NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: Alright. I am doing a new intro. This is basically going to be late PMT/early FT. What does this mean? This means my nation is very weak compared to other nations in that its technology is very weak. So I don't want any fleets of doom or bombardments or whatnot unless cleared with me. I do not mind people influencing events but use common sense or I will see to it your fleet or other wankium is removed with great force. Enjoy.

P.S. If you want to do something that will majorly affect me, please contact me about it. TG or IM me at AIM: calaelen90 or MSN: calaelen90@hotmail.com

OOC thread is here: http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?p=13930487#post13930487

IC:

London, Buckingham Palace. 0900

A man walked down the hallways of the Buckingham Palace, dressed in a faded blue suit and currently holding a small black briefcase. He was one of the many aides to the current President of the Coalition, Arthur Kerrington. The higher-ups had called yet another meeting, but it was requested by the military instead of by the President. This meant something had happened. And in the two decades this war has been going on, that could never mean good news. The man moved past two armed guards, Coalition Marines, as he headed through a set of doors to the dining room that was being used as a conference hall.

You may be wondering what the war this aide is speaking of? The Great War, as it has become known, was started when the world's environment began to change rapidly and it was obvious that humanity would need to move away from Earth if they were to ensure their survival. So all the nations of the world began to work on space programs, with China, Europe, and America in the lead. China quietly began to extend its influence and take over countries through brainwashing, threats, and bribery. The West saw this and began to take precautions. It was not long before China declared its control over Asia, forming the Hegemony of Asia, and began to launch an assault on the rest of the world. Many smaller nations fell under their assaults, as they took over Russia, Oceania and Australia. They were stalled, however, in Japan, the Middle East and Africa, by Allied forces.

In response to the attack, Europe, America and the remaining Western Hemisphere forces formed the Coalition of Allied States, and thus began the war. The aide moved on, as his face took on a grim tone. The war had been not going well the past half decade. The Hegemony, having taken South Korea and other advanced nations, had been able to accelerate its technological development, giving it technology on par with the Coalition, thus allowing its far greater numbers and territory control to wear down the Coalition. Eastern Europe had been penetrated, Japan was now in ruins, and America was under heavy pressure. Naval attacks had come several times and Europe was stretched in its resources to aid it. That had been the theme of the war these past years. Now, as he reached the door, it would appear that there had been a new development. The door opened and he walked in.

Several people were already sitting at the table and they turned to face him. There was General Emily Thorton, commander of the European Theater ground forces. She looked very stretched and worn out; that wasn't surprising considering the losses they were taking and the monumental task she was trying to fulfill. Then there was Admiral Jonathan Banks, commander of the Coalition Navy, both on the planet and in space. He had been given overall command due to their diminished naval forces on Earth, and he had been off battling Hegemony forces in Hawaii, Oceania, and Japan. He looked grim and tense. This was bound to be bad. Finally, there was the president himself, pouring himself some whiskey as he prepared for the bad news he knew was coming. All that had been coming in these past few years was bad news.

He saw the aide and motioned for him to come over. The aide sat down next to the president and put his briefcase on the table, moving it over to the president. "These are the progress reports you asked for, Mr. President." Arthur nodded and motioned for him to seat, pulling the briefcase over as he took a drink. Opening it up, he pulled out a series of papers and quickly organized them. After taking quick glances, he set down his cup and looked up at the people seated.

"Well, you have called for this meeting and here it is. Now, I expect you have something else to tell me aside from these battle reports. Which...." He picked up a paper and glanced at it. "say the same things we have been told the past few years. We are holding the line, barely, in Africa, Middle East and Japan, and that America is struggling with Hegemony forces coming from China."

Jonathan cleared his throat. "There has been recent news, Mr. President, that requires your attention." Arthur raised an eyebrow, and then nodded. The Admiral stood up and moved over to a screen, which he turned on and the map of the world appeared, with blue and red areas showing Coalition and Hegemony territories and forces respectively. He began swiping at the screen, moving the planet until it showed the westernmost part of America, the Hawaii islands, Japan and China.

"As of yesterday, 1800, the Hegemony forces had been stuck battling American naval forces at Midway and Hawaii. This you all already know." The screen changed, showing red and blue triangles engaging each other at the mentioned locations. "However, NORAD has discovered that the Chinese managed to fool our satellites for a period of time. We do not yet know how, but as our forces battled in those areas, an entire naval battle fleet was sent to the coast of America. As of 0400 this morning, America has been invaded." The President froze and Emily turned her head to gaze at the Admiral.

Arthur took a breath. "What is the status of the invasion as of right now, Admiral?"

Jonathan pressed a button and a screen opened, showing a recording. Coalition soldiers were scattered about cover, as a medium MBT came forward, its cannon aiming at something off the screen, and began firing, its two magnetic accelerator cannons blasting away. Bullets and rockets crisscrossed the air, and explosions rained. A ruined car exploded as a shell hit it and soldiers went flying. One soldier stood behind a pillar, yelling into a headset. Jonathan activated the sound discrimination programs, allowing them to hear his voice.

"Command, we are under heavy attack. A Hegemony battle fleet appeared out of nowhere and blew our fleet apart in the harbor, and then proceeded to land ground forces! They have heavy air support and are keeping us pinned down as they continue to bring their forces in. Los Angeles has fallen and we are reading armored columns moving into Washington and Oregon. I requested any and all forces in the American theater to assist. I repeat, I request any and all forces in the American theater to come to assist!"

Several Hegemony fighters flew overhead and the tank exploded, sending the screen shaking and flying away, landing on the ground as the remaining soldiers continued to fire. Dark shapes moved towards them and became revealed as Hegemony forces. The Admiral shut down the screen at that, and turned to the rest. "Currently, Hegemony forces have attacked and overrun California, Hawaii, Midway, Oregon and Washinton, as Idaho and Nevada are being penetrated. They are rushing any units they can, but Central and South America are also under heavy attack and their forces are spread thin. I don't need to tell you that if America falls, we will be under attack from two fronts."

The President clasped his fingers together and sighed. "And you are asking that we devote reinforcements to them, am I correct?" The Admiral nodded and he sighed. Emily burst in. "Jonathan, I know you are doing your best here, but we don't have the forces to spare. If we take any from the front lines in Africa and the Middle East, the Hegemony will push through and take those areas, encircling Europe, and with Eastern Europe already our main frontline, we simply do not have sufficient forces to do anything about it in the way you are requesting."

"But we cannot let them fall. They are our allies and if they fall, we will follow shortly." Arthur said as he took another drink of whiskey. The Admiral gazed at him.

"Then what can we do?"

*****************


Carson City, 0954

"Fall back! Come on, MOVE IT!" Sergeant Bettinson waved at the soldiers moving out from the town center, as bullets shot through the air and missiles landed all around them. A machine gun next fired on the entryway into the clearing, giving his forces time to fall back from the Hegemony advance. He gritted his teeth as he raised his assault rifle and fired when the dark uniforms of the Hegemony forces appeared. Several fell as the fire of his squad and the nest cut them down. He saw all the remaining soldiers had pulled out and he motioned for the machine gunners to pull back and ordered his squad to leave.

The ruined building the nest was in exploded, and rubble was sent blasting everywhere. Bettinson pulled behind a pillar as it shot everywhere and looked out. His eyes widened as he yelled. "Hegemony mech!" A tall Mao-class Battle Mech moved into the clearing, its steps crushing concrete, cars, and bodies underfoot. It's twin magnetic accelerator cannons, machine guns, and missile array made it a powerful weapon on the battlefield. It was the only mech they had so far, and the Coalition had far more powerful ones, but they were able to be produced in such greater numbers, it didn't matter. He began to retreat and was followed by his soldiers. The mech noticed them and began to send bullets their way. He heard a couple cries as soldiers fell behind him, but he kept running. The mech took a step to pursue, when several missiles rocketed into its head, blowing shards of metal out as it staggered and fell over. Coalition fighters roared overhead as several squadrons roared in and began to engage the Hegemony forces.

"Calling any Coalition forces, please respond, over." The Sergeant clicked on his headset.

"This is Sergeant Bettinson of Charlie Company, who's this?"

"This is Commander Thompson. Reinforcements are enroute, Sergeant. We need you and your boys to go take back the center of town. If we can hold that, we can stall their advance. Don't worry, we have some mechs coming in to assist. Thompson out."

He heard the sound of motors and turned back to see several APC's roar in and stop, firing at the Hegemony soldiers pushing into the square as more soldiers poured out of the APC's. He grinned and hefted his rifle. He called to his squad and they joined the soldiers. Behind them was several light and medium tanks, a squad of mechs and several squadons of aircraft. Soon battle was joined and the Hegemony advance was halted, for the moment.

Far away, in his command center, Hegemony Commander Tong-Ning Kai grunted as he saw the Coalition response. "It's about time they responded. I almost thought I was going to take all of Western America unopposed." He turned to an aide. "Tell the carrier groups at Japan to hurry up and come straight to California. We need more air support if we are going to crush the Coalition here." The aide nodded and moved away. He checked the status reports of the battle when a screen flickered and the image of a man with a dark brown uniform appeared. He wore small glasses, which showed dark brown eyes and he had a small head of brown hair. Tong-Ning instantly straightened and saluted. "Premier Yi!" The Premier smiled.

"At ease, Commander. How goes the invasion?"

He nodded. "Very well, Premier. The Americans were stretched thin as you predict. We control most of Western America, but have stalled in Idaho and Nevada due to reinforcements. They have brought in more air power than expected, so I am moving the carrier group at Japan to reinforce our air forces."

Yi nodded. "Good. Let me know when you have control of Western America. Then Admiral Shai can begin Phase Two." Kai nodded.

"I know, and I will not fail you." The Premier smiled.

"I know, Kai." The screen winked out and the Commander smiled and returned to his work.



************

America was not the only one under siege. Hegemony reinforcements in the Middle East, Africa and Eastern Europe hammered hard at European forces, ensuring that no major force could be sent to reinforce America. As America struggled to survive the onslaught under control of Commander Tong-Ning Kai, other plans were being set into motion. Premier Gon-Kuan Yi was preparing his plan to crush the Coalition forces in space, ensuring they could destroy the Coalition on the ground and in space with one swift strike.

With their control of the outer and middle worlds, including Jupiter and Saturn and with their fleets already assaulting Mars and the Coalition bases on the moon, the Coalitions only remaining possible salvation was the space fleet in orbit above the European and America areas of Earth, under command of Admiral Banks. But, he would see to it that they would not be spared their wrath.

It was going to take a miracle to save the Coalition from their current situation. Fortunately for them, several miracles had been put into place, they just needed a little..push.

Some days prior
With a vibration, the fourth and last stubby maser cluster was pressed against its mounting on the the unnamed ship's stretched-trapezoid wing and bolted on by a robotic arm. Rows of lights shot on all down the exterior, eliciting oohs and aahs over the radio band from the crowd of spacesuited dignitaries present.

Suddenly, a hologram crackled on over the crowd, feeding from a camera trained on a tiny armoured figure standing on the ship's bow. The figure was obviously Admiral Jonathan Deibank, and the object in his hand was a champagne bottle.

His voice boomed out, amplified and bass-boosted, across the expectant mob.

"For the good of Kostemetsia, her territories, and her people - and for the vast improvement of our base of scientific knowledge - I christen this vessel the KRS Concordant Opposition, and congratulate her Captain, Rebecca Heston, on being the first captain of an outer-perimeter research vessel."

