From the Begining New Chapter Added (9/12/06)

[Starhawk]

The other side of the Wall:

President Sajumi sipped his Terran whisky and shook his head with a grimmace, he had led the Anderman Empire and now was a senior partner the Mantisoran Mutual Defense League but today he felt like a child who had been given a gun and thrown into a warzone.
No one had expected those damned Icarans to spread so fast or be so furocious in battle, or so merciless, seven billion people were already dead and hundreds of millions were assumed lost, evacuation ships fled in all directions and unfortunately for them most of them had ended up either warping into the Icaran sector or had run into one of those light raiders of theirs and been destroyed.

Whole worlds were simply gone, it was as if there was a curtain in space, where the Icarans struck successfuly everything just went so quiet, and still no one knew what these Icarans wanted, for years they had remained in their own silent little sector of space until suddenly two Icaran battle fleets invaded the Andermanian empire from galactic North and Galactic south, it seemed so long ago now, by time the messenger sloops had arrived in the Capital city four entire star systems had vanished behind the shadow of Icaran war.

A gentle buzz jerked Sajumi's thoughts back to the present, his granddaughter was on one of those "gone" worlds and two of his three sons were in the Navy which was still trying to recover from their earlier defeats.
Sajumi tabbed a button on his desk that brought a security camera around to face the man at the door, it was General Harold Moore flanked by two Presidential guards and Sajumi felt his throat tighten as he tabbed another key that opened the door.

General Moore walked up to the other end of the desk and snapped a formal salute, the two presidential guards in their pale blue uniforms braced to attention as well but Sajumi waved them off and offered his hand to the General, who clasped firmly in return and smiled glumly.
"I'm afraid I don't come with good news Mister President." Moore's voice sounded haggared and weak but his eyes burned with the same strength and confidence that Sajumi had come to depend on.
"It seems there is very little of that to go around these days Harry, what is it this time?" Sajumi seated himself and offered a glass of whiskey to Moore who accepted gratefully.

"Well sir the confirmed allied casualty list has just gone up to 8 billion, it seems the Icarans dispatched on occupation force to bring an end to the rioting in the former Corian commonwealth and in the process took out four Mantisoran and one Sol Coalition world, the death tole was just over a billion souls, apparently they decided that their StateSec forces are inadequite for taking a planet." Moore downed the whiskey with a sour expression as he muttered the last sentence, from what allied intelligence sugjested the Icaran StateSec or SS was inadequite for taking over planetary targets but the thought of exterminating just over a billion people as if they were nothing of consequence made him sick.
"Were there any survivors Harry?" Sajumi kept his voice from sounding depressed somehow but when the General gave only a half nod Sajumi's heart sank.

"Yeah five light cruiser colony ships made it out with about five hundred million Mantisorans, mainly women and children of course, unfortunately they proceeded through the warp point that we now beleive leads to the Icaran staging system, possibly even one of their home systems, we know for sure two of the colony ships were destroyed because an Empire of Man dreadnought passed the word to the Mantis that they discovered the wreckage, then we lost contact with the dreadnought...." Harold Moore downed another glass of whiskey as he stood and began pacing.
"Sir.....the other three were captured by Icaran raiders, officially we don't know that for sure but those 5 colony ships were hanging pretty close together when they ran from the Icaran occupation fleet and if they were captured by raiders there is hope that at least some of them are still alive." The General suddenly looked years older then he actually was as he continue to pace.

"Anything else troubling you Harry?" Sajumi asked, half dreading the reply as the other man's back streigtened and he clasped his hands behind him.

"Mister President I'm afraid allied military losses are also increasing, we've lost 23 Sol Coalition cruisers, 8 Mantisoran super dreadnoughts, 3 EOM dreadnoughts plus one missing and presumed lost, and the entire 16th allied fleet which consisted of 5 Andermanian superdreadnoughts and a monitor.....that's not including the loss of over 20 allied swift colony ships.....taken into account that the Icaran Empire's population is larger then that of the entire Mantisoran Mutual Defense League and we are talking some bad numbers." The General just about collapsed onto a big sofa and covered his face with his hands in thought.

"It sounds like you say we're losing this war Harry, is it really that bad on the front?" Sajumi folded his hands and rested his elbows on his desk.

"Sir the only reason Icara hasn' totally destroyed Andermanian space is because we hurt them, not as bad as they've hurt the allies but they are operating hundreds of light years away from their shipyards and population centers, we can hold them at bay right now, prevent them from advancing and destroy their combat assets but in the end if they gain enough of a foothold here....we couldn't beat them, they have more warships and more experienced crews, not to mention the fact that those bastard Dark Star alliance people keep raiding Allied worlds which means we have to dispatch warships to retake or protect those worlds." The General's eyes watered as his voice cracked slightly, no military leader ever wanted to admit the possibility of defeat, especially not when it meant the fall of not only his nation but of an entire alliance of nations.

"The war is not all bad news sir, at least as far as the alliance goes, in some sick twisted way it's actually benefiting the other nations that we are the ones under attack so heavily...." Moore cocked an eyebrow at his President's baffled expression.
"It's simple sir, we, the Andermanians have lost five systems to the Icaran advance, the Earth Corps alliance has lost three and the Mantisorans have lost one, they've lost a lot of ships and a lot of people but nothing they haven't been able to rebuild in the past year." Harry frowned again for a moment and pulled out a peice of paper.
"Well because of the Icaran's focusing on us the Mantisoran Navy has taken over five Icaran occupied systems, and is in the process of taking out the Nian system which is only a small advance but still it's something, and they've promised to send battlefleets to aid our navy when they've finished of the Icaran presence down there." Moore winked as Sajumi shook his head with an almost amused chuckle

"Of Course when Mantisoran ground troops retake our fallen worlds they'll be more then happy to protect and add to their own territories." Sajumi shook his head again.

The two men talked for hours and when General Moore left both men had to figure out how to keep the Andermanian people from collapsing into a depressed and fatalistic mindset, even though neither of them saw any hope for their nation to win the war their only hope seemed to be that they may be able to keep the Icarans at bay for at least a few years more which would hopefully give the damned Mantisorans time to actually come to the aid of the rest of their "allies".

[Starhawk]

2435.9 Changes in Policy
Admiral Tyson Babcock woke in the middle of the night as the com unit howled an emergency code, he became alert almost instantly as he recognized the sound and rolled out of bed.
As he fastened his robe he tabbed the controls and a very concerned looking Commodore Carla Sanchez appeared on the screen.
“What is it Commodore?” Babcock asked, slightly startled by the disheveled appearance of the normally vein Commodore.
“Admiral somehow the Andermanians slipped a strike fleet past our pickets and attacked Ulda Frey XII, the planetary garrison was overwhelmed in a matter of hours and the governor barely managed to get a distress call off before the Anderman shock troops broke through his villa’s security forces.” her voice was almost as unkempt as her appearance but Babcock barely took note of it as his mind raced over where the enemy could have come from, of course the 3rd fleet was supposed to have been deployed months ago but the new Praetor had chosen to hold them in reserve “for the time being” which meant that the entire crusade had come to a blazing and inglorious halt, sure the 1st and 2nd fleets could drive into enemy space but they’d leave their newly conquered worlds open to being retaken as the Alliance forces came up from behind, the 3rd fleet and Fleet Admiral Ross were supposed to engage the enemy at another point, so that the other 2 fleets could advance but Praetor Rodrick had instead deployed a farce of a ramshackle fleet called “The 4th fleet” with nothing but shiploads of State Sec troopers to put down the rioting Coria systems…..and now Babcock had to pay for that, his exposed rear had just been attacked and now he had to turn around and strike back or let the entire system fall.
“Alright Carla, this could be a good thing, they were able to capture the planet so they didn’t glass it which means we can retake it, how big is the enemy fleet from our best assessments?” Babcock folded his arms in thought, intel flights had located a 95 ship fleet in Andermanian space, and Babcock just hoped to God that this wasn’t that fleet.
“Sir it looks like seventeen ships of the line, including two monitors as well as a single assault carrier.”
“Alright then the only thing that worries me are those monitors, they’re a lot bigger then anything we’ve got, but we can deal with this, order all of our repair and troop ships left behind, I don’t want to risk exposing them to any fire if it’s not necessary I’ll pass out the orders for the fleet to get moving in fifteen minutes.” The woman on the other end of the screen saluted, Babcock returned the salute and cut the circuit as he rushed to get his uniform and vac suit on.

Less then three hours later the 1st fleet, minus is transports, minesweepers and repair ships, was closing the range with the enemy strike group, to the amazement of Babcock and every other senior officer in the fleet the vastly outnumbered enemy force continued to close the range, everyone had expected them to turn about and flee yet whoever was in command of that fleet was determined to fight, apparently even if it meant his or her death as well as those of tens of thousands of others.
“Enemy fleet is going to get into firing position first Admiral.” the tactical officer of the watch announced as the main plot showed the enemy formation and his own fleet closing in on one another.
“Fighter launch, I count one zero six enemy star fighters.” Another voice sang out from the tactical section.
Babcock tensed, balling his hands into fists around the arm rests of his chair as the two fleets closed, there was really no tactics involved in an engagement like this it was going to be quick and bloody, with two monitors in their fleet the Andermanians would take out some of the Icaran warships but the return strike would be all it took to end the battle just because of the sheer weight of numbers the Icarans held.

The opening volley was devastating, the Andermanian monitors unleashed a broadside more powerful then that of any Icaran warship on scene and did so with devastating effect, two Icaran super dreadnoughts vanished in fire and wreckage as the broadsides sliced through their shields and armor like a sword through paper, the Wildcat was wrecked and drifting after the remaining guns of one of the monitors sliced through her with incredible ease reducing the massive once proud super dreadnought to a flaming hulk as she slowly drifted away.
The Icaran super dreadnought Typhoon vanished in fire as enemy capital ships unleashed hell into them, fortunately for the Icarans the Anderman navy lacked the “talisman” project’s technology and because of the extreme range they were firing from a great deal of their energy beams lashed out into space harmlessly.
Unfortunately for HMS Renown two enemy super dreadnoughts focused their fire on her, and though most of their shots missed her enough struck home to render her a nearly crippled hulk as energy ripped at her with terrible fury.
The super dreadnought Hades was less fortunate and exploded as her reactor core breached.

“Admiral we are in optimal firing range!” the tactical officer blurted as the Icaran battle fleet finally had their chance to strike back.
“Open Fire all ships, and make sure you kill those damned fighters!” Babcock spat the word fighters like it was a curse as he watched an enemy fighter squadron cripple HMS Dreadnought.

Space it’s self seemed to freeze for a moment as every Icaran starship in range fired their broadsides at the Anderman fleet, it was a moment that made the blood run cold as nearly a hundred energy beams all guided by “talisman” technology stabbed into the Anderman fleet, wreaking death and havoc among the Anderman with such ease that the previous moment of devastating fire brought down by the Anderman seemed like a mere spark of fire.
Not a single Anderman ship or fighter survived the multiple broadsides brought to bear upon them and in barely six minutes of actual fighting the entire battle had ended along with tens of thousands of lives.

The battle did not end there however as it took two Icaran regiments to retake Ulda Frey seven, and the losses on the ground added hundreds of Icaran dead and nearly three thousand Anderman dead to the total losses suffered.

The Imperial Palace:
Praetor Rodrick was nothing like his father, where his father was slow and methodical Rodrick was daring and quick to act, where his father had let the wars brew for decades Rodrick intended to finish them in ten years or less, though he knew that goal may be too much even under his more military oriented mind. And there had already been controversy, such as his holding the 3rd fleet back from the assault on the Andermanian alliance, and the Praetor himself knew that many said it was because he was afraid.

Whatever the rumormongers said he had held the 3rd fleet back not because he was afraid but because he had another plan for them, for too long his father had allowed worlds controlled by the enemy to remain free within the borders of the Empire, and now was the perfect time to bring an end to that and at the moment the only force available for this particular goal was the 3rd fleet. When the five swords storm trooper divisions were formed the 3rd fleet would be released to cleanse the Anderman territories with the 1st and 2nd fleets.

An older looking woman sat across the table from Rodrick, a grim expression upon her face as she read the newest report from the battle of Ulda Frey,
“We lost over thirty thousand soldiers my Praetor, and had that been a larger fleet the enemy had employed we may have lost thousands more, perhaps even the entire first fleet.” Grand Admiral Tanya Bright.
Rear Admiral Liza Adair sat next to Bright, her expression equally as grim yet she did not speak as she watched the young Praetor steeple his hands.
“How soon will the 3rd fleet be needed at the front Grand Admiral?” Praetor Rodrick spoke very softly and respectfully whenever he spoke to his advisors, and unlike his father they knew that his quiet respect was sincere, no matter what the previous Praetor’s positive sides were he had a serious lack of respect for his underlings unless they were born nobles, which very few military officers were. And though he spoke softly everyone who met Praetor Rodrick knew that he had an intellect and whit that almost spoke for it’s self.
“Highness to be honest I would have liked to deploy the 3rd fleet two months ago instead of just deploying individual superdread squadrons to reinforce the 1st and 2nd fleets. However I understand why you kept the 3rd fleet back, the storm troopers are finished with their training now and I think we should send them to take over the worlds in our space occupied by the enemy and dispatch the third fleet.” Bright looked over at Adair and quirked her eyebrow as if she expected the young woman to say something, however the intelligence officer simply glanced back at the Grand Admiral silently.

“Alright two months and I’ll deploy them to the front, I’ll let you and Miss Adair select the best target for their deployment and what system would be best to deploy them from.” Rodrick smiled a moment until a he heard a Liza Adair clear her throat politely.
“Praetor if I may, intelligence has already selected a system, though it may cause certain nobles to become irritated.” Adair finally spoke as she looked back and forth between the Grand Admiral and her Praetor.
“Really, why is that miss Adair?” Rodrick said pleasantly.
“The Swift system is the best place to deploy the 3rd fleet to it’s target for many reasons, yet certain nobles in said system, excluding of course the Spartans who consider it an honor, have spoken out against opening a third unclose able warp point into enemy space….especially in their system.” She rolled her eyes at the last statement yet said nothing further.
“They’ll get over it, is there anything else ladies?” Rodrick winked at Adair as she turned bright red, realizing she said more then she meant to on the “certain nobles’
“No Highness that’s all.” the two women said as they both stood and saluted, Rodrick stood and returned the salute, before walking them both to the door and bidding them fare well.

4th battle of Ulda Frey Losses:
HMS Lunar (SD) Destroyed
HMS Typhoon (SD) Destroyed
HMS Behemoth (SD) Destroyed
HMS Hades (SD) Destroyed
HMS Wildcat (SD) 98% destroyed
HMS Renown (SD) 52% destroyed
HMS Dreadnought (DN) 38% destroyed
Imperial Casualties: 32,300 dead
Andermanian Losses: 15 (SD)2(monitor) and 1 Assault Carrier total losses 104,300 dead, prisoners taken 6,100.

Total Imperial Losses during Andermanian Crusade: 135,647 dead, 300,958 wounded




[i]Imperial Wall of the Fallen :Anderman Crusade:"
HMS Anasazi
HMS Blackbird
HMS Catherine
HMS Cairo
HMS Hawkwing
HMS Raven
HMS Samson
HMS Sumter
HMS Tyrant
HMS Warden
HMS Lunar
HMS Typhoon
HMS Behemoth
HMS Hades
HMS Justin
2 Superdreadnoughts who’s names have been lost to history

[Starhawk]

Something Wicked this way Comes:
It had been three months since the Andermanian Presidency had declared Marshall law in order to keep the rioting under control, despite the best efforts of the presidency the recent defeats suffered by the Andermanian navy, and the allies in general were leaked to the public and an all out panic was taking place on many worlds, especially on the frontiers where more and more people began to vanish behind the ever advancing Icaran wall. The Sol Coalition, EOM and Mantisoran governments had far better control over their people as they were repoting the numberous victories along their frontiers, however what none of them seemed to realize was that there were still many worlds left alone with no protection deep behind Icaran lines, this is the story of one of those worlds called simply Torque IX by the Icaran military planners it's citizens referred to it as New India, a small world with only two hundred and seventeen million people it was totally defenseless, and would swiftly find it's self on the receiving end of an Imperial invasion.

On “New India” hundreds of thousands flocked to the space port hoping against hope that the Cruisers that were headed for the newly opened warp point would stop off and pick at least some of them up before they left, other citizens prayed in the temples for their gods to protect them while still others raced to the armory to equip themselves with whatever weapons and armor they could.
Word had come in just yesterday that the Icaran 3rd fleet had entered system and that an Admiral William Jefferson Ross was demanding that the Sol Coalition worlds surrender unconditionally. Of course what Ross hadn’t realized was that it had been nearly twenty years since these people had ever even seen a hint of the Solarin government and unlike Icaran worlds which often went decades without seeing so much as an Imperial warship, the desperate citizens of the Torque worlds had been totally isolated from any signs of their government and any food stuffs and goods from the outside galaxy, effectively the citizens of Torque had broken down into their own planetary governments, each independent and some actively hostile towards one another. This state of affairs made surrender practically impossible, because even if one world surrendered it did not mean their neighbors did.
Unfortunately for Tarra Somenev and her family New India was the first world in system that could be reached by the 3rd fleet, Tarra had just celebrated her fourteenth birthday two days ago, and had just blown out the candles on her cake when the new warp point opened. Their first hopes were that a Sol coalition transport fleet would come through and give them food, but the civilian cutters which had approached the warp point were either boarded or destroyed as the Icaran war fleet came through like a hurricane.

That was two days ago now and Tarra’s parents had grabbed her and her six year old brother and run out the door with the other panicking masses and now they were all huddled together at the spaceport waiting, hoping and praying for the six Sol cruisers in system to pull at least some of them out before the Icarans arrived.
Tarra’s little brother was crying and huddled with her parents, Tarra too was huddled with her parents but she felt that she had to act brave for the sake of her brother and parents, she wanted to cry and throw her arms around her parents in fear but she held the tears back and kept from embracing her parents, though she did stay close both because of the cold and the freaks that would do anything to get aboard an evac ship.
“Mommy, Daddy why are they coming here, what did we do?” Jordan asked tearfully of his parents as his little six year old hand grabbed on to his favorite stuffed dog.
“I don’t know honey, they are just very bad people, they don’t want us to be happy and they want to take what we have.” His mother’s voice sounded brave but her eyes were tearful and her hands trembled uncontrollably as she watched her two children as if they would vanish any moment.
Tarra’s father smiled bravely at her when she looked up but he too was obviously terrified, Jordan’s soft voice spoke again, this time oddly optimistic sounding.
“Maybe if I give them Nara they’ll be happy, maybe they are just sad.” His little chin perked up and he smiled bravely as he looked up at his parents, they smiled back and nodded but Tarra only felt her heart sink as she realized no one knew what the Icarans were really like, there had been rumors that any world that fell into their hands was turned into a slave, some rumors had it that the Icarans weren’t even really human….not really but that they were aliens that ate human flesh.
Tarra was about to speak but a loud cry went up from a hundred people at once and the masses of people massed at the spaceport looked up into the royal blue night sky through the dome to see hundreds of lights streaking through the sky like a meteor shower.
“Oh Vishnu protect us they’re here!” Someone screamed, and almost on que tens of thousands of people began moving at once all, trying to get out of the space port and make it to the shelters, Tarra felt powerful hands grab her by the shoulders and screamed in protest until she realized that her family had been shoved away from her in the massive surge of movement.
“Tarra it’s me relax I’m not going to hurt you!” a voice screamed as she sank her teeth into his hand, the young girl whirled around to see Jason Hadrada clutching his bleeding hand and glaring at her, he was a boy from her school that had always joked with her about one day taking a trip around the galaxy with her.
“I’m sorry Jason….where’s my family!” She raised her voice so she could be heard over the throngs of screaming people.
“They were pushed toward the southern shelters, my family was shoved toward the east while I was trying to find medicine for my father, come on we’ve got to get out of here before we’re crushed to death by these idiots!” He grabbed her arm with his non-bloody hand and surprised her again with his strength as he guided her through the crowds, shoving his way through people that refused to yield, Tarra felt another pair of strong hands grab her other arm and screamed as she saw a big man with a strange look in his eyes, Jason whirled along her body with surprising speed and the strange looking man went down in a scream as Jason’s fist crushed his nose causing a geyser of blood to erupt and a nauseating crunch.
Without even pausing Jason began pulling her along again, until the air was suddenly split with an inhuman wail that caused hundreds of people to freeze in place, including Jason and Tarra, the two managed to turn around in time to see a small group of Icaran dropships come screaming in overhead, loudspeakers blaring in several languages
“This is the Icaran Royal Army, you are ordered to surrender, you can not win, surrender and live or fight and die.” the message repeated again even as Jason and Tarra ran for the shelters.
Another ear splitting noise followed moments later, but this time it was no loudspeaker, somewhere the dome had been breached by weapons fire and that meant even now Icaran dropships would be pouring into the city.
“Jason I see my family!” Tarra howled as she caught a glimpse of her father carrying her baby brother with one arm and guiding her mother with the other. Jason didn’t even turn around to look at her as he turned towards her family and started running even faster trying desperately to catch up and not be crushed by the stampeding people.
What seemed an eternity later Jason and Tarra managed to reach her parents and as one group they continued for the nearest shelter.
Meanwhile gunfire and artillery could be heard throughout the city as the Icaran soldiers advanced in a seemingly unstoppable wave, washing aside any planetary militiamen that tried to resist with incredible ease.

Tarra’s family and Jason were almost to the shelter when a deafening whistle split the air, someone screamed and a barely a second later a massive explosion cut into the crowd of people behind Tarra’s family, the shockwave pushed her down and she saw Jason go down with a spray of blood from his forehead. Tarra’s whole body ached and she heard the sounds of militia gunfire and some sort of strange whining weapons that she’d never heard before, the sounds of fighting were drawing closer and she expected at any second to hear another whistle and explosion that would end her life.
After a moment of panic the young girl forced herself to her feet and forced her eyes to focus again, she saw her mother picking up her little brother and her father heading for her, she shook her head and managed to squeak an “I’m alright.” she turned toward Jason and saw him lying very still, blood still gushing from an open cut in his forehead, her father quickly noted where her gaze had fallen and ran over to the young boy and gently picked him up to carry him to the shelter.

As Tarra’s family and a few others managed to claw their way toward the shelter the young girl had to force herself not to look behind her as the awful smell of burned flesh, and the groaning or screaming of the dying battered her senses.
When the shelter doors closed the young girl and her family felt as if they were entering a tomb, and to her sickening horror Tarra turned briefly to see the mangled blood soaked concrete where just moments ago hundreds of people had been, including some people that were just her age, the shock overwhelmed her and she felt her head swim as everything went dark and she passed into merciful blackness.

It was the sound of a breaching charge that woke Tarra, followed by the sound of screaming and crying as a second breaching charge blew the doors of the shelter apart, and figures in dark green armor carrying some sort of rifle Tarra didn’t recognize charged in with amazing speed.
Some of the startled inhabitants of the shelter stood up only to be clubbed down by a rifle butt, or dropped by a kick, an old man next to Tarra stood up and screamed something she didn’t quite understand but his scream was cut short by a gurgling choke as one of the Icaran energy weapons spat a green ball of light straight through the old man’s chest.
Tarra screamed as the body fell over her, her mother threw her body over Jordan and her dad threw himself over her mother, as her own body was protected by the dead old man lying on top of her.
“Everyone cease resistance or we will use deadly force!” one of the armored figures shouted.
“Alright alright for Vishnu’s sake don’t kill us please!”
“We won’t fight, I swear on my wife’s head we won’t fight!” people shouted and prostrated themselves before the Icaran soldiers.
Tarra felt a surge of terror as she saw two soldiers walk over to her and her family, but to her surprise one of them gently lifted the old man’s body off of her and pulled out what appeared to be some kind of medical device.
“Hold still young miss I just want to make sure your unhurt.” The soft masculine voice surprised her and she tried to rise only to have an armored hand gently push her back down.
“I’m not hurt please let me see my family.” the young girl felt tears swelling in her eyes and her tone was pleading and sobbing, the Icaran soldier nodded slightly and helped her to her feet.
The other soldier was standing over her family, trying to convince them to get off their son before they crushed him, Tarra ran past the Icaran and hugged her parents “It’s okay Ma’ dad please get up before you hurt Jordan.” she said tears flowing freely as she spoke.
After a moment of shock her parents did as the Icarans and their daughter pleaded and got off the squirming little six year old and rose to their feet.
“Name, age, and size of family.” The one soldier said as the man that had tried to check Tarra out knelt down to check out her little brother for any injuries.
Tarra absently heard her mother and father speaking as she desperately tried to find Jason Hadrada, the boy that had saved her life and reunited her with her family, when she saw him being carried off in a litter by two Icaran soldiers she broke down again and collapsed to her knees crying.
A female voice came from behind her “Hey your going to be alright young miss, no one here will hurt you.” Tarra turned and felt an odd sense of shock when she saw a girl that looked about sixteen standing over her in an Icaran uniform that had an emblem of a spaceship with an eagle clutching a wreath with a lion in it upon her left breast.
“Come on now you’ll be okay.” the girl said again and knelt down beside Tarra, somehow the young New Indian expected the other girl to turn into some kind of monster and devour her any moment now but instead the Icaran placed a gentle gloved hand on her shoulder and smiled solemnly.
“What are you going to do to us?” Tarra managed to get out through her shock and fear even though she dreaded the response.
“Well that’s up to high command, but we’ve been ordered to annex you folks into the Icaran empire, congratulations young miss your now an Icaran.” the navy girl answered jovially before standing and hurrying off to some other task.
Tarra walked over to her family as the two Icaran soldiers turned to walk away and stopped dead in her tracks as her little brother spoke
“Excuse me mister….”he blurted, causing the two Icarans to pause and turn around, young Jordan walked over cautiously yet bravely and looked up at the two soldiers bravely and reached out, his favorite stuffed dog Nara in his hands.
“If you want Nara you can have him…”his little voice was brave and he managed a ghost of a smile as one of the Icaran soldiers took the stuffed dog and knelt to be “face to face” with the young boy, even though the soldier’s face was not visible through the breather mask and visor.
“I tell you what young man, we aren’t allowed to keep pets on our ships but you can watch him for me okay.” the soldier handed Nara back gently and patted Jordan on his head before standing up to leave.
“What about food and water!” someone shouted and one of the Icaran Navy personnel stepped up and raised a mic to his mouth to amplify his voice over the crowds of crying and some shouting and angry people.
“You are all going to receive ninety day rations after that your should be responsible for yourselves as you have been for the past few years, you are now Icaran citizens and will be treated as such, a noble will be sent to rule over you in the name of the Praetor and you will be treated well, do not fight us and you will be treated as citizens, fight us and we’ll have no choice but to drop SS brigades on your world and have them enforce a Martial Law.” The Naval officer turned toward the shelter doors and nodded to another man wearing a Naval uniform.
“You will be processed and organized by our soldiers, after that you will be led out of the shelter to the city square for indoctrination before being permitted to return to your homes, those of you whom were wounded or are suffering illness will be taken to ai stations, please remain calm and orderly and you’ll be back home in a matter of hours.” this time the Naval officer spoke softly as if to fellow countrymen instead of conquered people, after that he began answering some of the questions that people shouted at him, but Tarra didn’t much care as she ran over to her parents and younger brother to hug them.

The Icaran occupation lasted only two weeks and the soldiers of the 3rd fleet were replaced by those of the Icaran “Home Fleet” and their storm trooper regiments, during that two week occupation Tarra found out that she and her family should be glad they did not make it onto the cruisers that were evacuating the system, apparently the fools had tried to engage Icaran starships at the other end of the warp point and were destroyed along with twenty four million people. Though she was surprised to admit it Tarra had also found that she liked these Icarans, she had gotten in touch with that girl from the shelter and found out her name was Jenna and that she was just a year older then Tarra, she had talked to Jenna a lot over that week and found that she and the other young girl had a lot in common.
Jason Hadrada had recovered from his injuries and been returned to school and his family the day after his injuries, his family and Tarras got together for dinner a few times after his recovery and spent hours talking and laughing with one another.
Tarra was a little depressed when she found out that by Icaran law ordinary citizens were not permitted space travel unless specifically ordered by the Noble, or unless enlisted in the Merchant fleet but after talking to Jenna for the two weeks she and Jason had decided they would join the Icaran navy when they were old enough and oddly though there was some bitterness and resentment on New India over the Icaran conquest and the four thousand people that had died for the most part the New Indian populace felt that not much in their lives had changed, after all they had been an independent state with no real allegiances for a long time and in some ways the Icaran conquest simply meant more access to food and interstellar trade once again.
Tarra did find the schooling system of the Icarans hard to get used to and figured it would still take her a few more months to adapt much less get into the physical condition that was required to be a “proper” Icaran student and that neural education net of theirs was just baffling to the New Indians and even though Icaran teachers were left behind to help the native teachers figure the technology out it would still take a while for the children to get used to doing “12 hours” of school in less then four hours of real time.
Though Tarra did hate one thing about the Icaran society, the uniforms that she had to wear to school were definitely not fashionable and even though Tarra was considered a beautiful girl by New Indian standards she still liked getting to wear makeup and pretty clothing, but no longer would she be able to wear any of that at school, and in fact she was stunned to hear that not many Icaran common women wore makeup at all much less every day.
The occupation was not all pleasant however as there were a lot of protesters and people who tried to start riots and free themselves from the “Icaran oppressors” though what they actually thought they would accomplish was beyond Tarra or her family, the Icaran empire was hundreds of worlds with hundreds of billions of people and had conquered their world in a single day and it seemed obvious even to a fourteen year old girl that even if these idiots drove the Icarans off New India they would be back and retake the world in a heartbeat, assuming of course they didn’t destroy the colony outright like she heard they had done to others who had rebelled or caused to many casualties to Icaran forces.
Even the young people at Tarra’s school knew that nothing in the Torque system would stop the march of Icara and that any who resisted would just end up being crushed, it was only a matter of time before the entire Torque system was Icara’s and no one on New India who had survived the battle and seen the speed and brutal efficiency of the Icarans doubted it.


OT: Hey all I am proud to announce that the SE story has grown so large I've created a second MS word file to hold it so that i don't have the incredible lag factor caused by over 200 pages of text.

[Strategia_In_Ultima]

SH, I know the Icarans aren't a straight Nazi port, but still:



.....fight us and we’ll have no choice but to drop SS brigades on your world and have them enforce a Martial Law.




No offence, but.....



And if I read all this correctly you've switched sides and are playing the Andermanians (http://invirtuo.cc/phpwiki/index.php/Imperial%20Ego) now?

[Starhawk]

LOL no I've been telling the story from different POVs throughout the story and when it's going rather slow from an Icaran storypoint i tell it from the guys on the receiving end of the conquest, as well as the fact that these were Sol Coalition citizens anyway.

And I've said it before and I'll say it again SS=State Security, alternate history, and sooo far in the future they'd probobly would have forgotten about SS from Nazi era anyway.....and not ALL SS were the prison guard or death squad units anyway some (can't remember what they were called at the moment) were just elite multi-national soldiers.

And besides that why are letters turned evil because of some asswipes who were did evil things, I mean people still name their kids Adolf in Germany and folks still call the Airforce Luftwafa (SP?) the simple fact that bad guys used lettering naming does not mean that it has to always be trademarked to them.
If anything you can look at it as taking the letter S back for someone who's no evil http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

[Starhawk]

2436.4 The Alliance Fractures:
It was a bright sunny day on Icara when the shuttles carrying the Christiran and ECA ambassadors landed at the space port, a thousand army soldiers and two State Security brigades had been turned out to escort the two men and their entourages to the Imperial Palace.
The two ambassadors were loaded onto separate APCs and placed in the center of an armored brigade as the procession of troops and vehicles proceeded down the miles of streets from the spaceport.

The trip its self took only thirty minutes but once the APCs and their escorts had reached the sprawling palace grounds an armored column under the control of the Praetor’s own regiment took control of the APCs and their passengers and after thorough inspection continued on until they reached the very gates of the Palace.

Praetor Rodrick the second sat calmly at his desk as he watched the holo display on his desk as images of the two Ambassadors as they were led to separate waiting rooms, a moment later a quiet knock on the door pulled Rodrick’s attention away from the display. The young Praetor looked up with a smile as his assistant; Lieutenant Sally Reece walked in with a folder under one arm. She was a few years older then he and was absolutely stunning to the young man, even though he never saw her in anything but the drab green and gray army uniform. She smiled back and handed her Praetor the folder.
“The two ambassadors are here sir, they say they will only speak with you however, these are their files that the Shadow daggers were able to pull, would you like me to summarize highness?” she said sweetly.
“Sure Sally.” He said as he opened the folder and flipped casually through the flexis
“We believe the EAC has become disheartened with the rest of the alliance that we previously thought was dominated by the Andermanians, apparently it’s actually a Mantisoran alliance and though the Mantys have the largest military force of their alliance they have not provided aid for any of their fellow members against us. The ECA has suffered crushing losses against the 2nd fleet and apparently has had enough, they are probably here to try and negotiate a treaty, however the Intelligence service believes we should settle for nothing less then absolute surrender.” Sally smiled again as she saw the smirk on Rodrick’s face, the Shadow Dagger agents that had gotten into the Mantisoran Alliance members had suspected that the Earth Corps wouldn’t last much longer, their economy was collapsing because of the burden placed upon it by the military requirements of the allies.

“Okay so that’s what he’s here for what about the Christiran Republican, we haven’t had much contact with them at all and we know they aren’t members of the Manty alliance.” Rodrick asked as he tossed the ECA fleci aside.
“Sir the Mantisorans have been taking advantage of their war against us to annex territories within Christiran space, the Republic’s own military has been caving in under the pressure, odds are they’re coming here to seek Protectorate status, again the Shadow daggers believe we should force them into a complete absorption into the Empire thus bringing two Star Nations into the Empire without a shot being fired.
Reece briefed the Praetor on each of the ambassadors that was waiting in the palace and exactly what the Empire held over their respective nations, by the end of the day both the ECA and the Christiran Republic were forced to sign “treaties” that amounted to nothing less then absolute assimilation by and surrender to the Icaran Empire. That day over a hundred billion people and over a hundred new starships were added to the Empire.

[rdouglass]

The story is coming along nicely IMO. I like the characters and the development of them so far (although I've kinda' lost track of some of the earlier characters.)

[Starhawk]

"Where are they Now"

Okay Rdouglas here's where the "early" main characters are:

Sandra Fowler (killed in battle along with her entire SD division) I was actually very said to let her go but I promised myself that if a main character's ship is destroyed then I wouldn't always have them survive heroically.

William Jefferson Ross: He's in command of the 3rd fleet which combined with the 1st and 2nd fleets has gone on the offensive against the Andermanian Alliance, His fleet actually will have a chapter about a recent battle, for that matter so will the 1st and 2nd as since i've stepped up the offensives once again I've had quite a few battles.

Yu Lin Pe/Ross: She's currently in command of the home fleet which is tasked with retaking the worlds posessed by other nations within the Icaran Empire's borders, she's also in command of the 3 Stormtrooper regiments assigned to the Home Fleet.

Praetor Leonidas: He's dead, killed in a nova in the Sadalmelek system while on an inspection tour of the conquered provinces. His son Rodrick is now in charge of the Empire.

Tyson Babcoock, still in command of 1st fleet you'll be seeing him again very soon as the 1st fleet had a space battle that i'm going to post up.

[rdouglass]

Thanks for the update.


Praetor Leonidas: He's dead, killed in a nova in the Sadalmelek system while on an inspection tour of the conquered provinces. His son Rodrick is now in charge of the Empire.




Yay! I like Rodrick better. I'm very interested in whether he's gonna' be a good guy or bad guy. At this point he could go either way IMO. I like that; makes for an interesting character IMO. The ol' human emotional conflict and all that stuff.

Thanks for some good reads.

[Starhawk]

2436.9 Bloodshed in Starlight
The orders from the Praetorian palace had arrived just two days ago and Admiral Patrick Raley, commander 2nd fleet hadn’t slept since, the orders were clear, the 1st 2nd and 3rd fleets were to retake the offensive and begin invading even further into Andermanian territory.
The 2nd fleet was currently holding position in Gamma Omicron, where Raley was supposed to rendezvous with the three dozen or so former ECA superdreadnougts that were currently undergoing refit, Raley found it strange that their first station had been in H’Athor system, until the orders came down to leave, which was oddly perfect because less then a week after the 2nd fleet had left the system it’s sun mysteriously went nova and turned the entire system into a nebulae, destroying 86 Andermanian ships and killing over a billion former ECA citizens in the process.
Raley suspected that the “incident’ was a shadowdagger operation of some sort but one did not investigate such matters if one wanted to remain in the light of day, and besides that at least whatever happened his fleet and his people had been spared from it.
An ear piercing shriek jerked Admiral Raley out of his chain of thoughts and caused him to nearly fall flat on his butt as his chair swung out from under him as he jerked to his feet and ran for the com panel.
A worried face appeared on the screen a moment later and Raley’s heart leapt into his throat as he caught a glimpse of the tactical plot behind the young woman on the screen.
“Admiral please come to the bridge, we have an Andermanian battlefleet in system, we count only 15 but we have strong reason to suspect cloaked warships in the mix, either that or they have the biggest balls of any Andermanian fleet I’ve ever seen sir.” The young woman blushed slightly as she realized she had said the latter statement aloud.
“Alright Ensign thank you I’ll be right there, and your damned right that if they don’t have a cloaked contingent with them they’ve got balls the size of New Icara.” Raley grinned as he switched off the com and went to don his vacsuit.

A few minutes later Patrick Raley emerged into the controlled chaos of a Warship’s bridge as it’s crew prepared for battle, Raley noticed with pride that though the bridge was chaotic the disciplined silence of an Imperial Navy crew.
His fleet and the enemy’s were on a constant acceleration towards one another which tended to confirm his suspicions that the enemy had some cloaked warships with them, no commander, not even an Andermanian would charge a fleet that was over five times their own size unless of course they were suicidal or had some vastly superior technology which was unlikely.
The two fleets continued closing in on one another for over six hours before the Andermanians finally tipped their hat.
“I have 24 ships decloaking dead ahead Admiral!” The chief tactical officer sang out as the master plot lit up with 24 new objects, all armed super dreadnoughts….so it was a trap after all, Raley thought to himself as he watched the range marker tick down.
“Estimated time to Weapons range tactical?” Raley said calmly as he returned to his command chair and adjusted his vac suit.
“Three zero seconds sir, but they’re going to be moving slow enough by that point to fire their weapons while we still finish our deceleration maneuvers.” The tactical officer said grimly, in this era of I-Laser weaponry getting the first shot of in a battle could easily mean the difference between life and death, for at least some of his people today was going to be their last and it was going to end before they were even in firing position, somehow Raley felt as if he had failed his entire fleet, because if everyone of those ships had I-Lasers then at least 15 of his ships would be destroyed.
The range quickly dropped and space erupted in a light show as the entire Andermanian task force opened fire at once, HMS Ferret and HMS Reverence were torn apart almost immediately though Reverence got lucky and managed to eject a handful of escape pods from her wrecked hull before what was left of her power plant went critical and turned the once proud starship to nothing but a cloud of debris.
“Admiral Imperius is breaking apart, she’s ejecting life pods, Zander as well.” The com officer’s voice was almost robotic in its professionalism but Raley could also hear the bitter tone as he watched yet another light code wink out, this time it was Grasshopper followed swiftly by Force of Arms and Alora even with this grotesque display unfolding on his screen Patrick Raley could not help but feel his spirits rise as he realized that the majority of the enemy’s warships were equipped with nothing more powerful then old style Anti-proton beams, by their power it looked like it was 12th generation but they were still no where near as deadly as I-Lasers would have proven.
“Admiral we are in firing position all gunnery crews have targets.” The tactical officer sang out.
“All guns, all commands open fire, I repeat open fire!” Raley had to force himself not to scream the order as he could finally bring an end to this intolerable abuse his ships were receiving, unfortunately it was too late for Hispannia II as her hull was burned and torn by anti-proton beams, her sole remaining engine put the last ounce of energy that she had into accelerating the battered ship away from the battle.
The Imperial counter fire was far deadlier for both weight of guns and the fact that the entire Imperial 2nd fleet was I-Laser armed, in short order the Andermanian battle line was turned into expanding spheres of Plasma and wreckage as the I-lasers tore through hull and shield like a wolf through a sheep’s hide. Seven Andermanian combat superdreadnoughts survived long enough to score a second salvo against the Icarans and Katana vanished in a ball of fire as Andermanian I-lasers rent her hull, Enchanter was set adrift as her own hull was shredded by Anti-proton beams, over four thousand of her crew died in the fires and explosions that turned her into little more then a drifting hulk.
The remaining ships scored damaging blows against [/i]California, Hathor,[/i] and Trafalgar as well but nothing as severe as had happened to their comrades.
Raley felt an emotion he had not been aware of before, even as he watched so many of his ships devastated by enemy fire, he felt a swell of absolute hatred, of loathing and contempt for the Andermanian crews and to his shame he felt a near glee as he saw the last Andermanian combat superdreadnought vanish in fire and death. Eight superdreadnoughts remained but they were mere minesweepers and the Icaran guns butchered them like cattle in a matter of moments.
An hour after the engagement that would go down as the First Battle of Gamma Omicron, Patrick Raley knelt silently by his bed and prayed to God for the strength to go on and for God’s forgiveness, Raley had fought in the tale end of the Phong crusades and had seen the bloodshed and devastation wrought by his beloved Empire, and he had known even then that he like all soldiers was a butcher, trained to lead young men and women into battle to kill other young men and women, the Phong were different they were Xenos, not worth tears, but the Andermanians though genetically engineered and considered “Mutants” by the State Church were human and nearly ten billion of them and their allies had died already, yet still they fought on. Raley hoped God would forgive him and mankind for the butchery and slaughter they brought upon one another, and though Raley would never doubt his Empire’s divine right to rule mankind he felt that he would go to his grave with the fear that he had done wrong and that when he met his God he would be branded a murder for eternity.
As the Commander of the 2nd fleet finished his prayer and rose once again to his feet he felt the weight lift from his shoulders ever so slightly, but he also felt his hatred of the Andermanians pass like a cool breeze and found it grudgingly replaced by a pseudo respect, for the Andermanians did what any Icaran would do, they fought tooth and nail, never giving up even when death was the only option, then Raley felt a dread of sorts come over him, Icara found in the Anderman and Mantisorans something they had not encountered in centuries, enemies that would not yield until they’re very nation was broken and dead in front of them, and that meant that this war was just heating up.


