Melodic Silence
Helios System
If shock was their goal then shock was their reward with the hyperwarning barely having time to activate before ships are appearing around the pod, it took a moment of panic before the path of folly was averted, the pods twin lasercannon turrets remaining nested in there holes above and below.
“So much for invisibility, well they haven't shot us at least but they're definitely suspicious.”
“What do we do? We cant play dead with them sniffing around.”
“Agreed but turning on the field will increase our detectability and make them even more suspicious.”
“They'll find us eventually if we stay, activate the field to low power and commence acceleration.”
The controller on station settled it, they would move. Slowly the telekinetic matrix in the pods hull energizes, amplifying the will of the navigators into a field of psychic force capable of moving the vessel. The Melodic silence starting to slowly accelerate towards an unoccupied patch of sky and away from the presence of the searching vessels.
“Controller Aia, if we leave a decoy in our place we might fool them for a time.”
“Do it”
One of the spy satellites is dropped out behind them, unfurling as the pod accelerates away the detectability of the spy satellite soon outstrips that of its mothership even with the latters propulsion system active.
STGOD mk II Main Thread
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Darkevilme
- Jedi Council Member
- Posts: 1514
- Joined: 2007-06-12 02:27pm
- Location: London, england
- Contact:
HNS Victor Aliyev
Third Mobile Unit
Bridge
The atmosphere was tense aboard Brookes' vessel, as it had been for the past dayd: constant stand-by and strange sensor ghosts would do that, particularly to a crew that knew a battle was coming. It was, Brookes considered, the cliche calm before the storm: all the they were waiting on was the first flash of lightning and boom of thunder.
The situation certainly wasn't helped by the status of the captured enemy spies: now safely out of system, mostly likely aboard an Intelligence Department prison-station, had apparently not divulged any particularly useful information. Lieutenant Vogel had confided in the admiral with some distaste that the rehabilitators were considering moving on to chemical persuasion, due to the urgency of current events. Brookes had little doubt that the gaunt man felt that he would have broken them by now through more conventional (and less crude) means. The admiral herself did not share the older man's disdain for chemical persuasion, though she certainly had no taste for suffering.
Brookes' brief musings on her fleet's frustrating were dispelled by her sensors officer.
"Ma'am," the fact that he was speaking aloud alone showed his excitement, "We've got confirmed unknown contacts around the star. A ton of them. Sensor feedback is indicating that at least some contacts are probably decoys, but with the fleet at low power, we can't really tell precisely without giving ourselves away."
The comms officer spoke in clipped speech, confirming that this was indeed what the entire fleet was detecting.
Brookes turned to her XO, Yuri Baikov, who looked at her from behind his ridiculous moustache with inscrutiable, cold eyes, "So, Yuri? Your tactical opinion?"
The squat man belted out his answer quickly and unblinkingly in machine speak, "This could mean a variety of things. The simplest answer is that this is the entirety of the enemy force, and that they're rallying here before moving on Dayab, probably to avoid coming out of warp into a hornet's nest. Other possibilities include an attempt at luring us out for an ambush. It's also possible they don't want to deal with planet-based defenses if they can avoid it. Finally, they might be trying to lure us away from Dayab or spring any laid traps. Deployment of sensor decoys would support this theory."
Brookes wasn't really surprised at the answer Baikov gave: it was the same she would have given in his place. After a moment's hesitation, she gave her orders, "Order the lure group to send out a standard intrusion warning to the contacts on wide-band; let's see if we can't get a peek at their hand that way. Contact the fleet and planetary defenses. The former should prepare to jump immediately upon my signal, and the latter should raise defensive shields."
Even as she gave her orders, she felt a pang of regret: the Victor Aliyev was not among the "lure" for this trap; Brookes and her subordinates had quickly realized when seting their trap that using the command ship as the bait in a shooting battle with genuine warships was unacceptably risky, even for the sake of making the trap as authentic as possible. Instead, the James Meyer was in the Victor Aliyev's place as the "docked battleship."
The message was sent moments later, audio only, "Unidentified ships. You are trespassing in the sovereign state of the Humanist Union. We request that you immediately identify yourselves and prepare to leave this system, or you will be regarded as hostiles and destroyed. Reply immediately. Message repeats: Unidentified ships..."
MGS Raven
ISA Fringe
Bridge
Captain Tel Yuusan of the Raven was, even by Merchant's Guild standards, a very ruthless, cold man, and it was with some trepidation that his executive officer reported the obvious: they had been interdicted.
Yuusan was not an easily-ruffled: you didn't rise through a merchant family to command a Merchant's Guild warship by being faint of heart. Yuusan had been interdicted by pirates before, and in one case, an ISA warship. Those gentlemen were dead. Dead to the last man, in fact, since Yuusan didn't believe in spending resources on prisoners.
Sitting in the featureless command chair, he asked softly for a full situational report. He received it instantly: they were facing two warships, each with rough firepower parity to the Raven. They apparently mounted stealth gear, helping to explain how they had gone undetected. Obviously, interdiction gear was present. With the presence of the accompanying Retriever-class ships, it was surmised that Yuusan's own command held a slight edge in firepower. A moment later and a split second before Morrison's message, the interlopers were identified as Wardog-class destroyers: they were dealing with The Company, then. Morrison's arrogant message confirmed it.
Yuusan eyed his XO, "What do these cretins think they're doing?"
The officer's reply came after a beat, "Either they're unaware of the capability of our vessels, or they have backup nearby. It wouldn't make sense for them to take such a risk with even near parity in firepower on our end, let alone superiority."
The expected answer. Yuusan didn't even bother to ask which of the two was more likely: The Company were ex-mercenaries, savage gutter-trash, but competent. Yuusan doubted these ships were alone.
"What's the nearest ISA warship?" this question Yuusan aimed at his navigations officer.
The young man replied immediately: he'd seen the question coming. It was an obvious one, but Yuusan noted it nonetheless: the noble houses may let inbred degenerates serve aboard starships, but the Merchant's Guild didn't and Yuusan definitely didn't.
"That would be the ISS Impaler, sir," the officer sounded dismayed, and for good reason. The ISS Impaler itself was a fine ship: a Knight-Errant class, one of the mid-cycle ones noted for their competent production. It was its current lord, the Knight-Captain Gav Tharson, who was the problem. In Yuusan's mind, there were few men who represented the degeneracy of the nobles more than Tharson, a man who had almost certainly had his uncle murdered in order to sieze control of his ship. Obese, arrogant, greedy, Tharson despised the Merchant's Guild and Yuusan in particular, who had been on at least polite terms with his late uncle. Yuusan expected that if he had to request help from that cretin, he might be in significant trouble.
Pride, Yuusan knew, wasn't worth much in the Merchant's Guild, either.
"Send a communication to that imbecile to haul his bulk over here. Sweeten the deal with an offer of a discount on ship supplies signed by me personally. He'll be so eager to gloat that we might actually get use out of him. Who knows? He might even do us all a favor and die," this last comment brought a brief ripple of laughter to the bridge crew: they needed it.
"Also open a line to this Company moron. Let's see if we can't bluff him a bit until our fat friend responds," Yuusan realized, privately, that this was a situation he might not live to fly away from. Before he could let the idea sink in, he spoke up, this time to Morrison, "The commander of this force would like to respectfully decline your offer," Yuusan gave a hand gesture to the gunnery commander, and a ship siren honked as the trio of vessels locked their weapons onto their aggressors, "the commander of this force would like to further note that your kind are not welcome here, and that you lack the firepower to back up your boast without being gutted, pirate. The Merchant's Guild would like to generously offer you the chance to leave, pirate, or else find yourself regretting your interference in its affairs."
Third Mobile Unit
Bridge
The atmosphere was tense aboard Brookes' vessel, as it had been for the past dayd: constant stand-by and strange sensor ghosts would do that, particularly to a crew that knew a battle was coming. It was, Brookes considered, the cliche calm before the storm: all the they were waiting on was the first flash of lightning and boom of thunder.
The situation certainly wasn't helped by the status of the captured enemy spies: now safely out of system, mostly likely aboard an Intelligence Department prison-station, had apparently not divulged any particularly useful information. Lieutenant Vogel had confided in the admiral with some distaste that the rehabilitators were considering moving on to chemical persuasion, due to the urgency of current events. Brookes had little doubt that the gaunt man felt that he would have broken them by now through more conventional (and less crude) means. The admiral herself did not share the older man's disdain for chemical persuasion, though she certainly had no taste for suffering.
Brookes' brief musings on her fleet's frustrating were dispelled by her sensors officer.
"Ma'am," the fact that he was speaking aloud alone showed his excitement, "We've got confirmed unknown contacts around the star. A ton of them. Sensor feedback is indicating that at least some contacts are probably decoys, but with the fleet at low power, we can't really tell precisely without giving ourselves away."
The comms officer spoke in clipped speech, confirming that this was indeed what the entire fleet was detecting.
Brookes turned to her XO, Yuri Baikov, who looked at her from behind his ridiculous moustache with inscrutiable, cold eyes, "So, Yuri? Your tactical opinion?"
The squat man belted out his answer quickly and unblinkingly in machine speak, "This could mean a variety of things. The simplest answer is that this is the entirety of the enemy force, and that they're rallying here before moving on Dayab, probably to avoid coming out of warp into a hornet's nest. Other possibilities include an attempt at luring us out for an ambush. It's also possible they don't want to deal with planet-based defenses if they can avoid it. Finally, they might be trying to lure us away from Dayab or spring any laid traps. Deployment of sensor decoys would support this theory."
Brookes wasn't really surprised at the answer Baikov gave: it was the same she would have given in his place. After a moment's hesitation, she gave her orders, "Order the lure group to send out a standard intrusion warning to the contacts on wide-band; let's see if we can't get a peek at their hand that way. Contact the fleet and planetary defenses. The former should prepare to jump immediately upon my signal, and the latter should raise defensive shields."
Even as she gave her orders, she felt a pang of regret: the Victor Aliyev was not among the "lure" for this trap; Brookes and her subordinates had quickly realized when seting their trap that using the command ship as the bait in a shooting battle with genuine warships was unacceptably risky, even for the sake of making the trap as authentic as possible. Instead, the James Meyer was in the Victor Aliyev's place as the "docked battleship."
