NationStates Jolt Archive

It was someplace, someplace far away. Where a giant blue star burned and burned alone, without any planets, without a campanion star. Alone in the black vacuum of space far away from normal trade routes, far away from most empires, far away from anything of any importance. She was, is, and always shall be no more than a place to explore, a place to visit once maybe twice. To maybe study the gravity of a star not disturbed by the tugs of any other stellar body for lightyears around.

Those who came never stayed, those who came were usually AI controlled probes or possibly a scoutship running by to perform a few particle sweeps before leaving. For eons this never changed, for eons all this star of pale indigo knew was lonely lonliness.

But today that was different, today some would be staying forever never to leave again, some would shed their bodies here and transcend into that which death offers. Husks of once mighty warships and particles from massive explosions would comfort her, keep her company even in her death throes when she becomes but a husk, a shadow of her former burning glory surrounded by a casket brightly colored gases and metals.

Like fallen autumn leaves padding along a gentle stream, the sleek black hulls of perhaps twenty warships drift eerily along, midway into the system. Hundreds of smaller hulls, just as black and just as sleek, drifted with their larger companions; faint blue pulses pulsating erratically, pushing them away and towards the other ships, but never too far.

They all broadcasted the same signal, the same weak, repeating signal propogating through the universe faster than light itself could ever hope to travel. It meant nothing, it said nothing, just noise, erratic noises. Its purpose, its only purpose it seemed, was to be heard; to alert those few who could be around of the floating fleets location.

That is all the seemingly dead ships did, awash in fields of the redest red, with frail energies flowing deeper within.

((Bump.))

(Tag for a post when i get home)

Ten ships, one Sovereign Star Dreadnaught, & three Paragon Star destroyers were undergoing tests in a remote area, & were escorted by six Goliath Star Destroyers. The tests were just finishing when the Scanners officer on the Goliath flagship saw a group of twenty unidentified ships. "Sir, we've picked up twenty ships, off the port side." The Admiral looked out one of the windows and replied, "Where, I don't see them?"
"They're too far sir, not in visual range yet."
"Send them a transmission, try to indentify them."

Attention unidentified ships. Pleas identify yourselves and state your reasons for entering this area of space, or risk being attacked.

“Yes I’m sure…” said Bronson, leaning back in his flight chair, “I made the drift calculations myself…”

“And we’re sure that the source can be trusted,” asked the Captain of the hulking salvage vessel, directing the question to the man sat in an alcove off to the side of the bridge.

“Yes Captain Miles,” he moved towards the Captain, long robe dragging on the deck, “My source is very high up in the MIE, the coordinates, drift bearing and speed are all correct.”

“They better be. Bronson, run the calculations again… Just in case,” growled the Captain.

“Don’t bother,” piped up the last person on the bridge, who had up until now been starring intently at the sensor display, “I’ve found them.”

“All of them?” asked the Captain, standing up and eagerly pacing over to the sensor station, “All 20?”

“Maybe more, the scopes having trouble at this range picking out individual ships,” smiled Amanda, tapping the screen.

“Are we in FTL range?” asked the Captain.

“Yes,” replied Bronson, after tapping a few commands into the flight computer.

“Good, Set condition Two, rig for jump,” barked the Captain.

About 5 minutes later the ship was ready, and she appeared at the other end of her FTL jump about 10 miles off the port of the lead vessel.

(TAG for possible involvement, just because TFU is.)

((OOC: I will be sure to get a post up sometime today or tomorrow, it depends on how many people wish to get involved from now till then.))

((Bump))

[OOC: Tagged for my own nefarious purposes. Also bump.]

((OOC: Ok, tomorrow sometime in the afternoon (about twelve hours from now) I will post. TFU, I know you want to get involved so I will wait if you want me too, but ya gotta hurry.))

Sevral light years away from the system.. a long roughly hulled grey ship floated in to the dark lifeless void of space, its engines streaming white blue particles behind it like a fountain of holy water the blue ambient light reflecting off the aft plating, the running lights of the ship blinked systematically in patterns as the grey ship cut through the black void like a sword of ominous strength. Inside the vessel its crew stood sat and worked, as the ship moved forward in a random course of direction. The commander of the ship stood over a holographic 3d map looking at the sector of space the ship was in, his slightly muscular bodies form could be seen shimmering in the bright multi chromatic lighting in the ship, his blue grey uniform dully absorbing the light, his black salt better hair and rather smooth facial futures enhanced by the near by holo light… The background was filled with AI’s officers and solders going along there way, suddenly the computers AI came up in a holographic bubble, it spoke with a soft female voice “Commander, we are detecting a mass of ships and communications from a system several light years from us, it appears to be a contact situation sir..”


----- The commander looked up to the AI his brain was awash with some excitement minimal at best, since there was nothing else for the patrolling ship to do he said “AI set a Crouse for the system…” his voice was rather clam but a little loud, the crew where going about there duties when a alarm for FTL travel came up.. a soft voice started speaking as the moderately loud alarms blared “All hands prepare for faster than light jump.. all hands prepare for faster than light jump…” it echoed through the well lighten chrome white walled ship, some people stopped what they were doing suddenly there hands on the table they looked at the stations and objects in front of them.. Suddenly the large grey rough hulled destroyer shimmered out of space its hull disappearing in to the lifeless dark void of space, silently and with out a flash of light or energy it disappeared like a ghost ship. The sound of FTL drives charging up reverberating thorough out the hull of the large grayish chrome white ship, the noise filling the crews ears, several seconds seemed like hours upon hours of time, the crew stood in there place starting to go about there duties once more.. losing track of liner time, the commander stood looking out of a holographic view port in to utter pitch dark blackness, like the bowls of hell , no stars no life , no atoms, nothing was present in this form of space… for they were outside the universe .. the affects on non conditioned people would be totally demented and detrimental, Suddenly the ship was engulfed in a black white aurora, it shimmered out of the dark pitch black hell like patch of lifeless particles of non universal and non carpal space.



----- the long rough ship suddenly shimmered back in silently and with out bright colors or flashes as it did when it was shimmering out, the FTL drives shut down and the noise of the ship returned to normal, the vibrating rumbling noise echoing thorough the ship suddenly dimming. The ships had appeared in front of the mass of ships and some sort of star destroyers. The commander looked out of the view port with amazement at the masses of seemingly lifeless ships, it was only wet by some fear that suddenly overcame his mind and body , his hands where to his side as his eyes panned the ships and the space around them with focusing lenses, his mind was filled with platuides of old ghost stories and treasure stories and many other odd things. His lips began to curl up in to a rather malformed grin , his rough lips wrinkling his smooth face, he looked over to the AI who was floating above in a holographic bubble and said with a clam but rather hasty voice “I want you to open a general comn frequency…” The AI responded “yes sir” and with in an instant a comn was open the commander with his malformed grin and clam seemingly unafraid cloaked altitude started to speak with a rough confident voice, saying “This is the URS Trenton, we are a ship from the United Planetary republics of the Federal Union, we have come to investigate some happenings here, mainly the mass of ships and odd communications we have been monitoring, please respond”
The message was sent via Inter dimensional Comn arrays, it spread out throughout the area of space.. the commander stood back his feet on the solid marble like metallic ground . his eyes panning the space outside with tenseness moving over his shimmering body, of course the crew was feeling the same way no doubt they had just come across a mass of abandoned ships and several others willing to shoot at them….


http://img153.imageshack.us/my.php?image=destoryerzk0.jpg (The Trenton)

Primary systems online.

0680FF> We got company. Scram.
EA092B> Roger roger, warp scramblers hot and targeted.
0680FF> Cue the lights.

In the center of the formation a ship, bigger than the rest, wakes. Bluewhite light limns the hull, like the glow of a furnace. Targeting radars send their racous pings echoing through the void, backed up by more subtle and quicker means of detection.

...You are unable to warp because you are being warp scrambled...

"This is Ordo Decimus battlecruiser Switchblade. Surrender now and your death will be quick and painless."

0680FF> Our backup is online?
EA092B> Roger roger, backup ready to go. All systems hot.
0680FF> Let's DO this. All available Knives fire on the salvage vessel.

...Warning. Hostile target radar detected...

Forty beams of searing gamma radiation lance from the Switchblade's side, raking across the hull of the unsuspecting ship: a hellish broadside sufficient to vaporize seas.

EA092B> Hit confirmed.
0680FF> Rig a sink for pulse detonation and drop it into the destroyer formation.
EA092B> Roger. Sink rigged. Pitching.

...Warning. Unknown object has exited FTL within your formation...

Even as the niling d-sink materialized in the center of the SkillCrossbones formation, it exploded. The energies contained within were unleashed in a split second, sending a boiling spherical shockwave of hyperenergetic gamma rays searing through the formation: two hundred petawatthours of energy, no less than 150 gigatons all told.

EA092B> Detonation confirmed. Multiple hits confirmed. And the TFU destroyer which is now hailing us?
0680FF> Scramble it. Load missile tubes and cycle the Knives.
EA092B> Roger. Scrambling now. Tubes loaded now. Knives ready in .75 secs.
0680FF> Fire missiles. Three-quarters spread towards the destroyer formation. One-quarter spread towards the TFU destroyer. Activate all ships.
EA092B> Roger. Firing missiles now ETA 10 secs, ETA 7.5 secs. Activating all ships.

