NationStates Jolt Archive

Andromada read through the archives on Orion’s old computer. So many allies he had acquired over the years. Yet most of them where now gone, or had severed contact with Atlantis. Now less then 10 nations now had even official diplomatic ties with her country, good and bad. The rest of the universe didn’t even know they existed. She listed the nations off in her mind.

“Adejaani, Elara, Liberty Fighters, LRR, Artisita, Sambizie, Coolick, and Zoir. Not much to look at”

She sighed. Less then a handful. So sad. Atlantis had been too isolationist for too long, she thought. It was time to start interacting more. Time to let the rest of the universe know that they still existed. Time to make alliances, and wage war. The only thing in her way was that she had no idea how to jump back in.

OOC: Ok, this is my last ditch effort. My last several RPs have died by the 2nd page, and I’m slowly losing everyone I used to RP with. I am out of ideas for RPs, and people to RP with. I am now in desperate need of now contacts with other nations. I want to actually get into a character RP (which all I’ve tried have failed miserably). I’m not asking to join a region (already got one), I just need more contacts. Hell, I’ll take a nemesis. It’s been so long since I had someone agenst me.

This is my last gasp for air, so to speak. If no one with any sense of RPing posts here.....then I’m probably going to quit NS.

I’m a space fairing nation who owns a star cluster, and no holdings on Earth. I am Democratic Socialist, and defensive militaristic. My population is 75% Atlantian, 20% Centaur, and 5% Elf, Terran, and Anubite.

A small two man wraith tumbled through space, one occupant was dead, the other barely alive. The cloaking fighter was about out of power and the only remaining officer was unconscious. Slowly it moved into range of the sensors in a star cluster which was completely unknown to it.

Toggle
Armenian
Grenades

Toggle
Armenian
Grenades

OOC: The hell?

IC:

Xol set the stength of the message to full power. He set its range to full spread. He turned to face Admiral Vega.

"It's ready"

Vega smiled "Then fire away, Lt"

A transmittion wave was fired in all directions in subspace, travling through warp speed. While Atlantian ships did not have warp engines, they still knew the basics of the techology. The wave spread out from the Olympia A. Vega's new ship sparkled in the sunlight from the capital system's star.

"Sir, I'm picking up a small ship entering the Tekara system" reported Sing.

"What nationality?" asked Vega.

She shrugged "Unknown"

"The Babylon is in the area, we can get them to invastigate" said Xol.

Vega nodded. "Send a signal to them"

***********

A small Barracuda Class ship, the Babylon, changed its course, and headed for the tiny ship that had washed ashore Atlantian space.....

The small ship was tumbling, it's cloak gone, it's engines down, it's life support at minimal. The symbol on the side of the wraith was a diving red dragon breathing fire. No response came from the hails but as the ship closed it picked up a weak repeating mayday call.

"Respond? Why not," Subaru, avatar of the WSGS Subaru chuckled, rolling over on her bunk in a tangle of coarse military sheets.

"Allright, we translate out in two hours," the captain groaned, opening his eyes. "Fire up the inStel," he flashed over the ship Net.

"Already done," Subaru rolled again, grinned at him from two inches away, her azure eyes twinkling mischevously. "We got two hours, you said?"

********

"Reverting to normSpace in three...two...one..." the cool voice of Major Hiro N. Storm, captain andtranSpace pilot of the WSGS Subaru said.

Black turned to white, white turned to black, and the universe inverted for a moment that took an eternity.

Space rippled, twisted. There was nothing. There was something. There was a ship hurtling through space. Fusactors flared online, drives fired in decceleration patterns, bulkheads groaned under inertial stress. .

The WSGS Subaru was a battered ship, fifty years old, the second Nox-class Ship-of-the-Line to be produced by Weyrean crafters. Its one-point-three-kilometer silver-gray bulk was still impressive, however, and its weapons and drives were only five years old. The Ouroborous and mountain of The Tower, the rising sun and three star-moons of Weyr, and the star-speckled teardrop flame of the Star Guard adorned its squat 'conning tower', which contained the WSGS Subaru's primary scanners and comm systems.

"Let's see what we got," Storm sighed, watching passive scanner data pour into the ship Net.

"At least its a diversion," Subaru cracked from the seat above his. The WSGS Subaru did not maintain artGrav in its control sections. After four months of time with four hundred other Weyreans and xenians, even an avatar PI would begin to crack.

"This is the Weyrean Star Guard Ship Subaru, SoL-class, classification Assault Intercept Missile Heavy Cannon Parasite Platform No.381F6C, responding to subSpace communication."

"Thank you, Captain." Anne Masters smiled, but the man did not return it. She was the newly appointed Ambassador to Atlantian Outcasts... Which she wasn't really sure what that meant either. They were one big question mark and it was hoped she'd be welcomed to try and make closer ties between her nation and theirs...

