NationStates Jolt Archive

The small Raider-class ship sat inbetween two dimensions. This was a popular trading route, where many ships pulled out of FTL travel and recharged their engines. The Blitzer, as it was called by it's crew, remained motionless. No ship on the material plane could see it, and those in the fourth dimension could not see it. It just sat there, unknown to all.

"Cap'n, still no sign of anything."
"Just wait."

All across the ship, most men just went about their duties. Cleaning, checking the area around them for ships, making weapons, and the like. The life of a Raider was far from perfect, periods of death splattered with long streches of nothing.

Still, the crew waited. Korgoth had waited when he fought That Beast Upon Which No Name Can Be Conferred, when it hid in it's lair for 1 billion years. And they would wait for their prey.

*Bump*

Tag. People need more to work with,

*Just rp one of your trade ships rolling out infront of them, and as pirates, they'll attack*

The Harii Hounds were on a Great Hunt...the weaken tribes had forayed into their demenses...soon they would strike and civilize the barbarian tribes of man...until the decision of the Council was made, however, they would shadow stalk this stalker.

ooc:
You know time is technically the fourth dimension? The egg heads are still debating exactly how many there are in this particular Verse.
I just refer to the place that you seem to be describing as Outside or the Void.
Do you want me to roleplay the badguys that got you knocked into NSmetaverse Designation XXX-XXX-XXX-XXX The Scandinvans (http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?p=11051216#post11051216)?

OOC: The horde is a group of "packs," and operate together only loosely. The smae guys chaisng them mya not even know of the Horde. However just a random tarding vessel or maybe an explorer ship would be great. And yes, I know time is the 4th dimension.

The Cargo Hauler did not usually venture into the Void...it was not truly very safe in comparison to wormhole tunneling, hyperspace travel, or plain old tramping along at a resonable 0.6 STL. Nevertheless, the primary engines were acting up and the Sea Hag had an important delivery to make at one of the Melii's new Stellar Construction Yards.

It popped into the Voids and existed for a time outside of time...well inside its own time bubble...The Large Ice Body that it was hualing to the Fractal Worlds was trailing behind the Hauler about 2km away. This was a cometary Orrt material from a neighboring star system. This particular comet held a significant amount of rare trace minerals. It would be worth...at least another Hauler in addition to a decent data-dump of new info.

The Sea Hag coasted amongst the void and waited...

OOC: Going to play as pirates too. Pirates are fun.

IC:The craft was a normal sized, and normal looking, craft. It housed a stolen dimension-drive, though that didn't take up too much more space. It also had a small crew compartment, with enough space to hold the three crew comfortably.

The rest of the space was devoted to cargo. Empty at the current point in time, the ship had all non-essential functiuons shut down, aside from passive detectors. It could neiter detect nor see the raider craft only a few hundred klicks away, but it could, and did see, the hauler.

"Caps, We've got something here."

Along with the usual headaches of being a Tramper, Captain Alphonso Paako also had to deal with dealing with VIP passengers. The Sea Hag was currently transporting some rich ground-pounder shittsitters High Nobles of one of the Melii "client/subject" races.

He was attempting to explain to the barbarian noble the dymnamics of Outside and the dangers of re-entering Samsara. Yes, they could get there faster and perhaps even before they had left. No they couldn't do that. Because of the paradoxes and splintering of the local realities... all was basic things any primary school youngling learnt at 6 cycles. H spent over 10 dura explaining the physics and mathmatics to the Noble. He ought to have just spaced the bastard.

The only thing was that this particular Noble was also the Owner of the Sea Hag, so spacing the idiot was not an option.

The Alarms saved him from another hour of debates...

OOC: My ship's in stealth mode. Can't be seen unless you're about to run into it. and i havn't done anything yet.

ooc: Ok :p
ic:
When Alphonso finally got to the bridge a few minutes later, the command deck was in a state of annoyed chaos. The crewman and officers were trying desperately to hold onto the damn slushy. It was getting harder with the "winds" of the Void begining to pick up.

The olde grapplers had overheated and only three were left to hold the small planetiod... they could not translate back with the iceball and the Sea Hag. It was most fustrating. They would have to attempt a repair if they wanted the cargo.

He cursed silently.

