[Stormkeeper]

     “Tag Mark One, Mark Twelve, linear projectile cannons, calibrate for maximum penetration, fire on my command!” Captain David Septim called out. In response to his orders, the two forward linear projectile cannons on his command, the Dagger, an older Broadsword-class destroyer, turned to track the Federation Monitor-battleships. “Fire!” The cannons fired, twin amber lances of energy streaking to the Monitors. The beams skipped through the shields, causing the ships to shudder as the amber energy caused a systems short out in the damage area. “Second volley, minimum penetration, follow with linear energy cannons and Perpertrators!” The cannons fired again, this time launching sapphire beams, while the linear energy cannons spat storms of emerald bolts. Smoke billowed from the Dagger’s port and starboard missile tubes as the Perpertrators tore free. The 10-ton missiles quickly came about, as the onboard computers kicked the missiles up to their full velocity.

      The sapphire beams tore a hole in the Monitors’ shields, through which the green storms splattered and splashed against the underside of the battleships. The Perpertrators’ disruptor tips detonated as they met the shield, scrambling the shields’ integrity in an instant, and the missiles exploded violently against the pitted and scarred underside of the Monitors. One of them came around, missiles leaping from its forward battery, while the other was taken down in an instant by the fiery beam of a Firestorm frigate. “Missiles on an intercept course,” called out Ensign Valerie. “Activating point weapons,” Lieutenant Ping replied. As the cloud of Federation missiles closed, the point defences activated, putting up a wall of metal shards. The few missiles that cleared hit the shield, causing it to flare a sharp white, then fading away. “Shield held. Integrity at 78%, “Ensign Vaulk said, responding to David’s unspoken query. “Helm! Bring our broadswords to bear! Charge rear particle beam to full power, target Mark Twelve!”

      The Dagger turned as thrusters kicked in, bringing her side to bear. The Broadsword-class of destroyers were so named for being the first Tyrean ships to mount the broadsword rapid fire gauss cannon, and also partly to refer to the amount of firepower a Broadsword could put into a single broadside volley. The lights on the bridge flickered momentarily as the broadsides and particle beam leeched massive amounts of energy, charging their capacitators and boosters. Then, hundreds of 1-ton masses were fired, each one at such velocity that all was seen was a silvery blur. The Monitor’s shield crumpled under the onslaught, and its armour was pounded to pieces by the fearsome volley. The snow white particle beam only added to the carnage as it neatly sliced off the bridge of the Monitor, severing the command module from the rest of the ship as it began its death throes. Within moments of the broadside, the ship exploded as its reactor core went critical.

     “Sensors, report sector and fleet status,” David called. “Sector reads clear. Minor hull damage, but repairs already underway. The Friea reports that she took damage to her rear point defense battery; one of her rear vulcans is inoperable, and the other is jammed, but is otherwise undamaged. The Lothar, Perolyn and Leowlynn report no damage to their hulls or otherwise. The Typhon says that she is reading nothing on long-range sensors,” Valerie looked up. “The fleet is assembled and ready to go, Captain.” He nodded, then turned his eyes on the large structure before him. “Captain Septim. This is Admiral Blaire. Remember, you are simply to explore the space surrounding the other end of the portal. You’re role is that of a scout, not an invader or aggressor. Am I clear?” David looked at the view screen of the Claw Admiral. “I understand.” Blaire nodded. “Good. Then good luck David ... Godspeed.” David took a deep breath, and then looked around the bridge. All the faces of the bridge crew looked at him, waiting for his signal. “Jump.”

     The four ships translated to W-Space in flashes of sapphire light. On board the installation Typhon, Claw Admiral Blaire looked again at the massive structure. Multiple sections rotated endlessly in a circular fashion. Science reports said that the rotations caused a tunnelling effect, but no one knew how far or how long did the tunnel go, leaving a scouting party as the only solution. He only hoped they weren’t going to their deaths. Over here, the Federation was a known threat. Over there, no one knew what was waiting for them.


It seems I accidentally replaced this section when editing an earlier one. Hmmmm. I need to pay more attention to what I'm doing.

[Colonol Dekker]

C&C would be nice
Like the story.

[Stormkeeper]

I meant C&C as in criticism and comments, but its thanks anyway, colonol.

[Colonol Dekker]

No criticism at all. That comes later once you flesh out the universe.
Claw admiral, feline race? Or is a claw the name of the size of force under his command, a'la fleet admiral?

[Stormkeeper]

The universe is actually pretty fleshed out. They're all humans.
Claw is the size, that's right.

[Colonol Dekker]

Write more asap.

[Stormkeeper]

“W-Space portal opening collapsing! Deploying field stabilizers! Activating retro-dispensers!” The normally quiet procedure of dropping out of W-Space was permeated with a sense of tension as the crewmen of the Dagger worked frantically to make sure the ship was intact. “Sensors, report fleet status!”David called over the din. “Ye... Yes, sir. One moment.”The hustle and bustle instantly fell into silence as the crew awaited the fate of their comrades. “All ships present and accounted for, Captain, and reporting nominal operation status. The Friea even managed to fix her point defense weapons.”Valerie replied, the relief in her voice audible. The crew cheered at the news, and David let them for a while, before taking command. “Order the Lothar to find a suitably dense asteroid field for us to hide. Maintain battle ready status, all hands at level 2 battle stations. Have Thomas and his stick on the ready 5 bay. ”

“The Lothar reports that there’s a suitable field 12.7 klicks off our current position at this grid reference,” Valerie reported. “Bringing on screen now ...”Ping said. He hit a few buttons, and the map came up, with the position of the asteroid field, and its relative size shown in a light blue shade. “Hmmm. It seems big enough. All ships are to jump there at once.” A few minutes later, flashes of blue light filled the black space.

