NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: This is a training RP, and its OOC so it means nothing
IC:

A small planet was bathed in the light of a nearby star. And near that planet several star ships gathered near the planet, sensors on full power.

The captain was relaxing in his chair, and the whole bridge crew seemed relaxed. The captain sat up and spoke “So there’s a small village and then a bunch of nothing?"

The Ops officer spoke up “Yes sir, but there are enormous mountain ranges and deserts, the village is about 20,000 people,”

The Captain Smiled “Report on our status"

The ops officer chimed in “Sir all ships made it and Ship 8 is Phase Cloaked as usual , Sir I have Multiple contacts entering the system, Distance 900,000km"

The Entire Crew bolted upright. The captain yelled in the order that every Starfleet officer Dreaded “Red Alert, Shields up! All Weapons to Full power! "

The Fleet for this RP consists of
4 Sovereign Class Star Ships
2 Galaxy Class Starships
3 Defiant Class Ships
2 Prometheus
2 Steam Runner class ships
1 Tornado (the cloaked one)

Troops:
25,000 Marines
1,000 MCs
200 Tanks
40 Light Assault Vehicles
20 Drop Ships
2 Weapons are being Used, Class 8 Compression Rifle and Projectile Weapon.

How can I carry this? The 1st Galaxy is a troop Transport.
The 2nd ones Research and Most of the living quarters have been removed to make room for all the vehicles. Both still have full weapon systems.

OOC: A bit of constructive criticism; do you think you could put this in the NS forum? Too many people just post in II, because they think it is the 'RPing' forum. If the RP is an OOC one, like this, it should be in NS forum. Ok?

Also, I would be happy to RP as the natives if you wished me to.

Imperial March Booms

As the Imperial task force made its way through space Admiral Thrawn paced along the deck. It had been almost two years since he last left the safety of the Hellfire, two long years, but the super star destroyer was in space dock under repairs.

Taking time to read reports from all over the Empire he realised just how bad a situation it was in. The Farstars had rebelled and claimed independence. Weyr was independent in all but name and Coreworlds was growing more confident by the day, it would soon have to change.

“Admiral Thrawn.” Said a young captain Malin just in from training.

“Yes Captain?”

“We are five minutes away from the planet, our researches have dubbed Beta twelve.”

Thrawn smiling. “Have they confirmed the Neutronium deposit yet?”

“The data is still being analysed however I believe we can mine whatever deposit is there. The fleet is too desperate and in need of resources for us to pick and choose Admiral.”

“Indeed, the Death Star is draining a lot of our mining capacity, but the fleet will hold for now. Our current priority is repairing the battlestation.”

“What about the rebellions? They are growing every day.”

“Thrawn tilted his head and smiled slightly. “That is precisely why we need the Death Star Captain, with it operational again, the rebellion will suddenly lose a large majority of its support. Our fleet is doing well enough in repairs, we just lack the capacity to build new ships currently. That will also change. Though I’m sure with the help of Kaminos we will need nothing more and our increased mining efforts can cease.” As Thrawn tilted his head he saw out of the bridge windows the hyperspace star lines slow into dots, it could only mean one thing apart from an engine failure, they had arrived.

A young officer quickly proceeded to the Admiral and stood to attention, “Admiral we have arrived at the designated coordinates.”

“Thank you Corporal, begin your scans”

As Thrawn turned away and looked out of the window he noticed something in the distance. “Corporal, what are those ships.”

Turning up to the Admiral from the command pitt, he once again stood to attention. “I was just about to inform you Admiral, we have fourteen ships in system. One seems to randomly appear then disappear from our scanners but were working on it Admiral.”

“Very well, Helm take us into orbit of the planet, let us see what these people want. And Corporal, I want a detailed analysis of the tactical capability as soon as possible.”

“Yes Admiral.”

OOC: A bit of constructive criticism; do you think you could put this in the NS forum? Too many people just post in II, because they think it is the 'RPing' forum. If the RP is an OOC one, like this, it should be in NS forum. Ok?

Also, I would be happy to RP as the natives if you wished me to.

Well since you are new here. The NS and II forums are called one thing by the creators but they are utterly wrong. Each forum has developed its own devoted players. International Incidents Rp’rs more often than not will not rp in the Nationstates forum and like wise. Please refrain from posting such criticisms, as East Coast like me is an II player.

