NationStates Jolt Archive

KCS Good Cause

Jackson activated the subluminal engines, responding to an impulse. He had had this impulsiveness for a while - it just told him where to go. The Office of Personnel Assessment's psychiatric officers, though, had concluded that there was nothing different about his mind.

Forming up on the Marathon's six, he slipped in smoothly closer to it.

At once, a small craft disengaged from the Marathon, a Korsa II Heavy-Dropship. Before the Marathon and Dragoon were both enveloped in brilliant light, and disappeared.

"Vice Admiral Gilbraec, this is Second Lieutenant James Ackeron of the Vuhifellian Office of Naval Intelligence. My team and I shall act as official diplomatic envoys to your Empire. Please recieve us, now."

Gallic Conquerer

"Affirmative Lieutenant Ackeron, this is Flight Command Central. We have you on our homing signal, and we're opening up a laser designated pathway for you to follow. You'll be coming into the east-side main hangar. A escort will be waiting to bring you up to the Admiral."



While the Vice Admiral's aide were organizing a conference room for the Vuhifellians to come to, the admiral himself was redeploying his fleet in the system. With all casualties accounted, they'd lost one Imperial Star Destroyer, a number of frigate-class ships, and half a dozen Dreadnoughts. Not entirely costly when you considered that the enemy force had been destroyed up to 98%, but still more than the Vice Admiral liked.

Three destroyers were designated to escort all medical frigates and transports carrying any wounded back to the Troma System. Captain Bardeck returned to the Relentless and was given a brevet command of setting up a patrol of the system by a small group of ISDs and other lighter ships. Commodore Kalister was given orders to withdraw half the task force back to Troma for repairs and mechanical checks. Largely everything was superficial in the nature of the after-action jobs. A few skimmers were out amidst the debris checking out any remains of enemy ships that might be worthwhile to pick up.

Relentless Bridge

Lieutenant Jarek was in command of the Relentless while Captain Bardeck was gone, giving his debriefing to Vice Admiral Gilbraec, and little did he desire to shoulder the responsibility of a possibly tricky diplomatic situation. Never-the-less he answered when he got the call.

"Greetings Captain Elthos of Mythrandir. I am Lieutenant Jarek, second-in-command of the Relentless. My commander is off ship reporting to his superior. When we arrived before the battle my captain had attempted to speak with you concerning the possibility of creating a diplomatic opportunity between our two nations."

For all the elven captain's stern complexion, his visage visibly drooped. It appeared to be a day of diplomatic meetings but this one would be far different than entertaining a happless explorer that happened to stumble upon their survey team. No, something ran far deeper here.

"I see. Perhaps you could inform me as to the motivations behind your Captain's request then since he is not here and has left you in charge. I am curious as to why he or your people for that matter would be curious to seek diplomatic relations now, instead of earlier. You will have to forgive my confusion here."

The pilot swerved to gain entry into the laser-designated entry lane, before switching to auto-pilot landing software as the dropship entered the hanger. As the dropship descended onto its landing gear, opening its rear hatch, several Vuhifellian marines poured out, clad in standard body armor. Lieutenant Ackeron was distinguishable by his full grey suit with the seal of ONI on his right shoulder.

"Magerson, Vader, Luizi, come with me. The rest of you fall back to the dropship."

He saw his escort in the hanger, before issuing a greeting, "Hello. I am here to see Admiral Gilbraec. These marines and I are acting as ambassadors for the Federation."

Relentless

"I see. Perhaps you could inform me as to the motivations behind your Captain's request then since he is not here and has left you in charge. I am curious as to why he or your people for that matter would be curious to seek diplomatic relations now, instead of earlier. You will have to forgive my confusion here."

Lieutenant Jarek balked slightly at the Mythrandirian's question. How was he suppose to know the answer to that? He'd only been in the Fleet for about six years not counting the Academy. Oh well, he thought. Jarek pressed down on a key to reply.

"I'm unaware of the main reason sir, but it must stem from the fact that our two nations have never met face-to-face like this before. From what data files our ships logs contain we've only known of your nation through intelligence reports that mark you as having loose ties with the nation of Coreworlds. This, you could say, has been our first major opportunity to speak with you on an even playing field."

