- Location
- Fort Worth, TX
[x] Soft Approach, play up your connections to your mother, and the greater threat of Jardin. (Plays off your charming and political skills and background
Space Princess
- Thread starter Silence
- Start date
- Original
Takeda
- Location
- The City of Big Shoulders
Heaven's Garden System
Lord Takeda's Palace
The dragoon ride back to your flagship is a quiet one as you think about end of the meeting with Lord Takeda. You had insinuated during the conversation you had piece together the hidden mystery lying at the heart of this nascent rebellion against the Emperor, but only thing that did was cause him to clam up and declare that the meeting was over for now. The bluff had failed. The honor guard escorting you back to your dragoon had been reinforced and as soon as you gotten back into secure comlink with your forces, you were quickly informed that the posture of Takeda's house forces had changed to full alert. In light of it all you decided that for the moment would return back to your ship and prepare for the next meeting after clearing your head and consulting your officers in a secure location.
However, the full alert but letting you go was resulting in a somewhat confusing set of affairs as your dragoon sped up out the gravity well. If Takeda was going take you hostage or wish you ill, he would of done so on the planet. You have a sense that his debt of honor he felt he owed to your mother was allowing you to leave palace at the very least, but he Takeda while honorable was not a dumb man and just to let you go to your ship to fight you in orbit of his planet would be too foolish of him beyond what you expected from the man after meeting him. The lord of Heaven's Garden was a man who played his cards close to his chest.
Despite feeling as you can feel personally every missile radar in orbit pinging off your skin as you make your last approach into the docking collar of the Raging Phoenix, the ride up to orbit was quiet and uneventful. You're meet in the airlock by William as you disembark, Seil carrying your carry on baggage a few steps behind you.
"Colonel, Takeda's force have been increasing their distance from us, and we had gotten clearance from planetary orbital traffic control to depart at our convenience."
"I wasn't aware we had requested that yet." you ask in a wry voice, still trying to piece together the fast changing environment.
William grimaced, "No we had not yet."
You stay silent while you digest the news, you had hoped for at least a another meeting at least a farewell banquet as was typical force such visits, but something had gotten underneath Takeda's skin. Was it your blunder earlier or something else?
You reach your flag bridge, giving a quick return salute to the staff as they stood up as you entered and sat down on your command throne and crossed your legs and steeple your fingers. You look at up at William, "I want a replay of all system activity in say the last two hours."
He quickly gets the information and transfer it to throne, you tap a button on the armrest, and a miniature Heaven's Garden appears, with over thousands of IIF codes, you quickly filter out the in-system craft and merchants and get a spot of a Takeda destroyer that had entered the system from the same starway you had and then turned around and went back into the starway.
"It relayed a message to Takeda." you make a sour face you know what its coming. "Inform traffic control we will be leaving orbit within half hour, as soon as the last of our crew returns onboard."
"What about flight path? If they ask."
"Tell them its to be determined. Right now our mysterious friends that had shadowed us entered into the star way and are probably soon to be entering back into real space here. I'm assuming that the rebellion is starting soon if not have already started."
"Your highness, a private comline from the Takeda estate is requesting to talk to you." a comtech from the lower rungs of the bridge said turning around and looking up at you. You glance at William who shrugs, "I'll take it my office."
You get up from the throne and walk towards the lift entrance and then make a right and enter into your office, which was as was fitting for a princess rather palatial when it came for warships. However, you take three steps in before you activated the blinking hologram window that was the com-channel. The half rifter face of Lord Takeda's daughter, Hyacinth-Spireal appears. Now out of her formal wear, her eyes are covered with a rifter patterned visor of glowing red and yellow lights.
"Your highness, forgive the rudeness of the suddenness of the call, but my father is trap between two conflicting oaths. As you will have surmised the the Arch-Duchess's dogs are now coming for you and while we will not rebel against our lady, my father owes a debt to your mother. Attached on a rider channel is coordinates and wave pattern data for a pirate starway in our system that leads to Osris Main."
Your mind flashes through the starway map. The Osris Main leads out to wild space or to the inner core of the Reach. It would put you of the reach of much of Miziru-Saria's forces, but you would have to cut through the League space to return back home to imperial entry system.
You look at Hyacinth-Spireal's face, "When the day comes for reckoning, now that I will have good words to speak about Lord Takeda. We will be out of your system soon enough."
You transfer the nav-data to the Infosec division to ensure it wasn't a data-trap and make your way back to the flag bridge, as the door quietly slid open, William walks up to you as you renter, "You were right Colonel, that squadron been shadowing us since we arrived just appeared, and they're making a full speed drive towards us. At their current acceleration we believe that they will arrive here in 8 hours."
"How much longer for our crew to return onboard."
"We'll be ready to depart in.." he looks down at his tablet and then back at you, "call it twenty minutes, the last of the shuttles are now lifting off." William says looking uncomfortable.
"What is it?"
"We got a better look at the forces coming at us, its as you thought over strength cav-cruiser squadron, four of them plus one more, and that one has me the most concerned."
"Talk to me William."
"Its a customized oversize cav cruiser from Direcharit Yards, only one was ever made the Malazendar. "
The words hit you in the stomach, the Malazendar is the flagship of Baron Abaraham Reeve, the Bloody Knight of Al-Amaer. One of the legendary starforce officers who had served underneath your mom at Passerelle. If you were to engage him it would be a tough fight. You had heard Colonel al-Lasalle mention him many times, he had taught her dragoon tactics as sort of apprentice, and his feats had made their way into the numerous after action reports you had consumed during your studies.
Do you
[] Escape the system using the pirate starway, without the same nav data you won't be followed
[] Engage the Baron, perhaps defeating him could earn you a second chance to convince Takeda to not join the Arch-Duchess, or at the very least allows you a more clean retreat back to imperial space.
~~~
Got a bit distracted by my other projects, but this one is still near and dear to my heart.
Lord Takeda's Palace
The dragoon ride back to your flagship is a quiet one as you think about end of the meeting with Lord Takeda. You had insinuated during the conversation you had piece together the hidden mystery lying at the heart of this nascent rebellion against the Emperor, but only thing that did was cause him to clam up and declare that the meeting was over for now. The bluff had failed. The honor guard escorting you back to your dragoon had been reinforced and as soon as you gotten back into secure comlink with your forces, you were quickly informed that the posture of Takeda's house forces had changed to full alert. In light of it all you decided that for the moment would return back to your ship and prepare for the next meeting after clearing your head and consulting your officers in a secure location.
