NationStates Jolt Archive

An eerie electric glow, lit the sky across Quantania. The star around which the planet orbited, was no longer visible to it's people. A people living in an eternal night. The sun had not been seen for many generations, since Ultropower had constructed it's power sphere around it. Today, for the first time in centuries, a Telyphonian would see sunlight, should the test go well that is. Many sat on rooftops, watching through telescopes, looking up at what had taken decades to build. High above the Quantania, orbited the Kendell Memorial Shipyard, an orbital spacecraft construction facility. It had been specifically designed, to build the largest, newest, most technically advanced ship every built by the Telyphonian people, however, that had been well over 50 years ago, and since then, new advances had been made, and before it was finished, much of it was out of date. However, it did have one thing, that none other did, a faster than light transportation system. Many had argued that the ship should be updated before testing, however, the High Command, wished the test to go on as scheduled, there had already been too many construction delays, and the people were growing weary of the entire project, they feared that if they did not conduct the test now, funding would be cut, and the program scrapped.

Bridge of the TAFS Exploration

Colonel Wilhelm Klink stood on the Bridge, looking out the large thick windows before him. "Sir, all systems are operational, and green," Sergeant Hans Georg Schultz said.
"Excellent, excellent, report our status to the High Command, and inform them, that we will be firing up the Nuclear pulse drive, and proceed with the test, as scheduled," Colonel Klink said. The engines were started, and the ship began moving out of the shipyard. Once they were a good distance from the shipyard, they would activate the faster than light system, and hopefully, be the first Telyphonians to see sunlight in many generations. "Sir, we have cleared the shipyard, and have reached the designated test distance, should we engage the FTL drive now?" Sergeant Schultz asked.
"Yes, plot a course for star 21G41PC1," Colonel Klink said, as he took his seat, and strapped himself in. Thick titanium doors slid down over the large windows of the bridge. "Engaging drive now," said Sergeant Schultz. A shockwave rippled through the ship. The ship than began shaking violently, and alarms sounded. The lights on the bridge went out, and the blue emergency lights turned on. Then it all stopped, as the ship arrived at it's destination. "Status report," Colonel Klink said.
"Many systems are down, others are on minimal power," Sergeant Schultz replied. "Engines, 15% full power. Life Support, minimally operational. Long Range Sensors, inoperable. Long Range Communications, inoperable. FTL Drive, inoperable. The rest of the systems are operating normally. We also have reports of venting atmosphere, and lighting failures across the ship. Engineering is assessing the situation, and are unsure if we can repair it ourselves."
Colonel Klink thought for a second. There had been reports of intelligent beings in space, certain things, had been observed, that indicated such. Things couldn't get any worse. "Send out a distress call, all frequencies," he said.
"Sir?"
"I said, send out a distress call, use all frequencies."
"Yes Sir!" Sergeant Schultz knew better than to argue, and soon the distress single had been broadcast in all directions, on all frequencies the ship was able to broadcast on. It read, "Emergency, Emergency, Emergency, this is the TAFS Exploration, we are in immediate need of assistance. Current location is (coordinates go here). Please send help."

"Sir! Picking up a distress transmission! What should we do?" Commander Lucius began to scold him again. "I told you already! Any distress signals should be followed immediatly, without you having to consult me! Send out the Iron Wing fleet to the co-ordinates." The Iron Wing fleet quickly started it's short journey towards the distressed ship, exiting the wormhole in only a few minutes. "This is Moralite flagship The Crow, are you folks the ones who sent the distress signal?"

"Sir, we are picking up a transmission," Sergeant Schultz reported, a tone of surprise in his voice.. "It's a response to our distress single."
Colonel Klink thought it over, and decided, that it would be best if he handled this himself. "Patch it through to my phone," he said, picking up the in the armrest of his chair. It was audible when the transmission was patched through, and he spoke, "This is Colonel Klink, of the Telyphonian Air Force Spacecraft Exploration. We are in need of assistance. Our ship has sustained damage, and we do not have the facilities to repair it."

Also arriving at the scene was a frigate of the Aquanaut class. The ship was akin to a circular domed structure atop a teardrop-shaped panel with a similiar lense upon the point. In the body of the ship, the dome had covered what looked like a modest cluster of farms built around a river delta, with a floating city structure over the frontward body of water the river fed to. In the nose of the ship, the dome was filled completely with water, and flitting shapes could be seen within the shielded lense.

The frigate came through a form-fitting field of cerulean energy, which dissipated after the frigate had passed through. All vessels present received the following hail: "Greetings, fellow sentients. I am Galon, Noble of the Mer Houses in the Confederated Protectorate of the United Sentients of Golugan. We received a distress signal in the area, and came to offer whatever assistence may be required."

"Sir, we are picking up a transmission," Sergeant Schultz reported, a tone of surprise in his voice.. "It's a response to our distress single."
Colonel Klink thought it over, and decided, that it would be best if he handled this himself. "Patch it through to my phone," he said, picking up the in the armrest of his chair. It was audible when the transmission was patched through, and he spoke, "This is Colonel Klink, of the Telyphonian Air Force Spacecraft Exploration. We are in need of assistance. Our ship has sustained damage, and we do not have the facilities to repair it."

"Well then, we'll send over pick-up capsules to evacuate your men." As engineers began to filter into the small transport ships, the Iron Wing fleet surronded the Telyphonian ship and a perfect circle.

The 4th Imglot Expeditionary Fleet found itself in open space. Made up of a dozen relatively small Doombringer-Class* Assault Carriers, it was, like all other Imglotian fleets- dedicated to nothing less than total domination of anything it found.

Traveling through the alternate reality of Slipspace, the fleet could move faster than most, albeit at the risk of losing itself in the space outside of the universe. The lead ship, a Plague-Class** Battleship, picked up a distress signal; the admiral on board took no time in making his choice. It was time to get some prizes.

The Imglotian Slipspace Drive, the Hantog system, initiated in all of the Fleet's navy. In a flash of brilliant light, of all colors and none at the same time, a hole was ripped in the fabric of the universe, allowing them to reenter.

The ships divided into a spread formation, the Doombringers readying their fighters. Bright white directed-energy weapons made a great display of fury and power, and the Imglotians were met with the sight of a circle of ships protecting a cripple. The designs were so radically different as to indicate a humanitarian operation.

The Immortal Lands of the Great Lord Tiger would soon be richer.

* http://img263.imageshack.us/my.php?image=g3empresslowressj2.jpg
** http://img262.imageshack.us/my.php?image=galleonxq0qj9rg8.jpg

Galon's frigate was quick to hail the new arrivals in magnanimous greeting. "Greetings, fellow sentients. I imagine you're responding to the distress signal as well. You don't need to fret, it seems that the fleet that preceeded us both has things well under control."

Admiral Wallace, captain of the Pestilence and leader of the 4th was given the message. He casually picked up a mic from the indicated technician, and responded to the unknowing beings.

"This is the Pestilence, Flagship of the 4th Expeditionary Fleet of the Great Lord Tiger. Be aware that we have approximately 120 starbombers on-board our carriers, in addition to our primary armament. You have 20 standard minutes to stand down, and allow salvage of that cripple vessel. If it is not put down already, we will do it for you. The Great Lord sees fit to distribute wealth, and we assure you, compliance will result in great rewards. Failure to comply will result in immediate and total destruction, and/or the apparent coming of the Apocalypse, so far as you are concerned. Good day, sentients," he ended mockingly.

The frigate did not reply directly to the Pestilence's ultimatum, but it did make a rather apparent hint. The frigate flew so as to intercede between the circular formation and the 4th Expeditionary Fleet of the Great Lord Tiger, and created a pair of linked energy gates. One was directly above the crippled ship and the other was directly below, ensuring that fire coming from either direction from any non-gravitic weapons would go through one gate and out the other, bypassing the intended target. Most importantly, though, was a new beacon being transmitted:

"Where barbarism threatens the defenseless, where the innocent require aid, where the wicked must be rebuked, call forth the Questors of Golugan, and all troubles shall be banished from noble hearts."

The new, passive comms beacon made Wallace burst out with laughter. Quoting some sort of scripture? These beings were fools to resist. And with their pitiful energy shielding.

They were unaware of the the conventional Ragnarok-type coilgun, mounted atop the length of the Pestilence. It used Gaussian principles to accelerate a conventional projectile at 1/2 lightspeed. It was also a habit of Imlot forces to load their rounds with Polonium-210, an heavily-radioactive element that glowed with a blue light. Designed for destruction of organisms, it was also a passable ship-to-ship weapon.

Even as Wallace considered what to say next, a lead-lined round containing the deadly element was loaded into the Ragnarok. Gemini-Type Starbombers issued from the side of the Doombringers, standing ready for combat.

"We do not abase ourselves to the point of using nuclear explosives," the Admiral told the interlopers calmly, "but neither shall we balk at the utilization of weapons built around radioactivity. Your petty shields, while effective against our massless beam weapons, will have no effect on our coilgun's projectile. We feel no qualms killing those who would resist; and, at the moment, you are proving yourselves to be pesky little flies."

Wallace flipped his transmission system to fleet-broadcast only. "4th, find targeting solutions on those armed vessels. We give them one more chance to stand down. Then, we engage."

This frigate, while a single ship to their dozen, was of little consequence. What of the fleet surrounding the cripple, though? Or the damaged ship itself? What were their intentions?

