NationStates Jolt Archive

Space. Aptly named, it is. There is nothing substantial throughout most of it's bulk. Even where it is crowded in Galaxies and Star Clusters and even Solar Systems, it's still pretty damned empty. And through this emptiness moves a speck of a speck of a speck of ten billion more specks of light, leaving behind a marginally larger speck.

"All morrings released, we have been cleared for departure."

"Full thrusters, take us out over Luna at 3/4 speed when we're clear."

"Aye. Full thrusters."

Position yourself in the right place, on the surface of the Moon near the slow moving dayline or in one of the shipyards above and you can see it without much trouble. The old earth in the grips of the new. Not just the broad blue disk, but the darkness light with countless points of light. London. Berlin. Moscow. Minsk. Athens. Countless others. The roadways across the continents are bright veins. Under the seas... light emerges even there, from the shelf cities. The icecaps gleam in angel white. The Midnight Sun is in full swing. Mountain ranges and even man made structures are seen by natural light. The Great Wall of China shows a faint blue strand across the land. And in front of it comes a speck of billions of specks, but it seems much more up close. She passes you by and as the silver gleam of the moon's reflectiopn hits it, a name is spelt in one of the languages of the planet beyond. CSS Ransom Castle. It's registry nember just below: CC-18.

"3/4 speed sir. ETA to Mars, eighteen hours."

-----------------------

16 Hours Later
Mars Orbit
Crimmond Third Fleet(unrecognized)
Southern Hemisphere

Admiral Vladimir Saratov strode the corridors of his flagship, the Huntress. He was on his way to the bridge, in prepeation to form the fleet up. To escape detection, they had spread out and began false search patterns, leading some to believe it was another Pirate hunt the Imperial Naval Command so loved to partake in. "Not this time." he muttered as he entered the bridge. "Abort search pattern. Send the signal for standard Armada box formation." An old formation based on bomber formations in the Second World War, a war which the Empire studied carefully.

Anyone monitoring the ships would see that almost immediatly they began converging on the flagship, a Lion Class Dreadnaught. The ammount of ships was nearly fifty. All ships that were registered as dismatled or destroyed by the Empire years before. An odd sight indeed.

Bump.

[OOC: Nation having colonies on Mars TAG. ]

[nation with territory not to far from mars, so i shall TAG this thread]

[#tagged by nation with colonies and scientific institutions on Mars and with hopes to expand (OOC: 5CN's puppet)]

On the Luzifer station, massive repairs took place. The damage the Martian Confederacy had done was far from being repaired. And despite the stations ability to repair itself, to regrow... The damage was far to massive, not to mention that regrowing takes time.

Outside the station, a few drones were occupied with salting the surface, salting it with crystalline spores, hardening it...

A few of them noticed the arriving fleet, but they didn´t overly care, and continued their work... The amount of ships arriving at planets was far too large to care about every single one.

[/glorified tag]

OOC: Um... you people DO see the letters R and P up there right? No more tags. You want to post from here on in, you MUST RP. If you do not, don't even bother coming back.

Two hours later the CSS Ransom Castle, along with several smaller ships that were also declared officially non-existant, moved into the first box of the armada. Two boxes of ten ships were assembled and the others were still on thier way.

Admiral Saratov looked out the viewport in his quarters. Mars was in veiw. He could see the silver sparkles that were cities, the bluish green oceans thought impossible just a few short decades ago and the activity around the nearby planet. His armada, which was ignoring all transmissions not from another ship in the armada, would be drawing attention soon. Whether it would be good or not remained to be seen.

Hey Crimmond, plan on finishing the confrence anytime soon?

bump

The growing armada just outside the martian orbit was making Winters, Captian of the TSD Defender uneasy, the ships were ignoring their hails, and that normally ment not good.

One last try, he thought.

"Leader of unidentified ship, This is Captain Winters of the TSD Defender, what is you business here?"

Again the ships merely continue their formations, no response given, just navigation officers conversing between the ships in the armada about course corrections and a few dozen fighter zipping about through the formations, presumably on Combat Area Patrol.

All the ships had their defenses at minimum sustanible levels, missiles armed, shields at navigational only and their engine outputs, though not providing propusion, were at least 3,000 times higher per ship than anything in the Imperial Totality Fleets. Their glow, ranging from yellow to red to blue, permiated the area, produsing an auroa around the ships with the overflow of energy interacting with each ship's shields.