12 July 2372, Epsilon Pegasi
GTI Enif Station

Lieutenant JG Singh sighed mildly. Three hours left on his six hour shift to go. “There’s nothing out here but rocks and more rocks,” he whined to his partner, Markinson, who was the same rank as him.
“Well. At least you know its peaceful.. Enough.”
“That’s true, but I’d wish we at least have something interesting once in a while.”
“Be careful what you wish for, Singh cause you might just get it.”
“Huh. Yeah, like that’s ever gonna happen.” As soon as the words left his mouth, a red light lit up on his console, flashing urgently. “You and your big mouth. What is it?” Markinson asked. “I dunno... Energy signatures, consistent with subspace jumps... but these have a slightly different wavelength. It’s near that asteroid field about 12klicks away.” Markinson punched up the display, and highlighted the asteroid field in question. “Picking up energy discharges too... these readings look like weapons are being fired.” Singh and Markinson exchanged glances, and Markinson reached for the communicator.

**********

The knock on his door roused David from his light slumber. “Enter,” he called out, as he sat up in his bed. The door opened to admit Valerie, but the Ensign stayed in the doorway. “Captain, we have a situation.” “Alright, I’m on my way.” Valerie saluted, and stepped back as the door slid shut silently.

Minutes later, he strode onto the bridge, fully awake. “Sitrep,“ he called out. “The Lothar has pinpointed energy signatures similar to w-space signatures, just outside the asteroid field. Looks like a group of cargo freighters with an escorting ship, and eight escort fighters. The escort appears to be the equivalent of our own Kulwas frigate,” Ping replied. David looked at the display screen, which showed the convoy.

Three grey ships, each one cradling a cargo container in front of it, were arranged in a loose line formation. Each ship was elongated, ending in a two sets of side by side thrusters. A spar extended from about midship downwards, ending in another thruster. The escort frigate was short, with two sides extending up and down like the fins of a fish. One ended in a radar dish, the other in some sort of turret. “Zoom in on their fighters.” The image blurred, and then refocused on the fighters. All eight were identical, with a long neck ending in a bulbous cockpit, flanked by thruster pods that also housed what appeared to be weapon ports.

“Have they detected us?”David asked. “Negative, captain. They're not the situation. That situation is this.” The image was replaced by the sensory display. The Tyrean fleet was marked in green, the unknowns in blue. But there were a number of red markers on the map, which were inside a smaller asteroid field. “Who are they? Unknown. We only know their using the smaller asteroid field as cover. If that convoy follows the path its taking, they’ll go right by the field, and the ambush.  What do we do sir?” David looked at the convoy’s relatively meagre escort compared to the mass of red waiting. "There's only one thing to do..."


-------------------------------------
Terms:
W-Space portal - The opening to W-Space, or to real space.
Field stablizers & retro-dispensers - Used to stablize the re-entry of a ship to real space. Normally not necessary.
Kulwas frigate - Rear line frigates, used mainly for defense. Notable for being an exceptional fighter/bomber killer, lacking in anti-capital ship department, with only 2 linear projectile cannons, and 2 linear energy cannons.

SK delivers.

[Snail]

Very interesting.

[General Battuta]

Hmm, it's a bit confusing to have a ship class called Broadsword and weapons called Broadswords.

The battle scenes are also overly technical -- probably okay for the HLP audience, but not the crispest of writing. Nonetheless, I remember writing that way when I started in military SF, so I really don't blame you. It's fun, and with time you'll probably refine your style.

[Herra Tohtori]

Very interesting.

Seconded.

One thing though - distances. An asteroid field 12.7 kilometres from the initial jump (anything to do with a Knossos/equivalent?) and they deem it necessary to jump there? And same asteroid field 12 km away from Enif station... would make the distance from the initial jump to the Enif Station less than 25 kilometres, which is well within fighter-type sensor range... not to mention visual detection, 25 km visibility is not that far out to notice bright flashes of light the size of subspace vortices or equivalent.

add at least on k, possibly M to the magnitudes of the distances if you wanna make them have any semblance of realism. Space is a big place after all.

So... some unknown entity entering post-capellan GTVA space, eh? I predict that's gonna go down real well... Oh well, if they get past the first contact without a bloodshed to either direction, I'm mainly interested in finding out if these humans are from alternate universe or if you have some background story about human race being spread all over the place either by themselves in the past (like in Galactica), or by others (like in Stargåte), and whether they originated in Earth or somewhere else (like Galaxy Far Far Away)...

By all means continue.

[Stormkeeper]

   Darrel checked his radar map. He had been assured that it was safe, and the co-ordinates his contact had given him had allowed his gang to jump directly into the asteroid field. He was confident that the asteroids had blocked Enif Station from being able to detect their entry, although the newbie firing on the asteroids had given him a mild heart attack. But Enif Station didn’t seem to have picked the pirates up, so he had warned the newbie, and that was that. Now, he eyed the convoy as it approached.  3 Triton freighters, two wings of Perseus interceptors and a single Fenris ..., he mused. Not much of a threat for the Black Hand, and the Ares fighters his mysterious employer had supplied would certainly come in handy.

