The Dark Tide 3 - The Last Hope

Esponer: No, you had dreams, and that's that. You have absolutely NO idea of the power of the Corocians, nor do you realize that they are mostly IGADZRA. So, they already know much of what there is to know about you. No "psychic shield" thingy can stop them because they already know how to get past it because they're the same species. Also, one space mine can't destroy a Corocian Supercruiser. So blah. As one final thing, try to put more into one post than three different posts, it's starting to get on my nerves.

Samurai, your annoying limptet mines are way too good. Also, I HAVEN'T nuked any of your planets, just Igadzra ones.

--------------

The Voinians and Corocians have now been given the signal to attack. In the Centauri and Saalia systems, the Corocians and Voinians made a major attack. However, they suffered heavy losses, but kept on fighting. Then Carnotaur called in the Apollyon and Hirogen. The Hirogen nuked all the military bases on Saalia while the UE were all busy with the attacking fleet. Then, it nuked on small city, then the Corocian fleet withdrew from Saalia.

In the Centauri system, the Omega attacked UE military bases on Centauri with chemical and nuclear weaponry. However, the UE set up a jamming field, and the nukes went off course. Though all of their targets were hit, some of the extra nukes hit several cities.

Meanwhile, Corocian scientists have been able to duplicate the Terminus Crystal (they've been working on it since they got the U.E.S. Goliath) and they have now installed Terminus Beam Arrays on the Demon, Apollyon, and Hirogen. The Omega is being fitted with a new type of Photon Beam that heats things up to 5000 degrees ferenhiet (sp?) when the beam hits the target.

The Corocians have also used the technology of the Terminus Array to enhance all their weapons so that they are much more effective against Xrathium armor.

The Corocians have begun work on two more Supercruisers; the C.R.S. Imperial and C.R.S. Freedom. These two supercruisers will have all their systems and weapons enhanced, and will also carry Terminus Arrays.

Carnotaur has now given orders to the Renegades, Voinians, and Corocian forces to begin immediate and heavy raids and attacks on the UE.

------------------
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).

(This message has been edited by Captain Carnotaur (edited 03-17-2001).)

Carno, you know nothing about Samurai's conversation, so you can't have ships start raiding UE space.

Titan starts building ships as fast as he can.

------------------
"Life is like a trade ship going to JamesTown, you never know what you gona get."-Escape from Monkey island

(OOC): Carnotaur - If you'll re-read my post about the Terminus Project, you'll see that it required many, many tons of aligned crystals to produce the Terminus Crystal. The costs were astronomical, and the facilities required massive. Unless you got the Azdgari to give you all the crystals they'd mined from Tywus for... oh say... since they first occupied it, then you wouldn't even have enough to build more than one more Terminus Crystal, that is assuming you had the facilities and resources to do so. You've got the original Terminus Crystal, and I tried to make it so only one could ever be introduced into the story. Your race is already the most powerful in the galaxy, and it's pretty much a foregone conclusion that you'll win this war, unless all your allies turn against you. Having all the Terminus Arrays you wanted at your disposal would only make it even more so. That's overkill. Please, edit you post.

Continuation:

"We're recieving a transmission from Captain Carnotaur," reported a Station Unity officer.

Reading through the message, Thunder is glad to see that the Corocians have agreed to limit their use of weapons of mass destruction. He sends a message back.

MESSAGE TO CAPTAIN CARNOTAUR<<
ENCRYPTION SEQUENCE ACTIVE<<<

Thank you for agreeing to limit your use of weapons of mass destruction on enemy bases. It's in the best interests of everyone that civilians not be harmed in the fighting, as much as is possible. Any and all survivors will be welcome here on Station Unity, we still have more than enough room. I'm glad to see that the Igadzra's opinion of the Corocians is undeserved... you are in fact a quite reasonable race. Again, thank you for your cooperation.

