Hard Light Productions Forums

Off-Topic Discussion => Arts & Talents => Topic started by: Assassin714 on November 07, 2018, 08:06:16 pm

Title: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Assassin714 on November 07, 2018, 08:06:16 pm
Background info:

https://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=94920.0
https://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=95049.0
https://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=95086.0

Current players:

Assassin714 - Game master
Autohummer - Hiigaran fleet (Homeworld Universe) Initial location - Coruc-Tel system, Homeworld Universe
Lorric - Terran fleet (WoD Universe) Initial location - Carina(?) system asteroid belt, WoD universe
bomb3rman - Whitestar class Nightfly (Babylon 5 Universe) Initial location - Delta Serpentis jump gate, Blue Planet Universe
Novachen - GTVA fleet (Cold Element Universe) Initial location - Capella system, 2335 (Cold Element Universe)
HLD_Prophecy - NTF Fleet (FS2 Universe) Initial location - Polaris system, NTF war era
crizza - GTVA fleet (Blue Planet Universe) Initial location - Delta Serpentis, Blue Planet Universe

Just waiting for Lorric to confirm his starting location.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Lorric on November 08, 2018, 06:14:53 am
Yes, the system is called Carina, if that's what you need to know.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Assassin714 on November 08, 2018, 10:38:55 am
Yes, the system is called Carina, if that's what you need to know.

I can't find it on the map (https://wiki.hard-light.net/images/7/74/Spacemap.png) though.

Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: HLD_Prophecy on November 08, 2018, 11:19:51 am
Do we await the first action of the gamemaster?
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Assassin714 on November 08, 2018, 03:25:36 pm
Do we await the first action of the gamemaster?

Yes. I'll have some encounters for most of you soon.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Lorric on November 08, 2018, 03:36:27 pm
Yes, the system is called Carina, if that's what you need to know.

I can't find it on the map (https://wiki.hard-light.net/images/7/74/Spacemap.png) though.
It's on the map used for the forum game that my fleet is from.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: HLD_Prophecy on November 08, 2018, 06:21:03 pm
Do we await the first action of the gamemaster?

Yes. I'll have some encounters for most of you soon.

Kool thanks!

Appreciate you putting this together, this is gonna be fun!
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Assassin714 on November 08, 2018, 07:23:00 pm
Yes, the system is called Carina, if that's what you need to know.

I can't find it on the map (https://wiki.hard-light.net/images/7/74/Spacemap.png) though.
It's on the map used for the forum game that my fleet is from.

Link?

Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Lorric on November 09, 2018, 05:58:39 am
Yes, the system is called Carina, if that's what you need to know.

I can't find it on the map (https://wiki.hard-light.net/images/7/74/Spacemap.png) though.
It's on the map used for the forum game that my fleet is from.

Link?
https://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=90461.0

I don't know where it is but there is a larger map somewhere. That map is condensed for the test game. And that map is different to the one used in the first forum game, which is different to the one you showed.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Assassin714 on November 09, 2018, 09:34:18 am
Yes, the system is called Carina, if that's what you need to know.

I can't find it on the map (https://wiki.hard-light.net/images/7/74/Spacemap.png) though.
It's on the map used for the forum game that my fleet is from.
Link?
https://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=90461.0

I don't know where it is but there is a larger map somewhere. That map is condensed for the test game. And that map is different to the one used in the first forum game, which is different to the one you showed.

I suppose what I'm really asking is where it is in relation to other systems, and who controls it.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Lorric on November 09, 2018, 06:33:43 pm
I found his big map! I've gone looking for that in the past more than once and failed to find it, at last I found it! :)

(http://i1054.photobucket.com/albums/s490/kingspoon/WoD%20Forum%20Game/Strategy%20map2_zpsli8u3g4e.jpg~original)
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Assassin714 on November 10, 2018, 09:41:13 am
So it's Terran controlled, then?

Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Lorric on November 10, 2018, 10:05:07 am
So it's Terran controlled, then?
Yeah. That whole map is Terran. This is before the Hierarchy show up, like it would be at the start of WoD.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: HLD_Prophecy on November 10, 2018, 10:17:28 am
So this is the map for anyone starting in the WoD universe?

I'm a tad confused. Are all players going to meet at some point? are we all in one universe at the start?
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Assassin714 on November 11, 2018, 10:50:37 am
So this is the map for anyone starting in the WoD universe?

I'm a tad confused. Are all players going to meet at some point? are we all in one universe at the start?

Most of you start in different universes, but there will be many ways and opportunities to go between them.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: HLD_Prophecy on November 11, 2018, 05:09:55 pm
Cool! Ready when you are!  :yes:
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Assassin714 on November 11, 2018, 07:19:47 pm
Okay, I will start with a few plot threads. (Bear in mind that I haven't done this kind of thing before so it might take a while to get a feel for it). Also keep in mind that everyone should be in-character, i.e. don't act on information that your characters would not know in-universe.

In the Coruc-Tel system, Autohummer's fleet discovers that many of the resources of the system have been exhausted, and relatively recently. There is also a field of what appears to be Vagyr debris.

Autohummer must decide how to proceed.

On the edge of the Carina system, Lorric's fleet detects a faint energy signature, but interference from the asteroid belt is making more detailed scans impossible.

Lorric must decide how to proceed.

In the Delta Serpentis system (BP Universe), nothing anomalous appears to be happening, so bomb3rman and crizza may proceed to make first contact with each other.

In the Capella system, Novachen's fleet discovers that it has somehow been displaced back in time - analysis of star patterns indicates it is the year 2335, right before the onset of the Great War.

Novachen must decide how to proceed.

In the Polaris system, while on a routine patrol, HLD_Prophecy's squadron has stumbled across a GTSC Faustus class science cruiser which appears to be employing some kind of sensor stealth system - even when it is within visual range, it cannot be targeted. The ship is escorted by only a wing of 3 Myrmidons, which are likewise stealthed.

HLD_Prophecy must decide how to proceed.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: bomb3rman on November 12, 2018, 07:09:09 am
Sorry for the OT: are we supposed to write in this thread or another? (never played sth Like this, tool
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: crizza on November 12, 2018, 07:59:53 am
OT: Guess you post here, you owe me an answer anyway.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Autohummer on November 12, 2018, 10:49:07 am
-HNS Phuur-Nan Task Force, Coruc-Tel System-

Commander Jos Ferdi paced around the bridge, each stomp keeping the otherwise laid-back bridge crew ever more nervous. He had been doing this every day since the start of this blasted war, when the Taiidan Republic, his homeland, was torn apart by the Vaygr hordes. The blitzkrieg was led by none other than the old Imperialists, who had the gall to call loyal servants of the people such as he traitors. He should be a happy man, now that the Republic has been liberated from the Imperial yoke, but he wasn't.

He was amongst the first to face the invasion, from the bridge of the Qwaar-Jet 2-class cruiser Eisenschild. The first Vaygr and Imperialist capital ships went down in seconds, no match for the quad ion cannon turrets fitted to the bow of the Eisenschild. Then more came. Every ship his men destroyed, two more hyperspaced out to take its place. They were the ones who held out the longest among the border forces, but eventually, all he could do was run. The allied lines collapsed so quickly that by the time he could stop running, he was already deep within Hiigaran space, his homeland brought under the jackboot of the Imperialists and their Vaygr masters.

His oath of service drove him to fight on. He asked his Hiigaran allies for aid, repairs for his ship and reinforcements for his crew, only to be met with betrayal. The Eisenschild was much too damaged to repair, they said. The ship was obsolete a hundred years ago, they said. He and his crew would be dispersed in the Hiigaran fleet to shore up the numbers, he was told.

And so Kapitän im Raum Jos Ferdi became Commander Jos Ferdi, assigned to a mining carrier in the middle of nowhere and fighting every day not to break his composure when his Hiigaran compatriots would lump him with the Imperialists and call him "Kharak Burner" when his people were the ones being burned.

"Commander?" asked the sensors officer. "You need to see this."

"Recalibrate the bow sensors," Ferdi said without looking. "If that thing acts up one more time I'll ask the captain to have it scrapped and rebuilt."

"Sir, I already did that," the Hiigaran said, bringing up the holographic sensors manager and dimming the CIC lights without Ferdi's permission. "We've got Vaygr signatures three hundred kloms from us, heading 055 angle plus 13."

"Battlestations! Next time just say it out loud without the introduction."

Alarms blared across the carrier as the crew rushed to their stations. Hurried whispers and footsteps soon filled the corridors.

"What do we have here?" Ferdi asked.

"Two Vaygr carriers, two destroyers and 40 plus strikecraft signatures, sir. They are holding position at this time."

"Get the training flight there and scout the enemy, maximum standoff range, come in from another vector than the carrier," Ferdi ordered. His recommendation of having the pilots train in shifts had paid off, as that meant at least a third of the task force's strikecraft were up at any time. "Scramble the rest, holding pattern."

"Yes sir."

"Then, summon the captain and tell the resource operation to hold their position."

"Sir, urgent report from the mobile refineries."

"They're under attack?!"

"Negative. They said everything harvestable in sectors Delta Zulu 3 through 5 are all gone."

"What? We'll deal with that later. Tell them they are to retreat to the carrier only if they see hostiles. Otherwise, they will stay right there."

It took a minute for the scouts to get into position, a lot slower than what Ferdi considered the usual. They were just nuggets, after all. They had to do a lot more growing to become something more than a kill tally on someone else's ship.

"Report," he said.

"This is Scout 3-1-1 to Phuur-Nan Command. We're in sensors range of the Vaygr fleet now.... They are wrecks, sir. All of them are dead."

"Any identifying features?"

"Average Vaygr ships, but the damage on their hulks is nothing like what we've seen in our manuals. A carrier and a destroyer have been cut right in half. That spoofed our sensors into thinking there's two of each."

"Anything else?"

"The fighters and corvettes are all dead, too. No survivors."

"Good. Secure the area and wait for further instructions," Ferdi cut the channel and left the ATC to their work. Now, the case of the missing resources. "Where is the captain?"

"We have sent a call to her room, but she hadn't responded."

"Very well, recall the resourcing operations, just to be safe. I'll have to go wake your boss from her beauty sleep," Ferdi sighed. Today was not his day. Well, it hadn't been his day every day for over 20 months now, but today was proving to be even less of his day than before. Just as he opened the door out of the CIC, Raonaid came running in and shouldered Ferdi square in the chest.

"Captain, please be more careful!" Ferdi said.

"Sorry, Commander," Raonaid said. "Give me an update."

"Captain, we have had an encounter with a Vaygr task force, but upon closer inspection, they are all wrecks. They seem to have been destroyed by a hitherto unknown weapon. With your permission I would like to send a salvage team to investigate."

"Do it. Anything else?"

"Yes. Our resourcing operations report their current work sectors, Delta Zulu 3, 4 and 5, to be completely devoid of resources."

"What?"

"I presume the Vaygr have made off with the mineral wealth of that region of space before they left-"

"No way," Raonaid said. "It has enough material to build the entire Hiigaran Navy twice. It's not something you'd just put in your pocket and walk away with. Even with all their efforts, the Vaygr couldn't possibly have mined it dry during the occupation. There's simply isn't enough time for it.... Not to mention if they did get their hands on all those resources, we'd have been already dead."

"Then...?"

"Boss?" asked the sensors officer.

"What is it?" Raonaid asked.

"I just did a mass scan of the system.... The survey data from before the war said the system should weight at least 820 yottatonnes. But the entire system right now has a mass of about 558."

"This isn't some clerical error, right?" Ferdi asked.

"No. I've double checked the databases. What should we do now, Boss?"

"Give me a direct channel to the refinery chief."

"Yes, Boss."

"This is Boss to Foreman 2. You said you are missing some resources?"

"Yeah, Boss. Nothing left but gravel out there. The cuts look straight and fresh, too, not much weathering. Whoever did it know their stuff, unlike those messy Vaygr idiots who leave bits everywhere."

"We'll find out. Stand down battlestations, everyone."

As the first shift ended half an hour later, Ferdi walked out of the CIC and handed it over to the second shift crew. He caught the captain looking over her logs in a corridor and went over.

"Captain, do you have a moment?" he asked.

"Is it about your assignment again, Commander?"

"Yes. I have petitioned to the Admiral for a transfer. I should be fighting together with my countrymen on the front. My skills would be better put to use there."

"I know. Heck, our carrier would have been more useful out there on the front than here. This is war, we don't get to choose. But speaking of the Admiral, she sent me a private transmission before the alert was raised. I was checking it out so I couldn't get to the CIC in time. Sorry about that."

"Am I authorised to know its contents?"

"Doesn't matter. The file was corrupted. I've requested a resend but no response so far. The weird thing was the file said it was sent the next month. I think the Admiral was just messing with us, she is a bit of an Enigma sometimes."

"Back in the Republic, we edit our file dates all the time, if we thought someone was eavesdropping on us."

"So it's extra-secret, I suppose? Well, until she sends me a fixed copy, there's no way to find out."

The task force took a day to salvage the Vaygr wrecks, both to look for an intact black box and to melt the hulks down for resources.
The mining crew visited several other promising locations, but the most they could get was a few thousand RUs between them. The mystery of the missing mass remained unsolved. A detailed report was sent back home and a science crew was called in, though they would not arrive for another week.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Assassin714 on November 12, 2018, 12:24:29 pm
Sorry for the OT: are we supposed to write in this thread or another? (never played sth Like this, tool

Yes, post in this thread.

As for Autohummer's storyline:

Your salvage team successfully recovers a black box from one of the Vagyr ships. After decrypting the data, it is revealed that the Vagyr arrived here several months ago in search of resources, but discovered that the system was in the process of being mined dry by what appeared to be some type of automated drones, that match nothing in your files. The Vagyr attacked, destroying several of the mining drones, but were quickly cut to pieces by a swift counterattack by a massive number of more heavily armed drones, using unknown types of energy pulse and beam weapons.

The drone ships ranged in size from strikecraft to behemoths over 4 kilometers long. They were all completely unmanned and did not reciprocate any attempt at communication. Their aesthetic traits were unlike those of any known faction, being mostly dark blue in color, with the smaller ones being mostly saucer-shaped with a bulge in the middle, and the larger ones looking like asymmetrical amalgamations of various mechanical parts. Data recovered from the black box suggests that they had converted a sizable percentage of the resources they had stripped from the system into more copies of themselves.

Currently, your ships detect no signs of these drones remaining in the system, but a further investigation of one of the former areas of heavy concentration of drone forces indicated by the Vagyr data might reveal a clue.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Colonol Dekker on November 12, 2018, 03:48:05 pm
Reading intently.   (Still sad I can't commit to engaging with my own fleet)
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: HLD_Prophecy on November 13, 2018, 01:31:25 am
The three cruisers sat about twenty to thirty klicks out from the Faustus. The science cruiser and its tiny escort circled lazily...

Upon arriving at the assigned patrol waypoint and stumbling upon the vessel, Guderian had requested twenty seconds of silence on the bridge. This was his usual practice when immediate danger was not present. He wanted time for him and his deck officers to think before he simply gave an order.

An idiosyncratic practice indeed. But it did work. Usually.

The Commodore spread his hands on the console, bringing up a tactical map. Nothing showed but the NTF cruisers. Only a low-resolution telescopic sight, piped directly to a small screen on the deck, indicated the presence of the offending science vessel and its attendant fighters. That, and the occasional engine burst or flickering light, visible to the sharp-eyed - such as the eager young deck watch. Having been mildly reprimanded on multiple occasions for "seeing things," they were rightly proud of themselves for picking out the Faustus quickly against the starry expanse.

"Well, men, this is the way it would seem - we've found something worth seeing. So have they. If our equipment - such as it is - can pick them up, you can bet they know that we're here, that we're NTF, and my mother's maiden name." A mild chuckle. Guderian picked up the comms chip. "Drive Core, Drive Core, pre-load these coordinates for jump... I want those jump drives primed and ready to go!" He turned to a nearby lieutenant. "Will, pass the same order to the 'Grace and the Ark. Thank you."

The Fire Control Observer frowned. "Sir... are we going to engage?"

"No. With sensor shielding like that, I'm guessing this can only be a GTVI expedition. Maybe SOC. They're after something important. If the mission was expendable, they'd have booked it once we showed up. Likely they'll bolt if we close the distance. It must be something worth sticking around just a bit longer for."

"We can manual aim. It's a bit tricky but it's been done. I can load up the 'boresighting' macros and we can get a pretty good guess as to where to aim... but of course..."

"Right. As soon as we open fire, they'll take on an erratic course. Maybe one of those new Hecates could calculate the differences and put out enough fire to saturate the target, but we can't. Again, they'd probably bolt. That said, if we stay here... we may find something worth seeing. Or not. Either way, we'll have the drives ready for jump if they call friends."

"We could call friends."

"We could... again, they know we're here. Likely all ears are pointed in our direction. Chances are we can't mask a transmission from a Faustus equipped with gear like that."

"So we wait?"

"We wait."




OOC: Thanks Assassin, these scenarios are cool!  :D



Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Assassin714 on November 13, 2018, 01:42:10 am
After several minutes of the uneasy standoff, the Faustus and its escort begin moving away from the NTF battlegroup. You still can't register them on sensors, but it seems likely that they are preparing to jump. Do you attempt to intercept, or let them escape?

Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: HLD_Prophecy on November 13, 2018, 02:14:03 am
Guderian watched without a word as the Faustus moved off.

"Sir? They could well be preparing to jump."

"I know. The sensor masking is keeping us from getting even a vague idea of their destination. Usually, with this much time, we'd have been able to get a general fix on where they're headed, but..."

"So... this was all for nothing?"

"Not at all. We went on patrol, as ordered. We found that some GTVA spook has been snooping around in our capital system. We know they're on to something juicy. And we took no losses doing so. All that? It's quite something. I know some of you are itching for action, but we're going to let them move off, jump if they like. We've found something worth knowing. Time to pass this along to Command, in person."

The Commodore gave orders to this effect to the other cruisers.


EDIT: Guderian muttered to himself. Strange, very strange indeed. Worrisome. How did they get past the nodes? Have they been hiding here since before the coup? How are their orders getting through? If our defense network is that permeable...

...best not to let the men know. By the fates... they'll probably figure it out soon enough.





OOC: Wow, quick response! Thanks!
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Assassin714 on November 13, 2018, 02:23:53 am
I just gave a quick response since I happened to be online.

Anyway, as the Faustus begins its jump, it sends a tight-beam transmission aimed directly at Guderian's cruiser. The data is incredibly dense and highly encrypted, and it quickly becomes apparent that it is unlikely that any NTF hardware or software short of Bosch's personal resources on the Iceni could crack it.

Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Lorric on November 13, 2018, 12:03:55 pm
As the player I'd send a wing of scout fighters to go have a look, but if I'm in character, I don't do anything. We're not at war at this time, there would be commercial traffic in the belt, unless there's anything unusual to rouse our curiosity, there'd be no reason to go investigate a faint signal I presume is on the edge of censor range. If it's closer, then we might want to see. Make sure it's not smugglers or pirates trying to hide themselves or a ship in trouble losing power.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: HLD_Prophecy on November 13, 2018, 12:42:52 pm
Guderian turned to his deck officers.

"That science vessel, it seems, was trying to send us a message. A heavily encrypted one. Nothing short of the highest levels of Command have the gear to crack this... and that means Admiral Bosch himself. I'd assume, then, that this message was meant for his eyes alone, at least initially. We're returning to Cascade Station for debrief, and then we'll hand this over to the Admiral."

I'll get it to Bosch in person if I can, he mused. Hand it off to our local superiors and it'll take ages to get up there... or worse, someone might think they have the clearance to crack it themselves.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: bomb3rman on November 13, 2018, 04:02:14 pm
- Independent Cruiser Nightfly, Delta Serpentis -

Fisher watched his Comm Officer as she tried to open a channel.

"This is Admiral Christopher Schulz, 19th Battlegroup, GTVA. Unknown ship, identify yourself!” The message was still set on a loop. Slowly but steady, it became a real nuisance.

Some curses came from Sally's place.

"Dammit! I can't get a transmission out! There are still energy fluctuations, blocking almost everything!" Then the sound of the dying engine echoed through the ship. The lights started to flicker. "Oh, great! Now even running isn't an option anymore!"

Fisher started looking for his cigarettes. A year ago, he started a try to stop this vice. It didn't last long.

"Bloody hell, Marcus, what's going on down there?! If we can't get a message out, these guys will start tearing us apart!"

"Several other leaks occured suddenly. We're working on it. At least our weapons systems are still online."

Weapon systems... Maybe that's it. If we fail to answer, we're dead anyway.

"Ok, listen up. Franky, I want you to give me manual control over one of the pulse turrets on the stern. The one that points right behind us."

"Eh, what's the plan? If we start firing, they will return the favor!"

"Not necessarily. Let's hope these guys still have been taught Morse code."

The lights on his console began to flicker. Fisher took over the controls and adjusted the gun point of the turret so that it exactly pointed at the jump node.

Now remember your training.

Years ago, during the long and peaceful summers, he used to sit in the treehouse on Earth that his grandfather had built for him. Only a few hundred meters away, his former best friend Fred had been hiding in his own. After dusk, they had always used their flashlights to communicate, tell stories, rumours and jokes for hours. Both he and Fred had decided to join the resistance on Mars in their fight against Earthforce. Fred had paid a terrible price for this.

Come on, buddy. Show me that it wasn't just a game for kids.

Then he started pressing the button.

Short - short -short - long - long - long - short - short - short
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Novachen on November 13, 2018, 04:08:01 pm
Well, i made some introduction stuff aswell, to build up this properly :).

I actually never wrote something like that in english, but well, i hope it is understandable.



»Status report!«, i said.
One of the my vasudan officers tapped on his console. »Only minor damage, but long range sensors are still offline.«, she replied.

»What happened?« was my next question, as i was very bewildered about the situation that took place a few moments ago. All of the sudden the GVD Cleo and the GTD Nova were attacked by a previously unencountered ancient Phaistos corvette. After the first shots, a subspace turbulence took place and jog around the Cleo. After this was done, nowhere the corvette or the Nova was to be seen.
»This is still under investigation. As it seems, we were attacked by an Ancient corvette. Like the same type the Cleo encountered four years ago.« was the only answer i get, which was not very satisfying, because i knew that already due to my own experiences with the Ancient corvette that was able to pull both the Cleo and the Nova into a shivan controlled nebula at the given time.

»And where is it, now? And where is the Nova?«, actually everything was so strange, the only thing i could think about were questions over questions.
»Unknown. This can not be determined right now.«, was again the not very helpful answer.

Well, the Nova was nowhere to be seen, but maybe it was in the same system, as this one was not a nebula that could hamper long rang communications. So there was hope, that i was able to get in contact with the Nova, maybe they had some more information already.
»Open task force communication channel.« i ordered. One of my officers nodded to me in response. »GVD Cleo to GTD Nova. Please respond!«, i asked... but the only thing i got as an answer was silence. »Rear Admiral Maximillian-Vasuda from the GVD Cleo is calling the GTD Nova. Please respond!«, i repeated this two times, but silence was still the only answer.
»Well... change to the general GTVA communication channel, then.«, i requested to my communication officer, who again only nodded to me. The vasudans were still not very talkative to a terran, even as i was their commanding officer. »This is the GVD Cleo from the 1st Crisis reaction force to all GTVA craft in communication range, please respond!«, i hailed into the communication channel, but the only response was silence.
»Rear Admiral, could it be possible that we are not longer in GTVA space, like the last time as we encountered such vessel?«, one of my officers asked, one of the only crew members, who survived this event four years ago.
»Maybe. But it is no nebula this time. And the last time the whole event was different. Also the Cleo was in the same system as the Nova.«, i answered, as i still remember it very well.
Because none of my officers was interested to reply anything, i asked »So, as it seems that aswell the Nova nor any other GTVA craft is in this system, i have to ask, where are we?«, even if i could swear, that i know the star constellation that was shown in the several outside cameras of this Apothess.
Once again, i only get silence in response, but as some vasudans tapped on their consoles, they were at least trying to determine the position of this ship.

After some moments that seem to be aeons, i got an answer for one of my questions finally. And this one was not really expected by myself.
»After we have checked the star constellations, we can seen from our position in comparsion to our database, we are actually certain, that we are at the edge of the Capella system.«, was the incredulous answer by the vasudans, were other ones on the bridge were murmering about in vasudan what i would translate to »impossible«, at least how far i was able to understand vasudan without any translator. As this was also the only response i was able to get as i looked absently into the stars.
»Does not look like a nebula that was caused by a supernova out there.«, i talk more to myself in totally disbelief. »What about the long range sensors? anything new?«, i asked as i remember, that they were offline right after the 'jump'.
The vasudan on the sensor control panel was about to begin »No, there are sti..-« as she changed her tone into an excited one. »They are online again. We have several contacts in the inner part of the system. I can not determine the types, but these are clearly terran and vasudan energy signatures!«.
That was indeed good news, even it was strange that there was no response to the hail to all GTVA ships.
»Why there was no response to our hail?«, i asked to the communication officer, who look onto its console. »Rear Admiral, it is strange, there is no GTVA subspace communication relay in this system.«
»This is very intersting. First an ancient corvette that shows up all of the sudden from subspace to attack us, now we are in a system that is identical to Capella with Terran and Vasudan ships and then, there is no GTVA?« I summarized the events of the last hour.
»Did you have checked all other frequencies?«, i asked him. He tapped again on his console and got an surprised looked. »Yes, i am receiving messages on non standard frequencies. They are encrypted, but they have an encryption that was used even before the foundation of the GTVA.«
»I think nothing should surprise us. Please tapping us in. I am interested what they are talking about.«, i ordered. But only to hear untranslated vasudan messages i was not able to understand, so i ask if it is possible to activate the translator for them.
»... seem to have new fighters. They seem comparable to our Horus interceptors. PVD Girga, we are under attack, we request assistance.«, i heard an excited vasudan pilot, who seems to call for help. Was this a battle between Vasudans and Shivans? »Understood Amenemhat wing. Cleopatra wing accepted to help you, jump to their position, now. We are transmitting you their coordinates as we speak. With Cleopatra's help, you should not have problems to destroy these new chimp fighters.«, the as-it-seems commander of the vasudans returned. »Understood, we are jumping out to the received coordinates.«, the pilot responded and after he ordered his wingmates to jump out to the given coordinates the communication channel went dead with a rush only.
»Well... do anyone of you know a ship called PVD Girga? Why PVD at all? And do they mean terrans with chimps actually?«, i was very wondered about what i have just heard.
The sensor officer seems to be cowed, but finally she speaks up. »Sorry Rear Admiral. Chimp is indeed comparable to your 'zod' term for our species. It is still used by some vasudans, who dislike the terrans as an insult, but it was commonly used during the war between our species.« she explained. But she was not finished after she had take a breath, i used to understand the meaning of her words. »About the PVD Girga, i can not explain, what is happening here, but the Girga was a Typhon class destroyer that was one of the first vasudan capital ships that were destroyed by the SSD Lucifer during the Great War. And it was stationed in the Capella system by this time. My father was stationed on this ship and survived, but was killed in the uprising on the PVD Tanis a few days later, which retrieved the Girga survivors, but then defected as one of the first ships to the Hammer of Light.«
I actually could not believe, what she told me right in front of the others.
»You tell me, that we have just heard a communication message from a ship that was destroyed over fifty years ago?«, i asked her in skepticism. And the only thing she could do, was to nod to my question.

I thought about her words. But it was too early to jump right to conclusions. So i ordered to send a scouting wing that should observe the terran and vasudan ships from a safe distance to get more information about them. So i arranged a meeting with the chief scientist on board the Cleo to talk with him about any data the scouting wing might be collect.


Some hours later i am sitting in my chair in my quarters with the information from the scouting wing in my hands. The vasudan scientist seemed insecure after he looked into the information, too.
»Well, Professor. So far this are all data we have. Our scouting wing was able to record a skirmish between a wing of Anubis and Apollos fighters. Not only both ship classes were not used since the formation of the GTVA, aswell both sides did not have any shields and the enery spectrum readings confirm, that both fired with lasers, that were in use at the end of the terran vasudan war, only. Additionally we have a confirmed communication messages from a vasudan capital ship that was destroyed by the Lucifer fifty years ago. And at last, it is confirmed, that we are in the Capella system. So, your conclusions?«, i summarized all information and ask my chief scientist. Unfortunately the Apothess class was never developed for research operations and so have only a small laboratory and a small scientist stuff.
»Rear Admiral. I and my collegues are not sure, how that this is possible. But there is only one logic conclusion so far and that is, that we are indeed in the Capella system... in the year 2335 of your terran calendar.«, he answered. And this was one of the worst answers i wanted to hear. But after i looked into his face. »But you have a theory, at least?«, i asked.
»Well, within the research community we are still estranged about the question what the Shivans tried to archive with the Capella Supernova. The public opinion that was released by the GTVA is, that the Sathanas fleet created some kind of Mega Subspace Node, that was only active shorty before a Sun goes Supernova. It was might be used to make a subspace jump not over hundreds but over thousands or even millions of light years instead. As we know, that subspace is faster than light travel, one minor theory within our community however is, that the Sathanas fleet was able to travel through time with the supernova subspace field instead.«, he explained, even it seems that he did not accept the minor opion by himself.
»Are you kidding me?«, i answered in the lose of formality, because i could not believe what i have just heard. »I do not believe the time travel theory by myself. Even if it could be possible, the fact, that we are still alive contradicts this theory. If the shivans can travel into the past, they would had simply killed us already. But also we know, that the Ancients did knew much more about subspace than we do, even with all the data we have collected from Altair IV and the Gamma Draconis portal. We know that some of their ships are still active today, maybe they are actually ships that have travelled 8000 years into the future to survive the end of their race? We actually never considered that so far, as the only Ancient ship, we were able to investigate closer, never show such devices. But because we made some kind of time travel in every subspace jump, at least time travel into the future can not be excluded totally. But it does not explain how we have ended up in the past, however.«, he is explaining in a long monologue that was very confusing for me. But i am the commanding officer of this ship and have to make decisions.
»Okay, Professor. Because the data is as it is, i have to expect, that we are really in 2335 right now. So the only question for me is, how i can bring this ship back into 2387? Without to wait for fifty-two years of course?«, i asked him. To my surprise he has an answer already, even it was not an answer that was very helpful right now. »The only answer i have so far is, that we have to find the ancient corvette, because it is most likely that it can cause the other way, too.«
»I think, you know, that this is like the search for the needle in a haystack. Even if i knew the system where this ship is right now, we only have very few options here. Even with the knowledge what will happen, we can not warn anyone about the Shivans and although i would love to kill the Lucifer right at the moment it arrives in our space to save both Vasuda Prime and Earth, this would have catastrophic consequences for the history we know.«, i explain my thoughts about this situation. The only thing the scientist was able to say was »Of course. We do not know what will happen if we intervene. We will try to analyze the data of the ancient corvette before it dragged us here. Maybe we are able to find something, what make it possible to detect this ship.«. After that, i sent him out of my quarters, what was a very unfamiliar for all vasudans which had a personal talk with me, because this quarter was full of personal items, which is very unlikely for Vasudans.
After the scientist left, i weighed the available options.
Because it was not possible to determine the exact date, it was not possible to predict when the Shivans will appear. It was risky to stay in Capella, as the shivans with their advanced sensor technology could be able to target the Cleo even it would stay at the edge of the system. To jump to Vega would be even more risky, because it was a front line system in the terran vasudan war with heavy military traffic and so the Cleo could be detected at the Capella node in Vega. Epsilon Pegasi however would mean less risk, because it was nearly unpopulated during the Great War as far as i know. Epsilon Pegasi was an interesting destination, because it offers several jump nodes to other systems and even the possibility to get into Sirius undetected through the former NTF systems.
Also i know, that there is an Ancient storage in the Deneb System, which could contain some data Aken Bosch did not retrieve for the database of the NTF Iceni. But even before the Shivans' Arrival Deneb was a hotspot of war activities. It would be impossible to get there without a detection. Well, the Cleo could fight through Sirius and Deneb guns blazing and kill every terran and vasudan on its way, like the Shivans did before they were confirmed. As far i remember, the Shivans were able to be called 'phantom ships' in the early days of the great war, because they did not leave any survivors to report them. But before i consider that, there is also a safe system reachable from Capella that was discovered a few months ago at the most: Gamma Draconis. And in Gamma Draconis there lies the subspace portal. Maybe it is worth a look? Maybe there are still some information, the GTVA was not able to collect in 2367 which could be helpful to return in our time. Even if there is nothing to find, it would take only a few days at least before i could reconsider for the other options, so i open the ship communication to the bridge.
»Helm, set a course to the coordinates of the Knossos portal in Gamma Draconis and keep distance to all known vessels.« i said and i get a confirmation and i feel a light hum of the ship engine that were accelerating.
This flight would take a few hours. Time enough to prepare a command briefing for the GVD Cleo's crew to inform them about our situation.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: crizza on November 13, 2018, 05:39:36 pm
19th Battlegroup, Delta Serpentis

As the message continued to be repeated, the Admiral watched rather pleased as wing after wing of strike craft left the hangarbays. While not one of the new and shiny Titans, the Phoenicia and Vengeance had close to 26 squadrons at their disposal, the Diomedes corvettes were not even factored in. Of course, his old Apollo, painstakingly disassembled and rebuild to modern standards sat in one of the fighter clamps, but this was owed to the fact, that he disliked slow transports.

