STGOD 2K5 Main Game

[Spyder]

International Trade Station

A small escort vessel that appeared as though it had been retrofitted one time too many flashed into existance near the station, immediately visible to the sensors of the Hub, Nashtar and the Corsair ships. Perhaps one of the traders didn't hear that this was currently the hottest spot in the galaxy.

A channel opened, "Hello, this is Captain Barton of the Colonial Union. We deeply appreciate the concern the Corsair Republic is showing in ensuring that the perpetrators behind our recent communication issues are brought to justice. Given the number of vessels the Corsair has opted to send for this task there can be no doubt as to your resolve, which is understandable, there are many back home that are calling for blood and probably wouldn't so much as batter an eyelash should it be drawn.

Now given that the crime happened primarily throughout our colonies I was wondering if the Corsair Republic would consider allowing us to persue our own appropriate actions, rather then rely on generous benefactors such as yourselves to serve our justice for us?

Don't think for one minute that your efforts are not appreciated because I can tell you right now that many people are touched by the concern your government is showing for the preservation of international law. It is simply that we feel that it is our responsibility to persue such matters ourselves.

As mentioned, your concern has been noted and appreciated. Thank you."

[Pablo Sanchez]

The Overlord swept through London with an aura of calm, and quickly went to the quiet little diner he had in mind. It had been.. Ages since he'd been here. But the message to the strange Triad had said here, and even if he were a telepath as he suspected, it would be rude to change now.

When the Triad Head entered the diner, the half-dozen hushed conversations in the room died. Every inch of him was hidden by a black cloak, and even the jaded residents of London knew him for a man of power. The parties nearest the door slipped out quietly behind him. He strode smoothly to Andrews' table.

"Overlord Andrews, how pleasant to meet you. May I sit?" he asked. His voice was a confident baritone with an odd undercurrent that Andrews recognized.

The Overlord nodded to the empty seat. "Be my guest. Your voice... computer generated, isn't it?"

"Yes," the Triad Head replied, "of recent years I have had trouble forming certain sounds that are common in the most popular galactic languages. It is of nothing."

Andrews bent his neck and squinted under the other's hood. The face was hidden by a black mask, with blank photoceptors and a speaker grill. The corsair said, "Are you hiding your face because you don't trust me?"

"Among other reasons. I would accuse you the same distrust, for calling our meeting on a planet protected by a universe shield. But the purpose of the meeting is not the scoring of petty points," the Triad Head replied.

"Then, being as you called the meeting, why don't you tell me what the purpose is?" Andrews said.

The waitress came around to the table, a little timidly. Andrews had a presence, but he was personable and charismatic. The Triad Head was a black hole.

"R-ready to order?" she asked.

Andrews looked at his menu. "Still making breakfast?"

"All day," the waitress replied.

"Start me off with a tea and two slice, a bit of sugar and milk in the chai and butter on the toast. Then a rasher of bacon and two eggs over-medium," Andrews ordered.

The waitress nodded, the order voice-printing into her datapad. She was mostly there for old-timey show, it would have been as easy to give each table an autochef--but that would've ruined the mood.

"And you, sir?" she turned to the Triad Head.

"I have already eaten."

"Alright then, I'll be back with your order in half a moment," she said, turning to leave.

"My purpose is posterity," the cloaked figure finally responded, "or more precisely succession. I believe you know of whom I speak. Do not pretend ignorance; I know many things and this is a fact that I am most certain of."

Andrews tried to read the emotions of the other, but he found nothing. He wasn't blocked, it was simply as if there was no one there. "It isn't common knowledge. What do you know?"

"As I said, I know many things," the Triad Head answered, "believe me when I say that I know enough. I understand your concern."

"Do you?" the Overlord frowned.

"Perhaps more than you could possibly see. I never had children of my own, which has proven beneficial to the greater good. However, I possessed an innate sense of our galaxy's life force, and I chose to take it as an adopted child of sorts. This is where our interests coincide," the cloaked figure said. "Order. Peace. Restoration. I would have the ancient world return in a strength and unity surpassing even the headiest days of old."

"A worthy goal. I don't see how this concerns me," Andrews said.

The Triad Head leaned forward. "You are familiar with my organization, certainly."

"To an extent," the Overlord nodded.

"Where you have chosen main force it was my path to walk in shadows. But we aim at the same goal and we both possess certain resources that can in their combination achieve that end. Information, too, can be pooled," the Triad Head said. "An alliance must certainly lead to restoration. Apart, with our efforts separate or even wastefully opposed, there can be no such guarantee. What say you?"

