NationStates Jolt Archive

It was the early hours of Saturday morning, Greenwich Mean Time, when the Communications Office at the Extra-Terran Corporation in London lost contact with its largest mining colony on Mercury. Confused technicians in the Communications Department checked and double-checked the system-wide ETC Communications Relay, finding no fault in the system. It was only a brief period of time before the Board of Directors realised the truth;

ETC Mercury Colony had simply switched off its Communications Relays.

---

Mercury.

The closest planet to Sol, a desolate wasteland across its surface with temperatures ranging from the unbearably cold to the unbearably hot, but rich in mineral wealth below the surface. Here, a multitude of ventures to mine the planet's vast Iron Core had assisted in the development of the the entire solar system beyond the confines of Earth's atmosphere. Home to only those who had to be there, Mercury was both a blessing and a curse for its settlers.

One of the largest corporate mining colonies on the Closest Planet was the ETC Mercury Colony, comprising three linked settlements of a total 6 million workers, families and other personnel. Essentially a small nation unto itself, ETC Mercury Colony functioned under its own Corporate Governor and maintained its own ground-based security force to protect itself from possible unrest.

Hermes City was the focal point for ETC Mercury power. The seat of the Corporate Governor and the associated governmental administration, Hermes City effectively formed the capital of the entire Colony. A massive, underground city built to service the mining industry, Hermes City was effectively an underground dome, reinforced at its boundaries by massive titanium walls and linked to both the surface and its sister settlements by extensive tube-based road and rail links.

As the people went to work on their artificial 24-hour mornings that day, it was essentially the usual mundane tasks of operating ETC's mining extractions to fill the day's Iron Quota. Little where the people to know until later that afternoon the extent of the changes which had occured overnight.

Governor Sebastian Vladiskovky was a strong, tall man of Russian ancestry, who had joined the Corporation as a young Corporate Official managing the humdrum activities of one of ETC's smaller Mining Offices. He rose through the ranks, serving as Vice-Governor to one of ETC's colonies on Luna, before being appointed the Governor of ETC Mercury Colony. Over that time, Vadiskovky had grown weary of the Corporation's iron fist in controlling its people. The Luna Uprising had been the last straw, when Corporation Security Forces had put down a massive uprising of workers with brutal and fatal tactics. Since his appointment to ETC Mercury Colony, Vladiskovky had worked over several years to bring sympathetic and allied personnel to his closest circle.

All that work came to a pinnacle in the early hours of that day. The Corporate Council met again that day under the pretext of dicussing regular business. Today, however, the was only one item on the Agenda.

Vladiskovky sat at the head of the table, smoking a large imported Cuban cigar between clenched teeth. With one hand, he removed it from his mouth and exhaled before speaking. "Is everything according to plan?" he asked in a calm tone.

Vice-Governor Thomas Harrison sat to Vladiskovky's left. He nodded, reviewing the status report in front of him. "Yes, sir. As of last night, Security Forces took control of the Communications Relays and cut contact with Head Office. Since then, we have been arresting Corporation-loyal officials and holding them within the Security Force's own Detention Centres."

Sebastian nodded, looking at Security Force Commodore David Basilton. The old, former military officer had seen a lot of war, and had grown tired of the oppression the Corporation brought down on its workers. "Commodore, is the loyalty of your men guaranteed."

Basilton bristled at the accusation. "Sir, my men are with me," he said tersely from behind a large, bristly grey moustache. "Corporation Headquarters are a long way from here."

Vladiskovky smiled. "No offence intended, Commodore." He then turned back to the rest of the assembled Council. "Ladies and Gentlemen," he began. "Today, it begins."

---

Broadcast Transmission
Target: Internal and External Mercurian Communications

"Governments of the Universe,"

"Long tired of our oppression by our Corporate masters back on the Mother Planet, the Extra-Terra Corporation Mercury Mining Colony hereby declares its political, economic and social independence from our parent company and any national or supra-national alliegances it may hold."

"Our colony can no longer stand the oppression of free speech, assembly or the ability for workers to participate in the management of our affairs. We are not only a Corporate Colony, we are a living, co-operating entity with all the political and social implications thereby."

"The entire Corporate Council hereby announce that the ETC Mercury Mining Colony is now the Kingdom of Independent Mercury, styled as a Constitutional Monarchy and headed by myself as Sovereign."

