NationStates Jolt Archive

[OoC; Alright, so this thread is indeed closed.
as in, if you didn't sign up in the other thread, well. Too bad. You probably should have. I don't mind small notations in the IC thread, but anything over two lines is worthy of mister OoC Thread (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=583662). That's all. I'll be editing this with an IC post in a bit.
And, in case you are at all confused, Ethereal Space is the Heirosoloan FTL travel. You jump into Ethereal Space, go where you want to, then jump back into Corporeal Space, which is regular good old space.]

The 'Truth before War' soared low, delivering a deadly payload of missiles towards the last stronghold of the High Federation on the Imperial home world of Dawhanus [Day-wah-nis]. As the missiles exploded violently, throwing men and armor everywhere, the Federation ship 'Holy Retribution' appeared momentarily into Corporeal Space, before jumping back into Ethereal Space. On the marshy world below, signal fires were being lit, the massive torches lighting up all over the jungle in a great line. As the flames light up farther and farther away, civilian cruisers began to lift, some doing aerial acrobatics, the others hovering above the remains of the Federation camp, spectators cheering wildly inside. This signaled the first victory of a renewed Imperial Fleet. The High Lord Minister made a grand speech at the capital, then announcing the beginning of a campaign to regain the former colonies of the Grand Empire from Federation clutches. The night, later known as 'The Night of Final Retribution,' as well as the morning after, were joyous days. But as the days wore on, the bitterness of leaving home on a military campaign seeped into the world, and as the fleet began to lift off towards space, the entire planet was said to fall silent in tribute to the men and women fighting for the safety of other planets.

---

In space, on the newly made flagship recently dubbed 'Final Retribution,' top military commanders were discussing the strategies for the upcoming war. The fleet was still too small to divide itself, so it would attack each planet at a time. The commanders were depending on the populace of the freed planets to supply replacements for lost ships, and hopefully new additions for the fleet, allowing it to steadily grow for every planet it recaptured. the next closest planet, and therefore the next target of the fleet was Tanwha [Tan-wah], a icy and mountainous planet known for inhospitable conditions and vast untouched resources hidden under the ranges. However, in the valleys were large cities that extended into tall spires, and deep underground caverns, to replace the lack on flat or safe building area on the surface. Because of it's proximity to Dawhanus, multiple rebellions had sprung up, many of which had intensified over the past weeks. As the fleet began to approach the light orbital defenses on the planet, probes were loaded and sent randomly into unexplored space, each programmed to emit radio signals that would tell of the plight of the Grand Empire, and the devilish ways of the High Federation.

---

Meanwhile, at the Tanwha Federation headquarters, a military council had been called, the large hologram display in the center set to view the High Council on the Federation homeworld. Outside, Paladins were being dropped in large numbers, preparing for the defense of the council and the planet. Although it was widely viewed that the military council was wasting Paladin forces and treating them like Marines, the stubborn council deemed it necessary for the defense of the planet [and themselves]. Orbital mines were being ejected into the atmosphere each day, and hastily constructed Orbital Defense Stations, nothing but crude satellites with lasers attached, were orbiting between minefields [that didn't stop them from ramming into mines however]. On the ground, randomly hidden ion cannons were prepared to repel an invasion, and ARC towers had been set up in the city to stop dropships from reaching the surface. Of course, had they listened the the police force captains or to the reports of the overthrowing of Federation rule on Dawhanus, they would have known that a mixture of advanced Imperial shielding and heavy rioting and open rebellion were going to make chances of victory near nothing, if there were any at all.

The Vojvodina-Nihonians filled an essential niche in the galactic economy. They traded. They traded with nearly everyone, in fact, despite a limited number of starships with which to do so and very long journeys even with FTL drives. Much of the imports were directed towards the offworld colonies, which had been in the process of terraformation for a few centuries and often experienced shortages due to mechanical failures or economic slowdowns. Likewise, they exported, transporting everything from lampshades to antimatter containment fields to children's toys to far-flung locations across the Milky Way.

But because of the limited number of ships available to the Vojvodina-Nihonians -- ships were built sometimes, mostly freighters and smaller craft, but were expensive to run and even more expensive to outfit with a halfway decent AI -- this often meant it could be weeks, months, even years between Vojvodina-Nihonian visits to distant worlds. And this in turn meant that on the more isolated worlds, the arrival of a Vojvodina-Nihonian freighter could be a momentous event.

Thirty-six years ago a Vojvodina-Nihonian freighter had found the world called Tanwha, then part of the Grand Heirosoloan Empire. Its captain had sold them several hundred crates of textiles and subzero gear in exchange for alcoholic beverages distilled in its underground gardens and other assorted luxuries. The exchange had been profitable, but soon forgotten; the freighter never had occasion to return, and it seemed surprising that the transaction would be stored in anyone's databanks.

