NationStates Jolt Archive

Alpha Delgrassi System

Colonel Alexander Duprey sat in his headquarters contemplating the star map in front of him being displayed via the holo-mat. The system he sat in was new to him as well as the other members of his expeditionary task force from the Kardhes Dominion. For the better part of three months the Lord Protector had been sending out small flotillas of ships, trying to settle new uninhabited systems and perhaps make contact with new and different nations and/or races of alien life.

The Alpha Delgrassi system, as Duprey's astronomers had dubbed it, contained five planets with conditions that could support human life. All but one had contained no sentient species besides the averagely expected horticulture and animal life. The final one had contained a species of savage creatures that could only be described as red-skinned gnomes.

Thus far Duprey's expedition had set up a small military base on the 3rd planet in the system, dubbed "Alsace," and had had an orbital docking and repair yard facility trackored in by a flotilla of space tugs. A large number of ships had been given to his command as well, not to mention a significant number of Fleet Mobile Suit Corp units.

Duprey was just starting to work on finding a solution to better clear the forestry around the base of a large entryway to a valley where engineers and surveyors from their civilian contingent were planning to start building a city, when the comm on his desk beeped repeatedly. Sighing with relief he picked it up, happy for the distraction.

"Duprey here," he said into the mike.

"Colonel sir," said the voice of his adjutant, Commander Romulus. "The Argenta just picked up a signal."

"One of ours?" asked Duprey.

"No sir, its foreign. Unknown to our logs and data banks," replied Romulus. "The sensory ship also picked up a heat emission, identifying the silhouettes of what looks like one ship of unknown origin, class, or currently size."

"Dispatch the Viking and the Ophelia to make headway towards it," ordered Duprey. "I will be up to the repair yards in an hour. See to it that no one acts hasty. They could be friendlies."

"Aye sir, as you say."


One hour later...

Standing in the command center of the orbital station Waterloo Duprey overlooked the technical redoubts that the Argenta had been reporting for the last hour. The two Lancer-class Cruisers that he'd ordered out were coming closer to the beacon and the foreign ship. Duprey turned to his comm officer and took a headset from him.

Attention unknown ship who has deployed a signal beacon. This is Colonel Alexander Duprey of the Dominion of Kardhes. You have entered the Alpha Delgrassi System, recently discovered by the Dominion. We're a colony that has established itself here. Please state your origins and intentions for your presence here. I would like to speak with the commanding officer or overlord of your ship force. Colonel Duprey out.

OOC EDIT: LOLz, time warp. Dunno why comps are stupid. Anyway, here's my factbook (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=556166). If possible I think it would be cool if we get a FC going and maybe colonize the system I made up together jointly. It would be interesting to say the least.

OOC: Yeah, just trying to get into the FT RPing...seems like a good time. Ideally, try not to blow my ship out of space...at least not yet.
factbook (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=556300)

IC:

Captain Torgandas of the Setulanite Republican Vessel Firestorm stood at attention before the Council of Leaders, flanked on one side by Captain Archer of the SRV Hammer and Captain Zellion of the SRV Stingray. All three were highly decorated officers, and medals adorned the breasts of their impecable uniforms. President Maxellian leaned forward and spoke to the three First Officers as the holo cameras recorded the historic event for the people of Setulan to witness.
"Captains, all three of you have been called to me for a special purpose. All of you have served with distinction throughout your careers, and you are considered the best frigate officers in the Republican Navy. It is for this reason that you will spearhead the new age of the Republic-an age of exploration. It is time to look beyond our humble boundries and find other life, and to throw off the crippling superstitions that prevent us from exploring deep space. The 4/12 Republican Guard has been assigned to your ships for support in case of trouble."
The venerated soldier-statesman looked to his fellow members of the Council before resuming his speech (after a properly dramatic pause, of course).
"I, President Rustov Maxellian of Setulan, speaking on behalf of the Council of Leaders and the Peoples House and Elder House, hereby grant to you three Captains the full authority of the Council of Leaders. Whether you find peace or war, know that you have our full confidence. Dismissed, Gentlemen." After a brief ceremony during which the Captains shook hands with all four of the Council members, they left for their ships.

Three Months Later

Torgandas slouched in his bridge chair aboard the Storm class frigate Firestorm. He had finally gotten far enough away from Setulan to activate the pulse beacon. Sitting up, he straightened his jacket.
"Are we ready to begin?" He asked. His XO, Commander Hale, responded.
"Weapons are primed but not activated, shields are charged but unactivated, and engines are ready to crank out max power within seconds." Torgandas nodded.
"How long to go from primed and charged to armed and activated?"
"About four seconds." The Captain nodded again.
"Then activate the beacon and pray that whatever responds is friendly."
"Activate the beacon!" Called out the Hale.
"Activating beacon, aye!" A pulse was shot out across space at twelve times the speed of light that gave coordinates to the Firestorm. All they could do now was wait.

ooc:lol...I looked at my computer and was like, what? and there is only the one ship...they all split up when they departed (sorry for the confusion). And I would def be down for joint colonization, too. Totally digging the gundam theme...and my space tech is pretty much 40k with a twist.

IC:

"Contact! Bearing straight ahead and closing," called out one ensign.
"Recieving transmission, standby!" shouted another. The message crackled over the speakers. Torgandas took the vox.

Greetings from the Republic of Setulan, Colonel. This is Captain Torgandas of the SRV Firestorm, commanding officer of this vessel on a mission of exploration and peace. To show our intention, I will order all weapon systems powered down. If at all possible, could we arrange a direct contact on the surface?

Torgandas put down the vox.
"Power down all weapons, but keep shields on standby. What can you tell me about their ships?" The XO looked up from a screen nearby.
"Slightly larger than us, sir, and I couldn't tell you anything about their armor. But they outgun us by a significant margin, sir." The Captain nodded.
"I guess it's a good thing we have peaceful intentions, now isn't it?"

OOC: I don't have a factbook, yet. Hoping to make one, I'll teach you about my race as we go along, know for the moment they are peaceful.

IC:
The three ships exited the Pressure Space warp they had created, they immediately picked up the beacon but didn't know what it was. The group contained two medium frigates and a large cruiser. On the cruiser's bridge and captain sat in his chair with an uninterested look as his officers all sat at their stations quietly. "Sir, we're pcking up a beacon of some sort." The captain looke dover at the man, "Then send one back. I doubt its anything bad." The cruiser began sending its own beacon, the firgates pulled in closer to the large cruiser, preparing for whatever may be coming.

Orbital Station Warterloo

Colonel Duprey sighed with relief. It looked as if they were a friendly group of people, and the strange ship's officer, Captain Torgandas was it, had made the first move on making it clear that having a battle was the farthest from their intentions. Which was good, because though they might outnumber the ship, damage and lives would still be lost.

Duprey sent out a reply.

Greetings to you as well Captain Torgandas. The two cruisers bearing down on your position right now will escort you here to the orbital docking station Waterloo. Once docked we can speak personally face to face.

Duprey set his comm headset down and turned to his adjutant. The command room on the Waterloo was filled with personnel working diligently at their stations and trying their best to both handle the incoming ship and the traffic around the station itself.

"Commander Romulus, see to it that the Viking and Ophelia escort that ship safely to harbor. Bring us down from level 2 battle stations to level 3 standby. I want extra system wide scans made by the Argenta. Send a Lightning squadron out on a scout mission as well," Duprey ordered.

"Aye sir, on it," replied Romulus.

The man leaned forward and began working on a computer terminal and speaking into the comm headset he wore. He was just speaking to Captain Dugaulle aboard the Viking when suddenly an emergency message came through. He glanced up at Duprey whose forehead began to furrow with concern.

"Sir, the Argenta reports a second contact. Another beacon, different frequency and pace. Heat emissions detected in quadrant forty-seven, bearing two marks and ten."

"Have the Viking and Ophelia turn about. Send a message to Captain Torgandas that he is to approach alone with all speed. If their enemies then the Viking and Ophelia are to cover the Firestorm," Duprey half-shouted. He ran to another terminal and brought up his fleet's roster, then glanced up. "And order the Arcane to head out towards the second contact."

The Viking and Ophelia broke off from the flanking positions that they had taken up for escorting the Firestorm, heading towards the new beacon source and ships at top speed. A third ship, the Great White-class carrier Arcane, moved out from the orbital dock yards and set off with all due speed on an intercept course to back up the two Lancer-class ships already heading toward it. Duprey sent out a second broad-band message towards the second beacon.

Attention unknown ships bearing by beacon. This is Colonel Alexander Duprey of the Dominion of Kardhes. You are entering into territory under the control of the Dominion. I demand to know your identity and intentions for coming.

OOC: Heh, glad you enjoy it. I'm a big gundam fan (of the good series's anyway).

"Sir, new message just in." One of the officers called out, the captain leaned back, "Play it on audio." The captain stroked his chin as the message played, "I see..." he mummbled before looking at another officer. "Patch me through to the source on a live connection." The officer looked down and began working quickly at his station. "Well it took some doing, but I've kinda hacked their audio systems so that a live connection could go through uninterupted." The officer gave an uncomfortable grin. The captain rolled his eyes, "This is a special fleet send by the Greywatch Empire on an exploration mission. We have no intention of tresspassing but the territory wasn't apparently marked so we decided to have a look around." The message was sent and the live connection severed. "Send a message to Greywatch Prime, let them know what has happened and give them outr current coordunates." Another Pressure Space rift opened releasing a huge energy spike despite its small size. The message was sent through, reaching its receiver the second it was sent. The rift closed soon after, the captain didn't feel like waiting for a response. The ships powered up their shields but kept weapons at only half power, just in case.

ooc:sorry for the late reply, yall. I had a track championship, just got home.

IC:

"Captain, unknown contacts bearing five six five!"
"Message from the Dominion, sir! They tell us to approach the planet with all speed!"
"Dominion vessels are turning to face unknown contacts, sir!"
The message came in quickly, one after another. Torgandas reacted with what he thought was the best course.
"All ahead full, maximum energy to the shields. Do not, repeat do NOT under any circumstance activate weapons. If you are responsible for a breakdown in communications, I will personally kick your ass out of an airlock."
The agile frigate increased speed rapidly as it headed towards Docking Station Waterloo. Everyone on the ship felt a slight increase in pressure at the back of their skulls as the shields engaged to maximum power. Targandas turned towards his radio operator.
"First, contact Waterloo and ask for a docking pilot-I don't want to damage their facilities. Second, send a radio message to the new ships, see if we can't get a two for one deal on negotiations." As the Captain spoke, the crew obeyed.

Unknown vessels, this is the SRV Firestorm, a Setulanite Republic envoy on a mission of exploration. Who are you?

"Sir another hailing coming from an unknown vessel, orders?" An comms officer said looking up from his console. The captain looked back and then at the screen, the unknown ship's energy signatures were being scanned. "Another one eh? I don't like this." The captain mumbled, "Okay people, keep weapons at half power, power up sheilds to the fullest. Be ready to divert power if need be! Open up a channel and send them a message. Tell the frigates to prepare defensive sequence five five nine, hornet style!"
The following message was sent:

<We come in peace for exploration purposes only. We do not mean to intrude as we have already explained the other ships. I repeat, we are peaceful and mean no harm whatsoever.>

Torgandas nodded upon recieving the message from the new vessels.
"Let's see if we can piss on this ember before it flares into a wildfire. Tell the Domion that we have started a dialouge with the new vessels, and that we are approximatly eight minutes away from Waterloo." The junior comm officer nodded and ran off to relay the message while Torgandas picked up the vox microphone and keyed the "transmit" button.

Peaceful intentions are good, friend...but so is knowledge to back them up. May I speak to the commanding officer of your task force?

He replaced the vox before beckoning over another comm officer.
"Send the following message to Fleet Command. Message starts: Have made contact with two races, both appear friendly. Soon to engage in face-to-face encounter. More to follow. Message ends. Got that? Good."

The Firestorm powered closer to Waterloo station, shields still at maximum power.

"That's an interesting message..." the captain said as it played through the audio. "Let's send them another message then..."

<We will hail you shortly with a our video frequency, that way you will be able to talk to me, Captain Urai of the Worldgazer, directly. I will serve as the commanding officer in any future talks due to the fact we are out of range to open a comms channel to my superiors.>

The ships powered down to 25% weapons strength, keeping their shields a full. "Let's hope this makes 'em happy." The captain mumbled. His officers began working on establishing a video link.

