NationStates Jolt Archive

For many people, this message passed unnoticed. But for the Allaneans it was the beginning of a completely new era in the history of their nation.


Official Message from the United States Navy

Dear friends!

We are pleased to announce that we have discovered, at a location approximately 3,500 LY away from Sol, a cluster of three suns – which our astrocarthographers have named Maedhros, Amrod and Amras. These have the rare quality of possessing earthlike worlds in their vicinity. As such, two battlegroups of the USN have been redeployed to secure the stars – hereafter referred to as 'the Feanoring Stars' – for the Allanean Republic.

Sincerely,
Grand Admiral Merretto Singh



Ten days after this simple message, another message followed, from the Allanean Department of State. It was a simple text, forwarded to the embassies of all nations even vaguely friendly towards Allanea, and some which maintained a chilled relation.


Official Message from the United States Department of State

It is with both great joy and sadness that I note this new development, the discovery of the Feanoring Stars. For while I am happy to hear of this achievement of my navy, I am also saddened by the fact that – due to a variety of personal reasons – this is my last message in this official capacity.

I would like to implore you all to provide the United States with the aid it will require in order to colonize the Feanorings. A large effort will be needed, and the aid of any nation that is provided to us will be much appreciated. I would like to give one last apology, in the name of the Allanean people, to those whom we have harmed inadvertedly by our policies. I hope that those who replace me in my post will do better that I have done to heal the wounds and to patch the misunderstandings.

I am authorized by Congress to offer to the Menelmacari nation the gift of the Territory of Nova Florida. Once this offer is accepted, the United States Navy will fold it's deployment there – responsible for 90% of the population of the colony. The rest will be compensated and, once the last Allanean leaves, the territory will be transferred to Menelmacar. However, this will apply to only 75% of our Mercury territory. The other 25% will be sold to the Roanians. May the Messenger bless them both.

I would like to thank all those who have stood with the Allanean people in it's moments of hardship, in it's moments of toil and pain, as well as those who supported us in our triumphs.

I hope that this new discovery will be an opportunity for new-found peace and understanding for us and our neighbors in Sol and outside it.

This is the end of my last message in my capacity as the Secretary of State.

Good bye, Freemen.

Good bye, colleague diplomats.

May th Messenger Bless Allanea.

Victoria Sheshet,
United States Secretary of State

Far from Sol, deep within the wild and often blacked-out Gamma Quadrant, Arnheld Genau smelled a business opportunity. Read one, anyway. Arnheld was the SCARR Legate on Mahon, formerly known as The Den and the gateway to the southern Skeelzanian frontier. As such, the position of Legate held considerable power when it came to shipping.

The Allanean message had come over the general waves; it had been picked up by Imperial communications and relayed from there. Fortunately, it only took him a quarter hour to trace back to the message’s source. Typing out a response, Arnheld punched “send” and hoped it would find its way across the 40,000-odd lightyears of space.


In Response to the Allanean Request for Aid

Greetings from the Skeelzanian Grenzworld of Mahon. My name is Arnehld Genau, Legate of the Skeelzanian Combine for Advanced Resource Refining, or SCARR. As Planetary Legate I am authorized to conduct whatever business transactions I choose, so long as they serve the interests of the Sternreich and the Combine.

I have recently received your government’s call for aid in colonizing three systems, the Feanoring Stars. Sounds to me that you’re in need of shipping space. Despite the name, SCARR offers a full range of planetary and galactic shipping services, from personal lighters to bulk freighters. I can easily secure a number of personnel transports, cruise ships, what have you. While I doubt there’s enough out here to fulfill all of your needs, I don’t see why we can’t take care of a good chunk.

Of course, this is a business transaction, and appropriate payment will have to be worked out.

Arnheld Genau, Legate


That done, Arnheld picked up his phone. “Hello, Adai? Yeah, it’s Arnheld. Say, you guys were supposed to get a Brahmin shipment in last week, right? What’s the status on that? Uh huh, gotcha. Well, I want you to hold that ship before those Trafalgar bastards get their hands on her. I might have a large capacity passenger job lined up for her. Grab any other big passenger ships you c- what? Yes, I know what it just brought here. Hose or vent it or something. We’re shipping colonists, not royals.”