Repairs in the Void were expensive. Mainly expensive in crewman lives. The droids for some reason or another did not work properly Outside. This would have to be done by some experienced ratings. The only thing was that this Ship did not have very many experienced ratings...so an veteran Non-Com would have to accompany said Ratings. Newbies had a bad habit of dieing. This habit was infectious and he did not want to lose his experienced hands. Well he did not want to lose the newly enlisted recruits either, but he was a Starship captain. There were many ways to die in space, and a precious few to stay alive.

He turned to the Shortest Gunny on the bridge... suprisingly, the Gunny was known as Fuzzy... No doubt, this was in honor of his bald head.

"Gunny, get yer team and go fix the damn things."

The Gunny grinned and gave a proper by the book salute.

"Sir!"

Then he went aft to gather the maggot-recruits.

"Wait for it....wait for it..." The whole crew was on edge. Not one man made a move, not one man made a sound. Not even the cockroaches that inhabited the ship scuttled across the floor, the odd silence driving them into their hiding places. Every soldier clutched his gun, waiting for a command.

"Alright boys...load on up in to the harpoon."

Silently 200 men poured into 3 different pod like ships attached to the main ship. They strapped themselves in to these strange organic-like pods, put on their helmets, and held on tight. The ship slowly aimed the "harpoons" at the trading vessel, still cloaked in their own private dimension. The doors were sealed and propellent secured.

"VRRRRRRRRT!"

The pods launched with enough power to rip a whole into the material realm and slammed directly into the trading ship. The pod like ship revealed a mouth, which chewed into the armour of the trading vessel. Aboard the pods, the men unstrapped themselves and prepared to board.

Pirate Armour (http://www.brokenallegiance.net/media/BA2/images/thor-new01.jpg)

The two Battlecruisers shifted into the Trad Route. Although they were some of the deadliest ships in the whole Fleet, they had disquised themselves as simple merchant ships for this voyage.

"Admiral, we are fully shifted in. Scanning for the Raiders"

Admiral Henshi Jarakato smiled. "Excelent. We'll finally get those bastards for the merchants they've been picking off. Anything yet?"

The Sensor officer smiled. "They're already attacking a merchant vessel. Three Boarding Pods, mothership must be nearby, but we havent seen it yet."

The Admiral smiled even broader, if that was possible.

"Drop disquises and arm weapons. Call Battle Stations."

"Yes sir!"

Alarms rang out as Battle Stations was called. The Admirals voice rang out over the PA system.

"All stations are clear for attack on visual. Remember, cripple only, do not kill. Repeat, DO NOT KILL. We want these bastards alive!"

A second later, another message rang out. "Boarding Party to torpedoes!"

(Just remember that the main ship is still hidden)

"Ship detected sir. What shall we do?"
"We can't let our boys die out there....it's just not right. But if we attack...."
The crew knew this was quite a dilemma. To save their comrades and die, or to scurry away and live another day. But the crew and Kaptain was reminded of their god, Korgoth.

Korgoth hungered for souls, and promised a wonderful life for those who had died in battle or acts of Piracy. It was time for them to be men. Small holes into the material realm were opened, wide enough for their guns. The ship however, was still safe inbetween the dimensions.

The Blitzer opened fire with the main lazer cannon, aiming for what appeared to be the biggest gun. 10 Missile Turrets opened up as well, slamming into the ships weapons. Almost instantly, the holes closed, and the ship moved slightly to the left. The anthem of the Horde began to play, and the crewmen sang as they prepared to fire again.

Stats
The Blitzer (http://www.kent.net/robotech/ships/zentraedi/scout.gif)
Crew: 1500
Speed: .16 light speed
Height: 170 meters
Width: 355 meters
Length: 500 meters
Weight: 35,000,000 tons

Weapon Systems:
1 Main Laser Cannon
8 Light Lasers
4 Laser Turrets
10 Missile Turrets
Mecha:
1100 Soldier Battloids


Stats:
Battloid (http://www.kent.net/robotech/mecha/ebsis/soldier.gif)
Crew: 1
Speed: 50mph, 8mph underwater
Height: 35ft
Width: 15ft
Length: 9ft
Weight: 18 tons

Weapon Systems:
Plasma Ejector
AKG-47 Gun Pod (53mm)

The ship fired it's pods at the iceball vessel. They shot and impacted on the opposite side of the ship from the Horde ship, and neither ship knew of the other's presence. The pods acted much the same way as the Horde counterparts, but instead of being filled with flesh-and-blood pirates, they each held a combat AI system and it's accessories, which included several drones each. These drones entered the ship, and began to fire upon any moving person they saw.