First Battle of Gamma Omicron 2nd fleet engages and destroys Andermanian fleet of 31 SDs and 8 Battleships:

Icaran Casualty List:
HMS Ferret (SD) Destroyed (6,100 dead)
HMS Alora (SD) Destroyed (6,100 dead)
HMS Reverence (SD) Destroyed (5,932 dead)
HMS Zander (SD) Destroyed (5,812 dead)
HMS Force of Arms (SD) Destroyed (6,100 dead)
HMS Grasshopper (SD) Destroyed (6,100 dead)
HMS Imperius (SD) Destroyed (5,210 dead)
HMS Katana (SD) Destroyed (6,000 dead)
HMS Trafalgar (SD) 59% damage (1,500 dead)
HMS California (SD) 30% damage (800 dead)
HMS Hathor (SD) 67% damage (2,300 dead)
HMS Hispania II (SD) 89% damage (5,140 dead)
HMS Enchanter (SD) 84% damage (4,560 dead)
Total Casualties: 61,654 dead
Overall Andermanian Crusade Casualties: 197,301 dead

The Remorhaz Front:
Admiral Tyson Babcock and the 1st fleet had begun the invasion of the Cyrilla system and since then they had conquered four worlds, now reduced to three as a Remorhaz squadron bombarded the one from orbit, completely destroying it and in the process killing 26 million of their own citizens.
The Remorhaz People’s Republic had been encountered a few years ago but had proven again and again that they were not worth contact on an official basis, their “Republic” was small and economically bankrupt not to mention technologically backwards as proven by the fleet they had just used to exterminate their own people.
“Sir I count eleven destroyers, three light cruisers, a single super dreadnought and three assault carriers.” The tactical officer reported confidently as she checked her sensor readings once again.
“Excellent Lieutenant then this should prove little more then target practice for our troops.” Babcock folded his hands behind his back and smiled at his crew, the RPR would prove little more then an annoyance to his fleet, and Icara would easily prevail in an engagement with such a two bit nation.

The battle began and ended in a single trade of broadsides, the Remorhaz fleet fired their missiles and broke wide to open the range, the single Super dreadnought in their midst closed in on an Imperial Superdreadnought and used her null space cannons to cripple the Icaran, killing two thousand of her crew in the process, the Remorhazian did not live long enough to celebrate her hit however as the Bear turned it’s wroth upon her.
The Superior destroyed four of the enemy destroyers in a single broadside as did another super dreadnought, the dreadnought Neptune scored her kill on one of the three assault carriers and moments later the last Remorhaz ship had been destroyed, the last traces of their fleet the dozens of escape pods trying to flee the wreckage of the carriers, there were no survivors from the other ships.

Total Andermanian Crusade Losses for Icaran Military: 199,301 dead

The Mantis Front
Admiral William Jefferson Ross watched from the deck of his flagship as Corellian VIII fell to his fleet, his invasion of Mantisoran space had begun with Corellian X and now led to VIII his ground forces had taken the only action of the battles so far as there had not even been a single Mantis warship to engage the 3rd fleet on it’s march to conquest.
Even as Ross acknowledged yet another conquest under his belt in the name o the Icaran Empire he could not help but realized how much he missed his beloved wife, Lin who was even now hundreds of light years away leading the home fleet on a mission of conquest of it’s own against the worlds within the Empire that were held by other nations. It had been nearly a year since he had seen her and he still remembered their last passionate night with a fire in his eye, but for all it’s passion it had still been nearly a year since he had seen Lin in person, held her in his arms and told her he loved her in person. Letters were just not enough and he longed for the day when the wars were all over and he could take Lin back to Icara and start a family with her. His spirits rose as he realized that this conquest brought him one step closer to that goal, and he silently swore that h would not rest until the Andermanian Alliance was crushed beneath Icaran jackboots, he would fight the wars alone if that’s what it took to see his beloved wife again.

[Starhawk]

It's time for another Footnote in Icaran stuff!!

Attached is a file containing the 3 Icaran Navy Duty uniforms, army uniforms are pretty much the same except the tunic is green with black trim and the pants are a kacky color.
Marines wear similar uniforms, except for the trim being black and the pants being a midnight blue instead of black.

[Starhawk]

2437.2 What Duty Requires:
Star Admiral William Ross, commander of one of three “subjugation fleets” currently deployed by the ever expanding Icaran Empire had fast risen to the epic status of “Champion of the People” as his achievements grew, he commanded the first interstellar warship/explorer in Imperial history and had since taken part in dozens of battles and three Crusades against both Xeno and Human as the decades passed, and now the Empire expected him to win for them yet another conquest, this time it was the Corellian system which fell under the control of the powerful Mantis Star Kingdom.
What the people did not generally know about William Ross was that his conquests and epic victories cost him dearly on a personal level, he had seen thousands of men and women under his command or in his fleets die, he had seen the death of his Wife’s father and the serious injury of her brother that put him planet side three years ago. He was a Royal Navy officer, and by his very nature was a warrior, but being a man who commanded hundreds of thousands of soldiers, spacers, and marines had finally given him the chance to really affect the outcome of the Andermanian Crusade which had engulfed practically the entire galaxy and when that war ended his greatest desire was not glory, promotion or power, it was simply to return to Lin and raise children.
At the moment however Ross sat in the command chair of an Imperial superdreadnought named Damocles in command of a subjugation fleet that was even now bearing down on Corellian II, he had seen two other worlds fall before him with little resistance and Ross hoped and prayed that this time would be like the last, though for some reason he could not explain his gut kept cramping.
Ross watched the planet for a long moment before turning to his com officer and nodding for her to bring up the pre-selected channel.
“4th 6th and 7th divisions are to close on target and lay down any suppression fire required, 3rd division is to hold in reserve, all other formations are to join the main battle line and stay outside of weapons range, 1st Kyra regiment will be tasked with taking this planet…..Godspeed and good luck.” Ross had discussed the invasion plans in depth with his division commanders for the last two days and he knew that he could count on each and everyone of them to carry out their duties without the need for the jibber some commanders would have added.

Time seemed to pass agonizingly slowly as the three SD divisions and 1st Kyra regimental transport approached their target, minutes seemed like hours and Ross felt his stomach cramping with a nervous feeling he had never felt before, something just didn’t seem right and no matter how he tried to shake it the feeling of fear remained and after eight minutes of the assault groups approach not even an enemy fighter had been launched which simply increased his nerves for some reason.
“OH MOTHER OF GOD!” someone blurted and Ross jerked back to the present in time to hear the sound of a gloved hand smacking against someone’s face
“Silence!” the officer bellowed and for a moment Ross was baffled until he looked up at the main display screen and saw a stomach turning sight.
Out of seemingly nowhere dozens of massive purple beams lashed out at the strike force and like some beast of legend they touched upon the entire lead division, the 4th with a fury that seemed impossible…..and indeed would have been impossible for any ship mounted weapons…..as the six lead ships of the strike force exploded and shredded under the fire of the massive batteries comprehension swiftly dawned on Ross.
“Planetary weapons platforms!” he blurted, louder then he had intended, and looked around his bridge to see a stunned crew, and one young enlisted man holding the side of his face where a big hand shaped red mark where the chief tactical officer had smacked him.
“Com, order the reserve division forward, main line of battle is to get underway as well, pass on orders for the strike group to fire on planetary targets as necessary, I don’t care if they have to turn that planet to cinders.” Ross turned to the chief tactical officer and glared a moment, showing his displeasure at the officer’s reaction to the young man’s moment of indiscretion, Ross remembered his first real battle and remembered that he blurted some things he would rather not have, and he knew more then anyone that professionalism must remain, but not at the price of humiliating a man who simply spoke aloud what they were all thinking.
“Advanced forces are returning fire on planetary targets Admiral, reserve division and main battle line are closing in as well but I don’t think we’ll make it before the remaining platforms fire again.” Tactical officer Ramirez said quietly as she read off the numbers on her small tactical plot.
The screens showed a relay from the flagship of the 7th division as the strike group’s surviving ships opened fire on the planet’s surface, trying to carve through the massive shield generators guarding the weapons platforms, the camera suddenly shook and the screen went purple as the planetary weapons fired once again, Cain was visible in the camera’s view as she broke in half like a toy ship as the beams cut into her armored hull with incredible ease. Another flash on screen and a shattered gun turret could be seen drifting into the camera’s range followed by other wreckage.
The 3rd division had finally closed the range and added their own firepower to that of the four survivors from the strike group, moments later the entire main battle line opened fire and completely destroyed the planetary defense platforms as well a several Mantis army bases.
Ross sat back in his command chair, the fleet had obeyed its orders to the letter the second the military bases and weapon platforms were destroyed they had ceased fire but as he sat in and watched the now helpless world just hovering there, it had been there since the dawn of time and yet it was so fragile to the weapons man had created, and on his whim Ross could order the surface of that beautiful blue jewel into a wasteland of death and wreckage, for the first time in his life Ross felt tempted to order just that as he saw the massive casualty list coming in from his strike group, the men and women he had sent in to their deaths…..the Star Admiral clenched his hands into fists and turned to his com officer, fighting everything his heart was screaming at him to do “Order the 1st Kyra to drop immediately take out any remaining military units on the planet, and execute all local government officials.” Ross ordered harshly.

The battle of Corellian II had been a success and was broadcast throughout the empire as a dramatic victory in the name of the glorious Icaran Empire, yet to Ross it seemed a bitter failure, as the casualty list confirmed his fears, two and 1/3 superdreadnought divisions had been totally destroyed, and because of the sheer power and shock cased by the planetary weapons batteries there hadn’t been a single survivor from the destroyed ships, 85,400 young men and women died in the fifteen minutes that the “battle” had lasted, the single greatest military loss of life in decades and the single greatest loss of ships since the Phong crusade.
That night Star Admiral William Ross went to his quarters and wept as he wrote the general condolence letters that would be relayed to the thousands of families who had lost children, parents, and spouses this bloody day, the computer would fill in the names of the dead and mail them to the appropriate places and no doubt the fourteen ships lost this day would be added to the Imperial wall of the fallen and there would likely be memorial ceremonies on the lost ship’s christening worlds, but still nothing would make up for the loss the families, friends and lovers of the fallen would feel.

Casualty List:
HMS Sao Paulo (SD) (6,100 dead)
HMS Perganum (SD) (6,100 dead)
HMS Cain (SD) (6,100 Dead)
HMS Advanced Carnage (SD) (6,100 dead)
HMS Belenus (SD) (6,100 dead)
HMS Gryphon (SD) (6,100 dead)
HMS Songbird (SD) (6,100 dead)
HMS Mt Mckinley (SD) (6,100 dead)
HMS Santa Maria (SD) (6,100 dead)
HMS Hunter (SD) (6,100 dead)
HMS Lanokota (SD) (6,100 dead)
HMS Kilcranke (SD) (6,100 dead)
HMS Delowese (SD) (6,100 dead)
HMS Nemesis (SD) (6,100 dead)
Total Casualties: 85,400
Andermanian Crusade Casualties: 282,701

[Starhawk]

Story above

The Imperial wall of the Fallen:
HMS Anasazi
HMS Blackbird
HMS Catherine
HMS Cairo
HMS Hawkwing
HMS Raven
HMS Samson
HMS Sumter
HMS Tyrant
HMS Warden
HMS Lunar
HMS Typhoon
HMS Behemoth
HMS Hades
HMS Justin
HMS Katana
HMS Imperius
HMS Grasshopper
HMS Force of Arms
HMS Zander
HMS Reverence
HMS Alora
HMS Ferret
HMS Nemesis
HMS Sao Paulo
HMS Perganum
HMS Cain
HMS Advanced Carnage
HMS Belenus
HMS Gryphon
HMS Songbird
HMS Mt Mckinley
HMS Santa Maria
HMS Hunter
HMS Lanokota
HMS Kilcranke
HMS Delowese
HMS Halsey
2 SDs who's names have been lost to history

[Starhawk]

2438.0 The Difficult Decisions
Admiral William Ross of the 3rd subjugation fleet sat in disgrace on his bridge, no one could have expected the Mantis navy to mobilize over a hundred ships so quickly to counter his operations in Corellian but they had, and in a matter of a month had destroyed all three of the other worlds that his fleet had fought for and killed over three hundred million of their own citizens in order to deny them to the Empire.
It had been decided by the Imperial command that the 3rd fleet had failed its mission and that there was no point continuing operations in that region of space, no one could blame him for that but still somehow Ross felt the failure like a ton of bricks on his back, not only had he suffered the heaviest casualties in any single engagement in decades but now he had to make even that costly victory nothing more then ash as he ordered his fleet for the warp point into the Risa system where the warp point back to Lacerta would be opened for his fleet to get out, and then it would be closed for decades at least so that the fabric of space in Lacerta would be safe.
“GFG sails set, warp jump in five seconds, system transition in ten….all hands brace for jump.” The ship’s sailing master’s voice echoed throughout the corridors of the Damocles as the swirling blue warp point grew on the screen, of course the warp point was actually invisible in real space but thanks to Icaran technology the ship’s sensors bombarded the warp point with particles that made it visible to the ship’s visual sensors which then translated the data into a simulated image of what a warp point “looked like”.
For a moment time seemed to freeze as the ship’s sails pulled her into the warp point, then the typical blueish green flash that followed initial pull, all of these Ross knew well but then as the ship returned to N-Space something that hadn’t happened to him in years happened……jump shock, pure bred jump shock which rendered several of his bridge crew, most of whom hadn’t even been born when jump shock was still “just a part of the job” into vomiting quivering masses on the deck.
“What the hell happened Sailing master!?” Ross bellowed as the nausea subsided
“I don’t know sir a massive shockwave followed us through the warp point….” The sick looking sailing master whimpered as he clutched his stomach for a moment as it recovered from the initial shock.
“Sir I’m getting hails from all over the fleet, they all are reporting similar cases of jump shock and a massive energy reading that the sensors recorded during warp jump.” The com officer- a young Spartan man- didn’t even look flustered by the jump shock as he listened intently to the messages pouring in from the 3rd fleet’s startled officers.
“Send a probe back through that warp point before we proceed on to Lacerta.” Ross kept his voice calm and level as he watched his crew quickly bounce back into their duties, and others cleaning up the decks with embarrassed looks. Ross hid a sigh, modern warships never bothered giving out the jump shock injections that he had during his days aboard the old destroyer Enterprise because the newest GFGs rendered jump shock a thing of the past, now the most you got was a slight quirk in your stomach as the ship returned to normal space.
“Admiral! Something’s wrong sir, the probe isn’t showing anything in Corellian anymore, no sun, no planets, nothing!” The tactical officer looked up from her console, clearly shocked by the readings the probe was giving back.
Ross felt his heart race for a moment as he suddenly realized what that shockwave must have been “Run a scan for debris, large asteroid fields that weren’t there before and also….run a reading for thorodon particles.”
A moment passed before the tactical officer looked up from her sensors again “Large amounts of asteroids in system, positive readings for thorodon particles.”
“What are thorodon particles Admiral?” Captain Palmer asked from across the bridge as she put aside a flexi that one of her officers had handed her.
“Thorodon particles, captain, are used in the construction of Anderman Nova bombs, our own nova weaponry leaves behind a nebulae because of the materials used, however the Anderman use thorodon particles in order to completely destroy the system and leave behind nothing but asteroids where once large planets had been.” Ross said grimly as he looked around his bridge and saw the stunned looks on his crew’s face, they had escaped a sun going nova by barely a minute and more then that the fact that the Anderman would kill over five billion Mantis citizens, not to mention destroy 75 warships in the process seemed utterly unbelievable, and it’s implications would likely be felt for years to come.

Birth of a Fleet:
The 5th fleet formation ceremony had been a grand and spectacular affair with dozens of nobles and thousands of commoners and naval personnel turned out to watch the spectacle as the fleet’s massive warships did a flyby in formation. The 5th fleet had officially been formed under Admiral Maria White however in truth for the time being her fleet had no infantry regiments and less then 60 warships, the reason they were formed this soon however was simple, the Riots in Zeerzinbroduch had to end and so the 5th fleet would escort a large transport with 2,000 State Security soldiers in system to put down the rioters.
In reality the 5th fleet would not see combat for at least a year as it must wait for the two infantry regiments currently assigned to their flag to finish training. But once they did the 5th subjugation fleet would join the battle against the Anderman and their allies and sweep aside a path to glory for the Icaran Empire!

Return of a Hero
Admiral Lady Yu Lin Ross and her Home Fleet returned to the Norvor system as Heroes of the Empire, they had pacified Torque with minimal losses to both sides and now waited in orbit of Icara for their next assignment, which would come in a matter of months and which they all knew would be the subjugation of the remaining enemy colonies within the Empire, as well as pacifying the Xeno populace that was still rioting and holding “pro-equality” demonstrations.

The Choices of Poltiics:
Praetor Rodrick the second sat alone in his massive bedroom sipping at a glass of brandy and reading over yet another report, his heart wasn’t in it this time however as he had just given the two hardest orders of his life, he had been forced to order the 3rd fleet into what many would consider disgrace by leaving their post and just this morning he had declared the entire former Christirian republic “expendable” along with the estimated 30 billion people who lived on those worlds. The navy had been ordered not to send any reinforcements or evacuation transports and all communications had been ordered restricted to military and government officials to ensure no riots ensued because of the orders….and all because there were simply not enough warships and troops to devote to the Anderman alliance and to protect the remaining worlds of the former republic.
However Rodrick had ordered the construction of Defender class starbases in orbit of whatever worlds could sustain them, so that they’d have at least some defense against the Mantis fleet that had been taking out former republic worlds one by one.

[Hunpecked]

Several points:

(1) The Icaran Navy uniforms remind me of the British Army circa 1880 (at least as depicted in the two "Zulu" movies).

(2) Icaran losses to long-range fire from enemy weapons platforms: I was impressed by the extra range of planet-based weapons in the stock game until I saw them in action against ships with full defense modifiers (ECM, stealth and scattering armor, ship and fleet training, plus cultural modifiers and additional ship experience). Unless the enemy had the Talisman (not obvious from the story) I wouldn't have expected the platforms to be effective at much more than the max range of the ship-based weapons.

(3) Enemy ships firing first: As mentioned in the "Unknown Critic" thread, in the story it can be awkward to follow the game exactly, e.g. with regard to the game's sequential move/fire mechanics. For example, a sequential game battle can be described as a simultaneous exchange of fire, which saves the author from concocting dubious reasons why one fleet is in range and the other is not, when both mount similar weapons. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

(4) Letters: Presumably the Icaran term "letters" refers to something like "full sensory 3D holovision programs" or such, but to us in the 21st Century the term conjures archaic images of paper-based text (Paper? What's that?). It might be better to translate the Icaran term into something that sounds more high-tech to Starhawk's primitive audience. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

(5) I like the Andermanians even less than the Icarans. I hope they get what's coming to them! Grrrrr! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[Starhawk]

1. Yep it's suppsoed to remind you of an old school uniform, as I said Icarans are very "traditionalist" in their ways. And yes I know some folks say Red doesn't look right on a naval uniform but have you seen a 25th century navy? Especially since blue is so cliche

2. Heh yeah these weapons platforms are in devnull which gives them extra range apparently, plus they are massive mounts with Sensors maxed out....and yes all of the losses stated sustained to long range fire I actually lost to long range fire.

3. Okay good point from now on it's either simultaniou or totally explained.

4. Well due to the fact that there are no FTL communications the Icarans do use a system of mail whith "letters" which are either in flexi pad form with text (like a true letter) or in video form on a data cube. As I said though I figured the every day tech of Icara would bore people to death lol.

[Starhawk]

2438.1 Fire and Starlight
Rear Admiral Forseti had been given command of the Artemis flight of 6 heavy raiders plus the 43rd SD division to investigate rumors of a Sol Coalition convoy that had just engaged and destroyed a scouting party. This was Forseti’s first command and his nerves were gnawing at him like lynch rats, Vice Admiral White had recommended him for this command just before she had been given command of the 5th fleet a month ago.
“Admiral we’re approaching the warp point, the enemy fleet should be mid system by now so it’ll take us at least a week to catch up, assuming the warships stick to the transports.” Captain Rheinhard Merkatz said as he stepped away from the master plot. The Artemis flight had been reinforced by the Superdreadnought division for this operation because it was decided that the additional muscle might be require to tackle the convoy’s SD escorts.
“Thank you Captain, tell Commodore Saunders that I’ll want her super dreads to form a spearhead in front of the Artemis and the other raiders, let’s try to keep their firepower and armor in front so we can get rid of those escorts as quickly as possible, that’ll allow us and the other raiders to snag those transports and the few hundred million people they are transporting.” Forseti grinned at Merkatz as he thought of the prize money he and his crews would receive for capturing three large transports.
“Approaching warp jump in five……four……three…..two……one…..all hands brace for jump!” The helmsman called out an instant before the lurch that signaled Warp transition.

A moment after transition Forseti flinched as a brilliant green flash lit the screen and suddenly alarms and klaxons howled as if a beast screaming with rage, it took Forseti a moment to regain his senses but when the shock wore off the Admiral saw in his screens two massive Sol Coalition SDs right in front of him and their guns were firing.
“Admiral unknown weapons they’re passing right through our shields!!” the tactical officer shouted over the klaxons and alarms as the screens lit up again this time with the glow of an explosion that could only be caused by a large ship exploding.
The momentary advantage that the Solars had was enough to inflict massive damage on the Icarans, the Decimator had been destroyed in a matter of seconds as null space cannons and then heavy AP weapons cut her apart four of the five raiders had suffered heavy damage and the Sauron was shot to pieces.
Fortunately Commodore Saunders quickly regrouped her division’s survivors and began trading fire with the Solar warships, Forseti’s raiders attempted to provide gunnery support as well but most of them had their sensors knocked apart only Artemis herself scored any hits and her massive I-lasers quickly reduced one of the 6 enemy SDs to wreckage and then disabled two of the three transports with ease.
Beams crisscrossed between the two groups of warships and as another volley of null enemy AP beams sliced into the shields of the Icarans a devastating volley of I-lasers crossed the void and lashed out at the Sol warships crippling one and blowing the rest apart as the Snipe finally managed to score hits with her cannons despite the wrecked sensors.
The battle was soon at an end as the last Sol transport was crippled by the Artemis, the three transports and a single enemy SD were quickly captured by the marines of the 4 raiders who had not been totally disabled however the Icaran victory had come at a high cost, thanks to the initial shock that the Sol forces had on their side the Icarans had almost been destroyed and had it not been for the commander of the Super dreadnoughts reforming so quickly all 12 Icaran ships may have been totally destroyed, as it was however the casualties were still significant, Decimator had been destroyed with no survivors and the Starlighter had lost half her crew and her entire marine compliment, the other ships could claim little better unfortunately and the entire Artemis flight was forced to remain stationary until the 3rd fleet arrived with repair ships and transferred the 5 surviving Superdreadnoughts to Star Admiral Ross’ command.

Casualties:
HMS Decimator Destroyed (6,100 dead)
HMS Imperial (SM) 42% (1,300 dead)
HMS Snipe (SM) 46% (4,100 dead)
HMS Triumphant (SM) 46% (3,800 dead)
HMS Starlighter (SM) 57% (5,000 dead)
HMS Sauron (SD) 42% (2,300 dead)
Total Casualties: 22,600 dead
Total Crusade Casualties: 311,471

[Starhawk]

New Orders:
With Praetor Rodrick’s much more aggressive policies towards the Anderman Alliance the military quickly found it’s self being reassigned to more aggressive positions, the 3rd fleet had been ordered to take the Duroon and Palpatine system’s as well as secure the Eridani Gamma system.
The 1st fleet had been ordered to continue their push into the Cyrilla system and then further into the crumbling Remorhaz Republic and engage their navy as much as possible to destroy their military forces.
The 2nd and 5th fleets were quickly returning to military readiness and when they did their orders would soon come in to begin their own invasions of enemy space while the 4th fleet continued to move it’s SS transports from rioting world to rioting world.

The Goddess Terra:
Admiral Lady Yu Lin Ross of the Home Fleet had been leading her troops against the various upstarts and single planet “governments” that had been cropping up around the worlds of the Sol Coalition and Andermanian alliance that had been cut off from their home Empires for decades. She had heard of one such small “government” on Trammis IX except that State Intelligence believed that this particular world was run by a maniac who called himself the “Prophet of Terra” whatever that meant. Her fleet was currently approaching drop range and Lin was sipping calmly at a cup of coffee as she continued to scroll through the data files compiled on this so called “Prophet” his real name was Johan Von Kepler of the Sol Coalition and the son of a rich merchant to boot, he had come to Trammis on a business trip when the warp points were cut off twenty years ago and had apparently gone off the deep end.
“Admiral Lady we are being hailed by a group calling it’s self the Conclave....they want to talk to the CO of the approaching infidel forces.” The com officer shrugged as she passed on the message from one of her com techs.
Lin felt a slight giggle rise in her throat as she heard herself and her fleet called the “infidel forces”. “Alright put them on coms let’s see what these people have to say.” She straightened her uniform as she stood and faced the main screen.
An elderly looking man-which hinted at a medically primitive culture or a very very old man indeed- wearing a hood came on the screen, he had a thick beard and hid his eyes behind the shadows of the long brown robe.
“I am Father Ezikiel, representative of the Prophet of the Goddess Terra, we are under her divine protection and do not fear you infidels, however if you would turn your backs on your heathen sinful empire and join with us as the fighting arm of her divine will we are always willing to embrace those who seek the embrace of Terra.”
Lin rolled her eyes and forced her self not to sound rude as she replied “Father Ezekiel is it?” the man nodded “Alright listen I have the Icaran Home Fleet and three regiments of stormtroopers under my command, now can begin the invasion of your world at any time, however if you are willing to surrender peacefully and allow yourselves to be incorporated into the Empire then we will not be forced to use violence.”
“Be silent infidel, you who would serve the forces of Satan and betray the Goddess even when her prophet so generously offers you a place within his flock, we will not yield to your heathen ways or be lured by the sinful pride of your empire, now leave this world before you all die!” the screen went black and Lin turned to her com officer.
“Son of a ***** cut you off ma’am.” The com officer shook her head and frowned.
“Well I guess we infidels are just going to have to pay them a little visit, deploy the Star Wolves regiment, tell the Deathwing to stay in reserve in case these fanatics put up more resistance then normal.” Lin snorted irritably as she watched the screen switch views from the planet to the Sword of Vengeance’s launch bays as the hundreds of dropships raced towards their landing zones on the surface/

[three hours later]:
“Ma’am these bastards are insane they’re charging our tanks with freaking suicide bombs even though most of them don’t even get close to us and the ones that do just bounce off the shields……they’re throwing their damn babies strapped with grenades at our infantrymen because those *******s in their “conclave” are telling them their children will be embraced by “terra” and taken to the holy land.” The Stormtrooper commander looked haggard and worn as he made his report.
Lin’s clenched her fists in rage, Icarans had in the past made great sacrifices including suicide runs during the long march but never…..never would they simply throw their children at enemies because some insane bastards told them too.
“Harris…..” she paused and cleared her throat “Harris I want you to find each and every member of the conclave, I want you to find their “prophet” and I want you to bring them to me…..alive if possible dead if it’s too much of a risk for your soldiers.” Her eyes burned with hate as she turned away from the Stormtrooper.
“Yes ma’am, we’ll do what we can, so far I’ve only had injured men they don’t have much in the way of weapons that can kill a man in Stormtrooper armor but we still have to fight back against their “milita” units” Harris said softly as he turned away from his own com screen before cutting the channel.
“Bring that bastard to me” Lin thought to herself as she went back to reading the most recent reports, which had pretty much confirmed what Harris had already told her, these followers of the “Goddess Terra” were insane or brainwashed to such extents that boggled the mind to think about.

The invasion and securing of the “conclave” took two days to complete for the stormtroopers as the fanatical cultists had exhausted thousands of lives in a futile attempt to throw the “infidel demons” off their precious world. And as she had promised Lady Yu Lin had all seven members of the conclave, and their “prophet’ lined up on her bridge with a camera crew hidden from view and a squad of marines standing behind them. She had the cult leaders tied up and on their knees in front of her as she walked calmly from her command chair to where they were kneeling.
“Gentlemen, you told me that if I resisted your Goddess would destroy me and my fleet, apparently you were mistaken…..”she took a step forward and paused when she noticed the “Prophet” was uttering something under his breath.
“Care to share what you have to say heir von Kepler?” she said coldly, the man’s expression went pale with shock.
“You know who I am?” he said arrogantly as his lackeys looked around at one another.
“Oh yes, and I also know your no prophet your just a merchant’s prissy little brat who decided to play rich man and take over a mining colony for his daddy…..but how you became a so called Prophet is beyond me.”
“I am the chosen Prophet of the Goddess of Terra you *****! How dare you speak to me in such a…..” his sentence was cut off with a grunt as a gloved hand smashed into his face tearing his lip open with a spray of blood.
Lin calmly wiped her bloodied glove on the robes of one of the conclave members and then drew herself back up to her full height, and smiled almost sweetly.
“I am Admiral Lady Yu Lin Ross of His Majesty’s Royal Navy, I am the commander of the home fleet that just conquered you and your pathetic rabble of scum….” She paused a moment, her smile growing even colder and more venomous “I…..heir Von Kepler am your executioner!” she calmly drew her dart pistol and leveled it at the head of one of the conclave members and waited just long enough for the stormtroopers to get out of the way before she pulled the trigger turning the man’s head into splinters in a spray of blood and gore, quickly bringing an end to the life of “Father Ezekial”/
She turned her gun to face the so called prophet but a squeal of terror caused her to pause for a moment as the squirming screaming “prophet” looked in her direction.
“Stop! for the love of God stop! I have information that can be useful to you just don’t kill me!” his voice was shaky and panicky and utterly without dignity.
“Oh, really?” Lin said coldly pointing her weapon towards the deck.
“I know where Earth is…..I can give you the coordinates please just don’t kill me!” the other members of the conclave looked on in shocked silence as their “prophet” squealed and begged like a child.
Lin turned to one of the stormtroopers and whispered “Get the information from him, then shoot him in the head and dump him out of an airlock.” After the trooper nodded she smiled again at the men in front of her, waited for the stormtrooper to drag the “prophet” away by his collar and for the other stormtroopers to line back up behind the members of the “conclave”.
“You gentlemen are found guilty of crimes against humanity, murder and incitement to murder children, conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism, and Heresy, your sentence is death to be carried out immediately….may your souls burn in hell for what you’ve done.” She nodded at the stormtroopers lined up behind the men and suppressed a shiver as the troopers took efficient aim and in sequence squeezed the firing studs on their rifles....

Kepler joined his conclave less then four hours later after he passed on the location of the “sol” system to the Icarans which was where old Terra was “supposed” to be though if it were the true location of Earth or not was just a myth these days after so much information had been lost hundreds of years ago. His stormtrooper guard followed his orders and as soon as the information was loaded into the flagship’s computer a headless corpse drifted clear of an airlock.

[El_Phil]

OK I've gotta be honest. A bit shaky. The prophet either actually believes or is a conman. If he actually believes he wouldn't of crumbled at the end, if he's a conman he wouldn't of squared up against an entire fleet.

Or that's how I read it. If your fanatical enough to do all the things he did then the collapse at the end just doesn't seem any good. Of course he'd talk eventually, eveyone does, but to crack just like that... Lets it down at the end.

Still that aside another pair of good chapters. Nice to see your still writing.

[Starhawk]

To be honest the end was a little rushed because I was being nagg about "GET OFF THE COMPUTER!" so I typed out the end and printed it before I had to quit, I probobly should have left it for today to finish though.....that would have allowed for a better end.

I wanted it to end more with the impression that the "Prophet" is a conman but his "conclave" are a bunch of insanely true beleivers and that's why THEY not HE squared off against an entire battle fleet and tried to convert them.

[El_Phil]

But it's the prophet who talks to the fleet. So that doesn't hang together.

So here's a slight re-write: Fleet talks to random old man who isn't the prophet. The prophet doesn't speak to infidel say. Goes as normal. When they finally capture the entire conclave in a hideaway in the mountains you have the prophet breaking down then as he's had nothing to do with it, it's the insane true believers acting in his name who did this.

So he told them to stop and talk, but they took it as "proof that even the godess' chosen one has doubt, but the godess will overcome" or some such rubbish. That might hang together better. Just off the top of my head

[Starhawk]

I think you misread, actually the fleet talks to "Father Ezekiel" not the prophet....:) she just knows that the Prophet is actually Von Kepler who was the son of a rich merchant from the Sol coalition.....I may do a rewrite and repost some time however http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif to make it end better....hehe.

[El_Phil]

It still doesn't hang together, although I'll admit I did miss-read abit (whoops http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif).

I am impressed at people who can do re-writes, I know I can't. I am too much of a 'Write it and never again' type of person. I think it's a habit I picked up at Uni, too many report subjects I never wanted to even look at again.

[Hunpecked]

El_Phil writes:

"The prophet either actually believes or is a conman. If he actually believes he wouldn't of crumbled at the end, if he's a conman he wouldn't of squared up against an entire fleet."

That was my first thought: I would have expected the fanatical Prophet to commit suicide (e.g. Hitler) or refuse to cooperate (e.g. many Al Qaeda prisoners).

On the other hand, some Al Qaeda leaders (presumably they're the most dedicated) have reportedly cooperated, and with much less "persuasion" than Yu Lin used. If the Prophet truly believed his Goddess would annihilate the invaders, his faith must have been completely shattered when he was brought before the very much alive "infidel" leader.

Of course in many scifi stories the futuristic societies have advanced interrogation techniques (e.g. panties on the head, super truth serum, brainwipes, etc.) that make resistance futile. As I recall from one of Starhawk's "side notes" on Icaran culture, criminals are brainwiped and given a law-abiding personality. If the Prophet and his cronies could be reprogrammed in a timely maner, the Icarans' new puppets could order an immediate end to resistance.

[El_Phil]

Not really If those Al Qaeda leaders actually believed they were going to paradise for killing infidels death would hold no fear => no levarage => No talking.

Lots of resistance should have crumbled after seeing what they thought collapsed. Generally religous fanatics are the last to accept the cause is lost. Of course after much sensory depravation/interrogation/torture (delete as appropriate) they will talk. But just a death threat should mean nothing to someone who believes they are going to paradise for doing xxxx's will.

[Starhawk]

Hunpecked is right in the sense that they would have brainwiped him prior to getting the information and then executing him which again would have been added in there if I had not been in a rush.

As far as the "death threat" it wasn't quite a threat as she blew a guys head off right in front of the "Prophet" just for the hell of it by as far as any of those men could tell, they probobly wouldn't realize that she had done it to the man she had spoken too on the com.

Also the resistance would have quickly claimed a the majority of the truely "faithful" and the brainwashed could undergo a minor version of a brainwipe to clear their porgramming and allow them their senses back.
The remaining faithful would probobly have at least tried to commit suicide or have given up when they realized their "conclave" and their "prophet" were all executed aboard the flagship of the so called "Infidel" fleet.

As it comes ot Al Quaeda/Religious Nut Leaders as many have said Bin Laden does not truely have faith in that he is doing God's work he makes a hell of a lot of money out of his terrorism and as far as he is concerned is running a buisness that just happens to have a higher then normal body count.
Some times those who do not truely have faith in a cult they created or a religion they are claiming certainly know how to exploit those people who do truely have faith.

I was trying to get the point that the so called "Prophet" was exploiting an entire world's fears about being alone in the universe after they were totally cut off from their Empire's people without so much as a skiff to go around, and that he was pretty much figuring that the Icarans wouldn't dare attack a world that throw their own children strapped with bombs at your soldiers.
He didn't really take into account the fact that Icarans have that attitude of "You do us wrong and we are going to come in and break your head open." unlike certain US presidents who have the attitude of "Oh no a bomb lets run away from the whole damn country" LOL.

[Hunpecked]

El_Phil writes:

"If those Al Qaeda leaders actually believed they were going to paradise for killing infidels death would hold no fear => no levarage => No talking."

Well, if you define "fanatic" as "one who won't talk under any circumstances", then by definition one who talks...isn't one. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif However, I submit that, given the diversity of human behavior, it's possible for a "fanatic" to lose his conviction under a severe enough "reality check", e.g. when the strain of imprisonment is NOW, and "Paradise" of some sort is maybe 50 years away.

So if Starhawk's Prophet is the "talking" variety of "fanatic", his capitulation is understandable. When suddenly whacked upside the head by his own mortality, his human instincts might certainly overwhelm his conscious mind, no matter how disciplined.

Starhawk writes:

"As far as the "death threat" it wasn't quite a threat as she blew a guys head off right in front of the "Prophet" just for the hell of it by as far as any of those men could tell..."

With the Icarans' willingness to slaughter women and children in self-defense, I think the threat of his own death was quite obvious to the Prophet, although it was still an abstract concept. So as I see it, Yu Lin wasn't emphasizing the threat, she was just trying to get his attention. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[Starhawk]

With the Icarans' willingness to slaughter women and children in self-defense, I think the threat of his own death was quite obvious to the Prophet, although it was still an abstract concept. So as I see it, Yu Lin wasn't emphasizing the threat, she was just trying to get his attention.

:

It could definately be seen that way I suppose http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif afterall it definately got his attention!

And I wouldn't quite put it as "willingness to slaughter" as much as "indiscriminate fire", I mean when you turn an entire planet to molten slag you can't really single out men and soldiers from women and children.

As far as the "women and children" part goes, well Icarans have never seen women as any different then men, at least not in the past 6,000 years of their history, so marching into a town and shooting down any resistance man or woman isn't considered any different then a "normal" military marching in and shooting all male resistance down.
As far as Children go again they didn't quite "slaughter" the children so much as shoot them down to keep them from killing others since their parents were throwing them towards the soldiers.
And killing their parents didn't seem immoral by their standards because if you throw your kid as a bomb or encourage them to go suicide themselves on others then you really don't deserve any sympathy or mercy.

I hate to make a modern comparison like this but say if Icara had invaded Iraq instead of the United States or England, Icarans would have burned Faluja (sp?) to the ground or flat out bombed it with a few thousand artillery peices.
Anyone seen celebrating terrorist attacks would be executed and if it was a whole town it would pretty much be bombed into non existance.

As i said once before Icarans are brutal where brutality is required and they don't much care about YOUR collataral damage since you were the ones resisting to begin with hehe.



YAY I posted a chapter that is actually having some discussion about it http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif granted it was not my best chapter....but it wasn't my worst lol and if I do eventually do a rewrite it will be a LOT better!

[Starhawk]

A wee tidbit of a chapter because nothing really interesting happened these last few months other then tiny battles that are ONE broadside deals http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

2438.2 News Report:
“Good evening ladies and gentlemen I’m Lisa Prat for State Channel One news service, Today’s top stories are:
The Janus and Cylla were ambushed on their way to rendezvous with the 5th fleet Janus was destroyed killing all 6,100, Admiral Tanya Bright calls it a tragic loss of life that unfortunately could not have been foreseen by the Navy and mourns the loss of all those lives lost.

Our second story comes from the 4th fleet Admiral Andrew Markowitz led the 4th fleet to victory over 8 Anderman warships destroying them all and capturing twelve hundred Anderman crew who are currently en-route to the military POW camp 107. Adding to this victory a detachment from the 4th fleet engaged and destroyed two more Anderman super dreadnoughts and all with out a single Icaran loss of life

“And now ladies and gentlemen we send you live to the 1st fleet in the Cyrilla system with reporter John LeGuan”
“Hello Lisa I’m here with the 1st fleet which has scored another triumphant victory for the Icaran Empire, the Cyrilla system has fallen and the last resistance is even now being suppressed by Planetary Militia forces, Star Admiral Tyson Babcock informed me earlier this morning that not only did the 1st fleet crush all resistance in this system on a planetary scale but they actually engaged a Remorhaz fleet that had been sent to retake or sterilize all the occupied worlds several months ago. Sadly the 1st fleet did lose a ship in the engagement along with several thousand spacers and marines however the thirty Remorhaz ships that had engaged the 1st fleet were utterly destroyed and enemy casualties are estimated at around twelve thousand.” The young reporter was wearing a modified version of the Navy’s enlisted vac suit which bore the bright blue and white shoulder patches of the civilian news corps, he wasn’t wearing the vac helmet however as the 1st fleet was not heading into any battles.
“John where is the next destination for the 1st fleet, if it is alright for you to say that is.” Lisa smiled into the holocam while she waited for the time delay of the “warper” drones that allowed this form of communication.
Several seconds passed before the reporter on the other end of the line could be heard speaking again.
“Well Lisa, the Caitia system is our next destination as that is where the bulk of the remaining Remorhaz power structure lies, once that system falls the Admiralty believes they can force a surrender on the part of the Remorhaz People’s Republic, however Admiral Babcock has informed me that they are expecting staunch resistance from the remnants of the Remorhaz People’s Navy and says that this particular campaign may take several months.” The reporter paused and looked off screen for a moment nodding in response to someone the camera couldn’t see.
“Um Lisa I’m afraid I’m going to have to end this interview, the “warper” drones aren’t going to have the range to the Caitia system and from now on all FTL probe launches are strictly forbidden unless they are military messenger pods…..I’m sorry.” The reporter paused again as a person wearing a Navy officer’s uniform walked over and whispered something.
“I have to go now Lisa….” The line suddenly went black for several seconds until the view returned to the studio and a baffled looking Lisa.
“Well I suppose that’s all for the major news tonight, stick around for your planet’s local news services to cut in, have a good night…..”

