NationStates Jolt Archive

Flight Captain Tyler Cassius - Personal Log, 23rd April, 2534 - FNV Ossidia, Second Federal Fleet.

In hindsight, it all seems ... surreal, now, Oh.. we had warning.. and did anyone listen? No.. But what more can I expect? So much has come and gone.. And now the last pieces of the board are moving.

I expect this will be the last log I make for a while.. If I ever get back from this mission, And I hate goodbyes, Which I expect this will be.. So Im keeping it short.. I could just.. be a coward.. But, Without Loyalty to the end, What kind of military man am I?

End Log.

Official Appendation

Flight Captain Tyler Cassius is currently beleived KIA following the Second Battle Of Epsidia, He will be missed along with the many other thousands of good men and women who lost their lives that day.

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3 Months Prior To The Second Battle Of Episidia.

"Members of the Federation Senate, It is with great concern that I stand before you today, and ask that you hear my words, and act. Many beleive that the signing of the Sallas treaty, 10 weeks from now on the Second Moon of Tyr Prime, will finally secure peace between us, and that many decades of hostility and colonial conflict will finally end. I warn you against complacency!"

Roars and boo's erupted from the many men and women in the senate hall, but undeterred, the speaker continued.

"A dark spectre looms before us, with the signing of the unification pact between the member states of the Alliance, They are now a power equal to the Federation, And pose a ominous and real threat to our very existence, This is no idle warning, members of the senate, This is a Reality."

More Boo's and heckling, but the man still continued.

"For over two hundred years, The Federation has maintained a free and open society for its people, Here and throughout Federal territories. We have gone far beyond our dreams and acheived great things. But we are overextended and vulnerable. Whilst the Federation has devoted its resources, efforts and greatest minds to the further colonisation of known space, The Alliance has sought to consolidate under a ruthless and totalitarian regime. Over recent decades, We have appeased those very Alliance states that seek to disrupt our efforts and undermine the very foundations of the Federation itself, Not only that, we have ceded territorial assets to those very states! I say we have ceded enough! We must act, and with haste! We must prepare ourselves for the coming of a war, A Great War!"

With the completion of the speech, The man left the senate halls, boo'd as he left till the door closed behind him.

He had done all he can, His speech had gone live across the entire Federation. But those in power would do nothing. But the President Of The Federation had said what had to be said, He would not hold all the responsibility for something he knew would come, sooner or later.

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

10 Weeks Later, In Orbit Of The Second Moon Of Tyr Prime, Federation/Alliance Territory.

There were hundreds of ships here, from small to gigantic. Many many Federal Vessels, The First, Third, And Fifth fleets, infact, whilst only the second Alliance Fleet had come present to the signing. It was obvious who had more faith in the treaty.

The Federal Fleets powered down their defenses and weapons in unison with their Alliance counterparts as Two Admirals signed the treaty on the Moon below.

Sallas City, Tydus, Second Moon Of Tyr Prime, The Tyr System.

The Federation Admiral straightened his uniform and stepped up to the podium, whilst, almost unseen, his Alliance counterpart quietly slipped away

He began to make his speech, and as he began to say his first few words, to describe the new peaceful beginning that would start from here, The sky began to flash brightly. No-one in Sallas had much time to consider what it could be, as within moments, Sallas was destroyed in a hellish firestorm, courtesy of Alliance orbital fire.

In Orbit Of The Second Moon Of Tyr Prime, Federation/Alliance Territory.

In Orbit, Half of the total federal navy lay in ruins amongst a few alliance hulks, From nowhere, the majority of the Alliance fleet had attacked and wiped out the Federal Fleets, In short order, they had destroyed all orbital facilities and proceeded to bombard Tyr Prime's Federation Member States and its Moons, Targetting all Major Cities and Military Installations.

The Alliance Took The Tyr System in the first few days of the war, The Eurona System, And The Federal Member State in Calithor fell immeadiately after that, Only The Federal Home of Eridon was too fortified to attack - But The Alliance had plans nonetheless. Millions had died, and many more would die yet.

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

2 Weeks Later, Federation 2nd Fleet

The Second Fleet was still in good shape, even now, after 2 weeks of full combat with the Alliance, it could still operate at near full efficiency. The Fourth Fleet.. was gone now, too, And the Sixth Fleet was needed for defense...

