NationStates Jolt Archive

Sign-up and OOC here:

http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=463685&page=3

If you want to learn about my government (it's a very interesting story), read the story threads in this post:

http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=453158

For those too lazy to do that, at the beginning of this post I have a summary of my nation's history. Here it is:

Over ninety years ago, the atheistic Merkar Republic constructed a giant computer, the Mainframe, to lead the country. It never made a single error until two decades later when it failed to predict a massive civil war. Formulating, by irrefutable cause-and-effect proofs, a prophecy that theists would one day conquer the universe and exterminate all life in an Armagedon war, it informed only a few top government officials, who kept the matter secret. But somehow the secret got out, leading theists to incite the Civil War of 2075 and the unexplained crash of the Mainframe. The atheistic Merkari government won the civil war, but, deprived of the Mainframe, fell into despair. All attempts to recreate such a masterpiece of digital engineering failed, so the government created its own solution- a belief that the Mainframe would come again and bring justice to the universe. Some non-Merkaris object to what they call this "state religion" of computer worship, but the government, and almost all of the population, have turned to this pseudo-faith. Now, the newly reorganized state will recieve its first true challenge...

- - - - - - - - -

THE RIDE TO the base was short and uneventful, but Revoyyen's mind remained troubled. All of the planet Merkar- devastated and scorched with increasing fury. The sun shown brightly today, as it had been for the past many years. Merkar was a doomed world, yet noone had thought such a thing would happen back in the early days. Revoyyen was just a child then, two centuries ago when Merkar was first colonized. A new hope for the citizens of the old country, trapped on an ever-more-polluted, ever-more-overpopulated Earth. The Merkaris had long abandoned their old home, and this was the new one. But, with the advent of a terrible orbital shift, it was quickly being incinerated by an ever-expanding sun.

Revoyyen sighed and put away his thoughts for later. His hovercar passed through security, emitting its clearance beacon. As it ground to a halt, the door opened to reveal the entrance to the Politburo building.

* * * * *

"Gentelmen," began President York, "this is a very serious matter indeed. All the land from here to the Seventh Mark has been slated for evacuation. But the important question is, to where? Marketi and Ashasi are both unable to support life. The Merkari nation simply lacks the habitable land to live in. I have contacted the leaders of all star empires possesing habitable worlds, and I have recieved a few offers to purchase planets. I'm sure you are all by now aware of the offer by the race of Spooty, which appears to be our best opportunity." Revoyyen considered the President's words. Twenty lightyears distant, the J'kran system had been offered for sale. Consisting of five terraformed worlds, it was perfect for human habitation. But only at the outrageous cost of forty million galactic credits.
There were, of course, cheaper systems and individual planets for sale. But all were far too distant to transport eight hundred million Merkaris to. Moving an entire country by star transport had simply never been done before, and the cost would be horrendous. The J'kran system was the only nearby habitable place to go, although the Spooty race had insisted on an immense price. Still, Admiral Revoyyen knew that it had to be done. For the survival of an entire people.
Not that President York had the true power to make the decision. Ever since the civil war, the "scientists" who were tasked with interpreting computer analysis into national strategy had become the real national leaders. These computers were nowhere near as complex as the original Mainframe, but then again, these people were not real scientists. A more accurate word would be "religious leader", but you couldn't say that around them. The state was still officially atheistic, whatever the actual situation was. Ignoring their advice, though, would be fatal to your career. The belief in the infailability of the Mainframe was still stronger than any one force in the nation, and these "scientists" had a lot of influence.
Admiral Revoyyen shifted his gaze back to President York, with his elderly look and long white beard.
The first person to reply to York's introduction was General Jackson, head of the Combat Support Services. "With all due respect, Mr. President, purchasing the system at that price would be ridiculous. We have to put pressure on them." Jackson waited patiently for York's reply, hiding his intense emotion. In his eyes, civillians were not to be trusted. York was always a pushover. Jackson used this to his advantage, on occassion, but in this case the President was more willing to bow to pressure from the Spooty than from that within his own government. York could be seen thinking for a moment, and then retorted the General. "You must understand, General Jackson. Our diplomats and I have done all that we can. There's no more time for negotiation. We've all worked hard, and we have no choice." Forty trillion credits- spending such a sum would cripple the economy for decades. Yet what other choice was there?
Jackson knew what the only other option was, and he was not afraid to state it. "Then we must take it by force of arms!"

An earsplitting clatter rose throughout the room, as those present yelled at each other. "Their people..." Jackson raised his voice in order to be heard above the noise. "THEIR PEOPLE ARE WEAK AND NOT PREPARED FOR WAR! WE MUST STRIKE!" It seemed to have no effect. For what seemed like the better part of a minute, the room was in chaos.

"Silence!" Everyone stopped. It was the voice of Dr. Claire Polenin, the head of the Mainframe "scientist" team. To ignore her would be to incur the wrath of her followers. "General Jackson is correct. We can and will destroy the forces of Spooty. It is the will of the Mainframe. To say otherwise would be illogical and defeatist. As no sane Merkari would consider himself so, the matter is settled." The yelling was over. Some people wiped their brows free of sweat after the intense verbal argument, but most more or less sat still, despondent at the fact that war was no inevitable. President York knew that there was nothing he could do. He had been overpowered by the "scientists". Now there was only one option, and he must accept it, however reluctantly. "Admiral..." York slowly regained his composure. "Admiral Revoyyen... mobilize the fleet."
Revoyyen saw the foolishness. An entire intragalactic conflict, started not out of necessity, but by the order of this now-nonexistant digital god. It had been dead for fifty years, yet its influence was still felt. Not that the machine meant any ill. It was the people interpreting it that had their stake in it. Never before in the history of the nation had Merkar conquered, or even set its soldier's boots on, the territory of another state. Yet, no matter what it wanted to do, a state could not remain in its safe cradle of peace forever. Merkar was going to expand, not because its people were willing to do so, but because the situation had gotten out of hand. Yet, a soldier's duty was to do as he was told, and Revoyyen was prepared. The time had come to place the first step upon a long road.

"Yes, sir."

OOC: Tag. Wondering where I come in though?

OOC:

TAG and waiting for my entry also...

OOC: Don't know what to do, so I'll just post my information then. Gives it a nature into part of my FT.

Unknown Voids in Space
The Araxkus was a powerful, quiet ship of ghosts, floating in the darkness of space, drifting about as it crept through its hallowed void. Its Lord was dead, or presumed so, its connections with the dark shadows gone, the soldiers aboard it dead, as it only drifted by slowly in space, the beacon on its helm still beeping with a dark, horrific and dastardly noise, as if to give a brooding atmosphere along cold breezes. The dashing solar winds blasted upon its shielded surface, the marks of recent laser wounds and the cuts of war borne in the skin of metal it held. For this ship, a survivor of the darkest civil wars in the shadowy empire, only was the remains of the battle of the Maws, crippled beyond doubt, crushed to a pulp – but it still worked. It still gave breath of war. The computers on its station had a mind of its own, directing a fleet of ghostly soldiers around, controlling a large sector of weaponry still running faintly, enough to crush a couple battalions before giving out. But the dreaded Araxkus was not the only one.

Emerging from the deep recesses of space, equal in the large amounts of damage, the crushed demeanour and the quiet war-scars scratched lavishly upon their surfaces, the surviving functional ships of the civil war waging in the far off empire only foreboded the creepy silence they held. There was no roar of war, no loud turmoil of strength and fury – only these mysterious, tattered, but functional ships, roaming throughout the helms of space, seeming to be controlled by nothing but machines. It seemed as if things were out of control. The playful attacks of the remains of solar winds only bounced harmlessly off their metal casings, the lights flickering with a ghastly fog permeating around their hulls, the escape pod hatches still cold and frigid in their berths, soft and damp as the icy waters in a winter lake. So quiet, it was. So dreary, so droopingly silent, no intervention would be able to handle the sight a ghost fleet roaming through uncharted space. There was no need to land, there was only space, and space alone, as their companion in the dark voyage. No Sith Lords to guide their hand, no soldiers to run their engines. The machines did all the work, controlled all the navigation, and crushed and assimilated everything into their helm, hangars looking like rigid sharp teeth and quad cannons, once sleek and silver with strength and range, crackled with electricity of life.

Gargling and static transmissions were frequently heard in the ships, sent throughout the makeshift fleet of fear, as if they were talking quite socially and liberally in this journey, as if they were organic beings themselves. Every few hours, as they chattered in their dark electric language, a newly formed fighter would come out of one of their small factories, ready to join the fleet. It was apparent on what this maniacal group of capital ships were doing – the machines aboard were building an army of their own, an army of robots and mechanical minds of destruction.

Aboard the stone like metal halls, the red lighting, flickering still in the darkness, purple waves of the Force crackling with evil that once dwelled there. A sleuth of fire, steel and lead were seen throughout, glass plates and metal rifles punched out maniacally from the remains of old ships, carved up into pieces by the vicious machines. One of them, a tall, leering, lumbering machine, with a long drooping blue cape across his back, walked forwards and backwards, stopping periodically to only look at the items that came out of the fiery hearth. Static was heard throughout the ship when it ‘spoke’, looking at the clanking metal armed upon the marching soldiers of steel, emotionless, red-eyed, and always lurking in the darkness, rifles ready, swords prepared. Jets packs armed, rockets laced and cannons fully loaded, these machines, as automated their ideals seem to be, were ready for war. But whom would fight this ghostly fleet? This army of entirely mechanized soldiers? This fleet of steel, where not a single drop of blood exists within a single soldier.

From this racketing, they ravaged worlds, without any response, blood from their tusks of lead and metal, crushing along the swift breezing wind of death. They never wanted to go back. They were independent, and so was their terror, a dark fleet creeping in the night.

A Moonlit Planet
Grass grew alongside the deep watery trenches, the shining moonlight illuminated by the crying of the illustrious wolf, as it howled with a strong and honourable stretch, its voice dying out before the swift breezing wind blasted forwards a cold breeze. The light was faint, only given by the pale bluish moonlight in the dark distance, black clouds drifting like a ship aboard glass-like waters in the night on a rough beach. But this had no water, unless the blood was counted. In this lush, humid climate, under the light of the glittering moon, a large body of steel began to move closer and closer to the source, he large disk-shaped satellite of rock becoming more and more covered as other objects closed in. No sound was heard, no large trumpeting of war – only the shapes drifting towards the moon, across the sky. For a while, this gave a sense of danger, but nothing replied in full – only a cold chill crept up the backs of the animals, the trees on the marshy planet shaking in fear.

Silence was the virtue, abstinence was the key. Soon, in a few minutes, they covered the moon, only the slits of moonlit grass showing on the ground, the howling of the wolf in the darkness the only sound. It was quiet, it was solemn, a moment of reflection, before the guns fired. In perfect tandem, the first wave of ships fired off their blasts, crashing the heated plasma into the ground, burning everything in its path, as forest fires raged around the small planet, the fleet tenaciously attacking everything in sight. Glimpses of horror and shocking pain was etched into the animal minds, if they could comprehend, and no structures fell, for there were none; only trees that burnt with malice of the firers. In a swift assault, the grass was all but gone, the trees all but burnt and cleaved, and the lakes all but dried up in the resounding heat. The first plan went well, and much more swimmingly than initially calculated.

The second phase, as horrific as it was, was underway. A small metal seed was dispelled from the front of the foremost capital ship, the familiar and wounded Araxkus, as it plummeted in a fiery blaze through the remains of the atmosphere and smashed lightly into the ground, mechanical tentacles immediately whirring out to grab a hold of any organic being nearby. Detecting a nearby family of wolves, burnt and starving, one of its growing tentacles consumed it, a malevolent red eye spread out from across the mechanical web of drainage. On this planet, the eye of machinery began to spread, like a fist of steel encircling the entire globe, a metal claw holding the fate of the world in its greedy adamant hand. Slowly, by every second, trees began to die, water was being drained, and the claw emerged to cover larger parts of the occupied planet, but the fleet was not large enough. With every planet destroyed and razed, the ‘seed’ is launched, only to fuel the everlasting power of the ghostly fleet.

Two entire systems have already fallen to this deadly menace, and their eyes are set once more upon another.

"COMRADE REVOYYEN, WE are here."

The technician's announcement was rather unnecessary- the MRS Independent and her crew of a million countrymen had, clearly, arrived to do battle. Admiral Revoyyen, strangely, felt no anxiety. He had thought he would, but those thoughts had long since been pushed out of his mind. What a moment in history- the beginning of a new star empire. An end to peace, an embrace of war. What next? There was no telling.
The J'kran system jumpnode surrounded the massive but now stationary juggernaut, looming around the Independent as if a spectator's stand for those about to view the coming action. He glanced across the rows of soldiers manning the ship's combat consoles, solemn and casually dressed, hiding an inner confidence. It was enough to make someone proud, or at the same time sad. So many brave, skilled Merkaris. Employed in a task that they had been trained to do efficiently and with vigor- not to better the lives of others, but to kill. There was no time for these kind of thoughts, of course, and no distractions could make the Admiral drift from his duty. "Helmsman, begin startup sequence. Computer, activate intercom, shipwide transmission." "Yessir." "Affirmative." Revoyyen rose from his seat while his subordinates carried out their orders. He cast away his reservations. It was time for a pep talk, as the shipwide intercom system broadcast his confident voice.

