NationStates Jolt Archive

On the edge of the Saddon-Treskhmed galaxy, an uninhabited planet hurtled through the void, directly into Ridgian territory. From its depths, fighters began to pour, covered in black armor. Radio and magnetic waves pushed into space, forcing messages into the unprotected minds. "Tarenteor, I have come for you. Show yourself."

Tarenteor was idly playing a hologame as the message reached his mind. He sat there stunned for a moment, as he slowly mouthed something to himself. "Holy shit..." Taren ran out of the room, straight into Admiral Dessan. "Launch every fucking thing. Fucking now!" "Erm... sir... that's the problem... we just lost contact with the fleet about twenty second ago. They were still out from that last attack, they were being repaired on a grouping of stations, out near the edge of the galaxy. We just lost contact with them, and then the entire sensor went down! We're trying to get it up again... I'll send what ships I can though, to go investigate the fleet, sir." "That... that will have to do..." "Also, some of the boys were hearing things, something funny about you..."



Out as the repair stations, Sallah was shivering. The Systemkiller's -- and the entire fleet's -- sensors has just gone down. Also, everyone had heard the message... but what sent it, and why her brother?

OOC: If it makes you feel better, consider this a tag.

OOC: It does, Skeelz.

OOC: Sorry, haven't been able to log on for a while. Will be on plenty tomorrow, so tag.

In deep space, the battlecruiser Grimrise received the same message. It had been on a standard survey mission into unclaimed space to find new planets to settle but had instead found something else.

"What the hell was that, scanner?" Asked captain Vrili.
"Don't know, captain. Agatha is picking up a large mass of unidentifiable materials moving into JJR-space."
"Alert the Admiralty of our discovery and set a course for JJR space, course 5-76. Comm, inform them of our arrival once we get into communications range and ask them what the hell is going on."

"Are you certain, sir, that I should ask them what the 'hell' is going on?"
The captain just gave him a disapproving stare. Discipline on a Wettic ship had never been very strict but now was not the time for jokes. lieutenant Adel seemed to realize that now too. "Of course not, sir. Sorry, sir."

Taggage

#tag#

OOC: JJR: Hope you don't mind me putting my fleet in orbit of your planet. Just tell me and I'll edit them into a different vector.
Fleet Stats:
Balore, a Cyclops Superdreadnought
1000 Stingships
2000 Paris Drone Fighters
180 Hector Assault Frigates


IC: Orbiting the planet in his flag ship, Lord Admiral Jacob Socriss admired the empty grandeur of deep space through his DNI uplink to the Balore. Still, he was not idle: the AI QUETZAL had been providing Symbiosis with his men, enabling them to act with one mind, as one being. And soon, that one being would hunt...

At the other edge of the Salon-Treskmhed galaxy, a brief blaring of blue/white light signalled a slipstream event. Out of this sailed an Ineffable heavy cruiser, on an investigative mission...

OOC: Erm... that's a shitload of ships, man. ESPECIALLY considering your age. I thought the ships attack the God were collectively your fleet... I mean, you're only a November '04 nation, man...

And I'll start the Planet to fleet battle soon.

OOC: Shoot, my 0 key sticks... Sorry.
I think the Balore, 1000 stingships, 2000 Paris fighters and 180 Hectors would be a bit more appropriate (I hope. That's the hangar capacity of the Balore. And yes, I can afford this stuff. I had about $70 billion in profits at PRA, and took about a week of my budget to build the Balore.) I think I'll check my military list at the IM to make sure I didn't put in extra zeroes again (Stupid keyboard...).

If anyone had been tracing the path of the Devil's Grin, they would have noticed it skirting around the edge of the JJR galaxy. A lone slipfighter left the craft, and an hour later was in orbit around the JJR planet, trying to get information. But it seemed the authorities had no more data than the Ineffable force did.
But now, the rest of the heavy cruiser battlegroup had arrived. The four supply and maintenance ships positioned themselves around the heavy cruiser, the four DSA IIs then took up position outside them, ensphered by the sixteen Group Defence Frigates, with the nine Long Range Sureveillance ships at the very edge of the battlegroup.
Now ready for battle, the small fleet entered slipstream and headed towards what the LRSs dteremined to be the combat zone, picking up the slipfighter on the way.

