NationStates Jolt Archive

(OOC: Revisited my old FT nation, new name, revamped a bit. Here we go. Italics are thoughtspeak, bold is vocal. Hop in, but I want the numbers small)

Lt. Comdr. Diego R'hab leaned forward in the hard uncomfortable command chair. He pushed his thoughtspeak out at his subordinates.

Walsh. Lower atom drives.
Velin. Scan the surrounding area for hostiles or potential lifeforms.

He leaned back as the junior officers scrambled to do his work. One benefit of having served in Unit 21 is fear. Fear is the greatest equalizer and motivator. Diego fingered his energy sword and watched the scanner readouts...





OOC: UVE Site (www.freewebs.com/velkrer) (I have a factbook too)

Diego sat watching the datascreens as the numbers flew effortlessly across the dark screen.

Sir. Perhaps we should move on to another part of the sector? The helmsman asked.

No. Diego replied. We shall wait a bit longer.

OOC- I presume you are using the term "Semi" to depict a limited crew participation of other nations. Hence, I will bring in the FT Shalrirorchians (Which in no way, shape, or form have any relationship with the MT ones)

SHALRIRORCHIAN BATTLE CRUISER ASANTE'SHANAR

"Now entering Wutanis System, shipmaster."
NOTA CULTURAL, ENC. GALACTICA:
Shipmaster is the Shalrirorchian term for what human beings might call a "Captain" or "Commander"

Mordekai turned from his position on the upper deck to regard the holo starscape of the cloudy Wutanis System. Mordekai liked Wutanis (even though it was not habitable); it reminded him of the misty fields of his home on Beta Proxima III. Of course, the "mist" of Wutanis was provided by a nearby nebula that had over the course of eons stretched out its' arms and embraced the system.

Mordekai also liked Wutanis because it had, on several occassions, served as a hiding spot for his vessel, the Asante'Shanar during the War of Betrayal.

He stretched and sighed, his fangs flashing in the light. The Shalrirorchian people were an intimidating sight, standing anywhere from six to seven feet tall on average. Mordekai himself towered over most of his subordinates. A human had once described him as a "felinoid" (Mordekai had never gotten over that); indeed, they resembled more than anything else terrestrial lions striding across the stars on two legs instead of four, mimicking that life form right down to the flowing black mane that engulfed Mordekai's head. His armor glinted in the lighting of the bridge, his gold clan-markings flashing on his epaulets. He wore his tribal markings quite proudly, for the Asante Tribe was one of the mightiest in Shalcoria.

"Reduce speed and execute the standard scan." Mordekai ordered, then turned towards his communications officer. "I suppose it is too much to hope for that we have re-established communications with Command?"

The gold-maned leonine sitting at the comm station shook his head ruefully. "I am sorry, Commander. We still are having trouble establishing contact with Fleetmaster Au'eme's headquarters."

Mordekai sighed quietly and slowly stepped down to the command deck and reassumed his position in his seat, fingers digging into the armrests. "Then we will finish the patrol as scheduled before returning to base." Mordekai replied. "Get me Engineering...I want that subspace radio stripped down to its' component boards and examined in detail."

"Aye sir."

Sir! We have sensor contact...but the nearby nebula is distorting the signatures. We can't ascertain the nature of the anomaly. Errant Walsh leaned forward over his dataconsole.

"Men!" Lt. Comdr. Diego's voice bellowed over the deck. "I want everyone to be ready to move into Status 4 if necessary. We're going to make contact." The fact that Diego used his voice moved the crew faster then any amount of thoughtspeak yelling could.

**TRANSMISSION**

Greetings. My name is Diego N'ala R'hab. I am the Lieutenant Commander in charge of the United Velkrer Empire Starship Aequitas. I offer you my salutations and assurances that we are not hostile.

**END**

Of course, Diego didn't take into account that they might not know thoughtspeak...

I hate to do this...bump

{{OOC: A nebula eh? I've never had to RP the effects of a Dim-rift on a nebula before. Should be interesting.}}

{{OOC: and hey Velker, What exactly do you mean by "Numbers Small?" Crew, or number of ships?
Either way works, as I rarely manage to field more than one Battle-cruiser with 5 bridge crew anyway.}}

*out in the nebula, arcs of lightning begin to flash out from a central point, before a Purple-Orange rift opens up, hurtling a large Cruiser out into space.
As the rift closes, nearby parts of the Nebula seem to light ablaze*

*The cruiser tumbles aimlessly, it's control systems unresponsive. And no wonder, for lodged in the command tower, is part of another vessel, though of different make, partially obscuring the name GHI Ridalgos*


"Report!"

"Helm still offline! Damage control teams are trying to give us control. Manual thruster crews are unable to compensate!"

"Engines offline, engine #3 has taken heavy damage, I don't think she'll light sir."

"Weapons, weapons functional sir! We have full control over the Starboard side!"

"Shields offline sir, I think the mains were severed in the crash!"

WARNING, WARNING. STAR-CHARTS ARE IN ERROR. STELLAR ANOMALIES DETECTED. UNKNOWN STAR SYSTEM. ACTIVATING EMERGENCY BEACON. DEPLOYING IN-SYSTEM PROBES.

WARNING, WARNING. UNKNOWN VESSELS DETECTED.

