NationStates Jolt Archive

http://www.shsu.edu/~stdcpw12/My%20Web%20Site/index_files/StarZero.JPG

Previously on Star Zero:
After escaping from their ravaged homeworld, the Ark Class Colony Ship Star Zero experiances a warp drive malfunction and drops out of hyperspace to be greeted by a Setian-Sebecean warship. As several ships emerge to challenge the warship, the crew escapes the scrape only to be followed by the SIS Ghen. Artimus Agrippa, Captain of the Star Zero, enacts evasive manuvers to escape the ship. The Ghen attacks the colony ship and a dozen crew members are killed and hundreds are injured. The ship flees to XSS1 where it undergos repairs and scouts out a new home. The colony ship and it's five million passengers have left the station, and are on thier way to the new planet.

Captain Artimus Agrippa was standing as the Star One entered warp speed.

"Engineering, any problems? All systems normal?", asked a nervous Agrippa.

A blue holo with the head engineer appeared on the Captain's chair, "Rodger sir, everythings normal. We should be arriving at our destination in about 32 hours."

Agrippa nodded, "Good, keep me posted." Agrippa felt he could finally relax. Everything was going smooth and he didn't have a thing to worry about.

The door to the bridge opened and everything changed.

The man was tall and his hair and beard were white, but he had the look of power and respect. Paticularly when he was escorted by 3 Gaurdsmen on ethier side. His eyes were the kind that would pierce your heart and spoke with a loud and thunderous tone. He was Lord Steelcraft. He was until recently, the Lt. Governor of the Colony. However, with the tragid death of Lord Talleyhound, he was now in charge. And he was not happy.

"CAPTAIN ARTIMUS AGRIPPA! YOU ARE UNDER ARREST!"

Agrippa turned around and his eyes shot wide, "For what?"

FOR RECKLESS ENDAGERMENT OF THE COLONY! GUARDSMEN, THROW HIM IN THE BRIG!

Agrippa was growing red hot, "Hey, I got us there didn't I?! I found a home for us just like I was ordered. You no rig-

"SILENCE!"Steelcraft turned to him with his peirceing eyes and said, You may have, and we'll settle there, but you'll be in the brig while we make our new home. Your court martial will be shortly afterwards.

The Gaurdsmen came behind him and cuffed his hands and he was led away from the bridge.

OCC: This is a continuation of the story started in the thread [A small ship in a vast galaxy]. Part of the story is also contained on the XSS1 thread. This RP is semi open. If you posted in the thread [A small ship in a vast galaxy], you can offer to testify on ethier sides behalf. Just TG me, and the prosecuter will call your witness. The trial will be public, so if some intergalatice newscaster wants to comment, go for it.

OOC: Captain Marthe will serve as a witness.

Cutter, who was in command now, spotted the blue planet on her screen.

It was beautiful.

Scout fighters had left the Star Zero for possible landing sites. The world was a young one, with only one continent on it. It would provide plenty of farmland and surface space.

The Star Zero began to desend past the atmosphere. The shields were on high as the atmosphere attempted to fight them off. The huge engines now blazing at magnificant speeds hurtling towards the ocean.

Further....further....further.....then....

The Star Zero leveled out and came to a stop near the east coast of the large land mass. One by one, the rings detached themselves from the ship and began to move on thier own. Each ring was it's own prefabricated city. One ring landed near the coast, another closer to the mountain ranges, two landed in the center of a large plains, and the last one setteled in the ocean just off the coast.

As for the Star Zero itself, she would fly to each new city and drop off parts, equipment, and supplies. Parts of the ship would be used to power and protect the new cities, such as the fusion reactors and the sheild generators. The hangars would be emptied, the main vessel would be converted. It would become the new capital.

It took about two weeks to get everything settled At least, for the colony to start functioning properly. It was then that Gov. Steelcraft would begin to turn his attention to Aritimus Agrippa, who had never seen the planet with his own eyes. He had remained in his cell waiting.

He would not wait much longer.

Workers were still doing the finishing touches on the court room when Judge Sanstear met with Governor Steelcraft. Judge Sanstear was a brillaint and fair judge most of the time.

Sanstear greeted the Governor, "Ah, Gov. Steelcraft! How nice of you to vist my courtroom. A bit....modern, but I'm afraid it will have to do.So, what brings you here?

Steelcraft turned to him with his ever peircing stare, "I'm here to talk about Agrippa. I want you to fry him."

Sanstear frowned, "You know I can't do that. He will be given a fair trial like everyone else.

"Need I remind you how you got here in the first place, your honor?

Sanstear was most displeased with the show of force, "I will not be intimidated Mr. Steelcraft. I know your tatics, but I also know the LAW. And it's the LAW I intend to follow.

------------------------------------

In the Brig, Agrippa was being visted by Cutter.

How are you doing Captain?

Agrippa huffed, "That lousy Steelcraft is gonna hang me out to dry isn't he?"

"Not nessesarily. We did find a tracking device that shows you were being followed. You may pull through this.", the long legged officer said trying to console the captain.

"So who's my defence council?"

"A Mr. Xanderfeild and the person procescuting you is Lord Drak."

"Greeeeat." uttered the worried Captain.

The trial was set.

The courtroom was filling up as spectators and the families of those killed during the long journey to Zero Point. The local media, which was just now getting started, was to cover this around the clock. Agippa suffered from all the hype as the media didn't have much else to talk about. The colony was only a few months old.

Hi, I'm Rebbeca Starsin, with Zero Point news. Today begins the trial of Captian Artimus Agrippa whose charged with Reckless Endagerment of the Colony, Negilgence, Insubordination, and Involuntary Manslaughter. OH! A craft has just landed in front of the courtroom. We think it may be carrying Agrippa!

Three Guardsmen standing abreast step out of the craft and then Artimus Agrippa steps out his hands and feet shackled. The crowd is roaring and cameras are flashing everywhere.

Wow, would you look at that. Gov. Steelcraft has taken a speical interest in the case. Steelcraft became the colony leader after Lord Talleyhound was killed in battle. The Colony claims that it was Agrippa's recklessness that caused the deaths of both Lord Talleyhound and 11 other people

I'm Rebbeca Starsin, Zero Point News

"ALL RISE FOR JUDGE SANSTEAR!"

The Courtroom grew quiet and the judge entered the room. Two Gaurdsmen flanked his high bullpit. At the center of the room was the defendent, Captain Agrippa. Surrounding him in a semi-circle was the galleries. To the left of the defendent's chair was the prosecuter. To the right, was the defence attorney.

Judge Sanstear sat down and began.

"Captain Artimus Agrippa, you are charged with Reckless Endagerment of the Colony, Negilgence, Insubordination, and Involuntary Manslaughter. How do you plea Captain?"

Agrippa replied in the strongest voice he could muster, "Not Guilty your honor!"

Sanstear nodded before continuing, "Let the record show that Captain Agrippa maintains his innocence. It shall be assumed to be thus, until proven guilty by this court. Lord Drak, do you have a statement on behalf of The Colony?"

Lord Drak was a tall man with silver hair who wore a long black suit and blood red tie. He was The Colony's cheif prosecuter and very strong spoken.

People of the Colony and Members of the Jury, I give you Lord Talleyhound's killer and the killer of eleven other of your brethern. Artimus Agrippa!

Never before has one man been so reckless, so arrogant, so brash that he endangered each and everyone of our lives. Never before have we seen the kind of stunts that Agippa ordered. We may never know how close we were to losing our lives, but know this. I intend to show you that not only is this man not fit to command, but he is not fit to LIVE!

After he had finished, Judge Sanstear asked for the defences opening statement. The camera crews were loving this and they replayed the holo of Lord Drak's speech over and over again.

People of the Colony and Members of the Jury. My client is innocent. The only thing that Captain Agrippa is guilty of is serving The Colony. He did what he thought best for the saftey of the ship. He isn't the cause of any deaths. He isn't the one who fired shots upon us. We were attacked. Let us not forget what happened. Let us not be blinded by cheap talk and misgivings of the truth. Let us remember who got us here...safely.

Judge Sanstear nodded, "Very well, call your first witness

OCC: Xeno, are you testifying for the prosecution, defence, or neutral?

OOC: Sebeceans have nothing better to do.

IC: They were furious about the loss of the transmitting device, but they did have a tracking ship watching jumps in and out of the Xeno's system. They did see one large ship which matched the size of the colony ship, they collected the data they needed.

High Command ordered a search of the areas in the zone of the colony ship's jump. They knew what the ship wanted, and that would be there curse. Subspace Probes were sent out and scanned systems, and they were all controlled by a Command BattleGroup, which lumbered through the systems of the highest probability of finding the colony ship. Time would tell...

The prosecution was hammering Agrippa. Witness after witness after witness testified that Agrippa had chosen to fight rather than take the Setian-Sebeceans' offer for aid. They laid the case out that Agrippa had recklessly decided to charge the craft that had followed him, thus endangering the crew and provoking the warship.

The court would now call for witnesses from beyond Zero Point.

OOC: The defense.

IC:
Captain Marthe is a tall, lean young woman with her dark brown hair pulled back into a thick military braid. When called by the defense, she would step into the room without hesitation and march to the witness chair, her boots clicking smartly on the deck. She is dressed in the black uniform jumpsuit of the Xeno military with rows of insignia on the left collarbone area.

She would take her seat and level a cool, icy blue gaze at the room.

The Defence Attorney went first, walking up to the stand in a freindly manner.

"Captain Marthe, tell us in your own words what you know about Star Zero's troubles.

Lord Drac was most displeased, he did not anticipate the defence bringing aliens into the courtroom. So far all of his witnessess had been those who were injured , families of the victims, or those on the bridge who couldn't lie because of the voice recording.

No matter, thought the prosecuter. He still had a few aces up his sleeve.

Her gaze locked onto that of the defensive attorney. Of course, the Xeno did not make such public spectacles out of these types of events. Crimes were resolved with military justice. Stern, but quite fair.

When she spoke, it was in a calm, level tone, "Your colony ship came into the system that the Leyte Gulf was patrolling. Per standard inquiry system, we scanned the ship and waited for a reaction. At that point, several other alien ships ventured into the system to investigate. It would seem that at least one of them stowed away in the warp field of your vessel, as our mass sensors detected a stealth craft of some type."

She turned her head slowly, examining the room as she spoke, "There are many unfriendly governments out there that would like to harm innocents, and often they will use these types of cowardly tactics to track you and later launch an assault. I instructed my communications technician to send word to your ship, but your vessel left before we could complete the transmission."

"So, in your opinion, Captain Agrippa's instincts were correct when he precived the stealth ship as a thread?"

Lord Drac rose up quickly,"Objection! Your honor, consel is leading the witness.

"Sustainted."

A look of annoyance and then the defence attorney rebounded, "Captain, if that had been your ship which had been followed in a manner similar to the Star Zero, what would your course of action have been?"

"Objection, question is irrelavent!"

The defence attorny spoke up quickly, "Your honor, I am asking a military officer how he would have acted in a military situation. Her expertise on the matter will shed some light into what Captain Agrippa might have been thinking. The question is relevant.

