STGOD2 Main Story thread

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2003-11-06 08:18pm

Let the games begin!

Changed the title in light of the new STGOD3 - Phong

There was already the failed STGOD2. ~ Stomrbringer

You shall not mention that abortion here - Phong

Post by **Alyrium Denryle** » 2003-11-06 08:36pm

Ambassador Carcarocles did the equivalent of "sitting down" on the bridge of the transport vessel Meganeura. Apparntly, it was bound not only to drop him off on the homeworld, but also carry a classified cargo of xenomorphs to a small scientific outpost in the Aqarius system oort cloud.. Needless to say, he kept a Trech Defense Systems T11 Rapid Fire Concussion Grenade Caster with him the entire trip, and kept a constant watch on the cryo monitors.

His gills fluttered as he was dropped off at Man O' War station Alpha 1 and he hoped that the xenomorphs didnt escape before reaching the Oort cloud.

Chardok · Post by **Chardok** » 2003-11-06 08:38pm

From inside the aquarian union's ship, the queen sent out a psychic message, a scream. Pure agony laced with hatred at being captured and forced into captivity at the promise of "Sentience" Silently, She Called for her Drones to come to her aid. She had no way of knowing that her drone's were much too far away...the one's close enough could only send back that they, too were prisoners.

there was consiousness for her....

At the sudden realization that she was helpless, she was overcome with rage, malice. she would have her revenge on those who considered themselves "superior" at the audacity of thinking she needed their gift. She felt their thoughts, she knew what they were thinking, planning.
She drew into herself, calling out to the other queens, warning them of this new threat. This race who gave "Sentience". The "Uplifters"....The other queens heard, for a split second the Trapped Queen's agony...

Post by **Alyrium Denryle** » 2003-11-06 08:45pm

The ship docked at the scientific outpost in the Aquarius Oort cloud... the trip was short and relativly painless for the crew.

The Cephepods swam out and began to unload the living cargo, half a dozen drones and a queen. They carried the xenomorphs to a central laboratory where scientists from the Union and the Stuart Corporation scientists began the process not only of thawing them out, but simultaneously making sure they were drugged to the point of being comatose. Only then would it be safe to perform the genetic modifications that would reshape their brains and give them full sentience.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-11-06 08:54pm

Unreclaimed space between the Enigma and Nemesis Sectors
4 January 300 AGW

The generic archetype of the escort carrier was ubiquitous around the Star Kingdom of Serenity. After the chaos of the Great War, the Kzinti Invasion and Succession War the Kingdom had sought to restore her depleted coffers by selling many old ships that were in government service. First and foremost of these were the escort carriers. The remaining yards demilitarized them: stripping them of most weaponry, many sensors, hyperfold drive and sundry other components deemed not ready for civilian use.

Corporations, wealthy individuals and all sorts of organizations bought them as quickly as they could. Most had half their hangers converted into extra personell and cargo space since few could afford to carry even the rated three squadrons of fighters. RMS Archon was one of these, but she barely resembled the original design. Her flight deck was covered with sensors of all types along with some jamming gear purchased from the Black Alliance - gear of dubious legality. Those ion beam arrays purchased from them probably weren't legal, either.

Ships could thus only enter and exist from her main hanger opening (when the blast doors retracted), but since there were only a few shuttles instead of nearly forty fighters, the penalty was ... acceptable. Certainly, if anyone started gunning for them they'd have to run, but their overpowered warp drive should let them clear in time to make the neccessary foldspace calculations.

Oh yeah, the high-speed milspec foldspace computers had been removed in their demilitarization, and the crew of Archon could hardly afford a faster one, legally-acquired or otherwise.

But that was moot. This crew went prospecting around for valuables from the old, dead zones of the Kingdom. Most of the time their leads brough them to worlds still cooling off from one bombardment or another. Still other times they found asteroid belts where planets used to be. Sure, they had valuable minerals, but anyone could mine and the price of minerals had been depressed for millennia since the introduction of the World Devestator Furnace.

But this time they stuck gold, or maybe even platinum. An old moon that had a station on it; wasn't terraformed. The station was destroyed, mostly - a huge crater adorned the moon from an UHVM strike. The old colony and station were at ground zero, though some of the outriding 'pods' have survived. Somewhat. Maybe. Hopefully there wasn't some horrid alien or demonic infestation there - they didn't have that much firepower on the ground and their priest had jumped ship two ports back.

