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Thunder walks out of Samurai's office, having delivered the Zacha report. In the report was detailed results from the Miranu tests on the Blue crystal as well as full text accounts of the recent moves by the Corocians and Renegades in Miranu space, with the final addition being a report on the Corocian blockade. Thunder added this part himself when he learned the blockade had gone up. (Samurai - I assume since there's not much to say about our meeting, I'll just leave it at that, you're now informed about the recent happenings in Miranu space and you know their research on the crystals.)
Before he returned to the Affirmation, Thunder decided to stop by the spaceport bar, to see if he could pick up some Root Beer for him and his crew. Upon entering the bar, he saw a Zidagar in a trenchcoat. And that's not all... the trenchcoat looked identical to the one worn by the Zidagar who had given him the Blue Crystals. Thinking it was the same man, Thunder walked over to him and said hi. But when the Zidagar turned around, Thunder realized that it was, in fact, a different Zidagar whose clothes and appearance closely resembled the Zidagar he'd known.
"Yes? What is it?" The Zidagar inquired.
"Um... uh... nothing." Thunder stammered. "I thought you were someone else. You look just like a guy I met on Blaga. Sorry to both-"
"Blaga?!?" The Zidagar intoned, pulling Thunder close and lowering his voice to a whisper. "Did he give you anything?"
"Why, do you know who the man on Blaga was?"
"I know that you need to tell me the truth, right now. Did he give you anything? Mineral samples, perhaps?"
"Who are you?" Thunder asked. "And what do you know about the crystals?"
Upon hearing the word crystal, the Zidagar's eyes widened, as if he was in a state of shock. Before Thunder could react, the Zidagar ran out of the bar.
----------
Twenty minutes later, Thunder entered the docking bay in Sol, two cases of Root Beer in hand. He'd managed to get quite a good deal, and this would be enough Root Beer to last him and his crew weeks. Walking up to the Affirmation, Thunder noticed something strange. A hastily scribbled note taped to the entry hatch. Setting down the two cases of root beer, Thunder walked over and pulled the note off the hatch, and began reading.
"-65x -256y; 32°25'16'', 3°11'42'' BDG 3A. ASAP. Project Terminus."
Staring at the note, Thunder realized that it was a set of coordinates. A location. Somewhere the Zidagar man wanted him to go. "Hmmm..." Thunder thought to himself, "-65 by -256 are the galactic coordinates of the Kirrim system. But that's on the other side of the Corocian blockade! How will I get there?" Deciding that the UE was his best bet, Thunder boarded the Affirmation and placed a comm message to Samurai and Titan
MESSAGE TO SAMURAI AND/OR TITAN (whoever answers first)<<< Encryption sequence confirmed, level 5 encryption active.
I need to get to Kirrim Prime to follow up on the Blue Crystal research. The people who gave me the crystals left me a message. They want me to go there, but there's no way I'd make it through the Corocian blockade. Is there anything you can do to help me get to Kirrim?"
Thunder out.
END MESSAGE<<<
------------------ If you hadn't screwed up my past, your future wouldn't be like this!
Sorry about that I will try to make it more reasonable.
After several shots with the new guns they shorted out then dissolved, the problem was the crystals hadn't been treated and so the guns were rendered useless. The crystals will take a long time to get right but they are constantly being tested until the right mixtuse and concentration is acheived.
Rugular crystal have been placed in the guns so the guns aren't as powerful <message to Entropy> <encryption> On their way <end message>
------------------ --The Eye is Upon you-- If you look long enough the Sun isn't that bright.
MESSAGE TO THUNDER HEAVILY ENCRYPTED Thunder, if you report to the Valos system with the Kirrim cooardinates, we can get you through the blockade using our warpgate. However, you must say nothing at all about this warpgate, and don't reveal to anyone how you got through the blockade, or the location of this warpgate. We would be happy to assist you. We only ask why you wish to get to such a remote system as Kirrim Prime? END MESSAGE
Border defenses are reinforced. Using the warpgate, large UE fleets are able to jump smaller enemy fleets, and then quickly retreat back to the Voinian frontier.
------------------ Macintosh for productivity, Linux for development, Palm for mobility, and Windows for Solitaire.
