NationStates Jolt Archive

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TO:Z3 Mining and Research Facility
FROM: Lyon Auxiliary Base
DATE: 21.03.74 ABG
FILE: Anomalies Sighted On The Outskirts Of System
INFO: Our new D-OMSA sensors detected an energy and mass fluctuation 3 Aus away from our auxiliary base on the outer rocky planet. We believe that an unknown quantity of ships has appeared hiding behind one of the gas giants and hasn’t identified itself yet. Sensors are having trouble picking them up due to the sheer amount of radiation in this system, but we believe a NXT Droid Frigate should be dispatched immediately to scout out the intruders.


To be fair, Admiral Yelva was not officially apart of the Sertian Expedition, rather she commanded the 74delta Squadron, which was still under Imperial jurisdiction. But, to her chargin, she was also the superior officer of Commander Delie who’s Squadron 13sigma was apart of the Expedition. This gave her a nice mixture of both worlds, as she could depend on the much larger support of the Empire, while also utilize Delie for her much ‘looser’ restrictions.

Of course, that still didn’t change the fact that the Sertian admiral was in charge of a mining operation, an operation that had started a few months ago after the first ships passed nearby SYS-Lyon and found out that the star was ultraluminescent, and further scans revealed a system entirely radioactive. A scout detachment sent to explore started to research an asteroid and discovered what they called Z3, a material that by itself would destabilize nucleon’s within close proximity.

Further research by the second detachment realized that purified, and in the right concentrations, this mysterious baryonic mass would exponentially increase fusion cores, as the destabilized nucleons would fuse easier, and release more energy as they did so. The more energy in turn, somehow resulted in the Z3 releasing more quantum particles to destabilize nucleons - which lead to the conclusion that the Z3 particles emitted captured energy as mass!

Immediately afterwards her squadron had been sent to capture/claim the system and over see the development of a mining facility around the second planet from the sun, given that the rocky body was the most inclined to life and also showed the highest concentrations of Z3. The start had been hectic, as Z3s nature would irradiate any material placed nearby it for long, so a virtual trench had to be dugged by hand and paw to clear a nice five kilometer diameter sight from the exotic mass, resulting in many medical treatments of radiation exposure and many armors having to be destroyed given that they had been partially converted into radioactive materials.

But after that things went better, an efficient storage system was developed to chill Z3 to the point that any slight energy added to it wouldn’t release quantum particles, and a new armor was developed with a removable and cheap plastic outer layer to soak up the radioactive effects of Z3. Then mines began to pop up around the research facility, machines and most tools needed to be protected by plastic coverings or be turned useless as their matter was destabilized, but it slowly and surely progressed.

Then about two weeks ago, the Expedition Squadron arrived with a gift they had obtained, an energy shield. While not completely compatible with Sertian standards, it was quickly developed to the right wave length to intercept the quantum tunneling of the Z3 Quantum Particles. This allowed storage to be much easier, as an energy field was placed around the stored Z3 and also made mining much easier as well.

Then one week ago, the first shipment of 2 tons of Z3 made its way to the Sertian Empire, while they continued to research the particle. An auxiliary base too, was set up around this time to help defend and monitor the system. But unfortunately, by Sertian standards, the system was lightly defended. 100 ships of various sizes and classes, lacking any orbital defense grids nor stations to help defend - it was pathetic in case the United Resistance ever attacked.

And that’s what she was facing now as she read the reports, unidentified ships reported around the outer gas giant, unknown quantity nor tech level. She made her decision carefully, opting to send two droid frigates on a pincer like motion behind the gas giant, having them pop out of warp around the other side then proceed around with cold plasma shields active to try and stealth them as best as possible. But she had to take another step, sending a message through the drift to the Expedition and the Empire, alerting them to the event so that, if an S.O.S. did come later, help would hopefully arrive in time.

”Jack…Jack! …!Jack!” The female voice went from calm to alarmed in a nearly instantaneous flash and was followed by a *THAWAMPUNK * a hard feeling sound that reverberated for some seconds.

Ouch! …”Hey! How did you manage to make that hurt? I felt that you know, just as if you’d…” the other voice, male trailed off in exasperated tones “Not having a body is just not natural.” came the now ‘on the last nerve’, familiar complaint.

“Stop whining, you volunteered, just like the rest of us. And you’ll have a body when you need one” Sam’andanthalus’s teeth clenched smile was clearly audible in her ‘voice’.

“That’s what you egg heads keep telling me Lieutenant Tapping, but as I haven’t had one yet I don’t know whether I believe you.” Jack replied crossly.’I mean how am I supposed to keep my physical state uppermost in my subconsciousness. Isn’t your subconscious supposed to putter along on its own doing its own thing without direction from me?” The best defense was always a confusing offence and Jack specialized in those.

This time it didn’t work…

“Jack, you just drove our brand new monolith, still filled with that subtle but instantly recognizable ‘new monolith’ smell, backwards.” Another voice – also feminine and clearly exasperated -chimed in, then paused pregnantly…

Jack smirked, no alarms were shrilling – so no harm, no foul…right?

