NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: All you need to do to join in is to have a fleet make a warp jump (doesn’t matter how you do warp, be it WH40k-style or SW or whatever). Something will go wrong mid-jump and you will wind up in this nameless system in an unknown galaxy. One star, one Earth-like planet. The only rule is don’t glass the planet, because there are some ruins from an ancient, advanced civilization on the surface that will be central to the plot. So, go ahead and play naturally and we’ll see how this RP turns out!. EDIT: This RP is now closed to every that hasn't expressed interest on the Nationstates Draftroom or already posted.

IMPORTANT
This thread died a good while ago, but several of the participants talked about it and decided to revive it and play it through to its natural end. If you were involved in the RP before it died, feel free to post again. We're going to finish it this time. And yes, Azaha is the plot twist.

IC:

Solemnity of Soul died silently in orbit around the sixth planet from the sun. A large ship by the standards of the Einhauserian Trans-Solar Fleet (ETSF), she had come apart amidships, sliding slowly into two great halves that drifted away from each other, a glitter of explosions lacing the severed waist. There was no fanciful, all-mighty detonation like you see in the films they show back home, only a sick quiet that marked the end of a thousand lives. A cloud of escape pods burst out of the wreck like flies from a rotting corpse, beating their fusion wings in a futile attempt to escape the planet’s gravity. Bands of heat played around the hull of the hulk, lapping at the oxygen that bled from the rent and bathing the molten surface of the world in a dull pink as its weight bore the craft down. The only ETSF casualty of the war, the Solemnity of Soul and all 1,214 men aboard came to rest somewhere in the raging, burning atmosphere of the former home of the CZ-192-4 species.

That was not what they had called themselves, of course. No doubt many names were dreamed up by the bizarre counterparts of humanity’s poets, authors and painters, the product of a culture at least as old as its destroyers. But once the first of the R-bombs had hit, that mattered little. The atmosphere ignited as the seas boiled and flesh turned to ash. As anything that lived on the surface died in a pressure-cooker of global proportions, the gray shapes of an ETSF fleet wove their way through the moons and minor colonies, systematically purging them of any signs of life. It seemed harsh, brutal, perhaps even evil, but such was the nature of existence. If you can find the enemy then you must kill him, for before long he will return the favor.

It had been a freak oversight that doomed the Solemnity of Soul. No matter how thorough the purging fleet had been, they had forgotten to scour nearby systems for the primitive exploratory craft CZ-192-4 had just begun to send out. It was one of these that, while returning from a ten year flight, had picked up the dying transmissions of their race. Whether it was fatalism, fanaticism or just a thirst for revenge, the ship had set itself to collide with the most appealing target. Solemnity of Soul had slowed to watch for signs of life on the surface of the world, presenting the perfect aiming point. That was all it took.

******

Space swirled in front of the Hayabusa class tactical battleship ENSS Ton Nevac. As the prow of the vessel slide into warp, the crew ruminated on events passed. A general air of sadness clotted throats and made the eyes water, no matter how hard the air scrubbers worked. “She died well,” offered Captain Mike Maximum at length. The bridge was lit up in a somber blue to mark the loss of a vessel for the first time in half a century.

“I knew some of those men, back on the Solemnity,” heaved the first officer, as if nobody would know which ship he was talking about.

“I think we all did.” Mike Maximum sighed and straightened in his chair. It was the role of the captain to set an example for his crew, and they needed it now more than ever. Summoning the ship-wide communications channel, he addressed his men.

“This is your captain speaking, but I come to you today not as an officer, but as a fellow soldier at arms. Our people have suffered greatly this day. We lost many fathers, brothers, soldiers and friends with the death of the Solemnity of Soul. They gave their lives for the Corporation and the continued good of the people, and that should not be forgotten. If you would, please set down your work and join me for a moment of silence.” Mike Maximum motioned for the lights to dim further and bowed his head. The rest of the bridge crew did as well, many savoring the memories lost.

When the moment had passed, light returned. Nodding in approval, Mike Maximum commanded the ship to close the comm. channel. The navigation officer furrowed his brow. “Captain, something is wrong with out sensors.”

“What do you mean, Lieutenant?”

“The computer is telling me we mis-jumped. Sir, that’s… that’s impossible.”

“That can’t be right. Run a diagnostic.” Wisps of light swirled around the bridge as commands were entered into holographic consoles. They didn’t exist as anything other than coherent light, but the ship stimulated parts of the brain to give the illusion of contact.

“No problems detected. According to the computer we are not, well, where we are supposed to be.” Mike Maximum pondered this for a moment. There had never been a recorded case of a mis-jump in the entire history of the Einhauser Corporation, and that stretched back for over two millennia!

“What do we know about our destination? Who’s here with us?”

“As far as I can tell, it’s just us and our battlegroup, 149 other ships in total. There is one sun, main sequence. One planet, possibly terran. There are no recognizable points of navigation.” The officer ran a hand across his scalp and sat heavily back in his chair. “Captain, I don’t know what galaxy we’re in.”

First Lieutenant Robert Porter stood tall on the bridge of the Nazionale, a Venator Star Destroyer, looking out of the bridge windows into the seemingly endless electric blue abyss. After the delivery of troops and supplies to an outpost somewhere, the ship was returning to it's home. The ship had a very quiet feel about it. He paced up and down the bridge, glancing all of the computer screens, looking for anything unusual.
An anonymous crewman turned and spoke, "Sir, I'm picking us something odd." As Porter approached him, the crewman said, "According to this, we've mis-jumped." The man had a tone of disbelief in his voice.
Porter looked to be in disbelief. "That's impossible. Not in the modern history of conventional faster-than-light travel has there ever been a mis-jump. Are you sure?"
"Yes, sir. There are no problems with our engines or anything, it has to be a freak accedent. The computer is scanning our original destination coordinates, and the're showing them as the right place. It has to have been a fluke accedent in communication, or something similar."
Porter, nor any other commander in the Imperial fleet, had ever been in a mis-jump, for they never happened. But he knew the protocol. "Pull us out of light-speed, as soon as possible." He turned. "Get the Captain in here! Have our weapons and shields ready as soon as we're back in sub-light. I don't want us to be killed if it's hostle territory." He turned to the chief navigator. "Get me all the info on our destination, now."
The navigator replied, "From what I can see here, it's just our ship, a sun, and one planet, probably class one, inhabitable. When we re-enter sub-light, I'll be able to get more information. But, I don't know where we are. It's not on any of the charts."

It took some moments for the battlegroup to orient itself once it left warp. Burning a steady 1.6 gravities, they had accelerated to .06c before making the jump out of friendly space. In practice the tactic allowed ETSF forces to maintain a high rate of speed and maneuverability upon exiting warp, but also required a sizeable gravity well to cancel the momentum upon arrival. In most cases a star would do, but the fleet had to be aligned perfectly.

“How soon can we begin to bleed momentum?” Captain Mike Maximum paced the bridge, attempting to wrap his mind around this catastrophe.

“Roughly two days until alignment with the system’s sun is achieved, sir.” The bridge crew was at full strength, the order to go to full alert status having been issued shortly after they left warp.

“Very good, thank you Navigation. Comms, patch me through to our battlegroup.” A dozen screens swam into existence around the captain’s head, moving just enough to sustain the illusion of solidity. “This is Captain Mike Maximum of the Ton Nevac. We are going ahead with the plan we discussed earlier. Continue to slow your ships as we enter orbit around this system’s sun. I don’t want to expend battery power to perform a fleet-wide tactical jump, so we’re looking at a few month’s transit time.”

One of the floating windows changed to a depiction of a head. “Captain Maximum, have you any idea what caused us to mis-jump?” Mike Maximum shrugged. The floating head belonged to the captain of one of the destroyers in the fleet, Gerald Verin if he remembered correctly. Of course, there were fifty destroyers in the fleet, so he could be wrong.

“No, we don’t know, but we will continue working on the issue.”

[APPROXIMATELY 38 LIGHT-MINUTES FROM UNKNOWN SYSTEM PRIMARY]
[ON BOARD RANS PRACTITIONED REALITY, PR-CLASS FAST SCOUTING CRUISER]

http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/8018/finalisedwv9.png

A blue dot appeared in space, elongating itself into a line. This line then expanded equally into the positive and negative y-coordinates, as relative to the line, ripping a box-shaped transitional hole in spacetime, allowing a rather spiked ship to pass through without incidence of getting parts of it sliced off by not fitting. In any case, something was heavily, heavily amiss.

“Something is heavily amiss. What's going on here?” Commodore Marie Hawke glanced at the cubic display in front of her and frowned. “I don't recognise this. Any of this. Logs, this is conn. Mission time--” Something else was excessively wrong. “The mission started approximately 10 hours ago. The readout shows 27 days since mission start. We need some sort of explanation for this. All systems, report!”

“Conn, this is navigation. All our sensors seem to have malfunctioned. We don't see any ships in the pattern we planned to space into the next system with. Star charts plotting does not recognise our location to known information.”

“Conn, this is weapons. All weapons seem to be shocked, nothing functioning right now. We'll spool them up to a ready mode on request.”

“Conn, this is sensors. No readings – systems seem to be shocked even longer than usual. And they said this ship type would recover from hyperspace effects faster than the Town models!”

“Conn, this is drives. We have some very, very strange readings in the core. It's as if we've used enough fuel to take us all the way across the galaxy.”

Marie blanched. “What the hell did we run into, exactly?”

Status. moaned the Locatia Infecter-class starship's central mind.

All organs stable... murmured the collective voices of the ships organs (systems).

Then why do I not recognize this sector? questioned the central mind, angry.

We do not understand...the warp must have failed. Unknown sector. This is most definitely not the Koragia. responded the collective voices.

It seems something is wrong with the universe...I have noticed multiple other enemy starships in the proximity.

What? interrupted the Central Hive Mind, which lay on the home world. Space-faring races? We are not ready yet. You must be far, for my psionic connection with you is quite weak. Enter orbit of the nearest planet, immediately. Do not attempt contact as of yet.

"This is Aurora gate station control, we have achieved lock with the destination, reciprocity is only about thirty two percent but the lock is good, it'll be a bumpy ride is all."

"Roger that gate station, we'll make sure every thing's tied down."

"Alright, you are clear for transit."

the gate was practically invisible even on sensors there was only a slight thermal and radiation gradient where the local space of the Auroran star system became the local space of some other, far away star system, ostensibly the star system designated aleph 2137, a dead system that the church astronomers had said might have mine-able quantities of rare elements and was deemed sufficiently interesting for a full expedition.
That was the mission of the the 32nd Imperial fleet, which had taken on a small scientific expedition group to establish an outpost in the system. The ships drifted slowly towards the gate, which was highlighted on navigational consoles by the gate-station. With such low reciprocity, it was important not to miss the gate, and a slow approach would make the transition smoother.

Ont he other side though, the gate was obvious to any capable of sensing it, the gate stations powerful projectors dumped exotic radiation into the system, and the gate itself fully mirrored Auroran local conditions, unlike the weak simulacrum on the Auroran side due to the low reciprocity. Due to peculiar interactions of time over such great distances, the gate appeared nearly a full hour before the first ship nosed through, followed quickly by the rest of the fleet. As the last ship came through, the gate projectors shut down, closing the inter-stellar corridor.

"This is the ETS Cortez to ETS Houston, We have a problem, we have completed a scan of the local environment and it doesn't match the expected, the navigators are looking through the atlas, but after twenty-two-hundred iterations, it is the general consensus that we are not within surveyed space, we recommend beginning a deep-sky survey to attempt to determine our location."

The report would almost have been lost among damage reports and other emergency notifications had it not come from the Navigator's acolytes, the third highest-priority intra-fleet communique, behind communications from fleet command aboard the ETS Houston and church communications. The request was confirmed immediately, and the Gateship ETS Cortez immediately began deploying solar shields and networked sensors, becoming a self-contained deep-sky survey satellite.
Meanwhile, the rest of the fleet was dealing with minor problems resulting from the bumpy gate-transit and the fleets pickets adjusted themselves to the local sensor environment.

"Commodore, we are approximately one light hours from the local star, a main-sequence type four. There is a terrestrial planet orbitting the star at approximately 1 AU, by it's orbit around the star,t he navigators have determined that we are below the ecliptic plane. The pickets are still zeroing their sensors after the transit, but several ships are reporting visual signatures consistent with drive trails in the area, possibly from several different groups. The church contingent is still deliberating, but believes that we may have accidentally jumped to an extra-galactic trade hub, given the number of different drive trails. they recommend broadcasting a contact package and establishing peaceful intentions.

"Very Well, have the science team broadcast the package and await further directives from the church, dismissed."

"aye sir."

the package was fairly simple, a radio broadcast along a narrow band of frequencies clustered around the hydrogen line, containing enough information to establish initial communications with other space faring races, or identify themselves to races with which previous communications had been opened.

Captain Ames strode onto the bridge. "Porter! What the hell is going on?"
Lieutenant Porter spun of the spot and looked at the captain. "A light-speed malfunction, something went wrong, we're going to enter sub-light in an unidentified system."
Ames looked indifferent, as he always did. "Is there any life in this system?"
"As far as we can tell, no."
"Sir!" The sensors officer looked to the captain. "I'm reading a couple life forms, possibly ships. Orders?"
The Captain barked, "Get ready! We're exiting light-speed now! Have the shield up and weapons ready!"
The blue abyss of space became white lines, which shrunk to stars scattered across the emptiness.
Porter requested a systems check, and Ames frowned as he looked at the solitary planet, and then the sun. "Send out communications in all known languages, on all frequecies. Say, we mean no harm, and do not wish to open hostilities."

It was a curse, for the comfort and safety of the stasis chambers couldn't be given to him, for him, to remain conscious during the entire travel was essential to ensure his comrades and himself wouldn't become lost forever in the depths of the Shadows of their own psyche turned real in the Shadow Universe. However, he was not the only one. Two individuals were given the responsibility of using an innate capability which only one of each hundred thousand has, for both were born with the gift of psionics. At least there was gravity, for the continual acceleration gave him a sense of weight. Fabian was wearing a tight-fitting full mechanical counter pressure suit, sitting on one of the control seats of the flight deck, which was the topmost one of the decks of the spacecraft he was in, the torchship christened as Rothbard, which was a Sniper Class Cruiser, of the usual type commonly employed in expeditions of such nature. The reason why the Rothbard entered through the anomaly was very important, for it was an attempt to finding a way to Sol, which would give a tremendous strategic advantage in the war against the Global State, which wasn't aware of the existence of such parallel universe which was free from the limitations of the laws of physics.

The travel through the infiniteness of the Shadow would be just another tranquil, almost fully automated probe instead, were not for the fact unmanned spacecrafts always lost contact after reaching through the anomaly event horizon, on the other hand, it was clear why Fabian wasn't happy to be awake and wanted to be on an stasis chamber as well as the almost entirety of the crew. He knew there was something with them, a sort of disturbing presence, yet nothing could be seen. The reports weren't optimistic either, for from each 10 spacecrafts which go through the Shadow, only one comes back with its crew alive. Strangely however, a few returned from it like if their greatest dreams have just happened, although the majority of survivors reported only their most horrible nightmares coming true.

Marianna, sitting in a seat to his side, was the only other one conscious, who was much calmer during the entire travel, actually delighted and singing some old songs to herself. Only Fabian was feeling the disturbing presence there, perhaps something of his own mind. Although spaces for reading instruments did exist, there were no visible navigation screens or visible human interfaces around them, as they were actually taking advantage of the brain-computer interface, a small wire coming from their seats through a tiny occipital jack, through which they were seeing the shifting nothingness of the outside, receiving multimedia information and also controlling some subsystems as the flight itself was fully automated for now. The silence of his mind was finally, while Fabian struggled against his own fears:

"Fabian, sens el signal?", a cheerful female voice asked straight into his mind, using their own language, Comuns, and he knew it was Marianna, he also have perceived a faint signal of a possible portal back to the physical universe. It seemed like if a pale blue dot could be imaged inside his mind, and somehow, there was a certain hint it was indeed a path to Sol.

"Si Marianna, vams a frent, el signal es indicacion de saida", was what her mind in turn has received, while Fabian used the conversation to relieve himself a bit from the unsettling feeling. It was a portal, a few minutes ahead of them probably. Minutes which seemed like an eternity for Fabian, as if his fears were devouring his own mind slowly, tormenting him as he tried to stand firm and not give up his resolve. Finally in a quick clearing, they went out of the Shadow and hopefully into Sol, where they would have to quickly retreat from before a possible swarm of relativistic projectiles could hit them.

------------------

They came roughly fifty astronomical units away from the primary star, as a visible burst of thermonuclear energy preceded their arrival as a sort of hole opened in the space and from it the torchship came at a high speed, it vanished almost instantly, although the light from it would eventually reach whatever could be there.

"Unidad de Astrogracion, analise de sistem", he informed mentally to the weak artificial intelligence which in usual circumstances controlled the spacecraft, while he was trying to observe the visual feed from the systems to locate the orbiting bodies across the sun. To his surprise, before the system replied, he immediately noticed that they ended in the wrong solar system.

"Sistem no es Sol. No parece con ningun sistem conocido, posible planet habitavel detectad. Signals de aeronavs spacials detectads", the cold, emotionless male voice spoke confirming their fears. The spacecraft continued accelerating continually at 1g, with a visible trail of the helium-4 byproduct of helium-3 and deuterium fusion behind being left by its large exhaust, which also served as the "radiator" of the Rothbard, expelling four-digit large temperatures in an way that could make a viewer at naked eye seeing it near the orbit of a planet confuse it with a small comet. Research into "stealth" has been considered as useless in space, and indeed, even if it was possible to have an stable and mass-produced metamaterial with total refraction, only magic would allow for an exhaust to not dissipate any thermal energy and light. Thus, in about 6 hours and 56 minutes, everything in that solar system would become aware of their presence, as they've become aware of the position of some unknown spacecrafts hours ago due to the light speed lag.

"Marianna, devems transmitir message geral al space? O despertar todos?", he asked to his friend at his side, wondering whether they should take the crew out of their beauty sleep while they were having to handle everything alone, and also pondering if transmitting a message to the unknown spacecrafts around was a good idea. They weren't particularly aware of other civilizations in space apart from Global State, and an natural worry on what they would face was natural, specially for the fact they never had peaceful relationships with non-human sentiences, for the last time a contact happened, it ended with the extinction of one of the sides, which fortunately wasn't theirs.

"No, mas no veo porque no acordar a todos. Rothbard, desativar stasis", she commanded, as in a few minutes the entire crew was conscious again, about 250 individuals who had diverse roles around, most being Space Guards to secure it against the possibility of those suicidal enough to attempt boarding it and at second, damage control crew. The rest of the navigation crew which was in stasis before took the elevator up to the topmost deck, glad for the artificial gravity, and assumed all the six empty seats around Fabian and Marianna. Others went to the modest cafeteria, feeling need of taking a bit of the usual flavored nutrient and hydration pastes, and other than for eating, they always were with their helmets on.

For now, all they had to do was to gather as much information as they could from that unknown system, and from the unknown spacecrafts as well. They were not prepared for a first contact, and cautiously, they preferred to wait for someone or something to contact them instead.

Unknown System

" Sir, warp cores are detecting strong interference... warp cores are now failing... attempting to stabilize, warp cores have failed. Dropping into realspace."

The 150 ship fleet shuddered into existence from the alternate bubble that had encompassed them. They were greeted by a vast dark landscape, typical of most systems anywhere into space. The Synits, half cyborg, half human, had been on there way to reinforce another fleet thousands of light-years away, but now the warp cores had failed on all vessels for a inexplicable reason. Navigation was reporting that the interference was extremely strong, greater than that of a interdictor sphere, indeed it seems to be some sort of cosmic anomaly.

Aboard the Oasis, Fleet Commander Xin curled his fists into a tight clamp. His fleet had a deadline to meet, they had to reinforce their allies and now they were stuck in a random system with seemingly no way out. Navigation had already deployed scan probes to scan the solar system which was abnormally large, and since they were not going anywhere soon the six carriers of the fleet had deployed their drones for patrol duties. " Sir, it appears that we are not alone in the area. There are at least several different fleets in the area. There is also a Type M habitable planet."
"Type M. Are you certain?" A Type-M was a rare find, a planet that was usually abundant in natural resources and easy to settle, requiring little extra effort to colonize. In addition, there was strange energy being detected from the planet, and Navigation had suggested that it may be harming the warp cores. At any rate, Xin might be forgiven by his masters if it really was a Type M, of which the Synits were always looking for. He ordered his fleet to begin maximum burn towards the planet, which would take around two days. In the meantime he ordered his factory ships to begin production of replacement drones and ammo for use against any action the Synits might take against the enemy.

ooc: it's still open to join right? oh, and my fleet has nothing to do w/ my country, fyi.

ic:

In the beginning of the era known as the New Dawn, the Crowned Princess succeeded her sister, the Empress That Was, as reigning deity of the Culsu Empire. The new Empress Who Is took a husband and together, secured the upheaval that had ensued when the former Empressed had ascended. Now that her reign was accepted and absolute over the Empire, she was free to send out voyages and entreat other races as she pleased.

Cul

The battleship was one of three, each commanded by one of the three brothers that formed the Trinity, the Empress' personal envoys and leaders of Her armies. In command of the Cul was the eldest brother, Ramuel (http://www.activeanime.com/html/images/DVD/PPDVD2.jpg). As he walked through the lengthy corridors of the 3,000 meter ship, his trusted Second (http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l79/Toph_earthbender/Hack/?action=view&current=00dhreki.gif) stayed at his side, reporting status updates of the expeditionary fleet that they were to lead. Ramuel listened quietly, noticablly perturbed at being sent on what he felt was a meaningless mission. Though he was expected to be a diplomat as well as a warrior, Ramuel's unique nature made him loathe the prospect of being anything but a military commander. His brother Uruel-the Empress' husband-on the other hand, had the trappings of a skilled and natural diplomat. But of course, who could blame Her Holiness from not sending her husband on such a mission. Once he entered the bridge, Ramuel dismissed his forlorn thoughts and took on the air of a stoic commander returning to his domain. The Temple Knights stationed as guards saluted him, and the crew acknowledged his presence before returning to their duties. Ramuel motioned to the Comm officer, who opened a hail to the fleet.

"Attention to all commanders, crewmen and aviators of the Crusade Fleet. We have been given holy duties to expand our Empress' liturgy to the stars. As her humble servants, She expects each one of us to perform his duty. Our orders are to engage fold drives."

As the FTL drives fired up, Ramuel took a seat in his command chair. I pray to thee, Holiness, he said silently, that this will naught be in vain.

----

"Fluctuations in fold system," the Helmsman reported several hours later.

"What? Run diagnostics. Have Engineering report-"

"Fold system has failed!" the helmsman retorted. "All ships are exiting hyperspace!"

"Prepare for exit!" Ramuel shouted, "Keep your eyes on the rest of the fleet and sound collision!"

Warning klaxons sounded as the ships exited, spreading the fleet into disarray. The cosmic woof and boom associated with a miscalculated fold resulted in large motes of incandescent non-space rippling through the surrounding space. Electrical arcs danced between the ships, impacting at certain points. Inside, the crew held on and waited out the dying ebs of the near-fatal exit. Ramuel rose to his feet, staring at disbelief as the emergency lighting flickered on. Several consoles were black, while others flashed a slew of warnings across their screens. What had happened, Ramuel asked himself.

OOC: Hope this is still open as well. :D

The Sertian Fleet, named Squadron 39zeta was created for the purpose of protecting and testing new weapons and technology for the fleet in the campaigns of their local galaxy. Currently, the squadron was assigned the most recent versions of the Phoenix Feather-Darter prototypes, supposedly a revolutionary fighter to help make up for their decadent and aging vessels. Unfortunately though, while traveling through a Spaceway to the closest point for jumping, they were greeted with a gravitational anomaly.


“Ma‘am! Drift Drives are showing an anomaly, we’re losing sync to the Spaceway!” reported the communications and sensor officer for one of the largest ships of the fleet, specifically the Sillano - a Phoenix-Class Destroyer.

“What in the blazes? Corinna, what in the name of the Empire are you DOING at the controls?” shouted Admiral Jaynie. It was up to her to protect the fleet, and now she could only look at her pilot horrified as the first stages of dealignment caused the ship to shudder.

“It’s not me!” the Sertian shouted back while madly tapping at her controls as fast as possible. “It’s like, the Spaceway just bleeds off into nothing!”

“What, that’s impossible!” the Admiral shouted, getting to her feet only to be knocked back into her chair by a major shock through the ship.

“Ma’am, the rest of 39zeta is undergoing similar issues! The problem is with the Spaceway not us!” the sensor officer spoke, shortly before one of the final shudders knocked him forward and banged his head against his consul, knocking him unconscious while she slumped to the floor.

“Damnit! Corinna, activate a warp drive around the fleet! We can’t tell what the hell will happened in the Drift without guidance but we need to keep the fleet together!” the pilot could only respond just in time, as one final crack and shudder of the hull the entire fleet had entered the Drift, a dimension of energy with rules of physics that allowed a Drift Drive to travel faster than light.


Several hours later, within a few light-minutes of the sun a suddenly gravitational wave announced where the fleet resurfaced from the Drift, traveling together by the space-time bending principles that fueled a warp drive. Consisting of two PC-Destroyers, a PC-Carrier, several MDIAC-Dropships and additional lighter classed destroyers and interceptors to protect the small fleet of fifty ships.

“Corinna, status report!” she barked to her pilot, who after doing her best to control the warp-sphere to reduce the damage to their vessels, was now able to link her control panel to Steve’s station.

“Bad, from what I can see all Drift Drives have taken heavy damage, leaving us unable to communicate with the Empire or even to use advanced sensors. We’re suffering from minor hull and internal system damage, relying partially on back up environmentals and all our shields are down. As for others in our fleet, it seems they’ve suffered from minor hull damage as well, but automatic systems have patched any leakages. Unfortunately only the Kemlin and Siro have shields operational. Wait, hold on…”

“The interceptor Welcomer has suffered power failure and numerous hull fractures! Depending on how many of them were in armor they’ve got potentially four hours of oxygen supply in their suits!”

Jaynie looked horrified, given the fact she had just experienced a disaster never before encountered by her people, but fortunately, underneath all that she was grateful that they survived pretty well off. “What about casualties in the other ships?”

“Just reports of plasma burns and concussions, what are your orders Ma’am?”

“Start repairs on all ships, immediately! Have medics and doctors start helping the crew, meanwhile get all troop transports we can to report to the Welcomer and save whatever crew we can!”

OOC: I hope this will do.

IC:---

The red talons, having finished mining out a small asteroid belt, prepared their ships to warp to the next suspected belt. The Pegasis command carrier, as well as the battle cruiser Kergerin the Battleship Crown of Swords, and 4 other battleships. as well as the 150 destroyers and 600 frigates and near 3000 support vessels, including everything from light ore haulers to massive super freighters. Then there was the Sanctuary, a 20+ mile long factory ship dominating the center of the fleet. 5/4 sat on the bridge of the Pegasis, his black and white striped tail swaying behind him as he looked out over the near empty system.

"Con, where are we? This doesn't look like an asteroid belt..." he asked, sitting up, his ears perked forward as one of the men nearby answered. "Unknown... It appears that we jumped off course.... I'm not picking up any navigational markers from the stars around us... I've never seen these constilations before.." the man remarked.

A moment later an alarm sounded, a reptilian at a tactical station calling out. "We have multiple contacts in this sector. The computer is still counting all of them but its well into the thousands. We're not recognising any of their signitures... Wait... We've picked up sertian vessels, aproximately 50 of them."

5/4 nodded curtly, he had to act fast. "This is Grand Admiral Roze to all ships, condition red, i repeat, condition red." The signal was sent out via Lan-sat array, sending a directed laser transmission to each ship in the fleet, ensuring it couldn't be intercepted. The com switched off as all across the Red Talon fleet klaxtons sounded as captains called for general quarters. Even on Sanctuary, the sound of general quarters was sounding. The massive ship priming weapon batteries. 5/4 turned to the com officer. "Issue a general broadcast to all ships in the sector." he paused as the main screens lit up, showing that he was live. Standing at the captains position was 5/4, wearing what looked to be baggy black pants and a black long sleeved fishnet shirt. Around his left arm was a red and black band bearing the Red Talons flag. His long white hair hung like silk from his head. A set of black and white striped tiger ears poking out the top. On his left hip sat a battle worn katana. "This is Grand Admiral 5/4 Tiger Roze of the Red Talons Mercenary republic. We do not wish open engagement but will respond to such without hesitation.... Now... could someone out there tell me why in the nine hells i'm here?" He said in an aggravated tone.

All across the fleet, the sleek black ships entered battle formations. Frigates flanking larger vessels. the Kergerin flanked by two battleships, the Pegasis flanked by the other three. Each battleship close to a mile and a half long, The pegasis nearing 3 miles in length. The capital ships primmed their main cannons. Each battleship sporting what looked like a double barreled shotgun sticking out fo the front of the keel. Each barrel large enough to drive a car into. The destroyers bearing only a single barrel. Though the carrier sported none, it showed a massive power build up in its bow, all across the fleet Gravity induction cores cycled to full power as mass drivers were primed.

The pegasis sporting four forward mounted turrets that looked like massive gattling cannons. each one began to rotate faster and faster, eventually becoming a blur as they spin on magnetic rails. Each 100mm gattling cannon primed to fire the first of what could become a stream of tungsten steel spikes. The massive bay doors along its port and starbors lower side opening, along with bay doors on hundreds of other ships as they prepared to deploy squadrons of fighters. Along the Pegasis' hull hundreds of other turrets came online.

5/4 used his captains station to switch a narrow beam transmission to the Sertian carrier. "Your Sertian, correct? This is Roze. Do you have any idea whats going on?"

In his quarters, Isahil's eyes snapped open as he suddenly sensed what very well could be millions of minds as the fleet dropped out of hyperspace. Not just those of the Red Talons, but more. New, alien minds. He shifted a hand to his collar, sliding a fingertip across the small tag, increasing the buffer on his mind to blot out the confused voices screaming in his head from all across the sector. He stood up and began to walk to the bridge. His robes waving as his pace quickened. He could sense mounting tension amongst the Red Talon fleet and he knew that he had to stop any mishaps before they started.

Space, the vast emptiness beyond a planet's sheltering atmosphere, it's empty most of the time as the description suggest. However, this time was an exception.

Imagine for a moment if you were a creature living in the vacuum [for those of you without imaginations, close your eyes], your life would be full of boring days of nothing. But then you'd get a rude awakening. All of a sudden your being surrounded by massive gleaming behemoths flying at a decent fraction of c. God damn kids and their hot rodding.

[RSNS Colossus, Colossus Class Command Battleship]
Aurium, Home System of the Capitalist Republic of The Silver Sky

"Admiral Anderson," Said the young bright communication officer on the bridge of the Colossus towards the vaunted admiral currently residing on the deck of the flagship of the first corporate fleet. "headquarters has given the ok for side jump, coordinates Reach Station in Comberth System have been loaded into the warp targeting computer, approximate time of arrival is two days from now, the second fleet will join us one day after, requesting permission to initiate side jump."

The ships had been accelerating at 1g for the better part of 21 days in preperation for their tactical jump. Now they had reached the sanctioned .05c required by military doctrine for their jump.

"Initiate side jump, bring the quark reactors up to power, engage capacitors, jump in 5...4...3...2...1...", with that every ship in the fleet disappeared in brilliant blue flashes as the side jumpers activated, a bright blue glowing "wake" was all that showed that there had been any ships there in the first place.

----------------------------

It only took until the third day in warp for the crews to figure out something was wrong. The jump was taking far far too long. There had never been a misjump in the storied history of the Silver Corporation. But according to the computer there hadn't been a misjump, upon technicians performing a diagnostic on the computer they found a third party had changed the coordinates prior to jump without anyone noticing, but there was no record of forced entry, just a line of code with a command to change coordinates.

There was nothing they could do for now but wait.

----------------------------

Bright blue flashes herald the arrival of yet another party in what historians would deem the "Great Warp Clusterfuck". At the time of de-jump the crews on board the ships of the First Corporate Fleet did not know this, however it only took them a few minutes to orient their senors and armament, and just a few seconds more to figure out that they weren't in Kansas anymore.

