NationStates Jolt Archive

IC: “There are few of us left…we know we will soon be gone. And so we can see our fate as others will see it. There will be little legacy…no great expressions of what we once were, our technology, our achievements, if ever they are seen again, will spawn none of the awe that filled our conquests. We know our fate…we are being eliminated. When we travelled Subspace…the cosmic destroyers took note. When we conquered and colonised in galaxies where we had no place. The destruction, and the anguish and the loss were the clarion call of our doom. And so the Destroyers came for us…” –The Ancients

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In the vast expanse of space, millions upon billions of beings lived out their lives. Empires sprung up and flourished, and wars erupted, all in the name of dominance. This existence had never been affected, never changed, and never different.

But that must change.

We are the Great Destroyers, and The Great Preservers. We eradicate life, and in doing so, we create it. We exist in Subspace; we live beyond your existence. We watch, take note, and patiently wait for the time to enact our birthright, our purpose.

And that time has finally come.

We are relentless, infallible, and merciless. We will spare none, and eradicate all. We will hunt you to the ends of space and time, and we will enact ‘The revenge of an angry cosmos', for the Cosmos has finally become unbalanced, filled with your filth and damaged by your wars. We will repair the damage you have done, and make you return to your proper places in the Universe.

Do not resist, for you will only fail…

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On the edge of the Universe, in an isolated sector, something came, something…unsettling, something the Universe welcomed, but something the inhabitants wouldn’t welcome. For a time, nothing happened, but barely noticeable readings came from the sector, along with a sense of foreboding. And then, it happened.

A bright light, piercing through space. Something exploded outward…a brilliant swirling tranquil sea, a beautiful sight, opening a gateway to some other kind of existence. But this view didn’t last for long. A loud rolling thunder came from the portal; something that only deepened the sense of foreboding everything in the Universe felt.

And then it exploded through. A death black and red ship, a vast behemoth, a knuckle of the Cosmos, flying through space to deliver its awful punch. An air of death seemed to surround the ship, and as it finally came through, two red orbs began to form on its two forward emplacements. A few moments later, it unleashed two beams of unimaginable power. The beams shot through space, obliterating any stray atoms in its path. But onward the Beams went, towards their targets: The two nearest Balroggan Ships.

Meanwhile, behind the ship, which would soon be designated the ‘SD Lucifer’; the portal expanded, and grew much bigger, seeming to outline the monster of a ship. Moments afterward, two orbs shot out the portal, with the same colour scheme as the ship. They flew outward, and then went to either side of the portal, where they then activated, and created a sensor shield around the portal….

OOC: Just to let you know, this is the SD Lucifer, but pure. But basically, you haven’t actually encountered them before, so therefore, the Lucifer is still invulnerable (due to the Subspace shields). However, only the Lucifer is actually invincible in real space. The other ships (which will be revealed all too soon), while seeming invincible at first, can soon be pushed back. The key is inventiveness. And not crapping your pants either :P

Tag

OOC: Your attacking Balrogga? Good thing I'm allies with him (in a roundabout kinda way)... oh, and if I come, so does kaymiril. Magitech, but I'm her trade partner... I give her ships and training... she provides the crews

OOC: Invincible ships have never stopped me before, I have sheer volume of fire on my side(missile pods are your friends), ask Gronde and CorpSac, or just see the Space Hulk thread for details.

OOC: Tag. OHMkII, all Balrogga has to do is call and you'll have so many enemies to deal with that you'll be the one crapping your pants.

OOC: LOL I do know Bal y'know. That's why I wanted him in.

OOC: As do we... have fun.

OOC: I'm gonna enjoy this immensely, because I always enjoy a desperate fight against insane odds(Camerone for example, I actually admire those french pansies)

OOC: This is not Outer Heaven doing this, he is running the Shivans. We arranged this on MSN earlier. Thanks for the back-up. It made me feel good to see it. Now, on with the show.



IC:

The battle group had just exited from the Wormhole. This was a new area the Empire had never been before. This was an entire newly discovered galaxy on the edge of the known universe, as a matter of fact. The group was sent there to explore and to set up an outpost for the Empire. Everything was new and unknown, like when The Navigator first left the Sol system so many years ago.

The Battle Group consisted of ships from the First Imperial Task Force and several support vehicles and a starbase. They all were transported here using the newly finished Project. The small fleet quickly formed a perimeter and established a safe zone. It would take a while to fully evacuate all the ships so it was best to be safe and secure, rather than being sorry afterwards.

The Starbase was quickly moved into position near a suitable star in the polar LaGrange position and the automated resource collectors set themselves on their preprogrammed tasks. Several satellites were Uplifted into position so they could peer light years into the distance, detecting any possible intrusion into their safe zone. They monitored energy readings, gravitational readings, dimensional readings, and many more that were needed to remain secure. That was all standard procedure when setting up a system. The carriers were parked in orbit near the Starbase. The shipyards were unfolding and getting ready for the influx of resources. Everything was going as planned.

That was until the Farseer System detected the energy surge and the opening of a Subspace Gate. Two frigates were immediately sent to investigate the readings.

“Captain, we are getting interesting readings from the target area.”

“What are you reading?”

“It seems there are some sorts of vessels in the area. I think we must have come out of the wormhole near some sort of shipping lanes. The ships appear to be numerous and large. More the size of cargo vessels but at this distance I cannot get a good reading from them. The interference from the gate is masking the ships.”

“Send The Gauntlet closer and follow them. I want to get better readings. Set up a Space Minus Link and feed back all our readings in real time to The Outpost.”

“Yes Captain, link established.”

The two ships cautiously approached the unknown vessels.

“Captain, we are getting unknown energy readings. We have weapons fire.”

“Evasive Actions! Dodge! Shields at Maximum!”

The two ships tried to dodge the incoming beams but they were aimed unerringly. The first struck The Gauntlet square midsections. The shields were not raised in time. The computer attempted to thicken the armor to absorb the impact but the energy of the beam was too great for the armor. The beam blew right through the ship and out the other side. The ship quickly began depressurizing before the emergency bulkheads sealed the torn sections of the ship from the rest.

The Sentinel was a bit luckier. She raised her shields barely ahead of the beam. The Dimensional Shield diverted much of the energy across the dimensions, diluting the damage the ship actually received. The Reactionary Armor thickened in the area of impact. Still the damage the ship received was immense. Explosions of the Replicator Emitters could be seen behind the purple glow of the Shields. The Reactionary armor was overloaded and went off line in that area of the ship. They were left with the titanium bulkheads and the shields.

“What the hell was that? Get The Gauntlet on the horn. See if there are any survivors. If there are, get them over here.”

“We have an incoming signal from The Gauntlet. There are several losses. The Ta’Nar have them and are waiting for a Gestalt to pull them out.”

“Get one set up immediately and get us out of here. Tell them to set the proximity sensors to trip the core implosion if they get too close.”

“Gestalt established. We have retrieved them from The Gauntlet.”