The pride of the Vengeance however were the Sphinx’s class heavy assault fighters, courtesy of the Vasudan Medjai, which formed up in squadron strength around the two logistic ships.
Slaved to the Norma’s vast array of sensor systems, each fighter was able to unleash it’s complement of missiles at once…
Oh how he yearned to see them fire at some real target.

A small blinking light signalled an incoming message from the Vengeance, but he dismissed it. His wife would have to wait… in fact they all waited while that strange ship did… nothing.
“Sir, we’re reading energy fluctuations aboard the unknown ship. I can’t say for sure, but…”
His sensor officer left the sentence hanging.
If that unknown ship was shivan, he was pretty sure that it would’ve started to fire the moment it had arrived…
“Do we have a log when this little bugger stumbled into our gun line?”

His bridge crew was a good one. Many were not happy to have been taken from their previous postings, but he had tried to build an esprit du corps ever since the 19th had been assembled. Those responsible for Sensors however were beaten by his first officer, Ramses.
“The unknown ship did not emerge from subspace Sir… one moment our scanners were clear, the next it was there.”
Frowning, the Officer in charge of Sensor nodded. From his own experience with the Vasudans, he knew all too well that their manners were sometimes a little irritating, but then again, they were right, most of the time at least.
“So… I guess you ruled out the possibility of that thing being somehow cloaked?” As answer he got a nod and what passed for an irritated shrug amongst Vasudans.

Thrumming his fingertips on his armrest he watched the unknown ship sitting there with almost casual impunity, daring them to take further steps. Maybe another cigarette would…

“Sir, the unknown ship is going weapons hot! It is firing it’s… aft turret?!”
Dumbfounded silence followed the announcement. One look to his equally puzzled Sensor officer showed that he had nothing to report.
His Comms Officer however, once again displayed his most annoying habit: Knocking his hand on the metal of his console to the beat of the enemy weapons fire, which continued to fire at empty space.
“Lieutenant Wilson… as impressive as the lightshow of the unknown ship is, I’m sure I speak on behalf of the bridge crew, if you stop drumming along!”
Although he had raised his voice only a little, Lieutenant Wilson did not react, instead he sat in front of his station, eyes closed, knocking each time the unknown ships aft weapon went off and mumbling something.
“LIEUTENANT WILSON!”

Two words, loud enough that his Comms officer flinched, finally got through.
“My apologies Sir, but… I think… the sequence they’re firing… Short, short, short, long, long, long, short, short, short… I mean, I’m no expert on weapon systems… but this is either a rather interesting misfire or…”
Christopher’s head snapped up. There were many things he’d considered tedious during training and only after Anita had explained to him in great detail the history of it, that he’d even considered Morse code useful.
“Or they’re using Morse code to signal… general distress… Well Lieutenant, consider your drumming as useful, for now.”
Listening into the communication chatter of the battlegroup showed, that other people had realised this as well, but were none the wiser as how to answer.
Would this ship be able to register an answer if they fired weapons not pointing at the ship?

“Cancel my broadcast, Comm.”
He needed to think and a moment later he exhaled smoke from just another cigarette. He knew that during the 21st century ships had used either radio or light to communicate via Morse code, but none of his ships had a signal light for this. Of course he could flash his main beams, but this could look threatening.

“Helm! Turn to port and flash our starboard navigation light as instructed by Lieutenant Wilson. Wilson, flash Who are you, whatever the Morse code for that is!
A moment later the huge green light at the tip of the Phoenicia’s starboard wing began to flash:

. - -    . . . .     - - -     . -    . - .   .    - . - -   - - -   . . -
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Autohummer on November 13, 2018, 07:01:46 pm
-HNS Phuur-Nan Task Force, Coruc-Tel System-

The resource collectors diligently cut the carcasses of the two Vaygr capital ships into smaller chunks and queued orderly into the carrier's hangar bay. There, a salvage crew would go over it with handheld scanners and scoured every inch for clues, only when they were satisfied that nothing interesting could be found, did they authorise the PDAs to start disassembling the scrap. This drastically lengthened the queue, but eventually paid off as a charred fleet data recorder was carefully pried off what used to be the carrier's forward bridge. Wasting no time, that data was meticulously reconstructed and decrypted using Vaygr keys captured from Makaan's flagship. As soon as records of the last days of the fleet were reconstructed, the entire command and intelligence staff was called in for a briefing.

"Captain, may I begin?" asked Lieutenant Shaked Jaraci.

"Everyone's here, go ahead," Raonaid said.

"Thank you. Let's begin," Shaked said, adjusting her holo-spectacles.

The entire room dimmed and the holographic sensors manager glowed on, showing the Coruc-Tel System and the location of the Vaygr fleet.

"The earliest point we could recover from the recording was four months ago...."

The hologram zoomed in on the two ships, both bore the scars of multiple kinetic shell and ion cannon strikes. The top of the carrier, housing the production facility, was a charred, smouldering mess.

"We believe our wrecks are Vaygr carrier CV-2218 and destroyer DD-1322, last seen retreating from the Sarum system following a successful Hiigaran counterattack. The other two carriers of its fleet, 2217 and 2219, were both destroyed in battle. Obviously, they had fled here to recuperate."

The hologram zoomed out again to the system. Several pockets of space flashed yellow.

"As they had lost all their mobile refineries and most of their collectors, they were forced to move their carrier directly into the resource fields. Since their hyperspace module burned out during the escape, they were forced to take a stealthy, slow route using only sublight engines. This meant it took them five weeks to reach the closest field they could find. Which is right here at our present location. According to their sensors data, we should be sitting in the middle of a thick asteroid field where navigating capital ships could prove dangerous. Obviously this is not the case now. But back then, just slightly more than two months ago...."

The hologram zoomed in on the fleet and the asteroid field, which slowly and carefully slipped in between the asteroids. Suddenly, near their final resting place, dozens of sensor contacts dotted the space around it.

"They met something. Par the Vaygr norm, their first reaction was to shoot it. Here is a voice recording from their command corvette leading their strikecraft group. The destroyer held back to protect the carrier and did not participate in this raid."

"This will be easy, Hiigaran resourcers. The cowards will flee the moment they see us," said an old, guzzled voice.

"But haven't they seen us already?" asked a younger voice, rather nervously.

"No. We have hid ourselves well and they will pay for their blindness. Let loose your cannons, warriors. Today's battle may not bring much glory, but in a month we will be back on the warpath, stronger and tougher. Glory to the Sajuuk-Khar!"

"Glory to the Sajuuk-Khar!" said the pilots in unison. The chatter stopped for a while as the sound of kinetic autoguns filled the static.

"These aren't Hiigarans!" said the younger pilot.

"We will conquer them all the same. The Sajuuk-Khar demands it," said the commander.

"At least they go down like Hiigarans," said another pilot. "Give me a stroke to the tally!"

"Do you think we should inform the Chieftain about this?"

"Yes, we will. After the area is devoid of life but ours."

The recording cut out at that point and Shaked continued her briefing.

"The Vaygr was victorious in their first encounter with these unknown resourcers. In fact they received zero defence fire. Emboldened by this, they came out of hiding and openly commenced resourcing operations. They have recovered some debris from the unknown ships...."

The hologram switched to a strange spacecraft that resembled a dark blue saucer, the centre bulged out rather prominently.

"Despite their crude techniques, they managed to do a remarkably high resolution scan. It was immediately apparent that these ships were drones, either remotely or autonomously operated. We have cross-referenced the ship's design features with everything we have in our database, but we got nothing. The Vaygr came to the same conclusion as well. After they restored their carrier's systems and rebuilt their fighter facility, the first thing the Chieftain ordered was advanced sensors and scout squadrons to scan the system...."

The hologram zoomed out again to show the entire system, it was so thickly filled with red dots that the green shape of the carrier could barely be seen. Whispers and quiet whistles filled the room and Shaked waited patiently for it to die down before she continued.

"Is this responsible for the missing resources?" Ferdi asked.

"Sir, as an intelligence officer, it is my professional training to not jump to conclusions. However, the intel section agrees that is the most likely possibility."

"So, half a system's mass, eaten by these robotic locusts.... Then what? They breed?"

"I am afraid yes. Even though one individual ship might be small, a collective signature this big couldn't have gotten past the Hiigaran Control Zone HEWSUS (Hyperwave Surveillance System) without triggering an alarm. The logical explanation is that only one or a few of these ships infiltrated Hiigaran space and began harvesting and replicating themselves."

"And they ate the Vaygr bastards as well?"

"Negative. This is the very last recording of the carrier's command systems, a mere fourteen hours after the first encounter...."

The hologram zoomed in around the carrier again. Only this time it was clearly attacked by the red dots, which swarmed around the two larger ships, dogfighting the Vaygr's own fighters.

"The Hiigarans are using drone ships! Those milk-drinkers dare not face us in person! The cowards can't beat our warrior's spirit with mindless drones!" said the same command corvette officer from before.

"But come they still! Is there no end to them?" asked the young pilot.

"Stay steadfast, young one, and-" the transmission cut off abruptly.

"Grediel's corvette is gone! They've taken Grediel! The strikemaster is dead!"

"Lieutenant, may I stop you for a moment?" Fredi asked and the playback paused. "Exit the sensors manager and switch to the camera feed. Focus on one of the alien ships."

"Yes, Commander. This is the closest shot we can get."

"Good," Fredi stood up and walked to the still image. In the middle was a similar blue saucer, in the process of hunting down an assault craft. It was somewhat more streamlined and aggressive-looking than the mining drones from before. "Continue playback. Frame by frame."

"Commander Eliphelet Manaan," he asked the squadron leader of the ship, pointing at the alien fighter, "do you think your men can fly like that?"

"Challenge accepted."

"I will take that as a no. These ships may be even worse than those Progenitor Drones we met at Karos."

The crew fell silent upon hearing that. Even if they weren't invulnerable, unlike the Keepers, those little devils were still responsible for the loss of two destroyers and a dozen strikecraft squads.

"If these are bad, Lieutenant, I want you to show us what finally did in the fleet," Raonaid said.

"Yes, Captain."

The hologram shifted to the very end of the record, where a thing resembling a jumble of machinery sat in front of the two Vaygr ships, now left alone, their escorts stripped away by waves of drone fighters. The thing was about as long as a person was tall on the hologram, but on the same scale, the Vaygr capital ships were merely the length of a finger. That would put it at about 4 kilometres in length.

"This is Chieftain Kolos of the Yellow Streak Warband. Hiigarans, you have won. We surrender."

The 4 kilometre behemoth seemed to be charging some kind of ion beam weapon. One of its size would be quite capable of slicing a ship cleanly in half. It was already clear what was going to happen.

"Chieftain, they are not responding.... We've already tried every channel, even the signal lights.... What do we do?"

"We die."

The recording cut off the moment the beam reached the carrier. The entire room was silent for a few, long minutes, before Fredi found the strength to speak.

"I have to conclude we have a new player here. Lieutenant, what can you tell us about them? Hull composition, weapons, technology, behaviour, anything."

"Analysis of the Vaygr wrecks shows tell-tale signs of energy weapons damage, but the power levels exceed those of our pulsar cannons. We have not found any debris of the alien drones, it is possible that they have been recovered after the end of the battle. But based on the Vaygr's initial experience with them, they are not made of indestructible materials."

"Send a report to the homeworld, stat," Raonaid said. "Ferdi, any suggestions?"

Ferdi shook his head. "We don't know enough about these drones or their masters to do much, if they even had a master. Something bothers me. They tore through this system like hungry locusts, their materials processing ability would have rivalled those who built the Karos and Tanis megaliths, but they left behind a pile of perfectly salvageable Vaygr hulks and scraps of asteroids that we could still harvest. Not to mention that fact that we have never met any one of their ships ourselves, only their handiwork. If my only goal was to eat and procreate, I would have stayed behind and make sure there was absolutely nothing left.... I think they left in a hurry, or at least, they had been interrupted. But we have nothing to go on right now. Unless they've left behind something. People leave things behind when they evacuate. Captain, with your permission, I would like to commission some probes and send them to the areas where the drone concentration was the greatest. That is our best shot for now."

"Sounds like a plan, meanwhile, we'll continue our original task of mining and resourcing. Just in case that gigantic pile of industrial accident and its friends decide to pay us a visit, I am suspending all training flights and attaching an escort to the resourcing operations. Eliphelet, hate to put you and your guys on a real mission, but you've got your work cut out for you."

"No problem, Boss."
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: bomb3rman on November 13, 2018, 07:13:35 pm
- Independent Cruiser Nightfly, Delta Serpentis -

With most of the consoles gone dark, his bridge crew stood before the windows, staring into the darkness and at the armada in front of the Nightfly.

"Their flagship is moving! They're exposing their starboard wing!" A piece of hope slipped into Sally's voice.

"Either they're going to unleash a ****load of missiles from that side... or they understood us..." Franky added.

Then, all of a sudden, a navigation light cut through the darkness. Cautious cheering came from the crew.

"Alright people, back to your seats. Now we can talk! So this means... W H O A R E Y O U - Who are you! Now let's deliver an answer!"

His fingers almost flew over the console.

. . . .    . . -    - -   . -    - .     . . .
.    . -    . - .     -    . . . .
. -    - .    - . .
- -    . -     . - .    . . .
- .    - - -     -
. . . .    - - -    . . .    -    . .    . - . .    .

Sally laughed. " HUMANS EARTH AND MARS NOT HOSTILE... Well, still more grammar than Marcus after his 1st bottle of gin."

A voice came from the internal speakers. "Hey, I heard that! But good news, we managed to power down the core, energy signatures are lowering. We'll have just 50 percent of juice, but it should hold for now. These alloys we used to attach the main power cords just couldn't handle the amount of power coming from this vorlon core... They literally vaporized! Hell, I don't even know how why this thing is generating so much power in the first place. To bring it back into balance, we'll have to aquire alloys that can resist the enourmous amount of voltage and heat this thing emits. With them, I might even be able to squeeze out more juice than we had before."

"How long till our systems are back online?"

"20, maybe 30 minutes. Keep it slow... We'll start with the engines first. Then the external communication systems..."

"Understood. Good job, Marcus!" Fisher turned to the crew. "Listen up, people. I don't know how these guys will react out there once we're able to start our engines again, but prepare for a rough start, just in case. Sally, open a comm channel once we're back online. And now let's tell them that we'll be able to talk in 30 min." His hands got back to the console.

Ha, just like the old days"

- . - .    - - -    - -    - -    . . .
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Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Assassin714 on November 13, 2018, 07:14:51 pm
As the player I'd send a wing of scout fighters to go have a look, but if I'm in character, I don't do anything. We're not at war at this time, there would be commercial traffic in the belt, unless there's anything unusual to rouse our curiosity, there'd be no reason to go investigate a faint signal I presume is on the edge of censor range. If it's closer, then we might want to see. Make sure it's not smugglers or pirates trying to hide themselves or a ship in trouble losing power.

Several minutes after first detecting the signal, you detect a series of energy bursts from its location that may indicate weapons fire. Then the signal vanishes.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Lorric on November 13, 2018, 07:34:38 pm
As the player I'd send a wing of scout fighters to go have a look, but if I'm in character, I don't do anything. We're not at war at this time, there would be commercial traffic in the belt, unless there's anything unusual to rouse our curiosity, there'd be no reason to go investigate a faint signal I presume is on the edge of censor range. If it's closer, then we might want to see. Make sure it's not smugglers or pirates trying to hide themselves or a ship in trouble losing power.

Several minutes after first detecting the signal, you detect a series of energy bursts from its location that may indicate weapons fire. Then the signal vanishes.
Well that is enough to get a response out of me, but I need more details. How far away is it, and how big are these bursts?
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Assassin714 on November 13, 2018, 07:40:22 pm
-HNS Phuur-Nan Task Force, Coruc-Tel System-

The resource collectors diligently cut the carcasses of the two Vaygr capital ships into smaller chunks and queued orderly into the carrier's hangar bay. There, a salvage crew would go over it with handheld scanners and scoured every inch for clues, only when they were satisfied that nothing interesting could be found, did they authorise the PDAs to start disassembling the scrap. This drastically lengthened the queue, but eventually paid off as a charred fleet data recorder was carefully pried off what used to be the carrier's forward bridge. Wasting no time, that data was meticulously reconstructed and decrypted using Vaygr keys captured from Makaan's flagship. As soon as records of the last days of the fleet were reconstructed, the entire command and intelligence staff was called in for a briefing.

"Captain, may I begin?" asked Lieutenant Shaked Jaraci.

"Everyone's here, go ahead," Raonaid said.

"Thank you. Let's begin," Shaked said, adjusting her holo-spectacles.

The entire room dimmed and the holographic sensors manager glowed on, showing the Coruc-Tel System and the location of the Vaygr fleet.

"The earliest point we could recover from the recording was four months ago...."

The hologram zoomed in on the two ships, both bore the scars of multiple kinetic shell and ion cannon strikes. The top of the carrier, housing the production facility, was a charred, smouldering mess.

"We believe our wrecks are Vaygr carrier CV-2218 and destroyer DD-1322, last seen retreating from the Sarum system following a successful Hiigaran counterattack. The other two carriers of its fleet, 2217 and 2219, were both destroyed in battle. Obviously, they had fled here to recuperate."

The hologram zoomed out again to the system. Several pockets of space flashed yellow.

"As they had lost all their mobile refineries and most of their collectors, they were forced to move their carrier directly into the resource fields. Since their hyperspace module burned out during the escape, they were forced to take a stealthy, slow route using only sublight engines. This meant it took them five weeks to reach the closest field they could find. Which is right here at our present location. According to their sensors data, we should be sitting in the middle of a thick asteroid field where navigating capital ships could prove dangerous. Obviously this is not the case now. But back then, just slightly more than two months ago...."

The hologram zoomed in on the fleet and the asteroid field, which slowly and carefully slipped in between the asteroids. Suddenly, near their final resting place, dozens of sensor contacts dotted the space around it.

"They met something. Par the Vaygr norm, their first reaction was to shoot it. Here is a voice recording from their command corvette leading their strikecraft group. The destroyer held back to protect the carrier and did not participate in this raid."

"This will be easy, Hiigaran resourcers. The cowards will flee the moment they see us," said an old, guzzled voice.

"But haven't they seen us already?" asked a younger voice, rather nervously.

"No. We have hid ourselves well and they will pay for their blindness. Let loose your cannons, warriors. Today's battle may not bring much glory, but in a month we will be back on the warpath, stronger and tougher. Glory to the Sajuuk-Khar!"

"Glory to the Sajuuk-Khar!" said the pilots in unison. The chatter stopped for a while as the sound of kinetic autoguns filled the static.

"These aren't Hiigarans!" said the younger pilot.

"We will conquer them all the same. The Sajuuk-Khar demands it," said the commander.

"At least they go down like Hiigarans," said another pilot. "Give me a stroke to the tally!"

"Do you think we should inform the Chieftain about this?"

"Yes, we will. After the area is devoid of life but ours."

The recording cut out at that point and Shaked continued her briefing.

"The Vaygr was victorious in their first encounter with these unknown resourcers. In fact they received zero defence fire. Emboldened by this, they came out of hiding and openly commenced resourcing operations. They have recovered some debris from the unknown ships...."

The hologram switched to a strange spacecraft that resembled a dark blue saucer, the centre bulged out rather prominently.

"Despite their crude techniques, they managed to do a remarkably high resolution scan. It was immediately apparent that these ships were drones, either remotely or autonomously operated. We have cross-referenced the ship's design features with everything we have in our database, but we got nothing. The Vaygr came to the same conclusion as well. After they restored their carrier's systems and rebuilt their fighter facility, the first thing the Chieftain ordered was advanced sensors and scout squadrons to scan the system...."

The hologram zoomed out again to show the entire system, it was so thickly filled with red dots that the green shape of the carrier could barely be seen. Whispers and quiet whistles filled the room and Shaked waited patiently for it to die down before she continued.

"Is this responsible for the missing resources?" Ferdi asked.

"Sir, as an intelligence officer, it is my professional training to not jump to conclusions. However, the intel section agrees that is the most likely possibility."

"So, half a system's mass, eaten by these robotic locusts.... Then what? They breed?"

"I am afraid yes. Even though one individual ship might be small, a collective signature this big couldn't have gotten past the Hiigaran Control Zone HEWSUS (Hyperwave Surveillance System) without triggering an alarm. The logical explanation is that only one or a few of these ships infiltrated Hiigaran space and began harvesting and replicating themselves."

"And they ate the Vaygr bastards as well?"

"Negative. This is the very last recording of the carrier's command systems, a mere fourteen hours after the first encounter...."

The hologram zoomed in around the carrier again. Only this time it was clearly attacked by the red dots, which swarmed around the two larger ships, dogfighting the Vaygr's own fighters.

"The Hiigarans are using drone ships! Those milk-drinkers dare not face us in person! The cowards can't beat our warrior's spirit with mindless drones!" said the same command corvette officer from before.

"But come they still! Is there no end to them?" asked the young pilot.

"Stay steadfast, young one, and-" the transmission cut off abruptly.

"Grediel's corvette is gone! They've taken Grediel! The strikemaster is dead!"

"Lieutenant, may I stop you for a moment?" Fredi asked and the playback paused. "Exit the sensors manager and switch to the camera feed. Focus on one of the alien ships."

"Yes, Commander. This is the closest shot we can get."

"Good," Fredi stood up and walked to the still image. In the middle was a similar blue saucer, in the process of hunting down an assault craft. It was somewhat more streamlined and aggressive-looking than the mining drones from before. "Continue playback. Frame by frame."

"Commander Eliphelet Manaan," he asked the squadron leader of the ship, pointing at the alien fighter, "do you think your men can fly like that?"

"Challenge accepted."

"I will take that as a no. These ships may be even worse than those Progenitor Drones we met at Karos."

The crew fell silent upon hearing that. Even if they weren't invulnerable, unlike the Keepers, those little devils were still responsible for the loss of two destroyers and a dozen strikecraft squads.

"If these are bad, Lieutenant, I want you to show us what finally did in the fleet," Raonaid said.

"Yes, Captain."

The hologram shifted to the very end of the record, where a thing resembling a jumble of machinery sat in front of the two Vaygr ships, now left alone, their escorts stripped away by waves of drone fighters. The thing was about as long as a person was tall on the hologram, but on the same scale, the Vaygr capital ships were merely the length of a finger. That would put it at about 4 kilometres in length.

"This is Chieftain Kolos of the Yellow Streak Warband. Hiigarans, you have won. We surrender."

The 4 kilometre behemoth seemed to be charging some kind of ion beam weapon. One of its size would be quite capable of slicing a ship cleanly in half. It was already clear what was going to happen.

"Chieftain, they are not responding.... We've already tried every channel, even the signal lights.... What do we do?"

"We die."

The recording cut off the moment the beam reached the carrier. The entire room was silent for a few, long minutes, before Fredi found the strength to speak.

"I have to conclude we have a new player here. Lieutenant, what can you tell us about them? Hull composition, weapons, technology, behaviour, anything."

"Analysis of the Vaygr wrecks shows tell-tale signs of energy weapons damage, but the power levels exceed those of our pulsar cannons. We have not found any debris of the alien drones, it is possible that they have been recovered after the end of the battle. But based on the Vaygr's initial experience with them, they are not made of indestructible materials."

"Send a report to the homeworld, stat," Raonaid said. "Ferdi, any suggestions?"

Ferdi shook his head. "We don't know enough about these drones or their masters to do much, if they even had a master. Something bothers me. They tore through this system like hungry locusts, their materials processing ability would have rivalled those who built the Karos and Tanis megaliths, but they left behind a pile of perfectly salvageable Vaygr hulks and scraps of asteroids that we could still harvest. Not to mention that fact that we have never met any one of their ships ourselves, only their handiwork. If my only goal was to eat and procreate, I would have stayed behind and make sure there was absolutely nothing left.... I think they left in a hurry, or at least, they had been interrupted. But we have nothing to go on right now. Unless they've left behind something. People leave things behind when they evacuate. Captain, with your permission, I would like to commission some probes and send them to the areas where the drone concentration was the greatest. That is our best shot for now."

"Sounds like a plan, meanwhile, we'll continue our original task of mining and resourcing. Just in case that gigantic pile of industrial accident and its friends decide to pay us a visit, I am suspending all training flights and attaching an escort to the resourcing operations. Eliphelet, hate to put you and your guys on a real mission, but you've got your work cut out for you."

"No problem, Boss."

Your scouts encounter a scattered group of the smaller mining drones, which appear to be inert and deactivated. However they begin moving when you approach them, and subject your ships to very detailed, high-intensity sensor probes. So far, they do not display any hostile behavior.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Assassin714 on November 13, 2018, 07:41:19 pm
As the player I'd send a wing of scout fighters to go have a look, but if I'm in character, I don't do anything. We're not at war at this time, there would be commercial traffic in the belt, unless there's anything unusual to rouse our curiosity, there'd be no reason to go investigate a faint signal I presume is on the edge of censor range. If it's closer, then we might want to see. Make sure it's not smugglers or pirates trying to hide themselves or a ship in trouble losing power.

Several minutes after first detecting the signal, you detect a series of energy bursts from its location that may indicate weapons fire. Then the signal vanishes.
Well that is enough to get a response out of me, but I need more details. How far away is it, and how big are these bursts?

Near the orbit of the outermost planet. The bursts are small, indicating strikecraft caliber weapons, although unusually strong ones by most standards.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Lorric on November 13, 2018, 07:57:56 pm
Well that would have me worried that one of the other factions' military is in system.

The 1st CRF is stationed in orbit around St. Heira, and better placed to respond than I am. I ask them if they know what's going on / can they investigate, and begin moving the fleet out of the belt.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Assassin714 on November 13, 2018, 08:56:35 pm
Well that would have me worried that one of the other factions' military is in system.

The 1st CRF is stationed in orbit around St. Heira, and better placed to respond than I am. I ask them if they know what's going on / can they investigate, and begin moving the fleet out of the belt.

They respond to your contact.

"We actually already picked it up and sent a wing of scout fighters to check it out. They should be reporting back right about now... wait, what? Virtue Seven, could you repeat that?'

"What is it?"

"Debris - from what appears to be a Fura'ngle Adasya-class vessel. Looks like it just happened - no trace of whoever attacked it, though."

"Fura'ngle? What are they doing in this system?"

"No idea. If they found some kind of backdoor into our space, this needs to be reported immediately. We could use your assistance searching the site."

Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Lorric on November 14, 2018, 01:09:18 am
Well, I didn't think we'd met the Hierarchy yet, but it's your story, so okay, the Hierarchy is in play.

Oh and "Virtue", that's a very CRF callsign! :)

Anyway, I agree to assist the 1st CRF.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Assassin714 on November 14, 2018, 01:36:10 am
Well, I didn't think we'd met the Hierarchy yet, but it's your story, so okay, the Hierarchy is in play.

Oh and "Virtue", that's a very CRF callsign! :)

Anyway, I agree to assist the 1st CRF.

You should write up a report/log from your characters' perspective like some of the other players have so far. Just to help things move along.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Autohummer on November 14, 2018, 12:03:55 pm
-HNS Phuur-Nan Task Force, Coruc-Tel System-

Raonaid was fast asleep when the alarm in her room beeped. Unlike the blaring sirens of last time, this one was not a battlestations alert, but still, she was being summoned to the bridge ASAP. Stumbling out of bed and throwing on her uniform, she rushed to the CIC, where Ferdi and Shaked were already waiting for her.

"The probes got something?" she asked.

"Yes," Shaked answered, pulling up the sensors manager. "Probe 5 came across several mining drones of the same type as the ones the Vaygr encountered. They were initially shut down, but as our probe approached, they activated and subjected it to a very intense and intrusive scanning. Based on the feedback data, it seems the drones were scanning the probe down to every single atom."

"Are they still doing it?" Raonaid asked.

"No. The scan finished took about half a second."

"That was fast. Are they still active?"

"Currently they are in a holding pattern but their power signatures are active."

"Well, we woke them up. Can we talk to them?"

"The probes are equipped with a standard radio set, nothing more. There is every possibility the drones may not hear our transmission."

"Doesn't hurt to try, open a channel."

"Yes, captain. You may speak now."

"Hello?"

Shaked and Fredi quietly sighed at Raonaid's first contact etiquette. The rest of the crew, knowing their captain, merely went on with their duties.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: crizza on November 14, 2018, 04:25:19 pm
Someone was clearly better with Morse code than he was, the Admiral thought with a grin. Oh, how he had hated the sessions, learning and using it with Anita.
This brought his thoughts to an altogether different matter.
“Do we have anything about the Jump Gate?”

He left the question hanging, having asked no-one in particular, but the bridge crew knew, that they could answer if they thought they had something.
The Sensors Officer merely shrugged, this time however his Navigation Officer cleared his throat.
“Well Sir, we can calculate the jump, but the Yamamoto has transmitted data, that she cannot even conduct a tactical jump to reposition herself. In fact, Sir, it looks like…” a quick look to his fellow Officer in charge of Sensors earned him a nod. “the whole system is cut off.”

On his armrest, the incoming transmission from the Vengeance still blinked, but he imagined it was doing so rather angry. With a final sigh, he opened the channel. Out of experience he knew he could not evade his wife forever. What took him off guard was the face of the Vengeances XO appearing on screen.
“Um, Admiral Schulz Sir, Admiral Syrgalla has left the Vengeance 10 Minutes ago, she just forgot to close the channel.”
With a cut throat gesture he closed the channel. He needed to be no genius to know where his wife was headed.