-Thunder, Station Unity Stationmaster

END MESSAGE<<<

------------------
A hatch opened up and the aliens said,
"We're sorry to learn that you soon will be dead,
But though you may find this slightly macabre,
We prefer your extinction to the loss of our job."

Quote

Originally posted by Thunder:
**(OOC): Carnotaur - If you'll re-read my post about the Terminus Project, you'll see that it required many, many tons of aligned crystals to produce the Terminus Crystal. The costs were astronomical, and the facilities required massive. Unless you got the Azdgari to give you all the crystals they'd mined from Tywus for... oh say... since they first occupied it, then you wouldn't even have enough to build more than one more Terminus Crystal, that is assuming you had the facilities and resources to do so. You've got the original Terminus Crystal, and I tried to make it so only one could ever be introduced into the story. Your race is already the most powerful in the galaxy, and it's pretty much a foregone conclusion that you'll win this war, unless all your allies turn against you. Having all the Terminus Arrays you wanted at your disposal would only make it even more so. That's overkill. Please, edit you post.
**

Agreed, I'll edit my post. But not now, I'm a bit busy.

------------------
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).

Allright, the limpets aren't quite so fast. And they're not quite that small, let us say 6". So, even though it is difficult, Drainer 7s can be picked off with turrets as they approach. Against a normal ship, about 75% of the mines would slip through. Against a small ship, only about 10% would even hit the Fighter, but against a Supercruiser, almost 85% percent of the mines would clamp on. They're still a formidable weapon.

In the Saalia system, a force of 15 UE Decimators jumps in and attacks the Hirogen. They unleash a cloud of UE interceptors, which swarm the Corocian Aradas, wearing them down with sheer weight of numbers. The Decimators fire off packs of limpets, and even though the Hirogen's turrets blaze, some of them start to hit home. The Hirogen unleashes its fury, weapons blazing, pummeling the Decimators and causing severe damage. Then, its controls start to malfunction, thanks to the hindering of the limpets. As more mines press in, the Hirogen's steering worsens, and it shields have begun to fall at a steady rate. Then the Interceptors, having finished off the Aradas, go after the Hirogen, swarming around it, cannons and Rockets firing. Though the Hirogens turrets cut down many Interceptors, the Fighters have done their work. The Decimators close in, keeping up an almost constant rain of Missles and cannons. Soon the Hirogens shields are down and its armor is low, and its movement has become so labored that it remains in one place most of the time. The eight remaining Decimators press the attack, and soon the Hirogen becomes disabled. Engines destroyed, armor ravaged, systems malfunctioning... Though the UE lost about 100 Interceptors and seven decimators, the dreaded Hirogen has been totally crippled. A final salvo of Hunter missles pushes it over the edge. The Hirogen explodes in a towering fireball, spitting fragments of metal everywhere. The crew of the remaining UE Decimators raise a ragged cheer, and withdraw to Sol for repairs.

------------------
Macintosh for productivity, Linux for development, Palm for mobility, and Windows for Solitaire.

(This message has been edited by Samurai (edited 03-18-2001).)

There are at least ten mines to each supercruiser, Carnotaur.

Also, it's getting annoying how everybody researches super weapons in a second and I'm stuck playing by what I consider the rules.

Sorry about the multiple posts - it's just the way my brain works.

Also, I must re-ask this question, and need an answer before I can decide my next move - how many Igazras does everybody think I have left? All my money is going into new ones, you see, until now, when I think I'll research something fun.

Plus, how many ships do the Corocians have, and in a ratio how much better are they than Igazras?

I must know, or I won't know what to do next.

-----------------------------------

Esponer begins constructing three Igaras, larger, more powerful, Igazras. He requests Xranthium armour for them. They are about 3 kilometres long each, armed with plasma siphons and a horde of SAE modules, and have advanced engines so they move fast on the run. They are also cloaked.

Construction will be completed in some time now.