"Sensors, I want a report on this system and I want it yesterday, all crew to their battlestations, start alignment with the systems sun to bleed extra momentum, but be prepared for acceleration to battlespeed if nessecary." Said Admiral Anderson as he barked out order after order, the various ships in the fleet began to align themselves with the sun but it would take the better part of two days to bleed off the extra momentum. The ships were located on the edge of the heliopause created by the systems sun

Within minutes sensor drones were being fired off into the reaches of the system bent on finding out more.

"Admiral, we've detected another fleet, near the same size as ours at a relative bearing of 323 and 251 degrees, they look to be 4 light minutes out, also we've detected a single ship at a bearing of 60 and 70 degrees."

"Very good, bring up the shields but hold your fire, we're not looking for war here. Hail the unidentified ships via the drones, tell them we're not looking for war and would like to open a comm channel."

----------------------------

OOC: The fleet is Einhauser's and the ship is Aralonia's.

[APPROXIMATELY 39 LIGHT-MINUTES FROM UNKNOWN SYSTEM PRIMARY]
[ON BOARD RANS PRACTITIONED REALITY, PR-CLASS FAST SCOUTING CRUISER]

“Conn, this is navigation. What we have out here is absolutely amazing, ma'am.”

Marie nodded and tapped several spots on the cubic display's control panel and took in a breath as she looked at the system's layout.

“Conn, nav – I guess you just saw what I did. One primary. One planet. That's it. Long-exposure scans show nothing. We don't know where we are. Sensors has something to tell you too, regarding the dots within this sector that are actually moving.”

Marie closed her eyes and bowed her head before looking up again at the cubic display at the blue dots in the system, signifying unknown contacts. Larger dots were larger detected fleets – smaller dots were smaller groups or single ships. “Very well. Sensors, this is conn – what do you have for us?

“Conn, this is sensors. Several fleets detected in this system. One fleet, count from fifty to two-fifty ships, at bearing two-thirty-seven by eighty-four making an orbital maneuver around the system primary, distance fourty-seven light-minutes. Another fleet, count from twenty to one-twenty ships, at bearing three by two, directly in front of us, at about ninety-three light-minutes. Comet-like track at bearing ninety-three by seventeen, probably another vessel. The rest of them, single ships and non-planetary anomalies. End report.”

Marie frowned and furrowed her brow. “This is impossible. A system like this cannot exist... no gas giants to wipe away dust and material during formation. I can't believe that this is happening... Keep all reactors and systems running at minimum power. We should be drifting.”

“Conn! Sensors! We're receiving an incoming transmission from a probe drone, launched from contact unknown-- wait, propagation wave confirmed! Additional contact located at bearing one-fourty-seven by one-fourty-four, distance approximately seven-eighty-three light-minutes. Tracking of probe drone confirms initial launch was from this contact – composition unknown, size unknown!”

“Comms, this is conn – any luck on translating the message?”

“Aye, ma'am, we've got a repeating message. Inserting into translation protocols.. they don't want to shoot at us.”

“Well, shoot a message back directly at their ship. Just enough power to get to them. Gives us a bit of time to plan out our next action... Keep the rest of the systems down though.”

5/4 sat on the bridge of the Pegasis His fleet forming defensive lines as the coms officer replaying the message on a broad band frequency. The fleet was approximately 75 light minutes away from the systems sun.

"Navigation... are there any other planets in this system? Anything at all?" 5/4 asked. the response was fast "Negative. I'm reading multiple other fleets though. their warping in all over the place, its bloody lucky we didnt come out of fold on top of some poor bastard. Other than that this system is compleatly clear of natural bodies." The com station called out "I'm picking up chatter, nothing encoded, just different languages." 5/4 nodded, sitting back in his chair. "translate what you can in case they sent us a transmission later. Signal all vessels to stand down from general quarters but maintain alert status." the coms officer nodded, relaying the message through the fleet.

Isahil presently arrived on the bridge, looking around the large room. "Roze.... what in the name of varta is going on." he asked in an exasperated tone. 5/4 looked over with a half smile. "We just warped into grand central station, we've got half a dozen if not more fleets warping in all over the place." isahil flicked a black furred ear. "So that explains the confusion. Do we know why?" 5/4 shook his head in response.

So far, it seems that the simple fact they were a single spacecraft among many have probably allowed the Rothbard to continue unnoticed, for apparently nobody has tried to contact them yet. Fabian was pondering on the identified terrestrial planet that was located orbiting around that unknown star, and perhaps, the risk would be worth, for they were equipped as an exploratory spacecraft, and inside one of the lowermost flight decks, a single Shadowguard Transport Spaceplane was awaiting for the possibility of atmospheric entry being useful, coupled with the fueling and maintenance facilities of the deck.

With a quick thought, their destination was about to be defined, as every single individual on board could hear his voice directly into their minds. It was an important decision to be made on a simple question:

"Devems explorar planet desconocido?"

A sort of wireless network between their minds had a quick surge of activity, and the answer came, most agreed that the risk was acceptable for the potential rewards of such endeavor. Another issue however, was the distance, at an human safe acceleration, they would take almost an entire month to get into the inner star system from their far away location. Soon a solution was devised however, as a new risk was taken, the risk of entrusting the entire starship to its artificial intelligence autopilot. The empty stasis chambers soon became full again as all the crew members entered, safely protected from the dangerous effects of high gees in human health during the time. The Rothbard was now on its own, as a series of calculations were processed into its core. Soon, an even stronger exhaust of superheated helium-4 announced its travel as it reached the maximum safety limits for its propulsion to speed the travel. The ship now was accelerating at 4 gees towards the planet high orbit.

Maximum speed during travel: 0.0553 c
Perceivable time dilation expected
Time on universe: 9 days, 19 hours, 20 minutes and 3.84 seconds
Time on board: 9 days, 19 hours, 12 minutes and 43.2 seconds

Standard communications protocol online...
Human languages dictionary online...
Stasis on alert mode for quick crew deployment...

The Rothbard torchship thus headed at full acceleration towards the planet, and eventually they would arrive in the estimated time, of about a week and half. Use of the Shadow was heavily discouraged for in-system travels due to its inherent risks, although indeed, like all torchships, the Rothbard was developed in an epoch were it was believed that no form of faster-than-light travel was possible, and thus was optimized for such travels as the one it was on now. Hopefully its systems wouldn't have to resort to their long lists of pre-programmed diplomatic phrases during its way towards the planet.

OOC: Heads up, but there is in fact one force that is making us all drop out of warp, so don’t worry about trying to come up with an explanation. It’s part of the plot, which will be revealed in time. Oh, and yes, it’s still open. What do you guys think, should we leave it open all the way until the end or put down an arbitrary cut-off point?

IC:

“-opy that, engineering. Attempt to restart. Captain,” said the first officer, “the number four reactor is offline. Unknown reason.” Things had been going haywire ever since the mis-jump. Four of the frigates in the fleet had found parts of their hull missing, a destroyer had somehow lost half of its ammunition stock and one of the heavy cruisers had lost containment in nuclear pulse gun 2. There were as yet no deaths, but with so many things failing it was only a matter of time.

“Thank you, First Officer. Please continue to restart the reactor. We must-” he stopped abruptly as the bridge was bathed in red light. “Status report!”

“Gamma ray telescopes report drive trails! Possibly warp envelope residue!”

“Damn,” swore Mike Maximum. “Send out the probes, find those drive trails!” He had been stupid, overconfident. If he had sent out the scout probes as soon as they entered the system they would have had a heads-up. A screen hove into the central station of the bridge, allowing the crew to see the probes as they left the ship. Each was half a dozen meters long, a bulky shell containing a tactical warp drive, a ladar scanner and enough fuel to jump anywhere in system and back again. Light flowed along their hulls as they prepared for jump. In a flash fireball, the number five probe detonated.

“Blast it, what happened?” The bridge erupted in confusion.

“I don’t know, sir! It just died!” More warning lights winked on and not a few klaxons blared as the comms officer sat up in shock. The captain, whether he sensed something or just assumed, was up and over to the console in a flash.

“Captain,” the comms officer kept his voice low, “we’re getting signals from multiple parties.”

“More than one origin point? Are you certain?” Chaos was erupting around the pair as the returned drones transmitted their data. People were shouting about ‘fleets’ and contacts and unknown signals. “Never mind, I guess that answers that.” He stood and marched to the center of the room.

“Cancel all alarms, cut the klaxons. Bridge to Cryo Lab Control.”

“Cryo Lab Control here, Sir.”

“Wake the marines. Bridge to Weapons.”

“Aye Sir?”

“Run a diagnostic on the NPGs and make absolutely sure that the focusing lenses on our laser batteries are in alignment. Be certain we are combat ready. Helms, cancel the alignment on the sun. Once we identify the location of the enemy…” he paused, “fleets, move us into combat range.”

“Captain, are you asking for a tactical warp jump? My screens are showing enough power in the capacitors for a two light-minute jump.”

“Hold off on that for now. Let’s make sure we know where our new friends are. Comms, continue to ignore the transmissions coming in. They may be bait. Let’s just try and blend in for now, if we can. Also, Comms, transmit these orders to the rest of the fleet and open up communication with the Archipelago and the Celex.”

“Aye captain, transmitting… now. All ships acknowledge. Archipelago and Celex are standing by.”

Turning to the newly-opened windows, Mike Maximum addressed the captains of the two vessels. “You two are to break from the fleet and make for the planet. I want you in a position to control the local space around the world. Give me what information you can. Actually, hold on that. Comms, open a line to the Cramer as well. “ When the harried captain of the heavy cruiser appeared, Mike Maximum repeated his orders and dismissed the captains.

The Sertian fleet seemed to be in chaos, most of them running throughout their vessels to get the injured to the medical bays while between the vessels plasma trails, lighting up that sector of space like many dancing fire flies admits the island sized vessels made their way back and forth from the crumbling ship, collecting all the survivors they could find. There was little tactical maneuvers yet, not even aware that there were other ships within the system.


“Admiral Jaynie, casualties are relatively low. We believe that only under twenty of them were caught in vacuum without their armor,” Steve answered, the better part of his head covered by bandages that even covered his right eye.

“Good, how is Commander Velan doing?”

“He’s dead ma’am…”

“What?” she snapped, looking at his one good eye to try and see if he was lying, for that last remains of hope that it was false.

“No ma’am, he was to busy giving out orders to try and reduce the damage to his ship that when the hull nearby the bridge cracked he was exposed to vacuum. They brought his body along with the bridge crew members for a funeral.”

“Put him in stasis, he deserves a funeral at his home…” she said biting her lip and looking at the spazzing and blurred hologram of their immediate surroundings and of the condition of their fleet. She had known Velan for years, ever since she had given a speech to his class in training when she was still a Commander. Ever sense then he had grown to be one of her most trusted Commanders, and now he lay dead from space vacuum in one of those fire flies that were making their way to a surviving vessel.

“Ma’am, a communication beam another fleet, apparently they know we’re Sertians.”

“Who’s it from…” she asked detached, just focusing on the hologram and trying to pick out which pin prick of light was the funeral vessel in question.

“Someone named Roze, I can’t get anything more due to the state of our sensors, but given the fact they haven’t fired I assume we’re in friendly relations to them.”

“Hmm… Start recording,” she stated simply with a sigh, before looking forward, trying to keep her lost eyes off of the hologram. “Greetings Roze, this is Admiral Jaynie of Squadron 39zeta. Due you happen to know our whereabouts…? We suffered from an unknown error and ended up here…”

Steve however was monitoring other communications that were gradually being picked up. It was perhaps usurping his admiral’s authority but he judged that with her condition she didn’t need the extra stress. Noticing how many of them were declarations of peaceful intentions he sent out a simple wide-banned radio transmission in simple binary-transmission stating a cease fire agreement for all who agreed. But, in contrast to that he sent out a ship wide text communication to ready all available fighter pilots to report to duty.

(OOC: I would rather that this thread is limited to a max of 6-8 participants for the sake of cohesion. Also this LULZ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fictional_military_aircraft#Mikoyan_MiG-31_.28fictional.29) is more or less how they usually pilot their atmospheric fighters. And yes, they're transhumanist freaks)

The silence of light and radio bands surrounding the Rothbard ended as an incoming transmission arrived and was captured by its communications system. It was not directly addressed to them however, as the system interpreted it, coming into several different languages, some known by its library, others not. At the same time yet another transmission arrived as well, and both were simultaneously processed for the needed action to be done about them.

Recording transmissions...
Translating...
Reading pre-set course of responses...

Subjects: Messages of non-hostile intent, request of cease-fire
Destination: General
Response: Ignore transmissions, increase alertness level to 1

Tracking transmissions sources...

The crew continued in stasis as the roaring of its fusion engine marked the void it went through, if it was aerodynamic and with enough thrust for atmospheric flight, its exhaust alone would already be an weapon of mass destruction. As each second passed, it was slowly building up speed in rough increments of forty meters per second each. While at the same time a new check was passed to see whether the liquid where the crew was immersed was being sufficient to counter the effects of high gravity in their unconscious bodies.

Checking health...
Gathering physiological information...
Prefetching reports...

Report 1...

Name: Fabian Torres
Gender: Male
Age: 47
Sub-race: Homo Sapiens Sapiens
Height: 1.64 meters
Weight: 79 kilograms
Hair color: Black
Eye color: Amber
Skin color: Light brown
Health Issues: None
Augmentation List:

Integrated brain-computer I/O gateway
Vision enhancement mark 4
Neural calculator
Neural datalink
IFF algorithm
Lung-integrated rebreather
Synthetic skin mark 2


Other: Extra-sensory perception
Detected high-g effects: None

Report 2...

Name: Marianna Torres
Gender: Female
Age: 42
Sub-race: Homo Sapiens Sapiens
Height: 1.55 meters
Weight: 65 kilograms
Hair color: Dark red
Eye color: Grey
Skin color: Light beige
Health Issues:


Cardiac arrest at 38
Lost both biological arms


Augmentation List:

Integrated brain-computer I/O gateway
Vision enhancement mark 4
Neural calculator
Neural datalink
IFF algorithm
Lung-integrated rebreather
Synthetic skin mark 2
Synthetic heart mark 2
Synthetic arms mark 2


Other: Extra-sensory perception
Detected high-g effects: None

...
...
...

All crew under healthy conditions, continuing flight...
Preparing defensive measures...
Gauss cannons operational...
Anti-ballistic missile launch cells online and ready...
Micro-fusion missiles ready for launch...
C-fractioned ballistic missiles ready for launch...
Retreat module pre-fetched...

It were just precautions the system had, although the best solution would be retreat if it had to resort to its weaponry, for it was severely outnumbered, and the single unmanned missile bus which was inside its other flight deck would not be enough to complement its firepower. Hopefully there would be no need of engaging the unknown forces in that system. Its speed was continually increasing, yet the massive distance would take it still 9 days to reach its destination.

OOC: I'm going to say the ship warped near the planet.

IC: Status! inquired the Central Hive Mind. For the first time in millennia, it worried for its servants.

Approaching planet at .005 light speed. Probe launched seconds ago. Attempting to awake probe. responded the ship's mind. Probe awakened. Establishing psionic link...in the name of Telnar...

What? What?

Planet colony grade is Alpha 0. croaked the ship's mind, shocked. A planet with a colony-potential this high had never been seen before. Approximately five hundred and ten million square kilometers of high grade biosphere, highly concentrated and easily infectable. The ship received another surprise as the probe eyed local space. Several ships approaching the planet and us at differing speeds!

This...this... stuttered the Central Hive Mind. It has not stuttered like this since they had first fought sentient resistance. Scan the planet. From what I am picking up from the probe and your mind as well, it seems the other races do not have bio-mechanical ships, but fully mechanical contraptions...it is more likely then not they use communication systems besides psionic, for you and I have heard nothing from them. Scan the planet, prepare the infection spores, but do NOT launch. We do not know if these peoples will respond with hostility or not.

We have also just spotted what seems to be magnetic anomalies scattered across the planet... shuddered the ship as it followed orders. Spores lined up in their firing bays as the ship entered low orbit and faced its broadside towards the planet. While spherical ships were possible in space, where there was no friction and aerodynamics, the ships of the fleet still maintained their naval-born past of ships with broad sides and two ends.

Ignore it.

Cul

"Report!" Ramuel shouted as he stood to his whole 6' 3" frame.

"Commander," Helm responded, "Fold maneuver failed approximately .33 Cycles from transit into non-linear space."

"Engineering reports bio-etheric reactors are still operational," the Engineering tech offered.

"All ships are reporting similar damage to secondary systems and power failure in redundant systems," the Comm officer shouted.

"Multiple contacts!" shouted the LIDAR officer. "We have multiple contacts at vectors 120, 240, 325-whole fleets!"

"Increase the alert status!" Ramuel shouted. "Arm main batteries and bring fighters to Alert-5!"

"Sir," Second said in a calmer voice, "There is an incoming transmission from the Celsclan.

"Bring it through," Ramuel replied.

A screen of energy appeared floating in the space in front of the command center. The projec-image showed the Celsclan's master, Samael.

"We've detected numerous fleets arrayed around a solar system," Samael reported. "What's happened?"

"We don't know," Ramuel said curtly. "What about your ships?"

"My battle group is unharmed, though there was a collision between two ships. The've suffered hull damage."

"Try to salvage them," Ramuel offered. "If not, abandon them and destroy them."

"Right," Samael rolled his eyes. "I'll keep you updated."

---

"He's a bit overreactive," Raven, Samael's consort said as she went to his side. She had seen the whole conversation, as had the crew, and wondered about the Commander.

"You're still not used to him is all," Samael replied. "He's just pissed off. He didn't want to go on this little adventure, after all."

"So, what do we do?"

"Follow orders," he answered her. "All ships, increase alert status and standby weapons."

ooc: the fleet is made of two battle groups commanded by the Cul and Celsclan. There are other capital ships, but not as large as the aforementioned lead ships. approx. 10 cruisers, 15 destroyers, 10 corvettes total.

OOC: Fair enough. Consider this thread closed to all those that have not already expressed interest on the NationStates Draftroom, except those that have already posted, of course.

IC:

“Still no possibility for another warp, captain. The control rods to our main warp drives sheared in half when we mis-jumped. Tertiary jump systems are fully operational, but lack the range or power to get us back home. Besides that, we haven’t got a clue where we are.”

“And without that bit of information,” the captain interrupted his navigator, “we’re not going anywhere fast. I see, thank you Lieutenant.” He closed the channel and slid his eyes shut. More and more drive trails and warp signals were being received. At least a thousand ships were in system with his battlegroup, and more were being located by the probes every passing second. Although they had their own tactical drives, a solar system was a big place and it would be a few days before an accurate roster of combatants –no, he corrected himself, unidentified objects- could be made.

A flashing light in his face prompted Maximum to open his eyes again and open the window. It was another list of damaged subsystems, this time from a light cruiser. Everything on all the ships in the battlegroup had appeared ship-shape, so to speak, when they left warp, but as time went by problems mounted.

“Captain Maximum, drone nine is returning. Downloading findings.” A whirl of silent key strokes summoned a display of the data for the first officer. He studied it for a split second before a frown etched its way into his features. “Sir, I think this probe has been corrupted. Take a look at this.” He passed the hologram to the captain, who was equally puzzled.

“This isn’t what the probe was ordered to find,” he mused. “In fact, half of this isn’t even the right language. Lieutenant Asarhadon, recall the probe for repairs.” The scouting officer acknowledged and sent the command, but nothing happened. The drone continued to follow the ship at one kilometer, broadcasting the same data stream. Frustrated, Asarhadon tried again, also to no success. When he tried to terminate the stream, that too failed.

“Captain… probe nine is returning…” Heads turned at that.

“What? There must be some error. Probe nine is in a heel pattern behind us. Run a diagnostic on the probe.”

“Done, sir. That is indeed probe nine.”

“Hmmm. Very well, run a diagnostic on the other probe nine, the first one.”

“No response, captain. It won’t stop transmitting that data stream, either.” A chill crept went down Maximum’s spine. It was the kind of feeling you get when you know something terrible but can’t bring yourself to admit it, a sinking, falling, gasping feeling that couldn’t be expressed in any coherent form.

“Lieutenant,” he said slowly, carefully, “can you attempt to translate the corrupted parts of the drone’s stram?”

“Translate it, captain? If it’s corrupted data you can’t trans-“ Maximum raised a hand, signaling him to be silent.

“Just… translate it.”

“Aye aye, captain.” His tone made it clear how he felt about the order, but he obeyed nonetheless. Moments later, he again furrowed his brow. “Odd. It had some striking similarities to our language, slightly different grammar and certainly different characters, but it’s not that hard to understand… with a shipboard quantum computer, of course,” he grinned. “Yes, I think that’s got it. I can’t believe it, but it’s a message. Coded binary, instructions to… to leave a message, sir?” All nine other officers on the bridge stared at him, not sure if he was joking.

“Uh, right, sure,” mumbled Maximum, “we’ll go with that. Okay, fine, right. Open a channel to the… probe in question.” This was done and, summoning his best captain-ly stance, he glared into the camera and spoke. “This is Captain Mike Maximum of the Einhauserian Trans-Solar Fleet ship ENSS Ton Nevac. Identify yourself.” The channel closed. Swearing loudly, he turned to Asarhadon and told him to reopen it.

“I can’t, sir,” he explained, “the drone closed the channel itself. I didn’t even know that was possi-“ He was cut off as the navigator spoke up in alarm.

“Captain, the probe is entering jump. According to the energy level, it is likely moving to somewhere else in-system. I can’t… can’t get an exact position, sir, but it appears to be nearby.” And with that, the drone warped, leaving the bridge crew alone save for the urgent chat requests from the other ships in the fleet.

******

Captain Erik Yuslan of the tactical frigate ENSS Archipelago, Captain Ara Etirima of the scout frigate ENSS Celex and Captain Angelo Brenner of the heavy destroyer ENSS Cramer were in a holo conference when the biologicals were first spotted. Whatever exotic organ that made their ships move didn’t produce any of the common radiations, a heat plume or any other indications that they were there, so when the ships were first spotted the captains initially refused to believe it.

“How could we not have seen them?” questioned Yuslan over the link.

“They don’t leave traditional markers,” sagely nodded Brenner. “We had no way of seeing them without specifically searching. This was bound to happen.”

“Nevertheless,” Etirima broke in, “we must do something about it. I’m sure you all realize what happened the last time our people encountered biologicals.” There was a hush in the channel as old stories were recalled from childhood. It had been fully a thousand years since the last sighting of an organic fleet, back during the first Einhauserian civil war when Hive Fleet Nosferatu devastated the loyalist forces, along with the disgusting fleets of Chronosian Chaos and seperatist forces. Dark days indeed.

“Well,” Brenner said after a long moment, “what can we do?” The trio debated for some time as their ships gradually decelerated and made for the planet and the biologicals beyond.

Unidentified fleet approaching. Estimated arrival, several days-hard to plot out with mechanicals. announced the probe to all who could hear its psionic declaration.

A full-on approach? questioned the ship.

No, it is heading for the planet.

I see...if they decide to attack us, we will be crushed. Only two options...Hive Mind?

I see... said the Central Hive Mind, reading the ship's thoughts. Second one.

Understood. Quickly, the ship carried out orders. All organelles that were dormant were reactivated and the engines were fired, creating a large heat spike that would be their first attempt ever of communicating with another species. Of course, it wasn't over. Straining, the ship focused its energy on sending out a psionic message. It would be incredibly difficult, if not impossible, for it to transmit a signal to an object without a link. But it would have to be done - they knew there had to be some kind of life on board those ships, controlling them. Thought they were not sure, the ship and the Hive Mind thought - no, hoped, that psionic communication could be understood by any sentient species, no matter the form of communication.

Finally, the ship sent its message, weary and exhausted. Low on energy, it was forced to transmit in all directions instead of at the approaching fleet. Now all would hear its plea.


For many a millenia have we lived alone,
No threats on that we have dearly owned.
We have scoured the worlds in a quest,
To find sentient life, without rest.
But on every world we infected,
Every species we digested-
Not once was there a sentient race,
That had learned to reach for space.
Now we are here, we are shocked,
To find our answer many times found.
We tremble in fear, for we are not ready,
Our confidence gone, our bravery musty.
We are unprepared, unarmed, unable to fight,
Please spare us now, let us see our stars' light.

Cul

"Sir, power regulators have failed, primary power has gone offline," the Engineer reported.

"What? How could the system have suddenly failed?" Ramuel demanded.

"There's no explanation, sir," the tech offered, "Diagnostics check out. The system should be working normally."

"Reports coming in from the fleet," the Comm officer reported. "Similar failures are happening aboard the rest of the ships."

"Weapons have gone offline!" the Tactical officer spoke up. "Defense systems are failing as well."

"What in the name of the Empress is going on?" Ramuel demanded of no one.

“Sir, recon has been attempting to contact you for forty five minutes.” The young private resented being used as a messenger, but the captain had turned off the messaging system around him.

“I know, private, that would be why I blanked the comms system node.” Yuslan sat up on his bed, looking tired and bleary-eyed. “Forget it, I’ll get up, I’ll get up. What do they want, exactly, Private Regs?”

“Well, sir, they want to show you some anomalous heat readings from the biological fleet. They tell me it’s probably nothing, but given the recent failures of so many susbsy…”

“What? With the recent failings of what?” Yuslan stood up and stretched, holding each wrist above his head and straining. He yawned and straightened his uniform. Private Regs was standing in the doorway, staring at him. “That’s very annoying, private, now get out of my way.” No response. “Really, get out of the way.” Regs stood straight as a rod, a glazed look on his face. Suddenly, he gasped and his pupils dilated to an extreme size. “Son, are you all rig-”

“For many a millenia have we lived alone,
No threats on that we have dearly owned.”

“What? Move, soldier! This is an or-”

“We have scoured the worlds in a quest,
To find sentient life, without rest.
But on every world we infected,
Every species we digested-”

“This is Captain Erik Yuslan. I’m in my quarters and I need a medic, right away. I think this private is having a seizu-”

“Not once was there a sentient race,
That had learned to reach for space.
Now we are here, we are shocked,
To find our answer many times found.”

“Stop interupting me! Get that medic here, now!” The captain shut off the com and ran to the private, who was sagging to his knees, a trickle of blood running from the corner of each eye. He looked like he was trying to swallow a sharp stone.

“We tremble in fear, for we are not ready,
Our confidence gone, our bravery musty.
We are unprepared, unarmed, unable to fight,
Please spare us now, let us see our stars' light.”

The medic finally showed up with two fleet security officers in tow. “What happened here?” he asked, setting down his medical bag and kneeling over the now-prone Private Regs. Captain Yuslan shook his head.

“I don’t know. He made a horrible noise and started speaking in rhymes. I think it’s a seizure.” Regs was fully unconcious by this point, showing no response when a powerful light was shined in his eyes. Blood pressure and heart rate were both wildly fluctuating.

“We need to get this an to sickbay, right now!” Each of the security guards grabbed an arm and hoisted Private Regs, hauling him off between them. They jogged through the halls, a stream of blood falling from Reg’s nose and eyes and mouth, staining the dense carpet a rich crimson. When they reached meday they placed him in one of the containment rooms, padded with ultra-strong fiber pillows to help cushion seizures.

“Look at him,” sighed the medic. “I don’t know what’s doing this to him.” Reg was awake and smashinghis skull into the padding.

“It’s not a seizure then?” The captain had followed the guards and stood behind the one-way mirror, observing his subordinate with morbid fascination.

“Have you ever seen a seizure victim do this? I certainly haven’t, and he has no family history of this kind of behavior.”

“Keep me updated,” Yuslan commanded before stalking off to the bridge. That heat source still needed to be examined.

******

Images. Images of my past. My home, my family. Children. I have no children. Who’s children are these? Worlds, burned and blackened. Tendrils sucking the life from stone and earth. Space, vast and empty and cold and welcoming. Flight, running. Pain, this loneliness. Then, company, warmth, companionship. Strength through numbers. Alien, alien, alien! Who are you?

Why do you want to kill us?

You’re the enemy!

Why do you want to murder us?

You destroyed the Sol System!

Why do you hate us?

Because I’m afraid of you!

Why?

Stop it! Get out of my head, get out!

But I am the you that is inside.

No! You’re Other! Get out! Please!

You don’t know the pain we felt, still feel.

Monsters feel no pain.

You will not succeed.

Get out! Alien, alien, alien!

ooc: A cutoff would not only make matters much easier but would also prevent this from becoming a clusterfuck, as most FT RPs do.

IC:
Some say that if the local star feels insignificant when you jump in, you might be a bit overzealous. Unfortunately, no one had told that to Elizabeth and the rest of Clan Firenza before they designed the Orion class Battleship. Afterwards, anyone who thought so would probably be too scared to admit it.

NES Exuberance obviously felt no constraints in the area of feasibility. The newest and last in the Orion Class, she had been fully updated with the most sophisticated technology the Inferno could afford. From stereotypical shields that were advertised, to withstand cfrac ship collisions to XASERS with impractical beam coherency, from sublight engines that no single human could comprehend the inner workings of, to not just one, but TWO jump drives, no expense had been spared. Even the toilets had been chromed in a fit of furious military spending.

In light of such excess, one can understand the surprise of its crew when the onboard AI reported a mis-jump. SideJump drives being what they were, the probability of jump failure wasn't too slim. Unfortunately, there seemed to be no jumpspace distortions and the drives seemed to still be intact (attached), so the usual suspects for misjumps had to be ruled out.

In the ship's CC, there was a sense of tension in the air. The newest and most powerful battleship in the No Endorse fleet, LOOOOOST IIIIIIIIN SPAAAAAACE?! Someone would be in trouble for this, but who?

"-and you're sure you can't shut the jumper down?" demanded Captain Fisher, adjusting the patch over her eye. "Seems to me like we could just reroute power to something else and fall out of jumpspace like they used to do back in the early days."

"Th-that would be highly inadvisable, Captain!" stuttered the AI, bringing up a large friendly diagram. "Cutting off power that quickly would... ah... result in a cataclysmic jump field implosion that would likely cause us to be spread across several cubic lightyears of real space. VERY likely."

"But can you at least tell us where we're going?" called a crewman from the navigation array. "We're getting nothing from the drives, not even a depth reading."

"I can tell you the coordinates of where we're scheduled to come out of jump, but none of the exploration fleet has been that way yet." The AI's hologram disappeared briefly, and the whole ship rocked. "By the Gods we were running hot!" The ship's intercom buzzed to life and the AI continued. "All crew brace for dejump, sound battlestations and prepare for anything."

======================================

The myriad ships present in the unknown system would receive quite a shock as the Exuberance jumped in. Detectable for some distance out, the sheer energy reading of a ship in such a deep jump would white out many sensors for several seconds. In an appropriately dramatic show of sheer might, a brilliant flash came from the point of dejump. After several seconds, a behemoth craft emerged, radiators glowing white hot against the backdrop of space.

As the jump energy dissipated, its sensors began to pick up the various ships present in system, most glowing with the intensity of craft at battlestations. Shit! thought the AI, assuming the process of an IBBC Mark III computer processing data and coming to the obvious conclusion could be called "thought." But then again, what is the Human Brain but the greatest computer nature had ever wrought? But that was a thought-computation for later, when there weren't fleets that looked royally pissed off just noticing the arrival of a single vessel.

With the strain of the jump taken off the reactor, systems came online rapidly. Guns began their warm-up cycles, their capacitors humming their beautiful song of white hot death. Dozens of missile tubes opened themselves to the void, their gaping maws shrouding their payloads of singularity weapons. And around it all, an estatic shield formed an essential barrier between the ship and its surrounds.

Within the bowels of the ship, all combat compartments began immediate depressurization for deep space combat. Pilots alternately sprinted and floated towards their craft, with the call for battlestations the various gravity sectors of the ship began to power down in preparation for inertial damper duties.

In the ship's CC, Kelly Fisher surveyed the minutely orchestrated process. Over a thousand crewmen performing their duties exactly, transforming the ship from the space equivalent of a long range dragster to a fully operational instrument of finely-tuned annihilation. Worth the money? Hell yes.

But as systems came online, secondary and tertiary grids had to be activated. Seemingly unrelated parts failures began to show up, though the endless stream of backup systems held trouble at bay for now. Even the jumpers seemed damaged, with containment fields leaking so badly as to require immediate shutdown.