Out of nowere the smoth black ship poped into existence, with two long orange lines going into the distence, as the began to fade the two long flaps ether side of the ship began to withdraw into the ship

"Sir i understand sir bu- i understand my lord"

The captain who was just on the phone presed the large red button with 3 triangles on it

"Mr long we have new orders, We have found 3 systems with hapital planets we have been told to secure the systems for black sun colinization, i want you to get the pods ready oh and charge the wepons we don't know what we might expect"

"in the honor of the president"

The captian sat back in his chair and relaxed. This will be the first time the crew of the battlefox A1 will see open land in over 2 years ,the captain was relieved and woryied because knowing from past experiences the chances are thay will have a fight on there hands

((OCC: Please exuse the spelling and punctuation))

We have just received your request for assistance and was wondering if you would accept it from one of your long term allies in the ESUS. If you decide that it would be to your advantage you can expect the arrival of several cruise liners and converted freighters to ferry your civilians to their new worlds.

I have just checked my database and I see you are a member of the ITH. Have you considered contacting them to have your new systems added to your listing? It would shorten the travel time between the destinations immensely.

The Empire is only waiting to hear from you to send the transports.

In Allanea

It was an extremely good idea of Sheshet's to ask all Allanean allies for assistance. Already lines were forming and hundreds of Freemen were securing themselves their proverbial 160-acre homestead on one of the Feanoring Planets. At the Liberty-City Spaceport, people already began to camp out, awaiting the massive freighters that were to take them into the new worlds.

Suddenly, the pall of gloom that has fallen over the nation in the past few months began slowly to be lifted. Calls were sent to Balrogga, to Skeelzania, and to anybody else willing to help – Allanea was assembling a fleet of freighters of immense size, renting anything that could fly.

Location of the Chryhiathvan ship

Events like these were precisely why the Allaneans sent two battlefleets – or four hundred ships – to secure the three systems.

And so the Chryhiathvan ship was almost immediately painted by the weapons of about a hundred ships – every Allanean craft in this particular system.

The message was simple:

Get out. We're not sharing.

We are... I believe the human word would be 'honoured'. Yes. We are honoured that you would acknowledge the supreme friendship the Divine Imperium has displayed to the nation of Allanea through the granting of what is only our due reward through the offer of your own sovereign territory to the Blessed Light. We shall not forget this display of generousity, and we express a certain hope that this is a sign of things to come. Your entirely reasonable price has been willingly and easily paid, and we shall take possession of the territory with alacrity.

We would consider it an esteemed favour if none of your citizens were present when our inspectors arrived in precisely four standard days.

~ Divine Imperial Office of Colonial Affairs, Viceroyalty of Darsalin Base

To Whom it May Concern:

All of us here at the Amilii Freighter and Transport Company congratulate Allanea for her new find in the stars, and wish her luck in her colonization efforts.

We are also aware of Allanea's freighting and transportation problems, and are deeply concerned for the Allanean people, that they would not be able to colonize efficiently and effectively.

Since the development of the Rift Grids throughout all of the Dersconi Galactic Colonies a few decades ago, the Dersconi government has cut its freighter and transportation fleet by nearly eighty-five percent, auctioning most of them off to private companies. The AFTC bought most of these freighters, many the size of full-blown capital ships.

We also have several military-grade escort ships bought from various sources to accompany them.

The AFTC would like to inquire as to Allanea's interest in partnering with us in order to more efficiently colonize and populate their new colonies.

We anxiously await your response.

Amilii Níðhden
President, CEO and Founder
Amilii Freighter and Transport Company

Just beyond the Moon’s orbit, a characteristic particle burst marked the reemergence of the Lil’ Marlene from hyperspace. With the Planet and Hammer of SCARR painted on her hull, and repeating that she was a civilian vessel on every channel possible, she ignited her Flochip drives and headed for Earth. Two more heavy freighters, exploding back into existence on each flank, shortly followed.

Aboard the bridge, Helga Zorrits was running down her supply officer for the umpteenth time. Women captains were regarded as something of a novelty among the Miner Fleet, and Helga often found herself desiring the power of the Rod her naval counterparts enjoyed. “Have you vented the main hold?”

“Course, Captain,” crackled the intercom. It would take hours to personally track the man down inside the 900-meter freighter. “Mind you, there’s still a residual, how shall we say, ‘aroma.’ A good scrub-down would have solved it, but we shipped out of port too fast. Damn money-grubbing Legate-”

“I’ll deal with the Legate when return. Just as long as we don’t have dysentery breaking out down there.” She didn’t know, or particularly care, all that much about the colonists and their plight, but disease outbreaks were bad for business. But a little sympathy was still in order for people who’d be spending three days in holds normally reserved for two-headed cattle. “Has the cook broken out those MREs yet?”

“Yeah. Says he’s got enough on hand to feed, eh, two hundred K? We can get more in here, course, but then we’re stretching…”

“Right. We’ll keep it to two hundred K, then.” Together with the other ships, that was about 900,000 colonists, several million tons of machinery, or a combination thereof. Not the largest job she’d ever been on. “Keep doing what you’ve been doing, and I’ll call back when the first boatload is due.”

