NationStates Jolt Archive

Salm stood aboard the bridge of the KLD Revolution, Flagship of the Klonor Liberation Front, and stared into space. The Revolution hung in a Stellar Orbit just beyond Pluto, waiting for its first target to show itself.

"Sir, don't you think we should move further in-system? What can we expect to find so far out?"

That would be Captain Nurelo, the man who would have been Commander of the Revolution had Salm not decided to make it his own.

"No, this is good. There are a couple hundred nations living in Sol, we move any further in and they'll probably find us. We're just looking for a little extra food, no need for us to start a war. Besides, this is the standard Entry Point for several dozen shipping companies. They'll be flying right into our sights. Literally."

"Good point, sir."

"You're god damn right it is! Now get up here, we have just enough time for me to spray paint the Bulls-eye on your back. Uh......by Bulls-eye I of course mean camoflauge."
(Okay, I just really love RvB)

Suddenly the Ergometers began to flash wildly, indicating an FTL drive approaching.

"SIR! I think we're about to have company!"

"Excellent! Charge the Laser Turrets and begin Carbon rod insertion for the Beam Cannons."

"Yes, sir."

"May God have mercy upon whatever poor soul is on that ship."

"Amen, sir."

The three ships of the pirating fleet began to rotate in space, the two Leviathon class Heavy Cruisers moving to the sides of the Orion class Destroyer as they waitied for their prey to arrive.

OOC:

You prey people know who you are!

OOC: Yeah, so when do we come in? Now? Is this like the Sies/Klonor/JJR three-way intersection border or something?

OOC: Whichever of you gets here first. They're in Sol so anybody can show up

The USS Dergolinia was an older, G1 class freighter, made over 40 years before. Its old, worn out plasma drive had more overhauls than the entire Gaian Fleet combined. It held a skelliton crew of 12, the capitan couldn't afford to hire any more help, and carried little armorment. Currently, it was flying through the Sol System, carrying a shipment of Neuro-Weapons.
"Captain, we really have to stop to let the engines cool, they're heating up." The chief engineer, Owens said over the comm.
"Fine, but If we're late, its your ass." Edwards said, knowing that the engineer had kept them going for as long as he could.
"Yessir, we just need an hour, over and out."

The ship slowed dramatically, its old engines hadn't been made for comfort.
"Owens, when we get back, remind me to sell this thing for scrap." Edwards said over the comm, but knew he could never part with it.
"Sir, sensors are picking up three vessels, they look Klonorian, but who doesn't own a Klonor ship?" The science officer said,
"Siesatian Military, thats who, remember what we're hauling, they're not Pea shooters." Hawkins, their security officer said. "I suggest condition blue."
"Goto condition blue than, and hail them." Edwards said. The channel opened, and the prerecorded message played out.

This is the Siesatian Freighter Dergolinia, Registry DDS 302187. This is not a Military vessel, and any attack upon it will be considered an act of war.

"We're friendly towards Klonor, and are currently on our way to the Sol system." Edwards said, waiting for a responce.

OOC: Okay, they haven't made any hostile actions so I don't see any reason for "condition blue" or a transmission stating an attack would be an act of war, but whatever.

Do you go around greeting everybody you see with the threat of war?

IC:

"Wow, paranoid, aren't they?"

"It seems so, sir. It's hard to believe they have any friends at all."

"Yes, yes it is. Open a transmission channel."

"Open, sir."

"This is Abel Salm, ruler of the Klonor Liberation Force. Lower your shields and surrender your vessel. Your ships and technology will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile."

OOC: They're out in international space, where piracy is always abundant, and their Tactical officer is ex Military. Blue Alert is standard when greeting unknown vessels.

"Pirates? Damn it, Condition Red! Why didn't I grab those torpedos when I could?"
"What do we do sir?"
"Owens, Close the plasma vents, and weld them shut."
"But sir, that will cause the ship to blow?"
"No shit, we got some hostiles up here, and we got some heavy duty weapons in our belly. I'm sure it'l be nothing to gut us to get to them."
"Plasma Vents Shut, 5 Minuites until critical buildup."

The Ship preformed a few tactical manuvers, shooting hopelessly at the enemy. Its shots bounced off their shields.

"Owens, get inside the tug ship up top, and head for the Sol Base, grab everyone you can find."
"Yessir, and you?"
"I go down with my ship, he said, taking the helm."

The Tug Ship was the newest piece of equipment on the ship, it could easily out race the Dergolinia, its shields, although made for deflecting a ship, should it bump it, were much more powerful.
The tug powered up, and prepared to run on the captains orders.

"I'm moving to keep your departure a secret. Leave in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, GO!"
The tug exploded out the side door, and warped off to warn the Sol Base. Leaving the captain to the three Marauders.