Dammit. I sooo wished you'd reply

He turned to his aide.

"Let them know we're here Jenkins"

"Yessir"

A shot from the TSD Defender left and hit the side of the armadas flagship.

Erm, was that such a great idea??

"Unidentified Vessel, you will respond!"

Hope so.....

tag

God bless,

The Republic of Syskeyia

The ship rocked as the thrusters still attempted to keep station keeping. "Admiral Saratov to the bridge. All hands, General Quarters. We have been struck by enemy fire."

Minutes later, almost all of the ships in the armada had charged weapons and shields. Saratov sat down in his command chair and reviewed the fleet activity. Absolutly no conversations were going on between the ships. "Good. That makes the other side nervous. Any damage?"

"Shields were weakened considerably, but are at full strength. No hull damage. I think it was a warning shot."

"Weapons. Fire one missile volley in return. Detonate one kilometer from their bow. Arm them with 4 megaton warheads."

On the screen, accompanied by an almost imperceptiable vibration, ten missiles fired. Not one other ships followed suit, seeing that it was a counter warning.

If the missiles are not intercepted, the warheads explode, sending radiation and several EMP pulses out.

In the armada, normal radio traffic commences again and the ships begin to continue formations. The number of fighters zipping around seemes to have grown though.

TSF High Command,
Capital City of Vigvar,
Grand Duchy of Tarasovka,
Mars.

- So all in all these ships 'do not exist'?

- Yes, Sire.

- Well, seems as some penpusher made a big mistake somewhere. Alert status?

- The MCDF is already on the highest possible state of alert due to the hostilities between MIDAS and Kajal Imperium.

- Have a Battlegroup on stand by and ready to assist. And... we have two Golub mobile sensors in that area 'watching over' the MIDAS vs Kajal business. Have one deviated to check that 'fleet'... order them to stay at a safe distance... What's that?

The holomap suddenly blinked in a spot. Then a series of other blinks in an other spot.

- Some lonely ship is firing at what seems to be the flagship of that 'fleet'. The flagship is firing back...

- Tell the observer unit to stay at a safe distance. Total silence unless contacted first.

- Yes, Sire!

***

MCPF Patrol #4,
Martian Orbit.

- All right ladies and gentlemen. We have just got a new course to follow!

- What, again?

- Yes, again and again. Orders must be obeyed.

- The Command are going crazy. We have orders to check some other armada forming in the vicinity of Mars.

- An other one? Great, as if we hadn't enough with those MIDAS folks pooring in all their assets.

- Cut the chatter, officers! Watcheyes, you there?

The observer craft responded promptly and, as always, shortly.

- Yes.

- You got the new orders?

- Affirmative.

- Then follow up!

- Order confirmed.

The Commander of the police patrol just shook his head and sighed deeply in his helmet. Not only no information was available about these 'observer' craft in the technical database, apart their codename and category, but their crews also seemed to be made of wood. Or metal. Or both.

- Remember ladies and gentlemen - we keep total silence. We do not ask them who the hell they are unless they contact us first.

- Yes, Sire.

- Affirmative.

And so the six craft - five Piranha fighters and one observer craft changed their vector and set themselves on a new course...

[OOC:
The patrol used is related to this post here:
http://s4.invisionfree.com/The_Planet_Mars/index.php?showtopic=95&view=findpost&p=204151 ]

"We have been noticed by others. The weapons fire may have been picked up by the Martian defense nets."

Saratov turned in his chair. "Formation progress?"

"Another twelve hours. Box Alpha, Gamma and Epsilon are complete."

"Good. Maintain secondary alert."

"Aye. Sec... sir! A ship is decloaking half a kilometer off our bow!"

"On screen!"

Nothing appeared.

"On screen!"

"It is on screen, sir. Just painted with a black nonreflective coating. Switching to emmisions scanners."

The ship that appeared was a light cruiser, no running lights, no name on the hull, no windows.

"The Black Staff. Maintain General Quarters."

"Aye."

-----------------

Around the large dreadnaught, three more cruisers appeared. They were the same type as the other, just as stealthy. They just sat.

The major sign that anything was up was that every ship in the area that was part of the Armada, whether in formation or not, raised shields and armed weapons. The chatter ended again as well.

