NationStates Jolt Archive

'Would you get a look at that, eh Borzhan?' Said an amazed young dry dock worker. He pointed to a magnificent looking spaceship, the one that they had just completed. Borzhan, a senior tradesman on the project, had been with it since they first laid down the hull. He looked on it with a mix of extreme pride and crushing sorrow. 'It took us twenty five years, Aleyo, and far too many of our friends, but the damn thing is finally finished.' Said Borzhan, clapping the young Aleyo Urutuu on the shoulder with his heavily bandaged hand. Borzhan had burnt himself pretty badly in a welding accident several days earlier, his doctor didn't want him to leave the hospital until he had received a skin graft, but there was no way in hell he was going to miss out on this.

Crowds swelled the many construction platforms that staggered down towards the gangway. Gibeah, a world that had torn itself apart with centuries of internecine conflict, had built its first interstellar exploration vessel, the GSV Atavyyd. The Queen of Tanagra, the nation which had provided the majority of the resources and expertise into the GSV, along with all the worlds leaders, had gathered next to the gangway to send off the vessel. The intrepid crew lined up and were greeted by the assorted dignitaries, observing the various farewell customs and well wishing of the planets most powerful people.

The Captain of the GSV Atavyyd, Lesl Pephard, took a plaque from the Queen of Tanagra. A simple, bronze, affair with the lords prayer written in all the known languages of Gibeah. 'With you goes the hope of our people. Go in peace, Captain. Go with God.' Said the Queen, giving Pephard a kiss on his cheek. 'I proudly hold, upon my shoulders, the hopes and dreams of all our people, my Queen. And it is out of my love for you and my fealty as a vassal in your great nation that I venture forth in the star ocean, in reverence of you and our most holy God.'

With that, Pephard stepped aboard his ship. He turned, looking back at the men and women who cheered for him and his crew and gave one final salute. Pephard was a taciturn man, not known for lighthearted bouts of emotion, but even he had to struggle to fight back the tears that began to well up in his eyes. The gesture, of his Queen and of his people, were truly inspiring. Today, we are truly one people. Our actions have opened the next chapter for us all.'

-----

-Aboard the AUBSD Gorgon-


The holographic sensor display was completely, eerily, clear... As if everything had been wiped clean from the face of the universe. Gorgon had entered her third week of patrolling deep space, the bottomless, disturbingly empty, void between solar systems. Their mission, a shake down run, was simple. Take the massive warship, which had just finished her refit, to the emptiest place imaginable and run the shit out of her. The officer responsible for monitoring the holographic display was approaching his sixth hour of staring at nothing, he was tired, as his secondary duties were wearing him down. Three weeks, twelve hours a day, looking at a blank display and clearing dust bunnies from under cots and computer equipment dulled his senses and played havoc on his sleep cycle.

'Hey, Manghale... Watch my display for a second, I'm going to get a cup of coffee from the mess.' Said the weary sensor operator, specialist Jualahm. 'Fine, but don't take too long. I have some shit to do in about fifteen.' Answered Manghale, with a dismissive wave and a furrowed brow. As Jualahm started to get out of his chair, his display showed an object dart across the projection, leaving a huge trail behind it. A chorus of beeps, whines and klaxons began to wail an agonizing melody.

'An FTL vehicle has just passed through our formation!' Yelled Jualahm, throwing himself back into his seat. The Gorgon's AI, and that of the battle group that accompanied her, instinctively scattered the vessels, like sticks in the wind.

'Report, specialist! What the hell is it that nearly damaged the General's vessels?' Growled Commander Suvla, as he stormed towards Jualahm's station. 'Commander, I don't know. It was moving far too fast for me to get a decent reading on it... All I know, is that it utilizes a form of faster than light transit that I've never even seen before.' Answered Jualahm, hurriedly calibrating the controls at his station. Garbled, confused communications were coming in from all over the task force. Fleet General Lyboc leaned heavily on his command station, scanning and disseminating incoming information with cold, analytical, eyes.

'Commander Suvla, dispatch the Switchback and the Berzerker to track that object....' Said Lyboc, with a hint of casual annoyance.

----

'I remember reading somewhere online that, if extra-terrestrial life does indeed exist, that there are three things that they might do if they discovered a race that could possibly threaten them. The first is to ignore them. The second is to make peaceful contact and avoid competition through co-operation...' Remarked an early morning radio disk jockey, Harv Jimmersz. 'And what's the third thing, Harv-o?' Quipped Harv's sidekick, Urri Edom. 'Well, the third thing would be to annihilate us. You know? Wipe us out now, don't worry about it later... Get it?'