However, the full alert but letting you go was resulting in a somewhat confusing set of affairs as your dragoon sped up out the gravity well. If Takeda was going take you hostage or wish you ill, he would of done so on the planet. You have a sense that his debt of honor he felt he owed to your mother was allowing you to leave palace at the very least, but he Takeda while honorable was not a dumb man and just to let you go to your ship to fight you in orbit of his planet would be too foolish of him beyond what you expected from the man after meeting him. The lord of Heaven's Garden was a man who played his cards close to his chest.
Despite feeling as you can feel personally every missile radar in orbit pinging off your skin as you make your last approach into the docking collar of the Raging Phoenix, the ride up to orbit was quiet and uneventful. You're meet in the airlock by William as you disembark, Seil carrying your carry on baggage a few steps behind you.
"Colonel, Takeda's force have been increasing their distance from us, and we had gotten clearance from planetary orbital traffic control to depart at our convenience."
"I wasn't aware we had requested that yet." you ask in a wry voice, still trying to piece together the fast changing environment.
William grimaced, "No we had not yet."
You stay silent while you digest the news, you had hoped for at least a another meeting at least a farewell banquet as was typical force such visits, but something had gotten underneath Takeda's skin. Was it your blunder earlier or something else?
You reach your flag bridge, giving a quick return salute to the staff as they stood up as you entered and sat down on your command throne and crossed your legs and steeple your fingers. You look at up at William, "I want a replay of all system activity in say the last two hours."
He quickly gets the information and transfer it to throne, you tap a button on the armrest, and a miniature Heaven's Garden appears, with over thousands of IIF codes, you quickly filter out the in-system craft and merchants and get a spot of a Takeda destroyer that had entered the system from the same starway you had and then turned around and went back into the starway.
"It relayed a message to Takeda." you make a sour face you know what its coming. "Inform traffic control we will be leaving orbit within half hour, as soon as the last of our crew returns onboard."
"What about flight path? If they ask."
"Tell them its to be determined. Right now our mysterious friends that had shadowed us entered into the star way and are probably soon to be entering back into real space here. I'm assuming that the rebellion is starting soon if not have already started."
"Your highness, a private comline from the Takeda estate is requesting to talk to you." a comtech from the lower rungs of the bridge said turning around and looking up at you. You glance at William who shrugs, "I'll take it my office."
You get up from the throne and walk towards the lift entrance and then make a right and enter into your office, which was as was fitting for a princess rather palatial when it came for warships. However, you take three steps in before you activated the blinking hologram window that was the com-channel. The half rifter face of Lord Takeda's daughter, Hyacinth-Spireal appears. Now out of her formal wear, her eyes are covered with a rifter patterned visor of glowing red and yellow lights.
"Your highness, forgive the rudeness of the suddenness of the call, but my father is trap between two conflicting oaths. As you will have surmised the the Arch-Duchess's dogs are now coming for you and while we will not rebel against our lady, my father owes a debt to your mother. Attached on a rider channel is coordinates and wave pattern data for a pirate starway in our system that leads to Osris Main."
Your mind flashes through the starway map. The Osris Main leads out to wild space or to the inner core of the Reach. It would put you of the reach of much of Miziru-Saria's forces, but you would have to cut through the League space to return back home to imperial entry system.
You look at Hyacinth-Spireal's face, "When the day comes for reckoning, now that I will have good words to speak about Lord Takeda. We will be out of your system soon enough."
You transfer the nav-data to the Infosec division to ensure it wasn't a data-trap and make your way back to the flag bridge, as the door quietly slid open, William walks up to you as you renter, "You were right Colonel, that squadron been shadowing us since we arrived just appeared, and they're making a full speed drive towards us. At their current acceleration we believe that they will arrive here in 8 hours."
"How much longer for our crew to return onboard."
"We'll be ready to depart in.." he looks down at his tablet and then back at you, "call it twenty minutes, the last of the shuttles are now lifting off." William says looking uncomfortable.
"What is it?"
"We got a better look at the forces coming at us, its as you thought over strength cav-cruiser squadron, four of them plus one more, and that one has me the most concerned."
"Talk to me William."
"Its a customized oversize cav cruiser from Direcharit Yards, only one was ever made the Malazendar. "
The words hit you in the stomach, the Malazendar is the flagship of Baron Abaraham Reeve, the Bloody Knight of Al-Amaer. One of the legendary starforce officers who had served underneath your mom at Passerelle. If you were to engage him it would be a tough fight. You had heard Colonel al-Lasalle mention him many times, he had taught her dragoon tactics as sort of apprentice, and his feats had made their way into the numerous after action reports you had consumed during your studies.
Do you
[] Escape the system using the pirate starway, without the same nav data you won't be followed
[] Engage the Baron, perhaps defeating him could earn you a second chance to convince Takeda to not join the Arch-Duchess, or at the very least allows you a more clean retreat back to imperial space.
~~~
Got a bit distracted by my other projects, but this one is still near and dear to my heart.
Exterminatus
Tsukumogami User
- Location
- Southern California
[X] Engage the Baron, perhaps defeating him could earn you a second chance to convince Takeda to not join the Arch-Duchess, or at the very least allows you a more clean retreat back to imperial space.
- Location
- SMS Odette II
- Location
- The City of Big Shoulders
Space Princess Original
Results: I made it back across from country and for the first time in weeks slept in my own bed last night, Westercon 72, NASFiC 2019, 1632 Minicon, & Manticon 2019 was pretty cool, going to try and get update tomorrow, but I'll deal with the results today. [X] Plan: Steal their Ships seems...
forums.sufficientvelocity.com
[F] Battleship: Raging Phoenix
Heavy Cavalry Cruiser: Duchess of Llyendile
Command Cruiser: Falymndir
Heavy Cruiser: Triumphant
Heavy Cruiser: Terrible
Heavy Cruiser: Trident
Destroyer (3 Missiles): Archer of Myseina
4 Dragoons (3 Lasers): Hong Ma Cavaliers
Destroyer (3 Missiles): Archer of Nosukina
Destroyer (2 Lances): Lancer of Nosukina
- Location
- SMS Odette II
Excluding Falymndir, which if OG SP was anything to go by aren't great combatants, we basically match our shadows hull for hull. Given that we're graciously being hosted by the local lord there's only so much we can do with the environment to stack the deck, which makes it far too even a fight for our liking.