The LRRSV Cutty Shark, a Camden class destroyer, and the Spruce Head class frigates Disraeli Gears and Psycho Derelict head towards mars, tasked with picking up a shipment of ore. The ships' optical sensors (Crimmond ships with low IR, LIDAR, etc?) pick up a cloud of eerie, black ships.

On the bridge of the Cutty Shark, the sensors operators analyze the scene.

"Hmm. Seems to be a reasonably sized fleet. Crimmond ships, I bet," he says, shaking a pencil at the screen, "I wonder what they're up to."

(Crimmond ships with low IR, LIDAR, etc?)OOC: Low IR, low emmisions, low everything detecable. Which is exactly why they are seen. It's like that stealth ship the US Navy built. So radar proof that it leaves a hole on the screen. Track the hole and you've got the ship. Same thing. In a solar system, without the cloak(which actually adds emmisions and such, so it's a strange cloak) it has less emissions than the surrounding area.

Meanwhile on a far flung, distant world...

The golden masked General looked deeply at the goings-on near Ares with interest. Suddenly, he heard the familiar footfalls of the Emperor entering his Intelligence office.

“Who are we looking at today Klytus?” the emperor queried.

“And obscure body in the SK System Lord Ming,” General Klytus stood out of respect, “I believe the inhabitants refer to it as ‘Mars’.” Klytus’ tone gave the impression that the planet’s name was almost dirty, or at the very least, uncivilized.

Ming the Merciless stepped up to the View-set and adjusted the magnification wheel on the control console to bring the red orb into focus. “A neighbor of the ‘Earth’ we’ve been keeping an eye on?” Ming asked.

“Yes your highness. There seems to be some traffic between Earth and this ‘Mars’. Several ships moving about…and do you see that energy signature there my Lord? It looks as though they are attempting to employ some primitive form of ‘Inviso-Field’.”

Ming stared at the view-set and observed the paths of the ships shown near the tiny crimson sphere. Their technology seemed antique, barely able to move about in the void of space, much less pose a threat to the mighty legions of Planet Mongo.

“Shall I dispatch war rocket ‘Ajax’ to investigate your majesty?” General Klytus wondered aloud.

“Later,” Ming ordered, “For the moment the empire has more pressing concerns. Post one of your low ranking Intelligence officers to keep an eye on this ‘Mars’, it may prove some entertainment for us at a later date.”

Ming swept his cloak about him and left the office…

It looks as though they are attempting to employ some primitive form of ‘Inviso-Field’.OOC: Actually, not true. The ship is more than invisible on it's own. So much so that in areas with lots of energy emisions, such as a solar system, it leaves a 'hole' in the sensor readings. The 'cloak' is actually a sophisticated noise maker which pumps out emissions that make the ship look more like surrounding space.

Ok... they mean business. Right now we both know we exist, i'll try talking again

"Ok Armada Flagship. Agressive negotiations over. I am Captian Winters of the TSD Defender. What is your business here? Can we assist?"

The Armada doesn't respond. Neither do the newly arrived stealthy light cruisers.

"Will the shields hold?" Admiral Saratov asked quietly.

"I believe so, but the Crossbow and the Demonwraith are standing by to attack similtaniously."

Saratov turned back to the screen and smiled. "Fire."

--------------------

What ensued was most likely the shortest battle in space combat history. Before the weapons could even hit, the light cruisers self destructed, sending megatons of radiation and shockwaves through formation box Alpha.

The Dreadnaught's shields had failed at being bombarded with so much, so fast. It's main engines were dark, lights flicker all over. It began to drift.

Immediatly, a destroyer and a superheavy battlecruiser moved to it's aid and attached morrings to it. Still, only internal traffic was heard. Not one distress call, not one message to the rest of the galaxy.

A few minutes later, the Dreadnaught's engines flickered back to life and the other's released the morrings, but stayed in positions near it.

The three LRR vessels watch as the battle unfolds.

"A battle."
"I see."
"Wait, no, an explosion."
"I see."
"Do you say anything else?"
"I see."

The sensors operator turns away from his annoying colleague. He calls up the damage control officer, who is housed in a bubble on the hull, and offers an excellent view.

"So, Henri, what are you a' seein?"

The damage control officer, a robot, looks towards the source of the explosion, not terribly distant.

"Musta been the shortest battle in space history."