The voice snarled “Though a star!”

Every one flinched. Though no one would ever admit as to which of the two possible ‘why’s – the danger of facing an angry Captain Catherine Grace O’Malley , or conning a ship though a star.

“Give me those controls”

“erm… I…” frantic, futile search “..I don’t have them, may be I dropped them in all.” Jack found himself cut off.

“How do you drop something that isn’t there?”

“As I Was Going Up The Stairs, I Met A Man Who Wasn't There. He Wasn't There Again Today. I Wish, I Wish, He'd Go Away” Jack offered shamelessly while trying to simultaneously ‘recover’ the controls he’d somehow managed to misplace. He was sure he’d find them any instant now. He never, ever lost anything. It just took him a while to…

“There!” The Captain’s voice was relieved. “Now let’s see where Jack has landed us."
Jack was even more so, not that he’d ever let any one know that. He just didn’t like being without a body. It wasn’t natural.

“Lets see gas giants...extreme radioactivity and stellar primary spectroscopic emissions... Captain I think this is the system that the Sertains have recently claimed.” Came Lt. Taapping purling voice.

“That wasn’t where…Jack!” The Captain voice was a sigh of frustration.

“I was just looking the systems parameters over, it’s very interesting!” He replied with just a trace of defensiveness.

“Yes but the higher-ups were going to wait to ask to send an observer until the Sertains publicly announced it.” The Captain's voice was resigned. She hadn’t though that backing through a star would jump them that great a distance, but it obviously had. Now she needed to make nice and reassuring to the Sertains. She wasn’t a diplomat darn it and …she simply closed non existent eyes for a long moment. “Also some one phone home and let them know were okay and just” the voice became a growl once again “in the wrong place!”

Her bridge crew hurried to carry out the captain’s orders.

However it was also quickly discovered that apparently backing though a star required a post event period of roughly an hour to reset something – the new ship hadn’t come with a very coherent handbook and the engineers were still feeling their way though some of the basic notions of the stranger than merely strange physics of the Monolith. Being un- embodied was giving them headaches too. And the Integral Sentience wasn’t being all that helpful, or so they felt. Though one did mutter something about quantum apples and non Euclidian oranges.

Quickly a hail went out to the Sertian installation advising them as to who the inadvertent intruder was, apologizing profoundly for their inadvertent intrusion and that they had no intent of doing anything but leaving as soon as possible.

“Sertian Base this is Tanaran Imperial Navy MX01” the Monolith wasn’t really[i] experimental- One Starr had been using them ever since they’d found the deep space, red limit storehouse of the oddities - but the Tanaran Navy had felt that it was the best designation, for the moment “We apologize for the inadvertent intrusion. We will be recharging for approximately one hour in our current location before leaving the system”

[I]“And it had better not be backwards though the nearest star Jack, or I’ll clip your wings for good!” The Captain admonished sternly.

Jack folded his irridescently peacocked hued, leathery wings in tightly, or he would have if he still had them- now thoroughly alarmed- Threatening to clip his wings was just...excessive...wasn't it?

CLANG...CLANG...CLANG...

The sound of banging metal and footsteps filled the room. Two figures, engaged in a sword fight, leaped around the area, trying to expose an opening in their opponent's stance.

Suddenly, a flash of steel sent one of the duelist's blades flying, and a blade was held to his throat.

"You've...been improving, sir..." the man panted, sweat covering his face.

"I've been practicing." Capitan Uriel Tobias sheathed his sword. It was a regal blade, as ornate as it was effective. It was designed to be carried by a member of status and power, a person like him. It wasn't always like that, though. The truth was, he was born the son of low-ranking Angenterian Imperial Guardsmen, and grew up on the battlefield. After a battle to quell a planet-wide rebellion killed his parents, he was put in the care of the Imperial Academy, where he was formally trained in the ways of war. After which, one thing led to another, and before he knew it, he was captain of the destroyer known as the Emperor's Hand. He held out a hand to help his comrade up.

"Thanks." Commander Voke took the hand, and was hoisted up. As the first officer, he was the second-in-command, and answered only to the Captain. He was hardy man in his late thirties, and no newcomer to combat, his skill with a blade rivaling that of the Captain. "What does that make it, 17-15?"

"Something like that." The Captain replied. While he allowed his commander to keep the record of wins-to-losses, he never allowed himself to actively engage in it. As Captain, he had a sort of obligation to not let himself get caught up in petty things like that. They changed out of their armor into their uniforms in silence, and proceeded to the bridge.

"Report!" Tobias bellowed as he strode onto the bride of the Emperor's Hand. The bridge was quite large, and left an awe-inspiring impression on those who have never seen it before. They had been chasing a fleeing fleet of ships, carrying a rebellious planetary governor to a meeting with an unknown force.

"Sir!" A deck officer reported "We are nearing the location of the supposed rendezvous, the Navigators are preparing to ta-"

A sudden lurch threw the ship to one side, throwing the captain and first officer to the floor. The sea of warp-space suddenly faded from the cogitator-screen, and an image of a large gas giant suddenly appeared.