OOC: Yeah, but when you're walking down the street and some guy walks past do you say "Hi, I'm Bob, and if you attack me I'll call the police"?

IC:

"Wow......stupid, aren't they?"

"Yes, sir."

"Weapons, target the energy venting equipment. Low power, cut them open."

"Targeting, sir.......firing."

At that a thin beam of light shot out of the Revolution's forward Beam Cannon and struck the tiny freighter, working to slice Plasma Vents open.

"Warning engine failure." "Warning, Plasma Leak." "Warning Fire Alert Teams Unresponsive."
"Shut up!" Edwards yelled at the continuous warnings. There hadn't even been fire control teams for 30 years, but you couldn't tell a computer that. Grabbing an Iso masking chip, he clipped it to his belt, now they couldn't track him by his lifesigns. And grabbed one of the neuro rifles, and before he left, locked up the bridge, it was the first place they would go. He headed to the cargo bay, and began releasing the locks.
He groaned as he pushed the manual airlock device up, the door hissed, and he heard the air leave the compartment next to his.
"One down, three to go." He told himself, and using his military training to formulate a plan as he went.

OOC: He's trying to make it as hard as humanly possible to get to the weapons. Basic anti Pirate tactics are to make the objective target hard to reach, and then take out as many as you can.

Alarms were blaring, red lights flashing. A hostile had been reported in the Klonor system, and it was Captain Kedrack's duty to neutralize it, Scorpion or no. The two ships, a decaying Terracoste and a prototype Scorpion Redux Heavy Bomber, were sent on a light scouting mission, to test the Scorpion. There was little they could do, unless the Redux was somehow incredibly stronger than it was supposed to be...

As the ships closed towards to Sol system, the Redux let loose twin Oscillator missiles. Once within range, a charge would snap open the warhead, unleashing a stream of Tesla Relays. They wouldn't have an immediate effect, but after sufficient time (15-20 minutes) the ship would likely shake itself apart. Of course, this would do little unless shields were down. The Terracoste opened fire with its 15 pulse lasers, waiting for the Heavy PAC to warm up.

OOC: I know, sucky, but I'm really tired today. Next post'll be better.

Stats....

Terracoste:
Same as in my IM storefront, with;
15 Pulse Lasers
10 Hornet Missile Launchers
6 Light Railguns
3 "Tankbuster" Railguns
2 Light GACs
1 Heavy PAC

Scorpion Redux:
Weapons:
2 Tail-Mounted Bright Lance Beam Cannons
1 Multi-pool Gravatic Cannon
10 Pulse Lasers
24 Missiles (Various)

OOC: Wait.....what? JJR, are you attacking me? In Sol? Or in Deneb? Or.......I'm confused. Seriously, what the hell are you talking about?

Siesatia: whoops

OOC: They werent being shot into space, the bays were decompressed to make it harder to reach the weapons. You now have to board the ship to get to them.

"The energy buildup is dying down, sir. The ship wont be blowing up any time soon."

"Excellent. Any serious hull damage?"

"Negative. I'm reading minor breaches where we did the scalpal thing, but nothing that'll make it fall apart."

"Okay. How far away is that escape pod which launched a while ago?"

"It's long gone sir."

"Any life signs still aboard?"

"There was one for a short while after the pod launched, but it's gone. I'm guessing it died when we attacked or killed itself."

"Very well. Open a channel to the Lexington (One of the Leviathons)."

"Open, sir."

"Captain Rogers, move in and dock with the freighter. All personnell have left, so it's ours now. We'll need to tow it back to the Ganymede so we can start stripping it apart for spare parts and such."

"Channel closed, sir."

"Excellent."

Outside, the KLC Lexington moved through space towards the now crippled freighter. Slowly, long coils began to stream outward from its hull and wrap around the freighter, drawing it in closer to the Cruiser. Once it was tightly nessled against its hull the vessel turned around, rejoining the others.

"Ship has been captured, sir."

"Turn us around and head back to the Knossos. Have you computed this hours password yet?"

"Not yet, sir. I'll only need another minue or so."

"Helm?"

"ETA is 10 minutes, sir. The freighter is going to slow the Lexington down a bit."

"I'll have the code done before then, sir."

"Very good. Notify me of any trouble."

OOC: Sorry for thinking you'd shot everything into space

Edwards continued on to the final lock. Pulling it down, he heard the hissing of the vacum being released. The final Blast door slid down behind him, and he sat down to rest, until he realized there was one last thing to do.
"Computer, lock down security consoles one through twelve, and any command interface."
"Please enter access code." the computer chimed.
"Nepharious Glory, 0034921 Alpha."
"Accepted. Security Lockdown complete, voice authorization only."
"Imbed security programs 1 through 74."
"Programs Imbedded."
"Prepare Passage Charges, 5 minuite countdown, no warnings."
"Charges ready, coundown, 5 minuites remaining."
"Destroy records from last 30 Minuites."
"Records erased."