"Comrades! Today we will once again make history. Merkaris have seen battle before, and they have always triumphed. Not once have we suffered the agony of a lost war. Today will be no different."
"The survival of our entire kind depends on our success. I know many of you feel a great deal purpose, being here, as you very rightly should. But those thoughts should only be dwelled upon as long as they aid us in accomplishment of our mission. When I say "our", I refer to all of those rallying to our side, man and woman, human and alien. You will be glad to know that help has arrived. The Sephrite Empire has announced its intent to supply us with nearly a dozen million soldiers to aid in our fight for survival!" Cheers could be heard echoing through the halls.
"Comrades! I know that some of you may fear the enemy. I know not one of you fear death, as no Merkari soldier does. Death is our weapon against the enemy, and it must be used to the greatest advantage." Revoyyen regretted to say it, but he knew that bloodlust was the only force driving armies. His soldiers had come to accept that fact, and, no matter what the Admiral thought personally, he had no choice but to encourage this aggressive spirit, less the Spaceborne Army of Merkar loose heart in the hell of battle. "The forces of Spooty are weak, cowardly, and totally unprepared! Our ingenuity and initiative have no equivalent in their minds, and we will prevail against their superior numbers!" A shout of violent enthusiasm overwhelmed Revoyyen's ears as everyone in the room cheered.
"I know that you all will do your best, and that this will certainly become a resounding victory in the eyes of our future progeny. And when they ask you what it was like, you will tell them. An example for the generations, filled with heroism, skill and boldness, of the kind that is rarely seen elsewhere."
"And finally, long into the future, when the great exploits of this day become known by everyone as one of the most stunning triumphs in history, you will also know what to say."

"LONG... LIVE... THE MERKAR REPUBLIC!"

A final roar of applause, this one the greatest of them all.

* * * * *

The initial exuberance had taken time to calm, and it still lingered inside everyone present. Revoyyen, though, was exhausted. So much effort had been going into the preparations for war that had consumed all of his mental energy over the past hour. And then, there was that nagging reluctance to carry out his duty. The fact that Merkar was not the free nation it once was. A new God had been found, not one of magic or tradition, but one of a strange "logic". Of "infaillable logic". As much as he tried to ignore this nagging feeling, he could not get rid of it entirely. A soldier's duty was to follow the duty of his leader, and in that capacity he was doing well. But, perhaps, it would not matter. Even without him, the nation was headed down a narrow path, too narrow to turn back. Conquest was the new road to prosperity in the eyes of Merkar, and it was time to carry out what fate had ordained.

The Admiral's eyes had sank shut, but were opened wide by a vigorous tug on his shoulder. "Captain, unidentified contact, bearing 265-3." What could it be?

Near the Planet Vitari:

"Hey Captain, I could use a little fighting, we gettin' paid out here to do nuthin'?"

Captain Wyvern shrugged off the complaint. The Legacy was a proud ship, first of its class, one of the powerful Legacy-class battleships that graces the stars. But the fleet had been out too long, the ships only destroying the occasional pirate or freebooter fleet. A real challenge was in store, even if it meant the lives of men would be spent. So Wyvern easily saw where Ensiegn Rack's comment was coming from.

"Soon enough Rack...soon enough. We're being sent to take out some pirates that have plagued shipping lanes in and around the J'Kran system, so that's our next assignment."
"Good God, Cap'n, we're a planetary fleet, not hired green mercs! When do we actually get around to the good stuff instead of exterminating these rat hives?"
"If it earns our pay, Rack, I'm willing to accept it."
"S'pose you're right...but still, this is s apolished battlefleet, you think we'd get better things to do besides destroying merc bases and the like."
"That's what happens when your government plays peacekeeper."
"Screw the government."
"Whatever you say, Rack, I'm off to the bridge, I'll see you at briefing tomorrow."
"Yeah, tomorrow, Cap'n."

Wyvern returned to the forward command bridge of the Legacy, where his bridge crew was taking it easy. Nothing was going on, they deserved to rest and chat idly. Two Retribution interceptors and a Typhoon shuttle flew past, meager replacement for a standard patrol. Who would be out here, anyway?

"Sorry to wake ya'll, but we'll be heading into the J'kran system in an hour and a half."
"So why you tellin' us now, Cap'n?"
"Just a heads-up."

Wyvern sat down in his Captain's chair in the center of the bridge. He nodded off and began dozing to sleep, sleep that he'd need before events unfolded.

Sorry it's taken me soo long to post. The forum's been screwed up and I haven't had the chance.

IC:

"Attention... attention. Ready group to launch, scramble, scramble. Unidentified, range one million. Large."

Williams was woken from his sleep by the glow of a flashlight in his eyes. It never failed to wake him up.
"Jake, time to go!"
The squadron commander opened his eyes slowly, not knowing where he was or what was happening.
"Attention... attention. Ready group to launch, scramble, scramble. Unidentified, range one million. Starcraft." The pilot who woke him up waited a few seconds for the lieutenant to reorient himself. He had been sleeping since before the hyperjump, and had woken up in a different star system. It didn't take long, though, for him to spring into action. Leaping off the bed, he gave the rest of the men in the room a quick glance, noticing that they were all asleep in their bunks. "Get up! Wake up! Get up! Get!" He went around jarring them awake. His mind was focused on one thing now- Williams and his squadron had a job to do. Fortunately, everyone was already dressed in their flightsuits, and had taken their mutagen before they left. All where ready to fly. Taking the elevator, they followed Lieutenant Williams to the maglev. Despite their exhaustion, the atmosphere in the maglev trolley was curt and professional, any migranes they might have had consumed by the intense emotion they felt. What was out there? Why where they ordered to scramble? Or was it all just some kind of drill?
The intercom continued to broadcast. "Attention... attention. Ready group to launch, scramble, scramble, Unidentified unit, no IFF response, range one million and closing. This is not a drill."
The men and women of the Ready Group squadron ran out the maglev door and onto the catwalk. It was a short run to their Eagle fighters, already powered up and ready to go. The sleek, dark, malevolent lines of the craft contrasted with the bright white interior of the vast bay. Below the catwalk was a hundred feet of empty space, and beneath that the railgun; it was good to know that a guardrail was there to prevent them from making the long fall. Jumping into their fighters, the pilots began final checks. Williams quickly turned on his radio to check with his wingmen. "Alpha squadron, status." "One, good." "Two,no problems." And on and on, until "Six, coolant malfunction". Jake thought for a split-second, then broadcast again. "Six, stay behind." He had no doubt that Alpha Six would be dissapointed at being left out of the action. Don't worry,, Willaims thought, you'll get plenty of it later. The rest of the flight had no problems with their checks.
"Control, this is Alpha Flight. Ready for takeoff."
"Alpha, this is control, access rail three."
"Affirmative."Jake activated the giant mechanical arm in the launch bay, ordering it to hoist the squadron behind Railgun Three. The massive device hovered toward their position, like a giant square hand, and then lowered onto them, grabbing each one of the squadron's 26 Eagles with its claws. Lowering them in order behind the railgun, it set them down right on their launch trolleys and raised itself away.
Jake felt his heart beat in anticipation of his Eagle being cast into space at thousands of miles an hour. "Alpha one, ready to launch."

OOC: I’ve been on this forums waiting for it to work, but finally it does, so…

IC:

Lush Rainforest Planet
Ryan Daniels was the ordinary soldier, not intent on politics, not keen in the arts nor does he expect to grow to great prestige. He only expected two things in life: a good job and a good life. Because of his wife, his life was good, and because of his role in the military as a decent paying foot soldier, his job was good. He had clean healthcare, less taxes to pay, and always was fed good food. It never got better than this – his homeworld, the world on which he strewed his own feet upon, was rather peaceful, and he has never been near death nor danger. It was to him, paradise. However, he never thought in his life he would have to bear bad news. Ryan may have been sired in the obsidian halls and walls of the Rainforest cities, lush and beautiful with vivid colours prancing along their gleaming towers, but he lived elsewhere. His family lived on a middle-class paradise, a large planet with gorging canyons and beautiful streams. Every other month, he would go home, and stay a few weeks with his family, then come back. His son was almost done his final rites of education, and his daughter was in a successful entrepreneurship of her own, founding one of the fastest growing companies around. For him, he was happy, his family was perfect, and he was thankful for that. Nevertheless, fate soon reared its ugly head towards him, as well as every other man who wished to not have his beautiful life destroyed.

On the outer sectors of his government’s boundaries, there were rumours of a dark shadow moving across space, cutting, killing, setting aflame every single living sentient being they could get their hands on. Nobody knows for sure if this rumour was true, but people were still afraid, shaking in their homes at night, more frequently turning their security on when they were home, or sleeping, rather than locking the door. People whispered in the dark of these new invaders, of these new foes, but not many didn’t believe. To them, it was only a dark secretive twist of the government, in an effort to control the military entirely. For the military required the people’s acceptance to start any movements, and without it, the government cannot control much. That was what people believed – a government plot to try and gain control of the people in a ‘radical’ movement. However, rumours were not just rumours.

Entire planets were beginning to be wiped out, complete colonies of people disappearing on common trade routes, including merchants, fighters and civilian vessels alike. In efforts to find out, scout parties of military variety have been sent to check, but they have found nothing. Yet still, things disappeared, people were missing, and entire companies were lost without any trace. Any attempt at homing beacons were gone, and even escorted routes were found to be in danger. That is, until they began showing up.

Things did not seem very well. After disappearances, from hours to days, ships would turn up out of hyperspace, drifting mindlessly alongside other ships, all broken and scarred of damage, half of the guns not even moving properly, the transmissions full of static. Responses from every ‘returning’ ship did not exist, and entire crews have been found dead when strike teams were sent to observe them. The more interesting parts of the ships were that they could never be captured, for they purged their cores once any strike teams got close to their massive internal computer cores. It was as if they had a mind of their own, and didn’t want these people to notice. Ryan Daniels never met one of these ships, he never saw what they looked like, when people describing them as the ‘ghosts’ of the lost ships, pale white and autonomous, he could never imagine it. That is, until recently.

In his stationing at the desert-like planet near his capital planet, his homeworld, he recently couldn’t sleep one night, sitting outside to watch the stars twinkle and the lights dazzle from the nearby shipyard. People hustled around even that late at night, and they were busy and abuzz with activity. But when he sat there, gazing at the beautiful night glimmer, he noticed a small slightly transparent object, slowly creep along the sky, off trail from the ships that it seemed to follow, headed to the planet’s shipyard. He only watched, and thought it was an illusion of the sand in his eyes, but it still kept coming, slowly building up a figure – a broken, rusting, pounded metal warship, pieces missing as if it were from some horrid battle. Looking closer, he noticed it coming towards the shipyard, as people hustled and bustled around, watching it edge carefully more to the shipyard. In an instant, in a dazzling array, it opened fire, catching the people completely unexpected. Ryan ran towards the barracks, grabbed his rifle, and came back out into the night, opening fire at the ship, as his fellow soldiers did the same. The rattling of the guns only were silenced by the massive cannons pulsing out the shells against the shipyard, the metal cranes and the trajectories falling as quick as they came. In only a few moments, the shipyard was on fire, the people fleeing, and it blasted a small metal round object into the horizon, in the far-off sandy continent, as if it were planting a seed. And with that, after that single gesture, the mysterious ship turned off, and crashed into the yard, crushing his peoples’ dominion over the world.

Amazon wanted me to bump the thread for him.

OOC: Thank you...net problems

1800, J'kran System:

"Contacts bearing 1-0-5. All pilots to your fighters, all men to your stations."

The speaker was blaringly loud aboard the Legacy, waking Wyvern from his sleep. He grumpily hit the lights and finally recognized that they had action. Wyvern pulled on his uniform and walked past running gunnery officers and fighter pilots up to the bridge.

"What's the scoop, Rack?"
"Hoo yeah, Cap'n...we got a fight on our hands, now!"
"So..."
"Enemy ships, real ones, not those little pirates we've been fighting."
"Alright, launch all fighters and shuttles and deploy the fleet into attack vectors. By the book, people."

Wyvern strolled to his command chair as his bridge officers scrambled to their duties. Ahead, two Nova-class frigates and a Pinnacle-class cruiser soared past the Legacy's bridge, manuevering into their positions. Fighters shot out of the hanger bay, sticking by the capital ships until they could get into firing range.

"Nelly, arm all guns, and have gunners load torpedoes into their turrets."
"I'm on it, sir."
"Keirsten, make sure those countermeasure crews are ready for incoming fire or missiles."
"Already done, captain."
"Alright people, it's show time."

The battle fleet advanced on the Atheisism battle group, cruisers aligned for maximum fire, the fighters now deployed in front to open the attack. Weapons were primed, missiles ready.

"Approaching weapons range...5 minutes."

Wyvern relaxed. The show was about to start.

"SHIT!"

Lieutenant Williams engaged the reverse boosters to slow to manuevering speed. "This is Alpha One, several enemy contacts, looks like a whole damn battlefleet."
Admiral Revoyyen, who was personally overseeing the engagement from the bridge of the MRS Independent, knew what he had to do. There was no point in risking his men's lives- the unidentified battleship was certainly hostile, as it wasn't responding to his hails. "ROE Green! Fire at will!"
His Executive Officer protested. "Sir! They might be nuetrals! What if they're not responding because they're communication gear isn't compatible to ours!"
"Alpha, did you recieve my orders?!"
"Yessir!"
"Pull back to the battlefleet. Launch all spacecraft. Do we have targeting info for the torps yet?"
"No, sir, we need to get an AWACs out there to get a good fix on their position."
Revoyyen turned to the Fighter Wing Commander. "Captain, launch everything you have! Gather a recon wing and designate it Epsilon!"
"Aye, sir." The Captain was already halfway out the door before he replied, running for the maglev to get to his men.
Revoyyen thought for a second. Alpha wing was out there, badly outnumbered, but would have to hold until reinforcements arrived. No problem- the Eagle was the best fighter in the galaxy.

* * * * *

"Alright, Alpha, go loose. Fire at will."
"One."
"Two."
"Three."
"Four."
His four elements checked in, and the 23 fighters of Alpha wing spread out into combat formation.
Williams noticed the targeting cue on his helmet display flash over an enemy. The combat computer had selected a target for him. Toggling into long-range fire mode, he pulled the Eagle's nose toward the target. The range shown below the target icon. 6,000... 5,000...
With a pull of the trigger, a glowing stream of red disruptor beam left the Eagle's gun stations. Four thousand miles away, an Amazonian fighter dematerialized into stardust, and the targeting cue dissapeared. "Bulls-eye!" The powerful, high-accuracy guns of his wingmen also scored hits.
"That's a kill!"
"Yesss!"
"AHA!"
"Got one!"
The exuberant mood did not last too long, however, as while Williams lined up a second targeting cue in his gunsight, a powerful force shook his craft. His response was instinctual, as his fighting mutagen took control. There would be no pulling back. Thousands of hours of training had prepared him for this moment, and he continued to fire into the hordes of incoming enemy. A few of his wingman dodged the incoming rounds, but most of them kept firing, drilling deep into the enemy interceptor formation. "AAAAHHH!" Jake recognized the scream of one of his wingmen, but instinct had taken too firm a control for him to care. One more Amazonian fell to his guns as the enemy, made of much less firmer stuff, stopped firing and tried to evade the incoming rounds.
Jake's Eagle sped past the target he had lined up, and he turned to re-aquire it. Pulling hard on the stick, he felt the force of hundreds of G's pull on his genetically-enhanced body. Time for the dogfight.