[i](note): A “warper” drone is a civilian modified messenger drone, they create micro-warp points that are totally unstable for periods longer then a few seconds, the drone launches through the warp point, unlike a military messenger the “warper” is designed to both transmit and receive video streams at a faster rate thus allowing a semi-real time conversation to take place.
Military Messenger drones are designed strictly to pass on information and not to enable a “conversation” like a warper drone, making it ten times cheaper and much more expendable by military standards.

[Starhawk]

2438.3 They Died Icaran!:
The 4th fleet was hardly what one could consider a “proper” battle fleet it was a hodgepodge of warships that were scraped off of the other battle fleets, nothing emphasized this fact more then the Horatio its long gleaming white spindle of a hull with the hammerheads at either end obviously singled it out from any other Icaran warship in service, for in it’s past life this proud flagship of the 4th fleet had served the Mantis Starfleet as a “monitor” class warship.
The 4th fleet didn’t even have proper infantry support but instead had nearly 10,000 SS troopers assigned to quelling riots in the frontier worlds that had once belonged to the Corian Commonwealth and the Earth Corps Alliance which was in fact the only reason the 4th fleet had even been created and many naval officials looked down on the 4th fleet a as a mere “police detachment” and refused to mention it as a fleet during their briefings.

Commodore Vincent Moriarty was a young man at only 37 but he had risen to through the ranks with amazing speed as he earned a name for himself during some of the early battles of the Phong crusades, he had been on the flag deck of Saber during the first battle against a Phong warship and had been there on the deck of the Retribution when the original 3rd fleet was ambushed at the third battle of Fornax and now he was out on the frontiers quelling mere riots instead of doing what he should be, fighting on the frontlines of the Anderman crusades. Moriarty had been assigned to the 4th “fleet” as a “promotion” from his position as the 14th SD division commander 1st fleet, but as the months went by and he watched report after report of how the frontline units were doing he began to feel his current assignment more as a punishment than a promotion and often wondered which Admiral had given him the “honor” to begin with. To make matters worse the 4th fleet had been stuck “guarding” the Glakka system for nearly a year, which made Vincent feel as if his entire fleet were told “it’s too dangerous, stay here and guard the car.” So here he was “guarding the car” with 9,100 SS troops and a group of powerful capital ships that could make a difference on the frontlines, and he had no where to go because the system’s beyond Glakka were deemed “too high a risk” for the undermanned formation he commanded.
Vincent felt another surge of anger swell up as he paced his command deck, the Horatio was huge even by Icaran standards, she was only slightly smaller then one of the Artemis raiders yet had much more firepower to match her size her command deck was also a sprawling two tiered area nearly three times the size of any Superdreadnought’s command deck which Vincent was grateful for as it gave him plenty of room to pace without being disturbed “Why the hell did those dicks at command assign me here!?[/i] he thought yet again as he turned to resume his pacing; he came to a sudden halt when a startled voice came from the second tier.
“WARP fluctuation I repeat we have Warp fluctuation there are ships coming through!”
Vincent hurried back to his command chair and took a moment to fume at the fact that the ship didn’t even have a proper main plot.
“Get me an ID on who it is ASAP tactical.” He barked as he brought up his own micro-tactical display to see the fluctuations for himself.
“There are too many of them coming through to be a convoy, and none of our fleets are scheduled to enter this system until the 2nd fleet is finished with their repairs…..CONFIRMED WE HAVE HOSTILES three-one Anderman warships have just made transit!”
The bridge suddenly darkened as the entire ship switched over to battle stations barely a second later the klaxons and GQ alarms howled throughout the ships of the 4th fleet.
“All ships open fire full volley, and tell those transport commanders to get the hell out of here and warn the Admiralty.” Vincent found his own town surprising for it’s calm, he turned to his Captain as she walked up and saw in her eyes the same dread he felt, the simple numbers were all to clear and their enemy wasn’t some Xeno species, this time it was a well trained highly equipped enemy with the same level of technology as he had, all the 4th fleet could hope for was a fighting withdrawal and ensuring he got the transport fleet to safety but even there the odds were against them, the Anderman had acceleration on their side and the Icarans would have to start up cold and gain accel.
“Unless we at least slow those Ander bastards down they’ll outrun the transports easily…” Vincent whispered to Captain Lia Keyes and felt a pang of guilt as he saw the almost imperceptible nod she managed to force, she was even younger then he was and unlike him this would be her first real battle…..and her last. He thought bitterly as he turned back to the displays.

The stars lit up with brilliant and beautiful glory as the 4th fleet turned their desperate broadsides against the oncoming foe while they still recovered from their transit, the first salvo arrived unopposed and proved devastating as the I-lasers sliced through armor, shields, and hulls with the startling ease that modern energy weapons were capable of and with that single salvo nine enemy ships were torn apart creating nine wondrous new stars for barely a split second before they faded back into nothingness.
”At least we got some of them” Vincent thought with a small spark of pride as he saw the Anderman ships turn their own guns upon his fleet and braced himself for the hellish impact as the two fleets traded salvos.
Even as her guns sliced into an Anderman’s shields Danu’s hull was rent and torn as another Anderman ship fired a devastatingly close range and accurate broadside into her, as the energy cut into her the great Icaran ship lurched for a moment as if shouting her defiance before she broke cleanly in half spilling wreckage and bodies into space.
Horatio to lurched with fire as three enemy warships focused their broadsides upon her and Commodore Vincent Moriarty was thrown from his command chair as a beam burned through their shields and impacted just forward of the bridge, the unfortunate souls on the second tier were crushed or thrown to their deaths as wreckage tore through the entire forward portion of the bridge.
“Damage report!” Moriarty shouted as body crumpled to the deck next to him and he recognized the grey green eyes of Captain Keyes staring blankly toward the ceiling her throat sliced open by a piece of shrapnel.
“We’ve only got four guns remaining, life support on decks 20 through 30 is gone, engines are gone, gravitics are gone we are operating on emergency support systems, deck 27 is totally gone sir….” The damage report seemed to go on forever but Vincent barely took notice as he watched the flickering main screen.

The Icaran 4th fleet fought like devils even as the Anderman regained control of their fleet, Yukon who’s shields and weapons were shattered plowed into an Anderman superdreadnought turning both ships into careening pieces of wreckage as the explosions and secondary blasts tore out chunks of once mighty starships.
Despot spat broadsides to the last until one shot finally breached her reactors and she turned into a mini nova though not before she killed two Anderman warships on her own.
The transports continued to flee as they had no guns to turn to the aid of their comrades, meanwhile the rest of the fleet fought to buy the thousands of troops aboard the transports even a slim chance at life.
Horatio turned her four remaining guns on a nearby SD and scored three direct hits, which were enough to tear through the already damaged warship with hellish fury and seconds after the third beam struck her the enemy ship drifted away from the battle, not a single sign of life aboard her.
“Status of the fleet?” Vincent said coldly as he knelt down and closed the dead eyes of his former captain.
“Commodore Suffolk and Europa are undamaged and continuing the fight, Al-Batani is nearly crippled but she remains on station, Justin Alverato is totally crippled, everyone else other then the transports is gone.” The tactical officer’s voice was the mechanical disciplined tone that all “proper” Icaran naval officers used during battle but Vincent heard the despair in that young voice and knew that there was nothing he could say that would make anything any better, the 4th fleet would inflict heavy damage on the enemy before they died but still in the end it would make no difference, none of the warships would escape alive and God’s grace alone would save the transports. It was just then that a brilliant light engulfed the bridge and one split second of pain registered in Vincent’s mind before his life along with the hundreds of survivors aboard Horatio were simply washed away by the broadside of an Anderman Super dreadnought.
Justin was destroyed almost out of hand only a moment later as an Anderman super dreadnought raced past to catch up the fleeing transports, it would never catch up to them however as the almost totally crippled Suffolk rammed into her in a last act of retribution.
Europa’s crew would die much more slowly as their ship was cut away inch by bloody inch by Anderman weapons and as fires burned through her corridors choking the lucky and burning the unlucky alive as they tried to reach escape pods, an unfortunate handful of crew did reach an escape pod only to have a burning piece of hull plate drop into the pod with them as it ejected from the ship.
The shattered Al-Batani suffered a death caused by her own weapons which had been so severely damaged they overloaded on her last attempt to fire tearing her apart from the inside and ensuring that none could have even hoped to survive.

As Commodore Vincent Moriarty had feared the transports were quickly overtaken by the Anderman, and a single super dreadnought destroyed three of the small transports in a single sweep of her forward chase mounts, the other transports too died running as the Anderman overtook them and mercilessly butchered the defenseless ships ending the thousands of lives aboard with what was almost a fleeting swat of the hand for the powerful warships.

So ended the 2nd battle of Glakka, not a single Icaran soldier survived the brutal hour long engagement but for their deaths they had made the Anderman pay dearly in lives and ships with 15 of their warships completely destroyed and two disabled by the valiant Icaran soldiers.
No more would it be said that the 4th fleet was not a “proper fleet” no more would they be called “a hodgepodge of warships” from that day forth the valiant soldiers spacers and state security troopers of the 4th fleet would be recognized as heroes of the Empire who died in a battle against the enemies of Icara and did not feint or flee before their foes but instead did their duty to the last.


4th Fleet Destroyed in Glakka
15 Enemy ships destroyed
Icaran Losses:
HMS Dare (SD) 6,100
HMS Danu (SD) 6,100
HMS Yukon (SD) 6,100
HMS Despot (SD) 6,100
HMS Al-Batani (SD) 6,100
HMS Suffolk (SD) 6,100
HMS Justin Alverato (SD) 6,100
HMS Europa (SD) 6,100
HMS Horatio (MN) 10,400
SS Large Transport 200 crew- 4,000 SS troopers
SS Transport 01 50 crew- 2,000 SS troopers
SS Transport 02 50 crew- 2,000 SS troopers
SS Transport 03 50 crew
SS Transport 04 50 crew- 1,500 SS troopers
Total Casualties: 69,100 dead
Anderman Crusade Casualties: 380,601 (civilian losses number in the billions)

[Starhawk]

How shall they be remembered?:
A long time ago the Icarans came with ships, guns, and bombs, they saw our species and looked upon us as inferior because we were not human and so my race was doomed to slavery on the "sphereworld" they have built to house us.
My parents told me when I was a youngling how my race once roamed dozens of worlds, free and happy and any where you went you could see the sky and the stars, but that was all before I was born, before they came and took away our homes and our worlds and killed hundreds of millions of our kind because we dared resist them, our warriors fought valiantly but in the end these Icarans were overwhelming, and all of our soldiers were killed in battle after battle trying to hold back the encroaching darkness.

I have read the human history files for long hours and understand now why they have beaten us, it is not just because our technology was not as good as their's or because our people were not as brave, it is because in the end humans are warriors they don't give up until they are shattered and even then they resist, they do not forgive easily and they never forget what others have done to them. The Icarans once ruled over most of their species' home system because of their genius and military skill, and yet as all things human it was their own race who destroyed that once great empire.

Humans, they are curious yet arrogant, brutal yet see themselves as moral, harsh if we do not behave and yet gentle if we are submissive they feed us well yet slaughter us if we riot or fight, they tell us we are safe in their protection yet we are in the end their slaves. They are a constant contradiction of themselves and yet they do not notice this because it is so natural to them.

My parents and the elders had told me when I was young that one day my race would return to the stars, that one day humanity would look upon its self and see how wrong they were to enslave entire species just because they were different, they said that one day our descendants would step again under the beautiful green and brown skies of our worlds.....I am sad to say that my parents and the elders were all too wrong, our worlds are no longer the green and brown jewels they once were they are now a vile blue with white swirling clouds and disgusting green continents!

Icara, to us that name means slavery and the loss of our once glorious homeworlds, some say these Icarans are a punishment from the great gods for our sins, others say they are a tool of the evil ones, but they are neither of things, in some ways they are much worse then that they are us and we are them, mere mortal beings who collide in a galaxy of little importance to the rest of this grand universe.
Icara, conquerers, monsters, the shadow that washes away whole worlds, whole cultures and entire species, Icara the very word makes a thousand worlds tremble in fear. Icara cursed and spat upon, Icara the name that crushes stars kills billions and brings eternal slavery to those not human, Icara! the one name in this galaxy that will change the destiny of untold millions of worlds!

How then I wonder will Icara be remembered? No doubt to their descendants this generation will be considered heroes, virtuous crusaders bringing justice, peace and stability to the universe....and who is to say that is wrong? For these people rose from a devestated system's ashes and created for themselves not just a new world but an Empire that brings fear to any who would resist it, is that not heroic? Is that not valiant? I do not know for sure. But no matter how Icarans are remembered my race and whoever else they enslave in their brutal conquest of the stars.....will we even be remembered, our history our glorious triumphs and catastrophic downfalls and how might things have been different if we had met Icarans in peace and not war?

[Hunpecked]

I like the segment about the 4th Fleet. In my game against AIs, I also have a couple of fleets with older ships (mostly light cruisers). They've been retrofitted and so are still useful despite their age, but like the Icaran 4th Fleet they wouldn't last long against the enemy's latest designs.

BTW, the "Second Battle of Glakka" reminds me of the action off Samar in 1944, when a motley force of American escort carriers and destroyers was surprised by a Japanese battle fleet.

[Starhawk]

Well the funny thing is I got 15 kills before my fleet was totally destroyed and every ship left aside from the Horatio in that fleet after I got into a few scrapes with a planet or two were Yu Hing class which is the only reason they did as well as they did before being totally destroyed.

Unfortunately for me that opens the ENTIRE glakka system up for conquest http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

[Starhawk]

2438.6 Reciprocity :
Three months had passed since the destruction of the 4th fleet had shaken the empire to its core and frightened billions of citizens, three months since the powerful 5th fleet had been dispatched on Operation Reciprocity to cleanse the Glakka system of the Andermani presence under Admiral Lady Maria White and now the fleet was finally closing the range to engage 40 Anderman warships responsible for the catastrophe of the 4th fleet.
“Admiral White we are approaching weapons range of enemy fleet, they are holding orbit of Glakka and are forming for battle, they’ve obviously seen us coming.” The chief tactical officer of the watch Commander Grissom frowned as he watched the enemy ships come cleanly into a battle line. Both White and Grissom knew that this was not a militia force they were facing this time, it was a well trained highly equipped Anderman fleet that had taken part in several actions against the Dark Star Alliance and successfully destroyed the entire 4th fleet.
“Firing range in four minutes, enemy fleet has not moved out of orbit but I am detecting increased power signatures, they are definitely powering defensive systems, we are also being subjected to high intensity scans.” A crewman at tactical said coldly as the main plot continued to show the closing distances between the two fleets.
“Well, one thing is for sure Commander unless we totally screw up this should be a clear victory for the Empire.” White grinned as she counted the number of ships in her fleet once again they had a clear numerical advantage but there was something weird about the fact that the Anderman admiral chose to keep his fleet in close orbit.

As the Icarans entered weapons range White clenched her fists tightly and turned to her weapons officer “All ships open fire, let’s end this quickly.” The officer nodded and seconds later the entire forward Icaran line opened fire on their targets yet as their beams struck not a single Anderman shot was fired.
“What the hell.” A crewman swore.
“What is it crewman?” Commander Grissom said irritably as he glared at the crewman’s lapse in discipline, but before the crewman could even respond the answer became clear as the “ships” they had just hit vanished with explosions entirely too small to be even a large fighter.
Before anyone realized what had happened the 19 Anderman warships that had hidden themselves in the atmosphere while powered satellites drew enemy fire raced forward and opened fire on the dazed Icarans, the Powers and Dashor were torn apart instantly as Anderman warships raced past them, firing their guns into the Icarans at point blank range.
The Stalin managed to respond the fastest out of any of the other ships on the forward line and opened fire on a passing Anderman her powerful broadside turning the enemy ship into a comet like streak of fire and wreckage. Unfortunately for the Stalin she was the next Icaran ship to be destroyed by a passing enemy.
“My God, all ships break formations and target the enemy ships individually they are too close for formation firing.” White growled as she saw yet another Icaran warship break apart as the Anderman raced into the ranks of Icaran starships firing as they went, the Cylla drifted out of formation as her hull bled atmosphere and wreckage, her power failing and most of her crew dead.

The Icaran fleet formation collapsed as the Icarans went to engage Anderman individually, new stars were born as Icaran guns brought an end to three Anderman warships in rapid succession, two more Anderman ships were turned into drifting hulks only to be fired upon and destroyed by wrathful Icarans. As the discipline and training of the Royal Navy took over the odds quickly shifted back into favor of the Icarans yet the Anderman warfleet was not to go silently as a direct hit on the Admiral Von Stropp sent it careening into the Hawkeye turning the two ships into twisted metal and burning hull.
The battle ended swiftly as the Icarans decimated the last remnants of the Anderman warships but Admiral White chose not to order her fleet to halt as she saw the severe casualties the Anderman had inflicted upon her people.
“Order the nearest warship to that colony to open fire and wipe every last life form off the face of that world.” White sounded as if she wanted to spit the order out and Grissom flinched at the look in her eyes.
“Ma’am we have an entire regiment waiting to invade that colony, surely we should take it instead of destroying a valuable….”
“No.” White said icily “That colony has always been a problem for the Empire, they led the revolts and riots throughout this entire system and in the battle for this world they spared barely half of their planetary militia to assist the State Security personnel against the Anderman invasion forces and I will not suffer any more casualties here, now follow your orders.” White glared at Grissom for a moment before returning her attention to the main holoplot.
“Aye Admiral….” Grissom said carefully as he turned to the comns officer and nodded.

Less then fifteen minutes later over 130 million civilians and 500 Anderman army soldiers were slaughtered wholesale as the nearest Icaran warships opened fire upon the unshielded and unarmed colony.

Throughout the Empire the victory was portrayed as a heroic act of revenge for those lives lost during the attack on the 4th fleet, what the average citizen did not know was that the destruction of the colony was not because of enemy numbers, nor because of armed weapons platforms but simply because one Admiral had chosen to pass down an order out of her own personal anger for the tens of thousands of lives lost.

Icaran Losses:
HMS Powers (SD) Destroyed 6,100 dead
HMS Cylla (SD) 91% destroyed 5,800 dead
HMS Dashor (SD) destroyed 6,100 dead
HMS Renenet (SD) 89% destroyed 4,500 dead
HMS Admiral Von Stropp (SD) destroyed 6,100 dead
HMS Stalin (SD) destroyed 6,100 dead
HMS Oglala (SD) 89% destroyed 5,000 dead
HMS Black Swan (SD) destroyed 6,100 dead
HMS Reich (SD) destroyed 6,100 dead
HMS Hawkeye (SD) destroyed 6,100 dead
HMS Mabutu (SD) destroyed 6,000 dead
HMS Deadeye (SD) 91% destroyed 5,986 dead
Total Icaran losses: 69,986 dead
Total Icaran Losses during Anderman crusade: 450,587 dead 1,584,627 wounded

[Starhawk]

Heh brand new chapter and not a single comment http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

[dogscoff]

Starhawk said:
Heh brand new chapter and not a single comment http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif



Take a look at any multi-chapter fanfic thread on this forum and you will see the same thing: you write and write and write, while the responses get fewer and fewer and fewer...

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

[Hunpecked]

Starhawk writes:

"the destruction of the colony was not because of enemy numbers, nor because of armed weapons platforms but simply because one Admiral had chosen to pass down an order out of her own personal anger for the tens of thousands of lives lost."

That's what you get for appointing an admiral subject to PMS! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

Seriously, if the Icaran military went to the trouble of preparing an invasion force, the Admiral should have to justify her actions on military grounds, or face court-martial. Civilians can think with their hearts; fleet admirals can't.

[El_Phil]

I'd go with that. Any punishment maybe secret and what you tell the people could be a cover up, but that doesn't change the fact that several thousand (more?) troops who should be invading and could be better deployed elsewhere are doing nothing.

Either that world was worth capturing and should have been, in which case she's guilty of gross insubordination and/ or dereliction of duty (Not sure which I'm no shark http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif) or there was nothing wrong with glassing it, so why where the troops there?

Another point, if you go around naming ships 'Stalin' then you are going to attract certain comments. Now your short of names, ships like 'Advanced Carnage' and using computer virus names 'Mabutu' shows that. But still don't complain about people jumping to conclusions about the acronynm SS when their transport ship might be escorted by a ship called 'Reich' http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

Finally there's only so many ways you can say 'good job', 'nice chapter', etc. How many times do you say such things to yourself when reading a book?

[Hunpecked]

El_Phil writes:

"Another point, if you go around naming ships 'Stalin' then you are going to attract certain comments. [snip] ...don't complain about people jumping to conclusions about the acronynm SS when their transport ship might be escorted by a ship called 'Reich' "

FYI, the ships are named for Fred Stalin, Starhawk's butcher down the street, and Aloysius X. Reich, star pitcher for the 2132 NY Yankees. Perfectly innocuous.

Naming a ship "Hitler", however, would probably be stepping over the line; Keanu Hitler was probably the worst actor of the 23rd Century! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[Starhawk]

El_Phil said:
Another point, if you go around naming ships 'Stalin' then you are going to attract certain comments. Now your short of names, ships like 'Advanced Carnage' and using computer virus names 'Mabutu' shows that. But still don't complain about people jumping to conclusions about the acronynm SS when their transport ship might be escorted by a ship called 'Reich' http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif




Just wait the SS acronym is soon to change http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif and is actually tied directly to this chapter but more then that I ain't gonna say http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

As far as ship names goes ain't nothing wrong with Stalin or Lenin because it's an alternate history for all you know Stalin was a saint, and besides that It does sort of tell the "mentality" of the Empire doesn't it.

Oh and Mabutu is an African name so there's nothing wrong with that http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

And look at the overall names of my ships it's pretty much stuck to names involving carnage and war since the get go that and names like Iconoclast, Devestator http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif The Advanced Carnage is actually a very old ship when I still had a LOOOONG list I just liked the idea of an advanced warship with the name "Advanced Carnage" hehehe pretty much a "Hey look your gonna die by the best".

I'll be blunt Icarans aren't "bad guys" but they can often get pretty damn close I know and that's pretty much the fact of human nature.

[El_Phil]

No Mobutu is an name. Mabutu is what an illiterate computer virus writer used as the couldn't spell Mobutu.


Stalin "Man of Iron" or was it Steel? I can't be arsed to check the interweb but it was one of the two. In any case Superman was worryingly close to passing off. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

[Atrocities]

If not for my illiterateness, I would once again start writing. But lets face it, Lucas is a king of the written dialog compared to me. Looking forward to more chapters Starhawk.

[Starhawk]

El_Phil said:
No Mobutu is an name. Mabutu is what an illiterate computer virus writer used as the couldn't spell Mobutu.


Stalin "Man of Iron" or was it Steel? I can't be arsed to check the interweb but it was one of the two. In any case Superman was worryingly close to passing off. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif



Okay Mobutu I misspelled it I've only seen it spelled with an A so don't compare me to an illiterate jerk who likes making viruses http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

As far as Stalin goes it's much shorter then Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili which was his real name http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif so yeah I pick Stalin over that any day hehe.

Heh AT is that a jab at the Star Wars dialogue?

[El_Phil]

If I was being fair I wouldn't have added the nitpick tags. CTML Contrived Text Markup Language. Like HTML, but better!

[Starhawk]

2438.6 First battle of Caitia
This month had already brought much bloodshed to the galaxy but it was not to stop there as the 1st fleet continued their ever expanding crusade into the Peoples Republic of Remorhaz at the same time the 5th fleet was purging the Anderman colony the 1st fleet was engaging the last remnants of the Remorhaz navy and to their surprise the Remorhaz fleet launched 500 fighters and charged straight into the battle.

“Sir the Able is adrift those damn fighters crippled her systems, Claw has been destroyed and we’ve got damage reports coming in from all over the 10th division.” The chief tactical officer grimaced as another blue light representing another Icaran warship winked out of existence and with it thousands of lives. Hundreds of red dots swarmed around the forward elements of the fleet as enemy fighters attacked the enemy.

The Superior broke formation and brought her broadside against an enemy carrier, as the two massive ships came relative to one another, the Icaran’s beams raked across exposed enemy hull. Fire and wreckage trails drifted away as the two ships continued towards the main fight.The massive Icaran superdreadnought fired a final broadside and the Remorhaz carrier simply began to tear apart as its inertia carried the wreckage along.

The battle only lasted three hours but the losses on both sides were horrific, as the Remorhaz fought with every last ounce of strength and courage their people could muster until at last the Icaran weight in firepower and numbers overwhelmed them and the last Remorhaz warship and fighter squadrons were swept from the stars.

Icaran Losses:
HMS Able (SD) (71% damage 1,000 dead crew)
HMS Claw (SD) (Destroyed 6,100 dead)
HMS Defiant (SD) (Destroyed 6,100 dead)
HMS Hunt (SD) (Destroyed 6,100 dead)
HMS Warlord (DN) (Destroyed 5,300 dead)
HMS King Roger (DN) (Destroyed 5,300 dead)
HMS Avalon (SD) (Destroyed 6,100 dead)
HMS Andromeda (SD) (Destroyed 6,100 dead)
HMS Sarah (SD) (Destroyed 6,100 dead)
Icaran Casualties: 53,300 dead
Anderman Crusade Casualties: 503,887 dead 1,584,627 wounded

[Starhawk]

The Reformation:

On Icara the Imperial Palace shined like a brilliant wall of pearl as the summer morning sun climbed high in the sky, outside of the palace nearly 15 million people crowded outside of the palace walls, all of them waiting for the Praetor to make an announcement that had been the focus of rumors and speculation for five months. Everyone in the Empire knew that things were changing; the government was in flux as the new Praetor began to reshape the very organization of the Imperial bureaucracy.
The hours passed and still the Praetor did not appear but more and more people on Icara began arriving outside of the palace, so many in fact that the Praetor’s Own Regiment had to call in three Imperial Marine detachments including an armored brigade to help them ensure the security of the Palace. Entire State Security brigades were also arriving to secure various perimeter positions and ensure that no riots or problems occurred.

At exactly 15:00 hours the massive palace doors opened and a tall figure wearing the dark gray tunic and space black trousers of an Imperial Official, his cap was plain and unadorned and he carried only a saber and a sidearm with no other adornments. The lone man walked up to a podium at the end of the pathway leading from the palace doors to the gates of the palace grounds. For a moment the crowd expected the man to announce the Praetor or for drums to begin playing, it was not until every news camera in the area focused in on the man that the crowd realized they were looking at Praetor Rodric himself; and for a long moment a stunned silence came over almost the entire crowd bringing an eerie silence to the Palace grounds, there was none of the pomp or circumstance people expected of the Praetor, no trumpets or guards lining the pathway it all seemed to quiet, and except for the humming of tank and APC engines the moment seemed frozen in time until the Praetor cleared his throat and the crowds began cheering.
After a moment Rodric lifted his hands to call for silence and the crowd slowly responded, Rodric smiled; an almost embarrassed expression on his young face.
“Ladies, Gentlemen and fellow citizens of the grand Empire of Icara, as you all know our people have been engulfed in an almost endless war for the past 30 years, in fact we’ve been at war since before I was born and entire generations have been swept up in battle and warfare and millions of our people have died. Yet it is with pride and honor I say that we have not wavered, that you my people have not wavered in our great cause even though we have all become tired of warfare and even though many of us have lost those we love to the Crusades.” Rodric paused and cleared his throat for a moment.
“My friends, my people it is with all my heart I swear to you that the wars will end within our generation if there is anything I can do about it, I have begun increasing military production, and have raised entire regiments of soldiers to go to the front lines and I have given our military commanders the control they need to take initiative and to crush our enemies!” the crowds began cheering again but Rodric quickly raised his hands for silence “However….” He paused as the crowds began settling down again “However, we have a long dark road ahead of us, and there will be much more blood shed in the cause of Humanity, and it is because of this long dark road that I have chosen to reform our security forces, as such I am hereby dissolving the State Security and changing responsibility for our citizens security to the newly formed military controlled Federal Security Division, it is my belief that placing this officer under the control of the military will help with some of the disciplinary problems that some of the SS brigades have suffered from in the past due to poor leadership choices made by civilian leaders including certain nobles who have raised SS brigades as a private security force.” The Praetor paused long enough to allow this momentous statement to sink in, the SS had been with Icara for over a thousand years but it was true that it had been becoming a more and more controversial and corrupted organization but to have it replaced in one fell swoop would still be shocking to most citizens who were used to the “Status Quo” of the Empire.
“I am also reforming the Army so that Regiments may be raised from any loyal world with enough populace and not simply those who are core worlds, the Navy and Marines have also promised that they will begin recruiting from all loyal worlds no matter their heritage, whether they are pure blood Icaran or are one of our conquests.” Rodric swallowed hard and waited as the crowds thought about what had just been said, some openly began shouting and screaming down the proposal others just stood in stunned silence, allowing non “pure” Icarans to raise entire regiments and to be recruited into the Fleet and marines seemed outlandish, it took generations for a world’s population to be considered “pure” Icaran but it had only been 20 years since many worlds had been brought into the Empire.
“This is necessary if we want to end the wars within our lifetimes, we can no longer afford to allow millions of people that could serve our Empire on the front lines go unused simply because they have not been part of this Empire for generations.” Rodric spoke calmly over the crowds shouting and gently nudged his mic volume up several levels to ensure he was heard.

After several hours the crowds calmed and the Praetor’s edicts went into effect, the office of State Security was dissolved as well as several of the “discipline challenged” brigades the rest were absorbed into the new Federal Security Division and the new officers and officials took over. The other reforms were quietly taking place as preparations for raising several regiments on worlds previously considered unacceptable was underway as well as the creation of armory worlds, who’s entire industrial base was switched over to the production of arms and munitions for the newly expanding military machine.

Throughout the Empire preparations for a war on a scale never before seen progressed slowly but ominously as hundreds of thousands of men and women were undergoing training to march against worlds many of them had never even heard of before and many had to come to terms with the fact that in all likelihood they would never see their homeworlds again.

[cshank2]

Wow, sounds like the Imperial Guard from WH40k, I like.

[Starhawk]

Well more like the way the English used to raise regiments but since WH40k based the IG recruitment style on that than indeed they do sound much alike http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif either way glad you like.

And hey guys you can all be happy now I have officially disbanded the SS for the SD http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif please tell me there are no evil organizations out there with the initials SD hehe.

[El_Phil]

Uhhhh sadly yes there is. The SD did stand for the Sicherheitsdienst which was another Nazi 'security' organisation. You don't have alot of luck with these acronyms do you?

[Starhawk]

Holy crap on a stick your joking!

:Charlie Brown: AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGHh

Screw it SD is final as I've never heard of them before lol

[Mephisto]

Uh, most Germans will know the SD for sure. Many Jews will. The Reichskristallnacht was mostly done by the SD, not the SS, if I'm not in error. Well, anyway, if you every want to publish in the German countries, SD will be a "nono" by law.

[Starhawk]

Okay look I don't mean to sound harsh here but you folks are seriously going to have to get over SOME of this stuff, they are INITIALS this time totally unrelated to SS it's a coincidence that SD happened to also be a german "security" group.

All the good initials with SECURITY in it are already taken by SOMEBODY I can almost be sure of that so the German folks would have to get over looking up every set of initials going 'Where they someone evil?" or else nothing won't offend someone out there. lol and I am not making up yet another security agency just because of one letter http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Also do me a favor and translate what the SS and SD's names mean in English because unless it stands for Security Division or State Security then I don't think there should be any cause for offense.

[El_Phil]

First off there are loads of acronyms that aren't gone. Just of the top of my head 'Imperial Security Force' which not even acronymfinder can find something wrong with.

Next take if you will M.I.5 here in the UK. It isn't and never has been called M.I.5 and is in fact called The Security Service, hence SS as the short form. This is unacceptable so its M.I.5. Also how often is the yank Secret Service shortened to SS? nope its the United States Secret Service, so you get USSS.

In short while you may not have a problem with it lots of other people might. If you ever want to get anything published that's something you'll have to get used to.

Finally have you forgotten just a couple of months back the fuss on this very forum? Rest assured that using SS and SD will cause offence to someone and they will be vocal about it. You have no excuse not to pick a different acronym, so someone will read way too much into it. And as Mephisto points out some countries laws take a dim view of such things.

[Starhawk]

My point is you are blowing things WAY the hell out of proportion it's a fictional universe an ALTERNATE universe to boot and I changed SS for the fact that you and others complained and actually the Secret Service is just called the Secret Service because it's not exactly hard to say "Secret Service" however "Federal Security Division" is a little cumbersome don't you think?

Also MI-5 you also have MI-6 and they are two seperate branches that are both related to intel so it fits http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif and actually it's "Her Majesty's Security Service" so it would be HMSS but you don't hear anyone calling it that do you?

Just like Her Majesty's Secret Service http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Like I said I think you are just reading too much into it I seriously doubt any reader who has not been forwarned that I am changing SS to SD would read much into it. I mean hell the initials of a Super Dreadnought are SD do you want me to change those too?

And yes I remember the "Fuss" and I changed it because of that fuss I am not going to be giving myself headaches over the fact that you are unhappy with INITIALS THAT DON'T EVEN STAND for the same thing the German SD did

And like I said if you would please translate what SD and SS are short for in German (tell me what their names mean IN ENGLISH) are they even close to Security Division? Because if it is then I will change it.

Federal Security Division is a unique name as far as I am aware while "Imperial Security Force" is used a LOT in Sci-Fi or at least the initials ISF.

[El_Phil]

No its not, your confusing the James bond film 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' where he works for the Secret Intelligence Service or M.I.6, because that was an millitary intelligence service founded by an Admiral. The Security Service was never such an organisation and so calling it a millitary intelligence service would be silly.

All of this is distracting us from your inabilty to come up with an acronym that hasn't been used by Nazis. Which people who know abit of history are going to spot and some will complain about. That was all I was saying. Stick with it, it won't bother me. But you did ask if there were any evil organisations called SD. There were.

Right SD is 'Sicherheitsdienst' which is 'Security Agency' while SS is Schutzstaffel 'Protection Squadron'. Or thats what the interweb and my memory of school history tell me. If anything SD is probably worse from your point of view, security division, security agency. Pretty similar....

[Hunpecked]

Actually, the initials of the "Federal Security Division" are "FSD", not "SD", so there's no problem (unless of course the Nazis had a bureau known as "Fuhrer Sicherheitsdienst"). http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

As for the unfortunately named Super Dreadnoughts (SD), I suggest redesignating the class as "Honkin' Big Mothers" or HBM. These initials may have problems of their own, but at least they shouldn't be Nazi-related. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[douglas]

I don't think anyone's going to complain about SD when it's clearly short for Super Dreadnought. At least, I haven't heard anyone complaining about David Weber's use of it in the Honor Harringtion series.

[Starhawk]

Hunpecked said:
Actually, the initials of the "Federal Security Division" are "FSD", not "SD", so there's no problem (unless of course the Nazis had a bureau known as "Fuhrer Sicherheitsdienst"). http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

As for the unfortunately named Super Dreadnoughts (SD), I suggest redesignating the class as "Honkin' Big Mothers" or HBM. These initials may have problems of their own, but at least they shouldn't be Nazi-related. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif



True FSD works and if I get one Russian in here pissing fire at me over the similarity to FSB then I am going to crack some heads!

El_Phil like I said I think your seriously overblowing things a bit afterall man I just read an Honor Harrington book where he refers to a "State Security" SS and no body beat him to death http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif but if anything now I'd change my SS also not to infringe on those copywright laws lol.

Schutzstaffel: Literally Protection Force or Defense Squad. This complex organization was at the heart of the German political and social revolution and later attempts to control nearly all aspects of German (and later European) life. The Schutzstaffel consisted of three main parts, the Allgemeine-SS, the SS-Totenkopfverbände and the Waffen-SS. The well known image of this organization was its abreviation, the double SS.

A brief bit about the SS the SD was in fact a "part" of the SS apparently so yeah I WILL stick with FSD but seriously guys some initials just match up like I said I never heard of the SD until I googled it after you guys complained.

And like I said if oyu have any problems with FSD get over it http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif because I am damn well NOT changing that too hehe

[douglas]

Starhawk said:
El_Phil like I said I think your seriously overblowing things a bit afterall man I just read an Honor Harrington book where he refers to a "State Security" SS and no body beat him to death http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif but if anything now I'd change my SS also not to infringe on those copywright laws lol.


Ah, but in that particular case the SS in question is an undisputably "bad guy" organization. No one's going to get in trouble for casting the SS in a bad light.

[Starhawk]

True but anyway yeah I'll change it to FSD from now on or FS if there are other real organizations with these initials I can't find them and the only thing close is the Russian FSB (modern KGB just as bud but half the budget) and that's far enough off that it shouldn't be a problem.

[JAFisher44]

hey, I started reading your story. I like it http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif I figure it will take me a while to read it through. I think it would be cool if you posted savegames like was suggested in the beginning.

Also, is the Ikaran shipset available anywhere? I would be interested to see what these ships look like. Keep up the good work.

As far as the SD thing is concerned I think its blown out of proportion. There are only 26 letters in the english alphabet. eventually you are going to end up using an acronym that has already been used. If your SD was modeled in some way after the german organization of the same initials I could understand, but, frankly, I think that it is unfair that people try to put a hold on a letter combination just cause someone else used it once to do bad things. If the abbreviation fits use it.

[Starhawk]

Hey JAFisher nice to know I have a new reader, I am glad you are enjoying my story so far http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

And yes the Icaran shipset IS available as is the Anderman, I'll attach the Icarans right now.

[JAFisher44]

I don't believe I have encountered the Anderman in the story yet. Like I said, I just started. I think I just got done with page 2 http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif Well, now I have pictures to go with the words.

[Starhawk]

Meat to feed an angry beast:
The world of Thorsburg was a buzz as word spread from city to city that the Icaran Empire had finally decided to pay this former Rebel Alliance world some attention after decades of being nearly ignored beyond the production of starships. The manner of that attention though was the source of much strife within the political offices and even on the streets. The Royal Navy had arrived two days ago with twelve dreadnoughts and two massive currently empty troop transports and what they brought with them was an edict of levy which required Thorsburg to form two entire regiments of troops for His Majesty’s Royal Army to be dispatched on the grand crusade to conquer the Andermanian alliance.

To anyone on Thorsburg over the age of thirty it was a hard thing to be sure as they had seen their own alliance conquered by the Icarans, and now they were being told that they had to muster 8,000 of their young men and women and send them to fight and die in a war to conquer another democratic nation that the average citizen of Thorsburg only heard about on the news. In the streets of many cities “demonstrations” were assembled to protest the demand to raise regiments and hundreds were injured as local FSD brigades marched in with riot gas, stun batons and armored riot breaker vehicles.

********

The chancellery building was a relic of a bygone age where democracy governed Thorsburg and the young and promising “Rebel Alliance” was first stepping bravely out into the galaxy after shirking their oppressors it’s massive stone walls were made to resemble the buildings of the old Greek cities of long ago, the beautiful white stone still showed the horrible scars where the Rebel emblems were burned from the walls by the old “SS” brigades as the “pacified” the world and it’s population, it’s old fashioned fence was reinforced by an invisible “blast screen” and an entire FSD brigade was assigned to provide on sight security, inside was the first meeting the local Icaran governor had dared assemble with the local civilian government since his installment by the Praetor less than two years ago after his predecessor was hung for treason when it was discovered he had deliberately prevented tens of thousands of his people from joining the Royal Navy. The purpose of this meeting was to discuss this newest demand which the Empire had placed upon Thorsburg.

“Charlie those bastards have practically ignored us for the pats 20 years except when they send in crew transports to get the ships we build for their war machine, now they want us to raise 8,000 soldiers for them….it’s ridiculous!” Günter Heinz was governor of one of the cities that had seen the FSD deploy two brigades to break up a demonstration, in the process he had seen them inure hundreds of his people and arrest over a thousand others who have not been heard from since.
“Actually Günter it’s more like 28,000 including technical support staff, 4,000 combat troops and 10,000 support staff times’ two regiments.” Harold Schmitt spoke up from the corner and blushed slightly when everyone turned to him, he was a junior adjutant to the planetary governor and his main job was “work force” management so blurting out the actual numbers was only natural to him.
After a moment of silence Governor Ervin Katz grinned at his adjutant “He’s right gentlemen, 28,000 of our young people will be called upon to fight in a war that is hundreds of light years away and that does not even affect us, but there is nothing we can do about that, if you haven’t noticed there are twelve Icaran super dreadnoughts sitting in orbit and although the majority of people simply see them as escorting the transports, enough people know that they are really here to remind us of what happens to worlds that don’t fulfill their duties to the Empire and I don’t intend on making them prove it with a broadside.” The room fell silent again as the government officials present frowned in agreement, there was nothing they could do but provide the two regiments demanded of them.
“So how do we get those 28,000? No one from the planetary defense militia can be counted on, too many of them are ex alliance army soldiers, and those that weren’t are not exactly willing to leave home.” Günter said heavily as he pulled a flexi pad out of a pocket with the list of units in the PDM and their commanders.

