NationStates Jolt Archive

Northern Gholgoth, Earth, Sol System

Snow. Ice. Cold.

The northern icecaps of the Gholgoth landmass were serene. No wind, few clouds in the sky, and a bright sun that shown on the sea of ice below, which rippled like sand in a desert. Rifts and cliffs were the only breaks in the ice. It was silent. It was beautiful. It was about to be littered with debris as a sonic boom emanated from the sky.

Five fighter craft ripped through the sky at mach three. Two in front, followed by three behind them. The two in front were identifiably Atlantian, albeit one of a class not on (official) record of any database. They almost looked like four-tentacled octopi, with four ‘arms’ coming out the back of it, each one ending with a jet thruster for flight. The top two folded back further then the bottom two. The front and cockpit was pointed, aerodynamic.

The three in back were, on the other hand, identifiably NOT Atlantian. They were in fact, Zoir in design. “Zoir Fast Attack Fighter” would be the designation on most databases. The small yellow fighters were in full pursuit of the Atlantian vessels, cutting the cold air with blinding hot energy weapons. The two Atlantian fighters maneuvered to evade the firepower.

“Alpha one, cover me”

“Wait, what are you—”

Alpha two spun around on its axis, while still flying forward, thanks to its thrusters. It opened fire on the approaching vessels with intense fury. It and one of the Zoir craft were obliterated as they slammed into each other. Shrapnel flew everywhere as the remaining three craft continued on.

“Ascendancy forces, you are ordered to stand down. I repeat, stand down! You are ordered to surrender.” Alpha one exclaimed, still managing to evade fire.

An energy bolt struck the bottom left thruster of Alpha one. The vessel spiraled out of control. A second shot took out the top left thruster. The fighter spiraled down, and struck an ice dune, exploding in flames. The two Zoir fighters continued on, flying up into space. Their job was done.

Any planetary sensors within a reasonable distance would have been able to pick up on the firefight that had just occurred. This would include those nations nearby on or near the main Gholgoth landmass.

Aequatian Republic Space Command Satellite Surveillance Headquarters, Arrio, Aequatius Prime

A young lieutenant worked at his console dutifully at his dull role of monitoring the satellite imagery obtained from the satellites monitoring the entire continent when he was alerted to a number of thermal signatures within the Northern areas of Gholgoth. He replayed a number of the images before printing them off and bringing them to the supervising watch officer, a major, "Sir, look at these thermal images from up North, we may have a situation growing concerning our allies."

The major looked over the images before looking up at the lieutenant, "I want these forwarded to intel and command, see what they can make of things."

The younger officer nodded as he saluted and returned to his station.

OOC: Just a quick, "I saw it too!" Tag.

Omfg Tag

"Star 4, this is Reach 7. We just got a blip... can you give us IFF tags? Over."

"Reach 7, this is Star 4. Negative on IFF. Repeat, negative on IFF. Confirmed weapons exchange. Over."

"Negative on IFF, fire exchanged. Roger that Reach 7. Monitor for more. We are investigating. Out."

Thus was the converstation between a fighter lead and an AWAC. 'Star 4', was in fact three aerofighters patrolling Gholgothian airspace. They swept north and climbed, intending to drop on the bogeys... only they were climbing high into orbit. It would be impossible to match them at the moment. They could follow, but they weren't cleared for zero-gee operations on this flight when the targets were outside of reasonable strike range.

Instead, the three craft dove, flying past the column of smoke coming from the wrecked fighter. "Reach 7, this is Star 4. We have a downed fighter at our cooridinates. Nationality unknown. Requesting ground teams investigate, over."

"Satr 4, this is Reach 7. Roger on request. Ground teams being advised and are gearing up. Return to patrol pattern."

----------

Staff Sergeant Samantha Laran pulled on her winter combat gear. Armed with a FALCON rifle, advanced armor and her own skills, she was more than prepared. Several others were armed as well, though they wore only standard Marine Corps winter equipment. Being a Commando, she was equipped with the best. They were preparing rescue equipment. A Sno-Cat was being strapped down, supplies and equipment strapped to it.

She was not a happy woman. Being sent on a rescue mission was not her first choice, but her gut told her something was very wrong. It took balls to engage in combat over Ghologoth. And she was running through teh list of suspects in her mind. It was not a cheerful list.