They will be called:
I.S.S Apocalypse
I.S.S Avenger
I.S.S Paladin

Carnotaur: Do you think these three Igaras could beat one of your supercruisers?

Esponer also sends 5 million credits to the UE to help with the conflict. He states, on a secure line:

The UE cannot stand against the Corocians and their allies long. I am massing support, and will send it all in one huge shockwave, but if you feel it is necessary, I understand that you may wish to surrender to the Corocians.

As you know, a human and a few of her workers joined the Igadzra a long time ago to help make a powerful laser weapon. They return as agents - they bring the laser weapon, and if you surrender to the Corocians they will try their upmost to comprosise F-25, by going in a cargo ship there.

My forces will be ready soon - if I'm unavailavle feel free to command them.

------------------
Draw the line with fire,
Cross it with ice,
Banish the fiery sun,
And bring on the silent moon.

Samurai: Even though your post is totally wrong and could never happen, I'll go along with it.

Esponer: No, your Igazras could not beat my Corocian Supercruisers. Not only are they 8.2 kilometers (originally 7.5 but that was enlarged in a refit) long, but they carry a massively destructive beam weapon called the Enhanced Photon Beam. They carry hundreds of turrets, and ten squadrons of Corocian Aradas and fifteen squadrons of Corocian fighters.

Oh, 10 space mines is still WWWAAAAAYYY too little. Are these the normal Voinian type space mines?

----------------------

When Carnotaur heard what had happened, he was furious. He called Scorcher. "Yes sir?"

"Scorcher, launch an all out attack on Sol. I want that Voinian fleet in Eltor, and as many Azdgari, Renegade, and Azdgari ships as you can availible. No less than 150 for each nation, except for maybe the Renegades. Then," he handed Scorcher a pad, "Do that."

Scorcher looked at it, then made an evil smile. "With pleasure."

----------------------

Fleets Assembled:
Voinian = 300+ ships
Renegade = 50+ ships
Azdgari = 300+ ships
Corocian = 350+ ships

----------------------

In the Sol system, the UE fleet had just gotten back to celebrate the victory. Suddenly....

Four massive fleets hyperspaced in from multiple vectors. The UE were surprised, slaughtered, then launched three waves of defense ships, which were also slaughtered. Then, they launched their entire defense fleet, and asked for immediate reinforcements. However, the UE and Igadzra were being heavily raided by enemy forces, and could send only a few.

The battle raged on. Suddenly, the C.R.S. Omega and C.R.S. Apollyon decloaked and joined the fray. Then, the C.R.S. Imperial (construction on the C.R.S. Royal had been stopped to help and speed up the construction of the Imperial) arrived. The massive fleet now numbered 1000+ vessels.

However, the UE fought back hard, but not hard enough. Some ships were able to get close enough to Luna or Earth to bombard the surface a little before being shot down, and plummeted to the surface, causing even more havoc.

The Corocians, Renegades, Voinians, and Azdgari were taking heavy losses, but the battle was not over.

Suddenly, the C.R.S. Demon appeared, and moved towards Luna. The UE tried to stop it, but any ships that approached were shot down by the combined strength of the Terminus Array and the new Enhanced Photon Beam. Then, the Demon orbited Luna, and opened fire with missiles and its main (the enhanced photon and terminus) beams. It wrecked havoc on the UE, destroyed almost every single one of they bases on Luna. Then, it nuked one populated city and another smaller city on Luna, then approached Earth.

By that time, all the Corocian Supercruisers were orbiting Earth, and they had all began to open fire with their weapons and missiles.

Like Luna, UE bases on Earth were the main target. The Corocians also used firebombs on several large cities, as well as three nukes on three other small cities. The firebombs not only hit cities, but exploded in forests, grasslands, and roads, creating mass panick and horror as the flames grew. Then, a barrage of firebombs hit the UE parliment, and the UE capital city. Everything on Earth was in chaos.

