NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: Just another story type thread. Nothing to really join in on.

IC:

Kintara System, former Zoir space

Nine silver and blue vessels slipped through the field of debris orbiting a small class L world. Three Trident class Frigates (the Inferno, the Chaac, and the Ares), two Orion class light cruisers (the Nebula and the Aholi), a Gemini class heavy cruiser (the Intrepid), two Pleiades class destroyers (the Hyperion and the Helios), and an Asguard class Battlecruiser (the Odin) made up this invading taskforce, with the Odin as the lead vessel.

The debris wasn’t natural. Most of it was made up of broken and destroyed Zoir vessels, once belonging to a minor pirate fleet. Just another day’s work.

“There’s no sign of them here” the commander said, speaking through a transmission to the main viewscreen of the Odin, “I think any and all surviving Ascendency and Zoir Pirate forces jumped out of the system awhile ago”

The admiral nodded, “Still, I wouldn’t mind if you did one more sweep. We can’t be too careful”

The commander nodded. “Understood. Achilles out” the viewscreen of the Odin returned to that of the planet they were orbiting.

For the last two months, Atlantian forces had been spilling into former Zoir territory, for multiple reasons.

The most pressing reason was the fact that Ascendency forces, now on the run since they had lost just about every power base in Atlantian space since the civil war had been declared “over”, had begun to use Zoir derelicts as ships. Unless they were stopped, the Ascendency forces would continue to attack Atlantian instillations.

There was also the threat of pirates. Since the Zoir empire had mysteriously collapsed, the number and ferocity of the Zoir pirates had dramatically increased. They, like the Ascendency, had begun moving into Atlantian space and begun raiding colonies.

Then there was the immigration. Due to the collapse of any sort of supply routes and inflated activity of pirates and Atlantian rebel forces, many of the races that had at one time considered the border of Zoir space be their home (as well as many Zoir themselves) had been forced to relocate into Atlantian space as refugees.

Technology was another factor. Ancient Zoir ships had an impressive amount of technology that Atlantis was eager to gain for themselves.

And finally…there was a question that needed to be answered. What had happened to the Zoir?

This was the sixth system to fall to Atlantian forces. Each time they got the upper hand, the pirates and rebels would flee, further into the massive maze network of the jump nodes. Or in the Zoir’s case, the nearest star system over (as they didn’t use jump nodes).

“Ok” the admiral said, turning to his crew, “Lets move out. Reports indicate the retreating forces headed for the Aminki system. So—”

“Sir” his science officer cut him off, “We’re getting a transmission”

“On screen”

Another commander appeared on the viewscreen.

“Commander Vitan” the Admiral said, “What can I do for you?”

The commander had a haunted look on his face, as if he had just seen terror incarnate. “Sir..admiral…you’d better make your way over here. There’s something you have to see”

“…What is it?”

The commander began to press a series of buttons, “Patching it through now”

The screen changed from the commander to one of terror incarnate. Chills went down the spin of every crew member on the bridge at the sight of the nearly two kilometer vessel. It was black, green, and amber in color…yet not. The ‘paint’ on the hull, for lack of a better term, seemed to move, like rippled water. Prongs and horns extended from its hull, and it almost seemed to be invisible, as almost no light was reflected off of it.

It was a Dreadnought (http://vv8.jetc.org/tech/images/Dpass.jpg) class Demon warship.

The Demons. The Admiral swallowed hard. The question of what had happened to the Zoir had been answered.

Beeping. Beeping. More beeping. Where is the beeping coming from? Make the beeping stop.

Make the fucking beeping stop.

I’m going to fucking kill whatever or whoever is beeping. And then I’m going to parade the carcass around the streets like a prize while laughing.

Xol made a reach for the snooze button. Nothing happened when he pressed it. He hit it again. And again. Harder and harder. Faster and faster, until he was pounding on it. At some point, he gained enough awareness that it wasn’t the alarm clock, but something else.

…Who in the name of Tartarus was calling at…he looked at the clock, which was oddly enough still undamaged…5 AM?!

Someone was going to die. Horribly.

Xol slowly got up out of bed, and moved into the next room of his apartment to take the call, not wanting to wake his wife up. Sing was still sleeping peacefully on the other side of the bed.

