NationStates Jolt Archive

"'Ey! You guys seen any pirates yet?!"

"No! Get back to work, slacker! The engine is overheating slightly, go check it out!"

"Aye aye..." yelled the man, then mumbled, "S.O.B."

"I heard that! This ship echoes, dip shit!"

The engineer scuttled off back towards the end of the ship, where the engines were steaming the ship across space. They had just come out of a warp jump, and were plotting another. Because they were just a trader, and did not have an astropath, theyhad to make every short warp jumps, or risk getting thrown off course or getting stuck in the warp.

The ship was gliding in space, still making its calculations. The ship bore the flag of the Azahan demi-imperium. It then entered a section of space, where space itself seemed... odd.

As the man walked back into the depths of the medium-sized trader ship, the voice of the captain came over the vox.

"Oi, I have a single ship here... can't make it out... one of you military vets get up here! See if you can indentify that!"

Immediatly the engineer ran up back to the bridge, and looked upon the dark spiney ship before him.

"What do you make it out to be?" asked the captain.

"I have no idea in hell..."

As the ship started to veer away from the unidentified ship, a shot rocked the traders. All around them, more of these black spined ships started to appear out of no where. Their color making them hard to see against the blackness of space, and the fuzzy window of the traders, with the faulty sensor gear.

"Shit! Get back to the com station and radio back to HQ!"

The engineer ran back to the rear of the bridge and picked up a small radio peice. He pressed a few dials then pressed the send button. "Mayday mayday! We are being attacked by unknown ships, help-!"

Then the brige exploded into a brilliant red explosion, the rest of the trading ship then exploding aswell.

Nothing was left but stardust and hulks.

The Abh Intelligence Agency had become quite profecient in taking information from the Shadows. They had even managed to mick the beings themselves when they had taken the Shadow Cloud. Many marines died in taking that planet killer but it was well worth it.

Combined with this new technology and that had been taken from destroyed Shadow vessels, things were looking bright for the Abh military. The only thing left was to annhilate the threat. But that's the rub. The last scouting expedition to that planet was almost entirely wiped out.

The only thing they could do at the moment was have a task force set up in case the Shadows showed themselves again. This would be comprised of the newest ships including Rambirds, Omega-X Destroyers, and Victory Destroyers. They only needed a commander crazy enough to command such a task force against an impossible enemy.

Their hope came in the form of an aspiring Abh commander whose desire was to surpass his sister. The young man was an Abriel of the Clyuve family. Captain Abriel Nei Dobrusk Dashnu was Princess Lafiel's younger brother and had always looked up to his sister. When this assignment came down the wire, he was the first....and only...volunteer.

He sat at the seat of his flagship, a mix between an Abh standard Patrolship and properties of the Victory Destroyer, and monitored communications of other nations. He was looking for distress calls that may lead to the Shadows. One such call came through and the young man's eyes lit up. "Attack Fleet Light prepare to move out."

Figured I have to get back into this since I missed the Shadow Wars part II

Planet Montana, far edge of Paintcheck Space

Another boring day at the office. Thought Intelligence sergeant Albert Trapt. Since its discovery, Planet Montana, named for a stae on old earth had been home to an intelligence corp monitoring for signs of the Shadows. After the nation's limited engagements in the past, the Armed Republic was staying alert.

Sergeant Albert stood and stretched. Who would have thought intellignece would be so boring? He sat back down at his station, monitoring the void constantly looking for audio, visual, anything out of the ordinary. A light flicked on the board.
"Probably another asteroid." Grumbled the sergeant. Still docterine required him to report anything seen. Suddenly more lights winked on. Definitly not an asteroid Pinpoints of light began forming in front of the planet. He tracked them through a telescope.
"Oh my god!"

He sent a message over the GFFA channel

Anyone who can hear this, this is Intellignece on Planet Montana. We have several Shadpow contacts materializing in system please send help as soon as... OH MY GOD WHAT IS THAT THING? *Static* *Transmission Lost*

OOC: Time to put my first multi-tech hybrid ship through its paces. Looks like the Project Ohio ship is going to get its shakedown cruise sooner than expected. Might even bring in the Project Montana one in later.

IC: SeaQuestian boarder stations picked up the distress signals and began to relay them through the system.

Atlantis, as the capital city ship for the Empire, had been hidden in a region of space known only as the Void. The Anubis had been assigned to guard it.

Pendragon Facility - Command Center

C.O.: "Is she ready?"

X.O.: "Unkown, sir. Half of these technologies are brand new, and the other half have never before been put on the same ship together. There is no way of knowing if the ship won't shake itself to pieces."

