For The Tyrants Fear Your Might (A quest of interstellar rebellion)

AKuz · Dec 10, 2020

THE ALL-RADIANT CONGRESS

Setting Information: The Solarian Compact:

Initially formed as the Solarian Treaty Organization from the ashes of the old United Nations Security Council, United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, and the Global Climate Relief Organization in the worst decade of Earth's environmental collapse. The STO was originally a body tasked with overseeing the granting of offworld mining permits and the purchase and distribution of the resources to countries struggling from climate change.

The advent of the Korolev-Chandrashker gates and the construction of the first one under STO oversight in 2063 led to the beginning of the transformation of that body into the de facto single governing body of the Human species.

Reorganized into the 'Solarian Compact', the first Charters were granted to massive corporate conglomerates to explore and exploit the cosmos for Humanity with little to no regulation or restriction.

In the early decades, the Solarian Compact oversaw the construction of KC gates in the systems closest to Sol and began the process of granting colonization rights to the most habitable worlds within that region with colonization rights granted to a number of national and international blocks.

With the growth of the Solarian Compact's power came calls for the body to become more representative and democratic, and in 2099, the Solarian Compact held its first elections and constitutional convention, inviting representatives from the Sol system and the five systems that held permanent Human settlement.

Over the course of the 22nd and 23rd centuries the Solarian Compact has held fast to what it sees as its duty to act as the mediator and financier of the Charters, the unifying agent of the disparate first Human colonies, and the guarantor of interstellar peace for Humanity.

As of 2252, the three most important bodies within the Solarian Compact are the Solarian Parliament -Located on Earth, the Solarian Compact Navy -based in the Korolev-Chandrashker system, and the Solarian Central Bank, -based out of the Columbia System.

Organized as a liberal democracy, with universal suffrage, the Solarian Compact is theoretically overseen by three equal institutions: the Solarian Parliament, the office of the Solarian Secretary General, and the Solarian High Court.

Though the Solarian Compact prides itself on being a Constitutional government, the actual original document merely outlines the terms of admitting new MPs and High Court Judges, and the electoral procedures of the Compact Parliament, with subsequent Parliaments meeting to add items like the Declaration of Property Rights, the founding of the Central Bank, the creation of the Solarian Navy, and the Laws on Freedom of Navigation and Travel being added later.

The Solarian Parliament is made up of two thousand six hundred and twenty seats representing ridings on Earth, Columbia, Atlantis, Penglai, Olduvai, and Epsilon which are elected every three years to a Parliament that meets in the New York prefecture of Earth.

Though the many frontier colonies do not have direct representation in the Parliament due to being owned and operated by private entities, their inhabitants are considered 'Absent for Employment' and may register with a home riding and submit a physical ballot (for security reasons) by courier from when polls open until they close. Though this process was suitable for the closely settled regions of space at the time of the ratification of the Compact Constitution in 2100, the rapid growth of Human settled space in the century and a half since has seen the de facto voter suppression of over 90% of Human settled space.

At the first sitting of each new Compact Parliament, the assembled members will elect a Secretary General and a slate of Ministry officials on a majority basis, and those individuals will oversee the executive branch of government and day to day operations. Though the average Compact Parliament contains between seven to nine parties in each Parliamentary sitting, the vast majority of seats belong to one of either the Party for Human Rights and Liberties or the Justice and Development Alliance and have since the very early 2100s. The governments formed this way can be brought down by losing the confidence of the Parliament for example, by failing to pass a budget, the process of finding a majority government will repeat again.

Though a democratic body that has maintained stability for over a century and a half, the Solarian Compact Parliament has been dogged by accusations of dynastic politics, Charter influence, voter suppression, regulatory capture, inability to reign in the Banks and MIlitary, and corruption at all levels.

Separate from the Parliament is the Solarian High Court that consists of eleven judges that serve terms of up to thirty-three years, with each new sitting of the Compact Parliament selecting one judge from a list provided by the governments of the six main worlds of the Solarian Compact. The High Court rules on matters of adherence of laws to the Solarian Constitution, and have been accused of serving as an arm of the Charters, though this has been strenuously contested by the Solarian legal profession as a whole.

By law the Solarian Compact also oversees a number of other important institutions including the Earth Reconstruction Commission (In a permanent public-private partnership with the Earth Reconstruction Association), the Solarian Central Bank, and the Solarian Compact Navy, though these important institutions often exhibit an alarming degree of autonomy from Parliamentary control.

The Charters:

The result of a cleverly conceived merger between specialty transport vessel manufacturer Titan Staryards and Private Military contractor Martian Military Solutions, Ares cut its teeth not just supplying material to the skirmishes between Mississippi Shipping and United Starhaul, but in supplying military contractors to both sides.

The professionalism of Ares mercenaries and quality of Ares gear led to the rapid expansion of business opportunities for the company and investment skyrocketed even after the Mississippi-Starhaul war ended in a hostile takeover of Starhaul by Mississippi.

Thanks in part to Mississippi debts held by Ares, when the RT-2102 Gate was opened up for settlement strategic maneuvering saw the Compact grant Ares mining and settlement rights to the newly opened system.

The rest, as they say, is history. Leveraging the immense resources of the Alexander system with their existing military expertise, Ares expanded nearly exponentially over the following century. While they maintain a dominating edge in the military field, they now integrated companies in fields from agronomy to personal fitness centers to xenobiology.

Internally Ares very self consciously styles itself as a hierarchical military organization complete with a semi-formal rank structure and an ethos of respect for the chain of command, professional courtesy, and treating your subordinates with respect. In practice Ares is hidebound, authoritarian, filled with passive aggressive sniping and rampant empire building.

While Ares remains headquartered on Mars, they have holdings in several systems and own the distant system of Alexander outright.

Rhodes Mining

One of the three original Charters that the Compact granted, Rhodes considers itself the singular reason that Humanity survived ecological collapse and spread past Sol. Immensely wealthy, over 52% of all material mined and processed by the entire Human race has passed through Rhodes hands at one point or another.

While founded merely to provide Earth the vital materials that it needed to rebuild itself after the lost decades of ecological collapse, Rhodes quickly expanded into all areas of the economy to support their mining, refining, and processing operations.

Dedicated to their vision of logistical chain efficiencies they've developed an entire chain of star systems into an efficient production center based around the resource rich system of Foundry, and the nearby feeder systems of Ecrams, Qem, and Crucible.

Rhodes considers itself home to a version of meritocracy built on hard work, education, and good old fashioned personal drive. This has developed over time into a stratified internal divide between the rank and file workers, the lower level management, and the highly lauded senior management. Each class lives in entirely separate worlds, attending separate schools, consuming different products, and leading very different lives in what many observers have labelled a de facto caste system.

they make food and medicine, the 120 year old CEO is kinda creepy tho?

Techbros, some of them science, some of them explore

Born from the union of Hermes Interstellar Services and The Ishtar Group, the Hermes-Ishtar Corporation owns and operates not only the communications backbone of Compact space, but much of the content that crosses over it.

The results of increasing consolidation of pre-spaceflight communications infrastructure and content creation and management firms, Hermes Communications and Ishtar Entertainment Group were both part of the second round of Charters established after the advent of the KC gates.

While Hermes quickly established operations throughout Compact space, their waystations, couriers, and communications repeaters a common sight in every corner of Human occupied space; Ishtar Group mainly limited their own operations to Sol and the Radiant system, where Ishtar owned and operated the world of Elysium to support their many projects.

Following a wave of Compact space wide reorganizations following the Mississippi-Starhaul conflicts of the 2130s, a desire for complete vertical integration on Ishtar's part led to a mostly amicable union with Hermes in 2139.

Since then Hermes-Ishtar have dominated all communications across Human space with only the privileged internal high-level communications of the other Charters managing to avoid consolidation under Hermes-Ishtar.

While Hermes-Ishtar make a great show of respecting individual creativity, initiative, and drive from their employees; in practice this amounts to rampant internal fighting involving the parasocial personality cults of different "genius" inventors, artists, and executive that rise and fall inside of Hermes-Ishtar at a dizzying rate.

Sketchy buggers, they can get you anything tho

Historical Topics:

Between 2036 and 2071 the Democratic Federation was the governing body of much of Earth's Western Hemisphere.

Initially comprised of a Federation of Socialist, Anarchist, Communist, and other far left social movements, militias, and political factions controlling regions of Earth's North American continent during and after the decline and collapse of the United States of America (1776-2034) due to the effects of unaddressed climate change amplifying existing political and economic crisis.

Eventually solidifying into the governing body of the former United States of America, United States of Mexico and the Dominion of Canada, the Democratic Federation embarked on an ambitious program of cultural revolution and economic reform designed to mitigate and reverse the effects of the climate change crisis.

As the patron of much of the central and southern western hemisphere, the Democratic Federation attempted to chart a course of environmental restoration separate from that of the Solarian Treaty Organization (In 2063 reorganized into the Solarian Charter), choosing not to contest Eurasian and African domination of outer space.

Having never existed out of crisis conditions, a combination of pre-existing economic damage, sabotage, and instability drove the Democratic Federation into decline in the Grey Decade of 2062 to 2070 and eventually forced the Democratic Federation to ratify a series of treaties giving the Charters economic access to Federation member states in order to conduct vital reconstruction work.

A last ditch uprising by radical elements in 2072 to eject the Charters from the Democratic Federation failed when Solarian Compact peacekeepers were called in and in seven months of street fighting pacified most of North America's key urban centers via strategic use of orbital weapons on the areas of greatest urban resistance.

Though guerilla warfare would continue in the Western Hemisphere for another three decades, the Democratic Federation was officially defunct by December 2072 and parcelled out into a number of Charter owned reconstruction areas under Compact authority.

Today radicals still pine for the four decades that the Democratic Federation attempted to build an alternative to the emerging Charters, and the polity's distinctive black, red, and green flag is brought out for each and every Great Black Summer. Well into the twenty second century, riots were often accompanied by demands to 'Avenge the Martyrs of 72!'.

Despite this underground extremist nostalgia, Charter and Compact schools teach that the Democratic Federation was a collectivist state whose iconoclastic behavior saw the destruction of famous landmarks like Mount Rushmore, Stone Mountain, and other monuments to Liberal Democracy and the Free Market in a mad attempt to remake the human race, but whose doctrinaire adoption of command economics saw them unable to deal with the ever-changing complexities of climate change.

Misc Details:

The first five systems to hold permanent Human colonies are known as either "The First Sisters" or "Earth's Daughters", depending on who you are asking and their political persuasion. From oldest to youngest, these worlds are:

Columbia: settled by billionaire American expats and tens of millions of refugees who had fled the unfolding revolutionary violence of the North American continent several years beforehand. Columbia was founded under a vision of fidelity to the American dream and to prove the indomitability of the soul of the United States of America and liberalism in the face of the red flags of the (North American) Democratic Federation. Fiercely loyal to the Compact and the dream of Charter prosperity, and home of the Solarian Central Bank, Columbia is often known as the "Gilded World" in reference to what many see as a return to American Gilded Age wealth and social inequality. Ares Conflict Solutions' central command is located here.

Atlantis: With colonization rights to this majority oceanic planet initially granted to the waning power of the European Union, the nations of the EU opened up colonization opportunities to other allied powers, especially Russia and Egypt. Atlantis was often seen by the EU as a place to dump unwanted refugees from outside of Europe's borders, and Russia and Egypt's tendency to see the world as a genuine project led to the usurpation of colonization rights away from Europe in the mid 2080s. Known today as the most restive of the first wave of colonies, Atlantis is the most skeptical of Charter power and plays a delicate game of wealth redistribution to underwrite the greatest social security net in Human Space. Cernunnos is de jure headquartered here.

Penglai: Originally the world in the most need of terraforming of the original colonies, Colonization rights were granted to the People's Republic of China and their allies after a lackluster bidding campaign. As China's focus was mainly on attempting to stem the damage of climate change on Earth herself, colonization of Penglai initially lagged until the Chinese Politburo struck upon the strategy of subcontracting colonization rights to Pacific adjacent nations suffering from the rise of that ocean. As colonization unfolded in the early 22nd century Penglai became known as a multicultural mosaic as hundreds of millions from across the Pacific settled and intermingled on the wine darkened shores of that world. Known today for its vibrant cultural milieu, violent clashes between labour unions, and private police, Penglai hosts the headquarters of the Hermes-Ishtar, Omoikane and Rhodes corporations.

Olduvai: With Colonization rights granted to a coalition of African nations at the height of the 'African Century', the African Colonization Organization did not see their colony as a refugee destination, dumping ground, or resource colony like their fellows. Instead the ACO saw the colonization scheme as an opportunity to preserve and export the rich traditions and cultures of Africa on their own terms, fully intending to set up healthy and self-sufficient colonies. To the current day, Olduvai has the closest relations with the home nations and is the heartland of Daughter sentiment and a bedrock for the Party for Human Rights and Liberties.

Epsilon System: While not technically a single world, the cluster of heavily inhabited space colonies in the Epsilon system are always considered the 'Fifth Sister' or 'Fifth Daughter'. As the most mineral rich system of the original colonies, Epsilon was the source of many of the materials that helped pull Earth through her darkest hour, and the system was recognized for their efforts by being invited to send delegates to the 2099 Solarian Compact Constitutional Convention. Epsilon is famous for its people's long roots in spacing and for being the headquarters of Mississippi Shipping Interstellar and thus the most heavily trafficked system in history.
Technologies: Nanomanufacturing, summary:

The contemporary gold standard for manufacturing. These devices use mechanosynthesis, a process that guides chemical reactions by placing reactive molecules with atomic precision. Ribosomes in the body's cells use a form of this method.