“Uplift and get us back to The Outpost.”

“Yes Sir”

Moments later The Sentinel faded into T-Space. It headed back to The Outpost bearing survivors and bad news.

IC: When the Destroyers came, we attacked...never had we been defeated. They were like the others, strange, hideous, resisting, fighting...only these were not like the others. They did not die. We made our first retreat...we could forgo one system. We left it to the Destroyers, and went elsewhere...but they followed. They hunted us. They followed us when we retreated...discovered where we lived. For a long time we did not know why they chased us. They were no ordinary enemy. They did not seek our territory, our technology...our resources. Now we know our crime was sin...

The Gauntlet was destroyed moments after. Crimson Beams, filled with the blood of those they had killed, tore through the ship, hitting it's critical points. The display that appeared in front of the Behemoth was pleasing, but this was only the beginning. The Balroggans could run, transfer to new bodies, even leave traps, but they couldn't hide from the Destroyers. For they had been doing their duty since the dawn of Space and Time.

Slowly, the Behemoth came fully into real space, it's mass oozing into the surrounding space, corrupting it, purifying it. Behind it, the portal remained open, which was worst of all.

From it, came three fingered triangles, just as evil, just as intent. They were much smaller, but still very threatening, still powerful enough to enact the will of the Cosmos. Behind the triangles, came the Fighters. They looked like bulls, but that was where the comparison ended. They gave off readings that were too powerful for a Fighter, and yet they flew better than Fighters, and were too small to be any form of ship. The truly terrifying thing were the number of Fighters that swarmed out of the portal. They numbered in the thousands, all scowling at the Universe.

They flew ahead of the Behemoth, creating a living shield, ensuring it was properly escorted. From behind, two quite large ships (known as Demons) took up flanking posistions either side of the Behemoth. They were now ready.

The Demons dropped one of the mysterious balls each, and the balls began to orbit the three ships, creating an inpenetrable sensor shield, and suddenly, the Behemoth stretched it's shields. And so the Demons became invincible, much like their leader, only it would not last forever.

In front of the Attack Force, a large portal, somewhat like the one behind them, opened up, and they all dived in, heading toward their target...

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Something large emerged from the permanent portal. It looked like a bloated flower, only corrupted, and death black and crimson. It stopped a few KM ahead of the portal, and there it stood. It's hull shifted for a few moments, before it entered the hull?

On closer examination, the 'hull' turned out to be the Destroyers themselves. They were taken in by portals that opened beneath them, taking them into the large station. The station was far from defenceless however. It's hull was covered in small protruding craters, and triangular turrets.

The Great Destroyers had finally arrived, and the Great Retribution had finally begun...

_________________________________________________________________

Way ahead of The Sentinel, the Portal opened up a few KM away from the Outpost. Fighters came forth, and swarmed outward, unleashing red bolts...

OOC:

I won't be able to post until either tomorrow morning or Sunday morning. Work dominates my weekends.

Tag

Tick Tick Tick

It continued to count down.

Interior Segment of the Palace, Imperia

The Green lights began to flash, and Jan sat up swiftly. Nodes all over a Section on the edge of the universe began to show large fluctuations. That was strange, for no known inhabitance of the area existed, especially none that made the Nodes register magic use. Then he noticed something else, they where three nodes missing, he shook himself out, that ment some form of gate, what type? It was not rift, the Nodes where not drawn into those, he clicked his fingers, realises. Sub-Space, that made him shiver. Of all Dimensions that The Tsurani had discovered some form of defence for, Sub Space had only one sheild, and that was rift. But then Rift ment you could not retaliate to any form of attack, or for that matter exist on this plane. He shivered, the Emperor must know of this.

He stood, moving swiftly down the corridors. He arrived in the Third Sanction, seeing the Emperor alone, working on the engine of one of his ships. Jan cleared his throat, and the Emperor turned, smiling.

"What news of Our Universe Segment Moniter?" He asked good humouredly.

"On the Edge of the Universe we just detected Some form of Subspace Opening."

The Emperors face hardened, he then sighed. "Send a One way ship, with the Rift Engine replaced by compleat transmitting equitment. I want anything that happens recorded and sent back."

"Yes sir!"

Main Hanger Bay of Imperia.

"Your kidding me!" A man roared. "You want me to send crew to some coner of the universe with no way of getting back?"

"No, the Emperor does." Jan said quite simply. "Send a Dragon, they can get back by themselves."

"They also don't fit on the ship this order tells us to send. I need to send Twenty Personel to certine death, if what ever this thing is doesn't kill them the no way to return will eventually."

"No it won't" Jan said. "If it was a mistake we send a different ship to pick them up." He nodded. "To your orders."

"Yes Surr." he said issuing the orders. Within quick order a craft was ready and sent through a Rift Portal. Sighing Jan walked back to his duties.

Location of Sub Space Signal Origin.

They flicked the switches, their ships arriving as the portal was opening. They where a fair distance away, using Camera pods which where watching the entire process much closer. Everything was being Directly Sent via Rift Lines to the Imperial Palace. At first the crew mearly watched in stunned awe, but that changed. It slowly turned from awe to terror. The massive ship came out, and a slight interfearence was found when it did, but not massivly damaging the Mag Camera. Then, the Events unfolded, The Balroggan ships where damaged, then more ships came through the Gate, and more, and presently thousands of ships exited the Gate. It was like watching a horror film for the twenty men, their deaths would be sealed by those ships.

For the Emperor, this was different, he was only worried for now, that could change, but The Tall Chimaera was known to be over confident, he felt worried of the threat, but open fear was of now beyond him. This had been his downfall before, would it be again?

We have some more filth...

And that was when the Observation craft was noticed. Twelve Manticores, flying impossibly gracefully and fast, formed up, split from the main group, and flew towards the Observation Craft.

No need to waste our beams...

Suddenly, the energy readings peaked on each of the Manticores. A ffew moments later, they all began to fire at the ship, the red bolts shooting through space.

And the energy in each bolt was unimaginable.

As the first few hit the craft, it rocked sickeningly, and the hull where the ship was hit vapourised, and explosions blew through to the other side. As the ship began to squeal as it's hull weakened, the Manticores fired another burst, these ones impacting on critical parts of the ship. As the ship blossomed out fire, and seemed to split, the lead Manticore fired one last burst, and then they all pulled away.

The first few bolts hit the bridge, blowing through the hull and shielding. The last of the bolts went right through, blowing through into the Bridge, vapourising most of the interior.

It is done...

Shooting back to the rest of the fleet, the Shivans paid no mind to the Observation craft, that blew up in an angry rage of fire and anguish...

*Sometime Before the portal opens*
"Uh, Admiral, Sir!"

"Yes, what is it Lieutenant?"

