NationStates Jolt Archive

[I've had quite a bit of experience on NS (this is not my first account) I decided to do something I haven't before, create a nomadic group. So naturally I chose Battlestar Galactica technology, because I'm obsessed with both the original series and the new one. I just want my fleet to have first contact. Post immediately :D]

Battlestar Group 74, Location Unknown

The four Battlestars of the 64th group stood still, like beehives surrounded by the swarms of ships buzzing about the system. A week previously, the antiquated warships had been thrown an incredible distance across the galaxy during an FTL jump that was interrupted by what they would eventually come to understand was a warp storm bursting into the system. Since that time tey had been continuously transmitting high-power signals in all directions, hoping to come into contact with colonial ships.

"This is the 74th Battlestar Group of the Colonial Fleet, commander Aiden of the Battlestar Apollo. Our flet has been thrown off course by a freak occurence, and our navigational instruments appear to be damaged. We require assistance. Any assistance will do. We have enough supplies to last a while without resupply, but eventually we'll need to top-up, and we don't know anything about this region of space. Please send help."

Each Battlestar sent out a similar signal. The area would be lit up like a christmas tree with so much activity. If the area was inhabited, somebody would notice.

Riuke Neaith was busy playing a game with the avatar of the Gios. As he took one of Gios' peices, it spoke, "We've got someone requesting help, or at least supplies. They appear to be new."
"Well let's go pay them a visit."

The Gios warped out, and re-appeared a short distance(at least in terms of interspactial distances) off-side the Apollo.

Welcome, might we ask who you are and your buisness in these parts?

OOC: I'd be happy to join, but, frankly, I know little (if anything) about Battlestar Galactica...

CIC, Battlestar Apollo

The officers of the Apollo spent what seemed like a lifetime waiting for some kind of response, scrutinizing their respective screens for any sign of inhabitants. When they did arrive, the reflective silence of the CIC turned to a kind of panicked excitement.
Commander Aiden turned to the XO.

"What do you think? They seem friendly. We do need help."

His second in command nodded and frowned slightly.

"Yeah. Still, we know nothing about them. Be careful."

"Okay. Hand me the wireless headset. Start the transmission. In answer to your questions, we are a lost fleet of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol. We were out on manouvers, investigating energy build-up in one of the outer colony systems when some kind of storm interrupted our FTL jump. Our business in these parts is just to keep the fleet going, to see if we can get back. Unfortunately, we don't know where we are. We don't know how far we've gone, and none of the stars are even remotely familiar. We were hoping you could hepl us with supplies or information about the area."

Unfortunately, I do not have supplies more than necessary for my own crew. If you could send us the charts of the spatial regions surrounding your home system, we may be able to compare it to our own maps and locate where you must head to.

ooc: Do you want it known(as we have a rather large percentage of the universe mapped), if not, it'll be in an unexplored area.

[I'd quite like to be properly lost, so I have an excuse to remain a roaming fleet :), so uncharted would be best.]

ooc: Then send the info and it won't match.

[?]

ooc: So it' found out that we don't know where you're ships belong, and can go from there, otherwise we're at an impasse.

[Sorry, I didn't read your post properly. Durrr.]

"Thank you. The information will have to be sent on a physical storage device, as my ships have no onboard computer networks, or any ability to connect to outside systems. If it is no problem, I'll have a Raptor crewed up and sent with a hard drive containing the navigational details of the Twelve Colonies, with all our maps of the area."

Commander Aiden waved a hand, and several crewmen ran off to arrange the ship.

the INKS Hankoteki Na was crusiing along at warp 2 when the signal was recieved.

"On speakers" a female voice said.

"set course warp 4" she adds after listening to the message.

The New Kirisuban vessel changed course and speed towards the source of the distress call.

"send this in all known languages" she orders "the New Kirisuban ship Hankoteki Na has recieved your distress call and we are on our way"


ooc: The Hankoteki Na (Defiant) is an exporation ship of the Kagemon class and looks like a cross between the Enterprise NX01 and a Romulan Bird of Prey from the same period.

The crew also understands English as well.

That is fine, thought I must warn you an attempt to board me and take me by force shall not be met well for either you or your boarders.

"It appears we will soon be having guests."
"Enh, I guess they'll find me in my skivvies then."

The sensors manager whistled, something was pumping out huge amounts of energy in communications and signals. The full wrap-around display his helmet gave him showed the signal in a huge spherical virtual space, and tagged it, listing bandwidth and exotics. It looked like a white, undulating ghost amidst a sea of wisp 'of the wills of background noise.

"Got something?" Asked his captain, who'd been pacing the bridge constantly since arriving. They weren't due to begin Underspace maneuvers again until sensors had finished their massive sweep. Needless to say, once they were done, they'd reply to command, and 'Space to the next area. This was primarily a prospecting mission. Of sorts.

"I'm getting a huge broadband beacon, sir, a comm-hail in what looks like a Galactic South Dialect. Whatever it is is a few lighthours from this position. Could we get closer, sir?" He enquired of his captain. To punctuate the point, he allocated his sensor feed to the main display, an almost perfectly spherical imaging system that turned the bridge's walls into a tapestry of stars and void. It appeared on the display as a neon green circle.

"Helm, crunch the course." Ordered the Captain, before sitting back down in his seat. He refused to crane his neck to see the sensor feed, he simply called it up on his own console and waited.

The HMS Solomon, a Kaark class warfrigate, an armoured and snubnosed killer three hundred metres from bow to stern, armed with the trademark Lance Kinetic batteries and three Spinal Lasers, like beady eyes, and a mouth of sensor 'teeth', looked all the universe like some ghastly large space monster, as its dull gray armour soaked in the star's wan light.

And then, suddenly as it appeared, a roaring red maw of underspace tore it from reality.