OOC: Sorry about that. I got KotOR 2 two days ago. I've played for like, 25 hours, and I'm nowhere near the end. But after I rescue myself, I get to go and activate HK-47, and we all know that the HK protocol droids are the best part of KotOR.
IC: The fleet systems were going haywire. Not only were the sensors malfunctioning, displaying an incoming mass larger that the Systemkiller, but now the weapon systems were malfunctioning, and every other scrap of electronic and mechanical equipment in the fleet! Half of the turreted weapons had to be shut down because they started firing randomly. Some of the thrusters and engine core on ships had detonated, destroying ships. Suddenly, a huge gravatic pulse smashed into the fleet, and the Systemkiller flipped sideways...

No lights were left working within the Systemkiller. The only electonical equiptment that seemed to be working was the sensor, which was no relief to Sallah. It merely told her, again and again, that the Systemkiller was the only ship left. At least, the only ship intact...

In the distance, Sallah could hear screams as crewmembers were ripped to shreds. Sallah's head snapped backwards into the control console as a thick vine wrapped around her skull and pulled, crushing the bone.

"Have you sent the message?"
"Yes, sir. I haven't received any kind of response yet. Agatha is picking up odd readings from the large mass. We can't identify them."
Captain Walker was now facing a though decision. He could wait here for a response, get closer or use the jumpengines to get there in a few minutes and find out what was happening. Unfortunatly, they wouldn't be able to see what exactly was going on so they would jump into the situation blind.
"Tac, launch a sensor drone and point it at JJR's mystery guest. After that, we jump and we will leave hyperspace 100.000 km outside the area you are getting those readings from. Go."

The huge planet merely sat in place, eminating various waves meant to offset sensors. Even gravatic sensors were rendered useless, as semi-organic gravatic cannons fired from the surface, creating nonexistant masses. Bursts of electromagnetism scrambled all unshielded electronics. Around the planet, swarms of fighters swooped through the wrecked ships, again and again, stripping the once-powerful-ships of everything, armor, weapons, twenty ships even started towing away the Systemkiller's various generators down to the planet! Within five hours, the entire fleet would be stripped to broken husks.

OOC: Sorry it took me so long to reply. New games, chores, etc. kinda got in the way. Looks like Desolator is doing just fine without me, though!

IC: Admiral Socriss looked through the sensors of the Balore, monitoring the status of the battle between Desolator and the JJR forces. As expected, Desolator had gotten the upper hand quickly, and the situation had not necessitated much Otagian envolvement. Already the Systemkiller was being stripped, presumably to reincarnate as part of Desolator's bio-fleet. Squadrons of stingships patrolled the area, keeping an eye out for remaining resistance from Ridgean forces, and using the gravity wells of their KK drives to tug debris and derelicts into orderly groups for consumption by Desolator.

The admiral sent a query to Quetzal requesting information on Ridgean holdings and defensive fortifications, preparing tactical data for the killing blow...

OOC: JJR: What exactly does JJR have left to throw at the planet? With the Systemkiller under Desolator now, there shouldn't be too much resistance (I hope), but I'd like to be entirely certain.

Meanwhile in hyperspace the Grimrise had reached the point where they would jump back into hyperspace once again. The ship had been made battle-ready, with all the hatches secured to seal of the various sections of the ship. Shields had been brought online and weapons were on standby. The crew had secured their seatbelts and the pilots of the few fighters a Saturn could carry were ready to launch if necessary.

They were as ready as they could be and the captain knew it. "Here we go. Jump!"

