NationStates Jolt Archive

Sol System
High Mercury Orbit

Out of the shadow of the boiling and frozen planetoid, a Crimmond Frigate slid into the glaring whiteness of day. The shields were at minimum, showering whoever was aboard with untold amounts of solar radiation. From the ship came a simple message.

Help us. Please, someone help us.

Minutes later the shields shut down completly, leaving only the thicly armored, rapidly heating, hull between crew and radiation.

It was perhaps fortunate for the frigate that one of the Tribes of the Nomadic Republic had stopped to trade above the Venetian territories held by Sann.

The Clan Eo was a small and relatively unimportant Tribe, its ships were the standard produced by the Sannae Dockships - fast, small and better at running than fighting, its tribesmen had nothing to distinguish them from the other Tribes, but despite the disadvantages of being one of the Clans Minor they were still Sannae, with all the technology thereof.


Tribeship Joy of Eonassin, outer orbit, Venus

"My Lord Tassadan!"

Lord Eo Tassadan turned from reading over the cargo manifest from the day's trading and walked over to the comms console.

"My Lord, we are receiving a distress signal from the Mercurian region. Vessel is frigate-sized, but we do not know origin or circumstances other than that they are in trouble - most likely suffering radiation damage from the star"

Tassadan sighed. As he ordered his heir, aboard the Roveship Child of Eo, to get closer to the frigate with a small group of other vessels he once again roundly cursedhis heritage - having probably the best biotechnology in known space was a great advantage, but being too soft-hearted to avoid helping an unknown vessel when his own ships were lightly armed at best was certainly not an advantage.


Roveship Child of Eo, outer orbit, Venus

Heir Eo Ysannan seated himself in the command chair of the Child, smooth voice issuing commands as though engineered to do so. As the ship left Venetian orbit Ysannan mused that his voice, technically, had indeed been engineered that way.

"Accelerate to T'Ain velocity, bearing toward signal via Mercurian shadow"

As the Roveship accelerated four more of the craft took up position behind it, radiation shielding darkening their vision ports.

Ysannan adjusted his robes slightly and waited calmly for his ship to arrive at the planet Mercury. It did not take long, relatively speaking - as with all ships of the Nomadic Republic it could achieve an impressive level of speed. However, despite the relatively short period of time the Heir Eo was uncomfortably aware of the danger of leaving the damaged vessel even this long.

After what seemed like twice as long as it actually was, the Roveships were in orbit around Mercury, taking advantage from the small amounts of shadow that it cast - Sannae radiation shielding was extremely well designed, but it could not stand up to the power of a sun for long.

The Child of Eo smoothly slid out of orbit and into a position where the ball of rock and metal would not hinder communications. He clicked on an wide-range comm channel.

"Unknown vessel, this is the Clan Eo Roveship Child of Eo. Request status report, willing to lend assistance or aid evacuation if necessary. Please respond."

The, well aware of the static effect of solar radiation, he set the message to repeat itself. At this distance the rad-shields could hold out for a considerable time, and it would be a matter of ease to return to the shadow of Mercury to recharge...but the other ship would not have that long.

[[Notes on Roveships:
A roveship is one of the larger Sannae vessels (not counting Dockships or Silocraft) and is about two hundred metres long, a large amount of which is shielding and engine. The crew is small, about thirty in all, with space for a much larger number of people in case one of the Tribeships gets damaged and needs to evacuate into a Roveship.
Hull colour is a dark blue, with the Sannae flag emblazoned upon the sides, and the ship is lightly armed (as mentioned, main benefit of Nomadic Republic ships is the ability to get out of a firefight, fast)]]

OOC:
I would like to participate, but I cant think of a REASON.
The Tandu would happily slaughter the crew of the ship with a reason and then drag it off to home, but most likely they would just ignore the whole thing.
...
No ideas :P

The ship continued around the hot planet under it's own power, the two large engines providing thrust as needed for a stable orbit, the automated ship's systems answering with basic identificaton and ship's status after deciphering the incoming message.

Crimmond Space Ship Assassian's Redoubt. FCS-117-B. Hull status: Temperature apporaching warning levels. Will move into planetoid shadow before said level. Life Support status: Online. 83% capacity. Air temperature nearing 92 degrees F. Radiation levels above danger levels. Unknown airborne particles in all major ship areas. Crew status: 71% mobile. Conditions unknown. Medical sensors currently offline.

The frigate was short and fat, only eight decks thick. The two engines providing thrust were large, a bit too large for the small craft. On thehull was marked the name of the vessel, along with a crest, most likely of a fleet. Scans of the ship would reveal several strange features, including the entire bow of the ship was made of a depleted uranium alloy and that beneath some hull plats there were liteally a thousand small missiles. The frigate was obviously built for close in 'knife fighting'.

Heir Eo Ysannan blinked as he glanced over the readout.

"Impressive firepower. Clansman-Communicator Darynos, inform the other Roveships that they are to avoid the prow of this "Assassin's Redoubt"."

He turned to look at the ship again, now that it was slowly coming into the Mercurian Shadow and ordered his own craft to follow.

He switched on the open-comms again.

"Crimmond Space Ship Assassin's Redoubt, if there are any consious still aboard, we are coming to get you. This is the Roveship Child of Eo, prepare for docking."

The Roveship slid gracefully towards the Frigate as Sannae Specialists ran toward the link-hatch, their powered armour combined with extensive genetic engineering meaning that they could withstand practically anything Nature had to throw at them. Leading them was Specialist-Sergeant Eo T'Kath, his voice had the rich timbre common among the Specialists.

"Specialists of Clan Eo, we are to attempt to rescue the crew of the damaged Crimmond vessel Assassin's Redoubt. We do not know the reasons for its damage but we know that it is carrying a hefty amount of nuclear material as well as a large quantity of missiles. It's engines appear to be for the reverse version of our own - it is a close-quarter combat vessel. As such the crew will probably be armed and may misinterpret our presence. Your armour should protect you. However, I want stunning bio-agents ready for release, with fatals if they prove immune. Prepare the Exterminatus Specific, I doubt there is anything that can resist that.
"Remember, this is a standard rescue mission to a non-standard vessel. Hull radiation is wel above the norm and reaching critical levels, the crew may have an unknown medical condition - bloody unlikely, but possible - so we're going to quaranteen them as soon as possible. No other Sannae Clansman or Clanswoman should come into contact, so no showing off for your girl or boyfriends."

He looked around at his seven and a half foot tall squad, six inches of height made up by the armour. They were the best Clan Eo had, immune to all known diseases and genetically engineered to be the best a human could be, but more than that, they could all be trusted with the lives of their squadmates.

As the Eo Roveship slid closer to the Crimmond Frigate the Specialists closed their helms, sealed any airgaps and connected their air supply. Radiation shields were charged to the max and all systems were fully functional.

"Latest bit of info from the Heir Eo. Apparently there is some kind of airborne particle running through this little dagger of a ship, so we're sealing off all relevant corridors, including all ventilation and so on and so forth, right the way from here to the spots where they'll be living.
"Remember, there is a lot of rad in that ship, so I don't want you risking your shields. Most of the crew are mobile, but may well be delusional."

His comms switched over to his Lord Heir.

"Ready to rescue, my Lord"

Rob Pulson watched the Roveship prepare to dock the Assassians Redoubt from afar in the saftey of his own cloaked smuggler craft, Eve. Although he was a smuggeler, Pulson was still a man with a heart; Even so, He still didn't want to get too close to any warships. He decided to consult his ship.

"Whadda ya think, Eve?" He spoke, even though there were no other men on his small ship. The ship, with it's own advanced AI, responded back.

"Without help the ship's crew will eventually die; The Roveship can probably take care of this without the loss of life. However, It might be profitable to check the ship for goodsd and money."

Pulson nodded. If he had anything close to a wife, it was Eve. She cated somewhat like a symbiote.

Eve herself was a small blue repulsor-driven spacecraft armed with a half-Dozen mine tubes, a pair of railguns, and a powerful Laser Pump Cannon that could demolish large sections of ships. Pulson decided to lay low for the moment.

OCC:Sorry for the low quality, I'm kind of in a rush right now.

The automated systems responded again.

Internal communication system malfunctioning. Message cannot be relayed to crew. Strongly suggested that docking be aborted.

Assuming that would be dismissed as not being an option, the system would go back to informing the Roveship of the current ship status.

Change in mass from docking will slow CSS Assassian's Redoubt. Predicting outer hull temperatures to reach warning levels 52 seconds before terminator. Engine burn to correct this deemed unsafe.

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

As the two ships closed, a Crimmond officer watched from a control station on the Redoubt's bridge. The lanky, white haired, man held the rank of Lieutenant Commander. Around him was death. On his uniform was his captain's blood. "No... you won't take this ship. You can't. Not while I'm runing things." He muttered, diving across the bridge to another control panel, activating it and inputing comands. "Computer. Status of Demons?"