"Musta been the shortest battle in space history." :lol:

*aboard the TSD Defender*

"Crikey!"

"What the hell just happened?"

"Well, i'd say the shortest space battle in history, but i doubt anyone else'd think that..."

"Right, well i better try hailing them again i guess, otherwise we'll be stuck here"

"We can't leave can we?"

"Of course not! If we leave, the RP'll go on with out us, and then something good'll happen and we'll miss it coz we left"

"Oh... right"

"Armarda Vessel, do you need assitance now? Or would you rather blow up a few more light cruisers?"

From around the planet comes another Crimmond vessel. Another Dreadnaught. "This is Fleet Admiral Telsia Munro, commanding CSS Doomslayer. Admiral Saratov you are to stand down immediatly and be placed under arrest for treason against the Empire. All Imperial ships, disperse and go about your patrols."

The Doomslayer was listed as a Lion Class Dreadnaught, Flagship of the Imperial Naval Forces and command ship of the first fleet. In it's wak came three other ships. Vlad Class Heavy Battlecruisers. Hull markings identifyed the CSS Vladius, first ship of the Vlad class, the CSS Columbia and the CSS Frigate Eater. Presumably the last was named that because it carried twice as many missile systems as the other two. Anything smaller than a light cruiser would be destroyed in one volley probably.

The Fleet still did not respond.

((OOC: Right, erm... what part, if any, do ya want me to play in this?))

OOC: Any part you want, just that Saratov is not a normal Admiral, as you can see by my last post, so he will not respond to anything but what he wants to. Munro, however, is the Head Military Advisor to the Emperor, so she follows rules of conduct.

Now... I'm just wondering where the hell the other Mars nations are...

The three LRR vessels, the Cutty Shark, Disraeli Gears, and Psycho Derelict head towards mars. They wait to be noticed by martian defense grids.

Meanwhile, the light cruiser LRRSV Sergeant Pepper, a specially designed cruiser for EDF use and one of only 9 built, slides out of its berth and heads towards mars.

It was 20 years ago today, sergeant pepper taught the band to play.....

"So, what's up?"
"Some ships over mars."
"And that surprises me why?"
"They look kinda funny."
"Uh huh. Funny how?"
"Sleek funny."
"Oh. Yeah, I see where you're coming from."

OCC:

I usually do not name my ships after serious ships, but the name Cutty Shark has non-serious roots. In one monty python sketch, they were in bed, and the grandfather who was also in bed was hammering something. They turned on the light and he was holding a few pieces of wood. He said that he was building ship models in the dark, and you can guess the rest.

encrypted message to admiral munro

"Admiral, this is Captain Winters of the TSD Defender, can we assist you with this Admiral Saratov?"

end of message

"Sir, recieving a message for you from another ship. They wish to know if we require assistance."

"Tell them that we may need it, if the armada decides to be uncooperative. Open a channel to the Huntress."

"Open."

"Admiral Saratov, your ship is crippled. You will not be able to complete your plans, now stand down and prepare to be boarded."

Finally a message is returned. The bridge of the Huntress is a mess, panels sparking, smoke perferating the room and at least one dead body being hauled off. "Sorry to dissappoint you Fleet Admiral... but you know little about our plans. In fact... you should direct your sensors aft."

Behind the four ships, a rift in space opened and a single ship emerged. It looked like one of the dreadnaughts, but had sixty percent more mass. A battleship. It opens a channel. "This is the CSS Renegade, flagship of Task Force Renegade. Admiral Munro... I suggest you stand down before we get angry." Task Force Renegade was the embarassment of the Empire. A fleet that went rogue and refused to return to Sol.

"Sir! We have a huge dreadnaught on our sensors now"

Captain Winters looked at the ship on the HUD.

Thats really big... bugger...

"Orders Sir?"

"Well, we are a fleet of 3, the Crimmond fleet masses 4 ships, thats 7. We should be able to take that battleship. Get the ships to report in..."

"This is Captain Cava of the Trixian Destroyer Rogue reporting in, we are fully operational"

"This is Captain Brent of the Trixian Dreadnaught Imperial reportin status, we are AOK"

"Very good. All ships, move closer to the Crimmond Fleet, they'll need our help now for sure!"

