NationStates Jolt Archive

The Paris class NCC-211 Wolf slowly moved through the asteroid belt of a small star system. The Wolf had been assigned to hunt down any remaining forces of the old dictatorship. Onboard, captain Polari looked at his personal consul. Four days of searching this god forsaken place, and we haven’t found a thing. I only hope that other captains have had more luck. He stood surveying the bridge; the crew was mostly raw recruits fresh out of the academy. Why did I get stuck with this sector? Polari turned to face the second in command. “I’m going off duty now, the bridge is yours.” And with that he turned and walked off the bridge.

Two hours later an anomaly was detected, just a minor glitch in the sensors, nothing worth alerting the captain or vice captain about. But what was that anomaly? If the person had bothered to check it out he would have found multiple small objects. These objects were in actual fact missiles that had been scattered through out the area and were remotely activated. A small sensor built into a nearby asteroid detected the Wolf; it tagged the I.D. of the ship and sent it to a small relay unit. That relay unit then sent this information to another larger relay unit. This unit took the ships I.D. and referenced it to a list of friendly ships. It failed to find it amongst its extensive records. Copying this information, the unit then sent the copies to two different destinations. One to the first sensors unit in charge of the missiles, the other to a ship waiting nearby. The missiles leapt towards the defenseless Wolf. The ship shook as the missiles detonated across the hull. On the bridge, panels exploded and shrapnel flew, killing the vice captain. The captain shared a similar fate, as the area he was in depressurized. Then the last missile detonated. Onboard, the crew were in bad shape. Reports came flooding in, twenty two dead, thirty seven critically wounded and all others receiving some sort of injury. On the bridge, sub lieutenant Hawk sat trying to coordinate the remaining crew. “Can we raise shields yet?” he shouted at one of the other bridge crew. “No sir, we don’t have enough power at this time.” said the crewmember. “Well as soon as we do, get shield up and power the weapons, I have a feeling this is only the beginning of a very bad day.” Hawk said.

Three ships approached the crippled Wolf, their dark colour scheme broken only by a bright red skull painted on each ship. Silently they approached, weapons charged. Onboard the bridge of the Wolf, the sensors consul reactivated. “Um, sub lieutenant, I have three ships approaching, they appear to be hostile.” said the ensign nervously. “Great, just great; helm, get us out of here.” said Hawk. “Aye aye sir.” said the helmsman. “Can we get shields online? And how about the phasers?” Hawk shouted. “Phasers are online, as are shields. Photon torpedoes are also ready for use.” shouted one of the crew. “Good, let’s hope those bastards don’t have any more friends.” Hawk replied.

The Wolf maneuvered through the densely packed asteroids. The pursuing ships were finding it difficult to follow the Wolf’s tricky course. The three pursuing ships were firing their phasers, mostly hitting asteroids but sometimes connecting with the shields of the Wolf. “Okay, after we get past that next asteroid, turn to face the opponents. Hit the lead ship with a photon torpedo, hit the ship to port with half the phasers and the starboard ship with the other half of our phasers.” Hawk shouted. “Aye aye sir.” shouted the bridge crew. The three enemy ships came around the asteroid, their weapons blazing. The Wolf shuddered under the deadly barrage. The Wolf responded with an even deadlier hail of fire. The lead ships shields failed after only one photon torpedo had hit, the second destroyed the ship. The other two ships shields held, just. The second barrage took the shields out completely, and then they were destroyed. The Wolf however, suffered serious damage. Her starboard nacelle was severed from the ship, and more areas of the ship decompressed.

On the bridge, Hawk read a report on the damage sustained thus far. They could no longer go to warp, the majority of the crew were dead or injured severely and there was no way of contacting Korrath in a reasonable period of time. Only one option remained; an SOS signal.


This is the Wolf, a Karroth patrol ship, we require assistance immediately.


OOC:

Ok, the Wolf is a Paris class ship. It currently has a crew of 58 people. Here’s a picture (http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c280/Tannishar/d24ea967.jpg).

Traveling through space at a speed only slightly slower than light, the mighty Ravener-class battleship, the Emperor's Fist, only barely caught the SOS signal from the beleagured Wolf. Despite the name, the battleship had been mostly stripped of its formidible weaponry and was fitted with a highly complex sensor suite and even larger engines for STL and FTL flights.

The captain acted swiftly. "Send a message and set intercept course. Charge weaponry, and engage targeting systems, just in case."

To the Wolf:
"This is the Imperial recon battleship, the Emperor's Fist. Prepare for boarding and evacuation. We lack adequate repair facilities, but we can bring you to safety."