While the largest units can create objects up to 2m x 2m x 2m, smaller units (halving the units each time) are viable on basically any human scale. Projects larger than this size (such as ships or buildings, need to be either grown layer-by-layer via nanofabricators attached to robotic arms, or assembled from smaller parts through traditional assembly line, dry dock, or construction processes.

In principle basically anything can be made with these devices, and some materials can only be manufactured via these methods in microgravity. All manufacturing patterns in Compact Space feature Charter DRM using embedded explosive molecules like octaazacubane or cubic gauche nitrogen that will damage a disassembler or x-ray machine making reverse engineering of their products difficult.

A common part of 23rd century life is the near ubiquity of Artificial Intelligences in daily life, from consumer grade VIs through specialist TLIs, controversial AGIs, finally the perpetually 10 years away Artificial Super Intelligences.

The common consumer will daily run into what are properly known as Narrow AIs, and generally labelled as VI -Virtual Intelligences- by people outside the field. This category covers a broad swathe of techniques, from search and pathfinding to expert systems to genetic fuzzy trees to deep neural networks, which are mixed and matched with each other to optimize for the designed task. VIs are ubiquitous, exceeding human peak skill in their areas of specialization (though real world applications often don't do all that much better than trained humans), and have spent the past two centuries getting augmented with more and more clever algorithmic tricks for improving VIs. In order to do this, the Charters employ large teams of analysts and software engineers to develop clever algorithmic tricks that supplement or outright supplant neural networks, exploiting machine precision where stochastic methods are inadequate.

The use of VIs in everyday life is well accepted by the vast majority of the population, with professionals mixing and matching various consumer VIs to analyse data or assist them with creative or scientific works. Some VI lines are well loved by both the populace and the Charters themselves, with Charter programmers often deliberately leaving VIs with behavioral quirks and unpredictable glitches that not only save money on quality assurance, but are considered endearing traits that lead to anthropomorphization by the consumer market

Despite the mass comfortability and profitability of VIs of all kinds, the introduction of AGIs has been, to put it delicately, controversial. Though computer science has advanced to the point of producing programs that can not only pass the Turing test, but demonstrate sapience and match 23rd century human intelligence, flexibility, and creativity, the public reaction to the introduction of AGI saw the companies of the time rapidly pull them from the market, and even say the Compact itself move to heavily regulate the AI sector.

First introduced in the 2060s, the great tech firms began replacing their work staff with AGIs who did not require food, rest, housing, or pay. This shift led to an alliance between white collar workers fearing that automation would put them out of work and radicals who opposed what they insisted was AGI Slavery, a growing movement that would climax in the First Great Black Summer of 2084. When the ashes of the First Black Summer settled, the Compact's Parliament moved to grant rights to AGIs, and the resulting economic damage saw dozens of formerly great names in computing consolidate under the aegis of several of the first Charters who flaunted their extra-Solarian wealth by buying up prestigious brand names and research divisions on the cheap.

Since the 2080s, while the regulation surrounding AGI production and use have been severely weakened none of the Charters have sought to reintroduce them into the market, perhaps fearing another backlash like the First Black Summer and the few hundred thousand surviving AGIs that were granted Solarian Citizenship rights have found spread throughout the Compact and Charter Space where they usually work at the same white collar jobs whose workers they were designed to replace.

Perhaps due to the risks of attempting to reintroduce AGIs to the market, Omoikane has instead introduced their flagship product the "TLI" or Temporary Limited Intelligence. Approximately as effective as an AGI, a TLI is billed as a more moral replacement for AGI that uses a suite of high end VIs and a proprietary batch of creativity algorithms in order to complete complex tasks.

TLIs are used as a fire and forget program designed to be licensed to solve a single issue, no matter how complicated and then delete itself. Though the TLIs are a black box product, scientists from the other Charters believe that the central creativity algorithm in the TLI is inherently unstable and rapidly degrades in ability with time, making the TLI an instance of Omoikane attempting to market a critical technical flaw as a selling point that is accepted due to the ubiquitous market practice of planned obsolescence and artificial scarcity.

Though expensive, most businesses and successful professionals will keep a few licensed Omoikane TLIs on hand to throw at difficult problems or to supplement manpower in crunch situations.

While AGIs have been possible for nearly two centuries, the promise of a Seed AI, a recursively self-improving general superintelligence, is perpetually 'a decade away from the market', and no successful ASI ever been demonstrated to the satisfaction of the Charters or the Compact.

This is not to say that the Gödel machine architecture or the AIXI model has somehow been forgotten in the past 230 years, but that the Friendly AI problem has yet to be cracked. Every demonstration has either stalled out or gone immediately rampant, attempting to overthrow Charter Space before being stopped by the safety net of Narrow AIs. The small trickle of roughly human intelligence level AGIs that are created every decade typically come from these projects.

Urban legends persist that a few Seed AIs managed to escape and hide out beyond known space, plotting to return and crush humanity, or that they control all of society in secret, puppeting the Compact and Charters from their very foundation and occasionally engineering publicly failed ASI attempts to allay suspicion. These rumours are, of course, patently false, and simply the fevered imagination of crackpots at work, no doubt inspired by entertainment made by Hermes-Ishtar that feature AI supervillainy.
Systems: Map made by @Redshirt Army

The Spinward Frontier:

The Middle Spinward Frontier

The Core Region:

UNDER RADIANT CONTROL OR ALLIED:

The Radiant system is host to a G-class star, only slightly smaller than Sol. The system itself is rather small and resource-poor; experts believe that one or more Jovian planets ejected much of the system's bodies and then followed themselves. This is evidenced by the system's asteroid belt degrading over time, with high levels of eccentric orbits and impacts on planetary surface.

Radiant 1: A rather unremarkable airless iron planet, gravity 0.4 Earth Standard.

Radiant 2: A slightly larger unremarkable airless iron-silicate planet, gravity 0.6 Earth Standard.

Radiant 3: A binary planetary system and the outermost of the Radiant systems' planets.

Asphodel (Radiant 3a): The larger of the Elysium 3 pair, Asphodel might have once hosted life of its own. That life has been snuffed out for hundreds of millions of years, though, as the planet's significant atmosphere began the runaway cycle of your usual hothouse planet. Hermes-Ishtar maintained a significant aerostat and automated surface miner operation for in-house manufacturing, given that the frequent asteroid impacts from the asteroid belt keep digging up chunks of the upper crust and having low-melting-point metals rain out of the sky and solidify, unoxidized, on the surface for collection. Gravity 1.4 Earth Standard.

Elysium (Radiant 3b): Elysium was settled in the late 2190's, being a relatively simple affair. Simple life had already begun to evolve under its oceans, but continued orbital bombardment far past the lengths of things like Earth's Late Heavy Period had kept it there. It was a simple matter of forming up a small anti-asteroid task force armed with tugs and mining lasers to artificially end the pummeling, and the surface proved amenable to Terran life transplants. The colony is energy-self-sufficient, using a variety of solar, tidal, and nuclear power. Gravity 0.9 Earth Standard.

Radiant I: The outermost significant feature of Radiant, this asteroid belt is more a loose mixture of a primordial asteroid belt much like Sol's with a Kuiper belt. The shepherding gas giants which once nudged all these rocks into their orbits are gone, and with it the entire outer system is a maelstrom of chaotic orbits as the belts lose their coherence. This requires constant vigilance from Elysium's anti-asteroid team, but the high eccentricity of many asteroids also makes it cheap and easy to mine the ones that might come Elysium's way, which provides a trickle of basic resources for upkeep and personal goods. All large-scale building and infrastructure projects have been supplied from out-system, however.

A G-K far binary system, Gaid is simply a transit point to Radiant. Gaid's own gate maintenance techs and SAR rotated in and out through Radiant itself. There is no infrastructure other than a set of buoy lines for communications in Gaid A, and nothing in Gaid B.

Gaid A1: An airless world. Quality 10.

Gaid A2: A planet much like mars with a vestigial CO2 atmosphere. Quality 7.

Gaid A3: This planet boasts a methane hydrosphere. Quality 4.

Gaid AI: An asteroid belt.

Gaid A4: A turbulent Jovian planet, its storms would make resource extraction difficult. Quality 5.

Gaid A4a: An icy moon, with tidal heating creating a large ocean under a thin icy shell. Quality 9.

Gaid B1: A molten Cthonian world hosting a simply ludicrous amount of iron. Quality 15.

Gaid B2: An airless world. Quality 10.

Gaid B3: An airless binary system with two near-identically sized planets. Quality 7 and 8.

Gaid B4: This airless planet boasts a large and beautiful ring system, famous as a screen background option across human space. Every few years, a cruise or scientific expedition will stop by for more images.

Gaid B5: A small icy planet. Quality 3.

Gaid B6: A frozen world. Quality 7.

Gaid B7: An interesting gas dwarf sometimes referred to as an 'ice dwarf.' Quality 14.

A close K-M binary, Shei is home to an old Ares penal colony.

Shei 1: A Cthonian world. Quality 15.

Shei 2: An airless world. Quality 12.

Sheol (Shei 3): A boreal world, with a large, decaying ring, the planet features two large continents. The population of the consists of a large prisoner population on the larger of the two continents and a small Ares training base on the smaller. Records show that the prison consists of several million persons convicted to "high risk labour" and dropped on the continent with automatic resupply via Ares contractors and watched from orbit by weapons satellites. Most of the planet's land area is covered in a native tree analogue with a strange multi-stranded trunk.

Sheol is actually home to a population of over 100 million made up of prisoners and their descendants taht Ares was usuing as a live fire training course. Cooperation between Radiant agents, Ares mutineers, and the Sheolites themselves have seen the planet freed.

Gravity .95 Earth Standard. Quality 12.

Watchman (Shei 3a): Once the outer of two moons, this body now boasts Ares' local light shipyards and system command center. Quality 13.

Shei 4: Spiraling in from the outer system, this planet will eventually evaporate near-entirely as it closes towards the dual suns of Shei. Quality 3.

Shei 5: Martian planet with an active methane cycle. Quality 5.

Shei I: Asteroid belt.

Shei 6: Jovian planet with high rotation rate. Slightly squashed as a result. Quality 8.

Shei 6a: An icy capture, this moon will be torn into a ring sometime in the next hundred thousand years. Quality 2.

Shei 6b: Cold Martian planet, covered in a thin layer of water and carbon dioxide ices. Active methane cycle. Quality 8.

Shei II: Asteroid belt.

Shei 7: Jovian planet. Quality 13.

Shei 7a: An icy moon with significant cryovolcanism. Quality 6.

Shei 7b: A tiny icy moon, this is on the edge of hydrostatic equilibrium. Quality 2.

Shei 8: Ice giant. Quality 6.

Shei 8a: An icy moon. Quality 9.

Shei 8b: An icy moon, orbiting in an unusual polar orbit. Quality 9.

Population: 103,000,000

While lacking any currently-habitable planets, Five Lions' large size and potential have made it a significant point of Rhodes' recent extraction efforts. Ambitious terraforming efforts have recently begun.

Carajas (Five Lions 1): A Cthonian ball of iron, it's actively mined by robotic Rhodes-built landers. Gravity 2.3 Earth Standard. Quality 12.

Five Lions 2: A small rocky ball. Quality 3.

Five Lions 3: A rocky ball. Quality 7.

Grasberg (Five Lions 4): A large rocky world, glaciation has rendered it uninhabitable for now, but terraforming efforts have begun to artificially ramp up the greenhouse effect and restore liquid water to the surface, along with mining its ice. Gravity 1.11 Earth Standard. Quality 14.

Five Lions 5: This planet's atmosphere is so significant it verges on a gas dwarf. While a solid surface covered in a thin layer of ice is at the bottom, no reasonable colonization is possible. Quality 7.

Five Lions I: This asteroid belt, along with all the others, is being mined heavily.

Five Lions 6: This Jovian planet forms the center of current Rhodes extraction efforts. Quality 4.

Five Lions 6a: This Martian planet boasts significant ice caps and active plate tectonics, though only a vestigial atmosphere. Debate on whether to put resources into terraforming it are ongoing. Gravity .81 Earth Standard. Quality 17.

Oyu Tolgoi (Five Lions 6b): Home to the local population in covered shelters, this Martian planet, while nearly completely lacking water or plate tectonics, has its own atmosphere. Comet bombardment away from populated areas is ongoing and is already beginning to show results. Gravity .79 Earth Standard. Quality 11.

Five Lions II: An asteroid belt.

Five Lions 7: An unremarkable Jovian. Quality 2.

Five Lions III: An asteroid belt.

Five Lions 8: Jovian planet, its rotation speed has resulted in an unusually calm upper atmosphere. Quality 15.

Five Lions IV: An asteroid belt.

Five Lions 9: Jovian planet. Quality 9.

Five Lions V: An asteroid belt.

Five Lions 10: Neptunian ice giant. Quality 8.

Five Lions 10a: A small icy moon. Quality 5.

Five Lions 10b: A large icy body, this was probably its own planetoid at some point before being captured due to the complex interplays of no less than 5 gas giants.

Population: 15,000,000

A rare system with a brown dwarf orbiting a G-type star (just barely in the limits of what's considered a single system rather than a binary), and with a Jovian planet orbiting that, and on top of that treasure trove a dual ice giant binary, Osliam presents a golden research opportunity, and was bid on by Omoikane despite its otherwise sparce resources and poor habitable prospects.

Osliam 1: A rare hot ice giant, this planet is actively shrinking on a measurable time scale. It must have migrated in as a much larger planet recently.

Osliam 1a: This once-rock-ice moon is now a tiny molten ellipse barely holding together.

Osliam 1b: This somewhat larger moon changes color unusually with its day, as the shade of its parent cools lava to a dull red before emerging back into the light heats the lava back to a healthy orange glow.

Osliam 1c: This entire moon glows dull red in its day, just barely solid, and cools to an unusually smooth moon in its night.

