NationStates Jolt Archive

The Boozian army is universally regarded as the senior service. It has a variety of fairly powerful weaponry at its disposal, much greater reserves of manpower than the navy, and is currently going through its best generation of officers yet. But no-one seems willing to fight on the ground the honourable way, with courage and iron, prefering to use their petty superweapons or freakish powers to end a conflict without once fighting a true battle, whether a general's or a soldier's. As such, Generalfeldmarschall Morlok fears that his men, the heroic First Grand Army, are becoming lax and fat, and has decided to adopt the custom of wargames. We will be hosting a tournament on Fortress prime, a planet with a non-breathable (for oxygen-based life) atmosphere, a rugged, mountainous terrain and several large oceans. You may submit whatever you like: depending on the average strength, we will deploy a single division (OOC: "Building block" formation, akin to regiment in many armies), an Army Corps, a sub army or First Grand itself. The rules are below:

No wanking
Full wargame equipment, nothing that will kill
Some form of atmospheric protection is required
No orbital bombardment or planetfall. While these are perfectly viable, this is a soldiers' battle.
Aquatic and aerial forces may make approximately a third of the submission in total. Exceptions can be made (eg: for aquatic life-forms)
No WMD
No installations beyond pre-fabricated equipment that could reasonably appear in an expeditionary campaign. We will only use our smallest keeps.
NO WANKING!!!

I'd like to submit the Empire of Thrashia's 1st Clone Corp. consisting of 30,000 clone troopers. (ooc: you need specs on them, such as equipment?)

The Chronosian 77th, Imperial Guard division shall be deployed. We guarantee that the soldiers of the Guard are the finest that unmodified humanity have to offer. We would send Space Marines, but we'd much rather give the opposition a fighting chance, and demonstrate that one does not require immense superweapons to win a war; the Imperium has always prided itself upon it's armed forces, far above the Navy or Airforce.

The Chronosian 77th, Imperial Guard division shall be deployed. We guarantee that the soldiers of the Guard are the finest that unmodified humanity have to offer. We would send Space Marines, but we'd much rather give the opposition a fighting chance, and demonstrate that one does not require immense superweapons to win a war; the Imperium has always prided itself upon it's armed forces, far above the Navy or Airforce.

The Chronosian 77th, Imperial Guard division shall be deployed. We guarantee that the soldiers of the Guard are the finest that unmodified humanity have to offer. We would send Space Marines, but we'd much rather give the opposition a fighting chance, and demonstrate that one does not require immense superweapons to win a war; the Imperium has always prided itself upon it's armed forces, far above the Navy or Airforce.

The Chronosian 77th, Imperial Guard division shall be deployed. We guarantee that the soldiers of the Guard are the finest that unmodified humanity have to offer. We would send Space Marines, but we'd much rather give the opposition a fighting chance, and demonstrate that one does not require immense superweapons to win a war; the Imperium has always prided itself upon it's armed forces, far above the Navy or Airforce.

From: General Engagement Unit Spaceball One
To: Whom it may concern, Nova Boozia
Subject: No Wanking

I did contemplate the option of participating, but considering your unfortunate decision to not allow my complement of GCDs to relieve themselves when the need arises (Note that they're supposed to enjoy combat, at least to an extend, which can have somewhat less-than-socially-acceptable results. Of course, they're drones and don't (Usually) have the necessary physical applications necessary for 'proper' wanking, but, well... They're inventive, I'm half-proud, half-ashamed to say), I suppose that any kind of participation would be vaguely inappropriate (Especially as I suspect that your society is somewhat 'Uptight' with regards to sexual - Be it biological- or machine sexuality - issues, and I don't want to be responsible for either a massive diplomatic disaster and/ or the induction of a massive change in your societies' sexual ethics (Which, as history proves, can have far-reaching consequences).

Well, maybe the latter does appeal to me, but I doubt I'd have the necessary backing from my superiors, frustrating as this may be.

Regardless, thanks for the offer, even though I have to decline it.