Clarification: Everyone, here is some clarification about my blockade:
1-No one knows about the blockade, all the ships are cloaked. Unless a few of your ships get destroyed, you don't know I have a blockade. 2-The blockade is only between UE and Miranu space. Kirrim is easily accessible. Remember all those uninhabited systems that form a kind of barrier between the UE and Miranu? That's where the blockade is 3-It's practically impossible to get past it.
----------------
In the Emalghion system, Emalgha and Miranu ships peacefully flew around the system. The Miranu were just here for trading, the Emalgha were waiting for a Voinian attack.
But none came.
Instead, a massive Corocian fleet hyperspaced into the system. The battle was over almost before it had begun. Half the Emalgha ships in the system (counting defense fleets) didn't even fire a shot before they were destroyed. After the defense fleets and ships in the system (including Miranu ships) had been destroyed, the Corocians breifly bombarded Emalghion and it's surviving moon, then began to land troops. Then, Voinian ships arrived and landed even more troops.
After this, the Corocian fleet stayed at Emalghion while the Voinians fully occupied it. It would be in joint Voinian/Corocian control. The Corocian fleet would stay for a few days, then would continue on to the blockade, where they would set up bases and a few stations here and there.
------------------ To Escape Velocity: Nova and Beyond! -------------- Millennium. Its coming, prepare for it. Coming to the (url="http://"http://www.ambrosiaSW.com/games/ev/chronicles.html")EV Chronicles(/url).
I finally finished a Dark Tide map. It's at: (url="http://"http://www.speakeasy.org/~ljp/carnotaur/dark_tide_map.jpg")http://www.speakeasy...rk_tide_map.jpg(/url)
Tell me what you think of it, and if I got anything wrong.
Querid and Pozdag belong to Miranu I think I control Mark as well
(This message has been edited by kiwi_a2 (edited 03-02-2001).)
Quote
Originally posted by Captain Carnotaur: **Clarification: Everyone, here is some clarification about my blockade:
1-No one knows about the blockade, all the ships are cloaked. Unless a few of your ships get destroyed, you don't know I have a blockade. 2-The blockade is only between UE and Miranu space. Kirrim is easily accessible. Remember all those uninhabited systems that form a kind of barrier between the UE and Miranu? That's where the blockade is 3-It's practically impossible to get past it. **
(Out of character): Remember, cloaks take fuel to maintain, so if your blockade is cloaked, it couldn't stay that way for long, unless ships constantly flew in and out providing additional fuel. Secondly, there would be almost constant traffic between UE and Miranu space (for trading purposes), so unless you decided to let all those ships go through your blockade is public knowledge by now.
Continuation: Recieving Samurai's message, Thunder set a course for Valos and sent a reply.
MESSAGE TO SAMURAI<<< Encryption sequence active, level 9 encryption confirmed.
The reason I need to get to Kirrim is that I have been contacted by the Zidagar group that gave me the blue crystals, the one you used to make your Crystal Ray. They left me a message, telling me to meet them on Kirrim ASAP regarding something called "Project Terminus," which I can only assume is the project that developed these crystals. It's possible that I could find out how the crystals were developed, or possibly even get more of them, but I need to get past the Corocian blockade as quickly as possible. I'll share any and all information I get on Kirrim with the UE. If anyone asks, I'll say I went around the blockade through Igadzra space to reach Kirrim, and I promise never to reveal the location of your warp gate.
I'm on my way to Valos now. Thunder out.
(This message has been edited by Thunder (edited 03-02-2001).)
Exactly, Carno, your ships can't stay cloaked forever, and without their shields, well, some blockade... And Pikera knows because his ships have suddenly stopped arriving, and many traders have reported Corocian vessals cloaking and decloaking in the space between UE and Miranu worlds..
Outpost Zachit was hit once and knicked once.. One to the top of the station, taking out a docking ring, and knicked along the bottom, causing severe bulkhead damage. The core systems in the center of the station were untouched. The station hasn't replaced it's upper ring, and is now somewhere in the outskirts of Zachit space.
Holy son of a gun, I've completely lost track of how much money the Miranu have!! Etorpy's spending reminded me of that... Hmmmmm, spending on Zacha, spending on crystal, trading with UE, Miranu's natural ability to make profit, and now raiding renegade vessals.. I'm judging about 20 mil with about a 5 mil growth..
