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Admiral Benden watched as Luke left in the new Rebel Destroyer he had loaned him. Benden smiled at the parting words he had given Luke, "Now commander, I want to see that ship back in one pice, and I don't want to have to come and save you from total annihlation." He had said that, even though he was nearly sure that the ship would be toast in another two weeks, He paced back along the bring catwalks over the crewpit and sat down in his command chair. "Navigator?" "Yes sir?" replied the officer on navigation duty that day. "Set course for Spica. I hear that our friends there have cooked up a nice little suprise for the Confederates." ----------------------------------------- Twenty minutes(ship time) later, the Blood Dragon fleet landed at Spica Weapons and Technology Research complex. Admiral Benden and the other senior officers of the fleet walked into the complex, going through the securtiy checkpoints until they reached the lift shaft in the center of the complex, the only way down to the top secret weapons labs. Admiral Benden and Commander Ongola(NPC) punched in their security codes and typed in SL-56. Sub Level 56 was where all of the main weapons developement was for the Rebellion. The lift jolted and speedily dropped to SL-56, where a door that required identification to enter was. Each officer present put their thumb on the scanner and gave a spoken password. When that was all done, they walked through the door and approached the head scientist. "So, the word from Palshife is that you guys have a new something or another for us to play with." "Well, it isn't new, but it will help a lot. When we were going through the records of alien technology fom the Great War, we stumbled upon an old device that was on the Alien mothership. We knew they had been orbiting Saturn for a great time, collecting gases to try and make enough feul for them to get home. When they figured out how advanced we where, they attacked because they saw us as a possible threat to their supremacy. We had multiple scans of Saturn, and we had never detected their ships. Well, actually, some of the thing that we thought were moons were some of their older ships, that they were using as fleet tenders. Well, back on topic, we couldn't figure out how they did it until now." "We found this piece in a museum on Earth. The Confederate scientists had swarmed over it for years, until they called it worthless and put it in a museum. We, um, extracted it from the museum and have been studying it for about two years. We recently made a copy of it, and exposed it to psyonic radiation. This mademost of the building dissappear. So, we have made about thirty adapted copies of the device. Shield recharge is a problem though. The cloak has to be emitted at the exact frequency of the shields, or the ship will still be visible, and the shields will be useless. So you have to turn your shields off to use this. When the Aliens disengaged these, their shields recharged extremely fast, and thus made the side effect unworrisome. However, our shields can take half an hour to recharge, so we have also been working on a way to get shields to recharge better. We also extracted the remanents of the alien fighter that crashed in Roswell in th 1950's. We have been able to get a few of it systems working, but not the ones we need. So. We have twenty cloaks, and we, the scientists, think that the Blood Dragon fleet should try them out first." Stunned by all this new information, Benden was speachless. He stood there for a few minutes, long enough for the scientist to start shifting on his feet nervously ibefore he spoke. "Well, this is a good developement, though most of those can be used better. I want you to out fit my fleet, and then start making lots of them. When you have about fifty, I want you to out fit a strike force of Mantas. We can use those as our new spy weapon." He smiled again. Too bad Commander Luke hadn't stuck around. He would love this.
------------------ "The heathens are upon us. Arm yourselves and go with God." Paul Benden, Commander of the Purple Sector Fleet, prior to the Battle of Cygni. (url="http://"http://pub70.ezboard.com/bevtechsoftware")EVTech Software Webboard(/url)
OOC: :frown: I wanna super cloaking alien techno thing-a-ma-jig. Oh well...
The Constant Vigilance and it's six Mantas are about to enter the Aries system when a disabled Manta floats across the screen. Being a nice kind of guy ( ), Luke brings Constant Vigilance next to the Manta and sends a rescue party.
(RADIO MESSAGE FROM BLUE SQUADRON COMMAND TEAM ABOARD THE RSS CONSTANT VIGILANCE, SENT TO RESCUE MANTA 4271:) "Sir...<static>the Manta seems to be desert<static>uest permission to<static> Copy. Now boarding. (WHOOSH!) Air-lo<static> open. Yes, it <static> deserted. Wait, sir... What's tha<static> Oh n<stativ> Get ou-<static>................." (END MESSAGE)
Luke's first thought after hearing this was: "I'm hungry."