Zimmerman took a long haul of ash. He was fecking freezing. Even in his Combat Suit the wind bit down to his bones. Shivering he lowered his arm and exhaled a large grey cloud of smoke. "You know that'll kill 'ya, eh Zims"
Zimmerman spat a rather large chunk of flem to the crisp snow. He considered a whitty reply regarding the temperature doing it first, but he opted for something a little more conclusionary. "Shut the fuck up, Bails." Yeah. That would work.

He resumed smoking and surveying the terrain. Snow. Snow and Mountains. Snowy Mountains with snow around them. He had now spent 8 months in the Colony, seven of which freezing his ass off.
"So Sarge... are we done here? Its fecking freezing!"
Zimmerman spun around and stared Bails in the eyes. He contemplated a rather harsh verbal beating, but futher investigation of the young mans face... his bright red cheeks, blue lips, frosty eyes would convince him otherwise. "Yeah, I suppose. But god'amnit Bails put on your mask!"

Looking about the three other Spartans in the group stood together, amused by the infrequent but comedical exchanges.
"Alright, lets get the hell out of here! Saddle up boys!" Each man scooped up a piece of equipment... RADAR dishes, surveyors, SAT links, and other more minimal devices. Zimmerman banged his armoured fist against the side of the AHED (http://star.walagata.com/w/artitsa/AHEDlabel.PNG), which responded by opening the rear hatchway for the team.

Zimmerman was the last one to enter the vehicle, but he didn't quite make it. There was a loud thunderous crack in the sky, and he was suddenly on his back. However, this provided him an excellent view of the Drama taking place in the sky. Another explosion saw one of the spectacular crafts spiraling towards the mountain ranges. He coughed up some more phlem before peeling himself up off the snow. Leaning into the AHED, he could see that his men had already taken off their masks and were now wearing a stern concerned look.
"Bill, call SHIELD, and tell them that we have aerial combat at our co-ordinates. Inform them that a vehicle was grounded in the Southern Mountains, and we wish to investigate, got it?" A curt nod confirmed his understanding. Zimmerman looked back towards the mountains - a slight plume of dense black smoke had begun to rise and drift in the skies. Finally a little excitement.

Aboard the Asfaltic sloop-of-war activity rapidly increased. They were stationed on patrol-duty, and had detected a fire-fight on a nearby planet. Standard proceedure advised to be alert at any sign of battle going on around Asfaltums homeplanet and its trade facilities, and since an asfaltum research facility was located in the surroundings, the captain aboard the sloop-of-war was extra worried. But, after notifying command and calling for back-up, he decided to investigate. "Take us to the site." he ordered the helms-man. A couple of seconds later, they arrived at the planet, and scans revealed the downed fighter-craft. They also detected two fighter-craft exiting the planets atmosphere. A general message was sent to all nearby vessels:
This is the HMS Blackbird of the Asfaltum fleet. We request information on the current situation, as we have detected a fire-fight in this sector, which incidentally is in the region of an Asfaltum facility. Please explain the reason for your actions. We are not hostile.

Aboard the Asfaltic sloop-of-war activity rapidly increased. They were stationed on patrol-duty, and had detected a fire-fight on a nearby planet. Standard proceedure advised to be alert at any sign of battle going on around Asfaltums homeplanet and its trade facilities, and since an asfaltum research facility was located in the surroundings, the captain aboard the sloop-of-war was extra worried. But, after notifying command and calling for back-up, he decided to investigate. "Take us to the site." he ordered the helms-man. A couple of seconds later, they arrived at the planet, and scans revealed the downed fighter-craft. They also detected two fighter-craft exiting the planets atmosphere. A general message was sent to all nearby vessels:

[OOC: That 'nearby planet' is Earth, so you know.]

A response is sent within a few moments from an orbiting ship. "This is Captain Shan of the Crimmond Imperial Navy, commanding the battlecruiser Castle. You are ordered to disclose the location of said facility, it's purpose and explain your reasons for establishing such a site in the region of Gholgoth."

The fighter in question had hit an ice dune, so that its front nose had been bent upwards to match the curve of the snow. The rest of the craft was just as totaled. One of the thruster arms (the bottom right one) had been knocked clean off, and was now lying a few meters away. The two thrusters that had been hit by enemy fire were black and crisp, and the top right thruster was bent downwards, towards the snow. The pilot had died on impact.