"You might want to take a look at these readings sir"

Admiral Rommel strode across the command deck of the Dauntless-class frigate Barbarossa's Fury, the succesor to Barbarossa's Rage, destroyed sometime ago by overwhelming enemy firepower. His battlegroup was on a long range assignment, using the latest in co-axial warp drive technology to enable them to travel vast distances. Although the travel was far from instanteous, it was much faster than the old warp cores. He came to stand behind the Lieutenant who had attracted his attention to the sensor sweeps of the sector,"What am I looking at?"

"Sir, these spatial distortions are not normally present in this region of space... I think we might have a tear in subspace developing"

"All the way out here?"

"Yes sir"

"Are there any of our ships in the vicinity?"

"No sir... there are however two Balroggan ships close by, prehaps we could link up with them?"

"Agreed, Communications!"

"Yessir?"

"Get me the Demon and the Danthe..."

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The S.E.N Demon and the S.E.N Danthe came in system after the Lucifer had arrived, finding only scattered remains of the Gauntlet,"What could do such a thing?"

Onboard the Demon, an Intrepid-class starship with a crew complement of 167 people, all of whom had seen battle many times before, the captain, Lucius Ferisien sat in stunned silence, watching the destruction of the other ships at the weapons of the Lucifer and it's accompanying fleet. The entire ship was stunned into silence by what they saw on small monitors, or what they heard over the comm system from other members of the crew. The silence was echoed on the Danthe, a Defiant-class starship designed to fight in any situation, with a crew complement of just under 100 souls and the latest in pulse weapon technology... yet the sensors of both ships couldn't pentrate the shields of the warships they saw. The readings were garbled beyond belief, making translating them into a viable form of expression almost impossible for the Ensign at the station. The sheer scale of the destruction was incomprehensible, but it was there.

Captain Ferisien opened a channel to the Barbarossa's Fury,"Admiral.... we may have a problem here"

Then, the Snake Eater ships were detected. For a few seconds, it appeared that they didn't, until a Cain Class Cruiser, designated Hades suddenly changed course. Six Manticores formed up, flanking the Cruiser.

On the ships, the Shivans bounded around with joy, as they had the confirmation to use their Beam Cannons. Getting to their respective stations, the Shivans eagerly worked.

Immediately, the front of the Hades glowed, and an orb of energy built up on each of the Hades' talons. After a few moments, all three beams were unleashed in perfect unison, and they shot through space, straight towards the Danthe...

"Sir, weapons fire!"

"Red Alert, shields up. Take evasive action!"

"No time s..."


The Danthe had begun to turn to try and avoid the beam, but it came too late. The beam crashed into the side of the ship, tearing through the heavily armoured hull like rice paper. It passed through one warp engine, slicing through the main section of the ship, before leaving via the other. The lights flickered and died. Bodies could be seen floating in space... it was a terrible sight. The damage sustained was too much for the Danthe to withstand. As the structural intergrity failed and the warp drive collapsed, the ship imploded on itself, before releasing a shockwave that rocked the nearby Demon

Captain Natalie Davros watched in horror as the Danthe imploded on itself, utterly destroying the ship, and all hands aboard. The shockwave rocked the Demon, circuits shorting out everywhere,"Conn, get us out of here!"

"Yes mam!"

The Demon wheeled around, opening a tunnel into the Warp and crashing through it. The beam had come so close, close enough to damage one of the nacelles. They were venting plasma, and their speed had dropped to half of what it could've been. The ship shuddered under the strain of travelling through the warp, it's plates buckling with sickening noises. After a few minutes, the ship dropped out of the warp,"Damage report"

"Hull breaches on Decks 4, 10 and 14... the starboard nacelle is severly damaged"

"Casualties?"

"Minimal"

Captain Davros slumped in her command chair. The Danthe was lost, the Demon was heavily damaged... and they hadn't even fired a shot

It didn't end there though. The Hades entered Subspace a few moments later, tracking the Demon. For a few minutes, the Hades waited, wanting the Demon to stop somewhere, hopefully a base or somewhere.

When the Demon finally stopped, the Hades continued on, and a few moments later, the Hades began to emerge from Subspace, right above the Demon...

"Captain!"

"I see it, Mr. Thomas"

Captain Davros sat stock still for the briefest of second, before she began barking orders once more,"Red alert, bring the shields online and start evasive pattern Omega Gamma Five"

The ship twisted gracefully, trying desperetly to find a niche to exploit in the Hades shields or armour. The pulse weaponry, similar in design to phasers but with additional pentrating power and increased energy efficiency, hammered at the shields. It was futile, but it was time for the Snakes to fight back... they had been running for too long

OOC: This is for Snake Eaters.

IC: They are weak...they shall perish for their sins!

The Hades took the Pulse Lasers without any difficulty, it's shields showing for the briefiest of moments as they took the hits. Letting them fire a few more times, the Hades then dived downward, and swerved left, bringing the rear of the Demon into view.

All the Shivans sneered as they activate the Beam Cannons. The Hades' talon's lit up as the three Crimson orbs formed on each one. After a few moments, the ship jolted slightly, and three beams were unleashed.

The two lower beams tore through the Engines, but the kill beam, the top beam, shot past the engines, and hit the Bridge from behind...

OOC: This is for Snake Eaters.

IC: They are weak...they shall perish for their sins!

The Hades took the Pulse Lasers without any difficulty, it's shields showing for the briefiest of moments as they took the hits. Letting them fire a few more times, the Hades then dived downward, and swerved left, bringing the rear of the Demon into view.

All the Shivans sneered as they activate the Beam Cannons. The Hades' talon's lit up as the three Crimson orbs formed on each one. After a few moments, the ship jolted slightly, and three beams were unleashed.

The two lower beams tore through the Engines, but the kill beam, the top beam, shot past the engines, and hit the Bridge from behind...

OOC: Thanks... oh, it's not lasers... if you look up WH40K, the Tau. Weapons similar in principle... not lasers

IC: The engines, already damaged, were torn from their housings, leaving the Demon completely immobolised. She sat there, leaking plasma and radiation into the space around her. The shields flickered and died. The kill beam sliced through the saucer section, taking the bridge with it. Captain Davros was atomised in the beam, her body becoming one with the void.

The drive section collapsed in on itself, the matter-antimatter explosion roared noiselessly through the void of space. When it subsided, the Demon was no more

The Sentinel sped through T-Space. The Drive was giving the crew troubles; apparently something was knocked off balance when the Shivan beam hit the shields. The crew were struggling with the repairs while on the command bridge the officers sat in silence. They were watching the holoscreen staring in horror.

The live broadcast showed many of the red and black alien vessels as they swarmed into the “safe zone”. The Farseeker System had given them warning of several subspace gates being opened and the real-time feed from The Gauntlet and The Sentinel gave the ships a warning of what was to come.

It wasn’t enough.

The alien ships jumped out of their subspace portals in the middle of the system. They swarmed outwards driving all the ships away from The Outpost. The Lucifer emerged from the subspace portal with a clear shot range on the station. The point defense weapons fired but they were worthless against the Shivan shields. The Dimensional Shields of The Outpost held for a while but the relentless weapons fire eventually was enough to wear it down. Several of the crew was incinerated when the station exploded. Their minds set free to be collected by the AODs.

