Re: SDNW4 Story Thread 1
Posted: 2010-11-20 04:08pm
New Genoa, Sector V-23
Byzantine Protectorate
![Image](http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm245/SethAbbadon/SDNW%204/before.jpg)
Like so many places in Wild Space Nova Genoa was a shithole, although it differed from the other shitholes a bit, by being a libertarian shithole. It didn’t have much of a government to speak of, but it did accept Imperial authority by a feat of necessity. Living in wild space was dangerous and they needed protection, the Imperium was willing to grant it, albeit at a price - so the world became a Byzantine Protectorate.
It enjoyed Imperial protection in exchange for an Imperium observation post to be located on the planet. The Imperium stationed half a million PDF troops, as well as one hundred thousand Imperial Guardsmen, as well as some anti-space defences. Secretly, the Imperium knew that it was difficult to defend any Wild Space planet, and the forces stationed were at best a token. That said, the forces here was sufficient to ward off any pirates, or a small Karlack force. Of course, if the invading force were too large, the Imperium would quietly write off the planet and the troops stationed there.
Nova Genoa was something of a paradox. It was settled by colonists from Earth who yearned to be free of any government authority. Most of these fools were die hard libertarians. But yet, they somehow decided to manage to set up a rule of law, and a central authority to form and create a militia, which was trained by the local Imperial forces. Apparently, in a libertarian paradise, some form of legal redress or revenge, depending on who one talks to, must be allowed lest people simply walk up to someone with a gun and simply shoots him.
Several large cities existed on the surface of Genoa, of those the largest and most prosperous was Kalinik the planetary capitol. It held the main center of what passed as the planetary government and on its outskirts dug into the side of a mountain was the main Byzantine base on the planet. The base held a large amount of troops and the main observation post, it was a command center of sorts. The observation center received sensor information from a multitude of satellites and a single space station orbiting the planet. Due to its importance the base was heavily fortified, protected by void shields and other defences.
The planet had known very little activity in recent times, mostly local problems, nothing too serious. That suited the local commander just fine. Major General Dimitriy Volos of the Imperial Guard, supreme commander of the Imperium forces on the planet, was content with things being nice and quiet. He considered this post a retirement of sorts, certainly better than most other places he could get sent to. At least here there were no Bragulans trying to kill him, and the Karlack had not raided the planet in over a decade, so there was no danger of getting eaten either. What more could a loyal servant of the God Emperor ask? With a brisk smile on his face Dimitriy was out enjoying his morning walk. The air was fresh and it was a bit cold but he didn’t mind.
He used these morning walks to relax and plan his day, he had many duties and sometimes dealing with the locals could get tiresome. He moved through the small gardens near the base, his bodyguards in tow, stopping to examine the garden flowers from time to time. A short beep on one of the soldiers guarding the Major General interrupted his thinking. He looked at the soldier who was listening to his comm device intently.
“Problems?” He asked.
The soldier listened to his comm for a moment longer before answering. “Captain Mijic would like you to join him down in command Sir. He says its rather important.”
“Of course.” Dimitriy sighed. Its always something. “Lets go then.”
***
Imperium Command Bunker
The large metallic door screeched and clanked before opening and letting in Major General Dimitriy Volos. The man looked a bit cross, his morning walk had been interrupted after all. He stepped forward greeting the assembled naval officers and came to a stop near the main display.
“What seems to be the problem Andrej?” Dimitriy asked.
“We are having some sensor issues Sir. Strange echoes and signals on the edge of the solar system. I had suspected a malfunction but my technicians confirmed that everything is working properly.” Captain Andrej Mijic of the Imperial Navy was quick to answer. He seemed worried. “Sir...I have never seen anything like this. We’re almost blind out there.”
Hell of a way to start my day. Dimitriy thought. “Just how blind are we talking? Could it be enemy jamming?”
“If it is, I have never seen anything like it. The sensors are almost useless.” The Captain said and then tapped a few keys on a nearby console, lighting up an overview of the system on the main display. “I’m going to send out a couple of fighters to do a sweep of the system and check out some of these strange readings and sensor ghosts.” Several areas on the display turned red. “These are the most suspicious places, locations of the sensor ghosts.”
“Are we sure this is not an attack of some kind?” Dimitriy asked.
“We can’t rule out any possibilities sir.” Andrej said and sighed. “I sure hope not.”