“Uh sir, we’re receiving a message.” said one of the crew on the bridge. “Put it on the speakers.” said Hawk. "This is the Imperial recon battleship, the Emperor's Fist. Prepare for boarding and evacuation. We lack adequate repair facilities, but we can bring you to safety." The bridge was silent for a couple of seconds be fore Hawk spoke. “Send this reply.”


We thank you for your aid. Every surviving crew member has suffered some form of injury. If it would be possible, we would like our ship towed or transported in some manner.

The captain addressed one of the subordinates on deck, one of only three, thanks to the advanced AI that controlled most systems, "Ensign, CAN we tow them?"

"I believe so, sir. We still have the full complement of tactical support frigates in the hanger. We can use their grappler boarding to tow, and deliver medics at the same time. Then we tow it into the main hanger."

"Excellent, we'll do that. Give the word."

Hanger bay doors opened on the underbelly of the comparatively massive battleship, disgorging a swarm of frigates that sped towards the Wolf

Closed transmission to the Wolf:

"We can tow your ship, but it will involve putting more holes in it. Be prepared to receive medical crews."

This message was sent in response.

We thank you. Make as many holes as you need to, just make sure not to hit a pressurized area.

Bump

OOC: Tag, I'll see if I can grab anything up for it tomorrow.

(OOC:I'm assuming your shields are down, right? Sorry about the delay, but I was busy.)

The first boarding craft punched through armor and hull, trailing a thick metal cable behind it. Anchors sprang out from the sides, a thick sealant was sprayed over the wall to avoid explosive decompression, and the first suited medics stepped out of the new doorway; all in the space of seconds. Other boarding craft slammed into the sides of the Wolf, and the frigates reversed direction, pulling the ship into the yawning hanger of the Emperor's Fist.

IC:

The hallways were in ruins. Cables coiled on the floor, sparking every so often. Crew members helping others towards the sickbay, some missing arms and legs. The damage was extensive, the injuries horrific.

On the bridge, Hawk sat reading a report on the number wounded. If we had suffered just twenty seconds more, we would have all died. he thought to him self. "Sir, the medics our rescuers promised have arrived." said one of the bridge crew. "Good, lead them to sickbay. Also, get on the line with our new friends."

Would you be able to pass on a message to these coordinates? Its just to let our commanders know that we're returning home.

Captain Septim decided to see the situation himself, and made his way to the observation deck of the hanger, after the atmosphere had been restored.

"Huh... Looks bad. Such a fragile ship, despite the shields (OOC:Ftagn ships lack shielding)... Or maybe their enemies are exceptionally powerful. I'll have to ask them."

The medic crews began setting up a field hospital on the floor of the hanger, so as to move the wounded crew members as little as possible.

To the Wolf:
"Send your message now. Anything you say will be forwarded to your provided coordinates."

The message sent by the Wolf reached a small relay station. From there it was sent to the Korrath navel command. There it made its way through the computer system, eventually reaching Admiral Cannif's terminal. Cannif's terminal gave a loud beep. He sat down at the desk. Finally, a report from that sector. As he read the message, his smile was replaced with grimace. Ship ruined, allot of crew dead? How did this all happen? Also, they made contact with another space capable power. Ahh well, it was bound to happen sooner or later. At least they were friendly. He Began typing up orders for a group of Lancaster class heavy cruisers to make contact with the Wolf and the other ship.

Meanwhile, Hawk strode towards one of the ship hatches. Stepping out onto a gantry, he made his way to what appeared to be an observation deck.

The captain noticed his counterpart making his way up to the observation deck, and saluted in greeting.

"Hello there! I assume you are in command of that fine vessel down there. While we're waiting for your friends to show, why don't you tell me about where you're from? I'll give you a tour around the ship. Well, parts of it, anyways."

"No, I'm not the captain of the ship. I'm just the person who took command after we were attacked. I'm Sub Lieutenant Hawk, part of the Korrath naval forces." Hawk said. "And I wouldn't mind a tour of your ship.

"Interesting, Lieutenant.. Hawk. Follow me.", the Captain stepped into the nearby service elevator, "So, what were you and your fellow crew members doing out here that so crippled your ship? Obviously there are hostiles around that we should know about. This ship, while rather large, is not equipped for intense combat situations."

"We're here to hunt down the remnants of the old navy. For nearly eighty years they ruled over Korrath with an iron fist. We were ambushed by three of their ships, but before that we were hit by missiles or mines or some sort of thing like that." Hawk said as he entered the elevator. "I do not know if there are any more ships out there, but that won't matter soon. Our fleet will be swarming this region within hours, hopefully they get anything that didn't attack us."