(OOC: didn't realise we had started, I'll play catch-up)

"Ladies and gentlemen, in 5 minutes we will be returning to normal space, I hope that you enjoyed the tour of the J'kran system and that you'll be using Spootian Space Tours again."

Behind the ginger haired tour guide was a vast tunnel of Orangey-Yellow, this was what Thaum-Space looked like, it was an amazing sight and as one Spootian Poet wrote "about ten times more worth-while than a whole stash of weed." Slowly the tunnel broke off and it revealed normal space, with a few exceptions, it had the tint of a space battle going on over the Spootian home-world, this had the reaction of shock from the tourists, the Tour guide was far too busy smiling and looking gay to notice the gunfire around him, as he slowly turned to look at what it was the tourists were shocked at his smile slipped off and was quickly replaced by shock, he grabbed the wall intercom and shouted down to the pilot.

"WAKE UP EARL!!! GET US OUT OF HERE!!!!"

Earl got up immediatly and looked out as a shot smeared across the Thaum shielding which temporarily frazzled, he pulled a chain above his head which released the space tray and sent out a transmission to the planet below.

"God-dammit, there's a big space fight going on up here, ya' might wanna sent up the bigguns!"

Earl knew his chances on his own were less then increddibly slim but it was his duty to fight and he wasn't about to be held responsible when the whole planet went kabooey, he quickly turned the ship around to point at a nice small looking vessel and loaded the Thaum guns.

Two Otari-class corvettes fought into the fray of the fighter battle, letting loose with their laser-bolt cannons. Green energy streaked through space, targeting the fighters with the fast moving guns. More fighters boiled out of the formation, streaking into the battle, guns blazing as they let off torpedoes. A squad of Retributions burst into the fray, Avenger squad, one of the elites.

"Avenger 1, over, lock in rockets and prepare to fire."
"Roger Avenger lead."
"Roger lead."

The twelve fighters burst through a stream of enemy fire and pulsed off ion rockets through the swarm of the battle, then firing flares off to avoid enemy fire. A Nova-class frigate came up behind the fight, spraying down the area with cannon fire, in coordination with Typhoon-shuttles. The shuttles loosed off positron rockets at the larger enemy fighters before retreating around to lead pursuers into the array of fire coming from the frigate.

"Avengers, follow me in."
"Roger lead."

The Avengers streaked into a swarm of fighters, striking with their guns and launching flares to avoid returning fire.

"Shields to full, front max. Avoid that fire, Avengers."
"This is 9...I'm having problems."
"Pull out, 9."
"I can hold it."
"Pull out!!"
"I can hold 'er."
"Eject!"
"I got-AAAAHHHH!!!"

Avenger 9 exploded into a white fiery ball, an internal technical problem the cause of his demise. The explosion gave time for the rest of the squadron to pump off fire before pulling up from enemy fighter screens.
Aboard the Legacy, Wyvern watched the fight with indifference. Neither side had an advantage...not how he liked it. He'd rather have a complete blowout.

"Nelly, patch through to the Pinnacles and the other battleships to come forward to attack the main enemy fleet."
"Right away, Cap'n, transmitting."

The Pinnicle cruisers soared past the fighter screen, firing away with their turbo cannons on the enemy capital ships. The big Legacy-class battleships backed them up, coming from behind with shields on full, blasting in with guns blazing. Judgement bombers flew out from hanger bays, unleashing a hail of torpedoes into the capital ships and skimming over the hulls, too close for the reach of the guns. The capital ships split off, giving full broadsides. Two Nova-class frigates came in across the bow of an enemy capital ship, blasting full with engines on high to evade enemy fire. The Leviathan-class carriers remained in the backround with escorts, launchign out swarms of frigates and accepting those damaged for quick repair and to rearm others.

Kaliopean orbit (Gas giant, 12th planet in CY system):

Several orbital construction complexes floated in orbit with ships in various states of completion. Away from the main group floated a solitary peice of space scafolding containg what was said to be the most outlandish and downright dangerous ship ever invented. Radio markers surrounded the yard broadcasted *danger - exparamental space vehicle*. A shuttle sped towards the newley completed vessel.

"I cant believe I'm getting within 10,000 mau's of that thing" said Captain Yittik.

Engineer Bengiman Milo assured him, "It'll be fine captain, if the brass see you take on a risky mission like this, they'll surely give you command of a top notch battlecarrier."

"I sure hope so, that old scout ship is getting pretty agrivating. It's not even been schedualed for the data com overhaul until next year."

A speaker sounded in the cabin. "This is your pilot speaking, we are preparing to dock, please be prepared for disengagment of our onboard gravitic systems. Please secure all loose bagage and items that may be dissrupted by zero G."

"I hate this part." muttered the captain.

"I'm still working on that." said the engineer.

The shuttle drifted towards the docking ring of the scafolding, being attracted by it's gravitic systems. The docking maglocks kicked in and the ship sealed perfectly.

The ship within the scaffolding was the oddest thing most people had laid thier eyes on. The bow was a normal one scrapped from a mid sized battle carrier. The mid section was a tangle of pipework, wires, and strange systems that very few people truly understood the function of. What would normally be weapons or flight pods were replaced by the two conventional fusion ion engines. The rear was the part that confused most. A yoke like structure held between it a series of rings. Each ring was smaller than the one that held it. It looked extremly flimsy from a military standpoint becuase it was. This ship, however, was not for combat. It was a dream ship, a ship that could theoretically shift 500 ly away (the standing shift record was 97.8 ly and that ship burned out it's coils and had to be scrapped).

Captain Yittik was happy to not have any cameras, no reporters, no military brass. This wasnt for secrecy but for the fact that not many people were crazy enough to come close to this machine.

/* 8 hours later */ *Interesting note: Cassadian time is base 10. 100 seconds in a minute, 100 minutes in an hour, 10 hours in a day. ( the cassadian second is 87% shorter)*

The ship was far clear of the yard and planet orbit, the test was almost ready.

"Open overflow valves on liqnox system. Set breakers 42 through 56 to closed. Begin control centralization" ordered the first mate. The captain sat in his chair in the center of the control room. He watched the clock that slowly ticked down till ignition. 1:23 1:22 1:21. He was ready to make the call. A roaring sound had been growing louder for the past hour as the main drive charged. The computer had been set and the systems were being patched. 0:99 0:98 0:97. He switched his monitor from the exterior to the computer status readout. All calcualtions and system configuration had completed, all system showed blue. 0:61 0:60 0:59. He picked up his hand set and keyed in the engine room.

Ben picked up his phone. "Switch control to command center. Prepare to shift" said the voice on the phone.

"Control tranferred. Shift confirmed" he responded. He hung up the set and climbed down from his command pirch. The large gravitic coils hummed in the large space of the engine room. He reached the bottom of the ladder and sealed the safe room with the rest of the engineering staff. "Here we go boys " he said as the gravity faded away.

The ship stood still in space. The rings spun violently over a glowing sphere. The rings began to halt one by one as the intensity of the light increased. The final ring stopped and the stars around it bent. THe space around it dissapeared and the ship was thrust farther through space than any cassadian vessel had ever gone...

OOC: Here's a rough rendering of my exparamental ship, the enterprise.
http://www.zoominternet.net/users/~helwildcat/FT/enterprise.bmp

Great writing, Cassadia, and a cool render too.

If anyone's wondering why I make my fighters seem so good is because they cost $2.1 billion, twice the price of an average star frigate.

Williams snapped his head up. One of the hostile fighters barreled in on him as he turned toward it, Jake watching the bright blue beams flow from its guns. A string of them arched toward him, but just in time his Probility Sheath zapped the incoming particles.
As the enemy craft dove below him, the Lieutenant realized that there was no time to breath a sign of relief. His Eagle pulled up and to the left, hoping to make a head-on pass. The enemy refused to cooperate, and pulled down and to the right. Both of the craft were now heading away from each other, the distance increasing. Jake quickly slammed on the reverse boosters, craning his neck around to watch his opponent turn toward his six o'clock. Just as it was lined up for a gunshot, though, it pulled up to avoid colliding with William's Eagle, now flying backwards. For a brief moment, he made eye contact with an infuriated enemy pilot. There was no time to think about him, though, as Jake blasted the enemy to dust.
Yet another enemy fighter appeared, this time on his tail. It was no problem, though. He noticed the enemy going too fast to manuever, and zig-zagged left and right. The attacker tried to follow, but couldn't turn tight enough to avoid overshooting, straight into the Merkari's gunsights. An inexperienced pilot's mistake.
Another string of laser beams headed toward him, but when he turned to investigate the source, he only saw a squadron of enemy fleeing away, leaving a trail of flares behind. Making a quick glance toward the Probability Sheath power gauge in his helmet display, he realized that he had plenty of shields left. Just as he was about to accelerate to intercept the enemy, though, a violent shudder knocked him out of his fighting trance. Pulling hard on the stick, the looked at his sensor display to notice that a whole enemy battle fleet was after him!
He knew it was cowardly of him to try to dodge the incoming shells, and decided instead to head for the frigate shooting off all the guns it had. Fully awakening from his reflexive fighting trance, he felt a great fear swell up inside him. Regardless, though, he pushed forward on the thottle, lining up on one of the enemy frigates. If he was to die for Merkar, so be it.
Suddenly, an explosion caught his attention from out the corner of his eye. Not near him, but on one of the enemy frigates! Looking at his sensor display, he realized that he had survived. Reinforcements, all 2,000 starfighters of the MRS Independent, had arrived.

* * * * *

"Comrade Revoyyen, we're too close! If we fire off the torpedoes we'll take damage too!"

"Well..." Revoyyen lost his normal commanding presence as he searched for an answer. "What is the range to the nearest enemy?"
"200,000, sir, lining up for a broadside."
Revoyyen began to ask a question, but was interrupted by the Sensor Technician.
"What is the-"
"New contact, 600,000, Spaceboat Class, Spooty IFF!"
This encounter with an unknown enemy fleet was totally unpredicted, and noone had prepared for it. A weak Spootian spaceboat had arrived, but there was certainly more from where that came from. Still, the larger enemy force was his main concern.
An idea began to form in the Admiral's head. How was the MRS Independent? 90? 100 miles long? He placed his finger inside the 3D holographic battle globe that was floating in front of him, and dragged his finger from the Independent to the largest enemy ship. A group of numbers showed up, indicating the range and heading between them. "Helmsman, track target at heading 035-126, range 1-90, flank speed."
"The... the enemy battleship, sir?"
"Are you questioning my orders?"
"No, sir! Right away, sir!"
His crew probably realized what he was going to do by now. A battleship was just a bug on a windshield compared to a 100-mile-long Attack Starbase.
"Deploy ramming pikes! Brace for impact!"

OOC: Piccy of my ship. Athiesism, feel free to destroy. It won't respond to hails, and the IFF will state it's a Reconnaissance Vessel from Outer Heaven, nothing more.

http://files.upl.silentwhisper.net/upload1/OHSRC_Perspective.JPG

IC:[Alert! Subspace fluctuations detected in Sector 551/225/3964.66. Brace for emergency Drop out!]

Captain Trenton had barely strapped himself in as his ship shook violently. Around the OHSRC Wraith, the tunnel through Subspace seemed to explode for a moment, and then it just faded quickly, revealing normal, three dimensional space. As the ship came to a halt, Trenton cursed.

"Tactical! Raise Subspace Shields and Cloak!"

The droid at the Tactical Station shook it's head.

"Negative, Subspace Shields disrupted by the fluctuations. Cloak has overloaded due to Drop out"

Trenton spewed another set of curses.

"Right, what systems do work then!?!"

The Droid began to answer the moment Trenton had finished.

"Engines, Weapons, Life Support, IFF Transponder, Basic Shields. Comms. can recieve, but not send messages due to another overload, caused by the Drop Out. Sensors also work, and we are currently gathering data on all the ships in the area. However, they do not appear to be registered on our list of Nations. First Encounter protocols?"

Trenton growled. Being the only Serpantian on the ship was tricky. Especially as he was a human Serpantian.

"Negative...bring us to full speed, and get us to the nearest jump point, I don't care how. Comms., try and pick up chatter. By the way, what is causing the fluctuations?"

The Droid pointed. As Trenton looked out the viewscreen, his eyes widened.

"Bloody hell, look at that! Why didn't we have this designated as a battle!?!"

The Droid shook it's head.

"Unknown. Sweep passed through the system fourteen minutes ago. It's probable we just missed the battle start."

Trenton grunted.

"Right, continue as ordered...and Tactical, also record this, and send a tight-beam to Post Gamma Theta."

"Aye."

Trenton watched for a moment, and noticed that, as the ship finished turning smoothly and began to shoot forward, it was heading toward the battle.

"Uh...Tactical?"

"Fastest course to jump point."

"Right...evasive manueuvres?"

"Initiating."

Trenton held on as the ship suddenly began to roll about, avoiding most of the fire. Due to the hull design, the ship had enough integrity to execute such moves, however, it wasn't built for combat. The hull began to heat up as it took more hits.

"Tactical? I'm detec-"

"Not a problem sir, we'll make it."

Trenton sighed, and watched as a large ship, probably the Command Ship for one of the fighting sides (Athiesism's) loomed closer.

"At least we're blind to sensors and naked eyes..."

This was true, except for the fact that the hull was filled with Subspace energy, literally lighting it up like a Chirstmas Tree to sensors...