*The Trixian Fleet, containing a Trixian Class Star Destroyer, A Trixian Class Destroyer and a Trixian Class Dreadnaught, begins to move closer to the Crimmond Fleet*

"Admiral Munro, can we take it?"

The Sergeant Pepper forms up with the other 3 ships, and heads for mars.

"Calling the martian defense forces, we are picking up what looks like a battle in orbit. We are wondering if you might need assistance."

The battleship slowly edge forward, slowenough it must be uging trusters intead of it's main engines. Odd souding, but this close to a group of other ships and a planet, a ship of it's size had reason to be cautious. You can run out room real fast.

The four ships Munro commanded moved away from the battleship and began a wide arch back to it. The frontal armor was always the strongest on Crimmond ships of the line, as their secondary use in a battle was Kamakazi runs. "We might be able to take it. That class has been out of service for about a decade. I'd make sure your FTL drives are ready though."

The Armada was still staying in position, forming up. The Huntress seemed to be stableizing it's power systems.

OOC: Didn't see this thread until now. One question though, will I know the armada is from Crimmond, or have you masked the ship signatures?

"M'lady, we are detecting a fleet in orbit. The unknown fleet has fired on another vessel of unknown origin. With all the fighting around Mars, we should be cautious."

"Call up the fleetyard and send out a Starcraft to investigate. I want to know who these ships belong to. If they recieve fire, tell them to back off."

The fleetyard was relatively calm as it "followed" Mars. Around it was a cloud of battleships and war-yachts, mostly being disassembled a few at a time for the newer ships to be built and replace them. In the midst of the swarm of activity, a huge ship pulled away from the others. It dwarfed the rest, and was as large as the hulking fleetyard itself. It was differant from the others, besides it's shear size. The behemoth was a great layed out pentagon, with a large three sided pyramid rising out of it. The pyramid was sretched, with one point running down the middle of the pentagon. On each side of this were smaller pyramids. The ship was a Starcraft, the first Bajoni Gravship. The Starcraft slid away from the rest of the fleet and made its way to Martian orbit.

OOC: All the Crimmond ships are obviously Crimmond ships by emitions and the IFF codes sent out by the AI systems. There is something of note though: The Armada and the battleship have emissions far higher than a ship of their size in the fleet would usually have.

http://hometown.aol.com/enkubusa87/images/bajonistarcraft2.jpg
(OOC: Ignore the earth)

The Starcraft slowed as it reached the Armada. As it began scanning the ships, a transmission was sent from Olympus through the Starcraft, and to the Crimmond flagship.
"Crimmond fleet, please state your purpose here. We welcome our friends in Crimmond, as always, but the arrival of such a large fleet perplexes us."
-Lady Azura

The Asuryan Fleet observed all the strange actions of The Mon-Keigh with great interest, what exactly was happening seemed unclear.

'Admiral I detect Weapons fire, and multiple explosions, if there was a conflict it is over... Should I send for reinforcments?'

Aboard the Flagship a confused scratching of heads was occuring, 'Hmm yes send a request to the Council for the...' A Brief checking of manifests '2nd Khaines Fleet to be re-directed to our location, and take us back towards Mars, I don't fully understand what is going on out there, but I won't leave our Colony open. still select a course that will avoid passing near the Ctan Vessels, no need o add to tensions there.'

'Message sent to the Council and course laid in, engaging now sir'

The rest of the Fleet soon followed the Flagship in a confused approach to Mars.

The Armada was almost fully complete at this point, only one box still awaiting ships. The Flaghip's running lights popped on and it surged forward a bit before the helmsman caught it. A single message is sent to Bajoni ship. "We are not a Crimmond Fleet." Surely they were in the mechanical sense...

The Armada was almost fully complete at this point, only one box still awaiting ships. The Flaghip's running lights popped on and it surged forward a bit before the helmsman caught it. A single message is sent to Bajoni ship. "We are not a Crimmond Fleet." Surely they were in the mechanical sense...

Lady Azura was already getting annoyed. She knew this was not a response from the Crimmond she knew.
"Then why are you in Crimmond ships?"
The tone of her voice made it clear she was not in the mood for any sarcastic answers.

The LRR EDF flotilla decides to pay a visit to the Bajon spacedocks for a tune-up.

"Calling Bajon shipyards, this is the LRR EDF 6th flotilla, requestin permission to dock."

Transmission to LRR ships
"Permission to dock granted."