C.O.: "Well, we need to get this ship out now! With the destruction already down to SeaQuestian forces, we need to get everything out in space in case they come back."

X.O.: "Agreed, sir. But..."

C.O.: "But nothing."

The C.O. holds out a PADD to the X.O..

C.O.: "Anways, its not up to either of us anymore. That PADD contains orders for Project Ohio to launch. The crew are already boarding the ship."

Pendragon Facility - Drydock Beta - 5 hours later

The I.S.S. John Sheridan (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y131/Kvess/Ships/Sheridan.gif) sat serenly in the dock. With all power being provided from the station, her own internal powerplants sat off-line.

The last of the crew boarded the ship and the last bridge officer took his post. The power feed from the station ended and the ship's internal power sources came on-line.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when the ship didn't blow up.

The ship's six gravimetric engines mounted on the six fin-like structures around her aft end began to glow brighter. They were pushing her foward at a modest 0.05c. Then, all of a sudden, they flickered and went out. For a few meters, the ships momentum kept her going before her mass slowed her to a stop.

I.S.S. John Sheridan - Bridge

Captain: "Report!"

Chief Engineer: "For some reason, sir, the Grav drive just cut out."

Captain: "How long until you have the problem fixed?"

Chief Engineer: "I don't know, sir. We'll have to strip the cowlings and go inside. Could take a couple of months, sir."

Captain: "We don't have 'couple of months'! They want us out there yesterday. You have a week. Out."

Chief Engineer: "Aye, sir."

OOC: This is just the build-up. I'll post the actual launch later.
OOC: Last post for the night.

OOC: Nice improved version of the Victory there SeaQuest. I'm impressed. It be nice to see how that thing works.

IC:
The fleet designed to combat the Shadows was in Hyperspace now as they moved towards the last transmission of the Azaha ship.

"Your highness, we have an emergency message being broadcasted on the GFFA frequency."

"Put it through."

Anyone who can hear this, this is Intellignece on Planet Montana. We have several Shadpow contacts materializing in system please send help as soon as... OH MY GOD WHAT IS THAT THING? *Static* *Transmission Lost*

The crew on board the Victory Destroyer went silent as their attention turned to their young and ambitious commander. Dashnu sat there for a few moments weighing his options. "Our mission is to hunt down and destroy the Shadows. If they are at the intelligence station, then that is where we will go."

There were no grumbles or complaints among the crew. It was a relief that he showed maturity in following their orders and wouldn't let his emotions play on him. A true Abriel.

"Light fleet set course for the planet Montana. All ships prepare for battle."

The fleet glided through Hyperspace heading for whatever awaited them on the other end.

OOC #1: Thanks, Abh.
OOC #2: I've decided to just go ahead and skip the launch. This is set two hours after the above post.

IC: The I.S.S. John Sheridan cruised through the red-orange mists of Hyperspace. The engineering team had managed to get her six Hyper-Impulse Engines, mounted between the pylons that were tipped with the Gravimetric Drives, and were meant for use when the Gravimetric Drives were off-line. Instead of attempting to use the ship's own Jump Point Generator, it had entered Hyperspace via a Jump Gate located in the same star system as the Pendragon Facility.

Bridge

First Officer: "Which signal should we respond to?"

Captain: "The first was from a freighter, the second was from a station. Knowing the Shadows, there is probably nothing left of the freighter. We would have a higher probability of finding survivors at the station. Helm, set course for the origin of the second signal."

Helm: "Aye, sir. Plotting course for Planet Montana."

Captain: "Oh, as we aren't in Real Space, the reletivistic effect shouldn't exist, so take us to maximum cruising speed."

Helm: "Aye, sir. Accelerating now."

OOC: The ship was at the standard cruising speed of 0.25 lights and is now at 0.96 lights. The ship's Flank Speed (0.975 lights) and Combat Speed (0.998 lights) are even faster.

The Shadows however would not be at either location. This was all a ruse to draw any allies further from their true target. Freighters entering Azaha space were being destroyed across space to prevent the Shadow vessels from being detected.

The communication's station was attacked to hinder the response time of Azaha's allies. The area had been secured and they would now move in for more destruction. 20 Battlecrabs exited near Azaha X and began firing on any defenses or ships that were in the area. It didn't matter if they were civillian or military, they would all die. They would weaken the outter defenses and colonies until the allies eventually did arrive. The Shadows had a treat planned for those that would answer a call for help.
---------------------------------
The Light Fleet exited Hyperspace near the Paintcheck communication station. Admiral Abriel didn't look pleased at the sight. "Send a message."