Luke's next immediate thought was: Hey, wait a minute...
The Constant Vigilance exits the system and heads for Aries.
------------------ Write your complaints here: O Please don't write out of the space.
LW and the remains of the New Cydonian Assault Fleet arrive in Aries. Miles arrives in Aries system, and checks out the Intersteller News:
Quote
"Top story today is the failed coup attempt on Lethe Prime. While New Cydonia launched a daring ground assault on Lethe Prime, the Prime Minister was killed by one of his bodyguards along with several high ranking officials. With the leadership dead, previously unknown Lethean Army General Horreson lead the defense of the parliment building against Cydonian forces. General Horreson issued this statement 'Thanks to Confederation reinforcements, we saved the government from destruction. Lethe Prime has long had cordial relations with the confeds, and we are now strengthening those ties. With Confederate assistance, everything will soon be back to normal. From now on, a garrison of Confed Marines will help protect our capital and space port and make sure this never happens again. Until the next election, I will assume the duties of the Prime Minister. Do not worry, everything is under control.' "
Miles doesnt believe it! Lethe Prime a Confederate puppet? Derrick intrudes "all ships land on New Cydonia, rearm weapons, then meet me in the spaceport bar." Miles carefully passes near a rebel destroyer in the system. Scanners show nothing unusual, except a 5% match on Luke's biosigniture. Miles proceeds to port.
With LW captians gathered around a large table in a private room in the spaceport bar, Derrick announces that he has aquired 3 more Lightnings and rehired their old friend Cory to fly one. Jeff passes around the Earth Brandy. The President of New Cydonia enters and thanks Derrick for the fabulous escort job. He hands $100K bonus credit chips to everybody.
Derrick banters with the Prez for a bit, then the President leaves. One guard remains. This guard introduces himself as "Mr. Vizier". He tells Derrick "We need some assistance with Plan D. I cannot tell you all the details, even if you agree. It is worth 15 million, and involves no serious combat." Derrick agrees. Mr. Vizier has Derrick sign a generic 'service contract', then hands Derrick a small box.
Miles demands "What the **** is going on!" Mr. Vizier replies: "Don't worry, everything is under control.<cryptic grin>" then leaves.
More From Intersteller News:
"In other news, the Confederation Senate has begun debate on a formal declaration of war against the rebel bandits. The measure would increase warship production to levels not seen since the Great War. Opponents have threatened to filibuster..."
------------------
(This message has been edited by magicianeer (edited 06-29-2001).)
Six shiny Rebel Cruisers sporting the insignia of the Blood Dragon fleet moved serenely up through the atmosphere of Spica. On the bridge of the lead ship, Admiral Benden watched as the the atmosphere dissapated into space, and the hulll creaked a little as the atmospheric pressure was relieved. The Blood Dragon fleet was on a special assignment. Filled in the holds of the ships were thousands of marines and personel. Two innocuos looking freighters sped ahead of their beefier cousins. The freighter weren't really freighters. They were Rebel Destroyers that had been refitted to look like freighters. The ships were really the Black Claw and Black Talon, ships from the secretive Black Dragon fleet. They were now flying IFF signals that identified them as the Red Rover and Shooting Star. The mission was simple. The Rebelion was short on ships, and the Confederates had them. Not only were the main shipyards for the Confederation on Luna, but also a secondary shipyard for CDX Starworks. The Rebels usually paid for ships and supplies, but stealling from the opposition was not unheard of. In the holds of the Black Claw and Black Talon, were fifty cloaking devices and bridge personel that needed ships. The scientists had anticipated him and had already started to build one hundred of the cloaking devices. The ships reached the edge of the planets gravity well and engaged their Hyperdrives.
Originally posted by magicianeer: **OOC: Welcome Riprash... Pirate Kestrel + 6 fighters vs 2 confed cruisers, 8 pt boats (carried by cruisers), and 3 confed frigates. Pirates down one CA, suffering no losses, other confeds flee in terror. A bit much even against the EV AI. btw, neutron turrets don't exist. **
OOC: yeah, well I like to add a bit of variety (They exist in EVO, it think. What are they called in EV? I can't remeber.)! Oh, by the way, it's supposed to be Death Hawk. Spelling mistake!