((Stand by. They'll pop back in just a moment))

[I'd quite like to be properly lost, so I have an excuse to remain a roaming fleet :), so uncharted would be best.]
OOC: I would like to join and I have an idea on how, but I thought I'd run it by you first as it somewhat conflicts with that (^quote^) statement. My nation is on its own planet, as many FT nations are, and you could be lost in my solar system if you want. I have a very small fleet of spaceships, so it would make more sense if you were close to my home planet. I would say my nation is also fairly behind in mapping the galaxy, so it won't be an easy out for you still. If you don't want me to do that, I could just say an exploration team found you or something.

Again klaxons went off in the CIC.

"Another alien ship, fairly small but we can't pick it up very well. Do we respond? They seem to be friendly."

"Wireless. Thank you. This is Battlestar Apollo acknowledging your message. Thank you for responding so promptly. We seem to be attracting some attention here."

----

The raptor approached the vessel of Thaeo, crewed by three people: the pilot, the ECO and an unarmed marine carrying a briefcase contaning the hard drive with the navigational information.

"This is raptor 4 reporting, requesting permission to dock and drop off the package."

[Farmers, I like the idea. The fleet's supposed to be damaged so they wouldn't necessarily detect anything even if it was 3 feet in front of the CIC windows and mooning the commander.]

Permission to board.

Riuke was there to meet them, a superbly muscles young man, clothed only in a pair of boxershorts.

ooc: The ship is likely not much bigger than the shuttle.

The three crewmen stepped out of the raptor, and presented the barely-clad man with the suitcase.

The marine spoke up.
"That should contain whatever you need to see if you know how to get us back. Full maps of the colonies, and the surrounding systems, right up to the FTL red line."

"Thank you." He replied as he took the case and popped it open. Pulling out the pad, he plugged it.

"Nope, doesn't match." Gios replied

"There you have it." Riuke commented to the three.

The three crew members just stood there, mouths open. After 30 seconds of silence, the marine spoke.

"You're sure? just like that you can tell we're screwed? Just great. Screw this. Let's get back to Apollo. Tell the Commander the good f*****g news."

"Never said you were screwed, just that we have no idea where you come from or have to go." Riuke replied, "You can always find a unoccuipied planet and settle there if nothing else."

"I'm sure the commander would love that suggestion. Well, thanks for the help. We'll be going now."

The three turned to their raptor dejectedly, boarded and took off, to tell the commander of the fleet just how screwed they were.

Silent as the Solomon's return to reality was, the ship was an impressively large blood red drop in the black nothingness, as hydrogen fluttered from the reversion and spent itself in the void, revealing the frigate's decidely unimpressive hull for all to see. She was not a pretty ship.

It floated silently, sensor maw pointed at the much larger battlestars, she hung overhead, slightly in front of and several kilometres 'upwards' of the massive ships.

"Communications, have we a translator package?" The Captain murmured to his junior, eyes firmly locked on what appeared to be four heavily armed warships. Solomon was by no means fragile, but even Imperial Hulls could be broken. Given the right amount of force.

And violence wasn't an easy option to seek.

"Still crunching, sir, but I have another big sensor report. A Theao AI ship. Definitely talking to the ships below." Communications waved a hand to the display, flagging the further off ship and highlighting it in bright blue.

"And I have another ship - they're speaking in a multitongue. I have them flagged as New Kirisuban Ship Hankoteki Na."

"Sensors?"

"Big returns from the large ships below, either they're solid hunks of alloy, or that armour of theirs is dense. The Theao ship is confusing the bollocks out of the array, as they do. But the ships below us are old[/i. I have void corrosion, flak damage, and just plain old age showing on all of them. Also that armour of theirs looks modular. It can probably shift. I'm guessing armoured supercarriers?"

"I have the package sir. The lead ship - Battlestar - is the Apollo, and they hail from the Twelve Colonies of Kobol."

"Never heard of it."

"Me either sir. No show on Galactic races. Who knows? There are a lot of gaps in the galactic standard." The Communications officer shrugged. "They are in some distress, by the sounds of it."

"Patch me in. No encryption. Standard format. Send the translator package too, they might be able to use it."

This is [i]HMS Solomon to Colonial Battlestars. I am Captain Nermhardt, commanding officer aboard this vessel.

I am led to understand you're under some kind of distress. Can we be of assistance? Our mining operation is about sixteen lightyears galactic corewards. We'd be only too glad to help you.

Solomon out.

Riuke commented to Gios, "If they'd waited, I could have pointed them to a planet that's nearby and could keep them alive."

"I'll pass the word.'

Apollo, you're crew is returning with bad news, thought if you are interested in settling down we may be able to help.

As the 'Hankoteki Na' approaches the co-ordinates Captain Arisu Fujimoto stalks her bridge.

Not sure if their message was recieved she sees several ships already in the area.

"Broadcast this on the same frequency as the original message.

This is Captain Arisu Fujimoto of the Imperial New Kirisuban ship Hankoteki Na responding to your distress call. please respond"

She turns to her comms officer saying "when you get a reply put them on the screen"

She returns to her command chair and waits as they drop to half impulse and cruise in.

ooc: if the Battlestar has a view screen they'll see an asian woman respond. she's 25 years old with long black hair and dark eyes. she's wearing the standard uniform of the fleet which is a dark red wrap over jacket and black trousers and short black boots.

Aiden nearly choked when he heard the distance.

"Sixteen LIGHT YEARS? That's just a little outside of our FTL range. That's several jumps. Several jumps pushing the red line quite a bit. We've been thrown into this sector, we have taken a lot of damage from an unknown anomaly, and we're in the middle of an inter-species salvation army meeting. What we need at the moment is water. We were counting on tanking up at Caprica upon our return, but now that's looking unlikely. We're good for metals and spare parts for our vipers."

An ensign whispered in his ear.

"Ahh. More communiques. We weren't counting on such a response... Bad news? Oh dear."