"Because... we are dissidents from the naval command." came the simple response.

"Because... we are dissidents from the naval command." came the simple response.

"Then what is your purpose in Martian Space?"
Her voice was clearly becoming less welcoming.

Almost as in reaction to her thoughts, the ships around the fleetyards prepared for a fight, should the rogue armada prove hostile.
(The fleet actions are unknown to the Crimmond Fleet)

"We arepreparing to defend ourselves from the ships under Admiral Munro's command." A truthful, if evasive, answer.

Well its clear that rogue fleet ain't moving anytime soon...

"Captains, we have to move in toward Munro's fleet, i don't want him falling under attack and us to far away what it counts"

"But sir, why is this our problem? We can just leave"

"I know, but have the Crimmond Empire owing us one could be good for national relations!"

"I see"

"Carry on"

Transmission to LRR ships
"Permission to dock granted."

"Roger that, Bajoni command. By the way, what is that fleet a hair's breadth away?"

Lady Azura closed the transmission to the rogue armada.
'Let's see what an actual Crimmond admiral has to say.'

Transmission to Admiral Munro's Fleet:
"Greetings Admiral. Could you be so kind as to explain the presence of the rogue Crimmond fleet? Thier answers are very lacking of information."

"Roger that, Bajoni command. By the way, what is that fleet a hair's breadth away?"
OOC: Assuming you mean the rogue Crimmond fleet...

Fleetyards to LRR Ships:
"From what information we have recieved, they are a dissident fleet from Crimmond. Other ships have arrived from Crimmond as well. That is all we know at the moment. A Starcraft is gathering more information at the moment."

If he had been a silent observer he had still observed and the Admiral on the Asuryan fleet flagship was far from pleased, it appeared a disagreement within a Mon-keigh nation had spread to a place it had no busisness coming.

'Inform the rest of the fleet to form up behind me, if anything erupts you are to ensure that the conflict does not spread into any place where it could place our people at risk, I don't care what side the ships may come from, if they appear to place our territories under any threat destroy it.'

And open me a line with both the Rebels and the Loyalists'

A few moments later the Admiral spoke up again. 'Greetings to the two Mon-Keigh Leaders, Your little disagreement is of no interest to us, your cause unimportant, what is important to us, is the Planet you seem to have decided to have this fight out in. Let me make it clear any vessel that might pose any danger to the Kionash assets on Mars, or too Mars in general will be engaged and destroyed. Take this fight elsewhere gentlemen.'

As he spoke within the Asteroid belt a shimmering of the Web and the Second Khaines fleet exited, and yet it appeared still too few, and so a furtehr request was sent for more re-inforcements, eventually they would send for all the Khaine's Fleets, for now through the Third was on-route.

Admiral Munro responded to that last message as her ships found themselvse between an armada and a battleship. "We have been part of the Martian Defense Forces since Mizar 3 was first founded on Mars. We have no intention of blowing up chunks of your planet."

The armada simply beagn final placement of ships. WIthin a few minutes it was complete. A single order was given. "Fire."

Both the battleship and the armada beagan to fire on the three heavy batlecruisers and the dreadnaught. They returned fire at the Battleship, as it was the greatest threat.

OOC: Armada is at long range and using high powered lasers. The four ships and tyhe battle ship are using ion weapons and scores of miniature missiles designed to pepper shields and armor until they are useless.

'understood well good luck Admiral... I hope you understand through if we remain cautious, these things have habits of spiraling out beyond the initial plans of the combatents... Asuryans hand out.'

"Sir, Munro is coming under fire!"

"Ok, get captain Cava and Brent to take there ships to the right, and close until they come into weapons range, then fire upon that dreadnaught slash deathstar!"

"Yessir!"

"Oh, then bring us round on the left and spin our axis so are belly is showing, that way we can deploy fighters and mostly all of our guns will be ready to fire on that dreadnaught"

"Yessir" The cadet went to get those orders out and Captian Winter sat in his command chair.

Here goes nothing

"Admiral, we're on our way..."

The battleship sees the incoming ships, as does the armada, and both release their fighters. From the battleship comes two hundred, from the armada just under two thousand. The armada fighters are still several minutes off though.