Rudolf Heinrich, governor of a northern city spoke up “I’m afraid he’s right Charlie, however with the zeal our young people seem to show for the Empire and its armed forces we shouldn’t have a problem raising the recruits.”
The “zeal” that Heinrich mentioned came in the form of an almost religious respect and admiration the young people of Thorsburg had for the Royal Armed forces, they had grown up seeing thousands of soldiers, spacers and marines and they saw them as valiant heroes and adventurers who got to see the wonders of the galaxy, and the fact that a great many of these soldiers were only 15 and 16 inspired the youth of Thorsburg.
The vast majority of teens and school kids even sported the so called “trooper style” fashion to show their admiration as their clothes resembled the various uniforms of the Royal armed forces minus emblems and insignia of course.
“If that fat bastard Stein had just allowed our people to join the navy perhaps they never would have asked for two entire regiments to be raised.” Precinct Governor Ulrich spat as he mentioned the previous governor of Thorsburg.
“Maybe….maybe not Ulrich but that doesn’t matter anymore, this demand has been placed upon us and there is nothing we can do now but answer the call and begin recruitment of two complete regiments.” Charles paused a moment and turned to the chief financial advisor “Adolf how much money will this cost us? And how fast can we do this?”
The young man pulled out several flexi’s and passed them around the table “Well sir the cost in material is the first major problem, we’ll have to provide the recruits with food for at least two years, not to mention uniforms, weapons, and vehicles for at least 12 armored companies assuming the standard six per regiment.” Adolf Schultz paused as the others gathered around the table read off tonnages in metals, food and fabrics.
“The cost in credits would easily come to twenty eight billion credits per year as the regiments are being raised which our best estimates place at 26 months comes to a grand total of roughly seventy four billion credits after that the Empire will take control of paying salaries and maintenance costs.” Schultz winced as a woman slammed a palm on the desk.
“Damn it Governor that’s more than two years taxes to the Empire, and don’t forget we’ll still have to pay those taxes while these regiments are being raised.” Edwina Markov shrank back into her chair with an uncharacteristic blush “My apologies governor it’s just that, this seems unfair to our people.” She said more calmly and folded her hands on the table.

“Don’t worry about it Miss Markov, you just said what we’re all thinking….and your right this will prove a problem, we’ll have to raise local taxes to raise this regiment and still pay our tax to the Empire but we can and will manage it.” Charles lowered his head and spoke more softly “Alright ladies, gentlemen, let’s be about it we’ve got to feed an angry beast and he won’t wait for long.”

A week later recruits from all over Thorsburg were lining up at naval, marine and “regimental” recruitment offices all over their planet preparing to serve their Empire and join the ranks of heroes and adventurers that they had seen all their lives, many of those anxious new applicants were only 15 or 16 and had no idea what war really was like or that hell awaited them in war zones on planets they had never heard of before.

[Starhawk]

2438.7 Assault on Caitia:
Admiral William Jefferson Ross had been in the Royal Navy for over 40 years now even though it didn’t even exist as a functioning force until about 38 years ago, he had seen some of the most devastating warfare the galaxy had ever known, and he had met some of the bravest and greatest men and women his generation would ever know and he had seen far too many of them vanish in a plume of fire or worse lost forever in the depths of space and he often wondered how long this war could last, how long the Icaran people could sustain themselves with a war that never seemed to end except for long periods of boring patrols and station keeping while the higher ups decided who needed killing next.
Ross spun his command chair around to face the master holoplot on his flag bridge and thought with a wry grin Well William they’ve certainly given you an interesting job, he stared for what seemed a long time at the slowly revolving map of the Caitia system, the capital of the fledgling People’s Republic of Remorhaz and their last real holdout since most of their frontier worlds had fallen to the pack of hyenas that was the “Anderman Alliance” after the bulk of their navy was destroyed by Ross’ 1st fleet.
The plan to invade Caitia was simple the main subjugation fleet would strike against Caitia IV, the most heavily populated and defended world of the system, afterwards two strike forces consisting of a full Super Dreadnought division and a Regiment of Royal Army troopers would break away from the main fleet and take Caitia I and II in rapid succession forcing what few military assets the Remorhaz military had left to spread themselves against three targets which would put the superior Icaran forces at a distinct advantage.
As Ross ran through his plan in his mind a klaxon sounded throughout the flagship and a proximity alert howled from the tactical section and a halo began to glow around Caitia IV,
“Tactical what’s going on?” Ross turned to see his tactical officer turn almost grey as he read something from his displays. “Answer me tactical!” The Admiral barked as the young officer hesitated.
“Sir, I count two hundred Remorhaz satellites in orbit of Caitia four.”
Ross cursed under his breath as the numbers were confirmed by other ships in the fleet, their satellites had poor sensors and weak weapons, but two hundred would at least slow his fleet down and if he got in too close even primitive satellites could cut apart his fleet.
“Helm, tactical work together to keep us just inside our own bombardment envelope and keep us out of their own firing pattern.” Ross turned back to face the master plot and within moments saw his orders being carried out as a battle line formed and the fleet began trading fire with the satellites in orbit of the enemy world.
Fortunately for the Icaran fleet the Remorhaz sensors on these satellites were worse then even Ross had believed and though several Icaran warships took damage none were destroyed as they fired into the ring of satellites. The worst part of the engagement for Ross was the time taken by the bombardment even with the number of warships he had and their targeting sensors the bombardment took almost a day as Ross wanted no slip ups accidentally leading to tragic results on the planet below.
As the last satellite vanished in a ball of plasma the HMS Alexander took up a geosynchronous orbit over the enemy world and opened its massive bays revealing 390 drop ships tucked neatly into their drop racks, 3,900 soldiers of the 1st New Haven regiment waited anxiously as their mothership spun on her side, turning her drop bays to the planet.
The familiar dull metallic thump of docking clamps releasing came seconds before the sudden jerk of acceleration and then the jostling and gut wrenching twisting of atmospheric entry at high velocity as the dropship formations raced through atmospheric turbulence in an attempt to dodge the triple A that the enemy would unleash.
As expected the night sky of Caitia IV’s target zone lit up with brilliant flashes of light and fire as planetary defense batteries opened up on the Icaran invaders, most of the enemy fire was in vein as Icaran sensor decoys and drop pods baffled sensors, unfortunately for the Icarans not all of the enemy fire missed and a dropship carrying the 4th squad 2nd platoon Fox company burst into flames as superheated plasma tore into it’s hull, as the stricken dropship spiraled out of control and began breaking apart bodies and equipment were thrown into the surrounding skies and several dropships were splattered with blood and gore as bodies impacted.
A second dropship was shot apart killing twelve more soldiers before they could even touch the ground another dropship was destroyed as a tank from the other dropship landed on it.

The nightmare had only just begun for the soldiers of the 1st New Haven as they landed only to be met by a maelstrom of fire from Remorhaz Space Marines and planetary militia troops.
Major Liz Torrington, commander of C Company was forced to order her troopers to dig in as Remorhaz marines and militia troopers opened up on her company with a barrage of artillery and rifle fire. An entire squad had been killed in the first five minutes of the engagement as an entire Platoon of Remorhaz Space Marines stormed their position and fought at close quarters with bayonets and las pistols alike.
“Watch the right damn it, the little bastards are coming up on your right!” a voice on C Company’s com net shouted and Major Torrington turned in time to see what had to be a company sized force of Remorhaz Militia charging headlong into her heavy weapons platoon.
“Five platoon, get your asses over their and help heavy weapons out, Charlie Company dig in I repeat dig in.” Torrington paused for a moment when she heard the voice of 5th platoon Echo Company’s commander on her com.
“Ma’am that’s a negative we are pinned down, enemy artillery has a pretty good fix on us and the [censored] kickers aren’t letting up.” A shrill sound caused Torrington to yank her headset away from her ear. “Son of a *****” Torrington grimaced as she realized that 5th platoon must have just been jammed, she raised her binocs to her eyes and watched as the Remorhaz Company slammed into 3rd platoons position forcing the heavy weapons unit to defend it’s self rather then provide fire support for the other platoons in her company.
The heavy weapons platoon was barely holding off the enemy Militia Company, even as their auto-cannons and heavy slug throwers tore Remorhaz soldiers apart the Militia units returned a withering fire of their own and continued to charge forward.
Torrington turned to her own platoon and stood up and raised her right hand, as she did this her entire platoon stood up with her, she turned and faced the heavy weapons platoon and with a slicing motion signaled her platoon to advance through the hell storm of enemy fire to come to the aid of their comrades.
Enemy mortars whistled in with terrifying frequency and more then one of Torrington’s troopers was torn apart by a mortar, she herself was knocked to the ground by the legless body of a trooper who was thrown a meter into the air by a mortar shell. With a grimace Liz Torrington forced herself back to her feet and pushed forward until finally the Remorhaz soldiers that were attacking her soldiers were in sight, she quickly brought her rifle up to the ready and dropped to a kneeling position along with several of her other soldiers and almost in unison the trill of AP rifle fire and the burst of purplish blue spheres erupted from Torrington’s platoon killing or wounding dozens of Remorhaz militiamen.
Energy weapons were not the clean and civilized things that the people of previous centuries had assumed they would be, they caused horrific wounds which were usually un-survivable and a “lucky” person was one who only lost a limb as an energy weapon burned through their flesh and Torrington noted with only a slight twinge of disgust the acrid smell of burnt meat as she picked her next target and dropped a young Remorhaz woman who dropped her gauss rifle, a moment of shocked horror on her face as the life oozed out of her but Torrington didn’t have the time to pay any mind to this as she stood up and continued to advance with her platoon.
The Remorhaz troops fought valiantly and forced the Heavy weapons platoon to abandon their defensive position but with Torrington’s platoon swiftly flanking them the Remorhaz militia troopers soon found themselves at a massive disadvantage but they still would not yield and instead used the craters and trees they had just driven the Icaran HW platoon out of as a defensive position of their own.
With the Remorhaz militia unit pinned Torrington was able to order her heavy weapons platoon and her own infantry platoon to simply trade fire with the enemy soldiers at range and thanks to the devastating firepower of her HW platoon’s auto-cannons the Remorhaz soldiers were killed or wounded to the last man, with not a single one surrendering voluntarily.
The night was not over for C Company as it was sent in to assault several more enemy positions throughout the course of the night, fortunately for Torrington Dog Company had taken out the artillery positions and she didn’t have to worry about mortars cutting her company apart any more. The battle for Caitia IV lasted two weeks as the 1st New Haven regiment fought against the Remorhaz defenders tooth and nail for every inch of ground but in the end the Icarans simply had the technology and the air superiority to win the battle. However for the soldiers of the 1st New Haven it was a brutal meatgrinder that cost them a 85 soldiers.

Even as the battle for Caitia IV raged two more worlds in the Caitia system were under attack and these worlds were no less stubbornly defended by the Remorhaz soldiers stationed on them, and 215 Icaran soldiers paid with their lives to secure victory. Ross felt his optimism quickly fade as he noted that there was still an entire system to secure, and tens of millions of Remorhaz citizens attempting to flea the system, people he would have to order killed in order to prevent the Remorhaz from causing the Empire more trouble.

[El_Phil]

85 dead out of 3900 a meatgrinder? OK so it wasn't a walk in the park but still...

Also, having had my own style torn apart, I'm forced to agree: Long reams of text on a monitor needs large spacing, it's so much easier to read.

That aside it's nice to see you're still going. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Starhawk]

Well considering 85 dead and an unstated number of wounded http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

And yeah I have to remember when I type up my format on word that it doesn't remain the same when I post it here http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[El_Phil]

Even allowing for wounded that's no meatgrinder. Just off the top of my head, ignoring any WW1 battle, look at Pork Chop Hill from the Korean War for a meatgrinder.

[Starhawk]

Okay counting Remorhaz dead too heh.

[kerensky]

If you want to hear meatgrinder, try throwing 8k (yeah that's 8,000) 1kt infantry troops against fifty 25kt heavy troops. At the end of the simulator, all of the infatry were dead and there were still 28 heavy troops left...

[Hunpecked]

When your buddy gets hit, it's "light casualties."

When YOU get hit, it's a "meatgrinder!" http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[Starhawk]

What future for the Children?:

The morning came dim and rainy on Brandenburg, much as it always did in the fall, but today the rain some how seemed colder and darker then usual as Countess Percilla Torri watched from her office window. It had been six months now since the invasion of the Caitia system saw the 1st Brandenburg regiment, enter battle as well as a large number of Brandenburg manning the warships of the 108th Super Dreadnought division which was providing escort for the Brandenburg’s transport.

Word had just arrived this very wet and grey morning that during the final four months of the Caitia invasion the 1st Brandenburg and the 108th SD division had been tasked with invading Caitia VI which was believed to be the final military stronghold of the People’s Republic of Remorhaz. Countess Torri steepled her hands as she remembered reading the report from Admiral Lord William Ross.

“To the brave and loyal citizens of Brandenburg it is my grim task this day to inform you that two ships of the 108th SD division were destroyed while valiantly protecting the unarmed regimental transport from hostile ground fire, 12,200 brave men and women perished.

However thanks to their valiant sacrifice the 1st Brandenburg regiment was able to accomplish it’s mission and capture the final hold out of the PRR but in doing so 750 infantry soldiers and 1,120 support staff were killed in action.

Because of these losses the 1st Brandenburg regiment is reduced to half strength and its tasked Escort division is down to 2/3 strength, however due to military pressures on the front we can not remove them from line service this day.

Know this your sons and daughters have lived up to the highest standards of his Majesty’s armed forces and their sacrifice will never be forgotten by me or those under my command.

Admiral Lord William Ross
Commander 1st Fleet.


Torri knew enough of the situation at the front lines to know that two other super dreadnoughts from another division had been destroyed and that all told some sixteen thousand other Icaran soldiers and spacers had perished in the battle for Caitia, a number that seemed so huge but when compared to the billions of Anderman, Mantisoran and Icaran citizens that had already died during the decades of war.

The countess looked out of her office window up at the night sky and stared at the massive shipyard in orbit, its outline clearly visible in the night sky as it orbited Brandenburg. Every time she saw that shipyard Percy couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed by the vastness of the Empire and the universe its self, that huge shipyard was one of many in the Empire and wasn’t even the largest space station the Icaran Navy had built, that distinctive honor went to the gargantuan Fortresses that guarded the warp points into the galaxy beyond the Empire.
Torri sighed as she remembered the first days of the expansion, when she had left the warmth and safety of Icara and colonize Brandenburg, back then it all seemed so simple, the ships so small and the universe so vast and fascinating. Now all there seemed to be in the galaxy was warfare and even now in orbit of Brandenburg and several other classified worlds the largest ship class ever conceived was under construction, a ship that made even the Five Swords of Heaven seem small.

This ship class was officially the Holy Crusade class Battlemoon and it was supposed to be the weapon that won the wars and brought peace to the galaxy, with a crew of one hundred thousand and more firepower then entire divisions of super dreadnoughts and with a diameter of 25 kilometers it was the largest most powerful design ever conceived of, but in the end Torri only sighed again and remembered how the navy had said the same thing about the Super Dreadnoughts and the Five Swords, all were “Going to end the wars and bring peace.” But all had only been countered by enemy designs and as the ships grew in power the only thing that changed was the number of lives lost in each battle

The countess of the Norvor system spent hours thinking over the situation in the galaxy and felt her heart ache, her oldest son had already been assigned to the 5th fleet and her youngest son and 16 year old daughter were getting ready to leave the naval academy in a few months and each would be assigned to warships on the frontlines. She wondered with another stab of heartache if she would ever see them again as the battles grew more deadly and the war dragged on; a war that had been raging since before her children had even been born, and a war that might very well take them all from her if it did not end soon, as she drifted off to sleep Countess Torri, the first ruler of an offworld Icaran province and the once young girl who had left Icara with wide eyed enthusiasm wondered how many generations would be consumed by a war Icara hadn’t wanted in the first place and how many children had nothing in their future but war.

[Starhawk]

2439.9-2440.1 A brief Historic report
The Delta Corporation dispatched its private navy and fleet to seize the Anderman world of Horod V and began conducting biological and genetic experiments upon the civilian population in an attempt to better understand the Anderman soldiers who were engineered to survive in almost any planetary environment with only a minimum of life support equipment.
This action was unsanctioned by the Icaran government and has in fact caused the delta corporation to come under investigation, however because of the fact that the financial records of the Delta corporation “security department” was mysteriously destroyed when the archive building burned to the ground the day before Naval investigators were able to arrive.
Having spent nearly all of it’s financial assets on forming the private fleet with which to launch the attack on Horod V the Delta Corporation began selling several patents on the open market creating havoc in the Medical and Chemical markets of the Empire.

The 5th fleet under Admiral White invaded Glakka I and suffered heavy casualties as seven Super Dreadnoughts were destroyed with another being crippled with the majority of it’s crew dead, the invasion cost the Empire 41,820 of it’s young men and women, however the planet was seized and valuable resources were brought into the Empire, the seven destroyed ships names have been added to the Wall of the Fallen to honor their heroism in service of the Empire.

On a much more important note to modern historians the Celestian republic was absorbed into the Empire on Tellus 3rd 2440 bringing in several systems and worlds into the folds of the Icaran Empire.

What no one could have suspected was that the Mantisoran government though claiming alliance to the Anderman and flying under the Anderman Alliance banner was secretly planting agents throughout the other members of the Anderman Alliance and creating disorder and instability in their governments in order to bring them into the Mantisoran fold.

[Starhawk]

2440.1 Born in Fire
The 6th fleet had been formed little more than a month ago when Admiral Chester Hancock received his orders to ship out to the Asterion system and intercept the Sol Coalition’s 10th fleet which had been sited by an Icaran spy.

And now after traveling through an artificially created warp point and then having said warp point sealed again the 6th fleet was entering combat range with the veteran crews of the Sol Coalition’s 10th fleet which consisted of destroyers, cruisers and super dreadnoughts with varying levels of technology.

“Admiral enemy fleet advancing at high gee, enemy destroyers are leading their formation.” Spacer Martin Hargrove’s cold soprano voice sounded surprisingly confident for a boy of 16 who was going into his first battle

Hancock felt his own anxiety gnawing at him and tried to force himself to stop thinking about the fact that he was on a ship with an untested crew, for that matter he was in an untested fleet and found his only comfort in the knowledge that the enemy fleet though battle hardened veterans were on mainly outdated ships with only a small core group of modern Super Dreadnoughts.

The first shots were traded between the vanguard of the Icaran fleet and the Sol destroyer formation with surprising swiftness as the destroyers raced into the ranks of the Icaran fleet at full speed trying to avoid the Icaran fire. Unfortunately for most of the destroyers their evasive patterns did them little good as Icaran guns tore through their shields and hull as if they were not even there, in a single volley five of the eight destroyers had been vaporized.

“Admiral enemy destroyers are virtually gone, but….hold on….” Hargrove didn’t get the chance to finish his statement as a blinding flash filled the bridge monitors; the purpose of the destroyers’ suicidal charge quickly became apparent as Sol Super dreadnoughts having used their smaller destroyer comrades as a shield from Icaran fire now brought their guns to bare on the first Icaran warships with lethal effect.

As the screens cleared Hancock suppressed a wince as he saw a cloud of debris drifting away from what had once been the HMS Herodotus; a three kilometer long warship and six thousand human beings had vanished in a ball of fire and even to a veteran like Hancock was astonished at how fast such a powerful and magnificent starship with a crew the size of a small town could just vanish in a matter of seconds as I-Laser weaponry shredded them.

The Herodotus was unfortunately not alone, the Tangu was adrift after powerful beams raked her from stem to stern, and the Sullivans, or rather the third of it that was left burned furiously as plasma fires consumed the remaining wreckage and bodies.

Though the speed of the Sol SDs had come as a shock the Icaran navy’s discipline won out and in short order the massive Icaran warships were firing back into the enemy capital ships.

“Holy God!” the helms woman screamed as she slammed the control yoke of the flagship forward and down and slammed on emergency thrust to avoid colliding with an enemy Super Dreadnought that had just blown apart the HMS TigerClaw and had come charging straight at the Fortitude as if to ram.

“All batteries, open fire, take that son of a ***** out of my sky.” Hancock shouted as he saw green beams lance out from the enemy warship as it raced forward, only two shots struck upon the Icaran’s shields and Hancock muttered a brief prayer of thanks.

The Fortitude’s own gunners had achieved lock on the Sol SD and as it swung around to fire at them again both ships unleashed their full armaments at almost the same instant, and for a moment time seemed to freeze.
Beams from both ships passed each other by meters and two beams collided with one another creating an amazing light show as energy streams arced away from the collision of almost unimaginable amounts of energy.
Icaran beams danced across the shields of the Solar SD for several seconds before contacting the metal hull with a force that actually tore clean through from as beams entered through the port side and exited through the starboard.
There was no material in the universe that could hold up to 2 terawatts of power for very long and the Sol Coalition had chosen not to put reactive armor on their warships, and even now the folly of that decision was apparent as two kilometers of ship simply seemed to start coming apart as the I-lasers tore through bulkheads. There was no massive explosion from the Sol warship; it simply broke apart in a series of small fiery chunks, one of which probably contained its primary reactor which had some how not gone critical as the ship was destroyed.

“Alright let’s pick out another target people we aren’t done yet.” Hancock barked as his some of his crew stared in aw at the still glowing wreckage. A Sol cruiser was next to fall to the Fortitude as it tried to get under another Super dreadnought and fire at it’s unarmed underbelly.

The battle lasted barely twenty minutes as Icaran and Sol Coalition forces both fought fiercely, and though the 6th fleet emerged victorious from its first battle, it had paid dearly for that victory, leaving eight Icaran super dreadnoughts destroyed and two crippled hulks, a total of 57,900 Icarans died in the twenty minute battle and though 38 enemy ships were destroyed only 5 were of equivalent class to the Icaran warships lost.

6th Fleet under Admiral Chester Hancock engages 38 enemy ships
Icaran Losses:
HMS Prince Consort (SD) (98% Destroyed- 5,900 dead)
HMS Tangu (SD) (77% destroyed 3,200 dead)
HMS Herodotus (SD) (Destroyed – 6,100 dead)
HMS Sullivans (SD) (Destroyed 6,100 dead)
HMS Junaeu (SD) (Destroyed -6,100 dead)
HMS Lightning (SD) (Destroyed – 6,100 dead)
HMS TigerClaw (SD) (Destroyed -6,100 dead)
HMS Agitator (SD) (Destroyed 6,100 dead)
HMS Tsun-Tsu (SD) (Destroyed- 6,100 dead)
HMS Italia (SD) (Destroyed 6,100 dead)
Icaran Dead: 57,900
Total Anderman Crusade Losses: 632,307

2440.4 Change in the Balance
Three months after the battle of Asterion the entire Anderman alliance was thrown into upheaval as pre arranged forces under Mantisoran control seized government officials, and vital centers of commerce, defense and communication bringing the Anderman Federation, the Empire of Man and the Sol Coalition to their knees in a matter of hours.

Thanks to Mantisoran economic efforts and public relations operations the bulk of the Alliance worlds fell under Mantisoran control without a shot being fired as the people saw the Mantisorans as heroes come to save them from an ever growing state of economic collapse and sense of fear as whole worlds were abandoned by their former governments in order to protect the “more important” worlds of their respective nations.

Two weeks into the month of Pájaro in the year 2440.4 a new nation was born as the last political holdouts of the alliance “disappeared” or were otherwise forced into recognizing the Mantisoran crown as the only legitimate government in the former Alliance controlled space, from this change in political, economic and military power the Mantis United Kingdom was forged, a nation with nearly a thousand ships under it’s control and several hundred more planets then the Icaran Empire.

The new threat posed by this nation caused even the staunchest of Icaran expansionists to pause and rethink the new balance of power in the Galaxy, the Anderman, Empire of Man, and Sol coalition had all ceased to exist and from their chaotic political infighting came a strong government with an economic might greater than that of Icara and with As Mantisoran Admirals took over the fleets and Mantisoran Generals took over the armies of the former alliance, a new corps of deadly efficient and disciplined officers took the reigns of a once disunited and in some cases down right incompetent military and from it they would create a war machine to rival the power and discipline of the Icaran Royal Forces.

[Starhawk]

(none story) In order to create a much more enjoyable and challenging foe, as well as to add some spice to the game story I took control of the EOM, the Anderman and the Sol Coaltion and had them all surrender to the Mantisorans.

I also put several battle moons under construction at mantisoran worlds so this story is likely to get a lot more interesting very soon http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Atrocities]

The hard thing about writing is simply writing after a while. It seems like no one really cares and no one reads what you post so its easy to call it quites after a bit. The thing is most poeple read what you post but post nothing about it, that is unless its bad in which case they point that out. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

I do miss a lot of the fan fiction that was always being posted here but what the hell, easy come easy go. Your still posting so that I have something to look forward to when I log onto Shrapnel.

[Zaamon]

I always read this. Want to see what happens next.

Only hoping that can play same mod.

[Starhawk]

Heh my biggest problem in writing so far is that so many of my main characters were either killed (Fowler, Yu Hing Pe, and others) or have been seperated by assignments so it's hard to keep telling the story from the perspective of the people that once formed the core of my story http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

LOL Hell Ross and Linn are Married and yet they are about 800 lightyears apart that sort of puts a crimp in that relationship heh.

[Atrocities]

Keep notes. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif I found that I would build more ships than I could track, and often one would simply disappear on me. That is why I am a big fan of getting a Ship tracking sheet in SEV. Fingers crossed anyways.

[Hunpecked]

Starhawk writes:

"LOL Hell Ross and Linn are Married and yet they are about 800 lightyears apart that sort of puts a crimp in that relationship heh."

Phone sex?

[Starhawk]

2442.1 The Newest Breed of War:
Admiral William Ross, commander of the first fleet relaxed in his ready room aboard Superior and sighed contentedly, it had been a year of relative peace throughout the Icaran Empire, as the government paused and took stock of the new threats that the United Mantisoran Kingdom could bring against Icara. Though the 1st fleet was in Remorhaz space they were never in any real danger as the fading republic didn’t have enough warships left to threaten a single division of Super Dreadnought’s much less a full on battle fleet.
Word had reached the intelligence service a few weeks ago that the Delta Corporation had dispatched a privately funded fleet of mercenaries to one of the former Anderman worlds, and that hey had conducted horrible experiments on the civilian population. Ross remembered sourly that when he first read the reports containing details of the experiments his stomach heaved not only because of the experiments but because the Home Fleet was going to be assigned to destroying the renegades, fortunately that hadn’t been needed in the end as the Mantisorans tried to liberate the world.

Ross felt a strange sense of guilt as he remembered feeling remorse when he heard the news that two Mantisoran fleets had been destroyed on two separate attempts to rescue the inhabitants of Horod V killing nearly three hundred thousand of their spacers before a third fleet of some sixty warships finally overwhelmed and destroyed the DC fleet, however they too lost five ships with crews of around 6,500 each.

William re-read the report and frowned, though they had liberated the world of Hodor V it was a hollow victory as marine landing parties from the Mantisorans discovered that the population was so horribly deformed there was no point in saving them, in the end the Mantisoran commander, one Admiral Vincent DeLeno had glassed the world to end the agonies of those that were unlucky enough to survive the horrible experiments conducted upon them.

Ross knew that the Mantisorans were his enemy but he also knew that they were an enemy he could respect and that they like Icara dealt with prisoners with honor and compassion so the thought of hundreds of thousands of their naval personnel being killed by renegade pirates seemed wrong on the most basic of levels; navy personnel were soldiers, fighting for what they believed in, the mercenaries that had killed them were fighting for money and were doing horrible things to innocent men women and children for the sake of making a profit and though he would never tell anyone how he felt Ross could not help but feel sympathy for the families of those brave men and women who died trying to do what was right, they died trying to protect innocents.

Suddenly William was pulled from his thoughts as klaxons howled and a voice boomed over the ships speakers calling all hands to action stations, as he stood and tugged his jacket back on Ross couldn’t help but wonder if that enemy he just felt sympathy had decided to come and try to kill his young men and women.

As he reached the bridge Ross noticed the pale shocked faces of his sensor crew and flag Captain and felt the hair on the back of his neck rise, they were all veterans so whatever could make them look like that must be either very bad or worse.
“What is it Captain?” The Admiral managed to keep the concern out of his voice, though his worry grew when it donned on him that the marine sentry on the bridge forgot to announce his arrival.
“Uh, captain we’ve just had a warp point open and…..well sir.” The captain flinched at the screen again before finally looking directly at Admiral Ross “Sir according to our reports something the size of a small planetoid is coming towards our position and I’m reading energy signatures off the charts.” The flag captain shrugged and looked back at the screen.
“Small planetoid eh? How big exactly is it?” Ross said somewhat irritated by the fact that his crew was standing around like slack jawed back breeds, though he couldn’t entirely blame them.
“Sir unknown object has sixty kilometer diameter with a mass reading of twenty five megatons and an energy signature of several hundred terawatts I can’t get an exact reading from this range.” The Sensor tech looked as if she’d seen a ghost as she reported her sensor’s readings.

Five hours passed and nothing new came in, the 1st fleet assembled in battle formation with the vulnerable troop transports hidden away at the center of the fleet to protect them from whatever was coming.
“Um, Admiral I’m receiving a signal from that…..ship.” A young com tech tabbed a control and the primary screen on the bridge came to life, everyone on the deck visibly relaxed when a young looking woman wearing an Icaran Royal navy uniform appeared on screen, a mischievous smile on her face.
“Sorry if I startled you folks, I was ordered to keep radio silence until I was in position to join your fleet, I’m Commodore Rukia Fujita commander of the HMS Holy Crusade one of two battle moons that just launched from port, I also happen to be your new flag officer Admiral.” Her smile brightened as she snapped a salute in parade fashion.

Ross couldn’t help but smile, he had met Fujita only once before and that was back on Icara while she recovered from wounds she sustained during the campaign in Ulda Fraiv when the 1st fleet was still under command of Admiral Tyson Babcock before his reassignment to 3rd fleet.
Ross remembered that even while they grew limbs for the ones she lost, and even while she was undergoing agonizing physical therapy her spirit had barely lost any of it’s flair and toughness, she even refused to let the doctors remove a scar across her right cheek where a piece of shrapnel the size of a dinner plate barely grazed her. She told Ross that if she got rid of that scar it would be ignoring the only good bit of luck she had had that day.
“It’s good to see you again Rukia, come on in and take formation with the rest of the fleet.”

“Aye sir and I’d love to give you a tour of your new flagship sir.” Rukia bowed and saluted again before cutting the circuit.

(to be continued……)

[Hunpecked]

Nitpick: the phrase "it donned on him" should be "it dawned on him".

Re: Fujita. A veteran should definitely have a scar or two both as a reminder to self and as a warning to the newbies.

[Starhawk]

The Newest Breed of War pt2:
The Superior’s cutter number ten slipped into the massive docking bay; the bay was so large the cutter wouldn’t even be visible with the naked eye from the farthest end, hundreds of cutters and other small craft called this bay home and as Ross stared out of the view port of his cutter he suddenly felt like a child who had seen the sky for the first time.
The cutter’s hatch opened and a ramp slid down to the deck with a quiet clank that seemed to be swallowed up by the sheer size of the bay, as Ross stepped into view he paused for a moment, stunned yet again as he saw the honor guard that awaited him a full eight thousand crew and marines; at their head Commodore Rukia Fujita and a tall, olive complexioned man whom looked almost frail as he stood next to the shorter but much more muscularly built Spartan Commodore in her full dress mess uniform.

The traditional steel whistle called out an ancient whistle alerting all hands present to a flag officer’s arrival on deck; at the sound the entire company snapped to attention with a sound that would bring confidence to any commander; Ross proudly returned the salute and cleared his throat “As you were.”
A few seconds later Commodore Fujita and the frail looking man at her side stepped forward, Fujita smiled like a schoolgirl as she allowed herself to relish the look of absolute shock on her new Admiral’s face.
“Welcome aboard the Holy Crusade Admiral.” The young woman offered her hand to Ross, who took it and grinned sheepishly as he realized he had been gawking like a backwater mudfoot.
“Thank you Commodore, she’s certainly one of the most unique things I’ve ever seen.” His grin widened as he looked around the massive “boat bay” again, still staggered by its sheer size.
“Tell me commodore how do you keep the enemy from flying straight into this great big beast and blowing you all apart?” Ross smiled wickedly this time and suppressed a chuckle when he saw the look of shock on face of the Captain next to Fujita.

Being acquainted with Ross’ quirky sense of humor Fujita was totally unflustered as she smiled back and managed a velvet smooth voice “Well Admiral unlike that bucket of bolts that was your old flagship the Holy Crusade has the latest in void shield technology, oh and not to mention a fifteen meter thick blast door that seals off the entire launch bay in battle conditions.” Fujita turned to her aid and her smile turned once again into a grin as she noticed the man’s confusion.
“Oh Admiral may I present Flag Captain Elijah Jones of the New Bethlehem colony.” She nudged the younger man who stepped forward and saluted.

“It’s an honor to be meeting you Admiral.” Elijah’s voice was surprisingly deep for a man that looked so thin, his accent was also very unusual within the Icaran Empire and Ross had to remind himself that the New Bethlehem colony had not been part of the Icaran Empire until it was discovered by the Midwinter about ten Terran years ago, fortunately for both Icara and New Bethlehem the Colony’s leaders had decided to join the Empire voluntarily due to both political and religious reasons instead of trying to put up resistance.

“Good to meet you too Jones, how long have you been aboard Crusade?” Ross always liked to get to know his senior officers and he had realized long ago that a more casual approach often helped; obviously he could look up the man’s entire service record in about five minutes but he preferred hearing things straight from the “horses mouth”. He suppressed a grin at the thought of a big hairy mammal no Icaran had seen in a few centuries talking.

“Well sir she’s only about four months old and I’ve been with her since her latter stages of construction, so I’d say about one standard year.” Jones said crisply and smiled with pride as Ross nodded and looked around at the amazing “boat bay” again.
“It almost doesn’t fit to call this thing a ship does it?” Ross asked no one in particular as Rukia and Jones turned to lead him out of the massive boat bay.

A few minutes later Admiral William Ross and his new command staff, Commodore Rukia Fujita and Captain Elijah Jones stepped off the lift and onto the main bridge, William came up short as he stepped off the lift and saw the sprawling two tiered command center.
“My Lord I’ve seen planetary defense command centers smaller then this!” Ross said excitedly as he looked around the sleek dimly lit bridge.
“Well sir considering this warship is 60 kilometers in diameter and rates 25 megatons I’d say she deserves a good command center.” Rukia grinned and guided Ross to one of the many holographic displays on the bridge before she continued talking. “This particular station shows a display of the overall ship’s status, including our armaments and shield capabilities.”
“So what are the capabilities of this ship Commodore?” Ross felt more excited then he had since laid eyes on the first Yu Hing Pe super dreadnought to roll of the line, this ship was something that was generations beyond anything Ross had ever seen before in sheer size and power.
“We have eight spinal mount I-lasers capable of a 50 terawatt stream for five seconds, beyond that we have 89 massive mount I-lasers on top of that each capable of the standard 2 terawatt 3 second stream.” Rukia smiled as she noticed the shocked expression on Ross’ face, she tabbed a control on the panel and the hologram changed from a view of the exterior of the massive warship to a display of the internal layout.
“We have the latest generation energy focusing lenses so we lose less then five percent of energy per shot, making them about twenty percent more effective then the weapons on the current build SDs, though NavTech is working on that, we’ve made some other improvements too……” After an hour of briefings on the newest improvements made to the Holy Crusade William decided to take some of the tech manuals to his quarters and invited Rukia to come along, partly because he wanted to talk to her and private and partly because he had no clue how to get to his own quarters.

As the two officers stepped through the door to Ross’ quarters and the marine closed the hatch behind them William turned to Rukia and smiled humorlessly “So Rukia tell me what’s been going on back home, I hear some things are changing” he tried to keep his tone from becoming grim but it didn’t seem to help much and he realized that as Rukia’s face suddenly turned pale.
“Well sir some of the frontier worlds have begun rioting more and more and the Praetor has declared them rogue until such time as the FSD can get in there and stabilize the situation…..and sir I didn’t want to tell you this in front of the rest of the crew but Home Fleet got tarred pretty bad trying to take out a Mantisoran controlled colony.” She paused for a moment and her eyes darted about the room like she was trying to do anything but look at the shocked expression on Ross’ face.

“Is Lin….?” He felt the words stick in his throat and he couldn’t manage to force them free.
“She’s uninjured Sir but she’s under review by the Admiralty, they don’t think she did anything wrong per se but she lost all but one of her fleet’s SDs and one of her Flag Monitors took a beating.” Rukia stepped closer to Ross and resisted the urge to put her hand on his shoulder, an official review by the Admiralty would not likely end Lin’s career but it could easily be seen as a black mark on her permanent records, but more then that Ross knew how Lin would feel about losing so many of her own ships and crews taking over one planet.

“Well as long as she’s alright she’ll pull through this, how are things on the military front I hear there are some strange reforms in the works?” Ross managed to keep his voice more casual this time and he could barely contain the mix of Relief and worry knotting his belly.

“Actually yes sir, the fleets are all being pulled back to Norvor and many of our outlying worlds are being isolated via warp point closing ships. Our orders for now though don’t include falling back to Norvor at this time but it probably won’t be much longer.” Rukia sat in the chair Ross waved her too before continuing “Sir its only scuttlebutt but it makes sense since so far everyone except us has been recalled to Norvor and the fleets are being reorganized as the battlemoons come on line, we’ve also got word that all production of Super Dreadnoughts has temporarily ceased until the fleets get back home.”

William frowned thoughtfully and rubbed his forehead, in a way it made sense to recall the fleets if the frontier worlds were rioting and the United Mantis Kingdom was reorganizing into more effective defensive and offensive units, word had reached the Navy that most of the so called “new frontier” worlds had fallen to the Mantis navy months ago and even the Royal Navy couldn’t be everywhere so continuing to take worlds they couldn’t hold made no sense.
“So when does the new building program begin?” Ross was more curious then grim this time, he knew there was no way in hell Rodrick would let the navy sit on the defensive for long but the frontier worlds had to be reminded that no matter who they once belonged to they were now Icaran citizens, and Icaran citizens don’t riot.
“Well it’s supposed to start early next year once everything back home has been cleaned up and we get the fleet reorganized.” She managed a brief smile, she had been back on Icara for the past year and a half with a mix of recovering from her injuries and helping get the crew of the Holy Crusade up and ready for launch so she had actually looked forward to getting back out on the front lines, but Ross and most of First fleet hadn’t even seen Icara for almost three years and she knew they’d look forward to the recall for at least a little while.

“So tell me more about what’s been going on back home.”

[El_Phil]

Nice to see your still going and not a bad chapter.

Still it does seem odd 'word reaching then navy' I mean they of all people need to know what the enemy is doing.

Stil going with TWs I see, nice fudge on those technobabble focusing lense by the way http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif. Still may I introduce you to the simple joy of KE weapons: Take one 6kg lump, accelerate up to 0.1c and it will do about the same damage as one of those spinal I-Lasers (in pure MT terms at least) as well as being far smaller. Something to think about perhaps?

[Starhawk]

El_Phil said:
Nice to see your still going and not a bad chapter.

Still it does seem odd 'word reaching then navy' I mean they of all people need to know what the enemy is doing.



Well remember they don't have FTL comms all the messages are sent via messenger ship or warp drone. And Warp drones are expensive so they are very rare except for absolute emergencies on a fleet wide scale.

So "Word reaching the navy" is because it would take time for he message to reach the intelligence branch and then time for that message to reach the Navy as a whole.


Stil going with TWs I see, nice fudge on those technobabble focusing lense by the way http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif. Still may I introduce you to the simple joy of KE weapons: Take one 6kg lump, accelerate up to 0.1c and it will do about the same damage as one of those spinal I-Lasers (in pure MT terms at least) as well as being far smaller. Something to think about perhaps?



Yeah but solid shot wouldn't punch through the null space (void) shields so it wouldn't really be a good idea http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif besides that energy weapons don't require a large magazine while solid weapons do.

And yeah Terawatt seems to work for now http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[El_Phil]

Large magazine for a railgun or huge reactors, inductors, cooling systems for energy weapons. Hmmmm....

One point. If you want to do a tech manual, or just put in some tech background in the books, you are going to have to drop the cool sounding words.
For instance, I remember you saying the I-lasers weren't lasers but fusion beams. Well 'Fusion Beam' may sound nifty but it means nothing. Same for 'Null Space' shields. Unless you are actually using a shielding system based on mathematical solutions to matrix problems. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

The other problem with the tech manual is you commit yourself and people ask difficult questions, like "Why rail guns can't pierce null space shields, but other things can?"

[Starhawk]

Well I don't know what you would call a beam that creates a fusion reaction with just about any solid object it comes in contact with? (basically turning hull plating into a micro fusion explosion)

As far as "null space" goes basically think about it like this the GFGs focus a "wavelength" of subspace around the ship to create a "void" around the ship. Basically it's kind of like putting a bubble of subspace around the ship to absorb impacts.

Now why would solid shots not work? Simple because the solid impact would simply break apart on the shield, it's a matter of kinetic force vs something that negates the kinetic force. NOW why does the energy weapon work? Becuase of the fact that when the two energies mingle you get a hell of a lot of force released eventually burning out the shield generators, however unfortunately due to the nature of the interactions there are shield "burn throughs" that take place every so often resulting in some of that energy striking the ship's hull directly causing damage and killing people.

Why then do ships have armor? Because ablative armor causes the fusion "bomb" to be shot off of the hull before it can actually cause the blastwave to go directly into the ship.

Why fight broadside? Simple because their shields are not "directional" like the shields on star trek where you can take a hit on the nose and just turn your side to the bad guy to releive that shield point until it regenerates a hit on the nose in the Icaranverse reduces the overall shield effectiveness, also due to the nature of shields weapons can not be fired "through" it either way which means that if a ship tried to fire through it's shields it would just be hurting it's own shields.

So the weapons are laid out mainly broadside so that when the ship opens "ports" in it's shields it's maximizing firepower while at the same time making sure it's getting more worth out of it's shield-to-fire ratio (basically why fire two weapons forward and lose the same amount of shield when they fire back when you can unleash 18 or more cannons?)

Now does this tech work with modern physics HELL NO but are the Icarans nearly two thousand years more advanced then us Yeppers and I am taking creative liscence given that 100 years ago no one thought powered flight would make sense, and given that only about 70 years ago some scientist said there was not enough fissionable material in the world to make a reactor or a bomb I figure who knows how far two thousand years worth of advancement will bring our knowledge of physics and technology.




(re: Magazine vs reactor)
The Icaran quantum reactors in the main turrets are rather small comparitavely speaking and you can get nearly unlimited fire out of them while the more rounds you wanted to fire with a solid shot weapon the bigger the magazine would need to be.

basically a reactor for an energy weapon could give you 1 shot or 1,000,000 for the same size while a magazine for a solid shot weapon would need to grow with every few rounds you add to the capacity of the ship.