Silence fell on the bridge as they waited for the reaction of the brave, would-be defender, and for any action on the part of the other parties.

[OOC] Wait for CM and Telyphonia, you reckon? I don't want them being left too far behind.

OOC: Agreed, and I should note that the gates are the same used by the frigate for intersystem travel, so it would redirect projectile weapons. The downside is that it only protects against attacks going through the rings, which means you can fire through CM's circle to hit the ship, and it doesn't channel gravitic pull, which means weapons based on such (or backwash of transportation systems based on such) would bypass it effortlessly.

[OOC] Ah, but we are no longer aiming at the Telyphonian ship. But, hey, new tech. Misunderstood by Wallace.

While Colonel Klink was talking with the first ship, another ship hailed them. Also, more ships were detected by the combat sensors. Their intentions were, as of yet, unknown. "We do not believe that evacuation is necessary, we could use a tow, to a repair or construction facility," Klink continued. Meanwhile, Sergeant Schultz replied to the second ship, "We thank you for coming to our aid, we do not know at this time, if your assistance will be needed, as we are in communications with the other ships, at this time." Then, one of the other crew members informed both of them, that another fleet had arrived. This one had not yet contacted them. However, they launched many small ships, which the computer categorized as fighters. That was reported to Colonel Klink, and he placed his hand over the mouthpiece of the phone, and said, "Bring the ship to condition red, ready the point-defense system, power up the railguns. Don't launch the fighters, we do not want to provoke anyone. Seal of all compartments. Tell engineering, were going to need the Nuclear pulse drive so we can maneuver."

A few hundred kilometers away, a large tear in space would appear, sending a gravity disturbance like that of a black hole throughout the area. PSR, Greywatch's signature travel method. What came from the massive rend were a group of four ships. Two of them being frigates, one being a cruisar, the last being a repair ship. Greywatch had heard the call and responded appropiately. Three warships may have seemed like a bit much but you never know these days, and sending a lone Uplifter repair ship didn't seem like a good idea. Scans were performed and the damaged ship was located, the Greywatch force very quickly began making its way over to the area.

@Telyphonia:
Alien ship, if you are responsible for the distress beacon, know that we have picked it up and have come to your aid.

The Imglot Fleet found itself surrounded by hostiles, or potential hostiles.

Wallace consulted a tacmap, considering what to do. The new arrivals, if violent, could do some damage from behind. However, it seemed to be a relatively small fleet, consisting of three warships and a repair warship. Having arrived through some method of space-rip, the small fleet made its way towards the cripple.

The Great Lord would not accept anything less than total victory, at this point. Nodding to himself, Wallace issued his orders.

Five of the Doombringer ships maneuvered to take position in the way of the rescuers. If that repair ship could get to work...

At that moment, Wallace noticed that the cripple had suddenly gone hot. Its reactors were being brought online. Could they be readying to stand and fight?

(OOC: Hmm, I think i'll get in on this. Looks like a good one! ^.^ Also, my factbook is here. (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=565836) For everything else, see my signature. It'll take you too my Deviantart account where I have all my respective pictures. I'll upload pictures of the starships today for you all)

Alliance Star system: Hearthstone, STA 13:43--------------------------

The two signals rang loud and clear through the bridge of the Alliance Keyship Spirit of Justice, playing through it’s intercom simultaneously. Tobias stood next to his comms officer, Ensign Sarah, using two of his aspects to sort out the noise into the two coherent messages they were supposed to be.

"Emergency, Emergency, Emergency, this is the TAFS Exploration, we are in immediate need of assistance. Current location is (coordinates go here). Please send help."

Tobias immediately understood the call for help. It was the second beacon they received that intrigued him.

"Where barbarism threatens the defenseless, where the innocent require aid, where the wicked must be rebuked, call forth the Questors of Golugan, and all troubles shall be banished from noble hearts."

It almost resembled a rallying call of his planet’s ancient history, something old Kilaros knights would yell to request assistance from their compatriots on the battlefield. Very clearly, it was some other call for help, but not a call for repair or aid, but a call to arms.

Tobias paced along the command precipice of the bridge. His ship, the Second Alliance Keyship Spirit of Justice, was currently at the edge of the mining operations within the Alliance claimed system of Hearthstone with what remained of his assigned fleet strength after the majority of it had been recalled to Furnace for refit. What remained was an Orion-class frigate, the Vigilant, and two Atlas-class destroyers, the Watchman and the Foresight. His bridge crew watched him patiently, waiting for his order. The heir ascendant stood upwards and walked up the steps to the command precipice.

A new specices, leaping into space for the first time. A first attempt at FTL, a milestone to be commended. But something had gone wrong. Now they, and evidently someone else at their location, were in trouble... The heir quickly strode to his command chair and settled himself down. He called up records of prior first contacts and interventions. He wanted to make sure he didn’t crew up protocol.

"Ensign Natalie! Cycle the fold drives and prepare to jump! Set the target arrival zone at 0.6 AUs distant from the signal source. Deploy the repulsor sails and warm up the main drives. Ensign Kern, begin charging the capacitors for all weapons on the Spirit. Have all crew to action stations and prepare for combat maneuvers! Ensign Sarah, link the Spirit's processors with the rest of the fleet strength and slave their drive units to ours for a simultaneous space fold. Also, prepare a message and time it's transmission with our arrival. Broadcast on multiple unencrypted public channels, both visual and audio." The cestal engineer nodded, her red hair flowing behind her, and fiddled with the holographic panel in front of her. A small, half-foot-wide robotic camera floated down from the ceiling, supported by the Frisbee-like maglev projector sitting on the top of it's tiny body.

"Sir, you'll go live in five, four, three-" she continued counting down on her fingers.

This is the captain of Alliance Keyship Spirit of Justice. I am Tobias Castro, Sixteenth heir ascendant of the Commonwealth of the Second Alliance, representative on their behalf and acting commander of this fleet strength. We detected distress beacons emanating from this area. We stand with you. We mean no harm and seek only to assist you in any possible way. To any craft in the vicinity of the distressed ship: if you be friend to either the free peoples of the galaxy or the Second Alliance itself, you have nothing to fear from us. If you would do either of us ill, expect a suitable response.

6 MINUTES LATER----------------------------------------
Time passed as the crews of the fleet strength of Tobias Castro made their preparations. The fleet enacted Tobias's orders, and the Spirit of Justice, flanked by it's escorting fleet activated their drives. With a shockwave that shook the fabric of reality, space bent and warped, hurling the starships through time and space, where upon they reappeared with another space-shaking concussive wave a couple hundred miles above the Imglot fleet. The Spirit of Justice and it's flank guards popped into existence, the silver and blue hull of the Spirit silhouetted against the stars like a brilliant predatory bird.

At the moment the starships reentered the universe, the signal transmitted across the system. Ensign Natalie updated the heir's command pads and then turned towards Tobias.

"Sir, the repulsor membrane is deployed. All systems are green. Helm control has improved by a factor of 2.3516 and rising. We are now capable of combat maneuvering. The crew is all secured for inertial turbulence and accounted for."

Ensign Sarah's command panel pinged several times and blinked with numerous identical frequency messages.

"Sir, the fleet captains have confirmed they are also standing by for combat maneuvers and are standing by." Tobias nodded, and began running through the situation on his command pad. There were four separate groups from what he could tell. The crippled ship, whose weapons were hot from what his sensors could read, which was a good sign. If anything, it meant the ship’s crew had survived and was able to at least mount some defense. There was a small fleet surrounding it in what was clearly attempting to protect the struggling ship from the next group, a fleet which was clearly aggressive from its deployment. The final group was positively identified as a Greywatch force containing what appeared to be a repair and refit vessel, who were currently cut off from the crippled ship by the aggressive fleet.

"Natalie, adjust orientation to bring our Mass Drivers to bear. Move to assist the frigate, they look like they might need help soon. Weapons hot, shield grid active, Ensign Kern. It looks like any diplomacy here is going to fall in the realm of brinksmanship." The Spirit moved forward at a steady pace towards the frigate’s position covered from the front by a glowing field of bright bluish hexagons floating ahead of it, the Atlases in close formation, protected by their own, smaller orange shields. The Vigilant stayed back, activating it’s orange shield grid as it’s long body split open via a series of extending booms, opening up like the petals of a massive flower to reveal it’s main weapons: a massive array of missile tubes.

Tobias wore an almost unnoticeable smile.

Aboard the Aquanaut, Galon smiled at the arrival of the reinforcements. The mer, a serpentine being with multi-jointed three-digit hands, swam through the primary waters of the vessel toward the holographic screen bearing the visage of what a human would call an angel, if not for the being being a hermaphrodite. The holorgram was just an avatar for the ship's controlling AI, though, it's personality templated off a fallen noble of the now lost Founder race. "Have any responded to the beacon?"

"A new vessel has arrived, not of our tradition, but from its declared intentions and the title Spirit of Justice I cannot help but wonder if it was our call that drew it. Ah, the wicked take action." As the Doombringers broke off to engage some of the new arrivals, the gate-shields around the damaged vessel faded and the Aquanaut accelerated with a push of its gravitic drive. An energy gate formed in front of it, like the one it had arrived in, and it pushed through to appear above the shifting Doombringers, close enough that the wake of its gravitic drive would warp the hull of an unshielded vessel. The ship then turned and panned, bringing the Doombringers upon its flank as it dipped in front of them.