OOC: Over to you Athiesism. By the way, the ship's hull is painted a dark black, so it's virtually impossible to see with your eyes. Sensors can pick up the ship if it knows what to look for, but even doing this is tricky, but in this case, it won't be such a problem. Feel free to fire, the ship will most likely buckle. Oh, notice the lack of weapons in the pic? The blisters are Sensors, but there is one mother of a Shivan Beam Cannon on the underside, but you won't detect it until it fires. :P But you'll have the Wraith before it can do much.

OOC:

I am waiting for the right moment to enter the arena...



IC:

The Dragnor, an Infiltrator Cruiser hovered deep within T-Space, recording everything it's sensors could detect, which was a great deal. It had already deployed its web of Tripple-S ships to greater enhance its detection capability. The eight heavily cloaked stealth vehicles peered down through the dimensional barriers with their all-seeing electronic sensors.

"Mr Schmeil, the project team has nearly completed the designs for the SYD II, if you would like to follow me to the project room."

Mr Schmeil looked over to his assistant, the man was a tall stocky figure and was currently smoking a pipe, technically prohibited in the Spootian Space Tours building, but as this was Spootian land he could do little to stop him.

"Very well, but first please put out that pipe for my sakes."

The assistant turned the pipe over a nearby waste unit and the two began to turn down a nearby corridor, they were quickly stopped by a low level Computing Technician, he was out of breath and stood for a while trying to get out the words.

"Mr Schmeil, there is a firefight going on, one Space-Boat is involved and the tray has been recovered."

Schmeil quickly walked over to a red lever on the wall and pulled it down, he then dragged out a thing wire and began to shout down it.

"This is Mr Schmeil, all pilots to Space-Boats, we have an engagement which should be visible as you penetrate the skies, Boat group 2 will be going on a mission to find and retrive the SYD, you have your orders now fly!"

**** **** ****

There was utter panic in the hangars as most of the crews had little experience in conflict which had not graced the Spootian race for over a millenia, slowly the Boats began to fly out of the confines of the hangar and past the sky into space.

**** **** ****

"Mr Spoot, we have a conflict raging up there, we believe it is the Merkar Republic, they have expressed a great interest in our planet and given their situation it would be likely to be them."

Mr Spiff, the Chancellor had just walked in and began talking, this had thrown Spoot off his task, standing still for his tailor.

"Good lord, any casualties as of yet? Have the SST been informed?"

Spoot was worried for the first time that he could remember, it felt like a series of hot needles had been thrown deep into his back.

"The SST told us, they have Boats on the way and the SYD is also coming back to be fitted and prepared."

OOC: $2.1 billion for a fighter?? omg....


The Amazonian forces were taking losses, but they had overwhelming numbers. More fighters piled out of the carriers, lancing towards the enemy squadrons. The frigates launched reknewed attacks, solidifying the shields and spraying out salvos of energy at the enemy fighter screen. The corvettes, built for dealing with fighters and small ships, raised shields and advanced to the front line, firing missiles and opening up with all laser turrets. The shuttles deployed from fighter bays, unleashing hails of fire.

"Avenger squad, mark 5, move in to coordinates."
"Roger lead."

Avenger squadron pulled up from fire from the enemy ships, striking off missiles before evading and raising shield power.

"Shields to full...draw power to the engines to avoid their fire."
"I'm on it, lead."
"Got it."

The fighters banked around once more, pulsing off shots from their frontal energy guns and slicing away from fire.
On board the Legacy, Wyvern saw the battlestation headed for his battleship.

"Nelly, engines to full!"
"Right away sir."

The Legacy had powerful engine systems, enough to evade the incoming station. The frigate behind him, unfortunately, did not see the station coming, and slammed into the hull, incinerated in the blink of an eye.

"Keilar, send word via hyper-comm to bring in additional forces from out of system. We'll probaly need them at this rate. And keep up the fire from the corvettes, suppress the fighters and bring in more interceptor squadrons to the front."
"I'm on it, sir."

Corvettes gunned to maximum to speed to the lines as the battlefleet engaged emergency manuevars to avoid the battlestation now amidst their ranks. Using speed top their advantage, the fleet broke off, firing from turrets as they sped in coordinated locations.

OOC: Just a note, everyone can react to my vessel's presence. After all, you have a massive ship shaped Subspace emination on your sensors.

OOC: Just a note, everyone can react to my vessel's presence. After all, you have a massive ship shaped Subspace emination on your sensors.

OOC: Yeah, but I'm kinda bogged down right now...

As the fighting continues, several Merkari pilot's gun camera tapes have already been handed over to imbedded reporters.

People's Merkari News Network Presents:

Eagle fighter (foreground) faces off against the enemy hordes (http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a333/Athiesism/screen003.jpg)

Amazonian fighter races through the battlefield (http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a333/Athiesism/screen004.jpg)

Amazonian fighter in pursuit of an Eagle (http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a333/Athiesism/screen005.jpg)

Enemy fighter flys out of an explosive cloud caused by the destruction of a Merkari craft (http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a333/Athiesism/screen006.jpg)

Amazonian fighter takes some hits (http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a333/Athiesism/screen007.jpg)

Scratch one bandit... (http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a333/Athiesism/screen009.jpg)

Longer post to come later.

Outer Heaven, if you're trying to get involved in the battle, just be aware that everyone's too busy right now to care about a single unknown recon vessel.

The fleet was now stuck in the heat of battle. There was no way out of this surprise contact with an as yet unknown enemy force, and Revoyyen knew that he needed to use every card in his sleeve.
"Impact in 5...4...3..." The helmsman counted down the time to ramming.
"Brace for impact!" shouted the XO.
"2... 1..."
Revoyyen wet himself from the intense pressure of the moment, waiting for his ship to ram the enemy's. But, even a second later, nothing happened.
"Helsman, what the hell did you do?"
"We missed, sir. We hit a frigate." Dammit!
"What the fuck happened?!"
"Enemy ship changed course, sir." Of course.
"Why didn't you pursue?"
"I can't, sir. We're past turning speed."
Suddenly, the sensor technician interrupted their conversation. "I had a look at their hull with infrared, sir. The ship we passed was the Legacy, an Amazonian vessel." So that's who they were. Why were they interested in joining someone else's fight?
The Fighter Wing Commander ran onto the bridge, panting but wearing his flight suit, trying to hide his exhaustion and stand at attention. "Comrade Admiral, I've just returned. My ship was shot up. We're having major problems, Captain, the bad guys have put their frigates in the firing line. The fighters are no problem, but the frigates, there's too damn many of 'em."
Revoyyen faced two different challenges- destroying the enemy ships of the line while keeping his valuable fighters alive for the fight against Spooty. This was the time of decision- like the great Merkaris before him, the ones who led men in battle such as Cahman, Bogranin and Tonkin, Revoyyen held in his hands the fulcrum of the battle. It was up to him to tip the scales in his favor.
"Helmsman, on my mark, full reverse, bring us to a full stop."
"Aye."
"Everyone else, you know what you are to do. Detach the front quarter of the ship. I'll stay with the front quarter and hunt down the enemy flagship. We should be more manueverable with a smaller portion of the craft. First Mate!"
His Executive Officer looked up from the data console and faced the admiral. "Yessir."
"Head to the Secondary Bridge and take command of the rest of the boat. Head for the enemy frigate line that's killing our fighters and scatter them. If they try to run, use your torpedoes."
"Aye, Captain."
"Execute!"

Antigravity kicked in for a few seconds as the ship decellerated, protecting the crew from thousands of G's. The First Mate headed for the secondary bridge to begin the separation.

The Boats slowly got into formation and flew at top speeds towards the fight, preliminary scans of the battle had pointed out some key Merkar ships, but the mission for now was to disable the fighter capacity of the enemy fleet, it was the only way the Spootian ships could hope of taking anything with them.

"This Boat Group 2 breaking off, we are on our way to find the SYD."

About three boats broke off and flew off into outer space, the rest continued to push onwards towards the enemy fleet.

"Estimated enemy weapons range coming up, we need to move faster people!"

The Boats began to take evasive action as they expected a storm of fire to come at them very quickly, as if they had been practicing for years the yellow boats began to dip, dive and glide past eachother.

OOC: I'm following your advice in the TG.

Wyvern stood at the bridge of the Legacy, watching the fight.

"Patch through a comm to the Spootians."
"Yessir."
"Spooty, this is the Federation ship Legacy, commanding the battlefleet. We think you don't like the Atheisists much...could you give us a hand here?"

The communication was patched via sattelite to the SST Building on Spootopolis, Schmeil yanked out the mike.

"We will do anything to help, but bare in mind that we do this only to defend our world than to smite an enemy wo does not deserve it."

(OOC:sorry for the short-ass post, there was little more to say)

OOC: Sorry for the shitty post, Jolt killed my original.

The Nanic Usian had years ago discovered a "Mind" in the Hyperspace Frequency that their telepathic collective thoughts floated upon.

It was a computer, a powerful one, an intelligent one, and the Usians coupled their collective thoughts with it. It was to them simply another Usian, or at least a being with the capability of Quantum thought.

For years the Computer added to its processing power the minds of millions of Usians combined in the Usian collective.

Then the connection was cut, the link severed.

The Nanic-Usian had grown accustomed and delighted by the presence of the "Mind".

It had become a node in their collective thinking, the Usian were highly intelligent becauseo fthe combined intellect they shared, the "Mind" added to this exponentially.

It's disappearence was felt.

The Nanic-Usian sought the aid of the Nanic Dominion as a whole to aid them in a expidition to the source of hte mind to ascertain why the Athiesism's would have terminated the "Mind".

It had finally begun.

A single Deathwing adapted form hyperspace was sent out to the source.

No cloaking device, no missiles, disruptors, PDLs, MicrowaveLasers, and Gauss cannons.

The Starfire dropped from Hyperspace with its compliment of two-a pilot and an ambassador.

Right in the middle of a battle.

The reflexes of the Usian pilot were all that kept them alive while the ambassador sent a distress messsage back the dominion, at least to the Usian collective.

Usians appear to reflex on a level which manner other Nanic breeds consider to be on the order of precognition, though physically weak, this ability makes them some of the most deadly pilots in the known Galaxies.

Even though the Nanic are largely unknown.

The Starwing's Cresent shape looped and spn, whipped and verily I say sung as the Usian deftly attacked any machine where the sense of the "Mind's" signature was not present.

But as powerful as the disruptors were, or effective as the mics or gauss, it was still just a fighter--with no anti-capital missiles.

The Usian fought for what seemed like an hour--in reality it was only a few minutes.

Unable to re-jump into hypersapce(the small drive not yet charged) the Usian fought on.

His only satisfaction in knowning there would be more, many more of his coming.

OOC: Anyone feel free to kill my fighter.

"This is Four, new contact! Unidentified!"
Captain Gartu pulled up from his stafing run on the enemy frigate. "You can't ID it? Try a scan!"
"Roger that."
Charlie Four changed course and accelarated to Mark One, heading straight for the unidentified contact. Attempting to attain a lock, the pilot repeatedly tried to target the craft, but was unable to. "Four, I don't know what the hell that thing is, sir. The targeting computer won't accept it. I'd tell the admiral, Captain."
"Take care of it! I'm a little busy!"
Charlie Four patched into the flagship net. "This is Charlie Four to Independent. I've got an unidentified contact that the targeting computer won't read. It hasn't fired on me yet, but it's definetly not one of ours."
The pilot waited. No reply.
"This is Charlie Four to Independent, do you read?"
The craft was fast approaching. Charlie Four's Eagle slowed and pulled around to it's six o'clock, ready to fire, but the unknown kept heading in a straight line.
"Four, this is Independent, say again your last." Finally, he had gotten through.
"This is four, I'm following Contact 112, but my sensors won't identify it. It hasn't shot anything yet but... wait..." The strange craft slid into view, just barely close enough to see, but getting nearer. "I've got a visual- its..." Four hadn't been paying attention, though, and noticed a stream of laser beams pass just over his ship. Pulling around in a tight turn, he strained his neck over his shoulder to see an Amazonian fighter. "There's one on my tail!"
"Four, clarify, who is on your tail?... Four, come in!"
The unidentified craft swiveled back, throwing a dazzling stream of energy toward the Amazonian pursuer. Charlie Four sighed in relief as his pursuer dematerialzed into dust. "Independent, the unkown just killed an enemy fighter! He's... He's heading off for the enemy... they're on our side whatever they are, sir!"

* * * * *

Just as the situation had begun to shape up, the worst had happened. "Spooty boat group, bearing 276-002, range 2 million!" A fair distance away, but his men had their hands full with the frigates already. Still, the ship's Executive Officer, Terra Boudragies, had a plan in her head. "Prepare torpedo groups A through D, tachyon wire guide, ballistic evasive flight plan. Target 45 degrees off-angle from our ship, in the general direction of the Spooty." The torpedo officer was confused. They were going to fire 500 torpedoes unguided at a 45 degree angle, off into empty space? Nevertheless, he knew that the Captain had something in mind. "Aye, ma'am."

"Evasive manuevers, Avenger Squad."
"I'm on it, lead."

Avenger pulled up from the new contact, avoiding a hail of fire from the new craft.

"Mark, bearing 245...unidentified ship, watch your backs Avengers."
"Roger lead."
"I'm with ya', lead."

The squad broke off as the contact threw another barrage of fire at them, homing in on Avenger 2's starfighter.

The Tactical Droid screeched.

"Amazonian ships detected!"

Trenton's eyes widened.

"What!?! Who's attacking them!?!"

The Droid shook it's head.

"Unable to tell, ship type unknown. Orders?"

Trenton hissed.

"Go to Alpha Alert! Arm all weapons, and target the largest enemy ship! Initiate sweeping pattern Delta!"

Directly above the Independent, a large red orb appeared. For a few moments, it just grew in power, pulsing, begging to be unleashed, the readings coming off it spiking. Then, it unleashed itself, a completely stable, solid, deadly red Beam. For a few moments it literally began to boil away the hull, gouging a large crater into it, before sweeping across the Independent's Port, taking out any weapon emplacements in it's path, leaving a molten gouge behind. After a few seconds, the Beam subsided, and then a horde of Missiles appeared from the same area the Beam had, and they all shot towards the Independant...