The Judge tapped his fingers for a moment and then, "Overruled, Go ahead Captain."

The Captain's gaze flickered between those people talking, then she would reply to the question, "Being the Captain of a destroyer, my primary mission is to engage the enemy and destroy them. Whoever it is. However, should I have been tasked to protect civilians, then I would have attempted to get the civilians clear of the threatening situation and neutralized the threat however possible. One of the dictums of protecting civilians is to try to get them away from danger before you eleminate that danger. If it is impossible to get them clear, such as a hostage situation, then you must eleminate the danger with the least amount of civilian casulties."

And if a ship had followed you out of warp space, would you have try and warp out again or would you attempt to neutralize the threat Captain?

She pursed her lips in thought. "If they had proven themselves capable of following my ship, there would be no point in another hyper jump. I would have destroyed the enemy ship."

Thank you Captain, No more questions your honor.

As the defence attorney sat down, Lord Drac rose for the cross examination. He walked up slowly to the stand and gazed down upon the young captain, who didn't flinch a bit.

"When you say, 'with the least amount of civilain causalties' what exactly do you mean? As you might have heard, Captain Agrippa choose to ram the enemy warship. How many civilian causalties is acceptable? How many Captain?"


Now it was Xanderfeild's turn to rise, Objection your honor, Question is irrelevent

"Sustained, keep it to the facts counsel."

Drac looked slightly annoyed, "No more questions your honor.

Judge Sanstear turned to the Xeno Captain, "Thank you very much for your time Captain Mathe. That will be all. Court is in recess for five minuets

------------

Lord Drac and Gov. Steelcraft were talking. The testimony of the Xeno Captain had put a dent in thier case, but they still had a good solid case.

And they still had that one Ace.

She opened her mouth to reply, but then got cut short by first the defense and then the judge. Those blue eyes narrowed and focused on the back of the prosecutor as he walked away. Once the courtroom was clear, she would look to the judge, "I would appreciate the opportunity to address the question raised, once your court resumes please." She bobbed her head once and took the recess for a drink of water.

Court will now resume.

Judge Sanstear pounded his gavel for order.
At the request of our guest, I have decided to overturn my previous ruling and allow Captain Marthe a chance to answer the previous question. Captain Marthe, if you please.

The young female nodded her head to the judge and resumed her seat in the witness chair. "As to the question of acceptable losses, the definition is that 'acceptable' casulties are the necessary collateral damage required to save the whole. When one is badly injured, sometimes they must have a limb amputated in order to save their life. Is that acceptable? Yes, it is. The original question, although irrelevant has all of the makings of a query posed by a civilian. They do not understand the mechanics of war. When an enemy makes war on your civilization, they want to kill as many of you as possible. While your military needs to be successful constantly, the enemy needs to be successful only once to inflict damage."

"Furthermore, yes eleven deaths are quite acceptable. Commendable. While one death is certainly a tragedy, such a few number of casulties sustained in any attack on a ship of your kind speaks to good leadership and excellent execution of plans by the military. Had nothing been done, the damage would have been far worse. Eleven? Or eleven thousand? You take your pick."

<blank>

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OCC: Does that mean your captain has more to say? Or can I go on with the story. It's allllllllmost done with it (which means another plot twist in the grand scheme of things)

OCC: Does that mean your captain has more to say? Or can I go on with the story. It's allllllllmost done with it (which means another plot twist in the grand scheme of things)

OOC: Naw. I did a double-post. Go ahead.

Both sides had made thier closing arguments.

The Prosecution had played a tape of Agrippa mouthing off to Talleyhound, and that seem to stir the jury, but it seemed that the charge of attempted murder was to be declared null.

The testimony of the Xeno captain had shown the public that indeed Agrippa was not being as reckless as Steelcraft might want them to think. Some, a small number, was calling Agrippa a hero.

As Court ended for the day, a dark and sinister man greeted Judge Sanstear outside the courtroom.

"Good evening your honor." he said coldly.

Sanstear looked at him with a harsh stare, What do you want?"

The man smiled, Just your cooperation. Just to ensure that young captain doesn't stick around.

The judge's eyes widened, "WHO ARE YOU?

The man smiled again, "If you want your family waiting for you outside the courtroom, you had better make sure that Agrippa disappers

-------------------------------------------------

The next day all of Zero Point was tuned into the news of the trial. As Agrippa awaited his sentence, crowds had gathered outside to see the spectacle.

ON THE CHARGE OF RECKLESS ENDAGERMENT OF THE COLONY...
.....Not Guilty

Lord Drac cursed.

ON THE CHARGE OF NEGLEGINCE....Not Guilty

ON THE CHARGE OF INVOLUNTARY MANSLUAGHTER....Not Guilty

Agrippa breathed a sigh of relief, that was all the big ones.

AND ON THE CHARGE OF INSUBORNATION....GUILTY!

Damn, thought Agrippa, I knew that was coming. The least they can do now though is kick me out of the Navy.

The crowd was erupting and Judge Sanstear stood up and raised his hands for silence.

He spoke with a booming voice.

"CAPTAIN ARTIMUS AGRIPPA! YOU HAVE BEEN FOUND GUILTY OF INSUBORNATION! YOU WILL BE SENTENCED IMMEDITALY!

Oh shit....thought Agrippa

YOU SHALL BE STRIPPED OF ALL RANK AND PRIVLIDGE AND YOU WILL BE HENCEFORTH.....EXILED! GUARDSMEN: TAKE HIM AWAY!

The crowd exploded and Xanderfeild was protesting and Steelcraft was smiling. Agrippa remembered that smile as he was dragged away...

"Sir! We have a energy signature in the nearby system. Transponders show... it looks like that of the colony ship. It seems to have landed, incoming photos from probe.", a ComOfficer said to Honorary Admiral Deynes, commander of the 97th Command Battlegroup.

Pictures began flashing in from the probe, and it seemed they had established a colony. Data and EM signatures of the entire were streaming in, and continued to for sometime.

"ComOfficer, thank you, break the probe's orbit, let it burn up in the atmosphere.", the Admiral commanded.

"Command Confirmed", the officer replied back.

"Nav, get me to that planet.", he said as he turned to the Nav cluster.

"Subspace jump for Command Battlegroup, 5 minutes"

__

Over the planet the probe entered the atmosphere and began breaking up. It's landing site was unknown, but as it continued it was clear, it looks as if it would hit near a newly constructed government complex. ;-)

Captain Marthe sat in a diner across from the courthouse in a back booth, staring out the window at the people wandering by outside. She had on a headset, and she was speaking into it quietly, "Entirely political. Yes sir. They're wanting to exile a soldier for protecting his people." She listened to the set for a while, then continued murmuring.

OCC: Gee, sending a probe diving into most of my main characters. Real Cheap.

IC:

Alarms began sounding as soon as the probe entered the atmosphere.

WARNING: INCOMING METORITE! WARNING: INCOMING METORITE! SYSTEM AI WILL DECECT AND DESTORY. REPEAT SYSTEM AI WILL DETECT AND DESTORY

When Star Zero had been disassembled into a working colony, the anti-fighter turrets became planetary defence systems. The power system no longer had to struggle with powering the huge vessel through warp drive, so the turrets were operating at twice the power they were normally running.

The turrets rose up out of government buildings and took aim. Bolts of red energy pierced the sky and a small explosion lit up the night sky.

Agrippa frowed, still under the contol of the Guardsmen, "That was no metorite. Millions and millions of square miles on this planet and it hits the one place where people are. Fat chance that was random

Governor Steelcraft also frowned, "I want the fighter wings on full alert."

OOC: It wasn't aimed, just wanted it to land to give you fair warning.

The Command Battle Group came out of jump on the dark side* of the planet, and sat there, quietly. The Flagship of the Battlegroup, the Command BattleCarrier, SIS Ickaria, launched two teams of scouts to approach the colony as fast and quietly as possible. It was not long [via Low Visiblity Drop-pods] before the scouts looked at the colony 15 miles in the distance. They would not attack... yet... there were here to see what these people were up too.
____________

Stats of the 97th Command Battlegroup

1x Command Battlecarrier
1x Escort Carriers
2x Medium Destroyers
3x Advanced Assault Frigates [the ones you encountered]
5x Heavy Gunships

OOC: Dark Side* refers to you blind spots on the planet.

http://www.shsu.edu/~stdcpw12/My%20Web%20Site/index_files/Exile.JPG
Unfortunetly for the scouts, a squadron of Exile Interceptors was already airborne as they approached the colony.

Being a fairly new colony, it was simple to spot outsiders. Look for something mettalic.

The scouts drop-pods sure wern't made out of wood.

Upon detecting the two pods, a radio transmission was immeditly sent out to the command base, which alerted the entire colony that they wern't exactly alone in the world anymore.

The defences would go up. Sheilds were raised, cannons were readied, tanks and guardsmen locked and loaded. The lush forests around the colony would become a deathtrap for any invading forces.

Meanwhile the Exile Squadron had located the scouts and had desended upon them. With thier turrets aimed squarly at them a transmission was sent.

You are tresspassing on Zero Point Territory. Identify yourself and your purpose NOW

Captain Marthe still sat at her booth in the diner with a mug of coffee cupped in her hands. Her attention was on the window as she watched the citizens go about their lives. It was somewhat interesting watching another culture in its daily life.

The scouts didn't want combat, but they were Sebecean Orbital Marines, and they would fight. But only a few of the scouts had been seen by the fighters, and this would be their doom.

The scouts heard the transmitions, and pinged the same frequency. At the same time, four the hidden scouts fired their SAM Rockets and abandoned their position. They fell back, and each grabbed another, and fired again. These missiles, were small, but packet a cuncussion round [to knock the pilot unconsious or cause systems to fail]. The scouts moved further back in the forest, where it became more dense, hidding another 3 pods. But those pods didn't carry troops, and were conceiled with both active and passive systems. However the scouts moved like ghosts, their armor was manuverable and had a basic active camo system. It would hard to track them... so they had time.

An non-commisioned officer clad in his standard issue black uniform walked into the diner and headed staight for Captain Marthe. He saluted her smartly, and then passed the Xeno a small note.

Captain Marthe, an enemy patrol has been spotted about 15 miles from the colony. We belive we are under attack from the same groups that attacked before. We can no longer ensure your safety. Please evacuate the colony as soon as you are able. We will send a squadron to escort you to your jump point if your request. - Captain Cutter

OCC: This RP is now fully open to FT Nations.

"Deynes, you fool. They will recognize our ships if they come wandering around and discover your fleet. We could be in a full scale war with those who place themselves with these colonists!", a weathered voice filled the bridge of Deynes' flagship.

"My Immortal Lord, I was following orders!", Deynes replied to who was clearly a higher ranking commander.

"You are a flag officer, you are expected to follow orders, but to use your head in the process. So now a new order before I have you placed before a firing squad: You are to put a battalion of Orbital Marines down, and withdraw your Carrier from the system. Leave the gunships and the frigates* for support.", the man barked out again.

"Yes, my Immortal Lord.", Deynes said with a hint of anger in his voice. He was furious that the Emperor Heirarch** of the Sebecean Imperial Fleet would yell at him for placing the fleet in the colonies blindspot, but than again he never was on good terms with the Emperor Heirarch of the Fleet.