Hanging up the transmitter, Helga took a few steps closer to the vidscreen. Earth sat in the center; with Sol off to port, the planet was fairly well illuminated. “Any hail from the Allaneans yet?”

“Looking, Captain. Nothing so- ah, got a lock on something of theirs.”

“Prepare to transmit, then.” Running a hand down the front of her jacket, she picked up the phone and flipped it to ‘transmit.’

“This is Captain Zorrits of the Skeelzanian-flagged vessel Lil’ Marlene. I am accompanied by SKZ-flagged vessels Sinbad and Big Bludo We are approaching Earth, and will take up whatever position best suits you. Be advised, our ships are unable to land, and our own lighters might prove insufficient for ferrying. I’ll have specific ship details beamed along shortly.”

At Mercury

The last Allanean ships have finally taken flight. Not only the Allanean military, but practically every civilian had left -they wouldn't have any jobs left once the military was no longer there, they didn't want to live under the Roanians (or the Menelmacari, to that matter), and they were promised 160-acred homesteads on the Feanoring Stars, after all.

The few that remained – perhaps a few hundred, in total – were all in Menelmacari territory and would likely apply for citizenship there once the gravships eventually arrived.

On Earth

In the meanwhile, a rather embarassing situation began to develop in Liberty-City. Thousands and thousands of men – especially the poor, the unemployed, the appartment dwellers – had heard of the new colonies. They have heard, too, that land would become available under the Colonization Act at a blessed 160-acre-per-family homestead.

What they had not appreciated was that the government was barely prepared to handle the flow of applications – and barely prepared to handle the flow of applicants. Obviously, the government of Allanea had never maintained a large bureaucracy – and now one was dearly needed.

The Allanean Dream – of miles and miles of territory, acre after acre of land, free for the taking – was
just barely within reach of the common man – tantalizingly out of reach.

Two small camp-outs began to slowly – and yet inevitably – form. One was in front of the Department of Justice, which handled the enormous amounts of real estate involved, and where the people who have not yet recovered in full from the Pilonese Market Crash waited for their 'golden slip' – their 160 acres of Paradise.

Worse, people left their jobs at factories – often by simply telling the employer to screw himself – and trotted towards the Justice Department offices.

Another camp-out – gradually growing biggers as the DoJ handled thousands and thousands of applications daily – became evident at the Liberty-City spaceport. Obviously, Allanean freighters could not handle it all – especially as many of them were occupied doing normal traffic and the government could not commandeer them by force.

Worse, similar campouts began to form in Neo-Dallas.

Quickly enough, desperate pleas for help were sent out to Balroggan, Dersconi, and Skeelzanian fleets.

Allanea

The AFTC fleet was the first to arrive on the scene, due to the high priority on the mission that came from Amilii himself. Over the skies of Allanea, a fleet of over four hundred freighter and transport ships materialized from the Rift Channel. The message that the AFTC sent to the Allaneans clearly wasn't lying, either -- some of the ships were over 10km in length.

They were accompanied by a small battle group consisting of decommissioned (but refurbished and brought back to military-grade status) battleships and cruisers from the Dersconi Navy that were purchased at the decennial auctions the Dersconi Government hosts to auction off decommissioned or excess military supply.

Dropships were rushing out of the larger capital freighters, while some of the smaller ships simply entered the atmosphere and landed in empty fields near the camps.

A contingent of the AFTC Security Force (consisting of mostly Dersconi army or SS personnel who's enlistment expired) was also deployed to aid the Allaneans in a more organized and efficient loading of the colonists onto the ships, since it was obvious that the whole process was going to be hectic.

"It's too hot." The verdict was reached decisively, and within minutes of the inspectors arriving at the optimistically named 'Contemplation Point'. The Roanians were wearing the comfortable and advanced outfits the Roanians used for harsh environments. The costumes were skintight at points on the females to the extreme that for any humans around there would have been certain embarassment. The single male was dressed similarly, though with the addition of a blue 'vest' to show clear rank without breaching the environment suit's smoothness with insignia.

The fabricells of the suits were already stretching and loosening, expanding the garments to cover even more of the body and phasing other parts into visible existence. Soon every Roanian was completely covered from head to toes in white 'robes'. One of them lifted up a scanner and studied it for a moment, before biting back a snarl in lack of amusement and throwing it to the ground as it began to melt. "This is the wrong gear!" The irritated voice burst through the other's commsignals.