The frigates fired their Torpedoes at the enemy but many of them were destroyed before the even reached the shields of the aliens. The beam weapons of the Empire scored several hits and they did some damage but it was not enough to drive them back.

The Carriers launched every fighter they could, The Proteus fighters danced around the battlefield targeting the enemy fighters. There were successes but unfortunately there were more failures than successes. The imperial fighters were slowly being picked off.

The Battleships took position providing cover for the carrier. They fired their huge guns at the enemy capital ships. The beam weapons did very little but the Cutters seemed to do a fair amount of damage, the purple beam of disrupted dimensions severing the ship from the other half.

The Destroyers were trying to live up to their name. They threw everything at the enemy forces but most of the fire went against the ungodly shields. The cruisers backed up the Destroyers in their attempts.

Singularities formed and tried to eat anything that dared getting too close. The SGE’s on every capital ship worked overtime, devouring everything that crossed the Schwarzschild Radius.

When The Outpost blew up, the Commander ordered a retreat into T-Space. The Carrier, a destroyer, a battleship, and several frigates made it out of the battle, heavily damaged. None of the other ships made it. They were all destroyed.

The feeling of dread flooded the entire battlefield…

The fifth fleet had been sent into the area, in company with hevcruron 1, on routine anti-piracy operations, now an implacable foe was assaulting the systems nearby and there was nothing the fleet could do to stop them, they were more powerful than the combined throw weight of the entire fleet, in just one ship, the decision from Helmut was that they would go and find the source of these things, and destroy the source(don't worry, this is a spoiling attack to distract you from the real threat.), they dispatched hevcruron 1 and batdiv 3 to find the source, then the fleet would converge in force and destroy them.

Stephen watched all, a slight pained look on his face. Before shrugging it off. Before a few moments where up however, he had ordered a Personal fleet, Fifty Backships, One hundred Mid ships and a Three Thousand Fighters. They entered the Rift gate within moments, for they where the rapid response fleet. At the main deck stood Lord Prince Rulke, Greatest Manser known to the Empire. Within a few moments, the fleet came out in front of the Shivan's.

"Right people, The Third Squadron is to move and take out the largest of ships, while the First and second to take out the fighters, Mid ships into position, Backships open fire."

He watched as fighters moved in to assult the Capital ships, one thousand of them, while the futher two thousand moved in to engage anything smaller then a midship. MidShips fired massive amounts of fire, but the Backships where the worst. They fired Blue Arks of Mag Blasts.

"Let see them stand up to our blasts." Rulke muttered

The two Battle Divisions and the Heavy Cruiser squadron that had been dispatched were in trouble, they detected the enemy, but they were there in overwhelming force, outnumbered 3 to 1 they had no chance in a fight against them, but they couldn't break back for the hyper limit either, because the enemies were insisde their arc of travel and would simply cut them off if they tried, so the commander decided to take the Forrest approach, a full on charge with maximum missile pods that might allow him to cripple some of the enemy and, if any of the ships suvived, escape the remainder of the enemy forces.

Imperial Palace, Earth

Nhur-Galladu sat watching the screen in silence. He could not believe the image that was before his eyes. 17 ships slaughtered before they could evacuate as many of the personal as they could. The Outpost destroyed. The remaining ships forced to retreat into T-Space. Apparently the aliens could not go there. The only saving grace was the way they ignored the AODs. That meant the Ta’Nar that was aboard the lost ships were collected and gathered in the remaining ships.

The Sensor Network continued to monitor the system, observing and transmitting everything back through their Space Minus Transmitters. A device that used the 6th dimension, or Space Minus to transmit messages and data instantaneously. That was a layer of reality where only energy could exist so it served its purposes as a medium of transferal.

Nhur-Galladu looked at the readings on the apertures the aliens used. It was a section of reality the Empire had never used. It had mo purpose in their existence so they never bothered with it, just monitored for usage by other nations. The Empire did not have the technology to access this Subspace the aliens used but he knew who did.

“I will be out on official business. Put the Empire on alert. We are under attack and I am about to find out who is behind this.”

Nhur-Galladu abruptly disappeared.

OOC: I'm being ignored aren't I?

"-And so M'lord, I believe that feigning a pirate run on convoy Delta Three tomorrow will make the members think twice before declining our...generous offer."

Slavik grinned mischievously.

"Very well Controller Yorrik, you'll get your squadron of Hercules Heavy Assault Fighters tomorrow. I look forward to the results. Slavik out."

With that, Slavik deactivated the viewscreen in front of him. Slavik was by no means an ordinary man. He was a Chiss, and one of the last surviving few of his species, which were long ago absorbed into the Outer Heaven 'standard' gene pool. Placing his legs on his ornate desk, he pulled out a Pad from one of the drawers, and grinned as he looked around his office.

The walls were a dark crimson, and the carpet was a soft cerulean, creating a very contrasted setting. Across the walls were hundreds of awards, medals, and certificates. Slavik had been alive for over two hundred years, and his most recent check-up estimated he'd be going for another four hundred. Behind him, on the wall, were two old uniforms. The one on the left, with the horrifying helmet attached to it was Slavik's Flight Suit, from the days when he was a pilot in the Navy. The Uniform on the right was a blackish-grey, and was covered in medals. It was his old Navy Officer's Uniform, which we wore during the times when he was ascending the ranks. In front of him, Slavik smiled at the large viewscreen, flanked by two flags. On his far right were two Royal Guards, standing in a Guard Position by the side of a camouflaged door.

I love my Office...

Sighing, Slavik switched off the computer on his desk, and activated the Pad.

Time to write my report for today...

A portal opened in front of the Grand Admiral’s desk. An elderly man stepped out of the aperture and it snapped shut behind him with a small pop. He was dressed in white and gold robes.

The two guards rushed forward, drawing their weapons. The elderly man glanced in their direction.

“I don’t have time for you two,” he muttered.

The two guards were jarred backwards toward the wall as if by a giant hand. They tried again only to be jarred backwards again. They resorted to flanking the intruder. The old man stood in front of the Grand Admiral.

“I am Nhur-Galladu. I knew your previous ruler and it seems I need to ask you a few questions. First, what can you tell me of this?”

An image popped into existence between the two showing the video footage front The Sentinel and The Gauntlet. Later, the images of the destruction of The Outpost and the battlegroup protecting it. Finally the sensor readings were shown with the subspace reading highlighted.

“You seem to be experts in this area, who are they and how can we kill them?”