Which really wasn't helped by the slightly backhanded gesture... Not really a gesture, but it certainly wasn't a good one. Masters was currently travelling aboard the Hamlet, a Sambizie class space destroyer that was positively ancient. The crew had tried to make her look nice, but the walls were simply warping slightly and no amount of paint or polish could hide the pock marks on her hull. Once the pride of the indigenously designed (and built) Adejaani Fleet, the pace of technology and larger ships had made them obsolete.

Thus, the class were mostly surplus until they figured out what to do. So they mainly became scouts and patrol ships or in this case, VIP transports. About half of the thirty nine crew were in the small mess hall, eating what, Masters thought with a smile, looked for all the world like an airline meal... Which didn't really taste bad... Masters closed her eyes and imagined it was 'real' beef.

The Captain stood up after the intercom whistled. "Right, okay, thanks. Send out friendship signals." He thumbed the intercom off. "We're approaching AO space, but we're not going to enter until someone gives us clearance. So please, everyone. Finish dinner."

"I'm getting a small signal" said the communications officer on-board the Babylon. "Its a distress signal"

"Tractor the ship" said the commander. The small destroyer-class vessle activated a glowing, purple beam, and targeted the tiny ship, and began to pull it inside the cargo-bay doors....

***************

Sing smiled "We're getting a reply from the wave we sent"

"Patch it through" said Vega.

"This is the Weyrean Star Guard Ship Subaru, SoL-class, classification Assault Intercept Missile Heavy Cannon Parasite Platform No.381F6C, responding to subSpace communication."

Vega cleared his throught before speaking. "This is the Titan class warship "Olympia", flagship of the Atlantian Fleet." Vega paused, but only for a moment. He grined. "Hello out there"

"Another signal is coming through. Adejaanian" said Sing. She opened a private line on her station.
"This is the Olympia, how can we help you?"

They could see scoring on the hull of the wraith as they pulled it in, obviously it had been in some kind of a fight. The patterns didn't match ships guns in anyway. It looked corrosive in various spots as though something was thrown on it and the burn marks that did indicate an energy discharge against the hull didn't match a weapons pattern. Two figures were visible in the scored cockpit, both slumped down in there seats wearing suits. One was certainly dead, the visor of the helmet splayed with blood, the other looked to be alive, but unconscious.

Masters pursed her lips, took a deep breath and began. "I'm Anne Masters. I've been sent to your people to normalise relations. I'm representing Adejaani as Ambassador to your nation or simply a liaison if that's what you wish. Nevertheless, we're here to try and become friends."

Vega cleared his throught before speaking. "This is the Titan class warship "Olympia", flagship of the Atlantian Fleet." Vega paused, but only for a moment. He grined. "Hello out there"

"Matching bands," the comm stated.

"Amazing. People who -don't- want to fire on us," Subaru commented.

"Well..there were the Azahani, who wanted to attack us with a trio of destroyers....but they didn't...." Storm began.

The Azahani came seeking new territories to conquer, which greately amused Regent Victoria, especially when she showed them the specs for the Imperial battlestation, which was really the whole reason Weyr had become a part of the Empire. Having a planet-destroying ball of doom parked at the edge of your central system made for a good argument in favor of surrender.

"....Respond...." Subaru cut the captain off.

"Oh, right," Storm keyed into the external comm link. "Hello? Hello. You called, we came. How can we help you?"

"That...was the worst greetings I've ever heard," Subaru commented.

"Fine, you do better," Storm looked hurt, for a moment.

Weyr is a loose, anarchic union held together by the High Council, the Regent (who has replaced High King Alicia while she is on 'extended vacation', courtesy of the Chronosian Inquisition), and a thick web of inter-corporate and inter-phyle alliances. The Regent, like the High King, holds little legal power except in times of war, and most actual govering takes place at the local level by democratic Councils. Most of Weyr's population is located in the Paradigm System, concentrated on the third planet. In theory, Weyr still posesses a dozen or so other star systems, but most of them are semi-independent nations in their own right. Another large concentration of Weyrean populace lives on Terra, but I don't normally use it for space RPs.

Weyr is made up of 60% Weyreans, 12% Eves, 14% Humans, and a load of other xenians whom it would take too much time to fully list.

The crew of the Babylon slowly opened the tiny ship, revealing the two beings inside.

"This one's dead" said the doctor "But this one is still alive"

"Get him to sickbay" said the commander "Maybe we can get some info on what happened once he wakes up"

**********

"Ahh, yes, I think I remember something about that" said Sing to the Adej people. "Come on in. The Senate will hail you once your in reach of the planet Cirrus"

***********

"We sent out a signal in all directions to notify the universe that we where still here. We're interested in coming out of Isolationism, and we wish to have more communication with the outside universe" Vega finished. Not exactly the diplomat, he was sweating from the stress.

OOC: Ookay.....never knew Weyreans were so stressful..

"We sent out a signal in all directions to notify the universe that we where still here. We're interested in coming out of Isolationism, and we wish to have more communication with the outside universe" Vega finished. Not exactly the diplomat, he was sweating from the stress.

"Allright," Storm thought for a moment. "Subaru, how're your diplomatic skills?"