[Have to go. Food now.]

Comander Farsight watched the sensor system as the small fleet, the last known peoples of the the 12 colanys, left there FTL jump. He knew that they we luck to be here and that they could easly have been amoung the millions of civilians and military personal who has died when the cylons had returned, yet he couldn't help but wonder what he should do now? with bearly 2000 people with in his fleet he wondered what hope there was for the human race ,even in this unknown area of space.

Suddenly the sensor displayed a flood of colonial signals, one after another the green of friendly transponders apeared on the screen and Farsight realised that he could not have been the only surviver of the horrors of the cylon invasion. Looking at the XO he said quietly, "send a message to the comand ship of there fleet, ask them who they are and how they escaped the cylons."

As the XO headed towards the comunication centre Farsight breathed a quiet prayer to all the Gods of Kobal, thanking them for there mercy to there child.

"Wow. A space race we might actually beat in terms of FTL." Commented the Captain's XO, as he considered. "Probably explains why they're so big. They're part battleship - part tendervessel. More than just weapons and engines beneath that hull."

"Indeed. Well, if they can't get there, what can we do?" Asked the Captain, stroking his stubbly chin in musing. The ships represented an unknown - this system was as lively as they'd ever get - they'd found little of interest in the way of minerals or land.

"Perhaps we can get the Forge to space in?" His XO asked, calling up a fleet map as she continued. "She'd get here in a few hours. Although we'd need a damn good reason. Admiral Lemm wouldn't move a fleet asset like the Forge without some profit in it for him."

"Of course. He's only interested in money. And ensuring his seat on the council." He had no problem speaking these treasonous words on his own bridge - The entire fleet was aware of it. And whom the 'politeers' were. The Emperor probably wasn't aware of just how far his council had gone. Noone was willing to tell him either. "Tell Forge's captain that tendering these vessels may land us an ally in a tight spot. Admiral Lemm should enjoy a chance to wear his Dress Uniform."

"Yessir. Sending now."

The King of the Free Farmers watched as daily proceedings of the Forest Council, making sure everything was running smoothly and they weren't doing anything stupid like passing a bill banning civil rights and whatnot. Not that the King thought they would do this, but he always wanted to be sure they knew he was ready to get all of them thrown out of office at anytime if they tried something.
As the summit ended for the day the King left the Council Oak, hopped on his royal travel cow and began his 5 mile journey back to the Palace. As soon as he arrived he saw Fredrick Jasper, the current Senior Supreme Councilman, standing at his door, waiting for him. King Mortillaro approached Jasper and asked what was wrong. "We are getting reports of a fleet of alien starships that have entered our solar system. We have not yet decided how to act, but think it would be best to ready the defenses, just in case." Jasper said to the King. "Yes, I will get the defenses prepared, you go back to the Council and decide on further action. I'll have my assistant contact the FRA and see what they can do to get communication up and find out who this is." The King replied.
Nothing like this had ever happened in the history of the Kingdom, no alien life had ever come within a lightyear of the Farmers' solar system. The King called the Foreign Relations Agency, but they had no idea who it was. They began putting heavy surveilance on it right away however. The defenses were prepared quickly on the planet, the two moons' defense systems went online, and all military spacecraft was launched. Meanwhile the Council decided that they would ask questions first, and shoot later, which was normal for a peace loving nation to do.
The FRA scrambled to get comm links up and send a message to the ships that had entered the solar system uninvited. But suddenly a message came to the receivers:

"This is the 74th Battlestar Group of the Colonial Fleet, commander Aiden of the Battlestar Apollo. Our flet has been thrown off course by a freak occurence, and our navigational instruments appear to be damaged. We require assistance. Any assistance will do. We have enough supplies to last a while without resupply, but eventually we'll need to top-up, and we don't know anything about this region of space. Please send help."


"So, they are here on accident? Makes sense, most nations don't even know we exist. Send message over to command, tell them to settle it down and not blow those ships out of the universe just yet." The intelligence commander said with a wink. The message was sent over to the Supreme Council, who immediately decided contact was to be established and help to be given if needed and possible. Message of the decision was sent back to the FRA.
Soon after the message's arrival at the FRA, communications were established with the errornous fleet. A response was given to the fleet's plead:

To the strange and unknown fleet of spacecraft that has entered the Kingdom's realm,
We, the Kingdom of Free Farmers, located mainly on the 2nd planet from the sun in this solar system, have received your open message. Although we have little information about the galaxy around us, we would be happy to assist you in any way possible. Be warned however, unauthorized landing on any of the planets in this solar system is strictly forbidden and will result in the immediate destruction of your fleet. We are a peace loving people, but will not allow colonists to carve up our precious system and will defend it against all who wish it harm.
The Kingdom of Free Farmers, Foreign Relations Agency

After the message was sent, the FRA waited patiently for a response, and so did the Farmers' defenses.

Upon receipt of the new messages, Aiden smiled.

"The Peacekeeper? What's a shiny piece of tech like that doing here? Oh well, wireless on. Commander Farsight, what do you mean 'escaped from the Cylons'? They haven't been sighted in 40 years! Those walking chrome toasters wouldn't dare do anything to the colonies anyway! 120 Battlestars is a powerful deterrent. With all due respect commander, what the hell you're talking about? Hold that thought commander, communications from yet ANOTHER group of aliens. If you want, I'll send over a raptor and we can discuss this on the Apollo. End transmission."

Aiden turned to his XO.

"This is some godsdamned party. What're these new aliens like?"

"Odd stuff, Frank. Friendly overtures, tentative threats."

"They'd threaten 4 ships over a kilometre in length? These guys must never have seen a Viper, much less a Battlestar. Makes me yearn for the days of the thousand-yahren war. People saw a Battlestar and they respected it. Old 'Husker' Adama would know what to do here. What level of development are they at?"

