NationStates Jolt Archive

Lusankya couldn't be happier. Six hours until L1! Repairs, resupply, and two months leave...
And they would've stayed happy. If there hadn't been a massive... Thing... In their space lane. Just mildly floating in Martian space. Resembled nothing more than a gigantic needle. Bone white, segmented, and quieter than a funeral. Lusankya tagged it and fired a NOTICE! Beacon towards Earth.

They'd use their planetfall trajectory to get closer to the massive object and record as many pictures as possible before planetfall.

http://well-of-souls.com/homeworld/hws/kadesh/images/display.htm?mothership2.jpg (http://well-of-souls.com/homeworld/hws/kadesh/images/display.htm?mothership2.jpg)

http://well-of-souls.com/homeworld/hws/kadesh/images/display.htm?mothership4.jpg (http://well-of-souls.com/homeworld/hws/kadesh/images/display.htm?mothership4.jpg)

'If you can see this image, we've been getting no radio comms... No heavy emissions. It's just sitting there, looking pretty.' The captain shifted away from the viewscreen. Came back. 'No IFF codes, and we're not picking up any trace hyperspace effects.'

Ten minutes later, Lusankya sent its last communique.

'Sent a probe to investigate, damn thing has a kind of advanced warning system, some kind of beam weapon cut it in half before it came within a hundred metres.' The captain conversed quickly with a crewman, before turning back to the screen. 'So, thought you might be interested. We're signing off now. Planetfall in ten min-' Static exploded on screen. In the bottom right hand corner, a small error notice flashed: NO SIGNAL

'And that, is why I'm sending this to all of you. This thing is suspended at L1 point. And any ship that tunnels through hyperspace near L1 is torn out of it. It's affecting the trade lanes. It's capable of attack. And we don't know what it is.' The woman in the tight uniform was possessed of a sad, small frown, marring her otherwise perfect features. Oval face framed by raven hair, rich brown eyes, inherent arab-asian beauty, a no nonsense attitude, and a curvatious and shapely figure, Nina Sawyers, mayor of City Ship A'tuin, struck an imposing figure whenever she entered the council chambers.

'I'm hoping to bring in an investigation on the Needle, as we've aptly named it. I hope you find concern enough to investigate. Our city ship, A'tuin has so far had no luck piercing the hull. Hopefully a more advanced race can crack this egg. Nina Sawyers, out.'
Her hand wavered over the SEND icon. Hardly worth the risk, brining in bigger, badder ships to deal with such a trivial concern... But this involved everyone on Earth and her sister. The Lagrange points were major reference points for all hyperspace trade routes in and around the solar system.
She jabbed the SEND icon with a slender finger, and stood from her chair. Her body protested, after a long night spent going over reports and sending messages of condolence to the families of the crew of Lusankya. She needed sleep, but she was unlikely to get it anytime soon.
Her room's lights were dimmed to 16% ambient. Even in the gloom, the reflection of the sun on Mars, coupled with the faint city glow of A'tuin were more than ample, if a little rouge, lighting. Indeed an almost rose tinged view on things. She smiled at the cynical comment, and became serious again. This situation was anything but rosey.

Faintly, Nina could make out small details on the Needle. From this view however, it more resembled an eye, patronizing and almost laughing at her. What are you? She thought. The idea of something that could inhibit hyperspace jumps was unfathomable. But not impossible... warned her chief physicist.

Even so, if it continued to stay in its present location, the trade lanes from Mars to Earth would be compromised. And for medium space tech regions like her nation, that could have dire consequences.

BUMP...

Bump. Bumpity Bump - UMP.

Abuse of chronologically ordered posts.
If you want to bring a post back to the top, add more content. Perhaps there is a reason why no-one has posted.

OOC: Will do.

>>Private Communications Channel>>C-9>>Research Vessel Discovery>>
'Discovery, you are clear to begin advanced sensor sweep. Keep in touch. Out.' Cntl
'Understood Control, clear the dance floor for the Tango.' RV
'Repeat, Discovery?' Cntl
'Little joke, Control, we're ten standard minutes from Needle, orbit set at 200 metres. Repeat Two Zero Zero Metres.' RV
'Understood Discovery. Safe trip.' Cntl
>>END>>

Discovery reached orbit without problem. It's powerful ReachDeep LADAR dome focusing on the Needle.
Mobutu Inwarhiri sat back at his console, waiting for the detailed analysis of the Needle to process. This was a damn bore. So far tehy'd recieved no help, and as such the City Ship A'tuin redirected them from their current mission - Skirting the Asteroid Belt for possible stable locations for settlements - to put the Discovery into this one. He'd glanced over the info so far, and it was pretty basic. Destroyed one Exploration Ship, and was sticking it's bone white frame directly into Lagrange Point 1 - and somehow inhibiting hyperspace jumps. Interesting. But he'd seen some pretty nifty space battles and phenonema in his time, this was nothing.
'Okay, Control, here's our latest information: Six thousand, two hundred metres long, two thousand wide, tapering down to a point maybe a metre in width. Very exact so far.
'On the spectral analysis, the Needle's 'head' is sending a diffuse infrared signal, coordinates to follow. Something else too. A high energy graviton field, extending out beyond L1. Approximately two hundred thousand kilometres wide. That could be the reason why hyperspace drives fail near this thing. Might be some kind of active sensor. Getting back to infrared beam; it's a conical diffuse signal heading Corewards. No idea where the beam diffuses completely. I'll get back to you on that one.
'Of note, the segments on the Needle have markings, visible in IR spectrum. Have to bring in a linguistics expert to see whether it matches any language used by the known Nations.' Mobutu leant forwards.
'No analysis of the beam weapon. Seems to be inactive, I can't find it. Nor can I find a trace of Lusankya. Like the ship was completely vaporized. No hull alloy, no beacon, nothing. Whatever destroyed it was thorough.' He offered up a silent prayer that the crew died quickly.
'Okay, that's all I have, Discovery's sensor suite hasn't penetrated the hull at all. Without an idea of the density of the hull, or the materials used, I can't even begin to tell you what this monster is. Discovery out.'