"Damage report!" Commander Voke shouted, a gash on his head. The Captain stood up, relatively unharmed.

"Sir! We must have been pulled in by the nearby gas-giant's gravitational pull! Warp Engines are off-line!"

"Where are we?" Captain Tobias asked, keeping his composure.

"Unknown, however, the governor's ship has been spotted, along with a station, and a xenos ship of unknown parameters." The deck officer punched come buttons on his cogitator, and a red blip, representing the governor's vessel and two small light cruisers appeared on the screen auspex.

"Probably his contact." The captain surmised "Prepare to open fire on th-"

"Sir." Voke interrupted "The governor's ship may, like ourselves, have been caught in the gas giant's gravity. These Xenos may not be their contacts."

"Hmm." The Captain considered this for a moment. "Open fire only on the Governor's fleet, and prepare a boarding party. Send a message to the xenos ship and station, detailing out situation."

Deck officers shuffled around, carrying out the captain's orders, while the Emperor's Hand main guns came to life.

“Those are all IFFing as Angenterians, save for the pair droid frigates the Sertains sent out.” Lt. Tapping reported as she studied the readouts.

"Boss!"

"Captain" Came the sharp retort that was no request, but an order undisguised. Cat had all she'd put up with from Jack for the nonce.

Jack didn't care "Houston! we have a problem" That was hoarier and older than the Empire by far but it still got every ones attention.


"The block doesn't like what ever that Angenterian hunk o' junk is doing. Shields came up on their own and something seems to be powering up." His words had the bridge crew and engineering consulting every reading and agreeing with him

"Shields are up, denser and faster than any ‘normal’ ones." One of the junior engineers stated, awe filling his voice.

Elsewhere some one commented with a faintly heard snicker “Normal hasn’t applied for some time now, read your damned memos!” but that was almost drowned out by some one giggling that [i]”Normal has been suspended for the duration of operations. We went down the rabbit’s hole on a whim and a dare and how we’ve ended up …” and many another comment and laugh - the crew was, despite the vast total of years their culmative experience gave, were nervous -until…

Creatures of the Mind, shut up! Came Captain Catherine Grace O’Malley’s firm mind voice Too many of you talking at once. Still yourselves as we were taught!”

Blessed silence fell…hard. The Captain was not one to cross.

Then the chief engineer spoke up calmly, he was one of the oldest aboard, and had spent a life time looking at things once though impossible. But now even his expert voice sounded …uncertain "And I don’t...I know theoretically what the weapon does, but it's supposed to be only theory."

Captain I have a message from the Angenterian vessel the Emperor’s Hand commanded by one Capitan Uriel Tobias. They state they are chasing the other vessels, held by Angenterian rebels, that they are there to detain the rebels

[i]”Put me through to the Angenterians, broad band. I want every one to hear this”[i]

"Angenterian vessels this is this is Tanaran Imperial Navy MX01. Your actions are making our ship unhappy with you. Please power down you weapons. I repeat do not fire, as it might provoke return fire on upon you.”

It was somewhat amazing, how fast the Sertians were progressing with their technology - either stolen nor original. One such advancement was miniaturizing Warp Drives to create a personal warp field around a frigate of 65 meters in length. But it was a needed advancement for the stealth capabilities of a droid frigate, given that drift drives were a bit to ‘noticeable’.

Thus on either side of the group of three different faction vessels they collapsed their warp fields uniformly to prevent spatial disturbance, utilizing their cold plasma shields to absorb any conventional active sensors, while their cold, small size, and the haziness granted by their shields would disguise them from any passive senses as a mere space rock, or perhaps a comet. At least, this would hold true for conventional sensors.

But after their arrival the droids accelerated in a circular path around the vessels, stored anti-protons driven at high speeds to collide with a regular proton, then focus the released energy out into a beam of photons and neutrinos behind the ship - hard to detect if your senses weren’t in the way of the beam. They used their sensors, keyed to the energy echoes of the drift, to pick up whatever limited information they could. So far, all they picked up was energy spikes from the ships - perhaps a battle starting.

A video file was sent to Admiral Yelva, a high resolution picture of the ships in question, with the green-glowing night side of the gas giant visible in the background. “Hmmm… Have Frigate 34-X3 become a message relay to the ships, drop the cold plasma shields and broadcast a radio message to all parties in question. Also get two destroyers and five frigates from my squadron prepared for drift incase of weapons fire.”

She didn’t direct the order to anyone in particular on the bridge of her ship, rather the communications officer knew that she was talking to him. In fact, everyone seemed to just know who she was talking to with whatever command she gave by some unnoticeable tone or perhaps how she spoke. But the Sertian at coms quickly relayed the information to the first vessels that met her description on the roster.