- Location
- Internet
[X] Escape the system using the pirate starway, without the same nav data you won't be followed
EternalObserver
eYe Gaze baCk
- Location
- The Void
[X] Escape the system using the pirate starway, without the same nav data you won't be followed
- Location
- America
[X] Escape the system using the pirate starway, without the same nav data you won't be followed
Volken
- Location
- The City of Big Shoulders
Osris Main
The escape from Heaven's Garden orbit to the pirate starway terminus is anti-climatic. You retrieved you crew from the planet and set a flank speed course towards the pirate way and enter into starway hours before the Baron Reeve could get within possible weapon range. The downside was that you entered into a pirate starway. You had spent most of your early life traveling onboard starships and even the years spent as a officially recognized princess still saw you constantly on the move. Starway travel was for you every day commonplace and mundane for you.
The pirate way you entered is anything but. Each starway has a certain amount of time that requires the traveler to be in the way, ranging from interstystem ways of component binaries ranging in minutes to the multi day stretches on the Stream. This was rated for thirty minutes according to the rifter nav data. It was over a hour of hell before you had escaped, the crew afflicted by hallucinations, sickness from the shaking of the ships as the drive attempted to keep them moving and nerves as it seemed for a stretch of time like you were trapped in a horror movie where the more you traveled down the starway the further the exit got.
The worst for you was the feeling of helplessness of having to sit there and wait, for all the bone tiring work it was babying the drive fields and giving minute course correction, your flag captain was at least keeping busy in fighting for your and everybody's else fate. You on the other hand, you did what you could and now would have to live with the results. It was to the relief of everybody that all ships made it back to real system on the Main without major damage and most of the crew healthy.
"We didn't lose anybody to Midas today" you hear Major de Brightstar mutter to himself as the preliminary sensor data began pour forth in your flag bridge. You turn to him and say, "You don't believe in that old bar legend do you?"
William looked up from his tablet realizing what he had said aloud and was about to speak, when you hear a uncomfortable cough from Seil. "Beg pardon, your highness, but I do believe that legend."
You twist your body around to look at your faithful servant, and raise an eyebrow, "Oh? Somebody you trust saw the fabled planet of gold and lost starships." you asked, your joking mockery turning to real curiosity, Seil was not one to make light of anything nor give into belief of old space tales without a good reason.
"Before I meet your mother, your highness, I was a crew-member on-board the destroyer Laforge on the line. We were limping home from engagement on the Red Line, and took a back way to our front, you know the type of route, red dwarf to red dwarf, lines unsuitable for anything heavier then a destroyer going nowhere slow, but it let us avoid the fighting on the Line proper. Two stops before home we enter into this system and there was three other star ways. Which was remarkable cause there was only two of them when we had gone through two days earlier the other way. The captain has us send pinnace through and me on it, we took the way in and detected a golden looking planet surrounded by field of derbies, then the way was starting to look like a holo image on the fritz and we turned around and got back to our ship just in time before it vanished on us."
'So you think that planet was Midas?"
"Aye, though I doubt it was made of gold as the legends tell it, but it was mightily strange, the ride home damaged our pinnace so official word was no records were taken and we were told to be quiet."
"So you decide to tell me now."
"Your a favorite daughter of the Emperor, and protege of the most feared man in the Empire. You are cleared enough to hear some old man's bar tale."
Well there was no arguing with that logic. Brightstar seemed to have recovered, "Got our first destination picked your highness." he grabs the tiny spinning grey and blue orb projecting from his tablet and throws it at the main flag bridge projector.
"Volken star system, home to the planet Volken, its home to House Nehal, one of the few survivors nobility that survived the League's Operation Return. House leadership been divided on the empire since the aftermath and kept a cool distance from the Empire. We do have consulate on the planet, latest reports is that they're too busy planning for their own mini civil war to care about outsiders who are not threatening them. Military forces are mostly destroyers and two old battleships that are of dubious value."
"So in other words no problem with our long distant cousins who had gone native. The main problem is the next hub beyond." said a voice from behind you two. Major al-Lasalle your dragoon commander.
"Thank you for chiming in Major , and congratulations on reading the briefing documents. Yes, the next problem is the Junction." de Brighstar says walking around to the projection and selection another star on the local sector map, highlighting the Kalymnos Junction. Ruled by a consortium of wealthy merchants who have influence in Luxor as well as Jardin, we're going to have to deal with them before move on. More crucially we will have to explain why there are Imperial forces beyond the lines established by the treaty. They may attempt to intern our ships as treaty violators."
The Junction was resource rich double binary star system that system wealthy was secondary blessing that it controlled the route between the Empire (well now the Reach), wild space in this direction and the League of Free Stars. Its independence was guaranteed by treaties and League battleships. You study the map and then sink back into your throne, there was no other way barring more hidden pirate ways back to the Emperor.
"We could try and force our way through the Reach from the Junction, its only three systems to the nearest wormhole back." your dragoon commander says as she walks up the opposite side of Brightstar and traces a pink glowing line across the holographic map.
"If you want to die from getting overwhelmed by Osakan forces sure.' William looks at you, "Best case scenario I run the numbers on us, saying we can get rush our way through with near total loss to the squadron."
You shake your head, "No, sense of us getting killed for dubious gains. As regard to the Consortium they're merchants and I have access to sizable trust fund I never touched, we can bribe them." you look at William, "Right? We can bribe them?"
William gives a thin smile and snaps his finger to reveal his next holographic image, a detailed list of the OOB of the Junction security forces. "Considering the catastrophic release of their military data to us we had included in the IG files on them we had on hand, and other reports, they're pretty amenable to bribery."
You tap your fingers against the edge of your armrest, "The next hurdle would be negotiating passage through the League." you shake your head, "No, we'll stay in the Junction and send a courier back to home through the League, we can request new orders. It might make sense to stay safe in a neutral port while the Navy establishes a bridgehead into the Reach and link up with them then go the long way around."
Al-Lasalle looks thoughtful and then taps her glowing line to the wormhole and it changes color and parts of it blink towards the Junction flowing from the Reach, "I do have a question if we can easily bribe the Junctioners to let us stay, what is to say the Arch-Duchess can't bribe them to let her send a squadron to deal with us."