Anyway, I have to keep track of that...
-----------------------------
"How is the crystal?"
"Picky.. Volatil(sp?) little thing it is.. And now we're studying these Corocian shield generators that we nabbed from a renegade vessal, so that's more work for us.."
"Ignore the generators for now and give them to another leige to study, finish the Blue Fury!!"
------------------------------
"There is no doubt about it, these Corocian people are devils! They blockade races that have nothing to do with them, and commit horrible acts of genocide! I want full alert in all systems, blast those Igadzra offbeats!"
Zachit vessals began to attack Munb and New Mira, steadily cracking away at the defense fleets...
------------------ Hi! I'm Alien the Hinwar and I'm a stuiped jerk! I'm big, mad, strong, and Hinwar! I yell 'LONG LIVE THE UE!', but I smash vikimadegie lovers every chance I get! Cause I'm Alien the Hinwar and I'm a stuiped jerk! I'm always making the mods mad doing something or another, but I'll never learn! I'll never turn! Look at my karma!
Thunder arrives in the Valos system. He is met by a small cluster of UE ships, headed by a UE Cruiser.
"This is Thunder, I have permission from Admiral Samurai to use the warpgate for transport to the Kirrim system." "Ah yes, Thunder. We were informed that you were coming. Please align yourself with this Cruiser, and stand by." "Affirmative."
Thunder lines up with the Cruiser, waiting for directions.
"Engage warpgate portal to Kirrim Prime."
Suddenly, a swirling vortex of blue energy materializes in front of Thunder's ship.
"Engage your afterburner, but do not alter your present course. Good luck, Thunder."
Thunder apprehensively engages the afterburner, and the blue hull of the Zachit Arada powers into the depths of the warpgate. The viewscreen becomes a spiral of blue energy. A mechanical message comes over Thunder's intercom. "Warpgate tunnel structure connection engaged. Current destination, Kirrim system. Estimated time of arrival, 27.874 minutes. Sub-space conditions: stable. Have a nice day."
MODERATION: Zachit Station was almost completely destroyed. Only one docking bay survived, and all other major systems were destroyed. Although the Rotorcannon was slightly off target, 3/4 of the station were destroyed. This moderation is final.
And about the cloaking devices; be reasonable. My ships would only cloak when they detected other ships approaching the system. Then they would cloak, approach the ship, and destroy it.
And about those captured shield generators; also be a bit reasonable. I would not have given the Renegades my technology without programming it so that if the ship was captured, all Corocian technology would explode.
I will impliment the map changes.
BTW, it will take the Zacha one month at the bare minimum to rebuild Zachit Station, and that's only if the Renegades don't attack again.
Carnotaur, after hearing that Munb and New Mira are under attack, sends three Corocian Cruisers to both systems, counting six cruisers total. The Corocian fleet that captured Emalghion then went to Kelmoan, set up a small base their, and then into the blockade area and set up several more small bases on planets, which enforced the blockade even more.
delted
(This message has been edited by Captin Blackwing (edited 03-05-2001).)
New Map: (url="http://"http://www.speakeasy.org/~ljp/carnotaur/dark_tide_map.jpg")http://www.speakeasy...rk_tide_map.jpg(/url)
Carnotaur: "Scorcher, send the Apollyon and the Demon to the Zanat system. Have them destroy Zanati Refinery, they have them report back here, I want to upgrade them to a new type of Corocian Supercruiser."
Scorcher: "Yes sir."
(This was before Scorcher met with Blackwing)
Two days later, the Demon and Apollyon ambush the Zanat system. The Miranu Defense Fleet scrambles to fend them off, but they are easily destroyed, as is Zanati Refinery. This is a major blow to the Miranu because now they have lost both of their fuel depots.
A Zachit attack force (15 ships) attempted to stop the Apollyon and Demon. They were quickly destroyed.
The new blockade bases are complete. It is now even harder to get past it, though ships can still make it through. So far the blockade has destroyed approximately 29 ships (maybe more) and the count is quickly growing.
The Voinians attacked Outpost Theta with a surprise attack of 50 ships while the UE was recovering from a recent Voinian attack. Outpost Theta was completely destroyed.