"I have my hotweather gear." Another crackled soothingly, holding it up until the required readings ticked into her suit's systems. "Mmm. Interesting. Patching display through now." There were a few moments of silence as they retreated to the relative coolness of their waiting craft.

"Lack of valuable resources... lack of suitable materiel to work full terraformation..."

"Probable lack of volunteers to justify full presence on this rock..."

"Explorators, what's the report we'll make?" The commander enquired, as the online computer began calculating the necessary engine requirements to break past Sol's gravitational well.

"Advise immediate dispersal of territory without consecration." The others concurred.

"Captain, current calculations will remain of value for precisely 20 more standard minutes."

"Thank you, Emerald." The Captain slid his hand over the console and the entryport vanished into the smooth wall. "You may begin preliminary lift." The Roanians moved to their assigned spaces, finalising the ship's own readings. "Open a channel to Darsalin as soon as we're within range of the beacon. That should give them time to decide what luckless human gets this place."

Liberty-City Spaceport

“Back off! Back off, I said!” - the soldiers began to force the crowd away from where the large Skeelzanian spacecraft rested in it's dock. “There's enough space for a hundred thousand people in that one, or maybe more! Slow and sure does it, people! No pushing! No pushing!”

With some work – with the butts of heavy ABR-666 rifles, the heavy armored shoes of the Samson suits, and sometimes even with electric police bats – the crowd was, once more, pushed away from the craft – and only a small trickle of people was allowed through.

Captain Murcock smiled at the crowds. This was only to be expected – and he understood the emotions of these people, who were restrained by his soldiers only a feet from what any Allanean would take to be the gateway to literal paradise on Earth. Regardless, he did not want to be there when the crowd broke the lines of soldiers – and break them it eventually would.

“Attention! Attention! Three Dersconi shuttles are landing at your eight o'clock. It is likely they will accept passengers...”

He hoped that was true – he knew nothing about Dersconi procedures.

But now, Captain Murcock mainly cared about preventing any trouble in his area of responsibility.

What happened on the other end of the spaceport was of little concern.

Gliese System, Imperial Shipyards:



“Commander, We just received orders to assist one of our allies in the evacuation of their nation.”

“What is happening, invasion?”

“Negative Sir, it seems that are moving out of the Sol system. They need to get their people away from Earth.”

“Why the hell are they calling on us?”

“It seems the Titan Cruse line has already been requisitioned for some evacuation order on the other side of the galaxy so they are not able to be used. We are the closest store of empty ships to Sol at the moment. The orders came down from the Palace.”

“I guess we better get some of the mothball fleet going if the order came from the Emperor. Get on it right away. I want crews pulled and those ships restarted immediately.”

“Wouldn’t it be easier to use Kython ships and reconfigure them to use as transports?”

“Good idea. I’ll pass it on. Meanwhile, prepare to pull some ships out of the mothball fleet than can carry a lot of people.”



Imperial Palace, Earth:



“Honored Sire, a suggestion has arrived from the Governor of Gliese, Do you want me to read it to your Imperial Highness?”

Nhur-Galladu continued to meditate while his servant prostrated himself before the emperor in the Lilac Gardens. The Childer remained where he lay, unmoving until he was given permission by the Emperor to approach. Nhur-Galladu finished the mantra he was chanting within his mind and then concentrated upon his subject before him.

“Rise Tandern, approach and read me this message.”

The servant hurriedly rose and approached the old man, keeping the required distance for one of his station. He assumed the proper pose and began to read the message, following the proper procedures as accorded by etiquette.

“Sire, the Governor of Gliese sends the following message to the Imperial Command in response to the request for ships to use for the transversal of citizens from Allanea. He humbly suggests using Kython vessels and have them reconfigured to transport specification to carry the personal. He believes the solution would provide a faster result than refueling and restarting the cores of the mothball fleet. Also the crews of the Kython ships would already be present while requisitions of the crews for the mothball ships will need to be issued and transferred to their temporary positions.”

Nhur-Galladu listed to the suggestion and he was delighted in the quick thinking of his subjects.

“I agree with the suggestion. There would be ships available faster and they will be able to make terrestrial landings to aid in the loading of the citizens. Make sure the Governor is amply rewarded for the suggestion and be sure recognition is passed on to the one that thought of the idea originally.”

“Yes Sire, Your Will will be done.”

The servant quickly left to carry out his orders. Nhur-Galladu reached out and contacted Overmind. The Kython Collective answered him with a moment’s hesitation.

“Hello old friend, what do you wish of me?”

“It seems there is need for one of the swarms.”

“Who is the target? We will devour them to a man.”

“No, it is not that kind of mission, it is a humanitarian mission.’