*the Emergency beacon aboard the Ridalgos begins transmitting a distress call:

THIS IS THE GHI WARSHIP RIDALGOS TO ALL VESSELS, WE ARE IN NEED OF ASSISTANCE. WE HAVE SUFFERED SEVERE DAMAGE TO OUR COMMAND SYSTEMS AND ARE ADRIFT. RESPOND WHEN ABLE. MESSAGE REPEATS.*

{{OOC: A nebula eh? I've never had to RP the effects of a Dim-rift on a nebula before. Should be interesting.}}

{{OOC: and hey Velker, What exactly do you mean by "Numbers Small?" Crew, or number of ships?
Either way works, as I rarely manage to field more than one Battle-cruiser with 5 bridge crew anyway.}}

*out in the nebula, arcs of lightning begin to flash out from a central point, before a Purple-Orange rift opens up, hurtling a large Cruiser out into space.
As the rift closes, nearby parts of the Nebula seem to light ablaze*

*The cruiser tumbles aimlessly, it's control systems unresponsive. And no wonder, for lodged in the command tower, is part of another vessel, though of different make, partially obscuring the name GHI Ridalgos*


"Report!"

"Helm still offline! Damage control teams are trying to give us control. Manual thruster crews are unable to compensate!"

"Engines offline, engine #3 has taken heavy damage, I don't think she'll light sir."

"Weapons, weapons functional sir! We have full control over the Starboard side!"

"Shields offline sir, I think the mains were severed in the crash!"

WARNING, WARNING. STAR-CHARTS ARE IN ERROR. STELLAR ANOMALIES DETECTED. UNKNOWN STAR SYSTEM. ACTIVATING EMERGENCY BEACON. DEPLOYING IN-SYSTEM PROBES.

WARNING, WARNING. UNKNOWN VESSELS DETECTED.

*the Emergency beacon aboard the Ridalgos begins transmitting a distress call:

THIS IS THE GHI WARSHIP RIDALGOS TO ALL VESSELS, WE ARE IN NEED OF ASSISTANCE. WE HAVE SUFFERED SEVERE DAMAGE TO OUR COMMAND SYSTEMS AND ARE ADRIFT. RESPOND WHEN ABLE. MESSAGE REPEATS.*

OOC: I meant small number of players...two or three. Ships numbers aren't quite as important.

IC:

Lt. Comdr. We're recieving some type of distress call. the Comms officer
leaned over his console.

Answer them, we are willing to provide any aid that is deemed necessary. Diego said as he watched the ship tumble through space.
Perhaps we could open fire...nah. That would be "unnecesary". Argh. Power up the weapon platforms anyways.

The crew scrambled over the deck as sirens wailed as weapons charged.

{{OOC: Ah, how many total players then? there's myself, you, and Shalrirorchia.}}

ALERT, ALERT. ENERGY SIGNATURE DETECTED. PHASE VARIANCE UNKNOWN. SIGNATURE ASSUMED TO BE COMMUNICATION.

ERROR, ERROR. CANNOT PROCESS ENERGY SIGNATURE. MAIN CORE DAMAGED. LANGUAGE TRANSLATION SYSTEMS OFFLINE.

*the repeating message changes, accuiring a second message: SECONDARY DISTRESS SIGNAL. MY COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS ARE MALFUNCTIONING, I CANNOT CURRENTLY RECIEVE COMMUNICATIONS. MESSAGE REPEATS.*


WARNING, WARNING. DETECTING ENERGY ACCUMULATION IN UNKNOWN VESSEL. ASSUMING WEAPONS POWER-UP. ATTEMPTING TO TARGET.

ERROR, ERROR. AUTO-TARGETING FAILURE, CAUSE UNKNOWN. PRESUMING CAUSE TO BE MANUAL OVERRIDE.

"CaelStone! Thank the Gods you hit the override."

"Yeah, now let's see about getting an engine online. Damn, Can't do it from here. I'm heading to the Barracks, I'll take a team to the lander and swing around to the lower-decks."

"Understood. Good luck Master-Sergent."

Sir! Their comm is damaged.
Very well. Pull alongside and visually offer assistance.

The sleek black ship dropped alongside the tumbling ship and proceeded to steady the ship with its tractor beams.

* a distinct whump rang through the ship as the tractors locked on and began steadying it, though this dislodges the piece in the command tower, which slowly begins to slip out*

"Sir, what should we do?"

"First, we offer thanks. Comms, make damn certain this gets broadcast. : "Attention unknown vessel. This is Commodore Evangeline Belisarius, attached to the Greymon Heavy Industries warship Ridalgos, of scout group ComStar. I thank you for your assistance. I will now stand down, and allow the Captain to speak."


"Thank you Commodore. I am Captain Nikolai Tesla XII. We are currently unable to defend our Port side, I would ask you to maneuver to cover that flank for defensive purposes.
And we have a major problem. There is part of an enemy vessel jammed into ours, and as much as we would like it removed, it needs to be held in place untill we have cleared the afflicted decks."

"Sir, Something weird's happening with the Secondary Reactor. Power output is increasing, I've tried shutting it down."

"Is it a steady increase?"

"No sir, it's fluctuating."

"That is strange, it could be the Damage control teams though. Monitor it carefully, if it goes over 57 let me know."