The message was sent moments later, audio only, "Unidentified ships. You are trespassing in the sovereign state of the Humanist Union. We request that you immediately identify yourselves and prepare to leave this system, or you will be regarded as hostiles and destroyed. Reply immediately. Message repeats: Unidentified ships..."
MGS Raven
ISA Fringe
Bridge
Captain Tel Yuusan of the Raven was, even by Merchant's Guild standards, a very ruthless, cold man, and it was with some trepidation that his executive officer reported the obvious: they had been interdicted.
Yuusan was not an easily-ruffled: you didn't rise through a merchant family to command a Merchant's Guild warship by being faint of heart. Yuusan had been interdicted by pirates before, and in one case, an ISA warship. Those gentlemen were dead. Dead to the last man, in fact, since Yuusan didn't believe in spending resources on prisoners.
Sitting in the featureless command chair, he asked softly for a full situational report. He received it instantly: they were facing two warships, each with rough firepower parity to the Raven. They apparently mounted stealth gear, helping to explain how they had gone undetected. Obviously, interdiction gear was present. With the presence of the accompanying Retriever-class ships, it was surmised that Yuusan's own command held a slight edge in firepower. A moment later and a split second before Morrison's message, the interlopers were identified as Wardog-class destroyers: they were dealing with The Company, then. Morrison's arrogant message confirmed it.
Yuusan eyed his XO, "What do these cretins think they're doing?"
The officer's reply came after a beat, "Either they're unaware of the capability of our vessels, or they have backup nearby. It wouldn't make sense for them to take such a risk with even near parity in firepower on our end, let alone superiority."
The expected answer. Yuusan didn't even bother to ask which of the two was more likely: The Company were ex-mercenaries, savage gutter-trash, but competent. Yuusan doubted these ships were alone.
"What's the nearest ISA warship?" this question Yuusan aimed at his navigations officer.
The young man replied immediately: he'd seen the question coming. It was an obvious one, but Yuusan noted it nonetheless: the noble houses may let inbred degenerates serve aboard starships, but the Merchant's Guild didn't and Yuusan definitely didn't.
"That would be the ISS Impaler, sir," the officer sounded dismayed, and for good reason. The ISS Impaler itself was a fine ship: a Knight-Errant class, one of the mid-cycle ones noted for their competent production. It was its current lord, the Knight-Captain Gav Tharson, who was the problem. In Yuusan's mind, there were few men who represented the degeneracy of the nobles more than Tharson, a man who had almost certainly had his uncle murdered in order to sieze control of his ship. Obese, arrogant, greedy, Tharson despised the Merchant's Guild and Yuusan in particular, who had been on at least polite terms with his late uncle. Yuusan expected that if he had to request help from that cretin, he might be in significant trouble.
Pride, Yuusan knew, wasn't worth much in the Merchant's Guild, either.
"Send a communication to that imbecile to haul his bulk over here. Sweeten the deal with an offer of a discount on ship supplies signed by me personally. He'll be so eager to gloat that we might actually get use out of him. Who knows? He might even do us all a favor and die," this last comment brought a brief ripple of laughter to the bridge crew: they needed it.
"Also open a line to this Company moron. Let's see if we can't bluff him a bit until our fat friend responds," Yuusan realized, privately, that this was a situation he might not live to fly away from. Before he could let the idea sink in, he spoke up, this time to Morrison, "The commander of this force would like to respectfully decline your offer," Yuusan gave a hand gesture to the gunnery commander, and a ship siren honked as the trio of vessels locked their weapons onto their aggressors, "the commander of this force would like to further note that your kind are not welcome here, and that you lack the firepower to back up your boast without being gutted, pirate. The Merchant's Guild would like to generously offer you the chance to leave, pirate, or else find yourself regretting your interference in its affairs."
Last edited by Tanasinn on 2008-07-17 08:26pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Rogue 9
- Scrapping TIEs since 1997
- Posts: 18639
- Joined: 2003-11-12 01:10pm
- Location: Classified
- Contact:
Helios System
"I think we've got something, Admiral. The contact firmed up for a bit and now we've got an object definitely on sensors. There are still ghosts, however."
"Confirm the nature of the object." The sensors focused in.
"Small, cylindrical, unfurling sensor apparatus. Appears to be a satellite of some kind."
Admiral Lancaster frowned. "Could it have gotten here by itself?"
"Unknown, Admiral. We're not picking up signs of a hyperdrive system, but it's large enough to contain a small one; we don't know how well shielded this thing is."
"Understood. CAG, Conn. What's on deck?"
"I've got the 42nd Black Aces on deck, Admiral," responded Commander Grrasnikar. "They were on plus five alert; I ordered them to scramble when the contacts started firming up."
The admiral nodded to the Zambaran. "Very good. Are they carrying Shivas?"
The significance of the question dawned on the CAG immediately. "Aye, Admiral." He knew what was coming next. The Shiva tactical warhead was a large nuclear bomb.
"Order the Aces to put a pair of them on either side of the contact at five hundred kilometers distance and detonate. We'll see how much of an EMP this thing can take."
The CAG broke into a predatory grin. "Aye, Admiral."
Scant minutes later, a flight of the assault fighters zipped by the satellite on either side, the lead ship of each flight deploying a missile before peeling up-relative to clear the blast area. Seconds afterward, the warheads initiated in vacuum, not particularly destructive because they had nothing to react with, but releasing a huge double electromagnetic pulse.
"I think we've got something, Admiral. The contact firmed up for a bit and now we've got an object definitely on sensors. There are still ghosts, however."
"Confirm the nature of the object." The sensors focused in.
"Small, cylindrical, unfurling sensor apparatus. Appears to be a satellite of some kind."
Admiral Lancaster frowned. "Could it have gotten here by itself?"
"Unknown, Admiral. We're not picking up signs of a hyperdrive system, but it's large enough to contain a small one; we don't know how well shielded this thing is."
"Understood. CAG, Conn. What's on deck?"
"I've got the 42nd Black Aces on deck, Admiral," responded Commander Grrasnikar. "They were on plus five alert; I ordered them to scramble when the contacts started firming up."
The admiral nodded to the Zambaran. "Very good. Are they carrying Shivas?"
The significance of the question dawned on the CAG immediately. "Aye, Admiral." He knew what was coming next. The Shiva tactical warhead was a large nuclear bomb.
"Order the Aces to put a pair of them on either side of the contact at five hundred kilometers distance and detonate. We'll see how much of an EMP this thing can take."
The CAG broke into a predatory grin. "Aye, Admiral."
Scant minutes later, a flight of the assault fighters zipped by the satellite on either side, the lead ship of each flight deploying a missile before peeling up-relative to clear the blast area. Seconds afterward, the warheads initiated in vacuum, not particularly destructive because they had nothing to react with, but releasing a huge double electromagnetic pulse.
It's Rogue, not Rouge!
HAB | KotL | VRWC/ELC/CDA | TRotR | The Anti-Confederate | Sluggite | Gamer | Blogger | Staff Reporter | Student | Musician
HAB | KotL | VRWC/ELC/CDA | TRotR | The Anti-Confederate | Sluggite | Gamer | Blogger | Staff Reporter | Student | Musician
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Darkevilme
- Jedi Council Member
- Posts: 1514
- Joined: 2007-06-12 02:27pm
- Location: London, england
- Contact:
Helios System
Not much the answer appears to be but then sensitive sensor devices such as these were never meant to stand up to this. There's a brief split second as circuits fry and then a flash of light as the small nuclear self destruct on the satellite goes off, erasing itself in a microsecond of heat.
Melodic Silence
“Status report?” Aia asks as the lights steady once more.
“Dishes four through six are nonfunctional Aia, the disruption field facing the blast is no longer active. No other systems are affected.”
“Proceed on course, try to keep our unveiled side from the eyes of those carriers.”
“Of course.” Misha keeps her worries to herself, the disruption fields energy scattering affect was a key part of their cloak. The Melodic silence continues on course, seeking to escape the enclosing jaws of the Nashtari search.
Not much the answer appears to be but then sensitive sensor devices such as these were never meant to stand up to this. There's a brief split second as circuits fry and then a flash of light as the small nuclear self destruct on the satellite goes off, erasing itself in a microsecond of heat.
Melodic Silence
“Status report?” Aia asks as the lights steady once more.
“Dishes four through six are nonfunctional Aia, the disruption field facing the blast is no longer active. No other systems are affected.”
“Proceed on course, try to keep our unveiled side from the eyes of those carriers.”
“Of course.” Misha keeps her worries to herself, the disruption fields energy scattering affect was a key part of their cloak. The Melodic silence continues on course, seeking to escape the enclosing jaws of the Nashtari search.
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Rogue 9
- Scrapping TIEs since 1997
- Posts: 18639
- Joined: 2003-11-12 01:10pm
- Location: Classified
- Contact:
"Contact lost. The target appears to be destroyed; analysis indicates a nuclear self-destruct."
Lancaster cursed. "Anything else?"
"Sensor ghosts are still present, Admiral. Firming up some, but not enough to pin it down. I would guess the EMP interfered with our quarry's stealth systems."
"Very good. Comms, Conn. Patch me through, all bands. Let's see if we can flush him out."
"Aye, Admiral." There was a pause. "Channel open."
The admiral nodded. "Unidentified vessel, this is Admiral Philip Lancaster, commanding First Main Battle Fleet, Nashtari Space Command. You are in violation of Nashtari sovereign space and Military Ordinance 74, restricting traffic in a fleet exercise area. Power down at once and prepare to be boarded, or we will open fire. You have one minute to comply." He slashed a hand across his neck, and the comms officer shut down the signal. "Now we see what that gets us. Fleet Ops, move in the Binder, the Sherwood, and the Jesse James. I don't want that ship escaping. Helm, move us in closer; we'll see if proximity can help out our sensors."
A pair of ayes answered him as the carrier started to change course towards the sensor anomalies and the fleet's interdiction cruiser and a pair of frigates moved in to join the four ships already looking. The Binder powered up her massive interdiction field as the cruiser approached the area.
Lancaster cursed. "Anything else?"
