NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: Find the sign up thread here - http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=559416

IC:

A small, young, pale yellow sun orbited by 5 comparatively small planets and 1 gas giant. This was the Cersie star system. Unremarkable, out-of-the-way, orbiting far out on the edge of the galactic rim… and, as far as most of the galaxy was concerned, uninhabited.

To the outside observer everything would have appeared perfectly normal, until a small area of space almost exactly 3000 million miles away from the Cersie star began to distort. The fabric of the universe bubbled, almost as if it were being eaten away by some strange cosmic acid, almost as soon as it had begun the phenomenon changed, morphing instantaneously into a perfectly circular portal. For a fraction of a second the view of the inside of that portal was one of unique abstract chaos that would have delighted artists and physicists from across the known regions of space… Then came a sight that would have set the heart of interstellar ship designers and builders racing…

Sliding neatly out of the portal was the most sleek and graceful vessel that Blasfisian science could produce. It appeared almost organic, born to space… evolved and adapted to be the perfect form for flight. Roughly 400 meters in length from nose to rear propulsion cells, and at its thickest, 320 meters around, the vessel emerged fully into real space.

The BF-1401 Intrepid jumped in-system. Sensor bulbs on the darkened hull scanned the area immediately surrounding their emergence zone and. Satisfied that there were no unexpected presences within weapons range, the ship’s AI began a more comprehensive active scan of the system. The information it gathered was processed and relayed immediately to the captain’s Neural Cluster Interface (NCI). Malcolm Ellis received the information about the Cersie system, helpfully formatted by the ship into simple displays and constructs that his mind could interpret. Through using his NCI to access the ship’s sensors, he already had a ‘feel’ of the system… its gravity fields, its points of mass, the flow of the solar winds, its radiation fields… all fed directly into his brain. He kept his eyes closed to enhance his assimilation into the experience provided by the AI as he relaxed back into his command chair.

‘Confirm tactical, nothing in-system on second sweep?’

‘No sir, it’s all clear.’

‘Good, we’ll take up position. Comms, prepare to signal the fleet.’

‘Aye sir.’

All six of Intrepid’s junior officers were arrayed around Malcolm, at their own specialised stations, all accessing the ships systems through their own NCI’s as well as the standard visual displays and manual input equipment. Malcolm had overall command control and was the most fully integrated into the ships systems. He guided the ship forward, feeling the hull flex and stiffen through the sensors as the AI adapted it at millisecond intervals to the increasing acceleration.

‘Signalling fleet sir… We’ve got a response, their jumping in now.’

Malcolm hadn’t needed to be told; he could feel the special distortions bubbling to life around him and watched with the Intrepid’s sensors as the rest of the Blasfisian fleet emerged into real space in the Cersie system.

15 vessels now arrayed themselves on the edge of the system. Most were BF-1401s like Intrepid; small cruisers, fast, manoeuvrable and combat ready, designed for scouting and rapid response. But there were three larger ships… much larger. Two were the size of small cities. Huge, unwieldy, concave disks with bulbous centres and ancillary pods arranged all over their surfaces... These were the building blocks of the new colony.

‘Captain Ellis, this is Admiral Armstrong, begin deployment. Take the other ‘01s and give me a perimeter. I’ll keep The Saint close to the colony ships while they set down.’

‘Yes sir.’

Malcolm watched as the capital ship emerged from the shadow of one of the colony vessels into the cold light of Cersie’s sun. The Saint was a command carrier. The biggest class produced in the orbital shipyards above Blasphemous Fish. While it lacked the grace and speed of the BF-1401s, it more than made up for it with sheer size, fire power and resilience. Measuring in at just under 9km in length and almost as much around at its widest point, the carrier’s heavily armoured hull was studded with weapons platforms, shield emitters, fighter bays and hardened sensor and communications clusters. The glare from The Saint’s propulsion exhausts rivalled the light of Cersie’s sun as the massive vessel moved to escort the humongous colony ships to their locations. Even after spending almost 30 years in the Blasfisian navy, the sight of a command carrier, and the thought of one day commanding such a vessel, filled Malcolm with awe.

He kept tracking The Saint and colony ships with the Intrepid’s sensors as he and the other BF-1401 captains directed their craft to patrol perimeter coordinates around the system. One colony vessel moved into orbit around the gas giant and immediately began to deploy giant particle collectors as well as pre-fabricated orbital manufacturing stations and engineering workshops. The gas giant would provide the new colony with industrial and manufacturing capabilities while the 4th planet would be gradually terra-formed and colonised by the other vast colony ship, becoming the new bastion of Blasfisian might in this sector of the galaxy.

Now all that remained was for the small colony fleet to make contact with other powers in the outer rim, form alliances & trade links with other empires… to enter into the world of interstellar diplomacy.

Ooc: Bump!

The signature Greywatch Pressure Space Rift opened up sending out a gravatational disturbance. A Greywatch Worldstarter slowing came out, followed by a few frigates and some cruisars. The Worldslayer, a 39KM behemoth, stopped after exiting the rift and prompylt closed it. On the bridge officers worked tirelessly at their consoles t make sure the three captains were always sure of what was happening. Apparently, someone beat Greywatch here, another fleet was already on a holoscreen in front of the three captains. "Dammit, always someone else eh?" "It's not that bad is it? Perhaps they're friendly." The third captain usually stayed silent, he was an old Dragon-kin, he like to observe more than give orders but was given the chance to command one of Greywatch's finest vessels. He looked up, "Send a message."

<Hail unknown force, this is a Greywatch exploration and expansion fleet. Can we assume you are also here to colonize?>

Every single BF-1401 captain had felt it... a pulse throughout the system... AI's had begun scanning and immediately focussed on the immpossibly huge mass emerging from the spacial rift.

Captain Ellis hailed Admiral Armstrong;

'Sir...'

'I know Ellis, even my sensors couldn't miss something that size!
This is Armstrong to all vessels - Alert status 2!'

Armstrong couldn't believe what his sensors were seeing... the unknown craft dwarfed his command carrier... almost 4 times the size of the biggest ship Blasphemous Fish could produce...

It was then that the comm officer on The Saint's bridge shouted to make himself heard above the panic striken voices:

'Wait! Sir! We're recieving a signal! Relaying it through the AI translator now!'

"<Hail unknown force, this is a Greywatch exploration and expansion fleet. Can we assume you are also here to colonize?>"

'Open comms!
<This is Admiral Armstrong of the Colonial Blasfisian Naval Operations Fleet. Hold your position and state your business!>

Two junior officers were whispering to eachother -'Lets pray they're friendly... I wouldn't put money on The Saint being able to take that monstrosity down!'

a Imperial 62 ship Wolf Pack was not far dropping from Warp

"sir number of unknowns are in the area not far from us should seen a recon drone"

"yes and stand by"


a hour later a Recon (http://images.wikia.com/half-life/en/images/4/44/Half-Life_2_Combine_scanner.png) Drone leaves one of the ship head to the ships filled area

ooc this just one dropping (http://fc04.deviantart.com/fs26/f/2008/100/1/6/Warp_Travel_by_The_First_Magelord.jpg)out just think what 62 be like

<We are here to look for places to expand to. Don't be alarmed by our size or by the armor support we have with us. We're not here to fight someone we don't even know.>

"<We are here to look for places to expand to. Don't be alarmed by our size or by the armor support we have with us. We're not here to fight someone we don't even know.>"

<Message recieved Greywatch. In answer to your query, yes, we're on a colonisation mission...>

'Admiral... we're not detecting any weapons powering up... but there is something strange... a drone, heading towards us from out-system... it's power signiture isn't the same as the Greywatch ships...'

<Greywatch, we're tracking an unmanned drone heading our way, if you don't mind we'd rather keep our presence here a secret... at least until we're better established. Our colony ships have landed, and we've begun to deploy ship yards and orbital defences, but we're exposed. Would you object to us detroying the drone?>

the Drnoe did a fast scan an then was gone with signs of which way it went


_________

"pff colony ships and warship nothing new " said a officer on the reading the report

"move near so they pick us up i want to see what they do "

"sir sending order now'

<Not at all. Be careful though, something else might be very unhappy with that action. We'll move forward to offer security if you want.>

The captains on the bridge waited patiently. A officer looked up, "Yeah, its there alright. A survey drone, looks like it came from a nearby ship but I'm not picking anything up yet. Our long range sensors won't be on for another minute or two, neither will our weapons. Shielding is still holding at 200%."
One of the captains nodded. The other two continued watching the screen.

OOC: Okay, if it disapeared with signs of where it went I'll just track it. :P

A Deatan fleet on patrol caught sight of a new fleet. This was surprising, more so because Deata had been policing these areas for decades and had never found anything but the occasional pirate or smuggler. The admiral decided to send over a message.

<Hello, this is Admiral Atos of the Deatan Navy. You are in Deata-policed and -patrolled space. Who are you?>

he sent the same message to the other fleets in the region.

ooc: hope you don't mind. I never said that they laid claim to the system, just policed it, but no one else came there.

<Greywatch expansion fleet. Is this your territory? It isn't marked very well. No offense.>

OOC: Okay, if it disapeared with signs of where it went I'll just track it. :P

ooc i stuffed up and left out it went back to the Void one place you can't track it, But leave it as too late now

<very nearly. We have policed this for time immemorial. before the Great Collapse, we considered colonizing this region, as it was at the edge of our galaxy. Now, we keep it clear of pirates and smugglers to protect the rest of the empire. To a limited extent, Deatan law is enforced here, but it is neither a noble's territory nor in demesne. Still, we have some semi-permanent bases here, and we have been the only power to visit for centuries.>

OOC: hence the ':P' I'm saying check for typos

ooc: just to let you know, Isa, the message went to you too

<I see well, our new friends were looking to colonize here. We arrived shortly after so I suppose you should speak to them.>

ooc: just to let you know, Isa, the message went to you too

ooc yur was thinking on why we here and where we going
IC


<Hello, this is Admiral Atos of the Deatan Navy. You are in Deata-policed and -patrolled space. Who are you?>

#we are the Imperail Navy passing by to another part of space when we picked this lot up when we drop out of warp to change our path#

<yes>, the admiral replied tersely.

he sent a message to blasphemous fish.

<Who are you? What is your purpose here? Now that you are in space which has been patrolled by Deata for centuries.>

the admiral replied to Isa.

<Where are you going to? Why did you stop to communicate with the other fleets?>

the admiral replied to Isa.

<Where are you going to? Why did you stop to communicate with the other fleets?>

#we heading for Neo Kirisuban space and we Have Not i say again Have Not communicate with the other fleets,we only sent a recon drone to see whats going on#

<well, carry on>, he said. <and please retract your drone, we don't want it flying around and accidentally getting shot at.>

to Greywatch:
<what is your intention here?"

<well, carry on>, he said. <and please retract your drone, we don't want it flying around and accidentally getting shot at.>


#bit later sir it been back with fus or a hour now, another thing when leaving the area slowly as order by someone high up on board our ship#

<Why must you stay on? may we talk to your leader? You must understand, this is a security matter. We are not looking for a confrontation, but we need explanations.>

<Our intention was at first to colonize but as you can see this other fleet beat us to it. Now we are opening up diplomatic relations. We are an expansion fleet sent by the Empire of Greywatch to find new inhabitable worlds.>

<well, don't stray into our galaxy>, he responded, worried. <You can talk to the new fleet for all we care, but please do not support a colonization bid until we give the go-ahead. We need to talk with the colonists.>

<Why must you stay on? may we talk to your leader? You must understand, this is a security matter. We are not looking for a confrontation, but we need explanations.>

#no you can't talk to our leader and don't worrying about your security we don't give a rats ass about this area but due to something happening in why we going slow, no you may not ask#


-------------
what was going on was a fire inside the ship near the Ammunition Replicator

"shit how the hell it get out of hand"
"no idea but fast put more water on it"

the thermal sensors showed a huge amount of heat welling up inside a ship.

