NationStates Jolt Archive

The Outer Rim: a scattering of stars out at the very edge of the galaxy, near the endless chasm that's the space outside.

Very few stars are out here, on the edge... and very few people, which makes it perfect for those who don't want to attract attention.

The Borealis System: relatively unremarkable in most ways. It has several planets, ranging from a burnt cinder near the sun, to several gas giants in the outer edges of the system, and a single planet in the habitable zone, bearing life. However, it's relative distance from anything really important means it's been unnoticed and unused, except by occasional survey vessels and probes.

At least, until now.

In orbit of this single planet is the survey ship ANSF Costeau... one of many such vessels dispatched to all corners of the galaxy by the Axis Nova Space forces to search for out of the way corners to mine, salvage wreckage for study or other things of interest.

On board the ship, in the miniscule analysis map, one of the ship's officers finishes analysis of the last of a number of samples taken from the ship's surface, and begins dictating his report.

"The planet is extremely rich in minerals of all sorts-- including rare-earth elements especially. There are large numbers of deposits just below the surface, and several native tree analogues seem to store rare earths within their trunks which could be extracted with a minimal amount of processing.

Recommendation: Dispatch a harvest fleet immediately."


Several weeks later...

A spark appears in space, blossoming outwards, into a gigantic blue tunnel in space. Dozens of ships begin shooting out: cruisers, corvettes, dreadnoughts, destroyers, fighters. All escorting a number of large cargo ships and industrials.

Most of the industrials enter orbit of the planet, escorted by Euclid strike craft. The warships begin laying a sensor picket and begin patrolling... just in case.

What precisely a harvest fleet does becomes almost immediately apparent, as several missiles are fired from the orbiting industrials, which explode in massive nuclear airbursts over the forests. The explosions knock uncountable trees over-- though the high-yield warheads, due to their quantum isomer design, leave relatively little fallout, thus making them safe for harvest.

On other places on the planet, massive cargo shuttles and HLVs begin to land, disgorging gigantic pieces of equipment that begin to scrape away the thin veneer of life covering the ground to get at the minerals beneath. The massive machines work quickly: soon large open pit stripmines are visible in several areas of the planet as massive quantities of material are dug out of the ground and passed through refining assemblies that remove impurities and separate the materials into their component elements where possible, leaving compact masses behind that are easy to pack and ship.

Waste materials are simply dumped into the nearest convenient body of water; and why not? No one lives here to complain, after all...

Over the course of the next month or so, ANSF presence in the system gradually increases, as more sensor pickets are installed, and a continuous stream of cargo ships arrive and leave: arriving with supplies, leaving with mined minerals.

The scars on the planet's surface slowly expand...

OOC: Tag. This open?

OOC: Tag. This open?

OOC: Kinda. I'm hoping it turns into a semi-first contact situation as most FT nations don't know about mine as of yet... I would recommend *NOT just jumping in if you use Star Wars Imperial ships as my ships are likely to mistake them for Coreworlds ships.


edit because I said the exact opposite thing I meant @_@

OOC: Kinda. I'm hoping it turns into a semi-first contact situation as most FT nations don't know about mine as of yet... I would recommend just jumping in if you use Star Wars Imperial ships as my ships are likely to mistake them for Coreworlds ships.OOC: Can the world have a number of ancient Eternal ruins on the surface let say due to the fact the Eternals had attempted to turn this into a colonial replica of their homewolrd?

OOC: Can the world have a number of ancient Eternal ruins on the surface let say due to the fact the Eternals had attempted to turn this into a colonial replica of their homewolrd?

OOC: sure, provided it's not anything that would be immediately obvious upon an orbital scan

OOC: Basically then, after tens of millions of years the ruins were buried under the earth. Yet, due to the fact they resist all heat, aging, and efforts of bending by natural forces the ruins have actually stood as they were when they were first built, but are in place filled with rock and dirt. As for their detection let us say that after the nuclear blast parts of the ruins were unearthed by the blast. Sound good to you?

OOC: Nah, entirely custom tech. I think I have an idea, though...

The small probe blinked into existance, gliding through the void as its sensors scanned the space about it. All was well. Except...

_______________________________


--QUETZAL NODE ONLINE
--TRIPARTITE SEQUENCE INITIATED
--SUPER has joined the convo
--ID has joined the convo
--EGO has joined the convo

ID: What's up now? I'm just a little busy, there being a war going on and all...

SUPER: Since when did you start strip mining planets without my permission?