To all vessels within our borders, let it be known that you are currently on Sertian space, specifically the Lyon system. As you are no doubt aware, this system has various peculiarities, so we advice caution within our borders. From the limited information we can gather from a droid frigate in your area, all ships are preparing for combat and we would advice against this situation, energy expenditure in the system could lead to some, interesting, effects if a stray laser bolt hits an asteroid, or the gas giants atmosphere… At least, from what limited experiments we've done with this system.

"Captain, the Xenos ship is responding to our message." The Emperor's Handwas quite ready for combat now. It's shields were coming online, and it's main guns were charged and loaded. All crewman were reporting to battle stations, and Angenterian Imperial Guardsman were standing ready in armored boarding shuttles.

"Patch it through." Tobias ordered. A message, put through universal translators, appeared over the captain's throne tactical overlay.


"Angenterian vessels this is this is Tanaran Imperial Navy MX01. Your actions are making our ship unhappy with you. Please power down you weapons. I repeat do not fire, as it might provoke return fire on upon you.”

"Seems like the Xenos aren't very happy to see us." An officer commented.

Captain Tobias ignored the comment, instead focusing on trying desperately to remember what he was taught about the Tanarans in xenobiology. A xenos race that had already established an interstellar empire when Angenteria's space program was just beginning to take root, powerful space fleet, yadda yadda yadda. He never really payed much attention in the Academy, anyway.

But right now, he was doing the Emperor's work, and was not about to let this parasite slip away yet again. Doing so will only rally more enemies to his heretical cause, making Tobias' work that much more difficult.

That's when the other Xenos message came through.

To all vessels within our borders, let it be known that you are currently on Sertian space, specifically the Lyon system. As you are no doubt aware, this system has various peculiarities, so we advice caution within our borders. From the limited information we can gather from a droid frigate in your area, all ships are preparing for combat and we would advice against this situation, energy expenditure in the system could lead to some, interesting, effects if a stray laser bolt hits an asteroid, or the gas giants atmosphere… At least, from what limited experiments we've done with this system.

"Can we confirm this?" Voke ordered.

"Yes, sir." An officer reported "We are detecting strange reading on our all of our cogitators."

The Captain double-checked his command overlay. He wasn't lying.

This was alarming news indeed. Not only was Tobias just informed that he was about to blow everything in the area into little, tiny pieces of burnt metal, he had never even heard of the Sertian Empire. It was always something.

"Captain?" Voke leaned in, inquisitive as to Tobias' next orders.

"Power down our weapons. Prepare the boarding parties for launch."

"Sir?"

"Carry out my orders."

A message was also sent in response to the Xenos warnings.

To Sertian and Tanaran Vessels. This is the Angenterian Imperial Ship Emperor's Hand.Your warnings are well-received, but be aware that we are pursuing rebels wanted for serious charges against the Imperium, and have every intention of bringing them the Emperor's justice.

"Okay it's a happy camper once again" Jack's voice held a universe of relief, and the chief engineer echoed him. With the powering down of the Angenterian destroyer's guns, so did the Monolith begin behaving as it had been before - quietly responsive to their requests and as helpfully informative as something utterly alien could be. They were still learning to interface with one another...

To all vessels within our borders, let it be known that you are currently on Sertian space, specifically the Lyon system. As you are no doubt aware, this system has various peculiarities, so we advice caution within our borders. From the limited information we can gather from a droid frigate in your area, all ships are preparing for combat and we would advice against this situation, energy expenditure in the system could lead to some, interesting, effects if a stray laser bolt hits an asteroid, or the gas giants atmosphere… At least, from what limited experiments we've done with this system.

"I don't think they received our first message - the unusual properties of the system may have bollixed it. Please..."

To the Sertians...

"Yes Ma'am Lt Tapping quickly rebroadcast, targeting the frequencies used by the Sertian drone, in hopes that those would see the message through.

“Sertian Base this is Tanaran Imperial Navy MX01 “We apologize for the inadvertent intrusion. We will be recharging for approximately one hour in our current location before leaving the system”

To Sertian and Tanaran Vessels. This is the Angenterian Imperial Ship Emperor's Hand. Your warnings are well-received, but be aware that we are pursuing rebels wanted for serious charges against the Imperium, and have every intention of bringing them the Emperor's justice.

And in reply

To the Angenterians

"Thank you very kindly for powering down. We understand you are handling an internal matter and will not interfere with your law enforcement actions. Do you need a capture field initiated?”

That got a pleased nod from Captain O'Malley. She liked it when junior officers showed initiative and offered a helping hand to the Phoenix Empires friends. Especially when it would allow them to make sure they actually could bring off a capture field. The Monoliths The Unity were using could - and it’s flexibility and strength was amazing.

They chief engineer could feel the way the Captains thoughts were going and gave her a reassuring mental nod. He had that trick down pat. When he spun it up, those rebels would be going now where. He hoped the Angenterians would take them up on the offer.

In Hanger Bay 4, Lieutenant Mirandus saw to his men. The Guardsmen of the 147th Ophelian Regiment double and triple-checked their equipment, readying themselves for the battle to come.