Nhur-Galladu could feel the entity laughing within his mind. “You want to send us on a humanitarian mission? That is truly irony.”

“Yes, I thought you would get a good laugh. The reason I am asking is your presence would make it easier to accomplish the task much quicker.”

“You don’t need to explain, I will always do your bidding no questions asked. I assume since this is a humanitarian mission, we are not to cause any infection.”

“That is correct, we are only transporting the citizens of Allanea to their new home and you can do it much faster than anything from Gliese.”

“Of course, we’re damn good.” Again Overmind was chuckling at his jokes.”

“Take care of it immediately, use the Sol Fleets for the project. The Honorguard as well as The Homeguard will protect us long enough to bring in assistance if anyone is foolish enough to try anything.”

“As you ask, Sire.”

The presence of Overmind left Nhur-Galladu’s mind he went back to practicing his meditation.



SoL System, Allanea territory:



Several hundred ebon transports faded into view as they Emerged from T-Space.

Greeting to our Allanea allies. This is the Imperial Navy answering your request for transportation. We have several transports available to remove all your civilians to their new destination. Please send us information as to where you wish us to land so we can begin to take on passengers. Our ships have been cleared to use the ITH and we will pay the usage fees. Please ready your space ports for our arrival. The ships that are not landing will await their turn in a holding pattern.

The simple message preceded their descent into the atmosphere to hover above the disembarkation points, taking turns landing to take on passengers. As each one was filled, it faded away into nothingness as it Uplifted from their docks directly into T-Space.

The ship then jumped to the ITH gate outside the system and used it to wormhole to their destination and to let their passengers disembark on their new homeworld.

SIC:

Genesis Fleet Works Naval Installation, High Earth Orbit

"Do you think they can pull it off, sir?" inquired the younger man after he had carefully reported to his superior officer's office.

"Perhaps, we did the same nearly two hundred years ago with far more antiquated technology," responded the aging man, as he straightened his white dress uniform denoting his rank as a System Admiral (an admiral in charge of a System's naval forces). "And then we had a journey of over 30 million light years. 3,500 light years is a piddling distance. I do concede that we had far fewer citizens to transport. It would be interesting to see how other regional space powers will take the Allanean claims and colonization efforts."

"What assistance are we authorized to provide, sir?"

"A lot, actually. Sol Command has been authorized to provide security and transportation to Allanean migrants. But we're short on usable assets in system. We have several security contingents arriving in a few days from Cala. High Command is transferring some assets to Sol, but it'll take some time."

The younger man sighed, shaking his head. "Sometimes it doesn't pay to have our home system so far away . . ."

"Indeed. I'm afraid that all that I can provide Allanea until the arrival of reinforcements is escorts and maybe commandeer a couple of luxury passenger liners."
To: ALLANEAN GOVERNMENT
FROM: FLEET ADMIRAL TOBIAS MARCUS, ACTING SYSTEM ADMIRAL FOR THE SOL SYSTEM FLEET

THE SOL SYSTEM FLEET OF THE ASCENDANT REALM OF THE FIVE CIVILIZED NATIONS HAS BEEN HEREBY AUTHORIZED BY HIGH COMMAND TO RENDER ANY AND ALL POSSIBLE ASSISTANCE TO ITS FRIEND AND ALLY, ALLANEA.

THE SOL SYSTEM FLEET CAN CURRENTLY OFFER ASSISTANCE IN THE FORM OF ESCORT WARSHIPS AND SEVERAL COMMANDEERED INTERSTELLAR LUXURY LINERS. PENDING ARRIVAL OF ASSETS FROM THE HOME SYSTEMS, THE SOL SYSTEM WILL ALSO BE TO OFFER SECURITY CONTINGENTS, BORDER PATROL OFFICERS, AND MANY MORE TRANSPORTS.
The first ships arrived in orbit around Mercury within two hours of the message being sent, as a trio of Excalibur Class Strike Frigates dropped out of hyperspace escorting a flotilla of a dozen commandeered luxury liners each capable of carrying 5000 people in relative luxury. The commander of the small flotilla due to seniority, Captain Lorenzo Thomas hailed the surface of Mercury and waited to be recognized.

OOC: WTF 5CN is baaack?!

IC:

Dozens of freighters from different nations began to descend through the athmosphere. Some landed at the Liberty-City Spaceport, others were diverted by Traffic Control to other, less congested landing zones – and diverting more and more flows of settlers to the places where the new craft landing. The confusion increased.

Three people so far were trampled in the rush for the freighters, but, as the help from different nations flowed in, the problems were slowly straightened out. Within the first day, only 150,000 people took off Earth using allied ships, and about 50,000 – from Mars, using Allanean troop carriers. But on day 2 – so the Allaneans were sure – they could arrange something better, and begin transporting people out faster.