ID: Pardon? First off, I don't really need your permission in the first place. Second off, I'm not anyway, so what the bloody hell are you talking about?

EGO: Boys, boys, calm down. Super, what the hell are you talking about? I've got a full tally of all worlds being strip mined by our vessels, and I don't know of a single one that he hasn't told you about.

SUPER: Then explain OES-9452.

ID: Huh? Never heard of it.

EGO: There's a reason for that. There isn't an OES-9452.

SUPER: That's because I just found it. Uploading relevant information now...

EGO: Interesting... Remarkably similar to PRA mining techniques. However, Super, there are several differences. Note the energy signatures on those explosions: They're not conversion bombs. My guess is fusion or fission. Energy output is different as well. Subtle, but definitely not a PRA operation.

SUPER: Then who the hell is it?

ID: Dunno. Can I kill them? Might make this worth while.

EGO: Not enough data. We'll send an Avatar ship to collect more information. QUETZAL, --end convo--.

--ID has left the conversation
--SUPER has left the conversation
--EGO has left the conversation
--TRIPARTITE SEQUENCE TERMINATED
--QUETZAL NODE OFFLINE

On one of the many patrol ships, the probe's sudden appearance is noted as long-range radar picks it up. The drowsy sensor technician perks up as the computer's synthetic female voice speaks up.

"Contact detected, grid coordinates Blue 39, Green Alpha."

The sensor technician contacts his superiors, and in short order a flight of Euclids (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=9748411&postcount=11) is dispatched to investigate.

The ten meter long probe's sensors picked up the fighter craft as they approached, and it turned to investigate. It moved cautiously towards the incoming craft, collecting data on their movements, their probable armament, and life signs.

_______________

--QUETZAL NODE ONLINE
--TRIPARTITE SEQUENCE INITIATED
--SUPER has joined the convo
--ID has joined the convo
--EGO has joined the convo

EGO: I was right. Not Otagian. Those vessels are definately manned, not an Avatar amongst them by the looks of it. Seem to be heavily armed though.

ID: Does that mean I can shoot them?

EGO: No. The probe is unarmed anyhow. Super, what is the status on that Avatar vessel?

SUPER: Pretty much ready. Standard load: Unarmed vessel with Herakles diplomat models. Should arrive in a few seconds.

EGO: Good. Hopefully, they won't simply open fire upon meeting us.

ID: Sez you. Wanna blow something up...

SUPER: Shoo. Don't you have a war to fight?

ID: Awww... You never let me have any fun...

SUPER: Thank the Rider for that. QUETZAL, --end convo--.

--ID has left the conversation
--SUPER has left the conversation
--EGO has left the conversation
--TRIPARTITE SEQUENCE TERMINATED
--QUETZAL NODE OFFLINE

________________________

With an utter lack of fanfare, the sleek flowmetal form of the Avatar diplomatic vessel was there. No flashes of warpfire, no stretching of space, no amusing noises. It was just there, and moving towards the unknown vessels at a moderate pace. Broadcasting on all frequencies, as well as several tight-beam lasers, the following was sent to whoever the hell those fighters belonged to.

Greetings. We represent QUETZAL, Regent of Otagia. Pardon the cliche, but we come in peace, take us to your leader. Please don't shoot us, we are unarmed and not particularily hostile. Message repeats...

"HOLY--!" yells the squadron commander as the ship suddenly appears, yanking his control sticks.

The Euclid squadron breaks in every direction away from the new arrival, splitting into four three-fighter groups, accelerating and building up trasversal. The sensor pickets begin screaming their heads off, and in short order a somewhat senior officer is put through to the commander of the Euclid squadron.

"Commander, this is Commodor Pleskin. What do you have out there?"

"Sir, the object appears to be some kind of probe... and the larger object is some kind of ship. The warbook doesn't have any entries for it, it doesn't appear to be some sort of Coreworlds vessel."

On board the distant Omega-class destroyer (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=9748283&postcount=9), a number of people relax... a little.

"Has it made any overt hostile actions?"

"Not so far. Doesn't appear armed, just appeared out of nowhere. Wait, hold on... I'm getting something. Let me relay it."

The sound of the Otagian message is beamed to the (relatively) nearby vessel in short order; however, there's a problem...

"It's some kind of message, but we can't decipher it... it's an alien language, one we don't have in the books. Get a linguest on the line, stat!"

Switching the line back, Commodore Pleskin gives some further orders to the commander of the squadron.

"Commander, keep observing that... whatever it is... for now. Don't engage it unless it makes a hostile action. We'll have the linguists and the computers go over the message and see if it's translateable, and mabye have something to beam back to you in a while."

