NationStates Jolt Archive

(OOC/Recruitment Thread (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=545871))

Chapter I: Baptism of Fire

Neocataluña, Confederacy of the Third Commune, 2nd of November of 2120

"60, ECM online, 58, Systems of punt-defens online, 53...
"31, Computers navigationals primarys initiads, 26...
System of coolant ativad...
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, ignition..."

As he waited, Raul Riggs heard from inside of one of them among several computerized voices announcing the simultaneous launch of hundreds of space shuttles, their sounds baffling the constant sounds of the war that was about to end with the ultimate defeat of his nation. All other cities have already fallen to enemy occupation and they would not hold for much longer. The strong pull of the propelling rockets backed his body to the seat of the transport shuttle that would lead him and other 199 highly intelligent and morally exemplary individuals to Bakunin Space Station from where they would be transferred to the recently built SCS Bakunin, one of ten colony ships which would head to the Gliese 581 system, their last hope of showing mankind an alternative to oppression and exploitation. He watched a small monitor showing the images from a camera positioned at the rear of the shuttle. For a brief moment he could see the clash of tanks and infantry battalions, the cities burning on fire and what could only be described as a desolate no man's land around Neocataluña, soon the view became distant as the pressure pulling his back to the seat lowered, only a large desolate island in the Atlantic west of the Iberian region could be seen below some cloud formaitons, and on other monitor connected to a lateral camera, he observed the Bakunin Station with several space shuttles docked at it and several others awaiting to dock, while several orbital defense satellites, orbital interceptors and superiority fighters flew around it and a large amount of space debris from destroyed shuttles at a distance. Luckily its point-defense and ECM systems weren't needed during its trip. The public communications were heard by the passengers then:

"Bakunin Station, iss is STS-132, pedind space to dock"

"Wait STS-132, all bays of docking are atualment ocupads by otros navs of transport, we estimate 20 minuts for complet cargament of els pasajers ento el SCS Bakunin. We recomend mover it to el zone safe"

"Compreendid, we moverems it al area relativement safe y waitems"

The shuttle moved behind the satellite and orbital fighters escorts and stationed. Raul decided to talk with the apparently sad man at his side, also using the Comúns language:

"Hola! Cual's tu name?" (Hello! What's your name?), Raul friendly asked

"Sorry! I not am en el mood to talk" (Sorry, I'm not in the mood to talk), he replied with a scowl in his face

"Sól uns segunds" (Just for few seconds), Raul insisted

"Tut bien, en que tu gusteria to talk?" (All right, what would you like to talk about?), he said as his scowl diminished.

"Gliese 581c"

"El infern como Venus en que some of us liverems?" (The Venus-like Hell where some of us shall live?), he frowned.

"Si, mas it no conten temperaturs so bad en atmosfer superior (Yes, but it hasn't so bad temperatures on its upper atmosphere), Raul claimed.

"Iss no ayudará a mi hermana que no fue aprovada y remainera en Tierr. Ela morrerá con los otros!" (This won't help my sister which wasn't approved and will remain in Earth. She will with the others), he said in despair as he did a facepalm and further ignored Raul.

Raul resumed his wait, observing the monitor connected with the camera at the left until not so long of a wait the communication silence was broken.

"STS-132, proced to dock 10, all pasajers, tir tus cints de belt y prepar to disembarc. En el base, movan en orden to dock 11 ond SCS Bakunin is" (All passengers, take off your seatbelts and prepare to disembark. When at the base, move orderly to dock 11 where SCS Bakunin is)

The shuttle then slowly moved to dock with Bakunin Space Station, when finally the inertia was countered, its airlock reached the base's and they merged. All inside it got up then and made a line which moved off the ship. Raul was impressed by the cramped but impressively lengthy corridors of the base as he moved towards the sleeper ship among many hundreds of people coming from STS-191 to STS-200, the last ships to send their citizens to the sleeper colony ship. Suddenly the base speakers announced a warning message from an human operator:

"Atention! Navs Enemys detectads al 200 kilometers y aproximating. Prepar defens positions! Prepar navs to escort SCS Bakunin! For el triumf of Confederacy!" (Warning! Enemy ships detected at 200 kilometers and approaching. Prepare defensive positions! Prepare ships to escort SCS Bakunin! For the triumph of Confederacy!")