"This is the Death Hawk calling all Rebel and anti-Confed forces! Mayday Mayday! I have a large Confed persuit fleet on my tail! Request immediate backup!" Riprash shouted, drouning out all the alarm sirens. Soon, the battered Lethen Air Defense force zoomed past the Hawk and engaged the feds. "Let's give 'em a bit of help. Launch fighters!" As the first fighter left the bay, a defening explosion ripped through the ship. "Sir, weve lost a lighning, and the bay is in ruins! Shields down 50% and our port weapons are offline!!" "What happened?" "Sir, two heavy rockets came through the small launch opening in our shields and hit the bay!" 'Thank God for Tritanium!' he thought. "Order all pilots to stay in their ships, and take us down to the surface!" Another explosion. "Engines offline! we're drifting." Riprash gulped. A face appeared on the view screen. It was the captain of one of the confed cruisers. "Prepare to be boarded. Lower what remains of your shields, power down your weapons and disengage all security systems. We are siezing your ship." Riprash gulped again. "Men, arm yourselves."
OOC: Can I have a cloak too? I did a big special mission for the Rebels! No? :frown: :frown:
OOC: I am sorry, but you can't have a cloak. They were only just developed and are very top secret devices. Only the Scientist and the Blood and Black Dragon Fleets know they exist. The Kestral comes equipped with Proton Turrets, and those are the most powerful turreted weapon. There are neutron cannons, but those are very large and wouldn't be worth mounting on a turret. Neutron Cannons are equipped standard on all Fed Cruisers. Work for them if you want one, since they are only available in Fed space. Oh, and I have found a way to have access to a computer for a few hours each day.
Originally posted by Riprash: **OOC: Can I have a cloak too? I did a big special mission for the Rebels! No?:frown: :frown: **
OOC:Listen, if I'm a Rebel Commander, and I can't have one, why would a pirate who just happens to dislike the 'feds get one?
OOC:magicianeer, you're not makin' this easy... Hey, Admiral Benden- you have six cruisers. Would ya mind lending me one? Please?
Originally posted by Luke: **OOC:magicianeer, you're not makin' this easy... Hey, Admiral Benden- you have six cruisers. Would ya mind lending me one? Please? **
OOC: If a cruiser escort will do, perhaps call in some 'backup' from Sirgil.
OOC: About not making it easy, I don't know whats going on with the Cydonian marked confed warships, could be anything. I will leave that to you since you introduced it. I assume that these ships will act on Cydonia's behalf from time to time, to keep up appearances. Don't take that 'news post' seriously, be creative.
(This message has been edited by magicianeer (edited 06-30-2001).)
Vontay's head is spinning, he is the only person in the entire galaxy who knows of the fatial flaw in the rebel's new cloaking device, and his pilot is dead. If he doesnt get this information to Palshife soon, the rebellian is in serioues danger. "Im a scientist" he mutters as he takes the controls of the small manta, "not a pilot". His fears quickly fade away as a transmission comes through from a rebel destroier that has just entered the system: "Comrade, identify yourself, are you in need of assistance?" "Yes, my pilot is dead from a heart attack, and i have impotant information which needs to be relaied to Palshife ASAP." Vontay waits for a reply, but none comes. A quick scan reveals why: the destroier has been reduced to a smoldering heap, and sitting in its place are two Conf. Cruisers. Vontay prepares to die.