'Demon pods are stable. Demon's are unaffected by heat and radiation.'

"Good."

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

In the cargo bay, most likely unnoticed by anyone on the Roveship, a small power increas activated twelve red pods. Each one was marked with Danger: Demon Pods are not to be opened except by Crimmond High Command, Experimental Weapon's Division.

The Roveship suddenly stopped moving. Most of the crew had to shift in order to prevent falling over, but the Specialists simply remained still. They glanced at each other, wondering what had just happened.

It took a few moments for their Lord Heir to relay the message to the Specialist-Sergeant, who in turn relayed it to his team.

"Specialists of Eo, turns out that our friendly little warship has just told us that we shouldn't go in"

He pauses for a moment, listening to his commander.

"Right. We're to arm ourselves with Scalpel assault rifles before we go in - regardless of circumstances we cannot allow these people to be left to rad-death. It's an extremely unpleasant way to go.
"Our Lord Heir has decided to go ahead, and is informing the ship that the Child of Eo will compensate for speed loss, so there's today's bit of information that doesn't really matter to us."

This last accompanied by a short laugh - Specialist humour is a strange, strange thing. Accompanying the laughter was the sounds of two Virus Defensive Weapons sliding down from the ceiling - precision, high-velocity, rapid fire machine guns that fire slender projectiles designed to penetrate armour or tear through flesh.

"Seems young Ysannan is becoming paranoid. Good boy."

Again, another round of laughter, although they all knew that the guns would not stop a numerous and determined enemy - if they were anticipating strong resistance they would never have completed the docking - but they would be able to slow down a foe long enough to disengage the Roveship.

Moments later the docking mechanism had locked and the ten Specialists were armed, ready and moving cautiously across the short gap between the Roveship and the Frigate.

The Specialists would enter into a docking port, lined with EVA suitsfor normal sized humans and strange ones designed for large beings with thick tails. The area was lit well, showing the ship still had most of it's power. Moving further, they would find a small armory, stocked with rifles andother weapons. The room looked deshevled, several riflesmissing and stepping into the corridor they'd find one of them, held by a wide eyed man in an EVA suit. "Wh-who are you?!" He stammered at them, too scared to raise the weapon up from aiming at the deck.

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

"Come on... move out of the docking zone. Move dammit..." the man on the bridge muttered to himself, eyes drifting to a monitor in the cargo bay. The pods were awaiting command to release their contents. A hand hovered over a control, waiting. "Move..."

Two of the Specialists remained in the docking port, carefully examining the various equipment and keeping their comms links open to the Child of Eo - always a useful precaution in case the links failed to penetrate from deeper in the ship. These two also began scanning the air for the aforementioned particles.

The remaining eight, including the Specialist-Sergeant, moved through armoury, glancing at the weapons and noticing the missing rifles. Soon after they came across the man in the enviro-suit. While two of his Specialists kept their weapons trained on the man Eo T'Kath spoke to the unfortunate, rich voice carefully calm and reassuringly relaxed.

"I am Specialist-Sergeant Eo T'Kath, of the Clan Eo Roveship Child of Eo of the Nomadic Republic of Sann. We're here to get you out before the ship decides its rad-shields are a bit too tired to stay up. Specialist Kyrin will see you back to the Roveship."

He gestured to another Specialist, also seven feet tall but whose voice sounded vaguely feminine through her vox.

"Delighted to meet you, and you are...?

Meanwhile a pair of Specialists made to move past the man to further explore the ship. The others would remain until they were certain that Kyrin had the crew member well on the way back to the Roveship.

"The shields are downallready. The only thing keeping anyone alive is hull armor and these suits. I was going to get more." He looks around, ignoring the female as he does so. "Don't breathe the air either. After a while you start having delusions... that's why the shields are down."

The two ahead would find a T intersection with a scematic of he deck on one wall. Left led to the next level and the right to a sealed pressure door.

"Going to get more? For which people? As to the air, we are already aware of the airborne particles, our armour is entirely self sufficient."

He pauses as the two Specialists return and inform him of their findings. A short gesture and most of the Specialists move up to the T junction, leaving only T'Kath, Kyrin and one other Specialist.

"Why would the delusions mean that the shields were down, and do you know of any other living crewmembers?"

He paused a moment.

"And why do you need to travel around your own ship carrying firearms?"

[tag]

"The delusions make people paranoid... I-I'm feelinglike that now, but the more time you breath clean air, the less it gets." He looks at the rifle. "Go up a deck. There's about twenty dead crewman there. All killed by each other..." He shudders and looks at each of them. "There are some of us in the science lab. We have the guns to protect us fom the Brute. It's uh...about seven foot tall, reptilian, mean, intelligent as a human and... acting head of security."

The Jaguar Destroyer Hopelite, and Barracuda Destroyer Hel slowly slid through space cloaked, nearing Murcury. They where a normal patrol, just making sure nothing was able to threaten Atlantis. Say....another Terran Mothership.

Lt. Soleta arched her eyebrows "What is it?"

"Looks like a congragation of ships....around Murcury" said Lt. Delia.

"But what would anyone want with Murcury? Sol one is a desolete planet" Soleta replied.

Delia continued to read the reports "I dunno. Its several different nations. One of them is sending a message"

"Patch it in Lt." said Commander Hella. She sat back in her chair as the message was played.

Help us. Please, someone help us.

"The configuration is Cimmond. Do you want us to assist?" asked Delia. He turned around to face his Commander.

"No. Not yet. Keep us cloaked. Lets see what happens" said the Commander.

Crimmond Space Ship Assassin's Redoubt, Mercury high orbit

The Specialist-Sergeant nodded.

"Kyrin, I want a full analysis of the airborne agent along with possible purge bio-agents to counter it throughout the ship. Subject agent is most likely a neuo-toxic transferred to the brain via blood in the lungs. See to it."

He turned to the other Specialist in the room.

"Havyn, go and grab a few of the Enviro-suits while our nameless friend here shows us the science lab"

As Kyrin absorbed herself in her scanners and Havyn walked back to the entry bay the seven-foot tall Specialist-Sergeant T'Kath turned back to the Crimmond crewman.

"Right. Lead on to the science lab. While we walk fill me in on possible causes, and don't worry about the "Brute"...it's probably shorter than us Specialists anyway, without the benefits of Sannae genetic engineering. Not to mention minus HZ P-Armour."

He started to move further into the ship toward where his five Specialists waited, one large, armoured hand on the crewman's back to guide him along.


Clan Eo Roveship Voice of the Wanderer, Mercury high orbit

"Nothing on scanner, Clansman-Captain Jarryn. It appears that the rest of the universe doesn't really give a damn about a single frigate this close to Sol"

The scan-operator shrugged

"But then, we are talking Bound peoples, so we cannot expect too much"

His captain chuckled at that, before replying

"Agreed. Bound to their polluted colonies and world, but not bound by common humanity. Ah well, there are plenty of exceptions to the rule - just not enough to make kindness by the Bound the rule rather than the exception. Keep an eye out..."

Sannae ships might be stunningly fast, staggeringly maneuverable...but their scanners were far from perfect. Still, they never claimed to be good at spotting things other than diseases.

"Oh... I'm Ensign Stalinovski." he smiles a bit, but it fades with the rest of his words. "You don't know Brutes... they're hunters. Carnivores. They track and kill their prey and either eat them or use them as bait for larger prey... They're as smart as humans but wuthinstincts we've lost." He bites his lip. "The lab is easy to find. Three decks down." he walked with them and gripped the rifle tightly.

-----------

On the bridge, hand touched control.

-----------

Doors slid open on all twelve pods and long, blue needlelike fur covered fingers wrapped around the rim of the opening. From inside each came the sounds of hissing and a strange rattling as each Demon emerged. Dropping from their towering twelve foot hieght to all fours and down to six feet, they sniffed at their surroundings and one, the largest and most scarred, climbed onto the containers and rattled loudly, joined by the others. The Hoard had a new lair.

The cargo bay, if scanned, would show heat signatues slightly cooler than humans and a strange physiological makeup, but considering the number of species on Earth and the fact that there was a giant lizard elsewhere on the ship it isn't out of the ordinary.

Pic: Demon (http://home.earthlink.net/~alpha_zero_usm/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/demon.jpg)

Pic: Demon Head (http://home.earthlink.net/~alpha_zero_usm/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/demonhead.jpg)

OOC: The above is me. Just under my other nation.

"Pleased to meet you, Ensign, and in case these little airborne friends of ours have made you forget, I am Specialist-Sergeant Eo T'Kath. These are Specialists Eo Kyrin and Havyn."