As th disruptive waves from the planet reached the ships, the AIs struggled to counteract the interference, but with no luck. The last relaible report had identified the entire Ridgian fleet having been demolished, and Capt. Atreides, CO of this operation and Captain of the Devil's Grin was looking worried.
"Launch a long range missile strike at that...thing; PM-6Ls and SAPM-6IIIs, maximum yields. And deploy fighter protection around the fleet. And send a Janus and a pair of Oracles to see if we can get some decent sensor readings. If they get shot at, have them attack the nearest significant target. In fact, have one Oracle lead a few hundred of the PM-6Ls."

The four Wrath of Achilles ships opened fire as ordered, sending a wave of 2480 long-range anti-ship missiles (PM-6Ls) at the planets last known co-ordinates, while 400 more were led by one of the Oracle drones attempting to locate the target from close range.
Following this were 1440 missiles usually used for orbital bombardment, which had been aimed at the planet's last known co-ordinates, and would rely on anything with a large gravitational field to pull them in. Their flight paths had been calculated to avoid interaction with any of the "local" planets, but with one rogue planet in the system who knew what else there was.
Captain Atreides was not hopeful about the missiles chances. As far as he was aware, his battlegroup could only still exist because the enemy hadn't detected him, but a few thousand missiles were hard to miss. With the entire Ridgian fleet destroyed, he was pretty sure the planet had substantial missile defences. He'd launched a lot of missiles, but it probably wasn't enough. Even if one of the two-gigatonne warheads detonated, he would be able to see a significant portion of the surroundings; visual imaging was about the only sensor system still working reliably.
If the PM-6Ls detected a significant atmosphere around the planet, they'd detonate automatically. They had no heat shielding to protect them from burning up, and at an attack-speed of 90 PSL they most certainly would. That's what the orbital bombardment ones were for.
The drones, however, had just as suicidal attack. If they came under fire, they would accelerate and smash into the enemy craft, creating an explosion ranging from a few kilotonnes to a few gigatonnes, depending on the size of the target and the distance bewteen them (greater distance=greater speed on impact)

With their initial attack done, the battlegroup engaged their cloaking devices, technology bought from the Atlantians. Hopefully, the planets sensors wouldn't be able to detect them. They shifted position by around an AU just in case, although remaining at about 3 AU from the planet. Now all they could do was watch, and wait.

OOC: I don't want to be a prick, but he's The Desolator. Ker'seahn mean Desolator. It's a title, not an actual name. In English, you would call him The Desolator, in demonic, it'd be Ven Ker'seahn. He was referring to himself, and thus dropped the "ven".

OOC: No problem. I'm not gonna go back and edit every last post, but I'll keep that in mind from now on.

As the missiles closed, the gravatic cannons spun, increasing with power, and turning anything that came near them to scrap. In front of the gravatic cannons, four clumps of fighters writhed and slid amongst each other, before flinging themselves at incoming missiles. In a massive flash, the multi-gigatonne warhead detonated, rending the fighter clumps to nothing, but none-the-less destroying the frontal wave of missiles. What was left slammed straight into the grav fields, ripping them apart. On the planet surface, the vines worked to use scavenged weapons into anti-grav pads, and began to create weapons platforms.