Sincerely,

~ GEU Spaceball One

The Holy Empire of Berrion will send the 5th Infantry Divison for these games. The noble warriors of Berrion will fight better that any troops you have ever seen.

The Terran Dominion of North Mack will send its 3rd Heavy Infantry Division, consisting of 40,000 of the deadliest of NM's troops. Of course, due to the rules, all their standard weapons have been switched for Training equipment, which will effectivly knock any creature that is hit unconcious for some time.

OOC: North Mack, do you use Starcraft tech? Miehm'll have a fit!
IC: Der Angst, we fear you have misinpertrated "wanking". Sexual practices are fine (while you perverted machines mess yourselves up, mechanised infantry will swamp you!:))
To all others, we thank all these esteemed militaries for their particapation. We request, for balance reasons, that you all grade your typical member of the submission(we ourselves qualify as grunts, and will likely deploy an army corps of 40,000 men):

Redshirts: Lacking much high quality equipment and training, these men are deployed under WW1 "meatgrinder" orders.
Grunts: Typical soldiers, they are drilled and indoctorinated, and given fairly appropriate gear, they operate at platoon or company level for tactical combat.
Elites: Above average, one squad is capable of leaving an impression on a grunt platoon, but can not hope to defeat its numericle superiority.
Anything above that must be discussed for fear of wankery (of the powergaming nature).

OOC: Sounds interesting as FT wars have the tendency never to reach the ground if you get what I mean. But how would this 'training weapons' work in fanged fights and especially close combat(if it ever gets to that point)? "Tap, you're dead." or something?

I'll join IC soon, just checking some things first.:OOC

OOC: I really don't know, this is the first IC thread I've started. Refereeing would be required, I think.

OOC: I suppose you will have figured out something by the time we start. Or atleast I hope so. :OOC

"Hail Morlok, organizer of this event.

I, General Gazarg have heared word of your idea, and must say this will be an excellent form of live training, without actually needing to risk lives while doing so. And thus I will enter the group of soldiers currently in training (28.000 Grunts), together with their instructors (2.000 Elites) This number can naturally still be altered at any time before the starting of this event. Exact details on equipment will follow."

OOC2: Perhaps I should lower the number of contenders on my side. Although the trainees aren't that skilled, their equipment is still high-tech compared to what you would give your average Grunt.:OOC2

OOC: The majority of grunt armies are deploying in the 40,000 region, so that looks fine. Tech Alpha is SW.
IC: A message was sent to all combatants.
"Honorable people of these most esteemed militaries, we thank you for your participation. We request that you send your submission to the Boozia Prime system (co-ordinates included, there is a commerce beacon for those of you using the warp or Tech Alpha hypersace). There, a tug, who you may place troops on for security, will transport you to the Fortress system. We cannot reveal it's co-ordinates, for security reasons. There, you will select your objective and starting location from a list, and the festivities can begin!

Excellent. The 5th infantry divison ships are on their way as we speak. They will arrive in seven Toli'iks. (roughly 3 Earth days.)

OOC: How about we have a kind of rough play fight scenario, and protests could be voted on, Altenately, we could just use the cheap way and act like it's real, but without loosing troops.

ooc: I say we just act like it's real but without loosing troops. It is a lot simpler that way the only thing we need are objectives...

OOC: Any other opinions? I will also start an OOC thread. Post any pure OOC posts there.

Edit: OOC thread is here: http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?p=10572224#post10572224

From: General Engagement Unit Spaceball One
To: Whom it may concern, Nova Boozia
Subject: No Wanking

Oh, I'm familiar with the different meanings of 'Wanking', however, I fail to see how one could use the term it its figurative sense, given the conext it was used in.

After all, superior quality is superior quality, not 'Wanking'. It would be in consent-based RPGs, but wargames are hardly RPGs (Though consent-based, but I shall leave it at that).

