NationStates Jolt Archive


Some Things Should Be Left Alone(FT, Open)

Taledonia
05-08-2007, 06:00
The day was hot and dry, the desert sands moving like the waves of the sea in the light wind. At the foot of a ridge of cliffs that had been deemed "The Silent Steps" was an excavation that encompassed nearly a a thousand cubic meters, and already several meters deep.

"Whatever it is, it seems to have alot of dormant power. More than a battle cruiser."

Colonel Storm looked up from the barren desk that stood before him, interest finally showing for the first time in weeks. At first, when traces of an unknown power source could faintly be detected deep within the planet, the stationment as commander of the excavation site seemed like a welcome assignment as opposed to sitting in camp within Republican borders; now, however, it was just a dull job sitting in the hot sun watching a bunch of men dig.

"More power than a battle cruiser?"

The archeologist smiled excitedly again. "Yes, though not by much. And as I said it is a sort of 'dormant' energy. It isn't being used, as a natrual power source would be constantly changing and fluctuating. I think we may have discovered an artifact from a long lost civilisation!"

Storm lifted an eyebrow curiously, and his lips moved as he prepared to answer when a disorderly sound began to emminate from the dig site below. The workers had begun to shout excitedly and gather at the latest find. The Colonel and the archeologist team made their way down and pushed through the staring crowds, who had now fallen into awe as they observed the tunnel that they had breached.

Smiling, the archeologist stared at his military superior, "A tunnel system! This only furthers the idea of an alien race having been here before us!"

"Well then let's take a look inside and see what we can find, shall we?" Storm pointed to two Republican legionaries who stood nearby, signalling them to follow him, then he jumped into the underground cavern. A few of the workers followed them down, along with the archeologists, who all held flashlights and seemed to lead the team of explorers. They followed the tunnel for what seemed like half an hour, the system seeming endless in lenght.

*Cruuunnncchhh!*

The lead man stopped as his boot crushed something underfoot. "Flashlight!" he called back, taking the device as it was handed to him. He pointed the beam of light at his foot. "By the Gods!" He stumbled and fell backwards, the light rolling on the ground and illuminating a chamber of skeletal remains, many of which seemed metallic in essence, and probably were.

A thunderous boom was heard far off in the dark, the sounds of crackling energy becoming apparent within the area. Within seconds lighting arcs of green shot out in all directions, striking the skeletons and the cavern walls, an eery green light beginning to illuminate near the roof of the cavern.

Two Hours Later

A looped message was broadcasted on open channels throughout the galaxy, with it the co-ordinates to the planet and the location of the excavation site and the military base.

This is Centurion...... ---rthed...- ccccccc aaaaa ;;;;,... tunnelllllllllll. AAA A A AA.....AA....AaAA.... .... ns//// attacked. Unkno ---- craft..... SS..--d --..elp!
Telros
05-08-2007, 06:10
OOC: I assume these are Necrons. And what kind of rp are you looking for? Any limits?
Taledonia
05-08-2007, 06:18
(OOC: :D Yes, yes they are. I've fallen in love with them for a time, too much Dawn of War for me. Anyways, looking for squads or small armies, nothing over a hundred soldiers, but you shouldn't just send two or three, I mean, its Necrons, they'll pwn you. So yeah, show up, meet the Republican forces that will be arrived in the system, investigate, get destroyed or destroy.)
Telros
05-08-2007, 06:43
OOC: I'll post tomorrow, with my GDI nation. I need to get them doing stuff, and small-scale helps a lot. =P. My ships and soldiers are high quality with them. So, one ship and a couple hundred soldiers just about does it, I'd say.
The XIV Legio Tactica
05-08-2007, 09:51
Tribune Alexander tightened his fingers on the command console as the familiar wave of slight disorientation and vertigo washed over him as the Pallas-class cruiser Vespertilio made its tesseract jump into the planet's orbit. Beside him, Trierarch Lucianus stood perfectly at ease, the tessering provoking no response or change of expression. As commander of a capital ship in the Neo-Roman Fleet, he had made thousands of such jumps and was entirely used to them. The much younger Tribune did not have the benefit of so much experience, although he bore it stoically.

"Long scans show nothing artificial outside the planet's atmosphere. The system is clear," the Helmsman reported from behind his bank of navigational and sensor displays.

"And on the surface?" Alexander clasped his armored hands behind his back as a high resolution image of the excavation site filled the huge holoscreen above the command console. The image zoomed in far enough that the tall young Tribune could see the tools discarded by the archaeologists when...whatever it was that had happened, had happened. Nothing moved in the camp except for a light wind from the southeast, that whipped up sand in little flurries and ruffled the fabric of tents that had huge rents and charred marks on them.

"Massive energy readings from below the planet surface," the Helmsman continued. "Emanating primarily from those pyramidal structures near the camp. There are several more subterranean energy signatures elsewhere on the planet, as well. No motion anywhere on this hemisphere of the planet, though."

Alexander narrowed his eyes. "Gratias, Gubernatore," he said with a nod to the Helmsman. The Tribune felt no real sense of dread; he was more curious than anything else, taken with a fascination as to what had wiped out an archaeological dig and compliment of Republican soldiers and then hidden itself in the depths of the planet. He turned to the Trierarch and said simply, "I will prepare my men to make planetfall. We will keep in communication." Alexander headed a rescue force of sixty Neo-Roman Marines, a full century.

Lucianus nodded to the expedition's ground commander. "We will maintain geosynchronous orbit above the dig site and monitor you from here. Bona fortuna, Tribune." The two men saluted each other by clapping fists to armored chests, before Alexander went his way.

~

The two Republican Furies touched down on either end of the dig site, disgorging their Marines onto the flat and rocky ground fifty yards from the tents. Damage was visible even from this the far side of the camp facing away from the pyramids. Alexander guessed that the attack had come from the direction of the pyramids; to him, it appeared that whatever had burned the rents in the tents from that direction had gone all the way through and out the other side.

The wind had picked up, blowing sheets of sand across the Neo-Romans' vision and making Alexander's crimson cloak flutter and snap like a long red flag as the Tribune and his men swept the dig site for hostiles before examining the scene. Camp items and articles were scattered willy-nilly over the ground, half covered by sand. The gun racks in the Republic soldiers' tent were partially empty; one was on its side, several rifles spilled haphazardly onto the ground, so it appeared that someone had tried to frantically grab a weapon to defend him or herself from whatever it was. In fact, there was a patch of the poor schmuck's blood, almost a yard square and disgustingly bright, not six feet from the racks, soaked into the sand.

And that was what bothered Alexander most about the whole scene once he had made the rounds, poking around every area of the camp, parting tent flaps with his spear and peering inside, observing and cataloging details. There was plenty of blood to be seen - soaked into the ground, spattered on tent fabric, splashed across tables and other items - but there were no bodies, or even parts of bodies, not even a damn scrap of burnt clothing, to be found anywhere. It was as if the desert itself had risen up around the archaeologists and swallowed them up in its sandy embrace.

But Alexander's sense of dread had not risen a whit throughout his tour of the massacre site, nor had his curiosity faded; it burned all the brighter now that the clues were all before him, waiting to be pieced together so that they could tell him the terrible story of what happened to the good Republican citizens here.
Kaldari
05-08-2007, 18:31
The message was received by the Global Defense Initiative, who sent a single ship to their aid. A single Grizzly-class Destroyer, the GDIS Rebirth. A flash of light exploded into being as a wormhole appeared and a massive ship exited, the Rebirth. Her grey and yellow armor glowing in the light given off by the planet and the nearby stars, along with its own running lights. An immense construct of metal and weaponry, it was it's own task force. And with the concentration on the coming war with the Wanderjarian Empire, it was all they could spare. However, it had enough, with its complements of pre-fabricated buildings, tanks, and soldiers, it could land a ground force in a hurry. Commanded by Captain Richard Dawkins, it moved into orbit around the planet. The bridge crew hurried about its tasks, bringing sensors into calibration after the Tanhausser jump, and to scan the nearby area for threats. Richard stood, his brown and yellow uniform proudly showing his rank of Captain on his shoulders. Fiddling with a coin, an old quarter from what used to be the United States, he shifted and began to speak.

"Lieutenant Granger, what do the sensors show us?"

"Well, sir, it is giving us the usual blather on the planet, its mineral makeup and all that. But curiously, there appears to be a vast power signature coming from the planet, based in several subterranean tunnels. We also read a small camp by someone; no life signs. Seems to have been some sort of struggle there; I am ready scattered objects all over the camp, energy residue and....human blood." A beep sounded, followed by the EVA's voice.

"Unknown ship detected in orbit of the planet. Sensors show a small group of their forces on the planet." The Captain narrowed his eyes.

"Bring us to Yellow Alert and have all soldiers ready for drop pod deployment. And get me a channel with that ship." They acknowledged his order and went to work. All over the ship, men and women rushed to their respective armories, suiting up for a possible combat action. Power armor was activated, rail rifles loaded, and rockets armed. Zone Troopers rushed down the hall, followed by several rocket squads, and a sniper. A commando strode into a drop pod, while two Mammoth tanks backed into a large pod, with the door sealing behind them. If any ground offensive was to be launched, they would be ready. Granger spoke again.

"Channel ready, sir.' Richard sighed and then sent a message to the Legio Tactician ship.

Unknown ship, this is the GDIS destroyer Rebirth of the Global Defense Initiative, state who you are, what nation you are from and your purpose. We have detected a sign of struggle on the planet, resulting in several deaths. Do you know anything of this?
Amazonian Beasts
05-08-2007, 19:39
ADV Tyree, a Spartan-class battlecruiser primarily designed for direct action against capital ships and stations, pulled out of hyperspace over what seemed a fairly average planet. There was a rather odd energy signature coming from the planet's surface-a communication apparently that had been mangled with something else-that had been not only unclear but somewhat perplexing. Why was someone exploring out here in the first place?

Tyree's goal was to answer that question, and with a complement of 72 elite soldiers ready to go at will, it could be done. Tyree's commander, a human Captain by the name of Ridgewell, quickly moved into the executive command.

"Get some gunships prepared for Alert-5," Ridgewell commanded as troops began moving down towards dispatch bays.

Tyree moved in towards the planet, shield banks activating as weapons charged and torpedo bays loaded in case of hostile contact.

"Send a squad in gunships," Ridgewell ordered impassively as the battlecruiser moved into a localized orbit, "and give me a wide-band transmission prep to local forces around. I want to see what's up with this planet."

Two assault shuttles pulled out of the hanger bay of the Tyree, guns swinging into position as twelve soldiers sat on the inside. Six more squads of troops were inside the Tyree, waiting for launch later to be sent to the surface in case anything went wrong. The two shuttles sat tight in formation with the battlecruiser as a message was transmitted on all frequencies across local space-far enough to hit any of the ships detected in local orbit of the planet in question.

"This is the Tyree, Amazonian battlecruiser. We've detected energy surges from the planet below, along with a garbled transmission we were unable to decipher the message. Does any ship in the vicinity have information pertinent to the planet?"
The XIV Legio Tactica
05-08-2007, 21:25
"Republican cruiser NAR Vespertilio responding to both incoming craft, Trierarch Titus Lucianus speaking." The great holoscreen above the Trierarch's command console had switched to a long scan readout of the system, with the newcomers marked as two blue blips next to the yellow orb of the planet. The Vespertilio was shown in green. "We are investigating a distress signal sent out by a group of our countrymen. You have all picked up on it as well, and that is why you are here." As he spoke, a comm program translated his words into English, as he doubted that any of the newcomers spoke his native Latin.

"An archaeological expedition was excavating a site on the surface," he continued, "until all contact was suddenly terminated and the distress call began broadcasting. Our men on the ground have secured the camp site and searched it thoroughly, and found no trace of any survivors or casualties. Beyond the planet, however, the system is entirely clear of any artificial objects or installations.

"We don't know what the energy signatures coming from within the planet are; that is likely what the archaeologists were investigating before their deaths. But we still do not know who or what killed them so violently. This matter is under the Republic's jurisdiction and we have the situation currently under control, but if you wish to stay and assist us, we will not turn you away."

He waited for the strangers' responses.

~

Tribune Alexander was listening to the comm chatter between the Vespertilio and her new company; the Trierarch had notified him upon their appearance and patched him into the comm channel he had opened between them. Alexander was not surprised that other nations had come to investigate the signal, but they had arrived on the scene sooner than he had expected.

<What do you think of allowing these peregrini to participate?> he tightbeamed directly to the Trierarch via the comm implants both men carried in their brains. <Will it complicate our investigations, do you think?>

<If they do agree to assist us, they will be under our direction, as this is our own internal affair> Lucianus sent back. <Any ground troops of theirs that set foot on the planet will fall under your command, or we will turn them away. But I do not see it becoming an issue. You do speak English, do you not?>

<Sic> Alexander confirmed.

<Bene. That makes you better qualified than me. I will handle the negotiations up here, and we will see what unfolds>

<I will be listening> Alexander replied, and cut the tightbeam connection. Switching to his century's common band, he summoned his Centurion. <Dolabella!>

<Yes, Domine?>

<Take three squads and guard the approach to the pyramids. Stay on the edge of camp and watch those things with every sensor your men have. Keep me notified every ten minutes>

<Oppido, Domine> Dolabella gathered his men and deployed them along the camp's edge, their assault rifles raised to their armored shoulders in readiness and their spears stuck into the ground near at hand. The polysteel spearheads glinted dully in the weak sunlight that penetrated the clouds.
Green Hawk
05-08-2007, 23:13
OOC: Mind I if join?

IC:
The Warcruiser (http://www.shipschematics.net/bsg/images/colonial/battlestar_galactica.jpg) class vessel of the Draco fleet was on a scouting mission to keep tabs on the events happening outside of Draco. In space with no real patrol route or destination, she could only drift, looking for something to do. The Commander was at the CIC when the messege came in.

"Sir, I have an Emergency message, it's on an open channel sir." The comms officer informed the Commander. Commander Akin Nexus looked to his XO who just shurged.

"Couldn't hurt. If we don't like it we ignore it,' the XO chipped in her thoughts.

"Agreed. Grate, play the message." The Commander of the Avenger ordered.

"Yes sir." The officer pressed a button on his computer. A prettified voice replaced the usual noises of the CIC.

"What the hell?" The XO looked to her Commander and old friend, "what do you want us to do?"

"Let's check it out, but put the ship on alert level three. Navigation, get me a 'jump' plot near where that messege came from." The yes sir came and left as the XO picked up a bulky phone with a wire running into the sensor terminal.

"This is the XO. The ship is on alert level three. Repeat. Alert level three. Standby for futher orders and prepare to 'jump'," the XO put the phone back in it's place. The Commander gave her the look.

"Stir up the FTL drive and prepare to 'jump'," the Commander nodded as the XO gave the order. The CIC was filled with activity as people went about their jobs.

"Just like old times right?" The XO asked her comrade.

"Yup, but in a new ship now," they both chuckled. The CO and XO went back forty years when both of them were hotshot Viper pilots. They saved each other so many times they no longer kept count. They both got different commands and were on different ships before, but the Fleet Admiral owed them a favor. They were both going to retire soon and why not with each other? Like old times, but in a new Warcruiser which is much stronger then their other commands.

"Sir, I have a 'jump' plot and the FTL drive will be ready in twenty minutes." The navigator said after following his orders.

"Good, 'jump' when ready and call back patrolling Vipers."

Outside In The Vacuum Of Space

-Red-One to patrol flight. Okay guys, we got orders to go home. Wireless check on my mark... Mark.

-Red-Two moving in position to land.

-Red-Three moving in position to land.

-Green-Two moving in to land.

-Red-One to patrol flight. Okay, everyone here has done this before so I won't give you the, how to speech on landing. Meet you guys in the mess hall.

The Mark VII Vipers and the single Raptor landed on the port-side hanger pod one by one. The entire act only took ten minutes.

Inside Port-Side Hanger Pod

"Guys lets go! I'm hungry!" Yelled Captain Jamey Rock to his buddies across the hanger as they exited their craft. After finally being freed from their jobs they walked together to the mess hall. Expect for one pilot.

"Guys wait up! Why do you guys always leave me behind?" Asked Crystal as she ran up to the group of four people now five.

"'Cause you take too long and I'm hungry."

"Fuck you," Crystal sticked up her middle finger.

"Aw, I love you too, but I'm taken." To say the least, Crystal was pissed that the Captain was enjoying her suffering as she saw him chuckling, but she let it go. Hell, she was hungry too.

"Last one to the mess hall has to eat Bob's Chili!" Crystal said starting to run.

"Hell no, I'm still sick from his soup!" Jamey ran, followed by the other pilots. Yes. Ladies 'n gentlemen. This is Draco's finest at work.

Thirteen Minutes Until Avenger Can 'Jump'

"Sir, if you don't mind me asking. Why are you answering that distress signal? It's none of our business." Asked Grater after he completed his orders.

"Because he can damn do what he please. Remember, he is the CO. We follow his orders, not the other way around," the XO stated sternly.

"Oh, sorry sir." Grater turned to leave, but was stopped by the Commander.

"I just want to make sure nothing bad is going to happen this close to Draco. Don't worry. If anything, somebody just has a busted engine or something." At least, thats what the Commander hoped it was.

