NationStates Jolt Archive

Thorn - Godulan space

Drifting into the edge of the system on low sublight power, the Flaming Souls fleet moved into the system. This was the largest mobilization in the history of Flaming Souls, so all the ships were freshly painted and newly outfitted with equipment. On board the obvious command ship, Galeel Stryer sat in his chair reading his book. He had finally finished Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy in his last conflict, and now he was reading The Annotated Chronicles from Dragonlance.

As the fleet moved in slower he saw the husks of the Chronosian duel with Godular. Further in they passed mine fields, and other defenses. Finally, they stopped in the vacant space where a planet had once orbited. Here they met up with the Balroggans. Guess it's time to get this ball rolling Galeel thought dryly.

Direct Comm to Balroggan Command Ship
Greetings Apost. I am Galeel Stryer. I hear you have been assigned by the ESUS to work with me. Let's get one thing straight before we start. If it is an enemy. We mess their day up. Bad. I will be here until you need me. Galeel out.

And now to wait on the Megans, the Rupilians, the Allaneans, and the Nautsi fools. Galeel thought as he went back to his book.

When the five score ships entered the Thorn system, the two Imperial vessels held position. They were here for a reason and rushing about was a waste of energy. They had their orders and they were patiently awaiting the chance to carry them out.

The ebon carrier, an Intruder class, was accompanied by an Interceptor destroyer. The black ships were only outlined by the unnatural glare of the Thorn sun. The pinkish-orange shadows played across the hull cast by the spines or spikes. They were slightly moving as if the ship was pulsating with life, or something equally disturbing. The effect the sunlight made something that looked hell-ish even more sinister and unnatural, almost sur-real. The skin, or was it hull, of the ship seemed unbroken except for a couple barrels or some sort of odd projection.

The sensors aboard the newcomer’s ships would be the first to notice them. Each ship possessed the mass of a small sun and caused massive alarms to sound as they were detected. The power readings were also measured as being nearly off the scale.

Other than the sensor readings, the ships could be derelicts. Not a soul stirred upon them and there was no movement from either the 1000 meter carrier or the 120 meter destroyer. Everything was eerily silent and still. There wasn’t even any running lights’ being used by the imperial ships.

The Flaming Souls ships entered the system and drifted near the wreckage of past battles. They continued until they came near the Imperial pair of vessels. After halting, a message was received from the new arrivals.

Greetings Apost. I am Galeel Stryer. I hear you have been assigned by the ESUS to work with me. Let's get one thing straight before we start. If it is an enemy. We mess their day up. Bad. I will be here until you need me. Galeel out.


For several moments their only reply was complete silence, and then a strong message echoed within their minds, broadcast supposedly by those aboard the carrier. The message was both a feeling and a sound that left echoes of it fading within the receiver’s mind.

WE ARE READY

"Rats," Jacobs, commander of the Heighliner Beluga, said with a sigh. "That was supposed to be a nice long encounter."

"Can't blame me for scoring a natural crit," Simon, the commander of the Heighliner Wright, responded with a smirk. "Now I'll be wanting to hear you calculating XP for that dragon while I get another beer. VIVA LA VORPAL SWORD!"

"Hey," one of the other crewmen began, "careful dude. He might make the next one undead."

"Then we'd be proper fucked. So what's the XP, bossman?"

"Thirty five thousand for all of you."

"Holy shit! What kind of dragon WAS that?!" "Oh boy! Ding! My first epic level!" "Bastard. I'd be same level if it wasn't for that damn Ginger Beer trap." "Dude, you got XP for it. 'Sides, that WAS pretty funny." "AFTER I got resurrected, and its only funny for those who don't get caught in it." "I thought that spraying 'begone defilers' in his blood was a nice touch, bossman."

"Hold up guys," Simon said from outside the gathering room. "Those ships are here. Looks like we're gonna be packing up for the night. But I wanna see the treasure listing by tomorrow. I can tell its gonna take a while."

Jacobs snarled at Simon as he and his two copilots packed up and walked through the spacefold portal back to their own ship.