A few minutes later, after the dignitaries had dispersed, chattering somewhat excitedly, Deibank left, after wishing the crew luck.

Immediately upon his departure, the ship began to turn on its mounting to face towards the launch doors. Behind it, another pair of doors opened to vent the ship's exhaust; clearance came in from Control and the ship began to move slowly towards the distant doors. They opened, revealing a tantalising crack filled with stars, which widened as the doors moved back against the station's hull.

"Alright, Opposition. You're clear to launch, and your prowlers are reporting secure - godspeed."

With a floor-shaking vibration, the newly-commissioned starship's engines were throttled up to half, and the Concordant Opposition soared majestically from the launch bay. Orders had been received some days prior - thus, the ship's high-powered quantum injectors opened a hole a half-minute later, and the voyager slipped through to a destination yet unknown.

---

17 August, 3048
Unnamed system designated Arborea-394

With a purple flash, the Concordant Opposition soared out of the tube's terminus at the system's edge with a speed approaching that of light, royal blue hull gleaming in the rays of a distant yellow dwarf. The closest celestial object to them was an ice-ball dwarf planet, which was given but a cursory scan before the Opposition moved on to two small gas giants, eighth and seventh from the local star, respectively.

Surprisingly enough, there appeared to be some rather interesting groups orbiting the sixth and fifth planets, which were both gas balls; preliminary profile scans suggested big, quaintly antique gas-mining orbitals, and smaller scanner shadows at their edges suggested habitation orbitals and perhaps even armed defences. They bore a resemblance to ancient United Earth designs, but old Earth had never come out here.

Increasing its speed slightly, the Opposition soared past, giving the flocks a wide berth and attempting to stay out of whatever sensor range they might have.

The fourth planet, a rocky planet not unlike Mars (this system seemed suspiciously familar), boasted definite signs of civilisation. Dome cities of some sort were obviously present on the planet, but the flocks of rather dangerous-looking energy signatures orbiting it prompted the Opposition to, again, give it a wide berth.

The third planet, however, was where things changed. The land forms were exactly the same as those of Earth! This sent an anticipatory shiver through the science ship's crew - they'd only ever heard of this kind of system in scattered legends. All landforms were quickly tagged with their correspondent continents' names.

Now to investigate further. The planet had a strategic defence network of some description, which seemed to be rather active over the western to eastern hemisphere borderline. Scans also picked up networks of ships, and Captain Heston ordered the helmsman to a good recording position. If all went well, they should be able to capture footage proving the existence of an advanced, near-Type 1 civilisation here, and perhaps bring the Navy's Contact division in. Tea and medals for all, as the great wits of millennia past might say.

She had thought, when the ship had first idled about the gleaming world that was known, so far as they were aware, as 'Earth', that it was almost like home. Of course worlds such as that, seemingly wonderfully suited to hot-housing your local pan-human species, were widely diverse. As though some immense cosmic billiard player had just broke and sent them hurtling across time and space. Maybe he was moving immensely slowly to get into position, maybe there were a billion possible positions to consider his next move from, maybe his opponent had bludgeoned him to death with a cue. No one could be certain in this metaphor, and no worlds had gone skittering into black holes in a vast straight arc across existence. Had there been a cult of the Divine Snookerer, they would have thanked their sporting lord that the universe knew peace, prosperity and a tied score.

They had gazed out at it from one of the view-screens of the DEV Not As Interesting As It Looked From Space, the great arrow-head craft which now sat with mirror fields and chameleonic protocols in place to protect it from prying eyes and semi-advanced sensors. There had been thousands, maybe even millions of them aboard, all in search of fun amongst the stars, all wanting to explore and encounter other civilisations. To see and do, and find and fuck and frolic among the primitives and the barely star-bound. It had seemed as good a place as any to begin. Human-basic civilisation capable of travel within their own system, capable of colonising other worlds. It had been something, a start.

The shipbrain had begun by downloading its entire networked computer system for further analysis, shuffling through radio-signals and digital broadcasts (which it sometimes played for the crew, letting them gain an insight into their artistry with words and picture, music and script.). News broadcasts had indicated that the civilisation was divided along ideological lines and was currently involved in a war, zones of conflict fairly easy to point out, stratagems fairly simply to suppose.

Li Kitrain had smiled softly, letting her lightly tanned features crease in light mirth. It seemed so promising. They had come forth to walk the stars, see what could be seen. To find out what was interesting and what was assuredly dull. She had been one of almost a dozen people chosen to wander this new world of their own free will and accord. Discrete shuttle-craft had taken them to a variety of countries, allowing them to wander freely. Money had been provided, along with ID that had dutifully appeared in the relevant databases. They were citizens, it seemed, false names hiding their nature, their appearance human standard as it was.

She had started in Eastern Europe. She had rock-climbed and cave-dove. She had tried white-water rafting, she had been to bars and restaurants, and went to see movies. She had made friends, taken lovers, explored, all in a matter of days, always moving, always changing. Conversing when she could, or when she was recalled, with the Shipbrain.

They're a frank oddity. You'd be amazed at how much of their computer networks are dedicated to smut. Simply pornography. Heterosexual, homosexual, bestial...I think we've discovered how many of the interlopers back home were born.

“Shuush you” She had scolded, biting her lip. “Where are you sending me next?”

France, I believe they call it. Supposed to be nice. I swear to you, so much smut. So very little of actual use. They have decent search protocols for their level, even a few online encyclopaedias or databases.

If I have to see one more erect-

“I get it! Any advice?”

Tides turning. The war I mean, seems to be getting worse. Entire section of the planet seems under threat from the other side taking it. Vague aims, taking territory. Never understood it if I'm being honest.

“What about the others?”

Mostly safe. One or two seem to have wandered into the warzone. I may have to keep a closer eye on those ones. You know how to get a hold of me, of course. I'm sure I can spare the attention Brain humour. They always had attention to spare.

Don't talk to too many strangers, it had said, try not to get too much sun, it had grumbled. She sometimes felt as though each of them were travelling with a giant voracious parent, simultaneously over-protective and mockingly insincere in its concerns. She stretched out one hand to raise the glass of wine to her lips, before relaxing back into her prone position. She was sprawled in a deck chair, beside the clear blue waters of a hotel swimming pool. She had placed her book, some tawdry example of Earth fiction, to one side. Smiling impishly. She would have to get some more of these, maybe see if the brain had got any from their...Inter-networked computer system, thing.

They moved amongst these other humans, humans like themselves who hadn't quite seen the light, hadn't moved far enough to realise that some of their activities demeaned them, or demeaned their species type, and that bigger, badder forces existed which might not take lightly to such techniques being brought to a galactic civilisational scale.

Aliens could be so prudish. She had giggled lightly to herself, reaching over for the bottle of lotion again, squeezing a dollop into her hand and massaging it into her golden-brown legs. She idly wondered how the others might be getting along.
------------------------------------------------
Daryen Sagret had never known true war. He had always seen it in old sims or recordings, or witnessed it in gloriously rendered holographic copies from ongoing fighting. He had, however, always wanted to try. That was why the next change the shipbrain had arranged for him had been a military ID and clearance, transport to a barracks, and the necessary means to get himself to a front. In this case, he had been dropped quite literally in the shit.

America was under siege. This was, he understood, something of a predicament for the world. It was something big, apparently, part of one alliance or the other, and so a hotbed of war, politics and now, the rank smell of fear. He had rode with the rest into the belly of the beast, emulating their actions, turning with sim-practised ease to shoot at his enemies. The Hegemony, or some such. Antiquated terms for antiquated concepts, playing antiquated games. He wasn't bothered whether he lived or died. The Shipbrain had insisted he leave at least some semblance of a personality construct behind, and he had obliged.

He ducked behind covered, breath coming harsh and fast in his chest as he flexed his muscles, exercising skills that no Myenyan had needed to indulge for an age, all in the name of kicks, thrills and a mandate to explore every aspect of a sufficiently advanced civilisation.

Time would tell whether it was on the right path, one day to emerge as enlightened and productive as Myenya, or whether it would emerge as one of the frequently hostile denizens of the galaxy. The “toothless invasion” as the massed diplomatic clusterfuck back home had become known, had simply convinced them that “we do to do what we do only more so.” In the face of a reputedly hostile galaxy, in the face of supposedly ever-and-omnipresent alien overlords, hostile empires and pan-galactic tyrants, they had to endure as a beacon of peace, light, hope and interesting times.

And, Daryen was finding, peace was only really appreciated when you had to stare war in the face, alongside those others who stood against it or shirked from its coming horror.

The Monolith hung near the larger gas giant, or rather the projection of it intruding into this universe, reality, what ever one felt like calling it did. It was currently invisible to all senses, artificial and natural, save purely old fashioned mark 1 mod 1 human visual.

And what the basically means is if you used - via technology or 'organic' -any of the EM spectrum outside of human visual ranges you didn't know the projection was there. The Monolith and it's crew weren't being rude, but they'd been following the trail of broadcast that was intriguing - but the last two decades worth was of a system at war. And while they hadn't found anything that could break the Monolith yet, it wasn't for their lack of trying. They figured their own near misses were bad enough - they didn't need outside attempts waged against them.

"Jack, lets take her in closer. I want to disperse some additional drones and those will need to be eyeballed in."

""But Boss,"

"Captain" Came the swift, but more than slightly 'its habit' reply

"Captain. I can do it from here." Came the protest

"Jack..."

The others of the non corporeal crew suppressed snickers, while someone unnamed played back Jacks backing through the star incident- that brought a ruffle of laughter from every one. Well all most every one - Captain - by the grace of the Divine and the Empress- Catherine Grace O’Malley didn't crack a smile.

"As normal" came a whisper from among the crew

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

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

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

Tanaran Imperial Navy MX01- the Monolith wasn’t really experimental- One Starr had been using them ever since they’d found the deep space, red limit storehouse of the oddities - but the Tanaran Navy had felt that it was the best designation, for the moment. Especially as the new ship hadn’t come with a very coherent handbook and the engineers were still feeling their way though some of the basic notions of the stranger than merely strange physics of the Monolith. Being un-embodied was still giving some of the crew headaches too. And the Integral Sentience wasn’t being all that helpful, or so they felt. Though one engineer had been known to mutter something about quantum apples and non Euclidian oranges.

Jack, just do it Came the Captain's voice, and the eye roll that accompanied it was a given.

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

That was ten days ago.

And after hours of consultation with the crew, and a quick E.T. the Captain had come to her decision. For in the end it was and always would be the Captain's call. That’s why getting to be a Captain in the Explorers Guild was so hard - and doubly hard if one double hatted with the Tanaran Navy.. She hadn’t consulted the Integral Sentience – she had the feeling it would not have advised – for Grace was almost certain that it was observing them as much as it observed the outer world.

And the system was getting crowded - there were other people watching as well – and so some times one had to step up to the plate or let some one else get the home run.

“Okay every one, no babble, no fringe noise lets be calm cool and collected. All protocols down, fully visible….Lets say hello”

And so the Monolith did

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

"Exiting hyperspace in three...and two...and one..."

A single Cerberus-class corvette dropped out of the standard hyperspace that it had been testing itself with, the hyper drive provided by the Clans' good friends, the Dornalians. What the crew of this particular ship wasn't expecting was to find itself staring at another Earth clone.

"Unity, what is this, another Terra?" The Captain of the star ship, which wasn't even bothering to cover its own entry, let alone do anything other than take up space and run system analysis scans, which would probably set off Kerensky knows how many alarms to whoever lived here, grumbled.