“Sir, the unknown ship is replying… decoding…. Humans Earth and Mars not hostile… what the?!”
The Admiral face palmed. Two words, nothing more than that and the whole situation turned from unreal to nightmare.
“Order all ships to close around the unknown ship… I want as much beam cannons on that ship as possible! And get me Tur’Amun… and Master Sethak… prepare a boarding team.”
The bulky form of his Commander of Shipboard security merely slammed his Khopesh spear on the ground, this was his usual style of acknowledging an order, but the curt throaty barks of Vasudan he spoke into his communicator sounded reassuring.

“So, let us assume this ship truly comes from Earth or Mars… First of all, it doesn’t resemble anything vaguely UEF, if anything this ship screams shivan to me. Secondly, it emerged not from subspace and I guess Admiral Steele would’ve informed us, if the Feds had deployed warships which can cover vast distances as fast or even faster than subspace. Thirdly…”
The voice which interrupted him was soft but carried an edge which he had not heard for a long time.
“Or the Feds have managed to completely eradicate Steele’s forces and severed the node with this ship.”
Christopher turned his chair towards the bridge entrance. Arvida Syrgalla looked much like her younger self during the NTF rebellion. Her red hair didn’t show a single grey skein and her green eyes were alert as ever. Looking toward Ramses, Arvida bowed slightly.
“Your Highness.”

Now the Admiral groaned audible.
“What, do you think the presence of Vasudan Royal Guards on the Phoenicia is owed to your service to the Vasudans? Come now Christopher, the Supreme Admiral valued you, but not even he could pull the strings required for that.”
For once, the bridge fell completely silent, the Admiral included. Lieutenant Wilson chuckled softly.
“This explains the highly encrypted communications sent to Aldebaran, although I thought Ramses, I mean his imperial Highness was a mere spy.”

Drumming his fingertips on his armrest, Christopher exhaled slowly. On screen he watched the ships of the 19th slowly enveloping the unknown ship in a sphere of beam emitters. If only they could make some sense of the long-range data. As if on cue, just another Vasudan entered the bridge. While most Vasudans wore wide flowing robes, which passed as uniforms on terran ships, this one wore a form fitting overall, which was rather dirty. Without a word and exhibiting the stooped gait of older Vasudans, he walked to the sensors station and looked at the gathered data. After a short time, he looked up, his facial features unreadable as ever.
“I listened to your assumption boy and I denounce them as wrong!”
While Chief Engineer Chufu did not show any facial expression Christopher showed a huge grin. The two of them had been together ever since fate had thrown them together aboard the Malta.
“The hull of the unknown ship is unlike anything we know the UEF uses. It’s engine readings, despite the short time they were working, do not match UEF tech either. And let’s not even talk about their weapons. Any dip**** should have realized by now the most prominent feature of UEF warships is missing. Come now lads and lasses, a new UEF Cruiser without torpedoes? Bollocks!”
Next to the Admirals chair, Arvida chuckled softly, while Chufus brows lowered, which was a sure sign he was exited.
“How do you Terran say? I would love to have my way with this ship!”
Again, the bridge fell silent, while Christopher pondered his options. What Chufu suggested was the presence of a third, no, fourth party in the war. Should he simply give the order to board the ship and risk conflict with an unknown faction? Feeling Arvidas hand on his shoulder made him look up.
“You know you think too much, do you? While you were busy remembering Anitas lessons about Morse code, I tried to get through to command, but to no avail. 2nd fleet HQ reports the same. We’ve lost any means to travel or communicate beyond the system.”
Looking at the main screen again, the 19th had finished encircling the unknown ship. And he reckoned they had 12 minutes till they could hail them via vox, owing to the point he had started a countdown after the second message had been transmitted. With a sigh he started to input just another message.

.. ..-. / -.-- --- ..- / .- .-. . / -. --- - / .... --- ... - .. .-.. . --..-- / .. / .-- .. .-.. .-.. / ... . -. -.. / .- / -.-. .-. . .-- / - --- / - .-. -.-- / .- -. -.. / .- ... ... .. ... - / .-- .. - .... / - .... . / .-. . .--. .- .. .-. ...
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: HLD_Prophecy on November 14, 2018, 07:53:40 pm
Hey Assassin, should I wait on you to continue my plotline or did you want me to continue myself?

Everyone else, cool story writing! This is intriguing.  :nod:
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Assassin714 on November 14, 2018, 08:11:05 pm
-HNS Phuur-Nan Task Force, Coruc-Tel System-

Raonaid was fast asleep when the alarm in her room beeped. Unlike the blaring sirens of last time, this one was not a battlestations alert, but still, she was being summoned to the bridge ASAP. Stumbling out of bed and throwing on her uniform, she rushed to the CIC, where Ferdi and Shaked were already waiting for her.

"The probes got something?" she asked.

"Yes," Shaked answered, pulling up the sensors manager. "Probe 5 came across several mining drones of the same type as the ones the Vaygr encountered. They were initially shut down, but as our probe approached, they activated and subjected it to a very intense and intrusive scanning. Based on the feedback data, it seems the drones were scanning the probe down to every single atom."

"Are they still doing it?" Raonaid asked.

"No. The scan finished took about half a second."

"That was fast. Are they still active?"

"Currently they are in a holding pattern but their power signatures are active."

"Well, we woke them up. Can we talk to them?"

"The probes are equipped with a standard radio set, nothing more. There is every possibility the drones may not hear our transmission."

"Doesn't hurt to try, open a channel."

"Yes, captain. You may speak now."

"Hello?"

Shaked and Fredi quietly sighed at Raonaid's first contact etiquette. The rest of the crew, knowing their captain, merely went on with their duties.

You receive no response from the drones. Instead, they slowly and deliberately make their way out of the resource-depleted asteroid and perform a synchronized hyperspace jump, leaving the system. You are able to get a vector on their destination, and must decide whether you wish to pursue them or not.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Assassin714 on November 14, 2018, 08:11:48 pm
Hey Assassin, should I wait on you to continue my plotline or did you want me to continue myself?

Everyone else, cool story writing! This is intriguing.  :nod:

You should continue, but feel free to ask me if you need anything clarified (i.e. about the stealth ships or the message).

Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: HLD_Prophecy on November 15, 2018, 03:43:51 am
Cool, thanks!

*******************************

Cascade Station, Polaris System

Guderian stepped into the communications hub at Cascade. The nearest attendant turned to him, saw his Commodore bars, and snapped crisply to attention. "SIR!"

"Evening, sergeant. I need to open a private channel with the Admiral."

"Right away, commodore! Channel with the..."

He trailed off as his hands clacked over the keys.

"The, uh, Admiral, sir? Would you mean... Rear Admiral... Koth?"

Guderian grinned. On the inside only.

"No, sergeant, the Admiral. Admiral Aken Bosch. The reason we're all here."

"Yes, yes, SIR! Right away!"

The attendant was clearly nervous, making a number of typing mistakes and thus having to frantically redo his work as he entered the necessary command codes. Guderian stepped closer and spoke in a low voice.

"Sergeant, I know addressing the Admiral unannounced can be... risky. He is a very focused man. Needs to be, to run this endeavor. But as a Commodore and head of a line squadron, I have the right to request his attention. He can hardly court-martial me for doing so. And if he does, I'll make sure he knows you were an unwitting accomplice."

The sergeant chuckled for a second, then choked as he desperately tried to muffle it. He didn't know if laughing at a joke about Admiral Bosch was a capital offense.

"Sir... uh, SIR! The private comms chamber is open for your use! To your left, SIR! And... uh, I am required by protocol to remind you that henceforth I have no knowledge that a private communication was ever opened! If such a communication had ever occurred, SIR! I would be unable to give information about it to anyone SAVE the ADMIRAL himSELF, SIR!"

This time Guderian's grin showed.

"Thank you, sergeant. At ease. Get some sleep next break you have, you need a rest."

As the Commodore stepped into the soundproof room, the attendant started rubbing his eyes ferociously. Did I get enough sleep last night? Oh no, I probably didn't and now it shows! What would my supervisor say?!? I've gotta get some rest I probably look like a nervous wreck I gotta do better gotta stay awake on duty...
*********************************

The face on the comms screen. Guderian knew that face. Chilling, perhaps, yet not evil. Inspiring, rather. Dedicated.

An impossibly focused man, enslaved to his destiny, harrowed by plots, schemes, war... and peace...

"Commodore Walther Guderian."

"Admiral Aken Bosch."

"I know that you will not waste my time, Commodore. There is much to be done..."

"Yes, Admiral. Rest assured that I have thought this through. The 5th Cruiser Squadron was on routine patrol yesterday. You can find the details in our operations log. While on site, we came across a Faustus-class science vessel. The vessel was escorted by three Myrmidon fighters. We saw no others, sir."

"Needless to say, these were not our craft?"

"Not ours, sir. GTVI, I suspect, or SOC. I say this because they had heavy sensor shielding. Both the cruiser and its attendant fighters could not be targeted. Perhaps one of the new Charybdis craft could have done so, but with these older cruisers..."

"I will speculate if I need, to Commodore. Forgive the urgency, but you do understand..."

"I return to the point, Admiral. We could not target these vessels. To fire upon them would have been quite difficult, as circumstances were. I reasoned that we should simply observe and see what we could learn. As it was, the unknown vessels jumped out after a few minutes - but not before the Faustus sent a highly dense, heavily encrypted package of data our way. A burst transmission. Not exactly labeled with our names on it, but flashed in our direction. The encryption is quite serious, as I'm sure you'll find."

Guderian slid a small data card into the console.

"I felt that the best thing to do would be to give the data to you, personally, and leave it in your hands to do what was best."

"I thank you. I believe we can make use of this... I doubt you will be further informed as to the results of this investigation, Commodore, but come what may, I do thank you. One more thing... who else knows about this?"

"The deck officers of my immediate cabinet. They knew we received a heavily encrypted transmission, and that I planned to give it to you. Also, the attendant sergeant responsible for opening the private communication; he knows only that we spoke at this time."

Bosch stared impassively at Guderian (who, it must be said, did not remain entirely calm under that gaze).

"Commodore... trust is a fragile thing. It must be nurtured, grown... once lost, trust is well nigh impossible to regain. You may believe you know someone, and yet... they can unleash Hades right before your eyes. Be wary of everyone, especially those with knowledge, power, or both. Especially knowledge. Needless to say, if such an event should occur again, you will refrain from revealing it to anyone except by the strictest necessity. Do you understand?"

The Commodore nodded. "I accept the reprimand, Admiral. I will be more discerning in the future."

"Good. I would like to say that, while the 5th is not our most active line squadron..."

Guderian laughed. Again, on the inside.

"...I have had good reports regarding your efficiency. Your men take you seriously, as they do your other captains. Well done."

The telescreen faded to grey. Guderian sighed, rubbed his eyes, and crushed the fragile data chip in his hand. He wanted nothing to do with intrigue or intelligence operations. In fact, at the moment, he wanted nothing more than to run a tight ship of the line. Serve his men and the fleet as best he could.

A mug of black coffee wouldn't hurt, either.



Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Assassin714 on November 15, 2018, 04:09:38 am
OOC: Great portrayal of Bosch there, very effective!

Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Novachen on November 15, 2018, 12:22:35 pm
Hey Assassin, should I wait on you to continue my plotline or did you want me to continue myself?

Everyone else, cool story writing! This is intriguing.  :nod:

You should continue, but feel free to ask me if you need anything clarified (i.e. about the stealth ships or the message).


I have the same question for my story. So i have to continue my story as well?
Because the last days i waited that the game master throws me into a new situation :D. Because i understand this game in this way so far  :)
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: HLD_Prophecy on November 15, 2018, 02:07:56 pm
OOC: Great portrayal of Bosch there, very effective!

Cool, thanks! Actually I felt that I erred on the side of making him more amiable than he should have been. If I re-wrote it I'd make him more grim, but I'll leave it as is.  :D  But hey, it's tough to write for a character that someone else wrote years ago!  :v:  :p

Will keep the story moving later when I've given it thought. Can you give me a PM or something with a few hints? I'm not entirely sure where to go next. I just did what I'd do in real life, hand it over to Bosch, but it sort of cuts off that story arc... or does it?
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: bomb3rman on November 15, 2018, 04:45:55 pm
- Independent Cruiser Nightyfly, Delta Serpentis -

Another minute, another message...

.. ..-. / -.-- --- ..- / .- .-. . / -. --- - / .... --- ... - .. .-.. . --..-- / .. / .-- .. .-.. .-.. / ... . -. -.. / .- / -.-. .-. . .-- / - --- / - .-. -.-- / .- -. -.. / .- ... ... .. ... - / .-- .. - .... / - .... . / .-. . .--. .- .. .-. ...

"Eh, their ships are encircling us. We're surrounded! What's the message sayin'?", Franky said.

"If you are not hostile, i will send a crew to try and assist with the repairs...", Fisher answered.

"And in the mean time, I'm pointin' every gun in my battlegroup at you, just to prove my wish to help you", Sally added. She screw up her face. "Do they REALLY think we're buying this?!"

"How long until the comm systems are back online?"

"About 12 minutes".

Fisher got nervous. This group of war ships seemed to be preparing for an attack. Not much they could do right now... Except one thing... He activated the console again:

--- -.- / .--. .-.. . .- ... . / ... . -. -.. / .-. . .--. .- .. .-. / - . .- --

"Seriously? You want them to come over here?"

Fisher lighted a cigarette. The pressure in his lungs helped. At least a bit. "Not at all. But if we just stop playing along, they'll tear us apart. Let them send a boarding team. Once they're close enough to our ship, they won't start firing to not endanger their own people. And remember: This hull consists of adapting, self healing Vorlon bio armor. Good luck cutting through it with a blowpipe. I wouldn't wonder if the hull would take defensive actions on its own. Good luck to the poor guy with the crowbar."

"Don't you think it would be considered hostile behaviour if the hull started chewing and digesting one of their engineers?" Sally sounded nervous, too. Her fingers were playing with her hair-ends as always when the stress started.

"Maybe, but when that happens, our engines will be online again. If necessary, we'll give a cold start a try. Their own people will still be close, this should give us a few extra seconds before they fire their beams. So fasten your seatbelts, take your helmets and start praying that they wont't be stupid enough to really send a boarding team. I'd appreciate the chance to talk to them first. But if that's not possible or without success, we will break through this circle. Sally, once the sensors are back online, scan for the weakest ships of their fleet. I guess it's one of these cruisers at on the port side."

He opened another internal comm channel. "Fox, Havoc, provide everyone who's not absolutely needed right now with defensive equipment. We might get visitors."

The deep voice of the chief of security came from the terminal. "Understood, boss. But I won't clean up the mess once the party is over."
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Lorric on November 15, 2018, 05:24:01 pm
I don't feel like I have enough to sink my teeth into yet for a post like the others are doing. I'm also somewhat puzzled, are you sending PMs to them, or do we have creative control here? I would expect you to give me some information, I respond to it, you tell me what happens next, then I respond to that, etc. But could you for instance give me some information, and I not only respond to it, but also decide what happens next? Is that allowed? Am I allowed to take control of the 1st CRF or anything else I want to?
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Autohummer on November 15, 2018, 05:56:38 pm
-HNS Phuur-Nan Task Force, Coruc-Tel System-

The drones did nothing. For a while it seemed that they had not noticed or even cared that they were being hailed. Raonaid shot a glance at Ferdi, who shrugged his trademark what-else-did-you-expect shrug.

"Well, let's try something else. Shaked, can you scan them back?"

"Yes, Captain. It wouldn't be any better than the scans we got from the Vaygr, but as a form of reciprocal communication...."

"You catch my drift."

"It is worth a try. Scanning now. This will take some time."

"Boss?" asked the comms officer.

"Yeah?"

"Got a top priority transmission from the Admiral. Instruction is to play it right here, right now."

"Go ahead."

It was a voice-only transmission. "Follow the drones. Do not wait for the science team. After that, your orders are to do anything as you see fit until the next time we meet. Good luck."

Admiral Raltha Naabal was, to many in the fleet, a greater mystery than the three Hyperspace Cores combined. Many who have served under her command would swear up and down that she was capable of precognition. Before she entered the Navy she was just an unknown industrial university graduate. But as soon as she enrolled into the Academy, she proved to be a stunning genius. Too stunning, in fact. There were rumours of her preemptively walking into a disciplinary board meeting and convincing them to call off an investigation on her before it was even considered. Thus it was no surprise she was chosen to be a fleet command operator, and given all the necessary implants to directly connect her mind to a mothership-class vessel. Advancements in implant technology meant that she got to keep her striking white hair. The "Pale White Ghost," as called by her crew in whispers, was going to be the Fleet Command for the Pride of Hiigara, but of course, Karan S'jet insisted on leading the expedition, a fact Raltha herself predicted when she turned down the position. Still, she served as the fleet's second-in-command and was notorious of giving orders that don't make any sense until much later. As time went on, people learned to stop arguing and just go with her very precise instructions. If Karan was Sajuuk incarnate, Raltha would be her sage. An example, which Raonaid would not soon forget, was how the Admiral ordered the Phuur-Nan to move straight towards the "Lighthouse" of the Progenitor hulk before it was even identified as such. Then the Admiral ordered as thick a strikecraft screen to be put in place around three pairs of hulks, before the Movers even showed themselves. Without those instructions, they would probably have lost a lot more than a few strikecraft squadrons to the Movers.

Now I get it. She must have known about these drones when she sent the Phuur-Nan here, Raonaid thought. Now she wants us to follow them... and then do as I see fit? I thought she was going to be more precise.... Unless even she doesn't know.

Ferdi wiped the sweat off his forehead. "She never wished anyone good luck," he said.

"So she doesn't know everything," Raonaid said. "Wait. The drones aren't moving. Where should we follow them to-"

"Well, Boss, they are now," said the sensors officer. "Entering a tight formation, heading away from our probe.... They are entering hyperspace. Tracking now.... They are leaving for the middle of nowhere, Boss. What do we do?"

"We'll do as the Pale White Ghost says."

"Yes, Boss. Let's hope getting us killed isn't part of her plan."

"I reckon if she was sending us to our deaths, she would have said 'thank you' instead."

"Then we should consider ourselves lucky."
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Assassin714 on November 15, 2018, 07:42:16 pm
Hey Assassin, should I wait on you to continue my plotline or did you want me to continue myself?

Everyone else, cool story writing! This is intriguing.  :nod:

You should continue, but feel free to ask me if you need anything clarified (i.e. about the stealth ships or the message).


I have the same question for my story. So i have to continue my story as well?
Because the last days i waited that the game master throws me into a new situation :D. Because i understand this game in this way so far  :)

You can PM me with plans of what your characters will do, and I will tell you what they will encounter if they do so, then you can write it up here.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Assassin714 on November 15, 2018, 07:43:28 pm
OOC: Great portrayal of Bosch there, very effective!

Cool, thanks! Actually I felt that I erred on the side of making him more amiable than he should have been. If I re-wrote it I'd make him more grim, but I'll leave it as is.  :D  But hey, it's tough to write for a character that someone else wrote years ago!  :v:  :p

Will keep the story moving later when I've given it thought. Can you give me a PM or something with a few hints? I'm not entirely sure where to go next. I just did what I'd do in real life, hand it over to Bosch, but it sort of cuts off that story arc... or does it?

No problem. I will say that Bosch might contact you once the message is decrypted.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Assassin714 on November 15, 2018, 07:46:14 pm
I don't feel like I have enough to sink my teeth into yet for a post like the others are doing. I'm also somewhat puzzled, are you sending PMs to them, or do we have creative control here? I would expect you to give me some information, I respond to it, you tell me what happens next, then I respond to that, etc. But could you for instance give me some information, and I not only respond to it, but also decide what happens next? Is that allowed? Am I allowed to take control of the 1st CRF or anything else I want to?

I can send PMs if you like. But basically I want you to react to the things I throw at you. You can write other factions in your universe, but only as they relate to and interact with your player faction. For example, you won't be controlling tons of different fleets all across the galaxy, but you can write about how they joined with and assisted you. I can tell you what a detailed sensor analysis will reveal of the debris next if you like.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Lorric on November 15, 2018, 10:11:24 pm
I don't feel like I have enough to sink my teeth into yet for a post like the others are doing. I'm also somewhat puzzled, are you sending PMs to them, or do we have creative control here? I would expect you to give me some information, I respond to it, you tell me what happens next, then I respond to that, etc. But could you for instance give me some information, and I not only respond to it, but also decide what happens next? Is that allowed? Am I allowed to take control of the 1st CRF or anything else I want to?

I can send PMs if you like. But basically I want you to react to the things I throw at you. You can write other factions in your universe, but only as they relate to and interact with your player faction. For example, you won't be controlling tons of different fleets all across the galaxy, but you can write about how they joined with and assisted you. I can tell you what a detailed sensor analysis will reveal of the debris next if you like.
I wondered if people were getting any extra info outside of the thread? Me, I'd prefer all my info here. Alright, go ahead and give me the info on the debris.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Assassin714 on November 15, 2018, 11:31:56 pm
I don't feel like I have enough to sink my teeth into yet for a post like the others are doing. I'm also somewhat puzzled, are you sending PMs to them, or do we have creative control here? I would expect you to give me some information, I respond to it, you tell me what happens next, then I respond to that, etc. But could you for instance give me some information, and I not only respond to it, but also decide what happens next? Is that allowed? Am I allowed to take control of the 1st CRF or anything else I want to?

I can send PMs if you like. But basically I want you to react to the things I throw at you. You can write other factions in your universe, but only as they relate to and interact with your player faction. For example, you won't be controlling tons of different fleets all across the galaxy, but you can write about how they joined with and assisted you. I can tell you what a detailed sensor analysis will reveal of the debris next if you like.
I wondered if people were getting any extra info outside of the thread? Me, I'd prefer all my info here. Alright, go ahead and give me the info on the debris.

The ship appears to have been destroyed by a barrage of energy weapons coming from multiple angles simultaneously. The energy signatures are unlike anything in your fleet's database. What is most peculiar though, is that the ship's shield capacitors appeared to be fully charged before it was destroyed, with no evidence of depletion. That would indicate that either the ship had its shields fully charged but never raised them, or the weapons were somehow able to bypass its shielding completely.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: HLD_Prophecy on November 16, 2018, 02:02:31 am
*******************************
the red ships the d r e a d ships they come they c o m e and we are lost

l o s t a brief s t o r y

human children are told s t o r i e s brief stories of the red ships and the shivan invasion of earth of s o l it is no use we wake sir you are needed WAKE

*******************************

"Sir? Commodore, sir?"

Guderian pulled himself out of sleep, clawed for the surface, struggled for consciousness. Forgoing sleep for 48 hours or more was not uncommon among commanding officers. Some went for longer, in fact. Walther couldn't imagine how a fleet ran with its officers constantly deprived of deep rest...

"Sir, private typed message for you. From the Admiral himself, sir. Marked urgent."

Guderian took the package. Sealed in a deceptively light hardcase, the message was inaccessible without command codes. Codes which he had been assigned when he took this position. Opening the case, he found a single sheet of paper inside. The message was written clearly, without the invisible ink that was occasionally used; Guderian assumed that this was to save time. Must have wanted me to read this ASAP...

The text was unencrypted. YOUR IMMEDIATE PRESENCE IS REQUESTED ON THE FRONT LINES IN SIRIUS>YOU WILL MEET ME IN PERSON AND ALONE>BRING THE SQUADRON TO THE FOLLOWING COORDINATES FOR FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS>TELL NO ONE OF YOUR PURPOSE IN SIRIUS>I REPEAT NO ONE>YOU WILL FOLLOW THESE ORDERS PRECISELY

The Commodore lightly tossed the message into the nearby waste incinerator, Admiral Bosch's last reprimand echoing in his mind. Straightening his cap, he buzzed for departure stations, then commed for Captains Mitchell of the Fort Grace and Gascon of the Ark.

"I need all crews ready for departure in ten. Gascon, relay this to the transports. The entire 5th is moving to Sirius."

He reclined in his seat as the cruiser hummed to life around him. Amidst the barely controlled chaos, he found time for another mug of coffee.

Bitter, black coffee.

Really need to get some creamer in here. Or maybe that would diminish the efficacy of the caffeine? Nevermind.


Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: crizza on November 16, 2018, 04:00:54 pm
19th Battlegroup, Delta Serpentis

“They’re answering, we’re clear to send a team Sir!” Lt. Wilson looked doubtful at his commanding Officer.
“Sir, with all due respect: If read first contact protocol, but encircling a supposed friendly unknown faction and then offering to send them help…”
The Admiral was by now lost in a cloud of smoke. Again, he was clapping his fingers, his mind racing to comprehend. He knew that Wilson was right and even if he would send Chufu with a security detail to them, there was a high risk of everything going awry. At least they didn’t have to wait for a shuttle, since two heavily modified Satis were docked to the Phoenicia’s docking points and one was currently loading up the Vasudans. Maybe he should go with them? But then again Arvida would never allow such a crazy idea.

“Chufu… you can join Sethak’s team, but you will do so armoured!”
Showing a huge grin, the Chief-Engineer stomped from the bridge. Arvida by now leant on the rail surrounding his chair in a semi-circle. Playing with a throwing knife, as was her habit when thinking, Christopher knew she was about to speak. When she did she leaned close to him, breaching his protective envelop of smoke, speaking with a very low voice.
“You heard Chufu Darling, there is a high chance they are not affiliated with the UEF or even the GEF for that matter. Send a message, ask them what faction they belong to. And for that matter, have them some tell you where the Satis should dock.”
Finishing her advice she retreated, walking over to the cluster which made up the Sensors station.
This whole situation seemed more and more unreal. He was supposed to be in the Sol system, maybe even discussing Steeles strategy, his big endgame. Not that he wanted to, he had an agenda of his own. The Vasudans in heavy power armour were not just with them for show after all.
He had justified getting his hands bloody in the Sol system by telling himself time and time again, that he would stage a rescue attempt, if he learned about the location where Anita Lopez was held prisoner.
The Feds wouldn’t have her executed, no. Most likely she’d been interrogated and was now being kept at a secure location. Still, he owed Anita big, without her, he would not sit on this chair at all.

“Lieutenant Wilson, signal as follow…” The message was fairly long, as Wilson pointed out to him, yet the navigations light still transmitted.
-.-. .-.. .- .-. .. ..-. .. -.-. .- - .. --- -. ---... / --. - ...- .- / .- - / .-- .- .-. / .-- .. - .... / ..- -. .. - . -.. / . .- .-. - .... / ..-. . -.. . .-. .- - .. --- -. / -... - / . .- .-. - .... / .- -. -.. / -- .- .-. ... / .... --- ... - .. .-.. . / -... - / .-- .... . .-. . / -.. --- / -.-- --- ..- / ... - .- -. -.. ..--.. / .... .. --. .... .-.. .. --. .... - / -.. --- -.-. -.- .. -. --. / .--. --- .. -. - / .--. .-.. . .- ... .


While it was doing this, Christopher was slowly going through the status of every ship, noticing that the 1st Corvette Division and Templar Squadron slotted in their allocated places of the formation.
He remembered the briefing about the disappearance of the 14th Battlegroup. While he was not part of Steeles little circle, even he could perceive that ten ships had been lost in subspace transit for several days. Chufu was right of course. He would bet a year’s salary that this ship was not UEF, yet he could not imagine what it was…
On the main screen, the Satis transport was being shown, having undocked from the Phoenicia and was slowly manoeuvring away.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Assassin714 on November 16, 2018, 06:44:05 pm
-HNS Phuur-Nan Task Force, Coruc-Tel System-

The drones did nothing. For a while it seemed that they had not noticed or even cared that they were being hailed. Raonaid shot a glance at Ferdi, who shrugged his trademark what-else-did-you-expect shrug.

"Well, let's try something else. Shaked, can you scan them back?"

"Yes, Captain. It wouldn't be any better than the scans we got from the Vaygr, but as a form of reciprocal communication...."

"You catch my drift."

"It is worth a try. Scanning now. This will take some time."

"Boss?" asked the comms officer.

"Yeah?"

"Got a top priority transmission from the Admiral. Instruction is to play it right here, right now."

"Go ahead."

It was a voice-only transmission. "Follow the drones. Do not wait for the science team. After that, your orders are to do anything as you see fit until the next time we meet. Good luck."

Admiral Raltha Naabal was, to many in the fleet, a greater mystery than the three Hyperspace Cores combined. Many who have served under her command would swear up and down that she was capable of precognition. Before she entered the Navy she was just an unknown industrial university graduate. But as soon as she enrolled into the Academy, she proved to be a stunning genius. Too stunning, in fact. There were rumours of her preemptively walking into a disciplinary board meeting and convincing them to call off an investigation on her before it was even considered. Thus it was no surprise she was chosen to be a fleet command operator, and given all the necessary implants to directly connect her mind to a mothership-class vessel. Advancements in implant technology meant that she got to keep her striking white hair. The "Pale White Ghost," as called by her crew in whispers, was going to be the Fleet Command for the Pride of Hiigara, but of course, Karan S'jet insisted on leading the expedition, a fact Raltha herself predicted when she turned down the position. Still, she served as the fleet's second-in-command and was notorious of giving orders that don't make any sense until much later. As time went on, people learned to stop arguing and just go with her very precise instructions. If Karan was Sajuuk incarnate, Raltha would be her sage. An example, which Raonaid would not soon forget, was how the Admiral ordered the Phuur-Nan to move straight towards the "Lighthouse" of the Progenitor hulk before it was even identified as such. Then the Admiral ordered as thick a strikecraft screen to be put in place around three pairs of hulks, before the Movers even showed themselves. Without those instructions, they would probably have lost a lot more than a few strikecraft squadrons to the Movers.

Now I get it. She must have known about these drones when she sent the Phuur-Nan here, Raonaid thought. Now she wants us to follow them... and then do as I see fit? I thought she was going to be more precise.... Unless even she doesn't know.

Ferdi wiped the sweat off his forehead. "She never wished anyone good luck," he said.

"So she doesn't know everything," Raonaid said. "Wait. The drones aren't moving. Where should we follow them to-"

"Well, Boss, they are now," said the sensors officer. "Entering a tight formation, heading away from our probe.... They are entering hyperspace. Tracking now.... They are leaving for the middle of nowhere, Boss. What do we do?"

"We'll do as the Pale White Ghost says."

"Yes, Boss. Let's hope getting us killed isn't part of her plan."

"I reckon if she was sending us to our deaths, she would have said 'thank you' instead."

"Then we should consider ourselves lucky."

You follow the drones to an uninhabited star system, which has been mined even more thoroughly than the previous one. There is a massive concentration of drone ships, although not nearly enough to make up for the system's missing mass. The greatest concentration (including several incredibly massive constructions hundreds of kilometers in diameter) are surrounding an unknown anomaly, which is giving off readings like nothing you have ever seen before. The drones you were following, once they exit hyperspace, proceed at a slow but steady pace towards this anomaly. You note that most of the other drones in the system seem to be moving towards the anomaly, and disappearing within it.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: HLD_Prophecy on November 17, 2018, 02:57:10 pm
**************************************
Commodore Guderian stood before Admiral Bosch aboard the Iceni.

It had been a full twenty seconds or so since he had been ushered in. The Admiral had glanced up at him briefly, then returned to staring - almost blankly, Guderian surmised - at a sheaf of papers in his hand. Eventually he sighed and, with alarming deftness, spread and shuffled the papers on the table.

"Commodore, tell me... would you trust a rumour?"

"A rumor, Admiral? That would depend upon how well-substantiated it was."