"Sensor ghosts are still present, Admiral. Firming up some, but not enough to pin it down. I would guess the EMP interfered with our quarry's stealth systems."
"Very good. Comms, Conn. Patch me through, all bands. Let's see if we can flush him out."
"Aye, Admiral." There was a pause. "Channel open."
The admiral nodded. "Unidentified vessel, this is Admiral Philip Lancaster, commanding First Main Battle Fleet, Nashtari Space Command. You are in violation of Nashtari sovereign space and Military Ordinance 74, restricting traffic in a fleet exercise area. Power down at once and prepare to be boarded, or we will open fire. You have one minute to comply." He slashed a hand across his neck, and the comms officer shut down the signal. "Now we see what that gets us. Fleet Ops, move in the Binder, the Sherwood, and the Jesse James. I don't want that ship escaping. Helm, move us in closer; we'll see if proximity can help out our sensors."
A pair of ayes answered him as the carrier started to change course towards the sensor anomalies and the fleet's interdiction cruiser and a pair of frigates moved in to join the four ships already looking. The Binder powered up her massive interdiction field as the cruiser approached the area.
It's Rogue, not Rouge!
HAB | KotL | VRWC/ELC/CDA | TRotR | The Anti-Confederate | Sluggite | Gamer | Blogger | Staff Reporter | Student | Musician
HAB | KotL | VRWC/ELC/CDA | TRotR | The Anti-Confederate | Sluggite | Gamer | Blogger | Staff Reporter | Student | Musician
Deep Space
ISA Shipping Corridor
Aboard the Company Destroyer Drake
As the Raven responded to Morrison's demand with sensors locks and verbal defience, the hardened Company man said to his crew,
"We have our response then. Open fire."
The Drake and the Tercio opened up with missile barrages and their turret mounted particle beams. Defensive laser systems and decoy launchers stood by. Jammers were already active. Morrison maneuvered to keep his ships at a distance from the ISA flotilla. That gave the defensive systems more time to deal with incoming.
"Target that second Retrieverfor priority fire,"
Ordered Morrison.
By targeting a smaller vessel he could hope to silence its guns sooner and even their numbers, if not the firepower. Even though there was a good chance of his ship being gutting, Morrison remained cool as ice on the bridge. When the rest of his squadron arrived the enemy captain would die, even if Morrison didn't live to see it.
ISA Shipping Corridor
Aboard the Company Destroyer Drake
As the Raven responded to Morrison's demand with sensors locks and verbal defience, the hardened Company man said to his crew,
"We have our response then. Open fire."
The Drake and the Tercio opened up with missile barrages and their turret mounted particle beams. Defensive laser systems and decoy launchers stood by. Jammers were already active. Morrison maneuvered to keep his ships at a distance from the ISA flotilla. That gave the defensive systems more time to deal with incoming.
"Target that second Retrieverfor priority fire,"
Ordered Morrison.
By targeting a smaller vessel he could hope to silence its guns sooner and even their numbers, if not the firepower. Even though there was a good chance of his ship being gutting, Morrison remained cool as ice on the bridge. When the rest of his squadron arrived the enemy captain would die, even if Morrison didn't live to see it.
MGS Raven
ISA Fringe
Bridge
Captain Yuusan had a way of knowing when the shit was going to hit the fan: it was a sort of bottom-dropping-out feeling in his stomach and loins that he'd grown to dread but trust. When it came this time, mere seconds after his message was sent, he opened a channel to his charges even as he ordered his own crew.
"Open fire immediately on the enemy ship that transmitted. Concentrate fire on it until it is destroyed," no sooner had he said this than enemy had responded to his bravado in a comfortingly piratical manner: with weapons fire. Across the three blocky ships, tremendous turret fixtures rocked with the force of their firepower as they hurled slugs at the de facto enemy leader, their silent blasts backed by rack upon rack of light missiles. One of the Retrievers, the suitably-named Bloodhound, was the focus of the enemy's wrath, its ugly lines made ragged by withering enemy firepower even as it fought for its life and the life of its crew.
Yuusan noted that the enemy was keeping their distance, and one of the analysts on the bridge chimed up that the enemy's defensive systems seemed to be stronger than would normally be expected. There was, insofar as Yuusan could see, only one way to fight that, and closing would hurt his command's point-defense accuracy just as it would hurt that of the enemy.
Privately, he hoped that Tharson would be quick about it. The fact that the enemy wasn't fleeing made it apparant that they weren't bluffing, and their concentrated firepower only underlined their professionalism compared to most pirates and rim bandits. He had a feeling that the trio of Guild ships would shortly have some very unwelcome company.
There was nothing to do but fight, and hope that they were focusing on the enemy commander.
ISA Fringe
Bridge
Captain Yuusan had a way of knowing when the shit was going to hit the fan: it was a sort of bottom-dropping-out feeling in his stomach and loins that he'd grown to dread but trust. When it came this time, mere seconds after his message was sent, he opened a channel to his charges even as he ordered his own crew.
"Open fire immediately on the enemy ship that transmitted. Concentrate fire on it until it is destroyed," no sooner had he said this than enemy had responded to his bravado in a comfortingly piratical manner: with weapons fire. Across the three blocky ships, tremendous turret fixtures rocked with the force of their firepower as they hurled slugs at the de facto enemy leader, their silent blasts backed by rack upon rack of light missiles. One of the Retrievers, the suitably-named Bloodhound, was the focus of the enemy's wrath, its ugly lines made ragged by withering enemy firepower even as it fought for its life and the life of its crew.
Yuusan noted that the enemy was keeping their distance, and one of the analysts on the bridge chimed up that the enemy's defensive systems seemed to be stronger than would normally be expected. There was, insofar as Yuusan could see, only one way to fight that, and closing would hurt his command's point-defense accuracy just as it would hurt that of the enemy.
Privately, he hoped that Tharson would be quick about it. The fact that the enemy wasn't fleeing made it apparant that they weren't bluffing, and their concentrated firepower only underlined their professionalism compared to most pirates and rim bandits. He had a feeling that the trio of Guild ships would shortly have some very unwelcome company.
There was nothing to do but fight, and hope that they were focusing on the enemy commander.
-DSFV Agrona, inner Dayab system-
"Incoming message." A short audio message played on the command center intercom. It was in imperial basic.
Raimunda looked toward the communications section. "What's it say."
"It's a general warning, the Humanists want us to declare out nationality and withdraw from Dayab space."
"Heh, Xian, do you think we should respond?"
The red haired woman across the tactical display from Raimunda smiled, anticipating her next command. "Set course for Dayab, open the foreward laser arrays and load the launchers."
The small force of warcraft and decoys began to accelerate towards Dayab.
"Incoming message." A short audio message played on the command center intercom. It was in imperial basic.
Raimunda looked toward the communications section. "What's it say."
"It's a general warning, the Humanists want us to declare out nationality and withdraw from Dayab space."
"Heh, Xian, do you think we should respond?"
The red haired woman across the tactical display from Raimunda smiled, anticipating her next command. "Set course for Dayab, open the foreward laser arrays and load the launchers."
The small force of warcraft and decoys began to accelerate towards Dayab.
Last edited by Ohma on 2008-07-20 10:14pm, edited 1 time in total.
Oh, Mister Darcy! <3
We're ALL Devo!
GALE-Force: Guardians of Space!
"Rarr! Rargharghiss!" -Gorn
We're ALL Devo!
GALE-Force: Guardians of Space!
"Rarr! Rargharghiss!" -Gorn
-
Darkevilme
- Jedi Council Member
- Posts: 1514
- Joined: 2007-06-12 02:27pm
- Location: London, england
- Contact:
Helios system
All good things come to an end. The Chamaran pod starts to coast, even with their position not pinned down they know the Nashtari have no shortage of weaponry to swamp their suspected area with, the arrival of the interdictor makes the only alternative now to be a break for it in a mad dash to with odds against them run the gauntlet of enemy weapons to try and reach the interdiction fields edge. Thusly, they parlay and transmit text only towards the origin of that signal.
-This is Aia, controller aboard the Melodic silence of the Exodus. We beg forgiveness as our orders were unclear on our position with regards to your rules and high command has not cleared us to make first contact. We are on a mission of pure observation and seek permission to leave your space without being impeded. This vessel is our clan's only possession and one chance at redemption, but though i wish it were not so my orders are clear. If you insist in trying to capture, we will be forced to initiate the self destruct sequence.-
Last edited by Darkevilme on 2008-07-18 12:26pm, edited 1 time in total.
"The Word must be denied; it is the birthright of all born of Terra. We will give you time to reconsider."Ohma wrote:Code: Select all
Astro@LedoEmessary: We apologize, however this is privately held space. If you have no official business with Kraidnick Industries, we ask that you leave immediately.
The vessel turned around accellerating impossibly fast until it vanished into a burst of white.
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Rogue 9
- Scrapping TIEs since 1997
- Posts: 18639
- Joined: 2003-11-12 01:10pm
- Location: Classified
- Contact:
Helios System
"Unidentified vessel, this is the NRS Intrepid," responded the communications officer. "We acknowledge your transmissions and will hold fire. Stand by." He killed the transmission and turned to Lancaster. "Admiral?"
All eyes on the bridge were on the fleet's commanding officer. He let the silence hang for a long moment before speaking. "Comms, contact Fleet Command and inform them of the situation. Then inform the vessel that we will allow them to depart, but require that they first deactivate their stealth systems. No need to be threatening; if they don't know that we can kill them at any time by now, then they barely qualify as sapient."
"Aye, Admiral." After a brief moment to dispatch the communique to Command, the lieutenant reactivated his channel to the Chamaran ship. "Unidentified vessel, your status is acknowledged. You will be allowed to depart safely, but we require that your stealth fields be deactivated while you remain in this system. Please respond."
"Unidentified vessel, this is the NRS Intrepid," responded the communications officer. "We acknowledge your transmissions and will hold fire. Stand by." He killed the transmission and turned to Lancaster. "Admiral?"
All eyes on the bridge were on the fleet's commanding officer. He let the silence hang for a long moment before speaking. "Comms, contact Fleet Command and inform them of the situation. Then inform the vessel that we will allow them to depart, but require that they first deactivate their stealth systems. No need to be threatening; if they don't know that we can kill them at any time by now, then they barely qualify as sapient."