So it fell to the Second Fleet to retake Epsidia, The Federation had fought here, Valiantly, to defend their only member in the Calithor system, But it was a futile battle, fighting so close to the home of the Alliance Fleets.

The Second Fleet fell into position. To their surprise, There were no ships, No Alliance fleets ready to meet them at all. The only thing they could see were the last embers of the firestorms that had destroyed many of Epsidias Cities.

FNV Ossidia, Flagship Of The Second Fleet, Admiral David Raelhart in Command.

The Bridge of the Ossidia was large, clean, and decorated in Federal Flags and emblems, something befitting the Flagship of the Second Fleet. Many stations here buzzed with activity as actions were taken, orders given and systems monitored.

"Anything yet?" Said a smooth voice, It was the Admiral, Young, Fit and a brilliant tactician, or so he was told.

"No Adm.. Wait, Aye Sir, we have multiple inbound contacts.. Uh Admiral, Sir.. I think we have .. Yes Sir, we definately have 4 Alliance Fleets incoming, According to their outgoing ident codes" Said the Officer manning the sensor station.

"What? I Thought Command had them on tracking.. mopping up the Fourth Fleet in Eurona.. Very Well, Inform the Fleet, Have All Ships arm weapons and defences, Launch all fighters." Ordered The Admiral, He took two steps back from the large screen infront of him and sunk into his chair.

"Lets see how far superior armnament gets us.. All Ships open fire at will." He Said as the order went out. Almost on cue dozens of blips appeared on the viewscreen, The Alliance Fleet's were here.

Hundreds of bolts of energy began to be exchanged, and fighters engaged their counterparts. Given the numbers of Alliance vessels involved, it was a even fight, for all intents and purposes, The Federation had better defences, better weapons.. And a trump card.

"This Is Raelhart to engineering, is the Warhead ready?" He Asked.

"Aye Admiral, Ready To Launch On Your Command." Came the cackled response.

"Tactical, Target the ANV Katyusha and fire at will." Raelhart ordered, he repositioned himself in his seat, as on the viewscreen, a small torpedo launched itself into space and veered off into the centre of the Alliance battlegroup.

That was how Tyler Cassius's fighter was destroyed, Whilst Dogfighting with his alliance counterpart fairly close to the Alliance fleet, the sheer degree of the explosion caused damage to his engines and forced him to eject. It took the Federation two days to update him from KIA to Alive.

Although Epsidia was retaken, There were no more of those warheads. But at least now the playing field was even. And The Warhead may of even attracted the attention of those yet unknown or unthought of...

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OOC: Hello! I would be grateful to anyone who wants to turn up investigating this thing and the war as a greater whole.. Thats basically what I want.. hehe, For anyone who is confused, The Federation + Alliance are both from the same homeworld, Tyr, When space travel came about, each state went off with their own little thing, Over time two Sides Emerged, The Federation and the Alliance, they both have their own members in Tyr, And Most Federation Members are in Eurona/Euridon, Whilst the Alliance had many colonies and member states in Calithor.. Er, anyway, enough OOC Rant.. hope to have someone to RP with soon :).

I'll join this but i got a few qustions to ask about this

What Do You Want To Know?

OOC:I'm going to assume the 2nd Fleet is still in Epsidia.
Episidia System
Far away from the warring fleets, a huge blue vortex shimmered in space briefly, as the massive Sharlin class battlecruiser descended from jumpspace. It stood, as much as a ship could stand in space, about 4 light minutes away from the battle, observing.

Alyt Borlan ra Shaibar'nik, on his command bridge, said, "Enable combat projectors. I want a better view of the fleets."

The computer obeyed him, and the command bridge darkened as the projectors turned on, showing a real-time view of the combat at any angle and at a level close enough to read the designations on the ships. He watched the fighters dueling, and he said, "I wonder who started this conflict?"

"Alyt, it appears that the larger fleet is defending the planet, however the planet is burning from what appear to be orbital bombardment strikes. I would imagine that the larger fleet recently took this system from the government of the smaller fleet, and the smaller fleet is attempting to take it back."

"We'll see how that ends up, lieutenant." Borlan continued to watch the streaks of energy being exchanged from the outnumbered fleets, until he saw a single torpedo being launched towards the centre of the fleet. Borlan looked at it strangely. A single torpedo? he thought to himself.