He nodded to the ensign's words as they caught up with the other his team.

"Specialists of Eo, watch your weapons. We have some unpleasant things called 'Brutes' running around."

He stopped for a moment, cocking his head as if listening to something.

"Right. Something else has started wandering about on the cargo bay. At the moment, not a threat."

He turned back to Stalinovski and gestured at the sealed door.

"What's through there?"

"Sections twelve through eighteen. Power relays and the manual controls of the port missile racks. No one was in those sections when they were sealed off... we saw the delusions start and thought it was best. No sense in blowing up some freighter that had the bad luck to find us." He begins to start off to the next deck and pauses. "Cargo bay? The emergency food stores are there... maybe someone thinks the food distribution system is 'tainted' or something."

-----------

The Alpha-Demon lept down from the containers and moved to a door, sniffing around before raising a paw/hand and activating the door button twice, testing it. The others were exploring the cargo bay, pushing containers around and figuring out where they were. One shrieked out as it found a schematic of the deck, gathering the others. The Alpha rattled and off the Demon's went, knowing they were on a ship and usingit to ther advantage.

Three stayed behond, to protect the cargo bay and the rest moved out into the corridors, stalking quietly through them, looking for something, ignoring the locked door marked Science Lab 2.

The reports and readings had been dealt with at a tactical level, and generally ignored. After all, to the Order's rogue military forces, a mere handful of ships were no real threat. Not when alien fleets and vengeful Sketchians roamed the system.

Now, the High Imperator narrowed his gaze at the reports. Weeks old, he noted with distaste. Heads would roll for it - after all, heads would roll anyway, and now it would be the heads of the incompetent. Surgery, removal of cancer.

Two vessels docked with one another. Two other vessels attempting sensor evasion. An emergency associated with one of the former, a Crimmond frigate, and requests for help, which had brought the others.

Policy became a message transmitted directly from one of the hundreds of JIL satellites orbiting Mercury to all four vessels.

Attention Unauthorized Vessels,

Your presence has been detected and your efforts to penetrate controlled Mercury orbital space can be seen as hostile intentions toward the Combined Seraphim Forces. Be advised that we are aware of an emergency situation aboard the CSS Assassin's Redoubt and will prepare, and execute, any and all necessary measures to safeguard all Mercury assets. All vessels not currently giving active aid to the Crimmond frigate are to make vectors to leave Mercury space within 6 hours.

---Crimmond---

The Sergeant nodded and moved off down the corridor, the weight of the seven-foot tall Sannae plus armour making surprisingly little noise. The other members of the squad follow him, although one Specialist remain by the doorway, holding a quiet conversation with his two fellows in the docking bay via comms systems.

"Food will not be an issue."

He pauses suddenly.

"Cargo bay? Damn..."

He turns onto internal vox, speaking to his commander aboard the Child of Eo for a few moments.

"Right...movement throughout corridors coming out of cargo bay. Hsan, stay with Kriolun by the door."

The named Specialist turned and walked back to join his comrade, guarding the door that led to the cargo bay while the other six team members continue toward the lab with the Ensign.

A few moments of musing reminded Hsan of what the ensign said, and voxed his thoughts to his Sergeant, whose reply was short and to the point.

"Concerns noted, Hsan, the Heir has ordered his Roveships to avoid any firing points. What weapons he has are ready to counter anything that gets fired."


Seraphim Military
[[OOC note: There are five Roveships present - four plus the one docking. Slightly higher number than standard Sannae procedure as the Clan Eo Heir is present]]

The reply when it came was calmly expressed by someone with the voice patterns of one born to command, but not wishing to offend someone for no reason. The message is also somewhat terse, as if the person sending it has other things on his mind.


Combined Seraphim Sources, this is Heir Eo Ysannan aboard the Clan Eo Roveship Child of Eo of the Nomadic Republic of Sann.

We have made no attempt to disguise our presence and, as the very nature of our ships should indicate, are hardly equiped to be launching an attack.

We have responded to a distress signal as is normal operating procedure for all Sannae whether of the Tribes Major or the Clans Minor.

Other Roveships are unable to disengage due to volatile nature of Crimmond vessel's armaments and in case further assistance is deemed necessary by myself or my father, currently in high orbit over Sannae Venetian holdings.

Strongly suggest you do not interfere as Eo men are already aboard the CSS Assassin's Redoubt and actions could endanger lives of those aboard

Apologies humbly offered for inconvenience or misunderstood intent, no slight was intended by Clan Eo presence.

The automated systems again answered for the stricken ship.

CSS Assassin's Redoubt is not in violation of any claimed space. Ship's position is stable orbit over Asteroid 398-Alpha in Sol Asteroid belt. Please correct your navigational computer. CSS Assassin's Redoubt course, speed and navigational records are quite clear.

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

On the bridge, another control was pressed.

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

The deck around them shuddered. The ensign looked around, wide eyed. "Pressure doors! Someone's closing more! Oh crap... some one must be on the bridge still."

Indeed, behind them at the T intersection, a two foot thick pressure door slammed closed and sealed, blocking off the exit to the Roveship.

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

Moving through the corridors, the Demons reach a pressure door on the opposite side of the deck from the Specialists. After scratching at it for a moment, it slides open again, to their bewilderment. It passes thoughandthey spil into the room beyond, filled with power controls, which they begin to randomly hit and kick, knowing only rudementually from ingrained training that this had to be done.

Soon, they got the poper reaction from the ship, as lights died throughout the ship, leaving only dim glowplates, active through the absorbtion of ambient heat.

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

"Oooh boy... that isn't good." Stalinovski muttered, switching on a wrist mounted light and the light on his rifle. "I'd say what next, but I'm afraid of what would happen..."

[[OOC: Where on the T-junction are the doors closing? On the Roveship side of the originally sealed door, or between the door and the rest of the ship?]]

OOC: The alleady sealed door is the right arm of the T, the corridor to the Roveship the bottom and the one they took the left arm. The door sealed the top edge of the bottom arm.

"Sir, we're reaciving a transmission from the....sattlites" said Delia. She played the message.

"So....something is defenetly going on with the Crimmond ship" Helia muttered.

"They want us to leave" said Delia

"Lets have them make us" Soleta mused.

The Commander smiled "Exactly what I was thinking. Keep scanning the Crimmond ship....I want to know what this is about.

Eo T'Kath swore as the doors closed and lights vnaished, leaving only faint illumination from glowplates, before he voxed to the Child of Eo what had occured. He paused for a moment, listening to the Heir's response.

"Right, we're on our own for the moment - Eo Ysannan is sending in a medic-team with acidic bio-agents. They'll place and withdraw, while the two guys I left in the docking bay monitor acidic progress and replace if necessary. It's going to take a long, long time though. Ysannan suggests that we get to the bridge and open it from there."

He paused for a moment, then the visor of his helm gleamed for a second, before fading.

"Nightvision active, infra-red overlay"

The other Specialists of his team did the same, activating their NV and IR - Brutes running around in the dark did not suit the Specialists...not at all.

Eo T'Kath laughed at the ensign's last statement.

"Fair enough. Are your friends armed, and is their door accessable from the Bridge? If the answer is 'no' and 'no', we'll go and get the, otherwise we go and find them."

"Yes, they're armed. No it doesn't open on the bridge." He starts off down the corridor, not waiting for the Specialists, rounding a corner and shining the light down it, before proceeding, assuming they'd follow.

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

The Demons spread out further and one rounded a turn into a dark room, finding a crewman, muttering to himself. He started to scream as he stared at the Demon, but was cut short as it swung an arm out at him, knocked him out and broke his jaw. It pulled the crewman onto it's back and trotted off towards the cargo bay, rattling happily that it had tonight's meal.

The Specialists do indeed follow, hopefully heading towards the science lab - more armed people was generally a better thing than wandering around an unknown ship alone.

The Specialist-Sergeant was quietly relaying the latest information send from the Child of Eo to his team and the Ensign, commenting on the unfortunate crewman's capture - that is, that a heat blip labelled as "human" had been taken by a heat blip labelled as "unknown" and that said "unknown" had violently lashed out at "human".

Stalinovski continued down the corridor, checking a room on the way, for reasons he didn't mention. He didn't find anything, so he continued on, to a sealed door. Setting the gun down, he takes a tool from the EVA suit and takes off a small panel. Pulling a lever inside, the door opens into a maintence area. "There's a ladder in here that hakes you to the next deck. The bridge is on that deck. The ones above it are the upper missile tubes and the engine room." A look back at them. "They will see you coming no matter what, but this will get a team closer to the bridge than using the ventral ramps. Lifts would be better, but those aren't online."

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

The demon returns to the Cargo Bay with the human, who is quickly incapacitated by way of fracturing all it's limbs.