<are you OK?>, the admiral asked. <do you require assistance?>

<As I rememer you saying, this place is only being patrolled, and it is not marked. If colonies are established the security of the area will be much better because the colonists will be able to watch the area for you.>

The bridge of The Saint was a hive of activity.

The mysterious drone had been tracked back to a large fleet of warships just out-system.

And then another fleet had arrived and begun furious communication with almost every other ship in the area... The Blasfisian translator was still having difficulties translating the messages. Sufficed to say, the system they were attempting to colonize now looked much more crowded than it had mere hours ago!

<This is Armstrong to Greywatch vessel... I know I've no right to ask for your protection in whatever is about to go down here... but if we were to offer you space and rights to co-colonize this system alongside us, would you consider joining our forces to provide a more 'secure' system?>

As this message was transmitted, the dozen BF-1401s were covertly moving into a more defensive stance around the two colony vessels. The Command carrier held its position, but readied its fighters and combat wasps for launch. Whatever happened, the Blasfisian fleet weren't going to be caught unprepared.

Armstrong covertly signaled the colony ships to speed up their deployment of orbital defence platforms... they wouldn't be on-line for another hour though.

<Sure thing, this isn't looking like the friendlyist of situations at the moment. Hold position, we're coming forward.>
Thw Worldstarter move until it was 'above' the now allied ship. Frigates and cruisars began a circle th entire group in a defensive way. No one on any of the Greywatch vessles wanted a fight but thye didn't want to be caught off guard either.
<We'll maintain this position for now.>
Then an encrypted message was sent to The Saint:
<We have a 'sniper communications network' engaged, even where we are, we can contact Greywatch Prime, our capital planet, at anytime to call for reinforcements. Let's hope we don't need them.>

"<*** *** you* **** ** **** ******* here? *** **** you are in space which has been ***rolled by Deata for centuries.>"

'Admiral... the translator is really struggling with this...'

The admiral examined the summary of the message being fed into his NCI by the ship's AI.

'Lets see if we can't learn more about these 'Deata'... Send them Prime. See if it can feed back a linguistic database.'

The comms officer compressed a software package and directed the high-load comms array at the largest Deata ship. The message and its attachment broadcast.

<Accept File?>

"<We have a 'sniper communications network' engaged, even where we are, we can contact Greywatch Prime, our capital planet, at anytime to call for reinforcements. Let's hope we don't need them.>"

<That's good to know Greywatch... maybe that's a technology we could learn from you at some point soon!>

'This is Admiral Armstrong to all Blasfisian ships, stand ready. Captain Ellis?'

'Yes admiral?'

'Take Intrepid and two other BF-1401s out of formation... give me a patrol route that'll take you close enough to the edge of the system to get a close range scan of the large fleet of imperial ships... if they make any aggressive moves, deploy defensive wasps immediately and return to the formation.'

'Yes Sir'

"order all ships to Jam every thing that cames near us as i'am sick of people sicking their nose in when they not welcame" orders the Captain on the flagship

not long after the order was sent out the area was packed with ghosting that would mess up scanners


<are you OK?>, the admiral asked. <do you require assistance?>
#we'll let you know or you see a blast#

Admiral Atos accepted the package. He used it to send them the same message, adding:

<please refrain from withdrawing weaponry>.
he himself had pressed a button. 100 droid craft were coming as potential reinforcements. yes, the Great Collapse had left them with a tiny population, but now they had huge amounts of unexploited resources, ad they had developed great AI to compensate.

'Admiral Armstrong. The Imperial fleet seems to be trying to communicate... but their frequencies are interfering with our scans!'

'Very well Captain Ellis... hold position there and attempt communication. If that fails you have my permission to launch probes loaded with Prime to control them and report back. We need to know what exactly is taking such an interest in our system!'

*OOC: Prime is a quasi-self-aware bit of software. Possibly the most advanced programming ever created. Blasfisian technicians may not be big on building giant fleets... but they sure know their software.

OOC to control them ? and i'am jamming you not communicate

Admiral Atos accepted the package. He used it to send them the same message, adding:

<please refrain from withdrawing weaponry>.
he himself had pressed a button. 100 droid craft were coming as potential reinforcements. yes, the Great Collapse had left them with a tiny population, but now they had huge amounts of unexploited resources, ad they had developed great AI to compensate.

Admiral Armstrong examined the message as well as the information that prime was relaying back to him from the deatan computers.

What he read made his palms itch. The deata seemed like decent enough people... but they'd proven themselves to be quarralsome in the past.

<Deata fleet... this is Admiral Armstrong. You have no claim on this system. We surveyed it twice, no colonies or evidence of habitation were found. We claim this system as the first colonial outpost of Blasphemous Fish. Kindly withdraw your vessels.>

OOC to control them ? and i'am jamming you not communicate

OOC: You're jamming, so I can't remote control my probes... Prime will pilot them and record any sensor readings as well as being able to make decisions without human input to preserve itself and complete its mission. It's VERY advanced software.

The admiral sent another message.

<We wish to send a negotiator over for talks.> at the same time, a white flag, a near-universal truce symbol, was run up on the side of the flagship. they also sent an animation over, showing the area with regular Deatan patrols. They wanted to communicate somehow that they had been there. they also showed an image of a Deatan military base.

He messaged Greywatch:

<can you get them to slow down?>

at the same time, the droid craft appeared. they stayed unobtrusively back and with no weaponry out. They were simply insurance.

Sensors picked up a program. The BF were trying to hack their computers. he sent back an instant kill virus. No one beat Deata at AI, ever. It was their strength.
ooc: the computers are entirely internal. prime couldn't enter them.

The Greywatch fleet stood, the three captains were interested in seeing how this played out. "I hope they don't intend to use us as a sheild against the reprocussions of such a bold move." Said one of them. Another nodded, "Yes, that would be unfortunant."

The admiral sent another message.

<We wish to send a negotiator over for talks.> at the same time, a white flag, a near-universal truce symbol, was run up on the side of the flagship. they also sent an animation over, showing the area with regular Deatan patrols. They wanted to communicate somehow that they had been there. they also showed an image of a Deatan military base.

He messaged Greywatch:

<Do you know why they are not answering? Could you send them the message we originally sent you?>

at the same time, the droid craft appeared. they stayed unobtrusively back and with no weaponry out. They were simply insurance.

<If you're referring to our friends it could e a translater problem.>

OOC: You're jamming, so I can't remote control my probes... Prime will pilot them and record any sensor readings as well as being able to make decisions without human input to preserve itself and complete its mission. It's VERY advanced software.

ooc oh so it a AI in it and no you not get a thing as they jamming every that goes near them right, now you get to talking to them when the boom happens later,when i'am back

The appearance of hundreds of droid vessels was what finally prompted Armstrong into action.

'Deploy fighters!'

Swarms of vessels exited The Saint. They formed into 5 massive formations of 80 fighters each and deployed around the colony ships and command carrier.

<Deata fleet, this is Armstrong, I repeat, kindly withdraw your vessels! We have claimed this system!>

'Comm, are we still in contact with the prime programme that we uploaded to the Deatan ship?'

'Yes sir.'

'Send it an order to infiltrate their main-frame on that single vessel.'

'Aye sir!'

ooc oh so it a AI in it and no you not get a thing as they jamming every that goes near them right, now you get to talking to them when the boom happens later,when i'am back

OOC: Ok, fair enough... pretty solid jamming capability you have there!

Open mesage:
<Can I assume that this new force is not hostile? It would not be good for you to be displaying such unneccissary force. No threat intended but people may get the wrong idea.>

The prime program had been deleted upon acceptance. it had been a ruse. now it came down to steel knives.

<We have patrolled and policed this area for centuries for the good of the world. you have no claim to it. we claim this area in the name of Deata. and as a 16 million person nation facing one nearly 4 times your size on our home turf, you would be well advised to clear off. at least send over a negotiator. and stop with your viruses, our firewalls are too strong.>

1000 more droid craft appeared. weapons were drawn.

to greywatch:

<are you supporting them?>

'Admiral!'

'What is it Ellis?'

'We've lost contact with all the probes we sent to scan the Imperial vessels... they must be jamming the signals!'

'Return to the formation! We've got bigger things to worry about than scanning the imperials. Prepare your ships as a flanking force should the deatans refuse to withdraw from our system!'

'Yes sir.'

<Armstrong to Greywatch vessels... I don't want this to get messy... I'd rather intimidate these unfriendlies into leaving the system. Request that you deploy fighters and take up strategic positions in system.>

'Admiral!'

'What is it Tactical!! Can't you tell I'm busy!!'

'Sorry sir, just thought you'd like to know... out orbital defence platforms are coming on-line.'

'Ah! At last! Ok, listen up Blasfisian ships, we can leave the colony ships to fend for themselves, they've enough fire power in those prefab orbital defences to look after their own asses for now! Form up with the Greywatch ships! Lets see if we can't scare these bastards off!'

To Greywatch: <we have intercepted their message. ours are coded 500 times over, and there are firewalls in them, so they can't. requesting that you stay aside or side with us. do not side with belligerent fools such as these. their may be a rewardd or partial control of the system for you if you side with us.>

To BF:

<Will you negotiate? Do you have a sense of reason?>

The ships were ready to attack.

OOC: In FT nation size has no standing.

ooc: whatever. we now have 5 billion soldiers waiting there with us.:)

"Shit!" Said one of the captains, "Initiate sniper network and get Greywatch Prime. This could get messy really fast."
Open message:
<Everyone! Please calm down, this senseless violence will not solve anything! We are offering a solution, diplomats from both sides come to our ship. We can work this out there, from what we can see this is all a massive misunderstanding. We do not believe there is a right or wrong to this, just two sides that got off on the wrong foot. Please, listen to us, it doesn't need to be this way.>

<we would gladly negotiate. unlike them, we have been trying to do so>

Armstrong closed his eyes and let the NCI image of the system flood his mind... the situation looked bleak. There were now in excess of 1500 unfriendly vessels surrounding the new colony system.

Prime had proved ineffective in infiltrating the deatan vessle... they were heavily outnumbered...

Only the Greywatch 'worldkiller' remained as a positive in the equation... and the Admiral was unsure of how far his new allies would be willing to go for the beleagured Blasfisians.

'Sir, recieving message from the Deata ship... they want us to send a negociator.'

'Do we even have a "negociator"?!'

'Well... there's the diplomatic attache from the Civilian colony ship?'

'He'll have to do! Send Ellis in the Intrepid to transport him here!'

<Deatan vessels... We will allow one diplomat from your fleet to board our carrier. He may not be accompanied by guards. Your transport vessel may not be armed. Make no attempt to incur on OUR space during these talks.>

'Hope to hell they go for this.' muttered the admiral under his breathe.

Another 1000 droids arrived. An emergency had been declared. An automated star destroyer was on its way, and the Phobos ball (think Death Star 2) had been called.

<The negotiations are to be held on the Greywatch ship.>

OOC: Greywatch, are these events happening at the same time as the military games and the Sarah Deata thread?

OOC: Thankyou for asking the question I've been wondering for awhile... It would be cool if they were but it might be complex. I originally wanted the war games and Sarah thread to be going on at the same time so that she could meet Pegs but I don't really care either way.
OOC2: Its 'Worldstarter'

IC:

<Arguing can come later, for now, please bring your diplomats to forward hanger 324a, we have a nav point set up that you can follow. You will be greeted inside.>

'Holy Fish! They just keep coming!'