[SirNitram]

As mentioned, your concern has been noted and appreciated. Thank you."

"Your message is received, Colonial Union. We respect and salute your stance, and will depart as requested. We will likely request the extradition of the guilty party's at the end of their sentence, but nothing more. Clear void and long years of independence."

And, inexplicably, the Corsair fleet began to break ranks, gunports shutting as they started to accelerate away from the system.

It only really made sense to those who had had dealings with the pirates.

[Spyder]

"Thank you Corsair Fleet. Safe Journey."

The channel closed and the Corsair ships began to break away.

"That was," The XO turned to Barton, "not how I figured that would pan out. How did you know they'd do that?"
"Suppose they said no. Suppose the evens that took place here would have continued to spiral out of control until someone gave the order to fire. How many lives would have been lost? If someone were to walk up to you afterwards and ask 'Didn't anyone try just asking them?', how would you reconcile this if the answer was no?"
"You were actually expecting them to say no?"
"We learn by experience. There's more to the Corsairs then what we originally thought. There's an honor in there somewhere. No one is totally without virtue, there's hope for this galaxy yet."

Captain Barton cleared his throat. "Open a channel with the station and request docking clearance. Set up a meeting with the Hub officials, open invitation to the Nashtari and other vessels in the area."
The request was sent...

[Ace Pace]

Code: Select all

Open broadcast
Confirmed trader vessel, your designation is 1139, proceed to docking bay 989, I repeat, docking bay 989, thats on the bottom of the station, we're deploying nav bouys to guide you.

The Hub was built with 4 parts, the main body was built with 2 interlocking spheres which had spokes deployed as docking arms, to each sphere another smaller part connected, that part was shaped as a series of large eggs and was used more for military and diplomatic ships as a docking bay.

Galactic

"I'll be handling this personally, deploy the fleet around the station, send a message to all other ships thanking them for the assistence."

[Rogue 9]

"Hub, this is Admiral Davis aboard the Pillar of Autumn. Fifth Fleet will hang around for a bit. We believe the Corsairs have cleared off entirely, but we can't be sure. First Fleet is returning to Nashtar." Half of the battlegroup began to form up for jump as he spoke. "Now that that's over, the convoy with the remaining station components is here and ready to offload at your convenience."

[Ace Pace]

"Hub, this is Admiral Davis aboard the Pillar of Autumn. Fifth Fleet will hang around for a bit. We believe the Corsairs have cleared off entirely, but we can't be sure. First Fleet is returning to Nashtar." Half of the battlegroup began to form up for jump as he spoke. "Now that that's over, the convoy with the remaining station components is here and ready to offload at your convenience."

Hub station

"NRS convoy, change transmission channel to 487.90... Okey, convoy ships designated 1-2 move to docking bays 378,379 on the upper sphere, docking bouys channel 370. Convoy ships 3-5 move to docking bay 189 till 191 on the upper edge, bouy channel 150. Convoy ships 6-7 move to docking bay 420,429, bouy channel 440. Convoy ship number 8, please move to docking bay 950, bouy channel 666."

[Rogue 9]

Captain Tomaas of the SS Mastodon chuckled at his buoy number. "Acknowledged, station control. Moving in to dock." The bulk freighter, carrying the remaining military equipment for the station, lumbered towards docking bay 950, airlocks priming for the docking sequence.

[Spyder]

The airlock cycled and Captain Craig Barton stepped on to the station. The uniform of the Captain and a couple of crew members that accompanied him were a non-assuming yet professional brown-black with a rank insignia on his chest. Another man wearing a plain black jacket and khaki pants followed close behind. Some would wonder where this Captain and his crew came from exactly, Barton's conduct earlier would suggest that he wasn't simply a freighter Captain given an arbitrary military rank. Barton knew what he was doing.

[Dahak]

En route to hub, between hops

<<We have received word from the Corsairs,>> the communications sub-Consensus observed after they had reintegrated with Datasphere. <<It seems the incident has been solved peacefully.>>
<<Are we to return home?>> fleet consensus asked Admiralty.
<<No,>> it answered. <<The capital ships and 20 destroyers will split and move to Blue Pointe Station to rendezvous with the fleet present there. Remaining forces will proceed in general direction, and scan for suitable locations for a fleet base, outside waste territory.>>

Before executing the next instantaneous hop along their way, the four capital vessels and destroyers moved as one and changed course. Seconds thereafter, both groups of ships vanished, now into different directions.

