sir, May God find you well on this day. Due to culture factors and past histortic conflicts, there is some difficultly in allowing Mages into the realm, especally given the fact that little is known about your nation or traditions. While this may or may not change in time, certain condaintions must be leveled upon your ambassdors and other visistors from your nation for the foreseen future.

Condaintion 1: All Mages must foreswear the use of summoning spells, no extraplanar creature or power may be inoked within the Realm of the Templar.

Condaintion 2: All Mages must foreswear use of teleportion spells while in the Realm of the Templar.

Condaintion 3: All Mages must foreswear the use of divination spells while in the Realm of the Templar.

Any breaking or attempts to break these Consdaintions will be seen has an opening of hostilites and those responible will be tried has spies.

We await your decidsion.

[Alyrium Denryle]

Leo and Anonin fell for about 10 minutes at a featherlike rate, until hitting the ground softly

“We should do that more often” Leo said

“we do it every time we have to get down a deep dark chasm”

“Exactly” the priest said with that mischievous smirk of his.

It was then that they heard the cavern shaking thud. Down from the ceiling a massive bone figure had dropped. It was the skeletal form of a dragon. A catlike body, long tail, huge claws and what used to be massive bat-like wings. Its colossal toothed skull had glowing red points of light where the eyes used to be.

“Lathander, Bless us this day, and bring doom upon our enemies!!!” The cleric prayed. Light in the cavern began to increase and flow into Leo and Anonin. Anonin’s voice resonated though the cavern system, and small rocks broke free if the planets gravitational pull as he called upon the power of the universe to his whims. The air cackled around his hands as several lighting bolts burst forth from them ionizing the air, but most importantly pouring gigajoules of energy into the skeletal dragon’s form. The energy however was radiated away by the supernaturally energy resistant bones, causing only minor fracturing at the contact points, and doing no structural damage.

The dracolich’s reaction was as fast as the lightning itself, it darted toward the mage, massive claws attempting to crush the man under them, as its tooth filled jaws attempted to grab the cleric. Both were saved by a timely intevention by Anonin, who had worked a Wall of Force into his spell. Preventing an attack from above from succeeding, at least for a moment. Even while skeletal the dragon was able to cause damage to the wall. Which was much less powerful than one generated by a ships magical power supplies. This one had to be channeled through a living being, almost using the brain as wetware. A hardware processor can overheat if worked to hard, and so can a wetware one, and the mage was beginning to sweat, and his knees were visibly shaky under the assault.

Leo, cleric of Lathander burst into action.
“ RAISE THE DAY” He called loud to his god, and the shield on his arm shone like the sun once more. But failed to even char the cartilage of the great skeletal beast. It was to powerful for his faith to destroy in that manner. So he summoned forth all his strength and used his Morningstar in an attempt to bludgeon it to re-death. His heavily enchanted morning star, powered by his physical strength and his faith, was able to overcome the undead dragon’s power and shatter its fibula into a hundred pieces, causing it to stumble briefly before shifting its mass to compensate. This was when it decided to use its breath weapon. It tilted its head down and unleashed a powerful cone of fire straight on top of the cleric, who raised his shield in the hope of deflecting the inferno; relying on his faith to shield him from the radiant heat. Fire swirled around him, sucking the oxygen out of his very lungs and scorching his hair. His armor was glowing white from the heat, however, by a miracle, the man within was unharmed by the flames. Lathander protects his own.

Even as the clerics armor cooled down to bright orange color, he raised his morning star to the ceiling of the cavern, which is when the mage’s spell failed, and the dracolich was able to bring its claws to bear, swiping at both the mage and cleric. The mage dodged out of the way, leaping to safety, doing a summersault and stood up; already working his next spell, but the heavily armored cleric was caught by the full sweeping blow and knocked 50 feet into the stone wall of the cavern. Crashing through it into the treasure room. Where he lay in the rubble, his arm bent in ways it really shouldn’t be. He stood back up, and closed his eyes
“Lathander, I have need of thee, heal my wounds my lord, my master, my God. So that I may continue this fight against this creature of the night” a light flashed around his arm as the Morninglord granted hs request, and he sprinted back to engage the dracolich, and protect his companion.

The Dracolich was bearing down on the mage, but he would not go quietly into the night. Energy poured from his fingertips. Fire, acid, Plasma, all was fair game in the rainbow of death streaming from the wizard’s fingers like New Years confetti.