Regardless, I fear that the most common tactics of an LWBG (Land Warfare Battlegroup) would disqualify it, anyway - Seeing as the use of ordnance up to 1e17 joules (Against superheavy combatants) or 1e14 joules (Against lighter things) is fairly common, and such weapons might be considered WMD, regardless of their (Tactical) use. Admittedly, this scale would be unlikely to be used against simple infantry-formations, but still.

Nonetheless, good luck, and I might simply have an abstract of myself watch the proceedings, for the hell of it. After all, entertainment's hard to get, nowadays, and it'd be a tad rude of me to bother you like this without having some form of representation present.

Sincerely,

~ GEU Spaceball One

The 3rd Heavy Infantry Division is already embarked and expected to arrive sometime by the end of the day.

OoC: 40,000 troops is nothing to me. Moving them is incredibly easy. In fact, In the war im currently engaged in, I just moved over 10 million troops to one battle! (God bless the Military Calc that says I have 80 million soldiers to play with ;) )

OOC: If you have nothing to say IC, post it it in the OOC thread. I know this is hypocritical, give me a brake. And where can I find that calc?

The Greatest Military Calc In the History of the bum on the side of the road. (http://www.geocities.com/thecitizensdefencealliance/making_a_military_v3.0.xls)

OoC: yes yes, i know, this is supposed to go in the OOC thread...

OOC: more or less a tag
IC:
President Smith paced his office, bored with the normal ecomonic stuff he faced. He needed a diversion, as did his people so they would spend more money and life would improve. This telegram hit his desk and he knew he had his solution. Alpha Company, First Blood Rangers was all ready...If he deployed them and broadcast the events as a pay-per-view broadcast, it would top the public executions in ratings and income. That he would do. he called his secretary to make the necessary arrangements.

The Berrion Military forces. Obviously all weapons are safe.

Shas'la(Fire Warrior): Pulse Rifle or Pulse Carbine, photon gernades, EMP gernades

Shas'ui(Fire Veteran): Pulse Rifle or Pulse Carbine, photon gernades, EMP gernades or XV8 "Crisis" Battlesuit armed wtih Burst cannon, Missle pod and shield genorator or XV15 Stealthsuit armed with cloaking field and burstcannon

Shas'vre(Fire Knight) : XV8 "Crisis" Battlesuit armed wtih Burst cannon, Missle pod and shield genorator or XV15 Stealthsuit armed with cloaking field and burstcannon

Shas'O'Kais (Force commander): 2x Burst cannons, shield genorator, Hard-wired drone controller and 2x Gundrones

Devilfish: Transports up to 12 troops not in XV armour. Armed with Burstcannon and 2x drones with 2x pulse carbines (gun drones)

Pics:
Shas'la with Pulse Rifle (A gun drone is that little disk with the guns)
http://us.games-workshop.com/games/40k/tau/extras/gallery/tau1.jpg

Shas'ui with Pulse Carbine
http://us.games-workshop.com/games/40k/tau/extras/gallery/tauwarrior.jpg

XV8 "Crisis" Battle Suit (It's the big thing on the right)
http://us.games-workshop.com/games/40k/tau/extras/gallery/taubattle1.jpg

XV15 Stealthsuit
http://rds.yahoo.com/S=96062883/K=tau+XV15/v=2/SID=e/l=IVS/;_ylt=A9gnMiZVGBdE1CcB5K6jzbkF;_ylu=X3oDMTA4NDgyNWN0BHNlYwNwcm9m/SIG=12u388lc8/EXP=1142450645/*-http%3A//www.codevermillion.net/picturesjeff/auction_pics/12-26-02/suit6.jpg

Devilfish
http://www.cygnusx1.info/images/tau/devilfish_left.jpg

We will submit the 1st Mobile Infantry Division for this competition. We feel that quality is vastly superior to quantity. We may withdraw all but one regiment if there are any objections to our submission.

OOC: My tech is well known to NB, and a division is 10,000 ACS Troopers.

