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

[Starhawk]

Well this forum is sadly lacking a gamestory thread at the moment so you know what.....I'm gonna make one! and from the begining, from the very first steps to the very worst wars and the end and everything in between.

Not (this game is not even started yet)

Well here is the "storyline" the game is going to take

It is the year 2400 and the Human colonies have all declared for independance and have formed their own "star nations", with recent discoveries in technology for the first time in history space based warfare has become possible and so an arms race has begun, each star nation has decided it's time to expand their frontiers and with those frontiers their military power.

And so the story of Icara begins....

(okay so not much of a starter story line but I'm hoping the story picks up ) So what i've gone and done is taken every Human shipset I have and made it into a faction for this game, and put it under computer control of course

Including two races you'll all be familiar with (though I'm hoping that'll be a suprise for ya'll later.

I'll post the first story post in a bit.

[dogscoff]

Well this forum is sadly lacking a gamestory thread at the moment

Well, Xenology has been a bit quiet lately, but it's not dead. Still, more stories is always good.

It is the year 2400 and the Human colonies have all declared for independance and have formed their own "star nations", with recent discoveries in technology for the first time in history space based warfare has become possible and so an arms race has begun, each star nation has decided it's time to expand their frontiers and with those frontiers their military power.

And so the story of Icara begins....

Fantastic! You have an interesting background there. It sounds a bit Weber-inspired, which IMHO can only be a good thing.

what i've gone and done is taken every Human shipset I have and made it into a faction for this game, and put it under computer control of course

Have you got these guys and these girls?

Looking forward to the firstr installment. I'll be reading!

[Starhawk]

LOL Okay every human shipset I can look at without laughing

2400.0:
It had been two months since construction of the first Icaran colonyship began and finally work was finished and the kilometer long grey hull with the massive blue oval of the colony module was the most beautiful site Praetor Leonidas could recall since the birth of his first daughter 5 Icaran years (nearly 8 Earth years) ago.

"Majesty?" Countess Percilla Torry bowed nerviously behind her Praetor, she would be aboard the colonyship when it launched and in fact become the first governor of an offworld Icaran province and was more then a little nervious about her new posting.

"Relax Percie, it's just you and me here." Leonidas smirked as he turned around and saw the flush in the young woman's face as she nerviously squared her shoulders. She was the daughter of Leonidas best friend and as such he often afforded her a much less "formal" stance then he would have taken with any other Icaran Noble on the planet.

"Yes your highness." the young woman's voice still quivered but she feigned a smile and accepted the hand Leonidas offered her and followed him to the vid-window that was showing the final stages of the boarding of CS-R-1/1 (named Brandenburg by the crew after the colony's official name).
It was indeed a wonderful sight and the young Countess' eyes lit up as she saw "her ship" waiting to take her to a new life, away from the Courts and their pomp, away from all the formalities of "parties" with men like Baron Chesterfield who would drool over her as she was the youngest girl in the room.....at least away from all that for a little while.
A real frontier settler she thought to herself, just like she had always dreamed of!

"Well miss Percie, I'm afraid I have an appointment with Admiral Hallice about the formation of our first Royal Navy crews and then I have an appointment with the House of Lords comission on the subject of a naval budget and I'm sure you don't want to sit through those meetings." Leonidas smiled warmly at the young girl (only 16 Icaran years old) and led her to the door. He wished he had more time to talk to her but with all the new things Happening in the world today he would have to be satisfied with the few moments he had.

"I suppose I should be getting to the Brandenburg anyway Highness, afterall I have thirty-four million people that are going to have to be billeted." She smiled again and bowed respectfully to the man who had been like an Uncle to her, for her whole life and she felt a lump in her throat as she realized it would be a very long time before she saw her father or Leonidas again.