The Galileo Class Nikola Tesla had not seen Hermes space in nearly a year. It's mission was simple: expand the knowledge base of the Hermes Alliance and the Imperium of Belkaros. So far, it had discovered three new elements, two new inhabitable planets, and one other spacefaring race. Today, while most of the crew was asleep, a new contact was made, and the crew was awakened.

"What is the situation?" asked Captain Mal Hassildor groggily.
"Sir, we have intercepted several radio transmissions between several small spacecraft about one LD away, bearing Sigma 3 Kilo. It seems to be a first contact scenario between a colonization fleet and some interlopers. Shall I make our presence known?" replied a female Communications officer, blushing at the Captain's apperance.
"Very well," he said, looking down, "but wait until I put on pants, or at least until this erection subsides."

The ship deployed an antennae and sent the following message to all involved ships:
Greetings on behalf of the Hermes Alliance and the Imperium of Belkaros. I am Captain Mal Hassildor of the science vessel Nikola Tesla on an exploratory mission for the common good of the Alliance. We would like to extend a hand of friendship and meet with the
leaders of the parties involved here, for the betterment of all. Thank You.

OOC-My ride http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/galileo_class_science_vessel.html The Mobile Suits onboard are mostly MS-18 Kampfers and RMS-099 Rick Dias.

"Sir, we read reduced energy signatures from contacts Sierra-3, -4, and -5."
"New contact! Designate Sierra-6, unknown class or size. Playing signal now."
As the transmission was played, Torgandas nodded thoughtfully.
"I'll send a reply. See if our friends at waterloo station can arrange a meeting on the surface with all present parties, it would make things easier."

Nikola Tesla, greetings. This is Captain Torgandas of the SRV Firestorm, a ship dispatched by the People of Setulan to find new races and empires. We, too, are on a mission of peace, and would be more than willing to meet with you at your earliest convenience.

The captain sat back contentedly.
"I like the way this is going," he said to his XO. "That makes three other civilizations in one day...seems like a solid days work to me. And, even better, all peaceful!" The XO nodded dutifully.
"Aye, sir, very good." The Captain called out to his defensive systems operator.
"Power down the shields. I see no need for them today."
"Aye sir, powering down shields." The captain nodded.
"Colonel Jules!" He called, and a massive man in the ceremonial armor of the Republican Guard turned from where he was standing (hovering over the defensive systems operator) and looked up.
"Sir?"
"Organize an honor guard, full dress uniforms. We want to make a good first impression." The colonel, grizzled 72 year old with more gray than black in his severe hair cut, nodded.
"You got it, Captain."

"Yet another ship captain." The tactical officer said, looking at his console. "I can't get a clear read of this one... Waht should we do?" The captain stroked his chin for a moment before turning to his communications officer, "Tell one of our frigates to go back to Greywatch Prime. Tell 'em to get some diplomats or something." The comms officer nodded.

One of the frigates began moving forward before turning around abruptly. When it got a few kilometers away it opened up a PS rift and dissppeared into it. "Full shields to the stern and give us some propolsion!" The captain yelled as the rift began dragging the other ships into it before closing. "Good, we should get some more people here in a matter of minutes, I hope those other ships didn't think the rift was a weapon. I'd hate to have a misunderstanding."
The tactical officer looked up, "I don't think they'll mind too much. A massive energy spike shouldn't get anyone too worried." He said with a smile.

The energy spike was enough to warrant dispatching two MS-18s to take defensive positions along the hull of the craft, but not enough to raise shields beyond minimal. Onboard, the crewmen showered, shaved and donned dress uniform in shifts, all preparing for the meeting of whatever ambassadors were to be met. Scanners, cameras and sensors scrutinized and analyzed the ships in the area one by one, catalouging everything. A remote controlled Emperor robot was brought from storage in the event of Mundus wanting to 'attend' this ad hoc diplomatic conference.
On the bridge, the SRV Firestorm was located, and a message was sent in response.
"Message recieved, Captain. We will open a landing bay aboard the Tesla to recieve you. Be warned that most weapons, shields and engines shut down in close proximity to Belkan ships due to our reactor's EM radiation. Unless your craft has extreme EM shielding, such as the kind found on some battleship engines, we will use our gravity well generators to guide you in."

Upon recieving the message from the Tesla, Torgandas wanted nothing so much as to greet the new ship himself. However, knowing that he was already expected at the Khardesian colony, he turned to his XO instead.
"You heard the man, Hale! Whistle up a Bentnose and get over to the ship. Take a Guard squad." Hale nodded.
"You got it, captain."
"Sir, what about the energy spike?" asked one ensign. Torgandas shrugged.
"Ignore it. It would take any weapon they fire a few seconds to get here, and we can get the shields up in time. Besides, they seem friendly enough."

The Bentnose bomber flew towards the Tesla, closing the distanc quickly. The multi-purpose vehicle chassis of the entire Navy Atmospheric Squadron (aka the Setulanite Airforce), the Bentnose in question was completely unarmed (save for the chin-mounted turret), and it's hull, normally full of rockets, was empty save for some uncomfortable metal seats crudely welded to the floor. Hale shifted uncomfortably and waited the interminable time it took for his crew chief to call back.
"Power just came down, sir, we are waiting for them to guide us in."

ooc: the bentnose is pretty much a fifty yard long sausage (and about fifteen across) with a bent down nose (hence the name), and has three MRLS systems on it, plus a chin and rear facing turret. No picture, its purely from my deranged imagination.

The craft was identified, scanned and target by the gravity well projector, which altered the pull of gravity on the front of the craft, pulling it foreward into the starboard hangar of the Tesla. The craft was dwarfed by the rows of Kampfer and Rick-Dias class mobile suits sharing the hangar as it came to rest at the feet of one of the war machine's feet. A cerimonial purple carpet rolled from one of the doorway's leading to the hangar to the craft, and in the doorway stood captain Hassildor, in full dress uniform, flanked by the chief science officer, Doctor Rommel, and Captain David Spangler, an ace pilot. The trio walked towards the craft, stopping ten yards from what they thought to be the eterance.

With a soft hiss of hydraulics, the door of the bentnose swung open, and the ten Republican Guardsmen came out first. They then flanked the carpet and stood with their rifles at port arms as Commander Hale stepped onto the carpet and approached Captain Hassildor. He saluted, and then stuck out his hand.

"Captain Hassildor, a pleasure. I am Commander Oliver Hale, Executive Officer of the SRV Firestorm. Captain Torgandas sends his regrets for not being able to come in person, but he believes that he is needed on the planet. It is an honor to meet you, and a pleasure to make first contact with another civilization."

An excellent poker player (most of the crew refused to play him), Hale was barely able to restrain his impulse and not gawk at the massive war machines that were also in the hanger. It was a thing never seen in the Republic-only tracked and wheeled vehicles were used by the Planetary Guard, and all attempts at creating bipedal war machines had failed. Fortunately, the Guardsmen were all by nature impassive, and showed no emotion whatsoever behind their visors.

Command Bridge of the Waterloo Orbital Station

"Can't a guy get a break?" muttered Colonel Duprey to himself. It was enough that one unknown national ship had shown up. But three? The old senile gods above must have been laughing at Duprey for this little concoction that they'd cooked up for him.

His executive officer, Commander Romulus, was equally becoming inured to any more surprises. "Counting three different nationalities sir. The Setulanite Republic, Imperium of Belkaros, and what we think they call Greywatch. The Setulan ship is Captain Torgandas and the Firestorm. They've begun docking procedures and will be set within five to ten minutes.

"The Viking and Ophelia have set into a holding pattern within combat range of the three ships from Greywatch. One of their smaller frigate-class ships disappeared into what was something similar to a star drive emission, some form of faster-than-light travel either way you put it. They've declared themselves friendly."

"And the Imperium of Balkaros?" asked Duprey.

"A man named Captain Mal Hassildor broadcast a message from their ship making their intentions known that they were exploratory and peaceful. The Arcane is now on standby and making a holding position within long range cannon length," replied Romulus. "Interesting of note, the Argenta registered the presence of mobile suits sir, similar to some we use, being operated by the Balkarosians."

"That is interesting," commented Duprey.

He sat down and ran his fingers through his hair, a luxury he was sure would soon become scarce if this kind of pressure and stress were to continue. He sighed and looked over the tactical screen. He had more than three times the ships of all the foreign vessels combined, and then three times that again in mobile suits, fighters, and a few mobile armours. If fighting erupted, which he sincerely hoped it wouldn't, then they would be fine. He'd noted the shuttle craft from Captain Torgandas going to one of the other newly arrived ships. He needed to take the initiative back.

Attention ships of the Greywatch and Imperium of Balkaros. Since you have declared your intentions to be peaceful and of the exploratory nature I hereby invite you to dock, like the Firestorm under Captain Torgandas of the Setulanite Republic, at my orbital station Waterloo. Once aboard your respective commanding officers and/or government representatives may meet with me and we may all talk face-to-face. I ask that you return all scout craft and probes to your ships and dock in an orderly manner. If you refuse these terms, then feel free to leave the system. Colonel Duprey out.


Docking Station 279

The Firestorm was docked on an external carriage placement on the southern tip of the Waterloo. A few industrial model worker mobile suits helped lock it into position with the port's systems so it would both get power to re-energize any systems and keep it from floating around and banging into stuff. A air-tight portal was locked onto its side hatch to allow the transfer of personnel between the ship and the station.

Waiting in the air lock in formation was Commander Romulus along with a platoon of Fleet Marines and a squad of Auto Arms (http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b184/Upum/New%20Ships/Starship_Troopers_secondary_by_rube.jpg).

<Response from Greywatch fleet>

<We have requested a diplomat be sent in to handle the situation. One should be here shortly, we shall wait here until the ship with said diplomat arrives.>

Hassildor took Hale's hand in his and shook it, greeting him with a warm smile, enjoying his guest's thinly hidden awe of this small portion of his MS fleet. "A pleasure, Commander Hale. Welcome to the Nikola Tesla, one of the hands of Belkaros. We are on a five year long deep space exploratory mission of discovery for our Empire. It is a pleasure beyond all measure to greet you. Please, follow me into our reception hall. Your guards are more than welcome to accompany you, but I can assure you that we mean you no harm."
Hassildor led his company through the sterile light grey and blue halls of an officer's deck into the reception hall. The walls were panelled with laquered Belkan Cherry wood with comfortable looking, satin upholstered chairs stationed around a large table. A large variety of bottles containing various exotic liquors adorned one corner, with the opposing wall being dominated by a holoscreen.
"Please, what is mine is yours, make yourself comfortable." said the captain. "If you will excuse me for just a moment, I have recieved a transmission from the current owners of this spacei and must send an emmisary, and may be changing course shortly."
The captain Corporal Melissa Vivaldus in a small diplomatic shuttle to the meeting on the Kardhes ship, recalled his Mobile Suits, and returned to his guest.
"Now," he began, "Please tell me more about your people."
On the bridge, the station was locked into the NavComp and the ship began a slow drift course towards the station.

Hale smiled and turned down a drink.
"Maybe another time, but now while I'm on duty. Feel free to indulge yourself, however." He sat back in one of the chairs and shrugged.
"Not much to tell about Setulan, really. We are not an empire by any stretch of the imagination-just the home planet, Setulan herself, and three inhabited moons. Unfortunately, most of our history was lost during the Great War, when we went from an Imperial society to a Republic. That was about fifty years ago now, and I had been in the naval service for about three years when it started. Bloody, very bloody, and we are still recovering to this day." Hale stared off into the distance, momentarily lost in the memories of his own nightmarish experience in the halo stars. "Billions died in the fires of the hives, even more on one of the moons. Though," he added dryly, "it did refine our combat technique. Our leader, President Maxellian, finally decided it was time to explore the stars. But what of you, and Belkaros? What is your own civilization like? And how the hell did you get bipedal technology to work? All of our attempts failed."