Osliam I: This asteroid belt was probably a planet before Osliam 1's passing tore it to shreds.

Osliam 3: A hothouse planet with a relatively thin atmosphere, it retains temperatures and pressures that are survivable with heavy-duty equipment on the surface—when it's not raining sulfuric acid, that is.

Osliam 4: This small Martian planet seems to have collected some of Osliam 1's offgassing in its move inwards, and has a renewed temporary atmosphere.

Osliam 5a: This planet seems to have survived at the edge of the frost line by siphoning gas off its smaller twin.

Osliam 5b: Barely a gas giant, this planet was probably only slightly smaller than Osliam 5a in the distant past.

Osliam 6: The focus of Omoikane colonization in-system, Osliam 6 retains plate tectonics from the nearby brown dwarf but no atmosphere, an odd combination.

Osliam 7: A brown dwarf, this substellar object long ago burnt its deuterium and now lies slowly cooling, glowing dimly red. It is, however, still giving off a prodigious amount of low IR radiation.

Osliam 7a: Once its own planet, Osliam 7a was captured at some point by Osliam 7, perhaps in the same interaction that threw Osliam 1 to its suicidal innermost orbit.

Osliam 7a1: This icy moon is simultaneously shrinking and becoming more habitable—while its outer layers of ice are sublimating, the fierce tides of its complex interplay with Osliam 7 and 7a are heating the inner ocean to temperatures comparable to terrestrial water sources. Some scientists even suggest a pocket of water vapor is forming under the ice, and may form an internal "sky" for as much as a hundred million years before the outer shell sublimates entirely.

Osliam 7a2: This moon is less lucky; its tides are so strong that they seem to slowly be ripping the moon apart. It won't have the honor of becoming more than an ephemeral ring; the same complex tides tearing at it will rapidly disperse its debris field. While it lasts, though, it's easy water harvesting.

Population: 650,000

UNDER CHARTER CONTROL:

A distant double G binary, Xotreh hosts a small habitable moon around Xotreh B, the smaller of the two stars. As such, development has focused on the second star, despite the fact that the jump points center closer to Xotreh A.

Xotreh A1: This world boasts an active liquid silicate cycle on its surface, with oceans of basalt and continents of granite. Gravity 0.38 Earth Standard. Quality 8.

Xotreh A2: A rather large airless world, its original atmosphere was likely blown off by a massive impact. Gravity 1.2 Earth Standard. Quality 9.

Xotreh A3: A binary planetary pair of airless worlds about the size of Mars. Quality 6 and 8.

Xotreh A4: A hothouse planet with a planet-wide sulfuric acid storm due to its rapid rotation. Gravity .71 Earth Standard. Quality 8.

Xotreh A5 "Cueball": This planet is remarkably similar to Earth—if earth was buried under a kilometers-thick ice sheet across 90% of the surface. One day, as Xotreh A expands and dies, this world will become an ocean planet, but for now it's a cold desert. Gravity .87 Earth Standard. Quality 5.

Xotreh A6: An unremarkable icy ball. Quality 4.

Xotreh AI: An asteroid belt.

Xotreh A7: A Jovian planet, Xotreh 7 corrals the entire inner system in line. Quality 10.

Xotreh B1: This planet must have once been a gas giant at least the size of Uranus before it was sent inwards. Now all that remains is a dense core with a molten surface. Gravity 1.51 Earth Standard. Quality 13.

Xotreh B2: A binary pair of earth-sized airless worlds. Quality 6 and 7.

Xotreh B3: Another once-gas giant, this planet remains far out enough to boast a wholly-solid surface of iron. Gravity 1.64 Earth Standard. Quality 14.

Xotreh B4: A Jovian right on the frost line, its tidal heating keeps its moons on the edge of habitability. Quality 3.

Xotreh B4a "Sushi": An ocean world with massive polar ice caps, Omoikane has constructed a series of seasteads on the equatorial high ocean plateaus where it was feasible to drive foundations into the sea floor a few hundred meters below the surface. These small facilities serve as housing, data storage, and production centers for the research teams studying the dual Cthonian planets of Xotreh B. Gravity .67 Earth Standard. Quality 2.

Xotreh B4b: The lesser tidal heating here worsened the glaciation, and the planet lies under a planet-wide crust of ice. Gravity 1.13 Earth Standard. Quality 10.

Xotreh BI: The close proximity of this asteroid belt makes it an ideal location for resource extraction.

Xotreh 5: This Jovian is definitively beyond the habitable zone. Quality 6.

Xotreh 6: A dense ice giant. Quality 4.

Xotreh 7: Jovian planet. Quality 6.

Xotreh 8: An exceptionally cold Jovian. Quality 9.

Xotreh 8a: An unremarkable icy sphere. Quality 8.

Xotreh 9: This planet would have a massive atmosphere, if it wasn't so cold it all froze and fell to the surface. Only a few degrees above the space surrounding it. Gravity 1.3 Earth Standard. Quality 9.

Population: 54,000

Besides an interesting Jovian-gas dwarf planetary system, Bestreer holds little of interest other than its connections to other places.

Bestreer 1: An airless world. Quality 2.

Bestreer 2: An airless world. Quality 6.

Bestreer 3: This airless world once had a captured moon, torn apart at the Roche limit and forming a ring. A small gate maintenance and SAR team bases here, siphoning fuel and water from Bestreer 5 and mining into the surface for both resources and safe spaces for housing. Quality 10.

Bestreer 4: A rock-ice world. Quality 5.

Bestreer 5: Another rock-ice world made up more of ice than rock. Quality 5.

Bestreer I: An icy asteroid belt.

Bestreer 6: A large Jovian planet, on the edge of becoming a brown dwarf. Quality 15.

Bestreer 6a: This gas dwarf might have become a gas giant in its own right without its massive sibling. Quality 5.

Bestreer 7: Another Jovian. Quality 14.

Bestreer 7a: An icy moon, with an internal ocean buried under kilometers of ice. Quality 12.

Bestreer 8: An icy ball. Quality 10.

Population: 450

G-class star. A transshipping point to Radiant and environs, Mississippi keeps a substantial support crew on hand for possible cargo ship breakdowns or emergencies in-system, due to the slightly increased risk of issues from the absolute shambles of Akleod's inner system. A minor executive has also put together a cheap refueling and battery exchange station.

Akleod 1: Even actively evaporating and leaving behind a trail in orbit of dissipating volatiles, this body is large enough to have usurped Akleod 1a's orbit temporarily until it disappears away or the chaotic orbit of the two throws one into the star or out of the system. Quality 2.

Akleod 1a: The original Akleod 1, its orbit has been badly disrupted by the current, migrating Akleod 1. Which of the two gets ejected is still uncertain despite a decent amount of computational simulation; odds put it at 48-52% relatively. Quality 6.

Gnat's Ass (Akleod 2): A small, loosely-held-together icy body, perhaps what used to be an asteroid belt before Akleod 1's suicidal inner-system dive. It's not yet had time to fully reach hydrostatic equilibrium. Quality 3.

Akleod 3: An icy planet similar to Akleod 1, perhaps an old sibling. Quality 13.

Akleod I: An asteroid belt.

Akleod 4: A Jovian with an unusually elliptical orbit, it's regarded as the culprit for the chaos of Akleod's inner system. Quality 11.

Population: 5,000

As it turns out, transponder codes from regular priority messages through Gaid (now that we can see them, having backdoored the gate control) bear tags from a system, Thoa, along with navigational chart updates for any ships that happen to stop by. Thoa and Gaid both seem to have been nothing more than transit points to the far-more-valuable Radiant for Hermes-Ishtar, but Thoa holds a small anti-pirate base guarding against raiders from Signia. Hermes-Ishtar was apparently serious enough about it to have a converted corvette on station.

All told, the Thoa system holds gates to 2 systems besides Gaid's. There's also an unimproved jump point simply labelled as "dangerous." that leads to Signia

Thoa System Stats:

Thoa 1: A molten mess of a planet, it's hot enough that a residual atmosphere of vaporized low-melting-point metallics exists.

Thoa 2: An unremarkable airless metal ball.

Thoa 3: A super-earth hothouse, this planet would have been uninhabitable due to its gravity even before turning scorchingly hot.

Thoa 3a: A captured asteroid barely on the edge of hydrostatic equilibrium, the Nasty Bastardhad been excavating rudimentary shelters for "leave" for its crew.

Thoa I: An asteroid belt.

Thoa 4: A normal Jovian planet.

Thoa 4a: A moon much like Mars in climate.

Thoa 5: A Jovian planet with an unusual triangular wind pattern at the poles.

Thoa 6: Blooms of hydrogen well up from the core of this Jovian, perhaps disturbed by some recent impact.

Thoa 7: Bathyscapes would find themselves at home on the surface of Thoa 7. Pressures much like that at Earth's seabed keep a crust of ice 3 stable enough robotic drones could walk on it.

Thoa 7a: Unusually, Thoa 7a is the only large icy body in the system. Scientists are unsure of where the others went. As the only easy source of volatiles, the UNasty Bastard periodically stopped by a handful of obsolete volatile collection systems on the surface to top up.

Thoa II: A Kuiper belt of icy objects.

Empty Systems

Kimberly: A fairly unremarkable and empty system, this site was chosen as Rhodes' spinward boneyard—a place for failed experiments, old equipment, and ships so worn they weren't worth maintaining anymore, but were still valuable enough to warrant not throwing into a gas giant or otherwise completely destroyed. For 2 decades a Rhodes-affiliated salvaging contractor worked here, gathering scrap and other valuables, but following high injury and death rates and low returns, the contract (and most non-local dumping) was cancelled in 2247 (4 years before the March Days.)

Kimberly 1: A large rocky planet, this must have migrated inwards from further out in the system a long time ago to be so large so close to its parent star.

Kimberly 2: A Martian planet that keeps a comfortable daytime temperature despite its lack of atmosphere due to a close orbit.

Kimberly 3: A Jovian world.

Kimberly I: This asteroid belt is actually combined with a thinly-spread junkyard corralled by Kimberly's 2 gas giants.

Kimberly 4: A Neptunian world, this planet has several starship hulks abandoned as the closest stable orbit to the gate out. An old deactivation hub orbits in resonance with Kimberly 4a, the former site of a salvaging operation.

Kimberly 4a: The only significant satellite in the system, this icy moon retains a thin crust and a massive subterranean freshwater ocean.

Total:

Radiant:

Gaid:

Five Lions:

Head of Diplomatic Corps:

Name: Amanda Redcrest, Victoria Blackwell, and Kayla Hayashi

DoB: "2222", 2219, 2227, 2224

Current Position: Influential media figure and figurehead of Social Committee propaganda

Not a traditional diplomat, or a traditional individual 'Veronica Stardust' is the persona of a trio of XP broadcasters who have been working together since 2246 and has consistently been one of the most recognized figures across Charter space and is a local Elysian celebrity.

In Charter space those individuals who choose to make money by recording their lived experiences, of all kinds, for later playback are treated with an indulgent disdain by the polite classes as a mix of internet celebrity and sex worker despite the practice of selling XP experiences being common in the poorer segments of society and a smaller portion of the professional middle class attempting to stay afloat in a tight gig economy.

Amanda Redcrest was a former media programmer whose attempts to supplement her income with XP work backfired and saw her fired from her job. Contrarily, Kayla and Victoria both come from lower class backgrounds, though Kayla's attempts to climb into the middle class by earning a marketing degree were frustrated when her lower class status markers and financing of education via XP work saw her frozen out of the job market.

A former collaborator of Kayla's, Victoria had been a rising XP star in her own right and had no desire to change her station, but as her brief celebrity began to fade Victoria approached Kayla to propose the creation of a dedicated broadcasting persona that both would act as. Later bringing on Redcrest, who they'd both done crossover XP work with, to do technical work, the trio used carefully gathered market data and some intuition to create the "Veronica Stardust" persona of an middlingly-intelligent and freewheeling persona who played to the upper class's picture of what depravities and indignities the poorer class must get up to in their spare time.

From 2246 to 2251 the Veronica Stardust persona (performed by all three at various times, though primarily Victoria) produced experience recordings that were nearly always in the top 10 best sellers across Charter space.

Though they enjoyed the wealth that they brought in, the trio increasingly chafed at the market driven limitations of Veronica, and were considering a number of possibly catastrophic brand shifts when the March Days broke out and all three participated in street actions in a private capacity after sending one last broadcast as 'Veronica' to encourage revolt.

Since the formation of the Social Committee the figure of Veronica has been rebranded to serve as the figurehead of Social Committee Propaganda and several major initiatives have been launched with her at the forefront including a highly successful part of the anti-overproduction initiatives.

As part of the now-completed campaign to maintain the charade that Radiant was still under Charter control, Veronica Stardust continued to sell broadcasts to HI media chains, though the trio could not help but begin a brand shift towards a far more intelligent and radical persona.

Pros: XP Celebrity, influential, well known, inspiring to the middle and lower classes

Cons: XP celebrity, little diplomatic experience, three people

Diplomatic Goals: Defeat the Charters in the field of public opinion, push social revolution and freedom of information and communication, cause public opinion to oppose attacking Radiant

Unlocked FRM

Ares Peacekeeping Grade - Access to planetary army formation

Ares Military Grade - Access to mid-sized shipyards, bonuses to planetary army combat. Bonus to completion of Chinook remodeling

Rhodes Light industrial Grade - 10% increase to all mining income, reduced Cost for BLG and other actions that use basic fabber processes

Rhodes Heavy Industrial Grade - Massive discount on mining upgrades, able to unlock automated technologies with Omoikaine

Cernunnos Consumer Grade - +1 to all Soccom actions

Cernunnos Enterprise Grade - NOT UNLOCKED

Omoikane Consumer Grade - +1 to FRM reserach for each two tech bases unlocked (+6 currently)

Omoikane Enterprise Grade - +5 to blue sky research, automation with Omoikane

Hermes-Ishtar Consumer Grade - Your economy doesn't crash when the turn of funding

Hermes-Ishtar Production Grade - NOT UNLOCKED

MSI Consumer Grade - Consumer Goods, Drones, and personal vehicles, +2 to domestic projects in IndComm and SocComm

MSI Enterprise Grade - NOT UNLOCKED

Original Tech

The Box: Fabber the size of a X-box that can, with time, materials and power, print the components for a full sized box. Less efficient, but easy to print and hide.