The Xeno preform most of their combat on the ground, and thus would like to participate in this wargame. We submit the 7th Xeno Infantry Brigade and 9th Drone Batallion. (In total, 5,500 soldiers.)

"We acept Miehms submission in that we have commited about four times that amount of troops, and feel balance is thus roughly equal. We are no longer taking new submission, and have drafted a rough list of objectives:
Take: Fairly self explanatory, a defined area of ground must be siezed and held. All data available to other competitors.
Eliminate: Wipe a certain competitor from the map. None except you will know who.
Hold the line: Do not allow any other competitors into a defined area.

We will take this insult as given. The exclusion of the Xeno race is a grave mistake.

"Forgive us, we merely ment that after the message, no submissions were being taken. Having volunteered earlier, you are free to partipate.

Colonel Sam Fischer answered the ringing red phone, "Mr. President, this is Colonel Fischer."

"Yes Colonel. Can you activate Alpha company for a wargame?" President Smith answered.

"Well, our suits went offline yesterday. Some major part with one of ths main power coupling chip went bad during the war and we just got time to stop and break it down. Don't worry, replacement chips are on the way as well as regular parts too. I'd say we could activate a twenty-eight man platoon, plus me and Kowalski, within a week. What's the conditions of where we're gonna be dropped?"

"Well, its a non-breathable envirment. We'll have a shuttle for you to guys to teleport onto if the shit hits the fan. When was the last time your teleporter gear was replaced?"

"A year ago. They're still new, tested them last month, we're bound to do it again. I heard something from your secretary about splicing the telementary from our HUDs? What's that all about." Fischer asked with a little bit of skepticism.

"Yes. If you approved, we were wanting to turn your HUD cameras on and splice the images onto a PPV link. We'll only upload once per day so as not to risk your men too much. You'll have say-so in the editing and all."

"Very well sir. I'll upload the times at my own discression as well, or no deal. Its too easy for those things to be tracked. We'll probably just hold them in our memory banks for a few days then burst-transmit form a secure loaction with a radio beacon."

"Good. I just want you to know that this is as much for the economy as for you guys. Keep up the good work." The President said, hanging up without a reply.

"Goddamnjerkoff!" Fischer screamed in replay at the supply sergeant who never served a day in combat but was making combat decisions for him.

Above the hostile conditioned planet the games were to take place on, a single, massive starship slipped into orbit. onboard were the ship was all 40,000 soldiers of the 3rd Heavy Infantry Division. Trained in the most hostile conditions on any planet owned or allied to North Mack, and even a few that weren't, the Heavy Infantry were the deadliest ground based assault troops in the entire NM military. Not onlly were they deadly, they were also pissed.

"Goddamit! We finally get into a real war where we can earn our own damn place in history, and HQ sends of off to some dirtball to play GAMES!?"
Corporal John Malmstrom grinned and hit hit squadmate on the shoulder. "Well, theres only one thing we can do to fix that now isnt there?"
Corporal Steven Larsen frowned. "What the hell you talking about now John?"
Malmstrom grinned even wider, if that was possible "The only thing we can do is teach these losers who the best damn infantry division in the universe is, and then head back and kick some Corporate ass!"
Larsen finally smiled. "Im with you on that one! Lets kick ass and get back home!"


OoC: Nova, earlier you asked if i was starcraft tech, and i forgot to answer.
Im actually a combination of Starcraft, Starship Troopers, and some retarded ass shit from my own imagination. For example, the standard equipment for my Heavy Infantry is:

Powered Combat Armor Class 4 (Starcraft Marine Armor)
P3x-9 Shredder Rifle (Starship Trooper rifle/shotgun combination)
Heavy PlasLite (Special Laser cannon of my own creation. well, me and taliosa...)

basically my entire division is outfitted with that mishmash of stuff...