"Sir, Raiders opened fire with all weaponry, then dissapeared again. We have their last location."

"Any damage?"

"No sir. Sheilds absorbed it easily. Their ship is made to fire on unarmed merchants, not fully armed Warships. Sheilds held at 98%"

"Excelent. Deploy 2 Sensor Satelites, Defence only. Prime all weapons. Next time they appear, fire a salvo at their location"

"Yes sir."

"Sir, we've detected yet another ship!"
"Excellent. Get behind them."
"Why Kaptain?"
"Just do it."

The Blitzer floated towards the other vessel, who it appeared was just sitting there. They got behind it, and positioned the main Lazer cannon. The cannon was aligned so that, for all purposes, it would appear that this ship had fired. Safely in their own world, they waited for the right moment.
"Wait for the satelites to be in line....NOW!"

The Blitzer fired, and quickly ducked away. The ship remained hidden in the Ether, and prepared to watch the two ships got at each other.

OOC: My ship is, to anything outside of 672 meters away, invisible. It's not a large ship, everything but minimal sheilding, life support, and pod control is shut down, and it's made of stuff that doesn't give off a large sensor signature. And besides, the Mei Li's ship is in between my ship and your ship. So anything that you fired at is unable to fire at me (exept said Mei Li's ship)

And there arn't any other ships stated being near here.

OOC: My ship is, to anything outside of 672 meters away, invisible. It's not a large ship, everything but minimal sheilding, life support, and pod control is shut down, and it's made of stuff that doesn't give off a large sensor signature. And besides, the Mei Li's ship is in between my ship and your ship. So anything that you fired at is unable to fire at me (exept said Mei Li's ship)

And there arn't any other ships stated being near here.

OOC:
I didn't fire at you, I made it appear you were firing at North Mack. I will edit however, tell me if this is ok: They see the other pod, and believe another ships is there. They then scoot over in line with the pod(assuming it fired in a straight line) and fire, ducking away. If this is ok, I'll edit.

TIS Lover boy was one of the newer fast cruisers in the fleet. Lately refitted with a hyperspace engine, she was on a shakedown/exploration cruise.

"Sir, we're getting clear combat signatures up ahead."
"Any more to go on?"
"Not yet sir."
______________________________
"Looks like one trader, a couple of raiding vessels and an honest to god battlecruiser sir. And the battlecruiser was fired on by _something_."
"No idea what?"
"No sir."
"Very well."
Throughout the ship:
"GENERAL QUARTERS. GENERAL QUARTERS. THIS IS NOT A DRILL."
The vessel became a hive of activity, with the crew rushing to prepare for battle.
The missiles stood ready; the particle cannons charged rapidly.
They wouldn't intervene...just yet. But they would be ready.

"Another ship Kaptain!"
"Korgoth's balls! What is this, a club meeting!?!" The Kaptain twittled his moustache and peered through the viewscreen. Before him in the material realm, lay a huge ship, a trading vessel, and...some other kind of ship. The Kaptain sat down in his chair and searched the Intraweb for Shipipedia. He captured an image of the ship and sent it in.

"Searching...Searching...Searching...Found."

Terra Incognitia
Cruiser

"Hmm. Anybody ever hear of them?" The crew all shook their heads no, and the Kaptain twittered his moustache again. "Swim towards them." The ship, still in the Ether, opened her solar sails and was propelled by The Sun Of Korgoth. They were now directly across from the ship, and would have brushed up against each other if the Blitzer was in the material realm.

"Lets just stay here..."

"Sir, I'm getting weird readings, on some of the MES" (more exotic sensors :p ).
"Any idea what?"
"No idea sir."
"I don't like that at all. Very well. All hands stand ready for jump."

"Jump for Level E, get some space to consider this."
The ship came out in Level E hyperspace, rarely visited as it only permitted speeds of 5c, while the Bridge wondered what to do about the tactical situation. There were no identified allies or enemies involved.