"Captian of the vessal", the Emperor Heirarch called.

"Sir!", reported a man next to Deynes.

"You are to put Admiral Deynes in the Brig. You are than to follow my every order. You are now promoted to Admiral Second Class. Carry On", the Emperor finished and ended the transmittion before the new admiral could reply.

________________

The main ships in the fleet pulled out of the system and sat in a nearby system waiting for any order or com from the forces on Zero Point.

The other, marines landed, but this time many decoy pods were launched. The marines found a mountain range 50 miles from the colony and found a few cave in which they made camp in.

________________
Notes:

*The frigates and gunships can enter the atmosphere, but don't usually due to low manuverability.

**Emperor Hierarch is a rank under the Patriarch Emperor who is the head of the Sebecean Imperium (Military- Civilian government lead by Consuls). The Emperor Hierarchs are the commanders of the differant services and all of them would share a joint throne if the Patriarch Emperor ever died, untill the a new Emperor was elected by the Civilian Government.

"Diamond 6 to Zero Point, I'm past the atmosphere now. Beginning my patrol"

The Exile raced across the stars in low orbit. A lone ship looking for signs of danger. The Exile's engines roared with life as the pilot hit top speed.

- beep - -beep- - beep -

The pilot looked down at his sensor screen. Something was out there.

Oh shit...

What is it Diamond 6?

Diamond 6 to base I count 8 repeat 8 warships. I detect traces of other larger vessels too, but I don't see them.

Rodger Diamond 6, return to base before they give chase. Zero Point Out

A Cav Battalion had been placed in each city with dropships patrolling the perimeter of the colony in search of the enemy.

The sheilds had been placed on full.

They wouldn't spilt their forces searching for them.

They would wait for the enemy to come to them.

all 4 Interdictor cruisers
8 Victory Star Destroyers
8 Imperator Star Destroyers
1 Dominator Star Destroyer
24 Strike Class Cruisers
2 Imperial Escort Carriers

loaded with the grand army of Death spire
1600X AT-AT’s
4000X AT-ST’s
4000X AT-PT’s
500X SPHA-T’s
1000X UT-TA’s
500X AT-AP’s
2800X AT-RT’s
8000X BARC Speeders
1800X Imperial ULAV’s
2000X M-1 Medium Repulsartanks
2000X Saber Repulsartanks
2000X LAAT gunships
3000X ARC-170 Starfighters
1000X Y-Wing Bombers
(all with pilots)
arrived out of the warp

"i heard someone was being attacked"' Grand Admiral Moskovich said, a grin on his face as the Fleet moved in to protect the zero point fleet if nessisary

OOC: sprry oif this is overbearing, but ive been dieng to test out my new fleet and give my men a chance at veterancy.

Captain Marthe's brows furrowed as she read the note. She set the coffee down and stood up, nodding curtly to the soldier as she marched towards the exit. She was already speaking into her headset with hisses and chittering noises, the spoken language of Xenos.

***

One hour and fifty six minutes later, an energy pulse about three thousand miles over the north pole of the planet would announce the arrival of someone else in this conflict.

Were one to scan, they would note a cluster of the non-glossy black Xeno warships there. Two battleships, three destroyers and three frigates. They sat motionless for now, not transmitting and just scanning, taking in information and digesting it.

all 4 Interdictor cruisers
8 Victory Star Destroyers
8 Imperator Star Destroyers
1 Dominator Star Destroyer
24 Strike Class Cruisers
2 Imperial Escort Carriers

loaded with the grand army of Death spire
1600X AT-AT’s
4000X AT-ST’s
4000X AT-PT’s
500X SPHA-T’s
1000X UT-TA’s
500X AT-AP’s
2800X AT-RT’s
8000X BARC Speeders
1800X Imperial ULAV’s
2000X M-1 Medium Repulsartanks
2000X Saber Repulsartanks
2000X LAAT gunships
3000X ARC-170 Starfighters
1000X Y-Wing Bombers
(all with pilots)
arrived out of the warp

"i heard someone was being attacked"' Grand Admiral Moskovich said, a grin on his face as the Fleet moved in to protect the zero point fleet if nessisary

OOC: sprry oif this is overbearing, but ive been dieng to test out my new fleet and give my men a chance at veterancy.

OOC: No offense.. but how would your government know? Star Zero didn't put out a call for help. And also, how would they get there so fast? Heck. I put a two hour delay on the Xeno, and they're very close neighbors to Star Xero.

OOC: I thought this would be kinda lowkey... the ships Ii have deployed are not that much of a threat to warrent a massive fleet. If I wanted to I could jump in 10 Command Carriers/Battle Carriers or 10 Dreadnoughts [which are both several times larger and vastly than a Star Destroyer] and cream everyone... but thats no fun. Smaller numbers make a more interesting RP.

OOC: I thought this would be kinda lowkey... the ships Ii have deployed are not that much of a threat to warrent a massive fleet. If I wanted to I could jump in 10 Command Carriers/Battle Carriers or 10 Dreadnoughts [which are both several times larger and vastly than a Star Destroyer] and cream everyone... but thats no fun. Smaller numbers make a more interesting RP.

OOC: I hear ya. Anytime something happens in the FT setting, you have fools instantly jumping in with "20x of my SUPER SHIP!1one! and it carries 10,000x of super tanks!1" and crap like that. I'd totally back you up if you protested it.

OCC-Ness: Ummmmmmmm....Death Spire?

You are correct that somebody is being attacked, but right now the biggest threat to the system would be...well...you. This nation is fairly new and so I don't have much as far as defences go, but Setian-Sebeceans has been fair and only deployed enough forces that I can handle. The Xeno has jumped in with a comprable force. Not his entire fleet mind you, but just enough to make things interesting.

Soo... if you wanted to cut down your forces to say....maybe one Victory Star Destroyer?

Sorry, but for the moment I'm going to ignore your fleet. This is a small matter and there isn't any IC reason to deploy your entire fleet.

The Exiles were still doing patols. The enemy fleet hadn't moved yet, and the generals were wondering what they were waiting for. Diamond 6 was in the air again, this time doing a wide circle over the colony.

-beepbeep- -beepbeep- -beepbeep

The pilot noticed something on his screens. A large energy reading that wasn't there before. Maybe the enemy fleet was moving?

"Diamond 6 to Zero Point, I've picked up something on the sensors, I'm going north to check it out. Over"

"Rodger Diamond 6, Be Careful. Out"

The pilot pulled back the throttle and the red craft spang into life at full speed. The pilot held his craft just over the atmoshpere, skimming the top with his dagger-like craft.

"Oh shit...Zero Point this is Diamond 6, I've spotted 8 more warships! -break-" "They don't look like the others, they may not be the same guys, Zero Point request permission to hail, over"

"Rodger Diamond 6, Request Granted, we'll be monitering. Zero Point Out."


The pilot adjusted somethings on his transmitter then sent the following message to the fleet.

ATTENTION UNKNOWN FLEET: THIS IS DIAMOND SIX OF THE COLONY OF STAR ZERO. PLEASE IDENTIFY YOURSELF AND YOUR INTENT. OVER

Aboard the Pennsylvania, the flagship of the Xenos, Fleet Admiral Kay stood in the primary CIC with his tail slowly twitching behind him. ~I also want a full launch of the F1 Squadrons to screen the overall deployment.~

A young woman stepped up, saluting, "Sir, we're being queried by the planetary defenses."

Kay's head bobbed, ~Identify ourselves and our intent.~

"Aye sir."

Reply to Star Zero,
"This is the Pennsylvania, Xeno flagship. We are here in defense of your world. Please transmit your current intelligence. We will not engage without your clearance."

Hundreds of sleek little F1 fightercraft were gliding out of bays all over the ships. The three destroyers took positions in a screen infront of the frigates while the two battleships took the flanks. The formation is staggered at different 'heights' in the 3-dimensional space.

Diamond Six smiled wide.

Rodger Pennsylvania, Welcome to Star Zero. You have, by all means, our clearence to engage. There are 8 Warships hiding out in our planet's blindspot. They have marnies on the ground that our fighters have engaged, but they seem to have vanished. The woods are thick around the colony and we havn't found where they were hiding. If you'll wait just a moment I can send you the video feeds of all this, Over

Diamond Six pressed a few more keys in his cockpit and begain the upload.

Reply,
"Acknowledged, Star Zero. Please stand by."

Minutes later the ships were in motion. While they began to move, dropships and shuttles began to break away and cluster around one battleship that remained behind to coordinate.

With one battleship and three each of the destroyers and frigates, the Xeno would begin to advance towards the very distant moon. A message would be sent out to the ships hiding there,

"To unknown contacts. This is the battleship Pennsylvania of the Xeno 1st Fleet. Under the 7th Article of the Xeno Constitutional Code, you are found in violation of the soverignity of Star Zero. This places you at direct threat of war with the Xeno. The Star Zero colony is currently under protection of the Xeno, and any assault on them is an assault on Xeno. You will acknowledge with your surrender, or your willingness to be destroyed in combat."

Very Xeno.

Meanwhile a dozen shuttles were heading 'down' towards the planet and burning to the capital city, skipping along the atmosphere.

OOC: You guys never saw the Command Battlecarrier, sooo you don't really know its us.

The Frigates and Gunships had no choice, they could not fight an entire fleet, even if the Frigates were the most advanced ships in the Sebecean fleet, brute force can beat technology. So annoyed because of this fleets' arrival, the gunships and frigates jumped away. Once regrouped with the carrier, on of the frigates cloaked and jumped back in. She would not be seen by any sensors*, and she maintained a high orbit.

Meanwhile the Orbital Marines watched the patrols and figured their schedule. It was only a matter of time before an attack would be launched.

_______
Notes:
*Sebecean Cloaking uses full EM spectrum masking and gravity masking. To detect them requires sensors to be calibrated to a point where natural fluxes are common. Although masked, the ship cannot communicate with other ships, and Sebecean ships don't even know where they are with our short bursts of information packets (which give away positions- not used in tense situations). The cloakable Sebecean can only receive passive transmitions. Phalanx frigates cannot stay cloaked while firing.

A sensor technician aboard the Pennsylvania looked up in dismay, "It would seem they have fled, sir."

Fleet Admiral Kay examined the holotank of the CIC for a moment, head tilted to one side. ~Maintain scans of the system. Full spectrum. Also deploy BARCAP patrols and remote sensors.~

Dozens of orb-like sensor probes would be sent out on detection missions around the planet's orbit and its moon. Here and there pairs of F1 Xeno Fighters would also patrol the system.

****

Meanwhile over Star Zero, red comet-like streaks would fill the sky as shuttles cut through the atmosphere at steep angles to lessen the time it took to enter drop range.

They would level out and cut speed somewhat, while out the backs lept black-armored Xenos. These armored figured fell downwards in clusters, each one waiting until only a short distance to use auxillary jetpacks to slow their fall to acceptable speeds. Then glide foils were engaged and extending from the shoulder packets on the armor were wide, short glide wings.

They would disappear into the forests around the capital city, deploying.