Leonidas patted the young woman's arm, then suddenly looked as if he'd forgotten something and rushed over to his desk drawer. After a few seconds of rifling through a mess of paper work he walked over again and handed her a small golden plaque baring the name of her colony and an old Icaran motto enscribed underneath the engraved starship.
"Reach Beyond"
And then he patted her arm again as she walked through the door and on to her new life on the "frontier".


2400.2 Landing Day
The first interplanetary colony established by the Icarans was settled on the only other planet in the Novor system that could sustain a large population without the need for domse or breather masks.
Countess Percilla Torry daughter of Duke Mark Torry was proclaimed governess of the new stellar province of Brandenburg.

And already Icara's shipyard was constructing CS-R1\2 for it's mission to establish a mining colony on the small methane world of Novor II and tap it's rich mineral resources for the good of Icara.

The Naval Bureau of Ships was already working on designs for the first Icaran Royal Navy ship that was expected to launch in 3 months time.

[Fyron]

Starhawk said:
LOL Okay every human shipset I can look at without laughing

Ouch. That was harsh.

[Starhawk]

I meant no insult lol I just have a wierd sense of humor lol.

Anyhoo

2400.5: The Launch of HMS Saber
His Majesty’s Starship Saber was a small ship compared to either of the gargantuan colony ships which had launched from these very shipyards nor was she spacious on the interior as she was packed with cannon and missile, yet to her Captain none of that mattered, she was the queen of the stars to him.
The 150 officers and Ratings of her crew stood in parade formation wearing full dress uniform in the massive loading bay of the Icaran shipyards as Admiral Lord Alexander Hallice ascended the podium that had been erected for this very event. Press swarmed all around taking holo images of the ship, the crew and anyone who looked important.
Dozens of nobles were also present at the commissioning ceremony, and Captain William Ross remembered that the whole event had taken three long wearisome hours as he waited to board his new command and see to her final inspection tour before launch.

Finally Ross stepped onto the bridge of Saber and looked around with a grin, twelve stations sat fully manned and his Exec, Lieutenant Commander Sarah Pallins waited by his command chair.
Suddenly Ross heard the traditional marine sentry beside him callout as he noticed his Captain step on bridge and the piercing shout of “CAPTAIN ON DECK!” brought the entire bridge crew to attention and he took note of the click of their boots with satisfaction before he returned the salute.

“As you were.” Ross’ baritone voice hid his nerves and excitement as he took his command chair.

“All hands ready for deployment sir.” Commander Pallins said as she looked over the status board one Last time to make sure all systems were operational.
“Very well Commander.” Ross double confirmed her readings as was traditional, then he stood clasped his hands behind his back in as casual a manner as he could manage and walked over to the helm station.

“Helm take us out heading nine-zero-five by two….straight for the closest warp node.” Ross’ voice was as emotionless as ever but he felt exhilaration unlike any he had known before as he felt the ship’s drives activate, and the light pulsing feeling on the deck plating as she began to move towards the nearest warp point and into the great unknown...

I'll explain the look of Icaran ships later for those who havn't seen the pics I displayed on-line. but for now I'm off to read HH
Oh and although I will likely play more then one turn at a time I'm going to take this story slowly enough to make sure it's good

[Starhawk]

2400.6
Captain Ross sat in his command chair, eyes fixed on his displays as they focused on the Telcosus warp point, named after it’s discoverer Dr. Paula Telcosus of the Icara university for Astrogation. It was an amazing site as the scanners bombarded the normally invisible warp point with rays designed to make it visible to the crews of starships, it was a massive blue funnel that swirled and shimmered brilliantly in the displays.
“Helm take us in, Pallins dispatch a messenger drone to Icara, inform them we are about to enter the warp point.” although he was calm Ross’ was tense, his ship would be the first Icaran starship to enter a warp point in two centuries and no one of present generations even knew what the effects a warp point would have on the crew of a starship.

“Sir…..transition into hyper-space in five zero seconds.” Commander Pallins said as she looked up from the astrogation station she looked excited and yet she was as professional as ever.