On any close inspection, one with the correct records would be able to assume the craft was Atlantian in origin. This assumption would be proven to be correct when one would take a look at the pilot, a young Atlantian male in full battle gear.

But what an Atlantian was doing in the Sol system, much LESS on Earth, would be a mystery.

…

Astro Megaship, somewhere deep in the Kuiper Belt

Strike Force Alpha. Formerly known as Alpha Strike Force, before the Atlantian Special Forces labs had been blown sky-high by subspace weaponry, all thanks to the Ascendancy. While they had lost the war, the remaining Ascendancy forces were still proving to be a nuisance.

Sid mused the thought to himself as he sat alone in his captain’s seat on the bridge. The room was dark, with minimal lights on other then the control consoles. Over half of his team was off duty, asleep. Out of five members, only he and Alpha White, Sel, were awake. And who knew where the ship’s resident psychic had run off to.

A small green female hologram appeared on his control panel. Deca, the ship’s AI.

“Sid, I’m detecting an incoming transmission” she said, “Should I patch it through?”

“Who’s it from?”

She closed her eyes, as if she was thinking hard about something. “Atlantian Special Forces division. Something about a downed fighter remains on Earth. They want us to…clean it up. It’s one of the prototype designs…they don’t want ancient Atlantian tech falling into the wrong hands.”

“Onscreen”

Deca nodded, and the main viewscreen changed from a view of a starfield into the face of one of Sid’s bosses, Admiral Akira. He was a middle-aged Atlantian, in his late 270’s.

“Admiral?”

“Commander, I have a mission for you”

Sid sat up and folded his arms. “What is it?”

“Two of our classified Valkerie class fighter craft were ambushed on Earth by Ascendancy forces, using Zoir craft. One was seemingly obliterated…the other crashed with most of the vessel intact. It is distressing to know that one of our classified craft is crash landed on Earth. Any third-rate power could get their hands on the ancient Atlantian tech inside. Even more distressing…someone would know we’ve been hanging around the Sol system more then we’ve let on. I need your team to intercept that crash site before anyone else, and destroy it. I’ve sent the coordinates to your ship’s AI.”

Sid nodded. “We’re on it, Sid out” the viewscreen returned to its previous state.

“Set a course for Earth” Sid said to Deca, “And get ready to wake everyone up.”

The rear of the aircraft was open, much to the discomfort of many of those onboard. Laran looked out over the landscape passong beneath her with disdain. She keyed her mic that was tied into the other cargo plane, trailing by several miles. "Marines! You will be landing within twenty-five. I will secure the area first and make sure that the cargo is safe and secure." She got a few replies of acknowledgement, checked her gear once more and nodded to the crewmember.

The plane descended to an almost suicidal altitude and pallets began sliding out into the wind, skidding to a halt less than a mile from the wreckage. Laran climbed into the Sno-Cat and strapped in. She ignored teh comments about how insane she was for this stunt. "Just shove me out the ass end of the plane, dammit." Laran felt herself slide out of the plane and the wind noise became a roar... then weightlessness... then impact. Nothing like she had felt since a High Altitude Combat insertion during training. Her vision almost faded out for a second, but she shook it off and focused on staying awake as the pallet stopped. Laran did a mental check... her left shoulder had seperated and she felt a pain in her leg. Hairline fracture on the kneecap, most likely. She grunted as she fixed her shoulder and ignored her knee.

As the powder settled, the non-com climbed from the Sno-Cat and unstrapped it. "This is Staff Sergeant Laran. I'm down and intact. No contact as yet... by the look of that plane, I doubt I'll get any. I'm taking the Cat to the wreck."

Treads ate into the snow and caught, powering over the arid landscape with ease. She set the Cat to take a direct course to the plane and stop fifty meters away. Meanshile, she checked her gear. TAR-21 assault rifle, FALCON sniper rifle, provisions for a week with ease and three with rationing and the Cat itself for shelter. She sat back and watched the wreckage get larger... "Now who do you belong to, you poor bastard?"

Reaver Command had dispatched a section of it's Northern Wing of AtmosFighters as soon as activity reports began coming in from Gholgoth's frigid northern shores. Satellite imageres borrowed from an AMF satellite was on the desk of the Lord Reaver by the time the aircraft were on the approach and his security council gathered.