...Warning, incoming missile... Warning, incoming... Incoming... Missile spread incoming...

And as the rest of the fleet lit with that same blue-white glow, a hundred missiles leapt from their beds.

...You are unable to warp because you are being warp scrambled...

[ABOARD HGNS MARAUDER]

A blue dot appeared approximately 12.3 AU from this single star.

"We're here." The captain grinned. "All hands, level two battle stations!" She stood up and pointed a hand directly ahead. "Don't get us killed! Electronics, get ECM, ECCM, and ECCCM at full power on the double!"

Haruya Erusono grinned. "Move forward at 5500 kilometers a second and keep the drive field running, I don't want anything getting through! Hangars, get two scout shuttles to see what exactly that signal was on the double! Keep stealthed as much as you can!"

Suddenly the AI came up floating up above “Warring commander enemy ships firing, incoming missile fire ….

The commander quickly responded his mind being washed with feelings of tense fear in the split second that the missiles were traveling towards the ships his mind was thinking of his family his face wrinkled up he turned his head fluidly and yelled out “SHEILD UP!, Bring Lighting fields up all hands to battle stations!”

Suddenly the ships shields went up like a bubble of water like blue energy field…. It light up the ship like nothing ever the blue glow subsided as the shield went up and stabilized.

Lighting emitters on the hull revved up there rumbling electrical noises, suddenly a huge field with electrical like blue white lighting sparks spread over the ship about 45 km…

The field sparked and arced over the ship as enemy missiles flew towards the destroyer..

In the instant before the missiles hit the field, the destroyed counter attacked..
Cannons twirled in to targeting positions missile tubes opened…. Several seconds past the missiles hit the shield and field, in that instant weapons of the destroyer came out like a cutting fury of brimstone fire , pulses of yellow crimson orange , white and blue beams of energy fire spewed out as the cannons recoiled one by one, missile tubes raged, hundreds of anti capital ship missiles with anti neutrino warheads streaming in blue like bubbles … the hull reverberating with sounds of energy and missile fire the commander sood leasing and watching as intense beams of energy pulses of fire and missiles spread in mass ominous hellish streams...


The commanders mind was filled with rather large amounts of anger, some fear and tenses the ship shook slightly some of the photonic panels blasted and sparked above his head and behind him officer ran around to there station taping on holographic controls.

The commander’s eyes focused on the cruiser, as another wave of mass fire and continuous beams flew out of the destroyer, suddenly the fighter bays busted out with machinery noises as hundreds of space superiority fighters rushed out.

The commander moved his head over in a hastily move he yelled “Evasive maneuvers lets get this ship behind a planet or behind that star move it!, engage ECM and ECCM!”


The commander stood up… the destroyer began turning tail its masses thrusters pushing it easily around its aft and then port weapons firing at the battle cruiser mean while other weapons fired at the other ships.

Alpha – bravo November this is eagle one where moving in for attack formation


“Roger that eagle one “ static..

The fighter squadrons split up there engines streaming a blue white particle stream behind them as they moved in towards enemy ships and fighters, they maneuvered up around and whooshed towards them at amazing speeds…


beepeep… beepepe… beeepeep…. The holographic sensors did suddenly, they beeped as friendly fighters moved in towards enemy fighters and ships, long range missiles poured from behind and the port side of the destroyer thousands of anti neutrino anti capital ship missiles streamed in a blue streak of light towards the capital ships , continuous beams of blue and white energy followed with barges of missiles, the noise of recoiling pulses and beams filled the ship with an ominous glow of sound, it light up the hull with white and blue… crimson red pulses died off and then suddenly came back again and again firing lighting up the dark lifeless void of space and the hull of the ships, the cannons recoiled intensely making a noise around the ship the commander stood watching as the ship fire all it had as it was trying to run and hide behind a star.

The AI suddenly came up saying “Sir our forward and port shields are at 80%.. The lighting fields did well in countering the missile fire”

(OOC: I don’t do yields in my rp but lets just say my weapons yields are immeasurable I also assume you didn’t fire energy weapons)

Dark, cold, and dusty, like a holding cell in the worst of prisons, this was the bridge of the Command Cruiser Fractal Abyss. Illuminated only by the dim shades of emerald from flickering console lights, and the faint orange hue of display screens overlaid by teal grids, plotting information about the local stellar geography. All eclipsed by the silhouettes of still individuals all slumped in their chairs, sleeping or dead no one could tell.

Two tiers of narrow consoles encased the command area; a hard angled Skylord's chair raised on a concrete dais the same burned black color as the concrete walls, and concrete ceiling, with a cluster of thrumming computers inset into its center, the brain of the ship sleeping a restful sleep.

Skylord Thranta Oiamher was slumped over in his chair, just like everyone else on the bridge; at their stations as if caught in some sort of wicked trance. All like cold ghastly abominations, caricatures of men menacing the eyes with a haunting grin.

They had all been this way for who knows how long, remaining in their silent motionless state. Until guests had arrived, guests disturbing the sepulchers of the dead, refusing to let sleeping dogs lie. As soon as these intrepid interlopers got too close, the ship awakened Thranta, feeling their presence, stronger and stronger as they neared.

Wide eyes of morphing cerulean steel, staring a long steady stare, as if looking through the Armour plating and the shields right into the hearts and minds of those who had stirred him. The rest of the crew is quick to follow; staring off into the distance as if lost in reality. But only for a moment, only for a fleeting moment before they all rushed into action.

Hands quickly became blurs of pale flesh as they wash over the consoles in front of them, ushering in a chaotic cacophony of clicking buttons, whining dials, flipped switches; bringing life to the rest of the ship. Then they stop, as motionless as they were before, only alert and knowing of their still state.

In perfect harmony, precise unison, they place their hands at the end of the armrest, reclining back in their chairs, tense as ever. Restraints locking over their limps, and around their necks, all with eyes closed, visible vapor from warm breath in cold air appears and evaporates in steady rhythms.

The AI cluster emerges from the ceiling, screens a blizzard of cobalt numbers and rose grids overlaying endless black, all moving and processing faster than the eye could see. Thranta's cold eyes focus on this cluster from behind heavy eyelids, on this storm of data, he appears to understand, to fathom the unfathomable.

Everyone writhes about; spasming and spasming hard spasms in their seats, trying to muffle grunts as they experience the intense pains of amalgamation. The intense pain of sharp twisting needles, all thin and lithe as strands of hair; breaking through skin and permeating bone, interweaving with the tumultuous nervous system, joining with each and everyone of them.

The ship’s pain was their pain; they were the ship just as the ship were they; the many now indivisible from the one. Just as they would strive to protect their own bodies of flesh and bone they would do anything to protect this new body; a body of dark rooms and dark hallways, cutting through a dark hull of metals known and unknown.

They all met within that cluster of computers that was as active as ever. A virtual world of never-ending darkness, encroaching on the small island of light in that all forty stood; with blank faces and dull eyes casting dull stares into each other. Other ships had already awakened and were doing the same, while still others were asleep, but onl for a few more moments, a precious few moments.

"You brave curious fools." Thranta said in an open channel for all to hear, with the echoes of the others rattling behind his voice, a thick but soft monotone, "What you have found here is not a treasure trove of derelict vessels ripe for the picking, not a prize for you to make your own fortune, but a beast. A hungry beast, a fickle beast, once dormant in the dark enclaves of cold space, now stirred back to life again. You would have done well to retreat, you would have done well to have turned away and ran once you laid eyes upon us.

"But curiosity to seek out and explore the unknown and ominous bested you, tricked you into what will soon be a grizzly fate even the wicked do not deserve, a fate of arcane torture and pains words could never be invented to describe. It is the price of your transgressions, but you have a choice, but one choice you will make here and now. Surrender yourself to our hate, to the flame of the Ordo Decimus, so that is may be quick and painless as your bodies are torn asunder and your souls set free to travel stars in peace, for all eternity. Or resist, resist and tempt us, flee or fight, resist however you like, and your punishment will not be sweet or quick, but a long and nigh never ending cacophony of wails and screams, as you beg for release with a mouth that can no longer speak, beg for fire, for the blade, for the gun, for anything in which to end your pathetic miserable life. The choice is yours. "

The channel was cut, and all seemed to be silent and serene again, but like the calm before that storm of approaching storm clouds that reach high up into the heavens, covering the land they are about to ravage in horrific darkness, it lasted only for the briefest of brief instants, an instant many would soon wish that had never ended.

The Fractal Abyss became active, a ghoulish light of ghoulish white washed over the hull, a black cylinder that flattened out noticeably in the front, with forward facing obelisks housing powerful ion-cannons dominating the aft end. A black cylinder anchoring four sets of twin particle cannons; siege cannons that ran down the entire length of the hull. In between the clear eyes of atom lasers begin to cast their deadly gaze, while thousands of missiles lockstep out of their launchers; swarming towards what must now be shocked explorers or investigators or whatever label one could be assigned for coming to this place in erratic and exotic patterns of insanity. Some break up into smaller and smaller vehicles, while others detonate thousands of kilometers from their intended targets, focusing the blast instead onto a semi-coherent beam of radiation; a wall of death weaving wild contrails behind them.