Meanwhile at the spaceport, several more shuttles and dropships were landing.

Gov. Steelcraft was at the spaceport waiting for them.

"Greetings! On behalf of the people of Zero Point we thank you for your assistance. Captain Cutter will assist you in your efforts.

And with that, the Gov was off.

Captain Cutter walked up to them.

Hi. Here are the coordinates of where they engaged our forces. Our patrols have been unable to detect them, however we have defensive postions here and here. Our Calvary stands ready to deploy at a moments notice.

The person they were talking to was a suprisingly lithe, short young lady whose face seemed quite young when compared to the rugged power armor she wore. Slung over one shoulder was her M1 carbine. On the collarbone area of her armor is a silvery rank insignia and markings.

She stood on the ramp of one dropship as Xenos of both sexes marched past to form up into perfectly straight parade lines on the tarmac of the spaceport for review.

"Very well," she said as she took the maps offered to her. "I will deploy forces into the mountains. Your primary concern now should be protecting your city and its civilians."

All over the spaceport Xenos were unloading or climbing into tracked vehicles that rolled out of the dropships. The vehicles were heavily armored and large with slitted firing ports in the sides and a rapid-fire grenade launcher on top.

They would then head towards the mountains, disappearing into the forests.

The Marines had moved out when they saw hostile contacts coming out of orbit. They moved through the mountians into an area which had little patrols. They moved closer to the colony, as close as they could, and they waited. However where they were camped was timed for a detonation of a Pulse Bomb (Average size blast as a Thermonuclear Device), and when they had established camp... it went off. The Sebecean equipment was luckly sheilded by the mountain, from the massive EM Pulse (x2 of a Thermonuclear Device), hopefully the enemies would have some failure of equipment... and they waited to pounce.

OCC: Umm... you just blew up a nuke how close to my colony? I mean, if I'm patorlling around the colony wouldn't you be spotted?

OOC: About 50-60 miles, enough to remove our traces [Where we went, what we were doing] and to hopefully cause some electrical problems. And my guys are about 35 miles outside of your colony.

As the explosion ripped through tree and greenery, shockwaves rumbled throughtout the colony. The shields turned a bright orange as they held back the blast.

Alarms were sounding everywhere. Dropships struggled to maintain a steady flight.

And the Cav Units were getting mighty anxious to start shooting at stuff

Night had come, and the fires started by the bomb made the mountains glow. This was it, the 411th Orbital Marine Group moved out with their special weapon, the Keinau a mech standing 13 feet tall loaded with a small arsenal of weapons. They were controlled by an AI, and came down in active stealth pods. The 411th Group of 70 Orbital Marines had 34 under there command here and they headed out. [ http://www.earth2160.com/en/ucs/UCS_Kazuar.gif ]

In orbit the Frigate watched the combat closely and got ready for her part. One of her Special Ordinance Cannons looked down on the colony. The ship decloaked for a second and fired three shots [and recloaked] at a energy generator on the other side of the colony that the Marines would hit.

"all ships return to base, wrong starsystem" the Admiral said, issuing an immediate order for the execution of the entire navagation Command on his ship
"wait, what the hell, i want 10,000 clone mairnes and my personal battlesjip to remain, just to scout things out, everyone else move back to Death spire, we have entered not only the wrong System, but most likely a hostile system, all ships bar the Execuitus Tyrannus 5to return to Death spire immediatly" the admiral ordered, extremly annoyed by the accidental idiocy of his navagators.

(one SD that ok?)
(oh, and i am saving up for a 40k fleet, but the SD were cheaper at the time)

"MA'M!"

"What is it?" Asked Captain Cutter.

"Northside Colony's generator just got hit. Orbital bombardment. Sheilds are down, but their trying to restore emergency power."

Cutter cursed.

OK, I guess that's where they feel like playing first. Send 6th Batt to reinforce them.

---------------------------------

6th Batt was equipped with the Spider Hover Tank. The tank was outfitted with a railgun, missiles, and dual laser cannons, but it's real weapon was it's hover capability. It could reach speeds of 200mph and turn on a dime. It was designed to counter the masssive weapons that other nations used.

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e329/stdcpw12/Spidertop.jpg

8 Spider Tanks left the main colony to reinforce the Northwest Colony.

the Execuitus Tyrannus moved forward, towards the colony, albeit carefullym they didnt want to get pounded for the Navagator's stupidity
"this is the Death spire REcon Ship Execuitus Tyrannus please respond, anyone on the planet, i repeat please respond, are you under atttack? di you require assitance?" the Admiral said, hoping he could return to Death spire soon.

OOC: Sorry for the delayed post. Been having problems logging on with the weak ass forum constantly going spaztik.

IC:
When the nuclear device went off, the Xenos watched impassively from their positions in the forest. The mirrored visors darkened on their own, filtering out harmful UV and polarizing out the excess light. They would begin unloading at the base of the mountains in platoons.

Several of the APCs came to a halt and from the rear of each exited five Drones. These massive, heavily-armored Xeno are the Xeno's reply to tanks and other land vehicles.

The Drones would go in pairs to squads, augmenting their firepower before the squads would disperse into the foothills and begin their trek into the mountains.

Flights of F-1 Xeno Fighters will sweep the mountains with advanced electronic pods in place of weaponry, searching for power sources and communication signals.

**** Orbit
When the frigate decloaked, the Pennsylvania's Ultra ASC cannons turned their barrels towards the ship and began to lay down a pattern of rapid-fire bursts.

The destroyer, Anzio, began to turn towards where the frigate disappeared, scanning for mass and magnetic replies. If there's something there, it's a good chance it will be found now that they know where to look. Spreads of Swarm missiles are fired in volleys, square and circular formations of the rockets streaking across space in seeking patterns, mainly just to strike whatever vessel might be out there with a curtain of rockets to reveal its location.

"Execuitus Tyrannus, this is Zero Point. Please Identify Your Intentions in this System. "

Cutter was suspicious. What kind of people call themselves Death Spire? And why is thier command ship named "Executive Tryanny"? Cutter didn't like this. Not one bit. But, Gov. Steelcraft was in the room and would probably overrule her.

OCC: I'm going to see about how S-S feels about being outnumbered like this. We're trying to keep it low key and all.

OC2: This Forum Sucks.... I keep getting database errors everytime i try and post.

OOC: Sorry about the delay, jolt is just... well you understand

The incoming fire from the Xeno fleet was expected, so the frigate moved down. The atmosphere would provide extra protection. She glided down, cloaked until she sat above the colony. The cloak disengaged because of a hit from the Xeno, and the sat above the most populated section of the colony. Her subspace drive began to spin up and the air began to be charged. The weapons on the frigate, pointed both up and down. A few of the Megabolt cannons fired rounds up to the Xeno fleet, and the auto and rail guns targeted and fired upon the colonial defenses. If they forces her to, she would jump above the colony. She would not make it out alive, but the effects of it would cost the colonists dearly.

COM IN FULL SPECTRUM INTERNATIONAL LIGHT CODE
Do not fire upon this ship. Attacking this ship will lead to the destruction of this colony.

OOC: listen ive had at least three post where ive said im here to help the defenders in detail, every time ive gotten the Foirum problems crap so im makin this one short.

IC: "were here to help, where do you want our ground troops?" the Admiral asked.

Almost instantly, the Exile Interceptors and Intruder Assault Craft seized upon the Figate. The faster Exile fired it's twin cannons attempting to knock out thier autoguns and rail guns that we're wrecking havoc upon the colony. The Exiles got the attention of the Frigate as the guns started aiming towards the colony now turned to new targets. While the Frigate was distracted, a squadron of Intruders appeared in the distance. Thier large bomb bay doors opened and six large anti-capital ship plasma missiles dropped from the ship and began thier rapid collision course with the frigate.

On the ground, Spider Tanks were launching anti-aircraft missiles at the belly of the ship. They were taking losses. A shot from the Frigate had hit Dagger 3 sqaure in it's missile pod area and caused the tank to explode violently.

Death Spire, this is Zero Point. Enemy Fleet now moving into the colonies. Please prevent any other craft from entering the atmoshere. Over



OCC: This is Star Zero. I'm having trouble logging in my other nations, so I'm using Fourhearts for now.

Orbit
Onboard the Anzio, the Captain hissed at his gunnery officer, ~Lock all weapons onto their engines and engineering. Cut the power to that ship now.~

The weapons bays on the destroyer opened up and a salvo was launched. 4 White Shark torpedos were launched, each one 12 feet long with a 2,000 pound warhead. These torpedos are designed to penetrate armor and explode in the vitals of a ship. They streaked forward through space towards the rear of the frigate.

Meanwhile, 2 White Tiger anti-ship missiles were also launched to follow in the wake of the torpedos. These missiles are 19 feet long with a 3,900 pound warhead, also designed to dig into armor before exploding to maximize damage. The White Tigers, with their flex-thrust engines would spiral in towards their target.

The 4 forward-facing Ultra ASC cannons began to spit out a hail of projectiles. Armor-piercing rounds and explosive rounds alternating. Mainly to chew up and weaken armor on the rear of the frigate before the torpedos and missiles hit.

On the ground
Soldiers of the 3rd Xeno Infantry Division were combing through the foothills carefully. Organized combat searches with support by Drones at the squad and platoon level.

OOC: Documentation on the ships, missiles, torpedos and other equipment can be found at http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?p=10268732#post10268732 as long as Star doesn't mind me posting the link in his thread.

Bumpage.

OOC: The Frigate is not a standard hulk type craft, it is modular and changes appearance for different situations.

IC: The Frigate was taking hard hits, energy points on the ships allowing intense amounts of radiation and energy to be released. Power arcs hit buildings, and the electrostatic cannons fired incindary rounds at buildings, as the charge used to fire it, hit the ground. The Frigate was losing lift, and slowly began lowering. It's backup generator was continuing to charge the subspace drive and the cloak. The cloak field went on and off, and soon the weapons turn to automatic control, and the computer controlled it, firing at anything that moved that was not Sebecean. The intense radiation leaks had killed the crew of the frigate, and it was not going to get better.

OCC: Ummmm... didn't you just get slammed with a massive assault? The combined attack from the Exiles, Intruders, Spiders, and the large number of Xeno warheads and weapons should have ended the life of your frigate.

Anyway, I'm still using Fourhearts as a stand in for Star Zero.

IC:

Explosions were rocking the colony. A series of strikes from the enemy frigate had knocked Artimus Agrippa and his gaurds off thier feet. Agrippa got to his feet to discover his gaurds had ethier died or had been knocked cold from the blast.

It was time to go.

Agrippa ran to the nearest craft. It was a Exile Interceptor. The pilot was getting his final flight checks when Agrippa ran up to him and quickly tossed his out of the craft.

Before the pilot could protest, Agrippa had started the engines and had took to the skies.

- Warning - - Warning - - Large energy buildup bearing 1-2-1 - - Enemy Captial Ship - - Warning - Warning -

Agrippa saw the readouts as he armed his missiles and set the turrets for automatic. The Exile's engines screamed with delight as Agrippa took the red rocket to full speed. Agrippa flew fast and low just above the treetops as the northwest colony came into view.