"Aye, Admiral." After a brief moment to dispatch the communique to Command, the lieutenant reactivated his channel to the Chamaran ship. "Unidentified vessel, your status is acknowledged. You will be allowed to depart safely, but we require that your stealth fields be deactivated while you remain in this system. Please respond."
It's Rogue, not Rouge!
HAB | KotL | VRWC/ELC/CDA | TRotR | The Anti-Confederate | Sluggite | Gamer | Blogger | Staff Reporter | Student | Musician
HAB | KotL | VRWC/ELC/CDA | TRotR | The Anti-Confederate | Sluggite | Gamer | Blogger | Staff Reporter | Student | Musician
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Darkevilme
- Jedi Council Member
- Posts: 1514
- Joined: 2007-06-12 02:27pm
- Location: London, england
- Contact:
Helios starsystem
Relief floods the crew of the pod, their response swift in coming
-Our gratitude Nashtari fleet, active systems are shutting down and we will proceed on course to coordinates ((Insert numbers here)) and make the shift to U-space. Perhaps later when the galaxy has been changed and our kind can openly deal with Humanity we will meet again. T'was a good show you put on for us nonetheless.-
The Melodic silence slowly becomes a single point in space to the human sensors as the distortion field shuts down, energy signature climbing as that masking mechanism also shuts down. The Melodic silence clad only in black paint and radar absorbent tiles now, a small oval ship with its surface made irregular by hatches and inset sensor dishes.
Relief floods the crew of the pod, their response swift in coming
-Our gratitude Nashtari fleet, active systems are shutting down and we will proceed on course to coordinates ((Insert numbers here)) and make the shift to U-space. Perhaps later when the galaxy has been changed and our kind can openly deal with Humanity we will meet again. T'was a good show you put on for us nonetheless.-
The Melodic silence slowly becomes a single point in space to the human sensors as the distortion field shuts down, energy signature climbing as that masking mechanism also shuts down. The Melodic silence clad only in black paint and radar absorbent tiles now, a small oval ship with its surface made irregular by hatches and inset sensor dishes.
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Rogue 9
- Scrapping TIEs since 1997
- Posts: 18639
- Joined: 2003-11-12 01:10pm
- Location: Classified
- Contact:
"Very good," came another voice across the comm. A moment later, the NRS Shadow deactivated its own considerable stealth systems five hundred kilometers to the pod's starboard bow, close enough to read the large 001 inscribed on her bow if visual sensors were trained on her. The frigate was massive next to the tiny stealth pod, which was at that very moment being scanned by most of the sensor packages in the system. Captain Harrskan was transmitting in holographic video, his furred, predatory face clearly visible above twin pairs of folded hands. "The galaxy may be changing faster than you think," the Zambaran said, a fang flashing momentarily as he spoke. "NRS Shadow, out." The transmission ceased.
In his CIC, the Zambaran captain barely restrained himself from laughter as he threw the cutoff switch. The admiral would be furious, of course, but being a Revolutionary War hero got one very far in the service. He had to pull some sort of stunt now and again, or risk promotion away from his beloved stealth frigate and the marvelous prey-stalking opportunities it afforded him.
The Intrepid's comms officer spoke again, audibly annoyed at the intrusion. "Our apologies. The interdiction field will be deactivated momentarily. You are to leave Nashtari space at once." The "or else" didn't need to be said, as the Protector, her wide array of precision weaponry bristling ominously, shadowed the pod as it made its way to the named coordinates. "Your people are free to make official first contact at a later date, but further espionage will end poorly. Intrepid out."
In his CIC, the Zambaran captain barely restrained himself from laughter as he threw the cutoff switch. The admiral would be furious, of course, but being a Revolutionary War hero got one very far in the service. He had to pull some sort of stunt now and again, or risk promotion away from his beloved stealth frigate and the marvelous prey-stalking opportunities it afforded him.
The Intrepid's comms officer spoke again, audibly annoyed at the intrusion. "Our apologies. The interdiction field will be deactivated momentarily. You are to leave Nashtari space at once." The "or else" didn't need to be said, as the Protector, her wide array of precision weaponry bristling ominously, shadowed the pod as it made its way to the named coordinates. "Your people are free to make official first contact at a later date, but further espionage will end poorly. Intrepid out."
It's Rogue, not Rouge!
HAB | KotL | VRWC/ELC/CDA | TRotR | The Anti-Confederate | Sluggite | Gamer | Blogger | Staff Reporter | Student | Musician
HAB | KotL | VRWC/ELC/CDA | TRotR | The Anti-Confederate | Sluggite | Gamer | Blogger | Staff Reporter | Student | Musician
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Darkevilme
- Jedi Council Member
- Posts: 1514
- Joined: 2007-06-12 02:27pm
- Location: London, england
- Contact:
Helios system
The pod's crew hide their surprise well, no further messages issueing out from it though it's clear that furry thing will be the talk aboard all the way back to their resupply ship. The pod slipping to the coordinates and then, as the interdiction field looses its hold on the surrounding space, wavers out of system. The pod submerging in U-space and vanishing from all scanners.
The pod's crew hide their surprise well, no further messages issueing out from it though it's clear that furry thing will be the talk aboard all the way back to their resupply ship. The pod slipping to the coordinates and then, as the interdiction field looses its hold on the surrounding space, wavers out of system. The pod submerging in U-space and vanishing from all scanners.
Deep Space
ISA Shipping Corridor
The battle between the Company raiding squadron and the ISA merchants raged on. Though it may have lacked the sheer grandeur of a fleet battle, this fight made up for it with its sheer ferocity. Neither commander on either side was willing to give an inch.
Morrison kept to his strategy of keeping range on the ISA ships. Even with both his ships point defense batteries redlining, the Drake was taking a serious pounding. Several direct hits from tactical nukes had sheered away most of her guns and she had multiple hull breaches. Luckily she was a warship, and had been designed to take such punishment. If nothing changed a missile would likely penetrate into her heavily armored core and rupture the reactor. Needless to say, the crew wouldn't survive that experience. Morrison was also impressed with the fighting skill of these merchants. The enemy commander would have to be complimented before he died.
The ISA ships had also been taking damage. The Retriever the two Company Wardog's had been concentrating on was little more than a hulk at this point, but mostly intact. There was a reason why the Company preferred particle beams; they fragged electronics and crews quite well.
Then the rest of Morrison's squadron, the Arrow and the Scylla, arrived. They were immediately put to work pounding the ISA flagship as the Drake pulled back and used her squadron mates for cover. The battle now looked to be in hand, until the captain of the Arrow reported having spotted the drive trail of an ISA capital ship in the region. If it intervened, The Company would be forced to withdraw despite their losses.
Morrison made a decision.
"All ships are to launch boarding pods. Capture the disabled Retriever."
Normally that would happen after a battle was over. But Morrison wasn't sure he had the time. On every Company ship present except the Drake, whose boarding pods had been destroyed, teams of hardened killers suited up and launched at the ISA derelict.
The boarding pods were high speed and heavily armored. The only weapon each one had was a plasma torch to cut through an enemy hull. The killers inside them were a special case. Perhaps 1 in 10 of them was over the age of sixteen. For dangerous missions such as this the Company was notorious for using child soldiers hopped up on extreme combat drugs that made men or boys move impossibly fast and have an extreme bloodlust, but that also destroyed the body and mind.
The pods streaked towards their target shielded by jammers and decoys launched from their mother ships. Still, it was expected that only three out of five pods, at best, would reach their target in conditions such as these.
ISA Shipping Corridor
The battle between the Company raiding squadron and the ISA merchants raged on. Though it may have lacked the sheer grandeur of a fleet battle, this fight made up for it with its sheer ferocity. Neither commander on either side was willing to give an inch.
Morrison kept to his strategy of keeping range on the ISA ships. Even with both his ships point defense batteries redlining, the Drake was taking a serious pounding. Several direct hits from tactical nukes had sheered away most of her guns and she had multiple hull breaches. Luckily she was a warship, and had been designed to take such punishment. If nothing changed a missile would likely penetrate into her heavily armored core and rupture the reactor. Needless to say, the crew wouldn't survive that experience. Morrison was also impressed with the fighting skill of these merchants. The enemy commander would have to be complimented before he died.
The ISA ships had also been taking damage. The Retriever the two Company Wardog's had been concentrating on was little more than a hulk at this point, but mostly intact. There was a reason why the Company preferred particle beams; they fragged electronics and crews quite well.
Then the rest of Morrison's squadron, the Arrow and the Scylla, arrived. They were immediately put to work pounding the ISA flagship as the Drake pulled back and used her squadron mates for cover. The battle now looked to be in hand, until the captain of the Arrow reported having spotted the drive trail of an ISA capital ship in the region. If it intervened, The Company would be forced to withdraw despite their losses.
Morrison made a decision.
"All ships are to launch boarding pods. Capture the disabled Retriever."
Normally that would happen after a battle was over. But Morrison wasn't sure he had the time. On every Company ship present except the Drake, whose boarding pods had been destroyed, teams of hardened killers suited up and launched at the ISA derelict.
The boarding pods were high speed and heavily armored. The only weapon each one had was a plasma torch to cut through an enemy hull. The killers inside them were a special case. Perhaps 1 in 10 of them was over the age of sixteen. For dangerous missions such as this the Company was notorious for using child soldiers hopped up on extreme combat drugs that made men or boys move impossibly fast and have an extreme bloodlust, but that also destroyed the body and mind.
The pods streaked towards their target shielded by jammers and decoys launched from their mother ships. Still, it was expected that only three out of five pods, at best, would reach their target in conditions such as these.
HNS Victor Aliyev
Third Mobile Unit
Bridge
"Ma'am," the sensors officer barked, "the enemy vessels are accelerating towards Dayab proper. Readings throughout the fleet and the lure indicate that they're arming weaponry. Still no total confirmation on force strength, but we're revealing more false contacts than actual targets still."
Brookes furrowed her brow. Tactically speaking, orbiting Dayab's star was the "high ground" for the invaders: it allowed them to arrange themselves to meet an expected attacker and avoid hostile fire for planetary weaponry. An advance only made sense in one context: they expected to win, which would imply they knew their force to be superior.