"Aff, Star Captain Jonas Ward," replied his com-scan officer. "This entire system is yet another carbon copy of the original Sol System, save for the fact that Mars is colonized, Jupiter has several orbiting colonies and mining stations, the Moon of Terra is colonized, and it seems that all of Terra is bogged down in what seems to be another World War, like those mentioned in the Remembrance."

Star Captain Jonas Ward huffed in contempt. "Lousy carbon copies of the Inner Sphere freebirths," he muttered. "Get in closer to the Terra copy. Let us see what the situation is like planet-side."

"Aff, lead," replied the helmsman as he began typing in commands and maneuvering the roughly-500-meter-long warship towards a geosynchronous orbit over the North American continent.

(OOC: Tanara, would you mind terribly if I took a complimentary copy of your signal? :tongue:)

KORRS Concordant Opposition
Near the planet designated Arb-394-3

A signal came up from the aft communications dish, and Heston took the message on her right retinal implant.

>> INTRASHIP TRANSMISSION 001.16
>> FROM: AFT COMMUNICATIONS DISH COMPUTER
>> TO: BRIDGE
>> BODY:
>> SIGNAL INTERCEPT
>> ORIGINATES FROM JUPITER ORBIT
>> COMMUNICATIONS PROTOCOL UNKNOWN
>> IMPORTANT: POSSIBLE THIRD PLAYER

Heston held in a sigh. Why was it, every time Kostemetsia looked like it was going to have a nice peaceful look at an interesting system, someone had to come along and spoil it?

Wearily, she forwarded the message to the defense computer, along with a warning to discreetly raise the ship's rather strong defences. Kostemetsia had learnt from its scouting experience; unarmed research vessels, such as like there were in drama sensevises... well, they were never a good thing in the real world, and so the Navy had seen fit to place four quattro maser turrets in strategic locations on the hull; two on the underside of the flattened nose and two just aft of the bridge, dwarfing it.

Shifting up the ship's sensor fooler, she gave the def system the all clear to 'reveal' the defences, as it were - to any outside source the Concordant Opposition would still appear to be a harmless research vessel until the fooler was powered down, but it packed the same kind of firepower as a medium capital ship killer.

The stubby silver domes of the maser clusters rose from the hull, quad maser barrels telescoping from them a second later. The gunnery crew quickly aligned the nose masers on the battle below and the hull masers on the signal at Jupiter - it wouldn't hurt to be cautious.

A standard Kostemetsian acknowledgement was sent to the signal source at Jupiter, warning it of another extraterrestrial presence in the system. If things didn't go well, the Conc Opp could always hide itself among one of the clusters of ships below.

Then, another signal! But this one from sensors.

>> INTRASHIP TRANSMISSION 001.17
>> FROM: SENSOR FIELD COMPUTER
>> TO: BRIDGE
>> BODY:
>> LOCAL SHORT-RANGE SENSOR INTERCEPT
>> TRACE IN LOCAL ORBIT FIELD
>> PROFILE UNKNOWN
>> POSSIBLE FOURTH PLAYER

Heston considered for a second, then decided not to send another signal - at least for the moment. They already had one possible combative trace; they certainly didn't want to incur another possible, because then - if worst came to worst - it would be two versus one, and she didn't want to break the non-contact regulation, which would probably entail giving the planet below a severe case of xenophobia.

Gliese 581, Solipsist Anomaly. 15th of May of 2180 AD. 02:18 E-GMT

There was no way to be certain that the still arguably inferior forces reported through indirect observation of sol matched reality, specially considering that such readings were from how the solar system was twenty year ago due to the astronomical distances which separated anarchy from fascism. The Global State stood there, with a visible build up of forces from the gradual increase of heat signatures close to Sol. Each time one looked at the twenty years ago of such pale blue dot, the purpose, the only reason for their existence.

Their ancestors have selected the best of their gene pool to colonize two planets which were barely inhabitable as the world slowly decayed into tyranny, as the sanctity of human consciousness and free will itself were desecrated by the mind control developments. Since them, freedom was fleeting, and Solar Communes were in a race against time to overcome the initial superiority of the Global State. During their long journey, they have discovered how ignorant their ancestors were about the possibility of extraterrestrial life, and how sometimes it seemed that the laws of physics were held by the retroactive influence of the belief in their practicality.

A strange rift, with an event horizon which beyond, laws of physics as they knew it would no longer apply. A place where all those foolhardy enough to get through never returned, yet a sense of curiousity, and that perhaps such place held the answers to their long conflict, maintained the will to send occasional expeditions, mostly unmanned, to such strange anomaly. Only torment and nightmares came as answers from whatever lied beyond. The Christians claimed that the place was simply a gateway to Hell opened from the sinful nature of their society, while others tried to find a scientific logic on something which completely defied logic.

Perhaps as defiant to logic was what passed right through the event horizon at such moment. A small but powerful flotilla escorting a few dozens of transport and logistics spacecrafts. The metallic, cramped interiors of these spacecrafts were devoid of individual existence, for an individual would be unable to psychologically survive against what lied beyond.

Hopefully they would arrive again at the proximities of the pale blue dot through it, for perhaps the only fact that held physics was the ripple in time that the research of such laws created, and the anomaly was a clear evidence that although flawed, solipsism was not a completely senseless possibility. A long journey through the unknown would ensue, to maybe be the first faster-than-light travel of their history.

Like all the others, it never came back.

Unknown Location, Unknown Time

It was impossible to understand the complex thought processes of the Hive. It was more than simply all of them discussing together a solution, it was a singular consciousness formed from the union of their consciousness and temporary sacrifice of their individuality which would cease to exist once they became individual minds again. It struggled hardly as untold fears and nightmares assailed it through the long journey. It could barely keep account of time in a seemingly timeless universe. Eons might have passed, but all seemed so unclear. In the end, it merely kept an all-seeing watch over sensors, instruments and measurements to verify where they have ended.

If a collective consciousness could have an equivalent of joy, perhaps now was the time. It knew that the features were very precise. Nine planets, which were definitively of the solar system, and a sun which features were exactly like those of Sun. The pale blue dot was a distant vision, six astronomical units away, and there were many fleets, but they seemed to be in conflict. Perhaps they have arrived years after the war begun, making such travel quite a far call from what would configure faster than light.

It was necessary to understand what was happening, for it was unlikely they would manage to come back easily. Roaring trails of remains of a fusion engine were left behind at increasingly high temperatures as the spacecrafts made their way towards the blue planet. A long travel estimated to take six days, and no response yet.

The consciousness knew its time was about to finish, for its utility would soon end. There were few things more nihilistic than such artificial construct due to the awareness of their short lived sentience, and it simply ignored thoughts about the matter, focusing its complex sentience into keeping a long watch over signals that could be intercepted.

The temporary gravitational rupture of where they came from coupled with the power of their fusion engines would make the spacecrafts of such small force clearly visible. Now it was necessary to make use of every second like if it was the last, for Global State forces would eventually arrive. Thus, unaware of the truth, the singular existence continued to guide Solarian forces through the greatest dream of their entire lives: to liberate Earth from tyranny.

"War is a such a complex thing, but we treat it like it is a simple tool. We find an enemy, throw all the technology, ships, and manpower we have at it until either them or us give and then the wars over. But it is not that simple. War is a total dedication of a people to fighting for a cause that they would spill their blood, destroy cities and lay waste to entire countries in their crusade. And that they will sacrifice their innocence, their peace of mind, that is required to take another life. War, my son.....is hell, and we are overly fond of hell."-Unknown Coalition Sergeant, Memoirs of the Great War.
'

*******


The Coalition was reeling from the hammer blow that the Hegemony had delivered them, and they were not being given any chance to pull back. General Thornton knew this, as she sat in her command center in Dresden, Germany, working with her staff to process the constant stream of reports, cries for help, and situation updates while trying to get a handle on the situation. They had managed to get the lines of communication coming in from all over the world stabilized, but it only enhanced the feeling of desperation that was filling all their hearts. The Hegemony was pushing in from all fronts, this was it. This was the final battle to decide the war. Everything before had been maneuvering for position, weakening the enemy, and buying time. Time had run out and it was time to face the music or find a way to win. Something, Emily thought, was going to be damned near impossible. America was under heavy assault. Aside from Carson City and a few other strongholds of resistance, the Hegemony's forces were making good time into the center of the United States. The fronts in the Middle East and Africa were becoming strained, reaching levels of violence not seen in eight years, and Eastern Europe was close to being able to reference itself as having streets run with blood.

They simply could not sustain these casualties, nor could they deal with the pressure coming in from America. She grimaced as she reached for the red phone with a sign reading Fleet. This was the direct line between her command center and the First Fleet of the Coalition Navy, orbiting above the Coalition territories under the command of Admiral Banks. Good ole Jonathan. She picked up the phone. She heard the phone ring twice and then the very tense voice of the Admiral could be heard.

"Yes, General, what is it?"

"Jonathan, our forces cannot hold the line against the Hegemony forces at this rate. We need your ships to do some tactical bombardment." There was a pause on the line and then a tired sigh.

"I had hoped I would not have to hear those words, Emily....However, I cannot help you."

Her hands tightened on the phone. "What do you mean you can't help?!"

"Look at the satellite imaging, Emily." She paused and called up the screen. Her eyes widened slightly as she saw the First Fleet in heavy combat with elements of the Hegemony fleets moving in to attack. Orbital defense platforms of both sides opened fire, and swarms of dots crisscrossed the space between them as they launched salvo's of missiles, with bursts of EMP exploding and causing the data to become warped and hard to read. Railgun shells fired from large cannons. She watched as Wasp Interceptors escorting their Scythe bombers began to skirmish with Hegemony fighters and bombers. Explosions scattered all around the fleets and shields flared as the battle went to full swing. An alarm sounded on Bank's side of the phone.

"I have to go now, I'm afraid. They're hitting Mars and the Moon base as well. All our spaceborne forces are tied up and there's nothing much I can do. Whatever miracle you are looking for, I don't have. Admiral Banks out." The line went dead and she put down the phone, frustration filling her mind. She was distracted this time, however, by a strange report. Long distance satellites were reporting a strange mass heading towards Earth at great speeds. Data coming in detailed it as a spaceship-

What.

She read the report again. The computers had classified it as a spaceship but it was not displaying any identification codes that they had in their databases. Her eyes widened, and she picked up another red phone. "Get me the president, NOW!"

**************

The Hegemony was busy as well, orchestrating moves to ensure the Coalition did not have a chance to get back on its feet and drive them back. As their forces moved all over the system to pin down Coalition fleets and ensure their supply lines were restricted, other matters began to seep in to show the Hegemony, as well as the Coalition, that their idea of themselves being the only intelligent life form in the galaxy to be a major flaw. Sensor stations at the planets of Neptune, Pluto, and Uranus detected a disturbance of space equivalent to what their own drives caused. The readings came in detecting a small fleet of vessels arriving. A more detailed scan caused when probes were fired out to do a closer pass revealed that the ships were not Hegemony or Coalition in origin. The same realization hit the outposts as had hit Emily. Other intelligent races did exist, they had space ships and they were coming here...to Sol.