------------------ ** //===/ลนลนลนลนลนลนลนลนลนลนลนลนลนลน ลนลนลนลนลนลนลน | | JPH | ** Vontay
Admiral Benden watched as the starlines transformed themselves into little pinpricks of light. They were entering the Sol system, but were coming in from outside the orbit of Pluto and above the elliptic. The fleet immediately engaged the cloaks, and started the feul scoops that had been fitted on the ships. It wouldn't take them long, since they were doing a slingshot manuever around Jupiter and moving at speeds that would cause 22 times the force of gravity to act on the crew. The only thing that would keep them alive were the gravitational compensators. All to soo the moment of truth was upon them, the two Rebel Desstroyers that had been outfitted to look like freighters entered the system. They shot a tight beam encrypted message toward the Blood Dragon fleet. That was their signal that the path was clear. The six cruisers sped around the mass of gas known as Jupiter. The crew was all holding on to something, since it was not often that a maneuver like this was performed. The ships began to shake and rattle, and they were only at half the speed they needed to achieve. That was something that the navigators hadn't put into their equations. The people in the ships woulod survive, but the ships wouldn't! Admiral Benden quickly sent a tight beam message to all of the ships in his fleet. "All ships, increase gravtational compensators to extend three meters beyond the hull. If you don't do this in thje next," he looked at his chrono, "thirty seconds, you will be toast." He ended the transmission and quickly fumbled with the controls. The screen to the right of his command chair lit up with a display of the Blood Claw and the extent of its energy fields. ENlarging the gravitational field to ten meters beyond the hull was no problem. Three was even less of one. The problem lied with the fact that they would be more detectable. Benden quickly typed in a command, then he typed in his password. The field that represented the gravitational compensators ary of coverage began to grow. It would be 15 seconds, give or take a few, before the compensators could extend out that far. They had 15 seconds until they would be torn apart by the g-forces. Benden grimaced. He watched as the numbers ticked off from each of the displays. Then, fifteen seconds was up. He tightened his grasp on his command chair and waited to hear the screach of metal being torn from metal...
...Nothing happened. The compensators had only extended two and three fourths meters beyond the hull, but that was enough to keep them from becoming space debris. They finished the maneuver without any unwelcome events, When they reached Luna, they put themselves in a geosincronous orbit slightly north of the shipyards. One ersatz freighter was moving toward the Confederate Shipyards and was getting ready to plant the cloaks on twenty five of the nearly finished Fed Cruisers and Frigates. The other one was above the CDX Starworks shipyard, and was getting ready to plant cloaks on nearly ftwenty five nearly finished Argosies. There was only going to be a bridge and engineering crew on each of the stolen ships. The ships weren't supposed to be doing any real fighting. That was why they didn't need any gunners. The two ships worked with muck precision and timing. The ships landed and people began swarming out of the cargo bays. They each had a job to do. FInd a working ship. Cloak it. Steel it. Each ship carried twenty five extra feul scoops and a 100/50 Matter/Antimatter warhead. Matter/Antimatter weapons were frouned upon officially, by both the Rebellion and the Confeds. However, they each used small warheads in tactical strikes against eachother. None were near this size. After the Argosies and stolen Fed ships were out of the atmosphere, the bombs would be planted by the two "freighters". They would then run away and detonate them, covering the theft and destroying the shipyards. Within half an hour, Benden was getting nervous. What they had hoped hadn't been done had. The Argosies were all in orbit, but the Fed ships all had their antitheft devices installed already and the crews were trying to hack their way past them. Benden saw ten cruisers round the horizon and set a course straight for his fleet. With no other hope, he ordered those remaining on the planet to just jump aboard the ships, start 'em up, and get back to Palshife. The bombs were being planted as he spoke, so that would still work.. They would have pursuit all the way to Palshif though. He ordered that the six cruisers launch their fighters, disengage their cloaks, and prepare for battle...
<Edited to go along with the rest of the story>
(This message has been edited by Admiral Benden (edited 07-04-2001).)
Luke and his escorts arrived in the Aries system nervous and confused. They were missing five crew members, who had appeared to be aboard the disabled manta one minute, but were not showing up on life scans at all the next. Luke was greeted by two more rebel destroyers and a cruiser from a secret rebel base on Deneb III, who were there to help in Luke's mission to Lethe to see what the **** was going on. The Aries system was deserted, but sensors on the cruiser from Deneb (The RSS Lincoln) showed that most of the infamous Lightning Wing mercneary band were docked on New Cydonia. Luke scowled at the planet and then told all ships to head for Lethe.
Meanwhile, on Lethe: the Lethean "President" is laughing with a bunch of Confederates. "What a bunch of crud. The Intergallactic Press bought every word of it!" he said, gulping down some Polaris fine Honeydew.
OOC: Sorry, I haven't got much time to read or post, but I'll try.
UR and the councils members were eating chinese take-out, trying to figure out why the 'fed attack seemed weaker than usual. The meeting was broken short when UR had an idea, "I'll patrol around the Sol system and relay anything I get to my Sickle fleet, which will be around Lethe." UR had a disguised light freighter waiting for him. He got in and left for Sol, he had very few worries for his ship had hidden upgrades. He watched as the stars became starlines, and let out a deep sigh.