The fire fight between the battleship and Munro's fleet grows a bit more intense as the battleship launches nuclear warheads, disabling the shields of one battlecruiser, which peels off from the others in a rather impressive sprial downward loop under the battleship... right into the departing fighters. The ship takes minor damage but at least fifty fighters are destroyed as the cruiser plows through.

The armada ceases fire for now, apparently satisfied.

Fleetyards to LRR Ships:
"From what information we have recieved, they are a dissident fleet from Crimmond. Other ships have arrived from Crimmond as well. That is all we know at the moment. A Starcraft is gathering more information at the moment."

"Alright, thanks for the information. What is the docking procedure?"
"Detecting energy spikes, weapons blasts and the like from the shady fleet towards a Crimmond fleet!"
"Bajoni control, we are detecting what appears to be a battle between the unknown fleet and a group of ships which appear to be a Crimmond fleet."

"Alright, thanks for the information. What is the docking procedure?"
"Detecting energy spikes, weapons blasts and the like from the shady fleet towards a Crimmond fleet!"
"Bajoni control, we are detecting what appears to be a battle between the unknown fleet and a group of ships which appear to be a Crimmond fleet."

"Pull into a maintenance tunnel, and we wil automatically lock on a boarding ramp for your crew. We will see to the fighting..."

The 8 starcrafts pulled some distance away from the fleets and opened a transmission to Munro's Fleet and the rebels.
Munro's Fleet:
"We hope to prove our friendship again to Crimmond. You only need ask."

Rebel Fleet:
"Why have you broken off from Crimmond?"
The tone of Lady Azura's voice revealed that she really did want to know, though she did not hint at a reason.

(retcon)

The armada fires nuclear misiles in the path of three of the rounds, causing them to miss. The rest slam into several ships. All but two are cruisers, who shields hold, but the destroyer near the flagship has it's shields fail and the final shell rips through the shields of a frigate, causing thre missile bays to cook off, disabling the ship.

The armada then begins firing similtaniously on the Starcrafts with all missiles and heavy lasers.

I edited the post before this was posted. I didn't want to fire yet. Depending on the answers to my transmissions I will either engage them or withdraw.

Munro grinned as the deck heaved. She hadn't been in a batttle for years. "Bajon ships... help if you want, we're just waiting on reinforcements from Luna." as she spoke, the battlecrusier that had rammed the fighters restord it's shields and performed a four point rolling loop back on the battleship.

The armada stayed still, not responding for several minutes. Finally Saratov responds. "We left because the Empire(OOC: no one here knows about the name change) has lost sight of it's power. We are tired of this solar system, so we are going to leave."

The Starcrafts hung back, obviously interested in what Saratov had to say.
Saratov's Fleet:
"What has happened in Crimmond? Is Lord Tian no longer your generous leader. Tell us what has happened to our friends in Crimmond?"

OOC: Bajon doesn't ICly know what's happened to Crimmond in a long time.

OOC: If you check some of my other threads, you'll see this info is out of date, but even in Sol system, news sorta gets there when it gets there...

IC: Saratov laughed. "Tian is dead and buried. His assasian is minister of intelligence, a lapdog to Agent Delta, the new Emperor. He's just cut ties to everyone else in the world and is building up to annex Europe. We could care less about who's in power though. We've been planning this for a long time. This system is not enough for us. So we are preparing to leave. The public won't care. After all, we don't even exist... check the registries on our ships. They should come up as destroyed or dismantled. The navy lied through it's ass and kept us a secret."

The Trixian Fleet, after hearing these words, recoiled/

What is going on?!

Message only2 Munro

"Did you know this fleet was kept secret? And if so, why was it?"

IC: Saratov laughed. "Tian is dead and buried. His assasian is minister of intelligence, a lapdog to Agent Delta, the new Emperor. He's just cut ties to everyone else in the world and is building up to annex Europe. We could care less about who's in power though. We've been planning this for a long time. This system is not enough for us. So we are preparing to leave. The public won't care. After all, we don't even exist... check the registries on our ships. They should come up as destroyed or dismantled. The navy lied through it's ass and kept us a secret."

"Why?"
Clearly, she was very interested at this point, along with being a little worried and angry upon the news of Lord Tian's death. She let her voice betray her thoughts; she was leaning towards helping Saratov now. However, he would need explain quickly if they wanted any help.


OOC: Trixia, that convo was between me and the rebels only. You wouldn't know anything that was said by me to Munro or Saratov.