Brightstar blurts it before realizing it, a sign of how tired he is and stressful the starway trip was, "Depends on how much she hates the Princess."
There is silence. You consider that question, in all your interactions with your former step-mother you never felt any warmth from her, but neither malice, just a feeling of sadness. "I don't think she hates me if your worried about it, as for us, my sense would be that she would double the guard entry ways into the Reach to prevent us from returning home, but the conflict with the Empire in general is the main concern. Anyway this is good enough for now, you two are dismissed, keep the squadron on alert stages for the next day in case the Baron forces an entry behind us anyway, but start letting the crews rest in shifts."
The two salute and Brightstar, says to as you as you leave, "I'll go inform Fre... Major Hessian of our official course." al-Lasalle sniggers silently as they leave. You too decide to retire to your room to get some rest. A hour later you're in your bedroom looking over the reports from imperial intelligence about the Free Star League as your unable to sleep. You fall back against your bed and lay your arm over your head as you think about the League and the sense you have it plays into the mess with the Reach.
For most Imperials and Jardinian citizens the League was the sick old man of the galaxy. For those who were in the know, the League was a nightmare waiting to happen. The constant battle between the centralizing reform forces of the League vs its very decentralized government and the corporate mechanations of LAVI, normally had it tied up even if wanted to do things and was reactive power. If it was dying however it was taking centuries to do so, and it had been only hundred years before when the League Free Star Navy had smashed an independent noble backed attempt to conquer wild-space of the Junction sector, and then defeat to the last ship a imperial reprisal force leaving way open to Luxor that had only been stymied by political problems for the League Strageos, Roland MacRognvald who had been shortly assassinated afterwards by suspected LAVI agents. Right now if anything the League would be even worst shape than normal, reports were filtering out that the shadow war between reformers and the LAVI megacorporation was starting to heat up in outright fighting. In fact if not for the Reach rebellion it would of been a perfect....
You shoot straight up and rush from your bed back to your terminal workstation and start pulling up the records from that pirated freighter and pull up the records and you feel a sinking sensation in your stomach as you review its travel logs again. Its not conclusive and in fact very weak, in fact its unbelievable, but what if the rebellion was not orchestrated totally by the the Arch-Duchess, but being funded by the elements of the League concerned about an imperial invasion. If that's the case, traveling through the League to get home, just shot up in terms of danger. You eventually fall asleep at your station trying to piece together all parts of the puzzle, but too much is still unknown. Your trip is quiet the next few of days of travel, there isn't much traffic on this portion of the Main, just an old converted ore hauler carrying high spec machinery from the forges of the Reach to wildspace and its frigate size escort.
You are in your office reviewing the latest supply report from Brightstar's staff as your squadron exists out the starway into Volken, when your suddenly told to come to the flag bridge. You grab your colonel's jacket you had lying on the back of your chair and throw it over your shoulder's like a cape and rush off to find Brighstar and al-Lasalle standing there, by them your flag captain Major Hessian had floating hologram window of her head from her station in the bridge.
The room beyond was a holoplot filled with active contacts, a sign of a healthy industrialized system. What was not healthy was the nuclear explosions in space as battle was raging in the orbitals. Though you make a note of the light speed lag, of nearly a hour "We wandered into Angeldamned war-zone your highness."
"Their civil war kick off?" you ask you sit on your throne and start bringing up more windows to give you raw sigintel data.
Hessian shakes her head and her face grimaces "Worst, we're picking up signals of the Black Brethen. Also not scumdogs pretending to be them either, genuine merrybells."
"What's their forces?"
"At least one mother ship, three to five cruisers, and about 8 lancers."
You look at the plot, you could intervene, or you could just leave Volken to their fate, unless they broke off their attack en-mass they wouldn't have enough forces to reasonably intercept you. You think you could probably take the pirates in a fight but you're bound to take loses but still these pirates ruin worlds. So you order:
[] Flank speed towards Volken, we can't let the planet pirates get their way this time!
[] Flank speed towards the Starway, not our affair.
~~~Glossary~~~
Midas: The world at the end of the lost starways. People report seeing mysterious starways or the planet but little proof other then word of mouth testimony exists to prove it.
Strategos: Highest military rank in the League of Free Stars
Merrybells: Hightech devices in the hair of elite Black Brethren, that make bell like sounds when moving.
Lancers: Rifter versions of dragoons, high tech and very deadly.
The escape from Heaven's Garden orbit to the pirate starway terminus is anti-climatic. You retrieved you crew from the planet and set a flank speed course towards the pirate way and enter into starway hours before the Baron Reeve could get within possible weapon range. The downside was that you entered into a pirate starway. You had spent most of your early life traveling onboard starships and even the years spent as a officially recognized princess still saw you constantly on the move. Starway travel was for you every day commonplace and mundane for you.
The pirate way you entered is anything but. Each starway has a certain amount of time that requires the traveler to be in the way, ranging from interstystem ways of component binaries ranging in minutes to the multi day stretches on the Stream. This was rated for thirty minutes according to the rifter nav data. It was over a hour of hell before you had escaped, the crew afflicted by hallucinations, sickness from the shaking of the ships as the drive attempted to keep them moving and nerves as it seemed for a stretch of time like you were trapped in a horror movie where the more you traveled down the starway the further the exit got.
The worst for you was the feeling of helplessness of having to sit there and wait, for all the bone tiring work it was babying the drive fields and giving minute course correction, your flag captain was at least keeping busy in fighting for your and everybody's else fate. You on the other hand, you did what you could and now would have to live with the results. It was to the relief of everybody that all ships made it back to real system on the Main without major damage and most of the crew healthy.
"We didn't lose anybody to Midas today" you hear Major de Brightstar mutter to himself as the preliminary sensor data began pour forth in your flag bridge. You turn to him and say, "You don't believe in that old bar legend do you?"
William looked up from his tablet realizing what he had said aloud and was about to speak, when you hear a uncomfortable cough from Seil. "Beg pardon, your highness, but I do believe that legend."
You twist your body around to look at your faithful servant, and raise an eyebrow, "Oh? Somebody you trust saw the fabled planet of gold and lost starships." you asked, your joking mockery turning to real curiosity, Seil was not one to make light of anything nor give into belief of old space tales without a good reason.