OOC: You don't know where Fortress is. That's an important part of my security, so I'll assume you're just in Boozia.
IC: Sirens blared aboard The Eye, command station for the Boozia prime orbitals. A swarm of defence monitors broke from their dockyards and moved in on the North-Mackians, before registering their identity and heading back to their berths, as a tug emerged from the main commerce platform and moved out to the foriegn ships bow. A pinnace detached and approached the North-Mackian, requesting permission to land.

the ship gave permission to land.
Alarms rang as the massive doors of Bay 7 opened. Bay 7 was reserved for non- NM visitors, and was located within a short distance of all facilities a guest might need or want.

The Admiral of the Ship and the General of the Division stood side by side, hands behind their backs, and awaited the Nova Boozian pinnacle.

The Terrans only had one platform capable of transporting all the units they were deploying. The Battleglobe would certainly cause some surprise when it appeared at the Boozians home system.

The Berrion Ship Ethereal's Light dropped out of it's warp skim and dropped into reality near Boozia.

"Well Kor'El'Shi are we here?" asked Shas'O'Kais

"Yes Shas'O. We are transmitting a docking request now." El'Shi nodded as he spoke.

"Very good." O'Kais said turning to his 2nd in command, bodyguard, and longtime friend. "Well Shas'Vre'M'yen are you ready old friend?"

"Yes Shas'O. Mesme and I are ready to defend you." He grunted.

"Is something bothering you Vre'M'yen?" Inquired O'Kais.

"Yes Shas'O. It seems like everytime we head off to train, something or someone always attacks T'au while we are away. I just don't trust Shas'El'Vral. He does not attempt to achive the Tau'va. He only thinks of himself. I know it is not my place to question my superior but I wonder what his agenda is."

"Do not worry Vre'M'yen. I left Por'El'Vash'ya and Fio'O'Tsua'm instructions to contact us if anything goes wrong. Remember as long as we attempt to achive the Tau'va all our opponents will fall. Now is you Battlesuit ready? Have all of our weapons been equiped with the stun pulses?"

"Yes Shas'O. We are ready to go into battle."

"Remember Vre'M'yen this is not battle or a Trail by Fire this will hopefully save some of these Tau lives in the future..."

The pinnace landed in bay seven and General-luetnant Falknescher emerged.
"Greetings, my name is General-luetnant Falknescher, and I will be commanding our troops for the event. If you have anything to ask or request, now is the time."

Eye granted Ethereal's Light permission to dock, and sent a second pinnace to them, which also requested landing.

At this point, sensor stations the system over went crazy. Vice-Admiral Schulten dashed into his command bridge.
"Mid, what the hell is that? One of those Deathstars?"
"No sir, differant jump signature and dimensions. It's most likely a competitor."
"Hail it."

The Blood Rangers loaded their suits into an Asguard Mothership and situated themselves into their squadbay. A week to the planet they were going to fight on would be enough to repair stuff. Captain Kowalski, son of the former President, was making a set of 10 terrabyte radio boxs they could drop off anywhere, let it be for a set amount of hours, and then upload the HUD and sensor images to the ship. This way there was no reasonable chance of them being caught transmitting. If they had to, with the suits, they could be a thousand kilotmeters away when it transmitted. Way too far to track with this wargame's rules. Fischer was on his laptop researching the terrain and situations.

Kor'la Me'tun smiled as he typed in the commands to open the shuttle bay doors and let the Boozians in. He enjoyed his work and it pleased him that he coul serve the Tau'va in any way. As long as it was away from Kor'Ui On'nni. That son of a mein'la was always pushing his weight around and most of it fell on Me'tun. He thought back home to his wife and his new son that he hadn't even held yet thanks to On'nni. Although he never would say aloud these wargames so far form T'au gave him the chance he always wanted. Given the right "accident" On'nni was as good as dead.

The pinnace landed in bay seven and General-luetnant Falknescher emerged.
"Greetings, my name is General-luetnant Falknescher, and I will be commanding our troops for the event. If you have anything to ask or request, now is the time."

Eye granted Ethereal's Light permission to dock, and sent a second pinnace to them, which also requested landing.