UE Losses: 1 Station 8 Destroyers 5 Carriers 2 Devastators 1 Cruiser Two squadrons of fighters
Voinian Losses: 10 Frigates 2 Cruisers Two squadrons of fighters One squadron of interceptors
Later, Scorcher met with Blackwing and sat down at a table.
Scorcher: "Alright, Blackwing, what've you got?"
Blackwing: "First, what have you got?"
Scorcher: "Five million, and maybe six. So, what've you got?"
(This message has been edited by Captain Carnotaur (edited 03-02-2001).)
By the way, Carno, I control Kayia in the Arekhyrek system
------------------ THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE! (Lies are in your head.)
The "Modifications" to the AlpoPo are done. Strange, black lumps all over the surface, and on several of the smaller asteroids, yellow lumps, The purpose of these is unknown.
58.55 million, growing by 2.1 million/day.
The price of platinum skyrocketed yesterday. I love the galactic stock exchange... +.1 million/day to me. Price is likely to fluctuate.
58.65 million, growing by 2.2 million/day
The AlpoPo is covered with mining facilities in addition to these strange lumps. Drinking Saalian brandy has been prohibited on the AlpoPo as well as the Rock...
Speaking of which...
It's just finished repairs. Where the Rock is and where it is going is unknown.
The attackers on Munb experienced a serious drop in morale when the Shadowfax came bursting through their blockade, leading a large swarm of very angry renegades (who have taken to chewing the Munb leaves to produce a buzz, although without the intoxicating affects of Saalian Brandy, the galaxy's leading stimulant.) They quickly crushed the Zachit fleet, the remainder of whom quickly fled back to Outpost Zachit.
But the outpost had it's own problems- a small fleet of aradas claiming to be "merchants" arrived at the station, requesting leave to dock. Suspecting a renegade trap, the Zachit send out several vehicles to scan the ships and attack if necessary. Fanning out and suddenly firing their engines, the Aradas shot through the Zachit ranks before they had time to respond, heading towards the outpost. Wiht a mob of angry Zachit on their tails, the Aradas swooped past the station, planting time-detonate space mines. They were the bombers that Entropy had constructed some time ago for countermeasures agaist enemy capital ships (remember?) They fled the system as the mines exploded. Although they did not destroy the station, construction had been hindered for a week realtime.
MODERATION: Entropy, that one week extra repairs realtime seems a bit extreme. How about only 5 days? Oh, BTW, one or two bombers were shot down. Come on Entropy, we have to be fair to the people we will soon utterly annihilate.
Also, I will make that map change.
So far, the total number of ships destroyed during the blockade is now at 42. A total of 11 ships have been captured.
The Corocians now have 40 million credits, with 2 million coming in per day.
Carnotaur now puts 10 million credits into the refit of the Demon and Apollyon.
Scorcher is also working on creating a better type of cloaking device. Credits per day is lowered to 1.5 million.
Oh, forget this.
Huh??? Are you leaving? I hope not!
MODERATION: I'm changing what happened to Outpost Zachit. One docking bay, part of the central core, and about a third of the station survived. Entropy's bombers did nothing more than slow repairs.
Thunder watched as the swirling energy of the UE warpgate faded away, and Kirrim Prime appeared in the center of his viewscreen. This warpgate was amazing technology, he'd just completed in 30 minutes a trip that would take at least a week (and probably more) by hyperspace. Thunder entered the atmosphere of Kirrim and glided low over the surface toward the coordinates the note mentioned. As he approached them, he sighted a small group of structures in a mountain valley. Finding a suitable landing site about half a kilometer from the complex, Thunder landed the S.S. Affirmation and pulled a winter coat out of a storage locker. It was winter ten months each year on Kirrim Prime at this latitude, and the temperature outside registered at about -15°C (about 5°F).
Slipping on the coat, Thunder disembarked and set off on foot toward the building complex. Fifteen minutes later he found himself outside the door to a non-descript building with a sign on the wall that read "Building 3A, Terminus Group Research Facility." Somewhat apprehensively, he knocked on the door. Several seconds later it cracked open, and a Zidagar man peered out through the slit. Thunder struggled to pull the note that he'd found taped to the hatch of the Affirmation out of his pocket; it was difficult with his gloved hands, but he eventually managed to pull it out and show it to te Zidagar. Quickly Thunder was ushered inside. Inside he was greeted by a tall, elderly Zidagar who was obviously the man in charge. "Ahh, Thunder. We've been expecting you."