His thoughts were changed as the torpedo erupted, crippling or destroying the entire other fleet.

"Alyt, that torpedo was what we would consider a higher-yield torpedo, however, I postulate that their shielding and weapons technology is not to our level yet, because an entire Minbari fleet would have survived that strike intact."

"Okay," Borlan said, thinking. "Hail the victorious fleet."

"Channel open."

Borlan struggled for a bit, as his English skills were not up to par of other Minbari. "I am a representative of the Minbari Federation. I wish to make peaceful first contact with your people."

Borlan cut the transmission, and said to the tactical officer, "Disable the stealth device and don't open the bloody gun ports. Raise the ablative armour just in case, three level."

"Aye, sir. Ablative armour raising." said the tactical officer as the very obvious clinking noise of the ablative armour rose across the hull. Three level raised the overall armour by 33%, and the maximum was 'max level' which raised it by 200%.

Borlan waited for a response, either friendly or hostile, so he'd know what he's dealing with..

OOC: Aye, Epsidia is the last planet in the Calithor System though, Epsidia was a prominent member of the Federation, unfortunately, Calithor is considered the Home System of the Alliance, So it suffered.

IC:

"Begin Cleanup, Authorise Marine Teams to board anything still usable.. Alliance built or not.. its still a ship.." Raelhart said, he smiled slightly, a victory was just what the federation needed right now.

He stood and stared at the view on the screen infront of him, he was jerked out of thought by the Comms Officer.

"Sir, we have an incoming hail, Correlating.. Sir, We have a large unidentified contact on scanners.. Do you wish to hear the hail, sir?" The Comms Officer said.

"Aye, This Could be just what we need, Let me hear it.." Raelhart responded.

As the voice reverberated around the bridge he listened.. Aliens?

"Open Visual Channels and transmit...

This Is Admiral Raelhart, In Command of the FNV Ossidia, Flagship Of The Federal Second Fleet, Raelithonian Federation. We Welcome You To Federation Space and warn you that this is currently a fully fledged warzone. We wish our first contact with another race could be during a better time, But The Alliance Aggression was unforeseen. How Can We Help You?"

Raelhart finished and sank back into his chair, awaiting a response.

OOC: Been playing Starlancer recently? :p

OOC: Psh Get Away! :P

The Passion of Innocence floated, well... not so close by.

It fact, it was a good lightyear off, with its inhabitants being entangled in the joys a journey such as this one involved - technically, it was supposed to act as an explorer, but practically, the Passion of Innocence cared relatively little, and calling its operation a 'Detailed and Professionally Executed Search' would've been no less wrong than calling a catholic coirboy a virgin - and little else happening.

It was, in effect, a glorified cruise liner.

Still, even a glorified cruise liner could notice some things. Sensor fields catched the echoes of relativistic radiations, interpreted them, formed images. Information was dug out, interpreted and acted in accordance with.

The entanglement of the ship's inhabitants continued. In the meantime, course schedules were changed, and deceleration routines started up.

About four hours later, close to two-hundred million tons of carefully refined material quietly slip back into realms were relativity is considered a certainty, rather than something that can be stretched and formed like clay. A few subcraft are left behind, providing the FTL-communications and sensor network generally considered a necessity in this kind of situation.

It's slightly under a kilometre long, almost as wide, and it's decidedly silent, remaining on the edges of the Calithor system, and running at rather less than a percent of its maximum acceleration. It had just witnessed a battle, and it desires to be as polite as possible.

Its inhabitants have by now disentangled, and are watching quite interestedly via the sensor feed the ships provides them. So far, no overly specific information on the locals is available, and the the Passion of Innocence is of the decided opinion that in order to know just what kind of society the locals represent, it's best to let them call first.

The Passion is, after all, by no means invisible. It's just quiet, and doing a low-energy run a billion kilometres or two off any important installations, radiating harmlessness.

The CNS Joseph was another corvette of the Commonwealth's Navy. Its mission, like every other corvette, was seek new life and blah blah blah just the normal Star Trek dribble. Of course it was supposed to find colonies too, but umm, that hasn't been successful recently. The reason being that everytime the Cassiopeian Commonwealth finds something. It blows up, but we're hoping this doesn't blow up though!