Amidst the chaos of bringing the ship to battle ready, Captain Fisher fired off two transmissions in hope of some sort of situational awareness. The first was a wideband, in hopes that someone out there could read it. The second, on the other hand, was tightbeamed to a single destination: the Einhauser Flag Ship.

WIDEBAND TRANSMISSION
FROM: Cpn Kelly Fisher, NES Exuberance
TO: Any present capable of receiving and translating
BODY:
This is Captain Kelly Fisher of the No Endorse Orion-Class Battleship Exuberance, to anyone capable of receiving. We seem to have mis-jumped into this area and seek no quarrel with anyone present, provided our respective nations have no quarrel presently. However, let it be known any intent to quarrel will be replied to with overwhelming firepower.
END TRANSMISSION

TIGHTBEAM TRANSMISSION
FROM: Cpn Kelly Fisher, NES Exuberance
TO: Whomever Be Concerned, Einhauser Vessels
BODY:
Salutations Einhauser! Been a rather long time since our nations have bumped into each other in deep space. What in nine hells is going on around here? We seem to have been pulled into some sort of conflict, and my ship is reporting all sorts of unexplainable mechanical failures, and the hyperwave is pinging stuff we've never seen before. Engineering has told us the jumpers will be down for some time, how about a rendezvous at the attached coordinates?
END TRANSMISSION

As the final transmission finished its transmission, Fisher turned back to her Weapons Commander, and then the universe seemed to rock. A sort of rhyme forced itself into her head, and she could distantly hear herself saying it.As it concluded, she found herself leaning heavily on the chair beside her, a slow drip of blood from her nose darkening the floor.

"I...I'm sorry?" sputtered the Officer, helping her into a chair. "Are you alright Captain?" She shook her head and seemed to snap back to herself. "I'm fine. HAL!" The AI's hologram appeared, its head cocked to one side. "Repeat to me what I just said, exactly, and tell me if there were any other instances across the ship."

He slowly repeated the rhyme and displayed multiple points across the ship. "Seems that your reaction to the message was one of the nicer, we've got one suffocated on his own blood in his space suit located here." A point flashed. "You looked almost like you were getting a message from an Eshirian. Shall I assume it was psionic in nature? And from the relatively light reaction we saw across the ship, should I assume it's a relatively distant source?"

Fisher pulled out a kerchief and held it beneath her nose. "We don't have any of those funky Eshirian comm units, so begin scanning for who it came from, concentrate on that planet in system. It might be far enough. We're not out of the woods yet...."

Isahil half collapsed as he sensed the Psionic message from the sentient vessels. Catching himself on the Admirals chair as he reached out with his own mind, touching a finger to his collar tag to lower its buffer. He sent back to the sentient vessel. as well as reaching out to any psionic in the system, lowering his collars buffer to zero.

~I am Isahil Traekith of the Red Talons. We do not know where we are or why we have arrived here. Working together would be most beneficial to solving the confusion. We kindly request a truce with all those present. Some driving force must have brought us here.~

The message was accompanied with a visual of himself, in his full yukata, removing the katana and wakazashi from his hips, holding them out in front of him, sheathed, before placing them on the ground and stepping back as a show of peace. Followed by a showing of multiple different races and people taking seats around a table, each one marked with a different color.

The strain on Isahil was almost visible as he collapsed into a sitting position, drawing his katana and focusing his psi power through the amplifying black crystal. Any psi sensitive in the system should be able to pick up his message clearly. He kept his mind open, sensing for any responses.

Meanwhile, across the fleet, non-com ships were reporting minor systems failures A few ships going off line for a moment as their Induction cores actually had to restart.

5/4 had the com officer stop transmitting the message for the moment. "hold transmissions for now, lets just soak up chatter." He said, sitting back in his chair on the bridge. Turning to face a rather large holo display of the system, clusters of vessels displayed in various colors to corespond to matching profiles.

As they recieved the response from the Sertians, 5/4 swiveled back. " We are currently in a form of alliance with your nation. and i was actually hoping you could tell me where we are..." He said with a half smile. figuring no one would know.

Navigations called out. "Con, we have contacts making short range jumps all over the system!" There was a slight pause, before 5/4 could respond Tactical sounded. "Contact! Unknown vessel exiting warp bearing 260 by 34." 5/4 responded instantly. "I want a sensor lock on that thing. Tell me what the hell that is?" After a few moments navigation called out. "Its a probe drone. Its scanning us and the fleet."

5/4 nodded, looking to tactical. "Inform the fleet i don't want anyone shooting unless they see the Pegasis open fire first. I want you to tell Sanctuary to contiinue halt production systems untill it can locate resources again." The signal going out to the fleet of 3750 total vessels. Smaller freighters and haulers scrambling for dock with Sanctuary to escape what may become a rather large firefight. A number of light freighters staying deployed.

"Commodore Perring, Presenting Father Mulcahy, the presiding representative of the Imperial Church" The acolyte had appeared seemingly from nowhere, and returned there as the Father himself appeared on deck, an act that nodoubt fooled mot of the bridge crew, and was probably suitably impressive to captains who didn't know there ships as well as the Commodore, who probably knew more about the secret passages and doors used by the church than the Father did.
"I am honored by your presence father" the commodore said with proper respect, placing his hands together and bowing his head. The priest drifted slowly to the center of the bridge and stopped gently without touching anything. One of the few tricks the Church officials had that Perring hadn't figured out yet, he suspected compressed air jets, but had no proof.
"Thank you my son, The church officials of the fleet have decided that our new mission, in the absence of clear leadership from the Emperor is to explore this new region of space, establish communications with what races are found for the greater glory of God and the empire. Towards this end, we suggest sending the science team with a small escort to the planet, and attempt to establish open communications with the other ships in the area, we believe that we have stumbled upon an accidental meeting, due perhaps to some phenomena not known to the Empire."
"Very good Father, I will take the required actions immediately." As the priest drifted back toward his concealed exit, Perring thought he heard a slight puff of compressed air, but in the noisy environment of the bridge, it was impossible to tell. The Commodore had already decided on the best course of action,though he had to wait for official confirmation from the Church, damn bureaucrats, though it was interesting that the church no longer believed the extra-galactic trade-hub theory.
"Report! have the sensors been normalized yet?"
"Aye sir, just now, we have confirmed between nine and ten distinct groups of between one ship and one group of several thousand. There is at least one group of organics, and one other major source of psionic activity which our telepaths believe to be a peaceful, if somewhat frightened overture."

"And the planet?"
It's terrestrial, habitable, science team is currently searching for evidence of civilization, but it appears the planet is not currently industrialized to any extent."
"Hmm, I guess that puts a stopper on the trade hub theory, I suppose the Scientists want a closer look at the planet?"
"Of course sir"
"I figured as much, well, send them along, detail the Independence and Courage to escort them along with a squadron of fighter and some corvettes."
At the order, a swarm of oblong fighters and a handful of spherical corvettes detached form the Houston's central lattice structure where they had been clinging. The group jetted slowly over to the two destroyers that had detached themselves from the formation and tethered themselve to the larger ships to conserve fuel for the trip. With the science vessel in the center of the two destroyers, the group took off at a steady 1g acceleration to the planets orbit.
"Now, get mo the gateship."
"Aye sir, communications open."
"Captain, this is the commodore, What have th Navigators found so far?"
"Not much I'm afraid, the deep-field survey has so far only turned up a few objects that may be visible from known space. When we finish this sweep we'll try to get parallax on them and cross reference them with the charts. It'll take a while."
"Alright, keep me informed of any serious developments. Meanwhile, I'd like to contact some of these groups with a probe if they don't respond, The Church believes this convergence may be some sort of phenomena that has brought all these fleets here, They may still be getting there bearings, or may have suffered damage and I'd like to be able to offer some help."
"I will inform the navigators immediately and will begin prepping the gate projectors."

"very well, out."
The commodore looked around the bridge, making sure everyone was doing their job and then decided he needed a break.
"Officer of the watch, you have the con, if i'm needed, I'll be in my quarters"
"Aye sir."
The commodore pushed off against the floor, angling towards the open door, catching himself adroitly on the other side, he pushed off again down the corridor.

(OOC: I recommend deeply Solaris (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solaris_%28novel%29) for anyone who wants to RP aliens)

The psionic transmission, cold, alien and inhuman, was beyond the grasp of the communications systems of the Rothbard, for its avionics were designed to capture only waves done through technological rather than biological means. At a close glance, the expected outcome is that it would continue its 1 week and half journey towards the planet unaware of the transmission, specially for the fact its entire crew was frozen by its stasis chambers, unconscious. Another transmission has again arrived and registered as the source of the first two ones were being analyzed, and again it was ignored in accordance to the pre-set instructions the weak artificial intelligence received.

However, something else was happening, for somehow, Marianna was having a very lucid dream... or nightmare, and it's said that even during dreams, ESPs can also listen to the voices of beyond.

´The city of New Tucker in Gliese 581d was in flames, a battlefield characterized by wreckages of aircrafts, fallen buildings and ruins, a hell of an urban environment. Behind the ruins of an imploded skyscraper, Marianna saw a major concentration of soldiers at least thrice as strong as her. whose faces had visible alertness, fear and hatred, and she could in certain ways sense the oppressive mood, inside the safety of a power armor, without the chilling snow flakes beginning to falling over in the crimson skies, the only thing which allowed her to stand the 2.3 gravities of this hostile planet for her own race, which was the domain of the massive Homo Sapiens Plumbeus instead, giants indeed, they were dressed into little more than large ballistic and NBC biosuits and had their height at around 2.4 meters, with much more dense and muscular bodies than normal humans. One of them was carrying his assault rifle single-handedly for a few moments, aiming towards the threat beyond line of sight. Marianna however was a few lines behind, aiming a gauss marksman rifle in wait from an elevated position where a clearer field of view could be acquired. Soon one of the soldiers said, apparently the most popular of the group, a sort of elected leader:

"If we let the silicoids spread from here, we will allow them to let loose against New Bakunin's downtown, we must define our tactics to defend this position at all costs or millions will die, for to retreat is to admit defeat and inferiority of human race against the xenu scum, do you understand?"

"Yes, 'no pasaran' fascist and xenu alike. This shall be the tomb of the xenu!", an enthusiastic man said, while Marianna simply remained silent, concentrated into the electronic scope aim. The snow flakes weren't particularly helpful, although soon her vision shifted to infrared to compensate it. To the lower left corner of her vision, a sort 3d radar was exhibited with only twenty green dots as of now. Behind them a Freesky MEV was stationed, with its anti-air and anti-armor missiles ready for fire, and an unmanned drone attached to it with its robotic arms ready to reload the missile tubes and its ammunitions for its large 70mm autocannons. And several infantry fighting vehicles were ready to give fire support with their armor piercing rounds readied into their autocannons, while a coilgun assault tank was further behind, with its large 132mm gun aimed for artillery strikes, while above it a large 60mm autocannon was to give close combat support.

That was all she could see, represented as green dots in the radar generated by her brain-computer interface. But soon red dots started to appear from its edge, and an alert message quickly indicated they were roughly 2 kilometers away from them. The farthest she could aim at, without rubble blocking it, was of a kilometer away in the large avenue they are facing among destroyed infrastructure. Before she could even think on anything, the thundering sound of the 132mm gauss cannon roared as a projectile flew through the skies, and the sounds of the missiles flying from the MEV were visible as the robot reloaded them. She putted her finger closer to the grip, her pupils dilated and she waited.

"Enemy at 1,200 meters away. More than a hundred of contacts detected!", the transmission announced into her mind as the time was about to come, while the sounds of the explosions and impact of the projectile were heard away. They were extremophiles, creatures capable of surviving in extremely hostile environments. Soon the first came, it was little more than a large 7 meters long and 1.9 meters tall worm or sort of centipede, albeit being the sort of creature a jewelry appreciator would love, for its exoskeleton was entirely made of crystalline silicon compounds, reflecting part of the sunlight back. Such beings were not only completely alien in biologicals, but in thought as well. Countless of attempts of reasoning with them were tried and futile, there is no understanding how they communicate between themselves and their social structure, if there is one, was far beyond their comprehension. Diplomacy was out of question.

She quickly pressed her trigger against the first silicoid's, aiming towards its "eye", or what she thought to be its eye from the IR view. The bullet flew at 2 kilometers and half per second, and yet it did not stop the creature, although it slowed down a bit, enough for yet another missile to hit straight against it, destroying it. However, soon many other silicon based hostile lifeforms emerged from behind the ruins of the avenue ahead as the red dots were getting closer and closer. All of them were visibly adapted for living in underground, and some were a bit clumsier. A swarm of quasi-bipedal spider-like silicoids, but with sixteen limbs each instead, then arrived, for fortunately till now they stood. The heavy machineguns were bursting against the swarm as the infantry fighting vehicles fired their autocannons from behind the improvised barricade they were at in the avenue. Those creatures lacked ranged weapons, although they had a thick sort of skin or exoskeleton which made such disadvantage null as most bullets simply ricocheted against them. Many ran back to the lines behind in the hopes of finding other more effective guns in stock, however, their foolish temporary retreat has eliminated the suppressive fire capability from the platoon, as now the swarm was only at a hundred of meters, with carcasses littering the streets as they were downed by the combined fire of autocannons, grenade launchers and machineguns. Fortunately, an wave of CM-39 switchblade multirole fighters arrived to lob precision bombs against the alien mob in that avenue. Dust raised across it for some moments as the payload fell, and no vision could effectively defeat it while all got down for a while. Reinforcements were also on the way, as they were being informed. All of the red dots disappeared, for they were finally victorious after such harsh combat. Marianna then raised both her arms to celebrate.

Then she couldn't be sure of what exactly happened, for it was too fast. One of them simply came from nowhere and with a cutting limb, she witnessed as her arms were cut off at the height of the forearm as instinctively she crouched to avoid being beheaded by the beast. An unbearable pain then was felt, following a surge of adrenalin, and the sight of her tore off arms was ahead. The creature was backed away from her by machineguns almost immediately, and killed by the blow of an autocannon. Agonizing of pain, then an strange, alien voice reached her mind:

For many a millenia have we lived alone,
No threats on that we have dearly owned.
We have scoured the worlds in a quest,
To find sentient life, without rest.
But on every world we infected,
Every species we digested-
Not once was there a sentient race,
That had learned to reach for space.
Now we are here, we are shocked,
To find our answer many times found.
We tremble in fear, for we are not ready,
Our confidence gone, our bravery musty.
We are unprepared, unarmed, unable to fight,
Please spare us now, let us see our stars' light.´

That was the last thing she would remember once she regained her consciousness by leaving the stasis chamber.

It had been a hectic few hours, but now the plasma fireflies that danced between the multiple ships of the Sertian fleet were coming to a close, all personal - even the bodies of the twenty fallen - brought back to ships capable of sustaining them. Now, the last few fireflies were scavengers, taking any ammunition or supplies that remained in tact, however the ship itself couldn’t be saved, it’s fusion core cracked in half and so much internal damage that it would have probably turn into several pieces if they had stayed in the drift any longer.

It was also due to the fact that every member of the vessel was busy that the psionic message largely went unnoticed besides a few sudden headaches. Unfortunately, there were no empaths or other such psychics on 39zeta’s personal. As for why no one was mysteriously dominated by the message, despite what might have been less than ten light minutes of distance between them and the biological ship, was a mystery that would have to wait.


“Ah I see…” the Admiral nodded, seeming to start recovering at least partially from the loss. “Well then Roze, if our people are allied we offer our support, however we’ve got a multiple systems to repair from our hell ride here…” she seemed to turn away from the screen, looking over to Steve, “Officer, send out a message to have our pilots prepare for anything and divide our engineering personal into three teams. Team one works on patching up minor system damages, team two gets the shields online, and team three - the largest of them - tries to get our FTL capabilities back.”

“Yes ma’am, but you already ordered for the pilots to get ready, you also arranged for a cease fire proposition to all vessels in the area.”

“I did?” she asked puzzled, not recalling those words ushering from her mouth.

“Yes ma’am, it was right before you heard the news…”

“Oh… Well, then delay those orders… Also, have the pilots of the Grand Drake fighters see if their drives are still functional, they won’t be strong enough to get a communication through the Drift but they could give us a limited recon team.”

“Yes ma’am. Noting pilots now,” Steve said, turning back to his station and tapping away at the keyboards - ignoring the stares that came towards him for saying the Admiral had given those orders.

“Now then, ah yes sorry for the interruption Roze!” she gave a light smile and turned towards the neko’s holographic image. “From what we can tell there’s a single planet in this system, which fortunately is also capable of sustaining life. From what we can tell with our limited sensors right now we’re approximately five light minutes away from it. If you could validate this for us, we would be most appreciate.”


Ending the broadcast for now the Admiral turned her head to the left, then the right, glancing her cold eyes across all of the members there. “Steve, open up ship-wide communications to all our vessels.”

“It’s done ma’am.”

The women, taking in a deep breath let it out before speaking, “Soldiers, scientists, engineers… Sertians, Selacs, Ferabas and all others… We don’t know what happened to dealign ourselves from the Spaceway, nor what force dragged us here. There is a star and planet, capable of sustaining humanoid life. Now I don’t have to tell you that our ships are damaged, all forms of FTL communication offline and possibly only a fraction of our fighters with operative Drift Drives. So this in mind, I do not think we can win a spatial confrontation.”

“With this in mind, we’re sending four Grand Drakes to the planet to get a closer view of it as well as locate the optimal point to establish a land base. While we’re doing this we will be doing out best to get all systems back on line, but we will begin accelerating towards the planet with sublight drives. Assuming our distance estimations are correct, it’ll take us at least a day or three to cross the few light-minutes with Plasma engines, counting acceleration and deceleration.”

“On another note, we are attempting to keep this a peaceful event without firing weapons. Fortunately, it appears the majority of our weapon systems are still operational, even as our shields are down. However, all power that would be heading towards weapons needs to be diverted to repairs and conservation incase a fusion core goes down. We will rely on our fighters to defend us, including the new Phoenix Feather-Darter’s we were meant to test so please wish our pilots well.”

“As for now, that is all. Be brave soldiers, I have no intention of having us stay here. I promise I will get you back to your homes and families, even if it takes al the will I have left.”


Shortly after her announcement the ships began to accelerate, bright blue and white flickers of plasma being emitted from the back of the ships, creeping them forward at fifteen meters per second squared. While it might have been possible for the ships to accelerate up to fifty with the magnetic-gravity simulators causing people to smash against the wall, it was decided that in the case a MGS fails due to the damage to energy systems a comfortable fifteen m/s^2 was survivable. It was also about then, that four aerospace craft ten meters in length slipped out of the leading Destroyer, before seeming to dissolve into the iconic stream of particles the Drift Drive was known for. At least the fighters were still operational, for now.

But the most remarkable thing about their exit was the derelict hull of the Welcome, left to float behind in the trails of blue plasma. It had been decided by Jaynie that it deserved a death and burial worthy of its service, and in accordance the final Troop Transport that visited the ship left behind a Star-Fusion Warhead in the largest of the crevices. When the Sertians were several hundred kilometers away from the ship it was fired, resulting in the pieces of ship being ripped apart and collecting towards the warhead by the intense gravitational field, before the entire ship was consumed and promptly ignited into a miniature star.

The ball of gasses and metals, kept cohesive by an intense dynamo effect that was designed by the warhead burnt most of its available fuel for a full three minutes, before erupting into a large explosion of heat and kinetic energy for space within close range of the fireball. When it was finished, nothing was left but an abnormally large concentration of heavy particles.

“Commander Velan would have preferred his ship to die in battle, but he would be glad to know she didn’t lie as a corpse till the end of time to be looted.”

[RSNS Colossus, Colossus Class Command Battleship]

The First Corporate Fleet continued gliding through the silent aether towards the lone planet in the system. Bright blue flashes announced the return of drones to their respective vessel. So far only two responses were received and routed to the Colossus.

"Admiral, we've made contact with a fleet and the single ship, would you like me to bring them on screen?" Asked one of the comms officers.

"Yes, bring both messages up on the main screen," Said Admiral Anderson. "do you have any information on their ships?"

"Yes, technicians said the hull composition is nearly the same as are, only a few deviations in internal hull composition, powerplants seem to be plasma torches powered by some type of quark reactor."

"Interesting, record a message to the drone and send it back to the Einhauserian fleet."

"Greetings Captain Maximum of the Einhauserian Trans-Solar Fleet, this is Fleet Admiral Marcus Anderson of the First Corporate Fleet of the Silver Corporation. We come in peace as it seems we have been deposited on this system by a freak jump distortion. May we bring our ships in closer? It seems that there is strength in numbers with the number of fleets in the system."

A similar message was routed to the Aralonians, obviously changing the greeting to the appropriate names. Meanwhile the message from the NES Exuberance was received by Admiral Anderson and replied to with great haste.

WIDEBAND TRANSMISSION
FROM: Flt Adm Marcus Anderson, RSNS Colossus
TO: Cpn Kelly Fisher, NES Exuberance
BODY:
Welcome to the Great Jump Clusterfuck, it looks like many of the other fleets in the system have also experienced mis-jumps into the systems, I seem to have data on your civilization in our data cores, seems our two civilizations have traded once before. Perhaps now is a good time to kindle relations in the fight for survival.


With the final message sent via drone to the No Endorsian ship the First Corporate Fleet began it's slow deceleration and huge arching turn towards the Einhauserian Fleet. The thousands of personal on board the vessels of the fleet were hoping to get into the action. After all, the recruiting posters did promise the meeting and destruction of exotic species.

Did it work? prodded the Central Hive Mind, curious.

Give it a minute... hummed the ship, slowly regaining its equilibrium after the massive psionic message. Psionic message has successfully entered the minds of several races, including the approaching 3-ship fleet...results are unexpected. Psionic feedback shows either a complete ignorance of the message or extreme trauma among those that heard it. These symptoms won't make us any easier to cuddle.

Dam--what is this? I am receiving a psionic message! There is another psionic-capable species? said the Hive Mind, surprised.

I'm hearing it...from someone called "Red Talons" proposing peace. We must accept....more information from psionic feedback. It seems that our message has triggered memories of run-ins with species similar to us in those that heard it...and they're all bad memories. And we have found several other ways to speak with them. I do not know which is there main style of communication, but...

Then so be it. This time...make the message softer. Don't concentrate it so much. Less people will hear it, but there will hopefully be less trauma.

One last thing. Several ships are approaching the planet.

Maintain low orbit. If they approach...we'll figure it out from there.


Red Talons, we hear you
We accept your truce right now
For we cannot fight

To all who heard our last message
We apologize for its pain
The memories it has upwelled
We are not even close to those
Horrifying, destroying things

"Lieutenant, more psionic traffic, not directed at us though, I doubt we'll be able to do anything with it, we've also got a definitive version of the original though, seems to be a condensed history, nothing exceptional, and a request for peace."
"Alright, have our telepaths send a reply as per the Church's directive to establish communications."
"Aye sir, wait, we've just received a transmission on standard channels, wide band, from the NES Exuberence. Message reads:

TO: Any present capable of receiving and translating
This is Captain Kelly Fisher of the No Endorse Orion-Class Battleship Exuberance, to anyone capable of receiving. We seem to have mis-jumped into this area and seek no quarrel with anyone present, provided our respective nations have no quarrel presently. However, let it be known any intent to quarrel will be replied to with overwhelming firepower."

"Reply in kind please comms."

"Aye sir"
We have heard your cry and find ourselves in similar straits, though we profess to having more experience in the affairs of those that travel between the stars, if only a little. We wish to establish a peaceful relationship, there is no reason to believe conflict will help us find the light of our own star


TIGHTBEAM TO NES Exuberance
To: Capt. Kelly, NES Exuberance
From: The ETS Houston, Lieutenant Samuel Wayne OfW
This is the Brutus class Fleet Carrier Houston of the Holy Texan Imperial Fleet, we are in a similar condition to yourselves and wish to establish peaceful relations, maybe together we'll have a better chance of getting out of here.

"Captain Fisher, it seems that there is a transmission, appears to be from a nation called The Silver Sky. They want us to make contact and to link up."

Kelly mulled this new information for a moment. "Tell them... Tell them that we agree and would like to meet with them and the Einhauser fleet. We shou-" Suddenly, the entire universe rocked once again. Kelly felt herself snap to rigid attention before collapsing on the floor, every fiber of her being screaming against the Psi incursion into her mind. She was dimly aware of a few others kneeling in agony, many crew rushing about to try to help those effected. A pair of arms rolled her onto her left side and dashed off to help another figure slumping to the floor. Everything went black, and she slipped into unconsciousness.

When Fisher came to, she felt an immense weight, her mind struggling beneath the trauma of such a powerful incursion. She tried to stand, finding several hands holding her down and removing a pair of defibrillator pads. The echos of Traekith's message still rattled her brain, but she now felt a sort of soothing bliss. The Hive Mind's newest message slid quietly into place, easily holding her battered consciousness and injecting its message.

It asked for peace and understanding, and she nearly slid back into unconsciousness within it. Yes.... peace...... she drifted within the Hive Mind's Psi grasp. May we have peace with you.... With the thought completed, she drifted back into coherence, greeted by a blurry array of officers and crew.

"Di...Did we get that message across to the Skyans?" She was finally allowed up into a sitting position, a blurred officer placing a uniform jacket around her bare shoulders.

"Yes Captain, we have received confirmation and are on the trajectory." The AI's form appeared before the huddled group in the CC. Your reaction seems to have been the worst this time, we had to jolt you twice during the message. Other hands report various severe reactions as well, though no fatalities. I have isolated what appears to be some sort of biological entity, presumably the source of these signals. Shall I engage?"

"Negative, the last message was peaceful...." The last remnants of the Hive's second message lingered over those gathered, its delicate touch fostering an unstated sensation of euphoria. "There were two.... the first was of a man with a Katana from the Red Talon group. The second is these.... things."

"Take it easy," cautioned the AI, its holographic form gesturing about. "All hands reporting injuries or effected by the messages should make for their nearest medstation stat. Otherwise, maintain battlestations and prepare for a rendezvous with the Einhauser ships. Captain, when you are feeling ready I shall transfer command back to you, but for the time being I must take control as the only completely unaffected unit onboard."

"Affirmative...." She reached for her uniform shirt and rubbed the points the defibrillator had jolted her. "Let's find out what the hell is going on, something is terribly wrong here. Get a team to that planet as well, this is all wrong."

The flurry of communications traffic that swam over and around the ETSF fleet was staggering. Contact had last been made with the forces of No Endorse several hundred years ago, and for centuries they were thought lost to the forces of Chaos or worse. Their sudden reemergence in this unknown system in the middle of nowhere and with no proof of their identity, let alone the generally apathetic stance the Galactic Inferno had taken in past dealings all lead to certain suspicions, yet the transmitted coordinates were only a small deviation from the battlegroup’s current path. It couldn’t hurt to draw in a little closer, to say, half a dozen light seconds. Just within laser range, if things went sour.

The Silver Corporation was another matter entirely. From the technical information carried on the data stream their drone had sent, it would appear that the two corporations were 84.99964% identical in technology, governance, language and physiology. Initial computations by the onboard paratelligence revealed the probability of this happening spontaneously was so remote as to be beyond impossible. There had to be another answer. Seeing no further choice, Mike Maximum authorized the invitation of the Silver fleet to form up. There would be a further six light seconds between them, just as there would be with the Galactic Inferno. You could never be too careful.

More signals came, both psionic and tangible. A pattern of information pulses emerged from the fleet designated “Red Talon,” as well as some kind of religious battle command and an unintelligible animalistic species. One of the fleets seemed to lace their transmissions with gentle psychic caresses. It was a strange time indeed.

******

The senses returned first, they said. Taste, touch, smell were all there, he was pretty sure, as was hearing and sight. Then, gradually, thought returned. It was one thing to simply process sensory information, but genuine thought, ah, that was an order above.

“All marines, please exit the cryonic bays and proceed to Celex equipment station one,” droned a voice somewhere above. The light in the room was blinding, reflecting off of skeletal buttresses and burnished coolant pipes. As his eyes adjusted, the marine sat up and placed a meaty hand on each side of the crypt, heaving his bulky mass up and out. The computer voice continued to repeat its instructions, so he figured he had better comply. He walked, naked and disoriented, into the hulking crowd of newly awakened soldiers that were heading for the next room. Behind him, the stasis chamber sealed itself and entered self-cleaning mode. After nine months even a frozen human left its fair share of detritus.

They hadn’t said it would be like this, back when he joined up. The recruiters promised adventure, a good wage, and it had certainly delivered on both of those fronts. There wasn’t a marine alive that didn’t retire a wealthy, seasoned man. The problem was, of course, the surviving. War was uncommon, true, but when there was one it was fast, brutal and pyrrhic. All you had once you hit that atmosphere was your gun, your suit and your supersoldier body. You left your real one back home, of course, your mind excised and uploaded to a computer. The transfer was imprecise and memories were often lost, but once your head was stuck in a two and a half meter, two hundred and thirty kilo frame, that tended to matter very little. It was an adjustment, to say the least.

As the soldier shuffled forward, the other men around him bantered back and forth, sharing greetings and dirty jokes that they half remembered hearing sometime in the past. The cold metal of the cryo room lead into a sterile hallway, where antibacterial spray cleaned off any sweat and fiber that might have accumulated on the skin during the defrost cycle. The liquid burned the throat and nose, but the body quickly adapted. The stream of men emerged, dripping wet and tinged green from the cleaning. Air dryers warmed their flesh and blew off the cleaning agent, and grates under their massive feet collected the runoff, which would later be fed into the plasma stream trailing the ship.

“Please proceed,” the voice intoned. Neon-colored lights lit the way to equipment station one. It was a large room, placed next to and slightly above the cryo bay. Mechanical arms hung from the ceiling and extended from the walls, moving pieces of armor into place and sealing them shut. Finally, it was his turn. The chest plate came first, a snug fit around his broad chest. Tumor-like protein circuitry grown into his body connected with electrical nerves as the rest of the armor followed. The machines worked quickly, efficiently, asking him to step into his boots last. As the final seals connected, the helmet descended and locked to his skull. Inside the suit it seemed as if the world stopped existing, with no sound or touch or taste to betray its existence. Then, as if to reassert itself, the world entered that closed space.

Lights flickered on the screen:
Marine Sergeant #857-432-9911
Davig, Wel
Sound online
Vision online
Servos online
Reactor online
All systems operational.

Davig took a step forward, the electrical impulse from his brain traveling through his dense muscle, through the protein circuitry, through the electroactive polymers of his armor. His legs moved. Taking another step, he moved out of line and gave his knees a test bend. They worked fine. Satisfied, Davig clomped over to the far wall and picked up a large, rectangular railgun.

“Locked and loaded,” he grinned.

5/4 nodded to the screen. "Red Talons will assist in any way we can." He placed the signal on hold, the other end it would appear that he was silently waiting for her to reply. Meanwhile he looked to the nav officer. "Plot a course for high orbit with the planet. Signal the Crown of swords and Wildfire to flank us along with a compliment of destroyers and frigates. Inform Alpha team to prep for planet fall with a reaserch team."

Meanwhile, Isahil continued his repor with the living ship, focusing his message to only it. ~We are curious as to your existence, Are you a single entity or separate beings working as a whole?~ He sent.

In the armory of the Pegasis, 12 anthro raptors, bearing various scars across their black scaled bodies donned suits of black armor. Each one suiting in a similar full body armor. Their helmets bearing no apparent visors or lamps. Their sleek black plated armor flexing easily as they moved. Each one walking in turn to a weapons rack. Two of the twelve grabbing long tactical rifles as well as what looked to be a large assault rifle. Two other picking up squarish weapons bearing a set of prongs at their muzzles. One collecting a MK2 plasma flamer. Three others picked up 3 different weapons. One an oversized assault rifle, similar in appearance to a heavy bolter. Another a large grenade launcher, and a third a magazine fed rocket launcher. The rest simply taking their assault rifles. They gathered their primary weapons as well as any secondary weapons before gathering personal preferance weapons. Most of them grabbing an Ifield blade as well as what looked like normal large combat knives. The whole of the 12 gathering in a circle, assault rifles in hand save for the two holding sniper rifles. One stepped forward, his armor bore a few red markings, similar to 3 others of the twelve. "Alpha team, you are all aware of our mission. We are to escort a reaserch team to the planets surface. We are authorized to use any force necessary to ensure the safety of the reaserch team." He paused before continuing. "Understood?" The rest of the team nodded in unison.