At this point, sensor stations the system over went crazy. Vice-Admiral Schulten dashed into his command bridge.
"Mid, what the hell is that? One of those Deathstars?"
"No sir, differant jump signature and dimensions. It's most likely a competitor."
"Hail it."

Transmission:

This is the Terran Battleglobe, bringing the Fleet Strike contingent to compete in the Wargames. Where should we park?

OOC: Mack gonna die... SC marines are gonna be fun against Terran ACS.

The pinnace set down in the Berrion docking bay, and a junior officer asked them exactly the same thing that they had asked the Mackians.

Back on Eye, the navy was transmitting a mass of messages to merchant ships on the main commercial platform, telling them to clear out the space for the Terrans.

"Battleglobe, you are cleared to land on platform Freyja. It's the big one. Would you prefer to speak face to face or over commlinks?"

Boozians traditionally talked face-to-face, but the Miehm-weary officers were extending just abut every courtesy they could think of. You didn't want to piss a certified insane (by Boozian standards) superpower with 10,000 elites over one of your main platforms.

The pinnace set down in the Berrion docking bay, and a junior officer asked them exactly the same thing that they had asked the Mackians.

Back on Eye, the navy was transmitting a mass of messages to merchant ships on the main commercial platform, telling them to clear out the space for the Terrans.

"Battleglobe, you are cleared to land on platform Freyja. It's the big one. Would you prefer to speak face to face or over commlinks?"

Boozians traditionally talked face-to-face, but the Miehm-weary officers were extending just abut every courtesy they could think of. You didn't want to piss a certified insane (by Boozian standards) superpower with 10,000 elites over one of your main platforms.

Reply:

Thank you. We'll talk to you however you prefer.

OOC: Mack gonna die... SC marines are gonna be fun against Terran ACS.


keep in mind that my men STARTED their FT Lives as SC marines. they have since developed better armor, weapons, and gear.

currently,
1 NM Regular Infantry = approx. 11 SC Marines
1 NM Heavy Infantry = approx 34 SC Marines

I have 35000 Regulars, and 5000 Heavies


IC: The General nodded.

"Greetings General-luetnant. I indeed do have a question. Two, actually.
One. Will e be able to pick our landing zones or are they randomly assigned?
Two. Will we have time to prepare once on the surface or do the games start right away?"

keep in mind that my men STARTED their FT Lives as SC marines. they have since developed better armor, weapons, and gear.

currently,
1 NM Regular Infantry = approx. 11 SC Marines
1 NM Heavy Infantry = approx 34 SC Marines

I have 35000 Regulars, and 5000 Heavies


IC: The General nodded.

"Greetings General-luetnant. I indeed do have a question. Two, actually.
One. Will e be able to pick our landing zones or are they randomly assigned?
Two. Will we have time to prepare once on the surface or do the games start right away?"

OOC: And my guys started life at about 100 times the power of a simple SC marine. I have 10k ACS Troopers, that's more than enough to stop several MILLION ravening, bloodthirsty, cannibilistic, heavly armed, but unarmored aliens, all of them willing to take any losses to close with you in melee and hack you apart, before eating you and all your buddies. With the right terrain and proper resupply of power and ammo they can fight for days without leaving their suits, and they can live inthe suits effectively forever. They're my answer to limited population, I can't outnumber you, but if I have bettertech it's a relatively even fight.

IC:

The Terran Battleglobe carefully set down on the platform they had been asigned to, waiting for a reply from the Boozians.

"Eye to Battleglobe, we wish to talk face to face. A pinnace is being sent now."

On the CM ship, the General replied.
"You will choose from a pre-determined selection of start points, and will the games will begin almost immediately."