[El_Phil]

Your right that doesn't work with physics, not even a little bit. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif It's the kind of stuff a star trek engineer would be proud to spout. Still that is the advantage of writing your own stuff, you can just make things up.

Tech will change and new things will be found out, but to paraphrase Scotty 'You canna change the laws of physics!" that reasoning on why solid shot wont work is so fundamentally wrong it's painful. So the work to counter KE doesn't stress the generators, but the energy release when a beam hits does stress them. To counter the KE of the sold shot you will need at least the same amount of energy, "Energy can neither be created or destroyed" and so on.

Take an 18" naval shell (say 1,500lb or ~700kg), accelerate to 0.1c. The shell now has a KE of 350PetaJoules. All that energy hits the shields and something has to happen to it, that is a fundamental law of the universe.


Or you just don't bother with explaining it and take the answer used about how Trek inertial dampers work, 'Perfectly well thank you.' http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

[Hunpecked]

El_Phil writes: "Large magazine for a railgun or huge reactors, inductors, cooling systems for energy weapons. Hmmmm...."

If you're putting comparable energies on the target--whether "energy beam" or kinetic energy projectile--don't you need to control comparable energies at the source? For example, doesn't the railgun require a substantial "reactor" to generate the current for something like 3 million G's on its projectile (assuming its velocity of 0.1c is attained in one second or less)? If it's less than 100% efficient, it will also require cooling. I'm no engineer, but I suspect it would also require massive conductors, inductors, transformers, etc.

[El_Phil]

True, but you aren't messing around with exotic particles. This vastly simplifies the entire process and reduces the losses in conversion (as there are less converions http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif).

Also although the total energy is the same, the peak would be lower. A 100TW beam would need a 100TW reactor to power it when it's firing. A magneic accelerated railgun slug builds up its KE over the course of its acceleration. So a 10TW reactor powers the magnets for 10 seconds and you've put the same amount of power into the final weapon, but with a reactor 10 times smaller. Or you use the same size reactor and get a 10 times more powerful weapon.:D

[Starhawk]

El_Phil said:
Your right that doesn't work with physics, not even a little bit. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif It's the kind of stuff a star trek engineer would be proud to spout. Still that is the advantage of writing your own stuff, you can just make things up.

Tech will change and new things will be found out, but to paraphrase Scotty 'You canna change the laws of physics!" that reasoning on why solid shot wont work is so fundamentally wrong it's painful. So the work to counter KE doesn't stress the generators, but the energy release when a beam hits does stress them. To counter the KE of the sold shot you will need at least the same amount of energy, "Energy can neither be created or destroyed" and so on.

Take an 18" naval shell (say 1,500lb or ~700kg), accelerate to 0.1c. The shell now has a KE of 350PetaJoules. All that energy hits the shields and something has to happen to it, that is a fundamental law of the universe.


Or you just don't bother with explaining it and take the answer used about how Trek inertial dampers work, 'Perfectly well thank you.' http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif




Okay so there's no saying an energy weapon couldn't effectively create a fusion explosion when it meets a solid object or is there in physics?

Well to correct ol' Scotty you can change the laws of physics lol because we know about diddly crap about physics we just like assuming we know everything about it http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif I mean 100 years ago they "knew everything about physics" and now we look back at a lot of that and laugh (or so I hear) so in 2,000 years God only knows what "physics" will mean to an engineer.

Now take a 18' naval shell which requires something to propel it to 0.1c and you might as well remove the magazine that you would need to place there WITH the reactor the coolant and blah blah and just have the energy it's self, saves space http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Also think about the shield thing like this:
A bullet proof vest can stop a bullet but not a knife, a knife goes streight through it like butter.

Now a shield grid= bullet proof vest and the energy beam is the knife http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

The bullet needs to survive the impact to actually do any kinetic damage, if it gets vaporized the second it contacts the shield than it's not much good is it?

Now if you'd like to say something about the shields being a small bubble of subspace being "impossible" well howso? Who says that there won't eventually be a tech that lets you create a small pocket of subspace around a ship?

Let's face it you can't explain future tech easily or to necessarily fit our logic anymore then we could explain a jet fighter to someone from the 13th century (assuming they didn't burn you for witch craft before you got the chance to say "Yo" of course) It's simply a matter of what is possible NOW and what may be we just don't know.

Reminds me of what that one dude said about "Any technology advanced enough is indistuingishable from magic" or something like that.

I mean no offense here El_Phil but care to explain how you "know" all this is not ever going to be possible and I'll think about changing my tech a different way or not explaining it at all, in the meantime though my tech is from a totally different LEVEL of science so I can explain it however I want because unless someone from 2,000 years in the future parks himself in my living room and tells me what they actually have I can only play a guessing game here http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[edit] OH and energy weapon= lightspeed weapon meaning no chance to physically intercept said object.

Bullet at c fractional is still not lightspeed and you come up with a computer advanced enough you can send your own c fractional counter weapon back at it.

That basically means not only would you be adding a magazine to your ship which is not necessary you'd be giving your enemy an additional layer of defense against your weapons and whats the point in that?

[El_Phil]

You think you can stab a knife through a sheet of kevlar? Good luck to you there matey. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif You can stick a knife through the gaps between the plates of kevlar certainly, but not through the bullet proof slabs.

How do you vaporise the slug? Now you could just use 'handwavium', I've got no problem with that, its soft sci-fi and also you to get on with the story.

If you want to explain it you've got to say what happens to all the KE of the slug. It cannot vanish, and you've got to put some energy into vaporising the slug, thus chuck enough material at it and you'll overload the shields.

Everything we have ever seen, at every level, in every field from quantum physics through to cooking to parallel dimensions and black holes supports 'Energy can neither be created or destroyed.' It's fundamnetal, from comet orbits to falling out of a plane, everything obeys this. That's why I can say those shields will never work as you say, they will be vulnerable to slugs. You cannot just wave away all that energy.

[Starhawk]

Well you could say that since the KE is a non continuous energy force your shields will simply absorb it or shrug it off while a sustained energy beam would prevent the shields from simply absorbing it as it is still "pushing" against the shield.

As far as "chucking enough material" that would require a high rate of sustained fire which would mean BIGGER magazines and a still interceptable weapon, with an energy stream you still need that high rate of fire but not more material to chuck.

Besides a bullet is wasteful as it requires raw material and mass while an energy beam in a sense requires raw material (i.e power and in the case of chemical lasers the chemicals) it does not have any mass and so is far cheaper and more efficient then loading up a ship with tens of thousands of rounds of 18' shells.

Oh and BTW bullet proof vests DO NOT stop knives which is a problem US police have had for years and why the British designed a specialty vest specifically to stop knives. Saw it on a history channel and discovery channel show so I can't point out a web site if your going to bring that up.

To try and explain it the way the guy on the show did a knife actually has more "force" behind it in that once a bullet hits and it's energy is spread out across the vest thats it your done but a knife continues to apply that force and bullet proof armor is designed for that. Or something to that effect.


I never said the shield destroys or creates energy there is a difference between absorbing energy for a limited time and "creating energy" it's just that when two energies mix you can have a "surge" which is basically what I was trying to say with the burn through.

Oh and how do I vaporize the slug, high speed object hitting imovable object (i.e the shield) kind of like throwing a glass bottle at a wall except at .c fractional speeds that glass bottle would vanish.

[El_Phil]

These magazines aren't big. Use DU at 19kg/m3 you need a 0.3m3 slug at 0.1c to equal your biggest turrets total 5 second output. That's not alot of space in anyones book, not given the size of the ships.

An energy beam is far more wasteful, radiation losses, blooming and dozens more reasons. Of course as you've hand waved all that away I suppose that isn't a factor. :p

Here's what I think you mean about shields, your reactors generating at xKW, but the shields charge up, giving a total strength of 3 times x KW or whatever the charge up factor is. In that case surely the slug is more dangerous, all its power is concentrated in one burst, the turrets spread their power out over several seconds.

However given that your first and last paragraphs contradict each other I'm not sure what you do mean. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/confused.gif

[Starhawk]

Well the first paragraph deals with what i mean about the Kinetic energy not the slug it's self http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif The kinetic energy is still there even after the slug is not (at least I think that's what you told me).

The last paragraph deals with the slug it's self which would pretty well vanish once it hit that shield no matter.

Now I have a question for you regarding the whole math, how do we KNOW what an object the size you described would do at C fractional speeds unless we've been able to propel an object C fractional and I just don't remember hearing about it lol.

Seriously though do scientists just "round up" from speeds we know about or do they pull it out of the air?

That's like the theory that if you press your hand against a table for a million years your hand and the table will merge, well considering neither your hand nor that table would possibly be there for a million years where did they get that from?



As far as energy loss goes assuming you get energy weapons I'm sure you'd know how to minimize energy loss (i.e focusing lenses and who knows what else) so assuming your hitting someone with 2 TW of power FOR 5 seconds (after whatever minimal energy loss you get) as opposed to hitting it with like 5 TW of power for about half a second.

Oh and I was trying to think of an analagy comparing the shield to the bullet with that brick wall bit not saying the shield is the literal equivilent of a brick wall because if you do that a marshmellow travelling at C fracionals would punch through it easily.

Their shields basically work in this sense (let me try to explain it as best I can) a split second energy burst wouldn't effect the overall stability of the shield, while a "drilling" sort of enery would.

My shields are actually inspired by the Langston fields form the Empire of Man series so I guess I could just flat out use the langston physics instead of trying to use my own lol http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Langston fields worked where kinetic weapons were useless because the second it contacted the shield it slowed down so much that there was practically no kinetic force at all so they used fusion torpedoes and lasers a lot.

But they still had to open "ports" to launch torpedoes or fire missiles because the field worked both ways.

[El_Phil]

In which case Langston fields sound equally shaky, you've got to bleed off a hell of alot of KE to bleed off. If you want to use it go ahead, but don't say you can explain it. Or accept your going soft sci-fi. There's nothing wrong with that route.

The particles of the slugs have the KE, you can't seperate the two, the energy doesn't just float around after you vaporise the slug. You slow it down, wonderfull, that takes energy, you through in several very fast slugs at the same time and you can't produce enough power to slow them all down.

Behaviour of a fractional c body, well as I can walk at a fraction of c there's your answer. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif
Seriously though random atmospheric particles and cosmic rays travel at ridiculously high fractions of c, where Einstinean physics, not Newtonian, apply. Hence I've only suggested 0.1c, above that it's stops being 0.5mv2 and gets more complex.

The table merging is from the depths of quantum mechanics, which is a horrendous field I try and avoid. Consider quantum tunneling: You are trapped behind a barrier, say a prison wall. You could exist either side of that wall, but you lack the energy to get through the wall. However quantum tunneling says there is a chance you could just appear the other side of the barrier.

Of course that is epically unlikely, but possible. You can demonstrate quantum tunneling, (particles not people http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif) and so test assumptions and constants. It's proveable, demonstratable and repeatable. And mind bendingly complex.

[Starhawk]

Well actually I'll stick to my shields and accept I am going soft sci-fi in that field because I don't want to rip of Pournelle since i like his work and it seems wrong to rip off people who's work you like http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif they did inspire me though since aside from the Harrington (gravity fields) it's the most unique shields I've heard of in sci-fi.

Although I know I won't be able to explain the "exact" physics of how the shields work since they defy our current knowledge of physics I'll explain just generally how they work http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif (non physics department)

Hey look at it this way though as far as my beams that can create a mini fusion explosion that is actually possible I think I'm not sure though.

And you think I am going "soft" sci-fi there is a series involving some group called "The Culture" where they shoot freakin black holes at each other as standard weapons (I mean real full fledged black holes not mini black holes). Or so I've been told, it all sounds a bit strange to me.

Same thing with this group called the 5th Imperium (don't know where it's from just heard about them on the spacebattles forums) where the average ship is the size of a planet and where they shoot unbeleivably outlandish weapons at one another.

[El_Phil]

"The Culture" novels are Ian Banks, who does hard sci-fi. Just because it's super uber powerful, doesn't make it soft sci-fi. You can, with enough power, do almost anything. Throw in very, very advanced AI and some more power and there are few limits. But that's the point, there are limits. Things that still cannot be done, at all.

It's the lack of hand waving and magical components or elements (dilithium crystals for instance http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif) and the consistency that determine hard or soft sci-fi.


For your story, a throw away line about how projectiles don't work (or work really badly) on the shields and don't pursue it, unless it's relavent to the plot/story. If projectiles work or not should only be mentioned if your main charcters (or minor http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif) meet an enemy who uses them.

I remember an Asimov book, one of the Laws of Robotics ones, which was awful for that. Plot and other points needed to be established, but it was done by characters telling each other what they already knew. Not all the time, but it wasn't good. However the ideas were new and interesting enough that it didn't matter.

In fact Dr A. is a good example, how the robots work just isn't discussed, unless the story needs it. Even then theres no (or little) extra detail, its distracting.

[Starhawk]

Hey I don't use "dylithium crytals" or anything that "hand wavy" http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

For that matter I didn't put any "throw away lines" about projectiles in my story just telling you http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif.

And for the most part I haven't mentioned anything "totally" unrealistic except maybe the shields but that's just subjective so you can't really just label mine "soft sci-fi" because you disagree with the one little bit about my shields and then turn around and say black holes being slung at people is 'hard' as that has to violate a whole lot more areas of physics then mine heh.

[Starhawk]

Just for those wondering here is the Status of the Icaran Empire and the United Mantis Kingdom:

Icara:

Systems controlled: 85 (lets call it 82 as there are presently at least three systems totally engulfed in riots)

Planets: 676
Sphereworlds: 5

Population: 919.1 billion

Resources: 29.3 million

Research Points; 634.6k

Intelligence points: 818k

Tech Levels: 360

Units: 11475

Bases: 104

Ships: 1315


Icaran Military Breakdown:
1st Fleet
1 Battlemoon
2 Flag Monitors
149 Super Dreadnoughts
1 Picket ship
2 Repair ships
1 Minesweeper
Total Crew: 1,250,900

2nd Fleet
1 Battlemoon
2 Flag Monitors
149 Super Dreadnoughts
2 Repair ships
1 Minesweeper
Total Crew: 1,250,900

3rd Fleet
1 Battlemoon
2 Flag Monitors
149 Super Dreadnoughts
2 Repair ships
1 Minesweeper
Total Crew: 1,250,900

5th Fleet
1 Battlemoon
2 Flag Monitors
149 Super Dreadnoughts
2 Repair Ships
1 Minesweeper
Total Crew: 1,250,900

6th Fleet
1 Battlemoon
2 Flag Monitors
149 Super Dreadnoughts
2 Repair ships
1 Minesweeper
1 Picket ship
Total Crew: 1,250,900

7th Fleet
1 Battlemoon
2 Flag monitors
149 Super Dreadnoughts
2 Repair ships
1 Minesweeper
Total Crew: 1,250,900

Home Fleet:
2 Battlemoons
6 Flag Monitors
149 Super Dreadnoughts
2 Repair ships
1 Minesweeper
Total Crew: 1,610,900

(note I only included fully formed fleets minus their ground assualt units as I have not yet assigned troop support to the reforming fleets)


Mantis UK:

Systems: 110
Planets: 888 (1 sphereworld)
Population: 342.5 billion
Ships: 515
Bases: 32
Units 23115

[Hunpecked]

El_Phil writes: "So a 10TW reactor powers the magnets for 10 seconds and you've put the same amount of power into the final weapon, but with a reactor 10 times smaller."

To accelerate a projectile to 0.1c in 10 seconds, the railgun would have to be about 150,000 km long. By comparison, the average earth-moon distance is about 384,000 km.

A railgun that could do the job in 1 second would be "only" about 1500 km long, but of course it would require 10 times the reactor capacity.

[Hunpecked]

El_Phil writes: " Use DU at 19kg/m3 you need a 0.3m3 slug at 0.1c to equal your biggest turrets total 5 second output"

The density of uranium is actually 19,050 kg per cubic meter.

[Starhawk]

2442.6 The first test:
The buzzer woke Admiral William Ross up in the middle of the night; he woke up quickly thanks to spending fifty years in the navy (or in training) but he was still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes when he tabbed the com control and selected non-visual.
“Admiral this is bridge, I’m sorry to wake you sir but our sensors have just detected three cloaked ships moving through the system, we can generate an intercept but we can’t get a clear reading on what those ships are yet.” The voice on the other end of the line was the cold baritone of Elijah Jones and it took Ross a moment to recognize the tone of excitement in the other man’s voice.
“Alright Elijah get Rukia up and tell her to meet me on the bridge in five minutes, meanwhile have CIC generate an intercept course and get us on our way.” William grinned as he allowed himself a second of cruel pleasure at the thought of waking Rukia and returning the favor for her little training exercise the previous day that had startled him out of bed at three in the morning.
“Sir which division commander should I com about providing escort?” The Captain’s asked in a conversational tone.
“I don’t think we’ll need escort to intercept three ships Captain, this ship is supposed to be its own battle group after all.” William’s grin grew as the pause on the other end drew out a few more seconds.
“Yes sir I’ll com Commodore Fujita right away.” Captain Jones cut the com and William dragged himself out of bed and staggered over to his locker to get a fresh uniform out; So three enemy ships under cloak, this should be a pretty easy intercept, let’s just hope those boys back at NavTech know what they were talking about when the designed this ship. he paused a moment to grimace in the mirror as he fastened his collar before he turned to leave his quarters and head for the bridge.

Six hours passed as the Holy Crusade tore through space at 200 gravities acceleration attempting to intercept the three enemy starships that had been detected at long range, finally the massive Icaran warship managed to get within sensor range with their opponents.
“Admiral we have a clear ID on all three enemy warships, CIC calls it one SD, one monitor and one super monitor in formation.” A com tech reported calmly before the main plot flashed for a moment as the three red diamonds representing unknown ships transformed into the fully detailed holographic representations of each of the ships in the enemy formation, two of which were clearly Andermani in design while the super monitor looked like a Sol Coalition design.
Rukia turned to Ross and opened her mouth to say something when suddenly a voice from the tactical section caused her and William to turn around instinctively.
“Enemy ships have changed course, they are reducing acceleration and are apparently turning to intercept us.” The young sensor tech blushed when he noticed an Admiral and Commodore looking at him as if he had a third eye.

“They probably don’t realize we’re Icarans, after all an object 60km across moving under its own power is probably a little shocking.” Elijah Jones said as he watched the three ships closing at around 150 gravities.
“Well if that’s true we can definitely use this.” William turned to face the main plot and saw the distance markers counting down, “Weaps, inform all gun crews to plot minimum distance firing solutions.”
“Minimum distance?” Rukia kept her voice low enough so that only William heard; he nodded slowly and turned to face her.
“If Elijah’s right and they don’t know who we are then we can’t afford to open up on those ships at maximum range, God only knows what kind of weapons they’re packing and they might just have enough power to damage us, note I said damage not destroy but either way we can’t risk it.” His voice was cold as he ran the numbers of enemy crew through his head and came up with about 31,000 people, fellow human beings who would probably never even know what hit them.
“Enemy closing the range, approaching optimum weapons range.” The voice from the tactical section pulled Ross from his thoughts and he grimly turned his attention back to the main holoplot, the enemy was still too far out for an eyeball visual but they wouldn’t be by time the Crusade fired.
“They’ve got us lit, scanners running.” Another voice chimed out from a different section of the tactical department.
“Admiral, we’re being hailed, an Admiral Daniel Smith is challenging.” A com tech said rather icily as she listened to the message “He sounds confused as hell sir, and is telling us to hold position.”

“Almost in range, Admiral, twenty more seconds.” Elijah spoke this time as he checked his display tie-ins. A glowing red sphere appeared around the Crusade, representing the planned firing envelope, and the three ships closing.
“Sir again Admiral Smith is trying to hail, this time we’re getting broad frequency bombardment and multiple languages thrown at us.” The com tech’s voice sounded tenser this time as she too began watching the main plot.
William could almost feel his bridge crew trying to will the enemy ships into the firing envelope faster and realized that he almost felt sorry for this Admiral Smith as he realized that the other man was trying to get in closer to get better scans of his the battlemoon; then all thought froze as the red sphere began flashing and the three ships crossed into it.
“All batteries open fire.” William heard Rukia give the order but he barely noticed because at that instant every forward gun on the Crusade fired and for every shot there was an amber line on the display, and Ross noted with grim pride that it was an almost solid wall of amber connecting his flagship to those three enemy vessels.

Space and time seemed to freeze for the three Mantisoran warships for an instant as an invisible force hammered at them, to the naked eye it seemed as though they simply began tearing apart for no reason as the anti-proton streams washed over their hulls causing massive warping in the materials until the hull plating contacted simply exploded in a ball of plasma.
To an observer using the special sensors that allowed the invisible energy weapons to be seen it was a very different spectacle as a massive wall of green energy enveloped the Mantiosran ships and began clawing at them with a fury unseen in any previous generation or on any prior warship.
The entire “battle” only lasted thirty seconds as the super monitor’s reactors let go and millions of tons of warship simply vanished in a glowing sphere of expanding energy leaving not even a scrap of wreckage. The monitor’s entire forward sections vanished leaving its aft end mangled and torn; the super dreadnought was reduced to a cloud of debris no larger then dust as 26 I-lasers punched through it like it was made of plastic; all of which happened without the Mantisorans even knowing what hit them.

“Are there any life pods?” Rukia asked, not actually expecting there to be any as she watched her displays in shock.
“No ma’am no life pods, or life signs.” A voice answered in tones of equal shock.

Even when a ship took a full broadside from a super dreadnought something was left unless the reactor’s went, but there were so many weapons locked on the three Mantisoran ships that almost nothing remained, even of the two who’s reactors never had a chance to go critical.

“Thirty-one thousand lives gone, just like that.” Ross said quietly as he turned away from the main plot and walked over to where Rukia was standing, “Helm, take us back to the rest of the fleet at full speed.” He patted the still stunned Commodore on her shoulder as he headed for the lift, and back to his quarters trying not to look the least bit nauseated by what he had just done in the blink of an eye.

[El_Phil]

Hunpecked said:
El_Phil writes: " Use DU at 19kg/m3 you need a 0.3m3 slug at 0.1c to equal your biggest turrets total 5 second output"

The density of uranium is actually 19,050 kg per cubic meter.



Yeah I did bodge the DU density, what can I say. It was late and I got it wrong. Whoops.

Anyway where did you get that railgun length from, just curious that's all. I never did work out anything about them, they just did seem a nifty idea.

Finally as i was out by a 1,000 on the density of DU, ( http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/redface.gif ) you can cut the needed length of rail gun by the same amount to get the same energy from the slug. Or make them even slower but larger until you get a sensible length launcher.

[El_Phil]

Starhawk said:
Hey I don't use "dylithium crytals" or anything that "hand wavy" http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

For that matter I didn't put any "throw away lines" about projectiles in my story just telling you http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif.

And for the most part I haven't mentioned anything "totally" unrealistic except maybe the shields but that's just subjective so you can't really just label mine "soft sci-fi" because you disagree with the one little bit about my shields and then turn around and say black holes being slung at people is 'hard' as that has to violate a whole lot more areas of physics then mine heh.



I didn't say you had put in any such lines, but it can be good to establish such facts before the action. It does look a bit Deus Ex Machina if during an attack the captain goes 'What are the chances? Those weapons do us no damage. That was lucky, we'd be dead otherwise.'

Before I start this is not personal. These points don't affect the story, it's science FICTION, making things up is the name of the game. I know what you're like, so take this in the spirit it's meant.

Flat out violations of physics in your story:

No those shields are not subjectively wrong, they're flat out impossible. You cannot magically kill an objects KE for less energy than the object has.

FTL, casuality and realtivity in the same universe don't work. At all. At the most basic level the paradoxes FTL would introduce are horrendous. Now as your opening warp points with happy abandon they aren't natural wormholes (which are 'just' local spacetime distortions and so sneak through) so that's a potential problem.

Admitedly you could be making wormholes, but that's highly dicey in and off itself. All you'd need is 'quantum foam' to open it and 'exotic matter' to produce 'negative energy' to hold it open. I'm not making those terms up the way (you couldn't http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif), they are hypothetical particle physics concepts. For instance 'exotic matter' is amazingly usefull stuff as it has negative mass, if it exists. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

BUT if you had all the stuff that you'd need to do all that then you would be far in advance of the rest of the Icaran's general tech level. As in chucking black holes around advanced. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

As your still working out what the I-lasers aresuspend judgment on them.

Oh and I'm pretty sure you have non-rotational artifical gravity, although I could be wrong on that one. I'm sure if I poked around I could find more, but I don't particularly want to I think that's enough to be going on with. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

Ian Banks stuff however has a solid basis, it has however assumed that the hugely difficult has become possible, indeed easy. It doesn't violate any physics, it's immensly difficult, horribly expensive and requires horrendous ammounts of power. But it's not impossible and doesn't violate any physics we know.

Not knowing the details I can't comment on the throwing black holes, this is just based on his other stuff. However, off the top of my head, stupendous amounts of ultra dense material subjected to massive pressure would form a black hole. That's how they form in nature. Moving it around, well look at spinning black holes. The singularity inherits the angular momentum of the star it formed from. So just launch your large mass (3x a solar mass if your using self gravitation, less if your compressing it yourself) and as the mass races along and turns into a black hole it will inherit the momentum of the forming mass. So there you are, nothing in there violates any law of physics. But it ain't easy. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

[Starhawk]

Three words Use Edit Button http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

Oh and this stuff is all now being discussed in the "General Tech Question" thread so as not to clog this one up with this kind of stuff http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif
My shields as explained there are probobly a lot more reasonable.

Oh and I did get a kick out of "no offense because I know how you are" that right there is like saying "I hope this doesn't cause offense but your a jerkoff" lol get where I'm going with that?

[El_Phil]

You have been known to fly off the handle and take criticism badly. So I thought I'd pre-empt that.

I did read general tech questions, your shields are still utterly impossible. Also as the question was here, I responded where the question was.

I'm not editing that post, I stand by it.

[Starhawk]

Constructive criticism no [/i]nitpicking[/i] yeah a little bit.

Okay as I have stated it's sci-fi with a few thousand years more advanced tech then us so they may pull stuff against our knowledge of physics that's cool with me so if you really want to you can write a book taking note of every physical impossibility in my sci-fi universe if you want (still not all THAT many) -or- you can do that pesky little suspension of beleif deal that is very important to sci-fi and just read enjoy and maybe pass along the occasional correction to something that may be possible but that I got the "math" wrong on.

Now end of that so that I can actually have more story, because you may or may not have noticed I've added another chapter already today and want people reading that more than this http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Oh and I meant edit button as in your double post http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif so go ahead and stand by that if yah want lol

[El_Phil]

Two seperate points, no point combining them into one to confuse two seperate issues.

It was constructive post, you have learnt not to call that story hard sci-fi. I was happily suspending belief, then because of your posts I stopped and looked at it more closely. I wouldn't of bothered if you hadn't even mentioned the subject.

[Hunpecked]

Post deleted by Hunpecked

[Hunpecked]

El_Phil writes: "...where did you get that railgun length from..."

A railgun that accelerates a projectile from velocity 0 to velocity "v" in "t" time has to be at least as long as the distance the projectile travels in that time. That distance "d" is given by

d = (1/2)*a*tE2

where "a" is the acceleration. We get "a" from

a = v/t

Approximating "c", the speed of light, as 3E8 m/s and using 1s or 10s for "t", we get the numbers in my earlier post.

-----------
Edit: Actually, I was off 10-fold on the 1-second rail gun (damn decimal point!). The 1-second rail gun has to be 15,000 km long, not 1,500.

Mea culpa
-----------

I was frankly surprised when I saw the results, until I remembered the post calculating Newtonian acceleration to "c" at 1 G: hundreds of days consumed and trillions of kilometers traveled.

If we settle for projectile speeds of a few km/s, as illustrated at the "Atomic Rockets" web site, rail gun lengths become more practical.

[El_Phil]

Hmm does seem to work, but as you say ridiculously huge. Well not ridiculous obvioulsy, but very big.

Bloody obvious maths actually. I clearly wasn't thinking well that night, I spent years doing that sort of maths. I've got to stop doing even basic physics/maths in late night posts. I make far too many fundamental mistakes or just miss stuff entirely.

Still just do it in a micro second and you can get to 0.1c in only 150m. You are accelerating the slug at ~3E12m/s/s admitedly but that small technical problem aside it's a fine plan. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Starhawk]

2444.9
The Royal Palace was a buzz of activity as the combined staffs of the Praetor, Grand Admiral of the Navy, Commandant of the Marines and General of the Army scuttled about to carry out their various jobs even some aides wearing the Black tunics and blue pants of the Federal Security Division roamed the halls of the palace carrying out their various assignments.
This buzz of activity was the result of Praetor Rodric calling for the first strategic meeting of all of the heads of each of the respective branches of service actively responsible for the security and expansion of the Empire, as well as the Secretary of the Treasury, the head of the Bureau of Personnel and the Woman responsible for the massive construction efforts throughout the whole of the Empire and the Chief of Science for the Naval Technologies Bureau.

“Alright Tanya I’d like to hear from the navy first.” Rodric said in a far more casual tone then anyone but these select few people would ever hear.
The Grand Admiral smiled courteously at her Praetor as she walked over to the massive holo projector; as she reached the panel she reached into her pocket and took out a memory chip and placed it into one of the data scanners.
After a few seconds the holo projector began to hum and an image came to life, filling the entire northern half of the room with a three dimensional image of a map of the Icaran Empire with several systems flashing either blue or red amid the ocean of green dots representing “normal” Icaran systems.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the blue systems are where our fleets are currently stationed, as you can see we have three flashing, the one down here.” She pointed toward the sector that had once been the Christerian Republic and highlighted the blue flashing sphere with her laser pointer “Is where the first fleet is escorting warper zero zero one five in closing the last warp point in that sector that leads to Mantisoran space, after that the first fleet will finally return home to answer the recall order we gave three years ago.” She frowned at the map as if she was seeing something the others were not.
“This over here.” She continued in the same lecturing, level tone she had before “Is the fifth fleet they were carrying out a similar assignment to the first fleet by sealing off the warp points in these regions.” The laser pointer drew a red line around the former Corian and Magellan corp territories.
“Both the first and fifth fleets will return to Icara next month and proceed to the rally point over New Icara in about five weeks, after that we will worry about replacing casualties and getting their fleets up to snuff with the new formation policy.” She paused and turned to her “audience” waiting for questions, and was not very surprised to see the secretary of Federal Security raise his hand.
“Yes Secretary Kline?” the Naval officer did not much like the Federal Security Division or anyone who represented it, she saw them as little more then planetary militia except with fancy uniforms and a private fleet of fast transports that the navy had to waste warships to escort.

“That is all well and good Grand Admiral but we still have the problem of what the red systems represent, three entire systems engulfed in riots that are just short of full on rebellions, now I don’t mean to sound like I am criticizing you Tanya but when does the navy plan on finally dealing with these?” Kline seemed almost oblivious to how Tanya Bright and her staff felt about his branch of the service and so he really did sincerely seem to have respect when he addressed the leaders of the “real” military branches.
“Secretary Kline, I am afraid that the navy stands by our decision not to send in a battlefleet to pacify these regions, we would have to deploy army regiments and ships that we need elsewhere, and though I don’t want to speak for General of the Army Scollet I think we can not afford to waste our assets on cleaning up some mobs of people who don’t realize they’ve been conquered just yet.” Tanya tried to keep her voice polite and respectful as she acknowledged the genuine thought going into Kline’s question.
And after all he is better then that idiot Secretary Clarence of the old StateSec. she admitted to herself grudgingly as thoughts of the slow witted, spiteful woman who used to be in charge of the old StateSec branch.

“Well Grand Admiral I actually do have a suggestion regarding that once you are finished with your report, if you would not mind giving me your opinion.” Kline said with a smile.

“Very well Secretary if Praetor Rodric does not mind.” She said politely as she inclined her head toward Rodric who simply nodded back with what she could have sworn was a grin.

“Anyway the main problem the navy has at the moment is the sheer size of enemy space, I know that 6 mobile fleets and Home Fleet seem like a lot but you have to remember that we are dealing with enemy space several thousand light years in diameter and close to a thousand inhabited planets are in that sector, once we begin the offensives again we are going to be spread thin.” Her voice quieted as her eyes seemed to focus in on Treasury secretary Harper. “We need more ships, I would like at least 12 combat fleets of the new pattern, excluding home fleet, before we begin a full fledged offensive into Mantisoran space.” The Naval Officer forced herself not to flinch as the treasury secretary’s face went pale; every eye in the room seemed to focus on Secretary Harper and suddenly his pale face turned red with embarrassment.
“Lord Harper what is your opinion on this?” Rodric’s voice cut through the silence and Harper visibly shook himself and cleared his throat.
“Well. Highness our economy is going to be strained to pull this off, with each superdreadnought costing thirty-three billion crowns, and with a total of one hundred and forty-nine in a “new pattern” fleet that alone is over four trillion crowns, add that to the two trillion crowns a battlemoon costs and the one hundred billion crowns of a flag monitor and we are talking about each fleet costing about.” He paused and ran the numbers through his head-which Rodric found remarkable every time he saw the man do that kind of math without a calculator- “About seven trillion one hundred and seventeen billion crowns, and some change.”
“I think we can do it but our people are going to have to tighten their belts a little bit, I don’t think that will be a problem for the true Icarans but some of the frontier worlds who are still more used to their former governments and lifestyles could be a big problem; I mean taxes as they are, are the primary cause of the three systems that are currently rebellion since their former government did not even require taxes as individuals.” Aaron Harper shrugged as his Praetor looked at him blankly for a moment.
“No taxes? How the hell did they fund anything?” Rodric asked slightly more enthusiastically then he meant, not that he would let that show to any of his subjects.
“Well sir it was a bizarre form of corporate levies, apparently each warship was funded by a company, same with the army, their civil productions were all private sector as well.” The secretary’s matter of fact tone hid his own baffled thoughts as to how such a strange form of government could work even for as long as it had before Icara conquered them.

“Well I’m afraid we are going to have to tell our people to buckle down and deal with the additional taxes, my biggest fear actually comes into the labor department.” Rodric turned toward the woman in charge of the Bureau of Personnel.
“We currently have close to ten million men and women in the military, but even with that Highness our civilian sector has a lot of people to draw from so we won’t be seeing negative effects in that area for a long time. Our biggest problem right now is finding people who can work in the new shipyards we are building, and considering each sphere world we build requires a little over a billion human workers and close to two billion xeno workers we are going to run short of civilian construction workers and dockyard people sooner then I’d like.” The dark skinned woman from the former Rebel Alliance world of New Haven tossed her hand up in a throw away gesture as she put the pad with the numbers back in her pocket book.

“We need to continue building sphere worlds that’s a given, but we also need those shipyards online as soon as possible so do what you can to find a balance without requiring xenos to work at our shipyards.” Rodric frowned a moment and looked back at Tanya Bright who was still standing at the holo projector, looking rather sheepish.
“I’m sorry Grand Admiral, please continue.” He managed to sound less amused then he was as she simply clicked her heals and turned back to the display.
“It will be a few more months before we are ready to move on even our initial objectives but once we do I would like to have at least two fleets hitting any of the major systems of the Mantisorans, after the recent….um……incident with the Home Fleet I don’t want to risk being caught outgunned by one of their worlds again.” Her mouth twisted in a disgusted frown as she remembered the casualty list that came in from the Home Fleet after it seized a Mantisoran world in Icaran space, though Tanya beleived it wasn’t Admiral Yu’s fault she still had her under review until a commission could prove there was nothing Yu could have done to prevent it.

“So needless to say we are going to be short of ships as the early stages of the offensive commence, though as we do take our initial foothold systems I will order the fleets to spread out and hit more targets as quickly as possible; unfortunately we know that the Mantisorans are building both ships and planetary weapons platforms so it’s going to be bloody no matter what we do.” As she finished she pulled the data chip from the projector and bowed to the Praetor before turning to return to her seat.

“Secretary Kline you wished to say something about those three systems?” Rodric forced himself not to grin as he saw Bright blush ever so slightly, he understood all to well that no naval officer or any military officer liked being caught short like she had been but he also knew that there was a reason his ancestors had formed the now defunct StateSec generations ago, they were there to stop the riots and keep order while the military protected the Empire from external threats.

“Yes Highness, it has come to my attention that in those three systems we have already lost twenty-seven merchantmen and their crews to terrorists who think they can drive the Empire out by killing innocent civilians and destroying millions of crowns worth of property.” He paused and turned to the military officers who were all looking very shocked at the numbers of merchant ships lost to civilian hijackers and terrorists.
“Now as Grand Admiral Bright has already said we can’t throw the navy into every system with pirates who have visions of glory, so what I and several of my advisors have come up with is the plan to create a FedSec fleet.” The military officers gasped in shock at the proposal and Bright visibly forced herself from standing and saying something. It was unheard of to allow a security service to have a battle fleet of it’s own, in fact it was against the law for them to have any ships of capital status.
“Before our Military friends have a stroke I’d like to clarify, we do not want anything the size of a superdreadnought or even a dreadnought, all we want is to create battleship and battlecruiser sized ships that are capable of defending themselves in space and also deploying Intervention battalions on planetary surfaces.” Kline turned towards the military officers with a, naughty schoolboy grin before turning back to the Praetor.

“Battleships? Secretary Kline; our empire has never built battleships.” Rodric barely hid his confusion at the prospect of building battleships for a security force, Icaran naval designers never considered the low tonnage warship worth building once dreadnought hulls became available, and up until then battlecruisers had served the fleets for less cost in both construction and maintenance.
“Well I would like to point out that battleships are no longer capital class vessels compared to the more modern warships, for that matter neither is a battlecruiser, especially once you take into account the troop carrying capability of each ship reducing both armaments and shields quite a bit.” He shrugged and his expression suddenly grew somber “Though I do find the idea of shocking my colleagues amusing I would like you to consider this seriously Highness, the FSD would never be able to replace the Navy’s combat units we would just be able to lighten up the load for the Marines and Navy, not even mentioning the Army regiments we could free up from peacekeeping duties.”

“And where do you plan on getting the money from Secretary Kline?” Rodric’s tone was serious yet curious as he was obviously considering the implications of a Federal Security combat fleet capable of dealing with pirates and deploying FS brigades unescorted.
“We already have more then enough money in our budget Highness; in fact thanks to my rather ingenious financial staff we have quite a nice reserve of cash for emergency or other situations.” Kline smiled sheepishly as he admitted that his was probably the only Branch of service that was not running even close to breaking point with it’s budget, especially since he knew that the budget meetings were coming up later in the day.
“Indeed?! Well then I will definitely consider it more thoroughly.” Rodric smiled and was unable to hide the amusement from his voice, even some of the military officers-including Grand Admiral Bright- were grinning at Kline’s admission, and remarkable lack of taking credit.

“Well before we recess I would like to hear from Chief of Science for the Naval Technology Bureau.” Rodric inclined his head towards a short man in his mid nineties who was just beginning to go a little bit grey, -more because of stress then age thanks to the sustain surgeries and drugs which allowed centuries long life spans-, the man stood up and walked over to the same display Admiral Bright had used earlier and confidently placed a data chip in the reader.
Two images appeared on the screen, one of a massive capital ship the size of a flag monitor, yet Admiral Bright noticed the shape was all wrong and there wasn’t a single gun turret visible. The other image was off a large swept wing craft that had four under slung missiles and two large chin mounted weapons, to Bright it looked like a scaled up cutter but she couldn’t quite put the pieces together until COS Martell tabbed a control on the holo display and the image of the flag monitor sized ship grew and showed several dozen massive open areas on the outer hull.

“Ladies and gentlemen this is, or rather will be HMS Manticore she is the newest breed of carrier, now I know you all remember the rather disastrous and expensive use of the Hallice class carriers and their Viper and BullShark fighters and I am proud to say this is nothing like that.” He highlighted portions of the ship on the display and grinned “This is the main difference, these shield generators are much more powerful then any previous carrier concept, and these….” He highlighted another portion of the ship that would have been where the secondary broadside turrets were on a normal ship “Is the new singularity torpedo launcher that we have been working on for the past few years, granted they don’t fire very fast and do not have the range of a standard ship’s broadside but unlike the Hallice class, anyone who gets in close to this carrier isn’t going to enjoy it very much.” His grin grew wolfish as he noticed the expression on the face of Grand Admiral Tanya Bright.
“My God you finally got those damned things working?” Bright practically hissed as memories of the dozens of failed attempts at creating singularity torpedoes, one such experiment killed two dozen scientists and her own aid when the containment fields failed and the torpedo exploded in the middle of a crowded lab.
“Yes Ma’am we did, we decided we would go for the short range version our earlier theories suggested would be possible, it requires less containment power and has much less chance of becoming unstable before launch because we use less energy in the warhead its self.” Martell frowned sympathetically before bringing up a display of the smaller ship.
“This is the Hurricane class assault gunship, it is seventy five kilotons, has a much better shield and propulsion system then previous generations of attack craft and carries a crew of eight men and women.” Martell’s voice was back to the lecturing tone it had been before he was reminded of the unfortunate earlier experiments with singularity torpedoes. “Now we have included advanced vectored thrust, thrusters into her forward and aft hull allowing her to turn on a the spot, we have also incorporated the latest generation quantum stream engines, and afterburners allowing her to accelerate much more rapidly then any previous generation attack craft.” The scientist paused long enough for his information to sink in before highlighting the weapons points of the gunship “Now here’s the big difference, the Hurricane carries four cataclysm torpedoes and two high yield incinerator class anti-hydrogen stream cannons.”
“What is a cataclysm torpedo Doctor?” General of the Army Scollet spoke for the first time in the meeting and he like all of the others looked a little skeptical of the idea of bringing back fighters after the earlier dismal failures.
“Well to use a layman’s terms it’s an antimatter warhead that has a thirty two gigaton yield, and each Hurricane can carry four.” Martell’s grin returned quickly at the muttered sounds of awe from his audience.
“Now the reason we don’t include these on capital ships is because each one weighs three kilotons and has a range roughly that of a spitball out of a straw, but with our new gunships we can slip even these spitballs into weapons range, and once they are well our best estimates say five gunships could kill a superdreadnought in a single pass, and each Manticore class carrier will be able to hold one hundred and eighty-nine.”
“Now obviously the main drawbacks are very short range and one shot capacity, once a gunship fires its torpedoes they’re gone and it will have to rely on it’s energy mounts from there on out, add to that they are unfortunately very fragile compared to a capital ship and we are talking about a weapons system that is best used in concert with fleet formations and not on it’s own.” Martell winked at Bright and added “So don’t worry these gunships will never replace your superdreadnoughts and battlemoons Admiral.”
“One would hope not after all the money we’ve put into them.” Secretary Harper threw in causing a ripple of chuckling among the gathered personnel.
“Well another main disadvantage is it will take two point seven years to get even one carrier’s load of gunships built and since we are going to run a full scale real battle test of the first Manticore before launching any more it will be a long time before we see carriers in every fleet.” Martell added somewhat sourly as his scientific curiosity wanted to see his pet project in action sooner rather then later.
But at least they have no choice but[/i]to produce these carriers.[/i].” Martell thought somewhat bitter over his earlier failure with the first generation of carriers that did nothing but cost the Icaran government money and people. [/i]”And this time I’ve gotten it right damn it.”[/i] he added as he picked up his data chips and headed for the doors.