“Helm deploy grav field” Ross’ didn’t take his eyes off of the nav display as he watched the small green dot of his ship approaching the massive yellow light that represented the warp point.

A small hemispherical module deployed from the prow of the frigate and another deployed from the aft portion of the ship just above the engine housing, as the ship got closer and closer to the warp point the two modules began to glow and the gravity field that allowed transition between real and hyperspace without turning the crew into a pile of so much sludge as had happened to the test animals first sent through warp points centuries ago. And which happened to more then one colony ship who’s grav field generators failed.
But technology had improved drastically in that department and it was believed that no field generator would fail for at least 50 years and that made Ross only moderately moer comfortable as the outer gravity field met with the warp point in a brilliant glowing wave.

“All hands prepare for jump in five…….four……three” the computer counted down as the ship’s after grav field entered the vortex of the warp point and then all time blurred and a wave of nausea swept over the crew of HMS Saber like a shockwave.

“Tactical…..status?” was all Sarah Pallins could mutter before a brilliant flash and then the transition into normal space thumped into reality and in an instant the nausea was gone and al stations began reporting in……they had made it with no damage, though clean up crews be at work in some of the areas of the ships were crewmembers had….not kept composure.

And before Saber lay the vast expanse of the Telcosus nebulae it’s glowing gas clouds and golden hew covered the entire expanse of what had once been a star system millenia ago it was beautiful but utterly useless to the expansion of Icara as it had no resources or planets to colonize.

“Alright, plot a course for the next warp point helm, Comns launch a messenger drone to inform command that we have found nothing of serious value.” Ross smiled at Pallins and she nodded, it was the beautiful but more then that it was the first interstellar distance any Icaran starship had traveled in centuries but Ross had to remain professional even though he did want to explore the nebulae.

“Sailing Master ETA next warp jump?” Chief Petty Officer Horowitz seemed startled by Pallins and nearly jumped out of his skin as he quickly looked over his station.

“Ma’am ETA next warp jump, is 2 weeks at full thrust ma’am.” Horowitz flushed as he realized just how squeaky his own voice sounded as he replied to his senior officer.

“Thank you Sailing Master, Helm set course maximum thrust.” Pallins voice was harsh but understanding, he was a young man at only 12 Icaran years but he still needed to be prepared and that little display was not professional at al……but they would have 2 weeks to work on that before their next jump. Pallins thought to herself as she looked over to her captain and noticed a slight grin on his face.

Meanwhile the HMS Warrior which had just been constructed and manned headed toward the Swift system and discovered not one but 2 fully life sustaining worlds that would be perfect for Icaran colonists. As well as several resource rich worlds that could be domed and mined to expand on the resource gathering abilities of Icara.

2400.7
HMS Warrior under Captain Thomas walker had warped into the Vaktor system and discovered a nebulae much like that in the Telcosus “system” and her crew marveled at the sight before setting a course for yet another system. She had already charted one close to home and had traversed the entire Norvar system again before warping through Vaktor and after such a long trip her crew was a little disappointed.

Messenger drones from all three ships brought back interesting astrological data but unfortunately most of it was of limited use to Icara, though two colony ships were already planned to colonize the new worlds.

Meanwhile Ross and his crew had explored another Nebulae named Belican and set course for yet another warp point.

[Starhawk]

Icaran Ship Classes:

Saber Class
Size: Frigate
Crew: 150
Weapons:
2 Missile Tubes
3 Cannons

Enterprise Class
Size: Destroyer
Crew: 320
Weapons:
2 Missile Tubes
4 Cannons
1 Sprint Missile launcher

Next installment coming soon

[Starhawk]

"2402.8 Setting Sail old and new
HMS Enterprise was the biggest nastiest mother in the Royal Navy and as far as Ross was concerned that could go for the whole galaxy. She was as fast as her smaller cousins but she packed a LOT more firepower for her size.
This was just a shakedown cruise Ross reminded himself, they were going to test out her engines by doing a loop around the system and then head out to Brandenburg where they would commence weapons tests on drones and an old freighter that had met an unfortunate end at the hands of an asteroid storm when she was abandoned by her crew.
The freighter was five times the mass of Enterprise so the Admiralty figured even her scorched up gutted old hull would serve as a great weapons test for this new toy of theirs and that was all fine with Ross he just wanted to take her out of port.

