NationStates Jolt Archive

This paragraph only edited Nov. 15th:
This is an OPEN RP. I strongly recommend you read the story posts in the story/OOC thread -http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=453158 . You don't absolutely have to, though. POST ALL OOC POSTS IN THE STORY/OOC THREAD. THE STORY/OOC THREAD CONTAINS A MAP OF MERKAR IN ONE OF MY POSTS. POST ALL OOC POSTS IN THE STORY/OOC THREAD. THE STORY/OOC THREAD INCLUDES A MAP OF MERKAR IN ONE OF MY POSTS. POST ALL- well, you get the idea. If you want to sign-up, you should know where to go.


COMMANDER JAKE MCNEIL STEPPED out of the processing center. The first thing that hit him was that

something was off. Walking to the Maglev, he wondered what the Mainframe had been trying to tell him. He felt

nothing, a strange feeling of emptiness. It was bizzare, but the Mainframe had, seemingly, not had anything to say.

Stepping onto the Maglev, he walked over to his usual place and sat down. People continued to pile in, no

tickets needed when using Merkari public transportation. There was nothing important to think about, he thought, as

he waited for the train to start its trip. The business at Jurmenti had been taken care of, and he believed that the

Project would continue smoothly. But in the back of his mind, there was the biting thought of why he did not feel

anything after leaving the processing center.

The Maglev did not take long to fill up as those who had just completed their commune with the Mainframe

climbed onboard. A hiss could be heard as the rickety old doors slided shut. A digital voice could be heard

announcing the next stop, and off went the speeding train.

Onboard, McNeil noticed the television set come on in a corner. Looking up at it, it was the morning news.

Some short notices about daily events, the kind of things that always bored Jake. Before loosing interest, though,

he noticed the familiar face of William Strong, Mainframe minister.

Shit, he thought to himself as he listened to Strong's monotone explanation of the failure at

Jurmenti. He felt his heart beat faster, but kept control of himself. Now the whole damn world knows.

But there was something more to it. First had come the reports of the Mainframe's dubious failure to predict

the freighter incident. McNeil had ignored it as a sheer coincidence, as the Government would surely detect any such

plot. But now it had failed, and failed dearly.

The world failed seem to strike a note in Jake's mind. Yes, perhaps it was an answer to his question.

Why else would the Mainframe suddenly silence itself? This had never happened before. Yes, this was an exceptional

time, but there was no explanation for the Mainframe's lack of reply.

Suddenly, he remembered back to just a few minutes ago. What had he felt after his commune? Emptiness

. A way for the machine to admit failure. Infalibility was no longer an excuse. The Mainframe had even admitted

so, and because it knew that, it would speak no more.

* * * * *

Headquarters, Republic City Military District

Commander-General Jake McNeil walked towards his office in full uniform. A few low-ranking military men

passed him in the hallway, but did not salute. Merkaris simply do not do that. As he rounded the corner, he noticed

Krendakov standing in another hallway, looking the other direction and apparently lost.

"Comrade!"

Krendakov snapped his head around, a nervous expression on his face. "Jake! It's important!" The Admiral

began walking away quickly. After a second, McNeil realized that his friend probably meant for him to follow, and

did so.

The Admiral led them to his office, where Colonel Abdullah was already waiting.
In his early forties, Colonel Abdullah was one of the few Merkari theists, at least in name. A non-praticing

Muslim, his family had immigrated from the Middle East decades ago. Now he led the elite Blue Force commandoes.

Krendakov quickly took a seat, and ran his hand through his air, acting as if he was under great pressure.

When he noticed that the other two in the room were staring at him, he looked up, gestured for them to take a seat,

and then went back to stroking his hair.

"It's the Mainframe, isn't it?"

"Yes, Jake. Abdullah is the only person around here that's worth shit around here. Besides you, of course...

and me." The classic arrogance of "The Admiral". "It's stopped responding and powered itself down."

Jake thought of suggesting that the Mainframe was admitting its own failure, but stopped himself. It was

hard to speak about it, for some reason. He felt as if admitting that it had failed was taboo. Merkaris were open

about all things, but for some reason he felt pressured not to speak. Why?

"Let's hope it dosen't get worse. I'm sure that it'll get back online soon." The air was thick with tension

as Abdullah spoke, as if they were treating a hospital patient whose life was on the line.

"No... No, the Mainframe... it..." Krendakov leaned his head forward and clasped his face in his hands,

rubbing his forhead. "It..." His voice was sounded muffled. Pulling his head back and withdrawing his hands, he

sighed heavily. "It has died."

"WHAT?!" Abdullah leapt out of his chair, leaning foward over Krendakov's desk. "WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG

WITH-" Realizing that he had gone too far, he sat himself back down slowly, his face turning red but bearing an

embarrased expression as he looked at Jake.

"He's right." Jake's nervous voice had become raspy and his words were almost inaudible. Clearing his

throat, he noticed Krendakov focusing his eyes into him with an intense stare. More clearly this time, he built up

the courage to continue. "The mainframe has failed. We have to tell the nation."

Abdullah did not know what to do. Clasping his sweating palms together he looked down and mumbled something.

A prayer?

Krendakov had recomposed himself. "I'm moving to the government offices. I'll find someone there to talk

with."

"Do you want us to stay here?" asked Jake.

"Yes, you and Abdullah have to remain. I'll go warn the nation." Krendakov's ego was perhaps the first thing

you learned when you met him in person, beyond the image he made for himself on television screens and press

releases. "Go ahead, Vasily. We'll stay." By the time Jake had finished his sentence the Admiral was already halfway

out the door, but he stopped for a moment to speak. "Don't... well, whatever, just stay here."

Krendakov was just about to turn his head away from the room when his eyes grew fixated on something in the

distance. Abdullah and McNeil both turned to see what it was. The view from the tenth-story window the three men

looked out on a long street, and onto a violent orgy of fire, destruction and riot.

"Jake, come with me!"

Republic City

There was no time to wait for them to get out of the way. McNeil's hovertank cut through the unruly crowds,

sometimes literally. Jake preferred not to watch as he sat in the commander's cramped workspace and let the driver

handle it. Most of the troops were on leave, meaning that it was not hard to commandeer a vehicle from the motor

pool.
Abdullah was supposed to stay put, but Jake was certain that the ambitious commander had moved out anyway. No

matter; he would have trouble moving through the riot in his car. Krendakov and McNeil had both been able to

requistion a tank from the city garrison, and were headed on separate routes toward the government offices.
The driver was moving agressively, but a little too fast to maintain control of the vehicle. Jake didn't notice

until a violent noise aroused him from his thoughts and slammed the vehicle to a halt. His tanker's helmet smacked

into the padded cushion in front of his head, put there for just such a congtingency.
"Sir, we hit a wall!" It was the driver.
"Can you pull us free?"
A whirring noise came from the engines, but the tank did not move at all.
"Reverse engines damaged, sir. We'll have to dismount."
McNeil had too much on his mind to reply. Grabbing his assault rifle, he patted the gunner on his shoulder and

climbed out of the hatch. The driver didn't need an order to know what to do, and left the tank also. "Permission to

speak freely, sir." Jake looked at the driver's nametag. "Denied, Kohls. We're not that far, don't worry. Just two

blocks over." At least that's what I think, he thought. The streets of the Merkari capitol were notoriously

confusing.
Weapons held tight, the three soldiers walked around the building they had collided with through a narrow alleyway.

Looking down the streets both ways, McNeil noticed they were empty and sprinted across.
It is difficult to hit a man who got up and dashed ten feet, but a lucky bullet caught Jake's leg. He fell over,

feeling what seemed like a rising tower of flame come from just below his knee. Cringing, he fingered the wound but

withdrew his hand when he felt it sting.
Opening his eyes wide, he looked behind him. The two men he was travelling with stood with their arms raised, rifles

at their feet. A band of common-looking Merkaris ran out of a building and to Jake, whose wound caught their

attention.
There were four of them, one guarding the prisoners and the rest standing around the captured general, who laid down

his weapon for fear of provoking them. Jake could tell that they were speaking a native dialect, but he had never

bothered to learn any of them. His was the first generation that had grown up knowing nothing but English, and none

of the indigenous tongues. The only word that could be made out was "infidel". The Krashnyys.
"Why you come here?"
Still writhing in pain, it took a few seconds for the general to talk. "I... the mainframe..."
"YOU FALSE GOD! YOU COME TO KILL WE!" For once, McNeil beleived what a Krashnyy had told him. A false god indeed.
"No! NO!... The Mainframe's dead. It's wrong. It died today." Even among those who did not support it, such words

had a powerful effect.
"I need to tell them. I tell... ugh... I gotta tell everyone." The three men gathered around him eyed him with

hostile suspicion for a few awkward seconds. It was only during this silence that he noticed the sound of fighting

in the distance. The man who had been talking in broken english then gestured for his men to carry their prisoner.

Inside the tank, Jake had already bandaged up his wound and managed to get the radio operational. "Vasily, Vasily,

this is Jake. Come in." There was no time to work out any sort of codename system. He hoped that atleast the

national satellite system was still operational, or else his radio would be useless in this kind of city. "This is

Krendakov, we're doing great."
"Have you got to the offices yet?" The gunner accidentally banged the commander's knee as he manuevered through the

crowded tank, causing Jake to cringe in pain. "Sorry sir."
"Uh... Hold on, we'll be there any second. How is it at the offices?"
"We haven't got there yet, Vasily, " McNeil replied in an angry voice.
"Well, sorry for asking ." Jake knew that he shouldn't have used that tone, no matter how tired he was. The

admiral couldn't withstand even the slightest insult.
Sighing, he decided to try to power up the tank again. "We're stuck just a few blocks away. We ran into an obstacle

and we're immobilized." He wasn't going to wait for some snide remark about how foolish he was for driving into a

wall, and after the shortest of pauses
he continued, "Jake out."
"Driver, can you get the engine back up?"
"I think so, sir."
Mcneil turned his head to the Krashnyy who had shot and then rescued him. The man was sitting on top of the

hovertank, right outside the hatch. "Is there anyway I can contact your leader?" He was willing to negotiate with

the theists if it meant saving their lives from a rampage by those who believed in a now-dead computer. Regardless

of their bigotry and hatred, they were peaceful people that were willing to keep their lives separate from the

atheistic majority. "Where you live?" Jake thought about the question for a moment. He commanded the Second Armored

Division, headquartered about 500 miles to the west. A long distance, but his hovertank was fast enough to get him

there after he got to the government offices. If he could get it to work. Writing down the base's access code and

the security clearance to enter the communications net, he gave it to his aquaintance, wondering if it was some kind

of joke. Even if this guy was a Krashnyy, how would he know how to make contact with Arbtan, the Krashnyy leader?

Still, it was worth a try.
"You better move, we're pulling out of here." The man didn't seem to understand, but lept off once the tank started

hovering, rubble sliding off its front armor plate. Jake was elated- they were on the move again.

One block from government offices

The driver was being more careful this time. Suprisingly, the riots had not spread to this part of town. Maybe they

were just on their way.
Despite the risks, Jake was traveling with his head outside the hatch, keeping an eye out for any trouble. He had

tried powering up the commander's tactical display, but couldn't find out how it worked. Imagine, a commander of a

tank division that couldn't drive a tank.
The sky was covered with light smoke, the midday sun barely breaking through. But most of what he saw was still

gray- rubble, burnt vehicles, dead lumps of skin.
As the vehicle rounded a corner, the driver came to a halt. Ahead was what looked like an entire company of

hovertanks, moving slowly along a two-lane highway. When they saw Jake's vehicle, they halted. From one of the two

lead vehicles, a dark-skinned man poked his head out of a hatch. It was only a dozen yards away, and once his eyes

focused McNeil could see clearly that it was Colonel Abdullah.

"Colonel! Did you inform the offices?" Yelling was useless above the abomidable noise of the engines. But Abdullah

communicated without words, and his penetrating, hostile stare said everything.
Jake spoke into the vehicle intercom on his headset. "Driver... I don't like this. Get us out of here."
"Missile lock on us, sir!"
McNeil threw himself back into the turret, feeling as if his leg split in half when he slammed it on some piece of

equipment. He hissed in pain, unable to speak for a crucial moment. But a repeat order was not necessary, as the

driver pulled around a corner with terrifying speed. Everyone onboard as jolted to a side as the impact of a missile

could be heard just behind them. Jake felt his heart beat, and knew that these kind of adventures were not meant for

someone his age. The one thing he remembered about this tank was how to activate the cloaking device. As the

hovertank sped away down a long street, the Commander-General noticed that the computer had powered up by now after

his previous unsucessful attempts to understand how to work it. Accesing the cloaking device through what little

digital literacy he possesed, McNeil knew he was safe. "Driver, head for Second Armored Division headquarters."

"Sir!"

* * * * *

Colonel Abdullah had given up the search for the traitors. It was strange to think that two loyal soldiers,

Vasily Krendakov and Jake McNeil, would do something so foolish as to betray the mainframe. But it had happened,

apparently, and both had escaped the tight cordon Abdullah had thrown in and around Republic City. Fighting could

still be heard in the distance, but resistance had largely succumbed. He was sure that the rioters would return

during the night, but the entire Merkari Army was at his disposal. His priority now was to keep order in the

streets, and the international community appeased. Walking through the street, he slowly made his way past the

Mainframe. A beautiful piece of machinery, perhaps the most wonderful creation ever to exist. Yet now it lay

inactive, without life. But perhaps saying that would be innacurate. The Mainframe ceased to exist for a reason.