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

In unison, the two Heighliners released their tethers to the great dimensional gate that fed material into the strangely coruscating star. The gate, programmed earlier that day, fired its nav thrusters and moved out to a further orbit, shutting off the portal and going silent.

The two Heighliners then vanished from existence, rematerializing a short distance away from the two groups of ships meeting in the vacant band previously occupied by the Gas Giant of Stygia, allowing their massive bulk to announce their presence as no other was provided.

A few seconds passed as the Godulans got themselves in order and opened up a line of sight transmission.

Greetings all to the wonderful system of Thorn! A dismal place, a mausoleum for those who were once enemies of the Triad Consortium.

As you can likely tell and have no doubt already noticed, our manipulation of the star has filled this system with no end of sensor and communications disruption. Combined with the defensive measures in place in overlapping killzones and asteroid fields all throughout the system, this place is a pirate commodore's dream.

There will be no disruption or spying on this system from any source. Any attempt by the Godulans' official allies to divine any activities in this system will be met with the utmost of failure before their eviction from the general vicinity, either politely at the hands of Godulan patrols, or quite violently at the hands of Germanische Zustande patrols.

This system is in the middle of a no man's land, gentlemen. It is a death trap in every possible way. I trust your entrance was enjoyable?

Aboard the Hunter's Mercy, command ship of the Flaming Souls forces.

"Sir, we have word from the Balroggans. They are ready. Also, the Metallinautsi forces should arrive today. No word from the Megans, the Rupilians or the Allaneans." reported the Comm officer.

Looking faintly annoyed, Galeel nodded. "Before I start reading again, what of the Godulans?"

"They sent a message."

"On screen."

Greetings all to the wonderful system of Thorn! A dismal place, a mausoleum for those who were once enemies of the Triad Consortium.

As you can likely tell and have no doubt already noticed, our manipulation of the star has filled this system with no end of sensor and communications disruption. Combined with the defensive measures in place in overlapping killzones and asteroid fields all throughout the system, this place is a pirate commodore's dream.

There will be no disruption or spying on this system from any source. Any attempt by the Godulans' official allies to divine any activities in this system will be met with the utmost of failure before their eviction from the general vicinity, either politely at the hands of Godulan patrols, or quite violently at the hands of Germanische Zustande patrols.

This system is in the middle of a no man's land, gentlemen. It is a death trap in every possible way. I trust your entrance was enjoyable?

"Send them my reply."

How's it going? Galeel Stryer here, you are right...this place is kind of a pit. I just hope this doesn't turn out to be a deathtrap for us. How about forwarding any information you have on the GFFA Supply Lines and Strategic Scenery when you get the chance. I want to start figuring out how to end this.

"Now to wait." Galeel said as he went back to his book.

The Heighliners sat there before the two groups of vessels before a reply trundled along:

Trust us, if we wanted you dead you wouldn't have made it through the outer belt. You are quite welcome here, rest assured.

We are downloading the necessary information now. A complete cartographic catalogue with annotations regarding supply routes, trade lanes, and regions conducive to holing up for a few days at a time. Also provided are listings of what information we could get with respect to defense forces and pickets.

Herb you know better than to dick with your character sheet on a touch screen!

Oop, sorry boss.

Our companion Heighliner has a spare jump gate for you to use. When necessary, the Jumpgate will engage probability transit to the destination you provide, and enable transit between the gate orbiting this star and the gate at your destination. This is the initial means you will have to strike out at enemy logistical concerns, until we get another Heighliner containing more gates.

Feel free to bide your time here, however. Boredom strikes rather quickly in this system though, and staring at the sun as it shifts from color to color only helps for so long.

Gentlemen, if I may. We have our first objective. Whyatica has mobilized its fleet. We must keep them at bay. At all costs. Remember, nothing over the top or flashy. We have a job to do, get it done. Due to the smaller size of this nation, we will not be mobilizing the entire Privateer Fleets. Ourselves and Balrogga will handle this, and the rest will stand at the ready in case.

After sending his message, Galeel relayed his orders to the Soulian Fleet. While waiting on the Godulans to open their portal for the assault.