"It's going to be a hard fight, sir." Sergeant Castell reported, saluting. "The Governor's elite guard are protecting the vessel from within, and are sworn an oath to protect him until death. Just getting to the ship's going to be a problem."

"It won't be easy." The Lieutenant replied "Not only do we have to safely get to the ship, we're going to have to worry about it's escorts. They obviously won't just sit there and watch their commander get himself captured."

"Then maybe you should go over there and ask them politely to stop it." A sudden voice cut in. The Lieutenant whirled around, and found himself looking into the eyes of Miranda Fabrinus, Imperial Investigator. He froze up.

"Ms. Fabrinus, I was just-" he began

"Forget about it." The Investigator smiled, and patted his shoulder "Just do your job, and we'll do ours." Ours meant the members of her staff, a collection of men and women, all serving different purposes. Some were fighters, some were scholars, and so on. As an Investigator, Miranda Fabrinus had the authority to use any means necessary to achieve her aims, including the requisition of entire armies. Right now, her job was to investigate the possible corruption of a planetary governor, which really seemed to be accomplished, given the circumstances. Now she had to bring him in.

"Yes, Investigator." The Sergeant and Lieutenant saluted, and went off see to their soldiers.

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

Meanwhile, on the bridge, the situation was developing. The Tanarans had just sent another response.


"Thank you very kindly for powering down. We understand you are handling an internal matter and will not interfere with your law enforcement actions. Do you need a capture field initiated?”

"Oh, so now they're asking if we need help." Commander Voke began. "We don't need the help of Xenos to do our job!"

"Perhaps." Captain Tobias retorted "But perhaps not..."

"What do you mean?" Voke asked.

"Sir! The Governor's ships are beginning to head away from the gas giant. They might be trying to escape!"

"I mean that." The Captain smiled, now sure of his plan of action. "Send a message to the Xenos again, tell them to hold the governor's ships in place, so our fireteams can board them." He looked at Voke "These aliens are trustful creatures, and won't turn on us without probable cause." He turned to his crew again. "Send word to the Investigator. Begin the operation!"


Tanaran Vessel. Your assistance is appreciated. We request that you hold the criminals ship's in place, allowing our people to board them.

"Ha! Flys on paper"Jack exclaimed as the capture field sprang about the fleeing ships, just as it was supposed to, emmeshing them in a weirdling net of ghostlight luminescent energies that simply seemed to absorb anything tossed its way. It was also good for catching missiles.

"What about flying on paper?" One voice asked another and got a mental shrug in return.

Jack was weird, that had always been a given, and the crew had long since - mostly - gotten used to it.

Trusting? Not necessarily, but more willing to extend a hand of friendship than many.

And they hadn't found any thing...yet... that could damage a Monolith. And it wasn't as if they - and others - hadn't tried. The incredibly ancient, incredibly alien aritfacts just shrugged their best off...

http://www.atddm.com/monolith3.jpg

A large pressure space rift opened causing a huge gravitational disturbance for a moment and a large Greywatch Worldstarter came through. It was easily 35km in length and was rebooting systems for post PSR travel.
-------------
On the bridge officers were collecting new information on the system as holo-screens came up on the central information wall on the bridge. The two captains look ahead at the new information and nodded. "We've got a lot of energy singantures, radiation and a lot of it." "New contacts, trying to identify them now." "There's a good chance we're in someone elses space, looks like a possible mining operation." The officers continued their reports to the two captains. They both hailed from different sides of the Greywatch Empire and were stil learning to get along. However they both agreed a message should be put through.
-------------
<Hail! We are a fleet from Greywatch Prime sent in to investigate some interesting energy signatures. We mean no harm to anyone.>

"That's a big boat." Captain Tobias remarked at the 34km vessel emerging from warp-space. "Can we identify them?"


"Sir, the Xenos are identifying themselves as an investigative fleet from Greywatch Prime, wherever that is."

"I see. I'm sure the other Xenos will explain to them the current situation regarding the system, but right now, we have another matter to attend to." The Captain stood up "Proceed with the operation. Send these "Greywatch" a message telling them of our situation, and asking them not in interfere."

Greywatch fleet. This is the Emperor's Hand, representing the Holy Imperium of Angenteria. We are in the process of apprehending a band of Angenterian rebels we've been chasing for several days, and request that your ships not intervene with the operation.

----------------------------------------------------
Emperor's Hand, Hanger Bay 4

"Alright, let's go!" Lieutenant Mirandus shouted, shutting the hatch to the assault transport behind him. With a sudden blast of the engines, they propelled themselves out of the hanger. His transport was one of nine identical transports. Three craft were assigned to board one of the three vessels in the governor's flotilla. His ship, along with the Investigator would take the heavy cruiser in the middle, obviously the governor's command ship.

"Something's wrong." Sergeant Castell thought aloud "They're not shooting at us."

"Probably because of the message the Xenos station sent." The Lieutenant answered "It could be very bad for everyone involved if a stray blast from a ship hit a nearby asteroid, or just in fact everything else besides another ship."

As they neared the distortion field holding the ships in place, the transports broke up into their respective groups, each group headed for a vessel.

