NationStates Jolt Archive

Hobbes, a desolate, radiation-filled planet devoid of any life. Its ozone layer now a pathetic remnant of what it once was, all of its resources strip-mined and a strange sort of energy signature that kills on contact pollutes various areas of the planet. Who'd of thought that it could be one of the most valuable planets in the Horizon System?

Yes, Hobbes, in all of its decimated glory, was home to something far more valuable than minerals. Technology. Obscene amounts of highly advanced pieces of technology litter its surface. Partially destroyed mega-cities present a tempting target to whomever can stand to get it. But who left it? That, my friends, is the true mystery. There are no traces of the life form that once inhabited this war-torn planet. Perhaps they destroyed themselves, as the evidence points toward? Yes, that is feasible. Perhaps that they were even attacked and fled, or stood fast and died defending it? Or, do they still remain, eluding the exploration parties and scanners? Terrifying, but possible still.

But whatever fate was incurred upon its inhabitants, one truth can be conceived. Whatever we have, their stuff is better. Parlim has yet to fully exploit this “resource”. Who will…?

OOC: Is Hobbes a referance to 'Calvin & Hobbes', by any chance?

Death Dealer, a Strike Cruiser. Cloaked near Hobbes. The ship used to be a fighter ship, back when Cam II was in control. It has since been refitted and is, unusually for Cam III, turned into a scientific vessal.
"Yes, under one of the Ancients great citys."
"Any natives down there?"
"No. But the natives to the system have had an intrest in the planet."
"Damn. I will get a team ready."

----1 hour later----
The 9 blue power armoured men walked down the corrider to the Drop Station. Each had there ceremonial cloacks on. The lead Thousand Son was a certin Admiral Stigmatum. The only warrior on the Death Dealer to have Terminater Armour.
"All in one pod!" Came the raspy voice of Stigmatum. The Sons crowded around the bulky figure of the Admiral. They then filed on, almost like robots, onto the drop pod. None spoke, the abilty to was long gone. Along with there souls. All that was left, was a withered body. Kept alive only by the suits life systems. They could only die properly if the life systems was shut down.
Within minutes the drop had left for the planets surface......

OOC: The item which I am looking for is called Geneseed. You could find it first but it's up to you....

OOC: Maybe more like the philosopher who coined the belief that life would be "nasty, brutish and short" without a government. Or something like that. Consider this a glorified Tag.

[OOC: Actually, Hobbes is a referance to the author of Levithan. Hobbes from Calvin and Hobbes was named after him.]

Science Group 4 dropped out of FLT near Hobbes, then made designs for orbit. The group consisted of no real military vessels, just three "Big Brother" Corvettes with extended sensor suites, and a single medium lenght Science & Exploration ship, the P.I.F. Genesis. They entered a low orbit, and began scans on the surface. Any technology that look useful was to be brought aboard and tested. The scan was going well, until a Big Brother exploded.

Aboard the P.I.F. Genesis

Captain Vilkov stirred in his chair, not quite sure what to make of what has just happened. Standing up, he asked, "Report!".

"I'm not sure what happened sir, it looks like it rammed into something, but there's nothing the-" The crewman was interupted by a momentary wave of light where the corvette exploded.

"There's a ship out there!" The other two corvettes must've seen it as well, as they immidiatly cloaked, leaving the Genesis seemingly all alone in space. Vilkov began barking orders, "Charge weapons and raise sheilds!" The crewman did as ordered, activating the very limited tactical systems of the science ship. "Send a message on all bands, 'Unidentified Shp, please uncloak and present yourself. You are in Parlimian space. Comply, else we willl seek more deadly reinforcements!"

IC: Commander Dante recieved the message, telling him to decloak. He wished it was that simple.
"Do not uncloak! They will soon find the Sons. We must give them as long as possible to get the Geneseed."
"Yes my lord. Should I fire upon them?"
"Yes, nova cannon the nerest ship."
The cannon, deep in the depths of the ship, was being loaded with it's shells. Weapons officer Logan was wathcing the progress. He had seen this many a time. He knew that the cannon could be loaded and ready to fire in under 20 minutes.
"Ready!" One of the slavers shouted from below. Logan hardly heard him, he went deaf along time ago. It was due to the horrendus noise the cannon makes.
"Fire!"
The cannon shuddered as the fireing mechanisms readyed themselves. As soon as the cannon fired, there was a giant shockwave. It knocked most of the newer slaves to the ground, Logan knew how to keep his balance when the macine fired. The cannon's recoil also sent out a smaller shockwave when it hit the buffer.
"Reload!"