“Computer, take call” he said, moving into the kitchen. A small screen popped up on the counter. On it was the Olympia’s chief security (as well as lead shock trooper), Achilles. “Xol”

“…Do you know what time it is here?” Xol asked, barely opening his eyes.

“Look, I’m sorry, but this is important. The Admiral…” Achilles replied, but was cut off by Xol.

“I’m on shore leave”

“I know”

“It’s five AM”

“I know”

“I hate you”

“I know”

“I’m going to kill you”

“I know”

“Did I mention I hate you?”

“I think it was implied”

“Die”

“Not now”

Xol took a deep breath, “Ok, fine. What is it? What is sooo important that almighty Admiral Vega couldn’t wait another four hours to tell me?”

“Xol…they found a Demon ship. In Zoir space. And there’s no Zoir empire”

Xol’s eyes widened.

“Xol…almost every class M or class O planet we’ve seen in Zoir space had been turned into a class L, or worse”

Xol’s heart dived to his stomach. “They…they killed…”

“Everyone. Right under our noses. The Admiral really needs you. You and Sing are two of the few who served under him on the original Olympia during the Demon war. He’s calling for a staff meeting”

“I’ll…I’ll be there. When and where?”

“We’re meeting up here on the Olympia. Then I think we’re speaking to the Senate and the Empress on Cirrus. This is bad, Xol”

“Very bad” Xol sighed. “When?”

“I’d start packing. We’ll be there in a few hours” said Achilles.

Xol nodded. “Xol out” he severed the communication.

“…What was that all about?” asked Sing, walking into the kitchen. She appeared to be as zoned out as Xol had been not three minutes beforehand. Xol looked at her with a penetrating stare.

“…What happened?” she asked again, this time with a more serious tone, as if she had just woken up.

“Start packing” he replied, walking past her into the bedroom.

Avinal Spaceport, Avinal, Uxal. 6:00 AM western seaboard time.

The Star Argala was just starting to come up over the distant mountains on the horizon, bathing the city of Avinal and the neighboring sea in the first direct rays of morning. It was a cold one, with frost on the ground. But the sky was clear, not a cloud in sight, allowing the sunlight to shine on the frost, making it sparkle.

And as most people were still asleep in their beds, two young Atlantians, a male and a female with a pair of fleet-issue jackets (but otherwise in casual civilian clothing), were quickly walking towards a personal transport that was waiting for them on a launchpad next to the spaceport complex.

“You REALLY know how to pick a vacation” said the female, in an irritated tone, “I could have sworn I was going back to work”. In her hand she carried a cup of hot coffee. On her shoulder hung a large travel bag.

“You and me both” the male replied, who was carrying a bag of his own as they approached the craft. In front of the entrance ramp of the ship was a guard, dressed in full shocktrooper armor, full-head helmet included. In his hand he carried a long trident.

“Uh…we’re here for this transport” the man said, flipping out his card, “Subcommander Xol, tactical officer, AIV Olympia”

“Subcommander Sing, nav officer, AIV Olympia” the woman showed her card as well.

“Relax” the soldier replied, retracting his trident. He pulled off his helmet, smiling, “I know who you are”

“Goran?” asked Xol, slightly amused that Achilles second in command trooper would come after them.

“Hey” he replied, “Look, we’d better get going. The Olympia’s in orbit waiting for us…as are a bunch of other big ships”

“…what do you mean?” asked Sing.

Goran laughed, “I mean, almost every Atlantian fleet admiral worth his beans from here to Xanthalian space is here”

Xol and Sing glanced at each other, then back at Goran.

“They’re all meeting on the Olympia” Goran continued, “From there, we’re heading out to Cirrus to speak with Atlantia and the Senate, and carrying along a few of the big wig admirals with us”

“Has anything gone public yet?” asked Sing.

Goran shook his head. “It’s not classified…but we’re kind of bribing the networks to keep quiet for the moment”

Xol stepped up onto the small personal transport, followed by Sing. The craft was no bigger then an average shuttlecraft. It was silver and grey, as were most Atlantian vessels, with glowing blue areas indicating both engines and weapon areas. “Let’s do this”

Goran nodded, and followed the two up, pulling the stairs up with him, letting them fold into the wall of the craft. A few moments later, it took off, right up into the sky, leaving the early-morning city behind.