Mayor Sawyers sat back, the high definition chair molding to support and bring comfort to her labouring spine. Slender fingers interlaced, the creased brow and partially hidden frown adding to the already sombre atmosphere, despite the feature window looking out upon the city.
'Our most powerful sensor suites did nothing. Discovery[/i['s still out there, most likely feeling quite inadequate. I've had our physicists check the quantum field, and they say the Graviton field might be disrupting conventional hyperspace travel by distorting the wavefront that the ships 'ride'. The 'front collapses and the ships are forced out of hyperspace.' Said a councilor, his ageing features furrowed into consternation.
'In english, Counciler West.' She sighed, burning brown eyes locking onto his pale blue.
'That [i]is english. This is pure theory. The scientists are literally squeezing out gold bricks, just to explain what it is.' His tired gaze was met with her hot glare.
'I was hoping there'd be some simple explanation behind this... Thing.' She said, annoyance flowing with each word. She breathed in. 'Admiral Oden, what do you think?' Her gaze shifted to a man in a gray military uniform.
'Personally, I believe the Anomaly is a threat.' How predictable. Thought Sawyers. 'I still think we try the offensive option.'
'Admiral, there's no reaso-'
'I believe we are entitled to return fire, it destroyed the Lusankya, a good test of its capabilities would be to launch a Plasma Torpedo just behind the first segment.'
'Mayor?'
'Worth a try. You have authorization.'

An hour later
>>Private Military Tactical Network>>C9>>Missile Corvette Retribution>>
'Retribution in position control. Authroization to engage?' MC
'We read you, Retribution. You have Authorization to engage. Gods be with you.' Cntl
'Thankyou, Control. Full alert. Torpedo tube one, primed and ready. Impact charge. Fire.' MC
>>Confirmed torpedo launch>>
'Impact in five seconds. Four. Three. Two. One. Impact.' MC
'Discovery reading impact, trace analysis active.' RV
'Retribution, Discovery, status of target?' Cntl
'Target is...' RV
'Repeat, Discovery?'
'Target has neutralized torpedo. Just before impact. Sensor playback confirms.' RV
>>END>>

'Damn.' Said Mobutu. He replayed the sensor feeds, and indeed, 1.2 seconds before impact, the torpedo was cut in half. 'All I can draw conclusion from is the Needle has a reaction time. It killed the Lusankya probe - going a shade off a hundred klicks per - at leisure. The torpedo - approximately ten times the speed of the probe - was reacted to extremely late, a near save. I'd guess it's an automated defense.'

OOC: Hope that satisfies your appetites.

OOC: It does indeed! Looks awesome! :) 8) I'm a little unclear on a few points but they don't apply to this directly, That communique was general right?

IC: The message was recieved in MB1 in the orbit of Neptune. A Warp-sub was dispatched, to observe the anomoly and it saw the actions of the [i]Discovery]/i] and it observed the attack on the needle, without being noticed, it returned to MB1 and reported. A single Gunstar was dispatched to Mars orbit to aid.

... more to come.

OOC: The NOTICE! Message and the Communique from Nina were general. And since you've monitored from a safe distance, you know most details, except for the dialoque between the Discovery, Retribution, and A'tuin's Control.

IC: Nina looks up from her reverie.
'So Falasmayon has agreed to aid us? Finally, a nation that cares...' She smirked. 'Tell Retribution and Discovery they're gonna get company.' SHe stands from her chair and opens a channel to Falasmayon's Leader. With the ease of an actor, her frown, and slumped shoulders disappeared, and a bright, healthy, beautiful Nina looked up at the Leader, deep brown eyes flashing with a lusty secretive look, normally confined to the bedroom.
'Greetings, Leader of Falasmayon. I am Nina Sawyers, Lord-Mayor of the City Ships A'tuin, Hiigara and Megaroad. I trust you meet us as equals? We are relieved to finally have support from another nation in this dire matter.' The faintly breathless quality of her voice, along with her stunning looks shining across the gulf of space. Where's the visual?? I'd like to see the Falasmayon Leader. Her features never faltering as that one deceitful thought crossed her mind.

An aide walks up to President Justin Ryan, and mutters in his ear
"Sir, we've received a distress message from a country called,

"The Scarecrows".Apparently,it is about some trouble in space they're having. Shall we help or not?"
The President appears in deep thought. His eyes show that he is busy thinking.Finally,he answers.

"Send up our..." He leafs through some papers.
"Send up our Catapult"

The aide nods,turns on his heels and walks away.

ETA for the Catapult,approx. 7 days.(7 hours RL)

'Please notify your entourage that L1 is only approachable with conventional drives. The Inhibitor field will force you out of hyperspace on all vectors. We have beacons on safe vectors to L1. Please use these beacons to approach.'
General Safety Warning broadcast on all conventional communications channels

>>Vector as follows: Beacon 1 outside Mars Gravity field, beacon 2 at L2 jump point on far side of Mars, orbit until beacon 3, then conventional drive to beacon 4. Beacon 5 is L1.>>

Captain Kenzi swore as he received the transmission. But there was nothing to do,except speed up.

"Get our drives to 56 percent! DO NOT engage Falsespace drives!"