Dante watched as the plamsa shell streaked through space, like a shooting star. The shell hit it's mark, hopefully doing enough damage. If not, there was plenty more shells to be fired.....

The shell hit the Genesis, puncturing a hole straight through its sheilds and slamming into the hull.

"Sir! Hull Breach on Decks three, four, and six!"

"Seal them off and return fire!" The Genesis, now trailing debris, sped up and fired upon the last known location of the enemy ship. The Big Brothers also took chances, coming out of cloak long enough to fire, then dissapearing again. Space occasionally seemed to flicker, hopefully indicating hits.

"Sir, they're returning fire again!"

"Evasive manuevers!" The ship began flying randomly, turning and pitching up and down, in an effort to dodge an incoming blast. It finally fired, just nicking the Genesis' sheilds.

"We're not going to last much longer! Call for reinforcements!"

"Sir, we've been hit!"
"Damage?"
"Shields down to 52%"
"Damn. Get us up close and use the prow lance battery."
"Yes my lord."
The Death Dealer closed in on the Genesis. Dante watched the ship weave around, to no avail.
"We in firing range!" A weapons officer shouted.
"Good. Fire at full force."
"What?! Aye sir."
The Strike Cruiser manouvered into the path of the Genesis. The 'Fire Lances' came to bear on the ship. Space flikered where the lances were, attracting some shots. They only bounced of the shields. Dante saw the lasers before he heard them. He watched them streak through space, homing in on the ship. He then heard the almighty crack of the lances.....

Hobbes.
The drop pod landed near the city, disgorging it's passengers. The 10 Thousnad Sons sprunted to the cover of ruins. They then moved into the citys gates.....

OOC: My military info is in my sig. The space fleet data is now complete, so everything is there (except the data on the science vessel).

IC:

Department of War, Port Hope

President Maverick made his way down the corridors of the Department, klaxons sounding at every turn. Something of dire emergency was happening, this level of alertness had never been reached before. It meant war.

He entered the offices of the senior staff, who were all gathered around, debating or discussing the topic that was causing all the commotion. Using his best military voice, Maverick said, "Report."

The officers had obviously not seen him, as it startled them slightly. They looked up, as if to express some annoyance to whom was commanding them when they saw it was the President. They immediately stood and rose to attention. William Cloudshore, of the fallen royalty of the former providence, informal commander of the 1st Fleet (it was technically under the command of the President) and a close friend of Maverick's stepped forward.

"Sir, we have a breach of system security." Maverick expected nothing less, but he continued listening. "One of our science teams, headed by the P.I.F. Genesis has come under attack. Their last communication to us indicated that they were sustaining heavy damage. We do not know of their present status."

"The Genesis..." Maverick pondered out loud. "She was heading to Hobbes..."

"Yes sir. We fear the worst. Someone is trying to get something from that planet."

"What ships are prepared for combat?"

"Well, we have a few Frigates ready and some cor-"

"No, what Capitol ships are ready?" They seemed a bit taken by his question. Such force was not readily employed. Cloudshore, however, was not taken aback.

"Sir. My ship, the P.I.F. Republic, Sword of the Republic class, she's ready for combat."

"William. Take her and figure out who the hell is attacking us."

"Aye, sir."

P.I.F. Republic, currently docked at Military Comet 2914, Near Haven

The Republic was the flagship of the entire navy, and the pride and joy of William Cloudshore. At 7km long, she was the longest non-carrier class in the fleet. William was surprised at the President's order, though he did not seem it, as mobilizing a Capitol Ship was expensive and lengthy, though, he supposed, he could see the logic in it.

The ship slowly pulled out of dock with the comet. They did not have time to slow the militarized piece of rock down, so the ship had to leave dock while the comet was at full, cruising speed, a dangerous but possible feat. Finally, the ship detached and the comet continued its course without it. The ship came about, and jumped to FLT.

The Genesis

“Report!”