So when Alexia Shchedrin received a message originating from Tanwha, requesting the trade of the most advanced weapons they could get their hands on, she was intrigued. "Who are these people, Maddie?" She directed this at her AI, a reasonably advanced if not perfect Modular Autonomous Directional Intelligence System and Associated Operational Nodules (MADISON) Mark XX.

Brief pause. Maddie stroked her blue-tinged chin in an imitation of a gesture she'd seen her executive officer display many times. "This vessel last had contact with the world of Tanwha in the year 4753, under Captain Taros Ishamael. A trade was made to the profit of --"

"Huh," Shchedrin said. "Never heard of it. Send a reply."

Shchedrin posed to them the eternal question: can they pay? And how much? Then she awaited a response. It came several hours later, as it required a few hours for her message to reach them even traveling through jump points. Yes, they said, they could pay, but please hurry because we are under attack, et cetera, et cetera.

It was time to assemble her crew. They were currently scattered over the farthest of Vojvodina-Nihon's offworld colonies, the planet of Lutetia, drinking, wenching, and getting into fights. It was an hour or two before the last one stumbled up the stairway into the hatch of the Cryptozoologist's Playground, and another ten minutes before the anti-alcohol pills they'd passed around had taken enough of an effect for them to be capable of listening to their captain.

The anti-alcohol pills did the work of a good night's sleep and several cups of strong coffee in a few minutes, bringing blood alcohol levels down to socially acceptable levels. And if there was one thing Captain Shchedrin couldn't stand, it was a socially unacceptable crewman. Her band of traders and mercenaries could get rough and even violent at times, but when she wanted them to listen to her, she'd make sure they would -- even if it meant giving them all massive hangovers. Would teach them a lesson, maybe.

"All right everyone! Listen up, now. We have a contract -- someone wants weapons, they can pay us more'n enough for it. Once we find some we'll be heading out to a world called Tanwha. Heard of it? Didn't think so. It'll be about a day or two's worth of hops at maximum speed, nothing too major considering that they're a few thousand light years off." Shchedrin paused for effect. "Okay, info crews, start searchin'. Rest of you, form up and get ready for space travel. It should be no trouble, but they say there's all kinds of violence going on, so you'd wanna be prepared for it."

She could just see the lights come on in their eyes when she said "violence". Savages.


Not much later, the Maddie issued a chime (and, while it didn't sound like anything a human throat could produce, her avatar opened its mouth anyway). "Captain, one particular offer of interest among those that have been submitted by the crew."

Shchedrin didn't turn. "Yes?"

"Kalisti Aerospace Group has a large pile of weapons they can't sell, for several economic and political reasons. They are offering substantial cash to anyone who can take them off their hands."

"That sounds too ironic to be real."

"I.... investigated, Captain."

"Ah."

"First come, first serve."

Now Shchedrin turned. "And you haven't gotten us to Kalisti already -- why?"

Maddie half-smiled. It was hard to tell whether she actually felt the emotion behind it -- at a certain point an AI can simulate sapience well enough to be mistaken for the real thing -- but to Shchedrin that was irrelevant. Shchedrin liked to keep things simple. Is Maddie sapient? She acts sapient. End of story.

Telling how the crew of the freighter traveled to Kalisti, one of the larger states on Earth that made up the Federation, and how they acquired the weapons, and all the amusing adventures that occurred in the meantime would require more space than is available here. Suffice it to say that by the next day the ship had a cargo hold full of weapons and was making its second hop away from Santorini system, home of Vojvodina-Nihon and all six of the planets it occupied.

The inventory included everything from pulse rifles and plasma cannons to one- and two-seater hovertanks and anti-ship rocket launchers; it amounted to about two or three hundred crates if you disassembled everything too large to fit in one, and they were getting paid twice for it (once by KAG, once by the rebels). All in all, it was looking to be a profitable trip without too much effort required on the crew's part.

... Or so it appeared, until the Cryptozoologist's Playground made the last jump and found itself in the Tanwha system. Then the situation became somewhat more interesting.

The private merchant vessel, The High Seas Of Economy, sped it's way into the Totee system, apparently a remote world the merchant Ooo Ahh' Hah hoped to sell some basic items he had stocked as well as aquiring any useful information; as the crude, large, modular vessel neared the world it sent out a message to be picked up by their traffic control systems;

This is the independant trading vessel The High Seas Of Economy, we are requesting permission and co-ordinates to land at a trading center so we may pusue trading interests. Also we request if possible the exchange rate of your local and national currency relative to one galactic standard credit; thank you.