"Before I meet your mother, your highness, I was a crew-member on-board the destroyer Laforge on the line. We were limping home from engagement on the Red Line, and took a back way to our front, you know the type of route, red dwarf to red dwarf, lines unsuitable for anything heavier then a destroyer going nowhere slow, but it let us avoid the fighting on the Line proper. Two stops before home we enter into this system and there was three other star ways. Which was remarkable cause there was only two of them when we had gone through two days earlier the other way. The captain has us send pinnace through and me on it, we took the way in and detected a golden looking planet surrounded by field of derbies, then the way was starting to look like a holo image on the fritz and we turned around and got back to our ship just in time before it vanished on us."
'So you think that planet was Midas?"
"Aye, though I doubt it was made of gold as the legends tell it, but it was mightily strange, the ride home damaged our pinnace so official word was no records were taken and we were told to be quiet."
"So you decide to tell me now."
"Your a favorite daughter of the Emperor, and protege of the most feared man in the Empire. You are cleared enough to hear some old man's bar tale."
Well there was no arguing with that logic. Brightstar seemed to have recovered, "Got our first destination picked your highness." he grabs the tiny spinning grey and blue orb projecting from his tablet and throws it at the main flag bridge projector.
"Volken star system, home to the planet Volken, its home to House Nehal, one of the few survivors nobility that survived the League's Operation Return. House leadership been divided on the empire since the aftermath and kept a cool distance from the Empire. We do have consulate on the planet, latest reports is that they're too busy planning for their own mini civil war to care about outsiders who are not threatening them. Military forces are mostly destroyers and two old battleships that are of dubious value."
"So in other words no problem with our long distant cousins who had gone native. The main problem is the next hub beyond." said a voice from behind you two. Major al-Lasalle your dragoon commander.
"Thank you for chiming in Major , and congratulations on reading the briefing documents. Yes, the next problem is the Junction." de Brighstar says walking around to the projection and selection another star on the local sector map, highlighting the Kalymnos Junction. Ruled by a consortium of wealthy merchants who have influence in Luxor as well as Jardin, we're going to have to deal with them before move on. More crucially we will have to explain why there are Imperial forces beyond the lines established by the treaty. They may attempt to intern our ships as treaty violators."
The Junction was resource rich double binary star system that system wealthy was secondary blessing that it controlled the route between the Empire (well now the Reach), wild space in this direction and the League of Free Stars. Its independence was guaranteed by treaties and League battleships. You study the map and then sink back into your throne, there was no other way barring more hidden pirate ways back to the Emperor.
"We could try and force our way through the Reach from the Junction, its only three systems to the nearest wormhole back." your dragoon commander says as she walks up the opposite side of Brightstar and traces a pink glowing line across the holographic map.
"If you want to die from getting overwhelmed by Osakan forces sure.' William looks at you, "Best case scenario I run the numbers on us, saying we can get rush our way through with near total loss to the squadron."
You shake your head, "No, sense of us getting killed for dubious gains. As regard to the Consortium they're merchants and I have access to sizable trust fund I never touched, we can bribe them." you look at William, "Right? We can bribe them?"
William gives a thin smile and snaps his finger to reveal his next holographic image, a detailed list of the OOB of the Junction security forces. "Considering the catastrophic release of their military data to us we had included in the IG files on them we had on hand, and other reports, they're pretty amenable to bribery."
You tap your fingers against the edge of your armrest, "The next hurdle would be negotiating passage through the League." you shake your head, "No, we'll stay in the Junction and send a courier back to home through the League, we can request new orders. It might make sense to stay safe in a neutral port while the Navy establishes a bridgehead into the Reach and link up with them then go the long way around."
Al-Lasalle looks thoughtful and then taps her glowing line to the wormhole and it changes color and parts of it blink towards the Junction flowing from the Reach, "I do have a question if we can easily bribe the Junctioners to let us stay, what is to say the Arch-Duchess can't bribe them to let her send a squadron to deal with us."
Brightstar blurts it before realizing it, a sign of how tired he is and stressful the starway trip was, "Depends on how much she hates the Princess."
There is silence. You consider that question, in all your interactions with your former step-mother you never felt any warmth from her, but neither malice, just a feeling of sadness. "I don't think she hates me if your worried about it, as for us, my sense would be that she would double the guard entry ways into the Reach to prevent us from returning home, but the conflict with the Empire in general is the main concern. Anyway this is good enough for now, you two are dismissed, keep the squadron on alert stages for the next day in case the Baron forces an entry behind us anyway, but start letting the crews rest in shifts."
The two salute and Brightstar, says to as you as you leave, "I'll go inform Fre... Major Hessian of our official course." al-Lasalle sniggers silently as they leave. You too decide to retire to your room to get some rest. A hour later you're in your bedroom looking over the reports from imperial intelligence about the Free Star League as your unable to sleep. You fall back against your bed and lay your arm over your head as you think about the League and the sense you have it plays into the mess with the Reach.
For most Imperials and Jardinian citizens the League was the sick old man of the galaxy. For those who were in the know, the League was a nightmare waiting to happen. The constant battle between the centralizing reform forces of the League vs its very decentralized government and the corporate mechanations of LAVI, normally had it tied up even if wanted to do things and was reactive power. If it was dying however it was taking centuries to do so, and it had been only hundred years before when the League Free Star Navy had smashed an independent noble backed attempt to conquer wild-space of the Junction sector, and then defeat to the last ship a imperial reprisal force leaving way open to Luxor that had only been stymied by political problems for the League Strageos, Roland MacRognvald who had been shortly assassinated afterwards by suspected LAVI agents. Right now if anything the League would be even worst shape than normal, reports were filtering out that the shadow war between reformers and the LAVI megacorporation was starting to heat up in outright fighting. In fact if not for the Reach rebellion it would of been a perfect....
You shoot straight up and rush from your bed back to your terminal workstation and start pulling up the records from that pirated freighter and pull up the records and you feel a sinking sensation in your stomach as you review its travel logs again. Its not conclusive and in fact very weak, in fact its unbelievable, but what if the rebellion was not orchestrated totally by the the Arch-Duchess, but being funded by the elements of the League concerned about an imperial invasion. If that's the case, traveling through the League to get home, just shot up in terms of danger. You eventually fall asleep at your station trying to piece together all parts of the puzzle, but too much is still unknown. Your trip is quiet the next few of days of travel, there isn't much traffic on this portion of the Main, just an old converted ore hauler carrying high spec machinery from the forges of the Reach to wildspace and its frigate size escort.