The elevator slid to a halt, and the doors opened, revealing the surprisingly small bridge.

"This, Lieutenant, is the bridge of the Imperial Fist, a reconnaissance vessel. Most of the systems are automated by the onboard battle computer, but we keep a few crew members as backup and fail-safes. We are now about in the center of the ship." The captain walked to a console and punched up a diagram of the ship onto the screen.

"Now, I can't actually show you too much, due to security reasons, so maybe you can tell me a bit about your 'Korrath', and I'll tell you about the Empire."

"Well Korrath is, um well ah, I'm not really good when it comes to history, so I can't tell you much. But I can tell you about the recent political upheavals." Hawk said. "I suppose revolution began when the fourth navel group destroyed the cargo freighter, Passion. The reason they destroyed it is unclear, but most believe that it was due to the fact it was carrying medical supplies to close to station three twelve, which at the time was blockaded." Hawk paused, collecting his thoughts. "Soon after, all transport of goods was halted to the shipyard Ossidian, as the only safe route lay inside the new exclusion zone around station three twelve. It was Ossidian that first rebelled, commandeering all ships docked at the docks. From there they struck out towards station three twelve, defeating the forces that were blockading it with surprising ease. After the battle of station three twelve, other ships and stations began openly deifying government authorities. For the next two years both sides continued to battle it out, with our forces eventually winning. From then on we've been hunting down any remnants of the old government."

[OOC:Arrrgh. I wish I had more free time to write more.]

"They started a rebellion because the government destroyed a freighter? Huh. Surely there were more reasons? And are your friends going to get here anytime soon?"

"Soon,I hope. And yeah I agree strange way for a war to start. But it was the fact that the fourth navel group then created an exclusion zone, which blocked a vital tradelane. The freighter spooked them, and they over reacted. Causing the war."

The captain shrugged,
"Well, the Eternal Imperium has been at war for as long as I can remember. Haven't seen much of it myself, but there's wounded soldiers and wrecked ships coming back from the front all the time. The Emperor doesn't say much about it, except that it's to protect us from the xeno scum... I haven't seen any xenos among your crew, though. Is your nation uncontaminated?"

"I don't know how to answer your question. We've been at war with other races, but apart from that contact with the universe is nonexistent." Hawk said.

Meanwhile several Lancaster's made their way towards the Ftagn ship. Their time till arrival, just over 2 hours.

"Oh, lucky you. We've had nothing but problems resulting from contact with other races with FTL travel. Anyways, I'm sure you need to get back to your crew, and I need to get in touch with my superiors. These men will escort you back." The captain nodded at a couple of exosuited legionnaries, who stood to attention and opened the lift door.

"After you, sir."

Hawk walked towards the lift. Turning just before he entered. "Could you inform me, or one of the crew when our ships arrive?"

"Of course. I'll inform whoever is still at the bridge of your vessel, I guess. Or I'll use the hanger intercom. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have things to do before those ships get here..."

"Right, I'll leave you to your work." And with that Hawk turned and entered the lift.

Mean while, the engineering personal worked on the ships systems. Trying to reestablish power, repairing circuitry and other important systems.

Kommodore Schnaebeli lay back in his chair and savoured the moment. Nothing was happening. He had no responsibilities. For once in his life, he could lie back and let the warp go by.

"We're picking up an SOS, sir. Ship called the Wolf, stranded and requiring aid, source not far to galactic north-east of us."

Crap.

"Okay, get a message out to all the navigators, set course for signal origin."

"Sir, is that really wise? Krämer and Sons is basing their business on punctual delivery. Perhaps we should just send a frigate to check it out?"

The corporate representative withered under the looks from the bridge crew.

"Mr. Roth, I was CO of a destroyer at Boozia Prime, and the first thing service is taught me is that we don't leave people behind. Think of the boys and girls over Jurai right now. They'd do this. And besides, with only two frigates, I don't want to loose any escort."

"Message transmitted, sir."

"Thank you, Ms. Voigt."

The captain sat back in his chair and folded his arms.
"Well, now all we have to do is wait. Computer, deploy weapons. I want to look impressive for our new friends, and with our size it shouldn't be hard."

Along the sides of the massive hulk, armored panels opened and exposed the few emplacements of railguns and missile batteries that graced the stripped down battleship. Few though they were (By Imperial standards), the guns were enough to add a certain something to the ship's silhouette...

[OOC:There are 10 railguns and 10 missile batteries, on 10 mounts of two (Missiles with railgun paired). They are powered down now.]