Not for the first time, he wondered who his employer was, exactly. Being a mercenary and a pirate, he didn’t ask too many questions on principle, but the Ares was a top of the line fighter, rarely seen outside of the GTVA fleets. And here Darrel had four at his disposal, loaded with Trebuchets and Hornets. Darrel had assigned his personal wing the Ares, leaving the remaining two wings of Ulysses and Myrmidons to cover them. A shrill beep interrupted his thoughts, notifying him that the convoy had entered the killzone. Licking his lips, he sent the signal for the Black Hand to jump in, and clicked his mike twice. Immediately, the twelve fighters burst from cover, as a Leviathan cruiser jumped in, cutting off the convoy’s escape. Darrel quickly targeted and locked onto one of the Perseus fighters, loosing paired Trebuchets from 1km out. The pilot never knew what hit him, blow to pieces instantly. Within minutes, the escort fighters were destroyed, and his crew began disabling and disarming the freighters while the Black Hand annihilated the Fenris cruiser.

“GTVA freighters, you are ordered to jump to these coordinates. Comply, and you’ll be free to go. Screw with us, and you won’t live to regret it,” Darrel announced on general comms. A slight nasty chuckle bled over to his cockpit from this second in command, knowing as Darrel did what a bald-faced lie it was. “We ... We surrender. Just don’t kill anyone else!” came a shaky reply from the lead freighter. “We promise. I’m uploading the coordinate—“Darrel never finished as a Deimos corvette suddenly jumped in behind the Black Hand. All around him, GTVA fighters jumped in, surrounding his crew instantly. “This is the GTCv Warspite! Hostile fighters and cruiser, you are ordered to stand down and surrender, or be destroyed!” Darrel slammed the arm of his command chair.  Enif Station must have detected them, either during entry, or when the newbie shot the asteroids. He quickly clicked his mike three times. Depart, depart, depart Immediately, the Black Hand slipped into subspace, as well as his crew. The Warspite scrambled to stop them, but the modified drives worked like a charm, enabling all of them to escape.

   Neither side had noticed the section of space that seemed to slip and slide, like something was not there, yet was moving. The experimental Pegasus drone had recorded the entire encounter, and even managed to tag both the Warspite and the Black Hand with w-space beacons. Now as it docked its mothership, it uploaded the data to the Peregine carrier, and the Lothar transmitted it to the Dagger.

**********

   “Captain. The Lothar reports the Pegasus has docked and data is transferring now,” Ping informed David. He nodded, and gestured for Ping to meet in the conference room. He and Ping made their way to the room, and Ensign Valerie met them outside the room. Nodding to both Ping and David, she opened the door for them. In the room, the trio watched the video of the conflict play out. David noted the speed and precision of the pirates as they accomplished their raid. “The Pegasus also indicated successful tagging of the pirate cruiser, and the larger, military vessel,” Valerie said as the video finished.
“Good. So we have two options. Thoughts?” David asked.

“Following the ship identified as the Warspite might bring us into conflict with the governing body, and we might are not properly ready for intensive combat,” Ping said, “Following the pirates to their main base, if they have one, might allot us the same information were we to follow the Warspite, but at a fraction of the cost.”

“True. But the pirates seem well prepared and equipped. If we do go after their base of operations, we’ll have to strike hard and fast enough to overwhelm their defences before they get properly organized,” Valerie replied.

“The difference is that the pirates neither have the numbers that official military forces will have, nor the firepower. And assaulting a pirate base is definitely easier than assaulting a military installation.”

“All right,” David cut in. “The pirates are our targets. We’ll trace that cruiser through w-space, and then hit their base of operations. We’ll need the Perolyn’s inhibitor field to be active to prevent escapes, or reinforcements. Valerie, return to the bridge and launch a data probe to the subspace tunnel. Upload this data and include a brief of our intentions. Ping, start tracking that cruiser. When it stops moving, I want its co-ordinates. Inform the rest of the fleet of this course of action. Meanwhile, I’ll be getting some rest. Wake me when the ship stops moving. Dismissed.” Valerie and Ping saluted and left the room.

David entered his quarters, and sat down on his bed. “You can come out of the shadows, you know,” he announced to the seemingly empty quarters. A shape stirred, then stepped out of the shadows. A young boy of no more than eighteen stood before him. “Nice to see you again, David,” he said. David stared long and hard at the boy. “Nice to see you too, Alek. Nice body they gave you. Alek laughed. “Yeah. Vat grown so that it looks identical to my original body.”

“I’m sure. You were always a proud vain ass.”

“Heh. Speak for yourself. All those years ago, you were the one with more girls in his arms then clouds in the sky.”
David chuckled, then grew serious. “Why are you here?” Alek shrugged. “The Toa assigned me to help the fleet. Only if necessary, of course. I have complete faith in your abilities, but well ... You know. Us Immortals.” David nodded. “I know all too well.” Alek paused, then said, “They don’t know? The crew. That you’re an Immortal as well.” David shook his head. “No. I’ve never told them. And the Dagger has been through enough revamps and facelifts that no one recognizes her as the Broadsword. So no one knows that she’s almost six decades old, and then some.”

“Will you ever tell them?”