[Hunpecked]

El_Phil writes: "Still just do it in a micro second and you can get to 0.1c in only 150m."

Indeed, although the power requirement goes up as the time goes down. Also the mechanical stress on the rails and their mount.

All solvable with a little engineering... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[El_Phil]

As I said, small technical problems. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

I am assuming you have loads power to waste (which seems to be a constant in all sci-fi). Hell it wouldn't be the future if you didn't http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Starhawk]

Ahem guys plz do stop posting that here now http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif I would rather people read my STORY http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif for example did yah even notice i posted another chapter above your posts?

[Rasorow]

Starhawk said:
Ahem guys plz do stop posting that here now http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif I would rather people read my STORY http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif for example did yah even notice i posted another chapter above your posts?



Yes, and though silent (mostly) still reading so don't stop posting.

Currently ignoring the technobabble dispute because no one knows what tomorrow will bring let alone 2000 years from now.

Rasorow

[rdouglass]

I also am still reading and enjoying the story.

Maybe all the tech discussion could move to another thread?

[Hunpecked]

I'm still reading and enjoying the story, too. Comments:

It seems a bit late in the war for the first meeting of the Joint Chiefs and the War Cabinet. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/confused.gif No doubt Icaran communication technology supports virtual meetings, so perhaps this is just the first face-to-face conference.

With regard to warship terminology, note that even the lowly escort (in stock SE IV) at 150 kT is larger than any terrestrial warship and can wipe out an undefended planetary population single-handed. The natural tendency would be to call the first such spacecraft "space battleships" or "dreadnoughts", but then what would you call subsequent classes that are several times bigger and more powerful? This problem is illustrated by the "Majestic" class of "battleships" (1895, 16,000 tons, 4x12" guns) which was surpassed only a decade later by the "Invincible" "battlecruiser" class (1908, 17,500 tons, 8x12" guns).

It might be better to drop wet navy terminology entirely and go with something more generic, like "Type 300 hull", or maybe "Intimidator class warship".

This approach also avoids terminology problems when SE IV's generic hulls are used for "non-standard" purposes, e.g. a battlecruiser minesweeper ("battlesweeper"?), cruiser-class colony ship ("colonuiser"?), or frigate transport ("frigport"?). http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[kerensky]

On the point of ship sizes, I think it would be easier jsut to name the just the class of teh ship (eg Intimidator) and tehn refer to teh type of ship (eg battlecruiser) for size comparisons. This would also avoid the non-standard use of hull types. For example, the Mayflower class carrier is based on a monitor sized hull.

If you think of each ships classification as a size range for the ship to fit in, it should make things easier. For example, ships up to 150kt would be refered to as escorts, ships from 150kt to 200kt would be frigates, etc.

[Starhawk]

Well as far as the first meeting, no it's not but remember Grand Admiral Hallice retired not all that long before and the new Grand Admiral has been busy trying to pull the peices of the military together so no real time for face-to-face conferences with the other members of the military council.

And on to the ship classifications well I've been referring to the ships by size since the start of my story so it would seem a little inconsistent to suddenly drop all terms for my ships like the Yu Hing Pe "Super Dreadnought" http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

As far as comparing sizes for the non-conventional roles I do think I'll just leave that up to a general size comparison as you suggested for example just a "Large minesweeper" or in the case of Federal Security ships just a general "Medium and Large Peacekeeping ship" would work.

And as far as stating the actual size and tonnage of a ship I don't really see a problem with that so I'd like to stick to that http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif And I do have a clever little idea about that waiting just see http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Rasorow]

So this story is dead?

Rasorow

[Starhawk]

Heck NO! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif I'm typing up a chapter right now as a matter of fact but tis' a "Story Driven" chapter as opposed to action driven so it's taking a bit of time.

I'm also in college, getting a job, got Kung Fu, and scratchbuilding a fleet of warships with nothing but balsa, card board and Lentils add all this together with me trying to interest a very lovely young lady in me and I just don't have a lot of spare time http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[sachmo]

Not sure if i'll ever catch up, Starhawk, but you are doing a damn fine job so far (and that was a while back!) Keep up the great work!

[Rasorow]

Ice the story, cut way down on the warships, find the job.....

Then pay all attention to the lovely young lady.... lovely young worthwhile ladies are a very scarce and rare delight.


Good luck


Rasorow

[Starhawk]

Meh I only see her three times a week as is so http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif I've got 4 days of no chance to try and gain her interest lol.

[Hunpecked]

E-mail, cell phone, FedEx, candygram, etc. In the 21st Century there's no excuse for not paying attention to your SO even when you're not face to face (unfortunately). http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[Starhawk]

Okay this story isn't dead I've just been so dang busy I haven't been able to finish my complete chapter yet, and so here is a little "foot note" style info on the Regiments of the Icaran forces. (the guys I have only briefly touched on)

Regiments of Honor:

The Praetor's Own
Aka: Praetorian Guardians
Unique Traits: Cybernetic enhancements, Crimson and Gold uniform with blood red trousers, life service.

History: The Praetor's Own is the best of the best, they are the most feared individual soldiers in the Icaran Empire aside from the Stormtrooper forces, and more then one foe has found it's self cut to shreds by the fanatical and disciplined soldiers of this elite regiment.

Though officially a "regiment" the Preator's own is actually a small army corps in it's own right, with over 11,000 Elite combat troops and vehicle crews, plus nearly 15,000 support staff. The regiment is broken down into three distinct branches:

The "Imperial Guard" which contains the bulk of the mechanized forces of the Praetor's Own, these are the elite soldiers that protect the hundred miles of palace grounds that form the main residence of the Preator and his staff on Icara.
The Imperial Guard is equipped with powered armor, massive main battle tanks and enough firepower to level entire regiments by themselves, and at least three companies of these soldiers are always on duty around the Praetorian Palace.

The "Praetorian Guard" the Praetorian guard is the elite of the elite, they are the men and women sworn to protect the Praetor and his family directly even if it costs their own life to do so.

The Praetorian Guard are easily recognized for their gleaming red and gold power armor and their "Long lance" rifles which are so heavy only the cybernetic enhancement provided to the Praetorians combined with the servo muscles of the Powered Armor allows these men and women to carry them.

The "Secret Service" is the intelligence corps of the Praetor's Own, these men and women are trained to blend into crowds and conduct survailence of any potential threat to the Praetor or his family. If that threat is detected these men and women "remove" it very quietly.

The Spartan Regiments
Aka: The Spartiate Corps
Unqiue Traits: The bulk of the Spartan soldiers are women, entire infantry force wears power armor, no tanks.

History: The Spartan regiments were first founded decades after the Icaran Empire set out to the stars once again; despite their relatively young position in the Icaran Armed forces the Spartan regiments (also known as Spartiate Corps) have proven themselves fierce defenders of the Empire.

Though officially "regiments" the fact that the entire Spartan Regiment consists of power armored infantry means that the cost of raising a full regimental strenght force is virtually impossible. Instead of the typical 4,000 combat soldiers of most regiments the Spartan forces usually consist of around 1,200 soldiers divided into 2 "Phalanxes" which are then sub divided into three "Companies" which each have their own individual command structure and purpose in a Phalanx.

Typically the bulk of Spartan soldiers are also women, which is needless to say a strange sight among Imperial forces; this is not because of some Matriarchal society but is in fact because the bulk of Spartan males remain at home to protect the cities from the myriad predators that would easily overwhelm an unwary city.

Sparta is renowned for it's power armor forges (many of which are used to produce such armor for both Stormtrooper and Praetorian forces) primarily because on a world like Sparta leaving a city in anything less then powered armor is a death sentence thanks to the harsh environment and hostile life on the planet, so the Spartans have virtually redefined the Power Armor design and production industry as their knew and innovative designs spread from their homeworld earning them fame and respect in the Empire.

Icaran "Home Born":
Officially: Icaran Royal Regiments
Unique Traits: Born and trained on the birth world of the Icaran Empire these troops often fight with a fanatical willingness to die in order to protect "Their Empire" from it's enemies.

History: The "Icaran Royal" regiments are those regiments raised from the Icaran homeworld its self and are considered some of the best and most loyal soldiers within the Empire's borders.

These regiments are always full strength and are always raised to exacting specifications that are often overlooked on lesser populated worlds. Icaran regiments are ALWAYS 4,000 combat soldiers, with three armored companies, two Heavy support companies, one command company, eighteen mechanized infantry companies, one air assault company and fifteen infantry companies.

Icaran regiments are usually among the first dispatched to "Core World" incidents and were the first regiments to see action in the Phong Purification being that they were raised from the most densely populated world in the Empire at that time. And though only one understrength Icaran Royal Regiment remains in service at this time they are still some of the most respected and honored soldiers in the Empire.

[to be continued later today]

[Starhawk]

2445.0 Returning Home:
“It’s good to finally be getting back to Icaran space.” Star Admiral William Ross said with a smile as his fleet emerged from the Wa’Tor warp point into Norvor, the home system of the Icaran Empire. Commodore Rukai Fujita smiled at her Admiral’s cheerful tone as she looked up from a report.
“What you really mean sir; is it’s good to be where Lin is after so long.” She made sure her voice was just loud enough for only Ross to hear it and she smiled again when he turned his nose up at her playfully.
“Why Commodore you shouldn’t be so rude to your elders, we are a little sensitive in our dotage you know.” William kept his face appropriately grim as he spoke, which only caused Rukia’s grin to grow broader.
“With all due respect Admiral but dotage my ***, your only sixty-two, that’s not even middle aged.” William chuckled at her overly respectful tone and turned back to face the video display that showed the tactical display of Norvor.

One of the first things William noticed as he looked at the display is how much Norvor had changed in the seven years he’d been there, the system’s total population had gone from around twenty-two billion to an almost unbelievable eighty-six billion as colonists from all over the Empire flocked to the New Icara sphereworld to bolster the population, he also noticed sixteen shipyards in orbit of the worlds of Norvor with signs that more were under construction.
“Lord, it’s hard to believe this much industrialization could have happened in only seven years.” Ross tone was suddenly much more serious and for the first time Rukia could remember it was full of awe.
“Well the Praetor ordered more shipyards built so that we could produce enough ships to fight this war properly, and planetary yards take too long to build capital ships because they have to worry about boosting all of the segments into orbit and then having orbital construction teams assemble the pieces, the government decided it’s cheaper and faster to just boost the raw materials into orbit and work on assembling the entire ship in an orbital yard, and that’s nothing once New Icara’s built up she’s going to have five orbital yards.” She walked over to stand beside William who just nodded, an expression of awe still on his face.
“Admiral Icara orbital is ordering us to proceed at maximum safe thrust to New Icara orbit; all ground assault elements are to proceed to Cadia orbit.” Captain Jones said from the com section as he ran through the final checks a ship underwent before proceeding to “anchor” as it were.
“Very well, helm lay in a course for New Icara orbit order all ground assault elements to proceed to Cadia; best thrust.” William kept his voice professional even as his own excitement was growing to finally be home; And Rukia was right; I’m looking forward to seeing Lin. he didn’t quite let the smile reach his face but when he turned and saw the twinkle in Rukia’s eye he playfully shot her a glare before looking back at his displays.
“ETA New Icaran orbit?” Rukia turned back to her station as she watched the main plot.
“ETA three hours New Icara orbit ma’am.” The helmsman responded in the professionally bland monotone most naval crewmen reserved for battle and Rukia kept the grin off her face only through a profound act of willpower.

Three hours later and the first fleet was finally in visual range of the huge artificial construct that was the size of a star, actually bigger then a star Ross corrected himself as he remembered that New Icara had been built around the Norvor star as soon as the other planets in the Norvor system had been outfitted with the latest in “artificial star” technology.
And God and some geeks in lab coats only knew how that bit of technology worked William thought with a wry mental smile, I wonder if God wears a lab coat….. his train of thought was cut off the second the main display faded from tactical overlays to real time images of the sphereworld.
“Holy mother.” William croaked out as he saw the clouds of super dreadnoughts around several small moon sized warships, all of which were around the massive Sphereworld in the largest concentration of metal he had ever seen.
“Sir I’m getting message traffic from, second, third, fifth, sixth, seventh, and home fleets all salute, and bid welcome to first fleet and Star Admiral William Ross.” The com tech sounded as awestruck as everyone else on the bridge felt at seeing so many ships in one place.
“Thank you com; pass on my compliments to all fleets.” William’s voice was quiet as he stared at the fleet that could only be home fleet as it had two battle moons and the only Five Swords class ships currently assigned to fleets.
‘My Lord I am reading four more battle moons in system, and a beacon belonging to eight fleet who appears to still be mobilizing and twelve more flag monitors!” Rukia shook her head as she looked at the sensor readouts she had patched into from various sources in the Norvor system.
“Sir Com from New Icara fleet HQ, message reads; Admiral Ross and Commodore Rukia to report to HQ immediately upon arrival.” William nodded at Rukia at the com tech’s report.
“Captain Jones you have the bridge, com tell flight bay to prepare a cutter for immediate launch.” With that William and Rukia headed for the lift William couldn’t help but wonder how Lin was doing or how the review went and had to deliberately keep his pace slow and casual as he walked beside Rukia.

A few minutes later and Ross was staring out of a portside window of his cutter, still awestruck by the sheer number of capital ships assembled in one place, not to mention the swarms of cutters, skiffs and supply craft buzzing about the fleets as they carried out a myriad of tasks required to prepare any fleet for war.
William and Rukia’s cutter, as well as their escort cutter however were headed for the sphereworld its self and the massive fleet HQ which had been built there a year before in order to rally the navy for the upcoming operations against the UMK. Although he had seen the vid chips of the construction William was still taken aback that humans could ever build something as massive as the sphereworld that was steadily growing in the view ports.

The bulky cutter gracefully flew over New Phoenix city on its way to the military spaceport and Ross noticed that New Phoenix was a sprawling metropolis, bigger even then Icara city back on homeworld. He turned to Rukia who had been here before and jutted his thumb in the direction of the small viewport.
“How many people live in that city?” he turned gaze back to the view for a second and noticed a huge mustering field outside of the city limits.
“Currently there are about sixty-five million people in New Phoenix, though with so many warships in orbit we have a lot of navy and marine personnel down here on leave so it’s probably closer to sixty-eight million.” Rukia grinned at Ross’ expression and decided not to mention that New Phoenix was smaller then Ionia back on the New Sparta sphereworld which had roughly eighty two million people living there at any given time.
Rukia had come to know William better then most of his subordinates had, and she decided that he liked it that way, after Sandra Fowler was killed William had stayed pretty aloof from the rest of his officers; howver over a year of her hard work later Rukia was proud to note that her Admiral had finally started to open up a little more, of course he was a full Star Admiral and wouldn’t likely spend any time down in the Middie birth or Lieutenant’s country but he had finally opened up a little with the senior officers. Rukia smirked at that thought, there were five full captains and 22 Commanders and “baby Commanders” on board the massive battlemoon that had become the flagship of first fleet and William had only started talking on a casual basis with two of the Captains and five of the Commanders. But it was better then nothing she decided and gave a little mental shrug and went back to reading the status reports for the Holy Crusade.

Alexander Hallice naval base and starport sprawled out before the two hundred ton naval cutter like an ocean of lights, the base its self was a city covering a two thousand square kilometer radius, with dozens of landing pads, kilometers upon kilometers of roads, and hundreds of buildings containing barracks and myriad other facilities which had purposes to myriad to think about.
William never pretended to understand the science behind artificial star technology, planetary grav generators or the technology that went into creating a full scale atmosphere for a “planet” bigger then a star; but as he looked at the sprawling military base in front of him he felt even more baffled by the sheer effort and scale of the sphereworld his cutter was now flying over. As he stared out at the wonders in front of him Ross remembered back only some forty years when the “Empire” was a single world with a “navy” smaller then a modern division, made up of ships that were smaller then a single Super Dreadnought’s primary gun turrets and he thought with some pride of how far humans could come in such a short period of time. Ross swiveled the cutters’ camera up to the sky and saw the battlemoons that were the pinnacle of starship design, each one was rated by navy standards as a 15 megaton craft which referred only to the weight in weapons, engines and primary equipment, the actual “weight” in metal of a battlemoon was in the billions of tons just like the super dreadnought actually weighed over one hundred and sixty million tons when fully loaded. But all that paled in comparison to this absolute marvel of modern construction which weighed more then a sun. A construct that had entire cities and military bases built onto its surface, not to mention hundreds of factories and industrial molecular sequencer facilities.

Suddenly Ross’ thoughts all came to a screaming halt as he saw the landing pad growing as his cutter came in. There was a small party of people already visible from the cutter’s window and against his will Ross felt a swelling of fear that Lin would not be among that party, for news had still not reached him on the result of her Naval review.

Chapter Two:

As the cutter’s hatch opened and a ramp slid silently to the landing pad’s battle steel surface a flute shrilled the traditional notes that greeted all high flag officers upon arrival.
Ross calmly walked down the ramp, flanked on either side by his two marine guards, as he reached the bottom of the ramp a small barrel chested man in a civil service uniform stepped forward and reached out his hand excitedly.
“Admiral Ross welcome to New Icara I’m Aaron Kreel; and might I say we are all pleased to meet a legend like you….yes very excited sir.” The man’s voice was surprisingly deep and sounded almost inappropriate considering the unseemly display of hero worship this Aaron had just spouted.

Ross forced a smile and shook the man’s hand; but he was glad when a woman wearing the uniform of a full Star Admiral stepped forward and gently nudged the overexcited Kreel out of the way.
Ross looked at the woman’s severe and unattractive face for several seconds before recognition finally dawned on him and his smile turned genuine and his hand came up in salute “Admiral Lady Selene how are you?”
She returned his smile and brought snapped up her own salute “I’m well Lord Ross, and from the looks of things in orbit we are all about to become very busy.” The closing part of her sentence was ominous and Ross felt the hair on the back of his neck rise; however he was not given a chance to dwell on these thoughts for too long as he quickly went about greeting the other members of the party that had met him at the landing pad; most of whom where Admirals, and Civil service leaders.

*******
An hour after the meeting at the landing pad Ross was in a ground car heading for the new Admiralty that Grand Admiral Bright had set up when she transferred naval command from homeworld to the sphereworld New Icara.

Lady Selene sat across from Ross and after a rather forced bit of small talk Ross swallowed his nerves and asked the questions that had been haunting his mind ever since he had returned to Norvor.
“Selene, what’s going on in the Empire these days, I’ve heard lots of rumors but being out on the frontier for five years doesn’t exactly help with information flow.” He frowned and leaned back into his seat as Selene folded her hands and frowned thoughtfully.
“Well William we’ve got some problems in the frontier, whole worlds are breaking out in riots all along the fringe and demanding independence and quite frankly the FSD is still trying to pull their pants back up after the SS got bootstamped by the Praetor; so we’re having problems suppressing these damned newly conquered worlds.”
Ross had heard of only some small local rioting in the frontiers and felt sick for a moment as he realized the entire frontier was being torn apart by some damned rebels who couldn’t see the benefits of being Icaran worlds…..worlds he and his soldiers had fought for; that so many young men and women had died for.
“There’s also some bad news in the military, you know Admiral White?” Selene’s voice dropped to a whisper and Ross sat up straighter and leaned a little forward.
“Not well, I only met her once in passing.”
“Well she led the 5th fleet against some frontier worlds that had rebelled, anyway she lost two warships and about 15,000 of her people trying to take one of the worlds…..so she bombed it to hell and killed everyone.” Her voice held a note of disgust that Ross had never heard in her before and his own shock and nausea seemed to grow.
“My God how many people did she kill?”
Selene winced as his voice raised higher then he meant it too and she shrugged “I don’t know, some say a few thousand but most think that she destroyed a colony of about thirty-million men, women and children…..either way she earned her fleet the nickname “Death’s Hand” which as you can imagine is a big morale killer with them.” Selene’s face grew dark for a moment as the anger of an Icaran Admiral doing something that horrible to innocent people!
“What has the Admiralty done about this mess?” William clenched his hands and stared blankly at the woman sitting across from him. Just a few hours earlier he had been marveling at the advances the Empire had made, and now this….it felt like the whole universe was caving in around him.

“Well….she was brought to trial last week and executed last night, not that this is about to become public knowledge mind you, as far as the public will be concerned she died in a cutter accident.” The woman’s severe face looked even harder as a scowl crossed her lips.

“That’s it? So what is the official word on what happened to that world?”
Selene’s scowl turned into a grim smirk as she looked out of the groundcar window “Well William with nothing but five mile deep craters covered in fused glass there isn’t exactly a lot of evidence that we have to worry about leaking to the public.”

William leaned back again and sighed, what White had done was wrong, but he told himself that at least the Empire would have a hope of bringing stability back far easier without this information spreading throughout the galaxy.

“How is Lin?” the words came out hoarse and Ross felt a split second of embarrassment.
“Her review was completed just before the so called “Death’s Hand” incident; fortunately the Navy didn’t feel there was anything she could have done otherwise, and actually decided to transfer her to the 7th line fleet instead of Home Fleet.” She paused and looked intently at the massive building that was coming into view.

“Anyway we’re at the New Admiralty so I’m sure you’ll get the rest of the information you want in the briefing tomorrow morning…..uh in the meantime I’m sure you and Lin will have to *ahem* catch up with one another.” Her grin turned wicked and as the car came to a halt she quickly opened the door and slipped out.

[El_Phil]

Hmmm newness of much lenght. There was me thinking it was dead. Something chimes wrong with me though.
*** Search the archive ***
Oh here it is

"Throughout the Empire the victory was portrayed as a heroic act of revenge for those lives lost during the attack on the 4th fleet, what the average citizen did not know was that the destruction of the colony was not because of enemy numbers, nor because of armed weapons platforms but simply because one Admiral had chosen to pass down an order out of her own personal anger for the tens of thousands of lives lost."

Either people knew or they didn't. Continuity is a good thing. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

[Starhawk]

They knew about the so called victory not about HOW MANY died or how http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif I probobly shoulda phrased that better.

And heck if you read Selene's statement you know that even the MILITARY doesn't fully know how many died considering she thinks only 30 million died (that's 100 million short).

[Hunpecked]

It's good to see that Starhawk is continuing with this story despite his other distractions. In this latest episode, I like the emphasis on the sheer scale of Icaran achievement, and the foreshadowing of a titanic conflict in the near future.

A few nitpicks:

Admirals usually don't take over a ship's bridge and give orders directly to the helm. They issue general instructions to their captains and let them give the detailed orders to carry out their assignments. Of course Admiral Ross may have taken direct control just for the fun of running a ship again. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

"Two thousand square kilometers" isn't a radius, it's an area. A circle with an area of 2000 km^2 has a radius of just over 25 km.

Our sun contains about 99.85% of all the mass in our solar system. To build a sphereworld with the mass of our sun, the builders would have to import the mass of about a thousand Jupiter-sized worlds. Not to worry, though. Freeman Dyson estimated that a sphere 3 m thick could be built around our sun at a distance of 1 AU using all the mass of the planets and other "debris", or several cm thick using only elements with atomic number greater than 2.

When I looked up Dyson spheres I was surprised to learn that Dyson's original vision wasn't for a solid shell, but rather for orbiting stations in such numbers that they intercepted all of the local sun's output. Although SE IV uses the term "sphereworld", authors can interpret that concept in various ways to suit their stories.

References:

http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/dysonFAQ.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyson_sphere

[El_Phil]

Blimey you do indeed learn something every day, although I do struggle to think of a time I will need to know about Dyson Spheres in everyday conversation. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

Anyway to topic: Mr Starhawk will we be seeing more of this soon or is another several month break in the offing?

[Starhawk]

Hi all bet you thought this was dead eh http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif Well suprise!

Okay this following chapter is a two parter (I am still working on part two) but here is Part One, sorry it took me so long to write this but this chapter and the one that follows it had a big emotional effect on me for personal reasons and though I enjoyed "writing" it I found some of the imagery hard to describe without being TOO graphic.

I will warn you all right now the Icaran universe is going to becoming darker and more gritty as the chapters go on, this is not to "gothify" it but is to show that no matter how staunch and devout a culture is that it is impossible for decades of war and billions of deaths to pass without effecting a nation (or in this case galaxy) at it's very core.

I've edited and re-edited the following segment so I hope you all like it.


Warning the following two chapters are RATED R for:
Nudity
Rape
Intense descriptions of gore and mutilation
Adult Language
Adult Conent

Please do not read further if any of these offend or scare you.


Alone in the Dark
Be near me when my light is low... And all the wheels of being slow.
Alfred Lord Tennyson

His Majesty’s Light Cruiser LC 303 formerly known as HMS Repulse before a modern Super Dreadnought took her name, was an old ship the last of the old Retribution class light cruisers that had not been turned into a museum or scrapped.. In fact even after her retrofit with modern weaponry 303 wouldn’t even scratch a modern warship if she fired all of her guns at the same time….and so she was assigned one of the most boring jobs in the Royal navy….patrolling the inner “frontier” systems while her crew (which was mostly inexperienced recruits or washouts that couldn’t cut it on an SD) ran the standard anti-smuggler and anti-piracy duties that were normally assigned to the new Federal Space Security Division.

Commander John Dexter, her current CO thought of it as a disgrace for spacers in the Royal Navy to be babysitting the inner frontiers while the real warships and their crews fought for the very survival of the Empire. But he was an officer in his Majesty’s navy and though he was young for his rank (only twenty-two standard years) he was an exceptional officer who ran his ship and his crew as if he were on the most important mission in the entire Empire.
It had been two months since 303 which Dexter and the crew had unofficially named “Forlorn” had left Neurenburg naval base on Dexter’s second cruise in command; and so far it had been the standard run of the mill boredom as the old warhorse which had once served on the fighting lines of battle fleets did her bit for Praetor and Country.

Tellus 1st:

Commander Dexter sat in the small command center of Forlorn sipping a cup of naval coffee, slowly chewing the jelled mix that had started to form as the “coffee” cooled….though the rest of the crew thought he was nuts John genuinely liked the taste of the jell better then the coffee it’s self so he’d heat up a big mug and let it cool after a few hours and chew the little chunks of mix as they formed and floated in the remaining water, it was part of his daily routine and after a few months even his bridge crew got used to it. But today he had honestly forgotten all about his coffee as he read reports that his section leaders had turned in earlier that morning.
“You look worried sir?” Lieutenant Commander Harriman’s voice surprised Dexter who swallowed a chunk of jelled coffee hard as he almost tossed the flexi pad with the reports on it across the bridge.
“Damn it Alex I told you to stop doing that….one of these days you’ll give me a heart attack.” Dexter glared even as the impish grin he rarely shared with anyone but friends came involuntarily across his lips.
“Well skipper if ye’ e’er do have a heart attack I’ll be sure to call a medical team for ye’……o’ c’urse that’d be after I assumed command o’ this old rust bucket.” Harriman said returning his Captain’s grin.
Harriman was nearly three time’s Dexter’s age and had joined the navy back when ships like the Forlorn had still been the queens of space; and though he was a gruff fowl mouthed old spacer that could make most snot noses cringe in fear without even raising his voice; Harriman was a good officer and had taken an almost instant liking to his new Commander; especially since like Harriman himself Dexter had risen from the ranks of the enlisted to become an Officer.
“Hell if I’d leave an vacuum eater like you in command Alex you’d probably end up blowing up a planet or something….and how would that make me look?” Dexter said as he placed the flexi aside with an exaggerated gesture.
“Aye, with my damned lot o’ luck I’d probably do just that sir’ but seriously ye’ do look a mite bothered and befuddled skip….if ye’ don’ mind me sayin’ so o’ course.” Harriman’s drawling voice had turned more serious as his commander’s grin faded into a grimace.
“I don’t mind you saying so Lieutenant Commander, these reports are depressing…..this ship was once a ship of the line! A warship in his Majesty’s service with the best crew and equipment, but now……” he shrugged and looked to the “sky”.
“Ah so that’s it is it sir? Well most of this crew is green, and granted ol’ Forlorn is not what she used to be but this old warhorse has some fight in her still, and she’ll surprise ye if she gets the chance.” Harriman patted the arm of his chair as if he were petting a beloved old hunting dog and Dexter couldn’t help but feel a little guilty that he could never really bring himself to thinking of Forlorn as anything but an old scrap heap that didn’t deserve the title of “warship” in this day and age but he knew Harriman had served on her not only during the Phong Wars where she survived the disaster that had been the third battle of Fornax but he had served on her ever since staying with all nineteen of her captains until they got promoted and moved onto the “modern navy”.

“Well to tell the truth I’m less worried about the ship then it’s new crew….most of these kids are just out of boot, and OCS and it’s starting to show in our performance…..we’d barely make muster if we were a line ship.” John sighed as he looked at the face of his chief weapons officer who was in fact a seventeen year old girl that had just come out of OCS with the rank of Ensign on her first cruise.
“Aye they’re kids….and they’re green but if you give me another few weeks I’ll kick their green arses all over the decks and leave each of ‘em with a boot stamp the size of a dreadnought until they shape up….or by god I’ll space the lot of ‘em” Harriman’s drawl had gone harsh as he eyed the bridge crew and made sure his voice carried enough for all of them to hear him.
And it was all Dexter could do to keep from smirking when the lovely young ensign at weaps blushed so red he thought she was about to explode.
“Well Sailing Master I think on that note I’m going to go to my quarters….such as they are. And get something to eat…..you have the Com.”
“Aye Sir I ‘ave the com, see ye’ in a few hours.” Harriman said with a mischievous wink that told his Commander to expect some drills over the next few hours that would probably make the crew wish they had gone into battle instead.

Tellus 2nd:
The attack had been a total surprise and had come in the middle of the night, a single pirate ship that was roughly the size of a Federal security Peacekeeper class starship had just appeared out of an asteroid belt and jumped the Forlorn engaging in a brief energy duel before deploying grapnels and boarding the small Icaran warship.

“Marine’s report to deck six I repeat report to deck six, we are being boarded….damage control parties to…..uh….decks five and three.” Ensign Caldwell said nervously as his eyes raced over the incoming reports from his section.
“Gou Shi! Caldwell what section do you want us at down here we don’t see the boarders!” The marine sergeant’s voice barked back.
“Ta ma de! They’re on deck five marines…..fire control get to deck six now.” Caldwell panicked as he tried to organize just what was going on, and was in the middle of panicking when the fire control party on deck five comned the bridge.
“Damn it command this is DC team seven we are under fire and ….” Automatic weapons fire cut off the end of the sentence and Caldwell’s face turned white as he realized what his mistake had done.

“Thank ye’ mister Caldwell yer damn fool SCREW UP just cost me eight member’s of my crew.” Harriman’s voice cut across the bridge like a cold wind silencing the chaos almost instantly as the weight of that simple statement sank in.
“Commander Sir, Reactor one is going critical engineering is trying to lock it down but they don’t think they can.” Ensign Paris said coolly as she looked up from her bridge readouts of the engineering deck.
Harriman turned to face her, his eyes hard enough to stare death himself down “Ensign ye’ know there’s only one thing ta’ be done….so just do it a’ready.” his voice was quiet and cool, unlike it had been only seconds before and the young woman stared back at him frozen for a second as her mind raced.
“Commander there are fifteen engineers in reactor room one if we eject it we kill all of them.” She stared for a moment and when Harriman did not respond she nodded and pressed a series of commands “Reactor one has been jettisoned reactor room has been vented….there is no longer a danger of breach sir.”
“Very well Ensign.” Harriman said simply as he monitored the situation from his command interface calmly even as dozens of voices shouted over the comns, including a dying message from marine fire team three which by the sound of things had just been wiped out.
“Commander! A group of boarders has breached into reactor two….marine fire teams Delta and Vega are engaged.” Caldwell’s voice was over excited for an Icaran Naval officer but at just this moment Harriman did not care because if a group of boarders got to the only remaining reactor and shut it down then Forlorn would lose all of her power and be helpless.
“Got that Ji Nv!” Fire Control officer Ensign Blake shouted as her guns finally struck the raider’s hull instead of its shields; as large debris and atmosphere poured from the open wound another I-Las shot struck the enemy ship tearing off it’ entire portside arsenal as the beam raked it.
“One more hit and she’s mine sir.” Blake said hungrily as she fed target data to the gun crews….just then the entire bridge sank into darkness and a low hum sounded the loss of all power.
After a few seconds of silence the lights came back up and all power was restored, the damage control board went green and all comns went quiet.

“Well great ladies and gentlemen we’re dead….or at least we would be when those pirates decided to send over more boarding parties.” Commander Dexter said as he stepped back onto the bridge; he had been declared a casualty in the opening exchange and had stepped off the bridge to monitor the simulation from the Damage control room instead and his mood had only gotten darker as the simulation went on.
“All department heads are to report to the briefing room in one hour, in the meantime Sailing Master Harriman I would like to speak with you in private.” When Harriman nodded Dexter simply nodded back and turned around, leaving the bridge in silence.

An hour later and the small briefing room was crowded with the various department heads, Ensign Blake, Fire Control; Ensign Caldwell Damage Control; Lieutenant Geer Marines, Lieutenant Elizabeth McClain Navigation, Ensign Walker Astrogation and Ensign Paris Engineering.

“Alright ladies and gentlemen let’s get right down to business, Harriman here will give each of you a review of your departments and their performance during our latest simulation.” Dexter gestured to Harriman who stood up and cleared his throat.

“First off ye’ were all caught with yer pants down and that lad’s and lassies is just plain unforgivable during a deep range patrol, Gawd forbid those’d been real pirates out there tonight instead of a simulation.” Harriman eyed each of the young department heads fiercely letting each word sink into their heads before continuing “My lord Caldwell led EIGHT crewmen into an ambush by pirate boarders because he got his bloody deck layout confused, not only that but he neglected to inform TWO marine fire teams of boarders in their sections leading to those teams being wiped out as well.”
Caldwell went ghost white as the other department heads looked at him, Lieutenant in particular was glaring at him because Geer had been in one of those two fire teams that got ambushed and wiped out.
“I’m sorry sir, I don’t know what happened.” Caldwell managed to choke out even as he nervously played with the buckle on his belt, slowly tracing the Imperial eagle with his thumb.
“I know what happened lad’ Ye’ screwed the pooch because ye’ panicked and that is something we are going to train out of you.” Harriman said more calmly as he saw the anguish in the young man’s face. “Besides your not the only one who screwed up….now Ensign Blake, if I may say so Captain.” He looked at Dexter with a small smile “Performed very well and her targeting data gave our gunnery crews several good shots before the “boarders” In reactor two took out our power.” Harriman nodded at the young woman with the barest hint of a smile on his lips.
“Now on to Navigation…..Miss McClain you unfortunately were declared a casualty shortly after the engagement began so I will not lay too much blame on you, for your performance.” Harriman paused just long enough to let the words your performance hit home. “However your navigation crew did terrible in this simulation, one wou’d think they didn’t know how to perform a bleedin’ evasive maneuver.” Harriman glared at her for a moment longer and to his surprise she simply nodded.
“Yes sir they screwed up and I intend to make sure it never happens again.” Her voice was totally unshaken and her eyes burned with a sureness that impressed the gruff old Spacer; she knew her department had made a mistake and she didn’t try to whitewash it or make excuses she simply accepted it and set herself to the task of correcting it, something most people her age never bothered with.
“Now as for…..” Harriman was about to continue when a voice over the room’s intercom cut him off.
“Captain to the bridge…..Captain to the bridge……we are receiving a class one federal distress signal.” the voice was almost mechanical over the com unit but even then the shock was audible and Harriman and Dexter exchanged brief glances before both rushed for the door.
“Everyone report to your stations now!” Dexter said as he left the briefing room on Harriman’s heels, several of the officers present immediately followed after Dexter as their stations were on the bridge….Lieutenant Geer however raced to get to the marine barracks while Walker went to check up on her engineering crew before reporting to the bridge.

Harriman and Dexter calmly entered the bridge and reported to their stations, even though Dexter felt anything but calm as the dread over receiving a code one federal distress call meant…..it was better known to spacers as a “Banshee call” because it was the last message a ship would ever send before being destroyed or it’s crew killed.
“Alright Ensign Toumas let’s hear it.” Dexter forced his voice to stay calm and casual despite the bile he could feel rising in his throat, after a second the hiss of the bridge com and then a desperate young voice cut through the silence.
“I repeat this is the Federal Security ship Pontus we are being boarded, they came out of nowhere and are overwhelming our security forces, they have already taken the lower decks…….I am declaring distress if anyone can hear me please respond……” The voice belonged to a young man who despite what he had just reported sounded eerily calm.
“Com put us through…..” Dexter waited for a moment until the com officer nodded “This is Commander John Dexter of the LC oh three to Pontus who is attacking you and what is your status?” he already strongly suspected the status of the Federal security ship but it made no sense…..they were in a core system, who could attack a FedSec ship out here?
“LC oh three, we don’t know who’s attacking us it’s an older Sol Coalition battleship that’s been refit……..status is not good they are already working their way to the bridge I hear the gunfire…..the captain and most of the crew are dead, I was ordered to stay here and relay information to anyone I could. Sir they’re not just killing our people they’re doing……horrible things to them.” The young man’s voice cracked for just a moment and Dexter felt his heart ache.
“Alright Pontus what are your coordinates we will be there as soon as possible.” Dexter turned to face Harriman and shook his head slowly.... all the Forlorn could do was get revenge for the FedSec ship because by time they got there it would all be over…..and what made it worse was that poor young man on the other end of the line already knew he was dead.
“Sir I’ve transmitted coordinates……they just set off a demolition charge at the bridge door sir one more and they’ll be through…..please make them pay for killing us sir.” The young man’ sounded more angry then sad and it was a feeling Dexter could understand.
“We’ll get them for you Pontus I swear it.” John Dexter said coldly, and after another second of silence a large explosion on the other end of the comn line sent a shiver up his spine.
“They’re through three oh three……God take our souls!” The sounds of screaming and gunfire were intermingled with a horrible sound that Dexter couldn’t quite place a sound of crunching and tearing…..and then the com went silent.

Seconds passed but it seemed an eternity until Dexter finally spoke again, using every ounce of will he had not to cry “Helm lay in a course for the Pontus last known location.”
Harriman patted his Commander’s arm gently “I hate to hav’ to say it sir but if they cou’d kill a Peacekeeper class starship so easily shou’d we really be engaging ‘em in naught but a light cruiser?” Harriman seemed to want to spit after suggesting that they simply turn around and abandon a fellow Icaran starship. Unfortunately it was true because though it was only a FedSec ship a Peacekeeper had almost twice the firepower of the Forlorn not to mention a much larger ground combat force.
“I know it’s probably not the smartest idea Harriman, and we’ll certainly launch a messenger drone to the nearest naval base but we have to at least try to see if there is anyone to save.” John looked at Alexander Harriman’s eyes and saw a glint of pride in the older man, and couldn’t help but feel somewhat more confident.
“Aye lad we ‘ave to at least try.” Alex Harriman said with a grim smile before turning back to face the screen “Time to intercept?” He barked, his voice back to it’s old give ‘em hell tone.
“Sir ETA eighteen hours, they are at the far edge of the system on the other side of the Herman asteroid belt.” Lieutenant McClain answered her voice still as stony and confident as it had been during the briefing.
“Very good…..pass the word, the marines run anti-boarding drills and have all crewman don armor and side arms.’ John looked at his bridge crew one more time and began to wonder if this would be the end for him and his crew….a crew who had been utterly beaten in a simulation against boarders.

Tellus 3rd:
It had been eighteen hours since the Forlorn had received the distress signal from the Federal Security Peacekeeper Pontus and finally the slow old light cruiser was coming up on the coordinates of the battle that had claimed a Federal security ship and it’s crew.
“Tactical what have we got?” it had been the first time in hours that anyone on the bridge had even spoken and John could almost feel the stir of tension as everyone on the bridge waited to hear from tactical.
“Sir I’m detecting the Pontus on short range sensors now, she’s dead in space as best I can tell…..multiple breaches along the hull that look like they were made by grapnels…..there’s not much air on her sir.” The tactical officer’s voice droned on professionally listing the damages the Pontus had suffered until his voice suddenly raised in surprise “Sir I’ve got life signs, it’s too hard to tell how many or even where they are but I’ve definitely got life signs!”
John Dexter didn’t even wait before slamming his fist down on the com button he had set to Geer’s com earlier “Attention Lieutenant Geer I want a squad marines and a team of Corpsmen to the launch bay in two minutes.” John was optimistic for the first time since he had heard the distress call….life signs meant survivors and that could mean that somehow the Pontus had repelled her attacker in the end.
“Aye sir……I’ve already got Alpha squad and Corpsmen Burke and Riley down in cutter six with your permission we’ll launch right now.” Geer’s voice was toneless as he pretty much admitted over the com that he had violated procedure and had his marines board a cutter. Dexter grinned for just a moment and turned to Harriman to see the old spacer smiling outright.
“Aye sir there’s hope for this crew yet.” Harriman said under his breath before turning his attention back to his tactical plot.
“Very good Lieutenant you have the go ahead…..get over there and bring those survivors back.” Dexter said more seriously before cutting the com circuit “Tactical can you get me a visual yet?” he rotated his chair to face the ship’s main screen as Tactical Officer Cherenkov’s hands raised over the controls.