In orbit around the planet Uxal sat twenty five large Atlantian vessels, all of them between 700 meters and six kilometers. They were various Oceanus, Anubis, Asguard, Leviathan, Horus, and Titan class battle cruisers and capital warships.

And each one was the flagship of a different Atlantian fleet.

However, all of the activity was happening on a certain 1,500 meter Leviathan class Dreadnought, the flagship of the first fleet.

The AIV Olympia.

In the conference lounge of the vessel sat the twenty-five most important individuals of the Atlantian fleet. Each one commanded one of Atlantis’s fleets, and each one was a member of the Fleet Council, the governing body of the fleet.

“These…are the Demons” one of the Admirals, an Atlantian by the name of Koth, was standing and speaking in front of a computer screen. On it sat the Demon battleship that his forces had uncovered hiding in plain sight in Zoir space just a few days ago. “A hostile race of beings who seem to originate from the edges of the Galaxy, in the Globular clusters on the rim. As most of you may recall, we fought them along with a coalition of allied nations over fifty years ago back when the Federation was still young. They nearly destroyed us all. And that was just the scout fleet” he looked at Admiral Vega.

“Admiral Vega, you have more expertise on the subject…would you mind…?”

“Not at all” Vega stood up, as Koth took his seat. Vega grabbed a pointer and changed the screen to one of a map. On it showed Atlantian space marked in blue, as well as that of nearby territories. To the bottom was Phalanxian space (marked in red), and to the right was Xanthalian space (in purple). On the top right corner was Zoir territory, marked in amber, surrounded by a lighter shade of yellow that indicated ancient Zoir space. It stretched over the entire top part of the map, until it hit a green color, indicating Elaran space to the “left” of Atlantis. To the top of them and wedged in with ancient Zoir space was a cyan color. That was the home of the Elaran’s ancient nemesis, the Drovan. Below the Elarans, and in the bottom left-hand corner sat Sol as a big yellow dot, without any color surrounding it.

“Approximately 48 hours ago, portions of the Atlantian eighth, tenth, and sixteenth fleets stationed in the Kintara system…” he pointed to one of the stars in Zoir space, “discovered a Demon battleship, left adrift. Every recorded inhabited world yet seen in Zoir space has been in a class L or worse. And the last contact we had from any central authority in the Zoir empire was before the civil war, over a decade ago. We can assume that the Zoir empire has fallen to the demons.”

“So it’s been sitting there for over a decade?” asked one of the admirals, “Why leave a perfectly good battleship in enemy space for over a decade? Why not attack?”

“A sign to everyone in the galaxy.” another one spoke up. “They were waiting for someone to uncover it.”

Vega nodded. “We just happened to be that lucky someone. Now that they know we know, they’ll probably start to act”

“But why the Zoir?” asked the first admiral, “Any particular reason?”

Vega nodded. “A very good question”. The screen changed to one of a timeline. “Thousands of years ago, the Demons came from the Globular clusters on the outskirts of the galaxy with a large fleet. A coalition of nations assembled to beat them back, led by none other then the Zoir”

Ancient battle footage, thousands of years old and bleached by the ages, played on the screen. On it, shadowy black vessels fought against the dusty colored Zoir vessels, as well as many others. Some seemed almost Romulan in color and design. An Atlantian war cruiser could be seen flying by in the background. Two aquatic-like vessels flew past in the front, pursued by another dark craft. A purple crystalline-like ship opened fire on one of the larger black vessels with a powerful electric-like beam that cut through the hull. What seemed to be a more primitive version of a Drovian vessel was blown apart by another Demon vessel.

“The Zoir designed a way to lock up the offending Demon fleet, by placing them in a pocket dimension. Several systems were sealed off from our universe, along with the entire Demon fleet. Knowing there were more Demons out there, the Zoir began a massive imperialism campaign in order to support their massive fleet. Some worlds submitted peacefully to the Zoir empire, becoming client states. Others however…”

A new map formed on the screen. A collection of various states (including the Atlantian Empire) could be seen, bordering a massive golden form that was Zoir space.

“Others forged an alliance against them, with the idea that we would be able to take anything the Demons could send our way. We foolishly thought we could take on the Zoir empire, the new superpower on the block.”