"Inform Space Command of what we are doing," the XO nodded and ordered the comms officer to send a long range message.

The navigation's officer informed them that it would take ten more minutes to 'jump'.
Ruthless Slaughter
06-08-2007, 00:21
The Havoc (http://s3.photobucket.com/albums/y90/DominionofRS/?action=view&current=Omegaclasscruiser.jpg) moved along its patrol route along the unexplored borders of Dominion space. Little more than a patrol or recon vessel by Dominion standards, it was compared to many other civilizations to be well armed. It boasted
Length: 300 meters
Width: 120 meters
Height: 50 meters
Armor: 1 foot thick ablative
Shields: Hyperphasic energy absorbing shield grid
Weapons: 4 phaserbanks, 4 torpedo tubes, 1 focused plasma emitter
Crew: 200
Troop Complement: 80 Shadow Troopers, 45 Marines (Marines don't leave the ship)

Captain Frank Ironside was currently asleep and the First Officer had the bridge.

"Sir," the communications officer spoke up," we're picking up a distress call coming from deep within uncharted space. Shall I respond?"

"Yes, tell them we're on our way and then inform Dominion FleetCom. I'll wake the captain. Tactical, ready Shadow Troopers for drop."

"Aye sir," they both replied.

Commander Thomas Rourke then left the bridge to the Tactical Officer as he proceeded down to the Senior Officers' Quarters. On Dominion vessels, even larger ones, there were no individual quarters save the Grand Admiral's aboard the flagship. It was deemed more efficient this way.

------------------------------------------------
Captain Ironside was fast asleep until a gentle knock on the side of his bunk awoke him.

"Tom, I'd say this'd better be important but we've known each other long enough for me to skip it. What's wrong?"

"Sir, we're responding to a distress call from uncharted space. I've alerted FleetCom and ground troops are readying. I assumed you would wish to reassume command for a foray into the frontier."

"You know that old saying about why you should never assume anything, but in this case you're right. I'll meet you at the bridge momentarily."
--------------------------------------------------

Ironside finished dressing and stepped onto the turbolift just as the Havoc accelerated into transwarp toward the destination.
The communique sent in reply read as follows:

Have recieved your signal; Dominion responding; Will arrive momentarily, ground troops inbound
Taledonia
06-08-2007, 01:12
(OOC: I'll let you guys play around for a bit on the surface before I post again. Link up, dance, shoot at each other. Either way, I'll post the next Necron attack soon...After I play Dark Crusade and learn how Necrons attack that is...)
Ruthless Slaughter
06-08-2007, 02:21
The Havoc came out of transwarp and assumed a high polar orbit over the planet. External doors opened on underside of the vessel and a Phoenix dropship fell into the atmosphere, gliding in on gravity before using its engines to slow to a stop and land at the dig.
The rear doors dropped and twenty Shadow Troopers (http://s3.photobucket.com/albums/y90/DominionofRS/?action=view&current=DarkTroopers.bmp) marched out.
With a fully enclosed armor system equipped with a miniature version of the shielding used on Dominion starships, Shadow Troopers are the ground arm of the Dominion Expeditionary Force. The dropship lifted off and circled to provide air cover and close support as the squad fanned out to investigate the dig site, pulse rifles at the ready.
Kaldari
06-08-2007, 04:25
The alarm blares as the Amazonian, Slaughterian and Green Hawk ships arrived. Richard sighed. Guess it wasn't going to be just their little secret anymore. "Sir, incoming messages from the ship in orbit and one of the newcomers." The Captain nodded.

"Put them through."

"This is the Tyree, Amazonian battlecruiser. We've detected energy surges from the planet below, along with a garbled transmission we were unable to decipher the message. Does any ship in the vicinity have information pertinent to the planet?"

"Republican cruiser NAR Vespertilio responding to both incoming craft, Trierarch Titus Lucianus speaking." The great holoscreen above the Trierarch's command console had switched to a long scan readout of the system, with the newcomers marked as two blue blips next to the yellow orb of the planet. The Vespertilio was shown in green. "We are investigating a distress signal sent out by a group of our countrymen. You have all picked up on it as well, and that is why you are here." As he spoke, a comm program translated his words into English, as he doubted that any of the newcomers spoke his native Latin.

"An archaeological expedition was excavating a site on the surface," he continued, "until all contact was suddenly terminated and the distress call began broadcasting. Our men on the ground have secured the camp site and searched it thoroughly, and found no trace of any survivors or casualties. Beyond the planet, however, the system is entirely clear of any artificial objects or installations.

"We don't know what the energy signatures coming from within the planet are; that is likely what the archaeologists were investigating before their deaths. But we still do not know who or what killed them so violently. This matter is under the Republic's jurisdiction and we have the situation currently under control, but if you wish to stay and assist us, we will not turn you away."

Richard gritted his teeth. Who the hell did these Republicans think they were? Their jurisdiction?! It wasn't even their planet. "Open two separate channels to each of the nations." Two channels were opened, both to the Amazonian Beasts and Legio Tactica.

To the Tyree, we do not know much about this planet, aside that a slaughter of some kind took place, and there is a massive power source in subterranean levels. That is all we know. We shall be sending troops down soon.

To Vespertilio. Trierarch Lucianus, we appreciate your offer of help and will be sending down troops. However, your....jurisdiction is not recognized. You do not own this planet, nor do you appear to be colonizing it. This is an investigation, and you claiming control over all operations is arrogance of the highest degree. The GDI will be doing its own investigation, under its own authority. Any and all efforts seen to bar GDI will not be taken lightly. Captain Dawkins out.

He turned to the rest of the bridge crew after muting his side of the channel. "I want two full strike teams sent down, tanks and all. We don't know what slaughtered them, but if the power levels are any indication, they have some serious might behind them. Send down the prefabricated buildings for a base as well. I want to have some defenses set up, in case those that killed the explorers come back. Also, key the start-up to the weapons and shields; this Republicans may decide to act all uppity and choose to bar us since, somehow, being here first gives them to the right to call the shots. Tch, sounds like they've been out in space too long."

Soon enough, doors opened all across the ship and pods shot out by the hundreds, blasting out towards the planet. Landing on a mile or so away from the site of the massacre, the pods unfolded and loaded, with soldier after soldier in power armor. Rifleman and rocket teams appeared first, hefting railgun rifles and rocket launchers, moving out quickly until they secured a large perimeter, and began to dig in, making foxholes with sandbags, metal and shovels, while the rocket teams covered them. Next came the snipers and grenadiers, securing the inner lines, with their long, precise rail rifles and rocket-propelled, A.I. equipped, grenades. Finally, the Zone Troopers and a squad of four commando's arrived. The Zone Troopers secured the inner zone of what would be the base, their powerful suits and railguns ensuring that it would take immense force to overcome them, while the commando's merely stood around, waiting for orders.

They all waited as precious moments ticked by; a loud humming sounded, and immense drop pods landed, slamming into the ground. Within seconds of landing, they opened up, deploying into structures. Although only a few buildings could be deployed pre-made, they were the important ones. An armory, barracks, construction facility, and a single power plant, although it wasn't up and running. A second pod landed, full of Engineers, who quickly raced about and set to work. The barracks, hardened against ion storms and Tiberium, along with the armory, were soon brought online, using the power of the construction facility to run, while the rest worked on bringing the power plant online. The drop pods, both the infantry and building ones, activated again and left the planet. Even more began to come down, except this time, they began to unload vehicles. APC's, with firing slots for infantry to fire out of, Pitbulls, with their advanced anti-stealth systems, Predator MBT's, and six Mammoth Tanks.

Within the space of twenty minutes, they would set up a basic outpost, with more drop pods unloading more troops, vehicles and supplies, to continue expanding the base, mostly for defenses. However, that would take hours, even days, to accomplish, so for now, it relied on it's infantry and vehicles to protect it. So far, one hundred and twenty soldiers were groundside, with twenty vehicles. Once the outpost was set up, Lieutenant Parlin, a commando, issued his orders.

"Alright, Scout Groups Epsilon and Omega, you are to proceed to the camp and find any other evidence. Ignore the Republicans unless they fire on you, if so, you have permission to return fire, defense only, and report back to me. Strike Teams Alpha and Beta, you are to hold position until we either have to fight the Republicans as they insist on their jurisdiction, or if the murderers who killed those people come back. I'm hoping for the latter. As per usual, Defense Force Gamma, stay and guard the base. Make sure the engineers get that command post online, we need to be able to talk to Rebirth, without fiddling with that damned transmitter." They all nodded.

"Everyone got it?"

"SIR YES SIR!"

The commando chuckled. "Very well; dismissed!" He turned and walked towards the base, as engineers were bustling about the base, with strewn parts and tools everywhere. The outpost was nowhere near operational parameters, but it was something. And, in case they came under siege, it could give them the cover and the fort they would need in such a situation.


*******************

Scout Teams Epsilon and Omega, three two-man teams of snipers each, made their way to the camp. They could have been cloaking, but the Captain decided not to aggravate the Republicans more than his declaration already had. So, when they appeared on the outskirts of the hard-hit camp, they were in plain sight. Their leaders, two lead snipers, each leading one of the teams,
scanned the ground, taking in the chaotic sight of the camp: blood puddles, overturned and slashed tent, scattered weapons, the works. They spoke to each other via private comlinks.

"Damn, Omega-One, you seeing this?"

"'Course I am, Epsilon-One, I do have eyes. But yeah, this place got hit bad. Whoever hit here must have somehow destroyed the bodies. If they had dragged them away, they would have left signs."

"You sure, Epsilon-One? I mean, this camp looks like it was the real deal; soldiers were here. But, it's like a horde came through here and just smashed them aside it was nothing!"

Omega-One held up a hand. "Enough, Epsilon-Two. Focus on the mission. We can discuss the possibilities back at the outpost with the techies."
Green Hawk
06-08-2007, 05:57
OOC: The Avenger didn't 'jump' yet. I'm too tired to make an IC post now, but tomorrow I'll have the ship join the fun. Until then... I still haven't made the 'jump' yet, so yeah. Just wait for tomorrow. ;) FYI, Green Hawk is my MT nation. Draco is the FT one.
The XIV Legio Tactica
06-08-2007, 07:31
OOC: If you all are confused by names, XIV Legio Tactica is my Jolt forum name because it was the name of my NS nation. I am a member of Taledonia's Republic, so the both of us are parts of the same government and essentially the same nation. The Neo-Romans are the people of my province within the Republic.

IC: Lucianus slitted his eyes. "Excuse me," he said, trying to keep his rising anger under control but letting a little of it bleed through, "these were our citizens conducting the archaeological project on this planet, and therefore their own government's armed forces will be foremost in ascertaining the cause of their death! If you are intent on meddling in affairs that have nothing to do with you in the first place, then you will provoke the wrath of the Republic; however, since you are as curious as we are about these power signatures, I was going to suggest cooperation between our forces. You will understand that since the incident concerns our citizens and not yours, that we will lead any cooperative investigations that take place. Contrary to us being arrogant, sirs, it is you who are the arrogant ones, inserting yourselves into other nations' business where you are not asked!"

He cut the comm for a moment to take several breaths to repress his anger. When he opened it again ten seconds later, he said, "I had not sought to come to blows, Captains, and I had hoped that we could come to a reasonable understanding. I have made clear what the situation down there is, but for your sake I will say it again: an archaeological expedition led by Republican scientists has been silenced, violently and terribly, by an unknown cause. And we, the Republican military, are here to find out what happened to our citizens. This is an internal matter that does not concern your governments, all of whom are at this point neutral with the Republic. But since I do not wish to be rude, and because I know that other nations will come to investigate the distress call, I am trying to be inclusive. I am accepting offers of your assistance, gentlemen, to help us find out this planet's terrible secret. You want the knowledge, and I am fully prepared to share it all with you. But go snatching greedily after it as our GDI fellows have just done, and we will withdraw our peaceful and cooperative offers and instead offer you our spearheads and sword blades and the fury of our star fleets. Will you try the limits of our patience, or will you negotiate like civilized men?"

<Quite a long and thorough speech, Cicero> Tribune Alexander sent over the private tightbeam.

<Damnati peregrini and their hubris> Lucianus sent back. <But we're not here to start a goddamn war. If they are insistent on provoking us by trampling on our authority over our own citizens, then they will have brought what follows on themselves>

<True enough. But I have seen what they landed through the Vespertilio's surveillance images. Those are a lot of tanks down here with us> The Tribune was not worried, merely thoughtful. <Our handheld railcannons can pierce the armor of even those six monsters, nulla impedimenta. But we are only 60 men, and those vehicles carry a lot of weapons>

<I can call for reinforcement fleets and have them here in thirty minutes> the Trierarch promised. <But like I said, war is not the idea here>

<I know that. Are you sure the peregrini know that?> The Tribune cut the comm and left the Trierarch to consider the question.

"We have replies from the foreign ships incoming," reported Lucianus' commtech.

~

Tribune Alexander saw the GDI teams appear on the outskirts of camp, and walked to meet them with a squad of his Marines. With their white body armor and Alexander's long red cloak, the Republican troops were also in plain sight, and Alexander bade his men carry their spears in hand rather than their guns. "Gentlemen!" he called, the speaker in his helmet amplifying his words clearly across the sand to the snipers. "I am Tribune Alexander, commander of this century of Republican Marines." His own long spear was slung across his back, and his hands were spread in a friendly manner. He marched right up to the GDI soldiers, looking down at the shorter men from his 6'5" height. "Our respective captains are having a bit of a disagreement up there, but I hope I can explain things here to your understanding." He clasped his hands behind his back. "This was the site of an archaeological dig headed by some of our nation's distinguished scientists, hoping to uncover traces of long-lost civilizations. As you can see, they succeeded." He jerked his thumb at the dark and brooding pyramids behind him. "And then something snuffed out their existence quite suddenly; and quite violently, as you can see." He pointed to the many spots and stains of human blood. "We are merely investigating our expedition's demise, but we made the offer of sharing the exploration of those energy signatures with your forces. You can understand that since this concerns our citizens and no one else's, and is therefore our responsibility foremost, that you would fall temporarily under my direction. If you would like to report my words back to your ground commander, please, by all means do so. In fact, I invite him or her out here to talk things over face to face. No need for all this military blustering, let us be civilized about this." He paused in his long monologue; the snipers continued to watch him through their body armor. "But I know you gentlemen have a reconnaissance mission to complete," the Tribune continued finally, "so I would be glad to take you around the camp and show you the bloody details. Oh, and," he paused as he turned to invite them in, "don't bother trying to cloak yourselves. We have many ways of detecting you should you do so, and I think that would be a little rude."
Ruthless Slaughter
06-08-2007, 12:03
Havoc, in orbit over the planet
Captain Ironside was observing the various vessels arriving almost at the same time his did. Some of the vessels registered in their databanks, most did not. Since their conversion from a force bent on conquest controlling the better part of a quadrant to a more diplomatic Dominion controlling merely a sector, Intelligence was not what it used to be.

But at least we don't shoot first and ask questions never anymore Ironside thought to himself.
"Open a channel to all of the vessels and broadcast this message," he paused as the order was carried out, "This is the Dominion patrol ship Havoc responding to a distress call originating from this planet. I'm guessing at least one of you is a vessel from the same race as the transmission. I would like to take a moment to get up to speed on exactly what is going on here and to coordinate our efforts on planet."

He stood back and waited for a reply.
--------------------------------------
Once the squad fanned out over the dig, they quickly found it was already being secured by at least two other groups. The twenty then regrouped and moved toward the soldiers listening to a man appraising them of the situation. Without hesitation the Commanding Officer sent a live feed back to the Havoc for Ironside to see.

Once the tribune finished he stepped forward, "I am Major Arthur Cunningham of the Dominion Expeditionary Force. My squad and I were deployed to investigate the site and determine what exactly slaughtered these archaeologists. Then neutralize it."
At this many of the squad charged their rifles.
"I'm assuming whatever it was originated from the ruins. We'd like to lead the way. With our self enclosed armor and energy dissipating shields, we would be the logical choice."

The live feed was still open.
Kaldari
06-08-2007, 15:56
Excuse me," he said, trying to keep his rising anger under control but letting a little of it bleed through, "these were our citizens conducting the archaeological project on this planet, and therefore their own government's armed forces will be foremost in ascertaining the cause of their death! If you are intent on meddling in affairs that have nothing to do with you in the first place, then you will provoke the wrath of the Republic; however, since you are as curious as we are about these power signatures, I was going to suggest cooperation between our forces. You will understand that since the incident concerns our citizens and not yours, that we will lead any cooperative investigations that take place. Contrary to us being arrogant, sirs, it is you who are the arrogant ones, inserting yourselves into other nations' business where you are not asked!"


Richard raised an eyebrow.

Fine, I apologize. However since, you know, you didn't mention that whatsoever, kinda hard to know that. So, tone down the anger, would you please? If you can't make it known this was your nation, well then, we won't fucking know, will we? If you want your armed forces to be foremost in the investigation, fine. But my forces will be under my command, not anyone elses. If you want my forces to do something, tell me, then I will relay it to them. Jesus Christ, we aren't fucking psychic.

