NationStates Jolt Archive

http://www.weirdozone.0catch.com/projects/compyart/tmbcolony.jpg

Major Johannsen brings his exploration-fitted Loki into a gentle bank over the dull grey-brown beaches, dead rocks painted in bas-relief by the star setting over the rounded mountains to the east. Looking out the dropship's armored windows, past the Peregrin aerospace fighters keeping pace, he looked out as the crystal-blue waves, ruby red now with the hightening wavelengths of dusk, crash gently upon the shore of a world that had never known life of its own.

Soon, it was to be adopted.

* - * - *

Scolopendran Science Advisor Al Rijil, Director of the Triumvirate of Yut Galaxy Exploration Command, taps the mirage of the projected holomap with his pointer.

http://www.weirdozone.0catch.com/projects/nationstates/scolopendra/colonymap.jpg

"We've determined that this equatorial continent, about 760 kilometers across, would be the best to start a colonization effort. It has large amounts of arable terrain, has a minimal fluctuation in weather, and has sufficient easily-obtainable resources to make any colony self-sufficient in short while. The shores of this bay in the southwestern corner"--he taps again, making the map blip again to emphasize his point"--will be the beginning of our effort. It's close to large amounts of hydrologic power due to the dual stellar tides; it has easy access to the drainage basins of these three freshwater rivers, and the valleys of these peaks have enough arable land to support population growth."

A future colonist raises her hand. "Advisor... these places have names, right?"

Rijil chuckles. "You signed up for going into the unknown. No, they are unnamed, and they will remain that way until colonists set foot onto Bess-Seven-One. The names on current maps are simply landmarks observed at long range; feel free to keep them if you want but as the new citizens of this world you may want to give it the more personal touch and, to the GEC, that's excellent."

The colonist thinks quietly and settles back down.

"If there are no questions, then return to your cabins. Daedalus is slated for ERB jump in seventeen hours, and then we'll be on our own for a while."

"Sir, can we go over the timetable again? I know it's not time-critical, but..."

"Of course." Rijil shrugs. "We Black Knight into the system and rendezvous with the research cruiser Vespucci already insystem." Rijil smirks, not wishing to use the name adopted by Vespucci's crew. "We send down landing craft and our engineering teams begin expanding the initial prefab structures. Priority is for the agriculture bays and the TJE communications array; we then proceed down the list. We work on adding nitrogen to the soil with fertilizer--the forward teams simply didn't have enough--and plant grain crops. The drainage basin of this river"--he taps his stick again--"has a great deal of muddy mineral-rich 'swamps' which will be excellent for rice, and those can augment the wheat and corn crops intended for these plains here." Tap. "On-site power generation is sufficient and so power facilities are of secondary priority; we'll be living off stored food and supply runs from home until we get these crops working. After that, it's a matter of expanding as we have to."

Rijil pauses for a moment, then smiles wryly. "Which is what we always seem to do."

OOC: like concept, works with some ideas I've wanted to work out about rebuilding of our space 'empire'. (or a local welcome to the area...well sort of, no hostile intentions)

It was near far point of a plantary eliptic. Scaners of anything in system would have seen just background radiation from the system's star and then, a pinprick. Energy washing outwards, being released back into space.

The object, small in stellar terms, didn't stop but seemed to angle itself towards intercepting the planet. It made no hail, no call sign. But then they didn't expect anyone to be here.

The captain of Valkor 431 was one very happy camper, if you considered he didn't think that he was going to still be breathing a few moments earlier. A malfunctioning plotting computer had sent his boat into a massively high gradient in sidereel space. The sail generators had taken it, but they had been pushed to amost twenty percent above capacity. And eating almost sixty percent more energy to keep them stable. In the end he had to do a 'fast' translation back to normal space.

With a wounded Valkor, and already stressed his generators, and barley enough power to fuel the translation gear. Hell, they had to pull power from life support to do it.

He turned from his consol towards the navigation tech. "Well, do we have confirmation that this system is actually the right one?"

The naviagion technition shook her head and turned towards her Captain. "I don't have anything on our scanners or detection equipment. All I have is a visual that matches in terms of projected locations. If I'm right then the planet we are heading for should have both a breathable atmosphere and sources for reaction mass."

"Why don't we have sensors on line"

"Because, the plotting computer went haywire killed my access to naviagtion sensors. I'm trying to patch through the data heading to the tac comp but I'm having problems linking, likely the same bug that caused this damn mess."

"Damn, get someone on tactical...to keep an eye out."

"Aye Aye Cap."

(OOC: LoW... we'll get to you eventually... I know Karmabaijan has a research cruiser insystem already ('cause I established it) and I'll talk to him.)

"I don't know why we have to have a Scolopendran bigwig aboard." Someone grimaces over the last chow they're going to have as a citizen of the Sol system.

"I think they just want someone experienced in government. The Trium's said it's just going to be a temporary affair until we can elect our own officials."

"But why one of those silly Scolo idealists? The Menelmacari have experience with extrasolar colonization--"

"--due to a sale from a nation that's been swallowed by the multiverse--"

"--the Eniqciri could just nanoterraform the world lickety-split--"

"--using energy we don't have yet--"

"--the Snel are bloody from another star system--"

"--and not in the Triumvirate. Hey, if you don't like Rijil in charge, vote him out when elections come up. That's how the system works. 'Sides, you're just worried."

"Worried?" The grouch scoffs into his bowl of CHON. "Worried 'bout what?"

His friend grins. "You've never been much of a traveler. 'Sides, it's a Scolopendran mission using a Scolopendran colony ship and primarily Scolopendran funds. The Trium name is tacked onto it becase the Scolos do practically everything they do for the Trium. They're like the Trium's ultimate bitch."

"Well... there is that."

"Top o' fucking morning to ya!" McClint yells into the mess hall as he stumbles in, hungover from his preperations the previous night.
He swaggers over to the food line and grabs some grub, and proceeds to plop down next to some other colonists.
"Ready for this mission mates?"

(OOC: Before I jump on this... this is the planet with binary suns, right?)

<<TAG until I figure out how to weasel into this>>

<tag>

(OOC: Before I jump on this... this is the planet with binary suns, right?)
(OOC: Yep, the binary suns with the habitable planet inhabiting the Lagrange point between them. It's a curious system.

Sakkra, this colony is open to all Trium members. If you want a few Sakkra aboard, feel free. Thing is, they're probably those odd ones who consider themselves members of the Trium more than any individual nation... though there may be a few odd-ones-out. Your discretion.)

The diners mutter to themselves under their collective breaths. "Damn, not McClint..."

"Oh, of course we're ready. In fact, we're off to jump stations." The crew of Daedelus scatter; other colonists might stick around to talk at McClint.

* - * - *

Brigadier General Lorez stiffens in his command console, deep within the ancient bowels of Daedalus. Originally built to whisk colonists away from the Mediterranean basin and then reactivated every so often to transfer nations wanting to leave Earth, the ancient piece of Scolopendran engineering has certainly seen better days. While built to last, compounding minor failures were taking their toll with extreme maintenance requirements. As a precaution, he'd set up damage control teams at ready stations, just in case.

Lorez understood that, if all went well, this was supposed to be a one-way mission. He has no problem with that... but, then again, that's what they said when Mediterranean Scolopendra sent Daedalus packing for Titan. Ten years ago, Lorez had made a modification to the dedication plaque, replacing its original motto of 'Escaping the Labrynth' with 'We were to fire no guns, shed no tears.' Very few people got the reference but, then again, that was never the point.

Reliving the past in his mind as he unconsciously grips the foam-padded armrests of his console, his eyes follow the red lines of the digital chronometer pasted over the situational flatscreen. Daedalus was so old that it didn't even have the ubiquitous spherical holoprojection found on damn near every other federal service capship. "Helm, jump on 1700 mark. Transit from Sol nadir point to Bess-Seven zenith."

"Acting, sir."

16:59:56
16:59:57
16:59:58
16:59:59

...
...
Goddamnit, I hate it when time sto--

17:00:00

The Universe ended explosively as spacetime sprouted a few new arms and contorted itself into shapes that can only be described via the sort of poor analogy which leads to some interesting phrasing and produces observers confused more by the explanation than by the event itself. Let it suffice to say that it is the event commonly (and mistakenly) called a 'space fold,' but rather the folding occurs in higher dimensions not readily imaginable by a brain most happy thinking in two-dimensions, content to think in three, and able (albeit unwilling) to think in four.

Throughout the entire infinitesimal nothing of the process, Lorez thought about a funny book that he'd read a long time ago that described a particular alien alcoholic beverage as being analogous to having one's brain bashed in with a slice of lemon wrapped around a gold brick. He was one of the unfortunate few that found a Black Knight Einstein-Rosenberg Bridge jump to be extremely similar to that situation.

The helmsman smiles. "We're here, General."

"Uuuugh." Ignoring the momentousness of the occasion, Lorez held his throbbing head and waved idly at the shifting indicator board. "Take us in, standard pattern."

So much for historic words.

# We have arrived.*
> That is quite apparent. We notice no delay in communication. *
>*Continue as planned.
# Acknowledged.

The blocky form of the modified Guardian Unit finally moved from its position near the airlock. Turning its blank face from side to side to give him a full view of his surroundings, C12 gave a little internal sigh before guiding his new avatar down the hallway towards the command center.

He strides in and comes to a rough approximation of attention. Automata-Designate SeeTwel reporting in. We are most pleased to be allowed a presence here, and I have been instructed to assist in any way possible.

