War.. War never changes. This saying has stood the test of time, it has seen empires rise and fall, stars be birthed and winked out. It has seen horrid dictators and greater leaders. War, is like an echo. Its always there and even if you think you have finally controlled it, it will get out.. It always gets out. But that is a story for another time, another place. Here however is a story of war in its rawest form, of violence borne from petty hatreds and fear.
In the outer rim of the Floren Gemini Galaxy two massive forces face off for the fate of a people, and more-over for the fate of the galaxy itself. The noble New Hope Alliance and their sworn enemy, the Iodorian Federation of Worlds. Now, based on the names you would think both of these nations would be at peace, maybe more? Unfortunately, that is not the case. But to truly understand this conflict one must look to the past.
The New Hope Alliance, an ancient ideal brought to surface by a race of bi-pedal canine-like sentients dubbed the Canians and the near-human Norians during a period of unbelievable strife. The creation of the Alliance was simple, to rid the Canian homeworld of the unethical and abusive rulers of the world, the Canian Dominion. The Dominion was a small group of centuries old Canians who had supplemented themselves with advanced cybernetics, giving them what was practically immortality, and they used this same technology to keep their people in a pre-terran Cold War state through the use of legions of mechanical slaves and soldiers.
As time went on, the war began to turn as an elite force of Norians gave up their own humanity to take on the power of the Dominions leaders, the Hundred and One was born, under the leadership of the Hundred and One's commander, a kind hearted Norian known only as 'Romeo', the Alliance pushed the Dominion back, winning victory after victory until finally the Dominion fled the planet, taking with them much of their technology as they retreated to the depths of space.
With them gone, the Hundred and One vanished into myth and legend and the Alliance formed itself into a world-wide government. Within a hundred years they had expanded to their neighboring worlds and had even finished constructing a functional FTL Drive. With this they could tunnel directly into subspace to reach other systems and chart places they had never thought of before. A time of peace reigned as the spacial arm of the Alliance, the New Hope Alliance Stellar Defense Arm or NHASDA as it was acronym'ed, defended the colonies with diligence and honor. Eventually however they came into contact with another race, The Iodorian Federation of Worlds. At the time no-one knew how dangerous they were, but in the months following the meeting they would learn.
Shortly after first contact the NHA staunchly identified their borders to the Iodorians, marking out their systems with an accuracy that still is the pride of their AI to this day, in response the Iodorians claimed all the worlds on the borders and went so far as to attack and kidnap the entire staff of a border-embassy station which quickly escalated into a full scale skirmish between the Defense Arm's Twentieth Defense Fleet, and three Iodorian Heavy Cruisers. The battle was costly with ten of the twenty four frigates in the fleet destroyed and a battleship disabled at the cost of one Iodorian Carrier. However half of the stations crew was evacuated, including the daughter of the NHA's Current Prime Minister. This was the first step to war.
After the battle had ended eight fleets were diverted and energy shielding was reverse-engineered from the ruined Carrier, this gave the Alliance's ships an even footing against the vastly superior Iodorian Navy, creation of several large battlestations and a new embassy was planned and done by the end of the year, just in time for the on-coming slaughter.
The date was 3/13/2327. The Iodorian president had somehow managed to arrive un-noticed on the surface of the Alliance homeworld of Tempesta and was purchasing a warm beverage from a local coffee shop in the Norian capitol of Noria City when disaster struck, a human in civilian attire attacked and killed her in broad daylight before being taken down by Norian officers, after being rushed to the nearest medical center it was made clear that the president had died, a single entrance wound in the forehead from a ballistic weapon was the only mark on her body.
Within minutes the largest ship in the Iodorian Navy, a dreadnought of unsurpassed strength and mass at nearly thirty eight kilometers of pure death and despair exited FTL directly over the city, forces from the ship quickly began to overtake the city and execute any who rebelled against them. All across the city thousands of Police officers and public workers took up arms with the local militia to hold off the attackers while police aircraft battled pitched dogfights through the cities streets. Many lives were lost, and before the military could arrive in force, the Iodorians did the unthinkable. In the skies above the city a single large plex-glass shell fell towards the city as the Iodorian Dreadnought jumped into FTL, and seconds later it exploded. The detonation mixed the Red Matter core of the bomb with various other elements and in layman's terms, it detonated into a miniature singularity. This quickly grew to the size of a normal black hole and within the month, the Tempera system was no more.