"I hereby appoint Vice-Governor Thomas Harrison as Prime Minister of the Kingdom, free to choose his own Cabinet of Ministers to form a Provisional Government. A Constitution shall be written, protecting the rights of the People, and voting districts shall be drawn up to provide a framework for the election of a Royal National Assembly within three months of this message, representative and answerable to the people of our colony."

"We appeal to other nations across the universe to recognise our government and establish diplomatic relations with our new government in order to strengthen our new foothold in Intergalactic Relations."

"Long live our strive towards freedom, and long live Independent Mercury."

King Sebastian I
First Sovereign of the Kingdom of Independent Mercury

The Emperor and Empress of British Londinium sat in their throne room when a messenger walked in holding an official SIS report, detailing the revolution on Mercury.

"This is intolerable!" cried the Emperor.
"Dispatch the fleet at once." ordered the Empress.

At the headquarters of the Royal Starfleet, the order went out to all starships to surround Mercury forthwith.

Attack fleet sent:
6 Dreadnought-class battlecruisers (http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/index.php/Dreadnought-class_battlecruisers)

(OOC: Assuming that I can pick your vessels up on the way here seeing as you haven't made any public statement as to your moves, otherwise there isn't much else I can say at this point. Hope this is acceptable)

"What?"

The first Cabinet meeting of the Provisional Government was a monumentous occasion, and included the presence of the Monarch. Several hours of demonstrations in favour of the new government had alleviated Sebastian's fears of a potential backlash from Corporation-loyal citizens. They all seemed as sick and tired of their complete isolation from political decisions as he had been.

However, the first meeting was also there to discuss the recent threat by another nation to take action against the Kingdom. The independence movement was less than 24 hours old, and Space Traffic Control Centre in Hermes City had already picked up several large, incoming vessels on a direct course for Mercury. And the analysis was not good.

Sebastian listened to former Commodore (now General) Basilton outline the grim military situation that faced the fledgling Kingdom.

"Your Highness, Mister Prime Minister," Basilton continued. "We cannot do anything about the approach of these vessels. We have no space-based craft to intecept them with whatsoever."

"What about the ETC Defence Grid?" The Prime Minister asked. The Grid comprised of a series of satellites in orbit around Mercury, each armed with two chemical lasers and each with a salvo of a dozen nuclear-pulse rockets, each sporting a 1 Megaton fusion warhead.

Basilton considered for a moment. "We have control over these," he conceded. "However, there are only three Satellites covering the entire orbit of Mercury, and were only to be used against Pirate attacks, not vessels of this size."

Sebastian sighed, leaning back in his seat and considering the situation. Overhead, the recirculating air spun his Cigar smoke lazily above the tense situation of assembled men and women. Then he looked up, straightening in his seat.

"We must therefore place all our efforts in defending against a potential ground attack," he said. "General," he turned to Basilton. "I am placing the Colony under Martial Law and imposing a Curfew. I want you to deploy our ground forces to garrison the tunnel systems coming down from the Spaceports of each Colony. If they want to take the Kingdom, then their forces have to come down those three transit tubes."

Basilton nodded. Each settlement was connected to a Spaceport on the surface of Mercury by a single transport tube, essentially a massive twelve-lane roadway used by vehicles for the movement of Iron Ore from the colony to cargo vessels. With the Kingdom itself being fifty kilometres below the surface of Mercury, invading forces would have to move down these tubes to engage in the city-fighting that would follow.

The group spilt up. As people left, Harrison paused, turning to Sebastian. "Seb," he said, being the only one allowed to call Vladiskovky by his first name due to their long friendship. "You realise that these people can just as easily sit in orbit and blow us to hell."

Sebastian nodded grimly. "I know," he answered. "And I'm not sure if I wish they wouldn't, considering the hopeless situation on the ground."

---

The curfew announcement went out. Bewildered workers were ordered into their homes as the newly established Royal Army began deploying in their small numbers. Several thousand infantry with associated Armoured Vehicles stationed themselves at the entrances to each Transit Tube, determined to create a bottleneck for invading forces should it be required. Infantry Soldiers gripped laser rifles, whilst Armoured Personnel Carriers charged their own chemical-laser turrets and projectile-missile launchers. Limited but deadly, the Heavy Weapons Tanks of the Royal Army began preparing for the battle, each armed with a Tactical Nuclear Launcher, two Quad-Laser Turrets and several inches of reinforced titanium armour.