OOC: Yes, Beam Cannons, especially Shivan Beam Cannons, can penetrate shields without seeming to be hindered. Unified Sith has done this many times before, and Beam Cannons are known to do this. However, Shivan Beam Cannons require time to cool down and charge up, so you now have an incredibly HOSTILE, Subspace splodge on your sensors.

Charlie Four lined up an Amazonian in his sights. A whole squadron of hostiles raced toward them- it was time to test the fighting prowess of this new unknown craft. Lining up for a burst of disruptor beam, he checked his Probability Sheath energy. It was getting low- he had taken too many hits.
Enemy fire arched toward him. Fuck bravery, he thought, as he pulled away and dodged the incoming rounds. The enemy squadron passed below him, a few rounds singing his armor, but not too bad.
There was no time to check and see if the unknown had survived this first pass, and he tried to orient himself. There- 12 o'clock high, an Amazonian twisting and turning, trying to evade him. Snapping his neck back to check six, Charlie Four noticed the rest of the enemy squadron just behind him. "Anyone, this is Charlie Four, need backup."
"Roger, this is Charlie Lead and the rest of the wing, coming to help out."
Four turned around and targeted one of his pursuers. Charging towards them and firing at full power, he killed several, causing the enemy to scatter.

Suddenly, the Amazonian that was trying to evade him turned around and fired a long stream of lasers, right on target. The Eagle shook and glowed with energy, and its pilot banged his head on the instrument panel. He watched the Amazonian pass in front of him and turn tightly. ready for a head-on pass. Glancing at his energy indicators, the pilot noticed that the probability shield was out- any hit now would be a hit directly to the hull armor. This guy is good.

Just FYI, if you haven't realized it yet, the Independent split into two halves. The front quarter is where Admiral Revoyyen is, while the rear 3/4 are under command of the XO and are fighting the enemy frigates.

Admiral Revoyyen fell to the ground as everything around him flashed red. For a moment, he was sliding on the floor like everyone else, until he slammed his head into the wall. Trying to open his eyes, he felt that he couldn't. His nose was numb, and, although he could feel, he couldn't hear anything. What had happened? Moving his legs, he knew that his limbs were still functioning. Revoyyen sat up straight, still deaf and blind. What had happened? He realized it- he must have died and gone to the afterlife, as the theists said.

"Admiral! We've been hit!" Feeling his face, he wiped a sticky substance from his eyebrows. Revoyyen realized what had happened- he had broken his nose and gotten blood all over the eyes. Opening his eyelids, the Admiral stood up, oblivious to the coppery stain on his Fleet Commander's uniform. "Everyone, stay calm, we're still alive. Weapons, what happened?"
"I don't know, sir, we've lost function in the torpedo bays. I'm still doing a diagnostic-"
"Stop the diagnostic! Target whatever the hell hit us!"

Boat Group 2 burst out of Thaum space and slowly manuevered toward the SYD, it hung above a tropical planet, the Trays had been released and the people were on tour down below.

"Captain Larry Emerson, this is Boat Group 2, you are ordered to procede home to refuel and assist in the defence of the planet Spooty, we will remain here until all passengers have been loaded and you are ready for Thaum Jump"

**** **** ****

"Boat Group 1 to all other groups, there are missiles on there way, no lock."

The groups of shuttles kept onwards some took more erratic evasive manuevers in case the missiles suddenly decided to get a lock.

"Estimated three minutes to Weapons range."

Onyx three, another member of an elite fighter group, lined up Charlie four in his sights. I've got him now. Already having hit the shield banks, he turned around for another go. Spitting royal blue energy bolts from his fighter, he went into a roll, spinning his fighter while spraying fire wildly. He forced the Atheisist fighter off its flight path, then rounded about and lined up for another shot. His torpedo launcher signalled another projectile was ready to go, and Onyx three achieved a target lock. Pulling the trigger stick hard, he volleyed off two ion rockets on Charlie four and continued pursuit if the missiles didn't do their jobs.

OOC: Aaaah....

IC: "Weapons lock! Orders!?!"

Trenton growled.

"Take us into a steep dive, fire another volley of Missiles, preferably at the Bridge, or whatever we detect that comes close to it. Continue to dive until we reach the underside, then fire Beam again, this time in a penetrator Beam."

The Wraith immediately pulled a ninety degree turn, followed by a steep dive down towards the 1/4 of the ship split off from the rest. Immediately, another volley shot forth from the near invisable ship, crashing into the Bridge, and exploding. Trenton didn't see if any damage had been caused, because the ship was currently executing a complicated set of rolls and loop de loops underneath the 1/4 of the ship. The ship rocked a few times indicating hits, and Trenton then heard the telltale whine of the Beam Cannon charging.

Moments later, the Crimson Beam shot forth, and crashed into the vessel's underside, at a slight angle, pointing toward another Merkar ship. The underside began to heat for a few moments, and then, lights began to deactivate across the Independant. It was then the Beam itself shot out in explosive fury from the other side of the ship, and collided with the other Merkar ship, causing some damage, before the Beam subsided...

OOC: Yes, Beam Cannons, especially Shivan Beam Cannons, can penetrate shields without seeming to be hindered. Unified Sith has done this many times before, and Beam Cannons are known to do this. However, Shivan Beam Cannons require time to cool down and charge up, so you now have an incredibly HOSTILE, Subspace splodge on your sensors.

Could you tag me with what exactly it is...you said solid--is it some type of Particle weapon? or Beam as in Wave form like VL/Mic/X-ray(Soft)/X-ray(Hard)/Gamma

PLasma?
I know that a laser striking a shield designed to intercept Lasers will be stopped but that same shield wont stop an Xlaser, or a maser.

Unless you are working with near completion of UniFieldTheory--which I do.

Sorry I search for Shivan Beam Cannon but all I can find is a Freespace race--
And every beam can be shielded and evrey shield can be broached I was just curious as to the theory behind it.

Just FYI, the bridge is actually buried deep inside the ship, and the Independent has no windows.

The Beam Cannon is from the Freespace video game. It was first seem in Freespace 1 but is used much more frequently in Freespace 2. The game dosen't really give an explanation for it, although most of the weapons in the game are lasers so it's probably just a big laser. Very powerful, though.

The gigantic Indepenent writhed in pain. A lucky hit from the laser had damaged the reactor core lining, causing most of the ship's generators to power down to avoid meltdown.

"Captain, we've switched to battery. I don't know how long we have, sir."
The Admiral immediately called the other half of the ship.
"First Mate, what is your situation?"
"The enemy frigates have mostly been scattered, sir. I've dealt with the Spooty and I believe the fighters can hold their own now, sir."
"Good. I need you over here. We have another unidentified, this one hostile. We've taken a major hit and don't think we can sustain ourselves much longer."
"I understand, Sir. We'll make way at full speed."
Despite the huge bulk of the Independent, there were a few things in the galaxy that could force its back against the wall. Such a craft was breathing down Revoyyen's neck right now.

Elswhere in space...
The Merkari antimatter torpedoes passed over the Spooty flotilla, slowly arching downward until they flew level for a few seconds...

edit: Forgot to add the fighter thing

The missiles streaked towards Charlie Four, but the Eagle automatically decoyed them. Small missiles were no match for the expensive sensor suite onboard.
The pilot pulled around, out-turning his pursuer who shot past. Rolling back to the side, he noticed the enemy slow down to manuevering speed, and jettison excess fuel to become more manueverable. A competent adversary, for once. Charlie Four, though, was too far from home to dump his fuel, and continued to turn in toward the enemy. Both of the fighters tried to manuever for a head-on gun fight, but were too close and passed each other by.

The enemy, having dropped some of his excess stores, was now about as manueverable as the Eagle and the Merkari's attempt to outturn the Amazonian failed. Charlie Four concentrated. Damn, how am I going to get on his tail?

As if in answer to his question, the enemy sped ahead out in front of him. What the hell was he thinking?! Lining up the targeting cursor for an easy shot, the last thing on his mind was that it might be some kind of trick...

The Starwing had, by virtue of being alone survived and gone relatively unnoticed.

The Starwing (refitted Deathwing) was unlike the other vessels, the inner species had a different aesthetic, and an affinity for ray based weapons.

This was a stroke of pure luck, that the neighbors the Nanic had fought for years(centuries prior) had a shared state.

The Nanic vessel, which usually focused on stealth, were more greatly protected from ray weapons versus matter(projectile).

The Pilot spoke "Cal'm it appears we have a tactical advantage over the opposition. We have a far greater chance of putting a real fight against these men, since our vessel is configured to defend against such things.

I believe if I stay away from the larger vessels I can draw much of the fighters away rom the people of the 'Minds'.

We will still find oblivion, but I promise you I will be able to burn some of these from existence as well."

The ambassador himself a trained military pilot(all Usian were, unless they displayed such a complete ineptitude to warrant refusing them) responded
"By all means do what you can you bring these things to oblivion with us.
I am going to attempt to raise the Athiesismists and see if we can reach the 'Mind', certainly it will be able to provide some useful tactical information on the opposition."

The Pilot moved out into the open away from the larger vessels and began 'Falcon' runs against other enemy fighters, the Starwing(refitted DeathWing) was only 3 meters tall, so with proper counter measures engaged, visual contact was difficult, even with sensors showing where the vessels was a pilots eyes would still have difficulty focusing on such a slight target so far off, not mention, hitting it.

The Pilot would full throttle the Starwing directly at opposing fighters, hammering them with maser beams to degrade their deflectors then once in range he would address them with Gauss, and Disruptor fire.


The Pilot would persue enemies who made chase after Athiesism fighters, nearly ignoring its own hostiles that were attacking it. Only nearing the larger vessels did the Starwing break return to middle of the frey, interdicting, and regrouping.


While the Pilot did that, the Ambassador went to the Frequencies gleaned from communication with the 'Mind' believing this would be the best signal to use to get the attention of the people of the Athiesism.

The Hail was sent, but unlike a standard communication it was sentin a coded algorythum based off of the structure of the 'Mind'.
---Keeping in perspective the Nanic-Usian have never been in contact with anyone from Athiesism, but rather shared mental space interdimensionally with their super Godlike computer. Their only understanding of Athiesism comes from the data from a super computer transmitting on Quantum level into the collective mind of the Usian people, in essence it was the thought 'code' of the computer(I dont think it was C++ either). ----


The Ambassador sent a simple message:
"This is Cal'M, Ambassador of the Nanic-Usian Collective, representative of the Nanic Grand Dominion of the Coma Cluster,

In the name of the Great Sight Blighter, we seek the one which has no name, we seek your most sublime quantum 'Mind'.

We mean the creatures which are the Athiesism no ill, but rather seek to find the good fortune of the great 'Mind' of the Athiesism."

The Human Capital
Power emanated far away – forces stirred just out of the range of their vision, the grappling hands of the globes taken only strengthened the grip of the monstrosities. Still, they ravaged, they crushed and they killed everything in their path, untouched by love, by lust, by distraction – only fuelled by war to survive. Walking in a perfect march, their sleek metallic feet rising and falling in a perfect tandem, the soldiers began to march around, searching on a fiery planet, or at least, when they went through with it. Days upon days of orbital bombardment only strengthened their grip on this pathetic planet, and the marshalling of the human remains were their assignments. No break in the code, no comments onto their remark – they only marched about, gunning down any moving object the could recognise, making sure it was in pieces, riddled with bullets and heat before moving in. It was not fear, for the robots felt no fear. It was not caution, for they knew their control went by unmitigated. It was simple protocol, to lose as little minions as possible, the almighty core demanding their complete destruction of the minions.

But what was the core? For all this time, no living being knew of what the robots referred to as the Core, the source of their undeniable cruelty and conquest for a greater and vast interstellar empire of prophetic proportions. The Core, the large lumbering capital ship that initially arrived, laid in space, always watching and updating its information on the unmitigated legions it controlled. Every hand that began to harvest the planets, every single wasteland of the robotic empire was a piece of the Core – a piece of an ultimate puzzle waiting to be put together to show the final picture. Marching still in this forbidden place, this watery grave of blood bone and steel, the soldiers trudged on quickly, in perfect unison, singing no war chants, no socialisation – only war.

From the hedge of a small hill, a swinging blast of energy flew over, as the blasting of rifles burst through dry air. Red and green lasers pulsed with an unsound fury, as the robotic legions began to rumble up into the midst, marching up the sand and dirt as the soldiers from the last resistance parried against them. A large lumbering artillery flank was behind them, launching beast upon beast of blasts of energy, as the human soldiers fired for their very survival, blazes of gunfire sounding through the air, the battlefield scarred with scorches of flames and fire, as out of the flaming precipice, the legions marched on even more, more quickly, more tenaciously, aiming without a single miss against the enemy soldiers. The swift hovering transports blasted off the first wave of attacks, launching back a wall of soldiers, as they tried to dodge the blasted, but to no avail, before the chain guns whirred and ripped through that single line. Machine guns and blasters ripped through the air, blazing with power and fire, the robotic legions pushing forwards quickly against the last resistance armies.

The capital, standing in a shimmering glance of sunlight, in a blaze like a gem of victory, lay as the prize after the battle, so it was the goal for the machines to push forwards and gain control of the city – and it was necessary for the humans to keep them off long enough to outlast them in this nasty guerrilla warfare. Trenches metres deep, tunnels stretching kilometres far, it was a dastardly battle as barbed wires and laser fences ripped the machines into shreds, the gunfire blazing with a fury as they tore the posts apart, shutting down the greatest barrier against them. The remaining artillery was in reach, and from the skies, a thick blanket of fighters came asunder, launching off entire showers of energy blasts, enveloping the scene in a blaze of red and green firepower, machine guns and gauss cannons ripping through armour and flesh alike. The soldiers fought valiantly, but they could not stop the advance – they could not keep the machines at bay long enough, and they fled into the safety of the large city and its thick walls. They thought they would be safe there, they thought they could keep their foe occupied long enough to fight back, but the machines knew nothing of morality and compassion. Unable to break through the vast walls with anything short of capital ship fire, there was only one way to do it. Aiming all bombarding power against the anti-aircraft turrets, the machines soon dropped their legions in pods, right into the heart of the city, emerging and opening fire against the unsuspecting civilians. Men, women and children cut up, sent into pieces, gunned down, the city was soon falling, the centre of the unsuspecting humans ready for the taking.