Order Referendum Delta 15
To: All Flaming Souls Vessels

The Hunter's Mercy will not be playing a large part in this battle. The Ragor will initialize the SPECTRE 2 system on all ships now, you know the Hippidectimus Assault details. Be ready to move out.

The enigmatic ebony vessels responded to the message by simply moving. The carrier began first by doing a high G maneuver, followed by its escort. Several other vessels faded into position in formation around them until the whole battlegroup was present. The 20 ships waited for the Flaming Soul ships to precede them into the gateway.

Again, the message was sent to the commander.


WE ARE READY

It was a special day for the Entente. One whose vast implications had not been celebrated since the 'eve when the last Hobbeebian invader had been cleansed. The fleets had been mobilized, the ground forces readied, the mech pilots standing by; the Entente was going to war. Not just any war, but a grand undertaking in the defense of her allies, or so thought Roran Telasnor. This was glorious day for an fleet admiral such as he, a day when he could earn both honor and prestige in the field of battle. Such was every proud warrior's dream.

Roran rested easily in his command chair, his features not daring to betray mixed emotions of enthusiasm, anticipation, and worry.

"Sir, we've arrived."

Roran acknowledged his helmsman as his vast armada of over 150 pristine, Megan warships slipped out of their hyperspace fold, and orded the comm to open a channel. He then conveyed his message.

Greetings, I am Fleet Admiral Roran Telasnor of the Megan Imperial Starship Falcaro. I am pleased to present you with the Entente's finest fleet, under my command, and now, my comrade from Flaming Souls, yours.

That said, Roran waited for his new commander's response.

As the Omega Fleet, as Galeel had dubbed it, was forming up, he recieved the message he had been waiting for. The Megans had arrived.

Thanks for coming to the party Roran. Form up half your fleet with us, we move on Whyatica as soon as the Godulans are ready. Standard scouting missions immediately. Buddy system, one of your ships and one of mine, as per norm. Galeel out.

And now the wait he thought.

As the Omega Fleet, as Galeel had dubbed it, was forming up, he recieved the message he had been waiting for. The Megans had arrived.

Thanks for coming to the party Roran. Form up half your fleet with us, we move on Whyatica as soon as the Godulans are ready. Standard scouting missions immediately. Buddy system, one of your ships and one of mine, as per norm. Galeel out.

And now the wait he thought.
Seems competent enough, Roran thought. He acknowledged Galeel's instructions and relayed them to the rest of the Megan forces, ordering his fleet to form up.

Seconds later, the Megan warships took their positions, their blood red hulls gleaming reflections from the nearby star. The largest of their kind dwarfed ships from other fleets, while others still, in turn, dwarfed them. Individually, the commander of each ship prayed a silent prayer to whatever diety he or he worshiped, each officer double- and triple-checked his or her responsibilities, each engineer reviewed his task at hand, and each mech-pilot donned his 'thinking cap,' and each, to himself, thought, will give the GFFA a fight they will always remember.

Had the murky vastness of space been able to conduct sound, one would have heard the great clangs and clunks of the second spacefold jumpgate departing its host's voluminous depths.

As soon as it moved away from the heighliner of origin, it vanished from existence. Seconds later, the gate orbiting around Thorn surged to life as it brought forth a spacefold portal to its companion gate, only a short distance from the territorial boundaries of the nation known as Whyatica.

The pathway is opened. The gate will remain long enough for your vessels to slip through and will remain in a powered-down state until you choose to return, so as to prevent unwanted inspections. The destination is within a relatively spread-out asteroid field, so watch your step.

After the battlegroup left the system using the Gate provided by Godular, another Intruder Carrier faded into reality as it Emerged from T-Space. Several of her escort ships also appeared along side the carrier. They moved out patrolling the area and waiting for the next assignment.

WE ARE READY




OOC:

Please note, each fleet is divided into battlegroups. Each Battlegroup is one of the carriers and it's escort ships. My Imperial Fleets have 8 carriers/battlefleets in each of it's 5 fleets, The Imperial Task Forces have 7 carriers/battlefleets in each, and the Imperial Covert Forces have 6 carriers/battlefleets in each.