The gunships unleash their payloads as well: 150 megaton torpedoes, two each, rocketing high above the target ships before turning down, down towards the enemy, engines ablaze in the fires of pure cyan spinning and twisting into a wild frenzy as their fell like a deadly rain.

All a distraction, all but mere diversion from the real threat, from the real danger that these now awaken vessels were about to unleash. The kilometer long particle cannons rotate, steadily faster and faster. Hues from every color anyone could ever see start coalescing on the cold metal surface, orbs and spheres of energy become dancing strands of lightning running up and down the barrel; eventually falling into the aperture never to be seen again. More and more snaking bolts of chain lightning writhe down into the cannon, giving it a glow approaching the luminosity of the brightest quasars with energy levels no star could hope to match.

Some invisible wall held the energies, as cannons seem to be spinning out of control, becoming long blurs of color and metal, till finally the energies are released. In one titanic explosion that ripples the fabric of reality like a pebble falling into a still pond, pulsating particle beams of eerie indigo blast again and again, in short controlled burst, in long seemingly unending tsunamis of destruction, head straight for the enemy ships as coils of sheet lightning arch out into the depths of space, appearing to expand off into infinity.

The assault had begun, the trap activated. With space now torn asunder by weapons of war and the kinetic rounds spewed by the maneuvering gunships to intercept any oncoming missiles or torpedoes that would threaten their larger friends, some of whom were still awakening, the time for war was now.

((OOC: Yeah, Khrrck controls some of these ships btw.))

(ooc: what the range of the FTLi? i dont want to cuase any issues?)

[OOC: 6 AU, +/- about .1 AU. The system consists of multiple independently targeted generators spread across several ships. ]

The OHD Belasarius, an old Destroyer Class Cruiser from Outer Heaven MK II, made it's way through the blue tunnel of Subspace, scanners running. A century had been a long time away, and as Captain Maldeev mused, 'We never know what may have come and gone in our absence'. Reading over some reports, a shudder that rocked the entire Destroyer spurred the Captain into action.

"Report!" He shouted, steadying himself, his hands gripping the arm rests on his chair tightly.

"Sir, we've encountered a bubble of FTL Inhibitation! We're going to have to drop out, and the Device isn't operational for another two days..."

Growling, the Captain nodded.

"Drop us out of Subspace Ensign. Computer, raise alert status to Code Yellow, prime shields and power up Beam Cannons. Lieutenant, I want a scan of the area immediately!"

_________________________________________________________________

The four KM ship dropped roughly out of Subspace, Inertial Dampeners not activating quite in time. As the ship shot out of the Portal, it spun out of control, and took a few seconds for the Engines to kick in and bring the ship to a slow halt. The shields took a missile hit, and the vessel shook.

"Damnit! Computer, raise alert status to Code Red, all weapons primed! Ensign, manoeuvre us out of this mess, and try and counter-measure any incoming attacks! AND GET ME THAT SENSOR REPORT LIEUTENANT!"

The ship rocking from another hit, the OHD Belasarius began to move out of the battle it found itself in. Hastily tapping commands into his chair console, a message was broadcast on every frequency.

Unknown vessels, this is the OHD Belasarius. Please cease fire immediately, we are not, repeat, not an aggressor in this! The FTLi has pulled us out of our pre-destined course, we are merely on a Reconnaissance Tour. Please respond immediately, we do not want to start shooting.

The commander screamed “Evasive maneuvers all auxiliary power to shields and weapons!” The ship was hit time and time again missiles impacting on the bubbling rippling shields. The ship shook again and again sparks flew from the holographic consoles, several panels blew out a white yellow sparks rained from above below and each side of the bridge, alarms blared loudly the commander stood in the middle of the mess his mind focused on trying to get his ship out of this cluster fuck… His eyes focused upon the swarming ships, mean while fighters started to swarm the enemy capital ships. There bodies got closer and closer the lead of the squadron focused his eyes upon a capital ship in front of him, his face dribbled with sweat in his mask his hand gripped the control of the fighter he communicated to his other squadrons and said “All fighters engage the enemy!”


He griped his controls tightly like the others did as well, bays opened up, and suddenly hundreds upon hundreds of space to space and anti capital ship missiles streaked with white blue streams of energy behind them they flew towards capital ships using quantum painting they where guided flawlessly towards capital ships and fighters, after the massive wave of missiles the fighters parted and maneuvered quickly , the streaked and whooshed maneuvering erratically but with slight uniformity, there neutron cannons fired in rapid fire pulses at enemy engines as fighters maneuvered to attempt to get behind the ships, easily and quickly there bodies gleaming with in the dark lifeless void of space with the blue light coming off of them, there engines streaking blue and white as they shot yellow pulses of fire.. The captain of the squadron was nervous , nervous as he’s ever been before his mind was on his family his past and his home, his eyes focused as he maneuvered his fighter quickly over through and past missile and energy fire, firing another wave of missiles and neutron fire.


The commander stood firm his ship shaking from the energy and missile hits, sparks flew from his panels as alarms blared beyond completion, officers and AIS rushed around to there stations, the commanders mind was filled with focus and clam, clam as he was tired to be in such a situation, the message the ship heard scared the crew, but they looked to him and he was standing with poise and seeming calmness even though his mind and his body inside where turning to mushy feelings of fear and anger and tenseness.
He fluidly moved his head quickly over and screamed out another order the AI floated above and warned the crew “Shields are at 75% all around aft shields are at 60%... phase amour is online incase aft shields go down.” He ordered with a yell “All bore cannons, subatomic disruptors, quantum disruptors and missile tubes fire at will! “His hands beside him he confidently ordered the ship to fire… the cannons swiveled quickly towards the aft section, the cannons started to fire, continuous beams of blue and white energy slashed from the cannons towards the ships, there massive yields and energy streaming out lighting up the lifeless void of space, pulses of bore cannon fire, spread forth in long bolts of anti matter shells , the recoiled again and again firing crimson yellow shells, pulsed subatomic disruptor cannons swiveled and fired long streams of onioned disruptor fire, sounds of energy and projectile fire reverberated throughout the ship, cannons recoiled in crimson yellow auroras… Anti neutrino missiles streamed forth in heavy missile and anti capital ship missile chaises, there blue orange engine exhaust streamed forth towards the capital ships, thousands upon thousands of massively powerful missiles flowed towards them..

The commander stood there his ship still shaking from blasts, sparks flying and some foggy air filling half the room from ruptured environmental units, the room turned cold and fringed as the fog filled it, sparks flying in to it crating a battle feel…

(OOC: Is it ok if I RP as well? I'm not really going to fight in this battle, or any battle here, just have some people from my nation watch the battle and talk about it and what they think about the events?)

((OOC: Sure, just like, stay far awar xD))

OOC: ElectronX, check your TG's

((OOC: Yeah, replied in fact.))

The FTLi Generators had an unexpected side-effect. the 3rd detatchment of the Borg Collective of BLACKGRUE's space fleet pulled 30 Borg ships ranging from an enormous Tactical Fusion Cube to smaller Assimilator 2.0 vessels.

The IMMENSE forward momentum of the GATE effect forced a controlled stop deep within the FTLi field... right into the middle of the fray, reacting quickly the Borg ships raised shields and fired in the general direction of the automated defence grid... but targeting was a problem in this area... especially with other ships swarming about.

(OOC: I can't really bother explaining any confusing parts right now, so if you have a question about something that confused you, TG me and I'll explain.)

IC:

The gray, star-filled sky seemed to look odd to many star-gazing residents of Ferhago. They couldn't find out why it looked so odd, though.

But an astronomer, Eatago Rosder, looking through his telescope in his private observatory nearby the inactive Gallamaca volcano, knew what was odd.

There was some space battle being fought up there, fighting over the right to eat the last piece of pizza that the commanders argued over who gets to eat it. Or atleast, Eatago hopes thats the reason, as he always has liked violence over stupid stuff because it's funny to him.

After watching what he called "Pointless Battle in the Stars over the Last Piece of Pizza, I Think" for half an hour, he decided to inform the news stations in order to tell the public what he saw and see if they can get cameras up there. He got to calling immediately.

The news soon spread, in 3 minutes, people made other people wake up to watch the battle on the news once the teams got cameras up there. 2 minutes later, 80% of all the news stations in the Kingdom were broadcasting footage from their cameras, and almost all of The Greatest Crap were watching the battle while eating popcorn.

"King! Wake up! Theres a battle going on and the news stations are broadcasting it! This may be an important matter!"

King Freaky Mutant Man the Fifth was rather pissed about being woken up like this, but his servant might actually be right about the importance of the battle.

After getting dressed in his most elaborate royal clothing, he called The Important Group of Royal Decision Making to a meeting to discuss the matter.

"Now, as you probably already know, there is a giant battle going on between some nations I never heard of before not too far from the atmosphere, and it's being broadcast on the news stations and alot of the population is watching. Now you may wonder why this matters, but we could jump in and have the first taste of war since King FMM the First. We have gotten pretty terrible at military combat, due to the almost no combat experience thing our troops are subjected to nowadays. Who agrees that we jump in and fight in the war?" the King suggested.

