NationStates Jolt Archive

Manhattan Prime Announces Launch of 1st Spacecraft!
2nd May 2005 (Day/Year 46)

Tension was mounting in the command centre of the Mt. Hazel space centre, newly built near the mountain in Western Manhattan Prime from which it derived its name. Nearly the entire cabinet was gathered in the roomy command centre; the Secretary for Defense, decorated and popular Fleet Admiral David Ross looked around the room, visibly impressed. Professor Nick Hastings, the Secretary of Research stood amongst the scientists of his team manning the control stations, his pride in reaching his project’s completion mingled with anxiety about its success on his face. The Minister for Foreign Relations, Dr Carl Owens, and Economic Advisor Harvey Lawrence were engaged in conversation with General Ross Jackson, head of the Imperial Marine Corps, and General Marshall, Supreme Commander of the Imperial Armed Forces.

Andrew Cuthbert, the young President of Manhattan Prime watched the display monitor of the launch site excitedly, his Vice President, Loren Hunter and his loyal Chief of Staff Korin Duval by his side as always.

The people loved his honest, open and informal style. An intelligent and charismatic leader, he’d won the last election by a wide margin, and his popularity rating had never been higher. At just 29 years of age, he was the overwhelming popular choice to lead Manhattan Prime into a new age.

The President smiled as his friend Admiral Ross walked over, taking a drink from a waiter’s offered tray on the way.

“Admiral” Andrew said in formal acknowledgement.
“Mr President” the elder man responded, with a salute.

Dropping the formalities in a room filled with friends, the President remarked, “Pretty impressive wouldn’t you say David?”

Fleet Admiral Ross found himself unable to address his boss by his first name in such a public settling. The President could express his friendship all he wished – it made him look friendly, approachable and trustworthy. For a military man in front of several subordinate officers, it merely appeared undisciplined, even impolite. With a smile the Secretary of Defense replied

“Impressive Sir? Very much, after all this represents a whole new age for Manhattan Prime, Our first manned spacecraft launches into space in a few moments. Who wouldn’t be overwhelmed by that? History is being made today.”

The President smiled and turned to his Secretary of Research. “Nick?”

“We’re ready Mr President”.

“Open a channel to the Freedom”

***
Commander Joe Moore and Lt. Commander Mark Jeffreys, about to become the first Manhattan citizens into space, looked around at Manhattan Prime’s 1st manned spacecraft, the USS Freedom. Rumour said that the President has suggested the name himself. The ship was basic, built quickly to complete the space project and deliver the dramatic results demanded by the project head. The ship wasn’t intended to be used again, and had barely enough room to accommodate its 2 pilots.

Commander Moore had to admit that the ship itself was very impressive., It was sleek, shiny and silver coloured, and although it’s small size may not command respect, it had an aura of majesty about it. Above all, it was just a beautiful vessel to look at. It didn’t look built so much as lovingly sculpted from metal.

She was truly a sight to behold, her hull gleaming white, like an artificial star; a work of art more than an starship.

The viewscreen came on, and the image on the President appeared.

“We’re ready when you are Freedom. The hopes of the nation go with you. Be safe out there, good luck”

Commander Moore turned to his co-pilot. “You heard the man” he said and the 2 astronauts began the pre-launch checks.

“Freedom here. We’re ready”

“This is Mt Hazel, you’re clear to launch in T-10 seconds. 10. 9. 8…

The pilots braced themselves as they engaged the ignition thrusters, and the Freedom roared upwards.

***

Mt. Hazel Space Centre

The whole room watched and listened, the tension palpable, as a Mission Control Operator continued with the countdown.

“3. 2. 1! That’s confirmed, we have liftoff!”

The Control Room burst into cheering, joy and triumph on their faces as the rocket lifted off into space. They’d done it.

President Cuthbert wanted to address the nation; he knew the vast majority of Manhattan Prime’s 210 Million people would be watching this great moment on the telescreens.

The President stepped to the podium, and took out the speech he had prepared for this very special occasion. Television cameras turned silently to face him.

An announcer called “Ladies and Gentlemen, The President of Manhattan Prime” and after the applause had died down, Andrew began.