With red lights flashing everywhere, suddenly everybody started to accelerate the pace towards Dock 11, but Raul instead moved towards one of the orbital interceptor fighters bays of the base. As soon as he reached it, his hazel eyes looked at his goal: a OF-251 Orbital Superiority Fighter(Closest Reference Found (http://images.wikia.com/acecombat/images/9/96/R3525cl7rk.jpg)). He simply showed his credentials to a mechanic as an Air Force veteran and entered in the ship. Other pilots also manned the 4 other remaining ships that would escort the Bakunin until the end of their enemies' orbital ships inferior operational ranges and then dock with the Bakunin. Both launches of the colony and orbital fighters would be synchronized.

"Launch en 30 segunds. ECM online, systems of punt-defense online, 25, 24, 23, 22, Igniters of engine initiads, 18, 17, System of coolant ativad...
5, 4, 3, 2, 1, ignition, launch!"

With the docking bay opened, all fighters flew towards the space and after dealing with the rest of inertia pulling them away, entered formation around the wing of the colony ship as it moved towards the Gliese system. Other ships also were on the way. Only them Raul became used with flight controls on zero gravity. While they were on their way, the enemy forces located far at their right were moving to intercept them.

OOC: Recruitment details for assuming the role of one of the enemy or allied factions in this "interactive history", the place to discuss stats and battles and where OOC Notes are stored is the following OOC thread:

http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=545871

"Warning, formation of enemy bombers reaching effective range to attack SCS and currently at 15 kilometers, immediate interception recommended.", the message Raul received informed, and he immediately turned his OF-251 towards the threat, which yaw thrusters pulled at full power. Just a few seconds before facing the exact direction of the target he accelerated his fighter, generating through inertia a different route from straight line against the target. He then communicated

"FAI squadron, we must focus one bomber per time to ensure maximum chance of taking them down. Attack the closest bombers first. If any of you has an objection against this idea you have 30 seconds to offer a viable alternative"

Nobody complained, as there was definitively nothing better to do in their minds.

"Good, now I suggest we stick together and deactivate automatic inertial compensation to keep a combined vector of x, y and z axis through inertia to reduce the capability of escorting enemy fighters."

They started moving their vertical thrusters and manually controlling the direction of their fighters with the support of a directional vector showing flight computer.

"Enemy bombers at 12,000 meters from the SCS!", another communication from Bakunin Base warned as they came closer to the enemy strike force.

"We'll be in attack range in about 8 seconds! Get ready!", Raul informed as they were about to reach missiles range, being thus able to fire against the first bomber.

OOC: I can't go further than this without someone to take the position of the enemy strike force against the colony ship. Recruitment happens in this thread (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=545871)

Despite the ravages of war, the city of Neocataluña still brightened in its splendor. The majestic arcologies raising kilometers above the surface were filled with anti-air defenses made airstrikes suicidal, the countless skyways connecting gigantic buildings inspired by art-deco, the tall chimney-less cooperative industries manufacturing tools of war and a bustling city still remained with those who were not selected to depart. However a blight atmosphere permeated the city. It wasn't uncommon to see the weaker of will pulling the triggers of their pistols pointed to their heads, or people jumping from kilometers tall buildings. Suicide rates were among the highest of Confederacy history as some did not want to live to see their beloved ideals crumbled to dust. miles below a surface of despair and hopelessness however, a huge facility, hidden beneath tons of earth beneath the ocean floor, housed countless millions of people who did chose to have their still alive selves frozen into cryonics until technological progress allow their lives to be extended. A massive graveyard, cold and lifeless, however also hopeful...

"Do you see all those people son? They are sleeping to await for the time the world gets better", replied Melinda to his son pointing to the countless human bodies in suspended animation.

"Mommy! I don't want to sleep, they are scary and it looks cold!", Billy replied with tears dropping from his weary eyes."