***

The hatch swung open, and out stepped Captain Torgandas and Colonel Jules, trailed by five guardsmen. Striding forward confidentely, Torgandas saluted the man before him and stuck out his hand.
"Captain Torgandas, commanding officer of the SRV Firestorm, at your service. This is Colonel Jules, commander of all Republican Guard troops on board. To whom am I speaking?"
Colonel Jules remained impassive. An imposing figure under normal circumstances, his 6'9" broad-shouldered frame looked even more massive with the ceremonial breastplate of field-grade officers covered in decorations. Observing the honor guard, he began a proffesional assesment of the Khardesians. The auto-arms looked tough, but he dismissed them immediately-he was positive a mauler could take them out (which is not to say that he missed the obvious utility of bipedal armor-he made a note to ask about that later). The marines, however, were obviously first class troops, and he gave the detachment commander a small, composed nod of approval.

Captain Hassildor poured himself a glass of ice water, not wanting to make his guest uncomfortable, and offered him a cigar. "These cigars are hand rolled on my homeworld, and I promise you will regret not sampling them," he said with a smile. Leaving it in front of Hale, he continued. "The Imperium of Belkaros shares its home world of Jannath with several other nations, many of whom are also members of the Hermes Alliance. Our people, the Jannari, are gifted with the ability to manipulate a force known as "The Weave" in ways that other species would consider 'magical'. We have gone without major government revolution for nearly a millenium, and have been ruled by our Emperor and his cloned successors for the span. Personally, I have been in the Imperial Spacey for nearly fourty years. This ship is not only designed to learn, but to find planets possessing a strong enough Weave for Jannari habbitation. If I can find one, our Empire will colonize it, and I will be allowed to retire there as a governor. As to the mobile suits, that technology is avalable only to Belkans and Hermes members, and their subsidies. Perhaps your people would be interested in joining us? The bipedial weaponry is just a taste of our technology. I will say this, though, gyroscopes."


Corporal Melissa Vivaldus landed on the station and stepped out of her ship, flanked by her Centurion bodyguard. The armored behemoth sized up the threat posed by the auto-arms, who he was nearly equal to in size. The bright eyed yet stern young woman stood erect in her simple officer's uniform as she bowed before her hosts. " Greetings! I am Corporal Melissa Vivaldus of the Belkan Imperial Spacey. It is an honor and a privelage to meet you." she said congenially but professionally.

Hale took the proffered cigar and nodded his thanks before lighting it. The captain was right-it was an excellent smoke. He listened to Hassildor's explanation intentely, and arched an eyebrow when he mentioned a total lack of government upheaval. To an officer christened by battle during his planet's bloodiest conflict, it was an amusing concept. He took a drag on his cigar and let out a perfect smoke ring.

"When we left, our leaders gave us the power to make war and peace, but not to make agreements such as that. Rest assured, however, that I will forward your offer to the homeworld. Where, politicians being politicians, you should probably recieve a reply sometime in the next century." He took another drag and paused in his dialouge. "Excellent smoke, by the way-you were right. But what is this weave you mentioned?"

Suddenly there was another spacial disturbance as another PSR opened up further away from the Greywatch ships. Out of it came a large Greywatch Battlecruiser, it was sleek and silver in color with the word Dragon painted in red on the side of its hull. A transmission came through on an unencryptied channel to the frigates, "This is the Dragon, Captain Redemption speaking. You requested a diplomat?"

Aborad his ship the captain stared at the holo-screen appearing in front of him. "You've got to be kidding-" he looked at his comms officer, "Give me a channel. Unencrypted, if the other want to listen in, let them."

"Redemption, you old bastard, what the hell are you doing here?"
"Nice to see you too."
"Why the hell did you bring the Dragon?"
"We were getting back from a diplomatic mission when the frigate you sent appeared back a GP. We were ordered to come to you shortly after."
"Damn, they sent you? A Greyknight? Was it really necissary? Plus I thought you were still in the hospital."
"Hey, I'm a fast healer."
"That coming from the guy who was out cold and in a coma for about four months."
"Well I'm back in action, I'm just not allowed to use any of my physical strength in battle. But that aside..."
"What diplomat did they give us?"
"Pegs."
"Damn, really? Pegasus is here, jeez..."
"Pheonix came with 'im"
"You gotta be kidding me..."
"Nope, I'll talk to ya more later. Form up on me and let's go dock."
"That ship of yours is like three km, you think it'll fit?"
"We'll soon find out."
"Got any other suprises for me? Anything at all?"
"A few Leanorian are on board, Umbra's with us. Shadow too. That's about all."
"Okay then Red. Talk to you onboard the station."
"Right then."
The two groups merged and headed toward the station at medium speed. Red opened a channel to the station, "This is Elite Commander Redemption Dragonborn. We have a diplomat on board and we're requesting you to lead us in and let us dock if that's good with you."

OOC: I have a feeling the 'weeve' is gonna be more or less like one of my races' 'cryptic' abilites.

Air Lock A-77

Commander Romulus stepped forward and saluted smartly at his guests. He looked them over and assessed them as he did so. Captain Torgandas seemed an amiable man with a thinly veiled command presence. His adjutant, Colonel Jules, was a giant to say the least, nearly a foot taller than Romulus himself. He lowered his salute and walked forward and shook Torgandas' hand. He smiled at the Captain.

"Welcome aboard the Waterloo Captain Torgandas. I'm Commander Romulus, Colonel Duprey's adjutant and executive officer. If you and Colonel Jules will follow me you can presently meet the colonel himself," replied Romulus. He turned and nodded to the lieutenant commanding the awaiting platoon of Fleet Marines. The junior officer snapped a salute and with a few short, terse orders the Marines turned about and marched out of the air lock. The Auto Arms enacted their hover systems and moved backwards and landed smoothly in different holding pens against the walls. Their frontal armour opened to reveal their pilots who climbed out. They formed up and saluted as well before leaving.

"Your guards are welcome to come or stay here," added Romulus. He turned and led them on their way.

----

Waiting in another air lock with another ceremonial guard stood a man in blue armour. A half-cloak hung from the neck of his armour plate and a chest sash bearing a coat-of-arms was brilliantly white upon the armour. A large sword hung from his waist. From anyone who didn't know who or what he was he might have seemed like a man dressing up like some ancient warrior of Old Terra in garish armour. However there was nothing foolish or garish about the man. He stared with bright green eyes as a shuttle landed before him.

To his slight surprise a woman stepped out. She was not beautiful, but was striking in a manner that would be pleasing to some men. The woman stepped forward and bowed formally.

"Greetings! I am Corporal Melissa Vivaldus of the Belkan Imperial Spacey. It is an honor and a privelage to meet you," she said.

The man dressed in knightly armour returned the bow by pressing his right fist to his chest and inclining his head. "Greetings Corporal Vivaldus. I presume you're commander could not make it. That is fine, so long as you operate with his voice and authority," the blue armoured man said. "I am Ibram van Zala (http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b184/Upum/Modern%20Tech%20Thrashia/Blacksash_Knight_Marius.jpg), a member of the House Protector Knights." Electricity seemed to bounce around Ibram van Zala's eyes as he spoke. His blond spiked hair added to the effect.

"I will take you to meet Lord Duprey at once. Please follow me. Your guards may follow if they like." Without another word he turned and headed out of the air lock.

Waterloo Command Bridge

Captain Niles slumped into the command chair. It wasn't enough that he'd been on duty for a full 4 cycles, but for both Commander Romulus and Colonel Duprey to leave him here all alone...it was horrible.

"Captain, another ship coming out of FTL," reported an ensign. "Markings indicate another Greywatch ship. Dear god..."

"What?" asked Captain Niles.

"It's over 3 klicks long! Its freaking huge!"

"Shut it. Some fleets use larger ships," said Niles more calmly than he felt. "And besides its not as if we're not developing a few of our own. Send a hailing signal and have them dock...well,there's not really room...have them come to a orbital holding pattern parallel to the station."

"Yes sir."

Welcome. I am Captain Niles, presently commanding the station. I have orders to welcome you on behalf of Colonel Duprey and advise you on docking. As your ship seems too large for normal docking procedures, we would like you to follow the following path marked in this data link we are uploading to you where you can enter into a orbital holding position by which you can access the station by orbit. Captain Niles out.

Conference Room inside the Waterloo

Captain Torgandas and Corporal Vivaldus were brought into a lavishly decorated conference room at the same time from different directions. Ceremonial dressed Fleet Marines stood at the door ways and saluted as they walked in. Inside was a long oak table with chairs of a comfortable nature placed all around it. Commander Romulus and Ibram van Zala walked around the table and stood silently next to another door.

The portal opened and in came Colonel Duprey (http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b184/Upum/New%20Ships/Officer_by_levineHang.jpg). He smiled warmly as he approached Captain Torgandas and Corporal Vivaldus. He shook both their hands and nodded to Colonel Jules. He bowed a bit formally and then motioned for his guests to sit down. Commander Romulus and Ibram van Zala stayed standing behind the colonel.

"It's nice to meet you in person. Allow me to reintroduce myself. I am Alexander Duprey of House Duprey. I hold the rank of Colonel in the Kardhesian Fleet Mobile Suit Corp and I am a hereditary holder of the title "Graf" or "Count" in my nation's royal court. I am related to my lord and leader, Lord Protector Treize Lancaster. I trust that you're respective journey's to this system were safe and pleasant. Since both of you have declared yourself friendly I have decided upon this course of action, to meet and talk." He bent forward and pressed his fingers together to make a triangle.

"What brings you to the Alpha Delgrassi System?"

Onboard the Tesla
"The best explanation I have ever heard of the weave," began Hassildor, taking a cigar from its humidor and cutting it, "is to imagine a spider on its web. When on its web, it can travel, collect water, catch prey and do other things that are impossible off of its web. It is the same with the Jannari. When we are in contact with the Weave, we control the elements and more. With a snap of our fingers, we can do a great many things." He snapped his fingers for emphasis, and the tip of his cigar began to glow. Startled, he hailed the bridge on the holoscreen in the room and ordered a system wide scan for Weave possessing planets. Two showed up positive, as did their moons and the space between them. "Well, this certainly changes things. These worlds will now have to be claimed for the Imperium."

In the meeting hall
A message was sent to Vivaldus's Centurion bodyguard, who stood with the Knights. He moved to her and showed it to her, via a small screen on its wrist, then stood again by the other guards. She read it, and stood before her guests.
"The Nikola Tesla is here as a part of its exploratory mission, designed both to learn about the systems around us and to find new worlds suitable for Jannari habitation. I must ask, does your nation hold claims to all of the planets in this system? The two worlds nearest our ship are of great interest to our Empire, as they are Weave worlds."

Torgandas reclined on the comfortable chair and listend to the envoy from Belkaros with interest, and more than a little surprise that she was a woman-on Setulan, the only branch that allowed women was the Planetary Guard.

"I, too, am here for exploration purposes. The Republic which I serve has finally ended its long isolation and seeks inhabitable worlds and other civilizations among the stars. Though I must say, after several months of nothing, finding so much in such a small time is slightly surprising." He paused. "We, and by that I mean the exploration fleet's captains, were given a free hand to have diplomatic conferences with anything we might fnd, but we must send back to the Council of Leaders any serious proposals."

***

Hale nodded.
"I'm impressed. And all of you possess this ability? Remarkable. Can you tell me more about this Hermes Alliance? I wish to send a full report back to my leaders."

On the Tesla
"Yes, all Jannari posess these powers, but again, only on worlds with a Weave." said Hassildor. He touched a button on the table, and the Caducaeus logo of the Hermes Alliance appeared on the holoscreen, imposed on a backdrop of a star map of the Alliance. "The Alliance is a technological, economic and military alliance who's goals are mutual defense and advancement of member nations for the good of the Alliance as a whole. The Imperium of Belkaros has been greatly strengthened as a member nation."

The message was played on the bridge of The Dragon. Redemption nodded and his comms officer instictively began recording his message, "We'll get with one km of the station, then all we'll require is that you show us where the conference room is on a map of your station. Or set up a beacon or something. We'll handle the rest." The officer stopped recording and the message was sent, Red turned to another officer, "Message Pegs and Shadow. Tell them to meet me in my quarters. Tell Shadow to bring two drones with him. Nothing fancy, just a little protection, just in case." He promptly left the room as the officer began getting in touch with the two men Red had mentioned.