"If it came to it, the 74th could give those cocky bastards a bloody nose. They'd definately hurt us though. Big time."

"Suggestions?"

"These are the first aliens to actively go defensive, I'd send in some raptors, get DRADIS scans to assess numbers."

"Right. I want all our MKII's dusted off and out creating a fighter screen at a moment's notice. Tell the chief it's important. Have the CAG get off his fat ass. Distribute the ammunition to the gun positions on all Battlestars. It's time to dust off these old birds, see if we can convince them that attacking four mobile bases is just a little bit dumb. In the meantime, I'll respond. Lord of Kobol, our wireless is going to be worn out. Ready? Okay. This is Commander Frank Aiden of the Colonial Fleet Battlestar Apollo. We do not wish to carve up your system, as you put it. We're here purely by chance, and we fully intend to move on as soon as we can, and originally we had no intention of deploying our defensive forces but I must admit I'm taken aback. A rapid deployment of military force is not any kind of way to greet lost travellers. Until my people can leave we have no choice but to be prepared. I hope you understand. I would also like to tell you something in case you were thinking of starting a fight. These ships may be old, but together we clocked 10,000 kills in the thousand-yahren war. Don't underestimate these hunks of junk just because they aren't chrome plated and bristling with uber-cannons."

"Sir, incoming message from Battlestar Gemenon Rising. Commander Sun is requesting permission to follow up a possiblewater-bearing asteroid. It's just out of raptor FTL range, so we either send the GR or we risk losing one of our support vessels."

"What a perfect godsdamned time to go off chasing leads. I'll authorise it, but only because Peacekeeper showed up. We won't be as badly outgunned as if we had to send GR out without reinforcements. I sure hope farsight has a lot of MKVII's."

The huge, battle scarred Gemenon Rising was engulfed in the bright light of the FTL drive, disappearing moments later.

This is Commander Frank Aiden of the Colonial Fleet Battlestar Apollo. We do not wish to carve up your system, as you put it. We're here purely by chance, and we fully intend to move on as soon as we can, and originally we had no intention of deploying our defensive forces but I must admit I'm taken aback. A rapid deployment of military force is not any kind of way to greet lost travellers. Until my people can leave we have no choice but to be prepared. I hope you understand. I would also like to tell you something in case you were thinking of starting a fight. These ships may be old, but together we clocked 10,000 kills in the thousand-yahren war. Don't underestimate these hunks of junk just because they aren't chrome plated and bristling with uber-cannons."

The FRA received the message and reported back to the Supreme Council. "Strange response Councilman." The FRA intelligence officer reported, "They have mobilized their weapon systems and are ready to defend themselves against some kind of attack they think we are making. I have the intel readout right here," The intelligence officer handed Jasper the sheet. "It gets stranger, here read the message yourself." The intelligence officer commented, handing the old representive a copy of the message. Jasper sighed, "Tell the commanders over at Black Command to be ready for anything, these aliens have some serious firepower, we should be ready. In the meantime wire them this." Jasper handed the FRA officer a handwritten response from the Supreme Council on traditional recording leaves, so the officer knew it must be serious. "Make sure they know that no one will threaten our sercurity. We may only have a million soldiers currently in the armed forces, but our space defense is solid and won't be pushed around by a few outdated shuttles, no matter how many 'kills' they got in their prime." The intelligence officer took the message and used the PTS to get back to his post at the FRA compound in under a minute.
Upon arriving he called up the commanders at Black Command and alerted them of the new circumstances. The moon based defenses were readied fully, and all pointed directly at the alien spacecraft in case they made a move. The few military spacecraft available were fueled up and prepared to lift off immediately if necessary. During this time the FRA quickly sent the message to the alien fleet.

To the "Colonial Fleet Battlestar Apollo",
The Kingdom of Free Farmers did not mean to put you on high alert, we are still trying to help you. But the current rules of engagement have dictated that we prepare defenses and be fully ready to protect our home against attack. We realize you claim to be merely lost, but we are always wary of outsiders. Please do not attempt to attack us, it is a pointless waste of lives for both sides, especially yours, as our defenses are more than enough to deal with your small fleet. We wish to be as peaceful as possible in these proceedings, and hope for a peaceful solution to the current problem. To ensure this, we will remind you again, unauthorized landings on any planets, moons, or other large bodies in this system are strictly forbidden and will be dealt with by a proper and overwhelming response. Now that we have that fact established, prehaps we can be of aid to you. We know of the locations of all systems within 3 lightyears of our system's sun. Perhaps one of these is the place you are looking for? We have sent a map of what we know of with this message. If you are running low on food, water, fuel, or other essential items we will do our best to provide them for you. If we can be of assistance in any way, do not hesitate to ask, we will do what we can to help your fleet. Although we have not mapped many areas outside of what we have given you, we do have several exploration missions on record. Perhaps we know of the place you are looking for.
The Supreme Council of the Kingdom of Free Farmers

Comander Farsight stared at the comm grill in disbelief, How could they not know about the destruction of the colanies? Before he was able to reply though the sensor system let out an a massive alarm and a large red icon appeared on the screen. "Sir the fraking Cylons have found us, do you want me to scramble the new Viper mark 8's?" Said the XO.
Imediatly Farsight spung into action, just like he had during the Picon genioside, "Ok everyone preper for full combat measures, get the flak cannons ready and prep the Artilary guns. Enson send a message to the Apollo explaining as breifly as you can what happened to the colanies and what the cylons are using now. Once you've done that send a message to all other vesseles within range, tell them to FTL as far away as they can if they want to live and if they ask why tell them to just Fraking do it"
As everyone on the bridge began to get the Peacekeeper ready for combat Farsight wondered how the Fraking Toasters had managed to follow them.........

"Commander, incoming signal from the system's inhabitants."

"Lemme hear it."