X looked from side to side at all of his team. "Alpha team. Rule one!" He shouted in the armory. The team responded in unison. "Nobody gets left behind, the pack protects its own!"
"Rule two!"
"All weapons are primed at all times."
"Rule three!"
"All targets are hostile until proven otherwise!"
"Rule four!"
"When in doubt, empty the mag!"
"Rule five!"
"Don't drop the soap!"

The team shared a synchronous "HooRAH!" before turning and walking out of the armory, moving at a brisk jog for the Pegasis' main hangar. Their weapons slipped away into flat-space storage cells on their inner wrists.

In the hangar a puma class assault dropship was being prepped for liftoff, Its pilot priming its drive cores and checking sub systems. around the shuttle, a wing of interceptors were mimicking the dropship.

In the science bay of the Pegasis, two men recieved the information of the mission. The silently walked to a small room off from the large reaserch room. Pressing a button the door closed behind them, panels sliding open along the walls. Each of the two selected a belt from one rack, a collar from another. each taking a sleek HUD display and a hand scanner. Each took a set of bracers bearing two metal domes on each one, each dome was the width of the bracer and only slightly more curved than the bracer itself. Another set of domes were affixed to their upper arms and thighs. Then the two picked out what looked like rectangular boxes. touching the sides two round holes slid open, each about the size of a softball. They both collected 4 softball sized metal spheres and placed them inside. Taking hockey puck sized objects from another shelf, two each, and attaching them to the back of their belts. running wires from the belt to the bracers on both their upper and lower arms. Then a set of lines went down to the bracers on their thighs. The two donning long white labcoats over their normal black bodysuits. picking up the cases and in turn placing each one against the others back where a soft hum followed a click as it affixed itself. They then both picked up a sleek looking rifle, loaded with smart darts loaded with a small nanite colony, programmed to enter the targets body and sever neural pathways to the bodies muscles to completely paralyze the subject. The two looking at eachother and nodding, both taking green surgeons masks and placing them on their heads before proceeding calmly towards the shuttle bay.

The Pegasis and two battleships, along with eight destroyers and twenty frigates broke away from the rest of the fleet, their particle impulse drives lighting up, their soft blue glow the only visual sign of the sleek black ships besides the single set of red claw marks along their bow. The ships rapidly accelerating to .1c The carrier easily able to match the speeds of both battleships as well as the smaller destroyers and frigates. A testament to the drive systems used by the larger ships. Their weapon systems remained primed, ready to return fire should any attack be made as they moved on what would be an hour long flight to the planets orbit.

Psionic feedback is weaker this time. It seems it worked. said the ship, pleased. If it had a face, it would smirk.

Very well. Status Update. responded the Hive Mind

We have managed to detect other psionic races. It's a surprise that we all use the same kind of psionics. Anyway, I've managed to establish psionic links with the ships of "Einhauser", "No Endorse", and "Red Talons", which will make it far less invasive to communicate with them. Last time I had to partially take control of some....message received from Red Talons. Relaying.

I hear it...ah, curious fellows. Well, we're definitely not one organism, or there'd be no need to talk to you...continue

Red Talons are moving into high orbit near us. They'll be able to see us visually soon...assuming they have eyes. 3-ship fleet continues its approach. Psi scan shows one of the most responsive leaders as "Captain Kelly Fisher". As for the Einhauser people, we don't know, so we've randomly picked one of their ship's leaders - Captain Ara Etirima.

I'll do it directly then. You established the psionic relay, correct?

Yes sir, you should have a stronger connection in the area and we'll be able to send messages with even weaker force at further range.

Method of communication?

I've found something called "prose", it seems to be used commonly.


Red Talons, we are but both. Our colonized planets consist of one large organism; however, our ships and planets operate independently, but are under the control of the Hive Mind.


Okay then, I think I'll use images this time...directly to those two you spoke of.

After a moment, the Hive Mind focused its psi through the relay into the ships of Captain Kelly Fisher and Captain Ara Etirima. A trickle of images slowly seeped through that the two would see in their minds' eye.

A small bacteria eating another bacteria.
A parasite stealing blood from an animal.
A singular organism consuming others alive, a thirst for knowledge.
A massive, brown surface slowly expanding across the planet.
A world, consumed and lacking of life.
A Central Hive Mind, forming out of the collective intelligence of the organism.
A large organ-like ship, leaving the planet and heading into deep space.
A new planet, pristine and untouched, systemically infected like many before it.
A sentient race there, resisting, fighting with bullets, fire, and missiles.
A little girl, the first to be allowed to live.
A natural reserve, where they could live in peace upon the infected planet.
And finally, the arrival of the single Infecter-Class ship in this strange system.

The entire history of their race was laid before those that could be friends, enemies or nothing. It had to be done--someone must know in case they were killed.

I've decided. muttered the Hive Mind. Launch spores at the planet, but do not have them infect, just burrow in and watch.

Responding, the ship fired its bays, streaming out asteroid-like capsules into the atmosphere. Crashing into the surface of the planet, both underwater and on the ground, a small, brown creature opened up each of their own capsules, then burrowed under the surface...taking a little snack of grass or fish with it.

ooc: sorry i've been away. work sucks

ic:

WIDEBAND TRANSMISSION
FROM: Cpn Kelly Fisher, NES Exuberance
TO: Any present capable of receiving and translating
BODY:
This is Captain Kelly Fisher of the No Endorse Orion-Class Battleship Exuberance, to anyone capable of receiving. We seem to have mis-jumped into this area and seek no quarrel with anyone present, provided our respective nations have no quarrel presently. However, let it be known any intent to quarrel will be replied to with overwhelming firepower.
END TRANSMISSION

"Well, at least something on this thrice-damned ship works," Ramuel glowered as he read the transmission.

"Yes, thankfully, text-based communication is still operational," Second answered. "The rest of the fleet has also acknowledged recieving the transmission."

"Good, we'll send a reply," Ramuel ordered, already his hands typing out his response.

FR: Ramuel, Imperial Adjunct, CIS Cul
TO: Cpn Kelly Fisher, NES Exuberance
<
My name is Ramuel, commander of the Culsu Imperial Crusader fleet. We were on a diplomatic mission when our ships were brought to this system. Several malfunctions and power failures have happened throughout our fleet. We can only assume it is related to the phenomena that brought us here. We have no reason to consider any of the present vessels hostile, however, due to current circumstances, we have armed our weapons systems and defense countermeasures. Any and all information you recieve on this occurrence would be appreciated, and we are willing to reciprocate.>

In Orbit over the planet

After two days of maximum burn, the fleet had de-accelerated and taken up defensive positions around the planet. The Synits had decided to claim the planet for their own for now, until they could figure out just what happened, and hopefully override the warp disruption that was currently preventing any warp jumps, including tactical ones, which was why they had had to burn towards the planet normally with their fusion torch engines. They had indeed used quite a bit of Helium-3 up, soon they would have to secure another source of Helium-3 to refuel their engines, although the lack of a gas giant in system prevented the fleet from obtating it from an obvious source.

Now, the Synits faced another fleet that had arrived near the planet and had seemingly deployed several dropships to the surface of the planet, while the rest of the fleet had began thrusting to another destination. Needless to say, the Synits were not happy over this incursion into their new world and prepared to defend it like true Synits.

Not unlike birds of prey, the ship of the fleet organized themselves into a capital ship formation, with the capital ships placed in the middle like a Phalanx, surrounded by lesser yet deadly ships of the fleet, such as anti-drone frigates, destroyers, and cruisers. It wasn't long before the fleet prepared for its first assault on the enemy fleet, as they adjusted position to around 90,000 kilometers away, and ready to close in as needed. From the center of the fleet, the carriers launched thousands of drones which were soon joined by hundreds more launched from other ships. These drones were powered via fusion torch, capable of having plenty of Delta-V to support their mission attack profile. Aside from this, the drones were armed with various chemical rockets designed for emergency jinking maneuvers. Several radiators jutted out of various areas of the drones, the drones were too small for effective heatsinks so the radiators were left open. In addition the drones were armed with several different weapons systems. Their primary armament was thirty Bane Kinetic Energy Advanced Anti-Shipping Missiles, capable of accelerating to more than 800 meters a second, creating a massive amount of damage at the target. They were also armed with two laser turrets that were each capable of pumping out thirty megajoules of energy a second with pulsing, and finally they were armed with two 30mm gauss turret cannons for use against other drones or smaller ships. Other drones accompanied these, including Command Drones, EWAR Drones, and others.

While the drones accelerated rapidly towards their targets, the other ships of the fleet prepared to begin their bombardments and defensive measures. Several of the Fleet Defense Ships soon deployed defensive shield bubbles around the important ships of the fleet, such as command vessels, carriers, and dreadnoughts. Soon, the "Slugger" battleships began powering up their massively powerful coilguns capable of hurling a four-ton projectile at over one thousand kilometers per second, able to do a devastatingly powerful 28 gigajoules of damage, easily capable of destroying even the best shielded ships. Forty such projectiles hurled across space towards the enemy capital ships, including the Pegasus. In addition, the Apollo missile cruisers and Hurler missile Battleships warped up their railguns and quickly hurled hundreds of railgun-accelerated missiles at the enemy fleet. They were armed with a variety of different warheads, including electromagnetic to destroy shields, kinetic warheads, and explosive warheads. Even if this massive volley of weapons failed to destroy the enemy fleet, the massive dreadnoughts and nuclear weapons still were in reserve.

After half an hour into their hour long trip, something interesting happened. Klaxtons rang out across the Pegasis as the tactical officer called. "Enemy vessels around the planet are charging weapons, sensor locks detected! distance to target is approximately 10 light seconds." due to the distance, they had a few seconds time before the shells actually reached them, "Initaiting evasive maneuvers, Gravitic drives online, switching from impulse." The ships in the small fleet quickly began evasive maneuvers, at the same time the Pegasis deployed hundreds of interceptor class assault fighters. dozens launching from each other ship in the small fleet.

5/4 stood up on the deck as the bridge was bathed in red. the trails of the shots arcing past their ships. He drew his katana, its black crystal blade gleaming a deep crimson. "FOR THE GLORY OF THE TALON! ALL SHIPS FIRE AT WILL!" He shouted. The Crown of swords and Wildfire responded, targeting the defender ships projecting their bubbles. Each of the two massive barrels in their nose showing a faint dark purple glow, a massive gravity spike showing on any sensors paying attention as two semi truck sized tungsten steel spiked were accelerated out of the barrels at 95% of the speed of light. Aimed for center mass on the bubble ships Each of the destroyers let loose with a similar weapon, though only one barrel. the instant the shot had left their barrels a second volley was loaded as replication bays spun to generate another reload. The pegasis opened up with its heavy gattling drivers. each one firing 100mm tungsten steel spikes at 1% short of light speed, the almost continuous dark purple shine from their barrels looking like muzzle flare. Each turret focusing on the largest ship in the enemies fleet.

The instant the small fleet opened fire, a hundred destroyers and double that number of frigates engaged full gravitic drives, accelerating almost instantly to tactical speed to join the fray. Their weapons primed as they launched their own fighters. Though it would be a few minutes before they arrived.

On the bridge, 5/4 held the katana into the air. "Missile bays, Target their flagship. FIRE!" Now was when it became known where the Pegasis had gotten its name. Along the port and starbord side, thousands of missile bays snapped open, firing anti ship gravitic pulse warheads. Each missile created its own trail of white as its fusion torch drive accelerated it out of its bay as the trails of the fusion torches vanished, the missiles blinking in and out of voidspace as they rapidly closed on their target.

Marianna felt a chilling sensation on her artificial skin beneath the mechanical counter-pressure suit as she arose from the stasis chamber, still somewhat cold. It was fitting considering the nightmare she went through. She could sense it, there were aliens there, enemies of humanity. Then, she heard the same alien, cold voice touching her mind yet again. There was no way she would reply to them, not after all the fears they brought. It was probably an intuition, for those were probably not different at all from the silicoids who were discovered decades ago after the first Moho mines were dug.

To all who heard our last message
We apologize for its pain
The memories it has upwelled
We are not even close to those
Horrifying, destroying things

´"And they are sufficiently hypocritical to apologize? At least they apparently have a more comprehensible thought pattern than the silicoids. But they are just scum like all. Maybe it's time to suggest something before it's too late"´, Marianna thought while at the same time she asked to apparently nowhere:

"Llegams al planet?"

"Attencion! Gran conflit detectad en destinacion!", was the message that came into hers and into the minds of all the awakened crew, announcing the reason why they were awakened before their arrival and why it was now accelerating at only 1 gee.

´"Rothbard, connect me to the strategic view"´, Marianna then mentally ordered as the crowd was surprised, still remaining in that cryonics deck. Soon her vision vanished. Instead she was now in a three-dimensional virtual reality where a representation of the feed gathered by the astrogation deck below. The entire space around the torchship was now visible as it moved further, now at almost 0.03c, and should something collide with it, the consequences would be disastrous. The distant stars could also be viewed although the system had yet to catalog and pattern-match them. In certain ways it was alike to the vision a software like Celestia would provide, but with a greater quantity of details

´"Zoom in to the planet high orbit"´, she again ordered. The image then started to accelerate to the sensor data. Things were less clear, although visible, including an image of the terrestrial planet itself which centered on her vision. There were obviously some quite large forces of spacecrafts engaging each other in combat in that system, while among them, the alien spacecraft was there. From the looks of it, there was a chance neither of them were human. Marianna then sighed to herself, and observed as spacecrafts were being torn apart in the coldness of space. They couldn't simply turn away now, specially as she asked:

´"Report remaining Helium-3 and Deuterium supplies on light-years range"´

´"Fuel is only sufficient for further 2 light years of interstellar travel"´

´"Report pattern-matching results"´, she then ordered, fearing for a certain answer.

´"None of the surveyed stars match current astronomic registers. Probability of being currently in the Milky Way: 1%"´

Now a great dilemma has come, for they couldn't simply use the Shadow again, and on the other hand, they were in a completely unknown location of the universe, possibly not even in the Milky Way, and had to urgently find Helium-3 and Deuterium if they wanted to have a chance to leave or survive. Yet, their best hope was now already being disputed by forces which would outnumber them and give 0 chances of success if the issue was solved through violent means. But they couldn't turn their back to the planet.

´"Rothbard, estimate least explored region of orbit"´

Soon the view shifted as a camera yawed and pitched to focus on another region of the orbit of the planet where the combat wasn't happening with the same intensity of the other. Aware of it, Marianna finally asked.

´"Merge into Neural Net"´

She has again become unconscious, but this time, not because of entering in stasis. The brain-computer datalink has connected all her neural cells to the minds of every individual present inside the ship, leading to an strange impact over her individuality as her mind became a part of a whole. Not exactly a hive mind, but the mind of group. Such was an action common when they had to make difficult decisions like the one ahead.

The risks of attempting an incursion on the planet would be tremendous, yet their other choice was to drift in space while in their stasis chambers awaiting for the luck of being helped. Neither of them were particularly promising. Estimating the inherent risks and probabilities of each choice, the group mind has chosen to continue ahead, in an oblique trajectory towards the high orbit of the planet where combat was less frequent, as hopefully it would still be happening once they arrived, in about 5 days. Slipping past would be a challenge, but to drift with no fuel would be worse. A plan was established to land on the planet surface as well, should they manage to bypass the battle.

Hopefully it would succeed. Marianna, as all others, have again returned to their chambers to continue in their unconscious state during the final stage of their journey, while the AI had its kinetic-kill weapons at maximum readiness level, for if they were really downed despite their minor profile in the middle of swarms of spacecrafts, they were determined to take at least ten others with them.

"Commodore, things appear to be heating up, sensors indicate multiple weapons related discharges near the planet. No reply yet to any of our messages."

"Damn, have the gateship deploy communication drones to the groups not currently engaged, and recon drones to the planet. Have the science team accelerate, but try to keep themselves out of the battle and have the destroyers maintain a peaceable stance. Task the Travis, Perry and Ferguson to maintain a defensive stance around the gateship and take everything else closer to the planet at flank speed."

"Aye commodore relaying orders."

The major disadvantage of the interstellar gate system used by the Holy Texas Empire, is it's unsuitability for local transportation. even the large stationary projectors could only open a destroyer sized gate at ranges less than a lightyear, and the high level of feedback meant that keeping even that small a gate open for very long was a strain. The smaller mobile projectors of the gateship could only provide local transport for small drones or fighters. and without knowing where it was, the gateship couldn't connect to the stationary projector network to ferry larger ships around.
So,t he gateship did what it could, deploying small communication drones to the apparently peaceful groups with a simple message:

This drone is a peaceful emissary of the Holy Texas Empire 32nd task force commanded by Commodore Perring. We appear to have arrived in this system due to an unknown anomaly and are seeking cooperation as together it may well prove easier to solve this apparent mystery than separately. This drone will record all local broadcasts for a period of 30 standard Terran minutes before returning to our fleet and relaying them to us.
the Drones broadcast the message on a wide range of channels and was trans;ated into as many languages as it cou;d reasonably relay in the time before it would be retrieved.

additionally, a handful of reconnaissance drones were gated to the planet's orbit, these emitted no signals of their own, and once through the gate didnot activate their thrusters in an attempt to stay unnoticed. They would relay their information when signalled by the approaching destroyers escorting the science vessel, which had collectively accelerated to 3gs which wou;d brign them to the planet in only a few days.

As all that wa going on, the main bulk of the Holy Texas fleet was also in motion, two of the cruisers and a carrier took up defensive postions around the gateship, while the rest of the fleet, (a carrier, two cruisers and two destroyers) accelerated to 5gs towards the planet where the fleet would try to take up position outside weapons range of any of the other ships and where it could more easily take part in what was going on.

Above the Planet

It seemed that the first salvo had for the most part missed the enemy fleet. It seemed that the strange energy had interfered with the targeting computers and calculations, for the enemy would have had very little time to move before the slugs hit. Even so, the missiles were still on course and rapidly about to engage. Meanwhile, the drones executed their attack runs on the enemy forces. Some of them engaged the enemy fighters that were now trying to destroy them, using superior maneuverability that would crush a human due to the G-forces. Using their lasers and kinetic kill cannons, they continued to destroy the enemy. Others soon launched their payloads at the enemy ships in the near the area, for the Bane missiles were nothing to be laughed at due to their sheer destructive power.

It seemed that the enemy was not entirely harmless either, several battleships and one of the carriers exploded immediately in massive fireballs as slugs slammed into them. They were so fast that the sensors did not even manage to detect them before the ships were destroyed, and they even managed to breach the bubbles with ease, which normally was not an easy task. The Pegasus would have to be the fleets' priority a its 100mm shells also slammed into more ships, easily destroying them. Over twenty ships had been destroyed and the battle had just began. It wasn't long before the fleet detected enemy missiles flying it at high speeds, these were soon engaged by point-defense lasers of the picket guard, easily neutralizing them.

Then the fleet prepared the second barrage, mainly targeted for the Pegasus. The jaw-dropping mass of the Armageddon class Dreadnoughts turned slowly, aligning the incredibly large magnetic accelerator cannons at the fleet. All other ships near them rapidly accelerating away as the six cannons fired, forcing the dreadnoughts to spin to the right as their fusion torches struggled to adjust. Each had just launched a 100-ton projectile of depleted uranium at 5% the speed of light at the enemy, which would ensure Pegasus' destruction. At the same time, the fleet launched the second salvo of missiles, this time several nuclear warheads in the multi-megaton range had been thrown in. Lastly, the Absolution battleships fire their 500 megawatt lasers in rapid succession, each firing more than six each with nearly one laser beam exiting per ten milliseconds.

It was urgent that the defensive bubbles around the fleet be re-established as soon as possible, and quickly the fleet defense ships were being re-charged by logistics cruisers and smaller ships that were having their reactors siphoned off. Hopefully the enemy would be distracted by the latest attack until the bubbles could come back up.

In the name of Telnar! Combat has started in high orbit, only a few thousand kilometers away! screamed the ship, shocked.

Stray away, quickly! shouted the Hive Mind back, shocked.

Maneuvering, the ship quickly turned around and activated its dark energy engine organelle. Ripping space-time in its insatiable hunger to expand it, it shot the ship forward at .01 C, maintaining orbit. Due to the nature of dark energy, no heat was produced; however, the drive left a permanent stretch in space-time that could easily be detected simply by observing its miniscule gravitational lensing affect. Not that it mattered - they weren't trying to hide, simply to run.

Status update. said the Hive Mind, calmly.

We have determined the two combating fleets are Red Talons and..."Synits". Using some kind of projectile weaponry. New arrival it seems. Judging by their movement, the "Synits" are planning to take the planet.

Have our spores watch, but do NOT infect. We cannot anger anyone here.

It was barely a few minutes after the Sertian fleet had accelerated, a few hours before the first fleet positioned itself in orbit and started firing, but in that time four fighters seem to appear, to the biologicals nearby it might have been a surprising event. Eight minds suddenly being detected within a few hundred kilometers but with a slight echo, before suddenly erupting into focus as the four heavy fighters reconstituted themselves from the particles that seemed to have dispersed before.

Fortunately for the biologicals, they had what sensors they had focused on the planet. EM-Arrays scanning the surface as each one split up to cover the sphere quicker. It was risky, as the Sertians knew by now multiple fleets were heading towards it, but at that time the only ship in the area was the biological ones, and they had know knowledge of them.

“Admiral, we’ve completed scans and mapping of the planet-”

“Where have you been!?” the Admiral suddenly shouted, in the few hours the ships had been gone the Sertians were able to get their drift drives partially online, in a sense bringing up their sensors and advanced communications but not their faster than light capabilities. They were although still unable to open a communication with the fighters without knowing where they were.

“Ma’am?”

“Forget it, burn whatever fuel you have to get to relative speeds away from the planet away from us. As soon as possible jump into the Drift and get back, a fleet is approaching the planet and they’re less than an hour away.”

“Roger ma’am, we’ve already finished with our scans and are about to burn the remainders of our primary fuel to do so, we’ll use back-up collected in the planet’s stratosphere to dock.”

“Don’t tell me about it, DO IT!”

And they were cutting it close, as they would find out the hostile forces ships were minutes away from firing range the ships had burnt their primary fuel, and then proceeded to disperse into the streaming waves or particles once more, only to appear nearby the Sertian ships to be caught in magnetic nets and brought back to dock with their respective ships.


Shortly afterwards they had detected the firefight starting between the vessels that had almost caught their reconnaissance fighters, specifically firing right at their allies. Their sensors started to reconstruct the positions of the battle, red dots approaching the giant blue sphere being their allies while the green ones belonged to the now designated ‘enemies’. In front of this reconstruction was Admiral Jaynie, her eyes now seeming to blaze from the energy released from the TAC.

“Send a message via Drift to Roze, tell him that we’ll be within firing range in a few hours as we’re currently decelerating. Until then, charge all weapons and shields since they’ve been repaired. As soon as we get there I want a full volley of plasma AND missiles, throw everything we have at them to cripple their forces.”

“Admiral Jaynie, the Helix reports that it’s warp system has just come online. We can appear there in just under a few minutes but it might burn out the Fusion Core powering it like it did ours,” Steve responded, his bandages now removed but a few bruises still showing on his face.

“Alright, tell them we’ll be there in a few minutes… Until then, send one message to the hostiles and another to anyone in the system.”

“Yes Ma’am…”

Message One:
FROM: Admiral Jaynie of the Sertian Empire, Squadron 39zeta experimental weapon testing.
TO: Hostile forces around the mysterious planet.
MESSAGE: You have engaged our allies without provocation, an illogical move considering that we are all lost here. This has left us with one option, stand down all weapons immediately, this does not have to be a surrender only a message of error on your part. Failure to do so, and we will use whatever is in our power to annihilate your fleet and force it to surrender.

Message Two:
FROM: Admiral Jaynie of the Sertian Empire, Squadron 39zeta experimental weapon testing.
TO: All non-combat engaged forces surrounding the planet.
MESSAGE: We are not here to wage war, as I am sure we are lost as many of you are. However, we’ve detected an unprovoked firing upon our allies, the Red Talons, and thus will respond in kind to their force if they do not disengaged. Those who wish to keep this as peaceful a matter as possible, to work together to unlock the secrets of this planet and to get us all home, I urge you to join your banner with us! We are aware that to many of you we might be aliens and strangers, but even if this is a temporarily alliance or even a simple cease fire, we must prevent this from devolving into a shameful event that will mark the histories of all our people!

OOC: Just wanted to let everyone know that I’ve not forgotten about this RP. I go to school essentially full time and I’m on at odd hours, so my time is limited and when I am on everyone else isn’t. I really think this RP will turn out great, and we’re halfway through the plot I’ve drafted. I bet a lot of you are asking yourselves if I ever talked to you about a story, but no, I didn’t. The plot just follows logical reactions. If you’re all ready for the plot twist, just continue to RP as normal. It’s going to be fun, I promise.

IC:

The planet loomed in front of the small squadron, haloed in light from the brilliant sun. Exhaust plumes and explosions studded the orbit, visible even at this extreme range. But the Archipelago, Celex and Cramer were closing rapidly. In only half an hour the task force could slide gently into orbit and move to engage the biological menace. At least, that had been the plan.

“Battle report please, recon.” Captain Brenner stood stoicley still next to the navigation console, his eyes fixated on the holographic projection of the approaching skirmish. The reconnaissance officer pulled two windows into one and split another three, manipulating data with three deft keystrokes.

“At least two, most likely three and possibly five fleets have engaged one another in an apparently free-for-all in high orbit around Katyusha.” That was not the planet’s real name, of course, for nobody knew that, but the crew had had plenty of time to create a catchy nickname. Katuysha just stuck. “No efficient way to glean more information, captain, the brawl is too intense.”

“Thank you, recon. Very well. Comms, open a channel to the whole of this ship and the rest of the squadron.”

“Aye aye, captain. Channels open.”

“This is Captain Brenner of the Cramer. As the temporary commander of this squadron I am hereby issuing the order to alter course to intersect with Katyusha’s upper atmosphere. It is too dangerous to attempt a landing. While still in low orbit, we will launch our entire marine complement to the surface of the world. Intel images suggest that the organics are attempting to assimilate it, and they must be stopped. We do not know what secrets are buried on that world, but we can, no, must do everything in our power to seek them out and deny the enemy. Once our marines are away, we will exit orbit and make for the sun. Using its gravity well we will make a snap turn and be back to Katyusha within a few weeks. This will give the ground forces time to find and eliminate any threats, and put us on a perfect intercept course with the organic mothership. That is all.” And with that, the com-link closed.

******

Fire leapt past the thick windows of the landing craft. Davig closed his eyes and tried not to think about the hundreds of kilometers of nothingness that flew below his feet. Landing sickness was a common ailment despite the enhanced physiology of a marine’s body, and he knew that several other members of his squad suffered just as badly as he did, but somehow that failed to alieviate the anxiety. His railgun was smooth and cool to the touch, even through the dulled senses of the armoplast gauntlets that covered his hands. He recited each part by name, moving from the stock to the rail sleeve and all the way to the end of the barrel. He opened his eyes again.

The last signs of the starship squadron was dissipating, a huge streamer of cloud that formed after the blazing hulls had left the air. Pinpricks of light were still visible in the haze, but that could just be a trick of the eye. As the atmosphere grew thicker it became harder to see the stars, but the battles that raged all around were more than evident. Sun-like flares of dying warships provided intense illumination, shocking the eye in the split second it took the cornea to contract. The lasers were invisible, of course, having been modulated into the x-ray and gamma ray wavelengths, but they were still clearly there.

The ride was getting bumpier. Davig reached behind his head and took hold of a bulky restraint to help steady himself. “We’ve got thirty seconds to brake deployment!” he called to his squad over the roar from outside. “Remember, we’re doing this for humanity and for the sake of the glory of Einhauser! Brace for impact!” Just two seconds later the whole craft seemed to smash into a brick wall as the air brakes extended, instantly increasing drag a hundred times over. Only the thick bolts that held the marines to their seats kept them from being hurled into the aisle, but it was still a nasty shock.

Green jungle was visible now, and Davig realized how difficult it would be to blend in with his blue and scarlet armor. But, he decided that it didn’t matter. If he died, he died. The worst of the flight was over now, anyway, and all that remained was touch-down and embarkation. Thrusters flared and spat flame as the dropships came in for a landing, smashing down trees and flattening branches to create an artificial landing zone. They sank their large feet into the soft earth and unclamped their cargo. “All right, let’s go let’s go let’s go!” called Davig, un-bolting himself and jogging to the rear of the compartment. His marines followed, yelling at the top of their lungs.

It wasn’t needed, of course. None of them had a clue where the biologicals had landed, or if they had even survived reentry, but it couldn’t hurt to have a little zeal for your work. They thundered down the ramp and into the brush, pushing their way through the crowd and over to the gunships that unfolded from the wings of the landers. Each atmospheric craft was small enough to fit inside a compartment in the side of the dropships, but was more than ample enough to contain a full squad of marines. As each came loose of their restraints and the last marines left their holds, the landers lifted off again and made for the northern horizon, where they would try and find a hiding place until the fleet returned and they were needed once more.

Davig clenched his fist around the composite hand hold on his gunship’s wingroot and swung himself up. “Let’s get this party started,” he laughed.

******

Captain Mike Maximum was not pleased with recent events. A battle had broken out in orbit around the unknown planet, and he had not even responded to all of the fleets in the area yet. At this rate half of them would be destroyed by the time he even returned their calls.

“This is Captain Mike Maximum of the Einhauserian Trans-Solar Fleet to the ships of the nation of Red Talons, Solar Communes, The Holy Texas Empire, Free United States, ThePeoplesFreedom, Skillcrossbones and Sertian. We do not want a conflict to hinder the investigation of the bizarre circumstances that brought us all to this system. We don’t know why we’re here or what is expected of us, but surely combat is not the answer. Please, I am asking you, turn aside your weapons and behave like civilized creatures. As an act of good will, we hereby pledge not to fire on any of you unless fired upon first.”

Closing that window and opening one to the Galactic Inferno, Silver Corporation, and Aralonia he composed an entirely different message. “Let’s kill them all,” he grinned.

"Commodore, the analysts believe that the conflict is between three of the distinct groups so far identified, with a fourth, the biologicals, attempting to escape harm and several groups landing on the planet. The science team reports that recent scans indicate that a technological civilization may once have inhabited the planet and We've just recieved a message from a group self-identified as the Einhauserian Trans-Solar Fleet. they have offered a ceasefire to most of the identified groups. Intelligence says they have reason to believe they may have previous friendly relations with those not contacted directly in the communication and may be exchanging tight-beam messages with them. Those groups are currently occupying or on a course that indicates intent to occupy a roughly 18 lightsecond sphere of space roughly centered on the Einhauser fleet."

"Hmm, I don't like the sound of that, Sound general quarters throughout the fleet, Have the Lamar take up a high velocity progressing solar orbit perpendicular to the planet, I want an ace in the hole Time it so they can make an approach on the bulk of the fleets if we get in trouble. and prepare to get the gateship to send us some additional fighters if things get hairy. I want our Xaser tubes ready to charge and LAIRs in every tube, but keep everything covered, I don't want them to know how ready we are until they're frying.

Finally, send this message tightbeam to the Einhauserian and their allies and the Free United States fleet, those other's are too embroiled to pay much attention
Message follows
To All fleets to which this message has been directed
"We accept the Einhauserian offer, we will not fire unless fired upon, at which time we will resort to overwhelming firepower. We are close to completing a deep sky survey which, when cross referenced with our star charts, should yield our current location, which we would be willing to use as insurance against any attack as we suspect many of you are not capable of performing such a survey yourselves. Now, my science team informs me that the planet in this sysem is highly improbable, given the lack of other planets or planetary remains. it is their analysis, and it makes sense to me, that whatever caused us to be here is on that planet, If we work together, we would have a better chance of locating it and maybe understanding what's going on. Please respond on this band along the time and acceleration corrected vector as indicated."

"Now, leave a drone on this course and accelerate by five percent, I don't want them to know where we are without them working for it, Have we gotten anything from the organic fleet?"