The heavy cruiser underwent a jolt, as the trash was ejected and empty cargo areas depressurised. Captian Atreides looked at the AI's display screen.
"What the hell was that?"
"My apologies Captain. I think it's equivalent to the human expression "I crapped myself."..."
"...Riiiiiiiiight. I take it then you have some new data regarding the planet, or our missile attack?"
"I would say so sir. We destroyed a significant number o their fighters when they were caught in a detonation."
"Well that's good isn't it?"
"Not when that was a single missile, and the other 4319 were stripped apart for their raw elements, and are now being converted to what looked like a defence structure before the last sensor drone was rendered inoperable..."
"Ahh. So you mean..."
"Missiles are most assuredly not going hurt it."
"I was afraid of that. What about energy weapons?"
"Firstly, they have a severely limited range. Secondly, it's a planet. We'd need some sort of a...superlaser to deliver enough energy to blow it up. And that's assuming it has a molten core which would help. This though...It doesn't seem to be an ordinary planet...It's like some sort of Gaia-gone-rogue..."
"What about the Dante weapons? Surely they can destroy planets."
"Yes sir, I'm already running simulations. However, with each one there is a critical flaw. With the D5s, the projectiles will most likely be absorbed before impact. Plus an impact would have a limited effect. The D3s, the central cannon would be effective, but only from orbit. It won't survive to get to orbit. The D2s projectiles aren't large enough to take out a planet, they were designed for capital ships."
"What about the beam cannons and the PSPs?"
"Concentrated fire of D1-As could take it out, but the range again is too limited. Also, we don't know if the planet can use elements from particle beams. The D-1Bs effectiveness would be unknown. If you recall, we never test-fired one. And again, the range would be a problem."
"And the point-singularity weapons? Tell me we have a weapon that can hurt it!"
"Theoretically sir, yes."
"Theoretically?"
"Well, usually an event horizon shields normal space from a singularity. Without an event horizon, a singularoty is a monstrously dangerous thing even without its immense gravity. The laws of physics break down, that's why we've always refrained from their deployment. They are ferociously unpredictable."
"And this bothers me because..?"
"We're already dealing with one thing we don't understand. Shoot a point singularity or ten at it and who knows what'll happen? In addition, it is unproven that it will in fact hurt it. We may just be providing it with more material than it could ever use."
"Ah. Good point...I'll need to think about this..."

OOC Edit: FYI, the purple indicates the AI talking

Like some ascending dark gods, the pedastals rose from the surface and out of the atmosphere, being tethered to the planet by thick, heavy cables. Upon all, strange, lurching, humanoid figures began to man the weapons, shooting hornet missiles, heat lances, Farads, and particle beams at the waiting ships, mostly needlessly due to the large distance. However, on a massive central pedastal stood a stark white creation, its carapaced outside gleaming as light reflected off it. Plates and spikes pulled upwards as it readied to fire, turning the sleek creation into a threatening monstrosity. A gravatic pulse -- many times the power of even that emitted by a Ridgian GAC, and even stronger than the fields used to move the Demolition Spheres -- emitted from the weapon, and a heavy shell ripped from the cannon. More followed, the ROF slowing increasing as more shots were fired.

A beeping sound was heard on the bridge, shortly followed by "Attention all crew. Incoming fire. All crewmembers to defence stations. Prepare for impact." as the AIs sounded the alarm.
Shields were activated, though no-one had any idea how effective they'd be. Defensive missiles were prepared, and the Group Defence Frigates lined up and aimed their anti-capship lasers at the incoming shells, waiting for them to enter range to concentrate fire...
As the smaller weapons flew past, the few missiles in striking range were quickly annihilated by PDLs and defensive missiles, and the other weapons were either dodged by the AIs controlling the ships or absorbed by shields.
The crews braced themselves for the heavy shells, as the less-nimble heavy cruiser and DSAs began taking evasive action.

OOC: JJR, telegrams. I need details on the shells

OOC: They're grav-launched frag shells, and pretty big. No gravity is coming AT you guys.

OOC: POST. Or I will post for you. I need this thread to go through.

OOC: Okay, but I'll have to go on the assumption they're dodgeable.
As the first of the shells came in range the GDFs fired the lasers. Though the tip of the shell began to glow red, it continued unperturbed. Several of the frigates broke off, but one wasn't fast enough. Passing straight through the first shield layer, it impacted on the second and the ship was thrown back before the AI could correct for the momentum change. As it did, the second and third shells hit the ship. The second brought the shield down, and the third tore through the ship, and most importantly destabilised the AP reactor. As the rest of the HCBG continued moving to avoid the shells, the ship exploded.
Captain Atreides watched the destruction, and ordered a withdrawl to the system's edge.

OOC: Sorry for taking so long. I've been slightly ill, and have had a hectic week at school.