Defence Coordinator:

Name: Maria Awhina

DoB: 2165

Current Position: Military Committee Delegate from the Radiant Veterans Guild

Born into poverty on Earth as the twenty-second century began to wane, young 22-year old Maria Awhina caught up in radical anti-Charter politics during the third black summer of 2187 and was convicted of property destruction during the rioting and sentenced to serve as a contractor to Hermes-Ishtar until her contract was paid off.

The stark choice of starvation or service to Hermes-Ishtar caused Maria to descend into self-destructive behavior where for twenty years Ms. Awhina continuously volunteered for the highest paid and most dangerous positions that Hermes-Ishtar had available.

Hermes-Ishtar considers Special Operations Lieutenant Awhina to have served with distinction throughout the heavy skirmishing of that era, though Maria herself continues to carry guilt for her service and her survival.

After performing exceptionally well in a hostage rescue operation Awhina was transferred to the Protective Detail Division of Hermes-Ishtar Security, and was eventually assigned to serve as the head of the Radiant Vice President's protective detail.

Over the next four decades she came to see the world as her home, and while her professionalism never wavered, her loyalty to the company who still owned her contract did.

This March, Maria had the option to gun down her fellow planetary headquarters workers to secure Yang's escape, or to finally return to roots in anti-Charter agitation. The fact that we are all here today shows what choice she made.

Pros:

-Actual Combat Veteran, knows Radiant inside and out, special operations expert, professional.

Cons:

-only academic knowledge of starship operations, logistics, organization command and strategic operations.

Command Traits:

-Objective oriented, unflappable, aggressive, prefers attacks and operations to come from unexpected angles.

Reports from the Permanent Commission for Military Intelligence on hostile forces in neighbouring systems:

Blue Squadron:
-Allegiance: Ares Combat Solutions
-Service: Mars Interstellar Security
-CO: Rear Admiral Weylon Kang
-Flagship: MIS Yorktown

We know little about Rear Admiral Weylon Kang except that he has received a number of commendations from the MIS board for keeping costs low while on deployment. He appears to be making an effort to clamp down on the rumours racing back and forth across the fleet.

MIS Yorktown
-British Empire-class Fleet Tender
MIS Eurymedon
-New Model-class Strike Corvette
MIS La Rochelle
-New Model-class Strike Corvette
MIS Cape Rachado
-New Model-class Strike Corvette
MIS Second Schooneveld
-New Model-class Strike Corvette
MIS Matapan
-New Model-class Strike Corvette
MIS Valcour Island
-New Model-class Strike Corvette
MIS Kerch Strait
-New Model-class Strike Corvette
MIS Galveston Harbour
-New Model-class Strike Corvette
MIS Cape Sarych
-New Model-class Strike Corvette
MIS River Plate
-New Model-class Strike Corvette
MIS Third San Francisco
-New Model-class Strike Corvette
MIS Scipio Africanus
-Cossak-class Frigate
MIS Suleiman I
-Cossak-class Frigate
MIS Louis Botha
-Cossak-class Frigate
MIS Fort Ware
-Hudson's bay Company-class Fast Fleet Tanker
MIS Fort Mackinac
-Hudson's bay Company-class Fast Fleet Tanker
MIS Fort Osage
-Hudson's bay Company-class Fast Fleet Tanker
MIS Arabian
-Postal-class Courier
MIS Macedonia
-Legionary-class Fast Troop Transport
MIS Hispania Citerior
-Legionary-class Fast Troop Transport
MIS Hispania Ulterior
-Legionary-class Fast Troop Transport
MIS Gallia Narbonensis
-Legionary-class Fast Troop Transport
MIS Sicilia
-Legionary-class Fast Troop Transport
MIS Corsica et Sardinia
-Legionary-class Fast Troop Transport

Fixed Defences:
Battery A
-MSS-54-F LMP Constellation
Battery B
-MSS-54-F LMP Constellation
Battery C
-MSS-54-F LMP Constellation
Shoal A
-ASR-33-C TAM Shoal
Shoal B
-ASR-33-C TAM Shoal
Shoal C
-ASR-33-C TAM Shoal
Shoal D
-ASR-33-C TAM Shoal
Shoal E
-ASR-33-C TAM Shoal
Shoal F
-ASR-33-C TAM Shoal

Fixed Defences:
Battery A
-Blindfire-Pattern LMP Constellation
Battery B
-Airstrike Pattern LMP Constellation
Shoal A
-Macross-Pattern LMP Constellation
Shoal B
-Macross-Pattern LMP Constellation
Strikecraft Wing, ID# 48603
-Radiance-Type Strikecraft

-None

Local Security Forces
-Approximately fifty strong volunteer station security militia drawn from station personnel

Local Security Forces:
-Deep Space Security Solutions (Omoikane Subsidiary) Customs shuttle squadron based out of Xotreh B-4a's orbital station
-Three companies of Standard Planetary Security Company (Ares subsidiary) troops based out of Xotreh B-4a's habitat complexes for internal security and law enforcement

139th Solarian Navy Squadron:
-Allegiance: Solarian Compact
-Service: Solarian Navy
-CO: Vice Admiral David Visser
-Flagship: SNS Krak de Chevaliers

Thanks to his heavy handed labour discipline and extractive tribute and demands for corvee labour from Ascension Admiral Visser is viscerally hated by the populace of Ascension, and to a lesser degree the rest of the Solarian Force as well. While the gate's completion draws near, it is uncertain what path that Visser will persue.

SNS Krak de Chevaliers
-Star-hold-Class light-tender
SNS Victoria Newman
-Leonard Greyson-Chang-Class Strike Corvette
SNS Julia Stonechild
-Leonard Greyson-Chang-Class Strike Corvette
SNS Robert Chuikov
-Leonard Greyson-Chang-Class Strike Corvette
SNS Wallace Al-Wazir
-Leonard Greyson-Chang-Class Strike Corvette
SNS Dawn's Early Light
-Freedom's Light-class cruiser
SNS Jacob Nagumo
-Herald Kanumba-Class frigate
SNS Alexander Hamilton
-Liberation-class troop transport

Solarian Marines now spread throughout the system

PCMI Provides new system data on the single system that lies beyond beyond Five Lions:

Mobile Force:

Current Orders: Defend the All Radiant Congress by acting as a rapid response in the event of any hostile acts.

CO: Commodore Stephanie Rousseau

CNS Velasco, United States of America-class Fleet Carrier

-CO: Captain Esteri Attar

-Orca Wing, Switchblade-type strikecraft (Customized)

-CO: Wing Commander Jasmine Ang

-Red Wolf Wing, Switchblade-type strikecraft (Customized)

-CO: Wing Commander Heloisa Kimura de Lima

CNS Shieldmaiden, Great Heathen-class Light Cruiser

-CO: -N/A DATABASE ERROR, CONTACT IT FOR HELP-

CNS Shamhat, Great Heathen-class Light Cruiser

-CO: -N/A DATABASE ERROR, CONTACT IT FOR HELP-

CNS Righteous Tempest, Cossak-class Frigate

-CO: Captain Vehement Shade

CNS August Willich, Cossak-class Frigate

-CO: -N/A DATABASE ERROR, CONTACT IT FOR HELP-

CNS Elysium, Cossak-class Frigate

-CO: -N/A DATABASE ERROR, CONTACT IT FOR HELP-

CNS Asphodel, Cossak-class Frigate

-CO: -N/A DATABASE ERROR, CONTACT IT FOR HELP-

-

Home Force:

Current Orders: Defend Radiant, comet patrol, act as a reserve force

CO: Commodore Erina Kozlova

CNS Blaire Mountain, New Model-Class Strike Corvette

-CO: Captain Guillermo Kageyama

CNS Scutum, Comet-Class Patrol Corvette

-CO: Captain Martin Pagonis

CNS Buckler, Comet-Class Patrol Corvette

-CO: Captain Samuel Smiles

CNS Nasty Bastard, A Jury Rigged Mess of a Drone Carrier

-CO: Captain Jean-Paul Beaumont

-

Radiant System Self Defence Force:

Current Orders: Defend Radiant, comet patrol

CO: Overseen by Admiral Gregory Mansur in his capacity as MilComm Chief of Naval Operations

Radiant Customs Squadron, Arabia-class boarding craft with marine contingents

-CO: -N/A DATABASE ERROR, CONTACT IT FOR HELP-

Switchblade Wing, Switchblade-type strikecraft

-CO: -N/A DATABASE ERROR, CONTACT IT FOR HELP-

Apogee Wing, Switchblade-type strikecraft

-CO: -N/A DATABASE ERROR, CONTACT IT FOR HELP-

Battery A, Blindfire-Pattern LMP Constellation

(Radiant-Bestreer Gate)

Battery B, Blindfire-Pattern LMP Constellation

(Radiant-Bestreer Gate)

Battery C, Blindfire-Pattern LMP Constellation

(Radiant-Bestreer Gate)

Battery D, Airstrike-Pattern LMP Constellation

(Radiant-Bestreer Gate)

Battery E, Airstrike-Pattern LMP Constellation

(Radiant-Bestreer Gate)

Battery F, Airstrike-Pattern LMP Constellation

(Radiant-Bestreer Gate)

Shoal A, Macross-Pattern TAM Shoal

(Radiant-Bestreer Gate)

Radiant Orbital Yard 1

Current construction: None

Radiant Orbital Yard 1

Current construction: None

-

Gaid System Self Defence Force:

Current Orders: Defend Gaid

CO: Commodore Victor Raine

Battery A, Blindfire-Pattern LMP Constellation

Battery B, Blindfire-Pattern LMP Constellation

Battery C, Blindfire-Pattern LMP Constellation

Battery D, Airstrike-Pattern LMP Constellation

Battery E, Airstrike-Pattern LMP Constellation

Battery F, Airstrike-Pattern LMP Constellation

Shoal A, Macross-Pattern TAM Shoal

Shoal A, Macross-Pattern TAM Shoal

Shoal A, Macross-Pattern TAM Shoal

Zephyr Wing, Switchblade-Type Strikecraft (Customized)

-CO: Wing Commander Ara Helge

Aeolus Wing, Switchblade-Type Strikecraft (Customized)

-CO: -N/A DATABASE ERROR, CONTACT IT FOR HELP-

Gale Wing, Switchblade-Type Strikecraft (Customized)

-CO: -N/A DATABASE ERROR, CONTACT IT FOR HELP-

-

Frontier Force

Current Orders: Keep watch on SolNav force in Raphanus, assist with integration of Ascension military forces, patrol Spinward frontier

CO: Commodore Shayla McLean

CNS Kiel Mutiny, Kaiserreich-class BattleCruiser

-CO: Captain Inana Devlin

CNS Choreographer, Janissary-class Light Tender

-CO: Captain Karl Xanthopoulos

CNS Valiant, New Model-class Strike Corvette, attached to CNS Choreographer

-CO: -N/A DATABASE ERROR, CONTACT IT FOR HELP-

CNS Defiant, New Model-class Strike Corvette, attached to CNS Choreographer

-CO: Captain Fool's Errand

CNS Reliant, New Model-class Strike Corvette, attached to CNS Choreographer

-CO: Captain Rouge Napier

CNS Actium, New Model-class Strike Corvette, attached to CNS Choreographer

-CO: Captain John Rankin

CNS Crête-à-Pierrot, New Model-class Strike Corvette, attached to CNS Choreographer

-CO: Captain Nkiru Chaudhari

CNS Valmy, New Model-Class Strike Corvette, attached to CNS Choreographer

-CO: Captain Sumac Barros

CNS Revolutionary Will, Cossak-class Frigate

-CO: Captain Yamamoto Hanae

CNS Revolutionary Grace, Cossak-class Frigate

-CO: -N/A DATABASE ERROR, CONTACT IT FOR HELP-

CNS Under New Management, Don-Class Fast Tanker

-CO: Captain Adras Kierenos

CNS Liberte, Hollywood(C)-Class Frigate

-CO: Captain Colin McRae

CNS Egalite, Hollywood(C)-Class Frigate

-CO: Captain Adelia Swift

Resources
Naval Ship Types: Ship Types (Public Version)
Naval Officers: Congressional Navy Officers (Public Version)
System Codex: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rtNbPCcPsTK7HCHKo9dPgK7ntx5tBKOpltrZb_In7GY/edit#
Blaze Zhang: Blaze Zhang is trans-masc. That means his pronouns are he/him.

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AKuz · Aug 3, 2022

DETECTION:

Rear-Admiral Charity Cadence stands on her command deck, boots maglocked to the deck, arms crossed across her tall frame, the helmet of her combat skinsuit clipped to her waist, watching the holotank in front of her as her command approached the Arizona-Bestreer gate.

Around her the clean white, blue, and grey lines of the Solarian Navy style surround her, the soft light of displays updating her people with the information that a fleet at war needed to operate. Enlisted and officer alike speak to each other calmly as the 201st Squadron, 2nd Battlegroup, 9th Fleet of the Star Navy of the Solarian Compact prepared to transit the gate from Arizona to Bestreer. Both theoretically calm and loyal Compact systems, but appearances could be deceiving.