<Greywatch vessel... we're transporting over our diplomat now... but, with all these ships arriving, will the deatans really negociate?! Do you know them? Any experiences of dealing with them in the past??>

OOC: I think they should be. it could make things interesting, some nice little overlaps.

The star destroyer arrived in support. It deployed 200 droid craft in the distance, the massive Phobos ball appeared. more were put on standby. the military was heavily invested in this region.

The transport craft- heavily armored and lightly armed- zoomed over straight into the Greywatch ship. A diplomat, a clerk, and two decently armed bodyguards with holstered weapons got out.

OOC: Seeing as Deata's forces wouldn't actually know too much about the war games or the love thing I think even if the events were parallel it wouldn't matter since we're some distance from them. I'll leave it to Deata who has just responded so there.

ooc; they'd know about the games, anywya. And what if the emperor were notifed. sarah wouldn't be, they're not in her domain, but...

Encrypted message to BF
<We're having a few dealings with them right now. War games and such, nothing big. They seem nce enough.>

The cruisars and frigates began to settle. The captains waited for the visitor to arrive. The hanger bays were open and ready to recieve. Then the first ship arrived, "The've entered our atmospheric bubble." Two drones came out to greet the diplomat and guards. They bowed respectively. We will escort you when the others arrive." They both said in unison.

The Blasfisian transport arrived in the same hanger... out stepped a terrified looking man wearing a cheap suit and carrying a bulging briefcase.

His two escorts looked embarrassed to be seen with him. They carried no visable weapons... but were heavily bionically engineered. Modules armour plate visable beneath their neat uniforms.

One whispered to the other 'This bloke's more used to sorting out civic disputes between administrative personel! What good is he going to be in interstellar diplomacy?!'

The bodyguards and diplomats walked forward to show that they were carrying no biological or chemical weapons. they turned to wait for their counterpart.

------
The emperor received a message.

the diplomats saluted their counterparts from both the other nations.

The drones nodded to both of them. Three Leanorian officers walked in , all of them were female, "Drones, report in." The drone looked over the asker, "They have arrived for diplomatic relations." They noodded. "Follow us," Said the two drones as they moved to a door.

OOC:
For those who don't know.
Drones: Black hair, teeth, nails, eye, lips, no emotions, super soldiers that are used for many things.
Leanorians: Anthro-lions/lionesses for lack of a more effective simple explanation.

The apprehensive looking diplomat spills the contents of his breifcase while attempting to open it for weapons inspection.

His bodyguards groan.

<Coded transmission to Greywatch admiral from Admiral Armstrong: Do you have the military muscle to go toe to toe with these deatans should they decide to make unreasonable demands?>

<NCI link established - Every captain and officer in the Blasfisian fleet could now access the diplomats perception of events and monitor the negociations.>

Encrypted Message to BF
<I'd rather like to think it won't go there. We've mingled a little and we don't intend to let everyone come out unhappy. we also don't need new enemies.>

The Leanorians rolled their eyes at the diplomat as he spilled his stuff. "It doesn't matter if you have weapons or not, we're pretty sure that no one here wants to fuck this up! Now follow the Drones and go." Said the head Leanorian officer with a stern voice.

far away, the emperor read his message.

"Mr. Pegasus?" he called. "if you're not busy preparing for the games, could you come here for a moment? we have a problem."
----------
The diplomats and bodyguards moved in, bowing to the Greywatch officers as they did.

OOC: This is my first ever RP, forgive the lack of etiquette if I'm getting the posting order wrong or messing it up!

IC: The diplomat was wary of the savage-looking Greywatch race... but the bodyguards were polite enough.

Admiral Armstrong contacted the diplomatic attache via his NCI link:

'Don't screw this up you beareucratic sack of ooze!'

Oddly, the diplomat seemed to respond to recieving that message with visable results. He straightend up and strode decisively into the room. Leaving his beleagured body guards to gather his spilled notes and chase after him with armfulls of papers.

The clerk brought out some devices and was ready to record.

"When d we begin?' asked the diplomat.

far away, the emperor read his message.

"Mr. Pegasus?" he called. "if you're not busy preparing for the games, could you come here for a moment? we have a problem."
----------
The diplomats and bodyguards moved in, bowing to the Greywatch officers as they did.

OOC: We should so do this in the other forum to mess with people.

ooc: got it, sorry

OOC: I'm gonna go ahead and just say we're in the room and there's a Greywatch diplomat there.

IC:

The diplomat was a Dragon-kin, one of Greywatch's old military experiments. A hybrid between komodo dragons and humans, its scaly, muscular body shimmered in the light. "So it would seem you are here..." It was in a almost snake like way, "Good. The we can begin." Two drones were behind him. A folder materialized in one of the drones' hands. "First, I want to hear what both of you have to say, so I may check the reports I've recieved." The drone placed the folder onto the table in front of the greywatch diplomat, it opened the folder and glanced over its pages. "Begin whenever you wish..."

The clerk brought out some devices and was ready to record.

"When d we begin?' asked the diplomat.


'I believe it's more a question of 'where' we begin rather than when.'

Stated the Blasfisian advocate in an unexpectedly smooth voice.

'We surveyed this system with automated ships twice... there's never been the slightest sign of 'ownership' so our fleet is here to establish a presence in this region of space.'

"That is of no relevance," said the diplomat. "Sirs, the Blasfisians turned up randomly inside a territory protected and policed by Deata for centuries. They asked Greywatch to fight us, and suddenly claimed this land for themselves, although we do keep military bases here. They have actively resisted attempts at negotiation and immediately attempted to hack our systems. they are here now not because they want peace but because they see that they cannot easily ravage our forces."

'You misinterpret our actions. And there's still no evidence that you hold significant influence in this system! No military bases! Simply threats and an unnessesary show of military force!

The diplomat produced a map. three small bases were clearly displayed.

ooc; have to go for now

h"As I am aware... you said that this was only patrolled by your people but not actually claimed by them... That is what said is it not?" The Greywatch diplomat said calmly to the Deatan.

OOC: In about 10 minutes I'm going home so I'll be gone for about an hour.

'bases were established, though," said the diplomat. "for patrolling purposes, but we cannot allow them to be claimed by an obviously hostile foreign power."

"I see. I see. May I ask why so many ships came to this system so suddenly..?"

While negociations continue to take place on the Greywatch capital ship, The Saint had recalled her fighters and taken up a defensive position over the orbital manufacturing stations.

The dozen BF-1401s were engaged in sweeping the system in random patrol patterns.

The Colony ships were engaged in aligning and activating all of the remaining defence platforms they had in stock and were programming the orbital manufacturing plants to create more.

Even though the colonies were now protected by a net of several dozen defence stations each, they looked horribly inadequate when arrayed against the deatan fleet.

"Our borders are highly militarized- pirates, you see," said the diplomat. "We have a lot of craft on standby everywhere in the empire. 3000 more drones are arriving now, in fact. Those weren't on standby- i called them for insurance."

OOC: Got to go.

OOC: I'll sleep on this and get back to you in the morning!

OOC: Cya guys later.

IC:
A message came to the bridge of the Worldstarter. A comms officer looked up, "Sirs! Incoming messgae, looks like its being relayed from Greywatch Prime.... Pegasus, he pu in a request to know what's happening."
THe captains all looked back, "What the hell has it got to do with him? And why us? Is this a random sweep?" The officer shook his head. "No, the military games...." Said one of the tactical officers. "What?" Said one of the captain, the officer looked over, "There are military games happening inside of Deata. we're apart of them, I remember someone saying something about it before we left Prime." The captains nodded, "Good work." Said one of them, "Comms, send a report of everything that's happened so far. Get that info to Pegasus." The comms officer nodded, "Yessir."

"I really must stress that the Blasfisians came into these negotiations having already made unprovoked attacks upon our computers," said the diplomat. "this should not be tolerated."

"Provoked has many meanings... you see, we here on this ship were maintaining contact with both of you so we have a larger view of the overall story. Or so we would like to believe-" He stopped as an officer dressed in all white came in, it was one of the Leanorians, but this one was male. He whispered in the Greywatch diplomats ear and left. "I see... this may change things a bit..." The ddiplomat mummbled, "But as I was saying," he started again, "I'm sure that the number of ships you brought in might have played a part in the paranoia of our friends here." HE paused and glanced at everyone with his piercing eyes, "Not that their response was correct... It was an act of paranoia... it was... rash." He nodded his head as he marked the documents, putting a long pause between what he said and his next sentence, "But we are more here to resolve this situation... so I must ask... is there anything in this system.... that you are willing to give up...?"

"Nothing," he replied. "to Greywatch, maybe, as it would keep piracy down, but not to violent, pompous interlopers who attack before talking."

"Perhaps a joint construct? We'd promise to watch and guide them in such affairs such as intergalactic diplomacy..." He wrote something on the documents, "Would that be okay? Our two nations are already setting up relations... I'm sure we could work out something...?"

The Blasfisian diplomat leaned over to examine the suggested offer from Greywatch... Immediately the admiral's gruff mental image forced its way into the diplomats NCI:

'We can't accept that, a deatan military precesence of that size in our new system would leave us at their mercy, especially if Greywatch were to leave!'

The diplomat cocked his head to one side and considered the situation... and then addressed the room...

'How about if we promised to deliver a service to the deata empire? We're keen for our own independence in this system... with as little... err, 'security' from other nations as possible. However, we see the need of the deatans to keep this sector secured from pirates and smugglers... So we suggest that this duty falls to us! In return for colonising this system, we'll ultilise our BF-1401s as patrol vessels throughout this sector.

*The diplomat indicates an area of the map unnoccupied by deatan military bases*

I believe you'll find our navy uniquely suitable to this role...' he finished with a smile.

I hope they are aware of what they are doing... Thought the Greywatch diplomat, Overstepping their boundaries could make this much more difficult. I just hope Greywatch isn't forced to pick a side... that would not be good for us... we don't need more wars.
Meanwhile on the bridge, the captains were being told about everything that was happening thanks to their Drones. There were two of them talking in unison, "It seems our new allies have made a different proposal. They wish to occupy a planet and in return patrol this area of space for the Deatans..." The captains looked at each other. "These guys like to push it don't they? Do they realize what kind of situation they're in? Do they really?" Said one of the captains. "Come now Hammond, I'm sure this can all be resolved peacefully." The man looked over, "That's new coming from a Dragon-kin like yourself, Mal." "Will both of you stop arguing? We need to focus on the situation at hand, two Worldslayers are waiting at Greywatch Prime to get us out if this goes downhill. We're hoping it won't but we have one group of paranoids who are desparate to colonize here and a group of well-armed, iron-fists who are extremely annoyed. We also have military games going with the iron-fists so we can't get too involved in this if the two come to blows." The two others nodded. A tactical officer looked up, "There are a lot of fighters here captain. Could we not call the Worldslayers in now? It would make me, and I sure a lot of other people, feel a little more comfortable." Hammond and Mal looked over at the other captain, he was an Elden, and had dealt with thing like this before.
"So Encanth?" Said Mal silently. The other captain looked over, "No, one of the reasons this mess was started is because the Deatans brought in a mass of fighters. Even if they were non-aggressive, they should have known that a group of people, far from home, and on edge would be suspiscious of such a large force. That was the mistake on the Deatan part, but our paranoid friends... they acted far too rashly. They could have simply gotten closer to us seeing as we are better equipt to handle a fight of this scale." Encanth shook his head, "We can only bring in the Worldslayers if fighting breaks out and it is deemed neccissary for the survival of this fleet." Another officer looked up from his console, "Sir, there are other planets within the Empire of Greywatch... could we not reformat the Blasfisian shields for PSR travel and take them to one of those worlds?" Encanth sighed, "We could... but everyone must remember, we are more of a bubble empire than anything else. The space around planets is what we claim, but the space between newly discovered and our own empire... those areas are not always ours. Only within our own Grey Vale area do we actually and technically own the space between and around worlds. That's why we have so many more defensive and trading based outposts within thr Grey Vale area."
The drones with the diplomat had heard everything their companions on the bridge had heard. Being emotionless, they took little heed of the captains feelings, but being the curious creatures they were, they listened intently. This is why... we can understand better... this knowledge will help us in the future... The drones though, their thoughts spread to others in their packs. Their hive minds came alive with new thoughts and responses.