"Good enough, capt'n," the avatar shrugged.

Storm keyed back into the external comm. "How about we open diplomatic relations? We're official Weyrean diplomats until the flags send someone else."

[Population:[/B]
Isam Nation: 98% Terran, 2% Other
Imperial Faith Union (protectorates and dominions): 78% Human, 22% Other (mostly humanoid species).
[I]Religion and belief structure:
84% Christian (Imperial Faith)
10% Christian (non-IF)
3% Jewish
2% Muslim
1% Other monotheistic
Although the HCE of Isam is more open minded than it once was, it still enforces religious obligations upon its people.
Territory:
Controls a collection of systems chosen due to appearance (when viewed from certain locations the stars form a crucifix) that was taken as a holy sign. Holdings on Earth abandoned by the order of the Holy Father]]

The IFU-F3 Matthew was an impressive ship by anyone's standards. Fully three kilometres long and armed with rank upon rank of railgun batteries, las-points and torpedo tubes, yet fully capable of tactical manuevers, it looked more than a little imposing. Proudly displayed upon its econ hull was the Crucifix of Red and Gold, marking it as a vessel of the Isam Navy. It was fitted with the latest Fission-Fusion generators along with the most sophisticated engines the Theo-Scientists of the Empire could produce.

And it had just dropped out of subspace for no apparent reason. This was not something that was supposed to happen to the flagship of the Third Fleet. A short distance inside Atlantean space the vessel drifted slowly through the black expanse, engines still functional but currently offline until the problem could be found and dealt with.


"Why....I mean, really, why?"

"Ahem, Lord Flagellant, with all respect, we do not know"

Judas Tyrian, Second Lord Flagellant of the Imperial Faith Union uttered a short prayer under his breath.

"You don't know why the subspace systems on one of the greatest vessels ever made by the Imperial Faith Navy have all gone dead at once? We've gone through subspace dozens of times on this vessel, and now it goes wrong? Have you tried the power connections?"

"Yes, my lord, all generators and feeds are working perfectly. We've put the subspace generators offline for the moment, but we have tested them extensively - they were still putting the optimal power levels through into the subspace systems until we turned them off"


With a sigh, Judas indicated for the Mech-Overseer to continue in his work and turned to the communication systems.

"Open all hailing frequencies and systems, if we're in someone else's space I want to know about it as soon as they say 'Hi'. Send a message back to the Hierarchy and let them know what's happened."

Judas seated himself again and, muttering, gazed out at God's universe.

When the flight suit is removed the pilot is revealed as a beautiful and shapely, yet athletic woman with golden colored hair and slightly pointed ears, obviously half-elven. Under the flight suit she wears a tight leather, two-piece outfit in blood red and black. The top laces up the front and has no sleeves, the pants lace up both sides. She moans after a few minutes and opens dark blue eyes, looking around.

It was a tag, but by now I think it's too late to join...

Transfer
A
Gundam

It was a tag, but by now I think it's too late to join...

Transfer
A
Gundam

nah, the more the marrier....

Weyr: No, Vega's just not the diplomatic kind, as I said.

IC:
"That sounds good to us" Vega replied. He was starting to get the hint that the conversation was going to go around in cycles.....

***********

"It's an elf....or at least, part Elf" saif the Docter. Then the woman opened her eyes.

"You ok? You look like you took a good hit" said the doctor.

Meanwhile, on the bridge of the Babylon, another signal appeared.
"What is this? Intersteller "drop it off in our space day"?" asked the commander.

"It's a hailing frequincy" said the communications officer.

"Open a channel" replied the commander "Hello?"

OOC: If you would have posted this later, I'd contact you, but I haven't reconnected my space Empire with RAMC.

Sorry. Hold off for a few days and I'll be back.

"Anyplace we have to go to?" Storm asked. "Our navCom has a load of empty stars marked in this sector. Otherwise we'll just hang here and enjoy the view."

She jumped at bit as consciousness returned and sat up, swaying some. "Yves de Gras, Helva, Captain, Serial number 51224." She eyed the man in front of her critically, though her voice had an elven tinge to it, it was obvious that the rigorous training to fly the wraith and subsequent service time was spent largely in common speaking company.

Vega typed in some coodenents.

"This is the location of Cirrus, our capital world. We're in orbit of it as we speak. Fell free to drop in"

*****

"I see..." said the Doctor, studying the Elf. "Can you fill us in one what happened to your ship? It looks like you took on a fleet"

"Where am I? And who commands here?"

"This is the Atlantian destroyer Babylon. Your on the outskirts of Atlantian territory." The docter paused "Where are you from?"

Whip quick Helva reached out and grabbed the doctors face, moving in to peer at him intently. "You don't look infected, I should talk to your commanding officer. We may be in it deep soon."

"This is the location of Cirrus, our capital world. We're in orbit of it as we speak. Fell free to drop in"

The coordinates were fed into the vessel's navCom. "Thanks," Storm sent back. 'Well stay here for now, if you don't mind. Maybe some hands will want leave time later....."