OOC: Hey guys, I apologise for my lacksture posting, but I'm ill at the moment. I'm not ignoring any of you, but if I were to reply to your attacks (or make a feeble attempt), it'd be as good as one of Sephrioth's (No offence or anything), so I'm sticking with Balrogga's visit at the moment. I'll let you know when I'm better, and by next week (at the most), the Shivans should start vaping your asses again :) . Thanks for staying with this, and if you're really desperate to post, feel free to post your Empire's problems. An unknown race of Destroyers emerging with thousands of ships, most with seemingly inpenetrable shields, must throw up some worry (especially amoung the public).

IC: Slavik ignored the little incident. Nhur was within his rights to prevent his Guards from attacking him. Putting his feet on the floor, he watched intently. As he saw the Outpost footage, his face turned from observant to slightly horrified.

“You seem to be experts in this area, who are they and how can we kill them?” Nhur asked. Slavik stood up, and bit his lip. It was very rare for a Chiss to show worry.

"The who are they bit is easy enough...but how to kill them is a different matter entirely, my Balroggan friend."

Activating his viewscreen, Slavik tapped in a few commands into his desktop computer, and the screen created an image. It showed this:

This file is classed Security Level Alpha Red - One. Any attempts to view this file without the proper clearance is punishable under the OHS/D and BETAC treaties.



The Shivans


http://www.nationstates.net/images/flags/uploads/outer_heaven_mk_ii.jpg





"The Species you're most likely encountering, is a Species we call the Shivans. They're named after the American Indian God of Death or Destruuction on Earth. They dwell in a dimension called Subspace, and they are xenocidal."

The image changed to what appears to be a Shivan:

http://freespace.volitionwatch.com/techfs/jeremy/shivans.jpg

"This is a Shivan. As you can see, it's insectoid-like with multiple compund eyes, three legs and two arms. They are very fast, can survive in space without suits, and have some form of Plasma Cannon on their right arm. We believe the Shivans were created, but we have yet to meet their makers."

The image changed to a large ship, which is unmistakeably the Lucifer:

http://freespace.volitionwatch.com/techfs/ships/Lucifer.jpg

"This is the Shivan Flagship, the Lucifer. We encountered this ship during the Great War, and if your version is anything to go by, you're quite simply screwed."

Slavik held up a finger, indicating silence, in case Nhur wanted to but in.

"From the Subspace readings you've shown us, this is a more...refined Lucifer. It's slightly stronger hull and shield wise, and it's Beam Weaponry is greater as well as slightly more powerful."

Slavik then changed the image to a schematic of the Lucifer.

"However, you might be able to save yourselves. The Lucifer is practically invincible, but it has it's weaknesses. The Subspace Shield cannot stop Fighters from getting through if the shield is under heavy attack from a nearby location to where the Fighters wish to enter. If your Fighters make it through, they must then attack the six Reactors on the Lucifer's hull," Slavik then made the display highlight the Reactors, "When all six are destroyed, the Lucifer will be destroyed. But that form of attack has never succeeded I'm sad to say.

"When I say heavy attack, I mean many different forms of weaponry, and lots of it, on the specific point. These shields can't be penetrated as far as we've found, the Lucifer we encountered took the brunt from the ESUS's fleets, as well as ours and a few other nation's, and still came out smiling. We managed to take it down when it exited Subspace on the edge of Sol, when it's shields were charging. However, your Lucifer doesn't have this weakness."

Slavik showed a few more slides showing various logs of encounters, the names and information of every ship they encountered, and a summary.

"I'm sorry, but these Shivans seem prepared. If you're going to destroy them, do two things. One: Gather a large defensive Force. You alone cannot take on the Lucifer, let alone the rest of the Shivan Fleet. Two: Capture a Shivan ship. The Shivans are very powerful, and seem impossible to beat, but they all need supplies. I suggest disabling a Shivan Transport, and taking a few live specimens, as well as examining the vessel. The Shivans communicate using Telepathy, and we believe they have a Hive Mind. If you could tap in...you may be able to find out what you need, although the Shivans will damage the unlucky one tapping in. They're insane with hate and disgust, and they'll drive in all their feelings, as well as their most horrific acts. We've seen this happen, and let me just say, it isn't pretty."

Slavik then went over to Nhur, and looked at him intently.

"I wish you good luck, and I hope you succeed. However, we do not wish to be pulled into such a conflict again. If you find a way of destroying them, and need our ships or whatever to help, we'll gladly donate them."

Slavik then nodded.

"Now I wish you farewell Nhur-Galladu."

With that, a Subspace appature opened up in Nhur. It absorbed him inside out, and Nhur rematerialised in his palace, to the surprise of other Ta'Nar.

Nhur-Galladu had an idea what must be done. He would have to gather his allies and coordinate a suicide attack in order to bring down those shields. But first he had to locate a transport to capture.

“We will have to call in our friends and set up an ambush. Send reps to anyone who will answer our call. We will also need to track the Shivan movements. Keep the battle group in the field in case they can be tracked. When the opportunity presents itself, capture a transport and some specimens. Drag them into T-Space and take the craft apart. I want to know everything about the systems aboard it. Take the subspace drives apart carefully. I want them reverse engineered. We need to get to Subspace to cause them damage where they can be hurt the best. Start Phase One and find me some transports to capture.”

“Yes Sir.”


Message to all allies of the Empire:

The Empire needs your help. We have detected the presence on a Shivan outbreak. We will attempt to destroy them but we need your help in stopping them before that make it to one of our worlds.

Please respond as soon as you can. If you wait too long, there might not be anyone to reply back.

Nhur-Galladu
Emperor




OOC: I work Doubles every Friday so I might not be able to respond to this until Saturday morning or even Sunday. Please be patient.

Admiral Rommel read the message on the padd. It was a message from the Balroggan Empire, forwarded via Lord Barbarossa to the Admiral. In charge of the Gamma Task Force, which had already lost the Demon and the Danthe to this mysterious enemy forces. Now, it seemed as though there was a chance to unite and prehaps defeat this threat.

The flagship of the Snake Eater Navy, the latest capital ship in the Navy, and the first in her class, sat in space. The Leviathan-class, in this case named Leviathan's Crusade, was the fastest, most heavily armed capital ship ever produced by the Tiravano Shipyards. 3000m long, she dwarfed the Soverign-class starships that were the next largest ships in the fleet. Along the hulls length, Type XIII phaser arrays were laid into the hull, capable of laying down a huge amount of firepower. Also, torpedo launchers were laid into pop-out rotating firestations, capable of delivering the latest in quantum and photon torpedoes. All in all, it was a tremendous ship. With a crew of only 5000, thanks to automated systems and the latest in bio-neural gel-pack circuitry laid throughout the ship, all the way to the two co-axial warp cores near the rear of the craft, responsible for giving this ship the power to make a maximum speed of Warp 7, a speed previously unheard of by anyone in Snake Eaters.