"A rumor. A fantastic rumour that promised destruction and salvation at once. The end times. A rumor so fantastic... so fantastic you feel compelled to believe?"

"Sir, I am afraid I don't understand."

"These, Commodore, are the contents of the encrypted communication you delivered to me." He indicated the papers spread before them. Guderian eyed them briefly, not prepared to read them yet.

"I will say this as succinctly as I may, Commodore. The communication claims to be a warning. A prophecy, if you will. From an inter-dimensional, inter-spatial source of some kind, one that claims to have witnessed the realization of a future possibility: the return of the Shivans. On an even greater scale. And, naturally, the associated end of mankind."

the red ships the dread ships they come and we are lost

Guderian's mind reeled. He recovered and responded with defiance:

"A hoax, sir. An absurd notion, an attempt to mislead. Clearly some GTVI spook cooked this up. A Faustus and three fighters? Traversing time and space? If you would, sir, I suggest that we..." He trailed off, his case sounding weaker in his own mind as he took in Bosch's stony gaze. That the Admiral had the patience to wait on him at all was remarkable, Guderian realized. He fell silent.

"If you're quite done, Commodore... I have some familiarity with the ways of the "spook." I would initially agree. This communication could be a tactic to steal our attention, divide our focus. But think about it further. Please read what I've set before you?"

The Commodore began paging through the papers. An elaborate future possibility unfolded itself. A Shivan invasion, one barely stopped. That belonged to an alternate timeline. The warning was focused on what could happen now. A much larger incursion, on multiple fronts. It would be impossible to plug the gaps, even with the GTVA's latest Meson bomb strategies. The tide would roll on inexorably. The very nature of reality could bend, fracture, to serve the Shivan's purposes. The account was detailed, incredibly detailed. Specific descriptions of the GTVA weaknesses, a brutally clinical explanation of how the Shivans would exploit those weaknesses...

Guderian glanced up. "Elaborate, sir, yes. Incredibly elaborate."

"I know. They seem remarkably aware of their own vulnerabilities, if this should be a GTVI plot. In addition, Commodore, they knew. They knew our most advanced decryption abilities. My private decryption routines. They know an incredible amount about our fleet, about our command structure, about our strengths - such as they are - and about our weaknesses."

"Commodore Guderian, if the GTVA knows so much, knows exactly what they can do to us... why go to the effort of misdirection?"

Guderian looked up, noticing the few papers that Bosch still held under his hand. He gestured toward them, a question in his eyes.

"These are for my eyes only. They detail my role in this matter."

"Your role, Admiral?"

"Presumably... I have the power to stop this. I have resources which I cannot describe to you now. Resources that could stop this apocalypse before it begins. To that end, I am going to disappear. I will take the Iceni with its crew, some close advisors, and follow this rumor to the bitter end. If it should turn out to be a myth - and at this point, I am beginning to doubt that - we can always..."

The Commodore lost control and interrupted: "Sir? You are abandoning the people of Neo-Terra? RIGHT when we need you most?!? Your people are counting on you to keep your promises, Admiral! Do you have the luxury of chasing after a -"

Bosch's hand came down like thunder on the desk. Guderian flinched, yet the roaring tirade he anticipated did not emerge. When Bosch spoke, after a pause, it was with an implacable whisper. As with a promordial glacier, argument would have been worse than futile. Only one word was raised above that whisper, and it cut like a blade of tempered steel.

"Do not DARE to presume that I feel anything but bitterness at having to leave my people behind. I take no pleasure in appearing to break my promise. I raised the Neo-Terran Front to give those who were willing to fight... to give them a better life. Soldiers, students - such as yourself - laborers, scholars, business owners, merchants, dock workers, politicians, ruled, rulers. I invited them all to partake of the abundance that could be ours - could be ours if we stood, fought, showed strength tempered with mercy, might tempered with justice. This situation changes nothing, Commodore. I can put this threat down before it rears its ugly head. If it should be a rumor, you will have to do temporarily without me and without the services of my command vessel. But if it is true? I could save us all. That is honoring my promise."

"You will not deny this."

Guderian stood straighter. He would not deny his leader. "What are your orders, sir?"

The Admiral sat back, rubbing his hands together momentarily as he stared at the desk.

"I am leaving Rear Admiral Koth in charge during my absence. I want that affairs continue unchanged while I am gone. It is to be as if I was present, do you understand?"

"Yes, sir. Rear Admiral Koth."

The disbelief in his voice was evident. Bosch raised an eyebrow. He had anticipated this.

"Koth is a fanatic, I know. But he is aggressive. Uncompromising. Driven. He will not waver from a set course, the course of Neo-Terra. I can trust that in my hopefully temporary absence, he will not bow to the GTVA. You understand."

Guderian did not. But that was of no consequence.

"Sir, let the 5th come with you. Three cruisers and the power of your battle corvette? That would form a tough defensive formation. We could fight our way out of any number of situations, should things turn sour."

"I felt that you would ask this of me, Commodore. Know... know that I appreciate your loyalty. And it is that very appreciation that compels me to ask you to stay."

"I need a representative to remain. Someone who knows what has been done, why we are fighting, the warning that has been given. Should the time come to reveal this affair to the GTVA..."

Guderian started. Clearly, Bosch was getting desperate.

"...should that time come, I can trust you to relay only the information they need. For the same reason, I am not describing to you the specifics of what I must do to stop this invasion. The less you know about that, the better - we both know how they would react to a plot of mine. They would doubtlessly interfere in their clumsy fashion, and destroy the endeavour. They would be very satisfied with themselves for doing so, I don't doubt."

A tight smile reached Bosch's face. Just for a moment. It disappeared as fast as it had come. "I am am gifting you with this command directive. It is a private code of mine. Koth is very familiar with it. It gives you the right, on a case by case basis, to countermand Koth's orders. It is imperative that you do not use this directive except in a case of most dire necessity. You understand. It is required that we maintain Koth as a legitimate authority figure. You can imagine the effect on the command structure, were a Commodore of a rear-line squadron to make a habit of correcting Koth."

Guderian took the folder. "Thank you, sir. I promise you, I will only use this in extreme necessity. Is that all, sir?"

The Admiral was quiet for a moment. He then pushed one of the papers, formerly in his grasp, over towards Guderian. His hand covered most of the sheet, but one sentence was visible.

Trust only the trustworthy.

Guderian frowned at the rather obvious and empty sentence. The Admiral spoke before he could.

"Commodore, always remember this: I chose you for this task. Circumstances will test that trust. Circumstances will test you. Be not afraid. Do not waver. That is... all. I cannot guarantee that we will meet again, not for a long time. You are dismissed."

Guderian saluted - his sharpest, most attentive, respectful salute. He turned briskly on his heel and marched from the room, hoping that the moistness in his eyes had not been noticed. As he moved to close the door behind him, he heard a quiet call from the room behind him.

"Commodore?"

"Yes, sir?"

"Thank you."

"I... thank you in return, Admiral."



And that was, as had been said, all.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: bomb3rman on November 18, 2018, 10:07:40 pm
- Independent Cruiser Nightfly, Delta Serpentis -

It took quiet some time to transmit and decode the last message from the unknown battlegroup. Sally looked over from her monitors. "60 seconds until we're back online. What's the plan? Looks like you really confused these guys out there..."

Fisher stood up from his seat. What should he do? Hitting the afterburners? Answering per morse code again? This whole situation became more and more ridiculous.

"What about the sensors?"

"They're back in business. I'm scanning the entire battlegroup and the strange anomaly behind us... It looks like these guys were headed towards this thing... Maybe it's some kind of entrypoint to hyperspace, but it's not a gate like we know from human or maybe Centauri or Narn space..."

"Alright, that's enough... I'm tired of guessing about what has happened or might happen next. These guys seem to understand our language, so it's time they give us some answers." And what the hell is a docking point? , he added in his mind. "Try to hail their flagship once you're ready. I'd like to talk directly with them. Everyone else, stay sharp. Let's hope I can talk us through to this."

He again took place in his seat. His heartbeat accelerated a bit.

"Sally, hail them with the additional visual channel. I want to see these guys."

A few seconds later, the last stations aboard the Nightfly came back online. The monitors flickered, the sound of the energy core and the lower decks came back to a steady background noise.

Alright, the lady has woken up again. Now show me what you can do...

"Sending sound and visuals in 3,2,1.... GO"

Fisher tried to look confident. He cleared his throat.

"Unknown ships, this is the independent cruiser Nightfly. I am captain John Fisher. We are humans from Earth and Mars. We don't know a United Earth Federation, we're freelancers and the Sol system and adjacent systems we know of, like the Proxima System, are under control of the Earth Alliance. After malfunctions in our sensors during our travel via hyperspace, I ordered an emergency exit jump that brought us to this system. We do not express a threat to you or your mission, whatever that might be. Stop your intended boarding maneuver and do not force us to defend ourselfes. We mean no harm to you. We're asking for permission to leave the sphere of influence of this anomaly behind as we're getting strange readings from it. Let us come closer and we're sure that we can figure this out."

Fisher pushed the next buttons. He lightened another cigarette, then he waited a few seconds. As the nicotine rushed through his bloodstream, he exhaled the smoke. "Sally, send this on a loop until we get an answer, then patch them through directly. I'd like to talk vis-à-vis."
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: crizza on November 19, 2018, 04:33:45 pm
19th Battlegroup, Delta Serpentis

Time seemed to stretch as they waited on an answer.
What he got first, was a shout out from the sensors station.
“Admiral, if the readings are to be trusted, energy yield of the unknown ship is rising!”

Clicking several buttons, the transport he had sent turned around and headed back. At least the pilot had gotten some flight time.
One look at the disposition of ships showed everything being exactly where he wanted it to be. At long last Dragon Slayer squadron had exited the hangar bay of the Phoenicia, twelve Gorgon fortress bomber crafts, which positioned themselves close to their motherships bow.
“Sir, we are being hailed, visual feed.”

This better be good, Christopher thought. For now, he simply looked at the screen, taking in the measure of whom he had till now only communicated via Morse code. While he could see his counterpart, the Phoenicia’s comm systems were only set to receive.

"Unknown ships, this is the independent cruiser Nightfly. I am captain John Fisher. We are humans from Earth and Mars. We don't know a United Earth Federation, we're freelancers and the Sol system and adjacent systems we know of, like the Proxima System, are under control of the Earth Alliance. After malfunctions in our sensors during our travel via hyperspace, I ordered an emergency exit jump that brought us to this system. We do not express a threat to you or your mission, whatever that might be. Stop your intended boarding maneuver and do not force us to defend ourselfes. We mean no harm to you. We're asking for permission to leave the sphere of influence of this anomaly behind as we're getting strange readings from it. Let us come closer and we're sure that we can figure this out."

Hitting another button, the ventilation system came online, sucking away the smoke of the last minutes. If he chooses to answer, he wanted to be seen.
Slowly he rose from his chair and smoothed his uniform. Not his dress uniform, but the sign of the GTVA and his rank badges showing his rank where the only visible features on the otherwise blank black uniform. He wasn’t even wearing a cap.
Arvida came to stand next to him, equally dressed, while Ramses stood on the other side, in his long light brown robe. Complemented by Sethak, in his heavy power armour, planting the Khopesh-spear firmly on the ground, who looked rather menacing with his high crested helm in place. Breathing in and out slowly, he nodded to Lt. Wilson to open a feed.

“Well met, Captain Fischer. I am Admiral Christopher Schulz, commanding Officer of the 19th Battlegroup, of the Galactic Terran Vasudan Alliance. As you claim not to be familiar with the United Earth Federation, we haven’t heard of an Earth Alliance, nor of the Proxima system.
We had a bad start, but since your Cruiser is armed, I take it you are familiar with war and what it portends. An unknown ship appearing out of nowhere, ending up in a fleet on its way to war, yet unable to make the subspace jump.”

He looked away for a moment, noting the Satis returning into the protective umbrella of the fleet formation.

“Said boarding manoeuvre in fact contained my Chief Engineer, who was quite excited to get a closer look at your ship. That sphere of influence as you call it is a jump gate, the only into the Sol system, but…”

He turned his head a fraction to look at his wife, who nodded with a warm smile. Her intuition was better than his and who was he, to not trust a woman’s intuition.

“Very well, you may leave your position, but note that we are on a war footing, I would rather not have your ship make any unexpected things and seen it speared by main beam cannons. Bring your ship alongside the Phoenicia, it is hard to miss.”

Nodding towards the cluster of monitors where the Weapons control station was, he signalled with crisp sign of his hand to cancel the weapons lock of the Battlegroup. Not that it was hard to get it again, but the heavy turrets swung back into neutral positions. For now, his curiosity had gained the upper hand: If what he suspected was true, then this was a rather interesting development.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Autohummer on November 19, 2018, 06:32:42 pm
-HNS Phuur-Nan Task Force, Unknown System-

Plunging headfirst into the unknown has been part of the job description of the Hiigaran Navy since the day the Mothership made the fateful voyage from Kharak. For the veterans of the Pride of Hiigara mission, who have seen the likes of Karos and Balcora, the decision to follow a few unknown ships into an unknown part of space was almost sensible. On the other hand, very little could prepare the trainee strikecraft and frigate crews for what was waiting for them on the other side, as the carrier cleared the quantum wavefront.

They will learn, Ferdi thought. If they lived.

The carrier emerged in an empty system, though the routine scan showed that it had definitely not been the case. This system had even less mass than Coruc-Tel, but the size of the star and Oort Cloud suggested that the system should have had a lot more matter. The pilot cadets realised this sooner than the command section, as they launched into space the first thing they saw was a planet, or a small moon, that must have been neatly cut into eight pieces, but right now, only three were left. The comms filled with chatter as their squadron leaders tried fruitlessly to hush them down.

"Report," Raonaid said.

"There are even more drones here than what the Vaygr had met," Shaked said, eyes fixed to the sensors feed. "They are converging at one single point deeper into the system, here. The drones are converging around a collection of five large, mostly spherical structures. Each of these structures is more than five hundred kilometres in diameter. These structures, in turn, have been placed around a signal source...."

Suddenly, Shaked threw off her headset and clutched her ears. The high-pitched white noise was so loud that Raonaid and Ferdi could hear it despite being metres away. Normally the headsets were made with protection against such signal surges, but the smell of burnt plastic suggested that this countermeasure had failed.

"Shaked, you all right?" Raonaid rushed over to her side and found her left ear bleeding. "Medical team to the CIC, stat!"

"I am sorry for my lack of precaution, Captain."

"It's all right."

Meanwhile Ferdi had already taken over the sensors station and continued the analysis. Even though he was always the odd one out, these months of combat had built a semblance of trust among the command staff. Some things need not be ordered, it was just done. Most of the time, of course, everyone just did their thing and forgot other people existed, but that was what you'd get with a training carrier and its constant crew transferals.

"There is a massive anomaly in the middle of those structures..." he said, replacing the burned out headset with a ready spare but not putting it on. "You remember Balcora? This thing is even crazier. The numbers I have are bouncing up and down and all over. One moment this thing has an infinite mass but the next it says it has zero mass. Sames goes for refractive index, opacity, EM emissions, well, everything. The drones are all moving closer to the anomaly. Once they reach it, they are gone."

"Some kind of gate, I guess?" Raonaid asked as the medical technicians rushed into the CIC and began tending to Shaked's wounds.

"Yes, I suppose. Now, Captain, even though the Admiral gave you a blank cheque, I have to recommend against sailing our ship straight through it."

"Our orders are to follow the drones, we don't have much autonomy here."

"At least we should send a probe through first. Who knows what it would do to our ship if we went through it unprepared. Also, there's no telling if the Drones would appreciate us barging in like that. It'd be best to send in something expendable first."

"Well, that'll do," Raonaid picked up the intercom to the factory deck. "Get us three standard probes, out."
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Assassin714 on November 20, 2018, 09:14:37 am
BTW, from now on, if anyone needs any further input/continuations to their story arc, feel free to just PM me.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: bomb3rman on November 20, 2018, 04:16:28 pm
- Independent Cruiser Nightfly, Delta Serpentis -

"Alright, people, we've got clearance to move forward. Franky, bring us alongside their flagship. And keep it slow." His heartbeat decelerated. Maybe these people weren't so hotheaded after all. "Marcus, I want steady reports of the progress you're making. Let me know when we're ready to jump again."

He took place in his seat again. This admiral seemed reasonable, at least for now. Sally came towards him, showing some results of ongoing scans on a small tablet. "I've tried to scan the sector, but I can't get my head around this strange 'node' these ships were heading to. This guy said something about not being able to make a subspace jump. I think I know why. This thing is dead."

"What do you mean by 'dead'?"

"Some fading neutrinos showed that this was a connection to some kind of space for faster interstellar travel, not that different from our own entry points. But somehow, this connection seems to have collapsed a few hours ago. I... I just don't think that it's a coincidence that we got thrown out here after exiting hyperspace....", she added.

That would make sense. As the sensors failed to work, he just opened an exit vector via a brute force method. Usually, automatic calculations would stabalize the exit points to make a return to normal space less rough, for ships and space alike. But he just kicked in the door by jumping straight ahead... and then fell into the hole on the floor right behind it.

"Could we be the reason that their node is sealed?"

"Highly unlikely. We might be able to create a temporary disturbance, but not for more than a few minutes. The ship is just not big enough to create an enduring lockdown. But whatever happened here, it might have sucked us into this ... place... universe... whatever." Sally threw up her arms.

"Ok, I get it... We might need to talk to these guys to get more information about where we are... And how we can go back to our own place. I'm calling them again." Fisher's fingers flew over the console and monitors. The strange mimbari knobs and buttons changed their colours from light green to dark blue as he continued. The weak vibrations that started made him calmer.

"Admiral Schulz, this is Captain Fisher again. If you're still interested in learing something about my ship, you are allowed to send over a team of three people, if you wish. I'm sure there's a lot to discuss. We just found out that your 'jump gate' might be out of order for a long period of time. Though we doubt to be the reason for this phenomenon, our presence in this sector could be more than just a coincidence. We assure you that there will come no harm to your people. We might be able to help each other here. My comm officer will send you the data package that allows a save docking maneuver. Fisher out."
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: HLD_Prophecy on November 20, 2018, 08:35:39 pm
**********************************
In absence of further orders, the 5th Cruiser Squadron returned to their assigned post at Cascade Station. This state of affairs was not to last long, however - no sooner were supplies replenished than Commodore Guderian received a summons from Rear Admiral Koth.

Guderian accessed the video feed.

"Commodore! There is no sense in wasting words. I need you and the 5th to join me on the front lines in Epsilon Pegasi!"

"Rear Admiral, we are a rear-line garrison defense unit - "

"No arguments, Commodore, I need YOU! Quibbling with your superiors will not serve Neo-Terra! Before his departure Admiral Bosch assured me that you lead a unit that I can trust! Reinforcements are needed and your cruisers will serve. Bring your transports as well! Upon reaching the system you are to form up with the Repulse as a temporary addition to my battlegroup. Koth OUT!"

Guderian swallowed his half-formed objections. Straightening his cap, he called for mobilization. Again.

And took another sip from the mug of black coffee that had been on his desk for hours. Again.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: HLD_Prophecy on November 25, 2018, 02:59:25 pm
***********************************
Guderian reported immediately to Rear Admiral Koth upon the 5th's arrival in Epsilon Pegasi. He was not entirely unexpected.

"COMMODORE Guderian, I was within seconds of contacting you myself! We have just recieved word that the Majestic and the Refute are under attack elsewhere in the system! They will be utterly destroyed unless we intervene! The Repulse is moving into position, we are less than sixty seconds away from jump-readiness! You are to follow AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, for NEO-TERRA!"

"A moment, Rear Admiral?"

"A brief moment, Commodore!"

"What are we up against? What is attacking our cruisers?"

Koth had the grace to look slightly chastened at his haste. "Thank you for asking. A Leviathan-class cruiser, the GTC Rampart, is after our cruisers, with a wing of Medusa Bombers to back her up. I trust you understand the situation now?"

Guderian certainly understood. At a distance a Leviathan could easily outlast the damage output from two light slashing beams, while its more accurate beam cannon would dish out more damage in return. Add a wing of medium bombers into the mix...

"Rear Admiral, why have our cruisers not simply retreated from this disadvantageous encounter?"

Koth was actually taken aback. It took him near on three seconds to compose an answer - an answer delivered with his typical fiery bluster.

"If I did not take your loyalty SERIOUSLY, Commodore GUDERIAN, I would have labeled that as SEDITIOUS and COWARDLY talk! There is no question of retreat, we fight these GTVA dogs WHEREVER and HOWEVER we can! Our cruisers are certain to be lost, it is true, but that is only if WE do not step in! We will demonstrate our RESOLVE, our MIGHT! Rumour has it that even that DOG, that B*ST*RD of a pilot, that Alpha 1 of those CONFOUNDED Suicide Kings is there. His death will make a fine trophy! We will..."

Koth was briefly interrupted as his staff officer reported jump-readiness.

"AHEM! Commodore, you WILL join us! Koth ou-"

"Rear Admiral, SIR! The Colossus is in the system they are practically BEGGING us to throw away our most potent asset you cannot risk the Repulse like this you must listen - "

Guderian had been yelling at an empty screen for the past two seconds. His protests died away as he realized the futility of arguing with a Rear Admiral capable of such limitless...

...bravery.







Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: crizza on November 26, 2018, 02:10:31 pm
19th Battlegroup, Delta Serpentis

They waited. Christopher, for want of any other things to do tried to hail Steele via subspace communications but failed to get a connection. Likewise, communications with Delta Serpentis HQ were possible, but they were taking their time. A kingdom for a Faustus or one of the newer Schrodinger class science vessel. Sure, they had on board labs, but they were rather blunt compared to a dedicated science ship.
His command echelon dispersed around him and it didn’t take long for Chufu to return to the bridge. The elderly Vasudan looked rather unpleasant, which on itself spoke volumes about his discontent. Vasudan facial expressions were most of the time barely noticeable. You could insult the whole bloodline of a Vasudan and while it would look like the Vasudan didn’t give a damn about it, you would end up on the floor, with your breast caved in by a punch.

“Incoming, putting it through.”
Looking back at the screen, Captain Fisher appeared again.

"Admiral Schulz, this is Captain Fisher again. If you're still interested in learning something about my ship, you are allowed to send over a team of three people, if you wish. I'm sure there's a lot to discuss. We just found out that your 'jump gate' might be out of order for a long period of time. Though we doubt to be the reason for this phenomenon, our presence in this sector could be more than just a coincidence. We assure you that there will come no harm to your people. We might be able to help each other here. My comm officer will send you the data package that allows a save docking manoeuvre. Fisher out."
As the screen faded to black, voices exploded. The implications were severe. With the portal down, reinforcing terran forces in the Sol system was out of the question. Without supplies Admiral Steele’s forces would starve the way the UEF was starving right now.
In the meantime they had to decide who would go to meet the crew of the Nightfly.
“Guess I’ll go…” Christopher said after listening to the debate for some time. As expected, Arvida rounded on him immediately.

“The hell you will. You’re in charge of this merry gathering of ships. You have an executive officer for such things…” Realizing what she had just said, Arvida became silent and carefully looked towards Ramses.
“I would be honoured to visit this strange ship…” This time, it was Christopher who spoke out, his irritation audible.
“Not gonna happen Ramses. I didn’t save your bony ass all these years ago, only for you to risk it!”
Having been silent, Chufu was starting to say something, but he was cut short by Ramses.
“With all due respect Admiral. I don’t understand what my… asinus has to do with it. I am the only logical choice to go over, since I have written my habilitation treatise about subspace theory.”

The Admiral groaned. Crown prince he maybe, but he often forgot just how smart Ramses was. But if he would send him, he would have to send Ramses life warden as well. Vasudan Naval Guards were one thing. Clad in state of the art power armour and weaponry designed to shred anything not being a main battle tank, the Royal Guard was of another calibre all together. And if they weren’t the meanest killing machines the Vasudans had to offer, no, this fell into the mandate of the life wardens, whose sole purpose was to protect the members of the imperial bloodline against any and all threat.
Carefully he looked at the duo stationed at the bulkhead leading to and from the bridge.
He had once joked that they could wield a maxim cannon and had promptly being shown, just what kind of equipment they used. Rubbing his hand over his face, he sighed.

“Well, Ramses goes, with him one of his wardens. And since I’ll be skinned alive if something goes wrong, I can go as well. Furnish a copy of Nabirasuls node map and have a bottle of Capellan Whisky made ready.”
Inwardly he screamed. The Whisky was worth a fortune, for obvious reasons. The node map, hand painted by the Emperors closest advisor was a masterpiece and even copies of it sold for outrageous amounts of money.

“Get your but in gear… your highness. Arvida my love… you have the bridge. Lieutenant Wilson, inform them three people are inbound aboard an escape pod… no… call it a shuttle. And somehow tell them, that I’ll have a VIP and his trusted guard in tow. And if you’re at it, we’ll come encased in power armour. Ah, the joy of being host to Vasudan royalty…”
Sometime later, the small shuttle docked with the Nightfly.
The Admiral, encased in custom built armour, eased himself out of the pilots’ seat and took up the small casket containing the artwork and the bottle of booze. Doing his best to ignore the one-man army behind him, armed with a rotary cannon which would surely fire Balor rounds and an energised Khopesh spear and longsword at his belt, he waited for the door to open.
While the life wardens armour was built to look aggressive, his own armour was elegant, designed to protect him against weapons fire, while allowing him to move unhindered by its weight. Ramses suit definitely screamed royalty and the Admiral guessed, with all that gold and mother-of-pearl decorations, the light brown suit of armour would be enough to buy a Diomedes corvette.

“Let’s get this over with, and warden, even if they shoot…”
The voice of the life warden was low and menacing and it set him on edge as always. He’d never seen that one’s face at all.

“If they threaten the crown prince, I will cut them down!”
Looking to Ramses calmed Christopher: The crown prince had elected to carry his high crested helmet in the crook of his arm, the purple cloak draped beneath it. Yet his other hand rested on the pommel of his own sword.  Belatedly Christopher realized, that he was the only one without a weapon. Smiling to himself, he waited.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Assassin714 on November 27, 2018, 01:51:05 pm
Shivan Progress Report

A Shivan Alliance Scout Fleet has recently been deployed to Autohummer's (Homeworld) universe. It has so far had no direct contact with the native lifeforms.

A Shivan Alliance Scout Fleet has been deployed to Lorric's (WoD) universe. It has so far only engaged in minor skirmishes with the native lifeforms.

The Native Shivans of bomb3rman and crizza's present universe (Blue Planet Universe) have been contacted.

The Native Shivans of HLD_Prophecy's universe remain uncontacted.

The Native Shivans of Novachen's universe remain uncontacted.

The Mahasu Coalition has not yet been integrated.

The Vishnans have yet to fully grasp the situation, and remain uncoordinated.

The TRISHULA has yet to be deployed.

Chances of defeating the Shivan Alliance at this juncture: Reasonable.


Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: bomb3rman on November 30, 2018, 07:13:01 am
- Independent Cruiser Nightfly, Delta Serpentis -

As the small shuttle had docked, Fisher waited in the hangar for his guests to leave their ship. He hadn't brought a gun, though, Havoc, his security chief and former narn special forces member, had insisted that he should. Na'Far, as he was really called, stood right next to him with his ever same, sullen expression on his face.

Sally called over the internal comm channel. "They said they'd send a VIP and his guard... And that the admiral himself would come. So don't do anything stupid, alright?"

"A VIP, Ugh!", Havoc said, "I've seen enough precious 'VIPs' during my time on my occupied homeworld. Fancy guys running around in even fanciers suits, looking down on all those who preserve their special state. I'd like to deal with more military guys... At least they know hard work."

Fisher smiled. He had known the Narn for eight years now. Sometimes he just forgot that Na'Far had had a life before he joined Fisher's crew. "Go easy on them... Maybe they're different in this place."

"Maybe, but if they make a stupid move they'll regret it. I've got two poisoned narn knives with me. These blades will find a way through every armor they might carry."

And with these final words, the small door on the shuttle opened. The first person that left it was a human, though he didn't wear a uniform as Fisher expected. The other two were much taller than him. He had never seen people like these. What kind of aliens were they? One had a purple cloak rapped around him, while they were all wearing strong looking armour and a lot of additional weaponry. The purple cloak meant something, so Fisher guessed that this guy (was it a guy?) had to be some royal. He stepped forward, putting out his hand.

"Welcome aboard the Nightfly. I'm guessing you're Admiral Schulz? I am Captain John Fisher, independent cruiser captain and one of the reasons your day might have been a little different that the days before. This is Na'Far, though everyone calls him Havoc. He's my security officer and wil make sure that your stay aboard the Nightfly will be as comfortable as possible. And I'm guessing these two are... part of your Navy, I guess? But let's not stay here in this hangar, we have a conference room made ready the moment as we speak. Let me bring you there. There's a lot to discuss." 

Well, Havoc, I think it will be hard to find a way through this armor..., he thought for himself as he led the group through a floor and into the conference room, where Marcus was already waiting for them.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: crizza on December 02, 2018, 10:10:36 pm
As the door slid open, the Admiral smiled. Captain Fisher was definitely human. This Na’Far however looked distinctively non terran. His skin pattern was certainly interesting.
Shaking the proffered hand, he kept up his smile.

“Captain Fisher, it is nice to meet you. The one in the purple cloak is crown prince Ramses of the Vasudan Empire. The other is his highness life warden, pledged to protect him wherever he goes.”
Not too bad a first contact Christopher thought, as he followed Fisher. After arriving in the conference, he placed the casket on the table, opening it. Taking out the bottle and after unwrapping the node map, he looked to the persons present.

“I am honoured to make first contact with what I assume are fellow space travellers from a… well, I guess a parallel universe. This bottle here contains Capellan Whisky, a dying brand, from a lost system. Plus, I have a map of GTVA systems, hand drawn by one of the most important advisors of the Vasudan Emperor.”

Flattening the map to the table, he marvelled at the detail. Each system was drawn in detail, with planets, asteroid belts etc in their native colour, framed by a green circle, which represented a subspace jump node.

“Crown Prince Ramses is a specialist in subspace theory, which is the way we travel faster than light. Excuse our martial appearance, but as I told you, we are on a war footing.”
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: HLD_Prophecy on December 03, 2018, 01:51:58 am
********************************
"BATTLE STATIONS! ALL HANDS BRACE FOR JUMP IN 5..."

Guderian called out the orders as the cruisers began accelerating.

"...1!"

The jump, being an intra-system jump as it was, happened to be quite brief. Guderian had a moment to straighten his service cap and retrieve the final swig of water from a half-empty cup next to him.

The 5th emerged from subspace - into a nightmare. The figure of the GTVA Colossus loomed large before them, with the Repulse appearing tiny by comparison. The Majestic was barely holding on under heavy bomber attack, while the Refute was nowhere to be seen.

Klaxons fired off across the St. Lo. Guderian grabbed for the comms chip. "All ships, I WANT FIRING SOLUTIONS ON THE COLOSSUS and prep for CRASH JUMP ASAP! Form around and behind the Repulse! D**n, D**N, stand by! Auxiliaries fall back, fall back as far as you can and prep for crash jump on my mark!"

The Commodore tuned to the Repulse's frequency. "Rear Admiral, SIR! Awaiting orders sir I respectfully suggest we FALL BACK this is an UNTENABLE position - "

On all channels came the commanding voice of the Colossus. "This is the GTVA COLOSSUS. Admiral Koth, you are ordered to power down your vessel IMMEDIATELY and SURRENDER. The Polaris jump node is blockaded. There is no escape!"