'Well, we need that like I need a kick in the pa-' Urri's trademark catch phrase was violently cut short, as an object moving faster than the speed of light slammed head on into the tiny, unsuspecting world of Gibeah. In the blink of the eye, in the shadow of an instant, the entire world had come to a traumatic, fantastic, end. Billions of lives, wiped out, with only a few thousand shocked survivors looking on from orbit. No body knew what to say...

So they didn't say anything at all.

'Sweet God...'

The entire bridge crew of the Au-170, Switchback, stood in shock. They watched the molten, shattered, remains of a world swirld about what was left of its axis. There was so much debris in Tanagra's orbit, remnants of the world, that the search for survivors, if there were any to be had, became extremely difficult. Captain Nirvash stood with his arms folded, with a grim scowl on his face. Everyone was wondering what the hell had done this.

'We just charted this system...' Uttered the Switchback's sensor officer, Rem Kardula. 'This world was on the brink of exploring the galaxy, Kardula.' Said Nirvash, walking away from the central mapping table and sitting down on his command throne. Nirvash picked up his dataslate and typed in a few things. He looked over the information he had accessed and came to a final conclusion.

'We've spent long enough here... There's nothing left. Nothing could have survived this. We'll return to the fleet and report our findings to the Fleet General.' Nirvash spoke with a thick shade of disgust tinging his voice. Nirvash looked at the holographic projection of what was left of Tanagra.

'There is no evidence of naturally occuring faster than light activity anywhere in the known galaxy. This wasn't an accident, it couldn't be. Someone... Something was here, they knew what these people were doing and they destroyed them for it.' Nirvash rubbed his chin in contemplation.

'We're all in very great danger... Get us out of here, pilot.'

The Star Republic Ship Kingdom, a Ventaor Class Star Destroyer, dropped from hyperspace in front of the Switchback. Whilst this was an accident it could appear rather threatening.

OOC: Hope this is open, if not I'll delete this

'Holy shit!' Cursed specialist Kardula. 'A massive vessel has just appeared on my sensors, Captain!'

Nirvash looked up, visibly surprised.

'They must be here to confirm the kill. Get us the hell out of here, Lang!' Nirvash shot a look at the pilot, Faldagr Lang. In a matter of moments, Switchback and Berzerker, were clear of the system and on a hot approach towards the rest of their fleet.

'Get Lyboc on the DNS, this is a priority one message.' Nirvash said with a hint of urgency.

'This is Gorgon actual, what did you find Captain?' Lyboc was cool as a cucumber, but of course he hadn't seen what the others had. 'Fleet General, this is Captain Nirvash. We discovered a world, it was completely annihilated. Just as we prepared to jump from the system we were confronted which, from what I could gather, was a battleship. It's my feeling they are the ones responsible for this and were in-system to confirm the kill.' Explained Nirvash.

Lyboc took in what he had been told with a deep breath. 'While it's definitely not our place to play galactic policeman, I'm sure this incident surely warrants further investigation... In force. Send your findings to the Fleet and prepare for a combat jump.'

'Comm, inform High Command of our situation and request Minotaur be placed on reserve alert. We're going to get to the bottom of this.' Ordered Lyboc.

In a matter of moments the Fleet was fully prepared for action. 'This is Gorgon actual to Task Force One, prepare for combat jump on my mark.'

Lyboc looked over his bridge crew for a moment. He had no intention of going in guns blazing. But if this ship was still present at the scene of the greatest mass murder ever witnessed in Aumanii history, there would be some explaining to do.

'Mark!'

The blacken sphere drifted through space, the twenty third sphere constructed by the Technonaut Collective, it was scanning, scanning for targets and threats. For possible enemies and allies, for the friendly and the aggressive when it noted something on its extreme long range sensors.
A sensor malfunction maybe?
Unlikely, our sensors have only a .000001% failure rate
Almost nothing moves that fast.
Could have been an ejected planetoid.
Moving that fast?
With the correct orbit around a black hole and being nugged by another black hole, yes it is just possible though very very unlikely.[b]
How unlikely?
[B]Less unlikely than something purposely moving a plantoid at that kind of speeds or roughly 1 out of 1,000,0000,000,000,000,000,000
What if it isn't a planetoid?
Then it better have a pure antimatter core for the amount of damage we're detecing
We might as well get some better readings by moving closer.
Aye, already changed cource, we'll arive in a few hours, now can I direct you to the other sensor data...