NationStates Jolt Archive

[OOC: No, its not for sale.]

IC:


"What are you yelling about?"

"LOOK! Look at this, and listen to what I am saying. The probe North has stopped transmitting data."

"So? Maybe the power died."

"Then explain this."

"Explain WHAT?!"

"The last transmission from South. There was a bright flash of light from North before it stopped transmitting, extending all the way from the surface of the planet. Just after that, South stopped transmitting also. The planet was scanned before all this, showing myriad plant life, some ruins, and machinery, showing some ancient life used to live there."

"Investigate the planet. Find out what used to be there, and who or what destroyed our probes, and why. launch the colony ship Tavarra with full crew, and some infantry, just in case."

"It will be done."

Public Transmission

Anyone who wishes to aid or help, is welcome. Apply, and make a pre-launch declaration and manifest, please.





[OOC: This should be an investigation of the planet, and dialogue on the way there. We can't get there instantly.]

Somebody set up us the bump!

What you say?

I'll help.

The anti-gravity fleet(space, air) fires up its prism engines, which use energy bounced through a prism to great huge amounts of power.
"Just give us the co-ords and we'll go there!"

Cool. Is the prism drive an insta-drive, or just really fast?

OOC: Thank God you haven't fallen prey to the nation selling fad Imns, or I would have to kill you once I returned from IRC Purgatory.

OOC: Yes, I own a whole world. Uh-huh, right.

We'll send some guys too, one Draupnir-class carrier with a full load of Vanir fighter craft and a pair of Sleipnir exploration/shuttlecraft. Each shuttle will bring ten scientists, of various fields expertise, and the carrier brings another fifteen. There are also twenty-five marines onboard. Firing up their plasma engines, the newly built craft pulled out of orbit.

Sounds acceptable. Needed data will be transmitted immediately pre-launch.

Somebody set up us the bump!

What you say?

OOC: Somebody set up us the bomb!
Main screen turn on.
It's you!!
How are you gentlemen??
All your base are belong to us.
You have no chance to survive make your time.
What you say??
Move zig.
You know what you doing??
For great justice!!

or summat like that, but back on topic.

What's going down?

Uh, read? Read the first post?

Uh, read? Read the first post?

I see now. Um, we really don't have much in the way of space-tech so I think we'll pass.

Ats'a too bad. Oh well.

No takers? None at all? All afraid?

*The Hazardous cut it's engines and slowly worked itself into an orbit, this being her shakedown cruise. Much needed to be irond out, but so far things seemd to work as they should. The radar painted an image of the planet, and had they had the small shuttle with them. A visit would have been on the list of things todo, but for now. It was time to try and find the source of the transmission*..

(Want specs ask me)

Cool. Is the prism drive an insta-drive, or just really fast?

Like a laser that uses crsytal to put it into an evil killing point of doom, just backwards. Like it, eh? I'm also sending a Kelgnar-class ship, just in case. I have a hyper-spattial warp generator though, but to much of that makes bad hyper-spattial rips appear and then the universe collapses on itself. It does look pretty sweet though. I did it to another plane once. It was fun.

The Republic of Lost Colonies will be sending the LCSS Ragnarok, LSS-001 Ragnarok class Cruiser to investigate this Planet.

Ragnarok Class Starcruiser
Length: 70 meters
Width: 40 meters
Crew: 12
Mass: 2400 tons
Light Ship Capacity: 0
Armament: Two fixed heavy pulse lasers, One Quanta torpedo launcher (40 torpedoes)
Powerplant: One med-output fusion reactor
Engines: Two GHJK-1 Hybrid Engines, One JXS Jump Engine
Shielding: none
Armor: 24cm Titanium/Duranium Alloy
Max Acceleration: 390 m/s^2
Cruise Acceleration: 340 m/s^2
Maximum speed (Atmosphere): 1000 km/h
Production Cost: $600 Million
Production Location: Devras Orbital Facility, Dervis Factory
Production Quantity (per NS year): 0-2 Devras, 0-2 Dervis
Notes: The Ragnarok is a small, fast attack craft, barely classifiable as a heavy ship. Its lack of shielding is an issue, but its speed, and armor makes up for it. The Quanta Torpedoes are relatively ineffective against capital ships, but these can easily destroy fighters. The Ragnarok’s small crew makes it easy to maintain.

Just in case you wanted the specs.

The Ragnarok's Twin engines powered up, and pushed her bow out of the Ginis' main hangar. The Ragnarok ascended through the atmosphere of Tarel (my homeworld), and into space.

Captain: "Lay in a course for the source of that transmission."
Ensign: "Aye aye captain."

The Ragnarok sped out of Tarel's gravity well, before engaging her jump drive, on the first of many jumps to Earth.

The Republic of Lost Colonies will be sending the LCSS Ragnarok, LSS-001 Ragnarok class Cruiser to investigate this Planet.

Ragnarok Class Starcruiser
Length: 70 meters
Width: 40 meters
Crew: 12
Mass: 2400 tons
Light Ship Capacity: 0
Armament: Two fixed heavy pulse lasers, One Quanta torpedo launcher (40 torpedoes)
Powerplant: One med-output fusion reactor
Engines: Two GHJK-1 Hybrid Engines, One JXS Jump Engine
Shielding: none
Armor: 24cm Titanium/Duranium Alloy
Max Acceleration: 390 m/s^2
Cruise Acceleration: 340 m/s^2
Maximum speed (Atmosphere): 1000 km/h
Production Cost: $600 Million
Production Location: Devras Orbital Facility, Dervis Factory
Production Quantity (per NS year): 0-2 Devras, 0-2 Dervis
Notes: The Ragnarok is a small, fast attack craft, barely classifiable as a heavy ship. Its lack of shielding is an issue, but its speed, and armor makes up for it. The Quanta Torpedoes are relatively ineffective against capital ships, but these can easily destroy fighters. The Ragnarok’s small crew makes it easy to maintain.

Just in case you wanted the specs.

The Ragnarok's Twin engines powered up, and pushed her bow out of the Ginis' main hangar. The Ragnarok ascended through the atmosphere of Tarel (my homeworld), and into space.