The Kingdom of Free Farmers did not mean to put you on high alert, we are still trying to help you. But the current rules of engagement have dictated that we prepare defenses and be fully ready to protect our home against attack. We realize you claim to be merely lost, but we are always wary of outsiders. Please do not attempt to attack us, it is a pointless waste of lives for both sides, especially yours, as our defenses are more than enough to deal with your small fleet. We wish to be as peaceful as possible in these proceedings, and hope for a peaceful solution to the current problem. To ensure this, we will remind you again, unauthorized landings on any planets, moons, or other large bodies in this system are strictly forbidden and will be dealt with by a proper and overwhelming response. Now that we have that fact established, prehaps we can be of aid to you. We know of the locations of all systems within 3 lightyears of our system's sun. Perhaps one of these is the place you are looking for? We have sent a map of what we know of with this message. If you are running low on food, water, fuel, or other essential items we will do our best to provide them for you. If we can be of assistance in any way, do not hesitate to ask, we will do what we can to help your fleet. Although we have not mapped many areas outside of what we have given you, we do have several exploration missions on record. Perhaps we know of the place you are looking for.


"That's it, sir. DRADIS confirms that they're at an incredible alertness level. I guess they saw us a long time before we saw them."

Aiden frowned, turning to the DRADIS screen, now swarming with friendly and unknown IFF signatures.

"I'll respond. Wireless on."

"Aye Sir."

"This is commander Aiden of the Apollo. We did not mean to alarm you by mobilising our weaponry, however it is our policy to go to condition one alertness whenever another ship or ships mobilise like your have, and very efficiently might I add. I haven't seen ships scurrying about so well in 40 years! We don't want this to escalate, and so we'll stand down our fighter compliment and our big guns, as a show of faith. If possible, I would like to set up a meeting between myself and someone of your leadership. If this is too much, it's really no problem. however, we would like to take advantage of your offer of help. We're utterly lost, and any notion of where we may be would be great help. We're approaching a desperate need to refill our wa-"

"DRADIS CONTACTS! Confirmed one base-star, and many possible contacts!"

"Ask the inhbitants of the system if they'd consider launching our fighters an act of aggression. And launch them regardless! I want a flak screen on both port and starboard launch pods covering our vipers as they launch. There will be no fatalities if I can help it. Ready a nuke. If that base-star looks like it's going to run, fry the bastard."

"Aye sir!"

"Something's odd here... This 'star doesn't look much like the clunky old things they used to have during the war."

"New generation?"

"Frak."

The launch bays at each side of the Apollo and her companions swarmed with MK II vipers, protected by their flak guns.

"We've recieved a message from Peacekeeper.... You won't believe this."

"Not right now, Liuetenant!"

The wepons on Peacekeeper slide silently from there protective covers as wing after wing of Viper Mk8's left the lanch tubes on eather side of her. Bellow the two Kobal class frigetes slide from there docking clamps and began to head toward both of the flight pods. Once the Vipers and Raptors were clear of her the Peacekeeper let off a massive volly of artilary shells and then engaged the standared Flak barrage, while deep within the ship's armament vault a class 7(anticapital ship) nuclear war head was loaded into starboard tube 4...

back on the Hankoteki Na their hails were going unanswered and Captain Fujimoto was about to order their departure when her tactical officer said "i'm picking up new contacts and some ships are launching fighters against them.

"yellow alert" she ordered as the hull plating was raised and the shields put on standby.

"take us in and try and stay out of the way of the fighting" she orders "I want to know whats going on.

Kaede get me message to the ships launching fighters asking what is going on before we're caught up in someone elses war.

Taka, stay alert but don't fire until we're fired upon"

The Kirisuban ship was now ready for anything as they came within visual range of the battle.

Kaede sends out the following message to the Battlestars launching fighters.

This is the New Kirisuban ship Hankoteki Na. Could you tell us what is going on before your enemy begins firing on the rest of us?

Comander Aiden got onto the wireless for what seemed like the millionth time that day.

"Attention all shipping. This area is about to be under attack from an enemy called the Cylons. This enemy is incredibly adept at attacking computer networks, so we reccomend any ship using extensive networks stay out of the area. The bastards also really Hate us."

To all ships in the area the new ship that has just FTL'ed in is a Cylon base star, do not approce at all costs. The cylons have the ability to subvert any form of computer network onboard a ship and turn the ship against the crew. The battlestars are the only ships capable of defending against Cylon threats since we do not have networked computers. Final repeat do not enter the combat zone at all costs!

"lets stay out of their way then" Captain Fujimoto tells her bridge crew "helm withdraw to the edge of the system and stay there. Tactical keep alert for any attacks on us"

She thumbs a button on her command chair and says "Chief Keiko, we may well have to enter combat and we're told their enemy can use our networked computers against us. Work on an emergency plan to sever those links if we need it quickly"

In Engineering the chief engineer Keiko Isokawa called her team together.

"we need to separate the computers on the bridge, engineering and the sickbay. Pay special attention to the tactical computers and keep the plasma torpedo room and plasma beam room double manned at all times.

that's all. lets get to work"

The engineering crew break off into pairs ready to start cutting the links between the various computer cores on the ship.

Soon a message from the Apollo returned, with good news.