"Understood sir."

"Well, I hope that doesn't bit me in the ass later. Wait, are we still transmitting? Cut the Comm allready."

* a distinct whump rang through the ship as the tractors locked on and began steadying it, though this dislodges the piece in the command tower, which slowly begins to slip out*

"Sir, what should we do?"

"First, we offer thanks. Comms, make damn certain this gets broadcast. : "Attention unknown vessel. This is Commodore Evangeline Belisarius, attached to the Greymon Heavy Industries warship Ridalgos, of scout group ComStar. I thank you for your assistance. I will now stand down, and allow the Captain to speak."


"Thank you Commodore. I am Captain Nikolai Tesla XII. We are currently unable to defend our Port side, I would ask you to maneuver to cover that flank for defensive purposes.
And we have a major problem. There is part of an enemy vessel jammed into ours, and as much as we would like it removed, it needs to be held in place untill we have cleared the afflicted decks."

"Sir, Something weird's happening with the Secondary Reactor. Power output is increasing, I've tried shutting it down."

"Is it a steady increase?"

"No sir, it's fluctuating."

"That is strange, it could be the Damage control teams though. Monitor it carefully, if it goes over 57 let me know."

"Understood sir."

"Well, I hope that doesn't bit me in the ass later. Wait, are we still transmitting? Cut the Comm already."


The Lt. Comdr. settled back into his chair.

Helm. Head for that ships port and check their shields. Errant Cryst. Get a detachment of nine men, plus yourself. Lightly armed, stun pistols, and energonblades. We're teleporting over. Comms. Reply with this message.

*Transmission*

We are moving to cover your port. Our commander Lt. Comdr. Diego R'hab is preparing to board with engineers and medics. We are bringing a small security detachment as per standard regulations of our Fleet. Do you require any other assistance

End Transmission

Diego made sure his energonblade was fastened to his belt, straightened out his black uniform, made sure the gold insignias were in place and stepped on to the telepad.

The telepad made a faint whining sound as ten soldiers, one Lt. Comdr, and several medics and engineers disapeared only to reappear instantly on the Greymon Heavy Industries warship Ridalgos

Diego cracked his neck and said in thoughtspeak, I request that you convey me to your commander


OOC: Greymon this could go really two ways, either diplomatic relations, or I could, if you want a war, take your people as slaves, yadda yadda yadda. It's really up to you. Just let me know. I'm ok with either. I'd love some allies.

{{OOC: Alliances are good.
After all, I have a grand total of 2 ships in this Dimension, and one of them has part of the SDF Macross stuck in it.}}

DarkOrange"]"Thank you, that's perfectly understandable, and not that I'm currently aware of."

"One moment."[/COLOR]
*intercoms activate on all of the Ridalgos' decks. "This is Captain Tesla speaking, all hands, brace for shock."*

*another, though much smaller shudder reverbrated through the Ridalgos as the flying-bridge (the actual command section of a star-destroyer) lifts off of the Command tower*

*armor plates on both craft swing around, to cover the new 'holes', and then the Lander begins moving to the under-side of the ship* {{OOC: feel free to react accordingly, after all, you may not have heard the plan involving the Lander.}}

*"All hands, return to duty stations."*

"And we should be good for the next few hours. Now then, We detected more than one ship on our way in, but we only see you now. Do you know where the other contact is? or should we write that off as a sensor ghost?"

*after several minutes of effort, most of the blast-shutters around the Bridge-windows open, revealing the still burning nebula*

"By the Goddess, the Sky itself is ablaze."

{{OOC: Captain Tesla's color has been changed to a darker green, I was, unaware how bright that green was.}}

And now, to deal with your boarding party.

"? our leader? well, he'd be on the bridge, but the routes to it were all destroyed when we were rammed."

"To be honest, I'm surprised the tower hasn't been sheared off yet."

{{OOC: this is going surprisingly well. I'm wondering if I should have an engine explode when I try to re-start them.}}

SHALRIRORCHIAN BATTLE CRUISER ASANTE'SHANAR

"Energy surge! Port side, distance 26 kloms!" cried the tactical officer, Kalikos, bracing her feet more firmly on the deck. A lesser command crew would have reacted with surprise; but these were Mordekai's officers. There was a saying up at the section command level about the Asante'Shanar's crew and officer corps: you cannot surprise Mordekai, you can only validate his suspicions.

"High-level quantum energy surge, sir!" announced Trar, the science officer. "Definite FTL (Faster than Light) drive signature)."

Mordekai was perplexed. Command communiques had noted no pirate activity in this sector. The rebels had been expelled an even longer time ago. There should have been no-one here for him to stumble upon. "Tactical assessement!" he snapped. "What are these vessels, and who do...."

"ENERGY SURGE!" roared Kalikos. "Reading one...no...two unidentified ships bearing dead ahead...sir, their weapons are both hot!"

Mordekai immediately surged out of his seat, hoping that he was not too deep into the nebula already for defensive measures. "Defense screens up! Call battle stations!"

The bridge's interior lighting immediately dimmed to a pulsing red, indicating full alert status and bathing the bridge crew in bloody crimson. A low-pitched alarm klaxon whooped, loud enough to garner attention but not enough to deafen the crew or interfere with verbal instructions being passed back and forth.