Captain: "Lay in a course for the source of that transmission."
Ensign: "Aye aye captain."

The Ragnarok sped out of Tarel's gravity well, before engaging her jump drive, on the first of many jumps to Earth.


Wow, that's a pretty big ship for a nation of 12 Million people. How 'bout we give you a ride there? No charge.

Let me 'splain, i prolly should ahve done this before.

This nation s an offshoot (puppet) of a space-faring nation with similar FTL tech, and weaponry. When my main nation (Armed Republic of Blademasters) moved into space in a large fleet of colony ships, some of them got lost, and found themselves near another planet. therefore, they have the tech, and the facilities, but not a lot of ships.

We are curious (and longing for a good fight). The GDHC Memnon, a Leviathan class Cruiser, has set course for the planet. Accompanying it is a Fasutus science vessel to help scan the planet.

If you require any more help, please ask.

The Memnon:
Class: Heavy Cruiser
Length: 360 meters
Armament: 2 Beam Cannons, 1 Heavy Beam Cannon, 13 Laser Turrets
Fighter Capacity: 10
Missle Countermeasures: One hell of a lot
Purpose: Blow s*** up

Okay!

Anything FTL is out. Any über-ships are out. Any superweapons are out. Anything more than minimal weapons are out. This is to be a peaceful mission.

Gotcha (my bad). The memnon had sudden hull failure and ceased to exist (I didn't know I shouldn't have it). The Fasustus continues towards the planet, mysteriously not using it's FTL engines.

"Sir, we apparently have some people who wished to join us."

"Excellent. It gave me the heebie-jeebies going alone."

"Sir?"

"Well, two heads are better than one. If we found something interesting, we have corroboration now."

"Gotcha."

The Tavarra proceeded along its planned flight path.

Communication to all ships, from Tavarra

Please allow our ship to get there first, because we cannot allow other ships to be destroyed if this planet is hostile. Thank you.


OOC: There is no animal life on the planet, so its not really hostile. As for what destroyed the probes, that's my little secret.

Onboard the Faustus

"Sir, we're getting a transsmission. They ask that we let them get there first."

"Very well, slow down a bit. let's not make our host angry."

OOC: Hazardous is VERY low tech :D And allready in orbit, unless you want otherwise..

Length: 35 Meters
Width: 15 Meters
Height: 13 Meters
Drive: Hydrogen/Oxygen (More about the drive Here (http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/Newsroom/FactSheets/FS-040-DFRC.html)
Crew: 10 (Captain, Co Pilot, Navigator, Engineers, Gunners And/Or Scientists)
Armament: 3 point defense lasers, 2 Grappling guns, 6 Slug guns
Sensors: Radar, Infrared, Densometer

If there is any questions, ask and i will do my best to reply.

"Sir, we apparently have some people who wished to join us."

"Excellent. It gave me the heebie-jeebies going alone."

"Sir?"

"Well, two heads are better than one. If we found something interesting, we have corroboration now."

"Gotcha."

The Tavarra proceeded along its planned flight path.

Communication to all ships, from Tavarra

Please allow our ship to get there first, because we cannot allow other ships to be destroyed if this planet is hostile. Thank you.


OOC: There is no animal life on the planet, so its not really hostile. As for what destroyed the probes, that's my little secret.

"This is Captain Mengsk of the Sunburst, we copy that, we will await your arrival in orbit of the fifth moon."

Tavarra

800 Metres long
60 metres wide
30 metres tall
Ion Driven

Crew of 8012, 2000 of which are security/infantry who are issued a single .44 Magnum, and a MD-92 .3mm Flechette rifle.

Ship armed with 6 turret-mounted rapid-fire concussive pellet guns.

Ship Operations/General Purpose AI: Electric Sheep Two

Edit: Forgot the AI. This one shouldn't crazy like the others that seem to curse me.

Sir it seems someone wants to communicate, *the co pilot flips a switch and the captains headset is filled with static and chopped up words*.

Can you trace it? *the captain tried to get something out of the transmission, the co pilot shook his head*. No sir they are transmitting above our reciving capability, we have to wait until it has degraded a bit.

*The Captain shiverd, maby he should order the crew to full alert. Nothing was for certin that what ever was out there was friendly*..

As the ships from the exploration coalition approaches the planet, a wormhole signature suddenly shows up on the ships sensors. Out into material space a great ship large as a small moon emerges. The shapes of it is quite unexplainable and the hull is all black. In an instant the research ships stops and is being held back by some mysterious force. All the comm links on the ships shut down and is replaced with a constant humming. Then the speakers suddenly speaks out a voice. A voice speaking in all languages known to humanity, and whispering in the background some tounges not comprehended by the human mind.

"-STOP!"

*long unnerving silence*

"-Stop. The creatures emprisoned on this hostile world three thousand millennia ago should not be released into the galaxy. And especially not by a young child as humanity... Because we are the Misthalinii, shepherds and guardians, sometimes nemesis and punishers, of the younger children in the universe.

You see, this race was among our first children and they were... a failure. We created those creatures into what we thought then, into perfection, and we taught them many secrets. As time passed they grew bolder and started to explore the galaxy. We found nothing wrong with that at a first. But when they attacked and enslaved dozens of other races on distant worlds from their own and totally annihilated others, we found it necessary to to halt them.

In their foolishness they thought that they had growed equal to us and opened fire on our delegation. Fools... That is the greatest heresy possible. In a matter of a few minutes we annihilated their entire empire and casted them to this distant outback. After all, they are our children and what parent would kill it's child? however mean it may be?
We forbade them to ever travel the stars again, and after a while it developed into their religion. They thought that the Gods had forbid them to ever turn their eyes to the stars again and after two thousand millenia they totally forgot that they once were a space faring race and believed there existed no other world than the one they were emprisoned on.

The atrocities comitted by this... wicked... "race"... has still not been forgotten. And if you land there and reveal yourselves to them they might wonder once again and turn their eyes to the stars and once become a menace. We bid you, our children, turn back and leave this forsaken world, and forget it... forever. We don't want to kill again. We want to give life..."