"This is commander Aiden of the Apollo. We did not mean to alarm you by mobilising our weaponry, however it is our policy to go to condition one alertness whenever another ship or ships mobilise like your have, and very efficiently might I add. I haven't seen ships scurrying about so well in 40 years! We don't want this to escalate, and so we'll stand down our fighter compliment and our big guns, as a show of faith. If possible, I would like to set up a meeting between myself and someone of your leadership. If this is too much, it's really no problem. however, we would like to take advantage of your offer of help. We're utterly lost, and any notion of where we may be would be great help. We're approaching a desperate need to refill our wa-"

"Get this to the Supreme Council, straight away." The FRA intelligence commander said to the messager raven after giving it a copy of the message. The raven soared through the sky, hitting a wind gust that propelled him forward, and quickly reached the Supreme Council. The raven dropped off the message to the Senior Councilman Jasper. He read it and sighed with relief. "It seems we will not have war here and now." Jasper announced to the rest of the Council. But suddenly another raven dropped in and gave Jasper a letter, which was asking if launching fighters would be a show of aggression. "Hold that thought, it seems our alien friends have got some trouble on their hands." Jasper sighed, looked around the room and stopped his search at the only Supreme Councilwoman, "Leslie, I need you to get down to the FRA and make sure this situation doesn't get out of hand. If you feel it is necessary we use our weapons, run it by the Council via cellular phone first, then authorize it. Anything short of war you have the Council's full sway in favor of your decision." Leslie Marcus got up from her chair and quickly headed off in the PTS to the FRA.
By the time Miss Marcus had arrived they were already scrambling over some new information. "What's going on?" she asked the commander. "Another huge alien vessle has entered the system, this one seems to want war with two of the others. That must be why they are sending out fighters." The commmander responded. "I'll give word to the Council, in the meantime you call up Black Command and get those LDSs ready. Then call the Red Stars high command and tell them to get the rest of our craft off the planet, and to get all the shields at full power." Marcus ordered. The commander nodded and went off to do his assigned duties. Marcus called up the Supreme Council and told them about the new information. "You are authorized to use whatever means necessary to eliminate the new alien craft." Was the Council's immediate response. Leslie didn't want war, so she got ready to secure peace. "Did you get those Lunar bases ready and aimed at the new target?" Ms. Marcus asked the commander, "Yes, they are awaiting the order to engage." the commander responded. "Good, is the fleet in the stars yet?" Leslie asked, "Most of it, yes. The Red Stars didn't allow me to authorize the Golden Raven launches however. Everything else is up." the commander replied. "Good, I'll get those birds in the sky soon enough. Send a message to the original aliens that our rapidly approaching fleet is there to help, and that their fighters are free to launch without retalliation." Leslie ordered. Marcus took out her cell phone and called up the LDS command centers, telling them of the new circumstances and what was to be done. She then called up Red Stars command and told them those Golden Ravens better be off this planet in 3 minutes or it would be their jobs.
Meanwhile the Supreme Council got in touch with the King, telling him that after the little sortie in space was settled he would need to meet with the commander of the first alien ships, to discuss the current situation and what to do about it. The King prepared himself and waited.

OOC:Free farmers, if you remember both battlestars sent warnings about networked computers. Your ships would likly end up being incapacitated or even worse have the air evacuated from them. I'm not trying to be patronising its just what they do, so leave the base star to us.

Lt Commander Keiko Isokawa worked at a terminal while her team located all the wires and cables that connected the computer cores together.

She was sending a modied copy of the master control programme to each and every server do it could function independantly. Life support, the sickbay, the bridge systems and the tactical server had priority.

It turned out to be easier than she planned since they didn't have voice controlled computers yet.

With the main servers modified she moved onto the other ships systems. Propopulsion, artifical gravity, waste resequencing and others that most crew members didn't have any dealings with.

soon they were ready to activate the new programmes and cut the links.

After getting the command from the Captain she gave orders for the wires to be cut and sealed and to reboot the servers.

This was done and the light dimmed briefly before coming on full again. A brief series of tests showed they were now ready.

OOC:Free farmers, if you remember both battlestars sent warnings about networked computers. Your ships would likly end up being incapacitated or even worse have the air evacuated from them. I'm not trying to be patronising its just what they do, so leave the base star to us.
OOC: I know, my characters don't. They'll figure it out before my fleet gets there. Then we'll just use our defenses on the moons to help you. But they won't be all that effective, as we'll have to watch out for your ships and not destroy them on accident.

OOC:ok, just didn't want to lose a potential ally to decompretion.

"Then we wouldn't have any problems fighting them." Riuke commented to Gios.
"No, not likely, thought they are quite bigger."
"Let's go in closer, the better to watch the proceedings."

The Gios slid forward, sensors on full with the defense systems activated.

As the fleet rushed forward towards the new enemy the Red Stars command discovered something. The enemy craft had the ability to destroy, confuse, and in general mess up the computer systems of the ships that came near it. "Calling all units, calling all units. This is Space Admiral Superior. Do not continue towards the enemy craft, I repeat DO NOT continue towards the enemy craft. Return to base immediately. Return to base." The speakers in every spaceship in the Farmers fleet rang out. The fleet did as ordered and turned back, returning to the planet.
Meanwhile the LDS main cannons were being carefully aimed towards the enemy spacecraft. It was tedious and the computer was instructed to ensure the only thing that could be hit was the enemy, the other ships were to be avoided.

As the first Cylon raiders broke through the Viper attack squadrons Comander Farsight gave the order to lanch the Nuclear warhead at the base star, as the missle hit the base stars hull he picked up the wireless transmitter and selected a private channal directed towards Apollo(OOC:all others please ignore transmittion).
"Apollo I am requesting that you order your attack group to dock with Peacekeeper so that the full detailes of the colonial collapes can be given to your crew, transmission ends."

The first squadron of MK II's approached the Base-star, weapons hot and at full speed.

"Apollo fighter control this is Blue Squadron. We reccomend withdrawal to closer to the fleet."

"Blue squadron you are cleared for your run. Attack."

"We're outnumbered ten, maybe fifteen to one!"

"We need you to cover our support craft. They're mostly unarmed, and we need them to get away, or to dock with the Peacekeeper. Stay out there ten minutes. Do your best Blue Squadron."

OOC:listen, its nice that you are prepered to continue fighting but if you read my last post you will notice that a class 7 nuke has already taken out the base star. Also free farmers if you don't watch galactic let me just tell you that the cylons have only two ship designs so far: the Basestar and the raider starfighter.