Rommel looked at the padd, but most pressingly at the orders from High Command

Orders (Security Level 10)
Admiral Rommel:

Move the fleet to the aid of our Balroggan allies. It may be required to sacrifice ships in order to defeat the enemy. Do so without a heavy heart, this is an emergency situation. May Leviathan help you

He sighed, and began barking orders to the rest of the fleet. Within the hour, they were well on the way to Balroggan space, in order to aid them in anyway possible

OOC: http://www.epic40k.co.uk/lib/comp/gothicomp05/gothicomp08.jpg
Closest I could find to what I want the Leviathan class to be

"My Lord, one of our allies has already responded to our call."

"Who is it, Ca'Lon?"

"Snake Eaters, my Lord."

"I remember that name from the many reports Galvenor has filed and the many stories he has told me. It seems they are good to have as allies. They are full of Heart. It is good to hear we have friends like this. Ask them and all allies to meet us at Gliese. We need a point to gather the task force where it is safe. Once we capture a Shivan transport we will be able to make our move. Until then, I want to keep our allies safe.”

“Yes My Lord, I will tell them immediately.”

Message to all allies who answer the call for help:

We appreciate your aide at this time. It is imperative we keep our intentions unknown to the Enemy. I would like you to meet at the Gliese System. It is the home of the Imperial Shipyards so there is great safety there.

We will be doing some investigating out here to determine the best way to proceed. Once we have our Intel, we will proceed upon our attack. We may need the shipyards to construct specific devices to aid us in this conflict. That is why I chose this local.

Again, thank you for your aid.

Nhur-Galladu
Emperor

OOC: If this is out of order just tell me and I'll delete it but I was thinking you might need some help and since my nation is a MT nation I'd be pretty useless, so this group of Mercs might be the ally you need seeing as they have a wide variety of missiles and torpedoes thermal, vorpal, warp-blast, standard, plasma not always the highest grade but it does the job and most ships are armed with a variety of weapons usually consisting of a mixture of one or two types such as cannons, pulse turrets, laser batteries and/or railgun arrays

IC: Jorpil Elwrin examined the message they'd caught while out looking for work, it wasn't encripted and the Balroggan's seemed to need a hand and times were pretty lean these days for a mercenary.
Jorpil looked over to his second in command "what do you make of this Bueros?" He asked while running a hand through his short black beard.
The blond man waited a second and answered "I think, these folks might need a hand and when people need help they usually have money to spend...We might lose a lot of men though".
Jorpil looked out of one of the observation screens at his small fleet twelve years of life as a merc and he'd worked his way up to a nice fleet of a hundred and ten fighter craft and thirteen destroyer sized vessals and he's aimed to triple that number by the time he retired.
"Alright then...I've gathered a good crew of the toughest and most skilled space-dogs I could find, not a bad shot by anyones measure, Bueros send them a message, if they'll have us we'll send those ghouly-freaks right back to whatever hell they came from" Jorpil said and took a seat on the large well padded commanders seat, the fleet slowly sped off toward Balroggan space.

Since the government had learned what they were fighting, and where it came from, they decided that some new weapons were in order, but those weapons were still on the official secrets list, meaning that they couldn't tell their allies about their new toys, or give them to them either.

New Weapons for combatting the Shivan threat(SIC)

Phase Disruption Cannon: Sets up a resonance in an object therough a high-energy particle field, the resonance then escalates until the object is shaken apart at an atomic level in the immediate vicinity of the shot, ignores most types of shielding.(phased energy shields and gravity based shields will stop it, most other shields don't have the proper type of energy damping to stop the shot)

SCARAB Torpedo: A torpedo that has a similar effect to the PDC blast, on a much greater scale, is stopped by most shielding types that stop contact weapons.

Particle Projection Cannon: Sends out a burst of highly charged particles, they are highly damaging to shields but do minimal damage to armor and other solid objects.

"My Lord, one of our allies has already responded to our call."

"Who is it, Ca'Lon?"

"Snake Eaters, my Lord."

"I remember that name from the many reports Galvenor has filed and the many stories he has told me. It seems they are good to have as allies. They are full of Heart. It is good to hear we have friends like this. Ask them and all allies to meet us at Gliese. We need a point to gather the task force where it is safe. Once we capture a Shivan transport we will be able to make our move. Until then, I want to keep our allies safe.”

“Yes My Lord, I will tell them immediately.”

Message to all allies who answer the call for help:

The entire fleet altered course for the Gliese system, led by the S.E.N Hermes, a Galaxy-class crusier, and the S.E.N Python, recently released from patrol duty on the borders of Snake space. Also joining the fleet was Warfare's Might, a recently commisioned Warfare-class frigate.

OOC:

The Gliese System is 19 Ly from Earth. I chose that for nearness and security reasons. When I have a target I will Wormhole all the volunteers who arrive to the ambush point.

Here is a link (http://balrogga.beldragos.com/gleise.htm) to the Gliese System

I will post more tomorrow after Work when I have more time.

Stephen saw the message, and mentaly drew a map of all known players in this game. In moments he noticed a connection, he was one of them. He shivered, these creatures did not make him fear, but the Shivans where not weak. He thought about it, then sent a new order to Rulke.

To: lord Commander Rulke.

We may have a problem. I have orders. Should you be defeated, you are to send one of their ships into orbit of Charon. No known ship has escaped your people before, so we do not have reason to belive that they will get out.

Lord Emperor Stephen, King of Imperia.

Deep within T-Space, the remaining ships from the Outpost does repairs. They have been ordered to lay low and observe the Enemy until they get further word from home.

Suddenly the Space Minus Transmitter came to life. It was the Orders they were waiting for.


This is Babylon Control. You are to isolate a shivan transport. You will yank it into T-Space and then board it. You need to take all precautions to keep it from escaping. Use the Dimensional Anchor to keep it from leaving and take the ship as intact as possible. At least two live Shivans are required to conduct recon.

The sensors began to look for a likely target...

OOC:

The Gliese System is 19 Ly from Earth. I chose that for nearness and security reasons. When I have a target I will Wormhole all the volunteers who arrive to the ambush point.

Here is a link (http://balrogga.beldragos.com/gleise.htm) to the Gliese System

I will post more tomorrow after Work when I have more time.

OOC: Alright. Good thing I have the SE empire some distance from Sol then... SEP (Snake Eater Prime to those of you who don't know me) is about 2.5K LY from Terra, but thanks to the new co-axial warp drives I've been developing for 20 NS years, they can cover that distance in a far shorter time, about two days, as opposed to about ten years

IC: The fleet drew into the Gliese system, and Rommel looked over the star charts,"Helmsmen, give our position"

H -- "We are arriving in the Gliese system, Admiral. System scans show high levels of Balroggan activity... it appears that this is a major system in their empire"

Rom -- "Are all ships present and accounted for?"

H -- "The Python developed engine trouble on the way here... she is currently 1.5 lightyears away, but the latest ETA suggests they will arrive within the next two hours. Other than that, all are present."