"Forty seconds!" The pilot shouted. The troopers loaded their weapons, and checked their communicators.

"Thirty seconds!"

"Alright, remember the plan!" The Lieutenant shouted "Get on board, meet up with the Investigator, get to the bridge, and get the governor! After which, we're to mop up any survivors, and assume control of the shop. All hostiles are to be terminated, understood!!?"

"Yes, sir!" The troopers shouted in unison.

"Twenty seconds!"

"And pray everything goes as planned..."

"Ten!"

The transport's method of boarding was fairly simple. It would carry a load full of soldiers into the main hanger bay of an enemy ship, clear it out using it's attached repeating cannons, and drop off the soldiers.

"Three...two...one...contact!"

Right on cue, the repeater cannons opened fire.

A message came back quickly:

<Wouldn't dream of it. Against protocol.>

The Sertian system was positively swarming with lots of ships, from the booming expeditionary force of the Sertian Empire, to the Tanaran Monolith and the Angenterian ship to the recently arrived Greywatch ship. All of these had large crews, or even some crew, enough to keep them going for some time. By them, of course, we mean the Shades. For the Shades were ever watchful, always watching from the probes they sent through the Shadow Realm to gaze on the galaxy in full. They were always hungry, no matter the millions that marched in every day to fulfill their endless hungry, the void that yawned at the center of their existence. Currently, four ships floated in the Shadow Realm, a place full of twisting darkness, that surged about the ship and even pierced through it, flooding the ship with its chaotic flow. If anything living and with a soul had been on that ship, they would have died and been fed into a void large than any thing a Shade possessed. However, it was pretty damned close, with the eight Shades which inhabited the ships.

The ships, three Vortex-class frigates and a Void-class destroyer, resided in Shadow Space, while they watched the unfolding drama within the system. Tensions had risen within the Soul-Bearers at the actions of the Angenterians, whom were determined to pursue their foes despite what the others thought. The actions of the Sertians and the Tanarans, however, kept their distraction to the point of uselessness. A shadow form trembled with irritation as it quickly formed into something humanoid. It floated above the ground, with the torso quickly tapering off into thin strips which hovered above the floor. It's arms were long but thin, and ended with slim claws. The eyes were thin slits of red, blazing out with an intense hunger. Some semblance of hair flowed from the head, which along with the slimmer arms and claws, revealed this to be a "female" Shade. This Raider, known as Adriel, crossed her arms in frustration and watched the screen. Another shade, her assistant Dagon, came up. "Is something wrong, Mistress?" Adriel waved an arm at the screen, a disgusted sound coming from her.

"It is that, Dagon. I have been ordered to get as many slaves and souls from this endeavor as possible, and I dare not anger the Shade Queen.....But this is impossible. There is insufficient distraction to warrant a possible entrance and attack. Even with our powerful technologies and ships, we would be eventually overwhelmed if we tried to get a good amount and if we left early, we would have petty little. We had a perfect chance forming and now its gone." Dagon let out a hiss, a sigh for a Shade.

"Regrettable, yes Mistress, but patience has ever been our way. We must wait for the opportune moment. We strike when they are weakest and then overwhelm the enemy." She hissed as well and dropper her arms, as she nodded to the Nijia controller working on the station and he shifted the ships into a better formation for entry.

"You are right, Dagon. But my hunger grows with every second, our hunger grows. And with it, my impatience grows. The delicious succulence we sense within those ships....we must have it. The Shade Queen must have enough souls for her Feast of Shadows...." She gazed at the screen again, as the Greywatch ship replied, and smiled. They had many souls on board...they would be a precious bounty.....Patience was required here and with another hiss, Adriel steeled herself and played the waiting game. The Nijai were ready, their fleet was ready and she was ready. The situation merely had to unfold and the feasting could begin.....

[I meant to say this in my last post, but Tanara… If your ships are run by a sentient program called Halman I tip my hat to ya XD]

The admiral had initiated a TAC to activate its hologram, revealing a close up of the ships nearby the gas giant. She watched amused as the transport vessels made their way into the ships of the ‘rogue’ vessels, although the resolution wasn’t good enough to reveal everything to the ship, it was interesting to note for possible engagements with the Agentarians.

“Reply to the Tanaran ship…”

To the Tanaran ship, we acknowledge your problem and unintentional intrusion on our space. However, since our nations are on good footing you are fully welcomed to our system, so long as you enact no suspicious behavior. If you require any help feel free to send us a message, and we shall do our best to assist despite being only an escorted research task force.

“Now, for the Aganterians… They don’t seem to be doing anything dangerous, hell our- OH HOLY HELL WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?” she shouted surprised as the entire map was distorted, before vanishing from sight.

“An unknown vess, wait it’s a Greywatch ship… Looks like them, 35 kilometers in length.”

“Greywatch?” she asked bemuse, looking over to the communication’s officer which had answered her question.

“They’re a race that was encountered on Solaron, so far we have only had peaceful engagements…”

“Very well, notify the Greywatch of the dangers in our system, and why is the TAC down?”