The Allanean government's estimate assume two million people would leave Earth and a million would leave Mars with it's congestion – but as a matter of fact, this was underestimated. The amount of potential settlers was growing at an unsettling pace, already having taken over the official projections.

Between the Allanean forces and contingents of Company Marines, Helga and the other Skeelzanian captains managed to keep the loading of their ships mostly in order. Other than one, brief excursion to the docking bay, Helga had remained on the bridge to coordinate efforts. She was there now, drinking coffee and listening her XO’s, Mehmet, update.

“Bludo says they’re at thirty percent capacity, Captain. Sinbad is approaching forty, same as us. Lansky down in the hold says the Allees are keeping orderly.”

“We’ll see what they’re like after a night on the bulkhead.” Ideally they would have brought cots, but as it was the Lil’ Marlene had shipped with only blankets. “What’s the status on Four Shuttle?”

“Sanders said they’ll be up shortly.” Mehmet frowned. “Shame about that woman.”

“We do our best. I’ll leave getting them onboard to you. Once all the shuttles are refueled, we’ll try again. I think the Allaneans are shooting for a round-the-clock schedule. Think we can handle it?”

Mehmet chewed his drooping mustache. “Would have to check with Supplies, but we jumped with full fuel capacity. Should be enough for a week or two, though I don’t know where we’d get more out here.”

“Too bad we lost that rock way back in Arkady’s day,” said Helga, referring to the abortive attempt at establishing a Skeelzanian fuel depot in Sol. “Can always borrow some Allanean shuttles, though. I’m going to take a shower; let me know if something explodes.”

As Helga was enjoying her fully furnished quarters, the Allanean colonists were getting used to theirs. The Lil’ Marlene was built primarily as a livestock freighter. Each of her several holds had ample headspace, five meters or so, hopefully forestalling any feelings of claustrophobia amongst the passengers. Lighting left something to be desired, but engineering reported that ventilation was holding up well, and there had been “acceptable” amounts of complaints of odor.

Ship cooks passed out MREs to waiting passengers; these were quite hearty meals by Terran standards, tailored to feed the seven-foot Skeelzanian frame. Unfortunately the packets consisted mostly of variously flavored FoodGoo, ranging from recognizable (“Brahmin Beef”) to “exotic.”

“Oh, that’s the Zwabuk flavor,” explained Crewman Sparzize. “It’s sort of like an elephant, but flatter. They’re from Feerott; spend their days lying in ponds.”

“Nocturnal feeder?” Queried a student.

“Right,” replied Sparzize. “Got hollow trunks that they skewer you on and such out the blood. Have to dodge between them and plant a slug right in the forehead; my father owns an estate with tons of ‘em.”

Los Angeles, California, Earth SSR--

The message that arrived at the desk of the New Dornalian Government took it by surprise. Unhappily, the Dornalians were one of the peoples the Allaneans had had "chilled" relations with--if you counted torching New Wuhan as chilled relations.

Debate raged among the inner circles of the Commissariat for Trade and the Commissariat for Foreign Affairs to check if it was even remotely possible to even think about rendering them aid. After all, there were still bad feelings left, and by the looks of things, it seemed that the Allaneans were recieving help already. Still, it wouldn't hurt to gather some data. They sent a message to the Allaneans to the effect of:

"We have recieved your message. Pardon our late reply, but you must understand the tenous position you have put us in. Do you still need help?"

Colonel Shchitkovet Varakhiiov, former Jötunn of the Lagerabteilung -- the corps of the Dersconi SS responsible for the control of the prison camps throughout the Occupied Tundra -- surveyed the scene from the command cruiser hovering over the fields. This isn't going to work.

Colonel Varakhiiov had the AFTCSF immediately establish a line in front of the drop-ships and the cruisers. Dersconi soldiers were trained to have strict discipline, and expected everything to operate as such.

The Allanean civilians, however, were quite the opposite.

The Allaneans rushed forward to the ships, but were stopped by the AFTCSF. Colonel Varakhiiov ordered several lines to be established to go into the vessals, and once order was established, the crowd that came was successfully loaded on, and the ships took off to join the fleet, being replaced by an incoming wave of drop-ships and cruisers. This was repeated as much as was needed.

The Dersconi carrying capacity was actually just over one billion people -- these were, in fact, the same ships employed in the Evacuation of Auman.