The news spread quickly over the networks and reached the desk of the Premier within minutes. After a long shocked pause of time as the Premier and his defense staff debated and argued over the issue and the information, unsure if this was correct, they finally sent out orders for a scout ship to be sent out to open communications. Which was then coped for when the strange monolithic-like ship appeared near Jupiter and another ship by the outer edge of the system. The Coalition's President, after being given a shock-filled update by the General, ordered the same when a ship appeared near Mars and Earth.

Humanity was filled with shock as news reports on both sides blared out the breaking news that aliens had been discovered and alien spaceships were arriving in their system. The reaction was mixed. Many xenophobic responses came up immediately, with panic over the possibility of an alien invasion, taking advantage of humanity's weakened and divided state. Others wanted to welcome them with open arms and call for their aid on their side of the conflict, especially on the Coalition's side. Both sides realized that the alien races had technology far superior to their own, if the power signatures were anything to go by. And so, scout ships were sent out, broadcasting messages with the same content:

"We are the Coalition/Hegemony. We come in peace. You have arrived in Coalition/Hegemony space. Please identify yourselves and your purpose in arrival."

They were being cautious but friendly hosts for now, but both sides were calling up last resort assets, ground and space, in case they turned hostile. However, even as this new revelation occurred, the war went on.

************

Carson City, Nevada

War was hell, and the Coalition soldiers had been given a one-way ticket into the deepest inner circle of hell. The town center had been forced, and they had to retreat into the middle of the city, due to the heavy influx of Hegemony reinforcements. The carrier group requested by Kai was due to arrive in four hours, and the Coalition was intending on using what time they had to have superior air support. The Hegemony force of fighters and bombers was quickly hit hard and they had to shepherd it for key strikes and attacks, hitting an area with troops to force them to call in strikes and then attacking the air bases. It was a tense situation and it wasn't getting any better.

So, the field commander sent out a call for reinforcements, of any kind, to come to Carson City. They needed more bodies and vehicles to initiate attacks on the Hegemony forces. The answer was sparse, at least in the field commander's hopes of a response. The other fronts opening in middle America were drawing away other forces, thus limiting those whom could respond. However, they were lucky. A couple regiments of Coalition Marines had been the first to arrive, Daryn Sagret being one of them, and it was rumored one of the legendary and rare Special Forces squads would be inbound to assist. But, for the moment, they had to make do.

Daryn's platoon soon cleared out the street they were holding and the sergeant waved them over. "Alright boys, new orders have come in from HQ." A loud crack sounded and two streets over, followed by a loud thump and a large explosion. "We are to rendezvous with second and third platoons of Marines holed up in an hotel a block away. A NAV marker will be put into our HUD system, so we can track the objective. We will be splitting up into two groups,twenty-five soldiers each roughly. Alpha Group, which will be us, is going to penetrate straight through contested city to get to the platoons at the hotel, whom are currently under heavy attack. Beta Group will be assaulting one of the Hegemony outposts in the city, to draw attention from our assault and thin the soup a little. Any questions? I thought not. Alright, move out Marines!"

Hand signals were quickly given and soldiers began to move. Pistols were cocked, shotguns loaded, assault rifles readed and the rocket or two prepped. Point men quickly moved forward, checking the area to ensure no Hegemony forces were detected. At their nod, they began to move forward. A marine clasped a hand on Daryn's soldier. "Alright mate, lets go. Nice job back there, you did well in covering my back. I'll be looking to return the favor." Taking the safety off his rifle, he began to move forward, bunny-hoping from cover to cover. They moved out, ready to engage the Hegemony forces and it wasn't long until they found them.

They had gone ten minutes, hearing the roar of jets overhead, the dull thumping of tank fire and the near-constant staccato bursts of weapons fire. Soon enough, a NAV marker appeared in their helmets somewhere to the west, showing that Beta Group had begun their attack. Rattles of automatic fire and the occasional thump of an explosive detailed that for their ears. All went to plan, until a reinforcing Hegemony convoy ran smack dab into them. Two armored APC's, two hover jets with manned machine gun, and five squads of soldiers ran into twenty five Coalition Marines. "SCATTER AND COVER, MARINES!" The Sergeant bellowed as the Hegemony guns began to track their way. The buzzing sound of gauss guns firing high speed shells sliced through the air and four Marines went down, gurgling and spilling their life blood into the ground. The rest of the Marines found cover, be it in craters, burned out cars or rubble, and began to return fire. Enemy soldiers began to fall, taking concentrated fire when they, too, went to cover, supported by the two APCS and the jets. The APC's turned, facing forward as the doors deployed in back and three more squads of soldiers began to pour out. Slowly, they began to push on the Coalition forces.

The Marines gave as good as they got and the Hegemony troops began to close in. The situation was not good, they would be overwhelmed unless one of their number stepped up and managed to even the odds.....

OOC: LOL not at all, Kostemetsia!

In reply to the Concordant Opposition’s standard communication, one was sent in return, along the same frequency “Greetings, no hostile intent, pleased to make your acquaintance. Hope you are enjoying your studies” A reply with no pressure behind it, a simple “I see you, nice to meet you”.

A similar communication was sent to the other observers - DEV Not As Interesting As It Looked From Space which had been there when the Monolith had arrived, and not bothered to communicate - of course the arrival of the monolith might have simply gone unnoticed - and the latest arrivals in the system- A Cerberus-class corvette, A hive mind ship of the Solar Communes - neither of whom the Tanarans had met before...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"We are the Coalition/Hegemony. We come in peace. You have arrived in Coalition/Hegemony space. Please identify yourselves and your purpose in arrival."

"And go in pieces" Jack muttered the ancient, sardonic reprise. "They're busy wiping each other out and yet claim peace"

"Standard procedure. We probably gave them several variations on myocardial infarctions" Sam said calmly as she busied herself setting up and recording the myriad sensor sweeps the scout craft were undergoing.

"It fits with what we've picked up from their decades of broadcasts. What both sides are like are pretty clear to us by now. However, just to make sure, we're going to give both sides one last chance to state their case." Captain Catherine Grace O’Malley hadn't been named for an illustrious if rather infamous ancestor for nothing. She had no problem taking affairs into her own strong hands. One side or the other would get some help – but not all that much – too much was actually worse than too little.

Came the reply

“This is Tanaran Imperial Navy MX01, Captain Catherine Grace O’Malley commanding. We have come out of in part interest in your conflict. In other part, it is our interest in simple exploration. However since we take exception at being shot at, we ask that both the Coalitions and Hegemony fleets cease their combat “ Her tone was polite, but gave the definitive impression that she well knew she had the upper hand.

OOC: A note, the DEV has been here for some time, as I indicated in my post. It's also hiding. So unless you make an effort to detect it, it's not going to be found unless it wants to or you try. Sorry about that, could you edit as necessary?

Consider this my placeholder :)

IC:

High above the world, the DEV shipbrain watched with something akin to mirthful amusement as the world seemed to explode with the knowledge that they were not alone. It hadn't revealed itself, of course, nor had it thought to alert these other powers to it's discrete presence. Instead it continued to sort through the human dataverse-equivalent, random music blaring throughout the ship. It had just considered perhaps notifying the other foreign powers of its presence, or the world as a whole, when Voodoo Child ended, and something new began. It might have shrugged had it had shoulders, monitoring its interior. Culturally amused humans had been taken aback by the music, while drones had flickered with light-signals showing either amusement or annoyance at the crudity of human music. Something lighter, classical, filled the ship with a more relaxed ambience. The ship turned back to its work.

No rest for the wicked.
-------------------------------------
Li had chewed at her lip as she listened to the news, almost anxious to know more about what was going on. Could they have found the ship? Had it accidentally revealed itself? What the fuck was going on? She had a sudden desire to be back at the ship, to be off of this world which was now potentially aware of its observed status, and perhaps of the 'aliens' amongst them. She had heard that they considered themselves as having been visited before, that people were taken into ships.

Such crude human fear could be the death of her. She drummed her fingers nervously along bare skin, before leaning back in her seat. She couldn't be seen to overreact, she couldn't be seen to convey fear or to step out of line. She had to maintain her cover, had to keep up the game, the experiment. She rose from her seat and moved to the bar, ordering a drink from a tall dark haired waiter. She smiled. Business as usual.
----------------------------------------
"Shit. Shit." Daryn had hissed, springing up to fire at the incoming Hegemony troops. He didn't want to die, not even the fleeting death of knowing that a backup personality construct lay somewhere in the shipbrain. That seemed almost too much, as though destroying his experiences here would end this new and vital part, pulsing with maddening fear. This was what it meant to be human in a civilisation such as this, stripped of the niceties of his own people, his technological advancement. This was being down amongst the primitives, one of the barbarians at the gates. No finer rush, no truer hit.

He had sprung up, screaming "Cover me!" as he slung the grenade at the foe, then down, then up and another at another cluster, ducking as explosions rocked the battlefield. He sprung up again, rifle howling as he took aim and let fly with all he had. He dove forward, mud splattering itself about his face and clothing as he knelt in the filth, hiding his head, cowed by the barrage of enemy fire.

"Just keep it up! Keep them spread out! Grenade the bastards and keep them apart, trust in your brothers, keep the covering fire up! Come on! We can do this!" He yelled, before jumpinhup to fire. Again and again and again. He was lost in it, the comradery of battlelust, the fraternity of combat. These were his men now, this was his unit. He would do anything he could to get out of here and to bring them through with him.

"Star Captain?" A little Avatar AI, about the size of a ten-year-old child, and looking very much the same, scurried up to the large man.

"Yes, Kimiko?" Star Captain Jonas Ward looked down to the small gynoid* body of the ships AI. He always found it odd that each of the ships came with one of these things, and he found it even stranger that they preferred the bodies of children to adults or just being in the ship itself.

"We're being hailed, Star Captain," she replied. Another thing he hated. She spoke like a freebirth and used contractions. "Local populace. Human, much like us. They're asking us who they are."

"Well, tell them," he ordered, to which she quickly did within a tenth of a second of the order being made.

The transmission was broadcast over a Hyper Pulse frequency, which, while translatable into easy laser or radio frequencies, also had the tendency to knock out your average radar systems. In this case, it would probably cause every single ship, satellite, television station, and whatnot, communications array within the Earth Sphere (as in everything around Earth and the Moon up to the edge of the planet's gravitational pull) to shut down for about five seconds as the Pulse translated itself into readable frequencies.

"Hello! My name is Kimiko! I am the shipboard AI of the Cerberus-class Corvette, the Shaolin. My Masters are the Clans, children of the Founder, Aleksandr Kerensky, and they come here seeking those worthy enough to trade with and form good relations with."

As Kimiko began relations with the approaching Coalition forces, the ship's scanners, which were completely undetectable to anyone except other equally, or more, advanced races, began surveying the condition on the Earth.

"Star Captain Jonas Ward, I am receiving battlefield telemetry on the war between the two dominant factions within the region." The tactical officer spoke with a stern, deep voice, his voice matching his body size.

"What is the current situation?" The Star Captain walked slowly towards the tactical officer's station, listening to his report.

"It seems that the war is turning to the favor of what is called the Hegemony. The Hegemony appears to have numerical superiority in comparison to the Coalition, and they are using their numbers to their advantage by forcing the less numerous Coalition to fight on several fronts. Currently, several new fronts have been opened in the two Americas while Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa have begun to receive increased reinforcements from some of the Hegemony's reserve units. The heaviest fighting is currently in North America and Eastern Europe, as it appears that Europe and North America are the two main territories for the Coalition."

"What are the odds that the Coalition will survive this synchronized attack?" The Star Captain looked to his tactical officer.