"I'll sleep at your side Billy, don't worry, everything will be okay and when we wake up the world will be much better than it is now.", she comforted his son.

"And what about daddy? Is he not going with us?", his son asked.

"He cannot Billy, because those who are protecting us against the evil fascist monsters need all the help they can", she replied, tears dropping from her eyes as well. "But Billy, your father, he is a hero fighting against the enemies of mankind, never forget him we will never..."

Billy embraced his mother.

"We must go son, to sleep until the heroes from the stars return to free our world from evil", and they joined a massive line of people heading to millions of vacant cryo-chambers. They walked down the ramp to the depths of the bunker, watching near them the malnourished and depressed among children who lost their parents, parents who lost their children, grandparents who lost everything they had in a funeral march where people of several ethnicities were, walking through large hallways and moving towards their destinies.

As instructed they took the elevator to the cryo-pods 10,000 to 10,100, and then the first 2 vacant pods, cylindrical and inclined at 25 degrees in a large row, on at its other side. Both had comfortable foamed beds and were among the large row of pods. Above and below them other floors of cryo-pods existed. Melinda and Billy laid on the pods, still opened, and he asked:

"Can you tell me a story mommy, before we sleep?", he asked

"Of course billy. This is the tale of death", she said with a scowl

"What is death mommy?", Billy asked innocently

"Something you won't need to know Billy, because it will never happen to us", she replied with a more friendly expression.

"But I want to know mommy! I'm curious!", he replied actively

"Right. Death Billy, is when someone 'sleeps' like here, but never wakes up anymore", she answered.

"But mommy, what if the heroes from stars fail? Won't we be dead then?", he asked worried.

"I promise you Billy. Those great people will not fail. They are the best of the best son. They will come here even if they have to fight among many stars and they will free this world from the evil fascist monsters, no matter what it costs to them. And then they will come here and wakes us up". She said in a soothing tone of voice.

As soon as she said it, a voice announced.

"Initiating cryonics in 10 seconds"

"Billy, close your eyes, lay down and relax, we are going to sleep now", she replied as she closed her own eyes and layed down in the comfy bed.

Soon the sound of the cryo-pods closing was was heard, and a mass of special gases put the people to their long sleep in wait of those who would liberate the Confederacy from its oppressors, should they ever return.

Bacconi woods, 100 kilometers west of Neocataluña, 3:00 AM

"They keep sending wave after wave from that base of theirs to be crushed by Neocataluña defenses.", noted one of the blackguards, the best of the best of Confederacy covert ops, as he used his infrared binocular system to watch the main road ahead under the cover of the woods.

"It seems like they rely more than they should wisely on such base so close to us", replied Arleigh Brian, as he looked at the pictures of his wife Melinda and son Billy at a locket, a popular relic from the past which became trendy again in the latest years, as were paper-printed pictures. "The more we damage them, higher will be the chances that the future liberation star fleet from Gliese 581 succeeds into taking over Confederacy territories from our enemies", and he continue "and thus our lost people shall be rescued from the depths of the sea. Let's come here and plan an attack to that damn base".

The enemy invasion force base was presumed to be filled with several tanks under maintenance, and after some calculations it was concluded an attack to it would cause severe economic losses to their enemies.

The base layout was square, housing several tents where tanks were parked and with a permanent guard watching its few entrances among its large electrified thick steel wall with the support of surveillance cameras. Soon Arleigh mentioned during their planning. "They think blindly their defenses are impenetrable to the point they didn't put cameras in the east wall. We should be able to sneak there and use our advanced anti-static and climbing equipment to get right inside their base, do you have the demolition equipment ready?

"Yes, my anti-tank guided missile launcher is loaded up and our buddies are ready to blow some tanks and buildings with armor piecing stuff, explosives and incendiary ammo. Now, after we climb the 'impenetable' wall, what should we do?", a soldier asked.

"That's tricky considering that if we connected to a satellite feed our position would be discovered immediately by the enemy SigInt. I'm afraid I'll have to candidate myself to assume leadership and decide what to do then, if you accept", explained Arleigh.

"Most of us trust you enough to elect you a commander. Right?"