“Sir, we’re badly damaged. Propulsion, weapons, and shields are down. Hull breaches on decks 1, 2, 3, 6, and 8. We have reports coming in of heavy casualties. No sign of the corvettes. We are floating away from the combat, but are in a steady orbit. They don’t appear to be pursuing, but I can’t tell.”

“Great,” Vilkov commented, “We’re sitting ducks,” He stopped, thinking of what he should do. “Concentrate on getting weapons back online. If they come after us, at least we can give ‘em hell for a little while.”

“Aye sir.”

“I hope we can last until reinforcements get here.”

Bump

OOC: If you need stats on anything in my navy/army, ask.

IC: The Death Dealer slid closer to the Genesis, de-cloaking as it went. Almost like a gesture of peace. But it was not to be....

"My lord, we have fore lance batterys ready again." A weapons officer said, hoping to use them again.
Why does a scientific vessal have such destructive power? Dante thought before replying, "Are we in range?"
"Yes. They are effectivly sitting ducks."
"Good. Aim for the bridge."
"Yes my lord."
"And patch me through to them."

++This is Commander Dante, of the Death Dealer. I believe you are sitting ducks, correct? Well I am giving you one chance to turn yourselves over to me. I will make sure you are treated well. Oh and I would advise you did that. I await your response.++

Dante turned to his weapons officers, "Arm all weapons, prepare to fire on my mark."
"Yes my lord." They replied in unison....

"This is Commander Dante, of the Death Dealer. I believe you are sitting ducks, correct? Well I am giving you one chance to turn yourselves over to me. I will make sure you are treated well. Oh and I would advise you did that. I await your response."

Vilkov heard the message and paused for a second. Upon making up his mind, he said, "It's is a trap. They're going to blow us skyward anyway. Status on those weapons?"

The tactical officer, who was stressed enough, looked up, "I think I can give you the forward Pulse Battery, but nothing else."

"Shields?"

"Minimal. No way we can survive another direct attack."

“What we need is a miracle.”

With almost comical timing, the two Corvettes decloaked off the port and starboard sides of the enemy ship and began firing on it.

“Sir!” said the helm officer, looking up from his damaged workstation, “Thrusters are operational!”

“Good! Give me designs for planetary landing!”

“Aye sir!”

Vilkov settled back into his Captain’s chair, and the Genesis seemingly inched away from the ship, while the corvettes battled it out. The Genesis shook as it coasted towards the planet’s surface. Foreseeing the ground skirmish that was to come, he turned to the tactical officer, “Get your security team to the armory and prepare for combat.”

“Aye sir.”

The corvettes fire upon the Strike cruiser was damaging, collapsing the shields and breeching at least 3 decks. Dante saw the Genesis crawl slowly to the planet's surface.
"I can fire on the ships to port and starboard or that one. Which is it?"
"Open fire on the two hostiles with our torpedoes batterys and nova cannons."
The two men were standing amidst bodies and burning consols. Since the ship had been in use for 1000 years or so, it was weak. Another hit will crack it up.
"You had better get out of here!"
"No, I will go down with my ship."
This would be the last time the Death Dealer fired her guns in anger again.
"Fire!" Dante shouted. He watched, on the moniter, the torpedos strike the sides of the corvettes.
"I await my death, don't make me wait." Dante muttered, almost taunting the comanders of the corvettes.....

One of the corvettes was slammed by the final barrage. Losing control, is rammed into the side of the enemy ship, while the other, heavily damaged, fired its last salvo, then broke off to follow the Genesis to the surface.

Not far away, the Battleship Republic came out of FTL, changing its course to match the present location of the skirmish. It charged its main guns, ready to deliver the finishing blow.

Massive bolts of energy fired from the Republic.

As the corvette slammed into the strike cruiser, massive bolts hit the fore of it. All that was left was debris, and a corvette. Dante last action; calling in a Star Destroyer....

Hobbes:
The 10 Sons watched the flaming ship come into the atmosphere. They knew that nothing could have survived, oh how wrong they were....

OOC: You realize there's no way a Star Destoryer could get through the system-wied defenses, right? A small cloaked ship, perhaps, but the system is on high alert, and the 1st Fleet is patrolling the borders.

IC:

P.I.F. Republic

The massive ship came about, deploying its full complement of fighters to secure the planet. They were too late, unfortunatly, to prevent the Genesis and the last remaining Big Brother corvette from entering the atmosphere. The best option now was to recover the crew, then glass the planet where the enemy ship went down.