Near the end of the day, all of the cruisers and other cargo and transport ships were completely filled, there were two ships left -- both approximately 15km long, affectionately named the "Kings of Cargo". The one on the left, the HMSS Star Carrier, lowered itself into near-orbit, careful not to come too close. With the sun where it was, and the positioning of the ship, the Star Carrier and her sister ship, the HMSS Polchinski, cast dark shadows over the entire bay, blocking out the sun in some small areas.

Looking up, though, once could see twelve strange glowing circles underneath the ships, which shot out of the bottoms of the ship in huge, purple beams, making contact with the ground.

They were gravlifts.

The drop-ships, at this point, would simply be too inefficient, so the corporate admiral decided to simply load them directly onto the ships.

They stuck around until they got the all-clear message from the Allaneans on the ground, and then the AFTCSF loaded up onto their dropships and headed back to the flagship (a Divikarei-class dreadnought bought from the Dersconi Navy).

Once all Dersconi personnel were off the ground, the fleet recieved the target coordinates from the Allaneans, and went off into the Rift Channel towards the new Allanean colonies.

Message to All Help-Offering Nations

We still lack ships and transport. Please send help.

Neo-Dallas

“Ready, sir.”

“Grade C power to gravitic, prepare for takeoff at one hundred and twenty furlong per hour, acceleration at half a gee. Can't take any risks now that we've got a shipful of settlers. Go.”

“Yes, Sir.”

The Spirit of the Wild rose from the Neo-Dallas Spaceport, did a slow, banking turn over the city, and began to accelerate upwards, away from the Martian Northern Polar Circle.

“Sir, we are now exiting the Martian athmosphere.”

“Very good. Do you have an inkling of just how many people this ship is carrying?”

“Lots.”

“According to the bureauwankers – about seventy-three thousand sapients. So take that to about eighty, possibly a ninety thousand if you consider how many people they have likely missed and lost count of.”

“But Sir... we're only rated for fifty thousand people...”

“Tell that to the bureauwankers. As for me, we need to get to the Feanoring Stars. Not our problem that the idiots feel uncomfortable. Nobody forced them aboard my ship, did they?”

Liberty-City

“Two hundred thousand people loaded onto Balroggan, Skeelzanian, and Dersconi ships today, Sir. We're never going to make any significant progress this way. Eventually, we will have rioting.”

“The day is young, Faust. Really. It's just ten AM. I expect we'll get more then two million people shipped out today. And as a matter of fact we have some semblance of order today. Nobody got trampled yet.”

Airport Director Lionel Kimchi was only half right. Indeed, by noon, approximately five hundred thousand people more were shipped away from Earth using a variety of facilities across Allanea.

At noon, disaster struck. What precisely happened, nobody quite knew. But a truck that was carrying settlers towards their chosen transport – an Allanean Navy battleship called the USS Fastidious – apparently lost control on the runway and ran itself into a large crowd of settlers that were camped down near the runway. Fifteen people were killed immediately. Forty-seven were trampled in the resulting panic, and ten were shot as airport personnel and soldiers, panicking as well, criss-crossed the crowd with gunfire from Vassaretti-pattern twenty-megathule lasguns and army-issue ABR-666 rifles.

As for the Fastidious, it simply took on some other truckful of settlers and took off without a single sound, gravitics covering it upwards until it became nearly a speck in the sky, and then vanished.

Amlas

The first settlers began to land on the fertile, green plains that would latr become known as Planetfall Plains. One of them was John C. Stalwart, who carried nothing with him on his journey but a bag of pre-made food and a large silvery package.

When he landed on his chosen land lot – a one-hundred-sixy acre piece of land somewhere on the Planetfall Plains – he walked to the highest spot on his plot, and dropped the bag on the ground, saying the two words:

'Open up.'

Within seconds, the bag inflated – revealing not a baloon, but rather, a self-setting tourist tent. It provided a comfortable air temperature – at the present, ten degrees colder then what he found to be an abominable, sweltering heat – as well as something to sleep on. A part of the tent's silvery-blue floor reshaped itself to form a bed on which Stalwart immediately plopped down, grinning the wall of the tent – that immediately became a screen.

Activating FTL communication link.... this may take some time...

“Yadda-yadda-yadda...”

Within about half a minute, the computer found it's counterpart – a temporary FTL relay set up by the Navy – and a minute later, it displayed the front page of an Earth-based online store. A few more manipulations – and Stalwart had ordered himself a portable, self-contained home made by the Allanean Arms company. Of course the home would not be delivered after the end of the pressue with the settlers. Until then, pondered Stalwart, he would have to rough it out.

He opened one ot his cans of food.

“Ugh. Salmon. I hate salmon. What am I, some form of camper or something? Can't anybody there on Earth arrange for normal commodity supply? Oh well... I'm going to go out tomorrow and see if they have anything on this darn planet that passes for a deer or at least a chipmunk. May as well try and improve the menu a bit.”