“The droid frigate that was watching the area was nearby their pressure rift. The new hull alloy NXT developed seems to have held itself together pretty well, but the system is a bit shaken up. It should be back online in a few minutes, but unless you want to drop the cloak on the other droid we’ll be blind.”

“Let it recover… I’m sure things won’t deteriorate to much in the time it takes to get back on its feet.”

To the Agenterian Vessels, we offer no resistance to your internal matter, so long as you do not endanger us or the system. As for the Greywatch, hail again from the Sertian Empire. Although, we do request you try to develop a less… stressful FTL entry for our sensors.


And of course, the Sertians were completely blind to the shade forces, even as manned war frigates and destroyers were preparing to jump into the nearby vicinity should a firefight break out. Of course, that was a dangerous altercation. So close to the gas giant’s atmosphere, a stray plasma bolt of considerable strength could theoretically start a chain reaction in the gas giant’s Z3. The exotic matter gaining enough energy to release a considerable portion of quantum particles to cause a nuclear detonation within the atmosphere, then more energy being created until the entire thing went up in the largest nuclear explosion perhaps seen in the galaxy.

That sort of thing would be… bad, to say the least.

<Sorry about that, it has mainly to do with the size of this ship though, Pressure Space was used as a weapon for awhile... But that's besides the point, we'll stay put here unless you need us for something else. We're only here to observe.>

Back on the Greywatch ship, everything was running smoothly. The shields were still up and scanners were studying the odd radiation of the region. One of the captains, a human female, looked over at her combat officers, "How many soldiers are on board, I doubt we'll get into a conflict but just to be sure." An officer looked up, "Plenty of them ma'am, it was protcol since we had no idea what was out here. We've also got Drones, and a lot of 'em." She nodded her head, "Drones? Well then, if something happens we don't need to worry. At least if someone gets on the ship we don't need to worry." She looked over at the other captain, it was a male Dragon-kin, a rare sight to see what was originally a bioweapon in a high-ranking military position. He paid no attention to her and began mumbling to himself, "Something's not right... It's too quiet, all of the material seem very... unstable. Not to mention... this is an excellent way for someone to attack us. They just need to be hidden well enough..." She looked away, "Well since our other captain is feeling paranoid of an attack, get some parties on the ship in position to defend us just in case, Drones will be fine. Keep weapons down and shields up, let's not upset our new friends."

<We forgot to ask, what is it with the energy signatures of this region? Something seems to be very unstable here?>

OOC: Nope..well this one's chosen name is not Hal, or variation there~of, that one wasn't released by the Unity, deemed too...erm, fragile or something, I never could quite understand their explaination. And they refused to give me more than the basic handbook on the Monoliths, thats why I labeled it X, I'm still trying to figure it out LOL

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"Woah!" I'm glad those weapons didn't unleash until they were inside the ships. This is so not a good place for a shooting war" Jack mumbled trying to keep his thoughts down, but every one heard - and looking at their sensor readings of the system, they most thoroughly agreed...

One lone, and softly thoughtfull, voice rang through the other thoughts however Captain, I'm picking up some readings I don't know what to make of. I've never seen energy readings like this, and I can't match them to any corresponding objects in this reality. They're very faint but this isn't calibrated to...The voice trailed off, but the one who noticed was just about the only one who'd be sensitive to the information anyways...One of those who'd agreed to leave corporality behind, for at least the moment, and journey via the Monolith as it's secrets were studied was a fully rated Cats Keep Tower trained Adept. A Psionic of considerable ability and power, however her training on the Monoliths sensors was minimal, and she really wasa uncertain, but the small hairs on the back of her neck were not. Something was off...

To the Tanaran ship, we acknowledge your problem and unintentional intrusion on our space. However, since our nations are on good footing you are fully welcomed to our system, so long as you enact no suspicious behavior. If you require any help feel free to send us a message, and we shall do our best to assist despite being only an escorted research task force

Came the quick reply ...

Thank you for your understanding, and wew can well guess that our very presence would be considered suspicious by some. We are not in need of assistance at this time, but we will not hesitate to let you know should anything change.

"Everybody out! Move!" Investigator Fabrinus shouted, waving the best of her squad out first, under cover of the repeater cannons. Ship's security responded well, quickly coating the landing zone with a layer of bullets and laser bolts. The transports cannons were keeping their heads down at the moment, giving time for the boarders to unload. The first members of Fabrinus' squad, long-serving members of her staff were first to pile out, returning fire with their own weapons.

Fabrinus jumped out, putting a bullet from her autopistol in the head of a security trooper who was stupid enough to leave it out in the open. She took cover b ehind a docked fighter as the transport pulled out, it's cover fire hitting a good percentage of the security troopers in the hanger.

"Move up!" She ordered through her communicator.

Her squad was composed of the best fighters from her own staff and an elite squad of stormtroopers, borrowed from the Angenterian Intelligence Agency's own private army.

