NationStates Jolt Archive

Mederin flew through the stars, he and his task force had a mission to accomplish, one that could decide the fate of the war. The council, now growing bolder, even though the Shivan presence in the Universe had been confirmed to the ESUS and their allies. - a most unfortunate event, one that caused the death of four Shivans, four of the Vendine, a tragic loss that would require vengeance from the warrior caste. - His ship rocking slightly as the inertial dampeners readjusted signaled the exit from Hyperspace. Opening a short range channel to the rest of his squadron Mederin, signaled the vessels to phase cloak. Hooking their gravitational base in another dimension, the six fighters should have little problems of being detected, until they decided it was necessary.

Moving into the system filled with traffic from thousands of space races, the Shivans were in awe of what the Human race had achieved. The early wars had only served to strengthen them, bringing allies to their sides while the Shivan race squatted in a back water planet.

Subspace had been sealed to them for generations, for hundreds of years the great clouds of Baraqual had been infested wit the Nanite plague, a plague that should have infested and destroyed Earth. Clenching his claws in anger Mederin sought about completing his work.

Initiating Long range scan:…… Source subject found. Slip Stream Drive Identified. Quantum Signature Exact Match. Vessel pinpointed. Coordinates Uploaded.

Mederin shuddered in anticipation, his exoskeleton rattled against the framework like a child’s toy. At last a target, finally he would have revenge for the torment of his people. But not too much, this ship needed to survive.

Shivan intelligence acting through human spies had discovered something important and crucial about The Silver Turtle. Their military was dependant on one star system for ship production and supplies, but the location of that system was as yet unknown.

Moving in on the lone freighter, the Shivan ships stalked the vessel as it moved further away from Earth.

The cargo ship was not a large one. Unlike some, delivering massive sheets of metal and composite armour to the extensive shipyards around The Silver Turtle from the mining corporations, this carried a much smaller cargo. Nanites, in fact. The tiny robots had been manufactured in the more advanced manufactories of the Alexandrian system, and were being delivered to the station.
Initially used as a staging area for the initial colonisation of Leda, it had been progressively enlarged and modified. Now sporting two hangars full of slipfighters, unnumbered mechs and drones, manufactories churning out defence satellites, and a permanent escort of several dropship carriers since there isn't enough room in the sky. It was a testament to how far Ineffable space technology had come. Indeed, the centuries old core of the first station was still at the centre, preserved as a museum. Or at least, it would be, except civilian presence on the station was strictly regulated.
It's mission complete, the neural-web nanites delivered to the station, where the next generation of Generals and Admirals, pilots and commandoes out the academy would have them implanted in their brains, allowing them to accelerate their consciousness to many times the normal rate, and communicate with their ship's AIs far faster than voice would allow.
The ship accelerated away from the planet, its small escort of five slipfighters deemed enough to see off any potential pirates. With the Redball pirates becoming a greater problem, a frigate or two would be assigned in the future. But this ship was small, and currently supply outstripped demand. With pirates more likely to prey on the larger cargo craft, a frigate couldn't yet be spared. But generally, a frigate was considered overkill. No-one had attacked the Ineffable Empire in several hundred years...
But as Ineffable scientists were fond of saying, the universe doesn't care aboout patterns. Three hundred "heads", and two-hundred ninety-nine "tails" won't make the next flip "tails". As the ship approached the slipstream event at the system's edge, the fighters in escort formation, the Shivans began their attack and the war was joined.

The wing swung down towards the freighter, cloaked and hidden, they would wait until the last minute to open fire. Mederin, taking the lead, was safely concealed in his Gerin three. The two ion flails lashed out and began to charge, while the particle bombers prepared to open fire. Taking position behind the escorting fighters they prepared to disengage their cloak.

“On three, shut down the cloaking field and open fire on those fighters. Vedala and Voril, you two take down the transports shielding, and continue the plan. We must get the tag through.” Not waiting for a response Mederin began the countdown. “Three… Two… One…” The shadowed background in space would glimmer for a second, just a slight against the dotted infinity. As the cloaking fields disengaged, and the fighters gravitational base was restored, a flurry of light burst from their guns.

The bombers opened fire first, their crimson ion weapons bursting to life shot forth to bring vengeance and justice upon the evil. Aiming for the shield generators the beams tore along the glimmering bubbles in a surprise that the humans wound not soon forget.

Ordering his fighter to dive, Mederin was on the tail of the enemy squad leader. He was lucky, just as Mederin opened fire this human had decided to accelerate, dodging what would have been a lethal blow. The guns of his Gerin three glowed a pale blue, as he continued to open fire. Blasts of light swirled past and around the enemy craft but to no avail, he would have to call in support. Looking at his sensor read outs Mederin began to check the status of the enemy freighter.

tag

The squad leader had been listening to some upbeat music. Had he not, perhaps he wouldn't be in the mood for a fight and would be dead already. Perhaps not, but he didn't care. He was inexperienced, but had shown promise. He and his squad were on their way to be assigned to a newly-constructed heavy cruiser.
As he pushed his Centaur to its limits, he pulled far away from the cargo craft. While it travelled at a modest 0.2c, his fighter was now doing closer to 0.5.
One of the fighters, seemingly the leader, was on his tail. He weaved in and out of its fire, but it was persistent. Swivelling his anti-proton cannons to face behind him they spat a short burst at the pursuing craft. He missed, but it bought him enough time to turn and fire a kinetic missile at his pursuer, and open up with the AP cannons again, rolling to avoid another shot.

The other fighters were having no more luck. One was destroyed in the opening barrage, caught by suprise. That balanced the fighter numbers, but the enemy soon gained the upper hand as another fell.

The freighter was only very lightly shielded, and as quick as they were raised they fell. Its single point-defence laser lashed out time and again at the bombers, hoping to disable one.

As the shields went down, they sent a transmission to Leda including sensor scans, though they knew even at maximum speed fighters would arrive too late.

*TAG*

*tag*

*Peachy keen tag*

*TAG* and the Dominion will gladly help any enemies of the Shivans. We fought them when they attacked CoreWorlds (who were conquered by the Empire a while ago, but that's beside the point) and would gladly fight again.