"10 minutes until gate transit, ma'am," calls out one of the nearby enlisted, voice as crisp and clean and his uniform.

Charity nods to herself in satisfaction.

When she'd taken command of the 201st squadron last year, the 201st had been derisively called the "two oh worst" by the other units of the 9th Fleet. It had a reputation for criminal behaviour, ill-discipline, and even rumours of fragging junior officers.

But she'd slowly worked to change that by working from both ends. From her end, she'd led by example, rejecting calls from the local Hermes-Ishtar bigwigs to wine and dine her in exchange for kickbacks and ensured that her direct subordinates were willing to treat their subordinates fairly according to the regs and canning those who didn't get the message.

From the bottom, she'd redirected funds that had been going towards who knows whose pockets and diverted them into the 201st shoreside accommodations on Leahy station, renovations that happened during the many drills and exercises that she'd deployed her squadrons on.

She may have wrecked her budget paying for both training munitions and renovating crew accommodations, but working together with her people she'd somehow managed to keep costs under control.

Slowly but surely, the 201st had begun to turn around. They may not yet be an elite formation, but they'd vastly improved in all metrics and she'd trust her people with her life.

And for all that, their reward for turning themselves around?

Being split off into an independent command and thrown into the teeth of an insurrectionary menace that had conquered half the Far Spinward and dealt both Charter and Navy fleets devastating defeat after devastating defeat.

"CONTACT!"

Charity's eyes snap forward as the Holotank shifts, as feeds from the reconnaissance drones pushed through the Arizona-Bestreer gate begin to populate the tank with the red marks of a hostile fleet.

The chatter around her increases in both volume and magnitude.

"Twenty three craft, ma'am!"

"Analysing, looks like that Kaiserreich there is their flagship, that has to be CNS Kiel Mutiny."

"It looks like half of the fleet that hit Admiral Edriss at Shei."

"I'm looking at some of these emissions profiles: Tenryu, Melbourne, Kinshasa, United Forever. Those are from the 12th fleet. These fuckers work fucking fast."

"Language, Spacer!"

By numbers her squadron was outnumbered, nineteen dedicated craft plus three auxiliaries, as both Edward Manstein and Gordon Kelly were still laid up in drydock at Bastion when the deployments orders came down.

Charity uncrosses her arms and places her hands on the railing surrounding the holotank, leaning forward, studying the display as information cascades across it.

Kiel Mutiny, that's Admiral McLean's command.

Admiral Cadence had studied the profiles of every anarchist senior officer that the navy had a dossier on. She wanted to know what made them tick, how they would react in combat, what it would feel like to square off against them.

While an officer like Stephanie Rousseau might be the most colourful senior officer in the Amaranthine Navy, Cadence felt that McLean was the scariest, and the anarchists clearly knew that because she was the one tapped to rip Admiral Edriss' command to shreds.

Edriss had clearly fucked up, even the most cursory overview of the data Division Captain Kuange had brought back with her showed that, but McLean knew what she was doing and was prepared to go as far as it took for victory. And more than that, she was a true believer in the anarchist cause.

Other officers laughed at the "Kittycat Admiral", but not Charity. This was going to hurt. Both sides.

"We're going to advance. Signal the auxiliaries to drop back, I don't want to expose them to fire."

"Aye, ma'am."

"Get me a fleet conference now, that anarchist fleet is two hours out. It's time for us to do our duty."

-

"Looks like a constellation of Osprey-pattern reconnaissance drones, ma'am."

Admiral McLean, narrows her eyes at the plot in front of her, showing an expanding ring of drones around the Bestreer-Arizona gate, "So, they're here already."

The augment officer's ears flatten in frustration. They were so close. Just a few more hours and Vanguard Force would be laying mines and other fixed defences around that gate.

She knew that if she let herself stew on it, she'd spend the next week finding places where she could have shaved hours off here and there from the moment she'd gotten word from Kozlova that the General Congress had authorized Sashay.

It irked the perfectionist inside her. This is why she didn't play games on anything but hardcore modes, otherwise she spent hour after hour save scumming to find the perfect set of actions.

She quickly shoved that aside and assessed her options. It had to be one of the two squadrons deployed from SolNav's anchorages at Bastion. Each was approximately the same size as her own force, and composed similarly of lighter elements.

She'd be facing either Admiral Charity Cadence or Admiral Zimmerman-Neyra. If it was Zimmerman-Neyra she'd probably have the time to reach the gate and deploy the Tripwire defences, and then the Bestreer-Arizona gate was effectively sealed. By all reports the man was conservative and cautious to his core.

But if it was Cadence, she'd force the gate as soon as possible, to prevent McLean from doing exactly that. A woman who'd put her own body between a minority community and an armed mob bent on their harm isn't someone who'd recoil from her duty.

And McLean didn't have room to back off either. If she tried to break off, an aggressive commander who came through that gate hot would easily be able to plot intercepts, and a stern chase was a losing chase for her in this instance. She could try to be funny, vary her approaches to the gate, try some fancy manoeuvres. Rousseau would certainly try for that, some all or nothing play.

But even if McLean was one for such things, she didn't have the propellant to try anything fancy. She could engage and take possession of the battlespace, including its all important refuelling platform, or she could try to run.

Those were her options. And she knew what her duty meant.

"Alert all craft: continue with decel burn, be prepared for contact in two hours."

-

"Admiral, message from Kiel Mutiny."

As a student of history, Charity Cadence had to give the Elysian anarchists this: they had a sense of humour.

"Let's see it," says Admiral Cadence, pushing herself over to her flag bridge's communications station, putting out a hand to catch the back of the Communication Lieutenant's chair and bring herself to a gentle float over his shoulder.

The woman who appears on Lieutenant Fitzpatrick-Jefferson's display is exactly who Charity expected: a dark skinned, black haired (furred?) woman with pointed catlike ears and eerily lavender eyes dressed in a black and red combat skinsuit of a very 'military' cut and wearing a vividly red military beret atop her head.

"This is Admiral Shayla McLean of the Congressional Navy of the Amaranthine Interstellar Commonwealth with a message for the 201st Squadron of the Star Navy of the Solarian Compact." Her words are calm and professional, as if she was reading from a cue card. "The Bestreer system is now under the jurisdiction of the Military Committee of the Amaranthine General Congress. Under the authority invested in me as the executor of the people's will in this matter, I must request that you stand down all weapons and vacate the Bestreer system or I will be required by my orders to eject you from this system with force."

So that's how it was, Charity didn't expect anything less.

"Lieutenant Fitzpatrick, record my following remarks for transmission."

"Aye, ma'am." The junior officer, so young, even compared to her, worked at his panel for a moment, short cropped blond hair bobbing as his head moven, and then gestured, "Ready for recording, ma'am."

"This is Rear Admiral Charity Cadence of the Solarian Navy, to Admiral McLean of the Amaranthine Congressional Navy." Charity wills her grey eyes to be as hard as granite, implacable, immovable. "I am afraid that I cannot do that; the Bestreer system is a loyal member of the Solarian Compact, Humanity's only legitimate government. The presence of armed vessels in Bestreer is a violation of both Compact common law and the cease-fire agreement that your superiors signed with the Charters in Thoa. If you do not stand down and either surrender or vacate the system immediately on receipt of this message, I will be forced to open fire."

Charity has no expectations that the other woman would stand down, but she desperately hopes she would. This fighting is a fucking waste. The Solarian Compact is a deeply flawed institution, but it is what they have. This Broadcast, all this fighting, these revolutions have accomplished nothing but death and destruction.

The Admiral waits for a reply, or lack thereof. She waits for the official word that hostilities are inevitable.

Charity floats behind the comm officer's station, a bit sad, and almost… wistful, wishing that McLean and the people like her would work to correct the system rather than destroy it. But at least they had the strength of their convictions. At least they believed in something.

It was on the backs of people who didn't believe in anything that the Compact turned from a shining light that brought peace under its banner to a flailing wreck more interested in lining the pockets of its leaders and scoring partisan political points than fixing problems.

She sees the indicator on Fitzpatrick's panel at the same time as the Lieutenant himself does, "Go ahead, Lieutenant, let's see what Admiral McLean has to say."

"Admiral McLean to Rear-Admiral Cadence, I'm afraid I am not willing or able to surrender. I have my orders from the General Congress of the Amaranthine Interstellar Commonwealth, the only truly democratic and representative body I have ever lived under. We will never surrender."

"Well, that's that," says Charity, unclipping the helmet from her side and pulling it up over her head, "Alert the fleet, the incoming force is hostile and heavily armed. Their orders are to repel the enemy from this gate." She locks the helmet in place and seals it, augmented visuals spilling across her vision. "Let's be about it people."

Setsul · Aug 3, 2022

Spart117MC said:
Of course that is with the caveat that a number of ships in the fleet were not built as warships first and the vast majority are of Charter origin.

No point in agonizing in what-ifs at this point. It could just have been if that happened then the forces towards the south might have made a push. All we can do is hope.

We're lucky enough that they brought Light Cruisers, not Cruisers, and that it's a not a Heavy Battlecruiser.
I still wish that I had sold taking the CNS Velasco and Fourth Lion from Home Force along better (the Nasty Bastard probably was a bit too memey), and that I had done the math with Light Cruisers instead of Escort Carriers from the start, because "probably 3 capital ships" rather than "1 maybe two capital ships at worst" would've made justifying my plan to throw the kitchen sink at Bestreer much easier.

But it is as you say, no use crying over spilled milk. My plan may have turned out to be the correct idea now, but it just as easily could've gone the other way with with the more agressive admiral showing up in Thoa and worst case even convincing Blue Squadron to join the attack, while the other task group is chilling in Arizona.

Hell, for all we know an attack on Chinook might also happen.
Or the QMs were always going to have the more agressive admiral appear in whichever system is weaker or have the task group attack regardless of admiral, or as long as they have a chance of winning (that seems fairly likely) so we were doomed to lose at least one fight from the moment we committed to taking and holding Bestreer without being sure we'd get defences set up in time.

At this point we can be sure of only three things:
1. This is going to hurt.
2. We must hope that the same isn't happening in Thoa/Chinook.
3. We must pray to the dice.

taovkool · Aug 3, 2022

Setsul said:
At this point we can be sure of only three things:
1. This is going to hurt.
2. We must hope that the same isn't happening in Thoa/Chinook.
3. We must pray to the dice.

One thing for sure though. No matter the results of this fight, we are gonna spend a couple of turns rebuilding and consolidating and do absolutely no offensive actions whatsoever.

We can't keep going on half-cocked like this.

Setsul · Aug 3, 2022

taovkool said:
One thing for sure though. No matter the results of this fight, we are gonna spend a couple of turns rebuilding and consolidating and do absolutely no offensive actions whatsoever.

We can't keep going on half-cocked like this.

Yeah, I hope that if we win this fight, we can convince Shei to delay their Light Cruiser so we can get more repairs in asap.

I'm also tempted to drop the Smallcraft Yards in Radiant and do two civilian liner conversions now, because Chinook absolutely needs some more ships to hold now and tossing in the few Corvettes we and Ismeu got sitting around doing nothing is my best idea for that.

I really wish people had believed me on the timing and fleet size instead of assuming that we're somehow guaranteed to be faster despite launching later.
It's cold comfort that I was right about that and not needing Logistical Overhaul because we wouldn't be doing offensives any time soon. This is definitely not the way I wanted to be proven right.

taovkool · Aug 3, 2022

Setsul said:
It's cold comfort that I was right about that and not needing Logistical Overhaul because we wouldn't be doing offensives any time soon. This is definitely not the way I wanted to be proven right.

I think I voted for the fast integration, and yeah, definitely regretting that now. Should have picked the vote for slow and steady.

Evaunit02mark1 · Aug 3, 2022

The worst thing is that she almost gets it, she almost gets why the Broadcast was made and why the rebellion exists.

But for some God forsaken reason she still thinks she can save the Compact, that if she works hard enough they can change the thing from the inside not seeing that the corruption was built in from the start. To fix it properly she'd have to tear it down to the bedrock just to build it back up again, and by that point you might as well call yourself an Anarchist and get free cookies from Box-chan for your trouble.

sunsight · Aug 3, 2022

Does Box-chan have oatmeal chocolate cookies, though?

Evaunit02mark1 · Aug 3, 2022

sunsight said:
Does Box-chan have oatmeal chocolate cookies, though?

It's hacked to the nines my man. She could even get double fudge.

buli-buli · Aug 3, 2022

Evaunit02mark1 said:
The worst thing is that she almost gets it, she almost gets why the Broadcast was made and why the rebellion exists.

But for some God forsaken reason she still thinks she can save the Compact, that if she works hard enough they can change the thing from the inside not seeing that the corruption was built in from the start. To fix it properly she'd have to tear it down to the bedrock just to build it back up again, and by that point you might as well call yourself an Anarchist and get free cookies from Box-chan for your trouble.

Because the Compact worked for her.

Out here in the frontier, the Charters were the sovereign rulers and the Compact only existed as their emergency beat stick.

For her, the Compact ruled and the Charters were just some pockets of corruption anyone with integrity could work around.
For her, the problem was not that the institution was inherently evil, it was that too many people in it were willing to accept a bribe over doing their jobs.

Setsul · Aug 3, 2022

Evaunit02mark1 said:
The worst thing is that she almost gets it, she almost gets why the Broadcast was made and why the rebellion exists.

But for some God forsaken reason she still thinks she can save the Compact, that if she works hard enough they can change the thing from the inside not seeing that the corruption was built in from the start. To fix it properly she'd have to tear it down to the bedrock just to build it back up again, and by that point you might as well call yourself an Anarchist and get free cookies from Box-chan for your trouble.