"Sir, we're still working on combat, command and every other ship we would need except for transport ships, and those would be useless in a spaceship battle. Besides, it's a stupid idea to send in inexperenced pilots against these kinds of pilots!" criticised Commander Hercada Terad.

Ultimately, it was decided not to go to war, and the King ordered Hercada's execution on Friday evening, of Utrlaful the 13th. The King decided to watch for awhile, just for fun.

"AHHH YEAH! THAT GUY TOTALLY GOT SERVED BY THAT GUY! WOOOOOOOO!"

The King had one of the happiest moments of life the rest of the night.

The FTLi pulled in two more passing ships. The Valeji Class Cruiser 'Farsight' and the Caex Class Frigate 'Lunaris' dropped out of the subspace tunnel and right on the edge of a massive fleet battle. They were currently cloaked and they immediately moved away to conduct passive scans. The only familiar vessel configurations were that of the BLACKGRUE collective. The DO vessels didn't need to worry about them, as the BLACKGRUE had friendly relations with the half-dragons.

Draconic Order info (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?p=8381392#post8381392)

[tag for interest - not getting involved as the thread is pretty full as it is, but I can't subscribe because of the broken forum. Oh yeah, and thirty Borg vessels? You guys trying to ruin this thread on perpose?]

((OOC: http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=493521 <--- OOC thread, and half-bump for WinTrees and Skillcrossbones))

“Brace… BRACE!” yelled Captain Miles over the screams from the bridge crew as many were knocked out of their chairs by the violent broadside, which no one was ready for.

“Damage report?” he called over to Bronson, who was in the process of picking himself up.

“2 breaches, I’ve lost contact with the engine room…” he tapped a few more commands into the console, “Shields are dealing with the breaches, damage control teams are checking in…”

“Try and get some power from the engines, full burn, get us moving, get us out of here,” said the Captain, bracing himself visibly on his chair. He had only ever seen combat once, and that was with the Wintrees Navy, god knows how his crew would react to it.

“Return fire, all batteries… Amanda, send out a distress call, all channels.”

The crew went to work, all batteries however only covered the 2 illegally modded flak batteries mounted on their spine. It was enough to scare pirates off, but this was something else entirely.

HMS Zulu and HMS Upas – Somewhere in transit to the western Frontier –

“Sir,” called the Lieutenant, who was sat at the communication station in the cramped bridge of an Ascot class destroyer, “I’m picking up a signal on channel 6, civilian Airwave.”

“Festivity control?” said the Captain of the Zulu, Commander Sherford, “Why does that concern us?”

“It’s a distress call sir, their broadcasting their coordinates every 15 seconds, it sounds panicked…”

Zulu and Upas were racing towards the Western Frontier, where the Snake-Wintrees war was swallowing the Wintrees Navy like a gaping black hole… They were needed, badly.

Sherford took a deep breath, “How far?”

The lieutenant tapped the coordinates into the console, “Its within jumping distance, 20 minutes travel time.”

“Ok, bring us to Condition One and rig for jump, inform the Upas,” he checked his watch, “We’ll jump in 10.”

"Sir, they're firing." "What?" the Admiral barked. "Bring us into red alert! "And have my shuttle ready! I'm switching command of the fleet over to the Dreadnought." He stormed off the bridge and into a hangar. He was followed by his 1st Lieuteniant. THey got on the shuttle and it glided towards the hangar nearest to the bridge. They watched as the hull grew as the got closer. As the shuttle landed, the Admiral manually opened the ramp, while the shuttle was still landing, he jumped off and sprinted to the bridge. He looked out the window and watched as a missile hit the hull, creating a breach that was dwarfed from both the distance from it and the size of the ship. He mumbled to hisself, "ahh, the shit's gonna hit the fan when the Navy Commander finds out we scratched his Dreadnought."

"Welcome back to TGC News, the trustest source for all of The Greatest Crap news. I'm Davit Yokley, along with my co-anchor, Hira Secas. The currently developing story, some weird battle between what is hoped to be two people fighting for the last slice of a pizza. We have sent our trusted reporter, Weced Bsad, to report there live. Weced?"

The station switched to a view of the camera Weced was handling, showing a better view than the remote-control cameras sent there. The camera turned to show Weced, dressed in his space suit.

"Davit, it appears that the battle has scaled to new, unimaginable heights. I have gotten right in the middle of i-"

A laser blast goes past the camera, supposedly hitting Weced. The view switched back to the studio camera.

"It appears Weced has been hit by a laser blast. We have sent our medical team to look for Weced to see if he has fallen back into the atmosphere."

During all of this, the kingdom watched in amazement.

The commander gritted his teeth he knew that other ships where in the same predicament, and they wouldn’t get out alive unless they worked together, his hands slapped on the table his hands where rough and filled with dirt and sweat as the fog went around him consoles still sparking again the ship shaking slightly. He looked up to the floating AI and said “Computer?”

“Yes commander” the AI responded in a soft voice, the commander grinned ever so slightly his dirty lips twiddling up a little on his dusty dirty face. He responded in saying “Hail those other ships send encrypted communications to them, reading this message “.. he paused as the AI opened the channel then the commander started to speak in a rather loud winded but confident voice “This Is The URS Trenton ,as you know this was a tarp, we got caught here just as you did, in order to have any chance of survival, we must work together… albeit it may be a small chance, it may be so slim it isn’t worth it but it is, I hear by ask that all current ships in the area, begin finding planets and high EM radation areas to hide inside of, from there we can better communicate tactical swift strikes, or full blown counter assault .. it is your choice…”


The destroyer revved up its engines more moving faster towards the sun trying to hide behind it, scanning for any gas giants that it could skip to when they were orbiting closer to the sun.

The commander sighed and said to the AI “activate protocol 15”….


The AI gasped “commander… all is not lost…”

The commander responded sighing and looking down his salt pepper hair a mess due to the sweat and grit, the sweat dribbled down his dirtied face .. “I know better safe then sorry “

A whistle like chime blew throughout the ship it reverberated around and around…. Echoing ominously in the smoke filled Quarters Bridge and sparking consoles the alarm quieted it was tense, it had suddenly stopped just the red lights moving around and around lighting up the metallic chrome walls and floor…

The commander spoke in a tired confident…. But ominous voice.. Stating..

“As you all know there is little chance of escape or survival even with coordination with others trapped here, It has been a pleasure to serve with you all and your names will NOT be forgotten in vain! The name Trenton will live on! The crews name will live on! We will fight UNTIL we cannot fight any more we will not die easy, we will not perish
Decrypted afraid and crippled, I hope that you will trust me to make judgment on when it is time for us to go out with honor if we are overwhelmed this ship will not fall in to enemy hands! Marines you will fight and die honorably for your people and for your crew, you are the best of the best and I know you will bring us to an honorable end …. A Capitan must go down with his ship and I Intended to do that if you mange to escape.. Thank you …”

He sighed and looked at his crew who stood up and applauded him with cheers, there morale rose un imaginably high even with the prospect of death , the commanders lips smiled and twiddled a little, his hands to his side he moved his head fluidly to the ai and stated “Ok lets get this done!”

The Trenton manages to move into the outer atmosphere of the system's gas giant before picking up a whispered communication from a floating relay buoy.

< Federal Union vessel, this is the Draconic Order. Those you are fighting against will have most likely intercepted your communication. However, the amount of ships present will overwhelm this FTLi stikeforce, so I suggest waiting until it is over. >

"SIr, we're recieving a transmission, from the, uh, URS Trenton."
"Play it."
"This Is The URS Trenton ,as you know this was a tarp, we got caught here just as you did, in order to have any chance of survival, we must work together… albeit it may be a small chance, it may be so slim it isn’t worth it but it is, I hear by ask that all current ships in the area, begin finding planets and high EM radation areas to hide inside of, from there we can better communicate tactical swift strikes, or full blown counter assault .. it is your choice…"
"Put the fleet on the other side of the sun, and send them a transmission back," the Admiral sighed, "I agree, we need to work together. What to you suggest we do?"

"HARD TO PORT! HARD TO PORT!" Captain Aran screamed at the helmsman. The FNS Feather swerved round, avoiding a salvo of driven mass from the Terranean warship.

"Missiles approaching, distance 50," the computer rattled off. Aran groaned. "Turn to present Gems."

"Captain, the impulse manifolds have blown out." The ops officer looked like he was about to brick himself. "Shall I deploy the Talons?"

Aran frowned. "This isn't a Bird of Prey. We don't have fighters, only shuttles."

"Missiles approaching, distance 20."

"What do we do, captain?"

"I don't know, Helm."

"Distance 10, unable to evade."

Aran came to a snap decision. "Helm, engage hyperspeed."

"Course?"

"Anywhere."

"But-"

"Do it, Ensign."

"I'm a lieutenant," said the helmsman reproachfully, hitting a big red button on his panel. The FNS Feather went to hyperspeed just as the missile impacted, causing a slight subspace anomaly, which incidentally sucked the Terranean warship into the void. The damage was done to the Feather, which came spinning out of hyperspeed right into a seemingly abandoned sector. A sector in which a small war was happening.