“Alright then. I’ll place the Imperial Guard on alert and order the PDF and militia commanders to prepare themselves. If it is an attack we will be ready.” Dimitriy said and looked at Andrej. “Keep me updated on the situation.”
With that Major General Dimitriy Volos walked out of the room, his mind deep in thought, considering all the possibilities. Was this an attack? If so by who? For a moment he considered the Bragulans, but they were never known to be so subtle, and were unlikely to strike here. Too distant for them. The only two other possible culprits were The Karlack and the Collectors. And then it hit him. If those sensor problems were in fact caused by enemy jamming, it would have to be some rather advanced technology, something real powerful. Does The Swarm possess such technology? Not likely. The Collectors on the other hand...of course. It had to be them.
I should contact command, have them send some ships. He thought to himself, a sense of fear creeping up on him. He had heard stories about the collectors, about their powerful technology, and about their recent stand off with the Solarians. If it was indeed them, it could be a prelude to a full scale invasion of the Imperium. Were the machines truly capable of such things? He was becoming anxious. Calm yourself Dimitriy. The Emperor protects. Don’t make assumptions, be sure.
Sudden shouting abruptly stopped his train of thoughts. His body guards were yelling warnings at a guardsmen moving towards him from the other side of the hallway. The man had a lasgun and was pointing it at him rather menacingly.
“Stop!” One of his guards shouted.
The guardsmen gave no response and accelerated his pace. The guards were a bit confused by the man’s actions, but were well trained and saw what he intended.
“Stop or we will shoot!” Came another warning. But it was too late, the guardsmen fired his weapon, and the bodyguards responded in kind. While one of them tackled the Major General to protect him. The hallway erupted in blaze of lasgun blasts and bolter rounds. It was over in seconds. The Guardsmen assassin layed dead on the floor. Security alarms went off almost instantly. One of the General’s men was wounded and the walls had a few extra holes in them, but Dimitriy was alright. He would thank the Emperor for that later.
“What the hell just happened?” He asked, as he got up.
His bodyguards scrambled to secure the are and examine the dead assassin. The man was riddled with holes and burns, definitely dead.
“A traitor!? One of our own. I can’t believe this.” Dimitriy said. He was shocked, the Guardsmen were always loyal to the Imperium, to see one of them commit this act of treason -- it was... unthinkable.
“Sir we should get you back to the command bunker. There may be others...” One of the bodyguards said.
Escorted by his men, Dimitriy stormed into the command bunker looking rather pale. He took a seat near the main display and turned to face Andrej, who was looking rather worried and busy, but found a moment to say something.
“Are you all right sir?”
“No...I’m not. I can’t believe it. One of my own men...”
“Sir.” A voice came from behind. One of his officers approached. “Our forces are on alert and an investigation on what happened is already under way. We have confirmation, the assassin was one of our own and not an enemy agent.”
“If he was our man...then why would he do this?”
“We don’t know Sir.”
A moment of silence fell upon the room. Then something unexpected happened, alarms went off, displays turned red, and the room erupted in a flurry of activity. Reports from Imperium forces from all over the planet began pouring in, news of power outages in the cities, assassinations of military personnel, civilian attacks on the Imperial Guard and PDF troops. Everyone scrambled to sort them out and try to make sense of the situation.
“Andrej, what is happening?” Dimitriy asked.
“I don’t know Sir. We’re getting too many conflicting reports. The whole system has gone crazy.” Andrej answered as he frantically tried to make sense of the torrent of information.
“Captain we’re getting something.” One of the junior officers suddenly spoke up.
“More reports from the planet?”
“No Sir. Orbital sensors have picked up a hyper space transition at the edge of the system. We don’t know what it is. Sensors are still unreliable.”
“One of our ships?”
“No Sir. I have never seen anything like this. The readings are off the chart. This thing is... huge.”
“Let me see.” Andrej said. A second later the main display flickered to show the new contacts sensor readings. “Its definitly not one of ours.”
“More contacts.” The young officer shouted. “I’m reading multiple hyper space transitions. A dozen ships. Wait...more transitions incoming. Sir its a whole fleet.”
“God Emperor Damn It.” Andrej shouted. “We are under attack, alert all defences.”
“Sir we have a visual from the space station. Its...”
“Put it on the display!”
![Image](http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm245/SethAbbadon/SDNW%204/300px-ShadowDeathCloud.jpg)
“Emperor...save us!”