But the first ship out of port was his old command HMS Saber under the command of Brevet Captain Sandra Fowler and watching her leave port ahead of him brought a lump to the Captain's throat, she was smaller and less well armed but she had been his ship until this point and now he had to entrust her to Fowler and hope that kid didn't screw up.
******

"Helm, set course for the Beta Triaron warp point at maximum thrust once we've cleared spacedock." Fowler's voice was the professional cold tone they had taught back at the academy but inside her guts felt like a bunch of butterflies, yeah if they were vomitting she thought to herself as her helmsman acknowledged her order.

HMS Saber moved silently out of dock in orbit of Icara with pride, she was leaving on a simple guard mission to protect the newly established Haden Supply base on the Phong Border but it was something that was deemed necessary by the admiralty.
As Sandra rememberd Rear Admiral Lord Ralley even went so far as to calling the diplomats whom had established an unguaded supply base with a "large civilian population on the frontier with a hostile power a bunch of blustering idiots with no military sense beyond what they saw in the holotheatre!", he was probobly right but the young Commander couldn't help but grin to herself as she remembered a navy man calling a bunch of nobles blustering idiots with no sense.
Her ship would take a few months to arrive at Haden but it would give her time to get to know her crew, including her new Exec 1st Lieutenant Tiara Somal from Brandenburg....all in all it was looking like it was going to be a good cruise.

2403.1 Tragedy
It had been 3 months of cruising at full speed when HMS Saber finally reached her destination, and none too soon she neeted resupply and some of her crew needed to be sent groundside if only for a day or two.
As they warped throuh the node and entered the Escandor system morale was high and Sandra Fowler was looking forward to meeting the base' commander as he had been an old classmate of hers back at the academy.

The warp jump was met with the usual nausea by the crew and the usual grumbling as it wore off and Sandra frowned for a moment as her stomach settled back into it's proper place.

"Helm lay in a course for Handra supply ba....." Her sentince was never finished alarms and klaxon hooted and screamed throughout the ship as the tactical officer sounded the automatic general quarters alert that was required when an enemy starship was detected.

"What the hell is this about?!" Sandra snapped at her Tac officer over the howling klaxons and almost instantly Sandra was kicking herself over the loss of control in her voice.

The tactical officer looked sick as he looked up, his face was sheet white and tears seemed to swell in his eyes as his shaky voice announed "Ma'am Handra base is gone....there's no beacon, no energy traces nothing...they're just gone."

Fowler fealt a wave of gut wrenching fear wash through her as she considered the possibilities but she didn't let any of it show as she simply nodded to the tactical officer.
"Tactical, make sure there isn't a malfunction, it's possible their generators were just knocked out by an accident...run more scans as we close." her voice was controlled this time as the klaxons stopped howling now that her crew was at full battlstations and each secton had punched the "go" button which signalled their readiness.

Saber closed for two days before the cause of th loss of contact became clear, the surface of the planet was nothing but scorched earth for miles upon miles, none of it looked nuclear which told her it would match the attack pattern of a Phong warship....there were even craters miles outside of where the outpost had once been sugjesting that the bastards had shelled all signs of Icaran life on the surface.
That theory was quickly confirmed as battle sensors detected the presence of a Phong frigate at the far side of the planet (which explained why she hadn't been detected until now).