"Shields are non-operational, Commander." the engineering tech replied from over at the subsystems board. "Nebula particulate matter is interfering with the shield matrix. Shields only able to manage 5% integrity."

"Evasive action, execute defensive maneuver Delta-Seven!" cried Commander Mordekai. "Ready plasma torpedo tubes one and two for a long range shot!"

"Nebula interference is jamming tactical sensors." Kalikos reported. "We are unable to achieve a solid target lock."

"Have to shoot from the hip!" replied Mordekai. "Target one torpedo on each contact and fire!"

"Executing!" rejoined Kalikos. A moment later, the acceleration ladder on the cruiser's first two torpedo batteries coughed up a pair of plasma torpedoes that streaked into the nebula at a breathtaking velocity. For a long-range shot, the torpedoes would only ignite a moment before impact, preserving their destructive potential (but also rendering them vulnerable to counterbattery fire).

"Evasive manuever Delta-Eight!" snapped Mordekai. "Discharge nano-chaff and engage the sensor shield (the cloaking device)."

*the running Lights on the Ridalgos suddenly cut out, followed by nearly all of the lights forward of the hangar*

WARNING, WARNING, POWER FLUCTUATIONS, DETECTED, SWITCHING TO BASIC MODE.

"Contact! Contact confirmed as vessel. Energy buildup. vVessel has armed weapons!"

"Damn, and here we are unable to shoot back. Launch the fighter screen, maybe we'll get lucky."

*at about the same instant the lights die out, the Lander crew arrives in Engineering*

"Damn, this place is a mess. Well, let's see if we can't get an engine or two online eh boys?"

*back on the bridge, someone trips the combat alert* "Weapons fired! Re-designating vessel as Target Alpha."

"What kind of weapons?"

"Some kind of missile. It has an energy signature, unknown capabilities"

"Well then, try to shoot them down! And launch those damnned fighters allready!"

"Captain, Secondary Reactor pressure has increased to 57 Psi, energy drain has not increased."

"Now we have a very bad problem." \Nikolai picked up a nearby headset/ "Attention all personell in Engineering. We has a confirmed pressure buildup in the Secondary Reactor. We need this taken care of."


*down in engineering, the comm crackles to like* "Att, ... sonell .. engin, ... pre...re buildup in sec, ... reactor ... ... care of"

"Oh hell, Boys, check the reactors."

Wow...things just went up in smoke...Was I shot at? If not, I'll amend this post later.

IC:

Diego muttered blandly as the ship he was on shook.
This blasted ship is unstable! Aequitas! Bring us off. NOW.

A shimmer and Diego and his crew were back on the Aequitas.
Sir! We're being shot at. Impact in 12..11..

I want weapons hot now! Bring the torpedo decks up. Burst cannons and rail gun locked on that torpedo. Shoot it...now!

The Aequitas turned and locked its rail guns on the approching torpedo...

Commander, it's too close. We can't...

A shudder ripped the deck of the ship as a massive impact shook it.

Return fire!

The Aequitas's rail guns and blast cannons locked on, as about 15 disruptor torpedos fired away at the provoking ship.


OOC:

Ok, here a quick rundown.

Blast Cannons: Basically lasers..no biggie there

Rail guns: My rail guns are a bit dif, basically the tech allows them to fling nuclear warheads great distances...incrediably effective and accurate...by great distance as i mean about equivalent to a laser.

Disruptor Torpedos/Rays: Weaken the molecular structure of enemy ships..greatly..but are dangerous to use..they do occasionally go off in my ships..argh.

OOC:
Here I come. Will keep this small :)

IC:

Bridge of the MIN Excelsior

The wedge shape of the Victory Star Destroyer slid through hyperspace, escorted by 2 smaller frigates.

They were part of Task Force 112 but we recently re-assigned to do exploration duty as the Empire was rapidly expanding and needed more territories to call its own.

"Sir, we are approaching a new sector. Unclear if it is taken by anyone yet."

"Bring us in."

"Aye aye captain!"

"Sir, several unidentified radar contacts!"

"What in god's name. Bring us in, flank speed."

"Yes sir!"

The Star Destroyer approached the unideitified contacts...

Diego glanced up as the helmsman and commsman both spoke at once

Another ship...wedge..strong power signatures. Orders?

Diego leaned back. Power up all weapons platforms. Prepare to open fire at the first sign of hostility. But not until my orders.

***Transmission***

Identify. Or be fired upon.

SHALRIRORCHIAN BATTLE CRUISER ASANTE'SHANAR

The alarm klaxons took on a new, more urgent howl as numerous enemy warheads began sailing in. Mordekai was painfully aware that his nanochaff cloud could not possibly defeat them all, and reacted immediately. "Divert power to defense grid. Arm and fire!"

The Asante'Shanar was equipped with the standard Sliver gun system. These deployed from seamless hull plates and immediately unleashed a withering barrage of tiny plasma bolts in the method of a point defense system. Plasma was, as a rule of thumb, a short range weapon yet highly powerful. It made an ideal point defense weapon in this regard.

The storm of counterbattery fire swept in and did murder-work on the incoming projectiles, but there was no way to stop them all...and the laser weapons simply sliced through space without anything to stop them at all.