Koth spoke above the roar of Repulse as it charged and fired, charged and fired. He glanced from Guderian's image to the GTVA officer.

His control wavered. His tone rose:

"I have NO intention of escaping, Colossus, NOR will I surrender!!! Even if I send my crew to HELL with you, this MONSTROSITY will be destroyed!!!" 

The Repulse boosted, head on, to its doom. Guderian's voice melded as one with the admonition of the Colossus:

"D O N T BE A B S U R D KOTH Y O U ARE S A C R I F I C I N G TEN T H O U S A N D LIVES - "

The destroyer met the juggernaught head on. There was no explosion, no spread of debris, no cries of pain.

They simply  -

And the entire 5th Cruiser squadron was forcibly jumped, with no warning, into subspace. Guderian had time for a lone protest, inexplicably mild, almost a whisper...

well, nuts.

And they were gone.
*****************************************

Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: HLD_Prophecy on December 06, 2018, 01:56:59 pm
***********************************
commodore guderian awoke to a nebulous void

a nebulous void while the black sapphire ships ghosted by
***********************************
Guderian awoke with his head on the desk. It was ringing.

My head, not the desk. I think I slammed my head forward when we came out of-

-when they came out of subspace, alarms sounded across the vessel. Guderian lifted his head to see similar scenes of recovery around his bridge. Crewmembers were getting up off the deck, rubbing sore limbs and attempting to regain control at their stations.

"Damage assessment!"

"Uh, structural stress sir, she's creaking a bit but no breaks. Equipment's been scrambled but still functioning - uh, sorry sir, chronometers are on the fritz!"

"Where are we?

"Sir, telemetrics indicate we've arrived in Delta Serpentis..."

The staff officer trailed up as he looked up. He was not alone. Everyone on the bridge had by now noticed what lay before them.

An entire GTVA Battlegroup. And then some. One officer whistled softly.

"Well dayum..."

Guderian whirled around. "All squadron vessels, REPORT!"

"This is the Fort Grace, regaining our balance sir but we'll be okay!"

"This is the Ark, Commodore."

"Sunder Marcel, stable."

"Ransom Arceihn, checked out and ready for battle!"

"Sir we have two Hecates-"

"-looks like beefier weapons-"

"-numerous Deimos-"

"-some of those ships don't match anything in the-"

"We're deep in GTVA space, sir, there could be anything!"






"Half a MINUTE!" The bridge became quieter than the void outside.

We can run, but the drives-

"How are the drives?"

"Uh- drives took a beating sir. Looks like they were never activated - just, uh, used, sir?.... The other vessels indicate much the same, sir! Give us maybe two minutes and we can throw together enough resources for a tenuous crash jump plotting! One jump is all we can make at that rate, sir, one jump to get us out of here, but then we're toast without further repairs!"

We can run in a few minutes. We can't fight this many. Can we-

"Fire control, get prepped for combat! Comms, pass the same order to the other vessels! 'Techs-"

Guderian turned to a pair of younger staff officers. Remarkably bright if a bit skittish, both were graduates of a prestigious communications college on Polaris. Guderian referred to them as his "'Crypt' Techs" as they handled all encrypt/decrypt tasks - and subsequently could perform limited deception tactics under the right circumstances.

"Sergeants, I need those false codes!"

These were a set of ship ID's looted from a set of private sector vessels destroyed or commandeered during the fall of the now-NTF systems. The 5th had been issued with these codes - two Fenris, one Leviathan - in the hopes of spoofing GTVA action for a bit or even outright fooling civilians.

Guderian grabbed the comms chip and broadcast on all frequencies...

"Terran warships, this is the civilian cruiser Well Done. The vessels with me are the cruisers Redfish and Barker, we are the assigned escort for the merchantmen uh Dove and Simona. We have encountered an INEXPLICABLE and DANGEROUS subspace anomaly, warping us several systems in the space of... forgive me, our chronometers are nonfunctional due to the forced jump. Please inform local Command! We are attempting repairs as we speak..."

Strange. The battlegroup... what are those corvettes??? Some experimental design? They're not in formation, either... they're all gathered 'round that one there-





Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Autohummer on December 07, 2018, 09:54:49 am
-HNS Phuur-Nan Task Force, Unknown System-

In a minute, all three probes emerged from the hangar bay and put themselves in holding pattern next to the carrier.

"Launch the first probe through the anomaly, now," Raonaid said.

"Probe 1 away, boss," said the ATC officer.

Everyone watched the sensors manager as the probe flew fast into the anomaly, the Drone ships responded by pulling in alongside, taking the same high-powered scan as before, then silently continuing on their journey, as if their curiosity had been satisfied. The probe entered the anomaly and disappeared.

"Where did it go?" Raonaid asked.

"We lost all telemetry the moment it passed through the anomaly. No debris," Ferdi said.

"Send another one, this time, program it to do a scan on the other side, then return and send us the results."

"Got it, Probe 2 programmed and on its way," said the ATC officer.

After being scanned again by a passing-by Drone, the second probe disappeared into the anomaly just like the first one. Five minutes later, as was programmed, it emerged back and immediately sent everything it had gathered via tight beam link.

"What have we got?" Raonaid asked.

"Boss, the stars on the other side are nothing like what we have here," said the navigator, tapping away at his starcharts. "I simply don't know where the other side is. The only thing I can say for sure is it isn't anywhere in our galaxy."

"Well, given the turn of events up to now, that's unsurprising."

"Boss, I've gone through the ship contact list on the other side," said the sensors officer. "It seems the Drones are simply heading even deeper into their space, I suppose to a resource facility or factory. After making a certain distance from the anomaly, they leave a sensor spike and disappear off the sensors. I suppose that's their mode of FTL travel, though I have no idea why they didn't simply stick with hyperspace. Not all of them simply leave, though. The ships that stay behind are gathering in a sphere around the anomaly."

"This is what we call a fifty-by-fifty perimeter, a Taiidani classic," Ferdi said. "Every ship gathers in a sphere fifty kilometres in diameter, at least fifty metres of spacing from another. Every gun points either out or in, depending on where you want to keep the enemy. You'll know it as the formation the Loyalist High Guard at the Bridge of Sighs used against the Mothership fleet."

"It is also especially vulnerable to salvage corvettes," Raonaid said.

"Which is why in a proper fifty-by-fifty, everyone stays put and fires only when the enemy comes in range. It will probably remain a rumour forever, but it is said that the High Guard were directly commanded by the Mad Emperor himself in that battle. No wonder they all rebelled afterwards."

"So, are they keeping us out or keeping something from going in on their side?"

"Those ships don't have very distinct weapons ports, but if the Drones are leaving deeper into their space, it is clear that they have little to fear on their side. That means those ships are keeping out unwanted visitors like us. The moment an enemy comes through, it'll be raked by hundreds of those beams."

"Well, up to this point they have been friendly enough. Helm, park us next to the anomaly and see how they react."

"Aye, boss."

"What's the plan?" Ferdi asked.

"They seem to scan anything that comes close, so we let them scan our carrier and let them know we aren't hostile. Then we go on through the other side. The first moment they shoot, we hyperspace out."

Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: crizza on December 07, 2018, 12:01:44 pm
19th Vattlegroup, Delta Serpentis

Arvida waited, there was not much to do. The fleet was still more or less grouped around the Nightfly and Phoenicia. While the ventilation system worked wonders cleaning the air of her husbands accursed smoke, his chair smelled like a gentlemen’s club. Her habit to pass the time was not smoking, but knifes, which she played with, whirling it around between her fingers. Not much to do at all. Normally she would write letters to her three children, but with subspace somehow gone, this was pointless. Maybe a last will of sorts, ready to be jettisoned in case anything went awry?
For a brief moment she considered talking to Chufu, but the Vasudan radiated discontent, which was natural. The Chief Engineer was obsessed with things he could not understand or solve. She remembered him cursing in vasudan as he worked integrating the vector thrust system into Christopher’s old Apollo, but in the end, he had managed.
“Contact, five ships, oriented behind and low!”
The huge sensors screen lighted up with five purple dots, since the ships did not broadcast any IFF.
“Putting visuals on main screen!”

Whirling the knife even faster, Arvida slowly rose.
Five ships, two Fenris, a single Leviathan and two Argos, not much of a threat.
While her husband used to communicate his orders, Arvada’s left hand flew over a keyboard attached to the chair. A moment later, the three Asasiyun corvettes began to turn towards the unknown ships, in fact, the whole Battlegroup apart from the Phoenicia moved to reposition themselves, with the two Anemois returning into the protection of the two Hecates.
Asasiyun was accompanied by a squadron of new Nyx-class fighters.
“Incoming transmission, putting it on speakers!”
Sitting down again, Arvida sheathed the knife.

"Terran warships, this is the civilian cruiser Well Done. The vessels with me are the cruisers Redfish and Barker, we are the assigned escort for the merchantmen uh Dove and Simona. We have encountered an INEXPLICABLE and DANGEROUS subspace anomaly, warping us several systems in the space of... forgive me, our chronometers are nonfunctional due to the forced jump. Please inform local Command! We are attempting repairs as we speak..."
Arvidas eyebrows shot upwards. Civilian cruisers? Escorting merchantmen in an Argo?

Sure, the civilian merchant fleets which plied the subspace routes were manifold, but the GTVA had made it a habit after the NTF Rebellion and the Capella incident to keep track of their ships. And after the brushfires had calmed down, decreed that no capital ship was to be sold to civilians. This offered the chance of pirates.

“Someone check their codes.” Something was clearly off, why had these ships no nameplates? Or had they cleaned them? Questions over questions.

“Vice Admiral? I’ve run the names through the database. They are… well, they are old. The Well Done, Redfish and Barker last appeared during the NTF rebellion, but afterwards… they were presumed destroyed. Same goes for the Dove and Simona.”

Arvida sighed, another mistery to solve. Rerouting a comm channel through the Vengeance, she began to speak.

“Civilian cruiser Well Done, you’re in a restricted GTVA area. We have encountered similar problems, contact to Command and Subspace travel is currently not possible.”
Arvida left the channel open.
“Well Done, your ship IDs are old. The last documented use was during the NTF Rebellion in 2366. We haven’t seen them in 19 years. Care to explain?”

Closing the channel, she waited. Whatever this was, if they tried anything funny, they would find themselves outclassed in any regards by the corvettes of Asasyun. Next to her Chufu chuckled.

“You know Redhead, this is redolent to the time we fled from Regulus with the Isfahan and your Deimos Ravenheart. How did Christopher call it? The Mexican standoff with those three NTF cruisers. The Repulse and Belisarius hot on our heels, vasudan civilian ships in tow…”

Mentioning it, Arvida remembered it of course. This engagement had left Christopher reeling. Being confronted by determination bordering on fanatic for the first time, the NTF ships had refused to stand down and had been destroyed.
Looking and the jump gate to Terra, the irony was not lost on her.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: HLD_Prophecy on December 09, 2018, 10:10:27 am
********************************
Well Done, your ship IDs are old. The last documented use was during the NTF Rebellion in 2366. We haven’t seen them in 19 years. Care to explain?”

Guderian flicked a switch that had been bolted to the side of the comms console. Immediately the feed flickered, guttered, spitting static across the screen in a remarkable simulation of battle damage. Turning to his staff officer, he spoke moderately, as though commenting on the weather:

"I need that crash jump."

"Buy us all 'round sixty more seconds sir! I will hand signal you - "

Guderian nodded. "Pass prep orders. We're out of here on my mark."

He flipped the switch in reverse. The feed slowly sputtered back into clarity - not too rapidly, though, and some artifacting remained.

"...Ma'am, I repeat, ma'am? Comms disruption here. I think the feed systems were... damaged, in the forced jump. Forgive me, ma'am - I think I misheard you. The last time our codes were checked out... it was around early 2366, ma'am, as you said. We're used to operating in backwater systems, where the regulations are a little more... infrequently enforced, if you'll forgive me for saying so. But that said, it wasn't that much more than a year ago, when that blasted Rebellion started. When you responded, it sounded like you said 19 years, that threw me off. The feed is damaged, as I said. If you'd like to contact local command to get us checked out, we can hold position..."
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: crizza on December 09, 2018, 12:32:28 pm
Arvida waited and read the data being forwarded by the four Charybdis’ AWACs. These ships were odd. The visual quality started to worsen the moment she’d sent the last transmission. Maybe some degrading damage in their Comm systems or…

“Chufu, what do you think of their overall status?”

The huge vasudan stomped towards ab console and took the data in as a parched man would swallow water.
“They are fine, no structural damage as far as the readings go.”

Arvida nodded, she had figured this for herself, yet had ordered the AWACs of Navigator Squadron to run monitoring scans on them.

"...Ma'am, I repeat, ma'am? Comms disruption here. I think the feed systems were... damaged, in the forced jump. Forgive me, ma'am - I think I misheard you. The last time our codes were checked out... it was around early 2366, ma'am, as you said. We're used to operating in backwater systems, where the regulations are a little more... infrequently enforced, if you'll forgive me for saying so. But that said, it wasn't that much more than a year ago, when that blasted Rebellion started. When you responded, it sounded like you said 19 years, that threw me off. The feed is damaged, as I said. If you'd like to contact local command to get us checked out, we can hold position..."

Chufu grumbled softly, while Arvada’s hand went for the knife again.

Well Done, listen carefully. This might be difficult to understand, but the year is 2385. The NTF rebellion has been over for 18 years. Subspace communication or travel for that water are not possible as of now. We have contacted 2nd fleet HQ at Delta Serpentis by means of radio transmission, but this will take time.”

Arvida looked at the screen showing the progress of the Asasiyun corvettes. If they tried anything funny, the Alamut’s single Ice Queen and one of two Auroras could obliterate the Leviathan in one blast, the two Fenris’ and Argos’ wouldn’t last much longer when confronted by the Hassan-i Sabbah and Rashid ad-Din Sinan Chimeras.

Well Done, I know this might be difficult to understand, but you need to stay put. Charging subspace drive will simply accelerate you to terminal velocity, but being unable to make the jump…”

Arvida stopped talking. A cold shiver running down her spine. She remembered the pictures of the Repulse trying to ram the Colossus. Letting her hand fly over the keyboard, she ordered the ships to disperse, thus creating overlapping fields of fire. If these ships were really what they said they were, someone could snap and use a ship as a bullet. Off screen Chufu coughed and motioned to the screen showing the collected data.

Well Done, are you charging your subspace drives?”

She felt like having a lump of ice in her belly. The 19th had a killing potential which far exceeded that of the three outdated cruisers, but they had just started to turn.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: HLD_Prophecy on December 09, 2018, 06:58:24 pm
********************************
The staff officer flashed the thumbs-up at Commodore Guderian. "Sir, we are GO for crash jump!"

"Hold!"

Guderian stared at the comms feed.

They could be lying. Tricks like these are used on pirates or misbehaving civilians all the time. Having a battlegroup behind you tends to make people believe what you say without thought. We just experienced a strange subspace anomaly ourselves. Are they lying about the time, the space, or both? Unless...

He whirled to one side. "Nav officer, can we get the star map backups?"

The relevant officer nodded. "Sir, bringing up the maps for this region of space, from this perspective... sir, I have the maps for a few days before and after we last saw NTF space. Sir, what we're seeing outside doesn't match at all. Closest match for the star patterns we'd see in Delta Serpentis from these coordinates... sir, we have a very, very close much just about... 19 or 20 years after we left. She... sir?"

Guderian dropped his closed fist softly on the deck. Bosch would have wanted him to choose a course of action... and then take it without wavering. He replaced his Commodore's cap, stood as tall as he could, and keyed for the comms feed. This time there was no disruption.



"Ma'am, you are speaking with Commodore Guderian of the Neo-Terran Front - yes, your sworn enemy. This is the 5th Cruiser Squadron. We are charging jump drives for immediate escape. I do not know what has happened or what sick game you are playing, but we will not parley willingly, nor without demanding information in return. You have us outgunned, yes - but the slightest false move on your part and we will gladly jump right through the heart of your battlegroup. And our secrets will go to fate along with us. I want answers, ma'am - is the rebellion over? Where is Admiral Aken Bosch? Why has subspace travel failed - assuming you are not lying about that as well?"

"You know how much I value the word of a privileged GTVA Vice Admiral. We have been dealing with your kind since the coup that started this mess."

"It is simply a fact that this mysterious event has happened. A curse on the circumstances that bought us to this impasse. A curse on the GTVA if this impasse is your design. I have no need to destroy your vessels without due cause. At this juncture... if we cooperate, we can both get what we need."

"We await your response. Take what time you need. Bring that weaponry of yours no closer."

Guderian had caught a hint of icy fear in his opponent's voice. He smiled. As higher-ranking officers were usually competent at masking their emotions... well, it could not be denied that he took grim pleasure at having made a GTVA Rear Admiral feel terror.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: crizza on December 09, 2018, 11:57:45 pm
Arvida waited and a soft smile ghosted around her lips, as the feed suddenly cleared. The smile drained from her lips, as the speaker identified himself.

"Ma'am, you are speaking with Commodore Guderian of the Neo-Terran Front - yes, your sworn enemy. This is the 5th Cruiser Squadron. We are charging jump drives for immediate escape. I do not know what has happened or what sick game you are playing, but we will not parley willingly, nor without demanding information in return. You have us outgunned, yes - but the slightest false move on your part and we will gladly jump right through the heart of your battlegroup. And our secrets will go to fate along with us. I want answers, ma'am - is the rebellion over? Where is Admiral Aken Bosch? Why has subspace travel failed - assuming you are not lying about that as well?"

Slowly Arvida leaned back and rubbed her hand across her eyes, all the while knowing that the feed was still open.

"You know how much I value the word of a privileged GTVA Vice Admiral. We have been dealing with your kind since the coup that started this mess."

Arvida lowered her hand just beneath her eyes, watching the feed intently.

"It is simply a fact that this mysterious event has happened. A curse on the circumstances that bought us to this impasse. A curse on the GTVA if this impasse is your design. I have no need to destroy your vessels without due cause. At this juncture... if we cooperate, we can both get what we need."

Slowly she lowered her hand and cracked a smile.

"We await your response. Take what time you need. Bring that weaponry of yours no closer."

Typing an order, the three corvettes stopped, in her heart she trusted the range of the beam cannons to stop them. 6750m and 8250m promised enough stopping power. But what really set her teeth on edge was the name. Commodore Guderian, of course the name rang a bell. Inputting the name in the database, she checked his file and with another flick of her fingers forwarded it to the Well Done.

“Commodore Walther Guderian. Born and raised on Polaris, almost promoted about Extra-Solar Terran History. Commanding Officer of the 5th Cruiser Squadron… I honestly don’t know how this is possible…”
Arvida rose and flashed a salute.

“Back in the day I commanded the GTCv Ravenheart, stationed at Regulus. The Commander of the 19th Battlegroup is Admiral Christopher Schulz, 19 years ago Captain of the GTC Malta… requisitioned to the 6th fleet Polaris.”

Arvida sighed audible, aware that all eyes on the bridge were on her.

“The rebellion is in fact long gone. The whereabouts of Admiral Bosch are unknown, the Iceni was one of the few ships which managed to escape into the nebula beyond Gamma Draconis. He somehow managed to join the Shivans, while the Iceni was self-destructed. Why subspace travel doesn’t work, I don’t have a clue right now…”

In one swift move, Arvida settled on the chair again. Relieved she noted that the bow of the Vengeance had swung around and pointed at the five, as of now, confirmed NTF ships. With the rest of the ships following close, turning so they could bring beam cannons to bear.

“Honestly, I don’t care if you think me privileged or not. The actions of Admiral Bosch brought the Shivans upon us for a second time. The sun of Capella went nova because of the Shivans, I don’t want to tell you how many people died because of Admiral Bosch,. Terrans for that matter.”

Arvidas face turned to stone, after she read something.

“NTC St. Lo, NTC Fort Grace, NTC Ark, as well as the two Argos Sunder Marcel and Ransom: Destroyed at the Regulus Sirius jump node, trying to prevent the GTC Malta, GTCv Ravenheart, GVC Isfahan and attending vasudan merchantmen from leaving the system.”

Arvida shook her head.

“With all due respect Commodore Guderian, I don’t know how this is possible, but I saw your squadron being destroyed, despite being asked to stand down. Pray tell me, do I have to witness this again? What do you want?”
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: HLD_Prophecy on December 10, 2018, 04:03:39 am
*****************************
"Capella, gone NOVA?! You will excuse me..."

Guderian turned to the nav officer. "I need you to check the - "

"I have already done so, sir... where Capella would be, sir... there is a rapidly expanding supernova."

It took Guderian five seconds to regain his composure. He turned again to the feed.

"Vice Admiral Arvida... I do not rescind my opposition to your military and what you stand for. But I ask you to forgive my insinuations. If what you are saying is true, as it seems you have witnessed the death of the most prosperous and happy Terran colony... forgive me. This must have been hard to bear indeed. Also, you have no need to salute me, especially in light of what you may well have been through. I am still your enemy, as you are mine."

"Yet I need you to explain further. I confess I was aware to an extent of Bosch's mission. What more I know I will not say yet. I need more explanation - what exactly happened to Bosch?"

A plan began to grow in Guderian's mind. "Perhaps we can parley with a little flexibility regarding that. I may have some ideas..."

"Where are the Shivans now? What of the NTF systems? Are there any pockets of the rebellion - besides my squadron?"

"Furthermore, I assure you that the 5th is very much alive, as you see us before you. You describe an engagement that never occurred, ma'am. The name Christopher Schulz... it is odd that you should mention it, ma'am. There was a well-known NTF deserter by that name. Caught and summarily executed by Belisarius himself, ma'am, early days of the Rebellion. I do not recall your name."

Guderian cut the feed momentarily. "Get me any GTVA officer under the name "Arvida"...

He turned back to the screen.

"Ma'am... the fact remains that our experiences of past events appear to be entirely different from yours. I can draw a number of conclusions. I could be dreaming. You could be dreaming. There could be mind-altering shenanigans at work here. We know your GTVA intelligence did work with Shivan minds... rumour had it that there were darker projects. Furthermore, spacers tell tales of subspace travel altering time, aging travelers rapidly or prolonging their life. It is not entirely unwise to consider that possibility."

"In any event I remind you that, for my part, we are still at war. If you want to guarantee the safety of all those under your command..."

Guderian fumbled a bit for the words. He hit upon a sudden flash of inspiration, something that had been brewing in his mind since the conversation began. Taking a risk, he pointed a finger at the small cruiser in the center of the battlegroup. The strange ship. It didn't look Terran. They had been hovering around it when he came, so perhaps...

"... bear in mind I can easily take out that small vessel you seem so interested in. Not only do I have the ranged firepower, but moreover, as I have explained before, we can all crash-jump through it. And you have as yet to prove to me that we cannot jump. I am tempted to test it for myself... in the direction of said vessel, of course... or a corvette. Or your command vessel. Or anyone else..."

"Forgive my continued digression, but something else did occur to me... you spoke of Schulz as though he were extant, and currently in command of the 19th. Yet you speak for him? May I inquire as to his whereabouts? You must understand, at this desperate juncture I wish to speak with the officer of the highest rank available. We talk of such sensitive matters..."

Guderian turned swiftly to the nearest deck officer. "Do you have anything under 'Arvida'?"

"Two Arvidas, sir. One Arvida Mason. A logistics officer. Saw no action after the Great War, elderly, relegated to administrative duties by the time of the insurrection, sir. Another, Arvida Syrghalla. SOC operative, sir. Assigned to operations within our command structure - a deep insertion sir, of the worst kind. Caught attempting to extract... sir, she was captured by Belisarius' counter-operatives while on-mission attempting to extract the same Christopher Schulz upon his decision to defect. She was caught shortly after the death of Schulz, sir, then summarily shot. As spies go. Belisarius, he knew how to deal with them, sir."

Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: bomb3rman on December 10, 2018, 10:06:29 pm
The message from Sally came in hot over the speakers. "Five unknown vessels have shown up on our sensors! It appears they were affected by the same phenomenon as we were! Fisher, get back up here, you have to see this!"

Fisher ran across the floor and headed into the elevator, his three guests and Na'Far in tow. As they reached the bridge, he started to shout. "Can't I have one peaceful drink with my new buddies from this universe, for ****'s sake?!" He turned to Schulz and the Vasudans. "No offense, this whiskey is delicious and I'm prety sure this map you handed over will be really helpful to us."

He looked at the monitors. Five ships, three of them the size of a cruiser, were sitting in space only a few clicks away. Most of the GTVA battlegroup was moving around right now, except Schulz' flagship. These new ships seemed... older than the ones from the GTVA... much older.

Sally came over, looking a bit insecure due to the size of the Vasudans. Then she reported: "They appeared a few minutes ago. We were able to tap into the communication channel between them and the 2nd in Command from the GTVA. Tell me, Admiral Schulz, what kind of organisation is the NTF?"

Fisher realised the strange expression on the face of the admiral. Even the Vasudans seemed to react to this name, though telling about anything that would go on inside one of their heads was almost impossible.

"I'm pretty sure they're no friends to you, I guess?! Sally, open this comm channel!"

"... bear in mind I can easily take out that small vessel you seem so interested in. Not only do I have the ranged firepower, but moreover, as I have explained before, we can all crash-jump through it. And you have as yet to prove to me that we cannot jump. I am tempted to test it for myself... in the direction of said vessel, of course... or a corvette. Or your command vessel. Or anyone else..."


"Oh bloody... Franky, get our ship into firing position! Code Red across the ship! Marcus, I want as much power being transferred to the navigational systems as possible!" Fisher took place in his seat. With satisfcation he felt the cruiser turing around its own axis, with a speed and maneuverability no one would deem possible by a capital ship of this size. As he lighted a cigarette, he saw the view of Schulz. A view he knew all too well... With a smile, he threw the small package towards him. "Warm up our secondary engines. We might need to evade a kamikaze maneuver! And Sally, now open a comm channel to both of them. Introduce us, then let me speak..."

"This is the independent cruiser Nightfly. We overheard your conversation and are requesting both of you to listen. Right now we're powering up our weapons and engines and we request that you keep calm or we will defend ourselves. Patching through to you, now, John!"

"Alright, since we're already in a meeting here: To our new visitors, we are as much surprised about the events of the last hours as you are. But all of us should not make bad decisions right now. We, as an independent party, have no idea about the conflict between your two factions. But we invite a group of three of our new guests in this system to come over and have a talk with us and the delegation of the GTVA that's already aboard this ship. Here, on neutral ground, we can guarantee your safety, my security personell will not let anyone get harmed as long as they are guests on this ship. Sending docking path cordinates now. Please respond. Send a shuttle over or lower your weapons. Otherwise, we will have to take defensive actions. And trust me, you don't want that."

Then Fisher looked to Schulz. He wasn't entirely sure if inviting an enemy of his guest would solve any of his problems. But he had to take actions to ensure the health of his ship and its crew. He hoped that Schulz would understand that.

Na'Far, on the other hand, didn't seem very happy about the prospect of more trouble close to him.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Assassin714 on December 10, 2018, 10:20:59 pm
The message from Sally came in hot over the speakers. "Five unknown vessels have shown up on our sensors! It appears they were affected by the same phenomenon as we were! Fisher, get back up here, you have to see this!"

Fisher ran across the floor and headed into the elevator, his three guests and Na'Far in tow. As they reached the bridge, he started to shout. "Can't I have one peaceful drink with my new buddies from this universe, for ****'s sake?!" He turned to Schulz and the Vasudans. "No offense, this whiskey is delicious and I'm prety sure this map you handed over will be really helpful to us."

He looked at the monitors. Five ships, three of them the size of a cruiser, were sitting in space only a few clicks away. Most of the GTVA battlegroup was moving around right now, except Schulz' flagship. These new ships seemed... older than the ones from the GTVA... much older.

Sally came over, looking a bit insecure due to the size of the Vasudans. Then she reported: "They appeared a few minutes ago. We were able to tap into the communication channel between them and the 2nd in Command from the GTVA. Tell me, Admiral Schulz, what kind of organisation is the NTF?"

Fisher realised the strange expression on the face of the admiral. Even the Vasudans seemed to react to this name, though telling about anything that would go on inside one of their heads was almost impossible.

"I'm pretty sure they're no friends to you, I guess?! Sally, open this comm channel!"

"... bear in mind I can easily take out that small vessel you seem so interested in. Not only do I have the ranged firepower, but moreover, as I have explained before, we can all crash-jump through it. And you have as yet to prove to me that we cannot jump. I am tempted to test it for myself... in the direction of said vessel, of course... or a corvette. Or your command vessel. Or anyone else..."


"Oh bloody... Franky, get our ship into firing position! Code Red across the ship! Marcus, I want as much power being transferred to the navigational systems as possible!" Fisher took place in his seat. With satisfcation he felt the cruiser turing around its own axis, with a speed and maneuverability no one would deem possible by a capital ship of this size. As he lighted a cigarette, he saw the view of Schulz. A view he knew all too well... With a smile, he threw the small package towards him. "Warm up our secondary engines. We might need to evade a kamikaze maneuver! And Sally, now open a comm channel to both of them. Introduce us, then let me speak..."

"This is the independent cruiser Nightfly. We overheard your conversation and are requesting both of you to listen. Right now we're powering up our weapons and engines and we request that you keep calm or we will defend ourselves. Patching through to you, now, John!"

"Alright, since we're already in a meeting here: To our new visitors, we are as much surprised about the events of the last hours as you are. But all of us should not make bad decisions right now. We, as an independent party, have no idea about the conflict between your two factions. But we invite a group of three of our new guests in this system to come over and have a talk with us and the delegation of the GTVA that's already aboard this ship. Hre, on neutral ground. We can guarantee your safety, my security personell will not let anyone get harmed as long as they are guests on this ship. Sending docking path cordinates now. Please respond. Send a shuttle over or lower your weapons. Otherwise, we will have to take defensive actions. And trust me, you don't want that."

The Fisher looked to Schulz. He wasN't completely sure if inviting an enemy of his guest would solve any of his problems. But he had to take actions to ensure the health of his ship and its crew. He hoped that Schulz would understand that.

Heads up: if you continue with this plan, I'm going to have something happen while the shuttle is en route. Structure the story around that please (i.e. don't have the shuttle complete its entire trip in the course of a single post).
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: bomb3rman on December 10, 2018, 10:23:58 pm

Heads up: if you continue with this plan, I'm going to have something happen while the shuttle is en route. Structure the story around that please (i.e. don't have the shuttle complete its entire trip in the course of a single post).

Well, this is the offer. It's up to the others to go this way or give me and you another possible decision :)
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: HLD_Prophecy on December 16, 2018, 02:22:25 am
********************
The incoming message interrupted Guderian's response to the Rear Admiral.

"This is the independent cruiser Nightfly...."

A civilian?!? No idea of the NTF Rebellion? A meeting on neutral ground... are the Tevs putting them up? Guaranteed safety...

Guderian turned to the feed patching him through to Arvida. "One moment!"

Shutting all comms off, he fell rather heavily into his command chair, his head in his hands. None disturbed him. Everyone stared, silent as stone, waiting for his next order.


Something changed for the Commodore that day. Something deep inside bent, weakened.


As a child Walther had always been blunt. He had been an advocate of the most direct options available. Academic work and military training had built up a veneer of professionalism, of calmness, of moderation.

All that melted away like snow in the sunshine.

Or the last light before darkness falls.


He was exhausted, deeply fatigued. Sleep beckoned. But he was more tired of lies, deceptions, complications. Everything was clear to him now. He would abandon it all to fate.