Fischer looked at the General, "Ok, my men are finalising their suits. We'll be ready tomorrow when we arrive. I take the tatical nature of this wargame precludes and political mumbo jumbo so we have a free hand on how we act so long as we don't kill? I mean no WMDs, no serious injuries intentionally, nothing like that? Because if one of my men gets killed, my government is going to be frankly pissed. Each trooper costs half a trillion per annum to maintain including equiptment and ordnance. We're rmored like capital ships and treated as such. We've only lost one man before in combat, and he got hit in the face with a rather large nuke. He would have survived except his power cells were down and he couldn't teleport out because of the EMP. If EMPs are involved or certain-wave jammers, then this can lead to a full-scale war with my government. Just so you know, here is a list of frequencies we need to remain unjammed throughout the entire games. Our entry is based upon these staying open." The General looked suprised at a Colonel giving him this kind of lip, but then again Fischer was approaching 55 in the next few years and was still as active in combat as much as his men were while the General was only in his late-thirties/early forties.

"Oh, and we request to be on the defending team and act as rear-area raiders since this is based on a siege. After all, we're just 30 men against over 300,000 so we need to be able to pick our terrain and fights accordingly. The most I've ever fought off with this size formation and is an army of 150,000 buggers. We were lucky as Jonesey over there still had a working nuke and we had our tank-killing machine guns full. Looked like a scene out of the Starship Troopers remake where they actually listened to the book." Fischer then motioned off the General to deal with Captain Kowalski and explain why safety was important with this bunch, especially since three members were famous besides the son of one of the country's favorite presidents and a five-time Medal of Honor recipient.

Kowalski walked up to Fischer, "Sir, we have a problem. They say jamming's fair game and we'll have to deal with it."

Fischer shot a glare that could freeze Medusa, "What do you mean 'fair game'? Don't they realise that each man has a Matter/Anti-Matter reactor on his back and one bad day and the entire game is shot. Looks like we'll have to use the suit-radio ditch and send the man through the Asguard beamers."

"Looks like it. That's what, three days extra?" the former President's son asked.

"If we're good enough, yes. Have the replication systems work overtime and pop your boxes with that. I wanted to give them a chance at catching us, but it looks like we're pure stealth now. Have the crew chiefs go ahead and activate the electrode skins for testing." Fischer said, laughing now they would be invisible to sensors and could hide well with the new camo paint job. The ship entered orbit and began waiting for the men to get ready for the games. They'd be a little late, but it'd be a little more realistic.

"Attention all contestants, tugs will now take you to Fortress. Please do not activate your own FTL drives whilst in transit."
A host of small ships covered in warp amplifiers took off from The Eye's main docking platform.

The Miehmish waited patiently for the transit to be completed. They just wanted to get to the fighting.

Fischer lay around waiting for the tug ships to get to him and his men to finish up. It'd be at least two more days before everyone else was finished, so he could afford the break. Now he would just wait for everything to fall into place. Tomorrow, he'd load ordnance onto his suit, using the special zapper rounds developed years ago meant to simply knock a man out without kiling him. And to date, not one man had died in the thirty years CM had been using it.

The NOrth Mack ship not only powered down its Shift Drive, but actually physically removed it from the drive system. After all, they had been known to malfunction before, and they were STILL looking for that capital ship that had been lost 13 years ago.


and anyway, the NM motto was:

Better safe then sorry.
Better sorry then dead.
Better dead then a POW.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I'd advise those of you unfamiliar with the warp to hold on to something. And don't look out of the window. It could drive you incurably insane."

As one, the tugs tore a hole in realspace, and entered, physically pulling their charges under tractor power, into the holes, which slammed shut as the overworked laws of physics finally caught up with yet another impossible FTL system.

OOC: Bump.
IC: The tugs and cargo left the warp and resumed physically towing their charges. They had emerged directly in orbit of fortress, the planned inhibitor field being unfinished.

The thousands of Xeno Infantry sat silent and stoic in their black, non-glossy armor onboard the transports. It was eerie, really. Not a word had been said. But under the surface, on the Xeno 'network', communications were being exchanged.

Their ground equipment and F-1s were stored in cargo areas, and the infantry just waited.

"Contestants, please land your entries at Schmaldtsburg, there's a homing beacon on it."