William Cloudshore sighed as he put on his Sealed Armor Unit (SAU), for he was going in person to help recover the lost, along with nineteen other marines. A countdown was set. It they weren't back within two hours, they'd be slag just like the entire ruined mega-city. How's that for a stressful working enviroment?

Hobbes

The dropship hit the dirt with a thud, jolting all of its passengers. The airlock opened, and out stepped the marines, Cloudshore on point. The SAUs were bulky, but well armored. He hoped that if they did run into trouble, that the armor would hold up.

OOC: Eh well. I knew that! :) Oh, and if you need info on my weapons or armour, ask. :)
IC: Admiral Stigmatum watched the new shapes drop near the city, about 4 miles away from his current position. Even with his advanced vision and the suits power, he could only just make out the figures approching.
"Arm your bolters." He said to his entoruge (sp?). They clicked off the safety in perfect unision.
"Get in the ruins." The Sons darted to their respectful cover, aiming at the oncoming men.....

The marines made their way through the ruins of the alien city. Death was everywhere in this place, crawling right in the back of your mind and reminding you that the only thing keeping you from joining these people in the afterlife was a suit of armor. No one spoke, perhaps to honor those who died, or maybe just because of the watchful city. Either way, they just kept their fingers on the trigger of their gun, and kept walking.

A few kilometers later, the evidence that they were near the crashsite was obvious. Scorched surroundings, fire (though how it burned was beyond any of the marines, there was no oxygen on Hobbes), and tall buildings that had been clipped by something massive moving very fast.

Taking another deep breath of recycled oxygen, they trod onward.

The Sons watched the men walk forward. Any minute now. Stigmatum thought. He pulled a grenade out and lifted the pin from it. He then drew his arm back and lobbed the grenade through the air, aiming for the advancing men....

The grenade hit the ground near the marines. It took them mere miliseconds to realize what it was, but a bit longer to respond.

"Oh shit!" came the general reply. They all dived for cover among to ruins, not an easy thing to do when you're wearing several hundred pounds of sealed armor. The grenade exploded, vaporizing the area around it.

Cloudshore rose to his knees, "Sound off!"

The marines millled breifly and all answered one by one. They all made it through the explosion.

"Alright boys! Circle formation, then lay down some supressing fire!" The marines made a rough circle, and opened fire (outwards, of course) in random directions, hoping to catch whatever had thrown the grenade.

OOC: How many marines there?

IC: Bullets rbounced off the rocks behind the Thousand Sons, some bouncing of their armour.
"Return fire!" Stigmatum shouted as the 7ft warriors rose and opend fire on the greatly exposed marines. Bolters flared with shot after shot being pumped in the direction of the marines. When they had emptied their clips they reloaded i the open and started again....

OOC2: Power Armour: This is a completly enclosing suit of armour as worn by Thousand Sons and warriors of Orange State. The under layer is a thin (about 3mm) of kevlar impregnated titanium. this stops most piercing attacks and stops spaling, which is how most armour piercing weapons work. Above this is 5mm of hardened ceramite which resist heat attacks. Finally the top layer is hard alloy of tungsten and steel which is a full 24mm thick. The effective protection is 500mm on all areas except joint which are only 200mm and eyeslits which provide only 80mm. This would be heavy and combersome but for electriclly motivated fibre bundles implanted in the power armour that replecates the movements of the wearer and supplememts his strength. Power armour is fully sealed to provide protection agaisnt gas weapons and harsh atmosphre. It also commenly includes numerus auxilliary systems such as communications, auto-senses etc. The suit has a small fusion generator built into the back and motors under the plating but above the kevlar titanium. There are several interfaces between this and the body of the warrior: [CLASSIFIED INFORMATION] It links the bionics to the brain and can read nerves and move the amrour in time with the body rendering it almost weightless for the wearer despite being close to 100KG. Most small arms and some rifle bullets will do no harm to the armour.

Bolters:
Bolters fire self-proppeled armour-piercing mass-reactive explosive missiles called bolts. These dentonate a split second after penetrating a target, blasting it apart from within. Bolters are normally set for rapid fire, each pull of the trigger firing a burst of three or four bolts in quick succsesion.

OOC: 20 men.