Automata-Designate SeeTwel reporting in. We are most pleased to be allowed a presence here, and I have been instructed to assist in any way possible.
Lorez looks up and blinks. "Oh... yes. Actually, we're glad you came along. Despite all the old Scolopendran fogeys who seem to be running the show," he smiles wryly, "it's a Trium mission. Unfortunately, there won't be much for you to do before we make planetfall... right now, we're trying to get Snoopy on the line and see what the local situation is."

Lorez looks up and blinks. "Oh... yes. Actually, we're glad you came along. Despite all the old Scolopendran fogeys who seem to be running the show," he smiles wryly, "it's a Trium mission. Unfortunately, there won't be much for you to do before we make planetfall... right now, we're trying to get Snoopy on the line and see what the local situation is."

Excellent. I have been further instructed to alert you to my functions, and capabilities. He pauses for a moment, and then continues.

While I am equipped with access to the totality of the Angelic Mainframe, I have been specifically designed to serve in communications and security functions. I am also equipped with sensor capabilities that We hope will be of use in the exploration of the surface.

Furthermore, I am designated as Speaker for the group of 12 Angels that will be arriving with the cargo transports. The function of the group is to provide labor, security, and technical aides. I am sure that We could assemble some rather efficient habitats once We achieve surface landing.

He pauses again. Finally, are there any questions concerning Our presence that I might be able to provide answers for?

Any questions I have are probably inappropriate. "Nope. Thanks for the brief, though. I'll make sure the colonists have that in mind when we touch down.

"Comms, has Snoopy gotten back to us yet?"

"No, sir, but it does seem to be standing by at the rendezvous point."

The Unit almost nods, and then moves with surprising silence over to simply stand out of the way, it's mirrored faceplate revealing nothing of the thoughts within.

<<SecureComm: Snoopy:Daedelus[i]>>

"Daedelus, this is Captain Croft of the [i]Snoopy, we have you on sensors and are standing by at the rendezvous point. GEC has cleared us to begin colonization operations as of 0750 TST. We are currently experiencing a mild solar event, so expect some comm disruption. One of our Loki's is seeding a Hermes 32-class communications constellation to help with this problem. Ferret remote imaging of the landing zone is available on Tac 5, and Voyeur real-time system scans are available on Tac 8."

A sensor technician can be heard talking in the background.

"What? Understood. Daedelus, standby we have unknown contact jumping into the system. Suggest manning your alert stations while we investigate.
<<Over>>



"Sensors, talk to me."

"Ma'am, it is definatley a ship, unknown origin, nothing like it in the databases."

"Comms, open a full spectrum hail of that contact. Send a standard identification string and ask for identification. Launch our fighter screen and get the Lokis clear."

<<Open Hail:NoEncryp:AllFreq>>
Vessel on course for the central planet, this is the Triumvirate of Yut Galaxy Exploration Command Vessel Snoopy. Please identify yourself and state your intentions.
<<Repeats>>

The 12 AS fighters clear the launch bay and assume a protective formation around the Snoopy as the Lokis take up an escort position.



http://okcac.freeyellow.com/lara.jpg
Captain Croft
Triumvirate of Yut Galaxy Exploration Command
Titan

The communications officer was male, slightly heavy set and expecting nothing to bother him. He was keeping an eye out on one frequency, but that was more worry of finding an old Var Imperial defensive station. Those old monsters were not fun to playwith.

He didn't even register the hail for a moment, too intrested in the pirated version of terran entertainment, Hackers. Then he woke up.
"F***" he cried as he both shot up at the hail and dropped a mug of something hot on his pants. The liquid didn't leak but hot metal still hurts...

"Captain, we have a unidentified transmission...I mean we have just been hailed..."

Captain Prosa just groaned. "Let me here..."

......this is the Triumviarate of Yut Galaxy Exploration Command Vessel Snoopy. Please identify yourself and state your intentions. Vessel

The Captain turned..."Where in the hell is one of my tactical officers? Get Billings out of the sack now..."

He rose and sat down at the tactical display and attempted to get readings on what was happening in system. He got a new reading..."Hell I've got what 8 contacts?..and one is a big monster. What frequency did they hail on?"

"full range sir, they don't sound too happy to see us."

"Damn, I've never heard of them...wait, do we have a LWR on 'Yut'
The navigation officer is now at the captain's console. We have a reference to them, but didn't download the files..."

"This is not going well, alright com...send a standard signal back to them"...he hit a button on the console he was standing over, a horn sounded through the ship..."All hands, All hands to duty stations."

[Hail, Frequency 1287 Hz,security level 0]
This is the CNW Banes, We are a long range exploration ship for the Confederacy of Lords. We are attepting to land on planet V780-45-P01, please state your intentions Snoopy

In a somewhat graceful move the ship turns, not changing it's overall direction or speed. It has just flipped so that it's engines are facing towards the planet.

The Moriancumr floated peacefully just outside the Dyson ring, having recently releived the Ganges so as it could return to Mars.

"Cap, we've got confirmation. Go for A/B jump whenever your ready."

"Already? Jeez, I thought we'd have at least a day. Get an engineering team to check the chronometer, must be something wrong with our relativity calculations."

"On it, sir"

"Good. Are the launch bays ready?"

"Refits completed... 3 hours ago, sir. We're just working out the bugs."

"Alright. Prepare to jump."

OOC: Please hold of posts until host responds...

And now a message from our sponsor...

(OOC: Thank you, LoW. You've just won yourself continued activity in this thread. Now, as for Five Civilized Nations and Lunatic Retard Robots... yeah, thanks for hijacking. I'll tell everyone right now:

This starsystem is right next to East Bumf*ck... just beside the Middle of Bloody Nowhere Nebula... a little coreward of Holy Smeg We're Lost, Grab a Map.

In short, it is pretty much away from everyone else. Having so many lines of improbability intersect with ships slapping into planets (that have not otherwise seen intelligent life practically ever) just as said unknown world is about to be colonized is just plain silly. Besides, with how it's looking... ship crashes, crew rescued, everyone goes home happy, the people actually involved go 'game on!' and resume.

Therefore, said ship crashing/rescue might as well have never happened. And thus is deleted. Please don't bother to complain, as I'm sick, tired, cranky, and not at all in a debating mindset. If you'd like to get involved in some way, please contact me first and we'll see what openings we have.)

Once the the casimir capacitors were sufficiently charged up (charged down? I can never decide), the Moriancumr executed a manuever to make any surfer dude proud, assuming, of course, that said surfer dude had the capacity to think in 5 dimensions.

The so-called "TARDIS Effect" quickly reduced its profile to microscopic sizes as an Alcubierre-Broeck Warp propelled the ship towards the Holy Smeg We're Lost Cluster.

Barely missing (in astronomical terms) the Snoopy and Daedelus by a few ten thousand kliks, it popped out of its quickly dissolving wave on the ether ocean a few minutes later.

"Scolopendran vessels, this is the E.S.C. Moriancumr, carrying... holy crap, who the heck is that?"

OOC: not to tie things up too much with these things but...although this planet should be near the edge of earth race explored space. The 'ruling' race (The Lords of War) is Not terran in nature. Which, in this thread I will explain more clearly, shows why we knew this planet existed (or at least had records of it) and why we would be operating in this vicinity.

b) I don't like to step in and act in place of the host nations.

C) a Valdor isn't big...

IC: The tatical officer arrived. She looked like warmed over death. She had litteraly replaced the plotting computer at navigation durring the accident which was not fun.

She didn't even salute, just fell into the chair at her station and began to rotate through the weapons stations. "Plasma turret 1.....check.....plama turret 2....check....missle tube 1....check....missle tube 2....check....missle tube 3....check.....missle tube 4...check...forward grazer...check....counter measures...check."

The tatical computer adjusted it's readout by a few more ships...picking up a few more of the fighters and any new arrivals.

Somewhere onboard a ensign goes
Bump
into the side of his cabin
(If this thread is dead just tell me please)

<OOC: Hurrah for more free time. I had planned on dropping off some colonists and a bit of space infrastructure (ie weather & comms sats, maybe drag an asteroid into orbit for industrial purposes), but obviously this other thingy needs resolved.>

Null Point A3302
Deep Space

<{Internal Comms - Shipwide} "All hands, this is Talley. Secure for SAHD displacement jump in three minutes. Repeat, displacement jump, three minutes.>
<{Internal Comms - Compartment 81CC2301} "That means you, Miss Soleski. Put the kitty down, unless you want a repeat of last time. Thanks, dear.">

<{Fleet Comms: Finity's End (Fleet Captain Ariana Emory) -> TF101; m16 Security} Line Binary and Scout Star will proceed remainder of task force by two minutes. No trouble expected, but there's no reason not to follow standard procedures.>
<Confirmation recieved>

<[[Gravitic Distortion Detected] - Escorts initiating jump]>

<{FTL Fleet Comms: Line Binary 14/Scout Star 7 -> Finity's End; m16 Security} No signs of hostiles in jump zone. Standing down from action stations.>

<(Displacement Drive Activated)> {Internal Comms - Shipwide} "Initiating Jump."
<(Jump Complete)>
<[Nav Scan Complete] {Internal Comms - Command One} "Postjump and destination coordinates in perfect alignment. We are on target.">
<(Power realspace drives)>
{Internal Comms - Shipwide} "We have arrived at our destination. I expect entry into Bess-Seven-One orbit in twelve hours. We will not be using a microjump due to lack of navigational data. All colonists and construction personnel, please begin final preparations."