The diplomat thought for a minute.

"New idea. You can lease planets for 20 year stretches, but they are demilitarized and we patrol and police the area. namely, all guns here are ours, but you can keep civilians on the planets you lease. We provide police and the military."

The Blasfisian diplomat struggled to keep a straight face as Admiral Armstrong ranted down the NCI link:

'What do they expect us to do?! We had to portal-jump thousands of times, for months to get here, there's almost 1/20 of our nation's population tied up in this colony and the financial effort almost crippled us!

No. Here is where we'll stay! We have to now! The colony ships have deployed, and they aren't designed to go anywhere now!

And how they can expect us to have no military force present whatsoever! That's ridiculous!

Don't you dare let them bully you out of this system! You hear me!'

The diplomat spoke -

'I suspect that your proposal would be unnacceptable to our colony leaders.

However... perhaps a compromise can be reached... Greywatch leaders have expressed a desire to co-colonise this system with us... would you accept their presence alonside our own? Certainly their unmatched capital ships would bolster our own anti-pirate efforts...'

The Greywatch diplomat nodded as he listened but didn't say anything. Well this may be difficult... a demilitarized zone...? They expect a new race to leave itself defenseless in practically unknown space...? Is this a plan to for them t leave? The diplomat wrote something in the documents again before looking back up.

"You do not realize the obvious. Deata is not vacating. We will maintain a presence here, and we do not want a new militarized power pressing up right against our empire's border."

a call came in for him. it was thoroughly encoded, unhackable, and in a dead language known only to one small moon deep in the empire, where the diplomat came from. It was prime-resistant. he listened and stepped off.

"We would be willing to let you maintain police with light weaponry. No military, no soldiers, and no heavy weaponry.

"why did you come here? Why did you not stay near your own border? you cannot blame us for your own bad judgment in destroying your budget."

"And if Greywatch were to stay here... would the same policies apply, or would you be the ones to create the obital anti-spacial assault platforms and surface based anti-orbital cannons...?" The diplomat smiled, "Unlike the Blasfisians here, our Worldstarters are reuseable. We land and build the central office of the planet's capital city, we then work on developing anti-orbital and anti-air weapons, we then expand the city and wait for more citizens. By that point, the Worldstarter can take off and return to Prime, leaving the basic construction of a city complete, more colonists arrive and they finish the work the Worldstarter begins... A process that takes anywhere from one-and-a-half to three years..."

'oh, we would be fine with constructing cities. Maybe some light orbital guns for your people, to blast off pirates- you seem rather more trustworthy. but no heavy weaponry and no orbital platforms. Our military rather likes this region...

"And, of course, the leasing thing would still apply. We would offer you a longer contract: 50, maybe 100 years..."

The diplomat marked the docments again, a drone stepped forward and whispered in the diplomat's ear. "Oh how unfortunant... the council must be contacted..."

"Tell me, how do your people deal with pirates?"

"My people?" Questioned the diplomat. "We hardly ever meet them on account of the size of our ships. If we do, they are either destroyed or captured, their ships taken apart or upgraded to serve as our own."

"And what happens to them?"

oc mm ok yur arr *lost* :confused:

ooc: i think we left you with the burning ship. i was heavily reinforced, and negotiations are taking place on Greywatch's ship.

OOC: Sry bout that Isa.

IC:

"The pirates? They either change and serve under us, or they go out the airlock. In some cases they're put in prison but we don't like to crowd our prisons with people out of our jurisdiction."

ooc: i think we left you with the burning ship. i was heavily reinforced, and negotiations are taking place on Greywatch's ship.
OOC oh mm yes that was going to have a big hole in it,best not do it now may start something
OOC: Sry bout that Isa.

it ok we still getting to know one another as RPers

"We either give them a hefty prison sentence, filled with hard labor, or we simply kill them. there was once a particularly nasty sentence for attacking ships of the upper nobility and the imperial family, but it went out of use 100 years ago, and Emperor Syro removed it from the books a few years ago."

'Enough of this talk of pirates!

Is that your final answer? That we will not be permitted to settle this colony with any significant military presence?

We can only ask you to reconsider. Would a formal apology or a gesture of good faith change your mind? Surely you cannot expect us to exist here with no military of our own! It's completely unreasonable! *The diplomat cocked his head as he listened to a message from The Saint's AI* The files that we managed to extract from your mainframe have shown that throughout your own history you've had need of a significant military force. How can you deny us the same privilliage!

We implore you! Consider the facts, this is not your system! You have no claim here!'

The Greywatch diplomat shook his head, "If you haven't noticed, even we are not allowed the military presence we desire. And as far as I know, neither of us are in a position to make demands, though for different reasons." The siplomat sighed. "We can only hope that over time the Deatans will trust us more. Greywatch has no need of enemies and I'm sure you feel the same way."

'We cannot afford enemies!

Is there anything we can do to change your minds? Anything at all?'

"Your attempts to hack our computers- impossible, by the way, since the program was deleted- merely show your aggressive and duplicitous nature. our military size is common knowledge.

"You may have no military here. if you were to lease planets, we would provide any necessary protection for you, and generally leave you alone unless you did something particularly stupid. you have no need for a military, and your demand for a large one right next to our borders is suspicious.

"if you had cooperated with our earlier calls for negotiations, things could have turned out differently. your blind aggression has cost you."

"Now, now. Let's all not get too excited, we came here to resolve this dispute. Assuming the council gives the green light, our military and defensive presence here, dispite the small size it will probably be, should be enough to guard both Greywatch and Blasfisians citizens..." The diplomat smiled, "And thanks to the Sniper Communications Network, any attack would be responded to in thirty minutes or less."

<Prime encryted message to Greywatch worldslayer - The is Armstrong, we advise that you leave the area if you do not wish to become embroiled in what is to come.>

Diplomat: 'Your position is... unfortunate.'

OOC: Again, Worldstarters are the colony ships like the one here
Worldslayers are the war ships which are back at Greywatch Prime

Encrypted Message to Blasfisians
<Do not attempt what we think you're about to attempt, such an action would be pointless and rash. They are offering to defend you and they are honest people from what we've seen so far. Please, reconsider. There are so many other ways of doing things, do not resort to violence we beg of you.>

The diplomat looked over, "I would advise that your forces not try anything. This is not a time, place, or even the right excuse for what your tone suggests." He gave a cold glare. On the bridge things were beginning to heat up, the Worldstarter had plenty of weapons put was not a ship made for fighting, it had a literal small city aboard and such conflict would not be good. Cruisars and frigates maintained shields and prepared but did not power up weapons.

<Don't worry Greywatch, no violence will be committed upon the deatan ships... but they won't be happy with us... and we intend to leave quickly!>

OOC: Greywatch, your first post specifies a World slayer??

IC:

<This is Admiral Armstrong to all Blasfisian vessels, prepare for Swallow.

Colonial vessels, activate emergency antimatter genorators, disengage non-esential equipment, activate emergency protocols... jumping you from this gravitational field in-system is going to be rough, but you should make it to the first co-ordinates.>

<This is Armstrong to Captain Ellis... is the Seeding complete?

Yes Sir, we await your command.>

<This is Armstrong to Greywatch, perhaps you'd be willing to help us with something? it won't require military aid... just lots of logistical support... in return we can share Bionics hardware and quasi-intelligent software applications... are you interested?>

OOC: My very first post says Worldstarter, I just checked

IC:

<This depends on exactly what you want us to help you with. You said logistics, what exactly do you need?>

Back in the conference room one of the Drones whispered something into the Greywatch diplomat's ear. His eyes widened, "Are you sure?" He said, the drone nodded, "That's what we know so far."

OOC: We may not want to go too much further so that Deata can respond to this.

Occ:

the Signature Greywatch Pressure Space Rift Opened Up Sending Out A Gravatational Disturbance. A Greywatch Worldstarter Slowing Came Out, Followed By A Few Frigates And Some Cruisars. the Worldslayer, A 39km Behemoth, Stopped After Exiting The Rift And Prompylt Closed It. On The Bridge Officers Worked Tirelessly At Their Consoles T Make Sure The Three Captains Were Always Sure Of What Was Happening. Apparently, Someone Beat Greywatch Here, Another Fleet Was Already On A Holoscreen In Front Of The Three Captains. "dammit, Always Someone Else Eh?" "it's Not That Bad Is It? Perhaps They're Friendly." The Third Captain Usually Stayed Silent, He Was An Old Dragon-kin, He Like To Observe More Than Give Orders But Was Given The Chance To Command One Of Greywatch's Finest Vessels. He Looked Up, "send A Message."

<hail Unknown Force, This Is A Greywatch Exploration And Expansion Fleet. Can We Assume You Are Also Here To Colonize?>

OOC: That was a mistake, look before that, it say 'the Worldstarter slowly came out,' and with the exception of that one mistake, I''ve been calling it a Worldstarter ever since. Even in my messages to you, I said 'Worldstarter,' so even then, you should stil be calling it a Worldstart regardlass of what I put there.

OOC: Sorry, I thought there were two ships and you'd just forgotten that you'd brought the slayer! My bad! ;)

OOC: No problem, I shouldn't gone over it for typos.

<The logistical support we would require would be enough to repair our colony vessels - the jump from in-system, whwere there is too much gravity will severely damage them - We'll also need some vital replacements for the manufacturing and industrial units (as well as environmental converters) that we cannot bring with us... Then, we'd need you to show us an unnoccupied system, with at least 3 planets and 1 gas giant... well away from Deatan influence!>

OOC: That sounds remarkably like a system I have in another thread... cept there were more like four to five planets and one of them was a gas giant...

OOC: Is it a thread I could realistically be brought into without upsetting things too much?

Bump!

OOC: No 'cause its actually about to end, I could open it up as a new thread later, possibly, or we could just start a new one in a random system and have it closed so that no one else bothers us.
OOC2: We're waiting for Deata, they should be on in maybe an hour or so judging from the times they've gotten on in the past.

"this whole situation is unfortunate," responded the diplomat. "Now, do we have a final answer? Yo won't be harmed if you wish to leave and do so in a peaceful manner. No attacks, no fines, no penalties... we'll even wipe this off the hypothetical diplomatic record." He couldn't actually promise the last bit, but it seemed likely to him. "trust me, we don't want an armed conflict, no matter the odds, although we won't hesitate if it comes to it."

Two more Pressure Space Rifts opened up sending gravity distortions through the area, anything too close would be eaten by the massive rifts. The two PSRs were a few kilometers from the group of ships. From them came two Greywatch Worldslayers. Both of them 39Km in length, their weapons were only at 15% and their shields were at full.

Open Message for all:
<This is Worldslayer Wargazer and Betastar. Greywatch Worldstarter, the situation is now in our hands, we are here in response to the information sent to us from you not five minutes ago. You will prepare to have our officers board and explain the situation. Deatan ships, perpare to extract your diplomat as of now and move away from the Worldstarter and Blasfisian ships. We are now taking control of the situation here and we do not want your ships to be pulled into the gravataion flux of the Pressure Space Rift that we are soon going to open.>

The Greywatch diplomat looked up from his files, "I'm afraid its time for you to leave actually. We are preparing to move the Blasfisians from the system as of right now...." A drone stepped forward, "Two Greywatch Worldslayers are in the system... they are ppreparing to help us move the Blasfisians to another system well away from your space." The other drone stepped forward, "We will lead you back to the hanger and your ship." The diplomat stood up, "This is unfortunant, we were not able to resolve the conflict..." he said sorrowfuly, "But perhaps now we can maintain good relations with both your nations... Now please excuse me." He started walking to the door, the drones followed but stopped at the door waiting for the Deatan diplomat.