Mordekai was hurled from his command seat without ceremony and dignity as a pair of atomic warheads detonated on his hull, followed a fraction of a second later by a lethal disruptor torpedo. The Asante'Shanar was armored in the amazing stasis-crystal material, a highly-dense crystalline structure that distributed the impact of energy weapons over a larger area of the hull (thus diminishing their effectiveness); stasis crystal simply laughed at many physical weapons in addition. Indeed, the atomic explosions that bloomed over the ship imposed damage across a wide swath of decks (thermal and EMP damage ravaged deck sections closest to the blasts), but the damage was minimal overall, and the hull was not breached.

The Disruptor torpedo was an entirely different matter.

The Shalrirorchians had been experimenting in quantum mechanics for some time, and their scientists had posited that it might be possible to create some extra-dimensional torpedo weapon....but theory was not practice. The net effect of the disruptor torpedo, however, was to ignore the hull armor almost completely.

The explosion rattled Mordekai to the core, and the entire bridge erupted in sparks....the torpedo had lanced in and struck shuttle bay 1, destroying everything in the back/port half of Deck 5 and causing extreme destruction in Engineering, which shared that same deck in the forward and central compartments. The explosion carried on into Deck 6's Shuttle Maintenance and Support, rupturing and igniting fuel tanks. Plasma fires broke out, burning unstoppably forward through that deck's aft compartments and incinerating crew members who were unfortunate enough to be trapped there.

"REPORT!" cried Mordekai as soon as he regained his footing.

"Torpedo penetrated the weakened shield envelope and struck the Shuttle Bay!" someone shouted in a ragged voice. "Shuttle bays not responding! We have a fire on Deck 6...evacuating personnel!"

Cold fury built in Mordekai's breast, and he roared in anger before retaking his seat. "Ju'khan's adherents!" he snarled at the screen, and despite the chaos many of the crew turned to glance at him in shock. Applying that expletive to the enemy was profound...it was, after all, the third greatest insult in the entire Shalrirorchian culture. It implied cowardice on behalf of the enemy in battle. Commander Mordekai did not often curse, because Mordekai was not often surprised enough to curse.

"Weapons!" he commanded.

"Temporarily offline, sir!" reported tactical in near-panic. "That last torpedo imposed damage on multiple control nodes...there's damage all throughout that area of the ship, structurally.

"Assault crews!" replied Mordekai. "Do we have any breach pods left?"

"Aye, sir...four of them survived in shuttle bay two....but you can't send them out there! Without shields, they'd be cut to pieces!" tactical replied.

"Prepare the boarding parties!" snapped Mordekai in defiance, and then he flipped his comm link on. "Engineering! I require you to fire a single ion torpedo at these coordinates manually!" he said, and tapped a point between the Asante'Shanar and the operational enemy vessel.

Dead silence engulfed the room, until the Chief Engineer, Lars, coughed. "Commander, ion weapons are for use against shields. We are in a nebula, and have no shields to begi..."

"Do as I say!" Mordekai responded and cut the link. He then began counting on his fingers...Lars was one of the best engineers in the fleet. For him, this would not take long.

Mordekai had reached the eighth finger when the fuzzy blue ball of an ion torpedo vomited out from the hull and spun off in the direction of the enemy. But it would never reach the other vessel...it exploded at a point only halfway between them, sending a radiant shockwave spinning out in all directions. Had a shielded vessel been there, the Ion Scream bomb would have devastated the shields. But that had not been Mordekai's purpose.

Instead, the shockwave blew away the nebula's gaseous form like an ocean wave, temporarily stripping the space of the particulate matter that interfered with shield matrices. The officers belatedly realized what Mordekai had intended...not only had he wrecked active shield generators (his own included), but he'd also cleared the air so that when his transports launched they would be able to streak in under cover of their heavy, fully-operational shields.

"Assault teams are prepared, sir!" tactical reported.

"Launch." instructed Mordekai flatly.

(OOC- and Velkrer, yes, they are targeting you) :p

(OOC: Finally! Some combat...tho I didn't expect you to get hit so hard...uh sorry? And I will let the shuttles board if you want..but don't expect to get too far ok? So if you want, feel free to ignore my fire on the shuttles...the whole Ion thing was a crazy good idea....I'm very impressed.)

IC:


The Aequitas rocked as Diego muttered under his breath.

Sir, shields are down. Completely down. Weapons off line indefinitely.

Diego muttered under his breath, "We can play rough."

Prepare the ship forces for a boarding party...I want as many slaves as possible. When weapons are online fire again..full set. I want all rail guns and blast cannons at the shuttles, and all torpedoes at the main ship...It appears that the torpedoes are the only weapon that impacted.

Sirens wailed as green and black clad Slave Guard scrambled to be prepared when the enemy impacted, arming disruptor rifles and stun pistols.

***Transmission to Enemy Ship***

I am Lt. Comdr. Diego N'ala R'hab of the Slaveraider Aequitas.
It appears that you have taken heavy damage. I commend you for you valiant efforts to still fight on, but we will destroy your soldiers. We offer you this chance to surrender peacefully and spare your troops. Resist and we shall enslave you all. Honorable combat...that is the true way.

(Diego salutes with his energonsword)

***END***

Servos whined as railguns and blast cannons were brought to bear on the shuttles...