Nadir Null Point
Bess-7 System

Emerging from jump with a shimmer of near-ultraviolet light, fifteen ships appear at the nadir jump point of the Bess-2 system. They quickly scan the surrounding area, and find nothing of interest. Two minutes later, a gigantic vessel thirty kilometers long jumps in, surrounded by ten more ships. The fleet begins a high-acceleration burn for the planet on gravitic drives, with IFF beacons signaling their identities. On the way in, of course, people notice that things are a little more crowded than expected for a simple colony drop.

{Fleet Comms; m16 Security}
<GEF Brisbane (Maj. Selvoy)> "Fleet, this is Selvoy on Brisbane. We?re detecting an unidentified vessel in Bess orbit, type and configuration unknown."
<MBC Robert E Lee (Cmdr. T. Lepescu)> "We confirm sighting."
<GSV Finity's End (Flt Capt. Emory) >"We also have the contact on deepscan. No sign of hostile intent. Suggest we contact other Triumvirate vessels already on the scene. Meanwhile, I want all ships at yellow alert."
<GSV Finity's End (Josh Talley JA-250) > "I agree, Ariana. I?m opening a channel now.'

{Tightbeam Comms Finity's End -> Triumvirate Vessel; m10 Triumvirate Security}
All Triumvirate vessels, this is Cetagandan General Systems Vessel Finity's End. We are approaching with colonists and supplies. We've detected an unknown vessel in orbit. Can you identify?

"Sensors?"

"We're getting something, but these systems are so old the reading isn't much more that 'it's there.' This bird's a colony ship, General..."

Settling into his console, Lorez tapped the simple plasma-screen display set into one armrest that was a copy of the picture on the strategic indicator board. "Comm, reply to the Cetagandans."

"Channel open and encryption set, sir. Transmitting now."

"Finity's End, SCS-CS Daedalus. No identification from this angle; this tub doesn't have much in the way of advanced sensors. Suggest making contact via transmission. I bet we don't speak the same language, but as long as we're talking we're probably not getting shot at either."

Lifting his head slightly, Lorez chops the air just under his chin in the universal 'cut-off' signal. "Put our sig on it and send it out, Comms. Max security."

"Acting, sir."

Once the the casimir capacitors were sufficiently charged up (charged down? I can never decide), the Moriancumr executed a manuever to make any surfer dude proud, assuming, of course, that said surfer dude had the capacity to think in 5 dimensions.

The so-called "TARDIS Effect" quickly reduced its profile to microscopic sizes as an Alcubierre-Broeck Warp propelled the ship towards the Holy Smeg We're Lost Cluster.

Barely missing (in astronomical terms) the SNoopy and Daedelus by a few ten thousand kliks, it popped out of its quickly dissolving wave on the ether ocean a few minutes later.

"Scolopendran vessels, this is the E.S.C. Moriancumr, carrying... holy crap, who the heck is that?"

OOC: Gr. I hate being at the end of a page.

Command One, IGSV Finity's End
In Transit: Nadir Null Point -> Bess Seven-One
Beagle Exploration Star System Seven

"Well, that was helpful." Fleet Captain Emory said, scowling at the main displays of the huge command center.

"Its not like it was expected for a colony ship to need space analysis sensors, Ariana," replied Josh Talley, the ship's Mind, from his holo tank. "The only reason we've got anything is because we just ferrying people while on route to Asimov-Two and it happens to be on the way."

Emory snorts. "We should try and make contact."

"Really? I didn't realize that first contact usually fell under an exploration mission."

"Shut up, Josh. Do we have any probes ready?"

"I've got a LAC preparing as we speak. I plan to send it in and keep the rest of us out here. No reason to startle them, even with the Fourteenth Line still with us." He sighs. "And to think this was supposed to be a simple colony startup. Why can't anything just be normal?"

{Tightbeam Finity's End -> SCS-CS Daedalus, ESC Moriancumr; m16 Triumvirate Security}
Roger that. We'll hang out a light minute or so out to keep from startling them. A science dropship is inbound, should arrive shortly. Our computing facilities are at your disposal if needed. Request that you send nav data of the local area in case we need to microjump to the planet.

Eniqciri vessel, Brigadier General Lorez aboard Daedalus. We have no idea who that is either.

Brigadier General Lorez
CO, SCS-CS Daedalus

* - * - *

"Comms, hack the navigational data we have from Snoopy out to the Cetagandans and Eniqciri. Ops, how are the colonists doing?"

"Still at stations, sir. We're all go for landing, if our unexpected visitor doesn't interfere."

Lorez shakes his head. "No, we don't have any defenses or such set up just in case... we'd be too vulnerable. Helm, set a parabolic course for Bess-Seven-One; make it obvious of where we're going but also that we're taking our sweet time getting there. FlightCom, ready the defensive fighters but don't launch yet. Aggression won't help us any."

General Lorez, if we are forced into combat, I would like to request to be assigned to one of the defensive craft. In fact, as We have been implemented with advanced security countermeasures, all of the Angelic team would prefer to be assigned to active combat duty.*
*
The mirrored faceplate of the Unit reveals nothing, but C12's voice takes on a concillatory tone. And sir, not to be offensive, or to insult the capabilities of your pilots, but We believe that We could provide better service.

The bridge of the Banes was fairly tense...

"Com have we received any reply?"

"No sir, they are still broadcasting that hail..."

The tactical officer grunted..."They have a few new ships in orbit, comming out of various forms of FTL...based on radation. Most could eat us for lunch..."

The Captain turned, "Well considering I don't feel like flying at less than light speed to a planet where we can do repairs...and the five years it would take..." He turns towards the crewmen at a wall of screens with several large wheels before them.

"Helm pepare for a hard pull to slow and enter the atmosphere. I'm going to assume this is going to be a nasty landing, Nav...by the numbers if you would..."

"Comm, it appears Snoopy may be shouting so loud she will not hear us...switch to a broacast spectrum..."

[Hail, Frequency 66 Hz to 1500 MHz, security level 0]

This is the CNW Banes, We are a long range exploration ship for the Confederacy of Lords. We are attepting to land on planet V780-45-P01, please state your intentions Snoopy

The ship continues to head for the planet, curving in terms of three dimensional space, but following the most efficent route, using the system gravity lines to propel it towards the planet.

OOC:Not that I'm trying to Rp around Karmabaijan...but I'm just assuming that murphy's law has struck in the communications at the moment.

just to get this above the spam BUMP

Eniqciri vessel, Brigadier General Lorez aboard Daedalus. We have no idea who that is either.
"Ah. That is certainly not reassuring. Standard first-contact situation? Have you recieved any identification or other transmissions? Do we have any indications of hostility that would hinder the transfer of personnel and equipment to the surface? We're carrying 200 colonists and a few tent cities, and most of them would like to get out of this can."

[Hail, Frequency 66 Hz to 1500 MHz, security level 0]

This is the CNW Banes, We are a long range exploration ship for the Confederacy of Lords. We are attepting to land on planet V780-45-P01, please state your intentions Snoopy



"Ma'am, we are recieving a voice transmission from the unknown contact. Claims to be a vessel of the 'Confederacy of Lords.' No mention of them in any of our databases."

"Send a message to all Trium ships advising them to standby on colonization operations, and then open a channel to the contact on the same frequency they replied on."

"Ready Ma'am."

<<Transmission>>
"CNW Banes, this is Captain Croft of the Snoopy. We are a galactic survey craft based in the Sol system. We are currently in the process of colonizing the habitable planet of this system. We are showing you on a landing trajectory for the same planet. If possible, please standby your operations until we can ensure our craft will be clear of your flight path. Please state your intentions and system of origin."
<<End>>

"Ma'am, they may not be able to stop in time, they seem fairly set to their flight path."

"Understood. Tactical, hack out their trajectory and clear the colony ships out of the way if need be, at your discretion."

"Acting."

http://okcac.freeyellow.com/lara.jpg
Captain Croft
Triumvirate of Yut Galaxy Exploration Command
Titan

The comm officer turned to the captain's console and said..."Contact Snoopy reports she is a survey vessel from the Sol system. They want to know where we are from and to hold postion....they seem to be colonizing the planet..."

The captain turned to his navigation officer, "What the hell is a Terra based group doing colonizing this far out? I'm sure that there are lots of worlds closer to their home system...." the navigation officer just shrugged back...

"Alright, lets give them a reason to pause. Com, make my mike hot..."
He types in to his console and looks up an reference file.

[Transmission, Frequency 66 Hz to 1500 MHz, security level 0]

This is the CNW Banes, we declare an emergency landing under Rule 22
section 3 of the Var Imperial System regs. We should also like to take note that this planet is registered on our charts as part of the Var Empire* so these rules apply. Repeat, CNW Banes declares an emergency landing on planet V780-45-P01.

At the same time the mini-high drive powered up from standby and began to decelerate the ship. Generating a deep gravity feild as it did so. The three ion thrusters ignited to assist. It begins to slow down at massive 424 (earth)g.



OOC: *He's right but he is bluffing at the same time...Oh, and it will be an hour (earth) before my ship will reach the atmosphere...in game time.

edit format typo

No one seems overly impressed by the gravitic drive signature.

"Great. We go to great lengths just to find someplace barely inhabitable in the bloody middle of nowhere and it just happens to be claimed just like the rest of the bloody universe." Lorez sighs. "I suppose we should just turn this scow around, then. Helm, how long 'till the BK jumpdrive is ready?"

"Well... we've one of the slow-charge systems, so about five days."