The Deatan party bowed to everyone and marched off. They got into their ship and sped off. All Deatan craft moved back to a safe distance. Admiral Atos sent a message.

<Are we far away enough yet? And does Greywatch still maintain an interest in the system? We are still willing to lease planets to you.>

Admiral Atos thought for a second. A few hours of talks and threats from all sides had bought Deata a new system. To confirm this, a flag bearing the Deatan seal was immediately released with a drone to land on the nearest planet. It touched down with flashing lights.

Open message from Worldstarter:
<Unfortunantly, the council has no wish of leasing a system that was orginially free. Seeing as your flags have started waving in a system that you first admitted to not having control over, we can only assume that you want this one very badly. Another Worldstarter has already taken three planets in another system and placed them under the banner of Greywatch. Needless to say, after we leave here, we will not be returning.>

Open message from Worldslayer Betastar:
<Yes that is fine, now we only have to make preparations with the Blasfisians and we will be on our way.>

The Worldslayers positioned themselves around the Blasfisian fleet, their massive girth and advanced armor and shield systems made them moving fortresses.

Open message from Betastar:
<Blasfisians, keep your ships between or inside of ours, we are attempting to make a shield merge that will protect your ships when we enter Pressure Space. Be sure to follow our instructions carefully as Pressure Space has been known to cause ships not of Greywatch design to implode.>

<Ah, well. may God look favorable upon all of your deaths.> In a deist empire, "godspeed" didn't exist, as God looked and judged after death but didn't interfere in life. This was the closest they could get. It wasn't actually an aggressive saying.

The Blasfisian diplomat and his escort leave the worldstarter vessel and return to The Saint.

'Admiral, This is Captain Ellis. All preparations are completed. Distortion genorators charged and all the planets in-system have been seeded.'

'Excellent.'

<Greywatch, we leave our civilian craft in your hands.>

The already semi-deployed colony vessels shunted all their avaliable power to their engines. Doing horrendous damage to their modules and structures, the massive vessels manage to leave the positions that were meant to be their home and final resting place and moved to a position immediately within the protection of the massive Greywatch Worldslayers. Two BF-1401s took up position with the mangled colony vessels and prepared to depart with Greywatch.

<This is a message to all Deatan craft. We claimed this system for our home. We intended to grow here in peace. We see now that with neighbous like you, overly forceful and lacking understanding, we could not have developed here. However, you action in attempting to take this system from us in unfriendly in the extreme, and though we lack the capabilities to make war upon you directly, we are unwilling to be humiliated by letting our new home by subverted to your will.>

The Saint and the 10 remaining BF-1401s lined up and faced the Deata fleet. The comparison in forces was absurd.

<If we can't have this system, nobody will. Initiating 'Scored Earth'.>

From the wreckage out the industrial modules left behind by the colony ships, a single combat wasp activated. It accelerated towards the the Cersie star at over 40 standard Gees. The Prime programming governing the wasp compensated for the harsh acceleration and temperature changes, and, when it was close enough to the sun, released the specially configured catalyst agents into the star. The Wasp was soon after melted by the intense heat. But the Star itself also began to change. It was slow and subtle, but the star began to darken.

<In just under a standard Blasfisian year, this star will be extinguished. There is nothing anyone can do now. No profitable life will be found in this system. Maybe it'll become a darkened haven for those pirates you're so worried about?>

The admiral grinned as communication was ended.

'Swallow away!'

The Blasfisian fleet jumped. Escaping the wrath of any Deata retaliation.

Message to Greywatch: <What have you done? we want their coordinates immediately.>

Admiral Atos took one look at the star. Technically they could have revived it- Deata had been killing and reviving stars when necessary since the Great Collapse- but losing it would freeze the area, making it uninhabitable for pirates. The idiot had just created a buffer zone protecting Deata!

Open message from Betastar:
<We have not done anything. Our pressure space drives were never engaged and we have no idea where they could be going. Worldslayer Wargazer, initiate pursuit method. Break the bubble and move.>

The ships began breaking off, and the shielding bubble was broken. Betastar change course and a PSR was opened. The ship moveed into it without a word.

OOC: Deata, every move I make you immediately counter... Prime for example, was meant to be my 'ace-in-the-hole' weapon... I wouldn't expect it to work all the time, every time, or do something ridiculous like take control of all your ships... but I'd expect it to be somewhat effective rather than just having you say 'its useless against you' even though you've never encountered it before! And now the star killer, you say that you could reverse it if you wanted...

Come on man! Give a little! I've had to abandon the colony... at least give me some small victory!

Oh and 4 of my ships are still in system, waiting to leave with Greywatch.

ooc: look, making an invincible program is a bit cheap too, and killing the star without us even noticing! And an FT nation could probably use the gravity of the old star to make a new, smaller one by inserting hydrogen and starting some nuclear reactions over time. and seriously- if a military can't survive the cold of a dead region, neither can a bunch or ragtag pirates.

The Deatan ships swooped upon the remaining Blasfisian ones and demanded their unconditional surrender. All weapons were drawn and shields were up. the reserve droid forces were called.

Greywatch cruisars and frigates block the Deatan vessls. An open message from Betastar was put out.
<Civilian vessels, the way you answer this next question determines out stance. Did you, at any point, recieve any information about this offense? Or was it only your military escorts, who have apparently abandoned you?>

A message was sent to the Greywatch ships.

<calm down, we won't hurt the civilians. we do, however, demand to detain them. they'll be well-treated, but the Blasfisians cannot be allowed to get away with this.>

Message from Betastar:
<As a modification to your message, the one's responsible for this can not be allowed to get away with this. Whether they are under good care or not, they most likely had little to do with this, and for that reason are not yours to take. The military powers that caused this are your enemies. And for that reason they will be the ones you place the blame on. As such, these people are far from their homeworld, so far in fact that their world most likely has no idea what is happening. Greywatch places blame where it belongs, not on the most conveniant presence at the time. And we see it far form necissary to have weapons trained on civilian craft.>

OOC: I never said it was invincible. It took time to work out alien systems and adapt... and I wasn't even using it as a weapon You had to accept the file! And extinguishing the star took time too... the whole 'seeding' operation and the random communications between my captain and admiral? I made it fairly obvious that I was planning something and that it was taking several 'turns'.

IC:

The two Blasfisian BF-1401s swiftly swallowed out... but the colony vessels were unable to move, have sustained heavy damage when they tried to leave the system.

They transmitted two messages:

<Greywatch, this is civilian liason Micheal Talbot. We formally request aid and asylum. We had no control over the way our military acted and we're just 1,000,000 colonists in huge damaged ships. Please help us.>

<Deata vessels, we have not been given permission to surrender to you.>

The colony ships wiped their databanks; homeworld cordinates, frequencies, encyptions, schematics, prime software... it was all deleted. Even if they were captured now, it'd be utterly useless for the enemy. Just 1 million prisoners to deal with.

to the Blasfisians: <You were abandoned. Are you really going to listen to your military right now? And do you think we will? you will be safe if you come with us.>

To Greywatch:

<Let us handle them. their ships look damaged, and ou territory is closer. you can come along i you like.>

<This is Talbot, we're Blasfisians, you gave our military no choice. We may be unarmed civilians, but we represent our nations first colony. We will not surrender! But some repairs and aid would be acceptable.>

OOC: got to go!

<We don't recognize colonies in Deatan territory. Come with us, and you will receive aid and when the time is right sent along on your way.>

<You only claimed this system as territory now. The colonies were off when you did so that no longer applies. As for what's closer, PSR travle does not need real-time. We can be back in Greywatch Prime within the very second we leave this system. We listened closely to this entire thing, you said first that you only patrolled here, then you claimed the system was yours... why should we not think you're simply not going to change your minds again? Both of your actions are very questionable right now.>

<very well. how about we share custody? We get half, you get half.>

<You would split people as if they were an item? No. Since they were placed under our care before the foolish military action we will take them to a planet within Greywatch Space, the coordinates of this planet will be given to you. If you must, you can even set up an outpost on the said planet. If there is need for a trial, you will be able to bring evidence but it wil take place within our borders. This entire situation was not caused by them alone, it was caused by both of you making some very poor errors in judgement. Our only mistake was that we didn't bring up the idae of relocating them sooner. We have a worldslayer after the military forces, we cannot offer more than the promise that if they are found we will tell you. Worldstarter, you have been dismissed from the system, use any available tractor beams and leave now. The council speaks through us alone atthe moment and we will deliver their words.>

The Worldstarter promptly followed orders, everyone on the bridge was in silence. The military was not diplomatic, they had an iron fist and their word was law, especialy with a Worldslayer to back up their words.

<Very well. we will be setting up an outpost on your planet. May God look favorably upon your deaths.>

The fleet moved back, ready to leave when the prisoners were taken.

The Greywatch Worldstarter engaged tractor beams to pull the civilian ships close before they moved away. Then came the PSR and they were gone. The Worldslayer then moved off in the same style and direction, the remaining frigates and cruisars following it. A final message was put through in the form of a file:
< 09237465C0dex74747{566474.000. [Sniper Network Access Codex: channel 883]9349734. [Codex required for access.Download?]>
Then came an actual message:
<If you want to get the coordinates quickly download that file. You will find a new communications option, this will change the comms network of your ship in no major way and allow you to recieve and send messages through the Sniper Comunications Network. We do not intend to come back here and Deliver the message so this will be the way you will recieve it.>
With that andother PSR was opened up and the Greywatch ships were gone.

<thank you.>

The file was downloaded.

OOC: There will be more when BF is back on. For now I'm thinking of a good planet to take them to.

The Saint emerged from its swallow manoeuvre along with the 10 BF-1401s. Their jumps hadn't taken them far from the Cersie system. They jumped again, moving to the secondary rally point designated in the colony protocol. The two remaining BF-1401s awaited there. There was a swiftly Sit-Rep exchange. As Admiral Armstrong Thought out his next move, the pursuing World slayer arrived.

<Armstrong to Greywatch, what're your intentions? What has become of our colonists? We regret putting you in this position. We appreciate your evenhanded approach to our situation so far.>

The Greywatch Worldslayer Wargazer pulled out of PSR and into another patch of space. On the bridge a message came through on the long range comms reciever. The ships quickly changed its heading and opened another PSR in the direction, when they pulled out again, they found The Saint and the rest of its group.

<You've caused quite a bit of trouble. We offered to help you find another system and you did this. Your citizens are now in our possession, due to your actions they were nearly taken by the Deatans, and if it was not for our council, we would not have stopped them. For the moment, your citizens are being taken to an already marked Greywatch planet. As of the moment, your next actions determine your future, you've committed a serious crime, whether or not you are prepared to accept that.>

Greywatch Prime:

The Greywatch Worldstarter exited PSR followed by the Worldslayer a minute later. They immediately opened up a connection to the council, several merchant, transportation, defense, and civilian craft of all kind were around the planet. Several Anti-Planetary assault cannons sat in orbit. The people aboard the ships looked at the Worldstarter and what it was carrying, it was odd to see a sudden group of foriegn ships being towed by any Greywatch ship, much less a Worldstarter. The Worldslyer moved pst without word as the Worldstarter waited for future commands.

<So, where do we go from here Greywatch?

We recognise and appreciate your benevolence in securing the future of our citizens. And I personally [Armstrong] would like to apologise for any actions that I ordered to be undertaken that have caused Greywatch any problems.