Then, the Corocians ordered the UE to surrender, or they would nuke Earth to dust. Already there were only a small UE bases and shipyards on Earth left, and three of the major cities had been firebombed. Fires spread everywhere, huge craters covered the landscape. Smoke was already visible in the atmosphere the fires were so large. The UE in space had also taken heavy losses, and the Corocian fleet was obviously superior. They also had reinforcements coming.

Even if the UE tried to stop the Demon, it could just open up its bomb doors (the cargo area was converted to hold bombs) and just let them fall to Earth, and they would most likely land on the UE capital, since the Demon is orbiting that part.

------------------
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).

(This message has been edited by Captain Carnotaur (edited 03-18-2001).)

74.25 m, gb 3.5 m/d

Carno, do you know how many innocent people you killed in the firebombings? 'Major cities' only means lots of people, not lots of troops.
--------------

Esponer, I don't have any superweapons, and I've only used my bioweapons once... against a military base where no civilians lived.
--------------
The Rock and the AlpoPo don't count as superweapons; because-
1. The AlpoPo is confined to the DSN-2131 system, and, as that's not exactly prime real estate, nobody bothers going there. Although the weapon on it is powerful, I can't risk using it in battle because the platinum I mine from it;s core is too valuable to be lost.
2. The Rock doesn't have a superweapon, either. I'ts the strongest ship in the galaxy, but it's very hard to steer. The engine is powerful, but as the Rock weighs several billion tons, it also moves very slowly. Plus, the weapon, the Rotocannon, (although Carno persists to call it a Rotorcannon,) can only fire once every other minute and is only stron enough to remove 1000 shields/armor per hit- as it's so slow it is usually only used against space stations.

------------------
THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE!
(Lies are in your head.)

Sorry about that, Entropy, I got mixed up in the names. Now I'll call it the Rotocannon.

I also made it so that the Demon only firebombed three large cities and nuked one or two smaller cities. Carnotaur did this because he was angry about loosing the Hirogen, which had a crew compliment of about 8,000.

------------------
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).

Samurai broadcast a priority one message to all UE forces in the Sol system. "This is an emergency situation. All units, rally to me. All units, rally to me. Evacuate. Evacuate!"

On Earth, huge loads of civilians and military personnel have been loaded into freighter fleets. A full-scale evacuation is underway.

"Freighter fleets numbers one, six, and seven launch! Stay close to the main UE fleet."

The remaining UE forces rally to Samurai, trying to wait as long as possible for the evacuation ships to get off of Earth. Seven of eight freighter fleets have launched when the Corocians make up Samurai's mind for him. They begin to attack the main UE Fleet.

"Everyone, charge!!"

In a lightning fast move, the UE ships charge forward, pressing on, until finally they break through the Corocian defense lines. So far only three freighters have been lost. Samurai takes one last glance back at Earth and knows the worst. The demon's nukes had done their job.

"Everyone, get out of here! We'll regroup at Knox, now initiate hyperspace sequence!"

All the remaining UE vessels and freighter fleets jump out of the system, heading for safer Igadzra territory. Though the UE military suffered heavy casualties, most of the civilians escaped alive. And the Corocians took some losses too, though not as heavy as the UE's. Some of the refugees are transported to Station Unity, and the rest are redistributed among UE planets and Igadzra planets.

------------------
Macintosh for productivity, Linux for development, Palm for mobility, and Windows for Solitaire.

Thunder rushed to the medical bay after seeing the large, tattered UE fleet dock with Station Unity. The station's sensors had detected such high levels of radiation on the UE ships' hulls that they had needed to be decontaminated immediately after docking. Normally they would have been decontaminated before being allowed to dock, but they had multiple casualties aboard; which was why Thunder was now rushing to the medical bay.

There he was quickly directed to a man who claimed to be the mayor of New York, which Thunder recognized as a large city on Earth, the Human homeworld. He was being treated for advanced radiation sickness.

"Oh no..." Thunder gasped, "They didn't..."