"Hrm... fine then. Continue low-gravitic approach towards the planet, alter course so we can slingshot to the nadir jump-point with a minimum of effort if this turns out to be a pointless mission."

The Snoopy

"Ma'am Sierra-1 declaring an emergency. They intend to land on the planet."

"Any sign of damage?"

"We have nothing to reference ma'am. Unknown at this time."

"Well, there is one way to find out."

<<Transmission>>
"CNW Banes, we read your emergency declaration and are moving our vessels to allow you a clear approach. What is the nature of your emergency? Can we be of assistance?"
<<End>>

Croft reaches to her console and flips over to the FleetComm encrypted frequency.

<<Transmission>>
CNW Banes declaring an emergency and on approach vectors to the planet. Suggest giving them a wide berth if possible, until we can get the situation worked out. We are gearing up a medical/security/diplomacy team now, if you would like to send anyone along, let me know now.
<<end>>

One of the Loki dropships returns to the Snoopy and is immediatly set upon by technicians and crewman, prepping/loading it for its new mission, the gruff senior enlisted Loadmaster bellowing orders to anyone who has the gall to appear to be "slacking."

OOC: more worried about being too damn high than impressive...

IC:
The come officer reports..."Sir, The Snoopy wants to know what is wrong sir, offers assistance...."

"Hmph offers assistance, it's like rolling a Pitcu...I wonder if they want to assist us in meeting our forefathers on the plains of Drak...tell them we have a critical failure in the life-support system, and our FTL guidence...don't tell them about the fuel problems...I don't want them to think we're going to be sitting ducks...."

[Transmission, Frequency 66 Hz to 1200 MHz, security 0]
Snoopy, we have a critical faluire in both life support control and FTL navigation.

the captain looks over at the tactical station..."Give me an update tac..."

"Well sir tac plot, hasn't changed much, contact Uto appears to be changing heading but that's it....Ah sir you did realize that was a Zono Order identiy code on this planet..."

"Ca*****"

"Com, send out a standard Imperial destress call and signiture..."
The com officer begins to type at a second keyboard at his station...

[Transmission, Frequency 1350 MHz, security 0]
*See below for translation notes:"

[Transmission, Frequency 1355 MHz, security 0]
**Three sets of characters is all that is determinable**

*For those humans, or near humans listening it sounds like three whales two of them on increasing dosaes of helium singing breifly together. They are out of key and cause most humans listeners discomfort and the desire for asprin.

B u M P

OOC: Go ahead with your landing, we cant do much until you do that.

OOC: Sorry, I was expecting more responses...fine.

The craft hit the atmosphere at almost 100 kps. Not exactly a slow speed...using it's ion engine to disrupt the atmosphere as the ship slowed and began to search for a landing location, maintaining altitude by a set of small thrusters.

A few minutes later the L.O.W. craft was extending a front outrigger and settling into a large, deep freshwater lake in same continent marked for colonization. It turned off the thrusters for the last few hundread feet, gently distubing the water as it landed, floating on the rear engine struts and the forward outrigger.

The vessle dropped a large, ungainly coiled pipe into the lake as ramp extended from the bottom of the craft. Two parasite craft dropped from the ramp and appeared to make for a nearby hill that commanded the area.

The first craft looked as if someone had mounted fans on an APC that somehow could float above the water or land. The second looked more like a large open boat with a deck house/engine room at the back. The front was filled with men and several covered objects, it also hovered a few yards above the ground.

Back at the L.O.W ship, a second group is extending a large set of solar panels that are more paper thin than anything. They seem to be trying to work around a turret that has extended itself on the top side of the ship...

On the bridge, the captain looks at his console screen...
"Alright, I want a status report, all divisions in one hour. I've sent the Landsmen out to establish an observation point on a nearby rise of land. Keep all communications encrypted and secure. We are in what is disputed and may be hostile territory...Comm was their any response to the Imperial hail..."

"No sir...I'd say that if they left anything...well the AI is dead."*
"Or it was bio-commed..." interupted the tactical officer...
"Unlikely...a plantary AI usually would still have a response system in place..."
"Yes Captain, I think this was a staging location...or planned to be...a good deal of water...some fresh..."
"Tac...think about the massive colonization effort that we just interupted. If we have an AI or an insane AI on this planet we will deal with it when it becomes pissed. It's going to be less..."
"Ah, yes we do have an antique IFF don't we...yes captain I'll keep an eye on the other ships topside...."

edit: OOC: Due to some misunderstanding I wish to clarify this little exchange as being character foreshadowing and an explination of my previous action, it was not intended as a major plot development. There was no intent of their being an AI on this planet, which is dead and always has been....my boys and girls are worried about a non-existant boogyman...
(Bio-commed is a feature to be found elsewhere in my Rps remember the tac officer is not working on much sleep right now :wink: )
(Also there are no logging operations....:? *shakes head* logging, who'd log a world that makes the tundra look exciting? the same people who'd log the polar ice cap...Buy stock in Polar Timber, the 100% ecofreindly timber company!! )

(umm... bump? Oh, and does Scolo have a globe of the planet?)

edit: removed due to misunderstanding but you see where I'm headed with this...

OOC: I guess my explination was not sufficent for Sloco...Oh well, enjoy your planet...

IC:
After approximatly a week of repairs, primarily rebooting and checking the FTL plotting computer and software, and repairing a few burned out circuts the L.O.W vessel leaves with all hands.

(OOC: *sigh* I didn't see that this thread was updated (edits don't do that) and so didn't see any explanation until just now. It's fine with me but hey, whatever works. How I see it, we have a few options:

1) Try again from the top (which just opens it up to more hijacking like at the beginning)
2) Try again without the 'after a few weeks, LoW leaves'
3) Just carry on as it is right now.

I think retcons are cheap, so 1) is out and maybe 2). However, if I just go with 2), then I look like a jerk. Then again, I doubt LoW is going to check back if he's already left... so I guess I'm stuck with 3).

And no, I don't have a globe. If you have something that can make me have a globe, I'd be much obliged.)

Lorez scratches the back of his head. "Well, that was anticlimactic. Anyhoo... Comms, contact Snoopy and see how the final pre-colonization surveys came out. Barring acid air, we aren't going to turn this hulk around now."

And no, I don't have a globe. If you have something that can make me have a globe, I'd be much obliged.)
OOC: Incidentally, I do. If you have a complete surface map, I can use that, otherwise I can take the map you already posted and fit that into some other random terrain.

OOC: Well 2 was/is an option...my read of your non-response to your t-gram both here in the thread and by t-gram was that my explination was not acceptable...then again it sounds as if we have both made assumptions that were erroneous...

My goal in was to estabilsh a 'contact' with L.O.W and have some reference for this area. Not any 'real' intererence in your creation of a colony, but my characters worring about what may be here seemed to mislead you...I just decided that you had just decided a 'pox' upon my house and ignore me and the thread and pulled a Mencelemarian Drop.

edit: damn double post

(OOC: Ouch, that's cold. Siri's killed enough of my threads for that to sting.

Well, fair 'nuff. We've both made a seemingly equal amount of mistakes, so let's go back to... hrmm... you're on the surface, and Karma's probably going to ask if you want any help. Seeing how you're landed none too close to the colony site, I'll keep on pressing to my LZ and leave the first-contact up to Karma, who's better equipped for it. Once we get the thread rolling again, I'll come back and clean up all this OOC commentary out of the way so we've a nice, clean thread.

And Eniqcir: Please do... although, if you could tell me where to get a hold of it, I would be more obliged.)

IC:

"Erm... sir... we've got a little problem."

"Tell me about it." General Lorez shrugs. "We're about three hundred light years out and there's some sort of alien-whatever on our colony world."

"Worse than that, sir."

"Worse?"

"Well, I had some techs take a look at the tesseract jump drive... aaaaaaaand..." The executive officer fidgets.

"Out with it." Lorez' face is a stony mask.

"...It's borked, sir. Focusing array is completely shot to hell and the bits that apparently make it go-places in overdimensional space have fused into one big lump."

Lorez blinks. "It's the newest component on this bloody scow, and it's the one that breaks? How do we fix it?"

"Ummm... yeah... we sorta don't, sir. This beast's drives have been swapped and jury rigged so many times we'd have to core the sucker."

"Well, hell." Lorez sighs. "I'm too goddam old for this, you know? Helm, set a course for the landing site. We're setting this bird down come hell or high water now."

"What about the unknown contact, sir?"

Lorez shrugs again... this is all becoming far too much for him. "Smeg the unknown contact. Let Captain Croft deal with it; she's the one in the bloody Galaxy Exploration Command. As long as it stays the hell away from us, then I don't think we've a problem. Seeing how they've got crummy engines as well, they can hardly hold it against us."

"Yes, sir."

Open Transmission

All vessels, this is the Scolopendran colony ship SCS-CS Daedalus. Looks like our pretty new Spacedy Ant drive just went and turned itself into one massive paperweight. Being unable to effect repairs and pretty sure that our gravdrives won't last the time it takes to get back to Sol, we're going ahead with the colonization. It's what we're here for, dammit.

Brigadier General Lorez
CO, SCS-CS Daedalus

(OOC: And Eniqcir: Please do... although, if you could tell me where to get a hold of it, I would be more obliged.)
On it ASAIHT (As Soon As I Have Time, hopefully not too far away). I've been using POV-ray (http://www.povray.org/) to make my globes so far. Any hints as to how big that continent should be (% of surface area)?