“Citizens of Manhattan Prime, my friends. History has been made this day, as our people shred the bonds of this beautiful planet for the first time and join the ranks of those proud to call themselves space-faring nations. At this very moment, two of our valiant astronauts are orbiting the Earth, completing 3 full orbits before they will return as heroes. For the people of Manhattan Prime, the Space Age starts here. As a fledgling eagle, we have been nursed and have grown in Mother Earth’ caring nest. But now we have grown strong, and it is time for us to leave the nest, to fly freely towards our destiny. This is a great moment in our history. I find it hard to put into the words the pride I have in all of you today. In the brave astronauts, pushing back the boundaries of ignorance into enlightenment and knowledge. In Professor Hastings and his scientists who have worked tirelessly to bring this dream to life. In each citizen, watching on the telescreens today, bursting with pride at his nation’s proud accomplishments. Let everyone know this: if ever you need inspiration to triumph through great adversity, think of today. If ever you feel downhearted, that the task is too hard, think of today. When you feel proud to be a citizen of Manhattan Prime, think of today. I know I will. Thank you”

The President stepped down from the podium, nearly overcome from emotion, his voice cracking slightly as he repeated “thank you” to the crowd that were now cheering riotously.

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OOC: Nice, I like the final version...come on back to RP Critics, we miss you...

OOC: This is an open RP guys, anyone want to roleplay an encounter with one of your ships or stations?

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Republican Shuttle Calypso

Having returned from the fiasco of boarding the abandoned Space Hulk and losing half of the Republican Marine contingent, the Calypso had been ordered by Republican Space Command to return to Earth and take up orbit until their sister vessel Republica could take their place and allow the Calypso to return to Earth.

In the cramped Command Space of the Shuttle, Commander Harker moved gracelessly through the interior until he bumbed into the Comms Officer. He apologised and then asked for a LADAR report. The Officer poked his head into the hood of the scanner, used to protect the fragile instruments inside, and then looked out and replied to Harkers question. 'Sir, we have a small contact on the move towards our position, but it seems a bit small to be the Republica, and slower as well. I'm afraid I can't get a visual Commander, but we should be in hailing frequency range by now.'

Harker sighed, nonplussed. His whole mission had been a catastrophe, how could things possibly get worse? He told the Comms Officer to open a hailing frequency and began broadcasting a message to the new craft.

'This is the Republican Shuttle Calypso unidentified craft. We mean no harm to you; please state your name and nation for our identification purposes.'

"SHIT!" Yelled Andross as he clutched his crystaline Aug and then corrected the vector at the last second... 'SAL, You stupid bitch! That's the last time we go 'sphere jumping! I think I hit something!' He yelled back into the ship's bowels.

'Well check! You are the one who screwed up!' Wafted back the reply, a shrill woman's voice, mixed with the sound of a high speed whirring.

'Yeah yeah! Lousy sensor manager...' He mumbled.

'Whoa. Sal, get out the grips and open the bay - we have... An escape pod of some sort, I think we dented it.' Reported the burly man, scanning for lifesigns.

'Two lifesigns. Humanoid. Probably a bit scrambled - We hit at around three hundred Kloms per second - that plus the inertia barrier cut our speed down before we collided too hard - Shiiit.' He hissed.

'I have it in sight, ready to clamp when you give the order!' Came the voice.

Outside the Larrikin, the modified cargo tug, three sets of pincers unfolded from the hull, and lay pulled back, ready to nab their unfortunate victims.

'Any communications?'

'No... But there's a Lander about a klom above us, pinging the escape pod.'

'It's got to know we're here... We practically swung up over the horizon so fast we left plasma wake.'

Lt. Commander Jeffreys turned to the ship’s captain in surprise. “We receiving a hail Commander”

Commander Moore was equally surprised at bumping into another craft, but then again, he reasoned, if their sensors were better than the Freedom, they could detect the Manhattan ship from afar and move to intercept them.

Eager to make First Contact, and hoping they hadn’t unknowingly broken some interstellar law, he activated his comm unit.

“Calypso, this is Commander Joe Moore, of the USS Freedom. We’re with the Imperial Manhattan Starfleet, and we’re on a peaceful exploration mission. May we be of some assistance? I..”

Jeffreys interrupted him rapidly, “New contact coming in fast sir, it’s heading right for us!”

Commander Moore could see that the new ship was too close to manuver away, and it was much bigger than his ship, making the Freedom more like a shuttle or escape pod in comparison. He desperately reached for the Helm controls as the new ship slammed into the Freedom with a sickening thud that rendered both pilots unconscious…


Occ: Thanks for responding! Little more than a bump from you, but much more to a small ship with no inertial dampeners!

OOC: It's a cargo hauler, it's made to project a damper field, so the best comparison would be to a side on collision at 30 miles per. Of course, your ship's structural integrity probably is much less versatile.