After a few seconds the screen came to life and the optics began to focus on a huge grey and red object…..a few more seconds passed as the optics zoomed in to reveal what was left of the Peacekeeper class vessel Pontus.
“My God…..she’s been blown to hell.”
“How could anyone survive that?”
“Her entire superstructure been shot off!”
The whispers across the bridge were brought to a quick end as Harriman cleared his throat and leveled a look around the bridge that would have brought down a Spartan Kraken.
“Sir it looks like whoever did this tried to capture her intact but was forced to destroy too much of her for it to be worthwhile…..the grapnel hits are in non critical areas and as best I can tell other then the superstructure being destroyed there is very little actual hull damage.” Cherenkov’s tone remained bland even as the rest of the bridge crew’s nervous whispers had to be quieted.
“Sir marine cutter six has launched and will board the Pontus in under one minute at max acceleration.” Ensign Walker reported from the astrogation section almost offhandedly as his eyes remained fixed on the screen along with the eyes of almost every bridge officer.

A dull thump announced the marine’s breaching a damaged section of hull as their cutter latched onto the outer shell and fired off a breaching charge. Barely five seconds passed before the first fire team marines zip lined down to the deck, weapons at the ready. As the first four marines spread out to give the second fire team room to drop their rifle mounted flashlights shown eerily in the smoke filled darkness of the Pontus corridors
“Alright fire team one you’ve got the upper decks, fire team two your with me Burke your with team one, Riley your with me.” Lieutenant Geer whispered over his helmet com, just in case anyone hostile was here Geer wasn’t about to make a commotion.

As Geer’s fire team got past the wreckage in the corridor where they had first entered the ship the marine on point suddenly stopped short causing the marine behind him to bump into his back.
“Gou shi Henderson what’s wrong with you?” the second marine’s voice hissed over the com line as he recovered from the initial shock of bumping into another fully armored marine.
“Look…” Was all Henderson managed to croak out, hearing the tone in the marine’s voice Geer pushed forward and aimed his rifle’s flashlight at the deck.
Geer stopped up short and felt his stomach wretch, he had seen battle casualties before but the bodies that were laid out in front of him were not simply killed they were mutilated, their guts carved out and their skin flayed….by the look of agony on what was left of one man’s face it looked like the mutilation had happened while some of them were still alive.
“This couldn’t have happened during a firefight…..not even if the ship took a hit…..my God sir someone did this to them….I mean deliberately…..carved them up like meat.” Corpsman Burke’s voice barely registered as Geer raised his rifle and aimed it down the corridor ahead…….more bodies or parts of bodies were strewn about the deck as far as he could see.
“Alright…..enough……we’ve still got survivors on the deck below us and damned if I am going to let them die here when what’s left of this ship’s atmo vents because we couldn’t get a hold of our own nerve…..move out” Geer barked the last two words more to keep himself from vomiting then to sound in charge and as he passed through more of the charnel house that had once been a ship’s deck he found it harder to keep his breakfast down.

As Geer and his marines made their way down to the next deck more horrors awaited them, including female crew members stripped naked and tied to various pieces of debris along the bulkheads their bodies were in a state that would make any Icaran sick but Geer and his marines couldn’t afford that as the air supply was even now running out for whoever it was that managed to survive this massacre. As the marines reached crew quarters they found more bodies with the females being tied to the hatches the marine’s motion detectors began chirping, as the marines got closer the realized it was coming from one of the rooms that had a naked and mutilated woman tied to the hatch.
“Loren, get it open, Horrowitz, Janec provide cover.” Geer raised his rifle toward the corpse strung hatch as Loren advanced and checked for any improvised explosives. After a moment the marine slung his auto rifle and pulled out his combat knife to cut the cords that secured the woman to the hatch.
‘Who the cao could do this sir?” Marine Loren said as he gently cut down the mangled woman’s corpse and laid her aside to get through the door she had been tied too.
“I don’t know Marine but whatever xeno scum did this is going to burn.” Geer said icily as Loren opened the hatch to reveal another group of dead bodies, this time all male who had apparently been dragged in to the quarters after being injured, where they were then tortured and killed.
Loren paused as he approached the head and heard a rustle in a closet; he quickly made a gesture that alerted the other marines to what he was looking at, Geer and Horrowitz took up the flank while Janec was signaled to fall back and protect Burke.
As Loren carefully approached the door he heard a quiet thud and felt his heart begin to race, if it had not been for his training he would have unloaded his weapon into the closet right then and there but he kept his nerves under control and carefully slid the door aside.
A high pitched whine pierced the air as a dart pistol fired square into Loren’s breastplate, knocking the marine back a few inches.
Just as the two men who had been flanking him were about to open fire Loren screamed “NO! She’s one of ours God don’t shoot!” and stepped into the closet, another dart shot rang out and again Loren’s breastplate had a chip of armor fly off before he finally grabbed the pistol and threw it clear of the person inside the closet.
“Get away from me you bastards……get away I’ll kill you!” a young female voice shouted followed by some words even Geer had not heard used before, quickly the two other marines slung their rifles and rushed over to help Loren secure the struggling victim without causing her harm.
After a few seconds of struggle that seemed an eternity the naked writhing figure who’s face none of them had managed to see in the darkness suddenly stopped moving altogether and for a moment Geer felt a sick pang, fearing that she had died in her struggle.
“Burke get your *** over here, she’s hurt!” was all he managed to get out before the corpsman physically moved him out of the way and was kneeling over the nude and battered young woman. For over a minute the corpsman said nothing as he ran scans over her slowly inspecting her for any major injuries he would have to treat there, it was when that he moved the hair that had been caked in blood and blocking her face to place the oxygen mask on her did the true horror of the situation become apparent.
“Oh dear god….she’s a kid…..she couldn’t be older then fourteen” One of the marines….Geer couldn’t quite tell who at that point quickly opened their visor and went to the corner and began vomiting violently as the other two stood with him in numb horror. ”Burke…..what’s her status?” Geer kept his voice battlefield calm even though everything in him was afraid he already knew the answer.
“Sir…..she’s been raped and beaten, as near as I can tell multiple times, she’s got broken ribs and her one lung has a rib gone clear through it, she’s also got internal bleeding in several places…..I think whoever did this to her left her to die slowly on purpose.” Burke gently unhooked the greatcoat from his armor and wrapped it around the young girl before injecting her with a stasis fluid and placing oxygen on her.
“We’ve got to get her back to the ship now sir….” Burke looked up with a fire in his eye that Geer had only ever seen in combat personnel, a fire that cried for blood and revenge but tempered with months of medical training and compassion for the young woman that was lying broken on the floor in front of him.
“Alright Burke, once stasis sets in we’ll get a stretcher and get her out of here…” Geer’s voice was still filled with hatred as he tried to force himself to look away from the young woman that was lying on the floor. Less then four minutes later the marine cutter was on it’s way back to the Forlorn with two survivors, both women and both in the same condition…..a fourteen year old Fed Sec Spacer named Allyson Landry the other survivor was Commodore Liza Adair NavInt which just added new questions like why naval personnel were on a FedSec ship?

What the crew of the Forlorn could not know was that the hardest and most trying fight they’d ever face was only days away for as the marines were bringing the two survivors back to the Icaran light cruiser, she was being stalked by a predator who had already butchered one FedSec Peacekeeper class patrol ship’s crew along with others that the inexperienced crew would only later find out about……

To be Continued

[Hunpecked]

Nice switch from the frontline "Glory Navy" to the rear echelon "Working Navy". I think Starhawk has correctly portrayed the crew of such a ship: rookies, screw-ups, and pre-retirees.

The young crew members of both ships in Part 1 remind me of the Royal Navy in the age of sail, with its teenage midshipmen and pre-pubescent powder monkeys. However, given the size of the Icaran Empire, the navy's ability to draw on both manpower and womanpower, and the Icaran life span, I doubt the armed forces would need to recruit children. Moreover, the complexity of interstellar craft relative to sailing ships would seem to make an advanced education a prerequisite for service. Finally, adding "jailbait" (of both sexes) to the crew of a man-o-war on extended duty would seem to be a recipe for trouble, no matter how thorough the Icaran indoctrination and crew screening techniques.

As for the "pirate" ship, I was expecting it to strike when the Forlorn's crew was slightly weakened by the departure of its boarding party. I'm curious to see what circumstances the enemy considers even more favorable.

[Starhawk]

Hey Hunpecked it's always great to hear from you http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif I really learn a lot from your critique of my story and it helps me find what i need to correct or go into more depth on.

Yeah I figure that since the "Ships of the Line" of the Icaran Royal navy only engaged in full on battles since you obviously wouldn't dispatch a squadron of your most powerful battleships to capture a few smugglers. There had to be someone to do the "scut work" that had no glory, or "honor" to it, they simply do the ugly job no one wants like stopping smugglers or pirates.

As far as the young crew, Icaran society is not quite like ours in the regards to children in the work force, they are considered adult at 13 and are usually pretty well educated by then (remember the advanced schooling techniques I mentioned way back)additional schooling from that age on is pretty much what we would consider "college" level and higher. They also perform less "tech related" jobs aboard ship while they undergo training, for example they are mess cooks, gun crews, "janitors" that sort of thing. It also depends greatly one which Icaran world they come from.

For example on a world like Sparta it's actually SAFER aboard a navy warship then it is back at home (which is also oddly enough why the bulk of the Spartan soldiers are women) so the naval recruitment age on Sparta is 14. Many worlds are like this as well as it is on some worlds seen as merely a further education, or even a right of passage.

On many core worlds like Icara, Brandenburg and the like the minimum recruitment age would often vary, usually to around 16-17 years old.

As far as "jailbait" goes, well that's hard because as far as being attracted to a 14 year old "child" goes, well I think any adult whether aboard a warship or not would know better then to do something with her/him, remember there are fully adult crewmembers aboard ship it's not like they'd go months with nothing to look at but pre-teen girls/boys.

[Hunpecked]

Starhawk, thanks for clarifying the Icaran view of adulthood. It's interesting that the advanced educational practices in the story result in a social situation reminiscent of "primitive" Napoleonic Europe, when "children" labored alongside adults in the fields, shops, and armed forces, and often married in their early teens. The lack of automation in Icaran society (explained in an earlier post, as I recall) would tend to provide ample opportunities for inexperienced workers.

However, recent scientific studies suggest that the Icarans may be employing more than just advanced education here. Apparently the part of the human brain affecting judgment, self-control, planning, and organization doesn't fully develop until age 20 or after. If so, it would seem even highly trained teenagers would be at a disadvantage in unfamiliar situations, compared to their older peers.

On the other hand, the Icarans can probably pick and choose the best young recruits (even for the Working Navy), and teenagers tend to live up to what's expected of them. Under a strict merit system, the Icarans can promote the mature teens and defer promotion of the late bloomers. I found it interesting that the youngest crewman mentioned in the story is a female; even in the future, perhaps females still mature earlier than males? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

As for jailbait, if the Icarans only recruit "adults" then the "problem" doesn't exist (presumably the age of majority is also the age of consent). However, the view that all the older "adults" would prefer their own company to that of the younger "adults" seems a bit naive--the novel "Lolita" isn't entirely a work of fiction. As an Icaran ship's captain, I'd tend to keep the cabin boy away from the chaplain, "adult" or not. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

PBS's look at the neuroscience of adolescence:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/teenbrain/

[Starhawk]

Starhawk, thanks for clarifying the Icaran view of adulthood. It's interesting that the advanced educational practices in the story result in a social situation reminiscent of "primitive" Napoleonic Europe, when "children" labored alongside adults in the fields, shops, and armed forces, and often married in their early teens. The lack of automation in Icaran society (explained in an earlier post, as I recall) would tend to provide ample opportunities for inexperienced workers.



Yeah I sort of wanted to play on that in a unique way, after all with the science and technology to advance your education at an accelerated rate do you really get to stay a "child" in the eyes of society or are you expected to do what every other adult does and play your part?


However, recent scientific studies suggest that the Icarans may be employing more than just advanced education here. Apparently the part of the human brain affecting judgment, self-control, planning, and organization doesn't fully develop until age 20 or after. If so, it would seem even highly trained teenagers would be at a disadvantage in unfamiliar situations, compared to their older peers.



Well your not about to see any 16 year old officers and as I said most of the "youths" are in positions of relative unimportance during their training and indoctrination, the ground combat forces only recruit at age 17+ because of physical and mental maturity which is not AS Important when your just a naval gunner or mess cook.
Other then that it is possible they use "artificial" means to develope the brains of the youths I haven't quite decided on this point just yet.


On the other hand, the Icarans can probably pick and choose the best young recruits (even for the Working Navy), and teenagers tend to live up to what's expected of them. Under a strict merit system, the Icarans can promote the mature teens and defer promotion of the late bloomers. I found it interesting that the youngest crewman mentioned in the story is a female; even in the future, perhaps females still mature earlier than males?



Yeah the navy in particular is picky about their recruits and they have about 700+ billion humans on hundreds of worlds (that are all required to meet recruitment quotas) to chose from.

And heh yeah the reason the youngest crewmembers you'll likely see are female is because (not only in scientific) but in my own personal experience girls mature far faster then boys so they'd rather have mature crewmembers who can be more easily trained and disciplined.


As for jailbait, if the Icarans only recruit "adults" then the "problem" doesn't exist (presumably the age of majority is also the age of consent). However, the view that all the older "adults" would prefer their own company to that of the younger "adults" seems a bit naive--the novel "Lolita" isn't entirely a work of fiction. As an Icaran ship's captain, I'd tend to keep the cabin boy away from the chaplain, "adult" or not.



Well I'm not going to get into a debate about pedophiles here as that would just derail this whole storyline but I will say that most people I've met prefer company more their own age then those of people much younger then themselves.

[Starhawk]

Hey all long time no post.....just wanted to let you know this story is fAR from dead and that I am right now working on Chapter 2 of the latest "series" involving the HLS 303 (Forlorn).

For personal reasons this story arc means a lOT to me and so I wanted to get it RIGHT so I have been working and reading and re-reading and having others read the still unfinished chapter.

Also from now on the "From the Begining" story will be a little different then it has been, it will get darker grittier and less "child friendly" during mainly battles but also in other 'arcs' that may come in the future.

As far as technology goes I have also been working on making the tech more consistant so that it is easier for your suspension of disbelief


Anyway I hope you all look forward to my story continuing http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Starhawk]

Alone in the Dark pt2
When my candle burns away and the dark of night replaces day,
Stand by my side, I will not fear when deaths’ grim voice at last I hear.
And when the toils of war at last are done; I will rise from dust to greet the dawn.
Death prayer of an Icaran

It had been less then an hour since the “Forlorn” had discovered the Federal Security ship Pontus adrift with only two survivors; both women and both raped and tortured to within an inch of their lives. And it had been less then five minutes since Doctor Mara Goldberg and her corpsman met the marine gunship in the docking bay with a stretcher and full life support kit.
“Make a whole damn it we’ve got wounded!” the doctor shouted as she ran to keep up with the stretchers as two marines pushed them so that her corpsman could get access to the two women and treat their wounds, thanks to modern science their bodies were in stasis and could not get any worse-at the moment at least- but if they were not treated before the stasis wore off then both of these women were likely to die in a matter of minutes.
As the two stretchers raced through the cramped corridors, naval personnel and marines who had not gone over with the boarding party stepped aside, some uttered quick prayers as the two women passed, others began crying, and still others simply looked on numbly unable to believe that anyone or anything was capable of inflicting the kind of needless suffering these women were going through, not to mention the last horrible moments that must have led to the deaths of every other person on the FedSec ship.

********

Meanwhile light years away a small community of independent minded people who had once been citizens of the now defunct Empire of Man were going about the normal work that met fringe colonists especially on tiny outposts like “Independence Bluff”. Several colonies just like it had popped up since the fall of the Empire and the Great War that currently engulfed the two largest human Empires began. These colonies remained independent mainly because Icara could not spare any ships or troops to re-conquer them at the moment,

Mostly farmers a few smithies (not even warranting the term factory by modern standards) and ranchers the 5,000 men, women and children of Indie Bluff as the locals tended to call it were hardly concerned with the galaxy at large, they had barely a scrap of modern technology as far as anyone else would consider it and they were proud of it, mainly because they were descendants of the Amish who had been forcibly removed from Sol during a war centuries ago, and long after what the Icarans called the “Final Sol war”; they were also proud of their lack of tech because as they saw it the rest of the galaxy had gotten to reliant on the stuff, even Icara; the Empire where “automation is the ultimate degradation of man” had tech that would have made their ancestors gape in awe.

It was on this world where Jeremiah Herschel and his family lived, he had always considered himself blessed with a beautiful wife, a daughter now nineteen and a son now seven and his job as a farmer in the community. Indie Bluff was a small world but it was home and he loved it’s long flowing purple grass and it’s thirty foot oak like trees and like many other elders he believed God had picked this world out for the Amish long before man had ever even realized those twinkling lights in the night sky had planets around them let alone that some day man would reach out to those worlds.

Jeremiah was working in the field with the rest of the men from his small town as they did every day but Sunday of the harvest season when a noise the likes of which he had not heard in years drew his attention to the sky, Jeremiah and the other men looked up to see a huge fireball tearing through the sky, the boom they had heard told them that this was no meteor but was under at least partial power because it had triggered it’s descent thrusters which meant a ship.
The men quickly dropped what they were doing and began running back to their village to get the women and children to shelter, Jeremiah felt panic as he thought of Icaran jackboots tramping down his fields and Icaran bayonets pointed at his beautiful family, not only that but he had heard rumors that Icarans conscripted men, women and even Children! into the navy if the ship making orbit had taken casualties in battle. He feared this less for himself then his boy Ezekiel who was a strapping and fit young man who would make a perfect spacer.
As the fireball led into a smoke trail Jeremiah strained his eyes as he tried to catch a glimpse of what kind of ship it was that was heading for his village and his family. If it was a civilian ship then they could hope that it was just an emergency landing and that whoever it was would not betray their position to Icara, if it was a warship in orbit then those could be armored marines coming down even now. As the thought of a warship coming struck him like a hammer Jeremiah ran even faster towards his village; where he now saw the women and children gaping up at the sky, though he did notice that some of the women were even now taking their children to the cellars.
Jeremiah finally reached his home and saw his wife Hilda and his daughter packing food and supplies while his son carried the boxes to the cellar, the Herschel’s unlike most of the other families had a cellar entrance inside their home instead of outside, this made it easier for them to store their supplies in the winter so that they did not have to go outside during the coldest hours to get food and other things. Hilda shot a nervous smile at her husband and waved him off to help his son pack the goods into the cellar while Mina their daughter continued to wrap bread and put it in the last basket.
After the supplies were packed Jeremiah came back to the kitchen and smiled nervously at his wife “Come on Hilda you and Mina go to the cellar now, Ezekiel and I will stay here and find out who they are and what they want, Hans and his wife and daughters are also going to be coming over any minute so you’ll have company in the cellar.” His voice was urgent but stern and if there was one thing in this universe Jeremiah Herschel could be sure of it was that his wife would not disobey him when he told her to stay safe.
“God be with you.” Was all Hilda said as she cried and embraced her husband before Hans and his family showed up, immediately Hilda lead Brenda (Hans wife), Leona (his 9 year old daughter) and Brunhilde (Hans 12 year old daughter) to the cellar.
“So Jeremiah you think that those heretic Icarans have come to our world?” Hans said quietly as the two men calmly took old fashioned sonic rifles out of their carrying cases and each man took his (a sonic rifle won’t kill you but it will sure put the fear of God in you as you feel like your brain is trying to escape your skull).
“I don’t know Hans but I hope it is just some civilian that had to put down for repairs or something, but Icarans have to be the most stubborn people I’ve ever met, and when they decide they want something they take it, all others be damned.” Jeremiah’s voice strained as he turned and saw his son taking his sonic rifle over to the window…..”If they come to take our sons and daughters they’ll have a fight though and let us hope they do not want to kill today.” Jeremiah said in a low voice so that only Hans heard him, the Amish of Indie Bluff did not use the Sustain treatments and so at most lived to be just over a hundred, and Hans and Jeremiah were already in their forties and so neither felt much fear of being taken in a press gang, but their children….they were just perfect.

What seemed like an eternity passed before the hum of an engine and the tramp of heavy boots could be heard, and Jeremiah expected to see an Icaran marine column coming down his streets at any moment instead he saw a single vehicle which reminded him somewhat of an old style earth “truck” but it was much larger and had at least one big gun in its bed, around it was clustered a group of men wearing ragged looking clothes and carrying cruel looking weapons, not all of which were firearms.
Jeremiah had only seen an Icaran once but he knew right away these men were not Icarans, not only were they dressed in shambles but they were short and most of them were black, while most Icarans were tall and either Anglo or Asiatic in appearance, only as they got closer did he notice that their black color was not their skin, at least not on all of them, it was in fact a series of deep wounds that had been filled with dark ink to give them a frightening appearance. Jeremiah did not have time to think further as all hell seemed to break lose at once, he heard in the distance the sound of screaming women and children, and the shouts and hollers of men, followed by noises he had never heard in his life (the sound of battle), sonic rifles whined as the villagers defended their homes, but slug throwers responded quickly the sound of shrieks of agony tore the warm morning air.

Jeremiah and Hans both fired their Sonic rifles at two of the men in the group that had just entered their village, both men went down screaming but to the horror of Jeremiah and Hans alike instead of taking cover or rushing to aid their fallen comrades the other men simply laughed and began firing back; other men in the village opened fire with sonic rifles as well and Jeremiah looked out his window just in time to see two of his neighbors burst into flames as the slugs from these beast-men hit them in the arm or leg. Jeremiah had never seen an inferno round being used and to him it seemed like Satan himself was attacking their small community.

As the fighting went on Jeremiah saw the raiders break away into small teams and begin breaking into houses, Jeremiah saw a young man of about twenty-years dragged from his home by two of the raiders, and then mercilessly chopped into small pieces by primitive looking axe-like weapons, what shocked Jeremiah more then the sheer gore and horror was that the poor boy remained alive for several minutes as the two raiders slowly chopped off limbs and parts of limbs and relished every moment of his pain.
Hans shouted and fired a shot into one of the raiders as he came towards the house he and Jeremiah were taking shelter in, the man went down screaming a horrible bestial short of scream and began flailing on the ground as the effects of the sonic rifle continued to play havoc with his body.
Jeremiah fired at another raider sending the man…..no WOMAN! Into violent seizures and a rather audible and noxious case of diarrhea which seemed only to make her friends even more anxious to get into the fray.
Jeremiah heard a woman’s scream and looked over to his neighbor’s house and saw several raiders go down into the cellar of Betty Holtz after a few seconds he saw a raider carrying what he sickly came to realize was Betty’s head, more shrieks tore the sky as men were ignited by inferno rounds or simply torn apart by blade and bare hands as the raiders kept tearing the village apart.

“Hans I have to find a way to disguise the cellar entrance and protect our families’ can you hold them off for just a few more minutes?” Jeremiah asked in a voice that surprised even himself in it’s calm serenity…..he knew that he would die this day and that God would welcome him home, but he also knew that his family still had hope to live and he would do everything in his power to protect them for as long as God gave him time.
“Go…..God be with you Jeremiah your boy and I will hold them here.” Hans said with a grim set on his face as he saw Ezekiel take another raider down with his sonic rifle…..the problem was of course that sonic rifles did not kill and that those raiders would be fine in a few hours and most likely want revenge. But at least for the next few hours they would not be able to hurt anyone else.

Jeremiah raced out of the kitchen back into the main house and began looking for something….anything that would let him hide the entrance to the cellar that his wife and daughter and the family of his friend were hiding in. And then without even thinking he took a book case and moved it over to where it was a few inches away from the cellar door, he grabbed a rug and placed it over the door before sliding the book case on top of the rug, he just hoped and prayed that these raiders did not like books. He found himself taken aback when he heard himself laughing at the thought of those monsters outside tearing at a bookshelf to get the first copy of the Bible or his wife’s cook books. After a moment of delirious shock Jeremiah came to his senses when he heard the sound of a horrible scream coming from his kitchen. He grabbed a small axe from it’s place on the mantle and ran to the kitchen, sonic rifle in one hand axe in the other, he saw his son taking cover behind a cabinet and took a quick look around and saw his friend Hans laying on the floor, the whole left side of his torso had been blown open by a weapon the likes of which Jeremiah had never seen before.
It was in that moment that the kitchen door broke down and a figure burst through the door only to be dropped by a sonic blast from his son’s rifle, two more raiders came in and while one was brought down by a shot from Jeremiah the other raced for his son, without thinking Jeremiah flung his axe down on the figure as it raced by and as he heard the horrible crunch of blade meeting bone and flesh Jeremiah recoiled, leaving the axe buried in the skull of the raider who fell to the floor in a bloodied heap of gore and dead meat.
Jeremiah never even felt the dart that tore his head off and was mercifully spared the sight of his son being torn apart by vengeful raiders as they carved and mutilated the young boy......before leaving to tear the rest of the house apart.

********
Commander Dexter waited outside of the doors to the light cruiser’s tiny infirmary pacing as he waited for the doctor to come out and inform him of the condition of her patients, it was the first time Dexter could recall ever hearing of a doctor sealing off a ships infirmary, but considering the nature of the two women’s injuries he could certainly understand her reluctance to allow just anyone to stumble into the infirmary at the moment.
“Commander there ye’ are, I brought ye’ coffee.” Harriman’s voice boomed from behind Dexter causing the young Commander to jump a few inches off the deck and whirl around with a grimace on his face.
“Damn it sailing master I’ll have you hung next time.” Dexter said mockingly as he took the cup from the old Sailing master and looked at it, the jell was just starting to float to the top of the brownish water.
“Ah on the charge o’ tryin’ to kill a senior o’icer n’ doubt.” Harriman said with a shrug as he leaned against the wall and waved his hand with a callous indifference.
“Now there’s an idea….they still hang folks for that right?” Dexter said as he chewed a piece of jelled “coffee” mix and stared thoughtfully at the deck for a moment “Alex, who could have killed a Peacekeeper class ship like that and butchered her crew? The mantisorans don’t operate like that and pirates couldn’t kill a ship that big.” Dexter continued to stare at the deck as Harriman took a long slow breath.
“Well sir, if’ the’es any indies out here that could kill a Peacekeeper class, I’d o’ thought NavInt would have hea’d o’ the bastads…..unless it’s someone new.” Harriman paused for a moment before he finished “A new group of damned to hell Xenos.”
“Or humans Alex…..God knows there were people back in our own history who were sadistic Gan ni niang that got off on torture and rape.” Dexter shuddered as he remembered some of his history classes covering Praetor Li and his “appetites” especially toward young boys….until he conveniently died in a tragic accident involving his shuttle exploding..
“Aye……’tis true but to do what was done to that crew, I mean that was either pure enjoyment or pure hatred on their part……to do…that.” Harriman shivered as he remembered starring in numb horror at the camera feed from the marines.
The infirmary door silently opened and a marine guard, wearing the dark green tunic and black trousers of a standard enlisted duty uniform walked through them into the corridor, his face was pale and he almost forgot to salute Commander Dexter before heading off down the corridor at a slightly quickened pace.
A young woman stepped through the same hatch the marine had left open; she was wearing the white tunic of a naval medical officer and had just pulled a mask off with her left hand before saluting Dexter.
“Captain, Sailing Master, both patients are recovering, at least physically, God knows how they will be mentally when I bring them out of their comas.” Doctor Mara Goldberg had been from Jerusalem on the New Bethlehem colony she was tall dark skinned woman with dark hair and had what she liked to call a “very Jewish personality” which Dexter had come to realize meant, stubborn as a mule, often somber, and usually unshakeable, so when he saw her flushed face, and almost wobbling legs he immediately felt his stomach clench.
“How bad is it Dr?” He asked in as calm a voice as he could manage considering the circumstances.
“It’s pretty damn bad sir, the younger one’s got internal damage caused by what I’m guessing to be a bladed weapon that was…..” she paused as she heard Harriman choke down bile.
Naval officers of the modern era would see many a terrible thing, bodies torn and shredded or simply melded with deck plating because of heat, but ironically it was easier to cope with because war was not intentionally “cruel” you did not deliberately inflict pain on your enemy if you could kill them painlessly, and it was oddly impersonal in ship to ship combat, but to see a crew not just killed but tortured was too much even for the old spacer to handle.
“Alright Doc, we get the bloody idea.” Harriman choked out with a grimace before excusing himself and following the marine down the corridor.
“Sorry doc…it’s just hard.” Dexter said apologetically as he reached a hand out and patted the doctor’s shoulder. He had been “lucky” and not seen what had happened to the two women in person, the doctor had not only had to see it but had to try her damndest to fix the shattered bodies something Dexter could never imagine trying himself.
“Aw hell its fine…..anyway Captain if you would like to come in they are both fully clothed now, and I was about to bring the older woman out of her coma.” Goldberg turned toward the open hatch and gestured for the Commander to follow; after a moment he swallowed hard and followed her in.

The infirmary was dimly lit and the older woman was in the bed closest to the hatch, the younger woman was still surrounded by a curtain so no one could see her, Dexter saw a second marine in the room that had apparently had a stronger stomach then the one whom had left; the marine snapped a silent salute which Dexter returned grimly as he walked hesitantly to the unconscious woman’s bedside, the doctor followed him quietly and prepared a hypo injector with a medicine known by laymen as “thaw”. Doctor

Minutes passed before the unconscious woman began to twitch and move uncomfortably as the waking world began to pull at her, the woman’s eyes opened and after a second of shocked silence she screamed, a horrible scream that made Dexter’s blood run cold and his hair stand on end, the scream of someone who has had something beyond all imagining happen to them. She began kicking and throttling against the soft force of a containment field that held her body in place to prevent injury; Doctor Goldberg and one of her corpsmen rushed over to the bedside to calm the violent flailing woman; several minutes passed before the woman finally started to calm down and her senses returned to her.
Dexter stared at the woman for several long minutes, trying to force himself to remember who she was, she looked like someone he should know but he just couldn’t bring her name to his forebrain. Finally as she stropped struggling and relaxed the Doctor set the restraining field to minimal force and laid her hand on the woman’s shoulder.
“It’s alright, your safe.” Goldberg’s voice was soft and sweet but the woman still stared unbelieving and in shock.
“Can you hear me……..do you know who we are?” the woman still stared up blankly her mouth slack her eyes glazed.
Dexter stepped forward and forced his face into a mask of calm “Listen to me soldier…..you will answer me now.....do you know who you are.” His voice somehow kept it’s battlefield composure even as his stomach clenched at the thought of yelling at a woman in such a horrible condition.
Somehow his tone broke through the ice and the woman’s eyes went sharp, at first with fear and then something that looked almost like fear, at last her entire body seemed to relax as she finally seemed to truly be looking around her.
“Actually…..”the woman’s voice was a hoarse whisper and she began coughing almost immediately after she spoke, the young corpsman handed her a packet of water and she drank greedily for several seconds before the young man took the packet away from her to make sure she didn’t make herself sick.
After a moment she looked at Commander Dexter with what could almost be called a smile “Actually…..commander it’s not soldier” she paused and cleared her throat again “It’s Ma’am, I am in fact Rear Admiral Liza Adair.” Her voice croaked again but somehow she managed to keep her composure “Naval intelligence.” She finished the last word with a fierce cough before almost collapsing back onto the bed.
“Oh……damn……I apologize ma’am.” Dexter saluted briefly and all color flushed from his face, which seemed to lighten the battered woman’s mood even further.
“Don’t worry….about it.” She said slowly before falling back to sleep. Goldberg looked at Dexter and nodded to reassure him that she had merely fallen asleep ‘She’ll be fine sir….but she needs some real rest for a few hours.” Goldberg’s tone left no doubt in Dexter’s mind that she was not requesting him to leave but in fact was merely being very polite about telling him to get out.
“Alright doctor…..oh and please do come to dinner tonight with the rest of us in the wardroom.” He managed to smile when she nodded and quickly turned and left the room, his gut still feeling like he’d been kicked by a Spartan Kraken.

Chapter two
An hour later Dexter was sitting alone in the wardroom, it was naval tradition that a Captain usually arrive last but Dexter had wanted some privacy and besides he thought I’ve never stood too much on tradition anyway. He was wearing his standard duty uniform and had asked that all of his senior staff do the same at dinner; he always thought the tradition of full dress at dinner for the senior staff on the same ship was stuffy and for old men and Admirals….neither of which he was.
He let his mind wander for a few minutes as the thought of some shadow in the void of space hunting down and destroying a powerful Icaran starship and butchering its crew began to create a sense of dread in him he had never felt before in his life. As he realized almost for the first time that he was scared he actually smiled….a humorless smile that made his normally attractive face look almost like an old Nazi rebel death’s head. “Son of a *****….I’m scared of a ghost.” He said aloud as he forced the fear from his mind.
Just then the hatch opened and two officers stepped through, wearing the normal crimson red tunic and black trousers of a naval officer’s duty uniform; Ensign Blake in the lead and Ensign Paris following, both men walked in and saluted; Ensign Blake was tall for an average Icaran woman, she was also rather rough looking for someone her age, especially in the modern era of Sustain but she beamed a personality that made others pay attention to her when she spoke, Paris on the other hand was almost her exact opposite, he was short and had it not been for Icaran workout regiments being a required part of school, work and general life he probably would have ended up a fat man, his body was broad as a barrel and his face reminded Dexter a little bit of a pug’s, Paris was also quiet and his personality was almost non-existent but he knew his job and he did it well.
Both young officers took their seats and a moment later two more figures appeared in the door, Ensign Caldwell, his face sickly pale as usual and his nerves so on edge Dexter was surprised the young man didn’t constantly seizure, Caldwell managed a quick shaky salute before almost running to his seat and parking himself silently, Ensign Walker stopped for a moment and stared awkwardly at the display the other officer had just made, Walker was from a naval family, he was tall muscular and by the book, his hair was cropped closer then most spacers kept it, almost marine or army like and his piercing grey eyes conveyed his emotions in a way no one could seem to ignore. He saluted smartly and walked at a leisurely pace to his seat without a second glance at Caldwell.
Lieutenant’s Geer and McClain walked in side by side and Dexter grinned for a split second, he always thought the two would make an interesting couple with interesting kids, Geer was taller then most core world Icarans, and his muscles were clearly visible even through his dark green tunic and black trousers, marines joked that the man could knock out a tank, and anytime Dexter saw the man he almost believed it, Geer was not an attractive man but he wasn’t ugly, and his close cropped hair had a habit of making his pronounced ears look even bigger, but the young marine always had just an overwhelming presence of self confidence and vitality that made the man a virtual walking recruitment holo, his dark green eyes almost matched his tunic and he often joked that his eyes were issued by the marine corps…..marine green. He saluted yet stayed next to McClain, the woman was average height for an Icaran core world woman, and she had long brown hair tied tight in a style that many naval women preferred, her posture and expression was pure confidence and professionalism as she walked into the room, but Dexter also couldn’t help but notice that she always seemed to have this glint in her eye that reminded him of a schoolgirl who looked like she would pull a prank on you in a heartbeat if she ever got the chance. And Dexter couldn’t help but take note as the two officers took seats next to each other.
Sailing Master Harriman came in several seconds later, still buttoning his tunic and looking rather sheepish before saluting and taking his seat at the opposite end of the table from the Captain. Doctor Goldberg walked in silently, her white tunic and trousers standing out amidst the dark colors of the “armed service” officers. She smiled politely and took her seat with no sign of embarrassment on her face over being late.
This was their first formal dinner with this crew since launch as he had kept the crew to too strict a schedule over the past weeks for any sort of formal activities and Dexter couldn’t quite figure out how to start up a conversation.
“Good evening ladies and gentlemen.” Dexter said quietly, the other officers nodded back at him and he felt a little twist of irony that he faced battle with less anxiety then a dinner. After a few moments of awkward silence a line of mess staff came in with trays laden with food and drinks, including a bottle of Leosian brandy that Dexter suspected Harriman brought aboard.
After the plates were set and the glasses filled with wine Dexter made a brief toast and took a sip of his wine, he hated wine but because he was in front of his officers he forced him self not to make any nasty faces as the horrible flavor and aftertaste played out on his taste buds.
“Well I suppose we should get to the point, there’s a hunter out there and she killed one of our ships…..and butchered the crew.” Dexter paused and let the statement sink in for a moment “And I intend to hunt her down and kill her.” The room was suddenly filled with a sense of heaviness in the air, as if everyone wanted to protest right then and there but through sheer force of discipline were holding their tongues.
“Sir…..is that wise?” It was Blake’s voice, soft yet confident and unyielding even though if Dexter were the type he could ruin her career just for questioning him.
“Maybe not but we are going to do it anyway by time a capital ship arrived God knows how many more people would suffer…what I intend to find out Ensign, I want you all to give me your opinions on your departments…..are they ready for battle?” Dexter said flatly as he looked around the room at his officers.
“My gunners can handle it sir.” Blake said without even hesitating, she didn’t even flinch when the other officers stared at her for a second.
“My marines are……well marine’s sir; we’re always ready for a fight.” Geer grinned boyishly at Blake before turning a solemn face to his captain.
“My……uh….well my damage control parties sir, that is to say we could use…..some more practice I think…..I mean I believe sir.” Caldwell said shakily.

Dexter glowered at the young man for a moment as did just about everyone else in the room besides Goldberg who simply shrugged and Paris who was totally oblivious to the social nuances at play.
“Well mister Caldwell I guess after dinner you should get your DC crews together and get them into shape now shouldn’t you?” Dexter said icily as he glanced at Harriman, the old spacer nodded almost imperceptibly letting Dexter know he would help kick Caldwells DC teams into shape.
“Alright, what about the rest of you can your departments handle battle?” Dexter watched the other officers in the room nod, no one spoke for a moment because everyone besides Paris seemed to notice just how big a boot stamp Caldwell would have on his posterior the next morning.

After an hour of serious discussion regarding the departments and their capabilities the dinner finally relaxed into a more casual and friendly meal between fellow officers, not just senior and subordinate officers. Geer even led the officers in singing an old “sea shanty’ about a sailor named Jack; after dinner broke up and the officers went back to their various duties, Dexter, Harriman, Geer and Goldberg remained in their places for.
“So, seriously how crazy am I for considering this Alex/” Dexter said with a grin as he looked at the three senior officers in his crew.
“Well, sir’ they ha’e a big advantage ov’r us in terms o’ tonnage an’ mass, if they actually are a battleship like that poor spacer on the Pontus said.” Harriman shrugged as he continued to ponder his answer.
“Do you think he was mistaken sir?” Geer said in the same unperturbed tone he always seemed to have.
“I’m not sayin’ he’s mistaken, just that it’s possible, not to criticize FedSec: space but it’s a new branch of a new security force, they still ha’e a lot of green people who may na’ know what’s really shooting at them when stuff starts exploding.” Harriman turned back to face Dexter, who had by now steepled his fingers under his chin as he thought the situation over.
“New or not FedSec:space technically has jurisdiction with law enforcement in the provinces since their creation, just like FedSec:ground has authority over the army and marines in matters of internal law enforcement.” Dexter spoke to no one in particular as he brought up the only argument that would allow them to save face if they withdrew from the region and allowed the pirate to continue it’s raids and massacres until a full navy or FedSec:space task force arrived to deal with it.
“Aye, but there are at least a dozen independent colonies, and about a hundred merchantmen prowling this region, not to mention five Icaran worlds within striking distance of here…..if we wait for reinforcements thousands of lives could be lost….or more” Harriman said grimly as he took a sip of brandy.

“I know, but Blake was right, it’s a damn battleship maybe bigger, and it destroyed a FedSec:space enforcement vessel larger, and better armed then we are, with a large FedSec:ground detachment aboard.” Dexter allowed his private fears to be known only among these four officers, to the rest of the crew he would always be the gung ho superman that he portrayed himself as; of course that “act” was only partially false, because Dexter had always been self confident and brazen, which is why he was blessed and cursed with the rank of Commander at such a young age.
“Sir…again not to insult those FedSec troops but FedSec:ground are peacekeepers, designed for limited engagements with primitive militaries or rioters not armored combatants skilled in infantry warfare. My marines could have probably neutralized the FedSec:ground detachment aboard Pontus with minimal losses.” Geer frowned as the thought of his marines being butchered like the FedSec crew on Pontus.
“Granted Lieutenant but we can’t be sure of that, and there’s another point I haven’t brought up, one of the survivors is Rear Admiral Liza Adair, NavInt which just brings up a whole load of new questions.” Dexter looked around, only the Doctor and he had known the identity of the older woman, the rest of the crew thought she had just been a Naval training officer. The Marine Lieutenant looked shocked for the briefest of moments before his face returned to the confident mask of steel it always was, Harriman just squinted thoughtfully.
“Well I am not a combat officer, but if I’m not mistaken NavInt having one of its highest ranking officers out in the frontier suggests something very big going on, so why did they not dispatch an entire FedSec:space and ground combined task force; why only one ship?” Goldberg crossed her arms and looked at the combat officers quizzically.