You are in your office reviewing the latest supply report from Brightstar's staff as your squadron exists out the starway into Volken, when your suddenly told to come to the flag bridge. You grab your colonel's jacket you had lying on the back of your chair and throw it over your shoulder's like a cape and rush off to find Brighstar and al-Lasalle standing there, by them your flag captain Major Hessian had floating hologram window of her head from her station in the bridge.
The room beyond was a holoplot filled with active contacts, a sign of a healthy industrialized system. What was not healthy was the nuclear explosions in space as battle was raging in the orbitals. Though you make a note of the light speed lag, of nearly a hour "We wandered into Angeldamned war-zone your highness."
"Their civil war kick off?" you ask you sit on your throne and start bringing up more windows to give you raw sigintel data.
Hessian shakes her head and her face grimaces "Worst, we're picking up signals of the Black Brethen. Also not scumdogs pretending to be them either, genuine merrybells."
"What's their forces?"
"At least one mother ship, three to five cruisers, and about 8 lancers."
You look at the plot, you could intervene, or you could just leave Volken to their fate, unless they broke off their attack en-mass they wouldn't have enough forces to reasonably intercept you. You think you could probably take the pirates in a fight but you're bound to take loses but still these pirates ruin worlds. So you order:
[] Flank speed towards Volken, we can't let the planet pirates get their way this time!
[] Flank speed towards the Starway, not our affair.
~~~Glossary~~~
Midas: The world at the end of the lost starways. People report seeing mysterious starways or the planet but little proof other then word of mouth testimony exists to prove it.
Strategos: Highest military rank in the League of Free Stars
Merrybells: Hightech devices in the hair of elite Black Brethren, that make bell like sounds when moving.
Lancers: Rifter versions of dragoons, high tech and very deadly.
- Location
- Internet
[x] Flank speed towards Volken, we can't let the planet pirates get their way this time!
EternalObserver
eYe Gaze baCk
- Location
- The Void
[X] Flank speed towards Volken, we can't let the planet pirates get their way this time!
[X] Flank speed towards Volken, we can't let the planet pirates get their way this time!
- Location
- America
[X] Flank speed towards Volken, we can't let the planet pirates get their way this time!
Exterminatus
Tsukumogami User
- Location
- Southern California
[x] Flank speed towards Volken, we can't let the planet pirates get their way this time!
ThatGuyWithIdeas
Treize died for our sins
- Location
- Romania
[X] Flank speed towards Volken, we can't let the planet pirates get their way this time!
Thors_Alumni
Proud member of Thors Class VII from Liberl
- Location
- Liberl Zemuria.
[x] Flank speed towards Volken, we can't let the planet pirates get their way this time!
The Blade of Tuk
- Location
- The City of Big Shoulders
Volken High Orbit Anchor
Black Brethren Mothership Darselitz's Blade
Gorutian Tuk, Captain and Master of the Darselitz's Blade, Free Commodore of the Band of Black Blade, and on a short list for Admiral-Elector within the Brethren itself was more machine than man these days, but still had very human vices and flaws including his greed and impulsiveness, those were however always kept checked by a cold low cunning of knowing what mark to hit and what one to avoid, which was while his during half century career as a pirate hadn't seen him rocket to any great infamy like some, saw him alive when many others of his generation were now dead in the form of blasted atoms across the starscape from reaching for something beyond their grasp.
Volken had been unplanned, he had been summoned to a moot at Redjack and the shadowy and somewhat twisting pirate ways had saw him fit to deposit him in this system, and it seemed perfect a opportunity to test his new toy and get some loot for his band which had been becoming restless at the year long stopover at Port Pleasant, against a planet which was just wealthy enough to bother with raiding and weak enough not to pose a threat, and with the reports of the impending civil war in the Empire, there would be no relief force or retribution units sent out either. It seemed all in all like a good deal. Almost to good. Despite a near malfunction of Hrang's latest gift to him on the second shot, the raid itself had proceeded without a hitch and at this moment his forces were running riot over the planet, looting anything of valve from artwork, to high tech electronics.
His sensors were detecting the fly in the ointment. A bloody imperial battlegroup had just appeared.
<<Get me eyes on the newcomers what are we looking at>> his voice echoed over the Integrated Tactical network that his men were connected to. His meat-body was in a sealed tube deep in the hull of the mothership, while his coincidences roamed the ITN dataspheres, like a ghost or a god depending on his mood. His avatar was currently massive sphere with tentacles arms floating overhead a tactical map, looking down on everything. A green stylized bird perched on the upper shoulder of the sphere, representing the aggregated wills of the sensor operators whispered into his ear.
<<Resolution at this distance unclear, detected drives waveforms suggest a capital unit, and several cruisers. IFF if it to believed is 8492 Imperial Starforce Regiment.>>
<<Details>> he commanded and his attention divided as his red avatar appeared in another datasphere, this time a pure black space, that suddenly exploded with wireframe models of ships, a wall of windows of images of various people, and scrolling text of all the data that the Black Brethen had on this Starforce unit.
<<A paper formation for most of its history, recently assigned as the personal bodyguard unit of Princess Victoria, youngest daughter of the Emperor. Was last reported over Luxor>>
<<Luxor and now its here? He eyed the unit write up, watching as the probability of the intel being accurate shoot up as more and more sensors laid eyes on the incoming imperial units. A imperial guard built battleship, a cavalry cruiser, a command cruiser and three heavies with escorting destroyers was nearly a match for his forces. His mothership was more than equal the battleship with the new toy at long range, and the his twenty lancers, supported by three omnicruisers outweighed the rest of the formation. The problem was half the lancers were in atmosphere providing direct fire support to land raiders.
He sighed and then gave the order over the fleet net <<Attention all lancers pull back to orbit and form up on me. We got an imperial formation coming in somehow and maybe if we're lucky we'll net ourselves a princess.>>
A window appeared in front of him, a scarred and twisted women's face, her eyes replaced with insectoid segmented looking sensor platforms, her bare scalp had lines of glowing circuity tattoos, behind her a bridge of lancer in atmosphere firing at a pyramidal fortress, blue beams of light leaving red afterimages in the air behind her, as her crew directed fire to support smaller dragonfly looking assault landers.