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

The Alpha Demon moved quickly down a corridor and turned a corner. It saw a beam of light, around the next. Smells of something different than the Redoubt and it's crew met it's snout. A loud rattle echoed down the corridor, alerting both prey and hunters that it was close to the prey, before it bounded towards the light and took a side corridor, half way there. Other rattles came form other corridors, responding to the Alpha.

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

"What the fuck was that?" Ensign Stalinovski asked, grabbing his gun and shining the beam of light down an empty corridor. "I've never heard anything like that before..."

The Specialist-Sergeant nodded at the Ensign as one of his team members started up the ladder, which creaked slightly under his armoured bulk. The other Specialists waited near the ladder, forming a semi-circle around it.

Eo T'Kath's helmet turned at the sound, his voice murmuring through the external vox...

"By the Roving...Specialists, prepare for incoming foes...ready release bio-agent Styx-814, firearms prepped for controlled bursts.
"Jaryn, you're up the ladder next, Ensign, you follow him. Specialists of Eo, we're going to move up the ladder and get to the bridge, keep the Ensign alive so he can guide us. Get ready to cover those going up."

As Jaryn started his ascent the other four Specialists, including Sergeant, waited for whatever was approaching.

Then the Alpha dashed closer and into a side tunnel.

"Damn me...Release blades and Styx..."

A slender twelve-inch blade (usually used to remove obstructions preventing surgery) slid smoothly out of the left wrist armour of each Specialist, as they settled their firearms in their right hands...implant-enhanced strength combined with the powered HZ armour permitting them to use the rifles as if they were mere pistols.
Meanwhile, after quickly checking everyone's air supply is secure and there is nowhere for the agent to enter, the lethal Styx airborne bio-agent was released silently into the room, while the antidote was injected into the bloodstreams of the Specialists.

Even as T'Kath felt the Styx-814-A enter his system he offered a syringe containing said antiodote to the Ensign.

"Might come in handy, if those things manage to get through your airproofing."

[[OOC: Styx-814.
Styx-814 is an airborne biological agent commonly used by Specialists in preference to conventional combat, and often missile-delivered into enemy ships. It can enter the bloodstream either through lungs, eyes, abraisions or wounds open to the air. Symptoms for humans are drowsiness (10 seconds after infection), followed by paralysis [temporary if antidote supplied] (15-20 seconds after infection), then unconsiousness (30 seconds after infection) and finally death (40-60 seconds after infection).
The antidote is designed to immediately counter the most immediate sections that are affected by Styx-814 and is best injected into arteries close to the brain. When injected correctly the antidote can counter the immediate threat in 10 seconds after injection, but it takes a full 60 seconds to be certain the antidote is of sufficient quantity, if subject still feels drowsy a further injection may be required. The antidote, even if in insufficient quantities, will still prolong death by 80 seconds. The agent can also be neutralised in its airborne form by Styx-814-AN (Antidote-Neutraliser).
Thus far, Styx-814 has proved universally fatal to carbon-based biological entities and for this reason remains the favoured armament of the Nomadic Republic.]]

As they release the gas, the ship's automated systems once again kick in.

All crew members are to exavuate deck three immediatly and don enviromental suits or breath masks. Unknown gas has been released by docked Roveship team. Roveship team now classified as Threat Force and a danger to shipo and crew.

A klaxon wails through the corridors and overpowers the rattles for a few seconds until it cuts off.

"Oh, shit..." is all the Ensign says as he begins to climb the ladder.

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

A Demon bounded around the corner and skided to a stop, eyes glinting in the glow of the wall plates. It rattled softly at the Specialists, as if waiting.

The IR would show that the rattle was from the fur of the Demon shaking, though the most noticable thing was the skull like maw of the hunter.

Behind it, another two would be seen, bounding away down an side corridor, at an astonishing speed, one larger than the others.

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

The Alpha ignored the prey now as it moved with one of it's pack, racing towards the ventral ramps, to cut off the prey escaping, as it rattled loudly for all the roamers to follow.

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

The one staring at the Specialists turns it head, looking back and backas away, before sagging visably. It looked back at the specialists and rattled once, backing off slowly.

[OOC: It should be noted at this pont several things.

1: The Demons are intelligent beasts, approximatly as smart as a human eight year old.

2: They are pack hunters, obviously, and will defend their lair from anything it deams food and/or a threat.

3: Demons are different from humans in many respects, including metabolism, which requires much less intake for survival and in adaptability, meaning that they are weapons and are nothing but weapons. They treat peaceful, unarmed situations as buffets and hunting practice.

4: They are designed to withstand such deadly thins as heat and radiation, as seen earlier, but are able to be killed by normal means of guns and gas, but the former will just lsow them down in battle fever and the latter takes somewhat longer exposure than normal to be effective.

5: These Demons are more deadly in some respects, as they are on a ship and there is only a handfull of ways off it, including escape pods and the Roveship.

Just thought I'd mention all that now.]

CSS Assassin's Redoubt

The demon's appearance briefly surprises the Specialists, before their rifles start speaking. Retort after retort as pyramidal shaped Deliverance bullets are chemically accelerated through chamber, barrel and muzzle. Razor-sharp, poison coated projectiles that hum through the air toward the creature.

The only one not firing was the Specialist-Sergeant, calmly instructing his men to aim for different locations to see if one would bring it down faster.

"By the Bound..."

Murmured as he hears the ship's AI, then switching to a different wavelength.

"My Lord...


Roveship Child of Eo

...request assistance with AI. Believes that Styx-814 is released with hostile intent, must ask that you try to prevent it doing anything rash - I'd prefer not to have to get out with task incomplete."

"It will be done, Specialist-Sergeant."

The Heir Eo turned, expression unreadable.

"Clansman, open comms link to the Assassin's Redoubt. Thank you."

"Assassin's Redoubt, this is Heir Ysannan of the Child of Eo speaking. Request that you do not attempt to harm my team aboard you. Gas released is to prevent hostile entities that have been determined as hostile to your crew from taking the Ensign accomanying my team, and my team itself."

[[Long overdue brief OOC notes on Specialists:
Average height is seven feet, add an additional three inches for Hot-Zone powered armour (originally named for the armour worn by Sannae battlefield medics). Armour colour is typically white, with the Sannae symbol emblazoned upon chest, shoulders and back, with clan symbol beneath it.
Specialists are genetically engineered as all Sannae children during pregnancy and volunteers for the Specialists are taken at age seven. Specialists then undergo extensive gene-therapy and manipulation along with numerous bio-mechanical implants and adaptations including additional organs and muscle hardening.
Specialists are the elite of the Sannae medical operatives and are able to withstand a great deal, the HZ suit simply adds more protection to this with the end result that even unarmoured Specialists are hard to kill at the best of times.]]

The Demon is suprisingly easy to take down in it's dissappointed state, legs buckling as it flops on one side and wirths about, fur rattling loudly. The deep blue of it's blood stains the traction carpet of the deck and it's maw opens, rows of needlelike teeth glistening in a silent snarl at the Specialists.

The Ensign exited onto teh next deck and pushed past the Specialists, out into the corridor. This deck had partial power. He switched off the lights on his gun and on his helmet. He turned and looked in all directions, down the three corridors open to him. Around him lay a couple pools of fresh blood, a couple stray body parts nearby. "I've had a pretty shitty day so far... looks like it's just got worse."

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

Crimmond Naval Regulations clearly state that any unknown substance released by a boarding party automaticlly clssifies said party as Threat. Entities roaming corridors are classified as species Demon. Hunter Killer Weapons. Experimental phase, none known to exist outside- Weapons fire detected. Projectile type. Threat Force has demonstrated hostile intentions. Proceeding according to regulations. Channel terminated.

Roveship Child of Eo

"Not good. Alert the other Roveships to prepare for volatile action by Crimmond vessel Assassin's Redoubt and to be ready to initial bio-bombardment if necessary."

The Heir Eo turned back to his comms channels.

"Specialist-Sergeant, hostile entities are apparently classified as "Demons" and are used as hunter-killer weapons, but are still experimental. The ship has detected your fire and has decided to "proceed according to regulations" as it regards you as hostile. I advice you get to the Bridge as quickly as possible and shut down the AI if it will not co-operate. If necessary we will deploy more Specialist teams onto the frigate, but I would prefer not to have to resort to risking more Specialists. Get hold of a few remnants of these "Demons" and sent back scan results...if they're going to start popping up I'd like to have some bio-agents designed to neutralise them."


Crimmond Space Ship Assassin's Redoubt

"Understood, my Lord".

The Specialist sergeant gestured to one of the Specialists, who advanced toward the corpse while removing a capsule from his armour. Bending down, the Eo tribesman knelt and scooped a portion of the blood into the small device, which immediately began scanning even as the Specialist returned to the ladder.