"Shit!" Two of the marines hit the dirt, injured, while the others found better protection.

"That armor is too tough! Get out the thumpers!" Several marines dove behind cover and began assembling the cumbersome anti-armor weapons, while the others provided cover with the under-rifle heavy laser.

Finally, the four marines with thumpers rose, took aim, and fired at the threat.

OOC: Thumpers are an odd sort of weapon. The look exactly like normal anti-tank launchers, except that instead of firing missiles or energy balls, they fire foot-long, six-inch thick, rods of steel that move at incredibly speeds. No warheads or rockets involved, the thumpers use pure kinetic energy. They are extremely heavy, long and generally cumbersome to use, however.

The thumper projectiles hit four Sons, three were impaled. The blunt objects stuk out of their chests, the blood clotting around them. The other thumper severly dented a Sons armour, breaking many bones in the process. The four Sons fought on untill three of them fell, their two hearts failing.
"Brother-Captain Cortez, melta 'em!" Stigmatum shouted while firing his storm bolter, [Two bolters stuck together, powerful.] while one of the midnight blue power armoured giants ducked down and picked up his melta gun. He fired it in the direction of the enemy, the superheated gas incinerating everything in it's path. [Yes, even rocks. Well, a bit.]

The Marines, once again, scattered. The melta-ray burnt straight through their cover and incenerated four of their not-so-lucky comrades. Their weapons and grenades exploded violently, leaving a small crater in the middle of the ruined city. The remaining fifteen marines and Cloudshore himself, returned fire with their normal rifles, and the two Thumpers left.

OOC: Ehehehe... Meet my puppet...

OOC: Hi Parlim's puppet! :)

IC: The marines appered again, still wasting fire as the bullets bounced off the armour of the Sons. The Sons kept firing at the marines who popped their heads up over the rocks.
"Retreat! Into the city!" Stigmatum shouted. One by one the Sons moved into the city and hid themselves in the nerest buldings, where their weapon cache was.....

The remaining marines, 'round a dozen or so, watched as the metal monstrosities ran further into the decimated city, firing a few thumper rounds their way, but not really laying down anything concentrated. As the prepared to follow the retreating enemies, Cloudshore stuck out his hand, announcing over the suit's comm system, "Don't follow them. They're pretty heavily armed, and, from the looks of it, well trained. They'll most likely attempt to ambush us if we follow. You two," he said, pointing to two of the marines, "Round up the ammo from the KIAs, the see what you can find out about that armor from those that we killed. When you're done, meet up with us due north. We're going to try to recover the crew of the Genesis and call a drop team.

"Sir, what about them?" motioned a soldier in the general direction of the quickly moving foes.

"They have no where to go. When the fleet glasses the planet, they'll be caught in the blast. Alright, everyone, move out!"

OOC: Crap!

IC: Ezra, Stigmatums second in command, stopped at watched the 12 marines start to search the dead.
"Look, frag 'em!" He shouted as another Son grabbed a missile launcher and fired. The missile streaked through the air as thumpers passed it, hitting another Son. The missile impacted right in the middle of the three or so marines who were milling around the bodys, incinerating everything within a meter or so........

The two marines were incenerated immediatly (OOC: Because there were only two checking bodies...). The remaining marines hit the ground, and were showered in debris. Brushing chunks of bone and metal out of hit hair, William Cloudshore got back to his feet and up against a large metal beam. The crater left by the missile was about seven meters away, with the puntured bodies of the enemy laying near it.

The single remaining thumper team loaded up, taking aim at the one who seemed to be leading the pack, though they couldn't tell who really was, and fired at him. The other marines jumped out of sover for a split second to throw a few grenades, which landed horribly short, but forced the enemies, out of instinct to duck for cover.

The moment they dissapeared from view, Cloudshore was over his cover and running for the downed marines. He dove into the crater, the still steaming ground turning the outside of his suit black. One of them was dead, but the other wasn't. The glimmer of hope he held for a moment flickered away, when he saw how hopelessly the man's armor was broken. Not only was he badly burnt, but he was suffering from the late stages of the alien radiation posioning. His skin bubbled, his eyes were on the verge of melting, and most of the skin has dripped off. Still, he managed to look up at his commanding officer and attempt a smile before death claimed him. Another rocket struck nearby, rattling the ground around him, and waking him from the horrible sight he had just witnessed.