<<Tuk, what the fuck? Those Impies are still hours away, and if you think the grounders are dumb enough to keep the treasure in that fort when we return you lost more then your dick at Albacan last year.>>
<<Captain Oinsaer, while I am grateful for your ever illuminating tactical analyst, I rather not take more loses before the moot then needed because you have a pressing need to pay off your debt to the Admiral's Court, which is after-all why your not with your Gorgon at Redjack and been remanded into my custody as a lancer assault officer. So do what I fucking say before I trigger the doggie collar Hrang put around you and get your and your troops up out of atmosphere.>>
The collared captain growled, <<Aye don't get your panties in a twist Tuk, we'll be up there for dance party no doubt, but I am not leaving till I get Volken crown jewels, and for the record, only Hrang gets the honor of blowing up my neck and you and I know it.>>
The line went dead. Similarly, the other lancer captains who had shipped out with him as either paying customers or assigned to his ship for the fleet moot meetup told him in other words to fuck off, Volken wealth laid before them, and they were small time enough to not to want to risk of getting shot to shit when a big wealthy operator like Tuk could do the work and who knows maybe get taken down a peg. Which left him, nine lancers to deal with the incoming threat plus whatever indies decided to climb up and help out after robbing the planet dry, which of course meant also hitting the sites his men had to leave behind to defend the fleet. Just by the mere of fact of showing this princess had turned what was suppose to be a milk run into a horror show. He mentally sat back and considered just leaving the system, if he left now he could take his men and leave a potentially risky engagement that will cost him, plus a bunch of scum-dogs that were attempt in robing him from his own loot.
<<We have determined with 89th percent certainty that the Princess Victoria is onboard the flagship. The ship is flying a holographic flag of the Imperial House, only allowed to by ships that have the personage onboard.>>
<<And she's coming straight at me, either foolish and brave or she knows something we don't, or a combination. Still though a Princess dragged before Hrang at Redjack would worth the cost of damage to this fleet. Deploy the lancers in a skirmish line forward of the Blade and we'll see about softening up our friends. >>
<<Warning, high energy burst detected in orbit>>
<<Lock it down now now!>> Tuk snarled over the network, as his will directed a dozen missiles into a half scragged comsat that had been pretending to be dead.
<<Damnit it, another fly in the ointment>>
~~~
"Just what are we looking at" Al-Lasselle asked as your command group meet either in person or via holographic telepresence in your flag bridge as you reviewed the data the defenders of Volken had burst transmitted out to you before their offending communication array in orbit was silenced by the pirate's guns. It showed an early stage of the battle of which had gone by Black Brethen standards operation, of heavy missile fire from the cruisers and their mothership out in the back, followed up by a heavy lancer strike. The mystery was in the gap between the lancer followup and the missile attack, was the mothership, a massive tri-hulled monster of three sweeping slanted hulls connected by several arches to a central command and engine well not pod, that made it seem small for something the size of battleship, but hull module. The open space between the three "wings" had crackled with energy of drive reactions similar and then a sizzling blue blast of energy fired out impacting into an old battered battleship turned fortress, reducing the fortress from low shield status to melted half atomized collection of wreckage.
"A problem" Brighstar mumbled.
"An experimental Jardini plasma siege canon." you say, causing the others to look at you in surprise, your studies of history had paid off, "It was used three hundred years ago at at 9th Greenfield, to blast the command fortress Earl ostsol-Malika had placed on the Blue Line."
"So we're fighting a museum piece? Surely there was something wrong with the design or else we still seen it used" Captain Hessian asked, rubbing hand through her blond hair as she studied the image replay itself over and over again.
"Well the original couldn't be mounted on a proper warship with proper drive engine, a platform had to be towed everywhere, and they became prime missile attractors, which wasn't good for something sensitive to blowing up itself up if the barrel field was misaligned."
"And now the Rifter pirates have made a scaled down model for their mothership. Lovely."
"Well we don't have choice of our first move in this case, we'll have to direct all our missiles in long range mode and fire at the mothership hoping to damage the plasma cannon before it can fire. Our next problem is what we do next."
[] Aggressive Approach, after firing and hoping to disable the plasma cannon, engage in full speed and attempt to sink the mothership and cruisers in direct energy engagement, trusting your escorts to keep the lancers off your back long enough for you to deal with the mothership and force the pirates to surrender.
[] Conservative approach, enter into long range missile room and then move to parallel the lancers and have your fleet engage them directly before dealing with the enemy rear line. Lancers can be deadly once they get closed in, since they fire armor piercing beams, but that leaves the risk of mothership get the plasma cannon back online while you deal with them.
[] Write in
Black Brethren Mothership Darselitz's Blade
Gorutian Tuk, Captain and Master of the Darselitz's Blade, Free Commodore of the Band of Black Blade, and on a short list for Admiral-Elector within the Brethren itself was more machine than man these days, but still had very human vices and flaws including his greed and impulsiveness, those were however always kept checked by a cold low cunning of knowing what mark to hit and what one to avoid, which was while his during half century career as a pirate hadn't seen him rocket to any great infamy like some, saw him alive when many others of his generation were now dead in the form of blasted atoms across the starscape from reaching for something beyond their grasp.
Volken had been unplanned, he had been summoned to a moot at Redjack and the shadowy and somewhat twisting pirate ways had saw him fit to deposit him in this system, and it seemed perfect a opportunity to test his new toy and get some loot for his band which had been becoming restless at the year long stopover at Port Pleasant, against a planet which was just wealthy enough to bother with raiding and weak enough not to pose a threat, and with the reports of the impending civil war in the Empire, there would be no relief force or retribution units sent out either. It seemed all in all like a good deal. Almost to good. Despite a near malfunction of Hrang's latest gift to him on the second shot, the raid itself had proceeded without a hitch and at this moment his forces were running riot over the planet, looting anything of valve from artwork, to high tech electronics.
His sensors were detecting the fly in the ointment. A bloody imperial battlegroup had just appeared.
<<Get me eyes on the newcomers what are we looking at>> his voice echoed over the Integrated Tactical network that his men were connected to. His meat-body was in a sealed tube deep in the hull of the mothership, while his coincidences roamed the ITN dataspheres, like a ghost or a god depending on his mood. His avatar was currently massive sphere with tentacles arms floating overhead a tactical map, looking down on everything. A green stylized bird perched on the upper shoulder of the sphere, representing the aggregated wills of the sensor operators whispered into his ear.