The 3 Lancasters (http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c280/Tannishar/0e509383.jpg) exited warp, their shields raised. The ship in front of them had weapons readied, a worrying sign as far as first contacts went.

This is the Korrathian navel ship, Phoenix. We understand you have aided one of our ships, the Wolf.

OOC: Sorry for the long response time, Real Life has been hectic.

[OoC: S'okay, I've been busy as well. Your links aren't working, BTW. Upload the pictures to Imageshack or something. IC post will be here later.]

Three hours ago, bridge of the RSS Viktor

The Viktor was a long range cruiser and was in fact the only kind of cruiser in use by the Grand Duchy of Dol Nar. They had sent several out on exploration expeditions. The Viktor was two weeks out from home, searching for either new races or fresh systems to colonize.

In command was Lord-Captain Sir Korran Deltos, a commoner by birth but knighted for his actions during the Dol-Enkia War. His communications officer, a young midshipman by the name of Joros handed him a data readout.

"Just picked this up sir. Fater-then-Light transmission."

Deltos scanned the message, pulse accelerating slightly. First contact with aliens. However, these aliens seemed to know English. Other humans perhaps?

He turned to his navigation officer, "How far out are we?"

The Nav Officer thought for a moment, "At flank speed, about three hours."

"Set a course and give the engines every bit of power we can afford."

"Yes, Lord-Captain."

The time passed quickly, it seemed. Rumors raced through the ship like wildfire. First contact!

A half-hour out Deltos keyed the shipwide comms system.

"All hands, this is the Lord-Captain. We do not know what to expect. However, long-range sensors are picking up energy signals. Multiple ships, we believe. Stand by."

He turned to his First Leftenant. "General Quarters."

The XO activated his own comms, "General Quarters, General Quarters! All hands man your battle stations! I repeat, General Quarters! All hands, man your battle stations!"

Klaxons began to go off all over the ship as crew members fell into the well-rehearsed drill. The lighting dimmed and went oa dark crimson as energy shunted to weapons and shielding.

Thirty minutes later the Viktor dropped in system.

Attention, this is the RSS Viktor of the Grand Duchy of Dol Nar. We recieved a distress call. May we be of assistance? Over.

The Captain paused for a moment, then replied, "That's right. This is the Imperial Fist, a reconnaissance vessel of the Empire Immortalis, the Eternal Empire. Your ship was heavily damaged in battle with "old government forces", and most of the crew is dead or wounded. We can tow what's left of the ship back to you now, but moving the crew may be problematic, for the wounded at least. I'm Captain Septim, by the way. Oh, and until I know I can trust you, please refrain from doing anything... suspicious."

Shortly after...

"Sir! We're showing another vessel inbound! Apparently it's here to answer the distress call as well."

"Well, damn. Keep a battery trained on them, would you?"

He then spoke into the transmitter again, "You're a little late there. The situation is being handled, but we would be interested in having a little chat, if you'll stick around."

We can easily transfer our crew, we just require your cooperation, all we need is for you to power down any systems that will interfere with an energy stream. That, and the locations of our personal on board your ship.
Came the message from the Phoenix.

"They're in the hanger, it should be pretty apparent where that is. The hanger doors shouldn't be any barrier to teleportation, if that's what you're thinking."

[ooc: Nope, no shields.]

We require their exact co-ordinates, and as defined in our navel doctrine, if any of our ships were scanned in such a way without our permission, or under extraordinary circumstances, is a hostile action. So, are we allowed to scan your ship to find our personal, as we would have to scan a fair portion of your ship in the process.

"Here, I'll give you a schematic of the ship, the positions of your crew members are indicated in blue. For security reasons, though, any specific details other than your crew members are left out."

Septim thought to himself, Well, at least there's no way they can tell that we scanned their ship...

"I'm afraid scanning us won't turn up much, as most quarters are passively shielded against... pretty much any known technique of scanning. The hanger should be fine, though, if you must."

Thank you, the information you have provided is very useful, we will now commence transport of our personal.

Suddenly all injured Korrath personal were enveloped in light, and then, they disappeared, only to dematerialize inside the medbays of the Lancaster's.

Transfer is complete, if you would be willing, could you transport our ship, and our personal to these coordinates.

Captain Septim looked over the coordinates for a moment and shrugged. "Alright, then. We're charging our engines for another jump, so it'll be a few minutes before we get there. We used up the reserve power to rescue your ship. Nice meeting you. Representatives of the Emperor will be here soon to open negotiations. Don't be alarmed."

[OOC: Anyone still here?]