Galon observed the threats through his primary screen, rather concerned. "Can we take them?"

The Aquanaut's avatar looked upward and spreads its arms, a soft smile on its lips. "We won't have to."

With those words, three more gates formed outside the perimeter of the fight, one a few seconds before the other two. From each gate, the same class of vessel came out. The Questor corvette had the same disc foundation as the Aquanaut, although on a smaller scale, with a pair of finlike wings and a needle head. The two quickest arrivals arced on gravitics toward the five Doombringers, while the third gated beneath them a safe enough distance from the Aquanaut to avoid gravitic disruption. All three ships trained weapons on the Doombringers as the made their opening hail.

"The Questor seeks glory that would earn nobility. Beware, bane of the innocent, as the warriors of Golugan raise their blades against you!"

The cruisar, a 3Km Rabble-Rouser, along with its two frigates, one being a Gambler and the other a Plow, began coming to a stop. The two frigates moved back to give cover to the 2Km Uplifter repair vessel. The captain of the cruisar frowned at this actuon taken by the group of aliens. "Tactical, give me scans." The tactical officer went to work, "Definately warships, sir. The other group over there with the damaged ship has defenses up. Something tells me we're dealing with multiple hostiles." The captain sighed, so he already too late to prevent pirates and other scum from taking advantage of the crippled vessel. "Comms, open SCN and get a connection with Prime, let them know what's happening. Also, open a channel to the alien vessels:

<We are here under peaceful terms and want nothing more than to help that damaged ship. If you could move out of our way and allow us to do our job I'd be thankful.>

He hoped that would get the message accross, the last thing he needed was to be forced to ask for reinforcements from Greywatch Prime. But then, a small glimmer of hope arrived on the scene. The tactical officer looked up, "Sir, friendly vessels have appeared, confirmed as TSA." The captain smailed, "Well this makes my life a little easier. Open an encrypted channel to them."

<Encrypted transmission to TSA:
Hey, I'm sure you've noticed that we're being blocked here by some possibly hostiles. The ship following us is a repair craft, which is why it looks different from our other ships. We only have a small group and possibility of reinforcements is iffy so if you could lend us a little cover, it would be much appreciated.>

Wallace's vision seemed to film over with red. These absurd fools! They truly had a deathwish, didn't they?

His lip curling and right eye twitching, the furious admiral examined the tactical display again. Surrounded on all side by hostiles... The only benefits that the Great Lord's fleet had were that it was a full combat fleet, as opposed to these ragtag breadgivers, and that the carriers carried nearly 250 starfighters, half of which were designed to attack hard targets.

Now was the moment of truth, he realized: would he combat these beings in order to capture a ship with FTL tech that was primitive, at best? Was it truly worth it? A detached part of him said that he should retreat now, or at least stand down. But the Great Lord Tiger accepted nothing less than total success when one of His military forces made an ultimatum or other goal.

No... he would destroy these primitives, and their knights, too. This space would be forever filled with the scrap metal of these interlopers. The galaxy would learn to fear the name of The Great Lord Tiger's 4th Expeditionary Fleet.

"Commander Arbam!" Wallace called to the Pestilence's weapons officer. "Does Rag-Ops answer 'solution plotted'?"

"Stand by," the lanky red-head answered. The kid would go far in the Great Lord's military. He spoke into a mic, listened, and then said, "Aye, sir. Ragnarok solution plotted. Waiting on your orders to arm the sheath."

Wallace could still stop this. If he refused to arm the sheath, it would not be discarded, and the projectile would simply be a giant lead bullet. But it was far too late for that.

"Match generated bearings," he began, hesitating. Was he going to throw away the fleet this way?

No. He was going to bring honor to Imglot, and death to its enemies.

"Match generated bearings and shoot. 50% Geminis are to engage those new arrivals; devote 4 Doombringers to provide heavy weapons fire. 4 Doombringers are to assault that repair group, along with another 20% of the Geminis; the other 4 carriers, and the remaining starbombers, with the Pestilence. We're pushing forward. Launch the Orion Starfighters- they can perform some saturation attacking."

60 Geminis and four Doombringers streaked towards the fleet now above the 4th. Another 24 Geminis, along with another third of the Assault Carriers, made the push towards the Greywatch fleet.

The Pestilence shook from the combined force of its massive engines engaging and the electromagnets polarizing atop the ship. A massive projectile, accelerated to blinding speeds, issued from the mouth of the gargantuan weapon. A sheath burst apart, revealing sabot round that glowed with an eerie and decidedly dangerous-looking light. The shell, hurled forward at 1/2 lightspeed, hurtled towards the Aquanaut. The sabot, aimed between the precious gates of the enemy fleet, promised a chaotic doom to the next thing it struck.

The Doombringers' massive energy cannons exploded with white beams of destruction, and the Geminis released proton torpedoes at their targets. The 4th Fleet of the Great Lord Tiger was Death itself.

The AI aboard the Aquanaut wasn't the most sophisticated of the Golugan vessels, only as smart as it needed to be to be able to coordinate the gravitic and energy gate systems of the ship in full defense while remaining airborn in an atmospheric enviroment. Anything else would be excessive. Still, the AI was also sentient, and had the wisdom of its template persona... It wouldn't be needing gate systems in the immediate future.

A bead of cerulean energy formed in front of the Uplifter, a matching gate forming within the perimeter circle around the damaged ship. It was a tight squeeze, but well within the repair ship's ability to manage. The Uplifter almost immediately received a hail from the Aquanaut, on a private channel. "The nobles of Golugan would never allow the wicked to hinder noble works."

There was still gate energy to spare, and the AI's speed of thought was easily enough to intercept the incoming projectile. A cerulean gate quickly formed, able to redirect mass and energy in placement but not speed or momentum... So the gate formed on the opposite side of the Pestilence, redirecting the irradiated slug back upon the ship that fired it, leaving gravitics to deflect torpedos.

Seeing the Aquanaut straining its systems for noble effort, the Questors quickly formed around it, using its own gate systems to redirect energy weapons back upon the Doombringers while using their own gravitics to manuever. Overwhelming firepower generally put Golugan ships on the defensive, but when the gate systems were used in that defense, it was no less a decisive attack as a defense.

Your AI can react at things going half the speed of light?

Wallace was dumbfounded as the Ragnarok round suddenly appeared behind its genesis. Quickly, he ordered the firing of the Hermes-Type maneuvering jets; the relatively small battleship lurched, but not quite fast enough. The round missed, but warning klaxons spoke of radiation damage emanating from the deadly projectile. Undoubtedly, there were now some cooked crewmen somewhere in the ship.

They obviously could not waste ammunition on these aliens with their gates. Wallace ordered the Pestilence to engage the fleet of the Second Alliance. Let it be seen if their shielding could stop the Ragnarok.

The ship shuddered again as another blue projectile was sent into space, this one towards the brave show of orange energy shielding. Suddenly, Wallace had an epiphany.

He ordered a dozen Geminis to hightail it through the gate behind the Pestilence before it was closed or whatever the hell it did, and thus end up in close proximity to the Aquanaut. It was time to see how powerful these ships were when they were forced to accept damage. The Doombringers that engaged the Golugan ships were damaged significantly by reflected attacks; he quickly ordered all starfighters to use the enemy gate system to their advantage.

The other Doombringers lumbered towards the other fleet, that of the Second Alliance. The defenders hadn't fired, not yet, even in the face of the torpedoes and beam weapons firing on them.

OOC: No, but I doubt your gun can accelerate an irradiated projectile to that speed without generating energy signatures that plant a red flag on the gun saying "Be ready to gate this before it fires."

IC:
To the Golugan AI, the fightercraft we're little different than the torpedoes: Small machines of destruction to meek to be boarded but still needed to be responded to. So, the Aquanaut and Questors responded to the fightercraft as they would guided projectiles: They used shaped gravitics to apply pressure to the ships until shields gave way and hulls warped until the ship exploded.

The Aquanaut AI was also... altruistic. It didn't care that it wasn't being fired upon, it knew that the gate system was the only way to safely disrupt that gun. So, as the initial gun gate closed, a new one formed, this time directing the slug toward one of the Doombringers approaching the Second Alliance.

Aboard the Aquanaut, the ship shuddered at the occasional impact against the ships shields, which were normally meant only to address microdust, and strained against the assault of the fightercraft. "Avatar, has the primary enemy vessel lost shields?"

"Scanning..."

"Reliant Shield Battery at 20%, sir!" yelled a panicked ensign.

The theory of using the gates had been only barely successful. While Wallace's hunch was right- the Golugan ships were ill-equipped to handle combat- the gate system was wreaking havoc on the fleet.

The second Ragnarok round burst into a Doombringer, and there was an immediate distress call on the fleet comm. Wallace quickly offered a request for a blessing to the Great Lord- there were going to be many dead individuals on that ship. Another was brought down by reflected shots, making the fleet 2 carriers short, in addition to a quarter of the starfighters.

"Is there any way to destroy those damned gates?!" Wallace furiously asked the technicians arraigned around the bridge. "Check for weaknesses... can a Gemini destroy one?"

With this not-quite-a-suggestion, a contingent of 10 starbombers made its way towards one of the gates. Right before making contact, they released their remaining torpedoes. It was time to see if those gates could redirect projectiles headed for its structure, and not its face. One of the Geminis couldn't pull up in time, but Wallace coldly admitted that a guided missile would fare even better than the small proton torps.