And another salvo of Disruptor torpedoes fired at the enemy vessel....

SHALRIRORCHIAN ASSAULT WING

It appears that you have taken heavy damage. I commend you for you valiant efforts to still fight on, but we will destroy your soldiers. We offer you this chance to surrender peacefully and spare your troops. Resist and we shall enslave you all.

Section Commander Delios leaned forward as railgun fire lit up the intervening space, aiming for his assault shuttle wing. His comm link crackled with the demands of slave raiders. One shot struck the forward deflector arc and caused the leonine commander to flinch from the bright light....but the integrity of the shield withstood the impact, sparing his assault craft instant destruction for the time being.

A low, angry snarl rippled over the commlink a moment later, and the screens flashed up the information tags, indicating that this was a broadcast from the Asante'Shanar itself. The voice was rich in tones of command, and was filled with cold, calculating rage. It was Commander Mordekai himself, Delios realized, responding with a simple phrase that boiled down the ethos of the warrior race into a single comment.

"Death first!" the Commander radioed back to the slaveraiders.

Delios flipped on his secure commlink, directing a tight-beam transmission between his shuttle and the other three. "Sons of Achenar! We ride to glory and victory this day! We shall not surrender a single inch of deck to our enemies. Death first!" he cried.

"Death first!" the other shuttles radioed back.

With that, Delios moved to his strategic planning, only to snarl in frustration as a laser shot penetrated the shield of one the shuttles and clipped it in the stabilizer. It spun off, spewing flames and debris, and Delios could immediately see it was disabled.

"Strike teams! We will only have three reinforced squads with which to launch the assault." Delios tight-beamed to his remaining command. "Conquest of the enemy ship is not possible. We have, however, access to anti-matter explosives. We will fight our way into that ke'thah of a ship and plant the explosives, then withdraw. With luck, the explosion will be crippling enough to convince the ju'khan cowards to withdraw."

Delios signed off and checked his personal weapons. Shalcorian warriors were legendary for the number of weapons that they carried upon their person. Delios himself had no fewer than ten weapons on his person at that very moment...but the three that counted most were his primaries...the powerful plasma rifle and plasma pistol that were the main armament of any Shalcorian warrior...and the at'sha, the silvery swords that were "sung" into existence by the rare telepaths of the race. Honed to a monomolecular edge, an at'sha was marked with each warrior's tribal markings, and was his most treasured weapon. It typified the creed of close quarters combat...and the Shalcorian felinoid aliens were fast and strong enough to make the weapon something to fear even in this century.

Delios slammed a new plasma clip into his rifle and barked, "contact in sixty seconds! Prepare the breaching gear!"

SHALRIRORCHIAN BATTLE CRUISER ASANTE'SHANAR

"Hull breach, Deck 8!" cried Engineering Tech Vandanmar as the latest salvo of torpedoes hammered the Asante'Shanar's hull. Mordekai braced himself as the deck gyrated wildly...a hit had disrupted artificial gravity somewhat, and he felt his stomach turning. "Evacuate the affected areas of Deck 8 and seal those compartments!" he shouted.

"Rerouting weapons control through secondary nodes!" added Vandanmar a moment later as the situation stabilized. "Sir, we have main batteries back on line!"

"HARD ABOUT!" ordered Mordekai. "Get me a lock on the enemy vessel! Tactical assessment!"

"Sensors are scanning the enemy vessel now." replied the Science officer, damningly calm despite the tumult caused by another Disruptor torpedo exploding in close proximity to the ship, causing the hull to squeal in protest.

"One of the shuttles has been hit and is disabled, sir." Tactical replied a moment later. "Delios is down to three assault squads!"

"Preliminary assessment is complete!" called Science. The holographic screen lit up a moment later with a wire grid outline of the Aequitas. There was little detail to the model...the Asante'Shanar did not exactly have the time to conduct a thorough scan. But the major points of structural integrity were clearly visible from an architectural standpoint. Mordekai could use that.

"Drop the cloak!" Mordekai commanded. "Attack pattern Mordekai-Three...all particle beams and torpedoes on my command! Let's give Section Commander Delios some covering fire."

The Asante'Shanar pivoted and quickly swooped around and outpaced the shuttles, corkscrewing in on Aequitas, leaving a trail of plasma flame from her burning hull.

A disruptor torpedo streaked in and struck only dozens of meters away from the heavily armored bridge. The explosion radiated outward....the bridge's ceiling simply exploded and massive structural pieces came crashing down. Mordekai had time to glance up before a heavy support girder clubbed him into unconsciousness, pinning him heavily to the deck.

But Mordekai's commands were still carried out...the helm officer and Tactical were still standing, and as the Asante'Shanar thundered over the Aequitas it opened fire, raining down wicked slashes of particle beam energy and a deadly shower of plasma torpedoes, all targeted on the same structural points on the Aequitas.

OOC-Velk, the particle beams are simply weapons similar to what you might see on Star Trek or Babylon 5...bright blue beams of particles accelerated to lightspeed and used for slashing attacks. The plasma torpedoes behave differently, almost like a shaped charge. When a plasma torpedo hits and penetrates a hull, it punches a relatively small hole in the hull itself (it doesn't give you the massive, gaping holes done by, say, a photon torpedo. But the plasma fans out after impact, spreading over a wider degree of the interior of the ship, burning through bulkheads and the like.