Abdullah knew with all his heart that it would return someday, sooner or later. He would do everything in his power

to ensure that. Whatever the case, the work that had gone into such a masterpiece was impossible to duplicate.

Still, there was but one thing he could be sure of. Faith. Faith would resurrect the Mainframe someday, someday

tomorrow or years from now, the guiding light of a new Atheism.

While he was thinking this, he could not help but notice that the sounds of fighting continued to grow

closer. To run away now would be cowardly, but he felt a strange sense of foreboding.

The sound of battle, this time very, very loud. Looking over his shoulder, Abdullah spotted one of his

infantrymen fire off a magazine before diving behind a dumpster for cover. Rounds pinged off the hard steel,

richocheting onto nearby walls. The Colonel, whose commando training had yet to wear off, took his assault rifle

from its backpack holder and ran toward where the shooting was taking place, just a block over. Noticing several of

his infantrymen lounging about at their checkpoint, he yelled and waved his hand. They moved to assist the man

cowering behind his bullet-riddled dumpster. Just before Abdullah rounded a corner, he let off a burst of weapons

fire. Only then did he realize that he had done it instinctually when a man ran right at him from the other side of

the corner. Falling backwards from the impact of several plasma shards, his flesh smoked and turned a pure black.

Abdullah, his mind racing, was acting without thinking. He walked forward slowly, only a few paces, to get a close

look at the first man he had killed. Leaning on one knee, he gazed into his eyes. Only then did he realize that it

was one of the rioters and not one of his own men. Just as he was about to fire a final shot into the enemy's face,

he noticed the man's lips move, just barely, as if struggling to speak. Gasping in pain, no words left his charred

mouth. But, on his second attempt, the rasp of his voice awoke Abdullah to the reality of what had begun.



"The End Is Near!"



//MERKAR REPUBLIC TO ALL OPEN RECIEVERS//

This is Colonel Abdullah, temporary leader of the Merkar Republic. Previously, as you all know, the Merkar Republic

was a succesful technocracy, guided by our infailable computer, the Mainframe. Yesterday, the general public became

aware of its secret prediction that theists would one day a thousand years from now initiate a massive war that

would result in complete destruction of all living things in the universe. This is similar to the concept that many

know as "Armagedon". The only way to stop it, our Mainframe directed, was to exterminate all theists living in the

Merkar Republic. Secret planning for this project had been continuing for several months before the secret became

public yesterday.

As a result, massive riots have swept the country. We have offered the theists a painless, honorable death, but

judging by their reaction they have refused. By any means necessary, we will now reluctantly take upon ourselves the

terrible task of extermination by force. We request all free nations to come by our side in this time of civil war,

fighting for their own survival and that of all that lives today and in the future.

//END//

The hive wishes to offer 2% of its military capability to your control, an Avatar has already been dispatched and the fleet will be arriving within the day. The hive welcomes you as a potential ally and would insist that this matter is delt with swiftly and efficiently. The hive would also request that all potential prisoners be taken in order that we may more efficiently understand their working and thus create the perfect hunter for such a prey.

In anticipation:
The hive.

General Lente - Supreme Leader of The Helghan Army - recieved the message, through Military Intelligence, on paper. It was delivered by two Staff Commanders (Commanders of Helghast Armies).
He presumed that it was broadcasted through the world because he had never heard of this nation. Lente sat at his metal desk in his office in the Helghast Headquarters. He skimmed through the message:

...TO ALL OPEN RECIEVERS...Colonel Abdullah, temporary leader of the Merkar Republic. Previously, as you all know...Merkar Republic was...succesful technocracy, guided...computer...Mainframe. Yesterday, the general public became aware of...secret prediction that theists would one day a thousand years...initiate a massive war that...result...complete destruction of...living things in the universe...similar to...concept that many know as "Armagedon". The only way to stop it, our Mainframe directed, was to exterminate...theists living in the...Republic. Secret planning for this project had...continuing for several months before the secret became public yesterday...massive riots have swept the country. We...offered the theists...death, but judging by their reaction they have refused...we will now reluctantly take...ourselves the terrible task of extermination by force. We request all free nations to come by our side in this time of civil war, fighting for...survival and that of all that lives today and...future. //END//

"Hmm", he rubbed his chin, talking to himself. "Thiests are too be exterminated. Helghasts are not fans of religion and that bullshit."
Lente set the message down, crossed his legs, and leaned back in his chair. He thoguht for a moment because of what he had read.
Then the General turned to the message again and read a certain paragraph. He was reading the part about thiests initiating a war in a thousand years from now. He scoffed. "Holy war, it must be that they will prepare for," he said. This must be taken to Scolar, he thought.
Lente jumped from his seat, with the message in hand. He made way for the door and walked out...

OOC: Hive, check the signup thread (look at the first post in this thread for a link to it) for a map of Merkar. It's in one of the posts. Then use it to show where you're going to land your ground troops, if any.

//TRANSMISSION TO THE HIVE IMODIUS//

We welcome your help in our time of crisis. One of our battleships has reportedly gone rogue, and we request your assistance in destroying or capturing it. We already have some prisoners, but we believe all are just civillian rioters. Would you still be interested in them?

//END//

A QUICK LOOK AT the schedule had told Krendakov that at least one of the airports were still making regular flights. Steering a hovertank in the airport parking lot was both difficult and a good way to attract unwanted attention, but, as Merkaris often say, whatever works. The accomodations were surprisingly good aboard what was likely to be the last passenger freighter to leave the planet for a while. Rather expensive, but the Admiral had to contact his fleet. Rioting had temporarily spread to NeoTerra Spaceport, but was quickly subdued. When Vasily arrived, he saw no dead bodies, but residue of the violence could be seen in some places. Little hints, like empty hallways, vigilant policemen appearing at frequent intervals, and the odd pool of reddish liquid that had yet to be cleaned up.

For the most powerful man in the nation, getting past security was as simple as showing your face. Well, perhaps no longer the most powerful. Surprisingly, the station's citizens had yet to hear of his "treason".

After passing through the first checkpoint, he had arrived in the military section of the station. A very long, straight hallway seemed to stretch on forever, with gleaming white walls fitted with numerous doors at irregular intervals. But nothing concerned him at the moment other than the necessity of getting to the MRS Nomenclatur'a. If he was able to reach it first, Abdullah would be denied the nerve center of the Spaceborne Army of Merkar.

Navigating the intricate web of hallways was a challenge to those unfamiliar with it, which did not include Vasily. Ariving inside his flagship, the Nomenclatur'a, he passed through a final security checkpoint before making his way to the bridge. Fortunately, the Navy had already been mobilized, and Krendakov saw several familiar faces when he arrived.

"Comrades!"

Everyone present snapped to attention.

"Comrades, currently being the highest-ranking man in the country, I am temporarily taking control of the matter. Normally, the Mainframe would have such a responsibility, but you all know why that is no longer practical."

Krendakov spoke with a soothing calm and confidence. "Thantu!" The Executive Officer onboard the vessel nodded slowly. "Go out there and gather up as many people carrying a gun as you can. Don't let anyone without a Level Five security clearance or who isn't a member of the crew onboard. Use deadly force if necessary." Only a handful of men in the country had Level Five clearance. The bizzare quality of the order underscored the chaos of the situation. "Yessir!"

"Jensen!" This time it was the Air Wing Officer. "Cancel all passes and bring anyone on leave back into the ship. Tell them to be ready to head out. The duration and purpose of our voyage is highly classified."

"It's already been done, sir. All of our men and several civilians came onboard during the riots for protection, sir."

"Good job. Get the air wing ready for possible action."

Captain Jensen looked rather surprised for a moment, but regained composure quickly. "Can do, sir!"

"Weps!" Krendakov did not know his name yet, but knew that the old Weapons Officer had been dishonorably discharged just a few days ago for "conduct unbecoming of an officer," something that had a disturbingly broad definition.

"Sick bay, sir! Bullet wound!"

"Does anyone here know how shoot the guns on this damn thing?!"

Silence.

"Alright... Harten, commandeer the Weapons Officer on the MRS Comrade Tonkin. Tell him it's admiral's orders."

"Sir!"

"Dipaolo, what's the status on the powerup?" In the old days, their was an engineroom crew, but now it was all managed by the computer technician. Dipaolo, staring intently at his computer screen, turned his head to face Krendakov. Technically a civillian, he ran the ship's entire computer system.

"Didn't know you wanted one... sir." A weak attempt to follow military protocol.

"Godammit, this is my ship, and I expect things to get done!"

"On it right away!" Diapaolo looked startled, and perhaps a bit frightened.

Hell, the Admiral thought, at least I'm getting my job done. Taking his seat in the center of the bridge, he waited for his orders to be fulfilled.

* * * * *

Imagine the future, Vasily thought. He knew that he was the only person standing between the maniac Abdullah and the end of atheism as the world knows it. There would be a victory parade, of course, and Admiral of the Spaceborne Army of Merkar, Vasily M. M. Krendakov, would lead it. He would kick their ass and send them running. What dissapointed him was the disrespect and sheer negligence of his crew. After all he had gone through to try to save the world, they failed to use even the most basic common sense in preparing the ship for combat before he had arrived. Yes, it seemed as if he was the only one on this ship who knew what he was doing at times. Why was his crew so totally negligent? Oh well, no matter. Krendakov had many detractors, those who called him a selfish, powerhungry egomanaic. They would be proved wrong. And the whole world would know. If only he could make them know.

"Dammit, Thantu, haven't they responded yet?!" Krendakov restrained himself from yelling at his Executive Officer.

"No, sir."

That was all he had to say for himself? "Godammit, get it working or I'll send you back to Officer's School!"

Thantu was growing slighly frustrated. The admiral was angry with him for his failure to raise Merkar Cable News, ostensibly to inform the nation of Abdullah's lies. But Thantu knew that it was really just another publicity stunt.

"I'm very sorry, sir, but they don't seem to be operational."

Vasily opened his mounth to speak, but before he could a news announcement appeared on the display screen. The ship's computer sorted through all incoming transmissions, prioritized them, and automatically put them on-screen if it deemed them important. "I'll deal with you later."

"This is Merkar Cable News, November 12th, 2075. This is another emergency report."

Krendakov was attentive, but longed for his face to appear onscreen.

"Colonel Abdullah, in the absence of the Mainframe and with the dissapearance of all other leadership personnel, has declared himself temporary leader and imposed martial law. Rioting continues, and an attack on our own news building was subdued earlier today by what we are told are either army or police forces."

A picture of Krendakov alongisde McNeil appeared on the screen, but Vasily's face was one of disgust. He knew that Abdullah had likely taken control of the national media and whatever he had to say about the "traitors" wouldn't be complimentary.

"On the left is Admiral of the Space-Borne Army of Merkar, Vasily M. M. Krana- I'm sorry, Krendakov." The man who used to be the most powerful in the nation, and now they couldn't even pronounce his name right! "On the right is Commader-General Jake S. McNiel, commander of the Second Armored Division. We are told that the Second Armored Division is a, quote, "elite" unit." Why, thought Vasily, do they glorify McNeil but not his fellow traitor? Was this some kind of personal insult? Krendakov was particularly sensitive to anything he percieved as an unjustified slight.

"Both are currently under trial in absentia for crimes against the state. Colonel Abdullah began the proceedings today. He accuses them of not only impeding public good by obstructing a directive of the Mainframe, but also dereliction of duty and treason. More details to come as soon they filter in."

The admiral deactivated the display by using a control on his command seat. Apparently, he had forgotten about his agrument with Thantu, as he said nothing about it. "Communications, can you reach Harten?" Harten, one of Vasily's subordinates, had been dispatched to commandeer a replacement weapons officer from another ship. "Communications" was not a person, but a computer, and it instantly arranged a radio link to Harten.

"Sir?"

"What's your progress?"

"We're having trouble, sir. They're not recognizing your authority and we can't get onboard their ship."

"Why didn't you tell me earlier!? We've been waiting ten minutes! You should be back by now!"

"Sorry sir, I... permission to speak-"

"Denied!"

There was a pause as neither man could think of anything to say. Vasily realized that time was pressing, though, and called again.

"Is there no way at all to get onboard?"

"No, sir. We're stopped at the security checkpoint near the entrance to the ship and we can't get onboard." Another short pause. "Would you like to speak to one of the checkpoint guards?"

"Goddamit, I didn't ask to speak to one of the guards!"

"Sorry, sir!"

"There's no excuse for that, you weak sonuvabitch! Now get on that ship!"

"I'll keep trying sir."

"What the hell are you going to do?!"

"I.. don't know, sir."

"You imbecile! Let me speak to one of the guards!"

Harten was glad to hand off the walkie-talkie to one of the checkpoint personnel.

"Seargeant Joshua Miller, Merkar Republic Space Marines speaking." The voice sounded like it came from someone firm and burly.

"Seargeant, it's important. This is Admiral Vasily Krendakov. Let my men onboard your ship. That's an order."

No reply came for a moment, but you could hear what sounded like papers being shuffled. "Admiral, state your location, please."

"Why do you need to know where I am?!"

"Admiral, by order of the government of the Merkar Republic, you are ordered to relinquish control of your vessel and are hereby stripped of all rank and military privelege."

"Harten! Give the walkie-talkie to Harten!"

"Sorry, sir, I can't do that."

Shit! Harten was probably under arrest. He had lost another officer!

Turning to Thantu, he said, "XO, get the ship ready to get us out of here. Once everything's powered up, grab about forty men and try to fight your way past the checkpoint and take as many prisoners as you can from that ship. If you're not back in thirty minutes, we'll leave without you. Move."