*The voice stops and it is replaced by a silence. The sensors on the ships is being turned on again but the ships still stand still. Absolutely unable to move. The comm links is still open, on full power and open on all frequencies. It seems like if the voice from the strange ship is waiting for an answer...*


OOC: hey will you guys mind if I mix into this RP with you?? :D

OOC: hey will you guys mind if I mix into this RP with you?? :D

Umm dude i kinda feel it's off topic, most have just arrived and such :?.
Your post is more of a closing post for an RP than a beginning.

OOC: hey will you guys mind if I mix into this RP with you?? :D

Umm dude i kinda feel it's off topic, most have just arrived and such :?.
Your post is more of a closing post for an RP than a beginning.

Yeah, KN nailed it. That sounds like an end post. Besides, OOC, I know there isn't any animal life on the planet. I have an idea where I'd like it to go. However, I am rather flexible. Just not that flexible. Sorry.

OOC: hey will you guys mind if I mix into this RP with you?? :D

Umm dude i kinda feel it's off topic, most have just arrived and such :?.
Your post is more of a closing post for an RP than a beginning.

Yeah, KN nailed it. That sounds like an end post. Besides, OOC, I know there isn't any animal life on the planet. I have an idea where I'd like it to go. However, I am rather flexible. Just not that flexible. Sorry.

end? no why? I only thought that a bit of ancient story would be cool ;). I haven't opened fire on you or something... just holding you back to consider what you might unleash. though you can proceed if you want too :) It was just a warning from the Misthalinii if you understand what I mean. The life form is energy-based and could most certainly have caused that shockwave.... so what do you say? or wont you let me play with you? :)

OOC: Obviously Imnsvale has a plan, and your post as nice as it was. Does'nt fit in :) . And like i said it was more a closing post than a starter,
Imnsvale ofcorse has the last say. The thread is his :)

We are willing to dispatch a pair of research teams to assist in your mission. While their ships are only armed with minimal defences, we feel it neccissairy to send a cruiser as escort. We hope this is not an inconveinence, but this is generally standard procedure, and is generally a 'just in case' measure.

If you don't mind, we'll send two Icarus class science vessels, each with a 7 man crew. The cruiser is a standard Hyperion type heavy cruiser, but it will stay well away and merely patrol the area. Is that agreeable?

-Indiastan Ministry of Science and Technology.

We are willing to dispatch a pair of research teams to assist in your mission. While their ships are only armed with minimal defences, we feel it neccissairy to send a cruiser as escort. We hope this is not an inconveinence, but this is generally standard procedure, and is generally a 'just in case' measure.

If you don't mind, we'll send two Icarus class science vessels, each with a 7 man crew. The cruiser is a standard Hyperion type heavy cruiser, but it will stay well away and merely patrol the area. Is that agreeable?

-Indiastan Ministry of Science and Technology.

We don't see why not. Any objections from the other members?

We are willing to dispatch a pair of research teams to assist in your mission. While their ships are only armed with minimal defences, we feel it neccissairy to send a cruiser as escort. We hope this is not an inconveinence, but this is generally standard procedure, and is generally a 'just in case' measure.

If you don't mind, we'll send two Icarus class science vessels, each with a 7 man crew. The cruiser is a standard Hyperion type heavy cruiser, but it will stay well away and merely patrol the area. Is that agreeable?

-Indiastan Ministry of Science and Technology.

The space is filling up :D , it will make my Captain quite nervous. You are all way above our technology :) , my crew has'nt really understood the hole message. This will be fun,fun,fun...

*The Radar aboard the Hazrdous was tracking dots, all marked with a number. The infrared had told about multiple heatsources and a few of the dots out there cleary made the infrared jump thru the roof. Which spoke of massive engines, all this almost made Cassandra chew on her nails. This had not been on her agenda when she took command, it had been a split second desicion to change course and follow the message.
A few minutes ago she had told her co pilot to send out a message, telling what ever was out there, of their peaceful intentions. They did'nt know if anyone would understand it, as there was a language barrier and a big differance in technology. For to provent the crew to get to restless, Cassandra had orderd gun drills and a general clean up of the ship.
And now she was the only one being restless, sitting strapped down in her chair. Waiting for a reply or some indication of what to expect..*

OOC: Obviously Imnsvale has a plan, and your post as nice as it was. Does'nt fit in :) . And like i said it was more a closing post than a starter,
Imnsvale ofcorse has the last say. The thread is his :)

ooc: well well... seems like if I have to go with my big ancient ship elsewhere then :(

Admiral Kalharn stood at the bridge, all majestic.

"Smithers! ETA!"

"About three months, sir!"

Hmmm. Oh well. I just wonder what we will find.

Later long range scans showed no animal life. They might be good at hiding. He thought himself lucky that the 2000 men at arms were to be cold-stored until two weeks before arrival.

"Sheep!"

A surprisingly melodic voice emanated from the ceiling.

"Yes, Admiral?"

"Anything I need to know about?"

"No, sir. You have nothing to worry about. Enjoy your trip."

Enjoy my trip. Yeah. Okay.

Shortly after the Imnsvale ships left the system, the three Indiastan vessels arrived to join them.

"This is Captain Narvi aboard the science vessel Marlin to Imnsvale ships, come in please. Mind if we join you?"

The two Icarus-class explorers didn't look too threatening, but the kilometer-long sillhouette of the heavy cruiser did. Closer scanning showed that she was mostly powered down and conserving energy. The gun ports were closed and all of the fire controll systems were offline save for the defence grid. She hung there, ominusly, as if daring raiders to attack them.

"Repeat, this is Captain Narvi aboard the Marlin to Imnsvale fleet, come in please..."

OOC: :lol: OoH the plot thickens, but where are the rest??.

Shortly after the Imnsvale ships left the system, the three Indiastan vessels arrived to join them.

"This is Captain Narvi aboard the science vessel Marlin to Imnsvale ships, come in please. Mind if we join you?"

The two Icarus-class explorers didn't look too threatening, but the kilometer-long sillhouette of the heavy cruiser did. Closer scanning showed that she was mostly powered down and conserving energy. The gun ports were closed and all of the fire controll systems were offline save for the defence grid. She hung there, ominusly, as if daring raiders to attack them.