“Who knows. Most of us fake our deaths to the public and begin working in secret. If I did that, I wouldn’t be able to command her, anymore, and if I did, it would be in one of the Ghost Fleets. I want to be remembered, Alek, not forgotten.”
Alek turned this over in his mind, then nodded. “I think I understand, old friend.” He turned to leave, then paused in the doorway. “Just so you know, I brought my Frame along too. In case you need my strength.” David looked at the aged person in the young body. “Thanks Alek.” Alek nodded, then left the room to David and his thoughts.


-------------------------------------
Terms:
Pegasus - Classified experimental stealth recon drone, capable of tagging a ship to be tracked through w-space
Peregine carrier - A relatively new design, it mounts powerful sensory devices. It can carry up to two squadrons(30) of fighters as well as a fang(8) of combat frames
Immortal - The term used on the individuals who fought at and witnessed the destruction of Tyrea, as well as survivors of the Enskeleon Conflict. The terrbile energies released during the terrible Enskeleon conflict affected these individuals greatly, making them immune to aging and disease, boosting their natural reflexes and abilities beyond that of a normal humans. Immortals became tired of living, and most of them have perished through giving their all in the great conflicts. There are only a scant hundred Immortals remaining, including the Twelve Guardians of the Toa.
The Broadsword - The first of its class, with near legendary status for single handedly tying down an Enskeleon fleet long enough for reinforcements to arrive. It was supposedly destroyed at the end of the engagment.
Ghost Fleet - The two Ghost Fleets don't exist on paper. Its members are all "off the record" personel, and the ships are never assembled unless absolutely required. Only the Toa may command the Fleets.
Combat Frame - The epitome of Tyrean space superiority, Combat Frames are fast, maneuverable and adaptable units, assigned to elite pilots. Combat Frames are humanoid in build, and generally carry equipment based on their mission. The Combat Frame exerts its pilot to extreme G-Forces, and is lightly armoured. CF pilots are a new breed of hot shot pilots, who can handle any job given to them.


Okay. Added the next installment. And HT, I never said they were the same asteroid field. I merely hinted that they might be. When I concieved this universe in secondary school, I was heavily influenced by the Gundam series, so of course you should expect mecha.

[Stormkeeper]

     “Initial recon of the area indicates the pirates’ primary base of operations is disguised as an asteroid. There is a loose grid of sentry guns, as well as a pair of enemy frigates. Other defences consist of a dozen fighters on constant patrol. The secluded nature of this area means that we’ll be free to use our photon weaponry without fear of detection,” Lieutenant Ping said. The briefing room on board the Dagger was crowded with the captains and squadron leaders of the fleet. They were all focused on the image on screen, which at the moment showed a large asteroid structure ringed with sentry emplacements. The image changed, focusing on the two frigates. “These frigates represent the greatest threat in the area, short of the base itself. Note that destroying them is not our preferred form of neutralization here. We need intel on this section of space, and everything that might have that intel should be prioritized for capture. Initial long range scans indicate the presence of photon beam weaponry, so watch it out there.” The image changed again, now focusing on the base proper. “Scans indicate the base itself has numerous fighters housed inside of it, so neutralizing the launch bay is of an extremely high priority.” The image zoomed out. Ping looked at David, who nodded, and stood up to take over.

     “Alright, so the operations order is as follows; the Friea will fire her Firestorm beam at 50% efficiency, into the hangar mouth, thus collapsing the hangar entrance, and removing their ability to supply reinforcements. The Dagger will jump in then and engage the base itself, utilizing primarily disruptor and penetrator weaponry. Thomas, you and your stick will be tasked with destroying the frigates’ communications and weapons systems, in that order. The Perolyn will use her inhibitor field to prevent enemy forces from entering or leaving the area. The Nightstalkers will focus on destroying the enemy fighters, while the Revenants will be on stand-by. Hopefully, they won’t be needed.” David looked around at the room; determined eyes met him. He nodded. “Do your best out there. Watch each other, and watch yourselves. We are dealing with a new type of enemy, the likes of which we have not seen before. Treat them with due caution.” David scanned the room again. “The operation countdown begins now.” At his words, a large red digital clock began counting down from 2400. Across the fleet, the same clock counted, ticking inexorably towards H-hour. “Get some rest, get ready. Soon we test the mettle of these new enemies.”

**********

     The mercenary patrols around the base were bored. Nothing ever happened around the station. The area was too secluded, and far away from the main trade lines. “I don’t even know why we bother to patrol, Darrel,” said one of them. “You’d rather be cleaning toilets?"Darrel asked. “No, not really,” the merc replied. “Then stop complaining,” Darrel snapped. “I still wish something interesting would happen once in a while though,” the first merc said.

Out of the blue, a massive beam of what seemed like pure fire ripped past the mercenary patrol. The beam slammed right into the hangar, causing the entire base to shudder under the impact. The base shivered again, as a massive explosion rocked the hangar as the beam faded. There was a flash of sapphire light, and a massive ship appeared exiting from a subspace portal. White and gold, the ship was elegant, like a work of art compared to the standard blocky design of Terran designs. The ship immediately laid into the station with amber beams, and as he watched, smoke billowed from its sides as multiple missiles tore free from side missile ports. 