The mage himself was not actually casting that fast, the spell he had cast when he first got up was a spell that sped up his personal time frame, essentially causing time around him to slow down. Allowing him to cast hideously quickly in everyone else’s reference. But he was starting to feel its effects. His hair got slightly grayer, and he was starting to feel tired, he couldn’t keep this up for long. But the dracolich was feelings its effects as well. Its wings were gone, and it was missing a few ribs. Bone fragments lay everywhere. Scattered like the wake of the hurricane. It roared in rage as prepared to lay waste to the wizard, but the cleric intervened

He whispered a prayer to Lathander, raised his weapon, and brought it down on the dracolich’s pelvis. Fracturing it, but that was not all. The air began to glow red, and heat up. Out of nowhere, divine fire rained down from the cave ceiling in a column of divine power. The bones of the dracolich turned black, several vertebra shattered, and the dracolich fell to pieces.

“We must destroy the phylactery!” Anonin yelled as he ran at a sprint to the dracolich’s treasure room. The phylactery being the gem that houses the dragons soul, and allows the dracolich to regenerate. It was already starting to reform. Anonin found it; a shimmering multicolored gem that reflected all light, its beauty and magic begging them not to destroy it. But their will was to great and , and pointed it out to Leo, who raised it, and brought it down, laying low the lich’s unlife once and for all.

“Now that I know the way back, I can get us to the cemetery, and we can cleanse it f the foul presence of this evil once and for all” Anonin stated before drawing a circle in silver filings on the ground, then working a spell that would teleport them to the grave yard in a flash of blue light.
He gravyard lay before them, spanning half a mile on a side. But many of the graves were open, the walking dead roaming the cemetery, held in only by a 6 foot stone wall.

Leon raised his head the heavens as the sun rose on the horizon.
“Lathander, I declare this space sacred to you and you alone, I consecrate this cemetery in your name oh Morninglord, may your power protect it and the people laid to rest therein” when he finishes his prayer, the sunlight touches the headstones and its warm glow begins to burn through the bodies of the undead roaming the cemetery’s grounds, in a flash of light, they were incinerated by the power of Lathander.

[Marcao]

Sabai Territory
Sabai System, Sabai
Acheron’s Hall

The Sabai nation was no different that any other interstellar nation in regards that it as a nation kept a close eye on interstellar affairs. It spent billions of credits each year in an apparatus designed with a singular purpose in mind, to keep the Sabai informed. In many situations, the system was superfluous as a host of news sources existed in the galaxy at large. Nonetheless, the funds spent existed to maintain a modest sized but capable network of informants and spies.

The core of the network had been built by the Indashani, a people that by virtue of their mental abilities had proven to be quite adept at being informed. It was rumored that when the Indashani left, many of its agents stayed behind in order to fulfill the covenant which had been agreed upon between that nation and the Sabai. The truth however, laid somewhere in between. Nonetheless, the fact remained that the Sabai were relatively well informed for a nation that was located away from the heart of the galaxy and its biggest movers and shakers.

Acheron Marik Vestal was well aware of the capabilities and limitations of his nation’s intelligence apparatus. The Indashani had never managed to seriously infiltrated most of the nations that were a concern to him. The children of Indas had focused primarily on their immediate backyard, and due to that fact he possessed a startling amount of information which pertained directly to his immediate neighbors. It was information that he had wielded skillfully, and as a result he felt to a high degree of certainty that the fiefdoms immediately surrounding his nation were well in line, and where he wished them to be.

Unfortunately, the network had already failed him once. He had not anticipated the rise of the Vigorans, a nation so close to the Sabai borders. The Might of the Vigorans was not a direct threat to the Sabai, but its existence had certainly been received as a rude awakening. As a result, the Acheron felt that direct action was needed. In this particular case diplomatic action was required. He would lose more by attempting to assault the Vigorans than by bartering with them.

His attention shifted from inward contemplation as his eyes sought one of the members of his staff.

“I want a message to be sent to the Vigorans, asking for an exchange of ambassadors and the establishing of diplomatic relations. We would be remiss in our duties if we allow a nation that is so close to us to be courted by everyone but ourselves.”

The man opposite him nodded.

The Acheron’s eyes slid to his left, watching his chief of intelligence.

“The current situation to the galactic south warrants some sort of response. I want you to tell the eye, that I am no longer interested in what is occurring to the north or east. I want it to concentrate to the south and in our own area of space.”