"Repeat, this is Captain Narvi aboard the Marlin to Imnsvale fleet, come in please..."

OOC: By the way, its just one ship. :P
IC:

###Begin Transmission; Marlin###

This is Tavarra, acknowledging hail.

Yes, anyone is welcome to join. We reviewed your manifest, and intentions. It is acceptable. Welcome aboard. Would you like a tour of our ship?

Respond.

###End.###

"Electric Sheep Two!"

The Admiral was clearly incensed.

The humble voice emerged. "Yes, Admiral?"

"Why did you offer them a tour?"

"Its the neighborly thing to do, Admiral."

The Admiral grumbled before wandering off.

(ooc: Ok, how big is your ship anyway? Wouldn't you need a tender or two for such a long flight? And no escort?)

"Thanks for the invite Captain, but sadly we don't have a way over. The shuttle is locked down till we get in-system, and I doubt Captain Zacarius on the Constelation would send one over. Perhaps when we reach our destination?"

Appending stats:
Tavarra

800 Metres long
60 metres wide
30 metres tall
Ion Driven

Crew of 8012, 2000 of which are security/infantry who are issued a single .44 Magnum, and a MD-92 .3mm Flechette rifle.

Ship armed with 6 turret-mounted rapid-fire concussive pellet guns. And a missile rack with forty missiles, but the ship is able to manufacture more.

Ship Operations/General Purpose AI: Electric Sheep Two

It also has a pair of "Staple" class fighter-bombers. They are one man, small fighters with one 90° rotatable rapid-fire concussive pellet gun, and a missile rack with four missiles.

(Crap man, that thing is only a little smaller then my cruiser. The scince ships are a whopping 80 meters long :P)

"Well Tavarra, would you mind letting us in on whats the big deal with this planet? We've heard you had probes on the planet that were destroyed, but thats all. Anything else we should know?"

(Well, I'm taking more people. :))

###Begin Transmission; Marlin###

Well, our probes were destroyed, but we don't know how. Scans show no animal life, but the planet is full of plant life. We also found some ruins, believed to be of advanced construction.

###End.##

"Thats good to know Taverra. How should we proceed?"

###Begin Transmission; Marlin###

In this general direction. Just follow us.

###End.###

"Copy that. Show us the way."

*The crew of Hazardous where resting, there was'nt much else to do now. Cassandra (the captain), where half asleep. In her chair, the message of peaceful intentions, was till being transmitted. But at the back of her mind she was going thru battle scenarios, but with the heat sources and radar images analyzed. It would be more of a hasty retreat, rather than a battle. And she would rather come home alive than turnd into inter galatic dust, still the gunners would be able to cover a retreat. So if things got to bad, she would have to put her faith in them and the engine*..

OOC:last post of mine for today, to be continued tomorrow :D

"Say, Taverra, how large are your launch bays? Our ship isn't that large, and it had occured to me that we migh be able to actually land aboard your ship. What say you?"

###Begin Transmission; Marlin###

Hell, why not? Come aboard!

###End.###

After informing the captain of the Constelation, Narvi veered the Marlin over and into the large hanger bay. After touching down, the ship's hatch opened and the small crew left. The research team stayed aboard the ship, as they were in cryo-sleep to save transport space. Narvi was the head researcher, and was only awake because the transport was his, and he knew how to fly it.

All of the crew were impressed by the Imnsvale ship, but were suprised that it lacked any sort of jump capability. They started wandering around the hanger, waiting for someone to come by.

A small flat screen on a boom lowered down. A voice echoed throughout the hangar, but in reality, only Narvi and crew could hear the directed sound message.

"Welcome aboard!"

The screen flickered on, with a map of the area.

"All the facilities you may ever need, I can direct you to, any hour of the day or night. And who am I? Electric Sheep Two, your humble servant. Where can I direct you to?"

Narvi was suprised to see such suprisingly advanced technology like independant AI and artificial gravity aboard what had looked like an outwardly simple ship. The shock wore off quickly, and he spoke.

"Greetings. I'm Captain Narvi of the Marlin, and this is my crew. We wouldn't mind some accomodation if you could provide it, and a meal too. Anything you've got would be better then the freeze-dried rations we've got. And I wouldn't mind talking to you commander, if that can be arranged. Thanks."

"Ah, you would like a meal. Anything you wish. As for accommodations, we have rather large suited for each of you. And only the best velvet carpet. The color signifies the deck. You can go anywhere you wish."

OOC: *Waits for the arrival of which ever ship* i thought we had like 4 more players, where did they go??

"Well, lead the way if you would. We're most gratefull. Now, about arranging a meeting with your commander... I'm sure he's very busy, but I should like to talk to him as soon as possible if you don't mind."

Narvi leads the group down the hall at Sheep Two's discretion. He is visably old, perhaps about sixty, with close cropped grey hair and beard. He isn't terribly tall, and the years have seemed to slightly bent him under their weight, but his powerfull voice still commands respect.

After dumping their effects in their cabins, they head straight for the dining hall.

OOC: *Waits for the arrival of which ever ship* i thought we had like 4 more players, where did they go??

OOC: Well, mine are traveling by their lonesome, gonna meet up at the planet.

When they stumble upon the dining hall, it is lavish. No expense was too great, apparently. Crystal, precious gems and metals abound. Fine redwood chairs with silk seat cushions.

Menus were handed to them on old-fashioned parchment, with fancy filigree-like printing. Pretty much anything was possible.

Narvi and the crew were stunned. The small mess on the Marlin was akin to a cupboard, hardly room enough for all seven of them at once, and then the ate little more then synthesized protien meal when they felt lazy, or hydrated freeze-dried ration packets when they were up to preparing them. Of course, all this was done in zero gravity. Hardly the lap of luxury. This made their collective jaws drop.

"Dear host..." stuttered Narvi, "how... how is this possible?"

Electric Sheep Two used the directed speakers to target just Narvi and his crew.