---

"Governments of the world, we request your assistance."

"Our Kingdom is but yet formed, and we are already threatened with oppression once more. We shall stand and fight to the end should we be required, but wish to request military and political assistance to preventing this attack on our nation from occuring."


King Sebastian I

Communiqué from the Royal Starfleet
1st Attack Group
In orbit around Mercury

Now hear this, now hear this. All soldiers are to lay down their arms forthwith. I repeat, all soldiers are to lay down their arms forthwith. A diplomatic shuttle is being sent down. Any harm done to the shuttle or its occupants shall be deemed an act of war.

Communiqué from the Royal Starfleet
1st Attack Group
In orbit around Mercury

Now hear this, now hear this. All soldiers are to lay down their arms forthwith. I repeat, all soldiers are to lay down their arms forthwith. A diplomatic shuttle is being sent down. Any harm done to the shuttle or its occupants shall be deemed an act of war.

"The bloody nerve!" exclaimed Prime Minister Harrison.

Sebastian grimaced. "They have the ability to do so, my friend," he said calmly.

The two men stood in the Command Room of the Royal Military Headquarters, the former Corporate Defence Force Command Centre. Military personnel moved around the large room, directing forces through headset communicators and monitoring different areas of the Kingdom. A large holographic display on the far wall showed the Kingdom, the distribution of Royal Army forces, and potentially the distribution of enemy forces.

King Sebastian turned to General Basilton. "Lets see if we can play for time," he said calmly. "Send a response."

---

Communique from the Kingdom of Mercury to the Royal Starfleet detachment orbiting Mercury

"We welcome a diplomatic envoy for discussion with our government and guarantee the safe passage of this envoy. However, we summarily refuse to lay down arms at this time. We await your envoy's arrival, who shall be met by Royal Army personnel at Hermes City Spaceport."

King Sebastian I

On Mercury

The shuttlecraft Dawkins landed at the spaceport. The airlock opened, and the diplomatic envoy from British Londinium emerged, flanked by two SIS personnel.

Awaiting the diplomat was a small contingent of Royal Army soldiers.

With a smile, the diplomat said, "Take me to your leader."

In Mercurian orbit

"How dare they not comply!" shouted the fleet admiral.
"It's understandable, to a degree," countered his assistant.
"Call for reinforcements. If things go sour, I want us to win. Bring the plasma shields online. Assume Condition Red at once."

"Comm check complete. Nothing new from Boeglin. Our orders remain as before. And... ah, something new inbound."

The speaker was the archetypal commo guy, young, ginger and over-enthusiastic, he might have stepped straight from a Schnapsewehr Radio comedy. The only exception to his stereotyped impression was his mechanical leg. Young and over-enthusiastic they might be, but inexperianced personnel didn't end up on Jagerschiffen.

"Two transmissions in close proximity, same source. A new constituitional monarchy seeks recognition and then requests military aid, but that's not the interesting part. The interesting part is that they live on Mercury and hail from Terra."

There was a moment of silence on the bridge.

"Terra. Ancient Terra. Well, I never expected this to happen. Trace to source and drop out."


All this happened some time ago, but it is necessary that you know these events in order to give context to these events.

Reality was torn open, the gash traveling not along any one demension but instead ripping along the line between material and immaterial, real and unreal, the world of beings and the world of souls. Space and warp, to put it the short way.

"Sir, active scan detects six vessels and three orbital weapons platforms, all ships identicle and displaying Beta-tech characteristics."

"Okay. Pritzwit, transmit everything after I give you the thumbs up in every language we have available. Von Breunning, go active scan. Let's make our presence known."

"Sir."

"Sir."

Joachim Pritzwit, the archetypal commo guy, spoke with the soft, deep and, to a human, distinctly rural accent of a Harvester, while Maria von Breunning rapped out her affirmation in the sharp tones charteristic of a "true" Boozian.