I can't blame her for that, she did manage to turn things around wherever she went.
Neither "everyone could do what I did" nor "only I can do that, so obviously the Compact is screwed" are completely fair but her general assessment that if everyone in a position of power tried a bit more to not let things go to shit, the Compact could be a much better place, isn't wrong.

Of course she comes from a rather privileged position. While one could complain that we overthrew the government "merely" because we were forced to work soul-crushing jobs with no way to change it because there's no voting in Charter Economic Zones, if I'm not mistaken about that, the Sheolites were literally hunted for sport for decades by a company that refused to admit to two thirds of them even existing, so any demand that they work to fix the system non-violently is absurd.

AKuz · Aug 3, 2022

CONTACT:

Charity is strapped into her crash chair as she watches the display in front of her, missiles streaking out from her own formation, and staggered by light speed lag, the return fire of the anarchist fleet moving in return.

She watches as volleys of missiles marked by highlighted red triangles overlap and pass each other, her alpha strike attempting to rip the heart out of the enemy formation, targeting the heaviest craft in McLean's command.

Huddled together in the middle of the enemy formation Kiel Mutiny and Valerie Shah stand back to back in overlapping envelopes of counter-missile fire, protected as well by a screen of frigates and a single Point Defence Destroyer (also marked for destruction).

The Solarian Admiral grimaces as-

"Confirmed, no hits on Kiel Mutiny, fire on Shah ineffecti–"

"HAHA! FUCK!"

-

CNS Valerie Shah is a new addition to the Congressional Navy, captured mere months earlier, but Captain Guillermo Kageyama has faith in his crew. Many of them have been together since before the March days, and fought for the revolution since.

His eyes watch missiles come streaking in all across the plot, his hands are curled into fists inside his suit, as Vanguard Force undergoes heavy bombardment. He snaps an order and Valerie Shah spins in her allotted formation, moving to launch more ECCM drones to replace those lost to wandering Solarian missiles.

Then there's a shudder.

"HIT!" screams Samantha, a long time friend and collaborator, from out of his field of vision, and Captain Kageyama's eyes snap over to the plot, widening in shock.

Well. He knew this would happen someday. There's only one way for an actor to go out.

"It's been an honour," he says, giving an awkward half-bow from his seat. "Acta est fabula, plaudite."

And CNS Valerie Shah, Captain Guillermo Kageyama, along with over two hundred and fifty lives vanish.

-

Shayla McLean winces as CNS Tartarus also vanishes from her plot, destroyed moments after the loss of Valerie Shah, a casualty of a massive weight of missile fire from the enemy flagship, SNS Stephanie Alexander-Harrington.

"Give us more delta, we need to get in closer, we're losing this missile duel." Her tongue leaps out to lick her dry lips, and she takes a deep breath, studying the enemy formation, how it was a delicate screen of picket craft protecting the 201st's Tenders, Carriers, and flagship. "Once this initial exchange is up, it's our turn," she says confidently.

Lying.

-

Admiral Charity Cadence grips her seat as SNS Stephanie Alexander-Harrington shakes under fire from a division of frigates who'd flew by on the closest possible firing arc they could, breaking through Charity's painstakingly assembled picket screen before looping "up" over her formation to exit it again.

She briefly scans the damage reports coming in across her faceplate display. Nothing internal, mostly armour damage.

She looks back at the plot, watching the frigates turn and move erratically, approaching as close as possible, and being punished for it, fire lancing out from her formation in return. Brave bastards.

Fire from SNS Liam Alvarez catches one of them, and sends her spiralling off course, not killed but wounded, fire from other craft in the fleet tracking after it, seeking the final kill.

Around this dance comes more missile fire, a second wave of frigates from the enemy formation flushing their racks before diving in on firing passes of their own, clashing with her own frigate screen leading to Samuel Sarasvati shedding armour in a duel with an anarchist frigate.

Seconds before said anarchist frigate plunges into a cloud of strikecraft and vanishes in a swarm of missiles, the anarchists' own strikecraft off defending the first wave of frigates.

The anarchist frigate emerges from the other side, or at least the hull does as her plot updates "CNS Egalite" as mission killed, with possible survivors.

More missiles come raining in as a wall of enemy strike corvettes fractions of a second behind the anarchist frigates, peppering her craft with light damage before manoeuvring for close firing passes of their own.

-

Kiel Mutiny, the largest and most powerful single craft in Amaranthine space, continues to pour on the fire as she closes the gap with the Solarian formation. Her fire turns and tracks, more accurately by the second until at the edge of Admiral Cadence's formation one of her frigates, SNS Kevin Sayegh, dies. Lit up from stem to stern with a level of firepower that would crack open a heavily armoured cruiser, never mind the delicate bird that is a frigate.

It is the Congressional Navy's first real victory in this battle. Three losses to one. The defenders of Amaranth's people are finally on the board, a score count written in blood and steel.

Moments later Revolutionary Will releases another flock of missiles and finally, after minutes of continuous bombardment, a brace of missiles penetrates the edge of the wall of steel being thrown up by the 201st Squadron destined to do real damage.

They turn and move, some drawn away by the siren song of electronic jamming, the calls of ECM drones sweeter and more alluring than the dull signals of a tin can full of screaming and sweating meat. They connect, and sometimes they don't, but in both cases they are dead to Kiel Mutiny and the nervous tactical officer that programmed their attack patterns.

But not all of Kiel Mutiny's missiles fall for the ruse, or not quite. Some lose their sense of purpose, and find real actual targets, but one defended by chaff and counter missiles, they too die.

A final group of missiles acquires a likely target. The enemy flagship. At last.

Stephanie Alexander-Harrington throws up flack, her smaller weapon batteries fire in their assigned arcs, and counter-missiles race outwards.

But a single missile still breaks through and despite the best efforts of the Solarian Flagship's crew, the missile drives home.

-

Charity's command deck shakes again, as more armour is ripped away to boil in space from a near hit.

"You know, I have never been prouder of the Bastion refit crews," she says nonchalantly. "Their armour bands are apparently anarchist proof," she says as she watches the status of SNS Nathan Mashinini update.

The strike corvette was taking fire, but nothing her armour couldn't handle.

The battle wasn't… good for Charity's nerves. But she was able to blot out the doubts, she kept giving orders, increasingly confident even despite the loss of Kevin Sayegh.

A frigate in exchange for a cruiser, a point defence destroyer, and another frigate? That might be more losses in ten minutes than the anarchists had suffered in a single battle before if the propaganda was to be believed.

-

Between the formations strikecraft dance, flitting between craft, drowns dancing to an elaborate waltz dreamt on the spur of the moment by madmen, three wings launch from the 201st (short one wing from their paper strength due to a logistical snafu in Bastion just before deployment) facing down against two wings from Shei.

The skill and daring of Solarian pilots being compared against the fanatical passion of SUSFS "Dare to Die" wings who've been shaped by the annihilatory battles between mere aircraft launched from Sheolite surface and the orbital death machines of Ares.

The strikecraft of Forlorn Hope Wing had flung themselves off the ramshackle hangars of UFC Memento Vivere and dove towards the battle, and on reaching it, their officers press on despite the presence of Solarian interceptor wings.

Their mission, given to them by Force Commander Repentant Slaughter personally? To even the deadly tally by "Just fucking killing some of those fucking warships."

And Forlorn Hope doesn't disappoint, they move like beings possessed, like creatures who know their own deaths are a foregone conclusion, and they dive right into the fire of a point defence destroyer.

Drones die. Men die. Women die. A pilot on his second death screams as he flushes all his missiles into a point defence cluster on Liam Alvarez's surface. Then slams in himself, his craft's weapons damaged and his combat skinsuit breached by debris.

SNS Liam Alvarez doesn't die from Pilot Courageous Journeys' attack, but the follow on fire and suicide ram from his drones does the trick.

The Solarian point defence destroyer loses main power, she drifts, her weapons falling silent as McLean commands her subordinates to continue to lavish fire on the 201st.

-

Captain Martin Pagonis cheers from the command deck of CNS Revolutionary Grace, pumping a first in the air victoriously as SNS Liam Alvarez dies.

"This is where the tide turns for the good guys!" he exclaims loudly, a man who spent a lifetime performing for the cameras, unable to turn it off even after years without them.

And then UFC Sic Semper Tyrannis explodes. Fire from a pursuing corvette finally finishing the destroyer off.

"Awh fuck," he groans. "That aged very po–" he begins, while reading his charts, "I don't like the way that drone cluster is moving, spin us up around and through them," he says, sending instructions to the bridge stations via an AR display.

"HOLD ON!" he calls, as the apparently shocked drone swarm and their manned strikecraft controllers flush everything at Revolutionary Grace.

There is a few heartstopping moments as the crew around him chatter in alarm, but–

"See, that's not so hard," he quips. "Just gotta kn–"

Martin Pagonis is unable to finish his quip as his command dies to a pair of missiles launched by a frigate who'd come storming through the melee between the formations.

-

Admiral McLean knew that she would be unable to surrender or withdraw.

She'd committed her forces to the battle on the knowledge that there was no way out but abject failure. And she was beginning to regret her overconfidence as two more of her warcraft died only a minute apart.

A fifth of her command had died for negligible damage to the Solarian formation. Something had to change, but all she had was the ability to recommit. To double down, to hope her craft could rip the heart out of the enemy formation now that they were gunport to gunport.

Shayla gritted her teeth.

This hurt and it was going to go on hurting for the rest of her life. However long that was.

-

Captain Peter Anargyros had been in worse situations. Like the time those Persephone Police Department deadheads had dropped him off in the Pomegranate hills for 'loitering'.

He'd almost died of exposure during that 'starlight tour', but he'd lived.

Still didn't mean that Valmy's CO wasn't scared out of wits in the middle of this goddamn clusterfuck.

He slaps his arm rest and shouts for his bridge crew's attention, "Fucking talk to Lian, we're close to Valiant. I want us to do a 10-10 back to back towards that oncoming frigate." He pauses for a moment. "Uh, designate Echo Two as a target."

-

The loss of Liam Alvarez hurt, Admiral Cadence'd promoted her captain personally. He was a good man, avid parasailor, had a wife and kids. But the Solarian Navy is still winning this. Her confidence in her people was well placed, she notes as she sends orders to further reposition her reserve strikecraft and strike corvettes for a charge at the enemy flagship.

"Samuel Sarasvati lost."

Her eyes refocus, as a pair of enemy corvettes race away from the expanding cloud of debris that was once a frigate, also noting that more missile fire from her formation had struck an anarchist frigate, though it appears the damage is superficial.

That means her eyes are on the plot as another enemy strike craft flushes her racks at Abigale Leiko, destroying another of the squadron's frigates.

But the enemy craft doesn't get away unscathed, Cosma Comella, one of her own corvettes tagging her with kinetic rounds before she leaves the firing envelope of 201st formation.

And that return fire is not alone. "Good job, Barry," Charity says in satisfaction as SNS Barry Vykopal's missiles find and leave one of the enemy frigates drifting lifelessly.

-

Captain Hanae Yamamoto grimaces, leaning to one side as her ship rocked under fire from an enemy strike corvette which vomited its entire missile payload at her Revolutionary Will.

"Hmm," she muses aloud, "maybe we shouldn't have tried buzzing their flagship. I think we made them ma–"

The frigate rocks, Hanae snaps forward in her crash seat, feeling bone break and muscle tear, and everything goes black.

-

In most doctrines, carriers are supposed to lie behind the wall of battle.

To launch their strikecraft payloads and hide within envelopes of fire providing support and maybe point defence fire. Especially if those carriers are hasty frigate rebuilds with barely any functional weapons.

Those doctrines don't apply to the Shei United Front Space Force.

Once the two escort carriers of the Volunteer Expeditionary Force had launched their payloads, they'd dove into the fray as well on the idea that at the very least they were another target to distract The Enemy.

And so Craft Captain Jerimiah Wayne screams defiance as he throws his lightly armoured escort carrier into the path of a Solarian corvette.

He grips his crash seat, spit and vomit collecting on his faceplate as gravity and momentum and velocity all fight each other and his stomach.

UFC Memento Vivere is going to die, but she is going to die throwing her body across the enemies' guns to give her comrades a chance to turn this battle around.

And then a miracle. A one in a billion shot from a laser emplacement added almost as an afterthought.

Earlier in the battle fire from CNS Actium had boiled away some of SNS Nathan Mashinini's armour. Hadn't really inconvenienced the Solarian craft's operations, but it had left some weak points in the hull where armour was now absent.

And into one of those holes, a small coin sized hole in the armour near Mashinini's magazine came fire from Memento Vivere.

The Solarian strike corvette detonated instantly, causing Captain Jerimiah Wayne to now have to fight back both more vomit and disbelieving laughter at the same time.

-

Outside of automated tactical systems and the flag officers whose job it was to pay attention to such things, the improbability of the destruction of SNS Nathan Mashinini doesn't register.

Instead the battle continues, the Congressional Navy and the VEF attempting to force their way into the centre of Solarian Formation per McLean's orders. The Solarian tenders and carriers attempting to shy away from action according to doctrine.

Yet, SNS Gregory Bandyopadhyay is forced to fire upon CNS Defiant as the corvette breaches the frontline that Admiral Charity Cadence is increasingly desperate to keep in place.

Defiant takes damage to her armour, but survives to harass other Solarian craft as the battle continues with SNS Kailee Jia chasing Defiant out of the Solarian formation with hits of her own that take both chunks and lives out of the Amaranthine warcraft.

On her way out of the Solarian formation, Defiant passes CNS Free Kinshasa as that craft attempts to fend off attacks from a swarm of Solarian drones and strikecraft and is also hit by fire from the point defence destroyer SNS Michael Menorath, her captain spooked by how close Free Kinshasa is getting to his ship.