Proper intelligence gathering in the galaxy generally ran into several problems. The first was the sheer multitude of inhabited systems, ranging from worlds with billions of sentients, to backwater outposts. The second was the sheer immensity of the volume in which they resided. The Milk Way had an approximate number of three hundred billion stars in an area that was roughly one hundred thousand light years across and a thousand light years thick, which gave an average density of twenty-six stars per cubic light year (actual density depending upon location of course).

These two problems, when combined, created the third: How do you determine who's a threat or of interest, and how do you find them? While the Imperium's military and political ambitions lay closer to home, that didn't mean it kept a blind eye to the rest of the galaxy.

There were several methods used by the Imperial Navy and Vernii's intelligence departments. The first was seeding a target system's outer reaches with reconnaissance drones, which would transmit their information to a nu-space communications drone typically located a few light-months away, which would in turn relay that information, and so on until it either reached a friendly system or a data storage hub that would be routinely visited by an intelligence starship. This method had the benefit of providing real-time data if the relay distance was short enough, or at least regular updates if not.

The downside of course, was that it was only useful for specific targets, and not as a general data collection method across a sector of the galaxy. The second was to conduct astronomical surveys, determine which stars and systems were most likely candidates for habitation, and then to swing an ELINT/COMINT starship past that stellar neighborhood to listen in on any un-secured transmissions (like civilian frequencies). These would then be used to estimate likely sophistication and size of the systems being spied on, which could then be assessed to determine if they required a reconnaissance drone dump.

The third, was old fashioned human intelligence gathering. Through a network of shadow corporations, subsidiary agents, freelance businessmen, and others, Naval Intelligence and the other departments received a constant flow of information from civilians operating their business or traveling in foreign systems. Most of them had no idea who their real employer was, but they all knew that someone was always willing to pay them for copies of news reports, market information, information about wars, starships, navies, etc. The only caveat was that the information had to be substantial, not mere hearsay, and compensation was determined both by volume of information given and the level of interest it generated among NavInt's analysts.

It was by the third method that the war between the Grand Empire and High Federation came to the notice of the Ministry of Frontier Security.

[OoC; Wooh! Activity! Going from most recent post.]

The workers at the planetary defense system main hub on Totee were incredibly surprised when a foreign merchant ship was picked up by the atmospheric traffic control systems. They were even further surprised when they received a message that didn't involve 'lost,' 'help,' or 'war' in it. Very few ships chose to come to this region of space, and to offer trade was sheer ludicrous.

This is the independant trading vessel The High Seas Of Economy, we are requesting permission and co-ordinates to land at a trading center so we may pusue trading interests. Also we request if possible the exchange rate of your local and national currency relative to one galactic standard credit; thank you.

The operators of the PDS hub were confused at to what they should do. they consulted each other quietly on protocol, glancing at their superiors nervously as not to give away what was going on. It just felt right that the managers shouldn't know. They would tell them it was a prank and to fire a warning shot at the ship. You can't fire a warning shot at a foreign ship. That's a declaration of war, and then they'd be blamed for that. When they had agreed on what to say, a message was sent to the merchant vessel.

Hello, we are sorry, but do to a state of war, we're going to need you to stay suspended in orbit until we can have a military inspection crew board your ship and check to make sure you indeed are a merchant vessel that does not wish the High Federation any harm. If you do not wish to be boarded for unexplained reasons, we do not mind, you will just need to exit the system promptly. Attempting to destroy the military boarding vessel will result in atmospheric defenses coming online and targeting you.

We hope you have a nice day,
Totee PDS Station HUB1

The group smiled to each other. Hopefully that wouldn't be considered a declaration of war. And if the merchants came through without being shot at (Unlike the last few real foreign ships) with wanted goods, the operators at the Hub wold get all the credit. Or rather, the managers of the operators would get most of the credit. They always seemed to.

---

When the 'Cryptozoologist's Playground' jumped into the Tanwha system, the Imperial fleet that had already arrived immediately began to surround it, until they realized it was only a merchant vessel, and then they simply formed a large mob next to the ship. After the first initial minutes when the captains were discussing what to do, similar to what happened in Totee, they also decided to send a message, but this was sent in the form of a small unarmed frigate.

Hello, this is the 'Ambassador 3.' You are currently in a militarized zone that will soon become the battlefield for our reclamation of lost planets. Unless you are prepared for war, we implore you to head towards our already freed homeworld of Dawhanus. In the meantime, we would like to send an ambassadorial team on board your ship, as well as a small unarmed inspection crew, to make sure you are only carrying authorized goods, and not weapons or explosives that may be detonated or used against us. We are sorry, but this is just a war-time precaution. If you do not wish to be boarded, then we would ask you to please leave the system. You will find a similar request if you go to Dawhanus, so it's either now or later. Or of course, never.