The image changed again. A new battle showed. This time, the same fleets that had been fighting side by side with the Zoir a minute ago were now defending a planet from what seemed to be a Zoir planet-killer.

“They issued ultimatums to every member of the coalition, “surrender or be destroyed”. At first, most didn’t comply, as the first few battles went in our favor. But eventually the war of attrition and the Zoir’s technology supremacy wore down our defenses. One by one, the different races fell, until only Atlantis remained. And in the end, not even Atlantis was safe from the Zoir and their massive fleets and planet destroyers”

Again the image changed. This time it was newer footage, within recent history. This time, Zoir and Atlantian forces were fighting side by side again, along with LRR, Phalanx, Xanthal, and various Sol forces.

“About fifty years ago, the Zoir pocket dimension broke down, and the fleet emerged, having devoured every system inside the pocket dimension for supplies. They attacked relentlessly and ruthlessly, quickly spreading local space. Fortunately, we were ready, and a coalition had been formed”

This time the image showed Earth, being assaulted by a fleet of Demon vessels, and being defended by a vast fleet of assorted Terran nations.

“After several stalemates in Atlantian, Xanthalian, and Phalanxian space, as well as Alpha Centauri, the Demons decided to regroup all of their forces in Sol for a strike at the heart of what they considered to be the most important system of the current age. By cutting out Earth, they would have secured their victory. Fortunately for us, the prior battles and a holding action near Saturn depleated their forces enough for us to finish off the Demon fleet, as well as their mothership, at Earth.”

The image returned to that of the current map.

“But now it seems the Demons who have been waiting back at their homeworld are getting ready to strike. They secretly took out the Zoir, the traditional first line of defense without them even getting a word out. No doubt they will come after us next, if not Sol or one of the former coalition members. We have a limited amount of time to act, Admirals. If the Demons are indeed coming in full force…we might not even have a chance at victory.”

“So then….now what?” another admiral spoke up. Unlike the others, he wasn’t humanoid below the waist. Rather, he had the shape of a horse. A centaur. “If what you’re saying is true, then we don’t stand much of a chance.”

“Our best hope is to gather a new coalition of forces” an admiral said, “We must alert our neighbors and allies.”

“What allies?” asked the centaur, “Xanthal and Phalanx are cordial to us at best. Our days of defense pacts with them are over thanks to the Ascendancy forces. The Renegade Crimmond Pirate fleet has all but vanished. The Elarans have become so distant and reclusive that we can’t even get a formal line of communication open to their government, despite our alliance. And as Admiral Vega just showed us, the entire Zoir empire has been completely wiped out.”

“Not to mention our lack of ties to the Klatch, LRR, and other former APTO countries back on Earth since our civil war. Some of them don’t even know we still exist.” said another.

“And considering our drum pounding during the invasion of Xanthal, I highly doubt either the ESUS or the GFFA will have anything to do with us.”

An anubite chuckled, “So then…we truly stand alone. Just as the Demons wanted.”

“I say, if they want us, then they should come and get us!” a younger Atlantian admiral spoke up.

“Be careful what you wish for” replied an older one, “You just might get it”

Vega spoke up, “Our first priority is that Demon vessel. Koth, I need you and your people to transport it to the Turi system. Citadel 10 can handle its deconstruction. The technology on board may be our only shot at surviving this thing. Admirals Yeten, Enith, Aron, Tael, and myself will be traveling straight to Cirrus to speak with both Empress Atlantia and the Atlantian Senate over our course of action. The rest of you…stand by. We’ll need you sooner rather then later.”

“Putting it to a vote” Aron said. “Raise your hands if you support Admiral Vega’s plan of action.”

The support was overwhelming.

“Excellent” Aron replied, “Although this still counts as an informal vote, since we do not have any vote-taking devices with us.”

Vega nodded. “Understood. Well then, if this meeting is over…” he turned the screen off. “The Olympia, Zeus, Ra, Valhalla, and Enki will continue on to Cirrus, while the Odin returns to Zoir space.”

The group of admirals got up, leaving the room one by one, until only the five admirals for the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth fleets remained.

“Well then” Vega sighed, “Lets get to work.”