-

Captain Karl Xanthopoulos is a cautious man. As befitting a man who commands the Congressional Navy's only true tender and commanded her through every battle the Amaranthine military had participated in. He is the most veteran veteran the Congressional Navy has.

But when Admiral Shayla McLean, the woman he respects the most in the galaxy after his mother, his wife, and his sister tells him to drive his lightly armed and armoured tender towards the enemy formation, he listens.

Even as the Congressional Navy lost craft he obeys orders, because he knows her strategy, could see her trying to collapse the carefully assembled Solarian Formation. To get into their backlines and wreak havoc.

He also knows Captain Leo Pietrowski of SNS Second Lion. He's known the man since even before he was a captain, when he was an officer aboard the late and lamented Shieldmaiden.

Even as sweat beads across Karl Xanthopoulos' brow, he knows that he can trust Captain Pietrowski to have his back. Together with the converted light cruiser Second Lion, Choreographer works to lay fire on an enemy Strike Corvette, breaking the much smaller craft's spine and hopefully opening a hole in the Solarian frontlines that the Congressional Navy could take advantage of.

-

Charity watches her holotank, detached from her crash couch (she couldn't be restricted and held in place at a time like this!) and gripping hard to the railing surrounding the holotank.

Her orders send multiple craft racing towards the hole opened up in her thin formation, her mouth agape as Kailee Jia dogfights a freighter that appears to have been converted into an auxiliary carrier of some kind.

She turns to call for Stephanie Alexander-Harrington's captain, Alexander Mackenzie to bring his ship closer to the gap.

-

Distracted by Memento Mori, CNS Reliant races through the gap opening fire on Yolanda Sanivarapu, missing. But in return Yolanda begins cutting swatches of Reliant's armour away as she moves to disengage from the approaching shadow of Stephanie Alexander-Harrington.

Nearby the carrier SNS Robert Ilie fires upon CNS Liberte as she joins her fellow in breaching the lines of Admiral Cadence's carefully set formations.

-

And into the gap stream strikecraft from both sides, drones and manned craft wheeling and spiralling like energetic comets around the gap, Sheolite Wing Commander Elpis "Wraith" Dumont leading the way.

She streaks into the gap, her appearance heralding the destruction of not just a pair of drones, but their manned strikecraft controller, as she appears from nowhere like, well, a wraith and walks her gun fire across three targets in rapid succession.

She snaps her craft around as it continues to "fall", now backwards, through the furball, switching to missiles and catching another manned strikecraft, the enemy wing commander unawares, killing them only moments after alerts begin to light up their cockpit and they hammer at their controls in confusion and frustration.

Wraith turns her craft's facing again, boosting away from the site of carnage, already giving orders to her drones and fellow pilots for a return journey through the opened gap, one that will utterly destroy Cliffracer Wing and eliminate a full third of the Solarian space wings allowing the cruiser Third Lion and frigate Free Melboune to take control of the gap, firing on Solarian craft Ethan Sidabungkeas and Adrian Tandberg as the two strikecraft try and fail to eject the Amaranthines from their formation.

It is now anyone's guess as to the outcome of the battle.

-

Captain Inanna Devlin wants to pace the command deck of her beloved CNS Kiel Mutiny, she wants to stand on her command deck in her uniform and stroke her chin thoughtfully as she executed Admiral McLean's orders. But she knows that fantasy is just a fantasy.

The correct course of action is to remain in one's combat skinsuit and strapped into one's chair. For one's own safety, of course.

"We need to be above that tender; the Admiral wants us to focus on their support craft." Captain Devlin studies the plot, watching her craft advance through the gap in the lines, "Mark, bring us up, uh…" She reads the plot and gives her suggested course corrections, as CNS Liberte, CNS Actium, and CNS Valmy sweep through the gap next to Kiel Mutiny and lay laser and kinetic gunfire across the flanks of a Solarian strike corvette.

A corvette which refuses to die, tanking fire that should have been enough to destroy a cruiser.

Not her problem. Yet.

"Guns, you have that firing solution yet?"

"Aye, ma'am!" comes the snappy reply from her tactical officer.

"Alright, then." She uses a lazy sweep of her hand and a pointed finger to highlight a Solarian tender directly in the course of Kiel Mutiny in her helmet's AR display. "Let's see what it takes to make a Solarian tender Go Away."

-

Charity blanches in shock as the enemy battlecruiser destroys SNS Gregory Bandyopadhyay in a single concentrated sheet of fire.

She's ordering Captain Mackenzie to move her own battlecruiser broadside to McLean's flagship when the tender is joined immediately afterwards by two of her charges, Kailee Jia and Adrian Tandberg.

Charity is unable to tell which of the enemy craft did the deed, whether it was the enemy light tender, her own spiralling and dancing screen of strike craft, or if it was Kiel Mutiny continuing her rampage.

Her own people still try to obey their orders and close the gap in the 201st's formation, but Charity is rapidly coming to think that it is now impossible, that the 201st position is permanently compromised.

She begins to put together orders for a fighting withdrawal towards the gate, watching as Michael Menorath, one of her remaining point defence destroyers desperately attempts to fend off a charging enemy corvette striking from Kiel Mutiny's shadow like a child stabbing another from under her mother's skirts.

Charity begins to give the orders to withdraw towards the gate; she hopes they'd be able to reorganize the 201st's lines and salvage the rapidly deteriorating situation.

-

Admiral McLean finally lets out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding in as the Solarian formation begins to attempt to break contact.

At her order, her own craft refuse to break contact, surging forward. She won't let them escape, can't. If Admiral Cadence stabilizes the 201st's lines, the Congressional Navy could still lose this one. And she and her people would be trapped, and destroyed in Bestreer, leaving the road to Radiant wide open.

Shayla refuses to allow that to happen. She'd rather die than allow that to happen. Would spend the blood of her people like water to prevent that from happening. All of them knew the risks, knew what it took to preserve their freedoms.

As do the Sheolites, something made obvious as even their escort carriers press forward, UFC Memento Mori firing on a strike craft she should, by all rights, be running from.

Though the current balance of the battle favoured the Congressional forces, it could easily turn against them at any point and the Solarians fought to make it that way, Actium and Crete-a-Pierrot both coming under fire from a pair of tenders as they slowly withdraw, protected by the remaining Solarian strikecraft.

And yet, Vanguard maintains the momentum, Valiant living up to her name, making a firing pass at one of the tender's corvette escorts along with the frigates Free Kinshasa, and Liberte under McLean's watch in what proves to be an indecisive clash that does little more than chip armour away on both sides.

-

Solarian Navy Division Captain Akira Azari had talked it over with his crew and they'd all decided to die.

To be fair, the captain of SNS Ethan Sidabungke had entered this battle prepared to die if need be, and it looks like needs be.

Admiral Cadence's formation is collapsing, despite the 201st's attempts to withdraw in good order, and the anarchists refuse to give his comrades even a single millimetre of space, pushing fanatically onwards.

Well if they are so ready to die for their cause, then so is he and his crew. They would die holding the line against barbarism and anarchy, they would die here to protect the people of Arizona from more carnage. Because where the anarchist message goes, only chaos and death follows in its wake.

He takes off his helmet and begins snapping orders, using the cybernetic eyes graciously given to him by the Solarian Navy for AR purposes rather than the AR suite in his helmet.

His craft shifts course, breaking away from the flagship, even as Stephanie Alexander-Harrington wipes away a pursuing anarchist frigate.

The frigate's companion dives away from the Solarian battlecruiser and Azeri's Ethan Sidabungke rises to meet her, flushing her starboard tubes to leave the enemy craft a burning wreck.

And then the hell begins as the rest of the 201st begins to fall back, and Admiral Cadence repeatedly tries to raise him on the comms and order SNS Ethan Sidabungke to return to formation.

"I'm sorry, Admiral. We're all resolved to die here. Just get everyone else out. Keep these lunatics out of Arizona. Goodluck and Godspeed, Charity," he records and sends in a quick, terse statement as the corner of his vision detects the approach of a swarm of enemy drone craft on his plot.

Immediately he feels the deck under him shift as the corvette repositions itself, point defences firing at the oncoming enemies.

He watches as the enemy strikecraft swiftly move on to where one of their own corvettes is engaged with First Eagle Wing, chased away in part by the arrival of SNS Barry Vykopal from where the frontline had recently collapsed.

"Message from Vykopal!" snaps his communications officer, a young elven woman who'd once lived on Earth.

"Put it through."

"Ehh, Akira, are you trying to do brave shit without me?" comes the smooth and low voice of his friend and comrade, Barry Vykopal's captain, Ira Makram. "Don't tell me to fuck off too, we're both stuck in the middle of this bullshit." Ira laughs. "Ahh, if we're going to die, I'm going to die with my best friend. Vykopal over and out."

Ah shit. Now with Ira here he can't die randomly in an accident. It's gotta be an epic last stand or Ira (or his ghost) would never fucking let Akira live it down.

All comradery is thrown from Captain Azeri's mind as his command rocks under another anarchist attack.

Breathe, Akira. Breathe.

The Solarian captain snaps out more orders, and sends messages over the tactical network to Barry Vykopal and even Admiral Cadence.

He and Captain Makram would buy time for the tenders and carriers to recover what remained of their charges and for the 201st to withdraw through the Bestreer-Arizona gate in an orderly retreat while making the anarchists pay in blood for every kilometre.

Naturally the anarchist craft tried to bully past them, but with victory on the horizon it seems they were no longer quite so desperately suicidal as to throw themselves into the path of Barry and Ethan as the two craft move to plot crash intercepts on wild vectors to keep the anarchists guessing.

Ethan rocks again as an enemy cruiser clips them with kinetic fire, and Captain Azeri sucks in air through his teeth as he notes that an entire section of armour is now gone.

But the news from Barry is worse as Ira reports that the anarchist tender blew away most of his armour as well. Along with the crew quarters and engineering sections under them, have been blown away along with half his people.

He barely has time to register the damage to both ships before Ethan is tag teamed by a corvette and a jury-rigged carrier before fire from both remaining Solarian corvettes drive them away.

Akira sighs and grins in victory as his ship survives another seemingly inevitable death via drone swarm, only to go cold as his AR display registers the destruction of SNS Barry Vykopal under fire from an anarchist corvette twisting and diving from her damaged ventral section.

He frantically checks the display to see, crew losses: total.

He looks up in time to see that his ship is boxed in by a cruiser and a carrier surrounded in strikecraft.

His hands shake and he forces them steady. "Flight Control. Plot a course directly into that cruiser."

As Ethan Sidabungke begins her death dive towards the enemy craft, her Captain notes that as far as his ship knows, she's the only Solarian craft left in Bestreer.

taovkool · Aug 3, 2022

Oh god oh god oh god.

What the hell kinda fuckfest is happening there?

DocMatoi · Aug 3, 2022

Fuckin hell

Setsul · Aug 3, 2022

taovkool said:
Oh god oh god oh god.

What the hell kinda fuckfest is happening there?

It hurt, but somehow these magnificent bastards pulled it off and kicked out an equal-strength SolNav force by either being Sheolites or channeling their inner Sheolites.

Rest in peace.

Evaunit02mark1 · Aug 3, 2022

taovkool said:
What the hell kinda fuckfest is happening there?

A fucking knife fight in a back alley apparently.

Doesn't matter who wins, the survivor's might not make it home alive.

buli-buli · Aug 3, 2022

Shit. That's a pyrrhic victory.

LuxemburgLover69 · Aug 3, 2022

So that was intense, but a really enjoyable read. This day exacted a heavy toll. Now I'm just wondering after this what big threat do we have to look forward to.

Geedubs · Aug 3, 2022

It seems like a fairly normal space battle afaict, as opposed to the really lucky ones we've had before.

Nuew · Aug 3, 2022

Awful casualties for a useful-but-maybe-not-that-useful system, though it probably would have ended up a loss if we did it later enough for them to fortify the system.

AKuz · Aug 3, 2022

[NARROW VICTORY]

FLASH ALERT, ADMIRAL MCLEAN, VANGUARD FORCE:

CONGRESSIONAL NAVY AND ALLIES REMAIN IN POSSESSION OF BESTREER SYSTEM BATTLESPACE, HEAVY CASUALTIES TO BOTH SIDES, 201st SQUADRON WITHDREW IN GOOD ORDER TO ARIZONA.

TRIPWIRE DEFENCES IN PLACE.

UNABLE TO ADVANCE FARTHER, REQUEST MOBILE AUXILIARY CRAFT DEPLOYED TO BESTREER FOR REPAIR AND REARMAMENT.

UNLIKELY TO HOLD GATE IF 201st SQUADRON REINFORCED BY 129th SQUADRON AND ATTEMPTS GATE AGAIN.

-

The Following Vanguard Force Craft were mission killed but salvageable:

CNS Revolutionary Will
-Captain Yammamoto Hanae was recovered by S&R teams in critical condition, but expected to live.
CNS Egalite
-Captain Caesaria Butler died instantly on her command deck
CNS Free Melbourne
-Captain Valerie Gutiérrez survived the destruction of her command with minor injuries
CNS Second Lion
-Captain Leo Pietrowski survived the ramming attack on CNS Second Lion by SNS Ethan Sidabungke

The Following Vanguard Force Craft were damaged beyond recovery:

CNS Valerie Shah (Freedom's Light-class cruiser)
-Captain Guillermo Kageyama killed in action
CNS Tartarus (Emden-Class Point Defence Destroyer)
-Captain Ashera Torven killed in action
CNS Free Kinshasa (Oslo-Class minesweeper)
-Captain Atalanta Trakas killed in action
CNS Revolutionary Grace (Cossak-class Frigate)
-Captain Martin Pagonis killed in action

The Following SUFSF Volunteer Expeditionary Force craft were mission killed but salvageable:

UFC Mortem Ad Deos (Herald Kanumba-class frigate)
-Captain Digger Rossi evacuated her crew from Mortem Ad Deos, receiving serious injuries in the process.