IC: 'This is Scarecrows Independent Trader Vessel Larrikin to unnamed lander vehicle...' He cut the link suddenly and turned to the woman who was smoking in the cockpit. 'What do I say?'

'If that was their satellite/escape pod, we'll see what we can do to revive the crew.' Suggested the short redhead, puffing away even as the air scrubbers growled menacingly.

'Uh, if that was your escape pod, we'll retrieve it and dock with you with the survivors. If not, we'll attempt to revive them and find out where they came from. Out.' He signed off and nodded at her.

'Grab 'em.'

The Larrikin's pincers snatched the smaller craft from the void, and pulled it into the small hangar bay, before snapping back against the hull. The subtle pulse from its sublight engines had it in better orbit, and the two crewmen (Awake crewmen) went to check on their quarry.

'Pressurise the hangar, would you?' He asked his colleague, who grimaced in reply and activated the pressurisation routine. The red airlock seal went to amber, and then green.

Commander Moore came around quickly, a bruise on his forehead the only sign of his collision with the bridge panel. Shaking his fellow officer awake, he checked the ship's systems. They were still working, and what sensors they had indicated that they were on board another vessel, the one that had collided with them. Unsure of thier intent, Moore checked the safety catch of his Browning High Power was off, and then looked out of the capsule window. He saw two men, and from the fact that they weren't dying of decompression, the hanger must be safe to breathe in. Moore triggered the opening hatch, and identified himself and his mission, hoping their captors had a similar peaceful intent.

"This is Commander Joe Moore, of the USS Freedom. We’re with the Imperial Manhattan Starfleet, and we’re on a peaceful exploration mission. We mean no harm!"

'Oooh, would you look at that...' Commented the redhead. Like her colleague, she was looking at the pod that they'd finally managed to anchor to the hull, very carefully suspending it on a Waldoe.
The pod had barely any sensors, and a large engine suite, obviously to escape.

Then she noted the markings on the hull, and the fractured viewplate.

'We'd best get those two to the infirmary.' She pointed at the spacesuited men, partially in shock. 'They got suited up to get in a lifepod??' She was having difficulties coming to terms with the craft.

Suddenly the shouting man burst through the hatch, waving a big gun around.

'Whoaaaaa... Don't point that thing at us.' Advised Andross, putting up his hands in shock. Cargo haulers weren't renowned for their courage.

'Sorry about colliding with your escape pod, we were coming up over the horizon and didn't see you til we hit you. Our sensors need tuning.' Soothed Sal.

'We understand you mean no harm. Neither do we, now the best idea would be to safe that gun, and let us tend to your wounds...'

Onboard the Calypso

Harker frowned as he leaned over the LADAR array and saw in the 3D panel the collision between the Manhattan Prime vessel and the new, unidentified vessel. He turned to the Communications Officer. 'Hail the new vessel and determine their origin, and then call the Freedom and see if they are still intact and need to be taken onboard for repairs. See if we can assist.'

OOC: Just for size comparison, the Larrikin (The habitat area) is fifty metres long, and half that wide and high. It's big, smooth, and has a spinal column about a hundred metres long, to which cargo boxes can be connected. Beyond the spine is a set of three sublight engines, and that's it. Other than the hangar, pincers, and cockpit, which juts out from the dorsal surface of the habitat area. Not the most maneuverable of craft, or the prettiest, for that matter.

With a sign of relief, the Manhattan Pilot put the safety catch back on his pistol and holstered it. These people didn't seem to be kidnapping them. Relaxing a little, and taking the helmet off his spacesuit, Commander Moore called his co-pilot out.

"That's a kind offer, thank you" he said to the 2 crewers of the other ship. "Sorry if I got a bit jumpy, but I'm sure you can understand the circumstances" Ignoring the slight on his starship, and realising it was little more than an escape pod to these people, he and his Lt. Commander fell into step behind them so they could lead the way.

With no-one in the Freedom, the hail from the Calypso went unanswered...

'Sal will take you to the infirmary, and wake the doc. Don't be surprised if his bedside manner's a little foul.' Laughed Andross, before scurrying up a ladder to intercept the transmission that the Calypso was trying to send onwards to the Freedom.

'Hmph!' Snorted Sal, as she beckoned them follow her.

'Sorry about the mess, I'm aware you're a little shellshocked from the turn of events. What happened to your mothership? I assume you had to abandon it?' She said, firing off statements and questions at a speedy rate.

'DOC! Wake up! We have injured!'

'geroff.' Came a slightly muffled, very gruff voice from the infirmary's sleep partitions.