The gates could not deflect structures heading for their face, and any of the starbombers attempting to pass through the gate before it destablized would find roughly half its molecules having successfully pass through the gate in erratic chunks before various applications of the laws of physics caused the half-ships to explode or meerly decompress.

The AI, naturally, was not pleased with these Ignobles discovering this. "Tactics, Galon?"

The mer crossed his arms in front of his chest, watching a strafing starbomber get crushed as it passed in front of him. "Have all redirected fire focus on the ship with that supercannon, and tell the Questors to bring their lances to bear."

The lances in question were ion lances, and soon the strafing corvettes were firing brilliant beams of blue-white light upon the Pestilence when they were able to make passes. Such passes were made admittedly more difficult, however, as the Pestilence found itself under fire from all the deflected energy weapons the coordinated gating capacity of the Aquanaut and Questors could bring to bear.

OOC Footnote: The success of the attack on the gate assumes the torps were set to detonate upon proximity rather than impact, since the gates are massless.

"Sir, the Reliant batteries are failing! These energy weapons are too powerful!"

"The Great Lord Damn it!" Wallace's hand smashed onto the arm of the chair he sat in. They seem to have some weaponry, after all. But they seemed dead set on killing the flagship. So set, that they made some daringly close passes...

"Arbam! Tell Rag-Ops to prep for a fast-charge!" Such a charge, attained in seconds, would make the round travel at conventional speed (only a few times faster than sound), but it would suffice; it would also prevent the massive energy readings given from full charge, allowing it to be fired with little notice.

He flicked his personal display to show the weps officers calculating a solution. The round would have to be fired at exactly the right time, and called for dramatic maneuvering. The Pestilence could do it, though. Wallace watched the display count down from 5 standard seconds. On zero, the Mercury thrusters belched again, this time beyond the ship's capacity, and with a discomforting creak the battleship swiftly turned. At the same time, there was a sudden bang as the rails lit up, and the projectile was hurled- just in time to catch one of the strafing vultures.

"Sir! The enemy has opened fire! I repeat the enemy has opened fire!" Tobais snapped out of his reverie. He had been busy listening to the Greywatch message on his neural lace. He bolted upright and slammed his fist down on the holographic pad controlling FLEETCOM, bellowing across all channels with the strange, echoing voice that augmented possess when using their internal comms, his voice echoing through the intercomms of all the arranged ships, friend and foe. His normally green eyes glowed a backlit bright blue as he spoke.

"ALL ALLIANCE CRAFT, THEY HAVE ENGAGED FRIENDLIES! BURN THEIR MONGREL HIDES!!!"
Simulatneously, he opened a second comm channel to the Vigilant.
"Bring your weapons to bear on the main fleet; the Spirit shall assist the Greywatch forces. Make them bleed."

The Watchman----------------------------

The polonium shell streaked towards the Watchman, colliding with the burning orange shield in spectacular fashion, and a briliant white counter-flash ignited in front of the Destroyer, briefly outshining the sun of the star system. When the glare subsided, the Destroyer sat in space, it's burning orange wall gone but it's hull not even scratched, globs of radioactive metal floating in the space in front of it.

The Spirit of Justice-----------------------------

The comms officer on the Spirit's bridge turned towards Tobias, "No casualties sir! Their shield grid is temporarily down, but they should have it back up momentarily." She smiled, "I geuss it'll take more then that to kill one of ours head on."

Tobias's eyes went green again and he sat down quickly. "Ensign Sarah, have the Watchman and Foresight hold position by the friendly frigate and it's allies and provide point defense with DLCs*! Have them assist the friendlies unique approach to combat with their OLCs!* And tell them not to get cocky, if that slug had hit the ship and not the grid, the Watchman would be burning right now. Have them watch for flank maneuvers and keep their point defense up! Also, hail the Greywatch fleet. Let them know we're on the way."

Tobais looked at one of the many holographic screens displaying the stars beyond the Spirit's hull. He ran his hand through his messy brown hair as he saw the Greywatch ships stopping as they faced down their aggressors, their metal forms obscured by the blurred weapons fire of the Atlas's DLCs, filling the stars with glowing red metal and burning fighter craft from the Atlas's fussilade. Time to deal with the other problem.

"Natalie, hard to port with a 21.074 degree vertical inclination! Chart an intercept course with the aggressors moving towards the Greywatch forces and bring the Spirit in. Maximum burn!" Natalie saluted with a big grin and smacked her left hand on the accelerator pad as she rotated the holographic controls for the repulsor sails with her right hand. The Spirit moved with liquid grace, rotating smoothly on the spot, and then dramaticly accelerated forward, it's 1.4 kilometer long hull hurtling through the stars like a streak of mercury, covering the distance with startling speed. Tobias caught a glance of the Watchman's bright orange shields blinking back into existance.

Ensign Kern fiddled with the targeting controls as the Spirit sprung towards the carrier group like a lunging predator. A loud, digital whistle echoed through the bridge, "Mass Drivers have a lock on the closest ship sir!"

Tobias snarled, "Let's show them what a real magnetic induction weapon can do... Open fire!"

The decks of the Spirit shuddered softly as the two massive underslung guns of the craft fired. A pair of three ton projectiles streaked through the stars, lit by a white arcing eletrical discharge. The brilliant projectiles slammed into the Carrier closest to the Greywatch fleet, their total speed clocking in at 5/8ths the speed of light.

"Confirmed hit!"

"Excellent! Natalie, while we're at it, let's give that one closest to us a little nudge, hmm?"

"Oh yeah, you've got it, Tobias!"

The Spirit continued forward, accelerating to ramming speed as it eyed the closest ship to their position. The burning blue corona of the Chernokov shield grid crackled menacingly as the Keyship bore down on it's intended victim. Tobias activated his internal comms again, signalling over SHIPCOM.

"All hands, prepare for collision! AVATAR pilots, prepare to board!"

The 1.4 kilometer ship continued to accelerate until it connected with the carrier, it's burning shield absorbing the lions share of the impact as the Spirit hit the other craft like a Javelin.

*OLC stands for Offensive Linear Cannon, a rapid fire, kinetic weapon for anti-warship combat. It hurls white hot metal at an opponent using magnetic induction. DLC is a Defensive Linear Cannon, which is simply a smaller variant on the larger OLC, only built for anti-fighter point defense. Think of them as Gatling gun style AA guns.

The strafing vulture in question as headed by a Minotaur named Dazo Re, one who like all Questors saught nobility and like all Minotaurs was reckless. This had lead the AI operating his defenses to be cautious, even to the point of paranoia. As the projectile came hurtling out of the barrel, the AI was able to do a lot of thinking in a fraction of a second.

I cannot do anything to save myself. With a gravitic push and a man-sized gate, I can save Dazo Re, or at least giving him hope by getting him on board the Aquanaut. Still, I should be able to do more, but attempting to form a gate inside a shielded vessel would only result in partial success. Then again, their shields are probably low enough that the majority of my nose would get through, and the radiation from the shell would be transmitted through the gate before my destruction destabilized it. Very well, then.

In one instant, Dazo Re was standing at the helm, shouting orders to his avatar on how to manuever. In the next instant, he was flung into the sky of the Aquanaut's upper enviroment as he watched the sad smile of a Founder, divine beings by the beliefs of the Golugani, disappear behind a rapidly destablizing energy gate. After the ship's gravitics slowed his inevitable impact with the water to tolerable level, the Questor found himself being held up by a pair of local Mer to observe his corvette drive its nose through an energy gate leading into the heart of that supercannon before being torn asunder by one of the cannon's projectiles, which tore through effortlessly.

The avatar of the Aquanaut appeared before Dazo Re in fologram form, smiling wearily down at him as the irradiated shot found itself being gated to be directed upon the Pestilence. "Dazo Re, Questor of Golugan, you have fought well today."

The Minotaur huffed and reached up toward the holographic projection. "Not well enough for my pride. I'm volunteering to board with the first wave once the shields are down on that flagship."

The Second Alliance had awakened.

"One Carrier down! Another being boarded!"

The ships, at first silent, came to life abruptly, firing magnetic guns that seemed to be more advanced than the Ragnarok. Another one of them, easily a kilometer-and-a-half, rammed the comparatively small Doombringer, crushing it like a bug.

The operation was quickly going to hell in a handbasket, and Wallace saw that he had to pick his targets- attacking the Golugans straight-out was suicide. At least the Second Alliance could be struck. He ordered another polonium round chambered and loaded-

"Sir! Ragnarok power off-line! Back in five minutes!"

Wallace's eyes bulged. That was their trump card, the ace-in-the whole. Without that... No. It was time to pull out the main surprise. With an order screamed into his mic, the Doombringers revealed their Despair missile batteries*, meant for orbital bombardment. Against other ships, it would be chaos.

The missiles streaked from the launch tubes, leaving blue streaks of ion particles behind as they accelerated towards anything not marked by a transponder. The warheads, micronuclear fission heads with a minor 1 kt yield, would cause damage but not destroy all life, like a Nova bomb.

Flashes of light lit up space as miniature nuclear explosions erupted. Perhaps he was violating his original ultimatum- but Wallace wished for nothing less than total victory, no matter the cost.

*[OOC]Note: Not made up just now- check military factbook. I realize the reveal seems kinda improvised. In fact, I just remembered them.