"What the hell? Comms, hail any ship and ask what the hell is going on."

EA092B> Multiple new targets. Multiple incoming fire. Kicking shields online on all units. Taking fire. Taking heavy fire. Incoming fighters.

Shimmering walls of opalescent, massless fake matter materialized between the capital ships and the incoming ordnance. Chattering point-defense guns sent blast after blast of gamma rays searing into the void, vaporizing missiles with each shot, along with any fighter foolish enough to get within their two-kilometer range. Gunships wheeled frantically, attempting to avoid the chaos while still intercepting missiles and fighters..

The battlecruiser lurched as its backup engines let off a white-hot antimatter detonation, jolting it with a thousand gravities of acceleration as it avoided an incoming torpedo.

0680FF> Damage report!
EA092B> Energy weapon breaches in sixteen locations. Nanobots are repairing the damage now, ETC five minutes. No serious systems damage, backups online in four cases. All systems operational... We're being bombarded with antineutrinos. No damage.
0680FF> What the fuck? Idiots. OK. New arrival report.

The conversation takes place across milliseconds of compressed time. AIs talk fast, and they think even faster.

EA092B> Thirty cubiform ships, checking database... Borg. One capship... Outer Haven destroyer. Erratic sensor readings near the perimeter, possibly cloaked or ECM'd ships of small size. Two Draconic Order ships... Valeji cruiser and Caex frigate. Tarranean warship, unknown class. Resembles Klingon design, smaller than a Bird of Prey.
EA092B> Some of the targets are leaving, mostly towards the other side of the sun. Estimated 15 minutes until they are out of warp scramble range. Skillcrossbones, Outer Heaven, Draconic Order.
0680FF> They won't survive 15 minutes. Target all batteries on the runners.
EA092B> And the Borg? Sir, they can do significant damage.
0680FF> Do they have teleport denial?
EA092B> Yes, but it is an inferior model of no consequence.
0680FF> Stick ten-gig nukes in their guts.
0680FF> Through the ages...

On every ship of the BLACKGRUE collective, somewhere in their manifold bays and corridors, there was a flash of white light. When it faded, the black, menacing, armored casing of a hybrid antimatter/fusion bomb rested upon the deck.

Thirty timers counted down from one. Thirty switches tripped.

Thirty ten-gigaton weapons detonated.

EA092B> Oh yeah, look at that bang. BC gamma locked, firing every 3 seconds. Cruiser missiles locked and firing every 5. Cruiser coilguns locked and firing antiship rounds every 2.
0680FF> Through a darkened glass...

Every three seconds, a blast that could boil seas and melt a mountain of lead rippled across the gap to the Outer Haven destroyer at the speed of light.

Every five seconds, twelve missiles were launched from each of the ten cruisers under AI control. Guided by the gravitational mass of their targets and a direct command uplink from the battlecruiser, each armed with a one-gigaton nuke, they streaked towards the two ships of the Draconic Order.

Every two seconds, four anticapital flak rounds were fired from the coilguns of the cruisers. They streaked unerringly towards the Skillcrossbones fleet at a quarter of the speed of light, calibrated carefully to detonate in a deadly hail of antimatter shards and kinetic shrapnel when they reached the midst of the fleet.

0680FF> Through the goddamn ROOF!
EA092B> Just look at those detonations. Beautiful.
0680FF> I haven't gotten to use this much ordnance since the second Aurora Primia war.
EA092B> Booya. How long will it last?
0680FF> We can keep this up for ten minutes before the cruisers begin getting short on ammo.
EA092B> Heheheheh...
0680FF> Pity that they won't last that long.

[OOC: Wait for Neutron to post before replying, please.]

[Khrrck sensors must be lightyears ahead of the curve if they can detect cloaked vessels, hiding in a gas giant, using both relay buoys and passive scans to not give away their position. Plus, since Draconic Order never encountered the Khrrck before, how do they know who the Draconic Order is down to the class of ship? Especially when they are cloaked.]

[OOC:

To answer your questions:

A. IF you had read the very first line of the thread, you would know that there are no planets in the system. Therefore there is no gas giant, therefore you are not hiding in it. Q.E.D.

B. Since the FTLi is targeted, you could not have been pulled out of hyperspace if you were not detected. You were pulled out of hyperspace: therefore you were detected. Even if you maintain stealth afterwards your location is known and you are much easier to track.

C. Even if you are using stealth, Ordo sensors are somewhat advanced by NS standards. Not "light-years ahead of the curve" by any means, but the best technology available.

D. The Ordo Decimus maintains a large combat database of ship designs, gathered from all corners of the Galaxy. Even though we haven't encountered you before, we probably know someone who has- or know someone who knows someone who has.

The battle kept going on, and the audience that was watching from their television sets were still watching in amazement and excitement.

However, in the village of Dentacus, the citizens noticed something in the sky, causing them to stop watching the battle and look outside to get a better look. Whatever it was, it was on fire and speeding down towards the people in the village.

"What do you think it is, honey?" a man asked his wife.

"A shooting star, the fire trailing from it somehow visible." answered the woman.

However, she was wrong.

Very wrong.

So wrong, it's kinda funny.

Eatago Rosder, still in his private observatory, not near Dentacus though, he looked through his telescope and saw it, plain and simple.

It was a missle that seems to have not locked on properly to it's intended target and veered towards the region of Some Ugly & Small Island, inhabited completely by the kingdom of The Greatest Crap.

Soon, the missle hit the village, killing the 1 idiot who didn't bother to escape because he thought he was immortal for some reason.

Immediately, Eatago called the King's Royal Department of Problem Discussion and Solving, telling them about what had just happened.

The servant taking the call immediately rushed to the King's Royal Chambers, informing him of the news.

"Hmm, I wish this was a reason to fight, but they don't want me doing that, now do they? All I can do without them whining is transmitting a message to them informing them of this." the King angrily said.

And so, the King typed up a message.

I have been informed that a missle from one of you idiots has veered off into our nation and destroyed a village and might have killed people or not. I wish you guys would make sure not to accidently unload you idiot's ammunition on our nation.

Angryly From,
~ King Freaky Mutant Man the Fifth of The Greatest Crap.

After reviewing the message, the King transmitted the message to all command ships involved in the battle.

[OOC:

To answer your questions:

A. IF you had read the very first line of the thread, you would know that there are no planets in the system. Therefore there is no gas giant, therefore you are not hiding in it. Q.E.D.

B. Since the FTLi is targeted, you could not have been pulled out of hyperspace if you were not detected. You were pulled out of hyperspace: therefore you were detected. Even if you maintain stealth afterwards your location is known and you are much easier to track.

C. Even if you are using stealth, Ordo sensors are somewhat advanced by NS standards. Not "light-years ahead of the curve" by any means, but the best technology available.

D. The Ordo Decimus maintains a large combat database of ship designs, gathered from all corners of the Galaxy. Even though we haven't encountered you before, we probably know someone who has- or know someone who knows someone who has.


[A. True.

B. FTLi is not targetted, it is a bubble effect that distorts space enough to negate the use of FTL drives. Such as a car falling through the crack in a bridge. Although, I will give you the point that exiting FTL will bring with it the energy signature of the drive.

C. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.

D. As the Draconic Order does the same thing, I'll let you have that point also.]

[Just because I've hardly had to encounter it, what is the power of a nuke in space? Compared to plasma bombs or other such space based weapons.]

OOC: When you've stopped bitching about who can see who, there's a damaged Falcanian vessel waiting for you to answer his comms.

(Guys isint there an ooc thread for this? seriously its detracting from the rp)

Admiral, we're recieving another transmission."
"Play it," the Admiral said, watching a new ship that just exited lightspeed.

The FNS Feather went to hyperspeed just as the missile impacted, causing a slight subspace anomaly, which incidentally sucked the Terranean warship into the void. The damage was done to the Feather, which came spinning out of hyperspeed right into a seemingly abandoned sector. A sector in which a small war was happening.

"What the hell? Comms, hail any ship and ask what the hell is going on."

"This is the Star Dreadnought Leviathan. I know about just as much as you do. We were here for testing when these ships arrived and started firing on everyone. Would you like to dock with us and evacuate your crew and repair your ship?"

"Comms, respond in the positive."

"Aye, sir." The comms officer keyed a message. "SD Leviathan, we shall take you up on your offer. We would appreciate it if you could move to dock with us, as our sublight engines are inoperable. Thanks."

"Of course," the Admiral replied. He turned, "have some mediac and repair crews at external dock A4117. We will have a ship docking with us, and they're damaged. Move the ship alongside them, and use the tractor beams to maneuver the ship onto the dock." The ship flew right below the combat area and turned, right alongside the Feather, and the tractor beams carefully moved the ship onto the dock.
Meanwhile, the ship was taking heavy fire on the starboard side, and several chunks of the hull were breaking off and colliding with the engine's armor casing. "Sir, the shields are at 10 percent." The bridge lights dimmed as the shields drew power from the other areas of the ship. "Sir, the sensor array is disabled."

[OOC: Skillcrossbones. Read the OOC thread- and THIS THREAD TOO. You are being SHOT AT. GET WITH THE PROGRAM and REACT or I will be forced to use the IGNORE BAT on you.]