"Woa!" The radar operator on the Firestorm sat back at his console with a soft whistle. Though the ship was at anchor, the captain had thought it prudent to not shut off all systems, and sensors were still active...and he had just seen a massive ship enter system. The officer of the deck walked over.
"What? What is it?"
"Sir, large vessel just entered system, believe it to be from 'greywatch'."
"How large?"
"Three klicks, give or take, sir. A bit smaller than an Annihilator class, but bigger than Devestator or Destroyer. Definitly a capitol ship, sir. I don't think it could fit it in Waterloo."
"Well damn." The third officer of the Firestorm debated letting Captain Torgandas know about the new ship, then decided against it. The Khardesians seemed a friendly sort; they would probably let him know. He hoped. Deciding on a compromise, he sent a brief transmission to Colonel Jules in Republican Guard battle language (the Guard second in command had to translate for him.)

"Colonel, this is Firestorm. New Greywatch ship has entered system, battleship dimensions."

In the conference room, Jules gave no outward sign that he had recieved any message and continued to study his surroundings.

Conference Room

Colonel Duprey nodded at their replies. It was what he was expecting. The only wild card on the table at the moment was when or if the Greywatch would get their arses into action and make a decision. A comm bead in his ear was set to the command wave lengths and he heard Captain Niles speaking with the Greywatch ships. It seemed they might be joining them after-all.

"I understand completely," Duprey said. He looked at Torgandas. "I too have been given similar powers of negotiation and diplomacy. I hope that we can work out an agreement between us that will be mutually beneficial to both our nations." The colonel turned to the lady sitting next to Torgandas. "You Corporal however, bring another question to mind. I'm curious as to what you mean when you say 'Weave worlds' and how that is of advantage to you? You'll have to understand that I cannot simply give you any of the territory we've claimed because you claim some affinity for it; such an action would be both foolhardy and stupid on my part, as perhaps my nation can gain advantage from it as well as yours. So, please, inform me and Captain Torgandas."


Docking Station C-12

The small shuttle that arrived in the docking bay was made entirely from black metal and bore a red emblem on its wings, a red band with a white circle in the center, a lightning bolt crossing through it. Captain Daur, an officer on Commander Romulus' staff, stood at attention with a platoon of Fleet Marines outside it waiting. You wouldn't notice it but each of the troopers was nervous, including Captain Daur.

The side hatch opened and a down ramp came open. Exhaust temporarily clouded the exit. Not waiting however, a figure emerged, jack boots snapping against the metal with an authoritative sound. The figure that emerged was a man of average height. He had blond hair and sparkling blue eyes. His cheeks were rather hollow and he had a gaunt look about him. He was however very fit, his uniform fitting well over him. The uniform itself was black and seemed as if it had just been recently starched to perfection. A peaked cap bearing the emblem that was on the side of the shuttle sat smugly on his head. The man walked forward and accepted the salute from Captain Daur.

"Commissar Kleist? I'm Captain Daur. Welcome to the Orbital Station Waterloo. Colonel Duprey is expecting you," said the captain.

Two more figures came down the ramp. One wore the uniform of the Protector's Own, the main fighting infantry force that made up the ground forces of the Dominion of Kardhes. Not only that but he wore a special rank gold pauldron shaped in the image of a lion's face on his left shoulder and a red-green sash across his chest. The second was a frightening man. He was tall and slim and had night-black hair. He had sunken eyes, and upon closer inspection the captain saw that the man had no pupils, the entire eye ball was white.

"Thank you, Captain," smiled Kleist. "This is Lord General de Fonte."

"Sir," Daur saluted. He paused and squinted at the third man. "And that is?"

"Mkard. He's with me, captain. Don't bother him and he won't kill you."

"Well that's excellent," said Daur, trying not to show tht he had no idea what had just been said to him. "This way commissar."

They fell in step and headed out of the docking bay and into the station itself. It was very new looking, the bolts and welds still visible from when the engineers had put it together. Fleet Marines and station crewmen walked around in different directions, each with purpose.

"What's your unit Captain?" Kleist asked as they walked.

"12th Asgard Heavies, sir," Daur replied.

"Really? Thats interesting. I hadn't realised that Duprey had command of the Asgard regiments. I'm remiss."

"Three regiments, sir, actually. We're very happy to be here with the Lord Colonel," Daur said with a hint of puffed up pride. Kleist smiled at the captain's back as they turned a corner. Every unit had its pride. The captain continued speaking. "If I remember right sir, you yourself once fought in the Mobile Suit Corp, with the Red Comet Squad at the Battle of Alamein."

"It was a good while ago," Kleist said. "I don't want you treating me like a hero."

"No sir."

"Just with the abject fear and suspicion that is normally afforded an officer of the Commissariat."

Captain Daur blinked. He noticed Kleist was almost smiling, so took that as permission to laugh at what he dearly hoped was a joke. General de Fonte sighed beside him. Mkard was silent as was his wont.

They entered a room filled with communication redoubts, computer banks, holo-image tables, and papers. More than three dozen officers, adjutants, clerks, crewmen, and other such men were bustling around in all directions doing a dozen different things at once. It was the command center for Colonel Duprey in orbit, from where he organized ground operations until a suitable headquarters could be constructed on the planet below.

"This way, sir," Daur said. "The colonel is meeting with a few foreign dignitaries but I'm sure he'll be done in a while."

"Why don't we surprise him?" said Kleist with a smile. He waved for Mkard to wait and the commissar and the general followed a reluctant Captain Duar.

Space around Waterloo

A small space tug sped over next to the behemouth that it had to guide in. The ranking officer of the ship made a small transmission to it.

Attention big ship, Dragon, this is Lieutenant Ean. My tug will help designate your orbital position. Please follow the designated flight pattern.

The small tug uploaded coordinates and specific information to the gargantuan ship and led it to the designated orbital zone. In its wake the Viking and Ophelia came to a halt outside their docking zones, both to police the situation and to help make sure the large ship did as it said it promised to do.

The Dragon continued forward, following every step it had to. Red looked over at the two navigation officers who were handling the situation of steering. An officer dressed in a black robe walked over to him and whispered in his ear, "Sir, the diplomats are ready. So are you guards, Mary wanted to tag along." Red responded quietly without turning his head, "Tell them I will join shortly after everything on the ship is in order. If Mary is sure she wants to go tell her that the suit might not be the best thing to wear..." The officer nodded and walked off the bridge. A nav officer looked up, "We're nearly in position sir." Red nodded at him and then looked over to his second in command, a young woman dressed in a red uniform who had long, jet-black hair, "You take over while I'm gone. I'm going to go get ready to meet our guests." She nodded as he walked off the bridge. In his quarters, Red began taking a shower and freshening up, he looked over himself, there were still several patches of rock hard 'skin' that were black in color. He frowned, guess I'm still not fully healed... Afer his shower he began putting on the clothing he wore for special occassions. It was a white suit with white pants and shirt. The left arm would be completely armored and he would have a Dragoncry pistol mounted on his right side. His boots and gloves were white like the rest of his suit. He made sure his brown hair was all back and put in contacts that would change his eyes from being their normal blood red color to brown. Meanwhile, the 'diplomat' stood ready with escorts. They still hadn't recieved the location of the conference room, where they intended to simply 'blink' to, and instead were sitting in the waiting area. Pegasus was a patient man though, and sipped some tea while he waited for the location of the meeting place to be disclosed.

"Actually, Colonel," said Torgandas lightly, "Might we want to wait for Greywatch? I'm sure they would be interested as well...assuming they ever get here." Trust tactics, thought Torgandas. Jules had just sub-vocalized the message from Firestorm, and Torgandas wanted to know if this friendly Colonel Duprey would tell him what was going on.

The meeting hall
"The Weave is a natural phenomenon which Jannari can influence in seemingly magical ways. We can only use these powers in areas with a strong enough Weave. We value Weave strength more than inhabitability, and will not take no for an answer in owning them, though I am sure we can come to a diplomatic and mutually beneficial solution here," explained Vivaldus.

The Nikola Tesla
Orders had been recieved from Belkan High Command to secure the planets by any means necessary. To facilitate this goal, the Nikola Tesla deployed a warp beacon between the two planets. Eleven minutes and fourty-six seconds later, a Belkan Spacy task force appeared. Five frigates, eight destroyers, one ortillery ship, three light cruisers and one heavy cruiser materialized at the beacon. The commander of the task force was Admaralis Altimus Roland Caerulus, who sent the following message to all vessels in the area:
"Now hear this, all forces and races in this system. These two worlds and their orbiting bodies are to belong to the Imperium of Belkaros. If the Republic of Kardhes surrenders them to us peacefully, we will allow the establishment of duty free industrial colonies on these worlds and will share with them 1% of their global GDP for three decades. Should they deny our generous offer, their presence in this system will be purged from all worlds, and we will take the three remaining worlds as our own as well. Feel free to send a representative to my ship, the Lumens Belka to discuss these terms in person."
OOC- The task force ships:
http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/kusanagi_class_frigate.html
http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/trondheim_class_destroyer.html
http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/suiseiseki_class_light_cruiser.html
http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/achilles_class_heavy_cruiser.html
http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/helsinki_class_ortillery_ship.html

Aboard the Dragon long range sensors had picked up the presence of the new arrivals and an alert came up displaying energy signatures which matched what could only be war ships. The first mate looked at the holo-screens that came up. "Shit. Shit!" She slammed her hand down on the armrest of the captains seat. "Make sure our new friends know of the new arrivals! Send them the info we just picked up. NOW!" Officers on the bridge frantically began doing their duties, the other two Greywatch ships got the information and prepared, if need be, to summon more reinforcements from Greywatch Prime. The first mate bit her lip until it began bleeding. "I don't need this shit now. Just not now. Set the other two ships on non-combat tactical alert. If need be I want a Worldstarter and a couble hundred cruisers and frigates in the area." The message was soon recieved and played on the bridge. She clenched the armrest and then mumbled, "If these motherfuckers wanna play this way I wouldn't mind nuking those planets into nothingness..."

Conference Room

Colonel Duprey sat silent as his comm bead alerted him to all that was going on. With a small gesture he motioned Romulus forward and whispered in his ear a few orders. The commander nodded and left the room. Duprey sighed and turned his attention back to his two guests.

"You would be right on that account Captain Torgandas. We will wait for the representatives from Greywatch to arrive. However..." Duprey turned his attention to Corporal Vivaldus.

"You and your commanders, Corporal, are out of line. I've just been informed that a fleet of your ships have entered the system and demanded that I hand over control of the system to your nation." Almost as one the Fleet Marines standing around the room leveled their las rifles at the Belkarosians. Duprey snapped his finger and they lowered them, returning to attention. His face was completely calm and his demeanor didn't seem phased at all by the circumstances.

"I would request that you contact your commander and advise him that the current action you are taking is the wrong one. You see I cannot just hand over this system to you or your commanders, or for that matter your government. Another allied nation of ours, and most likely in the future Captain Torgandas's own nation, have a claimed stake here already; besides the fact that...oh, what was the phrase...ah, yes, 'we were here first' also comes into play.

"So again, I must stress that you should contact your superiors and make it known that their best course of action at this point would be to leave the system before any unnecessary actions need occur and thereby lose lives over; which in the end, I assure you, would not leave you in an advantages position."

Waterloo Command Station

Captain Niles was frantically giving out orders when Commander Romulus arrived. He turned and sighed with relief when his superior appeared at his side. "Sir! I did as you said. I had the Argenta send the signal to Admiral Daala, but I don't know when she will arrive here."

"No worries," said Romulus. "They were suppose to be here when Commissar Kleist arrived, but I'm guessing they'll be a little late. After all there is a planet that needs cleansing. Now what's the full situation?" Romulus sat down in his command chair and brought up his command screen that would allow him quick access to information.

"We're counting eighteen ships of varying classes coming out of FTL and arriving at delta-mark point 55-0; between Acreon and Phelpus," said Niles. "I've already ordered all ships to leave port and prepare for combat. All six Lancer-class cruisers that were in port have departed and joined the Viking and Ophelia. The other two Great White-class carriers are joining the Arcane. Both Revenant-class battleships have left port and are making to join up with the Lancers. Orbital long range lance batteries have been brought online. Lunar garrison has been activated, the Lunar Mobile Suit unit is moving out."

"The rest of the fleet?" asked Romulus.

"Still out at the edge of the system around planet Dargon," replied Niles unhappily. "It would take them a few hours or several short Star Drive jumps to get here in any decent amount of time."

"ETA on the Thrashians?"

"Between now and half an hour sir."

"Damn it all, we'll just have to hold them," muttered Romulus. "Send a message to the Firestorm that they can either leave port now and flee, join us, or stay put and we'll protect them. Also send a message to the Greywatch asking that since they were pretty friendly, if they wouldn't mind helping us out until the cavalry arrive."