Rom -- "Excellent. Hail Warfare's Might, and transmit it through to my ready room"

H -- "Yessir"

Rommel left the bridge in the capable hands of his XO, and sat at his oak desk in the ready room. After a moment well spent pouring himself a cup of tea, he moved forward, and activated the laptop-like construct on the desk. Fleet Captain Horatio's face appeared on the monitor. It appeared that he was also in his room, alone, to talk with the Admiral,"Good of you to join us, Captain Horatio"

CH -- "My thanks to you, Admiral. High Command informed me of the situation... and this ship is hot off the assembly line. She's never seen combat, so in theory, her systems should be able to take a pounding like no other"

Rom -- "Then you are aware of the situation with these unidentified ships?"

CH -- "Very much so... my younger brother was a crewman on the Danthe... my family received the message this morning"

Rom -- "I'm sorry for your loss. I know what it is like to lose a sibling"

CH -- "No matter... I am no fool, Admiral. This is effectively war. War causes death. Death cause sorrow. It is the way of things."

Rom -- "Do not put your crew in danger for the sake of a personal vendetta, Captain."

CH -- "I won't, don't worry about that. In any case, what is the current situation?"

Rom -- "We wait. The Balroggan's will inform us when it is time to fight. Until then, I am giving you direct command of half of the task force. The details should be transmitting to you now"

There was a pause, as the information was transferred, and Horatio perused the list, whistling softly,"You're putting the Wells under my command? That new battleship design... that's a beautiful ship"

Rom -- "It is... the captains know they are under your command. Maintain Yellow Status until further notice"

CH -- "Yes Admiral. May Leviathan protect you"

Rom -- "And you also"

OOC: http://startrek.dostdobre.cz/federace/databaze/fankluby/relativ.jpg

The Wells

http://kofler.dot.at/40k/units/Ultramarine_Battle_Barge.gif

Warfare's Might

Length - 1000m
Crew - 1500
Armour - Ablative, Heavy
Shields - Regenerative, Medium
Weapons - Type XIII Pulse Phaser batteries along surface, numerous pulse cannon emplacements. Torpedoes.
Propulsion - Ether Drive (Sublight), Co-Axial Warp Drive (FTL)
Max Speed - 15,000 kph (Sublight), Warp 6.5 (FTL)

As the ships pulled into the Gliese system, the first thing they noticed was the binary star. The brown dwarf circled the primary star from about 1500 AU. The second thing they noticed was the thousands of ships here. They were being serviced by hundreds of factories and shipyards. These were in orbit around Gliese Prime.

The fleets were situated near Gliese Secondus, the brown dwarf. Several stations were orbiting the dwarf. There were science stations studying the star, research stations undergoing Imperial projects, and even a huge circular ring that was the Imperial Super Collider where sub-particle research was being undertaken. This was where the ROC Shield was developed, along with several other quantum devices.

There was a large base set off away from the rest where the allied fleets were gathering. Those who answered the call for help were directed to this station to rest until it was time to act. The Empire made sure it’s guests was well cared for and food was plentiful thanks to the Replicators.


OOC:

Uldarious, you are welcome to join in if you wish. Sorry I missed posting this earlier. Just have your ship approach the Gliese system and dock at the station.

This is also open to anyone else who wishes to answer my call...

Task Force Gamma had been redesignated 'Mobius Force'. Within it's ranks were two of the best fighter units in the entire Snake Air Force, Grabac and Razgriz. They were all legendary pilots, and now they went to war once more. Given the relative safety and the chance for some R&R before the battle, Admiral Rommel rescinded his order to stand at Yellow Status at all times, allowing all crews shore leave when they wanted it.

Despite the fact that this was a combat task force, most of the vessels had some form of science staff. These clamered over the Balroggan technology, which was in many cases far superior to that of Snake Eaters. The benefit of living for many many years really. In any case, they listened raptly and learned well.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/beldragos/Shipyard.jpg

"Sir, Shipyard 145 is being cleared and then moved near Gliese Beta. About half a dozen Mobile Factories are also being dedicated to the refit project for anything we might discover and use on the recon mission Battlegroup 37B will soon undertake."

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/beldragos/mobile_factory.jpg


"Who has answered our call for help so far?"

"So far, the SE fleet has arrived but we can expect some others soon, I hope. If they are not here in time then we will not be able to give them any refits to help in the Ambush. There was a communications from a mercenary group but they never answered our reply. I don't know if they changed their minds or if they are on the way now."

"Resend the plea for help. Some nations might not have heard it. A rebroadcast might help. If not, we will have to do our best."

"Yes Sir."

Message to all allies of sentient civilization:

The Balrogga Empire needs your help. We have detected the presence of a Shivan outbreak. We will attempt to destroy them but we need your help in stopping them before that make it to civilized space and start destroying worlds. They will destroy any sentient race that might be in their way so if you can hear this message please respond.

Please respond as soon as you can. We are asking any who wish to help to rendezvous at Gliese.

Nhur-Galladu
Emperor

Battlegroup 37B remained hidden deep within T-Space operating on Extreme Stealth Mode for days. They carefully monitored all the Shivan ships they could detect passing through the area. At first, each was heavily guarded to prevent the possibility of an attack. As time passed, the number of fighters or warships decreased as the Shivans became comfortable that they had superiority in the area.

Finally there was one that seemed to be unguarded. They let it pass and waited patiently for others. They were playing the ultimate waiting game. The prize was the survival of the sentient races. They were going to be sure of their target, not the first one that came along.

They let three more unguarded ships pass before they found a target that matched their parameters. The cargo vessel had minimal weapons and would be transporting equipment and food to the front lines, wherever they were striking at this moment.

“I want a full sensor scan of that ship. I want to know where each biological is located. I want to know the wiring of the calculator in the desk drawer. We found ourselves the target. Prepare the Dimensional Anchor and the Dimensional Bubble. Have the DA and FTLi ready. We don’t want anything escaping from this birdie. Start jamming all signals and pull her up here with us on my mark. 3, 2, 1, MARK!”

The transport flew smoothly through space and suddenly a bubble formed around it and everything vanished, leaving empty space.

In T-Space, the Dimensional Anchor locked the ship in position while the FTLi kept any subspace gates from opening. Several boarding vessels sped towards the enemy transport as the gunners removed the armaments from the ship with the Cutter beams, neatly slicing them out of the hull.

One of the dropships approached the Transport and locked upon the hatch of the ship. The dropship attached itself to the hull and the Serjents began to cut their way through the door. Other dropships approached the remaining hatch and began cutting through there too. The extra dropships stacked upon the initial ones, their hatches lining up and the Serjents pouring through them to begin storming the ship. On the hull, several teams of Serjents were crawling across, headed for the gaping holes where the guns were.

Attention everyone who still wished to participate in this Thread:

I was able to contact Outer Heaven via IM tonight. He has been busy but is back.

He requests any who were battling with the Shivans to TG their actions to him to help refresh his memories and to make everything run smoother. If you wish to assist me you are welcome to show up at my shipyards, like Snake Eaters has. After I finish the raid I am on I will return with the needed Info for a large raid.

All those who stuck around, thank you.