Thantu was stuck in quite a dillemma. Just minutes ago he saw a news broadcast denounce his commander as a traitor, and then his authority had been overriden during the checkpoint debacle. Vasily noticed this indecisiveness in his subordinate. "I'll explain later! Go!" Regardless, Thantu trusted his commander more than himself. Beyond the ego was an essentially moral man.



Near the entrance to MRS Comrade Tonkin

Seargeant Joshua Miller, the epitome of the unthinkingly loyal Space Marine, stood guard over the entrance to the space battleship. The room looked somewhat like a small, poorly lit, sparsely furnished hotel lobby with a glass wall and cieling. It was not actually glass, of course, but display panels covering metal that showed the outside world. On one end was the entrance coming from the inside of the spaceport. On the other, about ten yards away, was the checkpoint, Harten and his men in handcuffs, and a long glass-looking tunnel leading to the ship.

With a bang and a flash, the far door exploded. Joshua and his men ducked behind their sandbag barriers as shrapnel and bullets poured into the room. As he raised his head to see what was hapenning, a plasma shard tore into his face.



MRS Nomenclatur'a

Vasily stood on the side of the bridge near the starport, waiting for Thantu to return. As always, he thought of how beautiful it all was. The stars, the graceful spacecraft, the planets, even the dark, infinite space itself. It seemed that this was not a place for war. Yes, how could such a bizzare and forbidden place harbor humanity at all? But it was about to happen. The stars would continue on, as would the planets, as would the nothingness. But, just for the moment, they were to witness battle.

His eyes were drawn to the long transparent-looking tunnel that led from the spaceport to the Nomenclatur'a, the only link now with himself and the rest of the nation. Who was to say, though, that he was a traitor and no longer Merkari? There were others who betrayed the Republic, and only now did the new generation arrive. The "atheists" who built their own God of electrons.

As Krendakov eyed the bridge, he noticed movement. Men walked across it, carrying guns it appeared. Squinting, he could barely make out their uniforms. Still, they did not appear to be naval personnel. A flash reverberated through the tunnel, awakening him to reality. Shit. Here they come.

He turned around with lightning speed, yelling as loud as he could. "BATTLE STATIONS, BOARDING!"

The drill sounded eloquent enough, but it was really something much cruder. Everyone onboard, according to procedure, was to simply grab a weapon of some kind and head for the intruders. Many of the rifles were with Harten, but most were still onboard. Someone on the bridge activated the warning sirens, and red lights flashed throughout the vessel. Everyone at the bridge was now looking at the Admiral as if they were expecting him to issue an order. "Everyone, get ready to fight and come with me!"

The men and women manning the Nomenclatur'a stopped whatever they happened to be doing at the moment and grabbed weapons of every kind. Only a few found plasma rifles, and most had to be content with knives, wooden boards, or their bare hands. The noise of fighting shook the hull, along with the sound thousands of thouands of footsteps, Vasily's among them. Just as he left the bridge and turned a corner, he saw men moving toward him. Just before he was about to shoot, reflex stopped him.

"Harten!"

"Sir, we need to move out! There's more coming onboard!"

"Follow me!"

Krendakov was now sandwhiched between Harten's group and the group of men following him, but everyone knew which way to move. Arriving there, he returned to his command seat. During the hurry, he glanced at the dazed prisoners Harten had taken. "Take us out of here!"

"Sir, the acceleration device isn't powered up! I tried-"

"Kick in the auxilary!"

"I tried that, sir-"

A flash, and then a smell of ozone. Everyone's head snapped to the right as a crisp, athletic-looking soldier entered the room.

"Admiral Krendakov, you're under arrest by order of the Merkari Government." Vasily was paralyzed with confusion. Noone knew what to do, as the fight continued to be heard down the hallway. "I..." His shocked perplexion changed to indignant agner. "Who might you be?! What authority do you hold?!"

"That's irrelevant. Come with- ARGHH!"

Thantu lept from his seat and put his arm around the intruder's throat. Vasily watched passively from his command chair as the bridge crew lept on their new prisoner, disarming him. Panting heavily, Krendakov wiped accumulated sweat and grease from his forehead and recovered his composure. "Cut it out! It's time to move out!"

The Nomenclatur'a departed from the spaceport, its engines emitting pulses of blue and purple as it headed off on its own.

* * * * *

500 miles west of Republic City

Jake McNeil had already glided his hovertank into the 2nd Armored's base before the words from Abdullah came. When he arrived, his subordinates were somewhat distraught to have an alleged traitor in their presence. But the presence of a strong commander was enough to calm them. He had called them to a meeting inside one of the hovertank hangars, the bright floodlights reflecting off the white walls. The hanger gave no more protection than a garden shed, but at least it was enough to keep out the rain. It was night by now, and everyone had donned heavy jackets to keep out the cold.

Noticing his arrival, one of McNeil's subordinates greeted him with caution. "Sir! Good to see you!" But the reply from Jake was hardly welcoming. "Comrades, I must explain to you that something very terrible has happened."

As promised 2% of hive fleet imodius arrived in super orbit the capital ships remaining well out of system.

Over 5,000 ships enterd into super orbit with 40,000 drop spawn screaming towards the planets surface, each one laiden with 100 chittering beasts of the hive Gaunts. 30 fighters escourted a massive carrier down to the outskirts of the capital city to collect the captive's for interrogation.

Comms from HFI:
We are the hive, we welcome you to our alliance we shall endevor to resolve this situation immediatly.
We suggest you follow the instructions below for the safty and well being of your society.

1: Comply to all requests made of you.

2: Your army is not to engage, act agresivly or in any way attempt to intimidate any memeber of the hive.

3:100% curfew for all Civilians with current citizen ship to your nation.

4: Any rebels you currently have in custody are to be turned over for analysis and termination.

5: Remeber that we are here to assist you. This nation shall remain yours to control we are here to prevent the worst from occuring.

We are the hive, We are perfection.
-Comms Closed-

The massive organic ships floating in super orbit began to calculate potential locations of the rogue ship and dispatched 3,000 short range swarm ships to local planets in system as scouts. The man sized organic vessels spiraled out of their mother's with grace before each one created a gravety well and catapulted themselfs across the void of space.

The hive had come and there was to be a great harvest.

Scolar Visari - Supreme Leader of The Helghan Empire - stood in his gray office. He was looking out the bullet-proof window, behind his desk. Visari was watching five Helghast Base Soldiers, wielding the stadard, StA-52 Light Assault Rifles. They marched around the Headquarters' grounds, patrolling the area.
He heard a faint, whirring, noise come from behind him. Then his door swung open. He obviously knew that someone was using the retinal scanner, attatched to the door. General Lente - Supreme Leader of The Helghan Army - walked in carrying the message.
"Hello, General." Visari greeted. "What are here for?"
General Lente held up the message and placed it on the leader's desk. "We have recieved a message from an unknown nation. I have presumed that it was broadcasted to everyone around the world because Helghan has no idea who they are."
Visari picked up the paper and read through the message. After a moment he said, "A massive war started by theists?"
"That's what it says. This nation, Athiesism, or Merker Republic, predicts the fore-telling of a massive civil war that could result in Armegedon."
Scolar Visari looked at the message again. "Hmm, Athiesism wants to prevent this outbreak with genocide of all religious people. We both know that Helghasts are athiests - every Helghast know that. It's not our business, but the word Armegedon means some thing to everyone."
"What does that have to do with us?"
"I'll tell you: A thousands years from now, thiest fools will become an important warmonger, for starting this civil war between humanity. Armegedon means the end of all life. That includes Helghasts!
"I don't want to see Helghan lost to religious people because in the past, our leaders Visari and Lente ignored the warning to exterminate Christians, Muslims, whatever, in the Merker Republic. Send a transmission to this Republic and tell them that Helghasts will answer their call and aid them against thiests."
General Lente said nothing. The only things he did were: Salute to the leader, and leave the room to tell Athesism that they are on their side.

OOC: It's strange, I noticed that this thread has gotten over a hundred views but there's only like three people RPing. I'm sure at least a few other people are interested. Remember, this is semi-open and we're accepting practically everyone! A link to the sign-up thread is in the opening post.


//MERKAR GOVT. PRESS RELEASE//
Greetings, listeners. Today, as riots across the nation continue into their third day, the Hive Fleet Imodius has pledged support to us, along with the Helghan Empire. Both are welcomed wholeheartedly as allies. Hopefully, the current crisis will be brought to a swift conclusion with a minimum of bloodshed.

In the west, reports of Krashnyy militia fighters assaulting our population continue to arrive. We assure everyone that we are doing as much as we can to protect our western frontier and deal with the ongoing riots in major urban centers, and reserves continue to mobilize.

In addition, the Spaceborne Army of Merkar is also mobilizing. Our flagship, the MRS Nomenclatur'a, is reported to have fallen into rebel hands. This does not pose an immediate threat, however, as the Spaceborne Army of Merkar is in full pursuit, facing no other opposition as of yet.

Lastly, we are taking steps to deal with the traitorous actions of formerly loyal army Commander-General Jake McNeil. The Sixth Armored Division has been dispatched to assault his entrenched hideout. There is no doubt that the entire population of Merkar feels great regret with regard to such a heinious treason commited by a man who formerly defended the nation with honor.

Once again, we ask all nations to continue to support our crusade to defend the correctness of the Mainframe. Whatever leader you follow, we ask that prosperity be with you all.

//END//

Above Merkar

Forty million Hive drop-pods sped toward the planet, but they were totally unescorted. Admiral Krendakov, hearing that Hive had allied with Abdullah's regime, noticed that the entire Hive fleet had been placed in distant orbit, too far away to defend their drop pods. The rest of the Merkar fleet had yet to mobilize, and this was the best chance he was going to get to destroy the poorly-armored and unguarded pods. Noticing that they were spaced fairly closely together, packed into an area 25,000 miles wide as they clustered before reaching the thin habitable zone of the planet Merkar, he realized that just two of his large Antimatter Torpedoes, spewing a field of antimatter 50,000 kilometers distant, would be more than enough to destroy the entire concentration. Giving the order to fire, the weapons proceeded to their target, escorted by fighters.



SUNLIGHT RECEDED FROM the wide valley, curling itself over the hills as the sun fell and the stars took its place. The few hardy animals capable of living in the desert had found shelter by now as a fierce day gave way to a frigid night. But other beasts came to take their place. From the crest of a hill descended first one, and then another, and then another floating warhorse of steel.

"Javelin Six, this is Musket." The tank company commander heard the voice through his headset. "We've cleared the LD. Proceeding on. Out." Garcia was surprised that they had yet to encounter resistance. He had expected the enemy Second Armored Divison to put up a fight, but apparently the traitor McNeil was not such a powerful figure after all. "This is Javelin Six, proceed. Keep your eyes out." Captain Garcia almost regretted his last remark- if they had gone this far without enemy resistance, there was likely to be nothing in front of them all the way to the rebel base.

But, then again, the enemy had stealth hovertanks also. As Garcia's company moved through the desert, stirring up sand in its wake, he wondered when the two undectable armies would make contact. A strange proposition.

"Contact aircraft, direct front!"

"Check IFF!"

"Confirmed enemy!"

Firing would give away the cloaked company's position, and it wasn't likely that this enemy spotter plane would have the sophisticated sensor equipment to see them. But, acting on his own initiative, the tank alongside Garcia's opened fire with missiles.

"Cease fire!"

Too late, of course. Captain Garcia watched is tactical display as half a dozen missile icons followed the darting enemy aircraft. A moment later, a torrent of rockets could be heard launching. "What the hell-"

A sound of unimaginable proportions reverberated throughout the hovertank. "Sir! Three's been hit!" One of his fellow tanks had been torn to pieces. "Contact tank!"

"Open fire!"

But it was too late. McNeil's tanks had already surrounded Garcia's armored platoon, decimating it in a single missile barrage.

ooc: sorry my bad is 40,000 drop spawn not 40 million. The drop spawn are like assault craft not drop pods they are armed if you want to change what he does thats fine however i am prepared to react towards what he has done in responce to my landing vehicles. Let me know ;)

Darkness swept Helghan at 8:00 PM, and rained, as usual. At the same time, the Helghast 4th Army was beggining to mobilize to the Merker Republic. Attack Ships hovered extemely high, in the sky, while the Army was employing into the Helghast Dropships. When ten soldiers entered one Dropship, the two pilots immediately begin to hover, after taking off from Launch Pads, after vertical take-offs, and begin to rise up to the Attack Ships. The Attack Ships held a total amount of twenty Dropships in the two cargo bays for Dropships - ten for each cargo bay. There were six others, but they contained infantry and aerial armor.
And once they filled up, they begin to leave The Helghan Empire, and the planet.
The Helghast Army mobilized quickly as every Dropship disappeared in cargo bays. They left the atmosphere wthin twenty minutes and prepared for solar system travel. According to the Staff Commanders, in charge of the Army, it would an estimated four days. They sent a transmission to the Republic for their upcoming arrival:


From: Staff Commander of The Helghan 4th Army: Alexei Oragern
To: Colonel Abdullah
Subject: Arrival

The Helghast 4th Army is in current mobilization to reach Athiesism, or Merker Republic. Because of the distance, it will be at least four days until the arrival of Helghast soldiers. When you are finished reading this transmission, we would like it if you immediatley send us a transmission of the current diplomatic status of you nation. Meaning, we want to know if it is war-torn from your "civil war" (and if there is one) or in healthy shape, despite rioting and uprisings. We want you to send it to Helghan, the same way you previously did, and they will send it here, just as long as you quote this transmission when sending. We would give you the frequencies of our transmission code to send it directly here, but we have security reasons when in solar system travel, and the "civil war". It's best that the uprisers do not capture our trans' codes so they can monitor our moevements. We shall be waiting for your transmission.