And those damned pirates! They bought that kit from the Alliance in good faith and what happens? Two thousand light years out a frigate belonging to the Black Alliance attacks them. There was no justice in this universe. They'd barely managed to get away in time and hardly scratched the pirate ship.

"Skyboss, Skyboss, this is Groundlord. We've got some stuff. Looks like an old armory. A bunch of etheric rifles, looks like the Mark E-8B. A bunch of old powercells, they're run down but should still hold a good charge. Oh, yeah, more etheric-shock grenades than I've ever seen before. Our sensor shows they're still good, amazingly enough."

'Not bad. We can make a good profit off this run. Anything else, Ground?"

"Yeah. You won't believe this ... but the armory is packing a full-scale medium ethercannon. Naval, not army. "

"Well shit. Bring it up and hook that thing in. Lets see if it works. We can make a killing selling that thing on the 'market."

The medium ethercannon was in good condition. The stasis fields in the armory had done their job well. The few low-power test shots in the nearby asteroid field had confirmed its operation; full-power tests were to be run later that day. Of course, the inevitable arguments over what to do with it started up ...

"We should keep it on the ship! Retractable, stealthed mount just like the old Intel ships used to have! The next time some damn pirate appears out of nowhere we'll be able to blow them to bits!"

"What happens if Customs catches us? How are we going to explain that we just happened upon a working gun, nevermind the fact that it's illegal to own something like this. Sell it! With the cash we've received from this we'll be set for years!"

"Yea! The Kzinti will pay damn good money for a working example..."

"The Kzin??!! They'd just as soon shoot us with the same gun or eat our hearts while they're still beating!"

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2003-11-06 08:58pm

Lord Inquisitor Harken nearly staggered at the psychic blow. The Shifter-demon Queen was screaming her rage out into the etherial plane. It was the pure animal howl of rage and fear. It's primitive mind slowly grasping the concept of it's prison. Slowly he forced the creatures raging mind down.

"Emperor damn them, they're all mad. Bringing a shifter here." the man gathered himself up and turned to his aide "Come we're leaving immediately. Signal the Rampage to keep an eye of the Aquarian-demon ship."

As a young Interogator he had been part of a kill team sent to purge an infestation of the demons on a small mining moon. It had been a nightmare, men screaming as they were torn to peices, the panicing troops, the horror had never left him. It galled him to have to leave but he would. But not with out precuations.

Thirdfain · Post by **Thirdfain** » 2003-11-06 09:12pm

FROM: Commonwealth Navy Command, Desjardins
TO:
Navy Command Osiris
Navy Command Liberty
Navy Command Togo
Navy Command Isis
SUBJ: Fleet Deployment
-::-

In preperation for the commencement of fleet actions in the Orion Arm devastated sectors, elements of the Osiris, Liberty, Togo March, and Isis province fleets will meet over Isis Prime. Once on station, fleet redesignated -: Orion Expeditionary Force :-

Vessels expected on station and prepared for departure in four days. Commonwealth Army transports of the 3rd Kelian, the 4th Kelian, the 34th Santander, the 52cnd Santander, the 60th Santander, 1st Horus Guards, the 2cnd Horus Guards, and the 45th and 12th Desjardins Lancers will be on station as well.

Operations in the Orion northern Orion arm will focus on the pacifying of pirate and feudal states remaining in the aftermath of the Great War. Attention to be paid to possible Gorn and Klingon operations in the area.

Total number of vessels and soldiers to be deployed:

2 Athena (DN)
1 Artemis (DN)
3 Hera (Carrier)(CR)
15 Adrastea (CA)
120 Hesperia (escort frigate)(FE)
150 Erithea (strike frigate)(FS)
50 Alcyone (DD)
3 Chorea (escort carrier)(CE)
20 Orphne (CL)

9 Million Legionnaires,
150,000 armored vehicles
100,000 artillary peices
25,000 VTOL aircraft
1 Million Peacekeepers

-Encrypted Orders-

TO: Facility 23
FROM: Office of Intelligence
SUBJ: Additional Deployments

Shadow Operations teams 25-300 authorized for deployment. Stealth transports to be provided at Isis Prime.