The table was surrounded by warriors, military aides and analysts. The images were blurry, due to the position of the satellite and the slight clash in AMF/Panteran technology, but a few things became plain. The most important of which was that there was apparantly no immediate danger. Some claimed the visible craft was of Atlantian make, but others scoffed the suggestion down. The days of the Allied Powers and the Atlantian presence were over, with the Reavers' old allies completely gone from Earth, according to the last reports the Evenstar remembered hearing.

Other Gholgothan nations had already reported intelligence forays into the hot area, so the Evenstar personally ordered his fighters to maintain high-atmosphere flyovers, but to avoid interference below unless ordered.

Ebon Tor, Magna Casa, Aequatius Prime

President Holden Reid walked over the black marble floor in the main corridors of the executive sections of the massive tower, his shoes contact with the floor echoed through the hallway as he returned to his officeafter taking the walk to clear his head of the Ethiopian affair. As he took his seat behind his desk once again, which was littered with papers and satellite images from the Gulf of Aden and the Horn of Africa, there was a knock at his door that announced the arrival of yet another person to see him, a woman in an Air Force uniform with a folder in hand. It was one of the Space Command Executive Liason Officers, a young, newly-appointed lieutenant-colonel who entered and presented the folder to the president, "Mister President, we have a potential situation growing in the Northern region of Gholgoth."

"What is it, colonel?" Asked Reid as he took the folder and examined its contents.

"They are thermal signatures of what appears to be a small air skirmish between fighter aircraft, two of which appear to be Atlantian," Explained the officer, "We don't have much intelligence on the situation, as the Northern areas are not really our nation's responsibility, however, it may be best to contact other leaders from the region and combine resources to resolve this."

"It would be best, I shall send messages to the other leaders," He said as he started to move his papers about on his desk, "Ask about sharing information and concluding this immediately."

----------

To the leaders of fellow Gholgoth Nations,

It has been brought to my attention of a situation which occured within the Northern reaches of the continent recently and am most interested in the co-operation of resources into investigating this thoroughly to a resolution.

President Holden Reid of Aequatio.

The Megaship made a direct path to Earth. It was the only ship in the Atlantian fleet capable of going warp five—most Atlantian vessels relied on jump nodes for inter-system travel, and warp 2 engines for intra-system travel. Of course, technically the Megaship didn’t exist. Nor did the five occupants on board. In the launch bay, the team of five made their preparations as the ship neared Sol III, the homeworld of the Terrans.

In the launchbay sat five “Skyriders”, which resembled wheel-less bikes capable of spaceflight, like open fighter craft.

“We’ll be activating the transformation modules here” Sid said, as he strapped his module to his wrist. It was small and silver, with a central holographic display and three small red buttons. “That way we can use the skyriders without having to use those damned spacesuits”. He was the undisputed (well, unless you asked Xolin) leader of the team, “Alpha Red”.

“Thank god” Xolin said. She was the medical ‘expert’ of the team, although she had never formerly completed her training. She was designated as “Alpha Blue”

“Are we sure those things can support life in extreme conditions like that?” asked Trok, “Alpha Green”. He was the hacker, the one who would strike fear into anyone’s computer system. And in addition to that? He was one hell of an expert on weaponry.

Coros, “Alpha Yellow”, smirked as he hopped onto his skyrider. “Please. These things have been tested through and through. It’s safe. Trust me…I should know” Where Trok was the software and weapons genius, Coros was the engineer.

The psychic member, “Alpha White”, Sel was already on her rider. “Come on already”. She was a mysterious one, without much of a past. All anyone knew was that the built in Atlantian gene that allowed a select few Atlantians to possibly get emotional readings from others had been somehow tampered with, and her powers were growing.

Sid nodded, and pressed the center button of his module. The others did likewise. Instantly, they changed form, allowing a black, skin-tight spandex-like armor to surround them. In some places, like the chest, shoulders, wrists, knees, ankles, and waist, thicker silver and black armor formed. Their heads were surrounded by a helmet, with a black visor and sensor array. Each helmet was different; and each one, as well a few lines on their chestplates explained away their different color designations. Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, and White.

This was the pinnical of Atlantian technology, both ancient and modern. A heavily-armored skintight armor that doubled as an EVA suit, using nano-technology and hyper-dimensional physics. Like the ship and the wearers of these suits, the suits themselves technecly didn’t exist. If word got out that they were using technology lightyears ahead of what they could fully understand at the expense of time-space, people would go ballistic.