"Quite simple. We spared little or no expense, because we'd rather our crew members not go insane. This is a rather long mission, and an extened stay in zero gravity, and with typical old-style, vacuum sealed, irradiated, sterilized, freeze dried, Mylar packaged, polystyrene crap they call food is just not healthy. Now, what may I serve your happy little party?"

OOC: Polystyrene = Styrofoam™. Also, I avoided a gender of Electric Sheep Two for a reason. Mostly because I can't decide if it is a he or a she.

Captain! Someone set up us the bump!

OOC:Still around, waiting for the rest to get closer :)

"Well, our trips are generally much shorter. There is a reason we invented the hyperdrive..."

The crew sits and orders pretty much everything on the menu, with some extras for good measure. Afterwards, they all emphaticly ask if they can stay aboard. Generally, Narvi agrees, but he defers to their generous host before makign any plans.

"Of course you can stay aboard! Stay as long as you like!"

A robot wheels out, with everything they ordered, in heaping portions.

"May I get you any wine or spirits?"

"Well, we dont normall carry alcohol, but I guess we could make an except. Any German or Canadian beer aboard?"

With this, the crew give a resounding, but quiete, cheer

"Yes, we have our own micro-brewery aboard, so it is all fresh. We have whatever you like. Any kind of beer, wine, whisky, brandy, vodka. Anything you like. Any particular German or Canadian beer?"

The crew pretty much orders a little of everything, and loves it all. After dinner and several rounds, they all stumble to where they think they remember Sheep Two telling them they were staying. Miracliously, no one dies in their sleep, but they all pretty much wake up with nasty hangovers. They thank their lucky stars they got to do this at least once, as they wouldn't again for nearly a year.

The same message was broadcast to all the guest rooms.

"Good morning, sleepyhead! You will each find an anti-hangover remedy in the bin next to the mirror. If you need anything else, don't hesitate to ask."

Almost simultaniously, all seven crew grab the pills and pop them, before downing the glass of water sitting next to them. Six of them crawl back into their comfortable beds, but Narvi gets up and dresses.

'Dear host, would it be possible to meet with your captain now? We may have a few months till it really matters, but we may as well get the introductions out of the way at least."

"Absolutely."

Electric Sheep drops a screen, with a map, showing the exact path.

"Would you like me to escort you?"

Narvi memorizes the map before speaking.

"No, that shouldn't be neccissairy, but thank you."

After a quick shower and shave, Narvi goes off to meet the captain for lunch. He figures it'll be pretty boring, but he's sure the food will be good, and that'll make it worth it.

"As you wish."

Nice folks. I'm glad I invited them aboard. The Admiral however...

The Admiral hears a knock at the door.

OOC: When do you wanna fast forward? There is still much to do on the planet. We don't have to do it right away.

(after lunch sounds good I guess. :) )

"Ah, you must be the Admiral that Electric Sheep mentioned. I'm Ben Narvi, the Head Researcher for the Indiastan portion of this expidition. I hope we're not intruding by staying aboard during the travel period?" He comes in and sits down before continuing. "Our ships are far from confortable, as they are ment only to hold the crew for a month or two, not six or seven. Thank you very much for your hospitality."

"Oh, hello, yes. Sheep told me you were coming aboard. Welcome."

He paused. He wondered if he really wanted him in his office when they were gassed.

"Hospitality? Of course! But we'll all be asleep soon. The who ship will fill with something akin to nitrous oxide, and we will all fall into a hibernation-like state. We will all wake up about two weeks before we get there, so we have time to recover. So why do we have all these lavish things? Because we can, mostly. Didja need anything before we get gassed?"

Narvi was stunned. He wasn't quiet sure what to say. He was sure that Davis would have him in irons if he let himself be gassed aboard an unfamiliar vessel.

"You know, on second thought, we'll head back to our ship. We'll meet you there in three months. Savvy?"

"Suit yourself, but you'd better hurry. The gas will start pouring from every ventilation opening in the ship in about ten minutes. Do you need help with your belongings?"

"No, we should be fine. Once we get breather masks, we'll load up and launch on our own time. But, anyway, thanks for having us. have a nice sleep."

Narvi hurridly runs down to the ship sitting peaceably in the loading bay. He runs up and quickly pus a breather mask on, then flips on the comm and calls everyone back to the ship. While waiting for them to get there, he loads filter cartridges into six masks. They take a few minuites to get there, but they all make it before the gas starts pumping. They are all suitably confused.

"We're leaving folks, and going home." This was greeted with groans and half-heard complaints, as Narvi expected. "Seems we've got three months till they get there, so we may as well go home and wait. Before they arrive, we'll just go our normal route and meet them there. They gave us the coordinates, and with the Constellation with us, we won't need a gate. First get those masks on. They pump the ship full of some sort of sleep gas, so that they dont need to pack so much for the three month trip. They sleep through most of it. However, we can't stay, unfortunetly. Gets those masks on and load up."

The Admiral chuckles to himself.

The old "gas-the-ship" joke. Works every time.

Electric Sheep boomed over the speakers in his office.

"Now that was just not nice."

"Yeah, it probably wasn't."

"You just flung a bunch of the nicest people out on their own in a sub-standard cruiser."

"Yeah..." He fidgeted with his pens, and trinkets on his desk, to get his mind off the topic.

"Furthermore, now they are all afraid of getting gassed."

"Yeah..."

"Stop acting so sheepish!"

"Sheepish. Har."

After the Marlin is aloft, Narvi informs Captain Davis that they are to head home. They have the target's coordinates, and are to meet the other teams there in three months. Untill then, they could return home. Davis was relieved at this, as he had no real desire to babysit a couple of lighters for three months.

Once the Marlin formed up, the three ships turned around, and the Constellation switched on her jump engines, ripping a temporary hole in real space. The cruiser and two deep space transports entered, and once through the vortex collapsed on itself in a blink. The same scene, though reversed, was seen again three months later near to the target planet.

OOC:

TEMPORAL REMOTE CONTROL OF JUSTICE!

Fast forward to planet.

IC Post to come in a second.

"Admiral. We are approaching the planet. We are almost in camera range."

"Dear Lord! Finally! I have been bored out of my friggen' mind."