So far I have two Imperial Fleets waiting in T-Space and I am releasing them as individual battlegroups. There are initially 16 total battlefleets available as our contribution to the war effort but I can use more if I am needed. If you need more than a single battlegroup, please request more but those ships are very powerful, the reason I am using such small groups.

The Rupil force was, not suprisingly, late in arriving. It is suprizingly hard to get several thousand privately-owned fightercraft properly supplied and equipped with ESUS-standard communiations equipment. It is even harder to get them orginized and divided into squadrens and units according to capabilities without pissing off pilots or captains who are used to doing things their own way. But thus is the life of privateers- that of personal pride and government-issue missile systems. Corralling all the personalized destroyers and fightercraft as they hopped into the system, were of course the actual warships. The majestic warships had a new coat of near-black warpaint with no exterior markings, their proud names painetd over. Also, all the ships now were using non-standard IFF frequencies.

Sorry about the delay. We had problem with a shipment of missiles. The rest will arrive within the next 72 hours to join us with a fresh convoy of supplies. Expect an additional 500 destroyers accompanied by the command ships.

OOC:

OK, as the new Commander of the Privateers, we are going to do this the proper way. I spoke with Whyatica and we are starting a new Thread where we will be attacking his merchant ships, and any other ones known to belong to GFFA members.

This is the address of the new Thread.

http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?p=11377686#post11377686



IC:

OK boys. Gather round because I got some orders from CF last night. After FS was called away, he wanted me to be in charge of the Privateers. I am going to show the other three squads we are the best in the ESUS.

I had some quick recon done while you were on the way to this meeting. If you look on the screen, you will see a map of our target.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/beldragos/minbarifederationmaptraderoutes.jpg

That is the most current map of the Federation I could get my hands on. I almost had to make it myself (I actually did).

The first thing you will notice, all the major trade routes center on the Throneworld. That means we can go about hitting the outside edges to draw them out and possibly away from their capital. This means there will have to be military recalled from the Frontlines to keep their Federation safe.

Here is a little info I have on what the worlds are. It is sketchy at best because I only had overnight to dig it up. Please pay attention to the other screen.



Attacking ships within ten light years of Midiri is a bad idea
Trade Station is heavily defended
T`valan has few defenders and little trading running through there
Tragati has a large Warrior Caste starbase in it
Raiata is a trading metropolis, lots of people from different races
Drala'fi and Drala'toth are lightly defended
Eshar is moderately defended and has a moderate amount of trade going through it


About an hour ago I dispatched three frigates to make the first strike against their traffic. They should have already laid in an ambush on a couple freighters en route between Drala'toth and Drala'fi. They use something called Jumpspace to travel. It is akin to Hyperspace and a strong gravity source is supposed to be able to yank them back into Real Space. When we get the results of the attack, we will know. After that, we will go out and take down some freighters.

Meet back here in 5 hours.




OOC:


These are the ships I will be using in this Theater...



Battlegroup Sigma-Alpha



Intruder Carrier

1. Angel Of Death

Kython Battleship

1. Divine Intervention
2. Show No Mercy

Infiltrator Cruiser

1. Spirit In Black
2. Ghosts Of War
3. Captor Of Sin

Interceptor Destroyer

1. Serenity In Murder
2. Die By The Sword
3. Fictional Reality

Kython Frigate

1. Black Magic
2. Tormentor - damaged
3. Metal Storm - damaged
4. Bloodline - Incapacitated
5. War Zone
6. Wicked
7. Spill The Blood

*Orders acknowledged. Our ships are breaking into strike groups now. Contact us via battlenet if you require capitalship support. We will have ambushes prepared at regularly spaced locations. These can act as fallback positions should any of your craft be attacked by superior enemies. Try to capture fuel tankers if possible.*

The hundreds upon hundreds of Rupil destroyers broke up into groups of three or four, which then began activating slipstream drives or firing jumpgate torpedos to spread themselves through the area. Soon they would be randomizing their jump patterns and engaging the enemy.