In the months that followed the NHA splintered into smaller factions before finally reforming, from the ashes of this tragedy the NHA was remade into a shield against the destructive nature of the Iodorians, but it wasn't enough. The Iodorians sent the might of their fleets to destroy them, and after ten years of constant warfare, they are near their tasks completion.
New Tempera Starsystem.
Stardate 3/13/2329
Peacemaker Class Command Ship NHAS Shield of the Void.
Holding orbit over the garden world of New Tempesta was the remains of the New Hope Alliance, after the loss of the Hathem Line, what remained of the Navy had pulled back to New Cania, and from there they had fought the Iodorians in a bloody backpedaling war of withdrawal. For every frigate the NHA lost, they took two Iodorian frigates with them, with every battleship they took one. But it wasn't enough, the Iodorians and their legions of cloned soldiers simply kept coming, like a wave that would wipe away everything if given time.
The battle over Los Marna was the last fortress before New Tempesta, and now the Iodorians were coming, every ship that could fight had been pulled into the line. Pirates, mercenaries, even personnel craft were present among the NHA's larger and more heavily armed frigates, cruisers and battleships. But at the center of the fleet was the real hearts, the only thing that made the Iodorians think about an attack more then anything else in space. Sitting in formation with their escorts were the powerful Peacemaker's, command ships designed not only to act as the center of a fleet, but to repair it, feed it, and arm it on the fly with its many bays and mining centers. It could even construct smaller ships up to the frigate class on the fly if given the resources and carried enough crew to man any ship in the fleet eighty times over.
It was on one of these ship that one of the oldest known members of the NHA fleet, and more over the NHA Admiralty stood and watched from the bridge as the tens of thousands of vessels in formation around him checked in. "It doesn't surprise me that they're late." The man groaned, his freshly pressed white uniform looking somewhat out of place on his worn and somewhat wrinkled face, his flat-topped cap lying on the command terminal in front of him as he stared off into the crowed space ahead of him. He was a Norian, and an Admiral at that based on the emblem marking his cap. In the holo-tank next to him was a woman, a female of Canian decent who was reviewing the deployment pattern of the fleet. "Admiral, all ships have finished entering the Heavens Gate defense pattern, long range scanners report IFN are still twenty minutes away.
"Good, lets hope for the sake of our grandchildren that we win. Give me fleet status." The man would rumble. Next to him a number of small boxes filled with data would appear around the woman, her muzzle shifting slightly. "Current count is at Fifty-five thousand six hundred and thirty-one escorts, twenty-five thousand thirty-six hundred and ten capitol ships, and twelve thousand six hundred and one Super-capitols with the Shield included." She'd list off, sliding one of the boxes to the side. "All together we have seven point eight billion fightercraft from the fleet, stations, and civilian craft standing by. The Red Talons and Shadow Fox Squadron have joined our current fighter contingent on-board, bringing our number of on-board craft to twelve-hundred." She'd finish, a frown marking her muzzle at the lack of acknowledgment from the man.
"Status of our weapons and shields, I want a full report." He'd say, his right hand coming up to cusp his white bearded chin, his brown eyes looking over the fleet lay-out sharply as he issues silent orders with the tap of a finger. "Current armament count is at two-point seven thousand batteries of Harbinger two-thousand millimeter railguns armed with one out of action for maintenance, spinal MAC's are loaded with two seventy two mega-ton slugs and are charged to full power. Sparrow missile batteries are at seventy-two thousand missiles armed and ready plus immediate replacement after firing. CIWS reports similar to the Harbingers, all ten-thousand fifty millimeter auto-cannons are loaded and prepared for attack. Shields report a similar situation, they are at ninety-nine point-two percent due to a faulty coupling but all ten secondary fusion reactors are operating at peak efficiency, the three primary reactors are also online though it took me a moment to get a response from them." She'd add.
The man would give her a look at this, the AI crossing her arms. "What, you try checking on something instantly on something the size of a large city, it takes a minute to get a report on something forty-two thousand six hundred and eight meters away." She'd reply indignantly. "I never questioned why it took you a moment, but I am thankful for the reminder." The admiral would reply with a chuckle. His laugh would fade as a single red marker appears on his console. "PSIDAR, Identify that target." He'd say, the friendly tone slipping from his voice as he clicks back into his war-mask.