Transmission Ended

The Eternals who had granted them the world they lived on and much technology were angered and saddened by the new suffering of those who believed in a higher power in the universe or a path of enlightment. The Eternals also were enraged due to their love of all life and freedom of expression by all intellgient organic beings. In response the Eternals sent another representative to the Merkar Republic the same one that gad been sent many years earlier. He appeared on the outside area of the city in a great beam of light. There he began to appoarch the city wearing the long pure golden diamond studded robes of a High Priest of the Eternals. As well he was escroted by a small group of twenty Temple Guards armed and armoured with silver weapons and armor.

OOC: Hive, I'm undoing the attack on your dropships.

//TRANSMISSION TO ALL MERKAR REP. ALLIES//
11/15/2075
The Merkar Republic is releasing a situation report regarding the current social instability in the country. Major action is currently occuring in several areas:

1. On the western frontier (see map in OOC/story thread, linked in first post), bands of Krasnyy marauders are reported to have attacked Merkari military and civilian personnel. The Merkar Government confirms reports that the situation continues to deteriorate in the west.

2. Major rioting has ended, although most urban centers are still not completely secure. Causes of riots believed to include confusion regarding the situation of the Mainframe, religious conflict, and criminal opportunism.

3. The Spaceborne Army of Merkar (SAM) continues its attempts to locate the rogue MRS Nomenclatur'a.

4. An offensive against the rebel Second Armored Division, led by Jake McNeil, has encountered difficulties.

//END//

Republic City

Bodies littered the streets in front of the Eternal delegation. As they proceeded toward the capitol building, rioting crowds halted for a moment in awe. A handful attacked them out of fear, but realized the futility of trying to do so. Colonel Abdullah got word of the disturbance and headed out with an armored column to investigate.

elsewhere...



"COMRADES, SOMETHING HAS happened that has torn our society asunder from its most basic statutes. To be Merkari formerely meant to be open-minded, reasonable!"
"COMRADES! Just days ago, the Government failed us. It did so of its own volition, not out of foreign intereference. The fundamental reason was its failure to be infailable- a myth that was torn to pieces during the chaotic events that have just recently come to light. The atheist nation of Merkar is no more. They have now accepted a new god- the Mainframe."
It seemed that every time such a phrase was uttered, it met with shock. Yet, every officer in the room could see it for themselves. The Mainframe was no longer perfection. It was a machine, no more powerful than any other.
"I fled here to fight them. Atheism does not mean heeding mindlessly what has been told to you, no matter how correct it may seem. We must think of why we do such things. I ask all of you, therefore, to make your decision now. Any one of you not willing to fight for me, the legitimate leader of Merkar, may leave now."

Noone moved.

"Very well." Krendakov smiled broadly. "You have all earned my trust."

* * * * *

Vasily still felt like slapping himself for his slip of tongue during the speech. Anyone of you not willing to fight for me, he thought, the legitimate leader of Merkar, may leave now. The Admiral knew the strength of his ego, but preferred that noone else did. Yes, but it was no matter. McNeil would not grab the glory. That was The Admiral's task.

Abdullah did mean well. Everyone had always known him as a moral man, not one to betray his country. There was, as yet, no counterpoint put forth that could challenge the Mainframe's seemingly unassailable argument of future Armageddon. Yet, if it failed already, there was no reason to believe it was wrong somehow, beyond human cognition. There was no perfection. The failure of the Mainframe had proved that. Regardless, Vasily would have a place in the nation's memories worthy of a hero.

Admiral Krendakov wondered when they would spot him. For miles behind him there was nothing but space, as the Nomenclatur'a was covered by darkness while it manuevered into position on the far side of planet Ashasi. A small, flaming dustball, uninhabitable by human standards. But enough to hide behind.

The prisoners he had captured had, apparently, accepted their new roles. The new Weapons Officer, for one, forcibly commandeered from one of his fellow ships before they had left the spaceport, was supportive of the legitimate government of Merkar- which was, really, Krendakov. He was the most powerful man in the nation before Abdullah had taken control, and Vasily saw himself as the legitimate head-of-state, regardless of galactic opinion.

Casually glancing at the tactical display, he noticed something unusual. Strange symbology that he had rarely seen before. Yet, it was strangely appropriate. Suddenly, he realized what it meant- a battle was occuring.

Far side of the planet

Flight Commander Jensen was ready for whatever they might throw at him. "Alright, Topgun squadron, break and attack!"

The four fighters hardly constituted a "squadron", but not enough could be spared for a full sortie. Regardless, Jensen was the the best pilot on the ship. If he couldn't defend the scout patrol, noone could.

Ten thousand miles away, the Merkar Navy fighters hurled toward him. Obsolete Talon-class, most likely, but numerous. Still, it was hard to call such a fine spacecraft "obsolete"- at $400 million apiece, they were still among the best in the galaxy despite their age.

"Viper, let's go hunting these musuem pieces!" Jensen recognized the voice to be his wingman, Tiger. "Take it easy, Comrade. We'll see how well they can fight." The best pilots were assigned to the flagship, which was formerly the Nomenclatur'a. Now, they were all in "rebel" hands, but were badly outnumbered by Abdullah's navy.

As the range closed to 1,500 miles, the flight readied themselves for battle. Each aquired a target, ready to fire once the enemy was within range. Jensen placed the targeting reticle on one of the Government spacecraft, prepared to tear it to stardust.

The reticle flashed gold, and Jensen cooly held down the trigger. What looked like streams of light pulsed from his billion-dollar Hercules fighter, the targeting software aiding the pilot in his aim. Enemy fire ripped past the flight, but at this range it was impossible for anyone other than a marksman to score a hit reliably. At long range, slow-firing, high-power cannons were used, and only a few shots were needed to vaporise the target. "Splash one!"

"Make that two, boss!" Topgun Three had scored his first kill. Ignoring the radio chatter, Jensen concentrated on his job. But the range was too close- ten enemy fighters zipped past. Without needing an instruction, Topgun Flight slowed to combat speed for maximum manuevrability. Now it was too fast to think. Every Merkari pilot, genetically engineered and trained for superhuman reflexes, entered into a trance when speed was needed. In space combat, the slow were dead.

Jensen's Hercules pulled around to the right, conveniently lining up a Talon in his targeting reticle, only a mile away. At this range, he couldn't miss if he tried. The cannons automatically switched to low-power, high-rate-of-fire mode, overloading the target in heat energy until it exploded.

Noone was thinking- instinct had taken over at this speed. Relying on years of training, Jensen jerked his head to the rear, noticing an enemy craft lining up for a 6 o'clock shot. Reverse thrusters wouldn't activate in time to simply fly in behind the enemy to his rear, so he cut the throttle and executed a dizzying spin. An excellent tactic to dodge whatever plasma might come your way. Flashes of light soared past his field of vision as the Talon missed its target.

A terrifying flash of light, then a short string of screehces. Topgun Leader had been hit, but it was not fatal. The enemy Talon, realizing that he was about to overshoot, pulled up into a climb. This was Jensen's chance. His opponent had executed the manuever incorrectly, taking too long in his climb. The flight commander pulled up and finished off the target.

Another series of screeches, flashes of light, and this time a groaning noise as the craft tried to hold together. The hull integrity monitor turned red. He turned sharply right, expecting to see the enemy. But nothing was there. Swiveling his head in a frantic search for his pursuer, he noticed four fighters barrel into him from above. There was nothing he could do as his fellow Merkaris lined up their target.

The cloaked probe was collectingsensor readings on the faithless Atheists when something intriguing caught its biotronic 'eye':

Atheist mainframe emissions readings incoming....offline?!?!?....Assessing Situation...Proxy Error 42379-beta...Sending data to Waypoint..Transmitted..

Hundreds oflight years away in the Domnion Galaxy, Starbase Waypoint recieved the odd transmission..

Intel: Sir, our intel probe in the Merkar System must be malfunctioning..It says the Atheists' computer mainframe is offline.

Sisko: Really? Interesting, this could be a valuable opportunity. We follow the President's orders for such situations. Initiate Communication Protocol 619. The Dominion is going to war.

OOC: If anyone wants stats on ships and soldiers,they'll come inthe next post.
Comm: Message sent to Antares Fleet yards, Hyperion Fleet responding and deploying.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Antares Fleet Yards, Dominion Fleet flagship Saving Grace

Shadow Trooper: Grand Admiral, sir, we have recieved word from Waypoint, we deploy to Merkar System immediately.

Piett: Well, what are you waiting for? ALL HANDS TO BATTLE STATIONS! RED ALERT!

Klaxons sounded as Hyperion Fleet, consisting of 500 Omega Cruisers, 600 Talon class light cruisers, 2 Revan Class Capitol ships, and the Dominion class Universe Cruiser Saving Grace came into formation, powered up wormhole generators and slipped through the hole in time-space towards glory-and war!

TIMES COME WHEN traitors must be dealt with. That time had come for Vasily Krendakov, whether he knew it or not.

A string of sleek, dark shapes left the orbit of Merkar. In a long, black line, they hurtled toward the planet Ashasi, intent on locating the ultimate enemy- the man who would decry the Mainframe as a God.

Rear Admiral Johnathan McClellan would have none of it. It was disgusting to even thing of such a terrible crime against society- obstructing the normal functioning of an entire nation, bringing it to confront the threat of Armageddon. There was no explanation as to why Krendakov had done so, and there was no excuse either.

Admiral McClellan, star graduate of the Academy, was regarded as among the hardest-working and devoted men in the Fleet. He had a powerful nationalistic fervor, something that was frowned upon in Merkar, but he was highly regarded nonetheless. Still, he had heard whispers among senior officers that Colonel Abdullah had put him in command of the operation merely out of concern for political loyalty, as there were more competent tacticians to choose from. Still, the Admiral, although a strict disciplinarian, was devoted to whatever duty he was given.

His detractors derailed him as being overtly orthodox, a rare and disliked quality in a nation like Merkar. During wargames, he repeatedly attempted to solve problems by brute force alone. Regardless, his diligence and impudence eventually triumphed. That was, of course, only a wargame. Could such thinking survive combat?

Regardless, the odds were stacked against the traitor Krendakov. Twenty-four carriers of the Nomenclatur'a class, five frigates of the Orion class, and over 700 small spacecraft of various types. The smaller craft included the formidable fighters Hercules and Talon, plus spaceborne early warning craft of the Hawkeye and Riyunin Hercules classes. The three-hundred-seventy-two Hercules fighters included fifty each of the stealthy Nivinmotre and exceptionally fast Sharta variants. Each of these cost in excess of one billion dollars, and the pilots, many elite mercenaries, were arguably the finest in the galaxy. To add to that where the exactly 317 fine Talons, rather old but still far superior to any foreign design.

At last count, 38 Hercules fighters were stationed onboard the rebel Nomenclatur'a before its seizure by Krendakov. The Republic's best pilots were onboard, and had apparently sided with the traitor. Earlier this morning, a battle had taken place. Twelve of McClellan's Talons had been sent to intercept a reconnaisance craft escorted by four of what were likely Hercules fighters. After loosing five of their number, the Talons withdrew, achieving only one confirmed kill. A dissapointing show.

Admiral McClellan, stroking his well-trimmed beard, thought about berating the fighter wing commander for his failure. The action was certain to send morale plummeting. Yes, regardless of whatever guilt the wing commander felt, he needed to feel responsibility.

Just as the admiral turned toward his XO to ask where the air group leader was, his communications officer called to him.

"Sir! Incoming transmission, SAMNAD coding!"

A message from headquarters. "Bring it to me!"

"Sorry, Commander! It's eyes-only!"

Turning briskly, he lowered his hand from his beard and walked to the communications terminal. Leaning over to type in his security clearance, he looked over his shoulder at his communications officer. The officer looked rather curious as to the contents of the message, but McClellan frowned at him.

"Eyes Only, lieutenant."

"Sorry, sir!" The officer saluted and walked away.

After the security clearance was typed, words began to spread across the screen. McClellan took a seat at the console, an intense expression on the face of a man who was usually unnaturally firm and calm.

//COMMANDER IN CHIEF ASHASI MISSION//

MERKAR INTELLIGENCE STATES FOLLOWING:

1. FORCES FROM NATION, NAME TRANSLATES "RUTHLESS SLAUGHTER" RACE ID#789, SPOTTED DEPARTING HOME SYSTEM DISTANCE 15+ LY FROM MERKAR
2. FROM JUMP LOCATION, FORCE LIKELY TO HAVE MERKAR SYSTEM AS DESTINATION
3. PRECISE DESTINATION UNKNOWN
4. PRECISE INTENT UNKNOWN; POTENTIALLY HOSTILE

NONE OF ABOVE STATEMENTS CONFIRMED. SOURCE OF INFORMATION CLASSIFIED LEVEL 7. DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION TO YOUR CREW AT YOUR DISGRESSION.

SAMNAD SPACEBORNE ARMY MERKAR NAVAL DEFENCE

//END//

"Ruthless Slaughter". An unusually secrective star-faring race. Few Merkaris knew much about them, and McClellan was certainly not one of them. At a distance of twenty lightyears, assuming that they used contemporary jump nodes capable of 10 lightyears per day, these forces would arrive soon. Their intent was certainly hostile- an invasion was likely. Yet, McClellan was not concerned beyond what he needed to fulfill his mission. Curious about the upcoming threat, he swiveled his chair to face the tactical display.