The Captain was a veteran, sort of. He never saw any real combat per se. But he did work hard to get up the ranks. Now of course his career is dead, but it was either that or a frigate. And errm, frigates are the first to go in combat. He has a wife and kids. Anyway he found it boring not exploring space anyway. It's not like it's his overwhelming passion, but, you know it's something to do in the offhours. Granted there's a chance of find a civilization that hates you or some sort of wank god that has come to judge the masses, well, that's a risk a person has to take.

The Captain, a Mr. Robert Joseph, saw the scanner's console light up. All of a sudden a tactical holographic map popped up. It showed the Whyatican Battlecruiser and an unknown ship, the Angstian one. And of course, the Federal ships.

The Captain leaned back into his chair. An ally was in the area so that was good. He decided to give them a call.

"Ensign, open private communications with the Whyatican vessel." A few seconds later. "Am I on? Okay umm, this is Captain Robert Joseph of the CNS Joseph. Glad to see an ally in the area. Anyway my sensors indicate some sort of battle just happened. So I'm gonna ask for a small favour, if anything is about to explode. Warn us, we'll do the same for you. Thanks."

The Captain turned around in his fun chair for dramatic effect, 360 degress too. "Wheee!" He shouted. He then cleared his throat to be all serious. "Right, Ensign, go talk to that large angry fleet. Open communication things."

All of a sudden the Captain's voice could be heard on the Federal vessels. "Hello there, we don't know who you are but this the CNS Joseph. We come from the Cassiopeian Commonwealth, a small system of seven planets but don't let our size fool you. Anyway, we come bearing gifts... not really. But we do bear peace and the goodwill of the Commonwealth. That battlecruiser you see? He's good, he will not threaten you. Anyway, we pick up something like a battle happened, Iunno. Do you mind explaining who all of you are? I'm just confused..."

An Ensign walked up to him. "Sir, there's a large ship in the area. We can barely pick it up. A yacht, I think."

The Captain snorted. "If they're not trying to kill us, let's not bother it. For now let's wait for this ship's response."

The ussi lancer was another kuja strike frigate of the sephrion first fleet . Its mission, like every other ship of the fleet was to forcibly expand impreial space by any mans nessercy



the ussi lancer and the orbital frame the isis droped out warp the isis detatched from the lancer

on the bridge of the lancer fleet general zane star wind was barking orders tatical raise shields ops com all near by vessels
coms to all nearby factions this is the imperial warship the lancer hear to meet new races and my ally is the isis

"Alyt, a Cassiopeian ship has entered the system." the communication officer said.

"Hail the Cassiopeians." Borlan said.

"Greetings, allies. We're trying to ascertain the cause of this battle as well, and we will warn you if anything appears to be going 'boom', as you would say. Eshari out." and Borlan cut the communication.

"Comm, open a channel to the Raelthorians or whatever they're called."

"Channel open, Alyt."

"We'd like to figure out what caused this war, Admiral, so if you wouldn't mind telling us, that would be nice. Oh, by the way, the Cassiopeians are our allies and they don't bite much as the Earthers would say."

The Eshari moved ahead, closer to the Raelithon Federation fleet, her active sensors just barely picking up the 'ping' of the Angstian vessel, and the sensory officer ignored it as a small sensor blip, harmless.

Tag for later postage

Whilst waiting alot can happen. That much was now obvious.

"Sir, We Have a minor unregistered sensor glitch on the edge of the scopes, could be something, But it doesnt seem to be too much right now.." Said a voice, obviously Tactical or Science, Raelhart didnt really register it.

"Ok then.. Copy our prior response and transmit to the.. Cassio.. Those ones, And The Other Vessel that just appeared, You know who.. Then Transmit the following back to the Minbari Vessel" He said.

"Aye Admiral, Comm's Open." Came another voice, Comms Officer, he hoped.

"Minbari Vessel, To Explain all of the causes and underlying reasons to this conflict would take some considerable time, Which, whilst a good option, would probably require a somewhat safer location. However, 2 Weeks Ago, Federal Calender, Of course, The Alliance, our opponents, came to sign a treaty near our mutual homeworld. Suffice to say, The Alliance attacked and destroyed half of our navy, we have been fighting a lopsided battle ever since. The Alliance control the Majority of colonised Space, and have more ships, but are technologically inferior. I hope this helps you in some way understand the situation.." Raelhart finished up and re-adjusted his uniform again. Once more, awaiting a response.