The rest of the team moved calmly up onto the next deck, regarding the bloody remains impassively as the Sergeant addressed the Ensign.

"Ensign, what are the Crimmond Naval Regulations concerning us, considering that your ship has just decided that we are hostiles? And what do you know about these "Demons"?"

This said as the team made ready to follow the Ensign to the Bridge.

[[OOC: How large is the Frigate? Just wondering for size comparison between Assassin's Redoubt and the Roveships]]

[[OOC, it's a small ship, only a couple hundred meters long and about twice that in width]]

"Demons? Why teh hell are you asking me about theology at atime like this?" A sigh came from the Ensign. "Normally, the ship would pump contact toxin into the corridors to knock you out, but that won't happen since we're in suits. It advances to level two intruder alert at that point and alerts security to deal with you. I dunno what will happen with that though, considering the small crew that's getting smaller..."

He calmly starts walking down the corridor and stops at an open door, peering in at the crew lounge. "Hey! Fern, you in here? Security alert's been activated and we gotta get to the bridge." He hmphs as he gets no answer and continues on, grumbling as he steps up to a panel and presses a few buttons. "Ensign Stalinovski." The panel blinks and gives access to another screen. "Seal sections 20 and 18 on deck 2." Nothing. "Unseal docking bay." Nothing again. "Worth a try. Locate Commander Goter." That got a response and a blip appeared on the same deck as them, several rooms away. "There's your Brute. Figured he was here by the body parts."

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

Around teh wide ends of the deck, the Demons emerged onto the deck from the ramps, rattling quietly as they spread out. Darkness hadn't helped them, they had to find another way to fight this armed prey.

Delia's interest was peaked. "Commander, I'm reading some...insteresting things on the Crimmond ship. An unknown life signature, lots of commotion...I think we're in the dark, so to speak"

"Lt. Achillies, will you please report to the bridge" ordered Soleta from her chair's communicator. He appeared moments later.

"Lt, I need you to assemble an away team and board the Crimmond ship" said the commander.

"Yes sir" Achillies turned and began to walk out, but was stopped by another of Soleta's commands.

"Lt, take two or three Anubites with you" Achillies nodded, and stepped out. He picked up several crew members on his way down. Four Anubites and six Atlantians (including himself) in total. They didn't qestion him, as he was the head security officer, the uber "red shirt". The only one fom his branch that never got killed by an alien gashious lifeform or bloodthirsty pirates....

He reached the armory, and his team began pulling armor and weapons off the shelves. Ablative Body Armor, Orcalic Phaser Rifles, a few short swords, and a few pouches of granades, just in case. Achillies and his team walked out of the armory and out to the docking bay. Everyone boarded the closest Scarab Shuttle.

"Scarab six, you are cleared for departure" sounded a voice. The small ship rose into the air, hovering. It then took off, out the ship's open doors and into space, cloaked. It sped towards the Crimmond ship, and didn't stop until it got there...

Crimmond
[[Sorry about the delay - been busy]]

"I'm not talking about theology - besides, we do not believe in a Hell after death anyway. These "Demons" are apparently some kind of experimental weapon aboard the ship, so look on the bright side - they're working.
"Joy...poisons...I'm almost tempted to remove my helmet for an analysis, but we don't have time."

The last comment said in absolute seriousness, as if he is totally unphased by the possibility of toxic substances.

The Sergeant nodded as the Ensign pointed to the screen showing the Brute.

"Fair enough, we'll try to avoid it."

He turned to his Specialist team, voice still on open-vox.

"If they approach, use standard neutralisation procedure, shielding the Ensign."

He turned back to Stalinovsky, a faint glow coming from the visor of his mask/helm.

"Lead on."


Atlantian Outcasts

Roveship Wayfarer

Rover Eo Linay watched her screen idly, leaning back in her chair as she waited for the Specialists to either complete their job - most likely, or get into trouble - unlikely, and sighed with boredom.

Her Roveship, the Wayfarer, was currently in a holding pattern around the Frigate, two hundred metres of dark vessel, almost invisible to the normal eye and with sophisticated shielding to prevent long-range scanning and deflect incoming fire. It's short-range scanners up to the same level as the other Sannae vessels, designed to be able to penetrate ship armour and shielding to detect lifesigns, but also useful for fidning other craft nearby. She started as a faint blip appeared on her screen, quickly vanishing as the docking bay doors sealed.

"Crew to alert stations, possible stranger ship in area, no hostile action but certainly cloaked if present."

Her crew stirred into action, scanners activitated to full potential as they waited for some more vision of the thing that had appeared only for an instant. Usually they would not pay such attention for a mere maybe, but there was a team aboard the Crimmond vessel, and the Heir Eo's Roveship was docked with the frigate.

The Atlantian Scarab would find out quickly that there was only one way onboard the ship now that the only docking port was occupied by the Roveship: The fighter bays on the underside of the ship.

----------

Inside, the Ensigns grumbles again about something other. "We met up with another ship, that transferred cargo aboard. Hush hush stuff, so that where those things probably came from. Why they're here, I don't know. Never heard of the damn things. Maybe when we get to the bridge-this way-" he turns starts off down the main, double wide corridor, "we'll be able to contact someone in the chain of command. Maybe get one of..."

He trailed off as anther crewmanappeared around a corner, yelled a curse and ran back the way he came, shouting about traitors and sabotage. Unfortunatly, he ran into the waiting talons of Commander Goter, who grabbed him and tossed him against the bulkhead, killing the crewman instantly. "Boarding party! This is Security! Stand down immediatly or become dinner for me and my pets. You have fifteen seconds to release your prisoner and and leave." The sounds of at least two rifles and a small ping is heard. "Or we can do this the fun way..."

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

Behind the Specialists and the Brute was the silent approach of the Demons, surrounding all their prey, as best they could. To get to the Bridge, they'd have topas three Deomns and the Brute. To leave, they'd pass five Demons and whatever other security was roaming around now.

Deep within a local moon somthing stired, somthing that had not been sean or heard of in decades almost forgotten by most it now stirred. The cause was unknown but its intent clear.

"FEED"

A writhing mass of black chitchin began to swirl as the young norn queen buried in the moon slowly awakend. As it did so a small wave of what could only be descibed as asteriods errupted from the surface as a section of ground shatterd spewing the rocks fourth into space. As each segment flew away from the moon one's path seamed to curve midflght heading towards the two docked ships.

From the opposite end of the system a whisperd voice could be heard, one that held the strenth of billions, the hive had reawakend.

OOC: This is located around Mercury. The closest moon is nearly an AU away, around Earth. The closest body in Sol that has unclaimed planets is Saturn, but those are only about 20 km across.

To get to Mercury from Saturn in any sane length of time would require a small FTL jump.

As the asteroids spun towards their destinations a sudden shift occured in the warp a tugging motion rippled among the various rocks before they where renched back into realspace behind a wave of warp energy that slowly disipated before them as they eventually arrived at their targets. To the naked eye however they had slowed for a second before completly dissapearing.

The asteroid that headed towards the now three ships orbiting Mercury slowed and drifted towards the darkside of the ship before bumping gently into its surface. A dull thud echod through the ship.

Late, as usual, an RGF freighter hyperspaces in, drawn by their detection of the Assassin's Redoubt's distress signal several light-hours away.

Being so close to a star is something of a taboo in the RGF, although such fears are overcome by feelings of urgency and the need to provide help to those in trouble.

The freighter Lovely Rita is a well-built, rectangular job built for shuttling heavy cargoes, mostly ore and construction materials, from planet to planet. About 200 meters long and about the same wide, it does not follow the usual sphere design of RGF ships, and that fact would indicate to an informed observer that the Lovely Rita is not meant for long-haul trips without port or with minimal port facilities, but rather for short trips to and from regular destinations, as opposed to the freewheeling state of most of the RGF.

"Attention Crimmind vessel, this is the RGSV Lovely Rita. What is your status, over?" comes the response from the communications officer as soon as the freighter exits hyperspace, a risky jump getting in so close to such a large gravity well.

"There are numerous other vessels in the area as well."
"Eh...send the same kind of message to them I suppose. What are their nationalities?"
"One Atlantian, two we currently don't know."
"Attention all vessels, this is the RGSV Lovely Rita, based in the vicinity of Jupiter. What is your status, over?"

OOC: Hive, that last post of mine was a little hint that unless you explain where, who, why and how OOC, that you won't be included.

IC: The automated systems kick in once more, recieving the LRR message. It seemed to take each incoming transmition without regard for the past ones.

