Thread: Dawn
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Old April 12th, 2008, 03:56 PM

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Default Re: Dawn - The Goddess

2411.4

Mentocka system
Mentocka II...


The Empire ground troops approached the colony. There were nine units, each armed with a torpedo with over twice the range of any known ground weapon. The Abbidon weren’t interested in a fight, and they abandoned their lone militia unit. Dawn had taken another planet with only a single shot. The Mentocka system now contained seven Dawn colonies and four planets that were still waiting for owners. With patrol ships at each of the two exiting warp points, the Mentocka system was no longer a war zone, but a front-line system. Infrastructure improvements could start immediately.

Lacerta system
...onboard CDS Beagle...


Ed Jefferies kept to himself for the trip into Lacerta. One of the black uniformed guards was at his cabin door the entire time. He did meet with the captain briefly, but his orders did most of the talking. Jefferies was a high-level operative, who answered only to Rita Edwards herself...

Captain Cabrerra was back in Lacerta with his stealth ship and crew. The first, and most experienced of the “ships that weren’t there” Beagle was running Ed Jefferies to Lacerta system. In the cargo hold of the ship was a small shuttle with no distinct markings. Cabrerra knew that Jefferies was headed to a Norak colony – alone – and was supposed to be back at the ship at a pre-arranged time. Cabrerra did have some leeway should Jefferies not return when scheduled, but even in a ship that couldn’t be seen, staying in one place too long was a risk. Should Beagle move and remain cloaked, Jefferies shuttle wouldn’t have the capability to warp out of Lacerta on its own. In short, he would be trapped in a hostile system.

All the more reason to run through the plan again, and again. Jefferies’ first operation was with a Norak sympathizer back on Pantrissa V. He still had the religious artifact she transmitted her reports through. His role this time was that of a trader, looking to purchase ore from the extraction facilities on Lacerta III. Extremely suspicious of outsiders, Jefferies trump card would be his “belief” in the goddess and his promise to spread Her message – provided his ship was able to get the ore he needed...

Cabrerra was right at home. Beagle had found an asteroid field and Cabrerra watched with amusement as his navigator tried to remain calm among the rocks. Cabrerra had negotiated fields more dense than this with a freighter four times the size of the frigate he now commanded. He reassured his navigator and the ship shut down its engines in between two asteroids that were tracking parallel courses. Jefferies boarded his shuttle and left the Beagle.

As he approached the planet, he sent a standard hail. There were five very menacing satellites each armed with a depleted uranium cannon in orbit around the planet. After stating his intentions and wishing the blessings of the goddess upon all who were in Her favor, Jefferies shuttle was cleared to land.

At the extraction facility, Jefferies approached the controller and walked up to him. Without saying a word, he withdrew a small weapon and smiled.

“Today, brother, you shall see the Goddess.”

Leaving the body behind him, Jefferies began to plant the charge he brought. It wasn’t very powerful and would do nothing to the extraction facilities, whose sheer bulk – mostly underground – could withstand a direct missile hit.

The control station, however, was another story.

After planting the charge, he had one more mission to perform that would take him into more popluated parts of the colony. A half-hour after he left, the charge detonated. The control station was severely damaged, and there was now no way to remove the ore that was mined by the facility. Totally automated, the facility continued to dig ore and send it back to the entrance for removal. When the ore at the entrance wasn’t removed, more piled behind it. The end result was that the ore in the facility was now entombed and the only way to extract it would be to take the facility apart and manually load it for removal and storage.

Dawn had just completed its first offensive intelligence mission against the Norak. For Captain Cabrerra and the crew of the Beagle, it was just another mission. They had second one on this trip.

They were to be a tour guide. Beagle's sensitive nose and ears was monitoring the warp point between Fezzran and Lacerta. Two Norak destroyers were guarding it. She also picked up emissions from the Empire ships that were about to warp into Lacerta from Fezzran. They were in for a surprise.

A big surprise...

Lacerta-Fezzran warp point...

The crew of the Norak destroyer couldn’t help themselves. They knew something unauthorized was coming into their system. They were on a destroyer. They were on a ship the Goddess herself would be proud of. It was the best the Norak had. There were rumors of the Dawn empire having larger ships, but that was discounted. How could another race have any ships larger than those that served the Goddess? And no one had come back from the encounters with the heathens of the empire to report of the rumored larger ships, had they?

Artemis actually came through first. She had received a single anti-proton beam cannon in her latest upgrade, so she was a threat to ships as well as to fighters. She warped in with the Norak behind her. She immediately went to her top speed and started away from the warp point. The Norak ships began to chase Artemis down...

What happened next was utterly incomprehensible to the Norak. Bismarck warped in and immediately fired all nine torpedoes at the closest Norak ship. The first Norak destroyer was vaporized. The master computer then assessed the remaining threat as insignificant to the battleship herself, and cleared her targeting computer, saving her torpedoes for bigger game.

The crew on the second Norak ship hadn’t fired. They were closing the range when they saw the battleship. Never before could they even imagine something so powerful. Those that could see it thought it was the manifestation of the Goddess Herself. They watched their sister ship be extinguished with one breath of fire from the giant.

Nobody moved. They knew their day was at hand, and they began to cry joyfully. They had seen the Goddess! They had been judged worthy of Her!! They would be with Her! The priests were right!! They fell to their knees and prayed to the ship. As they prayed, they saw the two servants of the Goddess also enter their system. Their joy knew no bounds!

The servants pointed the way to Her with a path of shining light. Shining brightly, showing the way! Burning brightly!!. Burning to cleanse them in preparation of being with Her!! Any moment now, and they would join with Her! Any mome......

Onboard the Dawn frigates, the captains were unsure why the Norak had stopped their attack on Artemis. They knew, of course, it had to be related to the appearance of Bismarck, but they couldn’t be sure as to exactly why. In a moment, it didn’t matter as the second Norak destroyer was now a fireball dissipating into the nothingness of space...

The frigates rejoined on Bismarck and Artemis and plotted a course for the first Norak colony. Beagle, who had been monitoring the battle, sent a coded signal to Lacerta III...

Lacerta III
Religous shrine...


The man was definitely an outworlder. The citizens of Lacerta III called for a priest to advise them of what to do. They had seen outworlders before – traders and some worshippers – but this one was raving about the Goddess. He wasn’t blaspheming. Quite the opposite. He was singing Her praises. But he was saying something that was causing a mild panic among the citizens.

The Goddess was here. In Lacerta. Right now.

Citizens flocked to their priests to understand what it meant. Work stopped, and everyone was going to their priest or their own personal shrines. Word was beginning to spread that the Goddess had indeed transited through the warp point and called the two ships guarding it to Her. She was coming – to call Her faithful back. Back to Her.

For his part, Jefferies milled about aimlessly, playing his role. Inwardly, he felt a bit sorry for the Norak citizens, for he had guessed their religion was controlled by priests, who were the direct conduits to the Goddess.

Of course, now that the Goddess was on Her way, who needed a conduit?

Jefferies smiled at the thought of the priests explaining that one away...
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