GHI Imperator VII Battleship Ridalgos

Damn, sir we just lost everything, sensor, weapons, all of it.

*the Ridalgos lurches however, as the four secondary engines come online*

"Well, we're moving, let's hope it's away from the fight. Were the comm-circuits lost?"

\the bridge crew blinks, followed by a collective "What?"

"I said, did we lose the Communications circuits?"

"No, I don't think so, but we did lose whatever receiving capacity we had.."

"Good, transmit the follow-"

"Sir! MACs online!"

"Ignore previous statement, see if we can get helm control, shut down those engines, and prepare to fire."


*the engines dim to nearly nothing, and two turrets swivel about,*

"Sir, reports coming in, we have inter-comms again."

"What's the status of the command tower?"

"Teams report stable sir, they're still working, but we're free to maneuver up to 3 Gs."

"Wonderfull! now if we could just maneuver."

"MACs charged!"

"Visual Verify, and open fire."

"Anomalies away!"

*outside, the MAC turrets fire off the equivalent of magnetized cannonballs, then go dark*

"Target analysis begun, utilizing video feeds and previous sensor readings."

"Get the teams on the sensors."

OOC: Greymon who are you firing at? I need to know if I should return fire.

IC:

The Aequitas shuddered as enemy fire raked it's body. The ship twisted to the side as it's railguns and torpedo bays returned fire...

Sir! Shields are at 41% in all ectors except A1-R, T4-3, and T5-3. We've lost contact with Engines and Crew Quarters...wait, Engines is online... however structural stablity weakened significantly...

"Zzt...heavy..amge...orders...time...advise...

Diego roared in anger, vocally expressing his anger.

"Launch the Blackfires and Starrunners...I want a full torp reply..."

The ship shuddered as the enemy shuttles impacted with the ship...

Many multicolored torpedos launched out at the offending enemy ship...

OOC: You shuttles are welcome to board..but my shipboard defenses are impressive...not to mention that the Slave Guard loves takin' prisoners...so yeah...

OOC: Greymon who are you firing at? I need to know if I should return fire.

{{OOC: Gah, I was shooting at the ASANTE'SHANAR, I'm sorry I forgot to write in the target.

And now, on with the movie!}}


"Engines back online, still no Helm control"

"MACs offline, I'm getting strange reports, I think we blew out the power linkages."

*outside, on the hull of the Ridalgos, there are small scorch marks where a great many power-linkages blew out*

SHALRIRORCHIAN ASSAULT TEAM

The deck heaved as a torpedo hit from the Asante registered on the Aequitas . Section Commander Delios easily kept his balance...he was a veteran assault commander, and had boarded under fire before.

"Helmets on!" he snapped, and the warriors complied...the armor suit helmets were not normally worn, but Delios had never been aboard this ship before, and he had great concerns about the unknowns in their defense network. If they could withdraw the air from a compartment, he wasn't going to let his men suffer the consequences.

"Thirty-five seconds to deployment!" shouted one of the shuttle techs as they neatly burned through the hull plating to force entry.

"REMEMBER!" bellowed Delios, and his voice carried clearly over all the racket on the comm link. "We are boarding an enemy vessel with unknown capabilities. Our claws will strike a blow and then be retracted. Am I clear?" The assault teams roared out their agreement, and Delios turned. "Be alert! The enemy may have had time to deploy security turrets, or other infernal machines of death and destruction. Defend the bomb at all costs! I myself will carry the detonator."

The hull plating plummeted into the depths of the enemy ship, and the soldiers reacted like the well-trained squads that they represented. The first Shalrirorchian warrior in each shuttle adroitly slid out heavy, two meter-long sticks into the corridor beyond. Immediately these sticks blazed with a blue light...they were the base units for portable shields. The shields crackled to life, forming a wall of bluish energy as tall as any Shalrirorchian warrior, and two meters wide. The shields allowed the shuttles to disgorge the remainder of the assault teams under the relative safety of the shield wall, yet the transparent energy fields also allowed the warriors to observe the goings-on up and down the corridor. Leonine soldiers poured out of the shuttles, plasma weapons at the ready, to meet what lay beyond...

SHALRIRORCHIAN BATTLE CRUISER ASANTE'SHANAR

Mordekai's first recollection of what was going on was when someone lifted the support strut off of him. He coughed...he had certainly cracked ribs regardless of the armored cuirass he wore. Vicious, burning pain spiked through his sides and chest at the slightest movement. The agony brough him back to clear, lethal focus on what must be done.

"Commander! Are you all right?" one of the security officers asked, dropping the support strut aside.

"I am fantastic." wheezed Mordekai, slowly and gingerly regaining his command chair. "Report."

The deck shuddered from the impact of a MAC round, followed a second later by a barrage of torpedoes. Thunderous explosions rattled through the hull, and Mordekai knew that despite the ship's armor, the hull had been compromised.

"Deck 10, explosive decompression!" shouted the engineering tech. "We've lost anybody down there, sir!"

Mordekai swore and realized that the two ships were chipping away at him. There was no way he could possibly beat both of them simultaneously. Yet his hope was that the strike team would deal a serious blow to the first enemy, compelling it to withdraw.