Please try to understand that even though you percieve us to have committed a crime by extinguishing the Cersie star, in our eyes, we were simply doing with our system as we wished. We accuse the Deata empire of refusing to recognise our legitimate claim upon an unclaimed and unihabited star system, theft of said star system, and extortion and intimidation.

The fact is that we were initially intimidated by the presence of three large military forces in a system that we intended to remain a secret for at least a few months. Communication difficulties and a misunderstanding over the purpose of us uploading Prime into their mainframe seems to have led to a massive and completely unnessesary increase in military force within our territory.

We don't know how things are in Greywatch societies, but in Blasphemous Fish, if something is being taken from you, you resent the actions of those doing the stealing and do anything you can to foil the theives and ensure they do not gain from you. Otherwise they will be back to steal again and again.

I now hand myself over to your custody for whatever manner of trial or hearing or punishment you see fit to impose.>

'Ellis, you're in command of the fleet. Liase with Greywatch, see if they're willing to inform us of the location of our colony vessels. Try not to let this entire endevour fail because of my actions.'

Admiral Armstrong boards a transport alone and pilots himself over to the greywatch world slayer. Upon arival he surrenders his ceremonial side arm, disengages his NCI link and cybernectic implants & finally deletes Prime from his inbuilt processors. He prepares to be led away or incarcerated as Greywatch see fit.

<Thank you for making this easy for us, your forces on the other hand must still accompany us. We'll be taking them to The Shattered Tomb, despite its name its not as bad as it sounds, just another planet in the Greywatch Empire. As for you captain, after we drop off your fleet, you will be rejoining your citizens at Greywatch Prime, that is where the Worldstarter took them in order to get orders from the council.>

<This is Ellis, recieved and confirmed Greywatch, I've given orders to accompany you without incident. Please provide cordinates. Note that our swallow technology only allows us instantaneous jumps of up to 25-30 light-years at a time, after each jump we must exit chaos space, reorientate ourselves and jump again. You're welcome to shadow each and every jump we make or you can go ahead with our admiral and we'll join you there when we catch up.>

OOC: Unless Deata wants to jump in and try something mid-flight, shall we progress to the end of the journey? I don't see anything eventful happening...

OOC: Deata doesn't know where you are

IC:

<Negative, you're doing the same thing your civilians did. Get close, tractor beams bring you in close enough that our shields hold you, and we open PSR to the world. We'll be there in the very same second we left.>

<Affirmative.>

Ooc: hiya BlasFish not shure if this is the place but checka your Telegrams

OOC: Will do when Nationstates is back up mate.

Greywatch, do you want to take the lead on describing your shattered tomb planet and what happens next? I'm a bit unsure.

The Worldslayer got closer to the ships, pullng them in and then opening PSR. The massive rift swallowed the ships and less than a second later they were coming out only a minute away from The Shattered Tomb, a mountainous world that Greywatch mined in, the mountians were also covered with factories that could be seen from orbit. Several orbital cannoned powered up and a few messages had to go back and forth.

<Imbound Ship! State purpose and->
<This is Greywatch Worldslayer Wargazer, stand down weapons, we are here under council orders.>
<Um, oh! Understood, but wh are you bringing foriegn ships?>
<We are dropping them here for now. They are now your responsibility, watch after all of them, I will send you the files and reports that led to this.>
<We're ready to recieve them.>
<GWPReport: WargazerFiles: 02921871663[CouncilOrders][Hours 2:47-6:16]ReportFiles.8363Download][874.gw>
<Okay, we got it, bring them in, escort ships will take them to the surface while we review the files.>
<Affirmative, bringing them in and dropping gravity clamps.>

The ship moved forward and stopped, it released the other ships and pulled away. After getting far enough away, the ship again opened PSR travel and came out at Greywatch Prime. The Worldstarter was still there as the council was deciding what to do next.
Meanwhile, the admiral had not been taken to the brig, Drones ecorted him to the bridge of the ship. When he got there the crew all stared, the two captains didn't bother to turn around yet. On the massive holoscreen in front of them was Greywatch Prime, the massive planet was bussling with activity. One of the captains stood up, she was a Leanorian, she smiled slightly. The other captain remained seated and did not show his face.
She signalled for the Drones to stop, "Please bring him no further at the moment. We will speak to him in a moment." The Drones nodded, the crew went back to work.

<Worldstarter, What are your orders?>
<This is BetaStar, we are wondering the same thing, as of yet, the council has made no decision.>
<Very well, we have the admiral, what do you wish us to do?>
<He will stay here, the Deatans must be contacted so as not to breach our agreement.>
<BetaStar will put through a message now.>

The message was sent throught the Sniper Comms Network:

<Deatan ship, the admiral is in our custody, come to these coordinatates. Stand down all weapons and make no hostile actions, there are hundreds of orbital cannons, if they detect hostility they will defend our capital planet.>

OOC: Long message :D

The Deatan flagship went into an advanced state of hyperdrive and swiftly turned up near the planet. Despite its immense size, no weapons were up. shields were, but that was to guard against a Blasfisian surprise attack.

<Where do we land?>

OOC: How big is your ship btw?

Multiple ships glided by as the ship showed up. There were ships of every kind and class trying to get around the new arrival.

<Deatan ship, this is BetaStar, move towards us as you're beginning to hold up traffic. There will be no landing, you will instead be docked and transported to the surface of the planet, by our means specifically. There is a court already being set up. The council wants to hear the entire story from both of you and check over our files. The admiral will be down to the surface shortly as well.>
<Worldstart here, council has asked us to move to a docking station with the colonizers. Moving now.>

The Worldstarter pulled away from BetaStar and Wargazer to a special docking platform abuot 50Km away.

<Wargazer, active a blink network and transport the captain to us now.>

On the bridge of the Wargazer the two captains nodded to their officers. A transport officer did what he was told, he opened a blink network and the admiral appeared on the BetaStar bridge. There were two human captain who eyed him before looking back to the screen.

<Good job Wargazer, you are dismissed.>

Wargazer followed the Worldstarter to the same dock.

<Now then, everything is almost ready.>

ooc: no specific size ye, let's just say BIG and leave it at that, though not one of those "biggest ever" things

<Right. We intend to send the admiral, the diplomat from the original negotiations, a clerk, and three guards down. All others will stay with the ship.>

OOC: A Worldstarter or Worldslayer os 30-45Km in length, about 5-7Km wide, and 2-4Km in height, that's why I ask. Is there anyway I could get that ships to dock? As I said, its blocking traffic. I'm prolly the only person who'd bother to take planetary traffic into account....

IC:

<Have them ready on your bridge. We'll be opening a blink network.>

ooc: That sounds about right. And you probably are. Deata is a feudal society, so interplanetary travel usually isn't so busy.

<Of course.> The people got into position. The admiral had changed into a (functional) dress uniform.

OOC: So you have ships the size of my own... Greywatch will aparently have to go bigger then.

IC:

<When you're ready let us know. The council doesn't want to wait.>

<We're ready.> The admiral already was not fond of the council, but he wouldn't let it sow, and it didn't matter.

With that the group appeared in the Halls of the Judgement. It was a massive marble structure decorated with many tapestries. SIlvery metalic columns rose from the florr and glowed blue as the Deatans arrived. There was much light, as the struct, in this section, had no cieling or roof. Multiple Greywatch soldiers had been waiting for their arrival. Two diplomatic officers walked up to them, "You're about to recieve a high honor. The council has decided to hear the case in person. Very few citizens of Greywatch have ever seen the council, much less have ever spoken to them directly. Follow us." They turned and led the way. "The admiral of the Blasphemous Fish forces will be here shortly."

the admiral nodded and the Deatan group moved out after them.

The group was led to a large silvery door that opened as they approached. A guard was inside, dressed in ceremonial armor. It was a Leanorian, she stood tall amoung the others holding a ceremonial spear in one hand, a pistol holstered on her waist. "The council will see them in the third court." The officers nodded and led them through another hallway decorated with paintings and tapestries. It was well lit and had a cieling unlike the arrival area, arriving at another large doo, though smaller than the first, the two officers kneeled. "We have brought the Deatans." They said in unison, the door opened slowly and the group went inside. The room was massive, it looked almost like a small stadium, there were hundreds of chairs all surronding a large floating structure in the center. A blue light underneathe it kept it afloat, AG technology was very widely used. On the structure there was a desk, behind it sat three figures, but they were not the council. They were the Elden, three of them, two men and a woman, all of them had silvery, long hair and tanned skin. They were all dressed in a ceremonial red clothing. The officers stepped foward, "We thought the council-" They were cut off, "The council said it would hear you. But not see you. We come in their stead. Seat yourselves now."

The Deatans bowed respectfully and sat down in chairs near the very front and center.

"Good, now then, officers. You may leave now." The two officers looked at one another an nodded bafoe leaving quickly, the Elden were not a group to toyed with, they rarely got involved in Greywatch politics s this especially shocked the two officers. The pale blue eyes of the woman focused on the Deatans, "While we wait your story will be heard. That is how we cut down on interuptions, begin. Now." She said in a commanding voice, the two men glared down at the Deatans before looking away.

OOC: I'm doing this partly 'cause it's how the council would handle the situation and partly 'cause BF isn't here.

ooc: right

The admiral stood up.

"Deata has patrolled the Cersie system for centuries. It is riht on our empire's edge. We have three military bases there. I, Admiral Atos, was leading my fleet on a patrol there before the incident.

"We encountered three fleets there, where no one but us had gone before. One was from Imperial Isa, heading to Neo Kirisubo. We don't know what happened to them- they left during the incident, but we believe they were having mechanical trouble. The second fleet was the Greywatch expansion fleet. The third was the Blasfisians, under Admiral Armstrong.

"When we noticed the other three fleets,we sent out a message to them asking for their identities and purpose of being there. We let them know there was an established Deatan presence. The Isan and Greywatch fleets responded quite well to our messages, sending back the requested information.

"The Blasfisians, on the other hand, ignored us. They attempted to hack our computer systems before talks of any sort took place. We also intercepted some messages of theirs in response to this- they were trying to rally the Greywatch fleet to fight us. They then rashly claimed the system as their own, complete with our bases in it. their own nation was ridiculously far away. They willingly chose to venture into unknown territory, right up against our borders. we would like to remind you that Deata still claims the pre-Collapse borders as our own, which includes the entire galaxy, uninhabited before we got there and fully used before the collapse. this system seizure couldn't be tolerated, so we claimed the system for Deata in defense. they likely would have attacked, but our border is heavily defended, and reinforcements came along for us.

"Eventually, the Greywatch fleet offered to provide a neutral diplomatic ground. after some debate, we offered to lease planets to them on a 20 year basis, and provide patrolling, policing, and defense. They, of course, would not be allowed to establish a strong military presence along our borders. they refused this offer, which was also extended to Greywatch on a more lenient basis, and decided to leave.

"Before that, however, they did something to the star, dooming it to die within one of their years. they did this to sabotage our system. then they jumped off without the promised Greywatch help, leaving 1000000 of their colonists to whatever fate awaited them

"After a short argument with Greywatch, we gave up our plans to detain the colonists and return them later. Instead, we agreed to allow Greywatch to handle them. Admiral Armstrong later surrendered himself to Greywatch authority.

"Emperor Syro and Empress Melissa have, of course, been notified of all of this."