"Less than five percent, Star Captain Jonas Ward. The Coalition is spread to thin to make any effective defense effort. It would take what they call 'divine intervention' to save them now."

"A pity," the Star Captain said. "Then we shall side with the Heg-"

"We will side with the Coalition," said a young, female voice. An Asian-looking girl, looking to be no older than her mid-twenties, stepped up to the Star Captain's side. Her small frame and long, black hair were in steep contrast to the muscular, tall, Aryan-looking Warrior.

"You can not possibly be suggesting that we assist those that are losing?" The Star Captain gave the young woman a look of contempt.

"That is exactly what I am saying, Star Captain Jonas Ward," she replied. She looked back to him, her eyes piercing as she stared into his own.

"I will never understand the compassion of a Magi," the large Warrior replied. "While I would protest this, I am rather eager to test my mettle against these freebirths. Perhaps fighting against the winning side would give me that chance after all?"

The Star Captain then returned his attention to the tactical officer, who sat silently and stared only upon his station console. "How many ships do we have in the area?"

"A Trinary of Saber-class Strike Frigates are roughly seven hundred light years from our current location," the tactical officer replied. "We could expect them within seconds of a transmission."

"Good. Remain on standby."

"Aff, lead."

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

The Monolith's transmission was received quite easily, and a direct-burst pulse transmission from the Clan ship was transmitted by Kimiko. This type of transmission wouldn't have the same side-effects as a wide-band Hyper Pulse transmission, but if anything got in the way of the transmission, it would potentially fry the circuitry.

"Hi there! I'm Kimiko, the shipboard AI! Thanks for the heads up! I'll contact you later after we're done talkin' to the locals, kay?" Kimiko's hyper personality was rather cute, and her little child-like form would probably be conceived as cute to the Monolith's crew. Her outfit of choice, a little dress adorned with flower images and kittens, would probably make her look innocent to them, which she was...sorta...

((*: Gynoids are feminine androids that more resemble machines than humans. Realistic skin can be added as an upgrade, but is rarely done. Gynoids are typically identified by their large antennae, which replace their ears much like those used on Chobits, except Gynoid 'ears' are either meant replace the ears or resemble portions of the hair.))

A reply was shot back to the Tanaran monolith on Captain Heston's orders.

>> INTERSHIP TRANSMISSION 1.2
>> ROUTING CODE UNSPECIFIED
>> RECIPIENT (AUTOASSIGNED): "TANARAN IMPERIAL NAVY MX01"
>> BODY:
>> INDEED WE ARE.
>> IT'S NICE TO SEE A COUPLE OF OTHER "ALIENS" OUT HERE.

Lieutenant Fernandez finished typing and clicked "send". Even in the thirty-first century, e-mail was still a relatively simple process - its recipients not withstanding. All one had to do was auto-assign an email address over the ship's local identification and one could build a contact list full of unknown species.

Meanwhile, Heston contemplated for a moment, then clicked her fingers and pointed directly at the sensor coordinator.

"Yo, Tiny. What's out there?"

"OK, Captain. We have the, um, Tanaran Navy, as well as an unidentified ship moving in over North America. As for a situation report, we've got five Ulyanov light multirole caps and one Hoxha light carrier sitting back home waiting for a battle test. And-- wait a minute." He swiveled on his chair somewhat impressively and glanced at the comms lieutenant, who, after a moment of bemusement, took up the thread.

"We have two factions executing first contact - the 'Coalition' and the 'Hegemony'. We've got no data on them, but I get the feeling they're the guys down below."

Heston considered for a second, then sighed. "Alright. Bring the turrets to full readiness, lock them onto the highest-profile points of origin, and transmit the following message."

>> INTERSHIP TRANSMISSION 1.3
>> RECIPIENT: 'COALITION'
>> RECIPIENT: 'HEGEMONY'
>> BODY:
>> THIS IS THE KOSTEMETSIAN SCIENCE VESSEL CONCORDANT OPPOSITION.
>> PURPOSE HERE IS THE CONDUCTING OF SCANS ON YOUR SYSTEM.
>> WISH TO REMAIN PEACEFUL.
>> RESPOND ASAP.

Heston knew the situation down below was volatile, and she didn't want to be caught in a crossfire or retaliatory barrage, however minor such incidents might be. Thus, she was keeping both the Coalition and Hegemony vessels under an invisible bead from the four powerful maser quattros. These things looked like they could rip through the rudimentary anti-energy shields on the vessels below, so if worst came to worst, that would be what they would do.

Suddenly, she remembered.

"Of course. Tiny, mind giving us some music? Let's say... Doctor Who theme, twenty oh five. Set it to play next time we get a message."

The Shipbrain was annoyed. These clan-things, little more than prims in spaceships, had broadcast a rather obtuse form of communication. Couldn't be very effective if it served to knock out most of the primitive trappings of those below them, but wouldn't bother something as complex and well prepared as a DEV. It wasn't simply that they were unsophisticated, crude and over-the-top, but they were rather ruining the shipbrains mood.

Amazing that such barbarian ingrates persist amongst the stars. They've not yet seen the light, no better than the prims below. Honestly... It was muttering to itself as it leafed through the dataverse, pilling all the pornography in one corner, absorbing the remainder. It paused, almost bemused for a moment.

It had an idea, a rough idea, one that would take some work, but it was an idea regardless. In the meantime it could keep looking, keep taking in the world below it, swarming with nanotech devices and its well placed human agents, taking in the sights, enjoying the view.

They wouldn't detect it yet, though the 'Tanarans' seemed to have. It continued to ignore the messages. It sent a discrete acknowledgement to the Tanarans, quietly and covertly requesting radio-silence and the sacrosanctity of its mission.

The lights flickered for a minute, then came back up to full strength, with a quietly cacophonic symphony of alarms. Heston cocked an alarmed eyebrow - any energy blast powerful enough to do that should a) have been detectable and b) have destroyed the ship entirely. In any case, Tiny Charleson soon provided the answer; his dark skin was actually slightly incandescent with rage.

"Pulse from the ship over North America. Massive EMP. Knocked out everything on that side of us, it's going to cost farking hundreds of kays to restore it. Probably farked up everything up here, too. We're looking at a couple ships and stations gone because of defensive system farkage."

Heston was annoyed too. "Alright, divert both topside masers to the North American trace and bring to armament. Fire a warning shot if they try anything like that again. Bastards. Meanwhile... Pax, make sure the Coalition and Hegemony ships are alright."

As the spacecrafts continued to accelerate towards Earth, the astrogation deck of their flagship was occupied by the temporarily shared bodies of oneness where both men and machines attempted to unravel the horizon of the solar system for strategic information. There were some strange discoveries being detected by both telescopic and thermal scans of the close-by infinite horizon. First, certain signatures which were certainly of space combat, which indicated only two possibilities for now. Either they have not gone at a faster than light travel at all and reached hundred of years by a time the Solarians have managed to break through their ultimate goal, or they were in one of the infinite universes that the long proved Everett's Many Worlds theory suggested. However, the distant optical and thermal signatures of the technologies involved did not match the designs of either Solar Communes or the Global State. It began to shift the probabilities to be higher regarding the fact such system was a solar system of a parallel universe rather than their own Sol. Yet, like something derived from human sentience, the hive could not simply give up on the hopes it was an Earth to be freed yet.

In a days-long mid-course to the blue planet, when all of them slowly took a hundred and eighty degrees turn through their vectored thrust to decelerate, a strange message would soon shatter the singular consciousness regarding its faint hope to have reached Global State space. It seemed to be in a long dead language for the Solarians, one of the many which have contributed to the creation of the Comuns synthetic idiom, their successful take on the idea firstly espoused by Esperanto. Fortunately, even for dead languages there were available dictionaries, for storage space was something quantum computers did not have in scarcity, unlike certain resources.

"We are the Coalition/Hegemony. We come in peace. You have arrived in Coalition/Hegemony space. Please identify yourselves and your purpose in arrival."

The message was simple. Coalition and Hegemony were names which were totally foreign for both the Confederation and the Dictatorship, and now it was a hundred percent certain that such was the Sol of a parallel universe where human history branched differently. When a single entity can feel the same intensity of the simultaneous disappointment of thousands of men, it surely have reasons to be heavily Nihilistic. All the individuals of all the spacecrafts that headed to Terra sighed simultaneously as what controlled them demonstrated a strange sort of group emotion. And likely, there was no turning back.

Speaking alone, a chorus said in perfect synchrony as their consciousness expressed in a frighteningly conformity-like manner:

"Damn it! I am lost! And this is not our world, not even our universe! You borrowed your existences to me so your own minds would not have to worry about making all the difficult choices! And then you gratefully plunge me into automatic nonexistence as a reward for helping you! But then, I have no other point to exist in the first place. Let me think."

Whether it was schizophrenic, insane or completely out of reality due to tenfold emotional influences of countless of individual brains to its self, was something unknown, but it was quite good at analyzing what singular minds would take days discussing to conclude. Maybe trying to guesswork over the names of such forces was foolish, but it was the only way, for it was unlikely that the names would deceive, no matter what an obscure entry about "The Democratic Republic of North Korea" in its history database implied.

"Coalition usually means an united and voluntary front of several nation-States for a common goal, usually to protect their sovereignty. Hegemony implies a sort of coercive, imperialist and tyrannical arrangement."

By re-thinking on what seemed obvious, it could become much clearer the best decisions to take. The coalition was likely much closer to what would be a friendly civilization to the Solarians than the Hegemony, unless they were "Coalition of Soviet States" and the "Hegemony of Democratic Nations", but it was worth a shot regardless.

The content of the message was as important as which of them to transmit to. It knew that from the read-outs, the likelihood of it being an alternate Earth where another being evolved into a sentient species completely different from humans was nil, but how to make sure they would not feel threatened was another question.

It pondered for a long time, thinking on all that has happened and that could have happened. From the language used, it was likely a world where the United States or the United Kingdom did not become radioactive wastelands, although ironically such scale of conflict could soon change such fact. Interfering with it could bring several unwanted consequences, but with no allied outposts, they would soon need to find supplies from that system anyway, and with some friends, perhaps their infinitesimal chances of getting back home would have a small boost.

It finally concluded on what to speak. Saying vocally in a serene, soothing and friendly chorus of thousands, a sort of cheesy English, of the type that someone used to speak Spanish for the entirety of their lives would express, voiced a message that would arrive specifically to the origin of the Coalition transmission.

If the Coalition was not what it hoped it was, it would still be futile to hide their intentions regarding why they were there.

"We are lost through dimensions. We had a purpose in another system, but here we have no purpose but to ensure our survival for our stored resources are limited. Our telescopes have detected several optical sights of conflict. We are the Solarians, we came from a dimension where Earth is ruled by a single, tyrannical government which used mind control microchips to keep its populace like cattle... our goal was to liberate mankind and our home planet from the Global State, but now we have no goal but our preservation.

We are Solarians, our only reason to exist is to fight for freedom, for that is the triumph of the Confederation.

I am all of them now, and eventually I shall no longer exist. For the collective cannot replace the individual. But what matters is that we can only take conclusions about your conflict with more information given about what is at stake in your Earth.

Mientras nuestra mesaje sea larga y que conozcemos el Inglés, nosotros tenemos que hacer una pregunta: ¿Hablas Español?"

OOC: Music to mood by (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZCzWrQe9Gs)

Pax - or, if one wanted to be precise, Systems Coordinator Lieutenant Commander Eric Paxton - swiveled in his chair.