“Or a whole damned naval squadron, nothing says “peacekeeping” like a squadron of super dreadnoughts that can wipe out your solar system.” Harriman continued to glare at the table as if he could make it answer his questions.
“Only one way to find out ladies and gentlemen and that is to speak to Admiral Adair when she awakes; which reminds me doctor what is the progress on your patients?” Dexter had unbuttoned his tunic as soon as the other officers had left and now he played with one of the buttons; nervously awaiting the doctor’s answer.
“As you know sir rape is a rare crime in the Empire, not only is our culture totally geared against such actions but it’s impossible to get away with it now a days with DNA and RNA identifiers……so we are not exactly equipped to deal with such atrocities on an average medical basis.” She frowned thoughtfully “Fortunately, both of them have recovered physically, mentally on the other hand….Adair seems to be far stronger mentally and has already begun to force herself to recover with what little help I can offer, the young woman who Adair identified as FedSec:space spacer Allyson Landry, age fourteen.” Goldberg paused again as she heard the marine across from her gasp, he hadn’t realized just how young the girl was.
“Please continue doctor.” Dexter assured her as he poured another glass of brandy.
“She seems to be far more withdrawn and broken mentally, I’ve tried to help her but whenever someone touches her it gets ugly, she bit Corpsman Bran when she first woke up and realized that Bran was bathing her.” The doctor’s frown only deepened “Bran’ll be fine we already re-grew her right index finger and healed the skin and nerve damage, but Landry is a whole different story and I can’t figure out how to help her.” Doctor Goldberg sagged for the first time that Dexter could remember and he realized that it was getting late and everyone needed to rest or get about their duties, and he needed to get to bed before the alcohol he had consumed sank in.
“Alright doctor, do your best as always, Geer I want you to start your marines on counter boarding practice and CQB drills with the rest of the crew starting tomorrow morning, if they try to board us I want my naval crew able to at least put up some fight without burdening your marines.” Dexter noticed his voice had gotten somewhat sluggish and hurried his final orders and good nights before leaving the wardroom and heading to his quarters to sleep off the two glasses of brandy he had drunk cursing himself for not developing a “navy man’s tolerance” to alcohol and worrying over the next few days.

To be continued:

[Starhawk]

kick! sorry my first chapter posting in 4 months I want it to be at the top for a little bit http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Or are you guys getting tired of my characters and stories http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

Oh and if your reading this wonder WTF is the story? it's on the bottom of the previous page http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif (previous means prior or just before this one just in case you didn't know).

[Hunpecked]

The story has taken an interesting twist. The "pirates" remind me of the Reavers in the Firefly TV series.

[Starhawk]

2445.7 The growing darkness
“In dark times sometimes dark deeds are necessary for the salvation of all.”
Praetanii Elizabeth I just before a nuclear bomb detonated over Berlin and ended the Nazi Rebellion.

Admiral William Jefferson Ross was still rubbing the sleep from his eyes as his cutter began the twenty minute flight from his flagship to the Imperial Palace on New Icara; the summons had come at 0430 ship time when four Praetor’s Own guardsmen came aboard with an Imperial messenger. Ross had been woken up allowed only enough time to dress in full dress mess uniform, alert Commodore Fujita to meet him in the boat bay and get aboard the cutter that had taken the Praetorians and the Messenger to collect him.
Needless to say Ross was confused as to what could be so important that the Praetor would send four of his personal bodyguards-who could kill the entire 5,000 marine detachment aboard Ross’ own flagship-and an Imperial messenger to summon him and his second in command at such an early hour.
The Imperial messenger and the Praetorians came with Ross and Fujita for the fifteen minute flight and made Ross even more uncomfortable since none of the five Imperial representatives had said anything since the messenger passed the summons to Ross.
As the cutter passed over the Imperial capital Ross noticed absent mindedly that the cutter’s targeting alert was already sounding as dozens of weapons emplacements sighted on the small craft and at least two squadrons of Atmospheric fighters began scanning them.

Far below Ross finally saw the Imperial palace, the bright “sunlight” of the artificial morning gleaming off of the white stone buildings that made up the palace, acre upon acre of administrative buildings, barracks, apartments, vehicle parks, gardens, pools, a small lake, and landing strips were visible from altitude but it was not these that truly caught Ross’ attention it was the massive domed building at the center of all this, gleaming golden domes and spires of the palace its self shown brightly in the light of morning. In the midst of all these buildings the Icaran Admiral could just barely make out thousands of people moving about their daily business, also visible were thousands of red and gold clad figures, the soldiers of the Praetorian regiment, also visible were several APCs and tanks moving along the streets or keeping the perimeter secured. Ross could hardly believe the amount of firepower that was visible from this altitude; as he turned to Rukia to comment on this fact Ross tensed as the cutter made a sudden sharp descent toward the nearest landing strip.

Once the cutter touched down the Imperial messenger smiled –more a wicked grin then a smile- and gestured that Ross and Fujita should follow him and the Praetorians through the hatch. Once outside the cutter Ross noticed for the first time that several other cutters had touched down, each with Admirals, Generals, Commodores, Colonels and Praetorians stepping off of them. He didn’t know why they would call together what appeared to be the entire Flag-staff of the mobile forces to the Imperial Palace rather then the thousand click plus military base on the other side of the sphereworld.

“What’s going on Messenger?” Ross asked in as commanding a tone as he could manage through his tired confusion.
“The mobile forces commanders are being called together Admiral, that’s all I have been permitted to tell you.” The messenger said, completely unflustered by the way the Admiral was talking to him.
Ross turned to Fujita who simply shrugged and went to join the small cluster of staff officers that was forming between the cutters. After a moment of pure irritation William couldn’t help but grin, he mimicked Rukia’s shrug and walked over to join the other staff officers.

Several minutes passed before a small fleet of ground effect cars carried the gathered flag officers to a small corner of the palace which was surrounded by at least five companies of Praetorians with a tank platoon mobilized at the outer most perimeter. As the ground effect cars approached the building a massive door silently slid open allowing the cars to enter, inside what had appeared on the outside to be a small building there was actually a small roadway leading down deep beneath the surface of the sphereworld. A vast dome complex of hardened blastcrete and battle steel waited at the other end of the road and Ross for the first time in his life suddenly felt quite claustrophobic as the tunnel that surrounded the road way went from the transparent lidrium walls to the darkness of a blastcrete tube.

Not much was said on the short drive but once the car came to a halt and the doors opened to let William and Rukia out the Admiral stretched in the almost perfect “sunlight” and took in a deep breath finally feeling the claustrophobia beginning to pass.
Rukia gently nudged the Admiral with her elbow and smirked at his quizzical look.
“Look around sir……doesn’t it look familiar?” Her voice held a mixture of amusement and awe as she looked around her.
“Damn, it’s a battlemoon’s boat bay, except with artificial sunlight generators.” Ross noticed that the other officers in the vast “cave” of the battlemoon class boat bay were looking around in equal awe, any spacer knew that a ship’s light gave off only enough sun like qualities to keep a human healthy beyond that ship’s lights were dim and clearly artificial; sunlight generators on the other hand were massively expensive and only ever used on colony ships and some passenger liners, the presence of these generators suggested at the very least that they were not on an official naval battlemoon.

The Praetorians led the officers through the boat bay to the lift and finally to a huge room patterned exactly after the briefing room of one of the new Valiant Warrior class battlemoons that were still under construction. The officers took their seats and waited, a few muttering to one another others quiet.

Even as Ross took his seat he looked around for Lin, he had been seeing a lot more of her lately then he was used to, which he found to be the only good thing about the whole battle strength of the Navy being pulled back to home system, they had spent a few days with one another here and there over the past few months, she had been given command of Third fleet though so much of her time was spent scraping together a new command team for the massive “purifier class” fleet that she had been given.

Ross had been both happy and anxious over Lin’s new assignment, happy in that she was finally getting a line command which was something she had wanted for years, though it was an honor to command Home Fleet most “fighting admirals” like Lin wanted to get into action that you otherwise would hopefully avoid in command of the Home Fleet.
Even while he was overjoyed about her being given the command of her dreams he was terrified because commanding a line fleet meant going into battle against real enemies that would be trying to kill her…..something William found himself trying to forget as he saw Lin step into the briefing room with two of her aides, a Commodore Lia Tarmen and Commodore Gerald Patrick McDoogan whom she usually referred to as “Macky” when she and William were alone.

Chapter Two:

Five minutes had passed and still there was no word of what was going on, William turned from watching Lin to glance at Rukia and just as he was about to comment on the oddness of it all the light in the room dimmed and a commanding voice rang out “All rise!” a second passed where the room was in shock but slowly they all rose and stood at parade ground attention.
A door slid open silently and six massive figures stepped through and formed two lines on either side of the door, their distinctive gold and red power armor and long multi-purpose rifles showing them to be Praetorians, each one’s armor, weapons and training as expensive as an old frigate like the original Saber.
An instant later another figure came through the door, he was a tall man and powerfully built even for an Icaran, he wore a magnificent uniform similar to that worn by naval flag officers, except for its golden lace and braids, among other features that made it stand out as expensive, one such feature less noticeable unless you knew what to look for was a void shield generator in the belt and impact armor built into the tunic.
“My God it’s him….” Someone whispered a little louder then they meant to, it took William and most of the others a moment to register what was going on but once they did the entire gathered group of officers snapped salutes, and bowed at the waist. It was the first time most of them were seeing the Praetor himself, the ruler of the 700 plus billion humans of the Icaran Empire.

Praetor Rodric had grown from a shy yet confident young man to a mature, charismatic and brilliant leader in his decades of service as Praetor since his father’s tragic death when treachery destroyed the whole star system that he was touring. Rodric the second had in fact become the new shining hero of the Icaran Empire, revered and respected by almost everyone, he brought peace within the Empire’s core worlds, he was reorganizing the Federal Security forces to deal with the fringe worlds that even now rioted against the beacon of civilization and culture. Under Praetor Rodric the second the Empire had grown farther and faster then his father or any other Praetor in history could ever have imagined and because of this and his numerous other accomplishments Praetor Rodric was perhaps the most important single person in the galaxy.

“Ladies and gentlemen” Rodric spoke softly but confidently his voice a deep rumble of command, and his eyes deep and bright with thought. When he spoke the entire room fell so silent it was as if you could hear the very breath of a grasshopper.
“I have been lax in my duties of meeting with you all of late, in fact for far too long I have been a distant observer of the military, a voice hidden behind a curtain, I want to change that.” He made a sweeping gesture that encompassed the whole room “I want to be a Praetor who shows my respect for the military, not just a man who uses it as a tool when it suites him……that is why I have summoned you all here today so that I personally may brief you on perhaps the single largest threat posed to our Empire today.” Rodric paused again and tabbed a control on his wrist, the lights dimmed and a massive hologram materialized above the gathered crowd of Naval, Army, Marine, and FedSec officers. The hologram was of a world that looked much like any other barren dust ball with no atmosphere, dust storms visible from high atmosphere pocked the surface as did craters, and dried up rivers and oceans. For a moment the audience sat silently, many Officers trying to guess at which world this was.
“Ladies and gentlemen this is a world the Bureau of Stellar Mapping has designated CX 552, it is totally uninhabitable but it is in fact one of the most important worlds that has come to our attention these past few months.” Rodric’s tone was grim and William felt himself sit just a bit further on the edge of his seat then could be considered “proper” for a fleet officer, but the amount of concern in his Praetor’s voice made the Admiral uneasy to say the least.

The hologram shifted a little bit as if the camera taking the image was in motion, which in fact it was as Rodric continued to explain “The image you are seeing is from the FedSec:space Peacekeeper class ship Shimata Kieko, she was sent with two full companies of FedSec:ground troopers to investigate and neutralize a reported Terran Cult that was hiding in the wasted ruins of this world.” Rodric paused the holo for a moment and turned to the assembled audience again “That’s right people the Cult that worships the so called “goddess terra” is very much alive, unfortunately it seems that Admiral Yu Lin Ross was deceived when she eliminated the one sect, not her fault obviously the priest that fooled her fooled us all.” Rodric made a dismissive gesture as if it was something not worth mentioning again “Unfortunately however he appears not to have been the leader of the cult, or for that matter even the leader of the cult on that world…..Admiral Yu executed the real leader while he disguised himself as a mere underling.” The Praetor continued to stand perfectly straight and confident as he had since the beginning of the briefing but the look in his eyes showed some slight anxiety.

“I dispatched the Shimata to this world with two full companies of FedSec:ground troopers, fully expecting to capture or kill the three thousand some odd cultists our earlier probes had discovered in hiding. Unfortunately what happened was quite different then what I had planned, and I am ashamed to say I may have placed further worlds in danger through my actions.” There was a general murmur of disbelief and denial that it was the Praetor’s fault but he raised his hands for silence and continued in the same level tone “It is my fault and there is no point denying it…..so please let me continue.” His hands went from a gesture commanding silence to an almost prayerful position in front of him as he tapped some controls on his wrist and the holo began moving again, this time with Audio.

“This is FNS Shimata Kieko on approach to target world CX 552 Captain Liam Grayson commanding FedSec:space element.” The voice off screen was higher pitched then William would have expected from a commanding officer of any armed spacecraft but the tone conveyed enough of the man’s confidence and competence that Ross couldn’t help but feel a little guilty at his brief moment of amusement at the man’s voice.
“We are preparing to drop Companies 112 and 503 in five minutes and take stationary orbit to prevent any private ships from escaping, intent is to board or destroy said ships.” Captain Grayson was obviously intending to make sure that Command knew everything he did as Federal Security didn’t have as much leeway as the Navy or Army did when it came to pacifying a world, which meant if he had to rain fire on that world he’d better damn well prove he had to or else his career would come to a screaming halt.

Once the dropships deployed the holo switched from a camera aboard the starship to the helmet cam of an officer, the first sight was of blood red dust and sand everywhere for miles in every direction that camera looked.
“This is the view from Colonel Abraham Ben-Judah of the Hebron colony.” Rodric said quietly as the holo continued to play above them. It was obvious enough that the Colonel was riding in a FedSec:ground APC as the turret was just visible underneath him, dozens of FedSec troopers were moving around beside and in front of the APC in a protective formation, their brown impact armor standing out against the blood red sand and dust blowing all around them.
“This is Alpha group to Command we are at the entry point to the Cultist stronghold….its too small for an APC, recommend APC and Infantry perimeter while my team moves in.” the voice was identified as that of Major Thompson in the hologram.
“Alright Major, all units form a perimeter around the sight while Alpha Group moves in.” Colonel Ben-Judah said calmly over the command channel, a moment passed and the APC the Colonel was riding in began moving again just before the screen went black for a second.

As the holo came back to life several FedSec:ground troopers came into sight, this time it was obviously at eye level so the feed was either from Major Thompson or one of the other troopers in his squad.
“Alright Rendowe blow the door, the rest of you…on me.” The Major said as he moved his team back from the barely visible blast door as the trooper called Rendowe placed a demolition charge that would create a shaped explosion nearly half a kiloton in yield.
After Rendowe came back a brilliant flash lit the holo, making everyone in the massive auditorium squint against the flare; the screen cleared quickly and when it did it became a blur of fast movement as Thompson led the twenty troopers of his entry team forward while the other thirty formed a tight perimeter around the entry.
Several minutes of inaction followed as the Major and his troopers cautiously cleared the massive first rooms of the Cult stronghold.
“Alright we’re coming up on an intersection, keep your eyes peeled and your heads down….Sergeant Gear get your…..oh [censored]!” the Major’s voice suddenly went tense as a few barely visible flashes came out of the darkness; a split second later and you could hear the whine and crack as darts slammed into the walls.
“Open fire, take them out!” Major Thompson shouted as he fired his own assault rifle down the dark corridor.
The firefight continued to rise in intensity as the FedSec troopers returned fire on their attackers, it was obvious by the noise alone that the FedSec troopers were dealing with their attackers fairly easily, the Holo just confirmed it as silence suddenly replaced the noise of gunfire. Major Thompson quickly looked over his troopers, one was down in the corner obviously dead and another two were only mildly wounded and were already getting back off the floor and on the line. Their attackers were not so fortunate, armed with civilian light darters that were mostly unable to pierce the full body impact armor of FedSec much less army or marine troops, most of the cultists were torn to shreds by the solid shot darts the FedSec troopers had been using, others lay silent with small clean holes all over their bodies as darts passed through their comrades and lodged in them.
“Alright we’re clear here….move on.” The Major said, still breathing normally and relaxed as he looked over what had to have been at least fifty cultist corpses before moving on.

For the first twenty minutes things had gone well, Alpha group was taking care of what pockets of resistance they came across and the perimeter up top had cleared out two small groups of Cultists who had somehow escaped the main compound. It wasn’t until the Alpha group reached a vast cathedral like room with the statue of a woman holding a globe in her left hand and a spear in her right did things start going badly.
“I think we’re in their center of worship, that’s probably their goddess Terra, I don’t see any life signs in here but stay frosty.” The Major looked around and the Holo moved with the motion of his head, the light from the trooper’s rifles was all that there was in the room and it wasn’t totally a surprise when a scream alerted the Major of a cultist ambush.
How they had hid from life signs detectors was anyone’s guess but seemingly out of nowhere dozens of cultists of all ages came screaming out of their hiding places, some wielding axes and daggers, others darters or their bare hands.
A man wielding a large axe managed to get the drop on a FedSec trooper in front of the Major, fortunately the trooper’s armor was able to prevent a killing blow but the trooper went down heavily, probably with a broken back. The Major fired a quick burst of darts into the big old man, sending him to the floor in a bloody heap.
It was only after a few seconds that the major noticed something else was moving in the room, slowly working its way through the cultists; who seemed to part before it like the old legends of the parting of the red sea. The holo blurred as the Major whirled around and opened fire on the figure, the ear splitting noise of darts ricocheting off armor split the air as the major and several other FedSec troopers opened up on it.
With an almost relaxed gesture the figure raised a long rifle and sprayed several troopers of Alpha group with high velocity darts that tore through their impact armor with terrifying ease shredding the troopers. An instant later the figure activated a thrust pack and leapt high into the air coming down in the midst of a group of FedSec troopers who never even had a chance to turn to face their attacker, it had drawn a monomolecular sword from it’s sheath and cut down the troopers it had landed between, body parts severed with startling ease and the screams of the wounded and dying came with terrifying clarity over the holo, the screaming didn’t last long however as the M-sword sliced through armor and flesh with terrible swiftness.
Only a moment later and the holo went black as the massive figure landed right in front of the Major and made a sweeping gesture with the M-sword probably severing the Major’s head.

The com came to life only a few seconds later as the armored figure attacked the troopers of Alpha group that had formed the perimeter around the main entrance and hundreds of cultists streamed out of hidden hatches around the perimeter attacking troopers and armored vehicles all along the perimeter.
“God we can’t stop him….sir we can’t…..” a scream interrupted the sentence followed by the sound of a heavy darter whining and more screams.
The holo showed the view from the Colonels APC again except this time the red dust and sand came to life with flashes and color and the troopers in front of the APC were firing their rifles into the dust storm and the APC’s own energy cannons were firing into the distance.
One of the troopers in view suddenly went down in a spray of blood and gore as heavy darts tore a hole through the trooper’s torso. There were explosions visible through the dust storm as well as the menacing light in the background that signified heavy energy weapons being fired.
Another APC pulled into view of the Colonel’s firing it’s energy cannons and bringing it’s squad of troopers up to the fight, suddenly out of the dust the massive armored figure appeared, it’s long rifle coming to bare on the second vehicle, an emerald green beam lanced out with an incredible whine and tore a neat hole through one side of the APC and out the other, it took a split second for the vehicle to actually explode and in that split second the armored figure was already amongst the FedSec squad that had just disembarked, it’s M-sword tearing through impact armor and flesh with ease, it’s long rifle now firing heavy darts again, tearing troopers to pieces at such close range.
A rocket tore through the sky and the armored figure reacted with blinding speed firing a burst of explosive shells in the rocket’s path destroying it several meters short.
An instant later the figure aimed its long rifle towards the Colonel’s APC and a flash of green made the holo go dark again.
The holo view switched to close in orbital and it was obvious from the zoomed in image that the FedSec:ground forces were being torn apart, the armored figure was cutting a swathe through the APCs and their guard squads, while the cultists were launching massive human wave attacks at point blank range against the FedSec troopers, some coming out of hatches close enough to troopers to use axes and daggers to batter the FedSec personnel to death.
Shock was on the face of everyone in the room, it was replaced an instant later with sheer terror as the com from the Semata began playing.
“We’ve got a hull breach on deck seven….security reports….we’ve got boarders!” a voice said in shock.
“Get whatever FS:ground troopers we have left down there now, order all personnel to arm and armor themselves to repel boarders…..and find out how the [censored] they got on my ship!?” The Captain was obviously furious, but at least had the presence of mind to switch the holoview to internal security cameras.

The images were startling to say the least, a single armored figure equipped with a long rifle and M-sword being followed by about two dozen cultists were making their way through the corridors, a squad of Fedsec:ground troopers that had met them in the corridor was turned to a cloud of gore and blood as the armored figure fired a violet energy beam through them. Crewmembers and other ground personnel that set up ambushes managed to kill all of the cultists in the first few minutes of battle, but that armored figure simply wouldn’t go down to the darters of any of the fedsec personnel, some brave or foolish souls had actually managed to get close enough that they were forced to try using stun battons….with no effect except getting the trooper sliced apart by the M-sword or simply shattered into blood and pulp by an armored fist.
After barely ten minutes of action the ship’s speakers were blaring the surrender order and the armored figure now began methodically rounding up surrendering crew and taking them to the flight bay, where it proceeded to cuff them and sit them against crates or ships, the last image was that of the Captain being taken to the boat bay, his left arm missing and his right leg obviously broken in multiple places.

As the holo image vanished and the lights came back up Praetor Rodric cleared his throat loud enough to draw attention and silence the few officers that were muttering in shock and disbelief. “Ladies and gentlemen, you probably don’t recognize that powered armor, or the long rifle, unfortunately that is because under my orders NavInt has kept these particular soldiers covered up for morale reasons.” The praetor shrugged and frowned “They are the Mobile Infantry Rangers, the elite shock troops of the Citizen Federation’s ground forces.” The Praetor paused as shocked and sickened officers tried to collect their nerves. “Yes ladies and gentlemen I said Citizen Federation, our supposed allies have secretly sent two of their deadliest soldiers into our Empire to aid the Terran cultists establish military capabilities and fight against us.” The Praetor suddenly looked as if he was staring off into some distant chasm; when he spoke again his tone had changed to a quiet almost penitent shadow of the proud booming voice Icarans were used to hearing from Rodric “It is my fault they have done this, I allowed warp points into the Federation to remain open because I allowed myself to trust these people, all the while it would seem they have been filtering munitions, funds, and now even elite soldiers to insurrectionists that would tear our very empire apart…..our best scientists now tell me the Federation has somehow manipulated the warp in several of our systems, new warp points are forming even now that lead to territories within the Mantisoran United Kingdom, the Neo Star Empire, and the Citizen Federation its self” A general murmur of disbelief ran through the gathered officers, to the Icaran public the warp points to outside of the Empire had been closed, or were now guarded by massive fortresses, no one knew that the Federation had been allowed to enter the Empire, and no one knew where those warp points were….except for Praetor Rodric and a few of his staff members, as well as certain corporations who were trying to get their hands on certain Federation technologies.

“Why do we not simply close these warp points highness….that is when they open?” Admiral Lady Selene Powel, commander of Home Fleet spoke up first, immediately drawing the attention of every eye in the room.

“Good question Admiral Lady, the answer is that the Science Ministry believes that to do so would permanently destroy the connections to warp space within those systems, when I say that the Federation has manipulated the warp I mean they have not simply opened or closed a point within the warp, somehow they are opening a tear within the warp that leads to the systems they have targeted.” Rodric’s voice held no contempt or shock at an underling speaking to him, merely a matter of fact almost lecturing voice.

“Do we know why the Citizen Federation is doing this Highness?” Commandant of the Marines Harris spoke this time, unlike Lady Powel the Marine held no noble titles and so by ancient custom would have been forbidden to speak unless spoken too, but at the moment the sturdy Marine didn’t even flinch as more then one Praetorian Guard glanced his way.

“No, we do not, but we do know how.” Rodric paused a moment, always a fan of theatre he allowed the drama to build for just a second before speaking “The Admiralty and Shadow Daggers have known for some time that the Citizen Federation has set about altering the genetic structure of about a fifth of a percent of their population to allow a dormant genome responsible for telepathic and telekinetic abilities to re-assert its self within the population that carries it, they have been using these people and a set of technologies we don’t fully understand for years to power the weapons systems on their starships…..it would appear they are also manipulating the warp somehow” Rodric grimaced; the Icaran Empire had allowed the genetic therapies responsible for the Sustain treatments and for curing of diseases for over a century, but it was strictly forbidden by Icaran Law, and the faith of the Path to manipulate human genetics for the purposes of “improving” the species., even Sustain had come under fire in the early days because of the fact that it doubled human reflexes and senses, not to mention the centuries of life it added to the average human being; so now to learn of the deliberate creation of mutants by an ally was a bit of a collective shock to the Icaran officers gathered.

“Yes, we have known and done nothing; that is because we were afraid of what we knew would have to do should war come between us and the Federation.” Rodric’s voice fell once again, this time to a mournful tone “They have drawn first blood ladies and gentlemen, I do not relish the order I must give but we have no choice but to retaliate with overwhelming and crushing force and destroy their ability to sustain a fight, and so ladies and gentlemen I will leave this briefing up to Lord Marshall Valerie as this is his plan of operations.” The Praetor stepped aside and the massive screen behind him came to life, the man on the screen wore a uniform that was a mix of styles from the Icaran military, including an old fashioned metal breastplate the likes of which hadn’t been worn by soldiers in millennia.
“Lord Marshall, the Count Pacifica, Heir to Lacerta Duke of the Empire Martin Shieldstorm.” A voice intoned; the man on the screen bowed and looked out upon the gathered officers, by all rights he was the highest military authority within the Empire besides the Praetor himself, this man could order the Grand Admiral to lick his boot if he was so inclined and to see him giving a briefing meant something major was going to happen.
“Admirals, Generals, Soldiers of Icara through various intelligence sources we now know that the main staging area and breeding area of these Psychic mutants is the Tammuz-An star system, there are just over two billion psychics in system, two billion potential weapons for our enemies.” Shieldstorm clenched his fist as he continued to speak “It is because they are weapons that I have made the difficult decision to cleanse Tammuz-An……to totally and completely destroy ALL traces of life within that star system and in so doing destroy the Federaton’s psychic population once and for all.”
“My God a cleanse operation against humans?” Admiral Lord DeSoya of the still forming eight fleet said in shock, too stunned to remember to keep his mouth shut.

“No Admiral, not a cleanse against humans but against mutants, dangerous mutants that can invade the mind of a loyal citizen, mutants that can be used to power some of the most powerful weapons in the universe…….mutants that threaten the very survival of this Empire and the billions who live here.” Shieldstorm said ferociously as he stared out over the officers.

“Who is in command of the assualt your Excellency?” William heard Rukia’s voice from beside him but was so busy thinking on the gravity of the situation he wasn’t really paying attention…….until the Lord Marshall gave his answer.

“This operation is going to the 1st Fleet under Admiral Lord William Ross, his loyalty and ability to carry out this mission is unquestioned, and his fleet’s crews are some of the best in the Empire.” The Lord Marshall smiled “With his Majesty’s Permission this briefing is over, I want all of you to return to your units and tell them of this new threat, make them understand that the very survival of the Empire is at stake and that we will never bow to tyranny or threats no matter the cost.” The screen faded and three was only the silent briefing room again.

“Admiral Ross, you will be given more detailed orders in private later today, I will send forty of my best Praetorians on this mission with you, just in case you run into any of those Rangers………and to all of you godspeed and may God forgive us for what we are about to do.” The Praetor saluted the gathered officers, all of whom out of simple muscle memory and reflex also rose and returned their Praetor’s salute.

“My God Rukia, what is this universe coming to.” William whispered as he and Rukia made their way for the exit of the briefing room.
“Well…..it could be worse.” Rukia said with a dry tone, William paused a moment and stared blankly at the young Commodore, trying to figure out how it could possibly worse then the full blown war that was at the most months away.
Rukia simply smiled and kept walking before muttering “Well it could always be worse, you could have to listen to my mother give you a speech about settling down and giving her grand children before you go off to another battle, risking the whole family line and all…” She smiled again and patted William on the shoulder, as the joke dawned and the still baffled Admiral he couldn’t help but smile, he had listened to one such lecture from Rukia’s mother back when he first met her and she was still recovering in the hospital……..the two Officers walked silently down the corridor and William thought with a twinge of guilt that he was almost happy he would be too busy to see Lin before he left, he didn’t want her to see him when he was about to go out and commit mass murder on fellow human beings, mutant or not, war was one thing, the deliberate and methodical destruction of civilian HUMAN lives was another and he didn’t want to his beloved wife to see him again until after he had seen a Priest of the path and been forgiven for the sins he was about to commit on God’s creation.

[rdouglass]

Cool stuff!!

[Starhawk]

Thanks.....and don't worry I fully intend to continue the adventures of the Forlorn and her crew http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Starhawk]

The Gathering Storm
“Oh what evils man is capable of when he believes he is right, even the greatest of men can drown in the blood of their self righteous slaughters.” Aeiptus circa IY 20 after the fall of Sparta to the Icaran Empire.

Chapter One:

It had taken time to mobilize the first fleet, recall all shore leave, repair and refit the warships as necessary, ensure the ships were in good shape to fight and dozens of other tasks required before a battlefleet can leave for the front lines. Star Admiral Lord William Ross had been very grateful for the months of busy work that the preparations required of him, it allowed him to think about anything but the upcoming mission; he had been a part of purification operations before, but always against Xenos, fowl creatures barely worthy of the term “sentient” but this time he would be a part of the slaughter of over two billion human beings, mutants yes, abominations to God yes but still human.
“Admiral, all commands report ready status.” Commander Evans’ voice jolted William back to the present and he looked around the large command deck of his battlemoon, Commander Evans stood by the comns section and was looking back at his Admiral expectantly.
“Give the word, all commands prepare for warp, when the warpship opens the point, divisions one through five are to take point the rest of the fleet will follow fifteen seconds later.” William folded his hands together and forced himself to keep composure, he wasn’t scared about going to battle, he had been in so many battles and in such smaller and weaker ships then this that the prospect of death in battle had become almost common place….he was more worried about how history would see his people for what they were about to do, he had over 1,340,000 good men and women under his command and he felt sick at the thought of them some day being considered butchers and murders.
“Admiral……” Rukia said softly enough so that only William could hear her “I know what’s got you bothered sir, but don’t beat yourself up over it.” She smiled faintly at her suffering Admiral but he continued to stare at the command screen ahead; watching as the artificial warp point was beginning to form.
“Rukia….Lin and I want children.” William finally said, almost mournfully “How will they look at their father when they hear he murdered billions?” William kept his expression calm and blank out of decades of self discipline but his eyes showed the pain and fear his expression didn’t.
“Sir, they will look at you like any child looks at their father, with love and understanding…..your a good man William….”she paused as if in surprise that she used his first name in “public” “Please don’t let this kill you sir, your too young and have too long to live to keep tormenting yourself.” She laid her hand on his shoulder for the briefest of moments before turning her seat to face the navigation and astrogation section.
“Astrogation what’s the status of the warp point?” She said crisply, trying not to look as if anything was wrong.
“Ma’am warp point will stabilize in five minutes, divisions 1-5 are advancing in wedge formation and the rest of the fleet is tied in and following us.” Captain Bradley, commander of the Astro/Nav section replied in her typical nasal voice that tended to grate on Rukia’s ears.
“Thank you Captain, alright order the two flag monitors to form up with the Crusade and have their SD escorts take up position around them, I want maximum free-fire coverage possible when we get through that warp point.” Rukia as commodore was in the day-to-day command of fleet operations, and the “real” commander of the battlemoon Holy Crusade out of centuries of naval tradition she would give the pre-battle orders to form up the squadrons as best she saw fit as long as the fleet Admiral had no objections or corrections to make, and William and Rukia had gone over formation and tactics planning for the past several weeks so both of them knew exactly how they wanted things to go.
“Rukia……” William spoke softly but this time he seemed to not be as melancholy “Thank you……now do me a favor.” William’s voice seemed to finally marshal its usual crisp confident tone.
“Yes sir?” Rukia said as she turned to face William.
“Don’t tell Lin any of this okay.” He looked around and managed a small hint of a grin.
“Tell her what sir?” Rukia said with a conspiratorial grin and an unashamed wink.

As the warp point finally stabilized the beautiful flash made up of almost unreal colors was visible for over five AU in every direction, and the 1st fleet looked almost angelic for a moment as the sleek super dreadnoughts, bulky flag monitors, and moon sized flagship were bathed in the heavenly light which danced across the silver hulls like an aurora across a pond, it was at that moment the speakers of every ship in the fleet came to life and Priest of the Path Lorn Doggit began to speak in a rumbling bass voice.
“To all the brave soldiers of the Empire in the first fleet, you go now to do dark deeds, as all war is dark but know this, God knows that through darkness can come light, that night always proceeds the dawn and that you his brave children do this out of faith and to protect your fellow man…..and so he will watch over you through these trials as he has watched over the Empire for millennia.” The Priest paused a moment and when he began speaking again every Icaran that was a follower of the path bowed their head, “Divine creator in who’s image we are made, who’s breath gives us life, who’s words give us strength, and who’s love shields the Empire we ask your forgiveness for these brave men and women who are about to go to war and cleanse your universe of a fowl mutation of man.” The Priest then spoke in the ancient language of Icara; the Icaran prayer of absolution was something everyone had heard, especially those in the military but somehow this time it meant more to those listening and some of the soldiers even shed a tear or two as the prayer came to an end.
A moment later Chief Rabbi Abraham Rosenburg spoke a Hebrew prayer and the Jewish members of the fleet, some 10,000 in all bowed their heads and prayed with him, not many Icarans understood Hebrew as Jews made up less then one percent of the Empire and Judaism it’s self had barely been granted legal status when the Empire first absorbed Hebron and New Bethlehem but because of their loyal contributions to the Empire, including the three million Jews that had volunteered for the armed forces or Federal Security the Icaran government had decided to allow the Rabbi’s to pray with their people before battle out of respect.

The prayers ended and the disciplined crews of the Icaran Royal Navy returned to their stations without another word, moments later the first units of the 1st fleet moved through the warp point into the Tammuz-An star system and though they couldn’t know it at the time by this single operation they were plunging Icara into one of the largest bloodiest wars in human history.

Chapter Two

The bizarre thing about warp travel is that while it is instantaneous and has none of the pesky time dilation issues that a conventional FTL drive would impose it does have a strange effect when it comes to distance, when a ship passed through a warp point, whatever speed it entered at it exited at, however the faster a ship entered the further it was “thrown” out of the warp point which had been a big problem before the invention of the GFG as this sudden increase in thrust would turn a crew into chunky bits of goo; it also meant that while blockading a warp point was theoretically possible it was very difficult to do with automated devices such as drones and satellites as computers never seemed to be able to grasp the logic defying properties of a warp jump. For decades this had made warp point battles bloody affairs as both the fleet exiting the warp point and the fleet blockading the warp point would suffer a moment of “jump shock” as both sides computers tried to calculate where the fleet had exited into real space. For decades it had been considered nearly suicidal for a fleet to attempt to break a warp point blockade unless they had far greater numbers or technology on their side, so the Icarans had developed the tactic of sending advance divisions through a warp point several seconds before the main fleet, as the enemy fleet locked onto these advance divisions it would provide the Main fleet with the time to lock on and engage the enemy. This tactic however was often bloody and resulted in severe losses for the advance divisions; with the development of the technology that made opening and closing warp points nearly at will possible the Icarans had gained an extreme tactical edge over their enemies as they could totally bypass a blockade fleet and emerge in an enemy system from a totally unexpected point.
Unfortunately for the Empire the Psykers of the Citizen Federation were somehow able to ‘feel’ changes in the warp space and even before the 1st Fleet had emerged from the warp point which had opened above the Tammuz-An VI colony there were 67 Federal warships waiting for the lead divisions, with dozens more Federal warships moving in from throughout the system.

It was barely five seconds after the main fleet warp jump had been made when Admiral Ross along with several other members of the bridge crew gasped as the battlemoon’s shields deflected the floating wreckage of the HMS Dortmunder which had perished only seconds after it had made the warp jump with the advance divisions.
“Repeat this is Saladin to main fleet, it was an ambush Federal warships and land bases opened up on us before we even recovered from jump shock, enemy fleet is closing………” the comns went dead as a vast green beam from the colony’s surface cut through the Saladin’s midline like a knife through cloth, the beam simply vaporized whatever it hit and in less then a second the three kilometers of battlesteel and 6,000 lives of the HMS Saladin simply ceased to exist as the GFGs malfunctioned and the ship vanished in what looked like a miniature warp point.
The Icaran fleet had lost three super dreadnoughts before anyone even knew what was happening but thanks to the discipline of the Royal navy and the shock to the Federal Forces of seeing a battlemoon up close and personal for the first time the 1st fleet was able to reform it’s lines, and green beams began at last to lance out at Federal warships.
An enemy destroyer squadron that was making a run on the superdreadnought [/i]Able[/i] were the first enemy ships that a battlemoon had fired upon in an actual battle, all three destroyers simply vanished as the huge battlemoon fired it’s secondary batteries, it’s spinal guns had locked onto and utterly destroyed 2 enemy battleships at the same time.

The Icaran fleet’s disciplined fire and superior firepower didn’t even seem to make the Federal Forces pause as they valiantly attacked the Icaran warships on nearly suicidal charges, one enemy superdreadnought after losing it’s main armament to the Icaran Superdreadnought, Majestic accelerated to nearly 1,500 gee’s killing it’s own crew instantly but giving it enough velocity to make it impossible to avoid by any Icaran warship, as the huge enemy ship began baring down on the Majestic the Captain of the severely damaged Nemo made a valiant choice and accelerated her own warship into position where it struck the enemy warship amidships, the two vessels seemed to simply freeze for an instant before explosions slowly began tearing the vast warships hulls apart.
As the battle raged however the sacrifice the Nemo had made to save the Majestic proved in vein as two enemy superdreadnoughts cut the Icaran warship off from its division and traded broadsides with her until her shields and armor finally gave out destroying her with all hands.
The Holy Crusade and it’s flag monitor escorts had continued to slaughter the enemies capital ships while the bulk of the fleet attempted to disable the planetary weapons platforms and destroy whatever Federal ships tried to attack them. In the end Icaran numbers, discipline and gunnery proved too much for the brave soldiers of the Federal Forces who had stood before the Icaran fleet.
“Admiral damage and casualty lists are still coming in, rescue crews are already working to recover escape pods from Starrider and Jackal, there are no escape pods from the Federal Forces sir.” Rukia’s voice was cold and calm as it always seemed to be, but William could tell from her tone that her adrenaline levels were still a little high.
“Target planet is mostly inhospitable sir, only the poles are cool enough for human inhabitants and we detect that both poles have large cities and habitation centers, estimated planetary population is six million.” Commodore Ericka Deville of the 18th SD division had begun giving her report as soon as Rukia had finished hers, the 18th SD division had been the one to finally destroy the planet’s weapon platforms, and took detailed scans of the world as they had.
“Do you want my squadron to bombard the planet sir?” Deville asked quietly with a tone that almost pleaded for William to choose someone else, and of course he could not let himself allow one of his subordinates to do something he would not do.
“No Commodore, this battlemoon will take up position for a polar kill, pull your division back to a blockade position in case they attempt to launch any ships.” William frowned but felt somewhat better when he saw the Commodore visibly relax and heard her unintentionally sigh in relief.
“Sir…..a Polar kill?” Captain Bradley asked from her station, a “polar kill” operation was only a theory that no Imperial warship had ever put into practice as it would totally ruin a planet for inhabitation, not to mention the sheer amount of firepower it would take was mostly beyond the capabilities of anything short of a Battlemoon.
“Yes Captain, now inform all commands.” William snapped, somewhat more harshly then he had intended.
“Aye sir.” Was the simple reply and William noticed that everyone on the bridge seemed to be deliberately avoiding looking in his direction, not out of disgust but out of some odd sense of pseudo-fear.

The battlemoon moved into a position directly above the Planet’s North Pole and turned to aim it’s vast arsenal at the planet’s surface, a single seventy meter diameter spinal gun locked directly onto the center of the colonial city beneath the vast Icaran warship.
“Admiral we are being hailed from enemy colony, they are broadcasting their surrender.” Commander Sho said from his station in Communications.
“Guns, do we have lock?” William said hoarsely.
“Aye…….spinal gun eight locked.” The gunnery Captain replied in an almost whisper.
“Polar kill,…….fire.” William forced himself to sit back down calmly, even though his legs almost collapsed on him.

The single vast spinal gun glowed with full power, a split second later a seventy meter diameter green beam lanced out and almost before you could blink the beam struck the center of the North Polar city, the explosion and fireball that followed would have engulfed North and South America if it had been Terra, but even that devastation only covered the true damage that was being done as the beam continued through the surface of the planet, atomizing the soil, rock, bedrock, and then the very magma within it’s path as it continued to pass through the planet, a minute later the beam emerged in the center of the South Polar city and the explosion while less dramatic then that of the northern pole was enough to totally destroy the city and it’s three million inhabitants…..the beam finally stopped but the damage had been done and parts of the planet began to implode as the planet began caving in on the vast “hole” that had been made by the passage of the beam.
The entire Icaran fleet seemed to fall silent for a moment and Star Admiral William Ross could only manage to utter “God forgive us.” Before he heard Rukia’s calm voice asking for the list of the next targets and for battlegroups to be formed for the operation that would finish the destruction of the rest of the colonies and warships in this system.

Casualties:
6 Million Federation Colonists are killed
HMS Dortmunder (SD) Destroyed (6,100 dead)
HMS Farragot (SD) Destroyed (6,100 dead)
HMS Jackal (DN) Destroyed (5,800 dead)
HMS Saladin (SD) Destroyed (6,100 dead)
HMS Nemo (SD) Destroyed (6,100 dead)
HMS Majestic (SD) Destroyed (6,100 dead)
HMS Starrider (SD) Rendered a hulk (5,000 dead)
Total Icaran losses: 41,300
Total Federation Ships lost: 67

[Starhawk]

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I am continuing this story dang it now that my life has finally seemed to settle down some http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

I'm still alive and this story is too so read on!