NationStates Jolt Archive

A lone vessel rockets through the depths of space, the Terran Battlecruiser Agamemnon pierces the blackness that has so long shrouded the Solarin Confederacy. Bristling with missiles launchers,and banks of energy weapons, the mile long ship was a sight to behold. It was not a massive ship, but many would remember the power once wielded by Terrans and Solari alike. Now, decades since they had last interacted with outside space, a ship broke the barrier once more. It remained to be seen who and what noticed, or even if anyone would notice. But, the monkeys were back in space, with guns and duct tape to hand.

OOC: Yeah, some of you may have already noticed, I'm still alive. Sweet ain't it? Anywho, y'all can notice me, and be hostile, or not, or whatever. It's cool stuff. I'm just trying to get back into the swing of things, and have limited time to post, hence the short opener, apologies all around.

It has been said in Eclipse, Tidan's naval intelligence community, that where ever you go in the galaxy a pair of Tidani eyes are watching you. Most find this humorous, but those who know the agency best usually don't laugh.

What ever the truth was they had noticed the lone ship leaving what had once been Solari space. The long absence from the global stage had worried Tidan. Solari didn't disappear nor did they hide. If they were staying silent it was because something had caused them to turn inward, and if they were now leaving their space it was something to be equally concerned about.

Before too long the Razorback North Wind and her escorts were on their way to the borders of the space that had been marked as no-fly by Tidani since relations had been cut off. As she was guided to the area of the emergence everyone waited to find out what would greet them.

OOC: I think I'll take the usual hostile stance between your people and the Empire if you don't mind too much. It's good to see the crazed southerner back.

IC:
The Dracul sat in it's drydock, waiting in the dark for it's commission. Unlike the Agamemnon, the Dracul wasn't sending any broadcasting information. It remained in the darkness, waiting for the moment to strike. Little is known about the Dracul and what class of ship it is, except for the encounters the Coredians had with their prototype of this said class. Even the Alliance remains clueless about this ships functions and purpose. The crews of this class is said to be manned of ghosts, only because they were listed as officially dead in the Empire's database and no one has seen or heard from them since they started manning these ships. Already with only two functional ones in service thus far, they already have rumors spread about the class.

Captain Harmken sat upon his command chair in the middle of the night, reviewing the many datapads of the updates the Dracul has been going though. He sighed as an ensign gave him yet another one. Then things suddenly got cold. He could see a bit of his breath in the air, and he began to sweat. Not surprising, but he wished there was something he can do about the obviousness of his fear, for an eye has opened in a quarter's designed to be a Kirtir Master's meditation chamber. Lord Vorman has awaken. He slowly hovered upwards from his meditation position, and headed towards the bridge. Harmken can feel the Kirtir Lord's presence grow even stronger, though he himself wasn't a force sensitive. Lord Vorman is the embodiment of Death itself in some ways, it's hard to not feel it when death is walking towards you with your very life at stake, every sentence you speak could become a ticking bomb waiting to end your life. The Entrance to the bridge opened, and the captain spun his chair around. Sweating.

"Lord on the bridge!"

::As you were captain,:: Vorman hissed while he twirled his light staff, ::what news you have for me?::

"Sir, production of the other eighteen ships are well under way. The Dracula, Helsing, Vlad and Remiel De Draken will be done by the end of the month. However, the Tepes, Exsanguinator, Carfax, Borgo, Stoker, Carmilla, Carpathia, Lucretia, Tzimisce, Radu, Harker, Vampyre, Orlok, Lestat, Akasha, Enkil, Marius, Pandora, Thorne, Armand, Vittorio, Stirgoi, Lamia, and the Kai are still under construction."

Vorman waved his hand in dismissal, his glowing yellow eyes narrowing, ::you know fully well that's not what I had in mind... Captain. I'm referring to the recent comm chatter I've been sensing during my meditation.::

The Captain sighed with relief, "sir, it's the Terrans and Solarins. They're broadcasting all sorts of chatter over sub space and whatnot about their return. Why do you seek this information my Lord?"

::Because we need a new target to test this ship on. We have a new defense system that needs it.::

"But sir... We haven't even gotten to fully inter grade the M.L.S.S. Mk II into our systems! We still need another hour at most..." The captain cut himself short at noticing the Lord of Death violently gripping his Light Staff, his trigger finger slowly circling around and around the "on" button, waiting for him to say the wrong word to give the Lord an excuse to chop off his head. "... On second thought, we'll be able to get it done en route."