From SMS Gefreiter Mergsen
To all those engaging or planning to engage in hostilities
On behalf of the Boozian reich I'm requesting you stand down. I believe this issue does not require the use of force, but in the event of war we will fight for Mercury's right to exist until concrete evidence is provided that it is an illegitimate government under Boozian law."

Order to all Royal Starfleet starships orbiting Mercury

All ships are to move five thousand kilometres away from the planet surface. Bring weapon systems to standby. Keep the plasma shields intact.

The envoy from BL was taken by Royal Army personnel in a requisitioned civilian vehicle from the Spaceport. Traversing down the transit tubes, they passed into Hermes City, the vast, sprawling metropolis at the centre of the small Kingdom.

Passing military personnel stationed at the end of the Tube, the vehicle took only a few minutes to reach the Royal Palace, the former Governor's Mansion, due to the Martial Law restricting civilian traffic. From there, the envoy was taken to the Royal Chambers of the King.

Sebastian sat in a wide armchair, awaiting his guest. The tables had turned slightly with the arrival of the Boozian Reich and its threat of hostility against the invaders. He smiled; perhaps the Kingdom could still come out of this intact.

As the envoy was shown in, Sebastian stepped forward and greeted the man with a polite bow. "Welcome to the Kingdom of Independent Mercury, please take a seat."

He then resumed his seated position, and got down to business. "Now, tell me why your government has attempted to destroy the free government of the Kingdom?"

---

"We thank the Boozian Reich for its provisional assistance in this matter, and would like to further relations between our two nations if at all possible."

Greg Dalt
Minister for Intergalactic Relations

"At no point has His and Her Majesties' Government planned to destroy your government. We merely wish to negotiate. It is obvious that your independence shall have serious repercussions on the global economy. British Londinium does not wish to experience these repercussions. Therefore, we wish to extend you our protection, as well as starship designs, in return for some...favourable trade agreements."

"We thank the Boozian Reich for its provisional assistance in this matter, and would like to further relations between our two nations if at all possible."

Greg Dalt
Minister for Intergalactic Relations

We hope that when this unfortunate incident is brought to a mutually satisfactory conclusion embassies can be set up to link our peoples and governments. But for now, I fear military co-operation is our most immediate concern. I must take this opportunity to apologise for our unauthorised entry into Mercurian space, but now that we have contact I am in a position to request permission for a battle squadron sufficient to protect your ground assets be brought in.

Oberst-Leutnant Ramcke
Diplomatic officer of the SMS Gefreiter Mergsen

From: Malthus Cruonis, Minister of Special Services, Commonalitarianism
Re: Independence Movement

Malthus Cruonis,
We congratulate you on your move towards independence. While we cannot offer direct military assistance, we can offer technical designs for the conversion of civilian hardware to military capabilities. We support you in your move away from a corporation to a fully independent entity.
We have designs which we provided on the New Mars revolt for conversion of civilian equipment to military specifications. Please let us know if you are interested.
Some of these designs include a conversion design to create a plasma flamethrower from a fusion torch, an up armoring layout for hard shell space suits, a conversion of a heavy rivet gun into a man portable coil gun, and a weaponized form of hiberzine gas.
Please let us know if you are interested in these schematics. We look forward to amicable future relations.

Regards,

Malthus Cruonis, Minister of Special Services

"An interesting predicament, sir."
"Indeed."

It was probaly a good thing that the Dominion military extended a hand of flexibility to its fleet commanders. Otherwise, the kilometers of transmissions, requests, orders, and questions would be out of the Shroud, the autocracy a centralized government if nothing else. With the current system, however, it was possible-easy-for commanders to take action when they saw fit, and HQ had no issue nor complaint with it. It provided strength to those who were strong and eliminated the weak.
Three hours before, Captain Telcho Zyrge, commanding Tactical Fleet A62, had recieved two comms on board his flagship, the Legacy-class Battleship Endeavor. One had asked for recognition of the government of Mercury...which was laughable. A62 had been on recon near the borders of the Terra system. Terra had independence, for sure, but still had regressive technology compared to the techno Dominion control, lacking the high-powered turbolaser or any weapon comparable to blast things to shreds. Sovereignty had often bee breached by Dominion vessels, which would proceed to threaten annihilation if not given their way. All of this made a Mercury government funn. However, the next one had piqued curiosity-asking for military assistance. A62 had been looking for a fight and not found one, which is why this seemed intriguing. A short hyperjump had brought the fleet near Venus, and a short subspace travel-after several threats to local Terran stations-had brought them to the Mercury space.