Crimmond Frigate CSS Assassin's Redoubt is being boarded by faction deemed Threat to crew and ship. Ship's status is therefore not availible without proper authorization. Ship is under Security Alert and insurgent team is being observed before proper force is exerted. Emergency beacon is offline. Request immediate assistance be rendered by a Crimmond Fleet vessel.

OOC: Are the bay doors closed or open?

OOC: Closed. Woud you travel the solar system with your bay doors open for whatever debris to come through and smash all your fighters? No force fields on Crimmond ships.

ooc> the hive has recently awakend due to actions in deep space it is currently acting out in its nature until a full comunications link with the hive can be established its tasks are currently 3 fold

1: Renew construction of Hive Colony

2: Establish current tech levels of surrounding species

3: Feed

ic:

As the asteroid rubbed gently against the ship it suddenly sun around and clamped into place fixing itself onto the hull, deep inside a creature sturred and the asteroid began moving around seeking another entry location to the ship. Finding a small viewport it clamped itself over the potential entrance and created a seal around the edge excreting a bioacid onto the "window" before beginning to drill into the newly created access point to gain entry into the ship.

Inside the Asteroid a curled ball of membranes began to uncoil preparing to release its contents into the ship.

OOC: I'm sorry, you haven't detailed anything about this hive, other than what we allready knew. I'm going to have to ask you to leave the RP or TG me most of the details about your nation. No posts will be recognized until such time.

OOC: Hive, that last post of mine was a little hint that unless you explain where, who, why and how OOC, that you won't be included.

IC: The automated systems kick in once more, recieving the LRR message. It seemed to take each incoming transmition without regard for the past ones.

Crimmond Frigate CSS Assassin's Redoubt is being boarded by faction deemed Threat to crew and ship. Ship's status is therefore not availible without proper authorization. Ship is under Security Alert and insurgent team is being observed before proper force is exerted. Emergency beacon is offline. Request immediate assistance be rendered by a Crimmond Fleet vessel.

"Oh crap," says the captain.
"Whenever one of those primitive AIs comes on with an automated message, you know something's up to no good."
"We should take a look at what's going on."
"I dunno..."

Against his better judgement, Captain Jethro authorizes a corvette to leave the freighter and dock with the Crimmond vessel.

So, several minutes later, Jethro is donning his EVA suit, and boarding the Packrat class cargo corvette.

The small ship leaves the freighter's smallcraft bay and makes for the Assassin's Redoubt at high speed. When it finally reaches the ship, a small telescopic tube, just large enough to fit two crew and a plasma cutter, is lowered onto the hull, and an attempt is made to cut through the hull, in the usual fashion.

"The door bays are closed" said the pilot "The only way in is by having a bit of fun"

Achillies smiled "Indulge yourself" he said "Everyone else, get on your EVA suits"

The scarab opened fire on the Crimmond ship's bay doors.

[[Sorry about the rather protracted delay, I've been busy over Christmas, but should be around more now.]]

Crimmond

The Specialists immediately formed up into a circular battle position, rifles aimed unerringly at their targets, Styx-814 silently released through tiny vents in their armour - the hostility of their current opponants already demonstrated. The Specialist Sergeant spoke calmly, voice slightly altered by his vox, but clear enough for the commanding tones to come through.

"Firstly, we not would not make a good meal - the blood running through our veins so filled with various bio-substances they would be fatal to any non-Sannae personnel consuming them.
"Secondly, you are hardly in a position to make demands. You have just killed one of your own crewmembers and the gentleman with us is not a prisoner - he has merely retained his sanity and realised that the best chance for survival that the crew of this ship has is with us.
"Thirdly, we have four Roveships in a holding pattern around the Assassin's Redoubt and another docking. We can easily destroy your ship if we deem you to be hostile.
"Fourth, my commanding officer is well aware of exactly what is going on at this moment - if you attack or make any hostile move, this ship will be destroyed as a threat to the Clan Eo.
"Summarily...attacking us would be a bad idea. It might be wiser to let us finish our task, then lie around relaxing on this ship once we leave. Clear?"

The Sergeant waits patiently for a reply, his rifle held casually in one hand as his Specialists observe the Brute and his forces.


LRR

The Heir Eo listened quietly to the message sent by the RGF vessel.

"RGSV Lovely Rita, this is Heir Eo Ysannan aboard the Roveship Child of Eo, of the Nomadic Republic of Sann, Clan Eo. We are attempted to rescue any crew members still alive aboard the Crimmond frigate Assassin's Redoubt but have encountered hostile forces. The ship has determined our self-defence against these foes as an attack upon Crimmond crew.
"I can assure you that neither the Clan Eo nor the Nomadic Republic as a whole is hostile towards Crimmond, although I cannot speak for other Clans or Tribes."


Atlantian Outcasts

Aboard the Roveship Wayfarer, Mercury high orbit

"What the hell? Activate all weapons sytems, ship docked with the Child of Eo is under fire from an unknown vessel. Open comms!"

A finger flicked a switch.

"Unknown craft, cease firing or we will be forced to open hostilities against you. You are firing at a craft containing Sannae personnel that is docked with a ship of the Nomadic Republic. Cease immediately, you are outnumbered and outpositioned."

This last said as another of the other Roveships slid into position around the Atlantian Scarab.

LRR

The Heir Eo listened quietly to the message sent by the RGF vessel.

"RGSV Lovely Rita, this is Heir Eo Ysannan aboard the Roveship Child of Eo, of the Nomadic Republic of Sann, Clan Eo. We are attempted to rescue any crew members still alive aboard the Crimmond frigate Assassin's Redoubt but have encountered hostile forces. The ship has determined our self-defence against these foes as an attack upon Crimmond crew.
"I can assure you that neither the Clan Eo nor the Nomadic Republic as a whole is hostile towards Crimmond, although I cannot speak for other Clans or Tribes."


"Roger that, Child of Eo. We will alert the boarding team. Do you know of any easier way to gain access to this Crimmond vessel?"

The sensors operators try to focus in on the Assassin's Redoubt with their LIDAR scanners to determine where would be a good place to dock with the ship.

"Excuse me, captain. The ship says that there's hostile elements in this one."
"It figures. Well, do they know where?"

LRR

"Negative. Only access port currently occupied by the Child of Eo, and bay doors are being fired at by an unknown craft. Would reccomend that you come through one of our other docking ports, but there's a bulkhead between us and the ship - acids have not eaten through it yet. However, bulkhead is not as thick as the frigate's outer armour, so it still might be faster.
"Be aware that the hostile elements are reported to be fairly large, and have been described as a type of experimental weapon named "demons" by the Crimmond ship."

The tactical officer turned around and looked at the commander "Our scarab is being surrounded"

The Commander watched the happenings onscreen "Do the same" She looked at her communications officer "Alert Admiral Vega. We may need more ships"



Both Atlantian Destroyers flanked the Roveships and decloaked. They both issued one statement.

"Fire on our vessel, and we'll fire on you. And trust us, you won't like it if we fire on you"

This gave the Scarabe vessel time to fly away from the congragation of ships, and head for another area of the hull on the opposite side of the ship.

"Lets see if that new improvement works" said Achillies

"Yes sir" said the pilot. The Scarab lowered itself onto the hull, and latched on.

"Activate the disector"

A saw began to spin and dug itself into the hull, making a 6 foot wide hole below the shuttle's emergency doors.

"On my signal" said Achillies, loading his phaser rifle "jump in"

Without warning, the Assassin's Redoubt sealed the docking port from the Roveship and foribly released the tendril attached. It then surged forward, engines flaring brightly. CSS Assassin's Redoubt is under attack. Activiating all weapons and shields. All ships in the area that do not wish to be destroyed must leave. Immediatly.

The ship had suprising abilty to move, even under computer control, and as they watched, hull plates slid aside and the tens of thousands of small, close range missiles were visable. As it rotated, other weapons became visable. Three Crimmond Ion Cannons, designed to shut down electronics with blasts that caused AI's to think systems were overloading. It's shields raised automaticly, three layers thick. One a hull hugging and the others modulating bubbles.

The hull reacts to the Scarab and eletrifies that area, just after the saw is removed. Sparks fly from the hole in both directions and from inside gunfire erupts, slugs flying through from three guns.

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

Inside, the Brute looked up and pressed a large hand to a console on the wall bulkhead. "Ship! What is happening?!" CSS Assassin's Redoubt is under attack. Regulations are being followed. Terminating of hostile boarding party is priority.

"You say you are not hostile and then you attack us?! You are lying scum and if I can't eat you I'll skin you!"

Around them the Demons all rattled at once, then charged. Two jumped the Brute, taking him to his knees as he roared and spilled into the corridor with the Specialists, clawing and biting at the creatures, guns forgotton.

The others all run down the corridors toward the specialists, at an amazing speed, one switching from deck to bulkhead temproarily as it ran, full out at them, rattling. They come from three sides, all similtaniously charging, exce for the Brute's attackers.