"A full scale nuclear and firebomb attack on Earth and Luna." the mayor reported. "400 million dead."

' Four hundred million?!? "

"And that's only half the death toll the attack on Valos had. We've lost over a billion civilians to the Corocians."

"I can't believe it," Thunder muttered. "And after they'd agreed to limit their use of weapons of mass destruction... four hundred million killed..."

Back on in the Command Center, Thunder discussed matters with the Station Unity crew.

"Should we send them another message?" asked the Comm officer.

"No." Thunder repied. "Their actions have made their position clear. They're more interested in winning the war than in protecting civilian life."

"How do you propose we stop them?"

Thunder thought for a second, then answered: "We can't stop them. We're a civilian station. We've got so many refugees coming in that we can barely keep up, let alone try stopping the Corocians. We don't have the skills or the amount of ships necessary. And finally, this station was built to welcome all races in a sense of peace. We can't go out and look for trouble. All we can do is be here to take in the refugees that will undoubtedly continue to flock to our station."

"One more thing..." a security officer interjected, "the news media has been asking permission to interview the refugees arriving from Sol. Should I grant them access to the medical bay?"

"We're not going to limit the freedom of the press." Thunder said. "I'll let them in, but I'll be sure to tell them not to get in the way of anything and not to interfere with medical treatment. Maybe if the message of what's happening to the UE, the more than a billion civilians who have been killed, gets out to the rest of the universe, the Corocians will decide to reconsider their tactics."

------------------
A hatch opened up and the aliens said,
"We're sorry to learn that you soon will be dead,
But though you may find this slightly macabre,
We prefer your extinction to the loss of our job."

Samurai, Thunder, the Corocians only nuked two small cities and military-only bases. However, they preferred using firebombs. Carnotaur hoped that firebombs would force the civllians to leave before the city was destroyed instead of wiping them all out with a nuclear attack.

Also, my Corocian forces were under strict orders to attack only UE military vessels and to not touch a single civllian or refugee vessel.

-----------------

<Message to Thunder>
<Priority 1>
<Encoded>
<Thunder, I am quite sorry about the attack on Sol. However, it was a desperate situation; one of my supercruisers were destroyed, and 8,000 Corocians were killed. However, there were also 1,000 civillians, the family of the crew, that were also on the C.R.S. Hirogen when it exploded.

To make up for the damages I have caused, I'm attaching to this message 20 million credits, as well as designs to add on to station unity bringing it's fully capacity to 5 million. I'm also going to limit nuclear weapons to military sites only, but the two small cities (and a third even smaller one on Luna) were nuked because we didn't have enough firebombs, and, as I said, the situation was desperate. However, the use of firebombs will be continued until we come up with a better weapon.>
<End Message>

-----------------

Meanwhile, work on the C.R.S. Freedom has also been restarted.

Corocian scientists are also starting to work on several new types of nano-biogenic weapons target not for human death, but for other means. For instance, one type of biogenic weapon would be used to destroy crops, food, planets, etc. Another type would be to give certain non-fatal illnesses to humans/aliens such as coughing, headaches, etc.

Also, Entropy, when will you attack the Igadzra?

------------------
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).

Titan takes his fleet of 120 warships and heads to Knox to reforce Samurai.

------------------
"Life is like a trade ship going to JamesTown, you never know what you gona get."-Escape from Monkey island

deleted
------------------
"Life is like a trade ship going to JamesTown, you never know what you gona get."-Escape from Monkey island

(This message has been edited by Titan (edited 03-18-2001).)

In outrage that the Igadzra had taken two of their systems the Azdgari brought their full weapons of war to bear, there were millions of Azdgari that had gone back to work for agriculture that were still on call for the Azdgari Empire. Using the new forces the Azdgari quickly retake their systems and the Azdgari Supercruisers bring devastation among the Igadzra forces.

------------------
--The Eye is Upon you--
If you look long enough the Sun isn't that bright.