The three ships came limping back to Thorn, important data regarding the forces of the Minbari stored safely in their logs. Battle tactics, weapon strengths, sensor data, and more importantly, their response times. With the last one, a window of safety could be establish for unguarded transport runs allowing plenty of time for escape before the Calvary shows up.

The crews aboard The Angel of Death would be busy repairing the damaged frigates for the next couple days. Later the results would be delivered to the rest of the Privateers.


“Are we ready? Good. I have the data from the raid. It seems the freighter had a couple railguns mounted and fired back. One of the frigates took a couple hits but the ship was able to shake it off. Then the captain of the freighter must have activated the self destruct. The ship turned into a small sun unexpectedly and while my ships were sensor blind, the Minbari arrived and ambushed us. We were able to get away but two of my ships took heavy damage and will be out of commission for at least a few days.”

The data from the frigates was shown on the briefing screen.

These are the weapons load outs for this class of ship. The primary and secondary are based on gravity technologies but the tertiary weapons were based upon electromagnetism.

The information we have received indicated the departure of the freighter, The Rubber Biscuit from Dral’toth headed for Drala’fi. There is another freighter named The Blue Whale scheduled to travel from Eshar to The Trade Station.

Rupil, pick one to send a squad to intercept and I will send ships to the other.


OOC:

Whyatica has asked that only two ESUS members be involved in the Trade War because a second GFFA member will be aiding him. It will be a 2 vs. 2 war of small number of ships in cat and dog fights. Whyatica and I will be trying to get others interested in similar agreements so we can do our jobs.

Rupil, please keep the number of ships to a minimum. I am only using about 17 ships in this theater. The small battles are actually more fun than fleet battles, in my opinion.

After the Admiral of the Rupil forces hesitated, the Commander decided for him.

"I will take The Rubber Biscuit just in case that Minbari ship happens to be there again. I would like to return some of the damage it caused my two frigates."

He adjusted the display showing the Eshar Run.

"Megas will take The Blue Whale mission. The trade route is about 20 Ly long but I would suggest staying at least 5 to 10 Ly away from the heavy defences of The Trade Station. That leaves you a short stretch of route to set up your ambush. Just set your ambush and use your FTLi to pull The Blue Whale from Jumpspace."

"There are rumors of a Hiigaran vessel in the area called The Majestic. They may be assisting in guarding the trade route. Becareful because I have no data upon them so if you encounter any resistance, be sure to get complete data logs so we can analyze them."

"I will go after The Rubber Biscuit. The Ne`shatan has been sihted in the area so they are still hanging around from the last attack hoping we will return. I want a chance to take a crack at her, at least to return the favor she did to my ships."

"Happy hunting and be sure to return."



OOC:

Megas, The Blue Whale is going to be protected by the single ship Aralonia has sent. I don't know if they are experienced in combat so you might have to help them. I'll take Whyatica because he is sending his big ship and I want to return the damage he caused mine.

OOC:

Alright.

IC:

The new orders had spread quickly throughout the fleet. Roran had retracted his fleet to Thorn almost as quickly as he had deployed it. His scouts, however, remained behind, skirmishing with Whyatican defenses. This would keep the illusion.

Roran ordered his comm officer to acknowlegde the orders handed down by his Balroggan superior. Tapping a few buttons on his PCC, Roran began the arduous task of selecting two ships and captains for the task at hand, their real mission. A few 'beeps' later, Roran had decided. Runold Pettiholme of the MIS Kissimmee, an Oberth-class destroyer, and Emil Shelby of the MIC Sebring, another Oberth-class destroyer, would do fine. He summoned the captain's to his briefing room aboard the Falcaro and explained their mission. They were to FTL into a stretch of empty space nearly 7 ly from Eshar, rip a freighter out of FTL, then disable it. The only problem; the Entente military never bothered developing a shipboard FLTi. The admiral's solution to this was simple, use Protoculture.

The captains, in turn, nodded. They understood. They were about to unleash a great and terrible force, one whose predictability was limited to its unpredictability. They had been given authorization to attempt to push their ships to the limit; their extreme potential. They were to risk their lives to do so.