"How do you know my name?" Thunder asked. "What else do you know about me?"
"Just that you recieved two crystals from one of our scientists, and gave them to the UE and Zachit. Oh- don't worry, we're not angry. As long as the crystals aren't in Azdgari hands, we're quite pleased indeed. We found out your name when we ran the ship name 'S.S. Affirmation' through our database."
"Ahh..." Thunder said, beginning to comprehend.
"Wait, where are my manners?" The elderly Zidagar said. "I'm Commander Salvane, and these are the scientists of the Terminus Project. You'll find out what we do soon enough." Selvane walked forward, shaking Thunder's hand. "Welcome to Project Terminus Headquarters."
--------------------
Thirty minutes later, Thunder and Commander Salvane were in the building's cafeteria, drinking hot chocolate. Thunder had explained to Salvane how he'd come into possession of the blue crystals, and how he'd given them to the UE and Zachit to use for whatever purpose they chose. Now it was time for him to get the answers he'd come to seek.
"So," Thunder began, "How did Project Terminus get a hold of such pure Aligned Crystals? Or is it too classified to tell me?"
"You're in luck." Salvane replied. "Project Terminus has been completed, and since we need your help, I can give you the answers you seek."
"Need my help? Help doing what?"
"I'll get to that." Salvane said. "First let me explain about the crystals. That is what you're here to find out about, right?" Thunder nodded.
"I've been the head of Project Terminus since it was first concieved 25 years ago. The Zidagar theorized that if they could refine and purify the aligned crystals from the mines of Twyus, we could produce stronger phased beamers and finally turn the tide of the Strand War in our favor. After negotiating with the Miranu, we set up our research facility here, in the remote mountains of Kirrim Prime, far from the battlefields of the Strand War. Immediately we set out to find a way to purify the aligned crystals. It took us two years to develop the technology to achieve it, but once we did, we immediately started testing it. Here, I'll show you our lab facility." With this, Salvane stood up and motioned for Thunder to follow him. As they walked together out of the cafeteria, Salvane continued his story.
"Our first tests were somewhat successful. We managed to purify small samples of aligned crystals by up to 15% beyond normal purity, but if we tried to go any farther, the crystals quickly disintegrated upon use in any kind of technology. We tried countless methods of refining the crystals, but every time the crystals would disintegrate if we tried to purify them any more than 25% beyond their normal purity."
At this point, Thunder and Salvane entered the laboratory, where they saw several scientists working to pack up various peices of machinery, disassembling them. "This is where we tried to purify the crystals." Salvane continued. "We tried unsuccessfully for 15 years to purify the crystals using hundreds of different methods, but never did we achieve more than a minor increase in purity. That's when we made the big discovery."
"What was that?" Thunder asked, by now completely absorbed in Salvane's story.
"One of our scientists calculated that if we wanted to increase the purity of the product crystal, we had to input more aligned crystals to start with. What's more, he calculated that the amount of crystals needed increased logarithmically. It works much like the Richter scale."
"Oh, you mean like a 5.0 is 10 times as powerful as a 4.0, and 100 times as powerful as a 3.0?"
"Right." Salvane said. "To create a crystal twice as pure, it would take 10 times as much mass of aligned crystal to start with. Using these new equations, we tried our purification techniques again, and met with far more success. Our first test successfully created a crystal with 1.9 times the purity of an average aligned crystal. The only limitation was that to create higher purity crystals, the amount of crystals needed to begin with quickly rose into the range of tons. Since only 100 tons of Aligned Crystals can be produced anually from Twyus, it quickly became an inefficent use of resources."
"I'll bet," Thunder commented.
"For example," Salvane said, "the crystal you gave to the Zacha was 4.7 times as pure as a normal aligned crystal. It took 800 pounds of aligned crystals to produce it."
"How many of these crystals did you produce in all?" Thunder asked.