Paintcheck Intelligence this is the Abh Light Fleet please come in.

Paintcheck Intelligence please come in.

The mining colony of Azaha X was decimated as soon as they were fired upon. It was a low population colony, 20,000 people at most. No defenses were to be heard of though, except for a couple of patrol ships incapable of warp travel. They were quickly destroyed.

Word never reached Azaha IV though. Azaha's fleet was currently out assaulting an important Galatic Empire installation, thus the Azahan Hierachy was preccoupied with the war, not with some squabble about losing communications with an outer colony.

It would take a much closer strike to home for it to hit reality.

Anyone who can hear this, this is Intellignece on Planet Montana. We have several Shadpow contacts materializing in system please send help as soon as... OH MY GOD WHAT IS THAT THING? *Static* *Transmission Lost*

"Mr. President, this just came in."

"They're back, I was afraid of this. Send Zecker and his troops in. They know what they're doing. I assume they have been debriefed already after the Zeros Incicdnet?

"Yes sir."
Grand Marshall Evan Throme walked out of the president's office on the Capital city of New Coast. He strode into his office and sent a secure message to Zecker.

It read simply
They're back. Get your boys together and prepare for a drop.


88th Space Marine Complex, The Arena

Zecker was in a war game exercise with the rest of his troops. The "Arena" as the training area had come to be known was were live fire as well as simulated missions took place. Zecker was engaged in an overmatch exercies, that is his men vs a much larger force. He rounded a corner and grabbed the opponent before he could make a sound. He pressed the "kill" button on the man's vest, which instatntly made the vest tighten up, stopping any movement. Suddenly his persoanly communicator buzzed. "Dammit." He opened the file. "Oh crap." His 2nd in command came in, Captain Eric Krytson. "What's up boss?" Skykes didn't answer, just pushed the "end" button on the master control he carried. The exercise was over. Only then did he answer his XO. He showed him the message. "That's not good." "Round everyone up, tell them to mount up. I'm going to head to Marshall Throme's office and see what our orders are." Kryston nodded and walked away.

Throme's Office
"At ease Zecker."
Skykes dropped the salute.
"I know why you're here so I'll make this quick. As you probably have guessed, the Shadows are back, only this time they attacked us. Your traget is the inteliigence planet Montana. You will take a Corvette into the planet's orbit where you will be orbitally dropped. Abh Empire ships are already en route, they will be your support and exfil. As soon as you get all your men together we leave."
Skykes nodded, and walked from the room.

88th Marine Complex, Launch site
The corvette was waiting for the marines. They all boarded and found their assigned bunks, The ship lifted off and set a course for planet Montana. The captain sent a message to the Abh fleet and the Seaquest ship.

Light Abh Fleet and I.S.S John Sheridan this is the Armed Republic corvette Penetrator We are heading to Montana. We will meet you just outside of Montana's space if that is satisfactory. We have with us the 88th Space Marines, I'm sure you know who they are. Thank you. Penetrator out.

Another message was sent

Montana please come in. This is the Penetrator. We are here to help. Please respond over.

I.S.S. John Sheridan - Bridge

Communications: "Captain, we have just received a communique from headquarters. Operation Phoenix has been enabled. The Operation Phoenix first battle fleet will meet with us by the time we reach Planet Montana. The other Operation Phoenx battle fleets are grouping in the Altera star system."

Captain: "Understood."

Two hours later...

The Operation Phoenix first battle fleet fell in behind the John Sheridan. The battle fleet was composed of two Harbinger class missile destroyers, one Ulysses class super carrier, ten Centurion class gunboats, five Nemesis class heavy cruisers, fifteen Pegasus class frigates, twenty Polyphemus class star tanks, three Archangel class missile destroyers, one Locust class carrier, twenty Monsoon class gunboats, and one Legion class super carrier. These ships were being built non-stop by the Operation Phoenix Sparta class mobile operations centers, construction facility, and Daedalus class mobile ship yards. The Daedalus class mobile ship yards and Sparta class mobile operations centers were moving from star system to star system and using the reasources in each system to build.

While the Operation Phoenix first battle group remained in Hyperspace, the I.S.S. John Sheridan used her Jump Point Generators for the first time to jump to Real Space.

Messages

In response to the Paintcheck message:

Acknowledged. We have just emerged from Hyperspace near Planet Montana and will await your arrival.

A message was also sent to Planet Montana:

Planet Montana, is anyone left alive down there? Please come in if you can hear this. This is a SeaQuestian ship, we are not here to hurt you, we came in response to your distress call.