OOC: Im not in Hyperspace. Allow me to explain:

The Horde travels through a dimension only known to them, and it is basically the afterlife. Their god radiates like a sun, and propels their solar sails forward at great speed. To randomly find this dimension is like finding a slat grain in a freshwater tank. The ships is in a dimension only known to them, and can hide as long as needed.

OOC: Edited.
IC: "We shouldn't get involved at all. We're here to explore, not to fight."
"Our people have always aided mariners in distress" the Captain cut in, gently but firmly.
"Just because it's now against a black background not a blue, we must hold true to that.
We will attack anything assaulting the trader; broadcast a message stating that we will NOT attack anything attacking neither us nor the trader; then leave when the trader is safe."
"Aye skip."
"Helm, take us back to Level F" (normal space).
"Aye sir."
"Gunnery, missiles on the vessels attacking the trader."
"Aye sir."

The crew swung into action as Lover Boy popped back into normal space.
A dozen superlucic missiles launched from the forward ports. Flickering between hyperspace and normal space to baffle defences in each, they focussed on the ship on the near side of the civilian ship.
At the same time a message was broadcast in clear
"We shall not fire on any vessel that attacks neither ourselves nor the civilian ship. Any vessel that attacks either is fair game.
Love and kisses
Incognitia."

The Pirates were laughing like Hyenas at the "declartion" the Incognitians had put out. Many of the men cried out for shots to be fired, and to rob the new ship, and leave the trader be. With a wily smile, the Kaptain agreed. The mech pilots ran to their machines, and prepared for battle.

The Blitzer fully materialized and unloaded all her weapons upon the side of the ship. At the same time, all of the Battloid mechs were ejected into space, their pilots steering their mechs to the closest weapons they could find. They instantly set upon them, trying to destroy as many as possible. The Blizter quickly "sunk" back into the Ether, and moved to the right, now directly facing the ship.

The weapons had been fired, the mechs released, and the ship had returned to the Ether in almost 10 seconds.

Now the mechs swarmed the ship, like a huge cloud of lazer firing locusts. The battle had to be quick, or the Pirates would lose.

There was one word for the universal response to this.
"SHIT!"
It rang from the mouths, and in the minds, of every member of the crew in a position to see what was going on.
After the first second of shock, trained responses swung back in. AIs had already brought up possible targeting solutions for the incoming missiles, and the point defence particle cannons swung into action.
Meanwhile the main particle cannon batteries had returned fire. Two pairs of turrets; pure chance had seen them pointing in the right direction.
The laser beams had already impacted, battering at the shields. The main cannon had battered almost through the shield and begun damaging armour on the main hull; in other sectors the shield had held, if depleted.
Before the missile tubes were ready to fire a second time, the enemy ship had disappeared.

In that brief window, a vast number of mechanoids had come off the enemy ship, and swarmed at the Lover Boy.
"We can't deal with all this lot sir! The close-in defences will be overwhelmed, we've got to get rid of them."
"Easy answer to that. Jump us helm. Set course for the upper levels of the nearest star."
"Aye sir. ETA 10 minutes."
"..after all, our shielding will hold longer than theirs."
The armoured hull would hold for a while, against anything carried by something that small. But give them long enough, and they'd cause real problems. Still, anything that clung on would soon be dealing with a solar photosphere, not a small number of particle cannon.

The defences had hit the ship just before it had escaped, but did only moderate damage. Such is the strength of suprise, thought the Kaptain. The Blizter now positioned herself below the ship, pointing up towards it's belly. They "surfaced" yet again and unleashed a full salvo upon the ship.

The weapons were aimed at anything that looked vital, but they could have been mistaken, being unfamilar with the race. Still, it was a fairly good attack. The mechs now had given up on the weapons, and were wrapped up in boarding the ship. Any weakness was looked for, as they floated about like bees. if one was at all on the ships hull, they would find it. When they found it, they would all attack it at once, and hopefully breakthrough. From there, they could raid the ship.

The Blizter had not yet "sunk" and positioned her guns at the ships engines and let loose another volley. She quickly tried to sink, knowing that the ships defenses had plenty of time to fire.

"Right, change of plan; we can't have them hitting us all the way. Tube it."
"The nearest entry point might be half a system away though sir."
"No, we charted one on the way in."
"We'll need to dive in...30 seconds on my mark. Mark!"
"Do it!"