Roran dismissed them to their task. He couldn't help but wonder if he had just sentenced two ships to their deaths.

“Commander, the ships returned from the mission.”

“Status?”

“The Bloodline was shattered by an attack. The other two are undamaged.”

“Upload all data to me."

Ga’Ton carefully examined the data from all three ships. He compared it to their first encounter and then crosschecked it to be sure. He then formulated a plan for the next mission.

“Contact The Fictional Reality. Inform her captain I have a task for her. It is time to raise the stakes a bit.”

The MIS Falcaro

"Sir, sensors are registering an inbound Protospace fold signature. I think it's the Sebring."

"There's only one?" Emil asked, rhetorically. He could see the readout on his PCC.

"Aye, sir..."

An unspoken communication of dismay settled on the bride of the Falcaro. Each officer understood what that meant. The Kissimmee had been lost.

"She's exited Protospace now, sir."

A brilliant flash of blue light appeared near the Falcaro, and quickly transformed into the Sebring. Her computer instantly reestablished a comm link with the fleet via the secure entanglement provided by the Kanuckistani. Emil studied his PCC as the reports from battle streamed in from the Sebring. He was both pleased and disappointed, his ships had prevailed in a the event of a worst-case scenario, however they sustained heavy casualties.

"Contact the Sebring, have her captain come aboard. I must speak with him. Offer our condolences on the loss of the Kissimmee. And have my aid prepare my correspondences to the families."

There were few things that paper was still used for in the Entente. This was one of them. Roran would sign each and every letter, a time-honored tradition still practiced by great commanders in the Megan military.

"Oh, and send a message to the Balroggans, let them know our mission was a success."

"Aye, sir."

Ga’Ton was seated at his desk in his office aboard The Hades, the dreadnaught that acted as the flagship for The Imperial Navy. He had sent a request to Roran for a vid-feed. The computer beeped, signaling the system was ready for the meeting. He turned toward the holo display and saw Roran’s face.

“Hello, my condolences go out to you for the crew of The Kissimmee. Hopefully our sacrifices will be remembered when this is over.”

“You might get a chance to make things even out. I have information there will be four freighters traveling from T’valen to Midiri. The Dan Aykroyd, The Cab Calloway, The Blue Lou, and The Duck Dunn will be leaving soon. Here is their timetables. Rumor has it there will be an escort provided by Aralonia, perhaps the same ship that The Kissimmee fell to. That trade route is about 35 light years so there are possibilities for accidents to occur.”

“It has come to my attention the use of Protoculture is extremely dangerous to provide the FTL effects to pull them out of JumpSpace. Please have one of the ships stop by The Hades and we will requisition you some Grav Torps. Just let the dockmaster know how many you will need and he will have them uploaded immediately. There will also be some tech manuals on their operation and repair if you need them. They should adapt to your systems readily.”

“Good Luck. And get those bastards for The Kissimmee.”

Ga’Ton signaled the computer to sever the connection and sent the request to the dockmaster for the torps.

Roran had recieved the request for the conference and eagerly accepted it. He knew that his forces yearned to return to battle as much as he did. This, floating around in Godulan space was taking it's toll on morale. The monitor flicked on.

“Hello, my condolences go out to you for the crew of The Kissimmee. Hopefully our sacrifices will be remembered when this is over.” the Balroggan commander said.

"Thank you, sir."

“You might get a chance to make things even out."

"Oh?"

"I have information there will be four freighters traveling from T’valen to Midiri. The Dan Aykroyd, The Cab Calloway, The Blue Lou, and The Duck Dunn will be leaving soon. Here is their timetables. Rumor has it there will be an escort provided by Aralonia, perhaps the same ship that The Kissimmee fell to. That trade route is about 35 light years so there are possibilities for accidents to occur.”

"I see. In that case, we shall be very careful. We will use a larger force this time, for one thing."

“It has come to my attention the use of Protoculture is extremely dangerous to provide the FTL effects to pull them out of JumpSpace."

"Yes, it would seem so. Do you have anything that could assist us?"