"COMPUTER! Target thier subspace drives!"

Affirmative, Subspace drives will be targeted. Lock on in 5 Seconds.

Now racing at three times the speed of sound Agrippa let his missiles fly. Launching four at a time, a total of sixteen missiles travelling at blinding speeds hit the enemy frigate.

Agrippa pulled up the craft and spun the craft into a dizzying corkscrew to avoid the autocannon fire. Agrippa had turned the interial dampeners down and the ride was wrecking havoc on the man's body.

OOC: The Phalanx class was designed to stand alone for enough time so a fleet could help it out. And subspace does not have external engines the drives are usually toward the center aft, and form a bubble around the ship to jump.

IC: The ship finally gave out. It fell, the remaining 100 yards, and hit hard on the ground. Radiation was emitted and strange fluids came out of it. The build up energy jolted out hitting buildings, fighters, and people. On the top of the ship a bay opened, and a rocket launched out of it. It rocketed up, towards the sky, for about 3 seconds before it vanished into a subspace bubble.

It re-appeared next to the Command BattleCarrier, and downloaded its intel. A salvage/distruction operation would be planned- no Sebecean technology or information would be recovered at this would be forgotton forever.

Fire everywhere.

That's what Artimus Agrippa saw as he turned his craft back toward the planet.
The Northwest Colony had been hit hard. The Cavalry Battalion assigned to protect it was down to two Spider Tanks depite the reinforcements. Bodies were burning. Buildings were mere shells.

Agrippa flew his craft to the Northeast Colony to reload. As he came down he was saluted by a crew chief.

"Nice flying sir, we'll rearm you and get you the latest intel. What are you're orders Captain?"

Agrippa shook his head, "I'm not a Captain anymore."

The Cheif would have none of it, "You're flying my ship, you're leading my men. That makes you the Captain of this outfit like it or not!"

Agrippa smiled for once.

"Allright Chief, rearm me with the largest missiles these will carry. Do we still have any Intruders left?"

"Rodger sir, we have three sqaudrons loading up. Taking them up sir?"

"You've got it. We can't afford to let one of those things enter our airspace again. Contact the Xeno and see if they can't offer us some heavy fire support."

Orbit
The Xeno warships were already in motion. On three points of the planet's axis the ships took positions, so that all areas of the planet can be effectively protected. The battleships were in play now, their dark weapon bays open and waiting while all scanning types were scouring the system for any hints of activity.

When the rocket .. "appeared", active sensors would lock onto that area, and now that they had an idea about where the enemy would be located.

Flights of F-1 Xeno Fighters were on stand-by, being equipped for anti-ship and anti-fighter work. Missile pods and guns for the fighters and either torpedos or missiles for the ship.

Agrippa had assembled three Intruder Squadrons and two Exile Sqaudrons for the offensive against the Setain invaders. They were heading straight up into space at full speed. A red swarm for a red day.

"Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, this is Zero Six. We'll form up with you're fighters once you give us a target. I have some mighty fine pilots who are just aching for a little payback, over"

the Exicuitus Tyrannus Moved forwward, all guns ready to fire, awaiting a target list from Zero Point, whilst ground troops moved in to help repel any invader forceses

Orbit
Alongside the Pennsylvania, EVA trained Xeno marines were attaching the last of the weaponry under the wings of the F-1 Xeno Fighters. The silvery fighter craft had a large, black raven painted across the nose and around the cockpit. Inside the cockpit sat a sleek figure in black armor, her head turned to one side to peer out the canopy towards the planet below, "Acknowledged. This is Group Leader Raven. We will be moving out shortly, just as soon as you reach us."

There were 95 F-1 Xeno Fighters deployed at the moment. Each one had dual 30mm cannons as well as rocket pods and anti-ship weaponry. They struck outwards from the Xeno fleet to hang motionless in the dark blanket of space as they waited for the fighters that Star Zero would be contributing to the battle.

Agrippa checked over his command screen and saw the shuttles preparing to drop off Death Spire soliders.

"Exicuitus Tyrannus, Exicuitus Tyrannus, this is Zero Six. Land your ground forces in the Northwest Colony. They're beat up pretty bad and could probably use a hand. Be careful, they're might be a radiation leak from that downed frigate. - break -"

Agrippa checked out his screen and did some quick thinking.

Exicuitus Tyrannus, if you could form up behind me and prepare to charge those other warships once they decloak. Over

"will do, troops landing at northwest colony as we speak, 5000 of our finest, uwe hope theyll be of use" the admiral said

and the exicutius moved in with the zero point ships.

Orbit
The Pennsylvania hung back as the two groups of fighter craft merged and began to head towards the distant contacts. Frankly, why offer a big target when you can offer tactical, hard-to-hit targets?

The silvery color of the Xeno fighters would darken somewhat to match the backround of space, and they broke up into squadrons, which are then divided up into pairs. The group of 95 spread out wide in a staggered fan, leading the way for the Star Zero fighters.

The Pennsylvania would follow along behind at a distance, with the destroyer Leyte Gulf and frigate Claymore at its flanks.

OOC: Be ready for it, this is not gonna be a walk in the park- the Command BattleCarriers are the new ships phasing out the Command Carriers and the Dreadnoughts: they are a mix, and the backbone of my fleet.

IC: The security probes detected an approaching force on the edge of their scanners. They were going to come to them, not the other way around.

The Sebecean fleet, prepared for jump: fighters landed, bays closed, and systems warmed up. The ships prepared for a hot jump. They were seconds away... 4... 3... 2... 1... jump.

They, exited jump 1.2 seconds later, behind the enemy fleet, next to the planet. They did not hail or offer a chance to surrender, they fired. Banshee fighters were launched, many of them. As the fighters moved out of range, the Command Battlecarrier activated it's AFCOM [Anti-Fighter Charged Ordinace] Flak cannons, to shield itself from bombers.

As the fleet opened all of it's guns, it began receiving a intel packet from Sebecean Combined Military HQ-

Encrypted Transmittion
Consol Oaurn received full vote from Coalitionist Congress, Consol Oaurn declared Chancellor of Coalition and Imperium. Emperor Miniah declared illegal. All warships are to return home.

Agrippa cursed.

Damn it!

ALL CRAFT THIS IS ZERO SIX! TURN 180 DEGREES! ALL FIGHTERS: SPLIT UP AND HEAD ABOVE AND BELOW THE STAR DESTORYER! EXILES: FULL THROTTLE, ENGAGE ENEMY FIGHTERS!

The Exiles turned hard and hit thier overdrives. They split over the Star Destroyer and formed back up heading toward the enemy fighters.

As they rocketed foward, the Intruders made their way around advancing towards the enemy fleet.

-Enemy starfighters in missile range-

Zero Six to Diamond Group, launch missiles!

"launch all fighters, scamble, code red situation Hazardous, target enemy vessels, BRING THEM DOWN!" the admiral; yelled into his mic, as Death spire fighters sped outr of their hangars and headed for the enemy fighters to intercept them.

Orbit
Well. One might note, the Xenos came with two battleships, three destroyers and three frigates. Which meant, the enemy fleet was jumping directly between two Xeno battlegroups.

While the Pennsylvania and its two escorts began to take hits, their flex-thrust engines were already turning the black ships around to broadside with the enemy and present their capital cannons, which spat out streams of alternating high-explosive/armor-piercing rounds.

Meanwhile, near the planet, the battleship Arizona along with two frigates and two destroyers would open up. Their weaponry rippled, sending full compliments of anti-ship missiles and torpedos along with rapid-fire cannon rounds propelling towards the rear of the enemy ships, which were presumably facing the Pennsylvania.

The F-1 Xeno Fighters of Alpha Wing, which had been on approach vectors now whipped around and sped up to out-pace the Pennsylvania battlegroup and spread out even further as they began their attack runs, weapons silent as they closed range.

The Command Battlegroup seized fire, and turned towards and open section of space and began firing again, at empty space. In a few seconds a Entourage of 10 CDF (Congressional Defense Forces) Karren class Command Carriers [older model]. It did not take long before the Carriers fired back at the Command Battlegroup.

The Battlecarrier moved its two massive Chaotic Graviton Cannons towards a Command Carrier, and fired two violet rounds at it. The Graviton rounds made a direct hit, and the Carriers frontal section began collapsing on itself. The gravity well eventual was destroyed, and many explosions erupted on the massive 8800 meter ship.

The Battlecarrier's Banshees turned away an flew towards the CDF fighters. The Carrier Entourage began firing their SuperHeavy Compressed Charged Particle Cannons at the Battlegroup. It seemed as the CDF would defeat the Imperial Ship, but as the Battlecarrier's systems began to fail, another fleet of ships arrived- this time 8 Imperial Command Battlecarriers, with many Symbiant and Phalanx Frigates. They added to the chaos and the two Sebecean sides were heated in combat at cared little about the other enemies, when a CDF ship sent a hail to the Zero Point colony:

This is the Congressional Defense Fleet Sebeki 12. A massive change in the Sebecean government has left the Congress and the old Imperium in civil war. All Old Imperial actions have been declared illegal, we are here to stop their imperialist reign.

OOC: Cool. ^.^

"WHY DOES SPACE HAVE TO BE SO FRIGGIN CROWDED!??"

Agrippa shook his head, "CDF Forces, this is Zero Six, we will be glad to assist in the disposal of your garbage. Intruder Group Emerald, launch missiles at those Graviton Cannons. Exiles, mop up those fighters!"

The bombbays of the large dropship opened up to reveal a rack of lethal cargo. Six massive warheads from each ship began hurtling towards the large weapons.

The Exiles hit thier overdrive to persue the Banshee fighters. Their twin turrets firing rapid shots at the enemy fighters.

Orbit
The Xeno battleships and destroyers were now launching their capital anti-ship missiles and torpedos towards the battlecruiser. Their rapid-fire cannons played back and forth, hosing streams of ammunition towards the ship's flanks.

Meanwhile, F-1 Xeno Fighters swooped in, diving along the spine of the battlecruiser. Each one launched a pair of lightweight torpedos or missiles down towards the ship's weapon turrets. Other F-1s went spiraling down into sleek little curves to chase after the Banshee fighters, their 30mm guns sending glittering tracers through space, tracking after enemy fightercraft.

The Imperial ships cared little about the others, and all of the Battlecarriers fired their Chaotic Graviton Cannons at the carriers. The CDF was losing, and they knew it- more carriers came into the mess, but the CDF lines were littered with battered hulks of Carriers. Only one of the Battlecarriers was destroyed. The Sebecean death toll was spiraling out of control: 341,612 dead.

The move by the Congress to seize all power was beginning to fail: The Imperium had better ships, and the CDF was fighting a lost cause.

Another ships jumped it, this one had was never seen before and it jumped in behind the CDF and attacked them. At a close look one could see the massive seal of the Imperial Dynasty on it... it was the Patriarch Emperor, Furion Miniah. The Imperial Capital Ship, Eveii Moon, turned to broaside it's foes, but it did not fire the usual particle cannons, but and array of Chaotic Graviton, Dark Charged Ordinance, and Heavy Arc Cannons. As soon as it entered combat, four more CDF carriers went down. The 2 that remained tried to flee, but the Eveii Moon, sent a virus that shutdown their Subspace and Sublight drives, and than sent the order to the virus to jump them into the center of the local star. The first and last battle of the Civil War was over, the Imperium would stand.