Over the intervening 30 seconds the particle cannon fired on the enemy ship, which had reappeared; in addition a full salvo of twenty missiles launched as soon as it appeared. One hit a mech on the way out; it was smart enough to detonate as it had no chance of flying on.

Fortunately this salvo was aimed at a different side to the first one. Again, the main cannon wore down the shields and began ablating the armour; the modular design of the shields meant that the other laser cannon were still working away at the shield. As the ship began spinning in preparation for the dive, this spread the destructive energies again, helping withstand the onslaught.
The enemy then fired on the engines; but the fusion engine wasn't running - if it had been it would have been stopped before they dived in any case. So even as their fire battered down the shields and wrought havoc with it, Damage Control were relieved; crew members were safe, for now, and nothing combat essential was being damaged. The reaction of the Naval Dockyard when they got home would be a different issue entirely...
The mechs were still milling around the ship. Impressive that they had kept up thus far; but although they appeared to be focussing around and attacking the Main Shuttle Bay doors, they wouldn't have long. A few might get in, but then the ship would dive; the rest would be left behind.

And...DIIIIIIIIIIIIIVEEEEEEEEE. The 'fin pilot exulted...he was back in his element. The ship dived and twisted in a bizarre tube of hyperspace, clinging to a thread, occasionally jumping from one thread to another.
The enemy might be able to pop in and out of some wierd dimension at will; but they could not follow here. Time to assess damage; and deal with any boarders.

"HOLY SHIT!!!"

Trooper Mikal shifted the controls and held on tight. He watched as the world and the ship behind him seemed to dissappear. Only 3 battloids had made it into the ship before they dived. They knew they couldn't leave, and had to crush their way through the ship. They were inside the bay now, and began to destroy anything even romotely looking defensive. Humans were crushed on sight, and overall it seemed to be going fairly well. If they survived the bay, they would rip through to the bridge, and try to get back to the ship.

The Admiral sighed. "What the hell just happened?"

"The Raiders must be in some kind of other space. Possibly a varient of the S-Space several cultures use."

"Can we get to them in there?"

"Unlikley, sir. However..." The officer stopped.

"However what?"

"We do have three High-Yeild Shift Missiles onboard..."

The Admiral thought for a second. "Load two. Target fore and aft of the Raider vessel. Fire two seconds after they appear next."


OoC: Shift missiles use the same tech as my ships. They teleport to their targets, making it milliseconds from firing to reaching target. And 'High-Yeild' means Twice the size of a Hygrogen Bomb.

ooc:
Wow you go away for a day. Hydrogen bombs are variable, So these torps are about 50-100 MegaTons? I have two sets of boarders?

Alphonso did not stop cursing... it was a big 'ole clusterfuck. He had retired from the Fleet so that he could live an accursed ancestor's free and relaxing life of a gods damned Free Trader... This shipment would pay of the Sea Hag and he would be home free now he had a bunch of barbarians fighting him in the middle of Outside and him without a godsdamnedaccursed wing of fighters!

Fine they want to play rough!

The cargo tramper, being owned by a typical Melii Trader sported some "nonregulation" gear... The crew being semi-retired reserves that were formerly under the Captain's then Sarge's command had kept "some" of their gear. The slushy was cut loose along with the outermost cargo modules that the lamprey transports had attached onto, they contained primarily water.

Along with them... came the swarms of Melii Ticks.

[Proximity limpit mines shaped as Ticks that will seek out none Melii signatures. They too "jump" and will attach themselves directly to a hull. Most of the time shields won't stop them. I would advise keeping the sheilds down after they attach...]

The ship detected the 'ticks' right as they swarmed off the hull, and it's AI registered them as a potential threat, but that had to find them. It shut down everything on the ship, including itself. The crew brought out their oxygen tanks for when the air becan to fill with Co2, but that would be a while. The pods each had their own AI, and the mechanoid warrior extensions marched down the hallways, firing what a pre-space terran would classify as a 'Shotgun', though the fletchets it shot were going hypersonic. The fletchetes didn't go through any metal, designed not to pierce the hulls of a ship so it could be easily captured. If the mechanoids detected an organic in combat armour or a hostile mechanoid, it used it's built in laser.

These mechanoids marched through the halls of the Sea Hag, shooting at anything that would give them problems...