"I had not sought to come to blows, Captains, and I had hoped that we could come to a reasonable understanding. I have made clear what the situation down there is, but for your sake I will say it again: an archaeological expedition led by Republican scientists has been silenced, violently and terribly, by an unknown cause. And we, the Republican military, are here to find out what happened to our citizens. This is an internal matter that does not concern your governments, all of whom are at this point neutral with the Republic. But since I do not wish to be rude, and because I know that other nations will come to investigate the distress call, I am trying to be inclusive. I am accepting offers of your assistance, gentlemen, to help us find out this planet's terrible secret. You want the knowledge, and I am fully prepared to share it all with you. But go snatching greedily after it as our GDI fellows have just done, and we will withdraw our peaceful and cooperative offers and instead offer you our spearheads and sword blades and the fury of our star fleets. Will you try the limits of our patience, or will you negotiate like civilized men?"

Okay, listen up, cause I have just about had it with this waving the big stick around. We went down there to, oh I don't know, ensure that this doesn't happen again. Yes, it is your planet and therefore, you get to make all the pretty decisions. Fine. I made a mistake in not knowing this planet was not under your control, somehow, despite that you didn't say one word about it. Fine. But I WAS going to offer the base as a command center for us all, before you had to get on your pedestal and go on a tirade.. I am willing to aid this, but, since you left out some key information, its your own damned fault. My forces are there for one reason: secure the base and be there to attack in case the beings who killed these people come back. Okay?

And for God's sake, shut up about the “sword” and your “fleets”. Threatening people will get us nowhere. You want to work together? That isn't helping.

Richard swore under his breath. “Yeah, like I was suppposed to fucking know this was somehow his planet when his people didn't get on the planet until now. What a crock of shit.” He lit a cigarette. “I hate politics.”

**************************

As the Scout Teams walked through the camp, they heard the voice of the Republican commander.

Gentlemen!" he called, the speaker in his helmet amplifying his words clearly across the sand to the snipers. "I am Tribune Alexander, commander of this century of Republican Marines." His own long spear was slung across his back, and his hands were spread in a friendly manner. He marched right up to the GDI soldiers, looking down at the shorter men from his 6'5" height. "Our respective captains are having a bit of a disagreement up there, but I hope I can explain things here to your understanding."


When they first heard the voice, their sniper rifles jerked up a little in reflex, thinking they were about to be attacked. But when Epsilon-One saw the man, he held up a hand and they calmed down. “Greetings, Tribune Alexander, I am Sergeant Devins of the 21st Recon Battalion, leader of Scout Team Epsilon. This is Sergeant Warren of the 34th Recon Battalion and leader of Scout Team Omega. At the mention of the understanding, Devins shrugged. “I have no idea whats going on up there, I just give me ideas. Besides, it's bound to be lots of politics, and if there is one thing a soldier hates, its politics. But anyways, what do you know about this camp?

He clasped his hands behind his back. "This was the site of an archaeological dig headed by some of our nation's distinguished scientists, hoping to uncover traces of long-lost civilizations. As you can see, they succeeded." He jerked his thumb at the dark and brooding pyramids behind him. "And then something snuffed out their existence quite suddenly; and quite violently, as you can see." He pointed to the many spots and stains of human blood. "We are merely investigating our expedition's demise, but we made the offer of sharing the exploration of those energy signatures with your forces. You can understand that since this concerns our citizens and no one else's, and is therefore our responsibility foremost, that you would fall temporarily under my direction. If you would like to report my words back to your ground commander, please, by all means do so. In fact, I invite him or her out here to talk things over face to face. No need for all this military blustering, let us be civilized about this."

Devins jerked his head towards Gamma-One, who went off to the side and began transmitting to the ground commander back at HQ. He would get all the details and the offer given forth by this man. Returning back to the man, he nodded. “That is as much as we got from the ship sensors in orbit, although much more detailed. I am having Warren call up our commander. If all goes well, he should be here shortly. I agree, maybe we can work out something down here and get both our captains in space to stop running around like their hair is on fire or something.” Warren seemed to nod at something and stood up, walking back over.

“Our commander should be arriving shortly, he is interested in speaking with you and getting this operation underway.”

He paused in his long monologue; the snipers continued to watch him through their body armor. "But I know you gentlemen have a reconnaissance mission to complete," the Tribune continued finally, "so I would be glad to take you around the camp and show you the bloody details. Oh, and," he paused as he turned to invite them in, "don't bother trying to cloak yourselves. We have many ways of detecting you should you do so, and I think that would be a little rude."

Devins nodded. “That would be nice, Tribune.” They began to follow him through the camp, observing and recording everything.

OOC: Just for the record, I am not angry or anything, this is just my characters being themselves.

However, Legio, I made no indication in my posts for your characters to even know about our stealth capabilities. So, mind telling me how he seems to know and can suddenly break through it without even encountering it before?
Green Hawk
06-08-2007, 16:09
The way Draco travels among the stars is actually a common way to travel. First, using the FTL drive the ship creates a 'hole' though space and then uses it's sub-light engines to go though it. Since this 'hole' is shorter then lets say traveling normally thus it takes less time to get to point A to B. This means the ship can get to it's destination the same day it leaves or goes thought the 'wormhole'. Believe it or not the Draco ship never goes faster then the speed of light in this whole act.

"This is the XO standby for 'jump'" The XO put the phone away as she looked to her buddy, the CO, on the other side of the DRADIS console. The navigator's voice could be heard in the silent CIC.

"'Jump' in five, four, three, two, one." The navigator's grip on his track watch tighten as the ship contracted and they went though the 'wormhole' at partial speed of light. If someone was out in space they would see a shiny light appear on the front of the Avenger before both it and the light disappeared.

Area Where Distress Signal Came From

"DRADIS?" Commander Akin asked to no one in particular.

"DRADIS contact! Bearing 2-2-4-18! They are marked as unknown sir." The sensor Officer exclaimed. Both the CO and the XO looked up at the DRADIS console. They saw a few large unknown targets and several smaller targets in the form of red blips. There was also a very large contact that must be a planet.

"Comms tell them why we're here and ask for hostile indication. Play their response on speaker." The CO ordered the comms Officer as said person pressed a button before talking in a mic attached to some bulky headphones he is wearing.

"This is the Warcruiser Avenger. We are here answering a distress call. Identify yourself or we will take any action as hostile and will act in kind." The comms Officer nodded. The CO turned to his XO and friend.

"Like old times, eh?" The CO smirked followed by the XO.

"Hopefully you won't mess up the engines and make the ship look like it was firing it's weapons again." The CO got a little angry at that.

"That was a one time thing, but-" The XO interrupted her friend,"but, it was funny." They both chuckled. No one was really worried about a fight. If those ships were hostile they would had fired their weapons already. Again, someone probably just screwed up their engines.
Ruthless Slaughter
06-08-2007, 21:23
Monitoring the exchange, the major was slightly taken aback by the way things were being handled.

After a quick apology for assuming command outside of jurisdiction he mulled the situation over for a moment and then turned to the nineteen under his command, "Alright troops, they want to lead the way we'll let 'em. Until they sort this out we stand guard at the edge of the tunnel entrance and await orders from the leading force, most likely those Republican types. I want eight monitoring and scanning as far down that tunnel as possible without entering at all times. Not a single particle of dust stirs in there without our knowing. I'll go to the command center and see if I can't get us some orders. Move out."

They moved to within fifty feet of the tunnel entrance and set up shop. Bioscanners were deployed and aimed inside as were motion sensors and a small metallurgical scanner. As the team executed their orders the major strode up the command center and stopped at the door. Knowing it was probably a hornet's nest in there he took a deep breath and knocked.
ElectronX
06-08-2007, 23:30
Of the myriad of Conglomerate probes that floated along the serene currents of the universe, one was bound to receive the mangled communication the Republic had hastily transmitted into the lonely abyss of space.

"Sir, BlasterDisaster reports intercepting a signal from a system seven point three-three lightyears from its current location." An engineer said from the second tier console in the dimly lit control room.

Daniel Rakovsky was this shift's manager, and he was the manager from last shift, and would be the manager for the next. He needed the excitement if he was going to stay awake and work such ludicrous hours. He peered over at the man who had just spoken, while simultaneously accessing the signal for analysis as it was being downloaded into the sinks.

"Well this is certainly different." Daniel said after a long swing from a very old porcelain mug. Danial placed the mug back in the cup holder of his master office chair. Twiddling his fingers not far above his solid black suit, he pondered the rationale behind the Republic's actions.

The only time you allow other entities to become embroiled in your personal affairs is when the task is too momentous for yourself alone, or it's more profitable to have someone else do the work for you. Even in the case of the later, these matters are usually conducted privately between nations with a long history of friendly dealings. It did not take much to conclude that things were not good.

Daniel cocked his head slightly, rubbing a hand across a jagged returning stubble, making a light scrapping noise. Either the Republic had gone completely mad with its foreign policy, or they had been overwhelmed by - in this case - a violent force. An overwhelming force was the most probable option.

Rakovsky stared into the midmorning office gloom. Everyone was less-than-excited to be working the crunch shift, especially over a weekend. The dejection was painted with a soft cyan iridescence from the radstrips illuminating all ten rows of consoles and almost up to the ceiling twelve floors up. Everything beyond this tower of light was a seemingly infinite void of black, an oppressive force that grew all the more tenacious the more the observer stared into it. The conditions were terrible, but they made concentration easier.

There were not many options available to a shift manager, regardless of the situation. If it was serious enough, someone else was always to be tasked with its handling. Otherwise he was left with tedious jobs that required tedious decisions that made his high pay unwarranted. He was a tall man with an aged build and hair blacker than the world above, and he was locked into a cycle of irrelevance. Only the white-suited technicians felt worse than he did, but at least they did things within the ocean of data they were paid to tame.

After these five seconds of reflection, the message had been fully analyzed, all relevant data he was capable of comprehending was fed into his data processor implants, and probabilities were calculated. He had no choice.

"I'll call it in." He grunted, resuming control of his coffee and staring back up into the darkness with cobalt eyes. He had spent years training for his position, and undergone expensive brain patterning in his earlier years instead of partying like everyone else. What a disgusting waste.

The military was always in direct and in many cases overbearing contact to these exploration companies. In the event something important came up, they wanted to know about it. Many times they knew the situation within the first five seconds better than the technicians and computers did within five minutes. Daniel hated calling them; they didn't need him to tell them what was going on. It was just another tedious exercise underscoring the waste of his current existence.

"Go ahead." The cold voice said tersely, conveying an undeserved sense of urgency to Daniel, like he was standing in the way of something by expecting to talk as equals with the faceless voice.

"You've read the report by now. You also know that this is more than a little unusual. It's downright unsettling."

The voice contemplated things for a moment, or at least, it gave the appearance of doing so. Daniel wasn't sure. "It's really not our concern what happens to the race that requested assistance, or what happens to anyone who decides to help."

"So do nothing then. Great, got it." Daniel replied quickly through the channel. Time to get back to what he was paid to do: nothing.

"I didn't say that. It may not be our concern now, but it could be our concern later." The voice replied heavily with condescension, "At this moment this threat exists safely away from our empire. However, that may not be the case a week, or even a day from now."

Daniel hated this. He was getting lectured because he made an assumption based on an ambiguous statement. The military guys just wanted to sound smart. "So you're going to send something in to investigate?" He asked in a tone he was having trouble keeping civil.

"Yes, and no. We will send a tier-one corporate detachment to assess this threat and eliminate it if at all possible. We will not, however, be sending in actual military troops unless the expeditionary force fails."

"Great, and how should I proceed now? Hand over control over the sector array to this corporate force?" He was ready to do just that, a virtual cursor hovered over the confirmation key in his cybervision.

"No." The voice said flatly, "For reasons of logistics you will be in charge of this operation. You will answer directly to me, but in all other situations you will have complete operational authority over this expedition as long as you do not interfere with its overall goal."

"Why me? Why not someone patterned for this sort of work?" Daniel said almost spitting hot coffee all over the technician two feet in front of him.

"Normally we would. We've looked at your file, however, and we have determined that you as qualified for this position as anyone we could hire. It's not that important of an assignment; matters of extreme importance will be handled by me, and while the more... general will be handled by yourself."

Daniel's excitement faded. It was the same old tune played with a different instrument. But it was variation, and he needed some desperately. "When do I start?" He surrendered.

"Now. All necessary steps have already been taken. A file will be waiting in your inbox with instructions on how to proceed, as well as providing you with general operating procedures in this sort of environment." The voice cut out.

Sure enough, a monolithic file awaited his viewing. Within the same span of time as the conversation with the faceless voice, he had all the instructions completely memorized down to its grammatical makeup. It was as simple as he feared it would be.

A small section of the top tier console had been made available for the mission, with the technicians looking slightly more excited than normal, but that would fade, Daniel was sure of it.

--
Five AU away...

Only a faint burst of tachyonic radiation heralded its arrival. It was an iridescent cylinder only fifty meters in length, and perhaps ten in diameter. It's surface was the deepest shade of black, made of a material designed to absorb any radiation that made contact. It was invisible, it was silent, and it moved from the small cloud of exotic radiation into the system at frightening speeds towards the planet where the distress call was being emitted.

Three AU away...

Every band of the electromagnetic spectrum was passively scanned as the vessel passed through the quiet cosmos. Other vessels in the area were pinged with what would register as an overly energetic burst of gamma radiation, not unlike that transmitted from gamma-ray bursters or other natural stellar objects.

One AU Away...

Shields finally went up, but only at a fraction of their normal power. Active hysRADAR pings passed through randomized zero-width wormholes towards the planet's surface discerning in complete detail the planet's topography.

Then, through a very narrow band of the IR spectrum a signal was transmitted to Republican forces in the area.

We have come to render assistance.
Green Hawk
07-08-2007, 01:23
OOC: Sorry for the OOC, but what are the Necrons? I looked them up, but there wasn't a whole lot of info on them.
Ruthless Slaughter
07-08-2007, 01:52
OOC: Try wikipedia. They're basically these wierd beings who were enslaved and put into bodies made of living metal. They use GAUSS weapons and can take enormous amounts of punishment.
Green Hawk
07-08-2007, 02:03
OOC: Try wikipedia. They're basically these wierd beings who were enslaved and put into bodies made of living metal. They use GAUSS weapons and can take enormous amounts of punishment.

OOC: Just did that... I regret joining this rp, but alas! I shall do my best in the fight and why has no one answer my request for indication?
Ruthless Slaughter
07-08-2007, 02:39
OOC:Yeah, my guys have only been acknowleged a little too. I'm just rolling with it. Theirt personal shields should help them at least...
The XIV Legio Tactica
07-08-2007, 02:51
OOC: Just for the record, I am not angry or anything, this is just my characters being themselves.

However, Legio, I made no indication in my posts for your characters to even know about our stealth capabilities. So, mind telling me how he seems to know and can suddenly break through it without even encountering it before?

OOC: Yeah, I'm not angry either. No worries. And I did mention that the archaeologists were Republicans:
"We are investigating a distress signal sent out by a group of our countrymen. You have all picked up on it as well, and that is why you are here."
So I think you missed it. Sorry I wasn't more clear about it.

And the stealth thing was a lucky guess/bluff on Alexander's part. He saw that they were snipers and figured they'd have stealth systems of some kind. Neo-Roman Marines carry a large array of sensors from infra to motion sensors to radiation sensors to sound gatherers and x-ray vision, so I figured between all of those it would be possible to track your men. But I don't think there'll be any need since we're not shooting at each other. ;)

All good?


IC: Lucianus blew out a breath and shut his eyes, calming himself further. Once again, he hadn't quite managed to keep a rein on his tongue. But the foreigners had gotten the message.

"I was not intending to disrupt your chain of command, Captain, and what you said was exactly what I had in mind. My apologies for being unclear, and for laying my response on too thick."

New contacts began arriving in-system. "This is Republican cruiser Vespertilio," Lucianus broadcast to them all, "investigating the recent massacre of a Republican archaeological expedition on the surface. It was this expedition that sent out the distress signal you have received. We are currently organizing a joint investigation of the incident under Republican authority with the other nations already present. We appreciate your offers of assistance, but cannot take all of you on, as we hope to keep the operation small-scale and efficient. If you are determined to stay, then we will include you, but if you are only interested in responding the the distress signal, we have the situation under control and do not require your assistance. As far as we can tell, we are all too late to have saved anyone."

~

Alexander smiled at Devins' comment about politics. "It is a good thing you are not a Republican officer then, the two go hand in hand. Tribune is both a military rank and a political office."

<Tribune, there's another recon squad down here at the tunnel entrance looking for someone in charge> Dolabella reported. <They've set up instruments right outside the tunnel mouth, but have not gone inside>

<Smart of them> Alexander sent back. <Go talk them and brief them on the situation until I get there.>

<Yes, domine>

Alexander relayed all of this to Lucianus, and offered to take care of negotiations with the Dominion. The Trierarch had quite enough on his plate as it was.

Alexander delegated another English-speaking Marine to accompany Devins and Warren and their men, and awaited the GDI commander's arrival with his remaining eleven Marines.


OOC: Stay patient, people. I think I've covered everyone. Greenhawk, if you don't want to stick around I gave you a way out.
Ruthless Slaughter
07-08-2007, 03:24
Scans of the tunnel were ongoing and the ten not currently doing anything were running diagnostics on their armor and equipment to ensure that everything was operable. The major returned to the group from the command post and found a Republican representative among them.