“Deca, keep defenses up while we’re away, and cloak the ship. I don’t want anyone getting in”

“Understood” came the reply, through Sid’s helmet.

“Ok, open bay doors, and let’s fly!”

The Megaship’s doors opened on the side of the vessel, and five small Skyriders emerged, heading down into the atmosphere of the planet Earth. The Megaship itself was not Atlantian in design. That was partly the beauty of it. It was circular in design, with a blue hull. The front was pointed outwords, which housed a smaller shuttlecraft. Below sat two “arms” which served as landing supports, as well as a way to leave the ship when it did land. However, now was the time for quietness, not going in guns blazing. Enough damage had already been done. The Astro Megaship cloaked.

…

Earth

Near the downed fighter, a scout surveyed the area. Fire. Smoke. Heat.

The enemy army was close. That was the only explanation. The scout would report his findings back to his leader, who’s forces were nearby. Now was the time to strike.

[OOC: That 'nearby planet' is Earth, so you know.]
A response is sent within a few moments from an orbiting ship. "This is Captain Shan of the Crimmond Imperial Navy, commanding the battlecruiser Castle. You are ordered to disclose the location of said facility, it's purpose and explain your reasons for establishing such a site in the region of Gholgoth."

The Captain read the message. He nodded at the comms-officer, telling him to send a reply that he was about to dictate...
Greetings.
I am Captain Johnsson, commander of this ship.
First of all, we assure you that our facility is in no way intruding on anyone elses territory. Our sensors are quite powerfull though, allowing us to detect a fire-fight in these surroundings. We do not have clearance to disclose it's location, but we can tell you that it is a research-facility located in a small solar-system outside your territory. We appearently blundered into someone elses affairs, and will be on our way back... unless we may assist you in some way.

His teeth rattled together. Three fecking hours in the freezing cold. He stared in contempt at the convoy that had arrived to his original location. Can't believe they made him wait for support. Zimmerman decided he would need to grow a spine at some point in the future.

The front passenger door of the lead M885A3 (http://star.walagata.com/w/artitsa/5ton.PNG) five ton truck swung open. Out came Colonel Krocop, briskly walking straight towards Zimmerman. Krocop looked back, watching the mechanics fix their two escorting M12A4's (http://star.walagata.com/w/artitsa/Tanks_Coloured.PNG) which had suffered minor mechanical problems in the cold weather. Turning back he started on Zimmerman.
"So Sargeant, what do you have to report?" he asked.
Zimmerman looked to the sky, and replied. "Well, about 20 minutes ago we saw an aircraft fly to the crash zone. Looked to be Crimmish. Other than that no activity."
"Oh really... whats that then?" Krocop was pointing behind Zimmerman, who spun to look. Flashes of light zipped down to the crash site. "Alright Sargeant, its time to claim that crash site and its technologies for Artitsa. LETS MOVE OUT"

The three M885A3 trucks rolled, one carrying twelve Spartans, while the others carried extensive equipment and supplies. One M12A4 tank lead the group while one trailed. The AHED that Zimmerman rode in, carrying another 5 Spartans drove as scout for the convoy. They would arrive at the site at under 25 minutes.

Laran climbed onto the aircraft and forced open the canopy with some augmented strength and studied the body of the pilot. "This isn't good." No sooner had she said that than a red light pulsed twice in her HUD. That meant a snag.

"This is Laran. I've IDed the craft. Returning to the Sno-Cat." As she walked back, she unslung her FALCON and assembled it on the go, checking the sight once before loading it. She climbed onto the Cat and swung the rifle over the whole area, catching sight of... snow and rocks and ice. More pulsing from the red lights. Incoming. Land and air. Fast. "Fuck." she said, as it seemed to fit.

She loaded the 50 cal on top of the Cat and readied a Swarm Anti-Armor missile launcher. Her only hope was to get picked up, if they were hostile inbound. And the plane carrying the rest of the crew wasn't likely to land in a firefight. "Fuck." This time, she said it with as much venom as possible.

----

The Castle rounded on the Megaship, ignoring the message from the extra-system source. That was old news right this moment. "Unidentified ship, recall your drop teams." Then it cloaked. "Open fire... all vectors and last known position."