The chief of intelligence bowed his head.

“Furthermore, I think it is about time that we moved to secure alternative markets. The Karis have for the last four months insisted that their goods, particularly in luxury areas are competitive with those found in other nations.” His head turned to the right, glancing at the minister of trade. “Is this accurate?”

The minister of trade nodded.

“Yes it is Acheron. The Karis have made great strides in modernizing their methods of production over the last few years. Their luxury goods are indeed competitive and should suit our needs.”

The Acheron considered this for a moment.

“Excellent. I want our usual orders which go to the TSC to be replaced by orders to the Karis.”

The minister of trade blinked for a moment but nodded.

“The TSC has other concerns as of late, and since we do not possess a speedy hyperspace lane directly to their territory, the Karis can provide these goods and services to us in a far timelier manner. Besides, the TSC are a major power. The Karis are not, it is high time that we started concentrating on those nations closest to us. Furthermore, it has come to my attention that the Karis have been toying with the idea of purchasing a significant amount of TSC military goods.”

The chief of intelligence smiled.

“You want us to make them a better offer?”

The Acheron smiled briefly.

“Yes. The Karis ambassador has been trying to get access to our ground weaponry goods for sometime now. Until now, I had been hesitant to allow them such access but with the state of the galaxy as a whole, I have changed my mind. Make the offer to them discretely, I don’t want to ruffle any feathers but I want that contract for our own.”

The chief of intelligence nodded.

“Consider it done Acheron.”

The minister of defense took this time to speak.

“Where do we stand on the current Klingon situation?”

The Acheron shrugged.

“We are neutral in the matter. Klingon space is far from our sphere of influence, and if the poor bastards drew the ire of the UTR you know the entire entente is involved. Personally, I don’t think they have a chance in hell but that is not our immediate concern. If this is an isolated incident of the entente flexing its might, then so be it. If it is the first step of many dealing with entente belligerence, then all we can do is hope that everyone else gets wise to the idea before it’s too late.” He personally did not have any desire of dealing four, and now with the TSC getting involved five very capable nations. That was playing against a stacked deck.

The minister of defense considered this for a moment and nodded.

“Is our sudden desire to work with the Karis meant to be a response to TSC involvement in the Klingon situation?”

The Acheron frowned slightly, but understood that the question had to be asked.

“Yes and no. The Karis are more useful to us with a healthy and prospering economy; we can help in making that a reality. The Karis were friendly to the Indashani, and they are friendly to us. It’s about time we threw them a bone and expanded our relationship. If the TSC is going to be part of the entente however, they don’t need our trade and frankly, I would rather not support any entente nation if I can help it.” According to the Entente, the Kzin in particular the Sabai was not a legitimate sovereign nation. As a result, the Sabai made every effort to avoid supporting any entente enterprise or corporation. Since the Sabai were located away from the primary trade routes in the galaxy, this was relatively easy to do.

The minister of defense nodded his head, implying that he was satisfied with the answer.

“I also want a message sent to the Stuart Corporation through our ambassador there. I want to see if we can manage to carry out a join anti-piracy maneuver.” Piracy was a fact of life within the galaxy at large, although the situation was mostly contained in the galactic west. When the Black Alliance had been dislodged from the area, dozens of different pirate factions had arisen in its stead. The Indashani had spent a great deal of effort in hunting down and keeping those pirates from being too much of a problem during the last few decades of that nation’s existence. It had been those efforts that had won them a great deal of appreciation from the local fiefdoms. When the Indashani left, the Sabai continued that tradition. The truth was far less rosy than that however, but life rarely tended to be black and white.

With his final request spoken, the meeting came to a sudden end. The Sabai were at the moment, content to simply consolidate their position and see where exactly the entente was trying to go with the blockade of the Klingon.

[Alyrium Denryle]

To: Grand Master of the Knights Templar, Lord Protector of the Wenasi Holds and Grand Admiral Talen
From: High Father Atinius Belanaus, High Priest of Helm, Federation of Thaumaturgists
Re: Diplomatic relations

Greetings and Salutations,

In light of recent aggressive acts by the Auroran Imperium, very near to both of our nations, it has become distressing that we have yet to establish formal diplomatic ties, let alone establish a significant consulate or embassy within your nation. Therefore, I wsh to inquire as to how amenable you and yours would be to an exchange of ambassadors

~High Father Atinius Belanaus

From:Grand Master of the Knights Templar, Lord Protector of the Wenasi Holds and Grand Admiral Talen

To: High Father Atinius Belanaus, High Priest of Helm, Federation of Thaumaturgists
Re: Diplomatic relations

Sir, May God find you well on this day. Due to culture factors and past histortic conflicts, there is some difficultly in allowing Mages into the realm, especally given the fact that little is known about your nation or traditions. While this may or may not change in time, certain condaintions must be leveled upon your ambassdors and other visistors from your nation for the foreseen future.