It was here that Ryan soon had his last encounter with the machines, hiding atop the skyscraper in the capital, firing off rounds and rounds of ineffective lasers against the shielded machines. It didn’t kill any of them – it only caught their attention, for them ready to find him. Following his heat signature and his deoxyribonucleic acid signature, they tracked him down, the smashing of the door into the skyscraper, the marching of the inevitable enemy up the steel stairs. He heard the rumbling, the whirring of the familiar gears and beeping of their communication, and Ryan had nowhere else to go, nothing to do. When the door burst open in a gust of flame, he was sure he would be gunned down, and readied his gun, pressed against his temple.

Breathing heavily, he watched as the legions marched out in their silver gleaming and highly polished magnificence, when a tall, muscular, clawed metal robot, larger and more menacing than the others, draped in a long ripped red cape, marched towards him, looking at him. The figure didn’t move, didn’t say anything, and Ryan watched carefully.

When nothing happened for a long while, Ryan moved his gun from his temple, and the figure tore him apart.

The Metal Hand was now controlling an empire of their own. They now outwards, to others.

Alright, noones posting, so if Outer Heaven wants to fire at me more he'll have to do it later.


A string of strange code appeared on the monitor. "I don't know what it is, Captain Boudragies."
"Where did it come from again?"
"One of the unidintified craft, Ma'am."
Admiral Louis thought for a few moments. Where they friendly? Or was it some kind of trick?
"Captain, we're recieving a second half to the transmission! Its... its like nothing I've seen before... it's computer code, Ma'am!"
A virus of some kind, no doubt. All a clever trick by the enemy to disable the Merkari fleet. "Can you isolate a computer module and run it?"
"No, sir- I mean Ma'am. We'd need to use the central computer. It's quantum code." Boudragies considered her options. A contact with a new race- this was their chance. Would it be a new ally? Or just anther enemy?
"Run it through the central computer." If it was a virus, then now was the time to find out, even if it wrecked the ship. A risk worth taking to contact this new race.
"Aye."
The technician tapped out a string of commands on the datapad with frightening speed, and placed a nueral connector in his head socket to speed the process. Watching this for a moment, Louis raised her head to look at the battle globe. Revoyyen's stranded ship was straight ahead, and the fighters were certainly gaining an upper hand on the opposition. Glancing at Revoyyen's half of the Independent coming into view in the artificial window, she changed her mind.
"Technician, belay that order. Patch me through to the Admiral."
The technician, not stirring from the trance, muttered "Aye ma'am" and continued to hit keys.
"Admiral, this is the XO. We've recieved a quantum transmission from the unknowns. It's in the language of computer code, so we didn't want to try acessing it because of the risk that it may be a virus. The fighters appear to be winning the battle, at least as long as the enemy capital ships are tied down elsewhere, and the Spooty will be dealt with soon. What are your orders?"

Revoyyen's bridge

Lighting was down to minimal after taking hits from the Outer Heaven craft, but contact had apparently been lost. Revoyyen, his face stained with blood, cleared his throat and replied.
"XO, I've picked up several new contacts. More of our unknown friends are jumping in. We've had enough for today. We'll let them carry on the battle while we withdraw. They should be enough to tie down the enemy. As for the quantum-wave transmission, forward it to me for processing. Follow me to the jumpgate to take care of the Outer Heaven if they reappear. It'd be nice if you could ship over some repair and recharge crews, too."
"Will do, sir."
With that, Revoyyen ordered the ship to turn for the jumpgate at full speed, chanelling all energy from weapons to the engines.

Space
The antimatter torpedoes soared over the Spooty flotilla. Curving downward at just the right time, they pulled down to face th rear of the enemy spaceboats. The spaceboats, although taking evasive action, were not able to bring their point-defence weapons to bear before the enemy warheads detonated in their rear. At a range of 4,000 miles, a thin but compact stream of antimatter flew from the warheads of all 500 torpedoes onto their targets.

The Amazonian fleet peeled off, only minor losses considering the size of the fleet for the day, and banked away from the unknown forces. It was pointless taking them on; no sense in losing more casulties.

"Avenger squad, we're heading back to the fleet for now, follow me."
"Roger lead."

Charlie Four was rocked by a powerful impact. Regaining control of his craft, he glanced over at the Amazonian that he had been about to kill. One of those SOBs rammed me to save their leader. He decided against pursuing- his armor was weakening and the enemy was heading for the safety of their capital ships. "This is Charlie Four, where are you lead?"
"This is Lead, I'm heading over. Got stuck in a dogfight on the way. How're you?"
"They're pulling back to their capital boats."
"Don't follow them.Form up and let's go home."
An inconclusvie dogfight. The pilot of Charlie Four, the mercenary Kit Craynu, sighed. This was his first chance to prove his mettle against an experienced enemy. But there would be another chance. Locating the wing leader on his sensor scope, he followed Charlie One home.

Deep within T-Space, the Infiltrator Cruiser sat silently, watching everything going on in Normal Space.

“Sir, we have detected a vessel from Outer Heaven.”

The captain looked up from the tactical display.

“What the hell is one of their ships doing in that mess? I thought they were isolating themselves. How is she doing?”

“It appears they are having technical difficulties. There are no Comm signals emitting from her and the ship is heading directly through the battle. Sensors show multiple energy fluctuations in addition to the subspace static upon the hull. It appears their drives may be malfunctioning and they are trying to get to a natural jump node.”

“Get them on the horn.”

“Yes Sir.”

After several long seconds the Comm officer turned back to the captain.

“Sir, it also appears they are having Comm problems. I cannot raise a line.”

“Inform Outer He..”

“Captain, there are multiple target locks resolving upon the OH ship from some of the aggressors. She is returning fire. She is using her Cannon on the other capital ship. Minimal damage because it was not a direct hit. Multiple bogeys, probably missiles being launched. They are recharging their cannon and firing. The shit went right through the target and struck another of the enemy vessels. Still nothing on the Comm system.”

“Damn, this is just a recon ship. We need to call in reinforcements and contact the Outer Heaven government. Relay all information to Command. Keep a live transmission open so they can relay it to the Outer Heaven Embassy or directly to their Command Center.”

“Yes Sir.”

“Keep us in T-Space but request two Interceptors.”

“Yes Sir, sending request. Direct link established to Command via the Space Minus Transmitter.”

“Prepare for emergency Emergence into Normal Space. If the ship is damaged too badly, we will assist in evacuation.”



OOC:

Still waiting for the right moment…

Wyvern sat calmly on the bridge of the Legacy. The first fighting had gone...well. It hadn't been great by any means, but the Federation forces were not doing badly at all. But he could use some help.

"Nelly."
"Yup, Cap'n."
"Send a comm transmission to the nearest fleet, tell them to get their butts in here. I want to end this mess up as quickly as possible."
"Third fleet's in the Juvax Sector."
"Good, contact them, that should only be an hour's hyperjump away."

In the Juvax Sector, Captain Ronald Curry was half asleep on the bridge of the Third Fleet's flagship, the Vindicator-class dreadnought Reconciliation. The current trip was boring, they weren't doing anything.

"Sir, incoming transmission."
"Whosit from?"
"Seventh Fleet, they're requesting assistance."
"Triangulate their position, and then we'll hyper in."

I'm splitting my fleet into smaller ships. Before you say that smaller ships have smaller sensor arrays and can't spot very far away, consider this. They can datalink their separate sensors together (this is the future, remember?) to effectively join them into a larger array and have the same sensor strength as a bigger fleet. Also, when people say smaller ships can spot less they're getting MT mixed up with FT. Bigger sensors are only better when they are active sensors that transmit more, like in the case of radar. But in FT, almost all sensors are passive, like optical and infrared. When it comes to passive sensors, a bigger thing will only get you soo far, after which point it dosen't really matter. An observatory telescope, for example, isn't much less sensitive than anything bigger than it, because a point of diminishing returns has been reached. In short, smaller sihps have almost as much sensor capability as bigger ships, especially if they datalink, in which case they might actually get a better fix on the enemy because of triangulation and other things.

Also, I'm noticing a tendency towards shorter posts. That's OK during combat, but at all other times please try to beef them up.

The XO returned to the bridge, not at all exhausted. Revoyyen, however, had already gone to take a nap. Exhausted after the battle, he had left the "night watch" to Rear Admiral Boudraguies.
In space, there was no night. The night watch simply referred to what sleep schedule the crew was on, of course. Of course, there was no day either, as the stars always shone over the vast blackness. It was impossible to say that there was an end to a day in space, but regardless, those onboard the Independent knew that they were done for the time. Withdrawing from the battle toward the space dock, the ship had already divided into forty battlecruisers for the purposes of stealth- a smaller ship was much more able to spot the enemy first. Their fight that "day" had been short, lasting under ten minutes and not causing crippling damage to either fleet. Still, it was their first taste of combat.
The transmission from the unknowns had, by now, been decoded without difficulty. Admiral Revoyyen was awakened when his scheduled sleep time was over, and he headed over to the bridge. Someone saw him in the hall and montioned for his attention. "Sir, Admiral Louis wants you on the bridge. Here's the transcript of the communication with the unknowns. It's quantum-wave." Interesting- that form of encryption hadn't been used since the Mainframe era. Because of the sheer numbers involved, the Mainframe couldn't operate on normal electronic binary systems, and instead used quantum particles to store information in a nonlinear manner. This provided data for the central processor, made of a special type of exotic matter that was destroyed couldn't be reproduced after the computer crashed. What other race had mastered quantum computing? Thanking the messenger, Revoyyen continued on his way, reading the transcript as he went. The Nanics? The Mind? The admiral felt his spine tingle and his heart beat. A whole new race- what a priveledge to contact them!
Arriving on the bridge, he walked through the door and looked around him. The XO was leaning over a computer console, talking with the operator. Although First Mate Louis Boudragies was somewhat unnatractive, this was no problem at all and did not prevent her from being a loyal and hard-working soldier.
"Comrade First Mate, have you informed everyone with the contact of the Nanic?"
The First Mate replied, without turning her head from the computer console. "Yessir. I also dispatched a tachyon commo to Merkar, although it will take twenty days to get there. The imbedded reptorters also sent a communication home, and so did the Amazonian's. We taped both of them- would you like to see?"
"Yes, that'd be interesting. Computer..."
"Computer!"
"It hasn't been repaired, Comrade," a geeky-looking computer technician replied.
"Can anyone here put the Amazonian and Merkari news transmissions onscreen?"
Almost everyone in the room replied "Yes, Captain". Revoyyen pointed to the nearest person, the female soldier at the computer console Boudragies was leaning over. "You. Put it onscreen." She got to work but did not reply with a "Sir"- a breach of military protocol. No point in making a big deal of it, though. The First Mate stopped talking to the woman at the computer console and walked over to beside Revoyyen.
After a few seconds, the Admiral heard the familiar anthem of the Merkari People's News Network. Turning around, he saw the network's logo slide onscreen. "Welcome to Merkar People's News Network- the People's News Source!" boomed the ship's audio system. Nice to have surround-sound installed on the bridge, wasn't it? The screen transitioned to a German-accented reporter standing in front of one of the ship's fighter bays, who began talking.
"This is Horst Joergensen, reporting from the MRS Independent. Just a few minutes ago, we went into some kind of battle. I'm told that the ship was damaged by enemy laser fire and is currently running on low power. I'm here in the fighter bay, it's been given priority energy and is pretty much the only place where the lights are still on." Old news- the reactor core had since been repaired. "Off in the distance, you can still see some combat going on, and I'm being told right now that the battle has gone well and the Amazonians are withdrawing. The men here seem to be in good spirits, but that's all I can say. I'm sorry that I can't tell you anything else, but that's the most I've heard so far. Thank you for your time, Horst Joegensen, signing off."
"That's just a little bit. We're working on more later." Revoyyen recognized the distinctive voice as that of the reporter's. "First Mate! How the hell did you let a civillian get on the bridge!"
Louis was equally surprised. "I... I... someone get him out of here!" Boudragies showed a surprising indecisiveness.
"Goddamit, First Mate, you need to know how to run a ship! Get him out of here!" It was too late to do anything- Mr. Joergensen had already ran out the door.
Revoyyen took a deep breath. "Sorry for my outburst. Play the next tape." Another booming voice was heard as a different logo appeared on screen. Revoyyen understood none of the gibberish. "Does anyone here speak their language?" No replies.
Still, you didn't need to understand what they were saying to understand what has happening. Footage played of Merkari fighters exploding, and the Independent speeding away with a large gash in her side from the Outer Heaven laser beam. Conveniently, no Amazonian craft were shown exploding. Dammit, they actually think that they won this battle!, Revoyyen thought. No, I need to calm down. Who knows? The score has yet to be totalled, and it was really more of a light skirmish than anything decisive.
Returning to the business of running a ship, the Admiral went around asking questions. The laser strike had totally destroyed half of the torpdeo bays. Interference from enemy laser fire and jamming had restricted sensor range, and it wasn't known if the antimatter torpedoes destroyed the Spooty flotilla. The main sensor array was going to check it out, but was knocked out of alignment during the battle. Fortunately, this was easily repaired. Other than that, the ship's hull had sustained most of the blasts directed at it. The flexible armor redistributed itself after, or in prediction of, every hit, meaning that hull breaches had been sealed. No word yet on the casualties. Early reports seemed innacurate- the fighter group seemed to do fairly well, loosing only a few squadrons. What was more curious was how many Merkaris died from the hull breaches caused by enemy fire? How many were sucked into space to suffocate and explode?
Revoyyen really felt nothing for them, and didn't want to dwell on the subject. What was more important was deciding what to do next. Ahead lay a Spooty-controlled planet. All five planets in the system had been terraformed, making them habitable for human life. Maybe one of them could be conquered? The Independent, now divided into forty smaller battlecruisers, was much stealthier in this form and could launch a fighter raid on one of the planets to clear out its orbital defences and sensors without being detected itself. After the fighters were done, a Space Marine force could land and secure some supplies. Why not? Revoyyen scheduled a few fighter wings, the ones that had seen the least combat, to do a recon run over the farthest planet from the sun in the system, which was the now the nearest one to the jumpgate and the Merkari fleet. The Admiral knew that it would take time for his ships to be detected, as they were now running on low-power mode. Both sides seemed to have withdrawn to their separate lines, taking a rest and preparing for the next round.