[Rogue 9]

Upon seeing to the new deployment of the fleet, Admiral Davis turned to Captain Keyes. "You have the bridge, Captain. I'm going to the Hub to take advantage of the invitation to represent Nashtar at their hearing."

"Aye, Admiral." Keyes nodded to the flight control officer, who immediately issued orders to one of the assault hangars to prep a shuttle for the admiral's departure.

[Rogue 9]

House Chamber, Nashtar

"And so, my fellow representatives, we must meet this threat! Until now it has been theoretical, but now we have proof that the Black Alliance, for one, will deploy massive fleets here under the flimsiest of pretexts, fleets capable of breaking our entire Space Command if properly played. This situation is untenable. We must continue the increased military spending program if we are to protect our own citizens against attack, and we must build and deploy additional battleships of the Halcyon class to counter the superdreadnoughts of the galaxy's empires.

Mr. Speaker, I yield the floor."

Representative Bates of Pinnacle stepped down from the podium to thunderous applause from the National Sovereignty and Unity parties, and a more restrained ovation from the Free Trade and Democratic Labor factions. But it was clear that the month-long stalemate over the military spending budget, particularly the provision to invest in a third massively expensive Halcyon, was over. The internationalist-minded Democratic Labor party had pushed for increased resources spent on the ERTC enforcement division, and had negotiated for the Republic to provide for the outfitting of a battlecruiser or battleship for the alliance. Everyone was getting some of what they wanted, as usual, but the Black Alliance incident had carried the National Sovereignty military agenda. The military spending bill finally passed the house in the official vote, held five speeches later.

Build orders:

I had a plan for this, but have misplaced it. Here's what I remember; I'll edit in the rest as soon as I reformulate the breakdown I want.

5 capital points: Halcyon class heavy battleship
1 capital point: Going to the ERTC enforcement division.

[Darksider]

[KSN Advantage-Heavy cruiser Dominator, TSC Border]

The Dominator reverted to realspace roughly two hundred kilometers outside the Commonwealth border.


[Dominator's Bridge]


"Comms, open a channel to the closest Commonwealth border station"

"Channel Open sir"

"Attention Commonwealth border patrol. We are here carrying some of your troops previously stranded in our space when the rebels destroyed their troop transport. Requesting permission to enter your space to get these boys home"

[Spyder]

Meanwhile on Tau Alpha Rho...

Officials were going over the list of the latest Unity Pact signatories. Among them, Silia, a colony not totally lacking in moral fibre although some of the more religous powers that be would probably disagree.
"Awwww yeah." One of the officials grinned widely, his colleague looked over his shoulder and smiled.
"We got the slut planet." The pair shared a high five.

[Ace Pace]

Hub Station

"Welcome Captain Barton, follow me please, there will be some delay as the Nashtari would also like to hear what you have to say, I trust the delay will be acceptable? Well not like it can matter, Petrach is waiting in one of our few finshed briefing rooms, its been a terrible state here with half the bulkheads being bare and the other half barely finshed drying."

As the group walked through the station they could see it was true, while plenty of useable equiptment was here, this part of the station was definetly lacking in luxeries, apprently the AC was also broken because it allways felt too chilly regardless of what setting was shown on most monitors.

[Spyder]

"It's no trouble. This could be a good opportunity to open a dialogue." Barton didn't sound overly pleased or optimistic, but then again he didn't sound upset or dissapointed either. Through his steely expression he somehow managed to exude an aura of competance that was common in seasoned command staff, something quite puzzeling considering that the nation he represented was less then a week old.

[Rogue 9]

International Trade Station

Admiral Davis' shuttle followed the colonial ship in, and landed in an adjacent hangar bay, it's four fighter escort peeling off to return to the Autumn as it did so. The admiral himself strode to the exit ramp, flanked by four Marines. The ramp lowered, and he strode onto the station, his escort just behind.

[Ace Pace]

International Trade Station

Admiral Davis' shuttle followed the colonial ship in, and landed in an adjacent hangar bay, it's four fighter escort peeling off to return to the Autumn as it did so. The admiral himself strode to the exit ramp, flanked by four Marines. The ramp lowered, and he strode onto the station, his escort just behind.

A droid came up, and starting playbacking a recorded message "Hello, this is Petrach, I'm sorry I can't meet you personally and I can't send anyone to meet you because their all unloading the cargo you sent us, if you would follow the lighted strip on the ground" as the playback continued, a small strip in the floor lighted up, went red and glowed into the rest of the station, "you could meet us there."

Petrach waited untill the Admiral came in, and pointed him towards a seat.