"No sir, our telepaths say they've been communicating, but not with us."

"The way they're running I bet they think they're unarmed, do we know how they move?"

The Commodore's assistant was confused.
"Uh, no sir, it looks like it might be reactionless though, they don't leave a decent drive trail at least."

"Excellent, that's the best kind, have our telepath's try again, I want to teach them the Kzinti lesson, get someone solidly on our side in this charlie foxtrot."
With the mention of the kzinti lesson, the assistant sudden;y realized what the Commodore had in mind.
"Good thinking sir, I'll get the telepaths on it right away."

(OOC: They didn't arrive yet, I'll wait for the battle to progress more before I do it because 9 days don't end fast)

It had came past the mid of the journey, for now the large torchship was facing the opposite direction from where it was heading to, decelerating continually as there were little more than 2 days of travel remaining towards the orbit. Much of the battle have passed by this time, although the light speed lag still restricted the way the navigation avionics could register them with enough delay to effectively make of it less than real-time. Then, the silence was again broken as a new message arrived and was captured by its systems. This time, it was strangely, also specifically directed at them. Indeed strange for the fact that, other than for the war against the Global State in a galaxy which seemed to be almost entirely restrictive against faster-than-light travel, as if itself was a major FTLi field, Solar Communes had very little contact with other civilizations and was naturally isolationist. The system would, under normal circumstances, reply to the message, however the fact they strangely knew their identity has brought a new set of instructions to be processed instead, based on how to deal with suspicious contacts.

Processing instructions...

Ignoring all communications...
Alertness level raised to 0...
All anti-ballistic missiles ready for fire, launch cells unlocked...
Ultraviolet-C Anti-ballistic turrets ready to be extended from inner nacelles...
Combat Mode: Return fire and retreat...
Calculating maximum aerobraking capability...
Deceleration reduced to 3.5 gees...
Estimated speed during orbital intercept: 50 kilometers per second

No longer the Rothbard would decelerate to almost zero after reaching planetary orbit, but now, it would instead use the gravitational and upper atmospheric drag for a somewhat risky aerobraking maneuver, as it would offer a faster manner of avoiding interception, should the fact it is programmed to only attack if attacked first not be enough for it to be left alone. For now, the crew continued in their stasis. However a strange disturbance was happening, invisible and unnoticeable. Marianna was not entirely inactive in her subconscious. It is told that extra sensory perception is much more prevalent subconsciously than as a conscious act. And soon a strong telepathic message, which had more emotion than meaning, was unconsciously sent towards the strange aliens who invaded her mind:

For decades I remember the pain of the war
No lies shall hide your intentions, xenu scourge
At least you admitted your genocide against others

I know what you want, and I shall ensure one thing
We will be watching you, we shall always keep our vigil
We shall not rest until every single of you are extinct

Even if to ensure mankind's survival and supremacy
An entire world must be destroyed and razed to nil.
And if necessary, all your worlds shall follow suit.

The content of hatred was much more evident than the message itself, also, provided enough psychic capability, it would be possible for the receiver to notice it was not something done consciously. There could be no guarantee that those strange aliens would be the only ones to receive the message. Perhaps this would be only the first of many troubles. It was difficult for a Solarian to disguise their hatred of all non-human sentiences, they believed that the reason why they never saw any world with two sentient species living together is because different sentient species would always fight among themselves for the position of the "top of the food chain", for either would have different organisms, and thus different manners of thought and developing culture, logically conflicting and opposing, and what happened in Gliese 581d only reinforced such belief. When they did not express explicitly their disgust for aliens, they would one way or another give involuntary hints of it, for they have never found peaceful aliens.

on the Pegasis, the tactical nav officer adjusted the ships course. Deploying dozens of mobile EM jamming pods, the rest of the fleet mimicking the process. The result would be thousands of sensor signitures. The pegasis shifting itself quite rapidly straight up as across the fleet thousands of point defense sliver guns unleashed shotgun like clusters of tungsten steel darts at 4000 rounds per minute. The pegasis rocked as the heavy lasers racked across the starbord bow of the ship. "G-cannons 2 and 4 are offline!" Called one of the tactical stations. "Main cannons are online!" the man continued. 5/4 lowered his katana like a cavalry leader leading a charge. "Target the dreadnoughts and FIRE." suddenly, the gattling cannon drivers along the pegasis ceased firing as power was diverted from its quad gravitic induction cores as 6 ports on the bow of the ship opened up. Unleashing a solid cohesive yellow beam of quantum energy, any matter it came into contact with would erupt into localized fission reactions as its very molecular cohesion was ripped apart. The 6 beams were divided among the dreadnoughts, targeting any apparent bridge first. The carrier's sliver cannon point defense batteries maintaining their streams of fire due to having their own power system.

The Pegasis suddenly shifted back as its lower aft section tore completely off from one of the dreadnoughts slugs. "Aft decks 1 through 15 losing pressure, Impulse engine number 3 is destroyed!" Called one of the tactical officers. 5/4 nodded. "Begin damage control procedures."

The fighters were waging war right back, each interceptor armed with a 40mm gauss cannon and twin plasma drivers. The gauss cannon mounted a full meter off the ships center of gravity, causing them to perform seemingly impossible maneuvers as the experienced and trained pilots used the off balance configuration to shift their fighters direction in most unpredictable ways. Their armor, as well as that of the fleets ships, quite interesting. The enemy laser weapons reflecting off like a mirror, causing only a localized heat spike. The frigates targeting drone fighters with 25mm magnetic auto cannons. while targeting other larger craft with twin 75mm magnetic auto cannons.

The wildfire rocked with explosions as multiple missiles found their mark. Its armor not able to stand up to the ballistic force of the missiles as it began to list. Escape pods launching from various points. Its main cannons firing once more, one of them only spouting a long gout of flame before the ship flickered and began to break apart. Crown of swords seemed to be faring much better, both of its cannons firing a second volly of tungsten steel spikes, aimed at any particular capital ship that was controlling the drones. the capital ships sliver guns laying out a deadly

four of the eight destroyers met a similar fate as the Wildfire, breaking apart silenly in the dead of space. Some launching escape pods as their computers continued to fire their weapons The frigates however were faring a little better, Maneuvering with no regard to formation as they acted as large gunboats, weeding out any missiles coming from the enemy fleet.

Overall, the crews of hardened veterans had space combat down to an art form. Having no home world of their own, The Red Talons had their entire lives to practice one thing, war. The nation of mercenaries possessing each thousands of hours of active combat at the least. Their entire lives spent in space, they knew how to do things with their ships that other pilots and crews could only imagine.

The backup was growing closer, the reinforcement wave of 300 ships. Now a matter of minutes away from the battle. The whole group of ships, including the Pegasis, began to fall back at the direction of admiral Roze upon recieving the request for a cease fire from Einhauser fleet.

Roze responded to the Sertian commander via directed burst transmission. "Any assistance would be wonderful. We're taking some heavy fire from those dreadnoughts."

OOC: Einhauser, you forgot that message I sent directly to Ara Etirima. Now don't you forget too, No Endorse. :D

IC:
Low Orbit, 1000km from Surface

For decades I remember the pain of the war
No lies shall hide your intentions, xenu scourge
At least you admitted your genocide against others

I know what you want, and I shall ensure one thing
We will be watching you, we shall always keep our vigil
We shall not rest until every single of you are extinct

Even if to ensure mankind's survival and supremacy
An entire world must be destroyed and razed to nil.
And if necessary, all your worlds shall follow suit.


Bastards. muttered the Hive Mind. Forget it. We pull out now. Check the spores one last time, then we leave.

For the last few hours, they had been attempting to get the point-phase jump working again. Finally, they had managed to improvise a new set of DNA which was now creating new cells to replace the ones that had mysteriously mutated after the failed jump.

Einhauser fleet approaching. Malicious thoughts this time, and our psionic "informant's" mind agrees. Einhauser dropships have landed only a few hundred meters from Spore 18D. What's the chance, with them being scattered over thousands of kilometers...anyway, time to take our chance.

Rumbling, the ship activated its point-phase jump organelle. For a few merciful nano-seconds, the ship was entering the rip in Space-Time and entering the Phase Network.

Then all went wrong. The ship felt everything fade away as the Hive Mind screamed.

Massive, spatial distortions tore through the ship even as a temporal anomaly split the ship across several times. The fatty tissue under the steel plates that protected the ship instantly burst and blood filled the extra-dimensional Phase Network as the heart, mind, and all organelles burst into pieces. Only one part remain unhurt - the small probe only a few meters large leaving the Phase Network. Trailing behind it was the rubble of the ship that had not yet been atomized, a massive flume of heat detectable for light days, and the closing rift.

What the Loxas happened?? screamed the Hive Mind as the ship regained consciousness.

Unknown Planet, Spore 18D

The spore trembled in fear under the ground as it heard the chattering minds of the Einhauser troops. It has been a long time since any of them had made close-contact with any sentient species, and the spore had to restrain its temptation to contact them. Instead, it quickly came up out of the ground, behind a bush. Slipping slowly across the ground, it consumed a small amount of grass, a little bit here, a little bit there, never enough to leave noticeable traces. before coming up to one of the many trees in the jungle. Carefully, it crawled up the trunk and hid itself in a squirrel hole - the owner wasn't home yet, and the spore hoped it never would come home.

Finally, he reached his tendrils into the trunk, and began sapping away small amounts of nutrients from the tree delicately and quietly. He only needed enough to produce more, smaller spores and send them off, after which it didn't matter if he survived. Quickly, he split himself into his first spore, having already eaten enough grass while waiting underground to create one, and himself. The new spore quickly crawled off and was out of sight far before the time the second one would be fully formed, which would took approximately 20 minutes. Dammit, don't find me now.

The mysterious planet, dubbed Monolith by the crew of the flagship, loomed ominously in the view screens of the leader of the 5th Destroyer Task Force prepared for their jump to the planet.

The success of the drones tactical side-jumps meant inter system jumps were possible, but the destruction of a drone attempt at outer system jump resulted in a hunk of space debris floating somewhere around the bow shock. The Einhauser fleet was much too far ahead for the Skyians to accelerate and decelerate for battle in a timely manner, so the order was given for a fleet wide tactical side-jump.

Just a mere hour before the jump was to begin the order came for the marines to be awakened, many of them were carried on board cruisers and frigates while the support ships carried even more.

Cryogenic tubes opened with a hiss that quickly died away as frozen water crystals floated along the floor before evaporating. Automated stations checked to make sure each two and a half meter, two hundred and thirty kilo soldier was ready for duty. The soldiers were then herded into a cleaning room for their anti-bacterial spray.

The last step completed their transformation from frozen popsicle freak to fearless super soldier. They were given their armor and weapons.

The first marine was loaded onto the platform. Within seconds huge mechanical arms lowered from the ceiling and retrieved a set of armor from the rack on the wall. Other mechanical arms gripped the marines wrist and pulled his arm up as the armor was placed on the marine, the mechanical pieces joined together by beefy joints. The marine didn't even flinch as the electrical nerves connected with organic protein circuits while the machines joined the arm and legs to the metal suit that he wore. Hands and his helmet were the last thing added to his suit before the big heavy reactor was joined to his suit.

For a moment there was nothing but darkness, no sense of touch, smell or sight as the electric nerves and optical devices remained powerless, only the strength of the huge robotic arms hold the suit kept him from being crushed by the suits massive weight.

Then it all came to life, the reactor roared as electricity flowed through the nerves in the suit.

Marine Sergeant #N-219-648
Gaz, Price
Powering up...
A[rmed]L[unatic] Operating System... Online
Acoustic Sensors... Online
Vision Sensors... Online
Servos and Muscle Systems... Online
Reactor... Online
Power up complete...
All systems operational.
Proceed. . .

Gaz grinned as the mechanical arms withdrew into the ceiling. He flexed his joints and shook off the transition. Eyeing the wall he found his personal battle rifle. With heavy, metal footsteps he sauntered over to the rack and pulled of his personal beauty and slapped a magazine into it while grinning.

"About damn time..."

---------------------------

It only took the hour for the marines to ready and load into transports. All preparations were complete for the tactical side-jump. Within a second the fleet disappeared in a blinding blue flash before reappearing on the far side of the planet, away from the battle taking place above it.

"Prepare to land the 25th Marine Company, coordinates are near the forces of the Einhauser Corporation. Landing craft release in t-minus ten seconds." Said the booming voice of Admiral Anderson through the speakers in each ship. In the hold of each of the ten Stork-Class Landing Craft the marines bolted themselves to their metallic holds, in each of the holds were their five anti-grav vehicles and two Republic Class Gunships.

Soon enough they were hurtling through the atmosphere towards their landing points as the fleet headed away from the planet, weapons and shields fully charged, they only waited for the opening salvo from the Einhauser vessels to take their turn at combat.

As the Sertians began to activate their plasma shielding massive vents radiated the highly energetic particles out into open space, only to have the intense magnetic field generators that lined the ship pull the particles mere meters away from the hull, locking it into place as a fluidic system lining their hulls. To observers monitoring the vessels it seemed like they were being lighted up with the same color of the star that burned nearby them. Bright orange to yellow wavelengths of light being released when the energy of the sun’s rays were absorbed then released back out. Now the vessels, looking more like golden birds of fire rather than constructs of steel continued their deceleration, even as the (something) prepared its warp engines to bring them right into the action if need be. Of course, all forty-nine ships were charging their weapon systems, an almost undetectable process as HELIP energy conduits channeled power from the fusion cores into the various weapon systems. Railgun point defense systems, plasma canons, and missile accelerators were primed and ready to fire in a deadly volley as soon as they got within range.

However in the mean time they kept decelerating, waiting to give the hostiles a chance to respond before warping in behind them and blowing them to pieces, hopefully. But until then, there was other things to be done - such as analyzing the maps the fighters retrieved.

“Admiral Jaynie, we’re got as least two different factions making planet fall already,” Steve called out once more, eyes half on the consul and half looking at the closer ranged holographic representation of the battle they were heading towards.

“Can we locate the positions that they landed at?”

“Negative, we’ve got interference from the battle as well as an energy spike nearby that’s clouding our sensors. It appears that a ship we didn’t detect blew up…”

“Damnit, perhaps miss-fire from the battle?”

“Possibly, orders Ma’am?” the Admiral responded by glancing at a second hologram that appeared along side of the battle. In it hovered the sapphire orb of the planet and, with a few tabs of keys on the side of her chair the hologram zoomed in, showing what appeared to be a valley that stretched from a mountain ranged to the sea, with the only entrance to the gigantic ditch of earth leading to a forest.

“This appears the best area to set up a base, there’s also reports of an abandoned city being located along the water front as well so it might give us a few clues about what brought us here,” she half muttered while turning to glance at the battle. They had still not answered, but they were still fighting… “Get MDIACs Warhammer, Fallen One, and Comet Blazer to land here, keep the other six on reserves for deployment elsewhere on the planet…”

“Alright, anything else Ma’am?”

“All soldiers are already ready for combat but… I don’t know, something seems… Strange.”

“How so Ma’am?” it was Corinna who interrupted the time, the pilot who had been quiet since the disaster.

“Think about it, hundreds perhaps thousands of ships all pulled inexplicably from distances perhaps thousands if not millions of light years apart, all around the same time. That seems like to much of a coincidence to be any natural phenomena, so there has to be a secret on the planet that’s causing this…”

“So… Isn’t that our leading theory right now anyway?”

“Yes, but for what purpose! I just, have this suspicion that the planet might be a trap of some kind. Or… a test,” the Admiral stated, sighing while tapping her hands along the seat, careful not to hit any keys. “Or it could be that this is some sort of battle royal and the victor gets, well who knows.”

“So, what do you think we should do?”

“Keep decelerating at our current rate, I want to give those hostiles a chance to respond. Right now we seem to be arriving right about when the Steel Talons reinforcements are, so that might be the smarter thing. We’ll deploy the MDIACs then. Let it be known that I want to keep this as peaceful as possible, and reserve whatever we forces can from the planet. But if people intend to make this a battle…”

“I intend to win it!”

OOC: Might be best to see what Einhauser says about there being an ex-civilization on the planet, he does have a plot going after all.

OOC: I was mentioning ruins on the planet's surface, which he announced in the initial post I believe. I guess there might be a little bit over stating said they had a city on a coast, but I thought it was logical enough to post. If it's against his plotline I can always edit it to something else.

The Federation demanded it. They must go on. The Duckville Capers were on the verge of extinction. A slow, rotting death. Life must be found. Women must be returned. The Federation demanded it.

The message echoed throughout the thoughts of every Duckling in the small fleet. A battleship cut through space with her escorting twin carriers flanking her on both sides, along five cruisers, and 15 destroyers. Numerous auxiliary ships also trailed along with the small force, staying under its protective blanket of fire. The battleship, or the Mother Duckling, was the pride of the Federation's space armada. It had been the first ship to incorporate ShipMind, the tool that kept hundreds of ducklings alive every day. The clustermind effect of the Ducklings took a tremendous toll before its implementation, as alone, a Duckling has an IQ of but a four year old child, if that. Ships with crews of under 15 regularly crashed into the ground, as there was simply not enough combined brainpower to get it off the ground. This contributed even more to the population problem. You see, the Ducklings male and female parts are not quite the same as any other race. And with the extermination of the females and the last egg having hatched years ago, they now spent their time searching for females from other worlds to experiment upon, and perhaps mutate into one of their own.

The eldest of his egg, Captain Klegghorn was a true hero. Along with his brothers, he had taken place in numerous raids of unfriendly worlds. At 638 years old, he had weathered a number of storms. Before the implementation of ShipMind, the going had been horrid. Millions fell in every encounter. After it, the Duckling Armada regularly routed enemy fleets, only to face destruction once the battle hit the turf. Once again separated from each other, they were again weak. Choosing to fight without guns, but rather with mutated swords fixed within their wings, the Ducklings charged viciously upon enemy emplacements, in a technique best known as Swarm Warfare. It is true that it takes numerous shots to fell an armored Duckling, but nonetheless, many fell. It was a necessary sacrifice. The survival of a species was at hand.

Now, as Klegghorn, the commander of the Mother Duckling, turned to his eggmate, Duke L'Orange, he communicated silently for them to jump into the waiting portal in front of them. L'Orange was his favorite eggmate by far, the third of four, and he had rewarded Klegghorn's faith on many occasions. This, however, was not one of those times. As the ship jumped into the portal and began to prance about the outskirts of the space-time continuum, L'Orange accidentally pressed the warp button. The ship rocked forward and raced through the boundary of the portal, the rest of the fleet in tow. As the ship awkwardly hopped through and emerged on the other side, Klegghorn glared at his brother. Sure, he couldn't do anything to him, for after all they were eggmates, which was a deep cultural attachment in Duckling culture, but the glare would tell L'Orange what he needed to know. As the fleet came slowly to a stop, Klegghorn ordered Phil Palmfeather's destroyer and accompanying fighter squadron to patrol the outskirts of the fleet, and told Wildwing's destroyer to do the same directly opposite Palmfeather. Hopefully they would be able to maintain fleet security while Klegghorn tried to patch through to Duckling Command.

Never give up hope. Life will be found. The Ducklings will live on. Never give up hope. Life will be found. The Ducklings will live on. Never give up ho-

OOC: Had to dispense with the “we don’t know who anyone is” stuff for RP purposes. Same reason this system only has one planet. Less realistic, yes, but keeps the RP lean and easy to write. Also, Duckville Capers and I spoke and agreed to have his entry into the roleplay ignored in favor of a separate one at a later date. EDIT: And yes, ruined cities are fine. Just picture the Forerunners when you're thinking of what ruins you find. They're very stereotypical ruins, really.

IC:

“All ships, prepare for tactical warp jump to the following coordinates!” Mike Maximum paced up and down his bridge, rattling off numbers and gesticulating madly. The battlegroup was engaging. “We will reappear in physical space within a hundred thousand kilometers of the Silver fleet, so be prepared to maneuver out of any exhaust plumes we might move into. I want all NPGs brought online, and tell damage control to stand by. Our target is the melee in the upper atmosphere of Katyusha.” As his orders were given, the light on the ship dimmed and shifted into the red spectrum, acclimating the crew to the dark in case of a power conduit rupture.

“Inform the Galactic Inferno of our plans.” Two drones leapt away from the battlegroup, one to transmit a warning to the Silver fleet and one to No Endorse. “We must secure the planet at all costs. Our scans have turned up no sign of irregularities in this system. The star is a typical main sequence and there are no asteroid belts or other planets in the area. The leaves the only inconsistency Katyusha. Why is there a habitable planet when by all rights only a barren rock should remain? Why did a world like this form instead of a gas giant?”

“There are a number of theories that the computers have postulated, sir.”

“I understand that, Lieutenant Asarhadon, but there is no way to know for sure unless we do more investigative work. And to do that, we have to…”

“Explore the planet, captain.” Asarhadon nodded and scratched his chin. “I see.”

“But to be honest, this is not nearly as important as figuring out why we are in this system, what brought us here and how we get out. Our warp drives have been repaired for a week now but have not been able to operate correctly.” Mike Maximum stopped pacing and settled into his chair. “Anyway, this is a discussion for another time. Jump us into position, helms. All crew to battlestations.”

******

Davig jerked two fingers from his faceplate and out into the jungle. Two of his marines jogged up ahead and took cover behind an ancient, gnarled tree. They swept the area with their rifles and signaled the all clear. Davig ordered two more to go ahead of the last pair while the other three members of the squad slipped into the undergrowth to the left and right. The sergeant himself walked up to the forward line and glanced around. Thermal was showing nothing and the same was true with infrared. No contacts had appeared on any sensors since they landed, and it was highly doubtful the biologicals could intercept mechanical communications, but nobody knew for sure. It was best to be cautious.

The lead trooper motioned for two more to advance, but halted his gesture mid-stroke. The rest of the squad froze. He put two fingers to his eyes and pointed to a tree about ten meters to the northwest. Something had moved. Davig gestured his acknowledgment, the helmet of his suit being locked in one piece with his shoulder armor. The squad moved ahead very slowly, not daring to step on a branch or dead leaves for fear of startling their target. Silently, Davig activated his railgun and took aim. The dense magnetized-ceramic of the sabot was meant for destroying heavy armor, and would have no problem felling a tree. The rest of his men would be all over anything that fell out.

His finger rested on the trigger. Exhale, inhale. Exhale, inhale. Exhale, pull trigg-

Two enormous fireballs streaked overhead, shaking the ground beneath their feet and turning night into day. Animals exploded from the treetops, leaping into the air and scurrying off into the woods. In a panic, Davig fired. The crack of the massive gun shattered the silence of the alien morning as the spigot hurtled out of the barrel. Only the heavy inertial compensators in the back of the weapon stopped him from toppling over. The round impacted the tree near the roots, annihilating them in a spray of water-rich fibers. The tree shrieked and toppled to the ground, shaking the ground again. The squad dashed ahead to surround the log in the off chance that their target had not already escaped.

“No sign of the target,” signaled one of Davig’s men. He sighed and walked over to the trunk. A text message appeared on the lower left corner of Davig’s screen. Incoming allied dropships. Landings at coordinates seven-zero-chaplain, legacy-nine-four. All patrols to activate beacons. Expect reinforcement in circa ten. The sergeant swore inside his helmet but signaled his men to turn on their homing beacons. If their prey could intercept radio waves then the IFF transmissions they were now blaring out would certainly alert them. It was obvious where the prey had been holed up, and that it wasn’t there anymore. Forgoing comms silence, he called his squad together.

“Well, it looks like it got away. Spread out and search for any signs. I just got a message from command telling us to expect reinforcement from Silver Corporation troops. Apparently they think they’re hotshots and groundpounding, so we’ll give them a run for their money. Break.” They split up and headed out in eight directions, one marine for each compass point. Only seconds later the tree trunk began to groan.

“Back away, get back!” Davig dashed backwards, attempting to put distance between himself and the tree. Not much could hurt a marine in full combat armor, but again, it didn’t hurt to be careful. He was right. With a thunderous roar the earth fissured and fell away beneath them, dropping into a black pit below. Acting on instinct, the squad threw their grappling lines out the moment they felt the earth shift. Hooks bit into bark and branches, halting the fall of seven of the eight soldiers. As he looked down, Davig could see his number four man, a Private Etrikai, disappear into the blackness below.

“Etrikai is down! We have a man down!” The squad was quick to react, clawing up their lines and scrambling away from the lip of the chasm. All except Davig. “Inform command, bring the gunship in. Our stealth is gone now anyway, so no reason not to use it. Get going, soldiers!” With that, he commanded his suit to extend the grappling line all the way. As he dropped down, he could see the sky growing distant. Still no sign of Etrikai, and the line was running out. Seeing no other alternative, Davig severed the cable. As he fell, he swore he could see the skittering shape of the biological.

******

Captain Ara Etirmia woke up in a sweat, his loaded pistol in his clenched fist. He sat there, in the sweaty sheets, sorting out his thoughts. It had been so real, so visceral. Images of things he hadn’t seen, deeds that made him doubt his own humanity. There were good times and bad and a sense of communion. It had been horrible.

“The biologicals have got to die,” he spoke softly.

The Tree (Dun dun dun DUH!)

The spore had been listening to the minds of the soldiers when the railgun shots hit. Suddenly, the tree collapsed around it as the spore quickly disconnected itself and scuttled across the falling tree trunk. Even as the tree fell to the ground, it crawled rapidly down the still-falling trunk, heading for the ground.

Thats when the fissure opened.

Screaming psionically (though the enemy soldiers would not be capable of hearing it unless it was directed at them), it tried to propel itself across the pitch-black fissure as the tree feel down into what looked like an endless chasm.
Having miscalculated the expansion rate of the fissure, it found itself flying down the seemingly endless pathway. Glancing to its left, it saw a wall which it immediately launched a tendril at. Within seconds, it was sliding down the opening.

Watching, it saw a man fall down past it, screaming. Seconds later, another man followed, more focused and calm. Continuing to slide down the tunnel, it sighed mentally. He could hear the mental screams in his head, the panic, but he could do nothing. He knew he would be dead as soon as he tried, killed by those mysterious metal contraptions the enemy carried.

Space

Ouch... muttered the ship's mind. During the failed phase jump attempt, it had barely managed to escape onto a probe and launch it into space.

You actually managed to survive. I'm impressed. sighed the Hive Mind.

Not for long. We'll have to make a crash-landing if there's any chance of survival. Even then, we'll probably be hit by artillery from space.

Then prepare a farewell message and have it ready to go. Make it soft and long-reaching. They will regret doing it in their hearts if they decide to.

Mentally nodding, the small probe fired its Dark Energy organelle as it steered out of orbit towards the planet. Fapium armor plates heated up as the ship rocketed towards the earth, several kilometers away from Spore 18D. With a final glorious ending, the ship expeled the armor plates as it crashed into the tree tops. Within seconds, it stopped on the ground, instantly rooting itself in and consuming local life.

If it wanted to survive at all, it had to eat until it could produce another ship to get it home.

Sergeant Davig landed heavily, the ground cracking under his feet. The shock was absorbed by his thick bone structure and the armor itself, but it still made him wince in pain. His knee was possibly broken, so he stood still for a few moments while his vat-grown body’s physiology repaired the bone from excess fat stores in the abdomen. When he could move it again he set about locating Private Etrikai. A quick glance at the patch of blue sky just visible fall above allowed him to get his bearings, since part of the tree’s rootball was jutting from one side of the chasm. If we were standing on that side when we fell, he thought, Etrikai must be somewhere over in… that direction.

The cavern was not a large one, perhaps a dozen meters by ten and sloping down to the west, but it was rocky and littered with rubble from the cave in. There was the usual rock and dirt and snapped wood that you would expect, but also strange pieces of metal. In fact, a good deal of it. The path through the larger pieces was narrow and twisting, but the alternative was worse. Etrikai’s beacon was still transmitting, albeit very faintly, and repeated hails yielded nothing at all. It was almost as if something down here was dampening their affects.

Something moved. “Etrikai?” The sergeant advanced cautiously, his railgun leveled. The bulky weapon was not meant for anti-personnel work, especially at such close ranges. His foot crushed a large clod of earth, making him shift to one side just long enough to regain his balance. There! There was something clinging to the wall. “Private Etrikai,” he pinged the comm. unit of the marine, “this is Sergeant Davig. Respond, son.” The thing on the wall was motionless, almost like it was trying to make him forget it was there. He wouldn’t be so stupid.

The beacon from Etrikai’s armor was strongest towards the eastern side. The sergeant circled around a split log, his gun still trained on the shadow, until he was directly above the strongest point of the broadcast. Setting the controls of his armor to defensive mode, he turned his attention to kicking away soil and stone from beneath him. The layer was a good two meters thick and dense, so dense. Finally his boot struck something hard. Reverting to free range mode, the sergeant bent down to see what he found. Private Etrikai was laying underneath a large branch and covered in dirt, but his armor was intact and a few quick key strokes on the emergency chest panel revealed the young man had only minor physical injuries. His body was in reconstruction mode, knitting torn ligaments and sore muscles back together. The right femur had sustained a nasty compression fracture, but that would heal well enough, given time. If not he could always just swap out the body.

The thing on the wall had crept closer, staying to the sides and upper bastions of the chamber. It must have thought he couldn’t see it, wasn’t sure if it was still there. It was sorely mistaken. Closer, he breathed, just a little closer…. It moved. His railgun was up in a flash, a heavy spike already leaving the accelerator. A minor sonic boom echoed throughout the cave as the shell easily surpassed the sound barrier, but as the marine watched the little black organic shot onto the floor and rolled away down the slope, bumping and sliding over muddy earth. The round smashed into the cave walls and, much to Davig’s surprise, sent up a great fountain of sparks. Curious, the marine clawed his way over to the wall and looked up. Binoculars in his vision suite gave him a full view of the impact site. No damage. The round had shattered into a thousand pieces upon contact, not even leaving a smear of dust on the varnish. Doubly shocked, the big marine glanced down at the surface right in front of him. It was the strange metal.

The whole chamber was metal.

“What is going on here?” he asked himself with bated breathe.

The ETS Houston
..."They're talking sir, just not to us, the Gateship is keeping us abreast of who's talking to who, those Einhauserians are tossing drones out to the Silver Fleet and No Endorsian Fleet right now."

"Hmm, I don't like it, try hailing them again. and put another probe on the Sertians. Don't stop until we get a response, I want to be talking to someone before the science team makes orbit dammit."

"I'll see what I can do, the telepaths are reporting that some of the organics survived to reach the planet."

"Tell them to try to contact them too then."

"Aye sir, they say they'll keep trying."

"Very good, these guys can't all ignore us forever."

the Science Team and Escorts
At the Halfway point of their journey, the science vessel went through the cumbersome flip-over, pointing it's thruster int he opposite direction to decelerate. The Destroyers however didn't. For one thing, Texian Destroyers have twin sets of main engines, each with a full range of motion, both for maneuverability, and to avoid needing to make cumbersome flip-overs for deceleration. But also because they disconnected the fighters and corvettes, allowing the destroyers to achieve their full, 10g acceleration. At this full power, they wouldn't have to begin deceleration for nearly another hour, long since they planned on aerobraking to release Marines. The small fighters and corvettes were coasting, due to their minimal mass, deceleration wouldn't be a huge effort, and a high initial speed would give them an edge if things went bad early, they would be able to arrive right between the destroyers and science vessel.

meanwhile, the fleet's communications officers were frantic, clogging the radio waves with hailing messages while the gateship released drones to the Einhoauser, No Endorse, Silver Corporation and Sertian fleets trying to get a response, while the Telepaths sent mental probes toward the planet, trying to get in touch with the remains of the organic ship.

"Admiral Jaynie, we'll be within optimal firing range of the hostiles within two minutes at an optimal range of two light seconds. Speed has been reduced to planetary orbit levels, orders Ma'am?" Steve announced as he tapped at his keys energetically, charged... Everyone was charged, the combined aura of hundreds of soldiers and members of the Empire preparing to battle, it was an almost hypnotic aura that filled the bridge.

"Order all vessels to prepare plasma canons, give the heavy plasma weaponry sixteen seconds before firing the Detestation Canons, target their capital ship! I want that thing turned to ashes. As for the coilgun turrets and smaller weaponry fire upon the ships in the defensive array. Have all the three MDIACs commence a burn towards the target location, go in hot and heavy and take that valley as well as the coastal area, we need those ruins! Now, fifteen seconds after the heavy plasma canons fire launch a volley of missiles - I want this to be a killing blow!"