OOC:listen, its nice that you are prepered to continue fighting but if you read my last post you will notice that a class 7 nuke has already taken out the base star. Also free farmers if you don't watch galactic let me just tell you that the cylons have only two ship designs so far: the Basestar and the raider starfighter.
OOC: Sorry, I'm somewhat confused here. Ragtag seems to still be fighting, but you already won? I saw that you took down the base star, but when Ragtag was still fighting I assumed there were two base stars. My fault, sorry about that.

Raptor 1 headed toward the Battlestar Peacekeeper at full speed, avoiding the heavy fire incoming from the swarms of cylon raiders launched before the nuclear weapon all but destroyed their base.

"This is Raptor 1, we've got commander Aiden here. Requesting permission to dock and come aboard."

Two old Vipers moved into formation with Raptor. Before they could react, a raider strafed the three small ships, completely annihilating raptor 1 and crippling the two escorts.

Without directions from their commander, the other three Battlestars of Group 74 were in chaos.

"This is Battlestar Adelphi, who is in command of the fleet?"

"Battlestar Perseus, we request direction!"

"This is Commander Park of the Battlestar Cimtar. I will assume command of this battlegroup until we can ascertain the proper chain of command. All ships form up close. Wipe out the raiders with concentrated flak fire, get your vipers back in the bays."

From the comms of the other three Battlestars the only words heard were 'Aye sir!'.

[raiders can operate independantly, and there are thousands in each base-star. It's safe to assume that they're still fighting.]

OOC:listen, its nice that you are prepered to continue fighting but if you read my last post you will notice that a class 7 nuke has already taken out the base star. Also free farmers if you don't watch galactic let me just tell you that the cylons have only two ship designs so far: the Basestar and the raider starfighter.

OOC: You are forgetting the different versions of the Raider (at least five different designs), the Cylon transport shuttle, the Patrol Star, the other version of the Base Star, and the Attack Star.

Note: I might join in with an IC post later.

Having been informed by her chief engineer that they had unnetworked their computers Captain Fujimoto says to her helm officer "take us in again and tell the battlestars that we have un-networked our computers if they need help"

the Kagemon moves in at 1/4 impulse and on yellow alert.

The combined efforts of the four Battlestars were shredding the remains of the cylon fighter wings. The hulking wreck of the base-star hung in space menacingly for most of the battle, until the last cylon fighter decided the fight wasn't worth it, and activated it's FTL drive. The second the fighter disappeared, four missiles flew out of its missile tubes.

"Radiological alarm! Incoming, four nuclear warheads, approximate 10 kiloton yeild."

Commander Park hesitated a second, knowing that the wrong decision would cripple the fleet.

"Combine our flak and small guns, all waepons are to fire at those missiles, try to get them to detonate away from our ships or any inhabited colonies."

"Aye sir. All shipping hear this: incoming nuclear weaponry, brace for detonation and possible direct impact. Cimtar out."

OOC: Tiny note from a pedant. If you shoot a nuke, it's highly (as in, lotto-win unlikely) unlikely to detonate. Hence when Starbuck nails them, they just turn into little fireballs, instead of blinding nuclear flashes.

[You can shut the hell up! Kidding. Still, it's more fun this way.Killjoy.]

While the four battlestars of the 74 group dealt with the the nuclear threat comandore Farsight ordered the Peacekeeper to move in to a ealsy defendable position and sent this message to the free farmers: "This is Comandore Farsight of the colonial survivers. As you maybe awear the Cylons have destroyed the twelve colanies and we require new planet on which to set up a colany. We have onboard a specialy designed subcolany ship that can deploy all that will be needed by the colanists for several months so all we require is one of the planets in the system, preferable with breathable atmosphere, to set up on. Please reply with approval or denial immediatly

The Red Stars were happy to see the hostile ships destroyed, and got ready to send up the King to meet with the leader of the aliens. However before the Black Raven, the flagship of the fleet (a modified Golden Raven) and the King's official transport got off the ground the FRA received a message.

"This is Comandore Farsight of the colonial survivers. As you maybe awear the Cylons have destroyed the twelve colanies and we require new planet on which to set up a colany. We have onboard a specialy designed subcolany ship that can deploy all that will be needed by the colanists for several months so all we require is one of the planets in the system, preferable with breathable atmosphere, to set up on. Please reply with approval or denial immediatly

The FRA immediately alerted Councilwoman Marcus, who told them how exactly to respond.

To Commandore Farsight,
As we have not yet explained the situation to you we will do so at this time. The Kingdom of Free Farmers will NOT tolerate any unauthorized landings on any planet in this system. We will not allow this system to be carved up and colonized by aliens like yourself. Any attempt to land on any planet, moon, or other body in this system will be dealt with by an overwhelming and proper response as required by the rules of engagement. We will assist you in getting to where ever you are headed with all available resources, but will not grant you permission to land anywhere in this system for colonization. If your ship needs repairs we will accomidate it on our Lunar Base Beta, which has a ship repair facility.
Emergency Director of Foreign Relations, Leslie Marcus

"Get the fleet on the ready in case they make a move." Marcus said to the Red Stars top commander on the cell phone, "And make sure Black Command has got those cannons ready, who knows what these aliens might try."

The battle was won and although the Cylons would return the fleet could rest until the next attack.

As Farsight looked over the sea of face that were all that was left of his race he wondered wether or not they would survive the comming chalanges but for now he had other things to worry about, as he stepped forward and spoke into the microphone on the stage
" Today we have witnessed the end of our civilisation as we know it at the hands of the Cylons. Our very existance is now going to be a struggle the likes of which we have never faced. However we WILL not let the Cylons win, we have won today and we will win the next time and every time after that, So say we all!"
Farsight then looked at the officer on his right and then back to the the crowd
"Today is also a great day of honor for Comander Park as he is promoted to Commondore and given the great task of exploring this new sector of space while the Peacekeeper defends our new home"
Then ,once again turning to Park ,Farsight place the Comondore pips on to his uniform and a great chear erupted from the crowd below.