Kiwi you have to give esponer time to respond top your attack, I would revoke your post if I was a moderator.

------------------
"Life is like a trade ship going to JamesTown, you never know what you gona get."-Escape from Monkey island

Hey Carno, couldja update the map? I'm getting a little hazy on what territories are whose.

UE Scientists begin research of Subspace technology. -3 million.

------------------
Macintosh for productivity, Linux for development, Palm for mobility, and Windows for Solitaire.

Titan, Kiwi did nothing wrong. He only raided the Igadzra and gave them heavy losses. He did not capture any systems.

------------------
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).

As he recieved the message from Capatin Carnotaur, Thunder nearly fell over from shock. Twenty million credits! This would be more than enough to expand Station Unity, and ensure that they would be able to take in as many refugees as needed. After recovering from the surprise, Thunder sent a message back to Carnotaur

Message to Captain Carnotaur, encryption sequence active<<<

Captain Carnotaur-
On behalf of Station Unity and all of us here, thank you very much for your donation to help Station Unity expand and support it's refugee poplation. This will go a long way to help see that the refugees of the Corocian attacks will have a place to stay, live, and plenty of supplies to live comfortably. Whe had been planning an expansion for Station Unity, and your plans are promising. Our engineers will work to merge them with our own and come up with the best possible expansion for the station.

And if you or any of your people are ever in a position where you need a safe haven or place to stay, remember that you'll always be welcome on Station Unity.

-Thunder, Station Unity Stationmaster

End message<<<

Three hours later, Thunder was in a meeting with the Station Unity cheif engineers, discussing the form the new addition would take on.

"The Corocian plans call for two large docking and residence rings to surround the main sphere, increasing our population capacity to approximately 4.7 million. The advantage is that it will keep our station compact and keep the center of mass the same."

"I still think we should go with the modified plan," another engineer said. "It would increase our population capacity to fully 6.5 million, and takes only slightly more material than the Corocian plan."

"Yeah," the first engineer shot back, "but it would be far more difficult to place a shield grid on that design! Our shield strength would be cut by 200 units, at least!"

"This station is unarmed anyway! And we only have 300 shields to begin with!" the second engineer argued. "This design will allow us to take in nearly 2 million more refugees!"

"Oh yeah?" the first engineer said, "Let's put it to a vote."

"Good idea," the second agreed. "Then you'll see you're hopelessly outnumbered." Quickly a poll was taken, five engineers in favor of the Corocian design, five in favor of the modified design.

"And a big help that was..." an engineer commented sarcastically.

"Hey, Thunder didn't vote!" another observed.

"Um... I'm not really an engineering expert," Thunder admitted, "I thought I'd leave this one up to you guys, since you know what you're doing."

"Yeah, well, both plans are structurally sound, and you've heard the pros and cons of each. It's really just a matter of preference. Go ahead, cast the tie-breaking vote. You are the stationmaster, after all."

"Okay," Thunder said, looking over the two designs. The sketch of the Corocian design made Station Unity look something like a ringed planet, while the modified design made the station look more like an aincent earth implement known as a "barbell," with two identical spheres connected by a short, cyllindrical central rod. After a couple of minutes of careful consideration of the specs of each, Thunder made his choice. "I think we should go with the modified design. We can enhance the shield grid with additional shield capacitors, and give added strength to the hull by using the schematics from the Corocian design, which is superior to our current hull configuration."

"For someone who isn't an engineering expert, you sure know your way around a schematic drawing."

"Yeah, well, I got a little experience from helping build the station. And I'll probably get even more helping to build the addition."

"When do we start construction?" the cheif engineer asked.

"As soon as we're all ready to begin." Thunder replied.

------------------
A hatch opened up and the aliens said,
"We're sorry to learn that you soon will be dead,
But though you may find this slightly macabre,
We prefer your extinction to the loss of our job."

why'd you end number two???