"And another three kiloklicks... And another... And another..."

Sarah Koizumi looked sternly at one of the two avatars - it was a self-upgraded consciousness, formerly located inside the computronium cores of Poseidon, and not the slightly more common organic mindupload - the ship used, and sighed. "Say, couldn't you drop in at .1, rather than .01c?"

"Would've suggested a RKV run. We're not here to bomb them, you know."

"A billion kilometres off?"

"You wouldn't believe the tactical trickery warships can be up to. If you wish I can upload you some of the tactical scenarios the DEAT on Sight has created..."

"No, thanks." Sarah shivered. "Guns. Bleh. So, anyway..."

"Well, we're obviously part of an inverse-probability scenario. Space is big, there's more than a hundred billion stars in this galaxy alone, and the likelyhood of one out-of-system entity showing up is rather minimal. We're apparently having... Three present, including us."

"... Ah."

"Well, it isn't too unusual. Actually, there are some theories regarding this phenomenon, mostly related to a combination of quantummechanic effects on relativistic - in terms of size, not velocity - objects following the multiversal break. But the math doesn't quite work out, yet..."

Sarah looked considerably nonplussed, then sighed. Again. "You've odd hobbies, Passion..."

"Glemph, please. This is an avatar, not a disembodied voice. Please recognise as much."

"Okay, Glemph. Any news on the locals?"

"Well, the subcraft we left behind are presently intercepting assorted messages - we're lucky, the local language is not particularly indigenous, and we can listen right in. Judging by older communications we're collecting from up to a few thousand AU out, vaguely civilised society, got overrun by a vaguely less civilised one. But don't quote me on that - soap operas and nightshows aren't necessarily the best source of information there is."

"I guess so. So... They haven't shot us yet, although we're now sitting here for... about three hours. Neither do we have a contact..."

"Not an active one. Which is understandable, given lightspeed lag."

"Point. Anyway... How about we contact?"

"Hrm."

"Hrm?"

"I'm conidering it. Actually, lets make a deal. You dress yourself, and I'm contacting them."

"..."

"WHAT? A bit of formality is necessary in this kind of situation. I mean, seriously. You might be a good-looking person by organic standards - although personally, I find your curves rather less than attractive - but-"

"Okay, okay... I'm doing it. Stupid prude. To think that I let someone like you..."

"Yes?" the ship's avatar asked, tentacles raised.

"Nothing," came the mumbled reply from under what had once been Sarah, and was now hidden by a somewhat indefinable piece of cloth over her head. "Just send the goddamn message. As FTL-radiation bleedout, if possible."

Local-Language embedded BL-FTLCOM@BLe8&EM=1E-2; SL 0; Widebeam
From: IEU Passion of Innocence
To: Whom it may concern, Locals
Subject: Well, this is a bit awkward...

A somewhat... Curious explorer here, we noticed the radiations of some more recent, and rather violent actions, and decided to drop by. Maybe not the most opportune moment - I figure that you've rather a lot of things to worry about - but regardless.

While my primary purpose is of course simply contacting, and establishing diplomatic and cultural - as well as potentially economic - exchange, I figure that in your situation, neither of these is of particularly great concern. However, we - I, whatever - are capable of providing a certain degree of humanitarian aid, esp. with regards to shelter, search&rescue, and reconstruction issues, less so with regards to medical issues, due to potential differences in physiology.

And, having arrived here, and having witnessed the violence that has befallen space as well as - presumably - your settlements on the surface, I figure that offering you this asistance would be as good as any other introduction (Incidentally, apologies for my 'Quiet Run' - I was uncertain as of the potential hostilities I'd probably have to face, but my reservations regarding security have since been removed, as further information was acquired).

Sincerely,

~ Passion of Innocence

A note: The FTL-message has a c-bleedout - FTL-receivers aren't necessary to receive it. Radios are sufficient. There's about a second of lag in between the message being sent, and it arriving at... Well, everyone else. It's unencoded, and phrased so that it should be reasonably understandable to the locals - some spelling/ grammar errors are to be expected, though.