------------------ I try to think but nothing happens!- Ultimate Rebel
Miles takes the fighter pilots of LW to orbit to practice maneuvers. LW now has 11 fighters, and needs new tactics to use them effectively. The 2 newcomers were veterans of the Lethe-Cydonia war. After 3 hours of cursing, Miles understands why New Cydonia never got anywhere in its war-- they are the worst combination of recklessness, inexperience, and pride. Derrick brings Thunder to the area "Jole, Rick, you are assigned to operate from Thunder's fighter bay". They dock on Thunder. That left Miles with 9 fighters, and took the two cydonian firebrands out of his hair.
Derrick establishes a conference call on the encrypted LW channel. "Here's Mr. Vizier's 'Plan D': Basically the same operation as last time, but on Privateer's Haven. The difference is there will be 6 Argosies to escort, and No Cydonian fleet assistance. We are to link up with the Cydonian/Confederate 'Blue Streak' Fleet (5 CA, 10 FF, 10 gunboats) currently in Lethe, then head to Privateer's Haven. Another difference is that LW must provide air support to the ground troops during the invasion."
Derrick continues "I want a few things on Privateers Haven as well. I want pirate ships captured on the ground. They will all launch before the main assault force can reach the planet, so Miles will lead a vanguard to Privateers Haven and set up some sabotage... " Derrick hatches a crazy scheme of locking most of the people out of the landing area at the moment the main assault fleet arrives. Derrick loads 4 thug-types into Miles' fighter, and 4 each into three 3 other fighters. Miles and the other 3 (LW's best: Tim, Jeff, Matt) jump to Privateer's Haven. Derrick and the remaining 5 fighters join the New Cydonian Argosies and jump to Lethe.
Somewhere: Vontay siezes the controls and runs as patrol ships zoom in. Missiles leap at him. Vontay spins and gyrates, dodging all the missiles. Though Vontay is a great scientist, he is not an experienced manta fighter pilot. His wild turning allows the patrol ships into proton cannon range. They disable his ship in textbook form. The cruisers saunter over to collect him.
The officers wernt buying it. "Perhaps our subject would respond better to... alternative forms of persuasion" The dark man said, guesturing to an expressionless doctor holding a syringe. Before the doctor could respond, however, a message came over the intercom, "Sir, a rebel fleet has just... appeared, we need you on the bridge!" The officers rushed out of the room, leaving only a single guard to watch Vontay. Appeared, he said, thought Vontay, if these ships are using the new cloaking devices, it cant be long before the machines start disrupting their weapons. "Now dont try anything," the guard said to Vontay "I am well versed in the art of marksmanship-" but before the guard could continue, a giant explosion rocked the ship, and the guard (a newcomer to outer space, judging by the way he handled himself tn the 1/4 gravity of the ship) flew across the room and hit his head against the wall. Vontay, however, had spent time in low gravity research stations, and was better able to handle himself in the low gravety. He took the oppertunity to sieze the man's gun and run out of the room.
Vontay knew these ships well, before defecting to the rebellion, he had helped design a version of one. Confederate Cruisers had notoriouesly weak life support systems, and, he thought, it would take very little to disrupt them...
On the bridge of an attacking Rebel Destroier: "Sir, the crew of the second Confed. cruiser, theyre, well, dying." "What?" "Yes, it seems there has been some sort of major malfunction in their life support systems- nearly two thirds of the crew is dead, and the rest are heading for escape pods..."
OOC: btw, im in, um, Curzon, and still in the Conf. Cruiser, the only part of the Conf Cruiser with working life support systems.
------------------ //===/ลนลนลนลนลนลนลนลนลนลนลนลนลนลนลนลนลนลนลนลนลน= | | JPH | ห ห V o n t a y ห ห ห ห ห ห ย ห| =| ===ลนลนลนลนลนลนลนลนลนลนลนลนลนลนลนลนลนลนลนลนลน/=/
(This message has been edited by Vontay (edited 07-03-2001).)