OOC: Paintcheck, I don't see how you could now the name of my ship or even that she was en route to Planet Montana. The Pendragon Complex is one of the most secret locations in the entire Holy Empire, and the I.S.S. John Sheridan was only launched today (IC'ly) and hasn't encountered any of your ships, yet.

You have the ship posted in the GFFA forums. You're right, I probably shouldn't know that it was coming, that's my bad. When I read these threads I sort of put 2 and 2 together which is why I do things like this so often sorry. (I actually meant to say Seaquest ships, but it was late and I was tired and wanted to type that before I went to bed.)

Glad you could make it John Sheridan. ETA for us is 20 minutes. We are putting men on the ground as you probably have guessed from the last message. Once Abh gets here, we're going in.

The Penetrator tried Montana again.

Montana Intellignece, are you alright? Is anyone down there.

A few minute later a signal was received.
*static* Is an**** ****shadow*** Here Send**** trap *** *Transmission lost

Surprised, the Penetrator forwarded the grabled message to the John Sheridan though they probably picked it up to.

Hold
"We just got a signal from Montana. We may have people alive down there so check your targets. No one has engaged the Shadows on the ground, so make sure they are dead before moving on. If there are any Shadows there. Aside from extracting any survivors, we need the black box from the station to see what happened down there. We rondevouz with the Seaquestian goup in 20 minutes. Get your weapons and ammo together. Don't take food or anything like that, we are in and out in less than 6 hours. Any questions?" Skykes asked.
"Good. Once we make contact with the Seaquest ships, get to your assigned DroPod and we'll get this show on the road."

OOC: Meet our new nemesis everyone:http://www.b5tech.com/drakh/drakhraider/raider.jpg
http://www.b5tech.com/drakh/drakhcruiser/cruiser.jpg
http://www.b5tech.com/drakh/drakhcarrier/drakhcarrier.jpg
http://www.b5tech.com/drakh/drakhmothership/mothership.jpg
All will be explained shortly. Our fleets don't know this but Shadow Forces have been severly hurt since they were never numerous using their allies to fight. Soon the real fighting will begin.

You know the GE picked a heck of a time to start this mess. Everything was peaceful until they had to start this crap. Oh well.

IC:
But the Shadows were no longer at Planet Montana. It had all be a well executed diversion to keep allies diverted elsewhere while a system was systematically destroyed.

Azaha planet X was nothing much to them but only a means to cause more death and destruction. They wanted more destruction now and those attacks came at Azaha V and VI simultaneously with twenty battlecrabs shimmering near the planet as they launched devastating barrages and planetary defenses and ships in the area.
-------------------------------------
"Admiral, we have a message from the nation of Paintcheck. They are sending soldiers to the planet."

Dashnu sat there while his fleet was orbiting the planet Montana. "Something is not right. Judging from the reports we received from AIA, if the Shadows were here we would already be under attack. Why haven't they attacked?"

The question was more for his own wondering than anything as he sat there for a while thinking. "Communications, I want all channels open and listen for any reports coming in. This may be a ruse to lure us out here for some reason."

The Penetrator Moved into the planets orbit. Surprisingly, there were no shadows to be found.

It's all clear here, something is not right. We are still putting men on the ground because we got a signal from them. Be advised, should we encounter opposition from the ground, we are pulling out fast. Has anyone every encountered a shadow on the ground?

[b]Drop Pods[/i]
"We are dropping in t minus 1 minute. Everyone strap in. Charge your weapons."
Zecker got acknowledge messages from his squad. 5...4...3...2...1...LAUNCH
Skykes was pressed against his seat in the small, torpedo-shaped pod. Less than 2 minutes later, he hit the ground. He popped the seals and got out, shouldering his rifle. The Montana station was just ahead. Good to know the drop pods worked this time.
"Everyone make it down ok?
Acknowledgments all around.
"Ok let's go."
The squad started out at a brisk jog to the station, trying to stay out of the open. The station was hit hard. The roof was completely blown off and there were scorch marks around the area around the station. A chill ran down Skykes's spine. They have that kind of accuracy too?. He radioed to ships his first sitrep.
Have landed ok. The Station has been hit very hard, as well as the surronding area. We are entering now. No contact of any sort has been made yet.

Something isn't right.

Surprisingly the main door was still locked. "Ok boys, lets do some interior redecorating here."
BOOM! The team entered. A scorched body was the first thing they noticed. Ouch. They cleared the first room and worked they way to the main control room, finding similar corpses. Where's the signal coming from if everyone been fried?

