I submitted this summary and mission-by-mission description for the FSU. Unfortunately it never got selected (few comments as well), so if anyone wants it, it's theirs.
Mission sequence upto mission 6 can be found at
http://www.geocities.com/anandraj_s.../Background.htm [copy and paste link] to help with FREDding a bit.
You Start off fighting the Frontier Elite Force, a large group of pirates that have plagued the GTVA ever since the Capella incident. The flagship of this group has been using a previously undiscovered Knossos portal, and have connections with a high-level person in the SOC to avoid the GTVA and stay rife. They capture the Aquitaine (a war memorial at the time) and threathen to use it against the GTVA, holding it for ransom.
When it is finally recaptured with Alpha 1's help, the leader retreats and finally the Knossos portal is found. All this is done without the clearance or contact with the higher-ups in SOC, allowing for more to be done.
A task force is to be sent into the Knossos Portal, but Alpha 1 is temporarily re-assigned to Delta Serpentis to protect the induction ceremony for a new GTVA leadership, and all goes well till an assasination attempt nearly kills anyone.
The assasins have to have access to huge amount of resources, since they were using destroyer class vessels and complex computer viruses. The assasination attempt is stopped only by a sudden action by the Aquitaine, which somehow breaks loose of it's moorings and attacks the destroyer. nobody knows how it does it, since nobody is on-board and life support is off.
As investigations there continue, Alpha 1 is back on the front line and at the head of exploring the systems beyond the knossos. One mission involves exploring a graveyard at the end of one of the nodes in this new system. The ships include Shivan, Vasudan and Terrain designs (this includes 3 Lucifer class destroyers) and are arranged to blockade the node together, suggesting a fow so great that it forced all 3 races to work together...or is it all co-incidence? All ships are abandoned, even though a few are in peak condition and could (Theoretically) support life even till today. This is an important plot event, thats why i mentioned it.
The next mission involves exploring another new node, but at the end of this one the GTVA lands in big trouble. It leads to the nebula beyond Gamma Draconis, from where the Shivans came, and the possibility of a 3rd invasion is spreading like a virus accross the GTVA. To further re-inforce this sentiment, in-system is a Shivan Comm. node, which is quickly destroyed before it can send off a signal.
I'm writing this mission by mission and i apologize. To sum it up, the GTVA explore the systems beyond the nebula, they discover no signs of Shivans from that direction. The Knossos Portal to Sol is brought online (but the node connections are not made just yet) and the nova waves passes through the system closest to Capella, allowing scientists to view the Capella incident in Epsilon Pegasi via ordinary telescopes. But before any conclusive evidence is gathered....the Shivans come back. Not through the Nebula, but through one of the other systems near the unknown portal. The first sign of their advance is seen when the GTD Vindicator comes running through the blockade set up in the first new system screaming bloody murder and Shivans. In the choas and madness that ensues, the Vindicator escapes. Without fail, the Shivans pour through in massive numbers and get through the blockade. seen here are many new classes of ships, including perhaps, a Super-Sathanas if creating one is possible? some of the older classes are there, but no signs of the original Sathanas Juggernaughts are seen.
Now, the entire fleet goes on the defensive, pulling out back to Epsilon pegasi and Polaris. Evacuations are ordered of Polaris and any colonies nearby, as the Node at Epsilon Pegasi is to be collapsed by a meson bomb to prevent Shivans from swarming into GTVA space. A decommissioned destroyer is to be used to destroy the node, and the GTVA Shiva is on standby at the node as well, ready to run through its first trial against the Shivans. The Node is left open for Civilians to come through, but when Shivan bombers start popping in as well, the descision is made to destroy the node and abandon any ships on the other side. The operation goes smoothly in the beggining, several Shivan vessels jump in to try and stop the GTVA, but these are countered by the GTVA Shiva (GTVA super ship) and the fleet present here.
But things get hot when a few Super-Sathanas jump in and attack. It looks like its all over for the GTVA, but proceedings are stopped when the Aquitaine jumps in, along with a large force of assorted civilian and military vessels following it. Again, it is totally empty (so are the other ships) and appears to be moving on computer control. It attacks and destroys the ship carrying the Meson bomb, and then sends out a strange signal. Beam cannons stop working on all allied vessels and engines shut down. The Shivan ships stop as well, as the Aquitaine moves toward the node. They then form up with the Aquitaine and the entire ????/Shivan armada retreats into the new system, as quickly as they came.