Battlegroup 37B remained hidden deep within T-Space operating on Extreme Stealth Mode for days. They carefully monitored all the Shivan ships they could detect passing through the area. At first, each was heavily guarded to prevent the possibility of an attack. As time passed, the number of fighters or warships decreased as the Shivans became comfortable that they had superiority in the area.

Finally there was one that seemed to be unguarded. They let it pass and waited patiently for others. They were playing the ultimate waiting game. The prize was the survival of the sentient races. They were going to be sure of their target, not the first one that came along.

They let three more unguarded ships pass before they found a target that matched their parameters. The cargo vessel had minimal weapons and would be transporting equipment and food to the front lines, wherever they were striking at this moment.

“I want a full sensor scan of that ship. I want to know where each biological is located. I want to know the wiring of the calculator in the desk drawer. We found ourselves the target. Prepare the Dimensional Anchor and the Dimensional Bubble. Have the DA and FTLi ready. We don’t want anything escaping from this birdie. Start jamming all signals and pull her up here with us on my mark. 3, 2, 1, MARK!”

The transport flew smoothly through space and suddenly a bubble formed around it and everything vanished, leaving empty space.

In T-Space, the Dimensional Anchor locked the ship in position while the FTLi kept any subspace gates from opening. Several boarding vessels sped towards the enemy transport as the gunners removed the armaments from the ship with the Cutter beams, neatly slicing them out of the hull.

One of the dropships approached the Transport and locked upon the hatch of the ship. The dropship attached itself to the hull and the Serjents began to cut their way through the door. Other dropships approached the remaining hatch and began cutting through there too. The extra dropships stacked upon the initial ones, their hatches lining up and the Serjents pouring through them to begin storming the ship. On the hull, several teams of Serjents were crawling across, headed for the gaping holes where the guns were.

The two-hundred or so crew of the transport hissed. How dare they attack them in such a cowardly fashion! As the dropship attached to the hatch of the ship, the Shivans thought up of a plan.

Retreat to different corners of the ship, and lure them too us...

While the Shivans were the crew of a Cargoship, they were by no means harmless. And if the intruders thought that, they would be making a grave error...

Leaping from wall to wall (the ships don't have gravity), the Shivans retreated into the more isolated parts of the ships. The hatch to the vessel would open up when asked.

Let them come to us...

OOC: Balrogga, for reference of what Shivan Cargoships are like, look at the hallfight video you downloaded off me. Oh yeah, sorry for the small post, but I'm in a hurry!

“Captain, we seem to be able to gain access to the door. The outer hatch is not locked in any way. All we have to do is push the green button and we have access.”

“I don’t like this; it reeks like it is a trap. Send in the men but tell them to be careful.”

“Yes Sir!!”

The Serjents began to like up, ready to storm the transport as soon as the hatch opens. The technician thumbed the strangely shaped button and the hatch slid silently open, exposing the darkness within.

Serjents streamed inside, relying upon their Darkvision to see. There would be no lights to give their position away. They also communicated using internal transmitters so the only sound they made was their movements.

“Captain, we have strange geometry in here and the lack of gravity. It appears they don’t use internal gravity because every surface is engineered for usage.”

“Dammit, if we had known that, we would have done the Maytag Maneuver on the ship first. Oh, well. It’s too late now.”

“Yes Sir, Fourth Squad moving into position. First entering through Forward Gun ports, Second through the other hatch, and Third through the Aft Gun ports. Squads report no contacts. It’s silent in there. Ambient lighting only.”

“Link me through their sensors.”

“Yes Sir.”

The Captain could now see through the eyes of one of the front line Serjents. It’s enhances vision picked up everything from magnetic fields to various infra-red to ultra-violet ranges. Objects could be highlighted and a data panel dropped to provide information from additional sensors. He listened in on the Comm channel they were using as well as the Gestalt they shared. All the data was being fed into the battle computers aboard the Carrier floating nearby in T-Space. Once the ship was “quarantined”, it would be placed in a reconstructed bay for proper dissection and analysis. First they had to flush out the Butchers.

And so, the Serjents continued through the ship, careful of the holes all around them. A few times, they heard faint tapping noises, and a few hisses, but their scans revealed nothing but destroyed bio-technology. Eventually, Fourth Squad reached the corner of the ship.

"Sir, there's nothing here. We've checked just about everywhere, an-"

"Contact! Fourty meters ahead!"

"Roger that! Form up!"

The Serjents formed up, Plasma Cannons powered up, and ready for firing. It was a few seconds before anything came into view. Then, it came into view. With five hulking arms, and a large body, it bounded around the corridor in front of the Serjents, brutally, yet gracefully.

"Open fire!"

Immediately, a hail of Plasma bolts shot towards the Shivan. It merely hissed, and began bounding around much more rapidly and yet, more gracefully. The bolts flew past it, none hitting the Shivan, but impacting on the hull.

"Concentrate your fiiiire!!!"

_________________________________________________________________

"Concentrate your fiiiire!!!"

Back on the ship, the Captain watched the scene unfold. He was amazed at how quick the creature was for it's size, but kept it hidden.

"Can you get anymore readings?"

"No Sir, the transmission seems to be getting some slight inter-"

A cry erupted from the speakers. Turning their attention back to the screen, they watched as the Shivan reached the Serjents. It smacked the first out the way, while the second was stabbed by some form of energy blades. Then the Serjents managed to hit the Shivan. It took a few hits, but didn't slow. A few more shots hit it, and it blew up. Literally. An explosion erupted, throwing a few Serjents back slightly. Then a cry came from behind the screen. It turned, and a Shivan leaped at the screen. Hands blocking the picture, it went out, and screams could be heard. Not screams of terror, but screams of anger. A few screens showed some more Shivans, a few being killed, but other showing the Sejents get killed.

A few moments after, all the screens went out. The Captain shot up.

"What happened!?!"

"I-I don't know sir! We just lost the feed. We've lost the readings off the other squads too sir! We aren't reading a single life-sign or video-feed. They're gone sir...if there are any left, they're on their own."

_________________________________________________________________

"RETREAT!"

The remaining Serjents in Squad Four doubled back, Plasma Cannons firing to the point of near-overheating. Around them, Shivans were exploding in firery puffs, while others simply lost most of their limbs, and bounced off the bulkheads, unable to control themselves properly. Moving further back, the Serjents suddenly realised something.

"Sir! There aren't anymore behind us! They're forcing us back!"

The Commander didn't respond, he was too busy firing. Another Serjent yelped as two blades went through his chest. The Shivan took a hail of bolts, and collapsed, not dead...yet. Floating back, the Serjents fired into the swarm of Shivans.

"It's a trap...I can't read any of the other Squads. We're on our own!"

The Serjents, not deterred, continued backing up and firing. They knew they were expendable, they couldn't feel fear, but they were no use as suicide soldiers...

OOC: Bump. Perhaps this RP has some life left in it?

OOC: Tag.