"There are numerous asteroids. None will interact with us, but this system is oddly full of debris."

"You're sure?"

"Positive. I triple checked the figures. Besides, the small ones aren't going to hurt us, and the big ones, well, we'd see 'em."

Suddenly, horrendous explosions ripped the ship to shreds. Vaporized, not quite, but that word will have to suffice. The Admiral made it to an escape pod, but was unsure if anyone else did. The pod pivoted around, and the one, final blast blew the Tavarra to bits, and tossed the escape pod like a children's toy.

"Well, fuck. This is just great."

The pod flew itself, and approached the planet. During the voyage, the Admiral's stomach was in knots.

Would I have been better off to have been in that explosion?

He remembered all the people who perished. His friends. Electric Sheep Two. That cute cadet.

Gone.

The pod tumbled into the atmosphere, and the cabin began to heat. As if by magic, the cooling systems compensated perfectly, down to the degree.

The pod hit the water, with the sizzle of the water boiling off into steam, and the bubbles escaping. He opened the hatch at swam to the surface. Lucky for him, the shore was not that far.

He emerged onto shore, dripping and tired.

Buildings? Huh? How...?

He opened the door to the ruins, and by all observations, it had been abandoned for a long time. Dust covered everything like a blanket. The objects looked ordinary enough, but the language was an undecipherable mosaic of geometric shapes.

Well, looks like I can make myself at home.




OOC: Every ship is blown up. If you don't have escape pods, well, then you are rather stuck. Our characters should meet sometime, but not right away. This planet is a big place. :)

He reached for the towel, and survival kit.

Red and green goo. Mmm mmm good. I better save it for when I am really hungry.

The hallways seemed to split off into room after room, all in surprisingly good shape, considering their age. He wandered into a room, that was a library of some sort. Books everywhere, all in the undecipherable language. He found a computer terminal and switched it on, finding only more of the same gibberish.

"Man alive! Where is everybody?! And how does this still work?"

He pressed what seemed to be like keys, and that just cycled through the screens.

Well, I won't find my answers here.

He wandered into a large hall, perhaps a meeting hall, or dining hall, he wasn't sure.

People of great intelligence built this... Where are they, and why did they leave?

The Constellation and Marlin came out of hyperspace just above the northern pole of the planet. The Marlin had just nosed down into the atmosphere, when it happened. They had started to decend when they saw the Constellation get hit by some sort of blast. They saw the ship get ripped in half, just before the engine section exploded. Some escape pods appear to make it clear befoer the rest of the ship is annihilated. Just seconds afterwards, the Marlin is rocked as whatever just killed the Constelation nails them as well. The computer says that the egines, tail, and the cryo storage sections are gone, and they are falling out of control. Narvi struggles with the controls, fighting against both speed and gravity. After entering the lower stratosphere, Narvi finally succumbs to the force of gravity and blacks out.

He is amazed to awake alive. The Marlin is weged into the side of a hill, and a half mile trail of destruction lays behind them. He figures he got the ship level enough so that they didnt die on impact. Bellying out on a swamp helped as well. He is badly bruised though, and he figures his arm is broken. He finds that five of his crew lived, while the bodies of the oher two are splattered all over the rear quarters. After getting their bearings, they gather what supplies they can, and decide to look for Constellation survivors. They are lost, injured, and alone.

"Could be worse."

He has gone from water, to beach, to some strange complex. He emerges from the complex, to see a road, or what he thinks is a road. He can see for miles down the laser-like road. All the roads are in a nice grid pattern, with signs suspended from wires, with the same geometric language.

That language is driving me insane. I can't even begin to fathom the complexity, the detail

He trotted down the road, past what he theorized were stores, displaying what looked like household items.

Why can't I get a straight answer from what is presented before me?

Everything was so still, he began to wonder just where were these people.

Huh. Maybe these people are very small, and I just can't see them. That could explain it. But then why would the need doorways so large?

He wandered along for awhile, when he heard a rumbling.

People! Yay!

He spun around in circles, before realizing that it was his stomach.

Mmm, green goo.

While not the tastiest concoction to come out of the Agracultured labs, it filled him right up, and fast.

How is there flora everywhere you look, and a total absence of animal life? It doesn't make sense.

He walked down the streets farther and farther away from the original complex. He walked into a store that appeared to be a food store. Fresh specimens of the plants were shelved, and stored in bins.

Now that is just peculiar.

It dawned on him.

Perhaps these creatures are nocturnal!

It was such a brilliant assessment, he felt bad for not thinking on it sooner. He wandered around more, and began to feel lonely. The sun progressed across the sky, and night began to fall.

Lets see what these people look like!

And none came. For several hours. It was black, save for minimal starlight.

And nobody is around, and I can't see.

He laid down on the road, and slept as best he could, given the circumstances.

He woke up stiff, but somewhat refreshed. He finished up the green goo, and walked off, only to discover what looked like an observatory.

Hmmm, I wonder if it still works.

Narvi wasn't sure what to do next. They were all beat up, tired, and low on food and water. Three days hiking through first a swamp, then a lush forest. They had a damaged datapad that had a corrupted map file of the planet, and they thought there was a city not far to their east.

"Well, I think its east."

"How can you be sure?" asked Janzen rather despondently.

'Well... I can't really. The cardinal directions have been lost. But, if I'm reading this the right way, it should be east."

"But can we be sure?"

"Probably. There is another, smaller cluster of villages to the west, so either way we'll find something."

Six days later, they saw a thin trail of smoke coming off a beach. They had been following the river that they thought led to the port city at its mouth. Through the amazingly undamaged binoculars, they saw a smoking escape pod sitting there, alone, on the beach. However, its wasn't of Indiastan make...

He sauntered up to the doors but could find no way to operate them.

*knock* "Hello?"

He meandered back to town, defeated, and depressed. He ate half the red goo, and sat in the middle of the street, waiting to be hungry again, so he could eat his last meal, and lay down to die.

There were a single pair of footprints leading up into the city. They looked somewhat hopeful.

"Well folks, its our last shot. Lets hope."

"Hope for what?"

"Well... I wasn't think that far ahead. Maybe they'll have answers?"