He instinctively reached for his rifle, only to find it wasn't there. He then went for his pistol, only to find that the molten soil had melted it to his armor's hip. He looked around, daring to peep his head out from cover for a moment. Nearby, on the ground, near one of the impaled foes, lay the strange weapon they were using. It was just close enough...

The ground exploded as yet another missile hit nearby. This time Cloudshore wasn't as lucky in evading it. He, and all four-hundred pounds of armor, went flying through the air, landing behind the corpse of one of those who the thumpers had claimed. The gun was just within arm's reach now...

And he was up, weapon in hand. Though he couldn't see their faces, he could almost swear their eyes went wide the moment they saw him with the bolter. It didn't matter. It squeezed the trigger and the weapon fired. The recoil was immense, and nly by putting his weight behind was he able to steady the weapon for long enough to get back to cover.

He jumped back behind the massive steal beam and strapped the weapon onto his armor. He turned to the remain marines, "Come on! There is no time, we must get to the Genesis!" With that, they all took off running.

The thumper smacked into Ezra's armour, thousands of years of warfare had weakend it, killing him instantly. The leader of the enemy picked up the bolter and fired at the Sons, bolts pricking holes in armour and drawing blood. This ones a smart one. Stigmatum thought as he motioned for his warriors to halt, "We go after them, close combat. Bolt pistols and chain swords only!"
After this statement the 7 remaing Sons dropped their bolters and drew their chainswords[Swords with moving teeth instead of a blade.] and bolt pistols[Same as bolters, but one shot per trigger pull]. They then sprinted at amazing speed, almost as if they weren't wareing armour. Within minutes they would be upon the enemy......[I'll let you post the first assult. Remember that my men have been in wars for at least 1000 years, they know how to kill.]

[OOC: My guys already had a good two-hundred meters on you before they started running, so...]

They ran. Ahead of them loomed the burnt hull of the Genesis, which had crashed so it lay in an interested position, lodged between two ruined skyscrapers, with its tail straight through one and its nose through another (OOC: Like |-|). They threw grenades as they went, attempting to stall them, while Cloudshore managed to fire the bolter while running without being flung to the ground.

The marines passed a heavily damaged building, a single huge structural rod peeking through the top. At Cloudshore's motion, the marines stopped running and took up momentary firing positions. He called up his remaining thumper team, and pointed at the base of the building. They nodded, and readied the weapon.

The first shot when straight through the support rod, and the entire building shook, but did not fall. The second shot was wide, only clipping it, but the third shot was true. The building wavered for a second, its single remaining support beam broken, it could not stand.

And it didn't. It collasped on the street, blocking the way. On its way down, it slammed into another building on the other side of the street, which then fell down on top of it, creating a massive roadblock. The enemy would have to go around the entire block to get to them.

They were running again, and then, they were in. Then they were in. As the last man left the city and entered the damaged Genesis and the door closed, they prepared for battle.

Cloudshore was running down the hall, to the bridge, when he entered, he saw four men gathered around a console, trying to get something to work.

"Captain Vilkov?"

One of the men looked up, showing blood and ash on his face. He looked up at Cloudshore and asked, "You our rescue?"

"Kind of. Are the weapons systems online?"

"A single pulse cannon on the lower hull is, why?"

"Charge it up," he then pulled off his helmet and activated the armor's comm unit, "Romeo, (OOC: A term for a communications officer) call fleet and inform them of the situation, request a Big Rig (OOC: Heavy dropship) and a fighter escort."

"Yes sir!"

"Battlestations."

OOC: I'm a bit better.

IC: As the Sons watched the marines blow up the building, Stigmatum was preparing his jump-pack. When the building collapsed, Stigmatum was already skyward, it's a shame that the jump-packs are highly volotile(sp?). Just when he ws about to land on the other side of the blockade, the jump-pack exploded, throwing fireballs in every direction. The Sons watched the demise of their leader while sprinting around the blockade. They, in a few minutes, had reached the other side of the blockade, just to see a green light heading for them. Two manged to dive out the way as the weapon incinerated the other 4.
"Damn it! Kill them! They know where the geneseed is!" One of the Sons shouted while running towards the ship, followed by the other....

(OOC: Alright, I'll wait for you to edit then, so I can post a more in-depth responce. Bump when you're ready.