He keyed for communications with Arvida, as well as with the civilian cruiser.

"This is Commodore Guderian, once more. I have made my decision. This is my ultimatum. Civilian cruiser Nightfly, I thank you for your offer. I have no interest in bringing a civilian party into this. My dispute is with the Galactic Terran Vasudan Alliance. Continue to confer with your delegation, that is your affair. I will not speak with you again unless there is need. I will not carry out my threatened action against your ship. Rear Admiral Arvida, I believe the best way to bring this situation to a fair conclusion would be to meet with you in person. Aboard your vessel. I believe at this point if you should promise to host me aboard your destroyer, you will honor your promise. I will come armed or unarmed, with a single aide or alone, as you see fit. I will speak with you alone, with bodyguards, with your entire bridge present if you should so wish. But I will speak to you over this affair. One of my Argo transports will bring me to your command vessel, drop me there, then return to a holding position."

"That is my offer as it stands. I remind you that our jump drives - on every vessel under my command - are charged at this time. Any foul play will result in the consequences I described earlier."

He sat down again.
*******************************

Sorry for the delay, guys! I almost forgot about this topic, things have been crazy! But this sure is a neat little community game...  :nod:
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Autohummer on December 16, 2018, 06:51:38 am
-HNS Phuur-Nan Task Force, Unknown System-

The carrier, escorted by its entire air group, was a modest sight to behold, especially for sectors far from the war. Properly positioned and deployed, it was a key player even in pitched battles involving shipyards and battlecruisers. However, next to the Drones' megastructures, one would be hard pressed to even find their engine trails. The sheer discrepancy in size and scale was vertigo-inducing. The Phuur-Nan joined the stream of Drones, a foreigner following a silent pilgrimage. The megastructures stood, temple-like, beside the anomaly, sheltering it between their massive forms. The moment the carrier crossed some kind of unseen boundary, a few of the Drones that were travelling with them responded, closing in to investigate the interloper in the midst. Lights began flickering on the carrier, the PA speakers screeched and crackled and alarms screamed all kinds of mutually-conflicting warnings. Raonaid could feel a electricity-like tingling running down from her head to her feet. Looking at the way the rest of the CIC crew winced, it was likely they were going through the same thing as well.

"Our systems are receiving heavy interference from their scans, compensating," said the sensors officer. A moment later everything seemed to return to normal again.

"Are they done?" Raonaid asked.

"I think so. The interference has ceased."

"So far, so good. The grand total of times we've been shot at is zero, let's keep it that way."

"Boss, some of those drones are peeling off and coming all around us. We'll be surrounded at this rate."

"Steady now, nobody does anything stupid."

"Won't dare imagine it."

"Those drones have put themselves in a spherical screening formation, like those on our old sentinel microships," said the Air Battle Manager (ABM). "The only difference is every gun is pointed right at us.... I think."

"No other movement?"

"None except station-keeping maneuvers."

"Well, looks like we've gotten ourselves an escort. Maintain current course and speed and let me know if anything strange happens."

More than a hundred Drones kept the carrier and its escorts under constant watch, and, of course, threat of annihilation. The Phuur-Nan stopped a few kilometres short of the anomaly and the Drones stopped with it as well. It was clear the drones were waiting for the carrier to make its move and they had all the time in the world.

"All right, this is it. All ships, dock and prepare to enter hyperspace," Raonaid said.

"Yes boss," said the ATC officer. "All squadrons, you heard the order, come on in nice and easy."

"While you are at it, leave the third probe here before we go in. Make a backup of our logs and save it on the probe in case the rest of the fleet comes here. Helm, is the hyperdrive charged?"

"Emergency hyperspace ready to go, Boss. I'll kick it in on the first sign of trouble."

"Good, we're as ready as we'll ever get."

A minute later, all of the carrier's strikecraft were back in their hangars and secured for whatever that was to come.

"Helm, take us in, cruise speed," Raonaid said.

Everyone held their breaths as the carrier closed in.

"All hands, brace for impact," said the Helm officer. "Entering the anomaly in five, four, three, two, one."

There was no impact, if it wasn't for the fact that everything outside had changed and the navigation console was wailing that it could not locate the ship anywhere in known space, nobody could have told they had just been whisked untold light-years away to Sajuuk-knows-where.

"Anomaly navigation successful. All systems show green, except navigation. We'll shut it up in a moment.... There, we are now the first Hiigarans to venture outside our galaxy."

"And Taiidan," Ferdi said, "though that probably doesn't matter for you. Captain, your orders?"

"Give the homeworld a call and see if it goes through. Relay it through the probes we left if you have to. Tell them we have made it through and will update whenever we can."

"Very well."

"Meanwhile, keep following the outbound drones until they disappear. We'll set up shop there and try to figure out how their FTL works and where they are going. The folks back home would love to know this. Besides, we'll need to share telemetry with the homeworld. We're miners and soldiers, not engineers or biologists. We left them behind to make it here and pave the way for them."

"Should I ask the homeworld to redirect their scientific personnel transport here?"

"Sure. That's the sensible thing to do, unless the Admiral blocks it for one of her many reasons."

The "escorts" continued their cover around the carrier as it moved on. Eventually, when the Phuur-Nan was about a thousand kilometres away from the anomaly, the "escorts" decided it was far enough and began to lose interest. One by one, they returned to their perimeter around the anomaly. It was until the last drone left the carrier that the order was given to launch the standard escort flights.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: crizza on December 16, 2018, 02:14:28 pm
19th Battlegroup, Delta Serpentis, aboard the GTD Phoenicia

Arvida listened silently.  Ranged firepower? This must surely be a joke. Sure thing, the beams could damage the 19th, but only if the cruisers would get into range. Ramming into the formation at terminal velocity was a threat, this was also taken for granted, but then again, every ship of the 19th could scatter at the same speed. And given that manoeuvring at such speed was impossible, this would lead to a rather dumb situation.

Aboard the Nightfly.

The Admiral and Captain Fisher had just toasted when the new survivors arrived. Listening over a comm system in the collar of his armour, Christopher’s face turned into stone. Just when he was about to get friendly with the Nightfly, things turned sour.

Commodore Guderian. He remembered that man, reserved, rational, cold. When he had arrived with the Malta in Polaris, Bosch had hosted a welcome dinner to make him acquainted with the 6th fleet commanding officers. Guderian was not present back then, but he wondered if things had played out the same in his timeline. During dinner, Christopher had realized pretty quick, that he was being tested, not by Bosch, but rather by Koth and that damned skipper of the Belisarius.
The fact that his grandfather and uncle had died during the 14 years’ war, was the opener. He had played along, but his first officer worried him. In the end, after dinner was finished, he had returned to the Malta and joined a squadron of Myrmidons in the far reaches of the system. The vasudan reactor specialist had not been able to get transferred to the vasudan trade outpost in Polaris. In retrospect, this saved him. Christopher never learned who had ordered it, but the moment the Neo Terran Front declared it’s independence from the GTVA, the Repulse carved the trade station open, with the rest of the sixth’ capital ships annihilating freighters, transports and the lone Mentu guarding them. It was efficient, ruthlessly so, but the Iceni did not fire at all.

He remembered staring at the feed with utter revulsion, when the door to the Aeolus small bridge slid open. Disappointed, but not shocked he heard a handgun being primed and his first officer looking at him. To prove his commitment to the NTF, he should kill the vasudan, who had been escorted to the bridge by the Malta’s terran Chief Engineer and a deckhand, both pointing their rifles at the vasudan.
He was dimly aware of taking the gun, aiming over the shoulder of his first officer and firing.
BANG, the deckhand, straight into the head, his first officer cursing him for a dumb fool.
A sick crunching noise as the vasudan crushed the torso of the engineer.
BANG, his first officer summarily executed for mutiny.
This was how it all began, what followed was a mad dash and what Christopher believed consumption of his life’s amount of luck.

He sighed, shaking his head slowly and downing his drink, following Fisher to the bridge.
The life warden tensed as the invitation was delivered, but relaxed the moment Guderian declined.

“Well Captain Fisher… the NTF, the Neo Terran Front was a rebellion of the GTVAs 6th fleet, using virulently anti-Vasudan ideology promoted the creation of 'Neo-Terra' as a new centre of Terran power, centred on Polaris. In the end, the NTFs leader vanished and the most thriving colony of the terran half of the GTVA was destroyed by another enemy. I can give you access on our database, it is really too much to explain.”

Grinding the finished cigarette between his gauntlet, he sighed again.

“This man over there, Guderian and his ships… they were destroyed on my orders as they tried to stop us from defecting the NTF as it begun. And here we are again.

Aboard the Phoenicia

Arvida listened to Gudaerian’s demand. It was her ship, the Ravenheart, that had destroyed the two Fenris’.

“Well, Commodore, you can of course come over here, but as a measure of goodwill, I have to inform you, that Admiral Schulz is aboard the Nightfly. I’ll leave it up to you to decide whom and how many people you bring, technology has come long way the last 18 years since the NTF… well, you get what I mean. I’ll take it your Argo knows where to dock with the Phoenicia. And for the record: I, Vice Admiral Arvida Syrgalla, solemnly pledge to host you aboard the GTD Pheonica, thereby guaranteeing the safety of you and your attendees, as long as you remain peacefull.”
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: HLD_Prophecy on December 16, 2018, 07:41:19 pm
**********************************
"...I, Vice Admiral Arvida Syrgalla, solemnly pledge to host you aboard the GTD Pheonica, thereby guaranteeing the safety of you and your attendees, as long as you remain peaceful..."

Guderian nodded. "Your courtesy is appreciated. I, Commodore Guderian, pledge to come alone. I will speak with you in person, as I said. I do not wish to negotiate aboard the Nightfly. I want the civilians out of this picture. However, I am perfectly willing to patch our conversation through to Admiral Schulz. I will bring my comms device, my ID paraphernalia, and nothing else beyond my uniform. Let's work this out for the benefit of all concerned. Please give us a quarter of an hour to reach you - you know these docking procedures can take a minute or two."

Shutting off the feed, Guderian turned to his deck officers.

"You heard what I said. Know that I am deeply proud of you all. What I do here, I do for our best interests - even if that means "talking terms" with the Tevs. I need you all to follow my directions to the letter while I am gone..."
************************************


a pledge of safety


About ten minutes later, one of the NTF Argos (the Ransom) undocked from the NTC St. Lo. It traveled in a leisurely arc towards the Phoenicia, then docked. Guderian stepped into the airlock. Turning around, he took in the nervous faces of the crew behind him. He smiled.

"Relax! The glass is half full. This'll be easy."


don't be absurd


Straightening his cap, he turned, suddenly grim again, to face the door. The door sealed behind him, the Ransom Arceihn ready to depart once he had been safely welcomed aboard the GTVA destroyer.

And he would be alone.


ten thousand


Should have gotten a mug of black coffee. Probably won't get another for a while.

He smiled once more to himself, laughed internally. Do Tevs even drink coffee? He wouldnt have put it past them to have abandoned the drink. Probably won't touch anything without alchohol!
***********************************
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: HLD_Prophecy on December 16, 2018, 07:57:04 pm
Quote
we'll set up shop there and try to figure out how their FTL works

(http://www.sullla.com/FTL/ftladvstrat-1.jpg)

Well that didn't take long looks like Autohummer is out  :lol:
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Assassin714 on December 17, 2018, 12:16:00 am
Shortly after the Ransom docks, there is a subspace disturbance from the direction of the Sol Gate. Sensors on the GTVA battlegroup indicate that subspace has become traversable again, if only locally. Several small subspace vortices appear from the gate, and 8 ships emerge. They are immediately recognizable to everyone apart from the crew of the Nightfly as Shivan Dragon-class fighters.

Seconds after emerging, one of the Dragons jumps back out through the gate. The other 7 proceed on an intercept course towards the nearest ships, ignoring the gate itself.


************************************************************

In addition to having plot importance, I'm going to be using this little skirmish as a test run of the combat system. It's nothing really fancy and is narrative-based, but I think it can work.

Here's the idea: When combat starts, you can contact me (either via a post here or via PM, probably better to use posts if multiple players are involved so they can coordinate) and tell me what forces you are deploying and what actions they take. For example, you could say you are deploying a certain number of wings of X craft each, then give the ship class, the weapons loadout, etc. Then name the tactics and strategies you will use (attack certain subsystems, lure fighters into range of capships, have fighters escort bombers, have capships do flanking maneuvers, etc.)

I will then respond with the result and, if the battle is not immediately concluded, I will also tell you the tactics and strategies the enemy forces use in response to yours, as well as any new forces that enter the battle. We will continue this back-and-forth until the battle ends (one side is destroyed, escapes, surrenders, etc.) Then, one or more of the players will write up the events of the battle in a post similar to the ones that have been posted here already.

This battle is just a warmup really. In the future I may throw battles at you that you can't win, but you'll have plenty of opportunities to avoid them beforehand as long as you don't do anything foolish. I'll also give each potential battle a difficulty rating so you know what you're getting into. The rating of this first battle is EASY.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: HLD_Prophecy on December 17, 2018, 02:56:24 pm
Out of character: You should know that this significantly changes things for my characters.  :nod: Commodore Guderian had a desperate plan up his sleeve that he was one turn or so away from enacting, one last throw of the dice in an attempt to get most of the 5th back home with haste before things degenerated further. What that plan was I will not say yet. For the moment, however, the plan has changed.


************************
Guderian stood in the airlock, awaiting his fate.

Then the alarms sounded. He could hear the warning klaxons blaring faintly as the sound crept along the hull of the Phonecia down into the antechamber on board the Ransom. Belatedly, the Ransom's own, fainter alarms rang. His comm chip vibrated...

"This is the Commodore, what's going on out there??"

"Commodore, this is Mitchell! We've got Shivan jump signatures, sir! A handful of fighters, Dragon class, just emerged from where the Sol node should be! Orders, sir?"

"Get me Gascon, I need to speak with him alone! Pass the word to your crew and the Sunder Marcel; Battle Stations!"

**************************

"This is Gascon, Commodore. I take it you were appraised of the situation."

"Yes. The question is obvious. Do we go through with the plan?"

"I would suspect, sir... that the sudden and inexplicable arrival of Shivan forces may imply that Bosch was correct - or, at least, he had some inkling of this. It stands to reason that the Shivans could indeed be breaking the space-time plane, cracking and warping the plane into multiple 'dimensions' within one 'reality'. Or it could have any number of explanations. Many options must be kept open."

"And the plan, Captain?"

"With due respect, sir. You do know that I had qualms about the plan. Now more than ever. Especially with this new development, if we go through with the operation... do we leave the people of this 'dimension' to die? Are they even real, or an illusion crafted by darker forces? We do not know. Should we act as though we were responsible for their fate?"

"In short, sir, should we behave according to the suggestions of a well-formed conscience, even if this is all... unreal? If we willfully choose to neglect the dignity of others in our fantasy, what does that say about us?"

*******************************

"I was so close, Palmiro. So close to sending us home."

"True, sir. I would also be home, if I could, as would we all. Remember. There was no guarantee it would succeed in the first place. Furthermore, nothing stops us from finding a more... ideal procedure for the same operation at a later time."

Guderian clenched his hand over his eyes.

So impossibly close...

Never you mind. It is done now.

"Ransom, open that airlock and I'll get back inside! Prepare to cast off and return us all to the Lo." He switched to the wider 5th frequency. "All ships, Battle Stations! ENGAGE ENGAGE ENGAGE! I want every gun trained on those fighters and alert for threats from any angle! Transports, stay within the cruiser's defensive cover and get your Flak Cannons loaded! De-charge those jump drives!"

"Vice Admiral Syrghalla, civilian cruiser Nightfly, all GTVA vessels... this is Commodore Guderian. The NTF 5th Cruiser Squadron is preparing for battle with any and all Shivan forces. We recommend that our forces keep their distance from each other while battle is joined. We can sort out our diplomatic concerns at a later time. I offer you tactical data from our fire control systems - with coordinated fire, we can wipe out these Dragons!"
***************************
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Autohummer on December 17, 2018, 04:40:43 pm
-Federation Cruiser Osprey, Last Stand Sector-

Today was not Fredi's day. He had to fly this ship all by himself since the crew died from oxygen-related complications a scant fifteen minutes after they had arrived in the first sector, but who needs oxygen when you have patriotism? He was so close to destroying the Rebel's superweapon and saving his beloved Federation. Then, of course, he ran out of patriotism, because, as he was so duly reminded, that it is impossible for a Taiidan to both be patriotic and not be an imperialist warmonger. The hull, which was wrapped over and over in a composite layer of flex tape and fiber-fix, decided to stop sticking after the front tip of the hull had suffered enough damage to completely drain an imaginary "hull condition" meter. The first parts to go were the completely undamaged engine nacelles, while the ruined front end stayed until the very end, for a certain definition of the very end.

"BAD SHIP! STOP FLYING APART!" he screamed. Or at least, he thought he screamed, but all his words were sucked into the vacuum.

The Osprey ignored his orders as its parts flew ever further away. The half-ruined Rebel flagship performed a barrel roll in celebration, detaching some more of itself in the process.

**************************

-Phuur-Nan Expedition, Unknown System#2, Unknown Galaxy (Presumed)-

Fredi woke up laughing, or he was already laughing before he woke up. No matter, he thought. He wasn't the kind of person who had dreams every night, but whenever he dreamed, it was usually the silly sort that made him giggle in the middle of the night. Perhaps it was his subconscious' way to deal with stress. This was the first funny dream he had in months.

Back in the real world, the Phuur-Nan expedition, as was officially christened by the Admiral, had stopped to wait for their scientists to arrive. It proved impossible to make contact with standard transmissions, but the probe relay method worked. While the Drones were indeed leaving, they scattered into smaller groups and departed at several different locations. The carrier had stopped next to one of the spots to run some scans, but without anyone to make sense of it, the only feasible thing they could do was to collect more telemetry for the boffins.

The only good news was that Admiral Raltha already ordered the crew transport to meet up with them before the Phuur-Nan made the jump, so the transport ship was only two days instead of two weeks away. Escorting the crew transport were a pair of flak frigates and all three ships were turned over to the expedition. In addition to the scientists, the crew transport was filled with enough replacement crew in cryosleep to fill out an entire battlegroup.

Speaking of the scientists, the first things they did after exiting their shuttles were to rush straight to the research modules and throw out all the nuggets and their flight instructors. For now, the squadron had to hold their lectures in the hangar and practice with real strikecraft instead of the simulators.

Until the scientists could come up with something, there wasn't much to be done. Ferdi walked down the corridors for his breakfast, when suddenly every screen, even those showing today's menu, went blank and slowly looped a sentence in Hiigaran.

"GREETINGS, PHUUR-NAN TASK FORCE. YOU ARE A LONG WAY FROM HOME. PERHAPS LONGER THAN YOU REALIZE."

"If this is some sort of prank I am going to flay someone today!" Ferdi shouted angrily and rushed to the CIC, leaving behind him a crowd of dumbfounded 2nd-shifters.

"Status report!" Ferdi yelled the moment the door CIC slid open. In response, Captain Raonaid, Intelligence Officer Shaked and most of the 1st-shift command crew looked at him blankly. It was obvious he was the one barging in this time. "Sorry. Carry on," he said and assumed his station, which was still repeating the same phrase over and over.

"OU ARE A LONG WAY FROM HOME. PERHAPS LONGER THAN YOU REALIZE. GREETINGS, PHUUR-NAN TASK FORCE. Y"

"Can we get the systems back in control?" Raonaid asked.

"I am manually rebooting all ship systems. One moment," Shaked knelt down and pulled a few wires from under her console, before sitting back down to type a few lines of code. The ship's lights flickered for a moment. "Here."

Ferdi looked at his screen, which, after a few loading bars, were back to normal again.

"Everyone good?" Raonaid asked.

"Yeah," said the sensors officer.

"Emergency transmission from the research module, Boss. They said they've lost their work progress due to the systems reboot and the last time they saved was fifteen hours ago, they seem rather angry."

"Tell them that's not an emergency and save more often. Reactor and engines?"

"All good," said the helm officer.

"Now, where did that come from?" Raonaid asked.

"No idea. Before it happened everything was normal on sensors," said the sensors officer.

"There is no signs of internal or external hacking or tampering with our ship's network," Shaked said. "The system logs didn't mention anything."

"Well, is it really an attempt to communicate or is it just some jock with a datapad?" Ferdi asked.

"I have an idea. Try contacting the other ships, do they have the same thing?" Raonaid said.

"Yes, Boss," said the ATC officer. "The escorts are reporting the same thing. Some got the same idea as we did and manually rebooted, the others reported that it stopped by itself. No signs of tampering, nothing in the system logs, just like us.... It's almost as if the words just popped up."

"I'll hazard a guess that someone is trying to talk to us and can see everything we do on our systems...." Raonaid said and sat back down in her seat, opening a new, empty entry on the logs, she put the title as "If you want to talk, talk here" and on the first line, she typed one word, "Hello?"
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: crizza on December 17, 2018, 05:09:01 pm
Arvida watched the Argo crawl closer, until a signal confirmed it was docked. She stood with Chufu and Sethak on the other side of the airlock and waited. At least until the alarm began to blare.

“Vice-Admiral, I… I don’t know how, but 8… no… 7 Dragons just emerged out of the jump gate.”

Arvida looked up on a small screen just in time to see one of these accursed fighters jump out again. It had paid out that the whole 19th was on a war footing already.
They had dozens of squadrons ready and waiting for something just like this. Something to kill, without being questioned.

“White Scar squadron, intercept them ASAP!”
It was a logical choice, 12 Draco-class interceptors banked hard and with afterburners propelling them towards the Dragons at 200ms, they should be the first to reach the target. Armed with two banks of Balors as primary and a bank of Trebuchet and Harpoons as secondaries, the had to firepower to do this. Standard procedure would be to launch the Trebs at maximum range and then disengage, returning back to the protective umbrella of the Battlegroup.
Listening to the words of Commodore Guderian made her smile.

“With all due respect Commodore, but your ships are outclassed and antiquated, let us handle the situation.”

Other squadrons stayed close to their assigned ships, keeping the escort tight.
Yes, as of now Shivan strikecraft had been nimble, but the war in Sol had taught them one thing: Why risking your own life, if a capital ship could do the job?
As it stood, 24 Trebuchets were racing to destroy seven Dragons, command and control systems of two destroyers, four AWACs and numerous corvettes and cruisers were scanning for targets. The ballet of moving ships, which had been interrupted after the agreement with the Nightfly and then by the NTF now resumed anew. Ships were moving into optimal firing positions, while screening each other, none more than the two Anemois and four Charybdis.
While aboard every craft of the Battlegroup crews and pilots readied themselves for combat, Arvida had another thought.

Why would shivan fighters emerge from the jump gate leading to Sol?
Arriving on the bridge, she jumped into the chair, watching the Dragons closing in.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: HLD_Prophecy on December 17, 2018, 06:05:52 pm
@Autohummer:  :lol:

******************************
"Sir, the Tev fighters are moving to intercept."

"Let them."

Watching the unusual strikecraft burn their way towards the Dragons reminded Guderian of a pressing issue. Standing orders were for the 5th Cruiser Squadron to have small fighter or bomber units attached on a temporary basis when strikecraft involvement was deemed necessary. Out here, far from home... We could use a couple of fighters, he mused. Just one or two would make a difference.
******************************

Guderian is thinking about asking for a loan of one or two fighters from the GTVA forces, possibly as part of the terms of temporary truce. Old ones, something the 19th could do without. Lokis are the most preferable since pretty much any NTF pilot can fly a Loki. He's going to ask for Lokis first, Myrmidons or Hercs (original Hercs) next second if y'all don't have Lokis. Remember, he needs something that someone on his cruisers might be able to fly.

At this point Guderian has two directives: Number One, get his men safely home. He has no time for anomalies or reality-breaking mysteries if they are outside of this objective. He wants out of this mess and back to his obligations to Bosch and Neo-Terra. Number Two, he is willing at this point to work with the GTVA on a very temporary basis - to defend against the Shivans and more importantly maybe get home.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Assassin714 on December 17, 2018, 07:06:43 pm
Battle report:

6 of the 7 Dragons are destroyed by Trebuchet missiles before they can enter weapons range. The 7th manages to evade the missiles and engages in a dogfight with the Draco interceptors, where it is quickly overwhelmed and destroyed by superior numbers. One of the interceptors suffers moderate shield damage but is otherwise intact.

Battle Result: GTVA victory.

The Dragons seemed to be identical in performance and weapon loadout as those encountered during the second Shivan incursion.

After several minutes have passed, there are no signs of further Shivan ships.

Sensor reports indicate that intrasystem jumps are now possible, and the Sol Gate is active, but the node is slightly unstable. The other nodes out of the system will require closer recon in order to determine their status.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Colonol Dekker on December 17, 2018, 10:03:37 pm

For the briefest second every crewmember across the multi-verse heard a fleeting voice whispering.........



I am loving this thread.




It lingered for a moment or two, then all memory was gone as if it had never been heard at all.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: HLD_Prophecy on December 18, 2018, 03:49:31 am

For the briefest second every crewmember across the multi-verse heard a fleeting voice whispering.........



I am loving this thread.




It lingered for a moment or two, then all memory was gone as if it had never been heard at all.

Haha  :lol: Maybe you should join!
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: crizza on December 21, 2018, 08:42:09 am
19Th Battlegroup, Delta Serpentis

The Draco’s of White Scar squadron were eager. They were a young squadron, formed after Capella had went nova. The first White Scar lead had a love for antique terran science fiction books, particular for something called Warhammer 40k. Meant as a joke, he had referred to the squadron as White Scars, for every pilot upon inception had come from another depleted squadron, having lost wingmen, family and friends in Capella, each one was emotionally scarred.
But the name stuck and with the white painted Draco’s each having a red lightning painted on their nose, it was their call.

“This is White Scar lead, Scars on me!”
White Scar lead, informally known as the Khan loved his bird dearly. The sheer speed it developed was second to none. The distance to the jump gate diminished rapidly.
This was about speed and weapons range.
The Draco’s were running at 210ms, owing that the energy for the guns was shunted to shields and engines.
The Dragons were burning in at 150ms. The Khan did not care for orders. Firing his Trebs as soon as they had achieved a lock-on, he continued to burn hard.
Eight of his Draco’s had turned after firing, racing back towards the battlegroup.
But his Alpha-wing was with him. Training could only teach you so much.
He needed this fight. Plus, they acted as bait, as the Dragons were continuing to race towards them. One after another, the Dragons turned into fireballs as the Trebs hit home. It was overkill and the Dragons should have been able to evade them, but this was the thing with the Shivans: They rarely did what you expect them to do.

One Dragon however managed to evade the missiles in a manoeuvre, which would have killed a terran or vasudan pilot.
On it came, closer, ever closer. To fire another Treb would’ve been a waste of ammo, so the Khan switched to Harpoons.
But the moment passed.
In an orgy of silver and red weapon flashes, the Dragon put up a fight. Valiant, skilled it fought, but the Draco’s had the numbers and killed it.

“White Scar lead! You had standing orders to fire your Trebuchets and return to the battlegroup! Not dogfighting! Land your bird immediately!”
The Khan flinched, the voice of the Vice-Admiral sounded angry, but he could not stop grinning. His kill counter showed a pleasing 2.

Aboard the Phoenicia
Arvida cursed the leader of the White Scars, he was talented, a natural fighter jockey, but too reckless. Something which could see him killed in Sol. Still, the White Scars had destroyed the Dragons and it looked like without damage, as the shield bubbles on screen turned from yellow to a healthy green. Tense waiting followed. Arvida did not care how shivan fighters had managed to jump in from Sol, what she really feared was another jump flash forming and a Sathanas emerging.
After several minutes, the message from the AWACs came in, the situation looked clear.

“Mam, message from Centaur Station, Sol Gate is active, but they’re getting unstable readings.”

Arvida looked down on the panel showing the status of the battlegroup. One after another the lights indicating subspace readiness of the ships switched from red to green.
“Asasiyun, redeploy to the gate ASAP!”
Quite a distance from the NTF’s 5th Cruiser Squadron, the three corvettes of Asasiyun flashed their jump drives and disappeared into subspace. Only to re-emerge around the Sol gate. Forming a triangle around the gate, the centre of it was at the maximum range of their beam cannons.

Arvida queried a subspace communication to Sol and Lieutenant Wilson dutifully opened a channel.

Admiral Steele, this is Vice-Admiral Syrgalla, we experienced a Subspace shutdown as we tried to jump as scheduled. Several minutes ago, 8 Dragons, I repeat eight shivan Dragons emerged from the gate. We destroyed seven but one managed to get away. Delta Serpentis – Sol node reads slightly unstable. Do our orders stand Sir? We have also six rather unusual visitors! Requesting mission update.”
Adding a tight data-package concerning their visitors, the message was send through the gate to Sol, the whole message was highly encrypted, meant for the eyes and ears of Steele himself.

She then called the Commodore again.

“Commodore Guderian, it seems subspace travel is possible again, but the other nodes Beta Aquilae and Ross 128 need to be checked.”
Toying with the grip of her knife, Arvida frowned.

“Do you still want your meeting Commodore? Or are we back to threatening each other?”

Aboard the Nightfly

The Admiral watched proceedings in silence. Neither Ramses, his life warden nor Christopher himself had said anything as the Dragon’s emerged. Listening to the comm chatter and watching the Draco’s pull through, he cracked a grin.
“Well Captain Fisher, you just got your first glimpse at the Shivans.”
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Assassin714 on December 21, 2018, 01:38:24 pm
You receive a transmission from Sol, using the same GTVA encryption:

"Syrgalla? Oh thank God! This is Rear Admiral Mitchell. We thought we had completely lost contact. There are goddamn Shivans here! Repeat, Sol is swarming with Shivans! They showed up out of nowhere just a few hours ago. We lost the Atreus to a shock jump tactic in the first few minutes. Admiral Steele is presumed dead.

We need any reinforcements you can send! We've agreed to a ceasefire with the UEF, but they're taking a pounding too. Word is they also lost one of their destroyers.

The Shivans seem to be striking random targets all over the system. So far we've counted 9 Shivan destroyers, and there are even reports of a Juggernaut. We just repelled an assault on Mars, but we can't hold out much longer if they keep this up. We need assistance immediately!"
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: HLD_Prophecy on December 21, 2018, 06:45:32 pm
@crizza: I had my suspicions when the name White Scars came up. Next few sentences confirmed it. "Khan" was just icing on the cake.  :lol:
*************************
Guderian nodded.

"It is this, then: a ceasefire between our forces for now. A breaking of that bargain spells forfeit for either side. I am intrigued by the opportunity to investigate the Ross 128 node - I'm sure you realize by now that answers mean as much to us as they do to you."

"I make a final, brief request of you... as you can see we are without fighter support. You know as well as anyone the difference that a mere handful of strikecraft can make in regards to tactical flexibility, engagement options... chances are likely that I can find a few moderately capable pilots among my men. In return for our investigating the node, would you care to lend us one fighter, two if you can spare them? Understand that I am not requesting that you hand over your best hardware. Our pilots would only be trained on the Loki for certain, possibly Myrmidons or Zeus as well. A Medusa or old Hercules would be our next choice. Might you have a few dated spaceframes left? One fighter would serve well, a fighter and a bomber, perhaps two fighters or two bombers..."
*************************
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: crizza on December 22, 2018, 07:14:07 am
19th Battlegroup, Delta Serpentis

Arvida was relieved that Guderian was finally in an agreeing mood. His offer and request however, that would be another question altogether.