Her soldiers moved up, using anything they can as cover. The security troopers were using a catwalk near the door as a high point, pumping fire down towards the advancing troopers. They were composed of a mix the governor's personal bodyguard and ship security.

The fighting was fierce, yet short. The soldiers protecting the hanger were batters from the initial landing, and fell quickly in the resulting confusion.

"Area secure, Investigator." Drak, one of her bodyguards, reported.

"Alright, let's get moving. We have to meet up with Lieutenant Mirandus."

“Hmmm… Contact Home and ask them if we can reveal the Z3 to our allies in this system… They may not welcome the act, but we should be able to secure some agreements securing our borders in this system and all mining rights… But anyway, for now keep our ships on standby and-”

“Ma’am! Auxiliary base is reporting a solar discharge forming, it’s a jumper!”

“…Fuck,” she said, diverting her attention to the communication’s officer yet again, “Coordinates?”

“It’s not threatening any ships of ours, well except for our two scouts…”

“It’s heading right for them!?”

“Yes ma’am,” she nodded curtly, fiddling with the keys of her control panel. “Estimated time of arrival to their location is twenty minutes if it follows the last jumper’s pattern. They’re estimating it might arrive as soon as ten though.”

“Alert them immediately! They have to get out of there…” she mumbled, biting her lip. “Offer them sanctuary nearby our Auxiliary Base, the planet there will act as a shield and won’t be as volatile as a gas giant…”

To all factions currently nearby the gas giant, you MUST head to FTL immediately and put yourselves in orbit around the 3rd planet. We can not explain why, nor how it is possible at this moment, but we believe that in as little as ten minutes a solar jumper from the star will impact with your location. From every experiment we’ve run, and all our observations of this system… That is not a very good location to be at right now. Please, once you’ve arrived in orbit we will discuss the nature of this system to you, if we get permission from our government, and why we have stacked a claim in such a dangerous location.


Hopefully… They would escape it, she thought.

To all factions currently nearby the gas giant, you MUST head to FTL immediately and put yourselves in orbit around the 3rd planet. We can not explain why, nor how it is possible at this moment, but we believe that in as little as ten minutes a solar jumper from the star will impact with your location. From every experiment we’ve run, and all our observations of this system… That is not a very good location to be at right now. Please, once you’ve arrived in orbit we will discuss the nature of this system to you, if we get permission from our government, and why we have stacked a claim in such a dangerous location.

'If you please Jack" The Cpatians voice was dangerously sweet "And Not backwards through said star" and ended in a snarl.

No, Jack was in the canine habitat for the foreseeable future.

With many small, half developed thoughts Jack quickly set about creating the parameters and put them behind the gas giant as requested in the blink of a thought. He didn't need to initiate any other of the Monolith's transportational abilities. For short ranges it simply teleported.

To all factions currently nearby the gas giant, you MUST head to FTL immediately and put yourselves in orbit around the 3rd planet. We can not explain why, nor how it is possible at this moment, but we believe that in as little as ten minutes a solar jumper from the star will impact with your location. From every experiment we’ve run, and all our observations of this system… That is not a very good location to be at right now. Please, once you’ve arrived in orbit we will discuss the nature of this system to you, if we get permission from our government, and why we have stacked a claim in such a dangerous location.

"They're right, Captain, we're detecting unusual activity from the local star, it could be a solar discharge."

Captain Tobias stood up "Well, then take us there!"

"Sir, it could be a trap..." Voke suggested

Tobias considered that thought for a moment "Take us there, shields up."

"Right away."

"Captain, what about our strike teams? We can't just abandon them..."

"Send them a message. They have ten minutes to finish up and get to the designated coordinates." Commander Voke ordered.

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The assault on the governor's flagship was moving forward. The Investigator and Lieutenant Mirandus had linked up, and were proceeding to the bridge. Ship security, now accompanied by the governor's best soldiers, were putting up a hell of a fight. The investigator had lost 1 man, and another one was wounded. Mirandus' team had sustained 3 casualties so far, all at the landing zone.

"We must be getting close, Ma'am!" The Lieutenant shouted, a bullet whizzing his head. He stuck out his laser rifle and put three shots through the chest of the elite guard.

"What could have POSSIBLY given you that idea, Lieutenant!?" The investigator retorted, throwing a grenade into the enemy position. Shouting, shuffling of feet, and a loud blast was heard.

"Advance!"

The fireteam advanced through the smoke, guns at full auto. At close range, the enemy troopers were easily cut down by bullets, laser blasts, and the Investigator's power sword, which was now stained with blood.

"Clear." One of the troopers reported.

"Excellent...wait, I'm getting a message." The investigator said, her hand flying to her communicator on her ear. "Captain? This is a ba.... a WHAT.....how long....okay. Out."

"What was that about?"

"Ladies and gentlemen, if we can't take control of the ship and move it in ten minutes, we're all going to be vaporised by a solar discharge."

"It's always something..." Drak said, under his breath.

"Well, what are you all waiting for, MOVE!"

That said, they sprinted towards the bridge doors.