He ran down to the final stop on his list, secondary engineering. Main engineering had been decompressed, but secondary was untouched.
Moving to the core, he watched the plasma pulse inside the long tube. He only had one minuite to go, so he started to revert the pressure settings, so the tank would rupture, and destroy the rest of the ship. He would die, he knew that, but he wouldnt let his baby be captured by these discusting pirates.
"Warning, One Minuite Until Plasma Tank Rupture."

OCC: Is this open? I could really use some space RP action...

OOC: Hey LLR. Well, we're kinda just targets.

To Klonor: I'm attacking wherever the attacking was going on. I'll post later, I'm just too damn tired right now...

OOC: JJR, I really have no clue what your post is saying. It's like the Oracle at Delphi, somewhere in the bizarre rambling there is a message, it just takes several priests, prophets, and months of time to figure out what the hell that message is.

LRR you're welcome to be in it, but like JJR said you would really be nothing but a target. A small freighter, or a shipping convoy, or small space station, etc. that I'm gonna raid for supplies, food, or weaponry.

Siesatia, I need to speak to you before I reply

OCC: Ok. Do you think this will grow into something larger later on?

IC:

The small fast-freighter RGSV Four Tops exits hyperspace just inside the orbit of Neptune. In solar systems, hyperspace systems, especially those used in Robotic ships, are really too dangerous. Designed for the vast tracts of interstellar space, they leave something to be desired in the way of short-haul, inner system travel.

The Four Tops is a good, fast ship, with a fair cargo load. Measuring in at just over 210 meters, it is much smaller than the regular RGSV cruisers and junks, averaging over one kilometer in diameter, and a mere minnow to the RGSV Jimi Hendrix, a gargantuan freighter measuring slightly over ten kilometers, with upwards of 40 square kilometers of cargo space, but is cheaper to build and operate, and better suited for minor routes.

The ship is headed towards JJR sol system mining colonies, when its sensors pick up obvious signs of trouble.

"What's this? We're picking up a rising heat signature from what appears to be an older Siesatian freighter," says one of the sensors operators from the 'tub,' a chamber generally located just above the bridge. Bubble-wrap packaging still litters the floor, and some of the manuals and warrantee papers are still packed neatly into boxes, traits of a very new ship.

"And along with it several large ship signatures, looks like Klonor design."
"We should send a hail, perhaps they're in need of aid."
"Roger that," comes the response from the communications station. "Attention, Klonor and/or Siesatian vessels, this is the RGSV Four Tops. Do you require assistance, over?"

OOC: Not really, they're pretty much the same as the rest of the petty pirates flying about the system (Hence the title of the thread, A new face (that'd be Salm) on an old problem (that'd be the comman acts of piracy he and his fleet will partake in)

IC:

"General, we're receiving a transmission. It looks to be from a vessel belonging to the Lunatic Retard Robots."

"Interesting. What's the make?"

"I'd say a standard freighter, around 200 meters. No escort detected."

"Wow, this trip is starting to look like shooting fish in a barrell. They just keep lining up for us. Alert the Maccabee (the other Leviathon) of the new arrival, have them go out and..........escort the ship to the Knossos."

"They're on their way, sir."

Slowly, the KLC Maccabee rotated in space to face the new arrival. The engines glowed and propelled the vessel forward, sending it out to meet the unlucky freighter.

"Attention RGSV Four Tops, this is the KLC Maccabee. You will alter course to approach the Knossos Sub-Space Portal. Match speed to this vessel. Power down any weapons you may have on board. Your ship, and your crew, are now in the service of the Klonor Liberation Force. Resistance will be met with lethal force."

"Er...," says the captain, as the sensors operators and helmsmen plot a course, with the help of the ship's AI, and the engineers try to get the fusion plant, which powers the ion drives, to leak.

This is a difficult, possibly impossible task, due to all the safety features built into the drives system.

"Prepare to abandon ship!" comes the call from the captain. The AI is quickly loaded onto a portable unit, and the crew makes for the escape pods while the ship's default systems set it in a course away from the escape pods, simultaneously jettisoning the cargo.

Captain Wendel, Lord of the KLC Maccabee, sat and watched the Four Tops not comply.

"It looks like they're not going to comply, sir."

"No, shit. Target their engines. Cripple the ship."

"Yes, sir."

The Heavy Beam Cannon on the Maccabee's bow began to glow, charging up until it released a torrent of energy that stabbed at the freighter like a spear at the heart of an animal.

The beam cannon slices off the rear end of the freighter, which is not making too much of an effort to escape, now under automatic programs as the escape pods speed off towards what is determined to be friendly outposts.