Vorman eased his grip on the staff, ::very good captain. Remember this is a Nosferatu Class Towerless Star Destroyer. I expect each and every one of you to outperform his or her self more than the rest of the pathetic fools do in the fleet. And mind you, if you don't...:: Lord Vorman lifted his staff directly in front of Harkman's face, ::I can just kill you and no one will notice or care as you're already listed as "dead" in the empire's roster. Besides which... You don't want the Empire's military count to suddenly drop another 37000 now do you?::

All this time the Captain began to violently shake, large drops of grey/black goo squeezed out in between his hair. "N--No... Sssir!"

::Very good captain. Now proceed to the Terran system immediately and get that system operational before we get there. Because if not, I need not remind you what will happen to you.::

"No my lord, very good sir!" With that Vorman turned around and hovered out of the bridge. The Captain wiped his forehead, gaping at the grey/black goo coming out of his head. He's heard of this happening to officers who've encountered the Lord of Death, but he never heard of it this extreme. "Helm! Take us out of the drydock! 1/4 impulse power, then engage the 'minus drives and head towards the Solarin systems."

"Aye sir."

"Emergence! High on the port forequarter!" The astrogation officers cry cut through the low grade chatter of the bridge.

"Plot a course to the point of the emergence, and transmit a message. See who we've got and what they want." The captain was an older man, greying, but still a deadly commander, and the surety in his voice quieted the few remaining voices. "send a second message back to the ready response units to be on alert, any unknown is presumed hostie until demonstrated otherwise. Ladies and gentlemen, many of your parents were stopped and naturalized during our long quarantine, now we are all one nation. Let's do our country proud, and finally end this miserable silence. All hands, man your stations, secure for action, and pray to whatever deity you worship that no one dies from a bad translation. Hop to it."

A flurry of activity erupted all across the ship as ratings and officers scrambled to their posts as the all hands alarm screeched its battle cry, and the bow swung about to bear on the location of the new arrivals.

Welcome to Solarin space. We ask that you show your goodwill by powering down weapons and defenses, and meeting my cutter halfway between our vessels. Please respond at soonest opportunity.

Bridge of the North Wind

Captain Lochley stood ready at the edge of the observation deck, the screen above him focused in on the ship approaching, the crew below in full action. An officer walked up to him and handed him the message sent from the ship.

"Sir, the message from the unknown ship."

Lochley quickly scanned the message.

"So they are Solari?"

"That's unclear Sir. They do claim to occupy 'Solarin' space, so we are currently operating under that assumption."

"Hm. Well even if they are Solari, we know how dangerous they can be in tense situations. Comply with their request, order the Harpys to stand down also."

I have complied with your wishes and will be taking a shuttle to meet with you immediately.

A dozen racked shuttles filled the fore boat bay of the Confederate Battlecruiser, and the thirteenth, larger than the rest, was just jetting from the bay doors. Captain Johnston, and a single marine fireteam made the passage across the void, and halted approximately halfway between the two vessels. Silently, the captain awaited the arrival of their unknown acquaintences.

Captain Lochley and two members of the Special Recon Forces occupied the shuttle advancing toward its counterpart between the warships. The Captain glanced from one SRF to the other.

"Now remember. They are going to be just as volatile as you so keep things calm. We sure as hell don't need a firefight on a shuttle."

The two guards simply glanced at each other before returning their gaze to the Captain. Their expressions were covered by the helmets of their TOWER armor, but Lochley was sure that inside they had numerous ways of communicating silently with each other. He wasn't in the mood to even think about what they were saying. Perhaps in an attempt to make himself forget about the two silent statues staring at him, he turned to the cockpit where the pilots were negotiating the space between the other shuttle.

"How long?"

"We are initiating docking now Captain. Not long."

"Good."

The two ships began a delicate mating ritual now. A dance of two different designs finding a way to form a seal. Eventually their goal was accomplished. Captain Lochley and the two SRFs stood before the airlock watching the light. They waited for it to turn from red to green.

Red flashed to green, and a hatch spiraled open. Towering Marines in their battle armor framed the doorway, as the aging captain stepped through. "Welcome to the Confederacy, It's been a very long time."

"Too long." Lochley reached out to shake Johnston's hand.

"Captain Lochley, Tidani Royal Navy. So the Confederacy survived then? We started to wonder if you'd bombed yourselves back to the stoneage. We havn't heard anything from you since the civil war."

"We survived, but barely. When the reckoning came, the Order of the Watch did alot of damage, and we lost alot of good people. But, we pushed back, we reduced the threat, and we survived. Shortly thereafter we imposed quarantine, and have only recently emerged from our isolation. It has taken many years to totally cleanse the machine taint from our systems, but the intelligent machines are now expunged. We have missed much, but we have advanced in many ways as well. What of the Clandom?" The tall black clad captain regarded his counterpart, wondering all they had missed in the long silence of decades.

::How far are we from target?::

"Almost there sir. ETA 2 minutes."