     “What the ...” Darrel whispered. Before anyone could respond, a scarlet lance stabbed through the cockpit of the talkative mercenary, and the Herc II blew up in a brilliant explosion. A wing of fighters streaked towards, but unlike any he had ever seen. Jet black with sleek curved lines, the fighters looked like falcons closing in on their helpless prey.  “Break and attack, break and attack!” Darrel yelled, as he opened up his throttle to full. “This is the Black Hand, moving to as... What the ... What the hell is that thing! Power up anti-fighter beams, no... Oh my Go--” Static filled the channel. Darrel craned his neck and caught sight of a humanoid figure turning back, holding a blazingly brilliant silver beam. The scattered wreckage of the Black Hand’s bridge surrounded it, and the thing turned and vectored in on the Ormus, the other cruiser. “Behind you, sir!” The shout woke Darrel from his reverie, and he jukked hard to the right, and a pair of scarlet beams barely missed him.

     Darrel twisted his fighter around, bringing it onto the tail of the alien fighter. He tightened his trigger finger, but to his amazement, the fighter suddenly dropped out of sight, moving vertically down to avoid him. He dove, kicking in his afterburners, as another scarlet beam stabbed past him. Inspiration entered his mind, and he suddenly banked, cutting his engines and pulling up sharply. The enemy, unable to anticipate his maneuver, shot past on eerie black and white flames. Darrel quickly levelled off, and fired, holding down the trigger button, firing his Prometheus S and Subachs again and again. A bright silver flare informed him of a shield present, and Darrel loosed a volley of eight Hornets. The fighter however, pulled up sharply, revealing the same humanoid machine he had seen before.

Unable to react fast enough, he found himself being caught easily in the hands of the machine. An electrical wave spread through his fighter, leaving him dead and helpless in the hands of the enemy. The robot took a moment to angle itself, then headed for the white and gold ship, which was lying victorious above the pockmarked and smoking asteroid base, broken and battered wreckage lying scattered about it.


-------------------------------------
Terms:
None.

I have a sketches of some of the ships I've been using lying around somewhere. If I find them I'll post them up here too.

[General Battuta]

I don't quite understand why the guys from the other faction aren't a) astounded to find humans out here wherever they are and b) more inclined to observe than attack. Don't they think they could incite hostilities with an unknown force through rash action?

[Colonol Dekker]

From the sounds of it i don't think we'd bother them...


<newsreader> i personally welcome our new alien overlords with open arms. </newsreader>

[NGTM-1R]

Ghost Fleet - The two Ghost Fleets don't exist on paper. Its members are all "off the record" personel, and the ships are never assembled unless absolutely required. Only the Toa may command the Fleets.

Ghost Regiments? Shades of the Combine?

[Admiral_Stones]

*snip*
Claw Admiral - Highest rank in Tyrean military attainable through service, the rank of Paladin must be bestowed by the Tyrean ruler, the Toa.
*snip*

Toa? Hmmmm.... Bionicles?

[Stormkeeper]

I don't quite understand why the guys from the other faction aren't a) astounded to find humans out here wherever they are and b) more inclined to observe than attack. Don't they think they could incite hostilities with an unknown force through rash action?

They haven't cracked open the cockpits, so don't know that they're humans. They've only been recording the transmissions and battles so far. And question (b) will be answered soon enough.

Ghost Regiments? Shades of the Combine?

Toa? Hmmmm.... Bionicles?

Yep. I got influenced by multiple sources during the creation of this universe, so expect to see familiar terms.

[Stormkeeper]

   17 July 2372, Tyrean Homespace
   Typhon Station

   “Sir, we have four ships on approach vector to the Telos portal.” Commander Evans looked up from writing a report, pen still in hand. “Their identification?”he asked. “IFF reads as friendly. Warbook marks three as Kulwas class frigates. Last one is unidentified, but is transmitting the correct transponder codes.”  Evans put down the pen, and stood up. “Bring them on screen.” The ensign’s fingers ran across the console, and brought the trio of ships on screen.

   Three of them had the blocky shape of Kulwas frigates, but the fourthd had a double hull, and bristled with weapons. “Mother of God... That’s ... That’s the Black Wing” Evans breathed. The crew’s attention was immediately focused on the screen. The sword, axe and shield symbol on its hull positively identified the Nemesis as the legendary Black Wing. “Sir, the ... the Black Wing, Hive ship and its escorts, positively identified as the Scimitar, the Advent and the Retainer.” A low whistle escaped the ensign. “Four ships, all veterans of the Enskeleon Conflict. What are the odds.”

   “Typhon Station, this is the Black Wing. We’re under orders of the Toa to jump to the other side and assist the Dagger Fleet,” came the cool voice of Fang Admiral Avril Lemnos. “Ye..s. I mean, uh. Yes, sir. Clearance given,” Evans stammered. “Affirmative. Wish us luck.” The small fleet of ships formed up, then disappeared in a flash of blue.

**********

   19 July 2372, Epsilon Pegasi
   Mercenary Base

   Captain’s Log, July 17, 2372. It’s been four days since we captured the mercenary base. To our surprise, the sentients are humans. It seems that they too originate from Earth, but unlike our ancestors, the Migration must have gone well for them. We captured quite a number of mercenaries during the raid. Interrogation has revealed a wealth of information regarding this system, its governing body, and the events that transpired recently, and most importantly, details regarding a race called the Shivans.