Byzantine Protectorate
![Image](http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm245/SethAbbadon/SDNW%204/before.jpg)
Like so many places in Wild Space Nova Genoa was a shithole, although it differed from the other shitholes a bit, by being a libertarian shithole. It didn’t have much of a government to speak of, but it did accept Imperial authority by a feat of necessity. Living in wild space was dangerous and they needed protection, the Imperium was willing to grant it, albeit at a price - so the world became a Byzantine Protectorate.
It enjoyed Imperial protection in exchange for an Imperium observation post to be located on the planet. The Imperium stationed half a million PDF troops, as well as one hundred thousand Imperial Guardsmen, as well as some anti-space defences. Secretly, the Imperium knew that it was difficult to defend any Wild Space planet, and the forces stationed were at best a token. That said, the forces here was sufficient to ward off any pirates, or a small Karlack force. Of course, if the invading force were too large, the Imperium would quietly write off the planet and the troops stationed there.
Nova Genoa was something of a paradox. It was settled by colonists from Earth who yearned to be free of any government authority. Most of these fools were die hard libertarians. But yet, they somehow decided to manage to set up a rule of law, and a central authority to form and create a militia, which was trained by the local Imperial forces. Apparently, in a libertarian paradise, some form of legal redress or revenge, depending on who one talks to, must be allowed lest people simply walk up to someone with a gun and simply shoots him.
Several large cities existed on the surface of Genoa, of those the largest and most prosperous was Kalinik the planetary capitol. It held the main center of what passed as the planetary government and on its outskirts dug into the side of a mountain was the main Byzantine base on the planet. The base held a large amount of troops and the main observation post, it was a command center of sorts. The observation center received sensor information from a multitude of satellites and a single space station orbiting the planet. Due to its importance the base was heavily fortified, protected by void shields and other defences.
The planet had known very little activity in recent times, mostly local problems, nothing too serious. That suited the local commander just fine. Major General Dimitriy Volos of the Imperial Guard, supreme commander of the Imperium forces on the planet, was content with things being nice and quiet. He considered this post a retirement of sorts, certainly better than most other places he could get sent to. At least here there were no Bragulans trying to kill him, and the Karlack had not raided the planet in over a decade, so there was no danger of getting eaten either. What more could a loyal servant of the God Emperor ask? With a brisk smile on his face Dimitriy was out enjoying his morning walk. The air was fresh and it was a bit cold but he didn’t mind.
He used these morning walks to relax and plan his day, he had many duties and sometimes dealing with the locals could get tiresome. He moved through the small gardens near the base, his bodyguards in tow, stopping to examine the garden flowers from time to time. A short beep on one of the soldiers guarding the Major General interrupted his thinking. He looked at the soldier who was listening to his comm device intently.
“Problems?” He asked.
The soldier listened to his comm for a moment longer before answering. “Captain Mijic would like you to join him down in command Sir. He says its rather important.”
“Of course.” Dimitriy sighed. Its always something. “Lets go then.”
***
Imperium Command Bunker
The large metallic door screeched and clanked before opening and letting in Major General Dimitriy Volos. The man looked a bit cross, his morning walk had been interrupted after all. He stepped forward greeting the assembled naval officers and came to a stop near the main display.
“What seems to be the problem Andrej?” Dimitriy asked.
“We are having some sensor issues Sir. Strange echoes and signals on the edge of the solar system. I had suspected a malfunction but my technicians confirmed that everything is working properly.” Captain Andrej Mijic of the Imperial Navy was quick to answer. He seemed worried. “Sir...I have never seen anything like this. We’re almost blind out there.”
Hell of a way to start my day. Dimitriy thought. “Just how blind are we talking? Could it be enemy jamming?”
“If it is, I have never seen anything like it. The sensors are almost useless.” The Captain said and then tapped a few keys on a nearby console, lighting up an overview of the system on the main display. “I’m going to send out a couple of fighters to do a sweep of the system and check out some of these strange readings and sensor ghosts.” Several areas on the display turned red. “These are the most suspicious places, locations of the sensor ghosts.”
“Are we sure this is not an attack of some kind?” Dimitriy asked.
“We can’t rule out any possibilities sir.” Andrej said and sighed. “I sure hope not.”