The woman waved her hand and multiple holoscreens appeared. Each one showing the scenes that had taken place from the views of Greywatch ships or displaying messages that had been send back and forth during the time Greywatch had arrived. One screen came up and played the following recording:

<very nearly. We have policed this for time immemorial. before the Great Collapse, we considered colonizing this region, as it was at the edge of our galaxy. Now, we keep it clear of pirates and smugglers to protect the rest of the empire. To a limited extent, Deatan law is enforced here, but it is neither a noble's territory nor in demesne. Still, we have some semi-permanent bases here, and we have been the only power to visit for centuries.>

One of the man then looked down, "And how do you explain this message? It would seem here that while you patrolled the system, you had not caimed it." The woman signaled for him to stop, "Along with this we already know that the 'Prime' program sent to you was at first specifically meant to be a translator. They 'hacked' your systems when you called in your support.

Another screen came around to the front and displayed the multiple battle units dropping into real-space. "Two nuetral forces, and one questinable one. Were thousands of ships neccissary?"

'we had some bases there," he said. "We would not let them claim that. The reinforcements were called for after they refused all earlier demands to negotiate, and they were only insurance. If the Blasfisians were innocent, why wouldn't they talk? I don't believe that they couldn't understand us, either. Our diplomat could speak with theirs perfectly fine. We used the same language the entire time as Isa, Greywatch, and the Blasfisians did. Their aspects were highly suspect, and we were entitled to use a show of numbers to defend ourselves an the empire which we serve and protect by maintaining that system."

"We have been around for centuries in our empire," said the Admiral. "We were the first sentient being to reach it. We explored it over hundreds of years and found nothing. We built, farmed, and explored. It wasn't that we seized the land from anyone- we found it. This galaxy contained no intelligent life. We found the ruins of a civilization that had run the place before, but they had destroyed themselves a while ago, or faded out of existence is some other way. we have ruins to prove it. even if there had been other sentients, they had apparently either absorbed them or cleared them out too. we find a lot of weapons at the sites.

"We would like to correct you on something. There were beacons directly around the bases. We also visibly patrolled the area for centuries, so it stood to reason we would have a presence there."

Admiral Armstrong took a seat and activated his personal processor implants. Using the language formats that had been installed by prime before it was deleted he followed the conversation and bit his tongue, controlling his reactions.

----

Meanwhile back on Tomb, the crews of the BF-1401s all left their vessels, leaving Prime in charge of securing the vessels. However, disembarking the command carrier proved more time consuming, 6000 personnel were having to leave via a limited number of docked ports, some were exiting via the hanger-bays and fighter launch tubes.

Ellis marshalled his troops into orderly groups and gave them tasks like simple maintainence and drills (as well as taking the rare opportunity to inspect their vessels outer hulls) to keep them occupied.

He then sought out a Greywatch liason and requested permission to access Greywatch databases and starcharts as well as asking for a sit-rep from the council hearing.

ooc: my last post ended up in front of your last question, greywatch.

ooc: my reply to your last question ended up in front of it, greywatch.

OOC: Ah, I saw it. Thanks

ooc you weclome i hope they fix the servers time so we stop having post time warps

i'll find Deata post soon

ooc: i replied to your last question. It ended up in front of it for some technical reason.

ooc: this thing is messed up. all my replies are ending up on page 12.

The woman nodded, "Are you aware of Prime? The very program that they used to try and hack your systems was also connected and intertwined to their very brain functions. From what we gathered, this program could update informationsuch as language into there minds, allowing them to speak the language of another... though we know not that for sure." One of the men continued, "However, if you wished for you bases not to be captured, why did you not mark the territory properly. There were no beacons or indicators in the system." The other man continued from there, "And, may we ask, do you consider it your right to take over an entire galaxy? I highly doubt it was completely uninhabitted, the chances of such a thing are suggested to be non-existant. Nor do I believe that you explored the enitre thing, that would take more than several years." The woman raised her hand for silence again, "As you cna see, your own system of claiming things seems to be flawed. We see that all the parties involved could have done much more to prevent this from happenning."

ooc: help! My posts are turning up on page 12 and the top of page 13!

OOC:SOmething weird is going on, my post has ended up on the previous page!!

ooc: this thing is messed up.

Admiral Atos noticed Admiral Armstrong and nodded. He turned to the council.

"Perhaps we should see what story Admiral Armstrong brings."

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OOC: Sorry, the forums are acting up on my work PC again. I'll be back on properly late tonight.

I assume Admiral Armstrong will be expected to speak after the Deatans?

OOC: The server is going through some timewarps right now. For that reason I will wait a little while before I post.

OOC: Yeah I know what you mean. It 1:01PM where I am though. I was waiting til you got back before blinking him to the surface. And you're other warships are at Tomb.

IC:

"Admiral, you now be taken to the surface, initiate Blink Network now." Said the captain, it was done, the Admiral was now on the surface, in the same place the Deatans had arrived. The same two diplomatic agents led him to the room the others were in, "Take a seat, they have already begun." The Elden eyes turned to Armstrong, "So now you are here. Take your seat, we hae already bgun listening to the Deatan side of the story and we will hear you when they are done." The woman said with a commanding voice.

Meanwhile, the escort ships touched down in a docking bay on the surface of The Shattered Tomb. All the ships were docked, outside the hanger there was a tremendous thunderstorm. Lightning struck the peaks of nearbly cliffs, factories continued to work tirelessly. River of molton lava flowed thousands of feet below. The sky was obstructed by a thick, grayish haze and the air was filled with a light sulfury smell. Men and women stood in the hanger bays, waiting for the crews of the BF forces to disembark.

OOC: The server is going through some timewarps right now. For that reason I will wait a little while before I post.

ooc yur that and all the other things, take me more minutes to edit posts then usely dose

OOC: Sorry, the forums are acting up on my work PC again. I'll be back on properly late tonight.
ooc it doing it to every one,it due to the take over of jolt as things get worked out

OOC: Take over of Jolt? Are they doing like maintainence or did someone buy Jolt forums?

OOC: Take over of Jolt? Are they doing like maintainence or did someone buy Jolt forums?

ooc two threads at the top of the forum and one more i'll link you
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?p=13795400#post13795400

OOC: Ah, I saw it. Thanks

Meanwhile back on Tomb, the crews of the BF-1401s all left their vessels, leaving Prime in charge of securing the vessels. However, disembarking the command carrier proved more time consuming, 6000 personnel were having to leave via a limited number of docked ports, some were exiting via the hanger-bays and fighter launch tubes.

Ellis marshalled his troops into orderly groups and gave them tasks like simple maintainence and drills (as well as taking the rare opportunity to inspect their vessels outer hulls) to keep them occupied.

He then sought out a Greywatch liason and requested permission to access Greywatch databases and starcharts as well as asking for a sit-rep from the council hearing.

A few Greywatch officers watched as the crews disembarked, "Shit," one of them said, "This is what we have to deal with? Good thing we used three hangers instead of one, but where the hell do we house them all." Another officer looked at him, "Its a big planet, we'll separate them if we have to." "Dammit, do we realy? They're gonna just take up room." Another officer appoahed them, "Shut it. Both of you, we're under orders, now eyes forward. The senior officer grabbed a radio from his pocket, "Open up blink networks between here and all factories with available space." He looked up as Ellis asked him for access to databases and starcharts as well as a connection to the council hearings. "Whatdaya think we are here, your personal resource cnter. Ain't got no archives here lest they be about production and I see no reason to let you see those, nor would I let you see archives if we had 'em. Starcharts? Go find a military outpost or ship, we don't carry those either, the only thing that matters is what happens on the surface. ANd you think the council gives public hearings, I ain't seen the council once in me life, they never show themselves for security reasons, what makes ya think they'll let you guys into their signal, they don't even put their signals out! They be a quiet and private bunch." He signalled to officers to round up BF crewmembers for blinking.

-------

"You may begin your side of the story now." The woman said to the new arrival, "You two leave." The two officers once again left with a nod.

OOC: Back up and running!

ooc: my reply to your last question ended up on page 12, right above the question

OOC: I can't find it so either your pst did what mine did yesterday on another thread a dissapeared or you have to find it and quote it for me so I can see it.

OOC: Your post


"The woman nodded, "Are you aware of Prime? The very program that they used to try and hack your systems was also connected and intertwined to their very brain functions. From what we gathered, this program could update informationsuch as language into there minds, allowing them to speak the language of another... though we know not that for sure." One of the men continued, "However, if you wished for you bases not to be captured, why did you not mark the territory properly. There were no beacons or indicators in the system." The other man continued from there, "And, may we ask, do you consider it your right to take over an entire galaxy? I highly doubt it was completely uninhabitted, the chances of such a thing are suggested to be non-existant. Nor do I believe that you explored the enitre thing, that would take more than several years." The woman raised her hand for silence again, "As you cna see, your own system of claiming things seems to be flawed. We see that all the parties involved could have done much more to prevent this from happenning.""

OOC: My reply

"We have been around for centuries in our empire," said the Admiral. "We were the first sentient being to reach it. We explored it over hundreds of years and found nothing. We built, farmed, and explored. It wasn't that we seized the land from anyone- we found it. This galaxy contained no intelligent life. We found the ruins of a civilization that had run the place before, but they had destroyed themselves a while ago, or faded out of existence is some other way. we have ruins to prove it. even if there had been other sentients, they had apparently either absorbed them or cleared them out too. we find a lot of weapons at the sites.

"We would like to correct you on something. There were beacons directly around the bases. We also visibly patrolled the area for centuries, so it stood to reason we would have a presence there."

OOC: Oh right that, I forgot I never responded to it
IC:

The woman waved ere hand bringing up another holoscreen. Another message was played, audio only.


I personally [Armstrong] would like to apologise *fast forward*.

Please try to understand that even though you percieve us to have committed a crime *fast forward* simply doing with our system as we wished. We accuse the Deata empire of refusing to recognise our legitimate claim upon an unclaimed and unihabited star system, theft of said star system, and extortion and intimidation.

*fast forward* three large military forces in a system that we intended to remain a secret for at least a few months. Communication difficulties and a misunderstanding over the purpose of us uploading Prime *fast forward* completely unnessesary increase in military force within our territory.

When the clip stopped the woman looked at the Deatans, "And to this, what is your response?"

"Well, see, we don't recognize the system as theirs," said Admiral Atos. "As we said, they could not claim a system where we had bases which could be easily seen if you looked at the planets. We patrolled the area heavily but quite openly. No one who paid serious attention would fail to see that we were there. Perhaps the Blasfisians should have colonized closer to home, where they had eyes. as it is, they waltzed right up to our border, claimed our bases, and attempted to militarize the area. the Deatan Empire has long been somewhat isolated. We see no reason to give our borders up to hostile forces.

"as for the prime, it was done without permission for the most part, and that constitutes a hostile attack on our computers. By rigging and destroying the star during and in the immediate aftermath of negotiations, where we offered them very reasonable terms, they also demonstrated duplicity in the extreme. we sensed some activity going on, but we gave them the benefit of the doubt because we didn't want to ruin the negotiations. they apparently had no such qualms."

Admiral Armstrong stood.

Firstly, I'd like to clarify that this dispute is over 1 star system. The Cersie system. We never made any claim on areas surrounding that system. And the Cersie system was empty. No military bases, no markers, no evidence of civilisation whatsoever. We surveyed the system, twice and never found any evidence of a prior claim upon it.

Our colonisation mission is the first of its kind from Blasphemous Fish, and the Cersie system was selected for its almost perfect attributes: a gas giant to provide raw materials and a stable strong orbit for our industrial stations as well as a planet which would have required remarkably few alterations to make it habitable for us. Our method of terraforming is a horrendously expensive one. It is for these reasons we journeyed so far from our nation to establish our colony.