Post by **Alyrium Denryle** » 2003-11-06 09:16pm

Dr. Mestaphales swam to the command center of the Oort cloud complex.

"Are all defensive systems up?"

"Yes Doctor... If these creatures do escape before orafter they have been uplifted, the entire area will seal off, the walls are strong enough that they cant break through, and they are made f a material that is not reactive with any known acid. If all else fails, we press a buton... and... this is unthinkable, but we have escape pods and the Hagfish fleet is standing by to vapirize this rock to prevent them from escaping."

"And what of the one the ambassador reported at the diplomatic conference?"

"It isnt one of ours... The ships hull was scanned on departure from the source of these creatures, and when the shields go up, as is standard operating procedure whenever we enter hyperspace, anything on the hull would have been vaporized... No... It came from somewhere else."

Chardok · Post by **Chardok** » 2003-11-06 09:24pm

The young shifter skittered along the ventilation tunnel, trailing acidic blood behind from a cut it recieved when leaping through the vanes covering another shaft. After detaching from the aquarian ship's Landing Gear bay, it had crawled along slowly, shaking off the effects of the freezing temperatures of deep space. Too late it had heard the cries of it's queen, she was no longer here. Slowly it drept along, desperate to find a target, knowing it only had hours to live. the DNA of it's precious embryo was now implanted with new genetic instructions. It's mission was not now one of rescue.

It was Colonization.

A new hive needed a new Queen.

About 200 feet down the ventilation shaft, it sensed the heat signature given off by....humans. Perfect. they were adaptable, and jittery. They would not kill one of their own, and too late would they realize their mistake in not killing the man implanted with the Queen.

In the kitchen facilities of the consulate of the station, the crew were rushing to and fro, bringing the evening meals to the dignitaries of the most powerful unions in the galaxy. they did not notice the pinkish leg section peeking out of the ventilation shaft high above their heads.

the kitchen finally cleared some moments later, save for a lone cook, slaving over a Sink filled with dishes. The rest of the staff had gone for the day, but this man's dedication...would be his undoing. In a blinding flash, the small facehugger tore the vanes away from the shaft, flinging itself at the head of the hapless victim. He didn't even have time to scream before the tail was wrapped tightly around his throat, a probiscus feeding him precious air. By the time they found him, he would be finished, and a new queen born, and in a place with near endless supplies of food.

the facehugger felt the life draining away from it soon after implanting the embryo, as the nutrients of it's body fueled the initial development of the fledgling queen.

Post by **Alyrium Denryle** » 2003-11-06 09:30pm

"What of the landing gear?"

"Oh shit! Send an urgent transmission to Ambassador Carcarocles, tell them that a xenomorph gastric implanter had attached itself to the landing gear of our transport ship!!! Get that message to him NOW! The Dipmomatic station is soon to be infested! It needs to be evacuated with all personall checked for infetation before they leave! SEND IT!!!"

Post by **Alyrium Denryle** » 2003-11-06 09:40pm

From: Aquarian Union Center for Xenomorph Studies
To:All Nations, All emergency Channels
Subject: Urgent Message Regarding Diplomatic Conference Station XT 10-23 On the Matter of Xenomorph Infestation.

It has come to our attention that the ship transporting Xenomorph specimens to a small scientific outpost in our home systems Oort Cloud, was also used to transport Ambassador Carcarocles to the Diplomatic Conference Station XT 10-23((OOC The Diplomacyy Thread))

A few reports of an acid globule hitting the floor of the main discussion have given us cause to call for the immediate evacuation of the facility.

We know you are all aware of the dangers in this. In order to escape detection a Gastric Implanter would have had to hide in our landing gear bays. All of you know what this means, all personall must be either evacutated immediatly, or quaranteened.

If you choose evac, CHECK EVERYONE for xenomorph embyos. We must not allow the infection to spread beyond that station, or let any innocent lives be lost.

We will be sending a squad of marines to assist in the evacutation/quaranteen, and to make sure that any existing infestation is destroyed. They wi be there within 3 hours.