::Engage the Phase Cloak. I want the Torepedo Turrets fully armed and ready and have the MLSS Mk II ready for when we switch cloaks to fire.::

"Aye sir!"

A blood red vortex formed in the middle of space, yet nothing seemed to exit. The Dracul was fully phased from the plane of existance which we're all aware of, waiting to begin their hunt or become the hunted. Either way worked for the Lord of Death.

"SECOND EMERGENCE! No vessel, beginning deep scan." The astrogator slammed hard on the all hands button, and the shrieking klaxon once again called the ship to full alert. Power surged through gun turrets and sensor arrays sprang to hideous life as the massive vessel hauled about, to face its prow against the newest threat.

Aboard the Joined Shuttles

"Damnation. There's been a second emergence. Getting reacquainted will have to wait, something suspicious is coming through. We're reading a massive dimensional anomaly, but we don't see anything. I must return to my ship immediately. I'm also calling in one of our waiting carriers so that I can deploy a screen, and maybe get a better sensor image. It may be advisable for your own ship to pull through our lines and shelter until we have a clearer understanding of exactly what we're dealing with." The captain bowed slightly to the Tidani, and then quickly stepped back across to his shuttle, which closed up, and immediately proceeded back towards Agamemnon.

Agamemnon Support Group, Carrier Vengeance

"Captain Johnston's ordered us forward to screen his ship, all pilots to their stations, and be prepared to deploy on emergence, ETA, 2 minutes and counting. Sound general quarters, and be prepared for anything."

The massive fleet carrier Vengeance disappeared from her position alongside the other 4 carriers, and the cruisers and destroyers that screened them against other capship threats.

"Sir... The Terran Battlecruiser just went to battle stations."

::The typical paranoid response from any spacial object suddenly emerging from no where. Slowly move us in, one quarter impulse power. Keep those fingers on that weapons pad tactical.::

"Aye sir."

Vorman leaned forward, his glowing yellow eyes narrowing on the view screen, ::I will wait for their next move, then we strike. Lets see what these Terrans do.::

Captain "You do realize sir that we're outnumbered like 8 to 1 right?"

::Never tell me the odds Captain.:: His fingers twitched around his Light Staff's button, ::Never tell me the odds.::

OOC: Since Tidan hasn't replied, I'm just gonna do my thing, and get back to the diplomaticizing, hopefully.

IC:

"Sir, tracking is picking up intermittent readings on an extra-dimensional object, possibly extra-planar, it's on a course away from the emergence. Vengeance is on site sir, emerging abeam of the anomaly, at full battle alert, and she is scrambling her full complement of birds, with her fighters set up for a balance of anti-parasite and anti-capship, her assault boats are ready and loaded for breaching operations."

"Very good, as soon as the captain returns, we will advance upon the anomaly. While we wait, launch sensor drones to get a better look at it. Tactical, just in case, prepare firing solutions for the projected path of the target, prepare for a full spread from all batteries,if we need it, I think we'll need it in a big way." The XO snapped out orders with a calm gained from years serving in the navy, and in short order, a trio of sensor drones were streaking from the fore torpedo tubes, and were quickly replaced with massive anti-capitol ship weapons, bearing a healthy mix of laser warheads and contact antimatter explosives. All hell was about to break loose, just as soon as the sensor drones got close enough to get a hard lock on exactly what was hiding behind that phase cloak.

As Agamemnon prepared for the all out brawl that was about to erupt, Vengeance deployed 1,300 fighters, and 300 assault boats, its entire parasite complement. Vengeance herself was readying all of her remaining guns, and preparing a full spread from her torpedo armament. These two ships were but the tip of the iceberg, and already the Dracul was in much deeper trouble than it might have expected.

(ooc: crap sorry. um ya so lets just have my ship do what you suggested so we don't end up in your way for now.)

Vorman knew that he wasn't going to be here for long, nor that the battle will last that long for that matter. All he needed to see was the strength of the enemy, and that is what he's going to get. Even if it means destroying his own ship. The Terrans don't realize however, the potential devestation which the Nosferatu could bring if commanded in the right hands. Not very many people do save the Coredians, and even they still know very little.

::Helm, move us beneath the fleet. Tactical, I want six Heavy Turbolaser shots aimed right underneath their bellies, prefferably their hangar bays.

The Dracul moved diagonally downwards towards the Agamemnon, positioning their cannons to fire six shots at the ship's underbelly just to give them a very small surprise.

::Prepare to switch cloaks on my mark, then I want the Phase back immediately after the shots are fired.::

"Aye sir."

::Fire.::

"Turbolaser fire! Six shots, tactical confirms location, full battery is on the way, all parasites moving to engage!"