“Alright then. I’ll place the Imperial Guard on alert and order the PDF and militia commanders to prepare themselves. If it is an attack we will be ready.” Dimitriy said and looked at Andrej. “Keep me updated on the situation.”
With that Major General Dimitriy Volos walked out of the room, his mind deep in thought, considering all the possibilities. Was this an attack? If so by who? For a moment he considered the Bragulans, but they were never known to be so subtle, and were unlikely to strike here. Too distant for them. The only two other possible culprits were The Karlack and the Collectors. And then it hit him. If those sensor problems were in fact caused by enemy jamming, it would have to be some rather advanced technology, something real powerful. Does The Swarm possess such technology? Not likely. The Collectors on the other hand...of course. It had to be them.
I should contact command, have them send some ships. He thought to himself, a sense of fear creeping up on him. He had heard stories about the collectors, about their powerful technology, and about their recent stand off with the Solarians. If it was indeed them, it could be a prelude to a full scale invasion of the Imperium. Were the machines truly capable of such things? He was becoming anxious. Calm yourself Dimitriy. The Emperor protects. Don’t make assumptions, be sure.
Sudden shouting abruptly stopped his train of thoughts. His body guards were yelling warnings at a guardsmen moving towards him from the other side of the hallway. The man had a lasgun and was pointing it at him rather menacingly.
“Stop!” One of his guards shouted.
The guardsmen gave no response and accelerated his pace. The guards were a bit confused by the man’s actions, but were well trained and saw what he intended.
“Stop or we will shoot!” Came another warning. But it was too late, the guardsmen fired his weapon, and the bodyguards responded in kind. While one of them tackled the Major General to protect him. The hallway erupted in blaze of lasgun blasts and bolter rounds. It was over in seconds. The Guardsmen assassin layed dead on the floor. Security alarms went off almost instantly. One of the General’s men was wounded and the walls had a few extra holes in them, but Dimitriy was alright. He would thank the Emperor for that later.
“What the hell just happened?” He asked, as he got up.
His bodyguards scrambled to secure the are and examine the dead assassin. The man was riddled with holes and burns, definitely dead.
“A traitor!? One of our own. I can’t believe this.” Dimitriy said. He was shocked, the Guardsmen were always loyal to the Imperium, to see one of them commit this act of treason -- it was... unthinkable.
“Sir we should get you back to the command bunker. There may be others...” One of the bodyguards said.
Escorted by his men, Dimitriy stormed into the command bunker looking rather pale. He took a seat near the main display and turned to face Andrej, who was looking rather worried and busy, but found a moment to say something.
“Are you all right sir?”
“No...I’m not. I can’t believe it. One of my own men...”
“Sir.” A voice came from behind. One of his officers approached. “Our forces are on alert and an investigation on what happened is already under way. We have confirmation, the assassin was one of our own and not an enemy agent.”
“If he was our man...then why would he do this?”
“We don’t know Sir.”
A moment of silence fell upon the room. Then something unexpected happened, alarms went off, displays turned red, and the room erupted in a flurry of activity. Reports from Imperium forces from all over the planet began pouring in, news of power outages in the cities, assassinations of military personnel, civilian attacks on the Imperial Guard and PDF troops. Everyone scrambled to sort them out and try to make sense of the situation.
“Andrej, what is happening?” Dimitriy asked.
“I don’t know Sir. We’re getting too many conflicting reports. The whole system has gone crazy.” Andrej answered as he frantically tried to make sense of the torrent of information.
“Captain we’re getting something.” One of the junior officers suddenly spoke up.
“More reports from the planet?”
“No Sir. Orbital sensors have picked up a hyper space transition at the edge of the system. We don’t know what it is. Sensors are still unreliable.”
“One of our ships?”
“No Sir. I have never seen anything like this. The readings are off the chart. This thing is... huge.”
“Let me see.” Andrej said. A second later the main display flickered to show the new contacts sensor readings. “Its definitly not one of ours.”
“More contacts.” The young officer shouted. “I’m reading multiple hyper space transitions. A dozen ships. Wait...more transitions incoming. Sir its a whole fleet.”
“God Emperor Damn It.” Andrej shouted. “We are under attack, alert all defences.”
“Sir we have a visual from the space station. Its...”
“Put it on the display!”
![Image](http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm245/SethAbbadon/SDNW%204/300px-ShadowDeathCloud.jpg)
“Emperor...save us!”