“All clear”

The group of heavily armed Atlantians, Anubites, and Centaurs (as well as a Terran and Elf or two) slowly made their way through the internal passageways of the Demon Battleship. It had been stationed near Citadel Ten in the Turi system, to keep an eye on it.

The ship did not have decks. Rather, the internal blue-blackish shimmering material would move almost at will (or at the group’s will, they weren’t quite certain yet). It was an-ever changing maze of corridors and chambers. It seemed as though the ship was…leading them somewhere.

And lead them it did. A large door opened in front of them, revealing what looked to be the command room of the ship. A bridge, so to speak. Weather or not one could really call it a bridge was a tough question.

“I hate frozen photons” one of the soldiers said, “Why can’t they build ships like normal people?”

“Because we’re better then normal people” a voice said. The group spun around, weapons armed.

The voice cackled. “Don’t bother” A demonic figure materialized in front of them. “This is just a holographic representation. Allow me to introduce myself. I am this vessel’s….AI, so to speak”

He was dark, with an almost insectoid look. Eight legs sprawled out like a spider, with two Mantis-like arms above. Below the arms were a second set of arms, with demonic hands (with opposable thumbs) that ended in large ugly talons. Behind him were a set of extended leathery wings. His head resembled a cross between a dragon and a spider with twelve sets of eyes. The group stood back.

“Intimidated, I see?” the AI laughed, “Good, then I’ve done my job. Or perhaps you would like something a little more…cultish?”

His figure changed, to something that was a cross between a humanoid and an octopus with large wings. Where the mouth should have been were a set of tentacles.

“I knew one of these beings once. Loved to eat people. Good man. I wonder whatever happened to him…” the AI stood in thought for a moment.

“Ah well” he replied finally.

“What do the demons want?” asked the lead soldier.

“Oh…haha” the AI laughed again, “Right, ‘demons’. I had almost forgotten the cold-hearted moniker you people had given us” the AI changed form again, into a stereotypical demonic beast, complete with horns, wings, and a gargoyle appearance. “My apologies. I forgot to dress corny”

“What do you WANT?” asked the lead soldier again, now slightly more annoyed.

The AI sighed, “Party poopers. Oh very well. We want to kill you. All of you. We would like nothing more then to see the entire galaxy in flames. And the core. Especially the core.”

“Why?”

“Why what? Do we NEED a reason? And if we did, do we NEED to tell you? I don’t think so. You see, we don’t NEED to tell you anything. We will tell you what we wish to tell you, so you can panic and run around like the crazy child race you are, all for our amusement”

The AI moved about the room, surveying the group of soldiers. “To answer the most pressing questions…yes. We did indeed wipe out the Zoir empire. You shoulda seen Gernx’s face when our fleet vaporized his world. He was screaming his head off at us through comm. Channels, and we were LAUGHING. Well, rather…I was laughing. Everyone else was too busy blowing things up to notice”

“Why?” asked the lead soldier again.

“BECAUSE. The children attack us. We attack the Zoir. The Zoir attack you. You attack the Terrans. The Terrans…well, they just attack each other. It’s the CIIIIIIIRCLE OF LIIIIIIIIIFE” the AI began to sing, then stopped.

“…What? The movie blew, I admit. Too rated G for my tastes, but that was still damned funny”

The soldiers simply stood, looking around the room occasionally, but most just focused on the AI.

“Fine, whatever” the AI said, “It goes down like this. We’re GIVING you this ship” he seemed to say that with almost utter disgust, “As a token of your futile resistance. Do whatever you want with it. Use it as a ship. Deconstruct it and study its technology, whatever. I doubt you can understand any of it. Besides, it’s an out of date version.”

The AI looked around the room one last time, “Well, time’s up. Too bad. Tell your leaders this: We’re coming. Sooner rather then later. We’re going to start with you, then we’re going to hit Sol. And after that, everything in the galactic disk until we hit the core, and blow it up as well”

He laughed. “So I suggest you pray to whatever gods you believe in to have mercy on your soul” he laughed in harder, as if contemplating some sort of irony or pun in his statement.

With that, the AI vanished, and a small “control console”, for the lack of a better term, exploded, indicating that the AI had self-destructed his program.

http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=515727

Story continues here.