Condaintion 1: All Mages must foreswear the use of summoning spells, no extraplanar creature or power may be inoked within the Realm of the Templar.

Condaintion 2: All Mages must foreswear use of teleportion spells while in the Realm of the Templar.

Condaintion 3: All Mages must foreswear the use of divination spells while in the Realm of the Templar.

Any breaking or attempts to break these Consdaintions will be seen has an opening of hostilites and those responible will be tried has spies.

We await your decidsion.

We will be happy to comply with those requests, and welcome you to explore our culture and laws in order to improve our relations with each other. However clarification is needed on your third condition. We use divination spells for commnications, over long range these are assisted by the use of specialized conduits analagous to and compatable with your communications systems. Same with shipboard sensors. WOuld you be willing to make exception to such systems, provided we demonstrate theri function in some manner that satisfies your curiosity and understandable skepticism regrding our motives?

If you prefer that we contract third parties to ferry us there, that is acceptable.

[Agent Fisher]

Code: Select all

Diplomatic Dispatch to all Nations

From the Sparata Confederacy

The Sparata Confederacy invites all nations to sends diplomats.  If you wish to send an envoy, send us notice and a ship will be dispatched to pick them up at the border of our space.

[Captain tycho]

Saint Vesuvius looked serene, as always, as he signed the treaty with his antiquated quill. "Done."

[InnocentBystander]

(ooc: Only the first part of my post mentioned FTL, and what happened to the 2 heavy escorts?)
The uglies were and annoyance, but weren't the real threat. What was more of a threat was the turbo lasers coming from the cloud. They weren't accurate, but if the destroyer got its fire control together it could cause damage. The cruiser sent it's last three probes around the destroyer. They went in apart, taking turns running quiet and active scanning on the unjammed bands while taking evasive actions. The probes soon did pinpoint the destroyer, slightly further from where it was last. It sent the data back, then all went stealthy. The Arrowhead lept forward at full speed into the debris cloud. It sent five missiles and several decoys, which took an oblique approach to the destroyer. As it was bearing down on the destroyer it began firing its light cannon and pushed its ECM to the limit, just as the missiles started their attack run. The PD weapons on the destroyer went crazy, but with the ECM it wasn't that accurate and targeted the decoys first. Only two missiles were shot down, though one managed to explode prematurely. The other three hit right on, crippling the destroyer. The cruiser matched velocity with the ship, and blasted out what was left of its engines with its cannon. It gradually lowered its ECM, then hailed the hostile ship demanding its surrender.

(ooc: I decided that the proper term for the pirate ship your probe found was destroyer, since it mounted a single Cruiser scale turbolaser)
Deep Space
Edge of the Waste
Time: 00:21 (+00:10 Arrowhead)

By the time they had located their mark, one of the probes had been destroyed, perhaps due to the debris field, fire from pirate warship, who knows. The ther two continued on, one of which blundered into a source of pirate fire, a frigate; or correctly two of them. The probe relayed back information on their location, togather they mounted similar firepower to the single destroyer the Arrowhead was currently engaging.

The Fidelity remained stranded, some of it's heavy escort turbolasers began directing fire towards the new targets, but with little effect.

The Arrowhead charged headlong into debris cloud, PD guns and navigational deflectors doing as best they could to prevent large bits of this and that from hitting the ship's shields. By the time it opened fire with it's main guns on the destroyer it's foreward shields had taken significant damage, 17 uglies continued to harry it, further depleting the ship's shields. As Arrowhead approached the pirate warship it's foreward missile silo opened up and unleashed a dozen missiles. The combination of the Arrowhead's high speed, the close proximity, and the lack of focused PD (being that much of it was working to destory debris) allowed 5 of the missile to hit the Arrowhead's front shields directly. The pirate ship also managed to get off several hits from it's medium turbolasers, not significant damage, but at this point the state of the Arrowhead's foreward shields is *not* good.

