Pfft.
The Abh are gonna be all like "Oh look they used that glowy blue stuff to build death robots, let's look for that on all of our planet. Oh look our homeworld is made out of it thus explaining it's gravity/size ratio how convenient. Let's make an army of death robots so we can actually invade planets without losing our entire armed forces."
Then this roleplay becomes a mecha anime because two nations decided "The only way to invade planets is with giant death robots".
You say that like its a bad thing. I for one welcome our robotic overlords. I long for the ever more absurdedly powerful robot designs to pollute the universe until everyone has fleets of hundreds of thousands of Gunbusters that are used as cannon fodder
Djonn gave Mr. Hemming a curt bow. "Pleasure to be of your service sir, I am sure everything will run smoot-" Hemming had already gone back to his preparations. Shaking his head Djonn walked over to where Lieutenant Thorpe had beckoned him. He paid careful attention and made mental notes of where to go, paying very special note to the last leg of their journey.
"Macavel? How could any self-respecting individual feel safe guarded by those clowns Sir?" Djonn Shrugged, "I guess it just goes to show that with merchants profit is more important than safety. I would like to know more about the affairs of these estates. I used to be close with the Baelin household, but admittedly I haven't spoken to them since well..." he paused not exactly sure what to say.
Lydia had been childhood friends with the eldest Baelin daughter: Katya. When Lydia's father passed away she was taken in by the Baelin house and raised as their adoptive daughter. Lydia wasn't the kind to take advantage of others and left the house when she was 18 to find her name in the world, yet throughout all that time she had kept up correspondence with Katya and the Baelins however she could. Djonn and Lydia had actually been married on the Baelin Estate, and her knowledge of the land had been part of why the two were initially deployed to Bellencrest in the first place. After Lydia's death the Baelin family had been surprisingly supportive, they didn't begrudge Djonn for what had happened as he expected they would. Her funeral was the last time he had ever spoken to or saw them. He imagined the reunion would be interesting, though it was not something that he was excited for.
Regaining his composure quickly Djonn tried the question again. "I would like to know about the estates sir," While he awaited the response he gave Thorpe a once over, the man looked harried to say the least. He looked like death. "Is everything alright Thorpe?"
Sometimes Wilson its just best to cover your ears, rock back and forth in the fetal position, and whisper "Its science fantasy" With intermittent sobbing if you roll that way.
"Well. That was fast." Admiral Val'Kronna noted to nobody in particular as the blip appeared on the sensor screens. The battleship Ikk'it and her escorts had only just arrived a little less than an hour before, the diplomats were still asleep as the ship was deep in its night cycle. "Bring the ship up to condition 2 and get me a better picture of who or whatever that blip is. There's no way the Ahh are here this early."
The sleeping vessel was soon awoken as crewmen and damage control crews rushed to their positions. The Ikk'it wasn't fighting. Yet. But an potentially unknown object had just arrived and they weren't taking any chances.
"Sir, the vessel appears to check out. It matches known Ahh configurations and is approaching the rendezvous point steadily."
"That is very interesting stuff Coms, open a communications line with the Ahh and somebody wake up the diplomats. Our honored guests have arrived."
The Ikk'it sent a simple message over most EM frequencies towards the Abh battleship. "Greetings Abh diplomats, I am Admiral Val'Kronna of the Navy Syndicate, I welcome you in the name of the Hegemony. We will admit that you surprised us with your early arrival. We look forward to opening diplomatic dialogues with your people. If you would kindly send us any atmospheric concessions that need to be made we will prepare chambers for your party and ours to discuss matters in, though we both seem to be oxygen breathers."
Name: Yekaterina Tsukishima Alexandrovna Von Ingram
Race: Human
Augmentics: Nothing beyond the basic interface augments required of officers, she finds the concept of human augmentation repugnant.
Rank: Commodore in His Unapproachable Majesty's Royal Navy; Commander of Special Task Squadron Rho; Baroness, by succession, of the Barony of Ingram
Alias: His Majesty's Switchblade (earned during the Jihad for her unconventional, and some would say illegal, raids on barbarian forces)
Physical Description: Yekaterina is a buxom human female in her early thirties. Her features are a mixture of her ancient Terran ancestors who hailed from Eastern Europe and East Asia. She has chin length black hair and light brown eyes. She is of slightly above average height for women.