A detail niggled, and she seized upon it. The sensors officer had stated it and she confirmed it again: more of the enemy contacts were turning out to be decoys and sensor spoofing than were turning out to be real warships. With the main Humanist forces at low sensors to avoid being detected, there was only so much the "lure" could positively decipher, but they should still be returning an alarming number of warship contacts: the insurgents who had risked their lives to warn Brookes and her nation of the Dominatrixiat's intentions had told them to prepare for a war, not a skirmish.
Could these forces still be a cat's paw for the enemy? Brookes rather thought this was the case; she took a moment to reflect on the irony even as she gave her orders, "Order the lure to maintain position above Dayab proper alongside the planetary defense forces: there's no reason to go to them. Have the lure keep broadcasting warnings; we want these scum to think we're blustering and don't have anything to back our warnings up with. As soon as the enemy attackers have been positively identified, I want all ships to be ready: we're going to order a few more ships to stagger in like late arrivals until we exceed their force by a bit."
Even if this is all they've got, she considered, there's no reason to immediately lay down my entire hand, as Felix would say. Who knows who could be watching? at this she considered the barely-detected sensors ghosts of the past few days, and wondered.
MGS Raven
ISA Fringe
Bridge
Yuusan was not a happy man: things had seemed bad enough as the Bloodhound reported wide systems failure, its guns falling silent and engines off-lining as if was crushed under a barrage of withering enemy fire. This event was put in perspective when the rest of the Company scum showed their hides, mercilessly targeting his aged Raven as what he assumed was Morrison's destroyer used its brothers for cover. At this point, barking out ordered to the frayed crew, he realized that he was going to die. It would be a lie to say that he didn't feel fear, but it was a mute sort of thing: the ISA was a dangerous state, and the life of a Merchant's Guild battle-freighter commander perilous. Yuusan had grown up watching people die, and he wondered even as he gave orders if this made it easier to accept. Absurdly and unexpectedly, he was mostly embarassed. Embarassed to have been netted by pirate scum, embarassed that the shipments his unit were delivering would never see their proper port, embarassed that he wouldn't have the fortune to die of something that reflected on him.
A report came in that the enemy was sending boarding craft towards the Bloodhound, whose few remaining guns lanced out without much effect in a pathetic attempt to swat the oncoming vessels before they latched on and discharged their contents into the battle-freighter. The Raven and remaining Retriever-class adjusted their fire accordingly, but it was obvious that the Bloodhound was going to be overwhelmed. Yuusan considered sending out shuttles from his own vessel and the remaining Retriever to help repel the enemy boarders, but he knew that they themselves would need their marines soon enough. Unconsciously fingering the butt of his officer's pistol, he rather thought he'd shoot himself when the unit's guns went silent. He could at least deny the enemy that victory.
It wasn't long after this moment, of course, that Tharson put on his appearance. Blinking into space in the anti-climactic manner characteristic of ISA warp drives, Tharson mercifully set aside boasts and attacked the enemy immediately, the main cannon of the rifle-like cruiser flared with a brilliant cone of bluish-purple plasma as the railcannon fired, its slug hurtling across space at horrific speeds; the shot missed magnificently, having been fired too quickly for the ship's computers to achieve a proper targeting solution. The long cruiser's missile racks and light cannon opened up a beat later, almost apologetically.
When the comms systems honked with an incoming message and Yusaan signaled his officer to let it through, the merchant captain was unsurprised to see Tharson's fat face shining with smug contempt, his piggish features made all the more obscene by his obvious glee at being the "rescuer" in this engagement.
"Captain Yuusan," he said, haughty, "Good to see you're still alive. I look forward to doing business with you once these low-born have been dealt with."
Yuusan wondered how much he would have to pay to have the Impaler's XO to kill the fat man before him. He almost thought it might be worth the punishments the Guild would inflict on him for such an act.
Tharson pointlessly gestured to something off-screen with one long-fingered hand, "We'll also be glad to help handle the Bloodhound's cargo. For a fee, of course," Tharson didn't so much grin as show his teeth, and the communication snapped off.
"Sir," the sensors officer was yelling, halfway between still-felt panic and relief at Tharson's as-of-yet ineffectual arrival, "The Impaler doesn't appear to be engaging its interdictors."
Yuusan frowned: Tharson might forget such a thing, but the Impaler's new XO, poorly-skilled though he was, surely wouldn't. The merchant commander suddenly made a face, "That fat fuck wants to let them get away so he doesn't have to pay for repairs!" He slammed a fist into the arm of his command chair, heedless of the pain, "Greedy moron!"
MGS Bloodhound
ISA Fringe
Corridor
Though the crew of the crippled Bloodhound had been made well-aware of the arrival of the cavalry even as their ship thundered with boarding vessel impacts, the atmosphere was considerably less relieved: they were still fighting a battle, and it would only be made worse if the boarders suddenly found themselves cut off. No animal resisted more than when it was cornered. All throughout the ship, wide-eyed crewmen with their sidearms and marines clad in their flat black, sealed suits of battle armor took cover in doorways, behind half-raised blast doors, and crouched behind hastily-arranged barricades and waited as the sounds of combat grew closer. Garbled communications only seemed to be consisten on one thing.
The boarders were children.
Third Mobile Unit
Bridge
"Ma'am," the sensors officer barked, "the enemy vessels are accelerating towards Dayab proper. Readings throughout the fleet and the lure indicate that they're arming weaponry. Still no total confirmation on force strength, but we're revealing more false contacts than actual targets still."
Brookes furrowed her brow. Tactically speaking, orbiting Dayab's star was the "high ground" for the invaders: it allowed them to arrange themselves to meet an expected attacker and avoid hostile fire for planetary weaponry. An advance only made sense in one context: they expected to win, which would imply they knew their force to be superior.
A detail niggled, and she seized upon it. The sensors officer had stated it and she confirmed it again: more of the enemy contacts were turning out to be decoys and sensor spoofing than were turning out to be real warships. With the main Humanist forces at low sensors to avoid being detected, there was only so much the "lure" could positively decipher, but they should still be returning an alarming number of warship contacts: the insurgents who had risked their lives to warn Brookes and her nation of the Dominatrixiat's intentions had told them to prepare for a war, not a skirmish.
Could these forces still be a cat's paw for the enemy? Brookes rather thought this was the case; she took a moment to reflect on the irony even as she gave her orders, "Order the lure to maintain position above Dayab proper alongside the planetary defense forces: there's no reason to go to them. Have the lure keep broadcasting warnings; we want these scum to think we're blustering and don't have anything to back our warnings up with. As soon as the enemy attackers have been positively identified, I want all ships to be ready: we're going to order a few more ships to stagger in like late arrivals until we exceed their force by a bit."
Even if this is all they've got, she considered, there's no reason to immediately lay down my entire hand, as Felix would say. Who knows who could be watching? at this she considered the barely-detected sensors ghosts of the past few days, and wondered.
MGS Raven
ISA Fringe
Bridge
Yuusan was not a happy man: things had seemed bad enough as the Bloodhound reported wide systems failure, its guns falling silent and engines off-lining as if was crushed under a barrage of withering enemy fire. This event was put in perspective when the rest of the Company scum showed their hides, mercilessly targeting his aged Raven as what he assumed was Morrison's destroyer used its brothers for cover. At this point, barking out ordered to the frayed crew, he realized that he was going to die. It would be a lie to say that he didn't feel fear, but it was a mute sort of thing: the ISA was a dangerous state, and the life of a Merchant's Guild battle-freighter commander perilous. Yuusan had grown up watching people die, and he wondered even as he gave orders if this made it easier to accept. Absurdly and unexpectedly, he was mostly embarassed. Embarassed to have been netted by pirate scum, embarassed that the shipments his unit were delivering would never see their proper port, embarassed that he wouldn't have the fortune to die of something that reflected on him.
A report came in that the enemy was sending boarding craft towards the Bloodhound, whose few remaining guns lanced out without much effect in a pathetic attempt to swat the oncoming vessels before they latched on and discharged their contents into the battle-freighter. The Raven and remaining Retriever-class adjusted their fire accordingly, but it was obvious that the Bloodhound was going to be overwhelmed. Yuusan considered sending out shuttles from his own vessel and the remaining Retriever to help repel the enemy boarders, but he knew that they themselves would need their marines soon enough. Unconsciously fingering the butt of his officer's pistol, he rather thought he'd shoot himself when the unit's guns went silent. He could at least deny the enemy that victory.
It wasn't long after this moment, of course, that Tharson put on his appearance. Blinking into space in the anti-climactic manner characteristic of ISA warp drives, Tharson mercifully set aside boasts and attacked the enemy immediately, the main cannon of the rifle-like cruiser flared with a brilliant cone of bluish-purple plasma as the railcannon fired, its slug hurtling across space at horrific speeds; the shot missed magnificently, having been fired too quickly for the ship's computers to achieve a proper targeting solution. The long cruiser's missile racks and light cannon opened up a beat later, almost apologetically.
When the comms systems honked with an incoming message and Yusaan signaled his officer to let it through, the merchant captain was unsurprised to see Tharson's fat face shining with smug contempt, his piggish features made all the more obscene by his obvious glee at being the "rescuer" in this engagement.
"Captain Yuusan," he said, haughty, "Good to see you're still alive. I look forward to doing business with you once these low-born have been dealt with."
Yuusan wondered how much he would have to pay to have the Impaler's XO to kill the fat man before him. He almost thought it might be worth the punishments the Guild would inflict on him for such an act.
Tharson pointlessly gestured to something off-screen with one long-fingered hand, "We'll also be glad to help handle the Bloodhound's cargo. For a fee, of course," Tharson didn't so much grin as show his teeth, and the communication snapped off.
"Sir," the sensors officer was yelling, halfway between still-felt panic and relief at Tharson's as-of-yet ineffectual arrival, "The Impaler doesn't appear to be engaging its interdictors."
Yuusan frowned: Tharson might forget such a thing, but the Impaler's new XO, poorly-skilled though he was, surely wouldn't. The merchant commander suddenly made a face, "That fat fuck wants to let them get away so he doesn't have to pay for repairs!" He slammed a fist into the arm of his command chair, heedless of the pain, "Greedy moron!"