"I guess we should send a comm," Zyrge said. "Widespread to see what is up."
"Go right ahead, sir," his XO, Luko Shren, replied.

Zyrge stepped in front of the holomatrix, then began.

Attention ships and people of the area. It has come to the attention of the Amazonian Dominion military that a Mercury government is in danger. Let it be known that any shots fired in aggression to attempt hostilities on said Mercury government will be considered an act of piracy by the Dominion, in which we will commence attack on such ships. Hereby, I extend the hand of Dominion defense over the Mercury government for the time being to prevent agaisnt said hostilities. This is the only warning we shall give.

Communiqué from the Royal Starfleet to all starships orbiting Mercury

Now hear this, now hear this. All vessels in the area are to stand down. We do not intend to engage in hostile action. I repeat, we are here to engage in diplomatic discourse only.

Return Transmission to the Royal Starfleet

You are not in a very good position to make demands. We shall keep weapon systems at the ready and our shield and hanger systems up until we are 100% satisfied that the sovereignty of Mercury is secure.

Return Transmission to the Royal Starfleet

You are not in a very good position to make demands. We shall keep weapon systems at the ready and our shield and hanger systems up until we are 100% satisfied that the sovereignty of Mercury is secure.

Understood.

((OC- Guess Sol is entering the FT scene, which I can play with too. =^^= ))

---

The situation garnered the attention of another power in the Sol System, as Ascendancy interests on Luna-Sol (A Class-One Starbase on the surface,) and a Starbase at Jupiter oribt, another at Sol-Zenith gravity node, and the nation of Japan, as well as Embassies in Montana and Florida.

Seeing a possible conflict at Mercury, the first orbital planet in the Sol System, was something that worried the ones that saw the entire System as holy ground. The founders were born there, and over the past two hundred years, the System was becoming as holy as a place as ones thought holy by Terran religions.

As such, the situation up to now was monitored, but not for much longer.

---

"We have a signal from Homeworld."

Commander Goro Mutsumi took the Padd from Commander Tsubasa. A kind smile and a calm look at the Padd while walking about the Luna-Sol command center, a large dome amongst many, many others.

:: ~ We acknowledge the problem at Sol-Mercury, we'll leave the situation up to you. Know that we can only send no more than a Fleet Squadron (two hundred ships and annciliary support) in an emergency, so we're impressing diplomacy would be best to resolve all of this.

We're sending a Council representative through the Stargate Center to your location in a few hours. Lady Caladeni Kerensky will be conducting negotiations, and will have fleet command if necessary.

But be adivsed this is a last resort, all other resources, including MWCG ones are are tied up in Paladin/Harvest, so when I say impress, I 'mean' it. No over the top stuff on this one.

Ordered Regards,

Lady Seto Kamiki ~ ::

Goro sighed. "No need to bite our collective heads off beforehand."

Tsubasa just commented. "We have to keep in mind almost everything is being thrown at those DE baka, so we just have to make do."

Goro nodded. "Then we'll do just that. Um... looks like 1834 hours the Sister Excellency will arrive. Better make sure a VIP room is ready."

"Already done Commander." ..comes a hop-skipping Commander Ran. Goro smiles. "Listening in on my thoughts again?"

"Yup.." Tsubasa/Ran say in simult. Goro sighs. "Got it."

He then looks up, and notes Commander Yuki afar. Also on the same Hikari Tree Link as the other ladies, Goro's 'looking' gets from Yuki. "Yes?"

"Prepare a cursory message to let them all know we are noticing all of this. After that we'll let the Sister Excellency work it from there."

Yuki nods and turns to send a prompt message over subspace radio frequencies. It's a plain one that would nab attention fast.

---

:: ~ All forces and political entities concerning the Mercury crisis, know that the Sphere and Ascendancy has taken note, and is sending a diplomatic envoy to investigate, and possibly assist in mediating a peaceful resolution to this affair.

We will be coming regardless, so prepare accordingly.

Regards,

Commander Yuki Mutsumi
Gaian Interloper ~ ::

---

Goro blinked. "Interloper?!"

Yuki just laughed for her own accord.