The benefit to entering the dustcloud was obvious, fire from the other pirate vessels essentially stopped, however, if the Arrowhead desired to continue surviving in the dense debris soup, it would have to wade through it or risk more damage to it's already battered shields.

After a short gunfight, in which the Arrowhead had a servere advantage, the pirate destroyer lay essentially cripple, unable to move, it's guns exhausted or destroyed, yet it would not give in just yet, the other pirate ships continued to throw fire towards the Arrowhead as long as it remaind close to the pirate destroyer, it could feed it's friends targetting information.

As long as the Arrowhead remained in the debris cloud it's PD guns would be significantly less effective at stopping the 16 uglies that now buzzed about it throwing light fire into it's shields, plus it couldn't benefit from the PD array onboard the Fidelity. It could choose to destory the pirate destroyer given some time, but it wouldn't do much good. Furthermore, it had the option of attacking the two pirate frigates one of it's probes located, the fastest way would obviously be to exit the debris field and re-enter it from clean-space, though it would again come under fire from the frigates and the third turbolaser fire source. Finally it also has the option of wading through the debris with relative safety to get close enough to the pirate escorts, thought it'd take some time to do it without seriously damaging it's shields more.

The Fidelity now came under fire from the third turbolaser source. It send counter-fire into the debris with little success and could little else, save divert the majority of it's shields to the angle it was being attacked by.

[Ace Pace]

Saint Vesuvius looked serene, as always, as he signed the treaty with his antiquated quill. "Done."

"Now then, lets not stay here for any longer then we need to.
I'll acompany you back to the shuttle"

Following the 2 ambassadors out, he leaned over to a small panel in the wall and pressed it, when he walked out, there was no door, only another seamless part of the wall.

"So, now comes the hard part, where shall we locate the new Joint Colonies?"

Saint Vesuvius quickly replied "How about one of the crusade worlds, say, Nurnen?"

"No, leave those worlds alone for now, how about we scout out the Ain-Tiar system for a basic spot?
Say, send one of your destroyers to scout the system?"

Saint Vesuvius replied "That will be fine"

By then, the group was nearing the shuttle, the Officer quickly stepped away as the shuttle was picked up, with all ambassadors and cyborg marine onboard, and dropped out to space.

"Scan every milimeter they walked on, I want no taint of their presence here, we have urgent buisness with the 6th Fleet."





To: Vice Admiral Contessa Adrians, Aglatarian Hub Liason Officer

From: The Aglatarian Hub

Please transmit cordinates for the Hub to meet up with your diplomatic envoy.

[Crayz9000]

"Parry, duck, slash..." Johan called out as he sparred with the Klingon mercenary vos'Kreck. He had hired the Klingon several months previously, after noticing his Force skill. Now he was refining it.

"OK, that's good for now," the older bounty hunter said as he shut down his lightsaber. He then reached up and wiped a small amount of sweat off his forehead. "I noticed that you're wielding the lightsaber more carefully now, unlike a bat'leth," Johan remarked.

"I never liked bat'leths much myself," vos'Kreck replied with a sigh. "Too flashy, too many weaknesses. A strictly ceremonial weapon that far too many stupid warriors have taken for a real weapon. And paid the price for, I might mention." He flashed a momentary grin.

"Speaking of which, I suppose you've heard about the Terran blockade on the Klingon Empire."

Darg yawned and poured himself a cup of some athletic drink that was nearby. He grimaced at the taste momentarily but downed the glass. "They had it coming sooner or later, with the stunts they pulled. After a few thousand years as a Boyd vassal, they had taken invulnerability for granted, and now they're seeing their errors."

Johan nodded and looked out a window at the world beyond. "There's an outstanding bounty on a General Martok in the Klingon Star Navy now, apparently a Terran one. What do you feel about collecting the general?"

"I'm wanted in their space," Darg replied flatly. "Without support, I don't think I could do it."

"That's why I hired you. I'm human, they definitely wouldn't fall for me, and anyway I'm getting a little old for that sort of thing. You'll have our resources, the Lurker can do the insertion and retrieval, posing as a merchant ship. And if things get hairy on retrieval, it has enough firepower to discourage any... particularly nosy naval ships around."

vos'Kreck thought about it for some time. "That may work," he admitted. "But I'll need some way of disguising myself as a naval crewman, and an identity to work with."