'What was that you niggly old toad?!' Shrieked the Redhead, pulling the partition back and lightly smacking the man.

'Argh! Bloody child!' Cursed the man, still wearing a slightly rumbled medical uniform - stark contrast to the jacket and jumpsuit that Sal wore.

'Ergh.' His way of asking for an explanation.

'We hit their lifepod, at around 60 Kloms, they probably have concussions at least.'

'I'll be the judge of that.' Snapped the man, before stumbling off to the lockbox and grabbing his medical equipment.

'Concussions're easy, but let's make sure'yall don't have anything else.'

___

'Larrikin to Calypso, crewmen of the lifepod are currently being checked out by our infirmary and are active. Do you require assistance of any kind?'

OOC: Gwar, must go. RP my crew as needed, I don't mind, they're all quirky, individual, and somewhat arrogant, as shown by their lack of sensitivity over First Contact relations.

"Mothership? No, you don't understand, the Freedom is our only vessel" Lt.Commander Jeffreys told Sal as the Doctor looked them over. "It's Manhattan Prime's 1st manned spacecraft, she's small as she's only built for a short orbit, and our technology isn't that advanced yet. We're quite new to space exploration, but we learn quick" he said diplomatically, a bit lucid from the shock.

The Doctor instructed the 2 pilots to do a number of tests for concussion, and although both still felt woozy and confused, a mild shock and major headache was the extent of their further injuries.

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'That's it? But - Oh, shit. You're new to the whole space thing aren't you?' Groaned the Pilot. 'Looks like we initiated crap first contact. We belong to a merchant sect of the Nation of The Scarecrows. Basically we're traders - We were here on a low orbit flight because we were...' How could he sugar coat this...?

'Okay, we were joyriding.' He shrugged. 'This vessel has just been outfitted with a better engine suite, and we were testing the limits. Yeah, I'm aware she's an ugly old bag, but she's fast.'

'If you can point out to us which direction your country's in, we can drop you off. The least we can do after crashing into your vessel...'

"That's a kind offer, thanks. If you'd drop us near Mt. Hazel, we could land the Freedom from there." Commander Moore said. "That's our spacecentre, newly built. My copilot here can give you the co-ordinates" he added, when the name brought only blank looks from his hosts.

"What about the Calypso though, would you mind letting them know we're ok, and you haven't kidnapped us?"

OCC: I think you already told them, but my pilots wouldn't know that.

OOC: Bump. Is there anything else you guys want to add, or can I wrap this up?

Lt. Commander Brian Halsley was nervously pacing the bridge of his new ship, the ISS Belknap (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=419760) as it was beginning its trial run from a horizontal launch from northern Saugerties and into Earth's orbit. The first-ever spaceship built by Sarzonia would then leave orbit for a short time and then return to Earth where designers and Space Force officials would discuss the results.

"Status report?"

"We should be reaching orbit within the hour. Those boots should be coming in handy right about now."

Halsley looked down. The boots were coming in handy. They allowed the crew to walk somewhat normally instead of float around the ship because of a lack of gravity in space. The ship wasn't fitted with any artificial gravity since the technology was being studied, but future versions of the ship were likely to provide at least 0.5 G with engineers hopeful of making it 0.75 G.

"Captain, I'm getting a reading off our starboard bow."

"Can you identify?"

"The markings aren't familiar, sir, but she's receiving several hails. She doesn't seem to have hostile intent."

"Well, that could be a trick. But we're going to find out. Open a channel with the unidentified vessel." Hope they don't realise this is our shakedown mission, Halsley thought.

"Unidentified vessel, this is Lt. Commander Brian Halsley of the Incorporated Sarzonian Spaceship Belknap. Please identify yourself, over."

Halsley waited to find out whether the ship would respond, and how.

Back in the cockpit of the Freedom, and just about to pilot the starship out of the Larrikin’s cargo bay, the 2 Manhattan pilots were amazed to receive their 3rd hail of the day.

Space is busier than I expected Commander Moore though, answering the hail swiftly. After all, that was the point of this first space mission – to see if space travel was technologically viable and to make first contact if possible. Having encountered 2 new space faring peoples already, the Commander eagerly looked forward to meeting new friends.

The Freedom’s primitive sensors were next to useless through a shielded hull, and Moore was certain the new arrivals would be perplexed to hear him transmitting from inside another ship.

“We read you Belknap, this is Commander Joe Moore, of the USS Freedom. We’re with the Imperial Manhattan Starfleet, and we’re on a peaceful exploration mission, our first to be exact, so we’re a bit new to this. May we be of some assistance Commander?”