IC: --QUETZAL to all pilots: Hostiles have been detected. We suggest you prepare to engage hostiles. We suggest you do not engage yet, as we have yet to gauge their intent. We suggest you remain on high alert. That is all we suggest. QUETZAL out--

A few more shells were fired at the retreating ships, but after a fews seconds, calm once again began to take hold. The planet continued on it's path, right into the outer worlds of JJR.

Like rain, shards of air-split shells lanced into the ground. Even the small shards could easily kill multiple people, and the mid-size to large ones annihilated buildings with ease. More explosions erupted from the surface as organic bombs began to fall, and drop pods crushed anything they landed on.

#Tag for mutually conflicting responsibilities.#

Following in the planets wake was the Otagian fleet. As the outer planets fell, boarding vessels were deployed to salvage those materials that the Desolator could not find a use for, or would not have the time to extract on its way to the Ridgean capital planets. With the defenses disabled for the most part by the Desolator's jamming and bombardment, the Argos landers would hopefully face little resistance. None the less, drone fighters were deployed to cover the landing and soften up any remaining resistance for the marines.

OOC: First you tell me to post, then you don't? Sheesh... (j/k). Post soon, I want to loot!

OOC: Except for the capital, you can RP the ground resistance...
IC:

The outland planets were desolated. What resistance there was had only worked to fuel the Desolator's strength. Again, around the mouth of the cave, construction was being done. However, instead of weaponry, what seemed to be under construction were huge, metal appendages, a technological upgrade and massive step up in size from the native vines. Stretch fully, though would likely be able to reach past the orbitally-mounted weapons platforms. Around the five under construction, another four, thinner tentacles were being built. Unlike the other five, these were mostly unshielded, as thier purpose was to house mining lasers. The outer four were completed with incredible speed, being completed while the others were still struggling to reach the halfway mark. And yet, work continued on as planned, it seemed, for the mining lasers set a target on the closest planets and started to slice them apart.

Molten planet cores were drained from thier housings, and pumped down into the pit. In return, frozen globules of metal were thrown into the sky, most of them shattered upon landing on the ground again. As more core metal was collected and spewed out, the tips of the five heavy vines began to crackle with energy....

In front of the planet, between the glowing metallic vines, hung... something... A black orb, surrounded by a pulsing gravatic field. It was composed of scavenged electrical parts. As the monolithic vines spun around it, occasional snaps of energy arced into the device from the tips, seeming to further intensify the field around it. As the homeworld neared, the mining lasers turned forward, and began to cut into the crust...

As the Desolator moved ever closer to the Capitol, the Otagian Marines were pillaging the remains of the rim-worlds. Captain Grist moved carefully through the broken terrain of a now-nameless city. Flipping a toggle on his virtual-HUD, Grist switched to IR spectrum. JJR troops on the planet had already been annihilated by the Desolator's vine-things, with the remaining civilians hiding scattered across the rubble. With his enhanced vision, Grist scanned the area. Spotting a heat-anomoly, he zoomed in. A large group of civilians were huddling in a ruined church. As if their feeble god could protect them now! Grist signalled over his QUETZAL implant for a Rogal Dorn seige-mech to flush them out. Once the mech arrived, the hapless civvies rushed out, mad with fear. Once out, they were quickly and efficiently rounded up and sedated by waiting marines. They were taken to orbital landers and converted carriers, to be taken as slaves to Otagian space, for menial labor and scientific... experiments. This scene repeated itself endlessly across the planets, slaves being quickly rounded up. Precious objects were rounded up also: Paintings, statuary, gold and more. Money was taken, though it was secondary, as it would most likely be worthless after the Desolator was finished...

OOC: Erm... JJR is athiest. By choice, mind you, but nonetheless... Also, slaves weren't exactly part of the deal, but I'll let some slide. Also, don't give chase when Taren escapes...
IC:

On the other side of the planet, a small ship, built for speed, sped away through the atmosphere and into space...

Finally, the crust broke down, and molten rock began to flow from the mantle of the planet. From the bit, a tether attached to the floating device between the vines, and was pulled out as the device jetted forward and plunged itself straight into the bubbling magma within the planet...