"Holy shit...."

"Ya...ok....do we really want to do this?"

Achillies shook his head "No...but we're gonna anyway" he looked at the Anubites "You go in first. Your bodies can withstand more"

The dog-men nodded, and dropped down below, in full body armor. They where imdeietly fired upon by machine guns. The Anubites responded with their own Orachic Phaser Rifles, trying to quickly silence the opposition before the bullets penitraited their armor.

****

Outside, nearby, several more Atlantian ships approched, cloaked. two more Jaguar destroyers, two more Barracuda destroyers, two Centaur light crusers, and a Pyramid heavy cruser.

The phasers do silence the weapons against them as they send three armored soldiers sprawling backwards, unconcious. Another two come around the corner and level weapons, one appearing to be an RPG. "Identify yourselves! NOW!" one bellows, pulling out a gernade.

The armor they wear is white plate type over black mesh, polished and marked with gold. CMC is on the left shoulder plate in black and opposite it is a symobol of a black staff held in a fist. The faceplates are blank, only shadows frominside showing that a person was really inside.

The Anubites looked at each other, then back at the soldiers.

"We....are..." they tried to speak the Terran language "Spawn....and....Death. Two Anubites.....from....Atlantis"

Behind them, the six Atlantians dropped down.

"Let me handle this" said Achillies. "I am field commander Achillies, of the Atlantian space forces. We heard your distress call"

CSS Assassin's Redoubt

"We aren't..."

The Sergeant's reply was cut off as he and his men were attacked. Those aiming toward the brute acted due to long years of training by the Academy of Specalists and started firing at the demons approaching them as soon as the Specialists realised the creatures' intent.
The behind the front rank heard the rattling of the experimental weapons and turned to fire upon them even as the creatures raced towards the armoured elite of the Nomadic Republic.
As the Specialists were firing, their wrist-blades gleamed out of the armour uopon their forearms, and lethal bio-substances were released silently from tiny vents in their armour.

Eo Roveship Wayfarer (to Atlantian Outcasts)

The response of the two Roveships was to reposition - something that they did with what seemed an impossible bit of manuevering. The ships simply swung sideways so that the prows of the Sannae crafts were facing the Atlantian ships.

A message was sent across to both the ships that the Sannae were aware of.
"I think that we hold the moral highground here, our men are aboard the Assassin's Redoubt when you fired upon it, with no concern for the internal security systems, or for the Roveship docked with the Crimmond Frigate.
"We also have the 'might is right' argument, not only because our ships are manueverable enough to make the majority of your weaponry miss us - with the result that most of your fire would be ineffectual, and our shields should deflect some of that.
"And then we have our other ace, namely that the entire Clan Eo fleet is currently trading in Venutian orbit, can you defeat an entire Clan, unknown agressor?"

The Rover leant back in his chair and sighed, irritated by the actions of the Bound - fools that they were. He wondered why it was that for every nation actually more concerned about helping others than building an empire, there were a thoussand that were the other way around.

To Sann:

"1st of all, our weaponry is targeted, not blindly shot off at will. 2nd of all, we do not care for the "Moral Highground" you pathetic Terrans are blabbering about. And lastly...."

The six cloaked ships suddenly appeared behind the two destroyers.

"...And more can come at any time. You may destroy one minor patrol, but if we are fired upon, the main fleet will hunt you down and kill every last one of your clan. So, unless you want a war that you will most defenetly lose, I suggest you stand down. Immedietly"


OOC: Hey Sann.....you up for a war RP? >_>....<_<

Atlantian Outcasts:

[[Meh, Sann doesn't really like going to war - against their ethics, but if it leads to it, sure I'm up for it, but you'll have a hard time winning a war against Sann (for reasons to be explained in the post: )]]

The Rover's [[captain's]] voice becomes both angry and amused at the same time as he speaks.

"Congratulations, your blind weapon crews have obviously not informed you of a few things. First of all, our hulls are designed specifically to resist targeting mechanisms - your scanners will be picking up several readings scattered within the area that are constantly shifting. Which one will you fire at? Will your weapons even fire in the right direction?
"We do not like war, unknown agressor, it interferes with our work, but we are well aware of the dishonourable, unscrupulous races out there that lack a sense of morals - such as your good selves, those races who do not care at all about our task of extending lifespans and our crowning medical achievements. Races like yours care only for the blood and slaughter that you can inflict upon others, revelling in your sadistic warfare that you Bound peoples do so well. It is because of races like you that we have built our ships to be combat-capable, because of self-serving, conniving idiots like yourselves that our craft are designed to be able to avoid fighting on our enemies terms.
"Know this, unknown agressor, that if you decide to be so foolish as to go to war with us, that you will not be able to find us. It is impossible to totally defeat us. We have no homeworld to destroy, no worlds to ravage and pillage in your sadistic ways, no facilities for you to glory in destruction. We are named the Nomadic Republic of Sann, and our Tribes and Clans have some of the most mobile and maneuverable ships ever built. You cannot catch us, you cannot find us, and you cannot defeat us. If we need to, we can build an army of clones within weeks, outfit them in days, and send them to war within months. We can come from any direction we wish, without warning, and vanish as if we were ghosts.
"No matter how mighty your navy may be, you Bound races are vulnerable. We are dedicated to biological researched, and we have eradicated disease, eradicated genetic defects, we have prolonged death so that we live far longer than our alloted span and go into death willingly when our time comes. A side-effect of this is that we have a terrifying army of biological weapons. What will you do when your atmosphere is no longer breathable? When your farms and crops die in the fields? When biological agents that can defeat your purifying systems seep into your homes?
"And one last thing...we are not Terran, and have not been for centuries. We have surpassed them. Our bodies are stronger, more enduring, better in just about every conceivable way. And, by definition, a Terran is a Bound person, tied into a world that will one way be destroyed. We are the Unbound, and we can go where we please, when we please and do as we please. We are free, and we have done great things as the Unbound, we have prolonged even the lives of our enemies....what can you claim? Doubtless some far-spanning empire built upon the blood thousands. Our empire is also built of blood, but ours is not spilt. Our empire is one of life throughout the bodies of millions who have lived because of us, unlike your "great" achievements, where thousands have died because of you."

The Rover switched off the comms systems, as more craft prepared to Jump to Mercury from Venus.

OOC: Alright. Just thought I'd ask.

IC:

One message was sent back to the Rover ship, a "PM", if you will.

"biological weapons? HA! You do not even know the name of our different races, our crops, or even what they look like, much less their bio-traits. Hades, you do not even know where we live. And besides that, we are well versed in bio-research ourselves, as those people in the Crimmond ship are finding out.

And before you go pointing fingers at who's killed who, we have not been on a defensive war in tens of Millenia. You Terrans, on the other hand, and you ARE still Terran, as your ansestors where Terran, are always fighting amongst yourselves. Your homeworld is not even united. Instead it sits, while puny dictators attempt to grap as much iron and oil as they can, while killing off minorities whom they think "unclean", when they are truly the same race, all in the name of a false God. We, on the other hand, have united several races, willingly, under the same banner, same name. So tell me, who are the real killers? We regard you Terrans as an inferior race for a reason. Because you are children. You think because you now have fancy ships that can go at warp speed, that you are the center of the universe. But you are nothing but a virus, destroying each planet you come across. Its not enough that you have utterly destroyed your own planet, or your own system, for that matter. But you feel the need to over-populate and conqure more systems, and destroy those as well. You know nothing of beauty, nothing of TRUE morals. And then, on top of that, you DARE to point accusing fingers at those races who are far older and wiser then your own.

We have work to do. Get in our way, and we will blow your ships out of the sky, regardless of any "scramblers" you might have. We've faced ships with pure frozen photon hulls. You would be no challenge"

With that, the fleet vanished from view, back into cloaking, and quickly dispersed, to different points of space around the Crimmond ship. They left no tracer marks, no resudual trails, nothing.

Meanwhile, back in a nearby starcluster, Atlantian forces began to mobilize, as information was fed to them from the ships at Murcury. Several rings of defenses, which had taken centuries to build, as well as a massive space fleet, went to yellow alert.

OOC: You might want to be aware of this (http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=379490) thread. And I would appreciate cutting down on the mobilizations over Mercury space, because that will upset the inhabitants of Mercury and force the CSF to get involved with some major war action. So unless you want to turn this into a major war (and I don't :() please keep it to the level of a handful of individual ships and characters as it's been thus far.

OOC: Sepaph: I'll be bringing in one more ship, but that's it. I sorta have to considering that Cimmond Naval Command is very particular about timetables and the Redoubt is WAY overdue. DOn't worry. I'm not eager to start a war either. The Redoubt is defending itself to its abillity.