Next, he sent a COMM to the Discovery

[code:1:9510f8b6df]We've received your message, but it will take us 9 days at the least to reach your point.Kenzi out[/code:1:9510f8b6df]

>>General Communications>>A1>>Research Vessel Discovery>>
'Recieved, Catapult. Please proceed safely. Please relay location in relation to beacon 1, we can help you plot the fastest way to L1. Discovery out' RV
'Control, we have incoming Gunstar from Falasmayon, and the Catapult from Jaratia. A Captain... Kenzi, says it will take them nine days to reach L1.' RV
'We read you, Discovery, Retribution is to form up on a guard vector with you. We'll relay any more information we recieve. Wait - Discovery, we have Lord-Mayor Sawyers on relay.' Cntl
'Put her through.' RV
>>Addition>>Open Comms>>Lord-Mayor Private Channel>>A'tuin>>
'Discovery, this is Nina Sawyers, firstly, I'd like to congratulate you on the work you've done so far. Secondly, Hiigara is going to rendezvous with us in five days. It's going to test the extent to which a wavefront is deformed during jump interruption. Expect your sister ship - Through The Looking Glass - to meet up with you soon. Until then, see you at Central Plaza on A'tuin.' NS
'Understood, Ms. Sawyers.' RV
>>END>>

Mobutu was slightly surprised. Through The Looking Glass had been monitoring Hiveship behavioural patterns. It had been promising research. This abrupt cut to their analysis was likely to create many an irate scientist aboard.
Well, not his fault. Personally, he was always nervous around Hive Drones. Probably the chitin. Yeah, the chitin. Because its really hard to harmonize with an alien race whose lowest forms of life resembled nightmare cockroaches. Although the queen was a nice woman/entity/monstrous deathbringer.

Off topic He berated himself. 'Douglas, get me the ship crew manifest for Through The Looking Glass.' The jumpy crewman practically ran to the database.

Bump. Cuz I feel like Rping until my eyes burn out of my skull.

The crew of the Tezcatlipoca were suddnely thrown about as they exited hyperspace rather abruptlyand unexpectedly, on the bridge Captain Jenner helped President Steel to his feet..

"What the...!! Helm.. what happened?..

Lt. Halston checked the readouts about the immediate vecinity
Gravitational anomaly Mr. President, correlating with science station.. well i'll be damned!!.. it is some kind of ship Sr.. three times our size.. seems to be generating some sort of gravity well, that's what pulled us out from HS..

Matthew rubbed his right elbow, "good thing i did not break a bone" he thought

"Captain? we have some other ships in the area, ID's point Discovery, Retribution, Hiigara, Megaroad and A'Tuin.. a good guess is that they were pulled out too.."

Captain Jenner looked at the pettite science officer.. Take a prelim scan of that thing.. all you can give me.. All Stations, This is the Captain speaking, all injured personnel due to our abrupt HS exit report to sick bay.. Engineering.. status of our engines and systems in general?..

The voice of Chief Engineer Winters was heard thru the speakers..
Everything seems to be fine.. gimme 10 minutes for a full check up and i'll get back to ya with a report..

Do that.. Bridge out..

Matthew turned to the Comm Station..
Open Hailing frecuencies.. This is President Matthew Steel
http://www.aquanox-revelation.com/gfx/characters/william_drake.jpg
of the Incorporated States of Argheraal to all ships.. did any of you leave that thing parked over there with no runnning lights on??..

Captain Jenner moved over to the science station and looked the woman manning it.. Talk to me Sally.. what is that?..

Sally turned to look at her Captain "No idea Sr.. no IFF, radiates lowly in infrared, our sensors cannot penetrate the hull.. which is made from some unknown alloy, there's no energy surges or spikes, it is sort of.. idle.. and it is generating a gravity field in quite a large area of space.. infrared detected some script, nothing we know, i sent all relevant info to xenolinguistics, maybe they can make something out of it.." The Captain nodded and turned to the Comm Station.. "Alastair? Try hailing it.. in all languages and codes, hell, try binary if you have to.. lets see if that thing answers the phone.." "Aye Sr.. Hailing unknown ship.."

"Engineering?.. Status report.."
"All engines in working order Sr. The HS motivator needs some recalibrating, all systems nominal.."
"Thank you Saito, get the HS motivator calibrated, we dont want to explode or end God knows where in our next jump.."
"Aye Sr. Engineering out.."
the Captain looked at the long ship on the view screen.. 'What are you, and where did you come from?..'

Mobutu looked up, something bright on the horizon catching his attention.
There was a ship, idly drifting out near the edge of the Graviton field. It shocked him almost as much as the crew.

'This is Discovery, you see that? Large profile warship. Hyperspace waveform collapsed around it. Those guys on board must feel like the Nine Hells right about now.'
'Cut the chatter, Lord-Mayor Sawyers is dealing with it.'

Nina sat up and stared at the Hologram. You send out safe hyperspace vectors, and people up and don't listen. Typical human race, typical.
'This is Nina Sawyers, Lord-Mayor of the City Ships A'tuin, Hiigara and Megaroad. We welcome you to Lagrange Point 1.
'We've already sent a general alert about the Needle. Didn't you see the vectors?' She stared at the screen, her frustration creating harsh sounds in her voice. Stress was getting to the beautiful woman. She had no idea how to deal with something this dangerous and seemingly invincible.

Mobutu got his report on manifest, but dropped it and turned the LADAR towards the new arrival. Damage assessment.
'This is Discovery, ship is flagged as Tezcatlipoca. I'm getting small fissures in the hull, and stress marks along the engine nacelles. They must have been doing at least c80 when they were pulled out. Tough ship.' He teant forward and tapped the hologram, returning the LADAR to its primary task of scanning the Needle. 'Sorry ma'am, we din't get a reading on the wavefront, it was all over before we had a chance to scan.'

Sawyers sighed. 'Continue scans. We're sending out an Attack Frigate Interscene. We'll set up a patrol hoping to pick up stragglers and anyone else pulled out of hyperspace by the Needle.' She switched off the hologram and turned back to the main one, still awaiting Tezcatlipoca's answer.

OOC: The ship doesn't return hail on any frequency, but small infrared lights flash intermittently along the hull. (Think deep sea fish, which uses photophospherous lights to lure prey.)

[ooc]

>tag<

looks very interesting...

Captain Jenner turned to the navigation station and glared at the officer..

"Did we get those Vectors she is talking about?.."

The navigation officer swallowed as the Captain turned his full atention to him.. worse yet, he President Hmself was now looking at him..

"Erm.. y-yes S-Sr. We did.. ahh.. i thought.. well.. you see.. instruments s-show we were way o-out from the grav field.." The officer stammered his reply as the Captain sighed heavily..

"Well, obviously we were not.. did you bother to check.. *sigh* your instruments and nav computer before we left?.. it seems not.. now.." The Captain begins speaking in measured tones, pausing with each word..