Open Transmission

All vessels, this is the Scolopendran colony ship SCS-CS Daedalus. Looks like our pretty new Spacedy Ant drive just went and turned itself into one massive paperweight. Being unable to effect repairs and pretty sure that our gravdrives won't last the time it takes to get back to Sol, we're going ahead with the colonization. It's what we're here for, dammit.

Brigadier General Lorez
CO, SCS-CS Daedalus

"Daedalus, this is the Moriancumr. We'd like clarification. Do you intend to land permanently, or only to launch again once the necessary repairs are made? In any case, as long as you're going down, we'll start dumping our cargo. Moriancumr out."

On the hull of the Moriancumr, long doors that once covered racks of Starfires and Warfuries opened to reveal instead a series of... well, streamlined cargo boxes. Each of the three racks released in series as it rotated around to face the planet, flinging the colony boats on a tangent.

Moriancumr, Daedalus. Engineering tells me that we need a complete overhaul to fix this bird... and the nearest rated shipyard is three hundred light years behind us. We're stuck insystem whether we like it or not.

Brigadier General Lorez
CO, SCS-CS Daedalus

* - * - *

Lorez paces back and forth across the command deck, pausing by the 'sandtable,' a holographic projector showing the contours of the proposed colony site in the mountain valley and coastal plain. "What's the plan?"

"Well... I don't trust the engines in a hard-landing. I think we'll set Daedalus down here in the ocean, then use low distort to run her aground. We don't plan on taking back off anyway, so that should be the safest route."

The old general nods. "Have the engineering vessels set down after we hit the water so we can offload the transport vessels. I suppose we might as well push the timetable forward."

OOC: Fine with me...

IC: The group in the two small parasite craft have reached the crest of a hill and begin to realize that they don't have much here to 'dig in' to besides hard rock...well they start trying to cut into the rock and form a defensive postion overlooking the lake...

The First Contact/Engineering/Medical team finishes loading the Exploration Loki and straps in. Captain Croft simply nods to the pilot, who has a thin optical cable running from the side of his chair to his temple. With more grace than seems possible, the thirty-thousand-ton dropship detaches from Snoopy, and makes for the planet.

The reentry is uneventful, the pilot taking it easy through the unfamiliar atmosphere.

"I need a hi-rez survey scan of the landing site and surrounding area."

The pilot seems to blink with his eyes shut, the information appearing on the tactical holo. The tactical officer points out the obvious for the team's benefit.

"2 smaller craft deployed, seem to be pickets or scouts." The image shifts to a highrez 3d of the main ship. "Looks like a weapons turret possibly here, these look like solar collecters."

Captain Croft looks up from the images. "Ok, we take this easy. They are stranded here and probably a little jumpy. I want to hold position about a 1/4 klick out, in plain sight, and establish contact first. We will play it by ear from there.

The pilot carries out his instructions, the ship coming to a hover 1/4 klick from the main landing site, over the lake. A comm channel is open on the frequencies used previously.

<<Transmission>>
CNW Banes, this is Captain Croft. I am in the dropship to your immediate planetary north. We are requesting permission to land. We have brought along engineering and medical teams should you require our assistance.
<<End>>

"Get the team suited."

http://okcac.freeyellow.com/lara.jpg
Captain Croft
Triumvirate of Yut Galaxy Exploration Command
Titan

The Banes...
The communications officer listened for a moment and then switched channels...

"Captain, we have Captain Croft of the colony group requesting permission to land. Ah it looks like to the north of us...they seem to have engineering and medical assistance"

The captain is standing on the ship's exterior and looking at the ship lowering onto the lake nearby and says..."Tell them that we no need for medical or engineering assistance at the moment. But thanks, and ask nicely what else they desire...I assume they want to meet about our presence on their planet, invite Croft for some tea..."

He switches channels..."Gunner on Turret one, keep a track on that ship. If it does anything hostile you have permission to give it a nice dose of plasma."

[Transmission]
Captain Croft, the Banes thanks you for your offer, but it is unneeded at this time. Is there anything else? If so, we would like to discuss them and the general situation, Captain Corripio invites you and a second for tea.
[end]

OOC: Is this planet terran breathable? based on an active water cycle I assumed it had a habitable atmosphere and was above freezing temperatures...but no estabilshed life forms...

OOC: Is this planet terran breathable? based on an active water cycle I assumed it had a habitable atmosphere and was above freezing temperatures...but no estabilshed life forms...
OOC: Oxygen/neon atmosphere, if I remember correctly.

Tag for possible weaseling.

OOC: Is this planet terran breathable? based on an active water cycle I assumed it had a habitable atmosphere and was above freezing temperatures...but no estabilshed life forms...
OOC: Oxygen/neon atmosphere, if I remember correctly.

OOC: Thanks, so it will either smother terrans or be beathable...
Tech note: nitrogen losses to the atmoshpere would be a major problem in maintaining agriculture on this planet.

OOC: Thanks, so it will either smother terrans or be beathable...
Tech note: nitrogen losses to the atmoshpere would be a major problem in maintaining agriculture on this planet.
OOC: The idea for terraforming it was to flood the atmosphere with nitrogen.

14,570.8 kilometers in radius with one large sattelite, it has a breathable atmosphere of neon and oxygen with trace amounts of argon and large oceans of water with noticable amounts of oxygen triodide and hydroiodic acid included. Its lithosphere includes high levels of beryllium, chromium, and calcium.

The second planet is a smaller rocky planet. ... It has an extremely tenuous atmosphere of... nitrogen....

Daedalus ponderously drops into orbit around BESS-7 I, its ancient plating dimly reflecting the blue and white of the planet below.

"All hands report ready for landing, sir." The executive officer taps his fingers nervously on a tabletcomp as Lorez settles into his chair and buckles his g-harness. "Engineering still has its doubts."

"We were going to bring her down eventually... and I know how the tesseract drive was installed. With our luck, we'll get cascading failures within a few months of operation. We decom Daedalus... now." The general sets his jaw and leans on one elbow, looking grimly at the primary display monitor. "Event Condition Zero. Helm, set a course for the landing point ten kilometers out from shore. Ease us through the atmosphere... three hundred kay-per-haich max."

"Acting, sir."

The ship dips her bulbous nose and begins easing through the atmosphere, gently plying her way through the outer atmosphere with ancient gravitic drive on low-distort. One doesn't need a firey descent if one is pushing themself through. As the atmosphere around the old ship thickens, the ride becomes bumpier, high-altitude jet streams buffeting the worn hull.

"C'mon..." General Lorez grumbles to himself, shaking from side to side in his seat, gripping fingers curled around the ends of the arm-rests. "C'mon already... can't let us down now..."

The ship groans heavily in response, the lights going red and dark suddenly, casting a bloody pallor over all.

"What the hell--?!" Lorez grimaces as the ship buffets from side to side, throwing him about in his g-harness.

The ship plummets in a controlled fashion through the air, hull glowing gently with corona discharge, leaving an electric orange streak of ionized neon behind it as it falls. Piercing the boundary between the stratosphere and troposphere, it blows a hole in some cirrus clouds before thrusting itself into a tabletop of pillowy white.

"Hull ionization, sir. It's screwing with the phased array. Switching to active radar... oh dear."

"Oh dear what?" Lorez looks over his shoulder at the bobbing form of the sensors officer. "What?"

"Oh dear lord. Stormclouds, sir."

"Shi--"

The word is cut off again as opposing charges find themselves wonderfully near a conductor with a suitable potential difference. Charge pools on a portion of hull and then full coulombs of electrical energy change hands in a massive electric arc. Simple steel hullmetal slags and burns off in a decently-sized hole, glowing orange as the ship falls out of the clouds and into the rain.

The bridge engineer grumbles. "Hull breach, Deck Twenty-Seven. Dispatching damage control."

"Ground sighted," the sensors operator yells urgently, "three hundred meters!"

"Full decel!" Lorez blares. Acting just before the order, the helmsman jerks up on a spherical column, eliciting an angry hum from the engines. "All hands, brace for--"

The sound of the hulk of Daedalus, smoking from her wound, crashing into the ocean drowns out the voice of the general.

A soft drumming, almost a hiss, pervading all. Soft huffs of breath in the darkness.

What's that? Rain?

General Lorez shifts in his seat, wincing in the darkness as the g-harness strafes over several fresh bruises. "Well... is everyone alright? Bring up the lights."

The lights flicker back on, a short pulsing of flashing red light, becoming steady; wavelengths slowly adding to the spectrum until it returns to nominal white light. The bridge crew of Daedalus groan quietly as they release their straps and stretch, some tenatively moving from their seats. They call out responses in the affirmative, no one sounding overly happy.

"Status?"

The bridge engineer hovers over his console, tapping a reticent screen. "We're in the water, waterline about deck thirty-two. Hull breach on deck twenty-seven and we're taking in water... from the rain, apparently. Nothing to be overly concerned about. Looks like we've lost a secondary power coupling on the starboard side from that... nonvital, but it's caused secondary malfunctions all across Daedalus. I'm sending out damage control teams to keep us afloat."

The communications officer settles in her seat. "Colonist bays and duty stations are reporting in. Mostly bruises and scrapes, but we've a few more badly injured--those who weren't belted down when we hit--and medical teams are taking care of it. No emergency cases."

"Well then. Navigation?"

"We are... ten kilometers offshore, sir. Gravitics are maintaining positive buoyancy; secondary attitude adjustment systems are out but the primaries and the tertiaries still seem to be holding."

Lorez nods. "Can we make sixty kay-pee-haich?"

"Yessir. Easily."

"Follow the previous plan. Take us in and..." Lorez sighed. Didn't expect the order to be this hard.

