NationStates Jolt Archive

The Duke sat at his desk, grinning to himself. Life had been good recently. Things had taken a bit of a downturn for a while, what with being killed and all, but he was back on top. Deneb was once more under his rule, his shipyards were under repair and would soon be turning out Galaxy-known ships again, and there was not an enem of Klonor in sight. Yes, it truly was a good day to be Duke.

Yet good things seldom last, even if it is merely a peacful respite being enjoyed in private. For his privacy was soon shattered by the presence of an obviously excited page with a just as obviously important message in his hand.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, sir, but the SSS has been used. A message from the base at Gamma Draconis."

"Gamma Draconis? Oh boy, what has Keane gone and gotten himself into this time? WHat nation is attacking us now?"

"Uh......sir.?"

"Wait a second......."

Slowly his face fell, his mind catching up to his mouth as he woke from his daze.

"Hot damn! Give me the message!"

He snatched it from the pages hand, his eyes widening in wonder as he read the first communication he's had from Keane in years.

Greetings Exalted Duke! I bring news from the Draconian-Rossian Alliance, the systems belonging to your most loyal subjects. We have only just recently learned of your return to power, and we could not be more excited. We have eagerly awaited your return, and now that it has arrived we are ready. We would like to enter into negotiations with you for the union of the Draconian-Rossian Alliance with the Grand Duchy of Klonor. We regret having ever left the warm embrace. Please, will you consent to our discussion?

"Sir............should I respond?"

"Yes, tell him.........tell him.......tell him I agree. Tell him we're ready for a United Klonor again."

#tag#

#tagged

Johnas Gate, Viceroy of the Soverign inhabitants of SR-2091, sat at his desk and pondered. Events around the Universe had been a bit mixed recently. In the overall scheme of things SR-2091 was doing well. The Sub-Galactic Power Stations were up and running, making trips to the Milky Way Galaxy, though still not easy, at least possible. Even though negotiations with the ESUS had broken down they'd at least made contact with other civilized nations, leaving hope for more evolved connection with the Galaxy proper. Even the military was doing well, with the recent breakthroughs in Nexus Technology their might had nearly tripled. But still the people of SR-2091 digressed, for something was missing in their lives. Some........connection that had been severed, a part of them that had been simply sliced off. They still longed for companionship. The companionship of Klonor.

His interlude was interrupted by various beeping sounds, his watch and secretary both signaling him that it was 4 o'clock. Time for the daily staff meetings.

In walked his various ministers and aides, all with a myriad of reports ranging from new weapons developments to decisions of the funding of school playgrounds. He listened, nodded where he needed to nod, said 'yes' where a 'yes' was needed, and generally stayed out of the discussion. The Viceroy was mainly a figurehead position; his only real authority came when dealing with other nations, and when you take into account SR-2091's distance from any nation...........well, you can see what I mean when I say he doesn't really do much. However, he was about to be thrust into the forefront of the meeting.

Up stood Was Nurxs, his Minister of Espionage. His title was pretty self-explanatory, it was his job to pay attention to what was going on in the Universe and to get the information SR-2091 needed, no matter how he got it. He was quite good at his job.

"Sir, I think you'll be interested in this. All of you."

He turns to address the entire assembly, not just the Viceroy.

"We have news from the Draconian-Rossian Alliance.........they've made contact with the Duke."

The response was like a bomb going off

"WHAT?"

"How is that possible?"

"There's no way!"

"It can't be!"

"Holy shit!"

A dozen men spoke up at once, all of them voicing the same shock and disbelief. Afterall, how often do you hear that a dead man has been contacted?

"It's true. It seems that the stories of the Duke's.........regenerative abilities were not just stories."

Finally, Johnas spoke up:
"Was, are you actually telling me that the Duke really is immortal?"

"Yes, sir."

"...................."

Was took the stunned silence in stride, for he was prepared for their wonder. He'd felt it himself when he'd first learned of the Duke's reincarnation.