The Imperial Ships than turned guns toward the other ships, as the Eveii Moon slide near the planet. The Imperial vessals did not fire, except for a International Signal Laser on the Emperor's ships that flashed: DO NOT FIRE UPON OUR SHIPS AND WE WILL NOT DECIMATE YOU-- WE REQUEST A MEETING WITH ALL LEADERS OF ALL FORCES PRESENT-- RESPOND WITH MESSAGE LASER

ALL SHIPS: LOCK ON TO THAT MONSTOR, BUT HOLD YOUR FIRE, RPT HOLD YOUR FIRE!

Agrippa took a very deep breath. If it was one thing he couldn't stand. It was politics.

Allright, Emperor, You have your Cease-Fire. But if you got something to say, you say it right here.

Orbit
The Xeno warships had begun to deploy in a loose, staggered half-circle around their targets. Fightercraft broke off from their attack runs, many returning to their ships to rearm. The other F-1 Xeno Fighters continued to patrol in random routes between the Xeno and the enemy.

Star Zero could negotiate its terms of course, the Xeno remained on station. In the torpedo and missile tubes onboard the warships, more weaponry was being loaded by the crews. Mainly accepting the warhead onto big dollys and sliding them forward so that the tube's automatic loading system will accept them. It's one way for the warships to keep live ammunition out of the loading chambers of the torpedo and missile bays.

The 8 massive Command Battlecarriers formed up around the slightly larger ship. Although a bit larger, the Eveii Moon had only 300 crew, compared to the 50,000 crewed cities of the Command type ships.

MESSAGE LASER: AGREED, WE REQUEST TO MEET ON THE SURFACE--

OOC: Yes we can get better performance out of the smaller advanced frigates-- Command ships are used mainly to create terror- and to act as colony ships, conferance centers, invasion ships, research centers, and one has even landed itself to be converted into a embassy. They can sustain themselves for 200 years, and they have environmental reconstruction centers for training and diplomatic summits.

"Fine, send one armed shuttle, and only one. To the following coordinates: XXX.XXX. I will fly out of orbit and meet you there. Zero Six Out

the admiral in his Super star destroyer looked at his otions, he hoped the extra armor worked
"Executis Tyrranus to all freindlies, we are going to mram that capital ship, hopefully do some major damage pilots, take us to Ludacrouis speed!" the admiral roared over the Vox unit
"yawol Herr Admiral" the Pilot in command said, the extra engines srevealing their power

Orbit
The various heavy cannon systems on the Xeno warships remained locked onto the vessels of the invaders. The torpedo and missile bays were loaded up again and ready, and the F-1 Xeno Fighters were spilling out of the fighter bays with fresh bombs, missiles and torpedos hanging from their wings and bellies.

"Negative, Executis Tyrranus. You just sit tight until talks are completed. Keep them locked in, but don't fire unless you have to.

Orbit
The Arizona as well as the Anzio turned their weapons towards the Executis Tyrranus. Just watching, waiting.

As the Star Destroyer approached, it was quickly decided to get rid of it a different way. A Sebecean Portship jump next to it, and quickly formed a Subspace bubble around it, within a moment the Star Destroyer and the Portship vanished.

The Eveii Moon launched a single Valkayre Assault Corvette (fastest ship class in my fleet), and it headed towards the planet. Onboard, the Patriarch Emperor and 11 of the elite Imperial Security Force, all of them in the advanced combat armor.

To assure his protection, the ISF moved the Eveii Moon over the meeting point, and inserted itself in the lower-upper atmosphere, making itself visible to the colony and those at the meeting point. They would die for the Emperor, so there was no way they would let him out of range.

Agrippa was waiting for the Emperor on the ground. He was well away from the colony, but he still felt nervous that they we're going to try something. All he really wanted, was for everyone to leave.

Orbit
Onboard the Pennsylvania, Fleet Admiral Kay was still coordinating the actions of his ship and the battle group. ~Continue with firing solutions on that flagship. I want all heavy weapons to target their engines if they turn aggressive.~ Two destroyers and two frigates were also locking on, patiently and professionally waiting.

The Valkarye landed in the field. It was about another 30 seconds before the hatch opened. Out of the hatch came 12 men dressed the same, except the last one: who's armor was a dark purple and red. He walked up to Agrippa, and he removed his helmet.

"Captian Agrippa?... I am Patriarch Emperor Furion Miniah, sole authority of the people of the new Third Sebecean Imperium. I am here to discuss the end to the hostilities between our forces."

Agippa took a few steps toward him and simply said.

"Good, you leave and everyone stops shooting. Fair enough?"

"No it is not. If our fleet is to leave, we will demand one of two things, 1: A monthly tribute to the Third Sebecean Imperium, or 2: A Sebecean military base on the opposite side of the planet from your colony."

Agrippa frowned.

This is what got them in trouble in the first place.

"In case you hadn't noticed, we'd rather not. Sure, you'll kill me, blow up the colony, kill millions of innocent people, but all and all you'd have a whole bunch of trouble when all our neighbors find out that you wiped us off the face of the planet."

"Oh, again you are wrong- We have inflitrated many nations, and we can do more than wipe you out... I am sure you know about slavery... it is an interesting institution we only inflict upon our enemies. However, you will accept our terms or accept subjugation to me.", the Emperor said as he raised his finger.

The ISF guards raised their weapons and aimed at Agrippa.

"Chose wisely... Agrippa"

On the ground
Remember all those Xeno in the mountains? I bet you forgot about them. Well...

It was right about then that a red laser dot appeared on the chest of the Patriarch. It unwaveringly hovered over the general area of the heart.

From the edge of the trees called out a stern female voice, "I think you'll be lowering your weapons now!" And looking, one might notice dozens of Xenos in that black armor slowly rising up from their places of concealment at the edge of the woods.

"You don't want to do that, if you kill me, my people will rally and kill single one of you. Or you can lower your weapons...", He replied as dust rose about a mile away. They soon decloaked, it was the Marines and their mechs, and they neared. The Emperor than took his sidearm, and fired a red pulse at the feet of the woman.

OOC: And no I didn't forget, I expected you to pull some stunt.

"Mam, back away"

Agrippa was afraid of this. They had left thier homeworld to avoid wars. Empires, and the vast resources it took to fund them, created wars. Even with a military base at Star Zero, the people would be enslaved by it. Not in the daily sense, but there would always be a danger of some tinpot Imperial picking fights with that tinpot Imperial and Star Zero getting crushed in between.
He sighed visibly.

He didn't want to do this, but it appeared he had no choice.

"Checkmate..."

The word traveled through the air and into the microtransmitter that Artimus had carried. It then traveled to the Exile, only 15 feet away. The Exile's computers had been programmed to activate the self destruct sequence once the right words were spoken. The dozen missiles inside the interceptor began preperations to discharge.

"It seems I have no choice in that matter. I must surrender my forces..

The Fusion Drive inside the Exile began to shudder as the computer made some fatal changes in it's wiring.

As we are fairly new, a tribute to you would be most difficult, but we do have plenty of room, and a base would be feasi-

KA-BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The Exile exploded sending flame and fire high into the air. The ground around the craft shook as fusion drives melted down causing a series of massive explosions. The explosion caused a chain reaction as the warheads, now primed, exploded as well sending new flames everywhere.

Fire all around...smoke everywhere....more and more fire..

OCC: I realize that your fleet very well may decimate the colonies now. ICCly, Artimus will not surrender and rather maytr himself in a way that kills your Emperor.

The ISF guards were dead, and the emperor was near death. He had lost an eye and arm, and blood poured from his empty eye socket. However he was still dangerous, and he got up and aimed his rifle at the Xenos and fired. He was a good shot, and aimed for their heads. As he fired he activated a transmitter and he felt the Imperium mobilizing.

"SHIT!"

Cutter had seen the explosion all the way from the Colony. She hit the alarm key. All the civilians had been evac'ed to the shelter allready, but it was time to go.

- Warning - -All Personell Proceed to the Shelter - Warning -

Cutter keyed her transmitter, Priority One Message, All fighters are to engage the enemy at Captain Agrippa's last location. Ignore the ships in orbit. Enage enemy forces on the ground

A swarm of red would now desend to the battlefront.

The Eveii Moon did not hesitate, and it moved above the colony, this time in higher orbit. It began firing crude, dirty, nuclear warheads, they did not hit the ground, but detonated a 3 miles above it. The blasts showered radiation and EMP on the colony. No one would die from the blasts, but they did shake the ground and would blow out windows. The greatest damage would be from radiation and the environmental effect 20 dirty nukes going off. Many of the colonist would survive if they went for proper treatment... but there are usually not enough anti-radiation drugs, and radiation already absorbed would affect them and their children for generations to come.

On the ground
While several Xenos took hits to the helmet and fell back, the rest of those two squads would open up on the Emperor with their assault rifles and underslung grenade launchers. A massive Drone shouldered a recoiless rifle, which began to spit out wads of ball-bearing like ammunition in a shotgun effect. Empty canister rounds spilled from the side of the rifle, as it pounded the exposed position of the Emperor.

Meanwhile, three more Xeno Infantry squads would be manuvering to cut off the approach of the invader marines. Drones attached to those squads were aiming their guided anti-vehicle, anti-armor missiles at the mechs, waiting for them to come within range. Since well, a mile is a long way to shoot and the Xeno aren't the type to just spray and pray.

The female commander of the platoon crouched behind a rock, holding one hand to a hole in the shoulder of her armor as she spoke into her headset, "Deception! Deception! Code phrase, Salvation!"

Orbit
The Pennsylvania and two destroyers would launch a salvo of more than 30 torpedos and anti-ship missiles then, all targeting the engines of the flagship hovering over Star Zero's home planet. F-1 Xeno Fighters were deploying in waves to cut off reinforcements, while the Arizona and its destroyer/frigate escorts was turning to face the rest of the enemy fleet again.

Star Zero's Capital
The Xeno would be aiding now in the evacuation, loading citizens up onto their dropships and shuttles, which were shielded against radiation. As well as EMPs. The dropships and shuttles when full would then make very low, landscape hugging flights away from the city and to an area already secured by other ground forces.

Low Atmosphere
Behind the first wave of missiles and torpedos that came down out of orbit, F-1 Xeno Fighters were making dives into the atmosphere. Prepared in advance, many carried actual bombs. They would skim along the upper atmosphere, then drop down to deliver their payloads, dropping their bombs towards the hovering flagship. Other fighters were launching their missiles, literally hundreds of the missiles forming wasp-like clouds to rain down on the ship.

Not massive, the missiles pack a decent punch. About a 550lb warhead or so.