   The ruling body is called the GTVA, the Galactic Terran Vasudan Alliance. It is an alliance between two races, the Terran and Vasudans.  The Alliance was formed at the end of the Terran-Vasudan war, a conflict that raged for 14 years. It is only the appearance of a third race, called the Shivans, in the Ross 128 system. Apparantly lead by a destroyer called the Lucifer; which had a sheath shielding system rendering it invulnerable to the GTVA’s then weapon systems. They attempted but failed to stop the Lucifer from destroying Vasuda Prime, homeworld of the Vasudans. The Lucifer was destroyed en-route to Earth, but the ‘subspace node’ was destroyed, cutting off contact with Earth. This is most distressing news. We had hoped to be able to glimsp Earth with our own eyes when we heard we were in Epsilon Pegasi. Following this conflict, the next 31 years were of relative peace, a period called the Reconstruction. Then came the NTF Rebellion. This rebellion lasted for a year, and following that, the Shivans returned, with a massive fleet of almost a hundred ships of a type the GTVA termed ‘Juggernaughts’. However, from the mercenaries description, it seems to be of an equal size to one of our Worldslayer superdreadnaughts. The Juggernaughts caused the Capella star to go supernova, and the GTVA was forced to cut off the nodes leading to Capella to save themselves. The Shivans appear to be a genocidal race with unmatched ferocity and power. Their motives are unknown; what little is known is classified and locked away in the GTVA’s intelligence arm, the GTVI. Upon consultation with Lieutenant Ping, Ensign Valerie and Immortal Alek, I have decided to begin investigating the Shivans and the incidents related to them. Logically, the first step would be to enter the Ross 128 system. Unfortunately, the system appears to be quarantined. Additional, the Ross 128 system is quite a distance from our current position, and I doubt our passage across GTVA space will go unnoticed for long.

   Morale is high across the fleet; the initial conflict with the mercenaries has shown that their systems are unable to track our combat frames effectively due to their manoeuvrability and speed. The ability of our Serpent fighters to move vertically up and down, as well as the strength of our shields, seems to be have caught the mercenaries off guard. As we have yet to engage in capital to capital combat, I cannot say how well we will fare against the GTVA ships, but I remain confident we will be able to avoid such engagements.

   Meanwhile, we have taken the mercenary base as our own, using it as a home base of sorts. I have launched a data probe for reinforcements and supplies in order to properly outfit the asteroid base for our uses. I am not sure if we will get a reply; until then, we have set up a sensor net across the asteroid field surrounding the base.
   Soon we plan our trek across GTVA space. Several mercenaries have expressed desire to assist us; I do not trust them, yet I have no choice but to utilize their knowledge of the system to reach the Ross 128 system relatively undamaged. Conflicts will be inevitable, but I hope to avoid as many of them as possible.

   This is Captain David Septim, signing off.

**********

   As David turned off the recording console, there was an urgent knock on the door. “Captain. We have a situation that requires your immediate attention on the bridge.” David stood up and replied, “I’m on my way.”

   On the bridge, David called out, “Sitrep.” Valerie stood up and said, "I have multiple GTVA signatures on approach vector for the asteroid base. The warbook has identified them as a single Hecate class, a Deimos class, and a pair of Leviathan cruisers. ID tags read as the GTD Reverend, the GTCv Warspite, and the GTCs Heisenberg, Corianth, Leveros.” A low whistle escaped a figure to his left. “What is it?” David asked the figure. Darrel laughed and said, “That’s quite a force they’re lining up for you. For the GTVA, that counts as a major strike force. Usually they just deploy the Reverend and be done with it, maybe using a cruiser to support a fighter strike.” He shook his head. “You people sure stirred up the hornet’s nest.” Valerie said, “Impossible. There was no way they could’ve detected us. And they might have been following the Black Hand. So they’re really here for you.” Darrel winced. “True. Or, they could have someone on the inside. SOC is very good at infiltrating organizations. I hear they even managed to get someone onto the Iceni itself during the NTF Rebellion.” Valerie paused. “That is a possibility,” she conceded. “What do we do, Captain?” Ping asked. David rubbed the bridge of his nose wearily. “There’s only one thing for us to do now.”

“We hit them.”

-----------------------------------------------
Terms:
The Black Wing - One of only three Nemesis supercarriers. The Black Wing rose to fame when it led the charge on the Enskeleon invasion force above Akapolis. The ship itself scored numerous kills, and the experienced crew combined with the tactical and strategic genius of Fang Admiral Lemnos means the Black Wing is a force to be reckoned with in any situation.

Nemesis supercarrier - An experimental CF carrier, only 3 test models, the Black Wing, Nightscar and Red Storm, were built. The production was discontinued for unknown reasons, the three carriers mothballed and stored at the Khyrisia base. During the Enskeleon Conflict, all three were quickly brought back into service, re-fitted and re-armed, and sent into the fray. The concentration of firepower represented by the Nemesis carriers turned the tide of many a battle, rendering each a legend unto itself.

Serpent fighters - Hybrid fighter bomber craft, they are both highly manoeuverable and heavily shielded. Sporting a trio of triple-linked phase cannons, they also have two banks of plasma torpedo launchers. Plasma torpedoes are next to useless against shields, but incredibly effective at burning through armour.

Enskeleon Conflict - A period spanning half a decade, the darkest days of the Tyrean Republic, when they were invaded by a race called the Enskeleons. The Enskeleons, in their first push, captured about half of the two dozen worlds comprising the Tyrean Republic. Although the Tyreans were technologically and militarily superior to their opponents, the Enskeleons were endless. The Enskeleons seemed to be invincible, overwhelming the Tyreans again and again. Though they destroyed thousands of Enskeleons vessels, the tide never ended. A strike team later discovered when Enskeleons 'died' the energy that they and their ships were compromised of returned to the Enskeleon mothership and reformed themselves anew. A desperate and risky strike was planned. A small team of commandos attacked and destroyed the mothership, but unfortunately perished in the raid. Once the mothership was destroyed, the Tyreans were able to rally and devestate the Enskeleons, effectively wiping out the entire race.