"Recalibrate your console, Helm can help i am sure, to get everything into working order.. since this is a shakedown cruise, and we were quite shaken.. i expect that the next time nothing like this will happen again.."

The chagrinned officer noded silently and got to the task of seeing to the nav console, meanwhile the Captain turned to the view screen to look at the "Needle"..

"A'tuin, this is Captain William Jenner of the Destroyer Tezcatlipoca.. it seems.. ahh.. our Nav Officer was overconfident in the manning of his station.. hmm.. which caused, our.. small incident.. we are.. were.. on a shakedown cruise to get this ship and it's systems into good working order.."

Matt was checking the enginnering console everything seemed fine.. but still.. something bothered him..
"Bridge to Engineering.."
"Engineering.."
"Mr.Saito.. a favour.. send 4 sensor fighters out there to scan the Tezcatlipoca's hull and engine housing , we were pulled into RealSpace rather roughly.."
"Sr.? Diagnostics show green all across the board.."
"Mr. Saito, so did Navigation and look at us now.."
A few seconds passed..
"Aye Sr.. sensor fighters will launch in 3 minutes.."
"Thank you Mr.Saito.. Bridge out.."
Matt turned to the ensign at the sation "A'tuin? he whispered "Isnt that the name of the big turtle carrying the four elephants with the diskworld on their back thru the cosmos?"
"i think it is Sr.. Yes.."

Meanwhile, Lt. Ross at the comm station was trying to figure out how to comunicate.. he had tried everything.. and got nothing.. he looked at the main screen.. lights that moved along the hull of the ship... "Like the lights of abyssal fish.. hmm what an odd idea.. well, why not.. i have tried everything.. so might as well.." he taps a few keys and a file opens, his research work appears.. "The Sounds of Whales.. lets try this.. i have identified quite a few sounds and tried plenty of them.. i have a rough estimate of their meaning.. if that does not work, well, i'll try dolphin trinary then.. and if that.. Thing, answers, the Gods help me.. i do not know how i will answer.."

http://www.volition-inc.com/fs/images/spacecraft/gtd-orionlg.jpg
Matt and the captain looked at an insert image of the Tezcatlipoca as the sensor ships began their sweep.. the sound of whales singing making them blink and turn to the comm station..

OOC: Thankyou. Hoping to get more players interested.

Interscene began to skirt the Graviton Field. It would take it approximately a day to make one circumference about the field. That was assuming that the Frigate did not happen across a stranded vehicle. Then they were to alert the A'tuin, or if A'tuin was out of range, the Discovery. Their second mission was to drop beacons along the circumference of the gravity well. Each one would be programmed to send a Hyperspace or subspace message warding off incoming ships within a certain radius. The hope was that ships would stop in time and send their own warning messages out, towards any other spacefaring nations.

Relying on space cameraderie struck Mobutu as rather futile. His opinion of space nations was that the bigger, the more likely they were to disregard a smaller nation. It happened every day. However, he wasn;t here to criticise.

'Discovery to Interscene, current speed and location update, please.' The combat suited Frigate captain, Anthony Taureen, appeared in detail.
Interscene here. We're steady at 459kps, dropping first beacon. Should be getting its NavCo now.' Indeed, on the hologram, a small blue dot appeared, just on the on the projected circumference of the gravity well. Another larger dot moved away, the Interscene, at a projected 460kps.
'We see you, Interscene. Beacon's singing like the angel it is supposed to be. See you in an hour.' Mobutu closed the channel. Hopefully the Tezcatlipoca would be the last ship to accidentally enter the gravity well. Last thing The Scarecrows would need is a spacefaring nation accusing them of trapping ships for piracy.

Matt looked at the Taccom screen.. the ship was placing warning beacons along the edge of the grav field.. he keys the console..

"A'tuin, this is the Tezcatlipoca.. do you need assistance with beacon placement?.. we could send a transport the other way around and place beacons, the sooner this is done the less ships will stumble on this.."

OOC: Trivia. I love it. Yes, A'tuin, the turtle. Astrochelonian Gigantis :) . See if you can discover the meaning behind the others.


IC: Nina blinked, then smiled, her frustration bleeding away. 'Understood, Tezcatlipoca. Please come into flanking position with A'tuin. I'd like to hear your theories on the Needle. Come aboard A'tuin if you like. Alright, captain. We'd be pleased to have your assistance.'

Mobutu himself was also studying the lights. 'What if the things that made this machine have different communication methods... Not sound... Light.'
He looked at his linguistics officer. 'Run the database on entites that use light to communicate. Anything and everything. Also, run a silhouette analysis on the Needle, see if it matches any ships in the Galaxy database.'

The Intari Class War Cruiser Damnation's End folded just outside of the Needles effective range. Its tall, slender design would have brought a feeling of awe and subtle fear to those who saw it. Luckily, the cruiser was on a mission of peace; the other nations really had nothing to fear. The Damnation's End immedietly ran deep scans of whatever that thing was, lest the War Cruiser be caught off guard. The initial readings came back negative however, something was repelling the War Cruisers investigation.

Captain Ajax looked toward the object with a shrewd expression. He rubbed his short beard and called to Lieutenant Edgar.

The lieutenant, a young man in his mid twenties, rushed to the older, more overbearing Ajax, "Would you like me to hail the ships already in the area, sir?" Edgar had been the Lieutenant on the Damnation's End for as long as he could remember, with Ajax always being his commanding officer; they knew eachother well.

"Indeed Edgar. I'm sure they will be a bit concerned with us just popping in. Hopefully they could use our help."

<<Transmission>>
<<To: All Ships>>

Greetings, I am Captain Ajax of the Eurydian Republic. While we rarely get involved with external affairs, Eurydian High Command feels the need to investigate this problem. If you would like our assistance just ask. If not, we will be conducting our own research on this so called "Needle."