Nobody knows what exactly has happened. The Shivans have disappeared from all GTVA systems, and many colonies are still intact. When scouting the systems, all the GTVA can find are trails of debris and energy remnants from battle fire. The graveyard where the Shivan/Terrain/Vasudan vessels were is now totally empty. It seems the Aquitaine broke free of its moorings again in Delta Serpentis, and damaged the Knossos Portal there, delaying the opening by days or perhaps even weeks. It then made its way up through the systems, capturing vessels by forcing the crew to evacuate after multiple computer failiures, and then taking over with some sort of virus. Some even venture to guess that the unknown components added onto the Aquitaine's hull caused the birth of an Artificial Intelligence, that rapidly spread. The formation of such a new life form is tremendous, but few believe this. Many suggest that it was a horribly complex computer virus, implanted by somebody, that quickly spread to the other ships (including the Shivan vessels somehow) and took them over.
Losses are high, but not as high as they could be, and the process of bringing back the refugees and setting up of massive defenses in the new system are underway.
A week later, with no hint of a shivan presence anywhere, the GTVA goes into a lower level of Alert, and many pilots who were on emergency re-instation (including Alpha 1) are to be put back into retirement.
Investigations are also re-commenced to find out who is the leak high up in the SOC, and are expected to yield results shortly. Whomever this person is, he/she has had a totally free reign in the SOC and it is time to stop him/her before more damage is done.
But we have 1 more mission to finish before leaving, and its a high priority assignment from GTVI command. Simple really, go into a somewhat-far away system and do something. The mission is derailed when a SOC operative comes in chased by several fighters. He warns Alpha 1 to get out of here ASAP. Many senior personnel in the SOC and GTVI council are being assasinated, and Alpha 1 is one of the targets for unknown reasons. the operative dies and Alpha 1 fights off the other fighters. When re-inforcements arrive for Alpha 1 (the rest of Alpha wing), they are ordered to Kill Alpha 1, qouting that evidence has been found about Alpha 1 being a traitor of the GTVA, and must be eliminated. Alpha 2 refuses and is attacked as well. The day is saved when the Vindicator jumps in and finishes off the SOC operatives, here to rescue Alpha 1. Turns out they have been betrayed as well, and were informed of the planned assasination attempts, including that of Alpha 1. Reluctantly, both pilots (alpha 2 must survive as well) join the remnants of the Frontier Elite Force, betrayed by the now-changing GTVA and at the hands of some unknown tyrant.
Possible ideas that may or may not be used in relation to this plot or others:
1.) Knossos Portal is opened, but a massive Shivan fleet of Juggernaughts comes through from the other side, attacking and demolishing the GTVA, forcing them into hiding in so several smaller, easier to hide groups. These groups must find the Aquitaine and the technological AI held inside for help against the Shivans.
2.) Knossos portal opened, but the system outside is blank, empty, with no Earth or sol left, only a large nebula from when the sun went Super Nova. It is indeed Sol, but the Juggernaughts have been here. They killed everything and moved on....but did they?
3.) The Aquitaine returns, along with its AI onboard. The force it left with is no more, and the Shivans are hot on their heels, having discovered a cure for the virus it developed for such a task. GTVA finds out that the AI was actually a dormant member of it's spiecies wiped out by the Shivans millenia ago, and had a thirst for revenge. Now the GTVA and AI have to work together to fight with the Shivans, and this can have 2 endings
3a.) They defeat the Shivans, all find and dandy- just like the good stories that are repetitive.
3b.) They loose to the Shivans, also done quite often, but could be a bit more interesting.
3c.) Realizing the power of the Shivans, the entire GTVA decides not to fight- but rather, spend it's resources on moving out of danger. Using the newly developed Knossos technology, they create a Super-node to a different galaxy (which is hoped to be free of hostile forces as well) along with hundreds and hundreds of transport vessels to move all the colonists, everyone through to the other side. The portal to Sol is re-sealed and the subspace there is permanently destroyed so that the Shivans do not get through somehow. Outlying systems are sealed off as well, and Subspace is disrupted in these systems to prevent the Shivans from reaching the populations and destroying them. Anyone that can be reached and EVACed is done so, and the process is barely done in time as several hundred Juggernaughts are detected approaching GTVA space.
3d.) Same as above, the GTVA decide extreme measures are necessary, but instead of moving, do something else. They shut down subspace in almost every outlying system, locking down all routes in and doing thourough scans of space to spot and Knossos portals that may leave routes open.