I added the explanation for the Enskelon Conflict, because I've used the term multiple times in passing. The Fri'glay are a blend of the Zerg and
Aliens, with a little samurai culture thrown in for good measure.

-retcon-
Removed the Hive ship and the Fri'glay. Because the Hive Ship is a flag ship, and it would be weird for a flagship to be out on its own in a possibly hostile territory.

[Stormkeeper]

   
          “Report,” Admiral Chekoff commanded. “Initial long range scans of the mercenary base reveal multiple returns that read as metallic sources, similar to wreckage. We have also identified some unique energy signatures that the computer identifies as anti-matter discharges. We are also not picking up communications of any sort from the vicinity of the base,” reported his tactical officer. Chekoff scratched his beard. “Could they be Shivans?” he asked. “It’s possible sir, although we have no idea why Shivans would attack a mercenary base,” the TO replied. Chekoff considered this in his head. “Dispatch fighters to investigate, and put all hands on stand-by for battle. Order the Leveros to assist the fighters in their investigation,” he ordered. “Which fighter squadron?” his TO asked. Chekoff speared the TO with a withering glance. “I care not, as long as they get the job done and do not embarrass me,” he said coldly. “Now leave me.” The tactical officer saluted and left the Admiral’s private quarters. Alone, Chekoff sat down and pulled out the hastily hidden bottle and glass.

**********

   
          “Hey boss. We gots fighters on an approach vector. They coverin’ one of dem cruisers too. Looks like a Fenrya,” said Lieutenant Dax over Thomas’s comm channel. “Fenris. That’s a Fenris, Dax.” That was Lieutenant Marklos, the fourth member in Thomas’ stick. “No, it’s a Leviathan. That’s what it is,” cut in Lieutenant Lin, his second in command. “Warbook tags it as a Fenris, people,” Thomas said. “We’re just here to scare them away. Take up your positions, keep your pectin shrouds on and watch it out there.”
   
          The four members of his stick split up, using the asteroids to cover their approach on the GTVA patrol. Piloting Combat Frames, his pilots were station onboard the Dagger, and were one of the two sticks the Dagger carried. Together with another two sticks on the Lothar, the sixteen of them were the only Combat Frames in the fleet. He piloted a modified Angel-class CF, while Marklos and Lin piloted Ormus-class CFs. Dax piloted the fleet’s sole Poseidon-class, which, with its heavy, long range weaponry, suited Dax just fine.
   
          The GTVA patrol consisted of a wing of Hercules IIs and two wings of Perseus fighters, in addition to the Fenris, identified as the Leveros. From what the mercenary Darrel had informed him, this would normally be considered a dangerous target to tackle for normal GTVA pilots. But he and his stick weren’t GTVA pilots, and were definitely not normal. Reaching up to a panel beside his command couch, he keyed in a series of tones, one high and one low, code for ‘In position’. All CFs had such a panel, using tones to spell out predefined words and phrases. Soon, the chimes for ‘In position’ reached him from his stick, and he sat in to await the Captain’s signal.
   
          The Perolynn and the Lewolynn were ‘sibling’ vessels. One was a Shield class corvette, and the other was a Lance class corvette. The two were one of several dozen pairs of Shield/Lance corvettes, designed to work in tandem. The Shield was a defensive corvette, with a powerful blanket shield generator and an inhibitor field generator. The inhibitor field not only prevented the escape of ships to hyperspace, but had the added side effect of blanketing and area and preventing traditional laser and radio communications.  The Lance, on the other hand, bristled with point defense weaponry and capital ship weaponry, but was somewhat slow, depending on the Shield to help it catch its targets. Situated in the asteroid field, behind the Lewolynn, the Perolynn took a moment to orientate itself, then activated the inhibitor field.
   
          The round nose of the Perolynn opened, revealing a massive rotating core, pulsing with black and white energy. Slowly, the core began rotating faster and faster, as the bolts of black and white energy began striking out. As the core became a blur, the bolts began crawling over the surface of the ship, stabbing out at space randomly. Soon, the ship was covered with crackling black and white bolts. As the field came online, spreading outwards, the crews switched over to pulse transmissions, slower, but capable of penetrating the inhibitor field’s energy.  While there were no other visible effects to be had, the W-space drive of the Lewolynn and Perolynn began shutting down. And soon, so did the subspace drives of the GTVA fighters and cruisers.