-Ajax

End Transmission>>

Cute name. Thought Nina. Instead, she smiled graciously at Ajax. 'Greetings, Captain Ajax, I am Lord-Mayor Nina Saywers of the City Ships A'tuin, Hiigara, and Megaroad. Any help would be welcome concerning this matter, Captain Ajax. Please stay at least 200 metres from the Needle. No telling what it can do.'

>>Private Communications Channel>>C9>>Research Vessel Discovery>>
'War cruiser?? We seem to be amassing all the scary destructo-matics today.' RV
'Real subtle, Discovery...' Cntl
>>END>>

Mobutu replayed the Needle's response. Something in here was the key.

OOC: Hiigara, original homeworld of humanity in Homeworld video game if memory serves.. and Megaroad.. Robotech colony ship... i think..

IC:

Captain Jenner listens to the transmit from A'tuin's captain.. "That gal needs rest.. she sounds very stressed..

"Thank you for the offering Lord-Mayor Sawyer.. we will remain where we are at the moment.. so our transport will not have to travel long to return after placing the beacons.. after that, we will accept your invitation.."

Matt walked over to Lt Alastair Ross..
"Any luck Lieutenant?.."
"No Sr. hmm.. does not seem to react to sound.. i thought maybe whalesong or dolphin trinary might work.." He turns to look at the image of "The Needle, Matt does too..
"Well, you could try Heliostat signaling.."

Lt.Ross looks at the President with uncomprehending eyes..

"He.. Heliostat.. signaling.. Sr.?
"Yes, you know.. in the navy when you dont want to radio stuff to another ship to avoid enemy listening you flash them morse code with light, we could use the running ligths of the Destroyer.."

Matt looked as the Comm officer mouthed silently the idea, his eyes unfocused.. suddenly he yelled at Sally Jenkins..

"Sally!! Get Science to talk to Comms, i'll link to Xeno.. lets try the President's idea.."

Matt smiled and walked back to the Engineering station, he looked at the readout from the data sent from the sensor fighters on the structural integrity of the Tezcatlipoca..
"Hmm.. fractures on the hull and the nacelles holding the engines..
"Indeed Sr. nothing serious, but i would feel safer if we saw to the damage done to the nacelles.. our hull can do with minor repairs until we are back in Argheraal Prime.. Mr. Saito agrees with me, a couple of days.."

Matt nods at the ensign..
"Very well, we can begin repairs and study that ship while we are around.. get it done.."

Captain Jenner meanwhile talks to the Lord-Mayor..
"Theories about that thing..? as good as any you have now.. never seen anything like that before in my life.. and it does not answer to any hails.. but then again, if that.. thing.. or its crew were telepathic i doubt they would answer to radio hailing, sound did not seem to work and by the looks of it, our Comm officer will try light to comunicate.."

Jenner turns to Ross..
"Ross, get in touch with either the Da Vinci or Bohr, he coul use the help of any of those Science vessels and the brains crewing it with this.. whichever is closes to us.."

OOC:
Night all.. will continue this tomorrow, i am tired and need some sleep..

OOC: Give the man a medal!!! Very good.

IC: Nina smiles, and nods graciously. 'Understood, Captain Jenner. I'll have Interscene keep in contact with your transport. Just in case.'

Mobutu was interested in the President's idea. 'Heliostat signalling! Archaic, but it could work. I could set up a matrice that translated the Infrared signals, and alternatively send signals. It'd take some time, but it could work!' Mobutu was abruptly very excited. He'd need to replay the sensor info, looking for something his linguistics expert could use as the archetype, but once found, he and his engineers aboard could create a program based on the linguistics... Worth a try, at least!

'Okay, let's start recording any more information we get from the Needle. I think we've cracked communications!'

Meanwhile, aboard A'tuin...

Nina sat down, scanning the Interscene's progress. It was rivetting stuff... She slid the datapad away, and leant back, massaging her temples.
She then left, offering a brief goodbye before getting in the transport to take her home.
She'd always loved making the trip from the Council Building - a towering sky scraper that measured around 500 metres in height, blue paint and soft curves giving it an almost organic appearance.
Away from the drivel that connected her to the real world, to her home in the upper quarter, a small two story house, brushed steel and wood, it was very open, and rewarded her with a beautiful view of the park across the street. Beyond the planted trees and real grass, the massive vista of the rest of the city, under the four metre thick transparisteel and duracrete dome that separated the city from cold space. Normally, however, the citizens didn't like to be reminded that they were exiles from the real Earth, and a massive holographic sky, complete with floating clouds, and miniature sun, would be projected from the Central Plaza. The Plaza itself was actually a massive support pillar, keeping the dome from collapsing under its own tremendous weight. Tonight, however, the Plaza was playing no image. Everyone wanted to see the Needle, and the new ships.

Opening the door, she was assaulted by a fast moving, slobbering golden thing. Falling unceremoniously on her ass, she laughed, and pleaded with the Golden Labrador.
'Andy! Off! Bad dog!' She patted the dog, still giggling slightly. Nina got up and walked to the kitchen, the big dog happily padding after her, tail wagging at near lightspeed. Setting out his bowl and dogfood, and checking his water was fine, she then relaxed and got her leftover Crab Rangoon (All hail Crab Rangoon!!) and sat in her chair near the feature windows.

'What am I gonna do, Andy? This is getting serious...' The whispered, absent mindedly stroking the canine's ears.
Even now she could see the Needle, staring at her, laughing. She shook that thought from her head, and went about other business.

OOC: Okay, the City Ships are Big. Easily 30 kms long. Maxiumum complement, over four million. They are cities. They have parks, and biospheres, for good reason. These ships do have weather. But you do get rained on occassionally. Just had to clear this up with you guys. Roughly spherical, cut off by six BIG sublight engines. The citizens and crew are of the belief that they are exiles, and there's no evidence to prove otherwise. They gladly trade with any other nation they see, and all in all are a peace loving race. There ye go.

OOC:
**BUMP**
The girl looked up and said 'What was that?' in a breathy, frightened voice.

Ka-BUMP! And no, this isn't abuse when others would have hell trying to see it.

OOC:Sorry it took me so long to answer, I was preoccupied with alot.