"Evasive pattern del-"

"Belay that, Evasive pattern Gamma, call the remainder of the Task Force and prepare to engage. Bring Vengeance in closer. This can't be very many ships if they're willing to alert us with just 6 shots." Captain Johnson's barked orders cut across the low chatter of the bridge.

Vengeance and Agamemnon both shifted orientation minutely, before a full score of massive particle beams cut the space between the vessels like a horrific knife of some gargantuan vengeful deity, while torpedo tubes spat their own flame and devastation, laser warheads set to spear the void and set the enemy ship ablaze. Fighters unleashed their anti-capitol ship missiles, and another 1,300 Particle beams speared the blackness, a crushing weight of fire from the Terrans, who were known, notorious even, for not believing in "minimum required force."

Agamemnon Support Group, Carrier Redemption

"Captain Johnson has ordered us into battle against an unknown threat. All ships are to deploy in quicktime, and engage the target or targets with all guns. Our goal is the swift reduction of the threat and the identification of the culprits." Captain Williamson of the Redemption was the nominal commander of the remaining support fleet, and as he shot off his orders the fleet evaporated, mere minutes away from smashing into the unsuspecting Huntarian ship.

The Dracul shook violently from the first voley from the enemy. "Sir! Incoming enemy fire onto the Dracul! Prepairing to return fire."

::Belay that tactical! Switch back to Phase cloak, and move straight for the Agamemnon. We're gunna stay inside of her, and we will move with her movement until their next strike is clear to us. Full impulse power.::

"Aye sir!"

The ship rocketed again from the second wave, but held firm as their shields were reduced to nearly 50% strength cloaked. The ship headed straight for the Agamemnon, phased. Now they will wait for the Terran's next move.

"Track their movement tactical, keep your turrets on them at all times, and keep the guns running full bore until we have to shut them down." Scintillating beams of azure energy track across the void, following the now solid lock on the phase cloaked Dracul, while numerous Fighters swarm about the pathetically unresponsive vessel. It seems to the pilots of the 131st Squadron that their foe has been crippled by the overwhelming firepower of their parent ships and their own deadly swarm, leaving it bereft of any defense but its feeble cloaking device, hiding like cowards afraid of the darkness. As long as the guns held up, it would be impossible for the Huntarians to decloak without being hammered by the continuous beams of the Terran Veessels.

Just minutes away, the remaining carriers of the small task force led their lighter brethren, shattering reality as they raced towards the ongoing conflict. Two minutes, and the Dracul would face overwhelming odds, in both tonnage and manpower.

Vorman glared at the viewscreen as the Terrans advanced, then something entered his mind. New commands. ::Helm, we're done here. Power up the Necrominus Drives. Comms, open comminucations.::

"Communication's channel open sir."

::Is has been nice getting a look at what your vessels can do. This will indeed be invaluable information to my masters. However, as much to both of our dissapointments, I have commands to leave this system and go elsewhere. Sorry to end our battle short. Helm, engage.:: At that, the Force Temporal Disturbance erupted in front of the Dracul, the ship entered it, and then the portal closed from behind them. But they will be back... The Empire will always come back to finish a fight.

Vorman glared at the viewscreen as the Terrans advanced, then something entered his mind. New commands. ::Helm, we're done here. Power up the Necrominus Drives. Comms, open comminucations.::

"Communication's channel open sir."

::Is has been nice getting a look at what your vessels can do. This will indeed be invaluable information to my masters. However, as much to both of our dissapointments, I have commands to leave this system and go elsewhere. Sorry to end our battle short. Helm, engage.:: At that, the Force Temporal Disturbance erupted in front of the Dracul, the ship entered it, and then the portal closed from behind them. But they will be back... The Empire will always come back to finish a fight.

"Redirect Redemption's Carrier Group and Augustus' Destroyers. You have our readings on the ship. You also have its exit trajectory. Transmit that data immediately upon their arrival. They have to stop eventually, and depending on how fast they are, we may catch them before they arrive. No matter what, keep on them. Whoever did this, I want to know. Now."

Mere seconds after the captains command, the Carriers Redemption and Revenge, as well as the 13th Destroyer Squadron arrived in the system, and then, mere seconds later, jumped out again, following the exit vector of the fleeing Dracul

Bridge of the Agamemnon:

"Now that we have that resolved, please inform the Tidanis that we can begin our talk once more. Perhaps more securely aboard Agamemnon this time."

Captain Lochley, it would be our pleasure to have you aboard Agamemnon, now that this late unpleasantness has ended.

The Captain gave little thought to whether the battle was truely over or not. For all they knew more ships could be waiting for them, hidden from sight. Ignoring that possibility he boarded the shuttle again and as the North Wind moved closer to the Agamemnon crossed the short distance between the two ships.

When the shuttle came to land he and his few marine bodyguards walked down the ramp to continue their talk that had been so rudely interrupted.

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