"It seems the DRA has receded further than anybody had predicted, their technology and resources are barely able to keep their ships flying, combat is totally out of their reach. In a recent battle three ships defenses just shut down. They can't keep going on like that, they're just waiting to be annexed. They're desperate, and Deneb seems like a shining beacon of hope."

"Yes, but if Deneb truly is ruled by the Duke again............."

He didn't even need finish the sentence, ever other person present was thinking the same thing.

then we can finally go home.

"I want the New Dawn 03 out of dock in half an hour! Get her fueled, crewed, and put some diplomats on her. Now! We're going to Deneb! We're going............home"

~Tagg

Supreme General Yunger Keane sat at his desk, positively vibrating with rage.

That idiot! Retreating like that! He might as well has sent up a giant flare above a sign "Attack here!" I understand that he couldn't stay there with his ships just falling apart, but there must have been something else he could have done. He may have just signed the death certificate of the DRA.

He kept stewing for hours, going over the same situation again and again. No matter where he ended, it didn't look good.

"Sir? I have a message for you......"

Keane looked up in anger, his rage easily visible

"What? What the hell could be so important that you'd just barge in here?"

"We have a transmission from Deneb, sir."

"Deneb? What the hell could they want?"

"I don't know, sir. It seems like the Duke is inviting you to a conference."

"Really? Hmmmmm, this could work to our favor. Something big must have happened. Something............big. Ready the Colossus. The Colossus still works, right?"

"Uh........yes, sir."

"About damn time something worked. Okay, ready the Colossus and lay in a course for Deneb. I'll be boarding within the hour. Let's head to Deneb. I think me and the Duke have much to discuss........."

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Admiral Calvin sat in his office, fear evident upon his face. He was playing a dangerous game, one that could cost his life if he screwed up. However, if he pulled it off..............

A page knocked timidly, poking his head within the office and seeking for permission to enter

"Sir? May I enter?"

"Yes, Anns, come on in. Have a seat. Any news?"

"Uh.......yeah. It looks like it's all going well. Keane is on his way to Deneb. We were lucky, though. I still don't see how none of the observers caught our signal."

"It doesn't matter. As long as it got through undetected. Maybe this thing will actually work."

"I hope so, sir."

"As do I, Anns, as do I."

(OOC: Check your TGs Klonor...)

OOC: I have. Both here and on the ESUS forums. I don't see any new messages

(OOC: *bangs head on the wall* I was just wondering if you needed any help...)

OOC: Help with what exactly? This is pretty much just a story. Not really even an RP, since I'm the only one here. I (and most other people on NS) know what's going to happen here (I've been blathering about it for months now). I appreciate your offer, but don't really see any way to take you up on it

IC:

Normally the crew members abord the Massometric Stations had very simple lives. Go to work, stare at blank screens for hours on end, go home, sleep, and then it loops back to the beginning. There's the occasional stray asteroid or abandoned ship, but usually their monitored areas were devoid of anything worth noticing. Of course, there are always bizarre exceptions to the norm. Such as when a ship nearly three km long with power levels higher than anything previously encountered suddenly pops into the system and begins broadcasting.

Attention inhabitants of Deneb, this is Captain Ceer abaord the New Dawn 03, escorting the Viceroy of the Soverign Nation of SR-2091. Brothers, we have finally come home! We seek a meeting with the Grand Duke Solomon Klonor, as well as safe passage to the Denebian shipyards above K-Deneb. Please respond.

Tros Weod just stared, mouth gaping wide. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. That ship, the New Dawn 03 as it called itself, was unbelievable. The sensor readings were staggering, he was reading energy levels equal to dozens of MiniStar Engines. Weapon scales were off the charts. Hell, even the size was mind boggling. Tros couldn't even blink for half a minute, until the message was on its fourth repetition and finally managed to break through the mental barrier.

"Uh.....New Dawn 03, this is Sensor Station 12 in distant Solar Orbit.......uh.........please hold as we attempt to contact the proper authorities.......and........uh...........please stay on the line."

He then began to type like mad, calling for a dozen computer searches and sending a signal to Fleet Command all at once. Unfortunately, he didn't quite know what to search for.