Masters thanked the man and signed off. The Captain then went up to the Bridge and ordered a course plotted. The star charts at his disposal were a bit out of date, but they'd be at Cirrus within the next day or two...

Vega continued to smile.

"Ok, take your time" The transmittion ended there. Vega rubbed his mouth, sore from smiling.

***********

"Infected? What do you mean? is there some sort of virus going around?" The Doctor picked up a tricorder and began scanning the Elf quickly, not heeding her pleas to see the commander of the vessel.

"Only if you were captured by the Lagunan's", she said, stepping back as she eyed the device, her hand reaching, supposedly for a weapon, that wasn't there but still in the Wraith. "How far are we from Lagunan space?"

The doctor had a puzzled look on his face. He kept asking questions, and only got more lost.

"What are "Lagunans"?"

Helva looked relieved, "I like that answer, or that question as the case may be. It's a planatary system where we had lost a survey ship. Our battlecruiser was sent to investigate. We had just reached orbit of Laguna seven when all hell broke loose. I know we lost several Wraiths to that odd corrosive muck they were tossing about and thier weapons had an odd energy signature. Still pretty damn effective though. We hadn't scanned anything on the surface and they came from the far side of the planet so I'm assuming pirates. I don't know what happened to the silver talon. Where am I in relation to the nation of Highport?"

The ship moved through space in such a way that spoke of dereliction. Outside running lights flickered on and of in intermittent bursts, and the gravitic drive desperately wanted to fire back up, but couldn’t find the energy. It was a transport craft, one that was severely damaged from an obvious firefight. The hull --where it hadn’t been stripped away-- was charred black. Small bits of debris left a trail behind the ship. One that would show its path since coming out of hyperspace.

Within the ship, thirty men and women attempted repairs. Things were no better inside the ship than outside. And the crew looked to be in miserable shape as well. Most had large, lumpy red soars on their faces and a pale look that would make one wonder how they could still be alive. Seated in the captains chair, a man –hunched over—coughed profusely. The air was stuffy and filled with smoke. People moved around him, doing the best they could considering the terrible conditions. The man forced himself upright and wiped a trickle of blood from his lip. The Tripps was getting worse for him and his crew.

A man --one in far better shape-- approached. He was young, and still had a glimmer of hope in his eyes. The others were hollow, but his spoke of no understanding of their plight. He handed the man a notepad. “Sir, this is what you asked for. Our mechanic says he can’t repair the damage to our gravitic drive. We’re going to drift until someone finds us.”

The man nodded, smiling inwardly at the boys lack of knowledge. Engineer, my boy. Not mechanic. How little you know. Outwardly, he spoke. “Thank you, Walter. Help out with what you can. I’ll look over the report with more scrutiny.” Walter nodded and walked off.

The report was nothing Richard Fannin didn’t already know. There was no hope. He tossed it aside, fought off another fit of coughing, and called out to another man working on the bridge. “Marten. We’re still powering our distress beacon, correct?”

The man nodded. “Aye. We may be sealing our own fates though. That beacon attracts the Imperial Guard just as it does possible rescuers.”

“We don’t have any options at this point, Marten. Neither do they. We have Captain Tripps. It’s the Guard’s duty to eradicate the menace, and so they shall. Even if it takes them to the ends of our galaxy.” Richard paused. “Where are we again?”

“Somewhere outside of Atlantian space. At least that’s what the computer tells me, all damned use it is. It can’t even work the ventilation system properly.” Marten coughed, as if to solidify his argument.

Richard Fannin shook his head. “Well, I pray we’re close to something.”

Marten nodded. “Aye, captain. So do I. So do I.”

[ooc: the craft wouldn’t really be near where anything else is going on. if you’re interested, I’d just figure a deep space recon vessel of some sort could happen upon it. then again, this isn’t my RP. ;)]

The Doctor still had a puzzled face. Atlantis really had been out of the loop of things for too long.

"What is..."Highport"?"

**************
OOC to Eastern: I don't travel through Deep-Space. I go by a system of Jump Nodes, and "jump" from system to system.

Helva was fast losing patience. Almost to fast for the eye to follow she reached out and grabbed the doctor, drawing him close. "I lost my squadron and possibly the my commanding officer if the Silver Talon didn't survive. I'm NOT going through this twice. I'm exercising the right of an officer to speak with your commanding officer. If you want to know what happened then stay and listen." She didn't yell but the low volume of her voice and glint in her eye was far more intimidating than any volume would have been.

The Doctor took a few steps back. For a moment, he hesitated, then pressed the button for the comm system.

"Commander, please report to sickbay. We have a visitor that wants to see you"

Within minutes, a 5.5 foot Atlantian, very small by Atlantian standards, walked into the room.

"What seems to be the trouble?" asked the commander.

Helva squared her shoulders and straightened her back, wincing, but made a claw of her right hand, thumping it to her chest and then extending toward the commander, obviously in some kind of salute. "Captain Helva Yves De Gras, Commander. The trouble the Doctor was referring to was a four foot seven irritated half-elf, namely me .... sir."