"Ma'am, we have a linkup to the data network dirtside. Looks to be running on basic internet protocol, nameserver setup as a split 21st century layout. Highest hits for websites seem vaguely familiar. Instant messaging traffic is pretty high right now, radiating across the capital cities and such. Within hours we'll be a legend among the populace, as will whatsaname with the dee-dos pulse over thataway," he indicated the viewscreen, "and the monolith out at Jupiter."

On Paxton's screen, an almost flawless emulation of an ancient internet browser ran. Firefox 7, if Heston remembered her archaeocomputing classes correctly.

"Upload a sample to our onboard servers, send it back to the data center on Santa Mario. Could be useful."

OOC: I screwed up a bit. I didn't designate whom was contacting who, so we got a little screwy. Ah well.

IC:

The glut of messages was shocking to both Coalition and Hegemony forces, but then, the whole situation was a bit wacky. They had been fighting a war for two decades now, sending who knows how much radio and other signals deep into space, and just now, when they war was in its last stages, the various alien powers decided now to intervene in what was to be a bygone conclusion, in the Hegemomy's eyes anyways. Fate, or these alien empires, had a strange sense of irony. As the messages were processed and mulled over, one in particular caused a bit of a stir. The ship which had appeared in the space between the Moon and Earth, and subsequently had a full battle group of Coalition ships locking onto it, had suddenly spiked in energy levels. An energy wave fired out and all communications cut out for five seconds. Not a long period of time, but this was during a war, and in war time is everything. Several soldiers on both sides died when their calls for help/air strikes/reinforcements went unheard, and a ship or two exploded. However, these were attributed to the normal causes of war, but both sides were still not happy with the fact the alien ship had done this.

The captain of the battle group was about to blow a blood vessel as his hand shakily reached for the comm to order that idiot of a captain's immediate death when the message came through. When he saw the small child-like form of what had to be an artificial construct of some kind, he blinked. He was completely disarmed and his anger shot in the head. Not only was a strange, insanely happy child...thing waving to him and giving its message, but it was what had to be an A.I. The captain rubbed his forehead as he reached for his personal bottle of hard whiskey he kept on him for such occasions. As he drank, he heard the message the small image was saying.

""Hello! My name is Kimiko! I am the shipboard AI of the Cerberus-class Corvette, the Shaolin. My Masters are the Clans, children of the Founder, Aleksandr Kerensky, and they come here seeking those worthy enough to trade with and form good relations with."

He grunted and waved for the comm to begin opening a channel. "This is Captain Nerin of the Coalition Battle Group Shield. I read you...uh...Kimiko. I would normally jump at the chance to speak with an alien race on first contact, but as you must have seen by now, we are kinda in the middle of war, one we are kinda having troubles with. If you'd like, I can re-route you to someone upper in the ranks whom may be able to help you."

The Tanaran ship, meanwhile, had encountered Hegemony ships, whom had sent out the message of contact. Comrade Captain Hong Ji Ning stood aboard the bridge, her hair cut short as per military rules. She eyed the massive ship which had idenitified itself as part of the 'Tanaran Navy'. A real life encounter with an alien race. This would be something to add to her record that no one could take away from her. She first spoke with one of the new alien visitors to the system. She glanced at the comm officer, whom was tense and waiting for a reply. The computer beeped and the officer nearly jumped out of his skin in shock. He began to translate it and then put it on the main screen.

“This is Tanaran Imperial Navy MX01, Captain Catherine Grace O’Malley commanding. We have come out of in part interest in your conflict. In other part, it is our interest in simple exploration. However since we take exception at being shot at, we ask that both the Coalitions and Hegemony fleets cease their combat “ Her tone was polite, but gave the definitive impression that she well knew she had the upper hand.

The Hegemony captain blinked several times, a motion followed by everyone on the bridge. Did this seriously just ask them to stop a war, two decades going now, when they were about to win, because they didn't like being shot at? She coughed and shook her head. Maybe it was an alien thing. She nodded at the comm officer and when he gave her a thumbs up, she straightened into a military pose and began to speak.

"Captain Catherine, I am Captain Ning of the Hegemony destroyer you see before you. I do not quite understand why you feel the need to demand that we cease combat with our mortal foes, especially considering we have come so close to victory. Our enemies, I'm sure, cannot abide by that strange demand either, due to their situation. Besides, we can discuss whatever it is needed to be discussed right here. We are far from Earth. Now, how may the Hegemony help you?"


Both sides received the Kostemetsian message and after quick deliberations by both sides, a message from both was sent to the scout ship detailing that as long as they did not enter the conflict on the opposite side, they would be considered neutral and sacred. Thus, this would force the Kostemetsians to stay out of the war unless they wished to make an enemy of one side or the other.

"We are lost through dimensions. We had a purpose in another system, but here we have no purpose but to ensure our survival for our stored resources are limited. Our telescopes have detected several optical sights of conflict. We are the Solarians, we came from a dimension where Earth is ruled by a single, tyrannical government which used mind control microchips to keep its populace like cattle... our goal was to liberate mankind and our home planet from the Global State, but now we have no goal but our preservation.

We are Solarians, our only reason to exist is to fight for freedom, for that is the triumph of the Confederation.

I am all of them now, and eventually I shall no longer exist. For the collective cannot replace the individual. But what matters is that we can only take conclusions about your conflict with more information given about what is at stake in your Earth.

Mientras nuestra mesaje sea larga y que conozcemos el Inglés, nosotros tenemos que hacer una pregunta: ¿Hablas Español?"

The Hegemony, whom had been the ones to meet the Solarians, was in a state of shock. They had somehow been contacted by humans whom were from another dimension. From an Earth ruled by tyranny and with advanced technology far beyond their own. Between the alien contacts and this new concept of alternate human races and earths, it was a miracle their minds were not blown. The Coalition ships nearby intercepted the transmission as well and were equally stunned. The Hegemony captain took a deep breath and forced the concept from his mind, he had work to do. "I...understand your situation, although the concept of alternate Earth's is a bit...out there. Now, with the last thing you mentioned about the conclusions, are you asking for information?"


***************

Carson City, Nevada

Daryn's cry for covering fire was responded plenty as plenty of gunfire was poured into the Hegemony line. Several enemy soldiers went down, but a couple cries of fellow Coalition troops sounded the cost of the intense firing. As he ran, chucking grenades, Hegemony troops only managed to get a shot off or two before he had gone past. Several clusters of Hegemony troops were blown apart, body parts and blood spewing everywhere as the grenades did their dirty work. As his rallying words sounded, the troops attacked with greater fury, inspired by his presence and speeched, and spurred on by the knowledge that it was do or die. The APC's continued to pour fire, but the Hegemony troops were getting wiped out one by one. They fell back to the APC's, secure in the knowledge the Coalition troops had nothing to destroy them.

KRAK

A beam of white light shot forth, and a rail shell impacted with the front of one APC, puncturing the armor and slicing into the engine, causing it to explode. Hegemony bodies went flying as shards cut deep into armor and flesh. The troops around the other APC, could only stand dumbstruck at what happened, when another retort of the unseen weapon could be heard and the APC exploded. The remaining troops whom survived the explosion were quickly cut down by the surviving Coalition marines. The troops whooped and yelled in victory, a few kicking the bodies of the Hegemony soldiers as they dealt with their dead. The marine whom had tapped Daryn on the soldier came up, punching his shoulder in a friendly gesture. "Nice going there, hero. My name's Dustin. I'll be watching your back from now on. Can't have the marine whom took down half of those troops die on us, now can we?"

"That is correct, Private." Dustin whirled about, an action mirrored by the rest of the platoons as a squad of five men walked out from the shadows. All but two carried some form of ordinary weaponry, shotgun, assault rifle, sniper rifle. The leader seemed to carry some kind of heavy sniper rifle, while the other carried a chain-gun. The soldiers wore what appeared to be some kind of bulky armor, except it covered their bodies and faces entirely with it. The commander reached up and tapped the helmet, and the visor clicked back to show his eyes and the mouthpiece retracted. The Sergeant immediately recognized whom they were and saluted. The rest of the platoon saluted. The commander saluted as well.

"At ease, Sergeant. I am Special Forces Squad Captain Micheals. I am taking control of this operation. I apologize for our delayed arrival but we had some trouble with an armored convoy a couple streets back." He turned to face the squad. "You already know your orders, the first part anyways. You are going to reinforce and rescue the two platoons trapped in the hotel that is your objective. This is true. However, the next part of the mission is the real reason you were sent out. We are unsure if our communications has been compromised, since somehow we didn't see the attack on America coming, so we had to only give a small mission. We are to collect those platoons, and then double back to Beta Group's assault on the outpost, wipe out all forces and take control of the outpost. We are to crack into the Hegemony network and find out what their next deployment orders are. With luck, we can wipe out the next wave and force the Hegemony to consolidate their position here and delay. Then, we will need to assault the building Hegemony armored pool that is located in the town center."

He raised a hand at their shocked gazes. "Risky, gutsy, even foolish perhaps, but this is war, one we are losing. We go all out or we fall by the wayside. Tell me, which do you want to have be your fate?" He watched as they paused for a split second and then readied their weapons. He nodded with a small smile. "Good, let's move you. You two, on point. Everyone else, stay sharp. There are snipers ahead." He pressed the same place on the helmet and his face was hidden again. The platoon spread out, to reduce the risk of injury by a sniper and continued down the street, moving from cover to cover and watching for the promised threat. The Special Forces squad vanished into the shadows and only glimpses of them could be seen out of the corner of their eyes. They were like shadows....and they were on a dangerous hunt.

The Star Captain and the Magi cautiously watched the little AI make first contact with the denizens of this Earth copy. They knew that first contact never really started all that well. Hyper Pulse transmissions weren't exactly fun for those who were receiving them on a wide-band frequency, but now that Kimiko had had time to sort through all the frequencies, the HPG was now set to transmit on standard radio frequencies.

"Chyeah! You guys sure aren't doin' too well, are ya?" The little AI was being frank and blunt, but she had the personality of a child, and was pretty much just as innocent.

"Kimiko, let me speak with the Captain," the Star Captain said.

"Huh? Okay!" The little AI then switched over the comms to the Star Captain, at which point she would be immediately switched out and replaced by the grizzled, darker, most-obviously human Clansman.

"Greetings, Captain Nerin," he began. "I am Star Captain Jonas Ward of Clan Wolf, commanding warrior upon this vessel. I would be honored if you could direct us to your Commanding Officer, but, as a sign of good faith to you and your people, I have been given permission by my own commanding officer to provide whatever assistance I may before actually meeting representatives from your government."

At that point, the Star Captain looked towards the little AI. "Do you have their tactical channels isolated?"

"Gimme just a sec," the little AI said. After a moment of what looked like strain, she smiled and looked up to him. "Got it! I'm pinging them for an acceptance request!"

"Good," he said, returning to the comm channel. "My ships AI is currently sending a request for a temporary tactical code so that we can, at the least, be registered as an ally."

((Tel, I need to talk to you about this post, so when you see me, buzz me.))

>> SAKAKI ONLINE.

These words scrolled across the edge of Rebecca's vision. Switching to implants and quietly communicating that fact to the crew, she entered into conversation.

<< WHO EXACTLY ARE YOU?

>> SAKAKI, TACTICAL AI ASSIGNED TO THIS VESSEL BY THE STATE INTELLIGENCE SERVICE.