Personality: Yekaterina is a bit of a contradictory character when it comes to the accepted image of aristocracy. She shares the haughtiness and sense of superiority towards all around her that comes with being highborn, but that is where the image begins to fall apart. She has all of the tact as a sledgehammer and is very forward about her opinions whether they were asked for or not. She respects her superiors though finds it difficult to hide her disdain for orders or individuals whom she finds incompetent or faulty. While many of her peers find her aggravating or crude, what they can all agree on is that she holds herself less like a woman and more like a force of nature. The cult of personality she has cultivated amongst her crew and the fleet at large through her exploits and laid back demeanor seem to have gone to her head, she has adopted the larger than life persona of a pirate queen(not that she would ever call herself a queen as if she were equal to His Majesty) that follows her wherever she goes. She considers herself to be one of the only members of the fleet who is willing to do anything it takes to see the Kingdom of Far Valyrius and His Grace Odyssius XVII reach their rightful place in the sun.
Personal History: To make an exceedingly long story short, Yekaterina made her name as a raider captain deep in Arian territory during the Jihad. After the Techno-barbarians began to christen her and her crew vile pirates she decided to embrace the persona, adopting a piratical costume and flying a jolly roger. (not an actual flag, but it shows up on most transmissions between ships or exchanges of data) After the Jihad's end she had racked up enough commendations and kills as to see her be given the rank of Commodore (being nobility also helped) and given the new task of commanding an entire squadron of raider vessels for the Reconquest campaign.
Yekaterina's young life was by and large what one would expect of the heir to a noble family. Groomed to take over rule of the Barony of Ingram located on the Kingdom world of Adriatus in the Vos system, she was pampered as a little girl and taught by the best tutors money could buy. Her story did not come into its own until she enrolled in the Royal Naval Academy at the onset of the Arian Jihad. There she was found to be gifted in the arts of tactics and command. She was quickly chosen as her class's group leader through her electric personality and keen mind. It was here that her rebellious streak began to show itself. During wargames and tactical exercises she gained the ire of her instructors for bending and exploiting the rules instead of following established doctrines. She was nearly expelled from the academy for an act of insubordination, though the heavy pleas of her family ensured she was heavily reprimanded instead. Once she graduated (barely despite such a strong start) she was first assigned as third officer aboard the Gothren Class ship Volcano. Her rise through the ranks could only be described as meteoric, a stray shot from a transhumanist vessel managed to pierce through the bridge of the vessel killing the Captain as well as a majority of the bridge staff. Yekaterina suddenly found herself in command of the crippled artillery ship from the auxiliary bridge.
Her heroic command of the Volcano for the duration of the battle saw her awarded the Navy Cross and promoted to the rank of Commander. From there she would be given her first command, the Neloth class escort cruiser Rosenkreuz. The Rosenkreuz was given a mission to destabilize the actions of the Transhumanist menace. Striking deep into territory held by the Techno-barbarian warlord Arius their goal was to simply keep the Jihad fleets' hands full. Striking quickly from subspace on unprotected supply barges and troop ships that thought they were safe so far behind the front. The lighter weapons of the Rosenkreuz suited these lightning raids on enemy infrastructure. Soon the Techno-barbarian communications networks were filled with talk of the damnable Valyrian pirate who was raising hell all over the domain of Arius. The event that brought the name Yekaterina Tsukishima Alexandrovna Von Ingram (quite the mouthful) to the attention of even the royal family itself was the destruction of the mobile shipyard Guildenstern. The massive vessel was an ancient relic predating the fall of the Arcturian Empire was little more than a massive automated factory complex slaved to equally massive drives. Constantly moving from place to place leaving an endless stream of war materiel in its wake, Guildenstern was one of the most hotly sought after targets for Fleet command because of how elusive it was. There is little to say about the attack on Guildenstern itself, it was more of a happy accident that brought it and the Rosenkreuz into the same region of space at the same time. Intending to attack what she thought was a just another convoy, she dropped out of subpspace only to be greeted by the battleship sized mass of machinery that had eluded her and the rest of the Royal Navy for so long. While it may have been massive, few people think to armor factories, and the Guildenstern was no exception. In classic form she was in and out before the local forces even noticed.