"I see...." said the Commander. He held out his hand for a hand shake. "I am Commander Vorak. I welcome you to the Atlantian Barracuda Class Destroyer Babylon. Now, what's going on here?"

Helva shook his hand and took a breath. "I'm from a nation called Highport in the Region of Callahorn. The Silver Talon, our battlecruiser, was exploring a section of space around a star we designated as Laguna where we had lost a survey ship. The system, eight planets in all, seemed devoid of any habitation from long range scans, so we moved in closer. When we got near Laguna seven we picked up small craft moving up from the far side of the planet. Our commanding officer dispatched a heavily armed scout ship to investigate the planet's far side and unleashed the gold squadron. My squadron, sir. We hailed them, no answer. They engaged. We were giving it to them good when suddenly all hell broke loose. They somehow overrode our computers and took control. Our ships began firing on each other and the cruiser. I ordered my people to disengage the comp and go manual." She lowered her voice and muttered, "It's hell like that in Wraith but all I could think of," then raised her voice and eyes again and proceeded, "Suddenly it stopped and vessels withdrew. The scout ship was returning. The men looked .... ill. Blueish tinged, but they seemed okay otherwise and were told to report to the sick bay. They never did. They began sabotaging systems and did quite a bit of damage before they were stopped. Turned out they were our men but some parasite was introduced that kept them under Lagunan control. Shortly after they attacked again. We did what we could, my squad that is, this time going out under manual. I don't know how it turned out. They use some kind of viscous fluid that eats at the hull and the energy signatures are unknown. The tech for control is unknown to us as well. Not surprising as we only just opened our borders to the outside recently and had only swords and shields till then. The main problem is just that. We don't have a large fleet. If they decide to attack our region .... Well frankly, sir, we'd be screwed."

OOC to Eastern: I don't travel through Deep-Space. I go by a system of Jump Nodes, and "jump" from system to system.

[ooc: then perhaps the transport is near one of your nodes. And when Fannin speaks of where he is, he doesn't really know for sure where he actually is. For all he knows, he could be orbiting your homeworld (unlikely, but plausable). I leave it open for you to decide how to work it, if you wish. Just a thought.]

OOC: gotya

IC:

The Pheonix class Cargoship A-15 moved slowly thought the uninhabited system Mempha. The crew detected a ship in the area. One that wasn't Atlantian. The order was given to investigate.

**************

Commander Vorak rubbed his chin. "This seems to be a serious threat, from what you've told me. For any country or nation" He thought for a moment. Then he pressed the comm button.

"Take us back to Cirrus. We need to talk to the high Council"

"I would like to know", Helva began, for the first time looking tired and worn, "if any of my other pilots were found, or anyone from the Silver Talon."

The doctor spoke up. "We....found one other. In the same ship as yours. He's...dead. He was dead when we found him"

Helva went quiet a moment, her eyes closing in mute prayer, then opened them again. "Is it possible to get a comm line to my government?"

The Commander thought for a second. "I guess so. But you'd need to type in the coo-dnents for the transmittion. We don't know where Highport is"

He walked over to the Doctor's counter, and pressed a button on it. A small computer screen and key-board opened up from the counter's surface.

Helva eyed the computer then sat down. Her fingers moved quickly, finding the galactic center, computing her position and inputting the co-ordinates for highport. In reflection she put in another set of co-ordinates and looked closely at the screen as she marked Laguna. 'How long was I out', she muttered as the screen showed a distance that would have taken weeks at the rate she was drifting. She quickly pulled up Highport again and input a comm link command code. After a few minutes she got snow and lines and she began to lean forward in obvious worry before a haggard but lovely human woman appeared in a uniform apparently not yet aware that the connection had opened.

"... get this thing under control it's eating through our systems faster than a weight watchers drop out at a free all you can eat buffet."

"Ma'am", could be heard from off screen, "your online."

The woman quickly turned toward the screen, "Colonel Ivanova, Highport central command ... Captain Yves De Gras? Where the hell are you and your people? Get that no good commanding officer of yours online so I can chew his ass out! We haven't heard anything from you in WEEKS."

"Colonel", Helva replied, her tone low, "I believe the Silver Talon to be destroyed. We came under attack. My fighter was disabled and drifted and I was picked up by the Atlantian Barracuda Class Destroyer Babylon."

"Atlantian? Well ... at least we know they're no myth now."

"Aye Ma'am", Helva replied, "the Lagunans used something to override our computers and take over our ships. Even our people, when captured, were infested with some sort of virus in order to control them. I'm not sure they were from Laguna, per se, as we detected nothing on any of the planets that would indicate a civilization. Raiders or Pirates maybe, not sure. But they have a highly advanced jamming and computer control system."