[QUOTE=The Xeno]On the ground
While several Xenos took hits to the helmet and fell back, the rest of those two squads would open up on the Emperor with their assault rifles and underslung grenade launchers. A massive Drone shouldered a recoiless rifle, which began to spit out wads of ball-bearing like ammunition in a shotgun effect. Empty canister rounds spilled from the side of the rifle, as it pounded the exposed position of the Emperor.
QUOTE]

OOC: Hmm. "Recoiless rifle" is a kind of inaccurate description of the weapon. I had the original specifications written out and a picture drawn up, which I've since lost. But meh. Basicly, it's a belt-fed 4" inch shoulder or hip cannon. I'll get some more information on it written up in my FT arms thread. It's basicly a support gun that some of the Drones use, just because they're big enough and wear the Drone armor, so it won't knock them onto their tails.

The Emperor died.

The Battlecarrier's activated CIWSs and fighters intercepted large ordinace heading towards the Eveii Moon. The Battlecarriers targeted the Xeno capitol ships with their Chaotic Graviton Cannons, and held fire. Only one of the Battlecarriers fired its CG Cannons towards the Pennsylvania. Even if the shots missed, the gravity field around the bolts could damage the hull and the extreme gees could kill some of the crew. The Eveii Moon, began targeting Xeno transports and shot without regard.

The Valkarye that transported the Emperor, took off and began firing on the Xeno positions. It moved around fast, yet placed accurate shots.

A massive fleet of the finest ships formed over Higar IV, they coming from boarder duties, and they were 20 minutes away from a jump- not to Zero Point, but a little closer to home... that is for the Xenos.

The Valayre took off just as the Intruders and Exiles were coming in.

The first sqaudron of Intruders opened thier bombbay doors and released a swarm of anti-captial ship missiles while the Exile's engaged it with thier twin laser turrets.

Below ground, the Shelter shook as numerous nuclear explosions rocked the small colony. They were safe from radiation, but their new home was as good as gone.

The Valkarye quickly landed and a man jumped out and grabbed the Emperor's body and the ship took off again, and headed up and very quickly jumped out. Maybe he would live after all...

The Valkarye quickly landed and a man jumped out and grabbed the Emperor's body and the ship took off again, and headed up and very quickly jumped out. Maybe he would live after all...

OCC: One small problem, you have between you and space there are three sqaudrons of heavy bombers (firing at you), two sqaudrons of fighters (firing at you), a Star Destoryer, and the Xeno Fleet standing there. Sorry, your going to have to fight your way out.

As the Valkarye landed to pick up it's dead tyrant, the Intruders unleashed another volley of anti-captialship missiles at the craft. The brave man who picked up the dead emperor had to dodge cannon fire from the various Exiles that were buzzing about.

Orbit
The Pennsylvania shivered as the blast struck it, but the ship smoothly rolled along its axis to take the damaged section of armor out of the line of fire. Another salvo of anti-ship missiles would be launched towards the Eveii Moon once again. And just to make sure those battlecarriers were occupied, the Arizona and its escorts swept in, anti-ship cannons pounding with rapid-fire slugs sent out in glittering streams towards their targets, and missiles and torpedos firing in waves.

F-1 Xeno Fighters deployed from the Arizona group to begin launching their anti-ship missiles towards the carriers, aiming for vulnerable points like fighter hangars and weapon pods.

On the ground
The Xeno Infantry platoon would call in support and hunker down to take as few casulties as possible under the onslaught. A Drone shouldered a dual-barreled rocket launcher and took aim at the belly of the Valkayre, launching a one-two punch of rockets at its exposed underside.

Seconds later, F-1 Xeno Fighters were diving down out of the sky, firing their Swarm anti-fighter missiles at the transport, their 30mm cannons flickering, sending rounds towards the ship.

And as the invader marines approached to within range, a dozen rockets would reach out for the Mechs while the rest of the platoons opened up, firing bursts at the marines with their assault rifles.

OOC: maybe, but a Valkarye can just run- it is our fastest ship. And the star destroyer seems to be gone

The man's armor took a few hits, but he was going to do this for his lord. The Valkarye took off, and hit the engines on full and began charging the subspace drive. Rounds hit the tough ship, but the speed of the ship caused most to miss. The pilot pulled up into space, as a cloud of Banshees soared down to meet the enemy fighters. It was 20 seconds to jump.

On the ground
The F-1s had completed their mission, which was to draw attention away from the ground forces. One of them would chase after the Valkayre, while the rest looped around to begin dog fighting with the Banshees.

The F-1 on the Valkayre's tail went into after-burner, speeding up to maximum thrust before launching a pair of Swarm missiles, which naturally sought out the hottest spot on the ship.. it's engines.

The Exiles turned to face the incoming Banshees launching anti-fighter missiles at them almost simultaneously. Their twin laser cannons however stayed fixed onto the fleeing ship. The Intruders gave chase as well launching their last volley of missiles.

OOC: I'm crashing, last post for tonight- I think

IC: The Valkarye, took to evasive action. The missiles had only, fractionally, a faster speed, but they came closer. They had to last for 15 more seconds. She launched flares, four of them, one caught the eye of a missle and sent its course off. 10...9...8... the missile nears 7... 6... the missile enters the engine wash and begins to heat up and vibrate 5...4...3... 2... 1... the missile hit the engine tip, and spun it but it was to late, she had jumped.

OCC: I feel bad now. Seeing how it turned out, I think Death Spire would have been ok to send in his whole fleet.

OCC: I feel bad now. Seeing how it turned out, I think Death Spire would have been ok to send in his whole fleet.

OOC: Yup.

OOC: Yup.

OCC: Though, in my defence. It was done to keep things even. Not that it mattered of course. From now on, I guess I'll do RP's completly open as long as you have an IC reason to do so.

OOC: I figured it'd get played fairly too. Turned out we were wrong.

OOC: Hey I didn't plan bringing my fleet, but It won't be there long, esp if you let the emperor go...

OOC: I just don't see how your ship, that took off and started shooting at people, can suddenly swoop down, a guy runs out, grabs a dead body, runs back in, the ship takes off and warps away.. without giving any sort of a chance to react.

With the heavy weapons on the ground, it'd be extremely hard to get back to the body in the ship. And the the person running out would have like 40 people shooting at him. And the ship itself is being attacked by fighters. Just.. meh.

OOC: Sorry my logic gets... well odd, when I am tired. So I'll think about that, but remember their gonna fight to get the body back. You have turned it into a holy war to some extent. Offer a truce for the body and we won't come back for a long time. I'll still hunt you though.

IC: OFFICIAL RP CHANGE- Valkarye landed, man exits to recover body, but is gunned down. Valkarye takes several hits as it tries to fly away and crashes into mountain.

OOC: Sorry my logic gets... well odd, when I am tired. So I'll think about that, but remember their gonna fight to get the body back. You have turned it into a holy war to some extent. Offer a truce for the body and we won't come back for a long time. I'll still hunt you though.
OOC: I'm not trying to be accusing or anything. It was just really.. meh. Shady.

The Intruders that were tailing the Valkrye were now circling. Except for one, which drew back and hovered over the body of the dead tyrant. One of the crew comes down and recovers the body.

Just to be safe, they shackle him.

They wern't sure what to do with him at this point. Obviously, this was very important to them, or else they would not have sacrificed thier own men to get their hands on the dead tryrant.

Cutter was listening within the saftey of The Shelter.

Perhaps this is the bargining chip they needed.

Attention Invaders, Your Emperor is dead. We have recovered his body and are prepared to give it back to you if you leave now. We have no desire to continue this fighting. The deal is this, all of your ships will leave the system at once. You will not return. We will set the craft carrying your dead tryrant through a jumpship in which you will provide.

Orbit and Atmosphere
Meanwhile, the Pennsylvania battlegroup was still pouring missiles down towards the Eveii Moon, and their F-1 Xeno Fighters were dropping bombs, missiles and torpedos on the flagship.

The Arizona battlegroup was by now, at point-blank range to the carriers. They were picking their shots, aiming for engines and bridges while their F-1 Xeno Fighters send missiles and torpedos towards weapon turrets and fighter bays and landing decks.

The heavy bombardment took the lives of another Battlecarrier, but the Eveii Moon stayed steady. The ships fired for awhile, until all of them stopped. They stopped because of a transmittion, and the Command Battlecarriers backed off and began jumping out. The Eveii Moon stayed, and fired back another transmittion:

We accept your terms. We also ask that we may recover the bodies and wreckages of out people and craft. The recovery would be conducted by non-armed ships, but we request that the Devine body be place onboard this ship.

Orbit
The Xeno warships slowed down and then soon came to a halt as the last of the carriers warped out. The battleships and destroyers were scarred and missing armor in places, but still more than ready to fight.

A few shuttles were deployed to begin picking up the ejection pods from Exile and F-1 Xeno Fighters that had been knocked out of action. In some cases, the entire fighter would need a tow back to one of the ships to get the pilot pried out of his or her craft.

The Pennsylvania, it's non-glossy black surface pockmarked by missile and cannon hits turned its body towards the planet to observe the so-called truce between Star Zero and the invaders. Along one flank of the ship, shiney silvery areas show over dozens of square meters of the hull, inner armor layers where the gravity cannon had taken its shot.

Ground
The Xeno Infantry still in the city emerged from their cover, the internal warnings on their armor telling them that there was heavy radiation throughout the city. The suits would keep it out, but it certainly was not fit for unprotected living beings.

Those citizens of Star Zero who had been evacuated by the shuttles and dropships into the forests would be left there under the protection of hundreds of Xeno, while the shuttles and dropships returned to the city.

Deployed are those heavy, tracked and wheeled APCs which roll out into the city, backing up to protected bunkers and opening their doors to let the citizens climb inside safely, so that they can be taken to the dropships for transport out of the radiated area.

Infantry and Drones patrol the streets on alert for wounded or radiated citizens, who could then be loaded into the radiation-shielded APCs for transport to an emergency shuttle. Once it was assured that the woulded and radiation-infected citizens were aboard, the shuttle took off, heading into orbit to link up with the Pennsylvania, whose sophisicated medical facilties could begin treatment.

****
At the site where the invader emperor had fallen, Xeno Infantry were looking to their dead and wounded while others continued to warily remain on the lookout for further deception.

Nearby, an F-1 Xeno Fighter had been shot down and the critically injured pilot looked after while her battle armor did its best to keep her alive. It wasn't yet safe to send a shuttle out this way for an evac.

Fair enough. You may pick up your dead. The body will be sent to you on an auto-piloted ship once your recovery operations are complete.

-----

The Spider Hover Tanks had done well. Despite this, they had sustained heavy losses from trying to pick a fight with the frigate. SGT. Augustus was pulling back into base.

"SGT. Augustus, can't go home yet. We need help with the recovery operations."

"WHAT? I've been slugging it out all day, my tank needs some serious work."

"A Xeno Fighter is stuck out in the middle of nowhere, We need you to get the pilot out."

"All right all right, what are the coodinates?"

"They've been downloaded to you tank."

SGT. Augustus trudged back to his Spider and told the pilot to start her up again. It wouldn't be too much longer. After all, the Spider did travel at 200mph.

On the ground
The F-1 had fared remarkably well thanks to the superior Xeno construction methods used. The pilot had managed to keep the nose up as it skimmed over treetops before the wing caught, ripping the top from several trees and the craft spun into the ground. It lay on its side now, the pilot hanging limp in her harness. The blast shield/visor on her helmet was cracked, and some blood showed where it had dripped out.