“Commodore Guderian, we will honour that cease fire, but you must understand one thing: The NTF is dead and gone. Flying around in these ships will get you killed faster than you may think. Strikecraft or not.
The 19th is just one Battlegroup. While it doesn’t include the new Hyperion cruisers, this is standard GTVA tech by now.
Fenris is nowadays are used as a target or patrol cruiser. The Leviathan as a defence ship. Loki’s are no longer in active use by the GTVA, Herc’s likewise.
The Myrmidon is being phased out, but we have several frames on the Skiron, our logistic ship.”

Arvida paused in her monologue for just a moment.

“The Admiral will return shortly from the Nightfall, I will speak with him. But how will you service even a wing of Myrmidons? You have no support ship, no hangar etc. Your pilots would need to land them either on the Hecates or the Diomedes corvettes.”

She sighed, this would make things difficult.

“And there is another thing. I’ll forward you the current ship database of the GTVA, just descriptions and weaponry, so you can catch up.”

And realize how outclassed you really are, Arvida thought for herself.

“The 5th Battlegroup centred around the Agamemnon and Implacable are moving to this system. These are no Hecates or Orions, they are Erebus destroyers and Titan strike carriers. The Phoenicia and Vengeance have been upgraded to that standard, but these new ships outclass them. Additionally, the 17th is also transferring to Sol, so the Pallas, another Titan, and the Ilium, a Hecate are coming. This system will soon teem with ships.”

A signal informed her, that the shuttle of Christopher and Ramses had returned. The crew of the Nightfly had agreed to stay on friendly terms and agreed, that the Admiral had business on his own ship. To stress this, there was an incoming communication from Delta Serpentis HQ, most likely the GTD Messana or Requiem. For a squadron of outdated ships belonging to a hostile government, Delta Serpentis was not the safest place to be. Part of Arvida suspected the 5th Cruiser squadron would simply vanish to Ross 128, but that would find them facing the 1st Battlegroup.
However she looked at the current situation, their best chances would be to stick with the 19th.

“You should really come over and we talk this through.”
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: HLD_Prophecy on December 22, 2018, 01:30:24 pm
*******************************
Guderian sighed, the exhausted sigh of a man with just as much on his mind as the person he was facing.

"Ma'am. I respectfully remind you that the NTF is not 'dead and gone'. Not as long as we are here. If we are the last remnants of the rebellion, then be that as you say; but we are still neo-terrans."

"With that said and recognized on your part, your concern for our safety in or outside of GTVA space is appreciated but wholly unnecessary. Should you care if a flight of decades-old cruisers and their supposdely long-dead crew care to risk their lives? We will not harm you as you will not harm us."

"From your perspective," he almost spat at the feed with suddence vehemence. "From your perspective, wouldn't it be to your advantage for us to get ourselves killed?"

"We want answers. We will risk ourselves to get them. Ross 128 is as good a place to look as any; you know that is where we first encountered the Shivan race."

"I do not think we should meet in person yet, not in the interests of time. The clock is ticking at this point. As for the fightercraft, I thank you. Two Myrmidons should serve our purposes just fine. You should be aware that we have done this before. Long-haul operations usually necessitate fighter cover. My Argo transports have multiple docking ports, any of which can hold a Myrmidon. Exiting, boarding, and maintaining the craft is tricky and time-consuming but it has certainly been done. We have practice. I will also take advantage of that documentation you offered - my thanks again."


"So here you have it - a badly 'outdated' task force from a bygone decade made up of your former enemies. This task force has offered you a ceasefire and is fully willing to expend themselves to gather information that you can use. Is the choice really that difficult on your part?"
********************************

Servicing fighters through docking ports (usually of an auxiliary or cruiser) is done in certain campaigns. It's obviously time-consuming but not entirely implausible.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Assassin714 on December 22, 2018, 10:53:56 pm
A Cain-class cruiser, accompanied by 4 Maras, 4 Astaroths, 4 Basilisks, and 4 Nahemas, emerges from the Sol Gate. The Cain charges its primary beam cannon and targets the nearest Terran warship. The Astaroths take a defensive formation around the Cain, while the Nahemas and Basilisks attack the Cain's target. The Maras escort the Nahemas.

Potential battle difficulty rating: EASY
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: crizza on December 23, 2018, 07:39:33 am
Offtopic: So, no message from Steele then? I don't write this out this time. But the Alamut, a Bellerophon corvette has the range advantage, with the Ice Queen having a range of 8250m, doing 33k damage in one pulse and the two Aurora Wakes ranging 6750m and clocking in at 19800 damage per pulse. So a Bellerophon should vaporize a Cain without breaking a sweat.  The escorting fighters will hold. They will fire their Trebuchets at maximum range, Nahemas before bombs, Basilisks before Maras. The Alamut will turn to bring her defense turrets to bear, but only after the Cain is destroyed.

19th Battlegroup, Delta Serpentis

Arvida nodded.
“Very well, you shall have your two Myrmidons then. Standard weaponry as in Subach Hl-7 and Prometheus, with Tornados? Send an Argo to the Skiron, they’ll prepare the fighters. Good luck Commodore.”
Arvida was about to add something, when a priority message from Centaur Station cut through.

“Vice Admiral, something is coming through the node. If Sensors are trusted, it is shivan!”
Arvida punched a button on the console and sirens began to blare again. With Asasiyun having redeployed towards the jump gate, between them they were guarded by two squadrons: The 121st Green Knights, flying Atalanta-class space superiority fighters, armed with Balor/Kayser as primaries and a full bank of Harpoons, while the 365th Fighting Griffins flew Nyx class fighters, armed with Balor, Harpoons and Trebs. With three wings on each squadron on active duty, one wing of each had been ordered to run escort mission for the three corvettes. Standard procedure once again, but as it looked, a good choice.
After the NTF squadron had arrived, Arvida had actually ordered the battlegroup away from the jump gate and although the ships were redeploying, only Asasiyun where at the node, they and Centaur station. 2nd Corvette Division and Sardaukar Squadron were escorting the two logistic ships and an AWACs. While the rest was in formation around the two Hecates. The bow of the Phoenicia still pointed at the node, but they were at least twice the range of the Ice Queen arrays range out from the jump gate.

Arvida hated times like these. The moment before a fight began, time seemed to slow. She knew the enemy was coming but was damned to wait. Her own elite squadron of Sphinx class fighters, the 314th Black Knights were moving into position in front and above the battlegroup. Already the AWACs Norma had taken control of their huge missile bays, scanning for targets which had not arrived.
The Sphinx fighter was an oddity, even for herself. Christopher however loved them, yet they were station on the Vengeance and not the Phoenicia. In essence, the Sphinx was a huge block of engines and a cockpit, with rows upon rows of missile banks and a sensor suit. Designed to work with AWACs ships, a single Sphinx should in theory be able to kill an attacking wave of bombers. The fighter was a true missile boat, slaved to an AWACs, it could fire dozens of Trebs at once.

“Incoming subspace signature!”
Arvida cut the feed off. Out of the Sol jump gate a single Cain emerged, escorted by 4 Maras, Astaroths, Basilisk and Nahemas each. Already the Cain was bleeding off speed and manoeuvring to bring it’s beam cannon to bear at one of the corvettes. Unfortunately, it chose the GTCv Alamut.
The skipper of the Bellerophon class corvette calmly gave the order. Keeping it’s escorts with him, which dutifully waited for the Maras, Basilisks and Nahemas closing in for the Alamut, the corvettes single Ice Queen beam woke. Outranging the Cain with twice the range, the beam fired as the Cain came into range. For four seconds the beam fired straight between the three arms of the Cain. Should the Cain survive this, which Arvida doubted, the two Aurora Wake beams would most likely finish it.
In the meantime, the Green Knights waited for the Nahemas to stray into the range of their Trebuchet missiles.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Assassin714 on December 23, 2018, 09:19:57 am
Offtopic: So, no message from Steele then?

Did you completely miss my last post?

https://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=95244.msg1878452#msg1878452

Quote
I don't write this out this time. But the Alamut, a Bellerophon corvette has the range advantage, with the Ice Queen having a range of 8250m, doing 33k damage in one pulse and the two Aurora Wakes ranging 6750m and clocking in at 19800 damage per pulse. So a Bellerophon should vaporize a Cain without breaking a sweat.  The escorting fighters will hold. They will fire their Trebuchets at maximum range, Nahemas before bombs, Basilisks before Maras. The Alamut will turn to bring her defense turrets to bear, but only after the Cain is destroyed.

Battle Report: The Cain fails to get within range to fire its primary cannon before it is perforated by multiple beams from the GTVA corvette. As the cruiser begins to break apart, the Astaroths scatter and join the Maras in escorting the bombers. They head straight for the Alamut, ignoring the other corvettes. Two of the Nahemas are destroyed by Trebuchets before they can enter torpedo range. One of the Astaroth - class fighters maneuvers itself in between another Nahema and an incoming pair of Trebuchets, taking the hit for it. The Astaroth evaporates in a cloud of debris. The fourth Nahema evades the missiles. The two remaining Nahemas begin firing fast, but relatively low-yield warheads at the Alamut. The Basilisks join in by launching salvos of swarm missiles, aiming to take out as many of the corvette's defensive turrets as possible. The Maras and remaining Astaroths continue escorting the Nahemas, engaging the GTVA fighters guarding the corvette.

Battle still in progress.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: crizza on December 23, 2018, 11:51:25 am
Offtopic: So, I looked at the turret placement of the Bellerophon in FRED. Four of the five Pulse cannon turrets can engage the Shivans at range. Likewise two of the six AAAfs are placed on the broadside like I think three of the ten Terran Turret 2s. Note that the AAAf seems to have an upgraded range of 1800m.



19th Battlegroup, Delta Serpentis

As expected, the Cain didn’t last long. But where the White Scars had made short work of the Dragons, the Green Knights and Fighting Griffins struggled. Destroying two Nahemas and an Astaroth, the rest of the Shivan fighters came on undaunted.
With the Nahemas launching bombs and the Basilisks starting to fire swarm missiles at the Alamut, the Corvette turned to unshadow her defensive turrets.  Four of the five turrets containing pulse cannons open up at the shivan fighters once they come within their range of 2000m. At a range of 1800m the two Phalanx antifighter beams engage the enemies. Last but not least, at a range of 1650m the Super Houndtooth start firing at the bombs.
The four Nyx switched targets expertly towards the clumsy Basilisks, firing two Trebuchets at each of them, before engaging the Maras and Astaroths with their Balor primaries and Harpoons. All the while the four Atalantas dogfight with the Astaroths and Maras, alternating between their Balors and Kaysers as the opportunity arise, while chugging out Harpoons. Also, since the Balors are rather energy efficient, they divert energy to shields and engines.

Arvida looked at the unfurling battle, when Lt. Wilson spoke up.

“Vice Admiral, we have a response from Sol… you need to hear this!”

Arvida didn’t like the tone of Wilson. Normally composed, he almost sounded afraid, add to that the fact him playing the message on the bridge wide speaker spoke volumes.

"Syrgalla? Oh thank God! This is Rear Admiral Mitchell. We thought we had completely lost contact. There are goddamn Shivans here! Repeat, Sol is swarming with Shivans! They showed up out of nowhere just a few hours ago. We lost the Atreus to a shock jump tactic in the first few minutes. Admiral Steele is presumed dead.

We need any reinforcements you can send! We've agreed to a ceasefire with the UEF, but they're taking a pounding too. Word is they also lost one of their destroyers.

The Shivans seem to be striking random targets all over the system. So far, we've counted 9 Shivan destroyers, and there are even reports of a Juggernaut. We just repelled an assault on Mars, but we can't hold out much longer if they keep this up. We need assistance immediately!"

Arvidas mouth opened and closed several times. Surely that must be a joke? Shivans in Sol, how the hell had they pulled this off? Then she remembered the subspace fluctuation. Maybe they had somehow altered subspace to jump directly into the system?

Turning around as the door opened, she looked at the face of her husband. Normally composed and easy-going, his facial expression was grim and determined.

“Composure Lieutenant Wilson. Forward this message to Delta Serpentis HQ. Order the battlegroup to form up, 1st Corvettes and Crusader Squadron together with escort fighters and the Edric are to lead us in.”

Christopher had just finished getting out of his armour and as such his uniform was all crumpled.

“And someone kill these shivan bastards! I want that gate secured and ready!”

Relaying his orders, the Hassan-i Sabbah and Rashid ad-Din Sinan activated their drives. With their Nyx wings staying with them, the Atalantas shunted all energy to engines and raced towards the Alamut.
With a rumble, the massive engines of the Pheonicia woke.

“Arvida… you should return to the Vengeance.”

Looking at his wife, the Admiral saw the conflict in her. She was a strong woman, but right now she looked afraid. As she passed him, he grabbed her hand and gave her a hug.

“Stay save and we’ll be though this in no time.”

Arvida snorted.

“Seven destroyers and a Sath? We’ll be hailed as saviours of the GTVA!”

Still, Arvida seemed unwilling to break the embrace, yet knowing her duty, she pulled away and smiled at Christopher before leaving the bridge.

With the screen showing the Battlegroup lining up for subspace transit, Christopher watched White Scar squadron burning past the Phoenicia to join battle once again. Sighing, he opened another subspace comm channel, not even caring that the channel was not encrypted.

“Rear-Admiral Mitchel, this is Admiral Schulz. Hold the line! We are coming, but we need a safe haven. Is Neptune HQ still secure?”

Leaving the channel open, he hailed Delta Serpentis HQ, while noticing the 5th cruiser squadron.

“HQ, this is Admiral Schulz. We will leave for Sol once the gate is secured. Redeploy the Messana to the node at once! And inform the 5th and 17th of our situation. If Admiral Steele is truly gone, we need reinforcements ASAP! And these ships currently with me, they are not to be harmed until they turn hostile! Schulz out!”

Thinking what to do with the Nightfly and the 5th, he shrugged.

“Commodore Guderian, I fear you are on your own from here. I cannot guaranty your safety, but if you can link up and check the status of the 1st Battlegroup in Ross 128, I would appreciate this.”

Multitasking without even realizing it, he sent the Nightfly a short-written message, informing them about his next steps: Traveling to Sol, engaging the enemy. As with the 5th, he did not presume to give them orders, but left it to them to join them or remain in Delta Serpentis.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Assassin714 on December 23, 2018, 12:53:47 pm
Battle Report: Two of the Basilisks are destroyed by the corvette's defensive turrets shortly after they begin firing. One more is destroyed by a Trebuchet salvo. The fourth Basilisk manages to take cover behind the Alamut, causing the two Trebuchets tracking it to instead impact and detonate on the corvette's hull. The Basilisk begins strafing the corvette with primaries and swarm missiles, but is soon dispatched by the defensive turrets.

All but one of the Nahemas' bombs are shot down. The one bomb that impacts the Alamut does only minor damage. One of the remaining Nahemas is destroyed by anti-fighter beams, and the last one, heavily damaged, hits its afterburners to gain distance from the corvette and circle around for another bombing run.

Two Astaroths and two Maras are destroyed in the initial dogfighting. One Atalanta is destroyed by a Mara, while another Atalanta takes heavy damage and is forced to retreat. A combined laser and missile strike from an Astaroth and Mara manages to disable one of the Nyx fighters as well as reducing its hull to critical levels, before the two Shivan fighters are destroyed.

Remaining Shivan Forces:

1 SB Nahema (17% hull integrity, 32% shield integrity)

1 SF Astaroth (100% hull integrity, 72% shield integrity)

2 SF Mara (100% and 85% hull integrity, 45% and 30% shield integrity, respectively).

GTCV Alamut status: 91% hull integrity. 2 Pulse Turrets and 2 Houndtooth turrets destroyed.

Battle still in progress.

You receive a transmission from Sol:

"Neptune HQ is secure for now, Admiral, but the Shivans have a strong presence near the node, and they'll be waiting for you when you arrive. We'll spare as many ships as we can to try to clear you a path, but you should expect to take a few losses. One more thing - these Shivans seem to be disorganized. They don't seem to have a clear plan - it's sort of like the behavior they showed towards the end of the Great War after the Lucifer was taken out. If I had to guess, I'd say they're just as surprised to be here as we were to encounter them. Their ships and weapons are also nearly identical to what we faced in Capella - no noticeable improvements. Now that they've lost the element of surprise, we should be able to win this with the aid of your battlegroup. Please make haste, though."
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: HLD_Prophecy on December 23, 2018, 03:11:52 pm
Hey all, I'll be taking a break from the forums/Discord for now. Probably return a day or so after Christmas.  :) Won't be back to this topic until then!

Looks like things happened a bit fast. Let's assume that I picked up those Myrmidons in time before you really had to get moving.

*******************************

Guderian chose not to re-open the comms feed, seeing that the 19th was extremely busy. Instead he opted to send a final voice package to be received at Syrghalla's discretion:

"Rear Admiral,  let me express my fulsome appreciation for your most generous donation of strikecraft. We will move to Ross 128 and see what we can find. Our task group will maintain contact as necessary and report what findings we can. Godspeed."

"And, as a parting comment - I would recommend you cease playing with that throwing knife while on the feed. It makes you look like an angsty teenager - or someone who prides themselves on their mindgames. You have my regards."

Grinning slightly, Commodore Guderian sent the package over. He closed the comms console and sat down.

****************************

Guderian wanted - no, needed - a long, long rest. He wanted nothing mroe than to rest his head in his hands and drowse for an hour, dwelling on his concerns. With a monumental effort, he tore himself away. What his crew needed now was morale!

"Quartermaster, on deck!"

"Sir?"

"I want an extra ration of light beer issued to all hands at the conclusion of their next shift - and get the men something special for dinner!"

The quartermaster couldn't stop the grin from nearly splitting his face. He wasn't alone.

"And pass the word to the other vessels!"

Guderian picked up the comms chip again: "All crew of the 5th, this is the Commodore: I will explain the situation as it stands..."

The 5th prepared to jump to the Ross 128 node.

*******************************
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: HLD_Prophecy on December 23, 2018, 03:14:51 pm
PS: I'll take the Myrmidons armed as you suggested, thanks.  :nod: Hope you don't mind if I cheeze it a bit and assume that the Subachs are in the 4 mount, Prometheus R in the 2 mount? All Tornadoes?  :p Just for a little extra help.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: bomb3rman on December 25, 2018, 05:15:21 am
Fisher watched the ongoing second battle after his guests had left the Nightfly. As the shivans emerged from subspace, he shouted the ususal commands.

"All stations, code red! Prepare tertiary turrets for bomb and fighter interception! Give more power to the bio armor, in case we get hit by something!"  Fisher doubted that these few ships could make it through these gtva corvettes, but just to be save.

"Sally, I want every camera to film these shivans. Let's gather as much information about their combat behaviour as possible... I fear that we'll need it."

As the fighting went on, Fisher had to admire the effeciancy of this battlegroup. They knew how to position their capital ships, and as the Shivan cruiser went down without firing its own beam, he felt lucky that he had the chance to talk to Schulz without a fight.

He listened to the chatter over the comm channel. At one point, he became suspicious. The battlegroup seemed to be heading through the Sol node, while these NTF ships wanted to look at the Ross 128 node.

"If we want to find out whats going on with these subspace disturbances, we should have a look at the third node, Beta Aquilae.", he thought.

He opened the comm channel to send a message to both Guderian and Schulz. "Ok people, looks like you can hold out on your own here. We will heat up our engines, reroute the Power and see if there's something suspicious at the Beta Aquilae node. Good luck to you all, we will call you once we found out more. And thank you for your map, Schulz. We really appreciate it. Fisher out."
Then he sighted. "Marcus, tell me something positive. What's the status of the engine? Can we jump and defend ourselved after that?"

"Everything seemes normal, we're not at 100 percent and could still need some new alloys, but we're fine for now."

"Alright, people, prepare for a jump to the Beta Aquilae node!"
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: HLD_Prophecy on December 30, 2018, 02:26:46 pm
Hey all  :cool:

Just a quick update copy/pasted over from another topic: I'm racing to get a few different mod projects done. In addition I've come down with a bothersome fever and a typical migraine headache (I get those a lot! :lol:). I'm a bit low on time and energy so I'm putting this topic on hold for a while until I can collect my thoughts. Sorry if this ends up delaying the story, although I think crizza, bomberman, and others can continue their sides of the story for a bit while I "get things sorted" at the Ross 128 node - in other words our dialogues diverge here so maybe we're all not waiting on eachother to reply so much.  ;)
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Assassin714 on December 31, 2018, 01:36:22 am
I can tell you what you'll find at the node if you like, as it's not really anything that requires immediate action.

Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Autohummer on January 02, 2019, 03:02:02 pm
-Phuur-Nan Expedition, Unknown System#2, Unknown Galaxy (Presumed)-

And, a moment later, as if after some deliberation, the mysterious interloper replied. The blinking cursor moved two lines down and began typing by itself.

WE APOLOGIZE FOR THE TEMPORARY DISRUPTION OF YOUR SYSTEMS. INTERFACING WITH YOUR COMPUTERS REQUIRED SOME TRIAL AND ERROR.

WE REPRESENT THE MAHASU COALITION. WE WISH TO NEGOTIATE A TRADE OF RESOURCES, TECHNOLOGY, AND INFORMATION.

AS A GESTURE OF GOODWILL, WE WILL ALLOW YOU TO ASK US FOUR QUESTIONS, WHICH WE WILL ANSWER TO THE BEST OF OUR KNOWLEDGE, WITHOUT ANY PAYMENT. IS THIS AGREEABLE?


"The Mahasu Coalition.... This is the name they call themselves," Shaked said.

"From the looks of it, they are traders, like the Bentusi," Raonaid said. "And we met in almost the same circumstances the Mothership fleet first met the Bentusi, too. I don't want to read too much into it, but I am sure it'll be interesting to quite a few storytellers."

"I miss the Bentusi sometimes, it's hard to believe they're already gone," Ferdi said. "Half a year ago the Bentus was still hauling around the galaxy peddling hyper-advanced tech to upstart nations. But enough of that, we've got our four freebie questions to ask."

"'Where are we?' is the obvious thing to ask," Shaked said.

"Agreed," Raonaid said. "We'll want to know how and why they came to our galaxy all of a sudden, and in case they knew something that help us fight the Vaygr or solve the Progenitor mystery, let's ask them which races they know."

"That leaves us with just one more question, unless they treated how and why as two separate questions," Ferdi said. "If they're that stringy, though, I doubt they would have much goodwill for us."

"Don't worry, for those who were with the old Phuur-Nan, you know how we deal with shady, dodgy merchant types, right?" Raonaid said.

"I hope it does not involve shooting," Ferdi said. "They seem to have an edge over us at that regard."

"No, we just give them the silent treatment. Shooting and expending ammunition unnecessarily is bad for business, even if you were a merc.... Well, then I know the last question to ask, 'what do you do?'"

"There we go then captain, no need to wait for us to nod our heads, this isn't a democracy."

"This isn't a monarchy either, besides, the more heads the merrier. All right...."

Raonaid put her hands on the keyboard and typed:


Sure, that sounds good. We would like to ask:

1) Where are we?
2) What do you do?
3) How and why did you send ships to our galaxy?
4) Which races do you have knowledge of?


and waited for the cursor to move.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: HLD_Prophecy on January 02, 2019, 03:35:29 pm
I can tell you what you'll find at the node if you like, as it's not really anything that requires immediate action.

Sure, if that's ok! I'd assume I would find a GTVA task force, although whether or not they're engaged fighting off Shivans? Can I know what's in Ross 128 yet, if anything?
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Assassin714 on January 02, 2019, 03:50:57 pm
I can tell you what you'll find at the node if you like, as it's not really anything that requires immediate action.

Sure, if that's ok! I'd assume I would find a GTVA task force, although whether or not they're engaged fighting off Shivans? Can I know what's in Ross 128 yet, if anything?

Well obviously the GTVA does have a presence at the node, but the node itself is currently inaccessible, and has been since the subspace anomaly that isolated this system. However, according to the GTVA science vessels studying, it is steadily regaining stability and will be safely traversable in under 12 hours, at the current rate.

In about four hours it may be possible to send a small unmanned probe through.

Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: HLD_Prophecy on January 02, 2019, 05:49:15 pm
I can tell you what you'll find at the node if you like, as it's not really anything that requires immediate action.

Sure, if that's ok! I'd assume I would find a GTVA task force, although whether or not they're engaged fighting off Shivans? Can I know what's in Ross 128 yet, if anything?

Well obviously the GTVA does have a presence at the node, but the node itself is currently inaccessible, and has been since the subspace anomaly that isolated this system. However, according to the GTVA science vessels studying, it is steadily regaining stability and will be safely traversable in under 12 hours, at the current rate.

In about four hours it may be possible to send a small unmanned probe through.

Cool thanks! I will return to this topic when I have a moment to do so. :)
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: HLD_Prophecy on January 06, 2019, 11:04:03 pm
Please see the following topic: https://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=95403 (https://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=95403)

I'm sorry for the abrupt cancellation, I hope things can continue all right without me. I wasn't planning to continue my part in the thread, I might consider returning later? but for the moment I'm out. Enjoy!  :)

Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: crizza on January 07, 2019, 10:44:25 am
Edit: I've updated and will continue to update my post at the starting topic to include Strikecraft wings/squadrons.
https://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=95086.msg1875778#msg1875778

19th Battlegroup, Delta Serpentis

With the rest of the Green Knights burning hard to reach the skirmish at the node, the eight fighters with the GTCv Alamut finally engaged. With disbelief Fighting Griffon lead watched one Basilisk getting blown to smithereens by his Trebs, while the last managed to hit his burners in the last second, narrowly evading the Trebs which detonate on the Alamut’s hull.

The comm was alive with chatter of the pilots.

In her cockpit Green Knight 2 watches a Nahema getting shredded by Anti Fighter beams, but realising too late, that a Mara had lined up behind her. Evading one missile, her Atalanta is being hit repeatedly by the Mara. With shields failing, hull integrity dropping and another missile alarm screaming, Green Knight 2 remembers the words of the Admiral upon welcoming his air wing:

“Each of you is a skilled fighter but make no mistake: While you fly very expensive crafts, you’re worth more than your ships. A Fighter can be replaced, a pilot not!”

With the alarm growing more urgent, Green Knight 2 punches the ejection mechanism.

“Green Knight 2, ejecting!”

Time seemed to be slowing down, as first the canopy gets blown away and afterwards, Green Knight 2 is being propelled into the cold void. Engaging her emergency thruster, she begins putting distance between herself and the combat, heading for the Battlegroup.

Fighting Griffon 3 and 4 however are fighting for their dear life, as Green Knight 4 is breaking off to retreat, heavily damaged. As Fighting Griffon 3s Nyx is taking a severe beating by a Mara and Astaroth, being disabled in the process, Fighting Griffon 4 manages to destroy the Mara with primaries and the Astaroth with secondaries.

While Fighting Griffon 1, 2 and 4 gang up on the two remaining Maras, chasing them down with Balor and Harpoon fire, Green Knight 1 and 3 take on the Astaroth with the same weapons.
All the while White Scar squadron is racing at 210ms to join combat, ready to take a clear shot at the remaining Nahema with their Trebs. Likewise, the eight remaining Atalantas of the Green Knights are closing in at 170ms, ready to engage anything with Harpoons and Balors.

On the bridge of the Phoenicia Admiral Schulz had watched the combat in grim silence. Ramses and his life warden had joined him, with Ramses being busy with long range communications, most likely with the Emperor himself.

As Green Knight 2 explodes, Christopher winced, dispatching a SAR ship to pick the pilot up.

Lt. Wilson, having come to terms with the situations, informs him of another message from Rear Admiral Mitchell. Nodding towards Wilson, the message is relayed to his own comm piece in his ear:

“"Neptune HQ is secure for now, Admiral, but the Shivans have a strong presence near the node, and they'll be waiting for you when you arrive.
We'll spare as many ships as we can to try to clear you a path, but you should expect to take a few losses.

 One more thing - these Shivans seem to be disorganized. They don't seem to have a clear plan - it's sort of like the behavior they showed towards the end of the Great War after the Lucifer was taken out.
 If I had to guess, I'd say they're just as surprised to be here as we were to encounter them. Their ships and weapons are also nearly identical to what we faced in Capella - no noticeable improvements.
Now that they've lost the element of surprise, we should be able to win this with the aid of your battlegroup. Please make haste, though."

Nodding to himself he thought for a moment.

“Rear Admiral, I need to know what I will face. I need either a GTVA or UEF stealth wing to scout the node, failing that, I’ll send my own Pegasi. Besides, do you have anything able to vector in subspace strikes? The Phoenicia can soften up enemy targets.”

Closing the channel, he opens another one.

“99th Warring Amazons, prepare to deploy. I want two wings of Pegasus out of the hangar bay ASAP. Two Pegasi will swap their second missile bank with a targeting pod. You will recon the node and are to not engage any enemies. Once confirmed, I need you to vector in Eos torpedos at shivan beam cannons.”

Closing this channel as well, he nodded to himself. The 99th Warring Amazons had been handpicked by their Captain, for skill and ability to follow orders to the letter. Having demanded the squadron name, their captain had created an all-women squadron.

The targeting pod was a recent addition to the rooster of strikecraft systems. Being installed into a secondary weapons bay, once activated the fighter just needed to point a tight beam at a target. The Eos Torpedo had been upgraded to home in on the endpoint of the beam, thus being guided to mission critical targets. Besides, the targeting pods transmitted targeting data directly to the Eos via subspace communications.

Christopher just hoped that the rumoured Sathanas was not blockading the node.
Nine destroyers with attendant capital assets would prove a challenge, but he trusted on his own battlegroup to pull this off.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Assassin714 on January 07, 2019, 12:05:42 pm
Battle Report: The remaining Nahema launches a salvo of twin warheads at the Alamut, but they are both intercepted by the corvette's point defenses before impact, although the bomber manages to score several hits with its primaries. The Nahema is shortly thereafter destroyed by a Trebuchet strike from one of the Dracos. The Astaroth and one of the Maras are destroyed by primary cannon fire from the Nyx fighters, while the remaining Mara suddenly hits its afterburners and begins a suicidal run at the Alamut, firing all of its weapons at the corvette. It is destroyed by a combination of defensive turret fire and a pair of Harpoon missiles from an Atalanta.

GTCV Alamut status: 90% hull integrity. 2 pulse turrets and 2 Houndtooth turrets destroyed.

Battle Result: GTVA Victory

You receive a transmission from Rear Admiral Mitchell:

"Long range sensors show that they have at least one destroyer at the node, and at least half a dozen smaller warships. Unfortunately, we can't spare any assets right now, as we're too busy holding down the fort here. As for the Feds, they don't exactly take orders from us, but they did indicate that they are going to send something to help out at the node - they weren't clear on exactly what, though. We'll keep you posted."
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: bomb3rman on January 08, 2019, 05:10:56 am
OoC: Hey gamemaster, could use a little update on my side. I'm kinda lost here. What do I find at my node after the jump?
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Assassin714 on January 08, 2019, 01:04:13 pm
OoC: Hey gamemaster, could use a little update on my side. I'm kinda lost here. What do I find at my node after the jump?

You find much the same thing as HLD_Prophecy did at the other node.

https://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=95244.msg1879173#msg1879173
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Lorric on January 09, 2019, 04:14:07 pm
I just haven't been able to get into this like the rest of you have. Dekker, since you're still around and would have played if it was convenient for you, if you like, you can pick up where I left off and defend the Spooniverse.