He walked up and offered a guanleted hand, "Finally, someone offical looking. Major Arthur Cunningham, Dominion Expeditionary Force. We're here to render what assistance we can. As you can see, we've set up a sensor perimeter in front of the tunnel. While the forces are gearing up, we'll make sure nothing unwanted goes in or out."
Kaldari
07-08-2007, 03:34
OOC: Well, we thought the people on the planet were separate, so...=P ANd yes, that is fine. I just wanted to make sure of things. It's all good.

IC: The Captain sighed, rubbing his head. He felt really tired...and stupid. "Yes, of course. I overreacted as well. Let's just focus on seeing what caused this and prevent it from happening again. And of course, bring those sick bastards to justice. Feel free to set up camp or utilize the base we are building. It can be our joint command center on the ground, give us a place to concentrate our efforts." Turning, he gazed at the bridge crew. "Send more Engineers and construction materials; if we are to get this place up and running in time for the investigation, they need to get going."

Seconds after the order, more thumps sounded across the hull as even more drop pods shot towards the planet, carrying vital materials and Engineers to speed up the construction process.

******************************

Devin chuckled. "Indeed, I might have my head explode from having to deal with the irrationality of politics sometimes." As he chuckled, the roaring sound of a vehicle became noticed. The Republicans would see an APC come to a stop at the edge of the camp, and a ramp deploy behind it. Metal boot on metal sounded, a loud clanking; a figure in white power armor appeared, helmet in hand. Blue eyes stared out calmly, while short brown hair covered his head. Upon seeing the Tribunal, he walked forward, a smile on his face. "Ah, you must be Alexander. Greetings, I am Commander McClellan, leader of the GDI strike force currently on the planet. You said you wished to meet with me?"

As he was saying this, the Epsilon and Omega teams were led off by the Republican Marine and headed towards the tunnel entrance.
The XIV Legio Tactica
08-08-2007, 07:51
"Tribune Alexander," the Tribune replied, "commander of Republican ground forces on this mission. I thought it best that we meet and coordinate face to face. My thanks to your captain for offering your base as a command center; it's certainly much more than we had planned for ourselves." The two figures in white armor stood opposite each other, starkly bright against the dull sandy landscape. Alexander turned and looked briefly back to the dark structures looming above the camp. "Ultimately, we must soon enter the pyramids and see what is in there. It is possible that whatever slaughtered these people had nothing to do with the ruins, but... the circumstances are suspicious. We must coordinate with ourselves and the Dominion troops who have landed here as well, and assemble a team to go in there. Hell, it's even possible that the survivors are hiding somewhere in there, but somehow I do not believe there are any."

~

"Centurion Lucius Dolabella," Dolabella answered, shaking the Dominion Major's hand. The Centurion vaguely wondered for a moment what "Major" equated with in the Republican rank system, but discarded the thought as he came down to business. "My commanding officer, Tribune Alexander, will handle the negotiations with you and your people, but he is currently meeting with the GDI force commander on the other side of camp. He thanks you for your assistance." Slightly uncomfortable with having to deliver what he thought of as the stiff formalities, he looked past Major Cunningham at the sensor array and the Shadow Troopers operating it. "We are probably going to enter the pyramids as soon as we have all touched base with each other; within hours, I think would be the Tribune's preference. That's a pretty sweet array you got there," he added, slipping back into talking one soldier to another. "Bet you could see a ghost fart with those things."
Ruthless Slaughter
08-08-2007, 19:54
The Major smiled and laughed a little, "Yeah, it's some of our newer equipment. All units assigned to the frontier patrol ships get them. Recently our not so little empire's come out of isolation and we're beginning to reach out again. Our old policy was one of mainifest destiny, reach out and expand as far as we can. But after we gained control of an entire sector it was deemed wiser to maintain a peaceful, more diplomatic demeanor. Our ship, patrol route, equipment," he gestured at the array, "the sensors, have all been in the name of exploration and reaching out. But yeah, they're pretty darn strong. You could send a signal right through our armor with minimal interference and keep on going. Of course they only scan in one direction at a time, but they make great security alarms."
Green Hawk
08-08-2007, 20:02
"Well, if they have it handled we should take our leave." Commander Akin looked around the CIC to see no objections.

"Start up the FTL drive. Lets try to get home for breakfast." A good chuckle poured over the room at the old Dracoain joke that for some reason. Only Dracoains knew. Twenty minutes later the FTL drive was ready and the Avenger 'jumped' for Draco.


OOC: Sorry for the crap post. Will replace with a creative one later, when I have something creative that is. My brain is dead today for some odd reason.
Taledonia
09-08-2007, 04:28
(OOC: I'd just like to clerify something, Neo-Roma. Are the pyramids you're referring to so much Necron Monoliths that have come out of the ground thus far?)
The XIV Legio Tactica
09-08-2007, 07:30
(OOC: I thought they were the ruins the archaeologists were excavating. Are there supposed to be no pyramids there? Regular pyramids I mean, not Monoliths. Unless the Monoliths came out between the massacre and when we arrived, cuz in that case our characters would assume that they had always been there, especially if they were inert and not energized.)
Dratheria
09-08-2007, 11:11
The deep space station Omega IV was the first to pick it up. The call was sent to High Lord Inquisitor Ornas. The results of it shocked him. The servitor in front of him droned on with the details and played the transmission. After hearing it he said, "So why does this concern the Imperium surely there couldn't be anything requiring our special attention. Just send a Space Marine force and be done with it." He leaned back in his seat when the servitor announced one more thing, "High Lord it seems that shortly before the distress call the energy of a monolith was detected. It wasn't like the signature we have on record for the Necrontyr Empire which have been involved with us before." The High Lord sat upright and said, "Send High Inquisitor Gull and his Deathwatch team. Also contact Kailen and Peras then tell them to choose fifty of their best men."

An hour later the Inquisitorial Black Ship Truth’s Light had folded space from the spacedocks surrounding Colaris to the planet where the distress call originated. The mighty black armored Marines of the Deathwatch stood tall on the landing deck in front of the assembled Marines from the Psi-Lords and Hellblazers Legions. First was Captain Orios of the Blood Ravens and a veteran of the Deathwatch. Second was Librarian Pothos of the Star Foxes. Third was Sergeant Ky of the Blood Angels. Next was Battle-Brother Thortas of the Space Wolves. Then there was Sergeant Halder of the Seismic Fists. And finally there was Techmarine Alexandros of the Iron Hands. These six were one of the best kill-teams in the Ordo Xenos. However standing tall before them were Peras and Kailen. Peras was striking in his own respect, if one stared into the primarch's awesome eyes they would see that they were purple speckled with gold. He was tall and well muscled with a dark complexion and long white hair. His purple and gold armor shone brightly under the lights of the deck.

Next to him in feral glory was Kailen, his body is carbon black and his eyes are an ice blue and a fire red. His pupils are white and the backgrounds of his eyes are a pure black. His body is covered in highly ossified black bone and blades of metal sprouting from his body in various strategic places. His violet and green armor glistened with the light of the stars as the beautifully decorated katana hung at his side. All the while his white angelic wings flowed forth from his back giving him the appearance of the Angel of Death.

In front of the assembled stood Inquisitor Gull his smile showed that he was ready for this. He spoke with a certain artistry, “Prepare for one of your greatest challenges yet once again we go against the foul and dangerous forces of the Necrontyr. Primarch Peras will lead this expedition and Kailen will be the second in command. I make this decision because Peras will know best how to employ the varying talents of this force to maximum effectiveness against our enemy having studied with the Ordo Xenos before. Now let us recite the motto of the Ordo Xenos.” At once the flight deck sounded with the voices of over a hundred men, “To be Unclean, That is the Mark of the Xenos. To be Impure, That is the Mark of the Xenos. To be Abhorred, That is the Mark of the Xenos. To be Reviled, That is the Mark of the Xenos. To be Hunted, That is the Mark of the Xenos. To be Purged, That is the fate of the Xenos. To be Cleansed, For that is the fate of all Xenos.”

Drop pods plummeted from the mighty vessel like teardrops falling from the heaven. Their dark black hulls marking them as drop pods used by the Inquisition’s Alien Hunters. As the last pod crashed to the planet’s surface Peras and Kailen stepped forth with their soldiers following shortly behind them. They knew of the other races on the planet and were ready to meet them if necessary but now they must stop the Necron infestation. If this was a tomb world then this would be a harder battle than planned for. Peras extended his psychic powers over the area looking for a hint as to what was happening.
Taledonia
09-08-2007, 20:26
(OOC: I thought they were the ruins the archaeologists were excavating. Are there supposed to be no pyramids there? Regular pyramids I mean, not Monoliths. Unless the Monoliths came out between the massacre and when we arrived, cuz in that case our characters would assume that they had always been there, especially if they were inert and not energized.)

(OOC: That's what I'm gonna go with, they dormant monoliths. Be ready for attacks soon! The base shall be hit hard! Muhahahahaha!!!!!)
Shenyang
09-08-2007, 20:34
OOC: I'll be sending a unit shortly. I like to show up late to the party, so to speak.
Ruthless Slaughter
10-08-2007, 00:03
(OOC: That's what I'm gonna go with, they dormant monoliths. Be ready for attacks soon! The base shall be hit hard! Muhahahahaha!!!!!)

OOC: Well...that kind of sucks...Oh well, lock and load! :gundge:

IC:
Scans were continuing into the tunnel, each sweep penetrating a little deeper.

"I don't get it, the metal's not showing up in any of our databanks. That and it's exhibiting wierd readings..."

Another trooper, the medic, walked up to the console, "If I didn't know better," he said, puzzled expression masked by his faceplate, "I'd say it reads similar to lifesigns..."
Shenyang
10-08-2007, 01:43
Interstellar Space - Just Beyond The Taledonian Home System:

The Prowler 'Journey Home' was parked in a standard long range reconaissance position, monitoring chatter in the Taledonian system, a rather routine operation. They recieved the transmissions of the massacre, and were preparing to send their response.

The detachment of the SLAST (Space Land Atmospheric and Sea Teams) aboard the Journey Home was the legendary 'Boarding Team: Foxtrot'. They were understandably bored, being posted on a recon vessel with nothing to do but sit, and stare into space, literally. When they recieved the 'go' orders they immediately set to work.

The 10 soldiers donned their respective armors and began standard systems checks. Every system, from the shields down to the communications gear operated flawlessly, as it should. Next they procured their weapons, a deady mix of directed energy (in the form of plasma and particle beams) and sheer brute force. (in the form of mass drivers) They redeavoused in the cramped hangar bay of the prowler.

"Alright, something's gone wrong down there, and once more, we must go in and fix it. Treat this like a boarding action, keep your eyes down range and your fingers on your triggers, and we'll all get back to this boring ass ship. Am I clear?"

"Yes Ma'am!"

"Alright, then lets get the hell down there and do our jobs. Move!"

The squad boarded an atmospheric insertion vessel (a glorified long-range dropship) and headed for the planet. The team went over some basic intel on their objective, and who was there.

"Alright, now remember, Dominion spooks are down there too. We all know how well we get along, so lets keep things professional. When we hit the dirt, secure the area, Falcon and I will meet with the local CO. When we get back we'll give you more specific orders."

"Hooyah."

It took several hours, but the vessel finally arrived. It transmitted their intentions and then entered the atmosphere, touching down a ways away from the command post.

Reaper and Falcon stepped off the vessel amid the squad and immediately the two women double-timed it (at 25 KPH in their armor) to the CP. Arriving there they began seeking out the local CO.
Taledonia
10-08-2007, 03:06
(OOC: Just a note, this planet isn't in the Taledonian system. It's not even near main Republican space. So appearing just beyond the Taledonian home system puts you really far away from the action.)
Shenyang
10-08-2007, 03:17
OOC: Ah, missed that, and for some reason I can't edit, so we'll say its corrected.
The XIV Legio Tactica
10-08-2007, 05:23
OOC: Bring it on, Tal! :D

<Two more foreign ships have entered the system and landed troops on the planet> Lucianus reported to Alexander. <One ignored us completely, the other made only the most perfunctory announcement of their presence, but both did not even wait for us to explain the situation before inviting themselves to the surface>

If Alexander's face was not obscured by his helmet, Commander McClellan would have seen the tall Tribune's mouth quirk once in the first visible sign of annoyance he had displayed on the mission.

<They are as hasty as they are ignorant of diplomacy> he sent back shortly. <I will have to meet with them as well. So much for a smooth and easy operation>

<I will deploy a beacon broadcasting an explanation of the situation and stating that we have it under control, no further assistance needed> the Trierarch assured him. <Then it's on them if they go gallivanting onto our territory anyway>

<Bene. And be sure to share all of this with our partners as well>

"More foreigners have just arrived and landed," he said out loud to McClellan, "as I'm sure your ship is reporting to you. I am inclined to send them off if I can. Between ourselves and the Dominion troops, I think we have this operation well in hand, and I don't want it getting larger than it has to be."

~

The beacon probe was fired from the Vespertilio, beginning a circular course around the inner edge of the system. It pumped the following transmission out on all bands, long and short range, so any ship in the system would be able to pick it up clearly: <To any and all incoming craft responding to distress signal: distress signal was sent out by Republican archaeological expedition, shortly before expedition was presumably slaughtered. Republican military forces have control of the system and are overseeing a joint investigation along with GDI and Dominion forces. Situation is fully under control, and no further assistance or presence here is needed. Any further unauthorized landings on the planet will be considered an invasion of Republican territory and will be dealt with as such>
Dratheria
10-08-2007, 06:59
Peras saw them through his mind's eye better than most men could ever see with a simple piece of technology. The monoliths were there but luckily there still not active. He focused and felt the presence of the Necrodermis in the area it's mere presence chilled him to the bone. Hopefully with all the Psykers assembled they'd be able to put a serious dent in the Necrons. He looked behind at the marines as the base camp was being secured and assembled. Mighty Land Raiders, Predators, Whirlwinds, Basilisks, and Razorbacks were assembling with their assigned units. Thunderhawks were landing in various designated zone. Not much in the way of armor or airpower but hopefully it would be enough.

When the transmission was picked up it was immediately redirected to Peras on the surface. The Inquisitor rarely tolerated fools who knew not what they got involved with. Also Peras would be better served to speak with them being the ground force commander after all. When the transmission was received Peras was meditating focusing his mind's power to a sharpened edge in anticipation of the battle to come. He was after all a child of the Emperor and it wouldn't serve him to be unprepared for a battle.

Peras listened intently to the message and smiled. Under control? Were they ever foolish. They had no clue in the universe what they were about to face. These were easily the most dangerous species in the galaxies. Able to regenerate and resurrect from death. Their masters the C'tan were even more dangerous. Near impossible to kill. They are the most ruthless killers in the universe. Fools that's what they are. An army of Imperial Guardsmen had been crushed underfoot by a few monoliths full of them. But the Ordo Xenos and their warriors are the only hope for these people and their world.

Peras replied to the man with a direct transmission from his vox bead,

I am Peras Primarch of the Psi-Lords legion and leader of the Ordo Xenos force tasked to this planet. We will not stand down and we will not withdraw. Do you know that what you have come to is a tomb world? Go ahead and get yourselves killed if you want. But we intend to stop this here. If you want to live I suggest you either have parley with me or join our forces. Of course there is always the third option which is to withdraw from this world. I leave this to you. These are my coordinates. Farewell and good luck.

With that done Peras stood up. He like his brothers was taller than most men dwarfing even space marines they truly resembled gods made flesh. Perfection was his gift and it would show on this battlefield.
The XIV Legio Tactica
10-08-2007, 07:55
<Another narcissist> Lucianus commented dryly to Alexander, after relaying the Primarch's transmission to him. <I wonder if they really speak Latin, or are just borrowing from it for the name of their organization?>

The Vespertilio's receivers had already locked on the Primarch's location upon receiving his message, so the coordinates he had sent along with it were superfluous.

<Trierarch Titus Lucianus to Primarch> the Republican captain sent back to Peras. <Do not make the mistake of making demands upon the Republican military when you are trespassing upon our soil. If you have something constructive to say to us, then say it plainly, and with no more of your arrogance. Your actions already push the limits of our tolerance. Threaten us again and you will have broken it. I believe a change of your tone is in order>

Once the transmission was broken, Lucianus sighed and rubbed his temples with his thumb and forefinger. If I have to deal with one more singleminded egomaniac trying to bull their way into the action, he thought tiredly, I'm calling in a reinforcement fleet and slagging them all to Hades.
Kaldari
10-08-2007, 07:56
OOC: Pah, my base shall hold. For it has the material no weapon can defeat! *holds up duct tape roll* Eat your heart out, Macguyver!

IC: By now, the base was halfway to basic operation status. The focus had been on defenses and, for the moment, it had what it needed, by GDI doctrine, to defend itself against light attacks. Several heavy machine gun Watchtowers had been erected, with a few anti-vehicle Guardian cannons. A single Sonic turret was positioned facing towards the pyramids. The base was alive with activity still, as construction was beginning, with aid of drones, on a war factory, to repair vehicles, and if the case came to it, construct more. However, that was a possibility all sides did not want.

Meanwhile, McClellan had been speaking to the Tribune when a voice sounded in his helmet. "Sir, you there? Sir?" Putting a hand to the helmet, he began to speak.