Against other ships, it would be chaos. However, the AIs of the surviving Golugani vessels had gotten used to preparing for superweapons from these foes, and were already adept at using gravitics to neutralize enemy weapons. The Questors were quick to realize such weapons were out of the league of their gravitic systems, though, and gated themselves to a position opposite the Pestilence from the incoming onslaught.

The Aquanaut AI, however, was angry at the loss of one of its brethren. It had time to open a gate behind itself and shift to join the Questors, but first it would use its gravitics to wreck vengeance. Normally, the AI would just compress with its gravitics to crush the incoming missile. However, as projectiles cleared the Doombringer shields, the Aquanaut started forming gravitic pullpoints centered at the core of the warheads, triggering the micronuclear fission reaction early for premature detonation.

After attending to vengeance by addressing two payloads as such, The Aquanaut began flinging the nukes against one another as it formed a gate behind it, pulling through as the Questors provided cover fire, hoping to pierce the shields of the Pestilence by the time the Aquanaut's gate closed.

OOC: Part of me hopes the Pestilence survived the Watchman, if only to allow Dazo Re and the rest of the boarders to be gated to the command deck so that the Questor may have the honor of avenging the fallen Founder and smiting he who leads the wicked.

The Vigilant-------------------
The Frigate turned it's two kilometer frame to face the central Imglot fleet. It's captain, Lieutenant Major Samuel Jordon, stroked his black curly beard, waiting for the Spirit to clear his line of fire. He saw the Keyship ram another craft headlong, and chortled at the ensuing chaos. A beep on his holographic pads indicated an update: they were clear to fire. The Cestal officer nodded, running his hand over the dark skin of his shaved scalp.

"Right. Alright boys, time for us to earn our rations. Bring the rain."

Orion-class Frigates were unique craft in that they had so many weapons that the craft needed four tactical officers to efficiently coordinate, one man for each extended weapon arm. The four tactical officers saluted and donned the specialized neural interface helms that Frigate gunners wore.

Outside the craft, the hundreds of firing tubes glowed white as the weapons primed. Each tube was not actually a missile tube, but rather a small revolver styled linear driver, designed to propel a small, two-hundred pound metal sliver forward, where upon the small slug's internal magnetic drives kicked in, allowing the tactical officer to remotely steer the missile like a small fighter craft.

With a series of electrical discharges, the ships hundreds of tubes fired in staggered rounds, a hundreds of little silver projectiles hurtled through the stars, gathering speed. The spectacle completed the illusion of a mssive flower, the schools of remote-controled darts resembling a silver cloud of pollen blown from the surface of an open flower with a light breeze. The small shells then began to move in unison, like schools of high speed fish, each small cloud of projectiles guided by a human intelligence and trailing a tiny glowing wake of blue light.

Two of the schools of metal homed in on one of the craft furthest toward the the frigate. Dozens of the little metal projectiles were hit by defensive fire, but hundreds still found their mark, the little white hot projectiles striking the carrier simultaneously, their combined kinetic force transferring with enough power to strip the skin from many craft.

The other two divided themselves, the whirling mass of metal hurtling toward the nuclear missiles the carriers were releasing. Each little metal missile found itself a target, some doubling or tripling up on one missile. The little metal shells flew after their targets with liquid grace, some being thrown off their pursuit or failing to hit their targets before the limited charge of their tiny drives ran out. Others succeeded, their metal forms puncturing warheads and engines with incredible force and then going dead in space, their little lives expired.

Then the tactical officers chambered a new set of projectiles and the brilliant dance began again.

The Watchman and the Foresight-------------------------

The two Atlas-class craft saw the Golgun craft retreating before the onslaught of the nuclear missiles. The destroyer's orange shields could absorb maybe one, two of those warheads before they gave out completely, and while the Atlas-class was famed for being a resilient little ship, they would be reduced to smoldering debris. The two captains opened comms channels briefly, only giving the other a nod and "good luck" before the channel closed.

The Foresight rotated it's engine mounts 180 degrees and went to maximum burn, it's 0.46th's of a kilometer long body backpedaling before the barrage, it's LCs firing at maximum speed, striking missiles out of the stars with their derived kinetic force. One missile got through and struck the shield head on with another bright flash. The orange field continued to glow, but dimmer and weaker then before. If they launched another salvo like that and it connected, the craft wouldn't survive. The Destroyer maneuvered itself and rocketed upwards at a ninety degree angle, hoping to draw the fire of the carriers with it.

The Watchman, however, did not flee from the barrage. Instead, it lurched forward, it's engines at maximum burn and guns blazing, barreling headlong toward the Plague-class battleship. The ship's point defenses disabled a number of the missiles, but then they started getting through.

The orange wall in front of the ship took the first three blasts before the shield projectors overloaded and blew off the blunt nose of the starship, the orange field dissolving instantly. Another nuke got through, glancing the ship as it took the hit on it's starboard deployment bay, burning a gaping red hole in the craft's superstructure. Hundreds of AVATARs poured into space, flying along side the destroyer toward the capital ship of the Imglot fleet, the survivors of the catastrophic strike bailing out. Then, the other bay opened and the remaining personnel bailed out, even the ship's Leviathan-class assault construct tore it's way free from the mangled mess of debris, (will post picture later. Think of it as a 60' tall, 100' long, six-legged war-machine patterned after a canine of the Second Alliance's world with a back-mounted pair of DLCs. Think like a Titan from 40K, it's a super-heavy ground craft) leaving only the bridge crew on the ship as it careened forward.

Finally, the Watchman's intentions were made clear. The NERVA engines ran at maximum burn, the long control fins on the thrusters turning red, then white from the heat. Missile after missile struck the craft, searing out great gashes of metal and superstructure with white hot nuclear fire. The starship plummeted toward the Pestilence, it's blunt cylindrical head striking the capital ship amidships at maximum velocity. The craft disintegrated as it's overcharged Chernokov turbines erupted into a massive burst of blue radiation, slamming the battleship with a massive discharge of energy that vaporized the burning frame of the Watchman in a spectacular burst of light.


(OOC: I think we should wait for the others to post, namely Greywatch, Telyphonia and Conservative before we go much further. But anyway, way to go, dude! You sunk my battleship!! ... I mean Atlas-class destroyer... whatever! :D)

But alas, the Pestilence has now been obliterated. Great idea with the kamikaze thing.

Captain Kale Cooper, commander of the Vengeance, the unofficial second-in-command of the Imglot fleet, watched a spectacular light show as the Second Alliance sacrificed its battleship in order to take out the Pestilence. The ramming, tainted by the abnormal radiation issued by the enemy ships, ripped the Plague-Class ship asunder, its two halfs drifting apart. A brilliant flash of light from its core spoke of its detonation, and its half-dozen fusion reactors indeed detonated, obliterating almost all traces of the proud warship and the courageous enemy that had sacrificed itself.

Cooper saw that now was the time to cut his losses. Wallace had been a decent CO, but his actions had always bordered on madness. It seemed that he had been pushed to the point of no return, for some unknown reason. Putting his head in his hands, Cooper considered the prospect of surrender: sure, he would save the 7 remaining Doombringers (5 of which were nearly crippled), but it would probably not save himself from becoming a scapegoat, being the next in the chain-of-command. The Great Lord's tribunal would likely see him dishonorably discharged, if not executed. But... the people who now served under him would survive. That was the important thing.

Cooper opened a fleet-wide transmission, calling for all offenses to cease. The Geminis and Orions were ordered to return, and the Despair bays closed. He ordered a general power-down of all ships, leaving nothing but essential ship systems online. It was time to show some true honor.

Opening a comm line on all available channels, he broadcast into space.

"This is Captain K. Cooper of the Vengeance, now the flagship of the Imglot 4th Expeditionary Fleet. All units, stand down," he said, for the benefit of the enemies. "We are ceasing all offensive operations effective immediately. We were commanded by a madman." Not the smartest thing to have recorded on the black box, but it should help relations with these beings. If it wasn't perceived as deception.

"We have shut down all power supplies for combat and shielding systems, as a sign of our goodwill; if we show even the slightest hostile tendencies, please do not hesitate to attack. I would like to speak to any COs, if it pleases you," he ended. He drew a hand across his brow. When had he started sweating? His hand was soaked. Nervously, he replaced the mic, and waited for answers.

The hail was responded to by the gruff voice of a certain Minotaur aboard the Aquanaut. "This is Dazo Re, Questor of Golugan. On behalf of the Noble Galon of the Mer Nobility, I request permission to come aboard." Technically, the Minotaur could come aboard whenever he pleased with the shields down, but coming aboard a surrendering? vessel without their clearly stated submission to such action was against the code of honor set down by the Founders, and thus the AI wouldn't comply. So, the Questor politely asked.

OOC: I say we wait for the others to post before we keep going, namely, Greywatch, Telyphonia and Conservative. Good fight though, made me sweat when you broke out the nukes. :gundge:

[OOC]Agreed.
For that matter, where is CM? He hasn't made any response at all for 20 posts. He just watched as we blew each other to kingdom come.

[IC]
A response, but half of it was gibberish.

Cooper, short and stout, paced the deck. He could still betray the trust of these- no! That was a tactic of the late, not-so-great Admiral Wallace. He would remain honorable, and welcome peace with open arms. After all, the Immortal Lands of the Great Lord Tiger needed desperately to enter interstellar politics- isolationism would be met with some enemy assaulting the Imglot planet, with millions of death even if the enemy were repelled.