Switching over to the general channel, the Commodore sends some orders to every ship in the fleet.

"This is Commodore Pleskin to all vessels. Maintain Alert Status 3, bring Mirage Colloid Distortion Jammers to full power."

As the sensor-dispersing particles begin to emit from almost every ship, in short order, the signatures of almost every vessel within range begins to waver, then disappear as the sensor emissions are deflected away. Soon all that's easily detectable are some parts of the temporary orbital infrastructure, the sensor pickets, the surface equipment, and the nearby Euclid squadron.

A tiny, new source of attention would appear near the planet. Seemingly quite randomly. It is a very old fighter craft, probably a century old. It is clunky and somewhat big-boned, being a fighter scout with its own FTL system.

It had no IFF and didn't seem to be transmitting. Rather, it hovered there in space for a few minutes, then the engines flickered on and it began to putter down towards the planet.

--QUETZAL NODE ONLINE
--TRIPARTITE SEQUENCE INITIATED
--SUPER has joined the convo
--ID has joined the convo
--EGO has joined the convo

SUPER: Drat. Doesn't appear they speak English.

EGO: Indeed. Try Japanese, then cycle through the gamut. Perhaps Basic or various trade languages.

ID: So, if we can't understand them, can I shoot them THEN?

EGO: No. Even if we can't understand the, perha- Ah crap. Now they cloaked. Switch to gravitonic sensors, we should still be able to detect the spatial distortions, even if EMS can't find them. --QUETZAL, close convo--

--ID has left the conversation
--SUPER has left the conversation
--EGO has left the conversation
--TRIPARTITE SEQUENCE TERMINATED
--QUETZAL NODE OFFLINE

_____________________

The Avatar vessel proceeded towards the planet, transmiting its message all the while, in every language known to QUETZAL. The probe, meanwhile flitted about, taking sensor readings of anything it could pick up: The planet, the sun, other celestial bodies, and (if the gravitonic sensors were working properly) the xenoc ships around it.

The colossal treeship slowly spun in the void. Its great branches extended for hundreds of meters out from the thick kilometer long trunk. Massive roots sprung from the base of the great oak spinning out into the void, rippling with energy. The space about the treeship was tinted a slight shade of blue, a self contained atmosphere surrounded the ship. About the ship dozens of smaller craft orbited in massive arches, leaving long trails of rippling energy like wakes off a boat. Space about them was alive with motion, motion which obscured the stars and blurred the heavens. Suddenly the massive display stopped. The smaller craft moved in towards the treeship and docked on numerous extended branches.

All was still and after a moment a tiny bit a wood seemed to emerge from the winding branches and slowly push out into the void. It pulsed and rippled as it went, reforming each moment. Finally it shrunk to about a foot across and became completely inert. The branches of the great treeship slowly coiled below the floating orb. Slowly the leaves began to rustle, then after a moment a great pillar of throbbing green shot up from the treeship and engulfed the small orb. After seconds the leaves broke cohesion and floated into the void. The small wooden orb was gone.

Thousands of light-years away it appeared with not so much as a pop and began to orbit the planet below. All about this world great ships raped the land and pillaged the sacred ground.

The Timless Void, the Bastard Plane, the Realm of Creation, this plane had many names, amoung the technologically inclined it was known as 'hyperspace' and 'subspace', some called it the space between spaces, whatever it was, the ship now traveling through it was, quite possibly, the first one of its kind to travel in such a manner.
Robes flowing behind him, Archmage Wolsey stared over the ships bow, striking what he hoped was a noble pose. The general idea was to impress the crew with his ability to stare into the face of energies which could shred the entire ship and turn them all into floating atoms in a milisecond. Of course, most mages did that sort of thing every day, usually there were tentacles involved as well.
Wolsey grunted, his knee was starting to hurt. He made a snap descision.
"Bring the ship out of planeshift, time for another survey!"
An outburst of Goblinese from below was followed shortly by a scream, a loud pop, and a noise that sounded suspiciously like a Goblin being deep fried against the side of a hot plasma manifold.
"Oy! Da plasma jigger got Nurk! And dey fergot ta grease it! Dammit!"
The Archmage was below deck as if by magic, one had to be quick when dealing with Goblins.
Siezing the back of the second ones neck Wolsey hauled him away from the manifold.
"You little idiot, dont touch the manifold while its still hot!"
The man and the Goblin stared for a few minutes, the smoking remains of the other Goblin staring forlornly up at them. One of its eyes was twitching disturbingly.
"Dammit." Said the Goblin.
The Archmage put a hand on the Goblin's shoulder, "Was he a friend?"
"Damn no, Nurk dint' have no friends, he owed me 'free coppers though."
The mage was about to speak when one of the ships thaumaturgists opened the top hatch, "Archmage, you had better look at this!"