The woman at the other end faded then came back as she was looking off to the side again, " ... DAMN A.I. PURGED FROM THE SYSTEM SOMEHOW!" She looked back at the screen, "Captain, your official orders are to return to Highport any way you can. Unofficially ... We have the Lagunans that may attack according to what you said, a race war among the vampires against humans seems to be brewing, four of our seven nations have been wiped out by plague, possibly magical in nature, and we have rampant A.I.'s that hadn't even been beta tested but installed in our systems tearing through our systems like a hot knife through butter. If you didn't return, I would understand, Ivanova out." She reached forward and the screen went blank.

Helva knew what she was offering, though officially she had to return. She was offering her an out. The decision was instand as Helva stood and faced the Commander of the Babylon, "I know you are heading to a meeting. I respectfully request transport back home once it's complete, or arrangement for transport, I can pay when I get back."

[[OOC: Apologies for the delay]]

"My Lord, long-range transmission speakers are now back on-line"

"Back online? Enginseer, in future would you please tell me when something breaks down?"

"Yes, my Lord, sorry, sir"

"Carry on, Enginseer. ACE-Matthew. Playback all long-range transmissions since speaker failure"

The metallic voice of the Artificial Conscious Entity, the closest thing that the Empire would come to an AI before declaring it heretical, spoke.

"One transmission: 'Hello?'. Do you wish a direct reply?"

"Confirmed, ACE-Matthew. Reply is: Greetings. This is Judas Tyrian, commanding officer of the Imperial Faith Union vessel Matthew of the Third Fleet. We have had several malfunctions throughout the vessel and apologise for any breach of space as well as our delay in answering - our long-range systems also malfunctioned."

"No, we can divert course. We'll have you back in-" the Commander was cut off. Another officer had walked in.

"Sir, we have the response to one of the transmittions we sent out. Finally"

"What does it say?" asked the Commander.

The officer replayed the message.

"I see....and we're the only ship in the area" The commander turned to face the Elf.

"I'm sorry, but we can't escort you back personally. We can give you a fightercraft though. Consiter it a....gift" He turned back to the officer.

"Change our course to the disabled ship"

"Aye sir" replied the Officer. He walked out of the room, heading for the bridge.

"Now mame, if you will please follow me back to the docking bay...." The Commander also walked out of the room.

"Sir", Helva said as she followed, "As I said I know that you have to meet with your council. I'm willing to wait until after that. Since it's Laguna you want to discuss with them, well, it might be best if I'm there for your meeting. I'll wait until afterward to return home. If I could just get my things from the Wraith I'll be happy to wait whereever you wish. I'll lend a hand if you want, you seem to be getting busy."

"As you heared, we won't be getting back to Cirrus for a short while. We have just received word of a distress signal in the area that we have to invastigate. If you wish, you can remain though it. The choice is up to you. I must warn you though, it may take a while. Maybe a whole day"

He looked down the hall.

"If you wish to remain, I can have you given temporary quarters until the end of our little journy. You may get your things from your ship. That is, if you deside to remain"

"I'm fully trained in search and rescue as well as combat. As I said we're only just entering space so we don't have seperate divisions like our ground forces do. I would like to retrieve my things from the Wraith and look over your fighter and rescue craft, if I may. If I'm needed I'd like to be up to speed on things."

"Certianly. I'll have you assigned some quarters, and I can show you the way to the fighter bay"

Meanwhile, the Babylon slowly approched the ship known as the "Matthew"....

When Helva got to her ship she stopped and looked at the blood in the rear cockpit seat. A silent, quick prayer then she began pulling out her belongings. First was a set of boots that matched her rather tight and revealing outfit. High heeled stilleto boots with sharp points on the heels, obviously not for fashion. Two Mark V blaster pistols. Though outdated and replaced by more energy efficient weapons like the PPGs they were still well liked in the field for stopping power. One shot against an unprotected target would put a hole in them about a foot in diameter. Sliding them into holsters that hung low on her thighs she then pulled out twin vibro daggers. The thin metal was tougher than it looked and vibrated with a light high pitched noise that humans couldn't hear and that didn't bother elves. The vibrating razor thin daggers were lethal enough in close combat but a side effects of the vibrating hum was that it allowed the dagger to slip through most personal shields. These went on her hips facing forward so that she could pull them out easily in a cross draw style. Finally she pulled out an antique but well crafted and finely kept thin elven longsword that she strapped to her back. Though she rarely used it and carried more out of family tradition she was more than just proficient with it. "I'm ready", she said, with her strange appearance of sexy beauty and lethal danger.

"Well then, lets go" said Commander Vorak. He turned to face the opened door, and walked out, heading for Helva's temporary quarters.

"Ok, take your time" The transmittion ended there. Vega rubbed his mouth, sore from smiling.

"Instel coming in," the comm tech on duty muttered several hours later. "F**cking priority one. Capt'n, you got mail," she flashed over the ship's Net.

"Alright," Storm responded from several hundred meters away. "Company." He downloaded the message, input the day's codes, laughed. He was promoted to Admiral and made a liason to the Atlantian government. A number of his crew were listed for promotion. The Subaru was getting a small fleet, which would arrive with the real ambassador, which the message said would happen in several days and would probably take a month to become reality.