"Anything else Ma'am?"

"Have the Phoenixes prepare for deployment, wing-bands one through six will be defending the MDIACs from hostile aerospace forces, all others will pick apart enemy fighters and clean up any of the mess left from the hostiles."

"Yes Ma'am, orders distributed... NOW!"


Squadron 39zeta was armed with three Phoenix-Class Destroyers, four Phoenix-Class Carriers, eight destroyers, fifteen (now fourteen) interceptors, ten cruisers, and ten MDIAC drop ships. So, when the order was given to fire all main canons at the center of the bubble where the largest ship lay it was greeted by fifty canons firing, each bolt a titanium heavy plasma weighing in at around a ton and accelerated to a tenth of the speed of light. And if that wasn't bad enough, timed to land at the same time as the mass array of lesser volleys came the Devastation Canons, three-kilometer long plasma weapons that made up the core of the PC-Destroyers, that fired several tons of metal rich plasma at half c. The result if it hit would be a quite lovely explosion as the plasma weapons hit within seconds of each other, spare plasma particles left over from the previous blow would add to the strength of the subsequent ones in the Spillover Effect, amplifying the blow of the three Devastation Canons even more.

As if that wasn't enough the attack was followed by a stream of x-25 slugs propelled by the turrets, two from every turret every fifteen seconds, and from the sheer number of turrets equipped onto the array of ships it did add up to be quite the stream aimed at those defensive bubble ships. But the x-25s had a second effect, for moving at the same rate as those projectiles and of only a slightly heavier mass several dozen missiles were launched from all batteries. Mainly just heavy plasma explosives that would explode when it impacted a mass large enough to stop its weight, perhaps burying itself into the armor before firing due to the sheer speeds the railgun launcher systems imbued.

After the volley the ships continued the rain of coilgun weaponry while the plasma canons recharged, giving enough time to reload the missile bays and deploy the Feather-Darters. If the troop transports that had evacuated the Welcomer were fire flies, these seemed to be glowing wasps that left a trail. Fueled by two fusion-engines that collected mass from the interstellar medium or an atmosphere, then compressing it through a carbon grid to ignite a reaction to achieve high speeds. Not only that though, the design of having the engines being fully articulate on the sides of the vessel as well as revolutionary piloting technology stolen in their last war, resulted in an array of fusion trails as the armada of fighters headed towards their targets.

This was a squadron that was assigned to be testing those fighters, and if they ever got home the Empire would be expecting those reports.


Meanwhile, underneath the chaos of a full Sertian volley three ships, guarded by a number of those fighters descended towards the atmosphere at a tangent to the battle. Of course the fighters had trouble keeping up for it seemed that all of the drop ships hadn't decelerated enough and by all known accounts would burn up upon reentry over the jungle. But of course that was only appearance, for when the the five-hundred and fifty meter long Mobile-Deployment Infantry and Armor Carriers came in contact with the planet's ionosphere they had sent out a magnetic field to surround their vessels. The field would repulse from the planet's own, slowing down their reentry along with the limited plasma engines on the underside of the craft. More than that though.

"Officer Ryke, condition on the hull for reentry?" asked the commander of the Warhammer as he saw flames licker at the sides of the holographic repressentation of his ship and the two others, displayed not to size on their landing destination in the mountain-coastal valley.

"Hull has taken some scrapes, relax commander, it's only heat and this is Emprium after all."

"Aye, good thing we're not facing laser defenses now isn't it?"


Back in orbit, while the main plasma canons were about to be recharged for a limited volley (the Devastation canons still needed to go through another three minutes of cooling before charging up its weapon again) Steve was able to intercept the message from the Holy Texas Empire. "Ma'am, we got a message from a fleet not currently engaged."

"Tell them we'll be a bit busy, as I think they just noticed we arrived, but that we won't fire on them unless they fire first - let them know that this is a response to aggression on our allies. One more thing, have them send messages to the Warhammer from now on, it should survive its deployment and act as our central base on the planet."

OOC: So, what happened to TPF? are they still participating in the RP or did they leave??


IC:
Inside the bay of the Pegasis, the dropship got the green light. Its systems powering up fully as it exited the hangar, deploying a few of its own EM decoys. A wing of interceptors forming up with the dropship as it raced for the planet, rising high over the enemy fleet.

At the same time, a fast freighter, armed only with a few point defense sliver guns, exited the aft bay of the Pegasis, running a soft cloak as well as sensor jammers. Its black hull blending in perfectly with the black of space. Its impulse drive flares masked by the cloaking system as it sped in a wide arc around the battle to follow the Sertian landing team. The freighter using the planets gravity well to perform a partial slingshot maneuver.

Meanwhile, the fleet as a whole continued to pull back. 5/4 signaled the enemy fleet in orbit. "This is Grand Admiral Roze of the Red Talons Mercenary Republic. We do not wish to continue this engagement. Our interests lie in returning to known space. Acknowledge." The screen went back to its normal view. He looked over to his left. "Tactical, damage report?" There was a slight pause. "Particle impulse drive number three is gone. damage control has sealed the hull breaches so far. Crown of Swords is reporting minor damage, save for a gaping hole in their side. but its under control. We've lost the Wildfire, as well as the destroyers Blue-water, Blue-heaven, Blue-royal, and Blue-destiny others are reporting various system failures. We've lost 5 frigates out of the twenty that accompanied us. Reinforcement fleet is currently holding aft of us."

5/4 nodded. "pull us back behind them and have one of the supply freighters come forward. have damage control begin full scale repairs." The massive black ships continued to fall back, merging with a tactical line of ships and pulling behind it to lick its wounds. 5/4 had made sure to keep his ships within range of their main cannons, while staying out of range of energy weapons.

X sat with alpha team and the two scientists in the small bay. They had been moved over to a fast freighter bearing their equipment and two trucks. The group was strapped in as the freighter hit the atmosphere at full speed. deploying its reentry cushion as its drives red lined to punch through the atmosphere.

OOC: He dropped out, yes. It doesn’t matter, though. I will continue to play this through, especially since it’s almost done.

IC:

The ETSF battlegroup materialized precisely on target, just to port of the Silver Corporation fleet. “All forces in position, captain.” Mike Maximum nodded and opened a window to the allied fleet.

“We are preparing to engage. Please fire when ready.” He closed it and turned to the weapons officer. “Align NPGs with the previously-marked targets. Fire on my mark and then go weapons-free. I want to see the spacelanes clear the next time I look out that window.”

“Destroy the enemy, leave nothing, aye aye captain. Main guns, fire!” The Ton Nevac shuddered subtly as a volley of relativistic missiles shot out of its turrets. Initially propelled by the force of a semi-contained nuclear explosion, each missile continued to accelerate via fusion rockets, reaching an immense speed of .2 c in the distance of only ten light seconds. Almost faster than the eye could track, the rounds slammed into the orbital melee. Shields flickered and failed on a dozen ships, some springing right back up but others remaining down. At least one smaller vessel began to list and bleed fire.

“Any possible way to identify who was hit?” asked the captain. His officers signaled a negative. The ships were too intermingled to tell. Sighing, Mike Maximum ordered the bombardment to continue. This war would be finished, one way or another.

[Shall we assume that the engagement between him and Red Talons, then the Sertian volley, and finally the missile barrage caused him to enter a retreat or just be annihilated entirely? XD]

The MDIACs rumbled as they made their way through the planet’s atmosphere, not the amount you’d see from occupying a drop pod making the same journey. However, after going through training and experiencing actual combat deployments before Soldier Zenrack was far from unable to adjust, keeping his footing as he made his way to the deployment bays. He was a foot soldier, armed with nothing more than a Plasma Rifle and four Plasma Grenades, along with his Emprium armor suit.

Leaning against the wall to absorb a particular nasty shock, he wondered if something had gone wrong with the EM-brakes, but he was clueless to the fact that the shockwave was caused by a series of explosions right above their position. However, judging from the fact that they weren’t falling out of the sky he decided it was just a nasty bunch of turbulence and continued to the bay. Once there he could only smirk to himself while looking down from the railing, seeing the various tanks lined up and soldiers taking their positions as well. Unfortunately, they weren’t equipped with any Dragoons but they had a healthy supplement of Heralds and Buzz Battle Tanks, even a few spider droids to act as scouts for the fighters they were supposed to be testing.

Then came a sudden pitch forward and he had to grab the railing in front of him as the ship had slowed to a crawl, hovering one hundred meters off of the ground over the final bit of forest before preparing to touch down at the mouth of the field they had decided to take for their base.

The result would seem odd to some, a space vessel suddenly landing on a planet’s surface before seeming to unfold and deploy. But that was the nature of the MDIACs - Mobile Deployment Infantry and Armor Carriers, ships designed to ferry units to a planet rapidly and then start the beginnings of what might become a permanent base on the rock. The deployment process took a full ten minutes, at which time various tanks and soldiers were making their way out of the ships, platoons and divisions already forming as they waited for orders.

Eventually they got them after all three ships had deployed, forming into a rectangular shaped building with the ship’s underbelly railguns transformed into defensive turrets. Soldier Zenrack was apart of five platoons that were to be carried via the few dropships they had to the ancient ruins nearby, with Buzz Battle Tanks and Heralds making their way to reinforce them in case they ran into trouble - meanwhile most of the other forces were assigned to defend their base and to form a defensive line around where the coastal plain met the forest.


Back in space however, things got hairy. Fortunately for them the Sertians were still on the edge conflict, but a few missiles still made their way to them. Glowing plasma shields absorbed some of the energy, but they were better at defending against energy weapons than kinetic shockwaves, causing their hulls to take the blunt of the damage. Damage reports came out signifying minor damage to all ships, with plasma shields recharging. Another report stated that the missile volley had largely finished off the hostiles they had just engaged.

“Call back the fighters, they should have only been half way to their targets when those missiles hit so they shouldn’t be too damaged. Get them to open up the collectors wide and accelerate to the ‘former’ peaceful fleet above us. Meanwhile, turn the ships to face the opposition! Fire all coilgun turrets immediately and as soon as our plasma canons recharge fire at will at them! Notify me at once as soon as the Devastation canons finish cooling off and charge up, do you understand me?”

“Yes ma‘am! Orders arranged, Phoenixes altering vectors. Plasma canons expected to be ready for another volley in fifteen seconds, the Devastation Canons in little over four minutes. Anything else?”

“Get all rail-launchers to fire plasma missiles right after our Devastation Canons fire, but keep two of ours armed with Star Fusion Missiles. I suspect that they’ll be turning to us now that our coilguns are firing at them, not to mention we’ll be unloading several volleys of plasma and missiles at them soon, so have automatic systems on high alert and the engineering team fully awake,” after giving the final order for now Jaynie bit her lip, wondering if it would have been better to have waited to reinforce their Red Talon ‘allies’, as even now they seemed to be pulling off from the conflict. Luckily that meant they were largely off center towards where the majority of missiles were aimed at too.

(OOC: I was waiting for TPF post. Just assume 2 days have passed since my last post and that my spacecraft have been already detected earlier. Also I'm tired of using a fictional Spanportuenglish whatever)

With hissing sounds, hundreds of stasis chambers have opened simultaneously, previously to a deceleration of the spacecraft to only the tolerable 1 gee like in Earth. It was now getting dangerously close to the potentially hostile forces near the planet orbit, although it has, as estimated, arrived through its oblique vector in a particularly little explored region of the leading trail towards its high orbit, at the other side from the position of most spacecrafts in that location. The mechanical counter pressure suit (http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2007/biosuit1-enlarged.jpg) has became slightly less tight, and a funny chilly feeling in the nether regions was something they were used with as its internal, body mass holding liquids became liquid again. Marianna looked around the catwalk, with very few tears coming from her eyes as the memories of her past were still tormenting her mind, she held herself into the rails and looked at the center of the deck where a large storage bay was located. The cylindrical walls of the deck held multiple floors of stasis chambers and their catwalks, in a pattern which looked like that of the inside of a missile silo, while both elevators and stairs allowed access through the upper areas, right into the topmost and equally cylindric navigation deck. Fabian wondered whether the battle around them was enough to add a significant risk of a Kessler Syndrome to that unknown planet orbit, and even though new technologies have made such issue less critical them before, cleaning space junk isn't a cheap activity, until his thoughts were interrupted by a sensation of sadness. He quickly went to Marianna while others were walking towards the crew quarters above.

"Marianna, why are you sad? Is it again? I thought you have swore to leave your past behind forever. Come one Mari, it's over, they won't appear again there, why let yourself this way?"

Sighing, she looked at him and replied: "What is the point of all these longevity technologies when all it takes is a small mistake or a damn alien and you'll be dead anyway. Death... it has continues as real and definitive as when we lived in caves and had no medicine knowledge at all. I doubt we'll ever going to find a way to ever revive those bodies we freeze, and if if we do somehow, my mothers are lost forever into nonexistence, and I will never feel at peace without them here. I miss... why did you have to kill Ana and Carolin? Why?", and thus Marianna had a rare demonstration of emotional burst, something uncommon for someone like her, and luckily there were no small objects around to be influenced by her bad mood. It was "different", actually normal in Solar Communes, but her family was composed by two mothers, and she was the daughter of both, literally, as their genes were mixed to create her. It was a long time ago since heterosexuality has become obsolete, and even longer was the time most of reproduction became artificial. The loss of her family was in the hands of aliens very difficult for her, specially as the same have also killed many of her friends and brought to her an unbearably painful moment, and it enticed both sadness and hatred, making of her among the most ardent proponents of a preemptive policy of exterminating all found non-humans, no matter the cost. Fabian simply hugged her and said:

"I know it won't bring them back, but those who did it are now another species in our catalog of extinct species, what have led you to remember it? I had a funny sensation someone or something had tried to communicate with me, but I couldn't assert it."

Her tears stopped, and her facial expression behind the breathing helmet suddenly changed with a closed face, as she closed her fists under her glove and said:

"There are xenu scum in this system, of the most abominable type. They have openly claimed to have exterminated countless of sentient aliens. Of course that means less threats for mankind, but that also makes of them a significant threat that must be exterminated, but they are not the only ones. We can't let more families and loved ones die, I wish we had some backup to terminate with all non-human filth in this entire system, but we'll have to stick with those only because all they have is one spacecraft, because we can handle them. Although I'm not sure where this spacecraft is now"

"If it makes you feel better, we are going to kill all aliens we can without putting uneven odds against ourselves here, Mari. The Sniper was designed to destroy multiple threats simultaneously and to dodge fire from long distances, should the need come, although hopefully we won't have to get into such extremely risky need of having to retreat while taking down as most of them as we can in space."

"It's not for me, Fabian, I'm not that egotist, we must do it for the human race, if we don't kill them, eventually they will come to kill us. Rothbard, how many time remaining for aerobraking maneuver? Is it safe to launch the Shadowguard during it for a quick atmospheric entry? And what happened to that single unknown, potentially alien spacecraft?", she said, for the least the Shadowguard stood out of atmosphere, the more difficult it would be to attempt predicting where it would be when in the middle of it, where it would no longer be easily detectable as it is in space.

"The Shadowguard airframe was designed with highly resistant dielectric and metallic composites and radar absorbing materials to stand quick deployment in atmosphere, where it is effectively an stealth spaceplane. It will stand the kinetic drag of current speed during aerobraking maneuver, which will happen in thirty minutes. The unknown spacecraft has been destroyed by an unknown relativity disruption technology, although a small escaped pod has been detected evacuating from it and landing on the unknown planet", the artificial intelligence said with its pre-set text-to-speech engine.

"Rothbard, estimate the landing point of the alien escape pod"

"Downloading estimation into your datalink. Circular Error Probable is of ninety square kilometers"

"Great, we'll have a long time searching for this scum. Are you coming with me Fabian?", she asked as she began to walk towards the armory, going up some stairs rather than through the crowded elevators. To the topmost levels of the large storage bay, there were entries to the inside of the cylinder-shaped storage, which was large enough for her to get into. Inside it several pieces of powered exoskeleton armors to be put over an space suit could be located. With the help of Fabian, she has transformed her space suit into a tight-fitting rather than bulky Type XII Advanced Power Armor, and soon Fabian took in another chamber a more protected Type XIII, which she in turn helped him to wear over his biosuit, and also a pair of jetpacks were taken. Soon her vision shifted as a translucent crosshair appeared in the center of it, without hindering her vision. Back in the old days, only special forces had the privilege of something like this, but now, with the boom of the transition to a Type I civilization, they have become standard issue. Both then went out of the storage cylinder-shaped room and upstairs, checking another storage room in the same stasis deck for weapons. There several GAR-22 gauss recoilless autorifles and LG-70 multipurpose underbarrel launchers (http://z4.invisionfree.com/NSDraftroom/index.php?showtopic=2339) were stacked into the walls coupled with piles of 70mm guided mini-rockets and unguided grenades of all sorts from simple high explosive dual purpose to EMP and even incendiary and their 3-round magazines, and of course, several magazines filled with the 8.7x54mm caseless ammunition of the GAR-22 itself. After exchanging some thoughts on the best choice of how to equipped, each of them grabbed their own autorifles, attached the launchers to them and got ten 50-round magazines each, besides six 3-round magazines for the launcher, all of guided mini-rockets rather than grenades. One of EMP, two of incendiary and three of HEDP rockets. Following that they simply left it, waving to one of the Space Guards who was waiting for his turn to get his own equipment for the mission. Marianna was determined to personally lead the group in hunt of those aliens who crash-landed on that unknown planet, and Fabian wouldn't let her go there alone.

Further down through the torchship decks, a massive, lightly armored deck existed, with a single, large spaceplane aligned vertically to the floor, held by several actuators into place, entirely obsidian and shaped like a shadowy bird of prey, with its belly facing a massive, wide concave hatch closed. It was one the flight decks, with the other simply on the other side, where a large unmanned missile bus of the Asterisk Class was being prepared for launch as well. Several men in full space suits headed to the inside of the vertically laid spaceplane, attempting to climb to their seats with some difficulty, having to even resort to use of the jetpacks for it, leaving some ugly scorch marks into some of the anti-flammable seats of the spaceplane. As the last to come, both Fabian and Marianna ended in the latest seats behind, or more exactly, down. And thus they both waited and planned ahead for the operation basing on the information given by the system. Ninety square kilometers would be a large area to search for, unfortunately the way the alien escape pod fell have made difficult a more accurate estimation by the system of the Rothbard. Only seventy would land into atmosphere initially, as that was the maximum load of the Shadowguard.

Before the torchship could approach high orbit of the unknown planet, a part of it opened seamlessly as a telescoped hatch gave the space for the unmanned spacecraft to leave. The Asterisc interceptor was much smaller in comparison to the 450 meters long and 160 meters diameter torchship, however it held a significantly effective quantity of missiles to give it support, should it become necessary. There were fifteen minutes remaining for the aerobraking maneuver to happen, and despite the continual deceleraiton, it was still at a considerably high but controllable speed while getting closer to the planetary orbit. The crucial time when it would be very close to the unknown forces surrounding that planet was now, but hopefully those last fifteen minutes would be peaceful.

OOC: Dammit solar now i have to change my post. I know you didnt, Einhauser did though.

The tactical officer on the Pegasis called out. "Incoming missiles from secondary unknown fleet. Initating defensive maneuvers." sliver guns opened up across the fleet, spraying millions rounds into the space between the two fleets. a few frigates taking a missile or two. The red talons ships possessed no shields, instead relying on powerful jamming screens to prevent accurate target lock. Their thick Ablative hull plate holding out quite admirably to the missiles impact. a few of the more damaged vessels rocked with internal damage.

5/4 looked over at the direction of the incoming missiles. Signaling the com officer. "Transmit on wide band..." he waited a moment. "This is Grand Admiral Roze of the Red Talon Mercenary Republic. I will choose to overlook that last assault as a gesture of good will. Know that any further assault on my fleed will be dealt with swiftly and without mercy. We request peace with all present forces. Hostile attacks will be met in turn. I suggest a meeting of all our factions on a neutral setting." The channel closed as he stood on the bridge, his katana gripped in his hand as he waved a hand to the com officer. "Signal the salvage teams to deploy into the remains of the battle. Priority is our own ships remains, second priority is enemy ships. Recall all fighters for the time being."

Meanwhile, the fast freighter pierced the atmosphere, tailing the Sertian landing team. Its entry cushions breaking away from its hull as it signaled the Sertian landers on a tight-band transmission. Their tone was casual, as if this was just another boring day. "This is the fast freighter Fire-Runner, Requesting permission to deploy on your landing co-ordinants?" In the bay, Alpha team sat, relaxing back against their seats as they waited for the ship to land.

The dropship and its fighter escort returned to the carrier, along with the wings of interceptors that had been deployed, a marked number of losses due to combat and the missile spray.

Isahil stood slowly, recovering his thoughs as he could feel hundreds of sentient minds fading from his senses as he adjusted his collars psi buffer to blot out the thousands of minds around him. "So much anger..... so much suffering....." He sighed, shaking his head as he sheathed his own katana. leaning bodily on the captains chair of the Pegasis. "I think i'm goiing to use your room Roze..." He turned and walked out of the bridge, heading down a short hall and into a side room.

(OOC: I didn't launch any missiles at all)

Awwwwsnap thought the ship, angry. For the last hour it had been lying peacefully in the forest, eating undergrowth but leaving the trees up to keep it hidden. Now, it could sense the approach of an alien dropship. Why must they hate us? it muttered. There was nothing it could do, however, but protect itself.

Over centuries of the assimilation of non-sentient and low-level sentient species (OOC: As in MT tech), the Hive Mind had read the DNA code of those consumed. Sometimes, strands of a newly-found DNA were evolved into the entire species - natural evolution was impossible because its subjects and it could never die. They merely switched physical bodies, which were artificially coded with the same DNA. Anyway, through the assimilation of new DNA and the knowledge of countless species, including the "Portus", the only sentient species powerful enough to put up heavy resistance, the Hive Mind and its subjects could now create soldiers.

Using the nutrients of the 5 km it currently covered (It spreads fast!), the ship started creating soldiers. Mal-formed and in strange, unsymmetrical shapes, they walked across the infested ground and stood guard. Each were humanoid beings, with giant claws coming out of their hands and feet and a giant mouth in their chest. Unlike a human, however, its melee was far more dangerous - if it ever got close enough to someone, it would suddenly become goo-like and completely encapsulate its victim, then consuming it alive. If that didn't work, it could spray a mix of hydrochloric, potassium chloride, and sodium chloride acids out the mucus-protected hole in its chest. Another added benefit was that in a retreat, it could jump into infested ground and travel through it rapidly, allowing a quick escape.A total of 50 of these monstrosities currently stood guard across the 5 kilometers, many more in the making.

“We are preparing to engage. Please fire when ready.”

Admiral Anderson smirked, he didn't need to be told when to go to war. "All ships assume Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta combat formation, bring the weapons to power, dispatch sensor drones, lock on with LIDAR and RADAR. prepare for a tactical side jump to designated coordinates"

"Aye, aye sir!" Said the Officer on Deck as he barked orders to the ship which were also relayed to the fleet. Ships began to align themselves as the first volley was launched from the Einhauser ships. Drones began to pour out of the bays and warp all around the melee to provide sensor data to the battlegroups much fast.

"NPGs, open fire on designated targets, then prepare for side jump." Yelled Anderson as he strapped herself into her command chair. Within seconds the fleet fired off a massive volley of kinetic shells propelled by a semi-contained nuclear weapon, the shells easily reached .2c. Their sheer speed and mass nearly prevented their interception, as even if they hit a projectile it would still spread deadly fragments in a cone around it's intended target.

"Jump now!" Yelled Anderson as the sensors and drones detected the swarm of missiles headed for them. The ships disappeared in a blinding blue flash, the wake, while large did not affect the Einhauser ships.

Seconds later they exited side jump, the fleet was divided into three groups, the main group exited jump above the enemy ships, while the other two groups exited jump to the sides, all of the fleets hung around 5 light seconds away. The position of the fleets would allow for a crossfire to occur in the enemy fleet. as they were bombarded from four directions.

"Prepare the missiles for launch, utilize the bomb assisted KEW warhead, bring the fusion missiles to standby, continue engagement with the NPGs and prepare for another jump."

Missiles began departing their tubes and igniting their fusion boosters as they moved towards the enemy fleet at around .2c while NPGs blasted away. The bomb pumped KEW was an interesting weapon, the warhead consisted of a fusion weapon and a dense projectile. Upon getting close to the target the fusion warhead would go off, the blast would propel the KEW to speeds nearing .5c, the blast had the side affect of blinding enemy sensors.

The battle would be over quickly.

“Ma‘am, we’re detecting more missiles coming this way!” Steve announced as various pin pricks of light from the TAC’s hologram revealed their paths, many of them heading towards their ships. Watching the hologram some of those pin pricks disappeared, the result of various automated point-defense canons firing their own hypervelocity slugs to intercept them. But as the seconds passed by, they started to go off closer and closer to their ships, until a rocking through the ship and various symbol changed in the hologram announced the missiles that hit or detonated to close to the ships.

“Damage report!” the Admiral blared out, watching the hologram as it now reported enemy ships jumping in all around them, effectively surrounding them against the planet’s atmosphere.

“Kinetic based missiles ma’am, our hulls can handle them for the most part. At least the detonations, the actual missiles are hitting us at .2c, they’ve inflicted minor damage in armor on the lesser ships, nothing that the automated systems can’t handle.” Emprium, of course, was the most prized alloy out of all the Sertian Empire. A crystallized metal capable of spreading heat or kinetic energy afflicted upon it across the entire plate, and already boasting an incredible resilience to damage. Of course, such a defense came at a price, and that was that if exposed to a directed energy weapon it couldn’t spread out the energy fast enough, resulting in the crystal-lattice breaking down. “Our heavy plasma canons are ready, orders ma’am?”

They were already pointed towards the Einhauser fleet, already deploying their fighters - although they would take a while to get there - and already streaming x-25 coilgun slugs at the initial firers. “Order all canons to open fire on the first fleet that attacked us, get the Phoenixes to alter course, again, towards the closest of the new fleet’s ships, one of the smaller groups. After that, get the rest of the MDIACs to deploy on the same continent our base is at, they’re useless for this fight and our odds don’t look so good now, Emprium or not.”

As ordered, the various fighters streaming post-fussion interstellar matter behind them turned their engines, rapidly changing their acceleration vector to take them to the smallest of the Silver Corporation’s group, all of them seeming to move in a strange fashion as they ducked and weaved about each other, crossing over each other’s fusion trail to get a boost of speed. Around them though, another fifty lances of hyper-accelerated plasma bolts streamed through space for the Einhauser fleet, accompanying the streams of kinetic weaponry fired by the coilguns.

“Order the coilgun turrets to switch their firing on the other smaller group, they’re farther away but we won’t risk shooting our own fighters. Also,” she was interrupted as a sudden bright flash on the hologram marked a KEW going off in their fleet. Luckily it was the Phoenix-Class Destroyer Vertigo that shuddered the hit, “What was that?”

“EM overload ma’am, a miniaturized fusion weapon. Vertigo’s PDS railguns intercepted the missile fifty meters from their hull so they weren’t affected by the blast, but they’re reporting damage via kinetic shrapnel, a few micro-breaches but systems are already repairing the damage.


Back on the planet, the Sertians grudgingly gave the go-ahead for the Red Talons ship to land nearby their forward bases, after all they had no way of confirming if they had an Alliance with the Talons or not, but so far they didn’t break their word about it. A space was made where the tanks and infantry parted to give the frigate enough space to land, allowing them to move those units to the forward lines where the forest started to thicken.

Now however the troop transports were almost at the ancient city, each one housing a platoon of soldiers, the forward one containing Soldier Zenrack who was drumming the barrel of his plasma rifle. There wasn’t much of a view, given that the transport was armored as much as it could to protect the crew, but he could interface with the radar network via his suit and knew they were approaching the city. Then he felt the push forward that came with deceleration, knowing that they were now lowering to the ground and about to be deployed into the ancient city.

“Remember!” his platoon leader, Officer McCoy shouted, “Do not fire unless fired upon! We have no idea what soldiers represent what faction, so unless you figure out otherwise let’s try to make as many friends as we can! Also keep your eyes out for what might be the natives, they could possibly enlighten us to what’s causing this.”

The ETS Houston
"Alright, I'm tired of this shit, let's make them pay attention!"
"Howzat commodore?"

"We're going to may some allies the old fashioned way, launch fighters and tell the gunships to open fire on the Sertian fleet, it looks like we've got to hit somebody to get noticed and they just strike me the wrong way."
"Very well, relaying the orders sir."

"Helm, all stop and swing us around, give me minimum profile on the enemy ships."
"Aye sir, initiating full deceleration burn." As the bridge crew scrambled to carry out the orders, alarms began to sound, signaling the maneuver so everyone could properly brace. and then, on cue, the kilometer long carriers deceleration jets began to burn even brighter.


The Destroyers Independence and Courage
Fire was everywhere, the two destroyers were skimming the upper edges of the atmosphere, decelerating quickly from the friction which caused the lower hulls to glow. suddenly, gaps appeared, wreathed in plasma as the atmosphere fluoresced under the assault of the destroyer's. As quickly as they appeared though, they were gone, the only evidence of the smooth hulls imperfection a pair of rapidly descending oblong shapes.

the dropships
"That was a clean break, thanks for the ride, we'll see you soon."
"Roger that, we'll be in touch if y'all need any fire support"
"Thank you command, we'll let you know."

"Alright, 50,000 feet, hit it!"

the two dropships suddenly erupted into columns of flame gradually braking their decent until the two craft were barely kissing the surface.
"Okay, touchdown, you alright back there?" The question was met with gruff shouts of confirmation.
"Alright, time for stage two!" the dropships suddenly shot out perpindicular to their original course, no longer descending towards the planet, they were skimming along the surface at breakneck-speed."

"Command, this is Drop-team, we have reached the surface and are approaching the target area, ETA one hour."

"Roger that, keep your distance though, there's plenty of people already there and we don't know who's on our side yet, will keep you informed."

"You do that."

ETS Houston Battlefleet
"Alright crew, we're weapons free, Load all tubes with torpedoes and fire at maximum range."
"Aye sir, tubes loaded, firing, torpedoes away!"

The Texian ships were still too far away to accurately target KEWs ore Beam weapons, but the torpedoes were designed for such extreme ranges. Propelled by Laser-Ablated rockets, they accelerated amazingly fast, reaching cfrac speeds before getting out of range of the ships laser cannons, enough to devastate any ship that happened to get int he way, but given the extreme range, that hit would be unlikely, and so the final speed was relatively unimportant, as it was not the kill mechanism. That was left to the XASER tubes mounted on the torpedo, each equipped with a compact sensor suite, enabling each to target individual ships from much closer than the Texian ships could, greatly increasing the chances of a hit. Within minutes, the two cruisers combined 48 missiles would be in range, and would detonate the remianing lithium-deuteride propellant, triggering a fusion explosion to pump the XASER tubes for single burst of coherent high energy Gamma radiation powerful enough to vaporize steel at nearly half a light hour, and deadly to any biological organism behind any reasonable amount of armor for more than a full light hour. But the beams would be engaging their targets from well within that distance, any ship hit, would be hit catastrophically no matter the armor protection.

Message to the Silver Corporation
"This is Commodore Perring of the Empire of Texas Ship Houston, commander of Holy Texas Imperial forces in this area, I noticed the trouble you were having with the Sertians, i hope you don't mind if we take a crack at them ourselves."

OOC: Eh, let’s not have his fleet destroyed. It would be presumptuous to assume that something just goes catastrophically wrong as soon as he quits, but there’s nothing wrong with just beating him back. Consider the fleets of any inactive players still in-system, but heavily mauled and unwilling to make a move.

IC:

“Remember!” Sergeant Thoth ordered, “make sure to fire before we’re fired upon. We don’t know who’s who so it’s best to assume they’re hostile.” The squad signaled affirmatives and took one last look at their gunship. They had landed in a small, abnormally smooth gully where they could easily hide it. Now, covered in creepers and camo netting, it was almost indistinguishable from the surrounding jungle. Satisfied with the concealment, they set off.