The ship had dropped out of planeshift almost directly in the path of a massive transport.
It was almost a comical sight, the wooden sailing ship next to the massive metallic transport. On an earthly ocean the explorers ship might have simply foundered in the wake of the larger one.
"Drop sails, see if theres any messages coming in! Get somebody on the crystal, NOW!" Bossing people around, Wolsey was in his element. The deck swarmed with Goblins and humans, some working at cross purposes and a few actually getting something done.
The sails came down, and the ship hung in silence.
After a while, the Archmage huffed on the crystal ball which was installed on the ships bridge.
"Hello? Is this thing on?"
(offscreen muttering)
"Ah, yes. Ahem." The mage straightened his robes and took on a more serious air, "I am Archmage Wolsey, representing the Harmonia Mortus Cartogrophy and Exploration Corps, we are here in the interest of peaceful first contact with other races in order to trade valuable resources and..."
(What is this word?)
(mutter mutter)
"Ahem, apologies, valuable resources and cultural items with other peoples and nations. Please confirm that you are receiving this message."

"Message decoding completed. It's in some form of English, but due to the transmission having some wierd sideband information, it got a bit garbled. Here, I'll replay it."


...ings. We represent QUETZAL, Regent of Otagia. Pardon the cliche, but we come in peace, take us to your leader. Please don't shoot us, we are unarmed and not particularily hostile. Message repeats... Greetings. We represen--


"Seems reasonable enough... Alright, open a line, relay through that Euclid squadron. Include that wierd sideband info "

A few minutes later, after some fumbling, a laser and radio link beams outwards and connects to one of the Euclids, which in turn boosts the transmission power and corrects any errors, then responds to the Otagian vessel.

"Greetings from the 7th Fleet, Axis Nova Space Forces. We also have no intention of hostility towards your vessel or the organization it represents provided you don't show hostility towards us, but be aware that we are currently tracking a number of new unknown contacts in close proximity to the fourth planet. We advise remaining at your current location until we can identify these contacts and determine their configuration and intent."

----

"New contacts! First one at Orange 38, Green, Eta, unknown configuration-- radar seems to show it as some sort of strike craft, it appears to be commencing re-entry. Second, Red, 21, Violet, Delta, unknown configuration-- we're not getting a good return off of it. Third, Yellow, 77, Alpha, unknown configuration... some kind of sailing ship?"

"Dispatch an Euclid squadron to investigate contacts two and three. Warn the ground pounders to expect possible company."

"Aye, sir."

"We're getting some kind of wierd transmission from the third contact, sir-- it doesn't appear to conform to standard communication protocols."

Commodore Pleskin sighs and takes another sip from his coffee bag. Obviously, this is shaping up to be one of those days...

"Get it decoded as soon as possible."

Below, on the surface, word of the incoming strike craft is given, and a number of unmanned aircraft are diverted to inspect it.

The fighter, when inspected is clearly a junker. It has a 30mm cannon under the nose, and an empty rocket pod on the tip of one wing. The windows are tinted of course against the glare of unshielded sun in space.

It puttered down through the atmosphere, aiming for the outskirts of one of the mining areas. It didn't seem to have any shields or ship-detection sensors. Rather, it blithly fluttered forward, wobbling slightly as it entered atmosphere.

The plasma manifold, now cool enough, was being scrapped clean of its partially carbonized Goblin decorations. There was much grumbling about how Nurk managed to make an ass of himself even after he was dead.
On the bridge, slightly more serious matters were being discussed.
"Still no response?"
"None, Archmage, it is possible they cant receive CB transmissions, Some of the ones we met earlier couldnt. Something about quantum thaumic emmissions or something. Or maybe they dont speak common. There are a number of possiblities." The thaumaturgist watching the crystal spread his hands, "Its not like we can do anything until the plasma manifold is clean anyway. We have a few charges for the beam cannons, and we can fire the chemical guns, and move on the solar sail, but we arent leaving the system."
"Drat. Well...get back to watching."