The helmsman sits over his console, ready to execute the command he knows is coming... but waits respectfully.

"Run her aground, boy." The order given, the general settles back into his chair as he mutters to himself. "Well, so much for this command."

The ugly, battered vessel plys through the waters at a decent clip, its grav-field pushing water out of the way of its bulbous prow. It doesn't so much rest in the water as rest in a hole in the water, a twisted supercavitation as it makes its way to the shore in the distance. The pouring rain drums on its massive hull, and on the starboard side of deck twenty-seven boots splash through small but quickly-growing pools on the deck as men heft a self-sealing plate up to the thirty-centimeter-diameter hole, squinting despite their masks in the smoking interior.

"Hey, Atiq, why seal the thing? We might as well let it blow out the smoke."

"That makes sense. Grab a fan; I'll go get the firefighting equipment and we'll bust up this array so we can get to whatever's smouldering."

Puffing slightly from the foot-wide hole in it's side--a mere pinprick, given the size of the colony ship--Daedalus splashes into the as its external gravdrives deactivate, leaving the ship to float of its own accord and coast towards the coast a hundred meters away. The damage control teams all pause to take hold of something, as do the rest of the crew and colonists who decided to get up.

With a jarring thunk and a soft slurring noise, Daedalus runs up onto the smooth sands of the coast, bleeding off its inertia into the soft sand it plows out of the way into a massive horseshoe-shaped dune in front of it. The tired old ship finally grinds to a halt with a final jar, and everyone returns to cleaning up for the moment.

"Well," Lorez shrugs, "we're here."

The L.O.W vessel notes the landing.
"Ah sir, looks like one of those biggies up top took a dive for the surface. I lost them over the horizon a few seconds ago."

The Captain turned and looked..."Well that says my little ruse about this planet being claimed hasn't stopped them."

"Yes, Sir...should we do anything..."
"No, just keep an eye on the frequency scanner incase they have trouble."
"Yes, Sir."

A line of 15 colony boats began to dip into the planet's atmosphere, kept from plummeting to their doom by banks of electrogravitors despite an utter lack of wings or other aeronautical gear. Splitting into three groups of 3, 3, and 9, the colonists headed for varying locations.

The first splashed down in the southeastern great lake of the target continent. The second grounded on the shores of the smaller of the two southeastern islands, and the last nine headed out to see if they could assist the downed Scolopendrans.

At the lakeside site, equipment was being unloaded as quickly as possible. A couple of Landrovers were rolled out, followed by boxes and boxes of prefab building parts.

"Come on people, keep it coming, let's aim to get at least two domes up before nightfall! Er... terminator crossing, or whatever we want to call it."

5 or 6 colonists were digging large circular trenches within which were laid the edges of some equally large peices of plastic, and a survey team wasn't far off with a pair of laser transits.

Well, this surely isn't like I imagined.

Nadja Atiqullah looked down the lowered gangplank, simple sign hanging from a makeshift lanyard around her shoulder and held cradled under one arm, blue Triumvirate flag in her other hand. A week before leaving, she'd been picked by lottery to be the first person from the Triumvirate on the surface... and thus given the responsibility of not only naming the planet but thinking up an appropriate way to do so.

Her e-mail box immediately spammed out with messages from the rest of Daedalus' colonists; suggestions for names ranging from the exotic (odd tribal gods he'd never heard of) to the mundane (some sort of acronym). She read the first fifteen and decided that she was best off on her own. When the metal shop was empty, she made a placard out of a simple bit of excess deck plating using a comp-op mill; this same placard she currently held in a sort of burlap sack under her arm.

The flag she carried was requested, and they actually had a fairly good-sized man-portable field flag. It was probably expected, at least.

Of course, Nadja had expected to just step off a landing craft and say something simple... she didn't expect the bone-jarring last ride of Daedalus, its dull hulk watching over the ceremony. Still... one must adapt...

After looking over her shoulder at the mass of people behind her, she turns around, squares her shoulders, and walks down the ramp. The clomp of her boots against the metal gangplank mixes with the wash of the surface, soon joined by more metallic clanks as the other colonists follow at a respectful distance. Stepping into the surf--damn, deeper than expected--Nadja staggers slightly as she turns with the waves, then begins wading her way to the shore fifteen meters away, carring the flag in both hands, the blue field flapping in the breeze around her face.

Shifting her hold to get the flag out of her eyes, the entire image resembles romantic reimaginings of days long dead. A lone figure, soaked from the knees down, trudging through the surf to land, the flag of some faraway land flying. The image isn't in the bright romantic colors, though... everything is bled grey by the thick clouds overhead, storm passing to the east. At least it isn't raining.

Making her way to the shore, she continues, occasionally looking at the sandy prow of Daedalus. They need to see this from the forward observation windows, at least. She imagined that she could see people pressed up against the windows now that the blast shields were folded up, but, of course, they were too reflective to see inside. Boots and legs now a light beige with sand sticking to her wet clothes, Nadja makes it to firmer soil, no longer yielding under her boots but still soft.

A good place to put a flag, I guess. Turning around, she looks over the crowd, her fair but plain dark-tan face plainly visible to softly humming recorders, her nearly-black brown eyes catching the glances of the gaggle six paces in front of her, a long amorphous blob extending back to the gangplank.

"Well," she smiles, grinning a little wryly to cover up the butterflies in her stomach, "we made it. Nothing worth having," she shifts slightly to keep her left leg from jogging with tension, "comes easy, right?"

Turning again, she shifts her grip and jams the ferrel of the flag into the soft ground, twisting slightly until it sticks. Stepping back, she smiles broadly. "We claim this planet, 'Ydhla Hab-bdla, in the name of the Triumvirate of Yut and all its member states and allies. May it be an example of our cooperation until the stars fade." Hey, that doesn't sound so sappy when one actually says it. Still smiling, she twists her shoulders and puts the burlap sack down gently, opening it up and revealing her plaque. Ah... twenty percent heavier... yay for greater gravity. "For those who don't know, it's Arabic for 'Bright Morning.' I thought it was appropriate."

Kneeling, she settles the flat plate into the ground at the base of the flag, setting it carefully lest it fall over. Assured of her stability, she stands again.

الصّباح المضيء
Bright Morning
First Colony World of
the Triumvirate of Yut
Nodding, her part done, she joins the rest of the colonists in setting up camp. Daedalus sprouts cranes and begins offloading VTOL aerospace craft, doors opening to the surf and rolling out ground vehicles and pallet trucks. Work Gears lift up crates of supplies and begin marching them out, bright-yellow construction and visible hydraulics splashing through the surf. As the Eniqciri arrive, the colonists look up and wave, generally indicating things are under control but more help is always appreciated.

Standing on the crest of the piled up hillock of sand dozed up by Daedalus' prow, General Lorez looks back at the tired hull of his command. Flanked by his executive officer and adjutant Colonel Perez, he allows himself to reach out and gently stroke the hull metal, assured of Perez' silence.

Bowing his head slightly, he sighs, patting the nose of Dadelus softly before resting his hand flat against the plating, more to feel than to support. "Colonel," he pauses for a moment, and swallows quietly before continuing in a soft voice, "break out the canniba... the salvage crews. Might as well not let her go to waste."

"Is this our new home, mom?"

Alys Landsale looked down at her five-year old daughter, Emilia, who in turn was looking up at her, her deep brown eyes clouded with curiosity. "Yes, dear, this is our new home. It's called 'Ydhla Hab-bdla.", she states, trying hard to correctly pronounce the arabic name for their new world.

Emilia nodded, and looked down, an odd feeling in her stomach from the increase in gravity, but with time she would get used to it. "I'm sad that dad couldn't be with us..."

Alys thought back to her husband, always so supportive of her work as an architect in Khenala Prime, and sadness stung her heart at the rememberance of his loss to a Gravcar accident, only a few months before they had planned to come here together. Though they both loved Khenala dearly, they felt it time for a change, and felt that their skills would be well met with the other colonists. After his death, she came alone, needing for both her and their daughter Emilia a new, fresh start. "I am too, sweetie. Now come, help me set up here and then we can go look around, OK?", she smiled. She put the best 'happy mom' face she could muster, determined to be strong for the both of them.

Emilia smiled happily, in response to her mother, and began to help out.

Perhaps it will be a Bright Morning after all., Alys thought to herself, as she and her daughter set up camp.

Geosynchrous Orbit
Bright Morning

In orbit around the world, the Cetagandan command vessel begins to construct a small space station. It was nothing fancy, certainly a far cry from the stations orbiting Callisto or the star station even now taking form in another stellar system. Still, it would serve its intended purpose with ease: provide a transfer point from which ore gathered by resource collectors (mostly EI controlled) or crew and passengers from visiting starships could be moved down to the surface of the new colony. It had a standard modular design, and was intended to expand as the colony did.

Several surface to orbit shuttles, both passerger and bulk cargo version, were also being readied to be moved to the station. Several resource collectors were released, along with a refining and construction vessel. The hope was the colony could avoid the enviromental disaster so often brought about by mining on the surface of a planet.

Onboard the ships, the small group of colonists began to assemble for their final departure briefings.

{Open Transmission; m0 Security}
x Finity's End (General Systems Vessel Mk1)
o Daedelus

Congratulations on your arrival, and especially to you pilot for his or her perfomance in these conditions. We will be sending our colonists down shortly, once we have completed construction of a transfer station.