At her seat on the right side of the bridge, the PSIDAR operator began cycling through the frequencies of the target before shaking her head, her muzzle dropping in disbelief. "A-admiral.. Its, they.. Its a Red Matter torpedo, long range!" She'd finally call out earning the gaze of all four bridge crew, the AI, and the Admiral himself. "By Tanith's blood.." The admiral would mutter, his body slumping slightly as his gaze searches the terminal After a moment he'd raise his head. "PSIDAR, distance." He'd mutter, the Canian responding in her hurried tone. "Estimated impact in.. Eight minutes." With that the Admiral moved his right hand and returned his cap to his head before pushing off the command console and making his way forward, his steps echoing in the sudden silence as he stops just behind the navigators chair and lays a hand on the mans shoulder. "I need your chair son.." He'd mutter, nodding the young Norian would slide out of the chair and allow the Admiral to take his seat, his hands resting on the control sticks for the ship.
"Eillena, I need FleetComm." He'd mutter, and after a few seconds the distinct ping of a channel opening would signal his request. "This is Grand Admiral Cal Doe Dregia to all fleet vessels. We'll take this missile." He'd state as he pushes forward on the control sticks, the massive multi-megaton capitol-ship pushing itself forward as its Admiral aligns it with fate. Off to the side the Canian PSIDAR Operator can only stare in horrified shock at her screen. "Collision course, impact in.. Four minutes thirty seconds. Admiral, our escorts are matching pace." She'd say with a tone of surprise.
The admiral would only offer her a glance before speaking aloud. "Dammit Silvan, what are you doing you crazy Lynx." Moments later a soft voice would respond. "My duty, it has been an honor serving with you Admiral and we will fly with you till the end." The voice would reply, all eight of the sleek Raymans Class frigates taking positions on each side of the ship while above it a single modified Saracen Class heavy cruiser held itself protectively over the ship. "All escorts transfer power to the FTL Drives, Admiral we will open a joined rift on your mark." The man would say as PSIDAR calls out again. "One minute and twenty two!"
Opening the internal comms, the Admiral continued manipulating the sticks, one hand dropping down to input coordinates. "All crew to crash stations, brace for impact." He'd mutter. Above him a large identifier would appear to highlight the missile and estimated time till impact. "Almost there.. Stand-by to activate the Drive." He'd mutter calmly, his finger hovering over the activation key as the countdown dropped from thirty, to twenty, to ten. "Hold.." He'd mutter as the numbers dropped. '..ight, Seven, six, Fiv-' "Activate FTL." He'd yell, his finger smashing down on the key with a strength one wouldn't expect from a man of such advanced age.
Ahead of the flotilla a massive silvery-purple disk would open just as the RM Missile passes the halfway point, the weapon just starting the process of detonating before the event transports it somewhere else. However the fleet, unable to halt their momentum fly straight and true into the event horizon as it begins to shudder and then finally collapse.
In the blackness of FTL at last, Admiral Dregia slumps in the navigators chair, sweat coating his brow as he sits there, breathing. "Eillena.. What happened?" He'd finally ask after a few minutes of silence, his gaze rising to the stunned expressions of the bridge officers around him. "Scanning now Admiral, whatever that Red Matter Bomb did, it disrupted our FTL Event.. I'm still trying to get adequate data now, but its.. Wait, Admiral." She'd frown, looking confused for a moment. Confusion and an Artificial Intelligence are not something that go hand in hand.
"What is it?" Dregia would ask only to be interrupted as the nav-console begins flashing with warnings. "Officer, seats now!" He'd grunt, his hands working on the securement straps of the Nav-chair. All around him the officers would scramble to their seats while the navigator, after a moment of hesitation slides into the command chair, the full shoulder and waist straps of it securing him in place. Re-opening the internal comm the Admiral would wince as the floor suddenly shakes. "All crew, brace for sudden deceleration!" He'd call out as the shudders and shakes grow in strength, the ship itself moaning at the abuse before suddenly the darkness falls away to reveal the stars, but closer then that are.. "Shields!" Dregia would call as the first massive piece of stone bounces off the bow of his ship, the massive super-capitol class barely registering it while the smaller frigates and heavy cruiser nimbly dodge around it. Pulling back on the control stick, the massive vessel slowly pulled itself up and out off the relatively thin belt of space junk, the few asteroids that did impact doing thankfully little to the ships hull aside from scratch the paint.
Leveling out the Admiral would reach down and unclip the securement harness before standing up, his legs giving way for a moment before he catches himself. "Eillena, find out where we are and get Silvan on the horn." He'd growl after regaining his footing, moving back to the command chair he'd let the navigator squeeze by him before sitting back down in the padded chair, the gel-layer contorting to his body.