<End transmission>

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2003-11-06 09:52pm

The bosuns pipes twittered as the Rampage's shuttle discourged it's passangers. The senior officers of the battle cruiser stood at attention as Lord Inquisitor Harken descended the ramp followed by his retinue. Instead of a statley procession he hurried to Captain Von Bek's side.

"Captian, I want my landing party sent to sick bay and examing. As soon as that's done I went a complete search performed of this vessel. The Aquarians unleashed a shifter-demon on the station and I want it made certain that none of it's spawn are here. Is that clear?"

The poor captain swallowed, clearly frightened. He had faced the enemy in battle but the fury of battle was far removed from having a hunting demon in one's midst. With a weak voice he replied.

"It will be as you say, my lord. My XO will escort you and your people to sick bay."

He immediately turned and began bellowing orders only to be have the Lord Inquisitor cut in.

"Captain, do what ever needs to be done to prevent this infestation from getting back to the Empire. Anything necessary."

Post by **Alyrium Denryle** » 2003-11-06 10:03pm

This is the Teuthis Class Cruiser Humbolt arriving from the Hagfish Fleet.
We are here to help any forces in the area to clean up this mess.

We as representatives of the Aquarian Union, give our deepest appologies and assure you that our government takes full responsibility for this, and that we will front whatever costs are necessary, in both mony and possibly... lives... to rectify this situation.

Thirdfain · Post by **Thirdfain** » 2003-11-06 10:07pm

One of the delegates held his hand up to his ear for a second.

"Gentlemen, it appears we have a problem. It is likely that a xenomorph has been unleashed on this station."

His aide blanched noticably.

"I'll inform the Terpsichore immediatly, sir. Should I call for an assault shuttle?"

"Not yet. No need to cause any diplomatic incidents at this point. We will return to the Terpsichore immediatly. Inform her that a full Marine contingent should be present upon our return."

The delegates from the TSC left in a hurried pace to where their shuttle awaited.

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2003-11-06 10:09pm

Von Bek stood looking at the massive holo-tank which displayed the tactical plot of the system. On it emblazoned in a blood red was the Humbolt.

"Mr. Ultani, order the Humbolt to stand clear of us or else..."

Turning back to the tactical plot the Captain resumed his staring. No answers were forthcoming.

Post by **Alyrium Denryle** » 2003-11-06 10:15pm

The Hubolt will comply with the request from the Divine Empire, we will stand clear of the Rampage.

However we wish to launch an unarmed shuttle to assist with the evacuation and to deploy troops. Would this be aceptable?

Thirdfain · Post by **Thirdfain** » 2003-11-06 10:20pm

FROM: Commonwealth Naval Vessel Terpsichore (DD)
TO: Azegart vessel Rampage (BC)
SUBJ: Clensing Diplomatic Station XT 10-23

"1 Century of Commonwealth Marines are prepared to secure the station. We propose a joint operation, beginning within the next half an hour, so as to assure a timely cleanup of the facility, should no other option present itself."

"This problem should not be handled by those who created it."

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-11-06 10:27pm

The three ambassadors were still situated together, listening to the comm chatter as most everyone else was in a barely-controlled panic. The few others who had maintained a semblance of sanity were more or less overwhelmed by the fear of the others.

"They're actually proposing a joint mission? In time of crises with little time to spare? Ludicrous!" The Terran was clearly not amused by the antics of the others.

"Indeed. I've just activated my emergency beacon now that there's an actual infestation rather than a single one of those ... creatures. A Royal Marine assault ship shall be here momentarily to cleanse the station."

With a brilliant flash of light, a planetary assault ship full of Royal Marines defolded bare hundreds of kilometers from the station. Spitting distance, all told. Four shuttles immediately took off and promptly ignored suprised hails from the other ships. Each landed quickly in the various docking bays while powersuited troops began fanning out on a search-and-destroy mission.

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2003-11-06 10:28pm

Tailing the Archon had been almost too easy. Like every ship in the Alliance, the Unjust Desserts sold milspec gear to anyone who could raise the money to pay for it. Why not? Profit was profit. MilSpec Alliance jammers could cause some missiles to chase their own energy signature, and their sensors were similarly potent, if incredibly bulky. What few buyers found out(Before it was too late, that is) is these peices of equipment were finely tailored to reveal the position of their user to other members of the Alliance.

