NationStates Jolt Archive

Rudolfo grunted. Ever since those people had come and taken over the once peaceful planet of Utan, he had been forced to work hard for little money. Guess it was a mistake to retire on Utan, seeing as how the invaders also ceased all the money he made as a trader before.

The heavily forested planet with its few cities had been under the control of the Ham-fisted thugs for quite some time, and despite the previous Prime Ministers pleas to the nearby power for aid, none had yet responded, and things were beginning to look bleak. Perhaps the planet would be enslaved forever.

(OOC: Well, there, basic post, but I felt it time to actually start things. Ham-fisted thugs, just post something about your guys going around making it hard for us, or else strengthening your defences around the planet or something until my guy shows up. Shouldn't take long.)

OOC: I'll get a post up shortly. I'm going to include some detail as to why my nation would move to occupy this particular planet, just to provide some backstory. HFT isn't all about expansion at this point so I want it to be clear as to why we would invade and occupy this planet. Bear in mind that any reasons given for the invasion are from the HFT point of view and may or may not contain elements of what actually happened. Either way, this will give us a great excuse for a confrontation.

Admiral Duranzig stared out at the planet he knew as Utan. It looked much like the peaceful planet it was famous for....until recently. "Have all ships from the legion successfully re-entered?"

"Yes, Admiral."

"Good, give the order to move all ships into formation."

He gazed out to his left as he watched the Taledonian ships glide through space, followed by the ships of Sionju. Lastly came his fellow Zarithian ships. To his right he noticed the Covenant ships beging moving. Good he thought, he could feel the adrenline spreading through his veins. He had been longing for a fight and now his chance had come.

Flag bridge, TNS Leviathan. In orbit above the planet Utan

Vice Admiral Annalisa Greer leaned back into the manufactured comfort of her command chair on the flag bridge of the massive Andromeda class battlecruiser. Her steel grey eyes stared unblinkingly at the viewscreen before her. The planet Utan hung there against the blackness of space, like an emerald tucked gently into the folds of some deep, dark, velvety cloth. Around her, the flag bridge hummed with a constant energy as her flag staff moved to fulfill their duties. Plots were updated, reports delivered, and a litany of comm traffic combined into a cacophony of noise that was music to her ears, or would have been had she not been so distracted.

The Leviathan and the rest of Battle Group 17 had been in orbit around Utan for nearly four weeks now while the 7th and 19th Marine Divisions had secured the planet’s major cities and industrial nodes. With so much of the planet being unpopulated forest, it hadn’t been difficult to secure the planet with only a minimal loss of life and most of that from local militias that had decided to stand up to the superior firepower and technology of the Thugese Marine Corps. That operation was over now and the marines had now become jailers as they enforced curfews and conducted raids in order to try and find the anti matter weapons the Office of Naval Intelligence had insisted were being smuggled through here on a weekly basis.

Possessing anti matter weapons themselves was certainly not against any interstellar laws, at least where legitimate governments were concerned. Intelligence sources on this planet however, were reporting that these weapons were being sold to pirates and other unsavory elements. A fair amount of Thugese civilian and merchant traffic passed through this sector and so the Thugese government had attempted to work with the government of Utan to address the issue. The Utanese however, had dragged their feet and made excuses for four months. Negotiations had come to an abrupt end when a 6 million ton freighter with a crew of over two hundred was destroyed on its way through this very system by a second generation anti-matter device. It had only taken Parliament two days to decide to send the 40 warships and 35,000 Marines of BG 17 to Utan to deal with the problem directly. That was almost four weeks ago and not a single anti matter weapon had been found and this is what troubled Vice Admiral Greer. The Republic of Ham-Fisted Thugs did not normally employ force as a means to an end and yet here she was, commander of an occupying force on a planet she had never heard of until now.

“Hyper footprint bearing zero-one-seven point two-one, range one point four light hours. Signals from the sensor buoys we deployed out system indicate a large force but no specifics. We should have something firm in another 10 minutes or so,” came the report from Tactical.

“Send the challenge and set Condition Able throughout the battle group,” she ordered immediately. A verbal challenge sped through space to the unidentified group of ships, asking who they were, what their intent was, and informing them that were entering into a restricted system and should halt their advance immediately. Even as that message was sent, the warships of Battle Group 17 sprang to life with ECM and sensor suites spinning up to full power and defensive and offensive weapons system coming up on standby.

“What now?” Vice Admiral Annalisa Greer asked herself as reports began coming in from other ships under her command.

"Admiral, incoming message!" chirped a new recruit.

"Play it" replied Fleet Admiral Duranzig. He listened through the message with a growing smile. "Are all ships into formation with shields activated?"

"Mostly sir, only the Taledonian Support Frigates are out of position but all shields are activated." replied an officer.

"Prepare all ships for attack, I want the Imperial Battle Cruiser to open with it's Crystal Angel Cannon. The Typhoons and our Superiorships will lead the first barrage. Supported by the our Gunships and the Hera Frigates. The second barrage will be lead by the Covenant Battle Cruisers and the Zues Destroyers, they will be supported by all remaining vessals. After the second barrage, all ships will begin indepandant fire." He watched as the commands spread through the legion and the battle station alarm went off within the ship. On the various moniters he saw men loading the shells into the cannons while others locked the cannons onto their targets.

He walked over to the comm and activated the link.

This is Fleet Admiral Duranzig of the Sincarion. This legion is here in the name of the Republic, to purge the peaceful planet of Utan of your presense.

He disconnected the link, nodded to the Vice Admiral. Seconds later he felt the familier recoil as the cannons unleashed their deadly rounds.