<<Resolution at this distance unclear, detected drives waveforms suggest a capital unit, and several cruisers. IFF if it to believed is 8492 Imperial Starforce Regiment.>>
<<Details>> he commanded and his attention divided as his red avatar appeared in another datasphere, this time a pure black space, that suddenly exploded with wireframe models of ships, a wall of windows of images of various people, and scrolling text of all the data that the Black Brethen had on this Starforce unit.
<<A paper formation for most of its history, recently assigned as the personal bodyguard unit of Princess Victoria, youngest daughter of the Emperor. Was last reported over Luxor>>
<<Luxor and now its here? He eyed the unit write up, watching as the probability of the intel being accurate shoot up as more and more sensors laid eyes on the incoming imperial units. A imperial guard built battleship, a cavalry cruiser, a command cruiser and three heavies with escorting destroyers was nearly a match for his forces. His mothership was more than equal the battleship with the new toy at long range, and the his twenty lancers, supported by three omnicruisers outweighed the rest of the formation. The problem was half the lancers were in atmosphere providing direct fire support to land raiders.
He sighed and then gave the order over the fleet net <<Attention all lancers pull back to orbit and form up on me. We got an imperial formation coming in somehow and maybe if we're lucky we'll net ourselves a princess.>>
A window appeared in front of him, a scarred and twisted women's face, her eyes replaced with insectoid segmented looking sensor platforms, her bare scalp had lines of glowing circuity tattoos, behind her a bridge of lancer in atmosphere firing at a pyramidal fortress, blue beams of light leaving red afterimages in the air behind her, as her crew directed fire to support smaller dragonfly looking assault landers.
<<Tuk, what the fuck? Those Impies are still hours away, and if you think the grounders are dumb enough to keep the treasure in that fort when we return you lost more then your dick at Albacan last year.>>
<<Captain Oinsaer, while I am grateful for your ever illuminating tactical analyst, I rather not take more loses before the moot then needed because you have a pressing need to pay off your debt to the Admiral's Court, which is after-all why your not with your Gorgon at Redjack and been remanded into my custody as a lancer assault officer. So do what I fucking say before I trigger the doggie collar Hrang put around you and get your and your troops up out of atmosphere.>>
The collared captain growled, <<Aye don't get your panties in a twist Tuk, we'll be up there for dance party no doubt, but I am not leaving till I get Volken crown jewels, and for the record, only Hrang gets the honor of blowing up my neck and you and I know it.>>
The line went dead. Similarly, the other lancer captains who had shipped out with him as either paying customers or assigned to his ship for the fleet moot meetup told him in other words to fuck off, Volken wealth laid before them, and they were small time enough to not to want to risk of getting shot to shit when a big wealthy operator like Tuk could do the work and who knows maybe get taken down a peg. Which left him, nine lancers to deal with the incoming threat plus whatever indies decided to climb up and help out after robbing the planet dry, which of course meant also hitting the sites his men had to leave behind to defend the fleet. Just by the mere of fact of showing this princess had turned what was suppose to be a milk run into a horror show. He mentally sat back and considered just leaving the system, if he left now he could take his men and leave a potentially risky engagement that will cost him, plus a bunch of scum-dogs that were attempt in robing him from his own loot.
<<We have determined with 89th percent certainty that the Princess Victoria is onboard the flagship. The ship is flying a holographic flag of the Imperial House, only allowed to by ships that have the personage onboard.>>
<<And she's coming straight at me, either foolish and brave or she knows something we don't, or a combination. Still though a Princess dragged before Hrang at Redjack would worth the cost of damage to this fleet. Deploy the lancers in a skirmish line forward of the Blade and we'll see about softening up our friends. >>
<<Warning, high energy burst detected in orbit>>
<<Lock it down now now!>> Tuk snarled over the network, as his will directed a dozen missiles into a half scragged comsat that had been pretending to be dead.
<<Damnit it, another fly in the ointment>>
~~~
"Just what are we looking at" Al-Lasselle asked as your command group meet either in person or via holographic telepresence in your flag bridge as you reviewed the data the defenders of Volken had burst transmitted out to you before their offending communication array in orbit was silenced by the pirate's guns. It showed an early stage of the battle of which had gone by Black Brethen standards operation, of heavy missile fire from the cruisers and their mothership out in the back, followed up by a heavy lancer strike. The mystery was in the gap between the lancer followup and the missile attack, was the mothership, a massive tri-hulled monster of three sweeping slanted hulls connected by several arches to a central command and engine well not pod, that made it seem small for something the size of battleship, but hull module. The open space between the three "wings" had crackled with energy of drive reactions similar and then a sizzling blue blast of energy fired out impacting into an old battered battleship turned fortress, reducing the fortress from low shield status to melted half atomized collection of wreckage.
"A problem" Brighstar mumbled.
"An experimental Jardini plasma siege canon." you say, causing the others to look at you in surprise, your studies of history had paid off, "It was used three hundred years ago at at 9th Greenfield, to blast the command fortress Earl ostsol-Malika had placed on the Blue Line."
"So we're fighting a museum piece? Surely there was something wrong with the design or else we still seen it used" Captain Hessian asked, rubbing hand through her blond hair as she studied the image replay itself over and over again.
"Well the original couldn't be mounted on a proper warship with proper drive engine, a platform had to be towed everywhere, and they became prime missile attractors, which wasn't good for something sensitive to blowing up itself up if the barrel field was misaligned."
"And now the Rifter pirates have made a scaled down model for their mothership. Lovely."
"Well we don't have choice of our first move in this case, we'll have to direct all our missiles in long range mode and fire at the mothership hoping to damage the plasma cannon before it can fire. Our next problem is what we do next."
[] Aggressive Approach, after firing and hoping to disable the plasma cannon, engage in full speed and attempt to sink the mothership and cruisers in direct energy engagement, trusting your escorts to keep the lancers off your back long enough for you to deal with the mothership and force the pirates to surrender.
[] Conservative approach, enter into long range missile room and then move to parallel the lancers and have your fleet engage them directly before dealing with the enemy rear line. Lancers can be deadly once they get closed in, since they fire armor piercing beams, but that leaves the risk of mothership get the plasma cannon back online while you deal with them.
[] Write in