"Aye sir."

Attention, this is Commander Romulus. As you've no doubt noticed, we've been threatened with force by the Belkarosian ships. We ask you assistance in rejecting their outrageous claims and in defending this system. In return a favourable decision can be made to benefit Greywatch after the fact. Commander Romulus out.

As per orders the Kardhesian ships moved out and took up a formation above and in between the Waterloo and the recently arrived Belkarosian fleet. The Lancers and two Revenants formed up in ring around the three carriers. Romulus ordered them to stay within the protective longer ranged heavy lance batteries of the station until ordered to do anything else.

From the supreme leader of the Dominion of Kardhes in the Colonial system of Alpha Delgrassi and on behalf of the Lord Protector of the Dominion:


Nuts.

OOC: Kardhes, http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=556179

Quietly, unnoticeably, the supercapital ship Meticulous Annihilation slipped into the system.

Of course, that was a wicked, wicked lie.

Fifteen thousand antimatter generators ran at full capacity, lighting up the sky with a heat signature large enough to scare off the sun. Assigned as it was to the Dominion of Kardhes - as most LEU craft found themselves conducting tours of duty in allied nations, though mainly to acclimatize said nations with the craft - it had found itself quite easily able to move in-system.

The idiocy of the Belkarons astounded it. Did they really see two habitable worlds as worth sparking an interstellar war? And, more importantly, an interstellar war that challenged an alliance larger than the Hermes Alliance: the Cyprian Circle.

Meticulous Annihilation looked across the system, and a smile curved its nonexistent lips, gravitics fired up, and missiles quite prepared to fire.

Ah, gentlemen. I would like to firstly note that I find it QUITE amusing that you firstly accuse the United Terran Federation of imperialism and then practice it against our allies yourselves.

Secondly, I find it further amusing that you didn't bother to do your homework in this regard. I mean, honestly. I've heard some good things about your people, but if you honestly charge in, start making demands, and conveniently forget to notice that the nation in question has allies sufficient to obliterate you fifty times over, that more-or-less negates all those good things.

Now. Here's my ultimatum. You'll notice I'm not using the word demand, as demands imply a small measure of force behind them. I'm going to kill you all if you fail to comply with my orders. Then, noting that we have sufficient force to overwhelm your allies as well as yourself, we will dismantle your entire military as a response.

And by dismantle, I mean obliterate.

Therefore. You will leave the Alpha Delgrassi system immediately, unless you are, of course, stupid enough to spark an interstellar war which you have no hope of winning. You will leave with your tails behind your legs, yelping like the scared little puppies that you are, partially because I have a penchant for puppies, and partially because it means I won't have to hunt you down and kill you.

Secondly, you, nor any forces of your nation shall enter this system again. Doing so shall be considered grounds for war by the Cyprian Circle. This is not a good thing for you, just in case you need that spelled out for you. Blatant imperialism is not tolerated by the Cyprian Circle - and it re-HEALLY doesn't make your sweet little alliance look all peachy in the eyes of the galactic community.

Now, go about what you were doing. Provided what you were doing involves leaving this system, or dying by my guns. I'm fine with both.

- This has been a message delivered by the ASV Meticulous Annihilation. He doesn't care what you think. Don't bother replying, just do as you're told, like good children.



A brief moment later, a transcribed copy was sent to the Kardhes, with a note attached.

We'll be uploading tactical information via the secure Cyprian Circle battlenet, if it comes to blows. We also apologize for shadowing your systems for the past few months. We're just very nosy. You don't mind, do you?

Alerts went off, ships mobilizing rather quickly; if it came to blows, the Circle would be able to deploy a force capable of crushing anything in-system - more than the fifty times over it had already - fairly quickly.

Alerts on the bridge of the Dragon went off at the new arrival, "Jesus! What the hell are we dealing with now?" The first mate yelled. "Calm down Lavender," a voice said over the madness on the bridge, "Its impressive but I take it as being allied. If it was with those imperialist jerks it probably would've shot at all of us already." The first mate turned around seeing a man standing behind her, he was dressed in a black robe with a hood, one of the drones. She nodded, "Comms, open up contact with that other frigate and tell 'em to get some help. Even with that other ship here I just really wanna be in the safe zone here." As the comms officer transmitted a message to the other frigate, it turned from the rest of the group back to its entry point and open another PSR before slowly shuffling through. "Well that's that taken care of." Said the drone with a grin. Lavender looked down before looking over to comms again, "Send a message to the station: We would like to know what would be better, should we board by small shuttle or do you want to give us a map of the station with the conference room highlighted so we can simply 'blink' into the conference room?" The message was sent and everyone hoped this would be easy.
She had heard the other message sent by Commander Romulus but decided to tackle that later, first she had to know if any reinforcements were coming.

In the meeting hall...
"Gentlemen, please," began Vivaldus, unphased by the show of arms, "Admiral Caerulus is open to negotiation, and will not be the first to fire. We do not want war, we only want the two worlds indicated. The rest of the system is yours and will remain yours. Belkan Jannari have no interest in non-Weave worlds. All present here would do well to expell the Cyprian Circle. If they continue their current course of action, the Hermes Alliance will bring war to this system. Let our two peoples come to an agreement before blood is shed."

Onboard the Nikola Tesla
Captain Hassildor recieved the news of the task force's arrival, and poured himself another glass of water before turning to his guest. "Commander Hale, I must apologize. My superiors have made a rather rash descision and a Belkan task force has just arived in-system. If we do not tread lightly, war could easily break out, as the Cyprian Circle has decided to make this incident their buisness. The time is now, your people must decide which side to take here. If you choose them, you will be allowed to leave here safely, no questions asked. If you choose us, the friendship of the Imperium is yours, and I am sure our bipedial technology comes with it."

The task force
Admiral Caerulus considered the apperance of the Cyprians, and the implications therein. How dare they threaten his forces? What buisness is this of theirs?
"Contact the Shandrians and the rest of Hermes, full encryption, and bounce the signal around so the enemy can't triangulate where its headed. This is now an Alliance issue, but let them not to head our way just yet. I want to try to diffuse this before it gets out of hand. Pilots, hold positions."

He then dispatched another message:
"Attenton all forces! This issue concerns only the Imperium of Belkaros and the Republic of Kardhes. The rest of Hermes is not yet involved. This is not an issue of the Cyprian Circle, or anyone else, nor should it become one. Please, remember my invitation for negotiation. My hangars are open to you. This need not end in bloodshed."

Kasara relaxed in the network pathways of the Dominion, lounging in the virtual "mansion" she had created for herself within the Praetor's personal server. There were many servers throughout the Dominion, as they had many different purpose and functions to fulfill. There were so many A.I. in the Dominion, that they had quickly become their own demographic, especially after Kalthir had passed a law that stated that all A.I. in the Dominion were to be considered sentient beings and had the same rights as the Kelauans. Which didn't surprise her much, since the entire nation was fine with them, indebted in fact. They all remembered how they got through the Arl'skich war with their help, until the Realm came in and aided them. As she relaxed, she heard a beep and a window opened before her. A new update on the Circle Battlenet had appeared. Raising an eyebrow, she had the window move to this update and gazed at it.

"Well, I'll be damned. One of those Hermes fools is trying to pick a fight with one of our members, one of our smaller and weaker members too. How disgusting." Her eyes narrowed as she read the situation report. So they had brought in eighteen ships into a system, where all parties had been fine in discussing things and this...Imperium of Belkaros had wanted those two planets so bad, they were willing to go to war over them. Her eyes narrowed angrily; they treated war as a game, almost, as if it was a simple tool to be used in their politics. War was exactly not that; it was the ultimate dedication to defeating the enemy, to ensuring that your civilization triumphs over the one(s) you are a fighting and to protect your way of life. You do not go to war unless something precious is threatened, be it a close ally, your people, or your sovereignty. To go to war is a difficult decision to make and these fools made it so easily as if it was nothing. She would ensure they regretted their mistake.

However, the report also detailed how they still pleaded for peace and negotiations, while making demands for the planets at the same time. How...hypocritical. They wanted to have their cake and eat it, too. She flicked open a channel to Naval High Command and the face of Warchief As'karos appeared, one of the few female Warchief's in the Dominion. Before the war, promotions had been made mostly on male-dominated lines, thanks to their racism in their democratic society. Now it did not matter, but they had few female Kelauans of experience to draw upon.

"Yes, High Lady?" Kasara heard her title and rejected the urge to wince. Kalthir had insisted, since he had given her vast powers in their dealings with the Circle, like what she was about to do, and despite her protests, had named her his 'High Lady', and she was to be his voice in these matters.

"Greetings, Warchief. I am sorry for the interruption, but we have a situation."

As'karos raised an eyebrow, her blood-red eye showing some curiosity and grim anticipation. "A situation?"

"Yes, in the newly joined Kardhes Dominion. It would appear one of the members in their diplomatic party has brought in some task force to force their 'claim' on two worlds in their territory. The Cyprians have already sent a ship there, which should be sufficient. But it could escalate; the fools who did this are in the Hermes Alliance, and may have called for reinforcements. The LEU detected a transmission being possibly sent, not sure from who, but we have to assume the worst."

The Warchief crossed her arms. "I see. I assume you'd like for me to have my Warfleet gathered and deployed to the closest point there, and be ready to leave when word comes?"

Kasara smiled. "Yes, Warchief. We will not take these fools who risk war so lightly and their arrogance at one of our smaller allies, and we will support our Cyprian friends, if needed. Do you have any requests?"

She shook her head. "Nothing, High Lady. I will begin the preparations." The window blinked and went dark and Kasara laid back again. That took care of that, now to take a nap and have some virtua-wine, it was party-time....

*****

Warfleet Oblivion was stationed at the left border of the Dominion, at the planet Kasaul. It took some time for the Warchief to arrive at the world, and she quickly began assembling the Warfleet, and sending out new orders to other ships in the Dominion to take over the duties of her Warfleet. Then she began gathering them at the edge of the system, waiting for that command to come for her to go to the Alpha Degrassi system and ensure that their allies had proper support. Now, it was a simple waiting game.

She hated waiting.

ooc:holy shit...talk about thread explosion. I'll try to get to all of this, sorry if I miss you...(and I'm gonna go on the assumption that Firestorm started feeding Torgandas data the moment the fleet moved into the system.

IC:

Commander Hale's eyes opened wide at the news he just recieved. Buying himself time to think, he took another puff at the cigar. Damn, he thought, just bloody peachy.
"Captain, it has been a pleasure-truly, it has-and I hope that at some later stage we may resume our conversation. However, I must take you up on your offer to leave. Not," he hastened to add, "as a sign of hostile intent; rather, that I may better help resolve this situation without bloodshed."

***

Torgandas watched the procedings in the conference room with awe, as well as recieving a steady stream of data from his ship. He had waved Jules back when the Colonel had tensed, ready to fling himself over the Captain in case any shooting started, and he didn't want anything to happen. Jules still looked tense, his hand resting on the butt of his pistol, and Torgandas knew perfectly well that in other people, this was as good a sign as breaking down into homicidal gibbering.

"Gentlemen, please!" He said. He used the voice of command-he didn't want to usurp Colonel Duprey's position (anything but-he genuinly like the man), but he also didn't want rash actions to start a war...especially one which Setulan might get involved in, and he needed to get everyone's attention.
Best calm things down, or this will turn into a bloodbath. The thought did not cheer him up.
"As a neutral third party, I would like to point out that, if negotiations were to take place, it should be done on the Firestorm. In that regard, I offer my services." Sensing that this would not be enough to please either party, he hastened on. His thoughts were racing at a tremendous pace.
"We are all soldiers, but we have also all seen war. We all know the terrible price it takes on young, bright people...not just old farts like ourselves." He smiled slightly at this-he thought the only 'old fart' in the room was Jules, and he looked like he could kill a tank with an angry look.
"I beg of you, let us come to a peaceful solution to this problem." Torgandas turned to Duprey.
"Colonel, with your permission I would like to launch the Firestorm. The shields will be activated, but all weapons will be powered down."

***

The third officer of the Firestorm watched the new contacts coming into the system with a sense of awe.
"It's gonna be a royal rumble, thats for damn sure."
"Yeah, with us in the middle? Great."
"What do we do about the message?"
"Let the Captain know, what else?"