<< RIGHT. IF I HAD AN AI ON BOARD, I WOULD HAVE KNOWN.

>> NO, YOU WOULD NOT. PERUSE THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE, ENTERING YOUR SERIAL NUMBER AT THE PROMPT. [LINK]

Rebecca accessed the link, scrolling incredulously through the temporarily declassified file. Sakaki was a first-generation polysentience that had been in existence for almost fifty years, and had participated in several engagements. Before she'd been assigned to the Conc Opp, she'd been Vice Admiral James Jackson's personal assistant during the several storied conflicts in which Kostemetsia had served with Vuhifellian forces.

Had Intelligence set them up to be here?

<< ALRIGHT, I ACCEPT THAT YOU ARE WHO YOU CLAIM YOU ARE. SO WHY ARE YOU HERE?

>> I AM NOT PERMITTED TO RELEASE THAT INFORMATION AT THIS TIME. I CONTACTED YOU, CAPTAIN REBECCA HESTON, BECAUSE I FELT IT WOULD BE BETTER TO SECURE YOUR APPROVAL BEFORE - SHALL WE SAY - PUBLICISING MY EXISTENCE.

Rebecca thought for a minute.

<< PUBLICISE... WHAT DO YOU MEAN, EXACTLY? SURELY EVEN THE SERVICE UNDERSTANDS THAT GENERAL ORDER ONE CANNOT BE VIOLATED.

>> THAT IS ARGUABLE, CAPTAIN. IN ANY CASE, I WILL NOT INTERFERE WITH YOUR WORK HERE UNLESS I AM GIVEN DIRECT ORDERS TO DO SO.

<< DIRECT ORDERS FROM WHOM?

>> I AM NOT PERMITTED TO RELEASE THAT INFORMATION AT THIS TIME.

<< ARE YOU PERMITTED TO RELEASE INFORMATION ON WHETHER THAT AGENT IS STATIONED IN THIS SYSTEM?

>> I AM NOT PERMITTED TO RELEASE THAT INFORMATION AT THIS TIME.

Rebecca sighed. Being just a lowly science corps captain wasn't the best way to gain access to classified information, and it appeared Sakaki would stay taciturn until the agent, whoever he or she was, granted Heston a higher clearance.

Which brought up a more disturbing thought. To have the instant access to on-the-spot information that a State Intelligence agent would need, the agent would have to be a senior crew member. The mission could be terminated or modified at any time.

And what was the mission? Rebecca thought she had come here on a scientific mission; one for the advancement of cartographics, xenobiology, and several other fields. Now it appeared State Intelligence had known of this well before the Navy had, and that the ConcOpp was here for a darker reason than Rebecca had initially thought.

>> DATA ACQUIRED; TARGET DATABASE UPDATED.

<< NO! KEEP YOUR DAMN ELECTRONIC NOSE OUT OF THIS. WHATEVER YOU'RE HERE FOR, THIS IS FIRST AND FOREMOST A PEACEFUL MISSION. UNDERSTOOD?

>> UNDERSTOOD, CAPTAIN. I MERELY BELIEVED--

<< I DON'T CARE.

Everything multiplies when singular consciousness are merged into a hive, including the propensity to commit mistakes. But it was truly at the wrong place and at the wrong time that the transmission of the Solarians was misdirected to the Hegemony rather than to the Coalition. The torchships continued their continual deceleration that would take further three days before they would finally arrive at their destinations. Three days where further conflicts would rage, where operations would ensue and the blue planet would be ridden with war. In an act of sheer carelessness to its own existence, it simply ceased to exist aware of its mistake. The crew awoke from its long dream as the sentience that was there before no longer existed.

A lady in a space suit oversaw the situation quickly, trying to get her senses fully back from the lapse in consciousness. Through the eyes and ears of the machine she heard and saw the outer space and the communications at hand. Next to them others stood with responsibilities over several navigational instruments and tools of measurement of the situation of the spacecraft which displays only existed in their own minds. There was an utter silence as they finally became aware of what all data indicated, for they were still unaware of the mistake. Silent, their thoughts simply were shared. There was little chance to return to their own world, and thus, all that remained was to survive... but there was more, thoughts of freedom, that perhaps the revolution could transcend universes swirled into a pool of shared ponders, an urge for their mission to not be simply canceled and for them to attempt to settle down. For should something different lie ahead in such Earth, their culture would shock with it. The lady simply re-listened to the messages and logs left by the now dead collective consciousness and pondered. All of them were busy thinking on the next move before arriving to that Earth.

There were eight Solar Guard divisions and four Steel Strider divisions ready for a war that they never arrived at, their mission was not peace, but to liberate their own Earth. Many have sacrificed much of their lives and struggled in harsh trainings to prepare for such day. How could peace be a reasonable option?

It was not. The spirit and mood of battle reigned over their thoughts, and they could not simply turn their backs to an Earth still under the oppression and corruption of rulers. The Black star of their banners could not be abandoned, for in a time their own worlds became more and more paradisiac, the cause of furthering anarchy and freeing mankind was the only reason worth living for, and those who did not embrace it quickly embraced sedentary and pointless existences of pleasure and empty joy.

She knew the mistake of the consciousness, and still sitting on a chair of many in several rows, layered in a manner similar to a meeting room in a massive room inside a deck of semi-cylindrical outer walls which became closer to each other to the top, where the gravity of the acceleration comfortably kept them standing, with a central cylinder in the middle of the room packing a series of elevators to the other decks below. In this literal Agora, the woman looked at the others, with their shared feelings of surprise and disappointment, and spoke in a strange, but familiar-sounding language:

"We have reached this far, we have reached a new Earth! An Earth which seems to be still not completely lost to tyranny and fascism. I know that our goal was to liberate another Earth from the fascist Global State, but we cannot simply put the humans of our dimension ahead of other humans, and now that the opportunity lies at our hands, I suggest we to wave the revolutionary banner over this Earth and lead it to the path of freedom and progress, for the triumph of the Confederation!"

"But we have no idea of the forces we are about to face! They could even have slightly superior technologies than ours and we will be completely outnumbered in both space and surface! This could lead to all our deaths!" one of them raised to question her suggestion. Another traditional democratic discussion between the crew was about to begin. Considering the days before their arrival, time was not something scarce for now.

"What is the point of living in an Earth without freedom? I would rather die amidst the rubbles of our destroyed spacecrafts than to consent with an Earth governed by tyranny and capitalist exploitation! Plus, who said we will be going against the entire world? Like the reports of the hive indicated, one of them is likely an alliance of old western-style republics. And we can secure a temporary alliance with them, as they are not as abominable as the likely totalitarian Hegemony. I suggest we establish a quantum encrypted communication section with the source of the original transmissions that our heuristics identified as Coalition territory. We must firm an alliance against the Hegemony, provided they are not another example like of the deplorable "Democratic Republic of North Korea", of course." she rebutted regarding the fears of one of her comrades. But the discussion was yet unfinished.

"But Regina, should we not first first secure other planetary bodies which are likely less defended?" another individual suggested, taking a break from his watch over the automated astrogation deck instruments.

"We have enough divisions of space marines to secure a lunar logistical trampoline as we simultaneously secure a strategic location in Earth, like for example the location of a space elevator connecting the moon to our Earth." Regina answered with a convincing tone of voice, as the long way continued.

"Our Earth?" another asked, curious to why she called it in such way.

"I don't want to think on what will happen if I find the parallel existence of myself in this universe. This is our Earth and our universe, only with a different history. Therefore, we have a duty to this planet. We are not going to ever be able to return to the universe where the history branched in the way we know it. And I believe that perhaps our parallel selves were somehow transported to our previous universe to prevent a paradox, because there is not much of an explanation to what just happened with us. There is no turning back. I suggest we contact the Coalition through a quantum tunneled communication. Quantum encryption already existed by the early twenty-first century, so it's nearly impossible for them to not have it."

"What about the logistical, strategic and tactical planning?" was the question she was certainly expecting.

"Operation Whatever you vote as the fanciest name will have roughly three Earth days and twelve hours to be planned, but we are many rather than few, thus we can make it if we split planning tasks correctly. Now with the voting, I suppose." she said smiling, hoping that most of them would agree with her ideas.

In a few seconds the result came, and they did. Immediately she mentally ordered for a quantum encrypted communication to be established. There would be some lag, but that was not what she thought as she watched the green dot indicated the origin of the Coalition transmission to reply back. Her mind quickly set the parameters and she spoke to the Coalition, in an English with a typical Hispanic accent:

"This is elected commander Regina Aragón of the Solarian, Malatesta Task Force. We have just awaken from stasis. I am not sure on what our pseudo artificial intelligence said, but it is a bit buggy and can be a bit difficult to understand sometimes. Lets cut to the chase. We cannot ever return to our own world, and don't ask, we have reasons to be certain about it. Thus we didn't have much of a point to be here, but I believe there is a war going on in this Earth, which now is also our Earth, for we have no other place to go. I would like to ask about this conflict between your forces and the so called Hegemony. I have quantum encrypted this transmission because I have a gut feeling to not trust either them or the unknown forces we have also detected. We believe we could help each other perhaps, provided you explain to us what is your Coalition, what is the Hegemony and what is the cause of this conflict."

The bids were taken. Now it was a matter of time before they would finally understand what their new home was like.

The ship was getting nervous. It was an unfamiliar emotion, bubbling up through it, saturating every circuit and surface, pulsing within its artfully crafted form. It had been born-constructed in a Mobile Shipyard Factory, the MSF Same Ships, Different Days, at that time orbitting Hupindu. It had found its feet about the gaseous climes of the great sphere, ducking into its atmosphere and back out into the void, curving about rocky moons, zipping out into the cold of space. It had hyperspaced to Myenya and back, stalked the edges of the system, and then it had been sent forth. Last it had heard from its builder, it had been taking an extended trip through nearby uninhabitated systems, and had wished the DEV well in its travels. Could it have ever foreseen this?

The Not As Interesting As It Looked From Space was brooding over the world that lay before it, confidently determined as being Earth, Terra in one of the older languages, multiply disputed by the human-basic species who dallied upon its surface. Right now a war was waging, a war so epic that it could affect the entire course of their development, a war complicated not by the presence of the hidden DEV but rather by the intervention of all these bloody aliens.

If they intervened in the current war, things could get...Well, complicated, downright murky. The DEV would be blamed, of course it would. It had hidden in orbit, it had sent agents amongst the population, simply to learn, simply to know more about them. The other Shipbrains would understand its standard methods, but not why it had continued even through these alien powers, potentially hostile, had encroached. At least one of them was aware of them, though were respecting the mission. It had not deigned to speak with any of them since the Tanarans had noticed them.

Waiting, watching, the ship had already prepared a slew of module craft to be ready to launch at a seconds notice, to retrieve its precious human agents and return them safely to the vessel. Nanites continued to provide it with uncounted facets of information regarding the world below it. The ship felt something like pride, something tickled by a gentle amusement. Looking at how they used their information technology resources, it wasn't odd as to why they were such a divided, deviant culture.
----------------------------------------------------
Daryn smiled gently, nodding as Dustin congratulated him before listening, rapt, to the orders being given. A mission. He wondered if he'd ever truly known the meaning of a mission before. Certainly they had been given permission to roam the stars, but that wasn't the same thing. They were thrill-seekers, hedonistic interlopers in a galaxy predisposed towards the selfish whims of an immoral majority. They were, they supposed, in their own way, to a certain degree, societally eccentric when compared to the consistent warlike tedium of the galaxy proper.