"Yes, what is it?"

"The Captain has received sensor data on two new forces arriving. One has appeared, without a word, and landed, while the other put out a quick 'hello' and landed. Both deploying forces." The commander made a rude noise. Jeez, he thought the Captain was being rude but this was getting ridiculous.

"Wait to see what the Republicans do. In the meantime, reinforce the base as much as possible right now, requisition more materials from orbit if need be. Just make sure that base can hold its own, we need it if we are to make a concentrated effort here." Hearing an acknowledgment, he put his hand down in time to hear Alexander speak.

"More foreigners have just arrived and landed," he said out loud to McClellan, "as I'm sure your ship is reporting to you. I am inclined to send them off if I can. Between ourselves and the Dominion troops, I think we have this operation well in hand, and I don't want it getting larger than it has to be."

He nodded. "Yes, I have been advised. As this is your operation, do what you like. I agree with what you say. If this was a military operation, say fighting a foe, that would be one thing, but an investigation can get congested and go nowhere with too many people. As it is, most of my forces are guarding the base we're offering to centralize our efforts here, so, I don't have much to screw with things. But anyways, do what you must."

In orbit, the Captain received the message from the probe, like any sane person who had his sensors out, and read it, even though McClellan told him it wasn't aimed at them.

<To any and all incoming craft responding to distress signal: distress signal was sent out by Republican archaeological expedition, shortly before expedition was presumably slaughtered. Republican military forces have control of the system and are overseeing a joint investigation along with GDI and Dominion forces. Situation is fully under control, and no further assistance or presence here is needed. Any further unauthorized landings on the planet will be considered an invasion of Republican territory and will be dealt with as such>

He chuckled. "Damn straight; I had to argue for my spot, boys, I ain't planning on sharing." He took a taste of his cigarette and continued monitoring the situation. The sensors detected the Dratherian base camp and he sent a copy of the data to the Vespertilio, as well as McClellan. He had an odd feeling about these guys, and wanted to make sure they were prepared. Just in case, he deployed more forces down the planet, increasing the base's defenses even more. He had a feeling a fight was coming. And he was totally right, he just didn't know it yet...

McClellan, as well as the GDI command post, were surprised to intercept a message from the Dratherians.

I am Peras Primarch of the Psi-Lords legion and leader of the Ordo Xenos force tasked to this planet. We will not stand down and we will not withdraw. Do you know that what you have come to is a tomb world? Go ahead and get yourselves killed if you want. But we intend to stop this here. If you want to live I suggest you either have parley with me or join our forces. Of course there is always the third option which is to withdraw from this world. I leave this to you. These are my coordinates. Farewell and good luck.

McClellan's head ticked to one side. He HATED arrogant people; his relationship with the Captain was rather rough because of this. When one has survived the blunders of former Director Redmond Boyle, arrogance gets one pissed off rather quickly. A short and terse message was sent.

I don't know what all this Ordo Xenos and Primarch crap is, but I do believe this planet belongs to the Republican guys here. They have each and every right to it, so if they ask us to jump, we say how high. So, I would advise YOU to leave. And what in the name of God are you talking about? Tomb world? Have you lost your mind?! As for your 'offer', nice try. I can clearly see this as a power play to try and take control. Sorry, buddy, but the only people giving orders here are my Captain and the leader of the Republican expedition. Not you. If you WANT to aid us, then run it by them. Until then, this world ain't yours, so stop acting like you own the place. You can't follow the rules, go take your toys and find somewhere else to play.

Quite by accident, the commander had left the channel open, so everyone get a taste of his anger.
Dratheria
10-08-2007, 08:30
Peras smiled, Maybe a meeting is required. He commed back to the Trierarch,

Fine I shall be there to meet you in a moment.

His head was surrounded by an aurora of colors crackling like lightning. He turned and a portal was opened. He stepped through it and was immediately behind the Trierarch. His form was easily two and a half times the size of the Trierarch's. He smiled his teeth were white as ivory and a warmth seemed to flow from him as he spoke, "Well Lord Lucianus is it? I am Lord Peras of the Imperium of Man. You mistake our intentions. If we had wanted to attack you we would have done so already. And before you claim this world maybe you should realize it does not belong to you. It never truly did. No, it belongs to Necrontyr.........this is a tomb world. A tomb world is the resting place to an ancient and ruthless civilization known as the Necrontyr. If you want I can give you data files regarding them. The Necrons are far more dangerous than you could imagine. The only reason we are here is to ensure that they do not resurrect. Or their destruction."

He cracked his neck before continuing, "I make no power play. I mean no arrogance. But you also do not know what your expedition found down there. Or what these 'pyramids' are. I do not mean to insult you but frankly you do not have a clue what you are dealing with. We can assist you greatly or you can attack us and become our enemy. Believe that we did not come because of this distress call but from the energy signature of a monolith or one of your 'pyramids'. If you wish it I can show you the truth behind what you have found down there. But I do need your permission first." Peras smiled gently at the man. He then spoke in Imperial Gothic, "Senatus Populusque Romanus. We do speak gothic and we do share a....certain....heritage with you."
Ruthless Slaughter
10-08-2007, 22:21
Aboard the Havoc Captain Ironside was made known of the
Shenyangi dropship.
"Open a channel to Major Cunningham."

"Open sir," the Communications Officer replied.

"Major, this is the Captain. We've got some...friends from Shenyang coming. You should have visual on their dropship presently. Be advised, we may be looking at their newest reconnaissance force. The..." he paused as he checked a terminal, "S L A S T. I'm sure they'll be a suitable thorn in our side. Don't let them out of your sight or near any of our scanning equipment. Lord knows we don't need any more industrial espionage between our governments."

Down on the planet, the Major keyed a response as the dropsship came into view, "Clear sir."

"Oh, and Major, one more thing. Tell your men NO fraternizing with any female members of their squad. Understood?"

"Aye sir."

The channel closed and the Major looked over the vessel just now touching down and the armored squad who stepped out.

The Major rolled his eyes, "Coming out ready for a fight and not trusting anyone. Nice to know they're still friendly after what, 900 years?"

A few of his men chuckled, many more noted the female Commanding Officers of the SLAST.

Cunningham was quick to act, "Easy soldiers, we have a standing look don't touch order. And with what we may be facing your should be focused solely on what you're shooting."

Some went back to scanning, a few twiddled their thumbs, the rest checked their gear again.

This is going to be a long sortie...
Shenyang
10-08-2007, 22:59
"You saw them right?" Falcon asked.

"Dominion Spec Ops, yeah, first they steal our personal shielding designs, now they're trying to steal our missions. When'll they learn, sometimes its better to let professionals do their jobs instead of sending glorified intel operatives."

Reaper decided it wasn't worth the effort to list everything the Dominion had stolen from Shenyangi scientists.
Dratheria
11-08-2007, 00:55
Kailen looked out across the great plains sensing the location of more people. He turned to Captain Ornas and said, "Captain you are in charge I must investigate these people." Without waiting for a response he spread his wings and took off at sonic speeds. He wings and long dark hair fluttered in the winds as he sped forward through the skies to his objective the basecamp of the Shenyangi force. It would after all be a good idea to open relations. The massive pinions on his back stretching out over three meters across. He opened his vox bead to the Shenyangi,

I am Lord Kailen Primarch of the Hellblazers Legion warriors of the Imperium of Man I am enroute to your basecamp and request a meeting with your commander.

As he neared his objective he swooped down with all the majesty of his namesake, the Angel of Death.
Ruthless Slaughter
11-08-2007, 01:12
The Major narrowed his eyes at the Shenyangi forces.

"What do s'pose they're talking about Corporal?"

"Dunno sir, probably the same things we are. Maybe a little contempt and jealousy mixed in?"

Cunningham smiled at that, "No doubt CorporaL, no doubt," he turned to the scanning crew, "Status?"

"Unchanged sir, we're still picking up anomolous reading on the metallurgical scans, but otherwise everything's quiet. A little too quiet if you ask me. We're not even picking up dust floating around in there. You ask me sir, it gives me a royal case of the creeps."

"Good thing I didn't Sergeant. Just keep your eyes on your instruments and your thoughts to yourself. It's just any other ruin we've explored," He turned and smiled, "Maybe even a bit more boring."

This got a laugh out of his squad but more importantly, it broke the tension. Something was in there and for the scans to show nothing but wierd metal despite incredibly deep penetration was highly irregular. As the Sarge had put it: creepy. Cunningham had run enough away missions to know trouble when he saw it, and there was a capital 'T' practically stamped above the doorway. This wouldn't end well, he could sense it.
The XIV Legio Tactica
11-08-2007, 05:41
Lucianus was stunned. These people had insulted the sovereignty of the Republic by landing without permission on a Republican world, and a slight to the Republic was a slight to all her citizens; but this pompous ass had just materialized uninvited on his ship, and in doing so had gravely and personally insulted the Trierarch.

Proper diplomatic procedure be damned.

The "warmth" the Primarch sought to kindle with his words shattered pathetically on the aura of cold fury that engulfed the Trierarch. "No, it's not "Lord" Lucianus, you idiot." His voice started low and deadly. "It is Trierarch Lucianus, and if you had bothered to take your head out of your ass for one microsecond you would have noticed that when I introduced myself to you. And furthermore, if you had any idea what the word "respect" meant, you would have bothered to refer to me by my proper rank and title."

His voice began to rise, building momentum like a rollercoaster just cresting the top of the first rise and beginning its plunge. "If you had any clue what respect meant, you would not have done many things," the Trierarch continued. "You would not have waltzed onto our world like you owned it - and your intentions be damned, it would have cost you nothing to observe some basic courtesy by briefing with us first and you know it. You would not have proceeded to talk down to us like children when we informed you of the situation and our legitimate claim to this system. You may have heard our words, but you have obviously not listened to them, perhaps because your brain is too occupied with your own ego to process them! So here I am reminding you why listening may be a good idea!"

The Trierarch was in roaring away at full steam now; all activity on the bridge had stopped, since the command crew had all turned in their creches to watch Lucianus' tirade. "Now how dare you set foot on my ship without my express permission and pour more of your condescending honey-coated filth on me? Are you under the impression that you own the Vespertilio as well, that you are entitled to strut wherever you wish without regard for whose property you strut on? You seem to think that you are a god and that you have the right to talk down to the rest of the universe. You are an arrogant narcissistic buffoon, and you don't know enough about how to treat people as equals to come in out of the rain."

The Trierarch was winding down, his temper starting to spend itself. "You say that you mean no arrogance or condescension, yet that is what continually pours out of your mouth and is displayed by your deeds. Enough of your false and empty words. You do not impress me with that bastard tongue you try to pass off as good honest Latin, and you do not impress me with your simpering smiles and petty appearing acts.

"I know you probably think that I sound a bit hypocritical with all of this talk of respect. But you are reaping what you have sown by spitting in all of our faces this way. Now get the hell off my ship before I eject your sorry ass into space.

"Furthermore, you and yours have five hours to get off the planet and depart the system entirely. If you do not comply, I will slag your encampment from orbit and order my men to hunt down every last one of your people that remain. If you choose to fight us first, I will call in reinforcement fleets, slaughter any of you that have raised arms against us, and then slag your encampment from orbit. So take your people and play godlings somewhere else."

There was a silence on the bridge. The command crew stared at their captain, the Primarch stared at the captain, and the captain drilled holes through the Primarch's eye sockets with his gaze as the red slowly faded from his vision.

~

On the planet surface, Alexander couldn't help but chuckle at the Trierarch's audacity. The sound of his amusement echoed over the melancholy dunes.


OOC: I think that, many centuries ago, Lucianus' ancestors must have been Irish. :P
Taledonia
11-08-2007, 05:45
(OOC; Thread officially closed! No more entries what so-ever! Anyone trying to join up will be met with a swift and deadly kick in the dick.)

IC:

While the men bickered and fought amongst each other, attempting to acertain who truly led the efforts on the world and who was friend or foe, greater things started to happen. They came quickly and without warning, things no bigger than a football, and made of a strange metallic element. Builder scarabs, hundreds of them, peering their heads out of the sands and moving about the monoliths, setting about their work without emotion or regard for anything else around them. Their one thought was the monoliths.

"Silly beings," a monotone voice, robotic in nature but deep, began a monologue to itself. "I was like you once. Clinging to life, and blind to the truth. When I uncovered the truth-I too trembled and cowered with fear. Deep in these catacombs, I was remade. Here, my brethren slumbered for eons, while the living grew like weeds. My Lord knew this day would come. He had plans for us all. We would purge this world once more. So come, poor victims of life, we will grant you..tranquility in these cripts. This planet will be a tomb world once more."
Dratheria
11-08-2007, 06:19
Peras looked back at the man who called himself the Trierarch and said, "First this is my astral projection, a psychic hologram if you will, so I did not set foot on your ship and thus it would be difficult to eject me into space." He laughed before continuing, "You and I are trying to meet a similar end and I do not take kindly to threats. I am not a god nor do I believe myself to be one. We do not believe in gods but we do believe in higher entities." He stepped forward imposing the full height of his form and said, "I give you your due respect Trierarch. You have earned it few would stand up to a Primarch so thus you have earned it even moreso." He stared for a moment before continuing, "I called you Lord because that is a sign of high respect for my people. I understand your claim but it is our mission to stop the Necrontyr. Also the Black Ship which I am sure your sensors have detected is a formidable opponent and the ancient shield generators which have already been landed might make your strike a might bit difficult."

He looked coldly back at the man and said, "We will assist you if you should need it. I will gladly give you the information on this species that we have obtained through the millenia but we must make a truce for the sake of your star system. We came to a distress call requesting help from anyone. So now I say this we do not often engage in battle with human because they are the very people we are sworn to defend. Your Dominion and GDI allies were aided by us in the battle at Mechis IV. We fought the Chaos-Wanderjarian fleet at their side so we are allies but now we do not have time for bickering."

Suddenly the projection of Peras started losing shape. His form had the look of one in shock, "It is too late the Lord has awoken. We are all in danger now. Now please hear me we must band together I care not if you lead this expedition but we must stop this threat before it grows!" Suddenly the look of terror appeared in the Primarch's eyes a very unusual sight. But as soon as it was there it was gone as he regained his composure.
Kaldari
11-08-2007, 06:39
The scout groups, with the Tribune on the surface, had made their way to the tunnel and had been taking readings, and generally getting confused messages from the Engineers at the base, who were getting their readings. The metal acted as if it was alive yet it wasn't. As they did so, the sand shifted. Their motion sensors started to go off the charts, and the base as well as the ship in orbit got the readings. The base turned out its forces, preparing for an assault, while warnings were sent to the commander and the scout groups. The snipers needed no warnings, they were already aiming at the creatures.

"What are these things?"

"Why should I know"

"Quiet! Focus on your targets! Don't fire till I give the signal."

McClellan stiffened as he received the messages and then turned to the Tribune. "Alexander! I am reading movement all over the place, heading towards the pyramids! I recommend concentrating forces at my base in case we fall under attack. I also ask permission to be allowed more soldiers on the planet from your Trierarch, in case we need them." He then began walking towards the tunnel entrance, shouting orders into his communication suite in his suit, pulling his Ion Repeating Blaster from the holster on his back.

The Predator and Mammoth tanks at the base rolled out and parked in areas where there were no anti-tank defenses or to shore up light areas, while the soldiers took cover where they could, and filling the foxholes as best they could. All guns were trained at the pyramids, ready for a fight. Several APC's, full of Zone Troopers and Rifleman, were blasting towards the pyramids, in case things went from bad to worse.
Dratheria
11-08-2007, 07:18
Peras sent a psychic message to McClellan, Sir you will need the help of my Marines if you are to fight these foul xenos. Your nation once trusted me at the battle for Mechis IV. Trust me again please! Give me permission and I will send a contingent of my Marines. And I'll even request that my brother Primarch assist you. We know their weaknesses.
Taledonia
11-08-2007, 07:59
They scurried around in a frenzy, going about their tasks, feebly trying to prepare for the coming slaughter. The living were such predictable beings. Their desire to remain among the living made them act irrationally at times, and made them attempt to bolster whatever defences they had to ward off what might take their essence. But the scarabs took no notice of them, completely ignoring them and their movements. Infantry and armored divisions. All would be cleansed.
Dratheria
11-08-2007, 09:05
Inquisitor Gull was aware of it when it happened. he sensors on his ship specially calibrated to detect the Necrontyr. Even before he turned to his crew and yelled his command the klaxons were wailing, "Sound all alarms bring ship to full tactical operation. Bring the shieldship contingent into battle formation. Arm ventral lance battery and dorsal bombardment cannons. Lock onto the excavation site and prepare to fire at my command. And send a message to Kailen apprise him of the situation."