The nine colony boats touched down softly in a circle about a half klik away. The first to land opened its large cargo doors, and out walked a stream of people, led by a man in navy blue, as opposed to the usual lighter Eniqciri Aerospaceforce uniform. Stepping onto the ground of the new world, his first words were a rather uninspiring "Nice place we've got here. Bet the psychologists work overtime on seasonal affective disorder."

The first cargo brought out were two fold-up rovers, followed by the pre-fabs, survey equipment, etc.

"Raloin! We've got the first rover running! You wanna go pay the Daedalus a visit?"
"Just a moment, Laclervala! I'm comin'! Achairía, get those domes up!"

The rover skidded to a stop on the beach, and Raloin hopped out, taking a glance at the plaque on his way towards General Lorez. Huiría Lirtéoma. Not a bad name.

"Excuse me, you look to be in charge here." He stuck out his hand in greeting. "Colonel Raloin, Eniqciri Colonials. What's the situation?"

"Brigadier General Lorez," the grey man accepts the hand and shakes firmly, "Scolopendran Aerospace Directorate. As you can see..." He turns around to face the bulk of Daedalus, towering over the area, sparks flying from parts of its hull as Work Gears begin cutting away nonessential sections of plate.

"Yeah. Ship's down and we're using her for parts. We're currently offloading the prefabs, but I'm sure Daedalus will provide plenty of building materials for the time being, especially once we strip out her core and reactor blocks." He sounds somewhat resigned. "Upside is that she can continue to act as temporary housing while we get the facilities up. Downside is... well... the fact that we have a giant colony ship on the beach."

"I see. Stripping out the reactor, you say? Do you mean dismantling it for parts, or taking it out intact to use elsewhere? How extensive was systems damage? We've got quite a bit of communications equipment, but if the rest of your ship isn't beat up too bad, it might be a good idea to consider using it as a control center until we can get microwave towers up and running. I don't see much in the way of ground transportation. I'm going to assume for a moment that you just haven't got around to unloading it all yet, but if you need any help, we've got plenty of rovers."

Back at the Eniqciri landing site, a series of trenches had been dug, and the edges of plastic sheets buried. With the flick of a switch, air started to inflate the temporary tent-town, and a small army of men in plastic masks crawled inside carrying metal beams and acetylene torches.

"Removing wholesale. Mostly its just the propulsion systems and power distribution that's suffered the most damage... and seeing how we have several small reactor blocks that we'll be removing one at a time..." Lorez shrugs. "Yeah. Feel free to use her as a command post; we're planning to."

"Nice. That'll save a lot of infrastructure work, if you can just take undamaged systems right out of the ship. Your comm system is still intact, then? I don't believe we'd be familiar with your ship's layout, but if you wouldn't mind lending an engineer or two, I can get some greasemonkeys to try to restore power to the comms."

"Let's see.... on a different note, we'll need to set up a source of water. As long as the Daedalus is just sitting there, mind if we build a desalinator, or whatever the proper term for an ocean water refiner would be on this planet, into her hull?"

"Well, she's not good for much else." Lorez allows himself a slight resigned shrug. "Go ahead. We're going to find out how her recyclers took the 'landing' and see if we can't get those into the colony's infrastructure as well. Spaceship recyclers are by necessity rather effective and if we can adapt them it should reduce our current resource crunch."

He nods shortly to his executive officer. "He'll get you your engineers."

"Thanks. I'm going to head back to my own little encampment, see how things are getting on, and I'll get back out here with the necessary personnel and equipment ASAP."

Raloin strolled back over to the landrover, kicked into reverse for a bit, and headed back towards the Eniqciri landing site. A veritable suburb of transparent inflatable tents and connecting tunnels had sprung up around the landing crafts, the first of which were just taking off again. Various teams were unfolding mesh parabolic dishes, setting up anenometers and humidity meters, erecting wind generators, and spreading photovoltaic sheets across the ground. Inside the tents, men carrying magnetized rods set them in place against the plastic walls before welding them together, using their trusty duct tape to fix holes burned in the plastic. In the middle of all this, a cement mixer was churning, waiting for the welders to finish and start pouring floors.

Raloin and Laclervala began rounding up nonesentials to take over to the Scolopendran site. 1 argument, 2 water purifiers, 1 universal constructor, 20 pounds of scrapmetal, and 1 torch later, 4 rovers were on their way towards the Daedalus.

(OOC: New scenario: http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=97520.)

With Daedalus now gracing the tropical coastline of Bright Morning, priorities shift. Its bulk providing ample shelter, the civil engineers in charge of constructing the new colony order the preparation of agricultural areas. Work Gears, taking advantage of the fact that they can wade through the surf while standard ground vehicles, split into two sections. The first detachment hefts pallets of disassembled prefabricated structures and soil-fixing biochemical mixes over to the quickly growing pool of workers on the hard flat plain past the beach, the simple yellow frames of the Gears quickly becoming a dirty brown from the mud and the sand.

The second detachment works to build a pontoon bridge between the shore and Daedalus' cargo doors, taking the large low-riding green-painted metal rafts and snapping them together like oversized toys. Getting their new bridge stable and tied down, ground vehicles--wheeled trucks and rovers--roll off the slightly tilted deck of the colony ship's cargo bays and onto the bridges, driving gingerly to the shore.

The engineers, having little better to do, work with the Eniqciri towards adapting a portion of Daedalus to water purification work, coordinating with the Work Gear units cutting away nonvital sections of hull.

Meanwhile, the Moriancumr headed for the second planet, and dropped off several ramships. The colony boats and ramships set up a weaving assembly line through the system, ramships flying back and forth between Huiría Lirtéoma, aka Bright Morning, and BESS7b, and colony boats meeting them in orbit to bring their cargo of nitrogen to the surface.

Forward Observation Bay 3 (Compartment 124-PA34-5285)
GSV Finity's End
High Orbit - Bright Morning

At the same time the Scolopendran colonists are beginning to offload on the world below, the three-hundred-odd Cetagandan colonists and several hundred more of the ship's crew and resident are assembling in an observation bay aboard Finity's End. The bay is a roughly rectangular compartment one hundred meters long and fifty across, with the entire portside wall taken up by a single window, through which the world below could be seen in all its glory. Arrayed through the bay are numerous tables, and once all have arrived what could only be described as a feast is served.

Once the meal is finished, the ship's Mind, Joshua Talley, calls attention to a podium on a raise platform at the front of the bay. A moment later, the avatars that had been 'sitting' at each table disappears, and a single hologram appears at the front.
"Well, everyone, I'll try to keep this short. I speak for all the crew when I say that it was a pleasure to have you with us for these last few weeks - certainly more of a pleasure than some of those we've spent the last year and a half with." He grins, nodding his head at a woman with the insignia of a fleet captain who sits at the head table. She replies sotto voce, "It?s not my fault you're so horrible at chess. Sore looser."

Talley continues without missing a beat, "And you should know that we have nothing but respect for what you're doing. Settling down on some alien world, with only yourselves and a few thousand others, is possibly one on the most brave things I've ever known. Of course, we all think you dirtsiders are crazy, when you could be on a nice, cozy ship or star station without any man-eating creatures or weather or all the other ways the nasty balls of dirt have to kill you."

The crowd chuckles, and someone calls out, "Oh, and you vacuum suckers are so much better?"

"Hmmph. I'll give you that. Why anyone lives outside a nice, safe cybershell is beyond me. In any case, I could blather on for hours praising you. I won't, however. Instead, I'll let someone else do it for me. You may have heard of him. Ladies, gentlemen, and honored herms, I give you Gregor Vetinari."

For a moment, all conversation in the room stopped, than began again as the crowd reacted to the unexpected announcement. It was practically unheard of for the emperor to travel outside of the security of Saturn or Jovian space, a precaution brought about by the assassination of his mother - and yet here he was, dozens of lightyears from Sol system. As the young man enters the room, the Cetagandans begin to stand, but he waves for them to stay seated. When Gregor reaches the podium, the room quiets again.

"Good evening, everyone, and congratulations. You are about to participate in one of the most important event of our lifetimes. What happens here will shape events for decades to come. You three hundred and forty-seven people are leading in a new age of expansion, both for the Empire and for the Triumvirate of Yut. And more than that, you are taking part in an experiment of great importance."

"Yes, an experiment. There are star stations under construction in a half-dozen star systems, including one incredibly rich with resources. We expect that soon another habitable planet will be found on which Cetaganda will found its own colony. But this planet is special. Here, it will not be just us. Here, there are already ten thousand Scolopendran citizens, as well as Eniqciri and others will also arrive. This is not just a colony; it is an experiment in integration. The results of this will determine if Cetaganda participates in more such joint ventures, or instead waits, possibly for centuries, before doing so again."

"You all know of the opposition in the Senate to our participation on Bright Morning. Much of the funding for you is coming from my own pocket, and the number of people to be sent was limited to an initial number of no more than four hundred. However, this gave me more latitude in writing the charter. Here are the most important parts."

"As far as the Empire is concerned, this is a Crown colony, and as such I effectively have a free hand. You will follow whatever local laws are set forth, but will also have certain Imperial laws in force, including the dueling rules as set for by Protocol. I sincerely hope they are not needed. The Compact is, of course, in full force. In matters purely Cetagandan, my representative will be Justice Matheson. His voice is mine. Remember, though, that you are members of the entire colony, and not separate. Don't go to him if you have trouble with your neighbor, do what any other colonists would do." Heads around the room nod in acceptance, for over the past few weeks all of the colonists had been impressed by the grandfatherly teacher and former judge.