OOC: Sorry, I needed some subjects for my research, and the opportunity presented itself. Anyway, I was under the impression that you were consuming the planetary core. It's not like much would be living after you're done...

IC: A Stingship pilot noted the ship leaving the surface.
--QUETZAL, permission to engage fleeing Ridgean vessel--

--Negative, pilot. Continue to escort the landing craft back home. Enough slaves have been taken from this planet already. QUETZAL out--

OOC: And if they were in a church, then I removed some deviants for you. It's win-win!

The device sat in the molten rock, and began to work. The actual weapon was in the center of the device, while the entire outside was a thermal collector. Surrounded by the incredibly hot lava, it began to take in vast amounts of energy. Gradually, as the as it began to reach its capacitance, it began to vibrate wildly, until the collector shut down. A signal shot down the tether, which then disconnected and was pulled back to the Desolator. The planet began to lurch backwards, as layer upon layer of reflector shields, particle shields, gravatic fields, and static fields wrapped themselves around it.

All of the thermal energy of the consumed planets, all the energy of the mantle around it, all pulsed into the center, and the weapon detonated.

The sheer fury of the weapon was awe-inspiring. Even the Desolator, heavily shielded, was thrown back kilometres. The nearby planets were ripped asunder, chunks of crust splintering away into space, allowing the molten cores to seep out. Layer after layer of the shields broke down, despite the heavy gravatic fields trying to heave away the massively heavy chunks of planet.

All was calm again. The final shield blinked once, then died. From the surface, hundreds of fighters raised into space and began to scavenge.

Far away, a small ship drifted through space, fleeing from the remnants of JJR.

The Balore rocked back, shaken by the massive explosion. The admiral shakily regained his feet.

--QUETZAL, report! What the hell was that?!--

--It appears that a massive explosion occured in the core of the Ridgean Capitol. Estimated power: ERROR: CANNOT COMPUTE--

--What the hell does that mean?--

--I apologize. Power of the blast is immesurable. Shockwave appears to have demolished most if not all other planets in system. Otagian ships had departed for the most part, estimated casualties: 39 stingships, 3 hectors.--

--My god... The Desolator just destroyed an entire solar system...--

--Correct, Admiral. Joining it seems to have been a prudent decision, if it has weapons capacity of this calibre.--

--Was it, QUETZAL? We just helped consign billions to the afterlife. Was it really worth it? Socriss out--

The waves bounced off the planet.

"Correction. One planet has not collapsed yet. It will take a few more minutes."

A huge sphere of debris had been cleared around the planet, and structures were slowly constructed in the area by probing vines, as wave after wave of communications ripped from the planet, signalling to any who wished for an ally, and specifically, for the members of the ESUS.

Official QUETZAL Press Release:
--The Protectorate of Otagia is proud to be the first to officially recognize the Desolator as sovereign ruler of former Ridgean space. We welcome him/it/them with open arms to the Intergalactic community. We hope that this will be the start of a lasting friendship between the Desolator and our nation.--

Unofficial Otagian Press Release:
--Please don't eat us--

OOC: Oh, and just a side-note: I use Quantum comm. chips to communicate, so no waves involved. And it's rather hard to eavesdrop on it.

Anything with "-- --" around it is usually an encrypted quantum TacNet message, unless of course I say otherwise.

OOC: Damnit, someone reply!

As usual, it was a Nighthawk long range patrol craft that picked up the message. It has become quite common for that particular type of craft to be the discoveror of important intergalacic events, and this was no exception. IN fact, it might as wel be called the "Urgent Message: Soandso Just Attacked Whatshisface" Class LPV...But I diverge and jest. Anyway, the topic was that Nighthawk #137 picked up this message, that somebody in JJR space wanted an ally. Now that was wierd, seeing as JJR was both a member of ESUS, and already allied to Al-Imvadjah. So the captain reported it, and a small recon force was tagged to investigate it at a later date, when we got around to it. Probably just some sick joke. Tarentor would probably get a kick outta sending false messages like that.