"Yes", the other four soldiers said.

"Thanks! I won't let you down, now let's sneak to the road and get to the wall, and stay alert and don't shoot unless we are spotted."

And the small group sneaked past away the shrubs and trees, watching carefully the enemy forces regularly coming in and out of the base. Tension filled their feelings as the sensation of being watched crawled upon their senses. Fortunately though after crossing the road, nothing happened at all, and they headed very close to the wall, Arleigh then putted a grappling hook launcher attachment to his G-16 assault rifle and others did the same. They aimed at the wall and fired, leading only to a very quiet pop sound as the hooks grappled the wall behind and the ropes started to hang from it. They then started climbing the hope as Arleigh warned:

"Let me check the place first", he then climbed up to the rope, and looked on what was behind the wall, trying to remain as stealthy as possible, then he climbed down and said in a low voice

"They got an airport too, so we will strike it first. No patrols watching this wall, let's climb it and go down inside, quick!". All climbed to their ropes and trying to keep balance in the wall, and then simply jumped down from the 2 meters tall wall, landing without suffering any physical damage. Then they quickly crawled behind some storage crates to decide where to go next for sure.

"There is no sneaky way to get to that airport, let me see...", Arleigh explained

"Arleigh, look at those barracks! It seems most of their troops are there! Let's blow it first then we'll have less enemies to deal with."

"Good idea Juan, prepare your incendiary explosives and plant them there, this time we'll have some roasted fascist pigs for the go! If they spot us before just pull the red button!". They sneaked from the crates to behind the barracks just at their left and then did set up a few remote controlled and timed explosives at the barracks rear surroundings until covering all of them up to the ones closest to the entrance, then it was noted their cover was gone against the front gate internal guards, but other patrols were elsewhere.

"It's seem we'll have to silence them", Arleigh noted as he attached a scope to his silenced submachinegun and adjusted it to semi-automatic fire, soon the other best shooter of the group, Mario, prepared his own as well.

"Mario, you aim at that one which is closest and I aim at the farthest, we shoot them simultaneous at three, two, one,"

The silenced pop of the submachineguns sounded as both guards felt, Arleigh and his group then moved to the west side of the base, where the tents with tanks were, and started setting more explosives inside the tanks, as they were conveniently with their hatches opened due to a recent maintenance routine. Everything adjusted for all to explode simultaneous, of course.

"Now to the airport and its comm center, we won't need those AT missile launchers tonight"

And they sneaked behind the tents with tanks and close to an airport at the northwest of the base. Patrols came very close to spot them in their way, and sometimes it seemed a matter of luck they weren't spotted, but they persevered towards their last goal. Bombs were planted at each fighter, bomber and airplane there and also at the comm tower, which they cleaned after killing a bunch of soldiers there silently.

"We got 1 minute to get out of here before everything blows!" Arleigh explained. Then someone noticed the bodies and shouted

"Intruders! We are under attack!"

Immediately Arleigh got down, followed by the others, and pushed the red button of the detonator.

Then all that came was fire and screams in the most absolute chaos. The base seemed like a huge campfire emanating noxious fumes from destroyed vehicles. Shrapnels and pieces of metal flied as the blackguards remained under the cover of a few water barrels, after shooting the guards from the rear gates. Few seconds later Arleigh saw legions coming from the front and rear gates towards them.

"Load the White phosporous! Three for front and three for rear!", he screamed as he and others loaded their assault rifles grenade launchers with WP grenades and their guided missile launchers with WP missiles. Mario simply fired the grenade towards the incoming soldiers at the rear as bullets ricocheted on the barrels, coupled with another grenade and with a WP missile, and the same amount of projectiles was fired against the other direction from their cover of barrels. Soon after thousands of burning enemy soldiers screamed in agony as Arleigh said "Take them out of their misery" and they shot them with the 8.53mm caseless rounds fired from their bullpup G-16 rifles. "Let's get out of here through the west wall!", he shouted as they loaded another grappling hook with a rope and ran to the walls behind the destroyed tanks. They shot the hooks on the top of the wall and received the instruction "Use experimental mode! We don't have time to climb!", then rather than releasing the rope from the gun, they pulled another trigger which made the gun, using a large reel, pull them towards the wall and luckily the ropes didn't break. Then jumping from the wall back to the grasslands outside and after running a while to some dense shrubs where they hid, they watched another battalion of infantry marching towards Neocataluña with several tanks.