He immediately sent a communique to the other forces in the area,

I am Lord Inquisitor Gull of the Ordo Xenos, emmisary of the Emperor's will, and defender of all of mankind. You are now all considered allies to the Imperium. The Necron Lord has awoken and soon his army will rise. We must all muster our forces together. I am sending all the data we have on the Necrons (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Necrons) to your forces. We are experienced in dealing with these foul creatures. We are prepared for an orbital strike if it becomes necessary. I suggest we make a treaty now to fight together because no matter what this day we die together!
The XIV Legio Tactica
11-08-2007, 11:36
"I do not know about you," Trierarch Lucianus snapped after the phantom of the Primarch as it went fuzzy and disappeared from the bridge, "but we Republicans have no intention of resigning ourselves to death so easily! And face me for real like a man next time," he groused under his breath. His exchange with the Primarch left a sour taste in his mouth whenever he thought of these people. <How convenient now for you to start singing a different tune, once your awe tactics fall flat> he replied to the Inquisitor's plea. <We may talk later. My expectation that you remove yourselves from the planet still stands. You will not fire anything upon that camp while there are Republican soldiers down there, is that absolutely clear?>

He began to skim the data the Inquisitor was sending. "Di magni..." he murmured, one eyebrow raised.

~

"Mehercule!" Alexander exclaimed as a scarab burst from the sand twenty feet away and began scuttling like mad towards the pyramids. In the blink of an eye the Tribune had his massive officer's pistol out of its holster and trained on the thing in one fluid movement, tracking it as it raced away from him and McClellan. Alexander took a quick glance at the sand beneath their feet, and another at McClellan, before returning his gaze to the retreating construct.

"I don't think the ground is safe." He did not think that these insect-like creatures were responsible for massacring the archaeologists so violently. His mind was already on what the desert might choose to vomit forth next, and where it would do so. "Your command center is built on solid ground, yes? It must be, to support the weight of your buildings. We should get off this sand. I will assemble my men."

"And you have full permission to land troops and supplies as you see fit," he said over his shoulder after a moment. "You may begin withdrawing to the command center. My men and I will fight a rearguard action and join you there. We came here for a taste of these murderers and by Hades we will get one.

"REPUBLICANS!" he bellowed from the center of camp, the microphones in his helmet amplifying his voice threefold. Every Marine in camp ran to that bellow like their lives depended on it. "It falls to us to protect the rear and guard against whatever this gods-forsaken rock may hurl at us. Steel yourselves, my warriors! Soon the cold-blooded murderers will show themselves; soon they will try to paint the sands with our blood alongside the blood of our countrymen who perished here!" The Tribune stalked this way and that along the line of Marines as he orated, his body and his energy coiled like a spring. "We will show them that our blood is bought at a dear price!"

The assembled Marines roared in unison and pumped the air once with their spears. The camp flew into a frenzy of activity as the Republicans formed up into squads in preparation for a fighting retreat. Alexander approached Cunningham and his Shadow Troopers and met the Major's hand in a quick and firm handshake. "Tribune Alexander. My apologies for not meeting you earlier, Major Cunningham. Our century is going to inflict as much damage as we can on anything that pops out at us while we retreat to the GDI command center. You are free to withdraw immediately thence with Commander McClellan, but we welcome you by our side if you choose to stay and fight with us." The Tribune's teeth were bared in a grim but fierce smile, although it was hidden by his helmet.

Behind the Tribune, the Marines spread themselves out by twos and threes over the camp, the majority concentrated covering the pyramid tunnel entrance with a safe number covering the rear and flanks. Spears were laid on the ground in preparation to be snatched up by armored hands, and the soldiers loaded their coil weapons. Four of the heavy weapon teams carried large handheld railcannons, while the fifth fired up the miniature reactor on its fusion-powered flamethrower. The Marines knelt behind whatever sparse cover was available and waited for the unseen enemy's next move.
Dratheria
11-08-2007, 17:45
Inquisitor Gull smirked sending a message to the Trierarch,

No awe tactics were used had we wanted to do that we would have showed you the weapons we had captured from them. And do not worry the orbital strike will only be performed in the event of a broken arrow situation and must be agreed by all of us. I do not intend to die this day but there will be blood shed whether you like it or not. That is the inevitability of war.

---------

Kailen was already enroute to the GDI camp flying at supersonic speeds when they began their retrograde. He laughed aloud as he knew the battle before him flying close behind him were twenty of his Marines. He was the Angel of Death battle excited him and now they would show the awesome power which the Imperium wielded. He sent a vox communication to the Tribune, "Tribune I am sorry if this offends but you are going to take my help whether you like it or not. These things you are fighting are known as builder scarabs they are trying to repair the monoliths or the black pyramids you see. Do not let them." As they flew he called out the battlecry of his Legion and a bone-chilling demonic howl would be heard shaking most men to their very soul, "For the Emperor. The fires of hell cleanse!"

As this was screamed Kailen drew his sword, the Sword of Kailshiem. As he drew it he yelled over the vox for all to hear, "Now witness the cleansing fires of the Imperium!" He swung his blade and black fire, the fire of hell, issued forth in an arc turning the sand to hard glass in a line in front of the Republic Forces. And with that the marines opened fire with their bolters on full auto ripping up the area past the glassed sand. He called out to the tribune and said, "Wait are you waiting for complete your retrograde and bolster your defenses we will take the rearguard!"

With eldritch fire dancing around his head in a halo Kailen unleashed a mighty bolt of warp energy into the sands that spread like a wildfire.
Kaldari
12-08-2007, 03:51
McClellan soon reached the entrance of the tunnel, breathing lightly from the exertion and hefting his Ion Repeater. Clicking off the safety, he gazed around at the scarab-like creatures, as they moved around the pyramids. They appeared to be repairing them, as he watched several of them repair a crack. Eyes narrowing under his helmet, which he had shoved onto his head while running, he aimed his rifle at them and blasted them to hell. He put a hand to his helmet, opening a communications channel to all of his forces. "All forces, destroy all those buggers on sight. They appear to be wanting to repair these things, and quite frankly, since they were hiding until now, they must be the things that killed those people. All forces near the pyramids, search and destroy. All other forces, rendezvous at the base and fortify it, in case we fall under attack. I think it took a lot more than these little things to kill them." Taking his hand off, he proceeded to blow more of the creatures to hell, shooting them as they came out of the sand, glassing it as he went. Upon hearing the Primarch's voice, he stiffened.

Sir you will need the help of my Marines if you are to fight these foul xenos. Your nation once trusted me at the battle for Mechis IV. Trust me again please! Give me permission and I will send a contingent of my Marines. And I'll even request that my brother Primarch assist you. We know their weaknesses.

There was a significant pause before he replied, mentally as he didn't know any other way to reply. "Normally, I would tell you to go fuck yourself, but you seem rather scared by these things, genuinely even. I will concede your part in Mechis IV. Very well, send your Marines. Do whatever you can to ensure my base holds; I have a feeling that we may need it before this is all over. Also, any and all data on this things, send them to the Command Post at my base, the frequency is 8968-83632783-2746378-71. We might as well work together; this is getting too spooky."[/quote]

Meanwhile, back at the base, one of the engineers noticed a beeping, which attracted his attention, as well as that of the base commander, with McClellan gone to the camp, Lieutenant Shakara was in charge. A Zone Trooper, leader of her own platoon, she was his unofficial second-in-command. No one bothered to challenge it. She walked over while the engineer pressed the button to stop the beeping. "What is it?"

"It appears to be a message, ma'am, from those guys who dropped without saying a word. Their ship in orbit, to be precise." She made a rude noise.

"What do they want? Whatever, play it."

I am Lord Inquisitor Gull of the Ordo Xenos, emissary of the Emperor's will, and defender of all of mankind. You are now all considered allies to the Imperium. The Necron Lord has awoken and soon his army will rise. We must all muster our forces together. I am sending all the data we have on the Necrons to your forces. We are experienced in dealing with these foul creatures. We are prepared for an orbital strike if it becomes necessary. I suggest we make a treaty now to fight together because no matter what this day we die together!

She narrowed her eyes in suspicion until data began flowing in, the EVA A.I. struggling to take all of it in. Her eyes widened in horror as she saw the flow of information. Fear clutched her insides; the Initiative had never encountered anything like this. Her instincts kicked in; her hand lashed out, activating the communications with a channel towards everyone.

"All forces, hell, everybody that is here and not one of those things, get your asses in gear and either find a place to hunker down or get your butts over to our base! Those things can be popping out of the sand at any moment, and as spread out as we are, we are going to get slaughtered! Fall back to this base, stat! I am sending you all the data I just received from the Space Marines; forget sovereignty here, let them help us. We need it, trust me. Read the data and it will make sense." The data she was getting from the Inquisitor, she sent to everyone else. They had little time and they needed to use it as best they could. She scrambled out orders for the strike teams and defense forces, tightening them up even further. All the soldiers heard her message and knew she didn't get scared by anything; something that did scare her had to be something dangerous. The base hunkered down even more, even as the drop pods began to land, deploying the rest of the prepared forces they had. Soldiers, tanks, even several Orca's and Firehawks who landed in the two airbases the engineers managed to get running. They needed all the help they could get.

******************

McClellan had continued shooting the scarabs, now joined by Omega and Epsilon, their long-range, dense, rail-bullets blasting through the creatures. He paused again when he heard Alexander talking to him.

"I don't think the ground is safe." He did not think that these insect-like creatures were responsible for massacring the archaeologists so violently. His mind was already on what the desert might choose to vomit forth next, and where it would do so. "Your command center is built on solid ground, yes? It must be, to support the weight of your buildings. We should get off this sand. I will assemble my men."

"And you have full permission to land troops and supplies as you see fit," he said over his shoulder after a moment. "You may begin withdrawing to the command center. My men and I will fight a rearguard action and join you there. We came here for a taste of these murderers and by Hades we will get one.

He was about to reply when Shakara's message hit him. After glimpsing the data she was sending, he sprang into action. [i]APC Foxfire Company, fall back to the base and lay some mines down around, spread them to maximum effective range! All forces fall back to the base, I repeat all GDI forces fall back!"

"Alexander, the Captain is informing me of his deployment of pods, the base is being reinforced as best as GDI can do at this moment. Get your men back from that place as fast as possible; don't stay there any longer than you have to, Tribune. Yes, the base is built on top of the sand, with a covering. I have already called my forces back, the sand is dangerous, as the message from my second in command has dictated. I am looking forward to talking to you about how you Republicans managed to get military and politics to coexist without killing each other."

Turning to the sniper teams, he spoke quietly. "It is up to you if you want to stay or not; I leaving that choice up to you. Stay and fight the rear-guard action, or retreat to the command center. It is up to you. I must go to command the effort to fortify the base." Activating his jump jets, he blasted away, heading for the base. The Omega and Epsilon teams paused for one second to think it over, before running to join the Republicans and Dominion forces. Reloading their weapons, they aimed it down the tunnel, their increased sight range given by their suits allowing them to give a warning for when they were coming. They still, however, continued to blast the scarabs to hell; McClellan's earlier orders were still in effect.

Upon the arrival of the Space Marines, the GDI snipers ignored them, still firing. Epsilon-One sending a message. "We are already pulling back everything we have to concentrate at the base; several snipers wouldn't help. Besides, we were given a choice and we're staying." The steady thundering of heavy rail rounds and the subsequent explosions added to the cacophony of hell that had been unleashed.
Dratheria
12-08-2007, 04:21
The Space Marines arrived in force. They would not be stopped by these foul things. Peras sent a comm to the Truth's Light, "Ready mass beam! I want our base and all assets next to the GDI encampment and beam down the rest of those shield generators! And Emperor dammit don't land anything on our new allies!" In a flash of blinding light and crackling energy the base had appeared a few meters off the GDI encampment. Massive shield generators appeared and were quickly readied. Peras flew in and issued forth warpfire into the scarabs letting them feel his wrath. Running by McClellan he threw him a long green rifle (http://www.chromeangel.co.uk/rspecies/Necrons/GaussFlayer.jpg) and yelled, "That might come in handy!" He charged forward unleashing a storm of bolter fire into the sand while Kailen flew overhead and created literal hell for the xenos filth as he yelled out, "Abnego maleficus sibimet!" To those who didn't speak gothic it meant, 'Deny the wicked ones life!'

However in space the mighty black ship had gone exactly to it's namesake. It was dark as Inquisitor yelled, "What happened?" A servitor replied saying, "We have lost main power it will be awhile lord before it will kick back on." The Inquisitor was pissed yelling, "Find away to get those launch bays online and at least get me my lance back online."
Taledonia
12-08-2007, 05:13
The dig site had become a battleground in a matter of seconds. Fires spreading everywhere as the marines charged forth, bullets flying wildly as everyone else unleashed their salvos. Many scarabs fell, many more taking their place. They did not return fire, nor did they move in any way to defend themselves, prefering instead to continue scurrying about the monoliths. Within moments several blasts could be heard as if a thunderstorm had just come and gone in the blink of an eye. With this activation sound, the scarabs began their second task. Abandoning the monoliths, they beganto swarm their tormentors, creating a blanket around them that would impair their vision, taking their minds away from everything else besides the swarm that whirled around them, slashing with scalpel sharp claws.

More thunder erupted, even louder than the first blasts, but this time accompagnied by a light show. Impressive beams of glowing green energy shot through the air, eminating from the tops of the monoliths, their black and rustic structures beginning to shake the ground as they rose from the sands. They rose to great hights each, floating nearly two meters from the earth, three giant chunks of their hulls folding up near the top and creating baskets, wherein a giant green crystals suddenly materialised. The four turrets that sat on each corner of the monoliths began to swivel but did not fire. A green cloud formed around each of the three structures, two of them dissappearing within them, the other remaining for all to see as the scarab swarm moved off and dug back into the deeps of the protective sand.

Behind the helpless defenders did the other two monoliths re-appear in more clouds of green, and as if all controlled by a single button, all three monoliths began to fire. Guass lighting lashing forth from their turrets, the flanking structures dealing the greatest damage as they did not have cover to blow through. Green light appeared everywhere within the battlefield, creating a circle around the defending soldiers who huddled together for protection, within the wake of these flashes stood Necron warriors. They did not issue forth battle cries as others did, nor did they say anything at all nor did their skeletal faces make any expressions; complete silence came from the army, the only sounds being those the guass cannons made as they shot forth green beams that stripped the atoms of their targets away with every shot, leaving nothing in the end for others to find.

(OOC: For those that don't know what a Monolith looks like when it awakens, or those that don't know what Necron warriors look like, I found this nice little movie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3C87x5bLdSo)
Dratheria
12-08-2007, 06:51
Some of the marines were killed in the ensuing fire but Peras wouldn't have it. He pressed a button on his wrist console and the shield erected around the soldiers. He was furious at this attack. He was afterall a Beta level Psyker. He summoned an immense storm issuing forth from above the giant shield. A storm of pure raw warp stuff it was a storm inspired by the Emperor's will and it attacked the foul xenos creatures as they fired their weaponry. The Warp was the bane of the Necrons and Peras and his Legion could summon plenty of it.
Shenyang
12-08-2007, 23:15
OOC: CBAM = Compressed Bottled Anti-Matter
MDI: Mass Driver-Infantry (SAW Equivalent)
DMR: Mass Driver-Designated Marksmanship Rifle (Sniper Weapon)
Near-Relativistic Velocities: Almost the speed of light, but not quite there yet

IC:
The commanding officers ran back to their squad at first sight of these 'Scarabs'. They needed an organized counter-attack. The SLAST vessel was well away from the battlefield, and thusly they were safe for the moment.

"Alright, ready the CBAM anti-ship weapons, we need to destroy those pyramid things. Nova, Starfire, get into a position where you can unload on these things, Charity, keep an eye out for anything larger than these 'Scarabs'. Everyone else, we're blowing those pyramids to kingdom come. MOVE!"

The squad split into its various components, they moved at nearly 30KPH and reached positions away from the Scarabs, but within weapons range. The personal shielding integrated to their armor would deal with any attacks. They went to work.

Nova and Starfire began firing streams of fire into the Scarab legions with their 'MD-I' weapons. They slowly emptied magazines that were loaded with 500 rounds each. The weapons accelerated their ammo to 'near relativistic velocities'. They were careful to keep the weapons' fire away from the fighters below. Soon the Scarabs began to notice them.

Charity began sweeping the area for targets, she could hit a target out to 1.5 kilometers 100% of the time, and her weapon could reach out to 4 kilometers effectively. (out there she could hit 78% of the time) She began overwatch, trying to spot anything larger than the swarming Scarabs. She activated the armor's active cloak, which made her invisible to almost every form of sensor ever developed, at the cost of weakening the shields moderately.

The rest of the squad headed for a position where they could engage the Monoliths with the CBAM weapons. They set up, and as the Scarabs began moving toward them, they fired the weapons. The two projectiles, glowing canisters of destruction, rocketed toward the monoliths at immense speeds. They impacted, and there was a flash of the most brilliant white light.

OOC: I'll let you decide if Anti-matter is effective, of course, it makes sense for it to work; since they are definitely composed of matter.
Taledonia
13-08-2007, 00:52
(OOC: You're a bit behind there, Shenyang. Monoliths have already moved, and Necron warriors are already deployed. You should be engaging them now, not the scarabs.

And Dratheria, enough is enough. Space marines do not have shield systems. Space marine Librarians, their most powerful psykers, cannot summon that much warpfire, nor would they even allow that as it is heresy. They can smite, or use brain tricks. Stop the wanky-ness or get outta my thread. And don't try to argue, I'm making you use cannon tech!)
Dratheria
13-08-2007, 01:38
OOC Tal umm one he's a Psyker Primarch he was created to embody the raw psyker energy of the Emperor. He has done it before in battles with Chronosia which he has accepted. And there is a skill known as Vortex of Doom read Codex Space Marines so he can call on it it is just very dangerous for him to do so.