"Show all available information on race ID number seven-eight-nine."

One day passed...
Cafeteria Bay (Aboard the main Attack Ship of the fleet)
Soldier's were getting restless in each of the capital ships. They wanted war immediatley. Colonel Kem Hassemal with his fellow comrades. The colonel fiddled with his breakfast with his fork. It was morning during that day, but it's impossible to tell in space; yet the Ships had a clock that portrayed Earth Time.
On his plate were fresh toast and eggs. Eggs were extremely rare in Helghan, but frequently eaten in the military. On the right of his plate was a cup of half-drank milk.
Hassemal looked around the cafeteria. Men waited in line for breakfast to be served by the cooks; other men joined others to eat beside; men retired from the cafeteria to find other things to do.
One soldier joined the colonel. He sat across from him on the table. "Morning Colonel," the soldier - Private Gregor Sarov - greeted. The private was part of Kem Hassemal's platoon.
"Mornin' Gregor," he vaguely replied. He picked up his fork and fished some eggs on to the utensil.
"You looked somber, especially alone from everyone else."
"Whatever. Is that why you came to sit with me?"
"Hell no sir. Well, that and I wanna know what's gonna happen in this Merker Republic place."
"I know not much son. But I'll tell ya what I know."
"Go ahead."
Hassemal grabbed his cup and drank. Then he put it down and started. "Well, I know that we are gonna be deployed to wipe out these fuckin' thiests that are convicted to stir up trouble in a thousand years."
"The hell is that supposed to mean?" Sarov replied. "Religous fucks can't live for a thousand years." He began to start his meal.
"Of course not. But it probably means that religous people reproduce and convert their children to religion. An maybe they do the same. Anyways, we are sent to exterminate all religious people in the Merker Republic. Not Athiests, they are the ones who want to end thiesism in the country. We're on their side. But I have no fucking idea how we know who's a thiest and who's an athiest."
"Maybe they got records."
"Still makes no difference. Anyways, there's pretty much a civil war goin' on and our great Leader wants to end religious tyranny in the foreign planet. So it means that we're gonna be executing some innocent civilians. Doesn't matter to me."
"Makes sense now."
The two ended their discussion after that and ate on silently.

Bodies littered the streets in front of the Eternal delegation. As they proceeded toward the capitol building, rioting crowds halted for a moment in awe. A handful attacked them out of fear, but realized the futility of trying to do so. Colonel Abdullah got word of the disturbance and headed out with an armored column to investigate.
The Eternals' human representative meet Colonel Abdullah and his guard and said the Colonel," The Eternals have sent me to tell you that the central computer of your nation called the 'Mainframe' has decevied your former goverment in order so that you will usurpe them and take power. As well as the 'Mainframe' intends for your people to worship at your god. The Eternal will contradict this saying that no computer can ascend and as well it does not have a sense of continued consincess after death even if that is maintained by the Eternals. So now the Eternals will tell you the truth that they are not mortal beings, but are eternal beings that will never truly die as their mind and soul will later reform their bodies. The Eternals also remind you of an afterlife that we promised to your people on Earth and the Eternals will renew this offer onto you if do not worship the mainframe as our only condition. This time they do not ask you to worship them, but only live a good and honourable life and an afterlife will be granted unto any individual on this planet and their descendents."

as the 40,000 organic drop ships enterd the atmosphere they absorbed information regarding all that would be required for the chittering horde they contained to survive and began pumping them with steroids to awaken them before pumping pyrogetoraise into their system making them extreamly aggressive. 10,000 of the ships headed towards various towns and city's each one releasing 100 of these chittering beasts onto the public with the intention of clearing the streets and restoring peace. Each creature was fully capable of reaching speeds of 250 mph and slamming its titanium alloy citen claws through a APC's armor plating to get at the fleshy morsels inside. The hive emphased its will ordering the creatures to refrain from attacking military units for now.
The empty carriers proceeded to provice air support while 100 were sent to collect the POW's already collected.

The remaining 30,000 headed towards one of 2 sources of conflict.

10,000 headed towards the western frontier to deal with the maruders with deadly efficiency. 100,000 gaunts sprang from the drop ships and began to ravage the area protecting local forces and civilians.

while 19,000 headed towards the rebel Second Armored Division 1,000 also headed in that direction but stopped 5 miles behind the conflict where their cargo in under 1 hour was transformed into scythed hyrodule which would then be released the organic matter from the 100 gaunts was recycled into a single hyrodule each one larger than a tank and capable of pulling down a large mech on its own.

Onboard the Saving Grace, Grand Admiral Piett, master of the three massive Dominion Fleets, Hyperion being smallest by far, sat in his luxurious ready room mulling over the war to come.

I'm not sure if this is a good idea, we are usually welcoming of other faiths than our own. But this how we react to a race with no faith at all? For all we know they're fellow HUMANS for God’s sake! That is the source of all this isn't it? For God’s sake...Such a powerful motivation. He thought to himself. However his reverie was interrupted, as it often was, by his Executive Officer, one Captain Keyes.

Keyes: Sir, permission to speak freely?

Piett: Come now, Jim, we've been friends long enough that you don't have to ask. What's bothering you? Come in, sit down.

He gestured at one the plush executive office chairs in front of his desk which was gratefully taken.

Keyes: I've been thinking, it's an old protocol, isn't it? The one concerning races with no religion, I mean. It's been around forever, even the automated delivery system for it is ancient. Why bother?

Piett: It's an order, and it is our duty to follow it. Simply put, we have no choice, it can’t even be overridden by the President himself. *sigh* Rally the troops, prepare to land on the nearest colony of the outermost planet in the system.

Keyes: One last thing sir, if I may? Why not hail them first, see what’s going on? I really don’t feel like starting a holy war today.

Piett: Very well, I guess we can at least do that…..

OOC:
Here's the ship stats:

Omega Cruiser
Length: 825 meters
Height: 125 meters
Width: 85 meters
Shields: Single layer hyperphasic shielding
Armor: 2 feet of uridium (elements iridium, depleted uranium and titanium A) armor
Armament: 25 Plasma Turrets, 10 Plasma Torpedo Projectors

Talon Class Light Cruiser
Length: 125 meters
Height:50 meters
Width: 25 meters
Shields: Dual layer metaphasic shields
Armor: none
Armament: 4 plasma turrets, 2 plasma torpedo projectors

Revan class Capitol ship
Length: 2 km
Height: .5 kilometers
Width: 500 meters
Shields: Reinforced Hyperphasic shielding
Armor: none
Armament: 40 plasma turrets, 25 plasma torpedo projectors, 10 heavy turbolasers for fighters
Fighter Compliment: 15 Advanced Gunship Fighters

Dominion Class Universe Cruiser
Height 40km
Length: 10km
Width: 20 km
Shileds: Quad layer hyperpahsic shielding
Armor: 5 feet of reinforced dura-armor
Armament: 250 heavy turbolasers, 300 plasma turrets, 200 plasma torpedo projectors
Fighter Compliment: 150 Advanced Gunship Fighters

OOC: I'm speeding my RP up because I have a slow rp with my Attack Ships, so I am reaching orbit atm.

IC:
The Attack Ship Fleet has reached range of the Merker Republic that morning. In one Attack Ship, soldiers were walking around finding things to do. Helghasts polished their weapons, others were working on their war vehicles, few were just finishing their five minute showers, and many more were in the cafeteria bay.
Soon, a PA system came online in every room of the capital ship. All stopped what they did. A voice was there to be heard, "The Merker Republic is in sight of Helghast eyes. We will be deploying in three-point-five hours onto the surface. Get ready soldiers, shower, dress, eat and finish breakfast, and wait for your ranks to be called in the Cargo Bays. One more thing, the Cafteria will be closed in twenty minutes. We will alert you when it's closed, and alert you when you are summoned to the Cargo Bays. That is all."
Heghast soldiers returned to their current activity, some others ran back into their barracks to change from their off-duty uniforms to their combat uniforms.

On the surface of the planet thousads of gaunts screamed across open terain at 250mph towards their targets, clambering over tanks tearing holes into them or removing chunks of tracks. One clamberd into the barrel as a tank opend fire spraying the front of the tank in a thick acid which began to melt the tank leaving the front half nothing but a hissing pile of liquids.

In the city gaunts screamed through the streets tearing any rioters still on the streets to pieces leaving blood smeared across the streets until they met the eternals. They did not register as civilian or military of the local government to which the guants became confused. Immediatly a pod was launched from orbit at their present location while 20 gaunts hung around not entirely sure what to do the remaining swarmed through the streets killing any civilians who were in breech of the curfew.

The gaunts in support of the human military on the ground did not enter the facility they were protecting and instead formed up in a ring around the outside while patrols of 25 gaunts headed out to push snipers and ambushers out of the surrounding region.

The Scythed hyroduleds where droped into the middle of the rebel armoured company from 100 meters each one landing on a tank immediatly tearing it to bits killing the crew inside. These massive creatures the proceded to turn on any remaining tanks some tearing tanks in half between them much like a pair of dogs would tear a rabbit in half as they argued over it. The gaunts had taken a pounding from the armoured company as they were not designed to cope with such machines.

losses: 1367 gaunts

tag for later post on the side of the religeoud group

Some information on my fleet, isn't essential to the story but I posted it here for Ruthless Slaughter and Helghan to see:

Currently has:
318 Hercules Vijanata
15 Hercules Riyunin
50 Hercules Sharta
5 Orion class frigate
24 Nomenclatur'a class battleship-carriers
1 Invincible class carrier (taken out of service, currently a musuem but is well-maintained and could be refitted and ready for action in a week if enough crew could be found)
About 2,480 antimatter torpedoes carried by the carriers, each 100 meters long and costs $127 million+


Nomenclatur'a class carrier

Speed: Mk. 15 (15% the speed of light)
Propulsion: Six Hunt Aerospace Yt98 Plasma Acceleration Devices; variable-direction thrust
Plasma supplies: Indefinite; dependent on reactor life
Reactor endurance: 35 years between refittings
Armament: 2,332 Mark One plasma cannons, range 4,000 miles; maximum of 110 antimatter torpedoes, range over 500 million km before disintegration; 553 Talon-class fighters or 182 Hercules-class fighters can be carried but are not included in cost. 500 ground bombardment missiles, each with 2,000 pound warheads; smaller missiles can be fitted inside them. Each of the three docking bays has an electromagnetic railgun used to launch fighters and Supply-class cargo vessels, but could potentially lauch some kind of weapon.
Approximate rate of fire: 42 rounds/minute for Mark One laser cannons; full torpedo barrage can be released in five seconds, although it takes a few minutes to supply them with target data. Two Durtan ramming spikes can be deployed from the bow.
Ammunition: Indefinite for plasma cannons; 110 antimatter torpedoes
Max. Length: 3,045 meters
Max. Width: 400.7 meters
Mass: 845,234 metric tons
Manueverability: Maximum of 30 degrees/sec.
Crew: 17,213
Construction time: 4 years
Cost: $31.5 billion with escape pods ($1.5 billion); extra $14 billion for 110 antimatter torpedoes at $127,272,727,273 per torpedo.

The Nomenclatur'a is an enlarged and updated Invincible-class carrrier. Its onboard space superiority fighters are intended to escort all antimatter torpedoes fired by the carrier and ensure that they are not destoryed by enemy interceptors. Once the antimatter torpedo approaches within 3,000 kilometers of its target as it speeds along at Mark .1, it releases its warhead, causing a large swathe of antimatter to destroy anything in its path for about 50,000 kilometers distant. This means that it is likely to bring down its target in addition to many nearby enemy vessels. The fairly big, 100-meter long torpedo is equipped with a large signal processor, making it immune to decoys and able to adapt to changing situations. As long as enemy reconassaince vessels do not detect the torpedoes, they will be unable to shoot at it with their own missiles, and even then these will have to avoid getting shot down by the escort screen. However, it is essential to maintain space superiority with your fighters to ensure that the torpedoes can find their target. This is why the Fleet has sucessfuly argued for the introduction of the carrier class.

The main sensor on the ship is a powerful large visual scanning device, although countless other sensors are also carried. This is in normal conditions capable of detecting warship-sized targets at a distance of five million kilometers, and fighter-sized targets at one-tenth of that. This allows it sufficient time to scramble its fighters currently stationed on alert. However, a competent commander will attempt to scout past that area in order to have more warning time.

Defensively, the Nomenclatur'a carries the same basic missile countermeasures suite as found on the Talon, except in larger quantities. The armor ammounts to 20 feet of pressure- and freeze-treated composite diamond fibers, dramatically increasing the mass but making it impervious to kinetic-energy weapons. The composite material in the diamonds distributes the shock of plasma and laser weapons throughout the entire hull, making it difficult to destroy such a ship.

With over 2,000 plasma batteries, the vessel is practically impervious to attack by fighters and bombers. During the War with Joint Conglomerates, the National Commonwealth bomber fleet kept a healthy distance from this fearsome warship. The batteries are relatively short-ranged, however, and enemy warships of any significant size are intended to be taken out with torpedoes. Two ramming spikes, constructed of Durtan (the hardest manufactureable material known to Merkar), can be deployed to devastate enemy vessels. However, use them only as a last resort as part of a shock-tactic strategy, as this class relies mainly on stealth and speed to stay alive. Being signifcantly smaller than almost any other carrier on the market today, its emissions signature is minimal, and it will be able to fire off its antimatter missiles before it is even detected. This is the same tactical concept embodied in the earlier Invincible class. One such vessel has seen combat. It proved highly effective against the National Commonwealth fleet, ramming two destroyers to dust and anihalating the enemy flagship, NCS Olympique, with antimatter torpedoes (not to mention a number of smaller vessels). Although heavily damaged, the lone Merkari carrier was able to retreat to safety after doing damage out of all proportion to its small cost. This is what makes it perhaps the best buy in the galaxy.