MGS Bloodhound
ISA Fringe
Corridor
Though the crew of the crippled Bloodhound had been made well-aware of the arrival of the cavalry even as their ship thundered with boarding vessel impacts, the atmosphere was considerably less relieved: they were still fighting a battle, and it would only be made worse if the boarders suddenly found themselves cut off. No animal resisted more than when it was cornered. All throughout the ship, wide-eyed crewmen with their sidearms and marines clad in their flat black, sealed suits of battle armor took cover in doorways, behind half-raised blast doors, and crouched behind hastily-arranged barricades and waited as the sounds of combat grew closer. Garbled communications only seemed to be consisten on one thing.
The boarders were children.
*Lilith squadron reports weapons ready*
*T-minus 7 minutes to phase 2*
Raimunda looks over the tactical display.
"As soon as we're in range I want all craft to open fire. Hopefully we can at least keep most of them occupied while the rest of the force jumps in."
Xian shakes her head "We can't last long on our own against even the force there right now. If they call in reinforcements and we aren't in position to retreat-"
"It'll be no different than if we leave them alone and reinforcements come while the main force is attacking Dayab. We need to do what we can to minimize the Humanist assets that can be brought against them."
*Commander! A Humanist ship has just come out of subspace!*
*T-minus 7 minutes to phase 2*
Raimunda looks over the tactical display.
"As soon as we're in range I want all craft to open fire. Hopefully we can at least keep most of them occupied while the rest of the force jumps in."
Xian shakes her head "We can't last long on our own against even the force there right now. If they call in reinforcements and we aren't in position to retreat-"
"It'll be no different than if we leave them alone and reinforcements come while the main force is attacking Dayab. We need to do what we can to minimize the Humanist assets that can be brought against them."
*Commander! A Humanist ship has just come out of subspace!*
Oh, Mister Darcy! <3
We're ALL Devo!
GALE-Force: Guardians of Space!
"Rarr! Rargharghiss!" -Gorn
We're ALL Devo!
GALE-Force: Guardians of Space!
"Rarr! Rargharghiss!" -Gorn
Humanist Union Space
Dayab
The Lure
Even as the foreign warships closed in on the Humanist lure, they continued to broadcast their warning. It was obvious, however, that Dayab's defenders didn't believe that they were likely to have any effect: already, the system's planetary defense corvettes were forming up with the quartet of cruisers, awaiting Humanist battleship as it rapidly undocked from the maintainence gantry. Somewhere in a deep stellar orbit, Admiral Brookes received confirmation from the lure on the oncoming enemy force, and moments later the two final pieces of the bait dropped in.
Emerging from warp in no real pattern and rapidly rushing to link up with the lure force, the 340-class battlecruiser and 255-class heavy cruiser gave off the impression of guests having recklessly rushed to a party. Their arrival was accompanied by the lure ceasing to broadcast its warning mid-message and the Humanist battleship quickly accelerating from the maintainence station, seeming to indicate that Dayab's defenders were accounted for and no longer willing to ask nicely.
The lure confirmed this as they moved rapidly to engage the oncoming invaders, their hulls coughing forth defensive fighter drones and their ECM systems howling.
Onboard the Victor Aliyev, Admiral Brookes watched the situation unfold and hoped that her predictions on the enemy's intent were correct.
Dayab
The Lure
Even as the foreign warships closed in on the Humanist lure, they continued to broadcast their warning. It was obvious, however, that Dayab's defenders didn't believe that they were likely to have any effect: already, the system's planetary defense corvettes were forming up with the quartet of cruisers, awaiting Humanist battleship as it rapidly undocked from the maintainence gantry. Somewhere in a deep stellar orbit, Admiral Brookes received confirmation from the lure on the oncoming enemy force, and moments later the two final pieces of the bait dropped in.
Emerging from warp in no real pattern and rapidly rushing to link up with the lure force, the 340-class battlecruiser and 255-class heavy cruiser gave off the impression of guests having recklessly rushed to a party. Their arrival was accompanied by the lure ceasing to broadcast its warning mid-message and the Humanist battleship quickly accelerating from the maintainence station, seeming to indicate that Dayab's defenders were accounted for and no longer willing to ask nicely.
The lure confirmed this as they moved rapidly to engage the oncoming invaders, their hulls coughing forth defensive fighter drones and their ECM systems howling.
Onboard the Victor Aliyev, Admiral Brookes watched the situation unfold and hoped that her predictions on the enemy's intent were correct.
Deep Space
ISA Shipping Corridor.
Squadron-Captain Morrison and his ships were out of time. The ISA merchants had been putting up quite a fight and now they had a cruiser with them as well. Morrison might still be able to take them all, but his own force would be devastated in the process.
The enemy cruiser was known to have interdiction capability, but was not engaging it for some reason. Perhaps they preferred not to fight a protracted battle? Morrison didn't really care. He intended to withdraw his forces before the enemy commander decided to change his mind.
"All ships are to withdraw. We will retreat in formation until we can make a clear jump together."
Morrison had definitely noted the huge cannon on the enemy cruiser. He wanted all his flotilla's jamming equipment and countermeasures concentrated to deal with that threat.
As the Company ships withdrew, they maintained their concentrated fire on the merchant flagship. Morrison was disappointed at not having gained any prizes, but he had also not lost much besides expendable boarding troops. He had rolled the dice and lost today.
Reports coming in said they nearly had control of the disabled ISA ship. That would give the enemy commander something to chew on, and would hopefully discourage pursuit.
ISA Shipping Corridor.
Squadron-Captain Morrison and his ships were out of time. The ISA merchants had been putting up quite a fight and now they had a cruiser with them as well. Morrison might still be able to take them all, but his own force would be devastated in the process.
The enemy cruiser was known to have interdiction capability, but was not engaging it for some reason. Perhaps they preferred not to fight a protracted battle? Morrison didn't really care. He intended to withdraw his forces before the enemy commander decided to change his mind.
"All ships are to withdraw. We will retreat in formation until we can make a clear jump together."
Morrison had definitely noted the huge cannon on the enemy cruiser. He wanted all his flotilla's jamming equipment and countermeasures concentrated to deal with that threat.
As the Company ships withdrew, they maintained their concentrated fire on the merchant flagship. Morrison was disappointed at not having gained any prizes, but he had also not lost much besides expendable boarding troops. He had rolled the dice and lost today.
Reports coming in said they nearly had control of the disabled ISA ship. That would give the enemy commander something to chew on, and would hopefully discourage pursuit.
MGS Raven
ISA Fringe
Bridge
As the enemy ships lined up to withdraw, Yuusan felt himself relax from a tension whose depth he hadn't realized. Now he felt the full impact of mortal fear, and it took a tremendous amount of will to rein it in. He doubted if he had ever been so close to his own death.
Rather than dwell on this, he decided to do what had allowed him to stay competent throughout the engagement: focus entirely on the battle, on the assets belonging to both the Guild and himself that were at risk. Barking out a curt order, he now stood and began to pace with excess energy even as the Raven moved to follow his order, taking cover behind the Impaler from the fleeing Company ships. The Impaler suffered this without any complaints or attempt to maneauver, and Yuusan rather cynically imagined even Tharson knew that it was better to take a bit of damage than to risk the valuable cargo of the Raven and the far more valuable deal Yuusan's survival represented.
Shoving his mixed contempt and amusement for his savior aside, he ordered that the Raven and the largely-pristine remaining Retriever-class launch boarding craft for the Bloodhound, whom was all but overwhelmed by, of all things, child soldiers.
The idea of children soldiers was not new to Yuusan: his grandfather, a peasant, had served in a Guild-sponsored militia from about the age of 13 onward during a very violent war with a very unforgiving noble house: one of countless such conflicts that constantly covered the ISA's worlds. Tel Yuusan knew very well how dangerous a child with a rifle could be, even if most of the mercenary-marines that usually Guild vessels didn't; a shame for them: the cargo of the Bloodhound and the ship itself were too valuable to lose, and the merchant-commander would cheerfully spend every last one of their lives in exchange.
Running rough calculations in his head even as he listened to a demanded-for status report on damage to the Raven, Tel Yuusan figured he'd be lucky to just barely break even once this misadventure had finally drawn to a close.
You win some and you lose some, he reasoned.
ISA Fringe
Bridge
As the enemy ships lined up to withdraw, Yuusan felt himself relax from a tension whose depth he hadn't realized. Now he felt the full impact of mortal fear, and it took a tremendous amount of will to rein it in. He doubted if he had ever been so close to his own death.
Rather than dwell on this, he decided to do what had allowed him to stay competent throughout the engagement: focus entirely on the battle, on the assets belonging to both the Guild and himself that were at risk. Barking out a curt order, he now stood and began to pace with excess energy even as the Raven moved to follow his order, taking cover behind the Impaler from the fleeing Company ships. The Impaler suffered this without any complaints or attempt to maneauver, and Yuusan rather cynically imagined even Tharson knew that it was better to take a bit of damage than to risk the valuable cargo of the Raven and the far more valuable deal Yuusan's survival represented.
Shoving his mixed contempt and amusement for his savior aside, he ordered that the Raven and the largely-pristine remaining Retriever-class launch boarding craft for the Bloodhound, whom was all but overwhelmed by, of all things, child soldiers.
The idea of children soldiers was not new to Yuusan: his grandfather, a peasant, had served in a Guild-sponsored militia from about the age of 13 onward during a very violent war with a very unforgiving noble house: one of countless such conflicts that constantly covered the ISA's worlds. Tel Yuusan knew very well how dangerous a child with a rifle could be, even if most of the mercenary-marines that usually Guild vessels didn't; a shame for them: the cargo of the Bloodhound and the ship itself were too valuable to lose, and the merchant-commander would cheerfully spend every last one of their lives in exchange.
Running rough calculations in his head even as he listened to a demanded-for status report on damage to the Raven, Tel Yuusan figured he'd be lucky to just barely break even once this misadventure had finally drawn to a close.
You win some and you lose some, he reasoned.