And you are gonna make me use completely canon tech while everyone else is allowed to use the tech of their nation? This is tech that my nation legitimately put research into. But if you want it that way then the Imperium by canon has shields and shield generators. Such void shield generators were used at the Battle of Terra to defend the Emperor's Palace from orbital strikes. But if you want to play with canon I could've done as the Imperium might have in the first place and cyclone bombed the planet or even done a lance strike on the site. But I didn't the point is my nation isn't completely canon but it still maintains most of it.

In summary I am using a canonic skill and if you don't want to accept my shield generators which my nation legitimately research and built and uses in some conflicts then don't and accept them as void shield generators similar to the ones used by titans. And if you know so much about canon tech then you would know the way to stop my psykers using Necron Canon (hint: look up Pariah). And also that certain of the weapons used by Necrons would cut through those shields (hint: phase weapons). The shields too can't hold up forever and wont it just buys a little time. If you want I'll email you both codexes or really any codexes you want. Look at my factbook for information on the Hellblazers and Psi-Lords.
Shenyang
13-08-2007, 02:17
OOC: No, my post covers everything from my last post to the present. The sniper is dealing with any necron warriors she sees to avoid overt detection, and the machine gunners are unloading into the largest available target to draw off the targets and give the groups attacked by the scarabs and monoliths a chance to regroup, I left them to engage and moved to another group, so they're up to date, and shooting up anything that's a threat. The CBAM weapons were fired on the monoliths that were manuevered behind the groups.

Basically, the post starts before the attack, and ends in the present, with the detonation of the CBAM weapons.
Ruthless Slaughter
13-08-2007, 02:48
OOC: OMG I"M UNDER ATACK!!!111oneshift+1! Catching up...
IC:
The scarabs bounced off and popped as the energy shields crackled and repelled them. Being right near the entrance, the Shadow Troopers' scanning station was first hit. They opened up, puilse rifles blazing, energy slicing through the air toward the scarabs.
Once the scarabs fellback and the monoliths moved, necrons became visible.

"What in the hell?"

"Stow it Trooper!" Cunningham yelled, "Ignore the buildings, shoot the hostiles!"

The squad focused their fire on the necron soldiers, lobbing energy rounds and plasma grenades from underslung launchers into the mass.

"Dammit! Our equipment's totaled sir" the Sergeant cried.

The Major looked forlornly at the totaled sensor equipment, "Make 'em pay!"

One of the troopers pulled a rocket launcher and took aim at the nearest group of necrons. He squeezed the trigger and let fly a Piercer antipersonnel rocket, it's warhead equipped with only a molecule of antimatter. It shot unerringly toward them.
The XIV Legio Tactica
13-08-2007, 02:51
And you are gonna make me use completely canon tech while everyone else is allowed to use the tech of their nation?

OOC: We get to use the tech of our nations because we put the time and the creativity into making our own societies and tech trees, rather than ripping off what other people put their time and creativity into creating. You wanna take the shortcut and copy another canon, then stick to canon.

And frankly, the real issue for me is that you've overpowered pretty much everything you're using. What the hell are the rest of us supposed to do when you've summoned t3h uber Warpstormz and are decimating everything with such ease? That's not fighting and that's not strategy, that's just making everything of yours perfect so you get to kill everything without taking casualties.

And no shit you didn't cyclone bomb the planet, because that would ensure that every one of us with troops on the planet would come after you and kick your nation's ass. :rolleyes:
Kaldari
13-08-2007, 03:31
Shakaras barely had time to receive a warning from McClellan of incoming Dratherian drop pods when a hail of them landed all over her base. Energy readings skyrocketed all around her as she realized a massive shield network was being set up around her base. Grinning tightly, she continued the desperate scramble to prepare the base. The others were holding them off as best as they could, so they might as well use all of the time they were given. “Ma'am, McClellan has appeared on the outskirts of the base; he wants to see you.” She nodded.

“Very well. Colonel, you are in command while I'm gone.” With that she was gone, heading out to talk to McClellan. After a short discussion, he assumed command and began to apply his experience in base defense. He shifted some vehicles and soldiers around, providing better coverage and allowing maxmium fields of fire. He could only hope what he was preparing would be enough for the coming onslaught. Glancing down at the strange weapon he had been given, he gripped it even tighter.

They would not fall; justice had yet to be meted out and it would. The dead demanded it, and they would be granted their final wish.

**************************

The snipers blasted through more and more of the bugs, but they kept coming. Shortly after, explosions could be heard coming from the pyramids. The Initiative soldiers gazed at each other, pausing in the combat. They knew this couldn't be good. Hardly noticing the reinforcing waves of the Dratherian Space Marines, they were soon busy fighting off the wave of scarabs who leapt desperately at them. It was obvious to Epsilon-One that they were trying to distract them from the pyramids. Keying his comm while the rest of his squad held off the Scarab, loud, rapidfire cracks of rail bullets slamming through the scarabs at high speeds, enough to punch through power armor. ”All forces, concentrate on the pyramids; they appear to want to keep us from them and-” He was stopped abruptly by the activating monoliths. The scout teams could only watch in horror as they were surrounded in green light, shifting and transforming, with guns and a giant crystal appearing.

”Sweet mother of God...”

“What the fuck is that thing?”

“How the hell did they ever manage to build something like that?” They were cut off when two of them teleported. Their sensors tracked the energy and it showed them coming up behind the group. Both Epsilon and Omega-One knew what was going on. Althought radically different, this had the characteristics of a envelopment. And they were not going to get trapped in it. They began moving to get out and they were just in time ”Epislon and Omega teams, we need to bust a hole in this net. Prep grenades and fire a volley.” The ground shuddered as the massive guns of the Monoliths continued their constant pounding, slamming into their allies. Shards of rock, and metal flew everywhere and pinged on the GDI troops armor. ”Let's move it people” They ran towards a narrow space where some of the silent Necron Warriors were walking through. As soon as the GDI soldiers came into range, they began unloading their weapons, green bolts of energy slashing the air around them. Taking cover, they all prepped grenades. ”On my mark......Mark!” A volley of grenades flew over, eight total, and exploded amongst the Necrons, sharp pieces of shrapnel cutting and slicing everything in their path. Then, a volley of railgun fire increased the damage furthermore, slamming into their armor and doing damage. How much, they didn't know, but it was hopefully enough. ”Move! Move! Move!” They charged, making their way through the walkway. Blasts of gauss weaponry fired out of the smoke and slammed into a sniper, cutting through armor and flesh alike, revealing the inner workings of his head to his horrified teammates. Roaring in anger, they fired their railguns at the warriors until finally, nothing moved. They were either dead or had left. With a hand signal, Epsilon broke into a dead run, with Omega-One and his team sending a message while holding the causeway.

”All allied forces, we've managed to punch a hole in the enemy net. Follow the signal and we can get out of that hellhole and get back to the base. Hurry; we cannot hold the causeway for long.” The warning was punctuated by railgun shots as the snipers began blasting at the Necrons who began to advance on their position. He hoped against hope that their allies would come; if not, he would have to retreat. After all, his men's lives were at stake.
Dratheria
13-08-2007, 03:38
OOC Actually I am using strategy I chose a Psyker heavy Legion because the Necrontyr are extremely weak against the warp. A shielding system allows time for a reqroup but it's not an indefinite solution it has a finite time to it especially with gauss weaponry pounding at it. I didn't say it wiped out the enemy did I I just said it licked at the Necrons. I am using canon tech as explained above. But also in the canon of the series if you ever read any of it you would know the Imperium constantly improved on their technologies using STCs (Standard Template Constructs) from the Dark Age of Technology and of cours eold fashioned xenos technology. IE they improved. I did have my nation shift from a nation with it's own techs and background to a nation of the Imperium which you'd see if you looked at my factbook.

But as I've said before I am following the canon of the Imperium of Man now if you want the basic summarized fluff behind them I can email it for you or do something for you so you can read it. Now just because you play Dark Crusade while yes a fine game it does not give you an incredible insight into the fluff of the series. Now Necron tech can easily stop all this.

1. Pariahs: Pariahs represent the true horror of a Necron-ruled galaxy. They are created by fusing Necron technology with human victims who bear the "Pariah gene" (a rare and unusual genetic defect which causes the bearer to be completely bereft of any Warp presence). Each Pariah is a formidable warrior, and wields a deadly warscythe. They radiate an unnatural aura that severely unnerves their enemies, especially psykers. Interestingly, since Pariahs are partly human, they are unable to self-repair, unlike other Necrons. Within the Imperium, Humans bearing the Pariah gene are also known as "Pariahs", but are also referred to as "Untouchables". Some become Culexus Assassins, who are used by the Imperium to combat enemy psykers.

2. C'tan Phase Weapons: The C'tan Phase Sword is an extremely potent close-combat weapon. In the background, it is said to "phase" in and out of "realspace" and is capable of bypassing armour and force fields alike. Similar the Phase Shifter allows one to move through shielding so you could use this rare device to destroy generators.

3. Pylons heavy defense weapons that cause serious damage to targets and also have the added effect of blocking warp energy therefore stopping psykers and attacks like the vortex of doom. These are commonly seen on tombworlds.

Now I have given you information on some of the most basics techs used by the Necrontyr to defeat me with ease. If this is a tombworld you have all of it or you should. I can give you more information on more and more things they have and how so far advanced that they are compared to most any tech I have. Now I show you this so you should be able to use it to defeat us easily. I use canon and now you can too I can give you ever more info on these foul creatures. I have my own Necron Army and my own Deathwatch and blood angels army. And am building more IoM armies.
Shenyang
13-08-2007, 03:41
The flash of light finally faded and the two monoliths sat, damaged to the point of being nearly unrecognizable. Occasionally a light tried to flicker, but only managed the most pitiful showing. Each was missing a substantial part of their rear quarter.

"They're not gone? These things'll blow a P.E.V. sized hole in the armor of a destroyer and these things aren't vaporized! Hit 'em again!"

Two more pulses, two more flashes, and the monoliths fell absolutely silent.

"Foxtrot, get to the P.E.V., we're heaed for their base. They want to make sure everyone's in the same place when these things mount a serious attack. Move it!"

The whole unit made best time back to the P.E.V. The vessel lifted off and flew just high enough to be out of range of the enemy below. The P.E.V. dropped through the shields and touched down softly. Its engines spooled down and the team disembarked. This time the whole squad came out, weapons at the ready. When they were convinced it was clear they stood down.
Kaldari
13-08-2007, 03:58
OOC: Shenyang, stop right there. Saying how damaged the Monoliths are is godmodding. Only Tal can say how damaged they are.
Dratheria
13-08-2007, 04:41
Kailen knew this was a losing battle already the shield system was losing strength to the punishing onslaughts of the Gauss weaponry. He had lost too many of his men this day and he and Peras would not see everyone perish. They were his brothers now. Soon only him and five of his Marines stood of the twenty he had brought with him. These were not good odds and he would not stand to see them die. He summoned up his potent warp powers and called on the Might of Heroes and charged forward swinging his sword into the group of Necrons that hounded McClellan and his men. This day he would not fall he was a Primarch and as such a son of the Emperor.....the Star Child.......The Saviour of all of mankind.

He let forth a furious roar one that would shake any creature to their soul. Opening up with his stormbolter and moving with a speed and strength far superior to any man increased by his psyker gifts. He would not let his new allies die. His blade was flurry of flashing blue and golden energy and the color of the black blade. He could smell and taste the ozone in the air with every swing he was truly the Angel of Death. Even as Gauss blasts grazed his armor cutting chunks off in various places he kept moving a whirlwind of death.

Elsewhere as the Vortex of Doom lashed out at the Necron warriors the price of calling such horrors reached back onto Peras as he was struck by a bolt of warp energy scarring and pitting his armor. He cried out in fierce agony as he dropped to the ground clutching the smoking area on his chest. The vortex overhead slowly dissipated as he knelt breathing hard. He yelled out in both mindspeak and vocally, "Hurry up and get to your positions! The shield generators won't hold for much longer!" He then cried out, "Marines prepare to unleash every horror we can on these foul aliens! Make them wish that they had never challenged the will of MAN!!!"
Taledonia
13-08-2007, 09:15
(OOC: I know all about the Necrons, I've done my research, as well as that on the IoM. They did have shields, but no way in hell did they deploy them in such useless battles that did nothing for the Imperium. Not only that, but your claim to having specially chosen the chapter with the best Necron fighters in it is crap, cause you received a distress call, no way in hell could you have known it was Necrons no matter how many times you've dealt with them. Could have been Eldar, or Tau! Both emmite heavy energy readings, and IoM tech isn't that sophisticated as to track the differences specifically.

Another thing, the amount of warp storms you're summoning would cause your psyker to explode from over use. Not only that, but using warp storms is heresy, and no space marine would fight alongside one who used it. Such is the tools of daemons and their ilk. As Legio said, you're doing a powerplay, not wanting to lose any precious things of yours.

The point of this RP is to get slaughtered and barely escape, not sit there and go "OH TEH NOSE!11!!!! NECRONS!!!!! I BROUGHT THE BEST COUNTER THO, SO I PWND DEM GOODZ!!!!! LOL, ME FOR TEH WIN!!". I don't care who accepted what before, my RP, my rules. Please stop the powerplaying.

And for everyone else, IC post coming soon! Too late right now!!!!)
Shenyang
13-08-2007, 18:19
OOC: My bad, having an off week.
Kaldari
13-08-2007, 19:07
OOC: It's okay; I just want to have a fair thread which doesn't commit seppuku via player in-fighting.
Shenyang
13-08-2007, 20:00
OOC: Just so you guys know, since I only have 10 characters in this, I'm going to do my best to keep them alive as long as possible, then lose several at the very end.

Also, the CBAM weapons only have a limit of 5 shots possible before they're irreparably damaged by the sheer amount of energy involved in their use. My guys have 2 more left in their insertion vehicle, so thats a total 20 shots before they're cleaned out of anti-ship weapons.

Just throwing out some background stuff there.
Ruthless Slaughter
14-08-2007, 00:49
The Necrons were everywhere. Troops were dying all around them. As the Shadow Troopers continued to lay down withering fire, the gauss weapons began taking their toll. Two troopers were down. Gauss rounds hit their shields, which eventually buckled and many more then melted and ripped through the armor. Looking helplessly at the sky, their eyes glazed and useeing, they fell beside their comrades and quickly disappeared as their emergency transponders kicked in and beamed then to the Havoc's medical bay.
The loss of their fellow soldiers spurred the remaining eighteen to fight harder, but they were rapidly becoming surrounded and were vastly outnumbered...
The XIV Legio Tactica
14-08-2007, 11:34
At the appearance of the three Monoliths, the two Republican Furies, which had been circling in the upper atmosphere without orders for last several hours, stooped upon the single monolith in front of the defenders. Shrieking down nearly vertically from 40,000 feet, the two aircraft/spacecraft discharged a storm of weaponry upon the pyramidal structure.

Railcannons designed to penetrate warship hulls spat their rounds with deadly precision. The 1000 kg hyperkinetic slugs hit the top tier containing the power crystal vertically with a blinding flash of heat energy released from impact. The Marines' helmets opaqued automatically to protect the soldiers from flash burn, but anyone without such compensation would surely have been blinded.

But the Furies had not finished their attack run. As they swooped low over the battlefield, they released a salvo of high-explosive bombs on the Necron warriors advancing on their allies. The ground shook with thunder and fury; dozens of skeletal horrors were instantly blown to dust, and dozens more were scythed down by the shrapnel hurled in all directions by the bombs' detonations. Before the two other Monoliths could react, the two Furies were miles away and circling for another pass.

~

But through the thunderous smoke left in the wake of the Republican bombing run, the Necrons kept coming. Alexander crouched in a sandy depression as the world went mad around him, as the dust and debris whipped and howled about him and the lethal bolts of green lightning crackled on every side; his pistol was leveled, and he shot round after round into the oncoming beings as they rushed at him out of the murky haze. He was aware of his fellow Republicans on either side of him, blazing away desperately from behind any scrap of cover, but the Necrons had them surrounded. A blast from a Monolith vaporized an entire squad to his left, the insidious green bolt carving a trail of glass through the sand; the ground quaked and threw the Tribune off balance.

Through the haze of adrenaline he registered Epsilon's message. <REPUBLICANS!> he yelled through the comm system, <Rally at the causeway! Move, or the ferryman take you!>

The ragged thirty-seven Marines and their Tribune sprinted towards the opening made by Epsilon and his snipers, firing as they went, hacking and slashing and stabbing and thrusting with spear and sword, desperately cutting and blasting their way through the mob of Necrons that were closing in around them.

Alexander wielded his spear like a scythe, whipping the spearhead from side to side and using its ultra-sharp vibrating edges to shear through limbs and heads. A Gauss beam ripped across his left forearm, eating through layers of carbon-polymer ceramic plating and burning through his flesh to the bone. With a roar of pain he thrust his spear through the forehead of the offending Necron, pinning it by its skull to the sand, before abandoning the weapon and charging on.