"If it's not too much trouble, I'd like to say a few words. Commodore Farsight here has as you know taken command of the fleet. I'm not particularly keen on the idea, which is the main reason I requested the marine honour guard. Marines, present arms!"

Fifteen marines behind Park levelled their weapons at Farsight.

"If you value your life, you'll rescind the control order. My fellow officers have been discussing this, and we want democracy. You will also face trial for removing our democratic freedom as guaranteed in the articles of colonisation."

Comondore Farsight smiled calmly at Comondore Palm and then turning to the crowd said" It seem that Comondore Palm has misunderstood the lack of goverment as an atempt an marchal law, let me assure you that the only reason for the colonial goverment not being reinstated is the small problem of missing a colany, as soon as a new colany is set up the goverment will be reinstated. However even without the goverment the democrasy that we all treasure has not been reomved or suspended, all the rights given to you by the constitution are still in effect and i would rather die than let them. The Comondore has also forgotten that the colonial laws are still in effect and this means that he is committing mutiny."

"Farsight, these are loyal men. They see the end of democracy that you represent. I personally spoke to these soldiers telling them about your lust for power. Shoot him in the legs."

Two soldiers fired at Farsight's kneecaps at point-blank range, and cuffed him.

"Let him wait before you give him medical treatment. Now, I offered everyone in my fleet this opportunity, and I offer it to you, crewmen of the peacekeeper: you can choose to follo Farsight, down the path of dictatorship, or you can join the 74th and we can hold an election for the president of the remnant of the Twelve Colonies. You have one hour to make your choice. Those who choose to remain will have one hour after that point to leave the system. My second force is already on board your ship, heading towards your nuclear arsenals."

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

Alpha squad stalked the corridors of the Peacekeeper. they arrived with the honour guard, a 5-man team, but during the ceremony they snuck off out of the hall.

A startled technician saw them, and walked towards the group.

"Hey, you shouldn't be here, this is a restricted-"

He was cut short by a burst from a marine's submachinegun. This was repeated whenever they met a member of the Peacekeeper crew. Until they reached the nuke lockers. The peacekeeper's security detail was there.

"Stand down marines. If you don't let us into those lockers, you'll doom us all. We'll take the warheads to our fleet and leave. No more casualties. No unpleasantness. We're wired to heartbeat sensors. We die, the fleet launches Vipers and wipes out the CIC of this ship. Maybe you'll get off a nuke, but you won't last long. Step aside, and you'll live. You can be on your merry way."

Captain Fujimoto sick off the battlestar not answering her hails decides on a new course off action.

"helm take us closer to the planet. Hoshi, hail the planetary council and ask for permission to assume standard orbit and also ask them what is going on.

We'll end up in the middle of a war at this rate"

The transition from the secret dictarorship of Farsight was over within an hour. The high ranking officers aboard Peacekeeper admitted to his secret plans for colonial domination and the crew were quickly placed under the comand of a new comander. Comander Tycho proudly accepted his pips from Comondore Park and was not only elected as president of the colanies but also a comander of the fleet.
It was soon realised that a fault in Peacekeepers radio system stopped all transmissions from Hankoteki Na reaching the command crew and after much apologising and repairs to the radio system comunication was soon open between both ships

(OOC: sorry we ignored you been a bit busy after all)

Captain Fujimoto put the call onto the main viewer and gets a good look at her opposite number and their bridge.

'humans' she thinks to her self as she says back in return "Thank you for answering our hails. I'm Captain Fujimoto. Would you be able to tell me your story and what Cylons are apart from hostile.

i can take a shuttle over to your vessel or you can come to mine"

ooc: the Hankoteki Na's crew are all human as well, the original colonists coming from Asia. why 2/3rds of the crew are female is another story :)

Commodore Park was furious. He paced around his quarters, having summoned the other conspirators in his plot to depose Farsight.

"They put a RETIRED admiral in command? Who authorised that? With Farsight gone I was the highest ranking officer and NOBODY INFORMED ME! Now that bastard commands the fleet. Never mind. Are the infiltrators in position?"

"Three members of the deck crew were receptive, and four of the marines. Their DRADIS repair crew wants more reward once you're named commander."

"IF I'm named commander. These people seem determined to keep me out. How much more do they want?"

"Two hundred more each."

"Worth it."

The commanders of the other two Battlestars in the system under Park's command entered his quarters.

"Ahhh, commanders, good to see you. Sun couldn't make it, and the psycho bitch probably wouldn't help us if it came to a fight anyway."

The new commander of the Apollo, Gaius Firmin, spoke up.

"She'd stay out of it. She'll accept whoever ends up in authority, but she doesn't like power struggles."

Park smiled.

"Good. Position your ships behind the Peacekeeper at all times. I'll have the Cimtar stay in front to allay any suspicions. I'll tell that senile old admiral that it's one of the new formations they churned out at the Caprican Officer School. Commander Trais, how goes my electoral campaign preparation?"

Trais was commander of the Adelphi, and very young for a commander. His rise to command was a result of his actions against terrorists flying ships into the fleet at Picon. His was the only ship that had fired a shot in the ten years before this latest battle.

"Your chances are good. You'll be President of the Quorum and a masive authority figure. People respect you for deposing farsight."

"Excellent. Commander Falcus, what is the status of the Perseus' special operations teams?"

"All ready. They've acquired the Peackeeper marine uniforms, as requested, and they also got a few of the new sidearms. Nice ones, much better balanced, half the weight of the old ones."

"Good. Get them onto the Peacekeeper security detail. The new admiral is going to have a tough time."

"So say we all."

* pokes this to see if its dead or not :) *

Sorry for intruding, Kirisubo you do get around a lot of threads.....