The six men were talking

"Arleigh. I doubt we have any chance of returning back to the city alive", said Mario. "What should we do now? I don't want to be hiding like a mouse. If we are going to die, I think we should kill as many enemies as possible before it happens."

"We should survive on the wilderness and keep a low profile for now. Ambushing that battalion there would be suicidal. If we keep our goals realistically we might end like in this operation: with zero casualities to our side, many more times. Let's wait for those forces to get away and return to the woods north of here"

"I don't want to die in vain, we should keep resorting to guerrilla warfare.", said Juan

"Neither we do", said the others.

And they waited for another strike batallion to cross the road to their north, until then the only remaining movement was of the flames burning the enemy base to the ground as a group of 6 men destroyed 20 tanks, 10 fighters, 10 bombers and killed about 100 soldiers. They then crossed the road and headed back to the Bacconi woods, trying to locate another enemy target to raze.

From the cockpit, it was already possible to observe the tiny visual signature of the enemy orbital forces bathed by sunlight, the readings were clear as well, they were armed with fusion missiles that, should they impact with the Bakunin, would end its life and the life of twenty thousand among the greatest minds of Third Commune.
As they approached their target, the heads up display soon informed that the closest bomber to them was being locked, then, in an immediate reaction, Riggs said through the communications system: "Fire at will!" and the lock was on just as his words were spoken, he then immediately pressed the button from the control stick, followed by the others.

The enemy bombers were preparing to launch their fusion missiles as the first five missiles moved towards the closest one to the Bakunin, immediately their fighters propelled towards the allied escort. In a fraction of seconds as he noticed it, Raul said "Ignore the fighters, target the next!", even before being sure those five missiles would actually hit the bomber they were launched against. Few seconds passed and a truly historical battle would begin...
The first bomber had little defenses against the five missiles fired against it. Though its ECM managed to deflect one of them, the others impact straight against its wings, pulling what remained from it away with the kinetic energy and presumably killing its entire crew, while its fusion missile flew without destination through the void of space.

At the same time several warning messages in the HUD of each of their five ships indicated they were being targeted by their enemies, while frenetically changing directions through the thrusters to attempt avoiding them, when eventually five wavemaster missiles were fired against Raul spaceplane. He immediately activated the ventral thrusters to push it upwards and its right thrusters to push it left, while trying to keep a lock on the third enemy bomber, ignoring the second as it was already too late to destroy it before it launched the missile. He immediately dropped several ECM decoys as the missiles approached his fighter, as he fired another spacewinder against the bomber simultaneously with the others. Before even the missiles target against him could come close enough to determine his fate, the fusion missile of the second bomber started flying towards the Bakunin, threatening the fate of 20,000 of lives and the future of the Third Commune, as it was a known fact that other enemy vessels were being deployed against the other colony ships, and should they fail in their mission, there was the possibility all others would fail as well.

Although the ECM decoys deflected the incoming missiles, several rounds of 70mm autocannons impacted against the hull of their spaceplanes as their enemies flew straight past them, concentrating most of their fire against one of their wing only: the Black 4. His ship hull didn't stand the fire, the rounds opened several holes through it, and although they did not hit the pilot, he was reserved for a worser fate as the oxygen of his fighter started to escape through space.