I would be very happy for you to rp the natives. They are not very advanced, tribal, if you want to rp them go ahead.

Imperial March Booms

As the Imperial task force made its way through space Admiral Thrawn paced along the deck. It had been almost two years since he last left the safety of the Hellfire, two long years, but the super star destroyer was in space dock under repairs.

Taking time to read reports from all over the Empire he realised just how bad a situation it was in. The Farstars had rebelled and claimed independence. Weyr was independent in all but name and Coreworlds was growing more confident by the day, it would soon have to change.

“Admiral Thrawn.” Said a young captain Malin just in from training.

“Yes Captain?”

“We are five minutes away from the planet, our researches have dubbed Beta twelve.”

Thrawn smiling. “Have they confirmed the Neutronium deposit yet?”

“The data is still being analysed however I believe we can mine whatever deposit is there. The fleet is too desperate and in need of resources for us to pick and choose Admiral.”

“Indeed, the Death Star is draining a lot of our mining capacity, but the fleet will hold for now. Our current priority is repairing the battlestation.”

“What about the rebellions? They are growing every day.”

“Thrawn tilted his head and smiled slightly. “That is precisely why we need the Death Star Captain, with it operational again, the rebellion will suddenly lose a large majority of its support. Our fleet is doing well enough in repairs, we just lack the capacity to build new ships currently. That will also change. Though I’m sure with the help of Kaminos we will need nothing more and our increased mining efforts can cease.” As Thrawn tilted his head he saw out of the bridge windows the hyperspace star lines slow into dots, it could only mean one thing apart from an engine failure, they had arrived.

A young officer quickly proceeded to the Admiral and stood to attention, “Admiral we have arrived at the designated coordinates.”

“Thank you Corporal, begin your scans”

As Thrawn turned away and looked out of the window he noticed something in the distance. “Corporal, what are those ships.”

Turning up to the Admiral from the command pitt, he once again stood to attention. “I was just about to inform you Admiral, we have fourteen ships in system. One seems to randomly appear then disappear from our scanners but were working on it Admiral.”

“Very well, Helm take us into orbit of the planet, let us see what these people want. And Corporal, I want a detailed analysis of the tactical capability as soon as possible.”

“Yes Admiral.”
The Captain saw the new contacts on the viewscreen and stood up " Reed I want a tactical analysis now!" Several beeps could be heard " 60 heavy cannons and an assortment of unknown weapons, displaying them now"

A picutre of the vessel appeared on the main viewer and the captains mouth seemed to hit the floor " Shes a Predator, I wouldn't want to fight this thing, Open a channel, countine scanning! I want to know more about those weapons and how much of a chance we stand!"

Federation Task Force to unknown fleet :
State your business in this system. We are studying the natives on this planet, until our mission is over consider this restriced space. We have already claimed this system., Leave this system.

The captain knew that the other fleet would never beleive him, he had an huge amount of fire power with him.

“Admiral we have a transmission coming through, it’s very similar to Galactic standard we shouldn’t have a problem translating it.”

Waving his hand in acknowledgement. “Play the message as soon as possible captain. What about their weapons? Are they a threat?”

“Tactical analysis shows that their weapons are considerably weaker than ours Admiral, however they do have the added bonus of numbers. The troop transports should be ordered to retreat or land as soon as possible.”

Thrawn smiling at his officers ingenuity and willingness to help agreed. “You are right Corporal order the transports to land, their vessels may have numbers but we will hold them if it comes to a fight.”

“Message translated Admiral, playing it now.”

State your business in this system. We are studying the natives on this planet, until our mission is over consider this restricted space. We have already claimed this system., Leave this system.

Thrawn clasped his hands together. “Hmmm. Raise shields and open a channel, to that assortment of ships.”

“Channel open Admiral.”

“This is Grand Admiral Thrawn Steward of the Galactic Empire, you have entered Imperial space, you have three minutes to state why you have allowed ground forces onto an Imperial claimed world. We demand proof that our mining outpost is unharmed and that you remove your position from a low orbit of Beta Twelve.”
The communications channel closed and Thrawn turned to his officers. “Launch fighters and have the transports land.”

OOC: Yay
IC:
The Galaxy class ships activated all of there transporters, it would only be a matter of minutes before the city was protected. The Modified transporter systems could beam troops and armour into position much faster than the Empires transports could drop troops on the surface.