But, the response of the aliens was recognizable enough, and it actually took the Captain aback. Were these beings so trusting? Of an enemy that had just tried its damnedest to kill them all?

"Permission granted. Do you need a hangar bay, or...?"

OOC: After this post, I'll wait. I have work to get ready for, and want to make a strong impression.

IC:
Aboard Cooper's command deck, a cerulean bead of energy formed at the point with the most room to stand. The gate lead to an open plain, and upon it stood a minotaur. The bovine humanoid bowed his head to fit through the gate, curled ramlike horns giving the amber-furred brute enough height that he needed to stay in a slight crouch to avoid scratching the ceiling.

The Questor was clad in breastplate armor that seemed to take after the tradition of ancient Roman armor of old Earth, forsakening the helmet for plated greaves on the upper legs. A keen eye would note modern distinctions, however: A jump pack attached to the back of the cuirrasse, manuevering jets on ankles, magnetic locks to secure the battleax at each hip, and most signifigantly infatry-sized railguns on the inside of each bracer's wrist.

The minotaur spoke with a gruff and guttural voice, but his manner maintained the pride of high society. "That won't be neccesary with your shields down, Captain."

The Greywatch group didn't find this other alien race very friendly, actually the term on most people's minds would been somewhere along the lines of 'hostile' or 'scum.' The captain of the Rabble-Rouser was prepareing to put through another transmission but threw that out as soon as the TSA ships began moving in to assist. What was more important was making sure Prime got the message, as long as that happened all of this wouldn't be for nothing. As soon as the large group of enemies got close, the cruisar brought weapons online, only to watch as the TSA forces began tearing through hostiles. At this point, it was decided that th Greywatch should just watch, they were outnumbered and surely outgunned, and didn't need any more attention from the enemy at this point. The captain made a mental note that he owed one to The Spirit of Justice as well as the others. Within what couldn't of been more than fifteen minutes, the battle was over. The nameless hostiles had been essentially battered from all sides and were no longer in any fighting condition.
A message was sent to the The Spirit of Justice:

<Looks like we owe you one. Need anything repaired?>

It was short but got the message accross.

Colonel Klink watched on the view screens, and sensors, as the battle unfolded around them. If any fighters from the agressive group, came near the TAFS Exploration, the point defense system would intercept them. It had been tested, but they were unsure what a piece of aluminum 80mm in diameter, and 200mm long, traveling at one hundredth the speed of light, would do to these fighters. To Colonel Klink, it appeared as if they were safe for now, the agressive ships were concentrating on the others and not them. The engineers were still unsure what the problem had been in the first place, but continued to run diagnostics on all systems looking for a reason.

Fleet Wide----------------------------------------
The image played again and again on holographic displays across the fleet. Crewman, technicians, AVATAR pilots, all stood transfixed by the horrifying reality of what had just happened. Comm systems fell silent across the Second Alliance fleet as stunned soldiers and engineers stared blankly at the spectacle.

One of the tactical officers on the Vigilant broke down into heavy sobbing as the sobering reality sunk in, his brother having been a technician stationed on the Watchman's starboard hangar and one of those whose vital signs had flatlined with the first nuclear strike. Lieutenant Major Samuel Jordan put a silent, reassuring hand on the officer's shoulder while he saluted the expanding cloud of debris that had once been the Watchman.

All across the fleet, silence fell over the assembled men and women as many silently whispered their last goodbyes to the Watchman and the crew who died to win the battle and spare the lives of those who remained.

The Spirit of Justice---------------------------------
Tobias stared blankly at the image, over an over again as it looped on FLEETCOM. He kept playing it over and over, hoping and praying he was missing something, half expecting to see the Watchman come streaking out of the expanding blue cloud of radioactive dust and energy, unharmed and safe. But it never emerged.

He could hear Ensign Natalie softly whispering a prayer by her console, her hands flat on the holographic panels in front of her chin against her chest and tears streaming quietly down her cheeks.

Ensign Sarah's chair rotated on it's spot, the bridge officer pale and her voice uncharacteristicly quiet. "Sir... both ships destroyed... no survivors... they're dead... All of them... the Watchman is gone..."

The image stopped playing, frozen on the horrific image of the Watchman buckling at the seams as it had begun to erupt with blue light. Tobias froze where he sat. Dead. All of them. The Watchman was dead. There was only 96 Atlas-class Destroyers in the Second Alliance's fleet. Now, there were 95. He checked the roster: 412 crewman had been on that craft. Of them, FLEETBIO said that only 193 of them had survived.

Tobais nodded his head in silent reverence, running each name on the list of the deceased through one of his six aspects. After three minutes, he was done. He would remember them for their sacrifice and bravery.

A loud beep from Ensign Sarah's holographic command pad indicated a transmission. Tobias quietly nodded an okay to Sarah, who blankly patched the message through, audio only.

"This is Captain K. Cooper of the Vengeance, now the flagship of the Imglot 4th Expeditionary Fleet. All units, stand down. We are ceasing all offensive operations effective immediately. We were commanded by a madman."

"We have shut down all power supplies for combat and shielding systems, as a sign of our goodwill; if we show even the slightest hostile tendencies, please do not hesitate to attack. I would like to speak to any COs, if it pleases you,"

Tobias sent a simple message, text only, in reply.

This is Tobias Castro of the Keyship Spirit of Justice. We accept your request for parlay. I shall be over shortly along with my personal bodygaurd. Have a hangar readied. End.

Tobias was dimly aware that the message didn't even adhere to the standard protocol of declaring his full title and command prior to sending a message. He was also dimly aware that at the moment, he couldn't give a shit. Another message pinged on the console, and another blank patch job was initiated.

<Looks like we owe you one. Need anything repaired?>


Tobias looked up at the holographic screen in front of him which framed the Greywatch forces. He managed to make a half-hearted smile before he broadcasted on FLEETCOMM, his echoing voice quiet and reverent, "Alright guys, it's time to move on. The crew of the Watchman gave their lives to win us this victory, so honor their memories and make the best of their sacrifice. It's what they would have wanted."

His bridge crew, and the fleet at large, snapped from their reverie and slowly began to return to their duties. Sarah looked up at Tobias, trying for a smile but failed and so instead nodded, "Would you like to send a return message? Sir?"

Tobias nodded, and the little robotic drone floated down from the ceiling, it's simple robotic mind oblivious to what had just transpired. Tobias managed to crack a smile at the machine's innappropriately cheery decent and began the message,

"Don't worry about it. Just make sure you guys cover our asses when we need it. As for repairs..." he glanced down at a holographic panel displaying a systemic breakdown fo the Spirit. Every system was green, not even a scratch, "thanks, but we're fine. Just get your repair ship to that damaged vessel and give them a hand."

(OOC: alright guys, I'll be off until I get home from work and karaoke tonight, so I'll see you then! Good battle dudes!)

Unnerved by the presence of the great biped that had suddenly appeared on his bridge, Cooper jumped when the response from The Second Alliance came:

This is Tobias Castro of the Keyship Spirit of Justice. We accept your request for parlay. I shall be over shortly along with my personal bodygaurd. Have a hangar readied. End.

The robotic voice was that of the Vengeance's AI- meaning the message was text-only. Was that meant to indicate something? Some custom of this race? Gesturing at his second, Commander Bart Higgins, Cooper watched, unseeing, as the techs scrambled to ready Hangar #5 on the starboard side.

Clearing his throat then, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He pivoted slowly but smoothly on his heel, turning to face the large being now crowding his bridge. He managed a sketchy bow, unsure of how this... thing... would respond, or how it wanted him to respond.

Irregardless, he dismissed his scripted military negotiation, and instead adopted the language used to address one's elders- a very respectful tone, indeed.

"I give you my greetings, sir," he began nervously. Sir? Maybe they didn't say that? "I, first and foremost, must apologize for the deaths of any by the hands of Imglotian weaponry. In the name of the Great Lord, I swear my conviction is true. Shall we speak of matters of peace and co-prosperity, when the other representatives arrive?"

You can bet your ass we'll cover you when you need it. Moving to damaged vessel now.

With that the Greywatch force once again began moving to the damaged alien vessel. It was time to actually get to work.

In a rather surprising gesture, the minotaur sat down on the floor of Cooper's bridge. He waved a three fingered hand dismissively. "That was my corvette that was destroyed. The only casualties my people suffered were of the material nature. It speaks well of your character that you act in the interest of the lives of your men... Although it speaks poorly that it took the demise of your commander to act against his... madness." The last word was practically growled out. "I do hope that you are a better representative of your people's heart than that lunatic."

"No- I mean, yes... ah, I'm a better... thing," Cooper said nervously. While its attempt at demonstrating tranquility was to be applauded, the size of the minotaur - for that was what it was, ripped straight out of the mythologies of the planet that, itself, founded the planet of Tigeria - was unnerving. Still, at least this being seemed to be peaceful - or, rather, seemed to be targetless, at the moment.

Swallowing, the Captain eased the twitching of his hand. He wasn't qualified for surrender negotiations - another one of the reasons he wasn't an admiral. "I am glad that you have allowed us to live, rather than destroying us where we stood." Cooper's mouth shut like a spring, then, as he realized that he had possibly insulted the representative of the battle's victor.

[OOC] Too bored to make this small. This is my last post for tonight; I have to get some sleep, because there's a debate tournament all day tomorrow. The earliest I'll be back is in about 16 hours - and that's cutting it. This gives the others time to catch up, though.