"I'm losing it... oxygen levels dropping!", he communicated.
"Black 4, we are losing the fusion missile of our range! We cannot let it..."
Before Raul could finish his sentence, another barrage of missiles was fired towards them. The pilot of the Black 4, known only as Sosa, then took his last breath of the remaining oxygen and pulled all the thrusters of his damaged spaceplane, which weapons systems were not operational. He knew his fighter was the closest to the fusion missile, he knew which was the only way to save 20 thousands of lives. Moving his OF-251 at full speed towards the missile he soon was replied by the other desperate pilots:

"Black 4! What are you doing?", Riggs said before launching another couple of ECM decoys.
"Call me Sosa! That is my name, and remember it, never forget it, even if nothing but non-existence lie beyond this life!", he replied in a posthumous tone before his last seconds of life.
A missile bypassed the ECMs and impacted with Black 2 wing. Two simultaneous explosions happened in this moment, at one side, the Black 2 had its left wing teared apart and start to drift on space. She did not lose the oxygen from her cockpit though. On the other side, Black 4 impacted with the fusion missile at a very high speed, provoking a premature fusion reaction out of range to struck against the Bakunin. The pilot of Black 2 attempted to correct the course using the intact thrusters as the ten enemy ships flew towards the three intact fighters firing another burst of autocannon fire.

It was only a struck of luck coupled with their maneuvering tactics that allowed them to not be seriously damaged by the autocannons fire, though their spaceplane armors were almost completely worn out by this time, and another attack by those enemies would definitively destroy them.

"Sitting ducks while they are maneuvering back! Black 2, if any of them get into your range, fire!"
"Understood, I'm still adjusting my trajectory back to the wing", she replied
"Lock in 2, fire!", Raul said as the three fighters fired against three of the ten enemy fighters still correcting inertia. Their crafts immediately turned 180 degrees towards them and start firing their autocannons.

"Mobility", the word resonated through Riggs mind from an old memory as he again pushed his spaceplane to an even more difficult to hit angle of flight, and others did the same. The nose-fixed autocannons of their enemies hardly had a chance to hit, though the same couldn't be said about their much more flexible nose-mounted autocannon turrets, which although previous fires have not yet provoked any significant damage to their enemies, now concentrated against a single of their ships, while another group of 3 missiles was fired against 3 enemy spaceplanes, while Black 2 finally was at range to fire against another one. Soon 7 of their spaceplanes were destroyed in a maelstrom of missiles and autocannon rounds. The 3 other remaining finally managed to compensate inertia and started to match the direction of the allied spread out wing. Aiming straight against them, the autocannon turrets of the allies eventually pierced straight through their armors even before another lock of the missiles was completed. They finally launched 3 other spacewinder missiles to take the oxygen-less pilots of the enemy ships out of their miseries.

"Unbelievable! I feared we were gone by the time they moved against us.", Black 2 said.
"They have made a great mistake, for our luck, or we wouldn't have managed this 1:2 or 1:3 ratio at any form, and we have exploited it to the fullest"
"What kind of mistake?", Black 2 asked as her curiousness arose.
"They have sacrificed mobility for firepower in the hopes they would finish us in their initial attack, and thus gave themselves to vulnerabilities which allowed us to take them down, even outnumbered.", he explained as they headed to dock with the Bakunin.
"But technically, they would have succeeded if it wasn't for... Sosa", she said in a less than happy tone.
"I had little time to know you, and I wouldn't have approved what he did, but his sacrifice saved twenty thousands of lives. I shall not forget his request and his first name shall be forever remembered in the history of the Third Commune, let his action serve as an example for the future generations of what it truly means to fight for a greater cause. He sacrificed not only his own life, but according to his beliefs, his own existence as a sentient being.", Raul said, solemnly. "We shall never forget what he did today", he added as they were very close to the docking bay of the Bakunin. After a few thruster movements they got inside, and headed to their stasis chambers, while a single one remained there... empty.

Similarly the other colony ships were met with fierce resistance, and other heroes have proven their value in the most dire situation in this time, both in orbit or in the surface of Earth. Through a baptism of fire the surviving descendants of the dying Third Commune have passed before reaching beyond the stars... through a baptism of fire they might one day return, as of now many other survivors await for their coming, sleeping kilometers beneath the waves in large hidden and secret cryonics complexes, people who lost their parents, children and many loved ones, awaiting in a last hope for a liberation of Third Commune territories in Earth... that might never come.

(OOC: This "finishes" the first chapter, if you have any comments or wish to start a parallel RP in surface by joining in this PMT/FT Intro roleplay, check the OOC Thread (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=545871))