OOC: That'd probaly be me causing the shorter-post syndrome...

IC:
The Third fleet hypered in system, the Dreadnought flanked by the smaller ships of the entire flotilla. Wyvern was relieved to see allies arriving, now he had a much better chance of ending this thing very quickly and heading on home.

"Hey Curry, what's going on with you guys?"
"We could use the excitement Wyvern...you guys like roughed up a bit. Theys didn't know we were comin', huh?"
"Heh, like to see you do better than me...but we're at a lull in the fighting now. You guys should see action soon."
"Glad I stocked on my droid fighters then, numerical advantages always help. What kinda losses you guys taken, Wyvern?"
"Eh, biggest thing we lost was one pinnacle. Mostly fighters and shuttles, a few frigates and corvettes. We roughed 'em up pretty good, though. About even without you guys, hopefully now we can slaughter 'em."
"You know I can...can't wait to use this baby, you boys ain't got a Dreadnought at your side to cut up people."
"That we don't...better be cautios, though, these aren't green boys like those rebels on Aeten II were."
"Heh, we're ready anyway. How your men doin'?"
"Eh, mixed, but they're in pretty good spirits about things. Fortunately most everybody's seen conflict and lost friends in one way or another."
"Haven't we all...can I come aboard to see what's up?"
"Sure can, hop on a shuttle and come on over."
"Be right there."

Out of the Reconciliation emerged one Typhoon-class assault shuttle escorted by four Pursuer Droid fighters, flanking away from the Dreadnought towards the Legacy. Clearing the defensive peremiters, the shuttle passed into the hanger bay and landed. Curry and two Saber Droids, acting as guards, stepped out of the shuttle.

"Hey, Wyvern, how the Hell are ya'?"
"Ain't seen you with my eyes for a while old man...come on, we can't stand here all day."

The two officers continued talking as they walked throughout the ship.

"So how much damage you taken with your ship?"
"Not much, luckily enough. Some big ass ship of theirs tried to ram us, but we got out of the way easily. Eh, it was nothin'."
"Sure it was...well, we're here to fix all those problems. You got enough fighters to supply? We got plenty."
"You got enough droid fighters, yeah."
"Ain't all we got...but I decided to stock up, y'know, they can be handy. And they do the job and are pretty tricky to take down with their small size and speed and manuverability."
"Maybe...my pilots have trained against the old ones and shot plenty down."
"Key word is old."
"I s'pose so. You gonna be ready?"
"Course. Now I'm starvin, you boys got any food left or did that get destroyed too?"
"Nah, come down to the galley, we got plenty..."

CLICK

“Finished?” asked the pilot, sat in the cockpit of the raptor, hanging in space a few 1000 kilometers away from the action.

“Not yet, I want to get another five minutes.” said the ECO, entering a few commands into the sensor package, “this is gold, you can send batch 14 back to the fleet now though.”

Some distance away in a near by dust cloud – HMS Royal Agamemnon

“Admiral, we’ve got the latest feed from the raptor team.” Said Captain Dennings, tapping a few keys on the command table, located in the center of CIC.

“Good, whats happening?” asked Admiral Fredrick

“It appears that more ships have joined the battle above the planet. We’re looking at serious exchanges of fire. Beam weapons have been slighted…”

“Beam weapons?” asked the Admiral, “we won’t be able to defend against that sort of firepower.”

“I agree, Shall I withdraw the fleet?” Asked Dennings

“No, I not giving up just yet, we’ll just have to wait until both sides have worn themselves down. Have HMS Mars, Minerva and Pallas moved to fleet sector five, I want them as a reserve in case we need to break contact.”

“Yes sir.”

“Anything else?” asked the Admiral.

“One of the signals we picked up is marked Outer Heaven in the database…” said Dennings pulling up a very poor picture of the ship.

“I assume you’ve read the standing orders as well Dennings.” Asked the Admiral, looking up from the command table.

“Yes sir, all Outer Heaven ships and personal are to be engaged and captured at the earliest opportunity.”

“Mark it as a priority target and copy it to the fleet.”

“Sir.”

It was a few minutes later that the Amazonian Fleet realised that they had a Stealth Ship in their midst. On the Bridge, Captain Trenton sighed.

"Tactical, what have our scans revealed?"

The Droid shook it's head.

"We have over four different kinds of vessels. Amazonian are designated friendly, Spooty we are unsure about. The Merkar Republic is hostile to us as the moment...and..."

Trenton raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

The Droid sighed.

"We have a WinTrees vessel several hundreds of kilometers away. It's the same kind of vessel we encountered inside our Borders a few weeks ago. WinTrees has been labelled an Alpha Class Nation. We are to avoid them for the moment, until we see whether they do anything stupid."

Trenton growled.

"No doubt they've spotted us. Hail the lead Amazonian vessel."

_________________________________________________________________

A blue hologram suddenly appeared on the Amazonian Lead Ship's Bridge (Sorry, couldn't find name :P ). The quality was poor, but the transmission was untraceable. Trenton shifted to face who he knew was the Commander.

"Greetings. I am Captain Trenton, of the OHSRC Wraith, we're in the middle of your fleet. I wish to seek protection with you. Our Nations are on good terms, so we do not make this request lightly. We have detected a WinTrees vessel several hundred kilometres away, and we know better than to try and escape with a WinTrees presence nearby. I am communicating to you from a new type of Stealth Reconnaissance vessel, designed to map out territories, and for a lack of a better word, spy. This ship contains technologies that are new and top-secret, and we cannot let the enemy attain hold of this vessel, and if worst comes to worst, we'll destroy ourselves. We ask that you help us get to the edge of the system, so we can perform a loop around a nearby system, and return to our space."

Trenton sighed.

"I understand if you do not want to expend your forces, however, with the data collected, I am sure I can persuade Command to put forces into helping you in this war."

On board the Legacy's bridge, Wyvern contemplated Trenton's request.

"Alright, sounds good. I'll dispatch the corvette AMS Vitality and the frigates AMS Constitution and AMS Vice to escort you. It should be more than enough, all three carry light fighter compliments and Wintrees vessels should be halted long enough to get you guys out. I'm sending the ships to the starboard perimiter of my fleet, meet up with them there."

The corvette and two frigates emerged out of the dense cluster of ships, several droid gunboats alongside the three capital ships, waiting for the Outer Heaven confirmation to get moving.

Trenton nodded, and smiled.

"Alright. Track blockers are off. Track this transmission, and make your Carriers follow that point. I will keep the transmission open, but via textual means. Thank you again. Trenton out."

The hologram disappeared, but the transmission was still open. The Wraith, meanwhile, moved quickly towards the Vice. After a few moments, it slowed to a halt. The Legacy then recieved the following transmission:

[At co-ordinates. Ready to move.]

"Copy, we're heading out."

The Federation three-ship formation began moving out towards the edge of the system.

"Where did you say you saw that Wintrees ship again, Wraith?"

The Wraith formed up in the middle of the formation. Trenton sighed, and opened up a voice-link to the three vessels.

"We're sending you the co-ordinates now. It's a Raptor class, a moderately fast Reconnaissance vessel. It'll detect you and flee before you'd even get your noses pointing the right way."

CLICK

“Confirm it,” said the pilot

“Yep, signals still there, the plot looks like its moving… yep its defiantly different,” said the ECO, tapping at the keyboard.

“You think its making a run for it?”

“Could be, a couple of Amazonian Beasts ships just broke off, are they friendly?” said the ECO turning around in his seat and removing one of the hard drives and shoving another in.

“With who? Them or us?”

“Anyone?”

“God knows, the good admiral says the Outer Heaven ship is priority though, try and keep a lock on the signal, if it fades out we’ll assume its running with Amazonian Beasts help and track them instead,” said the pilot, powering up the raptor’s engines.

“Ok errr… I’ve lost the signal already.”

“Switch your tracking and update fleet.”

~~ HMS Royal Agamemnon

“They’re running?” asked Admiral Fredrick

“It looks that way, 3 ships broke off from the fleet about 1 minute ago. We can intercept in 2 minutes,” replied the Captain, handing him a data card.

“Have Agamemnon (Royal Andromeda Class) prepared to jump, copy it to HMS Escort, HMS Aden and HMS Illustrious(Vanguard Class). We are going to intercept. HMS King Edward takes command of the rest of the fleet and will hold here, I don’t want to be drawn into the main battle just yet.”

“Yes sir,” Dennings nodded at a lieutenant who copied the message to the rest of the fleet, “we’re ready to jump on your order.”

“Execute.”

The ships disappeared in a flash of light and reappeared about 20 seconds later, a fair distance away from the bows of the Amazonian Beasts squadron. They were all trying to attempt a visual sighting of the Outer Heaven ship.

Transmission:
“Attention Amazonian Beasts formation off our starboard bow, this is HMS Agamemnon, you are to proceed no further on this heading, power down your engines or turn back.”

Admiral Fredrick stood looking at the monitor, “Have we got eyes on the Outer Heaven ship?”

“Aden reports a ship of similar design to what we’ve encountered,” said a lieutenant.

“Target it, see if we can get a lock,” said the Captain.

“Aye.”

"Launch the alert fighters."

"Aye."

"Sir, Wintrees vessel hailing."
"I see them. Transmit that message through to the Outer Heaven stealth class."
"Done sir."
"Now send this message to the Wintrees vessel: Unidentified craft, your request is denied. We are on a priority mission and persuade you not to get involved."
"Sent sir."
"Good, prep fighters and get those gunboats ready."

~~ HMS Royal Agamemnon

“They’ve ignored our request sir,” said Captain Dennings, replacing the handset.

“Ok, set war.”

“Aye, set war controls,” said a crewman, activating the ships weapons.

“No warning sir?” asked the Captain.

“No. All commands copy to fleet,” said the Admiral, loosing his tunic collar, “Fighters engage the Outer Heaven ship, target its engines… leave the Amazonian ships to us. Battleships are to scatter and engage… Captain Denning, take command of the ship.”


The Fighters from the fleet, numbering about 200 headed towards the Amazonian formation, aiming to break through to the Outer Heaven ship.

The Battleships scattered slowly (very slowly) and started volleying missiles towards the Amazonian formation. Agamemnon broke out from the pack fast and headed straight for the middle of 3 Amazonian fleet.

"Whoa captain, we got fightin' about to start!"
"Move in the fleet, we're going to engage."

The main fleet, headed by the Legacy and Reconciliation, began veering towards the incoming Wintrees vessels. Droid fighters boiled out of the ships, locking their wings into formation. Several manned Retribution squadrons also lauched to intercept the fighters.

"Send a comm to the Outer Heaven ship to tell them to bank away from the fighting, we'll handle it."
"Done, sir."

The corvette on the perimiter opened its cannon turrets and began targeting fighters, launching off volleys of energy.

"Shields to full."
"Roger sir."

Out of the Legacy, Avenger squadron launched for the second time, now preapring to engage Wintrees vessels.

"Avengers stay on me."
"Copy lead."
"Roger lead."
"We're going to go in behind the Droids, let them take the first wave of fire, there's more of them and they're expendable. After that, pick your targets."
"Copy Lead."

Trenton growled.

"Power down all our systems to super-stealth level. Only use manueuvreing thrusters to move. Have missiles fire at the WinTrees general area, and then set them to dumb-fire. Also initiate a hull screening, we don't want any telltale energy readings."

A few moments later, any running lights on the Wraith were gone, and Trenton was placed in complete darkness, only his consoles illuminating his face. Passive sensors sweeped lazily, only telling positions of ships, nothing more, and the engines died. The Subspace emissions went with the forcefield wipe. The ship, by practically all standards, was gone. The communication link was still open, but untraceable. Trenton sighed, and sent a message to the Amazonian Fleet:

[We are now at the Stealthiest we can be without the use of the cloak. Assume we stay with you, our thrusters should keep us with you. We have dumb-fire missiles, so be careful. I suggest you move your lead vessel upward by at least 2KM, to eliminate any chance of you being caught. Do not blame yourselves if we are destroyed, or destroyed ourselves. Know that what you are doing is not being ignored, and you will be rewarded, I promise. Until otherwise, Trenton out.]

"I can't see him. Its gone where is...." the transmission cut short as the lead fighter in the formation was blown out of space.

"All wings break. BREAK." yelled Red Leader down his comm.

The fighter formation scattered like a shoal of fish, all trying get out the line of fire. A dogfight erupted in the middle of both the Wintrees ships and the Amazonian ships. The fire from the corvette took down about 9 of the closely packed fighters before they scattered.

Meanwhile, the battleships emptied another salvo of missiles in the direction of the Amazonian ships. Their flak batteries fired up as well, still out of range of the Amazonian ships, all they were doing was providing a protective shield of flak, hoping to destroy the incoming enemy fire.

One of the dum fire missiles hit home, hitting a weak point in the hull and causing a explosive decompression, rocking the ship.

Several Wintrees missiles slammed into the lead corvette as the other capital ships began closing to join the battle. The droid fighters came in packed in a group, swarming the Wintrees fighters and firing off a hail of laser fire that seemed to condense into a single eminating blue mass of energy. From the initial attack a dozen droid fighters paid for the assault, getting split open by fire and sending fiery shrapnel across space. Another corvette lined up with the first, slamming out fire with its main turrets and unleashing several ion rockets at the fighter screen.

“…. They don’t care, those are droids our there,” said Red Eight

“We’re getting slaughtered lead!” said another voice over the comm

“I know, I know, break to point 4.4.9 and form up on my wing, were going to get close to the frigates and see if we can get out of the shit storm!” yelled Red Leader, checking his command module to find that he’d lost half of his fighters already.

“We’ll be right in Illustrious’s firing solution lead!”

“Its that or this! Break on my mark, 2 1… Mark!”

Red Wing, or what was left of it, shot out of the pack and made straight for the closest Amazonian Frigate.