"Shadow, you there?" Johan called the Necris assassin's nickname into his wrist commlink. He continued after getting confirmation. "Darg needs a new Klingon identity, someone with access to General Martok. Have any leads?"

"Hold on," Crell's voice rang back across the comm. After several minutes, he replied. "Yes, one Crewman Gorval. He's one of the mess staff aboard the General's flagship."

"When could we intercept him?" Johan asked.

"Well, that's classified," Crell answered with a light laugh. While after only a few months of working together the four mercenaries were still fairly private about themselves, they also knew each well enough to joke around a bit. "I'll prepare a complete itinerary of restocking stops for the flagship."




The following day, the Lurker of the Shadows left their small base, its IFF and hull markings suitably changed. It vanished into hyperspace, taking a maze of lesser-known hyperlanes through the tortured space of Halite's invasion path until they passed Necroth. They then changed course for the Three Suns Commonwealth, following the main trade routes through Gorn space and departing them just afterwards. That in turn was followed by another string of seemingly random small jumps, which took the Lurker far above and to the east of the heavily blockaded trade route.

"Alright, let's hope that old Taelon drive is still working..." Johan idly remarked as he fiddled with the controls. The Lurker had dropped out of hyperspace many light-years from the nearest Klingon world or outpost, and light-years from the nearest independent world. All that was near was a barren system, stripped of its resources by the Boyd in years past, all the way down to its Oort cloud. All that was left were a few lumps of carbon in orbit, and the Lurker flew silently among them. Then, with absolutely no fanfare, motion, flashes, or anything else for that matter, the Lurker vanished thanks to the long-ago stolen interdimensional drive. It reappeared several light-years inside Klingon-claimed territory, and re-engaged its hyperdrive.

Johan Ragle sighed as he looked at the readouts. The Taelon ID drive, while it had worked for the brief spurt they had needed, had promptly failed on shutdown. Which meant that he'd have to try and remember how the damned thing worked, from over two hundred years ago, and try and repair it. It was the only thing they had that could get them around an interdiction field and/or prying eyes, and now... He stood up and walked down to the maintenance levels of the corvette.


A couple hours and small jumps at low speed later, the ship arrived at Artaxis, where it was challenged to identify itself by irritated-sounding Klingon controllers.

"This is Necris independent merchant vessel Starliter, requesting a berth at Artaxis Prime station," Crell answered.

"Your cargo?" The question was short and to the point.

"Staple grains for humanoid consumption."

The Klingon controllers were silent for a time before an answer came back. "You have been assigned a place in the queue, wait your turn and we will give further instructions on docking information."

Crell checked his chrono. "Agreed," he said, cutting the signal. "Darg, we have three days before the Pride of Kah'less arrives. If we don't have a berth by then we'll have to force our way in."

vos'Kreck nodded. It was going to be a long three days...

[Dahak]

Sabai system, Stuart embassy

"Inform the Sabai government that the Stuart Corporation would be delighted to perform anti-piracy maneuvres with them. We just need to make sure how large this operation is going to be." The ambassador told his assistant and the message was sent to the Sabai.

Deep space, coreward

The three heavy cruisers and five destroyers performed their last FTL jump, vanishing from the nothingness of space only to reappear an instant several light years coreward. Subjectively, several hours had passed of course aboard the ship.
They now were at the site of their lost science vessel. Sensors were sensing local space, looking about every pebble, drones launched, but nothing found except the last remnants of the science vessel in the form of a some rapidly expanding plasma could.
Drones were left to observe, then the ships left the system, jumping back home.

[White Haven]

To: Vice Admiral Contessa Adrians, Aglatarian Hub Liason Officer

From: The Aglatarian Hub

Please transmit cordinates for the Hub to meet up with your diplomatic envoy.

FROM: Vice Admiral Contessa Adrians, Aglatarian Hub Liason Officer

TO: The Aglatarian Hub

RE: Rendevous Coordinates

On behalf of my government, I invite you to enter the BFE-007 system and exchange diplomatic staff on arrival. Please translate down out of whatever form of FTL you make use of at least one light-minute beyond the system's outermost orbital body and proceed inwards sublight. You will be met by an escort shortly after arriving.

Message ends.

---

Admiral Wallaby's aide once again steps into his office, apparently having gained a good dose of confidence in the intervening days since her last. "Sir," she begins, walking up to place a sketchy intel report on the DCO's desk, "Admiral Adrians reports that a largely-unknown power will be arriving within the next two days, and requests that the First be restocked and ready for action as soon as possible."