The General onboard the Galaxy started mapping out his battle plan " I want armouer and marines forces put in a defensive position near the city, in the mountain range, there landing craft are to big to land inside the city, they'll have to land in that valley near the city. But I still dont like it! Ensign! What do we have as far as air support goes?" The young ensign looked throuhg the logs " Sir we have about 20 Armoured shuttles with enhanced weapons on board, those should provide a good deturrant for those gunships, shall I beam them down?"
http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/scans/factfiles/ee-shuttle-top.jpg
The general smiled " Yes beam them down, get the marines into defensive positions, I want that valley to be a deathzone. I have a feeling they are going to try and push into the city I want some of the warthogs and tanks in the city if the smaller gunships try to land inside of it."

The Captain of the Prometheus seemed scared, but he brought his voice back up " I don't think so, I've heard about your empire I know what you do to innocent planets like this, and I don't plant to let it happen here. You've brought quite an impressive array of weapons, but so have we, Tornado De Cloak and go to red alert, I suggest you get your troops out of that valley and back in your ships before my troops destory them!
Please turn your attion to grid 83 the odds are now even." He knew he was bluffing, it would be one of the hardest fought battles he ever commanded.

The Tornado Decloaked, It was an huge vessel with the most advanced weapons the Federation could offer. Even an ISD would fear and respect it.
http://s4.invisionfree.com/USF_Communications/index.php?act=Attach&type=post&id=1326423

“Admiral, It appears that there is a large concentration of energy beams being directed towards the planet surface.”

Thrawn turned surprised and curious. “What is the cause?”

“Sir, it is emanating from the unidentified ships.”

“Hmm, scan the planets surface, what’s happening down there?”

“Admiral we are detecting a large concentration of enemy troops appearing from no where.”

Thrawn smiled. “This must be that transporter technology we’ve been hearing all about. Our spies have been attempting to steal it for some time now.”

“What are your orders Admiral?”

“Allow them to land, their ground forces are no match for our army. Have the troops deploy in sector 44/A. Have all mechanised units deployed and I want the droid forces prepared. We will flush them out as soon as possible. Captain Malin, our distance to the enemy?”

“We’re currently one hundred and ninety thousand kilometres away Admiral, well within firing range.”

Thrawn smiled. “Very well open a channel.”

“Channel opened.”

Pacing along the command deck Thrawn was now losing his patience. “Federation forces, you have entered Imperial space, you are currently invading an Imperial world, and furthermore you have charged your weapons while we remain peaceful. I can only assume that from the very start your intentions were aggressive, I arrived here to conduct a mining operation on our world. Our men and woman are still down there and at this very moment you are converging upon them. You have left me with no choice but to send a call for assistance. You fleet and its forces have been scanned, it is now only a matter of time before we find your nation. Leave now and we will have no war. Continue, and you will fail.”

“Are they leaving?” Thrawn asked.

“No Admiral, they are continuing as before.”

With a heavy sigh Thrawn smashed his fist into the table. “Open Fire captain, take them out. Charge the emitters on all ships and order the fighters to stay close until they are within weapons range with us.”

The Turbo laser fire erupted from the Imperial Star Destroyers. Well outside enemy weapons range they erupted in a hail of turbo laser fire. The green bolts screaming through space all targeted an unfortunate Galaxy class star ship, while the fighters swarmed around the vessels.

Planets surface

As the transports landed they raised portable shield emitters protecting the ground forces from any attack. while the docking bays of the ships lowered legions of troops poured out.

The Tactical Officer Yelled out “The Deastator shields are down to 15% Permission to return fire!” The Captain stood up and begun shouting out order “All vessels fire At Will, scatter! Don’t allow them to hit you! All Vessels full impulse power, Steam Runner and Yorktown move off and do your thang! All Torpedoes fire! Move into phaser range!"

A Massive wave of blue torpedoes headed for the 1st ship wave after wave impacted the ISD. The Federation starships had no problems dodging most of the fire from the slow capital ships.

Aboard the Tornado “Tucker! Target the 1st ship, lock quantum Beams on target! FIRE! "

The 2 Steam runners dropped out of Warp and Begun Unveiling a brand new form of weapon... Torpedo Racks. They began pounding the Lead ISD.