Under the remaining wing of the craft, a tubular, multiple-barreled rocket pod was empty except for three Swarm missiles, and the brackets for two wing-mounted anti-ship missiles were also empty. She'd apparently accomplished her mission before the craft had been struck by repeated bursts of light cannon fire and been crippled.

The Eveii Moon received the ship, and then tore into subspace. It was about 20 minutes later that 20 non-armed large transports and 30 Portships exited subspace. Shuttles went to the surface and gathered the dead, the Marines left on the surface help gather the wreck of the frigate and Valkarye. In orbit Portships jumped out with massive parts of the old CDF and Imperial ships, and when they had dumped their load at the production planet, they returned. They tried their best to remove as much as they could, but alot of debris remained and began forming a small, thin ring around the planet.

Once the recovery had been complete, large containers were dropped off from ships. The Marines opened them and began hauling anti-radiation and medical supplies to the citizens of Zero Point. More containers came down, these were filled with food and water. And more came, carring building supplies and the Marines took them to the small, none radiated plain next to where the Emperor was killed and began assembling housing, medical, communications, production, and greenhouses. It would take a few days, but they would (with the assistance of construction drones) complete a new area of housing for the people of Zero Point.

-Zoooooooom-

The pilot of the Spider Tank liked to go fast.

This annoyed SGT. Augustus.

This pilot liked to go fast through trees.

But he couldn't really complain. His driving had kept them alive.

-beep--beep--beep-

"Slow down pilot, we're getting close.....PILOT!"

The pilot reluctantly slowed the hover tank as the crew searched their scanners for the downed craft. They spotted it and pulled up beside it. The crew got out quickly. The pilot was knocked out, and the sargeant worked quickly to cut her from her harness.

"Pilot, grab that medkit. Let's get her inside!"

Orbit
She was wearing the sleek black Xeno power armor that all of the armed forces wore. Of course, hers was specially outfitted for work as a pilot with especially enahanced visual imaging, reflex adaption and an extra layer of enviornmental-atmospheric protection. All of the Xeno armor types are sealed against environmental hazards such as heat and cold, no oxygen, space vaccum, radiation and such. The pilots were protected even further.

The armor made her slim form heavier, perhaps by a hundred and twenty pounds or so. But nothing too bad.

It was obvious that she was critically wounded. When she hit, her head had smashed forward against the control panel and a fragment of one control stick had punched through the visor, shattering and slashing across her neck and face. She was pale and low on blood, breathing unsteadily. On the black helmet above the visor, there is a white circle with a raven, wings open.

Normally the Spider carried a crew of three, but for this mission it only had two, so while the pilot raced back to the medical facilites, Augustas did what he could with the medkit. He stopped the bleeding, gave her IVs, and used the tank's breathmask to help give her oxygen.

Black Widow 1 to Any Xeno Shuttle, Black Widow 1 to Any Xeno Shuttle. I have recovered a criticaly injured pilot who needs immediate evac. Over

"Acknowledged, Black Widow. We have deployed a craft for evacuation."

A shuttle had just lifted off and was already heading in that direction. With its large, oversized engines the shuttle powered through the atmosphere towards the site of the wreck.

Fifteen minutes later, the shuttle is settling down into the clearing and several Xeno wearing black military jumpsuits run forward with a stretcher to collect their wounded pilot.

Beasida, Higar IV

The Eveii Moon returned home, with it the Divine Body. A transport emerged from the Eveii Moon, and headed down to the city. As it flew over millions of combat ready troops were ordered to attention, and the commanders saluted the craft.

The craft soon landed in the Imperial Capitol, and the body was carried out slowly, by 4 large soldiers. The body was covered by the Sebecean flag, and following it the Capitian of the Eveii Moon. They moved slow, taking a step then pausing for a second. Many observing women broke into tears, and the sun began to set.

Once inside the building, is when the ceremony stopped. Top Symbiant* doctors tended to him. They began starting his heart and body systems up, they could revive him- the Sebecean brain could last for 2 hours without blood before damage started, and the doctors on the Eveii Moon pumped the Emperor with blood. They began re-pumping blood in him, and they fired an electric pulse in him, and he awoke. He was in pain, but Keronor (ans) began to dull it. They tended to his wounds and began inserting tubes and the various parts of the symbiant life.

After 2 hours they were done. They inserted him in a pod, and attached the cords. He awoke again and his face was lit by a flashing light as the pod was filled with a special liquid- He was now a Symbiant. His ship was being constructed, a fast project that was coming together faster than anything it's size. It was almost complete, and was started when they heard the Emperor was dead. It was vessal a bit larger than a frigate- it was almost as fast as a Valkarye, more advanced than a Phalanx, contained advanced Sebecean weaponry including Miniturized Chaotic Graviton and offensive Temporal tech. It was a ship to house a god.


Notes:
*The Symbiant is a person [usually on verge of death] who volunteers to be implanted into a ship or system. They are smarter, faster, and more resourceful than AIs, and they understand Sebecean life.

Sebeceans look like humans, but their are many noticable differances in their internal and genetic makeup. Sebeceans have warmer body temps, they have an organ next to their heart which helps keep the cardiovascular system clean. They have 40 chromosomes, and their eyes turn black in excess CO2 and white in pure O2.

OCC: I'm assuming that you won't be back for a long time. This being the case, I shall close this RP and start a new thread shortly. Now, enjoy a cute, but sad moment between Cutter and her daughter. (What? You thought she was single?) Oh, and nobody on Star Zero thinks your emperor is still alive. They checked. Belive me. (No pulse, no breathing ect)

Thanks to the sheilds, the nuclear attack had only done minimum damage to the enviroment surrounding the colony and only those that were fighting on the surface were really harmed. A few months of treatment and everyone should be ok. Star Zero had terraforming equipment on the colony ship, and so they assembled it and started to undo the damage to the rest of the planet.

The toll on the Star Zero forces was heavy. Half thier Defence Forces were lost, along with one of their greatest soldiers, Captain Artimus Agrippa.

The Trial of Atrimus Agrippa never was a matter of guilt or innocence. It was always a matter of liberty or death. Was it indeed right to die for one's freedom? Was life worth living if forced to live it in slavery? Was liberty for others worth the cost of one man's life. The verdict for Artimus was death.

His actions were not in vain. He had turned the tide of battle and killed a tyrant. As a result, his people were indeed free.

Of course, Captain Cutter was not thinking these deep thoughts. No, Cutter was going home after a very long and very rough day. As soon as she had been relived and everything had settled down, Cutter had ran straight home to her daughter. She hadn't shown it much, but she was worried sick. It was almost midnight. The sitter would have put her to bed by now.

"MOMMY!", a short curly blonde girl shouted as she ran over to her mommy. Mommy, as the rank of Captain didn't seem to work here, scooped her daughter up in her arms and kissed her cheeks. It was good to be home.

"Celeste, what are you still doing up sweetie?"

"I missed chew!". the little girl said promptly. "I wasn't scared Mommy! I was brave! Miss Brawght said I was!

Miss Bright strolled into the room and gasped, "Oh Alexandia! You're SAFE! I was soooo worried. Celeste was a good girl, despite the fact the she called three boys whiney babies for crying in The Shelter. We told her that wasn't nice, but I think she just takes after her mother. Whom I'm soooo glad is allright!"

Celeste piped in, "Mommy! Mommy! Can we go look at the stars? Pleeeeeaze?"

Cutter sighed. She was tired. Very very tired. However, she walked to the balcony with Celeste in hand. They started talking about how pretty the stars were and how the ancients used to name all the groups of stars.

"Name da stars Mommy!"

"Bossy little thing arn't you Celeste?"
Celeste pouted.

"Ok, ok. What do you see when you look out there?"

"AN ANGEL! See Mommy?!"

"Ok, we'll call that one Angel. What else do you see?"

"AHHH!! It's one of those scawwy dings!"

"What? I don't see it?"

"Look Mommy! It's got a tail and a big ugly head!"

"Celeste! That's not very nice. The Xeno are our freinds. And the girls are very pretty. You know...it does look like one though. We'll call that one Xeno."

"Mommy? Where's Mister Agrippa? I heard something happen to him"

Captain Cutter sighed deeply. This was never easy.

"Baby, Mister Agrippa's in Heaven now."

"Is that far away?"

"Yes baby, very far."

"When is he coming back Mommy?"

"I don't think he is baby"

"That one looks like Heavan Mommy."

"Ok, we'll call that one Artimus"

OOC: The Congress bought you a couple of years, seeing as the Emperor must now bring order to the empire. But, don't get to comfortable, once order is acheived there is going to be a nice hungry military machine looking to destroy you.

OOC: Unless Star Zero objects, of course. I had this planned earlier, but forgot about it in the shuffle.

IC: The Xeno had other plans however. In the explosion that took out Agrippa and the invader emperor, several Xeno were either killed or maimed. With such a cluster of casulties, this was one of the first sites to recieve an emergency shuttle. Medical teams ran back and forth between the blasted area and the shuttle, carrying wounded or dead.

Agrippa's body had been collected and placed into an ICU on the shuttle. Various machines and tubes were hooked up to keep his brain alive. The same was being done to several Xeno and Star Zero soldiers who had suffered mortal wounds.

The shuttle would then streak off into the sky with a pair of F-1 Xeno Fighters in escort. It would zip off into one of the bays of the Pennsylvania where a flurry of activity was involved in getting the wounded to the medical ward.

On the ground
The Xeno were for the most part leaving the city, heading to a temporary base camp in the wilderness. They knew that most citizens found their appearance upsetting, and it was best not to add to the chaos.

Nearly a thousand Xeno Infantry had died in the ground fighting, and those whose bodies had suffered too much trauma for an attempt to save were being collected and laid out in rows on the plain where the main fighting had taken place. Their bodies were covered over in white sheets, and the rows of dead stood out even in the gloom of early morning.

Casulties among the fleet and fighters was still being assessed.

OCC: Hmmmm..... interesting dilema.

The storyline I have placed demands that I kill Artimus. Everyone at Star Zero thinks he's dead. For all intensive purposes Artimus Agrippa is dead.

However, if they can revive the Emperor and put him in a big bad ship set on vengence, then I can bring back Hero Number One. Here's the catch though.

The Colony of Star Zero must never know Artimus is alive. Govenor Steelcraft wanted him executed. The combination of Steelcraft's lust for power and Agrippa's refusal of giving up his freedom would have set them on a colliision course. Captain Marthe would know this. If she were somehow contacted, then The Xeno would know to keep Artimus hidden from everyone. He would be healed, trained, and come back just in time to save the galaxy from the new re-born Emperor. I'll start this on a new thread though, in which Star Zero will construct Tiffany Point. From that thread you can RP the revival of Atimus and the build up for the next war. The thread will be called, "The Exile of Artimus Agrippa"

[ Yeah, I know. This is Fourhearts not Star Zero. But hey, it's my main nation so I can make big OCC Commentary this way ;) )

OOC: Right.

OOC: Sounds good, but make it a good 3 years after this