What fighters that were left in the main dogfight starred to be destroyed in ever increasing numbers, the amount of fire coming from the capital ships was too much to repel.

~~~ On board HMS Royal Agamemnon

“Green wing has been destroyed, Blue and Red wings are attempting to disengage and move closer to the frigates. Yellow and elements of Blue are holding.”

“Launch defensive wings, have them form up on Agamemnon at sector 13, we’re going to attempt to turn their flank,” said the Admiral, studying the fleet reports.

“That’ll leave Escort, Aden and Illustrious vulnerable against a fighter attack sir.” Replied Captain Dennings.

“I know, but we need to finish this quickly, tell Aden and Escort that they are clear to move to flak range, lets pound them.”

Aden and Escort switch their flak guns onto the corvettes, firing at maximum range as they slowly closed in on them.

Illustrious, keeping her distance continued with her missile bombardment of the frigates. She was still venting from the lucky missile hit and was having trouble maneuvering.

Agamemnon launched another salvo of missiles before flipping and speeding off towards open space, hopefully to meet up with the defensive fighters.

A corvette broke under too much fire, the shields collapsing and a salvo of missiles puncturing the hole, splitting open the light cruiser from the middle. Two fighters were all that escaped the doomed ship.
The Legacy had gotten close enough for firing range though, targeting the nearest capital ship and opening its turret racks. The guns swiveled to target the nearest cruiser and began relentlessly pummeling away with its fire banks. The Reconcilitation closed behind the Legacy, closing to the point when the Dreadnought could start shooting from its impressive weapon banks.
Avenger Lead avoided debris from a splitting droid fighter and targeted a fighter.

"2 and 3, form on me, get this guy."
"Roger lead."

Avengers 2 and 3 flanked Avenger Lead, loading rocket tubes and diverting energy to weapons.

"Missiles, Avengers, we don't want friendly fire here."
"Already armed lead."
"Right, each of you pulse a rocket at that guy, I'll send two more."

From the sleek Retribution interceptors were launched four ion rockets streaking towards the fighter. The Avengers banked off as another Wintrees fighter attempted to target the group, but fire from a Zephyr gunship diverted the Wintrees fighter.

The ion missiles slammed home, knocking Red Leader’s fighter into an uncontrolled spin, he punched the eject button, but nothing happened. All he could do was hold on as he spun out into open space.

Aden was starting to take a heavy beating off the enemy ships, although her flak barrier was intercepting the majority of the enemy fire, serious amounts of unfriendly fire was starting to slam into the hull. After a few minutes of the bombardment the armor on the starboard flight pod started to evaporate, leading to one of the pods supports snapping and the resulting explosion tearing the pod away from the ship. Fighting to maintain control, she started to pull away from the battle trying to face her undamaged side towards the enemy.

Escort zero’d in on Reconcilitation, putting as much fire as could down range towards the enemy ship. Itself taking some moderate hull damage.

Illustrious, still suffering from the lucky hit, had made her situation worse. Her damage control teams had vented the compartments in the area trying to put out a fire at the missiles resting point. This caused a drop in pressure setting off the missile (which had apparently failed to explode), this blew the Aux Air tanks and spun the ship, knocking its targeting off and having to do some serious powering up of the engines to control the spin.

On the fighter front, the heaviest looses were in the dogfight. What was left of Red Wing and Blue Wing closed ever closer to the frigates, hoping to do some damage at close range with their missiles, as well as breaking through the enemy line in an attempt to track down the Outer Heaven ship.

HMS Royal Agamemnon having hit open space did a quick snap turn and headed off towards the right of the enemy fleet, followed by a swarm of fighters.

The Admiral smiled to himself.

Missiles smashed into the Reconciliation's shield banks, the energy reflecting the missile hits with bright flashes and sparks. Droid fighters homed in on Wintrees fighters in swarms, pulsing out laser fire despite taking considerable losses. There were always more of them.

The Nanic had drifted among the debris field, that is what they did after all, laid in waiting, they were a race of raiders and pirates. No planet, just space, just the black.

The pilot's name was Cas'M he was a trained Usian pilot, sensitive to space, attuned to the Hyperspace, to those dimensions beyond the 4 in which most races lived. Beyond space and time, the Usians perceived more, even the fellow Nanics were not completely aware of the extent of the difference.

The quantum tunneling done on the subatmic levels by the Athi's computers stilled bore thesignature of the Race. The key components of the mentality.

While no matter how different an individual of a race may be from the entire rest of his species, he is still a part of the whole--none understood this fact as well as the Usian.

They navigated by sense of direction across not hundreds, but hundreds of thousands of light years---if the preception depended solely upon the workings of this dimension they would never accomplish this, but there was no distance to them at all.

The Nanic watched the Athi's ships depart and other vessels break off--the ZPE drive was charging, so small it was.

The ambassador's name was Cal'M, to the Usian their names bore no similarity, again the effect of perception.

They watched as the Athi's departed with no response to their signal.

"Can we pursue? Cas'M?"

"There is no need, Cal'M, do you feel them? Moments away. A hairs breadth."

"Yes, indeed. I believe the drive is charged. DO you think we are in danger of alerting the opposing forces here of our presence?"

By this time a new battle had begun to rage.

"I believe they will choose to stay as far from our energy signature as possible, given the pleasant nature by which their drive systems work."

With that a burst of energy erupted from the Starwing ZPE drive, it wold register somewhere near 10^76*100 Joules. gouging a rift in space-time allowing the Nanic to slip into Higher Space.

In a wink--to the Usians anyway.

The were at the strongest emmisions of the quatum signature of the 'Mind'.

Before them lay a planet, bulwarked by vessels made for war.

As the Starwing slid back into this dimension, the pilot powered down the vessels weapons, and began recharging the Drives.

The Ambasador began once again sending the same message they had sent before.

"You realize if they did not translate the 'code' they will not know what we are doing."

"I do, but can you offer another solution?"

"No"

"Then let us see"

“Sir, we have minor battles breaking out all over. There are at least three new arrivals. There is a fleet waiting at the edge of the system. It is difficult to see who is on which side.”

“How is the Outer Heaven ship doing?”

“The Wraith appears to have gained some allies and are being escorted out of the system. They are invisible to standard sensors but they still show on Dimensional.”

“Keep tracking them. If they are damaged too much we will try to save as many as possible. Dammit, where are those reinforcements?”

“Checking now Sir.”

Captain Dre’Var watched the display while he waited for the Comm officer.

“Sir, the closest assistance is enroute via the WHD. They are set to arrive in about 8 minutes out-system, and then Uplift to T-Space and rendezvous here with us. They will be here in about 11 minutes.”

“I hope it will be in time. If they can’t hold out that long, things might get messy.”

“Sir, I have word from CnC. They authorize you to take command of the group when the other ships arrive.”

“Just great! Bring the sensor net up to full strength. I want scans of every ship, missile, fighter, and rock out there. You have eight minutes from this second to produce results. We need to be ready when support arrives. Call for more back-up, and have them standby in T-Space at the edge of the system. When we act, I want it to be a surprise to everyone out there.”

“Yes sir.”

“They may know how to start a battle, but for their sakes, I hope we don’t have to show them how to finish it.”

HMS Royal Agamemnon began its attack run, hoping to strafe the enemy lines, followed by the fighters. They hoped to do some serious damage before they would be forced to peel off.

Aden was starting to loose power, damage control teams were unable to contain the destruction caused by the starboard flight pod tearing off the ship. Secondary missile hits exploited the holes in the defensives, slowly gutting the ship.

Escort continued to fire, taking moderate damage, as did Illustrious.

The fighter wings, depleted heavily started to regroup in a defensive pattern near Illustrious.

The Reconciliation reached firing range, all 36 of the port guns focusing on the Illustrious.

"Open fire."

The turrets quickly swiveled and let loose a torrent of energy at the battlecruiser, pounding away and quickly reloaded.
Out in the battle, Avenger squadron brushed past an Otari-class corvette that was flailing in its death throes.

"Avenger squad, focus on that cruiser, use cannon."
"Roger lead."
"Roger, I'm on it lead."

The twelve fighters broke off from assaulting a Wintrees fighter, leaving a gunship to finish the job. The interceptor squadron evaded an energy burst and then pulsed out bolts from their laser cannons, strewing fire at the Illustrious before pulling off from a missile.

Sorry I haven't been on recently, tech issues with my crappy NetZero.

"Admiral, the transmission is ready to be sent."
Revoyyen hoped that the Nanic who recieved it would be able to decipher the English lettering. "Route it through the jumpgate." He didn't want to enemy to intercept the message and find out where the Merkari fleet was. "Is the quantum generator powered up?"
"No, sir. We're still trying to get the computer to cooperate." Quatum computing was obsolete. Although it was extremely powerful, it required a special, very rare type of exotic material to work, most of which had been used up. In order to conserve these reserves, quantum computers were simply not built anymore. The ship did have quantum generators, but only to supply the weapon systems with energy. The technician was currently trying to "trick" the computer to reroute the quantum generators to supply the communication system. Because the Nanic message had been a string of quantum computer code, Revoyyen assumed that that was the only reply that the Nanic would accept.
Eventually, the computer was tricked, and a Mainframe-coded transmission was sent back to the Nanic. Translated, it read in English:

Comrade Nanic,

We understand your distress at the destruction of the Mainframe. We realize that you request to join in our crusade to reestablish it, and honor your love of logic that the Mainframe represented. Although we cannot say very much, as contacting our government leaders back in our homeworld by tachyon beam would take twenty days. Still, we accept whatever aid you can give us. Please reply to our transmission. We honor your willingness to come to our side in times of need. Enclosed in this message is a synopsis of our history and the reason behind our presence in this system, which we call the J'kran.

The message continued on for a time, relating to the Nanic the environmental tragedy on Merkar that had forced them to relocate to the J'kran. It also told of the Civil War of 2075, where the Mainframe predicted that theists were going to eliminate all forms of life during a massive war in the distant future. Revoyyen avoided discussing his dislike of the pseudo-theorcratic government system, as he knew that there was no point- the government would get back at him after the war for insulting their computer worship. The quantum transmission sailed through space to the jumpgate, where it was amplified and sent out in all directions for eveyrone to read.

* * * * *

Craynu walked through the long hallway past other pilots heading with him to the briefing room. Nothing was on his mind other than wondering what would happen next. Yesterday, he had flown into combat, meeting an enemy ace pilot. He had no idea what the next mission held for him or the rest of Charlie flight.
Finally arriving at the briefing room, he walked inside (there was no door) and took a seat on the floor. The efficient, spartan Merkari military did not purchase chairs. The rest of the squadron filed in. The room seemed very big, stretching large enough to accomodate hundreds of people. The walls, ceilings and floors were the same monotonous gray as the rest of the interior, while in the very front was a wide display screen. At the moment it was blank, but the briefing was scheduled to start in just a few minutes.
This was enough time for Kit Craynu to think about his choice of careers. An ex-Navy pilot, his service term expired just four years ago. Going into mercenary business, he established a reputation as the best of the best fighting space pirates. Now, with his country at war, he was somewhat of a soldier of fortune. Not that he bought any of this computer worship bullshit, of course. He was in it for the money and the joy of the fight. To a handful of people, combat was like a drug- a very addictive one. There was no substitute for the adrenaline rush, the honor, the joy of the kill. Craynu was one of those few.
Someone walked past the display screen, catching Kit's eye. Looking up, he saw the wise Admiral Revoyyen himself. What was important enough to make him come to brief the pilots? Another pep talk? Or did he just think this mission was important enough for him to direct personally?
"Attention!" The light chatter echoing through the room stopped immediately. "This is the Admiral. The time is 0532 Merkar solar. I trust that you all are here and had a good night's sleep. I want to give you a quick rundown on the situation before your mission briefing is supposed to start."
Pulling something out of his pocket, Revoyyen pressed a button on it and the display screen turned on to show a map of the J'kran system. The admiral stepped out of the way for everyone to see. "At about 0500 Merkar our sensors detected a major exchange of laser fire that is still going on. I have no idea what it is. It's apporximately 56 million miles from our position, well out of sensor range. For now, though, we don't want to get involved. Might be a battle, might be a weapons malfunction. Regardless, it's apparently tying down the enemy fleet because we haven't seen any of their scouts. I think it's best that they not know we are here, because for now we have a raid on a Spooty planet to deal with."
Clearing his throat, Revoyyen hit another button on the thing he had pulled out of his pocket. The fifth Spooty planet, the one farthest from the sun and nearest the jumpate, appeared on the display screen. "The briefing officer will fill you in on the details when he arrives in a few minutes. For now, I'm telling you that you'll perform a fighter raid on this planet, known as M45 to us. I have no idea what they call it though. Anyway, it's a terraformed world with a sizeable human population. We're going to raid it for supplies and enemy prisoners. Three squadrons of Eagles, Charlie, Yankee and Echo, will do a recon run on the planet and destroy any orbital defences. Once that's done, our Space Marine batallion will land on the planet, capture some enemy prisoners and supplies. Expect to be doing some close air support missions if they run into trouble. That's all I can tell you for now. Questions?" Several people raised their hand. Revoyyen tried to answer as many of them as he could, but there were too many to get to before the briefing officer arrived. "I'm sorry," Revoyyen said, "I have to leave. Time for your briefing, Comrades, and good luck."
The rundown on their mission was fairly short, and nothing surprising. Some solar winds coming in from the distance, a few asteroids to watch out for, but that was all the intelligence that could be provided. Craynu hoped for a fight, but at the same time was worried about the fact that he didn't know what he was going to face. What kind of defences would the enemy have, if any? He knew that it was stupid to be afraid of the unknown, and tried to ignore such thoughts. Kit arrived at the locker room and suited up. A few quick conversations with his fellow pilots, and he headed for the fighter bay, climbing into his Eagle and waiting as it was gently placed onto the railgun.

Space

Over a hundred Eagle fighters formed up from various ships in the Merkari battlefleet, heading for the Spooty planet.

OOC: Apologies, but I'm very ill, so computer time is limited to near nothingness. I WILL be back soon, perhaps weekendish.