"Oh, crap..." Luke muttered as his small fleet entered Lethe. Lethe was inhabited by a Confederate fleet, some Lightning Wing fighters, and a bunch of Argosies. Luke pressed the comm link to all ships. "OK, everyone. Get your butts to Lethe as fast as you can." The main Lethe dockmasters weren't responding to Luke's docking request, so he decided to just camp out in some forest. He was getting good at that.
Later: "Commander, we're sending out some marines to secure the space port. We have some from my ship; some from the Lincoln; and some from the other destroyer, the RSS Last Revenge. Do you have anyone who could assist?" Luke brought some thugs from the Constant Vigilance and headed for the space port.
OOC: Vontay. Let me repeat myself, a little more clearly this time. No one except the people that were in the eight ships with me and the scientists working at the Rebelions main Weapons and Technology Research Facilities top secret bottom level know of the cloaking device. The ten cruisers only detected us because of the gravitic anomolies that the ships were producing in order to keep the hulls from ripping apart. The cloaking device works across many spectrums, but only so well. So if any planet based had pointed their sensors at the place were my fleet was they would pick up some odd anomolies that would bear investigation. --------------------------------------------------------------- Admiral Benden quickly prepared his fleet for battle. If the faster Rebel Cruisers could single out the slow and bulky Confederate Cruisers then take them on one by on that might enable them to escape. The ships from the Black Dragon Fleet could be here momentarily. The stolen Confed ships were nearly finished, except for some fine tuning and some interior ammenities installation, so they might be able to beat the other Confed cruisers outright, But none of this was in the plan. They were going to run toward the enemies, firing every missile and torpedo. Then they would fly past them, trying to get the Cruisers to chase them. They would then shunt power from their weapon systems into their shields, along with the power being generated by the RAM scoops. This would keep them from taking to much damage, and hopefully luring the Feds away from the stolen Argosies and Fed ships. These would be escorted out by the Black Talon and Black Claw. Admiral Benden thought about it. "Black Talon, come in." The comm unit crackled, "This is Black Talon, what are your orders sir?" "Have you planted the Warhead yet?" Admiral Benden asked the Captain. "No sir," replied the captain of the Black Talon. "Good. Cancel the strike on the CDX-S shipyard. I want you to load it into a Heavy Rocket, attach four Missiles to the outside of the Rocket, and add on two extra Rocket stages as boosters," Benden ordered over the comm unit. A matter/antimatter warhead of any magnitude didn't have to get really close to damage everything in a fifty kilometer radius. The Fed ships were reasonably close together. The response over the comm unit as the captain grasped the idea was rather stunned. "But sir! That will take hours!" Benden replied crisply, "Good, you have ten minutes. That is also the time you have in which to load your teams and get in orbit." He switched off the comm, not waiting for a reply. He thought for a few moments more. He sent out a tightbeam message to each of the ships that were cloaked. They were also very vunerable to attack. "All ships crews. Strap yourselves in and disengage gravity systems. Transfer that power into the engines and coolant systems. Godspeed to Palshife." He ended the transmission. He turned his attention to the task at hand. He was numerically overpowered, and his cruisers only were at ten percent shields. They would be at fourty five percent by the time the Cruisers were in firing range. He decided that was not a good thing and ordered that the fleet move over to the CDX Starworks shipyard, which would give him almost eighty nine percent shields, It would also allow the technicians on the Black Talon more time to work on their jury rigged Tactical Nuclear missile. He transmitted this information to that ship. Now it was a waiting game.
<Edited because people found flaws in my explanations>
Derrick arrives in Lethe, and calls the Cydonian/Confeds on the Plan D secure channel to arrange departure. "Negative, we cannot depart at this time." What! "Ahem, You Have Orders!" The Rear Admiral leading the Confeds breaks down. "Ok, we got a situation here. While en route to Lethe, we came across Dirk Riprash's ship 'Death Hawk'. I assume you have heard of this villain. We engaged and defeated the Death Hawk handily. I sent the frigate 'Stalwart' to secure the ship, but the pirates fought back and actually conquered the Stalwart! Fortunately, Stalwart's engineering crew disabled the ship's reactor before the pirates killed them."