*******

"Attention all hands. The Subaru is now a representative of the Kingdom to Atlantis. Please check the Net for rating upgrades," the announcement rumbled through the craft. In the practice hall, Subaru the ship avatar vaulted over a combat training droid, disabling it with blows too fast to see before ever coming down.

*******

"Olympia, Admiral Storm of the Subaru, we are at your service for any duties you may require of us until the formal ambassador can arrive. Commander Subaru is the formal liason between Atlantis and the Kingdom of Weyr. Please be advised," the message flashed out.

Helva followed him to the quarters and looked around. "By your leave, Sir, I would like to see the rescue craft and fighters as soon as possible. What's our ETA to the craft with the distress call?"

"About 15 minutes, actually" said Vorak. "I'll escort you to your temporary quarters, just so you know where they are. Then if you wish, you can return here and look over the craft in this room" He pointed at the fighter bay doors.

**********

Vega got the message in his private quarters several hours later.

So many Terrans he thought to himself So many different kinds of Terrans.

"Thats good to hear, Commander Subaru. If you wish, you may procced to our Capital system. The coordenets are as follows...."

Helva did just that, going over the craft after seeing the quarters. Checking the systems and setup, familiarzing herself with them, just in case.

The 15 minutes passed, and the Babylon reached the Matthew. Commander Vorak opened a channel.

"This is the Babylon. We're here to provide assitance. Please respond"

OOC: Any time now, please :P

The comms channel clicked open.

"Greetings once again, vessel Babylon. Request assistance with subspace systems as our Enginseers and Theo-Scientists appear to have forgotten to stock spare parts"

The tone appears to be a mix of exasperation, irritation and amusement.

"If possible, we would request the following if you have any of the items in spare parts or non-important systems"

There followed a list of components, five in all, that were fairly easy to get hold of - it can be understood why the Matthew was not carrying any spares, as they were the kinds of things that one took for granted.

A bay door towards the front of the ship slid open.

"You are welcome to step aboard, if you wish".

The comms channel clicked out as the Lord Flagellant waited for a reply as he pondered this fairly recent development.

"Thank you" replied Commander Vorak "We'll be over shortly with the supplies"

He turned to his first officer "Get the list together, and meet me at the shuttle bay in 10 minutes with a small away team"

"Yes sir" said his right hand man. He walked off the bridge, a PADD with the list in hand.

Helva was sorely tempted to look over the fighters first, but this was supposed to be assistance, therefore possibly rescue, so she started familiarizing herself with the rescue craft and it's onboard resources.

OOC: Sorry for the LONG delay. I got sidetracked by real life.

IC: 10 minutes later, the first officer walked into the Fighter bay with 3 other people. Two Lt. and one Ensen. Seconds later, the Commander marched in.

"Are we ready to go?" he asked. He looked around and saw Helva.

"Would you be interested in joining us?"

"Absolutely", she replied immediatly. She strode forward with the sinuous grace of a tigress to join the party.

The 6 entered the shuttle and headed for the Matthew.

<Yes, I know it's short. Sue me>

(OOC - Okay I'll sue. I'll need a list of material possessions and approximate liquidated wealth including checking and savings accounts, bonds, etc., then I'll contact my lawyer with the information and see what I can do.)

(OOC - Okay I'll sue. I'll need a list of material possessions and approximate liquidated wealth including checking and savings accounts, bonds, etc., then I'll contact my lawyer with the information and see what I can do.)

*throws Dragon out an airlock* Nice one, smart ass :p

A small rift opened in space outside the small fighter. The small rift collapsed to a pinpoint of light, which expanded into a ship. The ship was small, maybe the size of a destroyer. It appeared damaged, listing to starboard, leaking radiation, with smoke pouring from several hull breaches. The ship was definately a warship, however, whith missile tubes and various caliber cannon protruding from the roughly rectangular hull. A faint signal eminated from the ship, a distress signal. The ship groaned as her damaged engines came online, and moved towards the fighter.

"Fardling A", Helva said as she looked at the screens and then jumped into the pilots seat without thinking, her hands moving over the controls and lifting them out of the bay with the speed and ease of an expert pilot. She toggled the com channel.

"We have you on our screens. We're on our way to assist. Are you being pursued. Over."

"Fardling A", Helva said as she looked at the screens and then jumped into the pilots seat without thinking, her hands moving over the controls and lifting them out of the bay with the speed and ease of an expert pilot. She toggled the com channel.

"We have you on our screens. We're on our way to assist. Are you being pursued. Over."

A voice crackled over the COM. "Thank god! We foun*static* malfunctioning. There are no ship*static*ersuing us. There is much damage to ou*static* espond? Do you copy?"

The Commander looked over at the first officer.

"Tell the Babylon to get another shuttle flying, and tell the Matthew to hang on, another shuttle is approching" he wispered.

"Yes sir" said the first officer, turning to face another set of controls as Helva spoke with the newly arrivled ship.