The battlecrusier blossomed as hundreds upon hundreds of miniature missiles streaked away from it's hull, no threat on their own to the cloaked enemy even with their shields down in such a broad spread. It would simply serve to give a location. Shan turned towards the comm. "Contact command... I want to know all known fleets that can cloak."

Captain Johnsson smiled. "Their territory has been seemingly invaded... Shall we give the intruders a taste of our advanced technology?" The rest of the crew smiled. "Commence extended scans for cloaked ships." he ordered. The tactic used in Asfaltum anti-cloak scans was quite simple, provided that the ship was located in familiar territory, which it in this case was. It simply compared the light emanating from stars, to the light that they should be emanating, considering the ships location. Few cloaked ships could make themselves completely invisible, so the scanning computers simply singled out groups of stars that were shining less bright than they should be, thus making the cloaked ships outline visible.
Within minutes the computer announced a hit. "We can't attack them, since we have no official quarrel with them... But, we can aid the Castle to defend its home-territory." Johnsson commented.
"Send coordinates of cloaked ship to the Castle.." "Aye, sir." comms-officer acknowledged.

Crimmond ship, we have located intruding ship to the coordinates that we have sent you. We will maintain a neutral stance in this situation, but will keep sending you the coordinates for it's location.

"Now, we just sit back and watch." Johnsson commented.

[OOC: Asfaltum, this is happening in Sol, on and around Earth. As in the same old Earth you and I are sitting on right this moment. Where in blue hell are you?]

[OOC: Asfaltum, this is happening in Sol, on and around Earth. As in the same old Earth you and I are sitting on right this moment. Where in blue hell are you?]

Helloooo! Not all FT nations are on planet earth... there are a variety of other planets... or do you mean that little earth has enough place for all FT nations and their armies, ships, population etc etc?

My ship was simply in the area...

Helloooo! Not all FT nations are on planet earth... there are a variety of other planets... or do you mean that little earth has enough place for all FT nations and their armies, ships, population etc etc?

My ship was simply in the area...

[OOC: Helloooo to you too. You said your monitoring station was on another SOLAR SYSTEM watching aerial combat INSIDE Earth's atmosphere and was able to pinpoint the location almost exactly.

I want to know how that's possible through the interference from other planets, massive fleets moving throughout Sol, the sheer amount of aircraft in Earth's atmosphere and the relative insignificance of the combat compared to everything else happening. Hopefully without dragging an OOC debate into AO's thread.]

[OOC: I’d like to know myself. Sol is by far the most densely populated system in the NS universe. Earth, indeed, is the most densely populated world in the NS universe. Hundreds of Billions, possibly TRILLIONS of people live on Earth. And to top it all off, Earth is one HELL of a spatial anomaly, with multiple plains, fractal anomalies and shit in order to make the number of people plausible. So in order to answer your question, yes. Earth IS theoretically big enough to hold everyone. And then some. Because NS Earth, in its true form, would probably make you go mad by just looking at it. Some of us just don’t want to live on Earth.

Seriously. You couldn’t detect that fire-fight unless you knew where you were looking for it. These other nations all hail from land-areas around said fire-fight zone. You cannot detect something that…minuscule from another STAR system through all the other activity that’s going on in and around Earth thanks to massive space/air fleets moving about.

Also, by all rights, the Megaship is in neutral space in orbit around Earth, not ‘infringing’ on anybody’s stuff. Now, the people who just LEFT the ship, yeah. They’re all infiltrating Gholgoth. That’s why Crimmond’s not too happy.]

IC:

The barrage of missile fire struck the hull of the blue-colored vessel as it finished cloaking. The impacts disrupted the cloaking device, and so the ship immediately re-appeared. It however, gave no response to the Castle’s demands. Rather, it opened its bay doors on both the right and left sides of the ship.

Twenty small, 3 meter long “pods” for lack of a better term, flew out at high speeds, towards the Castle. Each one returned fire with red-colored twin-pulse lasers. As they flew, they didn’t seem to have any problem navigating. In fact, they didn’t even navigate like normal fighters. These “drones” flew about, not even turning on their axis when they turned.

As they attacked the Castle, the unidentified blue-hulled ship engaged its warp engines, and blasted off….

…

The five skyriders plummeted into the Terran atmosphere, bypassing a multitude of cloud formations, until they saw the ice landscape below in full. It was a costal area, with a sea to the south and east. Down in the south-east was an island chain, with active volcanos. To the west of that sat a series of northern forests and rivers. To the north of that sat the icecaps.