-
Thirdfain
- The Player of Games
- Posts: 6924
- Joined: 2003-02-13 09:24pm
- Location: Never underestimate the staggering drawing power of the Garden State.
MY LORD,
The following publication has been repeatedly tagged as a pirate document, virulently against the interests of our great polity. This chain of articles continues to be propagated despite our best efforts; I can only blame incompetence in the Office of Corrections for their failures to shut down the servers that carry this Communist filth. I suggest an immediate re-evaluation of the staff's positioning and clearance. This blatant propaganda may be obvious to our educated eyes, but to the unwashed hoi polloi, it can be dangerously effective and inspiring resistance to your benevolent rule.
Sincerely,
Sir Martin Fest
Office of Communications
The Worker's Voice
Ambient Audio File Follows
Democracy Blossoms
Makayan transitional elections near end
Makayan Revolutionary Democratic Party maintains solid lead in polls
Polls continue to indicate that the MRDP will win the coming elections by a landslide. Reactionary political groups such as the Federal Reconstruction remain unable to convince the Makayan populace that a return to the Imperialist system of government would be beneficial.
"The Imperial States did nothing for us when the Chamarrans marched in. Where were the Core States when our bodies were tools and puppets for the invader? Where was the Technolegion? There is no safety to be found in the arms of the Empire. Syndicalists fought for us- as freedom fighters during the Occupation, and then later, during the Liberation. Syndicalism brought men and machines from across the Sphere to our aid. Syndicalism has given us the strength to survive the unendurable!" said Nguyen Yen Wu at a rally yesterday.
"We can no more turn back to the old ways than we could accept another Occupation- they are one and the same. We must forge a new path, forwards, along with the society of brothers and sisters that is International Syndicalism."
-::FURTHER ARTICLES FOLLOW. DO YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE?::-
The following publication has been repeatedly tagged as a pirate document, virulently against the interests of our great polity. This chain of articles continues to be propagated despite our best efforts; I can only blame incompetence in the Office of Corrections for their failures to shut down the servers that carry this Communist filth. I suggest an immediate re-evaluation of the staff's positioning and clearance. This blatant propaganda may be obvious to our educated eyes, but to the unwashed hoi polloi, it can be dangerously effective and inspiring resistance to your benevolent rule.
Sincerely,
Sir Martin Fest
Office of Communications
The Worker's Voice
Ambient Audio File Follows
Democracy Blossoms
Makayan transitional elections near end
Makayan Revolutionary Democratic Party maintains solid lead in polls
Polls continue to indicate that the MRDP will win the coming elections by a landslide. Reactionary political groups such as the Federal Reconstruction remain unable to convince the Makayan populace that a return to the Imperialist system of government would be beneficial.
"The Imperial States did nothing for us when the Chamarrans marched in. Where were the Core States when our bodies were tools and puppets for the invader? Where was the Technolegion? There is no safety to be found in the arms of the Empire. Syndicalists fought for us- as freedom fighters during the Occupation, and then later, during the Liberation. Syndicalism brought men and machines from across the Sphere to our aid. Syndicalism has given us the strength to survive the unendurable!" said Nguyen Yen Wu at a rally yesterday.
"We can no more turn back to the old ways than we could accept another Occupation- they are one and the same. We must forge a new path, forwards, along with the society of brothers and sisters that is International Syndicalism."
-::FURTHER ARTICLES FOLLOW. DO YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE?::-
Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it's just the opposite.
John Kenneth Galbraith (1908 - )
Chicago System
The battle had been joined. N’Drak’s task force had easily destroyed a trio of Saux Cerberus class destroyers at the edge of the system. The human ships in the Chicago system were for the most part not very impressive. But there were a lot of them and they were responding quickly to the Melconian invasion.
N’Drak’s ships and the two Revenge class ships in system were watching the human’s response very closely. They were also transmitting all the information they were receiving in real time to the rest of the fleet. The Melconian Battle Net did more than share data. Onboard AIs coordinated fire from all the ships in a fleet, making sure every weapon and defensive system was used to it's full effectiveness.
Now the AI’s and Intel officers were going over all the raw data coming in. Several things were quickly realized. First, the two human forces in system had joined together. Second, they were deploying in defensive formations. Third, com intercepts indicated that they were starting to evacuate civilians from the system.
Fleet Admiral D’lak was given all these facts. Their simple ruse to keep the Saux and Cubs apart had failed. It also appeared the human commanders were no fools. They were not taking the bait and deviding their forces chase after N’Drak’s task force. They were being cautious. D’lak smiled, which was a sign of aggression for Melconians. The humans were playing right into her hands after all.
“The Fleet is to commence jumping into the Chicago system. The Chamaran task force will accompany us.”
D’Lak had just committed her reserve with that move. With both the Saux Blackton and the Cubs joining the battle, the proper response was to use all of her availible resources.
N’Drak’s ships were starting to take a pounding from the human's long range weapons. His ships had great speed, but their defenses were lacking. As N’Drak watched the Firewing, a Phoenix class cruiser, exploded as she was swamped by over 500 missile hits.
Just then the full combined Melconian and Chamaran force entered the system. They launched thousands of drone craft and blanketed the whole system in interdiction fields and heavy jamming. They knew right where the enemy ships were due to the battle net and opened fire immediately. Dozens of the light human ships brewed up in the first minutes as the Melconian barrage ripped into them. The light human ships were doing their jobs though. The heavier human combatants were being screened from the murderous fire, if at a high cost.
Then on the newest Melconian ships, missile hatches snapped open and the ancestor’s fury missiles sprung forth. This was the first time they had ever been used in combat. The two Revenge class stealth ships in the edges of the system opened fire as well, throwing a huge weight of the weapons for a ship of their mass. The missiles engaged their one use hyper drives and shot into the hearts of their targets. The Cubs pride and joy, their single Haray Caray class battleship, suddenly erupted in fire, her hull breached in dozens of locations. She was transformed into a lifeless hulk in mere moments. The Saux’s two support frigates were also targeted. Their extensive countermeasures packages would prove bothersome if they weren’t dealt with. One simply exploded as an ancestor’s fury weapon found the reactor core. The other support frigate barely survived, venting debris into space as she attempted to maintain her position in the human formation.
The Melconian fleet dove straight at the human defense perimeter. Their target was a sector that the AI’s in the battle net had deemed to be a weak point in the defense. The Melconian’s fired with all they had.
The battle had been joined. N’Drak’s task force had easily destroyed a trio of Saux Cerberus class destroyers at the edge of the system. The human ships in the Chicago system were for the most part not very impressive. But there were a lot of them and they were responding quickly to the Melconian invasion.
N’Drak’s ships and the two Revenge class ships in system were watching the human’s response very closely. They were also transmitting all the information they were receiving in real time to the rest of the fleet. The Melconian Battle Net did more than share data. Onboard AIs coordinated fire from all the ships in a fleet, making sure every weapon and defensive system was used to it's full effectiveness.
Now the AI’s and Intel officers were going over all the raw data coming in. Several things were quickly realized. First, the two human forces in system had joined together. Second, they were deploying in defensive formations. Third, com intercepts indicated that they were starting to evacuate civilians from the system.
Fleet Admiral D’lak was given all these facts. Their simple ruse to keep the Saux and Cubs apart had failed. It also appeared the human commanders were no fools. They were not taking the bait and deviding their forces chase after N’Drak’s task force. They were being cautious. D’lak smiled, which was a sign of aggression for Melconians. The humans were playing right into her hands after all.
“The Fleet is to commence jumping into the Chicago system. The Chamaran task force will accompany us.”
D’Lak had just committed her reserve with that move. With both the Saux Blackton and the Cubs joining the battle, the proper response was to use all of her availible resources.
N’Drak’s ships were starting to take a pounding from the human's long range weapons. His ships had great speed, but their defenses were lacking. As N’Drak watched the Firewing, a Phoenix class cruiser, exploded as she was swamped by over 500 missile hits.
Just then the full combined Melconian and Chamaran force entered the system. They launched thousands of drone craft and blanketed the whole system in interdiction fields and heavy jamming. They knew right where the enemy ships were due to the battle net and opened fire immediately. Dozens of the light human ships brewed up in the first minutes as the Melconian barrage ripped into them. The light human ships were doing their jobs though. The heavier human combatants were being screened from the murderous fire, if at a high cost.
Then on the newest Melconian ships, missile hatches snapped open and the ancestor’s fury missiles sprung forth. This was the first time they had ever been used in combat. The two Revenge class stealth ships in the edges of the system opened fire as well, throwing a huge weight of the weapons for a ship of their mass. The missiles engaged their one use hyper drives and shot into the hearts of their targets. The Cubs pride and joy, their single Haray Caray class battleship, suddenly erupted in fire, her hull breached in dozens of locations. She was transformed into a lifeless hulk in mere moments. The Saux’s two support frigates were also targeted. Their extensive countermeasures packages would prove bothersome if they weren’t dealt with. One simply exploded as an ancestor’s fury weapon found the reactor core. The other support frigate barely survived, venting debris into space as she attempted to maintain her position in the human formation.
The Melconian fleet dove straight at the human defense perimeter. Their target was a sector that the AI’s in the battle net had deemed to be a weak point in the defense. The Melconian’s fired with all they had.
Last edited by Raj Ahten on 2008-07-30 11:43pm, edited 2 times in total.
Dayab
DSFV Agrona
The flurry of activity throughout the force abruptly ceased. The Decoy Force was ready.
*The Humanist fleet's just activated their ECM...it looks like they're leaving orbit.*
Good, she thought. "This is commander Raimunda speaking, the Humanists look like they've taken the bait. Lilith squadron, open fire on the smaller ships, the Ching Shih and Chelidonis will take the larger ones, the Agrona and our drones will handle incoming fire. We'll exchange a few volleys and begin a fighting retreat on my signal."
---
A hundred lights flash in the dark aether.
DSFV Agrona
The flurry of activity throughout the force abruptly ceased. The Decoy Force was ready.
*The Humanist fleet's just activated their ECM...it looks like they're leaving orbit.*
Good, she thought. "This is commander Raimunda speaking, the Humanists look like they've taken the bait. Lilith squadron, open fire on the smaller ships, the Ching Shih and Chelidonis will take the larger ones, the Agrona and our drones will handle incoming fire. We'll exchange a few volleys and begin a fighting retreat on my signal."