OOC: Basically then, after tens of millions of years the ruins were buried under the earth. Yet, due to the fact they resist all heat, aging, and efforts of bending by natural forces the ruins have actually stood as they were when they were first built, but are in place filled with rock and dirt. As for their detection let us say that after the nuclear blast parts of the ruins were unearthed by the blast. Sound good to you?OOC: Do you want me to make the first rp about it or do you want to make a post describing finding it in some way?

(bump for Otagia)

Several lightyears away from the commotion, the Talyn-class Lacerator HL-1869 was at sublight cruising speeds, surveying a nearby star system as part of an ongoing Xithis exploration effort of the outer edges of the galaxy. During the course of the survey, its sensors picked up numerous power sources and signs of communications at the outer limits of their range. It appeared that a lone survey ship, doing nothing particularly out of the ordinary, had attracted the attentions of numerous other ships from numerous other places, all at the same time.

Kith found this particularly amusing. How was it, he thought to himself, that in the vast emptiness of this endless universe that so many ships somehow managed to appear all at the same time, in the very same star system, by the very same planet, simply to talk to the very same ship, that was doing nothing more than very simple mining? It was as likely as a dozen kurni beasts simply falling from the sky to land on the same person.

"Let us not be joining them hmm?" Kith said, communicating in many different ways to establish a simple sentence in their native language.

"Yes," Jokix said, clicking his mandibles together in approval. "I am Xithis, not a cliche."

"Quite the case," Kith said, tapping the hard shell of his colleague. "Let us continue with this survey. We shall not deviate from our designated mission, like so many others seem to. Continue the scans."

For some odd reason, the Force seems rather amused that Coreworlds was on the lips of Axis Nova today, and the manifest of all that is life decided that it would be amusing to see what would come of a meeting between the two nations long since separated from each other. For that reason, a small Corellian Corvette named Romeo and Juliet (the namers of Corvettes must have been Shakespeare fans) suddenly had its hyperdrive conked out by a minor maintenance issue that would nevertheless take some time to sort out.

In a flash of psuedomotion that accompanied the usual reversion to realspace, the Romeo and Juliet found itself in the Borealis System, where it was not supposed to be.

"Aww damn! What happened now?" The captain, a young man named Arthur Tweed, groused. Here he was, patrolling the Outer Rim as opposed to fighting the Empire and then he just *had* to find himself in the middle of nowhere.

"I don't know, the hyperdrive's shot." The helmsman said. "But hey, I'm getting some activity around here. Looks like a system with a number of different ships around."

Correction: not quite in the middle of nowhere. "Really? Well this could be interesting. Open a channel, see if someone could help us out."

"Right."

"This is Coredian vessal Romeo and Juliet. Our hyperdrive has suddenly decided to go on strike and we would like some assistance to get it back to work. Please contact us ASAP."

The small wooden sphere twirled slightly in the void with the arrival of the Nova squadron. The sentience that throbbed within the now turmultous bit of bark pondered the situation.

It seems we may have underestimated these dredges, how they detected what seemed to be a bit of wood no more than a foot across is beyond me.

How they detected us is of no matter, we must now adapt to the situation at hand.

Yes... adapt.

The small sphere began to ripple with energy. Great green bands of light rippled through the surrounding space. The sphere began to expand, new wood emerging from the innards of the ever growing orb. Soon it was one hundred meters across and still coil unto itself like a mass of writhing vines. Six great roots emerged, one on each side of the sphere. They grew to the massive length of three hundred meters and slowly swung through space. Finally thousands of leaves belched forth from massive whirlpools of vines, filling the space about the craft. The leaves clustered into massive rings and began to orbit the Reaper Root.

With only a moment of stillness suddenly all channels were filled with an incredible high pitch screech. It was as if a thousand nails were dragged along a chalk board. The screech ebbed and flowed like a tide, bursting and retracting over the seconds.

As quickly as it had arisen the screech fell away. The Reaper Root hung in silence, waiting for a response, its great tendril quivering in the void.

OOC: Sorry for the wait, had problems with the forums last night and this morning, and was at a WARMACHINE tournament all day. Will try to have a post up shortly. On the bright side, I won best of Khador at the tourney. Hoo-ah.

"Greetings from the 7th Fleet, Axis Nova Space Forces. We also have no intention of hostility towards your vessel or the organization it represents provided you don't show hostility towards us, but be aware that we are currently tracking a number of new unknown contacts in close proximity to the fourth planet. We advise remaining at your current location until we can identify these contacts and determine their configuration and intent."
--Roger that, 7th Fleet. In the mean time, perhaps we can arrange a more diplomatic means of conversation than these impersonal transmissions. And I hope you don't mind if we send our probe to aid in the investigation. It is expendable, after all--

The Avatar vessel slowed to a near standstill, gravitic impellors humming as the ship began orbiting the star. The probe, meanwhile, accelerated towards the other newcomers to the system, eager to find out what a wooden ship (let alone more than one!) was doing in the void of space.