OOC: last post for tonight

Helva toggled the com again. "We read you. No pursuit, confirmed. Your coms barely working. If your ships engines are critical, flash your nav lights three times so we can proceed with evacuation. Flash nav lights once if we can board and attempt repairs. Over."

Another Shuttle undocked from the Babylon and headed for the Matthew.

Hopefully this one won't be sidetracked by another ship Commander Vorak thought to himself.

bump

'Maybe thier coms had it', Helva muttered, "Commander, the vessel reports no pursuit. Conditions of the engines unknown as they seem to have lost com. Orders?"

[[OOC: There's really not much that I can do except RP the Lord-Flagellant twiddling his fingers...the bay door is open, you've been invited in...]]

(OOC - Isam. I'm not in charge here, I'm along for the ride. But mainly I think the vessel I'm in is heading for the Oni Concordiat ship, not yours, you'll be getting the second shuttle that lifted (I THINK). But that's why my character is asking for orders, since there's two vessels to investigate.

OOC: Um....erm.....*runs*

IC: The 2nd shuttle docked with the Matthew, and the door opened, letting three engeneers out, two security guards, and a Lt.

"I am Lt. Rathma. How may I help you?" he said, half jokingly.

********

Vorak sighed. "Continue trying to make contact. They had their comm a few seconds ago, I doubt they've lost it that quickly"

OOC: Hey, ONI, wake up. :p

Helva eyed the ship that was still burning somewhere inside it, using precious oxygen as it sent out smoke from a ruptured hull. 'I wouldn't be so sure of that', she muttered, but opened the com anyway. "Non-pursuit confirmed. How are you engines? Can we land and assist or should we evacuate your vessel? Respond, please. Over."

[[OOC: Heh]]

Once the bay door was sealed and the six Atlantians had left their ship they would have the opportunity to look around this small area of the collosus Matthew.

The bay is a spacious area, a uniform chrome in colour, with various fuel-points placed into the surrounding walls as well as several doorways leading into it. The bay is dominated by a bronze crucifix set into the floor, and it is startling to notice how quickly the room is re-aired after the vacuum of space but time for introspection would be cut short as one of the doors slid open.

The five men who entered the docking bay were armoured in smooth black armour, their martial aspect heightened by the weapons holstered at their sides but lessened by the lack of larger weaponry and the fact that their heads are unhelmeted, bare.

The man in the lead bears a colonel's insignia and introduces himself to the leuitennant (sp?) as "Nazareth-Colonel John Rykin" and quietly welcomes the six Atlantians.

"How can you help us? Well, if you're being serious, then the things that our technicians requested would be a help, if you mean that with humour...a halfway decent meal, namely one not knocked out by our canteen, would be appreciated."

The last said with a wink and a grin. The Isamites of this time period actually have a decent sense of humour, unlike the extremely limited one of their forbears.

"We can't do anything if their comm is out" said Vorak "We can't just barge in. Try a worded message"

***********

Lt. Rathma nodded to the security guards. They walked back into the shuttle, and began to bring out the parts.

"A meal too? A little greedy, arn't we?" he smiled. He looked behind him "We have a replicator, if you want to use it"

"Worded message", she said and nodded as she glanced around the cabin looking a bit embarrased. Typing was something she hadn't learned. She called up the subroutine for text and began the search and peck method, slowly typing it out in elven. She had never learned to read and write in common, only speak it. Once she was done she had the computer translate it into standard and sent it off. "There is one other option", she said, though she didn't figure he would like it. SHE sure didn't.

Vorak sighed agian "What is it?" he asked, slighly sarcasticly.

"Um, never mind, sir, I overstep my bounds." Apparently the command structure here was of the type who didn't take suggestions form junior officers, at least if the sarcasim in his voice was any indication.

Vorak had suddenly relized he had been very rude "No, please. go ahead"

OOC: If ONI dousn't reply soon, I'm going to assume his ship was swollowed by a fold in space time or something

"Well we have a method to force dock. A docking ring with high magnetization and four titanium tipped spear guns to allow us to shoot through the hull of the ship and then winch close and have the magnetized lock clamp us against the hull. Then we use cutting lasers to get through. We don't like to do that, it's a gamble with any number of things that can go wrong. Just presenting options, sir." Helva knew it was largely used for boarding maneuvers but it had been used twice before with the battle cruiser in rescue ops. Even then it was dangerous. It took several seconds to disengage and manuever away in order to gain distance for a full burn in case of core meltdown.

Vorak shook his head "I said we couldn't just "barge in""

Suddenly, a temporal space anomalie appeared and folded around the ONI ship. The Vessel's shape was distorted slightly as it vanished from view.

Everyone in the shuttle had their mouth wide open.

OOC: See? I told you.....

Helva set a reverse course away from the anomolie, just in case, then stared opened mouth out the window. After a few moments she muttered, 'Right. Note to self. When commander Vorak says no barging in he means it.' She then set a course for the other vessel but looked back at the Commander in case he had other orders.