What the hell is that ship? Where the hell is it from? Jesus Christ, what the hell does it want? Okay........stop.......breathe..........think..........it called itself the New Dawn 03, maybe the computer has a record of it........

Several seconds later.....

Ho-Ly SHIT. A Klonor ship? What the hell? A....what does that say.........a Nexus Class? Jesus H. Christ, that's one of ours? Okay......calm down. Send a message to Fleet Command, the'll know what to do. But what if they dont? Weapons readings are.........what the hell is that thing? Holy crap, I've never even seen a Beam Cannon like that! I hope to God that the Generals know what the hell we're supposed to do

"Attention New Dawn 03, you have been granted access to the Denebian Shipyards. Please proceed at once to the docking stations. Um........ah..........and........uh........welcome to Deneb."

He quickly closes the transmission channel, nearly fainting as he saw the ship open a mammoth Sub-Space portal unlike any he'd ever seen.

Okay......it's gone now. Well, at least it's several billion km in-system. Nothing to worry about. Now just calm down.

At that point another monstrous Sub-Space Node opened and out swooped the Colossus..........

It took quite a while to get a hospital ship out to Sensor Station 12, but the doctors are sure Tros will recover. They say it was only a minor heart attack.

Tag

TAG

Klonor are you part of the ESUS again?

OOC: The DRA is, yeah

IC:

The Colossus slowly swam through space, a serene image of both power and grace. It's main engines were dark, only small maneuvering thrusters on the sides were moving it towards the massive space dock in orbit over K-Deneb. This was the first time in decades that the Denebian Shipyards had hosted the famed Colossus, and the crews of both the ship and port were savoring every moment of it. A full overhaul was scheduled, expecting to bring the Colossus back up to peak fighting standards. Of course, if the negotiations didn't go well the Colossus would never leave the dock, but the servicemen were avoiding that particular point of discussion.

General Keane was sitting in his personal quarters, impatiently waiting for the Colossus to dock so he could get down the planet.

"How soon until we're attached?"

"Only a few minutes, sir. There's some minor incompatibilites between the station and the ship. It looks like there's been a few changes since the last time."

"Yes, of course. Notify me the instant we're docked. I want to get down to the planet as soon as possible, the Duke must have something extremely important to say if he even approached me."

"Yes, sir. What I don't get is why you don't just use a Phase Gate. You wouldn't need to bother with a shuttle then."

"You don't think I've thought of that? The Duke has had all the Vicegral palace Phase Gates taken off-line, I guess he thinks we'll try to attack him."

"Ah. Of course, sir."

"Now, I better get to the shuttle bays. Time to go meet the former employer."

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The Duke stood on the Palace's private launch pad, eagerly awaiting the arrival of General Keane. He never thought the day would come, but it looked like Klonor was going to finally be One again. He was most excited.

"Sir? The Colossus is almost docked. Keane should be on his way momentarily."

"Excellent."

When the messenger didn't leave the Duke turned back to him, a bit perplexed

"Was there something else?"

"Yes, sir. There's that other ship which just arrived. You know, that Nexus ship."

"The Nexus..........oh dear God. I completely forgot about them! What have they said?"

"Not much, sir. The ship is the New Dawn 03. They claim to be from SR-2091"

"The New Dawn 03? SR-2091? Oh-My-God. We thought they were lost! There were no communications! We didn't know!"

"Sir?"

"Transmit an immediete signal to that ship. Get a representative down here as soon as possible. I need to talk with them."

"Yes, sir. But what about General Keane?"

"Oh bloody hell. We can't send him away..........have him come down as well. Maybe we can kill two birds with one stone. Inform them both that the other will be there. Maybe this will all turn out for the best. God I hope so."

"Yes, sir."

The Duke was still excited, but it was a much different form of excitement now.

Johnas Gate stared out of his cabins window, awed at the size of the Denebian Shipyards. He'd been a child when their colony fleet had left Klonor space, barely able to even remember what the shipyards looked like. So many factors were a mere blur in his mind, decades away from home often leaves some rather large gaps in the memory. But that didn't change the fact that this was home, and joy filled his heart at seeing it once more.