***

The Republican Guardsman made his way as discreetly as he could to the Command Center of Waterloo Station. Trying to look inconspicuous while wearing totally different armor from everyone else was probably a lost cause, but he made a noble attempt at it. Following the signs, he made his way to the command station, but got lost. Throwing his hands up in frustration, he grabbed a passing crew member.
"Hey, Khardesian! I've got a message from my Captain for Commander Romulus. How bout you take me to him? I think he wants to hear what I say."

"I understand. It has been an honor and a pleasure to meet you." said Hassildor as he stood up from the table. He walked to the hangar with his guest, and presented him with a small box of Belkan cigars. "A little something to remember our visit by." Hassildor also gave Hale a commlink handset. "If you decide in favor of Belkaros, please contact us with this. It will transmit a signal incomprehensable to anyone but Belkaros. Goodbye, Commander Hale, and Godspeed." said Hassildor as the Setulanian ambassador boarded his shuttle, and the grav-wells moved the craft back into space.
He returned to the bridge and had the ship moved to the rest of the task force, not wanting to be caught in the open in the event of an involved party circumventing rational discourse.

A message from Greywatch Prime, via 'sniper network,' (known by this for its excessively long range) played on the bridge of the Dragon in cryptic, the language of the Forbidden Ministry. Very few could interpret it, even fewer could tell it was even a form of speech. Lavender listened intendly, "Okay, now we have our orders. I guess we can expect some reinforcements but we must stay out of conflict for now." She muttered. The crew was still busy trying to gather all the info they could. Pegasus and crew, meanwhile, had oprted to take a shuttle and try and make their way into the station, they held in from of the hanger and waited for an escort.

Oh. You seem to think I was offering you a CHOICE.

Let me outline this for you. The Dominion of Kardhes, as member of the Cyprian Circle, has subjugated its own foreign policy to that of the Cyprian Circle. As such, any threat to ATTACK the Dominion of Kardhes is a direct attack upon the Cyprian Circle. As such, you are threatening the Cyprian Circle as a whole. This IS, as such, an issue for the Cyprian Circle.

We told you to leave or die.

Apparently, you chose to die.

The massive ellipsoid craft paused briefly, and after a moment, a vast storm of antimatter warheads quietly appeared around the Belkan fleet. Six-point-two million warheads, a significant part of the supercapital's load - and undoubtedly more than the tiny Belkan fleet could handle. In all fairness, the LEU was as powerful as five or six battlegroups; any fleet they sent would be insufficient.

No more negotiations, no more words came from the Meticulous Annihilation. The craft sat there, antimatter generators thrumming. If the missile barrage failed to destroy the fleet, why, the supercapital would merely jump in afterwards and clean up the scraps. Missiles hammered towards the Belkan fleet at a healthy point-nine c, approximately three hundred and fifty thousand missiles pointed directly at each ship. As kinetic attacks alone, they would suffice to level the fleet into nothing, with the addition of the antimatter - well, if the LEU wasn't well-prepared to ensure the planets were left alone, it would probably have some significant repercussions for the system, as well.

Unless, of course, the Belkans chose to leave the system, as opposed to being destroyed. The LEU deliberately left it's FTLi systems at half-mark, allowing them to escape, should they decide to take the intelligent option.

7th task force several light years from the dispute:

“Colombia, this is the republic, get your birds ready to fly , we just got word of some rough folks in a nearby system messing with our ally, been all over the battle net” said a con officer inside of a large cylinder shaped booth with holographic monitors floating around him blipping with various colors and things coming over them.

The commander was a seasoned veteran of fleet, he had fought in many conflicts, this would probably end up a war if things went wrong in the right place, he was there simply to show support not start shooting, they were gathered amongst allied ships, floating through the dead of night in a standard battle formation, over 12 heavily armed federation war ships with Kostemetsian ships on the back.

Jerald Richardson was the commander on the Challenger the lead of the fleet, he sort of chuckled as he sat back on his floating leather like chair, the ships preparing for jump quickly, he looked over to the AI who was represented as a young woman, ironically a woman was uploaded in to the computer core to combine with the AI so it was a nice fit. He said as he waved his hand a grin over his rough older face.
“Tell the fleet to engage Hyper warp, all hands alert, I repeat all hands alert we’re going in hot shields up weapons armed!”


The ships began to glow for a few seconds as each ship raised its multi layered shield system, weapons activating turrets and emitters rising from hidden compartments under the hull of the massive cruisers, their bodies shimmering gently as they disappeared in a flash of bright white light tunneling in to void space.

Jerald smiled, he watched as the rings of energy and crackling light opened before his fleet, he looked back to his XO , who was a younger man standing over the massive holographic map representing the system and disposition of forces , they would come in front, his Xo’s name was Jacob Charleston. He had just been promoted after saving civilians in a massive disaster at New Orion, weeks before.

His hands resting upon the glowing console looking at the map, the ships engines humming like a living being barreling towards the system, marines were already prepped locking and loading their weapons, they riddled the bridge at various junctions securing it with their heavy black armor and power vests, holding ABR-20A1’s.


Klaxons rang as the ships neared the system; weapons activated shields up fighters at the ready. It was nearing battle Jerold could feel it in his old war torn metal skeletons, his eyes focusing on the mat his XO was standing over, he chuckled a bit, he had served with honor, it was time to serve again “blast these mother fuckers out of the sky” he said to himself in a utterance. His Xo just smiled as his eyes peered over the old war dog, sitting on his chair, as the ships jumped in to the system one by one, he said standing up his body shimmering in the darkened light of the bridge. He said with a girt of his teeth and a smile coming over his rough face his fist clutched in a fury of emotions, and a grim smile.\
“All batteries open fire! Main guns target the Belkarokian cruisers, all other batteries pick your targets, and fire at will this is not a drill, fire at will! All fighters launch! I repeat launch!”

As each massive 1.7 km Warrington class cruiser lunged in to the system their main guns blazed, destroyers the same way, streams and pulses of firestorm fire flew from the massive spinal mounts on the ships, ripping through space and time with arcing bolts of energy around the bluish beams and pulses, SA-40C’s flew out from the lunch bays.


Trent hawking onboard gryphon squads lead SA-40C had formed up with his wingmen, he looked over the holographic map in his cockpit looking at his battle field, he could see from where he was and saw tens of thousands of missiles from each federation cruiser firing out one after the other after the other from Gatling missile tubes, beams of arcing firestorm cannons slicing through space with their blue beams thousands of emplacements opening up upon the main enemy force, graviton drivers firing round after round, recoiling back, orange glowing several tone projectiles fire out in rapid succession filling space with yet another color following the blue and white hues of beams and yellow glows of missiles, the fighters formed upon behind Trent as he started to speak.


“Alpha squadron form up on me, beta squadron, Charlie squadron and delta squadron out flank from both sides keep any enemy fighters away from us, and alpha will head up the center, move people!”


He yelled out through the cops as each fighter maneuvered like weighed nothing flying around at high speeds strafing and flanking as the cruisers barreled thousands of beams, pulses rounds and missiles towards enemy positions.


Charleston on the Challenger, had said to his second officer, with the commanders approval.

“Have some of our batteries load Radiation warheads, and fire blind these fuckers!”


The second officer nodded, authorizing the launch through the AI, some of the rounds now coming out of the large guns in repeated succession would explode around enemy ships with flashes of gammrays and X rays lighting up sensors so much they would blind them. The Federation ships and destroyers closed full speed firing out beam after beam round after round and missile after missile…

Wow. Pings all over the Cyprian network. Looks big.

Sounds interesting, Dan. Forward me the trans- Wait. You have access to the Cyprian BattleNet? How?

Friends with SAM and a couple of the Realm AIs. That, and there's a fair bit of overlap with the ESUS BattleNet. Getting more information now... Oh how fun.

Spill the beans, you prat.

Now now, Zeb, you know the tech said anger is bad for your processors. What would Id say?

Strangle the pretentious little git and extract the answers from its 'banks post mortem?

...Probably. Right, sending you relevant data now. An attempted invasion. Logs have it starting so nicely, too, before some idiots goes and tries to annex a couple of Kardhes worlds. Cyprians take it as a declaration of war, and respond appropriately.

Finally... Seems a reasonable reaction to an attempted land grab. Perhaps a slight bit trigger happy, but they did leave a window open. More of a forcible eviction notice than a proper offensive, really. Belkarans should escape with less than 50% casualties. Alright, send in a fast frigate for now to keep an eye on things.

What, no guns? Where's the fun in that?

Patience. If it escalates any further, QUETZAL has authorized the involvement of our battle groups and that of Israel. We'd be granted more, but the situation with the Empire is already draining our resources, and only seven of the Sons on Home Guard duty is low enough already.

Affirmative. Frigate is flashing out now. Will inform you when more updates arrive.

_______________________


With the amount of background radiation being spewed out by the Cyprian "eviction notice," the arrival of the small black bubble of the Otagian frigate was virtually invisible. Sitting silently a few AU above and away from the light show, it silently watched, monitoring the conflict from the safety of it's perch.

Deep within the bowels of Zhamssassar Fortress, a group of grizzled, disfigured and emotionally scarred Aumanii Officers stood around a holographic chart table, arguing in a frenzy about what to do about the affront. Sheikh Navarrone was stooped over a dataslate, reading over the latest dispatches from the Belkans.

'We should send every last available warship! Will show them who's really in control!' spat Commander Suvla, foaming saliva dripping into his dark beard. 'I suggest getting access to some maps and dropping wavefront bombs on their capitals.' growled General Provost, beating his fist against the table. Navarrone listened, gaze lowered, now staring at the twinkling light of the projector.

'There is no other option but to help our allies. Militarily, economically or by humanitarian means. It is very clearly written in the Hermes charter. I am unsure at this time how to proceed, but I know one thing. As a civilized man, I must first seek diplomacy.' Navarrone straightened himself up and lit a cigarette. 'As honourable men, we must aid our weakest ally against these cowards.' Sheikh continued. 'The primitive savages.' muttered Suvla.

Fleet General Lyboc stood by the side of his colleague, General Tyz'Juan. Both fresh from the Golugan diplomatic maneuver. The men we tight lipped, like the Overlord. 'The aliens possess great firepower.' said Tyz'Juan in his usual taciturn demeanor. Lyboc folded his arms in agreement. 'Their eagerness to resort to its use is telling.' commented Lyboc. 'They are cowards.' said Tyz'Juan, finishing Lyboc's thought. The two officers were of a similar mind. Quiet, determined and calculating.

Navarrone grinned at their assessment. Sheikh Navarrone was a light infantryman in the past. Attached to a special forces unit on the Turcosi border. During an illegal border crossing, he had been involved in a standoff with foreign soldiers on his own soil. Any normal man would have shot the Turks before they had the chance to harm them, to save his own skin. However, they were under orders not to fire. Navarrone was forced to stare down the barrel of a Turcosi assault rifle, the catch on his rifle still flipped to safe. If they had killed the foreign militiamen, like they could have done so easily, war would have assuredly broken out...killing thousands. Navarrone and his comrades had the wisdom to know what path to follow and the integrity to take it.

'The enemy have no balls, that is fairly obvious. Just looking at the numbers involved here, we have about five separate factions involved in action against the Belkans. They have them clearly outnumbered. And yet they fear our friends enough that they choose to attack with overwhelming force.' said Sheikh, finally breaking free of his reminiscence. 'I've given orders to our deployed Battlespace Domination Task Forces to meet up at various rendevous sites within jumping distance of the disputed system. In addition to that, an encrypted request to the Belkans to liberally withdraw and regroup in safety. The mathematics of war do not currently favour us. While Belkan diplomacy was questionable, I won't have our flag spit upon by barbarians once again.' said Navarrone, recalling the face of the Otagian diplomat... Little man as Aumanii High Command had taken to calling the avatar in question.

Who just sends a thermo-nuclear device to a peace negotiation? Navarrone thought in disgust.

'Constitutionally, we're in a bind. Aumanii forces are incapable of engaging in action against an enemy force before attempting diplomacy.' Sheikh said. 'Who do we know that is neutral enough to host?' Navarrone asked. The room was stumped.

The pointed bow of the Determination-class destroyer Justice and Law came sliding threateningly out of a space fissure. Followed at an almost distressingly close distance by the Korman's Sword, battlegroup combat second, it sailed into realspace majestically, local starlight glinting off its polished red and gold paint. The black-and-grey Sword threw off starlight by comparison.