Ahead of him on the console itself Eillena would appear, her arms crossed over her digitized chest. "Your not going to like what I've got.." She'd say bluntly, a frown visible on her virtual muzzle. "Lay it on me, it cant be much worse then facing a black hole in a can?" He'd respond, a small grin lighting his aged face for a moment before a holographic star-system map appeared in front of him. Not much to his surprise was the fact he didn't recognize it. "What exactly am I looking at Ellie?" He'd ask after looking over the map a moment.
"A standard Class-B Starsystem with seven planitoids, six of which show signs of occupation while the last one, the one we're orbiting, is in a deadzone." She'd respond. "Two asteroid belts and a single main sequence star as well as a large ortz-cloud finish up the system's basic scan, but I'm detecting a large number of artificial objects in orbit around this planet here.." She'd say, highlighting the largest world in the system and its two moons in yellow. "I'd recommend dispatching teams to find out where we are.. As none of the star clusters I've observed match up to any known database's I have access to." She'd finish with a tone of disappointment.
Taking in her words Dregia would nod and press a key on the command console. "SpecComm, report." He'd say as a triad of voices argue on the other end. "Ehm, status normal sir. A few of the men were injured when the ship started shaking, but we're fine." A rather nervous sounding male voice responded. "Good, please inform Teams Gold, Silver, and Crimson to prepare for immediate stealth deployment." He'd say, his console bringing up the status' of the teams. "I'll have them on stand-by at once sir."
Unknown Starsystem
Date Unknown
Chameleon Class Stealth Dropship Charlie Twenty-two-five
En-route to unidentified Super-Terran class world.
Kirra was not happy, when your in the middle of your sleep cycle and your woken up after the commander of your ship did something suicidal and no-one bothers to mention it until just before you leave tends to do that. But on top of that she was supposed to take her fireteam down and figure out just where they'd ended up. 'Frak my life..' She groaned. Inside her modified Scout variant helmet she sighed, she was a Lynx, a genetically modified being with an IQ of nearly nine hundred and ten, and yet here she was in a suit of highly advanced stealth armor, fitted with the best lightweight plating and weaponry available in the NHA, a far-cry from the ancient armors they'd used in the past. But why was she here, why was she leading a team of three other Lynx just like her onto some giant alien planet? With a grin she could have answered it herself, its because she loves every minute of it. "You alright captain?" The smaller of the armored figures asked, earning a curt nod from the Lynx. "I'm fine Natalie.. Just tired." She replied, she'd grown used to IDing her team through the faint differences in size and armor that she knew who was who with little more then a glance.
"Captain Mirrabel, we're starting our approach to the relay now.." Raising her hand to the side of her helmet she activated her comm. "Good, ETA to drop." Se asked. "ETA is likely two mikes.. Wait, i've got something on PSIDAR, boggy at our seven, going stealth." The pilot responded, and less then a second later the shuttle shuddered as it went into 'Stealth Mode', its outer hull mimicking the terrain below. Getting to her feet Kirra quickly pulled herself to the port-side door and peeked out the reinforced window just in time to spot two streamlined violet and purple craft fly past, both only large enough to hold one person max while a third, much larger craft followed behind, it almost looked like a tuning fork from the old history books, but based on what it was carrying, it wasn't for finding water.
Raising her hand to her helmet again she'd signal the pilot. "Find a clearing, get us down.." She'd mutter before turning back and removing her modified plasma bolt carbine, her gloved hands lingering on its sleek black shape before turning it to check the charge. 'Full.. Perfect.' she'd grin. "Gear up, we're going in." She' say over the comms, the rest of her team acknowledging with nods or verbal agreement. "We're going to spread out on landing and recon the area, report anything odd." She'd say as the pilot opens his channel again. "Captain, we've lost contact with the Shield.. Hard to tell whats jamming us." He'd say before earning a sigh from the already irritated female Lynx. "You heard him, SpecComm will not be keeping us company on this Op." A few seats down and hefting a Higaren Non-linear sniper rifle her sniper, a Corporal James Tiberun laughed. "I'm feeling lonely already." He'd remark quietly as a red light appears above both port and starboard doors.
Taking that as their signal, the team as one moves to the doors and does a final weapons check before confirming their readiness. After a few seconds the shuttle would shudder as it touches down, the light turning green as the doors slide open, allowing the black armored team to quickly spread out into what appeared to be a rice paddy, a few small buildings and a fence being the only signs of civilization. Switching to interior comes Kirra would frown, something about the whole setting was off. "Where are the people?" The female voice, a medic by the name of Lizzan asked.