Gallic Conquerer, Main Hangar

Standing smartly to attention was a platoon of white-armored stormtroopers and three officers, two junior legionnaire officers and a major. His olive green uniform, marking him as a member of the Army and not of the Fleet, clacked his heels together and bowed respectively as the Vuhifellian delegation stepped off their ship.

"It is no problem for them to accompany you," replied the major. "However I must detain any weapons you may be carrying. I cannot allow you to be in the Vice Admiral's presence until I do. Its not meant to be an insult, simply a safety precaution. The vice admiral is, after all, a member of the Thrashian Royal Family."

"No insult taken, we would do the same. Marines, police your weapons."

The three marines unloaded their weapons, before handing the weapons and magazines to the stormtroopers. They gave their knives to the lieutenant, who, in turn, returned his remaining weapons back onto the ship.

"I apologize, but it is heresy for us to hand over our hand-to-hand combat weapons to someone else. I have returned them to our dropship. If you wish to search us to make sure we're secure, I have no qualms. I assure you we are all unarmed now." the liuetenant said in a plain, monotone voice.

The major nodded. "I believe we can proceed without such a waste of time. The admiral is very persistent to get you to him, so follow me please."

Forming up around them in an honor guard the stormtroopers and the major led the group of Vuhifellians out of the wide ship hangar and into the bowels of the ship. They passed several doors before coming to a lift. Half the stormtroopers stayed behind, as they would not all fit inside, while the rest of them plus their guests went up. The major studied the new comers with slight interest.

After rising more than forty flight decks, the lift came to a stop and they all exited. Waiting for them was a man wearing specialized red armor. The major and all the stormtroopers came to an abrupt salute, and the sound of heels clacking together drummed through the air.

The major turned to Lieutenant Ackeron. "May I present Imperial Knight Marcellus (http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b184/Upum/Star%20Wars/Roan_Fell_Imp_Knights.jpg), life warden of Vice Admiral Gilbraec and member of his majesty's Imperial Knights. He will take you to the admiral."

The stormtroopers returned to the lift with the major, leaving the three marines and the lieutenant with the good-natured looking Marcellus. The Imperial Knight bowed in welcome and smiled at the lieutenant.

"Welcome aboard the Gallic Conquerer. If you will follow me I will show you to the conference room," said Marcellus. He turned, his red cape shifting with him and his lightsaber jingling on his hip, and walked down the hall. The guests quickly followed.

They came to a paneled door with two more stormtroopers standing at attention on either side. They clicked their heels as Marcellus walked between them and the Vuhifellians. The group entered a large conference room. A long table of nicely polished nal-wood stood at the center with a dozen chairs sitting around it. Standing behind one at the end was Vice Admiral Gilbraec.

The young admiral walked up to the Vuhifellians and bowed slightly in greeting. "Greetings lieutenant. If you care to sit while we talk..." Gilbraec took a seat at the end and indicated the chair to his right. Marcellus silently took up a position behind Gilbraec's left shoulder.

"Now," said Gilbraec. "What seems to be this sudden problem that your ships had to run off to so fast?"

As they entered the room, all four Vuhifellians snapped a crisp salute, before bowing their heads deeply in a sign of respect.

The liuetenant sat down at the seat next to the admiral, silently ordering his three subordinates to an attention position behind him. Their multicam armor contrast greatly with the polished wood around them.

"I do not know the specifics, Admiral, but it would seem that Naval Command on my homeworld has recalled every ship in the fleet back to our home system. It must be a real emergency. But before we continue, may we compare territorial star charts to ensure that our expanding empires do not fringe on each other's territory?"

Relentless
Lieutenant Jarek balked slightly at the Mythrandirian's question. How was he suppose to know the answer to that? He'd only been in the Fleet for about six years not counting the Academy. Oh well, he thought. Jarek pressed down on a key to reply.

"I'm unaware of the main reason sir, but it must stem from the fact that our two nations have never met face-to-face like this before. From what data files our ships logs contain we've only known of your nation through intelligence reports that mark you as having loose ties with the nation of Coreworlds. This, you could say, has been our first major opportunity to speak with you on an even playing field."

Gallic Conquerer, Main Hangar

Elthos sunk his head into the waiting palm of an armored gauntlet. Either the person he was speaking with was either lying or so young that he had no idea what he was refering to. There was one possibility and that was even worse. Ignorance.

"An interesting dilemma I see because we know of your nation, at least in name's sake. Tell me lieutenant, what do you know of a nation by the name of Tannelorn?"