"Also, all of your descendents will be eligible for Cetagandan citizenship if they should wish to choose it. Furthermore, the normal service requirements will be waived for the next fifty years, as is normal for a colony." Tradition held the living on a frontier like Bright Morning was service enough to the Empire.

"Finally, you all know of Lord Talemor's condition. It has not, by his request, been widely circulated outside. He wishes the rest of the colony to get to know him before they learn of it. As far as they are concerned, Erik is nothing more than a skilled geneticist and pathologist. I ask that you honor his request."

"Oh, one last note before I stop." Gregor grinned, and stage-whispered conspiratorially to the room, "Don't get too drunk tonight. Nothing's worse than a shuttle descent combined with a hangover." Gregor stepped down from the platform to applause and laughter. Soon, a party was in full swing in the observation bay as the colonists and crew celebrated their last night together.

A bright green agrivehicle rolls over a wide section of river plain, breaking up and tilling the soft soil made of years of silt deposits from the local river. Ahead of it, another vehicle dumps nitrogen-mix into the soil, making up for Bright Morning's unusual lack of the vital element.

Beside the quickly expanding agricenters, settling into concrete foundations mixed from local hard-soil, workers set up long trays in a similar manner, making arable soil on a much smaller scale. The hydroponic bays of Daedalus were completely intact but, unlike her reactor blocks, never designed to be moved wholesale... so a gentle transplant operation is prepared carefully by the resident farmers, agricultors, and botanists.

Skip a bit, brother...

The hydroponics bays transplanted, next step was to help the Eniqciri build a desalination and purification plant by removing one of Daedalus' power units and turning it into, in effect, a water turbine--sucking water into the cooling system and expelling it as steam into a domelike cooling chamber, where water drips down to the side and impurities are collected in a series of filter grids and a bowl-shaped depression inside the dome. Collections of Eniqciri nanites sort through the waste and neutralize it, with some of the excess water flow being used to wash it into collection bins where it can be sorted and reused.

That accomplished, colonists removed Daedalus' other power blocks and set them up around the river delta next to hydroponics bays where communities were planned. Prefabricated housing sprung up around the power production centers, and finally work began in earnest on the disassembly of Daedalus, Work Gears cutting away sections of hull and structure that would eventually find themselves used in the Bright Morning Triumvirate office, the colonial senate chambers, the civil defense headquarters.

Concurrent with this, colonists working with robot mining vehicles and some cargo-haulers with more prefabs wandered into the mountains, using data from Snoopy's survey density scans to find deposits of ore and set up small mining centers. Subsistence first, of course, export later.

Ten ships waited in orbit around Titan for the eleventh to arrive. It was wasn't really late, but the passengers and crew of the other ships were impatient to be on their way. It would take some time to get to their destination even at maximum warp and they were anxious to depart. Finally the surge of the nearby gate opening announced it's arrival and it slid through into Sol for the first time.

Of the now eleven ships only one would be staying at their destination - the newly arrived SDF Morning Star. A quick shuffle put the carriers and cruisers in a star shape with the freighters forming the inner points of the star. The Morning Star formed the center, and with a brief final burst of comm traffic they left Titan for Bright Morning. 32,000 colonists were on their way outsystem - the first official Sunset outsystem colony to be established.

----

Captain Jabbi of the Morning Star was very new to the job - the ship had finished it's shakedown run in the Ares local group only 2 days ago. A quick resupply and a trip from Ares to Titan had left her with nearly no information on the colony mission they were undertaking. Now she was reading up. The section on the world itself was done, and she was just going through the goods they were transporting along with the personnel numbers.

'32,000 colonists... Occupations are well rounded, plenty of talent... 200 marines? Guess it pays to be prepared. 32 pre-fab domes. Claz was saying something about burying them in the ice.' She moved to the next section and continued reading. 'Aerospace fighter base, self contained. Marine barracks and listening post, self contained. 4 planetary defense batteries.... what the hell? Who is shipping planetary defense batteries to a colony world?'

She sighed and moved on. The war must have gone straight to someone's head. Still there were other supplies ready as well. The carriers were going to deploy a satillite network when they arrived. 'Then they leave - leaving me to sit around a colony world until I either retire or have some crazy adventure that gets me promoted. Guess I will have time to learn the piano after all...'

There was a flare of white light a half-million kilometers from Bright Morning and the eleven ships of the colony force emerged into realspace. Hails were exchanged with the local forces and the tiny fleet headed into equatorial orbit.

----

"We come 320-odd lightyears and no one figured out a place to park?"

Captain Jabbi punched her controls and the screen zoomed to a closer view of the planet below.

"I see a lot of ice - and water. The name fits. Let's see here - we want a place close enough to the other settlements that they can be reached in an emergency, but far enough away that they can't get nuked together. At least if my guess about the paranoids that shipped four freakin defense batteries is right."

Sensors and eyes looked over the planet for the next week as a decision was made as to the best location. Meanwhile the carriers threw satillites out the back hatch, and the warships fought mock battles with the other ships in-system. Finally they found what they considered a perfect spot on a little lake with a bay close by. One by one the cargo pods were detached and lowered to the surface by two of the Shiva's. When they were all down the new colonists began to emerge as softsuits were donned and the desire for a look at their new home came over them.

The first step was to lay out and clear a site for the pre-fabricated domes to go up, then to get hydroponics up and running. They had a large supply of food but they needed to get this up and running to keep a good reserve. Heavy equipment rolled out, and one of the Shiva's leveled ground with precision bursts from it's ventral array. The pod containing the domes was opened and thousands of people began to put tab A into slot B over and over again.

OOC: I'm going to assume that my group just did it's repairs in peace and left. A bit of a mystery that will cause future conspiracy theorists on this planet to assume various things...

One by one the pre-fabricated domes rose in a long chain between the lake and the bay. As they were finished each in turn slowly turned green as shelves of plants were installed just inside the dome itself. Housing was erected inside this as the newest residents of Bright Morning began to reach out to the other colony sites. Hovercars speed over the ice bearing delegations from the tiny government that had formed to run the colony.

Further out from the colony domes the planetary defense batteries shipped from Mars were up and running. Deep shafts had been blasted into the ground and the silo shaped implacements simply lowered in. A couple test shots and straws were drawn to decide the three marines that would man each one for the next month. Then the rest returned to their new base, which formed the pendant on the necklace as it sat on the shores of the bay.

High overhead the Morning Star kept orbit. Crew were dispatched on scientific missions but ultimately it was a very boring mission. Captain Jabbi almost hoped for some pirates or raiders - something to cure the boredom that was weighing her and the crew down like a net.

Lt. Aerik was casually watching his console, though it was unlikely anything unusual would happen. Then as so often is the case, it did. Two warp signatures showed up as two ships dropped out of warp a half-million kilometers from Bright Morning.

"Captain - two warp sigs at 345x15 at half a mil. Sigs match a freighter and... Unknown signature on the other sig, though the computer identifies it as friendly. Main screen now."

The screen changed from a shot of the curve of Bright Morning as the ship orbited to a shot of the two ships. They were about a kilometer apart now - mere specks on the screen.

"Zoom on the second ship and try to open a comm channel."

The second ship appeared on the screen. It was a low rounded shape that was familiar in some ways but alien in others. Nacelles and torpedo bridges flowed together with none of the gaps found on a regular warship. Instead of the familiar brown and beige the ship was a mottled green with numerous smaller bulges and ovoids across the hull. No weapon points were seen, though the tips and sides of the 'nacelles' glowed softly through the skin of the vessel.

"QEStream has been initiated by the remote ship. They are not answering normal communications channels. Onscreen?"

"Do it."

The screen switched to a view of a familiar bridge. The crew was mixed species though there was a higher number of trilats - nearly half the bridge crew. The captain, a protoss, leaned forward in his chair before speaking.

"Captain Jabbi, your communications officer will find a data stream with our orders and authentication codes underlying this one. I will explain briefy if you'd like though."

"Go ahead Captain."

"We are here to begin construction of an Athena-Class gate. The freighter carrys a quarter of the parts required for the construction as well as a new group of colonists from Mars. The Hades will remain here while the gate is under construction."

This raised eyebrows. An Athena-Class Gate took years to construct. Even if the gate had been pre-built and disassembled it might take a year to finish. The Morning Star had been on-station around Bright Morning on and off for quite some time, but never a full year.

"The Morning Star has been ordered to provide assistance in the construction in any way possible. We are also going to request assistance from the engineering crews aboard the Triumvirate ships in orbit - undoutably they would like something to do as well."

----

The freighter dropped it's cargo pods and waited in orbit for the next day - then another Hades-Class arrived with another freighter and the empty freighter left with it. Another week passed while construction proceeded and two more freighters dropped off parts and departed. A supply cruiser showed up and topped off the Morning Star and Hades and left, leaving them with the slowly growing gate.

"Alright - fire her up."

Tests had been run on the power systems, generators, and other systems of the Aurora-Class gate for the last week. Now it was time for a full test - linking this gate to the gate around Titan.

The massive armored doors swung open, and the sixteen generators built into each one began to glow as the energy built in their capacitors. The doors opened completely and locked into place. A minute passed as the generators continued to build up their charge then there was a bright flare as space itself was ripped apart by the release of the energies built up. A wormhole some seven hundred meters across flared into existance as a similar wormhole opened in the Sol system untold light years away.

After a moment the light faded and the wormhole closed. The test was complete, but the tests were not. Tomorrow it would be a cargo pod thrown through, then a powered but unmanned ship. Then finally in a week the Morning Star would attempt the crossing.