Orion class frigate

Max. speed before disintegration: Mark 30 (30% the speed of light)
Propulsion: One Cartanae Aerospace J78 antimatter/plasma reactor, variable-direction thrust
Endurance: Indefinite; food stores for 200 years, but may need maintenance every 6 months or so
Armament: 10 Mark Two plasma cannons, range 130,000 miles; bow is hardened for ramming
Rate of fire: 12 rounds/minute
Max. Length: 295 meters
Max. Width: 35 meters
Mass: Approximately 30,000 tons
Crew: 3,478
Construction time: 1 year
Cost: $5.4 billion

Designed for scouting and police work, the Orion is perfect for smaller empires needing a cost-effective way to equip their defence force, or larger ones needing fast "fire brigades" to deal with arising issues in their vast territory. The armament is designed mainly for use against enemy warships, and this vessel needs some kind of protection against fighters. Signficant space is available for installing upgrades, such as an enlarged docking bay or anti-bomber missiles. Still, this armament is only for destroying other ships of comparable size during, for example, reconassaince or counter-reconassaince engagements.

It would be far too expensive to fuel a full antimatter reactor, so the craft's great speed is provided by a fusion reactor mixed with small ammounts of antimatter. This is enough to propel it to 35% the speed of light. As the ammount of fuel required to accelerate increases exponentially at high percentages of lightspeed (also called "c"), this is no mean feat. The Orion class is technically capable of going slightly faster, but it has never been tried as this would probably cause the craft to disintegrate.

Armor is provided by three feet of metal alloy. Although relatively light, it was decided that increasing armor any more would cause the ship to become too expensive for a scouting vessel.

Hercules class Space Superiority Fighter

Speed (point above which manuevering becomes impractical): Mk 1 (1 mark= 1% the speed of light) or 1,860 miles per second
Propulsion: 4 Mekar Military Industries CF-100 Plasma Acelleration Devices, rated at 453 MGI (Merkar Gravity Increments). Manuever is accomplished by structural morphing.
Armament: Six Merkar Military Industries M-8 Plasma Destruction Devices, range 3,000 miles
Approximate rate of fire: High power, 70-80 rounds per minute; low power, constant stream; variations between high and low power
Ammunition: Plasma, produced by onboard reactor
Endurance: 16 hours before fusion reactor meltdown; must return to base to stage controlled reactor shutdown.
Max. Length: 39.3 meters
Max. Width: 11.05 meters
Mass: 300+ tons; depends on variant
Manueverability: Dependent on speed; at cruise speed approximately 772 degrees/second.
Crew: One
Cost: $1.4 billion
Production rate: 30 per year per factory; Merkar currently has three such factories

The superb Hercules class space superiority fighter builds upon the sucess of the Talon class, more than thirty years its junior. During the War with Joint Conglomerates, barely more than two hundred Talons held off hordes of National Commonwealth fighters, taking almost 50% casualties but preventing the destruction of all but one Bastion Prime star destroyer it flew anti-torpedo and anti-bomber escort for. The Hercules itself embodies the same principles behind all Merkari craft- stealth, indirectness and firepower. It carries an updated form of the Talon's elastic Karmaline armor, which encases any incoming kinetic-energy projectiles in a surrounding of high-friction material. This new armor, designated Schythium, is not only markedly more effective against solid shot but also versus the more common heat energy attacks- plasma and lasers. It dissipates almost all energy that impacts it into space, spreading the rest out evenly among the hull to minimize its impact. The potent Talon, the former fighter of Merkar, was already noted for its thick skin. Still, technology was only in its early stages at the time of its construction. Incorporating modern knowlege, Hercules is a giant leap forward.

For combat, it is required that the craft be flown by a genetically-engineered pilot posessing ten times the reflex speed of an unmodified human. Pilots in the Merkar Space Force recieve eight years of flight training, and it is recommended that you put equal emphasis on pilot training to equip a fleet of these high-quality craft. In addition, the craft must decelerate to Mark .01 (186 miles per second) in order to manuever most effectively in a dogfight. Still, the craft is capable of opening fire at a range of 3,000 miles, or approximately 1-2 seconds before passing the enemy target taking into account closing speed. Herein lies the Hercule's main advantage. Equipped with an outstanding six high-accuracy, adjustable-fire plasma rifles, a competent pilot can easily destroy half the targets presented to him at this distance. High power mode offers the best accuracy, damage and range, but also the lowest rate of fire for the guns. They can be adjusted in power to suit the situation, from point-blank dogfight to long-range sniping. Whatever the case, they are more than enough to make short work of the most potent enemy with a handful of shots.

For defence, the vessel is equipped with multiple missile decoys, rendering missile weapons virtually useless. These include image replicators to confuse the hostile weapon, laser devices intended to incinerate missile seeker heads, chaff, flares, radar-absorbent paint, small decoy dispensers, electronic, infrared, and x-ray jammers, plus some classified devices. At the same time, Hercules' large onboard computer and sensors cannot be fooled by most of these decoy devices. Very few missiles are large enough to mount such a large computer, and are therefore extremely susceptible to deception. This is why all of the ship's armament is unguided.

All of this comes at a price in bulk, not to mention cost- at $1.3 billion outstripping all but the most expensive fighters for sale today. During the War with Joint Conglomerates, it was found that the Talon was often too heavy to operate from smaller Bastion Prime vessels, and the Hercules, with almost twice the mass, can only operate from specialized capital ships. All in all, though, if experience against National Commonwealth fighters proves anything, an excellent fighter is needed to counter today's sophisticated torpedo and bomber environment.

Several variants are currently for sale:

Hercules Vijanta (Merkari for "Duelist")- Standard fighter. Has a mass of 302.4534 tons and posses all specs as mentioned at the beginning of this entry. Uses a variety of systems to assist in evading detection.
Hercules Riyunin ("Hunter")- Reconassaince variant with mass of about 314 tons. Sophisticated sensor and communication equiptment, able to detect large enemy warships millions of miles away. Has only two plasma blasters.
Hercules Fahr'antu ("Deciever")- Emissions deception (EMDEP) craft. Mass of 322 tons. Equipped with extensive transmission, coding and decoding equipment. Useful for psychological warfare, military feints, or other creative uses. Full armament, but less manueverability, speed and sensors.
Hercules Nivinmotre ("Concealer")- Special stealth variant. Costs $4 billion and has mass of 324 tons but is equipped with cloaking equipment. Armament: Two light lasers.
Hercules Sharta ("Nimble)- High-speed intercetpor/messenger. Carries significantly less armor but has antimatter engines, propelling it to five percent the speed of light (500,000 miles per second +). Mass 131 tons, cost $2 billion.



//SITREP NOV. 16TH 2075//

1. In the west, Hive units reported to have engaged Krashnyy insurgents. Attacks by Hive units reported to be effective.

2. Near 2nd Armored base, Hive units have been unable to inflict damage on the enemy. Hive units unable to locate cloaked enemy stealth tanks and have taken severe losses from artillery and airpower.

3. Search for MRS Nomeclatur'a continues.
//END//


Above Merkar

With the press of a button, Krendakov unleashed 10,000 small orbital bombardment missiles from his spaceship onto Merkar, hurtling them toward the Hive Gaunts guarding the cities. The Merkar fleet was alerted, but was caught off guard; they were too busy battling the Ruthless Slaughter fleet. Krendakov quickly ordered his ship back into hiding as the weapons rained down on the Gaunts.

Republic City

The Eternal delegates had been brought into Colonel Abdullah's spacious office, which temporarily substituted as Merkar's seat of government.

"I understand you, Eternals, and I mean well. We do not discriminate against religion pointlessly. I am merely here to inform you that it is inevitable that they will try to massacre us in the future. We offered them an honorable, painless death, and they refused. So, in self defence, we do what must be done. We do not enjoy doing it."

elsewhere...



SPACE WAS ENOUGH TO hide in. McClellan knew that much- even though there was little to hide behind, sheer vastness compensated. Vasily was somewhere, travelling stealthily on low power no doubt.

The MRS Berkar was as formidable a ship as any, everything included. Relatively small when compared to the bulking juggernauts that were more common, she was also much faster, stealthier, and more manueverable. Armed with 110 large antimatter torpedoes, her purpose was to locate the enemy, fire off missiles, and rapidly withdraw.

Admiral McClellan gazed through the side bridge window at the line of ships under his command. All twenty-four battleships of the Spaceborne Army of Merkar, superbly outfitted and prepared to destroy the traitor Krendakov. But, there was another consideration that seeped into the admiral's mind. The other enemy. He knew nothing of them, other than the vague translation of their name, Ruthless Slaughter.

"Sir! Jump signatures detected, Omega class!"

Of course. The new opponent. Or perhaps this was not the first time theism had become a hostile force. Fifty years past, the last war had come. And McClellan, in the spirit of the heroes Arba, Tonkin and Cahman, would fulfill his duty to the Republic.

"Sir, orders?"

The executive officer was growing impatient. It was against military protocol to ask such unnecessary questions. But the moment was crucial, and no time could be spared for scolding now.

"Comrades, we have trained for battle countless times in the past. You know what to do. Execute the plan."

"Aye, sir."

The lead was taken by the Orion scouts. Moving quickly, they charged forth toward the enemy, prepared to supply targeting data to the torpedoes. Escorting them came the hundreds of Hercules fighters, prepared to destroy any threat to them.

Admiral McClellan returned to stroking his beard, deep in thought. He was fully prepared for whatever the enemy could bear against Merkar. There was to be no glory for the enemy.

The human representative responded," You claim to be slaying those people that believe in a religion for the defence and good of your nation. Did you ever consider that since your race has imperfections that you cannot create something that is perfect and infallible. The computer you call the 'Mainframe' thus cannot always be correct as well the prediction that it made was incorrect as it did not take in acount the possiblites that other decisions may arise and infact alter the course of history. As well it could have easily found a different solution to the problem that would arise, but yet knowing this is decided to kill all the the religious people of your nation that would try to oppose it so that gaining control of your world would be that much easier."

To the west the gaunts began to mop up what was left of any resistance feeding on the litterd dead.

In Merkar the sky rained fire on the gaunts as they ran through the now blood smeared streets imolating many of the screaming beasts in hell fire. The pod that was decending transmitted the firing trajectory of the incomming bombardment to the hive fleet in orbit as it slammed into the ground next to the Eternals. Its outer skein rippled and pulsed with life. It sat for several seconds like an oversized egg waiting to hatch.

In orbit the hive fleet moved on the offending ship with vigor firing ripples of lightning intending to nock out the eletrical's onboard as the lightning carried a source emp.

On the ground the hyrodules where being torne to pieces by the armoed company. They had the jump on those who where uncloaked but now they had little chance. Drop ships moved in to collect as many as possible before pulling back to a safe position but casualties where high. The ground was coverd in steaming piles of gaunts mixed with the massive form of Hyrodules felled by massive balistic rounds. A wash of acid destroyed any thing attempting to pass through the area.

Losses:
Merkar: 197 gaunts

West: 13 gaunts

Near 2nd Armored base: 44 Hyrodules, 7,865 gaunts.

The Helghast Fleet is within range of the atmosphere of the Merker Republic. Before they would enter it, the Fleet stopped for its traditional war blessing on the soldiers being deployed. In every cargo bay of ever Attack Ship in the fleet, there were small rallys of Helghast Base and Light Soldiers. In one bay, soldiers were lined up in the center of the bay with coumns of 20 and rows of 5. Thirty Light Soldiers in front, the rest of the Base Soldiers in the back. There armament was standard: one StA-52 Light Assault Rifle, the IvP-18 Tropov Machine Pistol, three HE Fragmentation Grenades, and the Helghan Hunting Knife.
Helghast Elites were in one large rally standing opposite of the Light and Base Soldiers. They were armed the same as the others, but carried StA-3 SAW Light Machine Gun, than the StA-52.
Because the Staff Commander of the Army was present on a different capital ship, a well-known Elite, Corporal Gregor Stavil, in the 4th Army was there to give a speech. Speeches were not the same for every one that was given to seperate rallys, in fact, they could not copy who ever said it first because they were in different areas. So it was either purposely made, or thoughts came to mind. Yet, on purpose or thought up, Stavil was great at making speeches.
The corporal stood between the two rallys. He wiped his mouth and began. "Soldiers of Helghan, today is the begginning of a war that can affect the future of our mighty empire. We have been called upon by our two leaders to defend our futures." He began to pace between the soldiers. "With intelligence gathered...it has been predicted, that religious people will one day - in years from now - that they will initiate a massive war upon all the world. Sparking a galactic...civil...war. Armaggedon will be the result.
"Imagine, right now, of how the world will be. Destroyed in the flames of holy war. Empires of weak and strong will crumble to theocratics. This includes our very empire. Helghan will be destroyed because they could not contain the threat when warned. The Empire was to last until time itself ends, not to war, not to revolution" - he stopped moving - "WE are the soldiers that will fufill the Will to last Helghan! We will not live until this civil war may occur, but Helghast soldiers of you and I are stong enough to reduce and prevent it from happening! Some of you will die in this conflict, but you will die for a stronger reason!" - Gregor Stavil raised his Light Machine Gun up high - "Protecting Helghan into the future! For Helghan!"
And at that moral moment, the soldiers of both rallys raised their guns in the air and yelled - like a war cry. Even the stiff-hearted Elites did the same.
When the cry died down, Stavil left the Cargo Bay and the PA System started up. "Soldiers of all bays, begin to load up the Dropships. We will be in air soon as we pass through the atmosphere. Like all times, load up quickly, for safety measures as we pass through the atmosphere. When the rumbiling stops, we will warn to deploy soon."
Most of the Helghast Elites disappeared into barracks - others loaded in the Dropships. Helghast Base-pilots of the Dropships entered them first and strapped in. Ten Helghast soldiers loaded up into the Dropships shortly after. The wrapped safety belts across their waists and diagonal across their chests.
Five minutes later, all Dropships in every Cargo Bay in every Attack Ship were filled with twelve troops - two pilots, ten soldiers. The troops waited patiently, then a big rumbling was felt in every area. This meant that they were passing through the atmosphere.
Ten minutes later, the rumbling started to stop. They have arrived. The fleet was over the Athiesism capitol. The PA System was on-line and annouced that the Dropships will be deployed at the moment. Before the cargo doors opened from the bottom of the Dropships, they started up. The soldiers in them felt a soft rumble and began to hover softly.
The doors opened under them and the Dropships slowly and carefuly dropped down.