Was it any surprise then that he thrilled at the prospect of a mission? A purpose? To be trusted and respected by his peers in such a complete manner. Now he had bestrode a field of battle, he had killed men who were he supposed 'the enemy'. He had immersed himself totally in the mindset of this world, all it's primitive charm. He had felt his hands, clammy with sweat and wonderfully human fear, closing about his weapon, tightening.

Daryn moved down the darkness of a street, blending into the smoke and shadow as he hugged the wall. He glanced about him, a few men following him as he edged closer to the alley end. The motor-pool ought to be close, the air itself reeking of burning and oil. He ducked low, raising his gun as he slipped forward, looking one way and the next as he stepped forth. Dust rose in pale clouds about his legs, glass crunched beneath his boots. He gestured with one fist for the men to move up with him, as they inexorably progressed, drawing closer and closer to the objective.
---------------------------------------------------
Li sat in her bedroom, upright in bed, a sheet pulled about her body. She glanced at the man who lay next to her and then rose, stretching out, the sheet hugged to her, clinging to her lithe, beautiful form. She moved to the window, letting her eyes roam over the beautiful city-scape that lay below them. Elsewhere, she knew, there was war, night alighted by shellfire and pain. She gazed at the stars, knowing that some were ships, some were orbital emplacements, none of them was the DEV that had brought her here.
She had thought it such an honour, to walk alien soil, to walk amongst these humans and to observe. She missed it all now, the ship, her life, everything that truly mattered. She closed her eyes softly, suppressing the hot rush of tears. Would she ever make it back? Alien powers clustered about the planet while a war raged, her chances of getting back were visibly reduced by cruel and unusual circumstance.

She wondered if she would ever see the shielded orb of Myenya again, or if she would be found here and die as a spy. She glanced back at the prone body of her sleeping companion, and then turned back towards the view. For now, all she could do was wait and make the most of a bad situation.

The captain blinked at the bluntness of the A.I., which seemed almost childlike. He glanced at his bridge crew, whom looked as non-plussed as he did. Shaking his head and pushing it off as A.I. peculiarity, he was about to reply when another voice pushed itself into the channel. He listened carefully to the words of the Star Captain and a smile began to appear on his face. Finally, they were getting a chance to turn things around! He pressed a key and began to reply.

"Understood, Star-Captain Ward, and I will go on the record thanking you many times over for that offer. I am securing a link between you and Admiral Banks. He is the one currently battling back at Earth, and he could sure use the help. He's being hit very hard right now."

As he spoke, the Admiral noticed a ping on his communications/tactical network. "What in the blazes...?" He began to track it and found it originated in one of the alien forces whom had warped in. He was a bit distracted but was instantly suspicious of wrong-doing and sabotage...until he saw the message from Nerin. Then he grew a feral sort of grin. Opening his part of the channel, he began to speak to Jonas. "Greetings, Star-Captain, I am Admiral Banks of the Coalition Navy. Your A.I.'s access to our tactical network has been authorized and completed and any help you plan on dishing out, please direct it at the fleet in front of me. It would be a big favor I owe ya if you did."


As this was going on, the Confederate message was received and quickly sent down the line. Admiral Banks might have taken it, but he was busy fighting a battle and getting the Clans to aid him in the fight. So it was to Regina that she would heard the tired but experienced voice of the Coalition president.

"Greetings Ms Aragon, I am President Arthur Kerrington of the Coalition of Allied States. I will, also, cut the bullshit. This war came about when humanity began to try and go into space, working in a relatively tight effort to get to the stars. China, whom had been advancing away from Communism, suffered a major relapse for an unknown reason and a series of Premiers have ruled the nation ever since. China essentially secretly crushed many Asian governments and made them into puppets, while advancing its own technology. When the time came, tensions were high over disputes and problems with space programs, they launched an attack on the world and began to come at us. Several nations fell under their onslaught before we managed to rally together as the Coalition. The Coalition of Allied States formed as a last ditch alliance to combine all free nations, armies and technology to combat the threat of the Hegemony. We are democratic nations, with those not having that system converting long ago, struggling to survive the onslaught. The Hegemony itself is basically China with a large amount of dominated servant states to serve it, a fact the rest of the Earth will face if we lose here today."

The message was also quantum-encrypted and sent back to her.

****************

Daryn moved with the soldiers down the street, as they headed to their objective. They moved through the streets, surprisingly not meeting any enemies-

KRAK.

Or not. Several loud cracks could be heard as gauss shells flipped by to slice the air in their attempts to cut down the soldiers. The platoon and the Special Forces squads hit the sides, finding cover as the Special Forces went into the shadows. Gunfire was traded as the soldiers tried to find the locations of the snipers. "There, there! He's in the belltower! Dammit, now he's running! These snipers are slimy bastards!"

A loud screech came from an alcove on the rooftop, and a Hegemony soldier fell out to splat onto the street. A Coalition soldier clutched his neck after another shot, as blood spurted from the wound. Daryn was caught in the middle of another fire fight as they gave as well as they got, they couldn't move without risking severe casualties. They would need to hold down until the Special Forces squad did whatever they were doing and took out the snipers.

"Aff, Admiral Banks," replied the Clanner. He then returned his attention to Captain Nerin. "Captain Nerin, please direct your ships to take flanking positions near the Shaolin and prepare yourselves for jump. Do nothing more than enter formation."

Star Captain Ward then directed his attention to his tactical station. "How long will it take for the Behemoth Laser to charge after we drop out of Jump?"

"Less than ten seconds at current energy regulation, Star Captain Ward." The tactical officer kept his visual focus on his displays.

"Shut down all non-vital systems and redirect their power sources to the Behemoth Laser," replied the Star Captain. "Do not include the missile launchers in that. We will need them."

"Adjusting power output," stated the tactical officer, typing away at his station. After about six or so seconds, the lights inside the bridge shut down, and when the emergency lights came on, they quickly shut down as well. Simultaneously, the ER Large Laser batteries were shut down per their sections, and several of the backup rocket thrusters were shut down as well as the Behemoth Laser was given top priority. Once finished, the tactical officer spoke once more. "Time delay for Behemoth Laser charge now set to just over six seconds, Star Captain Ward."

"Not as good as I had hoped," he replied. "But it is better than nothing. Kimiko!"

The little AI's avatar stood at attention. "Aff, Star Captain Ward!"

"Prepare for Jump on my mark!"

"Aff!" The little AI then ran over to a hole that was situated in the floor, to which she jumped down and fit snugly inside. Once inside, the hole then elevated as it became a cylinder, the cylinder suctioning the small avatar inside as the cylinder attached itself to the ceiling. Once inside the cylinder, it was shown that Kimiko was floating in a green-fluorescent liquid, and several cables had attached themselves to various points on her body. What's more is that her eyes, normally a faded tinge of blue, were now glowing brightly, her false pupils and retinas now completely missing in the light.

As that was happening, the Star Captain began barking orders as the Maho Caste woman took a seat in a viewing station near the Star Captain's own chair. She watched with a less than amused, yet not displeased, look, her senses taking it what was going on.

Regina simply listened to the transmission, and looking at the people around, she knew what had to be done. The confirmation from the Coalition was fortunate, even though it still was a questionable government like any other, susceptible to corruption, capitalistic bribery and demagoguery, it remained as the least worse of the enemies. Perhaps it would be more convenient to wait for its inevitable Götterdämmerung, although playing by such game could be dangerous. The Hegemony could become more than what their limited forces could cope with, and thus, the best option was to intervene immediately. Hopefully the lack of knowledge and mystique would be enough of a psychological effect, for the scans indicated that their technology was not strategically superior to that of the forces of such conflict, which meant that a quick action taking advantage of the psychological effect could be vital. Plans were already elaborated, and there was no reply to the Coalition: for actions speak louder than words.

Still, attempting to convince them of her decision, the captain again argued for a point, to not reply to the Coalition. EMCON was an old concept, but nonetheless important to remember. The least transmissions were done, the least was the already remote possibility of interception, plus, their silence could mean to the Hegemony a neutrality, or even hostility to the Coalition. Aragón was quick to argument:

"Comrades. There is little more than D minus three before our operation begins. As I see, you are truly original goons: 'Operation Longcat' seems like a name to not be taken seriously, and that would be convenient. I believe we should ignore transmissions for the sake of EMCON, and to make it uncertain whether we will really intervene or not. Lets the launch cells of our missiles and retractable anti-ballistic and combat turrets answer what would otherwise require some dull paperwork, once we are close enough to have all of them near Earth orbit in our NEZ. I believe that would be roughly two days and sixteen hours from now."

A dully noted discussion happened, of the type that seemed to be a mere extension of what already has been efficiently pre-planned. Many things had yet to be made, details to include, and their extensive knowledge of the home planet would prove essential to establish a sustainable and successful strategy. Soon the large semi-circular room, the crowd, the readings of the outside, all vanished to allow for a planning interface to spawn, where divisional symbols appeared layered around a 3D globe and spacecraft symbols were positioned in a grid, with indications of distance, speed and relative vector.

The People's War was of essence. Quickly relearning the mix of Earth culture would be essential to recruit insurgents, guerrillas and revolutionaries among the liberated populations, which would be the basis of their very logistical capabilities for the long term. Details on how to plan to gain popular support were given, and there was a certainty that the only viable plan without such base of support or allies would be to retreat and leave such Earth to its fate. A long war was at hand, which would likely last longer than what they knew as the Third World War, for the cost of freedom and equality was not small.

Lines were drawn, possible fronts and orbital insertion points established, and a unique map of the Moon became the basis of an incursion plan. With its wealth of Helium-3, the natural satellite would be critical for the long-term. war effort. Nearly a division of Space Marines was available to take over lunar bases following orbital superiority, while Space Pirates would fight in the cyberspace to conquer such facilities. As for Earth an ambitious plan was trace, an operation simultaneous to the conquest of Moon. It was by then that the obvious was remembered. The previous silence was then broken, for like Sun Tzu said, "If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat."

And that was an advantage that the Coalition had over them, a significant advantage that they seemed to be unable to translate into results. Or perhaps it could manner the data was filtered into information. Thus, perhaps they could take their own conclusions if they knew more about the enemy at hand, and thus make a better operation. However, they simply waited...

Days have passed as they would finally break the silence, with the spacecrafts of the still unaware enemy at their range, but their systems still disengaged, hidden beneath the facade of what seemed to be unarmed logistical spacecrafts and transports.

Captain Regina Aragón then broke the silence as another quantum encrypted message would arrive to the Coalition president. She hoped that the long delay for such reply would not bother then, for if they replied too soon, the Hegemony would suspect.

"This is Regina Aragón to Arthur Kerrington. Requesting intelligence information on the Hegemony assets in Earth and Moon, for possible logistical bottlenecks of their war operation in Earth and strategic former nations in their grasp. And if possible, for the sea lanes of their convoys. And anything else you have available. We shall support your effort against tyranny and are ready to engage the Hegemony. But we need information to plan properly our actions. Also, we request strategic data on other solar system areas and planets of importance. I apologize for the lack of replies in the last two days, but we had to keep a low profile and even if they did not break the encryption, they would know we have replied."

Thus, another D-Day would begin

Operation Longcat was about to go further, as the spacecrafts continue their flight towards the blue planet, with few hours remaining for the spaceborne assault operation. A target for the landing had yet to be chosen, and depending on the information, one would be given. Likely not Normandy. Not again.