Well, this was a reasonably good day, but all good things... The grey-haired admiral runs a hand through his short-trimmed beard in thought before replying with a terse order, "Instruct Mandraki to expedite, and send a signal to Edwards, his Second should be in 008. Tell him to get underway immediately. Oh, and get Franklin to vector the Purity and..." he glances down at a display as he pauses, "Emerand and Morningstar are close enough. They can picket the system until the Second can get back. Dismissed." Even on a good day, the PO needs no more encouragement than that, hurrying out of the office and to the comms room.


>Vice Admiral Elyssa Mandraki, CO, First Battle Squadron
-SCSS Warlock, Warspite-class battleship, Commodore Michelle Jackson
-SCSS Battleaxe, Warspite-class battleship, Rear Admiral Monica Winters
-SCSS Typhoon, Greylight-class battleship, Commodore Alan Morgen
-SCSS Honor, Majestic-class battlecruiser, Senior Captain Gregory Atlas <Flagship>
-SCSS Courage, Majestic-class battlecruiser, Senior Captain Jessica Aldridge
-SCSS Mjolnir, Godhand-class heavy cruiser, Captain Maria Thelassen
-SCSS Pendragon, Pegasus-class light cruiser, Captain Justin Hawkins
-SCSS Avalon, Pegasus-class light cruiser, Captain Marcus Illirus
-SCSS Pinnacle, North Star-class escort carrier, Commander Devon Warlow
-SCSS Snowfox, North Star-class escort carrier, Commander Trevor MacGregor
-SCSS Tranquility, North Star-class escort carrier, Commander Sarah Walters
-3x Dagger-class boarding craft, Major Arnold T. Pants


>Vice Admiral Corson Edwards, CO, Second Battle Squadron
-SCSS Halberd, Warspite-class battleship, Rear Admiral Grayson McIntyre
-SCSS Sacrifice, Majestic-class battlecruiser, Senior Captain Elliot James <Flagship>
-SCSS Fenrir, Godhand-class heavy cruiser, Captain Anna Seredni
-SCSS Starhammer, Godhand-class heavy cruiser, Captain Jennifer Osterman
-SCSS Vesta, Pegasus-class light cruiser, Captain Harold Archer
-SCSS Dragoon, Pegasus-class light cruiser, Captain Isaih Hawter
-SCSS Essex, North Star-class escort carrier, Commander Wink Baufield
-SCSS Dreamland, North Star-class escort carrier, Commander Tessa Elwey
-2x Dagger-class boarding craft, Major Jethrod Thighbiter

[Ace Pace]

The Hub, upon reciving the exact cordinates, forms up for the jump.

The fleet cordinator, Marian Escharly, sets up the Hub in a double sphere formation, with the Galactic up front, the Array center, with 8 of the cruisers surrounding the Galactic, and 2 reserved next to the Array, the escorts were split 50-50 protecting the main ships.

The complex formation quickly turns to the correct heading, and with a flash, jumps into Hyperspace, however, inside the Galactic, the argument was still raging, between the Fleet cordinator and the head of the Fleet.

Marians point was well made "This is our first time there, apart from a scout that dropped off a bouy, with that much of a fleet housed there, how can we know its not a trap?"

"Because if they try to fight, they know its lost, the Sixth fleet is not stupid, their honerable men, and if neccesary, we can fight them head on, and win."

"Win, but at what costs? the fleet in ruins, the Array out of control, and The Galactic half destroyed?!"

"It will not come to that, you forget our allies, anyway, we'll be dropping far out, and coming in at a speed that will let you fly off enough sensor probes that will make THEM fear an ambush, rest assured, all was taken care of"

"What do you mean, Sir?"

"Did you honestly think we would be flying in blind if I was not abseloutly sure everything would be all right? now go and tend the fleet, I must plan something"

The Head in command, presses a button on his desk, opening a compartment at the center of the table, from there he extracts 3 data packets, all unlabeled. One he sets aside, the other he labels "Treaty" and the other one is hollow, and he fills it with a datacrystal carrying priceless information.

On the ships intercom system, a warning blares out "30 seconds to Hyperspace disengagment."

The Hub flashed into normal space, 2 light-minutes out of BFE-007, and sends off a pair of unarmed gunboats, similer to those that had previously scouted the system, however, both were carrying a heavy load, each was equipted with advance sensor systems, and both micro-jumped to the systems exterior planet's orbit.