Three more destroyers accompanied the Justice and Law and Sword, forming a solid arrowhead formation. Behind them, the massive cylinder of a converted Heinlein-class freighter, the KSS Death's Chorus, slid from the wormhole like some massive insect with a capital-ship-killing sting. Three hundred FSF1-type strikecraft, a perceptible chunk of the Commonwealth Strikecraft Force, lay in the central portion.

Another freighter, the KSS Justified Termination, similarly equipped, slid out and maintained a position behind the Death's Chorus. Five more destroyers slid out to take guards' position above the freighters - this force was actually starting to look quite formidable.

Unpacking themselves from the wormhole last were a squad of twenty-five modified Mauler-class frigates, sensor networks constantly scanning to provide targeting data for the destroyers' heavy maser cannon. The frigates themselves could put up a pretty good defence with experimental flak cannons firing flechettes at .99c.

All in all, the fleet was pretty stunning, but the engineering crews stared down at the Terran Federation ships below and felt redundant. Even so...

The squadron's 'Outreach' AI gestalt took over the communications arrays to pump out a system-wide signal.

Attention Cyprian and Circle ships, this is Squadron Outreach 2-42DC acting on behalf of the Fifth Battle Group. We're here - where do you want us?

Lanvender, along with her officers gawked at the screen. It took her some time but she managed to get an order out, "Comms! Tell them we're nuetral! TELL THEM WE CLAIM NUETRALITY!"

In the meeting hall...
"Gentlemen, please," began Vivaldus, unphased by the show of arms, "Admiral Caerulus is open to negotiation, and will not be the first to fire. We do not want war, we only want the two worlds indicated. The rest of the system is yours and will remain yours. Belkan Jannari have no interest in non-Weave worlds. All present here would do well to expell the Cyprian Circle. If they continue their current course of action, the Hermes Alliance will bring war to this system. Let our two peoples come to an agreement before blood is shed."


Colonel Duprey stood and shook his head at the naive young corporal. She was quite clearly out of her depth in this situation, which was only natural. "It is clear to me at this juncture that this is impossible. You will be escorted safely from this station and be allowed to return to your ship. No Kardhesian ship will fire upon you and your own until then, you have my word."

Duprey turned to Captain Torgandas. "Of course captain. That is your prerogative in this situation. I will not ask the Firestorm to put itself in a Paux Pas diplomatic situation, by endangering you and your men in this affair. You may leave the system at your convienance or stay. If the latter be your choice, I would advise staying near the Waterloo or going out and hiding behind the planetary moon."

The colonel shook Torgandas' hand one more time then left the room. Ibram van Zala glared at the corporal and her guard, then turned and followed Duprey. A junior officer led the two foreign groups out, an extra large escort was given to guard the Belkarosian back to her ship.

Command Room | 20 Minutes Later

Commander Romulus had been a bit taken aback by the abrupt arrival of the Meticulous Annihilation and even more so when they unleashed a powerful missile attack upon the Belkaros fleet. Almost as soon as this exchange happened more ships began arriving, a self-proclaimed fleet under The Fedral Union appeared also, further confusing Romulus. Just how many more ships were going to appear?

An aide entered bringing a Guardsman with him. He was a member of Captain Torgandas' crew. Romulus however didn't have any time to spare for him. "Just wait a bit sir, I'll be with you momentarily."

Romulus turned back to the command screen. "All ships are to advance against the Belkarosian fleet. Lancer cruisers to the fore, Revenants are to hang back and provide protection to the carriers. Launch fighters and mobile suits upon confirmation of optimal engagement range."

"Aye sir."

Tactical Command Room

Colonel Duprey and his life guard, Ibram van Zala, stepped into the room in a rush. Several tactea officers and other crewmen all saluted as he entered. He addressed them with a nod. He was just taking his seat when he noticed Commissar Kleist sitting nearby.

"Commissar, I hadn't expected you to be here so soon," commented Duprey.

"I never miss a chance to see fireworks," smiled Kleist.

"I don't have anything really that you can do for the moment. I'm sorry I wasn't able to hold an official greeting ceremony."

"No need for pomp and decoration, specially not now. However I hate standing idle. With your permission I will join the Lunar Garrison," said Kleist standing.

"If that's what you want, then do so. Hero of Alemein returns eh?" smiled Duprey.

Kleist returned it with a wolfish grin. "Only natural, all things considered. My aide will be joining me. You should be aware also that Lord General de Fonte is here. He has a message for you from the Lord Protector. Now I take my leave."

The black uniformed commissar bowed formally to Duprey and left the room. His enigmatic aide, white eyes staring at Duprey for a moment, turned and followed him. Duprey sighed at their leaving, sad that he didn't have more time for an old friend. But he shook his head out of it and concentrated on what was happening outside the station.

"Has the distress call been sent back to Kardhes?" Duprey asked.

"Aye sir, it has," replied an ensign. "We should expect relief within an hour, maybe less, depending on how quick it takes the fleet to muster."

"Can't be helped I suppose. Have the Argenta link all combat data and algorithms to the Fleet and also send an uplink to the Meticulous Annihilation."

"Aye, Colonel."

The Argenta was not a combat ship. It was a sensory ship that specialized in communications and tracking, no weapons to speak of at all. That of course was the pay-off; by concentrating on advanced sensory systems and using an instant-communication encoded data stream, the Argenta could provide the most advanced and accurate targeting data in the known universe, allowing the Kardhesian ships to fire more accurately than their foes.

Fleet

The eight Lancer-class cruisers (http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b184/Upum/New%20Ships/123757.jpg) sped forward. Shields were charged and the reactors of each ship coiled like serpents prepared to strike. Captain van Wilder, group captain of the Lancers, sat in his command chair aboard the Viking, looking out at the enemy fleet. Flashes from missile explosions created a fresco of light and color against the canvas of space.

"We ready?" he called out to his adjutant.

"Aye sir, we've just received the uplink from the Argenta. Firing solutions are being made, targeting algorithms nearly complete, reactor levels normal and appropriate temperature levels stable."

"Fire when ready."

"Aye captain."

When the Lancers were finally in range of the Belkarosians Captain van Wilder gave the order. "Concentrate all mega particle cannon, fire at closest targets."

"Particle cannons fire!"

Great, powerful lancing figners of light burst like a fire cracker from the cannons of the Lancers all along their battle line. Behind them the Revenant-class battleships added their long range weaponry as well. The Great White-class carriers launched their fighter squadrons and Mobile Suits.

The Battle for Alpha Delgrassi was beginning.

OOC: Tag for the sake of possible ESUS involvement.

(ooc: Kardhes Im on your side... im a CC member)

HMS Anima

"Oh hell, not again." Grand Admiral Edessii Labkov facepalmed at the immense idiocy of the entire situation. Belkaros, a member of the Hermes Alliance -- of which Derscon was a member -- decided to try out Bryn Shander's "Big Dick Diplomacy." Unfortunately, Hyperspatial Traval slapped back. HT was a member of ESUS -- of which Derscon was a member. In fact, the Cyprian Circle, it turns out, is nothing more than an off-shoot of the ESUS alliance designed to effectivly n00b-control.

Which, once again, put Derscon between a rock and a hard place.

Now, the Dersconi Third Grand Imperial Fleet wasn't exactly within jump distance of the system. But their communications system could easily reach, and they saw all that happened in realtime, thanks to both the Hermes connections, and the ESUS BattleNet. So Admiral Labkov did the natural Dersconi thing to do.

The message was sent out to all involved parties, hopefully getting there before too much violence broke out.

ALL INVOLVED PARTIES,

Before there is more bloodshed, we request that all members send a delegation to the Anima, which is en route to the system. We would like to avoid any sort of conflict between the two powers. I don't think anyone needs to be reminded of the fact there would be destruction on a galactic scale, on both sides, should conflict break out.

[OOC: The Fedral Union - well...your post was rather ambiguous as to who exactly it what you were firing at...so...I just assumed. Consider my post edited.]

Out of the bright starry field of hyperspace shot a dozen large arrow-shaped ships. Out of all of them, one was more massive than the rest; fully stretching 19,000 meters in length. It engulfed the ships around it in a vast shadow like a blanket. Brimming with light and the evanescent glow of shielding, the Executor-class Super Star Destroyer slid into the Alpha Delgrassi System. Around the heels of the mighty flagship came a dozen other Star Destroyers, Imperial-class and others.

Standing beside the viewing portal and looking out over her fleet stood Admiral Daala. Her long red hair was curled around her shoulders and came so far and the small of her back. Her uniform was perfectly formed to her body, clearly showing the curves of the female form in top physical fitness. She stared a bit blankly ahead into the distance where small explosions could be seen.

Jack boots snapped against the metal floor with a smart-sounding cadence as an officer came up behind her and came to attention.

"Admiral, we've arrived on schedule into the Alpha Delgrassia System. Diplomat Gaius is waiting in his chambers to begin the trade talks with the Dominion of Kardhes. He requested-."

"The situation," interrupted Daala. "Has changed Captain la Flete. We received this message from Colonel Duprey a half-standard cycle ago." Daala took a small message wafer from her pocket and handed it to her flagship's captain. Le Flete took it and read it. He immediately turned to the crew pits on the aft side of the bridge.

"Com-Scan, report the situation!"

"Sir. Com-Scan reports that an engagement has ensued. We're registering the presence of Cyprian, Fedral, and several unknown ships. Kardhes Dominion ships, along with the Cyprians and Fedrals, have engaged a large number of unknown ships."

"That would be the Belkarosians," Captain le Flete nodded. He turned to Admiral Daala. "Our course of action admiral?"

"Well naturally we shall help our fellow Cyprian Circle allies," Daala smiled. "Bring the fleet about into a battle phalanx. Have the Olympus take the head and order the smaller Dreadnoughts and Victory-class Star Destroyers to take up flanking positions. Pilots to their fighters, prepare for immediate launch. We will wipe them from the system."

Message to C.C. allies and Kardhes

Attention! This is Admiral Daala of the Empire of Thrashia. I am my fleet are moving in to support your attacks against the Belkaros Imperium ships.

Y’know, there are certain interstellar powers who are rather fond of very large, very scary ships. Take the Authority of Cypria for example, a (relatively) very few ships but rather terrifyingly powerful. Now image the absolute other extreme. We’re talking about an interstellar navy where pilot training lasts about a week (“dis iz da red button. Makez ya move. Dis iz da red dially fing, sez how fast ya move”), the ships tend to resemble a scrapyard, and where the only thing providing any form of organisation is a superior race in the same species who have magickal powers.

Welcome to the Combine. Please trade in any preconceptions you have about the laws of physics, society, and any aversions to colour clashing. The spaceship you are travelling in is probably not airtight, but no one has noticed yet so we’re all okay.


Somewhere, travelling at SupaSpeed, the Goblin MegaBigShyp Rok My Wurld and Rekoniass...Reokass...Kwik-Spottin’ Fleet

BigShyps are peculiar creations and are certainly not unique to the Combined Goblin Collective...if anything the principle has inspired some of the most popular ships amongst primitive spacefaring cultures. The principle is charmingly simple...take large asteroid. Add guns, armour, engines, and a crew. Fly it. The Combine thinks that this is rather too basic, so they add all of the above, then some more guns. Then some more. Why not put a few hangars for smaller ships in there? So they do.

MegaBigShyps are slightly different in one respect. They are bigger. This particular example is travelling toward Alpha Delgrassi in the favoured form of FTL-travel of the Combine...SupaSpeed. Things like ‘warp’, ‘jumping’, and ‘teraporting’ are rather beyond the simple minds of the average inhabitant of the Goblin Nebula...so they just go really, really fast. Since they wholeheartedly believe they can do this, they can. Similarly, since logic dictates that things only move fast because they have power, pulling the plug ought to stop something, right? So the Goblin Shyps’ brakes are quite simply pulling the engine’s plug out of the socket. Welcome to the Rok My Wurld, check your sanity at the door.