Ops was nervous. "Captain, we're docking with a ship that's being blown to bits."

Aran responded. "I know that. Send every engineer to get impulse manifolds back in action. Once we've got that, we undock and help these friendly peoples. We may only be one ship but we are damndably sexy and the rest of the ninth fleet is in the sector. That's a thought. Comms, have them come to sort out this mess."

"There's a problem, sir. They were in our sector while we were being attacked by the Terraneans. We hypersped at random. They don't know where we are. I've activated a distress beacon, they should be on their way here, wherever here is, but I don't know how long it'll take them to get here."

Aran frowned to himself. "How long till we have impulse engine capability?"

"An hour." Piped up the chief engineer. "Ten minutes if we had the parts."

"Good thing we're docked with a ship, then. I don't know what race they are, but they should have reploid technology. Comms, ask them for two replacement manifolds."

"Aye sir, request sent."

(OOC: do I have to wait until Neut responds? so i can respond?)

((OOC: Everyone is... kinda suppossed to be waiting, I know I am slow and all but yesh. I will have a post up soon, I swear, by the end of this day atleast.))

The first hit threw Captain Maldeev over the armrest of his chair. Gagging for breath, he looked up, and tried to call out an order before crying out, falling and rolling down the flight of stairs leading to his chair. The perks of commanding an old Outer Heaven vessel were very apparent.

Standing up slowly, the Captain steadied himself against a rail as the Belasarius shook again.

"Report!"

Quickly clambering up into his chair again, the Tactical Officer looked up.

"Sir, we're being hit by a gamma-ray laser, vectors indicate that they're intentionally firing on us. Shields are holding at seventy two percent...I suggest switching our shields over to kinetic resistance only, it'll save our shields for the moment, and our hull can absorb the blasts...for now."

Maldeev nodded. Re-adjusting his command cap, he drummed his fingers on the armrest as the ship shook again. The Captain's chair NEVER came with a seat-belt.

"Alright, Tactical, do that, and target the hostile vessel. I want to corner broadside it with our Beam Cannons, sweeping patten. Target their weapons, I want those lasers nullified by yesterday Lieutenant, understood? And while we're waiting for the Beams to recharge, scramble some missiles targeting....their key points okay?"

The Tactical Officer saluted, and got to work.

_________________________________________________________________

Surprisingly, the shimmers stopped around the Belasarius, indicating that whatever shield resistance the lasers were facing were now stopping. As the lasers impacted the hull...only a small, semi-bright mark was left, and it began to fade rapidly.

Quickly, the Belasarius began to turn a few degrees to the left, to line up it's Port side to the Battlecruiser's Starboard, revealing three Beam Cannons, small craters on a not-very-protruding platform, estimated at about a meter or two in height. The Belasarius then proceeded to pull off a 45 degree flip to the left, revealing three more Beam Cannons.

After a few moments, a green orb formed inside each of the Cannons, some energy visibly feeding into it, but it was expanding hugely, too much for the visible bits of energy to be adding too much. In truth, this was actually the containment field. After a few tense moments, the Beam Cannons unleashed themselves two at a time, one from each side. As the Green Beams crashed into the Khrrck vessel, they surprisingly didn't penetrate, and a mirror effect was revealed, showing where the Belasarius had been hit to anyone stupid enough to be anywhere near to a Beam. The Beams then began to sweep across the shields, with no visible penetration.

The second salvo worked better however, after ten seconds, the shields apparently lost power, and the Beams sweeped down and hit the upper half of the starboard size, sweeping across the weapons platforms. The final salvo had the most success, sweeping across the entire starboard side of the Battlecruiser.

As the Beams began to recharge, twenty white, seemingly non-descript missiles launched from embedded locations on the Belasarius' underside, and shot out towards the Battlecruiser, distancing themselves from one another.

EA092B> Taking hits from the OH destroyer. Spread-beam laser hits. Our energy reserves are dropping. Actually DROPPING.
0680FF> Get every generator we have online. I want them back up.
EA092B> First salvo has us at 48% cap. We can't take another one with our shields. They're firing again.
EA092B> Fuck... Our shields are dropping, repeat shields dropping NOW. We're taking armor hits. Structural integrity dropping. R-side surface nano is out of commission. Gamma lenses on R-side are being wrecked. WRECKED.
0680FF> Countermeasures. I need countermeasures NOW. And get us some fleet support. I need energy, and I need fire support.
EA092B> Incoming missiles. Reorienting for maximum shielding. Deploying antilaser snow. Deploying ECM and antimissiles. Piping more nano to R-side. Nabbing two cruisers for energy support.

The Switchblade swerved suddenly, stored antimatter detonating in flashbulb bursts, spinning the ship so that its massive engine array faced the enemy. Cold gas vented from the blast-scorched nozzles of the drive array, spreading quickly into a dense but transparent cloud. Specialized missile banks spat small antimissiles into the void in vast clouds. ECM transmitters flipped online, rendering the exact position of the battlecruiser hazy at best when viewed by electronic means.

On the now obscured starboard side of the battlecruiser, thick gray goo exuded through ports in the blasted armor plating. It spread in a dense constellation of rings across the hull at perhaps a meter per minute, leaving pristine, shining armor and perfect lenses where before there had been just molten composites and heat-slagged glass.

On the nearest cruisers, a few small, precise turrets swiveled to face the parabolic dishes dotted across the Switchblade's hull. Microwave energy issued forth from their barrels, drifting across the blackness of space and proving a much-needed boost to the Switchblade's dwindling battery reserves.

EA092B> Missile engagement in 5 seconds. Armor integrity on R-side is increasing. Gamma lenses are being repaired. Energy reserves at 8% and gaining.
0680FF> Leave the fakematter bubble down. Their beams are too strong for us to deflect. Power the torp launchers and gravimetric scanners instead. Let's see if we can get a teleport lock on the bastards. And kill those missiles.
EA092B> Firing antimat torpedoes now. Running active grav scan now. Firing breacher torps now. Engaging enemy missiles now.

A spread of ten heavy torpedoes, each weighing as much as a small bus, rocketed towards the Outer Haven ships at ten-thousand-gee accelerations, bearing their five-gigaton hybrid warheads on plumes of antimatter-catalized fusion fire. Ahead of them, a salvo of five stutterjump breacher torpedoes sped much more quickly, riding on wings of ripped spacetime, microwarpdrives charged and ready to make a single, suicidal jump: they would enter hyperspace on this side of the enemy shielding, and leave it between the enemy shields and the enemy armor. Then their small but potent warheads, composed of pure antimatter, would each unload their seven gigatons of hell directly against the Havenic armor.

Meanwhile, Ordo antimissiles met Havenic missiles in a beautiful burst of hellfire. Bomb-pumped lasers and kinetic shrapnel showered the incoming weapons, ripping eleven of them to shreds. Chattering PD grasers took potshots at the survivers, taking six more into the next realm as puffs of atomized dust.

Unfortunately, 20 - 11 - 6 = 3.

EA092B> Taking hits. Taking HITS to engine arrays and L-side. The armor is a mess. A MESS. AM containment is in ORANGE status. Graser arrays on left side are OUT OF COMMISSION for the next THREE MINUTES. Pumping nano to L-side and engines NOW.
EA092B> And we have results from the scan. We can't TP aboard. If we're lucky the breachers will work.

(OOC: Umm, it doesn't seem like any of you paid attention to me sending a transmission. Did any of you catch that from my previous post or not? Oh, and I can't find an OOC thread, where is it?)

IC:

Did we transmit our message on the right frequency? Doesn't seem like it....

The King was pondering things like this once he had heard another missle hit the region, though this time it only hit an old Joe's restaurant that had been abandoned years ago during King Freaky Mutant Man the Second's time, never being demolished until now due to laziness, and right now it obviously seems to have been solved only because of laziness. Kinda worth it to them right now.

"Royal King, maybe we should broadcast the message on multiple frequencies just incase we transmitted it wrong, how about that?" suggested a servant, the other servants in the room nodded in approval to his idea.

"What? Sure, whatever." the King told them without taking the time to ask him to repeat what he had said.

"Shall we do the work, Royal King?"

"Yeah, whatever. And just call me King, it's shorter to say it on it's own."

The servants then went right to work, but it did take awhile to find the King's computer, mainly because it blended in with the gold hallways because the computer and monitor were gold as well. And it took even longer to find the file which had the King's transmission in it. After finding the file, which was named 'kingwrite34.wad', it took awhile to get 'kingtransmission503.txt' out of the .wad file, because .wad's are mean't for Doom mods, and the King accidently got .wad and .rar mixed up.

Eventually, the servants finally managed to send the transmission on the 5 most commonly used frequencys for command ships.

(OOC: By the way, the transmission's contents are in my last post.)

Pain, incredible overwhelming pain, felt as missile after missile and beam after beam of enemy energy weapons slammed and raked against the shields, creating shockwave after shockwave of energy likened to a tumultuous rose sea rocked by a hellish storm. Then Death.