"Please have one of the ships stop by The Hades and we will requisition you some Grav Torps. Just let the dockmaster know how many you will need and he will have them uploaded immediately. There will also be some tech manuals on their operation and repair if you need them. They should adapt to your systems readily.”

"Those will come in handy. Thank you."

“Good Luck. And get those bastards for The Kissimmee.”

"Planning on it, sir. Telasnor out."

The viewer flicked off and returned to it's normal picture of the Thorn armada. Roran turned to his first officer and pointed to his PCC.

"You heard the man, commander. Distribute the orders to these six ships. This Valivarre-class, the Caloosa, will command the mission and recieve the Balroggan torpedoes."

"Aye, sir." The commander saluted and hurried over to the comm station to relay the orders.

Ga’Ton set down the report he had received just minutes ago. The spies he had sent out had discovered a convoy headed toward Minbari territory and they were just asking to be hit.

He considered assigning some ships but decided against it. The Megas Fleet needed a morale booster after losing one of their ships on the first raid they were assigned. He had reassigned them in the general area where the raid had taken place in hopes they could gain Justice but this was another matter. If they took out the Anarian ship that destroyed their own, it would just be vengeance. Taking out another enemy would be a real morale boost, which they needed at this moment, definitely more than the Empire needed a couple more hash marks on their gun barrels.

He activated the link and addressed the AI.

“Get me Roran again.”

After a satisfactory length of time contact was established. His face looked at Ga’Ton out of the Holo projection.

“Greetings Roran.”

“I have another mission for your troops. This one came directly from our spies and I have it that New Dornalia has a convoy headed to Drala’toth. My source told me it would contain five freighters: The Mary Anne, The Doryu Maru, The Tomcraft, The Sink Or Swim, and The Barrel Roll.”

“The bad news is word of our successes has reached our enemies and the freighters are supposed to be heavily guarded. I have it on good information there should be two Lin Biao heavy cruisers and 2 Mao Zedong III battleships providing escort for the freighters.”

“With heavy support like that, either they have plenty of ships to toss about on guard duty or there is something important in those freighters.”

“A success here would not only provide your men with one hell of a morale boost, but it will also be a heavy hit for both New Dornalia and Whyatica because they would be shown they cannot guarantee the safe passage of freighters even with a heavy escort.”

“If you want them, stop by for more grav torps. Take what you need for success. Be careful because they don’t care what they eat, just as long as you feed them something. Their appetite is voracious.”

“Good Luck.”

Roran sat hunched over the screen situated on his desk when a familiar noise met his ears. He tapped the pad in front of the screen, and Ga'Ton's face appeared on the screen.

“Greetings Roran.”

"Ga'ton." Roran nodded.

“I have another mission for your troops. This one came directly from our spies and I have it that New Dornalia has a convoy headed to Drala’toth. My source told me it would contain five freighters: The Mary Anne, The Doryu Maru, The Tomcraft, The Sink Or Swim, and The Barrel Roll.”

"New Dornalia, eh? Megas was once on very good terms with them. We even went so far as to strike an arms deal. It's a pity that we'll have to fight against them. But, what can one do? Oh well."

“The bad news is word of our successes has reached our enemies and the freighters are supposed to be heavily guarded. I have it on good information there should be two Lin Biao heavy cruisers and 2 Mao Zedong III battleships providing escort for the freighters.”

"Well, that could certainly prove to be a problem. I wonder how the can manage such dedications.

“With heavy support like that, either they have plenty of ships to toss about on guard duty or there is something important in those freighters.”

"Yes; it would seem that the Azahans were unsuccessful in their endeavour against New Dornalia."

“A success here would not only provide your men with one hell of a morale boost, but it will also be a heavy hit for both New Dornalia and Whyatica because they would be shown they cannot guarantee the safe passage of freighters even with a heavy escort.”

"Indeed. The success of this mission is critical. I'm honored that you chose us to carry it out."

“If you want them, stop by for more grav torps. Take what you need for success. Be careful because they don’t care what they eat, just as long as you feed them something. Their appetite is voracious.”