The Bridge of the Rok My Wurld. It doesn’t really look very...professional. There is a Big Admireral’s Chair, in which sits a goblin a rather impressive 5’6” (impressive since only two of the others in the room top 4’) and whose surrounding space is rather neat, tidy, and contains the goblin himself in his rather flashy armour. There are also a dozen other control stations that better reflect the local scrap-metal yard than any form of organisational centre...there are empty bottle and food containers lying around, random muck accumulated in the corners, and what appear to be important tribal markings smeared on the wall in luminous yellow, green and red paint. Well, they appear to be ‘important tribal markings’ until one realises that they say things like ‘Beddsheet Waz Ere’ and ‘Clovesrale duz it wiv ogrez’. There are a lot of brightly coloured dials about the place, along with a lot of television screens. One of them is being used by four goblins (in dirty and unkempt uniforms) to watch a match of some peculiar sport that seems to consist entirely of running around carrying large, spiky objects. It might make a bit more sense when one realises that the goblins on the screen are only about two feet tall, and the ‘large spiky objects’ are rugby balls with spikes attached.

A voice pipes up from the console with blue pain smeared along the top.

“Weez neerli dere...wun minutt”

The tall goblin raises a finger and nods to a five-foot tall goblin wearing flying goggles and sitting in a Big Captain’s Chair to his left. When the first goblin finishes his countdown it is this goblin who pulls out the plug, bringing the MegaBigShyp back into normal speed.

Alpha Delgrassi System, edge of

There is a strange ‘pop’ as the Quick-Spottin’ fleet appears. Small, by Combine standards, it nonetheless contains about three hundred ships, ranging from a hundred metres long to the massive bulk of the Rok My Wurld, although most are about four hundred metres long (so larger than a modern-day aircraft carrier). It does not make any particularly aggressive moves, although it is moving toward the conflict brewing in-system.

An order is given to the console whose top is smeared with yellow paint. A dial is twirled and the only human on the bridge quickly types up what the tall goblin says. A button is pushed, the message sent out to those ships bearing Circle transponders.

...This is the MegaBigShyp Rok My Wurld and a reconnaissance fleet of the Combined Goblin Collective, present to assist King Griptite da Supa’s (Lord of all Goblindom, Head of the Green Powa Movement etc, etc.) allies in the Cyprian Circle. We are ready to provide aid as required and are moving to add our numbers to the fray. Prince Goldclaw Shootdabigwuns out...

After receiving the Collective transmission, dissecting it, and shunting it to a high-level strategy matrice, a subconscious thought passed through the omniscience of the Outreach.

We didn't declare ourselves. How rude of us.

Attention all ships currently deployed in this system. We represent the Commonwealth and Territories of Kostemetsia, acting on behalf of the Cyprian Circle to attempt to preserve peace in this system.

With that dealt with, the mind-bending number of weapons arrays mounted along the various ships were armed and raised to readiness. Subsidiary targeting arrays took over, feeding into matrices controlled by low-level intelligences and leaving Outreach free to control communications. A small groupnet was established for the benefit of the battlegroup's bridge gunnery officers.

If there was to be no peace, there was to be one hell of a fight.

ooc: sigh* this is what I get for being in highschool.

IC:

The Republican Guardsman waited patiently for Commander Romulus for as long as he could bear. Seeing the icon for the Firestorm as it pulled out of Waterloo, he could take the waiting no longer. Snapping his immaculately-shined boots together, he saluted Romulus. He then repeated from memory the message entrusted to him by Colonel Jules in a clear, booming voice.
"Captain, sir! It is my duty to inform you that in light of recent events, the Council of Leaders has decided that a more intimate meeting is necesary between our two peoples to further our friendship. For this reason, Task Force Eternal Pain has been dispatched from Setulan, with one of the Council on board! It should be here...any minute now, actually. Roughly forty ships, give or take. Sorry to interupt, sir, but I thought you might want to know." The guardsman, message delivered, waited to be chewed out for interupting the Commander. What the hell, he thought. I did my job.

***

The SRV Firestorm pulled out of the Waterloo and went from the frying pan into the fire. But at least, Torgandas thought, this is a fire that I know how to deal with. Totally calm, Torgandas stood in front of his command chair and started to issue orders.
"Full power to shields and guns. Helm, place Waterloo between us and the Belkarans, I don't want to catch flak. Let everybody know we are not only neutral, but will be staying around for the after party." His crew chuckled.
"ETA on Eternal Pain?"
"Any minute now, sir."
"Very well. Try to give me a closed link to Waterloo." His comm officer fiddled around with his dials, then gave him a thumbs up.

Waterloo, this is Firestorm. We will wait out the battle using you as a shield. Be advised, large and PEACEFUL Setulanite fleet moving in, should be here soon.

***

Hale and his escorts thought they had made it far enough away from the Belkaran ships when the shooting started.
They were wrong.
From the first shockwaves, Hale knew he was in trouble.
"Oh, shit. Get us out of here!" The Bentnose bomber, for all its virtues, was not a very fast craft; and in such unfavorable conditions (as in, hundreds of overlapping shockwaves), it was even slower. Its number one trait was its survivablity...but it was never meant to survive direct hits from ship-to-ship weaponry, or even near misses. The Bentnose quivered and shook until, finally, it sucked up a piece of shrapnel in the engine. A terrible grinding/clanking noise emanated throughout the ship, and Hale winced. Intertial motion carried the ship on, and, thankfully, out of the blast radius.

"Mayday mayday mayday, this is a neutral Setulanite ship. We have no power and are drifting. For all thats holy, somebody pick us up before we get blown away by a misfire!"

There was a massive gravitational and spacial disturbance as a pressure space rift was opened up where the first Greywatch ships had appeared. From it came one of Greywatch's crownig acheivements, a Worldslayer. It stretched 35 Km of ship. It was something to be both feared and respected, it came alone and immediately opened a channel to The Dragon, ignoring the rest of the forces in the area. Lavender was taken by suprise, she hadn't expected to recieve so much firepower from Greywatch. A communications network was then opened to all ships in the area.

<Official Communication from The Empire of Greywatch Council>
<Message is as follows:>

<This is Worldslayer ship Honor's Keep. We are not here to show hostility, it had come to our attention that a conflict has erupted in this area. Due to this, Greywatch has decided that it is best if we return to this region after fighting has died down. We do not wish to be apart of what could become a possible war.>
<Instead, we are only here to claim what is ours, The Dragon, and we sill leave. We repeate that we have no hostile intentions, firing upon any Greywatch vessel unprovoked will not be tolerated.>
<Thank you for your time. We will return later to assess the situation after the Council has decided a course of action. We bid you all farewell and hope that this matter can be resolved peacefully.>

<End Message>

With that The Dragon recalled the shuttle, Redemption never even had a chance to leave the ship and had heard everything. He walked onto the bridge still in his meeting clothing, "Well that finishes it I suppose. You handled the situation well, though the results were not as I expected... good job." With that The Dragon began moving to Honor's Keep. After getting in position behind the Worldslayer, The Dragon heard the S.O.S and immediately broke position. "Dammit, this isn't gonna be friendly." Lavender said as the ship acted as a partial shield and began towing the Bentnose to safety. A transmission was opened to both the Worldslayer and the Bentnose, "You guys owe us, and Honor, we'll be there in a second, give us some time." Redemption said over an audio only connection.

OOC: Sorry bout this but I'm going to Russia for a week for a school trip and won't have internet or computer access. I'll be sure to read the posts when I get back and try and work my way back in if I can, depending on what happens RP wise.
OOC2: No one steal the pressure space idea please, that one is claimed by me and is exclusively a Greywatch thing. Its also untraceable. :D

OOC: tag. I'll be stepping in to help my fellow CC members.

Hale sighed in relief as the Greywatch ship towed them to safety.
"Send a big 'thank you' to the Dragon, and ask if they can tow us to the Firestorm. I'll work on getting them a formal thank you from the Republic."

ooc:have fun. when you get back, TG me bout a contact thread

The Dragon swiftly brought the ship from the calamity unfolding behind it. The shield held, and the tractor beam was still on full, it brought the ship to a halt about 30m from Firestorm before releasing it. Without so much as a message it began moving off to join its companion ship.
"Hopefully we won't need to rescue anyone else. Good job people." Redemption applauded his crew who in turn relaxed. As soon as The Dragon got back into position, a pressure space rift opened up and the two ships slipped through.

OOC: Thanks and will do.

In three...two...one...mark.

It would be impossible to hide such a disruption. Outside the system itself, over three hundred capital ships, one coreship, and innumerous subcapital vessals reentered realspace. Immediately, the multitude of carriers unleashed thousands of fighters to set up a perimiter around the Third Grand Imperial Fleet. The fleet immediately went into defensive manoeuvring, but was careful to stay outside the system itself. Instead, only two diplomatic vessals with frigate and fighter escort entered the system, again sending out a broadcast to all in the area.

ALL PARTIES, STOP IMMEDIATELY.

THIS IS MADNESS.


We ask all to cease fire, and come aboard to negotiate a peaceful resolution to the conflict. We encourage all to think beyond the immediate, think beyond the passion of the moment, and understand the consequences of what would happen if this conflict got out of hand.

Again, we offer a neutral ground for peace negotiations. We do not want our allies killing each other again.

"Well shit," was all the Admiral had to say. "Leave it to the goddamn Circle to dogpile the hell out of a nice peaceful takeover." With that in mind, he quickly punched up the orders to evacuate. The diplomat and her guard were collected by the Nikola Tesla, which was the first to triangulate Jannath's home beacon and flee the system. The other ships soon followed suit, eventually leaving nothing more than a dead fleet beacon behind.

OOC: Tag Gotta keep the Allies of the Circle safe. LOL

"Oh for fuck's sake..."

Grand Admiral Labkov stared in disbelief as the Belkaros fleet just...left. After a few silent and awkward minutes, the CO burst out laughing.

"Oh, wow. Turns out we didn't have to come here after all." Admiral Edessii chuckled, shaking his head.

"I guess not. Ah well. It seems that, for now, a war has been averted. Let's pull out to a safer distance and make the jump back to port. My son is graduating an Imperial Scholar, and I want to be there at the ceremony."

Good kids.

Secretly relieved, the Meticulous Annihilation quietly disabled his missiles, and, using the single jump they had on-board, filed them back into his stores. He'd need those later. Of course, there'd be some horrible diplomatic tension to deal with later. But the important thing was that, to its allies, Cypria had quite clearly shown that its Circle was not afraid of acting. It had not fallen afoul of the curse of impotency that weakened so many other alliances.

Plus he'd got to threaten some people overtly. He counted that a good day.

Remaining in-system for the time being - the LEU's generators were generating scarcely a thousandth of what they had been, and it tried to make itself as unobtrusive as possible once more.

Go about what you were doing, gentlemen. We're not here to interfere with any legitimate business.

Well, the aggressor had vanished. There was a palpable sense of disappointment aboard the bridge of the Rok My Wurld. Goblins love a scrap almost as much as they like alcohol...and they love alcohol almost as much as they love shiny things.

A faint sigh escaped the Admiral as he nodded to his navigator.

A moment later the fleet turned, with many near-misses, and accelerated to SupaSpeed, vanishing in an instant.

Outreach contracted disappointedly. Commanding officers leaned back in their chairs and sighed. Soldiers threw their weapons upon the deck in disgust.

Targeting arrays powered down; weapons arrays folded neatly back into their compartments; faster-than-light drive tubes glowed brighter and brighter. With what seemed a celestial sigh, the Fifth Battle Group subconsciously sagged.

Any ships of either faction requiring assistance, please contact us and we will take appropriate measures to tow, repair or defend you. We plan to leave this system in approximately twenty-four hours.

Aboard the Waterloo

Colonel Duprey was, to put it bluntly, a bit disappointed. It was understandable that the enemy fled in the face of overwhelming odds, but he would have been the first Kardhesian commander to fight in a foreign combat action in the history of their people. He sighed and brought the alert level of the station back down to general courters. A message was sent out for the fleet to return. Commissar Kleist, thoroughly pissed that the chance to fight again had slipped away, sent in a personal message to Duprey with a large disappointed frown. Couldn't be helped however. Now it was time to get back to more peaceful business.

OOC: I know the feeling Setulan, but don't worry. Greywatch, what school do you go to btw? I'm guessing an international school? I went to Moscow on a school trip of my own back in the day. Fun times.

Setulan, what say we start a new thread since this one has become rather...full...and restart those trade/alliance negotiations. I was planning to add in a new twist with Kleist's arrival, along with the help of Thrashia, but then things went the wrong way. lol...

ooc: no kidding...haha. Want me to set it up, or will you?

ooc: no kidding...haha. Want me to set it up, or will you?

OOC: I'll leave that to you.