Within a few hours of arrival we found ourselves faced with 2 military forces which outmatched our own military capacity, as well as your own colonisation force. Communications with the Deatan fleet were initially difficult, our translators were attempting to interpret their messages without the correct form of syntax. The result was us recieving, at best, garbled messages. The problem was eventually solved by our software, Prime. You are correct in your assumption that this software is heavily integrated into our thought processes. And Deata are correct in saying that it can be used as a very effective weapon if it is given access to unfriendly systems. But we never attempted to use prime as a weapon in the incident being discussed. Merely probed the deatan computers for weaknesses after it seemed to become obvious that their intentions were hostile.

Shortly after this incident, the situation degenerated. I'm sure you have your own records of the negociations on board your vessel, suffice to say we found the deatans very inflexiable in the matter of our colonising the system. They wanted our military to leave and were requesting monetary reimbursment for our civilian presence. They then proceeded to ignore our claim completely and attempted to claim the system for themselves. I took action.

Please try to understand that even though you percieve us to have committed a crime by extinguishing the Cersie star, in our eyes, we were simply doing with our system as we wished. We accuse the Deata empire of refusing to recognise our legitimate claim upon an unclaimed and unihabited star system, theft of said star system, and extortion and intimidation.

The fact is that we were initially intimidated by the presence of such large military forces in a system that we intended to remain a secret for at least a few months. Communication difficulties and a misunderstanding over the purpose of us uploading Prime into their mainframe seems to have led to a massive and completely unnessesary increase in military force within our territory.

We don't know how things are in Greywatch societies, but in Blasphemous Fish, if something is being taken from you, you resent the actions of those doing the stealing and do anything you can to foil the theives and ensure they do not gain from you. Otherwise they will be back to steal again and again.

Lastly I would like to say any action you deem to have been criminal was my responsibility and mine alone. I ask that if you punish only me, should you find it neccessary to punish any Blasfisian over this incident. I apologise for the inconveniances we have caused Greywatch.

I will answer any questions you may have.

Admiral Atos held up a map of the system. three lights flashed, each on a separate planet.

"Here are the military bases," he said. "Would you like us to call them for you? I apologize if I interrupted, but I feel that while a different view of a story should be told, a blatant mistruth should be corrected."

"From what we heard in a report, they stated they were there for a month or two before Greywatch forces arrived. Their colony ships had landed and orbital weapons were being produced." Said one of the men, "Are you saying that your own patrols were too blind to see this? That they didn't possess the capacity to notice them as soon as they arrived?" The woman once more raised her hand for silence, "As convienitant as it would be for you to place al blame on them. You should have detected them sooner. Also, Prime got into your computers because you cohse to accept it without explanation of what exactly it was. You invited such an attack on your mainframes." Then the other man started, "When Greywatch arrived there, we too saw no indication of markers. We saw no indication of there being anyone else there besides them and us. And mind you, our sensors find systems by reading energy signatures whilest we are in PSR, which is nothing more that a tunnel of pure energy."

OOC: I'm just mainly stating things you need to think about in the future if your going to claim a system for yourself in another person's RP, you have to make sure you state everything at the begginning or you'll have people like me comind down on you about how poorly marked your system is.

ooc: i'll remember that (sheepish smile)

"i'm sorry, but Admiral Armstrong just said that he noticed us within a few hours of arriving. he had hardly been there for months. Anyone could see that he was just starting to deploy his fleet during the talks, not months before. Would you care to show me this report?"

The woman turned to one of her counterparts. "Go through the databanks please, the diplomat may have made an error." The man nodded, "Yes ma'am." He began working on a holo panel behind the desk. "Do make it quick." She said gently.

OOC: Sorry, typo *within hours of your arrival. However, the fleet had only been there a few days. The colony ships are designed to 'shed' their prefabricated defence platforms upon arrival.

ooc: too late (grins, thank you God, someone besides me made a mistake in this thread)

'We surveyed the system twice, months before arrival. And our BF-1401s can detect points of mass and power output within systems, their sensors are very acute. There were no bases in-system. And if they were there, why did they not contact us when we first arrived? Or take any part in the developements at the time? I believe these bases don't exist.'

Admiral Atos turned to the woman.

"pardon me for a second." He pressed the first light on the map. A hologram popped up.

"Is there a problem sir?" it said.

"Nothing, Clancy," he replied. "But could you do me a favor? Could you hologram your telescope and orbital weapon readings here, along with your daily logs?"

"Yessir," came the reply. Suddenly, images popped up. Many screens came, showing a small but efficient base. A view of space showed the Deatan fleet. Thorough logs indicated comings and goings of fleets, discharges, new recruits, etc., for years.

Admiral Atos thanked him and repeated the scene with the other two lights/bases.

'We surveyed this system with automated ships twice... there's never been the slightest sign of 'ownership' so our fleet is here to establish a presence in this region of space.'

The man read the message that had been recorded in the conference room, "Ma'am, it was apparently two scans, not two months." The woman nodded, "Then we stand corrected, undate the report please." The man nodded and she looked back them, "This still doesn't answer our previous question. Why are your becons so weak? And why did your surface bases not contact the new arrivals when they first showed up. Why take such action two hours later rather than as soon as they arrived. Then bring in thousands of drones upon the new group." she gave a silent stare, "I wish to know why you feel that ships that have, at the moment, shown no aggression, would be treated like possible enemies. You are partly responsible for this, whether you see it or not. The only reason we didn't fire upon you is because we have Sniper Comms Network capabilities, which I'm sure you've found is extremely helpful in any situation.

OOC: Be back in about 5-10 minutes.

"We sent them messages," went Clancy. Atos had not turned him off yet. 'they didn't respond, maybe due to this language barrier. And we had some machine trouble- new parts just came in. the beacons were old, and we were in the process of a full replacement on difficult terrain with an old model."

"I understand that the language barrier may have caused a misunderstanding," said Atos, "but when the other two fleets could both understand us and the Blasfisians, we understandably became suspicious. We brought the droids in to scare them off so we didn't have to fight. I didn't want to have to actually attack a colony ship full of civilians."

OOC: These bases are a long shot... I'm still not willing to accept that they're there!

'If I even accepted that these bases existed... do you really expect me to believe that you would build bases in a system that you've not claimed?'

ooc: and I won't accept that they're not. I offered proof.

"We kept them there to fight off pirates, to keep them from flooding into area that we did claim. Common sense dictates that if you're going to have continuous fighting, it's better to have it outside your territory than inside it."

"Maybe you could visit one day," said Clancy to the judges and Armstrong.

"You brought in thousands of droids to scare off a few colony ships?" She said in a semi-angry tone. Bastards, and they claim to be putting out fair proposals. "No matter." She muttered to herself. One of the men finished, "That's not an action anyone will smile upon. I suppose you figured we could be chased away as well? We were there when those droids arrived." The other man started, "Do not, under any circumstance think that we favor them over you. He turned to the admiral who'd come late, "Your Prime program was put into attack mode pre-maturely. This is not something we condone either. Whether or not you were outnumbered, you still had us. We openly admitted that we would not hurt you, if need be you could have simply asked us to talk to the Deatans for you. Greywatch is not a hostile force unless we are pushed to becoming one. Your actions were no better than there's." The woman then started, "Both of you contributed to this mess. Even Greywatch did, though I do believe if it wasn't for us there would have been unneccisary bloodshed."

"it was better than having to attack a few colony ships," Atos replied calmly. "A show of force tends to be better than a use of force."

The woman put her fist down, "Do not bring up anymore of this contradictory nonsense. You at first said you only patrolled it, then you say you claimed it, then you say it was claimed but not apart of your territory? Anything you claim is your territory, make up your mind! Is it supposed to be yours or not?" She spoke loudly, trying to cover her anger at what she saw as absurd.

"it wasn't claimed as officially part of a noble's territory," said Atos. "by your definition, yes, it was claimed in a practical sense, being as how we had military bases there. civilians, no, and when we say we own territory we usually have a civilian settlement there."

"And apparently you like to use old equiptment. If your fighting pirates, continuosly on that note, wouldn't you like to have all the most updated equiptment. And on another note, why would it be so troubling to have another force in the area to help you, you said you feared a large military presence. Define large please. A few colony ships with frigate escorts vs. thousand upon thousands of drones. I don't see how you could posibly be worried." Said one of the men. The other man signalled to the woman to sit down, she sighed and sat down quietly.

Armstrong spoke in the silence that followed the Greywatch woman's admonishment.

'I apologise. I'm sorry to Greywatch, our reaction at the time was, upon reflection, paranoid.

And I'm sorry to the Deatans. IF what you say is true, and you had bases in the system, we would not have even considered it as a colony site. And I'm sorry this incident ended as it has... I believe that things could have been much less trouble is certain actions had been... more understanding.'

Armstrong sat and looked expectantly at the Deatan admiral.

The admiral briefly considered screwing the apology and killing Armstrong, but his better side won out almost simultaneously.

"I would like to apologize to the Blasfisians for the fleet's role in this massive misunderstanding. and it was merely the beacons which had been outdated- we changed all the weaponry, but the beacons were functional enough right until now."

Armstrong saw the flash in the deatan admirals eyes. And sensed deception in the grudging apology.

Just incase the deatan admiral tried something stupid, Armstrongs implants began to come back on-line. Bloodflow was increased, adrenaline dumped into his ageing system and the bio-reinforcements along his spine, rib cage and skull powered up. He kept his offensive implants offline.

All this took place with no visable outward signs.

"This is what we've been expecting to hear from the time all this started." The woman said, "Greywatch apologizes for not bringing up the fact that we could have moved the Blasfisians to another system, we never knew that kind of conflict was going to break out."

One of the men started now, "Oh and children, do not fight here. It will end very badly for all of you." The other man stood up, "We've been alive for thousands of years and we've learned to read people like books. If you think we don't notice your 'invisible' hostility you're very, very mistaken.

ooc: he gave up the idea of hurting him

"Well, I'm glad that's over," said Atos. "but we still need a solution."

'So... what is to be done?

Our colony ships are in drastic need of repair and we require substantial aid if we are to replace all of the equipment and reasources we were forced to leave behind.'

Again, Armstrong look expectantly at the Deata delegation.

"Greywatch can handle minor repairs such as the ones you speak of." Said one of the women.

We are indebted to greywatch.

'we'll be willing to give you your equipment back," said Atos. "We don't want your colonial detritus."

"Most of which is most likely in little pieces but ignoring that point." Muttered the woman.

Most of the environmental equipment will have been ruined... we would be grateful for the prefabricated industrial units and defence platforms.

'We haven't destroyed anything yet," said Atos. "where hould we deliver your stuff?"

OOC: Got to go... I think this thread is about concluded anyway?

I'll start a new thread titled 'Relocation' later and message Greywatch if that's ok?

"Never said you did. I'm saying that the sudden disengagement would have most likely ripped a lot of the equiptment to pieces." The woman said.

OOC: Okay, that sounds fine, TG before you start K?

ooc: could Deata join? (in a thoroughly non-belligerent way, kind of as a compensation thing?)

OOC: Sure, I suppose, we have to set up an OOC thread first, this should also remained closed. Just Deata, BF, myself and... there's someone else who's name doesn't come to mind.

ooc: Kewen, i think it was.

OOC: There it is, BF, let me set it up so I can make the system unless you realy want to. I just thought it may be better for me to since we'll get there usng PSR which is something only my ships do. If you make it, be sure to put:

Closed, Attn: Kewen, Deata, GW

after the title of te thread. That way people won't think that's its open and that anyone can jump in.

ooc: thread what new thread? i dun see no new thread can you link me

OOC: Ok Greywatch. Feel free to make the thread & system. Just bear in mind that I need a gass giant and a couple of planets for my intended set-up.

Anything else I leave up to you.

Would love Deata to still be involved in any way they see fit, beligerent or not. I rather enjoyed the 'knife-edge' moments in this thread!

Let us know when you get around to setting the thread up GW!

ooc: ah discussing the thread silly me :( heheh im embarrased.