As the Imperial Transports were loaded, they simply disappeared from the loading docks they were settled upon. Within a minute the next transport was landing.

In T-Space, the transport made it's jump to the edge of the system where the wormhole gateways were located and Emerged back into Real SPace. The time it took was only a few seconds. The transport entered the appropriate wormhole and ten minutes later emerged from the other end at their destination.

The transport slowly decended intot he atmosphere with its load of colonists and gently settled upon the ground to allow the people and equipment to disembark the ship. Once the transport was clear, it returned to waitin line to pick up more back in the Sol system.




OOC:


To make things easier I decided to just say I opened three wormholes independant of the ITH so any military vessels being used to transport colonists can use the shortcut if they wished. There would be a station outside the three wormholes to provide navigational assistance if needed.

And so the pressure began to subside. While the main bottleneck became now the loadig and unloading of people to the ships, it became now clear that there was no need for rushing to the decks of the countless and ever-multiplying freighters, which would be back in a day anyway, their cargo holds open for more men.

As such, the immense crowds slowly began to dissipate.

Within the first two weeks, fifteen million men were moved from Earth and Mars.
The allies had relieved the majority of the pressure, and now the evacuation could continue on a more normal pace.

The government of New Dornalia replied to the message by sending a unit of New Dornalian Red Cross. Red Cross was neutral, unarmed, and at least in New Dornalia, unaffiliated with the government, which made it easy to help out people while keeping their hands clean.

The thirty red cross ships were medium sized transport vessels of 700m long by 100m high, by 100m wide, civilian ships capable, with some modifications, of holding 2,000 civilians per vessel. Ugly and somewhat slow vessels otherwise, they were reliable enough for Red Cross work, and certainly held a lot for their size. 10 Prochkhorovka Is were included, fighter bays modified to carry thousands and medical equipment in spartan, if livable settings and weapons generally disarmed, as this was a mission of peace.

Some considered the contribution almost too generous. Some considered it paltry. Others thought it was a good thing, that anger should not overcome reason and that whenever people were in need of help, it should be given.

Propaganda was flashed over the Amerkanski Pravda HoloNet station that the Allaneans, "are now, by the Grace of Divine Providence and the People's Will, reaping what they sowed at New Wuhan in the form of overpopulation and domestic trouble. Out of the generosity of our hearts, which we have examined deeply and strongly in reply to their request for help, Comrade Premier MacIntyre and the Factions of the New Dornalian Communist Party in the People's Congress have agreed to allow the Red Cross to assist the Allaneans in moving their people and easing their hardships. They will stay until the job is done and perform as an example of how generous Socialism can be." In reality, it was naturally much different. But, politics dictated this be given, to keep face at home, while the ND Government gave the more conciliatory message to Allanea that "Help is on its way."

The ships left Earth SSR orbit, and then went as quickly as possible to Sol System, Allanea.

The Allanean government had responded rapidly to the message from the New Dornalians. A separate campout for about 200,000 settlers was set up in Allanean New Jersey, and it was there that they awaited for the New Dornalian ships. To the New Dornalians themselves, a simple message of thanks was sent. One day, the Allaneans would repay the favor.

In the meanwhile, the makings of a temporary town were beginning to emerge on Maedhros, where the first landings took place. It was named 'Ashtonbury', after the famous assassin and duelist. Other towns would soon be founded, too.

OOC: Damn, nearly forgot this thread....

IC:

The New Dornalians arrived in earnest. Moving over New Jersey in geosynchronous orbit, the vessels began sending down Gagarin shuttles with aid teams to treat the sick and place teleporter beacons, which would provide a permanent place for ND teleporters to fixate on within a general radius; each beacon was keyed to a particular ship.

The aid teams took care not to let the radii overlap, to prevent confusion and accidents; anyway if they did the beacons would warn them. Then, the aid teams had the people enter the radii of the beacons, in family groups in order to prevent undue seperation, and awaited clearance to begin operations from the Allaneans...

It took some time to get the settlers in place - but eventually, the process was finished and the message given to the New Dornalians:

Ready and set for you.

It took some time to get the settlers in place - but eventually, the process was finished and the message given to the New Dornalians:

Ready and set for you.

The teleporters began warping their human cargo into place, filing it into the medical bays for one last checkup and accommodation assignments before allowing them to get a hot meal and access to a shower, along with other basic needs.

When the process was finished, the Red Cross men dismantled the teleporters, and then boarded their shuttles to head back into the waiting vessels, whereupon they left and proceeded to their destination...