The minotaur rested his hands on his knees, taking in a view of the bridge as Cooper stammered. He then turned his gaze back on Cooper before letting out a snort of laughter. "Perhaps before my people became of the Golugani, but then we wouldn't have had the technology to inflict even a single casualty... My condolences for the losses you suffered, by the way."

4.5 Minutes Later--------------------------------------
Tobias and his six bodyguard escorts stood in the starboard hangar of the Spirit of Justice. They stood awaiting their AVATARs to scroll over on the lift in the bay, checking their hardsuits one last time.

The heir ascendant tossed his head forward, and the hardsuit responded to his neural impulses, deploying the armor's crowned helm with a series of clicks and snaps as the armor plates reconfigured to Tobias's skin. With a quiet whistling of air, the Hardsuit sealed itself from the outside world, and the hardsuit's internal HUD lit up. Tobias glanced around to see his bodyguard's armor performing similar transformations.

Finally, his AVATAR arrived. He stood on the assembly platform and closed his eyes, letting the hundreds of mechanical arms seal him within the tight black sheath of the pilot compartment. Wires and harness straps snapped him into a vertical reclining posture, and his vision went black as the compartment was covered by the inorganic musculature of the machine. Clacks and whirs sounded as the AVATAR's limbs and armor were ratcheted into place, and with the loud click of his neural uplink snapping into place, his consciousness expanded to fill his new, metal body. He willed the war machine's eyes to activate and the blue diode cameras snapped open with a whir. He moved, stretched, tested his new robotic joints. Everything checked out. Finally, his hardsuit's HUD suddenly changed, accommodating the new hardware of the AVATAR. The neural feed streamed beneath him. 102.174 terabytes per second. More than enough.

With that, he released the last of the robotic clamps holding him in place, and he strode forward, his new, twenty foot body towering over everything else in the hangar, even his Azure Guard's seventeen foot tall models. He strode to the edge of the hangar and stared into space. Waving over his shoulders, he turned to face his bodyguard. "Alright gentlemen. Let's go wrap this surrender up." With that, Tobias and the Azure Guard hefted their halberds and stepped into space and activated their mech's CERVA thrusters, streaking through space toward the Imglot ship, trailing a wake of bright blue charged particles.


This is the delegation from the Second Alliance. We are inbound to your craft now, requesting a landing bay for arrival. End.

After a few minutes a shuttle left the hanger of the Rabble-Rouser and headed towards the once hostile ship now claiming it was standing down. Aboard that shuttle was a Drone, the captain had gotten orders to get all the information they could on this race, and a Drone was just the creature to perform that task. The shuttle put out a short and simple message:

Prepare a bay for me, I'm coming aboard.

One of the starboard hangars creaked open, its mechanisms damaged in the battle but still functional. Men, suited for safety and wielding glowing signals, waited behind the clear EM field that separated the inside of the ship from space, directing the incoming shuttle and what appeared to be mechs.

The small shuttle came in and touched down without incident. The back opened up and the lone figure inside stepped out, a Drone. To be more specific, an Archivist Drone. It looked much like any other, wearing all black; its eyes, nails, teeth, hair, and lips were all black. The only difference was the red marking over its left eye, this was the symbol carried by the Archivist Drones. It looked about the hanger, "Take me to you leader." It said in a blunt and uncaring tone, like someone already fed up with what they were doing.

Muttering under his breath, a suited ensign saluted to the black-themed creature out of respect, before turning sharply on his heel to begin striding purposely to a lift-tube. Arriving at the threshold, the doors opened to admit him, and he entered, turning to face the being that was to be following him. He had no orders in particular to escort those... things... that were coming in mecha. If this being were any indication, he wanted no part of alien relations.

OOC: So, is Cooper ignoring Doza Re's condolences?

The Drone followed closely and entered the (OOC: I'm assuming it's made for one person at a time) tube after the ensign had already gone up. It would find its own way to the bridge if need be. Chances were anyone smart person on this ship would just point the way and not be a hindrance. This particular Drone wasn't all that patient.

SHIT! Sorry, bro- TSA's massive post (does he make any other kind) drew my eye. And plus, I'm getting the drone (Greywatch's rep) to the bridge, and giving TSA a chance to come in.

The Captain bowed his head, remembering the souls lost, not all deserving of death like Wallace had been.

"Thank you..." Cooper paused, before snorting at himself. "I'm sorry, but... perhaps I should start with something more personable. On Tigeria, we typically greet people like this." He held out his hand to the biped. "The name's Kale Cooper, Captain of the Imglot Space Navy. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Nah, Watch, think of an elevator, but w/e

The young officer, still in his environmental suit but having removed his helmet, watched as the being, having ridden its own lift to the corridor, emerged from the compartment. Hell, he didn't mind- it was that much farther away from it that he could stay.

With only a quick and peremptory nod, he led the way down the stretch of hallway. He didn't like the looks that it gave the hall as it emerged- as if it would rather be off sabotaging engines or something. It, at least, didn't want to be in the hallway leading inevitably to the bridge.

The minotaur wrapped a three-digit hand around Cooper's hand and the front half of the wrist, his handshake slow and firm as to be mindful of man's smaller stature. "I am Dazo Re, Questor of the Nobility of Golugan, and I share a similiar pleasure at making your acquantence."

The minotaur than looks toward what he assumes is the door to the bridge. "Are any other representatives coming?"

"I would be tempted to say yes," Cooper responded, frowning, "But... hold on, let me make a quick call."

Before he could activate his comms system, the door, a wide, blast-shielded affair, suddenly began whirring, the multiple layers separating from the center and expanding outward. A young officer, his face carved of stone and carrying a helmet under his left arm, stepped into the room, stopping in front of the Captain and saluting him, right fist to sternum.

"Sir!" he began crisply, his delivery ripped from an old training video. "I present the representative from the..." His delivery faltered as he paused, realizing he didn't know the name of the nation or system represented by the being. His eyes drifted towards the portal, hoping the creature was coming along.

The Drone stepped through the doorway. Pale skin glowing softly in the light, face completely expressionless, standing tall. "Greywatch. I am Archivist Drone #62 of the Forbidden Ministry, here to represent the Empire of Greywatch." It said in a deep, emotionless voice.

The minotaur nodded as the drone arrived, and decided an archivist would appreciate a complete and detailed title. "I am Dazo Re, Questor by lineage of the Noble Dava Re, who obtained Nobility through Honorable Combat and Superior Tactics, of the Confederated Protectorate of the United Sentient Races of the Divine Founders Born of the Lost World Golugan."

The minotaur then glanced at Cooper and smiled just slightly. "It said it's an archivist."

A grin emerging slightly on his face in spite of himself, Cooper nodded. It was time to negotiate; the Second Alliance, while suffering the most losses besides the Imglotian Fleet, would unfortunately have to wait.

"Gentlemen," he began. He cleared his throat. "My fellow sentients. I will begin this by being as direct and to the point as possible. The Immortal Lands of the Great Lord Tiger is relatively new to interstellar exploration- our first exploration efforts only began about 50 standard intervals ago. We're assuming about 365 intervals to the cycle"-odd thing, that- where did 365 come from?- "so that is not a significant amount of time at all."

He stopped to clear his throat. "Ahem. The orders of our Minister of Foreign Relations- that is, interstellar relations, since Tigeria is completely under Imglot control- sent off this fleet, the 4th Expeditionary, to, and I quote, 'Discover potential allies and increase the honor of the Great Lord's lands.' My presumption is that Admiral Loren Wallace, now deceased, took that, at least the 'honor' part, to mean that we were to capture anything we saw that wasn't nailed down to contribute to the wealth of Imglot, or perhaps to increase our 'pool' of honor by defeating armed opponents." Cooper inhaled, his lungs collapsing from having said so much.

The Archivist smiled to the minotaur, indeed the creature was correct that the Drone loved knowledge. In fact, everything here was already being put into a report by the Forbidden Ministry. The Drone's eyes fixed on Cooper, "If this is the case, your captain's death was a necissary. It is a shame this... misunderstanding happened because of one man."

(OOC: sorry about the wait, guys. Today was hectic as hell for me. Weekends are the worst time for me to post, just so you know, but I'll try to get on at least once or twice a day. Anyway, back to bussiness!)

Imglot Hangar bay------------------------------------

The AVATARs finally floated into the bay, cutting their drives as they sank to the floor. They had stopped on the way to search the debris of the Watchman and the Pestilence for survivors. They had picked up a few AVATARs whose drives had been badly damaged in the explosion and couldn't return to the other ships in the fleet by themselves, the crippled seventeen foot machines hobbling on damaged servos.

The survivors crouched down and sat on the bay floor, letting their AVATARs slump into sleep mode. Tobias and his bodygaurd stepped their warmachines forward, and with a cacophony of hydrolic screeches and whirring rivets, the machines opened up like mechanical bananas, and their pilots stepped out from inside, their hardsuits reflecting the ambient lights of the hangar bay.

Tobais tossed his head, and the armor responded to his neural command by retracting it's helmet, revealing a piercing set of green eyes and tossled brown hair. He was completely human by all outward appearances, but even the simplest of genetic scans would reveal his unique genetic and mechanical heritage. His kind may once have been just humans, but that was long, long ago; yet even amounst the naturally gifted Second, the heir ascendant stood apart from his people. His full body boinics made him more machine than man, and what remained of him had been significantly altered, surgically and genetically. He was less human then the metal monstrosity he stepped from. He strode toward the crewman in the bay, his bodygaurd stalking behind him impassively.