And too the west and north of it all was a large mountain range, which divided marked the border to claimed Artitsian territory, although the five people on the skyriders didn’t know that. All they were interested was the black pillar of smoke coming from the northern icecap, near one of the mountain peaks.

As they flew, Sel swore she could almost see cities. She closed her eyes and shook her head, then looked again. Nothing.

Nothing at all.

“Oh-oh”

“Hmm?” asked Xolin.

Sid was looking at his wrist device. “The Megaship was forced to go to warp. Someone found us”

“You know what that means” said Trok, “We’re cut off from all of our weapons other then the sidearms we got with us”

“Peachy” Sid replied, “Ok team. Code blue. You know the drill. With any luck, we won’t need to fight anyone”

The five fliers quickly approached the burning wreck of an Atlantian fighter, as well as Laran. By now she would be able to see five specks in the sky, flying in a “V” formation. And they were getting bigger, fast.

"EVASIVE!" The battlecruiser lurched th the side as powerful thrusted kicked it up on one wingtip and the engines flared, shooting it into a sickening spiral, even in space. "Dammit... they're still on us. Jump Point 6, NOW!" All the ships in the Fleet had several emergency jump points loaded up at all times, just in case.

As the 'pods' closed, the ship jumped out of realspace and reappeared near the moon, sliding behind it's bulk. Chased away from Earth orbit to hiding behind the moon. Disgraceful...

--------

Laran fell to one knee and raised her FALCON, looking through teh scope at the approaching... whatever they were. The range was way too great to try a shot, so she did the next best thing. She rigged teh Sno-Cat to return to the touchdown point at maximum speed and the non-com Commando dug in under a wing of the wreck, using it's heat signature to disguise her own and provide protection from being spotted visually. Hopefully the combonation of the two would give her an advantage.

As she waited for the invaders to land, that red light pulsed some more. The Abort code was being given. Unfortuantly, she had no way to get back to the extraction point at the moment without risking being cut down. She left the comm on. In passive mode, it was unable to be traced, simply picking up signals sent to it. She checked her assault rifle again and was satisified that it was as ready as her sniper rifle to kill any poor bastard that got in her way.

Teh Sno-Cat would make an excelent target, as would the supplies and equipment that it was travelling back too. And the cargo planes that were in the area might be tempting, though they were hauling ass away from the area.

Realizing their target had vanished, the swarm of drone pods targeted each other, and all began to approach each other at top speed as each one activated its self-destruct program. They all collided, releasing a massive thermonuclear explosion.

…

As the riders swooped down, they flew right over Laran’s position, enough for the sound to be deafening.

“Looks like we have company!” Coros said.

Sid nodded. “Let’s land and sort this out”

The five skyriders landed on the ice and snow, an ice-dune apart from the downed fighter. Each Alpha member grabbed their pistol from its holster on their belts, and slowly made their way towards Laran and the fightercraft.

Little did they all realize, they were being watched…

…

Mountain Range

Intruders. They carried with them fire and noise. But these weren’t like the others. They also carried metal with them.

The Artitsian convoy would find itself suddenly blocked from its path. A wall of ice suddenly seemed to appear in front of them, coming out of the ground. In front of it, two…Eskimos stood, with large tridents.

Laran considered her options... killing all of them wouldn't have taken too long, considering they were only carrying sidearms, but she wanted answers. So she decided that she needed to do something else. The elite non-com fired three quick shots, landing all three of the high caliber bullets directly between the feet of the three in the lead. I could have taken them out... instead I showed them that I could have. She thought as she moved from under the wing and into a kneeling position, switching to her assault rifle.

She looked at the group and wondered what they thought of a camoflagued scout in full body armor that outgunned them all easily... not killing them. "Stand down!" She snapped, her full faced helmet's speaker making it sound partially robotic. "Identify yourselves. Now."

------

Kenneth Coleman looked over the latest reports and satelite images of the crash site that he had and sighed. "I have to tell the others." He prepared a coded message to all the members that had ever been members or had dealings with the APTO.

These are the latest satelite images we have of the area in which several craft engaged in combat. There was a very brief conflict in orbit when a ship released orbital drop-pods and then jumped away from Earth. Those pods were on course for the crash site and should have arrived by now. There is a strong Crimm presence in the area of the crash, so the drop troops will be explaining themselves, I'm sure.