Good luck with the game everyone, I'm glad it's proving enjoyable for the rest of you.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Colonol Dekker on January 10, 2019, 03:06:14 pm
I appreciate the gesture but I couldn't do it justice and if I said I could it would be a lie mate. 


Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Assassin714 on January 10, 2019, 03:21:20 pm
I appreciate the gesture but I couldn't do it justice and if I said I could it would be a lie mate.

It doesn't really require that much commitment. Lots of the current players have gone weeks without posting.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Colonol Dekker on January 10, 2019, 03:27:15 pm
I get that but I wouldn't be passionate about it and it would just end up forgotten.   
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: crizza on January 14, 2019, 01:21:50 pm
I appreciate the gesture but I couldn't do it justice and if I said I could it would be a lie mate.

It doesn't really require that much commitment. Lots of the current players have gone weeks without posting.
Given the fact that we are... three players :D
I have the problem of overthinking my posts. I was realy upset during the battle at the jump gate, but then I thought it wasn't such a big deal.
It is fanfic, I didn't loose that much, but it gives me great ideas for my own fanfic.
And I think about learning Blender... again, but I don't find tutorials in german for the current version :D

I'll post this week, most likely wednesday.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Assassin714 on January 14, 2019, 05:53:14 pm
I appreciate the gesture but I couldn't do it justice and if I said I could it would be a lie mate.

It doesn't really require that much commitment. Lots of the current players have gone weeks without posting.
Given the fact that we are... three players :D
I have the problem of overthinking my posts. I was realy upset during the battle at the jump gate, but then I thought it wasn't such a big deal.
It is fanfic, I didn't loose that much, but it gives me great ideas for my own fanfic.
And I think about learning Blender... again, but I don't find tutorials in german for the current version :D

I'll post this week, most likely wednesday.

Why were you upset?

These are the easy battles. These Shivans are pushovers compared to the Shivans you'll be facing eventually.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: bomb3rman on January 15, 2019, 12:18:51 pm
- Aboard the Nightfly -

With eyes closed, fingers crossed, Fisher waited for the jump to end. He expected an exploding console, the engine going dark again, some vents opening for unknown reasons, but this time ... nothing happened. The Nightfly came back to normal space with the right speed, vector and energy reserves. Fisher lighted another cigarette and leant back.

"All systems green, we'er as close to the Beta Aquilae node as we can be.", Sally reported.

"Anything within our range?"

"Nothing fancy. A few smaller vessels, GTVA signatures. Good that Schulz gave us the IFF codes, so we don't have to explain everything over and over again every time we meet a GTVA vessel."

"Marcus, what's the energy core doing?"

"It went up to 69 % of maximum energy output, right now I can't squeeze out more juice. But it's stable, for now..."

"I'm scanning the node. Data indicates the same phenomenon we saw at the Sol node. This 'anomaly' seems to have killed this node, too... Oh wait! I can see something. The number of neutrinos being emitted from that thing is slowly rising. It looks like it's recovering. It is rapidly regaining stability and will be safely traversable in maybe 12 hours, if the recovery rate stays the same."

"Well finally some progress!" Fisher walked towards the other consoles. "Do we still have some of this old narn espionage probes in the cargo hold? I know they're slow as sh*t, but they're durable."

"Positive."

"Good, get one of them ready. The moment this node is stable enough, send it through. I wanna know what's on the other side."

"Understood, the rising activity within the node indicates that we can send the probe through within four hours."

Fisher smiled. "Good. Sally, you take it from here. I'll be in my quarters for the next three hours. As soon as the probe is ready to depart, tell me. And keep an eye out for unwanted visitors like the ones we saw before. All turrets, stay focused." And with these final words, Fisher moved towards the elevator.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Autohummer on January 22, 2019, 02:19:21 pm
-Phuur-Nan Expedition, Unknown System#2, Unknown Galaxy (Presumed)-

This time, the response came without hesitation. The cursor started moving and spitting out words the moment Raonaid's hands left the keyboard.

IT SEEMS THAT YOU DESIRE TO GET STRAIGHT TO THE POINT. VERY WELL THEN.

1. YOU BELIEVE YOURSELVES TO BE MERELY IN A DIFFERENT GALAXY, BUT THE TRUTH IS THAT YOU ARE IN A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT UNIVERSE FROM YOUR PLACE OF ORIGIN. THIS UNIVERSE IS ONE OF THE MANY THAT HAVE RECENTLY BECOME ACCESSIBLE DUE TO THE APPEARANCE OF SPACETIME DISTORTIONS SUCH AS THE ONE YOU PASSED THROUGH.

2. WE STUDY AND OBSERVE. WE TRADE AND MAKE DEALS. WE ACQUIRE TECHNOLOGY AND KNOWLEDGE. THAT IS SUFFICIENT EXPLANATION FOR NOW.

3. WE DID NOT. THE MACHINES YOU FOLLOWED HERE ARE KNOWN LOCALLY AS THE COLONIZERS. WE ARE CURRENTLY STUDYING THEIR BEHAVIOR. YOU JUST HAPPENED TO ENTER OUR CURRENT SPHERE OF INFLUENCE WHILE WE WERE DOING SO.

4. IN ADDITION TO THE COLONIZERS, THIS UNIVERSE IS HOME TO A GREAT VARIETY OF TECHNOLOGICALLY ADVANCED SOCIETIES. WE WOULD ASK THAT YOU BE MORE SPECIFIC IN YOUR REQUEST.


"Well, that clears up things. If the drones, or the Colonizers as they are called, are of a different party from the Mahasu Coalition, it explains why they still have to communicate with us even after the drones scanned us about a dozen times," Shaked said.

"More importantly, they say we are in a different universe altogether. How much do you think we can trust them?" Raonaid asked.

"If I saw this a year ago I would have said they have lost their minds," Shaked said, "but now? We should consider any possibility, I will pass this information to the science team and see what they make of it.... As soon as they are done throwing their tantrum, of course."

"If universe-crossing portals are popping up everywhere, there may be more back in our galaxy, too. Lieutenant, send the homeworld a heads-up, we may soon be dealing with things stranger than the Progenitors."

"Understood."

"So, they are the Bentusi type, or at least this is what they claim," Ferdi said. "If they are capable of messing with our systems remotely I am going to assume their tech is years ahead of us. A useful ally to have, a sticky enemy to make, just like the Bentusi."

"Let's give them the benefit of doubt for now, we'll hear what they have to offer before we decide," Raonaid said and continued typing.

Very well. What kind of deal would you like to negotiate?


Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Assassin714 on February 21, 2019, 10:49:11 pm
It's been a month, is anyone still here?

Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Autohummer on February 22, 2019, 02:42:25 am
(Sorry, I have had to deal with some ugly RL business lately.)

THE COLONIZERS ARE BEHAVING ATYPICALLY. THEIR STANDARD BEHAVIOR IS TO SPREAD AND MAKE USE OF ANY RESOURCES THEY FIND TO SELF-REPLICATE. HOWEVER, SHORTLY AFTER ENTERING YOUR HOME UNIVERSE, THEY HAVE BEEN CONDUCTING A LARGE SCALE RETREAT BACK THROUGH THE PORTAL.

THE COLONIZERS WILL USUALLY NOT HESITATE TO ENGAGE AND DESTROY ANYTHING OR ANYONE THAT ATTEMPTS TO IMPEDE THEIR PROGRESS. THEY HAVE NEVER BEEN KNOWN TO WITHDRAW LIKE THIS. SO FAR, WE CAN ONLY SPECULATE ON THEIR MOTIVES, BUT IT SEEMS AS IF THEY ARE FLEEING FROM SOMETHING. WE HOPE YOU COULD SHED LIGHT ON THIS BEHAVIOR.


"Well, I suppose we caught a lucky break, else we would never have made it this far," Ferdi said.

"Lucky indeed, I have to say," Shaked said. "Otherwise it would have been the perfect time to strike at the heart of the Hiigaran Control Zone. Add that to the Vaygr and we will probably lose the war, even with Sajuuk on our side."

"Well, I don't see what's wrong will telling them what we have now. Seeing that they probably have our entire database already," Raonaid said and continued typing.

I trust you already have access to what information we have in our systems, but here is a summary of what we know. Our first sign of Coloniser activity is their intrusion into a resource-rich system under our control. They were in the process of stripping it clean of resources at a rate never seen before by us. However, by the time we arrived, most of their drones had left, though they did leave behind half harvested asteroids, which suggests they were indeed retreating with haste. They have encountered ships belonging to the Vaygr, which are enemies to us, and destroyed them. According to the Vagyr debris we have salvaged, the Colonisers were acting in self-defence and retaliation. A Vaygr scouting element attacked and destroyed several mining drones without provocation before retreating to their main carrier, which was later swarmed and destroyed by larger Coloniser vessels. When we encountered the Colonisers ourselves, we were scanned intensely, but we were never attacked. We followed them to another system in our universe where they have stripped it clean of usable minerals and established large installations around the portal they use to enter our universe. We were unable to ascertain the purpose of these installations but we assume it is probably used to defend the portal, given the size of the facilities and the fleet that has been left behind on both sides of the portal to defend it. There is one more thing you may find interesting. The Colonisers were using Hyperspace travel when they were in our galaxy, but upon arriving here they used another mode of FTL travel. We are currently in the process of studying that FTL travel mechanism. So far we have been unable to ascertain its operating principles and without it we will be unable to follow them further.

"Wait a minute," Raonaid stopped typing. "If the Mahasu wasn't toying with us and we are really in another universe.... It's no stretch that the fundamental constants can be different from ours. Would our hyperspace drives even work here?"

"That's... a possibility I have never considered before," Shaked said.

"We ought to test that out. Tell the boys at the PDAs they've got a special order coming. I want a probe with a hyperspace module strapped to it. Do a really short range test jump with it once it's ready."
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: bomb3rman on February 24, 2019, 02:43:54 pm
It's been a month, is anyone still here?
OoC : still there, just the job and moving the place to live with the family is taking all of my time right now... Will have more time in a couple of days, I hope...
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Autohummer on April 07, 2019, 03:16:11 pm
(Come on, stay alive, thread.)

INTERESTING. ACCORDING TO THE INFORMATION YOU HAVE PROVIDED, THESE 'VAYGR' DO NOT SEEM TO POSE ENOUGH OF A THREAT TO CAUSE THE COLONIZERS TO RETREAT LIKE THIS. IF YOU ARE WILLING, WE WILL REVEAL OUR VESSEL TO YOU AND ALLOW YOU TO ESCORT US BACK TO YOUR HOME UNIVERSE, SO THAT WE MAY FURTHER INVESTIGATE. WE ARE WILLING TO OFFER INFORMATION AND TECHNOLOGY IN EXCHANGE FOR THIS SERVICE.

"Well, I don't see any harm letting them show their face, about time, too," Ferdi said.

"Same here, let's meet our guests," Raonaid said.

Very well. As per the traditions of Hiigaran space exploration, we would like to extend to you our goodwill and friendship, provided that it is reciprocated, of course. We will provide escort for your vessel through this portal and to our own universe.

As the crew waited for an reply, attention turned to their little experiment.

"What itches me more is with the hyperspacing. Is the drone ready?" Raonaid asked.

She was answered by a probe slowly trudging in front of the carrier, weighed down by its bulging nose, which housed the smallest hyperdrive unit available to the Hiigarans.

"Probe Golfer-1 ready. Hyperspace test will commence now, distance, 1000 metres," said the ATC officer. "In 3, 2, 1."

The usual blue window opened and swallowed the probe, but Raonaid could already see that the window opened, moved and closed much slower than usual. A full minute later, after a brief system check and attempts to reestablish contact with the probe, it finally appeared at its destination.

"That puts hyperspace speed in this universe at about 10% of ours," Shaked said.

"Remind me to get us some better FTL in the future. Old blue windows aren't cutting it," Raonaid said.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Autohummer on April 27, 2019, 12:59:06 pm
"Unidentified sensor contact, 2 klicks off our starboard," said the sensors officer. "You've got to see this, boss."

(https://wiki.hard-light.net/images/thumb/5/5e/Sgsasura.png/800px-Sgsasura.png)

"Ominous," Shaked said as Ferdi nodded quietly.

"For a moment, I was expecting another Bentusi horseshoe," Ferdi said.

"Well, we can't exactly be suspicious of an alien race just because how their ship looks, that would be aesthetics discrimination," Raonaid joked, but deep down, even she wasn't so sure. Red, spiky, bad-guy ships have been a horribly overused cliche in modern fiction, but the ship sitting over there matched every criteria for evilness. Not even the Imperialist Taiidan's angular, yellow-red shapes could communicate such wrongness. Perhaps it was true that they are inhabitants of another universe or even dimension, where such geometry are the norm and sensible, modular ship designs are seen as abominations as frightening as the Beast.

"How did it get there?" Shaked asked.

"Unknown, it just... appeared," the sensors officer answered

"Some kind of advanced cloak, perhaps? Or maybe they've just been manipulating our sensors data," Ferdi said.

"It looks like a gunship-class vessel," Raonaid said.

"Negative, it's about 170 meters long, about the size of a frigate. It's moving our way."

"All right, all ships, escort formation, once our groups have merged, we will set course back home. Just in case I want half our strikecraft out there and the rest on standby. The frigates should be on alert, too. Keep an eye on our guest and let me know if anything strange happens. Finally, keep our emergency hyperspace charged and emergency escape coordinates ready."
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: HLD_Prophecy on April 27, 2019, 04:27:57 pm
Any chance it would make sense for me to jump back in?  :)

I might like to get back into the storyline on my side of things, but with terser, plot/scope/strategy oriented posts rather than trying to write character development. Kinda like FS2 itself, now I think about it. That'd be more enjoyable.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Assassin714 on April 27, 2019, 11:04:52 pm
Any chance it would make sense for me to jump back in?  :)

I might like to get back into the storyline on my side of things, but with terser, plot/scope/strategy oriented posts rather than trying to write character development. Kinda like FS2 itself, now I think about it. That'd be more enjoyable.

Of course. Just post an update on your faction and I'll continue the story.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Autohummer on April 29, 2019, 03:48:01 pm
The Mahasu ship entered formation with the expedition and together, they set course to the portal. As the ships approached the portal, the Coloniser drones activated. In moments, the drones once again swarmed the fleet and began their now-familiar procedure of scanning every atom in the fleet in triplicate. Still, the Mahasu saw it fit to issue a rather redundant warning through text.

THIS IS STANDARD BEHAVIOR. DO NOT PROVOKE THEM.

"Won't dare imagining it," Raonaid said, even though she doubted if the Mahasu bothered to access their internal microphone systems to listen in.

After the requisite intensive scanning, the Coloniser drones decided that the Mahasu ship and its newfound escorts posed no threat and returned to their business. The fleet sailed on in silence, unaware of what was awaiting them on the other side....


-Phuur-Nan Expedition, Unknown System#1-

What everyone immediately noticed as they returned to their universe and galaxy was not what was there, but what was missing.

"Where are the megastructures? Navigation, check and confirm our current location," Raonaid said.

"On it.... We are at the other end of the portal, same location as we entered. Stellar drift shows we have arrived in approximately the same time as we first left, too."

"What?" Ferdi asked rather plainly, pointing at the sensors manager.

"We have been on the other for only 95 hours and the Colonisers were able to remove all this mass," Shaked said, furiously summoning data readouts and simulations from her console. "Dissembling the megastructures would have taken months with the number of drones we encountered. This means the megastructures must contain some form of propulsion of their own.... But why did we not encounter them if the megastructures did indeed transit through the portal...? Perhaps they are able to generate their own portals...?"

"No, not that, Lieutenant. What I am more interested to know are those," Ferdi said, still pointing at the sensors display.

Shaked looked back up at the sensors manager hologram. Before her was a 3D map of the sector, which was practically empty save the Phuur-Nan and the Mahasu ships, but what Ferdi was pointing at were one of the eleven sensor contacts across the system. Together, they made an incessant series of pings across the CIC until Shaked shut them off.

"These weren't there before..." Shaked said to herself as she targeted the sensors array at the closest one.

Out of nowhere, she felt an overwhelming fear, as if she had forgotten something important, as if she would soon lose everything, as if.... A second later, she remembered what it was. Cursing herself silently, she cautiously took off her headphone, but left it hanging around her neck just like what Ferdi did, in case of another sensors spike. She was not at all eager to make another visit to the medbay this soon.

"You all right, Lieutenant?" Ferdi asked.

Fortunately, despite Shaked's lack of precaution, this time, there was no sensors spike strong enough to burn through all the surge safeties. However, that gut feeling hadn't stopped. If anything, it got worse.

"Yes, sir. Commencing scan now...."

"This is PN Expedition Command to Acolyte, how is our guest doing?" Raonaid asked.

"This is Acolyte Leader, they aren't doing a thing. But what the hell are those, I wonder."

"Commander Eliphelet Manaan, you have to describe what you see better than the word 'those.'" Ferdi said, annoyed.

"No need to pick on me, pal. Those green things.... I count nine, ten, eleven of them."

"You mean those anomalies?" Raonaid said. "We have picked them up on the sensors as well. Shaked, do we have sensors telemetry?"

"Negative. Those anomalies are showing up on optical sensors, our pilots can see them with their eyes, but the moment we point our deep scanner at one, the telemetries are as if it was pointed at empty space," Shaked was about to tell her captain that she felt a very strong unease whenever she looked at the sensors, but she thought better of it.

"One part of me wants to fly close and take a look, the other part of me says it's a really, really bad idea," Eliphelet said. "Bad mojo. I've got a sinking feeling just looking at them, Boss."

"Noted, unless the Mahasu goes there, I won't order anyone near them before we know what those actually are."

"Thanks, Boss."

"No thanks necessary, I get your feeling too," Raonaid said. "Bridge to hangar, prep us eleven probes."

Afterwards, she began typing in the text file that was used to communicate with the Mahasu.

I assure you the Colonisers were here and those green anomalies were not present when we entered the portal. Do you, by any chance, have an idea what they are?

"As we wait for them to respond and the probes to build, let's find out as much as we can about the new anomalies," Raonaid said. "Shaked, what can you tell us about the anomalies? Just what you can get with the optics."

"Yes, Captain. Please look at this," Shaked pressed a few buttons and a sickly green mass took over the sensors manager. It was barely a sphere, constantly warping and writhing, as if it was an organic being. Colours flashed violently and the space around it twisted and turned with no rhyme or rhythm. The only other thing capable of distorting space like that would be a black hole. However, while the effects of a black hole are well-known and consistent, the anomalies' "behaviour," for lack of a better term, was completely unpredictable.

"This is one of the anomalies as seen through live telescope feed, it is of an intermediate size, at about 20,000 km in diameter, about that of a large rocky planet. However their size can vary considerably, from 600 meters to 60,000 km."

"In thirty years of sailing the stars I have never seen anything quite like this," Ferdi said. "How much power would it take to make a planet-sized thing boil like that...? Lieutenant, please stop zooming in, that is quite enough."

"I did not, sir."

"Then it's growing in size, too. I don't like the look of this, not one bit. Do they stop growing once they reach a certain size?"

"No, Commander. Their rate of growth seems completely random, the only thing I can gather is that they are growing faster every minute."

"How long will it take for them to fill the entire system?"

"Assuming current rate of growth increase.... 110 years."

"That's silly short."

"The closest one will reach our position in only 36 days' time."

"That's good to know, but we probably will be leaving soon...."

Before anyone could continue, the screen suddenly shut off, words began floating on the hologram screen, giving everyone a start.

WE UNDERSTAND NOW. THE OTHERS HAVE BEGUN TO MOVE, AND THIS UNIVERSE IS FORFEIT. WE REGRET CUTTING NEGOTIATION SHORT, BUT WE HOPE THIS WILL BE SUFFICIENT COMPENSATION FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE. WE WILL MEET AGAIN IF YOU SURVIVE.

After that, the Mahasu hijacked the carrier's systems, opened a new file, and began inputting raw data. Binary and hexadecimals flew across the raw text files' pages for minutes until it suddenly stopped and the file auto-saved. Then, the file name, New Text File.tex was backspaced character by character and replaced with New Hyperdrive Specifications and Blueprints.pfd.

"Boss! The Mahasu ship's moving! It's heading.... It's heading the wrong way, it going straight back to the portal!" Eliphelet said.

"Let them go," Raonaid said.

"Aye, Boss. It just hyperspaced out. Never seen s hyperspace window move this fast."

Raonaid moved her mouse cursor over the file and double-clicked. It was a standard pfd file, detailing everything from hyperspace theory to high-resolution blueprints for what looked like a hyperdrive, presumably the one used by the Mahasu. Apart from going all-caps and some grammatical quirks, the entire thing was written in plain Hiigaran.

"Well, turns out the Mahasu has a melodramatic streak, just like the Bentusi," she joked and forced herself to chuckle. "I'll pass this to the hangar and lab boys and see what they can cook up. Meanwhile, helm, move us somewhere further from the closest green meanie."


**************************

-Two Days Later-

Shaked woke with a start. She wasn't entirely certain what made her woke with a start, but she was drenched in cold sweat. The clock told her she had just slept for half an hour. The adrenaline coursing through her veins denied her the opportunity to fall asleep again, so she decided to do what the others do and take a stroll.

Shaked found herself coming up against the bulkhead to the research facility, where the data was being kept. Yes, the data. The entire ship was talking about it. The data the probes gathered the day before. People were questioning the wisdom of keeping it on the ship. Suddenly, the entire carrier shook, the sound of groaning metal, the woosh of air leaking into space. There was a hull breach. The bulkhead flew open, throwing Shaked on the ground and pinning down her legs. A green slime-like glow burst through, by the time she opened her mouth to scream, it was already too late.


**************************

-15 hours after return into home universe, Phuur-Nan Expedition, Unknown System#1-

Shaked woke with a start. This time, she was certain she was actually awake, face planted on the floor next to her bed, and not in some disgusting tactical grape scenario. Damn those Manaani and their "art." At least the Taiidani rained Kharak-fire on the perpetrators and made them scrub the resource collectors for two weeks straight. The "bulkhead" pinning her down turned out to be her laptop. She opened it and saw the faces of her family on the desktop background. It was an old photo, but loving memories were the only keeping her going at times like these.

Shaked washed up and noticed she had a bloody nose, from falling out of bed, no doubt. She made a mental note to visit the medbay. Again. Damn it.

After returning from the portal and the Mahasu's panicked departure, the Phuur-Nan became much quieter. Someone went along the corridors and shut the blinders of every window that offered a direct view of a "green meanie," as the captain christened them. Instead of lightening the mood, the moniker convinced the crew that those things were living, malevolent monsters. This, added with the Mahasu's warning of universal destruction and their as-yet unchecked growth, made a lot of people worried. Even the usually well-humoured captain and her Somtaaw mining crew were hushing their voices when they talk, as if something was watching them.

Admittedly Shaked was feeling rather tired by the time her shift was on, but she was not able to fall asleep either. The probes were ready to be sent to the anomalies and it was up to her to liaise between the CIC and the science division.

"Ready, Lieutenant?" Ferdi asked.

"Yes, sir. Probes Golfer 1 through 11 away. First probe ETA 15 minutes."

One by one, the probes reach their destinations and began sending back telemetry data. Even with the science team's better computers, they couldn't detect anything worthy of note, even if the middle of the anomaly. Oddly, however, the bitrate began to noticeably fall after a few seconds' worth of transmissions and in a minute they were lagging almost unbearably. Shaked ran diagnostics but, apart from the inexplicable lag, all probes' systems were normal, or so it was claimed.

"Bridge to hangar, can you run a check on your probe templates? The last batch have had a malfunction here," Raonaid said.

"This is odd, everything checked out, passed all pre-launch tests."

"Should I pull the probes out?" Shaked asked. Just in case they were some kind of portal, the probes were programmed to only spend half their propellant getting in and would return to the carrier after 5 minutes or by manual command.

"Do it. Doesn't hurt trying," Raonaid said.

It took fifteen minutes for the probes to acknowledge their command input and five more for them to fire their drives. Out of curiosity and hoping to look for surface evidence of damage, the science team locked a telescope at a returning probe. The imagery was relayed to the CIC as well. What became immediately apparent was that the green matter that made up the anomaly adhered on the probe, covering in the same sickly green glow, translucent, writhing. Shaked could not help but remember sharply that dream she just had.

"Captain?" Shaked looked at her captain, asking, begging for the order to stop of self destruct the probes, anything to keep that thing from coming onboard.

"Stop them. Now."

"On it!" Shaked shouted and hit the halt command, but the signal lag meant that it took more than five minutes for them to receive the order.

"Captain, Golfer 7 won't stop in time!" Ferdi said.

"Recon, intercept and destroy Golfer 7, engage at maximum range only!" Raonaid said.

"Roger that!"

The entire bridge froze and stared intently as the sensors screen, where the rogue probe, now marked as hostile, rapidly approached the expedition. The flak frigates positioned themselves to physically block the probe if necessary and the interceptors readied themselves in case the scouts could not catch up in time.

"That crazy green smoke!" shouted one of the Recon pilots. "My systems are acting up!"

"Why am I shaking all of a sudden?!"

"Come on, come on! Daddy needs a bull's eye!"

"10 seconds to impact!" Shaked shouted, even though the probe was not set on a collision course, she felt it might as well be.

"Five!"

"Almost there!"

"Four!"

"My guns are jammed!"

"Flak frigate 1311 firing."

"Three!"

"And impact-"

At the very last moment, the probe snaked away and exploded in a green blast. One of the scouts or the flak must have hit the probe.

"Just to be safe, move us the hell out of here. Get those scout pilots a full decontamination and quarantine," Raonaid said, wiping off the sweat on her brows. "Whatever that is, I don't want it anywhere near our ship."

Shaked's station beeped. It was the science team.

"Bridge, this is the research module, can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear, what have you got?" Raonaid asked.

"Look at the other probes!"

The telescope locked on another intact probe. The green mass was engulfing it. Another one was in even worse shape and a mini anomaly had formed with the probe as the centre.

"Sajuuk help us," Shaked said.

"Clear us out, stat. Get us to the Oort cloud," Raonaid said. "Shaked, I'm afraid I'll have to overtime you for this, you'll need to send a full report and send it to the homeworld. Give them the new hyperdrive blueprints, too. I am giving you access to all data, if the boffins here couldn't figure it out, send it back home and have them put the entire Kiith S'jet to work if they had to. We don't have enough resources to refit our ships, but it may help the people back home with the Vaygr.... If they are still fighting the Vaygr."


**************************

-Two days after return into home universe, Phuur-Nan Expedition, Unknown System#1-

The last few days had been nightmarish. Somehow, Shaked knew it was just the beginning. And somehow, she found herself standing before the bulkhead leading to the research facility. This time, she had her sidearm in hand. Whagainst t would have against that green stuff is doubtful, but bringing it along made her feel safer. She swiped her ID card against the card reader the the bulkhead opened smoothly. She thought the scientists were working their computers and consoles, but presently they were all hunched around a half-dissembled supercomputer.

"Are you the tech we called?" asked one of the whitecoats.

"No. I am Lieutenant Shaked Jaraci, Intelligence Officer. I am here for the report."

"I'm afraid there is no report, young lass, not until we get this bloody thing working again."

"What's the matter?"

"The computer slowed down. Don't tell us it's bad sectors, we've already run disc-check. Don't tell us to try defraging it. Solid state drives don't need defragmentation, who the hell uses mechanical hard drives these days?"

"The computer slowed down?" Shaked repeated. This was eerily similar to what happened to the probes. Then there was her dream, it felt so vivid now. "Have you tried another computer?" she asked.

"The other computer outright stopped responding after we plugged the telemetry in. Worked normal after we took away the hard drive, so it must be a hard drive issue."

Suddenly, Shaked felt that same dread again, this time, so overwhelming that she nearly collapsed.

"The drives! They are inside the drives!" she shouted hysterically. It all made sense now. The data, the thing resides in the data, she must stop this. This was why the other probes seeded new anomalies but not Golfer 7, which entire electronic system was destroyed. "Take the data, drives, UDB sticks, notes, everything you have put that data in! Take them now and destroy them!"

"You can't be joking-"

Shaked pulled out her gun.

"Easy! Look, the telemetry data was saved in only one hard drive, the one we have here, I'll go pull it out, there is no need to shoot!" said the scientist, who walked slowly over to the computer....

And pushed an emergency distress button.

"Security! Security!" he shouted over the blaring sirens.

Shaked was running out of time. Rushing to the computer, she pulled out the hard drive. It felt as if her hands were simultaneously numb and burning. Throwing it onto the ground, she took aim and fired her entire magazine into the hard drive until it was nothing more than a pile of scrap. Shaked could see a faint green wisp drifting out of the drive before fading. Not a moment too soon, she found herself on the wrong end of a dozen 5mm calibre kinetic rifles. Relieved that an imminent threat had been neutralised, she put her hands up and let herself be taken to the brig.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: HLD_Prophecy on April 29, 2019, 08:59:52 pm
Hi guys, I'm quite sorry, I made a mistake in making my earlier post. I am not able to rejoin the game quite at this time. Sorry for the confusion, I'd like to get back into this but am not quite able to. My above post was made in haste.
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Autohummer on April 30, 2019, 05:34:08 am
I think it's okay, just update when you are able. Also, out of boredom, here is a screenshot of what the Phuur-Nan fleet looks like after my previous entry.

(https://i.imgur.com/jj0hwyQ.png)
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: HLD_Prophecy on April 30, 2019, 07:57:01 am
Slick!  :nod:
Title: Re: TFWFTM: Game Thread
Post by: Autohummer on September 28, 2019, 05:14:11 am
(Is anyone still here or have we all been engulfed by green stuff :p?)

-Phuur-Nan Expedition, Outskirts of Unknown System#1-

The only reason Shaked was released from detention was because of the science crew's testimony. Despite having just been threatened with a gun, the scientists were quick to vouch for Shaked the moment they saw the green wisp that flew out of the holed data drive. However, this was of little consolation for her, the third shift science team and Eliphelet's squadron as Raonaid ordered them all to be placed under quarantine until further notice. The entire computer system that hosted and processed the data was thrown into space for good measure and a new one fabricated to replace it. Presently the first shift science team is observing them from behind a glass window, trying to make sure that whatever it is, it has not infected them. Shaked knew that the quarantine section and the entire science module was directly hooked up to the ship's plasma vents, a precaution installed on all science vessels after the Beast War, and one push of a button was all it took to immolate them all. Nobody complained about the arrangement, though, as it was the only sensible thing to do.

Raonaid remembered the stash of Rum she stashed under her bed and killed the thought. The last thing this ship needed is a drunk captain. The only piece of good news she got in the last few days is that the new hyperdrives worked exactly as advertised, taking the fleet near-instantly to a comfortably safe region at the very edge of the system at a fraction of the power draw of the old hyperdrive. The specs have been tight-beamed back to the homeworld and hopefully the rest of the Hiigaran fleet would be outfitted with them by the end of the month. They would need them, she thought, if these things turn out to be a threat and not some freak natural phenomena.

With Shaked in quarantine, Ferdi had to substitute for her on top of doing his job. This actually lightened his mood, as he was far too busy to brood. The tight-beamed report he had, however, was far less rosy. Ferdi walked into the CinC and nodded to the captain.

"Captain, Hiigara confirms they have received the hyperdrive design and theory we received from the Mahasu. They are very excited about our successful field trial. That's all for the good news. Bad news, these green meanies are being reported all across the outer rim, at far off systems."