IC:

The Catapult had gotten to the last beacon,and was slowly making its way to L1...

On the bridge, Capt. Kenzi opened a COMM line to the Discovery
[code:1:64ab9864e5]We have passed the last beacon and are making our way to L1.Should we arm our weapons?Is the thing dangerous or harmless?Kenzi out.[/code:1:64ab9864e5]

'War cruiser?? We seem to be amassing all the scary destructo-matics today.' RV
'Real subtle, Discovery...' Cntl
>>END>>

OOC: Just for the record, Eurydian ships are designed with multiple roles in mind. War Cruisers are often times sent on exploration and/or scientific missions.

IC:The Damnation's End floated through the depths of space well away from the Needle. For the moment captain Ajax was content with watching the other nations try and understand the Needle. Edgar was monitoring transmissions from the various ships in the area; keeping tabs on their progress, or possible lack thereof.

"Sir" he said with only a small drip of interest, "It appears they're going to try and signal the object using pulsed lights... probably a modified form of Bigsby Signaling."

Ajax looked to Edgar with a perplexed expression, "Bigsby Signaling? The Republic hasn't used that form of communication in over 1000 years." After the initial shock, Ajax chewed on the information for a moment. "I suppose it could break language barriers easier than any other form of communicatioin. Also, if nothing is getting through the Needle, surely this might. That thing is supposed to hold some incredible power... it probably has eyes watching us right now."

Edgar nodded and looked to the viewscreen. There sat the object that had brought so much attention to that lonely corner of space. It seemed tranquil, as though it had been sitting silently for a million years, and would continue to do so for another million. Edgar did wonder though, what exactly would happen should the Needle decided to take action.

OOC: Maybe it's the conjunction of 'War' and 'Cruiser'. Those two together have a chemistry that spells doom on many an occassion. Believe me on that.

IC: Control responded to the Catapult's line of questioning:

'As of yet the Needle has made no overtly offensive maneuvers. But I suggest to keep guns as a secondary priority, if it decides to change its mind.'

Mobutu had discovered a link. During the torpedo attack, and the probe's destruction, the Needle had flashed a concise signal. Flash Flash Fla-ash flash FLASH Flash Flash. If taken on Heliostat signalling, there could a connection to a warning. Perhaps 'Don't try that again or else.' or 'Please don't kill me!'. The difference between disaster and success could be the interpretation of the light signal. He assumed the former.

Nina's dreams were troubled. Flashes of voices, lights, feelings of anger and confusion. Secrets, massive thoughts like glaciers. Before she awoke, one final image appeared to her. The Needle. In the middle of a star.

Within the Needle...

5% complete.
Understood.
Deploying.

If one had noticed the Needle then, one might have noticed a slight ripple in the unperturbable 'hull'. Then all was quiet. Yet again.

OOC: I'm going to enjoy this.

Ajax did notice the subtle activity on the surface of the Needle -rather it was the Damnation's End A.I. which picked up on the changes. Known as DEET, the A.I. was usually quite blunt and to the point.

Sir, some sort of change has taken place on the Needle. There were no actual permanent fluctuations in the structure; it was a ripple through the object.

Ajax’s eyes lifted with interest, “ Is that so? At least we have some sort of movement from the Needle. What do you think these changes mean DEET?”

I can’t truly think sir, but I can infer that a permanent change may have taken place within the Needle. We cannot see what happened, but something did indeed happen. There had to have been a reason for the activity, the Needle hadn’t done anything up until that point.

Edgar walked up to Ajax, “Sir, might I suggest we have our engines ready should the Needle turn hostile. In fact, it may be wise to move the ship away and leave an RSAT in our place.”

Ajax nodded and stroked his rough chin, “ Good choice Edgar, drop the RSAT and move us away… 2 million kilometers from the Needle. Inform the other ships of our move, lest they worry we have something up our sleeve.”

Edgar complied and within 1 minute the RSAT had been dropped and the Damnation’s End had safely distanced herself from the Needle, or so it was thought.

(OOC: Explanation- An RSAT is a standard Eurydian satellite used for observation. It’s technical name is a “Reactive Satellite.” The word reactive describes the satellites sub sentient A.I. that can think and make rudimentary decisions on its own. If a ship ventures to close to the satellite it will move itself and/or inform the ship of its proximity to the RSAT. (The choice made would be based on whether the ship was hostile or not.) There are also other things the A.I. does that would take even more space to explain.

The RSAT’s main purpose is to observe. As opposed to the SpySAT, the RSAT is not phase capable, nor is it equipped with the ITS (http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=84985&highlight) system. Basically it is used for observation when the ship it is dropped from doesn’t want to be in proximity to wherever the RSAT is dropped. The RSAT is not as highly advanced as the Eurydian SpySAT, or as heavily armed and armored as the Eurydian WarSAT. Hope you don’t mind the drawn out explination… just need to be thorough. :wink:)

Sally and Alastair worked over the light signaling to the Needle, a brief flicker of something made the science station beep.. when Sally turned to look it was gone and she dismissed it, her mind distracted and ocupied with the task at hand..

"I think we should use something simple.. like.. like binary numbers from 1 to 10 and see what happens.."

"That is a good idea Al.. lets try it.." With the Tezcatlipoca's running lights and some strong floods slaved to Comms they began the first signal secuence..

Captain Jenner was looking intently at the image of the Needle, as if by merely staring at it would reveal it's secrets.. he noticed the slight ripple on the hull of the alien ship, he blinked and without turning his head he spoke..
"Tactical.. you picked that?.. there was a ripple along the hull.."

"Could have been an image glitch Sr.?"

The Captain shakes his head slowly.. "Dont think so.. scan the area round the Needle.. Sally? Al?.. how goes with the signaling?"



The two officers look at their Captain.. "We are beginning a basic binary secuence right now Sr."

The captain nods and adresses his Tactical Officer.. "Stay sharp.. be ready to go to full Red Alert on a moments notice if i give the order, we do not know that thing's capabilites.. not to mention that It is bigger than us.. so no shooting unless absolutely necessary.. and someone get me a cup of hot joe..".