"No idea, spread out and check the ajoining fields, O'brian and Tiberun, over that fence and recon, Lizz your with me." She said as the dropship quickly closed its doors and lifted off, its cloak reforming seconds later. "Going dark, we'll stay on-station Crimson." The pilot remarked. "Copy Charlie Two-two-five." With that the two larger armored figures broke into a sprint before jumping up and over the imposing two story wall, their augmented strength and modified leg-servo's making the seemingly large jump almost simple looking and within moment they were off the sensors in Kirra's helmet, their stealth systems going live. With a nod to Lizzan the two quickly enabled their cloaks and readied their weapons as they moved down to the edge of the cliff and after a moment of hesitation jumped, their jet-packs deploying and slowing their fall to a gentle glide as they neared the ground.
With a quiet thud their boots hit the grass of the bluff and they broke into a sprint,a faint signal being highlighted on Kirra's HUD. "Got something, its in Galactic Standard.. Looks like a distress beacon." She muttered, giving Liz a glance. "Lets go take a look." She responded as the two cloaked figures began moving down the bluff the column of smoke rapidly becoming visible as they approached the structure and stepped onto the roof of one of the level structures, leaning over it to get a look at the wreck. "Got a vehicle here.. I'm seeing no bodies, but I think theirs plasma scoring." She says with a hint of confusion. "Its not ours at least, to big of a radius burned." She says before dropping down next to the vehicle, her rifle held in one hand while she looks over the scene before finally stopping at a wood pallet. Leaning down she'd pull it up. "Found the beacon." She'd mutter as the sound of blades cutting air begins to grow in the air.
Lowering the pallet she'd look skyward to see two twin engined VTOL's in olive drab slow to a hover over her position, the figures in the central mounted troop bay obviously looking at her position with interest before breaking off and moving towards the bluff as they dropped altitude. Motioning Liz to follow her the two moved out of the immediate area surrounding the site and took cover nearby as the armored figures, all four of them shorter then her, moved in to examine the beacon. One of them, the one in brown armor with some sort of skull etched into his visor removed the device from its place beneath the pallet and handed it to the one in teal. She was to far away to hear what was said, but she noticed something off. 'One.. Two.. Three.. Fo- wait.' She thought and looked again, there was the one in navy blue, the one in brown, the one in teal.. But the fourth.
Glancing at her sensors she hardly had a moment to react as she turned around, catching the armored fist in her hand as the black armored soldier struck, the blade in his hand cut through the air where her neck had been moments ago and cut into the grunt beside her. Instead of raising her weapon she dropped it, sending a sharp right hook at the armored form which he blocked and returned in kind much to her surprise, not many were known to match Lynx in combat. Grinning behind her mask she barely noticed her cloak drop from the rapid movements and simply focused on the fight as she blocked his hook. Gripping his knife the black figure pulled it from the ground and held it in a ready stance ahead of him while Kirra stepped to the side, putting him between the ruined vehicle and her before retrieving her own blade, the nano-titanium shining in the mid-day light as she swapped back to exterior comms. "Your good.." She stated as the soldier stopped, his charcoal black visor fixed on her own white visor.
The sound of weapons being cocked was enough to drag her attention away from the armored man as the sight of the other three soldiers taking aim at her clicked in her mind. "Thinking fast she tried to find a way out of the situation, but most left her injured or worse, especially if the rest of these soldiers were as good as this one. Finally after a second of thought she decided on her plan. "I'm going to put my knife down.. Alright?" She asked over her speakers, the black armored figure barely tilting his head. "Lead?" He asked as the blue armored one responded. "Stand down.. for now." Slowly he lowered his rifle to a ready position, the black figure simply returning his blade to its sheathe and retrieving his rifle from his back.
With a quick glance at the gathered team Kirra slowly sheathed her blade and reached up for her helmet, the seal breaking with a faint hiss as she removed it and narrowed her eyes, it was always like taking off sunglasses with it. After blinking a few times to let her eyes adjust she turned to the blue armored soldier, her gaze looking over the armor before hardening. "Sorry about that.. Your friend surprised me." She replied quietly. Surprisingly all four of the soldiers simply stared at her in silence and for a few seconds she could have sworn they'd closed comms when the brown one coughed. "Uh Carter, you seeing this cat too?"
Flattening her ears against her pale tabby furred head, Kirra fumed.
So yeah, this was more of a Forum RP based thing that I couldn't stop thinking about, so I decided to go with it and see where it went. Noble Six fights a living AI and a galaxy far far away is overtaken by a race of cruel god-wanna-be's. Tell me what you think about this, cause it only gets bigger from here.