The Rear Admiral continues "I sent a cruiser with a full division of marines to recapture the Stalwart. They succeeded, but the pirates slipped back into Death Hawk and managed to repair its weapons. The scoundrels blasted the cruiser in its belly, killing hundreds. The marines crossed over from Stalwart to Death Hawk and finally finished them. I have Dirk Riprash in my brig now and all ships are operational (with varying damages). But I do not have enough crew left to man all my ships plus Death Hawk plus the assault force."
Derrick concludes this guy is not very bright-- an opportunity to be seized: "I have extra crew aboard my ship, all experienced Kestrel hands. We could take Death Hawk along with us and easily complete our missions." The rear admiral hems and haws, but eventually agrees, just after a small rebel fleet jumps in. Derrick sends his first officer and half of his crew to the Death Hawk. Both Kestrels flesh out their crews with volunteers from the Cydonian Army soldiers on the Argosies.
While crew men are moving around, Derrick sends Dave to check out the rebels. "No aggressive acts Dave". Dave passes the rebels as they enter Lethe Prime's atmosphere, and watches where they land. Dave reports "5% chance Luke is aboard one of the rebel destroyers.. Rebels landed outside the spaceport..-- Interesting, return to formation" Derrick decides to leave the rebels alone, and the fleet jumps to NGC-1896 (privateer's haven).
(This message has been edited by magicianeer (edited 07-03-2001).)
Originally posted by Admiral Benden: **The cloaking device only works across the visual spectrum, so if any military ship had pointed their sensors at the place were my fleet was they would see large hunks of metal, containing life forms and emitting huge energy fields. **
OOC: Radar, radio and frequency scanners do not use the visual spectrum. This implies that Luna, Earth, Stardock Alpha and Mars bases would have observed your arrival on their standard radar equipment. You would be facing much more firepower. You should revise your cloaking device physics to work across the electromagnetic spectrum below and including the visual spectrum. (Radiation from your ship's power plant will still give you away).
Originally posted by Admiral Benden: **A nuclear warhead of that magnitude didn't have to get really close to kill everything in a ten kilometer radius. **
OOC: Nukes do not work as well in space as they do on planets. Most of the damage of a nuke on Earth is done by the atmosphere pressure wave created by the explosion. Space has no atmosphere, so the damage will be only from radiation (kills people, melt things) + Electro Magnetic Pulse (EMP, destroys electronics) + bomb fragments (insignificant). As the Confed CA is a thousand meters long, 'close' has different meaning for them-- 10 CAs close together might stretch over 20km allowing for maneuvering room between ships. You could probably disable all the ships via EMP, and vaporize a couple outright via radiation near the blast center. Or maybe you are carrying antimatter...
Miles' squadron arrives at Privateer's Haven, pays 5K to dock, and docks without incident. The thug types carry their gear from the fighters and disappear. Miles puts on some body armor and fake scars, checks his blasters, and heads into the station with the other pilots.
During transit, Miles learned that the "gear" was a binary nerve gas. Each fighter had carried one of the 2 gasses. Separately, the gasses are harmless. When combined they form a nerve gas that kills in seconds via skin contact or inhalation. Miles rents a room and posts a new item for sale on the commodities board: "binary nerve gas, 10K/ton, 20 tons available". He and the other pilots settle in to wait till zero hour.
(This message has been edited by magicianeer (edited 07-04-2001).)
"You'll never take me alive!" shouted General Horreson. He was shouting through a comm-link to Captain Kyle Freedmon of the RSS Lincoln. "You may have killed my marines in this port, but there are plenty more! The mighty Cydonians and the great Confederation will crush Lethe!" Freedmon yawned. "Yeah. Sure. Now you just follow me." Horreson's voice was shaking with rage. "I will not come out of this vehicle!" Horereson had garrisoned himself inside a Rendelli Shuttlecraft and refused to come out. Luke's attack had gone well. The Rebel troops had surprise-attacked the General's marines, and suffered very few casualties. They had freed the real Lethean Prime Minister from a prison in a town near the space port. He told Luke that Lethe had not joined the Confederation, that the Cydonians had, and that they would be glad to assist the Rebellion. Freedmon sighed and hooked a comm line to the Constant Vigilance. "Commander Luke, this big oaf refuses to get out of that tin can. Should we just blow him up?" "No..." came Luke's reply. "We may be able to get some information out of him."
------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile, on Privateer's Haven, a rich pirate moron buys all 20 tons of that toxic stuff.