We await your response,
'Ambassador 3'

Hello, we are sorry, but do to a state of war, we're going to need you to stay suspended in orbit until we can have a military inspection crew board your ship and check to make sure you indeed are a merchant vessel that does not wish the High Federation any harm. If you do not wish to be boarded for unexplained reasons, we do not mind, you will just need to exit the system promptly. Attempting to destroy the military boarding vessel will result in atmospheric defenses coming online and targeting you.

We hope you have a nice day,
Totee PDS Station HUB1

Ooo pondered on the situation, and decided that the eventual profit he would probably glean from this would be more than enough pay for any reasonable hassle encountered.

This is The High Seas Of Economy, an inspection crew is welcome aboard my vessel but it would be of information to you that my vessel has a water atmosphere since my kind is ocean dwelling; if you wish to board you are advised to bring the appropriate equiptment. If this causes difficulty to you you are welcome to quarentine the transports I dispatch to the worlds surface for you to inspect; in the mean time, for whatever option you choose or alternative you suggest, may I have permission to settle into orbit?

Captain Shchedrin pondered the message for a moment. She didn't have much of a bridge crew -- there was a helmsman and a communications officer, who doubled as science officer when no communications were incoming, but those were unofficial and rotating positions -- and had asked Maddie to silence any incoming communications along the lines of "Oh my gawd, Cap, there's a hyooooge fleet of ships out there! And I think they're armed!"

At length she turned to the comms officer. "I've got work for you, Josh."

"Eh?" said Josh.

"Tell 'em who we are and who sent us. Tell 'em yeah, we're bringing weapons, but if they got enough cash to match the offer they can buy 'em off us. And if they wanna board they better not make any derogatory remarks or threats, 'cause my crew ain't going to stand for that."

"Right-o, Cap," said Josh, keyboard working furiously.

Hello, this is Captain Lex Shchedrin of the Royal Vojvodina-Nihonian Ship Cryptozoologist's Playground, responding to a request by an anonymous rebel group on the world Tanwha for weapons to throw off the oppressors. It is correct that our cargo contains explosives, ammunition, and weapons both heavy and light; however, we are willing to sell it to you oppressors instead if you can match the rebels' offer. As for boarding us, feel free -- there's a shuttle bay you can use -- but be aware that our crew is rather touchy and has a tendency to hurt people who they don't like.

"So what do we have this time?" Etov, Frontier Security's director of intelligence, asked the question with a tone that betrayed his boredom. Once a week, an analyst would show up at his office to deliver a report detailing their latest findings and speculation.

"A war between two governments sharing a common civilization, sprawling across multiple systems."

That wasn't something he heard very often. "Alright, you have my interest for once. Tell me about it."

"The states in question are the Grand Empire of Heirosoloa and the High Federation of Heirosoloa. Combined they have approximately twenty systems under their control, although currently only one of those is still Imperial held. From what we know so far, the High Federation is an authoritarian theocracy with imperial ambitions. They had the Empire on the verge of total defeat before faltering, and now offensive momentum has shifted back to the Grand Empire; from the report we received they are engaging in a counter-offensive to drive Federation forces from their former holdings."

"Twenty systems?"

"Yes, although most likely they only have a few main industrial centers, with the rest of their population and industry being spread thin across their territory. That's the opinion of Analysis anyway, based upon past experience. That would also explain how that the Empire managed to go back into a counter-offensive so quickly, most of its garrisons that fell were probably second-rate or understrength, while the bulk of their forces were protecting their capital. The second explanation is that the Federation simply spread itself thin occupying enemy territory and didn't have sufficient units available to continue their push, allowing the Empire time to regroup."

"Alright, let's move on. You mentioned that the Federation is a theocracy, but nothing really about the Empire."

"That would be because our current information is quite scarce. We have no idea who leads it, what their policies are, industrial capacity, war potential, economic style, or anything. The merchant we received our information from primarily does business with the High Federation, thus our lack of information about the Grand Empire."

Etov frowned at the analyst, he knew it wasn't the man's fault but it was still annoying. "Do we have any snoopers near that region?"

"I checked with Tracking, we do. Peeping Tom is currently listening in on a pre-FTL civilization's radio transmissions at the request of the University of Cardona's exobiology program. It's about five hundred light years the Heirosoloan systems."

"I'll go talk with Assets then, see if I can get them to reassign her to a target with higher military potential."