Flashing back into real-space, they begin scanning the the local space, from Gunboat 192A, a message flashed out back to the Hub reading:

"The 7th planet is unchanged, filled with sensor instruments, suggest change course to pass outside its current scan radius"

"Confirmed 192A, hold your position and continue scanning."

"Confirmed, lots of traffic here Command, seems their ready for us."

[White Haven]

BFE-007

The two gunboats with their heavy active-sensor loads set off every passive array across most of the system, operators in System Defence Control paling at the sudden unknown, unannounced signatures. Orders slice across the network, sharp, terse, and final. Signals punch up into hyperspace as well, echoing the signal there. The emissions of the Second Battle Squadron, arrayed in the inner system, strengthen as sensors come to full power, engines awaken from standby, shields build to full combat strength, and the crews race to battlestations. That, however, is a sideshow, the approaching gunboats are too far out to reach immediately, and certainly out of weapon range.

Of the Second.

Fourteen points of white light appear all around the two gunships, expanding into the mouths of tunnels that recede into infinity. Fourteen starships explode into normal space in a tight formation, the entirety of First Battle Squadron, with weapons hot and fire-control online...but no railguns send cee-fractional slugs on their way, no missiles blast free of recessed bays, no particle beams slash across the void. Fighters cloud space around the formation, the squadron's three carriers having deployed their six wings while still in hyperspace.

Code: Select all

This is Vice Admiral Elyssa Mandraki, First Battle Squadron. You will not be fired upon unless we are threatened, but you will explain your presence within the one light-minute shell immediately.

[Ace Pace]

Gunboat 192A and Gunboat 192B's crews get a double heart attack, as first the entire system lighted them up, with enough accuracy to get a pebble from inner system to hit them straight at the bridge, to when an entire fleet appeared right next to them and aimed straight down at them.

Gunboat 192A commanding officer, known by his callsign Treck, sends an urgent signal to The Hub explaining the situation, within moments he recives a message.


Transmit this message to them, and remind the admiral we WERE invited, we didn't come like ambushers.

Code: Select all

This is The Aglatarian Hub, we were invited, disarm your weapons, this was a standerd pre-caution to prevent a trap.
Vice Admiral Elyssa Mandraki, we request you allow us to extract the gunboats and formally enter the System.

If they refuse to allow you to exit the shell, force your way out, without gunfire."

Gunboat 192A recived this message, and forwarded it to the VA, and settled down to wait.

[White Haven]

The First remains at full action stations, but the swarming fighters and the cruisers closing the out-system end of the formation sweep aside. Meanwhile, the Second gate up into hyperspace and vanish. They don't immediately gate down...but who KNOWS where they are? The signature of one of the three heavy bases orbitting the system's sole populated world begins to blur, but at this range, it's nigh impossible to tell why.

Code: Select all

Please return to your unit, and approach sublight. In the interests of peaceful contact, I am willing to overlook your...overzealous reconnaissance units. Mandraki out.

[Ace Pace]

The gunboats hurry out of the shell of ships, and await the main fleet, which is coming down at slow speeds.

Inside The Galactic, a decision is made, and the Interdictors power up half way, creating a field roughly 2 times the size of the entire fleet, preventing another suprise, one which could turn deadly.
All over the fleet, crews hurry to battle stations, with the Second gone, The Hub isn't taking chances.

Code: Select all

First fleet, you may move to scan us, but do not approach within a light-second, while this is your space, we wish to avoid any of our crews getting trigger happy. Hub Out

The Gunboats join up with the fleet, and spread to the sides of it, pulsing the space around them with electronics, tensly waiting.

[Agent Fisher]

Supreme Commander Thompson looked at the data pad his aide handed him.

"So what is going on in the universe?" Asked Thompson.

"Well, sir. pirate activity is high and many of the nations are moving to stop it. Other than that, that is pretty much all we know. With our distance to the rest of the nations and not being anywhere near a hyperlane, I dont think we have to worry about pirates."

"Just to be sure, tell all ships on patrol to be extra careful. Oh, and dispatch the Third Fleet to see whats going on out there. Tell them to contact some of the nations out there to get diplomatic relations going. And get some of our recon ships to plot a hyperspace lane from here to one of the other ones. I want a way to be able to get to the other nations quickly without have to take five million jumps."