The Lead ISD was being pounded by the entire fleet. They could tell that it was being worn down fast.
The Fleet Smelled blood and they were going for the kill.

Aboard the 2nd Galaxy “Sir Shields have failed, I suggest we cloak! (Yes Phase cloaking is a standard on my ships)" The Captain had blood running down his face and he was running about the bridge " Do it and get us out of battle, we can’t do anything more!'"

The Galaxy Class ship Phase Cloaked and waited for the chance to pop out again.


The Captain of the Defiant shouted out an order to the fleet “Everyone Fall Back! I repeat fall back the lead ship is going to die! It can't possible take any more! Fall Back I repeat fall back! Steam Runner! Fire! "

Out in the distance, beyond the range of the Imperials weapons 4 Ghostly glowing figures headed for the Lead ship, which had already been pounded by at least 200 torpedoes (St ships can fire that fast and considering the Prometheus and Sovs have torpedo Turrets, and considering the 2 steam runners bombing it, this ship can't have much left) the 4 Figures impacted.

“This is fleet admiral Harper! Tri Cobalt Explosion Micro warp jump! Micro warp Jump! “The Federation fleet hit the gas followed by a massive subspace shockwave, it was doubtful that the ISD would still be there.

The fleet regrouped and was preparing for the next attack.

On the Planet:
The Troops were in defensive positions around the only entrance to the city, several tanks were ready.

The general Seemed amused “Portable Shields Generators! HA! The 2nd the 1st Tank comes out of there open up! "
(Make an attack so I can begin pounding the shit out of your shitty SW walkers: D)
He Saw an AT-AT “Oh shit, get the fighters prepared, arm them with quantum torpedoes, look at that, pitifully weak weapons! This won't be a problem."

“Admiral we have Torpedoes in bound, they are targeting the Starboard of the fleet. Most weapons are aiming for the Terror.”

Turning to face the bridge windows Admiral Thrawn did not flinch nor move. “Order the Majestic and Invincible to open up two gravity cones, deflect the torpedoes away from the terror, continue to scan the area. Take out as many as possible.”

As the torpedoes came speeding in towards the tight Imperial formation, most were thrown off course detonating gently in the hazards of space, while some impacted upon the terrors shielding.

Under orders from Admiral Thrawn the “Terror” Shut down its aft and Port shield generators allowing more power for the Starboard sector. The powerful Gravity cones pulled at the torpedoes while the Terror bore the brunt of the attack.

“Status of the “Terror”?” Thrawn demanded.

“Admiral their Starboard shields are holding fast but they have hull breeches on some decks. The first wave of torpedoes hurt them badly, but repair droids are working quickly.”

“Excellent, what of the phased ships? Do we have a solution to them yet?”

“I believe I do Admiral. As we know when their phase cloaked they can’t fire out and we cant fire in, however they are affected by one constant. Gravity. Our tractor emitters are far more powerful then theirs, if we lock onto a ship with two opposing beams we can essentially tear them apart.”

“Excellent work, promote the officer who thought of it.”

“Admiral we have two phase cloaked ships in bound, their about to open fire.”

“Target?”

The fleet was suddenly rocked by a giant explosion as on one the torpedoes struck. The gravity cones pulling three away sent them into space where they detonated once again.

As the shockwave thundered towards the terror, it sheered away the starboard hull revealing the delicate innards of the Star Destroyer. The heavily reinforced shielding bore much of the brunt of the attack however its defensives were more than crippled.

“Admiral, they have used some form of Subspace weapons, they tore a hole straight through the fabric of Space time.”

“Puzzled Thrawn was more angered than anything. Very well, raise the Faster then light inhibitors, this should prevent them from reaching warp again. Raise both of them Captain we do not want another rip in subspace.”

As the Imperial Fleet broke apart leaving the Terror dangling lifelessly in space the fleet continued on its way. Turbo laser bolts spat across the Space scape while Admiral Thrawn had another idea. “Captain Malin, if I am not mistaken, those vessels need Magnetic fields and power to hold their vessel intact, to stop something known as a “Warp Core from detonating. Charge the Ion cannons, lets see if we can’t shut out their lights.”

Planets Surface

As the Imperial forces prepared to make their ground assault TIE Defenders swarmed in from the skies, moving down at speed they attacked the slow and bulky runabouts while the Imperial Gun ships took off from their landing platforms.