"Trask, you old, suspicious, son of a bitch." The Captain smirked to herself. "You have no idea what a boon you gave us, in distrusting us." What was first an attempt to make mutiny suicide now gave the profiteers of the spaceways a way to keep tabs on those they sold to. And when you got led straight to a Pre-Burn Ruin, you couldn't help but enjoy.

The remaining 'pods' had been Displaced at high speed into the cavernous bays of the Unjust and were being sorted through. Yet, the Kingdom ship had seized the real bounty. The armoury module, with an unknown, but probably, untouched stash. When the weapons tests in the asteroid field went off, the Captain had her answer.

"And now, they head for the Kzin? Interesting." With her own ship skimming along the energy grid, she had many options. "And yet I can't spot that gun now. Damn those Queenie's. It must be one of the old stealth models." A weapon like that could do more than just buy a person into Citizenship. It could buy a planet. It could also buy something more well-equipped than one of the original Unrelentings.

Post by **Alyrium Denryle** » 2003-11-06 10:31pm

The tentacles of the Humbolt spread and a giant metallic beak opened up the hanger bay of the massive squid-like ship. From it launched an unarmed shuttlecraft(ovoid as opposed to our armed crab like shuttles) Iside it, heavy Tritaran infantry prepared o face death, as penance for the mistakes of a low level beaurocrat and an incompetant tactical officer...

"Alright troops, when we dock, I want everyone blaster rifles ready, bioscanners on. we have a xenomorps genetic profile logged into your bioscanners, they should be that hard to locate. Yours is a search and destroy mission. If you find a civilian in the early stages of gestation, stun him medical officers will put him/her/it into cryo nd the xenomorph will be removed. You have your orders"

With that the shuttle docked and the air lock opened.

PROMETHEUS · Post by **PROMETHEUS** » 2003-11-06 10:39pm

Unclaimed Space in Milky Way Halo
2 January 300 AGW

Deep underground on a sometime inhabited planet (one that had, as far as he could tell, managed to kill itself in some sort of civil war) far out in the galactic halo, lights seemed to instantly snap on as Johan Ragle's stasis chamber deactivated. As the doors swung open, the bounty hunter could hear klaxons blaring through the base.

Shit, he thought. He'd have to check the chronometer, but he'd intended to stay in the stasis chamber for at least a few thousand years for things to cool down. However, he'd made sure that any intrusion, or even any ship that actively scanned the base, would end the stasis...

And naturally the klaxons could only mean one thing. Intruders.

Ragle reached down to his belt and pulled out his lightsaber, then ignited the glowing silver blade. After checking that his HEV was still in working order, he cautiously moved forward through the tunnels of the ancient military installation.

"Shit! Jedi!" a voice somewhere ahead in the tunnel shouted in accented Basic. Although the hallway was darkened, the HEV had infrared sensors which told him exactly where the intruders were and what they looked like -- as if he couldn't tell where they were with the Force. There were only two intruders, and by the looks of them they were simply scavengers.

Ragle immediately used the Force to grasp at their throats, preventing them from leaving or calling in reinforcements as he continued to walk toward them. One of them, despite starving for oxygen, managed to bring up a small blaster pistol and fire it at the bounty hunter. Without thinking, he deflected it into a wall, where it blew out a chunk of reinfored concrete.

Now that he had a clear view of the intruders, the bounty hunter looked them over while he pulled out the stuncuffs he had attached to his belt. One was a teenaged male human, perhaps 19, who was noticeably trembling. The other one could have been the teenager's father.

As soon as he had attached the stuncuffs, he released his mental grip on the scavengers' throats.

"Who are you?" the older one asked.

Johan motioned for the two to walk back down the hallway, now certain that there were no more scavengers in the base. "A bounty hunter who's a little annoyed at being woken up too early," he replied.

"A bounty hunter?" the teen exclaimed.

"What, you've never run into a bounty hunter before?"

The older man rolled his eyes. "We're scavengers. Of course we've run into bounty hunters before."

"I'm sure," Ragle replied. They were now in one of the base's larger rooms, and he motioned for them to sit down at a table. "Since you're scavengers, I just have some questions to ask you. No, don't worry, I'm not planning on taking you in for any bounty."