The need for revenge burned in Sandra's blood as she considered the 32 million Icarans that lay dead on the planets surface and now the Phong who killed them would die even if she had to get out of her ship and ram a knife down their yellow throats herself.
"Captain the Phong Frigate is closing at her maximum speed, tactical computers recognize her as a Annihilator class frigate, the same kind encountered by HMS Repulse." Commander Somal's heavy accent sounded venomus and cruel as she said the words.
Sandra swollowed hard as she memories of the split open hull of Repulse burned at the back of her mind....they would not do that to her ship damnit....not if she could help it.
"Guns, get me missile lock as soon as possible, cannon crews one through three stand by, we are going to run right down her throat." Fowler snapped the visor of her vac helm closed and her crew did likewise, they had all seen the pictures of those poor spacers from Repulse who hadn't managed to get their visors down in time or had their vac suits compromised.

Saber fired both missile tubes, 2 fusion missiles streaked across space, their ion trails like two snakes weaving across the stars as they sought their prey.
One of the missiles was quickly destroyed by the enemy ship's point defenses but the second missile easily peirced her defenses and a magnificent explosion erupted from her hull where it struck home, one of her cannons and an engine exploded flames as the initial impact spread but she still came on.

"Ma'am they are closing to cannon range!" The Weapons officer announced as the enemy ship flew past Saber firing their cannons as they went, two shots missed but the third impacted on Sabers' hull doing moderate damage and wounding several crewmen.

"Helm, turn us about I want to fire streight into her backside!" Fowler's lip curled as the damage report came in.
The Icaran frigate swept around behind the Phong frigate and opened up on it with all three of her cannons, two shots slammed streight into her engines blowing them to peices the third shot went higher then the enemy ships engine block and knocked one of her cannon turrets clean off. The gunnery crews fealt a surge of pride at their strikes but the enemy used the one engine she still had left to turn about and return fire.
The first enemy shot passed within inches of the main bridge but the second shot struck home on Saber's prow fortunately it did little damage.
Saber's missile tubes spat out another volley as she took advantage of her full engines and passed by the enemy frigate racking it with a broadside from her cannons.
As the Icaran frigate passed the enemy warship her missiles struck home on the battered hulk that remained and their explosions tore the ship's entire front end off, secondary explosions turned what was left of the frigate into burning wreckage.

"My compliments gunnery crews, you to guns." She smiled at her weapons officer as her voice echoed her pride over the comns. But still she fealt sick as she looked back to Harden and saw the wreckage and craters that had once been so many lives.
Fowler pressed a button on her control panel and a voice responded.
"Chief Engineer Mullins here." a tired sounding voice replied from the other end.

"Damage report chief?" Fowler dreaded the reply, she knew her ship had been hit twice in the battle and Repulse had only been it twice when her port side was torn open in a 20 meter hole.

"We've lost in-system communications and all but wo of our messenger drones were blown apart when the prow launcher was knocked out....other then that all we need is a resupply and a minor overhaul." Engineer Mullins sounded frustrated at the damage that had been sustained but mixed with that he also sounded very releived that the damage had been light.

They wouldn't need in-system comns anyway Sandra thought bitterly as she continued checking with section heads to get the full status of her ship after that action....1 crewman was killed and 8 wounded but it had been far less then she expected.

Two hours later, after personally inspecting her ship she ordered one of her two remaining messenger drones launched out of her port missile tube to inform Icara of what had happened, on it was a scathing reproach to the certain "nobles" who had endorsed Harden's construction before any military escort could be managed along with a report that she would stay on her post until such time as reinforcments could arrive or a courier was sent to inform her to withdraw.

Fowler also had the second drone prepared with a blank message recorder just in case her ship was attacked by a superior force and she was destroyed or forced to withdraw.

[dogscoff]

Wow, great stuff. Your Icarans certainly are uncompromising. It's nice to see someone portray a culture of vicious, expansionist bastards rather than another galaxy full of boringly enlightened Trek/ Manticoran style utopians.

[Atrocities]

I have to agree, great stuff. Looking forward to more.