"We produced 25 crystals in all." Salvane answered. "But only 5 are left. The two you gave to the UE and Miranu, the first two we created, which were only about 1.9 and 2.2 times as pure as average aligned crystals (respectively), and our greatest creation, the Terminus Crystal, an aligned crystal 5.6 times as pure as normal, and over 4 times as large. It took more than six tons of Aligned crystals to create. To create a more powerful crystal would be physically impossible, because of the lab and equipment needed to purify that many tons aligned crystal to begin with."
"Where are the other 3 crystals?" Thunder asked.
"That's where you come in. The first two we created are stored in our vault. We will entrust them to you if you can recover the Terminus Crystal and ensure it remains safe from all who would misuse it. Of course, those two would only be about 3 times as powerful as a standard phased beamer."
And just what happened to it?"
"Our main corporate sponsor, a rich Miranu buisnessman by the name of Keldran Syril, stole it after his wife and oldest son were killed in the renegade attack on New Mira. He stole it from our vault, and we believe he still has it in his possession. His last known wherabouts were that he had retreated to his private mansion on Mira two weeks ago. He knew that since our project was almost out of money after the collapse of the Zidagar government that we didn't have the resources to hunt him down. But now we've got you."
And you want me to track him down?" Thunder said.
"I take it by the fact that your ship is a Zachit Arada, that you have ties to the Zacha."
"Yea, that's right."
"Then take this, and report to the Zachit," Salvane said, handing Thunder a hand-held scanner of some kind.
"What is it?" Thunder asked.
"The Terminus Crystal resonates on a very specific frequency. This scanner will home in on that frequency if the Terminus Crystal is in the same system. After you contact the Zachit, have them send an escort detail with you to capture Keldran Syril. He will have the Terminus Crystal with him. If you find him, you'll find the crystal, and vice-versa. If you succeed, we will reward you with our remaining funds, which amount to 402,000 credits and a Zidagar systems upgrade for the S.S. Affirmation. And we'll reward the Zacha with the Terminus Crystal."
"I'll do my best." Thunder replied, walking back to the door. As Thunder put on his coat and prepared to return to his ship, Salvane entered the hallway and spoke. "Remember, the Terminus Crystal is the greatest power known to any race, anywhere. Please, do whatever it takes to keep it out of the hands of anyone who would misuse it. Once again, the future course of events of the entire universe is in your hands. Here are the two smaller crystals," he said, handing Thunder a familiar looking leather pouch. "I assume you'll probably want to give these to the UE. Now, hurry off and find the erminus Crystal!"
-------------------
Returning to the S.S. Affirmation, Thunder quickly set a course for Mirava and sent out a priority one message to Pikera and the Zachit.
MESSAGE TO ALIEN (to Pikera and the Zachit)<<< PRIORITY ONE<<< Encryption sequence confirmed, level 9 encryption active.
Pikera, Zacha officers, please pay close attention to this message. I have contacted a group of Zidagar scientists working on what they called "Project Terminus." This was the project that created the blue crystal I gave you. They also created another one, the power of which far exceeds even that of the one I gave you, one called the Terminus Crystal. It was stolen by a Miranu buisnessman named Keldran Syril, I've attached the Terminus Group's file on him to this message. Please look up his last known whereabouts and have a Zacha detail meet me in the Mirava system. We will track down Keldran Syril and if we succeed, the Zacha will be able to keep the Terminus Crystal.
But, there are inevitabally leaks in security. The Corocians soon discovered the Terminus Project and most of the information about it, including the Terminus Crystal. After this information was brought to Carnotaur, he directed immediate action.
Carnotaur: "Admiral Rosut, I have special instructions for you. First, you are to attack and destroy Station Pybin. Second, destroy Ariane or Tulir. Third, capture Queird. Fourth, capture Tmidor or Pozdag. After this, begin building up warships in the blockade area for the offensive. Understood?"
Admiral Rosut: "Understood my lord! It shall be done at once!
Carntaur the Zidagar would never help you kill there race.
------------------ "One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all into the darkness and bind them, in the land of mordor where the shadows lie." Check out the upcomming Lord of the Rings Movies at (url="http://"http://www.lordoftherings.net/home.html")http://www.lordofthe...s.net/home.html(/url)