Twenty-nine Republicans made it to the causeway. <Fall back a ways, we'll cover your retreat and leapfrog out of here!> Alexander broadcast to the GDI team. He noticed several men staring at the thick bright ribbon of blood running down the otherwise white armor on his forearm and dripping off of his fingertips. <I'm fine> he snarled at them between clenched teeth. <Worry about your own skins!>
Taledonia
15-08-2007, 00:26
A sound as if dozens of blades were being rubbed together sounded behind the retreating marines, giant scythe like blades emerging from the sand. They continued to go up, until before the soldiers stood more necron warriors, however these were different. They did not carry guass weapons, nor did they stand straight up. They hunched down, as an old man does, and were adorned in dripping flesh from what appeared to be the slaughtered excavation team. Their hands were missing, replaced instead by four foot metal blades. They stared at the marines for a time, cooly calculating the entire situation, and then they charged into the soldiers, slashing and hacking.

The crystal exploded, reverting back into the energy that had created it in the first place, the monolith that had housed it losing its levitation and crashing back down onto the sands, now bearing many more battle scars from the current engagement. Scarabs re-emerged, swarming the downed monolith once again, repairing it, making it ready for battle again. The other two continued to lash out with the guass turrets, each blast creating a crater in the sand and sending men flying. As the Furies began their second pass, one of the crystals released a long, thick string of guass lighting, which grabbed one of the birds, then, the aircraft still in the grip of the weapon, it smashed it to the ground without care, taking out a section of necron warriors in so doing.

Green continued to pound at the desperate soldiers, coming form all sides as the necrons continued their assualt stoically. Bullets bounced off the mysterious metals that their bodies were constructed off, but eventually cracked them and sent the skeletal being falling to the ground. Those that had been taken down by the Furies and had left a path for the marines to escape through began to re-activate, green light engulfing them and seemingly helping them back to their feet.
Ruthless Slaughter
15-08-2007, 01:37
The Phoenix Dropship that had deployed the Shadow Troopers was circling back at the sound of fighting. It opened up on the Necrons on the ground with its chin mounted autocannons. Once it passed, rocket pods on the wings deployed and the sixteen AVR-Mk20 rockets streaked toward one of the monoliths. It doubled back, strafing the Necrons once more, its computer guided cannons targeting precisely where to unleash lead so as not to hit any friendlies. With sheer numbers on the Necrons' side, it wasn't difficult.
---------------------
On the ground, four more Troopers were down, skewered on the claws of the new foes. The new necrons were confused for a moment as the soldiers hanging from their claws vanished in a beam of light when the transpnders activated, but quickly got over it and continued their onslaught.

"Havoc, this is Cunningham! The situation is lost, repeat situation lost! We're down six and getting our asses kicked! Request extraction, over!"

"Stand by Cunningham, heavy support inbound."

The Havoc broke its orbit and descended into a low stationary orbit. A mote of light glowed along one of its lateral lines as the purple superheated plasma condensed at the nose of the frigate. Heat shimmered off the hull of the Havoc as the plasma reached its full charge and a pinprick of light streaked down and moved along the ground in an arc, slicing throught the Necron ranks. Two plasma torpedos shot toward the monolith previously attacked by the dropship.

OOC: Hoping monoliths will respond to the Havoc
Kaldari
15-08-2007, 02:33
Scout Team Epsilon sent screaming death into the Necron ranks that assaulted their position. Their internal suit HUD's revealed to them the incoming Republican Marines but they were still not there and more Necrons were coming. Their bodies littered the causeway but still they kept coming. Assault after assault after assault; they had already lost two more men, dropping them down to three men, including Epsilon-One. They had resorted to wielding double rifles, holding the line through sheer weaponry. All of them knew the consequences should any one of them get through. The continuous crack-crack-crack of the rifles going on around him deafened him to all else. So, it was with surprise he saw Alexander and his allies, having not seen them in the fury of combat.

<Fall back a ways, we'll cover your retreat and leapfrog out of here!>

He glanced down at his arm, and nodded. "Very well. Team Epsilon, prepare for retreat option Del-" As he was about to give the order, he heard scratching noises, akin to that of blades on rock. Whirling around, he and his team felt horror course through them as the Flayed Ones appeared, covered in the dripping skin of the slaughtered Republicans. Epsilon-One watched them begin to shuffle their way at them. While not the fastest in the world, they still could overrun them, especially their wounded and dying. Closing his eyes, he sighed, hefting a rifle, while the other hand pulled out a sonic knife. The blades had a sonic emitter aura around them, allowing them to cut with great ease as the sonic aura broke down the objects it passed through at the molecular level. Turning to Alexander, he spoke; the other commander could hear the weariness and sorrow in his voice.

"I am afraid I cannot go with you. If you are to escape with your men, we must hold them off a bit longer. I do not think I will be returning my friend, so get you and your men out of here. Regroup at the command center; we must make sure it holds." He pushed him a little down the path. The Flayed Ones were at the battle line, with the other two snipers engaging them with sniper rifle until they were too close, then switching to sonic knives. "Go! We will buy you time!" Turning, he began blasting the Necrons as he hefted his knife. "In the defense of mankind!" He charged and soon the battle was on. They were good.

They managed to last three minutes.

**************

Hope arrived with a roar; the GDI airforce shot over the battlefield, keying their targets as they turned to make their attack runs. The Orca bombers flew over the battle, their bombs blowing apart Necron warriors as they slammed into the ground, literally salting the ground with bombs and fire. The Firehawks appeared right on top of a Monolith, using their atmospheric boosters, shooting into the stratosphere and rocketing back down. Unloading their armor-piercing fusion bombs at the crystal like the Republicans had, they shot off back to base, to reload hopefully in time for the coming assault. The bombs exploded bright and a wave of fire shot from the Monolith. They could only hope they did something.

Hope arrived for Alexander, as a drop pod from the command center arrived and disgorged a group of Zone Troopers, the logo R-6 on a red patch showing they came a from a Red Zone and were an elite squad. "Commander, follow us. We will cover you as you retreat. Our fallen brothers have brought you time; we need to make use of their sacrifice."

All the while, McClellan continued to fortify the base, even as the Orca's and Firehawks returned for refueling and re-arming. He had to ensure they could hold the line.

*********

OOC: Tal, we need to talk.

Look, Necrons are powerful yes, but you can't go off of only Dark Crusade; if you truly wanted to be Necron, you should have read up on them. Yes, their armor regenerates, but it isn't like WHAM totally healed. Also, I am pretty sure if fired at enough, they basically "die" in a sense, collapse and are teleported back for repair and to come back to life.

Also, if you had this whole, I SLAUGHTER JOO thing in mind, why didn't you tell us, say, when the thread started? Might have wanted to tell us.

Also, I am firing high-powered railguns myself from my soldiers, though one team is now dead. These things make power armor look like paper; I am sure Necrons will get pwned by them fairly quick. That and you have to take the quality of the soldiers into effect. Mine are all basically veterans of the war, with a high percentage of elite squads.

Necrons are powerful; not invincible. Dark Crusade is a bad way to show them, in their full glory, with strengths and weaknesses. They are powerful but not invincible. And it takes time for their "armies" to come forth, especially when we are bombing the living CRAP out of them.

Tal, I know you love the Necrons, lots of us who play the games and all that do.

However, you need to tone them down. If I get a whiff of them being the ultimate kill all things and will slaughter us no matter what they do because they are so strong and numerous, I WILL leave the thread. They need to be played fairly or I'm out. Thats my only demand I will make here. Ask Chron or several other WH40k nuts, they will tell you what you need to know.

-OR-

Research them. I did, for fun, and they aren't as all powerful as you think. In the Medusa IV campaign, they lost. Big time, with their Necron Lord being sacrificed for his incompetence.
Taledonia
15-08-2007, 03:41
(OOC: I did some research, and I know it isn't just WHAM! back to life! They come back with like a quarter health, and I know they aren't the kill all. But they have numbers at their disposal, and they have been being blown to crap. I may be playing them a bit much, I'll admit, but I haven't made them invincible, but I won't have it like that campaign you suggested, these guys will be powerful and make a mark. Hopefully this next bit will be good for you. Oh and that was an appology, it's kinda hard RPing with something other than your own tech...:()

IC:

Energy coarsed through the battlefield as the beam of the starship fired, tearing apart the Necron warriors, but it wouldn't be enough to stop them. They continued their assualt, fallen warriors regenerating as fast as they could, which in all honesty was about fifteen minutes after they had fallen, and they came back with only a fraction of integrity in their armor.

The two monoliths that remained continued their assualt, their gauss turrets blowing apart the terrain. The attack was ruthless and without mercy. Engines flared as fighters whizzed overhead, unleashing their own hell in turn, thinning the Necron lines considerably, adding to the damage dealt by the starship now in play. Another crystal was hit, sending the green body exploding into a storm of electricity an eerie green in color. The monolith slammed into the sand, taking out more of its allies.

One monolith remained, and it began to focus on the cruiser above it, the crystal and turrets lashing out at the vessel. A formidable power had been focused on the one target, but it was a starship and could probably take a great deal of damage before being downed. Scarabs appeared out of the sand and swarmed the second downed monolith, attempting to bring it back up, but with two down the last didn't have enough power to keep the Necron forces up and running, so regenerations had ceased, and the builder scarabs themselves were beginning to thin as their numbers were gunned down. Soon it was just the monolith, making its final stand against the retreating forces, all of its deployed forces demolished. It being the only target, all enemy fire was undoubtedly on it, bringing immense hull damage. Within moments the structure ruptured, green energy pulsing around the monolith, and the object exploded in a brilliant display, pieces of the dark material it was composed of flying in all directions, the green crystal it held being extinguished forever.
Dratheria
15-08-2007, 05:05
OOC Also Tal yes I did misrepresent exactly what Vortex of Doom was it's more a sucking portal of warp space. In game it creates a 12 inch blast marker which is pretty good sized portion of the battlefield. So my psykers aside. I play my nation with 40K tech advanced by the Mechanicum. The way I knew Necrons were there if you even read my first post was the energy reading detected from a monolith. Deep space sensors detected the energy reading.

Now I am fine with your whole slaughter thing I'll let you kill off a bunch of my Marines but you also have to know you are dealing with the Ordo Xenos. I assume you read up on them. This is where my main problem comes up. So for those who don't they are the alien fighters of the Imperium trained specifically to deal with aliens such as the Eldar, Necrons, Tyranids, Tau and so on. They have encountered the Necron forces multiple times even on NS. So when they come to fight any alien they come prepared with Psykers no matter what. You also gotta realize there are two of my Primarchs assigned permanently to the Ordo Xenos in my nation. Tur the Primarch of the Thunder Hammers and Peras of the Psi-Lords. Otherwise I'm a big fan of your RPing and I understand it took me awhile to get RPing down alone let alone a WH40K race. Adapting them to NS can be difficult at times. Regardless you are a good RPer and hit me on MSN apocalypse2000@hotmail.com and I can explain ne questions you have or even give you digital versions of the Codexes.
Dratheria
15-08-2007, 06:54
Kailen was still a whirlwind of destruction blades lashing out from multiple directions slowly his men were taken out. He was alone fighting on the battlefield but he knew he could fall soon if he did not escape. As a gauss blast grazed his arm he felt flesh tear away from his body and gritted his teeth in agony. He took flight on his wings and flew at supersonic speeds towards the base.

The shield had long since fallen and they were fighting a losing battle. Total casualties were at 68% and Peras gritted his teeth in fierce defiance as he lashed out with another psychic bolt of energy. He cried out, "Do not give these foul creatures anything! For the Emperor!" He fired off round after round and charged forward with his force sword held high. Crying in sheer defiance he felt the blades of Flayed Ones slice into his flesh as he focused his power to increase his speed and strength. He was calling on so much power that even he was becoming exhausted. He called sent a comm to McClellan and Alexander,

We may need to conduct a retrograde friends. This battle is becoming increasingly difficult.

*****

In space the mighty ship Truth's Light finally came back online. Her massive weapons arrays surging to life. Inquisitor Gull had been monitoring the situation on the surface the whole time. He spoke quickly to his crew, "Get the lance charged up for fire. Arm the bombardment cannon. And prepare the Exterminatus array."

He immediatley opened a line to the Trierarch,

Trierarch I have my Exterminatus array and cyclone bombs prepped for launch. I will not use them while our forces are on the surface. However if the worst case scenario should come I suggest we use them to utterly destroy this planet. However I will wait for your authorization considering this is your nation's planet.
The XIV Legio Tactica
15-08-2007, 09:19
OOC: Dratheria, none of that explains or justifies having overpowered shit.

IC: Alexander clapped an armored hand on the Zone Trooper's shoulder. <Your countrymen have their places assured in Elysium> he said wearily, sagging a moment and having to put his full weight on the ZT before recovering himself. Blood from his arm stained his white armor in thick streaks and droplets. <In bello fortuna, mei socii>* He stayed long enough for him and his men to unload the rest of their ammunition into the oncoming Flayed Ones before retreating.

Then the Primarch's transmission reached him.

Between the pain, the blood loss, the adrenaline and the anger at the necessity of Epsilon and his men's sacrifice, coupled with the utter redundancy of the Primarch's statement, the Tribune snapped.

<WHAT IN HADES DO YOU THINK WE'RE DOING!!??> he roared into the microphone. He had come to a full stop, his men skidding to a halt to protect their commander. <WE'RE ALREADY OUT, WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU??> His sword clashed with the freakish claws of a Flayed One as he screamed at the Primarch; he clicked the vibrating edge on for another swipe that took the thing's head off and booted its body down the slope of the large dune Alexander and his men were running along. Most of the Marines still had their eight-foot spears with them, and these held the horrors at bay, but Alexander and the rest had only their gladii to rely on.

The remaining Fury circled around and sprayed the slope of the dune with its air-to-ground autocannons and point-defense guns. The rail-driven projectiles shredded Necrons and hurled a thick cloud of sand into the air that blew across the summit of the dune. The craft maneuvered so that the exhausted and ragged Marines and their wounded commander could pile aboard while the autocannons faced front and mowed down any Flayed Ones or Warriors that tried to approach. Gauss beams pitted the ship's hull, but the plating was thick and well able to resist beams of that size, and the Fury was up and arcing gracefully away from the battlefield before it was able to take many concentrated hits anyway.

The Fury carried ample medical supplies, but the Tribune refused to be sedated. Instead, the horrific gash in his arm was sprayed full of a quick-drying foam richly laden with nanomachines that immediately went to work repairing his ravaged flesh. His impromptu field medic slapped two patches onto the temporary foam bandage, one containing a painkiller and the other containing a stimulant, that immediately began dispersing into his bloodstream. Within two minutes the Tribune had stabilized and was theoretically capable of command, although he remained reclining on the bench, weakened by loss of blood. His arm sent bolts of pain down his side, accompanied by a pins-and-needles feeling as the nanomachines did their work.

The Fury touched down outside the GDI command center, allowing the Republicans to disembark and straggle into the base. The Tribune waved off all offers of assistance or further medical attention. He had seen the skins the Flayed Ones had been wearing, and he knew who they belonged to. He refused to rest until every last one of those abominations had been blown to dust.

~

<You might as well power your weapons down, Inquisitor> Lucianus replied. <You will fire nothing upon this planet, last resort or not. You have overstayed your welcome as is>


*Luck in battle, comrades
Future-Rome
22-08-2007, 01:37
*bump*

(OOC: This is XIV Legio Tactica. I got banned from the forums for some reason, possibly because my NS nation ceased to exist, so I had to start everything over.)
Ruthless Slaughter
23-08-2007, 00:23
Havoc took the bombardment and violently shuddered as the shield grid tried to absorb the energy and pipe it back into the grid. Energy slowly rippled over the shields as they started to pulse and flicker.

"Status?" Ironside asked while grabbing a console for support as the ship shuddered again.

"Shields at about 25% and holding steady for the time being. It was a lot of energy, but I think the grid caught up. That's the last monolith, so once fire is focused solely on it and the barrage lessens we should see a significant rise," the Operations Officer replied.

"Very good, Leutenant."
--------------------------------------

After the frigate brought down the second monolith, the number of Necrons rapidly decreased as it appeared the primary task of the Necrons' regeneration was to bring one of the two downed monoliths back online.

"Come on!" Cunningham cried, "Focus all fire on that last structure!"

While the Havoc was raining fire, five more Troopers had been lost bringing their number to nine. The remnants fired their remaining rockets into the monolith as the dropship added its autocannon fire to the salvo. It wouldn't be much normally, but all other forces were doing the same. Once the last fortress had fallen, the nine Troopers who weren't beamed to the ship's medical bay heaved a sigh of relief. With any luck, it was over and their comrades would be salvagable. Their armor may have failed them, but Dominion citizens were tough.
That's right, no soldiers anymore...we're all citizens Cunningham though to himself.
He slung his pulse rifle over his shoulder and activated the hydration feeder in his armor in time to hear a loud and roaring,

"GOD DAMMIT! LOOK WHAT THOSE FREAKS DID TO OUR EQUIPMENT!!!"

The Major turned to see his Sergeant fuming over the totally wrecked scanners. He chuckled, Even after all that we sweat the small stuff...

The dropship landed and the troops piled in, carrying what was left of their equipment with them. As they lifted off they saw the Havoc rising to higher orbit. The dropship touched down at the GDI command center and the men walked in, looking every bit as beaten and haggard as they deserved to be.