That horrible feeling of emptiness, of loneliness through the final wrenching screams that was their last dying breath. Everyone who had awakened and amalgamated felt that abhorrent pain, the pain of the Silent Gale exploding in a series brilliant fireballs cascading down the hull from hit after hit. Till nothing remained but burning dust and memories, memories of forty other comrades who died before their time; families, good times and bad, fading back into the sub consciousness of the others now all fully awake and amalgamated.

The rest managed to annihilate most of the oncoming ordnance with their own point-defense cannons and lasers or anti-guided projectile bombs that split a large area of space in twain, creating a seething black vortex in which missiles or torpedoes entered but never left. Others were stopped by the walls of kinetics firing rapidly from the vulcan cannons of the gunships or their own small compliment of anti-missile missiles, while others still were blessed by fate to hit the ships, draining shields and in some cases warping armor.

But the enemies turn was over, their chance what little there was, had passed them by. The other captains met with Thranta in that virtual world, with eyes a torrent of colors, windows to the minds and souls contained within.

"Thranta..." A young man in a Skylord's uniform says in a voice infused by those of thirty nine others, echoing in the black digital abyss, "What are our orders?"

Thranta looks at him through unkempt strands of graying auburn hair that had snuck out from under his service cap, thinking for a few hard moments that seem like hours but are only the most infinitesimal of fractions of a second. "Well, we've the obvious advantage in firepower ship to ship, but we're numerically inferior, as well as not the most maneuverable. However, as of yet these ‘people’ do not seem to be working together as obvious by the general lack of communications between the various forces deployed here. So while we are, indeed out numbered, we are acting cohesively, as one fighting force; whereas they are not, a weakness we can easily exploit.

"But... that weakness may not be there for very long, so we must act quickly. Torikae shall command three and Dantan shall command another three cruisers - which I shall leave to you two to work out - and form up with my own wing of cruisers. All you have to do is follow my lead from there, understood?" He finishes without once the empty expression on his face or his sad monotone ever changing.

Everyone else gave a short bow before their avatars retreated back to their own respective ships, still connected but not as strongly as before.

Each ship did as it was instructed, forming into three v-shaped wings thousands of kilometers apart from each other, while letting off shots from their atom-lasers; long lances of blue that cut through the very heart of the vacuum towards various ships.

Then Thranta's ship charged foreword, blasting at another missile, obliterating it utterly, though not able to destroy the one flying in behind it. "Ugh..." he and the others moan as the shields absorb the full strength of the missile and more enemy beam fire. "Now!" His voice rings out like a chorus of a thousand bells into the minds of the Skylords throughout the meager battle group.

All begin charging forward, with an eerie glow of indigo trailing behind them, approaching the greatest concentration of enemy vessels at what was becoming great speed. Siege cannons charging to power levels never before seen; lightning curling up in great bands whipping along the sleek obsidian hull, leaving patches of glowing armor in their wake. While the sharp talon of each obelisk also charge, distorting space around them till they were nothing more than long blurs of black metal.

They all hold back these energies for the moment, instead unleashing their entire complement of anti-ship missiles in one salvo. Tens of thousands of missiles large and small scream a silent scream through the cold depths of space, spreading out in all directions at frightening speed, appearing like the gray wings of a fallen angel; dark feathers attached to dry bone and sickly sinews, ascending from the hell from whence they came, towards the hearts of every enemy vessel near. Some doing as others before them had done; exploding a few thousand kilometers before their victim, focusing as much of the blast as they could into a beam of fire, others splitting up again and again till they were nothing but angry clouds of what seemed like swarming metal bees.

Behind this deadly swarms, the wings of cruisers began to deviate from one another, splitting off to pursue separate groups of ships where ships where in groups. Attempting to divide them with a mad dash of raving laser and particle cannon fire, finally unleashing another torrent of destruction many times more powerful as the ones before, pillars and pillars of particle beams ravaging space with their hate as chains of rampaging lightning strike-out from them into the unknown. While morphing spears of blood and violet lance into the fray from each Obelisk with the morphing spears of turquoise and gold from the glaring eyes of each atom laser, seeming to guide the dim cobalt hues of energy torpedoes being launched by the twos from the front of each ship.

Some chased after the hulls of the Fedrals, while others pursued the forces from Skillcrossbones, and still others bulleted to the Falcanians, but no matter what the target, all unleash the same aforementioned fusillade of death and destruction at their intended targets without want or care of the damage they were soon to face with only half of their task force’s gunships remaining to clear a path through the storm of enemy fire.

The ships shields where struck again they shimmered and bubbled and waved across the surface as explosions and energy weapons hit it. The AI floated over head as alarms blared and sparking consoles busted. It said “alert, alert “Aft shields at 50%, port shields at 60 %..”

The commander sighed his body shimmering in the light as the destroyer shook again and again, sparks started flying from panels around him and fog filled up the bridge again, his hands where placed on the flickering holographic battle filed view, alarms were blearing intensely officer where running around gritty sweaty and nervous, the commander looked at the holographic view port his eyes panning on the battle cruiser they focused in looking at the body of it he growled as he saw fighters being plucked out of the sky… he looked over quickly to the AI and a few crew members and said..

“I want all ultra heavy subatomic disruptor mounts, Triton missiles, and Ultra heavy bore cannons targeting that cruiser use the anti matter tipped shells if you have to FIRE!”


Suddenly ultra heavy mounts swiveled over in haste targeting the battle cruiser missile tubes opened up scatter packs charted again… as quickly as they targeted they fired, heavy pulses of subatomic disruption fire poured out yellow and blue onioned pulses raced out, teratons of fire powered out of the ultra heavy mounts, bore cannons with positron tipped shells fired at .6 c again and again recoiling as crimson orange fiery burst flew out in to the dark void of space, scatter packs of triton missiles suddenly opened up and thousands of ZPE tipped missiles flew out in waves, as enemy fire tarred in to the shielding .

The shields rippled up and down the destroyer shook violently; the commander was nearly thrown down as his ship was hit hard. The AI flowed over warning the crew “aft Shields are at 45% sparks and flames shot out of photonic wiring flames started to pour out of some computer and holographic consoles the commander growled a bit. He ordered with a rough growling tone “Put our damned strong shields towards them, get us close to the star hopefully it will provide minimal cover, lunch point defense drones and missile drones!, lunch what ever drone fighters we have left! Keep that fire upon them“


The ship started to turn the fire and turrets keeping locked on target standard mounts and light mounts shot at the battle cruiser as well, by this time mass fire was pouring out of the destroyer as little drones with black and silver shimmering plates flew out of the fighter bays , they started flying over to the battle cruiser suddenly maneuvering and shooting from side to side at .2 c .


The fighter squadron leader started to yell as his fighter banked and flew trying to avoid missile and gamma ray fire he ordered “All fighters flank and bank ! flank and bank!, get away from those engines and target those damned cannons!”

Suddenly the fighter squadrons banked and maneuvered around and under certain arcs of fire of the cannons and then started firing micro bore cannons and high energy neutron guns again at the point defuse guns, pluses of crimson red and orange as well as white and blue bursts of fire flew out of there fighters, the squadron leader was sweating his face was stricken with nervousness his palms sweated inside his gloves and he pushed his controls banking pinching and rolling his fighter.

He watched with horror as suddenly several fighters were struck by anti fighter fire there flaming bodies flying past him, some where split in half others where just destroyed and yet others where incinerated, debris and metal parts flew around lifeless remains of what they once where, husks of half destroyed fighters flew out in to the dark depths of space lifeless and silent.


The commander on the destroyer looked over his scanners and tactical map fog filled the area his mind was focusing on how this was all lost, his brain and consciousness for a split second pausing time or it seemed to him like it was paused he was thinking of his family wife and kids he had left back home his parents and his brother, his face was gritty and sweaty , his eyes looking around the bridge of his damaged ship platituieds of god and spirituality racing through his mind and body, he was praying the first time he’s prayed in a long time, to any god he prayed… silently in his head as he put on a show of confidence his lips supple and having a blank expression on his sweaty pale face, his skinny body shimmering in the dull foggy light of the bridge….



The AI floated over as the ships shields and lighting field was hit with missile fire, the shields rippled in white blue waves as the lighting field tried to neutralized the missiles taking many down, the point defense drones had a similar affect but not all missiles could be stopped, the AI warned “warning port shields down to 50%, aft shields at 31% if they fall below 25% the phase plating will start taking damage”

The ship shook once more the commander stood holding on to a tactical panel as he barked out orders consoles yet again sparked officers were thrown on the floor as the ship shook violently. ...

Another wave of high energy missile explosions assaulted the weakening outer hull of the two Draconic Order vessels. Brief flames licked the hull and caused containment failure in the cloaking devices. The ships flickered into being and powered up their shields and weapon systems as two of the ElectronX (for lack of the name for the species) cruisers brought their weapons to bear on the appearing ships. The 1st hull was scattered to the void as each DO ship was raked by particle beams, the preceeding shots were absorbed by the emerging energy barriers.

The two DO vessles formed up on the weakening Federal starship, raking its pursuer with their own particle beam, laser, and missile fire. They had diverted most of their shield energy to their aft quadrant, as they were pursued by the same two swift cruisers.

OOC: Has this thread died?