The cargo, consisting of possibly valuable metals and machinery, floats off into space as the Four Tops rapidly depressurizes, venting out a trail of various stuff.

"Scoop it up Jenkins."

"Yes, sir."

The tubes along the bow of the Maccabee slowly opened and began to launch out dozens of Phase Gates, the small teleportation devices zipping through space and transporting the cargo directly into the holds of the Leviathon.

"Scoop it all up."

The Phase Gates, heading back towards their launching ports, turn around and begin to follow the escape pods.

"WTF?" is the reaction inside the escape pods as all but two or three are scooped up and brought aboard the Klonor ships...

The cargo bays of the Maccabee quickly fill with soldiers who surround the escape pods, weapons up and safeties off. The Captain of the Guard steps forward, raising an amplifier and addressing the newly captured prisoners.

"Exit the escape pods at once. You will carry nothing with you. Your hands will be placed above your head. Resistance will be met with lethal force. You will not get a second warning."

The crews emerge from the escape pods, dressed in their emergency EVA suits. Some are robots, but the bulk of the crew on such a small ship is human.

"Who do you think you are, eh? Seizing a peaceful merchant vessel? Once the fleet picks up our distress beacons, you're toast, you know that? You should let us go now. Keep the cargo, for all I care, its not much anyway," says the captain at the marines.

"You are all hereby pressed into service in the Klonor Liberation Force. You will report to your assigned quarters and remain there until we return to base. You will then be trained and assist in the liberation of Klonor. Resistance will be met with lethal force."

The marines then rush forward, shepharding the prisoners to their cells.

The crew, consisting of about 30, puts up quite a bit of resistance. Crewmembers just stand there, and have to be carried off to their cells. Everything the pirates do un-motivates the freighter crew even more. Many would rather and gladly die instead of serve aboard a pirate ship.

Every member of the captured crew refusing to co-operate was simply executed, shot where they stood without a second thought. They had been warned.

Meanwhile, aboard the KLD Revolution

"Sir, we have captured the cargo and crew of the LRR freighter."

"Excellent. Any damage to the Maccabee?"

"No, sir."

"Very well. Contact the Lexington have them meet us and the Maccabee at the Knossos portal. I want everybody through in less than 10 minutes."

"Yes, sir."

OOC: #TAG#! I'll join in tommorow.

The three vessels of the pirates force approached the Knossos Sub-Space portal, moving slowly along standard approach paths.

"Attention Knossos control, this is the 3'rd Battle Group of the 6'th System Fleet on extended patrol in the Sol system. We are exiting the system, bound for Ross128. Please activate the Knossos portal for the Jump to Delta Serpentis."

"3'rd Battle Group, the Node shall be activated upon confirmation of your access code. Please transmit your code now."

The communications officer aboard the Revolution took several deep breaths, then keyed the tranmsission of the code. The code, changed every 49 minutes by the Space Corps command, was based upon an extremely complex algorithmic sequence that was, to be perfectly honest, nearly impossible to compute. It took the Super Computers at Corps Command nearly half an hour to figure out the equations, then another ten minutes to transmit the change to all active ships. Cracking the code was regarded as impossible by many hackers throughout the agalaxy. Of course, those are the very stupid hackers. Any code can be cracked, given enough time.

"Code accepted. Good luck."

The interlocking plates of the Knossos began to rotate, stabilising the Sub-Space Jump-Node ruptured by the detonation of the Lucifer's Fusion Reactors. Once the Node was stabilised the three pirate ships approached, activating their Sub-Space motivators and disappearing into the Void.

Almost all of the freighter crew lie dead on the docking bay floor, and will not have to worry about being pirates. Two, however, are lost in the confusion and hustled along without much chance to resist.

OCC: Sorry, can't think of much else to say...could there be an oppourtunity for a battle sometime soon?

OOC: Yeah, they're pirates. Odds are they're going to go attack somebody.

IC:

The three ships decelerated at a shocking rate, dropping from Faster than Light speeds to Slower than Light in a bare few fractions of a second.

"Take the G/TD engines off-line and let them cool down. All ships, approach the base, dock, and unload."

The pirating task forces engines light up, glowing blue and propelling them towards the two Ganymede Mobile Docks floating in space. Quickly secured to the massive platforms, the crews of the stations begin to immedietly scour the surface of the ships, repairing the minor damage all ships accumulate on any long distance voyage. The captured sargo, secure within the bellies of the privateers, is instantly transported through the Phase Gates to the Arcade class Installation hovering several kilometers behind the Ganymede's. Once the basic repairs are completed the Orion and two Leviathons turn away from the Docks and join the dozens of other ships on patrol around the base.

Pirates, yes; fugitves from justice, yes; armed with a full Klonor System Fleet and capable of conquering a Stellar System, hell yes.

OOC: Yes, sir, they could take on a pretty stellar sister.