(sorry for not posting, been a bit busy, lemme try to handle this stuff in order)

-Atmosphere of Borealis IV-

As the fighter continues it's descent, the UAVs continue to cluster around it, probing it with radar and ladar scanning, but no attempts to contact it are made... as of yet. Given the other occurances in the system, a single antiquated pile is of little concern at the moment...

-Orbit of the planet-


"Gamma 2 here. That whatever it is just turned into some kind of giant space tree!"

"Gamma Squadron, continue to observe, but do not engage it for now, until it becomes obviously hostile. For all we know it could be a space weed."

"Theta 4 here. That wierd sailing ship is still there, it appears to be under way at a relatively slow speed. Still getting no response to contacts."

"Continue to observe, Theta. We're still working on deciphering the transmission we receved from it."

--Out by the Otagian vessel--

"Roger that, Otagian vessel. We're forwarding our sensor data and recorded transmissions from the new contacts to you, mabye you know more about them than we do."

Within a few minutes, a high-bandwith stream of information from the computers of the closest ship is relayed to the Euclid squadron, then to the Otagian vessel.


--Back in orbit--

The Coreworlds vessel jumping in at first doesn't attract notice, considering the other things going on... but, as soon as it transmits it's ID code, things begin happening very quickly indeed.

"Sir, that vessel is identifying itself as a Coreworlds vessel."

"All vessels, alert status one."

"Praxis, you're closest to them, your orders are to capture the enemy vessel."

About 75,000 kilometers away from the Coreworlds vessel, the ANSF Praxis, a Hyperion-class cruiser (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=9748213&postcount=6) powers up it's main fusion drives, coming about and preparing to give chase. Onboard the ship, the Alert Status 1 alarm sounds, klaxons blaring as the crew assumes battle stations and the fighter pilots rush to their Euclids.

"Attention all hands, prepare for heavy acceleration. Repeat, all hands, prepare for heavy acceleration."

On the bridge, Captain Morrison straps himself in, as does the rest of the bridge crew. All over the ship, similar scenes are enacted, with the exception of the launch crews for the Euclids. As the engines warm up, the hatch on the ventral hull of the ship slides open, and the linear catapult's arms extend as an Euclid is trasversed into position on the carousel. Mechanics finish fueling up and loading the Euclids and hurry out of the launch bay as the sound of the hulking mobile armor's fusion engines powering up vibrates through the deck.

"Zeta 1, you are cleared for launch. Zeta 1, you are cleared for launch. All personnel, clear the launch bay. Repeat, all personnel, clear the launch bay."

As the last few personnel clear the deck, the blast deflectors raise themselves from the floor behind the Euclid, and the docking clamps release it from the deck. The digital display above the catapult begins to count down, 3, 2, 1, GO!

"Zeta 1, launching!"

As the green GO light lights up, the Euclid pilot pushes his thrusters all the way forward as the linear catapult snags his ship with powerful magnetic fields, flinging the craft out of the Praxis and into space. The sudden acceleration pushes the pilot and the other two crew members back in their seats, before easing off a bit as they clear the catapult.

"Launch successful. Rotating Zeta 2 into launch position."

The platform that had held Zeta 1 a second before rises upwards, as the next one elevates into place, locking itself in position. A few seconds later, the next mobile armor launches, and then the next after that, until all six of the Euclids on board are in space. In short order they accelerate ahead of the Praxis, headed for the Coreworlds vessel.

"This is the ANSF Praxis to Coreworlds vessel Romeo and Juliet. Heave-to and prepare to be boarded."

"Sir, IFF's screaming! It's an old opponent: Axis Nova!" A sensor operator reported.

"What?!" The captain asked. "Axis Nova? We haven't seen them in over a decade!"

Then the Axis Nova ship was near the Corellian Corvette, and the sensors were screaming now that weapons painted the target more easily than ever!

"This is the ANSF Praxis to Coreworlds vessel Romeo and Juliet. Heave-to and prepare to be boarded."
Normally, the corvette will try to resist by accelerating and juking about to avoid enemy fire while shooting back with its heavy laser cannons and missiles. But there was just one little thing about Coreworlds that Axis Nova would find odd. There was absolutely no sign of resistance or powering up of weapons or shields. The captain recalled an order that the High Council has sent down to the navy ships and began to smile, visions of a promotion to a larger ship dancing in his eyes. "This is Coredian vessal Romeo and Juliet. We will heave-to and prepare to be boarded. In fact, we invite you on board! Our High Council has waited a long time for this encounter!"