"What kind of questions?"

"The state of the galaxy, current happenings, what the date is... that sort of thing," Johan replied amiably. "I'm a bit out of touch with current events."

The two scavengers exchanged worried glances. "And if we answer them, what are you going to do with us?"

He shrugged. "I might require some favors of you--nothing serious, just some supplies and such until I'm back on my feet again. But first, what year is it?"

The scavengers exchanged glances again. "As far as anyone can tell, it's about 300 years after the Great War."

"I see."

* * *

Four days later, the base was finally set up again. After checking the scavengers' freighter for tracking devices, Johan cleared its navicomp logs and used the Lurker of the Shadows to tow the ship to a rendezvous point. Then the two went their separate ways, Johan and the ancient Marauder-class corvette to familiar space again, and the scavengers to who-knows where...

Ads appeared in some of the classefieds on the galactic datanet, advertising the services of a bounty hunter. Only a datanet contact address was given.

God Emperor · Post by **God Emperor** » 2003-11-06 10:52pm

The message of xenomorph did not reach the TSI ambassadors as they traveled home, but it had reached the Emperor, Ibid. Once he heard this message and consulted with Marshal Carter he came to the hard descions to have the ship destroyed after its infomation was transfered.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-11-06 10:53pm

SirNitram wrote:It could also buy something more well-equipped than one of the original Unrelentings.

"Yeah, we found someone to sell all these rifles to. Looks like an independant Kzinti who decided to go bounty hunting."

"Independant? Kzinti? She? It's a bit late for bullshit."

"No, I'm serious. A kilocredit for each rifle. Ten-kay for each crate of grenades, working or not. Apparently this kitty got annoyed at her society and stuck out on her own."

"They don't do that, Smitty."

"This one does."

Ten hours later, the Archon made its rendezvous with the Kzinti vessel. But it certainly wasn't what they were expecting.

"A Star Galleon?!" exclaimed Captain Bane. "Where'd she dig up one of those things? No-one's been to those universes in centuries."

"No clue, but look what that thing's packing. It's littered with quad-rifle emplacements slaved to some old tricorder, looks like they're old NOFR 'corder designs. They're dozens of the things littered around the ship. Nevermind those turbolasers. Or that huge plasma gun. Or--"

"Ship hailing."

In rather gutteral Standard, a voice rang through the comm: "HMS Archon this is independant trader Tiger's Claw. Prepare for docking to transfer the cargo. Cross us ... and we will feast on your living hearts."

"--or, as I was saying - look at that sensor beam! It's like they tore the CGT out of an old pre-war dreadnought!"

"In other words, sensors, it'd be bad to try and shoot at them and there's no way we could hide if she decided to kill us anyways. I figured that out already!"

Post by **Alyrium Denryle** » 2003-11-06 11:09pm

Dr. Carcarocles floated with the entire staff of the lab... It was time to determine the fate of this particular uplift.

Pablo Sanchez · Post by **Pablo Sanchez** » 2003-11-07 12:40am

phongn wrote:"In other words, sensors, it'd be bad to try and shoot at them and there's no way we could hide if she decided to kill us anyways. I figured that out already!"

[ooc: A sentient female Kzin in a jerry-rigged battleship? Nice ]

"The party is over, we go," Chmrran-Tsitok told his bodyguards. They made their way back to the consular ship as the Royal Marines took the ship back. The little youma and humans were tough for their basic species, and reasonably good fighters. But nothing in the galaxy compared to a Kzin.

Standard precautions were taken with regards to the eyeless black insects that might have boarded the consular ship. The crew and passengers put on their sealed spacesuits, and the atmosphere was vented from the vessel, and it stood vacuum for five full minutes. Then it was refilled from stocks, and things continued normally again.

Nothing much had happened, except that the Patriarch would now be more aware of the rise of various little nation states. The ambassador had once been a warrior and a general, so he knew that it was the little nations that gave the most trouble. Big countries often fell apart of their own accord, but scrappy little ones would fight more effectively.

Chmrran-Tsitok would tell the Patriarch thus: One, increase anti-piracy actions, for they become more organized. Two, beware the Heavy Armour Brigade and other newborns, they think of themselves as the predator and that is half the fight.