Matthew went to a food processor and thumbed for two cups of coffee, repair works on the engine housing were under way.. he made his way to the Captain and handed him one of the cups.. "Quite the shakedown cruise huh?.."

"Thank you.. Indeed Mr. President.. Quite the Shakedown cruise.."

Matt nods and takes a sip of the hot coffee.. "the transport has finished placing the warning beacons and is on its way back.."

Captain Jenner nods and returns to staring at the ship.. as if by staring at it would reveal it's secrets..

The Needle's own response to the numbers was another message. Mobutu had the half finished matrice set up, and scanning.

'Retreat ____ _____. ____ Consequences.' Well, not as much as he'd hoped for, but better than nothing. Most likely a warning.

6%
Understood. Begin phase one.
Understood.

Nina awoke again, the feeling of warning thick and heavy in the air. 'No. Can't be. Not possible.'

Aboard Discovery, Mobutu and crew were sorting through miles of information from the Needle. 'Graviton Field has dissipated! Wait, detecting massive gravimetric reading in front of Needle!' He stood from his chair, eyes wide, staring at the fluctuating hologram, depicting the gravimetric sensor readings, they were in the billions. 'What in the nine hells is it doing??'

Nina raced out of her house, clicking her communicator on. 'Councilors, tell the navigator to get this ship well away from the Needle. Something's about to happe-' She stopped, staring at the ghostly white figure, across the street. It was humanoid, unfleshly gray, with huge bright red eyes, mandibles nearly as large as the face, and no ears. It's eyes rapidly fluctuated in colour. She blinked, and it was gone. Heat haze. Or early morning hallucination. Has to be.

Thousands of miles away, a basic sensor subroutine noticed the sudden gravimetric fluctuations near Mars. A response program lept into action, and a notice appeared almost instantaneously on the Navigation and Command consoles of HSV-004 Guybrush Threepwood, en route to Mars.

Four minutes later, a message was sent back towards Hugin, consisting of the simple phrase, "Did you see that?" A response came back noting that, in fact, they had noted the disturbance, and that it came quite unexpectedly. They had noticed a slight gravition field, but had decided that it was just some Martian nation testing out some new system, and that it was of little consequence to them. Something like this, however... Maybe the Threepwood could check it out, as long as it was in the neighborhood. So her computers quickly plotted the shortest possible course to the location, twisted herself with the thrusters until she was facing in the proper direction, and proceeded to ignite her fusion engine, pushing her on a course that would get her there before the day was out.


<ooc>
Find a picture of a ship of the Mazer Rackham Class (The same class as the Threepwood) here (http://freewebs.com/hugin/huginfrigate1.jpg).
</ooc>

OOC: Is it just me, or does that class of craft remind anyone else of Homeworld?

IC: Nina climbed aboard the Private Transport - sleek black sedan - And was whisked away to the Command section.

Mobutu's current emotions ranged from fearful, to annoyed. He'd just watched as a small asteroid was whisked past their orbit, directly into the energy cluster in front of the Needle. The cluster itself had trebled in size in the last hour, and smaler objects - things with under 80 tonnes of mass - were being drawn in.

So, everything inside the Discovery not clamped down, was stuck against the bulkheads. Their own gravity systems were not nearly as powerful as the Needle.

'Its gravity signature is now around the same as a small moon! I'm not sure how it's doing this, but the power is increasing at an exponential rate!' His last report. He'd have to get the Navigator to move Discovery in with synchro with A'tuin

Kenzi looked up in confusion and annoyance as small thuds were being heard. Were they under attack? No, the proximity sensors would have sounded the alarm already if they were.

"Lieutenant Daniels! What is going on down there?"
Kenzi demanded on the COMM line.A shaky voice replied.
"S-sir, it seems that the...the...needle thingy has some sort of magnetic pull to anything under 80 tonnes. I don't know how it's doind it,sir, but its a hell of a lot stronger than our systems,"the Lieutenant finished.Kenzi cursed and turned to is weapons officer,a rather overweight man lovingly nicknamed,"Popcorn".
"Bring our gauss and PCL cannons online,but fire only if i shows hostility!"The wweapons officer nodded and opened a COMM line to the weapon crews...

Kenzi stared at the needle and wonder,What could it be?

Sally and Alastair look with surprise as the Needle flashes and the translation appears on the Comm's screen.. Retreat From Area. Dire Consecuences. or at least the closest to what the computer might translate..
"Well, I'll be damned.. Captain.. I think we better move to a safer distance.."

Captain Jenner walked to the Comm station and looked at the screen.. he had seen on the main screen how debris and small chucks of rock were being gravitationaly attracted to the Needle, he could feel the slaight pull on his own body as he turned to the Helm.. "Mr. Halston, move us to 100 klicks from the edge of the grav effect of the Needle, mind the workers repairing the engine housing.."

"Engineering, we are going to move to a safer distance.. alert the working crews to hold on.. 45 seconds for transfer.. Bridge out.."

Sally looked at the Comm screen then to his friend.. "well, it seems this "Needle" has had contact with human language before.."

"Yes.. i wonder where..?"


The big destroyer moved slowly to within 100 kilometers from the edge of the grav field generated from the Needle

Aboard A'tuin, things were getting... Interesting. The Inertial Dampers had taken most of the gravitational effects and converted them, but smaller objects, pens, datapads, small pets, and most cutlery, much to the distress of the patrons of restaurants. However, no human being was going to suddenly take flight.

The Hyperspace Core, was another matter.
The Far Jump engine's electromagnetic containment field was fluctuating.
Occassionally sparks of rift matter would appear in random places, without the field, the Technicians had no way of controlling the reversal of the Core into an uncontrolled Waveform. This would reduce A'tuin to a rather small - about the size of a car - volume. Not pretty.

The quick thinking captain pulled the City Ship about and charged the engines. The ship backed away from the field, and abruptly - sometimes tragically - gravity restored itself.