Presently the squad reached the control room. Skykes made another sitrep.
Still nothing, all the guys down here have been killed. We have recovered the black box. Still looking for the man who sent that last message.Zecker out

Suddenly a sound was heard. The squad instantly went on alert. It was a human voice. "Help someone!" Zecker opened the cabinent under the main control board. He recoiled when a half-scorched body fell out. "Jesus Christ!" The man hit the ground. "Corpman Up NOW!" Skykes knew the man was too far gone even before the Medic came up. "What happened?" The man answered weakly. Skykes could tell he wasn't going to last much longer. "...I've never...seen any like that...before. ...New..Shadows. Not the normal ones. ...Recorded on the...black...box." The man handed the small disk to Skykes. "...It was horrible....they just...kept firing...wouldn't stop...killed everyone...then they...just...left. Thanks....for...coming..." The man smiled weakly and rolled over. Zecker knew he was gone.
Final sitrep
Have made contact with survivor, he is dead now after giving us the black box. Said there was a new type of Shadow that attack here. Said he got it on the black box. We have recovered that and are ready for pickup. No Shadows found. Said they stopped shooting after killing everyone then left. ETA to pick up point 5 minutes. Zecker out.

OOC: Abh, I currently use ships of all but the Mothership class in my Elvenblade fleet (and I had the raiders in the Halfblood, Elvenbane, Elvenborn, Elvenblood, and Starwing fleets. I wonder how the Drakh will respond when they have ships that look just like theirs shooting back at them.

IC: The John Sheridan sat in orbit around Planet Montana. The Operation Phoenix first battle fleet sat hidden in Hyperspace. All the SeaQuestian ships were on Yellow Alert.

The Captain of the Sheridan (OOC: Going to call her this for short) sent a message in response to the Paintcheck message about the black box:

We would like to analyze the black box when your ship's computers have completed their analysis.

The Sheridan was equipped with the standard crystal-type computer system, as well as several Soong-type and Wayneright-type android brains plus a few Zoidian techno-organic cores. She also had three experimental isolinear computer cores.

OOC: Time to do da bump.

OC: Should be interesting

IC:

"Your Highness. It seems that the marines of Paintcheck have found the black box to the Shadow attack and are going to annalyze it alongside SeaQuestian forces."

Admiral Abriel Dashnu sat there thinking as he weighed the possibilities. "Inform both forces that we would like to study this black box as well."

"Yes sir."

Message to both SeaQuest and Paintcheck:
Admiral Abriel would like to take part in this study of the black box that was discovered. It is believed that our combined information may be of some use in this mystery.

We will be glad to allow you access to the black box, but we need to take it back to safer space. This ship doesn't have the equipment to read it on board. Unless either of you have the facilities on your ships?

With that, the Penetrator began preparations for the jump back to safer Paintcheck Space.[]

Messages

In response to the Abh message:

Acknowledged. How about we meet up in Hyperspace?

In response to the Paintcheck message:

We can open a Jump Point to Hyperspace for you. All we need is the Real Space co-ordinates to plot a path through Hyperspace to where ever you want to go. Also, we might meet up with the Abh fleet in Hyperspace.

I.S.S. John Sheridan - Bridge

Captain Jeffrey Sinclair (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y131/Kvess/Character%20Pics/sinclair3.gif) sat patiently as he awaited a response from the Paintcheck ship.

OOC: Bump.

The message was read to the Admiral. "Prepare to open a jump gate to hyperspace."

"Yes Admiral."

"Send this message to all parties."

We will await you in Hyperspace to commence this meeting. We also have a fairly large conference room with holoprojector to go over the black box if that is acceptable with the rest.

Thank you Sheridan. Set a jump out to GFFA space, doesn't mattter where. This info good be useful to all of us. See you in hyperspace

He sent a message to Abh next
We'll meet you in hyperspace.

An acknowledgement was sent as the fleet opened jump gates and entered Hyperspace again.

The pressing matter was where were the Shadows now. The Admiral was at a loss as to where he should send his fleet next and he did not want to return to the Empire empty handed on this mission. He hoped that the black box would convey something useful.

The Sheridan opened a Jump Point and waited for the Paintcheck ship to enter it. Once inside the featureless, red-orange nebula-like dimension known as Hyperspace, they would meet up with the Operation Phoenix ships and then go to meet the Abh fleet.

A message was sent to the Paintcheck ship:

After you.

The Penetrator's captain laughed and obliged. Minutes later, they were zooming through hyperspace. He sent Abh a message:

Could we have access to the conference room?

"Admiral, Paintcheck is requesting to use our conference room."

Dashnu nodded. "Open the shuttle doors and tell them that they have permission."

Permission granted Penetrator. The shuttle bay is open and we are standing by for your arrival.