"Well, now that we're all here...."

[Rogue 9]

Admiral Davis offered a curt nod and took his seat, his guards taking up positions against the wall behind him. "ERTC vessels are inbound to the station still. We might want to wait on them, as technically they have authority over activities in the trade routes."

[Thirdfain]

Sheriff-Captain Artur McBride bowed stiffly to the assembled sophonts. Captain Rghpt, officer in charge of the sector's light cruiser detachment, aproximated the gesture as best an Amorph could.

"Gentlebeings, I apologize for my lateness." His anglic bore the heavy accent of a Desjardinsier, and his conduct bore that demolished world's spartan politeness. "This is Captain de Fregates Rghpt, my precinct second."

More greetings were exchanged amongst the group.

"Now, I believe M. Barton had something of which he intended to speak?"

[Spyder]

The Captain and his company took their seats. Barton cleared his throat.

"As you're all no doubt aware, the Union I represent is relatively new so there's a number of unique challenges that we'll be facing. How such challenges will effect our neighbors and other such pleasentries however I intend to leave up to the diplomats to discuss.

I'll get straight to the point. My instructions were to travel to this station before hostilities errupted and attempt negotiation with the Corsair fleet. We're uncertain why the Corsair Republic took this opportunity to enforce a galactic communication standards violation that took place within the colonial frontier, nor do we understand why they seemed to be willing to wage war for such a purpose.

The Office sees this as a simple violation that happened through various territories that are now signatories to the Unity Pact. It was to be enforced with the appropriate fines as defined by galactic communications standards and that was to be the end of it, with exception to the Degule incident which I'll get to shortly.

However, with the involvement of the Black Alliance, if this situation was left to run its course it could well have resulted in large scale casualties on either side. All on behalf of the Colonial Union, something which the Office finds unacceptable.

The Office beleives that if we enforce this policy ourselves then we would be able to do so without the need for bloodshed. The negotiation was successful, as such the Black Alliance has now left us to our responsibilities. This brings us back to why we're here. We are now responsible for executing justice within the colonies of the Colonial Union, it is a responsibility that we must carry through. The violation, or 'spam' charges will need to be addressed with the appropriate fines, which we can either discuss here or with our communication providers. The Degule incident however is somewhat more serious. The miners have filed man-slaughter and criminal negligence charges. We need to collect the people that are responsible for the incident, they will be brought in for a fair trial and if found guilty will be issued a fair sentence. As no murder charges have been filed, if you can agree to these terms I can guarantee that a dealth penalty will not be applied."

[Rogue 9]

Admiral Davis regarded this colonial captain with interest. Here was a man that he would gladly have command a destroyer in his own fleet, were he Nashtari. He was not, however, and therefore his competence made him a man to be watched. As nothing had been brought up that concerned Nashtar beyond the reference to the averted bloodshed, he held his tongue for now.

[Ace Pace]

Petrach leaned forward,"Thank you for your kind words and for your assistence, but as I'm sure your aware, we can't hand over the responsible for this other then the planning staff,which we will. Why? Because the moment the transmission was sent, parts of the ships mutinied and took over the ship, jumping off to areas unknown.

This obviously destressed us, 7 transport ships, around 300 crew members have dissapeared, and we request help finding them so justice can be done.

However, we will pay the fines as off now," at this, Petrach handed over a datapad,"this contains all the files and matirial neccesary to acess the accounts that hold the fines worth in credits, will this be acceptable while we hunt down the transports?"

[Spyder]

Barton had heard of Petrach, the guy was a seasoned pro, an Admiral in a merchantile empire. He didn't try to negotiate the fine, something which was probably going to lament whoever controlled the budget for the sector.

Something didn't add up, Petrach was about to hand over Aglatarian planning staff without so much as an inquiry. Petrach had an angle, of that Barton was certain, although if this was how the game was going to go, Barton would play along.

"Alright. If you can have those people delivered to my ship then we can proceed." Barton paused for a moment. "What do you think caused those ships to mutiny?"

[Ace Pace]

"Because they know all that awaits them is ruin perhaps?" Petrach wasn't a negotiator, he liked it best in a command center with a full scale battle going on. Not in a briefing room where there was no enemy.

"The moment they had come here we would have boarded and arrested all the responsible men, they knew they were as good as out of a job here and knew what awaited them the moment you picked them up.

We will deliver the planning staff detailed with this, lacking Commander Wrain who has been proved innocent, they will be delivered at the end of this meeting, where I assume that the ERTC will have something to say of this new union."