In the meantime, he would now fight with redoubled vigor. "Evacuate all of the outer compartments save for those critical to battle readiness, and then seal the abandoned compartments with blast doors!" he snapped, steadying himself as a near miss of a beam weapon caused the deck to pitch.

"Sir, contact one is launching fighters!" shouted someone over the din of new alarms.

"Evasive maneuvers!" ordered Mordekai, though he did not kid himself. While he might outmaneuver the capital ships, the fighters would certainly run him to ground. He looked at the sensor grid, and the beginnings of an idea began to come to him.

"Point defense grid ready to fire, sir!" the tactical officer announced.

"Hold fire on point defense grid...allow them to close to weapons range!" replied Mordekai. "Charge hyperspace engines!"

His crew obeyed without question this time, though he could hear their thoughts. Charging for hyperspace took a lot of time and energy...he had neither. What could he possibly hope to accomplish?

"Fighters closing, sir! They're opening fire! Enemy mothership bearing 180, readying another torpedo volley!" shouted Tactical.

Starfighters were a funny thing, Mordekai mused. They packed an awful lot of firepower into a very small package...but they often operated only with the support of their mothership. Of all the classes of fighters in the Shalrirorchian hegemony only one, the Raider, had hyperspace capability of its' own....which was also to say that the Raider was the only fighter BUILT to withstand hyperspace. As the hull rang like a gong from the incoming fire, Mordekai ticked the seconds off on his fingers...were the fighters of the Aequitas built to withstand such rigors?

Four fingers. "Execute snap turn, bearing 180. All emergency power!" roared Mordekai, who then braced himself as the Asante'Shanar applied all of the power at her command to pivot on a dime. The hull shrieked as even the hybrid reaction-mass/gravitic drives were pushed beyond design specs to provide for the sudden turn, and Mordekai knew that his hull would only permit him to get away with this once.

"Hyperspace microjump, engage!" he cried. And it was only then that they truly understood his intent.

The Asante'Shanar gleamed like the brightest star for the tinest fraction of a second as the hyperdrives engaged. But the capacitor was not fully charged...it had had only perhaps a minute to do so. Thus, the Asante'Shanar's jump was only several killikloms in distance...Mordekai could have gotten outside the ship and WALKED the distance himself, even with his broken ribs. It was not even enough to bring the Asante'Shanar back into the weapons range of the Aequitas, upon whom she was now bearing down on.

But the jump HAD been made at hyperdrive speeds, which was to say that the ship had, for the briefest of moments, accelerated to incredibly high speeds approaching and then surpassing the speed of light. Of course, the [I]Asante'Shanar was designed to use this drive effectively, and as soon as she exited hyperspace, her retro drives had brought her to a relative halt.

Starfighters usually had no such protection.

In jumping to hyperspace, the Asante'Shanar had generated a hyperspace field around itself. This field had extended from the ship (as normal), and Mordekai had snagged the fighters at the closest range within it. They were now slaves to the physics that he had toyed with. They too, had been accelerated to the same fantastic speeds as the Shalrirorchian cruiser; the only difficulty was that they were not connected to the cruiser's jump computer or retro drives. He had essentially turned them into huge, flying bullets loaded with whatever fuel and/or ordinance that their species equipped them with, and hurled them back at the Aequitas like living missiles.

"Vengeance is glorious!" Mordekai cried.

The GHI Battleship Ridalgos

"New Contacts! Radar Contacts launching from the Aequitas."

"They have fighters? Let us see their mettle."

*the bridge is suddenly bathed in a blinding light, which then dissapears*

"New Contact Swarm! Radar computer has locked." *the tech looks out a nearby window, then back down to his screen* "Enemy vessel has re-oriented. Switching to backups. Backups active. Negative on new contacts, many of the fighter contacts are gone however. Re-booting Primary radar computers."

"What did he do?"

"Unknown sir."

"Update from Engineering, we should have partial Helm control."

{{OOC: what happened to the guy with the Imperial taskforce? I was hoping to RP with him.}}

(OOC: Still room for one more?)

(OOC: Still room for one more?)

I would ordinarily say there's always room, but I am not the originator of this thread. :) Ask Velkrer :D

R'hab cursed as he saw the fighters come hurling back at his ship
Full power to front shields! Now...concentrate all fire on that ship.

The Aequitas twisted through space attempting to reacquire it's target.
Volley after volley launched out of the torpedo bays

The Aequitas shuddered under the impact as several of the fighters impacted.

Sir! We've lost the transporter dock...and the docking bay. No, docking bay is online.

R'hab thanked Freyr that his ship was so sturdy.

The ship shook as the enemy boarders landed.

The Velkryie were waiting...

(OOC: Still room for one more?)

OOC: Sure why not...but now the thread is closed? Ok?

GHI warship Ridalgos

"Sir, Helm control confirmed, where should we go?"

"Bring us around if possible, I want our starboard side facing the enemy."

*outside, the Ridalgos begins a slow spin and dive, attempting to bring it's Starboard weapons to bear.*

"This will take a while, won't it?"

"Aye sir, but at least it's control"

"True."

"Sir, Several of the turrets just came back online."

"That's good news. Get those guns aimed at the enemy."