**********

   Captain Samuel frowned, then tapped is console. “Leveros, I’m reading a jump drive failure. My computer’s telling me it’s not there.” Only static greeted him. Samuel stabbed the comm button again. “Leveros? Leveros, do you copy?” More static. Cursing under his breath, he was about to open his throttle, when he caught sight of Gamma 2’s wing lights. They flashed repeatedly, spelling out a message in Morse code. “Jump drives failure. Communications failure.” Samuel felt a cold shiver of fear run down his spine. He toggled his own signal lights, flashing a reply. “Me too.”
“Ambush?”
“Unknown. Possible.”
“All fighters communications failure. All fighters jump drive failure.”
“Leveros?”
“Unknown. Possible.”
“Will confirm.” Samuel opened his throttle up and flew in front of the Leveros’ bridge, and began flashing his signal lights, indicating the situation, then broke off to the side to see the Leveros’ reply. Soon, flashes from the bridge spelled out a message. “Situation identical, recommend breaking off and returning to fleet.” Samuel pulled in front of the Leveros again, and flashed the signal for “Affirmative,” then began to turn back, when suddenly a shudder ran through his ship, and to his horror, the display panel turned red across the board, then went out. Another shiver of fear ran down his spine. He began flipping switches hoping to restore his power, but to no avail. Unstrapping himself, he looked through the cockpit, and saw that all the fighters were drifting in space, powerless. The Leveros too looked unpowered, the bright blue flame of its engines gone, and its lights all turned off.

          Samuel sat back, trying to figure what to do. Finally, he decided to do something bordering on insane. He searched his flight suit, until he found a simple looking knife. He unfolded one of the hidden attachments, and managed to pried open the panel next to his signal light toggle. “I hope to hell this works ... “he muttered to himself. He cut open the cables leading to the toggle, and then stripped the protective cables from them. He touched the two ends together tentatively. When nothing explosive happened, he touched them together again, peering at his signal lights. To his relief, the lights turned on. Quickly, he spelt out a message, hoping someone on the bridge noticed it. Someone must have, because he soon saw the forward airlock on the Leveros open, and a spacesuit exited the airlock, and boosted towards him, with a safety cable wrapped around himself. Samuel sighed with relief, then sat back in his command chair. For him, at least, the ordeal was over.

**********

          “These GTVA kids are either a thousand kinds o’ crazy, or amazingly brave,” observed Dax. “I’d say the last one, Dax. Which is more than I can say for you,” Lin replied. “Aww, c’mon now,Ms  Lin. I can be real brave, if the situation demands it,” Dax said. “Which would mean only if the situation involved you getting a date with a pretty girl,” Lin mused. “Not necessarily. I’d settle for you, Ms Lin,” Dax said sweetly. “Hey, Dax. I thought you only liked pretty girls. Now, I listen to that, and I look at Lin and, heh. I just don’t see the connection! I only see an inverse connection if there ever was one.” cut in Marklos. “Marklos, just wait till we get back to the Dagger. I’m gonna string you up from your own Ormus,” Lin growled. “Yep. She definitely wants me,” Marklos teased.

          Thomas chuckled as Lin threatened to deny Marklos any chance of Father’s Day. He turned back to the view screen, watching the crew of the cruiser pull in another pilot. When his stick had cut loose with their invisible disruptor beams, they had timed their attacks so that the cruiser would be able to rescue them all, albeit with increasing difficulty. Thomas also had his stick gently bump any fighter drifting away towards the cruiser, to prevent unnecessary loss of lives, while maintaining cover at the same time. Now, his stick was to observe and assist, but only if it was absolutely necessary.

          A series of blips indicated an arriving pulse message. He touched the console, opening it up. The message read:

WARNING, WARNING. PRIORITY ONE.
INCOMING SHIPS, PRESUMABLY HOSTILE. IDENTIFIED BY THE LOTHAR AS SHIVAN FIGHTERS, TYPE MARA. ENSURE SAFETY OF GTVA PERSONNEL. INHIBITOR FIELD DISENGAGED. LEWOLYNN AND PEROLYNN DISENGAGING. DAGGER INDICATES PRELIMINARY CONTACT WITH ONE(1) SHIVAN CRUISER, TYPE LILITH. DISENGAGE AT EARLIEST CONVINIENCE AND RETURN TO DAGGER.
PRIORITY ONE. WARNING, WARNING

----------------------------------------
Terms:

Angel Combat Frame : Close range specialist. Wields a single phase rifle as ranged weaponry. Main weaponry consists of two beam sabers, and two particle vibration blades. It also carries a pair of experimental 'slash sabers', essentially a grappling hook mated with beam edges. Thomas' Angel exchanges the phase rifle for a weapon bracket mounted on his left wrist, and carries a hybrid PV/beam blade, as well as C3 equipment. It is slightly heavier as a result, but the weapon bracket allows for multiple attachments depending on the situation.

Ormus Combat Frame: Primary main line combat frame, with modular armament. Normal armament includes a linear projectile rifle, a pair of waist mounted beam sabers, and a shoulder mounted, single shot rocket pod.

Poseidon Combat Frame: Long range fire support combat frame. Mounts no melee weaponry, but has a pair of laser cannons in storage packs on its wrists. Its primary weapon is a 325mm hypervelocity plasma cannon, and also mounts shoulder rocket pods. The Poseidon has no shield generators, but makes up for it with heavy armour.

Blanket shield: Creates a shield sphere, allowing nothing in, but allowing things out. The activation of this shield requires extensive amounts of energy, and Shield corvettes are immobilized while it is active.

Shield and Lance covettes: Sibling ships, these two classes are designed and built to work together, with the Shield providing support and the Lance keeping the Shield safe.

Slight retconning on the Thomas' Angel. Another retcon. On hindsight, I doubt a Rakshasa would threaten a Tyrean destroyer.

[Colonol Dekker]

I like the feel of teh Tyrean power. The black and white stuff. I'd imagine it to be like the bad guys from Ico on the PS2.
I wanna combat frame.