The foliage was dense, but their power armor allowed them to gradually make their way through it. Orders were simple: scout out a nearby ruin for possible clues. There were a dozen such missions being carried out on this continent alone, but it was certainly not without risks. Headquarters reported a biological ship crashing somewhere in the jungle and there were more dropships inbound from a handful of races. Nevertheless, they pushed on.

“Our target site should be just up ahead, roughly one hundred meters past that stone over there.” The sergeant gestured in the direction of a large, amorphous stone half covered in thick moss. The squad split and reformed on the other side of the boulder. The ground had been turned to a pool of the deepest mud any of them had ever seen. They trudged on, occasionally pausing to pull themselves up out of the muck.

“Did you see that, sarg?” Private Tannis paused and glared off to the south.

“See what, son?” The sergeant came over and tried to find what he was looking at.

“A bush, over there. It was here one minute and gone the next.” Thoth amplified his vision but could see nothing. A quick scan in infrared failed to turn up results, but thermal was surprising.

“Squad, switch to thermal viewing mode. Look at the mud.” As each member looked down, they jerked back in surprise. It had a definite heat to it which pulsed, slowly but rythmicly.

“It looks like a heartbeat,” mused Private Ackerson. The rest of the squad agreed.

“Some strange alien world, eh?” Thoth laughed, attempting to get his squad back on task. The ruins were just up ahead and they were wasting time.

******

The return fire was swift. “Captain, incoming sub-c rounds. Recommend random evasive maneuvering.”

“Very well. Helms, make it so.” The ETSF fleet split and jinked as best they could. At 6% lightspeed the ships could not maneuver as well as they would have been able to otherwise, but they were traveling so fast that even the smallest correction moved them well out of harms way.

“First barrage effectively avoided, captain. They will intersect our old course in approxamitly eight minutes. Second wave is reported incoming, as are a large number of plasma bolts.” The enemy ships around the planet were ten lightseconds away, so the relatively slow railgun rounds took at least ten full minutes to arrive. NPG rounds had no such limitations. “Our missiles are impacting their fleet now.”

“Very good. I want full laser charge. Light them up, people.” Mike Maximum knew that lasers were almost useless at this range and speed, the beams only traveling in a straight line and thus being simple to avoid, but the various enemy fleets were nearly stationary in orbit. It was a turkey shoot. “Fire!”

“Captain Maximum,” said the comms officer, a hint of caution in his voice, “we have received a transmission from the Red Talons fleet. They are requesting a cease fire and a meeting, sir.” Mike Maximum smiled at the last part.

“It’s far too late for that, lieutenant. We have made our beds and now must sleep in them. For the good of the Corporation.”

It was about time, several actuators where disengaging from the spaceplane inside the torchship as it prepared for facing the outer space. Marianna was already safely laying down on one of the seats of the vertically lined spaceplane, and she was playing with the two different selectors of her rifle for rate of fire and muzzle velocity, as she awaited the last minutes wondering on what they were to face. It was strange how it have been months since she had the chance of touching her own skin, continually beneath a biosuit, for it was an accepted necessity that they should dress them at all times, as should something go wrong beyond the capabilities of the automated repair systems of their spacecrafts, at least their rebreathers would give them enough time to attempt fixing it manually. The space marines near them were quite different from the usual types, most, although muscular and heavily augmented, had around 1.60 meters on average, they usually laughed on how taller ones are easier to aim when someone foolishly claimed they were too short for the job. Having difficulties to access certain tight corridors was one of the reasons why people were accepted based on how short, and not on how tall they were, in the Solarian Armada.

Fortunately all other forces where too busy warring each other to bother with their approach, and neither the Rothbard, nor its escort missile bus had to resort to return fire during all the fifteen minutes it took for them to be about to touch high planetary orbit, and soon the upper atmosphere itself. For a brief moment Marianna almost felt her body flying against the belts in the seat as the Shadowguard spaceplane finally went down through the flight deck bay in a fast vectorial descent towards atmosphere, with its nose properly angled at about 65 degrees and its nanite heat shield on its belly on full power. Marianna listened as the separate artificial intelligence linked to the Shadowguard avionics announced directly into her mind, and into the mind of all armed fighters readying to fight against a new threat to the human race:

"Entering atmosphere in 30 seconds"

Fabian simply nodded in silence and smiled to her behind the transparent helmet, it was time. However the time would soon be interrupted as the torchship soon managed to outrun them...

"WARNING: gravity calculation estimation error identified, chances of atmospheric collision and ground impact: 75% risk of kinetic induced fusion reaction following descent: 0.1%. Chances of impacting with dry land: 65%. All crew, proceed to safety deck immediately.", the system of the Rothbard announced as klaxons began to wail everywhere. The aerobraking maneuver risks became true, and now the extremely heavy torchship was being dragged by the gravity of the planet and by its own previous movement vector as its thrusters accelerated at full 4 gees power in an attempt to stop the descent before it was too late, showering the orbit with helium-4 particles at extremely high temperatures, almost like if it was expelling fusion bombs through its exhaust. Frederic ran as fast as he could in his power armor, with his rifle wavering around, getting down through downstairs in the middle of a desperate crowd. The safety deck was merely the estimated point which would be the least affected by the ground impact. After much struggle, he reached the "safety" and strapped himself to a seat on the "west" side as the turbulence became extremely high. The portion of the torchship facing down the atmosphere, its "east" side soon began to become red hot like a radiator about to break apart, parts of its armor splintered through the atmosphere as the system announced:

"WARNING: Major structural damage detected, pressure losses detected at decks 9 to 3 east sides, closing bulkheads. Structural stability at 89% and going down.". The heat had opened a hole into the thick hull of the torchship due to the massive drag of its humongous mass with the atmosphere, for it was not built for atmospheric flight. Sighing, Frederic was sure there was nothing they could do but only wish they have luck. Flames licked the other side of the deck, and the wall he was looking at began to become red as well. The hundreds sitting on the spacious deck on the side not touched by the heat were simply looking at the imminent doom helpless and in despair as a massive force gave them the sensation of clear free fall together with the spacecraft. Such was the way how estimations worked.

Then when it seemed all was about to be over for them, it stopped. They have finally crossed the Karmán line with an heavily damaged torchship which was still under free fall. Sighing, the "elderly" Frederic said:

"Rothbard, give me full manual control over the trajectory."

Soon he acquired the vision of the still undamaged sensors and full control as a pilot. In their trail, death came as superheated particles touched the atmosphere. Soon he forced all its operational thrusters to incline down the Rothbard and continue making a counter-force to gravity through its vectored thrust.

"Brace yourselves", someone shouted, then all went black for Frederic, the roaring Titan has finally fallen as a new valley opened where was before a chain of mountains. the high gee impact have led some of the crew to unconsciousness.

A mountain braked the slide of the spacecraft and was tore apart to a certain point by the impact, while the topmost half of the torchship, with its thin tip serving as a massive penetrator against the mountain, have been completely destroyed, with all the crew quarters, communications, avionics and life support systems, including its weak artificial intelligence which synthetic and emotionless voice would never again be heard. By coincidence, the chain of mountains they collided with was a coupled of dozens of kilometers away from the ruins some were apparently already exploring.

His eyes opened sudden as he spasmed. The first thought coming into his mind is whether he just died and went to some sort of afterlife or not, but soon Frederic would notice that he was still alive, hanging as gravity pulled his body downwards. However, nobody was in the seats anymore besides himself. Sighing, he took away the safety belts and let himself fall into the wall of that section of the torchship, stopping the fall speed with his jetpack, for it was almost ninety meters down. The power armor absorbed the impact, as he looked to a large hole in the middle of the metallic wall leading straight to a deep crater of dirt formed by its collision. It was further 90 meters deep. And luckily he had his jetpack still working. With its aid he safely went down there. Climbing up the crater, he found himself in the outskirts of a dense jungle, with no sign of his hundred of friends nearby, which was strange, for such a large number of individuals couldn't simply leave no tracks. Sighing, he head towards the jungle as his visual aids were at maximum alert to track potential hostiles.

-------------------

The missile bus have managed to aerobrake properly, on the other hand. However, it depended on the Rothbard to function properly. A failsafe system existed with an standardized pre-programmed reaction. Thus it began to adjust its trajectory to a continual circular orbital flight around the planet, and had its sensors at full alert. It would not fire unless attacked first.

As for the Shadowguard, as soon as it entered atmosphere, its signatures simply vanish from the sensors which were keeping an watch over it. It would take some time to reach the estimated drop point of the alien craft. Marianna sighed as she saw the flaming torchship going down, and said in clear despair:

"A hundred and twenty lives gone, and now we are completely stuck in this system. What should we do after we destroy that alien threat? I don't think we have any power to claim colonies here. And now we have nowhere to go!"

"Marianna, let's focus on our current goals. After we kill those genocidal aliens, we'll take care of this issue", Fabian said with an unusual optimism. Then silence came as they awaited for the next three hours of travel towards their destination.

-----------------

In the middle of the jungle, a strange group of 119 soldiers in power armor walked and behaved almost if they were mimicking each other, in a disturbingly uniform manner. For some reason, something in this world have triggered an unvolunteer Hive Mind among the Solarians who got out of the crashed torchship. They were all still carrying their guns, with no clear individual giving them orders as they changed their behaviors simultaneously. They were much further through the jungle than Frederic, and they marched through behind trees and slopes in a silent walk, as if whatever was controlling them was being called by something.

(OOC: I took some creative liberties, and now my characters are epically fucked)

5/4 growled, waving his arm to his tactical officer. "All Red Talon vessels, Initiate P-Drives, Formation C, put the two fleets in line with us." Across the Red talon fleet, the warships suddenly bore a drastically climbing gravitic and magnetic signature. After a matter of seconds, just before the impact of the deadly barrage the entirety of the fleet vanished in its own flash of blinding blue white light, appearing in another flash of light and a burst of magnetic and gravitic energy aligned in a tight packed wall formation 10 light seconds to the side of the Silver Fleet. A marked increase in ships would be noted as the remainder of the ships that had not accompanied the fleet had also jumped. The Sanctuary having jumped a good 10 light minutes behind the wall of the fleet.

5/4 raised his katana once more, like an executioner raises an ax. "Fire at will!" Across the fleet, the ships bows flashed with a dark purple energy as hundreds of semi truck sized tungsten steel spikes exited their muzzles each traveling at over .9C Their gravity accelerators spiking across any sensors capable of picking them up. Each ship deploying dozens of decoy pods while powering their cloaking screens to inhibit sensor locks. One of the destroyers silently flashed as its front section tore itself apart, listing to the side as fire and debris spewed into empty space. The two remaining gattling cannons on the Pegasis releasing its own stream of 100mm tungsten spikes, the same characteristic purple flash rimming the barrels. Each frigate and destroyer launching dozens of anti ship cruise missiles. Their Particle impulse drives accelerating them continuously as they reached across the distance like a cloud of blue streamers. Each ship deploying its own interceptors. two wings from each frigate, 4 wings from each destroyer, 7 from the Battleships and the Kergerin, and several dozen wings from the Pegasis. Each wing containing seven interceptors. Piloted not by drones, but living beings. Their training and experience ranking each one among aces. They knew how drones fought and how to beat them. Each pilot on the other hand possessed his own unique fighting style.

Without warning a com channel was broadcast on wideband, sound only. The only sound was a tortured scream that didn't seem to stop. Its pitch only fluctuating in what could only be inhuman ways. In the background frantic voices could be heard. "Ensign, shut that station off! For god sakes put the man out of his misery!" A single gunshot could be heard before the signal stopped. Throughout the halls of the damaged ships, similar crys could be heard. 5/4 blocked it out, "Deploy a team of marines through the ship to put the dead to rest." He said flatly. Knowing full well that with his order to jump he had very well killed dozens of his own men. But he doubted The Pegasis could withstand a bombardment from all sides... He waited as it would take a few seconds for the volley to cross the distance, and minutes for the cruise missiles.

Meanwhile, The Fast Freighter Touched down above the Sertian landing site. The bay doors opening as a large armored semi truck drove out. Fully manned with Black armored marines. Twin gun mounts on the top of the cab, two more on the back of the trailer and a 120mm deck cannon on the front part of the trailer. A few marines lingered on the deck of the truck, holding rails. Alpha team jogged out as well, Their C10 rifles out and primed as they checked the area, The back of the semi opening to deploy two 6 wheeled assault trucks that resembled warthogs, each one bearing a quad plasma cannon on the top of the cab and a light 40mm auto cannon in its bed. Alpha team boarded the two trucks, the freighter leaving its bays open as two of the three sliver guns slid along rails on the sides of its hull to the back. one of the scientists walking out of the freighter and into the semi as the gaping bay door began to close with a steady hum of electric motors.

IC:

"Sir! We're getting a large increase in energy from the enemy fleets, also we have incoming fighters and plasma bolts!" Yelled one of the sensor operators.

"Whatever they're doing we don't just want to sit here, prepare to jump, jump on my mark, and bring the lasers online against those fighters." He yelled as the Red Talon's fleet disappeared and then reappeared too close for comfort. "Quickly, target them with the lasers then jump in 4... 3... 2... 1..., jump!" Yelled Anderson.

Thousands of invisible fingers of light pulsed at the enemy fleets and fighters sending millions of photons downrange into the dense pack of enemy ships.

The jamming was fairly useless as Skyian ships and drones switched over to thermal and UV sensors that would allow them to see the heat emitted from the ships, and increased the output of their radars to burn through the jamming.

The laser fire only stopped as the fleets entered jump space to re-emerge 30 light seconds above and to the sides of the enemy fleet.


"Bring the NPGs to bear, double the charge, I want .4c out of them, use the fusion warheads as well. Bring the KE missiles online and upload targeting coordinates, fire the NPGs when ready!" Anderson barked out order after order as his ships began their volley of deadly osmium [a rare-earth metal dense then DU and tungsten and yes its real] projectiles. In addition to the 1000kg weight of the projectile there was a fusion warhead with an impact trigger, designed to explode when the projectile hit shielding or armor.

"Admiral, we have a message from The Holy Texas Empire, shall I bring it on screen." Asked the Comms officer.

"Yes," Replied Anderson seconds before the message popped up. "Tell them they don't need our permission to destroy our enemies!" Yelled Anderson as her command ship shook slightly as it's might NPGs send shell after shell downrange.

5/4 looked up as the tactical officer called out. "Enemy fleet above us! Flanking on both sides! Incoming artillery, approximate arrival time one minute." He growled raising his katana. "Have the damaged ships fall back. All other vessels are to jump into their formation, ready missile bays for a full barrage. Prime main guns to fire." he signaled the Com officer as the Jump drive began to cycle. "Broadcast this message." The officer nodded as he raised his katana to point it at the screen. "Do not tempt the might of the Red Talons! stand down or be destroyed!" He spoke perfectly fluent english. Knowing that they would understand him.

The fighters danced amongst the beams, the beams from the drones visibly bouncing off as the fighters armor, burning away the black paint to show a reflective silverish metal. Using an old tactic, they dropped flares. Small, magnetically charged drones the size of a pop can, each one possessing a small fusion torch engine spiking with the ultraviolet and heat signature comparable to any fighter. Its generator a miniature version of what powered every red talon vessel. Ensuring its gravity signature matched that of the fighters as the small core strained to power the drive at such levels.

5/4 signaled the nav officer to jump. The ships once again spiking with gravitic and magnetic energy and vanishing in a brilliant flash of blue, This time appearing stationed vertically, and angled about 75 degrees vertical, to the larger ships in the Silver fleet, some ships stationed rather precariously amongst the enemy fleet. The main cannon barrel of each ship aimed at the bridge of their respective ship. Each ship had its weapons primed to fire as the signal went out to the Silver fleet. Anyone peering out a window would see the massive barrels a mere 50 feet from their ship. Each barrel glowing with an ominous purple glow. The Pegasis as well sat positioned directly in front of whatever looked to be their flagship. Its Quantum cannons charged, two gattling turrets spinning, as hundreds of missile bays opened up along the carriers sides, On frigates and destroyers missile bays popped open as well. Dozens of grappling tethers fired from each ship, except the Pegasis, latching themselves to the enemy vessels.

This was the signal. "We do not wish to continue this engagement. If you so much as twitch we will open fire without mercy. I've lost enough of my men in this senseless fighting." Said 5/4, the message was transmitted over shortwave communicators, wide band on all frequencies over multiple types of communication technologies. If any type of power increase was detected, any movement in a ships guns. The RTMR fleet would open fire before they could jump again.

Admiral Anderson smirked as the Red Talon ships jumped right next to his ships. "We have them right where we want them." Said Anderson with a smirk. The Side Jump was a unique drive, as it did not have to expend energy opening a hole in space to enter subspace or hyperspace, the full explanation was time consuming, but the lack of needing a hole in space meant that there was no detectable energy increase. Also, the Red Talons had forgotten that the Skyian ships were still moving, side jumpers had the benefit of preserving momentum from before the jump, so the ships simply moved past the noses of the enemy fleet at .2c, the speed at which they had entered battle, meaning that before they could even get a lock the Skyian ships would be 60,000km away.

"Jump now." Yelled Anderson just as the Red Talon ships finished appearing. In a second there was a brilliant blue flash and bright blue wake as the ships disappeared once more, this time jumping ten light minutes from the battle. This would give the ships and crew 10 minutes to prepare before they were detected again.

((OOC: Whats the distance on that "wake"

Edit: And i would like an explination on how you instantly jump from place to place without spiking energy, seeing as light is also energy. Meaning that no energy=no light.))

((OOC: Whats the distance on that "wake"))

OOC: Edited it out, my ships would be over 60,000km away in a second at the speed they're traveling, meaning that the wake wouldn't even touch you [my largest ship is 800m].

The light would come after the jump, hence the blue light and wake, the light and wake can be considered the "exhaust" from the side jumpers. The jump does not use any sort of subspace or hyperspace, but travels through "compacted space", ask No Endorse for the full details. Also, it's kind of a moot point, as by the time your ships even came too i'd be at least 60,000km away.

OOC: Ok, how are you even detecting where I'm jumping too? The side jump doesn't stupidly leave coordinates for the enemy to follow, any sensors would take at least 10 minutes to figure out where I exited jump, as all EM radiation propagates at the speed of light, and even then i'd be 36,000,000km away from the exit point.

((OOC: Their sensors scan all sorts of types of energy. They can scan a planet from the edge of the system. The fact that your ships arnt exactly running silent and are discharging massive amounts of magnetic energy to fire the KEW's makes it rather obvious where you are. That and if you really want i have a telepath that could tell the admiral where your next jump coordinates will be so he can be there waiting for you.))

((OOC: Their sensors scan all sorts of types of energy. They can scan a planet from the edge of the system. The fact that your ships arnt exactly running silent and are discharging massive amounts of magnetic energy to fire the KEW's makes it rather obvious where you are. That and if you really want i have a telepath that could tell the admiral where your next jump coordinates will be so he can be there waiting for you.))

OOC: Hyperwave sensors are WANK, and if you're using regular sensors, it's still horriblely wanked, magnetic energy = EM, it also propagates at the speed of light, so it's still 10 minutes to detect me. [BTW, you can't run silent in space without frying your crew with waste heat]. Lastly, while psy like Shaneskia RPs is ok[talking to people through telepathy], using your Psychics to read people's minds to gain a unfair advantage in RP is not only poor form but godmode, would you please stop, the point of the RP is to generate a story, not win.

((OOC: Well, remind me again why i'm being attacked in the first place?

And in my opinion having a psi user isnt any more unfair than some of the other stuff i've seen on here. Not in this thread, but overall.

i'm still trying to figure out how your ships power plants power such a jump system without tremendous amounts of energy spiking into the jump system, I'm willing to edit my last post if its that much of a problem.

Your jump systems seem quite wanked. Atleast mine have drawbacks.))

((OOC: Well, remind me again why i'm being attacked in the first place?

And in my opinion having a psi user isnt any more unfair than some of the other stuff i've seen on here. Not in this thread, but overall.

i'm still trying to figure out how your ships power plants power such a jump system without tremendous amounts of energy spiking into the jump system, I'm willing to edit my last post if its that much of a problem.

Your jump systems seem quite wanked. Atleast mine have drawbacks.))

OOC: I'll let Einhauser tell you why you were attacked. [TPF attacked to just keep the thread on track].

Strategic jumps require large amounts of energy detectable almost everywhere, but the spool up time is very short. Tactical jumps have a spool up time of almost nil but require a large amount of energy. I'm solving the energy time by keeping my shields down. If you notice I have not brought up shields since the entry jump [shields go down at jump].

Also, my ships have an AI managed power distribution system, any power not being used it routed to the side jumpers to keep them charged.[the quark reactors I use have a constant power output and power needs to go somewhere], meaning the jumpers are always charged for an emergency jump.

Basically it can be kept charge all the time, but it does release a huge amount of energy when you jump [hence the brilliant blue flashes and blue wake].

Einhauser created the thread so it would not be like the rest of II, he wanted a good RP without any godmodes,

((OOC: Well, i see no logical reason for two groups to ally and attack everything else for no particular reason... Especially after i've asked for a cease fire how many times IC? It honestly has me a little aggravated... The fact that every one else gets to use wanked out tech except me is really aggravating...

For the record, My ships don't even have shield systems. Mainly due to the fact that everyone and their brother has a way to bypass them so you might as well not have em even if you do. The fact that everyone can move massive capital ships at speeds fighters should travel at, then attempt to engage other people at a range that is so far it gives the other fleet time to go "hey, were being shot at... lets move our ships collectively to the left a few hundred thousand kilometers so all those obscenely accurate lasers and kinetic weapons go right past us because of time lag."

Sorry if i have trouble grasping the concept of space battles.... I'm just a little confused on how all this is supposed to work. I always imagined space battles being two huge ships slugging it out like 18th century ships of the line while fighters swarm everywhere, or like startrek or starwars. Wing commander, hell any scifi movie.

Ok.... i'm done ranting now...... and i really would like an explanation as to the reasoning behind the attack....))

OOC: Please keep OOC comments attached to IC posts, not by themselves. Anyway, the reason I attacked you was because peace doesn’t make for a good war RP. As TSS said, TPF started the battle but now that he’s out we have to keep it going. As for us wanking our tech, that’s not true. This is how space warfare would really be, as near as we can tell anyway. It’s not a bunch of fleets sitting next to each other firing broadsides, it’s ships moving at significant fractions of the speed of light, taking months to get anywhere and hours to attack. You’ll notice that some of us are using drones because we don’t even have FTL communications. And I don’t have shields, either. You don’t have to RP as hard sci-fi, and I certainly never said you had to in this thread, but 18th century tactics will loose against more realistic ones.

IC:

It was an odd tactic, to be sure. None of the ETSF captains had seen an enemy fleet use tactical jumps to stay in range of the their attackers, but nothing about this journey was terribly normal.

“Incoming high c-frac rounds! Recommend evasive action!”

“Make it so!” The ships did their best to alter course in the brief seconds they had, but not all of them made it out. Tungsten slugs collided with the silicon nanotube hulls of half a dozen destroyers, instantly transforming the impact site into what amounts to the core of a star, the whole of the ship fusioning in a split second. Seeing this devestation, the captain issued new orders. “Change our course to seven-zero-chatter, nine-ten-one. Order the fleet to continue random maneuvering and return fire.” The nuclear pulse guns fired again as the invisible beams of a thousand lasers sliced across the void.

******

The gunship came in low, just over the treetops. It was a sleek machine, all engines and cargo bay with a small, domed cockpit in the nose. The side-doors were open to permit the gunners to peer out, hunched over their heavy weapons. The roar of wind would have made conversation impossible had the occupants not been wired into a communications network. There were two distinct groups inside the ship. On the left were the remainder of Sergeant Davig’s squad. On the right, a Silver Corporation squad. They didn’t speak.

“Can they understand us?” asked one of the troops to the other.

“I think so. Command said something about their language being very similar to ours. Or, hell, vice versa.”

“Either way,” the pilot broke in, “we have arrived at our destination.” Everyone inside attempted to look out the open doors, down at the black chasm beneath them as the gunship slowly slid into the earth.

OOC: Imagine space warfare as speed boats fighting at over the horizon distances with a sensor lag of 1 minute. You know where your enemy was one minute ago, but not where they are now, you're forced to spam the area where they could be with weapons fire, hoping that your KEWs/Lasers hit and that your missiles are close enough to get a lock.

Basically, you know how fast the ship is going and in which direction, you use this data to gain a sense of where your enemy can be [the faster the enemy goes the slower it maneuvers] within 1 minute. Now apply this in 3D, you now have a 3D cone representing where the enemy could possibly be by the time you detect them, now add in the time it takes for missiles to arrive, your cone grows. You then spam that area with weapons fire and hope you hit something.

That's space warfare. You don't let the enemy get close at all, ever, if you do you're dead [as the enemy will blow you right when you exit warp.]

((OOC: I understand the whole, peace/war thing, but it could have been more logically done than, "Hey you, your on our side, Lets shoot at those guys." Hell, even claiming we're Xeno scum would have been a reason.))

5/4 growled, he ordered the fleet to increase to tactical speed, their particle impulse drives going off line as their gravitic induction coil cores cycled up to full power. The em jammers and sensor buffers, as well as the degaussing system which demagnetized their ships hulls went to full strength. The fleet accelerating almost straight down, spreading its formation as the battleships heavy mass driver turrets angled themselves, firing its own barrage.

((OOC: Not sure of the range between you and me Einhauser, so lets just say its 30 LM? I cant remember all the direction and distances, i wasnt exactly keeping track.))

The Pegasis reached out through the system, looking for the silver fleet. "Com, signal the Sanctuary to resume its operations, and have it start a looping the system in a wide arc, any ships that get close, are to be dealt with by standard op." He looked over at the tactical station. "Tactical, i want two squadrons of frigates to break off from the fleet to support the interceptors. And i want the fleet to deploy decoy pods.

Across the fleet, each ship launched two pods the size of a filing cabinet, Each pod designed to perfectly imitate the sensor signature of the ship that launched it. Each of the two pods from the ships taking a seperate vector away from the fleet. On sensors it would appear that the fleet tripled in size and went in three different directions. The fleet altering its own course, coming about and traveling verticle to the orbital plane of the system. The first 'fake fleet' proceeding straight as the second looped around to travel towords the systems sun below the orbital plane. Each group of pods moving as if it was the ship it mimicked.

On the Battleship Fireflush, The bridge crew were acting on orders from the first ranked ensign. The results of their rapidly paced tactical jumps causing them to loose their captain and second in command. The captain appeared to be sitting in his chair still, a 9mm in his hand and blood down his chest. upon closer inspection it could be seen that part of the mans body had become fused with the chair. The X.O. lay dead on the floor, a similar gunshot wound to the head, his body literally halfway into the deck at the waist.

"Sir, ships are reporting casualties, numbers are approximately 127 so far." Called the com officer on the Pegasis. 5/4 sighed. shaking his head. "Tell the Sanctuary to begin on a new battleship, and wake crew from stasis to replenish our crews numbers." The officer nodded. The fleets guns firing steadily at the einhauser fleet untill the silver fleet was picked up.

The first spread of anti ship missiles crossing the distance closing on the area of the einhauser fleet. The interceptors were armed with their 40mm gauss cannons as well as twin 20mm vulcan cannons that fired low grade plasma.

((OOC: I deleated my last IC post cause i kinda realized how bad it was. Anywho, i'm gonna go for the day.))

[Blah, stop with the OOC, in with the weapons firing! Haven’t seen me complaining about getting hit by three different factions, and one just for ‘I have a bad feeling about them’, do ya? Ah well, besides I think Einhauser and the Silver Corporation have already made a lot of statements about going around killing non-humans, I thought that was their motto all along.]

Seven ships made their way to the planet’s atmosphere, leaving the fleet above them with only 39 ships to try and hold out, but increasing their ground forces substantially. Or, it would have, had those laser turbedos not arrived. As best they could miniaturized railguns mounted on the sides of the vessels tried to take them out, but before those relatively slow moving slugs could hit the turbedos they had already delt considerable damage to the unshielded Emprium plate’s, the energy breaking down the crystallized metal alloy, allowing the remaining energy to blow holes into the hull. Two of the drop ships, already opening their magnetic nets to slow down their speed suffered from this fate in the worse way, hull integrity shattering as the ships literally fell to pieces in the atmosphere, the internal structure and smaller pieces of Emprium alloy plating burning up from the friction, while the remains of the outer, heavier hull feel like asteroids to the planet bellow. Another drop ship didn’t fair much better, the blast destabilizing its magnetic field generator, they were forced to make a crash landing in the forest with only an estimated 65% survival rate.

“Damnit! What was that!” shouted Admiral Jaynie as another hologram reformed next to the one of the battle field, before the outlines had been mostly green with a few yellow spots were kinetic weaponry had managed to dent the Emprium plates, but now the yellow was much more pervasive and there was orange hot spots, indicating areas with open hulls to space.

“Laser weaponry from the Texas Empire it seems, the kinetic missiles blew apart out plasma shields, we had no protection from it! Two drop ships reported destroyed during entry, one making a crash landing. Three interceptors reporting major hull damage, one destroyer suffering from fusion core issues, and the other PC-Destroyers are fairing better than we did. Also, the Helix is reminding us that their Warp Core is still charged from our deceleration towards the planet.”

Jaynie had to act fast, if the Sertians sat their in orbit while being thrown laser weaponry they didn’t stand a chance, especially since kinetic weaponry was removing their best chance at dealing with it. It was only made worse as the Feather-Darters, about to start firing on the Silver Corporation Fleets was only met with the ships suddenly vanishing, causing them to have to manage riding a wake of energy left in their trails. “Order the fighters into the atmosphere, drop a Drift Sensor Array immediately and get that warp engine going, take us to the far side of the sun and commence full repairs! Also, send a message to the ground forces…”

At her orders a device was fired from the underside of the Sillano, however seconds after leaving it seemed to dissolve, becoming nothing more than golden particles that seemed to spread out amongst the stellar medium, non-existant. But the array was intact, imbedded in the sub-plain of space known as the Drift. In that plain it could detect energy beyond the limits of the speed of light but at a cost, so much background energy meant that the array could only focus on different areas of space at a time, akin to a telescope in that regards.

Then the next part happened, the fighters turned from the now empty space they were heading to, some of them ripped apart by laser batteries and some damaged from the wake, but amazingly they seemed to have had a high evasive rate to the energy weapons, allowing the majority of their bussard-engine hulls to survive unscarred. Now they dropped down towards the planets atmosphere to reinforce their ground forces away from the deadly space weapons of their enemies. While this was happening though, space started to warp around the remaining Setian vessels, compressed in front and stretched behind them as a warp bubble was erected. Just before the warp bubble was complete, locking the ships away from communications with allies or enemies or their ground forces, Admiral had her message sent, “Consider all factions besides the Red Talons as hostile, we can no longer get caught with our pants down. Twice we’ve received messages of peace and been fired upon, no longer!”

Then the ships vanished as the warp bubble multiplied the speed of the plasma-sublight drives, allowing them to move behind the sun while automated systems and troops alike began repairs of the hull, and mainly getting all drift drives back online. The Drift Drive was their mobility in spatial combat, and without it they would be just as good sitting ducks away from the planet as if they were in orbit.


Back on the ground, the infantry that had been sent to the city, five troop transports each holding a platoon of ten men - fifty all in total - made their way into the oddly intact ruins. Plasma rifles loaded and ready to fire on almost anything that moved given the new order, but their squad leader still maintained the order, ‘don’t fire until they seem like they’re about to fire back’. But it still kept them on edge, seeing the remains of two of their drop ships break into pieces and impact with the ground had that effect on the troops, and being in ‘ruins’ that seemed like people could have been living their barely a day before didn’t help. But the fifty men made their way along the streets, dashing between cover to cover as they looked for any clues on why they were brought there, while Heralds and Buzz Battle Tanks were thirty minutes away from reinforcing them with heavy armor.