"Actually, that won't be necessary. I've recently been informed of a new FTLi device we've developed. Apparently, R&D suffered a blow to their pride upon learning that we were depending on Balroggan technology for FTLi, and immediately began working on a new project."

“Good Luck.”

"Thank you, sir."

Another tap on his console severed Roran's connection with Ga'Ton. Roran leaned back and took a deap breath. Success being critical to this mission was an understatement. As cliche as it sounded, failure was certainly not an option. Roran undestood this, and as such, a plan formed in his head.

“Sir, I have a possible arms shipment from an informant in No Endorse.”

Ga’Ton looked up from the reports he had been studying. It appears that the Privateer actions had completely paralyzed Whyatica because nothing had been heard from them in days. It was almost like they had ceased to exist. There was movement ion the nation but they had completely withdrawn into themselves, becoming no threat for anyone. He was considering assigning some ships to keep the spooking of civilian ships so they would remain comatose and action-less.

“No Endorse is not involved in the GFFA war. They are not involved.”

“It seems New Dornalia has ordered arms from them. There is a shipment if hundreds of hundreds of singularity missiles ordered by them leaving No Endorse. There is no direct route between them so they will be using their JumpSpace Drives.”

Route Beta Battlegroup to intercept them. That should take care of any escorts they might have. I want those missiles captured or destroyed. It would be ironic if we could take them and use them against their owners. See about inserting agents in his operations to delay production and to keep us informed.”

“Yes Sir.”

The aide left the office.


This Arc to be continued in Profits (http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=497239)

The sudden appearance of a ship within the Thorn system would normally cause several dozen defense systems to go immediately online but the appearance of The Serendipity was another matter entirely.

The ten kilometer vessel was not heralded by an escort of other ships or even fighters. There was no message arriving ahead to announce the coming of the behemoth. There was no possible way to know the ship was there until after it already arrived.

The Serendipity, the personal flagship of the Emperor himself, just existed suddenly alongside Ga’Ton’s dreadnaught. Several patrols enacted emergency maneuvers in order to avoid colliding with the unexpected monolithic obstacle of black Thur’Tahg.

Ga’Ton was in his office aboard The Hades when alarms went off from one end of the ship to the other. Crew was rushing to emergency positions and Control was signaling the fleet admiral to alert him of the situation before the recognition programs identified The Serendipity.

Ga’Ton contacted the bridge.

“Captain, what is the situation?”

“The Serendipity appeared right next to The Hades without any forewarning. All defenses are standing down but she did give us a bit of shock.”

“Inform The Serendipity I will be over in a few moments.”

“Yes Sir.”

Curious, Ga’Ton activated his Tele-relocation ability and willed himself to appear within a chamber deep within the ship only a few have ever seen.

As the spacious room materialized around him, he became aware of an elderly man seated at the head of a table. The rest of the room was concealed within shadows with the only light directly above the empty chair. Ga’Ton went over to the waiting position and took his expected place.

Bowing his head, he waited for the individual to address him first, as was custom. After a scant few moments that seemed to stretch on for millennium, the Emperor spoke. His voice was low but behind the words, there was something that made sure they would be heard even in a crowd.

“Ga’Ton, I have need of your services.”

“Anything, my Lord.”

“I have received a message from one of the ESUS allies requesting a meeting. I wish you to attend this event in my place for you possess the knowledge that is needed.”

“Yes, my Sire. What of the War Efforts?”

“I will remain here to direct things until you return. There are very few systems safer than Thorn. Take The Hades to these coordinates and return when you are done.”

Ga’Ton felt the information enter his mind where he could feel its presence.

“Yes Lord Emperor.”

Taking his cue, he willed himself back to his own office aboard The Hades. He quickly contacted the bridge.

“Captain, set course to the coordinates I an entering into your logs.”

“Sir, it will take time to arrange the Wormhole. According to the data file, there is a black hole nearby. It will draw the wormhole to it.”

“That is fine; we can use the hole to get us there faster. I want us jumping now.”

“Yes Sir.”

Moments later, The Hades sped forward into the maw of an opening wormhole.

To be continued here... (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?p=11635795#post11635795)