As you can see from the images and the included computer graphics of what the fighter would look like undamaged... it is undoubtedly of Atlantian design. This alone could mean several things: The Atlantians are back, it is a surplus fighter that someone else is using, or it is one of the 'rebel Atlantians' that are rumored to be harassing our former allies.

I'm not sure which I'd prefer, considering the last time our two Empires had dealings was when they and others tried to start a motion to eject Crimmond and Automagfreek from the APTO.

Emperor Coleman

OOC: Hmm, you're right... could we say that I have a cloaked probe surveying the planet, that I don't want you to know about? :)

Krocop's combat boots crushed the crisp snow as he jumped down from the cab of his truck.
"And just who the fuck do you lot think you are?" He demanded of the furclad-trident wielding snow men. They of course wouldn't be able to see the hateful expression upon his face, being covered by his mask and all.

The gunner on the roof of his truck readied the HMG he manned.
Krocop moved toward the pair, becoming louder. His true hulking form became evident. "Explain yourselves and why you block the progress of the Imperial Artitsan Army!"

Krocop stood at 7'1" and 275lbs. He was a big man, and now these two eskimo's stood in his shadow. He rested his hand subconciously on the hilt of the Princes's Sabre, a gift from the Crown Prince himself. His large shield was still sitting in the cab of his truck, but he doubted he would need it anyhow.

"Are you going to move, or are you just going to make this difficult."

The two Eskimos looked at each other for a moment, silent. Then they looked back at Krocop. The left one spoke up,

“You are not like the others. You bring fire, but it is through your metal machines, not your hands. Why do you come our way?”

The other Eskimo stood silent, simply watching the unfolding conversation.

…

“AH!” Sid jumped back, the snow at his feet being shot at. He looked up at his would-be killer, another in full body armor.

“Why should we stand down?” he shouted back, “We don’t take kindly to being shot at!”

The five pulled out a small device from their other holsters, and connected it onto their sidearms as they moved behind their skyriders. Sid estimated they could survive her assault, although not forever. Even their nanite-influenced body armor couldn’t withstand firepower forever.

At the same time, Trok was musing. There they were, in a white tundra, with black camouflage.

Oh, the bitter irony.


OOC: Eh, sure Asfaltum. Seems a bit conveniant, but eh.

Laran smiled in her helmet. Her armor quite better suited to the tundra than theirs. "If I was shooting at you, you'd be on your back screaming in agony, Atlantian." She could only figure that it would be Atlantians coming to recover the fighter via orbital drop. "I am Staff Sergeant Laran, Crimmond Imperial Marine Corps." She lets go of the assault rifle, which hangs on it's sling across her chest.

She picks up the Swarm Anti-Tank missile and steps out from the cover of the fighter, arming the weapon designed to rip apart main battle tanks and aims it at the leader's 'bike'. "I repeat: Stand down."

Krocops finger began to tap against the hilt of his sword once again. He had neither the time or the patience for this. He did not feel it necessary to explain himself to such low-brow creatures.

"We are to retrieve something that belongs to our... tribe. We would rather not have to destroy you or your pretty little wall of ice, but if you continue to impede the process of the Imperial Artitsan Army, then we will have no choice."

Several Spartans disembarked from the rear of a truck, while the lead tanks commander manned his HMG.

"I'll ask you one last time to move out of the way. If you want to establish contact, then head west a couple dozen miles, and Im sure you'll be picked up. But we are on a heavy time constraint here, and right now I need you to get the fuck out of the way."

“Er…” Sid glanced at her weapon, then at his own…then at his bike. “…stand down, team”

Trok and Sel put their weapons down slightly more reluctantly then the other three.

“Ok, fine. You’ve figured out we’re Atlantians” Sid said, still keeping behind the bike, “And you’ve gotten us to stand down. What now? What do you want?”

…

“Whatever is in our nation belongs in our nation” the Eskimo replied, looking Krocops in the…well, not the eyes, but where the eyes would be. “You come to invade, just like those with the hands of fire”

As soon as their weapons are down, Laran disarms the missle and sets it down carefully, then walks towards them as if nothing in the world is wrong. "Simple. I want to know what you're doing here. I want to know why your fighter was engaged in combat over Gholgoth and most importantly... how can I get one of those?" She points at the machines they rode in on, a hint of a amusement in her voice.