General Maybor was in charge of the ground assault, Thirty AT-AT’s were present for this operation, while the droid armies were being unpacked. Hell fire droids and AAT tanks were preparing for the assault, while the might AT-PE’s and Ion cannons were charging and preparing for the attack.

From the storage vehicles rack after rack of droids left their case. Hundreds were released while Clone troopers marched from the ramp ways. The attack would begin as soon as Air superiority had been assured.

http://www.eyeonstarwars.com/episode1/picture/u181.jpg

OOC time to pull my fun weapon on you!
*************

The Captain of the defiant seemed worried " Alright, Torpedoes are not as effective as I'd hoped, Alright it's time to stop fucking around, all ships get into phaser range but stay away from those tractor emitters. Tornado Do your job I want that things shields down now! The fleet needs to stay near the Tornado, and keep pounding the Ship in the center of the formation! Switch to Quantum Torpedoes. Sovereigns can you somehow compensate for that stupid gravity field?"

The Sovereigns captain responded “I think I can get a better hit percentage, attempting to compensate. I can get a few more of them to hit but not much more"

The Tactical Officer Yelled out “Bringing phased polarion cannons online targeting there Bridge Tower! Firing! "

A White Beam shot out from the Tornados bow. It was heading for a main power conduit in the enemy ships bridge tower; it was only a matter of time.

The Captain Opened a Channel to the Enemy ship Right before the Beam hit “HEY WAKE UP MATE! TIME TO DIE!"

The Federation Fleet was keeping its distance. And they had a horrible thought.

“Power All Tractor Emitters, I want missile defense online now, Bring Several phaser banks on your ships to 5% Maximum Fire Rate is needed! Prepare for missiles"

Planet:
The Fighters were preparing for combat (NOT RUNABOUTS). They flew into the sky above the federation troop emplacements “Alright this is the leader, these fighters seem pretty shitty this should be easy”

The 1st Tank Coloum was already hidden and protected and each tank was picking out AT-AT heads, they couldn't take a shoot from a Scorpion.

Grand Admiral Thrawn smiled as his ship rocked violently from a torpedo impact. “What is the status of the Torment?”

“Sir the Star Destroyer has lost its bridge tower, the weapon is unknown to us currently, however the ion cannons are charged and ready to fire.”

Thrawn looked up from his command chair, his red eyes glowing with an endless fury. “Open fire, target the Tormentors assailant with everything we have.”

“Opening fire Admiral.” The fleet now down to seven vessels had suffered some minor damage however the Tormentor was now getting back on its feet. The secondary bridge now operational took over the slack and began to manoeuvre and coordinate its attacks.

On the Ground

General Hevel was monitoring the position of the enemy forces with a slick smile. “Are they holding position captain?”

“Indeed general, they are hiding in the hills where our heavy weapons are unable to reach.”

“Now, now captain, I’m sure they will disagree when the beam cannons open fire. What is their current status?” Moving to the near by command console General Hevel brushed a large part of dirt from his gleaming white armour.

“General the Beam weapons are now fully operational, their requesting orders.”

Tilting his head, no one would have known his facial expression but the commander attempted to convey it anyway. “Coordinate all your firepower on sector seven three, have the missile batteries and tank divisions prepare to move out.”

“Yes General.”

As General Hevel walked away the sky filled with purple missiles, as the barrage got under full sway, the shield ground rocked with movement as the beam weapons opened fire. Several particle beams shot forth from and sped through the air towards the federation lines.

General Hevel now in his command tent waited quietly as the barrage continued, he knew captain Veler would arrive momentarily. As expected he entered the tent. “General the bombardment has begun, shall I order our forces forward?”

“Why?” General Hevel asked curiously.

“Well to destroy them of course.”

“Don’t be so foolish General, our missiles should do most of the work for us, we can just sit back and relax. We have several larger Type III’s prepared for the end of the bombardment anyway, just sit tight, we will attack when we have to.”

“Yes General.”

Up in Space

The ion cannons only recently opened fire and Grand Admiral Thrawn was waiting for any effect. Slamming his fist down on his command chair he was now becoming angered and the delay. “Captain Malin, load the missiles tubes with Type Five GMI’s, we need to slow them down a little and those missiles will do just the job.”

“Understood Admiral.” Malin said as he scurried away to implement the orders.