They followed the tracks as best they could, but they were all dead tired, and low on food and water. They found him lying in the street, and at first tehy thought he might be dead.

"Well, well, well... Pleasent trip, dear Admiral?"

"Mmmmbll...trip...tired...food..."

He trailed off before his eyes rolled back in their sockets, and he fell limp.

"Janzen, pass me that medipack!"

"Sir! We need these..."

"We can spare enough food and a stimgun for him. Give it here!"

From the pack he pulls something that looks like a miniature pistol, and a small phial of orangish fluid. Loading the phial into the back of the gun, he sticks it the Admiral's neck and fires, injecting a cocktail of steroids, stimulants, and painkillers, commonly called a "stimgun treatment." They wait, and hope that it brings him around.

"Mmm..."

He springs up suddenly.

"Ow! What the hell was that for, huh?"

He sees Narvi and crew standing around him.

"So, have a nice ride?" He chuckled.

"Figured you needed a pick-me-up. Oh, and the ride wasn't so bad, but that landing was... unpleasent. How's your trip been so far?"

"Strangely lonely. I am really glad to see you; there's nobody around. It is rather creepy. I've just been exploring, and have found nothing. But the people who used to live here seemed to be very advanced. But they are all gone."

"Well, suppose if they're gone they wouldn't mind use borrowing some shelter eh? Those rain clouds are looking.. unfriendly. Johnson! Stanfield! Look around for something that looks remotely like food. Use the scanner if you have to, but sparingly. Everyone else, lets look for someplace cozy."

"I know most of the places around here, and haven't found much food, so that may be futile. But I did find a rather comfy couch-like thing over here. Follow me."

He gestured, and started walking.

"Well Admiral, sounds good. Out first priority should be to get food and water, then set up the transmitter. However, we need a power source. Any suggestions?"

The Admiral frowned.

"I found no food, and no water. I did find what looked like electrical devices, but there is no guarantee that they are compatible voltages, or types. Why don't we just lay down and die. Die......"

The Admiral fell to his knees, and then fell face forward.

Narvi was disheartened by the Admiral's reaction, but he thought it may just be the stimgun treatment wearing out. He gave him a mild kick anway.

"Look, we'll find something that'll pass for food. The must be something that is edable out there, some kind of fruit or plant. And, as for water, it looks like its going to rain anyway, and our canteens have filters. We'll be all right for that tomorrow. Ok? Now, lets look for something that resembles a battery or generator, and maybe some nice big blankets."

The Admiral rolled over.

"Mmm, blankets...food...water...water...everywhere..."

He passed out.

The crew go to work making makeshift beds form the available cloth, and later find some sort of blankets made of a wool-like material. Making some poor funnels out of some thin plastic, they leave the canteens out for the rains to hopefully fill them. Then huddle in the room, having cleared it of dust, and try their best to go to sleep. Naturally, they drag the Admiral over and cover him up.

The Admiral curls up in the blankets. As the rain falls, filling their canteens, everyone sleeps nicely.

They wake up hungry, tired, and thirsty. It's still raining outside, but to all of their delights they find their canteens full, so they greedaly drain all four of them, and after deciding that the filters were still working, they put them out again to refill. The rain was constant, and showed no sign of stopping. Two of the crew, Stanfield and Richter, decided to go and look for some batteries anyway, taking shelter under one of the old thin waterproof camp blankets that they had stopped using. They looked desperatly for something that looked like either an alkaline or fusion battery, and they found a few things that may have been contenders, but they didn't know for sure. Lacking anything else to do, they brought them back anyway. They also thought they may have found something that could be an nutrious plant, and again, they brought back a sample. All they could do was wait and hope someone else was still alive out there...

The Admiral wakes, and looks around.

"Their language is driving me crazy. I wish I knew what it said."

"Yes, that would be helpfull. Maybe it'd be worth using the lscanner to try to pick up any sort of pattern in it, though i doubt it'd find any before the batteries died. Well, lets hope the thermal cells didnt break. Even if they didn't, it'll still take a week to recharge, longer in this weather. Oh well."

"A pattern in that? I'm impressed. So, what do you need done that I can do?"

After several hourse of computations, the small hand scanner actually thought it cracked the language, and it indicatd so with annoying bleeps. They crowded around to see what it read, and hoped that it worked.

"Well I'll be damned..."

Pointing it at the cylinders they hoped and prayed were batteries, the screen bleeped:

/-/Translator Active/-/

Fresh liquid [soup?] Best!

Fresh solid [leaves?] Improved!

Pointing at the wall resulted in:

/-/Translator Active/-/

Check in, fifteen minutes at most.

"Well, that helped. Maybe we can get somewhere now. If we only had a map, that would be great..."

"Well Admiral, what do you suppose this means? That this thing is for soup?"

"I don't know. It might be for making soup, it might be ingredients, it might be soup ready to eat, it might be the battery for a Soupmaker6000, I don't know."

He pointed it at the computer terminal.

/-/Translator Active/-/

Login [Logon? Identify?]

"I think it needs to be exposed to more of the language so it can be more accurate. Can you have your men find some books or tomes, or just large volumes of text?"

"Yeah, sure. In the mean time, lets let the power pack recharge a bit."

Narvi pulled the bottom out of the hand scanner, and dropped the power pack into his hand. Pressing a switch, the sides of the pack turned inside out, and he placed the cell outside in the light.

"Thermal cells," Narvi explained. "It'll recharged when exposed to heat or light. And if it's an emergency, you can even charge it by throwing it in a fire, though this'll shorten their life. Neat little deals."

Stanfield and Richter again go out searching, while Narvi, Jazen, Camren and the Admiral clean their abode some more and make it comfortable.

Stanfield and Richter return with an armload each of tomes and papers.

"Interesting, they bind books like we do. Must be efficient."

He scanned pages and pages, but not activating the translator. This was to find patterns, and, hopefully decipher them. After scanning for hours and hours, he hoped he had enough text to start deciphering it.

He found a document and scanned the top.

/-/Translator Active/-/

Report.