The little fighter continued to descend down through the atmosphere to the planet below. It finally settled on its skids near the edge of one of the mining areas. A moment later, the cockpit canopy popped open with a hiss of the seal breaking.

Inside.. are three Blubs. They peered about with their eyestalks, then climbed out of the cockpit. The Blubs chattered at each other for a moment, tentacles wriggling. Then one pulled out a big starmap, and they all gathered around it, jabbering.

(OOC:
*sniffle*
I feel unloved.)

OOC: Basically then, after tens of millions of years the ruins were buried under the earth. Yet, due to the fact they resist all heat, aging, and efforts of bending by natural forces the ruins have actually stood as they were when they were first built, but are in place filled with rock and dirt. As for their detection let us say that after the nuclear blast parts of the ruins were unearthed by the blast. Sound good to you?Please Reply Axis Nova

Please Reply Axis Nova

(sorry, missed the post, go ahead and do whatever-- the nuclear blasts were only over certain forests, by the way, to knock down lots of the tree analogues with air blast so they can easily be scooped up and hauled away)

(OOC:
So, am I being ignored or something?)

(sorry, missed the post, go ahead and do whatever-- the nuclear blasts were only over certain forests, by the way, to knock down lots of the tree analogues with air blast so they can easily be scooped up and hauled away)OOC: Alright, thank you for clearing that up for me and also here it is.

IC: The blast had revealed a few spires that stuck up from underneath the surface. The spires appeared to be made of natural gold, but were in fact Eternal gold a substance which was resistant to age, stress, and heat due to its special process of refining and making. Yet, due to this fact whenever regular radar hit it would be detected in its entirety up to fifty feet below the surface and also it would give off a unique signature to radar hits and scans.

(bump)

(OOC:
Fine, but some kind of explanation would be nice, y'know, so I would know not to think you had just missed my post or something. I wont bother you again.)

Harmonia Mortus Redux;11654881'](OOC:
Fine, but some kind of explanation would be nice, y'know, so I would know not to think you had just missed my post or something. I wont bother you again.)

(Sorry, missed you again >.< My people are still trying to figure out your transmissions, once they do they will make contact and proceed from there)

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up

The six Euclids zip through space, and begin orbiting the Romeo and Juliet at a high speed as the Praxis approaches.

"Acknowledged, Romeo and Juliet. No tricks, or I'll sink you!"

The main batteries of the Praxis target the engines of the small vessel as it approaches from the rear, retro-rockets firing and bringing it to a relative halt. The launch bay door opens and the linear catapult extends once more, this time not hurling it's payload out with quite as much speed: an assault shuttle loaded with marines.

After casing the hull a bit, something unusual is discovered-- no airlocks!

"Kappa 1 to Praxis. There are no visible airlocks on the outer hull. How shall we proceed?"

"Find a suitable location and cut your way in, Kappa."

The assault shuttle circles the vessel until a large bay door on the bottom is found, then slowly edges closer to the hull, firing some docking cables and trasversing closer in. As the cables touch the hull, there is a brief flash of purple-white as the electrical potential between the two vessels equalizes.

A short time later, the Forced Docking Tube extends from the bottom of the shuttle, contacting the hatch. The laser cutters within begin to do their work, slicing out a hole as men in Minuteman V suits stand by with the equipment for installing a temporary airlock.

The Captain was suddenly not so pleased when the assault shuttle decided to carve a hole in the outer cargo bay door. "Damn High Council weenies. They'll have to compensate something for this!"

"But orders are orders, sir." The second-in-command said. "Let's...uh...greet the newcomers."

"Fine." The Captain sighed and headed aft so he could open the inner cargo door and not have *that* ruined.

As the FDT finishes it's work, a large circular section of hull plating inside the Romeo and Juliet glows around the edges, then stops. A second later, a kick from a Minuteman unit dislodges it, and it falls to the deck with a loud CLANG.

The first thing to show is the muzzle of a Minuteman assault rifle, followed by the head; a second later, the suit itself drops into the bay heavily. Eleven more quickly follow it, the big burly armored suits rapidly taking up space in the cargo bay.

"Entrance completed, Praxis. Looks like we're in some sort of cargo bay. Cielings are a bit low, but we'll manage. The temporary airlock is secure. The ship appears to have artificial gravity, and the atmosphere is breatheable."