The Tornado did the only thing it could do “hard to port! Bring the phase shields online! Ahhhhhhh, Report! "
Before the phase shields had a chance to come online the tornado was hit by a huge barrage of turbo lasers smacked the tornado. It shields were top of the line but there was no way it could stand up to that kind of firepower.
The shields glowed red and fizzled out.
“Sir we've lost shielding! I recommend we phase cloak while we still can! “The helm officer reported still recovering from the shock.

The captain had to get up; the impact threw him against a bulkhead. “Bring the cloaking online, and order the all ships to begin beaming up ground troops, we are leaving.”

The Ships Begun Beaming up what was left of the marine forces and after that ground attack they took a lot of hits.

“Sir we have lost 82 tanks and 4,281 marines have been killed. But this is ok their ground forces will all be gone. "

“AHHHHHHHHH!”
A Defiant Class ship exploded after it was hit by a barrage of ion cannon blasts; its shields were not nearly powerful enough to deflect the blast. The ion cannons caused the antimatter contamint field to fail. But Starfleet will learn from that.

“This is fleet Admiral Harper we are retreating, I repeat we are retreating. All ships prepare for maximum sub light power! Set and Crouse to take us to the other side of the planet bring us near that idiotic outpost. Once we are out of range of the FTLi engage warp drive. Prepare antimatter charges, Get the self propelled ones, and I don’t care how dangers they are and I don’t care if they could kill the people on the planet, get them ready. "

The Fleet was firing phased anti matter charges at the planet; they stopped just under the surface in close proximity to the enemy army. They would all be dead.

Harper stood up and hailed Tharwn “Well it's been a good battle. In the federation we don’t have enemies, we have oppoants. I admit defeat. I know you’re a smart man and you should know you can’t catch us at Sub Light. But keep in mind; I have one more surprise up my sleeve. The planet is yours, take it. But you've made a new enemy, enjoy! We came here for peaceful reasons, but you turned it into a conflict."

The fleet begun moving off, allcerating faster and faster. It would only be a few minutes now. They knew even with the gravity field they could easily outrun Thrawns fleet.

“We are almost out of range of the field.”

“Hey empire scumbag! Do you like fireworks? I hope your army does."

2 contacts on a control panel the bridge, hit. Sending a small pulse to the main computer, this in turn sent the single to the subspace transmitter.

The mines unphased and only one thing would happen....

A massive explosion rocked the planet, pure anti matter colliding with matter on the planet; it wouldn't destroy the planet, just make a huge whole where the enemy army used to be...........
The federation crews almost felt sorry for the empires troops, keyword being almost.
“Jumping in 3 2 1 " Several light flashes appeared in the far distance.
OOC: I think this should bring an End to this RP, I'd like to do another one, I was outgunned, and outnumbered, and I figure that your next post should be tharwn bitching or something of that nature. I'll discuss the next RP over MSN.
And you know damm well I can out run you.

Thrawn smiled. “I don’t think they’re running away. Captain, how long until they exit the inhibitor field at their present velocity?”

“Forty seven seconds Admiral.”

“Very well, prepare the missiles and set their yield to level one. Prepare to drop the inhibitor field for 0.2 of a second, and set the fleet for a pursuit course.”

“At once Admiral.”

As the bridge crew responded to their orders, Admiral Thrawn received a very insulting message over the comm. Clenching his fists in a rage that only an arrogant federation officer could induce Thrawn decided to capture them alive. “Very well launch the missiles. Compensate for the planets gravity well, we only need to detonate ahead of them.”

As the missiles fled from the torpedo tubes they immediately shot into hyperspace, within 0.2 of a second the inhibitor field had been lowered and raised again. The timing was exquisite, the timing was Imperial.

Exiting hyperspace, two hundred thousand kilometres from the enemy vessels, the singularity weapons detonated. The massive gravity wells forming would pull the federation ships towards them, preventing their escape. “We have missile detonation. Admiral.”

“Very well open a channel.”

The officer flicked a few controls and then turned up to the Admiral. “Channel open sir.”

“This is Grand Admiral Thrawn of the Galactic Empire, you have attempted an invasion of Imperial territory, such an act cannot go unpunished. I ask that your captains surrender themselves to me, and I will allow your vessels to leave. I am an accommodating man, but not a patient one.”