The disease is spreading. We are close to a cure, but there may not be enough left for it to work on. Most have left for the hills [wilderness?]. People [dead?] on the streets are sad. We were too late in starting to develop a cure.


A lone tear dropped from the Admiral's face. "Well, that explains where the are. Count the arms, legs and heads, and divide by five."

/-/Translator Active/-/

Report.

There is a sickness spreading. It only seems to be affecting the weak, so don't waste the money on a cure just yet. We have to see how it behaves first. It may be spread by touch, but we are unsure of this. Automated systems are unaffected by the Factory Death[massacre?] last week.


He scanned another sheet.

/-/Translator Active/-/

Report.

Food orders are up. People are complaining of tampered food. Untrue. We have done nothing wrong. And we are not connected to the disease, despite reports to the otherwise.


The Admiral started sobbing.

"I-i-i-i-i-its all right. I just never thought much about the loss of the Tavarra, and all the crew. This brings back some memories, and how they must of felt. This was so much worse, it sounds like."

He composed himself, and started scanning books instead of sheets.

There were all stunned. They were had lost not only their frozen research team, but the crew and team from the other ship, as well as the Constellation. "We didn't really know them," Narvi thought, "Which is why their deaths didn't really bother us that much..."

"So, what in the hell does this mean?" asked Richter.

"It means that any food we find is comtaminated, and every living animal on this planet died from some plauge. And, the automated systems will prevent our rescue," replied Janzen.

"It also means that even if something gets through, that we, and they, can't go home," added Narvi solemly. "If we are indeed infected, or even possibly infected, then we can't knowingly spread this. Would you want this to happen to Earth?"

They all dispaired more now then ever.

"Whoa, now. This disease might not affect us. On Earth, our pets can't catch our flu virus if we are sick. We are just too different. And these people, well, they are different still. So the odds of us getting sick is close to nil. But their food may be inedible, if its makeup is different enough."

He went back to scanning books.

/-/Translator Active/-/

Oceanographic Tome, Year 694

Nothing new has been found that is of enough interest. The marine life holds promise for a cure of the Disease, but we might not find it in enough time.

Oceanographic Tome, Year 696

I fear this is the last volume we will produce. We have a cure, but not enough of us remain alive, as far as any of us know, to have any hope of survival. The inbreeding would doom our species if we kept living. We are to go to the town square, voluntarily, to be euthanized [hanged?]. I only hope there are some who escaped.


"Well, I'll be damned. They just gave up. I almost respect them less. What are we without hope?"

"Well... alright. Maybe we wont be efected, But government regs still will want us in isolation for a long time, if we can get out of here. Speaking of which, we need to find some damn power. What I wouldn't give for a fusion battery right about now..."

The Admiral opens up the case for the probe wires leading from the scanner, and cracks open the computer terminal from the back of the wall.

"The odd of this working are slim, but you never know..."

He grabs the spare battery out of the case, and puts the near-dead one out in the newly sunny outdoors area to charge.

He double checks his connections, and starts up the scanner.

/-/Translator Active/-/
LOGIN:

"YES!" The Admiral was elated. "Direct feed from the computer terminal to the scanner!"

He ran a script that eventually logged him in as 'Tfearal'. "Huh, I wonder who he was..."

/-/Translator Active/-/
Welcome to the NETWORK! I [we?] can provide many services. What is it you wish?

The Admiral typed 'electricity'.

/-/Translator Active/-/
Yes, just find the wall outlets in the floor.

A diagram popped up showing the operation.

'Batteries.'

/-/Translator Active/-/
Several diagrams popped up showing batteries.

"Well, are you happy now, Narvi?"

"Very!" he nearly shouted. "Now, lets get this transmitter hooked up... Maybe, just maybe, it'll be able to reach orbit. Perhaps we can find out what shot us down and contact it. Why don't you check the archieves for information on that?"

How would I search for that? Hmmm

'Explosion Ray'
/-/Translator Active/-/
Excuse me? What kind of query is that? Military? The foodstuffs?

'Military'
/-/Translator Active/-/
Wow, doesn't narrow it down much.

He typed 'offensive' and got nothing familiar. Defense, however...

/-/Translator Active/-/
Conceived in the late 590s, this ended the periodic bombardment of asteroids. The decoder differentiates between asteroids and spacecraft.

"Huh. I wonder why we got nailed, then. Maybe it broke..."

"Must be. Can we get access to it? Is there anything still in orbit, some kind of communication satallite perhaps? Maybe the Constellation's autobeacon?"

"There's probably nothing in orbit with that thing around. I also think the laser is ground based. I wonder where, exactly..."

"Well... damn. If the autobeacon was still floating around in orbit, we might have a hope. As it is, this tacheyon transmitter wont get a signal much beyond lunar orbit." Narvi was dissappointed, "But, if we could get something like a satallite to boost the signal, we just might be able to reach Earth. By the way, what star is this? I can't seem to recall."

"I don't know where we are. As for a satellite, good luck with that. We'd have to disable the laser, first."

A look of hopelessness grew on the Admiral's face.

"Well then. We were six months away from Earth though, right? I mean, we can't be that far away. Maybe Sirus B, or one of the Centauri's. Hell, a colonozation program was started up back home a few years back, we may even have people out even closer then Earth. Cheer up mate." Narvi was not, however, the model of comfort.

The Admiral smiled, but felt no better.

"Why don't we just give up. The odds are astronomical that they would find us, we can't survive much longer, even if they did find us, they would get annihilated by the laser that shout US down, these people all died, why won't we? We will. Why don't we just make it quick? We can't get home, and we can't survive for more than a week. Why not end the suffering?"

"Well, what the hell would you like us to do?!?" Narvi yelled. "I'm sorry if we havn't given up all hope of doing more then dying here on some god-foresaken rock." He stomped over to the field kit, producing a small pistol, and angrily tossed it over to the Admiral. "There are twelve rounds. Perhaps you'd like to go first?"

He picked up the gun, and stares at it, tears running down his face.

"Maybe I would. I will make the eight-thousand twelfth person to die from the Tavarra. I'll miss you guys, you were the best."

And with that, he put the gun to his temple, and pulled the trigger.

Archived at Imnsvale's request.