Republic City

Abdullah heard his cellphone beep and took a moment to answer the call. After a brief conversation, he faced the Eternal representative. "The Mainframe has yet to fail us, and the cause-and-effect analysis provided for the prediction of Armagedon has yet to be proven wrong. If you wish to enter a technical discussion with our scientists, go ahead, but I have a battle to attend to.



Keyes: One last thing sir, if I may? Why not hail them first, see what’s going on? I really don’t feel like starting a holy war today.

Piett: Very well, I guess we can at least do that…..


"Sir! Incoming transmission, enemy fleet!''

"Close the channel!" McClellan knew it would be some kind of trick. It was not his duty to negotiate. He would go forth, and he would destroy their fleet.

"Sir, targeting solution on enemy fleet!"

"Four torpedoes per enemy medium cruiser?"

"Yessir!"

"Launch the airwing, have them protect the missiles. Fire all tubes!"

The Eternals' representative answered," The Eternals are greatly displeased to your answer and thus they have instructed me to warn you to continue would cause all of your weapons technologies to be disactivated. We will not tell you how to reverse just that when the Eternals gave you much of your techonlogies the designs all had a key feature that if further developed without, save for a huge advancement in technolgies, that feature it would be useless. As well the Eternals can disable your weapons with this feature. This will be your only warning."

OOC: This doesn't apply to post Merkar weapons as well it only effects energy based weapons so you can still use missles. Unless you want me to delete this post as a result of it being kind of godmodding in your eyes.

Diamid, Neo-Tiir, Hiigara

The Diamid, the ruling Council of Hiigara, were spread out in a very large, very gothic-romanesque room with just a hint of prarie style here and there. The room, which was more of a grand chamber than a room, is where the kiith-sa met nearly each and every day to debate, tackle and conqour the minoe and major issues that dealt with the populace of Hiigara. The grand room spread out for hundreds of meters each and every kiith-sa was granted ample space for his advisors and closest friends to consul him and to pool resources of knowledge before speaking. Today the Council had before them news, of a most disturbing nature, from the Bentusi. News of an extermination of a peaceful people of religeon because a mere computer had predicted that they would rise up against their atheist leaders. And, as most issues of humanitarian aid are in the Diamid, the debate was rather one-sided, and a quick decision was made.

"What needs to be done here?" said the speaker of the Diamid, who also served as its leader in title. "I open-up the floor for discussion. Yes, Kiith-sa Dominic?"

"I know what needs to be done," said the young man of a relatively new kiith, "They need to be punished. What they have done is in-excuseable. The people that they have punished have done no wrong, and moreover, they were exterminated because a bunch of atheists said their almighty computer said it would happen. It seems to me that these fools have created their own God. We, nay, Sajuuk, will not stand for such heracy!"

A chorus of applause arose, as another speaker, that of the kiith Soban, which is strange in that it accepts no marriage or raising of childred, and more unique in that each and every memeber of the elite kiith are the most hardened soldiers, and long have been. "I say we move out. Teach these pathetic fools what they have done. Even Riesstiu," and this gained a stern look and the gasp of many, "had better reasons for the atrosity he did." Admiral Riesstiu, the leader of the Taiidan Empire after the bombardment and death of their true emporer by the hands of the Hiigarans thousands of years ago, led the systematic near-extermination of all Hiigaran people as his revenge, killing off billions and forcing all remaining Hiigarans into exile. To be compared to Riesstiu was not good. In fact, it spelled many a life-imprisonment in court, as there is no death-sentence in Hiigara unless the prisoner requests it.

"So," spoke Sjet-sa, head of the most noble and revered Sjetti kiith, "what is to be done? We are also told of a hive fleet in the area. This gives us all great excuse to send in a rather large force, and I believe that one is in order. We shall quell the Hive without incident, and punish the Merkarians simultaneously. What say you, speaker?"

The speaker looked back up from his desk, knowing that he had been asked to forward the process. "Yes. I move that we send a major task force there immediately. I will also recommend that we send Sajuuk's Light as Flagship, and have the three attend."

A vote was cast, and it, in enormous favor of sending in the task force, was passed, and the military was informed.

Defense Station Sjet, Hiigara-Controlled Space

The Defense Staiton Sjet, probably the most up-to-date o the six stations, was a hive of activity. Actually, it was always a hive of activity, but today the stations' local controllers were not bust ordering around cargo ships and telling tugs what to do, no today they were ordering around ships with the tag HEOSF (Hiigaran Empire Offensive Space Fleet) in their name. The traffic controllers, who had diligently ordered an Agamemnon-class carrier (for all ships and historical/societal references, visit freewebs.com/spacefleet), Two Carriers, Five Battlecruisers, including the ancient three: The "Kill 'Em All" Silvana, a thousand year old ship that still knows no defeat, The Cloud Solis, who is 984 years old and has known one retreat, and the Urbanus, who is 862 and knows no defeat, along with two other Battlecruisers into battle. Thirty mighty Destroyers, and Fifty Flak Frigates would accompany them on their journey to Merkar.The ships, all sky-blue in color, were in a standard military parade formation as they were sent out into the blur void, speeding on a million times faster than the speed of light, propelled by eight massive hyperspace cores into the abyss, and in the blink of an eye, they arrived at their destination.

Merkar-Controlled Space, in local vacinity of the Space Station Neo-Terra, just out of effective engagement range

The massive fleet arrived in an instant, and they immediately bagan taking long-range scans and requesting hails with the near-by space station. Almost immediately after that, tactical command of the battlegroup, ase veryone suspected, was transfered from Sajuuk's Light to Alex Rowe, commander of the infamous Silvana. The ships formed up around Sajuuk's Light, Destroyers in one sphere, and the Flak Frigates in a second one. The mighty Battlecruisers were in a broad line out in front, with the two carriers flanking either side of the massive flagship.

Silvana, Bridge

"All ships report in formation," said the chief radio officer.

"Good," said Captain Alex Rowe, looking rather bored in his seat, fiddling with a piece of his flowing shoulder-height light black hair. "Move out. All ships mimic general movement orders. Turn to port until you are aligned with the station, and advance slowly on their position until we are in effective firing range."

"Yes sir, moving out," replied the engine officer down below. The ship bellowed ans shook as its massive drives spun-up, vomiting shaped plasma out the back and moving the ship forward in return. Another hail was sent to the staion.

Message To Space Staiton:

We are Hiigaran Empiric Ships. We have come here to investigate two primary objectives:

1) There is a Hive Fleet in the area that is necessary of extermination/
2) There is a troubling rumor of genocide on your planet.

We wish to open up communications to furthur our understanding of both of these developments. Please respond.

comms to Athiesism:
We are the hive, we are perfection.
Several unknown fleets have enterd your system. Could you please confirm those who have arrived on invite and those who have not.
We are the hive, we welcome you to us.

The Massive hive ships each one larger than a planet hung in deep orbit on the edge of the system while the smaller norn queens controlled the battle on the ground from orbit over the small planet. Each of the 12 norn queens was about the size of a moon and so to the eye it appeared the planet had many moons each one in super orbit.

Seeing that to the west things where not going well the hive decided to change tactic. A single norn queen began targeting co-ordinates of confirmed stealth tank activity. Using 500 gaunts to lure fire out of an area the norn queen opens fire raining down massive colums of plasma each one drenching a 1mile area in plasma turning the earth into glass. This tactic only worked a few times before the stealth tanks ceased firing upon the gaunts. The norn queen then orderd the tactical withdrawl of gaunts to their drops ships where they would be harvested and grown into Mantis Stalkers. These creatures would be able to stealth allowing them to move unoticed into enemy strong holds before unleashing a devistating attack on the barraks.

Helgast Dropships, deployed from Helghast Attack Ships, filled the air of the capitol, of Athiesism, like an angry hornet attack. However, there was no attack. They were rallying to the leader of Merker Republic for assignments. Usually when Dropships are deployed this way were attacking enemy forces, but not this time.
The Dropships were looking for landing platforms. They sent a transmission to the temporary leader to find the nearest platforms.



OOC:
Could you reply to this Athiesism?

//TRANSMISSION TO HELGHAST//

The situation remains fairly unclear, but we have confirmed reportst that Hive Gaunts have attacked our own Stealth Tanks. Whether or not this was an accident is irrelevant, as they have become out of control and are attacking friendly an enemy armor. We request all of your troops to assist us in destroying these Gaunts.

//END//[php]

OOC: Tell me if you're OK with this, Hive. It's just that the ground war would end too soon if we finished off the rebels that fast.

To The Eternals, I designed my own ships based on technology provided by you. I'll let you disable my energy weapons, because I have a lot of torpedoes, if you can come up with a plausible explanation of how it works because I designed this stuff myself.

More to come later, this is just a post to assure people that I haven't abandoned this RP after being gone for a while.

IC:
[php]
//TRANSMISSION TO HIIGARA//

You seem curious about the chaotic events taking place in our nation. We must inform you that we have impeccable scientific proof that theists will unleash an Armagedon war a thousand years from now. If you are interested, we can supply your scientists with our cause-and-effect analysises. Bear in mind that they have been checked, time and time again, and the prediction has yet to be refuted. We had tried to keep it secret and had planned to painlessly and reluctanty kill all theists, but once the secret was uncovered they refused. Now we are engaged in a civil war with them.

We confirm that a Hive fleet is in the system about 25 million miles distant from Merkar prime. Hive ground forces have been firing on our troops. We do not know whether or not it was accidental, as our equipment is identical to that of the rebel's. However, the situation is growing critical and they must be stopped.

More information can be provided on request. We hope you understand the reason behind our actions. We apologize that such a thing must be done for the survival of mankind.

//END//

The Helghast troops landed in the capitol of Merker Republic. The city was nearly swarmed with the Helghast Army in one area.

Silvana, Bridge

The message read off on the main viewscreen as the communications officer repeated it aloud.

"Irrefutable cause-and-effect evidence?" said the disgusted communications officer when he was finished. "Well of course they'll bring war! It is the way of all sentient races save the eternals! Bloody fucking fools!"

"Stop!" shouted the Vice-Captain in a loud but professional tone. "What you say may be true, and we are all disgusted with their reasoning, and they shall be brought to justice. But for now, we shall cooperate with them. Send them a communication. Tell them that we wish to offer our hand as allies for the time being, until the data that they claim to posess can be reviewed. Tell themt hat we'd like this data to send back home for review as well. Until they have been deemed wrong, they are in the right...for now. Rememeber your directives, all of you. The extermination of the hive comes first. They will overwhealm and kill everyone here -- guilty or innocent -- in a matter of days if they are allowed to." The Vice-Captain surveyed the command room. Everyone seemed to have calmed down with her rational thoughts in their minds. Either that, or they've secreted their hatred, she thought.

"Your orders, captain?" she said looking at Alex.

Alex still looked rather bored in his chair, although he sat up in it as he said, "Increase speed to one-third. Stay course and ask for permision to come into high orbit under the station. Afterwhich we intend to unleash all two-hundred-thousand of out troops in refreshing waves of fifty-thousand, with one-hundred-thousand sent to begin with. They will landfall with all fifteen mobile fortresses, and clear out an area for a base of operations. We expect most of the fighting -- or at least most of our fighting -- to occupy the cities, so equip all units properly."

"Yes sir. Sending communications now."

Communication to Space Station:

We request several things of you at the moment:

1) A temporary military alliance until the Hive has been quelled
2) The said data that provides such proof as to condone genocide
3) Permiassion to enter high orbit
4) Permission to drop down combat troops with the intent of making a base of operations and systyematically destroying the hive. We also request permission to cause collateral damage. All debts, personal and private, caused by our units shall be put before a council made by both our nations and we shall negotiate what damages shall be paid for after this calamity is over.

ooc: thats fine ;)

ic: In orbit the massive norn queens began bombarding local garrasons with plasma turning the landscape into glass, the hive was indescriminatly targeting rebel and loyalist forces. In the streets of the city's gaunts began tearing into civilan buildings collecting thousands of them and moving them onto drop ships. Avatars standing guard around the gaunts insisting this was for their own safty and that a rebel attack was iminent upon the innocent civilians.