The Following SUFSF Volunteer Expeditionary Force craft were damaged beyond recovery:

UFC Sic Semper Tyrannis (Herald Kanumba-class frigate)
-Captain Julius Fisker was killed in action

The Following craft of the 201st Squadron of the Solarian Navy are recoverable:

SNS Liam Alvarez (Emden-Class Point Defence Destroyer)

The Following craft of the 201st Squadron of the Solarian Navy were totally destroyed or scuttled by their crews before surrender:

SNS Nathan Mashinini (Leonard Greyson-Chang-class Strike Corvette)
SNS Adrian Tandberg (Leonard Greyson-Chang-class Strike Corvette)
SNS Kailee Jia (Leonard Greyson-Chang-class Strike Corvette)
SNS Ethan Sidabungke (Leonard Greyson-Chang-class Strike Corvette)
SNS Cosma Comella (Leonard Greyson-Chang-class Strike Corvette)
SNS Barry Vykopal (Leonard Greyson-Chang-class Strike Corvette)
SNS Samuel Sarasvati (Enterprise-class Frigate)
SNS Abigale Leiko (Enterprise-class Frigate)
SNS Kevin Sayegh (Enterprise-class Frigate)
SNS Gregory Bandyopadhyay (Janissary-class Light Tender)

Black Peregrin Wing (Radiance-type Strike Craft)
Cliffracer Wing (Radiance-type Strike Craft)

natruska · Aug 3, 2022

Battezzata

Anno Domini nostri Jesu Christi 2219

This is the city's old quarter, close to the surface. Here the pews are bolted to the floor, the cross lashed to the wall with cargo belts. Two hundred thousand miles away a man sipping coffee adjusts a strike pattern. Four more people die on the surface, and below the cull flooring shakes and steel beams wail.

There's no real danger. The couple in the front pew knows that, but their infant daughter does not. She was born in these tunnels and has never seen sun or star or satellite. She starts to cry. Her father sings her soft comforts in Italian.

"The lector is ready for you," the attendant (an acne-scarred teenager with all the intensity of Sheolite youth) says. They could have chosen another place. There are many deeper, larger, more beautiful churches than this. But they are here for the lector of Saint Ambrose, this ancient and shriveled man before them.

He is a lay minister. Few bishops or ordained priests make it to Sheol. But long ago, he followed a true Vicar of Christ into the jungles of Brazil. He has held the hand of a rightful Pope, now many decades dead. Here, that makes a man holy. It is through him that they remember Rome. He speaks clipped bursts of a millennia-dead language. The sacrament begins.

"Who have you brought here today?" the boy translates.

"Digger," the parents respond in unison. Overcompensation. They wanted something working class, something connected to the earth. It is a strange name, but this is a land of strange names. The lector nods and chatters some more.

"What do you ask of the Church for Digger?" the boy says. This family was prosperous in a past life. Engineers.

"Faith," the mother says. Faith brought them here. Faith would drive them to do it again in a heartbeat. For the cost is nothing at all.

"What is the reward for faith?" the boy chants. It is everything. It is greater than this prison, greater than the homeworld, greater than all the palatial estates of all the Daughters combined. The people in this room are not quite here. Their feet are set in the future, their eyes distant, gazing towards that promised world.

"Eternal life," the father replies. The lector steps forward, gingerly taking the baby from his grasp. She has never seen hair on a man's face before. He smiles at her, and she coos and reaches out to stroke his beard, a false image of innocence.

"In nomine Patris." She's startled when she hits the water. Her eyes slam shut. She screams. Her father inches forwards unthinkingly, every muscle and tendon begging to intervene, but his wife pulls him back.

"Et Filii." Now Digger plunges a second time, frozen and stiff, her little hands balled into fists. She kicks and fights; if she could bite, she would. This second plunge is short as well. She surfaces again, spluttering, unaware of what is to come.

"Et Spiritus Sancti." This time, the lector forces her far below the surface, until she slips out of sight, until her head bumps against the basin. The world is stripped away from her. There, in the darkness upon the waters, a child dies.

"An ignoratis quia quicumque baptizati sumus in Christo Jesu, in morte ipsius baptizati sumus?"

On Sheol, so many light-years from Calvary, a child is baptized into death. She dies to sin. She dies to evil. The wicked faults of her birth are washed away. Three days pass in a few seconds.

On Sheol, so far from Jerusalem, a child is baptized into life. A body is ripped from the waters. Digger Rossi opens her eyes, reborn.

---

Anno Domini nostri Jesu Christi 2252

It's the feeling of grass between her toes that finally breaks her.

As soon as Colonel Rossi is released from the hospital, she returns to Camp Rumsfeld. She wanders aimlessly, breathing in the blood and the dust. The base's electrical system was smashed in the fighting, so the stars are out in all their glory. Digger chooses one to follow as she picks her way through the barricades. It's a city in miniature. Shot-up restaurants with strange names, hollowed out barber shops.

It all seems unreal. While the rest of the world was mourning and celebrating and understanding, she'd been stuck in a hospital bed. At least it had been enlightening. The Elysians had brought a treasure trove of religious texts to download. She'd read the entire Bible, everything that had been denied for so long, and then she'd kept going. She'd loved Augustine and even devoured much of Thomas's Summa Theologica, though it was like applying sandpaper to the brain. Such a gift, brought so far. Rossi glances up at the fixed stars above, wondering which is Radiant.

She admires their revolution, of course. But the more she learns about what lays out there, the deeper into crisis she falls. The vibrant and vitalizing faith of so many Sheolites is practically a...a cargo cult! Unanchored to Peter's church, cut off from sacred tradition, reliant on half-remembered fragments of the true scripture. And yet it is faultless compared to the alternatives.

Mankind chokes on its own spiritual sickness. Those who follow Jesus are largely make-believers, pseudo-Christians. Wicked people who think their empty words will buy salvation. Not even the Black Church is free of false faith.

It is one thing to know academically that the world is fallen, the Church corrupted, the Vatican captured. It's another to be confronted by that reality in vivid detail. She thinks of Elysium again, their temporal protector. A people spared the trials and tribulations of the Sheolites. A people blessed with near-bloodless freedom and prosperity, blessed with a vacation world, oceans and beaches and beautiful horizons.

A people blessed with full access to the Scripture, but lost to Christ all the same.

Why us? Why did we have to suffer so, Lord? We longed for your presence more than anyone. We languished in those tunnels for a century. You withdrew from us, even as the rest of mankind withdrew from you. Why?

Rossi comes to an Ares administrative building with a manicured lawn. Some will besides her own drives her to pull off her boots. She feels the cold breeze blow, she feels the grass under her feet. She looks up again and counts the stars placed by an artful hand.

And she weeps bitterly.

---

Anno Domini nostri Jesu Christi 2255

Mortem Ad Deos. Death to Gods.

Captain Digger Rossi has read the readiness reports and run the drills. The ship's crewed by a few dozen of the finest personnel Shei can provide. Micromanagement is not required, and so there is little for the captain to do except wait in her cabin and contemplate the death of gods.

Her associates in the Congressional Navy have told her what to expect. The tension stitching at your diaphragm. The nerves, the restless desire to get up and move. All absent, she notes. She has always found serenity before battle. Her troubles fade away. No issues of doubt or faith, no theology. There is only the tunnel and the wire.

"Ten minutes to transit. All stations make ready." There was only one box left to check. An ancient tradition. She grabs a cigar on her way out. It has become a key part of her persona. Always unlit. A bit of excess, a bit of flair. Something to hold, to point, to chew and throw.

Rossi floats to the bridge and climbs into the senior officer's chair. The watch officer she relieves, a cat augment with a crucifix around her neck, settles into another workstation and surreptitiously starts to record. People back home will want to see this.

The captain could've given this address from her quarters, but it wouldn't look right. The timing wouldn't work. No, it has to be the bridge. She bites down a little harder on the cigar before picking up the microphone. All eyes are on her.

"Crew, this is Captain Rossi. For years, the people of Shei have owed their security to Radiant and Radiant alone. No more. Today, we do more than pull our own weight. Today, we strike back. For the first time, the spaceborne forces of the United Front stand ready to liberate other systems. Freely having received, freely we give.

The trials ahead will be taxing. There will be sacrifice and hardship beyond measure. The Solarian rating is well-trained, his ships well-built, his savagery evident in the fighting over Earth. All of us are witnesses to the monstrosity of the Charters. And newer, more depraved evils are sure to reveal themselves.

But take heart, crew. As the Lord punished the false gods of tyrannical Egypt, so has he punished the false gods of our day. And was it not through our people, strengthened in exile? It was one of our own, Theodore Santiago, in the Parliament that blessed day. One of our own who demonstrated the impotence of the false priests of 'cosmoliberalism'. And God has granted us great victories since then. Penglai marches with us. Olduvai marches with us. Sol, the cradle of civilization, marches with us. All the free workers of the galaxy fight by our side, and we shall not fail.

For God is with us. That I know. The path we walk today is a holy one - a mission to lift up the humble and destroy the wicked, to bring justice. To sanctify the world. Our commission is modelled in the Gospel." She lets the cigar float away and transforms from lecturer to lector. Her voice raises and quickens, leaning into the words. She is like a woman possessed, bubbling with rage and sorrow, her voice loud and resonant.

"'Go ye not into the way of the Gentiles, and into the city of the Samaritans enter ye not. But go ye rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And going, preach, saying: The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out devils: freely have you received, freely give. Do not possess gold, nor silver, nor money in your purses: Nor scrip for your journey, nor two coats, nor shoes, nor a staff; for the workman is worthy of his meat.

And into whatsoever city or town you shall enter, inquire who in it is worthy, and there abide till you go thence. And when you come into the house, salute it, saying: Peace be to this house. And if that house be worthy, your peace shall come upon it; but if it be not worthy, your peace shall return to you. And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words: going forth out of that house or city shake off the dust from your feet. Amen I say to you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.

The brother also shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the son: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and shall put them to death. And you shall be hated by all men for my name's sake: but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved. And when they shall persecute you in this city, flee into another. Amen I say to you, you shall not finish all the cities of Israel, till the Son of Man come. The disciple is not above the master, nor the servant above his lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the goodman of the house Beelzebub, how much more them of his household?

Therefore fear them not. For nothing is covered that shall not be revealed: nor hid, that shall not be known. That which I tell you in the dark, speak ye in the light: and that which you hear in the ear, preach ye upon the housetops. And fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him that can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And not one of them shall fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: better are you than many sparrows.

Every one therefore that shall confess me before men, I will also confess him before my Father who is in heaven. But he that shall deny me before men, I will also deny him before my Father who is in heaven. Do not think that I came to send peace upon earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.

And a man's enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for me, shall find it. He that receiveth you, receiveth me: and he that receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me.

He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet, shall receive the reward of a prophet: and he that receiveth a just man in the name of a just man, shall receive the reward of a just man. And whosoever shall give to drink to one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, amen I say to you, he shall not lose his reward.' Thus saith the Lord." One minute to transit. She plucks her cigar out of the air and chomps down on the end, flashing a predatory smile for the camera she knows is there. Elysium may have the big ships, but they do not have this. They are an individualistic, idealistic people. They do not know the true face of revolution.

"What is the reward of a revolutionary, crew?"

The reply comes roaring from the officers and enlisted on the bridge, from the engine spaces and the weapons rooms and even farther afield. From her chair, Rossi hears it echoed in the streets of the Core and the stations of the Frontiers, a great storm centered on the planet of the redeemer's birth. It is the cry of the oppressed through the ages. It is the scything whirlwind.

"DEATH!"

---

woke up this morning, looked at the alerts and thought 'damn that's some good timing'. i'dve liked to do another pass or two but i feel like i should drop it now, so here. apologies for jumping in on the regularly scheduled programming!

and she lives! woot!

AKuz · Aug 3, 2022

If you're curious I wrote the entire thing within the last 12 hours, and got a bit of aid from the rest of the QM team as I went, and then there was a careful editing/technological consistency pass from @Amorous Intent

In universe most AARs will point out that Rear-Admiral Charity "Cerberus" Cadence was forced from Bestreer because she was inexperienced and didn't have the know how about what to do about her neat formations being fucked with while Admiral Shayla McLean realised that all she needed to do was get in close and stab the 201st in the stomach with a knife and had the experience and veteran crews to do so.

taovkool · Aug 3, 2022

AKuz said:
[NARROW VICTORY]

To repeat, we need to rebuild and reconsolidate our space forces again before doing any offensives/expansion. Preferably until we have at least 3 times the size of our previous pre-Besteer fleet .

We can't just keep going on like this, blindly trusting the dice to carry us through.

Cassiemouse · Aug 3, 2022

I think our focus now has to be building dockyards everywhere and using Automatic Harvesting to fund them. Otherwise we would quickly run out of resources. The action economy of expanding our mining operations means we would never be able to keep up with demand otherwise.

10ebbor10 · Aug 3, 2022

People also need to rework their current plans. They undercount the construction cost of shipyards

For The Tyrants Fear Your Might (A quest of interstellar rebellion)

Been Better

Been Better

DETECTION:

Forever Gone

Forever Gone

S-s-smell the Prey, S-s-start the Hunt.

S-s-smell the Prey, S-s-start the Hunt.

Been Better

CONTACT:

Forever Gone

Theoretical Lover of Girls

S-s-smell the Prey, S-s-start the Hunt.

There are more things between Heaven and Earth...

“Mankind, be vigilant. We loved you.”—Julius Fučík

Been Better

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Forever Gone

Market Atheist

DON'T PANIC