OOC: Are you Modern Tech Sarzonia? If so then I've been looking for some military hardware for a while, maybe you could provide?

"To be truthful, this is our first real foray into space and we're testing out a new armed orbiter," Halsley said. "We just wanted to say hello and welcome to space."

Belknap walked around the bridge, looking at the display of the Earth in front of his view screen as the blue orb shined below. He also looked up at the moon, much bigger than he ever remembered it being.

"Status report?"

"All engines online. We can get to the Moon in less than five seconds if you wish."

"Nah, let's not tax the engines unless we have a real problem. Lay in a course for the flyover and prepare to engage on my mark. We'll go at one quarter standard."

"Aye, sir."

OOC: I'm modern/post modern tech, so if you have any MT type needs, let me know. :)

" M'Lord, your attention is required in the CommDeck."
What now, Ricala thought. As if I didn't have enough problems with Terronian.......
"What is it, ensign?"
" M'Lord, an unidentified vessal just blasted by Guardian Battle Platform 44J and is continuing it's slow arc towards orbit."
" Open a channel, ensign."
" Channel open, M'Lord."
" Unidentified spacecraft, this is King Ricala of Auralinia, serving as the Director of the Xeraphian Space League. You have entered Xeraphian Spatial Territory without the proper communications. You have 60 seconds to respond as to why you have done so."

Ricala was sure it was nothing, but with all the emerging nations coming into space, you could never be sure........

[OOC: Not sure if this is intended for my ship or what, but I'll RP as if it is.]

"King Ricala, this is Lt. Commander Brian Halsley of the Incorporated Sarzonian Spaceship Belknap. We are on our shakedown cruise with the intentions of conducting a flyover of the moon before we return to Earth. We apologise for any inconvenience our presence may have caused you."

The Belknap slowed its engines to attain a geosynchronous orbit while it awaited the signal from the Xeraphan fleet command. The last thing Halsley wanted was a shooting war, particularly against a Woodstock Pact nation.

" M'Lord, Lt. Halsley of the Sarzonian craft "Belknap" is hailing us."
" Put it on audio, ensign."
As they listened, Ricala was sure that this was not the spacecraft that had so narrowly missed the GBP. Sarzonia was a long-time ally of Xeraph, and would have followed the proper channels of communication before entering Xeraphian coordinates.
" Lt. Halsey, we send greetings in the Name of the Emperor. The vessal we're tracking is of unknown origin, although we know it IS Terran. Rest assured, all Sarzonian craft are safe.....and welcome....within Xeraphian-controlled space. Thank you for your response. Ricala out."

Emerging from the cargo bay, the USS Freedom responded to the new hail, anxious to avoid antagonising this new space faring nation:

“Greetings your Majesty, this is Commander Joe Moore, of the USS Freedom. We’re with the Imperial Manhattan Starfleet, and we’re on a peaceful exploration mission, our first to be exact, so we’re a bit new to this. My apologies for our intrusion, but we were unaware of any of the rules up here. If you would be so kind as so to provide our space headquarters with your comm frequency, we will endeavour to inform you before any future space missions launching from Earth. We have completed our mission now, and so with your acceptance we plan to return to Earth. Sorry for any inconvenience we may have caused"

Emerging from the cargo bay, the USS Freedom responded to the new hail, anxious to avoid antagonising this new space faring nation:

“Greetings your Majesty, this is Commander Joe Moore, of the USS Freedom. We’re with the Imperial Manhattan Starfleet, and we’re on a peaceful exploration mission, our first to be exact, so we’re a bit new to this. My apologies for our intrusion, but we were unaware of any of the rules up here. If you would be so kind as so to provide our space headquarters with your comm frequency, we will endeavour to inform you before any future space missions launching from Earth. We have completed our mission now, and so with your acceptance we plan to return to Earth. Sorry for any inconvenience we may have caused"


Commander Moore:
We've sent the necessary info to your CommCenter. There was no inconvenience, we were just concerned as to who was entering our no-fly zone unannounced. As an aside, the Emperor sends his greetings as a co-member of TAPRES. Good luck in your new endevors in space. If you need help with anyhting, please ask.

Ricala

Aftermath:

The USS Freedom returned to Manhattan Prime, to a hero's welcome. Manhattan Prime's 1st mission to space had been a remarkable success, having gathered a great deal of data, and making first contact with 4 new nations in only a few short days.

The Freedom itself had been intended to be used only once, but due to the success of the mission, she was kept in storage in anticipation of future space missions. Both her pilots were awarded their country's highest honour.