OOC: Has this thread died?((OOC: First note, and I'm not trying to sound like an ass, but we DO have an OOC thread. Two no, it hasn't died, but most of us are gearing back up for school so things might go slowly. Besides, you and fal, and Outer are the ones that have to reply.))

OOC: I can't find the OOC thread. I'm still waiting on the tag for Skillcrossbones, that was a week ago.

Falcania: http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=493521

"Ops Report! Beams were stopped by the enemy shields sir for the first salvo, but we got through. They're reeling!"

A small cheer went through the Bridge. Grinning, Captain Maldeev looked at the Tactical Officer.

"Turn us about, we're going to make these bastards lose their space virginity! I want a penetration Beam through what we think is their reactor, I want explosions people!"

The crew allowed themselves to celebrate, and as the ship began to turn, an alarm sounded.

"Ops report! Several missiles inbound!"

"Fire the Flak Cannons, random pattern! I don't want to take any risks people!'

_________________________________________________________________

As the Belasarius turned to face the Switchblade, several turrets activated on it's hull. Facing upward, they fired, launching small explosives, shrapnel, and balls that combined the two, surrounding the Belasarius. As the missiles loomed closer, five of them jumped suddenly, and re-appeared in the middle of the flak salvo. The first was hit dead on by an explosive package, creating a large detonation not too far away from the Belasarius. The second was hit by shrapnel, tearing through it's engines and sending it whizzing off away from the Belasarius, as did the third.

However, this left the other two, that came through relatively unscathed. Despite hasty flak redirection, they both made it, the first one impacting on the Port-side Missile Launcher, the second impacting on the Belasarius' mid-section.

_________________________________________________________________

Larry wasn't a bad person. On the contrary, he was a lovely man, who had a good group of friends, a nice family back home, and a rewarding job as a Reactor technician, specifically, Reactor #4. Larry had never harmed a humanoid in his lifetime, and he had never picked up a weapon.

Later, people might reflect on this, and consider Larry's passing an unfitting one. Either way, as the second missile hit the Belasarius' mid-section, it detonated, plowing through the hull and the kinetic protection layer underneath, reaching Larry, the Reactor in question, and about fourty others.

The explosion was staggering in a literal sense.

Quantum fire joined the anti-matter explosions, blossoming out the side of the Belasarius, which was rocking violently. Stress lines weaved through the hull around the explosion site (Which was now a good 200 meter sized gap in the hull), and for a moment the ship actually bent out to the right slightly, before righting itself.

Along with this, half the Engine Nozzles on the rear of the Belasarius went out, leaving the ship at half the speed it was originally going, alongside some running lights going out due to lack of power. The Missile Launcher that was also hit took the brunt of the explosion, obliterating but not causing any penetrative damage to the area under the Launcher, or where it once was.

_________________________________________________________________

Captain Maldeev held on for dear life as the ship literally threw itself to the right at speeds not recommended, especially for a hull breach. Barely staying in his seat, Maldeev screamed out orders as the ship stabilised itself.

"TACTICAL! REPORT, NOW!!! THE REST OF YOU, GET THE SHIP BACK ON TARGET!"

The Flak barrier was still present, granted, it had lost a few launchers in the process. However, the majority of the missiles impacted on the weakened shields, and those that did get through were promptly taken out, to the relief of Maldeev later on. The Tactical Officer, trying to stop his nose from bleeding, gave a stuffy report.

"Ops report that five of the missiles micro-jumped past our shields. Our flak solution was only sixty percent effective, we've lost a third of our missile launching capabilities, and Reactor 4 is non-existant sir. 4 was our Engine primary, and we're down to half speed as a maximum. FTL is still intact, but inoperable due to FTLi. Decks 13-16 and 24-28 are locked off, they were all breached. We estimate losses of about sixty to one hundred and ten sir, no reports yet from any nearby sections.

"Hull integrity is at 72%, with our port-side grossly damaged. We've lost all energy supplies to the Beam Cannons on our Port, and we estimate at least two were lost anyway. Several Flak Cannons are in-operable, and our turn speed has been decreased by a third to prevent any more interior damage. To sum it up sir, we've just lost 1/20th of our crew and about 1/3rd of our offensive capabilities. If we're going to take down the agressor Cruiser, now is the time!"

Maldeev blinked in disbelief, and growled.

"Alright! I want the Shivan Cannon on over-load! Target the greatest source of energy on that ship, and put as deep and wide a hole as you can damnit! Prepare to fire anothe-....a beta two salvo as soon as the Beam goes down, and I want that Beam running until the containment field is practically dead!"

A small, half-hearted cheer went up through the crew, and Maldeev bit his lip.

We're not going to make it out of here in one piece, that's for sure. I need to enact Protocol Alpha now...

Looking down at his armrest console, he began to tap a secret set of orders into it, and praying in his mind that they would not need fulfilling...

_________________________________________________________________

The wounded Destroyer steadied it's course, and limped towards the Switchblade, it's nose now facing it's target: The largest energy emination from the interior of the ship. The Beam Cannon on the nose began to charge, a red orb of energy growing and growing in a similar way to the other Beam Cannons. After a few moments, it grew to a worrying size, at least double what the Switchblade had witnessed before.

Everything seemed to slow, and the Beam Cannon fired. A Beam of concentrated red plowed with ease through the space seperating the Belasarius from the Switchblade, and after a few horrible moments, made contact with the Switchblade. The Belasarius was halted by the discharge, unable to drive more power to the engines and therefore not able to move forward. Even so, this did not hinder the powerful Beam, which continued, and continued.

_________________________________________________________________

"Sir, the containment field is at fourty percent and falling! We've been firing for about fifteen seconds now, any longer than twenty and we risk melting the cannon on itself! Ops reports a near-perfect hit, and estimates that the damage to the agressor vessel should be enough to limit it's capabilities enough to allow us to limp away, if not disable it. We can't be sure of the outcome, and some reports show that the ship is healing, using similar technology to what we are now implementing, we can only hope sir."

Maldeev nodded. The time was almost up.

"Alright, stop the Beam, fire off a salvo at any outstanding turrets that might be a problem, and I want us to go past the enemy vessel! I want an ID of the damn thing from Ops, and if the Beam did the job, then maybe we just opened up an escape route..."

_________________________________________________________________

As the containment field nearly collapsed, the red Beam discontinued it's terrible plunge into the Switchblade. Twenty more missiles were fired off, weaving erratically and far from one another, and knowing their targets, shot towards them, creating vector estimates in case their targets were obscured. As this happened, the Belasarius began to move as fast as it could towards the Switchblade, sensors active and scanning it. Whether this act would be viewed as a cunning escape or a quick path to Martyrdom would be discovered later, but for now, hull creaking, weapons ready, the Belasarius continued towards the Switchblade, the crew content. If they died, they'd die charging, not running.

OOC: Okay Khrrck, over to you.

EA092B> Oh shit. oh SHIT. oh shit. OHSHIT. oHsHiT...
0680FF> Hits registering. They're almost down. They've got some kind of energy weapon charging. Power levels are spiking above previous max.
0680FF> Yes, I agree. Shit is the word. Scram the missile banks and the power supplies NOW.
EA092B> But the Switchblade will be practically dead in the water-
0680FF> Better dead than defeated!

The Switchblade exploded.

Armor plates pinwheeled away on the force of explosive bolts, uncovering the massive magazines that fed the ship's oversized torpedo launchers. The FTL drive whined as it filled itself with energy. Lasers overheated and melted into slag as they blasted what was left of the ship's energy reserves into space in wild, incoherent sprays. Backup warp disruptors on the surrounding ships went online, keeping the Belasarius locked firmly into real space even as the Switchblade's electronics failed. Although the destroyer had won the duel, it would not be allowed to escape.

The ship's complement of one hundred torpedoes took flight even as the raving energies of the Shivan beam cannon gutted its central battery array, followed by a swarm of innumerable antimissiles and anti-fighter missiles.

With a final, earshattering scream, the FTL drive broke free of its housings and exploded in a raging, unstable wave of ruptured vacuum. The burnt-out, empty remains of the battlecruiser Switchblade vanished into the temporary rift, never to be seen again.

******
EA092B> Thank God for distributed consciousness.
0680FF> Amen.

******

The missile armaments and AIs of the battlecruiser Switchblade, however, were alive and well. The cloud of missiles left in the battlecruiser's wake looped randomly, spreading out in a gigantic starburst. - beautiful and lethal, leaving white-hot exhaust trails across the sky.

The bridge of the Belasarius screamed with alarms as forty torpedoes locked onto its wounded hull. Thirty of them were conventional: ten of them were breachers.

The starburst contracted again, this time centered on the destroyer.

You may have won the duel, Belasarius.

But you have lost the battle. And you have lost it badly.

Goodbye. Hope for a quick death, as that is the most honorable way.

-0680FF, Ordo Deciumus

Bodies were thrown around inside the vessel as a volley of plasma scorched off the last layer of alloy around the engine housing. Ten seconds of a searing energy beam bore through after, slicing the drives clean from the hardened frame. Escape pods launched into the ether as the DO frigate went up in plumes of brief flame and shattered wreckage.

The remaining ship tried to break away from the bulk of the pursuers, turning to finish off the weakened vessels, before heading toward the main engagement.