A promotion to full captain and a new command were in order for the returning Yekaterina, not to mention a host of medals and commendations to add to her growing collection. Her gift for her glorious victory was the command of the Indoril class Strike Cruiser John P. Decatur. A proper capital ship to call her own, now Captain Alexandrovna was once again given orders to raise havoc deep behind enemy lines. The bigger guns and greater range of the Indoril class over her previous charges meant that the escort ships that once turned her away from her prey were just as vulnerable as their defenseless charges. The Decatur would be the ship she would command for the remainder of the Jihad as she continued to launch deadly raids on the soft underbelly of the enemy, every ship her actions forced into convoy escort work bringing the war that much closer to a close.
When the dust finally settled Yekaterina was promoted once more to the rank of Commodore and assigned to the Second Royal Expeditionary Force whose mission was the reconquest of territory that rightfully belonged to the Crown of Far Valyrius. the John P. Decatur would become her flagship as commander of Special Task Squadron Rho, a squadron whose mission was what Yekaterina did best: sow chaos. A mixed force built for asymmetric strikes against the areas the enemy is weakest, Special Task Squadron Rho is not meant to take part in proper fleet conflicts, in fact if it does its job properly those conflicts may not even occur.
IC Sample: WIP, shall finish in the morning.
Ship Name: John P. Decatur
Ship Type: Indoril class strike cruiser (Aryon class variant)
Semi-Sentience Profile: The Semi-Sentience of the John P. Decatur is the same one that was in the ship when it was still an Aryon class vessel. Like many older Semi-sentiences the Decatur's mind is incredibly bestial and primal, more like a large animal than an intelligent computer. Yekaterina has described its temperament as being highly aggressive, relishing in acts of bloodshed and destruction. While it had initially chaffed at having its big guns removed, it soon took to its new duty as a proud huntress with much gusto, under her new commander the Decatur has slain many foes and continues to do so. Considering all of this Yekaterina has christened her ship's Semi-Sentience Wargoddess.
Ship Details/History: The Indoril class are not a unique class of ship but are instead a heavy modification of the existing Aryon design. The first Indorils were made from Aryons pulled from front line service due to damage too extreme to be simply repaired. Instead of being broken up, some of the more better off vessels were heavily refit into a class of super-heavy raiders
- population: 23,000 (slightly higher than an Aryon)
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1xNeloth Class Escort cruiser: Rosenkreuz. Captained by Yekaterina's former first mate, Commander Wolfram De Ruger. The venerable ship serves as the nervous center of the Decatur's escort compliment. Captained by her former first mate the Rosenkreuz is a ship that Commodore Alexandrovna knows she can count on at all times. Its most recent refit saw the removal of of the troop bays in favor of keel mounted torpedo tubes.
DesRon 43: 4x Carcharodon Class fleet destroyers (Valorous, Victorious, Vicious, and Vainglorious). The four ships of DesRon 43 make up the remainder of the Decatur's escort vessels. The incredibly fast vessels provide a much needed PD screen with their laser batteries and together can threaten ships of HSR3 or above with their Gauss batteries and torpedoes.
- primary weapons/fleet function: The Decatur was one of the first Indoril class ships 'built' during the Jihad and therefore is less standardized than later additions to the line. Two of the Back-breaker cannons were removed entirely from the ship, and were instead replaced with larger hangar bays and more reaction mass allowing for greater strategic range and a worthwhile strike craft compliment. The removal of the massive guns also freed up reactor energy for an additional battery of plasma artillery along each broadside.
- marine contingent details: Much of the marine compliment of the John P. Decatur are fearsome Gn'Mok shock troopers in order to further the Shock and Awe value of the ship. With several thousand marines at its disposal the Decatur can even launch raids onto terrestrial targets if simple orbital bombardment is out of the question.
- strikecraft contingent details: The John P. Decatur carries a compliment of fifty Archangel fighter bombers, a dozen Impi assault shuttles, and a trio of cutters.
She understands them as being necessary but that doesn't mean she won't make it known that she finds them highly unseemly. So basically, not a deal breaker but there will be ribbing involved, if she likes the person it will even be good natured.
Quick question about Semi-sentiences. What kind of intelligence do they have? Or rather I guess to what degree does a ship's semi-sentience have a personality?
I could be in command of an Aryon class ship and be the long range commander or something along those line and secure escape routes for raids and such.