The lead Minuteman unit takes a few steps towards the inner bay door, preparing to open it.

As the Minutemen prepared to open it, it slid open into the wall and the Captain was suddenly face-to-face with something akin to a Chronosian Space Marine, or perhaps one of the rumored new suits the Jedi created. "Well...uh...hello...I'm Captain Arthur Tweed and welcome aboard the Romeo and Juliet. How may I help you...gentlemen?"

The external intercom on the Minuteman crackles for a second, then the man inside speaks.

"I'm Lieutenant Fitz, sir. My men and I are here to inspect and secure your vessel and dump your databanks in preparation for transiting to a command vessel and taking your crew into custody. Now, let's play this cool, and no one should need to get hurt."

The big suit of power armor leans forward a bit.

"We'll require access to your main computer and engineering spaces, as well as your primary communications systems. I'll also need a roster of your crew-- any nonessential personnel will need to go to their staterooms or bunks and stay there for the moment. Any personal weapons should be left stacked in public areas, unloaded. I want a cargo manifest as well-- if you're carrying anything hazardous, we need to know now."

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The external intercom on the Minuteman crackles for a second, then the man inside speaks.

"I'm Lieutenant Fitz, sir. My men and I are here to inspect and secure your vessel and dump your databanks in preparation for transiting to a command vessel and taking your crew into custody. Now, let's play this cool, and no one should need to get hurt."

The big suit of power armor leans forward a bit.

"We'll require access to your main computer and engineering spaces, as well as your primary communications systems. I'll also need a roster of your crew-- any nonessential personnel will need to go to their staterooms or bunks and stay there for the moment. Any personal weapons should be left stacked in public areas, unloaded. I want a cargo manifest as well-- if you're carrying anything hazardous, we need to know now."
"Very well." The captain sighed. He had his crew give the orders. Several grumbled, but sharp words kept them quiet.

The Axis Nova people were given complete access to anything they wished while the crew stayed out of their way. They would learn of several things of note to galactic politics: among them, the capital, Jurai being under seige, rumors that Daniel Masaki might take the Coredian Throne, and something called the Chuunin Exams where his son is participating in hopes of attaining the rank of Chuunin, a rank of respect as it allows Jedi and Shinobi to lead squads on missions. They would also note that the hyperdrive was damaged and will take a few days to fix, learning the reason why the Coredians were here in the first place. As for cargo, there was, little, if anything of note as the Corvette was a warship on its way to Konoha for a briefing.

(ooc: sorry for not posting the past few days, I've come down with a rather nasty cold and my head has felt like it's stuffed full of wet cotton, which is not terribly conductive to thinking up an RP post)

"Praxis to Wotan: the enemy vessel is secure. Now designated: Iota 1. We are proceeding to your location."

Within a short period of time, the Romeo and Juliet starts up it's engines again, this time flying in formation with the Praxis. The two vessels, along with the Praxis's Euclids, begin orbiting the planet, headed for the current flagship: the Wotan, an Omega-class destroyer (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=9748283&postcount=9).

As the Praxis and the Romeo and Juliet close in on the vessel, it slowly begins to grow in the main screens and through the portholes, though it's difficult to see well visually due to both it's paint job and the Phase Shift Armor, making it blend into the background well. The Praxis itself is significantly larger than the Corellian Corvette, but the Wotan is almost twice as long and far more massive-- indeed, it's longer than an Imperial Star Destroyer, if rather less massive.

"Praxis to Wotan, Iota 1 is all yours."

"Roger that, Praxis. Recover your boarding crew and return to station, we've got Iota 1 on the automatics now."

A few minutes later, the assault shuttle detatches from the bottom of the Romeo and Juliet, as another one from the Wotan docks, this time filled with the Wotan's own boarding party. As the Praxis pulls away, the engines of the Romeo and Juliet start up again, on low power, rotating the ship so that it's oriented with the large bay in the bow of the Wotan. Laser docking lines are projected out into space as the Corvette is slowly maneuvered into the vessel. As it finishes entering the bay, large robotic arms clamp onto assorted sections of the ship, slowly lowering it to the deck as landing legs deploy. As soon as the ship's landed, the bay doors close, and the bay begins to repressurize.

"Boarding party here. Iota 1 has been successfully docked."

(bump, Coreworlds, if I've written you into a corner, let me know and I'll edit my last post to fix this or something)

Bumping this because I need to continue with it.

teh bump