Discovery had no hyperspace core, and its own Inertial dmapers were enough to keep everyone from being plastered uncomfortably against the walls. The Needle's projected gravity was massive. An earth equivalent field. Mobutu got as many recordings as he could, before inverting the ship and getting out of the field, followed doggedly by Interscene and Retribution.

All ships retreat! General alert! All ships retreat!

--doublepost--

Aboard the Damnation's End all was quiet. A slightly audible hum could be heard -due to the numerous systems on the bridge- but other than that all was peaceful.

The image Ajax watched on the viewscreen was all but peaceful.

The RSAT had been instantly pulled into the Needle. It's fragile hull had been slammed and flattened by the immense gravity. The War Cruiser itself felt none of these effects, due in part to Lieutenant Edgar's thoughtful observation. The other ships on the scene did not fare so well, one could even say they were scurrying away from the Needle like so many frightened rats. As the pull intensified, the large city ship tore away; it’s bulk barely able to evade the Needle’s gravitic grasp.

Ajax shook his head as he watched the situation unfold, ”Hopefully they’ll learn to keep civilian ships away from dangerous areas.” He picked up a small glass of wine and took a delicate sip. As Ajax returned the glass to its previous location, the contents decided to leave. The wine seemed to be drawn to the viewscreen. Subsequently, within an instant the wine was all over viewscreen. Ajax stood with a look of passive awe, “Well now, how in the hell did that happen Edgar?”

The Lieutenant buried his face into the instrument panel before him, trying to come up with a reasonable explination, “Sir, it would seem there was a sort of gravimetric distortion. For an instant the Needle’s pull reached out to our ship, thus pulling on the wine and drawing it to… well… our viewscreen. I'm getting reports of similar happenings on in other parts of the ship.”

Ajax mumbled something under his breath. He then turned to address the crew, “Any negative effects on the ship itself?" Edgar shook his head, "Good, I think we should distance ourselves a bit more from this phenomena,” He looked over his shoulder and pointed, “And get someone to clean that mess up.” The bridge crew saluted smartly and did the bidding of their captain.

”Oh, and Edgar, more wine.”

Sorry all. I have to cut it short. My best friend's in hospital. Involved ion a car crash. I won't be able to post at all.

Bye.

Sorry to hear that..
Hope he/she recovers soon

Sorry to hear that..
Hope he/she recovers soon

*nods* couldn't have said it better myself. Best of luck.

-The Bloc's player

Okay, I'm back. He's got a broken leg and is hanging off me like a hungry Nekk... How cute.

IC:
The Needle's shape and coloration steadily warped over the next half hour. One physicist commented it must have been like the penultimate rave party within. He was promptly ignored. This was not a joking matter.

Mobutu had been watching on the retreating Discovery's scanners, apoplectic horror creeping over his facial features. He had an idea of what was happening. 'Singul-'
At that moment, Discovery was hit by a massive energy pulse. It tore the research vessel apart. The atmosphere boiled out through several exposed weakspots in the hull. Fragments were drawn to the now massive cloud of space particles orbiting the Needle. Retribution was destroyed moments later. It's compliment of torpedoes, mysteriously undamaged, began trailing into the Needle's gravity field.

"Holy shit," was the first thing that came out of Ajax's mouth, "What the hell just happened?" Edgar fiddled with the controls for a moment, "Report Edgar!"

"Sir, it appears the ships have been destroyed."

"Survivors?"

Edgar sighed, "None sir. But... it appears the Needle is absorbing the ships cache of weapons."

Ajax mulled over the news for quite a while given the situation. He didn't know whether to flee or stay and possibly be destroyed by the Needle.

Ajax made his decision, "Prepare to phase Lieutenant. At the first sign of hostile action directed toward us... you know what to do"

Edgar nodded.

OOC:I don't really know if the Needle is going to attack everything. Since those ships were closest I don't know if the Damnation's End is far enough away to escape attack. Once I do know I'll post accordingly.

A'tuin watched in horror as Discovery and Retribution were ripped apart by the Needle. Interscene Had used Mars' bulk to shield itself from the Needle's wrath, and was making its way towards A'tuin on orbit around the far side of Mars.

Activate
Understood

OOC: Splash damage all. Even phasing isn't going to fully save you from this.

IC: At first it seemed like a tiny pinprick of light possibly five centimetres in radius. It grew slightly, and then expanded exponentially. Soon it was over a kilometre wide, an enormous sphere of nothing. It's ridiculously strong gravity drew in the ammassed field of small space particles and ship wreckage. But still it wanted MORE. The Needle seemed to be completely unnaffected. Indeed, it's gravity was so immense that even the massive city ships hulls as gravity attempted to warp the structure. As the A'tuin Pulled ever further away from the Needle.

'My God. A quantum singularity. The Needle's a weapon.' Said one physicist, jaw returning to its open state. Stark white against the extreme absence of light, the Needle began turning. As it did, the singularity followed, as if a pet on a leash.

Suddenly, Mars' moon Deimos hurtles past A'tuin it's weak mass falling prey to the ever hungry maw of the singularity.

'All ships, converge, it's time we had a discussion.'

OOC: There are many nations that would be interested to know that Deimos was just destroyed. >_<

Also, we're having the discussion whilst the Needle is bearing down upon us?

IC:

Repairs were being made on the bruised War-Cruiser, the first starship of its class to ever receive even the slightest amount of damage. "The lead ship is calling a meeting, sir." Edgar was busy with repairs and barely noticed the blinking light.

"Well it's about time. Put me through immedietly Lieutenant." Ajax had had enough of the Needle's rampage.

This is Ajax of the Damnation's End. It's known now that the Needle is a gravitic weapon of some sort. The best way to counteract a gravitic weapon is to use another gravitic weapon. At this point negotiating with the Needle is almost out of the question, so I propose we all get out of here. I can call up the "Siege of Darkness," our most advanced warship using gravitic weaponry. I am interested to hear what other people believe to be the best solution to this problem.


Ajax wasn't much for words.

>>Double Post<<

OOC: Deimos ain't destroyed... It serves a purpose. You'll see.
I'm waiting for everyone else to have their say. This is over comms, or you can dock with A'tuin