"Take me to the bridge."

On the Bridge moments later-------------------------------

Tobias strode from the hallway into the bridge, his armored footfalls thudding quietly across the floor towards those gathered. He nodded towards the others and the captain of the Imglot vessel.

"I apologize for arriving late. We had to stop to pick up a few survivors from the collision sight. You already know my name, but in case you do not remember..."

The heir ran his hardsuit's black armored hand through his messy brown hair, "I am Tobias Castro, Sixteenth heir ascendant of the Commonwealth of the Second Alliance, representative on their behalf and acting commander of this fleet strength. Now, do continue... I only caught the tail end of what you were saying, Captain Cooper." A thin smile cut across his face, but clearly his good graces were strained with the fresh memory of his lost Atlas-class destroyer. His armored bodygaurd stood close, watching the Imglot bridge crew from behind their onyx black visors as if daring them to make any threatening moves. One of the gaurds shifted his stances, making his mono-molecular halberd's black blade glint menacingly.

(OOC: once again, sorry bout the wait... hopefully it won't happen again... :$)

Cooper nodded at the new arrival, performing the slightest of double-takes at the obvious augmentation, before turning back to the crowd. He felt inferior - every single one of these beings was humanoid to some degree, and yet superior, whether in brute muscle mass or an aura of danger.

Shaking his head slightly, he continued. "As I was saying... Now that a representative from the Second Alliance is here, I can offer my condolences for those lost in this short, fierce, but hardly productive, battle on the part of the annihilated destroyer. While it may be selfish of myself to say so, the sacrifice of your people very well might have been a sending from the Great Lord - had that man not been stopped, he may have been given more power - in the forms of extensions to this fleet, for example - which would have made him a true threat to galactic security.

"Now, according to what I understand of galactic and universal law, I must ask this before drafting any sort of treatise: does anyone here have any qualms that are as-yet unaddressed?"

The minotaur nodded hello at the new arrival. His capacity to ascertain that Tobias wasn't human relied upon whether the bionic man had a betraying scent, but even that would be difficult: A minotaur's sense of smell wasn't that much better than a human's. Doza Re listened quietly at first, but then rose a finger after Cooper finished speaking. "It's not a qualm, but Mer Noble Galon would like the names of the commander of the vessel that rammed the Pestilence for a memorial," he then glanced at the archivist, "As those who sacrifice themselves to save others while fighting alongside Golugani are considered honorary Nobility by our tradition, and their sacrifice is honored thusly."

Tobais nodded calmly towards the minotaur, "I will have my bridge crew transfer the data to your ship once I return. And rest assured," he turned back to Cooper, "our people know the difference between wasting a life and giving it for the right cause. The crew of the Watchman shall be honored graciously upon my return to Sanctuary."

He briefly scanned through the chaotic comm logs of the Spirit on his fourth aspect, "The only real qualm I have is with your so-called 'right of Salvage' that the late commander of your fleet quoted as his motive. Before any agreement is to be reached, let's discuss this..."

So much honor in these species. Perhaps the Immortal Lands were not as prepared for interstellar relations as they once thought. Well... his headset had been screaming in his ear, silent to the others, with new orders from Tigeria.

Shifting his weight nervously from one foot to the other, he looked from one being to another. "Well, then," he said, "I suppose we should officially sign the proper documents. Commander?" Snapping to attention, the ship's Procedural Officer, one Commander Reut, hurriedly typed up a document. He ended, nodding, and brought the data pad to Cooper before returning to his seat. Reut had a knack for proprieties:

http://img32.picoodle.com/img/img32/3/9/27/f_logo120m_e2dddc4.png

In the Interests of Interstellar Peace and Prosperity;

The Immortal Lands of the Great Lord Tiger, deeply regretting the losses on both sides, hereby requests that an end to hostilities has been reached. The Imglotian Government will pay as much as $3 Billion standard credits, total, to all parties who suffered losses due to Imglotian Fleet actions.

In the hopes that a lasting non-aggression pact, and perhaps an alliance, can be formed, the Immortal Lands of the Great Lord Tiger will invite the following parties to sign a more official treaty on the planet of Tigeria:

1.) Confederated Protectorate of the United Sentient Races of the Divine Founders Born of the Lost World Golugan
2.) The Commonwealth of the Second Alliance
3.) The Empire of Greywatch.

The Government of the Immortal Lands extends its official apologies once more to all lost souls.

On the behalf of the Prime Minister of the Immortal Lands of the Great Lord Tiger,

James Yunos

The Drone looked to Tobais as he walked in but said nothing. It simply listened to the other three sides talking until the agreement was presented. Its solid black eyes looked over everything stated. Well it all looks good. Now it's only a question if the others will accept it. The Drone loved taking in all this knowledge, it was history in a making. "I can say safely that Greywatch will accept." In actuality the Drone really didn't have the authority to make that decision and the Forbidden Ministry would have to explain this later, but that was a different matter.

The minotaur glanced the document over, then looked at Tobias. "The document seems sound, although I was not in the system when the Ignoble mentioned a right of salvage. Captain, would you be so kind as to explain what the Second Alliance representative is referring to?" The minotaur's gaze upon the captain was not hostile, but it was stern.

"I am afraid it is not my place to explain the words of the deceased," Cooper said worriedly. "For the benefit of those who are unaware of what Castro refers to..." He tapped a series of keys on his own pad, and a block of text appeared on the main screen:

"This is the Pestilence, Flagship of the 4th Expeditionary Fleet of the Great Lord Tiger. Be aware that we have approximately 120 starbombers on-board our carriers, in addition to our primary armament. You have 20 standard minutes to stand down, and allow salvage of that cripple vessel. If it is not put down already, we will do it for you. The Great Lord sees fit to distribute wealth, and we assure you, compliance will result in great rewards. Failure to comply will result in immediate and total destruction, and/or the apparent coming of the Apocalypse, so far as you are concerned. Good day, sentients."

"The part in question, I think," Cooper added, "is this:"

You have 20 standard minutes to stand down, and allow salvage of that cripple vessel... If it is not put down already, we will do it for you. The Great Lord sees fit to distribute wealth, and we assure you, compliance will result in great rewards.

"I will, once again, mention that he had a propensity for violence and dominance," Captain Cooper said. "I can not stress enough that his actions were highly unorthodox and violated the laws of war of Imglot. Perhaps he had a ill-begotten superiority complex. If my answer does not suffice, I apologize, but I can give no other."

Colonel Klink sat on the bridge of the TAFS Exploration, wondering what was happened. It had been much time since the fighting had stopped, and they had yet to receive any transmissions from anyone. No ships appeared to be moving towards them. It was as if they had been forgotten. Finally he decided to do something. "I wish to make a transmission," he said to Sargent Schultz, "broadcast it on all frequencies." When Sargent Schultz indicated that it was ready, Klink picked up the telephone headset, and spoke, "To all ships near the TAFS Exploration, we are still in need of assistance, and request any help you can provide, in repairing our engines, so we may return home, thank you,"

OOC: I've had a repair ship coming towards you for awhile now, you never actually acknowledged it.

[OOC] Also, we totally epically threadjacked for our little war. Sorry, man!

Tobias looked over the document quickly, scanning the document and recording a digital file for future reference and documentation in case the paper trail broke down.

"It all seems to be in order. Like I said, my only issue was your former commander's claim that the ship was his to salvage. So long the Second Alliance doesn't catch your nation engaging in piracy again, we shall have no problems, and I would be happy to attend a more official signing ceremony on your homeworld."

Tobias looked past the room and stared into space, accessing his internal comms via his third aspect as he recieved the TAFS signal. He composed a text only message using his second aspect and sent it, his eyes glowing with a backlit blue light. The action was rather like talking out of the corner of his mouth, only as opposed to talking out of his mouth, it was more like talking out of the corner of his mind.

I am sure the Greywatch repair craft should be on route now. They shall take care of your drive problems. If worse comes to worse, I can have the Foresight take you and your crew home if the repairs take to long for your tastes.

Tobias broadcast the message and turned his attentions back to the task at hand.

(OOC: yeah, sorry bout the threadjacking dude...)

The Greywatch Uplifter got into position above the damaged vessel and prepared to go to work. Immediatly, the ship expanded revealing multiple compartments for tools and stroage areas for work droids. Within a few moments the repairing process was under way as droids began finding any areas which were easy fixes while the larger heavier equipment (large mechanical arms among other things) began working on repairing the heavy damage. While all of this happened, the ship continued to 'grow' until its same was somewhat of a tunnel in which the damaged ship fit inside of easily.

Colonel Klink sent out a message to the Greywatch ship. "To alien ship, we thank you for your assistance, both in the repair of our ship, and the defense of it." Such technology was beyond that of the Telyphonians. All in all, their first trip into deep space, was considered a success, at least it would be when they arrived home. They had collected a lot of data on the alien ships they had encountered, and their advanced technology.

No need to thank us, we're just here to help. I'm sending you the coordinates of a Greywatch controlled planet. If you ever want a proper first contact between our peoples, go there.
With that the Uplifter began to finish up iots repairs, it had been a relatively quick process for an alien ship. Looked like things were finally settling down.