"Sir, jump successful."
"Status on boarders?"
"Three mechs currently shooting up the Docking Bay, sir."
"Neutralise them ASAP...Anything short of a major hull breach, just get rid of them - fast."
"Sir."

The Marines routinely carried by capital ships were present on Lover Boy also. There were fifty of them, each equipped with combat armour, and carrying a small array of weapons, starting with slug-based weapons for use against unprotected humans, and working up to particle cannon, though smaller and less powerful than the hull defences.

OOC: How big are these mechs? Very roughly...

The "tails" were left behind as a distraction. The Hauler and its trained crew were worth more than these physical treasures. That and the passangers and xeno-info-packets-archives-artifacts would recoup the losses... he would still be just short of outright owning her but the old gril was his old bitch. He loved the Hauler almost as much as he loved his own self.

The Sea Hag Accelerated sideways and "dove" towards the nearest Alliance facility... Theta Base sector command... the tails and ticks would occupy the pirates... Until they didn't. The pirates were in for an "interesting" salvage.

***
Fuzzy organized the recruits... one intruder had been detected... the others had been spaced with the outer shell "tails" and the slushy. The crew had quickly donned their slow shields and basic armor.
[check my sig. Dune derivative or for the modern folks think SG1 badguys Gould personal shielding]
[inspiration for civilian Melii vessels "Tails" (http://www.discover.com/issues/may-05/rd/ask-discover/)

the Mechs are/were on the Hag, not your ship

Fuzzy was a bit annoyed... there went any chance for a decent commission and outright being...

He turned his glare to the damn pirate mech.

It wasn't suppose to be here. It was suppose to be with the others in the damn tails... come to think of it it shouldn't have been on the damn tails either. Damned water-thieves! They could find plenty of raw materials in space if they wanted to but NOOOOOO... the damn water theives wait like jackals Outside and wait until some poor defensless innocent Free Trader comes along. That wouldn't be so bad with him, except that the poor sucker was the Sea Hag and her crew.

He glared through the containment shielding.

Big ugly mofo that thing was... stupid thing was still trying to get out. oughta space it we should. But NOOOO... stupid "Maggot Recruit Pooka, Captain Sir" thinks the thing might be worth something other than a godsdamned headache and sure trouble. The plasma bolt pinged against the shielding and ricocheted throughout the enclosed corridor. They and the bullets were being bounced around the corridor until lodging themselves in the Mechoid.

Stupid thinking machine was destroying itself... probably on purpose. Its designers weren't too stupid... The Sea Hag had to have two sets of containment shielding extended to this corridor to block against the two known weapons types. High Radiation wasn't really frying the thing like it was suppose to...

He turned to the maggots.

"Alright, ye keep an eye'on the bastard!"

***
!/3 of the swarm detected Two Non Melii signatures... they decided to "jump"!
2/3 remained amongst the "Tails" Salvage would be a bitch... they scattered amongst the debris and awaited the return of the Melii or a "warm target."

***
Inside the Cargo Holds "Tails"... the mechs found no resistence save for the occasional repair droid. They blasted the mechs and were in turn blasted into slag for their troubles. They passed several acres of... H2O and a few tanks of Deutrium and unprocessed hydrogen.

the Mechs are/were on the Hag, not your ship

OOC: The Horde has mechs on my ship, sorry, that wasn't clear. I meant his not yours.

Theta Base Sector Command: Cantina District

Fuzzy and the boys were sharing a good 'ole time with the Captain. The elctro-funk was vagualy inspired by a fusion of fusion and classical country... a strange mix but it worked, barely. The booze was cheap and the boys and girls were celerbrating. They made it to Port without much incedent.

The Sea Hag was now officially owned in full by the Captain and the Crew... apparently the artifacts that they had transported were of greater value than they had originally thought. The Pirate raid would be answered when the Melii's Resources weren't so devoted to the ongoing struggles in the Gaurdian Galaxy.

Apparently, some more outsiders had stumbled upon the Eternals and Commonii gates and were now rampaging through the local sectors streams. Thus, there were no "extra" forces currently available to salvage the slushy.

ooc: lol... so I dumped my cargo for nothing! <shrug> Oh well... The cargo, ticks, suprises, and stuff are still there.

a lone wolf class star destroyer dropes out of trans warp and cloaks