---
A hundred lights flash in the dark aether.
Oh, Mister Darcy! <3
We're ALL Devo!
GALE-Force: Guardians of Space!
"Rarr! Rargharghiss!" -Gorn
We're ALL Devo!
GALE-Force: Guardians of Space!
"Rarr! Rargharghiss!" -Gorn
-
Rogue 9
- Scrapping TIEs since 1997
- Posts: 18639
- Joined: 2003-11-12 01:10pm
- Location: Classified
- Contact:
Beta 1264
NRS Pitch
Devastation reigned.
The Enclave's advance had come straight through this system, which had at one point contained an Imperial mining colony. Apart from the crew of the stealth frigate, no life remained in this system now.
The frigate's powerful sensors picked up the charred remains of the colony planet, as well as the hulks of hundreds of massive warships, many larger than even the Republic's own Dauntless class, drifting aimlessly in solar orbit. The Imperial Third Battle Fleet had chosen to make a stand here, and the losses had been tremendous.
No amount of searching was going to find anything more useful than scrap metal out here, thought Captain Carlton bitterly. He turned to give the order to prepare to leave the system when an alert light flashed on the long-range sensor panel.
"Captain, we've got something. Looks like encrypted communications and weapons signatures, at interstellar range. Vector plotted. Attempting to isolate location from signal strengths now."
"No time for that," Carlton answered. "Helm, Conn. Set course for deep space at a right angle to the vector Sensors is giving you. Engage hyperdrive and move us five light years out for triangulation."
"Aye, Captain." The frigate's engines engaged and swung the bow around to the proper course. A moment later, the ship blurred and streaked forward, disappearing from the system as quickly as she came.
______________________________________________
Deep Space
The frigate dropped out of hyperspace a few seconds later and engaged sensors without delay.
"Position triangulated, Captain," came the call from the sensor officer.
"Navigation?"
"One moment, sir." The officer at the nav station worked furiously over his star chart. "It looks like we're dealing with the Chicago system, Captain. A binary star system, hosting a pair of Imperial Dyson plate colonies. Current records do not indicate whether or not the colonies survived the war."
"Well, we're about to find out," answered the Captain. "Helm, set course for the Chicago system. Engage stealth fields."
The ship blurred and shot forward again, this time to remain in hyperspace for a much longer time.
NRS Pitch
Devastation reigned.
The Enclave's advance had come straight through this system, which had at one point contained an Imperial mining colony. Apart from the crew of the stealth frigate, no life remained in this system now.
The frigate's powerful sensors picked up the charred remains of the colony planet, as well as the hulks of hundreds of massive warships, many larger than even the Republic's own Dauntless class, drifting aimlessly in solar orbit. The Imperial Third Battle Fleet had chosen to make a stand here, and the losses had been tremendous.
No amount of searching was going to find anything more useful than scrap metal out here, thought Captain Carlton bitterly. He turned to give the order to prepare to leave the system when an alert light flashed on the long-range sensor panel.
"Captain, we've got something. Looks like encrypted communications and weapons signatures, at interstellar range. Vector plotted. Attempting to isolate location from signal strengths now."
"No time for that," Carlton answered. "Helm, Conn. Set course for deep space at a right angle to the vector Sensors is giving you. Engage hyperdrive and move us five light years out for triangulation."
"Aye, Captain." The frigate's engines engaged and swung the bow around to the proper course. A moment later, the ship blurred and streaked forward, disappearing from the system as quickly as she came.
______________________________________________
Deep Space
The frigate dropped out of hyperspace a few seconds later and engaged sensors without delay.
"Position triangulated, Captain," came the call from the sensor officer.
"Navigation?"
"One moment, sir." The officer at the nav station worked furiously over his star chart. "It looks like we're dealing with the Chicago system, Captain. A binary star system, hosting a pair of Imperial Dyson plate colonies. Current records do not indicate whether or not the colonies survived the war."
"Well, we're about to find out," answered the Captain. "Helm, set course for the Chicago system. Engage stealth fields."
The ship blurred and shot forward again, this time to remain in hyperspace for a much longer time.
It's Rogue, not Rouge!
HAB | KotL | VRWC/ELC/CDA | TRotR | The Anti-Confederate | Sluggite | Gamer | Blogger | Staff Reporter | Student | Musician
HAB | KotL | VRWC/ELC/CDA | TRotR | The Anti-Confederate | Sluggite | Gamer | Blogger | Staff Reporter | Student | Musician
-
Thirdfain
- The Player of Games
- Posts: 6924
- Joined: 2003-02-13 09:24pm
- Location: Never underestimate the staggering drawing power of the Garden State.
Moloch
Earl Inhabrim Chelman-Hawthorne the Seventy-Third was idly scanning through the handful of dispatches his private AI had fowarded for his personal perusal when he came up short.
"My goodness. Muffy! Muffy, darling, look what's come in the mail!"
Muffy's fantastically tailored and modified self came sashaying up, all wrapped in imported Terran silk and slippers, her hair still a little mussed before the servants could get their hands on it; it had been a long night, thanks to the extensive gengineering available to Molochi aristocrats even of Muffy's advanced age.
"What is it, dear?"
The Earl handed his fantastic wife the flimsy, real paper no less.
"My goodness! The Archduke, from all the way out in the provinces. What shall we do?"
The Earl toook a puff from his (entirely cancer-free and safe) pipe, releasing a small cloud of mild narcotic.
"Well, of course they are black sheep, being colonists and all... hardly civilized, you know..."
"Oh, but dear, I would just be the most fashionable woman there! Think of it, you and I, in our very best, surrounded by Gilead's famous barbarian splendor!"
The earl laughed, a high-pitched and nasal sound.
"Darling, did you take the time to look at the guest list? It reads like a who's who of high society! You'd not be able to take a step without bumping rears with one of the Baronesses Kesselring or some obnoxious Orbital petty marquise."
Muffy put on one of her very best pouts, her lips still perfect at girlish at eighty.
"But my dear, sweet Inhabrim! Isn't it true that the Vaughts just sold our little country cousin a quartet of battleships to make the Navy proud? And that he's still looking for suppliers for spare parts and replacements? Why it wouldn't just be a vacation, you'd have plenty of time for business as well."
The earl sighed and put down his pipe.
"Well, I suppose if I don't go, those abominable Burgesses will mob the poor man and rob him blind. Hmmmph, why, if they offer up that brat of theirs in marriage he might even be blinded to their inferior acumen! Alright, darling- we'll go!"
She squealed with delight as he swept her off the feet.
"A vacation to the Periphery, how lovely. We must celebrate. House? Tell the servants we'll need another half-hour."
She whispered something impish in his ear, and flicked a tongue.
"Ahem, make that a whole hour!"
The flimsy, quite forgotten settled to the floor.
Jeremiah II Hawthorne, Archduke of Gilead, Baron of the City on the Hill, Hetman of the Affiliation, cordially invites you to a party celebrating his daughter Jessica's attainment of majority...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Similar letters arrived at offices, palaces, and town-houses across Moloch and the ISA. The recipients were all old blood, nobles with lines going back to the Empire and before. The invited were not necessarily rich and powerful, though many were, but they were all very well bred. Coming from a noble as individually powerful as the Archduke of Gilead, whose domain included an entire regional power and a fleet of modern Molochi-built battleships, it as certain to be one of the social events of the season.
Earl Inhabrim Chelman-Hawthorne the Seventy-Third was idly scanning through the handful of dispatches his private AI had fowarded for his personal perusal when he came up short.
"My goodness. Muffy! Muffy, darling, look what's come in the mail!"
Muffy's fantastically tailored and modified self came sashaying up, all wrapped in imported Terran silk and slippers, her hair still a little mussed before the servants could get their hands on it; it had been a long night, thanks to the extensive gengineering available to Molochi aristocrats even of Muffy's advanced age.
"What is it, dear?"
The Earl handed his fantastic wife the flimsy, real paper no less.
"My goodness! The Archduke, from all the way out in the provinces. What shall we do?"
The Earl toook a puff from his (entirely cancer-free and safe) pipe, releasing a small cloud of mild narcotic.
"Well, of course they are black sheep, being colonists and all... hardly civilized, you know..."
"Oh, but dear, I would just be the most fashionable woman there! Think of it, you and I, in our very best, surrounded by Gilead's famous barbarian splendor!"
The earl laughed, a high-pitched and nasal sound.
"Darling, did you take the time to look at the guest list? It reads like a who's who of high society! You'd not be able to take a step without bumping rears with one of the Baronesses Kesselring or some obnoxious Orbital petty marquise."
Muffy put on one of her very best pouts, her lips still perfect at girlish at eighty.
"But my dear, sweet Inhabrim! Isn't it true that the Vaughts just sold our little country cousin a quartet of battleships to make the Navy proud? And that he's still looking for suppliers for spare parts and replacements? Why it wouldn't just be a vacation, you'd have plenty of time for business as well."
The earl sighed and put down his pipe.
"Well, I suppose if I don't go, those abominable Burgesses will mob the poor man and rob him blind. Hmmmph, why, if they offer up that brat of theirs in marriage he might even be blinded to their inferior acumen! Alright, darling- we'll go!"
She squealed with delight as he swept her off the feet.
"A vacation to the Periphery, how lovely. We must celebrate. House? Tell the servants we'll need another half-hour."
She whispered something impish in his ear, and flicked a tongue.
"Ahem, make that a whole hour!"
The flimsy, quite forgotten settled to the floor.
Jeremiah II Hawthorne, Archduke of Gilead, Baron of the City on the Hill, Hetman of the Affiliation, cordially invites you to a party celebrating his daughter Jessica's attainment of majority...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Similar letters arrived at offices, palaces, and town-houses across Moloch and the ISA. The recipients were all old blood, nobles with lines going back to the Empire and before. The invited were not necessarily rich and powerful, though many were, but they were all very well bred. Coming from a noble as individually powerful as the Archduke of Gilead, whose domain included an entire regional power and a fleet of modern Molochi-built battleships, it as certain to be one of the social events of the season.
Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it's just the opposite.
John Kenneth Galbraith (1908 - )