The gaunts that had been defending the compound now raced into the open halls tearing into any humans armed and standing in their way. Drop ships enterd the area firing plasma at any heavy support bunkers and keeping the sky's clear for the gaunts to work uninterupted.

The chamealionic hunters began to tear through the barraks of the marines on the ground moving with speed and subtle grace until their mantis talons sliced through heavy and light armoured personal without recognision.

In orbit 3 moon sized norn queens moved to intercept the incomming fleets <thats 3 norn queens each boys>

Open comms:
We are the hive, we are perfection.
Please state your busness in this sector. We believe the local government has been comprimised and are attempting to bring peace to the planet. Untill said peace is reached an embargo has been placed around this planet.
We are the hive, we welcome you to us.

-

The larger ships at the outskirts of the system began positioning themselfs to create a massive FTLi field around the system preventing any unwanted entrants. All new inbound ships would be forced to stop 2 lightyears away from the outermost planet in the system.

ooc: Is Random Kingdom ever going to be back? If he isn't maybe someone else could RP his fleet for him, he won't know unless he returns and I want to get that battle done.

IC:

The Merkar Republic declares war on the Hive menace. We have signed a temporary agreement with rebel forces to repel them. All of the Hiigara offers are accepted. We call on all nations to elminate this new enemy before our other current problems are resolved.

Silvana, Bridge

"Sir, we have reports of an FTLi field being set up by the hive," the forward sensors reported.

The Captain nodded in agreement as he looked up at the readings. A rather powerful one too, for being set-up by a non-permanant installation, thought Alex.

"Sir! Incoming communicaiton from Merker!" The communicaiton officer sat upright as he read the transmission. "They allow all our requests and have drawn up a cease-fire with the rebels. They've just declared war on the Hive, as well!"

"Send them a message."

"Yes sir."

Message To: Merker Republic:

Personal Statement:
So, you've finally realized the Hive cannot be trusted. Good. I, commander Alex Rowe have a question for you. This computer which monitors everything and predicts a thousand years into the future so accurately, why did it not predict the Hive coming? Nor did it predict the Hives' sudden massacre of both sides, nor your cease-fire with the rebels and declaration of war on the Hive, nor their FTLi field that is preventing us from bringing in more re-enforcements. If it cannot predict such easily forseen events, why would you trust it to see a thousand years into the future?

Official Statement:
In order to succeed, two things must be done: You need to re-group your forces, and the FTLi field surroundung this planet must be eliminated. The Hive seems content playing the hunter for now, so I suggest you re-group all available forces that you have near the space station. They will follow, and we can set-up a trap for them to walk into.
Once their attack fleet is destroyed, we can move onto their planet-ships, eliminating their FTLi field. We have re-enforcements gathering on the edge of their FTLi field, and require its destruction in order to move them here into the battle.
While we do this, we can deploy our Marine Forces to attempt to re-capture important areas of the planet, but expoect no miracles from us without more men. Also, before we land, we need to know a place on your planet, on land, that is a few hundred acres in size that you can do without. It will be habitable again after this war, but it will be a large crater. We intend to bombard that area of our planet with kinetic fire from orbit altitude and, in turn, create a clean LZ for our Marines, and buy them enough time to set-up a perimeter and a temporary HQ on your planet.

OOC: Have you just finished watching Appleseed by chance? Because that computer of yours' sounds an awful lot like Gaia. Also, if you have, then that's good, because I won't have to explain my Marine Forces. They're the ESWAT and Mobile Fortresses from Appleseed.

==Encypted Message==
From: Helghan 4th Army
To: Temporary Leader of Athiesism
Subject: Operations

The Helghast troops, mobilized, recognize there are numerous battle operations going on against the rebellious theists. We have came late and we need operations and missions to do against the thiests. Please provide us with information about what is going on in this war, and tell us what we can do.

Transmission Ended
==Encrypted Message==

OOC: Sorry to keep you waiting Helghast.

And I have no idea what Appleseed is, Chris. And its the Merkar Republic.

IC:

//TRANSMISSION TO HIIGARA AND HELGHAST//

We realize the necessity of destorying the Hive. However, our fleet is currenty engaged in combat with Ruthless Slaughter and cannot be extracted (OOC: If he dosen't post here in a few days I'll assume he abandoned us). And as for the drop zone, pick any place you like as long as it's just bare land.

About the Mainframe, it was unable to predict recent events because it apparently powered down a few days ago (see the first post in this thread). We don't know why, but we suspect sabotage.

To Helghast, you can view the map provided in the Signup Thread (linked in the first post) to get an idea of what our planet looks like. In the west, Krashnyy marauders have re-emerged and are waging something resembling a guerilla war. All throughout the country, though, combat continues between Hive and Allied forces. There is currently battles in the streets of Republic City itself, and we request that you reinforce our troops there.

//END//

OOC: okay, my FT navy site has been re-fitted to explain my marine corps.
IC:
Silvnana, Bridge
"Flagship Sajuuk's Light, move into the atmosphere now at sector two-two-seven," shouted the Captain as he re-checked his plan in his mind. "Make sure that your back half is over the water. Once there, drop off all the Marines, fifteen Mobile Fortresses and the two Angelus-class Carriers. I want you to then move back into high orbit, and begin preparations for launching strikecraft. Move-out now."

The Flagship began to move forward and downward in descent toward the planet as its crew and AI had trained the vessel to do so countless times in the past. Although they had onlt actually deployed troops in this number once, at least they had done it before and had some idea of what was going on. The ship quaked and groaned as it entered the atmosphere, all eight kilometers long and two wide begging to flip like a coin as its anti-gravity thrusters kept it in alignment with the proper course. Its massive lower bays began to open, and although it would take a dozen or so minuted to open, they glowed red-hot on the way down as more than 200,000 men's lives were tucked away in its sheath, their protective womb from the plasma that carressed the edge of their craft.

Meanwhile, the Silvana and the other Destroyers and Flak Frigates made preparations to bombard an area roughly one-hundred kilometers in size with bombardment torpedos. Bombardment torpedos were massive, sluggish things that accelerated down into the atmosphere and at an altitude of approximately 25,000 feet, broke up into 25 smaller bomblets that were loaded with fusion chrages. These chargest hit the ground at astounding speed, and unleashed ferocious power as they went off, grilling anything within their blast. Thousands of them were to be fired from every available vessel in one coordianted effort.

"All vessels have fallen into formation," reported Uris, the ships' AI.

"Good," replied Alex. "Send target solutions to all vessels now. Have all vessels load all torpedo tubes with bombardment torpedos and prepare to fire."

"Yes sir......order sent......All ships report ready."

"Fire all torpedos batteries on all vessels."

Am massive wall of torpedos launched from the Silvana, and thousands more fell into their position, streaming into the atmosphere, using gravity to their advantage. They sped toward the beautiful planet, preparing to scorch earth. They fell in all around Sajuuk's Light, passing it rather easily, screaming toward the earth.

Magnetic couplings in place, the wind and plasma attacking the bottom of the vessel was directed away from the ship where the bays were open was directed away from the teeming sould that were now able to see the sky and ground, alight with smoke, ashes and flame. The torpedos broke apart, scattering their deadly load everywhere, killing all the wildlife beneath it and any unlucky enough to be there. Scans produced showed that no Merkar lives were in this area now, and so this area, at the very southeast of the ungoverened territory boardering the sea, was chosen for their landing.

Time passes...
Finally, the Sajuuk's Light found it's self hovering above the ground, a mere 20 feet at its lowest point, right over the water in the middle, where it dropped the two CVSX Angelus-class Submarines. They plumeted into the water, coming alive as they touched in, and prepared to aid their marine partners in securing this planet against the hive. Meanwhile, Mobile Fortresses deployed and crashed to the earth with deafening roars as Landmates touched down lightly, and began setting up perimeters.

More Time passes...
The Flagship, having dropped off its precious cargo, then took off beginning its slow ascent -- that would take an entire day to get back up to high orbit -- back to the battlegroup.

Silvana, Bridge
"Sir, all cargo has been dropped, and the flagship is moving back into high orbit now."

"Excellent. Set up a defensive perimeter. Tell the Merkarians that any ship that gets within four-hundred kilometers of us and does not want to become alsg had better be deemed friendly before then."

Message To: Merkarian Space Station

We have landed troops in the South-east corner of the Ungoverned Territory and are setting up a perimeter there. We are also setting up a defensive perimeter around Sajuuk's Light as its ascends into High Orbit again, and will require you to identify any vessel that comes within 400 km of our battlegroup as friendly or foe. If not identified, it will be assumed hostile and be fired on with our full force.

OOC: Who is currenlty engaged against your forces ATM in the Republic City?

A huge gravitational rift in space opend on the outskirts of the FTLi area from which moved a massive hive patriach. Its size was uncompared to the smaller in system ships for its size encompased the entire system two fold. For 1 hour it emerged from the rift in space positioning itself between the reinfocements and the system.

0pen comms:
We are the hive, we are perfection.
Comminuqe with Athieism has been lost, situation on the ground indicates the rebels in alliance with any non Athieism craft currently in system are attempting to take controll.
The hive will not allow any passage into or out of the system untill Athieism has been pacified along with those in system attempting to subvert its leadership.
We are the hive, we welcome you to us.

On the ground civilians where being rounded up in their millions as more swarm ships raced to the ground collecting the cargo.
In orbit the norn queens began to bombard the landing co-ordinated of the marines with massive balls of plasma while one norn queen began charging the city imolator. Huge plumes of lightning and plasma began to helix into a massive cloud on the planet side of the massive beast.

OOC: Hive Fleet Imodious, you're moving too quickly. Notice how I gave my ship an entire day and post to come back to High Orbit. I land troops and you immediately have ships close enough to fire on them? I'm afraid not. In order for you to fire on them, you'd have to get in range of my battle group, which has set up a defensive screen around them in High Orbit to prevent exactly what you're doing. Also, if you keep moving so quickly, doing so much with such short posts, I'm going to bring physics into the realm of this. (ie, firing plasma at a planet being useless, and many other things). I'm sorry to do this, but you need to slow down. I've put in longer posts than anyone, in larger numbers and I have yet to even fire a shot! I would really appreciate it if you would slow down. In three posts, each one paragraph long, you've managed to practically occupy the planet, engage all of the defensive forces here, and set up a massive FTLi field. I'm sorry, but until you learn to slow down and rp a bit more, consider your last post ignored. I hope you understand. I'm rping well defensively, and you're pissing all over it by simply ignoring facts, which is in my opinion GodMod. Nothing personal against you, it'ts just that I don't like how you're rping here. Most hive people rp this way and I try to avoid rps where hive people have already come in for this specific reason. However, I'm trying to cope with this one. So please SLOW DOWN.

IC post coming after thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

ooc: Read back, I have bombarded this planet from orbit earlier in this post, my ships are already in system and Well jumping opens a gravety rift to bend space thus allowing me to arrive almost instantaniously - see green plasma energy theorum for power supplies :)

OOC: Yes, and you were moving too fast in that post in my opinion as well, but I did nothing about it. Also, you can't be on every side of the planet instantly ready to bombard me -- you'd have had to encounter me earlier beforehand, which you never did. I'm just asking you to slow down, give some of us time to rp, man. The objective of every rp should not be to win, it should be the storytelling. And I have to say, if you're going to be able to jump everywhere at once regardless of gravity fields, you're going to have to have some huge downside to your massive number of ships, which is another reason for you to have a downside to them. In NS there is a scale that is understood: More troops/ships/weapons = crappier troops/ships/weapons vs. fewer troops/ships/weapons = better quality troops/ships/weapons. When we do lock in combat, please remember that. The Battlecruisers that I've sent five of -- I only have 20. Not one of these ships has ever been lost in 1000 years, and of the five there, only three of them have had to retreat...once. And they totally pwnd the enemy later.

ooc: you are forgetting that i am able to target across the surface of the planet because there are 13 moon sized ships in orbit - which reminds me how did i let you passed without blowing you out of the sky? because I didnt want the rp to end with you being burnt up in the atmosphere. There are Satelights that can traverse the planet in 4 hours using inertia, my ships have movement capability and as such can move around the planet much faster. Thus in the time it took for you to select a landing platform i have had more than enough time to move several norn queens to your side of the planet <assuming non where there before> Also the ground troops are fairly rubbish however all i have been doing is throwing thousands of them at civilians and rebels, when i actually engaged a tank division i had to fall back and re-enginier them to cope with the new threat, changing 100 of them into 1 creature more adapted. So as far as i am concerned i have been more than generous in allowing you to even land on the planets surface.

Just fight your space battle, the details don't matter that much. I'd like to help but I want to get the battle with Ruthless Slaughter done. Since he's obviously not coming back, can someone RP his ships for him so that we can get that battle done?

OOC: Athiesism, I need a reply to you about who is engaged with your forces in the Republic City.

In result to the persistance of the the Merkar Republic in their extermination of their people the Eternals' representative hit his staff against the ground and a great light erupted out of it altering the very magnetic fields that the Merkar Republic's miltary used in their fushion based energy weapons and then he said," It has been done and your energy weapons will remain deactivated until the Eternals see fit to allow you to use energy weapons again."

Sorry, Helghan, I've been on thanksgiving vacation for a while. It's the Hive we're fighting in Republic City.

edit: If you guys are still going to complain about the Hive godmodding, I say we just ignore the Hive. It's dragging us off topic about the main point of the war, the atheists vs. theists. I say we just do a space battle between the me and Hiigara or someone.