Another mission was started though, troop transports and Feather-Darters were deployed over the mountains to the crashed MDIAC to help in the salvage project, but something else had happened. They had detected, and to a wide array saw, a ship crash at high speeds into the mountain chain nearby them. Orders were given to two Feather-Darters and three transports to divert from the salvage project and go to the crash site, seeing if there was any survivors or to gain a look at alien technology. The Feather-Darters were the first to arrive, aerospace ships with large engines on either side of the main body, lacking wings and flying on pure fusion-jet propulsion. They circled around the remain’s hulk, searching for any humanoids along the crater as the troop transports would arrive in just a few minutes.

ooc: well, TBH TheSilverSky is holding back a LOT in terms of the logical conclusion of Sidejumper technology. I'm going to as well, since the logical conclusion would be somewhat.... unbalanced in my favor. Keep in mind though, the Sidejumper, in a different RP setting, would literally be able to skip between realspace and jumpspace. You'd have to FTLi the sucker.

Oh, and Shan, I hope this is acceptable. I just wanted to have some fun ^__^

IC:
The scene in the control center of NES Exuberance was one of pure chaos. Communications had shot back and forth repeatedly, and the sudden commencement of hostilities only added fuel to the flames. When the Captain collapsed unconscious at the near death of the Biological Ship, few noticed her being dragged to the sickbay and the second in command stepping up.

Instead, much of the focus was on the fact that the Einhauser and Skyan ships the Exuberance had been traveling with had commenced battle formations. Amidst the chaos, much of the actual communication between various ships had been lost, and the sudden move came as a rather large shock. Fortunately for the No Endorsians, however, that shock would not last.

Suddenly, all power was cut to the weapons and shields, and the ship winked out of existence. Any sensors capable of detecting such would register a seemingly impossible energy surge across space, whiting out those lacking occlusion filters. A fraction of a second after it disappeared, the ship reappeared over the planet, catapulting in its gravitational field.

================================================

Sergeant Miller stepped lightly out of the barracks, his suit shimmering in the harsh fluorescence. His squad followed behind, a variety of vicious looking weapons strapped to their suits. Turning to ensure they had all followed, Miller grabbed a handle on the wall and flipped himself into a tunnel adjacent to the corridor he had been in. The ship's artificial gravity seemed to disappear, but he felt the pull of the tunnel tearing him towards his destination. In sequence, his squad followed suit, hurtling at high speed past numerous other entrances and exits.

After several seconds, Miller reached out and grabbed a handle, flipping through an exit area. He felt the deceleration systems of the exit slowing his motion as he entered a colossal hangar. A few moments later, he and his squad had latched into their designated positions, eagerly awaiting the drop.

"ALRIGHT TROOPS, LISTEN UP!" An officer floated next to a handhold in the massive bay, surveying the assembled contingent. "We have friendlies down on the planet's surface and we need to support them FAST. We will be dropping in a compact formation and then I want leapfrogging from there. ANY QUESTIONS? Good. Exact directions will be neural linked in transit, so grab hold and prepare for launch."

Every drop trooper groped for a handhold on the wall as a klaxon sounded, signaling the depressurization of the chamber. The whole far wall of the chamber opened to the black, the expanse of pristine verdant planet before them casting a bluish shade across their colossal armor. They lived for such sights as this, breathed in the thrill of the orbital drop. Miller thought back to his first drop as the drop timer counted down, reliving that first instant of sheer terror. Adrenaline surged through his body, overcoming inhibitions and steeling him for the trip.

That first drop.... it had been over his homeworld, Haven. They dropped from a training frigate over the Endless Sea, impacting into the ocean and forming up at the bottom. He could remember the endless expanse of nothing that was the sea bed, the odd fish that knew no light coming to investigate their presence.

A wailing noise over his radio brought him to the present. A series of lights on the wall began to fire off in sequence, counting the final seconds until he hurled himself into nothing. 5....4....3....2....1....DROP! Sergeant Miller latched his feet into an indicated position and pushed off hard, firing the suit's drop rockets.

================================================

"What happened?"

Captain Kelly Fisher drifted through unconsciousness, floating in a seemingly endless void. She felt light.... weightless....

She seemed to drift slowly towards a 'floor' in this place, landing with the force of an errant wisp of air. All around her flowed scenes from her memory, in a steady procession towards somewhere. A scene of her as a child, her mother holding her as a baby, a glimpse of her favorite teacher, they swirled about, seeming to accelerate. Her first boyfriend, her commissioning in the Gunship Corps, Basic, the crash, the horrible reconstructive surgery, recommissioning, her comrade James Lewis. Why the hell is he there? she thought ruefully. He's not that important.... is he?

Everything seemed to flow in one direction, and she found herself unable to drift upflow. Shrugging, she drifted with everything else, towards the unknown. After an indeterminate time, she seemed to near something. Everything began to converge, and she saw a form emerge. As she peered through the mists, a whole network of these forms seemed to stretch before her, converging in the distance at an intense ball of light farther than she could guess.

Cold fear surged through her as she approached the closest of them, its mottled shape apparent. She began to accelerate, groping for some way to slow herself. She got closer and closer, her legs seeming to stretch towards this shape. Nearer and nearer and nearer....

================================================

Sergeant Miller watched the ship seem to catapult away from him, engines flaring in the black of space. Already he could feel the faintest wisps of atmosphere slowing his decent, but there was no turning back now. He spun into entry position and locked his suit for the process. Dozens of specks around him did the same, their suits reading back various confirmations.

Everything began to shake slightly, the skin temperature of his suit skyrocketing. Flames licked around him, leaving a vast trail of plasma in his wake. The outer sections of his suit began to glow white hot from the friction, making him a shooting star to anyone watching.

Suddenly, he felt his suit shudder violently. The first of several drag chutes deployed, slowing his rate of descent rapidly. After three seconds he jolted again as the chute disconnected, replaced by a larger one. The sequence repeated several times, finally ending with him at a few thousand feet suspended by a huge final stage chute. He surveyed the area for a suitable spot to land, and disconnected this final mass of fabric, his suits hydraulics entering impact mode.

He slammed into the ground, forming a small crater around himself. He noticed several flashing icons at the corner of his visor, indicating that his squad had landed safely. Spread out across several miles of dense forest, he signaled for them to converge on a position near some known Skian troops and set off in that direction.

There is nothing like using a dropsuit. After the bulky entry equipment has been jettisoned, it was like nothing in the service. He sprinted through the forest in the characteristic stride of a being enhanced far past its natural capabilities by the glories of modern technology, many strange plants passing him in a blur. He topped a low ridge and hurled himself into a valley, coming to a rockey stop near a squad of very surprised Skian infantry.

"Sergeant Kyle Miller, No Endorse Orbital Drop Force. We thought you guys might want some more ground pounders to help you out in case of anything." His voice grated through the suit's speaker as he saluted, a sharp metallic clang informing him he needed to get more used to saluting in-suit. "Where do you want my squad?" he asked, watching the fourteen other members "jog" towards their position.

================================================

The Exuberance continued its erratic flight, distancing itself from the apparent enemy forces. Everything seemed to be collapsing as the assembled forces began attacking erratically. It finally appeared next to the Aralonian cruiser, sending a friendly hail before throwing its shields up to maximum around the two craft.

Then everything was gone, the memories swirling away. But one thing remained standing - James Lewis.

"Hey, Kel," he said, smiling. "Unusual place, isn't it? Don't worry, I'm not really here. You made me in your mind."

Smirking, he reached out into the white nothingness, and suddenly a brown, featureless door appeared and he opened it. Behind it, a massive library stood, with bookshelves reaching to the sky, with seemingly no end. Ancient, florescent lighting were installed on the sides of the bookcases.

"Welcome, to the Hive Mind's Library. I, am the Hive Mind, Captain Kelly Fisher. Do not distress. I took this man's form so I could be less alarming. I simply have a question." he said, still smiling. Taking a small, brown paperback book and a pencil from thin air, it handed it to her.

"Please sketch a star chart of your home system, Kel." he said, using James's grin.

OOC: Apologies on the delay. This is the post that I had meant to put up, oh, two days ago. I think it’s about time this RP was ended, don’t you all?

IC

ETSF command had lost contact with Sergeant Wel Davig thirty six hours ago. His signal was tracked from the time he activated it in the jungle, when he fell into the chasm to find his squadmate, when he fired the railgun rounds at the tree and the biological. It was followed as he chased it downwards, into the planet. The transmission grew weaker the farther down he had gone, until it finally gave out at around a thousand feet below ground. In a typical situation the signal strength should not have given out that close to the surface. This was considered unusual enough that the remaining members of his squad, along with a full Silver squad, had been dispatched to recover both him and Private Etrikai, who was still apparently stuck.

The operation had gone flawlessly thus far. The gunship had landed on top of several large mounds of earth that were promptly flattened underneath its massive runners, immediately powering down as the onboard marines strung camo nets across its still-warm bulk. The stranded marine had been dug out of the collapsed roof, slightly angry but no worse for the wear. That meant the only remaining objectives were to retrieve the sergeant and get back to base.

“Staff Sergeant,” called one of the Einhauserian marines, “come take a look at this.” Staff Sergeant Alexander Ethon walked briskly over to the soldier, who was waving his rifle up above his head.

“What is it, private?” Ethon had been temporarily assigned to lead the squad until Davig could be recovered, and he wasn’t happy about it. “What the hell do you want?”

“Look at these walls, sir. They’re metal.” The marine ran his armoplast gauntlet over the perfectly smooth surface. “Not even any dust on them. It’s like magic.”

“Magic my foot, private. Observation duly noted, now get back to work.” The soldier nodded and trotted back to the rear of the small column of troopers that were winding their way below ground. The going was steep, but their armor easily compensated.

“Why would the walls be metal but the floor dirt?” asked another soldier after a while. Idly, one of the men smashed his heel into the soil. It cracked and parts rolled away down the slope. Intrigued, he kicked it again. This time a whole sheet of soil broke away, revealing more glimmering metal underneath.

“There’s your answer,” said Ethon dismissively. “Apparently dust or dirt or something has been getting in here on the air currents and settling on the floor. Must have taken a long while, too.” The squads marched on in silence. The walls began to close and and rectangular pillars began to appear at seemingly random intervals.

“Hold up, men.” Both squads stopped and turned to the staff sergeant. “This is about where we lost contact with Sergeant Davig’s beacon. Since there doesn’t appear to be any obvious clues in the area,” he said as he glanced about the narrow corridor, “I think it’s safe to assume he walked further on.” The soldiers agreed, even the Silver squad, gesturing their assent via hand signals. As they continued to descend, they continued to encounter the pillars on the walls, and if there was an architechtural or mathematical reason for their existence it completely escaped the marines.

An hour into their trek they finally found a sign of Davig. The corridor was blocked by a massive metal door hanging off of its hinges, a clear sign of a railgun round through the lock.

“Sir, we’ve been testing the metal as we walked and it’s far too hard for our weapons to pierce,” observed one of the troopers. “How could this have been blown clear of its holdings? And how did the roof collapse over that cavern?”

“I don’t know, private, and I don’t want to know. All we’re here to do is grab Davig and get back. Get going, marines.” Ethon led the way, stepping through the mangled gears of the armored door and into another rectangular chamber, identical to the one where they had landed their dropship.

“Sir, look! Tracks!” The squad rushed over to the shouting marine. At his feet a line of footsteps were just barely visible in the undisturbed dust of the room. “They start back at the door but we didn’t notice them because of our lights.”

“Right. Squad, lights off. Switch to thermal.” His orders were carried out. A faint, almost non-existent warmth emenated from the boot prints. Normally not visible, the chill of the chamber was such that it stood out to the trained eye. The trained eye with advanced thermal optics, that is.

“Odd,” muttered a soldier, “the tracks stop right here. No signs he turned around either. It’s like he just vanished.” Almost immediately every single soldier, including the Silver squad, looked up at the distant ceiling. It was moving.

“Get back to the door!” Ethon shouted, pushing marines back the way they came. “Defensive formation, fall back!” They sprinted for the safety of the metal ruin, some marines running backwards in order to cover their retreat, rifles raised and aimed at the ceiling. Still using thermal vision, it was all one writhing mass of heat and motion.

“What are they, sir? Those biologicals that landed earlier?”

“Impossible! They landed thousands of kilometers away!” He aligned the sights of his gun over a large, white-hot object that was crawling across the upper wall. It didn’t wait for him to fire. With a tremendous roar it fell away and leaped on the squads. The room descended into chaos as the strobe-like detonations of the rifles revealed a horror from the bowels of the earth.

Planetside:

Alpha squad collectively put armored hands to armored heads. Picking up random garbled screams over coms. X, his suit, like 4 other, bore red markings over the silver of the metal. "All right Alpha team. We're going to move in on their position. It doesn't sound like they found anything friendly." He tapped his short wave com. "Marines, lock and load, Follow Alpha teams lead." Alpha team loaded onto the two trucks. Manning the mounted weapons, the remainder sitting crouched in the beds with their C10 rifles up and ready.

The two trucks started off, followed by the semi which bore over 20 marines. Each marine armed with a automatic plasma blaster. Looking like a modified MG42. Their black armor giving a dull gleam in the light as the three vehicles tore off towards the source of the com emissions. Standing on the roof of the cab between two marines on mounted plasma chainguns was one of the scientists. His white coat flapping in the wind as he covered his face slightly from the wind. Alpha team led the way with one truck, the second one flanking the left side of the semi. In the cab, one man sat in the center of the over 20 foot wide compartment. Its construction resembled that of a starship. Two men sat flanking the driver on each side. One marine sat at a coms station, another at a nav station, and two more on weapons stations. "Sir, we're detecting a massive bio signature on our starboard side." The marine on the sensors station called out.

What they had detected was the growing Shaneskia bio mass. "Thats not where we're going. Ignore it." X said into his com, picking it up on his suits sensors along with the other eleven members of Alpha team. "Continue on towards primary objective." He said. Sitting in the back of one of the trucks, with 3 others of his team. One manned the gun, another was holding his own C10 rifle. "You think this'll go south one?" Asked the other armored raptor sitting across the bed of the truck. "I dont know three... i dont know..." X said back, shaking his armored head, his back resting against the cab as they sped along.

The Surface
"Alright We're headed towards what appear to be some ruins, the situation is presumed hot, we're waiting for command to get in touch with whatever faction is friendly and get us an introduction, but that doesn't mean we ever let our guard down, keep your weapons ready and fire if fired upon. Our main task is to establish communications with friendly ground forces and secure the ruins for the science team and reinforcements. We'll touch down first, and then Dropship-2 will go ahead a short ways and drop of a scout/sniper team."

"This is your captain speaking, we are approaching our dropzone now, prepare to disembark, one minute."

The ETS Houston

"Sir, reporting multiple hits on the Sertian fleet, heavy damage confirmed, looks like they've lost some ships."

"Very good, prepare a second salvo."

"Aye, sir - wait, they just jumped, not on our screens."

"Damn, I imagine thats going to get annoying, see if the navigators can find them."

"I'll send it out with the next drone, What now?"

"Where are the red-talons?"

"Sensors indicate multiple tracks of that designation, they had a very large presence to start with and they've been jumping around a little bit, there may be decoys int here too."

"Alright, take us to the closest group (OOC: that can be whichever group you want RT, decoys, the actual fleet, the factory ship, whatever) and have the gateship dispatch drones to the others."

"Very good."

the ETS Lamar
On the Lamar, nothing was happening, it had been tasked to make an orbit of the local star to build up speed very early on, however, that left it out of touch with the fleet aside from intermittent communications drones. However, when the Sertian ships suddenly appeared on the other side of the sun after being attacked by the rest of the Texian fleet, the Lamar had not yet received a drone informing it of the attack.

"Captain, a group of ships just appeared, bearing 10, 87, they look pretty beat up."

"Must be taking a break from that furball around the planet, Hail them, let them know who we are, don't want them getting jumpy and thinking we're ane enemy."

"Aye sir."
This is the Cruiser ETS Lamar of the Holy Texas Empire, we've been out of touch for a little while on this orbit, if you could give us an idea of what's going on over there we'd be grateful, our engineers would be willing to give you a hand with damage control.

The Destroyers Independence and Courage
"Troops on the ground sir."
"Very good comms. Try and get in touch with whoevers ont he ground, our troops need to know who's who down there."

"Aye."
Message to the Silver Corperation, Einhauser and No Endorsian ground forces
this the Captain Hardy of the Imperial Texas destroyer ETS Courage, We have boots ont he ground and we'd appreciate it if they didn't get shot up too much. Please respond on this frequency and we'll try to get y'all patched into their comms to prevent any mistakes.

The Sertians had to appear just outside of the star’s corona, or rather where the heat was around one hundred centigrade and a density equal to that of the medium between the planets. Normally their Emprium hulls would be able to stand the heat of the corona, but numerous hull breaches and tungstanium patches would have made that a dangerous course of action. Fortunately though, a combination of automated repair droids and engineers were already at work, placing temporary tungstanium patches over hulls that needed immediate repairs or ‘growing*’ the crystallized metal of the Emprium hulls. Afterwards, the engineers would repair the hulls from inside of the ships, bringing them back up to combat worthy in little under half an hour, at least as far as the armor was concerned.

Internal system damage had been minor, but there was still some as the focused beams of energy seared right through the hull. Power systems had to reroute energy across damaged sectors and a few coilgun turrets were rendered offline, but over all they were well off - not so if they hadn’t jumped to warp right as they did and let another two rounds of laser energy hit their hulls. Three interceptors took longer to repair, having to rely mainly on tungstanium to prevent them from losing their atmosphere, and a destroyer as well had to spend the better part of five minutes stopping their fusion core from going offline before major repairs could be done.

“Ma’am, incoming message from the Texas Empire… Apparently this ship hasn’t received word they fired upon us yet. Also the Helix is reporting that it’s fusion cores are still online, whatever force in this system doesn’t seem to mind us using Warp nearby the planet, so why did it frag our drives when we entered here?”

“It might have been damaged due to the stress of having a warp bubble in the drift, but no matter… Blood for blood Steve, the Texans wanted to fire at us and cost us hundreds of men on those drop ships. It’s time to pay them back, have the Helix fake an engine failure and fall into the corona since its hull is intact, then fire a volley of plasma missiles under the cover of the corona’s glare. After which, have it seem to get its systems online and pull back up to defend the remains of our fleet. As soon as Drift Drives are back online we’re heading back, have the damaged interceptors move to the outer edge of the system and keep listening to the Drift from us. Get our sensor array to keep track of the main Texans fleet, they go down first. After which, we’ll deal with the other fleets with help from the Talons.”

It was quite the list of commands, but Steve apparently had little difficulty converting them into text form and listing them out. Estimates had a fleet wide repair of their Drift Drives take an additional twenty minutes after hull damage was taken care of, meaning that they would be out of the firefight for a good hour.

Meanwhile the huge three kilometer span of the Helix ducked into the corona after flaring a plasma engine, simulating a flare up that could have damaged it. It ducked down into the corona, the intense heat mixing with the plasma shields, and even then the excess that got through those would find itself pitifully under equipped to melt Emprium Alloy. But, covered in the sensor interfering heat the ship launched forth a salvo of plasma missiles, their tungstanium plating would hold out for the few minutes it took the hypervelocity missiles to orbit around the ‘skin’ of the star, before flinging out to aim straight for the ETS Lamar, Admiral Jaynie even had a message sent to just before the missiles would leave the cover of the corona, giving them mere seconds to respond - not counting the time they could theoretically spend watching the short video message.

“Yes Texans,” Admiral Jaynie said with a remarkably strong will to keep anger out of her voices and eyes, yet, but she seemed a bit rigid - as would any commander that just lost a few ships in a fire fight. “I would love to tell you just what happened,” about that time the hypervelocity missiles would streak out of the star, leaving behind a plasma trail for a few microseconds. “Your fleet opened fire on us after we sent them a message confirming their request for peace, stating that we were only firing on another fleet for an unprovoked attack on our allies. You can blame your commander for your fate.”


Inside the ruins the soldiers were on edge, they had been given notice by base that most likely enemy drop ships might have landed not so far away from the city they had claimed. Which must have meant they were blissfully unaware of the large Sertian detachment a few hundred kilometers away, or they were arrogant of their combat abilities. Either way, a second wave of soldiers and ground armor was making the trip to the city, escorted by a dozen of the fighters that had just made reentry after their targets disappeared. They were there to claim air superiority for the Sertian Empire, while also using their much more advanced sensors to detect any enemy hostiles.

Unfortunately, it seemed like they were going to be interrupted by something that wasn’t the enemy. Soldier David was the first to notice the vibrations running along the ruined streets, and thereafter a few of those soldiers switched to infrared vision to be greeted by the unpleasant view of what must have been tons of flesh moving under the metal of the city. After that orders were made to cross the two views into each other (imagine normal vision with a transparent overlay of heat) to keep track of those, things, and orders were given to keep plasma rifles and granades ready if they turned out to be hostile.


*The automated systems work by having a reserve of materials inside the drone, which via precise magnetic fields is reattached to the existing metal, or crystal in the case of Emprium. It results in an almost seamless repair job if done right, but tungstanium patches are basically overlaid over in a quick manner to keep air from escaping.

On the Pegasis, The damage control systems were utilizing nanite pockets throughout the ship, linked to the ships matter storage cells normally used to build ships. The ship literally looked to be regrowing itself, albeit slowly.

"Sir. Texas empire vessels closing on the second decoy fleet heading under the systems sun. Their using standard drives. No luck on locating the other fleet yet sir. Another vessel is making erratic movements through the system." said the man standing at the tactical station.

5/4 nodded. "Do we know the location of the sertian fleet yet?" He asked.

It was navigations turn to respond. "Yes sir, their camping in the corona of the systems sun."

5/4 quirked an eyebrow. This could be interesting. What are our numbers?"

The nav officer looked over his station for a moment before responding. "We have The Windrider, The Glory, and The Kergerin, count 165 destroyers, of which 37 are stationed at the Sanctuary. Wait, make that 38. And 182 frigates, of which 22 are at the Sanctuary. That gives us a total of 292 ships including the 15 frigates running 'dead' en rout to support the interceptors."

The 15 frigates were in 3 delta formations of 5. Each one having accelerated itself to .3c before shutting down all non essential systems and activating its active stealth. Degaussing systems demagnetizing the hull while sensor buffers ate up long range sensors with a mask of radiation.

At about this time, the few hundred anti ship missiles would be locking onto various ships in the Einhauser fleet. accelerating the whole time they had reached a speed of .5c and were continuing to accelerate. Their fission warheads clicking to their first stage of readiness. Awating optimum range before they would prime to detonate.

Planetside:

Alpha team was closing on the bio signature. They also picked up Sertian marines. Sending a com ahead to announce their approach before the three vehicles rolled into view of the sertian marines. Each member of alpha team switched on full sensors. EM sensors, thermal imaging, bio sensor, and motion sensor. EM signitures glowed a faint blue, bio signatures showed up with a green outline, thermal targets showed up in the standard shades, and anything moving in the area had a black outline, making the green outline hashed with black as the case may be.

The marines on the semi posessed simple thermal and bio sensors. Though it didn't take but a matter of seconds for both Alpha team and the contingent of marines to spot the massive bio signiture under the city. X tapped his com, signaling on shortwave frequency to the sertians. "This is Alpha one to Sertian ground command, Alpha one to sertian ground command. Get your men out of that city on the double. Your location is crawling with tango's. I repat, you must fall back!

The warmth, the pulsating heart beat around him. It comforted him, soothed him. He had been resting for a long time, surrounded by the heat of his minions, his brethren, no, his children. For the amount of years, he did not know. How he ended up there, he did not know. All he knew is that he wanted to rest, to sleep, and never awaken.

He was always haunted by his own apathy. While parts of his mind writhed and rebelled against him, telling him to rise and conquer all he could. The other parts fought for him to remain dormant, to rest, and gain strength, for however long it took.

Fortunately for him, and even better, unfortunately for his victims, he would reigning supreme soon enough.

His vast conscience was wrapped around the planet's every inch. Even the space around it was not safe from his mind. Around the planet, and in some instances, the system, could be fully enclosed in an anti jump field, created at his whim. Even further, he could feel the pulses, the eminations of passing ships. He did not feel such trivial energy as the engines, or the warp drives. No, he felt, nay, tasted the essense, the souls, the emotions of the men, women, and things entombed in the metal hulls of the ships.

A smile sneered across his face, as another fleet passed his sight. It suprised him. He did not remember the last time he smiled. Infact, he thought he was incapable of such humanary behavior. He enjoyed it.

He wanted to smile more, he wanted to feel more emotions. Since he had been reborn as the King of the his children, he had not felt such things anymore. But it seemed his long slumber energized the primitive parts of his mind, and was slowly enabling him to... feel.

And with his vast power, that he had been saving for years, he reached out and touched the closest fleet. He plucked them from the warp, using his own mind to propell them through a portal he himself created. It suprised him, he didn't know he could do such a thing. He simply thought he could direct them. But no, to his euphoria, he actually pulled them to him.

One by one, he pulled more to him. Finding ones who might satiate his hunger for emotion. He also needed some to spread his fear, his word, his power. He needed word bearers of the impending doom.

And now, his power was at his max. As the screams of the dying men inside the ruins resounded against the walls, he felt himself swell with pride, and joy, as his children rent and tore against the intruders.

More and more of his children left the depths of the tomb. They poured forth into the forests, burrowing through the ground, making new entrances form hundreds of miles away. Thousands, hundreds of thousands scourged the areas of their burrows. A mass of biological death swept through the forest, destroying anything, and everything, that even looked it might be living.

OOC: As discussed on IRC then...

IC:
They've fall for our trap. said the land, exictedly.

Good. muttered the Hive Mind. Bring in the troops, then...

With a quiet slither, 20 nearby guardians slipped into the brown, murky ground and temporarily merged with the land. Speeding through the mud-like substance, its home turf and life blood, they circled around the enemy. Their movement would be undetected against the already-moving ground, and their heat signatures matched the ground's as well.

With a mighty heave, all 20 exploded out of the ground, quickly assembling into non-human shapes with massive jaws where the chest might be. Screaming a psionic roar, they opened these mucus-lined jars and sprayed out a deadly combonation of acids of around pH .15 at the power armor-suited troops of Einhauser.

As the battle commenced, the land noticed something strange. Psionic emnations are exploding through the area, from where we lost our scout. That's im...forward scouts 15C and D have been lost!

What is this? questioned the Hive Mind. Some kind of psionic force?

I don't know, but its spreading from the epicenter in a circular wave. Scouts 15A and B now lost as well. Psionic emnations increasing in strength.

For some reason, I'm thinking this new thing is not going to like us. Is the ship formed yet?

I was hoping we could go out in style on a Fear Class Battleship, but with what's happening here...I'll get a warp-capable lifeboat finished in time, at least. Scouts 15U and V lost.

Meh...

Important OOC: Please read the opening post again, or at least the OOC message at the top. This RP has started back up again.

IC:

Thoth was not happy. “These ruins are a bust, marines. No way in.” He laughed over the comms and sighed.

“Back to the gunship, sir?”

“Yeah, let’s head back. Double-time, marines, I want to get out of this mud. It’s getting deeper.” With that the marines turned and waded back out into the swampy terrain. The mud was a dark, ichor-like color. As they made their way back to the ship, the squad noted that many of the trees they had passed on their way were no longer there. The biggest surprise, though, was the ship. When they left it had been in a some gully, covered in camo netting. Now it was almost impossible to find. Only the tale-tell tops of the twin missile launchers were visible above a pool of the dense mud.

“This is not good,” mumbled one of the troops. It was about to get worse. In a surge of muddy plasma, a horde of nightmares ripped out of the ground around the squad.

“It’s a trap! Fall back!” The almost supernaturally-fast reflexes of the marines were taxed to the limit in avoiding the initial volley of acid spat their way. The things were fast, their gaping maws cracked open like broken rib cages. One latched onto the faceplate of a marine and began to crush it, the man struggling wildly to get away. Trapped in a bearhug by the beast, he died quickly. Ten other monsters dashed through the much, leaping onto the marines in a fiercesome display of stamina. Another marine was half-swallowed, but managed to fire a dozen rounds out of his rifle before it was consumed. When the dead monster fell off of his body, his left arm was completely gone.

The mud was definitely pulling now, already having sucked the gunship and the bodies down into the much. The fighting was bitter, shell casings smashing off of armor as brother fought beside brother.

Amazing. They fight until the end, don't they? mused the land, monitoring the unfolding battle.

Both foolish, and...courageous. Sentient. muttered the Hive Mind. It had been a long time since they had met such an enemy.

Yes...enemy taken down, the rest are continuing to resist. We've lost one.

The Hive Mind watched the psionic feed play through the carnage of the battle. While this species was mostly incapable of transmitting psionic emanations, they did have psi locked up in their minds, waiting to be freed by evolution. And he could feel their screaming, their pain...like that of itself.

Fall back the soldiers, cut off suction. said the Hive Mind, resolute.

Ye-yesir. murmured the land, surprised. It transmitted a psionic message directed at the foot troops currently in the battle. They immediately jumped and melded back into the muddy earth, even as the land cut off suction, leaving the Einhauser troops knee-deep in what was now simply normal mud.

Let them go. If they approach the ship construction site, then warn them, drag only one down first. Then, if they do not turn around...

O-o-of course, s-sir stuttered the land, shocked. Since when had the Hive Mind shown any sense of mercy? And in a case of survival such as this, no less?

What of that wave of destruction?

O-oh. stumbled the land. Lost all contact with scouts in that area. Estimated that wave will reach my outer perimeter within 7 minutes.

OOC: Tis nice to see this thread back up. :D Hope you don't mind the local plasma fanatics coming back as well.


“Sir… The heat signatures are picking up!” an alarmed soldier shouted to his platoon leader, his gun tracing the thermal outlines of some vague shape underneath the ruins the Sertians had occupied. But before long he lost track of it due to the other signatures popping up, running around just a few meters beneath the ruined city.

“This is Commander Falchion to all Sertian forces within the ruined city, have we anything to report?” He waited a good five seconds before someone finally turned on their radio and announced what everyone was thinking, “No sir. We’ve detected no visible computers, machinery, nor even paths towards where those… Creatures, are. From what we can see, this place must have been cleaned out before it became ruins.”

“Could the machinery be inside the walls?”

“Probable, but our rifles barely even heat the wall, yet alone penetrate. There’s no way for us to get to the machinery behind that, metal, and so far no one has reported finding a control consul.”

“Alright men,” Falchion said with a small grimace, “It’s in my opinion that these signatures underneath our feet have gotten to dangerous and to… active. I’ve notified the base of our situation, and they agree whole heartedly. If we can’t find anything in this city, we’re getting the hell out of here. Everyone to the transports, our tanks are here to give us cover as we board them incase these bogies decide to attack us. Afterwards, we’ll be flying back to base guarding the tanks from the air.”

After his command he saw the soldiers around him look around, giving a last glance at the ruins to see if there was anything not left looked at, but then everyone started to make their half-run march back to the edge of the city where ships and tanks were waiting in a defensive line. He gave his own look around, before leaving the city and the heat signatures underneath it, taking his own leisurely run with the platoon of men he was assigned…


“Err… We’ve got problems.”

“What?” an engineer, currently working on whatever remains of the half crashed Lander asked, just before raising her head to bang it rather violently against the metal bar above it. “Yeow!”

“Heat signatures, lots of them in the forest. Some, heading to us,” the riplard spoke the best he could with a half broken jaw. But a few second repositioning by the sertian showed her all the information the riplard saw.

It made her cringe, there was no way the soldiers and gear that survived the crash were ready for something like this! Half of them were either dead and couldn’t fight, and the rest sustaining injuries from broken bones to bruises. Add in the fact that most of the tanks were now salvage, all four rail gun defense turrets offline, and half of the infantry armor suffering from cracks, it was in a rather piss poor state.

“Get that radio working! We need reinforcements from the rest of our forces on the planet now!” she shouted, rushing from the ruined remains of a bridge, racing to the infirmary which contained the only working ship wide mic in the entire vessel. Little did she knew that a rescue team had already been dispatched, a mixture of Phoenix Feather-Darters and troop transports to escort the injured and whatever valuable gear could be taken back to the main encampment over the mountains and forest. Unfortunately though, the rescue would take several hours, and from what it seemed they would have at best ten minutes before the first wave of, things, were on them.

Panting as she ran into the clogged infirmary, combat-engineer Susan, acting commander of the crashed ship, shouted with panting breath, “In coming heat signatures! Unknown origin, believed to be hostile! All available soldiers suit up and grab whatever weapon still works! Anyone conscious, grab a gun and try to position yourself somewhere you can fire!”