"Sir, may I enter?"

"Of course Wells. What news do you bring?"

"Nothing much, sir. Standard communications between the ship and the station requesting supplies, and that's pretty much it."

"I suppose that's to be expected. I bet there a bit confused about why we aren't dead."

"Yes, sir. Hold on one second....... I'm getting a transmission from the bridge. We have a message from the Duke!"

"Spit it out!"

"He wants to arrange a meeting, sir! He says that he'd like to have a representative commute down and sit in on the negotiations between him and Keane."

"Really? Excellent! Tell him I'll be there in 15 minutes. Then send a message to the docking bays, have an Elysium fueled up and ready to go as soon as possible. I'm going to meet the Duke!"

With that he walked to the wall, pressed in a complex series of numbers, and promptly stepped through it to the docking bay some 2.6 km away.

The three men sat at a table, three different emotions drawn clearly on their faces.

One man had nothing but awe, his mind barely able to comprehend the fact that he was sitting there with the Duke Solomon Klonor.

One man nothing but calm indifference, his mind still not even sure why he was there.

The third man had nothing but fear. Not fear for his life, or for the lives of his people, but for the life of his nation. Any problem's here could plunge Klonor into a civil war it could not hope to survive.

The Duke spoke first, breaking the terrible silence

"So, did either of you see any good menties recently?"

"Well, there was this good documentary on recently. It had to do with....well......with you. The Manifest Incident I believe it was. Sir, if I may say so, you were simply magnificent."

Three guesses as to which man said that.

"I nearly fell out of my seat when you......."

"Excuse me, but I was there after all."

"Oh. Right. Yes, of course, sir."

"If I might butt in, I'd like to know why the hell we're here."

"General, I was about to ask you the same thing. After all, it was you who made the first move."

"Me? Are you insane? All I got was an invitation to a conference to be hosted by you!"

"Yes, I sent that. After I got your message asking for a conference!"

This went on for quite a while.

Finally, it was Johnas Gate who brought a halt to the bickering.

"If I might butt in this time, who the hell cares? We're all here, so let's work with it. Now, it seems to me that we are at a rather interesting moment in history. We three men control the largest remnants of what was once the Klonor Empire. General Keane, you rule the Draconian-Rossian Alliance which is in posession of the largest portion of the Klonor Space Corps. You have also annexed the system of Regulus, but we wont go there right now. Duke, you rule Deneb which has the Denebian Shipyards, those facilities alone have the capability of supporting and expanding that fleet. Also, your name alone brings power throughout Klonor. My people would gladly submit to your rule once again. I, though powerless in the ruling of SR-2091, am the final word in inter-national relations. SR-2091 has the most advanced technology in the former KE and, to be honest, neither of you has a chance in hell of conquering us. We all need each other, none more or less than the other. We're all here, so why not work together? We can build a new Klonor, better than the old!"

"So, what do you propose?"

Hours passed. Days flew by. Time had no meaning, the men were in their own little Universe. Fore they were not merely deciding the fate of themselves and their families, they were deciding the fate of nearly 10 billion people. The fate of a nation that stretched across the Milky Way Galaxy and beyond.

"So.............do we agree?"

Silence greeted the question. Silence and awe.

"Yes.......yes, I agree."

"I do, too, but..........."

"But what?"

"But.......can this truly be happening? Did we truly do it?"

"Yes, we did it. We did it!"

"We need to mark this moment. This moment makrs the re-birth of the Klonor Empire!"

"No, not the Klonor Empire. That name never fit. We were never an Empire."

"Then what?"

"Then.........I don't know."

"I have an idea. Perhaps........perhaps The Associated Systems of Klonor."

"I.............I...........I.............. I like it."

"As do I........as do I."

"Then send the announcement. The Associated Systems are here."

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The Associated Systems of Klonor
|
Klonor Assembly – 1 Delegate from each Inhabited Planet
People’s Assembly – 1 Delegate for each million inhabitants in a System
Executive office – 1 Delegate from each System
Royal Family – Veto and law proposal powers
Military Command – Veto and law proposal powers

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