Now... well AO, I shouldn' have opened my mouth last night eh? Damn...

IC:

Inside the Redoubt(AO):

One of the men shifted his kneel a bit, "Gunnery Seargant Andolini, Crimmond Marine Corps. You are of a nation deemed unfriendly to Crimmond. You have boarded and fired on this ship and assigned crew and are therefore involved in piracy. You have three choices. Have your brutes haul my men back here and then leave, get all high and mighty and a firefight breaks out or just leave. And if you don't like it, you can go to Hell. Because I'll go there before I let you get past into this ship."

Inside the Redoubt(Sann):

The Demons were literally tearing the brute apart, his lower right arm getting ripped off and rolls down the corridor a bit. The smell of fresh blood pushes the Demons over the mental edge and all the rattles stop, suddenly and the only sounds are from the prey.

The Specialists take out the Beta Demon, sending it flying back where it lay motionless. The others close the distance, taking damage and losing parts of limbs and torso and simply ignore it. One leaps to the bulkhead , to the other bulkhead and then down at the Specialsts, colliding with one and biting at it's armor near the joints.

The rest charge the Specialists getting to a few feet of them and leap along the floor, aiming for their legs, to take them to the deck, where they're ombat efficiency was nill.

The Ensign, if nyone cared to look, was gone. A door that was open earlier is seled though, so he's probably inside there, hiding.

Space(Mercury)

Time has elapsed.

The ship swivels and accleerates at the Sann roveship that was docked to it and it's course showed it was aimed to miss both them and the Atlantians. As it approached, space became filled with thousands of Swarm Missiles, which each choose their own target for their short lived existance.

Some go to each of the Sann distortions and after they are released, the Ion weapons pulse, sending energy waves out at the Roveship.

As Crimmond Captains tend to put it: Take a good look at your crew. It will be the last time you see all of them alive.

Space(Terra)

"Admiral, we have position on the Redoubt. It's... at Mercury. And being boarded!"

Admiral Munro turned from a report of crew manifests and scowled. "What warships are heading out now?"

"Only us and a heavy scout."

Munro, a tall redheaded woman with a scowl that could freeze a star, stood up and looked at the prominate deck scehmatic displayed on the bulkhead. This was the maiden voyage of the pride of the fleet... the only official Crimmond ship with an FTL drive. "Allright. Take us out. Inform command we are rendering assistance. Prepare for jump. Screw the scenic route."

Achillies had a smirk on his face.

"Hey, you guys have been the ones throwing bomb threats in our faces during meetings, not the other way around. You also sent a distress call, did you not? And your bay doors where closed. Now, how do you suppose we get in to help?"

Atlantian Outcasts

The Rover leaned back, laughing as the other cut off communication channels.

"Not fought a defensive war, so they're agressive warmongers, joy. Insists that we're Terran because our ancestors were, how wrong he is. Homo Sapien ancestors, true...but the very definition of Terran requires Terrestrial holdings and interests, so he, she, or it is wrong on that count."

He continued talking to himself throughout the Atlantian's tirade - it helped him organise his thoughts, although a faint tone of anger comes into his voice as the Atlantian speaks of humankind being a virus that destroys planets.

"A virus? Does he know NOTHING of the Nomadic Republic?"

Then he stops, and bursts out laughing.

"He might not know much, but this guy is definately either deaf or stupid...having mentioned that we're a nomadic nation he claims that we destroy worlds...even though we spend as little time as possible on-world."

He shrugs and smiles as the other person went on about the Sannae not being able to utilise their biological arsenal, tapped a few keys and brought up a data screen on which surprisingly detailed biological information was already displayed about those Atlantian species that were aboard the craft that had faced off against the Sannae.

"You don't think our scanners can detect bio-information? My friend with a cut-off comms line and a bad temper, our scanners are designed to pick up these things."

He shrugged, and turned back to his other tasks.


Crimmond

The only people who noticed the vanishing ensign were those aboard the various Roveships scanning the Assassin's Redoubt, and they were more concerned with the small battle going on.

Specialist fought daemon, discharging firearms even in close combat, slashing blades meeting hacking claw as the elite of the Sannae Medical Corps battled an experimental weapon of the Crimmond armed forces.

Several of the Specialists were on the deck, floored by the tactics of the daemons, while others had withstood the impact and were even now pouring titanium rounds into their foes as their comrades fought from the ground, struggling to regain their feet.

One of the Specialists fell to a lucky stab through his neck-guard - one of the weapon points in his suit - and upon his death released even greater quantities of Styx-814, his armour automatically recording his life signs even as they faded.

Despite this, the Sannae fought on, putting on an impressive display for a race who tried to avoid war as the antithesis of their moral code.

Atlantian Outcasts"You don't think our scanners can detect bio-information? My friend with a cut-off comms line and a bad temper, our scanners are designed to pick up these things."

He shrugged, and turned back to his other tasks.

OOC: Nope. You know nothing of the tech defending this ship. Your scanners have no idea how to penetrate my sheilds and my orcalic hull. Hell, I doubt your people even know what Orcalic is. You know nothing. It probably would have worked with a material that humans know about on a regular basis, and even better had you known our type of sheild and/or sheild frequency.

2ndly, I have cloaked and scattered my forces, so you cannot even reply to me (unless you sent it in all directions).

Better luck next time. ;)

....when you know more about us.

OOC: Sann, you forgot about the Redoubt shooting at your ship.

IC: Redoubt(AO)

The marine looked up at the otehr marine, who looked back and muttered something about "just launch the 'nade". The kneeling Seargent sighed and looked back at Achillies. "Boy... I have been advised by my Corporal that using this RPG would be the best course of action." He paused for a second.

"I agree." He says, pulling the trigger of the weapon, sending the gernade not at Achillies, but at one of the Anubites. The round, once it struck anything in it's path, would explode, it's HE warhead filing the chamber they were all in with a shockwave and burning death.

Whether or not the three intruders lived, the Seargent and Corporal, who were knocked back but were mostly unhramed besides a dazing, stood up and cast the RPG aside, took out their assault rifles and moved towards the blasted out corridor. They could see the blackened armor of one of their own Marines, hopefully the armor had protected them from most of the heat, but he could just imagine the internal injuries they had. Where are the Atlantians?

Redoubt(Sann)

The Demons were slowing, but from the massive amount of metal in them. They appeared only preturbed by the poison being released, which was shifting their fur color to a darker shade of blue. After another few seconds, only three Demons were still up for fighting, the rest had broken off, either to limp away or to haul their kill away, using it as a semi-sheild from the rest of their prey.

The ones attacking the Brute were rejoycing in victory, as the security officer was dead. Or close enough. One Crimmond experiment outclasses another. One of those takes up one of the round things it knew were bad, pulled the ring and flung the thing at the fighting by the Specialists, rattling in the joy of discovery.

The entire group was dead. Every last one of them.

None of them knew what was coming, and so they didn't expect it. And now, they had paid for it--with their lives.

On the shuttle, the pilot tried to get in contact with them. But no one responded. On the computer panels, he saw saw no lifesigns.

Not good.

He activated several codes. "Computer, deleate all records and information on all hard drives"

The computer made a few noises, and the hard drive was wiped clean, save the codes for self distruct. He activated that next. And within 30 seconds, the ship blew up right on the Redoubt's hull.


The fleet would not attempt to grab the bodies, or anything. Instead, the small fleet silently slipped away. They opened a jump node and vanished....even though they where already cloaked.....

A person with a good eye and decent scanners would have detected the psudo-wormhole opening and closing.

[OOC: As Sann has bailed, I will now RP their exit from the thread.]

The CSS Specter (http://usera.imagecave.com/Alpha-Zero/Starship.jpg) emerges from it's hyperspace rift and renters realspace. The Dreadnought turns it's bulk on to fleet engaged in battle, asesses the situation and opens a channel to the Redoubt. A flash of binary is sent and seconds later, the ship's power core detonates along with twelve other charges in the ship, sending a shockwave throughout the area as the frigate self destructs.

Moments later, the image of the red headed Admiral is on an open channel to all in the area. She doesn't look happy. "This is Fleet Admiral Munro of the Crimmond First Fleet. You have attempted capture of one of our warships, forcing us to destroy it. If you do not wish to start a full scale war, you will leave this area now and never again approach a Crimmond vessel unless requested to."

The channel is cut off and the Specter powers up all it's weapon systems, ignoring any incoming messages. It simply waits until all the craft involved are well on their way to wherever they're going before it sends a communication to the Seraphim Military force on Mercury.

The Crimmond First Navy officially apologizes for the actions in your territory.

At that, the CSS Specter moves away from the planet and makes another jump, back to Earth. Lots of paperwork to be done...